The Masquerade

 - HOURS AGO, ON THE SCENE OF THE ASSAULT -

"...AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"
Weiss is standing at the street, shouting at the direction Ruby, Blake and Yang headed, though they were too far away to be seen now, and she is pretty much shouting at the street.
Truth was, though, that she was trying to tell herself that more than telling her team members. She DID want to seek answers, to follow her team and aid them, to show them how she can be of help, but - they were supposed to relax today! And if they didn't want to rest, then it's their loss, she will have the rest they didn't want. Yes, them running off was their own choice, and she had nothing to do with what came next.

Suddenly the sound of police sirens reached her ears.

Maybe she SHOULD have followed ... too late for that anyways.

Turning around, she sees one of the police detectives walking towards her, notepad and pen in hand.
"Excuse me, young lady, would you mind if I asked you some questions regarding the incident that occurred here?"
It wouldn't do to say no, of course. "Sure, why not? Happy to help, heh heh..." she was nervous.
"Can you tell me what happened here? No assumptions, no guesses, just what you saw and heard."
"Well, me and my team were going to that new mall everybody's been talking about..."
He jotted some notes.
"...and suddenly, out of nowhere, this guy just came crashing into me from behind."
"From what direction did he come from?"
She pointed. He jotted.
"Carry on."
"I yelled at him to watch where he was going, but he didn't say anything. He was going to run again when they -" she gestured to the five dead suits "- came from up and down the street and surrounded him, pinning him against the wall over there." Point.
Jot.
"And?"
"And they started hitting him with what one of my friends called an outlawed weapon..."
Jot.
"And another of my friends say she was going to stop them, even though they were cops -"
"They weren't."
"Excuse me?"
"I said they weren't cops, those badges were stolen from our locker room and from some of our officers, they Stun Batons were stolen from a retired hunter and picker. the Batons were among the weapons stolen from his collection."
"You allowed him to keep those things?"
"The law didn't say 'active hunters', just 'hunters', and retired hunters count as 'hunters' in court, so he was allowed to keep those weapons provided that they were never loaded with Dust."
"Huh."
"It is what it is, now we were at your friend going to stop some fakes."
"Right. Another of my group went to stop her, telling her it would just invite trouble or something, and she spotted, err..." she looked about for a moment "...her." she pointed at Velvet, just waking up with a paramedic in attendance.
"And SHE tried to stop them, but they attacked her, and she dodged the attack, but she was knocked out anyway."
Jot. Pause. Jot, jot.
"When she got knocked out, err..." looking about again "...that old man..." Point "Began to shout all these insults at them and at the police department."
He turned.
"Are you sure it was him?"
"Sure I'm sure. Why?"
"Hey bud, get over here!"
Weiss turned and stared. 'bud'?
The old man came over. "What is it?"
"You shouted insults to the department?"
"Yes, i did."
"Why?"
"Those insults weren't for you, so to speak. It was to piss of the crowd and make those hooligans' jobs harder. I could tell at a glance they were fake cops."
"What?" asks Weiss "How? You have a sixth sense for cops or something?"
"I used to be in the department."
"And?"
"And I see them wearing their badges on their RIGHT. You are supposed to wear it on your LEFT, against your heart. Something about being loyal to the department or something. Besides, who wears a badge announcing to the world you're an undercover cop?"
She looked at one of the bodies. It's badge was on the right.
"Go figure."
"Well, i decided to wait it out, maybe make sure these fellas weren't rookies out for the first time. My suspicions were confirmed when one of them made a racist remark and attacked the unarmed Faunus girl."
"And you decided to use the crowd against them. What would that do again?"
"I dunno, you tell me. But I had to do SOMETHING."
"Lowering the citizen's trust in us one of them?"
"You know I don't mean that."
"Sadly, I do, so I can't arrest you for that. You can go."
After he left, the detective turned back to Weiss.
"We were at when our old boy began shouting nonsense."
"After that, our leader-"
"Excuse me?"
"Team leader, four-person team, Beacon Academy."
Jot.
"She told us to help calm down the people and make some distance between them. Then she got attacked by one of them."
"Where is she?"
"She ran after him when the guy took off after..." she gestured around "...this."
"She didn't get knocked out?"
"No. The guy stopped him."
"How?"
"By grabbing him and-"
"Not that how, I meant how can he still stop them? How many times was he hit?"
"Probably more than ten times."
"He should be dead."
"That's what she said."
"Do I look like a 'she'?"
"I meant one of my group."
"She said that?"
"Yes."
"Then?"
"Wait. I forgot to say. When he stopped the guy, he looked ... different."
"Different how? Appearance or behavior?"
"Both. He had black, curly hair before, and look scared; when he stopped the guy, he had white, spikey hair and-"
Remembering the look, she suddenly gave an involuntary shiver.
"And he looked like he just lived to kill. I don't know how you see that but ... he ... just had the look, you know?"
Jot.
"Actually, I don't know, but i guess I have an idea."
"Then, the guy picked them off, one after another - broke their necks, if you were wondering, all of them, except for one. That one his hair became black and curly again, and, he just, roared? It was loud and he was the one who made the noise, but people don't roar, do they? Anyway, he roared into his face and he passed out. And then he took off again, and the other three people in my group decided to follow."
"And you didn't?"
"No! We were supposed to rest toady!"
"Don't know how things work at Beacon, but when my mates decide to do something potentially dangerous, I follow, regardless of what I have planned or what was supposed to happen that day, because I want to help and make sure they see through the danger, and if I fail, I will know I have done all I can, instead telling myself over and over again that I should have followed."
He jotted some final notes before saying "I know we police haven't been exactly helpful in terms of crimes committed, but I hope you'll keep what I just said in mind" and left.

He needn't have bothered, Weiss was already wondering if it was too late to go after them or not.
And only then did she realize she forgot to mention his hand turning into a claw.