SunlitOverdrive : a typo ? What typo ? I never make typos
pulls out list of typos still not fixed in my fics
ignore that bit.
Neo went over her mental checklist.
Steal a bullhead from the utterly corrupt government of a crumbling Kingdom ? Check, easily even. The guards protecting it were weaker than Junior's goons, and that was saying something.
Spend most if not all of her remaining lien to buy a surefire way past the Atlesian blocade from Malachite and enough overpriced Dust to disguise their bullhead past said blocade ? Argh... check. Her wallet was crying.
Pilot the bullhead all the way from Mistral to Atlas ? Check.
Refrain from making any murder attempts whenever the annoying controlling maiden asked for an update on their trip to avoid getting blown out of the sky ? Check.
Singlehandedly handle the grimm they come across because someone can't be bothered to deal with the small fry ? Check.
Land in Atlas and hide Cinder so the entire Kingdom doesn't attack her ? Wait, does she really need to check that one ? Well, if Cinder couldn't use her powers to fly, it would've been worth a shot, but right now Neo figured an early response team wouldn't be able to hinder Cinder long enough for the bigger guns to arrive, even if she helped them. Besides, she had a feeling that Theodore and Rumpole would never forgive her if she directly involved civilians, and she kind of wanted to get back to her job after this.
So, as much as it pained her to, she would have to aid Cinder go through the security unseen and keep her safe until a proper opportunity arose.
Oh, wait, she almost forgot one last item.
Blow up the docking bay so nobody could figure out the bullhead they took to come here wasn't Atlesian ? Check.
Saying Ironwood was exhausted would be an understatement. Many around him considered that without his robotic prosthetics, he wouldn't even be able to stand. Ironwood knew that as well, and hoped he could rest if only for a moment, but he couldn't afford to.
Vale and Mistral had proven that Salem's minions were everywhere, that they could be anyone, even people they should have been able to trust, as students were screened with great scrutiny in every academy.
But somehow, such a comprehensive screening process hadn't been enough to find that Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were working for Salem. This proved that they needed to be more systemic and not assume anyone could be innocent before being proven the contrary.
His first order of business after the fall of Vale had been to create a blockade. He knew that the last thing the people around Remnant had seen was Atlesian soldiers shooting at Valean civilians, so he completely expected for Vacuo to mobilize and come to Vale's aid, and cause another great war just like eighty years ago.
He didn't expect an armed invasion, although that would be difficult to defend from if they were helped by the grimm just like how the White Fang was during the battle of Beacon, but Ironwood knew that Vacuans were more likely to use the same dirty stratagems the White Fang had tried using in Vale. Infiltrations and terrorist attacks were to be expected, so he ensured no-one could get inside the floating city, or Mantle, although he didn't have the manpower to cover every single hole in that place.
With the blockade in place, Ironwood could then take time to cover his bases. Reorganizing the military was a must, as many of his current officers were questioning his actions and even going as far as disobeying orders, ignoring some vessels entering or leaving the airspace, acting as if they hadn't seen them.
He had expected as much. Ironwood knew his move to blockade access to their Kingdom would garner resentment, but he did what needed to be done. He couldn't risk the safety of the people he was in charge of protecting, no matter how many goods or freedoms they had to lose in the process. Once this was all over, they would understand, and the historians would agree with his decision.
But for now, he needed to ensure the army would obey him without question. He knew what was best, and he didn't have time nor could he risk explaining the situation to everyone. As Ozpin said, this needed to be played close to the chest, for if Salem got wind of his plans to fight her, she would find a way to avoid his security.
Besides, he wasn't sure how much time he had to ensure his control. For all he knew, Salem planned to attack within the next month, and he needed to be ready if that was the case.
So Ironwood got rid of any officer that defied him, any that questioned him. Most would be laid off, or in some worst cases executed, while the old or popular officers would be sent on affectations far away from the continent.
Ironwood soon realized he couldn't do everything alone though, so he brought his best operatives, Winter Schnee and the Ace ops, up to date with the threat they were facing. With their loyalty on his side, he now had capable subordinates that would fight alongside him.
In the meantime, Polendina was rebuilding Penny, and Ironwood decided to tell them the truth as well. Polendina had expressed doubts concerning his handling of the situation, and the last thing Ironwood needed was for the prized Penny to be used against him. The artificial girl was simply too powerful to risk going against, or even to simply abort the project. She was too important.
Yet, Ironwood knew Penny wouldn't be understanding of how he did things in Atlas. Her soul was simple, too simple, and the young girl was far too naive to face the harsh truth that some people would be ready to risk everything just to get a small thing they want. With the added unrest in Mantle due to his inability to send enough troops down there to protect them for the grimm though, Ironwood had the perfect reason to keep Penny away from the inner workings of the dreaded adult world.
Penny the Protector of Mantle. Bringing hope and security to an entire city all on her own. It was even better considering that Polendina was well liked within the community down there, so the people wouldn't see Penny as an interloper from Atlas.
Soon, Ironwood had a firm grasp on the military, with no one foolish enough to question his orders anymore. The general ordered, the soldiers obeyed, that was how it was meant to be.
But there was still more to do to protect Atlas from Salem's schemes.
"Are you done yet Neo ?" asked Cinder.
Her mute companion finished picking the door open, had a quick look inside before locking back the door and moving on to the next.
Neo had been doing this for a while, picking door after door in this apartment complex in the middle of the night before locking them back up just after. Cinder had let this go on for a while but she was starting to get fed up with it.
"Can you stop playing with your little metal sticks for a moment and help me find a place for us to live while we wait for the right opportunity to strike ?" asked an annoyed Cinder, "I think I've seen how good you are at picking locks, you can stop."
Neo looked back at the woman that had done nothing but stand around with her arm crossed for their entire time in the complex and rolled her eyes before kicking the door she had just picked open and waving her to go in.
This room, unlike the others, showed clear signs of not having been used in a very long time, and that was what Neo had been searching for by opening every single apartment so far, one they could live in without paying a single cent of rent.
"Finally." stated Cinder as she walked in and set down on the couch.
Neo clenched her fists. What she wouldn't give to just wring Cinder's neck right now.
But she couldn't, not without finishing as burnt as a steak dropped into a raging fire, so she'd have to let it go for now. Tomorrow, she would go to the Schnee mansion to try and get hired there. If Ruby was going to come to Atlas, then it was likely that she would go for her partner's home first, and Neo needed to stack up on Dust, so working there would earn her some lien.
Hopefully, the job would give her some nice discounts on Dust products, as it was just as overpriced here as it had been in Mistral, if not more. It was probably something the SDC had done to ensure they could cover the costs they had while being unable to export. Criminal groups would do the same, overcharging drugs when their other business ventures failed to deliver.
How funny that Rumpole's lessons on underworld economics could also apply to monopolies. If it didn't affect her Dust supply, Neo could have almost laughed.
General Ironwood's secretary had soon learned to stop relaying any requests, concerns, or questions by journalists or people alike, no matter how important or powerful they were. Last time she had let a call from Mr Schnee through, she had been severely reprimanded for causing him to waste time on an idiot.
Not that she disagreed with the General's assessment of the owner of the SDC, but the man did control over ninety percent of the production of Dust within the Kingdom, so with the blockade the military was dependent on their supply. Although, given Ironwood's current tendencies, she wouldn't be surprised if he just went and grabbed the Dust he needed from the SDC's reserves, should the company stop selling to them.
The General's plans had been mostly unnoticed by the populace. With all the anger from the blockade and resources being redirected away from Mistral's walls, the string of lay offs went completely under the radar.
They were all legal, one by one the officers were laid off for disobeying orders, that was pretty tame, and within the army there wasn't enough for it to be quickly noticeable. However, to her who dispatched all the administrative work, it was glaring. One or two were normal, they were at a time of relative peace and knuckle-headed rich Atlesian kids disobeyed orders all the time, but now it was dozens of people who were quickly replaced or re-affected.
She had re-affected so many popular officers to remote islands within Atlas' sphere of influence, had personally fired so many talented officers, and watched as Ironwood's high command was stripped bare, leaving only himself and Winter Schnee as senior officers. She even had to set up a few court martial for especially bad cases that happened when the General was in a really bad mood.
Not going against Ironwood during this would probably haunt her for the rest of her life, but she couldn't afford to lose her job. She was a faunus, and like for every faunus in Atlas, the choice was either the SDC or the army. The SDC would never trust her to take care of any administrative work due to her heritage, so there was no way out for her. Losing this job meant being on the street, and most importantly, meant that she wouldn't be able to send any lien to her family back in the slums under the floating city.
No, there was no way out for her, but while she was here she would do what she could to protect people from the General's wrath. "Raison d'Etat" allowed for them to censor anything the news wanted to report on, and she was censoring heavily.
Because the last time a journalist made an article heavily criticizing the General, they were never heard from again.
So I kind of went with the idea of Ironwood doing a light purge, you know, just to be safe. A bit of set up for what'll happen after ;p
I had initially planned on having Ironwood react to an accidental explosion at the docks, but couldn't manage to fit it as I wrote, so just know that said explosion was shrugged off as an unfortunate accident that only killed the people within the bullhead (except it didn't).
Also I can't help but imagine Cinder going "Are we there yet ?" every 5 seconds during their trip like a little kid (even though that's not what happens here) and I find that idea hilarious.
To be continued on September 18th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 17
Level : 18 (76%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 10/10
AP : 95/95
STR : 11
CON : 10
DEX : 19
INT : 22
WIS : 12
CHA : 16
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses :
AC : 27(31)
For : 20
Ref : 26
Will : 24