The Games We Play Pt. 2

Load Time

**See story description for disclaimer**

  Ironwood wasn't even trying to hide his gritted teeth now, the fingers of his human hand still twitching sporadically—but he stopped for a long moment to take a deep breath and nodded to himself. Slowly, he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, focusing on me as if trying to stare me down.

Needless to say, if that was what he was trying to do, it failed miserably.

"Does Ozpin know?" He demanded at last. "If so, there isn't much point in keeping secrets. He'll—"

"Ozpin doesn't know," I interrupted, doing my best to look bored. "At least not everything. Extreme circumstances or not, you can't expect the Headmaster of Beacon and a wanted terrorist to have regular contact. We work towards the same ends and against a common enemy, so we share information when it would be convenient, but it's an alliance of convenience and nothing more. I informed him of her movements a month or two ago and have been keeping an eye on her since, but we haven't been in touch recently, as there are few ways he'd be able to assist me—as such, I'll simply hold onto the precise details until it would give me an advantage to reveal it. Regardless, I hope you don't actually believe Ozpin would tell you everything, even if he did know. That man keeps almost as many secrets as I do."

Ironwood's face twisted in reluctant, annoyed agreement and he looked like he wanted to swear and punch something in the face. Before he could continue his questioning, however, Polendina cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. He and Ironwood shared another look before the General exhaled and looked away.

"Assuming what you say is true," The Professor began, looking at me cautiously. "Why do you care? While I could, perhaps, see why Ozpin would be willing to exchange information with you in the face of necessity, why are you willing to assist him? What do you stand to gain by doing so? I'd have thought you'd approve of tearing things down, given your...affiliations."

By that, he must have meant the White Fang. The implications of his words also helped to assure me that we were talking about the same individual and not two different people; I wasn't sure if theywere aware of who that person was, but they'd likely picked up signs of Cinder's actions, considering the bombings and thefts that had taken place in Atlas thus far. I'd briefly considered that they might have been talking about Raven, but even if Qrow had told Ozpin that she'd appeared and vanished...well, I doubted they'd be actively pursuing her. Given that they knew what her power was, they also probably know that if she didn't want to be found, she wasn't going to be.

Even so, I wasn't entirely certain how to respond. This was important information to reveal...but also delicate information, as it bore the risk of splashing over onto my allies. Best to handle this with a light touch, but to say enough to lead them in the right direction and make them wary.

"I can understand your confusion, given that you are unaware of the full picture," I replied calmly without missing a beat. "It's quite simple, really—she has chosen to associate with the White Fang, which is why I have chosen to associate with you."

There was a moment of stunned silence at that.

"What?" Ironwood asked, blurting out the words despite having apparently agreed to let Polendina talk. "Why?"

I made a show of considering that for a moment.

"She desires minions, I suppose," I mused. "Grunt labor and sacrificial pawns."

"I think what my friend meant," Polendina interceded. "Was that if the White Fang is working with her, why are you here working against her?"

I gave him a lot as if I thought the question was bafflingly stupid.

"Why would I want to work with her?" I asked. "I feel I shouldn't have to explain that she doesn't have our best interests in mind—while the proposals she presented were arranged such to make it seem as though it would be in our best interests to associate her, she intends to use us and then throw us aside once we've fulfilled our purpose. Whatever advantages we are to garner from this alliance are bound to be short-lived and her true plans will almost certainly harm us as well. Even beyond that, being a sacrificial pawn tends to be its own downside; hence 'sacrificial.'"

"Why work with her at all, then?" Polendina returned. "Why not simply break things off entirely?"

"You're afraid of her," Ironwood answered before I could, eyes widening very slightly as stared at me.

Yes. Yes I was. But please don't say stuff like that out loud, at least not so bluntly. I have a reputation to maintain here.

"Am I?" I asked aloud, making it sound like I was honestly questioning myself. Frowning slightly, I turned my head to look out the windows of the airship as I visibly mulled it over. "I can't say fear is something I'm much accustomed to—"

Lies and damn lies.

"But I will admit, I do not wish to fight her at present," I continued. "Even in the best case scenario, I can't say I find the odds favorable. While I am confident in my own survival, I suspect many of my subordinates would die if it came to a fight. I've done my best to apply pressure for Ozpin's sake, but there's only so far I can risk pushing her at present. As a General yourself, I'm certain you understand."

Ironwood grunted in what might have been acknowledgement, dropping his eyes to the floor.

"How long have you and Ozpin been working together?" He asked at last. "Was the White Whale all a setup?"

"Not in the way you are imagining," I replied, shaking my head. "We didn't have formal contact until afterwards and the White Whale was something that served my own purposes in liberating that town. Nonetheless, it also served as a form of...advertising, shall we say? Under the circumstances, a certain amount of competence is a necessity, and I was proving myself both to him and to the White Fang. This is not a matter for the unskilled or unprepared."

"And after you proved yourself," Polendina took over. "What then?"

"We approached one another," I said. "Despite our differences, in some matters we are in agreement, so we came to a deal of sorts."

"What kind of deal?" He asked cautiously and I waved a hand in dismissal.

"Nothing to egregious," I assured. "Rather, I thought it best that we simply establish the basics of where we stood. We agreed that certain matters took precedence and that other things should be put aside to deal with them—this matter perhaps foremost amongst them. To simplify things and smoothen our alliance, we also agreed to certain concessions. I, for instance, have agreed to try to restrain the White Fang for the time being and to avoid endangering innocents if at all possible. Similarly, he swore to avoid interfering with me and mine and not to interfere with my business. Exceptions were discussed and defined, of course, but all told it was quite simple; we agreed not to do anything that might make it harder to work with one another than it already is. As a sign of good faith, I've also done things such as this, preserving the lives of his allies and avoided harming his students."

"A generous offer," Polendina remarked. "I admit, I'm somewhat surprised you'd agree to such a thing."

"You shouldn't be," I said. "Truthfully, none of the terms are particularly difficult for me to abide by; I don't consider myself much of a killer, outside special circumstances. Perhaps my own experiences have biased me somewhat, but I don't believe we can afford to kill one another needlessly at the moment—and generally, my power means there is little need."

"And what circumstances do you consider 'special?'" Ironwood asked.

I tilted my head and considered my answer, going over what I remembered carefully before replying. Only a few people knew the full story—and I could trust them all, more or less. And as far as credibility building went, well...

Still, it wasn't a pleasant memory. I wondered if I should feel good or bad, seeing it put to use.

"Some months again, several of Ozpin's hunters ran into issues involving a Pandora Shell," I told him. "As a favor to him, I dealt with the infected Hunters before his cleaners arrived."

"Dealt with?" Penny piped up for the first time in a while. "How does one 'deal' with such a thing?"

I looked at her and smiled a bit sadly. The General and the Professor both looked like they wanted to interfere and say something else, but neither spoke even when I gave them a moment's pause to do so. Perhaps, even as they wanted to protect her, they were happy that they didn't need to be the ones to give her this particular talk.

"I killed them, Penny," I explained. "And put them out of their misery."