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The first thing Murata saw upon awakening was an old boiler room. Pipes filled the walls and a dark rumbling filled his ears from the fuming depths of the heating. With his arms and legs bound to the pipe behind him, he was forced to hang with a growing stress in his limbs that pulled at his muscles and strained his shoulders.

The second thing he saw, was Gyao Shin Kaneyama smiling at him, her hands and wings behind her back, with brown leather jacket and loose pants as well as a bandage wrapped round her head. Two guards stood behind her at the door, grey stone walls and a flickering lamp above their heads marking an old blood stain at Murata's feet.

"Sleep well?" she rubbed her wings. "You lookin' kinda rough there, been drinking on the job Murata-kun?"

He said nothing, taking a deep breath with a hard stare towards the killer. Pulling out a broken phone from her pocket, she walked up to him shaking it at his face.

"You were awful eager to break this, said my buddy Zittelli. Whysat? Something I should know?"

Murata kept silent, tightening his jaw as she leaned in closer and grabbed his throat.

"You know how long I took carving through Tsuchimura's head?"

She dragged her claw across the neck with agonising scrape.

"When her screams turn into gurgling and her blood starts frothing from the vibrations in her throat...fuck, it's like watching someone's soul just rip free from their body. I'm not religious myself but...I really wanna see your soul leave your body like that too."

Her claws raked at the fresh scars on the sides of Murata's neck, the blades of Iris having left their mark as he clenched his teeth harder with shuddering gasp. Kaneyama giggled before punching his stomach, causing him to cough with a grunt before a second and third fist came crunching in his belly.

"You're not as fat as you look." She rubbed over his shirt with a lurid grin. "Got some muscle on ya, real shame I have to fuck it UP!"

Another fist slammed in his gut, followed by two more as Kaneyama started laughing. Bruises formed underneath his shirt as he heaved against the pipe, hammering blows from the winged kaiju making him gasp and sputter when she crunched her knuckles harder.

Even without a mirror, he knew his face was smothered with welts, an eye swollen shut along with a wrist broken hard to be a constant agony in his new distressing position. His knees had been bandaged, along with his lower belly to make sure he wouldn't bleed out and die. When she pulled out a knife and suddenly lunged for his face, he never flinched when it stopped inches from his other eye.

"HAH ballsy fucker eh?! You that ready to die?!"

But still he said nothing, the smallest shiver through his beak as he held his nerve much to her snickering glee. Her smile disappeared shortly with a seething rage, the blade trembling on his face before she pulled away.

"You should be fucking thankful Iris-san told me not to kill you, but that don't mean I can't make you SUFFER! Now, what the FUCK was on your PHONE!?"

Murata simply smiled. That made Gyao Shin shriek and slash for his eyes to frighten him, but still he did not move before she slammed her knee in his stomach, causing him to choke with trembling cough when she kicked him again, and socked his jaw with a brutal haymaker.

Throwing away her knife she wailed on him harder, pummelling him with savage strength and frenzied screams that filled the room as the turtle groaned and bit his tongue. Ten minutes of beatings passed, the guards shifting at the door with discomfort as Gyao Shin punched, kicked and even throttled Murata with increasing fury.

By the time she had tired herself out, Gaho was bloodied but unbowed, his head gone black with both of his eyes purple, and his polo shirt starting to bleed in damp spots. Kaneyama spat on his cheek, and picked up her knife from the floor.

"You can hold out all you want, but I'll make you talk. I'll make you scream, and I'm gonna make it my fucking ringtone, to enjoy every, SINGLE, night!"

She marched out of the room as Murata hung limp, sighing with a groan as he passed out again. Time would pass as he woke up again, his arms and his legs now feeling cold and dead. The door opened as Arsinio Zittelli entered the room, the rhinoceros pulling up a chair and flipping it round to rest his hands on the back.

"I know," Zittelli rolled his eyes, "you wanna rant about how being a crooked cop is no honour, I'm disrespecting the system and all that shit. But you've probably seen already how shit it is here so it's not exactly honourable to begin with."

"Why are you doing this?" gasped Murata. "What is she offering you?"

"Security," Arsinio shrugged, "different officers come and go, one or two get a little heavy-handed and 'accidentally' taser a monster or kick them to death, they end up resigning. Not me though. I keep my head down, I just hide a couple Daiei notes every month, save everyone the headache."

"You justify your corruption...because you're not a bigot?"

"I don't gotta justify anything to you, I'm just saying that's what happens. What, you never got worried about your job, never wanted a kickback from the Toho?"

"Never." Gaho slit his eyes. "What's the point of the police, if they break the law themselves?"

"Heh...hahahaha, wow, he was right about you."

"Who?"

"A-ahhh, that'd be telling," Arsinio waved his finger. "Iris-sama already chewed me out for spillin' too much before, I'm not gonna risk it again."

"Nothing good ever comes from associating with criminals," Murata stiffened his back, "once you served your purpose, she'll dump you out on the street, or the river."

"I can handle a lady dumping me, but the way Osaka's been, she's gonna need me as her eye in the police, no matter what."

"Until she gets too powerful, and none of the police can stop her, then where will you be?"

"She's still gonna need cops to pretend there's order. And I'll be her order."

The rhinoceros scratched his dual horns on top of his head.

"Now I'm gonna be real with you here. Iris-sama won't kill you, not until her plan's put to effect. But that don't mean she won't make it hurt. Kaneyama can fuck you up, but Iris-sama...she can destroy your life, she'll make you watch everyone you know tear each other apart before you die."

"And you think that makes you safe?"

"Better behind her claws than in front of them," Zittelli stretched his arms, "call me a coward, call me bent, whatever, but I'm looking out for myself and I won't hide that from you."

"Am I supposed to respect that?" Murata rolled his eyes. "You're a criminal in my eyes and when I break out of here, your face is one of many I'll be punching."

"Heh...alright." The rhino rubbed his hands. "I'll be waiting for that, but until then, I would really like to know what you were hiding on that phone."

"You're a cop aren't you? Section twelve, paragraph C, officers who are being held under duress must destroy all electronic recording devices they possess, so as not to compromise their fellow officers or precinct."

"Don't give me that," Arsinio slapped the air, "if you just be a good boy I'll tell Iris-sama to go easy on ya, and any friends you got in the precinct, I'll ask her not to kill."

"Is that so?"

The voice of the lady herself came from the door as the guards stepped aside and bowed.

"And how do you expect me to keep that promise?"

"Well uh, I mean," Zittelli stepped off his chair, "yanno considering the plan we're up to, shouldn't be hard to make sure his friends are alright-"

"I see."

She nodded with her steel head of four brilliant eyes, her naval-style uniform now swapped for a luxurious tuxedo with soft purple patterns resembling flowers on the chest. Black as night with silver lining, a white undershirt was gilded with silver that glinted from the dimming light.

"How forthcoming has Murata been?"

"Still tight-beaked as ever," the rhino bowed, "Kaneyama gave him a hiding."

"I can tell," she nodded, "seems I didn't beat her hard enough to learn. Much like you."

"Yeah I agree-wait, what?"

He felt a deep pressure on his back. Something pierced through his lung as he gasped with a sudden groan and clutched his chest. Underneath his shirt, something crawled through Arsinio's skin, writhing, stretching against the bone as he sputtered and heaved with anguish. Iris stared at him with unflinching eyes, Murata pulling back when he saw Zittelli's throat convulse with a howling shriek.

His neck exploded with a vicious tentacle, ripping through the skin of his throat as a gargling gasp came from the rhinoceros. His head slumped backwards, the twitching tendril flecking blood down his chest.

"I should thank you, Murata."

The boss ripped her tentacle out of Zittelli's back.

"He was a liability from his loosened tongue."

They watched his body slump to the floor with a gaping hole. Iris turned round his chair and sat primly in front of Murata, crossing her hands as her tentacled limb slipped back inside her robe.

"I'm sure you have many questions for me."

"Is it worth asking them?" Gaho sighed.

"I will answer one or two. Not about my plans, but about why you are here."

"Gerumba-san. You forced her to manipulate me to come here?"

"Correct," Iris nodded tenting her fingers, "she has no son, that was a lie."

"Why?" Murata flexed his knees. "What's the point of all this?"

"Revenge, Murata. Revenge against you, for setting back my ascension by several years."

"Your...ascension?"

"Do you remember an incident, back April 9th, 2002? A warehouse where the leaders of the Daiei Alliance confronted Denshirou Ighorashi?"

"I...remember, yes," he nodded, "it was a massacre, both Daiei heads and Ighorashi were killed."

"You will recall that night, a young worker in the rafters that you tried to rescue? One who fled in the wake of the massacre?"

"...no." Murata gasped. "That was...you?"

"So you haven't forgotten," she shook her head, "that was the night I would plan my vengeance, against my family who quelled my ambitions despite my talent."

"Your ambitions?"

"To rule the Daiei Alliance, to become the most powerful yakuza in all of Japan, one who can hold the government and public officials in the grasp of my palm."

She stood up from her seat and walked round the room.

"My father left his bed cold to warm his mistresses. My mother put me through private school and paraded me around the soirées of our estate to show off her good breeding. Both of them ran the empire with fortitude and great face, but I proved to be better."

"By planning to kill them?" snorted Gaho licking his beak. "Guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree."

"This apple grew into an orchard," said Iris clenching her fist, "under my rule, the Daiei have taken back control of Osaka, and soon we will expand to Tokyo, where I shall reign as an empress. My parents never wanted me to take the reins of the business, because to them I was not a daughter, but a trophy."

"If you want to justify your madness, get a lawyer."

"Rest assured, I have no need for lawyers."

Her robe lifted to reveal her tentacles spreading from her form.

"I am well-prepared to handle all allegations against me."

"You won't win," Gaho shook his head, "I fought against the Toho, and I'll fight against you."

"Oh hoh hoh...the Toho? How cute you put me in the same rank as them."

She leaned close with golden eyes piercing through him.

"We shall see who is left standing...after the ashes I have wrought upon your city. And that's all you shall know, until the day of reckoning when my plan unfolds, and you are forced to watch everything you know and love destroyed by my hand...before I sever your head from the tallest building."

"How did I ruin your plan?!" spat Murata. "You made it, you're head of the Daiei!"

"Because I would have been the Chair sooner IF you had not gotten in my way!"

Tentacles wrapped round his throat and squeezed him tight.

"I would have stood upon the corpses of my parents, still warm from the fire and proclaimed MYSELF as the new chair! But you had to force me into hiding, and those precious minutes without leadership caused my clan to fall into disarray, scattered like petals on the wind by your INSOLENCE!"

"Sh-should have...tried harder," he choked.

"Oh I will. You shall see me try my hardest."

A smiling glimmer came across her steel thorns, pulling back her tendrils as she walked out of the basement with guards bowing to her again.

Murata passed out a few minutes later, a small blessing for him as his limbs continued to feel numb with blood cutting off in his restraints. The shell on his back felt cold, the scutes still torn off exposing parts of his muscular hump that rubbed painfully against the steel pipe. Zittelli's corpse was eventually taken away, his blood left as a reminder to Gaho for the fate that awaited him.

The sergeant stirred briefly every time someone else came in, or when Kaneyama wanted to vent her frustrations and torture him to the limits that Iris allowed. Occasionally he was fed water, but never given food so as to weaken him further. Kaneyama always came with the freshest bread, the hottest takoyaki and would eat in front of him.

She watched his stoic hunger, his tightening eyes and trembling beak before going straight back to punching him, sometimes slicing his arms and belly skin-deep just to watch him bleed. On her worse days, she would blind him with a sonic shriek, numbing his senses like a flashbang to the face with throbbing eyes and burning ears.

Three days had passed, judging by Zittelli's bloodstain starting to harden and seep into the floor, beneath the sad glint of the dimming light. On that day, he received a new visitor, a voice he faintly recognised and a bronze shape stepping through the door.

"Hello?" a female asked.

"What are you doing here?" said the guard.

"I was being put to work in the kitchen and was making something for you."

"Whut? We gettin' food now?"

"Well, do you want it? You must be hungry guarding him all the time."

"Ehhhh...we did kinda skip lunch."

Through his blurry eyes, Murata saw the guards sitting in their chairs and scarfing away with some drinks. His stomach growled with a hollow scream as he forced the hunger back down, and watched the stranger approach.

"Hey-ey, what you giving him?!" snapped the guard.

"Just some water," she said, "he needs to stay alive, Iris-sama's orders."

"Alright...how long can you live without eating?"

"I don't know, I'll feed him when Iris-sama tells me to, how's your food?"

"Awh, mmmph, shit thish ish good!"

"You like it?" she bowed to them. "I even made my special cocktail, Devil's Whistle."

"Hoo! Yeah that tastes fuckin' good, yanno I missed your drinks when you were out in Tokyo."

"Awww, thank you sir, that makes me happy to hear. I'll be staying here now so I'll give you all the drinks you need."

"Hellll yeah!"

When he was offered the glass of water, Murata drank it gently to not let a single drop spill. His eyes focused best they could, seeing a bronze-scaled triceratops with nasal horns smiling up at him, dressed in a scarlet kimono with a tray in one hand. Gerumba put a finger to her lips, and Gaho understood as he finished his drink.

By the time he was done, the guards had collapsed in their seats to a soft slumbering sleep. Jin clenched her face and tightened her eyes to make her top horn shimmer a golden light, pressing it against the cables that bound Murata's arms and legs as the ropes suddenly dissolved from a sheer heat. Gaho fell to the floor in a crumpling heap.

"NNRRRGH, AAAH!"

"S-sorry!" she gasped. "Sorry, sorry, let me get you some food."

From her pocket she pulled out two sandwiches wrapped in a bag, Murata scarfing it down politely despite his raging hunger. Jin sat down beside him, pulling out a bandage and a long strip of metal that she formed into a makeshift splint for his broken wrist.

"Is this a breakout?" he muttered.

"Well I'm not tying you back up," she gestured, "this is the best I can do, the guards'll be out for a few hours."

"You drugged them?" Murata smirked.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Jin smiled, "I...I'm sorry about lying to you, Lady Iris she-"

"It's fine. Well...no, actually it's not fine, you betrayed me and put my life in danger."

"I know, that's why I'm helping you out because I know you don't deserve this!"

"I appreciate it. We'll call it even then, if I manage to escape."

He sat for a while as he ate with his good hand, Gerumba pulling out a needle full of codeine as Murata sighed in relief from the agony fading. The numbness of his legs combined with the scars on his knees made it painful for the blood to return, gasping as he flexed his toes before Gerumba brought out a small bottle.

"If they find out you helped me," he warned, "there'll be hell for you."

"I know," she rubbed his legs with a balm, "but I can't let this happen. I don't know what Lady Iris is planning, but it's nothing good and I don't want you to get hurt."

"So why even do this in the first place?"

"I thought I could do it, just a cop I could drug and take to her. But I couldn't, so I just tried to play it off as playing the long game, maybe I could squeeze information out of you and it might bring me good favour. But you were so nice to me."

Gerumba pulled at her robe with tightening throat.

"No one...no one's ever treated me as nice as you, not even my family."

"So that part was true?" Murata shook his head. "Your family selling you off?"

"Yes. I did lie about my son, that...I'm sorry, I've done a terrible thing to you, because I was a coward to stand up to them. But Kaneyama and Lady Iris, they frighten me, I-"

"I understand," he patted her arm, "you're a victim, you were coerced, and while I'm still upset you betrayed my trust, I know you're a good creature trapped in a bad place."

"Really?" she gasped with tears welling her eyes. "I-i...even after all I did, you still...like me?"

"It'll take me some time to forgive you."

He stood up with a groan and clutched his ribs.

"But I don't hate you, Gerumba-san. Right now I need to head back to Tokyo and stop whatever Iris is planning."

"The back passage through Karbone's is safe," Jin helped lift him on his feet, "no one is using it, and it's close by in the laundry room."

"I'll need my lockpicks-"

"You mean these?" She pulled out a small pack from her robe. "I managed to grab them when they were dragging you off."

"Heh, thanks," he fitted them to his belt, "you're full of surprises."

"Well, maybe one day I can show you my better talents."

"I actually bought all the stuff you wanted for a Devil's Whistle, they're back at my apartment so...one day when all this is over, how about we both share a drink?"

"I...I would love that...Murata-san."

The triceratops smiled, hugging him tight with a soft kiss to his cheek and a nuzzling of her horns.

"Be careful."

"I will," he rubbed her back, "what are you going to do, they'll know it was you."

"No they won't."

She brought out her tray and suddenly slammed her face into it.

"NNNGH! You...you're a crafty bastard, managed to knock me out, while the guards slept because they're incompetent...they won't find a trace of the drugs I used."

"Heh...I see. Take care, Gerumba-san."

He left the basement as Jin laid down on the floor, whacking herself again to form a bruise across her cheek with a stinging groan as she found a good position to lie in. Murata gave her one last look, a smile crossing his beak as he snuck past the guards and out into the hall.

His memory was fuzzy, and his body was exhausted but he faintly recalled some of the signposts left on the walls that guided him. With one hand broken in a splint, he was careful slipping past the staff and guards by wedging himself tight into cubbyholes and passages. With eyes sharp and ears sharper from the hunger in his stomach, Gaho soon found the maintenance room that had only two workers watching baseball on the TV, a dark blue oni and a thin-legged spider.

Their backs were turned as Murata crept over to one of the spare lockers and purloined one of their outfits along with a toolbox, his large body and torn shell covered by a mint green suit with a hat.

"GodFUCKING dammit!" one of the workers threw his drink. "Hannya playing like garbage this season, the fuck's with this manager?!"

"It's all about money these days," said the other, "baseball ain't whut it used to be, all the heart's gone out o' the game."

"Maybe I should look fer another sport to follow, HEY!"

One of them turned to see Murata sneaking out the door.

"You on shift?!"

"Yeah," the cop held his breath, "laundry room, one of the tiles cracked."

"Eh? I didn't hear about that."

"It just happened, you would have heard if you weren't watching baseball whining your ass off."

"Wow, alright fuckin' chill, do your damn job whatever."

"Don't let Iris-sama catch you like this," Murata snarled, "she'll have your asses for it."

"Oh what, you gonna squeal?"

"Only if you stop me doing my job, later."

He left quickly to leave the workers be, marching through the halls with a tip of his hat to guards and vague dismissals from other janitors. No one questioned him by the way he walked, a certain power jog that told everyone not to disturb him, and those not in the know were not going to ask.

In the laundry room, Murata found the back passage and pulled out his lockpick to fiddle it open. It was an odd keyhole to work with, small and fidgety not like a regular door, which caused him to take more time made all the worse by his one good hand, the other acting as a fulcrum to steady his fingers with. Three tries it took him, wincing when he flexed his broken wrist until he managed to hitch it open.

"Worker."

He cursed himself hearing the voice of a stern female behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing this," he said, "the lock was starting to wear."

"I don't recall asking for maintenance."

"It was just today, one of us noticed it, didn't wanna bother you with it ma'am."

"Let me see."

Swallowing his breath, Murata stood up to the side and let her pass without seeing his face. The one known as Queen stepped close, her dark robe hiding her silver body, her face a flowering blossom of steel daggers where two piercing blue eyes sat in the centre.

Gaho watched her bend down to investigate the lock. He carefully opened his toolbox to find a wrench, some pliers, screwdrivers and a length of steel wire. He took the wrench in his good hand and crept close towards her head, raising it high above.

"Are you planning to kill me?"

He froze before she stood up and slammed her elbow in his face, knocking him back against the washing machines.

"I thought you needed a warrant for that, officer."

"Don't worry," he snorted grabbing his chin, "I was just going to knock you out."

"Pity." The Queen cracked her knuckles. "Dirty cops are much more fun to kill."

"You should have tried Zittelli, but your boss already dealt with him."

When she tried to turn with a spinning kick, Murata cracked her knee with the wrench and knocked her down. He landed on top to bash her sharp insect face, until she grabbed his arm and punched his eye. A hard knee to his wounded gut threw him off, before Queen grabbed the length of wire from the toolbox and wrapped it round his throat.

"THIS is how you do it."

"HR-HRRRKH!"

"Such a pity for Lady Iris...she was so looking forward to watching you witness her rise from the ashes."

"HNNNNRAAAAARGH!"

Focusing his strength into his back, he felt a bursting shudder from his legs as a blasting jet shot from beneath his shell, sending both of them up to the roof. Crushing her head on the ceiling, Queen gasped with a howl and fell releasing the wire from Murata's throat.

The turtle landed on top of her with an elbow drop, crunching his entire weight to make her shriek before getting up to stomp her face. She grabbed a screwdriver from the toolbox and shanked Murata's leg, the cop roaring as a dark gash filled through his thigh and he staggered against the cubbyholes with a trembling limp.

Queen lunged for him with the bloody screwdriver straight for his eye, as he ducked to headbutt her stomach and with a desperate throw hurled her against the wall behind him. He grabbed the other screwdriver, feeling her presence loom as he turned with a strike of his tool against her own, like blades in the sunset.

The silver bug thrust for his head as he countered with a slash to block her, forcing her back with little jabs before she dodged and stabbed his broken hand with her tool. Murata screamed as she twisted through the bandage, the lady punching his bad eye to knock him against the dryer.

Murata evaded her stabbing plunge, tossing the screwdriver at her head to make her swerve as he grabbed a set of pliers from the toolbox. She kicked the back of his wounded shell to slam on the wall, but when she came close, he grabbed her nasal horn with his pliers and twisted violently, ripping it free with a cracking sound like a rotten tooth.

" GA-AAARGH, AAAAAAARGH! You...you will SUFFER FOR THIIIIS!"

From her severed horn a pair of crimson tendrils shot towards Murata like lasers, the turtle dodging aside to watch the molten lengths pierce through the back wall and melt through the brick. She pulled them back with a savage snort and turned towards him, blasting with a seething charr that ripped behind Gaho as he swerved again, vaporising towels into a bubbling black liquid.

When he tried to tackle her, she cracked his jaw with a double uppercut, slamming one fist after the other as he almost burned his back against the molten towels. One of them had not yet burned all the way, as he swung it towards Queen who melted through it with her scarlet tendrils. It was enough a distraction for the sergeant to thrust his pliers into her nasal cavity, jamming her burning heat enough as she suddenly choked with wheezing cough.

"HRRRRKH, KH-KHHHH, AAAAGH!"

"Time for a smoke break, don't you THINK?!"

With the entire toolbox in hand, Gaho crunched the back of her head with such force against the tumble dryer, that she tumbled in turn with a sputtering gasp. Staggering with a hard limp, Murata rushed down the back passage and headed for Karbone's, hoping he had enough time to escape before the guards were alerted.

The long walk through the darkness let him to catch his breath, harsh and stuttering as he lumbered through the depths with a heave and a dragging foot. His broken wrist still clutched against himself, he found the mahjong parlour closed much to his relief, as night time in Shutenbori flitted through the windows of the dark-lit room. He escaped onto the street, the lights of burning neon almost blinding him as he tried not to stumble through the crowds.

Creatures kept away sensing trouble by his drunken steps, his mind trying to cast back through the days for someone, anyone he could trust. His stomach screamed at him for food, and then he remembered. Someone he knew as he wandered northeast through cluttered streets, where rowdy kaiju goaded each other to climb lampposts or start fights out in the open.

Murata avoided them, staggering through the alleys and finding the bridge that he ran across fast as he could. The sparkling river stretched out beneath the lights, turning muddy from red and yellow, as the sergeant detective found the old takoyaki stand next to the train station.

"M-marsh...Marsh-san?"

"Ehh? Murata-san, that you-SHIT!"

The turtle crumpled behind the stall as Marsh pulled him out of sight, the red-eyed fish ducking down to check on him.

"Holy shit whut happened to you?!"

"N-nnngh...it...D-daiei," he gasped, "Daiei...attacked me."

"Whut thuh, Daiei?!" Dagon shivered lowering his voice. "Why in Hydra's name are thuh Daiei attackin' you?!"

"I found...something they...don't want others to know."

"O-oh...ohhh this, this is bad, oh this ain't good fer either of us Murata-san."

"S-sorry...I didn't mean to put you in trouble, I have no one else to trust."

"Alrigh'." The monster pinched his snout. "Just hang tight, I gotta finish up fer thuh day, I'll bring you over to my house."

"Th-thank you."

Keeping himself hidden under the stall, Murata stayed quiet as Dagon kept running his business with a smile and a cheer. The night grew colder near the end of October, the steam rising off his takoyaki with some he offered to Gaho to help fill his belly. Once his shift was over, Marsh helped Murata to his apartment on the riverbank with a careful step down the stairs, and then lifted him inside.

It was a damp place, the walls and floor giving off a constant subtle cold that bothered Gaho to no end but Dagon relished with a shiver. A bed at the wall, a TV to one side, a kitchen area and a bathroom closet that altogether was still larger than the place Murata had down the road.

"Theeere ya are," said Marsh heaving him onto the bed, "you just rest up a spell, I'll keep ya safe."

"Thank you," the turtle sighed, "I didn't know who else to trust in this town."

"Rest assured I don't mess with none o' them Daiei troops, besides they're not interested in my stuff, always goin' to them fancy places near thuh Grand."

"I have to get back to Tokyo," Murata laid on his side, "it's not safe for me here."

"I agree," the monster patted him, "wouldn't want nuthin' to happen to you, you got someone to get you out?"

"No, I...was hoping to get on the train."

"That ain't a good idea. Daiei got a lotta control over everythin', even folks at thuh station they got under their belt."

"Aargh." Gaho slumped back his head. "I'm sorry, I'm being troublesome, you don't need all of this on your plate."

"Naw naw, it's no skin off my back," Dagon shook his head, "always good to help other folks, s'why I left home if I'm bein' honest."

"Really? I thought you came for the Atomic Rush."

"That wuz one reason," said the fish monster sitting down beside, "the other reason wuz that Innsmouth got too weird, too insular fer me, tryna hide itself from thuh world an' gettin' cagey about folks. Made me sad to think such a town with a colourful history don' wanna share it with nobody."

"You wanted to explore the world," Murata grinned, "I understand, you're the kind of monster who wants to make friends."

"My pappy always said I wuz too much trouble," Dagon rubbed his neck, "makin' friends with kids outta town, always readin' books, he wuz an old-school feller. Thought namin' me after great-granpappy would put sum pride in thuh Marsh name an' keep me from talkin' to outsiders. Guess I'm just a born rebel."

"Nothing wrong with that, so long as you don't break any laws."

"Heheh, whut, you a cop?"

"I'm just a visitor," Murata shook his head.

"Didya ever find that friend o' yers?"

"I did."

His words cut like a knife, warning Dagon who simply nodded as he rubbed his hands.

"Sorry fer thuh damp, reminds me o' home, I got this place years ago on a steal, weird nobody wants to live on thuh riverbank!"

"Imagine," Gaho rolled his eyes, "any ideas how I can get out of here?"

"Well uh...I got a car," said Marsh pointing back, "I could drive you out if that'll help."

"Really? Is that alright?"

"Yeaaah let's, call it a favour fer bein' such a pal, plus thuh way you helped me with them cops, I owe you one."

"Thank you." Murata took his hand. "You're a good friend, Marsh-san, I'll try not to cause trouble."

"Heh, too late fer that, here."

He brought out a small box of takoyaki.

"Sumthin' to fill yer belly while you rest. Wanna watch sum TV?"

"Sounds good," he sat up groaning.

For the rest of that night, Gaho watched local TV answering questions on a quiz. It helped him relax, nursing his wounds with fading bruises and Marsh looking after him. The monster helped with his wounds, knowing basic first aid but being more equipped than Gerumba was to administer a real splint, redress his bandages, and add some antibiotics that encouraged his healing.

The sergeant detective had the best sleep of his life as a result, despite his worrisome mood about Jin, Iris, and the possible traitor inside his own department. He tried to run through everybody's face in his unit, muttering to himself on who would have any reason to help Kaneyama mimic the Host.

The next morning he rose out of bed, Marsh sleeping beside him who in turn woke up with Murata as the sky faintly shimmered with a cloudy hue, casting rays of light across the murky river. Gaho looked out carefully to find groups of Daiei searching the streets, barking orders to fan out as he ducked back down.

"Well, this is bad," he shuddered, "they're out in full force and everything."

"Whut did you do to piss 'em off?!" Dagon said from the kitchen. "Can hear their feet stompin' from here!"

"I broke into their place," the turtle shrugged, "searching for my friend, that's all I can say."

"Hoo...well that's whut we call bein' up shit creek without a paddle, Murata-san."

"You still alright taking me to Tokyo?"

"I don't make promises I can't keep," the fish offered a bowl of stew, "creatures gotta stick together, learned that back home even if they were a buncha bigots."

"Part of a community?" Murata nodded taking a sip. "Mmmph, wow this is delicious."

"Devil's Reef Stew, ol' recipe of my family. Last thing I got left of 'em."

"You don't plan on going back?"

"I don't hate my family, don't get me wrong," Dagon shook his head, "I respect where I came from, but I don't have to BE where I came from, know whut I'm saying?"

"No. What do you mean?"

"It's like...acknowledgin' whut yer past wuz about, all thuh flaws of my home, but also takin' whut wuz good about it whut with thuh stories an' wild tales that help define me. Every home got their skeletons, it ain't right to forget 'em, but you don't need to burn thuh house down to make amends, you just build sumthin' better. That's why I came here, to write my own story."

"Heh...you know," Murata put down his bowl, "my friend from New Jersey would like you a lot, he could use some good advice."

"Comin' from New Jersey, I bet he would."

The monster grinned with his dagger teeth and deep sunken eyes, taking the bowl back to wash it up.

"I'm gonna close up shop early tonight, you keep yer head down an' stay off thuh street."

"I just need to go to one place," Gaho rubbed his broken wrist, "I'll need a good disguise."

"I got an ol' robe of mine in thuh closet, you can take that. It stinks to Hydra though, if anythin' it'll keep thuh Daiei folk away from ya."

"Thank you, Marsh-san."

The monster headed out to work and left a spare key, Murata watching the Daiei patrols on the street until it was emptier around lunch. The closet had an old robe that smelled of rotting fish and cheap motels, a dark aura that seeped into the fabric. Murata was reminded of a murder victim's clothes when he put it on, old cases shivering through in a brief haze of screams that were not his own.

It was a horrible thing that would keep him safe, as he stepped out into the city with a hard limp and skirted round Daiei troops as they searched through the alleys. The lunchtime crowds would open and help hide his presence, the black leprous robe causing kaiju to give him a wide berth as he found the old pawn shop.

"Welcome, welcome please come in how may I-...oh."

Surprisingly the grand whale was not bothered by the stench wafting through the door, a smile growing across his ginormous snout with belly heaving on the counter. Kamigawa Gein bowed to his customer, who kept the robe on through gritted teeth.

"Gein-san," Murata bowed, "I'm here for my badge."

"Aaah yes, as expected," the old kaiju patted his gut, "do you have my membership card?"

The turtle slipped it across the counter as Gein brought out that familiar badge. Gaho sighed with relief as he slipped it back in his pocket, feeling like his heart had returned to his body.

"Did my trade serve you well?" asked the cetacean.

"It did," Murata bowed again, "sorry for the robe, I uh-"

"Got caught affray by the Daiei Alliance? I understand, I shan't tell a soul, even if other souls tell me, they were just here a half-hour ago."

"Oh...thank you, I won't bother you anymore, I'm jus-"

"A-tu-tut!" Kujirou waved his hand. "I cannot tell them what I do not know, you understand Murata-san? If I were to know any plans, I would be hard-pressed to hide them from Lady Iris if they suspect."

"Ah...I see." The turtle sighed taking a step back. "Thank you again, I hope you stay safe."

"Did you manage to find what you were looking for, out of curiosity?"

"I...yes."

Murata sighed as he limped out of the shop, Gein shaking his head sadly with a feigned smile.

"Twould appear this story with her, is not yet at its end. Even when he found out the truth that was hard to swallow...in that case I hope for them the best."

Avoiding the major roads to creep by the riverbank, Gaho pretended to be homeless by sitting on the street with an empty coffee cup when Daiei forces came at both sides. One of them gave him money, much to the jeering of his cohorts but he thanked the ruffian nonetheless in a quiet voice.

Once he returned to Marsh's house, he spent the rest of the day inside, taking off the robe with a sigh of relief as the foul odour clung to him like a widow at his grave. He watched TV to try and stifle the paranoia, local news and schmaltzy shows about idols to stultify his brain and make the hours pass quicker.

Night would fall between the odd lunches he had, food that Marsh had left as Murata ate only half of what he normally had out of courtesy. The sky turned to a liquid gold beneath the pale rose, the lights of Osaka flickering on with a sudden wave of brights across the windowsill.

"HOO!" the voice of Marsh came from the door. "Today sure got busy, you alrigh' there pal?!"

"Yep," Gaho sighed eating a bento box, "thanks for the robe, I managed to get where I wanted to be."

"Eyy no prob Murata-san."

"Just one thing...why does it smell like that?"

"Reminds me of home," Dagon grinned rubbing his hands, "that ol' Innsmouth smell helps me sleep at night, it's not sumthin' most kaiju 'preciate."

"It's certainly...unique," the turtle cringed, "thank you Marsh-san, for all your help."

"Don't thank me yet, not 'til we out o' thuh city, never helped a fugitive! Least not here."

"You did that back home?"

"Weeeeell, sumtimes there's good folks who hafta beat feet outta Innsmouth. I'm happy to oblige, so if anything this is nostalgic."

The monster pulled out some vegetables and started chopping up dinner, some rice with pickled greens and meat cutlets as they took their time in front of the TV and do their best to calm themselves for the great undertaking. Once it was night-time, they made their move heading out to the southeast where there was a car park next to a few clubs.

One car was a cute little green thing, a Japanese-made vehicle that Marsh opened and pulled out from his spot to get on the main road, with Murata lying in wait by the corner in his robe. Then from a side street came three police officers, stepping in front of the car. One was a familiar-looking badger, backed up by two lions as Dagon tried not to cringe when he rolled down his window.

"Heyyyy uh, evenin' officer, how can I help?"

"Can you step out of your car please?" asked one lion.

"Why, there a problem?"

"Only if you don't comply."

Sucking through his teeth, the monster clicked off his engine and stepped out as he was surrounded. The badger smacked his tongue with a firm swagger as he loomed over Marsh with a sneering look.

"Thinking you might wanna check your vehicle before leaving town."

"Nuthin' wrong with it officer," Dagon shook his head, "I got my MOT in check."

"Where you heading off at this hour?"

"Tokyo, gonna pick up sum ingredients."

"Why not pick them up here?" one lion snorted.

"Deliveries got delayed!" Marsh swept his hands. "You don't want me to stop servin' takoyaki to all them fine folks on thuh streets."

"Why don't we settle this down the station?" the badger gripped his shoulder. "Just so we can confirm-"

"I can confirm everythin' right here, you don't hafta-"

"That wasn't a request, monster boy."

The cops pulled Dagon close and slammed his face on the front of the car.

"Are you going to resist, or do we have to make this harder?"

"I-i ain't resisting!" he cried. "Whut do I hafta do to prove myself to you?!"

"Start by following orders!" barked one of the lions. "Now, come with us and let's really check your papers."

"HEY!"

Murata stood up in his dark robe and stepped towards the officers.

"Leave him alone."

"Whut?" the badger scoffed. "Who the fuck are you?"

"A concerned citizen, you have no right to harass this creature when he's done nothing wrong."

"Oh, were you watching him the whole time? Like some kind of stalker?!"

"If you have nothing to charge him with right here and now, you let him go or I report you to your superior!"

The lions held their grip on the monster as the badger walked up to Murata. The quiet streets turned almost deathly silent, as if bracing for the officer's response when he sneered at the smell.

"I'm gonna remind you that if you interfere with police business, it's a heavy penalty."

"Is that what you call racial harassment in Osaka?" Gaho snorted. "I haven't been here long enough to tell."

"You're accusing me now? After you call us out for having no evidence?"

"So you admit it, you don't have evidence."

"That's NOT what I said-"

"Then show me the evidence," Murata offered his good hand, "you can't take someone in unless you can prove they're related to an incident."

"And who the FUCK are you huh?!" the officer snapped shoving Gaho back. "You know how many homeless shits like you go missing every day in this city?!"

"No."

"Exactly. So walk away, before you disappear like this fucking American should, back to the shithole he crawled from."

"...alright."

Murata stepped back and turned away to let the badger's guard down. When the cop turned back towards Marsh, he was smothered by a foul-smelling cloak and screamed with muffled kicks when Gaho threw him aside and lunged for the two lions. One of them went for his baton, but Gaho wrapped his good arm round the crooked cop's wrist and twisted hard to make him scream before slamming him into the dirt.

With a foot on the lion's hand, he snatched the cuffs off the bigot's belt and clapped them on to immediately contain him. When the other feline grabbed him from behind, Murata drove his elbow behind into the officer's neck, causing him to clutch his throat with a wheezing fit.

He turned and grabbed the lion's throat, bending him over the hood of the car and using his bad arm to keep him suppressed, before pulling out the second lion's cuffs to restrain him in turn. The badger staggered up throwing away his cloak, Dagon stepping behind Gaho as the remaining cop pulled out a taser.

"GET ON THE FUCKING GROUND!"

He fired before Murata could even put up his hands, the turtle pulling up the lion as a shield causing him to be violently electrocuted. Stuttering shrieks filled the air as Gaho shoved him towards the badger, who pulled back his taser and dodged the lion who fell writhing in seizures.

Murata came running from behind the falling cat to clothesline the badger, cracking his jaw before grabbing the arm to drive his knee against it. With a shattered wrist, the cop screamed and dropped his taser, feeling his own cuffs snap on his wrists behind him.

"You're under arrest."

"WHA-YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

"If this was Tokyo, I'd be dragging all your asses in for assaulting an officer."

"Wha-...HUH?!"

"Sgt. Detective Murata, Tokyo PD."

Stepping back, Murata pulled out his badge. The badger snarled trying to lunge at him, only to stagger with hands behind his back almost falling against the car.

"The fuck's your problem then huh?! This ain't your beat!"

"No, but unlike you bastards I do my job."

"Oh, you think you better than us!? Fuckin' fancy Tokyo boy, you dunno how it works down here!"

"I've seen enough." Murata grabbed Dagon's cloak. "Enough to know I still have to do my job for you, properly."

"If you wanted to do your job you'd help us with that fucking immigrant, you're just a sergeant, I OUTRANK YOU!"

"SHUT UP!" Murata jabbed a finger at the badger's face. "The only creatures I fight, are criminals. And a crooked cop is just another criminal in my book, so I don't give a damn what rank you are, you could be the head commissioner of Osaka and I would still beat your ass for the disgusting manner you treat your own citizens, like Marsh-san."

"THAT SHIT-BOGGER AIN'T ONE OF US!"

"Hm. You're right." Gaho grinned stepping back. "He's one of OURS, one of the many creatures of Japan who represent the best of us, and you...you're just a worthless vasher. You'll never be one of us."

With a grand sweep of the cloak, he walked to the car and sat in the front seat beside Dagon Marsh, a look of shock on his face as he drove down the road and headed out of Shutenbori. The three officers struggled in their restraints, muttering to each other what story to report to their superiors as they hobbled off.

With night crawling on beneath the blackened sky, the small green car raced over the suspended highway that stretched over the southern bay. The stars briefly shone between the lights of Osaka and cast across the ocean, like pennies in a fountain as other cars, trucks and pillbug rickshaws rumbled by.

The road before them turned to a yawning abyss, the streetlamps drifting past with traces of gold across the bonnet. Dagon kept his eyes front, clenching the steering wheel with deep crimson gaze as Murata opened the window to taked a deep breath of fresh air.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," the driver sighed, "that got a li'l nasty back there, saved my ass again."

"I'm sorry. You asked if I was a cop before, I didn't want to frighten you."

"I getcha. Just thuh way it's always been, it ain't your fault."

"I'm part of the system," Gaho snarled, "I can't ignore it."

"Well you did just kick their asses, and stop them beatin' mine so I think yer one of thuh good ones. But, I gotta ask, whut's a Tokyo cop doin' out here?"

"I was undercover. Orders from the chief, investigating a kidnapping."

"Ahh." Dagon's face drooped with a heavy heart. "I'm sorry. I hope you can get her back."

"I hope so too," Murata nodded, "thank you again for the ride, I'm serious by the way if you want any legal help."

"I know, nuthin' doing." The monster overtook a slowing truck. "Yanno I barely ever been to Tokyo, any good places?"

"Well the district I work in is full of yakuza, so I wouldn't advise it."

"Damn, must be rough!"

"It's...complicated," the turtle scratched his head, "they're always in the shadows with their backroom deals and I can't do anything about it because, unless I have solid irrefutable evidence like say a murder, I can't bring them in and the case would collapse."

"They keep their hands outta the light," said Marsh looking at the rear mirror, "so no one seen whut they do. It's a tough job, but I appreciate there's those like you doin' it right in sum parts of thuh world."

"Not Osaka, apparently."

"Hmm...huh, biker out this time o' night."

Murata looked at the mirror, seeing a black motorcycle with sharp-angled rear and a body of jagged steel. The driver had red wings.

"That's one hell of a beauty they got there, whut is that a Kappasaki-"

"Get down."

"Whut?"

"GET DOWN!"

The moment he saw her face open wide, Murata pulled the steering wheel hard to avoid the sonic beam that came shrieking through the night, a golden shot that ripped through the back of a truck and caused it to explode in bursts of thick purple fire.

"//HOOOLY SHIT!//" cried Dagon in English.

"KEEP DRIVING!" Murata shouted. "I'LL TELL YOU WHEN TO DODGE!"

"A-ALRIGHT, HANG ON!"

Staring at the rearview mirror, Gaho kept watch on their pursuer who was starting to catch up, the burning truck slowing down to park on the side with its driver escaping as more explosions came off. Dagon kicked the pedal hard and pushed past the speed limit, overtaking cars and rickshaws whilst the far-more agile motorbike swerved in pursuit with blazing jets.

The biker with scarlet wings blasted another beam of sonic light, Marsh turning fast to evade the shrieking howl that shattered his side-mirror to a dozen shards that flecked against his windscreen. A rising panic was forming in the other drivers, some of them stopping or slowing down in hope to avoid the ruthless beam.

One car in front of them was unlucky, a blasting shot ripping through the window and obliterating a kappa's head who bled violently from every orifice. Her eyes would burst, and her eardrums melted with a guttural scream as her car careened in front of Marsh's, causing him to swerve hard in front of a cargo truck that blared with fury.

"THUH FUCK IS THIS GUY'S PROBLEM?!" screamed Dagon.

"IT'S ONE OF THE DAIEI ALLIANCE!" roared Murata. "THEY'RE MAKING SURE I DON'T LEAVE OSAKA!"

"WELL LIKE HELL THEY GONNA STOP ME!"

Pushing his car into higher gear, the monster gripped his wheel and turned sharp to avoid another beam, the sound of sonic screams ripping past as they watched another car's tyre explode from the shot. The automobile rolled across the motorway in a crumpling bounce, hitting the front of an SUV that slammed through the car's hood and flipped straight on top, killing five creatures at once.

The biker took another shot, but this time firing towards a long cargo truck with a pile of logs belted to its back. Ripping through the supports, the vile beam shredded them loose causing three dozen giant cabers to come bouncing across the highway, causing a catastrophe.

Two cars were slammed off the road and fell into the ocean with panicked screams where three kaiju would die, whilst four more cars were crushed by the bouncing logs to kill another seven. One of the terrible tree trunks would slam like a blunt javelin through a screaming tiger, his head smeared across the end of the log.

Marsh dodged as best he could with panicking shouts and hard weaves between the crumpling logs as the biker wove her way through the chaos, ramping off a crashed car to cross the sea of destruction with a cackling shriek above their heads. With a hard thud beside them, Gyao Shin Kaneyama revealed her face to Murata, a psychotic grin plastered across her shovel beak.

"HEY MOTHERFUCKER, GOING MY WAYYY?!"

"//OH FUCK THIS!//"

Without even waiting, Dagon slammed his car into her side but she quickly pulled back to keep her distance.

"ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS BE A GOOD BOY AND STAY WITH IRIS, AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!"

"YOU'RE A GODDAMN ABOMINATION!" roared Murata.

"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO RAN AWAY TO LEAVE A DEFENCELESS GIRL TO DIE, WHICH'LL DEFINITELY HAPPEN ONCE IRIS FINDS OUT YOUR LITTLE GERUMBA-CHAN TURNED TRAITOR!"

"I'M NOT GOING BACK, NOT UNTIL I HAVE ALL THE EVIDENCE TO TAKE YOU DOWN!"

"THEN I'LL JUST KEEP KILLING EVERYONE HERE UNTIL YOU DO!"

"...that's it."

Gaho turned towards his friend with a severe look.

"Marsh-san, this is my stop."

"Wait WHUT?!"

"I have to stop her, before anyone else gets hurt."

"But, how?!"

"I got abilities." He patted the monster. "Drive back safe as you can, find a spot and help out anyone that's still alive."

"Alright. Bring this fucker's ass to justice, Murata-san."

Opening the door onto the speeding highway, Murata climbed out on top of Marsh's car with one hand and braced himself. The wind against his belly was a seething cold, tearing across his wounds and ripping through his eyes as he clenched his lower muscles, and pushed all his strength down to the back of his shell.

It was an odd feeling when he hadn't used his power in some time, like pumping the ignition of an old car left in storage. There were starting sputters at the base of his shell, thundering bursts that revved up as he gritted his tusks and balled his fists. Focusing all of his righteous fury upon the killer smiling at him, the sergeant detective fumed with a growing fire that thickened in his belly.

Then it would happen. A few last puffs became a violent surge of shocking blue jets, a roaring blast from the bottom of his shell that lifted him off of Marsh's car, and went shooting down the highway. A few stops and starts made him falter close to the asphalt, but he fumed with another roar that pushed him back up with screeching flames as he caught up with Gyao Shin.

"KHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA, YES! YEEEES! FINALLY YOU STOPPED BEING FUCKING BORING, NOW LET'S FINISH THIS MURATA!"

With Dagon Marsh hurrying back to Osaka, the officer in flight charged upon the biker who fired a sonic beam that he dodged swift before crunching his jaw in her face. She spun a wide circle to bash his wounded shell with the back of her bike, causing him to spin farther and correct himself mid-jet as they kept in pace with each other.

Revving her engine, the Daiei member lifted her front wheel to try and crush Murata's head, but he countered with a whirlwind kick that spun his body upwards to whack the motorcycle upright, almost flipping it completely. Kaneyama forced it to land with a vicious flap of her wings, blasting the air downwards with a hard crunch as she cackled with glee.

The lights of the streetlamps zipped behind them in flecks of gold, sparks from the asphalt burned under her wheels as they dodged between cars and swerved over trucks, Gaho speeding above roofs and Gyao Shin ramping off carriers. Through the traffic they dovetailed back and forth, Murata trying to avoid vehicles whilst Kaneyama used them as weapons, slamming into their sides to try and crush the turtle in flight.

Murata blocked with his shell before rolling on top of the car roof and driving his fist into Kaneyama's head, as she blasted a sonic beam that scraped past his beak and detonated a tyre from the car beside them. Gaho pulled back to fly above the vehicle and push it back down on the road, the driver frantically pulling over with sparks underneath.

"WHAT'S A GOOD NUMBER FOR THE NEWS?!" she cried. "FORTY, FIFTY-SEVEN DEATHS?!"

"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM!" roared the officer. "THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME!"

"ALRIGHT, EIGHTY-SIX DEATHS IT IS, UNLESS YOU CAN STOP ME!"

With a vile spin of her bike, she walloped the front of a sedan causing the mantis driver to slam his head on the dashboard. Falling unconscious with bloodied head, his elderly father in the back screamed trying to grab the wheel as Murata raced alongside to help the car coast to a gentle stop.

Gyao Shin raced on ahead, the cop watching with horror when she blasted her beam at a pillbug whose entire body shook in howling agony. His brain was set on fire from the full force of Gyao Shin's burst, causing him to unravel and fall on the road, his own rickshaw rolling on its side. His passenger, passenger, a hare, fell straight in front of a jeep who ran over her before it could stop, a scarlet trail beneath the wheels.

The shock of the iguana driving made him stop with a cry of dismay, just in time for Kaneyama to rev up her bike and crash straight into his side with a supercharge, that caused him to spin out and careen over the side of the highway. The driver jumped out in time shivering with fright, and he was only alive thanks to Murata catching up with the murderous Kaneyama, to strike the side of her motorcycle with a spin of his shell.

"A LI'L SLOW ARENTCHA?!" she shouted still driving on.

"WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT ME PROPER?!" Murata roared beside her. "INSTEAD OF HURTING INNOCENTS, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS?!"

"A RISE FROM YOU, AND THE MORE PISSED OFF YOU GET, THE MORE FUN IT'LL BE WHEN I DRAG YOUR BITCH ASS BACK TO IRIS!"

A tunnel loomed before them as they stormed through, the dark rumble of engines turning to the voice of dragons. The walls and the arching roof were lit up in amber, Gaho's burning jets trailing arcs of blue whilst Kaneyama's bike left tracers of red.

She came drifting close with a hard screech and tried to kick him in the head, but he parried with his jaws grabbing the foot to bite with a crunch. Gyao Shin yelled with a sonic scream as he backed off to avoid, before she raced on top of an empty vehicle carrier to the roof of its truck. Gaho followed after with a lunging punch to the back of her wheel as she spun out in a spiral, almost on the side of her bike before pulling out a knife from her belt and slashing above his eye.

Roaring with surprise, he flew back as the biker shot off the front of the truck which surprised the oni driver into stopping with a panic. But that wasn't her real target, for instead she went for a small car where a family of dogs would get the fright of their life. She blasted a sonic beam through both tyres on the right, as the mother, father and three children screamed when their car flipped in the middle of the road, heading straight for the wall at a deadly speed

Murata charged between the car and the wall with a spinning strike and punched it back like a volleyball, forcing the car back on the road as the shaken family stopped in front of the also-safely-stopped vehicle carrier.

"HAVING FUN YET?!" Kaneyama shrieked racing past. "NOW I'LL SEE WHAT YOU'RE REALLY MADE OF YOU FAT FUCK!"

"_THAT IS ENOUGH! _"

Murata chased after her once the family were alright, as Gyao Shin hypercharged her bike with a shocking purple flame from its exhaust with a reckless smile. Ramping towards the wall, she grabbed the pedal with her feet and with a giant flap of her wings, launched her motorcycle straight onto the side of the tunnel, much to the startlement of every driver passing.

The turtle kept boosting towards her, trying to catch the wily killer who swerved across the wall leaving black lines twisting behind her. She launched towards a limousine where several bridesmaids were drinking and celebrating, until Gyao Shin's wheel crashed through the windshield and crushed the driver's head.

Revving a hot scarlet trail of flesh behind her, she tore across the limo's blacktop and watched the car spin with horrified screams inside before it slammed into three other cars, causing a pile-up one after the other. Car after sedan failed to stop, burying the passengers deeper and deeper within an iron grave. But then came a fuel tanker, and Murata knew exactly what she planned.

Kaneyama's eyes glowed with sadistic glee, screeching up the tunnel wall and racing almost upside-down as she charged for the giant steel tanker currently filled with plutonium fuel. Murata spun towards her with his shell, boosting his jets harder to reach her in time as he grabbed for the bike handles and tore them as hard as he could. The bike rumbled down back onto the road. But the driver was not on it.

"NOOOOOOO!"

The last thing the fuel tanker's driver saw, was Gyao Shin Kaneyama launching off her bike. The croc never stood a chance, her wings spreading like a vampire as her beak opened wide, and shot him with a supersonic beam that cut through his skull. His brain was severed in half, as he slumped with a gasping with blood out his eyes, his nostrils and ears in catatonic death. His hands drifted off the wheel as the tanker swung its entire back towards the front, then flipped hard on its many wheels with a devastating crash.

The explosion deafened the tunnel, powerful rays of plutonium spreading in a glorious nuclear fire of sharp green and cosmic yellow plumes that almost blinded everyone near it. Flapping back onto her bike, Kaneyama strolled to a gentle stop, keeping her engine running with a 16-car pileup to the east, a burning wall of jade to the west, and Gaho Murata standing before her.

"Now it's just you...and me," she smiled in the firelight, "Both sides blocked off 'til someone comes to free everyone."

"You...you disgust me," snarled Murata.

"Awhawwww you gonna kill me yet?" she revved her bike. "Cuz I'm not gonna stop until you do."

"I won't kill you...no. That's too good a fate for you."

"You can't bring me back fuckface...you got no authority here, not in Iris-town."

"I know." He tightened his fists. "I also know there's a traitor in my ranks, so bringing you back won't matter in the long run."

"So why dontcha kill me?" Gyao Shin pumped the pedal. "Look what I just fucking did, I've fucked up so many lives and I kill creatures every day, WHAT do I have to do, to make you stop being so fucking DULL?!"

"I won't let you win by changing who I am. Besides...it's much more fun watching you get mad."

"I ain't mad, I'm having the BEST FUCKING DAY OF MY GODDAMN LIFE!"

She charged towards him as the flames rose higher, scarring the walls and painting shadows around them as Murata dodged her vicious motorcycle when he boosted his natural jets. The red-winged killer turned fast to charge at him again, but at the last minute leapt off her bike when he dodged again to divekick his head.

In his stumbling roll Gaho pushed himself back up with a burst from his jets, Gyao Shin roaring past to reach her bike and turn it sharp for another ruthless attack. Murata swerved round the silver machine when Kaneyama launched off to try and attack again, but he punched her stomach and grabbed her wing, throwing her down as she rolled and jumped back on her bike.

Revving closer towards the cop, she swung the back wheel in a hard strike that forced Murata to leap back, Kaneyama leaping over his head at the same time to spinkick him before he turned and blocked with his arm. Gyao Shin landed back on the bike, and spun round again to smash his face with the front wheel.

Crumpling to the floor with a hard burn on his cheek, Gaho rolled out of her path when she launched into a wheelie to try and crush his face, before charging his jets with a sudden spin of his shell and kicked twice across her beak in a savage uppercut. Knocking her off her bike, he pounced with a double-stomp of his boots on her gut, a hoarse shriek escaping her before she flapped with a hard slam of her wings to throw him off.

Jumping back on her bike, she slammed Murata's waist with its side to knock him down in a rolling stop, roaring towards him with a hard slide to burn her wheels against his belly and rip through his shirt. Like molten tar ripping across his flesh, half his shirt pulled off by the spinning wheels that tore past him as he roared from the black scrape in his stomach.

"Howsit feel to be roadkill!?" she cackled righting herself. "By the time Iris-san's done with you, you're gonna wish I left you to burn."

"Nnnngh...really?" Murata clutched the scar down his front. "You think that's...wise to bring me back?"

"Oh what, you gonna negotiate, make me turn over a new leaf, you REALLY THINK you can fucking convince me not to drag your ass back to Osaka?"

"Yep. I can."

"...pffft, alright." Gyao Shin revved her engine. "I'll give you one chance to convince me. Make it count."

"I know who your father was."

For the first time since they met, Gaho Murata saw fear in her eyes. Brief as it was, it was a beautiful sight that made him smile with a cold grin as if for a moment they swapped faces. Murata turned off his jets to save his energy, clenching his stomach with another power rumbling beneath as he watched Kaneyama's face twist into a tightening anger.

"No you fucking don't," she finally said.

"I found a photograph in your room," said Gaho spreading his arms, "a kaiju that looks like you, right next to the former head of the Daiei Alliance. Iris doesn't know, does she?"

"You're lying...you're FUCKING LYING!"

"Then why are you so upset?"

"CUZ YOU'RE TALKIN' SHIT ABOUT MY FAMILY!"

"Like you give a damn about your family." The turtle cricked his neck. "All you care about is keeping up an image, that psychopath without any bonds or ties to hold her down...so I'm sure that image will be tarnished if they know that you're-"

"DON'T!" She screamed jabbing her finger at him. "I don't give a FUCK what you think you saw, I'll drag you back to Iris one way or another!"

"And if you do that, I'll tell her." Murata's smile gleamed in the nuclear fire. "If I tell her, she's going to wonder why I would bother saying that. It's not going to help me, it's not leverage against her, she won't care. But you care. You don't want her to know."

"LIKE FUCK SHE'LL BELIEVE YOU!"

"You said it yourself, Kaneyama. I'm boring." The officer walked back a few steps. "Too boring to lie, and the only way to make sure I won't tell her...is you kill me right here."

"Hah, hahah, hahahaha, AHAHAHA, IS THAT YER FUCKING PLAN?!"

She pumped her engine hard with a burning shriek.

"YOU WANNA DIE INSTEAD?!"

"I want you to try." Gaho took a deep breath. "Either you kill me now, and suffer Iris' wrath...or I tell her your secret, and ruin your big plan you've probably spent years nursing under her shadow, just waiting to topple her with your big revelation."

"You don't know SHIT about my plan you fucking cocksucker!" Black fumes seethed from her exhaust. "You're gonna see your precious city fall when WE take it, and I'm gonna rub your fucking face in its ASHES!"

"Not before Iris cuts you out. She'll never share her throne with you, didn't she tell you? You know what she would have done to her own family, what makes you think she won't do the same to you?"

A flash of fear struck Kaneyama's eyes. Then a quiet fury, burning a deep gaze through Murata's skull as she quivered with violence. Her hands claws twisted on the handles, throttling with a burning snarl behind her as she turned the bike towards him and charged with vile scream.

Throughout all this, Murata had been charging his strength in the depths of his stomach. A powerful flame that turned thicker through his belly and slowly crept past his lungs, with a warping fire that wreathed round his throat and became a solid mass. Staring down the charging bike, he clenched his beak as Kaneyama screeched with murderous fury.

Then she saw it. The sergeant opened wide and with a powerful roar something exploded from his gullet with the force of a cannon. Gyao Shin felt the fireball in her stomach before she heard it, the turtle blasting her with an orb of solid plasma that shot her into the wall of the tunnel. Murata grabbed the bike in its passing and hurling it with two spins of its screaming engine to launch it straight in the plutonium fire.

Kaneyama fell in a crumpling heap, a crater left behind her in the wall as the blast of her motorcycle rumbled through the shaft with shards of steel clattering on the tarmac. Her chest was bleeding fire, her breaths sharp and wheezing as all she could muster was a silent gasp. Murata walked towards her with fumes from his maw, his tusks shining with plasma trace as he clutched his blackened stomach. She took one last swing at his face. He blocked her arm, crushed his knee into her gut, and slammed her head in the road to render her unconscious.

"Say hi to your sister for me."

Snorting the blood back in his throat that burned like whisky, Murata limped towards the cars piled up along the east. Creatures struggled to pull themselves free as he sat down beside them, and waited for help to arrive before he finally passed out with blood dripping from his legs and shell. The firefighters and police, the news and the ambulances, would all come as a row of lights shining towards the tunnel, from which plutonium fire smouldered from its depths.