AUTHOR'S NOTE- *The final scene of the previous version of this chapter has been moved to the next chapter and replaced by a newly written scene for pacing purposes*
"Alright Yang, just slip your hand in right here, and don't move." Shen held one of his bracelets out to her. She did as he instructed and he pressed a button on the bracelet's underside. The outside edge extended out and twisted left, then right, chirping and beeping softly like some robot. "And here." They repeated the process on her other arm. As the outer rings moved about, the inner circles folded and condensed, tightening itself onto Yang's wrists.
Yang watched Ifriita work with intense curiosity. "What are they doing?"
"Calibrating to the size and shape of your arms for a perfect fit," Shen said with a hint of pride. "I finished adding the feature just yesterday so that other people could use her if the need arose." He knelt down and made to adjust a similar looking pair of anklets attached to his boots. What he didn't say was that he had started designing it a year ago when she began to show an interest in the variations he'd made on Tai's fighting style. The bracelets completed their function and retracted back into place, both decidedly smaller than when they had started.
"Hmm. Whats with the color?" she asked, turning her arms slowly back and forth. The bracelets caught the sunlight as she did, reflecting red over the gold metal where it hit directly.
Shen looked up from his task. "What? Oh. I thought I'd try out a new finish since I did all that work yesterday. Do you like it?"
Yang grinned and nodded vigorously. A strand of her wild hair fell free of the loose ponytail she had rushed it into earlier and hung ignored as she became more and more enamored with Ifriita by the second. "Yeah! It'll look good with your favorite outfit."
"That's the idea." His hair dangled over his shoulder in a similar -yet less rushed- ponytail. It had grown straight and smooth his whole life, so he'd always found it much easier to manage (a fact that he was eternally grateful for).
Yang continued to hold her arms outstretched before her, afraid to do anything that might break the weapon and screw her chances of finally using it. "Are you done down there yet?" she said, a bit tightly.
"Nope," Shen Said as he stood. "Alright now for the switches." He took one of her hands and turned it over. A quick press of another button had a section of the bracelet sliding back to reveal a compartment with a set of small pads inside. Shen pulled them out, slipped Yang's short fingered glove right off her hand, and began placing the pads onto various parts of the extremity.
Yang watched him work with wide eyes. "Are these how you control her?"
"That's right. Now pay attention 'cause I'm gonna explain what each does and I might not do it twice." He isolated a square pad and stuck it to the middle section of her pinky finger on the outside, speaking as he did so. "This one will transform Ifriita from the mode she's in now into her combat mode. Just press it with your thumb to work it." Next, he pulled out another square and stuck it to the middle section of her ring finger, also on the outside, "this one will extend and retract the dust absorbing plating that will cover your hands and augment your strikes when you fire a round, also activated with the thumb." Then came a smaller square that went on the inside of her pinky at its base, "this one will feed a round from the standby track, that's the one closer to your elbow, each time you press it. Work it however you can, but I use the tip of my pinky. If for some reason the standby track has an empty spot in the feed then it will automatically rotate either twelve times or until it can feed a round. Also, if you hold it down when you fire it will auto load the next shell from the standby track instead of the ready track- the one closer to your wrist." He placed a large rectangular one on the side and inside of her index knuckle, "this one rotates the standby track one space each time you press it. Its two different button that you must press at the same time to activate it but It works fine if you make a fist and hold one down then press the other with your thumb as needed." Finally came another small square that went just below the center of her palm, on the curve of her thumb muscle, "this is called the choke holding it down with your ring or middle finger while you make a fist will allow you to punch without firing off the chambered rounds. This one and the feeding switch are at a low sensitivity, so you really have to press them to get a result."
The pads had no wires and seemed to stick to Yang more like magnets than adhesive. She studied them, silently reciting everything Shen was telling her. "What are these? How do they stay on?" she asked once he finished. Shen pressed the small button on the bracelet again and the compartment closed. As it did the five pads on Yang's hand changed to the color of her skin, causing her to add, "and what was that?"
Shen had moved on to her other hand. "I'm not entirely sure what they're made of, to be honest; I ordered them from Atlas un-programed. They communicate with Ifriita wirelessly and react to Aura, so they'll stick to you normally but are impossible to remove as long as you have it up. The shift in color means that they've activated."
"Oh~. Neat!"
Shen just smiled and glanced at her while she stared at her hand. Neither spoke again for a moment until he'd activated the second set of switches. "Alright," he said, handing Yang her gloves, "put these back on -yes over the switches- and let's see that transformation."
Yang complied and pressed the switch on each hand. Ifriita jerked into action immediately, repeating its mechanical process of extending plates and padding and components. Yang jumped at the sudden response, staggered a bit off balance even though the weapon was perfectly balanced itself and exerted no outside forces on the body until fired. A snap of the top plate told them a round was chambered and the transformation complete. Yang stood frozen awkwardly in something between standing and falling. Shen slowly grinned at her, and she glanced between the gauntlets before she grinned back.
A distant squeal drew their attention to the cabin. Ruby was jumping up and down on an uncovered wooden deck, her pajama pants and top and short red-black hair all bounced along after her. They both waved, Ifriita looking a bit too large on Yang's skinny arms.
The wind picked up and blew orange and brown leaves off the trees around them. "Alright, what's next?" Yang said brushing the loose hair out of her face.
"Now we're gonna do a function check, to make sure each of the functions is working properly -hence the name.- First, press the remaining buttons twice each, in the order that I put them on. Good. Now, pull each of the top plates back to make sure the shells eject. Six un-fired shells on the bare ground. Gooood. Now, hold the fire choke and throw a punch at one of those trees. Alright. Two punches, no discharges. Good." Yang could barely contain her excitement anymore, and Shen had a pretty good idea why. He gave her a knowing smile, "Now, what's next little sis?"
"Firing a round!?"
"Firing a round."
Yang grinned big and bright. "Where should I put them?"
"How 'bout you hit that tree there, so you won't hit anything important if it goes wide. Do you remember what I've been telling you?"
Yang nodded, squared up to the indicated tree, raised her fists, and took a breath. Shen took a long slow step around behind her, observing her actions, and scanning her head to toe. He marked her stance, her angle, her center, her breathing. "Whenever you're ready," he said, and Yang acted instantly. She tossed a quick jab. The shot rang out.
Yang didn't expect as much recoil as she got. It threw her back hard, straight into Shen's waiting hands. She hung from them like a dead weight, staring at the bullet hole in what appeared to be shock. "Holy hell! Did you see that!?"
"Are you ok?" Shen said, holding her by her under-arms like she weighed nothing.
Yang jumped out of his hands, whirled around to him, and jabbed a finger at the tree. "Did you see that!?" she almost screamed.
"Yes, I saw. It was a clean hit; your aim is nice."
Yang barked out a laugh and looked back to the tree, absolutely glowing with excitement. "That was awesome! Dad did you see that!?" They turned their attention to the deck where Tai lounged in a cushioned chair, a pair of aviator sunglasses hanging on his nose and Ruby attempting to bring his attention to Yang's handiwork rather intensely.
Tai presented them with an upturned thumb and yelled back, "good job honey," before he turned to the little girl and began to entertain her.
Yang turned back to the tree still all giggles and grins and squared on it again. Shen returned to his place behind her and said, "alright now the other hand. How about you do something really impressive and hit the same spot this time?"
Yang glanced in his direction, still trying to concentrate on the shot. "What're you gonna give me if I make it?"
"I'll tell you how much of a good girl you are."
"How 'bout you just stop being such a creep for ten minutes?"
"Yeah, that works. Go on, then."
Yang flexed her fingers and remade her fists, found her focus once more, and took the shot. The burning red projectile sailed through the air into the tree, just a few inches to the left of the previous hit. She let out a huff. "Dammit!"
Shen whistled. "Almost. Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I didn't do anything wrong. Your stuff is just busted!"
"You know that's not true."
"Is so!"
"Alright. Give them back, and I'll see if I can't fix it."
Yang threw her arms behind her and gave him a defiant sneer. "No."
"Then stance up so I can tell you what you did wrong! Chop chop."
She narrowed her eyes and growled quiet enough that she likely thought he hadn't heard her. "Fine," she said before turning on the tree a third time.
"Your feet are slightly off," Shen said, jumping into action immediately, and pushing it a few inches with his own foot. "This will limit your ability to absorb recoil and could potentially misalign your center which will affect your aim." he began a slow stride around her as she stood stock still, tracking him with her eyes alone. "Your breathing is good, keep doing it that way." He poked her stomach in a few different spots, she grunted, but he ignored it and continued by lifting one of her arms a bit higher. "Try it now," he said, having finally stopped behind her once again.
This time the shot never came. Yang threw her punch, but in place of a bang, there was only a click. "What the hell?" She made to take another shot, but Shen caught her arm.
"Wait," he said, "What does it mean when it does that?"
"Umm, it's jammed?"
"That's one possibility. Check if you can pull the top plate back and see what that does."
"Okay." Yang tugged on the plate as hard as she could. "It's stuck." She tried again to no avail. Shen moved to do it himself when he noticed Tai attempting to gain his attention. The man was on his Scroll waving Shen over, Ruby nowhere to be seen.
"Let me see it." Shen tested the plate, and it was indeed stuck. He considered it a moment, turning it this way and that. After some time he said, "hold still," and she did so, watching as he pulled her arm straight, grabbed Ifriita at the back, and slammed the heel of his palm into the front of the plate. It jerked back, and a red shell flew out from beneath it. Shen let the plate slide forward slowly to ensure that it grabbed and chambered the next shell properly, then he bent down and grabbed the one off the ground. It was crunched and scratched beyond use. "That's weird," he said, pocketing the item, "I guess I missed something yesterday, but it shouldn't be much of a problem. I'll look at it later. Here-"
He pulled two belts of twelve shells out of his pocket and handed them to her. "Keep practicing while I go talk to Dad. Remember what we just talked about and use these to reload if you run out."
"What happened?" concern wrapped tight around the first thing Tai asked Shen as he approached the wooden deck.
"Just a jam. Nothing big," Shen said, presenting the destroyed shell. "It did a number on this thing, though." Tai gave the shell a hard look, but Shen couldn't really tell if it was more for the shell or from whatever he heard on his Scroll.
No amount of straining his ears got Shen any more information than that it was Qrow on the other end, speaking in a low and hushed voice, so he waited by making a show of watching Yang fire round after round at the trees. When he heard the chime of the call ending, he turned back to Tai. "So?"
Tai did not look at him, nor answer right away. His eyes suggested he was watching Yang as well. Once his Scroll was safely back in his pocket, however, he finally addressed the question. "Qrow is in Vale right now. When you get off the transport tomorrow, you have to find him first thing. He should be at the station."
Shen's creased his brow. "But what about my flight to Beacon?"
"You'll still make the flight, but you're gonna do it with your Uncle."
Shen only ended up with more question from this answer. "That doesn't make any sense. I don't need an escort to go to school, Dad."
"This isn't up for debate, Shen."
"But-"
"JUST DO IT!" Tai roared, staring the boy down.
Shen took a moment to observe Tai's demeanor: the unyielding glare, the hard set in his jaw and shoulders, how his hands clenched into tight fists. He decided that whatever was going on, he was not about to get any answers, and said, "okay. Fine. I'll find Uncle Qrow and let him take me to school. Is there anything else?"
"No. Yang needs your help again."
Shen lingered a moment before turning away and stalking back into the dirt. He heard Tai stomp across the deck and the door slam; he heard Yang cursing under her breath as she fumbled with one of the reload belts. Without a word, Shen took the belt in one hand and the gauntlet in the other. Two buttons and a dropped empty belt later, he broke the silence. "Watch your language, Yang. You're still a child, it's unbecoming or whatever... There, ready to rock."
When he looked up from Ifriita, Yang was watching him again; more like observing him, trying to absorb as much information as she could. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said. Yang lifted a single brow at him. He sighed through his nose. "So, do you wanna keep doing this, or do you wanna move on?"
The brow stayed up. "Move on, I guess."
Shen grinned, huge and mischevious. He lifted a heel and slammed it back down. The anklet bolted to life. It expanded and extended, locked plating into place and tapered into a vicious spike at the top. When it was all done, the thing had become a shining greave that covered his leg all around from his knee to half-way down the top of his foot. Yang stared, slack-jawed at the nasty edge that stretched down the middle of the front plate as Shen stomped his other foot and said, "Good choice."
"Don't look so down, kid, you're gonna hurt my feelings." Qrow held his arms behind his head as he walked, frowning down at his nephew walking along beside him through the grey streets of Vale.
Shen spun his shoulders to give a passer-by room. "Good," he said; short, not-so-sweet, to the point. He'd had his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans since arriving from Patch, and walked with enough of a slouch that Qrow had already commented on it twice.
"There's no need to be that way. I know you think this isn't necessary, but, trust me, it is."
Shen shot a glance at the man and cocked a brow. "Why?"
"You already know I can't tell you that." Qrow reached into his vest and removed the small silver flask he always carried with him, continuing as he unscrewed the top. "Just worry about not tripping and breaking your neck before you get to the ship and everything will be fine."
"Whatever." The sidewalk spread back into an awning littered with tables and chairs, and full of people breaking their fast. Shen shifted over behind Qrow to squeeze in between these new obstacles, and cut his eyes at one group with a member who's laugh was particularly obnoxious.
The damage had been done, though, and the conversation ended. Shen retreated into his mind, wracking it for any possible clue he might have missed that could tell him why this was happening, but every single little thing distracted him beyond reason, especially the sounds of all the people around them coming and going with talk of their new purchases or what they planned to purchase or what they had on the agenda or whatever gossip was making the rounds.
Even the glint of the sun on Ifriita, as it retreated and emerged from behind the enormous stone and concrete buildings lining the street tugged at his senses. Fed up, Shen pulled in all of his senses at once, and scanned back through his memories with a fine-tooth comb, even going so far as to letting down his Aura so he could concentrate more. During this time, Shen only vaguely noticed each of the five more times Qrow pulled out his flask, and he almost ran straight into seven different people. He barely even registered the sound or feel of his own boots hitting the concrete, and all for less than zero payoff: he could find nothing in him that he'd picked up on. These people knew him and they knew how to hide things from him.
Something jarred Shen back to the outside. He shook his head, looked around, and then at Qrow. "What?"
Qrow cut a glance at him and sighed. "Like I was saying, kid, I'm sorry it has to be this way, I really am. You're not stupid. I know you know that something is going down, and hopefully, you haven't figured out what it is, but-" he hesitated, scratching at his chin, "Arrggh. Alright, I'll tell you what I can, but-" he paused again, ensuring he had Shen's full attention, "you have to promise that you won't pursue this any further."
Shen straightened up and pulled his hands out of his pockets. "I promise."
"Okay." Qrow threw a quick glance around them. "There's been a sharp rise in criminal activity lately, especially kidnappings, especially kidnapping of young, prospective Huntsman and Huntresses. Your dad got worried when I told him yesterday and asked me to make sure you got to school safely."
Shen narrowed his eyes. "That's it?"
"Thaaat's it."
"And there's been no progress in catching them?"
"None."
"How many have been taken?"
"You promised you wouldn't pursue this, kid."
Shen frowned. "Right." he hung on every word his Uncle said; poked and prodded them for any sort of unintentional deeper meaning. "But why is it so important that I not get involved?"
Qrow tensed up, ground out another sigh, and pulled out his flask again. Just as he lifted it to his mouth, a crash rang from the alley they'd just passed. Both whirled around in time to see a Huntsman dressed all in black skidding along the ground toward the oncoming traffic. Qrow reacted first. He launched toward the man, threw out his hand, and grabbed him by the arm. The Huntsman moved with such force that his legs whipped around at the sudden stop, nearly pulling Qrow off his feet, but disaster remained averted.
With Qrow already moving on the Huntsman, Shen shot toward the alley. He stopped, slid the last few inches into the wall and peeked around the corner in time to see the glint of light on steel disappearing around a corner. "Someone just ran off on the right side. They still have their weapon out." Two thumb flicks and tapped heels had Ifriita expanding right up to the rolled sleeves of his red denim jacket, making ready to play games with whoever felt jumpy. Shen laced his fingers to push his gloves down and crack his knuckles; then he tapped the two rectangular cases that hung strapped tight to his hips to make sure they were still there. He shot a look at Qrow, saw the Huntsman glance at him, then back at Qrow and nod.
Shen wondered at that but brought his gaze back to the alley. "Is he hurt?"
"He's fine."
"Then let's go get this mother fucker." Shen made to set off after the glint. He heard footsteps behind him and Qrow's signature clockwork sword springing to life as he expected. What he didn't expect was to be grabbed on the shoulder, jerked back and to see Qrow standing firm between him and the rest of the alley.
Qrow, sword in hand and grim of face, frowned down at Shen. "The only place you're going is to school."
"But-"
"No buts! Whoever that was, he just took on a licensed Huntsman, more than a match for you. On top of that, he could be one of these knew criminals we just talked about, and I know I'm still on the young side, but you're exactly what they're looking for, and even if you were on top of your game right now that Huntsman needs help getting to Beacon so he can report to Ozpin."
Shen could not believe his ears. He ground his teeth and scrunched his face into a snarl. "What the hell makes you think I'm off my game?"
"Because you haven't even re-engaged your Aura."
Qrow was right. Shen hated it, but the man was right. Every moment Shen spent thinking pumped more and more truth into Qrows words. With great reluctance, and a deep, slow breath, he straightened and turned away. "Fine. To Beacon." He heard shoes clacking on the concrete, Qrow was already running down the alley.
Qrow barreled down the alley, red cape snapping and broadsword held stiff in the air behind him. The clack of his shoes on the concrete echoed off the high brick walls, and the smell of cold stone dominated the wind as it blew past. Yards ahead ran another man, arms, and legs plated over in shining silver metal. At the far end of the alley, vehicles rushed back and forth on the street next to the morning's heavy foot traffic. Qrow's query shot a quick glance over his shoulder as he came upon the sidewalk, just before leaping over all the people right into the street. He traveled through the air with a fancy little flip, braided black hair weaving after him like a tail, and onto the hood of a large delivery truck. He pounced all the way into the far alley just as the driver slammed his brakes. The vehicle skidded, the back end careened off into a small four-door in the oncoming lane, and another truck behind it couldn't stop into time to avoid it. The air filled with the sounds of breaking glass, people screaming, squealing tires, crunching steel, and car horns.
Qrow gritted his teeth and veered into the brick wall. Three quick steps had him up the side, at the corner and vaulting onto the top of the second truck. He shoved his sword behind the passenger side door and pried it open with a loud snap. Inside, the driver sat staring wide-eyed and heaving massive gulps of air, hands gripping the wheel in a vice.
"Are you hurt?" Qrow asked him. The man did not respond. "Hey! Over here!" Qrow slapped the truck, and the man finally turned his head. "Are you hurt?" Qrow bit off every word and moved on as soon as the man shook his head.
The process proceeded relatively the same with the next truck; the female driver had a few small scratches from the glass of her broken window. Qrow turned to see a group of people already working to pull the last passenger from the four-door. Then he jumped down into the alley and ran after his, now very much gone, target.
Qrow stopped at a cross intersection and shot glances down each of the paths. Nothing. In any of them. Dammit. He took a slow breath. His hand twitched his skin itched, and a headache started creeping up on him. "Shit!" He tried in vain to swallow the drought out of his throat. He was reaching toward the pocket inside his shirt when he saw something on one of the walls. Claw marks cut deep into the brick at one of the corners.
Qrow tightened his hand into a fist and began walking. "Might as well come out." He called into the dark, clutter-filled space. "You and I both know you've never been one for running. Or hiding." But he got no response beyond sounds of city life, so he continued, scanning the doors and windows, and stopped halfway down the strip with a groan and a scratch of his head. He turned to head back when a dog decided it would be a great time to start barking at something. He groaned again and pressed two fingers to his brow, but the just would not stop its damned barking.
There came a deep thud and a high yelp, and no small amount of dust shook loose from the building next to him. The barking shifted to meek whimpering, and Qrow saw the mangy dog back-peddling through the intersection from his left, tail tucked and nose to the ground. Qrow cocked an eyebrow as he watched the same man he'd been chasing step out, scowling down at the dog. He stomped at it, and it yelped again before fleeing toward the crash. As the man spun around and disappeared around the corner, Qrow caught sight of something small and black in his hand he hadn't had before.
Qrow stood there a moment longer before springing into a run. He rounded the corner and slid to a halt. The man was bent over a box, the tips of his short maroon coat-tails dangled into a small puddle. He ran the steel covering his hand over the object he held -now noticeably a scruffy little kitten- with deliberate gentleness, the sharp claw that tipped each finger failing to cause any more harm than they would if the creature itself were made of steel. The man glanced at Qrow and placed the kitten in the box before rising to his feet.
Qrow hooked his pocket with his thumb and leaned on his sword like a cane. "Like I said, not one for hiding."
The man made a point of paying too much attention to a stray thread on his coat. He sliced it off with one of his fingers and flicked it away. "It's your fault the stupid mut showed up in the first place." His chocolate smooth voice rumbled through the air between them. "Likely your fault I ended up hiding right next to a box of kittens right as the stupid mut showed up." He pinned Qrow with a pair of crystal blue eyes and gestured. "Just know the whole thing is your fault. Congratulations, your Semblance saves you from failure yet again."
Qrow made an effort to hide his smirk. "Why are you here, Tiger?"
"Funny you should ask." Tiger splayed his fingers toward Qrow with the palm down, brows high on his forehead. "See, I just recently found myself under pursuit from some old washed up bandit-turned-Huntsman, and not exactly in the best position to be watching where I was going. Wierd, I know." He moved his hand to the box. "Then I found this here group of poor defenseless little kittens, and that big mean dog came around to scare them to death. I had to do something, right?"
"I'm sure they're very grateful to you." Qrow pulled his sword and took a few steps forward. "And I'm sure this Huntsman -whoever he is- is long gone. So why not tell me why you're in Vale, where you've been these past years, and I'll see if I might be able to help ya out."
Tiger frowned. He turned away a began to pace with a few light scratches to the chin. "A generous offer, I must say." He glanced at Qrow and stopped, now on the opposite side of the alley than where he'd been. "I believe I must refuse, however. I have business that must be attended to immediately, and simply don't have the luxury of the time it would take to explain your presence to my associates. You understand."
"Hm. Yeah, I get it. You learned nothing from your run in with Tai, and you're still up to no good."
Tiger smiled. "Ah, Tai. I'd almost forgotten about him." He looked up to the sky for a few moments. "Speaking of, what did he do with my son? The boy is not in Mistral anymore, that much I know."
Qrow's brow knitted together, and his jaw ground tight. "I don't know. Tai brought him to Vacuo and cut him loose. He could be anywhere, maybe even a graveyard."
"That is in poor taste, Qrow. Very poor taste. I'll have you know I still care for the boy a great deal despite his betrayal, and would ask that you not make such jokes."
"I'll keep it in mind."
Tiger gave a slow nod. He looked at the box of kittens, where his eyes lingered, and turned to leave. "Well, I really must be going now. It was good to see you again, Qrow, do give my regards to Tai."
Qrow watched the man walk; Scanned his whole person; Scrutinized every single little detail for any sign. He tightened and relaxed his grip, pulled in a deep breath and released it, put a spring in his knees and bent into a low stance. The first shot had to be perfect. Against Tiger, he might not get a second.
Tiger himself strolled on, seemingly oblivious to any cares he might have.
Qrow made one more pass over himself and went for it. He kicked off the ground with everything he had, and rocketed into flight, the force throwing debris and stone into the air behind him. The wind ripped past him blurring everything but his target. He closed the gap in a split second. His sword snapped up. He channeled his Aura right at the last moment and shoved it into the blade. A shadow whipped out of Tiger. A great slash of energy tore out of the sword right as it would connect. Right into the ground and wall off to the side. The weapon itself cut nothing but air.
The shadow whipped out again and wrapped around Qrows ankle. It jerked him down, right into Tiger's fist. Another shadow deflected his sword, and Tiger shoved a steel boot into his chest. The first shadow released him and spun around. It launched a slash of energy at Qrow just as the kick sent him skidding. He just barely caught it on his sword in time to weave around the two that followed it. He shot a blast from his cannon and spun into a slash as a shadow deflected it. The second shadow struck his sword into the ground, and the first slithered in around his ankle, pulling tight just in time for Qrow to drag his sword across it.
The thing recoiled back into tiger's body, and the separated bit dissolved into the air. Qrow pulled his sword back up to parry the other shadow, then turned it to catch a blow from Tiger's fist, and then again for another strike. A shadow lashed out, he lept back, but it found his ankle again. This time it pulled his legs out from under him. The other shadow shoved him into the ground as he fell, and Tiger stomped on his wrist. The shadow moved to hold his other wrist. Tiger smirked down at him. Qrow tried to scowl back, but Tiger slammed a metal fist right into his face.
Tiger stopped short after four, maybe five, more hits, and bent his knee so he could rest his elbow on it. He grabbed Qrow by the hair, forced his head left, then right, and punched him again. He watched a wave of energy flash red, then black over Qrow's skin. "I'd rather not kill you today, Qrow, so this is what's going to happen: I'm going to get up and go about my day, and you're going to lay here, in fear for your life, until I leave."
Qrow finished his scowl and then smirked. "I got one of your shadows this time," he said and immediately decided it worth the extra punch he got for it.
Tiger stood, said, "don't move," retrieved his shadows, and turned to leave. Qrow did precisely as instructed, not even lifting his head to watch. Instead, he listened to the metal click of his steps on the ground. He heard a pause. After the sound started up again, he saw Tiger step around him, headed in the opposite direction. After some time, Tiger came back again with a box in his hands.
"See ya later, Qrow."
Qrow waited a few moments after he could no longer hear Tiger's steps before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his Scroll. He hit the name on his contact list and put the Scroll to his ear. Ozpin picked up after two rings.
"Hey, I found that new trouble-maker," said Qrow. "It's Tiger... No, he got away. He definitely hasn't been shirking his training... No, he's up to something, but he didn't let anything slip except he asked after Shen... No, he doesn't know where Shen is... Yeah, I'm pretty sure Shen still thinks he's dead... Alright... Alright... Can do." And he hung up. He pulled himself to his feet, pulled his flask out, and used it as a mirror to look at the fresh cuts on his cheek before he took a long draw from it. Then he tipped it over the ground and heaved a sigh when nothing came out. "Great. Gonna be a great day."
