Chapter Text
Qrow flew through the night, maneuvering through various trees and other obstacles in the mountain forest until he perched on a tree having spotted his mark.
A head of white hair, unfocused grey eyes and a liquor bottle clenched in his hands, body clad in a tight red tank top that showed his scarred arms, brown pants and combat boots.
From his vantage point Qrow took back human form and pulled out Harbinger taking aim and fired.
"Really?" Marcus Black drawled after suddenly deflecting the shot with a raised knife "You'll have to do better then that"
The Huntsman lunged from the tree and his opponent just barely side stepped in time to avoid the blade as it slammed into the dirt!
Qrow quickly lifted his trusty weapon up to block in in coming stab before jumping over a low kick from the assassin. Qrow brought his blade back up but the assassin intercepted it with his own blade again before both jumped back.
He's good, can definitely see why Oz needed me for this...
Marcus dashed forward closing the distance and bringing his knife up with a low slash which Qrow of course blocked with Harbinger again only for Marcus to kick up his foot and when Qrow just barley leaned his head back to avoid the upcoming kick he saw it on the sole of the other man's shoe
...a gun barrel.
Fuck
BANG
Qrow staggered back from the sudden blast to his face and aura sending him staggering back, he heard Marcus move against but while he felt the pain of being kicked in the stomach he also heared the distinct click of a gun jamming and his opponent swearing under his breath.
Qrow smirked and grabbed the assassins foot sending him off balance for a crucial moment allowing the Huntsman to switch Harbinger to sythe mode and promptly hook it's curve around the other man's body and pulled
Marcus's aura kept it from bisecting him but the strain of the blow should have taken a good chunk out of it and put him on his back. Qrow put Harbinger to the assassin's throat.
"Officially given your rap sheet I can take you either dead or alive, why dont you make this easier on yourself and give up now?"
He responded by sending a shot into Qrow's leg sending him stumbling back a step with a cures while Marcus rolled away and got back to his feet. Qrow quickly moved back in forcing the assassin into the nearby forested area with several wide slashes.
Marcus smirked clearly convinced he had the advantage between this being his home turf and his weapons being much easier to maneuver even out of open spaces.
Then he got his foot stuck in twisted tree roots and hit in the head with the brodside of Harbinger.
Meanwhile Emerald had expertly infiltrated the small house that Marcus and a certain someone else called home.
Once she was in she soon found a young boy with silver hair and grey eyes huddled in a corner, visibly bruised and nervous at the sounds of fighting outside.
Mercury could be an ass, but can't say I dont understand why he killed his father first go around. Emerald thought to herself as she proceeded to approach him
"Hey-"
"Hra!"
And suddenly was blocking a...honestly pretty weak kick from him.
After knocking his leg aside she then caught a even weaker fist.
Mercury slouched and winced clearly still in some pain from the days 'training' and the sudden burst of activity not helping. "Easy kid, I'm not your enemy"
He glared "Yeah right, dad talks about how you Huntsman types are, all smiles on the outside but just want ta throw people like us in jail!"
Emerald sighed and couldn't help herself, flicking him in the forehead getting another wince from him "The same dad that gave you all those bruises?"
Mercury gave a weaker glare "He-he's making me strong..."
"Yeah, strong enough that when you could actually be in danger your too beat up to actually fight back. You know if I legit wanted to take you down I could have by now and you couldn't stop me right?"
The kid looked away and Emerald sighed again.
"Kid he doesn't care about you. And as it stands he's going down, my friend out there has it handled and now the way I see it you got two choices" She held up her fingers "One, you go down with your dad fighting every inch of the way, probably end up in foster care or juvi."
"And two?"
"Or two, you take my hand and come with me. It might sound too good to be true but I can get you proper protection and a new place to stay. Deal?"
Mercury looked down. The Mercury Black Emerald knew hadn't been a particularly deep thinker but she'd hung around him long enough to recognize the look he got when he was really thinking about something.
"...okay"
Emerald gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile "Good. Go grab anything you think you'll need and be ready to come with me. When I call alright?"
He nodded and left and Emerald spun on her heels, reactivated her semblance and left the house.
Venturing into the woods she saw just as Marcus's aura broke and was sent back into a tree by a final shot from Harbinger. The man layed out with a bullet wound in his got out cold while Qrow panted and put his sword away "Almost had me a couple times, the tricky bastard" he then looked over as Emerald deactivated her semblance "You got the kid?"
"He'll be out in a bit"
"Heh, not bad for a rookie, now you go get em while I haule this asshole off to the airship"
Mercury sat curled up on a seat in the airship that was taking them away. At his feet was the go bag his dad had him always keep under the bed sat under his seat. In the back of the ship, about as far away from him as they could get was his dad, currently tied up, knocked out with bandages around his waist.
And of course there was the other two in the passenger compartment.
He wasn't sure what to think of his two supposed saviors.
One was a scruffy looking Huntsman that smelled a little too much like dad who currently talking to...someone on a scroll while leaning against the wall opposite to Mercury.
The other was the green haired girl named Jade, he'd learned her name was, sat next to him looking uncertain but keeping a close eye on everything from him, to the Huntsman to dad.
Mercury let out a sigh as the airship flew through the night to their destination.
Oh well, in for a lien I suppose...