Chapter 18

Bastard

"Uncle, you have no idea." Rose says quietly over the radio, an unnerving level of panic in her voice. Disregarding the fact that one very large and dangerous Grimm was stalking into the large holding area he was in, Qrow found himself focusing on Rose.

"What do you mea-" Qrow begins, only to be halted mid sentence. A roar echoes in with an odd duality, sounding in the distance and blaring in his ear from the radio at the same time. Rose's harsh cry of 'Well fuck!' comes right after the weighty silence returns, as more than a few ears ring in disjointed memory of the all encompassing bestial howl. Qrow stares in horror in the direction of the harsh call that had rattled his teeth, even from such an immense distance. It had been loud, so very loud.

And so unbelievably angry.

"What in the name of dust was that?" Tai-Yang calls over the radio, the rhythmic thumping of his boots indicating his rush to join his comrades.

"I truly hope that I am mistaken, but Rose," Glynda starts before a thunderous crashing sound was elicited from the team radio again.

"No. If you were - shit! - thinking that Izhar - ah tits! - decided to pay a visit, you're – fucking fuck! - totally right." Rose says, swearing audibly in the broken pauses of her sentence, often accompanied by what seemed to be the noises of some serious destruction.

"By Oum's sodding balls, are you serious?" Tai-Yang voice bellows, crackling because of volume of sound he was directing toward his radio.

Another horrific roar tears into the otherwise silent night sky, as if in answer to blonde haired warrior's question.

"Run girl, run." Qrow barks into his radio, ignoring the startled exclamations of the White Fang around him. It seems in their terrified state they hadn't picked up on his presence until now.

"And here I was, taking a detour to look at some rather spiffy doilies." Rose snarks over the radio, punctuated by the sound of splashing liquid, followed by sizzling, and some frantic cursing. "Oh no, the doilies!"

"If you don't learn when to shut up, I bet some doilies would look really nice at your funeral." Qrow retorts, eying the panic-stricken people around him at the same time. A few seem to vacillating in fear, unable to choose which target to point their weapon at; the gigantic acid breathing dragon or the ominous black clad man with the wicked looking scythe.

The Drake that had padded languidly into the Dust hold stared at the occupants, malevolent eyes marking each target it can find. A man with boar tusks breaks down, falling to his knees with his sword clattering to the ground next to him, sobbing in hopeless despair at the sight. Not far from him a woman with hawk-like eyes starts toward him, hand outstretched.

Within moments the gleaming white bones of what remained of her right arm are exposed to cool night air, the stream of acid that engulfed the kneeling boar faunus striking her due to her close proximity. The man himself lay utterly silent, dying within instants of being hit by the deluge of blue liquid. Qrow tears his eyes away from the rapidly liquidizing blob of terrorist, simultaneously ignoring the hawk-woman's agonised screams as well.

He counts seventeen remaining White Fang, one visible Drake with another probably in tow. And it's a good thing he is look, because an androgynous racoon faunus opens fire on him inexplicably, their rifle barking it's deadly report. Why they had decided to try and shoot him, a man who could kill them and not the giant fucking Grimm who would kill them, he honestly doesn't know.

And considering that he'd just opened them up like a fresh tin of paint, taking the racoon person's head clean off their body, he probably wasn't going to find out. The absolute chaos that erupts after his very brief impromptu duel also doesn't help, but it also doesn't stop Qrow from jumping into the fray. There was one upside to this mess, after all.

The White Fang made for excellent cannon fodder.

'Izhar', Rose thought as she scrambled down the hallway. 'is a right bastard.'

Ignoring the fact that it was three times the size of the giant Nevermore, not including the vastly more muscular body. Or that said body was covered in scales at least an inch thick, hard as steel. Or that despite its size, it was deceptively swift and absolutely hideously strong, crushing concrete with almost casual swipes of its dread claws. It wasn't even the fact the acid it could spew by the gallon on a whim hit with unerring accuracy, and with such potency that the solid stone walls quite literally barely slowed down the liquid.

No, it was a bastard because Rose was quite sure it was toying with her. Like an adult humouring a petulant child. She was fully aware that Grimm grew more intelligent with age; she'd seen the dreadful results said time earned cunning could wreak on hunters and civilians alike. She was also aware that Izhar was more than ancient. The very same Grimm had fallen into legend more than once, and if something so terrible could live long enough for people to forget it and rediscover, then to fall into myth on more than one occasion? Yes, Izhar could very well be one of, if not the oldest being on the planet.

She sees what could only be smug amusement in those awful emerald eyes. It hadn't even flinched when she'd set about it's hide with Crescent Rose, shrugging off the incredibly sharp blade with the barest of notice. And she would swear on her mother's grave it had laughed at her when she took a moment to blast it with a flurry of ice spells.

"Man, fuck you Izhar." Rose grumbles. "I should have stayed on the floor below."

Unfortunately, her complaining is cut off when the draconic Grimm demolishes the small room she had taken brief refuge in with a swipe of it's weaponised tail. Rose wastes no time in rolling into the now empty hallway, leading straight to the exit of the compound, or straight to uncle Qrow.

On one hand, she could try and make a break for it... but then what? She'd reach the Corvus before her team, sans Dust and one ridiculously powerful Grimm on her tail. Not to mention that she couldn't fly worth a damn. And even if she could manage to get it off the ground and point the old bird in the right direction, she wasn't confident in her ability to outmanoeuvre a millennia old flying monster. On the other hand, she was loathe to endanger both her father, uncle and her favouritist teacher ever (if only Glynda had been equally receptive to any advances Rose might have made when she was younger, her education would have been much more interesting).

The choice was taken away from her when an incredible gust of wind, courtesy of the bastard and it's stupid cunty wings, sends her barreling down the hallway. Even her Aura not allowing her to escape unscathed as her shoulder popped and dislocated as she is flung bodily down the passage.

Rose is sent ungracefully smashing through the doors, then rolling across the floor, into the holding room filled with the familiar sounds of screaming and gunfire. The legendary Grimm smashing through the hallway behind her makes it's laughing sound once more.

"Seriously, fuck Izhar." Rose spits out as she ends up rolling to the feet of her uncle, looking up from her position on the floor into his surprised eyes. Qrow takes a moment to stare, then snorts in what Rose guesses could only be amused agreement.

"Fuck Izhar." He agrees, tossing an explosive down the hallway she had just come from, the explosion caving in the massive hallway.

Tai-Yang is many things. He is a warrior, a philosopher, a (bad)poet, and an (awesome)dad. He is also simultaneously a protector and destroyer. A scholar and a brute. A comedian and an interrogator. He's also a remarkably talented sous-chef - he wasn't really suited for leadership, even in the kitchen.

And he'd swear on his life that he isn't a pervert. He appreciates the female form, definitely, but he has far too much respect for the fairer sex to regard them as something to merely ogle at...

But by dust, the things that Glynda's chest does as she runs. Never before had he held such an immense appreciation for physics. He'd heard the term 'poetry in motion', but not once had he actually applied to to anything. It was certainly an apt description, watching the glorious work of gravity unfold before his very eyes.

And It was at this point he realises that he was busy leering at his daughters bed-mate - who also happened to be a lifelong friend. He was torn between jealousy and disgust, jealousy aimed at Rose because damn Glynda is fine, and disgust at himself because being jealous of his daughter's sex life is all kinds of wrong. Especially if involves Glynda.

He resolves to never, ever bring this up with Ru. Their father-daughter relationship was already beyond strange, what with her having come from the goddamned future, looking like a clone of his late wife. He's pretty sure they'd already claimed the top spot for weirdest family, he didn't need to climb any higher up mount dysfunctional.

He's also pretty sure Glynda would freeze, then consequently shatter, his testicles if she ever found him peeping at her. The price he paid for being a childhood friend was that she was much more inclined to actually injure him than if a stranger did the same thing. He found the he didn't really appreciate the reaction, an inverse of what was usually expected. But alas, such was life with Big-G, she was a dear friend, testicle shattering and all not withheld.

"If you don't stop staring at my chest, I will remove your eyes from your head." Glynda says stoically, her ice-cold gaze locking onto Tai's rapidly paling features.

"Oh look, a Drake!" He exclaims in equal parts relief and wariness. Glynda gives him a singularly unimpressed look before she moves her attention toward the large Grimm. The Drake is pre-occupied, batting around a few half-dead faunus with contemptuous ease. No doubt it was delighting in their suffering.

Tai-Yang unsheathes Malwr in his no doubt brief respite from Glynda's wrath. His weapon, a gigantic doubled sided war hammer, crackled with restrained power as soon as his finger found the trigger. Malwr was at first glance a simple weapon, but in reality was far from it. In the past Atlas had attempted to create a reusable kinetic grenade, what they had gotten instead was a bomb the size of a small engine that didn't stop exploding until it and everything around said bomb was destroyed. No one could get close to one once it had been set off so they couldn't manually deactivate damaging cycle, causing it to release it's explosive power repeatedly until it reached oblivion.

So, naturally, Tai-Yang had stuck one in his hammer. Tai-Yang has a rather unique semblance; the ability to create small forcefields that stops specific types of energy. He is perfectly capable of creating a barrier able to stop just about anything, his limit being it could only stop one type of 'thing' at a time. He couldn't stop both fire and a sword for example, as one was thermal energy and the other kinetic. But he can do one at a time, and he uses the kinetic containment ability very often, specifically. Anyone else would take a total of one swing with Malwr before the weapon was blasted out of their hands (or their hands were taken off by the blast). Tai-Yang could contain the explosive power however, allowing him to release the trigger, and thus ending the explosive cycle. This also had the added bonus on of concentrating the payload of force within a small area around the head of hammer, greatly amplifying the damage caused by a simple swing. Coupled with Tai-Yang's naturally monstrous strength he could crumple steel like a paper lunch-bag.

A volley of ice spears arc overhead as Glynda unleashes her Dust magic, smashing against the durable scales of the Drake in front of them. Most shatter against the protective hide, but a few puncture through membranous wings, and two or three of the spears sink into more vulnerable areas of flesh. With a furious roar the dragon-like Grimm swings round to look at the beings that dare harm it. With an odd, gurgling growl a spurt of blue acid soars toward the two hunters.

With a flick of her wrist Glynda collects the liquid in a ball, before with another flick she causes it to evaporate. With a twirl of her crop she collects the gaseous vapour and pools it beneath the now confused-looking Grimm. A snap of her fingers later, she ignites the gasses.

The explosion is large, blasting the now thoroughly dead faunus into the walls near the Drake. The Grimm itself howls in pain, many of areas of unprotected flesh screaming in protest at the deep burns caused by the explosion. It stumbles upright once more, now fully intent on ending the two morsels that had injured it so viciously.

Just in time to receive a leaping underswing to the jaw from Tai-Yang. Malwr thunders, waves of bright blue energy bursting and crackling erratically within the field Tai-Yang creates. The blow itself is critical, the unbelievable power contained within shattering the jaw and causing the head to swing upwards, and then backwards. With a mighty crack the neck of the Drake is broken, laid unnaturally flat across it's own back, head resting upon it's own lower spine. The beast falls over, thudding into the dust with a rapid series of twitches all over, innumerable misfires occurring among the many nerves of the downed beast. It isn't dead yet, but neither Glynda or Tai-Yang deign to put it out of its misery, with Tai casually walking by and hopping into the portal its brethren had smashed into the side of the complex...

"Honey, I'm ho-ooooh god! Ack!"

Just in time to receive an explosive full body coating of Grimm blood. Tai-Yang sputters and coughs, spitting out a disgusting amount (e.g any amount) of Grimm ichor out of his mouth. With a swipe of his hand, he manages to clear the worst of the offensive gore from his face, scowling at his surroundings. Everywhere he looks, every single wall, corpse, and crate is covered in a grimy film of black sludge.

Except Rose, Qrow, and the five White Fang cowering behind them, huddled in the far corner of the room. Rose takes one short look at her father, and his rather displeased facial expression before pointing at the uncle to her right.

"He did it."

"What?" Qrow barks, snapping his head to look at Rose before turning to look at the pissed Tai covered in Grimm-goop. "Oh no. This was all Ru."

"I did nothing, it was all my big bad uncle Qrow." Rose says with a perfectly blameless expression.

"Oh yes, because you are the very picture of innocence." Glynda says dryly.

"Well, you would know." Rose says with a sly grin.

"Can we please not talk about my daughter's innocence?" Tai-Yang mutters, scowl deeper than ever. "What exactly happened?" He says, gesturing expansively to the blood dripping from every available surface nearby, Tai-Yang included.

"Well, I was looking around and I just thought 'grey is so last year'. I mean, this is a secret base, right?" She looks to the faunus huddled in the corner for affirmation, who all look frightened into catatonia and thus unable to respond. Not that this stops Rose. "Right. And I thought black was a way better colour for an evil lair, you know?"

"No." Her three companions echo in synchronicity, each sounding equally incredulous.

Rose relents with a long-suffering sigh. "Ah, the woes of an interior decorator."

"What she means to say," Qrow says, shooting Rose a dry look. "is she stabbed a White Fang with a burn crystal and threw him at the Drake."

Tai-Yang turns a horrified gaze at Rose, who lifts her hands in supplication. "In my defence, he did try and stab me first." Tai-Yang sighs, looking far less aggrieved by his daughters actions, but still puzzled by the result.

"Drake eat 'Fang, so Drake eat crystal. Dust no like Grimm, Dust go boom, Drake go boom." Qrow says as if speaking to a caveman. Tai-Yang promptly flips him the bird.

"Now for my question." Glynda interrupts, before the bickering can really start. "What happened to Izhar?"

At that moment the corner of the building where the remaining White Fang were huddling came crashing down. The 'Fang themselves were turned to paste as Izhar absently finds them underfoot. As the dust settles, the four hunters stare at the imposing bulk of the draconic beast, it's flared wings blocking any view of the outside sky. With a low, ominous rumble the legendary Grimm levels a hungry look at the hunter team in its territory, standing not fifty feet away. Soon a tense, pin-drop silence forms as the two party's stare at one another, broken only by Tai-Yang speaking in a contemplative voice.

"I thought it would be taller."

FAVOURITE~REVIEW~FOLLOW!

This chapter feels a little... weird to me, but I still like it. Maybe because there's so much humour in it compared to the relatively (read; seriously) dark chapter before it. But Tai-Yang is much more active in this chapter, and he'll provide a lot of the comic relief for the team... so eh, I guess.

Oh oh, and don't think I've forgotten about the file of information that Rose picks up! Shit is important, yo. You'll see what I mean. Maybe even in the next chapter.

Maybe not!

Hahahaha!

P.S. I'll at least drop some serious hints about the subject of the file in the next chapter, I'm looking forward to who manages to pick up what I'm getting at.

P.P.S I honestly don't know why everyone swears so much in this chapter. Especially Rose. They just do. I guess I was just in a vulgar mood.