"It's Aogiri!"
The smell of ammunition, battlecries of bullets, and steeled determination of soldiers. This were the only things in Kaneki Ken's world as he pushed through the swarms of Cochlea jailers.
It had been mere minutes since they threw their bodies down the gaping abyss of the seemingly bottomless prison. Having descended from the very top of Cochlea, survival was the only thing on their mind from the point they landed.
In the midst of the chaos, Kaneki Ken lost sight of his comrades. All the careful fighting and gentle disarming of armed soldiers left him little time to keep track of anyone else. With a careful swipe of his kagune, he rid the soldiers of their weapons, and with a subsequent sweep, he brushed them away from him. Like he hoped, after being disarmed, they quickly scampered away from him in search for safer grounds.
When things started to quiet down, he was alone in the middle of the bloodied corridor.
As explained to him by Takatsuki, their goal was to advance down the facility, free all the prisoners then retreat back to the top.
It was a simple enough task when written on paper. But executing it would prove far more difficult.
Ken leaned against the rails of the rounded corridor and looked down towards their objective once more. Takatsuki did warn him that he would be on his own the moment that they burst through the door. He had also heard that the lower you ventured in Cochlea, the more dangerous it got. Still, despite every part of his body telling him not to, he hopped up and over the rails and allowed himself to land on the third lowermost floor of the prison facility: The SS-rated floor.
He had allowed himself to be talked into an obviously shady group, followed them in a prison break-in, broke the law by attacking law enforcement officers. None of these things were things a rational person would do and just thinking about them made his head ache. At this point, he had ceased all rational thoughts and was simply following orders.
"Free everyone." was the mission given to him by Takatsuki. If doing this would make everyone happy like Takatsuki promised him it would, then he might as well as give it his all.
When he stopped, he stopped by the cell of Shachi. A ghoul who held high priority in Aogiri's list of rescues. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Sitting by the side of the room was a bearded man with long flowing hair. Tha man's body was relaxed and legs were crossed underneath him. It impressed Ken how a man could be so at peace even with all the chaos going on outside.
Then, as if sensing sensing his presence, the man's eyes snapped open and Ken found himself taking a step backwards. The change in the room was immediate and effective. Like a change in temperature, it was invisible yet very much existent. Kaneki Ken felt a chill run through his body.
The man's name was Kamishiro Matasaka and his question was not something he could answer.
"Why do you smell like Rize?"
"'Jail', is it?"
In the darkness of the cell room, only crazed red eyes answered back to her.
With the spontaneity of an explosion, red bikaku tendrils shot out from the depths of darkness, flooding the entirety of the narrow cell room, pushing out of the tiny gateway and spilling into the white corridor. Eto floated outward with the elusiveness of a fly and landed a few meters to the left of Jail's cell room.
Peaceful negotiation seemed to be out the window.
Moments later, a scrawny light haired ghoul dressed in a sullied white T-shirts stumbled out into the open. The boy placed a hand on his head, the rest of his head cocked disturbingly to the side, his eyes wide to a maniacal degree, appearing mentally disturbed. "Brother...Brother..." The ghoul looked around frantically, glancing over her a couple of times as he continued his search.
Then he looked towards a direction and froze, as if deciding what to do. Eto caught on quickly and threw a hand forward. "Wait!" She called out. But he was already gone.
She was quick to chase after him. "I said to wait!"
When the ghoul continued to ignore her, Eto decided to get violent. Forming a RC blade on her shoulders, Eto lunged forwards, blurring towards her escaping prey as she plunged her blade right into his back. Red liquid spewed from the point of contact, spraying her face, and a loud, incoherent scream informed her of her target's agony.
The corners of Eto's lips creased into a smile.
No matter how much she ignored it. No matter how much she tried to rationalize it away. Hurting others always gave her a strange high that humans used drugs and alcohols for.
Her opponent staggered away, balance and breathing destabilized by overwhelming pain. Finally, the boy turned towards her, something sparkling in his dull, dead eyes. A first sign of life in a decrepit graveyard. With a yell, the boy lashed out in pain, his tentacles swimming towards Eto from all directions.
In response, Eto smirked. This situation was more to her liking. With the RC blades perched on her shoulders, she ripped through the mass of crimson whips. Then to deliver coupe-de-grace, she rushed and ran the ghoul through from the front, her blade piercing right through his bikaku kakuho. Jail's body arched forward in pain, casting a shadows over Eto's smaller physique.
Its over. Already... Eto's smile faltered slightly in disappointment as Jail's body arched over in pain and casted a shadow over her smaller physique.
But when a light incoherent grumble came from above, even she couldn't help but listen dumbly.
" & !(#$ "
"...Can you speak up?"
"BROTHER!"
Red tentacles once again danced through the air, its cadence more furious than the last. Like before, Eto put her body into motion as she wove and hacked her way towards Jail. She was slightly surprised as a stray tentacle that she failed to account for grazed her cheek. But such surprise was trivial compared to Jail's ability to continue to produce kagune even with a destroyed kakuho.
When she was close enough, she slashed at the boy, but missed as he somersaulted over her and landed on the other side. She quickly wrapped her kagune around her like a cocoon as a barrage of Ukaku spears flew her way. Each spear landed square on their target, but the thickness of her kagune saved her from harm. Once the last of the spears landed, her cocoon unraveled, and she promptly flung all off Jail's ammunitions right back at him.
None of the redirected spears made it to Jail as the ghoul quickly moved out of the way, but the mystery concerning his body was becoming clearer by the second.
More than one RC type... The girl mused as she dodged another strike from Jail's Rinkaku. How very interesting…
Eto continued to close in, her kagune wrapping around her hand like a giant, clawed gauntlet. With a carefully placed boost in speed, she blitzed past Jail's defense of Rinkaku whips and Ukaku spear and was now in perfect distance to swing. "Don't die. Don't die. Don't die. Don't die." The words left her mouth like a crazed mantra. She hadn't felt this excited in a while.
She swung her gauntlet upwards, succeeding in making contact as the claws of her gauntlet pierced through Jail and held him in place. She then angled her arm upwards, in the next second, her kagune extended skywards and pinning the captured ghoul into the ceiling. Spikes of kagune birthed inside Shikorae, ripping him apart from the inside before finally bursting out of his skin in the shape of unsightly crimson thorns.
With her urge to hurt satisfied, she allowed her kagune to dissipate into a cloud of crimson mist. Jail's body promptly dropped to the floor like a heap of garbage.
"Well, I guess this settles it. I hope you're more in a mood to talk now." Eto smiled as she approached her defeated opponent.
"B..rother…"
"Do you know how to say anything else?"
Slowly, but steadily, Jail picked himself off the ground, a sizable crimson mist gathering around his right shoulder and solidifying into a solid blade with a metallic sheen.
"All four RC-types." Eto licked her lips. Interesting.
If the boy wanted to fight until the end, then the least she could do was to oblige.
Jail shakily regained his footing, before charging and swinging blindly at her. Eto promptly ducked underneath to avoid the strike, then ripped off Jail's arm, taking the broken koukaku along with her.
Jail stumbled back in pain as Eto flipped through the air, landing with one feet on Rio's face, effectively forcing him to the ground with her weight. Having assumed the more dominant position, Eto hoisted up the broken koukaku and planted it right into his chest.
A shaky hand reached up towards her from underneath. A mouth opened, greedily sucking for air. Until finally, the ghoul went limp. The fight seemed to have ended for real this time.
Whatever desire to relax was quickly blasted away as a sudden explosion on the other side of corridor bursted into her attention. From the peripheral of her vision, she could see something being launched from one side of the floor, across the hollow opening in the middle, to the other.
The question of who it could be was quickly shrugged off as Eto decided to take the defeated mess in front of her to Tatara. After that, she would go pick up Shachi so they could all leave.
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
These were the sounds for survival carried through the airwaves of Cochlea. Like the dying whimpers of a wounded animal, its desperation drew forth its predator.
Each and every steps the investigator took was made heavier by the armor he wore. The ghouls left in his awake, all died with agony until their final breaths. Floating in the air behind him, attached to the back of his armor were four mechanical limbs, each reinforced by quinque metal, with curved blades protruding from both sides. At the end of each limbs were metallic injector needles—a handy administrator for the lethal poison that befell countless ghouls before hand.
The name of the armor was Arata Beta 0.7. A line of experimental quinque armor made to recreate the prowess of a kakuja. Unlike its successor 0.8, the armor traded away a portion of its mobility for the sake of fancy gimmicks, among which included the limbs floating behind him. But like everything else, it quickly became obsolete as the discovery of new technologies opened up ways for new potential.
Even though the investigator would rather not wear an outdated armor that had a reputation for being unsafe, the state of Cochlea left him no other choice. All he could do at this point was hope for the best and let God guide him through.
As Aogiri needed to be stopped, no matter what.
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
"Don't let me die…"
The noise seemed to have gotten louder, this meant he was going in the right direction. Silently, the investigator exchanged looks with the two subordinates accompanying him, and they all shared a nod of determination. Their pace quickened and they ran through the corridor, to the location of their enemy.
Even the most bleeding-edge technology left him unprepared for the sight on the other end of the trail of noise.
In front of them was a ghoul, crouched amidst a circle of corpses, feasting on the body of his kin.
"Don't let me die…"
The ghoul turned towards them and flashed them a smile of crimson teeth. An ominous black growth crept down his face.
"Die in my place."
Said Kaneki Ken.