tw: death, consumption of human flesh, brainwashing, i don't know why i'm including trigger warnings. should i stop?


Pain tolerance and pain threshold are two very different things. Your pain threshold is the point beyond which the signals for 'this is bad, flip the pain switch' are sent to your brain. Your pain tolerance, on the other hand, is purely mental and refers to the maximum amount of pain you can handle.

I inherited Kaneki's pain threshold. His pain tolerance, on the other hand…

"Agh!"

I smacked against the very solid wall of the training room and slid down to the floor, stunned.

Holy shit, that didn't break my no longer human spine, but it still hurt.

You know the pinching fingers emoji? Yeah, I was that close to going 'fuck it' and just 'feral ghoul'-ing my way out of here. Sorry Steve, but your brainwashed best friend might get eaten by a pissed off teenage girl today. Tonight. Whatever, time is hard and also a man-made construct or something.

The PA in the corner of the room crackled to life. Stupid crackling speaker. What, did they spend all their money on kidnapping children instead of getting better facilities? Fucking Hydra.

"Again."

I shot a murderous look at the one-way mirror but got back in the ring in front of the Winter Soldier.

Combat testing. You'd think after watching me get smacked around by their most elite soldier, they'd get the hint; despite my superhuman abilities, I still couldn't fight for shit.

"Begin."

That was my cue. If I didn't, I'd get shocked by my collar.

I bared my teeth and ran at the soldier with my fist aiming for his stupid blank and brainwashed face.

I just wanted to get one hit in! One hit! Was that too much to ask for?!

He grabbed my arm and threw me over his hip. Being much smaller than him, I went down easily and had the breath knocked out of me.

Apparently! It was really was too much to ask for!

Without even waiting for the scientists to tell me 'Again', I charged at the Soldier, screaming in frustration. I was unceremoniously flung out of the ring.

Anger fueled my immediate recovery and I charged at the Soldier again. This time, I ducked under the first attempt to grab me and tried to headbutt him. His knee came up, right into my throat. I gagged and fell out of the ring.

I think this fucker just crushed my larynx.

My healing factor kicked in and with an uncomfortable sound, my throat was whole again. As soon as it did, I used it to let out a long and furious scream. I refused to get up and just screamed.

Maybe the scientists finally found a shred of empathy in their cold, shrivelled, child-experiments-accepting hearts, or maybe they just got sick of listening to me screeching like I'd been cosplaying a banshee character instead of a ghoul, but the blessed words finally came:

"Combat testing is over. Asset, return the subject to its cell."

I finally shut up. Petulantly going limp, I let the Winter Soldier drag me out the door by the arm and toss me back into my cell.

It was only later, when a mutated cadaver was wheeled into my cell (but my restraints not released) that I realised what an idiot I'd been.

I'd been so close to the Winter Soldier, yet I'd completely forgotten about the ten phrases I'd spent so much brainpower memorising.

"Fuck!" I yelled, making the guard with the remote to my collar flinch and reflexively press the button. I secretly flipped him off when the spasms from the electric shock passed.

Tomorrow will be the day , I mocked my past self.

So much for that. No, I just had to make my goal to punch the stupid brainwashed greasy haired assassin to the exclusion of all else. These scientists had apparently never heard of shampoo.

I angrily chewed on a finger, trying not to think too hard about what I was eating. These shampoo-deprived scientists wouldn't even let me have the proper tools I needed to eat. Yet another grievance to level against them once I escaped.

And I would escape. Just as soon as I remembered to say the ten phrases to the Winter Soldier.


I did not remember to say the ten phrases to the Winter Soldier.

Look, I only have two brain cells to rub together, and evidently the only thing that produces is increasingly dumber strategies to punch the Winter Soldier in the face. Or in the nuts, I'm not picky.

Like the time I wrapped myself around his arm and attempted to bite it off so he could no longer stop me from reaching his face. I would've succeeded if his other arm had not been a thing.

And let's not talk about the time I thought playing dead in an attempt to set up an ambush was a good idea. I just got shocked to hell and back. But unfortunately, it seemed my home dimension is not between those two places.

So now, I faced him again in the ring.

This time, I would punch him in the- wait, no.

It was only a matter of time until they forgot how the syringe broke when they tried to draw blood from me, and poked me until they found a place where I wasn't so impenetrable. That or they laser-cut my arm off.

This time, I would stay on task and wrest control of the Winter Soldier from their hands. I could bide my time no longer and would escape from the facility.

I stared dead ahead at the motionless Soldier and hoped he wouldn't notice the scratching sounds coming from my back.

"Begin."

As always, I charged first. As always, I got my ass kicked.

Again and again and again.

As I got up for the nth time, I paused and hid a grin.

Finally.

I ran at the Winter Soldier like normal, but as soon as he was in range, my kagune burst free from the restraints.

Ever since I'd realised they'd no longer be taking off the restraints around my waist when I fed, I'd been discreetly scraping away at the metal.

Titanium vs. Kagune: Kagune wins.

"Freedom!" I pre-emptively cackled, breaking the collar off. Two more kagune tails smashed through the one-way mirror and one wrapped around the Winter Soldier.

Now I just had to say the word(s), and we could get out of here.

...What were the words again?

"I know them, I know I know them," I muttered to myself as the people in the viewing room were pounded to paste. My free tail thumped the floor in agitation as I tried to remember.

The first word was 'longing'. J, J- something.

Alarms started blaring. I absently acknowledged the security cameras in the room. The Winter Soldier did his best to wriggle out of my grip. Rinkaku kagune may be fragile compared to other types, but to a human, even one shot up with super soldier serum and bearing a bionic arm, it may as well be made of titanium. Well, considering I'd just broken out of titanium restraints, I'd need to find a more accurate comparison. Perhaps after I recalled the ten phrases. It really was too bad the scientists had opted to be boring and bestowed the arm with nothing more than strength. If they'd installed, say, lasers, he'd then have a non-zero chance of escaping from my clutches.

"Ah," I realised. "The first word is zhelaniye."

The Winter Soldier jolted. I brought him closer to me and blocked the doors of both the training room and the viewing room with my remaining three tails. Teams of facility security were trying to break them down now, and I couldn't have them interrupt this.

I brought my mouth close to the struggling Soldier's ear and enunciated the remaining nine phrases.

He became still.

I grinned.

"Hey, Bucko. Ready to follow orders?"


why did this take so long? bc i was hella blocked and my first draft was kinda depressing and this is tagged humour. so i made the protagonist less depressed and more pissed off, and voila!

review?