Tokyo Destroyer: Chapter 4: Vengeance
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Don't own. Besides, I'm having too much fun with things as they are.
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Chapter 4: Vengeance
What has gone before: Space, high above Tokyo: the Destroyer paused, still carrying Rize. "Hang in there, Rize. I'll heal you, body and mind. Then, you can come back and do what you want with those who've mistreated you so." Then he paused, thinking. "You know what? On second thought, screw it."
He turned, facing the unsuspecting world below him. An impossibly bright beam of energy, brighter than ten noonday suns, shot from his brow down to the ground just outside of Tokyo. The reaction was immediate: a colossal blast of light and fire opened up the ground, swallowing up the entire continent of Japan. The reaction traveled outward, spreading over China, driving the sea eastward like a live thing trying to escape destruction, with enormous cracks, large enough to swallow small continents, opening up beneath it. The planet itself split apart like an orange beneath a hammer, titan waves of the molten core expanding outward almost majestically into the pitiless void of space.
Soundlessly, a hole opened in empty space, and he flew into it, carrying the last surviving representative of life on the ever-growing asteroid cloud that was once a planet.
….
Three hours earlier: The ghoul known to the Tokyo CCG and others as Eyepatch flew through the alleys and across the rooftops of the darkened city, always being sure to keep to the shadows, moving as swiftly and silently as a great cat. He ran effortlessly at a speed marathon sprinters could only dream about. Those humans still out saw only the briefest of glimpses of a shadow—just a shadow—there in an alley, or on top of a building, which was immediately gone. Every single one of them attributed it to some strange quirk of their imagination.
The shot had to have been fired from no greater than five hundred yards away, depending upon its caliber, design, and initial velocity, in order to still be traveling faster than the sound of its passing. That was a long distance, true. But it would have to be more or less in the line of sight for anyone to get Papi in their sights, without having to compensate for the bullet's trajectory to the point where a hit was not guaranteed. Say, no more than one hundred to one hundred fifty yards away, max. He'd already triangulated the general direction it had to have come from. Idly, some small part of him wondered if Saitama had seen the glint off the riflescope—which was likely-, or if he'd had some sort of premonition of danger, but he immediately dismissed the matter as irrelevant. What mattered was the hunt.
He followed the smell of gunpowder to a modest dwelling on the edge of town.
Within, its owner sat admiring his rifle, a nice, new Winchester .308. It had certainly done the job. That'd show those goddamned monsters! Think they can just come in here and take ov-*
Suddenly, without warning, every light in the house went out. "What…?" He knew he'd paid the bill for this month.
Something moved in the darkness, something he could see only as a darker patch of shadow. "W-who's there? S-stay back! I'm armed!"
"Yes, you are," said a voice that was little more than a whisper. "A Winchester XPC; excellent rifle. You haven't unloaded it yet, have you? No? Good. I'd hate to put you to any more trouble." More movement, and the man could see, by the small amount of light from the window, a serpentine movement in the air near the ceiling. Was it one of those damn liminals, coming to try their luck? Well, they were in for a surprise. He leveled the gun in the general direction of the voice. "Don't come any closer. I'll shoot!"
"If you wish." And the figure moved out into the light.
The man gasped. It was the figure of a man, apparently human, wearing a black leather jacket with matching hood, which was pulled up over its head. But what really got his attention was the mask—and the sole eye it revealed.
It was a red-pupiled kakugan. His intruder was a ghoul, a monster that ate human flesh. "You tried to hurt a friend of mine." The monster's kagune floated lazily, with unnatural grace, in the air behind and around it.
The barrel of the gun shook unsteadily. He knew ordinary weapons had no effect on these things. If a ghoul was here, no matter why, confronting a human, there could only be one reason. "You know your weapon won't hurt me." The mask tilted, slightly, as though the wearer had just thought of something. "Though it can still do you some good."
Shortly thereafter, the man's neighbors were awakened by the sound of a single shot. When the authorities arrived, they would find nothing all that unusual; just another suicide, one of many.
Two hours and 54 minutes earlier: Tokyo: Touka was just regaining her full faculties, as she and Mr. Yoshimura turned their attention towards their…guests? "But what was that?" asked Yoshimura. Touka admired his calm. Even without having the stranger invade her mind, there was something frightening about him. And Touka Kirishima didn't scare easily.
"A powerful entity has come to your world." The figure hadn't moved from the window, its strange Mask still turned upwards, as though seeking something in the night sky overhead. "It has claimed what it sought, and left. But the danger is not gone." The figure turned to them. "It is fortunate for you all that I decided to visit this world when I did.
"But we may all still die."
Two hours and 50 minutes earlier: Kaneki paused in an alleyway on his way back to his cousin's. He'd probably have to "recharge" (eat, in other words) once he got back, but right now, he had more important matters to attend to. Out came his cell.
Miles away: Touka's cell rang. Mr. Yoshimura was still holding it. He gave it back to her with a knowing smile. He didn't have to glance at the caller ID to know who it was. "Touka?"
"Kaneki? Wh-*"
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yes, Ken. I'm fine." Why would you be worried about that? "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine." (Why would she be worried about him?) "Look. Whatever happened, it seems to've struck Tokyo pretty hard. I want you and Mr. Yoshimura, and any of the others you can get, to come here. They're turning this place into a goddamned fortress. If this is a nuclear attack, this is the place to be. And," he thought, "bring some more 'medicine.' For us all. This could easily be a long-haul situation."
"Now, look, there's no way I'm gonna pick up and scamper over there just because you say so-*"
"Oh, yes, you are, if I have to come back there and physically drag you here myself. Bring Yoshimura-san, and bring Hinami, too. That's the last place she needs to be right now."
She bridled. What was with this tone? And from him? "I don't take ord-*"
"There's no time for this. I don't care how you do it, but get your sweet ass over here ASAP." And he punched the "end call" button on his phone, leaving a speechless Touka staring, open mouthed, at her phone, in shock.
Later, Kaneki would have no memory of what he'd just said.
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Two hours and 27 minutes earlier: Saitama was assisting the workers in the remodeling of the Kurusu residence. Moving so fast as to be nearly invisible, he'd nearly completed most of the improvements. At one point in its turbulent history, the Kurusu residence had been redesigned to be modular, since Ms. Smith had discovered such a pushover in Kimihito and intended to shoehorn liminals into his house until the rafters burst. (After all, the necessary paperwork had already been filed. Kimihito was unaware of it, but one of the forms he'd signed earlier had had a piece of "smart capture" paper strategically placed just below it. So…that, combined with computerized image capture and enhancement made things even easier.) Those modifications were now making it possible for Saitama and the workers to remove paneling, expand rooms, and, Kimihito noticed, most significantly, install large, thick panels of what looked like some sort of heavy, black ceramic or steel sheathing, several inches thick. They looked capable of withstanding anything this side of a direct nuclear hit.
Kimihito and the others had convened by Mero's pool, one of the few areas not under construction. "Wow," breathed Shinichi. "Your workers sure work fast."
"They don't get paid overtime." But even as he spoke, he looked up at the workers and frowned slightly. What exactly was Smith-san expecting? A direct assault on the house? But if someone, particularly someone in power, thought the liminals were responsible…though Kimihito couldn't imagine anyone in authority truly believing that. Still, stranger things had happened. "Sai, what happened out there? Towards Tokyo, I mean. Could you see any better than the rest of us?" He kept looking around for Kaneki. He hoped his shy cousin wasn't hiding under the bed or something.
But if he was, Kimihito sure didn't want to embarrass him by instigating a full-fledged search.
Saitama took a break from his work. "No, Kimihito. All I could make out was this huge something, like a fireball, coming down out of the sky, right over Tokyo." He fidgeted; maybe he should have gone to see if he could help? But if he had done so, Papi-chan would be extremely dead by now.
"Alright. People, I'm going out to get a few things. I'm sure Smith-san will bring in everything but the kitchen sink, but there's still things I'm sure she won't think about. Plus, I wanna check on Polt. Running that gym's gonna make her a high-profile target; she needs to be, at the very least, warned."
"Not alone, you're not, Snookums." Rachnee folded her arms across her chest, her expression deflecting any potential dissent on his part. "Just because you're human, don't think you're automatically safe. You'd probably be seen as a sympathizer. Besides," she purred, "you could use a ride." She gestured with her chin to her back. Kimihito had to admit, Rachnee could carry quite a load back there. They'd developed a special harness for her to use in transporting Mero, and whichever other of the liminals as might need such, since riding Cerea presented its own particular set of problems. Arachnids didn't have such emotional / cultural issues as the centaurs did.
It could also be used, he noted grimly, to transport wounded, in time of need. He fervently hoped such a time wouldn't arise.
"I'll come, too," said Shinichi. "If you're going to get supplies, you may need some help carrying them. And I can help keep lookout, if nothing else." Besides, a…friend of mine needs to check on some things.
"Too dangerous, Shinichi. Rachnee and I can handle it…"
"He's right, honey," mused Rachnee, studying Shinichi. "We could use an extra pair of hands. And…eyes." She looked at his right hand as she spoke.
Kimihito looked at her suspiciously. This was unusual behavior for her. He opened his mouth to say something when Kaneki came into the room, rubbing his eye. "What's going on?"
"Kaneki!" Kimihito rushed over to his cousin. "You okay? We wondered where you'd gotten off to!"
"Oh, uh, that. I, uh, guess I was a little shaken up. I mean, somebody actually tried to kill Papi?" He looked at them a bit sheepishly. "By the way, how's she doing?"
"She's fine. Miia's with her right now. But…yeah, I guess she's still a little shaken from that."
"I can only imagine. Also, I wanted to call my friend in Tokyo, to see how she's doing."
"How is she?"
"She's…alright, I…think, even though she was fairly close to the epicenter. But I confess, I'm worried about her. I mean, whatever happened, she's right there at it."
"Kaneki, why don't you tell them to come here? Smith-san in practically rebuilding my whole house into a fortress, and room won't be a problem. If whatever it was hit Tokyo, then that's the last place she needs to be right now."
"Are you sure it would be okay?" He'd counted on his cousin's generous nature, and hadn't been disappointed. Though he did feel a little guilty over having manipulated him so.
But only a little. What mattered the most was that those closest to him were safe.
"More than sure. Give her the call."
"Beloved, what should we be doing?" Mero had swum up to the side of the pool and was gazing up concernedly at them. "I'd like to be of some help."
"You can be. You all can be." He knelt down beside the pool, looking both up at the others and at Mero. "While I'm gone, Mero, you're in charge. Smith respects you, and she'll listen to you. And if you can find Lala…"
"I'm here," said the dullahan, just then coming into the room, carrying her ever-present scythe. She looked tired. Kimihito smiled. He liked Lala; she reminded him of himself, back in those days of middle school. Someday I'll have to put an edge on that scythe of hers for her.
Yeah, Kimihito, he told himself, that's right. Go ahead and make her actually dangerous.
"Hard night of collecting souls?" said Rachnee, sarcastically. She didn't for a moment believe the dullahan girl actually had any supernatural abilities.
"I didna collect a single one. Sure'n someone's beaten me to th' punch. M' Eye of Balor c'd find nothin'," She rubbed her eyes tiredly, and for a moment Kimhito worried that she'd rub her eyes so hard her head would fall off, again. Lala was a sweet girl, in spite of the front she put up, but she was a bit accident prone. Probably why she tried so hard to compensate.
When Lala lost her head about something, she literally lost her head.
"Lala, look. We were just going over some things." He filled her in on the assassination attempt, the rebuilding of the house, the relocation of the MON team AND Smith, evidently, and the news about the "liminals" claiming responsibility for the attack. "So it isn't wise for any of you to be outside just yet, at least, not until things have a chance to settle down. I'm sure Smith-san is installing the latest security system, but that doesn't mean we can drop our guard. I don't want what almost happened to Papi, to happen to anyone else.
"We might not be so lucky, next time."
"Milord, I shall join you. T'will be an honor to stand between you and a bullet…"
"Cerea, I really need you and Kaneki, along with Mero, to chill here. Sai, I'm gonna count on you, too. Look after the others, and, if Smith-san tries to install a landing pad for the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier, well, I at least want to know about it."
"But, but, milord! I am your servant…!"
He came up to her and hugged her as best as he could, considering their height differences. "Then serve me here, Cerea. Okay?"
Something inside her melted. "A-as you wish, milord."
To be continued…
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