Chosen (TCoR)

Chapter 2
"Auriel Aquila is dead."

The words didn't carry quite as much force as they had when they were first heard, but as Sabra turned her gaze to each of the detectives, investigators and officers in turn, she saw them shudder at the news.

"I think we all know what that means. But before we start throwing theories around, we should first listen to some updates. Nero, would you like to start?"

Iva watched as a dark-skinned faunus gathered up his notes and nodded.

"As you can all imagine, the Granada Cartel has been thrown into a state of shock. With Aquila's death, there will no doubt be a massive power vacuum that will only be filled by a leader of significant influence and internal respect..."

Nero rose from his seat and pinned a large picture of a lady of around thirty years with long, beautiful grey hair to the board behind the Chief Inspector's chair. The photograph seemed to have been taken undercover, judging by its poor framing and lackluster quality.

"The most likely candidate at the moment appears to be Lia Kaiser - Aquila's foremost lieutenant. She has the experience and authority to take control of the situation effectively. If one were to bet on who would eventually rise as the new leader of the cartel, she would be the safest choice."

There were nods of understanding around the table. The death of their leader would make the cartel extremely volatile and vulnerable. As strange as it sounds, the sooner someone took over, the safer it was for the city.

"Alright, that's good," Sabra continued. "And what info do we have of the murder itself?"

"Well, about that..." Nero peered at his notes nervously. "Roderick was in charge of collecting testimonies and witness reports."

A roomful of curious eyes fell upon the senior detective, who, to Iva's surprise, seemed to be somewhat nervous as he scanned through the single sheet of paper he had in front of him. A glance at the chief's calm expression confirmed her suspicions.

''So, she's fine with Roderick working on cases he's not involved with, but not me? ''

She could understand the favouritism. After all, Roderick did have the highest arrest record for serious crimes in their area. Even so, the chief's reluctance to give the responsibility of a serious case to any of the other officers was beginning add to the gradual decline of the department.

Her eyes flicked to the other end of the table, where a young man with shining white hair sat, scribbling notes down on a clipboard. An external inspector from the capital, she had been told, sent to report back to the main council on the state of Windpath's police department. He didn't have any real authority here, but it was clear from the looks the officers gave him as they passed him in the corridors that they regarded him like the Inquisition.

The man glanced up from his work and noticed Iva staring at him, and offered her a friendly smile that caused her to redden and quickly glance away.

"Ahem!" Iva's attention was drawn back to Roderick, who had risen from his chair as he prepared to give his report.

"So far, I have questioned thirty-four of the witnesses present at the time of the incident. They each gave similar reports on what happened that evening. The reoccuring event was the lights going out at approximately 11:24, followed by the sounds of explosions from within the ballroom. Several described seeing suspcious figures fleeing the mansion grounds at around 11:30, although this has yet to be confirmed."

Iva's head tilted in confusion at the report, but kept silent as the detective continued.

"A spokesperson for the Aquila family stated that their guards had spotted a group of intruders attempting to gain access to the premisis via a section of the surrounding gate, and that they wore clothing traditionally donned by members of the Diavolo Clan. The describe the explosions as being caused by the detonations of grenades thrown through the windows of the mansion from the outside, providing a distraction for a disguised member to assassinate Aquila in the confusion."

There was an outbreak of murmurs as Roderick finished his report. Most had suspected that it had been the clan that had carried out the attack, in response to the cartel's threats. Iva, however, found the report to be suspicious. She was no demolitions or explosives expert, but she knew the difference between a grenade and a firework when she saw one used. From what she recalled, the murder had been carried out with no external interference. After all, she had seen firsthand how tight the security had been at the event.

She hadn't told anybody the fact that she had been only several feet away from Aquila at the time of his death, and she doubted she ever would. It would only lead to hours of tedious questioning, and a lot of heat from the chief when she found out she was going to a high-profile event hosted by criminal masterminds behind her back. No...unless the situation was dire, that was a secret she intended to keep to herself.

"Alright everybody, quiet down! What do you think of this, Roderick?"

The detective seemed pleased when Sabra called on him to give his theory, and he wasted little time in getting right into it.

"This was clearly a premature attack by the Diavolo Clan on the cartel. They have the motive, and the evidence supports this. It's no secret that Aquila was planning on wiping out the clan in the near future, so such a response is only to be expected."

From the vigour with which Roderick state his beliefs, Iva herself almost found herself convinced. She noted the majority of the other officers nodding their heads in agreement at his words, but couldn't quite bring herself to do the same. The motive and evidence given did make the clan the obvious suspect, but the method seemed a bit...suspicious. It felt more like a hit from an outside force, rather than an attack during a faction war. Also, the way in which Roderick seemed particularly attached to his theory made her naturally suspect the opposite - at the very least, despite being an obnoxious prick, he was a good detective, so his apparent reluctance to consider another suspect made her doubt his deductions even further.

Roderick seemed to pick up on her reservations, and glared at her with gritted teeth.

"You disagree, Iva? Please, go ahead and give us your thoughts on the matter."

Despite having gotten home just past midnight, Iva hadn't been able to sleep last night and had ended up theorising all morning. Even so, the last thing she wanted was to get into a drawn-out argument with Roderick. As the room's occupants turned their gazes on her, she set her elbows down on the table and intertwined her fingers.

"I haven't had enough time to properly think about it, but I think we should consider other possible suspects before making any conclusions."

It was a diplomatic response, but one that the room clearly agreed with. She watched Roderick bite his lip angrily but, unable to fault her opinion, he resigned to sitting back down in his seat. From that point on, she noticed him tapping on the table in a nervous rhythm throughout the rest of the meeting.

Once again, she found herself glancing at the inspector at the far end of the table. He'd set his clipboard down and instead had crossed his arms and was leaning back in his chair - just like how teachers in school always told their students not to. And once again, he caught her looking. This time, he gave her a short nod of recognition. Perhaps he had picked up on Roderick's unusual behaviour as well?

"Akane, why don't you continue?" Sabra directed her question at a small woman around the same age as Iva, who jumped to her attention anxiously.

"Ah, yes! O-our informant in the Diavolo Clan reached out to us not long after the attack. He said that if there were any plans for targeting Auriel, he didn't know about them. That being said, it's apparently not unusual for the higher-ups to make decisions without the knowledge of those lower down on the totem pole, so we shouldn't rule the clan out."

''No plans, huh? Roderick's not going to like that.''

Iva's thoughts were confirmed with a simple glance at Roderick, who at this point was just staring off into space. Definitely not like him.

"And what of the Diavolo kid?" Sabra asked. "What about him?"

"W-well, our informant says he continues to follow Shadowman's advice - seemingly to the letter. Apparently his other lieutenants are getting anxious at how much the boy relies on him."

Iva cracked a smile at that. The illusive Shadowman was a person she looked forward to tracking down once she became a proper detective. It was a silly name the others had come up with for the voice whispering in the ten-year-old clan head's ear, which had stuck when the voice failed to fade away. Rumour had it that it Shadowman pretty much ran the entire clan for the boy, despite not being a relation. Even Roderick had given up when tasked to discover the voice's owner.

Sabra leant back in her chair and sighed. "Well, I suppose that just leaves one more group. Tell us about the Chosen, Finn."

As Sabra leant back, Iva leant forward, keenly awaiting the information on Windpath's resident biker gang.

"Not much to say, I'm afraid." This time, it was a large man in his late fifties who spoke. "The MCMC has been quiet these last few months - even when word reached them about Aquila's death."

Finn passed a sheet of paper down the table until it reached the chief, who turned and stuck it to the board to face of Lia Kaiser. On it was another face - except this time it was a mugshot of a huge man with a square, chizzled jaw and burning yellow eyes. His lips were pulled back so that he was baring his teeth at the camera, as if he were about to bite the head off anybody who stood too close. It was a face Iva knew well, although not one she'd seen in a long time.

"Their president, the man commonly referred to as 'Orc' for obvious reasons, has been unnervingly silent. The man widely believed to be responsible for the BAW Massacres five years ago has surprised us with how doctile his club has become. The membership of their Windpath charter has apparently shrunk to just over ten in total."

Iva raised her hand at that. "So, would you think that rules them out as suspects?"

There may have been too much earnest in her voice, as Roderick quickly took the opportunity to flash her a mischivous smile.

"Anxious to protect your big brother, are you Iva? Don't worry, I'm sure the orc has grown soft over the years. You know, ever since he killed your mother and all..."

"..."

The harshness of the words left Iva in shocked silence. There was a sharp intake of breath from the other officers as everybody turned their eyes on Iva, whose golden eyes stared at the detective with indescribable digust. Even Sabra paled slightly from the murderous aura that emanated from the young woman, and glanced at Roderick's smiling face with worry. The detective seemed to relish the moment, as if drinking in all of the hostile emotions like it gave him sustenance.

Before Iva could subconsciously reach for her revolver, an unfamilar voice from the end of the table broke the silence.

"If you don't intend on contributing constructively to the investigation, Mr Shields. Do us all a favour..."

There was a loud THUD as two chair legs hit the floor.

"...and shut up."

After being under the freezing gaze of the inspector's icy blue eyes for a moment, Roderick seemed to shrivel in his seat. It was if the man's words had flicked a switched, and the detective had suddenly become aware to the sheer hostility around him. He looked around at the faces of his peers, but found sympathy in none of them. After several tense seconds, he rose from his seat and put on a smile that had some semblance of his former confidence.

"I have a lot of work to do," he said simply, leaving his single page of notes on the table as he skirted around the edge of the room towards the door. He shot the inspector a hateful look as he passed behind him, but the man's eyes remained fixed on where Roderick had been sitting and completely ignored him. The sound of the detective slamming the door on his way out was met with several sighs of relief.

"Well..." the Chief Inspector coughed, "...that was uncomfortable. Would you mind finishing your report, Finn?"

"Oh, yes. Right. Well, to answer your question, Miss Ravenwood, I think that killing the head of the Granado Cartel would be the last thing Malal's Chosen would do. It would make more sense for them to wait until the conflict between the cartel and the Diavolo Clan was over, and then pouncing on the weakened victor."

Iva was barely listening at that point, however. A thousand negative thoughts and painful memories had left her mind cloudy and unresponsive. Finn seemed to notice this, and hurried to continue.

"One interesting thing that did happen was the arrival of a club member from the MCMCMC - or should I say, the Malal's Chosen Motorcycle Club Mistral Charter. He was reported several times by various citizens for public disturbance. Apparently he was preaching about the club's cultist beliefs in the middle of a busy market, and ended up offending a lot of people. Freedom of religion prevented us from doing anything about it, though..."

Sabra nodded wearily, and then indicated for the man to sit, before rising to her feet herself.

"Everybody, listen to me carefully! The situation here is extremely volatile! Any moment, the streets may erupt in violence as part of a faction war between these three groups, and it's our job to stop them! I want officers watching their headquarters' day and night, patrols down the main streets 24/7, and all local Huntsmen and Huntresses on high alert! I do not want another BAW Massacre in this city!"

Every officer rose to their feet and shouted their confirmation, before gathering up their belongings and filing out of the room. Iva rose to join them, but she felt Sabra's hand on her arm as she moved to leave.

"One moment, Iva."

The young investigator tilted her head in curiousity and indicated for the chief to continue.

"I intend on having Roderick oversee the investiation into Auriel Aquila's death," she announced, pausing as Iva took a sharp intake of breath. "That means he'll be too busy to carry on with his enquiry into the recent imitation killings. Since you're so eager to work on it, I figured you should take over."

Iva's shoulders dropped in disappointment at the news, but she couldn't say she was surprised. Yesterday, she might have jumped for joy at the offer, but in comparison to this development, investigating the serial killings seemed almost a lame joke.

"Aren't you shorthanded on this case though, chief?" she asked, more so out of curiousity than complaint.

Sabra shrugged. "Yes, but I already have teams dedicated to watching these three groups anyway. Besides, just because we have one major issue, doesn't mean we can ignore everything else which is happening."

Noticing her lackluster response to the news, Sabra continued. "Look, if you can find out who the killer is, I'm sure there will be a promotion of some kind waiting for you. Just...try not to be in such a rush, otherwise you'll just get yourself hurt, okay?"

Iva managed a weak smile, to which the chief patted her on the shoulder approvingly.

"That's more like it. I expect results, Iva. Don't disappoint me!"

And with that, she turned and left the room, leaving Iva alone with her thoughts.

"A promotion...huh...?" she wondered aloud. Strange how in such a space of time, such a desired thing becomes the most distant thought. That being said, Iva didn't think she knew what she wanted anymore. Maybe it was a promotion. Maybe it was justice. Or maybe it was to simply sate her curiousity.

Before she realised it, her hand was reaching into her pocket and drawing out a small note, written on simple, plain printing paper. She opened it and stared at the words, silently processing the message given to her in the chaos of yesterday's murder. The words - no matter how mysterious their owner - filled her with a mixture of nervousness and relief.

''You can't trust them! - D.G. ''

Below the words was a small drawing of a cartoon skull, shaded on the left side. It wasn't clear who the mystery messenger was referring to, but Iva took the words to heart regardless.

This world is so fucked, she thought with a smile - the growing mountain of stress, stemming from a thousand unsolved mysteries and unknown agendas, sending her into a short giggling fit.

Whoever was sending her these notes wanted her for something. For what, she didn't know.

And for the first time since the murder, she realised she didn't really care.