73 The Clock Strikes 11...

Metallic and bland white-painted walls and rooms decorate the topmost floor. Up until now, Hanns made everyone search for Ironwood but were constantly stopped by soldiers of the Atlesian military.

"That's the third one, I can't believe people would still stand in front of Ironwood. Duty must serve them well."

"I suppose not everyone is scared of a machine barrelling down toward them with the guns pointed straight at them. It makes me proud that we Atlesians could still have some sense of bravery."

"Weiss, it's not bravery - that's called being an idiot and not realizing we're launching a coup d'etat. Still, I can give some credit to the Atlesian military."

From another side of the hallway, Ruby called out to them. "Guys! I think I found it, it's to the right of here." she points to another room.

The team followed Ruby's directions and saw the doors to Ironwood's office. Hanns stared at the locked doors and backed away.

"Firing!"

*BOOM!*

The door gets blown away as the smoke and debris fill the room and the hallway. Everyone waved their hands at the smoke clearing before they all enter with weapons raised.

"...Clear?" Ruby asked, almost disappointed at the prospect of not being able to finally finish the mission.

"They're not here." Hanns contemplated. "Neo, get to the table and find something out."

In response, Neo shot Hanns a questioning look.

"Look, I know you're probably not fitted to this kind of job - more the killing type rather than the information and hacking type."

She rolls her eyes.

"C'mon, I know you're going to miss shanking Ironwood but I need to get some information out of his personal device just in case he has data to purge."

Neo thought about it, placing a finger over her lip before holding up 3 fingers at Hanns.

"3 buckets of ice cream?" Hanns asked.

Neo sways her head before smiling.

"...30?"

She nods before going over to the room and looking for something.

"Alright, let's move on to the rest of the floor. We still have halfway to go so let's move before Ironwood can find a way to escape judgment."

A tap to his armor came from a red scythe. "Hanns..."

"What do you need, Ruby?"

"I just have something in mind, is this all really necessary? We've been going around killing Grimm and stopping Cinder. Now we're going around overthrowing Atlas... It's not that I doubt this is going to help... Hanns, are we the baddies?"

"That's a good question. Torchwick has told you already hasn't he? To stop Salem we must take the responsibility of creating an almost self-reliant country that has the only job of culling the Grimm. This is all necessary to create that kind of country. We will do what Humanity and Faunus have not tried and tested. A united nation with the true goal of exterminating Grimm."

Then a thought tickled the back of his mind. 'Shit that sounds familiar. A country formed under a concept of unification and then has the singular goal of exterminating a race... I guess Grimm aren't sentient so it doesn't count.'

Hanns was in denial. He was creating Remnant's version of a totalitarian state headed by himself and creating a militarized nation with the sole goal of extermination. Basically, he didn't want to think of himself as the bad guy. Even though he does this for the RP and SL from killing Grimm.

"I guess so... Torchwick does have a point in me needing to be realistic. I used to think killing Grimm was going to be it. Ironwood showed me there's more to that - I can't believe someone would be so radical as to destabilize one of the kingdoms further just because he wants you, Hanns."

Hanns would've sweated. He was definitely the cause of the first wave of Grimm but Ironwood was the one who destroyed the stability by taking the SDC over and not letting Hanns have control over the SDC.

"Stop."

They ceased short of walking when they heard heavy footsteps. Hanns listened closely as they slowly crept up from the hallway and met someone Hanns knew.

"Penny?"

She was lifeless, her eyes usually filled with vibrant energy dulled to a... robot. Kind of made sense, but she had a soul - the same as Hanns.

"Target acquired."

Penny's body suddenly opens, the metal inside her body clicking before blades hovered over her and started charging. Green glows cover her levitating blades as Hanns powered his engine to the max.

"Not even a salutation?! Get down!"

Hanns used his Overclock, he saw what Penny could do in the show. Slicing entire Bullheads in half with a laser beam wasn't exactly just going to gamble that he could handle that.

The shield he had screeched before breaking and Hanns felt his Aura taking a hit from the laser beam. Thankfully, his Overclock made him move out of the way.

'Shit, I don't really want to kill her at all. I know Pietro could probably revive her since she's a robot but I don't want to go over the edge.'

"Everyone! Load electricity and short her out! Don't kill her, just subdue Penny. She's not part of this - she's probably being controlled by that nutjob-"

Another laser beam did a glancing blow on his hard-light shield. Just as he advised others to set their weapons to not kill Penny.

Penny transitioned to using her blades when Ruby and Weiss attacked. A surge of sudden blasts from Weiss and a repeated amount of dust bullets impact the floor as Penny dodges.

Teeming with practiced fighting over the past month just helping out the Wehrmacht - Ruby and Weiss act together in advancing the ground they had as Penny defends.

Ruby swung her gunsycthe to Penny's side but responds quickly when Penny decided to try and grab it instead of dodging. "Weiss!" Ruby shoots launching her backward as Weiss went next.

Using the distraction Weiss spins her Myrtenaster and sets it to lightning dust. She dashes forward as Penny stabs her blades into the wall and prepares to use the wires that join them together.

Hanns realizes what she was planning based on the show. She could tug around flying bullheads with wires that appear between her hands and the blades. "Stop, Weiss!"

*BOOM!*

The explosion sends the three backward, forgetting he was now twice as powerful as before. "Shit, sorry!"

The shot alone could've sent the entire floor crumbling down if Hanns had used armor-piercing instead of DI-APCBC. The floor in between Penny and Weiss got completely shredded as a hole formed from where it impacted.

Ruby used the chance from Hanns' shot to pelt Penny with lightning dust rounds she had strapped to her belt. Weiss followed up by using her glyphs to speed herself up while recovering from the blast and quickly made her way to Penny who was blocking Ruby's shots.

The battle wasn't hard but since Hanns didn't want to kill Penny, he had sacrificed his usual powerful cannon fire and let Weiss get close to finally tap Penny's body and sent an arc of lightning dust that short-circuited her.

"I got her!" Weiss shouted, she lands on the ground and readjusted her Myrtenaster as she points it to a seemingly defeated Penny. "Ruby, is she out?"

Ruby squinted her eyes, the dust still settling down after Hanns shot the floor, she noticed the eyes still glowing "She's still on!"

"Wait," Hanns says. "Penny are you there?"

"Friend... My apologies, I cannot avoid my programming." she jolts from the electricity as she stays motionless on the ground. "I... feel... slow..."

"Hanns? What's happening to her?" Ruby asked.

"She must have gotten free somehow, I can't see what she's feeling - her robotic body must have already installed functions to try and keep her alive. She's shutting down. Ironwood must have done something, she usually isn't this aggressive to those she considers friends."

Hanns turns off Overclock as he converses with Penny. "Penny! Where's Ironwood? What did he do to you?"

With the last of her power Penny points behind her. "Winter... Far side... Guard someone important... protocol-" Penny suddenly slackens her body and lay on the ground unmoving.

'A fail-safe, smart for a machine like in their common robots but to put something on a sentient being is just cruel. Winter is also here, and something about guarding someone... Shit, it's the Winter Maiden.'

"I'll have someone take that program out of you eventually. I don't know if you're still there but I'll give you the life your father wanted. It's the least I can do for someone who unlocked my Aura."

Hanns turns to his team and ushers forward when his energy comes back from using Overclock. "Let's go. Ironwood must just be past Penny, leave her here for now. We have a man to catch"

They all nodded, it was finally happening. Even without the rest of the team, they could be confident that they had the odds to win.

~

Winter stayed at the front of the door, her heels clacking from the constant pacing she had. Ironwood had already told her to directly go to Fria's room, the current Winter Maiden.

'General Ironwood, why now? The battle is at a climax and my station is needed at the Command Center. The Ace-Ops are supposedly out there too, why can't he wait until all of this blows over?'

"Specialist Winter, I'm glad to see someone today still has the sense to follow orders." Ironwood was clearly out of his mind. No more was the well-groomed individual, he let his hair loose and his eyes droop from the hours of stress. His hands were jittering, either from the cybernetic arm he had or from the levels of adrenaline coursing through him.

Winter had to disobey part of Ironwood's orders. Accepting help from the Wehrmacht was going to make Ironwood not happy. Even though Winter knew based on the results of the battle right before leaving, the Wehrmacht was performing just as well if not better than the Atlesians on the ground.

Mantle was well into the way of outright seceding from Atlas since the battle was closing in on the city. The 2nd line of defense had already fallen and the army was steadily losing robots to throw into the fight.

The Wehrmacht had held their ground because of the tanks but the risk of letting their flanks exposed from the Atlesians retreating made them join in the repositioning of the defenses.

At this point in time, Atlas still hasn't finished a field-tested version of the Paladin-290. The supposed evolution of the concept of the Spider-Droid and Hanns' battle with the Atlesians. It was still rife with problems since Ironwood demanded that the development team needed to make it impervious to Hanns' cannon.

The Grimm were at the walls but the best news was that the flagship had been repaired and the masses of avian Grimm were culled enough for the navy to properly support the ground units.

"Report on the situation," Ironwood asked. Winter was careful to respond, making sure to not reveal she had been getting help from the Wehrmacht.

She salutes. "General, we were on our way to begin bombardment. The ground units are struggling but the walls will hold strong." she looks around. "May I ask where Penny is?"

"Hmm... As long as we can deal with those in the White Fang after we're done. Penny is fulfilling her duty to apprehend or kill anyone coming here, I requested her to fight to her death - if she goes down then she dies for Atlas."

Winter's heart tightened. Penny was introduced to her shortly after she had finished. Unlike before, Penny had a personality Winter knew. Now, she was no more than an obedient machine, it made her doubt Ironwood even more.

"Now, go on speak to her. Time is short and I need to know if we can still hold. You receiving her power is paramount. We are at an impasse - I hope you know what to do, Specialist."

Ironwood didn't even hide it at this point. He lifts out his gun from his holster and loudly racks it enough for Winter to know what he is implying. But, she wasn't still sure why Ironwood racked his gun. 'Power?' Winter thought.

"General? What do you mean?"

Ironwood remembers their duty and what Ozpin neglected to do. An active stance on Salem. He finally breaks the real truth about the world. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"

Winter was confused. "General?"

"Answer the question." he impatiently reiterates.

"I don't particularly remember-"

"Then I will tell you one. The story of the Maidens, to cut it short they are real. One of them is Fria, only you can receive the power she has in order for Atlas to be protected. The way this power passes on is if the previous Maiden has died."

Winter wasn't just shocked, she was furious. What Ironwood was implying made her think for the first time that Ironwood isn't actually doing all of this for Atlas. Ever since she saw her comrades die for something so fruitless, the seeds of doubt had grown.

"So you're going to kill her when I speak to her?" she asked. Letting her hand rest on the hilt of her saber. She didn't care about what Maiden powers were, only that Ironwood was going to kill Fria.

"Of course, you were always destined to be the next Maiden. Ever since I saw you work hard for your position and follow my orders to the letter - you are the best candidate, more than anyone else-"

*BOOM!*

She raised her saber in the direction of the explosion. In came the behemoth that was Hanns who was trying to navigate the corridors. She looks over the tank before her hand shook. "Weiss?"

Another person was beside her in a similar uniform. The only thing distinguishing her was a red cape that flew around her back.

Unobscured by a mask, Weiss stepped forward without holding her weapon. "...Sister. I'm sorry it had to be this way. Surrender, Ironwood has done enough for Atlas. Step down."

"Weiss, I don't want to either. I wish we could've talked about this over tea. I miss you very much ever since you left. I'm sorry I couldn't be a big sister when you needed it."

Hearing the conversation Ironwood had enough, "Specialist, do you not recall my orders? Let us proceed with you becoming the Maiden. I will not tolerate any more delays." he tries entering the room with his gun armed.

Hanns wanted to immediately react. 'I can't let him do that! I can't shoot indoors, I need to capture him alive. It says my decisions might change the outcome for good or bad... but how can I catch him from here?! Wait... Overclock!'

His tracks unraveled along the sprockets of his tank and the wheels spun around as Hanns manipulated his tracks to combine and almost move in a hypnotic sway. The tracks he has combined into a long-reaching metallic rope that jumps forward and blindingly snatches Ironwood's legs as he turned around.

Winter was shocked, her blade spun to hit the large connections of tracks but Hanns' semblance made it twice as strong.

*THUD!*

Ironwood falls to the ground and sees the mechanical beast that was Hanns open up like something out of a horror movie. "What the-"

His body was reeled from the ground as Winter willed her semblance to throw miniature nevermore summons at Hanns, intending for her ice in the saber's hilt to infuse and freeze Hanns.

Weiss blocks the flock of nevermores with her own Glyph as Ruby assists in defeating Weiss' older sister. Everyone stopped just as they were to clash when they heard a gunshot ring out.

Ironwood shot his own leg to try and sever it from Hanns' tracks deforming and gripping his ankles.

'Is he crazy?! What kind of idiot shoots their own leg?! You can't even escape from it just let me hold you down for moderator's sake!'

"Winter! Kill them! Your sister is an enemy of the state, I know you're stronger than them. Stop wasting time, you're holding back! Can't you see this damn machine is-"

"-No."

Ironwood had a moment to think before his semblance took over and focused, "Disobeying, you too? My best Specialist, the one who stood by my side is defecting? I'll kill you myself."

"I'm not defecting, Ironwood. The moment I joined the military I was supposed to be a soldier that protected Atlas. Instead, ever since a month ago - I've been seeing you exercise your power, not to the benefit of us but an obsession over an ally."

"Ally?! That thing is and will always be a machine! Unfeeling and only used for the purposes of strengthening the military. You don't understand-"

"-understand? I understand you quite well now. I've had a hard time ever since that day. Knowing that the soldiers you sent were actually capturing a living being. How is that not different from the slave labor my late father uses? Then when he displayed aggression to Grimm, you still insist that this person is evil."

She breathes in hard to calm herself down from releasing her feelings. Putting the saber now toward her former leader.

"I've had enough Ironwood. Today has confirmed to me you are no more the General I admired." her voice shook from the mental pain. It was hard for Winter to accept it, but Ironwood's willingness to kill someone close is too much.

"It's a shame, you were a shining example to Atlesians. I regret doing this, Specialist... I'll replace you just like everyone else!" Ironwood whips his barrel around to Winter in front of him. He pulls the trigger as Winter easily dodges.

The shot instead was aimed at Weiss, surprised by the change in targets she almost raised her arms up in defense. She still had Aura but reflexively raised her hand in alarm.

Suddenly...

Ice covered the room. Hanns stared as his tracks retracted and attached back to himself, feeling Overclock deactivating and restoring him to his original look. 'The Winter Maiden.'

"Fria?" Ironwood asked, the shot he sent was intercepted by a wave of magic that blocked the shot in its entirety and froze Ironwood to the ground.

"I never should've trusted you." she had heard the large explosion and put an ear to the door. She wasn't allowed to leave but Fria still had the thought to examine the situation.

She was heartbroken. Ironwood was trusted and Winter was her favorite person to talk to. Still, she had problems with memory and Ironwood exploited it.

Ironwood had left his sanity behind, feeling the pressure increase and the day go from bad to worse, he tries getting out before he was restrained by Ruby and the Maiden.

"Winter, I don't blame you for this. Even if I had known Ironwood was keeping me here just to talk to you every day to make you inherit my power - I still would've enjoyed your company."

The winter maiden was an old and senile woman. She barely could stand without feeling the burdens of age but she held the conversation anyway.

"No, I don't deserve your forgiveness. I am ashamed to know I've only been talking to you because Ironwood was grooming me to be the next Maiden."

Fria nods, her aching back sending her a message only she could know. "Winter, I'm going to die."

"...What?"

Hanns rolled up from recovering and joined the talk. "She's not going to die. The onset of old age is probably reaching her right now. I doubt she's going to die any sooner."

The winter Maiden stared at Hanns, she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things again because of her old age.

"I don't want to accept it, Fria. All those times we just talked and you spoke from your experiences, I'll just feel guilty knowing all of those was just a ruse for Ironwood's plans." Winter spoke.

"Why do you think so?"

"I was a protector of Atlas but the moment I was tasked with a mission to Vale I doubted myself."

"That doesn't mean you should give it up."

"I can't help but feel remorseful, I was supposed to be the Maiden because Ironwood manipulated us both to ensure I would receive it. I don't deserve something when even I didn't see it. My sister is more deserving if that's the case, she's the one who saw Ironwood for who he is."

Fria looks around and sees the three standing and observing the conversation. "Well, will you introduce me to these... friends of yours?"

Winter points to her sister, her voice audibly raising a tone of happiness. "This is my little sister, Weiss." In response, she waves at the aging Winter Maiden.

"Ermm?" Winter looked at Hanns and Ruby who stood still obscured by the mask.

"Ruby, you dunce. Take it off."

"Woah, a little suggestive there don't you think Weiss?" Hanns quips.

Weiss' face instantly turned red before ripping off Ruby's mask. "You! You know what I meant." she turns to Fria. "Hello, this is my friend Ruby and this tank behind me is Hanns."

Fria had a questioning look as her eyes meets the barrel of Hanns' gun. He realizes he'd been receiving the same look over and over throughout his journey through Remnant.

"Don't worry, people have that reaction when they meet me. Anyways, we'll talk to you later. Winter, I have a request - lead the Command Center below. There's a revolution brewing and Weiss needs to satisfy them before Grimm starts resurging."

Ruby takes a canister from her belt and shoves it inside Hanns. She brings over Ironwood being restrained by Weiss and tosses him inside. Hanns feels Ironwood inside trying to claw his way out but lessens as the gas takes effect.

"The Great Trial shall begin."