#bc he could come back in that rocketship

[slythereen]

once again i am pleading with christian horner to realize just how cunty and diabolical and genius it would be to steal ferrari's golden boy aka toto's dream boy aka max verstappen's favorite rival

[mutable-manifestation]

Summer Vacation Summoning Shenanigans 2

idk when the batcave gets a Laz pit but the answer here is ‘not yet’ bc reasons

***

By the time Danny’s duplicate returns to him, Robin has finished - very thoroughly - tying up his captive ninja. And was now staring him down.

Red had moved to texting someone after ensuring Danny was belted in and putting the plane on some kind of autopilot - which, very cool.

He hadn’t been bored, though, looking over the plane interior with glee. 

While the exterior design was…a bit much, the inside was sleek and high-tech. It was no rocketship, but going over which controls were similar and which differed and trying to guess what they all did was plenty entertaining.

He was less than half-way through them when he re-merged with his duplicate. 

Luckily, Red and Robin were still occupied by that point, giving him time to focus on sifting through the memories.

He tries to stifle his laughter, disguising an escaped snort by pretending to cough into his fist.

Red apparently chooses that moment to be done with his phone (and damn, he sent some poor sob a book).

“Sorry about that; I had to update Batman.”

Danny let himself laugh at that.

“Bat-man? Not, like, Birdman or something?”

“Nope, the bat himself. Speaking of which; I was hoping you’d be willing to answer some questions?”

Robin chose that moment to plop into the seat next to Danny, who looked at him in askance.

“His vitals have stabilized; the tranquilizer has fully kicked in. There is no more need to worry about a surprise escape; by the time he awakes we will be back in Gotham.”

Danny hummed.

“So like, are you just dropping him off first? Or was the ‘taking me home’ thing a play on words that actually just meant ‘kidnapping me take 2: electric boogaloo?’ I mean, you don’t even know where I live; my place could be closer to here than to Gotham.”

“Your accent resembles nothing of Nanda Parbat,” Robin says.

Red picks up after him. 

“No, no, we’re taking you back to your home,” he clarifies, shaking his head and x-ing his arms. “You’re from somewhere in the mid-western United States, right? Gotham is the first US city we’d hit flying this path.”

“Illinois,” he answers, squinting in thought as he searches his memory for a ‘Gotham’ or a ‘Nanda Parbat,’ which, ha, ‘Par-bat.’ “I take it we’re somewhere in, like, Europe or something?”

The Robins share a look.

“Where is the last place you remember being before you were kidnapped?” Red asks.

“Illinois,” Danny shrugs, settling back in his seat. “Anyway, you can just drop me near Chicago or something and I’ll take it from there.”

Red huffs a laugh. “No need for that. I gave Batman your name and description; he’ll have coordinates to where you need to go in no time.”

“Well, that’s…” ‘Inconvenient,’ he thinks to himself, hoping for the first time that this is actually a different universe so he doesn’t have to come up with an explanation to cover for how he somehow ended up abroad without including the whole ‘being summoned’ thing.

The last thing he needs is to give them a reason to put him through the Ghost Catcher.

“...nice,” he settles on. Unconvincingly.

“Do you know why you were taken?” Robin presses.

Danny opens his mouth to answer, but pauses.

“Yep!” he concludes, eyes crinkling with his smile. “I’ll even answer that question if you answer one of mine first.”

The smaller Robin narrows his eyes suspiciously, Red asking “What question?”

He turns away from Normal Robin to look at Red Robin.

“What’s up with the ‘flying things’ theme?”

Red slow blinks, Danny can practically hear the dial-up noise.

He was probably expecting worse in exchange for ‘hey what does the murder club want?’

The smaller Robin answers while he is collecting himself.

“The Robin title is inherited, passed down from the first. It is a reference to the costume colors. Batman chose his name and costume as a symbol of fear, to intimidate the criminals of Gotham.”

“Oooooh, so it’s like a gang thing!”

Red Robin makes a choking noise.

“What!? NO! I- that- we’re heroes! Batman is a founding member of the Justice League!” He manages, face painted in disbelief. 

Robin, for his part, remains silent - though a brief glance out of the corner of his eyes reveals a pinched expression.

“Oh, right,” he nods along, deciding he is definitely not still in the same universe. Sweet, no worries about hiding the ghost powers then, especially since heroes were apparently enough of a thing to have some kind of support group or something.

“So does that mean you have bird-powers?”

“No,” Robin says. “And you haven’t answered my question yet.”

“Ah, right, Ra’s’ thing. He said he was trying to summon the ‘Lord of the Dead,’” Danny does air quotes along with the far-too-pretentious-title. Honestly, ‘Ghost King’ was bad enough.

“The ‘Lord of the Dead?’” Red echoes. “Summon? As in, with circles and blood-sacrifices and magic.”

“Yep,” Danny pops the p. “I wouldn’t worry too much though. He’ll probably be distracted trying to un-kidnap this guy and deal with whatever had his other guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off for a while yet.”

---------------------

Tim had left a call open to the batcave so the rest could listen in, and after Danny’s incredibly alarming answers about Ra’s’ current goal it was no doubt exploding with texts and suggestions in the groupchat. Good thing he muted it fully.

He feels a bit bad interrogating the guy, but time and memory don’t go well together. People often dismiss as unimportant things that are actually the key to breaking a case; the more thorough their questions, the more likely they prompted a memory that would give them the answers they needed.

Unfortunately, Danny didn’t seem to know much.

“Did Ra’s say anything about who this ‘Lord of the Dead’ is? Or why they were trying to summon him?”

“Nope!” Danny smiled. “Nothing about - who aside from the title, of course - or why, just that they did want to summon him. If you guys don’t have bird powers, what powers do you have?”

“We are not enhanced beyond what the average healthy human could achieve, though we are all highly trained in combat - some more than others - and skilled in detective work. We rely on skill, research, and preparation.”

And on and on; Danny giving uninformative answers then asking a question for each they’d asked on their ‘turn,’ and them giving carefully vague answers of their own.

One consolation is that he didn’t seem bored. 

For someone who claimed to have woken up less than an hour ago on the wrong side of the planet he’s just…relaxed. Calm. Seemingly unaffected, down to his microexpressions.

No signs of shock.

Of course, he’d treated the Lazarus Pit as a kiddie pool. 

And despite his words, he’d shown no recognition at the mention of the Justice League, and around half of his questions thus far had been about them.

Clearly something was up with him; whatever it was would probably explain the self-assurance.

He’d escaped from the League before they’d even known he was kidnapped, afterall. Tim and Damian really only solved the final hurdle for him. Even with most of LoA distracted with something, it was still impressive that he’d manage to slip whatever restraints and guard they’d undoubtedly had him under.

Which is, of course, when Damian asks.

“How did you manage to escape?”

Danny shrugs.

“Have you ever seen that thing that coyotes do where they get their leg stuck in a beartrap or something and they gnaw it off to escape?” he says, expression unmoved.

“You are a meta, then,” Damian concludes while Tim just stares at Danny in horror.

At that, Danny’s expression changes. 

“A what?” he squints, uncomprehending.

“A meta - or metahuman - is someone with a meta-gene, which grants them superpowers. Like how Flash is so fast: that’s his meta ability,” Tim says. “You still had all your limbs when you…dove into-”

“Wait, wait, back up,” Danny interrupts. “To be clear: I did not gnaw off a limb. That was meant to be a joke. So Flash is a ‘meta.’ Is that, like, common?”

Tim was beginning to suspect this guy either had memory loss, was an unlucky alien who only landed recently - just in time to get kidnapped by the League of Assholes - or was just really sheltered.

He’d also suspect some kind of Pit demon, given where and how they found him, but he has so far been nothing but polite and cooperative - if a bit…chaotic. In terms of questions he’s asked.

“I’m kind of surprised they bothered to form a group if there are so few people with powers,” Danny mused after Damian filled him in on the statistics. “Especially if most of them are as minor as you said.”

“Even just one person with strong powers can spell disaster if left unchecked - the League aids response times in that regard. Besides, it’s not like metas are all there is to pay attention to - there are plenty of villains without meta abilities, intergalactic politics to deal with-”

“Intergalactic? Are you guys doing things in space!?”

Danny was suddenly very close, nose just a hair's breadth from touching Tim’s own.

He swallows quietly.

“Ah, occasionally? G-green Lantern is. A Green Lantern. They’re basically space cops, so that’s…more his thing. Though a previous Robin did have to deal with a Gordanian-Tamaranean conflict affecting a Tamaranean ally - Starfire.”

Danny leans away - just a bit - as he speaks, seemingly basking in the information like a cat in a sunbeam.

“You’re allies with an alien? Ancients,” he breathes. “There are aliens. So cool.”

“Tch, of course there are. I already informed you of Superman,” Damian huffs, causing Danny to whip towards him.

“Superman is an alien!?”

They’d also mention Batman and Superman being close allies, which apparently inspired Danny to let loose the sea of questions he’d been holding back.

“What’s his species called? Is Superman a translation of his actual alien name? You never showed me a picture; does he look human or is he totally different? What’s his planet like? Have you been there? Is he comfortable in Earth’s atmosphere or does he have to use environment-adjusting equipment? Or is it well suited to him? Is that why he has powers, actually? Because the difference in planet allows him to thrive? Or are they an inherent trait in his species? What’s his culture like? You said Green Lantern was ‘A Green Lantern;’ is he an alien too? Or is that the space cops’ names? Are most space cops aliens? What about the Tamaranean person - Starfire? And the Gordanians? Where are they all from are they all from the Milky Way or are some extra-galactic do they allhaveenvironmentalneedssimilartoorlessthanhumanscantheysurviveinthevacuumofSPACE-”

---------------------

Once they get Danny to pause for breath - which takes an impressively long time - they promise to answer his questions with a gentle reminder that they’re supposed to take turns asking things.

If Danny was cooperative before, he’s downright eager now. He listens with near-religious awe to every answer they gave.

When it’s their turn to ask a question he becomes unnervingly still and stares with an intensity that has Tim half-concerned they’ll catch on fire for every second they aren’t talking - though luckily between himself and Damian the pauses are minimal.

His answers are both more detailed and more focused. 

If they ask if he saw any information about the summoning ritual, he only mentions catching a glimpse of ‘the summoning room.’ Asking what the room looked like nets a description of the columns’ styles and the general vibes, asking what things he saw in the room got them an exhaustive list, but if they wanted further detail they had to ask specifically about the item in question.

He had an awful lot of details for a guy who only ‘caught a glimpse.’

He also refused to give them details about what the circle looked like because ‘for all I know you could be lying about everything you’ve said so far and planning to use me in your own ritual as a sacrifice to summon the Lord of the Dead.’

He and Damian spend a few of their turns opening the internet on the batplane’s front window and showing him some articles and videos about themselves, Batman, Gotham, and the JL to get them to trust him.

He eventually says he’ll describe the circle to them if he can meet an alien. 

Appealing to his sense of self-preservation by explaining the information would increase their odds of stopping Ra’s does not help, nor does appealing to his sense of ‘helping others.’ 

It’s an introduction or the highway.

Not the worst outcome, given how many aliens they know.

The rest of the flight is spent like this.

---------------------

Danny is having quite possibly the best day of his half-life - and life, if he’s being honest.

Aliens! The universe he’s in has aliens! And he gets to meet one! Probably!

If Ra’s requests something that isn’t outright evil he’s honestly, genuinely considering granting it (in exchange for something, of course. Having a cool home universe is enough for maybe a deal, not for a freebie. Maybe he can ask for a regularly scheduled summoning to talk to the aliens? And all of the information Ra’s has and will ever have on aliens? Ooooh).

Not that he’s going to make it easy on him, of course.

And wow he is loving the information exchange with the Robins - they’re telling him about aliens and he just has to, what, describe a chandelier? A book? His opinion on the pool?

They ask a surprising number of questions about the pool. 

He gets twin dead-eyed stares when he asks if they’re thinking of installing a bird bath - yeah it cost him an alien question but there are only so many pool-related questions he can answer while ignoring the joke hanging right there. 

He had to.

When they finally land and exit into what looks like the inside of a high-tech barn, he can’t help but think they might just be sour that they didn’t think of it first.

“Not to be judgy, or anything, but I’m not really getting cave vibes here,” he comments as he descends the final step from plane to floor, looking up once he’s clear to watch the roof finish folding closed over their heads.

“Because this isn’t the cave,” an unfamiliar voice says, melting out of the shadows in a corner to reveal a purple-cloaked woman.

“Wait, let me guess: Purple Robin? Purple Bat? Peafowl?”

Purple snorts good-naturedly and shakes her head. 

“All good guesses, space cadet, but wayyy off base. It’s Spoiler, non-flying thing name haver extraordinaire.” She dips into a dramatic bow, eyes crinkled in what, even without her mouth visible, was obviously a grin.

“Ehhhh…” Danny tilts a hand side-to-side. “Spoilers can technically fly if you crash a car hard enough.”

“By that logic everything can be considered a flying thing,” Robin frowned.

“Well the Earth is hurtling through space at around half a million miles per hour chasing the sun through an endless void with no ‘ground’ in sight….”

“Well!” Red Robin ends the brief silence that had inspired. “We should probably head to the batcave, but for security reasons we can’t let you see how we get there-”

“Hey, does this smell funny to you?” Spoiler asks, holding up a bottle of what was almost definitely chloroform.

He can see Red and Robins’ mask eyes widening (somehow) and makes the split second decision to lean forward and take a deep breath of the bottle being held just high enough for him to stick his nose over it.

“Citrusy,” he says before pretending to fall unconscious.

***

*Timmy Turner’s Dad’s voice* “I’m respecting reality by acknowledging that chloroform doesn’t work like that but asserting my authority as The Author by making it work like that anyway”

Tags:

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Sorry if I missed anybody anyway here's part 2!

[hawkyon-days]

Some fic recs from my bookmarks

(Max is my favourite character and blind!max is one of my favourite tropes, which is why it's mentioned fairly often here)

light will prevail by mreads22: max-centric, blind!max (the first st fic I read, even before watching the show itself)

Pull Myself Together, You Could Watch It Happen by UniversallyEcho: complete, max-centric, not vol2 compliant (very little plot, but great characterization and one of my all time favourites)

the kids aren't alright by MaryPSue: complete, gen (season 1 au where all the Hawkins born kids realise they have powers, one of the best st fics out there)

We Will Be (Invincible) by HaneleHaralue: SIOC, chrissy&oc, eddie&oc (WAIT before you go away bc this is self-insert, I promise it's really good. There's no romance so far, and the mc isn't obnoxious)

Scientifically Proven by Unproductive_Fangirl: complete, post s4, elumax, blind!max (YES. a complete, elumax-centric fic. It exists!)

if being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side by Claire10: complete, post s4, max&mike, blind!max (watch these two wrecks have four emotional breakdowns in like an hour)

the few things he thinks he knows by endlesslytea: complete, post s4, byler, blind!max (lighthearted, not focused on the supernatural stuff)

let our walls cave in by andiwriteordie, kidovna: complete, post s4, byler, blind!max (party go to college together)

(anything by andiwriteordie if you like byler)

falling like the stars (falling in love) by bookinit: complete, post s4, elmax, blind!max

do not cry by givehimthemedicine: complete, s4 au, pre elmax (despite what the title says, prepare to cry)

Be My Eyes by givehimthemedicine: complete, post s4, elmax, blind!max (bit of angst and then pure fluff at the end)

And Who Are We At The End Of It All? by Caseys_Crying: post s4, steddie, ronance (lots of stuff ongoing, only about 1/3 done, parents find out)

more recs under the cut:

(it's you and me) won't be unhappy by nnegan13: complete, post s4, not vol2 compliant, lumax

you can't lose me by providing_leverage: complete, s4 au, gen (there should be more 'the parents find out' fics)

we can see the flipside by maxmayfield: complete, post s3, written pre s4, max&mike, lumax

The Party (+ Others) Watches Stranger Things by BewitchingNotes: complete, mileven (an actual complete and well written 'characters watching the show fic')

All We Do Is Drive by ShadeNeverMadeAnyoneLessGay: complete, steve&robin&max, blind!max

Goodbye Rocketship by OrangeChickenPillow: complete, not vol2 compliant, max&eddie friendship

she glows for everyone but herself by BackyardOwl: complete, jonathan&max, blind!max

deserving and not deserving by vissers: complete, post s4, will&max, blind!max (part of a 'will comes out to the party' series)

years and years by inblue: complete, lucas&erica

find a new place to be from by burnthatbridgewhenwegetthere: complete, post s4, will&el&max

hellfire (save my soul) by pholilomendron: pre s4, steddie

windowsill by MissAntlers: complete, post s4, steddie, max-centric

did I drive you away? by blvewcters: complete, pre s4, during s4, max&everyone (pain and suffering and tears)

Max Watch by geckohead: complete, during s4, max&everyone

i can give you a heartbeat by soupbitchin: complete, post s4, steddie (one of those "eddie is not actually dead and needs to find his way back" fics)

there’s blood in my ears (and a fool in the mirror) by fastcardotmp3: complete, pre s4 and post s4, steddie, eddie&max, blind!max (one of those "eddie is not actually dead and needs to find his way back" fics)

The Upside by harpiaharpyja: complete, post s4, hellcheer, eddie&max (one of those "eddie is not actually dead and needs to find his way back" fics)

(Not All) Those Who Wander Are Lost by Kedreeva: complete, post s4, eddie&max (one of those "eddie is not actually dead and needs to find his way back" fics, except it's more about the upside down as its own world)

standing up the dead by heartofwinterfell: complete, post s4, eddie&max (one of those "eddie is not actually dead and needs to find his way back" fics, but mostly max-centric)

The Fruity Four Beat 1983 To Death With A Nail Bat by TheKidReadingInTheCorner: complete, steddie, ronance (unserious time travel shenanigans)

took you for a working boy by pukner: complete, post s4, pre steddie (kinda humourly written)

[percyisgay]

chapter 1 !?!?!

uh hi percy i havent written much and so you only get like one chapter of soup so far since ch1 is just intro but have fun anyway its also pretty short green lantern is here also bc justice for my boy <3 --- You hastily drape your old messenger bag over a small chair, concealed out of sight in a corner of the library and sit down. The library is visibly aged in such a delicate way that each crack in the walls or peeling wallpaper preserves a unique story, all frozen in time and proudly on display. The walls twist and stretch for lightyears, holding repetitive books close to their heart as dull, winter light pours through the ornate windows, illuminating them in an undeserving spotlight. You rub your eyes as you remember why you came here in the first place, ending your admiration immediately. Home.  You simply want to get home, but that is impossible since you don't exactly own a rocketship. Your second hand coat and hand made accessories serve as a reminder that you don't necessarily retain enough money to buy out NASA, and even if you did, your home was completely destroyed years ago. The closest you can do is browse this relic of a computer in the corner of a dimly lit library, searching for anything to remind you of home. Your fingers glide across the keys and mouse but your little hunt for any information is brought to a dead end after the first search. You find all that comes up on Krypton is a few articles of “The Superman”. You don’t know who this guy even is, but he is starting to get on your nerves. What kind of conceited stage name is “Superman”, anyway? Maybe you are simply homesick and thus biased, but he is pissing you off. You begin to drag yourself up from your seat in defeat but are brought to a sudden halt by a voice from somewhere behind you, sending you into a small panic. Is everyone just out to get you today? “Superman, aye? You a fan?” The voice carries a strange yet fun accent.You turn and find the source of this friendly voice, a robust, chubby figure in a black and green skintight suit, wearing a pair of underwear over top very confidently. This guy seems completely out there, you like him already. “Uh, no, actually. I don’t really know who he is.” You respond, ending your speech with an awkward ghost of a chuckle. “Whaddya mean you don’t know who he is? He’s superman! And you got articles of him up right now on your little computer.” “It’s a long story.” “Well, lucky for me I’m curious and have nowhere to be.” Okay. So you’re doing this now. Are you seriously going to tell this random stranger in green underwear and spandex your entire backstory? He probably won’t believe you anyway. People don’t tend to believe strangers in libraries when they tell an elaborate story of being an alien from Krypton that escaped seconds before it exploded, spent a few years on some empty planet and accidentally ended up stranded here. Besides, you’ve never told anyone before and you’re not sure you want to start now. “I just wanted to know more about Krypton,” You break your speech with a slight cough, “and, um, well, all I could find was stuff about some ‘Superman’, so.” “Huh. Nice, that really wasn’t a long story at all. Ion know why you said that it was but it's cool.” You simply deliver an awkward smile in response, not sure what to say. “I’m guessing you've never heard of Green Lantern either then, huh?” “Nope.” “Ah, okay. Well, that's me! And Green Lantern happens to be super good friends with good old Superman to say the least and, uh, I could give you his number? He was born there ‘n’ shit. You can ask him whatever you like. I’m sure he’d be happy to talk about it.” Holy shit. You’re a few words away from information you’ve yearned for for years on end. Oh my gosh. “Really? I mean- that would literally be amazing. Thank you so much.” “Yeah yeah! It’s no problem! Give me your phone and I'll type it in.” That line causes the reality to really sink in. What if this random guy in a cheap looking mask, really doesn’t know shit? What if he’s some creep or stalker? You wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if that’s the case. But, then again. What’s the worst that could happen? You contemplate the weight of this situation for a few seconds before reaching into your bag and handing him your phone. “Jeez, how in the fuck do you see the screen on this thing? How’d you even manage to get it to look like this, it's basically cobwebs.” A large smirk breaks across his face as he looks up at you, amused. You would usually be offended by that, but he was definitely correct. Your screen is littered with cracks and dents from various incidents caused by your severe lack of spatial awareness. “Excuse you. I like to think it gives character.” He simply frowns at that, but you can tell it’s a smile. He finishes typing in what you’re hoping is Superman’s phone number, and hands you back your phone. “Alrighty, well I gotta admit that I did actually lie to you before.” Green Lantern begins. Oh fuck. Congratulations, you idiot! You just gave away your number to a random stranger in green budgie smugglers who is now definitely going to somehow find your home address now. Your brain begins to twist in horror and fear, and apparently your face does too since he starts speaking again. “Woah there! You ‘right? I didn’t mean to scare ya, I was just saying how I lied about having nowhere to be since I have lunch with Spiderman in about ten.” “OH. Oh, okay, cool cool cool, uh so do I just message Superman or-” “Yeah, basically. I’ll tell him about you A.S.A.P so he doesn’t block you on instinct or nothin’.” “Nice. Thanks! Thank you, so much.” You really can’t express the gratitude you feel right now and before you can try again, he’s gone. That was fast. Weirdly fast. The library is now clouded with surreal, off putting silence as if the world is waiting, anticipatingly for some sudden event to break the atmosphere but nothing comes except the muffled pitter-patter of rain. You decide to leave, there’s no use of being here anymore. You heave open the unnecessarily heavy door and your gaze flickers to the sky above, covered in an armour of dark storm clouds. You wince slightly as a few raindrops manage to fall directly into your eyes and begin your walk home. 

[firelxdykatara]

P1: The rwby fandom is being really weird about that scene with ironwood shooting slate huh? Cause it’s like you said: he doesn’t have a history of reacting violently to situations up until the very end of v7. Actually i remember ironwood being the one to stop winter from killing? (idk if she actually had the intent to kill but her blade was at his neck) Qrow in a fit of rage. And now you’re telling me Winter is terrified and shocked by ironwood killing slate. Idk i guess you could argue that

P2: that what ironwood did was a cold-blooded execution but still WHY? That still isn’t in-character for him from what we’ve seen so far. Maybe crwby realized that being afraid of salem doesn’t make james paranoid bc she’s a real threat so they decided to make james see threats everywhere. Threats that he desperately and “robotically”  tries to eliminate. This would solve some problems with the writing while creating a whole lot of other problems that i don’t even want to get into

Honestly, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head.

For whatever reason, the writers/showrunners (is there a meaningful difference for a show like RWBY? genuine question, I’m not sure how the production is structured) decided they needed another villain. I’m not sure why, since they have a whole slew of villains and more than enough obstacles to throw at the heroes by keeping Ironwood as a morally grey ally with an opposing viewpoint, meaning he could very well have become an antagonist without getting yeeted over the moral event horizon on a rocketship. But whatever the reason (his heart or his shoes wait wrong show), they wanted to add to their cast of card-carrying evil villains, and picked Ironwood, and by extension anyone following him.

Rather than setting this up volumes in advance, though--for instance, by showing him reacting irrationally, with unnecessary violence, and these reactions getting more extreme despite not having concrete evidence that Salem was acting--what they did was have Ironwood act as a rational, reasonable man, who had to make some very tough choices. He never reacted with unwarranted aggression to any situation before volume 7--again, his ‘I’d have you shot’ comment was delivered with sarcasm in a moment of irritation, but there was no heat behind it, and he certainly wasn’t threatening to actually shoot Qrow--and he had very concrete reasons to set up the embargo and close Atlas’ borders.

He knew about Salem--he knew everything the heroes know, except the fact that she is immortal and can’t be destroyed, a secret which Ruby chose to keep and which, in the long run, did more harm than good (and yet none of them reflected on why Ozpin might have been keeping that secret in the first place, but I digress)--and he knew that her agents were acting in Remnant. He knew they were behind the Fall of Beacon, and he knew they all remained at large. Not a single one of the instigators of Beacon’s fall was captured in the aftermath. For all he knew, Atlas, the greatest remaining bastion of military strength and the only kingdom that might have a chance at defending against her if she chose to make her move (which he had every reason to believe she soon would, since this was the first time in centuries that she had acted directly to anyone’s knowledge), was going to be their next target. While global communications were down, he had no way of getting fast and reliable information from the other kingdoms. He could not risk spreading his forces too thin in an attempt to protect them without that knowledge--which is why his focus was on Amity Arena.

Get global comms back up and running, talk to the other kingdoms, warn them about Salem, and then they might have a chance. This was a plan, by the way, that team RWBY was all for, even though it meant that he would be setting up the entire world to fail because they knew Salem couldn’t be defeated. Ruby encouraged him to keep diverting resources from Mantle to finish the tower as quickly as he could. No one so much as mentioned the fact that if he did, and he told the world about Salem, they would be gearing up for a fight team RWBY&Co knew they would not be able to win.

Not until after James told the people of Atlas about Salem--again, without the crucial knowledge that she was immortal and they could not fight her.

So, notably, the entirety of volume 7 we see James Ironwood reacting reasonably, and rationally, to very real threats. We know Salem is a threat, we know the world is in danger--shit, we know Atlas is in danger, because Watts and Tyrian are there causing chaos. We see him take in the news that Salem is immortal much more calmly than I think the situation warranted--I would not have blamed him for exploding then, because the fact is that they didn’t give him this critical information until after it was nearly too late to act on it. And now he had an entire kingdom of people who likewise are laboring under the false belief that they have a chance against Salem, that she can be defeated, if they stick together. Which the protagonists know to be false, because if that were the case, then Jinn would have said as much to Oz when he asked how she could be destroyed.

(Which doesn’t mean that RWBY won’t pull some sort of ‘actually she only said Oz couldn’t, because he didn’t have the ability to unite the world [even though that’s bs], so team RWBY can kill her with the power of friendship actually’ ending out of a hat, but still, when it comes to characterization, we have to go by what the characters know and what they might reasonably believe based on the information they have--not meta knowledge we have as an audience because we’re genre savvy and can see the writing on the wall.)

None of his behavior throughout volume 7 indicated that he was on the verge of a complete mental break with reality that would lead him to start shooting people, including a child containing the soul of his best friend, in cold blood let and right. But I suspect that the crew was relying on the fandom having decided that James must be a bad guy, because he’s a military leader and military = bad, and the Ace Ops are effectively cops and cops = bad (even though if we’re going to call the Ace Ops cops, then we need to be calling all huntsmen cops, including Weiss, who performed a legal arrest on screen; if huntsmen have the authority to act as law enforcement officials, they are cops, period), and since they are already mostly bad, performing (and condoning, since there were six witnesses, four of them armed with auras, who just stood there and looked at each other after watching Ironwood gun a defenseless man down) cold-blooded murder is just the next logical step. Of course James would just murder a guy standing in between him and power, he’s a military leader, they’re all evil!

Nevermind the fact that Salem is literally right there, and if ever there was a situation that called for martial law to be legally enacted for the continued safety and protection of the kingdom (there’s a reason martial law exists, and there are reasons it can be justifiably enacted and enforced!!!!!) this is it.

Anyway.... yeah. I am unsurprised by the general fandom reaction--nevertheless, I’m disappointed by it. And I hope for the day in some nebulous future where the very idea of nuance and gray morality doesn’t just make a majority of them break out in hives.