Lazula watched the splendor of Port Cyrreine fade as the tinted SUV passed along the waterfront and deep into the Eastern Docks district. All the family-friendly zest of the waterfront park, with its metropolis of a playground, ferris wheel and permanent caravan of food trucks, gave way to the dock-raised Port Market— both of which still bustled well into the night. Beyond it, the following shipyards, warehouses and brick mid-rises fell further into disrepair and a deep, uneasy quiet filled the streets. Only about half the streetlights still worked, washing the streets in their brownish glow.
A call came through Lazula's Holoband, right on time. She locked its rigid frame into the slot between the driver and passengers' seats, and the screen opened large enough for the hologram busts of Headmaster and Headmistress to be almost life-sized.
"You should be about five minutes from the dropoff point," Headmaster Skye advised. "As a debrief, your assignment is to investigate the 'Docks District Theater,' the Red Claw's code for their hideout. Apparently, it hasn't been used since sometime during the Summer. But there's a possibility that their Head known as 'Kraken' still resides there."
Lazula nodded along to her father's words. The Headmistress was next to speak.
"Though she isn't with you, Mrs. Kurayami will be your point of contact for this mission," she relayed. "We're trying to have you keep a low profile. If one of the Headmaster's huntsmen joined you, we wouldn't exactly be doing that."
"Ichigo traced most of the communications from Kraken to the DDT," Headmaster Skye continued. "If he's there and we can apprehend him, that'll be a huge loss to the Red Claw. As of right now, we think he's their main knowledge-base when it comes to androids, computers, anything technical. Of course, if you locate any other members of the Red Claw, I authorize full use of your weapons in your attempt to apprehend them."
"Will it just be Kraken and a couple petty crooks?" Lazula prodded. "From what we know, he doesn't seem like much of a fighter."
"We know very little for certain," the Headmaster answered. He nodded once, anticipating the question she hadn't directly asked. "That's why we assigned this mission to you. It could just be Kraken in there, all the Heads could be waiting, or the place might be empty. We need you to be on high alert."
"Got it."
The SUV rolled to a stop in the shadow of a freeway overpass. The headlights died, then the engine. The only sound echoing through empty streets was the rush of cars and trucks above; their drivers no doubt casting little of their attention to the urban mire below. Lazula stepped out first, grimacing at the coarse denim that scratched at the skin of her legs as she did so. Her "low profile" disguise of baggy black jeans a couple sizes too big, tattered hoodie and a matching beanie was too heavy, and the musty fabric clutched her skin with an unrelenting dampness.
Only Laurel looked anything close to comfortable in her baggy, shredded jeans and black hoodie. Along with the guitar case slung across her back, she just looked like she was headed to band practice. She had gone earlier in the day, actually. Lazula wondered if she even had to change into the clothes she wore.
"So, uh, where is this place?" Ichigo asked. With every one of Lazula's subtle steps further from him, he matched it and clung just a little too close.
Lazula showed him her Holoband. "We take a left in three blocks, then turn down the alley halfway down the next."
He made an uneasy noise. "Couldn't they have dropped us off a bit closer?"
"It's not so bad down here," Laurel assured. "I've played a couple shows out this way. If you keep your eyes up and keep some pepper spray or a knife or something on you, you should be okay." She chuckled. "And I guess it helps my guitar doubles as a weapon."
"We'll be fine," Lazula agreed. Her gaze left her Holoband and swept across the street. "There isn't even anyone out tonight."
"Is that a body?!" Ichigo cried out.
Lazula rolled her eyes to where he pointed. But all his concern was validated by the mass on the sidewalk around the corner they had just reached. It was halfway in shadow, but Lazula saw a clearly defined head and shoulders. She braced herself as she paced toward it beside Snow. Bodies, blood, the Grimm, something about them spawned voices and visions. "None of it is real," she reminded herself. But as she neared, she saw the outfit of Frontline's androids.
The only light inside the deserted storefront shone on the two model androids still inside, smiles frozen and eyes fixed through the cracked glass onto their discarded associate. The discarded's open eyes soaked in synthetic blood that leaked from its forehead. It looked like any other corpse— at least until Lazula looked closer, and saw scratched aluminum beneath its many cuts and gashes.
Snow looked down at the android with an empty, indecipherable stare.
Lazula clutched her arm softly. "Come on, let's keep going."
The directions on Lazula's Holoband brought her team to a bus stop along a road near the water. It looked just the same as any in the Eastern Docks– tents lining the opposite sidewalk, and surrounding litter leaking into the street. Broken, barred, or boarded up windows on every building. Her father said the location would be down the alley next to the bus stop. But at its end, a solid wall blocked their path.
"So… now what?" Lazula questioned. "Bad lead?"
Snow stepped forward. "When I try to analyze it, I can only register the materials four and a half feet behind this wall."
Lazula's Holoband glowed at its sides. "We have two sources of information for this mission. Both describe a high-fidelity hologram hiding the entrance," the Headmistress's voice advised. "Try touching it, Lazula."
Lazula reached out a hand, but hesitated. It retreated to the sheath hidden in her clothing, and she tested the wall with Impetus's tip. It only offered a static haze for resistance, and the image morphed and shook behind her blade. She returned it to its hiding place, and lowered her head to pass through. It felt like the surface of water on her skin. Dry water, that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
In front of LSLI, stairs descended into darkness. Lazula took a step before Laurel stopped her with a hand.
"Wait. Let me check first," she suggested. Lazula nodded and stood aside as Laurel's slit eyes shone with their yellow glow. After a few seconds, she blinked the light away with a shake of her head. "Couldn't see anything. I don't think there's anyone down here."
Lazula tested each of her steps as she descended the stairs into absolute, choking darkness. After twenty steps down, she found flat ground past her boot. The steel door at the far end of the landing took some effort, but it was unlocked. Beyond it, the darkness relented only slightly. One pallid, green-tinged light tried its best to illuminate all of what looked like an underground warehouse.
About a dozen human silhouettes haunted the near-darkness. They faced LSLI, feet exactly the width of their perfectly-squared shoulders apart. Their hands were behind their backs, and heads slumped. Lazula took a step back, hand seeking the hilt of her weapon before she had the thought to. The lights above flashed on in rows, starting with the one furthest from LSLI and progressing forward until they flooded the Red Claw's hideout in their sickly green light.
Their heads rose in unison, eyes flashing red at the same time the final lights revealed eleven Organic Android uniforms. Eager sparks of dust danced around their batons, and they charged the team.
"Get behind me!" Lazula commanded. She'd fought exactly one android before. If these were anything like her, all but herself were in trouble. She raised Aegis's face perpendicular to the damp concrete floor and held Impetus over her opposite shoulder. She took the first swing into her shield and stepped into it, putting just enough of the magnified force into Aegis to knock the android off balance— twice as much force as most humans would need. The rest of the energy burst forth from Impetus, flinging two in a line to the ground and disrupting the footing of the third enough for Lazula to lunge at it, and deplete its EMRF with a trio of vicious swings.
Snow had already taken out the first android Lazula knocked over, and was onto the second. She didn't look like she was trying her very hardest. If Lazula had to guess, her combat capability was at about 80%. As Lazula held off another Organd's strike, she looked aside to Laurel. The faunus was about even with her android, blocking a couple of strikes with the edge of her weapon then chopping at its legs.
"Hey, uh— help?!" Ichigo cried out. Lazula broke another EMRF with Aegis, and turned to look. Two of the three she had knocked to the ground returned to their feet like mechanical revenants. Lazula caught Snow's blue gaze and nodded at the Organds she engaged with, a subtle order to continue as she handled Ichigo herself.
Aegis slammed the first's back, staggering it off to Ichigo's side. Lazula turned Impetus toward the strike of the other Organd, but found two of her follow-ups blocked. She felt a rush down her arm with the clash of the third, and flicked the android's weapon aside with her own to create an opening. Before she could think, she reversed her blade's direction and tore across her enemy's chest.
The android took two lurching steps backward. Its blank face, looking at its killer with dimming eyes, was too similar to Snow's. Deep red soaked the line from one collarbone to opposite chest, growing and seeping down the neat white face of its uniform. The android fell first to its knees, then its side.
The scene repeated in Lazula's mind, over and over until Snow replaced the bloodied android. She replaced the body on the ground. Lazula heard the clashing of Snow's hard-light blade through her daze, then the same weapon across flesh. Something hit the ground behind her.
Snow's hand came to rest on her shoulder. "Remember what you said to me. I'm different from them."
"She's killed him!"
"Murderers! Murderers!"
Lazula stitched her brow, and labored a deep breath. Her fingers flexed and renewed their grip on Impetus's hilt. She looked up to the six androids still standing, and braced herself for the three that charged her. She handled them easily. None were as strong as Snow, especially not at her fullest capability. Each slash across chest, throat, or spine birthed a flash of sparks, and left the Organds limp on the cold floor. She wasn't killing them. She was… decommissioning them. Shutting them down. That's what she had to tell herself, at least. She couldn't bring herself to skewer their cores as Snow did. She didn't think she could handle watching Impetus pass through something so human, feel it sinking through flesh and a metal skeleton.
When the last fell, the room was silent. An oppressive silence, like nothing on the surface.
A drip of water was the first sound Lazula heard. No– blood, running down Impetus's tip and into the pool sitting stagnant on cracked concrete. She didn't care if the blood was made from cells created in a lab, grown onto an aluminum alloy frame. It was just as dark and as thick as human— with the same sharp metallic tang. Just looking at it made her lightheaded.
"None… none of them were like you, were they?" Lazula muttered.
"No. I'm the only one like me." Lazula felt Snow's eyes intensify on her, but she couldn't bring herself to look. "And if you ever have to fight them again, please remember that."
Lazula nodded. She looked again at her bloodstained blade, and the android bodies littered across the floor. The ground's texture shifted in her mind's eye, so subtly that she couldn't be sure whether it was real, a hallucination, or nothing at all. Dark lines came into focus, and the solid concrete floor became a grid of cobblestone. The android uniforms were obscured in shabby robes thick enough to protect against the snow and ice that clung to them. Powder began to drift from above. She heard a breeze, and smelled the scent of pine on it. Above the sound, a growing ring in her ears.
Lazula blinked hard, wiping the imposing image from her mind. For the first time she found herself relieved to be back inside the Docks District Theater.
"I'm sorry. I need to get out of here."
"Want me to walk you up? Might not be safe up there," Laurel suggested.
"I'll be alright," Lazula dismissed. She turned her head halfway back over her shoulder. "...Thanks, though."
"Were they hacked?" Ichigo pondered, crouching next to one of the Organds. "I've never seen their eyes flash red like that. And we are after Kraken…"
"It seems likely," Snow noted. "Which is troubling. The Red Claw's ability to hack into Organic Androids would be an extreme security risk." She raised her wrist, and tapped at the Holoband's screen until Headmaster Skye's portrait popped up.
"Snow?" the Headmaster greeted. His voice was gravel over the wall of static, just barely discernible. "What's your status?"
"We were attacked by eleven Organic Androids, all of which appear to have been hacked," Snow reported. "No injuries, but I wanted to report this as soon as possible."
"Hacked?" the Headmaster repeated. "Thank you. I'm letting Griswold Baine know immediately. Did you encounter any members of the Red Claw?"
"No. Laurel hasn't detected any heat signatures, either."
"I see. For now, look for evidence of anyone having been in there recently. Once you're certain it's clear, I'll send a team to recover one of those androids and we can turn it back over to Frontline for investigation."
"Understood."
"To Frontline?" Ichigo protested. "I wanna take a look…"
"Frontline Biomedical Androids are protected by hundreds of privacy and safety regulations. If you looked into their code without permission, you would likely be arrested and charged with multiple felonies."
"Darn."
"For now, please don't touch anything. Your fingerprints and DNA will interfere with the scene."
Snow scanned the room. A perfect box aside from air ducts and lighting strung across the ceiling. Two hundred feet by one hundred and fourty, evenly spaced concrete pillars supporting a fifteen and a half foot tall ceiling. She recalled an android's body by the entrance nobody else had taken note of. It had been there before the others attacked. She approached it, and analyzed its body.
Skin sloughed and split off its aluminum frame. Judging by the state of decay, slower in androids than humans, the android looked to have shut down four to five months prior. Likely early in July. A blunt-force head wound had caused severe damage to the Organd's brain system, and was the primary cause of decommission. Though more contusions were visible across its chest and back, and its face had been badly bruised, it had all been done up to three weeks later. The android hadn't moved since.
In the most likely scenario, the Red Claw had taken the Organd, destroyed it, and proceeded to vent their frustrations on it for the next several weeks.
Snow stood. Nothing else caught her immediate attention, aside from a platform raised six feet off the ground at the far wall. A line of light focused on it, and a blank white door opened onto it. On her way around the side, she noticed a bloodstain on the corner. It too had been there since Summer.
A standard deadbolt secured the door on the stage. Snow held Absolute Zero's handle to the door and turned on its sword configuration. The hard-light blade ground against steel and flashed angrily before shutting off, but it accomplished its purpose. The door opened toward her. Beyond it, a strip of light overhead revealed an empty hall of the same grey concrete in the room before. A black door took up the majority of the far wall, with one more to each side.
The side rooms were unremarkable. A few chairs, an altered Holoscreen, table, computer and desk. She'd notify the team coming in after them to investigate, but they were empty beyond a doubt and warranted no immediate alarm.
The door at the end of the hall opened to an underground studio. The bed sat at the far corner, an indent in one of the pillows and dark bedcovers were strewn across the bed and onto the floor. It was slept in at some point, but with a complete absence of heat signatures, it didn't look recent. She'd check it for hairs and DNA samples, but the kitchen would provide more immediate evidence.
There was a glass in the sink, trace amounts of brandy diluted by dishwater. Next to it, a mostly cleaned-off plate. The food scraps left floated freely in the water saturating them, but mold had not yet set in. She moved onto the refrigerator.
"You hungry?" Laurel joked.
Snow looked at the faunus, holding a carton of milk. "This milk hasn't expired yet. Someone was here recently."
"How recently are we talking?" Ichigo asked, crouching next to the wall to investigate the black band that ran around the base of each blank wall. He poked it, and a hyper-realistic panorama of the view from Empyrean Tower displayed across each wall. "...Whoa."
"The 'sell by' date was seven days ago, and it will expire in two. Judging by all other evidence, Kraken left rather quickly two days ago." Her eyes narrowed. "And I believe I told you not to touch anything."
"Sorry," Ichigo sheepishly replied. "But isn't it cool?"
"So he left on the twentieth?" Laurel concluded.
"The twentieth is most likely," Snow confirmed. "Which was also the day of our mission assignment." She looked back over to Ichigo. "Can you leave your weapon here and speak with me in the hallway?"
"Huh? Sure, what's the deal?"
Snow walked to the doorway, and turned to wait for him as a reply. He obliged, and left Hack n' Slash on the desk.
"Do you remember back in Summer, when Kraken contacted you during our investigation?"
"Well, yeah. Of course I do."
"I believe he's still listening."
