The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Two, The Cost of Paranoia.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Solitas, Atlas, Western Fields of Atlas, Test Site 0-
The sky glowed with the setting sun's light as the camera zoomed downwards to reveal a large expanse of wheat that went onwards for miles in every direction, however for some reason...everything was inoperable.
The agricultural machines, the large tractors of green, were stationary near a patch of overgrown wheat, small amounts of scythes and shovers were laying haphazardly on the ground and covered in rust, and in the distance, a large fence with deep white hexagonal hard light constructs loomed over the fields like oppressive sentries.
Overall...this wasn't the home for Atlas' agricultural needs, it was a time capsule to a different era.
STOMP!
Wooosh!
Clang!
The sounds of machines could be heard from the distance, causing the earth to quake and the wheat to sway from the superheated wind. As the camera zoomed towards the northernmost part of the fields, the landscape changed drastically and with an abrupt manner.
For in place of wheat and soil were the deep bare bedrock of the cold Atlasian land, craters ten miles deep littered the land as in the distance, plumes of blackened smoke rose into the sky and created a blanket of darkness for all those without artificial light sources.
Woooosh!
Clank!
STOMP!
And lo, in the distance, where the City of Atlas was supposed to be, was something...unnatural.
This unnatural thing was a massive mechanized monstrosity of blackened steel and hexagonal green polymer with five spider-like legs that moved upwards and downwards at varying intervals, thick white armor plates covering the outer rim of the structure itself, the remains of a massive wall surrounding the border of a central city, large uniformed yet jagged structures that juttered upwards and formed spines that were connected to luminescent green tubes, and within it's center was a massive cylindle cannon held together by white hard light pillars as a spherical gold orb was stationed above the main tower, which itself was shaped in the form of a iron giant of steel and glass, it's face facing towards the cannon in an expression of anger as blackened smoke spewed from it's mouth like serpents.
As the camera zoomed closer to this monstrosity, a small military base, spherical in nature and with a strange emblem on it's side that seemed to mirror a spear being pierced in the heart of a Wyvern, came into view as several people were currently in attendance in the main courtyard.
Within this courtyard was a podium, a few rows of chairs and a large green hard light screen, all seemingly created overnight for a big event as armored soldiers stood around the border of the courtyard.
However...something was off about these military soldiers, for instead of the normal white armor, it was replaced with black and green, their firearms were fused to their arms and looked more like high grade sniper cannons than anything else, and their expressions seemed….lifeless, as if they had no emotions at all.
It wasn't much said for the Specialists that were in attendance, as their garbs were now black with a green trim as their ears were pierced with a strange blinking black earring and their eyes filled with dread, or the high positioned members of the society either, who's eyes were nervously looking around for a possible means of escape from an unknown danger.
Overall...this wasn't a voluntary assembly, it was a mandatory one.
Clank.
Clank.
Clank.
And lo, from the right hand side of the podium was a tall muscular pale skinned man with short black hair with gray areas near the sides, blue eyes with two metal strips of silver above his eyebrows, two gold trimmed black robotic prosthetic arms that were sleek yet muscular, wearing a white long sleeved overcoat, a gray short sleeved undercoat, black long sleeve sweater, a red necktie, white suit pants that were tucked into gray accented silver boots, dark blue accents on the sides of his pants and overcoat sleeves, white fingerless gloves that revealed the black nails of the prosthetics, a dark blue belt around his waist, a long dark gray cape that went down his shoulders to his legs, and had several gold medals pinned to his left breast pocket, who gave off a look of unrelenting paranoid and determination as he walked to the microphone and stood tall towards the organized spectators, all nervously looking at him in attention.
This man was James Ironwood, Supreme General of the newly restructured Atlesian Kingdom and currently the most powerful man on the planet.
And he was about to present something that he had worked on for many long years.
He coughed, getting their attention as the hard light screen flickered to life, to show his image to all corners of the Kingdom of Atlas and its conquered colonies. "People of Atlas."
The soldier's saluted to the general along with the Specialists as Ironwood raised his right hand up to return them to their standard positions.
"People of Atlas. Today is the day of great celebration, for after years of battle between the treacherous Kingdoms of Vale, Vauco and Mistral, along with the complete annihilation of White Fang and it's irk on the island of Menagerie, we have ensured the prosperity and peace that our ancestors strived for when they colonized Solitas." He said with a stern yet neutral tone devoid of emotion. "Through domination and perseverance the Kingdom has brought everlasting peace upon Remnant, for the next generation in a world where Hunters and Huntresses can rest easy and grant the mantle of protector to the Atlesian Government."
The camera zoomed towards the distance as the general's voice continued to echo across the world through special speakers placed in every corner of the Kingdom.
[Though years of hardship.]
The camera zoomed towards the top of the massive walking fortress and into the translucent pipes as it went deeper and deeper into the underbelly of the city, where various men and women, both human and faunus, were toiling on the boilers, pipes, gears and mainframes of the behemoth itself, the temperature higher than the outside world and the soot and ash suffocating like a boiling volcano.
[The deceit and treachery.]
As the camera zipped through the pipes, several strange devices lined the walls and ceiling, each one with a different logo such as a 'W' or a hexagonal 'M' that were stamped over by the symbol of Atlas itself, as if they were overtaken by force of arms.
[Atlas has brought Remnant out of the dark ages of fear and into a shining future.]
The camera zoomed out of the pipes and down into the heart of the beast, where several scientists, all with the same blinking black earrings on their right ear, were experimenting on live Grimm and the corpses of humans and faunus, attaching cybernetics to each one while ripping strange balls of multicolored lights out of the bodies of still living people.
"AHHHHH!"
"No gods! No the le-AHHHH!" screamed a skeletal white haired man with a formerly bushy white beard as he had his leg forcibly amputated with a hard light green energy scalpel.
[Where the Creatures of Grimm no longer attack civilization, where the differences between species holds no place in the utopia that is Atlas.]
The camera zoomed down a hallway where several cells made of green hard light constructs held the disheveled bodies of humans and faunus, all trying to escape their prisons and getting their hands burned from the intense heat the constructs were making as rotting corpses lined the floors.
[Where the Schnees and their corrupted Dust Company hold no sway upon the intentions of the people of Atlas and it's government.]
The camera zoomed deeper into the core before stopping at a thick metal vault gate, only for the gate to open up to reveal a darkened room illuminated only by green tubes on the floor and ceiling, a strange gray spherical orb floating high above the floor itself.
[For today, Atlas shall have its savior.]
The camera zoomed a little towards the center of the room before it was illuminated by bright lights, four square green hard light boxes floating above the camera as four objects rested inside.
A multi pronged crown of gold with three rubies studded in the front.
A golden lamp with a blue orb in its center.
A golden ornamented staff with a blue spearhead-shaped crystal on top and a smaller blue crystal at its base.
And a golden sword covered in black mist.
Each one seemed to have rusted over time and blue energy seemed to leave it as pipes sucked it out and into the main green tubes.
[I present to you, O.Z.M.A. Mk 1. Omnidirectional. Zealous. Mechanized. Annihilation. It's power and might is unbounded by human hands for its power source is abundant and ecologically safe.]
The camera zoomed towards the top of the room as the walls were lined with the still alive yet skeletal bodies of men, women, children, both faunus and humans, from every Kingdom, as their bodies were plugged into the walls by thick green tubes and their eyes forced open by metal pliers towards a mirror near their cells, ten times the size of a normal hand mirror yet angled upwards towards the ceiling.
Their eyes…..glowing silver.
[With one command, the threat of the Grimm shall fade away into legend. On this day.]
The camera zoomed towards the top and right near the center of the massive cannon, a single glass orb connecting the various tubes from all over the monstrosity as a single young figure was held in place a cross shaped metal beam, her hands and legs covered in necrosis as her blackish red hair seemed to grow disheveled towards her feet.
[Humanity wins the war.]
The machine began to rumble as the tubes started to glow a deadly blushing silver color, moving towards the orb as the girl's body began to glow pure silver and her eyes gained the aura of a burning inferno.
"A...A...AHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, her voice slowly being destroyed by the energy buildup from the canon itself.
The camera zoomed quickly out of the five legged beast as the cannon's muzzle began to form a silver light that caused all in the military base and around the planet to watch in awe and horror.
ZzzzzzzzrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
BOOOOOOOM!
The earth quaked, the sky was split apart, the very air crackled with power as the beam of silver raced across the world and towards its intended target, dissipating in just a few seconds.
Silence.
FLASH!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
And like that, the largest explosion ever known to Remmant, one that rocked the sky and made the sea tremble, occurred as a silver cloud of superheated rock and aura rose into the stratosphere in a mushroom cloud.
(Elsewhere)
-Atlesian Military Base-
The crowd looked on in shock and horror as Ironwood felt satisfaction in O.Z.M.A. Mk 1's first test, as if the burden of time was finally realized and rested in a single moment.
'Finally, the war has ended. The Queen is dead.' he thought with a sigh of relief. 'The world is at peace, the nightmare is over.'
Rumble.
He blinked as the ground began to shake as a small ringing sound was heard in his right ear, which he touched instantly as a hard light construct appeared over his eyes. "What is it?"
"Supreme General! The walls! They are being swarmed with Grimm!"
"That is a normal occurrence."
"Not this one! There's thousands of them-AHH!" the woman on the other end cried out before the feed was cut.
"CAW!"
The crowd's eyes widened in horror as the sky was covered from head to toe with Nevermores, Wyverns, Griffons, Sphinxes, Manticores, Lancers, Queen Lancers, Monstras, Sea Feliongs, Teryxes, Ravagers, and other horrors unimaginable to human eyes, each one filled with anger unseen before as their now glowing red eyes made them even more fierce.
"W-What? But how!?" Ironwood yelled in shock as the ground began to shake as the walls around him crumbled.
"ROAR!" howled an alpha Beowolf as numerous Grimm charged towards the Specialists and soldiers alike, ripping them apart as in the distance, several King Taijtus and Leviathans began to overwhelm the City of Atlas, breaking its five limbs in a mad frenzy as Tempests began to batter the city to the ground, numerous Grimm riding in the currents to cause maximum damage upon the hardlight barrier and other unprotected areas.
Ironwood pulled out Due Process, now fused to his arms, before seeing a Death Stalker charging towards him and stabbed him in the heart with its stinger, causing his aura to shatter and blood to drip from his mouth.
"SKIIIII!"
"It….can't….end...like…." he got out before being overwhelmed by the Grimm, the camera zooming away to reveal a sea of Grimm, all focused on one thing and one thing alone.
The destruction of Atlas.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Supreme General Ironwood (Weaponization of Mettle James Ironwood- WMJIRWBY)
Age: 30~40's?
Affiliation: Mega Evil
Dimension: - 90009190- 11 WMJIRWBY
Abilities: Expert marksman, knowledge of close quarters combat, extreme durability, military knowledge and tactics, Huntsman knowledge and skills, political knowledge and tactics, cybernetic prosthetic arm, prosthetic upper body, above average super strength, control of the SDC's assets and trade systems, control over the Atlasian Government, control over the Atlasian Military.
Semblance(s): Mettle.
Bio: In this timeline, Jame Ironwood would be inducted into Ozpin's Inner Circle like in the canonical timeline, however when Ozpin explains about the being known as Salem and why she is making humanity an enemy to the Grimm, his semblance, Mettle, activated at the worst possible way and caused him to rationalizes that he must create a weapon to destroy Salem and that he must be the only one that can get the job done properly. As such he decides to kill everyone in the room to prevent anything 'bad' to go on and soon uses his position as General to destroy or assimilate all factors that would ruin his plans, such as killing off the White Fang, absorbing the SDC into the military, taking illegal weaponry from Arthur Watts and Merlot, etc. However, his biggest and most dangerous actions while under the influence of his semblance was the complete disregard of the other Kingdoms' citizens, which he sacrificed to create the groundwork for a Kingdom destroying weapon, which he called O.Z.M.A (Omnidirectional. Zealous. Mechanized. Annihilation.) MK 1, a large mobile cannon-like city powered by Silver Eyes and the Relics themselves, one of which is Ruby Rose herself. While this would be bad on its own, the problem is that Ironwood thinks he's the hero here, and soon loses all his sanity trying to kill Salem with O.Z.M.A., but in the end, his actions would only lead to the complete extinction of sentient life and not the true utopia that Ironwood envisioned.