"Alright, kiddies." Finch said with a sigh. "Be careful of what you say. You guys both coming here is a… touchy… subject, to say the least. I mean, having a human come straight into our home, well, it won't have the best of reactions."
"I'm not leaving her." I said, "if she isn't welcome here, then neither am I."
"Fair." Finch shrugged, "but let's say you do leave. Where will you go after? How will you survive out there? I mean, not only will you have the Ops after you, but you'll also have to worry about the other Chassis. They will kill you on sight, and let's pretend for a second that you do manage to survive for some time. Who will teach you how to use your Exilas properly? And what happens if, one day, you cross paths with the Wendigo? I can give you the answer; you'll die."
"Just give us some of that stuff, and we can stay hidden." Yamari said. "We will stay under the radar."
"You mean this stuff?" Finch asked, pulling out a vial of the substance from before. "It won't work forever, and you can't keep your Exilas back forever. It will always come out, the longest you can go without transforming is maybe three days at best, and trust me, if you try to hold it back, it will only become more and more painful. Not just that, but you can't stay under the radar. The KCD know who you are, I mean, Onnai is the owner of that house, so now they will search you out whether you are in Kokkaku form or not. And if they catch you, well, you don't wanna know."
"Don't wanna know?" I asked. "What exactly do they do..?"
"Well, imagine this. The KCD wants to know what causes Kokkaku to exist and transform, so they will run experiments on you to test out your healing capabilities, so they will wound you over and over again, the wounds getting progressively worse. And let's not mention that they would try their best to forcibly make you transform as well just so they could run tests on the transformation."
I shuddered at the thought of it. It sounded like torture, not science. That just sounded like made serial killers using the excuse of science to torture people… But I couldn't say that I didn't understand why they reacted the way they did towards Kokkaku. After all, I was at one point human and I too feared them. And humans never react well to fear.
"That's… horrible.." Yamari said weakly, glancing over at me.
I couldn't help but wonder why Yamari was willing to go so far for me and give up everything in her life just to help me. I truly didn't understand. If she had just left me to die, well, she wouldn't be in this mess.
"Yeah, it is. So I honestly suggest you stay here. Now, I mean, it's up to you, but make your choice." Finch said, turning and walking down the dark tunnel.
"We've already come so far…" Yamari said, looking over at me.
"But what if they try to hurt you?" I asked.
"Then we leave. I'll be fine, I promise. It's no big deal." She grasped one of my talons, holding onto it gently and smiling. "Come on."
— — —
A Kokkaku had been bound to a rolling hospital bed, his legs, arms, neck and waist fastened to it by thick leather and metal chains. Four men, each wearing white suits and masks that covered their faces, walked beside the bed as they pushed it down a hall, the wheels rolling along the smooth white floor as blaring lights shone down on them.
The Kokkaku was slowly coming to, the last thing he remembered being him chasing an Aves class Kokkaku and then being shot down by someone.. and then his heart sank. He tried pulling his arms or legs up, but he couldn't move them. He began to shake his entire body madly, writhing beneath the straps. He couldn't move.
He'd been captured by the KCD.
"Aaaargh.." he growled, tugging at the restraints as hard as he could. The metal clips began to rattle under the force as the leather stretched.
"Now, now. Calm down, relax." One of the scientists spoke, his voice cold and calm. "You are safe now." Then he raised a pistol from his side, aiming it at the Kokkaku's canine head, and with a loud bang and a spurt of blood, a bullet slammed through his head, knocking him unconscious as they bed and the scientists burst through a set of double doors leading into another room.
— — —
A Kokkaku sat atop the edge of a building looking down at the KCD headquarters. He had a large Exilas, layers of robes covering him like heavy armor as bone spikes protruded from his back and his arms were longer than natural. Strange black vines coiled around his bones, writhing like snakes. Over his head was the skull of an elk, it's horns large and spiked with the same black vines coiled about it as dark red eyes peered through the sockets of the skull.
Behind this Kokkaku was another, this one having the reptilian head of a snake while what appeared to be ribcages covered his arms, chest and lower legs like plates of armor while two large talons protruded from each hand almost like venomous fangs.
"Why am I not surprised Avory got himself caught?" The serpentine Kokkaku sighed, his voice venomous and cold as he raised his hand to his head. "Brutish fool."
"It doesn't matter. I've been meaning to tear down the KCD for some time now as it is." The other Kokkaku spoke in return. "They've been getting a bit too confident."
"You sure you aren't getting too confident yourself..? I mean, with a title like yours, I could see how it would get to your head… Wendigo."
The Kokkaku with the elk head slowly turned, his horns swiveling around as cold dead eyes glared over at the reptile class.
"I suggest you watch yourself, snake." Wendigo said coldly.
The reptile class raised both hands and stepped back. "Apologies, I just want to make sure you don't get yourself caught over some idiot."
"He may be foolish, but his power is not something I can just let go. Not to mention his knowledge of our Chassis. It's either he needs to die or we rescue him." Wendigo said.
"Well, I could easily sneak in there and assassinate him. It would be no challenge to-"
"No." Wendigo spoke, "as I've said. I have been wanting to put the KCD down for a while now. This is a perfect opportunity."
"You sure you can…" the reptile type tried speaking, but Wendigo just dropped from the roof, descending to the ground below.
The Kokkaku stepped forward, looking over the edge as Wendigo slammed to the earth, cracking the ground at his feet as bullets began to spray at him and alarms began blaring within the building.
"Well, they react fast." The reptile type observed as he watched Wendigo simply walk forward, the bullets having zero affect on him whatsoever. "But it doesn't matter."
Wendigo strode straight up to the closest KCD officer, grabbing him by the head and lifting him into the air as bone talons skewered straight into his skull, crushing it as blood oozed to the ground.