Hello everybody, I'm back again with another chapter! I hope you're all doing well, and that you enjoy the latest installment :3
candrariski155: I love Neo too, but I'm trying to keep my bias for her in check.
Phantommore: I feel the way too!
Halo 69: Yeah, no. No Gimp mask for Kaneki.
a54321: I hope you enjoy it!
James the apple: I'm sorry to let you down, but I'm glad to have made it up for you so quickly!
Incognito74: I felt that adding an obscure character, even if I'm not sure that he's canon or not, would add a fun twist for the future of the story. Glad you liked it!
Cyricist001: I was thinking about it, but I couldn't really think of a good enough reason to kill them off in that very moment.
Itharax: I'm glad you enjoyed your Christmas gift! Here's another one, for the New Year, although it's admittedly a bit late. Writing Cinder's reaction was fun for me, so I'm happy you found it so entertaining! I love Lusus Naturae too, I remember listening to it on loop for hours at a time. And feel free to ship whoever you'd like! I don't own any of these characters, what can I do about it? xD I hope you had a wonderful holiday and have a wonderful day!
artem-abramov-2004: Merlot definitely seems like that sort of character, doesn't he? As for a new personality, I don't really think the fight had damaged Kaneki enough or made him question himself to really warrant that.
Hellibleri: Interesting word choice to describe Neo. As for Kaneki, I initially was going to write him overpowering everybody, but when I thought back to his previous encounters, it wouldn't have been very consistent. Still, I'm glad you enjoyed my portrayal of those events!
killzombie74: Thanks for the welcome back! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
KnightOfZaku: I think Kaneki is in his element when he plays the bad guy, so I'm glad you agree! I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure how I ended up having Neo and Velvet gunning for him, since it was never really my intention to add a love triangle subplot... like at all. I've mentioned it multiple times, in Author's Notes and in my Discord, I cannot write romance to save my life, but oh well! That's an interesting idea that you have there, I just don't really know how I would be able to write that in a believable way. Hope you had a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year too!
Noyoki: I'm not sure why you'd give my story a read if you hadn't seen one of the major sources of the plot, but I'm grateful nonetheless! Thank you for your comments, I was smiling like an idiot for well over an hour after I first read it, and it resurfaced now that I'm replying to it. I really don't know what else to say, but thank you a thousand times over.
CykaBlyatintensifies: I'm glad you liked the reveal!
CamoMurf (Guest): Heck yeah it is!
Matemeo3: That is definitely going to be on Kaneki's to-do list the next time he tries to pull a stunt like that! I feel that Kaneki has had the fortune (or perhaps misfortune) of only really fighting student-level Huntmen/Huntress in training and street thugs, which may have affected his overall view of the powers of the new world. While he did face Ozpin early on, he ran, and fought Glynda whiled frenzied, soooo, yeah. Thank you, and Happy Holidays to you too!
itsFAX: I'm so glad to hear from one of the early adopters and even more so that I've met your expectations! I hope you stick around for the rest of story!
a reader (Guest): Thank you! It isn't and neither is this one!
CuddlyMakani: I'm glad you found my story worth rereading!
GraveDigger: Thank you so much! I did consider in the very early stages of writing this story to have Kaneki join Beacon, but I felt like that idea has been done before by writers much better than I, so I decided to do something a bit different! I'm glad to welcome you to my discord, and I hope to talk to you there!
Chippo135: I will definitely continue and I'm doing okay now in my personal life, thank you for the kind words!
HappyHulk: I'm not sure what you mean by making this more than a "Kaneki has been transported to Remnant" story, because that's kind of what it is right now? Unless you mean do I plan to deviate from the canon plot, in which case, yes, I do.
Well, that's all the reviews! Since I mentioned it a few times in my replies, I'll just mentioned it once again here; feel free to join me and a few others in my discord! We have a few active members and we talk about pretty much anything and everything! Hope to see some more friendly faces!
"I just don't get it…" Velvet said dejectedly. Sitting across from her team leader and friend holding a cup of coffee with both hands. "I really thought that things went well."
Coco sighed, crossing her arms as she looked at her friend. "Maybe you came off a little too strong?" she suggested. "I mean, have you ever really liked a guy before?"
Velvet shrugged, taking a sip from her cup. "I mean… it's possible. I don't know! I called him yesterday morning and sent him a few messages but he hasn't responded to any of them. What if something happened to him? Do you think he–"
"I'm going to stop you right there," Coco interrupted. "You said yourself that he has issues, right? Maybe he doesn't know how to handle these sorts of feelings either and just needs some time to figure it all out? Your mom says you've been good to him, so I don't see any reason that he would just disappear on you like that. You're a catch, Velvet, and I'm not flirting with you this time."
Velvet shook her head, unconvinced. "I'm going to call him again," she said, taking her scroll out. Before she could open it, Coco stood up and leaned forward, putting her hand on Velvet's to stop her. "I just have to make sure that he's okay," she explained.
"Why don't we shift our focus on the Faunus Killer instead? If we get him, we can keep Ken safe. After that, we'll figure out this whole lovey dovey stuff you're dealing with. You're not thinking clearly."
Velvet huffed, but reluctantly agreed. "Fine, but can I at least send him a message?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Velvet…"
"Okay, fine," Velvet groaned, putting her scroll away. "So what did you have in mind? Do you have any new leads, or are we still just combing the city and hoping we run into him?"
Coco sat back down, tapping her finger on the table. "Team RWBY has tonight's shift, right? Why don't we get some training in? It would do us no good if we encountered him and you weren't in fighting shape."
"I thought you said that you didn't want to fight him," Velvet pointed out.
"We're training you, Velvet. You're the only one of us who can reliably damage him. The boys and I will provide cover as best we can, but you're going to be the one who faces off against him. Looking back at Glynda's encounter with him, she seemed to favor Ice Dust over the rest of her arsenal, didn't she? It certainly slowed him down more than fire or combustion. I might have to do some experimenting with ice rounds."
Velvet gulped at the idea of facing the strange Grimm-like Faunus Killer, especially if she was meant to do all the heavy lifting. She was fully aware that she didn't excel in any area like the rest of her team did. Each of them were either the strongest, smartest or fastest, but Velvet always felt like she was trying to catch up. Sure, she had variety, but that never saved them before. Yatsu was always protecting her out on the field, Coco would look out for her at Beacon, and Fox was the one who reassured her time and time again of her abilities. What did she offer?
As Velvet looked down to her half-empty coffee, thoughts of her mother filled her head. The long years it took her scraping by to finally get this place on her own, refusing help from Velvet's father. Her mother never cared for profits, but did struggle running the place on her own until Ken arrived. After he did, she was finally able to live her dream of being a safe haven for all Faunus and humans, only for it to suddenly shut down because of the Faunus Killer's appearance. Velvet looked around the shop, taking in the abandoned state. Chairs sitting on tables, espresso machines cold and without steam, the pastry display barren. If she didn't spend everyday cleaning up a bit, she was sure there would be a layer of dust all over.
Then an image of Kaneki flashed in her mind. The panic when he started counting backwards from a thousand. The fear he displayed the night he saw the Faunus Killer in all its horrid glory. That white eyepatch he wore over his missing eye was a reminder that this monster had permanently scarred him in more ways than one. The fact that Ken was so kind and gentle caused an unfamiliar pit to form in Velvet's stomach. In her mind Kaneki was the one of the least deserving people, not that anybody deserved to be tortured, to undergo such a tramuatic experience. Velvet recalled Ken's brief and infrequent smiles, almost as if he was apologizing for enjoying himself. Was this a result of the Faunus Killer too?
"Velvet, are you okay?" Coco asked suddenly. Velvet snapped out of her thoughts. She caught a glance of herself in the window. She had tears on her cheeks and, for just a moment, wore an angry expression that felt and looked foreign to her. She had just felt an emotion she had never felt before; one that she was afraid of getting lost in. As she met Coco's concerned eyes, she shook her head.
"No," she said in a low whisper, her voice cracking slightly. Her hands were trembling, causing the coffee to splash a little. "I won't be… not until the Faunus Killer is dead."
Ruby and Penny walked around the streets of Vale, the rest of team RWBY trailing a fair distance behind. Due to Penny's connections to Ironwood, they had decided to keep her out of the loop when it came to their investigation regarding the Faunus Killer, but couldn't think of a good enough reason to not let her tag along with them as they 'walked around Vale' looking for 'things to do'. It hurt Ruby to reject all of the robotic girl's suggestions, but they couldn't afford to be distracted.
"What if we were to go to that arcade we went to?" Penny asked, as excitable as ever. "I would like to beat Yang's high score once more!"
"Arcades aren't fun if you go there all the time," Ruby explained, forcing a smile on her face. "We're just going to keep walking around Vale."
Penny wore a thoughtful expression for a moment. "If we keep walking this way, we will end up in a residential district. I do not think that there will be any activities to do there."
"You never know!" Ruby replied, waving off her concern. "Say, should you be out right now? Isn't your dad going to be worried?"
Penny looked serious for a moment and looked around. She gauged the distance that the other three girls were following and deemed it suitable. She leaned near Ruby and whispered. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Um, sure, why not?"
"General Ironwood has instructed me to keep a look out for that Faunus Killer that has been on the news. I know your friend Blake is hiding her heritage, but according to my theory she is in danger. I am staying as close as possible to protect her, you, Weiss and Yang if you were to encounter the Faunus Killer."
Ruby's eyes widened at the girl's declaration. "What do you mean that Blake's in danger?"
"I have been looking through some police files and General Ironwood's reports, with permission of course! I have not told him that Blake is a Faunus, since you said that was a secret, but there is a high possibility that Blake was at one point part of the White Fang, and the Faunus Killer has only targeted current and former White Fang members."
"Wait, why do you think that she has anything to do with the White Fang?" Ruby asked in a loud whisper. "I mean, what gives you that idea?"
Penny shrugged and giggled. "It's just a guess," she replied.
"Okay, but you can't tell anybody else about that guess, okay? I don't want people getting ideas about Blake."
"Of course! I would not dream of telling a soul," Penny replied with a salute. She turned back to the three girls who didn't seem to be suspicious of anything. "Wow, your friends are looking really hard for something to do," she remarked.
Ruby looked back to her team, unsure if she should share what they were actually doing, but ultimately decided that the group decision was more important until they could discuss it in private. The last thing Ruby wanted was to get everybody in trouble. Instead, she turned to her team. "Hey, Penny and I are going to look around the markets, we can catch up later!"
"Are you sure?" asked Weiss, eyeing Penny. Ruby gave an enthusiastic nod but wore a nervous smile. Weiss sighed and agreed. "Well, if you find anything, let us know."
"Same goes for you," Ruby agreed. She turned back to Penny and began walking back towards the heart of the city. Penny was quick to follow suit, bouncing along cheerfully as she did.
"What do you need from the marketplace?" asked Penny. She continued to scan the areas as she walked along.
"I, um, you know, stuff!" Ruby replied. "I've been looking to upgrade Crescent Rose for a while, so I need some parts."
"Oh, how exciting!" Penny agreed. "Have you thought about reworking the–"
"Rewoking what?" asked Ruby. She looked over to Penny who had walked over to an Atlesian Knight. "Penny?"
Penny raised a hand over the Atlesian Knight, doing a quick scan as she did. "This unit has been tampered with," she whispered. She began to walk around the robotic soldier, but couldn't see anything externally. "Ruby, I have to get this back to General Ironwood. I will catch up with you later!"
"Wait, Penny! What's going on!?" Ruby asked, stopping Penny from reaching for her scroll. "Why do you need to take that to General Ironwood?"
"This unit might be infected with some kind of virus," Penny told her, keeping her voice quiet. "When Father built me, he installed a sort of radar that lets me know when there are Atlas military near me, but I did not sense this one at all. If I had not seen it, I would not have known that it was nearby. General Ironwood has been stressed about the ongoing events in Vale, and this might give him a lead."
"You're saying that this unit can't be tracked by General Ironwood?" Ruby asked. "Wait, can General Ironwood track you?"
Penny looked at Ruby confused. "Of course, he can track all Atlas students through our scrolls."
"But not through… well, your beep-boop parts?"
Penny laughed at Ruby's awkwardness. "Oh, no, Father would never allow that. But this is a pressing matter, Ruby, I have to go."
"R-right! Okay, just let me know when you're done! I'll go find my team."
Penny smiled and nodded, waving her friend goodbye as she stood by the defective Atlesian Knight. Ruby was unsure if she should be concerned about whatever it was Penny found, but reasoned that the Faunus Killer had not shown any particularly advanced knowledge about technology, so figured it was likely just a unit with bad hardware. She took her scroll out and called Weiss.
"Did you find something?" asked Weiss, not bothering to greet her.
"No, not exactly," she replied. "Penny had to go, so I'm on my own again. Where are you all?"
"We're in the slums," she replied with slight disgust. Ruby knew that Weiss wasn't being bougie, but was simply unaccustomed to seeing the poor areas up close. "We're just about done here… I think…"
"I'll be right there," Ruby told her. She hung up and readied her Semblance to make a dash over when somebody caught her eye. From what Ruby remembered, Team CFVY was taking tomorrow's shift, so seeing Velvet wandering around town looking for something made her wonder if she got the days mixed up. "Hey, Velvet!"
The rabbit Faunus looked around, startled, before meeting Ruby's gaze. She smiled gently at her and waved instead of calling out. Ruby jogged over to her with a friendly smile plastered on her face. "Hey, Ruby, how are you? Where's your team?"
"They're looking around Vale for, well, you know," she said, laughing nervously. She thought back to the last night they met, recalling Ken's uncharacteristic mannerisms. "Say, I haven't seen your friend since… well, you know. How's he doing?"
"He's fine," Velvet replied, forcing a smile, but before long, it fell. "I… I don't actually know. I haven't been able to reach him for a few days." Velvet grabbed her elbow nervously, unsure of what to tell the young leader.
"He kind of reminds me of Blake," Ruby commented offhandedly. Velvet raised a brow at her. "I mean, they're both kind of quiet and don't really show off their friendship like I do," she explained. "I don't know if Ken reads though…"
"He does," Velvet answered too quickly. "I mean, he doesn't have time for it most of the time, but he told me it was one of his favorite pastimes."
"Oh wow, what are the odds," Ruby laughed.
"So you've dealt with this before? I mean, in your case, Blake just suddenly leaving?"
Ruby nodded, but mentally kicked herself as she tried to come up with a way to tell Velvet without telling her the details. "She and Weiss had a disagreement and Blake sort of said something that I don't think she meant to say. We couldn't find her for a whole weekend, but when we did, it turns out she was just thinking over what happened and apologized to Weiss. Maybe that's what Ken's doing?"
"But we didn't have a fight…" Velvet sighed, her ears flopping down in disappointment. "I mean, I don't think that I've done anything to upset him…"
Ruby tried to smile assuringly, but it came out more like an uncomfortable grimace. "I… uh, well…" she began. She looked around for any excuse to walk away from the awkward conversation, but couldn't bring herself to do so. "Maybe he's just busy with errands or something? Blake mentioned that he was out shopping for Ice Dust for his new refrigerator not too long ago."
Velvet looked up surprised. "When did Blake see him?"
"Oh, um… she mentioned it last night, so maybe yesterday afternoon? I know Yang said he was at the bowling alley two days ago."
"That must be it," Velvet said in relief. "Thank you Ruby."
"Sure, don't mention it!" Ruby chirped. "I'm going to keep on the patrol for the rest of the afternoon. I'll see you around!"
"Good luck, and be careful," Velvet replied.
Ruby waved as she walked away, not looking where she was walking. Suddenly, she crashed into somebody just as she rounded the corner. "Oof, sorry!" she said, rubbing her head.
"You should watch where you're going, pipsqueak."
"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, immediately recognizing his voice. "I thought you went off on another mission!"
"I did," he said with a grin. "It's here in Vale. Although something tells me that you're on a similar mission of your own."
Ruby immediately started shaking her head and waving her hands around. "What makes you say that!? Of course we aren't looking into the killer, Professor Ozpin specifically told us not to!"
"I never said you were looking for the Faunus Killer," he pointed out, shaking his head in disappointment, still wearing a smile. "You're just like your mom, kiddo. What have you found so far?"
"Nothing, really," Ruby answered dejectedly. She wasn't concerned about getting caught in a lie, but rather that she had nothing to show for it. "It's like he only appears when he wants to."
Qrow nodded, and gently nudged Ruby to walk alongside him. "Investigation work never seemed to be your strong suit," he joked. "I mean, sure, you found that White Fang meeting last semester, but tracking down a single person is a lot more difficult."
"You can say that again," Ruby agreed. "So you're not mad?"
"I expected as much out of you, so no, not really. However, I do think that you should really listen to Ozpin this time."
Ruby gasped. Was her uncle telling her to follow rules? "Why?"
Qrow stopped and turned to his niece. "I bumped into him not too long ago," he informed her. "He's a lot more dangerous than we first thought. Nobody is sure how his abilities work, but one thing is for certain; he's smart. I've fought more Grimm and ex-Huntsmen than I care to count. This kid… he's the worst of both worlds."
Ruby gulped as she listened to her uncle speak. It vaguely reminded her of the scary stories he told her when she was younger to behave, but this particular boogeyman didn't have a lesson to learn. "Isn't that more reason to have more people on the lookout for him?"
"If this was a Grimm, yeah," he admitted. "You've never fought a killer before this guy, have you? When you were on that train and your team failed to even dent him, did you expect to make it out of there alive?"
Ruby looked down as the memory flashed into her head. The scaly red tentacles holding her in place, the sickening joy in the Faunus Killer's voice… She begged for mercy, but didn't expect it. "No…" she said, her voice small.
"Yet here you are," he said, ruffling her hair. "Look kid, I'm not telling you this to scare you into obeying orders. You know I couldn't give a damn about that kind of thing. No, I'm telling you this because I spoke to the Faunus Killer, and he made it clear that he won't be as kind the next time somebody tries to stop him. If you do find yourself up against him, you call for backup and run, got it?"
"But Uncle Qrow, we can–"
"You can't. You're still a first year, Ruby, and this guy fought off Glynda and Ozpin at the same time. Do you think you can manage to beat somebody that powerful?"
"He… what?!" Ruby asked. It pained Qrow to inflate the truth, but he couldn't lose his nieces.
"Ruby, tell your sister and friends to back off of this case," he said sternly. "If you or Yang got hurt…"
Ruby was about to nod, but the last sentence snapped her out of it. "Got hurt?" she repeated. "The whole reason I wanted to become a Huntress was to help people who couldn't help themselves. If I'm afraid of getting hurt, I would never have tried to join Beacon!"
Qrow sighed, and grabbed hold of the girl's shoulders. "There's a difference between fighting off some Grimm so innocents can escape, and it's another to actively look for a threat that you have no hope of defeating. If you try to fight that thing, you will die. Your friends will die. All because you wanted to play the hero, kid. You have to learn to pick your battles, you won't always be so lucky to fight on an even playing field."
To Qrow's surprise, his niece nodded in silence. For a moment, he thought he should clarify what he meant, but ultimately knew that this was the only way for her to understand the situation at hand. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, unsure what else to say. She thought about his choice of words.
All because you wanted to play the hero.
"I don't want to be a hero," Ruby managed to say. She looked at her uncle with as much a glare as she could manage, but it wasn't much. "I only want to help people, and if the Faunus Killer is terrorizing Faunus, then I won't stop until he is taken care of."
Qrow was impressed at his niece's resolve. Still, he couldn't let her run into this blind. "You're just going to do what you want, no matter what I say, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically. "I'll just ask you this last thing then. Do you think you have it in you to end another person's life?"
"Like kill him?" Ruby asked, confused. "Can't we arrest him?"
Qrow shook his head. "Ruby, this guy tore a Bullhead's door off like it was made of paper. Even if we managed to catch him and slap a pair of cuffs on him, there is nothing we can do about him breaking free."
"You said you talked to him, right?" Ruby pointed out. "Then I'm going to try to convince him to turn himself in."
Qrow would have laughed at the idea if the girl wasn't so serious. "Ruby, some people in this world can't be reasoned with and it would be reckless for you to think you can talk a murderer into sitting behind bars like a model prisoner."
Being told that she couldn't do anything by her idol was beginning to frustrate Ruby, but she knew that he knew more than her. Even then, she couldn't stand around doing nothing, hoping against hope that somebody would put a stop to him. "I won't know unless I try."
"Ruby…" Qrow began, but knew it was pointless. Ruby wasn't usually as stubborn as her sister, but when she believed in something, he knew it was impossible to convince her otherwise. He let out a defeated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, just promise me that if you get in over your head, you'll call for help, okay? I'll be there as fast as I can."
Yang, Blake and Weiss continued looking around the poorer side of Vale, surprised to see just how much difference a few streets could make. After Ruby said she'd catch up with them, they had decided to do another look-over to ensure they didn't miss anything. Many buildings were in disrepair, which seemingly made it hard for somebody as prolific as the Faunus Killer to hide harder and harder to believe.
"I don't see why we couldn't meet Ruby somewhere else," Weiss sighed. "This place gives me the creeps."
"This is the reality for a lot of people, human and Faunus," Blake pointed out. She was fortunate to not have grown up like this, but she had seen how it affected her people. "Besides, we're just about done."
Weiss nodded, still uncomfortable with the various stares she would get on occasion. "Yang, didn't you have a friend on this side of town? Maybe he knows something."
Yang turned to face her, and shook her head. "I already tried, but he's got nothing." In truth, she had gone to Junior the first night of their patrol, but he was adamant of not knowing anything about him. No matter how hard Yang pressed him, it seemed that the man wasn't going to fold. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't blame him.
The three girls noticed that there weren't many people out, and those that were, often were hidden away in alleys or behind dumpsters. It was clear to them that the Faunus Killer had shaken them to their core, especially with the expressions they wore. It was heartbreaking to see, but it only made their goal of stopping the culprit that much stronger.
"I don't think we're going to find much here," Blake announced. "I mean, I can't imagine that these people would harbor the one killing Faunus…"
"What if they're being spared in exchange for their silence?" Yang suggested. At this point, she wouldn't put anything past the Faunus Killer.
"The only thing we know for certain is that he has only targeted White Fang members, former and current," Weiss reminded her. "I don't mean to pass judgment, but none of these people look like they'd be able to join the White Fang."
Blake winced a bit at the comment, but sighed. "You're not wrong," she replied. "These people wouldn't make it, at least with the new leadership."
The three girls walked off back towards the main part of the city, once again disappointed in their lack of lead. It didn't take long before they came across Ruby. Yang noticed the downcast expression she wore, which made her heart ache at how frequent this was becoming. "Hey, Rubes, what's going on?"
Ruby forced a smile again and shook her head. "Nothing, just thinking about things. Hey, did you know Uncle Qrow is in town? I think he's one of the Huntsmen that Professor Ozpin has recruited."
"That would make sense," Yang acknowledged. "He say anything to you?"
"Oh, just the usual," Ruby said with a shrug. The group of them began to walk back into town. "He did ask me to stop looking into the Faunus Killer though…"
"How'd he find out?" Weiss asked. "We'd been so careful!"
"Qrow has a way of getting information out of people," Yang explained, getting the hunch that Ruby likely said too much. "What'd you tell him?"
"I told him no," she replied simply. "I think he understands where we're coming from, so I don't think he's going to try to stop us, but he did tell me to be careful."
"Your uncle is okay with us chasing after a murderer?" Blake asked, surprised.
"Our uncle isn't really that big on rules," Yang answered. "Still, I'm surprised he let us…"
"It wasn't easy," Ruby admitted. "He did let it slip that he managed to talk to him though…"
The three girls stared at their leader in bewilderment. "He what?" the three asked in unison.
Ruby laughed nervously. "He mentioned that he spoke to him a few nights ago. He didn't tell me what they talked about. I think we might be able to try to talk to him too."
"Are you crazy?" Weiss nearly shouted. "This monster has killed and eaten people, not to mention seemed to be behind the attack on Vale, and you want us to talk to him?"
Blake put a hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her down. "What other choice do we have?" she asked. "It's not like we were able to do any damage to him. Unless we have Velvet with us, I doubt we really have much of a chance in a fight."
"Right!" Ruby said in agreement. "I mean, Qrow said that the Faunus Killer will attack anybody in his way, but if we can convince him that we're not trying to attack him, maybe we can convince him to stop."
Yang ran a hand through her hair as she listened to Ruby's plan. "You can't be serious, Rubes. What makes you think that he'd even listen?"
"I just… I don't know," she admitted. "I just have a feeling that it might work."
"I try to stand behind you and your decisions, but this is insane, Ruby." Weiss wore an apologetic expression on her face. "He has not shown any value for life, he's killed half a dozen Faunus, eaten three of them and Ken lost his eye to him after what we can assume was actual torture."
"I know all that!" Ruby admitted. She wasn't trying to convince her friends, or even Qrow that she could talk down the Faunus Killer. The truth was, she was trying to convince herself. The evidence was simply not there for a potential peaceful resolution, but if what Qrow said was true, it would take a lot more than four first-years to take him down. Ruby turned away and sighed. "I… I just need some time to think," she said. Before her team could respond, she burst into petals and disappeared.
Kaneki sat in the living room of one of Roman's hideouts as Merlot made his case to join forces with him. When Kaneki found out about the doctor's accolades and former company, it felt like it was too good to be true. Then, Torchwick revealed the reason Merlot Industries was no longer around and Kaneki quickly found out that it indeed was. Still, the fact that this mad genius had a questionable moral code made him fit almost too well in Kaneki's band of criminals. The man had offered everything he had at his disposal, which made him more and more suspicious about the man's true intentions.
Kaneki leaned forward from the couch, his expression stoic behind his mask, and his voice cold. "So what do you want from this?"
Dr. Merlot's grin widened. "Truth is, my dear Eyepatch, is that I want– no, need to study you. For years, I have experimented on Grimm and found limited success. While their instincts and bodies are strong, they do not do well in the recovery process. You see, when a Grimm gets injured, it keeps that injury for the rest of its existence… but you, my dear boy. No, you don't have such a limitation. You are the perfect specimen, the pinnacle of evolution! But I can make you better." Merlot stood up and approached Kaneki, but the half-Ghoul remained still. Merlot pointed to his own robotic eye. "Wouldn't you like to have your other eye back? What about a weapon concealed in your arm? Or even Dust infused into your veins so that you can draw upon it at any moment? Humans and Faunus are much too fragile for this sort of thing, and Grimm, while durable enough to have Dust infused, struggle to utilize it effectively."
Kaneki waved off the doctor who walked back over to his seat. "I have no interest in being your little science experiment," Kaneki replied. "Any improvements you think you can make will have little success if you think you can get past my skin. I cannot utilize Dust like other people because I don't have Aura."
"Don't have– impossible! Even the smallest rabbit has an Aura!" The doctor took out his modified scroll. "May I?"
"Be my guest," Kaneki replied. Merlot grabbed Kaneki's wrist and began to scan it. As he got the preliminary results back, his eyes widened.
"What are you?" he asked, unable to hold back the joy in his voice. Kaneki contemplated for a moment; he had not yet revealed to anybody what his nature was.
"I'm a Ghoul," he replied evenly. "I can't really tell you much more than that. However, if you join us and can provide all the things you promised, I will allow you to study my physiology. But no experiments."
Merlot put the scroll back into his pocket and outstretched his hand. The last addition gave him pause, but he couldn't pass up the offer. "You've got yourself a deal, Eyepatch. However, I will make one small request."
Kaneki raised an eyebrow. "That being?"
"In order for me to do a thorough analysis, I will require some facilities. Perhaps if your criminal duo were to assist me with some funding, I can have a state of the art laboratory up and running in a few months."
"I'll see what I can do," he replied.