"Uncle Qrow!" Yang and Ruby rushed to the side of their wounded Uncle.
"I don't understand," Weiss sputtered, shocked into stillness, "One shouldn't have been enough to make it through his aura like that."
"We need to do something!" Yang screamed, her hand shaking in anger and fear.
"Don't worry, Yang. I have scanned the wound; it is not lethal. I need you to remain calm and stop your hands from shaking." Penny said in an unusually stern voice.
"P-penny?" Ruby had gone pale, shocked to be hearing the voice of a ghost.
"Hello, Ruby!" said Penny in her normal tone as her hologram appeared in Ruby's eyeline, waving happily.
"I-I…" The events of the last few minutes were simply too much for Ruby. The return of her friends, a hole in her uncle, and now what could only be a ghost. Ruby collapsed beside Qrow from the shock of it all.
"What did I do?" Penny asked no one in particular.
"She'll be fine," Yang said fiercely, " Right now we need to worry about Uncle Qrow. Do you have a plan Penny?"
"Yes. My father included extensive medical training in my programming. I need you to remove the protrusion."
"Right." Yang wrapped her normal hand around the spike sticking out of Qrow's back. With a deep breath, she pulled on the invading projectile. A moment of resistance was quickly followed by a sickening squelch as the ice tore free. The gaping wound began to pour blood that had previously been obstructed. Penny spun to face the wound, emitting a low and constant stream of aura. However, the stream dissipated millimeters away from the wound, dark magenta aura glowing at the contact.
"I don't understand," Penny muttered, a tone of fear entering her voice, "How does he still have aura if the ice made it through?" Qrow's aura began to mend the damage, but nowhere near quickly enough. Blood continued to flow as his flesh began to sluggishly knit together.
"This isn't good," Yang said, frown lines creasing her brow, "He can't lose this much blood. We have to do something, Penny. Now!"
"We would have to break his aura in order to do anything," Penny said grimly. No sooner had she vocalised the thought than Yang was up and firing Ember Celica into the back of her Uncle. Qrow's eyes shot open as the blunt force of the dust shells hit him. He immediately threw up from the surge of pain in his back, and instinctively tried to roll away from the pain.
"Hold him," Yang ordered. Blake and Weiss sprang to the old man's sides and held his arms in place. "I'm sorry."
Yang continued to fire, Penny adding her own beam to the barrage. Even in his weakened state, Qrow's aura provided a solid defense for nearly a minute before finally cracking. Weiss had managed to wedge a small branch into the spasming man's mouth, but he still managed to curse violently through it as the last of his aura gave out.
In one swift motion Yang presented the wound to Penny, who immediately returned to her original plan. Refocusing her beam of aura, she began to cauterize the wound. Qrow turned the branch in his teeth to wood chips before losing consciousness once again.
Qrow awoke with a start in an unfamiliar tent. He attempted to sit up before a surge of pain forced him back to the ground. He attempted to calm himself, beginning to remember what had happened. An explosion. A fight. Yang. Yang? That was right, his little niece had done had to be around here.
"Yang?" Qrow called through the dryness in his throat, "Yang?!" After a moment, the tent flaps were parted by a head of bright red hair.
Yang sat silently next to Ruby, whose eyes were still wet with tears. Across from them, Penny had her hologram sitting cross-legged. The first ten minutes of their reunion had been Ruby crying and hiccuping her way through needless apologies while Penny frantically insisted that there was nothing to apologize for. Much to Penny's relief, the topics of discussion had eventually shifted to more manageable topics. Ruby was talking about her recent training with Jaune, Yang and the hologram contentedly nodding their heads. Penny began to recount the incidents that Ruby had missed when Nora burst into their tent.
"Yang," she sang, " the old guy wants to see you."
"Don't call him old," Yang mumbled as she got to her feet, "he hates it." Yang dreaded what her Uncle had to say, she felt like a little kid again waiting to be punished. Only this time she hadn't just helped Ruby steal cookies; Qrow could have died because of her rashness. Reluctantly, Yang shuffled off to Qrow, Ruby and Penny babbling away a few steps behind her.
Qrow stared sternly at his niece as she entered, followed shortly by Ruby … and a dead girl. Qrow lost his concentration as he tried to wrap his head around the unexpected situation. The last he had seen of Ironwood's little project, she was being torn apart in the arena by the Nikos girl. How was she alive? And why was she here, of all places? Questions for another time Qrow decided, he needed to talk to Yang first.
"Excuse me," he said, gesturing to the robot, " could you give us a moment? Ruby can stay, but I need to talk to my nieces alone."
"Sorry sir, but I cannot do that."
"Excuse me?" Qrow's voice acquired a new edge, " it wasn't a request."
"Uncle Qrow! Don't be rude to Penny!" Yang exclaimed, "Penny could you power down for a second?" Once Penny powered down, Yang remembered what had put Qrow in that bed. Her righteous indignation at his outburst flew out of her, leaving her head pointing at the ground in shame.
"Sure thing, Yang!" Penny's holoform flickered and dissipated, the projector sinking back into Yang's forearm.
"I-uh," Qrow found himself at a loss for words. The survival of the Atlesian android had been unexpected enough, but now it seemed that she was connected to Yang somehow. There was simply too much to process. But that was for later, first he had to correct Yang's sagging shoulders.
"That was impressive," Qrow muttered, watching as Yang perked up in confusion.
"What was?"
"Whatever the hell you did to me, firecracker. I haven't hurt like this since my first year at Beacon. What exactly did you do, anyway?" Ruby for once was silent, possibly more curious than Qrow as to what Yang had done to him. Yang glowed with renewed confidence, realising that she was at least not going to be completely chewed out. Her face giddiness however, returned to confusion however as she thought back to the events that caused Qrow's current condition.
"I actually wanted to ask you about that, Uncle Qrow. Was that the only one that hit you?"
"As far as I'm aware. Must have been pretty impressive to crack my aura that easily."
"That's the thing. You still had plenty aura when we went to fix you," Yang blushed in embarrassment, " I kinda had to shoot you a few times to get to it."
"Really," Qrow grew pensive at the implications, " well at least that explains why I feel like I got tenderized on top of stabbed. So what exactly did you do?" Yang began to launch into a detailed account of the Schnee's half baked bomb. Qrow didn't know what was more unbelievable, Yang's apparent aura manipulation or the Schnee's supposed magic sword. He had no idea what either of them would be able to do, much less some slapdash combination of the two. Whatever it was warranted closer inspection.
"Can you show me?"
"I mean, I can't really do much. Penny is the expert on the aura stuff, are you okay if I get her out here?" Qrow didn't like the idea of the android, she was an unknown. Qrow knew unknowns were what got you killed. He had seen first hand the damage that Atlesian technology could do if it ever ended in the wrong hands. An AI could present a whole host of different problems, not to mention one hardwired into his niece. For now though it couldn't be helped. Begrudgingly, Qrow nodded his head.
"Salutations!"
"Miss… Poledina?" Qrow began unsurely, " Could you show me this aura manipulation you used to attack me?"
"Yes sir!" Penny said unabashedly summoning up the source of Qrow's current predicament.
Qrow stared in awe at the little ball of power. A golden yellow, it was undeniably Yang's aura. Qrow reached towards the light, bandages tightening around his sternum as he stretched. His fist closed around the orb, but he unable to make it give so much as an inch; the aura felt like stone in his palm.
"Fascinating," Qrow didn't really understand what he was seeing, but he knew that it represented something that neither Yang nor the robot fully understood. He just wished he wasn't in the dark along with them. For the hundredth time Qrow wished his mentor were there. Ozpin had an amazing ability to analyze and understand any information presented to him, and how best to use it. It was a skill that Qrow sorely lacked. Qrow released the sphere of aura and instructed Penny to get rid of it.
"Once you do, you may want to ,uh, power down again," Qrow suggested calmly.
"Uncle Qrow, stop being so mean to her!" Both nieces yelled.
"Trust me," Qrow's eyes turned far more serious, " she won't want to be around for this bit. We still haven't really discussed your little assassination attempt, Yang." Yang's face paled as she realized that she wasn't getting out scot-free. Penny immediately went to sleep, fearing the worse. Ruby stood wide eyed and silent behind Yang, waiting with bated breath.
"What were you thinking!" Qrow's voice steadily began to rise in volume, "I know that you didn't properly search the area. You and your friends may be good, but there is no way in hell any of you saw me before I saw you. Did you hear a tree rustle and just decided 'better safe than sorry'? What if I had been Ruby or one of her friends! You would have killed them!" Yang shrank into herself as Qrow continued to yell, finally peeking at him when he took a breath.
"Penny told us you were there!" She squeaked.
"What?"
"She sensed your aura. We checked to make sure you weren't with Ruby. We never got eyes on you but we knew you weren't part of their group."
The damn robot again. She was too useful for her own good. But he supposed that as long as she was on Yang's side, she could be useful. How long until she was flipped though, willing or not? The more Qrow saw of her abilities, the more he realized that she was a huge risk. Once he found Ozpin, he would need to have a discussion about her future.
"Still, you don't just preemptively attack people, Yang!"
" We tried checking for you!" Yang argued, "And if Blake can't find someone, they must be trying pretty damn hard to stay hidden!" Qrow sighed deeply, then glanced at Yang's arm. With the Atlesain powered down, it couldn't hurt to show the other two. He had stayed hidden to be a safety net for Ruby and her team. Simultaneously, it had made sure that Ruby didn't think she had to be his. He would not hesitate to die for her, but she would try her hardest to stop him if it came to that. If she didn't know he was there, he could proceed with any heroics unimpeded. Now though, hiding was a moot point. With both his nieces now aware of his presence, there was no point in keeping his semblance a secret.
"Well, there are reasons I was Ozpin's go to field operative, Yang." Qrow said slowly.
Yang started as Qrow vanished in front of her eyes. Looking around in confusion for a moment, her eyes quickly settled on a bird stood complacently where her Uncle had been. Before she could react, the crow lept up and began to peck at her viciously.
"Ahh!" Yang swung harshly, but the bird effortlessly evaded her. Then, as quick as the assault started, it ended. The bird returned to its spot. The next moment, Qrow had returned.
"That's why your little friend couldn't find me, Yang," Qrow said calmly, "never attack with incomplete information. Assumption are how people end up dead." Yang hung her shoulders once again, realizing how poorly she had handled the situation. Ruby on the other hand, looked ecstatic.
"Uncle Qrow, that's so cool! Why did you never show us that?"
"The more people who know about my semblance, the less effective it is. Every person that knows has the ability to spread that information, something quite detrimental to my job. I trust you two, but there was no reason for you to know. Now that you know I'm around, it would be best if you were aware of my abilities. At the very least I can act as a scout." Qrow rose back to his feet.
"Well, we've wasted enough time. We need to head to Haven as soon as possible. Ruby, go get your teams together."
"Yes sir!" Ruby chirped happily before vanishing in a shower of rose petals.
Yang remained, her head bowed in shame. Qrow went to her, pulling her up by the chin to look at him.
"Don't be sad, firecracker; consider this a learning opportunity. Make sure you don't waste it." A small smile returned to Yang's face. The pair left the tent, Yang focusing on bringing Penny back online. It was time to continue the journey to Haven.
Meanwhile, deep in Atlas, a young girl awoke in a white, sterile operating room. Sluggishly, she began to look around in confusion. Her reflection was caught in a mirror to her right, and what it showed made her yelp in fear. The face in the reflection was of a young plain brunette held down by a strap on the forehead. However, from the neck down she didn't even look human. Tubes and measuring instruments intertwined with metallic limbs. A grotesque plastic lung hissed as it reinflated, previously deflated by the girl's scream. A soft glow emanated from behind her fabricated organs.
The young girl tried to focus, remember where what had happen. Her head swam with colors and impressions, and nothing more. Fear began to grip the girl once again when she heard a soft swoosh behind her. Footsteps advanced, eventually revealing an old pudgy man in a lab coat.
"Oh good, you're awake!" Said the old man pleasantly, " I didn't expect you to reboot that quickly. Tell me, how much do you remember?"
The girl stared at the old man angrily. His dulcet tone infuriated her, and she wanted nothing more than to beat that smile off his face. The girl managed to swallow the inexplicable rage, she had barely met the man and needed to learn more of the situation.
"Nothing," she whispered through gritted teeth, "where am I?"
"Hmm, that's too be expected. It may take another moment before everything falls back into place," The old man said, "As for where you are, simply rest assured that you are safe. For now I simply have some questions. Just focus until you regain your memories. I never did get your name, so if you could remember that it would be a good starting point."
The girl closed her eyes, her anger trying to burn a hole in her stomach. She once again forced herself to remain calm, instead trying to pull her memories from the inky darkness of her mind. Slowly, objects and feelings began to drift forward. Men in masks, cargo trains. A cane and a bowler hat. A girl all in red. An umbrella catching the wind. An angry blonde, her fists raised.
The girl jerked from her reverie, then smiled. "You can call me Neo."