Chapter Text
"Got anything?"
RA: Something.
RA: Since I have been plugged into his personal data structure and hacking into all of his files on this device, which is by the way unable to compare to my intellect and skills and superior technological advancements, it is pathetically easy to pull everything out in the open.
RA: I am once again disappointed over this mission.
"Yeah yeah I know, but we can't really owe a debt to the Midnight Crew of all people. I'd rather not have them hang the debt over us like a fucking piece of meat for starving animals and I refuse to handle it in any way involving any more violence. I'm done with violence for the fucking moment. Fuck I'm done with violence for the whole fucking week. Deny any requests you get for two weeks or something, I'm taking a break from all of this shit."
RA: Understood.
RA: Also data download 100% complete, get me the fuck out of this disgusting pig sty. It's unethical and suddenly I don't mind giving all this information to the Midnight Psychos, this guys days are definitely numbered now.
"Gotcha."
RA: I mean seriously, this fucker is the worst one we're dealing with yet. You sure you can't just blow this guy off right now? He deserves it.
"I'm guessing this guys involved with the most disturbing and sickest shit yet?"
RA: Obviously.
"As much as tempting as that sounds, I'll leave him to the crew. They've been after this guy for a while now, its the whole reason why we're getting this stuff and giving it to crew. To have our debt paid full and due rather than wait for them to pull it out of nowhere and have us do something we'll both most likely regret."
RA: Fair point.
RA: Come on, lets just get out of here already.
"Alright let's go."
He gently curled his hand around the USB drive and tugged it free from the port, its small and square-shaped with bright red shades imprinted on both sides of its drive. The sign of his adopted little brother Hal, he sticks the USB into the hidden port on his watch and exited through the same way he entered the place.
The window and balcony.
He closed the window behind him as he stood on the balcony, he shivers. Not at the cold night air, he was mostly used to that, but at the feeling of his wings phasing through his clothing and originally separating from his skin. It always weirded him out and neither did he nor Hal figured out on how the fuck it was possible but just left it alone with the conclusion on more of Sburbs fuckery.
Hal assures him that no one can see him and he's leaping into the dead of night. He's flying high into the air and tugging at the scarf that's keeping his face warm and mostly hidden along with the face mask underneath, his red orange eyes protected with dark red goggles instead of his usual bright orange aviators.
The night is late and dark as there were many clouds in the sky and he uses them as cover as he flies over the big city, it would've been harder to hide at night without the clouds and there were already a few vague pictures of him in the internet but Hal took care of that as fast as he could but it was the internet so somewhere there was at least one copy of his dark figure with his wings out and in flight.
RA: Congratulations, another predictably successful mission for the Davis Duo.
He frowns at the name 'Davis' but does nothing else, it was his new name and that was that. He was only a little upset on how close it was to 'Dave' but it was a thing he put up with as his surname, his new first name being 'Qrow'.
At first he had been ticked off at it but quickly mellowed out, he'd rather have Qrow as his first name rather than Davis.
His wings occasionally flap as he practically rides the wind, his destination clear in mind and his internal clock and map telling him where to go.
He's skilled and used to flying more than walking or running, it had been an honest to god miracle that his legs even functioned and that he remembered his how to control his lower mobility in the first place. He's decent at walking and running but not a master of it, flying on the other hand?
He's a fucking pro at that shit.
He's about 10 minutes, 28 seconds and 1.2 milliseconds away from home base when Hal brings up a subject he's nearly forgotten.
RA: Tomorrows the day you know.
RA: The day this world's Dave died. Want to finally pay your respects and visit the grave?
Davespr-Qrow doesn't falter in his flying, though his face pulls a deep frown.
After about 7 minutes of heavy thinking and hesitation...
"... Okay, tomorrow we'll go visit Dave's grave and pay our respects. We really should've done so earlier."
RA: Wait, really?
"As long as we go early and be quick about it, we're already risking it by going there on that day. You know they go there without fail every year tomorrow as well as my-Dave's birthday."
RA: It's still your birthday, and technically as well as mine and Dirk's birthday. We're twins in this world remember?
"I thought you were all up for separating us from them Hal but you're still younger than me, but I can see where you're going with this so no need to explain more on it."
RA: Aww.
RA: And here I was, readying my whole explanation and deep cognitive view on the matter.
"Exactly."
RA: You're no fun.
Qrow rolls his eyes and tucks his wings as their home base comes into full view, it's an abandoned computer factory that was a bit far from the city and near the mountains.
The inside looked better and mostly different from the outside as the windows slid open for his arrival, he swiftly goes through the opening and lands on the soft padding of the personally made landing pad as the window slides back shut above and behind him.
It was a lot worse when they first found it but with their combined efforts they transformed it into a suitable place for them to live for the time being though they were considering to make it permanent but you never know. There were other places that both he and Hal kept their eye on just in case they needed to make a second base or another emergency place.
They already had one but it was only one and its position was already risky.
It was mostly Qrow that did a lot of the work but he did it on Hal's careful instructions and underneath his supervision.
"I'm back."
"Welcome back."
Qrow nods towards Hal as he enters their 'living room', it could be considered as such. There was a comfy but old couch and it had a flat screen tv that Hal fixed.
Hal waves his only hand in greeting even though they had just spoken earlier.
While Qrow had regained full human body with extra and some replaced bird parts, Hal on the other hand?
Well, he had his own body now but it was... incomplete. He was mostly torso and had only one hand at the moment. And that were the organic parts of him beside most of his head. He was an incomplete android with his torso and head in a combination of metal and flesh while his hand was mostly organic with the exception of his shoulders and metallic elbow and fingers.
Around Hals neck and back of his lower head were ports and USBs as well as one plugged in wire that wasn't really plugged into anything at the moment, Hal could literally take a piece of himself and have it so far away yet still function in multiple places at once though his focus shifts with every USB taken from him.
Hal has strawberry blonde hair and two metallic sharp fin-like things coming from his skull and his pointy shades were practically welded unto his young face. Hal still looks like 13 years old seeing how he was made by 13 year old Dirk much to the not reall A.I.'s irate disappointment.
"Here you go buddy." Qrow says as he gets one of Hal's USB from his watch and gently sticks it back into Hal who shudders and sighs, shades lighting up before dimming back down to their usual glow.
Hal hums as he turns in his modified chair, Qrow steps back a bit to unwrap the scarf from his person along with the thick winter coat and switch his red goggles to his usual orange aviator shades. His usual shades that were once black and turned bright orange after prototyping himself with SeppuCrow were now a dark orange and he didn't really mind them anymore.
More used to them being colored orange anyway.
Qrow shivers once more as he feels his wings meld back into his skin and phase once again through his clothing, turning into bright orange tattoo marks on his back that depicted his wings.
Once again, don't know how, why or what. They just don't care about it anymore. It just made things convenient to hide them from the public.
He needs to get more used to having his wings turn into tattoo marks, its uncomfortable but he's getting to the point where he's mostly fine with it for at least half the day before needing to let his wings our and fly for a bit.
Good progress over the couple of months they were staying here.
Qrow rolls his shoulders and sits beside Hal as his adopted little brother mentally goes through the USB, he hands Hal two other external USB that weren't initially part of him when he asks for them. Hal was going to transfer them to the two USB drives, one to give to the Midnight Crew and one to keep from his own internal banks.
He didn't like the files on it but could see the potential blackmail should the Midnight Crew decide to not 'deal' with the guy personally, 'dealing' as in murdering the heck out of the guy.
"You need to power down and sleep, you've been awake long enough bro." Qrow says bluntly as Hal finishes quickly, Hal opens his mouth to protest but closes it and nods reluctantly. His physical body was pretty tired now so he had no choice. Though he was mostly metallic he was still a fleshy organism that needed to consume and rest every once in a while.
Hal grumbles as Qrow lifts him up from the chair and clings to the older male as he exits the living room and their mostly shared bedroom. Qrow mostly uses it as Hal usually keeps himself busy and awake on most nights he wasn't tired by working, it was hard to work with one hand and limited mobility but Hal made it work. Besides the fruit of his hard work was just within his reaches, he was building himself the rest of his body.
Qrow helped him in what he could do, though Hal was adamant in doing the project himself most of the time. Currently he was working on his other arm, it was half-way done at the moment. It was hard to work on it with the limited supplies they had, not to mention the run-down technology Hal had to modify and tweak or completely transform.
Both former Strider-sprites tuck into Qrows bed-nest, unfortunately certain avian tendencies stayed with Qrow like his wings when they awoke in the first place. One being his preferred resting place, turning beds into nests to suit his avian needs much to his irritation.
"We really going to his grave tomorrow?" Hal asks as he stares at the ceiling "I didn't expect that answer, well I did but it was the small 3.2% chance in the 96.8% chance of your absolute denial. It threw me off honestly." he turns his head to look at him "Why?"
Qrow stayed silent as he settled into his side of the nest and stared into Hals shades before silently shrugging, the android deadpanned before rolling the digital equivalent of his eyes.
Both stayed silent for a moment before Hal turns back towards the ceiling.
"Goodnight Qrow."
"Night Hal."
Dirk is a Strider.
That was obvious given to the fact he was the younger brother of the famous Strider twins. His older brothers.
There was David 'D' Strider, the eldest of them all and older twin by a mere 6 minutes and 12 seconds. He was a famous movie director and writer.
Then there was Dereck 'Bro' Strider, the second eldest and younger twin. He was a famous DJ and rapper, not to mention his mostly secret running of various porn websites that held questionable things.
Dirk was now the youngest Strider, now being a keyword. He wasn't always the youngest. He had a twin to. Had being another keyword.
Turns out Striders almost always came in pairs. A fact mostly proven by their cousins the Lalondes, the two other famous adult sisters who were part Strider in genes and were twins themselves, Roxanne and Rosanna Lalonde.
Anyway, he wasn't always the youngest and he had a twin. That twin was Dave Strider his younger brother by 4 minutes and 13 seconds who looked so much like D just as Dirk looked so much like Bro, genetics were weird like that.
Dave Strider is dead.
He has been for 4 years straight now, his little twin brother has been dead for 4 years and no one really knew why, how and when exactly he died.
Dave disappeared for 11 days before they found his corpse in an old factory, somewhere in those 10 days Dave died being stabbed through his chest and stomach as well as being shot multiple times by bullets.
The authorities all suspected that the mafia was involved but why? Why Dave? Dave didn't have connection to the mafia, they all knew that! He had been a young pre-teen looking towards the future in following his older brothers footsteps, both brothers footsteps in fact. He had wanted to be a DJ like Bro and make shitty comics like D's shitty series of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff that somehow everyone enjoyed.
So why did Dave die so young? He didn't deserve to die so why?
It was a question everyone asked after they found out he was dead.
No one knew the answer.
Not even Dirk and Bro who were geniuses and had been trying to find out why for the past 4 years. All three Striders raked through whatever they could in trying to find out why Dave died and who killed him, they would make the fucker/s pay.
Unfortunately they found nothing, nada, zilch. Absolutely nothing.
They even suspected the Midnight Crew of the Felt! But after a quick hack they found nothing about Dave from both of the most notorious crime gangs in the city, possible America too.
They had been devastated, not even their cool ironic and stoic facades could hide their sadness. Things almost fell apart for the three, their brotherly bond nearly breaking without their fourth member who they missed so much.
But they were Striders. And Striders stick together no matter what, and their friends helped them get better even though they were just as devastated as they were.
Which led to today.
Today was the eleventh day of Dave's sudden disappearance and the day the authorities found his corpse in a goddamn abandoned factory. They all decided that on that day they would all visit Dave's grave, they did all came here twice a year. On today and on Dave and Dirk's birthday. No matter what, they would all come here at some point of the day before the day ended.
Dirk decided to go early, his friends Jake, Roxy, Jane, and John. The adults along with the Rose and Jade would be a little late seeing as they had something else left to do that couldn't really wait but they promised that they would come eventually. They never skipped this day.
"Thanks for coming with me guys... I really appreciate it." Dirk tells them quietly, he smiles at Jake who pats his shoulder comfortingly.
"Dirky, no matter what. We got your back dude!" Roxy declared with a bright grin, though they could all see the hidden sadness underneath it.
Jane smiles at him "Of course Dirk, besides Dave was our friend too. We miss him very much." she sighs sadly and smiles at John as he rubs at her back like the great big brother he was.
"Yeah, we all miss Dave Dirk. No way we're going to let you go alone and be all moody on your own!" John exclaims with a happy and sad smile, Dirk unironically loves his friends. They were all such sentimental dorks and shit, he hates to wonder what would happen if they hadn't had his back from the start.
Jake grins at him "Now we wouldn't want that now would we? You-... Who the dickens is that?" Jake suddenly asks with narrowed eyes as he looks straight forward, the others following his line of sight. They were already so close to Dave's grave.
Sure enough there was someone in front of Dave's grave, kneeling and touching the tombstone. He, supposing they were a he, was wearing a dark red orange hoodie with the hood up and dark blue jeans and red sneakers.
Dirk narrowed his eyes as he felt a surge of anger, how dare this random person touch his brothers grave?!
He quickly walked forward, his friends following him hastily. The stranger didn't seem to notice the incoming footsteps, unnaturally focusing on something but they didn't know what.
Soon enough Dirk was beside the stranger and grabbed hold of his hand that was tracing Dave's date of birth to his date of recorded death. The stranger jolts at the gesture and tensed as Dirk pulled him up, the hood falling off as Dirk started.
"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're... doing..." Dirk looses his anger and he's breathless, his friends behind him gasp as the mysterious stranger's face is revealed.
No fucking way.
Blonde hair swept and styled so familiarly.
It was impossible.
The same cheek bones, chin, nose, eyebrows and ears. His eyebrows were above clear and high on his forehead displaying surprise.
What the fuck.
A pair of familiar yet different shades laid on his face, dark orange but aside from the color it was an exact replica of a certain pair of aviators that Dirk had tucked away in his room after getting it back. The same exact aviators that John and D had bought as a birthday gift.
John broke the awkward and very tense silence, a broken whisper.
"Dave...?"
Lo and behold, Dave motherfucking Strider stood before them all, wearing a pair of different colored shades that looked like the original black ones Dave and D wore. At least, they think it's Dave. They don't know until the shades slide down a bit and his eyes are red, red just like Dave's and that is Dave for fucks sake!!
Dave looks startled and surprised, he yanks his hand from Dirk's very loosened grip and coughs before pushing his aviators back up to hide his red red eyes.
"Sorry dudes, wrong guy."
He is definitely Dave, they recognize that voice even though it changed a bit because puberty duh but that is definitely Dave Strider what the fuck was he saying?!?
Dave looks uncomfortable and shuffles back "Again sorry, I think you got the wrong guy. I'm not this 'Dave' guy, anyway, sorry for touching his tombstone I guess? Yeah, sorry for that." he mumbles awkwardly.
They're still in a stupor, they don't know how to react.
Dave rubs at his neck before pocketing his hands "Anyway I have to go, my condolences to 'Dave' guy or whatever. Bye." he turns quickly and starts to jog away.
That snaps Dirk out of it first, heart pounding painfully in his chest.
"Wait! Dave, fuck!" He's running now, they both are and soon enough the rest of them are running too.
"Davey! Come back for fucks sake! Dave fucking Strider, wait! Hold on!"
"Dave Strider you come back here right this instant!"
"Jumping jehoshaphats! I don't know what the devil is going on but Dave Strider you better stop running right now!"
"Dave stop running! What is going on?! Dave slow down! C'mon!"
But Dave doesn't stop or slow down, if anything he speeds up. They chase them down the cemetery road, passing many graves and tombstones as they do. Dirk is nearing Dave, within arms reach and Dirk's heart and mind are roaring as Dirk has his hand out ready to grab at Dave's hoodie with gritted teeth.
Until Dave makes a sharp left turn and starts running off the graveyards road, narrowly dodging graves left and right. Dirk curses and skids to a halt before following, they're all still pursuing Dave who seems adamant in running away for whatever reason and its starting to kill Dirk who's starting to wonder why and how and what but he shoves those thoughts away and focuses on Dave, Dave, Dave.
His dead brother was alive and that was all that matters, that and catching him too.
Dave is nearing the cemetery's metal fence posts that were tall enough to stop him and they're sure that he's going to slow down but are shocked to see Dave use a sturdy gravestone to vault himself over the post and land professionally on the other side before continuing his run.
Dirk's too late to use a grave to vault and slams into the fence post, he cries out in pain from the impact and he watches with despair as Dave disappears into a nearby alley. The elder twin growls and slams his fists unto the metal posts and lets out a frustrated and sad scream.
"Dammit!!"
The others arrive shortly, panting as Dirk pants and grips against the metal posts.
"Can... someone please... tell me I'm not imagining everything... that just happened," gasps John as he slumps to the ground "we just... chased Dave fucking Strider, who's alive and not dead, who then did an acrobatic pirouette of that tombstone and ran away..."
Jane shook her head, palm pressing against her chest "No brother mine... you didn't imagine that... we all saw it." she pants as she leans against Roxy who helps supports her before looking towards Dirk in concern.
"Yo Distri..... you doing okay over there?"
Jake lays a hand on Dirk's shoulder "You alright there Dirk?"
Dirk clenched his fists before turning to look at everyone, taking off his shades even and says with determined bright orange eyes "We're getting the others and telling them what the fuck just happened. Come on guys." he motions and stands up, helping up Jane and John before moving briskly through the cemetery.
He grabs for his phone and types in his Bro's number.
"'Sup lil dude?"
"Bro? Something just fucking happened down in the cemetery..."
Qrow panted as he slouched against the buildings side, his wings were out as he went over towards a certain side and peeked over the edge towards the nearby cemetery. He sees the faint figures of Dirk and the others leaving from the metal fencing.
"The fuck just happened Hal."
His glasses lit up as Hal replies.
RA: It seems that you have made a rookie move in not paying attention to your surroundings thus getting ambushed by Dirk and the others who seem to have come earlier than expected.
"What about you then?! Couldn't you have warned me?!"
RA: Unfortunately the cemetery is quite old school have no security cameras that I can hack into and the buildings around us do not have any outdoor security feed. That and I was a bit busy getting a call from Spades Slick.
"Uuugh what the fuck now???"
RA: He wants to meet with you pronto. Asap. Right away.
RA: He says it's important.
"Couldn't this wait until tomorrow or like later this after fucking noon."
RA: Unfortunately no, at least we can give him the hard drive earlier than expected.
"Fine. Anything to get this whole shit out of mind for now... What the fuck do we do about this!??"
RA: I
RA: Do not know.
RA: Hope that you don't pull any more rookie moves?
"Ha ha ha. You're motherfucking hilarious Hal."
RA: You know it.
RA: But in all seriousness, I have no actual idea on how to deal with this.
RA: My superior mind may be above human intelligence, it is not as sharp as it used to be when I was a pair of glasses.
RA: Being part human has truly brought me down from my pinnacle of intellect but I will not complain, this is much better than being a pair of fucking shades.
"... Alright, fine. Fuck. We'll deal with this later. First: we deal with Slick and the Midnight Crew, second: we go get something to eat because I'm fucking starving. Want anything specific?"
RA: Wendy's.
"Fair enough."
Qrow sighs as he jumps over the edge after making sure no one could see him, he uses his wings to glide down before shivering as they turned back into tattoos.
He pulls the hood over his head and keeps his head low and heads towards the coordinates Hal sent him.
He would deal with the previous bullshit later, he doesn't want to owe a debt to the Midnight Crew any longer at the moment.
In retrospect he should've dealt with it last with all the fucking shenanigan bullshit that happens soon afterwards.
Derack 'Bro' Strider fucking slams into the room, looking disheveled and shocked and somewhat angry as D stares at him from his place on the couch.
"Dereck, what the fuck man."
Dereck looks at him straight in the eye and deadpans in complete seriousness.
"Dave's alive."
D freezes and his expensive laptop falls to the floor, but doesn't break that's good, and he looks at Bro with disbelieving eyes.
"What."