RWBY V7 C11

## Plot

The episode starts with the fight between Watts and Ironwood. It turns out that Ironwood's second gun fires gravity dust bullets, which lets him maneuver himself when Watts tries to use the gravity biomes to his advantage. Watts's revolver only has 20 bullets in it, and he keeps count throughout the fight. There's another new song about Ironwood, and it's amazing. It's also sung by Caleb Hyles. Watts eventually shoots Ironwood's second gun out of his hand. Ironwood is able to deplete Watts's Aura, but his own is depleted when they land on the center stage, which rises into the air thanks to Watts. He's angry at Ironwood for using his genius and standing atop it like a giant, and for picking Pietro over him. Ironwood's other gun, Due Process, is out of bullets, and so is Watts's, which he knows, so his attempt to bluff the general by holding it up to his head is for naught. However, Watts uses the rings on his right hand to create a hard light dust shield around Ironwood's remaining biological arm, trapping him. Ironwood attempts to pull it out, and it *burns*. He does it anyways, surprising Watts, who gets a face full of the arena before being held over lava. Ironwood tells him that he's willing to sacrifice *anything* to stop Salem, and Watts just smiles and tells him that he hopes he does. We don't see Watts again during the episode, leading some fans to speculate whether Ironwood arrested him or killed him. Meanwhile, the combined forces of Qrow, Clover, and Robyn are able to easily defeat Tyrian, especially when the last bolt he catches from Robyn explodes in his face, depleting his Aura, and she kicks him in the face, knocking him out. Clover requests a prison transport and announces that they've taken Tyrian into custody. Ironwood gets back to his office with his arm bandaged and in a sling, and the other one carrying Watts's bag, which he tossed aside before the fight. However, he notices something on his desk that terrifies him, and asks Winter if anyone was caught trying to enter the school while he was gone. She says no, but when he asks if she's sure, she runs into the school. Cinder is there, and plans on following her to find the Winter Maiden. The other Ace Ops and the kids are called back, and Ironwood doesn't give them a reason why. The evacuation of Mantle is still going on. Elm tells them that it's their job to follow orders, not understand them. Jaune, Nora, and Ren will pick up Oscar and meet up with them later. Ironwood tells the others that they've made a critical error, and shows them a black queen chess piece, which was the symbol Salem used at Beacon to show them that she was there as everything fell apart all around them. His paranoia comes back in full force, and he worries that Mantle was just a distraction. Salem has always been one step ahead of them. Ruby notices that the chess piece is made of black glass, and tells everyone that Cinder did this. Yang is surprised that she's still alive. Ironwood worries that Hazel could be here too. The girls try to reassure him and tell him that they're on his side, but then he asks them how Robyn knew about Amity Tower, and Yang admits that she and Blake told her the night of the ambush. Everyone fights with each other, which makes them fail to notice something moving in Watts's bag. Weiss tries to say that none of this matters right now, but Ironwood yells that loyalty *always* matters. And then a Seer Grimm comes out of Watts's bag. Salem's voice comes out of it, but instead of attacking them, the red smoke from the Grimm turns black, and it cracks and falls to the floor. The smoke it emanates allows Salem to reveal herself to everyone. Ruby tells her that they stopped Watts and Tyrian, and they will stop Cinder, and anyone else she tries to send to Atlas. However, Salem tells them that it was never Watts and Tyrian's goal to win, it was merely to set the stage… for her. She tries to get Ironwood to hand over the staff and the lamp so the people of Atlas don't have to suffer anymore, but he refuses. Ruby tells her that the lamp showed them what she's capable of, but it also showed them that she failed. She can be stopped without killing her, and they will stop her. However, Salem simply tells Ruby that her mother once said the same thing to her, and she was wrong too. Ruby starts crying, and something happens to her silver eyes. Salem disappears, and Ruby falls to the floor. Yang rushes to her side to comfort her. Blake and Weiss also look distraught. The Ace Ops and Ironwood wonder what they should do. Their long range sensors along the coast are offline. They didn't notice in all the chaos. Watts either shut them down, or Salem's attack forces already destroyed them. Blake asks Ironwood if Amity Tower really is ready to launch. He doesn't say anything, and Yang realizes that he just said that to lure out Watts. He tells Weiss that he sent her sister to claim the power of the Winter Maiden, and the girls realize that means he told Winter to kill Fria. The staff and the lamp have to be locked away inside the vault. Ruby finally looks up and reminds Ironwood that he said they could keep it. However, he points out that was before they lied to him about it and Robyn, before they knew that Salem was coming, before Mantle was nearly destroyed, and before he and his army were exhausted. He says that the timeline has changed, so they must change too, and he crushes the chess piece. They're going to take their plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. They're going to use the staff to raise Atlas high enough that Salem and the Grimm can't get to them. Atlas's climate control will protect them from the cold and keep food sources stable. However, Mantle is nowhere near fully evacuated yet, and Ironwood is unfazed with abandoning the people still left down there to die. He thinks this is their best chance to get the relics and the maiden as far away from Salem as possible. Ruby wants to launch the tower and call for help, provided that they can hold out long enough. Ironwood tells her that sometimes, doing the right thing means making tough choices. Blake agrees with him, and says that to her, the right thing to do is to stand their ground, and Yang, Weiss, and Ruby agree. However, Harriet tells them that they ran themselves ragged trying to protect Mantle, and they can't fight like that against an even larger force. Yang tells them that as Huntsmen and Huntresses, they can't back down from a fight, but Vine tells her that they have to focus on winning the war. Weiss brings up the council, but Ironwood says it doesn't matter what they say, because he's declaring martial law. Blake brings up Robyn, and Elm asks her who she's loyal to. Ruby says they're loyal to the people counting on them to save them. Ironwood tells her that they're saving who they can… and the girls are standing in their way. Suddenly, Ruby's scroll lights up with a call from Jaune, who says they have a serious problem. Ironwood won't let Ruby answer it, so she uses her Semblance to go around him and hide behind his desk. She tells Jaune, Nora, Ren, Penny, Winter, Qrow, Robyn, Clover, and a conscious Tyrian about Ironwood declaring martial law, his plan to use the staff to raise Atlas and abandon Mantle, and the fact that Salem is coming when the general cuts off her access. He says that until the relics and the maiden are safe, the girls are under arrest. He knows they won't come quietly, so the Ace Ops prepare to take them down by force as he leaves. Meanwhile, Jaune wasn't able to tell Ruby that he, Nora, and Ren have discovered that Oscar is missing, and based on his room, it looks like someone kidnapped him.

## Review

Well, this is officially my favorite episode of volume 7, and possibly even all of RWBY, period. The new song, the score, everyone's voice performances, but especially Ironwood's and Salem's, the tension, the great fights, the pacing, the always dreaded by the FNDM cliffhangers… All of it was amazing, awesome, breathtaking, spectacular, stupendous, out of the ballpark, beyond words terrific. On a more character related note, I've been suspicious about Ironwood since he was introduced in volume 2, and until the end of volume 3, I thought he'd be the traitor as opposed to Lionheart. Then again, I also had no idea Salem even existed, so… I definitely thought he was going the dictator route, and I knew there was going to be fallout from the lies and secret keeping, but I definitely didn't think it would be this bad. Still, it took four years, but I ended up being right, in a sense (like how my head canon about Adam being Blake's abusive ex from the Black Trailer alone was also somehow right, which is one of the reasons why I'm not mad about how his character was handled). I can understand why Ironwood is doing what he's doing, but arresting the girls and leaving who knows how many innocent people to die is horrible. He's letting his fear and paranoia get the best of him.