CHAPTER 13: ONCE BEFORE, NEVER AGAIN

Remnant, System Unknown

Kingdom of Atlas

Atlas Academy

August 4th, 56 AGW

In all honesty, Tony wasn't expecting much out of this visit, but then again, it was kind of amazing enough that he had been given the luxury to personally witness one of Ozpin's greatest-kept secrets; if the headmaster of Beacon Academy was this insistent about convincing the inventor that some ficticious fairy tale was real, then this was serious business.

Whether or not any of this magic business had any merit remained to be seen, but listening was acceptable for now.

For the sake of discretion, every measure available was being taken to ensure that only the young Stark would come to know about the true identity of the Winter Maiden and no one else. To that end, a special jet was sent to pick him up in Vale before departing immediately to Atlas with no delays of any kind.

Once landing in the kingdom of snow, an unmarked car quietly and swiftly drove him to Atlas Academy where he was received by Captain Ironwood. From there, it was a small trek through the hallways and corridors of the school, which appeared just as expansive as Beacon was.

Usually, it would be in Tony's spirit to crack a joke or make light of the situation, but he could feel the gravity of the situation that he was in now. Even if he didn't believe in magic at this time, he could sense that the people in the know appeared different than he was used to seeing them. It certainly made him reconsider his approach to all of this. Maybe a scenario like this demanded a more conventional approach that would guarantee a safer interaction with everyone else.

Tony decided to test the waters first. "We're going through a lot of security measures, Ironwood. How many more are there? What, do you guys have a vault or what?"

"Something like that." James replied while looking at him. "Actually, you hit the nail on the head. There's a vault underneath each huntsman academy that students aren't aware of."

"Wow. Sounds super sneaky." Tony decided to make light of the situation given the response. "Are you sure you guys aren't hiding anything else down there? Personal stuff? Dirty secrets that might embarrass you? Actually, that wouldn't make much sense to stash your embarrassing stuff down there when I'm around."

"No, we don't have anything of the nature that you're referring to." The captain gave him a slight look of annoyance. "Please bear in mind that this is a professional place of learning."

"Professionalism doesn't stop lots of people from doing… interesting and fun things." Tony knew first-hand what sort of business people could get up to when not seen publicly. "You'd be amazed what people can get up to when they think they can't be seen. That's not to say that I would care if stuff like that was happening."

"Duly noted." Ironwood muttered quietly as they both stopped at the doors of an elevator. "Before we go on, I need to remind you that what you see in here, what you hear in here, it all stays in here."

"Yeah, I read the whole nondisclosure agreement with Oz." Tony's reply was flippant. "Besides, who would believe in all of this? I certainly don't."

For a moment, the two men stared each other down. The military officer seemed to regard the businessman with a very critical eye. Then, his demeanor shifted to one of acceptance and resignation at the same time.

The two of them entered the elevator and quickly travelled down to the lower levels. It was a very silent affair. The Stark Industries CEO was running through the possible outcomes of what he was getting himself into. For better or worse, he was about to become part of something that even the governments of Remnant were completely unaware of. That fact itself lent a lot of weight to just how important all of this was. What he believed was irrelevant at this time; he had to at least listen first before rendering judgement.

The elevator ride ended and once it did, taking in the surroundings was the next logical thing to do.

Calling this a vault felt like the wrong word of choice. A chamber would be more appropriate to describe what could be seen. Directly in front was a walkway of metal that led to a roughly rectangular platform. Three pillars lit by blue flames dotted the platform along with snow, ice, and enormous dust crystal formations. There were no other places to walk aside from forward. The rest of the space was empty and the ceiling seemed to go on forever as did the chasms below.

"This makes even less sense than before." Tony couldn't make sense of what exactly he was looking at. "Man, what did I just get myself into?"

"If this amazes you, then you're going to love this next part." James remarked dryly. "See that golden door? That's where the Relic of Creation is held. It's also what keeps Atlas floating."

"That certainly makes things less confusing." Tony kept pace with his companion. "There is no way gravity dust could support the entire kingdom. I ran the numbers and it never worked out."

"I'm not surprised that you tried to figure it out." Ironwood chuckled. "You seem to want to solve all the mysteries in the world."

"Not all of them." Tony threw back. "Just the ones that defy all sorts of laws regarding the physical world."

"Well, we've got more things to show you, but first, introductions are in order." James looked to the side. "Ah, Fria, it's good to see you."

"And you as well, James." A woman's voice sounded. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Stark."

From the moment the twenty-two year old heard that voice, his expectations were altered. That didn't sound like the voice of a young girl or woman. It sounded like someone who had wisdom and experience on their side, someone who had seen plenty of stuff. The moment he set her sights on her, he did a mental pause.

She wasn't all that tall, probably average in height, maybe slightly taller. Her hair was dirty blonde with some slight indication that age was beginning to set in. Her eyes were a brilliant sapphire blue, clear and focused. Her build was thin and moderate and she presented herself in a graceful and dignified fashion expected of someone hailing from Atlas, but how she presented herself was neither arrogant nor condescending.

By themselves, each of these traits didn't mean much, but when combined together to form the person that the Winter Maiden was, it made the genius playboy halt. Aside from the eye color, all of these features were things that he recognized from one person.

Mom. He couldn't not think about her.

"Mister Stark?" James's voice snapped him back.

"Ah, excuse me." Tony cleared his throat. "I'm Tony Stark, but you already knew that."

"Yes, I've heard quite a bit about you." She nodded. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm Fria Frost."

"Fria." Tony tested the name. "I'll remember that."

It was kind of shocking just how much this woman looked like his late mother. Either this was one massive coincidence or fate had decided to mess with him and as a man of science, he wasn't one to believe in deities or fate. Still, he couldn't help but look at the Winter Maiden with anything but quiet contemplation. Of all the ways he expected this first meeting to go down, this was not the way he had envisioned it.

It was hard to think about his parents, especially Maria Stark. She was the only source of comfort in his family life, the one that told him that she loved him and cared about what happened to him. It was far more than what he had with Howard. Maybe that made him something of a mama's boy and that embarrassed him in a way. He certainly didn't want to mistake this woman for his mom. That would be super weird.

Yet Tony couldn't deny that his opinion towards Fria was now biased thanks to the uncanny resemblance to his mom. Actually, from how she introduced herself to how she presented herself was eerily similar to how Maria would approach anyone that she didn't know. That just made things even more complicated. At this time, would it be easy for him to mistake Fria for Maria?

Goddammit, even their names rhymed.

There were too many similarities.

"So as I understand things, Ozpin is looking for your cooperation in our little secret society." Fria continued the conversation. "He said that you require some proof that the maidens are actually real."

"Something to that effect." Tony was going to play this one straight. "I believe in science, cold-hard facts and undeniable proof. Magic is basically asking me to believe in something with no logical basis of any kind."

"I'm not certain that I can provide you with facts, but I can provide you with proof." Fria answered evenly. "If you'll stand back."

Iron Man - - - RWBY

Fria Frost, in her fifty-five years of life, had seen a considerable amount of things, experienced a great deal, and learned a wealth of information. Everything up to this point had been her life, good and bad and she took it in stride each and every day. By carefully taking each situation one at a time, she had made her life more manageable or less difficult from another point of view.

She couldn't say that her life was one that she necessarily wanted all the time. Gods knew that she always had that desire to have some normalcy in her life. Despite how many people complained about normal everyday life, the Winter Maiden knew that they had it good. To be able to make a fuss about simple things meant that life was indeed going well if trivial matters were the worst concerns. Unfortunately, she would never be able to have that kind of life; a house, a family, those paths were long gone for and they had been taken from her the moment that she embraced her role as the guardian of the Relic of Creation.

Today should have been an experience that wasn't beyond what she had experienced. Although initiations into the secret society that oversaw the Maidens were spread out over years and even decades, they were hardly shocking or surprising situations. She knew how to proceed in the event that new recruits were skeptical of the power of magic, especially in this case.

Ozpin had been very adamant that Tony Stark needed to be on their side no matter the cost. The man held a critical key that would unlock the potential to not only even the playing field against the Grimm, but also push them back to a point where they could corner Salem. It was a once in a millenia opportunity that none of them could afford to let slip by them. The task was very clear: do whatever it took to get this man to stick with them.

But Fria knew from the moment that she laid eyes upon Mister Stark that she was looking at a different sort of man entirely. He was an entirely different sort of man from the man that she had met over the course of her life. Certainly there were parts of him that she didn't care much for. If his appearances in the media were any indication of who he was, he was a mere cocky young upstart with a womanizing tendency. However, time had taught her to look beyond what was plainly obvious and see what was underneath a person's exterior. If that failed, then at least she could get a sense about what she was dealing with.

And what her senses were telling her was that the weapons developer was creating this grand image of himself in order to hide something much deeper. What exactly he was hiding she couldn't say, but she didn't get the feeling that he had malicious intent or was an individual of vile character, but there was definitely something concealed under the persona that he wanted people to see.

There was also the fleeting moment when he first met eyes with her. It was so fast that she almost didn't catch it, but there was a look that she recognized. It was the look of someone who had lost a loved one only to find them again. She could only guess that she resembled someone he cared about, another interesting detail of note.

Maybe there would be more time to discern all of this, but for now, she had a job to do here, so that came first.

After both Ironwood and Stark cleared the area, giving her at least twenty meters or so, Fria began to dig deep down into her soul and summon the power of the Winter Maiden. The magical power within her was directly connected to her own soul. Even if she lost all of her aura, she could still make full use of the maiden powers. This was just one of the many ways that her own abilities impressed her despite nearly four decades of useage.

The sheer power that the Winter Maiden could summon was staggering to say the least. Out of all the four maidens that currently existed, she was arguably the best of them all, although she would say that the others weren't too far behind. Mastery of magic was something that required constant training and battle, both of which she had an abundance of. Even during these times of peace, there were no shortages of enemies to fight. Of course, those that saw her power and were her enemies never lived to see the next day. Such was the nature of the occupation that she was in.

The winds around her began to increase in speed and the chill in the air magnified by many factors beyond what the natural environment of Atlas could conjure at the worst of times. A whirlwind formed around her, creating both a funnel of coldness that served as both an unstoppable force and an immovable object. Nothing short of another maiden at full power would be able to get through. This was what it was like to wield the power of nature itself, albeit in a small and controllable fashion. At their absolute peak, the maidens themselves could win against any foe no matter the numbers, no matter the skill, and no matter the experience, but such blatant use of their magic hadn't been seen in hundreds of years.

But even from her position, she could still see through the tornado spinning around her to see both James and Tony staring back. They couldn't see her, but she could see their expressions. The former had seen this before and he was able to better maintain his cool visage. The latter carried a look of bewilderment, likely due to him trying to reconcile his knowledge with the impossibility before him. It was an understandable reaction and somewhat of an amusing one as well.

Fria decided that this was an ample enough display.

Almost in the blink of an eye, she drew in all of the energy courtesy of herself and instantly, there was no sign that there had ever been a whirlwind, just this chamber housing the Relic of Creation and the two other occupants besides herself.

"Judging by your expression, I would say that I've adequately convinced you, Mister Stark?" Fria commented. "Or do you need to see more?"

"Seeing, yes." Tony nodded his head once. "I'm still… working on believing."

That response made her smile in amusement. Such a silly response. It might be somewhat childish of her, but she couldn't help the feeling of smugness upon seeing the young man who was normally so sure of things be amazed.

"Well, I um, suppose that happened." Tony, to his credit, recovered quickly. "And I just joined this club for life… or something like that. I can't get out of this, right?"

Nobody cared to answer that question because the answer seemed obvious enough.

"Okay, stupid question." The young Stark played it off. "And for the record, this is bullshit. At the least the council would let me back off from anything that didn't smell like roses. You guys are just mean."

"Yet you don't seem all that intimidated." James said.

"Well, I've seen all of… whatever I've just seen, so I'm out." Tony began to walk back to the elevator. "I might be part of this group, but you can't afford me. I'll call you all when I'm in the mood to help. Maybe. Kind of. Actually, I'll probably send you all to voicemail."

Fear might be partially motivating his current behavior, but the Winter Maiden got the feeling that Mister Stark was also being guided by another reason not known. In any case, she did need one little bit of information from him.

"I can't very well leave a voice message if I don't have your number." Fria quipped back. "I might experience an emergence and not knowing how to contact you could mean the difference between life and death."

She could have done a much better job at wording that, but the effect worked apparently. The man of twenty-two years stopped with his back turned to everyone. After about ten seconds, he looked to his side, retrieved his scroll from his pocket, tapped a few times, then put the device away.

"You'll see my number somewhere in your list." Tony continued his walk. "Like I said, voicemail. Or if I do answer, I'll put you on hold. Now if you'll excuse me tin man and Miss Frost."

With all the swagger and charm available to him, the arms dealer left the scene, leaving a somewhat uninspiring atmosphere between the captain and the maiden.

"Well, he seems to like you, Fria." Ironwood sounded frustrated. "He didn't even give you a nickname."

Fria raised an eyebrow. "I take it that's a trademark habit of his?"

"Yes, it is." James sighed. "As you so eloquently heard."

Eloquent indeed.

RWBY - - - Iron Man

Kingdom of Vale

Beacon Academy

These days, Team STRQ was experiencing something of a major shift in their otherwise typical schedule, or what constituted as such in light of their way of life.

Ever since Mister Stark had approached them for weapons testing, they had become very occupied with testing out prototype items of all sorts that no one else could get their hands on, at least not for many years. Even more amazing was that despite not having any sort of schematics on their weapons, he had gifted each of them an upgrade that worked perfectly with their existing setup.

Summer was the most ecstatic of the entire team. Whether it was simple addons to their weapons or otherwise, she was always happy when they received new stuff in the mail. This served to deepen her admiration and respect for her idol. She could only speculate what would come moving forward.

For her personal upgrade, she was given a one-off dust randomizer. Combined with her blade that doubled as an extendable pike, the blade of her weapon would be constantly coated with a flowing supply of dust. It would render the conditions of her blade and the effects it had on enemy targets unpredictable. Basically, it made her into a wild card when her foe couldn't be sure what type of dust they would be facing at any given time.

Taiyang remained the most normal in terms of how he dealt with all of this. Although he did find some perks out of gear that was exclusive to his team, he wasn't nearly as gung-ho about it as his team leader was. Still, it was cool and he was finding new and interesting ways to enhance his own combat.

He had been given customizable wrist gauntlets. By themselves, they did nothing to enhance his combative ability, but when combined with certain dust cartridges, they enveloped his fist into flames. When these gauntlets were used in conjunction with Stark's smart dust, fine tuning of dust output was possible. In essence, his fists were now able to harness the elements to whatever capacity he saw fit

Raven always downplayed the Stark name, speaking somewhat ill of the man at times, but that didn't change the fact that she made good use of the upgrades given to her. She would rationalize it as a means to increase her overall combative ability, but none of them were fooled by that logic.

For the swordswoman, her add-on was simple but very dangerous. She had been given a small device that was insertable into the hilt after some modifications. This little gadget added the game-changing effect of granting her weapon more cutting power. This was done through alternating currents at very high vibration frequencies. Put simply, she was capable of cutting power to an insane degree.

Qrow had mixed feelings about Stark. On one hand, there was no denying the weapons developer was good at what he did, but all of this stuff seemed kind of excessive and there was no telling how much Stark Industries would change the world. Gods knew that the world was already changing in more ways than one.

As for what he got, it was a blade reconfiguration device. It allowed him to make more minute adjustments to his blade as well as his scythe. Having so many moving parts, constant care and attention was needed to maintain his weapon. This would help greatly reduce the amount of time he needed to spend everyday tuning and adjusting each individual part. With time, he might be able to make more drastic changes.

All in all, nobody issued a single complaint about what they were given. If only two of them could be more honest about how much they were enjoying this.

Having received all of this stuff three days ago, none of them had gotten the time they wanted to do all the testing they could, but so far, the results were promising. It would take the better part of a month for them to fully learn the basics before moving on to more advanced techniques and such.

Additionally, the package that all of their upgrades came in was left with a note from Mister Stark himself.

Consider this an early Christmas present. Keep them if you feel so inclined. Also, don't say that I never do nice things for any of you.

The Inventor

"This is a very good day." Summer was just happy today. "Gods above, thank you for ensuring that I was born."

"What is she going on about?" Qrow gestured to the team leader.

"She's always like that when it comes to Stark." Taiyang reasoned. "I don't think any of us are ever going to get it."

"Agreed." Raven chimed in. "And if all possible, I would prefer that it stay that way."

"What did I do to deserve this?!" Summer curled into a ball and cried. "My own teammates are turning against me!"

Three heads turned to regard each other, none of them particularly alarmed by this sudden shift from their leader. She could be overly dramatic about the most trivial matters. It had taken them a bit of time to specify what constituted as important and unimportant, but once they had, they were no longer taken in by emotional outbursts like this one.

"Fine, be that way." Summer abruptly shifted from crying to pouting. "I'll find someone who does care."

"Like who?" Raven challenged. "Everyone in the dorm knows that you're off your rockers."

"I hate you, Raven." Summer deadpanned.

"Yep, tell me something I don't know." Raven dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Qrow, give me that wrench."

"All yours." Her twin handed her the tool. "But I'll need it back."

"What are we going to do with you, oh fearless leader?" Taiyang decided to take pity on the silver-eyed girl.

"Don't say it like that." Summer lowered her head in apprehension. "You make sound like I'm a complete mess."

"What, you aren't?" Raven took another shot.

"I really hate you." Summer commented.

"What else is new?" Raven shook her head.

The white-clad girl felt her pocket shake, so she fished for her scroll and looked at the number on the screen.

"Guess who?" Qrow said.

"Mister Stark, hi!" Summer instantly answered.

"What's up, short stack? You and your team have a happy holiday?"

"Absolutely!" Summer exclaimed. "We're taking names and kicking ass!"

"Music to my ears. It looks like my foray into the huntsman market will work out."

"I know it will." Summer believed he could. "Your level of technical knowledge is second to none. How did you manage to make these upgrades for our weapons? We didn't even provide you with schematics."

"When you've worked with tech as long as I have, you just have an eye for that sort of thing. Also, it's a trade secret. If you knew, I'd have to kill you."

"Can I know anyway?" Summer requested without hesitation.

"You really have no sense of control, do you?"

"Not when it comes to weapons!"

"I'm not sure if I should feel good about that. Anyway, I called to remind you all to keep track of your progress. I'll be expecting weekly reports."

"You got it!" Summer acknowledged. "Team STRQ is on it!"

The conversation from there shifted into topics concerning very specific weapon topics, something that Taiyang, Raven, or Qrow had a vested interest in, but watching the girl in white gush was sort of entertaining. They were all the same age, but from the way that Summer was acting right now, she appeared several years younger than all of them.

But not all of them were completely sure about what exactly was developing between the CEO and his fangirl.

"Do you really think this is okay?" Taiyang gestured. "What's going on between them?"

"I say let her have her moment." Raven shrugged. "It's doing us good too now that we don't have to constantly listen to her go on and on."

"No, I mean, is it okay that we're able to easily talk to Stark like this?" Taiyang clarified. "I mean, we're already a household name, but if people know that we're directly connected to a big gun, are we going to be okay?"

"We've never faced a problem that we couldn't take on." Qrow put down what he was working on to look at the blonde. "Besides, it's just a little harmless crush. It's not like Stark's actually going to do anything."

"That wasn't what I was talking about, but about that." Taiyang leaned back. "Should we, you know, warn Summer?"

"You're thinking too much about this, Tai." Raven scoffed. "Our team leader is childish, kind of stupid, and very stubborn, but she's a big girl. She could kick him where the sun don't shine if he ever tries anything."

Three pairs of eyes turned to witness a girl with black hair ending in red tips kicking her legs while talking in a rather animated fashion.

"Hopefully." Raven added.

None of them were sure now.

Iron Man - - - RWBY

Kingdom of Atlas

Undisclosed Location

Tony sat back in his chair, letting his head rest for a minute. Today had been nonstop action. This was the first time all day that he had taken any sort of break and it was pretty much time to turn in for the night.

There were so many emotions running through him right now. Even with his genius mind, processing them in an orderly and proper fashion felt like an impossible task. It was all so much for him to take in.

The Force existed, or something close to it. That changed a lot of things and it made his job a lot more difficult now that he was stuck with Ozpin and his cronies. Between his contacts within the huntsman academies and the maidens at his beck and call, what's to say that Ozpin wouldn't go rogue or lose it? Everyone had a breaking point.

In fact, after getting to know all the cards that the man had, it just made the weapons developer all the more suspicious. Resources and allies like this weren't easy to obtain even on a good day. All of this took time and effort, something that the mastermind didn't appear to have if his age was anything to go by.

Tony quietly contemplated his next move. This would undoubtedly affect how he ran Stark Industries in the future. If the headmaster of Beacon Academy had this much power at his fingertips, so many things could go wrong. This whole just went from a little weird to potentially kingdom-crushing. If the wrong people knew about this, it wouldn't be all that hard to cause chaos that could see record numbers of Grimm crawling up the walls.

The CEO needed to start accelerating his work. What was important right now was moving along weapons development and constantly improving. If he intended to be able to be comparable to Ozpin, he needed to leverage assets of equal or greater value. For now since he was new to the maidens, asking for their help would be a no-go, at least until a new maiden was chosen.

According to the rules, once a maiden died, their powers would transfer to another female candidate. The rules were stupid and convoluted, but it boiled down to either memories or random selection that the next maidens were chosen. Anyone male was out of the game entirely, which was kind of stupid and kind of convenient.

In any event, Tony was formulating an idea that had a serious gamble. While he personally wanted to distance himself from the Illuminati phonies, there was one thing he could get out of being a member. No doubt there was a means for this group to find new maidens once the old ones passed away. He wanted to be the first ones to find the maidens and maybe piece together every detail he could about them.

If there was ever a time to feel like James Bond, now was the time. Spying on other people was definitely not a part of his usual skill set.

But now he had a reason to learn.

Tony's thoughts drifted to Fria and he shook his head. No matter how liberal his sense of morals were in regards to the maidens, he couldn't bring himself to do anything that might hurt the Winter Maiden.

He just couldn't do it.

A quick update regarding my enlistment process. I'm supposed to ship out on July 28th, so I've got time. Hell, I haven't even gone in for processing, so you guys can rest a little easier knowing that you'll be seeing at least one more chapter after this one.

Back to the story.

So this is kind of out of left field, but I've decided to give all of my readers a second and final shot at seeing one of their favorite characters be the biological child of Tony Stark. To that end, I've set up a new pole on my profile page that will determine the fifth and final character that will be blood-related to our protagonist. I say again, this pole will give you all a chance to see ONE CHARACTER be the child of Tony Stark.

As a reminder, the current four that are already slated to be Tony's children are Ruby, Weiss, Neo, and Winter. If you don't see their names on the poll, don't worry. Their places are assured. This poll is to determine one new character. Some characters won't be included due to existing story elements that would conflict like Kali and Ghira getting together, so no Blake in this poll.

Regarding this chapter and the story going forward, I've come to figure out how a lot of characters can be useful for the story I want to tell. The canon show has this really bad habit of introducing characters with so much potential only to see them kicked to the curb or developed in a way that is rushed or makes no sense. I belive I've found numerous ways to fix that problem.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing as well as you can during this difficult times.

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

John Wooden