Sun drew in several deep breaths as he stood in the circular lobby outside of General Ironwood's office. The room seemed impossibly and unnecessarily tall to the boy, with a ceiling edging up into a rounded cone with buttresses that connected in an 'X' formation at its center. The walls were painted a surgical white much like most of the hallways within Atlas Academy, though they were also adorned with paintings of previous headmasters. The room was totally devoid of other people, and Sun was left to merely twist his tail behind himself in uncomfortable silence as he stalled for more time.
"C'mon, man," Sun whispered to himself. "You can do this. They're relying on you…"
The boy brought a hand up to adjust Ghira's pauldron upon his shoulder. Somehow, merely touching the piece of armor brought him a bit of calm, and he took one final steadying breath before striding toward the office door. The shutters slid apart automatically, and Sun blinked in confusion as he entered the room only to find the large leather chair behind General Ironwood's desk empty.
"Over here."
Sun whipped his head toward the source of the noise, only to find a weary looking James Ironwood sitting at a table on the side of the room. An empty chair occupied the other side of the table, and there was a pot of coffee and two mugs resting between them.
"Oh! Uh… good morning… Sir?" Sun stated awkwardly before snapping into a salute.
"…good morning," the general replied before beckoning Sun to join him. "And there's no need for a salute. I want to talk to you on friendlier, less formal terms, at the moment."
"Oh," was all Sun could think to say as he settled himself into the plushy, velvet-cushioned chair across from the older man. "Well… that's great, actually, because I don't think I have it in me for anything too big right now."
"You didn't sleep, I would assume?" General Ironwood questioned as he began to pour Sun a cup of coffee.
"…not really, no," the boy admitted as he watched the dark liquid pour into the cup with a conflicted look.
"Nor did I," the general replied. "It's becoming an increasingly common scenario. I'm running on coffee and faith in those who have committed themselves to me, these days."
"It shows," Sun said before he could stop himself.
General Ironwood paused just before pouring his own coffee, and let his eyes settle upon the boy's with an unreadable look.
"I'm aware. It shows on you, too. Your eyes are bloodshot, your shoulders are slumped, and you look uneasy, even among friends," the man pointed out.
"Yeah," Sun agreed. "I… yeah. I'm going to try to take a nap later, but I don't know if I'll even be able to pull it off. Part of me thinks it's better to just stay active and keep it rolling, until I finally crash and find a reset button."
"That's a valid strategy, though one you need to approach with care," General Ironwood advised. "You'll need to find that 'button' one way or another soon, considering you need to be in top shape for the coming weeks."
"I know," Sun acknowledged. "I'll make it happen. I promise."
"See that you do," General Ironwood ordered. "After all… you're their leader. They rely on you. They need you, in ways you may not even realize just yet. The way they look at you is remarkably similar to the way that the Ace Ops look at me."
Sun immediately looked away and put a hand around the coffee mug, reveling in the warmth that transferred into his scarred palm.
"…I don't think I deserve that much credit," Sun said quietly. "I still don't know how I fell into this position, or why I was appointed to lead Team SSSN to begin with. For a long time, I felt like the worst leader in Remnant for abandoning my team to go and help a friend in need. Almost immediately after we reunited, though… all of these people just started to cling to me. Don't get me wrong- I appreciate it, and I care about them all a lot, but I just… I almost feel like they're just desperately hanging on to me because I spoke up and made a plan, more than for my ability. I'm worried that they chose the wrong guy for the job."
General Ironwood took a long, slow sip of his coffee as he let the teen speak. He gave the boy his undivided attention throughout the monologue, and his features pulled into a soft frown as Sun's voice faltered slightly near the end.
"…I'd like to show you something, before we talk about the matters at hand," the man resolved as he braced a hand down into the table and pushed himself up to a standing position. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a sleek silver remote before pressing a button to close the shutters down around the windows, rendering the room almost completely dark.
"A presentation?" Sun questioned.
"In a sense," the general answered as a holographic screen buzzed to life from the projector in the center of the floor. The image crackled to life almost immediately, and Sun very nearly choked on his coffee as he realized what he was being shown.
There within the security camera footage was a younger version of Sun, running hard down a street covered in rubble. Smoking ruins and rising flames occupied much of the screen and partially obscured his lower body, until he exited the frame and the scene transitioned to a different view. The new perspective from a camera mounted upon the side of a building gave a much closer angle of the boy, and the portrait of him that it painted was far from ideal.
The faunus' hair was slick and wild with sweat, his white shirt was torn in several places, and his face was marred with blood, ash, and dirt. Though there was no sound to accompany the footage, chills ran down Sun's arms as he watched his younger self open his mouth in a desperate battle cry and charge straight into a crowd of four beowulves. His doppelganger moved with a speed and ferocity that Sun barely recognized, and he watched in awe as his own memories played out in front of him from a fresh perspective.
"That's… that's Beacon…" Sun choked out in a hollow voice as General Ironwood returned to the seat across from him.
"It is," the man agreed solemnly. "You were on my mind quite a bit yesterday evening, Sun. I knew that I recognized you and that my initial impression was positive, but that entire nightmare is such a blur that I couldn't specifically remember why. It's that fire in your eyes, the one that you can see here even in this low-quality footage. I recognized it in you during our brief encounters at the school, and I see it in you even now."
Sun's breath hitched as the general pressed another button, causing the footage to play out in slow motion. He watched as his staff descended upon a beowulf's skull and caved in the structure, his past self gritting his teeth with a look of intermingling pain and determination. For a brief moment, the echo of Sun seemed to be staring straight through him, and he looked back down into his mug to escape the bloodlust in the younger faunus' eyes.
"…not a fan of coffee?" General Ironwood asked lightly. "You look almost sick."
"I'm not, no," Sun admitted as he shook his head. "But it's not that. It's… that fire scares me. Sometimes, it comes out in ways I don't even expect. It's like some kind of inner animal just waiting for an excuse to break out of its cage, and some of the times that it has in the past… it didn't end well."
"Sometimes, applied ferocity can be a weapon more intimidating and inspiring than the biggest Atlesian airship, or highest caliber firearm," General Ironwood pointed out. "That passion and determination can be frightening to behold, and sometimes, it needs to be. Other times, it inspires. It's in your eyes right now, even in your exhausted state."
Sun quickly looked up and met the general's eyes, his own wide and curious.
"…it is?"
"Very much so," the man answered. "It's muted. Restrained and controlled, but undeniably there. There's a firmness to your stare. A resilience. It's a common feature of all good leaders, and most are unaware that they have it. The rage, the commitment, and the reassuring, resolute calm that you exude all stem from the same inner passion, Sun. The trick to moving from the position of 'good leader' to an excellent leader is learning to control the switch as appropriate. You've already turned it on. Now, you need to learn its intricacies. I wanted you to see this so that you could finally see it for yourself."
Sun turned his eyes to the floating hologram once again and couldn't help but smile as he watched his younger self give Neptune exasperated hand motions while standing in the middle of Amity Coliseum. He remembered their argument as though it had just happened, and he chuckled softly. Even within such a ridiculous scenario, he couldn't deny that there was something fiery and unique in his younger self's gaze.
"…maybe you're right. That's… a pleasant way to look at it. There's definitely something in your eyes that I can't quite put my finger on."
"And I will do my best to lead you to that same quality by example," General Ironwood offered. "It's something you'll have to get used to over time, even if you don't quite like it at the moment. It's a bit like coffee- an unpleasant necessity, but once you grow accustomed to it, it will pull you out of many otherwise hopeless situations."
Sun snorted and took another sip of his drink, before pulling a face in response to the liquid's bitter taste.
"…nice segue."
"It comes with practice," the general replied with a soft smile. "Now, though… there are a few matters that I'd like to discuss with you, this morning. Would you prefer the uncomfortable line of questions first, or the more pleasant one?"
"Uncomfortable," Sun said definitively. "I'm a 'get it over with' kind of guy."
"As am I," General Ironwood agreed. "Especially when it comes to difficult decisions. It is better to decide and commit than it is to waffle about and potentially cost time, opportunity, and especially, lives. In this case… I would like your input on deciding what to do with two of them. Corsac Albain and Ilia Amitola."
"Ilia is committed to this," Sun began immediately. "She's sacrificed a lot to be here, a-"
Sun trailed off as General Ironwood raised a hand for silence.
"…please, don't misunderstand- I'm not suggesting any form of 'punishment' for her past activities," the man clarified as he brought his hand around to rub his beard. "But I don't know her. All I know is that when I was combing through databases with Hope last night, I found some information that may make her involvement in what's to come… distressing for her, and by extension, our cause."
"Because we're probably going into dust mines, which is where her parents died?" Sun asked.
"Precisely that," the general answered. "In addition to the fact that…" he sighed heavily, and steepled his hands just in front of his mouth as he closed his eyes and rested his elbows upon the table. "…I'm going to be honest with you, Sun. The faunus are not well-liked here in Atlas and select parts of Mantle. The reception that you and Ilia receive will likely be unpleasant at times, and it worries me how she may react to some of the words and actions taken by our more extreme residents given her… unique history."
"You're afraid that she's going to get justifiably pissed off at blatant racism that's thrown our way, despite the fact that we're working with you to save the world, you mean?" Sun asked icily.
General Ironwood let out a breath through his nose and opened his eyes once again, his own tone entirely neutral.
"Yes. That is exactly what I mean, Sun."
"Then can't you do anything to stop it, rather than asking me to stop her?" the boy asked with a frown.
"Believe me- I've tried," General Ironwood answered. "Many leaders of Atlas Academy have tried, and racism isn't an issue that can be solved over one term, or even several. I've denounced every incident that has come across my desk and appointed Marrow Amin to my most trusted squad of special operatives, and yet, the bigotry continues. We're dealing with irrational beliefs and notions passed down through bloodlines and fostered over time, Sun. We can fight against them, yes, but expecting them to disappear anytime soon is unrealistic. Even Marrow has been subjected to terrible things despite the fact that the majority of the people in the lower city, and many in the upper one, adore him. I'm asking for your advice with her, and also, for your help in… keeping her reasonable."
Sun made an uncomfortable noise and shifted in his seat several times, his tail writhing behind himself.
"…fine. I'll make sure she doesn't go overboard… and I'll do my best not to do the same. But I'm tired of seeing what the Atlesian treatment does to faunus. I've seen it in Blake, I've seen it in Ilia, Corsac, and… Adam. It's even affecting Weiss, now. It's poison."
"And working alongside me to combat Salem may play a part in synthesizing a cure," General Ironwood replied evenly. "Please- just do your best to suffer through it, and I'll do what I can to help."
"…yeah," Sun answered flatly. "As for Corsac… I don't know what to tell you. He was all-in on the Fang, until Cinnamon betrayed him."
"I'm aware," General Ironwood answered as he shut off the hologram in the center of the room and raised the shutters. "I spoke to him one-on-one last night, before meeting with Dr. Polendina and Ms. Calavera."
Sun blinked rapidly as his namesake came through the window with blinding severity.
"Yeah? And how'd that go?"
"…depressingly," the general replied. "He was more than happy to simply serve out his sentence, or 'be sent to the mines', as he put it. I reassured him that such a thing wasn't an option, and he simply… shut down, for lack of a better term. He seems entirely defeated and devoid of any motivation to continue, be it through wrongdoing or otherwise. When I suggested the possibility that he could work alongside you, he seemed rather indifferent. I'm not sure what to make of him, though his crimes do warrant imprisonment."
"He's lost everything," Sun pointed out. "His brother was killed in the raid on the Belladonna mansion, and the cause he fought for for so long betrayed him the second its leadership shifted. He was on a quest for vengeance against Ilia for a while, but now… it all must seem fairly pointless."
"And yet, he has been around and seen the relic, at the very least," General Ironwood stated. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's also heard talk of it, along with Salem. That makes him a potential liability, and that makes our options limited."
"…yeah. Yeah, it really does," Sun agreed. He sat silently for a long while, all too aware that the general's piercing eyes were still upon him as he pondered his options. "Would you be willing to just… put him in one of the rooms near ours, and let me talk to him, sometime this week? See if I can get him on board to work with us? I know he probably deserves to just be thrown into a cell, but he did put himself on the line by fighting with us at the docks. I'm not the type of guy to just abandon someone in need."
"You are aware that doing such a thing places all responsibility for his actions from this point forward squarely upon your shoulders, should he choose to work alongside us," General Ironwood pointed out.
"Yeah. Yeah, I know," Sun snarled as he flicked his tail in annoyance. "You know, I really do think you're trying your best to protect Remnant and that you mean everything you've said today… but you've got a talent for covering your ass and slipping in little insurances along the way. I mean, I get it- you need to look out for yourself, but so do I, and I can't help but feel like I'm kinda getting forced into a no-win situation with this, and with the racism issue."
General Ironwood offered Sun a humorless smirk.
"And you've got a talent for reading people. I am indeed 'covering my ass', Sun. With the stunt I'm about to pull regarding Amity Coliseum and the announcement of Salem to the world, I cannot afford a scandal- especially one involving faunus, which could turn Atlas against me in addition to Mantle. Many people in Mantle view me negatively given how tight-lipped I've been about recent policy decisions in the leadup to this project, and that anger is only going to boil higher as time goes on."
The general rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back, before beginning to pace as he continued.
"If I make a move that's seen as too unfavorable, things could quickly get out of hand, especially considering we're going behind the backs of the other members of the Atlesian High Council just before an election. Make no mistake- I'm asking you to be a potential scapegoat for the greater good. I hope it doesn't come to that, and I mean that. However… the possibility is there. Shit rolls downhill, as they say, and you've just arrived at the bottom of mine. It's nothing personal, and if I had my way, I'd rather not do this to you… but the situation is what it is. I'm sorry. Truly."
Sun sat in stunned silence for a moment as the older man came to a stop and faced him. The two locked eyes as Sun shook his head, and finally let out a sigh.
"…you know, I feel like if all of our leaders were this up front about screwing us, I'd be more on board with politics in general," Sun mused. "And again… I get it. If I didn't believe in what we're doing as much as I do, I'd probably be pretty pissed off right now, but… I get it. Your situation sucks."
"You have no idea," General Ironwood replied as he walked back around his desk. "So does yours, honestly, and I will be doing all that I can to make it up to you over time, starting with this. Join me."
Sun rose from his seat and walked to the desk, unable to deny his own curiosity as General Ironwood pulled a small case up from beneath the furniture. The man undid the latch to reveal a velvet cushioning inside that housed a number of sleek, jet black scrolls.
"These are now yours," the general began. "State of the art, heavily encrypted, and the very same model that the Aces use. All of their contact information, as well as mine and Winter's, is preloaded into them, and you can easily transfer your own to these devices by adding the data chips from your scrolls. The first of many gifts to help you not just in our work together, but personally."
Sun quietly lifted one of the devices and snapped it open. The scroll gave a satisfying clack as it extended outward, revealing far more buttons than he was used to.
"…fancy," Sun commented. "And definitely an upgrade. Thanks."
"Secondly… I have a task for you, beyond delivering these to your team," General Ironwood began. "Each of you will need to stop by the R&D lab on the floor just below this one. You're working for Atlas, now, and that means you have access to Atlesian technology… and Atlesian money. Leave your weapons with the techs there, and I will assign them to complete any upgrades you desire this week, free of charge. The same offer is on the table for armor and combat outfits, tailored to your liking."
"Whoa," Sun answered with a small chuckle. "For real? And they can get it done in a week?"
"Likely less," the general answered with a smile. "You'll need top of the line gear for what's to come, so don't skimp or be bashful. Your room keycards will grant you access to the lab."
"Cool. Thanks," Sun replied with a smile of his own.
"That should suffice for today," General Ironwood offered as he closed the box of scrolls and pushed it toward Sun. "Is there anything you'd like to ask me, before setting out?"
Sun mulled the question over while tilting his head, before he held up three fingers.
"…three things, yeah."
"By all means," General Ironwood answered while sweeping his hand out in a welcoming motion.
"…Dr. Polendina and Ms. Calavera. Where are they?" Sun asked.
"Given that they know about the relics, they are both staying in R&D for the time being, for their safety," General Ironwood answered. "I've given them housing not unlike your own and sent a few of the Aces to secure and transport Dr. Polendina's materials from his own lab to ours."
"Huh. Cool," Sun replied. "And… Hope? What's her role? I know Winter's your second in command, the Aces are your special ops…"
"Hope is the protector of Mantle, as well as my personal assistant," General Ironwood answered. "She's typically on patrol when she isn't needed here, and you have her contact information as well, in your new scrolls. Feel free to coordinate with her if you take on any freelance jobs in Mantle."
"I will, for sure," Sun replied. "And… lastly… this is probably a big ask, but I don't think it's particularly unreasonable, given what you're asking me to put up with. Can I… have that footage? The stuff from Beacon, and the Vytal tournament? Preferably all of it, if you would."
General Ironwood raised a brow.
"…hm. I don't see why not. All I ask is that you reserve it for personal use, between you and your team."
"Gotcha. I will," Sun answered with a nod. "Then… I guess I'll head out and do what I can to face the day."
"That's all any of us can do, right now," the general replied. "Keep up the good work and familiarize yourself with our facilities as you see fit. Oh- and stop by the med bay for a physical, sooner than later. We'll need a full medical history for all of you."
"I'll let 'em know," Sun replied as he grabbed the case of scrolls. "See you around, Sir."
"You will, yes. I'm trusting you to share whatever information I give to you in meetings like this with your team, Sun… and to package it in a way that they'll be able to deal with it. You know them… and I feel as though I know you, on some level. You and I aren't so different, unless I'm wildly mistaken. I'm trusting you to handle this in a way that's best for your people, and therefore, our cause. I want to keep communication between you and I open and honest, at all times," the general finished.
Sun nodded slowly, his expression serious.
"I'll… make it happen. Gonna need some time to think about how to present things to each of them, but… yeah. I'll live up to what you think you see in me. I've got this."
General Ironwood offered the boy a small nod and watched in silence as Sun turned and made his way out of the room. Almost immediately, he used his remote to lock the office door before sitting at his desk and pulling up the hologram footage of Amity Coliseum once again. The man brought up a holographic keyboard and began to scroll through the video until it rested upon footage of Penny, standing across from Ruby Rose. General Ironwood rubbed idly at his chin as he furrowed his brows and began to weigh his options.
Author's Note:
…yeah. We're absolutely breaking 100 chapters before Volume 7 is over. There's a lot to cover, and we're just getting started. Ruby's crew will get some love next time, alongside a little detour for Weiss…
-RD