poor mista ironwood

“Penny!” He shouted, bringing his left hand down on the armrest of his chair with enough force to shatter it, pushing himself up and all but throwing himself forward. I saw the machinery activate within his robotic arm, Dust glowing within as it released its power. He punched towards my face with force enough to easily destroy the entire ship, undoubtedly relying on Penny’s sheer durability to keep her unharmed.

As he moved, I lifted a hand, placing it calmly between his fist and my face. He moved quickly, as expected of a Hunter of his level, but I…well, I was me and as usual, I was Accelerating my personal time to absurd levels. As his fist connected, there was an explosion of force as the power gathered in it was unleashed in a burst of grey light. The windows of the ship exploded outwards and it pressed against me as well, ignoring the protection of my upraised limb—probably why he chose this means of attack. The walls around and behind me groaned and began to break, shredded by proximity to the blow, and it was only the fact that I was reinforcing them with Crocea Mors that kept the entire back half of the ship from being wiped away.

I felt the wave of force wash over me, scratching at my hardened skin and making my hair sway slightly, as if in the wind—and I let my smile widen. It seemed that even with his confidence in Penny, he wasn’t willing to go all out while she might be caught in the crossfire. I suppose that was good; I could tell he cared for her a great deal simply by the sudden fury that arose at my perceived threat to her and the worry that laid even deeper.

“You react quickly, General Ironwood,” I praised before shifting my gaze to the shattered windows. Glass shards hung suspended in the air outside, held aloft by my power. “But not necessarily well. Keep in mind where you’re standing right now.”

With that said, I pulled the glass back into the windows, wiping away all signs of damage with a command to my Glass Elemental. At the same time, I began to repair the damage to the ship around me, causing metal to shift and flow back into place, making it seem as though nothing had ever happened. Ironwood started slightly at the shift, trying to draw away quickly

I closed the fingers of my left hand over his fist and met his gaze calmly, stopping him even as he struggled to pull away.