[X] Black
The smoke bellowing from the Schnee manor was the destination, and one that wasn't in a position to be pursued easily. What was left of the Atlas military was scrambling to the location, after the white beast had set off in that direction.
Of course, what was left didn't really amount to much. Atlas prided itself on it's military machine, but the circumstances weren't great. Most the army had been dragged off to the middle of nowhere for a power play, the usual reinforcements by the border of the Kingdom were dealing with a sudden surge in Grimm activity that prevented them from hauling ass to the city, and the main military base in the city itself was a burning wreck.
Hard to imagine, that one being could cause this much chaos, but then, it was hard to imagine that dragons were still an active force, let along one with a grudge against the Schnee in this case.
Or was it even the Schnee that was being targeted? Winter hadn't responded to any attempts to contact her since this whole shitshow kicked off, and Weiss was out with One and her little parade. Maybe it was the image of things, but who was at risk here?
The purple Intoner, Three. Not Two, Winter's last message had been around her area. The little winners of One's contest, like Penny Polendia, Sun Wukong, Nora Valkyrie, Eris. Yang Xiao Long, and Ruby Rose.
And with those two on the list, Qrow was suddenly a lot more thankful that Ozpin had kept him up in Atlas for a week.
The airship at the front of the pack pulled into evasive manoeuvres, before exploding into a ball of fire. Guns roared as they opened fire, a wall of Dust and metal punching through the air, and the Dragon flapped it's wings to throw off the trajectory. The next frontmost airship didn't even bother with evasion. Blurred figures leaped out from a distance, parachutes on their back, as it hit ramming speed, slamming into the great white dragon. The explosion wasn't notably different from the last, but at least this time it was Atlas making the hit.
The shift in the air currents took a moment for Qrow to adjust to, as he soared through the air. Just as he thought he'd done it, he was forced into a sudden dive, as a stray bullet that had been deflected earlier clipped by his metallic wing.
The heat was unbearable, Qrow noted, as he flew through the air. What was it with all the fire, anyway? Fire down by the orphan mansion, fire in the main mansion, fire in the military base, and some random fire on a highway somewhere as well. Too close together in the timeline for them to all be the same person, except this one here. Qrow didn't know what the deal was with this place. The first responders had given their call of something going down in the back yard, went to investigate, and never gave a response after that.
A lot of people hadn't been responding, Qrow noted. Winter hadn't been able to call in since she went to go see Two, Tai hadn't responded to Qrow's last chance to give him a call, the rank and file of Atlas weren't getting any reception, nothing. It was a god damn pain, and given what was going on, it was a real worry.
Tai especially. If that asshole had forgotten to charge his Scroll again, Qrow was going to beat the shit out of him for being a worry.
But that was something Qrow could worry about later on. For now, he had a couple of nieces to pull out of the fire. And then he'd practice yelling at Tai with Yang, considering the latest report from the manor had come from a taxi driver taking her into the mess, if the message from the medics tending to the poor bastards who'd gotten injured was any indication.
Explosions ripped through the air, and this time, it didn't involve anyone dying. Atlas had switched to remote detonation missiles now, blasting the dragon and detonating once the missile got close so it didn't have as much time to dodge. Wasn't a tactic useful against even mid-tier Grimm, let alone a dragon, but the air being blasted around by those missiles would at least mess up it's flight pattern a bit.
And Qrow's as well, as it turned out. Even from the distance between them, he could feel the air spurring his descent down faster, and it was harder and harder to pull up. Wrestling control of his form with his Aura, he pulled upwards, redirecting all that downward momentum into forward momentum.
All the little magic tricks of the Branwen were nice and all, but given how he'd gone and fucked it up before he could learn anything beyond the basics, that meant that Qrow had to learn what he could about the basics. You'd think the applications of being able to turn into a bird would be immediately obvious, but nah. He kept figuring out more nice stuff over time. Using his Aura to turn a downward swoop into a rocketing momentum, for instance, then turning back to his human form at the last second.
Of course, it meant he had to be observant on the inward approach, and with how chaotic the current battlefield was, that didn't seem like an option. He could feel the Aura's of a dozen or so people, and the smoke that kept coating the battlefield only to be buffeted away by a sudden shift in air pressure didn't help that at all. Which was a damn shame, because Qrow could feel that shifting air from the middle of the air a good distance from the manor, so he got the feeling that whoever was fighting right now would be someone he would want to get that early strike on.
But no time for regrets now, not at this speed. His body began to shift, and that was all there was too it. Back when he was first learning this trick, it'd be spectacle. See the memory of something nearby, feel his soul shift as he focused on whatever thought he needed as a crutch back then, just thought hard enough on something and let his body forget what shape it was supposed to be. And even back then, it was usually difficult to know it had happened at all. You'd think growing or losing a bunch of feathers would distract you, but nah.
As he felt his human hands closing around his sword, Qrow smiled, and hardened his Aura. He struck the ground a moment later, and the sound of the impact filled Qrow's senses for a moment. The slipstream that followed his path through the sky hit a moment later, parting all the smoke and letting Qrow get a good look at the fight.
His eyes fell to Yang's still body, and his blood ran cold.
Any kind of mocking introductory one-liner died on his lips, and the moment to capitalise on the element of surprise was lost. A melodic scream filled the air, and the colours of silver and purple boomed out. A crimson light began to burn behind Qrow, and as he looked around to see if he could find Ruby, smoke started to form again, as a half-burnt cat Faunus started approaching Yang's broken body.
Qrow Branwen acted before he realised what he was doing, as he brought the sword down on the girl. She turned to him, and raised her unburnt arm to block the sword swing. Steel cleaved through flesh, and the girl glared forward as the cut burst into flames. In a second, the open would was replaced by another sizzling burn, and the last remnants of the flame leaped forward at Qrow.
He swung his sword again, and it carved through the flames as if they weren't even there. They consolidated, twisting around into the illusion of a solid form, and the flames roared as Qrow recognised the Ifrit forming out of the smoke.
The crimson light burnt to the side, and Qrow spun around, extending his other hand to block the blow. The steel palm of his prosthetic arm blocked a silver blade, and the crimson energy surged into it. The Hunter bit his lip as pain surged through him, and he closed his fingers around the blade to rip it out of the attackers grasp.
A moment too late, as the sword slipped to the side. If that had been a flesh and bone hand, he would have gotten it done in time. The delay was a moment too much, and it fucked him out of an easy victory move.
The Ifrit roared in Qrow's ear, as it set his Aura ablaze. It burnt away quickly, much too quickly for Qrow's liking, and the bellowing smoke had already blocked most of his gaze of the outside fight. Damn it, with the sound of lightning echoing in his ear and the smoke blocking his vision, he couldn't tell what was going on. Ruby could be right there, and he'd never know.
But first thing's first. Get the battle away from Yang.
Qrow leaned back, as a sickle tore through the air above him, and he brought the hilt of his sword up to knock the weapon out of the burnt girl's grasp. The Ifrit caught it before it could go any further and threw it back at Qrow, but by coincidence, the silver armoured knight was making her next move, and as her leg glowed red, it flew down, knocking the sickle away again while kicking into Qrow's stomach.
Moving his steel hand to meet his flesh one on his greatsword, Qrow cleaved through the air towards the girl in silver, who disappeared into a storm of red lightning. Heat poured out of the semi-solid Ifrit, and Qrow turned, reversing the momentum in his sword swing to cleave through it instead. The robotic arm of his was a moment too slow to shift, and the blow wasn't anywhere near as good as it could have been. Behind Qrow, there was a movement in the smoke that he could just barely hear, before a small gunblade stabbed into his Aura, by his robot arm.
The Ifrit's fist struck Qrow in the face, throwing him back, and the girl behind him took the opportunity to slip a black ribbon around Qrow's neck. It strangled him for a moment, as he tried to shift his arm again. The steel arm lagged a moment behind in input, and he growled.
Fuck it. The arm was good for casual situations, but right now, that delay was holding him back. If he had any kind of Semblance that helped with the manipulation of the metal, it'd be fine, but his Semblance was the opposite of convenient.
As he pulled forward, ducking under the ribbon before the pressure could close down on his neck, Qrow reached over and pried at the joint on his robotic arm. A bit of applied pressure, and the right thought input into it, and the right wires detached, the right attachments sealed off.
The steel arm fell, just as the silver knight moved in for another blow. He sword cleaved into the arm, and as she swung it, the extra weight threw off her attack. The sword struck at Qrow, but it wasn't enough to throw him off balance, and as his sword started shifting, the hilt extended, slamming into the silver knight's face. She fell back a step, as the sword started to curve. For a second, the gun barrel was lined up, and Qrow pulled the trigger into the Ifrit, causing it to fade back into smoke as the bullets knocked it out of it's semi-solid form. That would only last a second, but a second was all Qrow needed.
His Aura curled around his arm, as he started putting together his next trick. It was a bit of a doozy, but it was also a useful little trick. Burn a bit of your Aura to extend the protection for a second, drag someone out of the line of fire without having to slow down to account for the injuries until you got some distance.
Perfect for getting Yang out of the way.
Firing his gun again as he twirled it back, Qrow ignored the cry of pain from the Faunus girl as gun and scythe alike hit her, and Qrow used that momentum to surge forward.
His arm scooped Yang up as Qrow ran past his niece, getting her out of the immediate proximity of the battle He slid out of the smoke a moment later, as he dragged Yang's body across the ground, and gently put her to rest against the cold hard ground.
He was out of the smoke, now. What else was there to look at?
In the distance, Qrow could hear some airships pushing on. Looking up, he noticed the shift in positioning. They were fanning out, spreading out, making the white dragon fly further to tear through them, and that time it took to fly let them push further. An airship or two might actually get within range, soon.
Or better yet, maybe people would arrive on foot. The path wasn't the best, but with the dragon so distracted on the airships, it wasn't killing anything on the ground. Back-up should be here in a moment, hopefully.
Firing into the smoke, Qrow started to circle it. The bullets flying in would distract the combatants within, and let him get around to the rest of the fighting.
Suddenly, Qrow's scythe was ripped from his grasp, and sent flying backwards away from him. Looking back at it, Qrow turned just in time to see his weapon be caught in the hands of some kind of orange robot, with one arm by it's side. It glared forward through a helmet of some kind, while another girl stepped forward.
Wait, wasn't that-
"Ahead of schedule, I know." The orange hair girl replied. "And I don't know how much Ozpin has told you, so that's all I'm going to say. Sit this out, Qrow. Let it play out."
"Fuck off." Qrow replied, hand tightening into a fist as he snarled. "My niece gets hurt that bad, and you're asking me to sit this out?"
The girl sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that."
She turned, towards the exit gate of the Schnee manor, and pulled at the orange robot as she did so.
"Ask Ozpin when this is all over, if you want to know why this had to happen." She advised, as she reached into a pocket.. "Assuming you survive, I mean."
Qrow didn't let them get any further, as he charged forward. He wasn't going to let the two of them leave, not with his weapon. He needed that to-
The girl pulled her hand back out, and opened her palm just in time for the flashbang to blind Qrow.
His vision went white, and he came to a stop for a moment as he took a moment to listen, trying to pinpoint a sound in case someone was trying to attack him while he was blinded. Nothing came, and after a moment, vision returned to him. The robot and the girl were gone.
That confirmed it, that was her. A mystery Qrow had let Ozpin and Ironwood keep so far, but he wasn't gonna let that last, after this. Not after moving things 'Ahead of schedule.'
That particular phrase wasn't one which Qrow was fond of, either, because there was only one thing she'd use that reference of a schedule for. Qrow didn't even need to consider the destruction going down all around him to figure that out. It was obvious that someone was moving to kill the Intoners, and-
Pain spiked through Qrow's head, as his thoughts started to wander. He put a hand to his forehead, as light started to grow blinding.
What the hell? This wasn't the first time this had happened, but he had been hungover last time. He had thought so, anyway. But as soon as he starts thinking about the time Ozpin explained Z-
The pain redoubled, and Qrow fell to his knees as it spiked through him. Like someone was taking a pickaxe to his skull, while he was hungover and stuck watching someone fight with light and loud sounds. Which was a rather simple metaphor, but thinking was fucking hard enough with how much his head was hurting.
What had he even been thinking about a moment ago?
...Not important. What mattered was, Yang was still in danger. Maybe Ruby too. And until he knew what was going on, he couldn't protect them.
Qrow stood to his feet, as the two girls and their pet fire monster burst out of the smoke. Without his scythe, he didn't want to risk fighting them for any longer than he needed to, so he kicked off around them. The girl with the red lightning was fast, but Qrow was faster. He soared past them, circling the smoke, and got a good look at what was going down.
There was two main battles, as far as he could tell. A girl in a blue beret and a grey-haired boy fighting a green-haired girl, a girl with one leg, and an old man who was pushing on. The girl in the beret was looking serious, but the grey-haired boy seemed look he was losing interest.
But that battle slipped out of his mind, as Qrow looked forward to the next. Three combatants, this time.
The Intoner, Three, was clad in purple light as she sang. She was bleeding heavily, from her stomach and chest, but the purple light was concentrating on those two areas. She had a scissor blade in her hand, and her movements seemed stiff, like she wasn't used to fighting so seriously with wounds like that.
The second made Qrow's head stop. Ruby was clad in silver light, blood seeping into her clothes around her chest as well. It was hard to get a good look at her with how fast she was moving, but that in itself said enough.
So Oz wasn't wrong after all. Ruby could tap into that Song as well.
Ruby saw Qrow watching out of the corner of her eye, and turned her head to get a better look at him. The final combatant noticed this ,as she moved in to stab Ruby in the stomach, and in the half-second where Ruby was jumping back to avoid the attack, the woman in white turned to look at Qrow.
It was vague, but Qrow saw a similari-
Pain spiked through his head again, and Qrow winced, as the woman turned away from him and towards Three. The purple Intoner used her sword to block the woman in white's, and Ruby charged back in at the same time, her scythe prepared to catch and cut the woman as Ruby ran past her.
...Whatever. There was something about the face that looked familiar, Qrow thought as the pain spiked through his head at the thought, but he'd already forgotten what it looked like after she turned away. It couldn't be anything important then.
Certainly not someone he had met before, at any rate.
There was a burning sound from behind Qrow, and as he turned back, he saw the Ifrit approaching. Fist curled into a ball, Qrow acted on his next move before he really had time to think about it.
[X] Engage the woman in white. Yell at Three or Ruby to hit the Ifrit and friends, their Songs should let them hurt it's incorporeal form easily. (Keep Perspective: Qrow)
[X] Engage the Ifrit. The battle was too close to introduce a new dangerous element near Ruby, and if he used his Aura right, he might be able to hurt it while dancing around the other two (Perspective Change: Ruby)