A/N: Oh ho ho! What have we here!? That ghost review finally showed itself for me! And it was How-Not-To-Do-Something! Sneaky sneaky! tsk tsk tsk :P
Tobias sat at his desk, watching the analog clock ticking second by second, waiting for the minute to roll over before he would spring into action. The moment the thin red hand reached the 12, his hands shot forward, quickly beginning the disassembly process for his G36.
Pins were removed and slid into awaiting slots in the stock, sections of the rifle were removed and set aside, the rifle flipped over, more parts removed, re-flipped. Stock was folded over. A small pin removed, the bolt carrier and recoil spring were dropped out of the now exposed hole. Next to go was the trigger assembly. The magwell was finally unlocked, so he removed it, The charging handle was locked to the rear, then he removed the barrel and short stroke recoil piston, finishing the process of by unscrewing the standard muzzle mount and placing it on the desk with a final slam, checking the clock the instant he did so.
"A minute twelve... Well done."
Tobias turned his head at the sound of Kaneki's voice. "You were watching me speed-strip my rifle... for what reason?"
"You've been doing it for an hour, I could hear you from across the hall." Kaneki was leaning his elbow over his head on the door frame, still looking at the array of parts that formed the German assault rifle. "Didn't understand what all the clunking and banging was, so I came to see for myself."
"Satisfied by what you saw?" Tobias asked, beginning to reassemble the rifle at a reasonable pace.
"I'm not exactly sure why you're even doing it, to be honest." Kaneki lowered his arm and entered Tobias' room, getting a closer look as Tobias inserted the piston into the barrel, and pushed them into position. He picked up the muzzle mount and stared at it, only for Tobias' hand to flash out and grab it from him to reattach to the barrel.
"Maintenance. I need to know every single component of all my guns, in case they ever get damaged." Tobias finished spinning the muzzle into place, the reassembled his bolt assembly, then locked it back in place inside the receiver. He locked the magwell back into position and inserted the holding pin while Kaneki examined the transparent magazine, which was fully loaded with 30 rounds.
"Even if I had a gun, I wouldn't rely on it to the same degree that you do." Kaneki said as he glanced at Tobias' progress. He was just slotting his trigger assembly back into place, bringing the gun back to the general shape that Kaneki knew it as, instead of a pile of parts.
"I have my reasons, jackass." Tobias slid the recoil spring back in place, the sealed the small gap with the backplate, locking the skeletal stock into position and finally reinserting all of the pins that were still tucked into the grooves in the stock. He grabbed the magazine from Kaneki and rammed in into the magwell, which instantly snapped the bolt closed and chambered a round at the same time.
"Enlighten me." Kaneki leaned his hip on the edge of Tobias' desk, crossing his arms. "You know so much about me, should be fair to at least know the answer to my comment." He stared at Tobias with a glint of red behind both of his eyes. "What's the story behind you and your obsession with guns?"
"It goes a lot deeper than you think, Kaneki." Tobias clicked the rifle's select fire switch straight to Automatic. "There's too much to tell in comparison to what I know about you."
"Well, it still doesn't expl..." Kaneki stood his ground, but his words were cut short by the sound of Alice clearing her throat behind him. They both looked towards her instantly.
"I don't even know the full extent of the story. Consider youself lucky to have even gotten that as a response, Kaneki." Alice had her hands on her hips. "Now, out of his room. He doesn't just walk into your room like that, does he?"
As the red faded from his eyes, Kaneki straightened up and quickly walked into the hall. Alice spared him a glance, then closed the door, speaking Russian to prevent him from eavesdropping. "By the look of it, you've been speed-stripping your rifle. What's your record time?"
"A minute seven." Tobias replied, clicking the safety on and placing the rifle on his desk. "My last one, when he walked in was a minute twelve."
"Was he just looking for a fight?" Alice asked, glancing back to the door.
"Not initially. He said he could hear me practicing from his room, and didn't know what I was doing, so he came to have a look, and watched me reassemble the rifle." Tobias explained, deciding that he'd spent enough time working at it.
"I could hear it from downstairs." Alice smirked. "But, unlike him, I recognized the sounds, because I used to do the same thing to an M4 when I was still actively doing guard duty."
"So, pardon the bluntness, why'd you come up here even though you knew what I was doing?" Tobias asked, giving her a curious expression.
"Sensing the two of you in the same room doesn't bode well with me. I got concerned." Alice replied. "Since he mentioned it, just how much did your research into him tell you about his past?"
Tobias sat down in his desk chair, opening the drawer below his ammo drawer, and reached inside to produce a thick file folder full of documents. He placed it beside his rifle without a word.
"That file's gotta be at least two inches thick." Alice commented, reading the Russian letters on the file's title line, 'Kaneki'.
"There's also a gig and a half of data, on this." Tobias held up a USB drive from deep in the drawer, placing it on top of the folder. "Video evidence of some of the shit he did with Aogiri, his CCG profile that they'd created for him, and a compiled map of key events that he was involved in, both directly and indirectly."
"If this was a school project, I'd feel proud of how meticulous and thorough you've made this... But this isn't fair to Kaneki anymore." Alice stared him right in the face as she reminded him. "Like I said when I walked in, I don't even know everything about your past, aside from what you'd told me. I couldn't even begin to fathom what it's like for Kaneki, having someone know so much about him and not be able to even see what they'd found out." She tapped the folder with her index finger. "Imagine if Kaneki had the same extensive research into your past, how would you feel having him hang it over your head like that?"
"There's a reason I did this." Tobias spoke quietly. "But, I wouldn't like it if he did."
"Then tell him at least what you've told me. That'll put him at a bit more at ease, and it'd level the playing field a bit between the two of you." Alice looked him in the eye as she said. "Your file at the orphange was seventeen pages. It's still sitting, sealed, in a filing cabinet here, in my office. I haven't read more than the first two pages, because I knew that I shouldn't read the rest."
"Why's that?" Tobias asked, his eyes narrowed.
"Because I wanted you to tell me yourself. Not a piece of paper." Alice replied. "I even hesitated when I went home the day we first met, I was curious about why you were mute, so I was about to read your file, and saw the psychological profile from when you were first brought there, and I immediately closed the file."
Tobias smirked. "Well, shit. Can't believe that's still in my records." He paused for a moment, since Alice admitted she didn't read beyond the title of the document. "I was brought into a psychologist after I'd left the hospital, and the old quack got pissed that I refused to speak, so he wrote a false report and claimed that I wasn't co-operating with him in my 'therapy', if you could call it that."
"That's it?" Alice laughed, highly amused. She momentarily envisioned a small black haired Toby listening to an old shrink ranting and screaming about him not speaking.
"Not exactly..." Tobias admitted, letting out a sigh. "There was an incident when I was picked up from his office, which is what most of the profile is based on. A ninety second reaction."
"If you want to tell me, I'll listen, if not, I won't pester you." Alice held up her hand to stop him from saying more before she could at least say her bit.
"Fucker had a 12 guage mounted over his fireplace." Tobias explained with a touch of anger behind his words. "The moment I saw it, I started panicking, and they quickly figured out that I was reacting to an object, not a person."
"I don't understand..." Alice was confused, how would a shotgun on display cause him to panic like that?
"'Severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, coupled with a strange case of Hoplophobia - The fear of firearms - that appears to only trigger when Mr. Darkwood is in the presence of, or sees - through any sort of medium - shotguns, more specifically those of the pump-action variety.'" Tobias quoted the first paragraph of his own psychological profile, having sat and memorized it many years earlier. "'Despite his lack of speech, Mr. Darkwood becomes visibly distressed, hyperventilating and attempting to flee from the triggering object of his phobia, the shotgun, via the nearest available exit. If escape is impossible, he lashes out in an exponentially increasing state of panic, until either the triggering object is removed, or in some cases, he collapses into unconsciousness. After acquiring the proper documents from the hospital, I have determined this was the sort of weapon utilized in the unfortunate incident that nearly killed him and orphaned him at the same time. Further therapy unadvised, due to Mr. Darkwood's refusal - or possibly inability - to talk, regardless of conversation topics presented to him.'"
Alice's jaw dropped, she had no idea it had effected him like that. Her eyes widened as Tobias smirked suddenly.
"Now does it make sense why I shot Beltway?" He spoke in English this time. "Had he come any closer, I'd have broken that M1014 in half over his damn head."
"I'm... so sorry, I had no idea it was THAT bad..." Alice seemed truly disgusted by the thought of what it was like for him at a young age to nearly be killed by someone, only to find the very thing they used sitting pretty in the place he was coming to for help from that incident.
Tobias gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "In more recent years, what would happen whenever I saw one was initially, I'd freeze, then if I couldn't escape I'd start to get really pissed off, trying to create an escape. It's like the panic attack I had during my birthday party, but thankfully I had a way out then. Otherwise I'd have hurt someone trying to find 'safety'."
Alice was fighting to hold back sudden tears, how could he have been suffering this for so long and still look back on it like it was nothing?!
"How do you manage this when you're in Sector Six? Q-shells will probably need to be tested eventually, you'd have to use a sh-shotgun to test fire them..." Alice suddenly couldn't bring herself to even mention the weapon, choking on the word for a moment before spitting the word out properly.
"When that day comes, I'll have to prepare myself. Honestly, given time, I could conquer this bullshit Hoplophobia, I mean, seriously? 'The fear of firearms?' That can't be used to explain this shit. I mean, I have an eighteen inch long magnum, and two nine mill's, plus a G36 and access to the entire weapons development department. No, it's the PTSD. That's what's the problem. It triggers whenever I see shotguns, or even things my brain interprets to be one. You could make me retell the mugging, over and over again, and I'd do it fine each time, until I'm describing the shotgun. I stared at that shotgun, which unfortunately ingrained it into my psyche as the bastard shot me and ran off."
"How do you plan on preparing yourself for getting over the PTSD?" Alice couldn't help but ask, blinking most of her tears away, then used her hands to remove the stragglers.
"Isn't it obvious?" Tobias smirked suddenly, holding her at arms length, his hands gently holding both of her shoulders.
"Not really, no." Alice shook her head, still confused.
"I need to buy a shotgun."