"Wait, Blake," Jaune interjected. "Maybe there's a better way to do this- a way to not get Terra involved."
"That'd be preferable," Saphron dryly observed.
"What'd you have in mind, kid?" Qrow inquired.
"You," Jaune bluntly replied. "Uh... not to assume or anything, but you know that Atlas tech, right? You've... maybe seen it before?"
"If he's a Huntsman worth his salt he's been on the wrong side of Atlas a time or two," Maria noted.
Qrow looked over at his flask. Were his nieces not present to offer their disapproval, he might've reached for it. "Go on..."
"We don't need to do anything fancy, just wreck the thing, right?" Jaune asked. "Cut a few wires, short a few circuits?"
Terra was appalled. "Jaune, that's not even remotely how..." Saphron cast a glance her wife's way, and eventually she relented. "Yes. Break the sensitive equipment..." Her voice started to trail off into rueful muttering. "...give my team another three weeks out in the ass end of nowhere cleaning up after the-"
Qrow started turning her out at that point. "So you want me to wreck shop. Wasn't the plan for me to stay with you kids and help fly the bird?"
"That's why I thought of you for this," Jaune explained. "You'll get back faster than Yang and Blake will with your... uh, thing. And if you're over there, more chance of your Semblance hurting Atlas and not us."
Qrow had to admit there was a fair bit of logic to the kid's suggestion. His idea was still crazy and Qrow wasn't thrilled about being so far from the action, but if it helped speed things along...
He turned his attention back to Terra. "So... is there a right way for me to break this thing?"
Qrow was flummoxed by the wires. Terra had told him a specific order to cut them in so her team could easily replace the damaged parts, but that was five or six hours ago and he'd brushed off her offer of a Scroll contact, assuring her that he had it handled.
Now he wasn't sure he remembered what happened next and was getting increasingly frustrated. He was starting to think he should just chop the tower in two before Atlas realized there was a blip too far off course mucking up their radar.
If Weiss and Maria had timed things right, they should've been veering back to the coast to pick up the others. He had a few minutes window at best to finish, either through managing to recall the precise order of wires and buttons or... well, he also had a sword. A sword that was also a gun. And a scythe, but that wasn't quite as relevant.
Qrow readied Harbinger. The subtle approach was never really his forte...
But he wasn't so drunk direct as to be caught unaware. He wasn't alone on that tower... someone was watching him.
Atlas leaving an extra layer of security?
No. Whoever was paying attention to him now was alone. Just... watching. Waiting. Planning.
Qrow finished his job quickly, shooting into the fuse box and letting a Dust round ignite it. Terra would be furious, but hopefully once she knew he'd be well out of communications range.
As for his uninvited guest...
"You want something, or did you just come for the show?" Qrow asked.
He reached for his flask. The A material deserved a reward.
His observer didn't mind being noticed. He obviously wasn't worried about remaining hidden... black was easy to spot in the snow. To this man's credit, Qrow hadn't seen him too soon...
He stepped towards the tower, watching fire rise behind Qrow. Qrow wasn't sure about the name, but he remembered the face... what he'd seen of it, on TV, on reports of violence and brutality...
Of secondhand accounts from Blake...
And Yang.
"Wait, I know you," Qrow noted, looking at the sword on the boy's hip. "You're the runt running the White Fang now... how'd that work out for you?"
Qrow didn't normally rub salt in the wounds until the third drink. But this guy deserved it.
"You're not the one I want," he flatly replied.
Kind of a sourpuss... and Blake used to date this guy?
No accounting for taste. He'd know.
"Yeah, and you're not who I came looking for either," Qrow snarled. "Guess we're both disappointed."
He was expressionless behind the black blindfold. Qrow couldn't read him at all.
But, strangely enough, the boy turned and headed away. That was surprising... the way Lisa Lavender spoke of him on the news, this guy killed any human who got within shouting distance of him.
Another excuse for Qrow to thumb his eye. "Guess that thing at Haven took your tongue along with your balls."
This time he responded, turning back at Qrow, gritting his teeth. Baring his fangs like an animal... like the very thing Faunus tried not to be.
Thinking of Lisa Lavender's reports and sobering up just slightly, Qrow could finally put a face to a name. "Adam, right? You come looking for any friends of mine?"
"That won't matter for long," Adam replied, reaching to the hilt of his blade.
"You're right," Qrow conceded, collapsing Harbinger back into its bladed form. "It won't."
Qrow lept from the tower, sword drawn. Adam dashed forward to meet him.
As Qrow lifted his blade, he thought: this is for Yang.