Qrow stumbled out of the Sheared Bolt. The Outsiders offered to help him get back but he needed some time to himself. He checked his scroll setting it to sync the recording of what had been said. Next time he reached a CCT signal it would upload. Then took a swig of the whisky they'd filled his flask with. Strong stuff. But not nearly strong enough.
Over a century of war. But not against the Grimm or anything like them. Against each other. He'd met his fair share of people willing to use force to get ahead but not war. Not like they described.
Armies clashing en masse. Hundreds of thousands dying in battle every day. The battles they'd waged. The weapons they'd used on each other. He thought Atlas kept pushing the treaty rules with their new airships. But airships couldn't level a city in the blink of an eye.
That weapon. The Hammer of Dawn. It had ended the war. Over 80 years of conflict. Ended with means of destruction so great even the most diehard fighters had to give up. They had had a few weeks of peace before the next war.
One against monsters that came from below. He thought the Grimm were bad. But they showed him pictures of the things. One of the people in the bar had shown him a rifle that had been made by those things. The Locust caused so much shock. Their attack was carved into these peoples' memories. Their calendar used that day. E-Day as a point of reference.
And how had the COG responded. When this new enemy emerged and besieged them? When their great industrial heart lands were taken from them? They burned them. Them and everything else. That picture in his pocket proved it. Thinking about it made him feel sick.
It was proof of what the COG would do if they deemed it necessary. Of the lengths they would go too to ensure victory. Or at least make any victory over them meaningless. How many people did they say again? Not millions, billions. Qrow couldn't even begin to conceive how anyone could do that to an enemy let alone their own people. Except perhaps… Yeah she would.
He looked around as he walked. This place was different. He understood why these people were the way they were. Their government had turned the most destructive weapon he'd ever heard of on its own population.
Yet here they were allies of convenience. Them and the Union. How could someone wage war for nearly a century? And over what? Some gunk from the ground. They said they were in an energy crisis. If that was true. What the hell would happen if Remnant ran low on dust A thought about a return to the great war flashed through his mind. The treaty of Vytal broken. Mass conscription. The Huntsmen academies turned into boot camps for the Kingdoms? Well the rest of them, Atlas had a lead in a few fields.
Still if he wanted to leave he'd better lose these tails. He glanced into a shop front looking at the two people following him. They were dressed right, walked right, hell he even bet they talked right. But following Huntsman was a hard game. With practice you could sense when someone was focused on you. And these two were keeping him in view for the last five minutes.
Were these more of the guys in black? Perhaps they wore those uniforms to stand out some times. If so, it was a good play, people were watching for armored guards not casual dress. But let's see they can catch this.
Qrow turned off into another side alley. With a few boosted steps he was out the other side. Then he ducked into a shop standing behind a small display of goods. A few seconds later both his pursuers shot past the shop front. He waited a few seconds to be sure.
'You buying anything?' A voice said from behind.
Qrow turned around. Sat behind the counter was a large man clearly the owner.
'Just browsing.' Qrow said. Nodding to the shelf.
'Well you can buy something or get out. No space here for loitering.'
'Fine fine. I'm heading out. Not like you take Lien here anyway.'
Qrow darted back to the alley and checked before shifting. Fat chance those two would catch him now. He flew upwards and crested the lip of the building. Right into one of their floating robots. The two collided. With Qrow letting out a squawk and the robot letting out a tone of alarm. They untangled and Qrow made for the Harbor. That was a close call and he needed to report in.
At the Admin centre Emmerich was writing a speech for tomorrow. The people needed to hear from him and he needed to make an announcement to the Kingdoms of the COG's intentions.
There was a half knock at the door and Myers burst into the room.
'Are you a prophet?' Myers asked, walking over to the desk.
Emmerich panicked for a second. He didn't know how to mention any of what had happened with his deal. How had Myers found out? 'What do you mean?'
'Branwen he was here.'
Emmerich shot upright. 'Here? In the building?'
'No in the Camp.'
'How did he get here? I thought we were monitoring them?'
'We are. But a Watcher caught him trying to get into the UIR sector.'
'Trying. Did he get in?'
'No they thought he was an Outsider and walked him to their zone.'
'He didn't try to explain otherwise?'
'No that's the thing. He seemed surprised that they weren't speaking Tyran.
'So he knows Tyran but not Gorasni interesting.' Emmerich said. Falling back into his seat. Their tongue and yours will be indistinguishable. He didn't know Gorasni fluently. Just some basic phrases. How much more of the wording would be important?
'What else?' Emmerich asked.
'He got escorted in to see Taikan.' Myers said.
'Nomura Taikan, why did it have to be him?'
'Perhaps god just hates us.' Myers said with a chuckle.
'I'll have to agree with you there. I take it wasn't just a friendly chat.'
'No he spilled about nearly everything. The Pendulum Wars, The Locust, Hammer Strikes, Outsiders and the Swarm.'
'I'm guessing he's not painted the best picture of us.'
'Several times the phrases. Fascist, Warmongers, Authoritarians and Pricks were used.'
Emmerich sighed. 'So I take it Branwen is in a cell somewhere?'
Myers stood still for a moment.
'He is in a cell? Right?'
'Sir I'm sorry to report but he got away.' Myers said.
'What how? We have Watchers over every street. Gears all over the walls and a perimeter set to a hair trigger.'
'I don't know sir, we've got our best people on finding him.'
Back inside the darkened space hosting the Ministry's of security. Cortez and Wilson were trying not to lose control of their bowels. They'd lost the target. Sure it was crowded but he had a Watcher tailing him. Still he'd ducked out of sight for a second then vanished.
They had returned and started combing through the footage from the area. Looking for where he might have gone. If they could turn something up perhaps the boss wouldn't flay them.
'Why didn't we just shock him and make something up? Cortez said.
'Because Outsiders don't like Shock weapons. And we might as well be walking around with a Phoenix Omen if we tried that.' Wilson snapped back.
'We're not any closer to seeing how he escaped. He drops down the alley then poof.'
'Perhaps you aren't looking correctly.' A voice said from between them.
Both of them turned slowly. Standing between them was Acting Minister of Security Alina Clarke, their boss. She'd entered without a sound and was gazing at the bank of monitors.
Cortez spluttered for a moment.
Wilson tried the excuse he'd been working on. 'Ma-'
Clarke held up a hand cutting him off.
'I'm aware you were both rushed into the field. This situation is not what you've been trained for. Pursuit of a target in an unfamiliar and unfriendly environment is a challenge. You failed, this time.'
Cortez just gave a rapid nod. Wilson turned back to the screens. Clarke was re-running the moments as the Watcher backtracked over the alley.
The view swung around as the Watcher changed track and flew for the target's last known position. As it reached the alley it prepared to sweep for any sign of the target. Then out of nowhere a bird flew into the camera covering the view. The Watcher shook off the animal and then returned to its sweep.
'Isn't that strange?' Clarke muttered.
'Ma'am?' Wilson asked.
'How often do birds approach Watchers?'
'It's rare but it happens. Normally they attack if we stray near a nest.'
'A nest? In a totally new camp that was built near a coastal area? How many birds would make a nest in a place like that?'
'Could be it belongs to one of the Outsiders? They might have trained it like some kind of guard bird.' Cortez offered.
'That would explain both its location but it didn't attack. It collided.' Clarke said. 'Look right after it's clear. No return or follow up to drive the Watcher off. It's not interested in it at all.'
Clarke brought the frames before the collision up. In a few moments she'd isolated the bird and fed the image into the system. She selected the data from the last 26 hours and set the system off. The system began looking forward and back for the bird. The results began to come in. Cortez brought up a map display with the results time stamped.
'No way that's a coincidence.' Wilson said.
'I'd imagine not.' Clarke said with a nod.
The markers formed two rough lines. The newest showed the bird leaving the Camp heading for the Harbor. The older showed the bird leaving the Harbor and entering an alleyway. The very one Branwen walked out of.
'So what he turns into a bird? Is that even possible?' Cortez said dumbstruck.
'I don't know why don't you ask him?' Wilson said. Pointing at the line that was closing in on the Harbor.
'How about you both look into where else that bird has been. I'll make the report.' Clarke said. Heading the door she paused as she reached it. 'Good work both of you. I know this time you weren't successful. But given the circumstances I can't see any way things could have turned out better. For now deal with that bird. I don't care if he uses it as a messenger or if it's some spirit animal. Catch it or at least slow it down.'
Wilson and Cortez looked at each other. Nodded and started taking over Watchers. They still had their jobs. And right now that job involves catching that bird. Cortez sent a message to a contact in the Civil Protection Service. She knew they might need something with a little more zap.
Myers PDA beeped with a secure call. He checked the contact seeing Clarke's ID.
'Who is that?' Emmerich asked.
'Our Acting Minister of Security Alina Clarke.' Myers said before taking the call. 'This is Myers you're on speaker. I'm with the First Minster. Any details?' '
'A few but short version. We think we know how he's getting info in and out. I have some people trying to slow it down. But we might not be able to stop it.' Clark said.
'Suggestions?' Myers asked.
'We can capture him.'
'It be risky.' Myers said.
'But we know he's going back to the room. Get a team in place. We can take him as he enters.' Clarke said.
'What about his colleagues? I'm guessing they won't like us dragging him off.' Emmerich added.
'True but we can charge him with something. Drunk and disorderly might work. Or public deviancy.' Clarke said calmly.
Emmerich winced. He wasn't even a full day in and already he was trying to have a foreign citizen arrested on false charges. 'What else?'
'We could kill him if needs be.' Clarke stated calmly.
Emmerich's eyes bulged. Just offering to kill someone. How bad did they want to protect the COG's reputation?
'I think that would be worse given he's our guest.' Myers said.
'We can have all kinds of accidents if needed.' Clarke continued.
'But what if that's part of some plan? Get us to kill him as a Casus Belli.'
Emmerich stared off into space. On one hand the COG was about to be outed as a danger to anyone and anything it came into contact with. On the other hand if he took the offers it could risk blowing up worse than loss of reputation. Think. What else was there? If Branwen reported back his masters might not go public right away. They might need to confirm the information or not believe him. But the truth would come out. Wait. That was it!
'We're going public.' Emmerich announced.
'Sir?' Myers asked.
'We'll go public before he can report back. If we reveal our history it will have an effect but our admission will help ease things over. And it will be better than killing or imprisoning Branwen. Which might play into the hands of whoever is controlling him.'
'It's a risk.' Clarke said.
'It's a known risk though. We can't hide our past for long. Even our own citizens know about the Hammer and what it's been used for. A public announcement would show we were being honest and open.'
'I'd advise against it. But it is your decision, sir.' Myers said.
'Ok then. Clarke keep delaying him however long you can. Myers call the Ministry of Propaganda and tell them to have a team sent up.' Emmerich looked at the script for his speech. 'Better have them send a few writers as well.'
Qrow was pissed off. He'd been trying to get back to the Harbor for hours. It was early morning now and these robots still wouldn't buzz off. He'd never seen this many out in the wild. They had a few floating up and down the road before but this was ridiculous.
He was flying below the tree tops trying to circle around this latest group. He heard the rustle of a bush ahead and rolled out of the way. One of the robots shot though where he would have been. How were they finding him this fast? He needed to get back and call Oz. One of the COG's Ravens tore overhead for the Harbor. Likely some kind of welcoming committee. He needed a way to break the chase.
Up ahead was a cave entrance. Perfect he could change and give these bots a proper fight. He ducked in and shifted. With his blade in hand he faced the machines. Right as the first one slammed into his face. It bounced off worse than him with his aura taking most of the blow. But then another hit him and another. He switched from sword to scythe slashing wide arcs. Each cut at least three of the machines apart. The tide was turning. He could do this before his aura broke.
A new machine entered the cave. It was a white sphere made up of sections. It paused for a moment then unfolded one half of its body into legs. The other half was lifted into the air above the first. Qrow didn't like the way it started humming. It was also blocking his exit. He dashed forward to strike. The Shock Tracker detonated its payload.
He was struck first by the outer casing vaporizing into a shock wave. Then by the payload inside. Several small emitters shot out in all directions. Once they anchored in place they began to emit bolts of electricity. The energy arced between them and to anything inside their area of affect. Namely Qrow.
Qrow had no idea what had happened. One moment he'd been about to escape then a flash of light and his skin was on fire. His aura held off the worst of the blast but couldn't withstand the damage from arcing energy. Red light burst from his body as it broke. Then there was pain. A great deal of pain. Qrow had once fought a bandit who used a chain imbued with lighting dust. This was on a whole other level. He collapsed on the ground as the electricity rolled over him. Then it stopped.
He took a ragged breath and began to rise from the ground. His skin had a number of small blisters from where he'd been burned. But he just needed a moment too-
The Courier drone that had carried the Tracker swooped in. Qrow on reflex struck the machine with his blade knocking its propulsion out. But it was already moving at speed. With the impact of his blow it was not longer aimed at his face. It impacted much... lower. Qrow fell to the ground with one final gasp before he passed out. He cursed the
Inside the dark room both analysts flinched.
'What the hell?' Wilson shouted hitting Cortez's shoulder
'You said hit him.' Cortez responded.
'I didn't mean there.'
'He took the engine gave out. And it doesn't matter we stopped him.'
'Fair enough. Not like he'll know we did it to him.'
'How about you don't jinx us.'
Qrow awoke and sat upright slowly. He'd already taken a beating today. He rose to his feet and looked out. It was mid-day. He must have been out for hours. He checked around then shifted. Even in this form he could feel the aches. But if he didn't warn anyone then they would risk the whole world not knowing what the COG had done. Plus Winter would probably kill him.
He made it to the Harbor and slipped into his bathroom. Remembering at the last moment to cut off the program playing his snoring. Just as he was about to pick up the Scroll he saw the note next to it.
Sorry about the low blow birdbrain.
Ok that was just creepy as well as worrying. Had they seen him transform. He was sure no one was watching and the robots hadn't exactly been subtle. Still no time to waste he needed the airship and that meant getting Winter to give him the key. He headed for the main room. Winter was waiting for him in the corridor.
'Where have you been? I've been trying to contact you.' She snapped.
'Hey hey. I've had a rough day. So why don't you cut me some slack and pass the key to the ship I think I left something in there.' Qrow responded.
'Fine. Don't tell me. But have you at least seen the news?'
'New's? I've been out of the loop for a while.'
Winter sighed. 'Check your Scroll. It's all over the news.'
'What is?' Qrow asked, pulling out his scroll. It took a minute to find the right icon. He never normally read the news on these things. After a moment of searching he found it. The headlines were not good news.
COG Admits violations of Vytal treaty!
Invaders from another world?
Grimm attacks increase across Remnant!
Cargo ship missing with all hands.
Citizens demand action from the Councils!
Atlas say's ready to protect Remnant!
What else is the COG hiding?
'Oh crap.' He whispered. Ducking back into his room he opened the link for Vale News Network he saw the clip of Lisa Lavender. She could be dramatic but at least it would be a brief summary.
'This is Lisa Lavender with the Vale News Network. If you're just joining us now this is today's top story. Hours ago the Acting First Minister of the Coalition of Ordered Governance. Made an announcement that has shocked the world.
Reportedly their people are from a world called Sera. Due to a malfunction in a military teleportation experiment. So far they are unable or unwilling to explain the nature of the device. Only responding that the components involved have likely been destroyed in the process.
The First Minster has also gone on to include a history of their people. The information was censored shortly after its release due to the concern it would lead to a panic. However it was copied and has been appearing all over the CCT net despite attempts to block it. Which has led to an increase in Grimm attacks due to the panic caused.
The information has led to citizens calling for the COG to be de-militarized. The Vale council has said they are in session and not able to give comment at this time.'
Qrow really needed to call Oz.
Ozpin was scrolling through the file from the COG. It was mostly things he already knew but it was good to confirm these things. He'd learned not to trust easily. A call came in from Qrow. Ozpin tapped to connect. Qrow looked worse than he'd been in a long while.
'Oz, have you seen the news?'
'Yes I have. It's troubling. The Kingdoms keep trying to take down the file but it keeps popping back up faster than we can stop it.'
'Oz that file probably doesn't cover half of what I found out. That place isn't a camp, it's more like a fortress calling itself a city. They have the whole place under guard and surveillance. There's something else.'
'The Hammer of Dawn?'
Qrow was stunned for a moment.
'How did you know about it?'
'It's in the file.'
'Did they say what it does? What did they did with it?'
'Yes.' Ozpin leaned back into his seat. Part of him felt like he could understand that sort of act. Another part was horrified that he would even try.
'All those people. Just gone.'
'Yes its power is unlike anything on Remnant.' Except for the Relic. Ozpin's mind added.
'I'll send you what I have. Hopefully we can fill in any blanks they left.'
'Good I'll contact the other Headmasters. If we speak with the Councils we might be able to bring the panic to a close.'
'I don't think this will just blow over. Not unless they agree to the Treaty.'
'I doubt they would even if we asked nicely. And Qrow.'
'Yeah.'
'Do try to get some rest. You look like you've been hit by lightning.'
'You don't know how close that is.' Qrow said, ending the call.
Ozpin watched the progress bar from Qrow move along his screen. A tone played from his desk. He drew out the old scroll again and read the message on the front.
Seems the past has followed me. Any ideas O?
Back inside Qrow's room he pulled out the photo. When you first looked at it you might have thought it was statues in a street. But then that little part of your brain pointed out all the "Statues" Were in strange positions.
Some were standing at the side of the road. Others were crowded in or around the cars. Some were holding each other. Then it clicked. Nearly all of them were looking in the same direction. They weren't statues. They were remains. People whose last moment had been cast in ash.
He turned the photo over reading the words on the back. Remember Char! He took another swig from the flask. A whole city burned in moments. What kind of people would do that?