The alcoholic man was circled by Emerald and Mercury like flies gathering around a lightbulb.
Mercury delivered a kick to the back then the head. Qrow had barely managed to dodge the second kick as he was preoccupied with dodging Emerald's bullets.
The man grunted in response. His weapon was transformed into a scythe, smoothly seizing onto Mercury's torso and tossing him across the other side into the forest.
"Mercury!" The worry muddled with anger plastered across Emerald's expression and voice.
One of Emerald's newly added wristlet gizmos had lit up, showing a hologram with a line of text.
"I've convinced them. You can come over now."
The hologram dissipated and the two immediately took action. Mercury headed to the nomadic spider tribe just up ahead the forest and Emerald stayed by to prolong the illusion.
Because Qrow had seen a different scenario played in motion. His was the false one.
In this one, Qrow had missed and gotten his weapon punted by Mercury. The Harbinger (Qrow's Weapon) winded up ramming onto a lofty tree branch.
Qrow groaned, knowing he had to shift to hand-to-hand combat. A small smirked formed on his lips as he stared at his fist.
False Mercury had took this as an opportunity and he aimed his right leg to land on Qrow's temple. Fortunately for Qrow, he had blocked it with ease and delivered a punch to the chin in turn.
By the time Qrow had hit him, Mercury had dispersed into thin air. His eyebrows furrowed, coming to a conclusion. "An illusion?" He surveyed his surroundings, finding no visible trace of the previous fighters.
"Huh."
He nonchalantly walked to where his weapon was rammed into. Qrow removed the weapon from the branch and it came off easier than expected. The Harbinger was minimized and placed back to its sheath.
"Now, where did those two go off to? The kingdom of Teleportral?"
Light footsteps resonated in the forest. Qrow took a hold of the harbinger's handle. His head turned to the source of the sound and spotted a female around his age.
She had shoulder-length sandy blonde hair (with half of it in a fishtail braid) matched with azure eyes. Freckles were sprinkled across her cheeks. Her skin was tan and contrasted greatly with the plants' leafy green. It was, however, close to the shade of the wood and dirt nearby her. Her height was around 6 ft.
She wore a bluish-gray cameo patterned combat trousers and midriff, kevlar armbands & gloves, topped off with brown moto boots. On her neck was a yellow-colored tattoo of a cobweb.
She had an wristlet loaded with 2 adjustable karambits. Inside the handle, were a circle of chains that altered the distance of what the blade could hit.
"Looks like we got a little guest." The raspiness in Qrow's voice was the first thing she noticed about him. In an instant, she grabbed her weapon and pointed it at him.
"Leave." Her voice was deep but feminine and had no sign of hoarseness.
"You don't even know what I'm here for blondie." Qrow remarked.
"No, I don't."
"See—"
"But we've been told you are here to harm us."
"Your friends must like starting rumors then. I'm only looking for two people, and you're not one of them."
The blonde smirked, beginning to walk towards him. Qrow's grip had tightened, preparing.
"Could it be the one with green hair and the other with silver?" The blonde asked.
"It's more of a dark gray if you ask me. But you don't have to *wow* me with your ability to name different shades of grey. But yeah, that's them. Where are they?"
The blonde scoffed, "I'm not trying to *wow* you. And you're gonna have to go through me first."
'Bow chicka wow wow.' was the first thought that came to Qrow's mind after her reply. He chuckled, taunting her with his index finger, as if to say, "Come."
So the blonde did, and he blocked it with his weapon all while Qrow's back faced her. A second of shock took over her before the two began to fight.
In the middle of it all, Qrow still had unanswered questions lingering in his mind. "New friend of Cinder?" He asked as the two held up their own weapons against one another.
The blonde jumped back, clarifying, "We're not friends. We're forced partners."
Qrow ran to her. He dragged his weapon, lifting it to hit the side of her ribs. "Forced partners?" He repeated, wanting the blonde to elaborate.
The blonde spun away from the harbinger. Her right arm aimed for Qrow's neck, while the other held his arm with force to prevent him from hitting her. "If we didn't cooperate our whole tribe would have been put in danger."
Qrow effortlessly dodged, having been attacked with that move multiple times before. "Women really want my throat. What does she what from you anyway?"
"That's none of your business!" The blonde struck for Qrow's throat with extra force that time.
Qrow ducked and dropped his weapon on the ground. "I'm telling you, you won't gain anything from this." Then, he uppercutted her on stomach, making her glide across the floor like it was some type of shitty slide. "You're painting a red cross on your back blondie!"
The blonde lifted herself up using her elbows and clutched onto her weapons. "We don't have much of a choice Qrow. And it's Sabrina!"
"They told you who I am? Am I meeting the standards they've told you about?" Qrow smiled in pride.
"So far, you have but..." Sabrina whistled. Before Qrow could realize what was happening, he was tranquilized like an animal.
"Ah shi..." His vision blurred and his conscious mind started to fade. He dropped to the ground, trying to grab his weapon in vain.
