- Lily's POV -
As soon as Raivis arrived in the Cafe, we both went into my room. I knew he went out to seek out help from a Kol Clan ghoul he was friends with, "So? What did he say?"
Raivis shrugged, "He said he'll think about it. It's risky for him. It seems like he isn't looking too good in Ivan's eyes, so he's scared that if he tells him of our plan, Ivan will kill him for disobeying orders"
"But we need the Kol Clan to be aware we are coming! If not, they will attack us as soon as we enter their territory,"
"I know. But honestly, I trust Feliks. He'll probably end up on our side... hopefully..."
I could see the flicker of doubt in his eyes as he spoke, "If you say so. But for now, we should figure out how to get control of the experiment and also take him all the way to the Clan territory without getting our heads bitten off by him"
"Well, your brother created him. What exactly needs to happen to be able to control him?"
I sat quietly for a while, "He's strong and dangerous. But so am I. Most human-made ghouls are. But for an experiment like that, he will go berserk as soon as we start saying the phrases that triggers him, but he will be under our control if at least one of us can keep him down until the entirety of the trigger is said out loud and he hears all of it"
"That means we can't do it here. Too many distractions" I mentioned, "We need to catch him off guard where the others won't stop it,"
"And not to mention we can't face him directly. He's already suspicious of us, especially me. He's been avoiding me as much as possible,"
"Can you blame him? Vash basically forced him to fight you in order to get him stronger and skillful,"
"True. So we can't coax him out of the cafe ourselves,"
"Maybe someone else can?"
I looked up, "He goes out often to meet up with someone, a human. Maybe during one of those times, we can follow him and corner him,"
"What about the human?"
"We kill him," I replied casually, "This needs to go perfect or else it won't matter if we capture him and give him to Ivan,"
Raivis nodded, "Alright, then what happens after we trigger it?"
"I will hold him off while you continue to recite the numbers and once you're done, my brother will come help us by stabilizing him,"
"Your brother? Do you know where he is? Have you even talked to him since you've come here?"
"I haven't since it's too dangerous, but" I reached into a pocket in my dress and pulled out an old phone. We got them to communicate in case of emergencies, "Let's call him, shall we?"
"Right now?" Raivis' eyes became wide with worry.
"Right now" I said, "The more the Experiment starts remembering, the more time we lose to capture him. We need to make sure he understands so the plan can go smoothly,"
With that, I started dialing him. Raivis and I sat quietly, waiting for Vash to pick up. After a couple rings, the call connected and I heard the familiar voice for the first time in a long while, "Hello?"
"Big brother?"
"Lily? Are you alright?" His tone immediately became panicked.
"I'm fine, everything is okay" I reassured him, "I'm still at Armonia. But we have a plan"
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- Vash's POV -
I walked down the street in the dark. Only a few rows of light poles in the distance allowed me to see what's ahead. It was dead silent.
There was no one in sight. Any other person would be terrified. No one would be outside after the sun sets. Unless they had a death wish. Or in my instance, looking for someone.
It didn't take long for someone to come along. A man with blonde hair and a hair clip and a bandana covering his mouth, "Just the person I was looking for,"
He pulled out a knife. I stood still, "We both know you don't need that,"
He froze, but didn't let down his guard or his knife.
"Where's your partner? The one with the stupid hair?" I asked him.
He stayed silent and observed me, as if he didn't know what to do.
And so I spoke, "You know who I am. You were there in the labs of the CCG when I was still working there. You were extremely curious for someone who was just an assistant to the other scientists. I always had a suspicion as to why and now I can safely guess you're a ghoul. Right, Lukas?"
I can see him falter a bit in surprise of the mention of his name. He finally lowered his knife and his bandana, "Doctor Vash Zwingli. What are you doing here? You're a wanted man by the CCG"
"I came looking for you"
"Why? How did you even know where to find me or who I am?"
"I've worked with ghouls for many years. After being overwhelmed by their presence, you start to recognize patterns and little details. And you don't make it that hard when you make a name for yourself in the news as 'two dangerous bandits rob people in the dark'. Is the money from being a lab assistant not enough for you? Or haven't you told your partner what you do as a day job? Where is he by the way? You two seem inseparable despite keeping secrets from him-"
"We separated to cover more ground tonight..." He gritted his teeth.
"You're starving," I observed, "No fresh meat in the area lately, huh? Wonder why that is-"
"What is it that you want?" He glared at me, getting tired of the teasing.
"You always just want to get to the point, huh? Lucky for you, I do too. I need to ask of you and your partner a favor. It may benefit both of us,"
"... How so?..."
"I need you and your friend to trap someone. A hybrid ghoul. He has a little human friend so you can have that as your treat,"
Lukas stayed quiet, "To trap a ghoul, especially a hybrid would require us to attack him as ghouls. We do not do that in broad daylight, it's already dangerous as it is. It's not worth it,"
"But you're hungry. And so must be your partner. What was his name again? Ah, Matthias. And little Emil too. You know growing ghouls need to eat well to be big and strong"
I could see his eyes widen a bit, "How did you-"
"Emil was one of the young ghouls I was supposed to experiment on when I was still with the Kol Clan. But then coincidentally, you trio left the clan without a trace. A shame, you have no idea what I would have done with the boy-"
Lukas was furious as suddenly, a pair of red kagunes sprouted from his back and were pointed at me threateningly. He stayed silent, only staring at me with his black and red glowing eyes. With anger and fear as I stood still.
"You see, there's many reasons why to do this, Lukas. Do not be an idiot. It's just a simple task. If not, things will get messy. I'll tell Matthias the truth of what you been up, putting yourself in danger by working in the CCG laboratories. I can tell Braginsky your whereabouts. You must live around here, right? Since it would be easier and quicker to drag a body,"
"Or I can kill you right now, you little sh-"
"Alright, Alright. How about I throw in another compromise. I can help solve your problem with that one Officer. The one who miraculously somehow always show up when you're trying to hunt,"
Lukas' brows furrowed and he shook his head.
"Relax, I'm not going to kill him. I'll help you take out his other set of eyes. The ones that help him get to the scene quick enough. Tell me, have you ever heard of Operation PIGEONS?"
Lukas shook his head.
"Exactly. All you need to know is that they are the cause of your problems. And if they stick around long enough, they will find out who you are and capture not only you, but your whole family"
He stared at the ground for a moment as he thought. His kagune slowly retracting back.
"Come on, I am doing the absolute most for you here. Just one favor and you don't have to worry about anything ever again,"
Lukas finally looked up and nodded, "On the condition that Matthias and Emil never find out about this conversation"
"Of course. Now here's the plan"
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A/N:
Hi everybody! I am so sorry this update took a while and I apologize it isn't the best! I hope everybody is okay with everything that is going on right now on the world. I wish I had more to explain as to why it took so long, but I'll be honest and say I've been working on myself and on some personal projects but remember, I am never going to abandon my writing. My writing is one of the things that bring me joy and even if most days, I'm tired and dealing with personal stuff, I try to write at least a sentence every day and I know that may be frustrating for those who wait a long time for updates, so I really appreciate that you guys and your patience! ❤️ not to mention I have other fanfics who I also am struggling to update. But you deserve an update : )
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I appreciate all comments and votes and I'll see ya next update : )