Los Niños de Izanami: Culminación

Horrors and Nightmares, a Dark Truth Revealed
"In my years, I have witnessed and experienced pain of nearly all degrees."

At her desk, Avaron sat with a lit cigarette in her mouth and a paper in her hands. Her narrowed eyes scanned over its contents with a slightly frustrated look. Though she appeared to be skimming, she was actually taking in every word written on the sheet. After several seconds of reading, she put the paper down and gave a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. She lowered her head, keeping her pose for a minute.

"I have seen the mother hold her child as it died in her arms. I've seen my own comrades get slaughtered like animals on the field. War displayed every bit of it to me without regret or mercy, and I've somehow managed to push myself through it all and still keep strong. But I've never seen or experienced something so fucked up as this. I thought it to be nothing more than some faux religion that could be ignored. But it's true... every bit of it is true... and it's coming into fruition."

Slowly, she reached underneath her desk to pull out an HCA-50 Kidō Pistol, placing it within its respective sheath and standing up.

"I can accept that..."

She placed her hands in her pockets, calmly walking out the door.

"But I never knew that it was the fellow student I trained beside that caused it. Well... maybe I did, but I never thought it would turn out to be this way. Oh, well... serves me right for getting my hopes up."

"Let's get this over with..." She muttered, her cigarette flitting around in her mouth as she made her way towards the office of Taka Nakanome.

"-DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?!" Taka's voice reverberated his office, as a thin cloud of smoke gathered and hovered around eye level, as he had been smoking and hadn't stopped since he came to his office, making a number of calls and looking over a large strategic layout map of Yuurei Okouku.

There was a lapse of silence as Taka heard the caller's response, before he slammed a fist into his desk, nearly indenting his knuckles into the cheap countertop, "I don't give a Damn about morale! Where the hell did the ENEMY go?! You don't surround and bombard an entire city then just leave! I want a report on this ASAP! Do you hear me?!"

After a brief line of response, Taka slammed his phone onto the reciever so that it rang out in a nearly painful sound, roaring out, "DAMMIT TO HELL!"

"Holy hell, Taka. What did Lady Luck do to piss you off?"

The door had opened up, revealing Avaron casually leaning against the doorway. Her arms were folded across her chest and her legs were crossed, a casually neutral expression on her face. Her cigarette was at the corner of her mouth, the smoke trailing into the sky. From the "do you mean" to the slamming of the phone", she had heard him vent frustrations out on an unfortunate subordinate. But by now, it wasn't new news to her.

"This whole war fucked up," Taka ran his gloved hand through his hair as he slumped onto his worn and weathered leather chair, leaning against it as he grabbed his halfway smoked cigarette from the ash tray to take another whiff, as he had already a good dozen stubs resting on them, three of them fresher than the rest, "I fight a enemy who's sole purpose is to create a utopia, something every f'ing being desires, but in order to do that, they have to F'ing kill this city. Why?! The Hell I should know!"

He then turned and swiveled over to look at Avaron with his single eye, slightly glimmering with yellow light with the built-in optic on his left eye, before taking the cig and pointing his forefingers offhandedly at her, "and you know somethin else screwed up? Not only has nearly every FREAKING Sector has taken casualties in sense or another, leaving Commander Sonoda's of Sector 3's completely free of casualties, but the enemy suddenly decided to play hide-&-F'ing-seek!"

"Yeah..." The smile faded from Avaron's face at the mention of Kenta. She closed her eyes and sighed, pushing herself from the doorway. However, she still kept her spot. "I've heard about the sudden enemy retreat by my own subordinates. Normally, I would be taken by surprise by this sudden and illogical change of tactics, but under these circumstances..." She took a look behind her. "Have you been outside recently?"

"Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten," Taka began as he swiveled his chair over to his drawn down shades, promptly pulling it down once before letting it roll up, showing a perfect view of the unholy "crosses" in the distance, "I have a fan-f'ing-tastic view of a giant obilisk that looks like it was shipped straight from Hell's post office! Though I'm pretty sure all we need now is a mountain of corpses, some fire and brimstone, and we got Armageddon!"

Taka let his arms fall to his sides before sighing, turning around to look at Avaron fully with a serious disposition now, crossing his arms, "Honestly, Avaron, I thought this was going to be some sort've sacrilidgeous "Holy War" that the humans had during their crusades. They'd come in, wage their petty crusade with their countless minions until they gave up and realized their gods aren't real. Now after the things I've seen and the stuff that's been happening...I dunno," he puffed another cloud of smoke into the air, before reengaging eye contact with his superior and comrade, asking her in a tired voice, "was there some more bad news you wanted to tell me, asides the obvious new view out my window?"

"Extremely bad news." Closing the door behind her, Avaron walked towards one of the chairs in front of the desk and sat down, folding her hands in her lap. "The entire underground shelter has been turned into an executing ground. I just got word that some members of Sector 3 have been slaughtering civilians and using the underground shelter as a means to escape the watch of the rest of our sectors. As of now, the population of the capital city's been reduced to nothing more than dozens."

"No....," Taka turned deathly pale, slumping down onto his chair, his pupil dialated and unnerved as he asked almost incredulously out loud, "no, why? WHY?!" Almost within a instant an enraged fist smashed through his desk as he stood up, his nostrils flared and his eye burned a deadly golden hue, "WHO GAVE THAT ORDER?! HOW DID SECTOR THREE GET PAST SECURITY WITHOUT US KNOWING?!"

"The same way Sector 3 recieved no casualties." Avaron's eyes narrowed into slits, her eyebrows slanting downward in her own quiet fury. She closed them, continuing to explain in a calm yet vehement manner. "As much as I hate to admit it... Kenta was the one who gave the order to kill them all. It was a move made to summon this damned hell on our city and assist the Ahijados. They may have fled, knowing that their goal was already accomplished...."

"...Or they're waiting to come in when our guard is down and raze the city in preparation of their F'ing utopia, dammit!" Taka snarled as he began pacing back and forth, fury boiling within him. Everyone he fought to protect, everything he saccrificed for, everything he swore to defend...dead and murdered no less by the same men who swore the oath and took up the badge of Overwatchmen.

With a loud yell, Taka lifed up his broken desk and threw it at the wall with one heave, huffing and puffing with uncontrollable wrath within himself, "Where's Sonoda?! Where is he, Avaron?!" He glared indirectly at her eyes, as he raised his hands up into clenched fists, as his eye glowed hotly, "I want to make him suffer a thousand times over for this horror he's allowed to happen!"

That was something Avaron had not been expecting.

SMASH!

Her eyes widened in shock as Taka hurled the desk into the wall, her mind having not registered the reckless move. However, once she saw Taka breathing uncontrollably, her leadership instincts kicked in. "Taka, get a grip!" She snapped in a scolding manner, bringing herself to stand up from the chair she was sitting in. "We do not act out of revenge, but justice! No matter what happens, we go by the book and the book only! Do you understand me?!" For a moment, she fixed a stern glare into his unique eye-sight, folding her arms across her chest.

She couldn't have one of her best men fly off the handle like this - not when she needed him.

"By the F'ing book?! Haven't you noticed, Captain?!" He waved a hand towards the window in emphasized exasperation, as he continued to yell out, "an ENTIRE Overwatch was perverted by Sonoda's psychotic inclinations of manslaughter and world destruction! Everyone of them went as far as you know "by the book" until now! We lost the city's populace save our current military and police forces, and we don't know what will happen to them when they learn their families and loved ones have been slaughtered by our OWN comrades!"

"And flipping your lid's going to help any?! Killing Kenta isn't going to bring any of them back!! The damage has already been done!! I know that!!" Avaron angrily retorted, gritting her teeth as she felt fury and self-loathing thanks to his words. She remained silent for a moment more, maintaining a vicious glare into her subordinate's eyes for several seconds. It seemed like she was ready to start an argument right then and there with Taka.

However, her expression immediately faltered. She calmly turned her head and body away from him, reaching into her pocket and spitting out a cigarette. "I came here because I need your personal help. As of now, no one else knows of Kenta's betrayal but you and me. If word of this gets out... chaos will ensue. I've already been through two Civil Wars. I don't want another." In her other hand, she had a lighter with its flame already lit. She stuck the cigarette end to the fire, looking over her shoulder solemnly.

"Kenta's position's at 117 Brooklyn Road, and he's maintaining a sniping position along with his own personal patrol. I want you to come with me so that we can corner and apprehend him."

Taka's breathe hitched as he saw his superior yell back, clearly feeling just as guilty and sickened with what had transpired. His eye lost some of the vigorous vengeful glow and his merely sagged slightly, a long sigh ensued as he heard her words, before locking eyes with her again in understanding.

"What about the Captains or the Soul Reapers? Don't you think we should get some backup in the event he escapes?" Taka asked with a note of caution, knowing that including people in the loop would be dangerous, but in the situation they were in he wouldn't want Kenta to escape. Not when he would pay for all the horrible atrocities he's committed.

"He's not going to escape." Avaron said simply, a cold tone lacing her voice. "It's one of the many advantages of being tagged along with him under Damian. We know each other far too well..."

"Lucky for us," Taka said with a slight gleam of excitement he would actually be allowed to hunt down his long hated rival and now turned-traitor comrade. He walked over to his smashed desk, going to the underside of it he pried out the cheap piece of covering to reveal a disembodied Kido rifle. As he took out the parts and put them onto the floor, he quickly assembled it as he kept in conversation with Avaron, "what's our mode of transporation? Kenta's probably got his eyes peeled for anyone coming into his proximity so using vehicles may be out of the question..."

"Anyone but police." Avaron corrected him, placing her hands on her hips and looking away from him once again. "We can get as close as the front door before they can have an excuse to do anything about us in broad daylight. So all we have to do is drive and kick down the front door."

"Sounds like fun," he finished cocking his rifle as he had everything assembled within record timing, a feral smile gleamed on his face as he grabbed his hat and placed it over his head, with a bandoleer of explosives and various pieces of equipment over hsi chest as he finished concluding, "that and the only people we have to worry about is his personal Sector 3 Overwatch, who've been said to be some of the most deadly and proficient of the Police Force."

"Other than my own personal unit, of course..." Avaron responded coolly, reaching out to take the doorknob in her hand once again and pull it open. "My ride's out front, and the destination's only block-long. We'll be there before you know it." With that, she stepped outside of the door and began to walk down the hallway, not needing to check behind her as she knew Taka was following close behind.

"Let's make one thing clear, Captain," Taka said with a low, serious tone as he checked his weapons carefully, following her with quick steady steps, "if I see that bastard and you're not with me, I'm taking the shot. That's all the Justice that those poor souls he murdered deserve and it'll be much more merciful than what he deserves."

It was a decision Avaron dreaded to make.

If she knew anything, she knew that Kenta was a clever and cunning man. She might as well have been the only one who truly knew him for what he was. His intelligence made him a deadly opponent to contend with - something that had been made apparent long ago when she fought that vicious gun duel against him. The logical part of her mind thought it was best to take his life, fearing that he would only cause another uprising the next time.

However, it was that very same connection to him that fought against that cold and tactical way of thinking instilled in her by Damian. She knew him, he knew her, and their minds were open solely to one another. There was a chance that maybe, just maybe, she could talk him down and make him step down from the path he had chosen. It sounded like nothing more than a dream in concept... but it was just as strong as the killing desire within her. It tore her apart just thinking about it.

Hearing Taka speak such words, though, did not suit well with her.

"Might I remind you who's in charge here?" She answered smoothly, though with a warning and irritated tone in her voice. "You'll do nothing unless I give the order to."

"Whatever you say, boss," Taka said in a low tone his eye filled with hate and his teeth ground together with malice and vengeance, his blood boiled for the chance to make Kenta scream for the thousands of people he slaughtered offhandedly.

"Look..." Avaron sighed heavily, shifting her hands to her pockets. "I understand your own personal vendetta with Kenta. But police do not kill unless they truly have to. Otherwise, how different would they be from the likes of cut-throats like him? What would the ones we saved think about us if we killed out of vengeance, because we decided right then and there that someone should die without any consideration for who we're supposed to be? They'd hate us more than they would've hated the criminal who was killed. Would that be right?"

At this point, she had stopped at the exit, pushing the door open and stepping out onto the sidewalk. Her personal car was right in front of them.

"Right," Taka sighed out, moving to the passenger side while getting a quick scope out in the event there was any company. After seeing the coast was clear, he was about to enter when he looked at Avaron, he simply said, "Just for the record, I told you so."

At that particular statement, a slow grin crossed the Captain's face.

"I know."

With that, she quickly jogged around to the driver's side, fishing out her car keys and pressing a button on the monitor device. Both locks sprang up into view, and she pulled the door open. She slid herself into the driver's seat, shut the door, stuck the necessary key into the ignition hole, and turned it in order to start the engine. As she looked through the windshield, she saw only the sidewalks, roads, buildings, and nothing more.

"This just makes it all the nervewracking..." She thought to herself, letting out a heavy sigh and lowering her head a little. "God damn it... after all this is over with, I'm just going to go out and do some serious drinking. The paperwork can wait..." She grumbled gruffly, placing both hands on the steering wheel.

"I can't imagine," Taka said in a almost grimacing blissful tone as he saw the nigh emptiness that made tif we live the entire city void as they drove towards their destination, "that if we live through this, how much quieter it will be thanks to this war."

Drifting memories, An awry first encounter
''Taka's mind drifted back to his time in the Police Force's creation, after the Civil War's bloody conclusion. He saw among those among him that swore the pledge, taking the oath, and raising their arms in unison as the new Commanders of Sector Overwatches, he noticed one face that didn't looked revered or honored by the ceremony. One dark haired man who simply had a bland, emotionless expression with eyes hiding everything from within, standing mere meters away from himself. From the moment Taka's eyes laid upon him, he instantly detested him, distrusted every notion and every action, always believing something was amiss with him as if he had an ulterior motive to fulfill. ''

Months later, Taka approached him in his office, wanting to play the part of a good cop and offer him a salutations as a way to get to know someone as well as be a better comrade to one another.

With a rapid, upbeat knock, Taka was dressed in a white casual suit with black necktie, braided his hair back as he was back from a party with some of his subordinates and decided while the night was young and Kenta was still up and about within his office, decided to give him a break, "Yo! Commander Sonoda! I want to talk to you."

"Come in."

''The man in question was sitting at his desk, reading over a report that had been filed in. He didn't look up from the door, allowing his voice to be the only indicator that he had heard Taka.''

Taka forced himself to take a deep breath inwards before opening his eye and smiling a pleasant, cheerful smile, as he walked in with a bottle of wine in hand, cork still fastened and all, holding it up while he walked in, "Yo, Sonoda. How's it going?"

''This was when Kenta looked up from his paper, meeting Taka's gaze directly. He was quick to take in the man's appearance first. It was obvious that he was about to head to a party... something that seemed to be too "unnecessary" in his eyes. However, if he felt any true disgust towards the revelation, he didn't show it. "Sorry, I don't swing that way." He muttered in a dry joke, already guessing what Taka's intentions were for him.''

''Taka let out a amused chuckle, knowing he must've picked up his classy dressed appearance as a innuendo of sorts. He quickly dismissed any irritation of already trying to pick on him, swinging his bottle and hand side to side in emphasis, "As tempting as that sounds, Sonoda, neither do I. I actually just got back from a party that some of my subordinates were hosting, but I left early," he walked to the front of his desk and gently sat the wine down, turning it over to show the year as one of rarity, showing something of more a friendship gesture than a "date" inclination, "I thought I'd swing by here and give you a break. We haven't really spoken in the past few months since Overwatch commands have been assigned. So, I thought I would be the one to break the ice, so to speak.''"

''"Give me a break?" Kenta frowned slightly, shifting his attention back to the newspaper he was reading. "You make it sound like you're my superior. Besides... I'm technically on my break right now. I just prefer not to spend it in such a racket."''

"Take it easy, Sonoda," Taka waved dismissively, grabbing one of the office chairs within the uniformly clean office before wheeling it over for him to take a seat, "and its not exactly foreign for commanders to come by and treat each other to drinks. Its a social thing, if you believe me or not, though I actually have yet to see you anywhere outside this office on downtime, and its starting to worry me and the others..."

''"I go places whenever I feel like it. It's just that you and the others don't happen to see when I do." Kenta answered readily, shifting to the next page of his newspaper. "There's nothing to worry about, commander Nakanome."''

"That's not something I'd be so casually to tell people," he said with a sheepish smile and a sweatdrop at Kenta's casual remark, before clearing his throat, "and its Taka when I'm not uniform, no need to label me by rank when I'm not on the clock."

''Kenta shrugged lightly. "If you insist..." He said, shifting to another page. "Any updates or new news I should know about?"''

''Taka sighed slightly, knowing conversing with this man would take some time and patience. If it was common news that would get him to reveal a bit about himself, then he would play along. ''

"Well...there was a incident at the castle about some immigrant that was causing a little bit of a racket," Taka said with a amused grin, scratching his chin as he propped his arm with his other hand, "the guy was said to be a Red Sun philosopher and was kicked out of the Soul Society for believing in anything other than its laws...something like that. There was also some petty riots within the outskirts near the Museum District, close to that old Mausoleum, don't know why, they just started getting violent for no reason. Thankfully, no casualties were heard of, but they closed off access to the Mausoleum as well as other landmarks in the event that vandals would target the areas for reasons or madness who knows what..."

'''"Pity that the Soul Society would treat its own citizens in such a manner..." Kenta commented dryly. "With that logic still in place, I can only wonder how that we managed to establish an alliance with them in the first place..."''

''"You sure its a good idea to judge things without firsthand evidence, Kenta-san? I've only told you what I've heard, there could be any number of reasons what really happened and who that person is. Don't you care about facts?" Taka asked in a polite, yet queried tone, as he leaned back in his seat, taking out a corkscrew as he simultaneously grabbed the wine bottle and began to screw into the cork.''

''Kenta cocked a skeptical eyebrow, looking up at Taka briefly before switching his gaze back to the paper once again. "If the situation proved to be more dangerous than expected, than Yūrei would never let such an immigrant come into the outskirts of it, let alone this capital city. The information flowing between us as well as the Soul Society would ensure that. Though... I could probably guess why you only heard of the incident rather than bother to put the pieces together."''

''POP! ''

''Within a instant, the cork popped and comically ricocheted across the room before smacking Taka in the face, causing him to mutter unintelligible curses before rubbing his forehead. He then took the liberty of taking out the pair of wine glasses he took in with him and began pouring the liquid into the glasses, the bubbles hissed and crackled within as he spoke,''

"It sounds like you don't trust many people, Kenta-san. Don't you think that's a little...unhealthy, for someone who's in charge of so many people?"

''"Trust weakens people." Kenta said bluntly. "It kills the mental defenses and leaves even the strongest of fighters vulnerable to deception, betrayal, and trickery. Anyone and everyone can turn on you within an instant. It's a trait that only gets in the way of my duties."''

"Trust has its benefits you know," Taka countered, placing a glass right in front of Kenta while placing the bottle on the desk and sitting back down, sipping his wine filled glass, "its necessary for effective strategies, teamwork, and building strength to have trust within others. Without it, everyone eventually secregates themselves from each other and split apart, making a organization as strong as its weakest link, and easy prey for those who would seek to destroy us and what we stand for."

''"My sector has been run with cooperation, not trust. It has held itself together for years without my subordinates have to lean on one another constantly. Maybe you run by that philosophy, Nakanome, but I don't." Was the other man's reply.''

"You won't gain any support by going by the old way of doing things,Sonoda," Taka said a little lowly, as gulped a swallow of his wine, before saying with a little uneased tone, "and I wasn't just talking about your sector. If you treat everyone with that mindset, no one will support or trust you either. In the end, no one will find you worthy of command if you trust no one but yourself."

''It was the words that caused Kenta to stop reading the paper, dropping it on his table and revealing a cynical raise of his eyebrow. For a moment, he didn't allow himself to speak at all. He merely fixed a gaze on Taka's person, conveying an expression of annoyance and resentment. It was one thing to give an opinion. But it seemed like Taka was challenging him and the way he did things. He felt like he was being patronized by his fellow commander.''

So he decided to fight back.

''"Do you speak for everyone....?" He questioned, a quiet but vehement tone in his voice as he spoke. "Or do you speak for yourself and yourself only when you say that no one will trust me?" He placed his arms on the desk, his annoyed look turning into a slight glare. "Let's stop holding hands like a couple of school-girls, Nakanome. You don't trust me. You've shown that from the very moment you walked in my door."''

''"You know what?" Taka gulped down the whole glass of wine before setting it on Kenta's desk and leaned in close to him, saying with a forced smile, "I'm trying to be nice. I'm trying to be your comrade and get along with you. Its pretty hard to trust you when all you do is skulk in the shadows and reject any invitation at socializing with anyone. I understand you have a way of doing things, and I can accept that, despite how I don't like it. hell, Commander Raiton treats everyone like we're in a military operation, yet even he knows to accept other people's way of doing things and trusts others to do their jobs. If you'd actually go out of your way to trust SOMEBODY I'd probably wouldn't have to work the nerve to try and understand you!"''

"Understand'' me?" Kenta scowled, his teeth gritting slightly. He leaned back a little when Taka leaned forward, picking up the smell of wine and trying to ignore it. "If you have to force yourself to be in my presence, then you might as well stop trying to. If it's one thing I can't stand, it's people who don't even have the guts to be honest about their intentions."''

"I was trying to be your comrade, to find a reason to trust you," Taka said exasperatedly, standing up crossing his arms as he glared at him hotly, "but it seems you don't want comrades nor people's trust. You want everyone to do their job and leave you to your "work". Well fine! Skulk in the shadows, plot your schemes, but just remember something, Sonoda. If I find out that your "work" endangers the people of this country and this city I swear I will make sure you regret it," with that said, Taka turned around and walked out of the office, slamming the door behind him on his way out.

Bump.

Reality Beckons, Vengeance and Justice
"Hey, Taka. You still awake? We're here."

Avaron's cool voice brought him out of his thoughts. True to her word, they were driving up towards the building Kenta was stationed at. There were Sector 3 police officers walking away from the building in the standard patrol, their sub-machine guns holstered in their hands as they made their way down the designated paths. In front of the building were two officers, their weapons also holstered as the car made its way in front.

Avaron let out a whistle. "Looks like we're lucky. Doesn't seem like there are too much guards in the building, and they don't seem to register us as a threat just yet." She reported. "Good for us in the long run."

"Hm? Yeah, sorry," Taka said with a sigh, rubbing his hand over his eye, seeing the guards outside and patrolling like nothing was wrong made him slightly disconcerted, "it almost looks too easy, Captain. Sonoda is a sharp bastard, he must have a half a dozen plans for any contingency that's about to transpire. Should we take out the guards right now and just hope he doesn't notice?"

"Well--"

"Excuse me... commander Setsuko?"

Whatever Avaron was about to say was cut off when she heard a third guard right beside the window. He leaned forward to the driver window in order to meet Avaron's gaze directly. "We had not been expecting your arrival here." He said calmly. "Forgive me for asking, but what would be your business here?"

"It's fine..." Avaron calmly rested her arm on the seam where the window would've risen up from. "We're here to see commander Sonoda." With her other hand hidden from view of the officer, she jerked a finger towards Taka - a signal for him to leave the car and stand by.

Taka complied with a silent nod, opening the door and closing it casually while crossing his arms, waiting for any further directives or "orders". He remained in a nonchalant, casual appearance as he scoped out each and every guard, measuring them for prone physical deffects, weaknesses, armanents and behavior. So far, they were alert, but not for the proximate threat that had yet to rear its head. Yet...

"We're under orders not to let anyone in."

Avaron frowned a little, pushing herself out of the car and shutting the door behind her. "This is important." She said, her tone somewhat pressuring. "Unless Sonoda has valid reason to shut out fellow commanders from his position, your orders are nullified."

"I'm sorry, ma'am..." The officer, as calm as he was, refused to back down from the subtle threat Avaron made. He did back away from Avaron as she exited the car. "But we only listen to the likes of our personal leader. Your word has no jurisdiction as far as he is concerned." There was no expression in his words, his emotions carefully guarded in order to keep Avaron from reading him.

The captain's eyes narrowed into slits, her frown growing into a scowl. "...is that so...?" She said lowly. "I think your leader forgot who's in charge of him. He doesn't have a say in the matter, and neither do you. So knock it off and step aside--"

BANG!

It happened without warning. One of the officers behind the talking officer had pointed a pistol in her direction and fired, barely missing her head. There had been no hesitation, no mercy, and no regret. It was clear that no matter what she said, Sector 3 was willing to kill her either way.

This was the event needed for Avaron to spring into action.

She lunged forward before the lead officer could retreat back to his comrades. Within a perfectly executed CQC move, she grabbed him, twisted him around, and put him in a tight neck-lock. "Taka! Go for one legs on each of 'em!" She yelled, viciously tightening the grip as the officer in her hold struggled to break free.

'''BRA-BRACK! BRA-BRACK!'''

Taka had already saw the lackey behind the lead officer already move in for the kill, seething with bloodlust as far as Taka's eyesight could tell as he deftly unholstered his unbuckled Mauler, instinctively aiming for the two patrolling officers that had yet to respond, the force of the red-lit-slugs destroyed the knees and severed the lower calf and foot from the rest of the body, causing them both to drop down in screams. The next shot expertly shot one in the thigh of the assaulting officer then aimed for his shoulder, forcing him to drop his gun on instinct as his arm nearly was severed from his body besides losing all sensation to his gun hand.

"Done and done," Taka said cooly, without any hate or vengeance, as if it came upon instinct or casually as he eyed his handiwork, seeing that the various officers were all sprawled on the ground, despite their training have begun to wail and howl in pain, "nothing to them when they're the ones getting the drop on their heads."

"Now, then...."

Avaron turned her attention back to the struggling captor in her hold. "I don't know what you heard..." She stated calmly, her eyes narrowed slightly. "But it's obvious that your commander's pulled the wool over your eyes. My boys just got done uncovering a slaughter operation that wiped out the majority of the capital city's populace. The civilians are numbered by the dozens."

That stopped his struggling immediately, his eyes widening and his pupils shrinking. "N-no..." He whispered, his voice frantic and shocked. His grip on Avaron's arm became shakier. "Y-you're lying, he never told any of us about that! He would never--"

"A commander like me doesn't lie to her subordinates." Avaron interrupted him. "And I know each and every one of you like the back of my hand. So I can safely say I know what I'm talking about. There's no point in trying to defend him anymore. All we ask is that you take us to him."

Taka walked over to step in front of the captive, struggling officer, obviously the leader of the bunch and yet somehow was trying to feign innocence. He glared hotly at him before aiming a gun at the writhing, cursing man who tried to kill Avaron not too long ago.

BRACK!

With another shot, he stopped moving as a smoke hole rose up from the man's back where his heart would be. Taka cooly looked at the man in Avaron's possession, propping the gun upwards, but held it tightly enough to show he'd use it again in a heartbeat, "Let me make it simple for you, officer. You have two ways to walk away from here. The way that leads to your superior, or the way that leads you to a life of incapacitation or death. The choice is up to you, officer."

"Nnnngh...!" The officer gritted his teeth, knowing that they would find the man either way. "All right, fine!" He snapped. "He's on the roof of this building! I'll even take you to him!"

"Good..." Knowing that the odds were virtually in their favor, Avaron released him with an abrupt opening of her arms. In turn, he fell to his hands and knees, gasping for air. "But I'd rather you get your friends some medical treatment and tell them what's transpiring." She looked upward at Taka with comically peering eyes. "....you didn't happen to actually kill that guy, did you? That's why I said to aim for the legs."

Taka narrowed his eyes at her before looking at her blankly, "Don't tell me you actually felt sorry for the guy who almost killed you. The other two guys are going to be maimed for life, so exactly what made you think leaving them alive is a blessing when I injure them with the Mauler?"

"A police officer only kills when necessary." Avaron said. "If I wanted them dead, I would've just whipped out my HCA and shot them both right now. Besides..." She looked over at the wounded officer. "Human technology would've never fixed it. But luckily, the afterlife doesn't have that problem. Not to mention that if they really knew what Kenta was doing, they would've shot us on sight instead of letting us approach them in such a manner. Their commander is keeping them all in the dark..."

WHAM!

"FREEZE!"

Her gaze snapped up to see several more officers at the door, their guns aimed and leveled at both of them. The gasping officer looked up in shock, slowly bringing himself up to stand. However, he made no move to get away and rejoin them.

Within the instant the doors were knocked open, Taka whirled around and began firing, this time making sure there were no lethal casualties. As he began moving to avoid any potential fire, he managed to shoot each officer's knee out, incapacitating them effectively while stalking with a deadly attitude as his eye began to glow dimly, "My mistake, Avaron. The only one that needs to die, is the bastard who plotted this whole f'ing war!"

His coat flourished dramatically with each step as he walked past the screaming and howling officers, his gun held in a ready upright position, with smoke streaming out of the barrel from its recently fired rounds. If Avaron could see his gait compared to other times she's seen him, a dark vengeful atmosphere could be felt as his killing intent almost took form in a spiritual pressure in of itself.

"...I'm starting to think it was a bad idea bringing him along..."

A weary look on her face, Avaron looked over to the shocked captor. "Well? Now you've got yourself more work to do." She said bluntly, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Better get callin'..." She walked off, indirectly listening to the sounds of the lone man as he began radioing in to his comrades within the building. Hopefully, Taka would not go overboard and become trigger-happy the moment he saw them.

All it took was for them to yell "Freeze" for her to know they were only waiting for a provoking to fight. Taka had shot first, despite the non-lethal way he did so, the damage to them would prove to be incriminating. She placed a hand onto her face in frustration, her teeth gritting together. She was going to have a serious talk with him after this was done.

As they walked inside of the building, Avaron let out an aggravated sigh as she caught up with Taka, her hand placing itself on his shoulder. "Hey, wait a minute..."

"I know you want me to act according to protocol, Captain, but this is war. There is no time to determine who is innocent and who is guilty. Despite what you think of that man out there was knowing, he was given explicit orders to kill you. They each might've been given the same tasks, despite their knowledge of Sonoda's endgame. If we hesitate, if we're slow, we die," Taka then turned his eye back at her, its stoic cool gaze showed nothing but belief within his logic, "I'll hear you anything you have to say right now Captain, but we will not have another chance to negotiate once we approach Sonoda. He will kill us given the chance."

Never before had Avaron felt so angry in her life.

She roughly turned him around, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him closer to her. Her eyes were narrowed into slits, an angry snarl on her face. "I will NOT have you TALK like those green-stained FUCKtards called the MILITARY!!" She hissed, glaring directly into his eye-set. "War doesn't give you permission to use indiscriminate force!! War does not give you an excuse to act out on your own accord!! But I do! By willingly discarding the standards that I've set, you're basically telling me to go FUCK myself!!"

Her narrowed eyes widened a little bit more.

"Is that REALLY what you're telling me here, Nakanome?!"

Taka was totally taken aback by Avaron's forceful physical actions, as his eye was widened and totally shaken out of whatever deadly aura he had conjured earlier. He lowered his gun and simply rested in the grasp of the smaller, angry superior as he looked pained at what she said about him and the military. The wound in his right eye that was covered was a testament to his service and honorary work within the military during the war, something he spited Sonoda for disrespecting him on.

"Excuse me for once being in the military, Captain," Taka said bitterly, before bowing his head, genuinely feeling ashamed for his words of choice, "forgive me...Avaron...I should know to act appropiately even under these circumstances. I will willingly go under court marshal for the untowards acts I've committed against the officers I maimed or killed. I will also leave you to your buiness with Sonoda and return to my office, if you so order me, mamm."

Avaron took in another deep breath, her expression softening to a more annoyed look.

"...don't be stupid."

She promptly released him, putting her hands in her pockets. "If I wanted either of those, I would have never called you here in the first place. Consider this a learning experience for you." She said, most of the anger fading away from her voice. "Trust your superior's judgment, follow their path, and breathe easy while you do so. I won't let you fall off." She walked past him. "Now let's finish this. I'll treat you to a drink once it's all over and done with."

"Yes, maam," Taka said solemnly, holstering his Mauler while unstrapping his Kido rifle from around his shoulder. With a cocking of the arming mechanism, he nodded with a firm acceptance before looking at Avaron, saying in a slightly smug attitude, "I'll hold you to that, Avaron."

"Mhm..."

With that being said, Avaron walked up to the elevator that led up to the second floor, pressing the button in order to open the doors. She stepped inside, promptly leaning against the elevator seam in order to keep it from closing.

"Why thank you, sir," Taka joked in a mock gentleman tone and bow of his head, fingering the front of his hat as he entered the elevator, turning around deftly with his rifle resting along his chest with both hands holding it. His back leaned against the metalic wall of the elevator with a sigh, his eye briefly closing as he muttered, "I'd like a shot of that liquid we sometimes got from the world of the living...what was it called? Vogka?"

Avaron pushed herself off of the doors and stepped right beside Taka, folding her hands behind her back. "Vodka." She corrected him, lifting one hand to scratch underneath her nose as the doors closed. The lift itself jerked a little before rising up towards the top floors. "That and some Rose Red would do just fine..."

However, their talking didn't go unnoticed.

Kenta was viewing the scene from a camera monitor computer, sitting in a seat with his hands planted on the desk. "Now this is truly hypocritical." He muttered in disgust, glaring at the screen in disdain. "Nakanome brands me for being trained under Damian Seken... but it turns out that he was previously from the military too. I always knew the dog was holding in more than he was throwing up, but this is just too ridiculous..."

"Sir!"

He turned from the computer screen to see a female officer approaching him. "Both of them are heading up to this floor. Should we prepare?" She questioned him, a calm yet terse tone in her voice.

He waved the comment off, turning back to the screen and looking at it briefly before standing back up. "No. Do not engage them. Let them come up to the roof." He answered coolly, shifting his hands to his pockets. "Make sure that medical team gets to the incapacitated, as well. It's only right that I see to the two intruders personally. Their target is me, after all..."

The female officer gave a respectful bow. "Yes, sir!"

"I could always go for that stuff," Taka said with a sigh, leaning back against the bulkhead, unintentionally locking his eyes on what looked like a camera on the corner of the elevator. His eye glowed subtly as it probed into its systems and began backtracking the feed before clicking his tongue, "Sonoda's leading us into a trap, you know that, Captain?"

"Mhm." Avaron answered bluntly, not bothering to look in his direction. "But from the moment we initiated this mission, I expected to be in a trap the whole time. So it's a good thing that I know how it works." She slowly pulled out her HCA-50 pistol, brandishing it in both hands and lowering the barrel to the floor in a holstered position.

"You talk like you've and Sonoda were in the same school with Damian Seken," Taka said pointedly as he armed his rifle, holding it downwards in kind as his superior was doing.

That abruptly rendered Avaron silent for a moment.

"Is he really speaking like he doesn't know? I thought I was dropping perfectly good hints here and there, but I guess I was being too subtle about it. Oh, well..."

The lack of Taka's awareness brought a slow grin come across Avaron's face, her eyes narrowing into a sly look as she turned her head towards Taka. "Gee, Taka..." She said lightly, though with humored sarcasm. "Was I being that obvious? I never knew."

Taka's eye widened, as he genuinely never looked into his superior's history as much as Kenta Sonoda's. Knowing that Sonoda had other pupils, he should've guessed among all of them, his superior and peer Avaron Setsuko was the one to be his equal and match.

"Oh," Taka said, with a slight hitch and pause within his voice, blushing slightly in embarassment in his own ignorance before he cleared his throat, "I knew that..."

"Sure you did." Avaron rolled her eyes. "Like I said, if I didn't bring you along, you wouldn't learn, would you?"

"Surrre," Taka said with an exaggerative tone, sighing as he crouched down and took up a kneeling position with the rifle's stock firmly resting against his shoulder, his single eye looking down the sights as he readied himself, "out of curiosity, how would you rate Sonoda's combat skill? I've never actually fought the guy in a real fight, so I'm just curious who I'm going up against..."

"Let's see..." Avaron tilted her head upwards in thought, closing her eyes. "The extent of his training allows him to take on the likes of even a Captain-level opponent. All it takes is a shot in the right direction to kill even a powerful opponent as long as they got a human body on them. He's one hell of a shot, and the chances of him missing his targets are next to impossible unless you happen to be behind cover the moment he strikes. All in all, he's a real mean son of a bitch..."

"Great," Taka sighed as he waited for the elevator to stop and the doors to open, "so not only he's a mastermind who's eluded us all and cooked up this stupid war for some sort've psychotic twisted armageddon plan he's got cause he hates the world, but he's incredibly smart and great with a gun. Next you'll be telling me he has Soul Reaper powers and has a Bankai..."

"Don't jinx us."

DING!

The elevator finally stopped to its designated location, and Avaron raised her gun up to the sky in a calm manner while her other hand was in her pocket. She stepped forward and took the lead, waiting until the doors were fully opened so that she could step through.

She was met with a surveillance room, one which was currently operated by Sector 3 officers. However, unlike the gunmen, the people that were within were not masked, revealing a plethora of surprised and shocked faces. Their bodies tensed at the terminals they were working on, and some even froze up entirely. But other than that, no one dared to make a move against the two that were progressing.

"Great, more annoyances," Taka muttered before standing fully and tall, his eye glowed menacingly as he cocked his rifle and shouted out to all of them, "I'm Commander Nakanome of Sector 4 Overwatch! Your Sector Overwatch and any other accomplices are under arrest for the manslaughter and genocide of Yuurei Okouku's Capital populace! Put your hands on your heads and get on the floor now, for we're in the middle of a raid here and we're calling in reinforcements to pick your asses up and off to jail!"

"Wait a minute, what the hell?!"

Needless to say, his demand didn't suit well with the crowd and even earned a few glares in his direction. The man who had spoke up stood up from his terminal and turned to face them, a scowl decorating his face. "Where's this coming from?! Sector 3 was evacuating the civilians in the underground shelters!! Commander, with all due respect, this is completely arbitrary!!"

BRACK!

"BULL....SHIT!" Taka shouted out to all of the Sector 3 officers, shooting upright that blasted a hole in the ceiling, the sound itself to shut up the majority of the outrcries and denials, "we have outstanding evidence...that your Commander...Kenta Sonoda...ordered your comrades to slaughter the civilians within the shelters! Avaron!" He then turned to her, his voice less vicious now he redirected it to her, and even though his eye glowed yellow, he spoke in a grave, sad voice, "show them the evidence."

"Mhm..." Avaron said calmly, lowering her gun and walking over towards the nearest terminal. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her own scowl had formed on her face as she approached. Her presence was all that was needed for the woman at the panel to get out of her seat and immediately back off. The last thing anyone needed was for a pissed-off Avaron in such a situation...

As her fingers worked the buttons, Avaron pointed towards the woman that she had "hijacked" the computer form. "Jessie, be a dear and turn on the projector, would you?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The woman stammered, giving a brief bow before sprinting over towards the said projector in the front of the room and started to work on it.

"What are you all trying to play at...?" The outspeaker spoke again, disgust clear in his tone. "There's no evidence to be put against us. We've done nothing but ensure that this building was safe and secure. If we were ordered to do any kind of genocide, we would've been informed by our leaders first."

"And what if he didn't want you to know?" Taka asked pointedly, resting his rifle against his shoulder as he looked in a irritated lopsided manner, "what if he kept the ruthless part of his Overwatch to do his dirty work while he keeps a close eye on you sorry lot and make you blinder than the rest of us? That way, you'd all appear innocent and there would be a civil war within the ranks during the middle of a battle!"

"He would never--!"

"All right, it's on!"

The man's statement was interrupted by the woman's announcement. He, as well as the rest of them, turned just to see the computer turn on.

They were greeted with a shocking sight.

Within what looked like a detention center, several bodies lay bleeding and full of bullet holes. Some were men, but others were women and children varying from teen years to pre-teen years. The screen continued to flash from image to image, earning gasps and mutters of shock and fright at them. It was a grisly and horrible thing to see, and even more horrible to note that there was always more than one body to be seen in each picture.

"What about it, idiot?!" Taka asked the man who backtalked him, having already walked the progression as the images were still rolling, grasping his collar and lifting him off his feet into his glowing orbed face, filled with anger and distaste, "you'd actually think TWO Overwatch Commanders would come all this way, armed to the teeth, to just bullshit you with accusations?! Look!" He thrusted his gun towards the images, aiming to pointedly remark how each gruesomely torn body was grimly absolute, "YOUR SECTOR, no, YOUR COMRADES SLAUGHTERED an entire populace of the people you swore to protect! You'd think we wouldn't come barging in here without incriminating evidence?! This is absolute proof, asshole!!"

"GET OFF ME!"

Shaken up by the picture demonstration, the man yanked himself free from the commander's grip and glared at him for a bit more before turning his gaze around back to the images. "I can't believe this..." He muttered, dropping to his hands and knees. "We were played for chumps this whole time. We were used..."

"Eeyup." Avaron said, standing up from the computer and picking up her HCA-50. "But be glad that we didn't see you as criminals and only suspects to his cause. Now, all of you! To the ground, hands behind your head!" The commanding tone that she took with them caused them all to immediately obey, falling on their stomachs and laying their hands behind their head. "You will all be questioned on this matter and will be set free if you are found innocent. For now, however, you'll be put under detainment until further notice."

Confrontation, A Battle of Rivals and Traitors!
"Avaron," Taka spoke firm yet softer than earlier, as he gave a indicating look as he looked around the room of Sector 3 officers on the ground, "what are we going to do with them? You going to call in some people to secure them or leave them here and hope we can get back to cuff them all?"

"I already called them in." Avaron assured him, giving a small smile of amusement. "While you happened to be daydreaming in the car. They'll be here within a couple of minutes to apprehend these folk. We, however, are sticking to our regular objective." She turned away from him, quickly making her way towards the stairwell in the far corner that led to the roof. "C'mon!"

Taka nodded, saying lowly, "Right behind you," as his muscular body tensed and his rifle armed with readiness, follwoing her up the stairwell with steps following hers rapidly unconsciously. Despite how much his superior and peer wished to, and his gloved hands clenched his avoid a bloody conflict, Taka could feel the bloodlust that came from such debaucherous sadistic acts. He wanted to fight, and if he denied their offer of arrest, then Taka would as hell sure will give him a reason not to fight him and his superior.

It wasn't long before they reached the roof-top to meet their foe.

Being in the lead, Avaron was the first to come across the scene as she stepped onto the roof. It was the perfect setting for a fight; the space of the roof was rather wide and sported several air-venting machines and boxes to be used as cover. The Woosh of the rotor blades inside the machines made for an eerie setting. At the end of the "hallway" created was none other than their target, sitting on the edge of the roof with his legs dangling off the edge.

It was here that Avaron acted. She lifted her pistol upwards and pointed it at him, her voice sharp and commanding. "Kenta!!"

He turned his head around, a look of genuine surprise on his face as he looked over her form as well as the trailing form of Taka behind her. He slid away from the edge and stood up, a small smile gracing his face. "Ah, you managed to make it, after all." He commented coolly. "I was starting to fear that my subordinates had killed you. Good thing I was wrong..."

"Cut the bullshit, Sonoda, and stay where you are!" Taka said in a commanding, smooth tone. It wasn't full of the hot vengeance that he had earlier. Now it was a matter of righteous anger and duty-driven cause to bring this man to justice. Just how he was when he first signed up, and how he first met Sonoda.

"You're under arrest for the countless murders you have committed against this country and this city, as well as conspiring with the enemy and instilling a act of terrorism," He aimed his rifle from the hip, having a good wide aim on Kenta's form and a difficult position to dodge without being scathed or shot. "Anything to say in your defense before we turn you in, or do you have the gall to defend your actions as justified?"

"Terrorism? I don't know what you're talking about." Kenta said smoothly, resting his arms to his sides. "I haven't done anything to warrant such an arrest. My actions are simply something to bring about change; something that humanity has feared for far too long."

"And you think you're the representative for humanity? What the hell do you think you are, Sonoda? A prophet? A god? You don't have the right, morally or by authority, to issue any change that would bleed the world, no, the universe dry to change it," Taka said resolutely, his eye narrowing to a dangerous slit as he concluded, "that isn't paradise or change. That's perversion and Hell!"

"Oh, this is swell..." Kenta rolled his eyes. "You, of all people, are speaking to me about morality. I thought I told you before; if it's one thing I can't stand, it's the hypocrite of the people. I was watching from the security cameras when you two came in here. I should've expected some sort of killing instinct from you, Nakanome. But what you displayed was not only hypocrisy... but also how unable you are to control yourself in the times that it's necessary."

His eyes peered, a light frown coming across his face. "I can practically smell your desire to kill me and disregard protocol, commander. So why don't you do it? No one will know but the one standing beside you. You'll be regarded as the hero who killed the dark messiah. So go on... pull the trigger and take my life."

"I've never called myself a saint, Sonoda, and you must really like using that word when you know the definition so well," Taka said without faltering, his gun still ready but his tone hadn't changed either knowing Kenta would battle him with his sharp tongue before any real confrontation, "I will atone for my actions and my disregard to protocol. I may be weak, but I know when I must stand firm for my beliefs, like our Captain has taught us to do so," he momentarily smiled towards Avaron before resuming his concentration on Sonoda.

"Damian must've did a real piece of work on you, twisting you into this direction and making you the mastermind of this whole war. I wonder what kind've pathetic child story you must have, seeing your life crash or treat you unfairly, or endure some stereotypical war trauma that cracked your mind to its breaking point. I would love to make you suffer, but now that I think about it, I have nothing but pity for you, you sad pathetic little man.

Throughout the whole exchange, Avaron remained silent. She only allowed her ears to do any work, listening to the exchange between Taka and his personal nemesis. Her own expression was concentrated on her target, her pistol carefully leveled at him to cover what he couldn't. Despite clearly having him outnumbered and cornered, there was still something off about the situation. His calm stance, his casual demeanor... did he really have no regard for his own safety here? Or did they only think they cornered him? When it came to Kenta, it was all too nerve-wracking, even for her...

Kenta's slow smile didn't help matters for her, either.

"Villains need some sort of trauma catalyst for them to be the way they are. Is that really what you believe?" He questioned rhetorically, sliding his hands into his pockets. "That's a belief of instinct, a case of denial to the greatest degree. Some people have to be forced by something of equal evil. But for others, it's all a matter of taking in the environment around them. Sometimes, people like me just prefer to watch the world burn..."

He slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets.

His wrists flicked, his palms grasping around both barrels of the revolvers on his waist holster.

He pointed both of the barrels at each of his targets and pulled the trigger with sudden movements that made Avaron's heart stop. She couldn't find the ability to pull her trigger in time, her instincts forcing her to side-step--

BLA-BLAM!

A total of twelve shots were fired, six from each revolver.

"Sonoda!!!"

VRBRAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

A sudden clench and release of his rifle's trigger let loose a wide arc of crimson energy, the immediate timing of the shots were so close, the colliding forces couldn't be registered to the human eye at exact detail as Taka held his ground, only moving slightly out of dodging instinct at the sight of his guns flaring.

The small pillar of energy was enough to dig a relatively deep and heated trench along the rooftop, flaring outwards audibly shaking the building rooftop as it intended to take Kenta down with him in the 2 meter gait of death that Taka fired.

All Kenta had to do was leap to cover, dodging the two-meter blast of energy and taking cover behind one of the structures. A grin decked his face, and he spun his guns around his fingers for a few seconds to reload both of them. "This is gonna be fun..." He whispered, stopping the guns by their hilts. He holstered them in a ready position and mentally prepared himself for the fight ahead of him.

One against two.

It was fair enough with him...for the moment.

As Kenta took cover, so did Avaron. She held her gun in one hand while pressing her back against the structure of the air-venting machine she was hiding behind. Even if she had backup, she knew that it was going to be a tough fight ahead of them. However, she was more concerned about Taka than herself. Although he was in the military, he didn't have the training that she and Kenta had. That would be the perfect excuse for him to be the first target.

"Breathe easy, girl..." She told herself. "Taka can take care of himself..."

Taka had taken cover in suite on the opposite duct of Avaron, parallel in his position to her as he swiftly leaned his back against the metalic structure. He steadied his breathing and held his rifle up in a perpindicular position to his chest and shoulder, inhaling the raw scent of recently discharged slugs of his weapon.

He inwardly remembered the layout from the brief verbal ripousette he had with Kenta, noticing that the rooftop only had a good dozen meters or so in width, and had various venting ducts that scaled to about two meters in length and 2 1/2 meters in height. But knowing the composition and material rated against the penetration power of the weaposn on hand, all combatants faced incompetant cover as they'd be easy for their ammunition to rip apart.

Then, there was the experience factor. While he had been a war hero and a damn good fighter, he was not a personal lap dog or apprentice to the infamous tactician Damian Seken. His superior's skills were on par with that of Kenta's, he knew for sure, but Kenta's cunning and intelligence were higher above the two of them together. The fight was going to be tough as hell, and he knew he'd have to use that if he had any advantage over the traitor commander.

"Let's go," he whispered to himself, his eye suddenly took on a yellow coloration and began moving his iris clockwise as well as feed a number of information through his ocular HUD. His eye's implant was something he chose to do when he lost his other eye, aiming to bolster his vision on the side he still had while keeping it relatively intact. It was one of the few things he never directly informed Avaron or anyone else of, never using his occular implant unless he was in a pinch or a tough-ass battle.

While he "scrolled" through the different options within mere blinks of an eye, he selected his form of vision and quickly looked at the air duct. Within a few seconds, his eye's vision turned a surreal yellow that peeled away all structural hinderances, locking in on those of minute heat signatures and heartbeats. Seeing as Kenta's was the only one through on that side of the rooftop, all he had to do was back up, take aim and...

"Gotcha," he spoke lowly, before pulling the trigger, aiming for a more pentrative shot as he aimed for Kenta's back, intending on finishing him with one blow while he had the advantage. The crimson slug flew through the air duct at lightning speed, barreling through several others within a heartbeat as it screeched toward Kenta's backside, intending on killing him, ending his life once and for all.

It was fortunate for Kenta that he had managed to pick up the bare sound of his opponent's footsteps.

With a grunt, he boosted himself up and leaped right over his cover, performing a slide right over it. With his free hand, he aimed it at Taka's position and unleashed a trio of shots. He didn't have any time to check if they hit or not; as he landed on his feet, he spotted Avaron pulling herself from cover and aiming her pistol in his direction, her eyes narrowed as she tightened the grip on her gun.

"Fu--"

'''BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!'''

Luckily for him, the first shots only barely missed him. Raising his two revolvers towards her, he unleashed his own fire while side-stepping to his next cover. She mirrored his movements, and their exchange of bullets was stopped when they made it towards their respective positions. From there, they started running, with Avaron abruptly stopping and running towards the side where Kenta was. Kenta was racing towards Taka's position, continuing to shoot in that direction in order to force him to use his own side-arm instead of the aim-required rifle.

"Grk!-"

Taka took a scathing shot across his cheek, shoulder, and one in the rifle's stock as he barely moved out of the way of Kenta's trio shots. He knew now the rifle would be a hinderance at close quarters and rapid movement, so he cast it aside, unholstering his Mauler, arming it for rapid succession.

"Let's dance, bitch!" He growled out as he began moving at high speeds, diving out while aiming his Mauler at the incoming Kenta, his eye gave him an advantage that put him on par with the incredibly skilled marksman that Sonoda is. With rapid pulls of the trigger, his high powered wide-radius slugs aimed to halt or change Sonoda's course if he wished to live as both Avaron and Taka would be focusing their fire upon them.

It worked.

Immediately, Kenta changed his path of movement. With another jump, he leaped on top of the machine he was about to run into and performed a front-flip over the next one, landing behind it in a crouched position. As he spun his revolvers around to reload them once again, he calmly walked to the other side of the machine and listened to Avaron's footsteps as she switched sides. Immediately, he could guess what she was doing; using Taka as a close-up distraction while she cut off possible exits of escape from afar - a good tactic of exploiting the situation he was in.

Without hesitation, he started running again to the other side where Avaron had been, raising his barrels and readying to fire at any sign of movement as he raced from cover to cover.

C-Clink, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeez!!!

Directly in the path of Kenta's footing lied a Kido Incendiary grenade, one of the military grade issued weapons that Taka kept on possession and on hand from his time in the military. Having kept track of his movements iwth his eye, he systematically plotted his most predictable course away from the group. He threw it right before Kenta started running for cover, firing back to keep up the distraction as he moved back to the cover where he started.

"And..."

BRACK-BOOOOM!!!!

The incendiary grenade went off with dramatic burst of flames, destroying and wrecking the machinery he used for cover, making it more likely for him to get spotted and possibly injured by the explosion itself.

"Fuck!!!"

Kenta's eyes dilated as soon as he saw the grenade land in his path, stopping right in his tracks. Immediately, he pulled a retreat from the "hallway" and leaped back just before the grenade exploded. It almost caught him in its flames, the tongues licking at his clothing. However, he was able to pull himself back in time...

WHAM!

...just in time to receive a ferocious kick from Avaron, who had managed to sneak up behind him.

The force of her leg sent him into the remnant of flames, and he let out a yell as he disappeared behind their miniature wall. Avaron kept her gun aimed, her eyes peering through the flames for any sign of movement. "Tough love, baby." She commented, a frown on her face as she continued to analyze.

"Hope that hurt, you sonnavabitch!"

As Kenta's body was kicked back into the smoldering flames left by his grenade, Taka moved out of cover, his eye already identifying his mass within the blackened and burning area as he fired off a relentless spray of Kido slugs, aiming to hit him with the rapid bursts while he was off center.

While Taka suppressed that particular area, Avaron allowed herself to move in another direction. She moved quickly to the area that Kenta could escape to, running through the "alleyways" created by the remaining structures of cover. She kept her gun trained in front of her, careful not to be caught off-guard in the event that he was hiding. Her instincts were on full alert, and she was perfectly capable of reacting to any signs of ambush.

So when Kenta allowed himself to appear in her vision, she was all ready waiting and prepared for him.

Instead of shooting her outright, however, he instead rushed her, using the small alleyways to corner her so that she couldn't gain enough room to fire. Holding the barrels of his gun, he unleashed a set of skillfully executed swings at her face and torso in a barrage of C.Q.C. movements. She jumped back a little, parrying his attacks with the back of her wrist and her own pistol, as well. The result was close to a bare-fisted duel, with both combatants exchanging blows with a flurry of ferocity and aggressiveness. Both of them bore concentrated looks as they fought against each other, with one trying to gain the upper hand against the other.

It reflected Damian's own teachings.

"Dammit!" Taka growled as he vaulted the venting duct, standing up top to see where Kenta ran off to. As his eye began picking up residual traces of Kenta, he suddenly caught sight of his Captain closing in on him. As the two collided, he could see faint lights of the two merging and locking in close quarters combat, something that Taka was far better at than his marksmanship. However...seeing them fighting made him realize if he interceded, it would probably give an edge to the enemy rather than aid his comrade.

"I swear, I'm getting the worse luck in this fight," Taka grumbled as he leaped from his air duct to the burning air duct, maneuvering himself up high as he quickly closed in on his superior and peer's position, as well as Sonoda's. Within a few leaps and bounds, Taka was able to easily discern who was who with his eye, taking down the feminine build as his ally and the masculine one as his enemy. He lined up his sights, eagerly waiting for a break in the fight that would allow him an open shot. Then...he had it!

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

"GAAAH-AAAAUGH!!"

The very last bullet had connected, tearing through Kenta's shoulder and causing him to emit a strangled scream. He fell on his back, scrambling to get up when he saw Avaron level her pistol at his head. He stopped immediately, narrowing his eyes and scowling at the clear advantage she had over him. She mirrored his expression, keeping her stance firm.

"Well, go on..." He growled vehemently, falling on his back and closing his eyes. "Go on and kill me already."

"That's not what I was made commander of the police force for." Avaron answered sternly. "We came here to stop you. A police officer never kills unless he or she truly has to. Now, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to dismiss you as someone I can't negotiate with due to how skilled and dangerous you are. But I know you better, Kenta. This isn't what Damian wanted out of you."

"And how would you know what he wanted...?" The man gasped, letting go of one of his guns to hold his shoulder wound. "You were the one to side against him in the first Civil War! You were the one to directly challenge him along with all of the other rebels!"

"You mean that you didn't think that the oppression that the government was causing at that time was wrong?" Avaron demanded. "I only did what I did for the good of the people. You may be thinking the same is going on with your damn Reconstruction movement... but you forget that my actions gave them all a choice. You, however, stripped that choice away from them when you killed them in cold blood!"

That was enough to render Kenta silent, albeit he was still grunting due to the severe pain in his shoulder.

"What? Nothing to say?" Taka spoke aloud as he leaped and landed onto the metalic venting to Kenta's right and Avaron's left, his form bleeding slightly from the wounds that he took from Kenta's earlier shooting, but he showed no real fatigue from the fight that had transpired. "No preaching on how much good you're doing the world? No shouting of hypocricy others are committing?"

VROOOOOOM!

Another distant noise reverberated the city, large gusts of wind flew across the building tops, flourishing Taka's uniform as he dared not take his eye off of Sonoda at a crucial moment, knowing the noise was simply the sound of another inhuman cross rising at the perimeter of the city limits.

"You're really pathetic, Kenta-san," Taka raised his gun to aim at him as well, but he did no threatening maneuver to fire without being told so, "I wanted to be your comrade. I wanted to trust you, to have my back when the going gets tough. But in the end...you were right. Trusting you was the only evil I could've committed, and I have no regrets seeing you as my enemy up until this point!"

"It's not too late to give up this little game of yours, Kenta." Avaron said. "We have you cornered and your Ahijados friends are being dealt with as we speak. Tell us how to reverse this damn process before we all die!"

For a moment more, Kenta didn't allow himself to speak. Slowly, he closed his eyes and stopped moving. "...fine..." He whispered, using his bloodied hand to reach into his pocket. "You really want to know how to stop this? I have the key to it. I'm not exactly sure if it will work or not, but it seems that I have no other choice but to leave everything to you now." He pulled out what he had from his pocket, holding it up to view.

Avaron's eyes immediately dilated as she saw what it was.

A remote control.

"TAKA, GET AWAY FROM--!!"

Click!

BOOM!

"CAPTAIN!" Taka yelled out, pulling the trigger even as the building shook, hoping his aim would at least hit Kenta in the event and miracle he would survive.

From the very bottom of the building, a remote explosion tore apart the lower foundation. The entire structure caved in on itself, the rooftop falling inwards. Avaron found herself falling with the crumbling concrete to the ground, unable to do anything other than scream.

Then she hit the ground, and all was black.

The Hour is Nigh! Judgement Day Encroaching...!
"Nnnn...."

Avaron's world was filled with nothing but pain when she woke up. Through her bleary vision, she could see nothing but concrete and rubble around her. As she brought herself on her hands and knees, an intense pain seared through her body, and she almost collapsed again. As she looked down, she could see that at least her arms were bloodied up. A small pool of her own blood was starting to form underneath her.

She could safely say that she had been FUBAR'd.

With a pained groan, she pulled herself onto her feet, looking around the area with weary eyes. "Shit... Nakanome?!" She shouted, trying her best to ignore the screaming of her injuries as she stumbled across the concrete in an attempt to look for her comrade.

"Damn," Taka managed to utter nearby her, as he was somehow on his feet and standing over her on a cleft of rubble, his hands outstretched as if to proetect her from something even as small slabs of concrete were surrounding him, "wasn't fast enough...to save both of us....Avaron-chan..."

He then hacked out blood, as the revealing of why he had not moved was the source of his dilemma and doom. A thick metal beam stabbed through his back and out his gut, thick drips of blood splattered below him as he was directly overhead where the beam would've surely crushed her skull. His eye looked at her with normal color and his hat was lost to the wind of the blast, he had barely managed to evade the majority of the crashing detonation, however he managed to catch sight of a falling support bar heading towards an incapacitated Avaron. It was mere moments before she awakened, so in hindsight, she would've never woken up from her incapacitated slumber.

"Oh, no..."

Avaron's pupils dilated as she cast her eyes upon the scene. Immediately, she raced over towards him, ignoring the intense agony searing across her body. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." She hissed, her words panicked but her voice showing only tension. "J...just hold on, Taka!! I'll--" Immediately, she stopped herself, looking around for the reinforcements that were supposed to have shown a while back. "Damn it, this has to be the WORST time they could pick to be late!!"

"Where....is Sonoda...?" He asked out strained, but had a surprising amount of strength within his face, despite his impending wound that was obviously grave to his body, "is...he dead? Tell me he's dead, Avaron..."

"Forget him, I'm more concerned about you!!"Avaron snapped, her eyes surveying the severity of the wound. "Now stop talking!! You're not going to last long if you expend all of your energy here!!" She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowed and her heart racing viciously within her chest. She knew that the wound was bad. But if she removed the metal rod that was through his gut, it would only increase fatality chances. There was no testing things when it came to someone's life at risk...

"Kenta, you better pray that you're dead right now..." She thought to herself, her fists clenching.

"I guess we're going...kaff! Going to take a rain check....on that beer, huh...Avaron-chan?" Taka coughed, sounding almost bemused about his current sitaution, already guessing that the outrageous pain flowing through him was something that couldn't be easily fixed. He knew that if there wasn't any miracle workers coming soon, he'd be a sgood as dead within a few minutes, let alone get the help he needed within that time.

"I said--"

Avaron abruptly stopped herself, her ears finally picking up what Taka was speaking to her. "...what did you just call me...?" She questioned him, cocking an eyebrow and frowning in disbelief. He referred to her by her name, her rank... but he never once added that particular suffix.

"What? You actually never noticed...?" Taka asked in a borderline rhetorical fashion, coughing as he laughed lightly, his lower lip and chin now lightly stained with his own blood. "Figures...I guess considering you were...my superior...I wouldn't ever...ever...stand a chance, haha, kaff! Kaff!"

He promptly looked down before looking back up at her, joking morbidly, "Its a shame I can...get that...off of my chest...but not...this...damn beam, hahaha kaff!"

You never noticed.

Those were the words that shot through her the most. There was no direct statement of it, but the implication was painfully clear. She gritted her teeth again slightly, her eyes wavering just a little bit. But inside, she was stricken with guilt. He had feelings for her, but she had chosen to ignore him and focus her problems somewhere else. It was bad that Taka was dying right before her very eyes.

But it was worse knowing that she could do nothing to appease him.

"Taka, please. You're going to make it through this, but you have to keep quiet until a medical team gets here..." She said lowly, trying to remain stubborn to the situation at hand.

"We both know...unless they show up...in less than a minute...that's not going to happen, Avaron-chan, kaff!" Taka gritted his teeth as he coughed even more, the color slowly draining from his fac as more blood leaked and dripped from the beam projected from his gut. "Just...do me a favor...and make sure...Sonoda is dead. Pr-Pr-Promise me that at least, Avaron-chan!"

It was a promise that Avaron really... really wished he wouldn't propose to her.

She had been hoping to reform Kenta, turn him away from what he was doing and spare the bloodshed in the process. What her subordinate was doing was asking her to go against her own judgment and kill her former colleague just to appease him. It was such a selfish proposal.

But then again, so was trying to help him.

She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and reached out to grab his hand. Her fingers squeezed tightly, ignoring the cold feeling that was coming in. "...yes, Taka. If he didn't kill himself with this... then I'll make sure to put the bullet in his head myself."

"Good...," Taka said with a soft smile, squeezing her hand back and shut his left eye with a grimace, gritting his teeth audibly and growled, "c-can you...get someone...to wrench this thing...out of my gut...Avaron-chan? Its...starting to hurt, kaff!"

"No."

Knowing that Taka's fate was sealed either way, Avaron slowly reached out to grab the metal rebar, her fingers tightening around the cold and bloodied material. Her fingers made sure to grip his tightly. She wouldn't let go until the last breath, until his life was truly extinguished. She knew that he was going to die. The least she could do was stick by him.

SPLURCH!

With a grunt, she ripped the rebar from his gut and cast it aside.

"Grk!" As Taka clenched onto the hole on his solarplex, grimaced and grunted as he slumped to the uneven concrete slabs beneath him, chuckling lightly, "that hurt....like a bitch! Kaff Kaff Kaff! Now....can you...call in somebody...Avaron...chan? I think...I got maybe three minutes...till I hit the red zone...."

A bitter smile came across Avaron's, her hand still keeping a firm grip on his. "...don't try to bullshit me, Nakanome." She said, almost in a cold manner. "We both know that's not true." It was made clear with that earlier statement; any aid would not show up within the minute, and Taka only had less time than that.

"Damn," Taka chuckled, wheezing slightly as he tightened his grip as the warmth began to fade from it rapidly, "and here I thought...I could bullshit my body...in giving me more time...," he reached a shaky blood spattered hand up to Avaron's face, brushing it softly as he smiled grimly, "take care of my men...when I'm gone....please?"

"You got it..." The smile became less bitter and more re-assuring. She reached with one of her own hands, resting it on the hand that lay on her cheek and ignoring the feeling of the cold and clamminess that lay within. "It's the least I could do..."

"I...I...," Taka's hands began to lose strength, the fingers lost their grasp and his eye began to dim as it began to lose its light, "thank you." With that, Taka breathed out a long breathed sigh as he smiled, as his head tilted to the side and his body became limp.

'I leave the rest...to you...Captain...Avaron...chan...'

Slowly, Avaron allowed herself to release her grip on his hand and stand up. Her face was overshadowed by her bangs, and the pain of her own wounds seemed to be nothing more than a distant memory compared to the pain in her heart. She always hated moments like these, where she had to hold the hand of her comrade as s/he died right in front of her eyes. She learned to mask those emotions long ago... but it didn't stop the hurting. She had just lost her comrade to the likes of another.

And she was left with the promise that would force her to abandon her ideals. Was it some sort of sick, cruel joke...?

"And another one bites the dust..."

She didn't need to be a genius to figure out who spoke behind her.

Immediately, she spun around and lifted her gun towards Kenta, who in turn had one of his revolvers pointed towards her. Her eyes were narrowed in concentrated anger rather than the fury she was forcibly suppressing inside of her. However, he held a solemn look on his own face. "A real shame he died a hypocrite, a fool who couldn't even bring himself to be honest with you or anyone else... even himself."

That was when Avaron noted one thing about him.

Despite having clearly been shot as well as the victim of the collapsing building, he had no sign of injury on him, no trace of blood, or any sign that he was even wounded. Her widened eyes and voice expressed clear surprise and shock, even as she kept her weapon pointed at him. "Your injuries...!!" She brought herself to say, trailing off as she continued to look at him.

"All thanks to our dear Hankami...."

A slow grin crossing his face, Kenta slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the black watch - the same one he had showed Tenshi. "It was very obvious from the moment everyone figured out what I was doing, they would seek to kill me. That's why this gem was given to me: I could complete the spell without having to fear someone's blade interrupting me in the middle of it. With this, I can die and come back from the dead. There is no such thing as killing me while this is in my possession..."

Slowly, he placed it back, the smile fading away.

"But...then again... even if I did have it, I don't think you would shoot anyway, would you?"

A scowl came across Avaron's face once more, and she tightened her grip on her gun. "And what exactly would make you think that?! You killed one of my best men!" She growled. "I have every right to kill you right now where you stand!!"

"But you can't."

Kenta's calm words were becoming more and more unnerving to her, and it was beginning to show on her face. "Because if you do, that just means you'll be going out of your boundaries. And for what? To fulfill the promise of someone who once belonged to the very organization we hate? Let's be honest with ourselves, Avaron... this isn't just a decision of wrong and right. This is a decision of duty and friendship. Kill me, and let yourself become just like the cold-blooded soldier prominent in the military... or lower your gun and stick to your beliefs, just like I believed you always would. What will it be?"

There was a deathly silence. Neither of the combatants moved from their positions, keeping their Kidō pistols trained on one another. Kenta's expression once again became solemn, and Avaron's became conflicted. Their eyes stared into one another, and neither one of them dared to break away.

Finally, Avaron broke it.

"...I can't do it." She said bitterly and brokenly, closing her eyes and lowering the gun back to her side. "I just can't do it..." Her gun hand slowly opened up, allowing the pistol to fall to the ground with an audible clatter. Her body was screaming at her not to pull the trigger, her hand having refused to cooperate with her. It was the tragic consequence of her having grown by him. While half of her refused to shoot out of fear of walking down the soldier's path, half of her also was still willing to believe that somewhere within there was her best friend. It may have been a foolish belief... but she couldn't help herself for looking at and leaning towards the possibility.

That was when Kenta smiled a little. "You are a respectable, honorable woman indeed..." He whispered, cocking the hammer back. "So I'll make your passing a quick one. Farewell... boss..."

He slowly tightened his grip on the trigger, and Avaron braced herself for what was to come.

CRRRRRRACK, BOOM!

The sound of impossible hardened tower clogs smashing into the concrete street behind Sonoda was heard, as an exhale of wind and force uttered from an arrival unexpected at this time. A flourishing of a white Haori ran across a well defined and endowed chest, a crest of blonde hair brushed across her tattooed forehead as her pigtails flowed behind her head. Her form rose up to a formidable height, nearly matching that of any tall and strapping military man, with a fiery anger sporting in her hazel eyes.

"What," with a vicious snatch of her hand and incomprehensible speed, the woman's voice bore a recognizeable tone for anyone who had saw her at the debriefing just hours before the battle started, "is the meaning," the vicious tactical vice grabbed the back of his head, the force behind it threatened to tear through his skin and skull just from squeezing it, "of this, Commander?!" She held him like that, and her face was filled with a righteous anger. No one needed to feel her spiritual pressure to sense the utter menace and outrage filled in her voice and body.

Needless to say, Avaron and Kenta were shocked.

Even more so on Kenta's case, considering the hand that grabbed his head.

The vicious pain that shot through his head almost immediately, and he let out a strangled yell as he shut his eyes tightly. It was all he could do not to fall to his knees, the grab rendering his body momentarily paralyzed. He ended up dropping his own revolver. "F...fuck...!!!" He hissed, trying to pull his own head by itself out of the woman's grip.

"C-Captain Taiyō Ikidōri of the 4th Division?!" The police commander exclaimed, blinking in dumbfounded and comical surprise at the other woman's sudden appearance. She had not been expecting the likes of Shinigami to be anywhere within the vicinity. But the fury and anger that Taiyō displayed rendered her almost shell-shocked. Had she been watching the whole time?

"The sounds of gunfire in a peaceful, protected city and reports of Police units being deployed towards this area, I had to assume there was another infiltrator of the Ahijados. The explosion had furthered my haste, and I had got here too late to save the other 37 men and women under your care, Kenta Sonoda," Taiyō directed her conversation to the squirming and writhing form of Kenta, her left hand holding his head fast with incredible control and strength, while her right hand balled into a fist with unkempt anger crackling her knuckles audibly, "and then I arrive to hear the final words between two survivors, both of them your comrades and allies, before one keels near death's door while you move in to dispatch the other. I could not watch another die from your hands, Commander Sonoda!"

Meanwhile, a young woman bearing the trappings of a 4th Division Soul Reaper, with the badge of a Lieutenant strapped around her left arm shimmered to visibility near Avaron, kneeling next to Taka, as she immediately began forming hand signs, asking aloud, "How long has it been since he slipped into unconsciousness? When did the protrusion been removed? I need to know this so I can operate on him as quickly and correctly as I can, Captain Setsuko!"

"He's alive?!"

Not taking the time to be surprised, Avaron immediately explained the situation to the young woman. "I removed the thing a minute ago, and he fell unconscious in half that time." She said readily, her eyes narrowed in a stern gaze. One of her hands clutched her side, wincing as she felt blood pool in that particular area. "Fuck, this hurts...!!"

However, she abruptly snapped her head towards the scene in where Kenta was held hostage by the Captain. Despite his face dripping with sweat now, he managed a mocking smile to his captor. "I don't want to hear the likes of you speak like you're some sort of hero..." He said vehemently. "And besides..." A malicious smile graced his face. "Thirty-seven? Add the millions of lives taken away from the capital city's populace, and you'll have yourself a more accurate estimation, Captain..."

Toshi nodded, briefly noticing the blood seeping into Avaron's uniform, saying briskly before tending to Taka,"I will tend to in a minute, Captain Setsuko. Please bear with me, "within a few more hand signs, she placed her palms over Taka's body, a thin blue sheen emanated across his whole body, making it suspend within a field spiritual particles that enwrapped him in a temporal stasis aura, "now to infuse his body with the proper amount of blood while removing any foreign spiritual matter and bacteria, as well as seal up his chest and back..." She spoke with a thorough and trained set of concentration on her work, not even registering what Sonoda was saying to his captor.

His words were poorly chosen to the enraged, yet intelligent Captain who had a vast recollection of the anatomy and the physical of the spiritual body.

CRACK!

Her fist connected with his shoulder, tearing the tendons, shattering the shoulder blade, and perforating the front of his chest due to the restrained, yet dangerous force she used.

"I'm the Captain of the 4th Division, Sonoda. Its not wise to provoke me to use my vast knowledge of the spiritual nervous system and integrity of the spiritual body to...induce further torment," she growled out the words cooly, maintaining her calm and keeping herself from punching a hole in the man...for now, while she still had him, "its obvious you're the one who planned this entire war, and your confession of slaughtering the populace within this city had something to do with the crosses in the distance, which is slowly but surely gathering the proper amount of energy to expel a catastrophic blast of unimaginable proportions. How, do, we stop, it?!"

With each last word spoken,sh stabbed her forefingers into his already broken shoulder, tearing into the tendons and twisting painful nerve endings to unthinkably high spasms of pain. Needless to say, the Captain while restraining her malice towards the man, was etching her anger while trying to solve and correct the damage the madman had concocted.

"NNNN.... GAAAAH~!!!!!"

Kenta's eyes dilated, and he struggled even more again as she shoved her forefingers into his very muscles. He gasped, struggling even more under the intense agony she was putting him through. However, once she was done, his snarl turned into a pained sneer, and he looked behind him at her with his dilated eyes.

"STOP it?!" He jeered. "I can't believe you would even THINK of such a thing!! This is not Aizen's move to destroy the Soul Society with a meager army or the Civil War that split this society apart so many years ago!! This is a movement made by gods, TRUE gods at that!! Once they have made a decision, we are unable to reverse it!! There is no reversal of the Plinian Eruption!!"

CRACK, SPLURCH!

Taiyō imbedded her fist through his broken shoulder and halfway through his body, before wrenching it out with a angry, relelentless glare upon her eyes as she held him aloft by his skull with her fingers alone, "You KNOW something! You wouldn't simply sacrifice your own life in the sake of "world improvement." No, you must know a failsafe....a backup plan, or some way to keep yourself alive from the oncoming devestation. What is it?!"

VROOOOOOOOM!

In the distance, as Tōshi began sealing Taka's chest and back, the thin blue aura flickered as another cross began uprooting itself from the perimeter of the city, raising itself up high, displaying its treacherous morbid visage for all those to see beyond. "I'm surprised the Daisuke-san or Captain Aizen hasn't begun attacking those obelisks," Tōshi spoke in wonder, even as she worked, directing most of her conversation to the injured Avaron next to her, "despite from what I've heard of the Hankami, no mere structure should hold against the force of a Bankai's power, should it?"

"You're really calling that a mere structure?!" Avaron panted incredulously. "I call that bullshit, Lieutenant, and you know it!! A mere structure wouldn't be able to exude this much energy and have such a sickening effect on us!! I hope you aren't taking anything for granted here!!"

"It's exactly what they're doing..."

Despite the intense agony running through his body, Kenta's tone was filled with nothing but disgust. "There are things in this world that you simply can't oppose, no matter how hard you try..." He growled, his voice hoarse and weakened from his nerves being rattled with the pain. "But you just don't understand that, do you, Captain? What you're trying to do is nothing more than an act of desperation, a last effort of self-preservation. You're nothing but a coward who just can't accept defeat. You make me si-!!"

That was when a sickening presence washed over all of them, effectively shutting Kenta up and driving shock into him.

Boots were walking towards them at a slow, calm gait. A black robed figure could be seen a distance behind Taiyō, a hood covering the entirety of its face. Avaron's eyes dilated in shock and fear as she saw him approach, recognizing him right off the bat. She had seen him before in the initial battle when she had been with Kukkyōna, when she had been hit with that terrifying wave of spiritual energy.

Now, he was back - and from the looks of things, he wasn't there for tea.

"Hey I was just saying-" Tōshi began saying before the sickening feeling washed over her, causing her once calm and casual visage to be utterly dissipated. Her eyes widened, pupils dialated, and her head turned with a gasping, shivering pause as she saw the oncomer, "w-w-who...is...?"

"?!" Taiyō's own eyes widened, feeling the immense power coming from the oncoming Hankami and could only recollect a personal testament from Captain Hayate's encounter with one of them. Despite the rage-filled anger that boiled up in the Slayer, the malicious and menacing presence within the Punisher, this one was of sheer dread and depression. As if foreign emotions overpowered your own and drowned you in a maelstrom of debaucherous unknown. This was the power of the Monitor, the Hankami of sheer dread and unwavering purpose.

Taiyō turned her head with a uncertain, and somehow terrified look towards the Monitor, her eyes equally widened along with dialated pupils as her body's proximity to the being was becoming undyingly intoxicating with dread. "Wh-What are you here...for...Monitor?"

The Monitor did not allow itself to answer.

Instead, it moved.

In the next second that passed, the Monitor had re-appeared in front of Taiyō, placing a hand on Kenta's good shoulder. In that very instant, all of the color they could see suddenly shifted into a mix of black and white. Everything looked as if it had came from a distorted ink painting. He had not moved, and there was no signal that he had used any sort of speed technique.

But only a second had passed, and after it did, Taiyō would find herself without her prisoner.

In that instant, the Monitor had snatched Kenta from her arms and vanished as quickly as he had come, leaving all of them alone and on their own.

"....good....god...."

Avaron immediately fell to her knees, sweat dripping down her face even as the horrifying aura subsided. Every part of her body tingled, and she felt as if she had been violated in the worst way possible. If he had shoved her into the ground and raped her right then and there, she could understand. But all he had to do was step in her presence... and it felt like nothing could be hidden from him. She never felt so weak and so vulnerable in her life, her body shaking as much as her breaths as she tried to keep herself under control.

Such was the power of the Monitor.

Tōshi shivered, gulping down air and forcefully tried to regain control over her senses. The sheer empathic energy that was emanated from the being was so intense, Tōshi had no time to react and had been overcome with the despair her comrade had faced. Fortunately, being a expert in manipulating her own Spiritual Energy as well as Healing arts of Kido, she was able to dissipate the foreign empathic energies from her system, coming out of her pores like a faint black mist, making her cough slightly from smelling it.

She immediately turned to Avaron, rushing over to her side and began to apply first aid Healing energy to Avaron's side, seeing it open further due to the incredible stress her body just handled, "Hold on there Captain...everything's going to be alright..."

"D...D...D-," Taiyō uttered out once the proximity of the horrible aura vanished, it only took a few seconds to recollect her body's functions and realized what happened. Unfortunately for her she did not like what had just transpired, tightening her fist to such extremes she punched a nearby building, shouting out, "DAMMIT!" With that punch connecting the wall, the sheer force of it, blew the building in on itself causing it to collapse fantastically and billow a gust of wind and rubble, even as she began to weep while standing.

"I failed....I failed to save those people we came here to protect...and now I failed to punish the man responsible...," she bowed her head, and her eyes watered with grief for all the deaths that had been committed and for only finding out about the massacre too soon.

"Captain," Tōshi said with care and concern, seeing the usually calm and stoic Captain who usually broke up fights and was against violence in this extreme break down this much, made her begin to worry for her emotional and mental disposition, "we should regroup with the Captains and the King...we have to come up with a plan to save the rest of Yuurei...right, Captain Setsuko?"

"Y-y-yeah..." Holding a hand up to her face, Avaron remained in the position she was and allowed Tōshi to continue healing her. "They don't know about Kenta's defection yet. I was hoping to corner him without causing too much of a ruckus, but it looks like we're going to need a lot more help if we're going to keep up. They need to know what transpired here...."

"I've found out only but an hour before your building was destroyed," said gravely, turning over with a paled and grief-stricken expression only a doctor and empathetic person could hold, "they were butchered, slaughtered by Overwatch officers as if they were cattle, something to bring about this damned prophecy that I should've forseen!"

Tōshi nodded, looking to Avaron as she spoke herself, "We notified Captain Kaze of the situation. We've already have some of the Sword Squad's agents tracking them down as wespeak to be executed on sight if they resist. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do on this end."

"That's fine..." Avaron muttered, closing her eyes in resolution. During the dialogue, she had managed to regain her breath again, though her face was still slightly sweaty. "We do our jobs, and everything'll be smooth sailing. I hope..."

"With all due respect, Captain Setsuko, hope didn't get the people of this city very far..." Taiyō said bitterly while hanging her head.

"Captain! We shouldn't be saying things like that! Why...what would someone like-"

"AVARON!" came a loud shout from a flying, descending orange haired Soul Reaper, with his black overcoat flourishing around his body as he raced towards her with a look of worry and fear etched onto his features as he landed deftly next to her, "I called into your head quarters to find out what happened, and then I hear your men being deployed to the building that you were....what happened?! Why are the crosses being raised all around Yuurei?!"

Avaron didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Most of the city's populace is dead now. That's what happened..." She said, her voice grim and solemn as she opened her eyes once more. She shifted her position so that she was sitting on the ground Indian-style, her hands resting on her knees as she looked over at Daisuke with narrowed eyes. "And if we don't find a way to stop it, Judgement Day will happen possibly within the fucking hour. Those crosses are saying one thing and one thing only..."

She closed her eyes, hanging her head a little.

"We're all going to die soon."

Daisuke gritted his teeth hearing this. His body shook, and his voice started low as he heard what she said, "Why...are you giving up...so soon...Avaron?!" He then looked to her with his eyes blazing with determination and hope, as he waved his arm around the rubble torn cityscape they were in, "the moment we give up hope, freedom and life dies with it! Destiny is not some prophetical bullshit! Destiny is fulfilling your goals, dreams, and desires no matter what!"

Taiyō's eyes looked at Daisuke with surprise, yet calm acceptance of their fate. To see Daisuke not even flinch away at the possibility of giving up....she knew he was truly Kukkyona's son. She smiled lightly before whispering, "You're son is surely doing you proud...Kukkyona..."

It was something that shocked Avaron completely.

Her eyes widened, and her head spun to face Daisuke. She had fallen completely into silence, his words hitting a needed chord. Her mouth fell open slightly, and she found herself unable to say anything in response. She was bluntly telling it like it was, but did she really sound like she was giving up hope? Had the desolate situation really hit her that hard?

Why was she despairing like this?

She was still alive. She was still breathing, and it seemed that Taka Nakanome. She still had the strength to fight, to keep leading the helpless to safety. She still had the power to stop what was going to be an event of apocalyptic proportions. If her men saw her like this, what would they have thought of her? They would've fallen into despair, seeing their head of morale acting in such a... demoralized fashion. That was something she could not have at all.

"....you're right."

Her eyes narrowed once more, and she turned away from him, tilting her head to the side a little. "Even though most of it's gone, there's still life left within this city." She said, closing her eyes once more. "The Soul Society and Yūrei aren't dead yet. We're all still breathing, aren't we? We've still got the strength to fight this...." Slowly, she allowed herself to stand up, holding one of her shoulders.

"Don't exactly know how the hell we're going to do it..."

A slow smirk came across her face.

"But I'm not new to having to improvise."

"That's more like it!" Daisuke said with a wide grin, crossing his arms over his overcoat covered chest as he felt renewed with vigor.

Tōshi sighed, looking at the crosses beyond the horizon, "Without Kenta, the only real way to halt the Eruption is to somehow disable or cripple those obelisk crosses. Maybe if enough destructive power was applied to the right places, it would be rendered useless?..."

"The military is too frightened of the constructs to give orders to open fire, nor do we have the time to hit something of that magnitude and numbers," Taiyō said, cupping her chin with her hand while propping her elbow with the other thoughtfully looking at the most visible cross only a few miles away, "maybe if the Captains concentrated their strength against one or even multiple crosses, we could possibly halt the eruption...but we'd need someone to test that theory first with the equivalent power of a Bankai-"

"Leave that to me, Captain," Daisuke smiled in a eager fashion, before his body became enveloped in a red aura of his own Spirit Energy, his Spiritual Pressure slowly brimming to the surface, "I'd suggest everyone get back...my Bankai is a little....volatile."

With a deft unsheathing of his Zanpakuto, he raised it into the air before shouting out, "BAN....KAI!" With a large exhale of flames in a vertical fashion, as well as a buffeting heat wave that lightly singed the nearby onlookers, Daisuke's form became enveloped in a rich, red-yellow flame that transformed his appearance...into that of a man dressed in fiery garments, "I'm fired up now!"

"Watch it!!" Avaron gritted her teeth, having to turn her face away from the flames. The immense power that he was exerting sent a vicious chill down her spine, despite the heat. It wasn't common for her to see a Shinigami's Bankai up close... but when she did, it was always an intimidating sight. Considering that she had no "upgrades" of her own despite her rigorous training, it was a reasonable reaction.

Skidding his foot back a little bit, his Spiritual Pressure began to flicker and heat the very air around him, distorting it visually like static, as his body was encompassed in both flames and a veil of crimson spirit energy. Inhaling deeply before yelling out, he propelled himself like a missile, cracking the ground underneath him before his body soared like a fiery rocket towards the cross in the distance.

The sound emanated all around like a missile, as the fiery embodied Daisuke raced towards it, gaining on its position with every passing second. With a outstretched hand, fire took form and solidified into his Zanpakuto as he aimed it towards the cross.

"I'll hit you," he spoke lowly, as a fiery sphere was created on the edge of his blade, coming faster and faster towards cross, before he yelled out, "WITH everything I got!"

"Kami Kizu...Shawā Moyashi!!!" With a swift throw of the sphere, the fire replicated and expanded, sending dozens of fire balls towards the face of the cross, all of them screaming like bottle rockets before colliding with a series of pyrotechnic vibrant explosions, visible even from the distance the onlooker group he left behind. The fire bathed the whole front half of the cross, brightly ligthting up the air in their field of vision.

"So this is the power of Daisuke's Bankai?! Incredible!" Taiyō spoke as she felt a wave of heat cascade all the way towards their location from the large distance in between them.

"Hey! When did Daisuke get a Bankai?!" Tōshi shouted out indignantly and almost terrified that her Lieutenant compatriot had attained this much power.