"He's not killing humans. He's killing androids."
Caspian's words hung in still air. Rowan, Ichigo, and Moka looked at him with matching faces. Not quite disbelief, but close. With a tinge of curiosity.
Snow stared at the table in front of her before joining them. She was first to break the silence. "That isn't possible. Frontline Biomedical Androids are legally required to wear the uniform provided for them. If androids had been killed, we would have known already."
"But... it makes sense," Ichigo admitted. "Everything about this makes so much more sense if it's androids getting killed. I mean, who else would be in a department store at three in the morning?"
"A janitor," Snow maintained. "Or security."
"But the woman killed was a sales clerk."
Snow opened her mouth in protest, but bit her lip when she failed to produce one.
"Actually, it's in line with the fact they're all good looking, too," Caspian added. "Frontline's Androids are designed to be conventionally attractive to make them sell better. I thought this was unrelated to the Red Claw, but if it's Organds being killed, I'm not so sure..."
Moka nodded. "That makes sense to me. That's one of those 'motive' things, right?" She tilted her head, and glanced sideways out the window. "So all those people who were killed were just androids, huh? I guess that's good..."
Snow's eyes narrowed. "We don't know for certain yet."
"But if they were, and they weren't in uniform..." Caspian contemplated. "That means there are more out there than we know. Anyone we see in the city could actually be an Organd..."
"Remember the first day of the Vytal Tournament, when Griswold Baine was giving that speech?" Rowan added. "That girl I tried to flirt with. She was wearing her uniform under a coat. Until she showed me, I had no idea!"
"Again, we're getting ahead of ourselves," Snow insisted. "We don't know for sure they're androids."
"Only one way to find out!" Rowan said. "Come on, let's go undercover! Ichigo, your mom did that with the White Fang once, right?"
"That's quite possibly the worst idea yet," Snow argued.
"Y-Yeah, but she got cau-"
"So it's doable!"
"Well, we... we have a faunus," Caspian pondered. Just the thought of sending Moka to the Red Claw undercover made him uneasy, but from the handful of times he'd seen her fight, he knew how tough she was. "Moka, what do you think?"
"I... I can do it. I think," Moka responded. "I've ended up in some scary situations before but I'm still around, so I think I'll be okay!"
"Well, that just leaves the issue of finding them," Caspian continued. He sighed. "...And judging by the fact that neither the school's higher ups nor the police have had any luck, that's gonna be the hard part."
"Actually, maybe not," Ichigo cut in. "That 'Kraken' character is back."
"Really?" Caspian asked. He circled around behind Ichigo. "What did he say?"
In the same unlabelled text box at the corner of Ichigo's screen, a lone set of numbers stood out in white.
"Coordinates?" Caspian guessed. As he watched, another message appeared.
"You've piqued my interest now. Sunday night, 9pm. Have your faunus friend ask for directions to the Docks District Theater. You'll find what you're looking for."
"We should take these coordinates to the authorities," Snow advised. "If this Kraken person knows when and where the Red Claw is meeting, it's safe to assume he's with them."
The instant Snow's words left her lips, three messages appeared one after another, so fast Caspian couldn't quite believe someone was typing them.
"You wouldn't betray my trust, would you?"
"After all, I do have complete access to your laptop..."
"I know a few people you really shouldn't cross."
"Wh-What..." Ichigo stumbled. "I-I thought I disabled my microphone!"
"So now we're being threatened by a member of the Red Claw, and Ichigo's computer is held hostage until we show up at their meeting," Snow summed up. "This is it. This is the last straw."
"I have... a lot of important stuff on here..." Ichigo mumbled, his fingertips brushing his keys.
"Hey, we've all got some weird stuff on our computers!" Rowan assured. "No shame!"
"No, it's... custom-made scripts, programs, anti-encryption software- Everything that I need to do what I do is on here."
"If he has full access to Ichigo's laptop, that means location data, personal info, too," Caspian realized. "Guess we don't really have a choice now..." He tried to perk himself up. "Well, remember. We can get some good info out of this."
"And all Knights of the Round Table have to contribute to any voted-upon mission to the best of their ability," Rowan reminded, clasping Snow's shoulder with a smirk.
In one brisk movement, Snow brushed Rowan's hand free of her and sprung to her feet, pushing her chair out behind her. "I've done enough by helping us get this far," she argued. "You don't realize this is more important than the rules of some... stupid group we made up!"
"Snow-"
"I'm quitting. I suggest you all do the same."
The Eastern Docks district was a world away from Port Cyrreine.
Tents lined the wall of a boarded-up warehouse, its dark face coated in graffiti and hardly lit by the lone, flickering streetlight. Moka's eyes flitted between her Holoscreen and her path ahead, never letting her guard down for more than a second. Eastern Docks. Highest crime rate in Vale; worse than even the dregs of Mistral. The waterfront market on Port Cyrreine's Southern shore was effectively the city's limits, as anyone who lived in the city for more than a couple months knew to stay far away. Even the police had all but given up on the place.
The neon Holo-lights of Port Cyrreine reached even the city's shadow. Above it was radiant, a sign of the city's prosperity and here, the hard-light displays and glowing advertisements looming over the street felt like roots digging into the city like a siphon, leeching it dry.
Moka stopped under a red light, looking to an ad smothering the windowless side of an apartment complex. A woman pulled a ham from the oven, placing it on a well-set dinner table between the members of a smiling family. The lower right corner had been defaced, reduced to a mess of light around a jagged hole.
"The Third Generation. The closest thing to -."
Something huddled in the dingy corner across the street caught Moka's eye. A man lay slumped against the cold brick wall. His scraggly beard hid a mouth that hung open, and his eyes were all but closed. Legs covered by his dirty jeans splayed out at an angle that couldn't have been comfortable.
Moka glanced to each side, and approached the body.
"Hello..?" she tried. She leaned in closer, glancing at his chest with sunken eyebrows.
She let out a yelp of surprise and leapt backward as an arm waved her away with a burst of wild animation. He began to shout- nothing coherent, apart from some choice profanity.
With an apology and a couple looks over her shoulder, Moka continued.
The coordinates sent were only a couple blocks from the water, next to an old pub and what used to be a run-down housing complex. Toward the water, a small crowd took refuge in the warmth of a trash can one had converted to a makeshift fire pit. When one caught Moka's glance, she turned her eyes the other direction. A limping man milled about, dragging a bag along with him. It didn't matter that he stood in the street. Not many cars dared turn down the cracked roads.
"Looking for something?" a gruff voice asked.
Moka turned to the bus stop, where a man sat with elbows on his knees, choking the air with cigarette smoke. She jolted with realization as her eyes settled on a rat's tail draping from his lower back to the concrete behind his bench. "Oh- uh, do you know where the Docks District Theater is?"
"Someone like you?" the man scoffed. He shrugged. "Down that alley. And watch your step."
Moka nodded, and walked to the corner. It was unlit, empty. Half a block down the narrow corridor, a bleak grey wall blocked the way. Moka's eyebrows stitched and she balled her fists, looking back at the man.
"I hope for your sake this isn't some kind of trap."
"Just go," the rat faunus grunted.
As Moka reached the back wall, she muttered a question under her breath. It looked sturdy. Several stories tall. No doors, windows, nothing. She raised a hand to knock on the cement.
With a light crackle and gentle surge of light, her fist passed through.
"Whoa..." She waved her arm around, watching the light waver behind it like water disturbed. She stepped forward, and passed through.
She felt someone grab her arm.
"Wh- LET GO OF ME!" she shouted, wrenching her arm back. The grimy hand held its vice grip on her wrist, and she passed back through the Holo.
"Calm down," the rat faunus from before grumbled. With his other hand, he undid the clasp on Moka's Holoband. "We don't use these here."
"Will I get it back?"
He cracked a smile full of crooked teeth. "Sure. I'll take good care of it."
"You're lucky I didn't break your jaw."
The idle noise of the city faded away and was replaced by a muffled clamor as Moka descended the dim stairway. She peeked around the broad, black iron door as she heaved it open, stepping carefully into the Red Claw's meeting place. There had to have been over a hundred faunus packed into what looked like an underground warehouse, with two and a half rows of sickly green lights still functional and a raised area at the far side of the room. The hot air was damp and stale as a sealed-away cave, with added notes of body odor and cigarettes. Moka's tail flicked as her eyes fell upon a body discarded unceremoniously on the floor. Dried blood caked the front of an android's uniform, and the synthetic corpse's scalp was split, revealing a metallic skull beneath.
She ignored a shout from nearby, but looked after the second or third exchange. A cheetah faunus and another with scales down his arms and a spike at each elbow were less than a foot apart, spitting all manner of poison into each others' faces. The scaled faunus lunged at the cheetah, and followed him to the ground. The two rolled on the cement, wringing necks and throwing punches with unrestrained fury.
Moka's fists tightened. She took a step toward the two but pulled back, casting glances to the faunus surrounding the row. The few who took any notice looked on. Some were entirely unperturbed. Others sneered and pointed out the two to those next to them. Hoots and shouts of support even broke some lips.
As the light of the room settled on the makeshift stage at the far side of the room, the brawl continued.
"Oi, dumbshits! Lay off or take it outside, would ya?" a pallid hulk of a man with a gator's tail shouted at the pair.
"And what, listen to Wolf?" the cheetah griped, straining with the force of the grip he had around his antagonizer's windpipe. He slammed his head into the floor. "Condor, Sable, none of them are here. Why bother listening to that kid?"
The alligator lurched onto one foot, leveraging his weight into a brutal kick to the cheetah's side. Moka flinched at the sound of cracking ribs. Both in the fight gasped for breath, the cheetah clutching his side as his boots feebly scuffed the floor.
"That kid was appointed directly by Condor. Disrespecting him means disrespecting the Boss," the gator growled, kneeling down to hold the moaning man's head up by his greasy blonde hair. "Is that what you're doing?"
"N-No..."
The alligator dropped his head. "Good."
The stage door opened, and one man emerged. Tall and lanky, though a marked slouch belied his true height. Black piercings down the bridge of his nose and each of his ears. Black eyes. Black hair shaved at the sides and spiked down the middle until it fell over his forehead, tied in a ponytail down his back.
"Oh..." Moka mumbled.
"Alright, alright!" he shouted. "I know nobody wants to be here! You all just wanna break shit, burn shit, tear this city down!"
The crowd's raucous roar echoed off the low ceilings.
"But we. Have PLANS!"
The next noise was harder to decipher. Just as loud, but jeers fell into the mix.
"We wait. I know it's hard, but we wait," Wolf insisted. "We made waves after the Vytal Tournament. They haven't forgotten us! They WON'T!"
Moka's tail lashed back and forth. Her eyes sprung open and she grappled her rebellious limb, holding it twitching at her side. She looked back to the stage, and her eyes stayed wide as they locked with the man on it.
In that instant, there were none in the room besides squirrel and wolf. Wolf's eyes stabbed through the crowd, directly into their target. He went rigid, tail bristling. Moka didn't dare blink.
Wolf shook his head as he turned away, continuing on his tirade.
"And how about that serial killer, huh?" Wolf goaded. "Word is, he took out another one of Frontline's abominations! News hasn't said shit though, I bet Frontline's paying out good hush money right now to anyone with a story." He threw his words away with a flick of the hand. "Whatever. However long the cops are focused on him, we're in the clear!" He pumped his fist, and his eyes took on the light of the room. "Here's to our comrade, for a timely distraction!"
The crowd's roar returned full force.
Moka stood against the wall outside the alleyway with fidgeting hands and a twitching tail. "Come on, where's the Holoband guy?" she muttered urgently. Her eyes flicked between the few faunus that dispersed at a time. Elephant's trunk, bat wings, thick black hair covering arms and neck. No rat tail. "I really don't want to run into-"
"You."
Moka froze.
Her eyes drifted to the side, where the man from the stage stalked toward her with hands plunged into the pocket of his slashed-up leather jacket. His tail stuck straight out from his back.
"Did Caspian put you up to this?"
Moka finally willed herself to move. She pushed out from the wall, crossed her arms, and almost managed to meet Wolf's eyes. "Who?"
Wolf stepped forward, towering over the squirrel faunus. Though his chest came within a foot of her, she refused to back off. "Don't play dumb with me," he growled. "I know who you are, and you know who I am."
"Noxis. Caspian's teammate."
"Wolf. Red Claw Head." He backed off half a pace, until the two could make eye contact. "You're lucky I'm the only Head here today. Do you know what the Red Claw does to rats?"
"No."
He let out a grim chuckle. "It's best you keep it that way." He held out a hand, and in it was Moka's collapsed Holoband. "Leave. And if you value your life, don't ever come back."
Moka nodded. She grabbed the device from Noxis's hand, stretched it, and clasped it on her wrist before turning around.
A final hand on her shoulder paused her first step.
"And don't say a damn thing about seeing me here."
"So, how was it?" Caspian asked. Moka hadn't responded the night before other than to check in and tell the group she was alright. Saving the big reveal for everyone, Caspian guessed.
Ichigo practically bounced with excitement. "Yeah, any new info?"
Moka didn't look all too excited to share what she found. "Look, I'll tell you what I found out. I don't think the guy we're after is involved with the Red Claw," she said. "They called him a distraction, but it really seemed like he isn't one of them. And..." she trailed off, as if she debated her next words. "I got a name for the one I think is the Red Claw's leader. A code name, but a name."
"No way!" Rowan exclaimed. "I mean, not what we were after, but what's the name?"
"Condor."
"Wait... we have a 'Python' in jail, 'Condor' is their leader..." Ichigo began. He fiddled with the edge of the notepad he used in place of his usual laptop. "Kraken is from the Red Claw..."
"So... since the Red Claw isn't related, now what?" Rowan asked.
Caspian shrugged. "I kinda hoped he was related."
"I... I think Snow might be right," Moka spoke up. "I'm not sure we should be doing this anymore."
"Since he's not related to the Red Claw, you don't have to go back," Caspian assured.
"Yeah, they've got nothing to do with the guy," Rowan added. "If the Red Claw spooked ya, they don't even matter right now. Why quit now?"
Moka's tail draped to the floor, and she glanced out the window. "I know, but... Either way. We don't really know what we're messing with here."
"I think there's more to this. I think it's more dangerous than we realize."
A/N: I've tried really hard to describe Holobands, but since it's new tech that doesn't exist in the RWBY universe, let me explain a bit. Like RWBY weapons, a Holoband can transform. In one form it's like a scroll from RWBY, in that it's a metallic stick-looking thing that separates so it looks like a smartphone. In a Holoband's other form, which is what form people tend to use most, it folds onto the user's wrist like one of those slap bracelets and projects a holographic interface.