Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[Yoki]

Again he was going off on it, breaking into a detention centre... Really? was he stupid? They could all get killed if they made one wrong move. It was a stupid idea, yet Daryl knew how if any of his family were inside he'd want to do the same, but saying they didn't have to take everyone along... That was dumb. 


"You're an idiot." He muttered, shaking his head, "I get it, you were a dove, but I've seen 'em fight. You understand how high security will be in that place, right? You're stupid to think we won't need everyone. Of course we will! What? You think like ten of us can take on all of them? Yeah fucking right." The male couldn't help but scoff at the idea, "We're strong, but not strong enough Jackson." With a sigh he placed his hands back in his pockets, "I know he can't get out on his own, but what do you suggest we do? Run up in there screaming 'for Narnia!' and get our asses handed to us? Even I'm not fucking stupid enough to think that that'll work. We don't have the fucking people." Their little group wasn't big or strong enough, sure, they had some pretty relentless and strong ghouls, but not enough... The only way he'd even consider it is if he could convince Leo to send some people...and that was a long shot.


"I get you want Adrian back, but god fucking dammit is that kid a hassle. You're risking everyone's life. Unless you're a miracle worker with some sort of perfect plan, I don't see how this shit could end any way but death." 

 

[yaint]

Of course he was never going to listen - that was just the way Daryl was. Stupid, arrogant, selfish and self-righteous. Jackson could not tell who he hated more: the doves who took Adrian or this man stood before him.


A perfect plan... Yeah, as if he could do any better. Jackson was their best chance, the only one who could probably get them in and out of there as close to undetected as anything that could keep them all alive. They didn't have to scream 'Narnia'. They just had to be patient.


"...Daryl," he said quietly, crisply, the stutter suddenly dropping from his otherwise-nervous voice. "Would you still give up if that were Jade in there and not Adrian?"

 

[Yoki]

This was getting boring, and Daryl couldn't listen to Jackson continuing on about Adrian, they'd try to get him back, later, they didn't have the resources or the people to do it at that moment. If they were keeping him alive then it would be for awhile. It was too impossible, they'd get slaughtered like livestock. 


The man was going to turn away, leave, when he heard Jackson's voice yet again... Except this time it made him freeze up... He didn't. 


"Don't you fucking bring my sister into this." He growled, hands balling into fists, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing." He spun around, green eyes on fire, "Don't try to manipulate me like that!" His voice grew louder as he spoke, until he was practically yelling at Jackson. He would have punched him, how dare he bring up Jade, but...he wouldn't...not here. "Fuck you..." 


Daryl had to take a moment to calm down, he couldn't believe this shit... "I'll ask Leo if we can borrow people. If he say no you're fucked." 

 

[yaint]

Jackson winced in preparation for a hit. He had known very well, even before he dared to speak, that bringing up a sensitive topic like Jade at such a difficult time would likely break all hell loose on the world. And he wasn't wrong. Daryl shouted, and he swore (which was actually quite ordinary) and for a moment it looked like he was going to attack... But then by some luck, he didn't. He just backed off and promised to ask Leo to send whatever help he was willing to lend.


Leo... It still felt odd to think that the person he had once called his closest friend was alive, but that didn't matter right now. Jackson could only let his lips twitch in a nervous smile. "He - he won't," he promised with more confidence than he ever thought he could muster, "He's going to send people over, Daryl, and - and we're going to make a plan."


He was sure of it.


Even though Leo had changed, he was still a fragment of the person he used to be. There was no way that kind soul from six years ago could ever abandon his little brother - not in a million years.

 

[Yoki]

"Yeah, okay, whatever. I'll ask him, that's what I said. Go settle in or whatever and leave me the fuck alone already." Daryl obviously wasn't happy with Jackson, it was going to take him forever to get hold of Leo again, and he didn't like this plan. People were going to die...he knew it, and if it wasn't their people it would be Leo's. Part of him hoped Leo said no, but the way Jackson sounded so confident that he wouldn't...well it just didn't sit well with Daryl. 


"It's his brother after all..." He muttered to himself, taking his hands out of his pockets and starting to walk off. Adrian was related to Leo, even that guy wouldn't abandon family like that. He just wasn't that type of person, and that was what deeply worried Daryl. 


It wasn't that he didn't want to find Adrian, he just didn't want people to have to die trying. 

 

[yaint]

***


Every time the thought crossed his mind, Jackson felt weak and elated at the same time. He still could not quite believe it; Leo had come through. Daryl had kept his promise and taken the matter of Adrian's rescue to the boy's older brother, and just a couple of days later at least five dozen men and women had come knocking to offer their service. Now Jackson had a near-crazy number of people looking to him for leadership, and it made him giddier than he would like to admit. But he asked for this. Now he had to face that responsibility he signed up for.


The day had started out by getting everyone together in the same room. That included the newcomers, the older Zeplin escapees and the entirety of Daryl's household. Claire had sat towards the back with a few others she had made herself familiar with, all of them drowned among a sea of black-clothed fighters. They had watched Jackson eagerly as he struggled to see over the desk at the front of the main room, where he had decided to sit to address everyone. It would have been easier if he could just stand up, but despite the awkwardness he had greeted his new helpers and announced to everyone that he had concocted a plan to discuss.


*


"Okay, so, uh, let's go," the man said as clearly as he could to the waiting group. He had laid out several pieces of paper lined with scrawled notes ready to read from, as well as a few official documents he remembered to have saved to his own online storage a few months back. Reading through them had refreshed his memory, but nothing could really make him feel prepared for this speech. "So basically... There's, uh, a particular detention centre somewhere in the UK where they keep all the high-ranking ghouls and special cases. The guy we're looking for is really unique. He'll be in there. Th-the only problem is finding out where it is - now, this is top secret and stuff so I don't know its exact location, but..."


One hand held up a map of the British Isles for everyone to see. A circle was drawn a short way from the south coast.


"I've done some research, and it's probably here somewhere. In the ocean."

 

[Yoki]

In the ocean...


Those words alone had led to people turning to each other and raising eyebrows in a little bit of disbelief, whilst Jackson was looking to get a specific person out, and they all knew that, they were looking to get a group of people out, which was something they'd definitely be doing whilst Jackson was dealing with his friend. Maybe they thought it would be easier than the job actually was, but being told that this place was in the ocean...it just didn't make sense. 


No one spoke up, well, no one apart from Daryl. 


"What? So now you're fucking saying it's in the middle of the sea?" He rolled his eyes, pulling at his hood and leaning his back against the wall, "Like on some kinda island or what? You wanna explain that a bit better." The guy was being impatient, it was obvious, but he could be as impatient as he wanted. He didn't want to look good or anything in front of Aegis, he'd been involved with it long enough. "I didn't bring people here for you to tell them we're swimming. Elaborate." 


"Daryl." Bella nudged the guy in the ribs, prompting him to turn around and look at her, "Just be quiet for once." He seemed like he was going to argue, but the look she gave him shut him up immediately. 


"Whatever." He muttered, leaning his head against the wall as well and waiting for Jackson to continue his explanation. 

 

[yaint]

That heckling had certainly thrown Jackson off for a moment. He had to spend a few moments staring down at his wringing hands as the man berated his plan, and he would have changed it if he could. Unfortunately, he thought bitterly, he was not in control of the location of their objective and could not magically snap his fingers and put it in London.


As usual, Bella was the one to tame Daryl's bad temper. Jackson waited a moment, and tried to forget everything that had just been said.


"We d-don't have to swim, thank you. We can take boats to the centre, and... You know, let's - let's just forget that for a second. It's going to take a long time to get there anyway, y- did everyone know there are doves on the streets nowadays? We have to think about that first, uh, travel.


"If everyone's okay with it, we can all go the same way we got here - uh, that would be train, and Bella can drive a few of us. We'll have to be careful, but look - I've got a route all worked out, and, uh, a few copies."


Someone at the front leaned forwards to snatch a little pile of marked maps from the desk. It looked like all of them had been drawn out individually, possibly hours' work on Jackson's behalf, even. But quickly enough the members at the front started passing the little hand-drawn maps around for everyone to take a look at.

 

[Yoki]

People quickly started to mumble to one another about the maps and the route, it seemed they were all interested in different things. Some nodded their agreement, others asked questions to one another, which were easily answered by the people next to them. However, these ghouls were in Aegis, if anyone knew the areas around London it was them. 


"So," Diana was the next to chime in above the noise, grabbing everyone's attentions seconds after saying her first word, "I assume we're going in small groups, just like we did before? And boats, they'll need to be sorted out, it's a lot of work. Are you sure you've got it all figured out?" It was a question many wanted an answer to. They were going in blind, following a human of all people, they at least wanted to know that the man was aware of what he was doing. 


The woman wasn't trying to throw him off, simply warn him of the danger of his mission and how things could go very wrong if he wasn't careful. For some unknown reason, she was very up for attacking this detention centre and getting Adrian out, Daryl was pretty sure she had her own motives, something she wanted from it, he'd seen no objection to it on her part. Which was strange, considering she had been very logical when it came to these sorts of situations in the short time they'd known her. 

 

[yaint]

"Yes! Yes, Diana, I - I've been thinking about it a lot, and - oh!" Jackson slammed a fist hard against the wooden receptionist's desk after accidentally sweeping a pile of his work on the floor. Some of his audience exchanged silent glances whilst he bent down to retrieve what had been lost, but their eyes were on the front by the time he was back again. 


Now, he thought as his eyes skimmed over his notes. Travel. Yeah, it was never going to be easy finding boats durable enough to go exploring English waters, but there were pages upon pages of ideas written down in front of him, and there were three possibilities.


After taking a deep breath, Jackson continued, "Err - basically, there's a pretty long way to go if we want to take off directly north of the search area. The CCG will be putting up road blocks and closing railway lines, so ideally we would be in the Channel as soon as we can... And so far, I - I think our best bet is Portsmouth. I, uh, have a house there where everyone can stay for a while until we sort out transport. Getting boats isn't going to be easy, but - but I've got some ideas.


"Firstly, th-there's the obvious, which is we go to the harbour and we steal them. It's not like we aren't already criminals, so it doesn't matter if it goes on our records." Not like we aren't already going to Hell, he added silently. "But if we get caught on camera it could give away our location, and could attract some local attention... So we avoid doing that if we can.


"The next idea is to liaise with some of my parents' friends - uh, I searched through some of their social media and they've got friends on the shore who might be able to lend us a boat. We just have to convince them we aren't murderers and they might do us a favour.


"And then, if that doesn't work, we can just rent our own transport from an owner and take it legally. I should have enough money to get us all on board, and I also know more or less how to steer a fishing boat..." He mumbled something quietly about having gone sailing with his family a few times. "And I've researched it. So if nobody else knows, I can sort of help. So, uh, any - any questions?"

 

[Yoki]

"Great." Diana nodded in approval and continued to look in Jackson's direction, saying no more. At least he had an answer, not having one for such a simple question would definitely be a problem. He could do it, he just needed to make sure that he didn't neglect that in the end these weren't his people, he needed to be careful with what he said and did... If they didn't believe in him they could easily abandon. 


Soon enough questions started to pour in, however they were asked in an orderly fashion, one called out after the other. 


"How do you plan on getting into the facility?"
 


"They could spot us, what then?"


"Where will we be staying until we find the transport off of the shore that we need?"
 


"There's bound to be a lot of doves, do you have a plan to keep them at bay?"


"What's your battle strategy?"


A lot of the things might be other people's domains, but Jackson had to at least show them that he knew who was dealing with each of the problems and queries that everyone had... Otherwise why would they bother trusting him? 


---


"Dane..." At the back of the room Caleb stood with the older man, Nathan standing next to them, "I don't like this..." 


"I know." Dane sighed, looking towards Jackson. 



"I-...I don't want t-to... Can...Can we please st-stay behind?" 


"Caleb," The man turned to the smaller male, looking down and shaking his head, "You know I can do that. I promised Dane. Besides, Prince sent these people right? Which means he'd probably be less than happy if I was to flunk out of this one, they have people they need saving." 


"I-I know..." Caleb swallowed and looked down, wrapping his arms around himself. 


"You don't have to co-"


"I'm coming." His reply was sharp and suddenly, but upon realising that he looked up with apologetic eyes, "I-I mean..." His gaze fell to the ground once more, "If...If you're g-going...s-so-... So am I." 


Although Dane didn't know how good an idea it was for Caleb to join such a mission, especially because of his reluctance to at first, but he knew the boy well enough to know unless Dane locked him up he'd follow... Whether he liked it or not. There was no way he'd let Dane go alone, not in a million years.


The male wrapped his arm around Caleb's shoulders and pulled him towards him, he knew he was afraid, and he knew he didn't want to fight again, but...his help would definitely be appreciated. 


"Just stay at the back, okay?" 


"Y-Yeah..." 

 

[yaint]

Jackson should have prepared himself for his combat-informed audience to pose questions and objections during the speech.  For a while he even thought he was prepared, but now... This was an onslaught that sent his head spinning. Orderly they may be, but he could only address one point at a time.


"Tch - wait, wait up a minute, hold on. One question at a time," he said as his mind whirred inside his skull. The questions were all in the wrong order, but if he could sort them out then he had answers to every single one of them in his hands. He just had to find them. "I've... Uh, wait, I've thought about these. There's a plan, which I could go through now, if everyone's ready to hear."


Silence. Jackson swallowed and took that as a yes, then spread all the papers in front of him out into a fan.


"Okay, here we go. Short version, we get boats from Portsmouth, find the facility, get in and get Adrian out. Uh, long version... It's going to end up being a little more complicated getting in.


"The entrances are g-gonna be on heavy lock down, alarmed, you probably need some kind of identification to get in. But there's gonna be weak spots too, like air vents or water ducts. They won't be so easy to find but we can  - we'll try and pick up some infrared cameras on the way to check for openings quickly, so we can see the vents right away without wasting any time. I know a few shops where you can get them.


"So we... Uh, wait. Everyone with me so far?"


He could barely see over the desk, but guessed that it was another yes from everyone. They didn't seem to make much noise when they weren't asking questions.


"Okay. Cool, good. We find the vents, climb or swim through, and it should be easier to hack through the doors once we're inside. Again, I've got an old ID card and some magnets we can trick the system with.


"And that's that. Oh, and there shouldn't be any investigators outside of the building so we're safe until we break in, but then everyone has to be cautious. Does that sound good? I'll go on to combat next, that is, if everything so far runs by you well."

 

[Yoki]

There were mumbles of agreement as Jackson asked if everything was clear and ran by them, it seemed they were all in agreement so far. Knowing that the man had some sort of plan was probably very reassuring for a lot of them, it helped them to trust him more. 


"Just tell us what else there is to know." One person blurted out, although it was impossible to tell where the voice had come from. 


Everyone stayed quiet still, all eyes on the man in the wheelchair at the front of the room. 

 

[yaint]

The man at the front nodded, flattened his palm against the table and used his opposite shoulder to nudge the glasses on his nose back into place. Here he went again: people had calmed down now. They trusted him. He could see their faces, curious and focused and so horrifyingly intimidating, and they were all looking his way. To say he was uneasy was an understatement... But suddenly, his body stiffened and stabilised. He stopped shaking. Something about the way his heart pounded in his chest kept him revolving around that same urgent rhythm and the words in his mouth started to come out when he needed them, easily and without much tripping up.


"Okay, this next part's really important, you guys hear? We can take as much time as we need to get inside, by, uh, getting through vents or a main entrance if there even is one at all, but once we're inside it gets dangerous. You all need to b-bring your heads with you... And pay attention now, 'c-cause I have inside knowledge of how the CCG fights and you don't. Everyone ready?"


There was a quick pause so that Jackson could crane his neck to check for either blank stares or nodding. As far as he could tell, that static energy lingering in the air was an atmosphere of focus. He had eyes on him, ears opened and listening, and a whole wad of drawings to illustrate his points.


"Okay, okay... Uh, here we go, then. First things first, it's probably important to know about ranks. Every - every investigator in the CCG gets a rank. The lowest ranks are three, two and one, the junior ranks. These guys tend to be rookies so you p-probably won't be seeing many of them at the facility itself, but they've still been through years of training so don't let your guard down.


"The rest of them are going to be senior investigators. They, err, they go from first class up to associate special class and then special class, which is at the top. If you're a good fighter then there shouldn't be t-too much of a problem taking them down, but senior investigators are still seriously dangerous and they get worse with every rank. If - if you ever hear someone call 'special class', it's probably a better idea to retreat than it is to fight."


Another moment of silence. Jackson waited for people to stop processing the information, and then held up another sheet of paper. It was not so much informative as it was a resource for remembering - on the sheet was drawn a little heirarchy of investigators, going from rank three at the bottom to the senior ranks drawn up in different colours at the top. A couple of names of notably dangerous investigators were scrawled here and there towards the tip of the pyramid.


"That good? Yeah, okay - so again, just try and avoid the most dangerous enemies if you can help it. B-but anyway... At some point we're all going to have to face them anyway, so you've got to know how to fight them.


"Now... Look, I know I don't look like... I know I'm not a fighter, but just trust me - I did the training, I know how this works. Th-the ghoul investigators work in squads, small units of doves, normally around six men strong and generally every member is in the same rank category. Uh, that would be rookie or senior. And every one of those squads has their own leader who calls the shots.


"If you want to take down a whole squad, you go for their leader first. That's one of the f-first things they teach you in the academy - a squad without a leader's as good as a herd of sheep. Now, uh, if the members are any good they'll have some form of backup communication in case their leader gets taken out but it should be easier to single them all out when they're still panicking. Just try not to get too close, every single one of them has their own quinque. Which... Y-you all probably know this, and stuff... But it's basically a kagune forged into a hand-held weapon. Most of them function like normal, so you fight them like any other ghoul. You guys know how to fight, right? Oh - uh." The man could not help the way his face reddened. "Right, yeah, you do, right. Sorry. But anyway, um, since you all know how that works anyway then you shouldn't need any more explanation.


"You'll also want to know about their actual fighting methods. The doves, see, the doves get - they're really keen on trapping their enemies. They'll be blockading you in from every angle, but that means you get every angle to lash out. We'll all form our own teams later and work out individual strategies - but - but for now, if you guys ever get trapped, try and form a circle so nobody's back is exposed. They can't attack without getting close enough for a counter, so if you st-stay put then you can take them out as they come.


"Of course, there's... You guys, there's a thing I f-forgot to mention before, sorry. Um, it's not hopefully going to affect any of the plans because I can handle it myself. But everyone's g-going to be going inside with a gas mask, because if you start annoying the special classes then someone's going to release suppressant gas from some of the air vents we're coming in through. If you breathe that stuff in you're going to lose control of your kagune and then you won't be able to stand up. And, uh, yeah. That might be a problem. So keep that mask on at all costs, and if you can, try and lure the enemies into the clouds. The gas affects their quinques too, not as much as it does a live ghoul, but... Well, yeah. Every little helps, just... Just use your common sense.


"Now, I think... There's some more stuff to the doves' strategies, but it really differs from each individual squad and it's going to be almost impossible to tell the difference from first glance. Basically, whoever's in charge of a raid or a defense assigns locations for each individual squad. So if some particular investigator is giving you grief, you, um, you can just try to leave the area and if they're sensible they can stay with their group. But you ought to be c-careful about what place you're running into as well. Defense-oriented squads are going to stop you in your tracks, and attackers will come at you from behind. So, err... Well, I'm sorry. I told you, I never did the fighting, I... This is all just theory. You just - just use your common sense and never let your guard down, and hopefully everyone gets out of there in one piece. With Adrian.


"Unless anyone's got a question, we can start sorting through our own teams now and talking about individual roles, so... Uh, anyone? If there's a concern, n-now's the time, I guess."

 

[Yoki]

It seemed everyone had listened to the thorough explanation, since there were no questions at the end of it, everyone just stood in silence, waiting for the next move. They'd definitely relaxed a little more once they'd realised Jackson had almost everything under control, but the apprehension was still there. However, even if Jackson was prioritising Adrian on the mission, they had their own reasons for wanting to break into a detention centre. There were a few people they needed out, they knew what their goal was, despite Jackson's focus on his friend. 


"Alright then." Daryl stepped forwards, hands in his pockets, "If that's it, let's get groups sorted." 


*


For the next few hours the room was bustling and busy as everyone was organised into their own groups. It was important that they put the right people in the right places, which required asking questions, including kagune types and strengths, although Diana, Daryl, Dane, and Bella were quickly sorting that out. The four were running back and forth in an attempt to divide everyone up, whilst someone kept running back to Jackson to ask him something every now and again. They were really starting to work as a unit, and that was important, this situation wasn't to be taken lightly. They were risking their lives for this. 


Eventually visible groups started to form around the room, they'd organised people into offence, defence, scouts, and then those who would protect Jackson and make sure that nothing happened to him as they tried to get around the facility. Diana had been left in charge of a lot of the offence, despite Daryl's complaining about her not understanding the system, however, he'd quickly been shut up by Dane and Bella as they shot back that she was a much better leader than he could be. Diana had then broken her groups up even more, into small units, and had started giving them a lecture on how to operate as a team. The offensive group had some of the more headstrong and combative individuals in, but she was able to keep them in check. Hopefully they were as sharp as their tongues. 


Defence had several leaders within it, and Daryl had reluctantly agreed to watch over them all. They'd sorted themselves out rather speedily, he hadn't even had to intervene that much, not unless it was to explain their roles a little more or point things out. It seemed a lot of the people within the groups were already used to working closely with the others around them, which only made things ten times easier. They'd started discussing strategies on how to keep doves out of the other's way the minute after they'd all assembled, disagreements happened, but they were working through it. 


There were less scouts than anything else, the roles had mainly been given to smaller, weaker ghouls, they really only needed to run ahead and warn the others, their job wasn't to fight. It was a job that suited them and they didn't waste any adept fighters on it, which was always a good thing. Everybody was happy. 


The final group was made up of a few stronger individuals, including Daryl himself. Whilst he was watching over the defence, he didn't plan on leading them, he was sticking with Jackson to make sure the guy didn't fuck up. He'd personally chosen some of the other particularly strong ghouls that he knew were stronger than the mass, however, he didn't take everyone of that calibre out, just a few. Whilst it was a small group, it was enough people to make sure that Jackson didn't get shit on by some powerful CCG members whilst they were inside.   


Once everyone was sorted and content they'd all been dismissed, they were to head off as soon as possible and so everyone needed to sleep well. 


*


For the second time they were to leave the residence they'd been given in order to move further towards the coast, once again everyone had been split up to travel, except now there were many more smaller groups than before. Each group had one person with a working, disposable, phone, and that person was the only one who could communicate with the rest of the groups, anything needed had to go through them. Daryl, Diana, Dane, and Bella, were all within this set of people. 


Each of them had taken a group, along with others from Aegis taking their own small groups, and were to start to Portsmouth as soon as possible. It was their own jobs to get down there now, they were to reunite with their teammates once they were there, until then there would be no meeting up, and contact was to be kept to a minimum. 


Bella had taken the car again, with Jackson of course, and whoever else she could manage. She had taken some of the less able individuals, but also some stronger allies, as she didn't want a repeat of their previous trip. Jackson knew where they were going and so it was up to him to make sure she stayed on track. Well...him and a map. 

 

[yaint]

This situation was beginning to feel awfully akin to the one that had put Jackson in that bed with bandages wrapped around his chest. He was in the front of the new car, his dismantled wheelchair wedged between his his limp legs and the floor so that everyone else and their belongings could fit together in the back. 


Claire stared out through the side window and tried not to let Tommy-Jones sit too close by her side. The older of the two black-haired brothers kept shifting to one side and pawing at the air where his brother would normally be, but this time Callum had taken the railway with another group to make space for a couple of stronger ghouls.


In the front again, Jackson unfurled the map laid out across the top of his legs. Once they got onto a main road he would be able to find the way by sight of road alone, but going from such a strange area in London needed some assistance with navigation. He might not have been able to drive, but thank God he had some top-notch map-reading skills.


"Okay," he said to Bella without looking at her; his nose was buried in the huge print-out of London, and his glasses were sliding down his face. The sweat rolling down from his forehead probably didn't help with that. "I t-told the others what station they're heading for first. It's not on the map, not the first one - uh, there's one further down the line, though, they should be able to work out the way there on their own but I'll call them up anyway. We could all meet up there to have a proper check-up and briefing. It's pretty much just a, uh, a straight line once we get out of the area and onto the motorway. Just one turning to the right, and then a fork in the road. I'll tell you when."


There was a momentary pause. Jackson grabbed a red ball-point pen from his pocket and circled the train station on the south coast almost directly beneath London. 'Brighton,' read the name on the paper. He knew that city - having visited only once or twice he could not say he was at all familiar with its layout, but from what he remembered it seemed to be filled to the brim with oddly-dressed locals and tourists from overseas. Perfect for a huge group of suspicious-looking misfits to congregate outside a station.


"Bella, how long do you think it's gonna take to drive down there?"

 

[Yoki]

"Alright." Bella had placed her keys in the ignition as Jackson started to talk, turning on the engine, "If you think that's the best idea, then sure. I'll message the others before hand." She took out the phone Daryl had given her and started to tap away, texting and driving was honestly the least of her worries at this point, who cared if she got a ticket. 


In seconds she was done with the phone and had put it back into her pocket, placing both hands back on the steering wheel and speeding up a little bit. She just needed to get out of the area and then they'd be home free. It was both exciting and nerve wracking to think that they'd be breaking into a detention centre of all things...it wasn't a safe job, but it was organised now. There was no going back. 


"Uh... Maybe an hour or so?" She replied, turning her head to face Jackson for a split second, "I mean, I'm not totally sure, but it shouldn't be much longer if we don't have any interruptions." Interruptions. Yes, last time they'd have a large problem with things getting in their way. For those two cloaked figures, to Claire, to the CCG blocking the road and trying to shoot them, they'd had one hell of a journey that day. 


She couldn't imagine it was going to get any better. 


The woman turned out of the road and into a more populated area, the road went straight, so it shouldn't be too hard to find where they were going from there, probably a sign to the turn off they needed. This time they'd have to at least try to stay out of trouble, the less attention they got the better. They needed to stay out of the CCG's way if they wanted to pull this off. 

 

[yaint]

With an immense feeling of deja vu came a horrible feeling of foreboding; nothing about this repeat situation could stop those who remembered from panicking, but luckily it looked like things were going smoothly so far. Jackson's navigational prowess became something of a trophy whenever he called out for Bella to take a turning or stop to check for street signs. The area Leo had sent them to was a maze of sorts, but of course no match for a good old map and compass.


Several times during those long stretches of silence that occurred on a narrow, winding road Jackson could not help but wonder where the others were. Travel on the rails tended to go a lot faster than it did on tyres, but how far had they gotten? If only the man's educated guess (or perhaps just gut feeling) were correct, Daryl's group should have made it to their first change-over stop just under a minute ago. They would probably be meeting at the station now, regrouping and confirming further plans.


Maybe they knew how tedious movement by road could be.


Maybe Adrian was wondering how they were doing, too.


"Bella, how long have you been driving now?" Jackson forced himself to ask before the thought of Adrian could make his eyes sting with tears once more.

 

[Yoki]

Bella was happy to drive in silence for awhile, she didn't mind the quiet that enveloped the car as everyone sat back and just enjoyed the ride. The lack of drama felt nice, for once she didn't mind focusing on the road and worrying about not swerving into another car rather that whether or not there was a life on the line. The last time she had driven on a road like they were now she was going twice as fast... The feeling was exhilarating and terrifying, but...everyone came out alive, that was the good thing. 


"Hm?" In order to listen to Jackson, Bella had to turn the radio down a bit. She glanced over at the man, and then at the watch on her wrist, "Uh...not too long. Fifteen...twenty minutes?" She turned her eyes back to the road just as they came up to a crossroad that was oddly empty. Unfortunately, the light went red just as they drove up. She shrugged, sighing, "Oh come on... Could this be taking any longer? Radio...let's turn that back up." 


Her hands went to the volume just as she heard a bang ring out from somewhere behind them, Bella jumped and turned her head, obviously paranoid from the last time she'd heard such noises. "What the hell what that?!" She exclaimed, eyes darting around as she looked through the back windshield. 


Then there were thumps, thumps like someone was walking on metal, coming from... She looked up, no way... 


There was someone on top of the car.


"What the..." 


Another shot rang out and then stumbling, a form rolled off of the top of the car and down the windscreen, making Bella jump and scream. The person was small, that was for sure, but when they grabbed at the bonnet it was made obvious that their face was covered by...a mask. 


The person scrambled and fell to the floor in front of the car. The light turned green.

 

[yaint]

It was not like anyone could have blamed Jackson for thinking he was hallucinating when he first heard that noise. He was a man who did not believe in coincidence - not anymore, at least - and surely his plan could not be falling apart so quickly when he had prayed so dearly that it would work.


"What was..." His voice was lost, his words dwindling into nothing in synchronisation with Bella's. A pair of hands grabbed at the side of his seat, and he pulled himself to look to the back of the car, but by then it was too late to see the source of the noise. Claire and Tommy-Jones were staring slack-jawed towards the front of the car, sandwiched between the stronger ghouls who were both looking rather tense. They had followed the noise and seen what? "Wh-what is it? Bell-"


Oh, he thought, cutting off his own sentence when he saw the dark shape roll just out of his field of view and heard Bella's scream. There was no way that masked figure could be anything other than a person, and Jackson could not decide whether he would prefer to face off with a ghoul or a human right now. He could only hope that they weren't involved with anything... But then again, that gunshot sounded far less than welcoming.


They needed to get out of there now - but how? Go forwards, run this guy down. Swerve to the side, hit something. Stay still, and end up tangled in whatever drama was going down nearby. It was a lose-lose situation.


Eventually, it was Tommy-Jones who spoke up first. "I don't like this," he whined and began to grab at the person closest by, who just happened to be a thick-armed woman with a stony face. She did not fight him away, but by the way she leaned back from the boy's touch it was clear that she was repulsed. "I don't like it, Bella, I'm scared."


"I know," Jackson mumbled to himself. He would have liked to say 'me too' and fold over to start shaking and panicking himself, but that wouldn't really do much to help in this situation.


"I wanna go," Tommy-Jones cried again.


Jackson swallowed. "Y-yeah, okay, we're working on that." It was hard to think when people kept interrupting. Bella, he had to somehow talk to her and figure something out, or-


"Can't'cha jus' go forwards?" Claire interrupted.


"No, no, Claire, we can't-"


"Why?"


When Jackson didn't answer for a while, Claire became impatient. She started trying to stand up inside the car, staring up over the seat to get a better look at the man's face in the mirror. It had turned the colour of beetroot by the time she got a good view.


"Because," he started shakily but as quickly as he could manage, "There's a person on the road, we'll - we'd run them over."


"So?"


"Tch - n-nevermind. Uh, hey, do you have that gun? Can you pass it here?"


Again, the girl pouted. But instead of arguing like she normally would have, she began to rummage in the pocket of the new jacket she had taken from the house and out came a newly-polished pistol with the safety already turned off. She tossed it carelessly forwards, and Jackson nearly gave himself a heart attack trying to catch it without going near the trigger. He didn't know how much ammo this thing still had in it - a lot of it had gone in some poor investigators' skulls, but... Anything, even an empty firearm, had to be better than nothing.


Maybe he was overreacting to something that could have nothing to do with their little escapade. But those gunshots made his mind race. He decided not to turn on the safety.

 

[Yoki]

"Not again..." Bella breathed, although it wasn't like she could do anything whilst there was someone in front of her car. She wanted to drive away, but a part of her knew that the right thing to do was see if that person in front of their car was okay... They had fallen after all. Although, it didn't seem like they had only that person to worry about. 


Everyone was starting to panic, so she had no choice but to stay calm. Maybe she should get out...maybe she shouldn't...after all, there had been a gunshot, but that could have been anything...someone could be bleeding out in front of them right now and they were doing nothing to help. Oh god, that would be bad. 


"Okay." She breathed, "Everyone take a second, calm down. Jackson...I need you to do something, cover me with that gun... There's someone on the ground out there and we can't just leave them. We have to help." As Bella grabbed the handle to exit the car, she heard another voice, one of the two adults in the back had decided to speak up. 


"I...don't think that will be necessary." They replied, eyes staring out of the windscreen that Bella was not looking at anymore. 


"What? What are you on about?" Bella protested, "We can't just leave them." 


"Just...turn around." The man motioned with his head, never looking towards Bella, but instead keeping his eyes on something behind her, his hand glued to the door handle in case he needed to jump out. 


"Wh-" Turning too quickly for her own good, Bella met a masked gaze. She jumped and cursed, placing her hand over her chest. "Jesus Christ..." 


The person that had been on the floor was no longer on the floor, instead they were sitting on the bonnet of the car, legs crossed, arms resting on their thighs, 'staring' in at everyone. They had an almost featureless mask covering their face, it was navy blue in colour and the only real noticible feature was the holes for the eyes. Blue, a pretty blue that looked awfully unsettling when staring in at the group. It was like something out of a horror movie.


"Okay...Well, I think they're okay..." Her voice was much more shaky as she stared at he figure, they weren't being violent, just sitting, which was worse... Who knew what they'd do. "What now?" 

 

[yaint]

Jackson nodded. Protection, keeping watch with his two good eyes and shooting without moving should anyone raise a weapon or aggressive hand... Yes, it was terrfying, but it was a job he knew that he could handle. "Okay," he said nervously and tapped the barrel of Claire's pistol against the dashboard. 


Much to his shock and dismay, being the one trusted to keep watch meant that he was one of the first people to see the stranger perching on the car's bonnet. He jolted backwards upon first noticing that flash of blue in their uncovered eyes. His hands automatically angled the firearm at the boy.


In the back, Tommy-Jones wailed again, but his scared little mousey voice had turned quiet, almost like a whisper. "He's looking at us," he commented unhelpfully. His twig-like fingers were gripping at the woman's clothing more tightly now, and she failed to recoil from his touch.


"Bella," Jackson called again. His own tone had a ring of urgency to it, but... Bella? Really? Asking her wouldn't do much good fr anyone - heck if she knew anything more about this guy than he did. Unfortunatrly, other options were scarce and the situation was not becoming any less dire. So he sat forwards, forced himself to stare back at those blue eyes and and swallowed. I'm going to regret this later, he decided silently before asking with very exaggerated movements of his lips and tongue, "Hey, you. Do - you - need - help?"


Claire mumbled something about ammuniton.


Jackson carried on, "If you're coming inside, hurry up! We d-don't have time to wait, just please either get in or move off the road - err, the car!"

 

[Yoki]

Upon hearing Jackson's words the person's head seemed to cock to the side slightly, like they were listening, almost as if it were a surprise to be offered a ride on a car so quickly. Although, they didn't move straight away, instead they just sat there, still staring, just like someone trying to wind them up would.


"Jackson...please tell me you did not just invite that psycho into our car." Bella looked out of the windscreen, feeling very apprehensive about taking this person with them, but it did seem as if they needed some form of help. They weren't letting them leave, so either they wanted the help, or they wanted to get them caught. Either way, they needed to get out of there before whoever fired those gunshots caught up to them. If she had to show another car. "You heard him." She called, opening her window slightly so the unsettling, masked individual could hear.


There were two more gunshots, further off this time, although they sparked the attention of the person, they didn't seem to cause them to panic suddenly. It seemed that they weren't aimed at them. However, they did jump off the bonnet and go around to the side of the car, swinging the door open and jumping in, there they said nothing, but simply squeezed through the edge of a seat to sit in the boot, back against one of the side walls as they casually laid out. 


Just watching them made Bella shudder, but they didn't have the time to waste. "Lets just hope whoever that was didn't see us." She muttered, pressing her foot down on the accelerator. They had another member in their car now, someone they didn't know, someone they'd just picked up off the street...and she didn't like it. She looked in the mirror to check what they were doing, but they were pretty much hidden behind the seats...that mask was still visible though. How creepy... This was a bad idea.

 

[yaint]

Again, everyone jumped at the sound of gunshots. Nobody could quite pinpoint where they were coming from, with the way the noise echoed back to their ears from every direction; it made the situation feel somehow more confining, like there were walls closing in and threatening to squash them flat.


When the kid sitting on the front of the car finally moved, Jackson froze. He half expected this stranger with the gut-wrenchingly unsettling blue eyes to roll off into the unknown, back where he had come from. But it felt as though the man's heart had stopped as soon as he heard the door swing open.


"Oh... Oh God," he croaked aloud, and wished for the millionth time that he could move enough to turn around and see more than a sliver of a foot slipping through the gap between the back seats. No. That kid, he... He didn't just get in. Not really. Jackson had made the offer, but did he ever think this guy - some random psychotic-looking stranger from the streets of London - would actually get in?


Whether that was a yes or a no, it was too late for second thoughts now.


Those gunshots were stark and frightening - Jackson could not blame Bella for putting her foot on the accelerator and speeding far, far away from whatever the hell was going on back there. The travellers sitting in the back had the common sense to duck beneath their headrests and hide from the bullets. One of them, however, could not keep still for long.


"Oi, you there!" Claire called to the masked stranger. "That doesn't look so comfy, y'know. So what was all that shootin' for?"

 

[Yoki]

The person's head jerked up at they heard a voice addressing them, but they didn't seem to say anything for a moment or two, instead they just stared with those blue eyes at Claire, blinking every now and again whilst unzipping their jumper. 


"They're just annoyed is all." Finally the individual spoke, their voice was young, like that of someone who was yet to fully finish going through puberty, and it had a very distinct accent to it. Not London...not Northern...in fact not English at all, they sounded much more Australian. That was definitely a shock to a few of the people in the car.


A small hand reached up and grabbed as the dark mask on their face, they pulled it up onto the top of short, dark blue hair. "You know how people are." Their voice was very casual, and they looked a lot less intimidating with the mask off, although having a secondary mask, like that of a superhero's, around his eyes underneath was a little strange. But how could you possibly feel afraid of such a young, seemingly childish person? There was no way the boy was any older than twelve or thirteen, it helped Bella relax, knowing that the person in their car probably wasn't actually as lethal as she'd thought...or as insane, he was just a child. 


The boy in the back moved his leg, kicking blue and black Nike trainers as the opposite side of the car as he rested his feet down, "It's pretty comfy." He smiled again at Claire, then moved to look towards the front, "I thought handguns were illegal in the U.K." 


"Yeah. They are." Bella replied, keeping her eyes on the road. There was some Australian kid who had been doing god knows what in the back of her car and she didn't know what to do with him. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to get in a car with strangers?" 


"Eh." The teen shrugged and went into his pocket, fishing out a phone to start tapping away at, "Probably at some point."