Okay guys, So Betty White died yesterday. Which was sad. I'm hoping that shes actually still alive and shes going to make a big appearance at what would have been her 100th birthday. Because she decided after all those 'Betty white dyes in her home' pranks that she was going to mess with everyone. But I don't think thats the case.

Also one thing I've noticed I have to do better is that a lot of my story consists mostly of dialogue lines and not nearly enough text explaining whats going on.

Or since I write all my chapters in Doc Manager, you think you're writing a big meaty paragraph, but when its published it looks weak and meager.

So I'm going to try and do better in that regard.

(ADDED NOTE) A lot of people are telling me about Ironwood's semblance, and yeah I know I didn't mention it, but to be honest, I know it helped him to focus on his decisions, but I just don't understand how it making him hyperfocused led him to think 'Oh yeah, slaughtering innocent people is the right thing to do' to me that was just a really dumb decision

Also I did end up putting Branch Covidians instead of Davidians beforehand. Although to be fair, both creep me out

"Jem!" Winter stormed over to where Jem was talking to some other guys.

"Oh Hi Hunny!" He said in a carefree tone.

"Don't 'Oh hi hunny' me!" She said as he looked confused.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You're literally starting a cult!"

"Hey, I resent that! If anything I'm starting something thats half prepper community/half minuteman militia." He said as he didn't like to use the word cult.

Cults were reserved for things that could be dangerous.

Like the branch davidians, heavens gate, jonestown, and democrats.

"You've only been here a month!" She said as he looked around.

"Yeah, I know, its amazing how fast its grown, give me another few and I think I could have us up to at least a 1000." He figured he could get a nice little emergency militia going.

"Do you have any idea what is going on? The council is scared there could be an insurrection!" She said as Jem shrugged.

"Good."

"What do you mean good?!"

"Simple, politicians should be afraid, keeps them from doing something that intentionally screws over their people. Lets face it, we all know what could happen in the future, I'm simply giving the people a fighting chance." He said as Winter tried to say something.

But sadly, she couldn't say anything. She had watched the later volumes of RWBY when they were on Earth. And as much as she hated to admit it, shit went crazy. And even she ended up going against Ironwood's orders in the final episode. So she couldn't really make an argument. That being said, she also couldn't help but feel that Jem was just doing this for shits and giggles.

"Despite that, they've been making wild accussations about whats going on down here!" She said sternly as Jem shrugged his shoulders again.

"Oh boy, where have I heard that before, next thing you know they'll be saying 'this is a far right, extremist, homophobic, fatphobic hate group.'" He rolled his eyes at the list of accusations that could possibly be coming.

"Well, not that exactly, but they do think you're anti government."

"Well thats not exactly untrue." Jem made a 'kind of' motion with his hand.

Winter didn't know what she was expecting. Jem came from a completely different world, of course he was going to think differently than her. She looked around at all the people looking at them.

"Thats Winter Schnee!" One woman whispered to another.

"What's she doing here? How does she know him?" Another said as it seemed weird the two knew each other.

"Oh yeah I forgot, uh everyone this is my girlfriend Winter." Jem introduced her nonchalantly.

And then everyone went silent.

"He's joking right..." Some said as others looked around.

"Those two are dating? HOW?" Another said as Winter felt awkward.

She didn't know if some of them had animosity towards her because of her father, or because they just couldn't believe that she would be dating someone who looked like Jem.

"Okay everyone, come on, we're not here to talk about my love life, we're here to train. Everyone break off into squads and go over medical training." Everyone just nodded and went along with that.

"Wow they listened to you just like that." She said as Jem smiled.

"Well, they don't argue with results. A lot of people since they started here feel much better about life." He said as she looked at him with confusion.

"Look, you get a lot of people down here who worry about their everyday needs, food, water, money, thats just normal, but the thing they fear the most is the fact that they could have a good day and walk home, they have enough money in their pocket to pay their bills, but then some mugger comes out and they have to give up their wallet in fear of their life, when that happens, it starts a cycle of fear knowing that that money could have made the difference between life and death. But now that they're trained in how to use their weapons, if someone tries to mug them they can actively take matters into their own hands." He said as that was why he started with his first student.

"I guess you have a point there."

"This may be considered a militia group, but its a lot more than that, I'm showing the people here that they can take their safety into their own hands. This helps the police in Mantle by scaring the criminals. And it helps give the people a peace of mind. Could it be used to fight off tyranny? Could be, you know my beliefs on the 2nd amendment, but overall, this is more than about possibly fighting off a possible invasion, its about bringing together the community to fight back against the issues that plague their communities." He said as he believed he was doing good.

"Well, alright, but try to relax with it, they did send us down here to make sure you guys weren't a threat." She said as he nodded.

"Relax, this is a pretty chill group of people, just regular everyday folks trying to make their lives better."

He looked around.

"Anyways, you want to hang out here for a bit? We're having a chili cookoff in an hour." He said as the rest of the Ace ops walked over.

"A chili cook off? Here? When you're training?" Marrow asked but deep down he also wanted some chili, it was a little cold in Mantle.

"Well yeah, I just said this is more for community outreach versus rebellion, what better way to show the community you care then by offering free food?" Jem looked around really quick.

"And because I've been craving a good chili, so this works for me." He said as quite a few of the members of his group had brought something in.

"Speaking of which, what do you call this group?" Clover asked as he figured they must have had a bad ass name.

"Honestly, I haven't come up with a good name yet, everytime I think I come up with a bad ass name, I end up thinking it sounds stupid later on." He admitted as he didn't want the group to be named something dumb.

A name had to be unique and inspiring to the people around them. And while he could use something like 'Sons of Liberty' he just felt like he was just reusing someone elses name. (1)

"Look, we'll get there eventually, today is supposed to be about relaxing with friends and family." He said as he looked at his watch.

Training would be done in an hour. Usually they would do more than just an hour of training. But Jem made sure to put in days for people to just come out and enjoy themselves. Even if you were about being prepared for catastrophe, you still had to have downtime. Otherwise you would associate the people in your prepper community with nothing but possible chaos, and you needed that sense of comfort with them so you could become closer as friends and brothers in arms.

"Well...the General did say to report on everything, I suppose we could stay." Clover said as the rest of the ace ops smiled.

This assignment was easy!

At the end of the day

"So let me get this straight, Jem started his own militia, and he invited you guys for chili?" Ironwood said as he was holding a container of Chili they brought back for him.

"Yes, but I wouldn't classify them as a threat, They're too small in number, and they're only focused on their own communities, and as much as we hate to admit it, they have been making a positive impact on their neighborhoods, so I wouldn't classify them as something to worry about." Clover said as he motioned for the general to try the chili.

"The council is not going to like this, especially because I doubt they will agree with Jem's american values." Ironwood himself wasn't sure what to think about it.

He knew what he became in the future. And it horrified him to think he could end up like that. So he understood why Jem had started his own project. But the fact of the matter remained that if there was chaos in Mantle, there was a chance Jem's little militia could be a thorn in the side for authorities. But that in itself could be false. Ironwood had no idea if Jem's group would be an issue for him. For all he knew they could keep peace in Mantle and stop the whole city from tearing itself apart like it could in the future.

He didn't know how to feel about it, it could really go either way depending on the actions he took. And that was when he began to understand WHY Jem was so big on the 2nd amendment. You didn't KNOW if you were going to need it. You didn't KNOW if your government would turn tyrannical, but you must always be ready in case it ever did. Because nothing was a guarantee. Ironwood would usually brush off that kind of accusation as nothing but paranoid nonsense.

But then he remembered what he saw.

He was willing to completely destroy Mantle all to get Penny back. He could never believe he would be willing to kill all those innocent people. At the same time, he couldn't blame himself, he wasn't in the right state of mind after feeling betrayed by Teams RWBY and JNPR. It didn't excuse his actions, but it helped him think that maybe he just felt so betrayed that he eventually snapped.

It was terrifying to think that you could do when you felt betrayed.

He remembered how he was bringing his fleet to Vale for the tournament out of concern for the people there. His heart was in the right place. So how could he go from wanting to protect people at all costs, to be willing to sacrifice anything at all costs? Could a man really be broken so much that eventually darkness was all that was left?

He thought about it all. Maybe evil wasn't just on the surface. Maybe everyone had potential for evil inside of them, and you just never thought about it. Maybe everyone had that small corner of their psyche where your thoughts linger on violence and death as if it was easy as breathing. And maybe after so much stress and damage done to your psyche, those thoughts started to grow until eventually they manifested entirely.

He didn't want to think about it. But he knew one thing for sure.

He saw himself die when Atlas fell to the ground and the waters drowned the remnants of Atlas and Mantle.

"I will not die a monster."

(1) Sons of liberty was of course the american revolution era group consisting of men like Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock. But most people don't know this, but its also the name of an Illinois State militia. As well as various other militia groups across the US.

Anyways, as for Ironwood's self reflection, I'm not sure if I did a good job on it or not. But I based it off a post I saw from Tumblr (Bleh) where people were talking about a reel of Hitler flirting with his girlfriend and it made them uncomfortable. Because you realize that despite his deeds, he was a regular man sometimes. And to think that someone could have that potential for evil inside of them can scare someone. Because you never know what someone could do if he was to come to power.

We all like to think we would be moral and just. You see people all the time bragging about how they 'care about the poor'. But how do you know that person wouldn't turn on you within a second?

So I figured Ironwood seeing himself ready to commit Genocide in Volume 8 might have shook him up a bit.