A Man With A Plan

Qrow and Raven were formidable fighters on their own. Together, they were terrifying. He fought with a single-minded determination to end this as quickly as possible as he could see Raven growing worse out of the corner of his eye. Gritting his teeth, he used his semblance. As long as she could make a portal back, they would be fine. He caught a blue glow out of the corner of his eye and part of Tyrian’s tail froze solid. He struck it, and the frozen section shattered, the tip falling to the ground moments as he struck for Tyrian’s neck, hoping to cleave the scorpion’s head from his shoulders.

Raven didn’t give a fuck that he’d figured out who she was, but she did cry out in pain when his stinger caught her in the back and she fell to her knees. She could feel the poison burning in her already, making it harder to breathe.

Raising her sword, she carved open a portal to Qrow. She knew he’d been following her, and it was little surprise that the crow that flew through immediately shifted into him as he drew his weapon and struck at the scorpion. She could see the fear in his eyes at the fact that she’d been stabbed. It hurt like hell, but she could feel her aura struggling to fight it off as she drew on her magic. The winds rose higher as ice and lightning formed a ring around the trio, trapping Tyrian in with them. She didn’t know how long she could hold it, only hoped it would be long enough for Qrow to kill the bastard.

“Cheating!” Tyrian cried, laughing uproariously. “They said you fought as a team long ago, but they knew so little about you.” 

He leaped upward, trying to find a handhold on the ice, but lightning arced to his weapons, leaving a burn mark as he dropped back down to his feet in a crouch, tail arched up over his back as he glared at them both. “Fine, you’ll die together too.” 

One myth the tribespeople might have repeated was being proven true: when the Harbinger fell silent, it was too late. Raven said nothing as she lunged with deadly intent, pitting her speed against his. A storm gathered above, thunder crashing through the sky as she fought to kill. She was tired from the hard flight, staying in bird form to avoid the notice of Grimm, but it didn’t show at that moment in her fighting skills.

Raven decided that in reply to the bitch’s invitation she would send Tyrian’s tail.

Tyrian ignored the gathering storm, considering it a fitting accompaniment to her soon-to-be defeat as he dodged her strikes and kept his distance, focusing on flips and putting trees and the lingering remnants of the bandit camp between them as he debated whether or not he would get in trouble for bringing back a corpse instead of a living woman. “Your little maiden was dead, Raven,” he called, dodging left, right, then lunching forward with his blades before retreating again. 

He considered, then glanced up at the sky, then her eyes, his grin growing wider. “Or should I say... your decoy?” 

His eyes flashed purple as he jabbed his stinger into the neck of the last of Raven’s bandits, making the man shriek with agony as his blood curdled, his back arching as he howled and thrashed, his ruined body only adding to his torment. 

“Tricky tricky little thief,” he cackled, throwing his head back to laugh giddily. 

Raven had nowhere to go, so she went back to her tribe. At worst, she would remind them why none of them could defeat her and force her way to the top. After all, might made right amongst them and strength was paramount. The weak died. The strong lived.

Those were the rules.

She just felt numb inside, cold and dead after being sent away. She kept herself alive if only because she didn’t want Yang to be burdened with her powers. She could do that much for her daughter. The winds carried the sweet scent of carrion, and she recalled that she hadn’t eaten much that day, and flying vast distances quickly took energy. She altered course to find out what it was, surprised to be heading towards the tribe’s camp.

Then she saw it. The scent had been her people, corpses lying in a pit. She shrieked as a cold wind rose and dove sharply, shifting as she landed and drawing her blade as she lunged at the scorpion, aiming for his neck, her eyes glowing with rage.

The shriek had been a mistake. With the warning, Tyrian threw the weakly moaning near-corpse into the path of her blade as he bent backward away from her strike, turning a few flips to get some distance. 

“Ah, Raven. Salem requires your attendance,” he said crisply, standing to attention with his chin raised proudly, delivering the orders from his lady. “You will come quietly or you will perish.” 

gunsnrosepetals:

Crappy didn’t even begin to cover it, but she gave her dad another grin. He needed it. He needed to see her happy and that everything was a-okay. “Yeah, ice cream sounds really super good. Let’s eat lots of ice cream til we can’t eat another bite!”

Something was still off, but he took her hand and they went to eat themselves sick on ice cream. 

a week later...

Tyrian had left the leader for last, after taking the precaution to smash his feet to prevent any running. 

He’d poisoned a few of the higher ups, then threatened the underlings into digging a large pit, trapping the rest in one of their hostage taking cages to watch and serve as extra collateral as he attempted to torture information out of the second in command to begin with as the underlings dug frantically to the sound of his screams. 

Soon enough they’d learned the real purpose of the pit as he shoved the corpses into it for ease of containment, enjoying the way the bandits winced at the crunching thud each body made. It was close enough to their cage that they could see those who had failed to satisfy his questions about the Harbingers but all too soon a week had passed and the cage was empty. 

gunsnrosepetals:

thedappermadscientist:

Arthur was rather glad that he didn’t have audio set up on the surveillance system. Doubtless the bandit’s scream would be tedious. He sat down and started more reports that needed to be done.

That had Ruby lifting her head and looking at Raven. Of all the things she thought Raven would say about her mother, it wasn’t that. She hesitated, but opened her mouth to say something to her– but Tyrian’s appearance had her jaw snapping shut.

When he approached Raven with the blade she was afraid of what could happen. She might not know what Raven’s intentions were, but even then Ruby didn’t want to see her hurt. Maybe it was stupid or naive to think it, but even after everything that was the last thing she wanted. 

Something. She needed to do something. Something quick. But she couldn’t do anything, strapped in this chair. Her head hurt, but she remembered the heat and pressure she felt behind her eyes and tried to grasp it. The part of her she didn’t know how to control. To draw that power– that magic to her and do something. 

“HEY!” she shouted at Tyrian, and then from her eyes burst forth light.

Raven scowled at Tyrian. “Well, I need free hands and to get rid of this shock collar. Otherwise your little friend the mad scientist won’t let me do anything,” she replied as Ruby yelled. Raven barely had time to turn her head when she saw the hints of silver, closing her eyes against the blinding glow. Godsdamnit! She’d just said no heroics, and the kid goes right ahead and does something stupid. She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes when the glow faded, ready to jump into action far too soon if she had to.

Tyrian turned in annoyance back to Ruby when she shouted, about to tell her to wait her turn, when silver blasted into him. He winced and staggered away from the little girl, dropping one of the knives to avoid stabbing himself when he shielded his eyes and raising the other to throw, then cursed when he realized that would merit touching and harming and his queen wanted both of them functional and Watts, repairer of his prosthetic, wanted her unharmed. By him at least. 

When the glow faded he rubbed his face, blinking his seared eyes and reached out to feel for Raven, his tail bumping against and then coiling around her as yet unpoisoned leg. He considered his options, as his vision slowly returned, then looked Raven over, not finding anything useful on her, nor willing to sacrifice part of his coat. That long cloak though... 

Tyrian stepped toward the little girl in the chair. “Hold still, bratling,” he growled, then very carefully sliced through the neck of her cloak, then yanked the material up and away from her before wrapping it around her head and gathering up the loose ends and using the knife to pin them to the back of her chair so she couldn’t just shake it off of her face. “I don’t think that counts as touching. Or hurting.” Tyrian said to the camera, then walked back over to Raven, picking up the dropped knife along the way. “I’m starting to think you had no intention of giving me Qrow,” he mused, hooking a finger under the shock collar and moving to block Watts’ view of what was happening again. 

Arthur hurried to pick up the glass before the papers could get too wet and scowled after his colleague. Damned psychotic scorpion… He shook his head and went back to his work, occasionally glancing at the monitor just to make sure Tyrian didn’t get too carried away.

gunsnrosepetals:

thedappermadscientist:

“I told you, as long as the bandit is alive and capable of speech I don’t care what you do to her. The girl is the one I need,” Arthur reminded him, and glanced over. “Don’t you dare knock those papers over.” He glanced at the monitor and then back. “They aren’t up to anything, but I do wonder, how did you capture Raven? She’s even wilier than her brother and far less trusting.”

Gods, Ruby wanted to believe her. More than anything she really did. She just didn’t know if she could. Once before she extended her hand to this woman and then she ended up getting hurt. Her eyes opened to stare at the floor.

“He just leaves me here…” she said in a small voice. After pumping that horrible thing through the IV and right into her veins. Ruby turned her head slightly to stare at her arm, and in her mind she could already see them turning black and inky. She closed her eyes again.

Hopefully Watts’s overconfidence would leave him believing the threat Raven posed was neutralized. “When the chance comes, we’re going to have to act fast, and I’m going to need you to do exactly as I say, because we’re only going to get one shot. And no heroics, Ruby.” She honestly didn’t think the girl was capable of it, given the shape she seemed to be in. She wouldn’t fail Ruby like she’d failed Summer.

“Oooooooh alive and capable of speech leaves me a lot of leeway,” Tyrian crowed, petting the pile of papers without pushing them off of the desk before absently setting his condensation-beaded cup atop them, the moisture wicking into the papers. 

gunsnrosepetals:

That’s why Raven was here? To strike a deal with the crazed assassin and get rid of Qrow? So Raven was using her… fresh tears fell from her eyes. It honestly shouldn’t have surprised her, considering all that had happened.

Raven waited until the scorpion was gone. “I know you might not believe me, but I’m here to get you out of this,” she said, just loudly enough for Ruby to hear. “Qrow is looking as well and Tai and Yang are waiting for you in Atlas.” 

“What happens at night?” She figured that was their best shot at escape. That or when Tyrian came back expecting her to summon her brother. She glanced over at their weapons, just out of reach. The lock on the door was electronic, but that wasn’t a problem for her. 

Tyrian wandered past Watts’ office with a drink in one hand as he looked over what the doctor was up to. “Our captives doing anything interesting? I could go rattle them some more.” He grinned widely as he stepped inside, politely wrapping his tail around his waist to keep it out of the way. 

gunsnrosepetals:

thedappermadscientist:

Arthur watched as Raven managed to glare at Tyrian, though she still looked out of it. “Maybe I need to recalibrate your sedative,” he said to his colleague. Raven’s fingers twitched like she was going to use her semblance and he shocked her again, eliciting a cry of pain.

“I know what your semblance is, you won’t use it to escape here,” he said. “Or to summon help.” He glanced at Tyrian. “I’ll be in my office. What I said earlier about the girl stays the same. As for Raven, I just need her capable of talking.” He smirked at her. “Where’s your mockery now?”

“I’m just trying to figure out who’s overcompensating more with that prosthetic,” she replied, smirking and leaning forward slightly. “Seems like someone is trying to make up for something there.”

Arthur gave her a look of disdain and walked out.

Ruby kept her eyes shut, not wanting to look at Tyrian or Watts anymore. She was sure Watts was going to be back with the black stuff again and Tyrian made her nervous without her weapon or being able to move.

And Raven… ‘Here’s the girl,’ the faunus had said. What did Raven want with her? Did it even matter? They were both trapped here now.

Raven waited until Watts was gone, and moved around slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. “Your little trick drained my of my aura,” she lied. “You’re going to have to wait for me to summon Qrow. And I can’t do it chained up like this.” The more work she could get him to do for her, the better. Especially if he could take out the surveillance system.

Tyrian swore quietly, pacing back and forth and then glancing up at the surveillance camera, then leaned in, pressing his barb to her throat. “Fine, but I’ll be back soon and you better focus on getting your aura back.” 

gunsnrosepetals:

thedappermadscientist:

Arthur watched his colleague’s antics with disinterest. “I’d just like to find out what happened at Haven. We have a dead maiden, Cinder is once again in critical condition, and the bandit seems to have come out unscathed. I do believe she’ll be able to tell us if Cinder took the Spring Maiden’s powers once she wakes up.” Somehow Raven managed to look defiant even when unconscious. “If she was looking for the girl its possible she’s gone back to the other side, or she needs her for her own little games.” The woman was the embodiment of chaos, something that irritated Arthur almost beyond reason.

Tyrian didn’t have to touch Ruby to make her flinch, his presence and her being restrained and the familiar yellow of Ember Celica’s other half now as his new prosthetic did enough. 

You’ll never get Yang, she wanted to say, but only tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t make herself speak and that frustrated her. Looking away she closed her eyes, wishing she could shrink. 

Raven moaned slightly as she started waking up, her head and her thigh pounding. She forced down her rage at being chained, her arms stretched out. It made the locks a little more difficult to pick, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She half-opened her eyes, making sure to give the appearance of someone still very much out of it as she looked around, taking in the madman and the mad scientist, the way Ruby was strapped into a chair and hooked up to IVs. Just beyond the glass wall she could see their weapons, taunting them, and a video camera up in the corner of the cell. Plans started forming in her mind as she moved listlessly, acting in drugged shock to find her self manacled and tried shifting, only for Watts to press a button that made the thing around her neck give her a painful shock.

“She seems barely coherent. We’ll have to wait to get answers,” the bastard said.  The moment they were left alone the damned collar was the first thing she was going to short out.

Tyrian grinned widely at Raven and winked. “Here’s the girl,” he said, sweeping his arm toward Ruby dramatically, his back to the camera as he mouthed ‘remember the deal.’