Well, I've corrected all the typos I could find in the previous chapters, and now I'm here with a new one.
Vale Police Department's Gangs Task Force was a unit of cops with the sole task of managing the city's gang problem. It was a small group comprised of only 10 brave and incorruptible Officers and 1 fearless Detective, having lost many good people to violence and corruption. Answering only to the Chief of Police and with access to all the department's resources, they were the last line of defence against the gangs which had taken over the city.
I'm charge of the task force, was Detective Calvin "Cal" Iris. He was a middle-aged human, with decades of experience with the city's gangs.
The officers of the task force were: Grace Periwinkle (36, Human), Stevie Cinnabar (33, Human), Ann Chestnut (27, Dog Faunus), Quincy Fern (37, Human), Theodore "Theo" Ash (30, Human), Ulysses "Uly" Mulberry (28, Human), Rutherford "Ru" Alabaster (40, Dog Faunus), Nancy Opal (25, Cat Faunus), Janis Wisteria (29, Human), and Franklin "Frank" Umber (26, Human).
Several hours after the two shootings. In their office, in the basement of Vale's Police HQ. The task force was assembled. The shootings fell under their jurisdiction since they involved Torchwick's people, and they were prioritising the case due to the number of victims and witnesses.
"Alright, listen up. The Chief is breathing down my neck to get this thing solved ASAP, and frankly, I'm inclined to agree with him, I want to know who's responsible for all this and I want them caught," Detective Iris said to his team, wanting them to understand the urgency of the situation. "Now, what have we got from the hospital?" he then asked.
"We have CCTV from the hospital, positive IDs on the shooters. Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Winter Schnee. Pyrrha Nikos also appears to be involved." responded Officer Periwinkle, showing the detective a still from the CCTV.
"Nikos? Why would she be with a Schnee?" Detective Iris asked. He'd seen cops and criminals working together many times before, but he never expected to see a hero cop like Pyrrha Nikos openly collaborating with a member of the Schnee family.
"Looks like Schnee and the others were protecting her," Periwinkle explained. The evidence seemed to indicate that Winter was only there to protect Pyrrha from Torchwick's people.
"Who are the others? I don't recognise them," was Iris's next question. In all his years he'd never encountered or heard of the other two, or any of their relatives.
"They're guards from Beacon, or at least they used to be. Their records are completely clean and they have no known affiliations with the Schnees, but they worked with Nikos," Officer Cinnabar explained, showing the detective pictures of the two in their work uniforms.
"What were they all doing at the hospital?" Iris asked. They had to have been there for something, it wasn't the sort of place people went to randomly.
"Jaune Arc, Nikos' fiance, he's a coma patient there and she visits him regularly," Cinnabar responded.
"Alright. Do we have anything on the sniper?" Iris then asked. Nothing was clear about the sniper, it wasn't even known if they had been working with the other four or not.
"They've left us pretty much nothing. Whoever it was, has to be a pro," Officer Ash responded. Only a professional could have killed like the sniper did and not have left any useful evidence. It seemed that they had to be either ex-military or ex-police, but that was all there really was to go on.
"Great," Iris said sarcastically, annoyed that they had so little to go on. "Do we know why Schnee is in the city?" he then asked. It didn't make sense for Winter to come to Vale just to protect Pyrrha.
"There are rumours that the family wants her dead and she had to flee Atlas. With the family no longer operating here, it's a relatively safe place for her to hide." Officer Chestnut answered. They were only rumours, but it would explain why Winter was no longer in Atlas.
"But she's not hiding, so she's not exactly playing it safe, and that also doesn't explain her connection to Nikos. She must have some other motivation." Iris pointed out. Winter fleeing Atlas didn't fully explain her actions or help them investigate.
"It's possible she's here because of her sister. Weiss was incarcerated in Beacon, so Winter could have been working with Nikos and the others to break her out." Officer Fern explained.
"We can't just guess with this stuff, I want these four brought in for questioning." Iris insisted. He wanted Pyrrha, Winter, and the others to explain themselves. If they were willing to cooperate then hopefully he would be able to identify the sniper and the other people involved in the shootings. "Now, do we have anything on the other incident?" he then asked, wanting to know what they had on the shooting at Pyrrha's apartment.
"We have a lot, but you're not going to like it." Officer Alabaster responded.
"Just tell me, I can take bad news," Iris told him. He'd had enough bad news in his career, there was nothing that could really faze him.
"Witnesses say that four shooters turned up on two bikes and went in guns blazing. They used military-grade weapons, and one of the victims was repeatedly stabbed and another was beaten to death. It matches the MO of Yang Branwen." Alabaster explained.
"You can't seriously think this has anything to do with her. You really need to get over your unhealthy obsession with her." Iris told him dismissively. Yang had been put away, and even if she had somehow survived and escaped Beacon, she would have no reason to go after Torchwick's people.
"With all due respect Sir, we can't say for certain that it wasn't her. Her body hasn't been recovered from Beacon, and her father was beaten into a coma by someone matching her description." Officer Opal said, coming to Alabaster's defence.
Iris suddenly grew worried "What? Why the hell didn't I know about this?" he demanded to know. For some reason, he hadn't been informed of what happened to Taiyang, despite him being a person of interest for his connections to the Branwens.
"Someone's been trying to keep it as quiet as possible. I only know because I overheard a few guys discussing it upstairs." Opal explained.
"Shit. If she's out, catching her again's going to be a fucking nightmare. We need to find her right fucking now before she can come for revenge." Iris told everyone. Catching Yang the first time had been a real pain, but she wouldn't make the same mistakes again and she would be out for revenge, so this time would be so much harder and more dangerous.
"I don't think it's just her we have to worry about Sir, she has at least three other people helping her, and some is supplying her with weapons." Officer Mulberry added. If it was, in fact, Yang, then she was armed and not alone, which was a worst-case scenario for someone so dangerous.
"Shit. She must have escaped and gone back home. She must be back with the Tribe." Iris responded. It made sense, Yang would have gone straight back to her mother and would now be hiding out in Branwen Territory, safe and out of reach.
"I'm not so sure about that, Sir. From what I've heard, Yang is now an enemy of the Tribe." Officer Umber pointed out. Just like there were rumours about Winter now being an enemy of the Schnees, there were rumours about a similar situation with Yang.
"Who the hell is she working with then?" Iris asked. Whatever was going on with Yang, it only raised more questions about the shootings.
"Well if these two shootings are related, then she could be working with Schnee and Nikos. It would make sense if Nikos is dirty like we think she is." Officer Wisteria suggested. With Yang being in Beacon while Pyrrha was working there, it was very likely that they at least knew each other.
"Wait, I think I know what's going on," Iris told everyone, as everything suddenly lined up in his head. "We need to move now. Periwinkle, Cinnabar, I want the two of you to head out to Beacon. Look for anything connecting Nikos and the other guards to Weiss Schnee and Yang. Chestnut, Fern, I want you back at the hospital, see if you can find out where Nikos and the others came from and where they went to. Ash, Mulberry, I want you to reach out to our informants and see if they know anything about any of this. Alabaster, Opal, I want you back at Nikos' apartment, see if you can find anything related to Winter and Yang. Wisteria, Umber, I want you to find Qrow Branwen, see if he knows what's going on with his niece." he then ordered.
As soon as Iris finished issuing orders, the officers all made hasty exits from the room. They all now knew the urgency of the situation, if Yang was free then the shootings were only the tip of the iceberg.
A few hours later, Officers Periwinkle and Cinnabar were at Beacon. After going from person to person for a while, they were eventually led to some who could help them.
"Ah, you must be the GTF guys." said the officer, as they approached him. He was standing in what had been the Warden's Office but was now more of a command centre form the cops investigating the riot.
"That's right. Are you the one who can help us?" Officer Periwinkle responded. She was hoping it was the case, so they could stop their wild goose chase around the prison.
"If this is about a guard or an inmate, then yes, I'm your guy." the officer replied.
"So you can tell us which cell block Pyrrha Nikos worked in?" Periwinkle asked. They had been quite about what they were looking for until this point, to minimise the risk of dirty cops finding out what they were up to.
The officer picked up a clipboard with several sheets of paper on it. He flipped through the pages for a few moments before stopping. "Here we go. Nikos, Pyrrha. Cell Block 5." he then said, while pointing to her name on one of the pages.
"Thank you," Periwinkle said gratefully, relieved that they at least had something to go on now. "Does that list tell you which inmates were in that block?" she then asked.
"See for yourself." the officer said, before handing over the clipboard."Just be careful, it's the list we use to record who's accounted for and who's still missing." he then warned, making it clear how important the list was.
Periwinkle and Cinnabar looked at the list of inmates from Cell Block 5. "Holy shit, this is like a who's who of scum," Cinnabar commented after seeing who was in the cellblock.
"Most of them are dead." Periwinkle pointed out. Most of the inmates from the block were listed as deceased. The riot had been more of a massacre than she had first thought.
"Yeah, but look who's unaccounted for," Cinnabar responded worriedly, as she pointed out which inmates hadn't been marked as deceased. If they needed any more proof that Yang was on the loose, they were now looking at it.
"Oh shit. If they're all out, then we're in more trouble than we thought." Periwinkle responded as she realised what Cinnabar was talking about. The names on the list included Yang Branwen and Weiss Schnee, which is what they had been looking for, but it also revealed that a lot of extremely dangerous criminals were on the loose.
"Iris needs to know about this now. It's not just Branwen we need to be worrying about." Cinnabar said, before taking a picture of the list and sending it to Iris. What had been a worst-case scenario, somehow managed to get worse. They were in big trouble, in fact, the whole city was if what they were looking at was anything to go by.
Meanwhile, Officers Chestnut and Fern were in a store close to the hospital. They were watching grainy CCTV footage, looking for footage of Pyrrha and the others driving past after leaving the hospital. They knew what the car looked like, but finding any indication of where it had gone, was proving to be more difficult than expected.
"This is a waste of time." Officer Chestnut complained. They could be running in circles for all they knew, they would be if Winter and Pyrrha were smart. They could spend weeks looking at CCTV recordings and still end up no closer to finding the people they were looking for.
"We at least need to try, maybe they slipped up." Officer Fern told her. They needed to do everything they could to locate Pyrrha and the others, the sooner they were found, the better.
"They don't strike me as the sort of people who would slip up," Chestnut responded. Pyrrha and Winter weren't going to make themselves easy to find, especially if they were involving themselves with Yang.
"I agree, but this could still help us out. A general direction is better than what we already have." Fern reminded her. They already had so little to go on, that anything would be useful.
"I know, but I'd rather be out there looking for them. I didn't take this job to spend my time staring at screens." Chestnut explained. She preferred being out on the streets, taking down dangerous criminals. She didn't want to be cooped up in an office.
"I don't like this either, but sometimes this is just what we need to do." Fern replied. What they were doing was just another part of their work, it wasn't interesting, but it needed to be done.
Elsewhere, Officers Ash and Mulberry were driving around with one of their informants in the back of their car. He went by the name Merlot and ran an underground fighting ring which attracted a lot of the city's criminals. In exchange for his operation not being closed down, he worked with the GTF whenever they needed information.
"What do you know about today's shootings?" Ash asked. Anything he could give them would help them greatly since they had very little that could actually help them.
"I know as much as you. Torchwick's boys got fucked up." Merlot answered, not knowing anything more than what the news was reporting.
"Why were they at the hospital?" Ash then asked. Needing more than a repeat of what he already knew.
"I don't know. Nobody mentioned anything about the hospital." Merlot told him, having not heard anything about the attack until after it happened.
"Is there anyone in the hospital he might want dead?" was Ash's next question. They needed to know why Torchwick sent his people to the hospital, things didn't add up if they didn't know what the men were doing there.
"You tell me, Torchwick isn't exactly short on enemies." Merlot retorted. Everyone in the hospital could have been Torchwick's target for all he knew, the man wasn't exactly known for having many friends.
Ash was frustrated with the lack of information, but he pushed on. "What is Winter Schnee doing in the city?" he asked, hoping for more than just the rumours.
"You don't know? She did something to really piss of Jacques, she's no longer safe in Atlas." Merlot explained. Knowledge of the divide in the Schnee family had spread far and wide through all of Remnant's criminal underworld.
"So we've heard," Ash responded. Merlot had just repeated what the rumours said. "Why is Torchwick going after Pyrrha Nikos?" he then asked, hoping Merlot could provide more clarity on something.
"She was a cop, what do you expect." was all Merlot said, thinking it was blatantly obvious why any criminal would target someone like Pyrrha.
"Really? No specific reason other than that?" Ash asked in response, having hoped for at least a little more than what Merlot was offering.
"Listen. I don't know everything about everything, I'm giving you all I've got." Merlot stated, making it clear that he was providing all of the information he had. He couldn't risk withholding information or lying to them when they could easily shut him down and take him in.
Ash sighed, then asked another question. "Alright. What's the deal with Yang Branwen?" Getting answers to what was happening with Yang was probably the most important thing, given how dangerous she was.
"Oh, a lot of people have been talking about her. The Tribe wants her dead, Torchwick wants her dead, Cinder Fall wants her dead, the White Fang wants her dead," he said, listing all the people and groups he knew had problems with Yang.
"What did she do to piss them off so badly?" Ash asked. He was surprised by the number of people who were after Yang, there were rumours that she had turned on the Tribe, but the rest was all news to him.
"From what I've been hearing, she started a war with them from inside Beacon." Merlot explained. He'd heard a lot of people talking about how Yang had gone rogue while inside Beacon and had been attacking and killing people.
"One person started a war with The Branwen Tribe, Roman Torchwick, Cinder Fall and the White Fang? I know Yang's dangerous, but even she couldn't pull that off." Mulberry said dismissively. There was no way that Yang could take on that many people at once.
"Oh, she's not alone. I don't know who's helping her, but I know she had help." Merlot responded. It was up to the officers whether they believed him or not, but what he was telling them was the truth.
"Did she get out of Beacon during the riot?" Mulberry then asked, now more convinced by what Merlot was saying.
"Yeah, I thought you'd know that by now. Didn't you hear about what she did to Taiyang Xiao Long?" responded a confused Merlot. News of what had happened to Yang's father had spread like wildfire, everyone knew that someone who was obviously Yang, had beaten him into a coma.
"We've heard about it, but all we know is that it was someone matching Yang's description," Mulberry explained. They didn't know for sure if it was Yang or not, but other people clearly did.
"Well, it was definitely her. Now are we done here, I have a business to run?" Merlot asked, not wanting to spend any more time being questioned by the cops.
"Is there anything else you think we should know?" Mulberry asked, not yet ready to let Merlot go.
"If you want my advice, don't go after Yang, I'd hate to see her kill my favourite cops." Merlot warned. In his opinion, going after Yang was suicide. The cops had taken her down once, but he doubted they could do it again.
Mulberry pulled the car over to the side of the road and brought the car to a stop. "Thanks for the heads up. Now, get out," he told Merlot, as Ash got out and opened the door for Merlot.
"Gladly." Merlot said, before getting out of the car. As soon as he was out, Ash closed the door and got back in the car.
"This is bad," Mulberry said, once Ash was back in the car. If Merlot was right, things were worse than expected.
"We can't have a war, the city's already on its knees," Ash responded. The last thing Vale needed, was a war between it's most powerful criminal organisations and its most dangerous individual.
"I think it's already too late," Mulberry said, as he started driving again. The shootings signified the start of what was to come, the war had already begun.
Back at Pyrrha's apartment, Officers Alabaster and Opal were scouring the place for any evidence that could link her to Yang and Winter. The scene was still a bloody mess and was still being investigated, but they had their own matters they needed to look into that didn't directly involve the shooting.
"Are you worried?" Alabaster asked as they looked around the place. Even with all his years of experience, he was worried about what Yang's return could signify. She was young, but she was by far the most dangerous individual he had encountered.
"Of course I'm worried. She's going to come after us eventually, and I don't know if we can take her down a second time." Opal told him. She was terrified of what Yang would do, especially now she had a team working with her. Alone she was a handful, with help, she was untouchable.
"Then this time we don't take her down, we kill her. This wouldn't be a problem if we still had the death penalty, then the bitch would already have been swinging." Alabaster responded. He hated the fact that the death penalty was no longer an option, as it meant extremely dangerous criminals like Yang, could go on hurting and killing people.
"We can't solve the problem by killing, then we become just as bad as the people we're up against." Opal protested. She was out to stop all the killing, not add to it. She would use her gun if she needed to, but she preferred to apprehend people rather than killing them.
"Come on, even you must understand that the world would be a better place without people like her in it. Putting her kind in a cage doesn't stop them, it just changes who they target." Alabaster argued. While he didn't want every criminal to die, he acknowledged the fact that some of them were just far too violent and dangerous to be allowed to live.
"Let's not get into this now," Opal told him, not wanting to get into a winnerless argument over their beliefs. They needed to focus on the task at hand, for everyone's sake.
"You're right, sorry about that." Alabaster agreed, before getting back to what they were there to do. Finding evidence was more important than trying to change Opal's mind.
Only a few seconds later, Opal spotted something that nobody else had noticed. "I think I've found something. Looks like a hidden camera," she said, pointing to what she had found and waving Alabaster over.
"Oh, shit, they must be watching us." Alabaster said under his breath, as he saw what Opal was pointing to. Now somebody, most likely Pyrrha and whoever she was working with, now knew that the GTF was onto them. Suddenly, they no longer had the element of surprise to help them, and things would now be much more difficult and dangerous.
Not wanting to risk revealing anything else or being captured by any other cameras, the two of them left the apartment quickly and without saying anything. They didn't speak again until they were outside. "Forget the evidence, we need to let Iris know about this now," Opal said, as she did her best not to panic.
Meanwhile, Officers Wisteria and Umber walked into a bar, one known to be frequented by one Qrow Branwen. As they had hoped, they spotted him last alone in a booth in the corner. As always, he had a gloomy expression on his face, but this time he looked particularly miserable. They walked over and joined him, Umber sitting beside him and Wisteria taking a seat opposite.
Qrow didn't speak, he just sat there staring down at a half-empty glass. The presence of the two officers really meant nothing to him, if they wanted to talk, they would have to initiate things.
"We need to talk," Wisteria said to him, her tone making the urgency of the matter clear.
"About?" Qrow asked, without looking up. With Raven, Tai, Yang and Ruby all being possible topics of conversation, they would have to be specific about what they wished to discuss.
"Your niece," Wisteria responded. She didn't really want to mention Yang's name in public if she could avoid it, as it had the potential to draw unwanted attention.
"Which one?" Qrow asked in response. Though technically he wasn't a blood relative of Ruby, he counted her as his niece and other people did too.
"What do you mean which one?" Wisteria asked. As far as she was aware, Yang was Qrow's only niece. But then again, she'd never really looked into him beyond his connections to Raven and Yang.
"Yang or Ruby," Qrow told her. They had to know about Ruby if they knew about every other person in his life, or at least that was what he had assumed. Still, if they didn't know about Ruby, it would only be a matter of time before they found out about her, so there was no point not mentioning her.
"I was unaware that you had another niece," Wisteria told him. Ruby couldn't have been Raven's daughter and Qrow didn't have any other siblings that she knew of, so she was confused by the revelation.
"She's not a blood relative, but I raised her," Qrow explained, giving as much detail as he was willing to without them putting pressure on him.
"Alright. Well, this isn't about her. It's about the other one." Wisteria told him. Every time the cops spoke to Qrow, it was either about his sister or her daughter.
"I'm listening," Qrow responded. He wasn't going to give up anything voluntarily, so they would have to ask.
"What's she up to Qrow?" Wisteria asked, he had to know something and they needed to know what he knew.
"She's out for revenge, or at least that's what it seems like," Qrow answered. That was what he believed after what happened with Tai.
"Revenge against who?" Wisteria asked. She was glad that Qrow could provide some answers, but they would need more.
"Well she already got to Tai, and I'm pretty sure it'll be me or Raven next," Qrow told her. It would most likely be him next and then Raven, as she would be the hardest to get to.
"Why does she want revenge?" Wisteria then asked him. She was aware that Yang didn't have a good relationship with her Uncle or Father, the issues between her and Raven were unclear.
"She wants to get back at us for what we turned her and her sister into and for what we allowed to happen to them," Qrow explained. It was the most logical explanation for Yang going after the family, given what he already knew.
"Sister?" asked as confused Umber. He knew about Vernal, who was almost like Yang's sister, but he was sure that Qrow wasn't referring to Vernal.
"Seriously? How do you not already know about Ruby? She's Tai's other daughter and Yang's half-sister." Qrow said, struggling to believe that neither of the officers knew anything about Ruby, despite obviously knowing about everyone else.
"Where can we find Ruby?" Umber asked. If they could find Ruby, she could maybe help them deal with her half-sister.
"She'll be with Yang. Someone framed her for murder and she was sent to Beacon. She was with Yang when Tai was attacked." Qrow told him, remembering his conversation with Raven. If the cops wanted to get to Ruby, he was pretty certain that they'd run into Yang.
"Shit," was all Umber could say in response. Now they knew of at least one person who was helping Yang, but it was extremely worrying that it was Yang's half-sister.
"How dangerous is Ruby?" Wisteria asked, hoping she wouldn't be dangerous and wouldn't make getting to Yang too much harder.
"She's a killer. I trained her how to fight and shoot, and I'm sure Yang's made her even more dangerous." Qrow explained. Ruby wasn't nearly as dangerous as her sister, but she was no pushover either. Together, the two of them would be a nightmare to take on.
Wisteria was now extremely worried, all she could think to say was "Shit." Yang was surrounded by killers, so taking her down again would be pretty much impossible.
"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Umber asked, hoping Qrow would know of some way to bring Yang down or at least slow her down.
"Yeah, Raven knows more than I do. So, I hope your ready for the mess she and Yang are about to make." Qrow told him. There was an all-out war coming between the women of his family, and it was going to turn the city into a bloody mess.
Back in the office, Detective Iris was compiling everything that was coming in from the team. So far, things were lining up the way he had thought they would, only much, much worse.
The prospect of a war like the one Qrow and Merlot were talking about, was bad for everyone, not just those fighting in it. A lot of innocent people were likely to get caught up in the crossfire, and the city would be thrown into chaos.
The fact that Pyrrha's apartment was being watched and the investigation had been exposed, meant that taking action against Yang and the others involved would be a lot more difficult and dangerous than it already would have been.
On top of that, Chestnut and Fern had managed to lose track of the car that Pyrrha and Winter had been travelling, so they were no closer to tracking them down.
But worst of all was the list of inmates from Beacon who were unaccounted for. They were some of the most dangerous women in all of Remnant, and it seemed likely that they had joined forces with Yang.
Iris sighed heavily, as he took in everything he had complied. "Gods help us all."
More to come soon, my will to write has returned.
Also, I realised after all the corrections I have been making, that I was 19 when I started writing this and now I'm 21.