A/N: Welcome to the third and final installment of my now aptly named Darkwood series. This will be the final story of the main storyline of the series, even though my non-canon short-story compilation "Darkwood" will still be continued during and even after the writing process of Syndicate. On that note, I should explain a couple details concerning this story; First, this takes place almost exactly two years after the events of Yuki-Onna. Yuuki and Rachael are now 17 years old, and nearing the end of their final year of high school. Second, this story is a crossover. Primarily (and officially listed as) Resident Evil and Tokyo Ghoul, but I added in Jormungand elements in Silence, then added Ghost In The Shell during Yuki-Onna. As such, I am officially declaring that Syndicate will be a four-way crossover between the respective franchises. Which leads me to my final comment...
All rights to the respective characters taken from Resident Evil, Ghost In The Shell, Jormungand and Tokyo Ghoul, belong to their respective copyright holders and/or creators. No infringement was intended in creating this series of stories, it was created by a fan for entertainment purposes only.
With that out of the way, I now bid you welcome... to Syndicate.
"It's been nineteen years since the destruction of Raccoon City, the site of the world's first taste of bioterrorism brought about by the now infamous T-Virus, created by the once globe-spanning Umbrella Corporation. Yet here I stand, coming face to face with a startling new discovery that seemingly appeared overnight." The news reporter stood aside to reveal the flawless ice plaque resting on the ground, many people knew the only person capable of such a thing, but only about a dozen people on the planet knew when the plaque was actually placed... Two years earlier.
"Hey, Jonah, did I hear that right?" Koko Heckmatyar peered around the hotel's bathroom door to find her youngest and most loyal bodyguard staring at the television with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful expression. "Did they finally find Tobias' plaque?"
"Seems that way. Not like we met him in a secluded spot that day." Jonah replied, remembering his naive crush on Captain Tobias' younger daughter, Rachael. He'd grown out of it since then, but none of Koko's crew, himself included, had failed to notice him creating the plaque of ice before joining them for coffees.
"True." Koko returned to getting herself ready for the day's business meeting. "I'll be ready in... two minutes, are you good to go?"
"So, it's almost been twenty years, why don't you stop denying all your promotions, Captain?" Piers was bouncing a tennis ball at his desk, watching Tobias and Chris write a report about their most recent mission, which was a false alarm in Texas.
"In my opinion, rank has nothing to do with authority and respect. If I was a Commander and treated you like shit, than those stars wouldn't mean jack shit, now would they?" Tobias replied, still writing without looking up. "Add in the fact I'm one of the original twelve founders of the BSAA, and I think it's fair to say I have enough authority already, so a promotion is even more meaningless to me."
"Now I'm not judging or anything, sir... but I have to ask a question that's been bugging me for a bit. Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Go ahead, Piers." Tobias stopped his report and looked his team's sniper right in the face. "Insults are permitted too."
"Well, it's come to my attention from unreliable sources that you were the one to release the T-Virus onto the citizens of Raccoon City, sir. Something about a revenge plot on Albert Wesker and Umbrella." Piers spoke frankly about the rumour he'd heard several times. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong... but doesn't that make you a bioterrorist, Class One?"
"Class Zero, actually." Chris spoke up, joining the conversation as Tobias chuckled. "A non-disclosed ranking, only for him, that decrees his bioterrorism actions are the initial cause and subsequent remedy of the affiliated bioterror incident. Because of his actions in shedding light on the subject of bioterrorism, his punishment was his own idea, and that being he must obey a very specific, top secret order by the BSAA."
"Which is...?" Piers asked, ceasing his tennis ball bouncing to lean forward and stare Tobias right in the face.
"Once the threat of bioterrorism is completely wiped from the planet, I must murder my entire family, the Birkin family, Jake Muller, and then commit suicide. The specific order he meant is 'Eliminate all traces of the T-Virus from the planet', so that means I die. Rize dies. Yuuki, Rachael, Alice, Mishka, Sere, Kaneki, Sherry, Jake, William, Annette... every one of us carries a bioweapon, some of us carry two, or even three... and that means we all die."
"Fuck..." Piers didn't expect that as the answer to his questions. "Do any of them know?"
"We all do, Piers. We know we're threats to humanity, so there's no need to have a speech or remind ourselves with a sticky note, 'hey, FYI, you're a monster. You gotta die soon. Also, pick up the dry cleaning at 4'." Alice's voice came from the doorway of the shared offices, startling the sniper since his was the only back turned. "Hey, Toby, Yuuki's here. She needs to talk to you, says it's important."
"How important?" Tobias' voice hinted concern. Yuuki and Rachael were nearly 18, so if it was important, they called him directly. Something was wrong if she was coming in person.
"Like, holy shit I'm fucking scared, Dad." Yuuki's voice came from behind Alice, and Tobias immediately stood up upon detecting the fear in Yuuki's voice.
"C'mon, let's head to my office." Tobias followed his mother and older daughter into the office at the other side of the hall, closing the door behind himself as he noticed Yuuki was wringing her hands together and was slightly pale. "Alright, let's start by sitting down, Yuuki."
Alice and Yuuki sat in the two chairs before his desk, and of course, he took his own chair across.
"'Kay, so... remember how Wesker injected me with the C-Virus and all that happy horse shit?" Yuuki's hands were shaking whenever she wasn't clenching them together. "I think it fucked me up more than just my Kakuja..."
"What do you mean by that?" Tobias was obviously concerned for her, but he needed more information.
Yuuki didn't respond right away, she reached into the pocket of her biker jacket and withdrew something that made both Alice and Tobias raise an eyebrow.
It was a wrapped package, which they both recognized as Rize's leftover human flesh. It wasn't all that big of a deal, it even showed signs that Yuuki'd eaten a few pieces already.
"This isn't mom's leftovers... It was Jake's sandwich from this morning." To prove her shocking words, Yuuki unwrapped the brown paper to reveal a large bite was indeed removed from the very human meal. "That's my bite."
"Are you alright?" Tobias couldn't fault anyone for this; Jake had asked Rize to put the sandwich in their fridge (which contained a stockpile of flesh, wrapped in this exact brown paper) and both of them had been temporarily distracted, so in the confusion, the sandwich had been put in with the flesh and blended in.
"That's the problem... I'm fine!" Yuuki didn't even hesitate as she bit the sandwich and tore off a piece, chewing and swallowing it without even a hint of a gag, like any normal Ghoul would've done when ingesting human foods. "See?! I can eat human food!"
"Are you sure this isn't my fault?" Jake was nervous, but Yuuki's nod was enough for him to finally relax. "So... what'd you think? Taste good?"
"The hell was in that sandwich?" Yuuki indicated the nearby piece of half eaten food. "I think there's still a few pieces stuck in my teeth."
"Ham and cheddar with some mustard." Jake replied. "I take it you don't like it?"
"I was too busy panicking to worry about the taste." Yuuki sighed, then spoke to her twin standing in the doorway. "Rachael, it's not just me. You can too."
"Then we have some experimenting to do..." Rachael leaned her arm on the doorway to the kitchen where Jake and Yuuki were standing at the counter. "Should we bring a few people?"
"Wait, you want to go out and get some human food?" Yuuki raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, it's worth trying and all... but who'd want to join us?"
"I would." Jake smiled as he spoke up. "I figure there's bound to be a few things you two'd like to try... right?"
Yuuki and Rachael shared a brief glance, then in perfect unison they said.
"Bacon."
Stella's eyes glinted with a very cheeky smile, her metal jaw resting on the back of her raised hand as she watched the twins briefly hesitate before taking a piece of bacon from their shared plate.
"Itadakimasu!" Both of them gave their usual food blessing before taking a bite of the highly praised meat.
"Well?" Motoko was also quite interested in the C-Virus' effects on them. Sure, she'd learned about the normal events of a Ghoul eating human foods, but since they had not one but two Virus' in their bodies, it was surprisingly cute to see them chewing bacon with transitioning facial expressions.
"It's good..." Rachael spoke first as she swallowed the piece.
"But not as good as we've come to expect." Yuuki finished the sentence as she finished the whole strip of bacon. "Overhyped, but still good."
"Are there any parts of the human body that compare to bacon?" Stella asked, still smiling.
"Not really." Yuuki shook her head a bit. "Well, raw bacon, yeah. Some muscles in the thigh come close to raw bacon."
"So, tell me... What's the best tasting part of the human body?" Stella continued, still quite interested in the rarely heard of details about Ghouls. "In your opinions, of course."
"I really like eating the heart." Rachael tapped her chest with her index finger, while Yuuki smiled and let out a low chuckle.
"But cock tastes so much better, Rachael. And there's that lovely sauce inside too." Yuuki switched to Japanese, having noticed a few people in the restaurant had been glancing over at them. "The heart's all messy and it's really hard to get it out to eat... but flash some tits, give'im a little wink and he can't get his dick out fast enough... Or hers, right Motoko?"
"How is Jake handling all of this? You mentioned it was his sandwich that sparked the revelation." Motoko didn't take Yuuki's bait, instead she imitated her wife's pose and rested her jaw onto the back of her hand.
"He was scared, for a bit anyway. Now he's trying to figure out what kinds of food we'd like. Him and Sherry are out shopping for our dinner right now." Yuuki replied, well aware that Motoko had ignored her teasing. The problem with Motoko was getting her to pick up on the flirting was easy, it was getting her to give a response that was the big issue.
And the fact that her wife was sitting right beside her, that clearly had an effect on her resolve too.
"Right this way, Captain." The guard gestured to the heavy steel door, which buzzed to allow Tobias to walk right through and into the cellblock. Lining the room, all in bright orange jumpsuits, were prisoners of various crimes related to bioterrorism.
The entire cellblock was silent. Few of the prisoners didn't know who he was when he stood in the middle of the floorspace, likewise silent for several long moments until he spoke up.
"You know who I am, what I am, But not why I am here." Tobias spoke in a commanding tone, his powerful voice effortlessly filling the room with pure authority. "So allow me to ask... Why am I here?" Tobias paused, scanning the inmates for necessary signs. "Someone among you anonymously requested my presence to inform me of vital information. So who is it? You have ten seconds to step forward or speak up, otherwise I will authorize a month of heightened enforcement, effective immediately."
A ringing silence occurred, then one inmate did indeed spoke up... Ricardo Irving.
"I got something that might interest'cha, Cap'n... It's about'cha lovely little girls..."
With barely more than a glance, Tobias had Irving levitating in front of him with Telekinesis in an instant.
"A simple phone call would've saved me the speech, Irving." Tobias wasn't amused, but in light of the recent dietary incident with Yuuki - and Rachael, by proxy - he was being careful. So, in less then two minutes they were in an interrogation room; Irving had a pad of paper, a pen, glass of water, and Tobias' undivided attention.
"Dat crazy blonde ain't hidin' in here too, is she?" Irving was rightfully concerned, but Tobias shook his head. Serenity wasn't in the BSAA prison, she was in LA working at her primary job as a tattoo artist.
"I came alone, considering that I am on duty, and in uniform." Tobias glared at Irving to proceed with his intel. "So speak up, what is this intel about my daughters you wanted to tell me?"
"It's about the C-Virus." Irving wasn't handcuffed, so he was talking with his hands quite a bit. "Bit of information you should probably be shortly aware of, concerning your girls... The Virus has a delayed side-effect, y'see... It neutralizes that Ghoul enzyme that prevents youse guys from eating human foods."
"Elaborate." Tobias knew that it was nearly two years to the day for when Yuuki had been administered the C-Virus, so thus far, Irving's info was on the money.
"Well, y'see... Some of them files I had over in Africa, they got left behind, y'know. Not all of the research notes made it back... But!" Irving held up his hands instinctively, even though Tobias hadn't reacted. "But... I read them over, y'see... and it was concerning the Ghoul related effects of the C-Virus, and, like I was sayin'... Your girls can eat food, but that's not all! They can still eat flesh, human or Ghoul, and coffee, and water. Ya litte angels aren't restricted anymore! All the notes, y'see, they said that of the few that survived that long, after two years with the C-Virus in 'em, some Ghoul test subjects were able to eat human food alongside their rations of flesh, y'see... So that spurred a side project for the C-Virus program, and of course, it was confirmed."
Tobias didn't react for several seconds after Irving had finished speaking. He was thinking it over, figuring out how best to explain the information into terms his daughters would understand.
"Is that everything?" Tobias finally spoke, and Irving nodded. "Alright, wait here. I will be right back."
Tobias left the room, then went into the adjacent observation room where Yuuki and Rachael had heard everything over the open phone line from his cellphone.
"What do you think, girls? Think he earned himself a reward?" Tobias asked in Japanese.
"No." Yuuki's derisive snort clearly meant she didn't think Irving had earned anything. "He barely deserves that glass of water, in my opinion."
"Rachael?" Tobias knew she was listening, probably thinking quietly at the moment. "Your thoughts?"
"Well, we already figured that it was from the C-Virus, so having the in depth details isn't really much in the way of earning a reward... But, he did cooperate the whole time, so maybe try giving Koko a call, see what she thinks about giving him a reward. I mean, she was the one that confirmed his location before he made it State side."
"Alright, I'll see if I can get ahold of her. She is overseas afterall." Tobias ended the call to his daughters and tapped the arms dealer's name in his contact list.
Koko's day had already ended, she'd sealed a missile deal and secured a very well paying, brand new ammunition delivery contract for the end of the week from HQ. So, she and the rest of her crew were enjoying a calm evening on a private beach, all in swimwear, and all with at least two alcoholic drinks in their systems and another one in hand or at their elbow.
Koko was just cuddling with Jonah in the same beach chair when her nearby satellite phone rang in a series of electronic beeps. She opened one eye, then slowly reached for the device and blinked once behind her large sunglasses. She recognized the number. "Koko speaking."
"Hello, Koko, am I interrupting you at all?" Tobias' heavy accent came through the line, and Jonah glanced up at the device in her hand upon catching the sound of his voice.
"Not at all, Tobias. How may I help you?" Koko was calm, it didn't sound like Tobias was calling for something important, considering the tone of his voice.
"To keep the explanation short, I've just had a conversation with Ricardo Irving that went very well. He gave me some intel, and I believe he's earned himself a small reward for his cooperation."
"Let me guess... Yuuki said no?" Koko's seeming awareness made Jonah narrow his scarlet eyes suspiciously.
"And Rachael suggested asking you, that's right." Tobias chuckled, letting Koko hum in thought for a moment.
"Hang on, I'll consult with the crew. I'll call you right back once we make our decision." Koko seemed pleased by the idea, so Tobias gave his affirmation before ending the call. "Front and center!" Koko called the whole crew over to her in a loud voice, and when they joined her, she explained the request.
"So, wait, the girls already said no?" Lutz asked, confused by the details.
"Just Yuuki, Rachael said to ask us." Valmet explained. "I think Irving doesn't really deserve much more than a small snack at most... Like a cookie or an apple."
"That's reasonable." Lehm, Wiley and R all nodded in agreement.
"He shouldn't get a reward, he's in prison!" Tojo raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous idea. "And definitely not a cookie!"
"But he did give intel to the Captain, after all... Might as well get something for it." Mao shrugged. "He doesn't get anything big, so I think Valmet's apple idea is probably the best we've got."
"So... just an apple?" Koko already had the phone in hand as her faithful crew of bodyguards each nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll let him know, you can go back to what you were doing."
"Hello again, Koko. Has the crew reached an agreement?" Tobias answered on the second ring.
"We think he has earned an apple as a snack, that's the best we could come up with that wouldn't go to his head or be coveted by the other inmates." Koko explained, which earned a chuckle from Tobias.
"I can arrange that. Thank you for the assistance, do svidaniya, Koko." Tobias bade her goodbye and she hung up, returning to cuddling her pouting lover.
"It's just a snack, Jonah. He doesn't deserve it in the grand scheme of things, but it is his reward for cooperating with giving that intel to Tobias." Koko nuzzled the top of Jonah's silvery hair - similar to Tobias and the twins, but without that distracting sparkling aspect - which was followed by a kiss on his forehead.
"It's not that... Why don't you call him Toby?" Jonah had met the Captain several times in the past two years - mostly on R&R trips to America, but also three or four times for weapons related business with Koko, including weapons expo's - but not once did he hear Koko calling him such, even though a few people did.
"That's because I haven't earned it yet, Jonah. Calling him Toby is a very special privilege, simple as that." Koko explained with her usual warm smile, reserved just for Jonah.