Chapter Text
They had decided to split up as they headed up to Atlas. After Ironwood had called them all back from Mantle, the boys headed up first, going to get Oscar, while the rest of them headed to the general’s office.
Salem had shown herself eventually through the use of the seer grimm and was giving Ironwood his ultimatum, but Nora didn't like it. She was getting fed up with everything that was going on and the fact that even for a second Ironwood considered Salem's deal seemed to make her even more angry.
"Simply accept the futility of your situation and this can all be over," Salem said as she stared down at Ironwood.
"Why do you keep pretending like you’re actually going to leave people alone?!" Nora snapped causing Salem to turn and face their group.
"And even if Ironwood takes your deal, we all know that the moment he gives you what you want you’ll still continue your attack on Atlas and Mantle," she continued, glaring up at Salem who had walked back to where she had first appeared. Nora could feel a light spark of electricity building behind her eyes as it usually did when she was mad, and she was going to tell Salem and Ironwood what she thought of them both.
"And why do you presume to know how I think, child?" Salem replied slowly, her voice echoing slightly.
"The same way I know Ironwood doesn't actually care about Mantle, the same way I know he’s abusing his rank to keep others from helping because he is scared, and the same way I know that we will stop you no matter what!" Nora answered with almost a growl in her voice, her glare never wavering. If she was to help stop Salem she was going to damn well show Salem that she couldn't scare them.
Nora felt Ruby and Weiss move up to either side of her, glaring at Salem as well, supporting her statements. When it looked for a moment like Salem was going to do something in retaliation, she just let out a chuckle before delving into more laughter that chilled them all to the bones as she laughed for a bit more before stopping and putting a hand to her chest.
"Oh I haven't laughed like that in eons," she replied smoothly as she looked down at Nora directly. Nora felt the hair on skin stand on end as those red irises looked at her almost like they could see right to her very soul. Salem smiled before she let out another smaller chuckle and turned back to Ironwood.
"Alright. New deal, James, that I swear I will keep. You get to keep your precious lamp, and I also promise not to send my Grimm into your city for at least a week if you hand over that girl to me," Salem stated pointing a finger at Nora without lifting her gaze from Ironwood.
Nora felt her bones chill at that and her fury practically vanished, replaced with fear and worry.
"W-what??" she questioned, but Salem just kept her focus on Ironwood. Nora didn't understand, why would Salem want her? Ruby started to protest but Ironwood answered before she could finish.
"You have a deal," he replied coldly, like he didn't even cared he had just traded someone's life away, or that Salem could be lying through her teeth
"Hey wait a minute, you can't do that!" Yang shouted out, but both Salem and Ironwood just ignored her. "You can't just use Nora as a bargaining chip! She's a person not an object!" she continued
"I will send one of my associates to come collect her in an hour," Salem replied, ignoring Yang’s protest.
"I will meet them at the docks with her," the general replied. Salem gave a smile as her form started to waver.
"Thank you for your cooperation General Ironwood," she thanked before her form completely dissolved leaving everyone to just stare in horror at what had just transpired.
"What the hell was that?!" Yang shouted, moving forward more.
"We just gave ourselves more time to get Amity Arena up and keep atlas safe," Vine said as Ironwood turned and looked out the window.
"Yes you did, but at the cost of trading someone's life!" Blake countered.
"One life to save the many," Ironwood responded. He turned around eyes cold, and Ruby stepped more in front of Nora protectively, one hand already placed on Crescent Rose.
"You don't even think to question why she wants Nora in the first place?" Ruby asked, but the general didn't even seem to be phased by the question.
"It doesn't matter because the important things are safe and are here. We need to focus on keeping people safe and if it comes at the cost of one life then I will take it," he replied looking down at them. Nora didn't know what to say, partyle because she didn't understand why Salem had decided this was a good deal, but mostly because Ironwood was actually making a point. If her life could buy more time to save others then shouldn't she do it?
"If you think we aren't just going to let you-" Yang started before being cut off.
"Will you help Mantle if I do it?" Nora asked, frowning slightly.
"Nora, you're not actually considering this are you?" Weiss questioned, concern evident in her voice.
"What choice do we have? If this can buy more time to save people shouldn't we do it?" Nora answered, rubbing her arm slightly.
"I am glad to see we are on the same page Miss Valkyrie," Ironwood said as he walked closer. He only stopped as both Ruby and Weiss reached for their weapons, and Nora felt her anger build again at his words.
"Look, I know this is a hard decision for all of us but it's the right one," he stated.
Yang scoffed at his statement.
"You didn't even hesitate to do it, so I don't think it was a hard decision for you at all," she said, glaring at him.
"You didn't answer my question, will you help Mantle if I do this?" Nora repeated, frustration building at having her question dodged.
Ironwood frowned slightly.
"You're still worried about Mantle? Even after all of this?" he questioned, his voice raising slightly.
"Of course I am! There are people still down there that need help!" she shouted, glare intensifying.
"No, it's a lost cause, we are not wasting precious resources or risking the chance Salem will find her way in again. So no I will not being helping Mantle," he shot back with a hard edge to his voice, almost daring them to retaliate. Nora didn't like this any of this,
"Ruby, we have a big problem," Jaune's panicked voice crackled through said girl’s Scroll, and Ruby looked down at it before looking to Ironwood.
The air was tense in the room as they stared each other down, until Ruby used her semblance to get behind his desk and pulled out the scroll.
"Ironwood is declaring martial law and abandoning Mantle! If we don't do something-" she said quickly into the scroll until the transmission was cut off.
"What?! No!" she cried out before turning to Ironwood to see him holding up his own scroll that had cancelled the transmission.
"Now Miss Valkyrie you are to come with me to await being picked up by Salem, and the rest of you for the moment, since you all can clearly not be trusted, are under arrest," he said while walking closer to Nora, whose hand immediately went back to rest on Magnhild.
"I said I would only go if you agreed to help Mantle, too," she growled out.
"I see," he replied, seemingly too calm for the situation they were in. Nora didn't like it, she was definitely tempted to just pull Magnhild out right now.
Suddenly Ironwood, quicker then she could blink, had grabbed her arm and swung her over his shoulder right into the ground head first. And it hurt. Nora was seeing stars as her aura desperately tried to repair any damage, but it was hard. Her aura was already low from fighting earlier, there was the possibility it might have broken on impact, but with how her head was spinning she really couldn't tell.
She felt her arm get pulled again and she tried to get out of the grip but she just couldn't, not with how disoriented and exhausted she was. She looked up and could see Harriet standing between the general and Ruby, and if Harriet had said something, Nora couldn’t catch it. Her ears were ringing too much
"Seriously you guys are okay with this? You’re okay with just letting him hand over a person to Salem like their life doesn't matter!?" she heard Ruby shout before trying again to pull her arm back so she could at least get up, but it was yanked back again and her other arm was also grabbed before she could use it to help get free.
"It's one life over thousands, over millions, and that's a sacrifice we are willing to make," someone said from behind her. Vine she thought, but honestly she couldn’t really tell.
"We don't even know if Salem is going to keep her end of the deal," Yang countered.
"It is a risk we have to take!" Ironwood snapped as he wrenched Nora up off the ground, both hands man-handled behind her back.
"This is not a matter up for debate," he continued as he put cuffs on Nora all while she tried to shake off the disorientation of being thrown head first into the ground. She didn't know when he had even gotten the cuffs, but it was too late now to try to do anything about it.
"If you think we’re just going to let you take her, then you have another thing coming," Yang said. Her voice sounded angry and that probably meant there was about to be a fight, and Nora really didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"I'm doing what needs to be done," the general replied, pulling Nora along as he started to leave the room. She tried to dig her heels in to do anything to get away, but moving her head caused her head to hurt and her vision to swim. She heard the familiar click of Yang's gauntlets arm as she moved in front of them, blocking the path to the door.
"If you want to take her you're going to have to go through us," she said. Nora could see Weiss and Blake also stand next to Yang; they were all blocking the exit to the room.
Ironwood's grip on her arm tightened painfully. This wasn't going to end well, she thought before she saw what looked like a beam of light hit them all knocking them out of the way which gave an opening Ironwood immediately took advantage of as he dragged Nora with him out of the door. She heard the slamming of something metal and tried to look behind them, but Ironwood just tugged her forward more roughly so she couldn't really make out what was going on behind them.
They had been walking for 20 minutes before Nora felt well enough to speak up
"You know this really won't solve anything right?" she asked as they moved along the hallways quickly.
"It will give us ample time to get Amity up and running and get Atlas as far away from Salem as possible," he responded, not even bothering to look at her as they walked through the halls.
"So you're just okay with letting all those people die in Mantle? Even though if Salem keeps her word about this you'll have plenty of time to evacuate everyone??" she questioned. Ironwood stopped causing her to trip slightly before he gave a sigh.
"If I evacuate Mantle it will just give Salem another chance to get ahead of us or sneak into Atlas and give her exactly what she wants" he replied.
"And this isn't it?" Nora asked, trying to move more in front of him. He frowned, but said nothing as he started moving again, dragging Nora along as she glared at him. She didn't even know where they were heading. All these hallways looked the same, and honestly she was kind of worried. Especially with Salem's strange change of focus from the relics and the attack to her.
She didn't understand any of it. Why would Salem want her? Nora didn't see herself as anyone of importance; she was just an orphan that decided to try and become a Huntress. So Salem’s interest in her was weird, and the fact that Ironwood wasn't even questioning her motivations about it was really frustrating. And she also hated how he kept blowing off her questions which made her even angrier.
"Where are we even going? Salem didn't exactly say where her "associate" would be meeting you," Nora asked, hoping he wouldn't just ignore this question as well.
"I am taking you to a holding cell near the air docks which is the most logical place for any of Salem's people to come and collect you" he replied calmly.
"Wow you make sending me to my potential death sound pleasant," she said, voice full of sarcasm.
"I don't think Salem would go through all this trouble to just kill you," he responded, stopping as they reached a door.
"Oh now you’re questioning why she's doing this," she said.
"I am not going to continue to argue with you on this, so please stop bringing it up," he snapped, walking them both through the door.
"Well I'm sorry I'm calling you out on your bullshit after you decided to make a deal with Salem by using my life as a bargaining chip!" Nora shouted back. Ironwood just frowned more before letting go of her arm to say something into the earpiece he was wearing as they walked forward. Nora didn't really care for what he was saying to the person on the other side, she just really wished she was out of these stupid cuffs and was actually helping the people in Mantle like she was supposed to be doing.
She kind of hated this silence, it left too much room for anxiety to worm its way to the forefront of her mind. Like how she literally could be going to her death, which scared her a lot more then she cared to admit. And Ren! Gods Ren, she didn't even get to tell him goodbye, was she ever going to see him again? Maybe if she tried to run?
Before any more thoughts of escaping could come to mind, Ironwood's hand was on her arm again pulling her forward, and she looked around the huge room they had entered. It seemed to be their end destination if the sounds of airships coming and going outside were anything to go by, plus there were lots of soldiers walking around. Nora could see they were heading to another room off to the side, she assumed that was where the cell was.
She really did not like the general, but any thought of escape was dashed because there was no way she could make it past that many soldiers. Not with her aura already so low. She was pretty sure one more hit like before and it would break. Gods her head still hurt from before, it was definitely a concussion.
They walked into the side room and it seemed to be a weird office of sorts with two walls jutting out. She thought it was the cell, but it looked like there was no way for it to keep someone in it. He brought her to stand inside the walls and took off the cuffs. Nora stretched her arms a bit.
"Now these are only coming off since-" he started before she cut him off by hitting him squarely in the jaw, forcing him back a fair bit. His own aura flickered, probably trying to repair the damage from the punch, and to Nora it felt very satisfying to hit the bastard. She just stood there smirking as he glared at her with slight confusion.
"Expect the unexpected bitch" Nora said.
"That was uncalled for!" he snapped as he pressed something on the side of the wall causing a blue hard light barrier to spring up between the walls, leaving Nora on one side and him on the other.
"I think it was completely called for. I mean you’re not the one who had their head slammed into the ground, and then got roughly dragged around only to be put in jail because you’re going to be given as a sacrifice to an immortal witch whose word can't be trusted,” Nora deadpanned, glaring at him now.
"I already explained my reasoning, and as I said before I will not continue arguing with you on this," he stated, walking over to the desk in the room and sitting down, where he seemed to look down at a screen of sorts.
Nora let out a sigh as she went and leaned against the back wall of the cell. This was all a mess, but at least now her aura maybe could fully recover.
She slid down the wall to rest on the ground. This was all so horrible and she really didn't have the energy to even deal with it all. It was so dumb, as if Salem would really keep her word. Nora should have never come back here, nothing good ever happened on this forsaken continent. Everything that had happened so far just seemed to prove that Atlas was still completely horrible as they just blindly followed those in charge.
Nora pulled her knees up to lean her head on and felt the reality of her situation fully hit her. She didn't know how long she had been sitting before the tears started falling. Why couldn’t she just catch a break? It was always something, whether that be not being able to stay one place for long, starving, Grimm, or all this bullshit with Salem and the general.
Nora was just so tired of it all. She was so, so, so tired, she thought as she felt her eyelids became really heavy. And for some reason the air seemed thicker with every breath she took, and that did not seem right, but she was too tired to think about it right now. She just wanted to take a nap.
She heard a loud shout that made her head jerk up and look towards the source of the shout but all Nora could see through her slightly blurred vision was someone really big standing in front of her cell. But unfortunately she just felt too tired to care about who it could be, as her limbs became heavy and the darkness of sleep claimed her.