Essitter1987: Good point. Yeah, when I was writing the chapter, I remembered that this is Remnant. So I added the Grimm if only briefly. And I also love the scene that introduces John Wick through Vigo's dialogue. And him breaking the concrete of his house is so symbolic.
Aleucard: Yeah, it really does.
Inferno Blaze X1: Glad you're enjoying this.
Guest: Now that's an idea for Chapter 2, if you know what I mean.
Superwonder: Glad you're enjoying this.
Now, on with the story.
Chapter 5: You, uh. . . Working again?
(Play John Wick's soundtrack from the Home Invasion or Qrow's soundtrack, "Bad Luck Charm.")
Embers crackled in the fireplace front of Viggo. In some way, it's fascinating how something that isn't solid like fire can turn solid objects to ash. He stared at the fireplace as he absently held a glass of vodka. He let out a shuddering sigh and began to sing in Animan.
Hurry fall asleep or the Boogeyman will come for you.
From the swamp he will come. And TAKE the children that don't behave.
He takes a gulp of his vodka before smiling grimly. He knows the hit squad he sent to Qrow's house are dead or dying right as he sings. But it was better than appearing weak in the eyes of his rivals or other mafia.
"Baba Yaga, (The Boogeyman)" he muttered to himself.
Knowing he was going to be receiving some uninvited guests, Qrow began to prepare. He started with a cold shower. He stood beneath the shower head for ten minutes before pushing his hair back before turning off the shower. He then began to dress in one of his best suits. It seems impractical but it's what he wore when he wasn't working as a professional Huntsman. As he was buttoning the last buttons of his suit, he stared at his reflection. He couldn't help but sigh. He had worked hard to get out of this life. He shook his head. He has a very good reason for dipping back into this life.
Everything has a price.
He picked up a pistol from his nightstand that he had placed Lydia's necklace and Luna's collar. He then reached up to his lamp and turned it off, plunging his room-and house-into complete utter darkness. He walked out of his room, leaving Harbinger behind. Qrow hides in the shadows and before long, three men walking onto his second floor from the staircase. They're armed with pistols with silencers and flashlights. He has neither a silencer or a flashlight.
Quietly as a phantom, Qrow steps out of the shadows and fires a bullet into the first assassin's head. He fires again when he sees Aura flickering. Before the corpse hits the ground, Qrow is already shooting the second assassin in the foot while blocking his fist and then shooting the third assassin in the stomach before he could fire back. He shoots the second man in the chest and face before turning around and gunning the third man without mercy.
Seeing another assassin on the bottom floor, Qrow dropped down to a knee and shoots him in the forehead before he could react. He turns his head to the right before he runs as another assassin appears and shoots at him. Qrow jumps over the staircase before shooting the assassin in the leg after landing. The masked man drops to the floor, crying out in pain before being abruptly silenced as Qrow puts a bullet in his head.
Trained, but not all of them are Aura or Semblance users, Qrow mused. Viggo must be wanting this to be dealt with swiftly, he thought knowing that most Assassins with Aura and Semblances were mostly used at other Kingdoms. It would take a while for an assassin like that to come to Vale. He hides against the wall and quietly reloads his gun. Shortly after, he hears another assassin approaching. Qrow grabs the man's arm and flips him onto his stomach. Qrow quickly shoots another assassin that appeared in the end of the hall before twisting the arm of the assassin he had flipped before aiming his gun at the man's head and firing. He pauses as he looks around for any of them to show. His gunshots should have got their attention by now. Then in a burst of black feathers, Qrow vanished.
Two assassins walked in the living room. One of them was a Faunus. He was hired in case they had to hunt their target in the dark, he could smell them out. Strangely though, all he could smell was the dead bodies and a bird. Probably a pet.
A black feather floats down behind him as he and his partner walk on different sides of a bookshelf. Above them on the top shelf was a black crow with crimson red eyes sat. It watched the Faunus before it flew up and it became Qrow Branwen. The man dropped onto the Faunus, knocking him to the ground. He aims through the shelves and fires at the other assassin twice before he aim down at the Faunus and shoots him in the head. He gets on the move, shooting at another assassin that ducks behind a pillar. Qrow hides behind the same pillar before ducking into a crouch as the assassin fired through the wall where he was previously and Qrow fired back through the wall. When the man stumbled back, Qrow sees that he had shot the man in the chest, where the bulletproof vest was. Qrow moves to him, grabs his arm when he tried to aim at him and smacks him in the face with the butt of his pistol. At the corner of his eye, Qrow sees a Beowulf prowling around his house and gets an idea.
Spinning around, Qrow threw the man over his shoulder and through the glass window. The Beowulf pounces on the assassin shortly after.
Qrow moves to his kitchen before an assassin tries tackling him. Qrow manages to avoid the tackle and disarms him before he ducks under the swing of a second assassin. He punches the man in throat, making him recoil. Qrow sees the first assassin running to the gun he had dropped. Qrow moved quicker and kicked the gun away from the man's reach. Qrow quickly blocked the man's punches before giving him a left hook and then flipping over and slamming his back against the counter. He sees the other assassin pulling out a kitchen knife and he pulls the assassin's head off the counter and used his Aura channeled fist to snap the man's neck.
He dodges the first two swings of the final assassin before grabbing his arm. The two men wrestle their way into the hallway, both attempting to over power the other. Qrow quickly kicks the man's legs out from under him, giving Qrow the leverage of being behind him and tried to make him stab himself. When that didn't work, Qrow maneuvered around and pinned the man to the floor, pressing his weight on the man's arm. However the assassin continued to struggle and push back against Qrow. Getting tired of the struggle, Qrow reared his fist back and slammed it down on the man's hand holding the knife, once, twice and a third time. The first and second time just cut into the man's skin. The final time finally killed the man.
Qrow sighed. That could have ended sooner. Maybe he's a little rusty.
DING. DONG.
Qrow looked up to his door and saw red and blue lights shining through the windows. Slowly, Qrow walks to the front door with his gun behind him. He had a feeling on who it was but it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Upon opening the door, Qrow meets a blonde police officer.
"Evening, Qrow," greeted the officer.
"Evening, Jimmy," Qrow greeted back. "Noise complaint?" he asks knowingly.
Jimmy nods slowly back with a knowing look in his eyes. "Noise complaint." he says slowly. "By the way, there was a Beowulf prowling your house." he points to the side where a Beowulf was turning to dust. Then he looks past Qrow in the hallway. Qrow follows his gaze to the dead body. He turns back as Jimmy takes off his hat and rubs his head. "You, uh. . . Working again?" he asks nervously.
"It's nothing Jim." Qrow said a little nonchalantly. "Just some. . . pest control."
Nodding in understanding, Jimmy puts his hat back on. "Well. . . I'll leave you be then." he stated. "Good night, Qrow."
"Good night, Jimmy," Qrow bids with a nod before closing the door. He glances to the corpse in the hall before going down to his basement and pulling out the tele-Scroll. "This is Branwen." he says before clarifying. "Qrow Branwen. Yes, Qrow Branwen, that's right. I'd like a dinner reservation for twelve." He counts the Gold Coins on his desk. "Thank you."
Roughly thirty minutes later, an old man and a clean up crew arrived at his doorstep. "Qrow," the old man greeted with a smile.
"Charlie." Qrow nodded. "You look good. And here I feared you left all this behind." Charlie stated as his crew entered the house. With meticulous skill, Qrow's house was clean of bullets, blood stains and broken glass and the dead bodies were wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the back of the van.
"I hear you own a Dust shop?" Qrow asked offhandedly, getting a nod in response. (1) "Will we be hearing from you anytime soon?" Charlie asks. Qrow simply hands him the twelve Gold Coins. "Charlie."
"Qrow," the old man replied before leaving.
"Of course he did," Viggo exclaims calmly to Avi's report. He knew the hit squad would fail. But at least he could say he tried to do something in defense of his son. "What do we do, sir?" Avi asks.
"Put a contract on Branwen." Viggo answers after a moment. Avi nods before asking. "How much?"
"Two million," Viggo replied then speaking in Animan. "Lure the wolf with the HEN."
"Viggo, English, please?" Avi said in exasperation. Viggo turned his head to him. "Put Iosef in the Red Circle and wait."
"Wait?" Avi repeated in confusion. "Wait for what?"
"For Qrow Branwen, of course." Viggo replied grimly.
That took longer than I hoped. Then again, you can thank school and getting sick for that.
1) Charlie is the old man shopkeeper. With owning a lot of businesses in RWBY cannon and Chibi, I thought it'd fit.
Next chapter: The Continental
Next story to update: Unknown.