Archive of Our Own ^beta

Patch was a small island, to the west of Vale. It was were Signal Academy was located—and where Qrow and Mercury were headed.

Since Qrow couldn’t turn into a bird to fly there, they had to take an Air Bus to Patch.

The two waited at the terminal. There didn’t seem to be anyone else at the terminal headed to Patch, most of the people were waiting for the bus that went to the outer cities of Vale. They didn’t say anything. Qrow was leaning against a post, his flask in one hand. Mercury was sitting down on a bench, he was quietly fumbling with the tracker bracelet located on his ankle.

It was a chunky metal anklet that prevent him from using the dust compartments on his left boot. There was a small red light that showed that the tracker was still operational. Mercury was looking for a way to take off the tracker without alerting to Ironwood that he messed up the tracker. So far, he hadn’t found a way yet.

“Stop messing with the tracker.” Qrow’s back was turned, he couldn’t possibly know what Mercury was doing.

Mercury crossed his arms. “How’d you know?”

Qrow took a drink from his flask before putting it away. “Didn’t.”

“Then how’d—”

“You’d be a pretty bad assassin if you didn’t try and figure out how to disarm the only thing keeping you from disappearing.” Qrow turned to face him.

“So it was a lucky guess?”

“You could say that.”

Mercury narrowed his eyes, unimpressed.

The two waited in silence for a few moments before Qrow sighed and checked the time. “The bus is late.”

“Or not functioning,” Mercury suggested, “since there was just a major battle.”

“Well, they better be running,” Qrow muttered. “I have places to be.”

“I know,” Mercury sighed, he looked up at the night sky. “I have to come with.”

“Hey, you’re the one who accepted the offer,” Qrow pointed out, “so stop complaining.”

“You’re the one who suggested it to Ironwood,” Mercury reminded. “You didn’t have to. So, you should also stop complaining.”

Qrow exhaled slowly. “Sometimes I forgot why I quit teaching—then something like this reminds me.”

“You’re welcome.”

The older man closed his eyes and crossed his arms. After a few minutes of this happening, Mercury reasoned that he was asleep.

He carefully pulled out his screwdriver from his pocket (Ironwood hadn’t been able to spot it and, therefore, wasn’t able to confiscate it). He looked closely at the tracker bracelet again. He located where the actual tracker was—it wasn’t hard, it was the only panel on the whole thing.

He was so lucky that he recently got a new screwdriver. His other one has only one head on it, this one came with eight different heads. But with this new screwdriver, he was able to switch to a head to fit the screw-type.

Mercury carefully started to unscrew the panel. He managed to get two screws off before Qrow jittering awake caused him to quickly slide his screwdriver and screws into his pocket. He lowered his leg and tried to hide the loose panel.

Qrow yawned and rubbed at his eyes. He glanced up at Mercury.

“The bus come yet?” he wondered.

Mercury thought, “Yeah. You just missed it.”

Qrow narrowed his eyes at the teen. “I don’t appreciate jokes about important things.”

“Who says I’m joking?”

Qrow turned to the left, there were small lights in the distance. “That.”

“Then why’d you ask me?” Mercury asked. “If you could see the Air Bus?”

“I saw it while you took your time answering.”

Mercury turned away from Qrow’s gaze and looked at the approaching Air Bus. It got closer to the terminal and Qrow moved from his position of leaning against the post. He didn’t turn to look at Mercury as he spoke:

“You might want to get up, we’re boarding soon.”

Mercury sighed and stood up. The panel on his tracker creaking slightly. He froze and looked down, it didn’t seem like the panel was moving. He took a couple of careful steps towards Qrow before deeming the half-off panel nothing to be concerned about.

“Geez kid,” Qrow said, glancing behind at Mercury, “you need to oil your legs or something?”

Mercury glared at him. “No.”

It would be too much work to explain to the man as to why he doesn’t need to oil his prosthetics.

Out of everyone, I had to be stuck with him?

At least I know how he fights.

That could be useful.

Plus, he’s a drunk.

I could use that against him.

The Air Bus docked and Qrow shoved Mercury in front of him. He walked behind the teen, showing his Huntsman badge to the pilot. They boarded the Air Bus. It took off and Qrow led Mercury to a seat near the back. They sat across from each other.

“Are you sure I can’t sit alone?” Mercury wondered.

“I’m supposed to keep watch of you,” Qrow explained, “there’s no chance that I’m allowing you to be alone.”

“What exactly would I do?” he demanded. “It’s not like I have a scroll.”

“What? You don’t want to sit with me?” Qrow joked. He leaned forward to look Mercury straight in the eyes. “You did some wrong things,” he explained, no humour in his voice, “and now you’re facing the consequences of your actions.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” he asked. “Do you really?”

Mercury turned to look out the window, keeping his answer to himself.

At the absent of Mercury’s answer, Qrow sighed and pulled out his flask. He took a few more drinks from it. Mercury watched him from the corner of his eyes.

If all went as planned, then Qrow should fall asleep along before they reach Patch.

With only thirty minutes until they reach the small island, the Huntsman fell asleep.

Mercury, then, went to work.

He placed his left leg on his right and took out his screwdriver. He finished unscrewing the panel and saw the small tracking device amidst a bundle of wires. He carefully moved some wires out of the way and looked closely at the tracking device.  It was a square chip that was blinking with a bright green light.

He reached in with his fingers and pulled at the device.

The light flashed red and let out small electrical shocks that ran through Mercury’s metal prosthetics and to this skin. He yelped, his aura disappearing, and jumped in his seat. His screwdriver and leg hitting the floor with a small clang and a much louder thud.

A small alarm came from Qrow’s scroll.

The Huntsman snorted himself awake and reached for the alarm. He looked at it, turned off the alarm (the pulsing shocks ceasing), and then at the pained teenager across from him. Qrow sighed.

“I told you to not mess with your tracker.”

Mercury only huffed in response. His whole body ached.

“What, was that?” he asked in between harsh breaths.

“A security measure,” Qrow explained. He spotted the screwdriver on the floor and reached down to pick it up. He straightened and pocketed it. “I’ll keep that with me for now.”

Qrow reached over and picked up the panel from the seat beside Mercury. “If you tamper with the tracker, small electrical shocks, which should drain your aura, will come from it—alerting me. The shocks would not cease unless I turn off the alert.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me this?” Mercury demanded.

“I wanted to see how long it would take you until you triggered the security measure.” Qrow shrugged. “Now,” he started, “I need to see your tracker—and the screws, if you would.”

I would rather kill you.

Mercury shakenly reached into his pocket and passed the screws into Qrow’s open palm. He was definitely drained of aura, he could barely move around. Qrow had to help him move his left foot onto the seat so that Qrow could screw back on the panel.

After that, Mercury placed his foot back onto the ground. His aura was slowly returning. Qrow leaned back in his seat, observing him.

“Now,” he spoke up, “the next time you tamper with that, you’ll be heading back to Ironwood. I don’t think he’ll be so lenient with parole next time.”

“He wasn’t lenient this time either.”

Qrow raised an eyebrow. “He wasn’t?”

“At least, he wouldn’t have if you didn’t ask him for a favour,” Mercury corrected.

“Ah,” Qrow nodded, “you think that this was my doing?”

“Was it not?” Mercury asked. “Because I can clearly a remember a conversation where you said that I was ‘worth saving’ and whatnot.”

“That’s true,” Qrow admitted, “I did say something along those lines. But that was just my personal judgement—don’t get me wrong, I think you can be worth saving. But I would never give you parole—especially after what you did to my niece. This was Oz’s doing.”

“Professor Ozpin?” Mercury raised an eyebrow. “You’re still taking orders from a man who’s probably six feet under?”

“Probably,” Qrow pointed out. “Anyway, he asked me to send Ironwood a message. It would be containing information about your family life, the proposal, and how you will, most likely, end up in his… care. I didn’t let him know that Oz told me to send the message. It’s quite a bunch of luck that he accepted the proposition.”

“So I have Ozpin to thank for my predicament?” Mercury clarified.

“Yeah.”

“Hmm. So I suppose that I’ll just have to thank Cinder instead,” he mused. “She did kill him.”

Qrow growled and stared Mercury dead in the eye. “I’d be careful about what you say. Some people don’t take backtalkers lightly.”

“I know.”

He raised an eyebrow and leaned back. “You don’t act like it.”

“I know that as well.”

Mercury smirked at the irritation on Qrow’s face.

Qrow led Mercury through the forest towards the house. The teen had been oddly quiet, and Qrow had to glance occasionally to check that he was still following him. As they neared the house, Qrow spoke up.

“You know,” he started, “for someone who’s as loud-mouth as you, you can be pretty quiet.”

“It’s a skill.” Mercury shrugged.

“Hm.” Qrow could see the house in the distance. “Alright. So you’re going to be staying with Tai for a while.”

“What?”

“I’ll explain when we’re with him,” Qrow assured. “But listen to him and don’t put up a fuss. He’s a single dad who has to take care of both his daughters.”

Mercury raised an eyebrow. “Who said I would put a fuss?”

Qrow glanced at him, unamused. “Just, let me do the speaking.”

“What for?”

Qrow didn’t answer him. He knocked on the door. After a few seconds, it swung open revealing a man with fading blond hair and tanned skin. His blue eyes bore up at Qrow. After a few seconds Qrow spoke.

“May we come in?”

The man moved out the way and closed the door behind Mercury.

“Qrow,” he said, “what are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” The red eyed man turned to face the blond. “I’m here to check on my nieces.”

“No,” he said. “You would have arrived when they did if you were here to check on my daughters. You’re up to something. Is this for Ozpin?”

“Not everything I do is for Ozpin,” Qrow muttered. “Besides, I had other pressing matters—”

“Other matters!” the man demanded. “Other than the fact that Ruby’s in a coma and Yang lost her arm?”

Ooh. That was savage. 

I like him.

“Tai,” Qrow started, “you know I would have been here if this wasn’t important.”

“What exactly were you doing?” he demanded, crossing his arms. “And who’s this?” He turned to Mercury.

“Hi.” Mercury slightly waved.

Qrow sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. “Mercury, Taiyang. He’s Ruby and Yang’s father,” he introduced, “Tai, Mercury. I’m currently watching over him.”

“Hello,” Taiyang politely said to Mercury. He turned back to Qrow. “Why is he here?”

“Like I said,” Qrow explained, “I’m watching over him for James.” 

Taiyang sighed, “How long are you and he staying?”

“As soon as Ruby wakes up,” Qrow promised, “then I’m off. Mercury… he’s staying for a while.”

“What!”

“What?”

“You brought a stranger into my house and are expecting me to watch over him for you?” Taiyang demanded as Mercury spoke at the same time.

“You’re ditching me on a stranger?” Mercury asked. “It strictly says that I’m supposed to be under your watch. I don’t think Ironwood would like to hear about this…”

Qrow rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Tai,” he started, “he’s only staying for a small period of time. He’s more than capable of taking care of himself, you just have to make sure that he doesn’t leave the premises—or gain access to any scroll.

“And you,” he turned to Mercury, “I’m not ditching you on a stranger. You two just met. Therefore, not strangers. Besides, you tell Ironwood about this and I’ll tell him about how you tried to take off your tracker—I don’t think you’ll want to go back to prison after dealing your way out.”

Mercury glared at the ground.

He’s right. I hate how he’s right.

Truth be told, I would have done the same thing.

Stop agreeing with the enemy!

“Prison?” Taiyang demanded. “You brought a criminal to my house?”

“I’m right here you know,” Mercury mentioned.

“He’s not really a criminal,” Qrow lied.

“Not really a criminal?” Mercury wondered, amusement thick in his voice. “Did you forget the fact that I’m an assassin?”

Taiyang turned to Qrow, flabbergasted. “You brought an assassin to my house?”

Qrow turned to Mercury while Taiyang ranted. “I told you to let me do the talking.”

Mercury shrugged.

“—Have you become dumber since the last time you came?” Taiyang wondered. “Or do you just not care for safety? Are you—”

Qrow interrupted him, “Tai, listen.”

“What do you have to say?” Taiyang insisted.

“He isn’t really an assassin now,” Qrow explained. “Here. I’ll send you a link to an alert that will stop him from doing anything you deem ‘bad’.”

He pulled out his scroll and sent Taiyang a link to the alert that is connected to Mercury’s tracker bracelet.

Taiyang looked at it. “You’re expecting me to shock him like a dog? I didn’t even do that to Zwei!” He slammed his scroll down on the table.

At the sound of his name, a small black and white corgi waddled into the room.

“Bark!” Zwei panted.

“I didn’t—ugh, never mind.” Taiyang rubbed his face.

“Besides,” Qrow remembered, “if you unscrew the joints on his legs, he won’t be able to go anywhere.”

“Hey!” Mercury complained.

“What?” Taiyang blinked. “You know what? I don’t want to know.

“Going back to earlier: you want me to house an assassin?”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t get caught as an assassin,” Mercury added.

“Why would that make me feel better?”

“See?” Qrow pointed out. “He’s good at what he does—and I don’t know anyone else who would help his soul go back on the right track than you.”

Taiyang ignored him. He continued to speak to Mercury, “What did you get arrest for anyway?”

“Infiltrating Beacon academy,” he shrugged, “aiding in murder, helping to initiate the attack at Bea—”

Qrow rushed over and covered the silver haired teen’s mouth before he could say anything else.

Taiyang narrowed his eyes at Qrow.

Qrow smiled sheepishly at the blond. “Ignore him,” he said, “he’s trying to be difficult.”

He let go of Mercury and glanced around the house. “Anyway, I should probably check on the girls.”

“What are you going to do with him?” Taiyang asked, gesturing to Mercury.

“I can just leave,” Mercury suggested.

Qrow turned to him. “No. You know the rules. You’re not going out alone.”

“I won’t do anything,” he explained. “Besides, can’t you track my position from your scroll or something?”

“You’re still not going out,” Qrow simply said. “End of conversation.”

Screw you, I have my own agenda.

Taiyang flumped down onto one of the chairs, he rubbed at his forehead. Because of the lighting, he looked much older. “You can go visit Yang, I’ll keep an eye on him while you do.” He sighed.

“What? Really?”

“Yeah,” Taiyang cracked open an eyelid, “I know how much they mean to you.”

“Thanks, Tai,” Qrow sincerely said. “I knew I could count on you.”

With that, the cap-clad Huntsman left for the stairs.

Mercury awkwardly stood by the door. Taiyang didn’t say anything for a moment.

“You can sit you know,” the blond mentioned.

“I know.” Mercury still stood by the door.

“You’re not leaving this house,” Taiyang sighed. “I don’t know what your and Qrow’s deal is, but I’ll respect his choice.”

“Exactly,” Mercury mentioned. “You don’t know my deal. Maybe Qrow hates being outside.”

Taiyang leaned back in his chair and looked at Mercury. “I’ve known Qrow since Beacon. If anything, he prefers being outside—well, he prefers going to bars.”

“Yeah, you can smell a whole bar off of him.”

Taiyang pulled out a chair. “Sit. I want to have a chat.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“If you’re going to stay here, I want to talk.” He gestured to the chair. “Sit.”

Mercury grabbed the chair and pulled it towards him before sitting down. He rested one leg over the other.

“What did you want to talk about?” he wondered.

Taiyang looked closely at him. “What you mentioned before: an attack on Bea. Where you referring to the attack on Beacon?”

“Yeah,” Mercury smirked, “my boss got in touch with Torchwick and coordinated the attack. He was with the White Fang. Got to thank them. We wouldn’t have been successful without the distraction.”

Taiyang took a deep breath in. “I watched the Vytal Festival,” he started. “You fought against Yang, did you not?”

“Yeah, and I got her arrested as well.” Mercury kept eye contact with Taiyang. “Want to kick me out yet?”

Taiyang didn’t say anything.

“I also kept Ruby from saving her friend Penny before Nikos killed her,” he mentioned.

Taiyang kept silent.

“I thought you wanted to talk,” Mercury noted, “you’ve been quiet. It seems like I’m doing more talking than you—and you’re the one who wanted to talk.”

When Taiyang spoke, it wasn’t what he expected, “So Yang didn’t injure your leg.”

Mercury furrowed his brow. “No duh. It didn’t even hurt. I’m a great actor, if I have to say so myself. Great enough to fool all of Remnant.”

“Why did you do it?” he asked.

“Because it was part of the plan—”

“Not the act,” Taiyang interrupted, “but everything else. Being an assassin, infiltrating Beacon, helping the White Fang—”

“Didn’t help the White Fang,” Mercury corrected, “only used them.”

Taiyang waited for his answer.

“I did everything because I wanted to,” he summed up. “Being an assassin, infiltrating Beacon, the attack—that was all my choice. I wanted to see humanity fall.”

Taiyang looked closely at Mercury. Then he sighed and shook his head. “Qrow hopes that I can help you onto a better path, but I’m not so sure that you’ll be able to walk down it.”

“That’s what I told him,” Mercury agreed. “In fact the only reason I’m here is because he doesn’t understand that I don’t need help. I chose my path, and I’m going to skip down it.”

Taiyang sighed once more. He then stood up and turned his back to Mercury. He thought for a moment. “Qrow mentioned you had rules, what are they?”

“Just things Ironwood told me I have to follow.” Mercury shrugged. “If I break them I go to prison.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Mercury sighed, “I have to be under the watch of Qrow everyday, I apparently will train under him and anyone else he chooses, I have to wear this stupid tracker, I’m not allowed to break any laws, I can only fight Grimm and in self defense—or unless Qrow or Ironwood say I can, I cannot use a scroll, I cannot buy dust, I cannot injure anyone, and I can’t kill or accidently kill anyone, or send or receive mail.”

“That’s all?” Taiyang asked.

“Yup,” Mercury nodded, “I was shocked as well.”

“So you chose to practically be isolated from the world, except for people you speak with, rather than be in prison?” Taiyang turned to him. “Are you planning something?”

He’s smart.

I still like him.

I just don’t like how smart he is.

“I’m not planning anything,” Mercury assured. “You just can’t watch humanity fall from behind bars.”

“You do realise that humanity falling means you’ll fall with us?” Taiyang wondered.

“No.” Mercury smirked. “I’m just a pawn captured by the enemies. I won’t fall. I’m the one, out of us all, who will survive until the end. I chose my ending—have you?”

“You do realise that by calling us enemies, you just stated the whole of humanity is your enemy?” Qrow asked from the doorway. “Yang was asleep, I didn’t want to disturb her,” he explained to Taiyang.

“Yes, I do.” Mercury shrugged. “I mean, why fight against Salem? She owns 95% of Remnant.”

“We'll get that 95% back,” Qrow assured. “And I don’t think insulting the people who have control over your wellbeing is a smart decision.”

“Who said anything about ‘smart’?” Mercury wondered. “Ask Emerald, she’ll tell you that I’m not smart.”

“Tai,” Qrow said, “can you leave us?”

“Fine.” Taiyang stood up. “I have to check on Ruby.”

He left the two alone.

Qrow resumed his conversation with Mercury, “Isn’t Emerald the green hair one who attacked Amber?”

“Yeah, she kept us hidden from you.” Mercury thought. “Or, she kept Cinder hidden from you. I don’t think she actually cared about me. She doesn’t like me.”

“Yeah, if she paid more attention she would have hidden one of your most distinguishable features,” Qrow agreed. “That’s how I found out about you. I saw you fixing your prosthetics.”

“You were watching me?” Mercury looked disgusted.

“I was observing you for Ozpin,” he explained, “since he thought that you were naïve about your eyes. Now we know that you were just in denial.”

Mercury didn’t say anything.

“Why were you in denial anyway?” he wondered. “It doesn’t seem like something you would be in.”

“Why do you speak?” Mercury asked.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not insulting you,” he corrected. “I’m asking a serious question. You want to know my answer, answer my question. Why do you speak?”

“Because that’s how we communicate.” Qrow answered.

“You’re thinking to broad,” Mercury sighed. “I’m asking: why do you speak?”

“…Because I was taught?”

“There you go.”

“What?”

“That’s my answer,” Mercury explained. “Now, is there a place I can sleep in?”

“Not until you explain to me what you meant,” Qrow growled. “I don’t like trickery or games.”

“Than you obviously didn’t like Ozpin,” Mercury retorted.

“Unlike you,” Qrow explained, “Oz doesn’t play tricks. There’s always a meaning in what he says.”

“There is one in mine.” Mercury smirked. “Can I go now. It’s late and I’m tired. I promise I won’t sneak out during the middle of the night.”

Qrow glared at him but turned towards the stairs.

“Follow me,” he said, “’I’ll show you to the guest room. But you’re answering my questions in the morning.”

Did they expect me to not try and escape?

That’s stupid. But true.

Cause I’m only after a scroll.

Mercury looked around the dark guest room. It was almost one in the morning. Everyone should be asleep. He carefully got out of the bed and crept his way over to the door, his prosthetics didn’t creak or made a sound on the floorboards.

He opened the door and peeked out into the hallway. There was no one.

Mercury then snuck his way down the hallway, passed Taiyang’s empty room. He must have been with his daughter—Mercury wasn’t sure which one though.

Mercury managed to make it down the stairs silently. He then kept to the shadows and spotted Taiyang’s scroll. He checked the room, no one seemed to be there. He walked over to the table and grabbed the scroll. He opened it and found that it was locked.

Mercury cursed and tried to find some tape, powder, and a soft-tipped brush.

He placed the scroll down and rummaged through the draws for tape. He managed to find some and turned around to grab the scroll.

It wasn’t there.

“Looking for this?” a gruff voice asked.

Oum damn it.

Mercury leaned back his head and sighed. He turned around and saw Qrow in the shadows. He was holding Taiyang’s scroll. Qrow turned on the lights.

“How’d you know?” Mercury demanded.

“I expected you would try and contact someone,” Qrow explained. “It was only a matter of time, especially when Tai left his scroll on the table.”

“So what? Are you going to call Ironwood on me? You already let me get away with something else. I’m sure he won’t be too impressed.”

“You can’t impress that man,” Qrow mentioned. “But no. This is your final warning: try and break another rule, and I will tell Ironwood.”

Mercury didn’t show if that threat meant anything to him.

Qrow pocketed the scroll. “I’ll go return this to Tai, you go back to sleep.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You will,” Qrow assured, “just whether you wake up with a bump on your forehead or not will be the difference.”

Mercury glared at the man.

He then huffed and turned around. He walked back to the guest room for the rest of the night.

Ruby woke up that morning.

So that meant that Qrow would also be leaving.

That’s good.

Can’t have him catching me if he’s not there.

Mercury woke up that morning with a small bundle of clothing on the chair, a note was there was well.

WEAR THESE.

—QROW

Aww… and when I thought he hated me.

Mercury changed into the clothing. They were a black shirt and grey pants. He wondered, for a second, how Qrow got these clothing. Then realised that he didn’t care. He quickly checked his reflection while in the washroom, his hair didn’t seem any different than the day before.

Mercury left the guest room and wandered down the halls. He heard Ruby talking to Yang in one of the rooms he passed. He ignored them and walked downstairs. Taiyang was already up. He was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. Qrow was at the table.

“Morning, Merc,” Qrow greeted.

“Don’t call me that.” Mercury muttered.

Only Emerald can call me that—

Wait. Is that an emotional connection to someone?

Oh no.

I better fix that before I go soft.

“So you didn’t escape in the night,” Taiyang mentioned, “or kill us all. I’m impressed.”

“Doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of it or created a plan,” Mercury reminded.

“Yeah,” Qrow took a sip of a cup of coffee that he had, “I know.”

Mercury glared at him.

Taiyang glanced at the two of them. “…Did something happen?”

“No.”

“Yes,” Qrow overcame Mercury’s voice, “he tried to use your scroll to contact someone.”

“You don’t know that!” Mercury protested.

“You picked up the scroll, found it locked, and then went looking for some tape,” Qrow explained. “What else could you have been doing?”

Mercury was at a lost of words.

“Did you tell Ironwood?” Taiyang asked. “He did break a rule.”

“I let him off since I was waiting for him to do it anyway,” Qrow explained. “But the next time he slips up, he’s going back to Ironwood.”

“Hmm.” Taiyang thought. “Mercury, since I so selfishly am letting you stay at my house, can you set the table. We only need four plates, I’ll take Yang her’s.”

“Yeah, I heard she lost her arm,” Mercury mentioned as he grabbed the plates. “How long has it been?”

“About three days since the attack,” Qrow explained. “Wouldn’t you know that?”

“I was unconscious for a whole day, and no one even told me how long I was out.” He shrugged. “So I figured it’s been about a day or so.”

“Huh.”

“72 hours, right?” Mercury set the plates and utensils down. “And she’s still in bedrest. Wow.”

“Wow what?” Taiyang asked, he turned to look at Mercury. He was apprehensive of where the teen was going with this.

“Pathetic.”

“Pathetic?” a high voice squeaked from the stairs. Mercury turned and saw Ruby standing there. She was still in her pajamas. “You think losing your arm and staying in bed is pathetic?”

“For 72 hours, yeah. I just said that.”

She marched over to him. “What are you even doing in our house?” Her eyes seemed to be wet with tears not yet fallen.

“Ask your uncle.”

Ruby turned to Qrow. “Uncle Qrow…?”

Everyone went silent as he sighed. “Figures,” he muttered, “blame the drunk.” He looked up at Ruby. “I am under orders from General Ironwood to watch over Mercury—”

“Orders you pretty much asked for,” Mercury reminded.

“Hush,” Qrow hissed at him. “As I was saying: I have to watch over him, and he is going to stay with you guys while I am out working.”

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other. “Don’t you know what he did?” she demanded. “How are you alright with this, dad?”

Taiyang moved the pan of bacon from the heat before it burned, “Yes, I do know what he did,” he said. “But Qrow needs to work, or so he told me. One of Mercury’s rules is that he needs to be watched, so he couldn’t go alone. And besides,” he smiled at her, “maybe we could try and set him on the right path.”

Good luck with that cause it’s not going to happen.

“He just insulted Yang and got her arrested!” she pointed out. “He helped kill Pyrrha and Penny! He…” her voice cracked, “he worked for Cinder and Torchwick.”

“I didn’t actually work for Torchwick,” Mercury corrected, “he helped out Cinder, I work under her.”

“Well he’s dead.”

“Cool. Never liked him.”

“Why is he here?” she asked, restating her earlier question.

“I stopped him in the Battle of Beacon,” Qrow explained, “and got him arrested by Ironwood, and now he is here on his version of parole.”

“Including shocking tracker bracelets,” Mercury muttered under his breath.

Ruby opened her mouth again, but Taiyang cleared his throat and stopped her. He had filled the plates with breakfast while they talked. “Let’s eat, then we can talk!” he suggested.

“I guess we can try…” Ruby tried to smile. It wasn’t her most optimistic smile, if truth was told.

Taiyang sat down, Ruby did as well. Mercury was last to sit. Qrow pulled him into the chair beside himself. “Sit. Eat. You’re not going anywhere,” he warned.

Taiyang and Qrow started to eat first before Mercury and Ruby joined. She kept glancing at him throughout the meal. He looked none the wiser. It was starting to bug him though.

If you want to keep your eyeballs, then stop staring at me.

She didn’t seem to receive the mental threat.

Mercury sighed, “Is there something on my face?”

“What?” she asked.

“Well you seem to be staring at me, so I figured there was something on my face.” He shrugged.

“I… I just want to know something,” Ruby started. “Were you actually my friend, or was that a lie?”

Mercury placed down his fork. “What do you want me to say?” he wondered. “That I was actually your friend and I was in a desperate attempt at calling out for help? Cause no. I was not. Being your ‘friend’ was a cover I had to maintain because I was ordered to. There’s your answer. You have even more reason to want me out of this house. Happy?”

“Not really...”

“Good, I enjoy people being in pain.”

Ruby looked at him with a pitiful look.

He ignored her.

It turns out that Ruby also left that day.

It mattered little to Mercury. It was better that she was gone. She would have only gotten in the way of his plan. It was for the best.

Taiyang seemed to be down. He was upset and worried that she had to leave. But after a few hours, he cheered up. He must have remembered that he still had a daughter to take care off.

Mercury had been forced to shadow Taiyang around. When he went to town, Mercury had to come. When he went outside, Mercury had to come. He wasn’t even allowed to be alone in the house. There was only two times where he was alone. While asleep and in the washroom.

Yang finally got up and started moving three days after Mercury had arrived. It was in the mid-afternoon, right before he and Taiyang were about to go to the town. She came down stairs and froze when she saw him standing by the door, waiting for her dad.

Mercury noticed her.

“Ah, hey there blondie,” he greeted.

“What are you doing here?” she barked.

“Wow, you sound like your sister,” he noticed. “And I’m here because your uncle dumped me here with your father.”

She blinked at him. She stepped down the stairs. Yang froze again when she noticed the anklet. “What’s that?” She gestured to his tracker bracelet.

He looked down at it. “That’s my newest form of self-torture,” he explained, “it blows myself up if I’m not too careful.”

“Your leg—how?” she demanded. “I broke your leg!”

He sucked in a breath. “You may have dented it, but you would have never broken it with a punch.”

“Dented…?”

“Ah, Yang!” Taiyang called from the doorway. “You’re up! How’re you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” She turned to him. “What is he doing here?”

“Your uncle dropped him off,” he explained, “I’m watching over him.”

“You weren’t lying?” she asked Mercury.

“I don’t always lie,” he muttered.

She narrowed her eyes. “You got me arrested.”

“Yup.” He nodded. “Good times.”

Taiyang sighed, “Mercury… what did I tell you about what is acceptable?”

Mercury shrugged. “Don’t know.”

Taiyang sighed again. “Other people’s misfortune is not something good.”

“Are you sure?” he wondered. “I find it quite funny.”

“This is why he is here,” Taiyang explained, “we need to correct his corrupt soul.”

“My soul may be corrupt,” Mercury muttered, “but at least I know what I am doing with my life.”

“Which is?” Yang demanded. “Barging into my house, acting like you didn’t do anything! Acting like you didn’t betray us! Acting like—” her voice cracked, “like everything is okay? Like everything is perfect?”

Mercury thought. “Yup. As far as I know, the plan’s been completed. Ozpin’s dead. Cinder’s the Fall Maiden. Beacon fell. I think everything is peachy. Too bad I got knocked unconscious before I could finish recording it—hopefully Emerald did.”

“Emerald’s with you?” Yang demanded.

“Pretty much. She’s way more loyal to Cinder than I am,” Mercury explained. “So she’s with Cinder, not me.”

He moved his left leg in front of the right, balancing on the tips of his toes.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Yang exclaimed. “Didn’t you say that’s a bomb?”

“Pretty much.” Mercury shrugged.

Taiyang furrowed his brow. “…Bomb? That’s not a bomb. It’s a tracking device, one Mercury needs to wear in order to be out on his parole. If it becomes damaged he has to go back to prison.”

“Yeah,” Mercury snapped, “I know.” 

“Tracking… device…?” Yang asked. “I think I’m out of the loop.”

Mercury sighed, “I got arrested. The only reason I’m here now is because Qrow managed to cut a deal with Ironwood that said I get to not go to prison if I stick with Qrow and get taught by him for some stupid reason. I have to wear this device so that they know where I am at all times. It’s stupid.”

“Where’s Qrow then?”

“He left,” Taiyang explained, “so I have to watch over Mercury until he gets back.”

“Hmph.” Yang glared at Mercury. “I still don’t like you. I still don’t like this.”

“Believe me,” Mercury assured, “neither do I.”

Taiyang looked at the time. “Well, we have to go to town,” he said to Yang. “Well be back soon.”

“Alright,” Yang said.

Taiyang walked over her and kissed her on the forehead. “You’ll be alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Don’t worry about me.”

“I’m your father,” he said, “it’s my job.”

“Alright. Alright, let go! Don’t you have things to do?” She lightly pushed him off her.

“Yeah.” He turned to Mercury. “Come on, then!”

Mercury sighed but followed the bumbling blond out of the building.

I could kill him now.

No one is around. No one will know.

But how will I explain this to Yang.

I don’t care.

But she’ll tell Qrow, and then I’ll get shocked again. And most likely end up dead or in prison.

Oum, that shock collar obedience training actually works.

Mercury watched the whole conversation between Yang and her father.

He frowned when she didn’t take the arm out of the box. Why would she want to handicap herself?

She noticed him after.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

He thought. “Wondering why you would incapacitate yourself like that.” Mercury walked into the room.

He spotted a small blue scroll beside Yang.

“Like what?” she gritted her teeth.

He raised his hands. “Hey, don’t get angry at me. I didn’t hurt you. Got you arrested, yes, but I never really hurt you.” She glared at him. Mercury moved over to the couch. She stood up and faced him.

He continued, “Anyway, you wanted to be a Huntress your whole life. Are you going to let a little thing like a missing limb stop you? Ironwood made you a prosthetic arm. Be glad. I would kill for some Atlesian tech. Oh, wait. I did.” He quickly reached down and swiped the scroll off the couch, pocketing it.

“Why are you here?” she wondered.

“I told you. Qrow—”

“No. I mean here. Talking to me,” she explained. “You have no reason to. So leave.”

“Fine,” he said, “but I was just trying to tell you to not let such a little hiccup stop you. That’s all.”

Mercury turned and left Yang alone.

He headed towards the washroom, a place where he would be alone.

Mercury sat on the side of the tub as he fumbled with the scroll in his hands.

Luckily, unlike her father, Yang didn’t have a lock on her scroll. He easily opened it.

Mercury then found where she hid the call button. He dialed Emerald’s number and waited for her to pick up.

Hopefully he was able to call her though the CCT towers were down.

“Hello?” a chilling voice asked.

“Salem…” Mercury paled.

“Yes,” Salem greeted. “Who is this?”

“Mercury, I was one of Cinder’s… people,” he introduced.

The line went quiet for a second.

“Ah, the one we thought dead” Salem realised.  

“I was arrested,” he corrected. “But I managed to get away.”

“What do you mean ‘get away’?”

“Qrow wanted me to turn a new leaf and join them,” he explained. “He cut a deal with Ironwood saying that he’ll watch me and train me and whatnot. I have to stick with him—then he dumped me at one of his old teammate’s house.”

“Qrow?” she demanded. “Qrow Branwen?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Where did Qrow go?”

“I don’t know. I think he went after you.”

“You are with one of Qrow’s old teammates,” Salem clarified.

“Yes.”

“Good. You are to stay there and gather information about what the enemy plans. Once the time is right, go after Qrow,” Salem instructed. “I want you to stop Qrow from finding the Spring Maiden.”

Mercury paled and gulped. “Of course.”

“Good,” Salem said. “Do not get caught. If you have to, train with Qrow. We must get Haven to fall.”

“Very well.”

“Oh, and Mercury?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t let me down.”

With that, Salem disconnected the call.

Mercury slid down the tub and leaned against it. Frozen. Not only did he interrupt a meeting with Salem, he was given instructions to find Qrow and train under him. He was to find out what the enemy plans, and then backstab them.

Well.

He surely didn’t have his work cut out for him.

Mercury slipped the scroll into his pocket. He left the washroom and headed towards the living room. Luckily Yang wasn’t there. He managed to place the scroll back where it was before. He then slipped out through the other entrance.

Hopefully she wouldn’t notice that he had used it.

Mercury was sitting in ‘his room’ (as he figures he should call the guest room since he was practically living there) when Oobleck and Port arrived. He could hear their chatter from upstairs, they were loud. They did get quieter the longer they stayed—Taiyang must have told them that people were sleeping upstairs.

He had the job of gathering intel from the enemy, while acting as if they could be changing him. They’re not. It takes a lot more than nice words and electric shocks to change the way he thinks.

He was just glad that no one made a mention of his eyes.

He knew that Yang thought his eyes were grey—as he told her—and Taiyang hasn’t yet said if he knew anything about the silver eyed warriors. That was fine. Besides, Qrow was gone. So he couldn’t learn even if he wanted to.

Which he doesn’t.

Mercury didn’t want to interact with the two professors from Beacon—especially since he helped its downfall—but he was curious when Yang walked downstairs. She passed his room, not even glancing in at him (maybe she thought he was asleep?).

He maybe—maybe—followed her towards the stairs. That was where he rested and listened in on the conversation.

“…you still got a long way to go before you’re ready for the real world.” That sounded like Taiyang.

“Oh my gosh!” Yang rolled her eyes. “Does every father figure just have the same three condescending phrases?”

“Yeah,” Taiyang argued, “but we only use them when we mean it!”

“Is that so?”

“As a matter of fact it is so!” Taiyang looked her in the eyes. “If you honestly think that you’re ready to go out there on your own… well, guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm.”

Mercury silently hissed at that.

I knew there was a reason I liked him.

That had to sting!

Yang looked at her father, pained. Oobleck and Port as looked at Taiyang—shocked.

“You jerk!” Yang then punched her father in the arm. She laughed after.

That—what’s so funny?

Taiyang joined her in her laughing.

Oobleck whispered to Yang, “Are we finally talking about the Goliath in the room?” he sincerely wondered.

Yang and Taiyang looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

Mercury raised his eyebrow in confusion.

I will never understand that kind of humour.

Port and Oobleck also joined in laughing.

Port spoke up, “Miss. Xiao-Lo—Yang, if you don’t mind me asking, why haven’t you tried on the arm yet?”

“Oh, yes, yes!” Oobleck agreed. “A piece of Atlas Technology being given out like that is rare indeed, not to mention the effort it took to deliver it here. It seems a great many people want to see you return to normal.”

Mercury rolled his eyes as Yang went on a small tangent about how ‘she’s scared’ and that having one arm ‘is normal’ and whatnot. Mercury nearly threw up with how cliché it sounded. Even more so when Taiyang comforted her.

It was interesting to note that Port was afraid of mice.

He heard Yang heading towards the stairs, so he quickly got up and headed towards the washroom.

“Good night!” Yang called to them.

Just as she was about to walked passed the washroom, Mercury bumped into her.

“Hey, watch it!” She glared.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, “you shouldn’t walk so silently then.”

She growled but ignored him and went back to her room. Mercury turned and walked into his.

He has a feeling he’ll be leaving this house very soon.

The next day, Yang left her room with her prosthetic on. She seemed to have rethought her predicament.

Mercury was sitting at the kitchen table, Taiyang was making a cup of coffee. He was trying to get the younger man to have a conversation.

“Do you drink coffee?” he wondered.

“No,” Mercury replied. “I don’t believe in having something that will make you addicted—that’s a weakness and makes you needy. It’s unnecessary.”

“Huh,” Taiyang mused. “Well, I like mine black.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be really bitter?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, grabbing his cup and turning around to look at Mercury. “But it’s how I prefer my coffee.”

“Hmm.”

Yang walked down the stairs. “Morning, dad.”

Taiyang looked up at his daughter. “Yang! Good morning! How are you feeling?”

She looked down at her arm. “Better.”

“That’s good,” Mercury remarked from the table, “I was getting tired of seeing you moping around the house.”

She turned to glare at him.

“What?” he asked. “It’s an honest statement.”

“So now you’re being honest?”

“What?” he demanded. “Do you want me to lie?”

“No.” she explained, “but you were lying the whole time we were at Beacon! Was anything you said true? Or was it all a lie?”

Mercury thought. He lied about where he came from (though it was a half-truth), he lied about his eyes colour, he lied about being their friends, he lied when fighting Pyrrha, he lied about his leg, and he lied about… everything.

“No.”

“No, what?” she demanded.

“No. Nothing I said in Beacon was true,” Mercury explained.

The room went silent. Taiyang placed his mug down on the counter with a soft thud. A look of disappointment on his face. Yang widened her eyes at him, she then furrowed her brow and glared at him.

“Nothing,” she scoffed. “Are you lying now?”

“No.” Mercury shrugged. “I only lie when the truth is inconvenient.”

Yang marched over to him and grabbed at his collar. Mercury looked at her, unamused. Taiyang stepped forward.

“So getting people killed?” she demanded. “Lying just to get into a school? Getting close to us? You lied just because the truth was inconvenient! Inconvenient for what? Betraying us? Attacking Beacon? Destroying what we have built and protected for years?”

“It’s my job,” he mentioned. “I’m an assassin—killing people is what I’m good at.”

She sneered at him. “Unbelievable!” Yang tightened her grasp on his collar.

“Let go of me,” he warned, “or it’ll be more than just your arm that you’ll be missing.”

Yang dropped his collar. She growled and punched him in the face.

“Yang!” Taiyang exclaimed.

Mercury staggered back. He reached up and felt his bleeding lip. A smirk worked a way onto his face. He looked at Taiyang. “She attacked me first. Does this count as self-defence?”

“What?” He blinked. “NO! No attacking my daughter!”

“She started it,” was all Mercury said before Yang reached out to punch him again.

He dodged and kicked Yang in the gut. She got pushed back. Mercury lowered his foot and gestured with his arms.

“You can quit at any time.”

Yang only growled in response and lunged at him. He dodged her arm and swiped her feet from under her. Yang sprung back to her feet and charged at him. Mercury was ready to defend himself, but never got the chance because Taiyang stepped in front of the punch.

Yang froze inches away from his face.

“Dad?” she demanded. “What are you doing?”

“I’d like to know the same thing.” Mercury crossed his arms.

Taiyang turned to Mercury. “I’ll get to you later.”

That caused the assassin to raise his eyebrows.

The blond turned back to his daughter, Yang had lowered her fists. “What was the outcome you were hoping for?” he wondered. “Fighting in the house? You know I didn’t even let you and Ruby spar inside when you were younger.”

“Well, I don’t think he’ll be so kind as to go outside so I can beat him up!” She glared at Mercury.

“You don’t know,” he shrugged, “I may have.”

Taiyang ignored Mercury. “No fighting in the house.”

“He provoked me!” Yang explained.

“No fighting in the house, young lady, and that is final.”

She crossed her arms, annoyed. “Fine.”

“And you,” Taiyang turned to Mercury, “don’t threaten my daughter.”

“She’s the one who assaulted me.” Mercury shrugged. “What as I supposed to do? Ask her nicely to let go? I would have, but we both know she wouldn’t.”

Taiyang sighed, “That doesn’t mean that you can threaten her. And you fought—”

“Self-defence.”

“I have half the heart to contact Qrow and Ironwood right now.”

“Why don’t you?” Mercury asked. “I don’t see why you shouldn’t do it. All I’ve been is a nuisance since I got here.”

Taiyang sighed, “I really don’t want to have the conversation with Qrow about why you’re in prison while under my watch.”

Mercury raised an eyebrow. “I really don’t think he’ll be surprised.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Taiyang explained. “If I can’t keep people under my watch safe, then I failed my one job.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Mercury mentioned, “I’m technically supposed to be under Qrow’s watch.”

“It really doesn’t.” Taiyang looked at the both of them. “While you are under my roof, I expect no more fighting between you two. Yang, I know that you don’t like him—but he is my responsibility until Qrow returns.”

“If he returns!” Yang glared at Mercury. “You know how he is. Who knows how long until Qrow returns from his mission.”

“I don’t want to be here, either.” Mercury glared back at her. “So stop acting like this was deliberate.”

“It could have been!”

“Listen, if I wanted to be here deliberately than this whole scenario wouldn’t be happening.”

“Oh, really?” She crossed her arms. “I highly doubt that.”

“I managed to fool you before. I can do it again.”

Yang clenched her fist at her sides.

“Alright!” Taiyang interrupted again. “I think we should cool off. You don’t want to damage your prosthetic, do you?”

“Alright.” Yang unclenched her fists. She sat down at the table.

Mercury sat down on the opposite side. Taiyang turned and brought over plates of breakfast.

“Let’s just have a nice meal,” he said.

“Fine.” Yang picked up her fork.

“Whatever.” Mercury shrugged.

They ate in silence for a moment before Yang spoke up, “If you lied about everything—did that mean that you lied about your eye colour?”

Mercury sighed and looked up at the ceiling, annoyed. “What do you think? My eyes look grey?”

“I think that Nora’s correct.”

“Well, she wouldn’t be if I told the truth,” Mercury answered. “Besides, why does it matter?”

“Just curious.”

They went back to their silent meal.

Wait… don’t I have a job to do.

Oum. How could I forget direct orders from Salem!?

How exactly am I going to do this? It’s not like I can pull a 180, that’ll be suspicious.

Maybe…

“So, Mr. Xiao-Long—”

“Haven’t I said that you can call me Taiyang?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway,” Mercury continued, “Taiyang, what exactly do you do?”

“I’m a professor at Signal,” he explained. “So was Qrow—before he quit to join Ozpin.”

“Is he who taught Ruby?” Mercury asked. “They have a similar fighting style.”

Taiyang nodded. “Yes, actually. I’m surprised you noticed that.”

Mercury half-heartedly shrugged, “I’m a good observer.”

“I taught Yang,” Taiyang explained.

“You’re a good teacher then,” Mercury admitted, “I mean—she did beat me fairly at the Vytal Festival, and that’s no easy feat.”

Ha. That’s a lie.

I wanted for her to win. It was part of the plan.

I know about your semblance, Miss. Xiao-Long—I would be careful the next time we fight.

I won’t go as easy on you next time.

“Yeah, before you got me arrested,” Yang sneered.

“Technically that was Emerald,” he mentioned. “She was the one who casted the illusion.”

She didn’t say anything besides from glaring at him once more.

He smirked back at her.

“Interesting,” Taiyang noted.

“You mentioned that I couldn’t break your leg,” she mentioned, “what did you mean? You had no aura, your leg broke.”

He kept smirking at her. “Is a man not allowed to have his secrets?” he wondered.

It doesn’t matter if you know.

I just want to see what you will do.

“Not when they aren’t trustworthy, and are living in the same house as me,” she explained.

“Ouch,” he hissed, “that stung.”

“Mercury…” she warned.

“You just want to know so that you can find a way to actually break my legs next time, am I right?”

“No,” she said, “I’m just curious.”

He shrugged. “Fair enough.”

He went back to eat his breakfast.

“Are you not going to tell me?” she demanded.

“Maybe later.” He thought. “When I feel like it.”

She growled at him.

He smirked.

This was all part of his plan.

Hopefully it will work.

About a few days later, Taiyang started to retrain Yang. He wanted to check to see if she was in fighting shape.

While they sparred, Mercury sat by the trunk of one of the large trees. Occasionally he would do a check on his prosthetic—they were mostly in perfect condition. Sometimes there would be a screw or so that he would have to fix. It wasn’t anything major.

Mercury had noticed, though, that Yang was using kicks similar to what he used.

Aww. Did I impact her so much that she wanted to mimic how I fight?

That’s cute.

I hate it.

One day, after sparring, Yang noticed him sitting alone by the tree. He had a small screwdriver (which he totally didn’t steal from the town the last time they visited) and was tightening some screws near where his calf would be.

Oddly enough, she walked over to him. Almost like she wanted to be in his presence. Strange.

Yang stopped a few metres from him, obviously spotting his prosthetic.

“You don’t have to stare,” he mentioned, finishing up with his screw, “I don’t bite.”

“It would be a lie to say that I believed you,” she sat down where she was standing. She was about a metre or so away from him.

They sat in silence. “Did you come over here for a reason or…?” he wondered after a moment.

“I just thought you looked lonely,” she explained.

“So you came over?” Mercury raised an eyebrow. “I thought you hated me.”

“Oh, I do,” she assured. “Don’t think I don’t. I’m just… I’m just trying to think what Ruby would do.”

“Ruby?” Mercury wondered. “Why does it matter what she would do?”

Yang sighed, “You wouldn’t understand.”

He shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“It’s just,” she started. Mercury groaned on the inside. “She always sees the best in people. Even when they do something terrible, she tries to look on the brighter side. I… just… I’m trying to see what she might.”

“In me?” he scoffed. “I don’t that’s possible.”

“You never know,” Yang mentioned. “She tried with Torchwick.”

“And how did that work out for her?”

“He’s dead.”

“Right.”

“All I’m saying,” Yang looked at him, “is that I’m trying to be nice. You can at least do the same.”

Remember the plan.

“I can try.” He shrugged. “Though, I don’t think I know how to be actually nice.”

“We’ll teach you,” Yang explained.

“Ah huh.”

Yang nodded and then the two sat in awkward silence once more.

Mercury sighed, “You can ask what questions you want. I don’t care.”

“How—what? What are those?” she demanded.

“My legs,” he answered, “thought you may have figured that out yourself.”

“That’s a prosthetic,” she pointed out.

“So your arm’s not an arm because it’s robotic?” he wondered.

“That’s not what I meant,” she corrected. “You have a prosthetic leg!”

Might as well correct her incorrect fact.

“I have two.” He pulled up his other pant leg and showed her the other leg.

“What?” She looked at the prosthetic. “Since when?”

Mercury rolled back down his pant leg. He shrugged. “About two—three years.”

“What!?” She rubbed at her forehead, “So when I ‘broke’ your leg—”

“You just knocked some screws out of place.” He shrugged. “It was more than effective, though. It did it’s job.”

“Which was?”

“To elevate the negativity in Vale so that the Grimm can attack easier.” He scratched his nose.

She glared at him.

He raised an eyebrow.

Yang sighed. “Do you mind me asking—”

“How it happened?” he interrupted. “Yes. I do mind.”

“…Sorry.”

They sat in silence once more. Mercury lightly fidgeted with the screwdriver. It was the only sound besides the wind rustling through nature. Yang took a deep breath in and exhaled.

“I love the sound of nature,” she mentioned. “It’s so calming.”

“Yeah… That’s surprising,” Mercury noted, “Yang Xiao-Long—the quarrelsome blonde—enjoying the relaxing sound of nature.”

“Ha, ha,” she dryly said. “Well, it’s even more surprising that Mercury Black—the assassin who infiltrated Beacon and helped bring on the demise of Vale—agreed with me on enjoying nature.”

“Laugh all you want,” he looked up at the tree tops, “but nature was always a safe spot for me.”

“Huh,” she mused. “Never would have thought of that.”

Wait. That was too much information.

Information tend to lead to bonds, bonds lead to emotional connections.

Then I won’t be able to complete my mission.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “But, hey, I could be lying.”

Yang glared at him. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You will say something sincerely and then say something that makes me question what you just said,” Yang explained.

“I know.” He shrugged.

“Why do you do that?” Yang demanded.

“I don’t do that.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Nope.”

“Yes.”

“Nope.”

“Yes! You! Do!”

He smirked. “Prove it.”

She screwed up her face in anger. “You are insufferable!”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Weiss,” Mercury pointed out.

Yang’s face fell. “…I think I should head inside soon—you should too, I don’t think dad wants to stay outside longer than needed.”

“Oh, he went inside about ten minutes ago,” Mercury mentioned.

“What? And you’re still outside?”

“I’m not going to follow him around like a dog—besides you were outside as well.” He shrugged.

“Well, I’m now going inside.” She stood up. “You should as well.”

He hummed, “Maybe in a bit.”

“Whatever.” She turned around. “If you get in trouble with dad, that’s not my fault.”

“Didn’t expect it to be.”

Yang turned and walked back inside the house. Mercury stayed outside. Once he knew he was alone, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll. It was an old scroll he found while rummaging through boxes he found in his closet.

The scroll had a cracked screen—that must be why it was packed away. Luckily it still worked. He managed to get onto the scroll (since it was old, they took away the passcode) and located Qrow’s scroll number among the contacts.

That was totally lucky, or bad luck for Qrow. He didn’t expect it to be there.

Now, Mercury wasn’t some genius. But he did know small convenient skills. One of the skills was something he learned from his father’s ‘friend’ (more of a person his father knew and didn’t kill). They were a hacker who used to work for a scroll store. He taught Mercury some tips about scrolls. One of the tips was how to locate the GPS signal of any scroll—so long as he knows the number.

Everyone scroll has a GPS, it was a security measure in case a scroll got stolen. But Mercury could hack Qrow’s scroll and locate his GPS, merely just by knowing the number.

It doesn’t sound plausible—but that was what made the hacker so great, no one believed their methods. It worked. And Mercury knows this because he used it to locate and track Emerald’s scroll after finding the cracked scroll.

Mercury worked his magic and managed to locate Qrow. He was moving over the farmland of Anima. He seemed to be heading towards Mistral—did he know about the attack on Haven? No. Ruby mentioned, in her note, how she was heading to Mistral. He must have been following her.

Since Mercury found Qrow, he had one last thing to do.

It was dismantling the alert for Mercury’s tracker.

This was harder. Mercury had to properly guess where Qrow would place the alert app, and if he got it wrong then he would open another app that may set off alarms on the man’s scroll.

It was time to play ‘where would a middle-aged drunk place an app that would electrocute an assassin’ game!

Mercury swiped to the last screen on the scroll. He hesitantly pushed down where he thought that the app might be. Qrow was older, there was chance that he wouldn’t move the app from where it would originally spawn on the scroll.

After a moment of no alarms alerting him that Qrow opened his scroll, Mercury let out a sigh of relief.

Though Mercury doesn’t believe in Oum, he prayed to Oum that this wouldn’t backfire on him.

Mercury closed up the scroll and slipped it into his pocket. He stood up and headed towards the house.

All he needed to do was locate Taiyang’s scroll and shut off the alert as soon as he takes out the tracker.

That was easy.

Taiyang’s scroll was on the coffee table. The man, himself, was in the kitchen preparing supper. He didn’t seem to notice the fact that Mercury was in the living room.

Mercury quickly unscrewed the panel from his tracker and placed his left leg over his right. This would have to be a quick process. He would need to rip out his tracker, not scream in pain from the electricity, shut off the alert, and screw the panel on before anyone realised what he was doing.

Easy.

He silently psyched himself up before lightly moving the wires out of the way of the small tracker. He then ripped it out and grabbed the scroll. He felt the beginning of an electric shock and jabbed the off button on the alert within a few milliseconds.

Mercury hissed silently as the electric shock fizzed out before it really started.

He must have moved faster then than he has in battles.

As much as he hates his father, he has to thank him for forcing Mercury to have quick reflexes.

Mercury placed the scroll back where he found it and screwed back on the panel. He picked up the small tracker.

He could always crush it, but then someone would the notice the absence of it. He could always…

Mercury smirked, an idea forming in his head. He stood up and pocketed the tracker. Then he stepped into the kitchen, he slipped into a kitchen chair as Taiyang hummed a song by the pot he was stirring.

Unknown to Taiyang, Mercury had already planned his escape out of this house.

Now all Mercury had to do was wait.

(And plant the tracker.)

Planting the tracker was easy.

He waited until nightfall before initiating his plan. Mercury opened Yang’s slightly ajar door and slid inside. He knew that she took off her prosthetic arm while she slept because one day he walked passed her room and glanced at her slipping it on. They then had this conversation:

“Are you watching me?” Yang demanded.

“No,” Mercury said, “I was just walking by. You take off your arm while you sleep?”

“Yeah. Got a problem with that?”

“Nope.”

Then he walked away.

Mercury located the arm and picked it up. He spotted a small panel on the inside of the arm that was easily unlockable. He quietly screwed it open and placed the tracker, hidden behind the wires. Then he screwed back on the panel and left the room.

Yang was none of the wiser.

Ruby looked up and saw her uncle standing in front of her, Harbinger stopping Tyrian’s attack.

“Hey,” he greeted.

Tyrian brought his tail back and Qrow turned around, readying Harbinger.

Tyrian smiled, “Huh! As I live and breathe! Qrow Branwen.” Tyrian giggled. “A true Huntsman has entered the fray!” He bowed towards the man. “It seems that Mercury wasn’t lying—though I don’t see him, where could he have gone?” 

Qrow glanced at Ruby. She used Crescent Rose to lean against, her aura depleted. “I don’t know. This guy’s weird,” she said to him.

He turned back to Tyrian. “Look, pal, I’m not sure who you are—or how you know Mercury—but you need to leave my niece alone.”

“Why, friend, my name is Tyrian!” he introduced. “And I’m afraid that is not possible. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl—and unlike Mercury, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen.” He looked up at the sky, putting a hand over his heart.

“Queen?” Ruby asked, confused.

Qrow narrowed his eyes. “Salem.”

Ruby was still confused. “Who?”

“So that’s how you know Mercury,” Qrow realised. “You both work for Salem.”

Tyrian tilted his head. “You insulted Her Grace by implying that she would hire someone like him. No, he works under Cinder. And apparently is failing his job. Such sadness when I tell the Queen.”

“He works under Cinder,” Qrow said, “so he works under Salem, since Cinder works for Salem.”

Tyrian thought. “Hmm. Well, I think we’ve had enough talk now, don’t you?”

Tyrian crouched into a ready position.

“You took the words right out of—” Tyrian lunged at Qrow before he could finish his sentence.

The two started to fight viciously. They moved so fast that it was impossible for Ruby to get a clean shot at Tyrian. And if she tried to get too close, Qrow would yell at her to stand back.

But, why, Uncle Qrow?

Why can’t I help you?

This is my fight too!

Eventually Ruby got fed up with his warnings and got in deep with the fight. She got pushed back and nearly got crushed by falling planks—and would of if Qrow didn’t save her.

But Tyrian then scratched him with his scorpion tail.

Ruby, in retaliation, cut off the tip of his tail.

He screamed at her before scampering away.

“She’ll forgive you,” he said to himself, an infinitesimal amount of hope in his words. 

Tyrian then took off, leaving the five of them alone in the abandoned village.

Qrow fell to his knees, groaning, while clutching his wound.

Ruby rushed over to him. “Uncle Qrow! Are you okay?”

Qrow panted heavily before answering, “I’ll be fine. He just grazed me.” He showed her the small wound.

Jaune, Nora, and Ren ran over to them. “Who was that guy?” Nora wondered.

“How did you get here?” Ren asked.

“Why are people after Ruby?” Jaune demanded.

“Uncle Qrow,” Ruby turned to the panting man, “what’s going on?”

Qrow looked up at her. “What’s your favourite fairy-tale?”

What?

Mercury sat at the trunk of a tree. He watched Taiyang train Yang. They have been at this training for almost two weeks now.

She seemed to be working well with her prosthetic and, he begrudgingly had to admit, it was a better quality than his own.

Taiyang was also a way better fighter than he looks.

Not a good as Mercury, but good.

Yang hadn’t noticed the tracker that Mercury placed in her arm. That was good. It would be terrible if she found out about it.

If she found out about it…. Well, he would take any measures to make sure his mission isn’t compromised.

Murder was something he knew very closely.

He zoned out after Taiyang mentioned something about Yang’s balance being off. He didn’t care for their training, all he cared for was when Yang was leaving. He needed to get her to leave before he could go through with the rest of his plan and finally leave this house.

It seemed like Taiyang talked about Yang needing to not use her semblance to win fights. Mercury had to agree, it was a temper tantrum. But it allowed Mercury to actually properly fight her without winning. Well… if he won then Emerald would have had to improvise. He wouldn’t have enjoyed the chastising he would have gotten from Cinder though.

He would have zoned out again if Taiyang didn’t call his name.

“Hey, Mercury!” he called. “Wanna spar with Yang?”

Mercury raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

I mean: yes.

This is suspicious though.

Taiyang shrugged. “You haven’t been doing much exercise lately, thought you may enjoy it.”

Enjoyment? Yeah, right. I don’t think you care for my enjoyment.

But sure.

“Alright.” Mercury stood up. “But you gotta give me permission.”

“Right,” Taiyang nodded, “I almost forgot. Yeah, you two can spar.”

Mercury smirked. He walked over to the large clear space. Taiyang moved and sat down on a bench outside. Zwei joined him.

“Yang,” Taiyang called, “see if you can use what I taught you.”

She turned to her father and nodded.

Mercury was confused. He should have paid attention to what they talked about.

He readied his hands in front of his face, protecting. Yang almost mimicked him. They stood in silence before she lunged at him. Mercury ducked and kicked her with his boot. She dodged and tried to swipe his feet from under him.

Really?

Mercury jumped and spun in the air, aiming to kick her head down to the ground. She blocked his leg and he used her as a platform to kick off of. She aimed to punch him with her robotic arm, but he dodged and landed a few metres away from her.

Mercury raced towards her and they sparred in a fury of kicks and punches. Yang managed to get some punches in, and Mercury managed to swipe her feet from under her. She landed on the ground, but backwards handsprung off of it. She reached out and tried to kick him.

Now he was on the receiving end of some kicks.

That was slightly new. But not surprising. He grabbed her right ankle and pulled her closer, using the palm of his hand to nail her in the nose. He dropped her ankle, and she stumbled for a moment. Yang then growled (her eyes hadn’t yet turned red) and lunged at him again. He dodged and used his elbow to hit her ribs.

She stumbled and fell towards the ground, grabbing her ribs and coughing.

“I think we should end there,” Taiyang intervened.

Mercury lowered his arms. That was fun. He finally got to beat Yang in a fight—maybe she did just rely on her weapons and her semblance.

“How are you?” Yang’s father wondered.

“I’m fine.” She brushed him off and stood up. She caught a glance at Mercury. “I’ll beat you next time.”

“If there is a next time.” He shrugged.

Oh. There will be a next time.

Taiyang shook his head at the two. “Let’s head inside. It’s almost dinner time.”

The three headed towards the door.

Mercury watched from a far as Yang walked towards Bumblebee. She wore a new outfit. It was definitely different from her old one. She looked around before getting onto the bike. She then took off racing.

Mercury smiled.

She took off racing with his tracking device.

“I miss them already,” Taiyang mentioned later.

Mercury was outside with him, helping him rake the lawn. The assassin didn’t enjoy the activity, unsurprisingly.

“If you didn’t then something was wrong with you,” Mercury said.

“Hmm.” Taiyang looked around the lawn. “Well, I think we’re finished. Wanna head inside and prepare supper?”

“Why not.”

Taiyang walked back towards the shed and Mercury followed. While inside, the assassin placed down the rake and quietly picked up a shovel. Taiyang turned his back to Mercury while he placed down his rake. Mercury quickly, and strongly, hid the back of Taiyang’s head with the shovel.

It wouldn’t knock out the man, Mercury knew this. That is why he kicked the blond out of the shed before he could register what happened.

Taiyang scraped against the ground as he came a halt by the house. He blinked. Mercury just attacked him. He slowly got up, his aura low. Mercury stood in front of him, ready to attack.

“What are you doing?” Taiyang demanded.

Mercury didn’t answer. Rather he lunged towards him and reached out to kick Taiyang.

Taiyang dodged and step sided. He didn’t want to fight Mercury. The kid was doing so well before. And now had randomly turned to attacked him.

Mercury kept attacked him and so Taiyang then retaliated. He punched the kid in the shoulder and Mercury stepped back. The blond reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll.

“I know I said I didn’t want to use this but—”

Mercury cut his sentence off by shooting at his hand with a bullet. The bottom of his boots steamed. He then aimed another bullet at Taiyang’s legs and torso. Taiyang managed to dodge the bullets before lunging at Mercury.

The assassin jumped up into the air and landed on Taiyang’s back. The man fell to the ground from the weight. Mercury boosted off Taiyang with his bullets and the man’s aura was shattered.

“Mercury why are you doing this?” Taiyang croaked. He tried to get up.

The response was a kick to the face.

Taiyang crumpled.

Mercury walked over to where the scroll fell. He crushed it under his boot. Mercury then walked over to Taiyang, he dragged the man into the house and dumped him on the couch. He then rummaged through his pockets and pulled out his wallet. He took some lien from it and replaced it back into the man’s pocket.

He grabbed a random bag he found lying around and emptied it. He ransacked the kitchen, placing food in the bag. Then he grabbed a clean water bottle and filled it to the top before closing it and throwing it into his bag. He also grabbed a black sweater, slipping it on over his clothing. Mercury looked for any spare ammunition before taking that as well.

All he needed was dust rounds, and he could get that at the town.

Mercury pushed off the anklet and threw it in the trash. It started to blink a rapid red lit, he ignored it. No use for it anyway. It would only get in the way.

Before he left the house, Mercury spoke to the unconscious body of Taiyang.

“Orders are orders,” he said, “no hard feelings.”

With that, Mercury left the house and disappeared down the path.

His destination: Yang.

Or Yang’s mother, to be precise.