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cr-noble-writes · 10 months

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Criminal Justice in Asari Space

This came about from a conversation with @spacebunshep, @waidwn, @commander-krios, and @vesperfloyd on the Hatboy server on Discord. Also tagging @crescentbunny because you said you were interested <3

It is a bit of a long post, but I decided not to break it up because I think it makes the most sense if it all stays together.

The Asari criminal justice system, on its surface, doesn’t appear dissimilar to the criminal justice system of the Systems Alliance. On a closer look, however, there are several notable distinctions. Some of these come from obvious differences in culture. For example, the Asari criminal justice system is, in many ways, specifically built to handle criminals with biotic capabilities, something that the Systems Alliance continues to struggle with, despite human biotics becoming increasingly common. Others are less obvious, more pervasive, and use practices that would be considered inhumane by the Alliance, or any of the numerous Earth nations that chose not to become part of the Alliance.

Justicars will not be covered here, as they are a group that operate outside the criminal justice system.

Law Enforcement

The Asari law enforcement system can be broken down to three categories: Interstellar, Planetary, and Local. While there are some minor differences in laws and police forces based on locality, most of these categories have similar structures and function in relatively similar ways.

Interstellar

The Asari’s Interstellar Task Force is headquartered in the capital city of Istaiha on the Asari homeworld of Thessia, but has branches in every Asari colony throughout the galaxy, as well as the Citadel. The ITF takes primary responsibility for the enforcement of laws that apply to all of Asari space. Additionally, this organization is responsible for the policing of Asari space stations, which do not have their own local police forces. Their officers frequently come from the ranks of smaller law enforcement agencies, as well as Huntresses moving on from their service in Commando units.

In addition to enforcing law in Asari space, the ITF also works closely with smaller Asari law enforcement agencies to apprehend suspects that have escaped from the jurisdiction of those agencies. They have also, occasionally, joined with other interstellar police agencies to apprehend a criminal. Given the difficulty of determining jurisdiction, however, this is infrequent at best. Typically, in cases where jurisdiction is questionable, if it is within the bounds of Council space, Citadel Security—or a Spectre, depending on the severity of the crime—will assume authority.

Planetary

Planetary police forces in Asari space are comparable in function to the 21st century agency Interpol. Rather than being divided into several nations like Earth, however, Asari colonies are split into multiple city-states which all fall under the singular nation of the planet (i.e. Blackdamp is the capital city-state of the Asari nation of Asteria). As such, the Asari’s planetary police forces bear some resemblance to organizations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition to enforcing laws that apply across Asari space, law enforcement agencies at the planetary level are also charged with upholding the laws of their planet, which can vary significantly from colony to colony.

Local

As stated above, Asari planets are divided into city-states rather than separate nations. In addition to planetary police forces, each city-state has its own local law enforcement. These agencies are charged with upholding the laws of their locality in addition to the broader planetary, and interstellar laws. Cooperation between local law enforcement groups is far more common than it is with larger police agencies, particularly because jurisdiction is much more easily determined.

Common Law Enforcement Tactics

Unlike the police forces of the Systems Alliance, Asari law enforcement appear to operate under the assumption that a suspect is guilty until proven innocent. While they do employ investigation tactics similar to those seen in the more familiar law enforcement agencies of Earth, there are also key differences.

Witness Interview- In any crime, law enforcement officers will attempt to locate and interview witnesses. In Asari society, cooperation with police is highly encouraged, and witnesses are rarely treated with hostility when they come forward. In fact, witnesses that come forward are frequently offered varying levels of protection, depending on the circumstances and people involved with the crime. In addition to the standard questioning of witnesses, they are also offered the opportunity to give their testimony via melding with the interviewing officer*. Witnesses are free to refuse this offer, however it is considered to be a more accurate form of testimony**.

Evidence Gathering- As with most law enforcement agencies, police at all levels of Asari law enforcement are required to collect and analyze all possible physical evidence of a crime. The Asari have some of the most advanced forensic science and equipment in the galaxy. Despite this, it is still possible for it to go unnoticed if physical evidence has been tampered with, and mistakes that render evidence unusable do still occur. Suspect Apprehension- Because biotic ability is standard in Asari society, the apprehension of suspects is tailored toward containing biotic individuals. Police are equipped with biotic dampening handcuffs, and are permitted to use both physical and biotic force to apprehend a suspect***. Additionally, once a suspect is in custody, until they can be transported to a space intended for the containment of biotics, they are typically bound with biotic dampening arm binders that restrict any movement required for the use of mnemonics. There is also no limit on the amount of time a suspect can be held without being charged with a crime.

Suspect Interrogation- Suspects are typically interrogated by the ranking investigative officer assigned to the case. They are not entitled to legal representation at this point in the process. As with witness interviews, suspects are always offered the chance to prove their innocence via meld****. If the suspect’s innocence is confirmed, they are released from custody with no further action.

Once an investigation is complete and the investigating police force has determined they have enough evidence against a suspect, the case is sent to the appropriate Tribunal.

*According to some studies, many witnesses feel compelled to comply with this offer to meld because of the heavy societal pressure to cooperate with law enforcement. **There is some debate in the academic community as to whether meld-based testimony is, in fact, more accurate. Some evidence seems to indicate that while details can be discovered that police might otherwise not have access to, these details are not necessarily accurate to the actual events as they are heavily influenced by the witnesses personal perceptions. ***There have been several cases in which biotic force was used with death as the result. Because it is considered permissible force, no charges were brought against police. Families were, however, monetarily compensated when applicable. ****This offer is rejected far less frequently than the offer given to witnesses as the refusal of a meld to prove one’s innocence is often viewed as a tacit admittance of guilt. However, there are instances that appear to support the idea that submitting to such a meld is not necessarily the best course of action. There have been several corruption arrests, particularly among the planetary police forces, due to the misuse of these melds.

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Tribunals

The court system of the Asari is where the biggest differences between their criminal justice model and the model used by the Systems Alliance lie. Rather than trials by jury, the Asari have tribunals. Local tribunals typically consist of three Adjudicators, planetary of seven, and interstellar of fifteen. Additionally, there are Appeals Tribunals, which consist of the same number of Adjudicators at each level. Appeals cannot be presided over by any Adjudicator that served in previous tribunals for the case*. Once a case has been forwarded to the appropriate tribunal, the defendant is entitled to a Legal Advocate**. If they do not have an Advocate of their own, they may request representation from the Public Advocates Corps. While the PAC is funded by the overarching Asari Republics, every locality has their own branch, and they are often as well educated as an Advocate for Hire. The primary difference is that while an Advocate for Hire might specialize in a specific subset of Asari law, PAC Advocates are required to maintain a familiarity with all criminal law in their locality.

The government’s case will be presented to the Tribunal by a Magisterial Advocate, and will include any evidence gathered, witness testimony, police statements, and suspect statements. The Defending Advocate will present their countercase, which can include extenuating circumstances, evidence of violation of the defendant’s rights, testimony to the defendant’s character, and evidence of the defendant’s innocence, among other things.

The Adjudicators then review everything that has been presented to reach a Determination. Unlike the jury trials of the Systems Alliance, which require a unanimous decision be reached in order to deliver a verdict, these Tribunals only require a majority. If the Tribunal determines the defendant is guilty, they then use the arguments presented by both Advocates to determine an appropriate sentence for the crime.

It is possible for either the Magisterial or Defending Advocate to file for an appeal on any case. However, it is uncommon that an appeal is granted in the case of a unanimous Determination. Appeals Tribunals typically take into consideration all arguments made during the previous Tribunal as well as any new arguments. Additionally, they may take the behavior of the defendant as they serve out their sentence into consideration. Appeals Tribunals can uphold or overturn the initial determination. If they choose to uphold the initial determination, they may also adjust the sentence based on new information. This typically leads to reduced sentences or the defendant being released as the Appeals Tribunal considers them having served enough of their sentence to pay for their crime.

It is important to note that tribunal times vary greatly. In cases of Asari defendants, it can take decades for an initial tribunal to be held, and even longer for appeals tribunals. Great effort has been made to accommodate for the shorter life spans of most non-Asari species. However, for even those people, it can sometimes take years, particularly for more serious crimes.

Sentencing

There are few crimes in Asari space which carry a mandatory sentence, and there are no crimes within the Asari legal system that carry the penalty of death. Instead, Tribunals determine sentences based on the severity of the crime, the criminal history of the defendant, and extenuating circumstances. Sentences are likely to be more severe if the defendant has an extensive criminal history no matter what the crime committed was. Petty crimes typically carry fines or community service. More serious offenses carry fines*** and terms of incarceration. Of the crimes that do carry a mandatory sentence, forced/compulsory melding**** carries the longest. The minimum term of incarceration for an Asari convicted of this crime is 500 years, but the sentence rendered is typically a life sentence.

*This can present difficulties in smaller localities. Most often, if an appeal is filed and there are no Adjudicators locally available to preside over the Appeals Tribunal, the case is moved up to the planetary level of Appeals to ensure impartiality. **A defendant can refuse the presence of an Advocate, but it is highly discouraged unless they have an equivalent legal education and are capable of presenting their own case. ***Persons who are unable or unwilling to pay their fines during the allotted time are placed into a period of ‘Garnished Contract Employment’. During this period, they work for a company contracted to the appropriate government. Their wages are garnished up to 60%, and their term of employment lasts until they have earned enough to pay the fine with the appropriate penalties for late payment. Contracted companies are required to pay an amount (exact numbers vary depending on locality) which the person can live off of while paying their fine, and contain guidelines for the number of hours the person can work. ****Because of the importance of melding in Asari culture, forced/compulsory melding is not only frowned upon by society, but is largely viewed as a worse crime than homicide.

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The Prison System

There are no private prisons in Asari space, and the prison system is broken into multiple levels. There are special prisons specifically for non-Asari criminals, and three levels of increasingly secure prisons for Asari criminals. With the exception of the highest security prisons, their day to day function is similar to prisons found in the Systems Alliance. Prisoners are kept in secured cells, provided meals, necessities for hygiene, and time for socialization and other activities regularly. There are educational and vocational programs available, and supervised visitation is common. Melding is strictly prohibited within Asari prisons, as is the use of biotics by prisoners.

Guards at all prisons are equipped to handle both physical and biotic outbursts by prisoners. Additionally, violent behavior is often punished with solitary confinement. Repeat offenses can lead to a prisoner being transferred to a higher security facility.

Non-Asari Prisons- These are the second fewest in number, as sentences for non-Asari prisoners are typically much shorter, and the population of non-Asari criminals much smaller. While there are sections of these facilities specifically for the containment of biotic prisoners, the majority of the facility is intended for non-biotics.

Low Security Prisons- The lowest security Asari prisons are the most numerous. They are built to contain prisoners with low-to-mid level biotic capabilities that have committed non-violent crimes. Additionally, individuals incarcerated in medium security prisons can be granted transfer to low security based on their behavior.

Medium Security Prisons- These prisons are built to contain low-to-mid level biotics who have committed violent crimes or shown violent behavior while being incarcerated in a low security prison. Individuals serving sentences in high security prisons for non-violent crimes can be granted transfer to medium security prisons. High Security Prisons- These prisons are built to contain high level biotics and those who have committed extremely violent crimes. In addition to cells, these prisons also have a cryo wing. Prisoners who violate the prison’s rules or commit violent acts while incarcerated at a high security prison are placed in cryogenic stasis for a period of time*.

*Like many other governments, the Asari have been known to pay substantial fees to the prison ship Purgatory in order to relieve themselves of a particularly difficult prisoner.

#cr noble writes #mass effect #asari #asari law enforcement #asari tribunals #asari prison system #asari criminal justice #worldbuilding #meta

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girlactionfigure · 3 months

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ISRAEL REALTIME — "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

SHAVUA TOV - a good week, a good new month - when Adar comes we increase in joy! And hoping for a really bad week for our enemies.

🔻ROCKETS & SUICIDE DRONES from Hezbollah at northern border towns, x6, large barrages of “dozens” of rockets and very-large rockets each in huge barrages. Rockets as we write this to Ramot Naftali. Another alert as I’m writing, Even Menachem, Goren, and surrounds.

🔻HEZBOLLAH PUBLISHES VIDEO OF GUIDED TANK MISSILE HITTING AN IDF TANK.. on a base near the northern border. Video analysis, likely real - and hopefully the tank was not manned at the time of the top down strike. No way to know if the video is new or old.

▪️GAZA BATTLES.. over Shabbat intensive fighting between troops and Hamas operatives continues in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, as well as in the Strip's center and north. In western Khan Younis, the Commando Brigade raided several Hamas sites, capturing weapons and military equipment

▪️TARGET LEBANON.. Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the village of Jadra, some 60 kilometers from the Israeli border, three people killed or injured in the strike, later said to be a Hamas recruiter. Unusual for its distance into Lebanon. (Enemy report)

In addition to this targeted attack, the IDF heavily bombed sites in Lebanon all through Shabbat, such as “significant Israeli attack overnight between the triangle of the villages of Jebchit, Doueir and Harouf in southern Lebanon. A several-story building was attacked” and “IDF strikes in Marwahin, Markhaba and Kounine in southern Lebanon.”

▪️TARGET SYRIA.. (enemy report) Targeted IDF strike at a building in the Dimas area of Damascus. The building was destroyed and according to various estimates there are at least 2-3 dead

▪️HOSTAGE INVESTIGATION.. in Gaza hostage Yossi Sharabi was most likely killed by the Air Force bombing of a nearby building, per the IDF. Itai Sabirsky was murdered in cold blood by his captors.

▪️ECONOMY.. Moody's lowered Israel's credit rating, due to the war and the political situation, from A1 to A2. This increases Israel’s cost of borrowing.

▪️IRANIAN PROPAGANDA.. Iranian Foreign Minister: The Zionist entity and its supporters have achieved nothing after four months of war. (( Do they believe their own propaganda, not completely but YES. ))

▪️AID PROTESTS.. Because the police stopped blocking the protestors, the IDF stopped using Kerem Shalom for transshipping Gaza humanitarian because of the public view of soldiers pushing back hostage family members, Israelis who have lost their homes near Gaza and near Lebanon, and Mothers of Soldiers looks bad! Security official: “When the police return to enforcement against the protestors (pushing them out of the “closed military zone” that the IDF declared), the aid trucks will return to Kerem Shalom.”

▪️DEAD SEA STRIKE? (NOT) The Shiite militias in Iraq claim that today they attacked an Israeli target by the Dead Sea. No report of any such attack arriving by the IDF or other sources.

#Israel #Realtime War Updates #October 6 #Operation Swords of Iron #Hamas Massacre

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waheelawhisperer · 2 years

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On the topic of RWBY, and particularly Ironwood: it was my opinion that with Ozpin's secret still fresh in their minds, the police state Atlas fell into under Ironwood's control, and the secret commandos that reports only to him that arrested them, Team RWBY was fully justified in not trusting Ironwood even if he divulged excellent and honest information about a perfectly sound plan. However, I feel the failure in writing was that they never expressed that - Ruby just 'has a feeling'. Thoughts?

Yes, I do in fact have many thoughts on this one, and they've been a long time coming. I'd have gotten this post out sooner, but I had to rewatch Volumes 6 and 7 beforehand and take notes, and that took me forever. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long one.

To respond to the ask directly, I'll be honest: I don't think the writing failed to express that. The characters express their motivations behind the choice at multiple points throughout the Volume, and the narrative throws up red flags over and over again.

Let's start off by recapping the situation at the end of Volume 6:

Team RWBY's trust in authority figures has been severely shaken by the time they get to Atlas. In Volume 5, the following events occurred - Yang learned that Raven (someone who Tai has built up as a complicated but ultimately good person when talking about her) was a coward who was willing to hide behind her to avoid fighting back against Salem; Leonardo Lionheart sold the group out to Salem; Yang specifically mentioned "no more lies and half-truths" when she agreed to follow Ozpin. In Volume 6, the group learned that Ozpin was in fact continuing to tell them lies and half-truths (for justifiable reasons, from his perspective) and Qrow fell off the wagon and started actively hindering the group by forcing them to carry his dead weight. Then they had to deal with Cordovin being stupid and obstructive while Ozpin straight-up dipped and Qrow tried to give up. Every significant authority figure Team RWBY has encountered since the Fall of Beacon except for Maria Calavera and Saphron/Terra has let them down in some way at this point. Is it any wonder they're reluctant to trust Ironwood initially, even without seeing what's actually going on in Atlas?

Then the group actually arrives. Immediately, Weiss and Qrow, the two people most familiar with Atlas, note that something is wrong:

Ruby: Weiss, what is it?

Weiss: The Atlas air fleet... I knew all of our ships were called back, but...

Qrow: They're set up like they're expecting an attack...

(Volume 6, Episode 13).

Right away, before the group ever sets foot in Atlas, the show is sending us a warning: this is not right. This continues in Volume 7's first episode, which throws sign after sign that something is wrong in Atlas at us. Weiss mentions almost immediately that she's "never seen [Atlas's] forces deployed so aggressively before. If we land in a stolen ship, there's no way the security team will let us anywhere near Ironwood. They might even take [Weiss] back to [her] father." Weiss, the native Atlesian, the one who knows this Kingdom the best, tells Maria to put some distance between them and the fleet. Maria, who is also familiar with Atlas because that's where she got her cybernetic eyes, agrees without hesitation. Every character here that knows anything about Atlas except for possibly Blake has made it clear that something is wrong, that this situation makes them nervous... and then once the group descends to Mantle, the show starts absolutely bombarding us with evidence that the group was right to be wary.

As soon as we reach Mantle, Ironwood hits us with a propaganda broadcast with some serious 1984 vibes. Ruby and Yang are clearly worried by this and point out that Ironwood looks tired. Qrow questions what Ironwood's been doing. By this point, the group is visibly concerned about Ironwood's leadership of his Kingdom, and justifiably so. The fleet is deployed in unusual fashion, something is specifically up with Ironwood, and multiple characters familiar with how Atlas normally operates have raised concerns about their first impressions.

Then we touch down in Mantle and see android soldiers in the streets. The civilians aren't happy about this, as the below exchange demonstrates:

Civilian 1: Ugh, not these again.

Civilian 2: Why can't they just leave us be?

In this same scene, we also see Mantas deployed directly over Mantle (where they can't intercept threats before they reach the city, but can conveniently remind the people of Mantle how powerful Atlas is. Don't worry, General Ironwood will protect you... until you step out of line) and a pair of children throwing rocks at a surveillance drone. Our first impression is that the people are... less than enamored with their Kingdom's military. None of the people we see, none of them, act like the presence of Atlesian forces is in any way reassuring.

Weiss agrees. In her words, "this isn't right. None of this is right," (Volume 7, Episode 1). Again, Weiss is the person who grew up in this Kingdom. She lived in Atlas for 17 years. If any member of the group knows what the Kingdom is "supposed" to be like, it's her.

Yang proposes that they ditch the ship, and Qrow (who, again, has worked with Ironwood for years and is a generally well-traveled Huntsman who knows what Atlas was like prior to the Fall of Beacon), agrees. According to Qrow, they need to "get lost in Mantle and buy [themselves] some time" (Volume 7, Episode 1). He's worried about what's going on too, and is advocating for scouting out the situation before making any major decisions.

Weiss still has faith in Winter, right up until Winter decides to join Ironwood in the propaganda broadcast studio. The very first thing she says is this: "Failure to cooperate with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. If your sector is under lockdown…" (Volume 7, Episode 1).

That's it. That's the part of the broadcast that we get to hear. There's no attempt at reassurance. There's no attempt to spread unity or convince the people of Mantle that they'll be safe. There is only "comply or you will be punished", which is very part and parcel of Winter's leadership style overall, but that's probably the subject of another post in and of itself. The message Mantle is getting from Winter, and by extension Atlas, in this broadcast is simple: "do as you're told, or I will hurt you".

I'm not 100% sure what Winter means when she mentions sectors of the city being under lockdown, because that's never actually explored as far as I can recall, but just by reading the text and considering the context, we can tell that Atlas is exerting some form of direct, repressive military and/or governmental authority over specific parts of Mantle for whatever reason.

Next up comes this little exchange:

Qrow: No offense, Weiss. I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore.

Weiss: There's obviously something very wrong. If we can just talk to her, then we--

Qrow: Look, I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood until we know exactly what's going on with Mantle.

At this point, Qrow is deeply concerned. He's the most experienced member of the group, the one who's traveled all across Remnant, and the one who knows Ironwood the best, and he says maybe they shouldn't even be talking to Ironwood. Weiss reiterates that something is very wrong in the Kingdom. Again, these are the two who have the best idea of what Atlas is supposed to be like under normal circumstances. I know I keep belaboring that point, but I literally saw a post on r/rwbycritics yesterday that insisted that the group had "no real reason" for mistrusting Ironwood and another one that argued that the Yellow Trailer was bad because Junior and the Malachite twins weren't as important to the plot as Adam, so I kind of have to beat the audience over the head with my points to make sure they get through to the lowest common critical denominator.

For the record, it's Qrow who's making the initial choice to not trust Ironwood, not Team RWBY, even though they're the ones who get all the blame for it. Qrow is the one who says they need to get lost in Mantle to buy time to figure out what's going on, and he's also the one to flat-out raise the possibility that maybe Ironwood shouldn't be trusted at all. The others are wary, but Weiss focuses on contacting Winter, and the rest of the group hasn't taken a particularly strong stance at this point.

As Maria leads the protagonists through the street, we get some interesting background details that are easy to miss on first watch (I certainly did). There are Atlesian Knights stationed throughout the streets, and we see the following headlines on a news board:

"Missing Journalist Found Slain"

"Election Imminent Mantle Hometown Hero vs Atlesian Tycoon"

"Embargo: The Right Call? Pressure and Criticism Continues to Mount on Council"

"Outer Wall Damaged Resources Stalled"

This tells us right here that the people are not happy with their government, that someone is killing members of the press, that there's an election coming up that will be important later, and that the city of Mantle is vulnerable and not getting the resources it needs to shore up its defenses. Honestly, I don't blame anyone for missing this, because it's very easy to overlook unless you're specifically paying attention to the details, but it provides important context regarding the situation in Mantle.

Jaune notices the increased military presence too:

Jaune: Is this many soldiers normal?

Weiss: No. At least, I didn't think so.

Again, the show (via Weiss) is making it as clear as possible that Something Is Wrong in Mantle.

Next up, Yang gets her picture taken by a surveillance drone, because getting up in your citizens' faces and taking their pictures without their consent is the sign of a free and open society, and we continue moving through the city, noting as we do that the propaganda reels are still broadcasting. The other members of the group start voicing their opinions at this point.

Maria: You have to remember, the Kingdom had just lost the Great War. The people of Mantle needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was Atlas. After all, a home in the clouds is as bright as it gets.

Nora: Unless you're the one having to look up at it.

Blake: This whole city, it just seems awful.

While Maria's talking about a city in the sky, the people on the ground see trucks moving through the streets, carrying dirty, disheveled, dispirited miners in their beds. Maria's words bring to mind the aesthetics of Mantle in comparison to the bright city in the sky: dirty, grungy, polluted, industrial, miserable. Mantle is very gray, very dark, very brown, unlike the clean, white, light blue, futuristic Atlas. Blake and Nora are unimpressed with the ideal, given that they're looking around them at the people it left behind.

After a brief altercation with a pair of drunks, who, once again, make the point that Mantle is not in a great spot right now, and also racist, we arrive at Pietro's pharmacy. The pharmacy, like everything else in Mantle, is not in great repair, as Yang points out. Pietro starts giving the protagonists the lowdown on Ironwood, establishing both that the Fall of Beacon changed Ironwood, made him paranoid, and that the Council is so scared it'll agree to anything he wants. Taken together, this is not a good sign: one paranoid man who has already been established as prone to solving problems with military force is in control of a Kingdom and the checks and balances that would normally restrain him are not functioning as intended.

An alarm interrupts the conversation, and we follow Team RWBY and company outside, where Oscar observes that "the city defenses aren't doing much", which Nora says "doesn't surprise [her]" (Volume 7, Episode 1). We see a group of Sabyrs attack a squad of Knights, taking them apart without any sign of difficulty, because Atlas's hardware is consistently garbage and its doctrine is consistently stupid. The same pack of Grimm gets dismantled by the heroes and then Penny, but our touching reunion is cut short when another alarm goes off elsewhere in the city and Penny flies off to deal with that.

Meanwhile, the group makes the mistake of relaxing and immediately gets jumped by the Ace-Ops, who were conspicuously absent when people were actually in danger, but are absolutely on top of things when arresting people who did something useful. Keep in mind that during this arrest, the Ace-Ops ambushed the protagonists without so much as a warning or a request to stand down. As a result, the protagonists have no clue what the hell is happening. Oscar asks "What's going on?!" (Volume 7, Episode 1), while Qrow points out that he's "a licensed Huntsman! Just helped save everyone?" (Volume 7, Episode 1). Pietro wonders what the Ace-Ops are "even doing down here in Mantle" (Volume 7, Episode 1), to which Clover responds that they "heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed Huntsmen" (Volume 7, Episode 1).

Let's go over what this sequence of events tells us about Atlas and its attitude towards Mantle, shall we? First, Grimm attacks in Mantle are so frequent that they happen twice within a few minutes of screentime, and the city's defenses are such a joke that a pack of Sabyrs can penetrate deep enough into the city to reach an area that took the group several in-universe minutes to walk to. The Atlesian Knights are so useless at their stated job that they get stomped by basic mook Grimm so weak that fucking Jaune kills two of them with minimal effort, but hey, at least they're good at reminding the citizens of Mantle who's really in charge. The Mantas and battleships deployed above Mantle do not take part in the engagement in any way and make no effort to prevent the Sabyrs from reaching the city to begin with. What they do accomplish, if they accomplish anything at all, is intimidating the populace.

According to Forest (the protestor in Volume 7, Episode 2), the Ace-Ops are "the elite-of-elite military Huntsmen and Ironwood's personal attack dogs" (Volume 7, Episode 2), and having an encounter with them means "Ironwood must really have a bone to pick with [the protagonists]" (Volume 7, Episode 2). Despite this, despite their status as elite Huntsmen, the Ace-Ops do not engage the invading Grimm at any point on screen during this sequence of events, but they are right there to capture the people who actually do the moment the threat is gone. Again, these Huntsmen are not keeping Mantle safe, and usually aren't even there to defend a city under regular threat from the Grimm. They are, however, able to locate and apprehend the protagonist group with little difficulty, which tells us a lot about where Ironwood's priorities are.

The "use of unauthorized weaponry" thing is also very telling to me, because this is a world where humanity lives under a constant existential threat and thus the ability to own a weapon and defend oneself from the Grimm seems like something people on Remnant should be fundamentally entitled to, but evidently not in Atlas. Nope, in this Kingdom, you need government permission to protect yourself from giant monsters that want to eat your face. Maybe it's because I live in Texas, where gun culture is pervasive, but this restriction definitely feels... off... to me. Remnant isn't the real world, where I fully support stricter gun control, because in the real world I'm not likely to be eaten by a Hulked out grizzly bear while walking from the bus stop to my office while the cops who are supposed to stop it from ripping my head off are too busy arresting the guy who shot it before it could kill me for not having a concealed carry permit. It makes sense for people to be armed in Remnant in a way that isn't necessary in the real world because the people of Remnant face real and pervasive threats that don't exist in reality, and Atlas arresting the protagonists for having weapons is a sign of executive overreach if that's truly the driving force behind their arrest, rather than the unauthorized airship landing in Mantle. Whether it is or not, it's still presented as part of the justification, which means the problems I mentioned still apply.

In fairness to Ironwood's supporters, the show goes to great lengths to present him as an ally, a good guy, despite all the red flags he's been throwing up since his very first appearance. A key accomplishment of the writing, necessary for the ultimate resolution of Volume 7, is making it seem like Ironwood is doing his best to do the right thing, that all the problems we've seen are temporary rather than systemic, that the initial bad impressions were the result of a miscommunication rather than a fundamental ideological opposition.

Let's go back for a bit, all the way to Volumes 2 and 3, where Ironwood demonstrates that his solution to everything is military force. We see him wrest control of the Vytal Festival's security away from Ozpin by going behind his back, but Ironwood's conviction regarding his own rectitude is set against Ozpin's negligence, his failure to anticipate the threat and respond appropriately. One does too much, the other does too little, and neither is 100% in the right.

In Volume 3, when Ironwood's equipment is compromised, we see him personally protect the students and civilians evacuating from the Amity Colosseum, attempt to retake his flagship, and then fight on the front lines in Vale. Yes, Cinder exploited his mistakes and attitudes and blind spots to cause the current crisis, the narrative says, but look at him! He's fighting bravely to protect the vulnerable! Qrow says he knows Ironwood would never deliberately do something like this! He's a good guy!

Once we get to Volume 4, we're already getting hints of where Ironwood's paranoia and authoritarian tendencies will lead him. Jacques calls him out on his embargo and points out that Ironwood is a friend with whom he has a close working relationship, thus tying Ironwood to the bad things the SDC does, but we're encouraged to ignore that because it's being directed at a heroic character by a villain who we already know abuses one of the four main protagonists. Like, at this point in the story, we're obviously going to pick Ironwood over Jacques, given that Jacques is the villain of Weiss's Volume 4 storyline and Klein and Ironwood are her main allies. It's very easy to overlook the implications of Ironwood's behavior when the thing in the forefront of our minds is "get Weiss away from her abuser".

In Volume 6, Cordovin gives us a glimpse of the arrogance that characterizes Atlesian society, but before we have the chance to cement the hypothesis that it's endemic to the Atlesian military, Maria defuses it by proposing that Cordovin holds her post because Atlas wants to get rid of her. This changes the story's presentation of Cordovin's attitude: instead of her views being pervasive, Cordovin's just a prick that even the other Atlesians can't stand, especially when contrasted with the warmer and more generous Ironwood. Ultimately, Cordovin proves to be courageous and heroic and not so bad after all in the Volume 6 finale, when she finishes off the Leviathan and goes against protocol to let the heroes travel to Atlas. It makes Atlas seem like a Kingdom that's a bit blunt and arrogant and hidebound, but ultimately well-meaning and leaves us inclined to give Atlas the benefit of the doubt once the story takes us there.

Let's head back to Volume 7 proper, because the story continues showing us the warning signs and then sweeping them under the rug by providing harmless alternative explanations for them before we even meet Ironwood. When Forest is in the police airship, he introduces the Happy Huntresses and their fight for better conditions in Mantle, their attempts to mitigate the damage done by the class divide and exacerbated by Ironwood's policies, but then the soldiers flying the aircraft point out that what he actually did was throw a brick at their ship. This changes our perspective of Forest from someone unjustly arrested for fighting back against a tyrannical government to a bonehead who is justifiably being punished for attempting to damage government property. It's no accident that the show does this, reframes the Atlas/Mantle conflict, right before we see Ironwood.

Once we actually arrive at Atlas Academy, the writing immediately humanizes Ironwood, and by extension Atlas as a whole: Winter insists that the cuffs be removed, Ironwood apologizes for their initial arrest, and Yang is really the only one who bothers trying to hold Atlas accountable for it, because Yang's tolerance for bullshit from sketchy authority figures is the lowest of the main group's at this point. Ironwood just kind of laughs off the group's theft of an airship (Winter is less inclined to do so, but she still frames her concern in terms of Weiss's physical safety more than anything else), he returns the Relic of Knowledge, and he brings them into his inner circle. Ironwood has demonstrably reached out to trust others with his secret knowledge (Winter, Penny, the Ace-Ops) and has even acknowledged that the group is justified in thinking he's not very trustworthy right now*. He tells them his plan, agrees with the group's assessment of the negative impacts of his actions, and then reveals new information that offers a justification for his policies and promises to defend all of Remnant. It's meant to convince the viewer that he's a well-meaning leader making difficult choices that create temporary hardship while he works toward a permanent solution and hide the way that Atlas fundamentally doesn't give a shit about Mantle or its struggles. Judging by the reaction of certain segments of the fanbase, it, uh... worked.

*As an aside, I always find it funny when people act like not trusting Ironwood is some kind of horrific sin, like Team RWBY should have accepted his authority unquestioningly, when even the man himself admits that he can see why they wouldn't, but whatever.

The narrative continues trying to convince us that ha ha, this was just a wacky misunderstanding, when the Ace-Ops get properly introduced and immediately rush to apologize. Suddenly, they're cute and funny and sincere rather than threatening, gushing over the protagonists and participating in the same type of slapstick comedy as the other heroic characters. The Ace-Ops become mentors over the next few episodes, rather than antagonists, alternately supporting and lightly hazing the protagonists while training them and working with them on routine Huntsman missions or the Amity project. The training montage shows the kids growing closer to the Ace-Ops, and it's clear by the end of the Volume that both groups genuinely care about one another, otherwise their ultimate opposition wouldn't have cut everyone involved so deeply.

The narrative continues building Ironwood up as likeable and well-meaning throughout the next few episodes. When Jaune calls Ironwood out on his treatment of Mantle in Pomp and Circumstance, Ironwood accepts it without argument and even agrees, even when Jaune's worried about the response - "No. No, you're right. Things in Mantle have been... hard to manage lately. I'm not blind to its issues. In fact, that's what I want to talk to you about" (Volume 7, Episode 4). He gives the group their licenses two years early, he acknowledges their concerns and encourages them to take missions to help Mantle, and he's set up in opposition to established villain Jacques Schnee. He even gives an awkward speech that makes him seem a little goofy, and Penny points out that as awkward as it is, it's still an improvement over previous attempts. At this point, the narrative is just screaming that we should be rooting for Ironwood.

Even so, there are a lot of details in the background that tell us that yeah, those red flags we were worried about in The Greatest Kingdom are still there. They didn't go away. Watts mentions that "while cybersecurity has been stepped up in Atlas, as usual, none of the code was updated in Mantle," (Volume 7, Episode 2), while Tyrian calls Mantle "a city with a thousand eyes" (Volume 7, Episode 2) and we see security cameras all around the city. The infrastructure functions well enough to let Atlas keep tabs on Mantle, but nobody's put any effort into protecting that same infrastructure from cyberattacks... even though Atlas was deemed worthy of that effort. Once again, the point of Atlas's so-called defenses is controlling Mantle, rather than protecting it.

On top of that, Atlesian law apparently gives the military the right to commandeer private property. Jacques complains about Ironwood taking over the mine the protagonists clear out in Ace Operatives. Ironwood responds that since the mine is "now the site of a classified military operation, it didn't even require a vote" (Volume 7, Episode 3), a fact that shocks Jacques. This is... a pretty significant application of government power, especially for someone like me, who's used to thinking of things in terms of American government and the powers therein. While the United States government can take private land for public purposes through the process of eminent domain, it must compensate the landowner fairly for the land claimed in this fashion. Jacques was not compensated, and, as far as I can tell, may not have even been formally notified by the government, nor do there appear to be any checks on the military's ability to seize property as long as that seizure can be justified under the "classified operation" umbrella, but the narrative doesn't really give us much time to dwell on that. Instead, it focuses on Jacques's confrontation with Weiss and Ironwood and Team RWBY standing up for her. Once again, the story near-instantly deflects our attention away from the ugly truths behind Atlas's pretty mask.

This is freaking dangerous, honestly. In Atlas, it seems that your property can be confiscated at any time, with no warning or compensation, as long as the military can provide the flimsiest of justifications. Sure, taking the mine had a legitimate purpose, but what's stopping someone with Ironwood's power and authority from just taking other property to harm or punish a rival or dissenter? The middle of Volume 7 makes a big deal about the military's lack of oversight, but I'll get into that later.

Even the missions the protagonists go on reveal cracks in the foundations. Marrow makes fun of the parents down in Mantle for wanting Huntsmen to escort the kids to school, claiming that there's "not actually any danger, but the parents fret, and that attracts Grimm" (Volume 7, Episode 4), but frankly, from what we saw in The Greatest Kingdom, those parents are right to be afraid. Grimm routinely penetrate deep into the city, both through the streets and through other paths, as Elm asks for volunteers to flush a "massive Sabyr" (Volume 7, Episode 4) out of the sewers. If I had a kid in pre-primary school, which I'm assuming is equivalent to preschool in the US based on the appearance of the children Jaune escorts, I'd sure as hell want to make sure they didn't get eaten on the way too!

The decision not to trust Ironwood is controversial even in-universe, and the group discusses it in the third and fourth episodes of the Volume:

Blake: I suddenly don't feel as bad about leaving Oscar behind.

Yang: Can we talk about that again?

Ruby: What about it?

Yang: We're really not gonna tell Ironwood about what happened to Oz? What we learned about Jinn? About Salem?

Ruby: We are. We will. But you saw how things looked when we flew into Atlas.

Blake: The General's heart seems to be in the right place, but that doesn't mean we should trust him yet.

Weiss: We need to play along for a while before we make any major decisions.

Yang: Okay. How did Oscar feel about that?

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Ruby: Er, probably shouldn't keep running around with an ancient Relic on a keychain… you know?

Oscar: But--

Ruby: I know you'll keep it safe in Atlas.

Oscar: Ruby, hiding things from Ironwood, doesn't that feel like what Ozpin did to us?

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Qrow: Big day for you, huh, kiddo?

Ruby: It's… definitely a lot to take in.

Qrow: Which part? The finally getting to Atlas part, getting your license part, or the not quite disclosing everything to Ironwood part? Or… all of the above?

Ruby: All of the above. I'm trying to do what I think is best, but I really can't tell if what's best is what's right, or if I'm no different from Oz.

Qrow: Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You're trusting others, but you're making sure they prove themselves first. I think that's a pretty big difference.

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It's clear from these conversations that nobody's really happy about lying to Ironwood. Yang's detractors love to call her a hypocrite for supporting the decision to lie to Ironwood, but she's the first one to raise concerns about it, despite all the valid reasons for the choice, and Ruby reassures her that they will tell Ironwood eventually. Funnily enough, Yang gets so much flak for following Ruby's lead here, but she also gets bagged on for not obeying Ironwood's authority unquestioningly later on in the Volume. I wonder what the difference is here. I really do.

Ruby emphasizes the fact that she doesn't know if this is the right choice, and multiple characters actively draw a parallel between her actions and Ozpin's. The key difference here, as Qrow points out, is that Ruby intends to grant Ironwood full disclosure later on, once she's sure he'll be able to handle the news, whereas Ozpin would've kept his secrets until the end of time, and did play his cards as close to the chest as he could until Ruby used one of Jinn's questions to learn what he was hiding. Ruby does ultimately come clean, trusting Ironwood at the same time as he chooses to trust Robyn and Atlas's Council, so she's not just maliciously deceiving Ironwood the way some people like to claim.

Even later, when Yang and Blake tell Robyn about the Amity project, the divide remains. Here's the conversation where Blake and Yang discuss telling Ironwood:

Yang: Do you… Do you think we should've told Ironwood about Salem, before he put so much on the line for Amity?

Blake: Sounds like you do.

Yang: I trust Ruby, but I think he deserves to know what he's stepping into. We all did.

Yang: You don't agree.

Blake: Look around. The embargo, the military presence, the restrictions on assembly. He's a bit prone to overreacting.

Yang: Yeah, hard to argue with that. Still, he didn't have a lot of good options.

Blake: I'm not sure there are many good options left for any of us anymore. Keeping secrets, taking lives? It makes you wonder how far we're gonna have to go to keep doing the right thing.

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Yang, "the self-righteous hypocrite", remains consistent in her characterization: being upset about lies and lying, about hiding the truth and having it hidden, has been a thing for her since like Volume fucking 2, but people who pay no attention to anything act like this came out of nowhere. Yang's big conflict with Ozpin is about how she feels like she and her friends were manipulated into joining the battle against Salem without ever being told enough to make informed choices, so it's no wonder she's upset about leaving Ironwood in the dark: it's exactly what happened to her!

Blake, meanwhile, spells out exactly why not trusting Ironwood is eminently justifiable. I really don't know how much harder the narrative can hit the audience over the head with this theme, but evidently it needed to find a way to do it harder.

Something really interesting to me is the way the group splits between favoring Ruby's choice and protesting it. The ones who agree with not trusting Ironwood the most have all been in abusive situations: Blake was in a relationship with Adam, Weiss has an abusive father, Nora's mother literally abandoned her to the Grimm, and Qrow was treated like shit by the Branwen Tribe. By contrast, Yang and Ruby had a more normal home life (Taiyang's temporary struggles after Summer's disappearance notwithstanding) and the show hasn't provided any evidence of either of them having romantic relationships of any kind prior to the series, much less abusive ones, while Ren's parents clearly loved him and nothing about the limited details provided regarding Oscar's living situation implies that he was abused in any way. We see Ironwood grow increasingly abusive throughout his decline in Volume 8, and Winter, another person raised in an abusive household, responds to his behavior with the same ingrained reactions she would have used to protect Weiss from Jacques when he tries to shoot Marrow. She's also absolutely freaking terrified when Harriet rats her out. Taken together, I think this is a deliberate choice from the writers. I think the characters who have experienced abuse saw something about Ironwood that made them wary.

So by this point most of the audience is now firmly on Ironwood's side. He's managed to overcome the initial bad impression, despite those niggling little details, so now the narrative introduces sympathetic opposition in the form of Robyn Hill. We've heard of her before, but we don't get to actually meet her until Sparks, when she holds up the truck that Ruby, Penny, Qrow, and Clover are escorting on a supply run. The transcript of their conversation is below:

Ruby: Uh, Uncle Qrow.

Qrow: What's going on? Grimm?

Clover: No. Worse. You two with me. Penny, stay put and keep an eye on our six. We may need an element of surprise.

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Interesting start to the conversation here. Clover considers Robyn worse than the Grimm and is worried that their encounter might come to blows. This suggests that Robyn is living up to her inspiration and protecting the downtrodden by violent means if necessary and that Clover views her as a more significant threat than your average Grimm or bandit, despite the fact that she's running for a Council seat specifically to better Mantle's lot.

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Penny: Affirmative. I will plan for six possible outcomes.

Robyn: Alright ladies, time to show them our teeth.

Clover: Robyn! Well, if it isn't Mantle's home town hero. Is there a reason you're blocking an official military transport?

Robyn: Clover, I'm so glad you're here. Maybe you can help me understand why this truck that's supposed to be taking construction materials to fix Mantle's outer wall, is on its way to the middle of nowhere? Are you lost?

Clover: It's pretty easy to get turned around out here in the tundra, everything looks the same. Thanks for checking up on us though. We'll be on our way now.

Robyn: I was hoping you'd play it straight with me. What's Ironwood doing with Amity at the old SDC mine?

Clover: Oh, that. Just giving her an annual checkup.

Robyn: The next Vytal Festival isn't anytime soon. Only automated drones and a few select Atlas scientists are allowed out here. And Amity's getting invaluable resources we need in Mantle to protect against Grimm. Seems like more than just a check-up.

Clover: You've been scoping it out.

Robyn: We can't fix the wall without the supplies on these trucks. I think Mantle deserves to know what they're being used for. It doesn't have to be difficult. Just tell me.

Clover: I'm going to have to pass on that.

Robyn: How 'bout you, pipsqueak? Five o' clock shadow? Either of you want to tell me why Mantle's being put at risk for Ironwood's pet project?

Ruby: We're trying to help Mantle. We need--

Clover: That's enough Robyn. As a potential Councilwoman, you should probably focus on the election instead of harassing Huntsmen. Now, it's time to let us pass.

Robyn: I think you've misjudged the situation. One way or another, these supplies are going to get where they're supposed to go - Mantle.

Clover: Then I suggest you do that through the proper legal channels as a Councilwoman. If you get elected.

Robyn: Now where's the fun in that?

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This conversation tells us a lot about Robyn's operational patterns, and they remain consistent throughout both Volumes 7 and 8. First, she initiates dialogue. She gives Clover a chance to just tell her the truth, hoping he'll meet her halfway. When he doesn't, she asks some more pointed questions, hoping to convince him to come clean once he realizes she knows more then he thinks. Clover stonewalls her again, and she starts applying a bit of pressure. By this point in the conversation, she isn't even trying to convince him to hand over the supplies. She's just asking what they're being used for. My reading of this scene is that if Clover had given her a genuine answer, if Clover had taken her hand and told her that yeah, there's a real strategic reason supplies are being diverted from Mantle, she would have accepted it, backed off, and focused on the election... but he doesn't, so now that it's clear that Clover is not going to address her concerns, she moves to force as a last resort. Robyn even reaches out to Ruby and Qrow, trying to get them to offer her an explanation, before deciding that she's going to take the supplies that Mantle desperately needs by force.

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Penny: Robyn Hill. I would like to politely ask that you call off the Huntresses approaching the rear of the truck.

Robyn: Alright. Joanna, May!

Robyn: The Protector of Mantle, huh?

Penny: Let us through, please.

Clover: Robyn. Good luck at the election.

Qrow: That was a close one.

Clover: You're telling me.

Fiona: What now?

Robyn: I want to know why Amity Colosseum is suddenly so important. Whatever it takes.

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Robyn backs down once Penny reveals herself, though I'm not sure if that's because she thinks the odds are against her or because of either the genuine moral conflict or simply the optics of forcing a confrontation with the official Protector of Mantle. Either way, she's still focusing on why Amity Colosseum is a priority, rather than getting the supplies for Mantle no matter what, which implies to me that Robyn is still willing to accept a valid explanation for the Amity project. She's still trying to solve things diplomatically. She's trying to help Mantle and incurring real personal risk in doing so. Contrast her with Jacques, who's only concerned with his personal wealth and is spewing cringeworthy platitudes about how his family "has been weathering the same storm as many of you" (Volume 7, Episode 5), which goes over great with the miners slaving away for his company. We get some interesting headlines during his press conference, which I have transcribed below:

"Missing Journalist Found Slain In Her Midtown Apartment"

"Perimeter Wall Damaged Last Month - Resources and Funding Are Stalled"

"Surface Level Grimm Attacks Increasing - Mantle Protection Agency Advises Staying Indoors"

"Weather Special - How to Keep You and Your Family Safe From Hypothermia and Frostbite"

Ironwood's opponents are still being killed. Mantle's defenses are still crap, and no one in power has bothered changing that. Grimm attacks are increasing, to no one's surprise. The Solitas cold is still dangerous. We're pretty well-insulated with our viewpoint characters up in Atlas, but the show is quietly reminding us that it's not all sunshine and rainbows down in Mantle.

Jacques closes down his facilities and lays off workers, starting a riot, and the next episode opens up with those same rioters arrested and cuffed. Once again, the soldiers aren't doing much to stop the frequent Grimm attacks, but when it comes to turning force against Mantle's populace, there are plenty of troops available. Despite all this, Robyn is still trying to solve things diplomatically. She's not condoning the rioting, even though Mantle is "being denied aid for the hardships [it's] already had to go through" (Volume 7, Episode 6), and asks that her supporters "show [their anger] not in the streets but at the polls today" (Volume 6, Episode 7). Sure, part of this is probably because she thinks she's going to win the Council seat, but she is trying very hard to keep lines of communication open and encourage peaceful solutions as long as doing so is tenable.

After the riot, Nora mentions that Mantle is, y'know, still a problem. Ironwood kind of acknowledges this, but he doesn't actually take steps to solve that problem, which is becoming a common theme with him at this point: someone points out that his policies are hurting Mantle, he agrees and expresses regret for the necessity, he promises that the strain is only temporary, and then he never actually does anything about it. He puts the burden on Robyn to be open to working together when he says "it will only work if she's open too" (Volume 7, Episode 6). Fortunately for Ironwood, the audience is still on his side at this point. We've seen that he's trying, we've seen that Robyn is willing to reach out when she tries to get Clover to give her something, anything, out on the tundra, so we have hope that things will get better, even though we know as viewers that things need to go to shit to progress the narrative... which they do, at the rally, where we see that there are surveillance drones present and not even bothering to not be invasive. Damn things would probably try to follow you into the bathroom if they got the chance. Atlas is always watching you, folks, but it's not to keep you safe...

Post-massacre, Ironwood starts really clamping down. We start the episode off with a measure that should freak the absolute hell out of American viewers specifically, transcribed below:

Ironwood: Citizens of Mantle - Following the most recent Grimm attack, a temporary prohibition of assembly is in place.

Ironwood: There are to be no public gatherings of any kind. Please conduct your business and return to your homes before curfew.

Ironwood: This is for your own safety.

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Ironwood has denied the people of Mantle the right to assemble. Here's why I said it should send up massive red flags for American viewers: assembly is a right explicitly granted in the Bill of Rights, the first ten formal amendments to the United States Constitution. It's part of the First Amendment, as a matter of fact. Here is the text of the amendment for anyone not familiar with it: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

"Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble". That's the important part here. While Atlas is not real-world America (it's based partly on America, but is not a 1-to-1 representation), RWBY is made by an American company for a primarily American audience, and I sincerely doubt the writers are unaware of the implications of showing a government infringing upon rights that damn near every American old enough to have taken a government/history class is well aware of. This was a deliberate choice, it has to be, and it shows very clearly that Ironwood is less concerned with protecting Mantle and more concerned with controlling it. Oh, he couches it in terms of protection, but the populace of Mantle doesn't seem to agree with him. The citizens hide and flee from the soldiers, rather than looking toward them for safety and reassurance. Children on the street hide from surveillance drones. And Robyn Hill has finally resorted to violence.

Robyn has no options left. She tried to do things the right way. She tried to do things legally. She tried to work with the people in power. And none of that got her a damn thing. Jacques Schnee is sitting on the Council, and she knows he won't help Mantle. Ironwood won't help Mantle. Councilors Sleet and Camilla won't help Mantle. Three of the four Councilors have neglected Mantle for months at minimum, more likely years. The other one is Jacques Schnee. Robyn is the only one who will do a damn thing for Mantle at this point, and if that means taking on the might of Atlas, so be it.

This leads into the most significant line of dialogue in this entire mid-Volume election storyline: "I want Robyn Hill in custody" (Volume 7, Episode 7). I'll get to the implications of that in a moment, but first I'd like to discuss the way the narrative brings up martial law. I've seen people go after Winter for saying this, and I can sort of get why, but I think blaming her for it ignores the context of the scene. First, Ironwood is literally the highest military authority in the Kingdom and a control freak on top of that. The idea of declaring martial law is not something likely to ever be far from his mind. Winter's answering a direct question by bringing up an alternative that her boss is hardly likely to be ignorant of, and I don't think she's advocating it here. If she was, she would've encouraged it in private, not brought it up in front of the only group of people that has actually consistently gotten Ironwood to back down, that she knows will protest any measure of this nature. I think Winter's raising the possibility of martial law because she doesn't want it placed in effect, because she hopes the protagonists can get through to Ironwood again and moderate his more dangerous tendencies.

It works, kind of. Nora calls Ironwood out. It's a confrontation that's been building since the start of the Volume, and while I really think Nora's stance on Mantle should've gone to Blake, who got absolutely jack shit to do in a story arc where she should've been front and center next to Weiss, it's still the first big moment where the show says "okay, yeah, Ironwood's at serious risk of going from the well-meaning good guy we saw in early Volume 7 to an outright danger to the people he thinks he's protecting". Here's the transcript:

Nora: You're not actually considering that, are you?

Ironwood: What's more important? Establishing communications, unite the world? Or appeasing a few city blocks?

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Ironwood reduces Mantle to "a few city blocks", rather than a city full of living, breathing people that is the main reason Atlas is even possible. The mask is starting to come off. It's getting harder and harder to deny that Atlas only really views Mantle as something to exploit.

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Nora: Don't make it sound trivial when you know it isn't. You keep talking about how we just need a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle.

Ironwood: We have all had to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, yes, but--

Nora: They're bearing all of it! The longer this waiting game goes on, the harder each day gets for people down there and now you wanna send in more soldiers? You can't just force people to fall in line. If you do that, you'll just be trading all of these problems for the Grimm!

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Thank you, Nora. Mantle is the one suffering. What sacrifices has Atlas made? Who in Atlas is living in fear of constant Grimm attacks? Who in Atlas is losing their jobs? Who in Atlas has been stripped of essential rights, denied at gunpoint? Sure, soldiers have died clearing out Grimm (at the hands of the Geist that hunkered down in the mine, if nothing else), but that pales in comparison to the way Mantle's civilians don't even have a fucking functional wall to keep the Grimm out. Ironwood sacrificed his damn reputation. He sacrificed public opinion. Meanwhile, people in Mantle don't know if they'll survive the trip to work, or if they'll even have a job when they get there.

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Ruby: Please, General Ironwood. Squeezing Mantle this way… That kind of division plays right into Salem's hands.

Ruby: That's why Tyrian is here framing you.

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Ruby's right. Salem's plan specifically hinges upon exploiting Ironwood's character flaws, particularly his stubborn insistence on doing everything himself, in the way he thinks best. Tyrian states that "if General Ironwood comes to his senses and calls upon aid from Vacuo, all may be lost for us" (Volume 6, Episode 9). Salem is deliberately targeting Ironwood, and he's falling right into her trap by fostering division and unrest instead of unity.

Anyway, the reason all this came up in the first place was because of Robyn. According to Ironwood, "Robyn has emboldened our suppliers in Mantle. They're refusing to sell us provisions until the city is adequately repaired. With Robyn redistributing the goods her team has stolen, the Amity Project is completely stalled" (Volume 7, Episode 7). This line is why the insistence that Robyn accomplished nothing by stealing the supplies has always baffled me. Ironwood literally says that Robyn's actions have given Mantle enough of a backbone to stand up to Ironwood and Atlas and enough teeth to make Atlas take its defiance seriously. The connection, to me, was always pretty clear: Robyn takes supplies, Mantle isn't completely and utterly dependent on Atlas and now has leverage to demand better treatment, Mantle demands better treatment. Robyn's vigilante justice got results. r/rwbycritics really likes to whine about how the supplies Atlas needs for the communication tower aren't the same as the supplies Mantle needs to repair the wall, but this absolutely galaxy-brained take ignores the way that the narrative repeatedly points out that the supplies for the Amity Project are being diverted from Mantle (Sparks, Worst Case Scenario) and that the communications tower requires construction materials that have a wide variety of industrial uses (steel, concrete, etc.) in addition to highly specialized parts and equipment. It's not really a stretch to assume that building materials for the structure of a tower could also be used to repair the damn wall, but I guess it's easier to crap on Robyn for defying Ironwood's policies, which the narrative has explicitly pointed out are harmful to Mantle, than think for two seconds.

Now we get to the elephant in the room: "I want Robyn Hill in custody." In custody. That's what he says. Not "under arrest". Not "stopped". Not "brought to trial". In custody. Ironwood wants Robyn under his control, he wants her removed as a threat, and he doesn't give a damn about the law or her rights to get it.

I don't blame anyone for not realizing the implications of his phrasing right away. I certainly didn't. I needed a tumblr post I saw a while back to point it out, just the same way I'm going to now. The key to understanding why Ironwood's words are so insidious comes in the next episode, when Jacques Schnee casually invites her to his victory bash. Robyn shows up alone, with no backup, and none of the Council members except for Ironwood have a problem with it. Ironwood makes no attempt to arrest her, even though she's alone and he has both his personal goon squad and the apprentice goon squad all within 100 feet of him. Robyn, a trained Huntress, walks into a room with three Councilors, none of whom have any training or possibly even Aura, and none of the three bat an eye. They don't see her as a threat.

How is this possible when Ironwood was trying to apprehend her last episode, you may ask? Simple: he never got a warrant. He never tried to formally arrest her. He sent a team of Navy SEALs if Navy SEALs were also cops to black bag her off the street. This was a black operation, so highly classified that Atlas's highest civilian authorities didn't even know about it. Ironwood tried to kidnap his opposition in the middle of the night. There was no warrant. There was no trial. He never formally charged her with a crime. He didn't inform civilian authorities that he was issuing orders to arrest Robyn. He just sent his squad to grab her with no oversight, no accountability, and no concern for due process or the rights of the accused. Between this and the confiscation of the SDC mine for the Amity project, it's obvious that the Atlesian military regularly engages in classified operations without bothering to brief civilian authorities, which is a major red flag because civilian control of the military is meant to reduce the risk of a military coup. It's why the President of the United States is also the official commander-in-chief of the US Armed Forces. There are no such checks and balances on Ironwood.

Robyn gives no fucks about any of that. Oh, she's smart enough to put the pieces together when Ironwood's team tries to nab her and she gets invited to a party not a day later by another Councilor, but she also has testicles the size of her head and knows it's the last chance she has to help Mantle without taking on the entire Atlesian military, so she goes anyway. In addition to having massive genitals, Robyn's also smart and knows how to play politics. Notice how in both Cordially Invited and As Above, So Below, she uses the name "Atlas" instead of "Mantle". That's a deliberate choice. She knows she's the only one in that room who gives a damn about Mantle, so she frames it in terms of the part of the Kingdom the people she's appealing to will care about. It works, sort of. Once the whole scene in the mansion is over, Mantle and Atlas are presenting a united front for once and we get the last bit of hope before the climax of the Volume, but even then, the devil is in the details.

While this whole election plotline is going on, the narrative is still slipping us hints that Atlas is not to be trusted. Pietro points out that "hacking into Mantle's system would be easy. Fortunately, the rest of Atlas is running on an upgraded network" (Volume 7, Episode 7). Once again, Atlas gets the upgrades, Mantle makes do with the scraps. The heating system, which is all that keeps the people of Mantle alive in the Solitas cold, is stuck running on this outdated infrastructure, and nobody has bothered to upgrade it. Remember as well that Tyrian and Watts are successfully framing Ironwood for the murder of his political opposition. For that to work, the people of Mantle have to be so disillusioned with Atlas's rule that Ironwood using force to eliminate his political opponents is believable to people he's supposedly protecting.

Up in Atlas, Ironwood's trying to come up with a response while his robots break up groups of people trying to survive in deadly weather conditions instead of engaging the Grimm drawn by the negativity. Robyn suggests using the air fleet the way it was supposed to be fucking used in the first place, but Ironwood shuts that down when he points out that "if [he] move[s] the fleet, then Atlas is vulnerable. I… I tried to keep the kingdom safe. And now we're losing everything" (Volume 7, Episode 9). Mantle is under attack now. Mantle is vulnerable now. The troops on the ground need support now. Ironwood still refuses to deploy the fleet. His priority is still Atlas. It was always Atlas. It will always be Atlas. Mantle will never be more than an afterthought as long as Ironwood is the sole person in charge. It only ever becomes anything else during the brief moments where he reaches out and starts working alongside people who actually care about Mantle.

The battle itself, as we eventually come to expect from Atlas, is a nightmare. A massive herd of Megoliaths waltzes right into the city and the only thing stopping them are a few soldiers on the battlements and some droids standing in the hole in the wall that still hasn't been repaired. The battleships never engage anything. The battleships aren't even visible during the scenes set in Mantle... but you can sure as hell see them when we cut back to Atlas Academy. We see them right out Ironwood's window. They're still protecting what Ironwood thinks is really important, while the people in Mantle don't even have adequate shelters:

Blake: Head to the nearest shelter!

Yang: Those shelters are gonna fill up soon.

Elm: They're all we've got. We just have to hold off the Grimm.

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

Protecting Mantle is a losing battle until Ironwood finally commits to evacuating everyone, and even that doesn't last long. The moment Cinder spooks him, he's ready to abandon Mantle to its fate.

To sum things up, Ironwood only ever helps Mantle when he can do so without working for it, when someone pressures him into it, and he stops doing so as soon as he can. He routinely denies his citizens essential rights, defaults to force as a solution to problems, insists on controlling everything around him, and actively believes that sacrificing his own humanity (and sacrifice in general) is the only way to beat Salem. Taking everything I've talked about into account, it's not surprising that Team RWBY doesn't trust him, nor is it surprising that some members of the audience got lured in by the reassurances the narrative offered to soothe away the fears the state of his Kingdom evokes.

This would've been even longer and maybe even had some pretty pictures, but fucking tumblr posted it before I was ready, so that's just one more reason this platform can eat shit.

#rwby #analysis #james ironwood #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #robyn hill #oscar pine

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eretzyisrael · 3 months

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Israeli counterterrorism forces foiled an October 7-inspired terror attack overnight on Tuesday, targeting a cell hiding and planning the attack from the Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin, the West Bank.

According to a joint statement by the IDF, Israel Police's YAMAM counterterrorism forces, and the Shin Bet, Hamas terrorist Mohammad Jalamna was killed during the operation, along with two fellow terrorists who hid alongside him at the hospital.

27-year-old Jalamna, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp, held direct communications with Hamas leadership abroad. According to the statement, he was responsible for transferring weaponry and ammunition to Hamas terrorists across the West Bank for shooting attacks targeting Israelis.

The Israeli commando forces entered the hospital dressed as doctors and nurses, as seen in CCTV footage shared on social media.

'Planned to carry out October 7-inspired attack'

Furthermore, Jalamna used the Jenin hospital as a secret base of operations as he was planning an infiltration attack akin to and inspired by the October 7 massacre, it added.

Along with Jalamneh, Mohammed and Basel Ghazawi, brothers and Palestinian terrorists, were also killed by Israeli forces. Mohammed was a terrorist operative of the Jenin battalions who was involved in numerous attacks including firing at IDF soldiers in the area in recent weeks, the IDF said.

Basel was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative involved in terror activities in the area.

Hamas's use of hospitals as bases of terror

The security forces stated that for a long time, a large number of wanted persons had been hiding in hospitals and were using them as a base for planning terror attacks and carrying them out, and that they believed that the hospitals would serve as protection against Israeli security forces.

The statement said that the operation was made possible due to accurate intelligence received before the operation, and an operation of this nature was unprecedented.

One senior official stated, "There are no cities of refuge in the West Bank and there will not be - every terrorist should know this. The hand of the IDF and the security establishment will reach everyone."

#hamas #gaza #west bank #jenin #ibn sina hospital #mohammad jalamna #mohammed ghazawi #basel ghazawi #idf #shin bet

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damascus301 · 6 months

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#gloves #gloved #leather gloves #glove #copgloves #cop gloves #policegloves #police gloves #black leather #leatherfetish #leather #gay leather #blackleather #commando sweater #commando jersey #military

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mrsbuckybarnes1917 · 10 months

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FINDING YOU: One Year Later

Summary: You're in a relationship with Steve Rogers, but his best friend just always seems to be around!

Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings: This came out longer than I thought!

MASTERLIST

One Year Later

Lines of worry creased the skin on your temples. Getting a call from the police about your boyfriend was never a good sign. It seemed a little odd to you that they had requested your presence in Kissena Park in Queens. Your hands squeezed the steering wheel repeatedly as you waited for the lights to change, you were only two blocks away from the location coordinates you’d been sent.

Fucking finally! you thought as you shifted the gear to park and hopped out with your phone.

It didn’t take long for you to catch sight of a patrol car with the door of the backseat open and a sullen Bucky sitting behind the partition. The officers appeared to be rather relaxed and you contemplated your approach. There wasn’t any need to introduce yourself, one of the officers spotted your arrival.

"You the S.O.?"

"Yeah. What's going on?"

"He's been lurking around the park. A family complained that they found it creepy. Now we know Sergeant Barnes is an Avenger and we wanted to confirm that he is acting under the orders of the correct authorities. He said you were his S.O.. Can we see your credentials?"

You wanted to slap yourself across the forehead. They clearly meant superior officer, not significant other. It was a good thing you carried your S.H.I.E.L.D. identification with you everywhere, even though you technically weren't an active agent any more.

"Ma'am, we're happy to release Sergeant Barnes to you. I hope we don't receive any further complaints."

"No problem officer. Thank you for the call, it's most appreciated.” You jerked your head at Bucky, trying to look authoritative. "Let's go."

He followed you back to your car sullenly, getting into the passenger seat. He looked at the floor, almost looking like a child who was waiting to be scolded for his behavior.

"You OK?" you asked.

"Yeah," he grunted, offering nothing by way of explanation to his actions.

"You going to tell what happened back there?"

If there was one thing Bucky was good at, it was the vacant stare.

“Look Buck, you know I don't want to force you to do anything but I just had to use my ID to get you out of trouble. Just because you're not on parole anymore, doesn't mean they won't use any excuse to throw you under the bus. Don't you think I deserve some kind of explanation?”

This time Bucky looked up at you, anguish clearly etched across his face.

You sighed, taking his hand and leaning back on your seat. After a few moments of silence, you reached out to start the car. Just as you were about to press the ignition, Bucky spoke.

"They're my family."

Whatever you expected from him, this was not it.

"What?" you asked in disbelief.

“They're my sister's kids… and grandkids. I thought-” he paused, struggling to find the right words. “I thought it might help me… to remember things about who I was before… before all this. My sister, she always used to make me laugh when I was down. I thought if I had something of hers, a photograph even, it would be-

“They kept all the Howling Commando uniforms, all those recordings of our tactical briefings, and so many other things at the Smithsonian. But they said all personal artifacts were returned to family members.

“Anyway, turns out, she grew up, got married and had kids. And their kids had their own kids. She's gone now, my sister. I don't know what I'd expected.”

You squeezed his hand in sympathy. “Why didn't you go over and talk to them?”

“And say what? Hi, I'm your Uncle Bucky, I've been a brainwashed assassin for the last 70 years but I'm back now. Let's have dinner together?”

“Well I probably wouldn't have quite put it like that, but that would be the basic gist.”

“Do you think they'd even want me around, near their children?”

“Sam doesn't seem to have any problem with you hanging out with his nephews.”

“Sam knows me.”

“I mean, there is an easy solution to the problem. You could let them get to know you? I get it, Buck. It's scary. But I'd give anything to be able to have my sisters back."

You rarely spoke to anyone about your past before S.H.I.E.L.D. Not many people knew that your older sisters had been killed by HYDRA. It was the reason you'd joined the agency in the first place.

“I know.” He squeezed your hand gently.

“Whatever you want to do, I'm here for you.”

“Can I say something stupid?”

“Wow, might be the first time you’ve asked permission, normally do just go ahead and do it.”

Bucky deigned your response with a side eye and the tiniest of smiles.

“What if they don’t want me?”

“Then they don’t deserve you.”

Bucky sat in a contemplative silence, mulling over your words. After a few minutes, you started to feel a bit restless, wondering how long you were expected to sit in your car watching him think. It wasn’t that you minded significantly, but you’d been about to eat when the cops had called and your stomach felt like it had started digesting itself.

Just as you were about to say something, he spoke.

“Will you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“Tell them.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well last time they called the police because they saw me. I’m not sure how they will take it if I just walk up to them.”

“Fair point.”

“You should probably go, they usually leave around now.”

“Bucky!”

“Please?”

His voice was soft, his eyes pleading. He didn’t ask you for much in your relationship, always happy to do the things you enjoyed because he was happiest seeing your face filled with joy. How could you refuse? It’s not that you wanted to refuse, you’d go to the moon if Bucky asked you, but you were afraid of how things would turn out for the man you loved.

“Alright, alright. I’m going.”

You hopped out of the car and made your way over to the large group that Bucky had pointed out to you.

"Excuse me? Hi!" you called out. Why did you sound so strange? How did you still find these social situations intimidating? You were an agent, a doctor and a teacher, why was it so hard to start a social conversation with a stranger?

"Hello!" A short brunette with blue eyes responded to you. "Can I help you?"

You introduced yourself. "I'm here on behalf of… my-" you sighed. Why was this so difficult? Time to change tact. "I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. I believe you're descendants of George and Winifred Barnes. Is that correct?"

"Yeah. Why are you looking for us?" An older man piped up, coming closer to you. "What do you want?"

"Uncle Scott! You don't have to be rude!"

"Becca, you can't trust these people."

"I'm actually here about a member of your family." You looked directly at Scott. "Your mother's brother."

"My mother's brother? You mean my uncle? Uncle Bucky? Mom told us about him. He's dead. He was a World War 2 hero."

"Yes! Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, 107th Infantry Regiment. He still is a hero.”

“You sound like you’re in love with a dead guy,” Becca snarked at you.

“Actually he isn’t dead. That’s why I’m here. He wants to meet you.”

“What?” Becca’s gasp was incredulous. “He would be well over a hundred years old!”

“One hundred and six to be exact!”

“So a dying man wants to meet his family? What has he been doing all this time? All these years nothing, and now suddenly on his deathbed he wants a family reunion?.”

“Becs,” Her uncle put a hand on her shoulder. It was nice to see the closeness of their relationship.

“Yeah about that. He isn’t dying. During the war, HYDRA… the Nazis took him prisoner. Everyone thought he was dead. They brainwashed him, kept him in cryostasis and only unfroze him to commit some horrific crimes. You may have read about him in the news a few years ago, the Winter Soldier? He isn't the man you have heard about. He is a veteran with some pretty severe PTSD. But he is a wonderful man, who wants to know his family. The question I have for you is; will you have him?”

“So it’s true? Uncle Bucky is the Winter Soldier?” Scott asked.

“He was. He isn’t anymore,” you reassured him.

“What does he want from us?” Becca looked at you with an element of suspicion.

“He wants to know his family. Almost everyone he knew died when he was taken prisoner."

"Why now?" Kimberly joined the conversation. "Hi, I'm Kim. This is my daughter Rebecca."

"You named her after your mom," you smiled.

Kim nodded. "She used to tell us stories about her big brother when we were kids. Usually when she wanted us to get along."

You laughed, Kimberly seemed a bit more relaxed and accepting of the situation.

"I think it might be a good idea for you to discuss this amongst yourselves before making a decision. Maybe you could call me or text me your decision?" You held out your card to Kimberly, but it was intercepted by Becca.

"Thanks, we'll get back to you."

You nodded. "Thank you for your time."

As you walked back to your car, you knew Bucky's sharp eyes followed every step. You tried to keep your expression neutral but you knew it wouldn't allay any of his anxiety.

"What happened?" The words left his lips before you'd even sat down.

"They said that they wanted to discuss it as a family and that they would let me know."

"So basically it's a 'no'."

"Bucky, that's not a 'no'. That's literally 'I'll think about it'."

"Which whenever my parents said it meant 'no'."

"Wow, parents haven't changed over the last hundred years," you muttered under your breath.

"I should have known this would happen." Bucky turned his head away and stared sullenly out of the window.

Becca had texted you after five agonizing days of you having to deal with an impatient and withdrawn Bucky. He had stopped sleeping again even though he denied that the nightmares had reared their ugly head, you knew it was eating away at him. One night you had woken up to find your bed empty and you’d eventually located Bucky lying on the floor on the living room rug staring at the ceiling. He had hustled you back to the bedroom, following you only because he knew you’d join him on the floor if he hadn’t insisted.

His grandniece’s text had been brief. A time, date and her address along with a brief comment that she would meet you and Bucky before either of you could see the family again.

On the day, you could tell he was trying his hardest to make a good impression. He had put on your favorite henley and a pair of dark blue jeans which you hadn’t seen before.

“When did you get those?” you asked as you shimmied into a pair of your most comfortable pants.

“I’ve always had these.” He turned away to hide his embarrassment, not wanting you to tease him for having gone out to buy something that wasn’t black. Sam had once pointed out that he was giving off vampire vibes with his wardrobe.

“You look very handsome,” you gave him a proud smile and quick peck on the cheek.

Bucky looked at himself in the full length mirror you’d made him install on the bedroom wall. You noticed how he tugged at his left sleeve, conscious of how much of his vibranium arm was on display. Bucky rarely wore short sleeves in the company of strangers and out in public to avoid looks of curiosity or disgust. That wasn’t the case when you were alone together, or with your friends, opting to wear t-shirts and sleeping topless.

You took his metal hand to stop his fidgeting. “You’ll be fine.”

“How do you know?”

“I think you’ll find the two of you have a lot in common.”

“Oh you think she can relate to being a brainwashed assassin?”

“Sarcasm, check.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at you.

“Eye-rolling, check.”

“Okay, okay. Shall we go?”

“Already?” you moaned before muttering under your breath. “And I thought I had a problem with arriving too early to places.”

“Come on,” he urged you to finish getting ready.

He let you drive which was a sure sign of his nerves. Bucky spent the whole drive nervously shaking his leg and staring vacantly out of the window. You hated seeing that look on his face, like his soul had somehow left his body and lost its way. Your deepest fear was that one day you’d lose him altogether. There was little time for you to dwell on that thought as you parked up outside Becca’s townhouse. The plan had been to sit in the car until the appropriate time before announcing yourselves, but your phone vibrated with a text from Becca telling you to come inside.

“Nice to see you again.” You held out your hand for Becca to shake.

Becca returned the formality, her eyes focused on the man standing close behind you. “Please, come in.” She turned and marched into the house before you’d had a chance to introduce Bucky.

You started to follow but Bucky held you back, looking unsure about Becca’s brusqueness.

“It’ll be alright, Buck. Come on,” you beckoned him to follow you.

Becca’s home was well lived. Family photographs littered the walls and you picked your way through a minefield of toys that were scattered across the floor. The décor seemed to be a mismatch of furniture from the late 60s and early 70s. The two of you followed her into the kitchen where she put the kitchen counter between herself and you.

“This place is really cozy, Becca.” You made an attempt to break the ice.

“It’s awful, don’t sugar coat it. The wallpaper is possibly the ugliest thing about this place. But for some reason I can’t bring myself to change it. What do you think?” Her question was directed at Bucky.

Bucky took a moment to think about his response. “It’s all very… loud.”

Becca laughed. “That’s exactly what Grandma used to say. She hated it. This used to be her house. Grandpa bought the wallpaper without telling her and she never had the heart to tell him to change it.” Becca’s explanation was all aimed at Bucky. “So you’re Uncle Bucky.”

“Yeah,” Bucky answered gruffly. “Your parents named you after her?”

“What gave it away?”

You sniggered. Her attitude was very similar to Bucky’s, every other comment dripping with snark or sarcasm.

“So why are you here?” Her question was abrupt and to the point.

It caught Bucky off guard slightly. You took his hand and nodded your encouragement. “Go on, it’s okay,”

“When I joined the army, I was a kid. Younger than you are now. I was going to war to be a hero for my country. I thought it was the greatest adventure of my life. Then my best friend showed up and for a while it was incredible. Then… I fell from a moving train, into a ravine and my life just stopped. They-” Bucky fell silent for a few moments, trying to find the words to continue his story. It was your supportive hand on his back that brought him back from the past threatening to overwhelm him. “They used me to do… horrible things. They… took my mind, I didn’t know who I was for years. Just their soldier. Steve saved me, but I… I just want to go home.”

You blinked the tears away from your eyes. Even though you instinctively knew what Bucky wanted, hearing him say the words out loud was heartbreaking. He squeezed your hand to let you know he was still with you.

Neither of you were sure what Becca’s thoughts had been when she had agreed to the meeting, but she seemed to have been rendered speechless.

You could tell her silence was making Bucky nervous, so you decided to break some of the tension. “Becca, you think I could put on some coffee?”

“Umm, yeah sure.”

You bustled around the unfamiliar kitchen, trying to locate everything you needed. It was obvious that Becca needed some time to process her thoughts, but it was just as clear that the silence was eating Bucky alive. It was only after you’d poured out three mugs of coffee that you felt it was time to push things.

“Hey Becca, how are you doing?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” She shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs from her thoughts. “Hang on, I have an idea.” Without further explanation, she disappeared from the kitchen.

“Give her a moment, Buck. It’s a lot to process.”

“Yeah.” He took a sip of coffee mostly because it was something to do. Doing meant that he wasn’t thinking. Thinking only led to pain.

Surprisingly Becca was back in a few moments. “Come.” One word was all she gave before disappearing into the living room. Bucky looked at you and you looked back at him before you followed. The room was even more cluttered than the hallway from an array of old fashioned furniture, to kids toys to a plasma screen television and play station. Becca patted the seat beside on the couch, inviting Bucky to sit beside her.

You carefully placed the three coffee mugs on the table and squeezed onto the end of the couch beside your boyfriend. Becca placed an old cloth bound book in Bucky’s lap.

"I thought you'd like to see this."

Bucky looked at his great niece quizzically but she said nothing, just motioned for him to open the book. He complied with her request, flipping open the cover. There was a large black and white photograph of a very happy looking woman in her wedding dress beside her clearly besotted brand new husband.

"Grandma always said that she put this in here first because it was the start of her new life, she felt like she was living again."

Bucky traced his fingers over the photograph, desperately reaching back into the past for a glimpse of what he had lost. Becca reached across his lap and turned the page. There on the next page were a few images which made Bucky gasp quietly. The first was a faded photo of George and Winifred Barnes. Under it were a couple of tatty and frayed photos which had been lovingly placed under the plastic film. Bucky’s eyes focused on the one of himself as a ten year old boy with his little sister sitting on his shoulders.

"She was still a kid when I-" Bucky's voice was thick with emotion. "It's so strange seeing her all grown up. I missed everything."

"Not everything. We're still here. If you're serious about this, why don't you come-" Becca stopped mid sentence as a small white ball of fur leapt up onto the back of the couch hissing and scratching. "Shit!" She jumped as sharp claws attached themselves into the material covering Bucky’s vibranium arm.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" Becca tried to retrieve the tiny white cat that was clinging to Bucky.

"It's okay," Bucky extricated the feline from its clutches.

You had rescued the photo album from his lap in case of accidents.

"Thanks, Ace." Bucky whispered appreciatively. "So who is this fiery fellow?"

"That's Alpine, our stupid cat that hates all of us."

Bucky held the small white feline up to his eyeline, its blue eyes locking onto his as he was held by the scruff of his neck. They stared into each other's eyes until the cat finally relaxed and offered Bucky a small 'meow'. He lowered Alpine into his lap where the cat curled up and closed its eyes.

"What did you just do?" Becca asked, her jaw practically hanging on the floor.

You were equally as surprised, sitting quietly on the edge of the couch clutching the photo album to your chest to keep it safe.

Bucky shrugged, he reached out his hand to you so he could take back the album and keep looking through it. Becca talked him through each photograph. Bucky's eyes flicked between her face and the photos, listening so attentively all while his right hand was buried deep in Alpine's long white fur.

For the briefest of moments you felt a pang of jealousy. Bucky only ever looked at you with that much intent, that much interest and the thought of sharing that meant that you would be losing that part of him. You were glad that it was a fleeting moment, because you knew how much Bucky would gain from this and at the end of the day, you loved that for him, you rejoiced in his happiness, you loved him.

You spent the next few hours silently watching your boyfriend being the most engaged in an activity than you'd ever seen him. As tempting as it was to join in on the conversation, you knew this was something that was for him and him alone.

"Look, coming here for a day to look at photos is all well and good. But is this what you really want?" Becca asked suddenly.

Bucky’s face fell in an instant. Is this what he really wanted? Getting close to people and risking losing everything all over again?

"Because everyone is ready to have you, but once you're in, you're in. No running away, no hiding. No pretending like we don't exist when it doesn't suit you.

"I understand that you are still out there, doing good things and that you might be away. But when you're here, you have to be here. Are you ready for that?"

Bucky looked over at you, but you couldn't quite decipher his expression. "Buck?" you tilted your head slightly, trying to understand him.

"I would like that, please." Bucky turned back to Becca. "But I have one… request, please."

Becca raised her eyebrows, almost inviting him to test her limits. You admired Becca’s fire and the clear lengths she was going to to protect her family. Bucky would do the same.

Bucky took a deep breath before making his request. "I'd like for Ace to come."

Both yours and Becca’s eyes went wide. She recovered from her surprise faster than you. Her reaction was a little different from yours as she burst out laughing at him.

Alpine hissed, having been woken by Becca’s outburst.

"Shhh, it's okay. I think your mom finds me funny," Bucky cooed, scratching his little friend's ears.

Who was this Bucky sitting beside you, asking for his family to accept him and you and cuddling a feral cat.

"Oh, no no, that thing's not my child. It's the spawn of the devil!"

"Come on. He's not that bad."

"I have an idea. Why don't you keep her?"

"What? Wait-"

"No, it's perfect, look at her. She doesn't come anywhere near us and lashes out at me all the time. Look at this!" She pushed up her sleeves to show him the fading scratch marks on her arms. "She's going to a shelter if you don't."

Bucky looked over at you for permission. "Ace?"

"Hmmm?" You had stopped paying attention when he had asked Becca for you to be part of their family.

"Can we keep her?"

"What?"

"Alpine?"

How could you say no when he looked at you with those beautiful blue eyes?

"You really want to?"

"Yeah," Bucky replied softly.

You nodded. "Then, yeah, we should keep her."

"And the other thing?"

"What's that thing you and Steve always say to each other? Oh yeah, I'm with you Buck, til the end of the line." You leaned over and pressed a kiss against his lips, avoiding the kitten he had cradled against his belly.

"So Becca, do you want to explain what you found so funny about my request?"

"It was funny that you felt the need to ask." She shook her head in disbelief. "What shocks me is that you two aren't already married."

Bucky’s cheeks flushed as you looked at him.

"It's alright. We're happy now." It was more of an empty reassurance, an attempt to take the pressure off Bucky. In reality you wanted nothing more than to be Bucky's wife but you weren't going to push him into a life he didn't want to lead, not after everything he had been through.

If he picked up on the sadness in your voice, he didn't say anything at that moment. He had no further chances as a cacophony of high pitched voices came floating in. "MOM!"

"And that's my actual spawn. Kids, come here. Say hi to your Uncle Bucky."

He received a chorus of greetings.

"This is my friend, Ace." Bucky introduced you.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Tommy, the youngest piped up.

"Yes," Bucky smiled, taking your hand proudly.

"How are you holding Alpine?" Sarah, the eldest, asked.

"She's sleeping."

"She doesn't let anyone hold her."

"Uncle Bucky is special. How would you guys feel if we let him and Ace take care of Alpine for us?"

"Will we be able to visit her?" Tommy asked.

"Any time." Bucky smiled.

You shot him a look to tell him off for making promises which would be hard to keep.

"Can we say bye?" Sarah sniffled.

"Yes, but no touching!" Becca warned.

After a few tearful farewells which were watched with disgust by Alpine, Becca brought out her carrier. The kids lead you through to another room to pick up what they thought were Alpine's favorite toys.

Becca opened the carrier door while Bucky placed the cat at the entrance.

"Good luck," she muttered.

"Get in pal, we're going home."

To Becca’s immense surprise, Alpine walked in of his own accord.

"Well, she definitely is meant for you."

"Thank you."

"You're doing me the favor."

"No, well yes, for Alpine. But thank you, for today. I-" Bucky had no idea how to express his gratitude for giving him back a connection to something he had lost so long ago. "Thank you."

"So Uncle Bucky-"

"You can just call me Bucky, you know?"

"I know." Becca smiled. "I also thought you might like this."

Bucky took the box Becca was holding out to him.

"It's some of Grams and Gramps's stuff. Your parents. You should have them."

"Becca-"

She threw her arms around Bucky's neck and whispered, "welcome home Uncle Bucky."

You came back to see Bucky gingerly returning her hug. He wasn't one for massive gestures of emotion, usually you and Steve were the only ones who he would hug, along with accepting Sam's enthusiastic shoulder grabs.

"Ready?" You asked him, having collected Alpine's essentials.

"Yeah."

"So we'll see you at the family picnic next week?" Becca smirked. "I know you already know the time and place."

Bucky blushed and nodded. "Thank you."

You let him carry Alpine and her things to the car and said your own goodbye to Becca. "Thanks for having us."

Bucky had strapped the carrier into the back seat so that it wouldn't topple at a sharp turn. It made you wonder how he would be as a father. Too soon to think about that.

You knew better than to bombarded him with questions, so you kept it simple. "Ready to go home?"

He smiled and nodded. As you pulled away, he opened the small box Becca had given him. Inside were a few photos and trinkets, but what caught Bucky's attention were the two wedding rings. He smiled. For the first time he thought about his future, your future together. Maybe he could have more, now that he had found you.

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