Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

[Yoki]

Lorn's eyes fluttered around the battlefield, seemingly quicker than any of his allies. Claire's words were what finally triggered it. He'd noticed how this burly, childish, dove had acted. He always looked upset, yet he followed through with what he was told. When Caleb yelled at him he apologised and dropped Dane without finishing him off, when Claire yelled he stopped attacking the kakuja in front of him and told her he wouldn't hurt him...until Caleb had torn them to little pieces... That was her exactly command. The glance back to the man on the ground that Daryl looked ready to split the skull of sealed the deal. This guy... 


Soft? Daryl grunted at the mention of the word. Yeah, they wished. He walked forwards, pulling his leg back and then hurling it forwards towards the man's stomach. Soft... No, he'd done quite the opposite. He'd just never brought these people on a mission so dangerous before. They didn't know him. 


"Business." He snorted, "That's all." Both of his tendrils positioned themselves above the other man's head, "Oh, you dunno how fucking long I've waited to do this." Knowing that he had to get to Caleb, Daryl decided not to waste any more time. "Battlefield's a vicious one." He added, "Sorry we gotta destroy ya. Actually...I'm not fucking sorry at all, bastard." With those last words spoke, the ghoul's kagune barrelled towards the dove's head. He was attempting to take him out, and quickly. 


Caleb didn't even seem to notice the change in the dove's actions, the minute he'd been given the chance he'd struck at him with everything, ploughing into him, knocking them both over, just like Dane had done. Except...this was a lot more vicious. Caleb had grabbed at anything, struck at the larger male was his kagune, he'd scratched and gripped, and grappled until he sat on top of the other, keeping him down. There was blood all over him, but...whether it was his own or the man's beneath him you couldn't tell... After all, they were both going to be covered in it by this point. 


There was a giggle as Caleb's kagune snapped at the investigator's body, almost as if threatening to kill him, but deciding to avoid it for the time being. The boy's hands had moved to grip the other's clothing, however, they were trying to rip through to skin as well. Through the violent struggle it seemed Caleb's mask had come off slightly, revealing part of his grinning mouth. He didn't seem to waste this opportunity, grabbing at his opponent's arm and biting down into muscle, hard. Caleb was angry, upset, and obviously anything but himself. The taste of flesh just seemed to make him giddy, not distressed him like it usually did. He'd happily have ripped the man's whole arm off. 


"Aaron." Lorn place his hands behind his back, his voice sharp and stern, but his face showing quite the opposite expression. He was relaxed, intrigued, amused...this was too interesting. "What are you doing? Get up. Subdue him." Now this was fun, Claire and everyone else might not get what he was doing...or why he was throwing orders, but he understood perfectly. Too perfectly.

 

[yaint]

The white-haired man laughed at Daryl, and it was the last sound that he would ever make. In a second, those scorpion-like tails tore through him and his smile had been split open. He was gone, and without his instruction the man named Aaron was lost.


Frightened green eyes darted to the left and right when hands clawed at his body. He wanted desperately to push away, to save himself and reclaim the praise he longed for. But he could not and would not move. Not against Caleb, not now. It wasn't okay.


Or... Was it?


"What'cha doin'?" Claire asked again. Her little hands held on to his shoulder and shool it backwards and forth. "What's happenin'? Who are ya talking to, Lorn, I don't get it. I don't... Oh."


Apparently, Claire did not need to understand. Aaron had heard the command, and suddenly the glow of life returned to his eyes. "Yes, Sir," he said. It was okay to push Caleb now. So he did; he grabbed the boy's arm with his own bloodied and torn one and flipped him around just like he had done with Dane. 


Claire shook Lorn harder. "Oh! Oh no, what's he doin'?" 


"Please... Don't be angry," Aaron begged, moments before he cupped his hands together and slammed them down against Caleb's head. That hit would have knocked him out cold for a while, providing he had not used too much force. But even knowing that there would be no response, Aaron leaned in and told Caleb, "I'm sorry, Sir."

 

[Yoki]

"Dick." Daryl pulled his kagune away, kicking the man's lifeless corpse once more, before turning just in time to watch the other investigator knock Caleb over the head and onto the floor on...Lorn's order. "HEY! WHAT THE FUCK MAN?" He yelled as Caleb helped and dropped down, unconscious, "THE HELL YOU DOING?" 


"Chill out would you?" Lorn walked away from Claire, ignoring Daryl's petty arguing and kneeling beside Caleb to feel if he still had a pulse. "He'll be fine for gods sake." Of course, he didn't want to kill Caleb or anything, he just didn't want Caleb to kill Aaron. For a moment he was silent, checking the male on the ground out, "When's the last time he fought?" He asked, but didn't get an answer, "Obvious displays of strength...but totally out of practice. He was still nervous, totally didn't want to do any of that... Made him easy to beat." Lorn looked up, meeting green eyes and grunting, "Can totally tell he's suicidal. You're probably lucky." After that, he stood himself up and dusted off, "He'll be up soon enough. Shouldn't have been that damaging." 


Now... The boy turned to the man he'd just ordered to knock Caleb out, he walked over calmly, hands behind his back. It was definitely odd, watching a young ghoul child walk up to a beaten up, extremely dangerous investigator, but he didn't even look worried. He was completely relaxed. "Hi." Standing and  looking over to the male, Lorn said that single word, then he stayed silent for a moment and extended his hand towards the human...'human'... "My name's Lorn. Aaron, correct?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead he continued, "I hope you don't mind me saying, but you're extraordinary, if you don't mind, I'd like to be friends." 


"Lorn...are you fucking crazy, we're not here to make fucking friends with investigators, kill the bastard." Daryl interjected, moving towards Dane to help him out whilst he had the chance. 


"Maybe later." Lorn waved him off, which earned him a scowl, "I got something to do first." 


"If you don't fucking do it right now, I will. The dickhead hurt Caleb and almost killed Dane, what the fuck? I'll kill you if you take their side." 


"I'm not taking any fucking sides, calm down." With a sigh, Lorn rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Aaron, "I need you to do something for me." He said, quickly and urgently, "Don't listen to anyone but me inside this facility. My word is law, they're all telling you the wrong thing. If you agree, I can tell you the right thing to do, and no one good has to get hurt." Now that he'd worked this guy out, this was worth a shot...see if he'd be utterly loyal or not... They had just met after all. "It's a weird question, but are you hungry? I kinda stole chocolate bars and then realised I couldn't eat them so...just say..." 

 

[yaint]

It was almost robotic, the way Aaron watched the battle of two kinds of logic. His eyes slid to the right to observe the way Daryl's mouth moved, then back to the left when Lorn's figure approached. Some form of thought was occurring inside his head, but it was difficult to pinpoint what. 


When a hand extended towards him, it took a moment for Aaron to decide that he would take it. He removed his bloodied palm from the tattered flesh on his arm and shook vigorously. "You can call me your friend, Sir," he agreed, although his voice did catch mid-sentence. "You can call me anything you want. My name is Aaron Andrew Wren."


"Um, you guys?" Claire was stood very stiffly, now that she was alone. "I... I can hear somethin' going on up ahead, I can. We ought'a go an' find Diana and the like."


Aaron shifted uncomfortably, but he found himself rising to his feet. "I am hungry," he dared not lie, "But I don't mind, I really don't. Sir, what shall I do?"

 

[Yoki]

"Aaron Andrew Wren." Lorn thought about it for a moment and then laughed to himself, "Your name spells 'aaw', fits." His grin stayed on his face, but his eyes made him look deep in though, almost like he was calculating something, not staring at anything in particular. Then they locked onto Aaron again. "I'd give you a full name as well, but where I come from, we don't get that kind of luxury." With a snort and a wink he let go of the other's hand and turned around. Expecting some kind of backlash from Daryl at some point. 


"You're fucking insane kid." Daryl muttered to himself as he picked up Dane, although he wasn't arguing with this...that man was better listening to Lorn than anyone else. "I don't know what you did...but I don't wanna fucking know." 


"I didn't do anything." The younger male replied, shrugging and digging a chocolate bar out of his pocket, chucking it back to Aaron, "I didn't need to." His gaze shifted to Claire and he nodded, putting his hands in his pockets as he started to walk off down the hallway again. This was starting to get interesting, he'd just managed to acquire an investigator side kick, which was fun, and he was strong as fuck. This wasn't how he expected things to go, but it was definitely more entertaining. 


Hearing his side-kick ask what he should do, Lorn waved a hand at him, "Pick up Caleb I guess, we're moving and I don't think they'd like it if we left him behind. That's...the guy you just knocked out by the way." He continued to walk, "And just remember what I said." 

 

[yaint]

"Will do, Sir." Most people would have questioned Lorn's motives for his unconventional choices. Ordering a man to attack the weak and then immediately rescue them was not ordinary, after all, but still Aaron made no comment. He took obediently took the chocolate bar, wrenched his trident from its place embedded in the wall and slid down to take Caleb's weight.


Although he looked incredibly awkward carrying both a boy and his weapon, everyone was ready and Aaron's movements had not become any more sluggish. Claire kept cooing at Lorn, "Ain't we gonna kill the dove?" despite the fact that an odd feeling inside of her already said 'no'. There was little point in waiting for an answer. So she simply took Lorn's hand, pulled him closer to the group and then leaned in towards Dane's face. "So, Dane... You're not dead or nothin'?"


*


"You all back there!" one of the ghouls roared from up ahead. "Hurry up, we think we've found a control room!"

 

[Yoki]

Lorn knew that people wouldn't get his actions, but they didn't need to get them, they just needed to trust them...because they were the fun decisions. He knew what he was doing, whether others realised it or not. So he kept hold of Claire's hand without comment and continued to follow her. 


"Oh! Aaron!" He called back as Claire pulled at him, "Also don't bother with all that 'sir' shit, we don't do that here. You know my name, use it." With that he simply laughed and continued onwards.


"Not yet kiddo." Dane grunted, "Though sure feel like it." Honestly, he was hurting like hell, and he knew that this wasn't something that would go away as quickly as he wanted it to. 


"You were a fucking idiot." Daryl muttered, "Running into a fucking enemy like that, what were you think?" 


"I was thinking 'gee, I wonder how many people won't get hurt if I do this.' Don't tell me you didn't think about it too." Dane was quick to fire back at Daryl, sighing afterwards.


"It's not the same. We're different." 


"Yeah, you're right. You would have been too slow." 


There was nothing Daryl could say to that, Dane was right...he'd saved people and he definitely didn't seem to regret it. "How's Caleb?" The man asked, unable to get a look at the boy from where he was.


"Fine. He'll be good when he wakes up." Daryl replied, "You never told me he-" Just as the man was about to discuss Caleb being a kakuja someone called them from up ahead, they...had the control room already? Damn... "Alright!" He called, looking at the little group that had stayed behind, "Everyone go up ahead, I'll be there soon." 


"Gotcha." Lorn nodded, pulling Claire's arm as he started to run, "C'mon Aaron, we've got things to do!" 

 

[yaint]

"Lorn... They're arguin' again," Claire commented between hoarse, scratchy breaths. Those gas masks could only do so much to filter the air, which was so thick with white smoke that it looked like milk. Coughs from nearby fighters rang out from somewhere invisible behind the blanket of fog. Everyone was struggling now, and Claire could only squeeze Lorn's hand more tightly and run along by his side.


Unsurprisingly, Aaron did not need to be told twice what to do. "On my way, Lorn," he said with confidence, despite the way his new master's name rolled off his tongue at a strange angle. He was not used to saying it. But still he carried Caleb, keeping the boy high off the ground as the both of them disappeared into the corridor ahead.


*


It seemed like they had journeyed across a whole universe, but when faces finally loomed out of the darkness around them Claire realised that they had barely moved. Jackson was nearby. His face was bloodied from a nasty cut to the temple. He had bloodstains so thick on his shirt that it looked as though at least three men had bled out wearing it. It was almost unnoticeable, but his bony ankle had been struck as well, with little strands of woven fibre circling the area where somebody might as well have blown a hole in his leg.


"You made it," the bespectacled man wheezed. He had to wipe the lenses of his glasses to see Lorn's face. "Wh- wait, where's Dane? Is that... Is that C-Caleb?"


"Yes, Sir," Aaron confirmed. Naturally, Jackson began stammering more questions, but he was quickly cut off when the freckly-faced investigator said, "I remember you!"


That shut Jackson up for a moment. He exchanged a long stare with Aaron, but when somebody clapped in their faces he snapped out of his trance. "No time to chat," the ghoul insisted, "We need to disable the security system. Guys are breaking into the control room now, I think... They're - actually just about done."


To finish that statement, there was a distant crash and a cheer of glee. People started disappearing again, but Jackson could not take his eyes off the late arrivals.

 

[Yoki]

"Oh?" Lorn looked between Aaron and Jackson before raising an eyebrow, "You two know each other?" He questioned, giving neither a chance to respond, "That's Aaron, he's my new friend and we're gonna go to that control room now to see what's up." After motioning to Aaron with his thumb, the boy put his hand back in his pocket and continued to walk, "Feel free to join us if you want. Claire! Come on." He tugged twice at the girl's hand, grinning underneath his gas mask. 


"Kid tamed him or something." Daryl muttered in explanation, "Dunno how, says he did nothing. Ripped Dane up though, then Caleb went crazy..." He sighed, "Basically they have a lot of fucking explaining to do, but let's get outta here alive and worry about that later." 


The control room was obviously where  Jackson wanted to be, and if they didn't sort this out now they'd get overrun. They had to get there.


"Oh yeah," Daryl added, "Also I'm borrowing your wheelchair for reasons." 


* 


The group approached the control room with Jackson held by Daryl and Dane in the wheelchair that Jackson had once been in, it was a much better way of doing things... At least then they'd be able to still utilise Dane's strengths somehow. 


"Yo, what's going on?" Daryl walked up to the door, fog clouding some of his vision, waiting for a response. 


"Who knows, lets just go inside." Lorn suggested with a sigh, "C'mon, don't be wimps." 

 

[yaint]

Jackson's petty hatred had taken itself so far by this point that he was beginning to wonder if there was a way to make himself feel heavier. He agreed that it was a better idea for Dane to take his wheelchair, but to just be thrown onto this guy's back with barely a second of warning... If any of them got out of this rescue mission alive, he would make sure Daryl died listening to his complaints.


For the sake of speed, Claire had taken the responsibility of pushing Dane from behind. "Oh, I bet it's like gettin' a free ride on one of them roller coasters," she thought out loud with a sigh as everyone piled into a tiny room made almost invisible by its position on a corner.


The fog cleared once everybody was inside. Jackson craned his head around to try and get a good view of all the strange blinking lights flashing green, orange and red through the darkness. For a moment, Claire disappeared from Dane's side to flick a huge switch which turned out to be the lights. 


There it was. A huge control panel lined with numbers and a screen up at the front. There was a chair in front of the table. 


"Let me sit down there," Jackson demanded to Daryl, deliberately tightening his grip around the man's shoulders. "Someone get my my wallet - it's in my b-back pocket somewhere, it's urgent. There are gonna be more investigators here any second now, this is our one shot."

 

[Yoki]

"Not quite kid." Dane chuckled, he didn't mind being in Jackson's wheelchair for the time being, but he'd rather have had access to his legs... The man kept looking back to Caleb, who still lay unconscious in Aaron's arms. That kid didn't deserve that, he didn't deserve any of this...but...Dane knew that if he woke up he'd have to fight again, and...he'd do it, learning from his mistake. 


"Yeah, yeah, fucking calm down." Daryl muttered, practically dropping Jackson's into the chair and then mumbling something under his breath. He hates carrying that guy. "Can you hurry it up?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking towards the doors, "They'll kill us before we get out..." For another moment or so he stood, but his impatient nature took over and the man decided to go outside, just in case anyone else came to visit them whilst their makeshift king was hard at work. "Always the servant, Jester, always the servant." He muttered to himself, shaking his head. That'd change. 


"What's all of this then?" Lorn had also approached the control panel, laying a hand on the buttons but pressing one of them, "Hmph. You know how to use this?" He asked Jackson, just as someone had grabbed the man's wallet and handed it over to him. "Seems complicated." The boy's fingers were tapping at the table, but he kept his eyes on Jackson, he was expecting their leader to know more than him by the looks of things.


"I'll join Daryl." Diana called out, walking out of the room, she didn't know what it was about that Lorn kid...but she couldn't spend too long in a room with him, his face...it reminded her of someone. Someone this opportunity might give her the chance to stab once and for all.

 

[yaint]

Without even looking back, Jackson snatched the wallet and slid from its pockets a card. It boasted the CCG's logo, his name - even his lowly rank, the one he abandoned months ago, was printed on this card of identification.


"Ooh, what'cha got there?" Claire asked. She learned forwards and rather uncomfortably wrapped her arms around the top of the wheelchair, forgetting for a moment that there was a person sitting in it. "That a credit card?"


"Better be blacklisted," Jackson muttered under his breath. It wasn't an answer. He kept circling two small, cylindrical magnets together on his old ID, and every few seconds he would insert the card into a little slot next to the control panel. Then, when nothing happened, he would swipe it back in between his fingers and hissed, "Not yet."


Seconds unravelled into minutes. People twitched anxiously in their places, looked through the crack in the door. Everyone's muscles were tensed in readiness, and not one more person spoke. 


Then, out of nowhere, "I'm in!" Jackson leaned forwards. "I - I did it, I got past the security."


"Huh?" Claire grunted.


"It think I'm an investigator," he elaborated, then pushed his glasses up his nose. The reflection of the map on the screen flickered on his glass lenses. "Th-the access is very limited. I can't see which floor Adrian's on, but... Just- just give me a second. I'll see if I can shut anything down from here."

 

[Yoki]

"Hmph. Nice." Lorn watched Jackson casually, but after awhile he moved to look at other things, bored of the man. Well...until he said he couldn't see what floor 'Adrian' was on. That had to be who they were looking for. "How important is he?" Lorn asked, spinning around on his heels, "I mean, to them, not you, and how dangerous is he?" If Jackson could give him that...he might be able to approximate where the male might be. 


He couldn't say he wasn't interested in this Adrian character, they'd gone to all of this length just to get him back... Either he was very dangerous, very important, or...someone ordered this. He supposed people could have easily agreed because of their own agendas, but it definitely seemed like a stretch for one person. What made him so special?


"Heads up everyone!" Daryl called in, "Doves incoming." People had immediately started chattering after that and moving out of the room to go and protect Jackson. If doves got in it would be a problem and they were all aware of it. Everything had to be fired at their enemies, even if they could kill them, they had to defend. 


"Aaron, stay in here, okay?" Lorn smiled at the man, then turned back to Jackson, he wasn't even bothered by the fact that they could get trapped in the room by a pack of investigators. "So, as I was saying..." 

 

[yaint]

It was as if Jackson had not even heard the question; the words passed him by, triggering no reaction but a moment of pause at the mention of Adrian's name. He just kept tapping at those keys, sweeping his gaze across the screen and looking almost like he knew what he was doing, almost like he could have belonged here. 


Luckily for Lorn, Claire interrupted briefly to give her input, as she always did. "Humph... It's hard to say, it is. Adrian doesn't look so strong, but everyone 'round here, Daryl an' the like, reckon he is, maybe. Adrian's a real interestin' fella, y'know. One of them one-eye jobs and everything."


"I will stay here, Lorn." Aaron clapped the butt of his trident against the tiled floor just as shouts began to rise around them. Claire held on to Dane from behind so that he would not get pushed into the open, but being in the control room didn't save his face from catching a splatter of someone else's blood. 


Jackson did not even so much as glance behind him. His eyebrows glistened with sweat, and he had his elbows stretched out. "Come on," he urged, like he was resorting to a prayer to make this system respond. There was no time to look, not a moment to spend thinking about anything other than this infiltration.


'Three,' the computer counted.


Time wore on. Jackson swallowed hard and forced himself to count with the computer. "Two," he read out loud. "One..."


"Uh oh," said Claire. Her eyes flashed red as a warning to the investigator who just tried to shoot Lorn dead from a fortunately terrible angle. 


"Zero."


The lights above them flashed red. More suppressant gas hissed through the vents, filling the air and choking all those who breathed it. Claire grabbed at her gas mask and started flapping at the space in front of its filters. Something had gone wrong, and it looked like the system knew it.


Jackson, however, was almost alight with electric energy. "I don't know what that was, but something just switched off," he admitted, voice quivering with anticipation. "It might be the cells. "

 

[Yoki]

It was interesting to watch Jackson play with the system, but it wasn't so interesting when the lights turned red and they were engulfed in white smoke. Lorn had payed no mind to the investigator that had tried to shoot him, as he seriously didn't care for the bullet that hadn't touched him, but he did care about what Jackson had just done. He wasn't worried, he just cared about it was all, it was exciting.


"If you shut off the cells," Lorn started, wafting his arm in the air to clear some of the gas, "It's likely they have systems in place that are meant to defend against the ghouls that are released and the possible ghouls that released them. These people aren't stupid, come on, I thought that would be obvious." Crossing his arms, he laughed, "You better hope you didn't put the whole place on lock down." 


The boy pushed himself away away from the table and looked out of the door where everyone else had found investigators to fight, "Now...if you'll excuse me, I have someone to go and deal with." It was obvious he was referring to the person who had shot at him not too long ago, they couldn't be too far away, "And Jackson, I can't be certain it will apply here if you just opened the doors...but if you managed to shut off power of any kind their emergency generators will kick in. We probably don't have a lot of time." 


"If he's telling the truth then we need to get moving." Dane butted in, "There's so many areas to get to, we've got to get out too..." He was obviously a little worried about the mission being a failure, but they'd signed up for this knowing it was dangerous...they just had to do their best to make sure it didn't flop completely now. 


*


"Hear that? I think they're getting closer." 


"Nn..." 


"I haven't seen Jacky in months! Is he any different now Ada? ... They must really love you y'know... Silly boy." 

 

[yaint]

Lines of indecipherable text flashed across the screen; numbers, symbols, all of it clearly in some kind of order that somebody else understood. Knowing some code did not save Jackson here. He tapped urgently at what appeared to be the 'display' button, and the numbers changed. They looked more like English, more understandable. He pressed the button again... And everything went dark.


The large screen switched off first, abruptly, after buzzing with static for a moment. Those blinking, colourful lights kept the room illuminated for about half a second after the main lights lost their power. Someone outside yelled, 'What in God's gracious-!?' and the sounds of battle halted.


"Power's out," Jackson said numbly. With a hand he swivelled his chair around to look at Lorn, but his weak human eyes saw nothing. Still, rubbing the beard on his face, he nodded in agreement. "And... You're- you're right. We probably have thirty minutes b-before it comes back on, if we're lucky. The doves won't be able to see in this light. If we can find where Adrian is, we can... We can break him out of his cell."


"Where d'you think he'll be?" Claire butted in again, but this time her voice was not quite so sturdy and lilted. There was some undertone of seriousness there suddenly, and she could not help but sweep her head from side to side, sniffing around for approaching humans. 

 

[Yoki]

"AARON!" Lorn called rather casually, "We're leaving now, it got dark. C'mon." Just after he spoke there was a scream that seemed to come from his general direction, though...he was out of view in the dark now, as well as out of the room. "Shoot me a-fucking-gain." The boy muttered to himself, "I dare you." 


"Fuck did you do Jackson!?" Daryl snapped as he removed himself from battle and moved into the room, even for him it was dark...he wanted the lights to come back on already, it was much easier to fight when they could see what was coming. 


"He turned the power out." Dane muttered, "No time Daryl, just get everyone to open as many cells as possible. Claire, come on, we're going." Even Dane was starting to get a little more worried about this matter, they had a limited amount of time, getting as many people out as possible to help them should be priority. 


"Yeah, yeah I got it." The younger of the two men walked over to the chair Jackson was sitting in and picked him up, "Here." He muttered, thrusting his phone into Jackson's hand, "You're lucky I'm not cheap. No sim, but still got a flashlight on it. So fucking use it. Let's go." 


*


"That's the power huh? ... Lucky I have this with me, don'tcha think? Awww...they're coming, I wonder how many... This should be fun, enjoy it, okay?" 

 

[yaint]

Again like a clockwork soldier, Aaron's body awoke at the sound of his master's voice. "Yes, Lorn," he said. The trident slid easily into his palms and tilted towards the shadows. Barely even squinting, he marched through the darkness, shouldering Caleb's weight on his back, and passed easily through the knot of investigators fumbling blindly around for a hand-hold.


Claire started to follow them both out by herself; she felt as though she were naked and vulnerable without Lorn's hand around her wrist, and instinct told her to run after him. Only after she had left the room did she remember to come back for Dane. "Whoops," she said with a meek grin. "I almost forgot 'bout you, I did, but then I didn't. Don't think the doves can see anythin' but let's go fast. Put your arms away, I'll push ya."


"Yeah, and I can't see a damn thing..." The strength of Jackson's grip on Daryl was almost crushing, but his clumsy fingers kept losing their hold on the phone. "Move your head, Daryl, it's in the - wait, n-nevermind. I got it. Let's go, follow the light!"


*


"Claire! You got Dane?"


"Aye-aye!" Claire yipped back at Jackson. "So where's we goin'? Lorn?"


Feet shuffled somewhere nearby. Someone cried out and then the noises stopped. It looked like the fight was still on even in the dark, and the presence of a light source was drawing investigators to Daryl's group like moths to a flame. A couple of times Claire had to tear a spine from her kagune and take somebody out before they could get to the more vulnerable fighters in front.


"Guys..." One of the ghouls called back. Claire stopped in her tracks and leaned forwards over Dane's shoulder. Jackson clapped his wrist against Daryl's chest and squinted into the little circle of light coming from the phone. Something was wrong. "The lift's out. We've got to use the stairs."


"Do they have stairs?" asked Claire.


Jackson swallowed. "They have to. Come on, Daryl - p-pick up the pace. We haven't got long."

 

[Yoki]

"Shit you're kidding..." Daryl hissed, turning his head to the side. He guessed he'd have to get some of the others to carry Dane and the wheelchair... This was going to be a pain to deal with... No elevator meant that they could get into a lot of shit. 


"Claire." He turned to the girl and then looked to the man she'd been pushing, "Let go of that now, we'll get someone to carry him, go ahead with Lorn." After that he'd quickly grabbed two stronger looking ghouls, one to carry Dane, and the other to grab the wheelchair he'd been sitting in. What a pain in the ass... 


Diana had appeared and rounded up a group too, they'd agreed to stay on the floor to deal with the investigators there whilst everyone they could spare went down onto the other levels. According to the woman, they were going to try and open as many of the doors as they could, get as much more help as they possible could. 


"Aaron, follow us." Lorn was quick to call, although he wasn't moving down the stairs at quite the pace that the others were. Instead he was walking, enjoying the panic around him. "Hey Claire, you said this guy was a one-eyed freak right?" He looked down, jumping two steps, "Can see why there's the desire to keep him...Hm..." 


*


"Do you hear them Ada? I hear them... I set up all these pretty lights, I hope everyone likes them. Jacky'll like them, and he'll like seeing you even more! Oh! That's them...I think that's them Ada... You ready?" 

 

[yaint]

"Well, I dunno. Lee calls 'em a freak. An' a creep, an' a weirdo. He ain't so strange, I don't think, but he's definitely a one-eye. I fought with him before an' saw it." Claire's lips parted in a grin barely visible beneath that gas mask, but somewhere behind the clear plastic her yellowed teeth caught the flashlight's glow. Being free of Dane's weight ended the sluggishness with which she walked, and now the girl was almost leaping down ten steps at a time to impress the boy beside her. "Oh, an' I forgot to tell you," she blurted suddenly, "He's got my granny's kagune, too."


Watching the children compete for speed and airtime below him made Jackson nauseous. He hated stairs. Even when he could walk, gazing down long stairwells from a height that could break his neck always gave him vertigo... Being on Daryl's back did nothing to fix that. "Careful," he kept mumbling into the man's ear. "Watch your step - hey, watch it!"


"Are ya scared, Jackson?" Claire chirped upwards, a little too loudly.


Jackson was glad that nobody could see the sickly paleness in his face. "Well, you'd - you'd be a maniac n-not to be... Nobody knows what's down there."


"I do, Sir." Everyone paused for a moment. It had been the first time that Aaron had spoken without first being spoken to, but his words were clear. He tried to catch Jackson's eye, but of course Jackson was blind to all those stood outside his little pool of light. "Sir, I think the person you're looking for is on this floor. His name's Sanister, correct?"


"Y-yeah..."


Aaron beamed. "I escorted him to his cell when he came in. It's down here."


*


"Is he down here?"


"Shh."


"Wait... Stop. There are lights up ahead."


Jackson wrapped his arms more tightly around Daryl's torso and tugged back on his shoulders, as though he were reigning in a horse. "Daryl, hold up. Look, that's..."


The light from below pooled across the floor, making the shadows grow long and the walls appear frighteningly tall. Cells lined the outer side of the corridor, and in the centre of each one dwelled an unmoving figure. Their chests heaved with every breath. The chains on their wrists and ankles clattered as their bodies twitched. One of them suddenly whipped their head up, stared with a knife-sharp gaze at the group approaching from the staircase, and grinned.


"That girl," Jackson carried on, his voice barely a whisper in the still, heavy air, "She's just... S-sitting there. In front of that cell."

 

[Yoki]

"Nice." Lorn jumped a few more stairs, coming to the bottom of the staircase, this was the next floor down...and he was definitely intrigued by that light. He knew that there had to be someone over there, that someone was just waiting for them to enter this floor. It was dark, but those lights gave them power... All they had to do was lure whoever was down there away, right? "Claire." The boy nudged his friend, "Go to the side, start opening cells." He grinned, still staring forwards, "This is just about to get interesting." 


"Hm?" There was a sound from down the corridor as the girl illuminated by the lights raised her head, "Oh look. They're here!" Her voice was sing-song, light, she sounded like she was too excited to see these people. In seconds she'd jumped to her feet and hammered her small fist against the glass wall of the cell, "Did you hear that?" She asked the person inside, "They came, just like I said." There was a giggle, "You should have more faith!" 


After a few seconds of silence she pushed herself away from the cell wall and moved into the centre of the lights, her hands behind her back. As she did so her face was illuminated, golden hair flowed down her back, large, light blue eyes glistened as they stared on at the group of ghouls in front of her. She was short, didn't look like much of a threat, and her attitude was rather similar to that of an excitable child. 


"Hiya!" She called, waving a hand as another giggle escaped her, "I've been expecting you guys to come, is Jacky with you?" She squinted her eyes, leaning forwards on the balls of her feet, "He's the one who wants Ada right? If Jacky didn't come then what's the point..." A pout formed on her lips and her eyes fell to the ground as she thought about the possibility of the former investigator not showing up. "We've been waiting all this time after all..." 


The silence dragged on for a few moments as the girl made circles on the ground with the ball of her left foot, "No matter. It's not like you guys won't do. We can still have some fun, right?" Her head shot up, a grin forming on those thin lips of her's.

 

[yaint]

The strange girl waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase spoke childishly, but the facade of innocence did not save her from the oncoming party's aggression. Her words had barely reached the group's ears when a violent barrage of razor-sharp shards came whistling through the air, embedding themselves in the wall just inches away from her throat.


"D-don't even move, Lea! I'm right here!" Jackson's roar echoed through the hall, and out of nowhere his face painted itself into being just above Daryl's shoulder. The quinque on his arm pulsed and contracted, its powers exhausted after the attack, and its owner grimaced at the woman he had come so close to killing. "He's behind you, isn't he? Th-that's Adrian's cell!"


There was only so long Claire could spend gawking at Lea. She mumbled something to Lorn about her looking pretty for a human, and then leapt forth with her eyes fixed on the first door they could find. Today was not the day for questioning, retorting or frustrated foot-stomping; time was running out, and even she could keep that fact fresh on her mind.


The remaining ghouls slid down the staircase and joined their leaders at the bottom. Someone ordered for action, and the swarm broke. People lunged at doors, smashed at their mechanical locks with outstretched kagune or launched full kicks at their hinges. One broke open with a clang. Somebody roared in triumph, and several more crashes followed.


"D-Daryl," Jackson said, "Be careful, she's dangerous."

 

[Yoki]

"Oh!" The girl blinked a couple of times, before smiling and locking her eyes onto the figure on Daryl's back. "You are here!" She seemed to be radiating joy, which was definitely a strange reaction for a seemingly lone investigator to have around a bunch of ghouls. "Yeah...that's Ada, I dunno if he can hear you though." Walking up to the cell, she tapped on the glass again and bent down to pick something large up off of the ground. "I do regret to inform you that I've been told not to let you past, you turned on us right? When Ada got turned into a ghoul... So, we're on different sides now Jacky, sorry." With a shrug, she twirled the weapon now in her hands, it looked similar to an axe crossed with a mace. Two blades protruded from the sides, leaving a hard, solid head in the middle that would squash something easily with enough force. 


There was silence, but to fill that the girl tried to speak again, however, someone spoke over her... That seemed to make her less than happy. The swarm broke out and her weapon slammed down onto the ground, making a loud, threatening clanking noise, then she was off. The blonde had disappeared from the safety of her ring of lights, there was a scream, then a sickening crash, followed by the sound of fracturing glass as someone's head rolled along the ground. Although that wasn't all, another scream rang out, this time followed by several cracks, the the shattering of bones... Seconds later there was a thump, something heavy hit the ground. 


Lea returned to the safety of her lights and giggled, shaking her head, "You're all silly. Do you really think we'd let you take him Jacky? Nah... You've gotta make friends with us first." She hadn't moved, yet more screams rang out as blood splattered the walls, "Let's all make friends hm?" She redied her weapon once more, now the battle had really begun. 


"Yeah." Daryl was scowling, staring right back at the girl who had just taken out two of their allies like it was child's play. "We've met before..." 


"Aaron." Lorn's command was sharp as he turned to the larger male, he'd reached a door and wanted it opened, the best way to do that? Get your big, burly servant to knock it down. "Get into this for me would you? I got better things to do than kick down doors all day." 

 

[yaint]

Maybe the phrase 'she's dangerous' did not emphasise the kind of peril they were all facing with this woman. 'She's insane', or 'she's going to kill everyone' would have been more suitable statements to deliver. But it looked as though knowledge would not have helped them, anyway; every second there was the sound of another ribcage split open, another head sent rolling away. Lea was too quick a killer for anyone to even lift a finger in resistance.


"Kagune out," Jackson pleaded to Daryl, using his tiring arms to shake the man for his attention again. "Just mind my legs. I'll w- I'll watch your back - she's going to come back for us if we're heading for Adrian." Lea had left her post for the time being, but if she were as vigilant as she was nimble, they had barely seconds to reach Adrian and bust the lock. It was now or never... And both of them were probably going to fail, but Jackson knew that he would rather die trying than waste this chance to save his little brother.


*


"Yes, Lorn," Aaron said numbly. He was chewing on his lower lip, wringing his hands around his trident's pole. Something about the way he moved could have even been reluctant, but of course he carried out the order. Once he kicked the metal door. Its body shuddered and groaned. He kicked it again and the metal glinted around a dent. The third kick completely unhinged it, and there was a muted hiss as gas filled the crevices inside the locking mechanisms.


Somewhere behind the door's bent, rocking frame, that same figure from before heaved. Like every prisoner her hands and feet were bound together by rusted shackles, her hair silver-grey and slick with grease. But this woman did not loll her head and pretend to sleep in her seat; unlike those to her right and left, she rose on weakened, trembling legs to stand and gaze across at the boy who had ordered her release.


"You are a bit small for a superhero," the ghoul said in a strange accent which could not be easily placed in any one country. She licked her teeth, spread her lips in a grin and dragged her feet into the light.

 

[Yoki]

"Yeah, yeah." Daryl waved him off, however, those two dark appendages did appear from his lower back, circling around his sides. "Y'know I don't particularly feel like fucking dying to that brat. Not today." Lea, the girl currently wrecking havoc around them, was an opponent Daryl had fought against more than once... If he got the opportunity to kill her...he would, but if he didn't see that...he wouldn't waste his time. She'd take too much of it up. 


In seconds he'd ran into the lit up area and turned on his heels to face the glass that separated the silhouette laying on the ground and the two men basked in warm light. His kagune positioned to strike, Daryl narrowed his eyes, this was who Jackson had started this whole thing for... Like hell they were leaving without him. 


One. Two. His kagune struck at the large mechanism holding the door to the cell in place, the noise seemed to grab the attention of its inhabitant, but they didn't move much...just a slight tilt of what seemed to be their head. Again, he'd positioned to strike, but...it seemed that they'd used up their time...


The large weapon with the comparatively small girl on the other end of it crashed into the ground as Daryl jumped back. "Shit." 


"I told you." Lea hopped in between the cell and the man, waving her weapon to create space, "I can't let you take him. I can't believe you brought Jester of all people! How did you guys meet?! A bar or something?" She laughed, "S'pose it doesn't matter now, I've gotta get rid of you both after all." 


"Ain't she just fucking pleasant..." Daryl muttered, he had to find somewhere to put Jackson down...otherwise he was never winning this. 


*


"Eh." The blue haired boy shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, "Early start I guess." The grin on his face as he stared at this woman said it all, "You're a bit old t'be all the way down here. I thought these floors were reserved for 'important' prisoners." After saying his last sentence, he moved away from the door and turned to Aaron, chucking something over to him. "Good job, here, have another chocolate bar, and see if you can get those shackles off of her." 


This new ghoul was already intriguing, something inside of Lorn wanted to learn more...but he could wait just a little while, after all, they did have a slaughter on their hands right now. Maybe that should be more important...or...everyone else could deal with it and he could do whatever the hell he wanted. Yeah. That sounded like more fun.