I hope everybody had a fantastic Spookmas, and Happy November everybody! I don't want to inflate this chapter anymore (it was almost 9k without the author's note!) so I'll only reply to a few reviews this time! If I missed yours sorry!
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~ Witch Captain Morgan.
Torchwick opened the door to his apartment, his head shaking as he did. "I knew you were young, but damn kid, you're young."
"I'm actually older than those four 'kids' that kicked your ass before I was around," Kaneki pointed out. He walked into the apartment and took a seat on the couch as usual, fiddling with the mask in his hands. "So what do you want me to do about Merlot? I haven't exactly gotten to use him yet."
"You're still planning on using that maniac? Look, kid, I was hesitant to bring him on board in the first place, but he's been acting alone ever since you pissed off to be human. I don't know how he does it, but he's outfitted nearly every one of his droids with some sort of cloaking device that makes them invisible to the naked eye, including Faunus eyes."
"That might explain why I feel like I'm being followed around all the time," Kaneki noted. "If he's monitoring me or you two, I don't see what sort of valuable information he could get."
Roman sighed and sat on the chair by Kaneki. "Yeah, well, information is pretty valuable. Did I ever tell you about how Neo and I got rid of the Spiders in Vale? Violence would have been easy, but what would have stopped them from coming back in bigger numbers? No, we had dirt on them and by exposing them, they had no choice but to put their tail between their legs and go back to Mistral."
"You still haven't explained to me why you think Merlot is going to doublecross me," Kaneki replied. "Even if he had some vendetta against me, he has no way of hurting me."
"You just aren't getting it, Eyepatch. If Merlot finds out about that person you care about, he'll use her to get to you. If he had her hostage, would you comply with his freaky experiments?"
Kaneki sat up straighter as he listened to Roman. "I'd kill him if he tried anything like that," he said coldly. "I'm never more than ten seconds away from separating his head from his shoulders. That goes for anybody who tries to get to me through somebody else. Besides… it's not like she can't take care of herself."
Roman pinched the bridge of his nose as he came to a realization. "That girl you like, she's a Huntress, isn't she?"
"If she is?" asked Kaneki evenly.
"I said we'd figure something out, but this throws a hell of a wrench into any plan I could have thought of," sighed Roman, ignoring the unspoken threat. "Red and her friends are tough for a bunch of students and I don't imagine the girl you set your sights on is some pushover. You just love to complicate things, don't you?"
Kaneki looked down and vaguely shrugged. He unfolded his mask and laid it on the table. He hadn't worn it since he met with Merlot the first time after fighting Roman's former associates. Speaking of which, he looked over to Roman confused. "Have you heard anything regarding Cinder or Adam?"
Roman shook his head, his expression a bit grim. "Not a peep," he replied, "Normally I'd be happy to have the she-devil out of my hair, but something tells me she's been plotting something even worse than before."
"What exactly was her plan in the first place?"
"She wanted to attack Beacon, get the Kingdoms to go to war with each other and kill a bunch of civilians using Grimm."
Kaneki raised an eyebrow. "What could be worse than having the entire world at war?"
Roman looked over to him with a dead serious expression. "I'm guessing you don't know about Cinder's master? Cinder's just another pawn, but a pawn with a hell of a plan. I had the… misfortune of witnessing what they're capable of."
"What did you see?"
Roman took out a cigar from his jacket and lit it; something Kaneki noticed he never did in his own hideouts. "Don't get me wrong, Eyepatch, you're a freak and a half, but at least you can be reasoned with. Cinder's master… I don't know what she is, but she can control the Grimm. Cinder can too, but not to the extent of her master. I know Grimm can't really do much to you, but for people like me, too many is a death sentence."
Kaneki frowned at this information and thought back to his interaction with Qrow all those nights ago. "That must be Salem," he realized. He looked at his mask and sighed. "Well, looks like the drunkard was right…"
"What are you talking about?" asked Roman, confused at Kaneki grabbing his mask and standing up. "Where are you going?"
"I have to meet with some Qrow Branwen," he replied, remembering the man's name. "I… I think I might be able to work something out, but it's a long shot."
"You can't be serious, kid. I doubt that asshole will listen to an actual killer."
Kaneki put on his mask and gave a half-hearted shrug. "Never know until you try," he said simply. "Besides, I'm getting a bit hungry. If he refuses to hear me out, I'll kill him."
Roman didn't argue as the teen walked out of the apartment with no disguise. "He's going to get me killed with his recklessness…" he thought bitterly.
"Velvet! Are you going to come down for dinner?" Marble called out from the kitchen. She had already laid out the two usual places for their nightly dinners, but Velvet seemed to be more tired than usual. "If you've had a long day, I don't mind bringing it up to you!"
"I'll be right down," Velvet replied, the door muffling her voice. "Just a sec!"
"Take your time, sweetheart!" Marble replied with a smile. Returning to setting the table, Marble filled up two cups with water and took her seat. A few minutes later, Velvet came down with a forced smile. Marble gave her daughter a flat expression and motioned for her to sit down. "Alright, what's bothering you?"
Velvet deflated as she let her mask fall to an expression of weariness. "I'm just tired," she admitted. "Professor Goodwitch sparred with me in front of the Headmaster, and I'm still not quite sure how well I did."
Marble nodded as she began to serve some roast to Velvet. "Why the uncertainty? Was this some sort of test or something?"
"Of sorts," she replied, unsure how to break the news to her mother. After a pause, she figured that being direct would be the best approach. "Mum, I volunteered to join the hunt for the Faunus Killer… When my team fought him, I was able to hurt him when he shrugged off most other attacks and since then, I felt like I had to do something to stop him."
Marble stopped mid-bite when she heard the news and placed her fork down. Once Velvet finished, she took a deep breath and sighed. "I see," she said simply.
"I'm sorry, Mum," Velvet began immediately. "I know you probably don't want me facing that guy, but–"
"Please don't," Marble interrupted quietly. "Please, don't make this about me, sweetheart. I knew the dangers of your profession the day you told me you were applying to Beacon. That day, I had to come to terms with the fact that you'd be in danger more often than not, but that doesn't make it easier to hear that you're going to be joining some task force chasing after a monster."
"But Mum, I–"
"Just answer one thing, Velvet," she asked. Velvet piped down and gave a hesitant nod. "Is this what you want to do, in your heart of hearts?"
Velvet opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. She thought about what she was doing, or rather, attempting to do, and began to contemplate. Everything that happened in the last few months had been a result of one man, the Faunus Killer. Her friendships have been strained, her dearest new friend has been brutalized and used as a source of food for a monster and she has lived in constant fear for her mother's safety. All her strife could be pinpointed to one person, a person she had a chance to make a difference in capturing or eliminating altogether. But she didn't want this to be the case. "I think that this is the only path I can take where I can make a difference," she replied. "I wish I could figure out a way where nobody has to get hurt and Vale can go back to how it was before the Faunus Killer was around… but it seems wishful thinking that he'd just up and vanish without a fight."
To Velvet's surprise, Marble laughed a bit to herself. Marble noticed the confusion and waved it away. "Sweetie, what are you doing hunting monsters and killers?" she asked mirthfully. "Your body might know how to fight, but your heart doesn't."
"Mum!" Velvet said, a bit taken aback. She shook her head and steeled her resolve. "The only reason I'm trying to do more is because I want to protect everybody I love! You, my teammates and Ken!" Velvet stopped as she realized what she had said, then noticed the look on her mother's face. It was a gentle expression of understanding and joy. Velvet looked down at her plate and remained quiet.
"I'm happy to see that you're starting to figure yourself out, sweetie. I know I'm not a fighter, so I have no right in offering you any words of wisdom in that regard… but please don't needlessly risk your life taking a fight you don't think you can win. Being prepared to die for somebody sounds romantic, but that only really is true if you're there to tell the tale."
"I know," Velvet replied, thinking about the rollercoaster of emotions she'd dealt with over the last few days. "I promise I will be careful."
"That's all I ask," Marble said, wiping one of her eyes before a tear could fully form. She sniffled a bit and let out a breath as if she was trying to rid herself from the heaviness of the conversation. "So, let's talk about my new son-in-law," she said half-jokingly. "Is he going to move in with us, or are you going to live with him?"
"Mum!" Velvet exclaimed, turning beet red. Her ears flopped down as she tried to hide her face behind them. After a moment of awkwardness, she looked to her mother, who chewed on some of the veggies on her plate. "Do you think he'd want to move in with us?"
Marble nearly choked at Velvet's question and spat out some pieces of brussel sprouts. After a mixture of coughing and laughing, she wiped her mouth. "Velvet, do you never talk about boys with your team?"
"Everybody on my team likes girls," Velvet said, crossing her arms. "I haven't really had the chance to make a lot of friends outside of them…"
"Right, right," Marble conceded. "Why don't we revisit this after all this madness has settled down? We shouldn't make plans with so much uncertainty ahead of us."
Velvet nodded, although now she was thinking about a possible future with Ken. She didn't know how her career would factor in, nor if Ken even felt the same way towards her, although she felt as if all the signs pointed to mutual feelings. She poked at her food as Marble began to tell her about how much the community's morale has improved since the breach.
Kaneki was surprised at how easily he was able to find Qrow. Given the man's stench of alcohol, Kaneki began to make his way into bars and clubs to see if he caught a glimpse of him, only to find him at the third bar he walked into. He was seated at a table chatting up a couple of women who seemed to be hanging on to every word of his clearly embellished story. Kaneki said nothing and simply took a seat across from him and unzipped the mouth of his mask. Qrow's face turned to stone as he quickly shooed the two women away.
"You got a lot of nerve showing up here, kid," Qrow said, grabbing his weapon from his back. He laid it on the table, his hand gripping the handle firmly.
"Is that your attempt at a threat?" Kaneki asked with a smirk. "By the time you managed to brandish your oversized sword, I could have killed at least four people, Qrow. If I came here with ill intentions, why would I give up the element of surprise?"
"What do you want?" Qrow asked, angrily.
"I need information on this Salem woman," he said simply. "If you give me that, I'll walk out of here with my hands clean of any innocent blood. Is that agreeable?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"I'm glad you understand," Kaneki said with a nod. "Who is this Salem and why are her goons here in Vale?"
Qrow glared at him, not having been prepared for this encounter. With his free hand, he fiddled with his scroll and began to talk. "Salem… is an enemy of humanity," he answered vaguely. "A woman capable of great destruction and little care for the lives of people, something I'm sure you can relate to."
Kaneki ignored the comment. "And her minions?"
"Hiding in the shadows," he replied. "We haven't identified them yet, but we know that they're somewhere in Vale. Why do you care?"
"I'll be asking the questions, Qrow. Why does Salem want to see Vale fall?"
"How do you know that?"
Kaneki folded his thumb over his index finger as he thought. "I came across some unfortunate souls forced to work with her minions, but they were only able to give me vague answers. Now, answer me."
"I don't know," Qrow replied. "We don't understand her motivations or even how she came to be. As far as I know, she's just some Grimm that's been around long enough to become sentient, but that's just a theory. Why do you care?"
"It would appear that we share an enemy," he pointed out simply. He began to stand up before he noticed that it was noticeably quieter in the bar. He let out a disappointed sigh as looked to Qrow. "Well, there goes the chance of forming any sort of alliance."
Qrow let out a harsh laugh as he heard Kaneki's words. "An alliance?! You think we would trust you not to stab us in the back? Or feast on us if we fell in battle?" Kaneki jumped, avoiding a swing from Qrow.
"I don't want to kill you," Kaneki said, looking around the empty bar. He didn't notice when, but the patrons had slowly began to file out leaving only Qrow and himself inside, but judging from the scent in the air, there were several more people waiting outside for him to make a break for it.
"You must think I'm stupid if you think I'd believe that," Qrow scoffed. He raised his weapon towards Kaneki and shot off several rounds of buckshot. Just as he did, several more projectiles came from the front door. Kaneki raised his arms to block the brunt of it and saw three Huntsmen run in. They were Winter, Alabaster, and a portly man Kaneki hadn't seen before.
"Remember the plan, Alabaster," Winter shouted, creating a glyph in front of her. To Kaneki's surprise, a white Alpha Beowolf materialized and charged him.
Kaneki jumped back to put distance between himself and his, now five, opponents. To no surprise the summoned beast approached first. Kaneki was easily able to read its movements while keeping an eye on the others beginning to fan out. Qrow was approaching from the left while the man in burgundy came from the right. Winter seemed to be taking the long range role, making him wonder what Alabaster was meant to be doing. Kaneki ducked under a swipe from the Alpha and easily punched through its skull just in time to evade the two men's assault.
"Peter, cover me," Qrow shouted, his sword shifting into a scythe. He narrowly avoided Qrow's swings only to be blasted by a massive fire blast from Peter's weapon. Before he could even register the pain, Winter had let loose a barrage of ice wisps that blossomed into ice around his feet. That's when he noticed Alabaster had gotten behind him at some point.
"Release him!" she shouted as she put a hand on the back of Kaneki's skull. Suddenly Kaneki's vision became blurry and he saw more shapes of people appear. In a panic, he finally summoned his Kagune with a shout to create some space between himself and his opponents.
His vision still blurry, he saw the several figures run towards him. He shot out his appendages to keep them away, but only one of his four made contact. "Stay away!" he shouted, holding his head. He sniffed the air to pinpoint Alabaster. Using his Kagune he launched himself towards her. "What did you do to me?!"
Before he could close the distance, he was intercepted by several white birds that exploded into ice on impact. As he slowed down, he felt a heavy impact to his chest by Peter who shouted as he did. "That's for Bart, you fiend!" Kaneki skidded back a few feet as he felt his skin was cut slightly. It was an obvious sign that he was getting close to running on empty. He looked up as his vision finally cleared and grew further confused. In addition to the four Huntsmen, he saw the fuzzy outlines of Yamori, Rize and his younger self. They lingered for a few seconds before disappearing and reappearing somewhere else.
"It didn't work!" Alabaster informed. "Ozpin was mistaken, he's not being possessed."
"How does he have those abilities then?" Peter demanded, before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter, he falls here tonight."
"Ozpin was clear in his instructions, Port," Winter reminded him. "We need to–"
Before she could finish her sentence, Kaneki appeared before her and landed a punch across her face. She fell to the floor, not expecting the burst of speed from her opponent. Kaneki then darted towards Qrow who was about to help her. He was forced to block a vicious kick from Kaneki, only to be struck from the sides of his guard by the Kagune. The sudden pain opened up his guard and Kaneki landed a spinning back kick that sent him barreling across the room.
"Fight me, you monster!" Peter demanded, raising his axe. Kaneki obliged and ran straight at him before leaping above him and attempting to skewer him with his Kagune. Port proved to be much more agile than his appearance let on as he gracefully dodged and hacked at his Kagune in one fluid motion. Fortunately, his axe didn't seem to be able to cut through the Kagune, leaving Kaneki to gracefully land a distance away.
Kaneki scanned the room as he tried to find the easiest target to get a bite from. Peter had yet to be hit and seemed to have a personal stake in the fight which made him a bit more dangerous. Qrow was only able to successfully block one of his strikes but still seemed to be able to fight more. Alabaster was the furthest away drawing what looked to be a flashlight from her side. Finally, Winter had recovered and had summoned another Alpha Beowolf to her side. His Ghoulish eye darted between his four targets before settling on Winter. If she was anything like her sister, she was not meant to be a front line fighter and thus, had the lowest amount of Aura. "You Huntsmen are all the same, aren't you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side until a sickening pop was heard. "Just little soldiers taking orders from your superiors."
"Shut up," Winter growled, not letting him get under her skin. She could see what he was doing and refused to jeopardize the mission. She pointed her sword at Kaneki and let out a barrage of wisps.
Kaneki quickly dodged the attacks and used the dust to charge her, only to notice Qrow had already closed the distance with him. He swung down his scythe, but Kaneki easily caught it with his Kagune. "You must not be very bright, but what should I have expected from a drunkard like you?" he asked rhetorically. He saw Alabaster approaching and twisted Qrow in his grasp to slam him against her. Finally he looked over to Peter Port who had an expression full of hatred. "What's your deal, I don't think I've met you before?"
"You killed my friend," Port said, walking towards the half-Ghoul. Despite the anger he was clearly feeling, there was a poise to his stance that Kaneki realized would be hard to disrupt, but it wouldn't stop him from trying. He remembered the green-haired man on the train and realized that this man must have been a professor at Beacon as well.
"You're going to be more specific," Kaneki said, feigning ignorance. "He couldn't have been very strong if I don't remember him."
Port tightened his grip on his axe but did not engage. "Qrow, what is the plan?" he asked, his eyes locked on Kaneki.
"Let's find out if he has a limit on that regeneration," Qrow called out, getting to his feet. He helped Alabaster to her feet.
"This guy is a freak," Alabaster said, shaking her head. She flicked the flashlight-like object in her hand and a blade of Ice Dust extended from it. Kaneki's eyes narrowed as he now realized that she was almost as much a threat as Winter. She flourished it with some spins and grabbed it in reverse grip. "Ready when you are."
"Go," Qrow shouted as he broke into a sprint. He swung his scythe horizontally, trying to bisect Kaneki. The teen jumped over, his eyes darting around the room to see where the next attack would come from, but was surprised when he felt himself being suspended in the air. He looked above him and saw a black glyph spiraling as it brought him up towards the ceiling. Two of his Kagune lashed out at Qrow and Alabaster while two more anchored himself to a nearby wall. Just as he was about to make contact with the wall, the entire thing collapsed as Port drove his axe through it. Stumbling slightly, Kaneki righted his descent by twisting his body and throwing a kick at Port who raised his weapon to block it.
Kaneki realized he took his eyes off of Winter and felt her attempt to skewer him with her saber. To her horror, it simply bounced off forcing her to retreat. "What are you?" she asked, her sword still up. Kaneki didn't answer and instead forced two more Kagune to sprout from him. He wouldn't be able to keep up this fight for long without something to eat, so he had to finish it quickly. Three of his Kagune sped towards Winter, only for them to be parried by Alabaster. As the blade made contact, the Kagune froze and shattered from where the blade made contact. When the appendages hit the ground, they began to dissolve into nothing, making Alabaster's eyes widen.
"He must be a Grimm," she said with her voice shaking slightly. "Why can't we kill him?!"
"Orders are orders!" Winter shouted, making the Huntress shrink. "Now attack!"
"Y-yes ma'am!" she replied, turning back towards Kaneki. Unfortunately for her, the moment she took her eyes off of him, he had closed the distance. Before she knew it, she was restrained by two Kagune, while Kaneki stood behind her.
"Anybody moves, she dies," he threatened. As if to drive the point home, he squeezed her wrist until a sickening crunch was heard. Alabaster let out a shriek of pain as she dropped her weapon. "If anybody follows me, she dies."
"You know we can't let you do that, Centipede," Qrow said coldly, retracting his weapon into its sword form.
"I know what I signed up for," Alabaster growled through her teeth. Kaneki twisted her broken arm further causing her to shout again.
"Let her go," Winter ordered as she glared daggers at the half-Ghoul. Kaneki let out a twisted laugh.
"You are in no position to make demands," he said maniacally. "I came here peacefully, to ask a few questions… yet it seems that your Huntsmen are so eager to get yourselves killed." Kaneki regrew his severed Kagune, snaking them around Alabaster and slowly beginning to squeeze. "So, Qrow, should I kill Ruby or Yang first?" Qrow froze as he heard him say their names. He had not expected for Centipede to find out about them so soon. Kaneki laughed as he turned to Winter. "Or maybe I'll go after Weiss," he laughed. Finally he turned to Port. "Or should I kill another one of your friends? Hm?" He began to shake as he laughed. He saw through the corner of his eye Port aim his weapon towards him, so he dangled Alabaster between them. "My, my, I'm getting ahead of myself," he said, grabbing the woman's neck. He heard cracks beginning to form until a light flashed over Alabaster, her Aura finally broken. "I'll start with you!"
"NO!" shouted Qrow as he lunged forward, but Kaneki sunk his teeth into the woman's shoulder. By the time he got close enough to strike, Kaneki felt a renewed strength course through him. He slammed a Kagune into Qrow and threw the bleeding woman towards Winter. He then locked eyes with Port and grinned behind his mask.
"Now that I think about it, I do remember your friend. Tall fool who smelled of burnt coffee,"he admitted. "Although I will admit that I didn't mean to kill him."
"Liar!" Port shouted, running at Kaneki with his axe held high. Kaneki didn't bother to move as the man brought down his weapon into shoulder. To Port's dismay, it barely sank into his skin. Kaneki grabbed the man and threw him towards Qrow.
"Do you understand now?" he asked the four Huntsmen. "I could easily kill you all. If I really wanted nothing but to kill, I would waltz into your precious academy and systematically kill every professor followed by every student and there wouldn't be a single thing you could do to stop me."
"You're not invincible," Alabaster said defiantly. She weakly got to her feet and walked over to him. "I hurt you, and so did Peter. You can bluff all you want, but we will find a way to strike you down."
Kaneki was about to retort when he smelled the familiar scent of hot chocolate in the air. "I was wondering when you were going to show up, Ozpin."
The front door opened as the Headmaster entered with a grim expression. He eyed the room around to see the four Huntsmen defeated and the one responsible standing in the center of the room. He rested both hands on his cane centered in front of him and cleared his throat. "Centipede, if you would be so kind as to allow my Huntsmen to vacate themselves from this room without further injury, I would be immensely grateful."
Kaneki crossed his arms as he considered the request. "I'm hesitant to grant that request given that they wouldn't offer me the same mercy," he replied coldly. He could smell three others outside. "However, if you can answer my questions in their stead, I'll allow it."
"I understand," Ozpin agreed. "However, if the information you seek is what I think it is, would rather that they are not here while we discuss it. As a gesture of good faith, may you fulfill my request first?"
Kaneki wasn't sure to be impressed by Ozpin's gall, or to be annoyed that he was still having to jump through hoops to get his answers. "A gesture of good faith? I've left them alive, haven't I?" he asked sarcastically. "My patience is wearing thin, Ozpin. If you're going to try to trap me with the three Huntsmen you have waiting outside, I would recommend you tread carefully. I doubt you want their blood on your hands."
"Your abilities are impressive," he complimented. "I was not planning on ambushing you, Centipede. How about you and I take a walk where we can discuss this in private? I don't wish to endanger any more lives tonight."
Kaneki retracted his Kagune but kept his arms crossed. "Fine," he agreed.
Ozpin opened the front door and signaled the three outside. "We should count ourselves lucky," he said quietly to them as they filed in. Kaneki saw as Fern walked in and immediately rushed towards Alabaster's side. Behind him was Glynda who exchanged a few words with Ozpin before walking over to Peter and Qrow. To Kaneki's surprise, Velvet followed shortly after where she gasped. The two met eyes for a moment, and suddenly Kaneki couldn't move.
Velvet was horrified by the state of the bar as it seemed that somebody had driven a car through it. She was thankful when she saw the four Huntsmen had not taken any life-threatening injuries but was not expecting to see the one responsible standing nonchalantly in the middle of the room. At first, a rush of anger and fear overtook her, but then she met the man's gaze and time seemed to stop. His mouth was bloody, meaning he had just recently eaten, but otherwise looked so unimposing. His stance was defensive, even when he was clearly under no threat. His black and red eye was nothing like the posters or even the first time they had fought. Whereas before there was a primal instinct to destroy and kill, now it seemed almost human. She could see the emotion the Faunus Killer was desperately trying to hard to hide.
It was guilt.
It wasn't just any guilt, either. It was a familiar guilt that she had seen time and time again. She had seen it in Coco's eyes after Velvet had slapped her, she had seen it in her mother's eyes when she asked for extra help at the café and she had seen it in Ken's when he broke down in her arms the other night. By the time she had snapped back to the present, Ozpin and the Faunus Killer were walking out of the destroyed bar. Before she could stop herself, she ran after them and called out to them.
"Do you enjoy killing?" The question sounded almost like a plea. She watched as Ozpin looked at the Faunus Killer with caution. The Faunus Killer turned to look at her and looked at her for a few seconds before replying.
"Not one bit," he replied, as he walked away.
Kaneki and Ozpin walked for about five minutes in total silence. It seems like the streets were completely evacuated before Ozpin arrived. Eventually it was Ozpin who broke the silence.
"If I remember correctly, you were the one that had questions. Were you planning on asking any?"
"Am I holding you up from something?" he asked shortly.
"Not at all. I just didn't take you for one to enjoy an evening stroll through the city. However, if you don't wish to ask anything yet, perhaps you'll indulge a few of mine?"
"Go on," Kaneki invited. He gave a sideways glance to the headmaster who walked nonchalantly by him. Even if the man wasn't exuding any malice now, Kaneki was on edge, his Kagune itching to sprout again.
"What drove you to work with criminals like Torchwick?"
Kaneki raised an eyebrow at this. Hadn't he already answered this when Qrow asked him? "Convenience," he replied simply.
"In regards to what exactly?"
Kaneki glared at the man. "My next meal." Ozpin frowned at this and was about to ask something further, but Kaneki interrupted. "Why is Salem threatening Vale?"
The headmaster stopped for a moment. "I wasn't exactly expecting you to jump right into that particular topic," Ozpin admitted. He began walking again as he pondered his answer. "Well, to put it as simply as possible, she shares the Creatures of Grimm's hatred of humanity. She won't stop until mankind has fallen to darkness." Kaneki let out an uncharacteristic laugh which Ozpin did not take well. "Is something about that amusing to you?"
Kaneki composed himself as he saw Ozpin's expression. "The picture painted by all these vague and ominous descriptions of this Salem made me think she was different from the standard Grimm, but if that's really all there is to her, she's just a mustache-twirling villain sending incompetent pawns to do her dirty work for her. So forgive me for my initial response, but yes, I find it hilariously simple."
Ozpin turned to face the masked killer with a serious expression. "You are underestimating Salem and the Grimm if you think they're no threat. Wandering Grimm have been responsible for the fall of humanity's countless attempts to expand, and Salem has abilities you wouldn't understand."
"Sounds like you've met her before," Kaneki pointed out. "When is she planning on making a move herself? Or are the three pawns hiding in the shadows the only forces she plans on sending?"
"Three?" Ozpin asked. "What do you know about her minions?"
"Apparently more than you," Kaneki shrugged. "In exchange for that information, I ask that you lift this hunt on the Faunus Killer."
"The only way I could even entertain that request is if you cease all the bloodshed."
Kaneki let out a disappointed sigh. "I can't make that promise."
"The reason being?" Ozpin asked. To Kaneki's surprise, there wasn't malice in his voice, just curiosity.
"It might be hard to believe, but I don't consume Faunus or Human flesh for fun. However, I would lose control of myself and binge indiscriminately if I didn't. Nobody would be safe around me then and I would cause a hell of a lot more panic than I am now. As of now, I'm only targeting known criminals, it's the only compromise I can make."
"That doesn't explain Doctor Oobleck's corpse. He was found with several bite marks and severe burns from the train explosion. The public has already attributed his death to your hands, but according to the coroner, that might not be the case."
Kaneki sighed in annoyance. "I didn't go looking for him, he came looking for us. I just took a job to protect my employer and did so successfully. I didn't kill anybody I didn't have to. If I really wanted to, do you think that first year team would be alive while their professor isn't? Do you think I wouldn't have killed all the Huntsmen who attacked me the day of the breach? I'm far more dangerous than you know, Ozpin."
Ozpin straightened his posture as his suspicions came true. "So this entire time, you've been holding back?" he clarified. "Why?"
"I just want to live my life as quietly as possible, but with me being a Ghoul, it makes that impossible. I need to eat living flesh every three to four weeks. The people I work with right now can turn a blind eye to my unfortunate necessities, something I doubt anybody else could, much less the headmaster of a school training children soldiers to hunt things like me. But that quiet life is in jeopardy if this Salem is going to try to attack us."
Ozpin remained silent for a moment as he registered the Ghoul's choice of words. He didn't say 'Vale' this time, he said 'us'. He pondered for a moment as he began to regard the young man before him. He tried to look past the killer's mask to try to decipher some sort of emotion, but the Faunus Killer's expression did not betray him. "It seems like there are too many differences for us to form a true alliance," Ozpin mused aloud, "and as loath as I am to tolerate your methods… perhaps there is still room for bargaining? If you're willing, of course."
"What exactly did you have in mind?"
"I sense that this might be a long discussion," Ozpin admitted. "Perhaps you'd be willing to discuss this over some coffee?"
Dr. Merlot hummed tunelessly as he fiddled with some more of the Atlesian Knights he had hacked. He knew that Ironwood would notice if too many went missing at a time, so he would instead infect one with a virus that would then spread it when it docked. It was a slow progress, but with his skills, it would take somebody a lot smarter than the General to notice and all of his top scientists were sitting comfortably up in Atlas. This suited him just fine, as it made his work much easier.
The mad scientist picked up the small coin sized disc that he had been working on and turned to the deactivated Atlesian Knight. Using some robots of his own creation to lift the stolen Knight, he placed the device in between the armored plates and the main body. The device immediately changed colors to match and nearly disappeared.
"With that, the last batch is done," he said with a wicked grin. Satisfied, he walked over to another table where he had several types of Dust laid out on the table. He had already created some mixtures that he knew to be potent, but was still experimenting with some of the harder to get Dust that the criminal duo had managed to snag. One thing he did miss about living in a Kingdom was the availability of all sorts of Dust. Gravity Dust was one he had the least amount of experience working with, but found some interesting interactions. Excluding the obvious uses, such as lightening a heavy weapon or linking two shards of Dust to each other so that they would form a strong bond with each other, he found that Gravity Dust behaved unpredictably when it came to other Dust types. This of course led to a lot of failures, but also a lot of new combinations that were previously impossible. He poured a tiny amount of the purple dust into a vial of almost clear dust. There were two most common failures when mixing Dust. The first was that the two simply wouldn't mix at all, resulting in a vial of powder that became nearly useless. The second reaction would be instability, resulting in violent explosions when too much dust was being mixed. The interaction Merlot observed was the latter, resulting in another broken vial.
"It seems that Hard Light Dust and Gravity resulted in an Alpha error," he said into a voice recorder. He put it down and motioned for one of his assistant robots to start cleaning the mess. Taking a seat by his computer, Merlot grew agitated. He did not come to Vale to do the work of an intern, he came to study the monstrosity that was Eyepatch. It boggled his mind that the young man did not possess Aura and without a closer look, Merlot grew restless. He claimed to not be a Grimm, and given how sentient he was, Merlot was inclined to believe him… but he didn't. How else would he be so durable? No Human nor Faunus had skin that hard… unless he was some sort of undiscovered Faunus type? Merlot leaned forward in his seat as ideas began to flood into his head. He clearly wasn't a mammalian or avian type… perhaps he was a reptile? Some reptiles had scales that acted as natural armor and many of them were also carnivorous… but why would he only eat humans and Faunus?
Merlot's mind then went to the boy's appendages that seemed to sprout from his back. The most he'd seen him wield was four, which if he counted his arms and legs, would make eight limbs. Maybe he was an Octopus? The natural weapons did behave like tentacles, in Merlot's opinion. But what about the strange armor that formed around them? Maybe he was some sort of armored spider? "Damn it," Merlot cursed under his breath. It was all speculation at best, which brought him no closer to figuring out how to replicate the 'Ghoul's' abilities. He opened his scroll in its tablet form to check on his growing robotic army. As of now, he had a nearly four dozen infected Atlesian Knights waiting to spread his virus, which when activated, could wash over the entire Kingdom of Vale in a matter of minutes. He knew that attacking the center of their 'hive mind' would prove most effective, but he had no idea how difficult it would be to break through their defenses, much less if he could do so without notice. "Guess I'm stuck waiting," he silently fumed. He wouldn't throw away all his plans due to restlessness. If there was one thing that Merlot had aside from his genius, it was patience.
Emerald walked inconspicuously with Mercury through a mall as the two pretended to be civilians. To Emerald, it was almost torture to see all the things she could steal only to have Mercury pull her away from her potential hit. She had seen a particularly nice bracelet that looked like it was made for her, but Mercury reminded her that they had already gotten reprimanded for the Tukson incident. "I just think that all this waiting and doing nothing is a bunch of crap," she complained.
"It's what she wants," Mercury said with a shrug. "It's not like we can do anything with the schools shut down."
Emerald reluctantly agreed. "I know, but still, I don't like this."
"Too bad," Mercury replied with a smirk. "Sometimes you gotta do shit you don't want to do. It's life. You think I wanted to work with you? Hard pass."
"Oh shut up, Merc," Emerald retorted with an eye roll. She then thought about how uneasy Cinder has been these last few days. "Do you think Cinder's having second thoughts about working with the White Fang? She's been acting strange recently."
The two approached a food court where Mercury got in line at a burger joint. "With how much you stalk Cinder, I'd thought you would know," he grinned.
"Know what?" she demanded, ignoring his attempt to get under her skin. Mercury shrugged and took a step closer to the front of the line. "Damnit Mercury, just tell me."
"Where's the fun in that?" he asked rhetorically. When Emerald didn't really react, he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's just say that I overheard Cinder talking to her boss. Apparently Cinder admitted that the freak we fought was too much for her, so she's sending Cinder reinforcements. Didn't catch a name, but I'd wager that whoever it is that they're sending is just as much of a freak as the Cannibal, judging by Cinder's expression after the call."
"We don't need anybody's help, we just need to plan something," Emerald argued. Mercury laughed as he placed his order. "Something funny?"
"Isn't that what you said about me before getting slapped?" he reminded. "Cinder doesn't want you thinking for yourself, so do us both a favor and stop voicing all the stupid little thoughts you're having."
"Screw you," she replied, storming off. Mercury laughed to himself as he watched the thief walk off angrily.
He looked over to the worker behind the counter and smirked. "She wants me," he said with a smirk. The worker nodded hesitantly and walked off.
"When you invited me for coffee, I didn't imagine you'd be walking me into the heart of your operations," Kaneki said with a flat expression.
Ozpin hummed in acknowledgement before asking, "did you think we'd be able to talk freely in some local shop? Your face is plastered all over town and it would be very inconvenient for me to be seen with you."
"We wouldn't want to diminish your reputation any further," Kaneki agreed. "I heard that the council was having thoughts of replacing you… but I suppose that's mostly my own doing."
"The council has had it out for me for quite some time, but yes, your presence in Vale has definitely given them more reason to want to remove me."
Kaneki noticed that the school grounds seemed much emptier than before, but held his tongue. After the two's silent elevator ride Kaneki stepped into the man's office. Although he hadn't put much thought into what Ozpin's office looked like before, he certainly wasn't expecting this. The almost steam-punk aesthetic behind absurd amounts of glass was as grand as it was eccentric. Focusing his attention back to the headmaster, Kaneki took a seat at the desk. "What sort of bargaining did you have in mind? I already told you what I can offer."
"I'm aware," Ozpin replied disappointedly. "However, the information you have is much more valuable to me than you seem to understand."
"I have a pretty good idea," Kaneki said, crossing his arms, "but it's clearly not as important as this manhunt on me."
Ozpin frowned as he leaned forward on his desk. "It's not a matter of importance, but one of logistics. Unless we were to stage a massively public capture of you, nobody would believe that you just turned yourself in or that we struck a bargain. That's excluding the fact that there's a copycat killer running around using your notoriety to evade capture."
"Copycat killer?" Kaneki asked, feigning ignorance. "Why do you think there's somebody out there killing people in my name?"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you're responsible for the killings of Faunus that weren't mutilated beyond identification?"
Kaneki uncrossed his arms and looked Ozpin in the eye. "I remember every person I've killed," he said unwaveringly. "Nobody I've killed since arriving here has been innocent, and I only kill when I need to eat. Even then… I don't take any pleasure in it."
"I see… Still I find it hard to believe that you have not heard of the Copycat Killer before now."
"Do you think there's some sort of weekly poker night where every criminal in Vale shows up to talk shop?" Kaneki asked rhetorically. "Torchwick is the only criminal I've worked with, and the only one I plan to work with; I have no loyalties to any others. If taking out this copycat will facilitate calling off the manhunt and preventing any more bloodshed of your colleagues, I'll be willing to give a hand there."
Ozpin frowned slightly at his response. It seemed to the headmaster that the killer before him was more desperate to get the manhunt called off than he let on. "It sounds as if you're taking this copycat's killing personally."
"Somebody's out there killing for fun and letting me take the heat for it," Kaneki said in a deadpan tone. "I don't see how anybody wouldn't take that personally."
"Fair enough," Ozpin said, leaning back, not really believing him. "So you only hunt criminals… Does the manner of offense matter to you?"
Kaneki shook his head in annoyance. "Of course it does. It's not like I'm going to go after some petty shoplifter. Only those who have killed or threaten to kill innocents will be my targets."
"Save for any Huntsman that may attempt to stop you?"
"There's always exceptions," Kaneki said, "unless you mean to say that you never bend a rule or two."
"Very well, if you assist me in apprehending this criminal, as well as tell me what you know of Salem's minions, I will do what I can in my power to officially end this manhunt of yours."
"I never said anything about apprehending," Kaneki corrected. "This Copycat, he's got a lot of blood on his hands. He'll be lucky if there's anything left of him when I'm through with him."
"How will I know that you've actually accomplished your end of the bargain?"
A sadistic grin formed behind Kaneki's mask. "There'll be proof," he replied, standing up from the table. "I'll make sure it gets to you. Oh, and as for Salem's minions, there's three so far that I know of, but she might be amassing more. If memory serves me right, the two kids' names were Mercury and Emerald. I didn't get much of a chance to fight them, as they were keen on getting away, but I do know that Emerald has some sort of power to make one hallucinate. As for Mercury, I didn't get to see him fight at all. As for their leader, it was a woman named Cinder who uses a lot of fire in her attacks. She was working with some man named Adam, but I'm not sure if they are still on good terms after our last scuffle."
Ozpin leaned forward intrigued. "Meaning?"
"I tried recruiting Cinder, but she doesn't do well with taking orders, a trait that Adam seems to share. The two don't work well together so unless one of them is strong-arming the other, I don't think they'll help each other very long."
The Headmaster nodded, standing up from his chair. He approached Kaneki and let out a tired breath. "I'll get to work on my part," he said, holding out a hand. "I won't lie and say it's a pleasure to work with you, but I am relieved that you are able to be reasoned with. I took a gamble when I instructed the Huntsmen to not use lethal force, but I'm glad it paid off."
Kaneki returned Ozpin's handshake and let out an amused laugh. "I don't think it would have mattered if they did," he replied. "I just can't seem to die."
Ozpin frowned at the young man's words. "You talk as if you've tried," he mused, repeating the killer's words back to him. When the masked killer said nothing and pulled his hand back, Ozpin realized that he may have not been off the mark. Kaneki turned back and took the elevator down, leaving the Headmaster to process the deal he had just made. Tiredly, he walked back over to his desk and took out his scroll. He pulled up the bounty mission on the Faunus Killer and sighed as he updated the status from active to hold. Almost immediately he began to get messages from Qrow, Port, Winter and more. He'd have to set up another meeting.
Kaneki was a bit surprised that Ozpin let him walk out without having some sort of ambush set up outside his office. Even now as he began to walk through the courtyard, he felt eyes were on him from a distance. Curious, he turned towards the dormitories and saw some curtains quickly shut as he did. He kept his gaze fixed on it until they opened again slightly only for them to shut again. Perhaps Ozpin had instructed the students on campus to not engage with him? Regardless, Kaneki turned back towards where he came from but only got a few meters before he got a familiar whiff of strawberries.
"If you're planning on following me out of here, it will end badly for you," he said loudly as he turned towards the scent. Unsurprisingly, he saw the young girl in red holding her weapon shakily. "The problem with unspoken truces is that I never discussed when it would over."
"W-why are you here?" Ruby asked, still refusing to point her weapon at him.
"I came over to chat with your headmaster over some coffee," he replied honestly. He turned back and continued walking, not really having anything to say to her.
"Wait!" she called out, running after him. As she got within ten feet of him, she stopped again. "Wait, you're not going to attack me, are you?"
"If I was, I wouldn't tell you," he said, baffled by the girl's naivety. "What do you want?"
Ruby paused before she spoke. "I talked to a friend about what I'd ask you, but now that you're here… I can't think of it," she admitted with a nervous laugh. "It's like every part of my body is telling me to run away from you, but… You're not a bad guy, are you?"
Kaneki nearly did a double take as the words registered in his mind. "What in God's name gave you that idea?"
"Well, I mean, you're bad, but you're not evil," she clarified. "Like, you don't really go around just killing and eating people, right? There must be some sort of code you follow, otherwise you wouldn't have let me and my team go on that train! Or spare Team CFVY when you faced off against them in Vale. Even when you went out of your way to save Torchwick, there's a reason behind it all, right?!" She was pleading with him now.
"Even if I did, does that somehow excuse my actions?" he asked. "Ruby, I've killed and eaten at least half a dozen people. You can try to make sense of it, but the facts don't change that. You're looking for a light in the dark that's long been extinguished. If you follow me out of this campus, I will kill you."
Ruby felt a chill go down her spine as she heard his casual threat. "G-got it…" she said dejectedly. "If it isn't too much to ask, don't kill any of my friends…"
"I'll see what I can do," he replied before walking off.