Semblances had what I settled on calling activation sequences: motions they always carried out whenever the user tried to use them.
Running along the fight, I split my attention between managing the differing illusions I had the two under and watching the dark gray aura of Marcus Black. As he raced away from Qrow, that aura he was focusing towards his fingers plateaued, no longer gaining or losing energy.
Most had only one. Others, typically more complicated ones, had more of those sequences, a different one tied to each distinct ability their semblance offered. To use a semblance in its entirety I needed to see all of those sequences. The amount of aura, build up, or any other detail didn't matter. So long as I saw that sequence, the associated ability was mine.
There were exceptions, Qrow the first among them.
Even now, as he chased down the assassin, stray bits of aura left his body. His weapon, the trees, occasionally the equipment of Marcus Black himself. That run off of aura had been leaving him since the start of the fight to no visible effect, diminishing once they reached their random targets, until Qrow's latest shot, coincidentally infused with some of that loose aura, ricocheted off the edge of one tree's edge and shattered a thick branch ahead of them, forcing Marcus to slid beneath it and loose a little speed.
I'd never seen Qrow's aura start any kind of sequence, energy just leaving his body at random and, just as randomly, appearing to play a role in something bad that happened to those around him.
However his semblance worked, there wasn't anything clear for me to copy other than his aura itself. Without the sequence unique to that person's semblance, it was a pointless act. Way back when I first started copying semblances I tried mixing and matching the activation sequences with different auras to no effect.
The person's aura and that activation sequence were both hard requirements to use their semblances.
As Qrow shifted from a direct chase, moving to cut their fleeing assassin off, I moved in closer, a click coming from my weapon as I grasped its handle. The bandages fell away as I pulled my dual serrated swords from the main blade.
Cutting Marcus off with a jumping slash, Qrow moved quickly, avoiding and pushing back retaliatory kicks. He didn't need to put on any kind of tense act, Marcus actually a decent head to head fighter despite his profession. As one of his rising boots dug up some dirt I focused on the illusions.
On Qrow's end, feeding my voice into his senses, I just told him to keep his sword ready but stay still as he moved to protect his face.
For the assassin, I made it seem as though that tactic he was so fond of finally paid off, Qrow momentarily blinded by the dirt he kicked up.
And he shot forward like a coiled snake, his aura filled fingers poked down into Qrow's collarbone, his aura shifting in time with the attack. Qrow winced but his aura shield held, a swing of his sword sending Marcus jumping back, primed to land right in front of where I positioned myself.
"Gha!" In an instant I flooded his senses with a deafening bang and a blinding white light, leaving him to stumble when his feet hit the ground, as I recalled every bit of aura beyond me, two fingers raised just as his had been. For a fraction of a second, far too quickly for most to ever perceive, my aura shield faded, aura changing from Emerald's to the cold dark gray of this man's, aura rushing to my fingers.
I brought my fingers down into his collarbone, copying his exact motions, both physically and aura wise.
Despite his brain being tricked into a momentary blindness and the surprise attack, he spun around into a kick. I ducked beneath that, slashing his chest with one blade.
He stumbled back into a slash from Qrow.
Only to be forced back into crossed pair from me.
A one sided beat down followed. It was quick and brutal, neither of us giving the man a moment to think let alone fight back. His aura shield only lasted moments beneath the pincer attack of slashes, a final one from Qrow shattering it with a visible crackle that sent him straight towards me.
I pulled back both my blades.
I didn't want to kill him. Not yet.
Blood filled the air, my left blade sinking into the corner of his right shoulder while my right pierced the corner of his abdomen, all vitals, from veins to organs, avoided. With a kick I sent him flying off the blades, more flesh cut up on the way out. His back slammed against the base of a tree, leaves and branches falling down around him.
He looked up, a ruthless glare focused on us, but knew better than to do anything else, the bloodied blade I leveled beside his neck keeping him in check.
I glanced towards Qrow, his sword releasing mechanical turns as he aimed its built in barrel down at the man. He was rolling his neck, other hand rubbing where he'd been poked.
An invisible sigil of aura rested there, not just acting as some foreign energy that would eventually diminish on its own but changing from gray to match the dark red of his aura as it connected to it.
The same thing happened to the mark I left on the assassin's neck without the color change, that mark almost becoming an extension of his aura.
I couldn't tell what exactly it was doing quite yet but none of the energy that signaled Qrow's passive semblance was leaving him. With how random his semblance could be, that didn't say anything definitive yet.
"Marcus Black." I stated plainly so he understood we knew exactly who he was. "Who hired you?"
One of his hands had dropped to his side, stemming the bloodloss there, shoulder left as is as he glanced between us. "If you know my name then you must've heard what I'm capable of." He said evenly, head nudged towards Qrow. "Kill me and he won't be using his semblance again." He chuckled lowly. "Wouldn't want to do something like that to family, would you?"
A bluff I doubt he even fully believed in. Even if did work that way he couldn't know for sure the effects of his semblance carried on after his death.
"Thanks for the concern, but we aren't too worried about that." Qrow said, casually cracking his neck to drive the point home.
It didn't show on his face but the callous disregard of what was probably his biggest bargaining chip in situations like this took Marcus by surprise, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. The advantage on his side for a moment only to be abruptly flash banged by his own mind, jumped, and stabbed. He was struggling to figure out how he ended up where he was.
I raised my right hand, twisting my blade around as I stepped closer, holding it just over one of his legs.
A dim light from our right.
My eyes flicked towards it. Cinder and Emerald; weapons and lamp in hand, the duo were making their way over.
My eyes flicked back.
Marcus was shifting, foot raising. I could easily stab him and pin him to the tree, but this was convenient.
Pulling back my blades instead, I jumped back, Qrow's shoulder grabbed on my way back, a pair of quiet clicks coming from Marcus's boots. Dark smoke, too dark to be anything ordinary, filled the air around him as we backpedaled. A dust crystal came flying out of that cloud, no more than a distraction from the fact that he fled in the opposite direction, rushing through the darkness.
A gentle tap from one of my blades sent the crystal flying upwards and the glowing thing exploded just above the trees, the flapping greenery around us lit up for a split second.
"Talon!" By the time Cinder and Emerald reached us, the latter calling out for me, I'd already changed my aura to match Glynda's, tracking Marcus' steady retreat. He moved fast for a man who'd just been stabbed but he wouldn't be out of my range anytime soon. "Are you alright?"
"Stay away from the smoke." I warned the two. Could be poison. Could be powdered combustion dust in case we fired after him. Better not to roll that dice and find out. As we headed over to the two, Qrow reloaded his sword while I cleaned mine off. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I said after seeing how she was looking at the blood. "What are you two doing out here?"
"We wanted to back you up." Emerald said, lamp held up higher, her head crane back. "Was that explosion the assassin?"
"Yeah. We're going after him." I said while returning my blades to my main blade, setting both in with clicks. "You two finish the job we took. We'll meet back up with you."
"But we can help." Emerald insisted.
"I already injured him. It's just a matter of hunting him down at this point." I explained. "Leave this to us and head back."
"No." I looked past Emerald who turned around, just as surprised to hear the firm answer leave Cinder. Face lit up by the lamp, Cinder's narrowed eyes stopped their scan of the area to settle on me. "If he's injured than that's all the more reason for us to go. We'll put an end to this problem you brought us without giving him a chance to fight back."
Unlike Emerald, who nodded in support, nothing but eager to help, Cinder wasn't quite so confident despite her words. Her hold on her swords were tight and her pupils dilated. All normal for someone on guard for an assassin, sure. The subtle, near unnoticeable shift in her weight away from me said a lot.
I think she half expected me to attack her for flat on going against my decision. Paranoid as ever.
"If that's what you want to do." I said, ignoring Qrow's low chuckle. "Make sure you keep up."
XOXO
Marcus steadied his breaths as best he could as he sped through the forest. He had a little aura left. Not enough for an aura shield or his semblance but just enough to help with his injuries.
He wasn't sure what happened at the tail end of that fight, but those cocky bastards had been too soft and let their guard down. That wasn't how he planned the first encounter to go but he got some good information out of it in addition to a little progress. The huntsman wouldn't be able to use that semblance of his going forward but that didn't get rid of the main issues.
The one in the mask was probably able to use his telekinesis for long range scouting of his surroundings. Not a first for people with semblances that allowed them long distance control over objects but either they'd been far more prepared for him than expected or his target's ability had an abnormally large range compared to anything he'd dealt with before.
The city was where he needed to attack them from to bypass that, either killing or disabling their semblances one by one.
Fuckers. Marcus thought as he slowed. If it weren't for semblances they had through nothing but dumb luck, they wouldn't have been able to give him so much trouble.
He pulled his red coated hand up from his side. He'd lost a good bit of blood but nothing vital had been hit and so far, he hadn't crossed paths with many Grimm. It was rare, Marcus knowing better than to rely on it, but luck was on his side for once.
He needed to stop, bandage up, then resupply for his next attempt.
XOXO
I pressed my fingers to Qrow's neck. The aura mark left behind by the assassin was dispersed, Qrow's aura resuming its somewhat erratic movements and randomly sending bits of aura out of him.
I pressed my fingers to his neck again. Those movements stopped as the newly made mark settled and changed to match his aura.
"So, am I dying?" Qrow questioned lowly as he stepped back and rubbed at the spot.
"Try and take this seriously, Uncle Qrow." I said, shaking my head. Here we were trying to figure out the mysterious effects of a semblance we didn't exactly have a reliable understanding of and he was joking. "I think, and I mean think, it worked. It isn't easy to tell with your semblance."
Qrow nodded as he rolled his neck, a slight tug at the corner of his lips. I hope I wasn't getting his hopes for nothing. All signs pointed to his semblance being suppressed but with the random uncontrollable nature of it, I couldn't be sure yet.
"Why are we giving him a chance to recover?" Cinder, approaching alongside Emerald from the other side of the clearing they'd been keeping an eye on, joined us at the tree line and trying to peer through the darkness ahead. With a thought I switched my aura back to Glynda's quickly confirming that Marcus was still in the direction she'd looked, currently attending to his wounds.
"Can't trust he'll tell us the truth when we ask our questions." I said. "I want to see where and who he goes to." That excuse satisfied Cinder who nodded but still didn't stop her stare out through the forest.
"Um-" Emerald started, drawing my eye. "-you aren't mad, are you?"
"Just surprised." I freely admittedly, looking back towards Cinder. "Didn't think you'd agree to head straight to an assassin."
She glanced towards me, looking away just as quickly.
The reasoning she'd given sounded pragmatically efficient, but it didn't hold up that well if you asked me. Emerald, I'd expected it from, but I didn't think Cinder would be willing to put herself in any kind of danger to help me. Maybe that detached cynicism of hers was reserved for strangers and no longer applied to me.
That, or she was eager to see the person possibly hunting her down killed with her own eyes.
Maybe both were true.
Marcus, suitably paranoid, conducted a thorough examination of his surroundings after bandaging himself up before taking off again.
"Let's go." I said, moving after him.
XOXO
(A/N: First he get's his semblance copied and used against him without even realizing, jumped and stabbed, and he was definitely about to be tortured/interrogated before Emerald and Cinder showed up. Marcus is not having a good day. But hey, that's the risk you take in his profession I guess.
Cinder's growing confidence is showing up to some extent too. Lets hope her heart is in the right place to match it.
And here's the link for those who want to read ahead for anything I'm writing or just throw some additional support my way:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
Anyways, I'm not sure if I'm doing a powerstone goal next week since I'll be busy but I'll let you all know come monday. Should still be doing my usual three chapters a week though so don't worry about that.
See you all around and stay safe.)