AN: So been a while hasn't it? Not going to lie the reason for that was the pretty negative response I received to the last chapter. I could understand the irritation and frustration, but the lack of trust did annoy me and some of the vitriol, especially from guest reviews - which I spitefully deleted - did get me down about the story. I do appreciate constructive criticism, and am more than accepting that my works are often riddled with issues and flaws. But despite that even I have limits on how much negativity and hate I can absorb.

That said, thanks in part to some whiners on my discord, I am back with the next chapter. I hope you enjoy. After his chapter the pacing of the story, which I know is a little slow at the moment, will pick up again as we're no longer in New York and the wider changes to the MCU Kaneki's presence has caused begin to pan out, which means it's time for things to escalate and for the more noticeable changes and consequences to start kicking off. Some of you have already noted that all things Thor, Black Panther and now Black Widow will be changing going forwards, as will the events for the next Avengers. Shit will soon be hitting the fan.

So yeah, hope you enjoy, and as always please leave a comment of a review etc. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to PM me.

Another thing while I am at it, is this. I am a part of a discord group, the Emerald Library, there's tons of others there, plenty of writers, admittedly mainly PJO, but other stuff too, including HP writers and a growing number of writers from other fandoms. Feel free to pop along and say hi, I'm always happy to chat about the stuff I am writing. So if you fancy it please do to join by sticking this: discord .gg / elibrary into discord, with no spaces, or using the link on my bio.

Also I've had a couple of people PMing me about this, so decided why not. So, if you'd like to become a patron just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Greed720 after the . com. There's no real pressure for this, and there won't be a paywall or anything like that. Just giving the option if people fancy contributing. Either way, whether you do become a patron or just remain a casual reader it's appreciated.

Thanks for reading and please do leave a review, that or feel free to PM, I am usually much better at answering those!

Disclaimer: Surprisingly I don't own Tokyo Ghoul or the MCU, because if I did I would have put my foot down over the poor anime adaption, and completey cancelled the absolute tosh that is phase 4.

( - )

(Last Time)

It was odd, really.

Right now, he didn't look like the dangerous monster they had backed into a corner and attacked.

She had to hold back a scoff at that thought.

When she phrased it that way, she made it sound like they were just as monstrous as he was.

Smiling slightly at that thought for a moment, Yelena then froze.

She couldn't remember the last time she smiled, not genuinely.

Nor could she remember the last time she had thought so freely.

What was happening to her?

( - )

Chapter 15

( - )

(With Kaneki)

The first thing Kaneki heard as he woke up was the loud rumble of an engine, and the barely audible mutter of nearby voices.

Opening his eyes a sliver, new awareness shot through him as he got his first view of his surroundings and realised his current predicament.

He was currently lying upright against a cold, metal surface, with some kind of straps bound tightly around his legs, arms, and torso, pinning him in place like a butterfly in a collector's display case.

All of his limbs were pinned to his sides stopping him from gaining any leverage, and surrounding him he could see a smooth, metal shell, with a single square glass panel in front of his face. Through the glass panel he could see a long, thin room filled with high-tech looking cases that were strapped to the floor with thick black bands, and, at the far end of the long corridor-like room, he could see two rows of seats running along each side of the room. Several of which, he could see, were filled by quietly talking women in familiar matching black, combat outfits.

Taking a breath, Kaneki almost choked around the breathing tube lodged in his throat. He had a mask strapped to his face, only it wasn't his usual mask, but instead a piece of high-tech hospital equipment that completely covered his mouth and nose.

Furthermore, from what he could tell, the metal chamber he was in also seemed to be filled with some kind of icy cold mist or vapour. He could already see frost beginning to coat his naked flesh and the smooth panels of the metal shell around him.

Not that the cold bothered him too unduly.

He could feel it, but it didn't affect him as much as it once had. It hadn't since he'd first taken a bit out of Loki.

Shifting slightly, he quickly came to the somewhat obvious conclusion that he was trapped.

He couldn't move an inch, not even his fingers.

Every part of him was immobilised.

He was trapped.

Opening his eyes a bit more, Kaneki ignored the stinging sensation from the mist, as he instead continued to inspect the room outside his prison.

The occasional jostle and judder told him that he was in some kind of moving vehicle. The swaying of some hanging straps, each of which ended with moulded hand grips, led further credence to his theory. It reminded him of the time he had ridden in the Quinjet.

Whether he was in an aircraft though, or a land bound vehicle, he wasn't sure.

What he did know, though, was that he was on the move.

Which in some ways was a positive.

After all, he had been hoping to escape New York, especially now that SHIELD and the US government were making strides to retake the quarantined city now that the alien threat had been all but contained and eradicated.

His hallucination of Loki had been right, as much as it galled him to think it.

The team of killers that had attacked him were smuggling him out of the city.

If he was capable of smiling at that moment, he would have.

He wasn't arrogant enough to say that his capture had been part of some kind of grand master plan because it wasn't.

Sure, he hadn't fought as hard as he maybe could have, not even after the surprise of the ambush had worn off.

But at the same time, he hadn't sandbagged that much either.

Instead, he had been caught by surprise during a well planned, orchestrated and executed ambush.

Subtlety, stealth and guile might be traits that were often associated with Ghouls, but that tended to be for pure Ghouls, Ghouls that were brought up stalking and hunting humans. They were skills that young Ghouls were either taught by their parents or guardians, or that they picked up naturally during their unending quest to survive. After all, the alternative to a young Ghoul learning these skills was death.

He hadn't been born into that life.

He had only learned to be a Ghoul.

He hadn't been born one.

Straight up fights, like his tussle with Banner and Thor, those were more his forte.

Still, for being ambushed by a highly trained and well equipped kill squad that had clearly done their research on him, he hadn't done too badly, all things considered.

Especially considering he'd been trying to take at least one of them alive.

Narrowing his eyes at that thought, Kaneki focussed in on his attackers in question.

There were eight of them that he could see, not including the two that he remembered killing.

Twitching slightly, Kaneki's gaze shifted to the only blonde in the group that he could see.

She was in her late teens or early twenties and was a bit on the short side from what he could see, with a powerful, athletic figure, and generally attractive features. She was a good looking girl for sure, but there was something else about her too.

He was generally quite good at reading people.

It was a skill he had acquired during his childhood, back when he had been little more than an impartial observer growing up, a wallflower. He'd never said much when he was younger, nor had he ever really joined in with the other kid's games or drawn much attention to himself. Instead, he'd just watched and observed. It had been a lonely existence, but it had at least taught him several skills which were applicable in later life.

Skills which were now coming in use, as he noted that unlike the others she seemed to hold herself slightly differently. Her posture wasn't as stiff and her movements and expressions weren't as robotic. The seven other women looked more like dolls or robots masquerading as people. She, meanwhile, just looked like a confused and insecure human trying to masquerade as a robot.

She was doing a good job of it, to be sure.

In fact, if he hadn't been watching her specifically, he probably wouldn't have noticed it.

But unfortunately for her, he was watching her, after all she was the attacker he remembered specifically, especially considering the last thing he recalled before the darkness had taken him, had been her shooting him several times in the head.

Bullets might not be as deadly to him as they were to a human, but the kinetic impact from the bullets still hurt. Particularly when being shot several times in the head at point blank range with high calibre bullets.

His eyes narrowed to slivers at that thought.

If he were a petty person, he would hold a grudge.

Fortunately for her, he wasn't.

Biting down on the tube in his mouth, Kaneki frowned as he tried to ignore the distant roar of the vehicle engine, so he could instead listen in on the conversation going on in front of him.

Their voices were muffled, and their tones were dull, almost emotionless, but they were definitely saying something.

Taking a breath, Kaneki calmed his beating heart and listened in.

They were speaking… Russian maybe… or at least what he believed to be Russian.

Scowling, Kaneki bit down harder on the tube, his throat contracting slightly as his sharp teeth began to dig into and through the plastic.

Considering he didn't speak Russian, he doubted there would be much he could pick up from the ongoing conversation.

Or at least not much.

One thing he did pick up though was a single word in English that the older, dark haired woman said, 'Europe'.

Fully biting through the tube now, Kaneki once again constricted his throat in an attempt to regurgitate it, even as he started to use his teeth to mulch up the plastic material in his mouth.

He couldn't swallow for some reason, but he could at least grind it up into a paste.

Why was he doing it?

He wasn't entirely sure yet, but it gave him something to do, or at least until he came up with something better to do. Plus it helped remove the uncomfortable obstruction from his mouth, and cut off whatever gas they had been feeding into him to keep him sedated, after all the burning feeling in his lungs was not natural, nor was the fact that he had been kept unconscious for who knows how many hours without stirring at least once.

One of the boons of his extreme regeneration made it so even when he was knocked unconscious it didn't last for long, not with any and all damage he might have received to his brain healing up so fast.

Keeping his narrow eyed gaze on his captors while still feigning unconsciousness, Kaneki stilled slightly as he saw the blonde one he noted before unstrap herself from her seat and approach him.

Closing his eyes fully, Kaneki once again tried to appear unconscious, even as he sensed her come to a stop right in front of the glass pane.

"I know you are awake," A heavily accented voice spoke out quietly.

For some reason, the blonde was whispering.

Almost like she didn't want her fellow femme fatales to hear what she was saying.

"Did you know that the chamber we have you in is a very advanced piece of technology. It is a prototype you know, one that we procured not long ago from a U-GIN Research Group laboratory. Admittedly, it is still in the early stages of testing, but they are currently calling it the 'Regeneration Cradle'. So yes, it is a very advanced piece of medical technology, you see. I don't know the exact details of how it works, but I do know that it is giving out readings on your heart rate, blood pressure, brainwaves and… well, you get what I'm saying, yes…?" The blonde continued, stepping closer to the glass now.

Opening his eyes a sliver, Kaneki quickly found himself looking into a pair of cold, hazel eyes.

The blonde looked neither amused nor impressed.

"So yes, I know you are awake, monster. Just how you can even be alive, let alone awake with Novichok being pumped into you, I don't know. But I know you are awake, so stop pretending to be asleep." She pressed on insistently, her tone still low as she glared at him.

Opening his eyes fully, Kaneki coolly met her gaze.

She looked angry.

But she also looked… confused?

"Good," The blonde said bluntly, seemingly happier now that he had stopped feigning sleep. "Now I have questions that you will answer. Move your eyes up and down for yes, and move them side to side for no. Do you understand?"

Kaneki stared straight ahead, unblinking.

The blonde scowled.

"You will answer, or I will press this button here," The blonde pointed at something he couldn't see. "And run a hundred thousand volts of electricity through your body. Apparently it is not enough to kill you, but like you experienced before, it is enough to really, really hurt. Do you understand?"

Kaneki continued to stare at her.

The blonde's lip curled up in a snarl, and he could see a flash of white hot anger flickering through her eyes for a moment. Only for confusion to quickly follow, as she raised her hand and absentmindedly brushed several strands of her long blond hair out of her face.

"Okay, that was a bluff, and you called it, I respect that." She grudgingly admitted, before sighing and glancing behind her at her fellow killers, all of whom he could see were sitting motionlessly in their chairs, not even talking or even looking at each other.

Returning his gaze to her, Kaneki watched as she bit her lip in frustration.

He was right before.

She wasn't like the others.

She acted too… human.

Pausing for a moment, Kaneki let out a mental sigh as he finally moved his eyes up and down.

He didn't have much else to do right now, so what would it hurt to talk a little.

The faintest of smiles spread across the blonde's soft pink lips at his response.

"Thank you," She said after a moment. She almost seemed to find thanking him painful. "Now, did you do something to me?"

Kaneki's brow furrowed for a moment, before he shifted his eye side to side.

"No, okay, then do you have some kind of mental power, telepathy or something?" The girl pressed on.

Once again, he responded in the negative.

The girl looked frustrated.

"Then why am I feeling the things I am? Why does it feel like I have just woken up from a long sleep?" She demanded.

Kaneki looked dead ahead.

He didn't know how to respond to that.

The blonde let out another frustrated sigh.

"Damn, you know nothing," The blonde muttered, looking away for a moment, before with a sigh her eyes once again locked with his own. "They are not going to kill you, you know."

Kaneki raised an eyebrow in response.

"No, but you will wish they did. They want to experiment. They want to take you to pieces and find out how you work. They want your regeneration, and your abilities. If it is something they can take from you through surgery, they will. If it is not, then they will use you to breed soldiers. You will be kept locked in a laboratory either until you die, or until you no longer have any more secrets, at which point you will be killed." The blonde said, her tone dull. There wasn't a flicker of doubt on her face.

Kaneki scowled.

He didn't like the sound of what she was describing.

Especially considering what he knew of his own origins.

He had been created through an organ transplant.

Which, when factored in with his own regeneration, meant he was a living production line for new Ghouls.

The girl's shady employers, whoever they were, had struck gold with him.

He wasn't arrogant by any means. But having stood alongside Earth's mightiest heroes, he knew how he stacked up against the likes of Thor and Hulk, the strongest of the Avengers.

For all that he was mostly ambivalent nowadays, the thought of this clandestine Russian outfit having access to innumerable versions of him filled even him with absolute horror.

"It might not sound like much, but if you want, I can kill you now?" The blonde offered, her tone remained low. "I do not know much about the Regeneration Cradle, but I do know it uses nano-molecular technology to regenerate flesh. We were sent to America initially to take the prototype. Your capture was a later assignment. But yes, I do not know much, but I might be able to reverse its function and destroy all the living tissue within instead of regenerate it. If you want, I can try?"

Kaneki paused at both the offer and the explanation.

The technology sounded fantastical, like some Tony Stark level of bullshit.

As for the offer... well it sounded less than appetising.

He didn't want to be a lab rat and doom the human race to the emergence of a new race of Ghouls.

But nor did he want to die.

Wrenching his jaws apart, Kaneki spat the masticated plastic in his mouth into his mask, even as he rasped a response.

"Free… me…," He said, his voice quiet and croaky.

He could feel his regeneration already kicking in and repairing the damage he'd done to his mouth and throat.

The blonde's eyes widened.

"Please," He continued, locking eyes with her.

The blonde glanced behind her again at her comrades, several of whom he could see were looking over at them now.

"If I free you, they will kill me." She said after a few moments, her expression turning neutral. "I don't know you well enough to sacrifice my life for yours."

"If you kill me, they will probably also kill you." Kaneki returned, his eyes narrowing.

"No, I set it to kill you and walk away. By the time it has finished, much time will have passed, and I can pretend I know nothing. It will be blamed on faulty American technology, not a perfect, indoctrinated Black Widow like me." Her lips quirked into a bitter smirk at that comment.

"I will protect you," Kaneki promised after a moment. He at least now knew what this group called themselves, the Black Widows. A bit unimaginative, but not the worst gang name he had heard.

"You could not even protect yourself," She shot back.

"I held back," Kaneki replied, his tone turning smoother as his vocal cords finished healing up.

The blonde's head tilted to one side. "You shouldn't have."

"No? But if I had, then you would be dead." Kaneki shot back, bluntly.

"Maybe," The blonde allowed, before with a sigh she shook her head. "I must go, they are getting suspicious. I told them I would be checking the prisoner, and I have already lingered too long."

"Free me," Kaneki tried again. "Free me and I will free you."

"What makes you think I need to be freed?" The Black Widow asked coldly.

"Don't you?" Kaneki asked in return.

The blonde scowled for a moment at his response, before she turned to walk away.

"Mine name is Yelena, by the way. Not that knowing it will do you much good," Yelena said after a moment. "Good luck..."

"Kaneki," Kaneki replied, his voice still muffled by the mask as he spoke to her, turned back. From this angle, he could see that her blonde hair was longer than he had first thought, and had been tied back in a very intricate braid.

"Kaneki," Yelena said, not turning around.

"Number 16, what is the status of the prisoner?" The older, black haired Widow's voice suddenly rang out in Russian.

Her tone was cold and emotionless, and although he didn't know what she was saying, he could definitely hear the note of authority in her tone. She was obviously the one in charge.

"Contained for the moment. But the Regeneration Cradle's readings are strange. The Novichok we are pumping into him is keeping him sedated for the moment, but it seems to be getting less effective. His vitals are getting stronger, as are his brain waves." Yelena replied, also in Russian, her tone smooth and almost as emotionless as her commanders.

The younger girl was a good actress, Kaneki could admit that much.

But she was also a gambler, after all if he had picked up on the apparent differences between her and the others, how long would it take one of the highly trained assassins around her to do the same?

"I've upped the concentration of Novichok, and from what I have observed, it has worked." Yelena continued, as she sauntered over to rejoin her fellow killers.

"Good," The older Widow said simply, saying no more than that as she instead settled back into her seat.

Nodding, Yelena joined her, even as Kaneki settled back in his prison, and started to put more and more stress on his bindings.

If Yelena wouldn't free him, then he had no choice but to free himself.

( - )

(With Yelena)

"We've reached mainland Europe," Monica announced, looking up from the screen mounted in her wrist guard, as she instead looked around at the rest of the team. "The pilots have engaged stealth mode. The plane will now be shielded for the next few hours, no signals will be coming in, or out. We will be going dark until we reach allied airspace."

Yelena withheld a grimace in response.

She meant when they reached Lithuanian airspace. The Soviet Union might have officially fallen and all the old satellite states might now be independent, but despite that, Russian gangs, organised crime syndicates and intelligence agencies still held a lot of sway over almost every level of governance in those countries. For all intents and purposes, or at least as far as espionage and clandestine operations went, those countries remained under the motherland's thumb.

In reality, the world was a much darker and grimier place than many knew.

Those who lived in the light were blind to the ugly truth.

For all that visionaries and idealists strove towards a brighter future, they were forever doomed to fail as behind the polite veil of fiction that most saw, the world was forever entrenched in the past. The past was never really forgotten, and humanity never really learned from its mistakes.

Her stomach churned at the thought of it, and the futility of it all.

It was an annoying sensation, and an unfamiliar one.

She didn't like it. These new things she was thinking and the new feelings she was experiencing, or rather, re-experiencing. It was like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and a blindfold had been removed from her eyes.

She was free in a way she hadn't been for years, not since those blissful few years she had lived in America with her family, or at least, what she thought was her family at the time.

Natasha.

Her gut twisted, and anger flared up within her at the thought of her sister.

How long had it been since she had abandoned her?

How long had it been since she had been free to think and feel as she wanted?

It was both a blessing and a curse.

Glancing around at her team of fellow Widows, she couldn't help but feel disgust, revulsion and pity rise up within her at the sight of their emotionless faces.

She'd been like them only half a day ago, back before Kaneki had done whatever he had.

She'd been little more than a drone, a puppet that acted out the will of that fuck faced cunt, Dreykov.

A flash of hate shot through her mind, prompting her to clench her hands into fists so as to not outwardly react.

Her emotional control was all but compromised.

She'd never admit it to a single living soul, but she felt very fragile right now.

It was not a pleasant feeling.

Tearing her gaze away from her enslaved comrades, Yelena glanced back at the unassuming silver coffin that she knew housed Kaneki, her hand unconsciously moving to her chest. The wound he had dealt her had been clean and treated, but it still stung.

It would definitely leave a scar.

Yelena once again withheld a grimace, even as her gaze shifted to the window pane set into the cradle. Kaneki was awake right now, and probably watching them all, like an apex predator might watch its prey.

The white haired man was an enigma to her.

A contradiction.

He was vicious and lethal, but also when she had spoken to him seemed quite quiet and placid.

She could still remember how much it had taken to bring him down even temporarily, just as she could remember how easily he had torn through her teammates.

The two of them had been veterans of multiple missions, and had been continuously trained in killing and espionage for the better part of two decades. They were equipped with some of the best weapons and equipment available, had the element of surprise, and the number advantage, and yet Kaneki had slaughtered them like animals.

They hadn't even lasted ten seconds, and apparently that had been him holding back.

The thought of it caused a shiver of fear to run through her.

Behind Kaneki's calm, docile exterior, was a true monster.

She could already imagine Dreykov climaxing himself to death at the thought of having multiple monsters like Kaneki under his command.

She held back a grimace at the crassness of her own thoughts.

What was happening to her?

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she once again glanced over at Kaneki.

She needed to kill him.

Dreykov could not have him.

The amount of damage he could do if he gained access to Kaneki's abilities was incalculable.

She couldn't allow it, even if it meant killing herself in the process, Kaneki would not be making it to the Red Room.

With that thought in mind, her hand shifted down to her sides and grabbed the smooth, familiar handle of a pistol.

She had a plan in mind, and knew what she had to do.

"Wait," Monica's voice suddenly cut through her thoughts.

Yelena paused, and shifted her attention to the older Black Widow.

"What's that noise?" Monica demanded, surging to her feet, a gun already in hand. All around her, the other six Black Widows did the same.

Their guns were all pointing at the Regeneration Cradle, from which Yelena could now hear what had drawn Monica's attention.

There was a scraping, crunching sound, one that was just about audible over the noise of the plane's turbines.

"Number 16, 38 and 42, advance and investigate. Number 8, 10, 25 and 27; retrieve the containment gear and increase the equipment's electrical output to two hundred thousand volts. If the target is breaking loose, bring him down, alive." Monica pressed on, her expression severe as she raised her gun to point at the cradle.

All around her, the other Black Widows went about their assigned tasks without complaint like the mindless drones they were.

Biting her lip, Yelena's hands shook as she approached the cradle, her gun raised.

She didn't know what to do.

Unfortunately, before she had the chance to decide, the choice was taken away from her as the cradle suddenly exploded in a shower of shrapnel and sparking cables.

She took a step back at the sight of it, her gaze unerringly following one piece of metal as it whizzed through the air and lodged itself in Number 38, Natalia's, throat.

With a spray of blood and a gurgle, the dark haired woman went down.

She could tell with just a glance that the wound was fatal. Her jugular was severed, she had minutes to live at best.

Tearing her gaze away from the dying woman, Yelena looked back at the cradle just in time to see four, familiar, alien-like tendrils shooting forwards, tearing through anything that got in their way.

Directly behind them, she could see Kaneki was free.

His back was arched, and his mouth was open in a silent roar as the four tendrils, each of which she could see sprouted from the same point at the small of his back, continued their bloody work.

The first to go down was Number 42, Liza, who was bisected in moments, as one of his tendrils suddenly flared and extended, slicing through both her, a storage crate, and also the side of the plane in the same instant.

An explosion of air followed, as the cabin suddenly started to depressurise.

The force of it knocked her off her feet, even as the entire aircraft began to shake.

Pushing herself up, Yelena was just in time to see Number 8 and Number 10, Tiana and Katerina, go down as the tendrils lunged forward again, impaling both women.

Tiana died in an instant as her head exploded in a shower of gore.

Katerina, meanwhile, was less lucky as the tendril that hit her seemed to develop a jawed mouth just moments before it struck, with the jaws then closing on her the instant as it did so, even as it then started to drag her back to Kaneki.

Following the bloody path Katerina left, Yelena could only watch in horror as the tendril that killed Tiana also developed a fang filled mouth, which then proceeded to tear into Katerina's still flailing body, the now hungry tendrils quickly made short work of the screaming girl as they tore her to pieces and started consuming her flesh.

She was only twenty, just a little older than her, Yelena thought in dull horror, even as she felt more than saw three more figures run past her stationary form.

Monica and the remaining Widows were on the move, their weapons raised, as they staggered across the dangerously shaky aircraft and towards Kaneki.

The white haired man in question was now crouched like a cat preparing to pounce on the remains of the cradle, his heterochromatic eyes cruelly scanning the cabin before coming to rest on her.

Due to the colour of his eyes, the distance, and the muted horror she was still feeling, she couldn't even hazard a guess what their one time prisoner was thinking.

What she could see, however, was that the other tendrils, the ones that hadn't just eaten Katerina, were stretched out in the opposite direction, in the direction of the cockpit.

Distantly, she could hear the dying screams of the pilots.

"Number 16, move." Monica snapped out, her bulky gun raised as she fired several sparking electric tags at Kaneki, her fellow Widows doing the same.

Pushing herself to her feet, Yelena watched as Kaneki moved, his body almost a blur as he dodged several fast moving tags, his tendrils whipping around as he quickly cleaved through the other tags, and another of her fellow Widows.

He was advancing, and advancing quickly.

He would be on them in seconds.

Reacting in an instant, Yelena hit a nearby red button.

An alarm rang out in response, drawing the attention of both Kaneki and her fellow Widows, making all of them pause for a moment, as they instead looked over at her.

It was an almost comic moment of silence, but only lasted a moment before everything changed.

Grabbing one of the handles hanging from the roof, Yelena grimaced in response as the ramp at the back of the plane rapidly opened, an explosion of escaping air followed as the cabin finished depressurising, dragging with it everything not tied down, including Kaneki and the remaining Widows.

Clinging onto the handle as her wound flared up, and the plane began to spin out of control and fall from the sky, Yelena grit her teeth and closed her eyes, even as she heard alarms screaming out all around her, and the aeroplane plunged to the earth below.

This was it.

They were all fucked.

( - )

(With Kaneki)

Hurtling through the air, Kaneki kept the Yelena's unconscious form clasped closely to his chest as he fell.

Behind him, he could hear the explosion of the aircraft's remaining turbines, even as what remained of the rest of the flaming aircraft careened through the air in a fiery mass of metal.

Were there any survivors, aside from Yelen and himself, of course?

He wasn't sure.

Narrowing his eyes against the wind, Kaneki turned his attention towards his current predicament.

The air was freezing cold, and whipping fiercely around him as he fell tens of thousands of feet through the night sky, and towards the cold, unforgiving earth.

At the speed he was going he would probably splatter against the ground like a ripe melon when he finally touched down, which he knew would definitely kill Yelena, and probably also kill him at the same time.

It was not the desired outcome.

Scowling, Kaneki straightened his body and tried to control his fall, even as he flared out his kagune.

They'd saved him in the past, and hopefully they would save him now.

Focussing on the form of his ever mutating appendages, Kaneki concentrated hard for a moment, even as he felt his kagune surge to obey his will, stiffening and conforming to his will, before with a sudden lurch he stopped free falling.

Pulling the blonde closer to his chest, Kaneki couldn't help but smirk as he started gliding through the air.

His kagune now resembled the wings of some kind of giant demonic insect.

Chuckling in spite of himself at the sight of his new appendages, Kaneki couldn't help but ponder what fate had in store for him next?

A part of him hoped it wasn't anything too dramatic, as after the last couple of weeks he really needed some downtime.

That, and a good cup of coffee.

( - )

AN: So yeah, there was never really going to be much hope for the Black Widows holding Kaneki for long, he's just too terrifying and adaptable, especially with his ongoing mutations, which I'll say now will take a while to settle. The guy is going to have a tough time of it going forwards, but will come out the stronger for it. That said, even I felt sorry for the Widows, as honestly at this point he's closer to some kind of eldritch horror than a human.

That said I did like Yelena, and yes she has a purpose in the story just like the Avengers and SHIELD still do, and just as Kaneki had a reason for dragging her arse to safety. Speaking of the other Avengers, I was hoping to get over to them this chapter and give a wider picture of how things have been changing, but that will come later.

Either way I hope you enjoyed. If not then please tell what you didn't like, or what you thought could have been done better? Please leave a review, comment etc. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to PM me.

Also I am on a discord with a load of other writers, so if you fancy popping over to ask questions or offer suggestions about this story, or any of my other ones, or to find new authors you might not have come across yet, please feel free to use the link in my bio.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you later.

Greed720.