Qrow woke up as if he suffered a hangover. Not exactly a new occurrence for him but the first time he felt stiff from a Hangover. He went to raise his head only to irately feel a blunt pain crash into his head.
"What the…" He grumbled looking above him to see what he hit. It seemed to be a see-through substance though full of hexagons as if it was a dome like structure. He banged on it ignoring the gloves that had somehow got onto his hands. He could worry about that once he got to out of this mess. He pounded on the dome's inside a few times looking around at his coffin like capsule. Outside of the dome he could hear a few people talking unfortunately he couldn't make out what they were saying.
The first voice that spoke seemed to be easily concerned from the sounds of it one of the people talking was a shrill voiced person. It felt as though it was a general insult to the mad scientist archetype. He could hear him scream at the top of his lungs when angered but quickly calm himself. The other voice that could be heard seemed to be calm and rather collect by comparison he never once raised his voice from what he heard. The two continued to talk for several minutes on end before a red light laminated the room. It disappeared quickly as well as the trotting of feet leaving the room.
Qrow laid back in his cell confused as to what was going on. He remembered the capturing of Winter by the strange red lights as well as the strange illusionists they encountered inside the abandoned hut but so far it seemed he had stepped off the set from one horror set into the next.
He heard something open before more heavy thuds came through the room. Qrow had to fake being asleep not sure what would happen if they caught him while awake. He felt his container shift in direction as he was hoisted into the air by whatever was carrying him. A new voice could be heard from outside the cage this one however was low keyed and bordered on the side of dumb brute in nature. He could make out what they were saying since he was talking to another one.
"Remind me where are we taking them?" a deep voice asked. The manner it asked suggested that he was not to bright.
"Launch bay." Was all the other one said. Just as slow as the other one.
Qrow took a bet and opened his eyes only to have them theoretically bulge out of his eyes. On the other side of the dome lugging his container was a large blue amphibious looking creature with multiple eyes stemming from the top of it' head. Multiple sharp teeth layered its bottom jaw and it seemed to have a lot of muscle mass on him. The other one that was with him was green and Slightly robotic in movement. The two lugged him to a giant metal door that looked as though it was riveted heavily Qrow could tell from the lights above it was a
"(I need to get out of here)" was All Qrow could respond with when looking at the creatures in front of him. He was not sure how to take care of these big hulking creatures but he knew that they were bound to have little brains in that head of theirs. The doors to the elevator opened, a good opening he needed. Qrow with all his might kicked the top of his container open bashing into one of the big green oafs. It dropped the container as it took a few steps back grimacing in pain. The other one turned and looked at Qrow for a good minute before it's brain realized what had happened.
"Get small pet." It gargled a little as he lifted the capsule he was in to bash him with it. Qrow jumped out of the way diving into the elevator as the device it had landed on its partner plowing him into the ground. The doors slammed quickly on him as he heard the powerful thud of the machine on the other side.
"To close for comfort." He grumbled to himself as he pushed a random button on the elevators control panel at random. He felt himself get heavy as it went up the structure he was in. "Where am I?" he asked again as he looked at the inside of this place.
His mind was distracted with that question until an alert went out. "Attention Arc staff. Today's rations have been cut in half until subject eight two four is detained. Thank you and work longer." The voice while robotic was female. She seemed to have a cheery outlook but in his experience, it was probably another façade.
"Guess that makes me the subject." He gloated to himself as he leaned against the lower rail in the elevator. He was not sure what to expect but he may need to be ready for what was around the corner or in this case on the other side of this door. He felt himself become lighter as the elevator slowed down.
"Floor one hundred and fifty-seven." And intercom spoke up catching Qrow yet again. "Service labs, storage, and gift shop." He did a double take as he heard the last one questioning this place need for a gift shop of all things.
He slowly went through the hallways keeping a careful eye on his surroundings. He could hear voices in the distance as he dived for cover accidently toppling over a handful of wooden crates. For his sake one with a lid missing landed on him lid side down.
"What was that?" A heavy voice spoke up as two heavy metallic footsteps pounded there way toward Qrow's position. He laid completely still under the crate as he saw the heavy metallic foot land right next to the crate one of the hydraulics in clean sight to him. A second one came from behind.
"It was probably one of those Tyhrranoid. They are dumber than Quark two thirds of the time." The other voice said. This one sounded more electronic. Qrow looked through some of the cracks in the wood crack. The thing he saw was a giant robot that was way taller than him. It looked heavily armored with claws for hands. Its head looked like a cyclops if it had a visor. The second one looked the same way though in comparison he was less armored. "So, what was this about a secret agent?" it continued talking to the other one.
"Oh right." The other one spoke up as the two began walking past the mess Qrow was hiding in. "A wannabe ranger was caught at one of Nefarious' hideouts."
"How did he get past bosses defenses?"
"Apparently he hides inside a wooden crate." The guard turned his head looking in disbelief at this thought that an advance security system would be outwitted by a box.
"You can't be serious." The other guard nodded as they continued their walk down the corridor.
Qrow at the time was doing nothing but laughing under his breath of the irony of the situation. He slipped out of the box and continued to explore the strange location. He still had a very narrow idea of what was going on. The metallic feel was not a comforting experience seeing it as a sign he was in somewhere militaristic base or worse, another Atlas training seminar.
He kept moving through the corridor not sure where he was. He needed a map of some form of geological coordinates. That way he could report this to Ozpin as well as other officials. If he were to take a guess this was far from Salem, a wanted master villain's doing. She was known for the reliance of Grimm but there was none around. Odds are this was a new contender that had technology capable of rivaling the military powerhouse of Atlas though they lacked the sophistication of the Beacon Academy.
A new intercom alert went off. "Attention employees, be prepared for the transfer of experiment eight nine six fourteen." Qrow looked at the intercom curiously.
"What room?" He yelled curiously.
"Room fifteen. Down the hall and to your left." Its response made Qrow freeze up for second in compete confusion.
"(it heard me?)" was all he could muster as he turned on down the hallway to find this room.
Ten minutes of walking passed when he found the entrance to the testing labs. He was certain that whatever is going on his answers would be in there. Unfortunately, two of the big frog like brutes were in front of the door. No real way in. "(Think Qrow,) He ordered to himself looking left and right for possible entrance. Above the lab door looked as though there was a lab vent. It went over their heads and seemed to enter a broom closet.
He looked at the old room's selves when he entered it was a cramped and smelly place. The room must rarely be used meaning they may tend to forget this room exists. He slowly began to examine the old broom closet.
It was not much of a sight. The cramped room held a lot of bottles to which he guessed were cleaning material. He could not read the labels since it was in a very strange language though he could tell it was some form of alphabet. The corner had probably the most high-tech mop he had ever seen. Even when it was caked in dust it was clean at the bottom of the device. He considered grabbing it though he figured it would be a hindrance rather than a help. He continued to scan the shelves until finding a ventilation cover on the top shelf.
"(Bingo)" He concluded with a bit of a grin. He began to climb the rickety shelf with the upmost haste. Causing a lot of noise was going to cause trouble and he had to hurry before they wise up to the idea of digging around in the janitor's space.
He heard two voices outside he could tell they may have been robotic since they seemed more intelligent than the oaths that were hauling his container.
"Did you hear that?" One of the voice's asked.
"Hear what?" He asked uncaringly. Qrow however was completely frozen in fear.
"That rattling."
"The rattling coming from the closet behind us?" There was a pause for a short amount of time. "Nope."
"But it could be the… "he was cut off before finishing the thought.
"I ain't paid enough to have my servos bombarded with foul odor. So as far as I'm aware, I HEAR NUTHING!" He yelled the last part as the two continued along the hallway.
Qrow looked at the door confused. He took a quick whiff of the room before he almost threw up. Those robots were right these fish things knew not how to clean up. He held his vomit in his mouth as he slowly continued to climb the smelly death trap. He pulled the vent off its hinges luckily it was not bolted in place.
Climbing in the vents was surprisingly more manageable than he thought. Though it was slightly chilly in the vents. These creatures seemed to not notice the cold air surrounding them. He figured they were used to it or yet again too stupid to think much of it. It seemed stupidity was a common trait amongst these things with the robots being slightly ahead by a single inch. He continued his haul try crawl through the vents of the base until reaching the corridor the lab was in. He looked down to see if the coast was clear of being spotted. To his lack of surprise, the two grunts had fallen asleep. He slowly crawled through his newly discovered path entering the laboratory.
"Made it." He grumbled to himself as he looked at the surrounding vent doors. Curious to see what he was dealing with he placed his head against the first vent on the right. The room looked much like his though unlike his it seemed that this was a pure operation chamber not just a recovery ward like his. The pod unlike his had a stormy mess of blue and neon green inside the pod.
Cautiously Qrow entered the room. He landed on his feet and hands to reduce noise and then looked around for a weapon should he need it. He searched for three minutes before settling on a strange looking pipe wrench that was laying on the. It may not be his scythe whip he loved but this was just as good an option for the moment. He slowly crept up to the glowing capsule cautiously watching it for sudden movements. He suddenly heard a scream from inside the machine causing him to freeze up unstoppably. He eventually remained control of his petrified body after what felt like an hour but with how intense his situation he was in. He was not sure what waited him but he knew it would not be pretty.
Amongst the colored haze Qrow could make out a female figure. It looked familiar to him for some reason. He continued to study the body noticing the extremely long white hair that span her back and side. The person in this cage was winter.
"LAWRENCE!" a loud voice over the speaker yelled piercing Qrow's ears. He looked toward the intercom. "Is the prisoner ready yet?" He seemed to be impatient.
"Indubitably sir, Might I add I love this quarter witted idea." A more British voice responded it could be safe to assume that the voice speaking was Lawrence.
"Good. Begin the splicing."
"Right away."
The room began to darken as Qrow looked at the capsule. A monitor booted up showing a progress bar that was filling up slowly. He looked at Winter in horror as he saw what they this facility was doing. Winter was changing slowly but surely. Her size was shrinking as the chamber she was in adjusted to her new size. White fur continued to grow over her body Qrow looked in almost distress he may have had his grudge but she was still an ally.
The next bit was uncomfortable to watch. Winter screamed in pain as a new limb began to form on her backside. He ignored it eventually however when he saw her ears begin to elongate. She looked almost animalistic now.
Qrow gritted his teeth as he continuously slammed the strange device against the tubing to save Winter from whatever they were going to her. This however did not go un noticed.
"Who's that?" The shrill voice yelled on the intercom.
"I believe it is the original experiment sir. I warned you that hypnotizing could be broken if you did it before splicing." Lawrence spoke calmly in the background of the audio.
"Never mind that! Release the new one!"
"Right away sir." The lights in the area began to turn a dark red. Qrow looked around as the tube opened. Qrow fell on his back as the machine's door opened. His eyes widened as he saw that the same thing that happened to Winter was also done to him.
Winter stood up and looked around the room curiously as she noticed the device Qrow was using to break the device open. She jumped down grabbing it and looking at Qrow through her cold eyes.
Qrow looked at her as he scrambled to his feet. "Guess You should be thanking me." Winter remained ominously quiet Qrow rolled his eyes at her actions. "Stoic as usual I see." Let's get out of here." Winter nodded at the suggestion. Qrow began to leave while looking at his fur covered arms. His fur was the same color as his hair, Black though beginning to gray in some areas most notably at his counts and what he could guess was the around the areas a dog would show its age. Before he could ask anything, a sharp blow came to the back of his head. He felt it turning around only to see the newly transformed Winter holding what looked to be a metal pipe. "Of course, you were." He said before he lost consciousness again.
Over the monitor the shrill man's voice began to speak up. "well that was close. Lawrence, Take him to re-education." There was no response "LAWRENE!" He yelled again confused at the lack of a response.
"He left sir." A meekly plain voice answered. The figure turned around his alien like body toward over the tiny bulb shaped robot. "His band had a tour you signed his temporally release form."
"And who are you?!" The towering figure demanded an answer.
"It's Dave sir."
The figure froze for a second a spark came from his cranium. "I see." He looked at the monitor. "I don't think this will hinder my plans. Dave get legal spacing and some advertising done."
"What for sir?" Dave asked cautiously.
"For the service, of course."
Dave looked at the monitor confused. His eyes lit up in shock when he saw the figure's plans. "Right away sir." Scrambling off towards the offices a few floors below.
The figure sat back down in his chair satisfied with his results. "Soon the Galactic Rangers will be no more than the universe can once and for all fear the Evil DR. Doctor Nefarious." He yelled ecstatically as his voice echoed in his chamber and accidently through the intercom causing the entire station to look up confused at the machine.