The newly formed Hunter taskforce was awoken the next morning by a blaring, repetitive alarm. A few jumped up aiming weapons at imaginary enemies, some cursed the alarms very existence, while others-Yang and Nora-fell out of bed. The platinum blonde Schnee grumbled and went about to get the few who were still sleeping, Yang and Nora.
The group ranged from half asleep to planning the alarm's murder. Although, they were at attention when Ozpin's face appeared on the monitor,"Good morning to you all. I apologize for the wake up call but you've got a mission." A few images flicked across,"There's been a series murders in town with a supernatural connection,"
"Why do you say that, sir?" Asked a yawning Ren.
"Because the suspect left a calling card." An image of deep claw marks in one of the murder scenes appeared."After examining the bodies, it was found that the victims were put in immense pain. Their pain receptors actually exploded due to overstress." Nora creepily perked at expolsion,"And yet the only marking they each sported was a burning indentation of a hand. You all are to find and kill this specter before it kills again."
"Understood, sir." said Jaune. The Director nodded then disappeared. Team RWBY and CFVY began passing out weapons, uniforms,and breakfast bars at Ren's insistence. No less then 5 minutes after they piled into the new transport.
"Alright listen up,"Coco shouted,"my team will be running point for this operation, any questions?" Silence. "Good. Nikos I want you in the system. I want eyes in every camera be it phone, computer, or traffic from the scenes. See if you can spot something." Pyrrha was speedily typing with a small smile on her face. "Ren, I want you to-"
"Figure out what did this correct?"
"Yes." With a determined nod he started flipping through some old looking books they hadn't seen him bring. "Valkyrie, go with Yastuhashi and interview the witnesses again. Find what the cops might've missed." Nora nodded, downloaded the witnesses locations and hopped off with the mountain of a man. "Fox and I will go to HQ and see what we can find." The blind man nodded.
"Velvet, you and Arc will go with team RWBY to the scenes. Look at everything, follow every clue no matter the uncertainty you got understand?"
"Yea, ma'am." Velvet said in a shy voice.
"Good. Move out." Team RWBY plus a swordsman and a rabbit headed to the first scene uptown.
20 Minutes Later
"Alright, Jaune, Yang, and Velvet, you three search this floor. Weiss, Blake, and I take upstairs. Spread out." The six set out searching every little thing. Each drawer, box, and cabinet-much to the digust of Weiss who stepped on a used condom then cussed in a very unladylike way.
"Hey guys, come look at this!" Velvet shouted. Her companions came running and she displayed her finding. A mall security officer's unform, covered in blood. Human blood from what Velvet and Blake could tell. "What the hell?" Jaune asked, "There was no blood on him, why is there some on his uniform?"
"That's because it's at least day old." Blake said as Velvet nodded at her, "And it isn't the victims blood either. Plus there's a strange smell to it."
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked. "It smells like wolf but not, then human but also not exactly human at all." All eyebrows raised. That didn't sound normal, it made sense then, Ozpin's suspicion. "Couldn't it be a werewolf then?" Yang asked.
"No, all the werewolf packs have moved out of Vale. Even if there was one still here, there wouldn't have been a body left to collect." Weiss said, shivering at her own words. "Well, Velvet contact Coco, we have to tell her our findings," Ruby said as Velvet dialed her team leader. "What do you have for me, Vel?" A sultry voice asked.
"We don't know exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"Here's the thing," Ruby spoke, "we found a bloody uniform belonging to the victim. Blood is at least a day old."
"How does tie in?" She seemed impatient. "The blood, based on analysis, obviously doesn't belong to the victim, but another human. It also carries a genetic marker similar to that of what would normally be attributed to a werewolf."
"But all werewolves have moved on. So what now?"
"Since it's on his uniform, he probably came in contact with it where he works," Blake suggested. "You want to go and check it out?"
"Yes."
"Okay then, according to records ita the downtown mall. Keep me informed."
"Of course." Velvet said before she hung up and led the team downtown.
Downtown Vale Mall
"You know when you hear mall, you tend to think of a crowded, bustling place don't you?" Jaune said as he held the gate open for the girls. "Here you go, Snow Angel." He said with a wink towards Weiss who flipped him off."You also don't think of commiting BE." Yang chuckled.
"Yeah, well, the place is closed on Sunday so this is our only way in." Velvet stated as she kicked in one of the back doors. The team turned on their flashlights and loaded the their weapons as they progressed through the empty mall searching for anything to support the theory.
They spent hours checking every store and restaurant. "This is boring." Yang said as she went through another kids store. "Well, not every mission can involve a gunfight," Weiss said,"sometimes the process is slow." She scanned for remnants of sulfur down the aisle, normally supernaturals leave a trace of it. At least until they heard Jaune shout,"I found something."
They rushed over to see a trail of blood leading into a small clothing store. "The trail leads into the store and then back out to the front door."he said shakily. "Think the killer went in and out after it did whatever it came to do?" Blake asked.
"Most likely."
"Then we should get ready in case something is here." Ruby commanded as she checked her supply of ammo.
The team took a loose V formation, with Velvet and Blake at the front teacking using their senses. Passing by aisles and aisles of clothes, from vintage to new. At least until the two Faunus stopped and covered their noses, "Found it." Blake said in a monotone voice.
"For the love of Oum!" Yang shouted when she saw the remains. "I thought it took days to get this bad." She said in regards to the smell. Ruby tossed the group masks and they hurriedly put them on.
There were the bodies four other security guards, bearing the same wolf/human smell. The guns they carried showed signs of discharge, 4 shots from the biggest and a whole clip from the one stuck on a rack. Velvet took pictures and sent them to Coco and Ren, hoping either of them could tell what did this.
Weiss sighed,"It's obvious this is a seperate killer. But who is the question." She said the last part more to herself.
"Don't these claw and and fang marks look familiar to you guys?"Jaune questioned as he pulled a shell casing from the wall. "I was just thinking that." Ruby said,"They kind of look like the ones found on that bear from the other day."
"Are you sure?" Jaune was now visibly shaking. "We'd have to get the bodies sent to a lab."
"I have a better idea." Weiss smirked as she pointed to the cameras hanging from the ceiling, "One of you call Pyrrha."
Velvet scrambled to do so, "Hello there. What's going on?"
"Hey, Pyrrha can you get into all the cameras at our location?" Ruby asked as she looked for identification on the bodies.
"Sure, no problem. Give me a few seconds." She said in her cheery voice,"Got it. I can see you all as well."
"That was fast." Weiss smiled.
"Can you show us the footage for this store from yesterday, start around 6pm?"
"Pulling it up and sending it to Velvet's tablet now."
The six watched as the staff closed up the store at 6pm. Nothing happened for a while. "Hey, Velvet, can you speed it up a bit?" Velvet nodded and did as asked but stopped when they saw the display case window get blown out, from the outside."That looks like the figure Ozpin showed us yesterday, doesn't it." Pyrrha commented through the comm. They watched the figure walk through the aisles then pick a few things out. A sports bra, a pair of underwear. "Hold up, is it naked?" Jaune said blushing.
"Must be if its putting that on." Weiss said matter of factly as Jaune felt the sudden urge to not watch anymore. He was a gentleman after all. The rest watched the figure, they now deduced as female, pick up a white undershirt, a red plaid shirt-then put it back when it looked at a mirror. "Looks like she's shopping." Yang chuckled and was promptly shushed. The figure picked up a black plaid sweater shirt, dark blue jeans and walk over seemingly unbothered by the glass on the floor over to the shoes, picking up a pair of socks from sgelg on the way. She was struggling with tying her shoes when security came in and demanded she put up her hands.
She looked to the closest one and said something unintelligible to them before attacking. The first one was clawed across the chest and thrown onto a rack, the second was flung out into the adjacent wall as the killer held her claws in his chest. Then dropped him like a bag of trash. From where the team could see she looked said and did what appeared to be a prayer over the bodies of her victims. She stood and ran a hand through hair then played with a few hats before deciding on a black beanie.
She was dragging the bodies to the door when she jerked her head up suddenly and growling loudly at a woman wreathed in a purple fog. The woman of fog shouted in the same strange language of the other beforw throwing something. "Looks like they don't get along." Ruby noted.
The other dodged and threw a shelf at the fog woman before running out the same broken window at a sprint. Velvet almost stopped the video before Ruby pointed to the corner,"Isn't that our victim?"
It was, the man pulled himself from behind a rack and tried to run for the door before the fog grabbed him by the ankles and drew him to the specter. He was covered in the blood of his co-workers and was crying and pleading for his life when the sickly woman placed her hand on his chest and he screamed in unimaginable pain. He whimpered and she dragged him with her out the building before the video cut off.
"Well, that was something." Yang remarked. The group stared at her as though she'd just grown a second head. "Pyrrha, you still there?" Ruby asked, ignoring her sister's lack of tact. "Yeah, just zoned out for a sec. What do you need?"
"I need you to send the video to Ren so that he can tell us what kind of supernatural that is, I want a clean up crew sent to our location, someone to notify any next of kin for the new victims, and I want a clear image of our burglar and fog woman sent to all other agents. Got that?"
"Yeah, it's just I don't a clear image of the fog lady. Although I have plenty clear shots of the other one." Nikos said solemnly. "Then that'll have to do for now. We'll reconvene later." She hung up on the Amazonian woman and set the team to head out again.
11:47 pm, Downtown Vale, 4 Hours Later
"Snow! Wake up! Wake up! Snow!"
Weiss gasped awake, her vison blurry amd coughing up blood. The smoke was thick she couldn't see her own hands as they were gripped by another, "Thank goodness, Black Flame thought she had lost you." A weak feminine voice called to her. Who is Black Flame? She thought as the figure carried her bridal style through the carnage. Why is she calling me Snow? Weiss could see the remains of some local law enforcement through her haze, bodies dismebered and strewn about the floors. The ice queen whimpered when she saw Ruby's favorite jaclet laying on the ground riddled with holes and drowning in blood. Oh please, don't tell me.
Her savior looked to her with worry, turned to the jacket and chuckled,"Do not worry Snow, the comrades of Snow are safe. They await your return near here." The woman grunted as they hopped over a fallen support beam. Weiss' haze had begun to clear the further they moved from the smoke, she could then see the woman with a wide grin showing off her fangs. She's kind of cute, Weiss thought as she nudged closer to the woman who smelled of berries, honey, and ash. "What is your name?" Weiss asked in a raspy voice. "My name is Black Flame, born of wolf's blood, and the one who walks the boundary." She said with pride.
Wait, that means she's the one we were looking for!? Weiss thought to herself. Then, instead of asking a better question, said, "Do you have anything else you go by, I don't think I can call you Black Flame?"
"I do not." Black Flame commented as she decended the dilapidated stairwell. "Then what is your favorite flower?" Weiss inwardly slapped herself for not asking the appropriate questions. "The Catalaya flower." She said smiling. "Then I will call you as such, Catalaya." The newly named Catalaya turned a rosy red and avoided Weiss' gaze. "Why do you call me Snow?"
"Your name. It is pronounced White Snow where I am from."
"Oh, then can you tell me what happened." The Schnee asked as she admired her hero's figure. "I suppose." Catalaya said as she leapy onto a desk then up a partially collapsed wall.
"It started when Catalaya follwed your scent-"
"When I followed," Weiss corected.
"When I follwed your scent to-"
7:53 pm 4 Hours Earlier
Catalaya, dressed in black plaid, jeans, and a dark beanie shuffled down the sidewalk after the scent of her Snow. From what she'd seen so far, she was accompanied by more persons wearing weird skins and carrying many weapons, there wasn't way to get close without being spotted. Catalaya had been following the group since the morning when she couldn't get into the new den they chose.
She found it stramge that there were people with the features of animals. From the female with cat ears that she hids under cloth when outside. To the brunette with rabbit ears who almost caught her twice.Damn those ears,She thought. Catalaya had been hunting for her Snow for a long time and had had no luck in finding her until she chased them to the new den. The fact that she was always with another person made it harder, especially when they carried those metal boomsticks. But she would not give up in her hunt, she will grab her Snow and make her hers. However, she became especially distraught when she caught the scent of the woman from the skins store.
Her scent reaked of malicious intent and was wrapped in darkness that could pull even the purist of souls into the fold. That woman was more of a monster than she was, she thought to herself. Catalaya shook herself from her self deprecation when she saw the lanky male with yellow hair lead them to a tall building that was drowning in the woman's scent. Catalaya did not think this would end well, Snow along with her pack mates would be harmed if they went in.
She moved throught the throngs of people and moved to carefully shadow the group. She strained her heightened senses to catch the conversation as the cat girl spoke.
"According to Ren, the fog woman is a Pain Dealer. A despicable being that lives to watch its victims suffer. It essentially feeds on the agony it puts them in."
"Well, that's cheerful isn't it, Blake." The muscled woman with gold hair spoke to the cat woman named Blake.
"Yang, please stop talking." The dark red headed girl spoke to the one known as Yang. "We have a job to do."
Catalaya decided to dismiss their banter and search for her Snow who was talking to one of the sentries who insisted on touching her rear when she turned to walk away. She was mere nanoseconds from killing the man when the white haired beauty turned and punched him square in the nose, he fell to the ground out cold. "Uh, you okay?" Bunny ears asked. "Just fine." She grumbled.
"What'd he do?" The scraggly male asked. "He grabbed my ass." She said as she stomped to the elavator to the chuckles of the rest of the group.
Catalaya snuck her way up and out the escape hatch on the moving metal box before they entered. Still eavesdropping on the conversation, "Security says a woman matching the Pain Dealer's description rented the entire 7th floor of the building. Said she needed privacy." Snow said to the group as the hefted the metal boomsticks to their chest, the blonde male pulled out an ancient looking sword.At least I know how to fight thoseCatalaya thought to herself as the box stopped on the 7th floor and the riders got out. She followed by climbing back in and trailing them silently down the corridor. Before the group could check the first door the woman of fog showed herself to them. She instead spoke to me in our native tongue,"So you have come to give yourself to me?" She chuckled lightly.
"No." Catalaya said firmly. The woman seemed surprised. "Then what are you here for." She pointed to Snow and her pack, who aimed their boomsticks at her moving from the corner, "I must protect her."
The sickly woman laughed, "Let's see you try." The fog moved swiftly to attack the group as Catalaya jumped to intercept it before it could harm the blonde male. She pushed the male behind her as she took the intended hit, grinding her feet into the floor as it tried to push her back. Snow's group had begun opening fire at the fog woman after the male declared that Catalaya wouldn't save him if she wanted to harm them.
The fog split and grabbed a wrapped bundle, hitting her across the face and back into Yang. "Are you alright?" Uang asked as she kept firing. "Fine. You leave." She said as she stood in front of the group. "You can't fight this by yourself!" Snow shouted.
"Guys!" Bunny girl shouted when the woman unwrapped the bundle and tossed it into the floor, "Bomb!" The group ran down the hallway, but Yang couldn't. The fog had hit her hard in the leg, she could not walk. Catalaya hefted her onto her shoulder then ran after the group. The bomb went off just as she turned the corner.
Flames surrounded them, walls had crumbled, and the floor had caved. Catalaya was the first awake, she had used her body to block the debris from hitting them. Shaking dust from her hair, she checked over the group. The only injury was Yang's leg and bunny girl's arm. A voice shouted, "Guys, report. Are you okay, come in!" It was coming from a small thing that was in Yang's ear, "Hello?" She asked.
"Who is this? What happened to the team?"
"Name not important. Team is okay, team is not dead." She said slowly.
"Fine." The voice took a deep breath, "Can you get out safely?"
"It better if lowered through hole in floor. Stairs are not to be used as well the moving box." She stated as she grabbed the male and bunny girl.
"Uhh, fine I'm sending another group to help with that on the 4th floor."
"Okay." She dragged them over to the edge of the floor, watching four people come with harnesses and rope. "Lower them on this." The ginger haired girl said as she tossed Catalaya the items. "Whoever is injured should be sent down first, understand?" Catalaya already knew that, she'd seen enough battle to know that by know.
She grabbed Yang just as she regained consciousness and jerked at her touch,"You scared the shit out of me." She looked at the bag confused, "What's going on?"
"Your people are here to help you." She tossed her the harness, "Don't know how to use that." She said.
"Okay." Yang put it on with no problem. "How are we leaving." Her eyebrows almost hit the hairline when Catalaya pointed to the hole in the floor. There was no time for argument as she lifted Yang to the hole. "Lower her down slowly, alright?" The ginger said as she nodded.
The slow process was repeated with each memeber of the group, they'd almost thought them selves finished when a loud shriek broke through the carnage. Snow? Catalaya thought as she took off through the mess.
She found her being held down by the fog woman writhing and screaming. She lost it in that very moment. She unsheathed her claws, let her fangs grow out and leapt at the monster that dare to harm her Snow. She dug her claws into the woman's shoulder and threw her off, grunting as she checked over Snow.
She was not moving.
That broke her.
The woman was cackling as she rose again and was walking to the duo, the fog surrounding her shifting and flicking outwards. Catalaya grabbed the fog in hand as her markings glowed a iridescent black. Blood red eyes tinged with white, opened wide as she snarled. Rising from the ground, tears streaking her face as she shouted in a frighteningly dark voice.
You killed her!She grabbed the Pain Dealer's neck.You shall pay with your life!A sickening snap could've been heard across the room as the womans body fell to the ground dead.
Catalaya noticed her Snow shifting on the ground, she wasn't dead. She shook her body, carefully avoiding her wounds. "Snow! Wake up! Snow! Wake up!"
The Present
"That is what happened." Catalaya said as she started to the hole in the floor. "Catatlaya apologizes for doing such terrible thing. Catalaya thought you to be dead." She said solemnly.
"Don't be sad, you did it to protect me. No need to apologize for doing what you thought was right." Weiss didn't know what was happening to her. She'd never felt like this, felt as though seeing her sad could break her heart. This stranger, this supernatural being, made her feel safe. Made her want to be close at all times. It couldn't be what she thought it was.It can't be love.She thought to herself.
"Hold on to Catalaya. Do not want you hurt." She didn't have to tell her twice.
Weiss took in the calm feeling she had as Catalaya held her to her chest gently. She could feel muscles rippling beneath clothing as she tensed for the jump. Glancing down as Catalaya jumped from ledge to ledge, Yang, Ruby, and Blake had relieved looks on their faces. They swarmed the duo when Catalaya landed in front of them.
Reluctantly, Weiss allows herself to be put down so her friends can check her over. Ruby fretted over her even as Velvet put her medical training to use. Yang mumbled how she should've made sure she was okay before they got out. And Blake gave her hug, smiled and shared her relief that she was okay. After getting her wound wrapped and taking some pain relievers, team RWBY watched as Catalaya talked with Coco, well Coco talked and Catalaya looked confused.
When Coco pulled out a pair of silver laced shackles Weiss tried to interject. Jaune beat her to it,"Why are you shackling her, Coco? She saved our lives, even stopped the Pain Dealer." The group nodded as Coco sighed, "I'm following orders. Ozpin wants to talk to her at the house and, until it is clear she isn't threat, he wants her shackled." The younger teams were voicing their disagreements before Catalaya raised her hand, effectively silencing them.
"Catalaya understands the tactic you wish to apply." She takes the shackles and puts them on herself, "Catalaya has no qualms with decision of leader." The Hunters expreasions range from shock to impressed to grateful, courtesy of Weiss. "Well, you heard the woman," she said "let's get moving."