66 Test Run

The CCG had already begun laying siege to the Aogiri Tree hideout in the 11th ward. As the investigators put up their blockade, they were hassled by Aogiri snipers. Bastion followed Touka and the ghouls through a back alley approaching the compound through a series of secret entrances. Soon they made their way up through the headquarters.

Bastion made use of his bolter pistol exploding the heads of random ghouls. It seemed that ghouls died easily when missing a head. Rounds propelled by rockets easily pierced through the hard flesh of ghouls, before exploding dashing their heads around the room. When more ghouls approached firing machine guns and using their kagune as shields Bastion swapped to his lasgun. The carbine like rifle had two dials for setting and no kick. He flipped the gun to full auto and the laser intensity to high. Red bursts of death blasted through kagune sometimes setting their targets on fire. The scent of burning flesh quickly filled the air as Bastion mowed down ghoul after ghoul. It was unfortunate for them. Bastion aimed to cripple not kill, he needed bodies for experiments.

Once no more Aogiri tree soldiers reinforced the area he swapped out powerpacks for the weapon sliding in a fresh one. When it clicked, he knew he was good. He did the same with his bolters making sure both of his pistols were full of ammunition. Bastion didn't duel wield his bolter pistols. He kept two, so when one ran out of ammunition he could swap to the other. Slowly, his shields returned to 100% battery power. Under heavy fire his shields had managed to soak up the damage for 20 seconds only decreasing to 60% battery power.

They split up leading to the roof. Yomo, Uta, and Tsukiyama dealing with an odd smiley faced ghoul. Ayato was waiting there for Touka. Bastion waved at him. "Hey, Ayato, its been a while, you've changed quite a lot. Its me Bastion." Bastion said.

Ayato spread his wings and blasted Bastion with waves of shards to no effect. Bastion's shields were more than strong enough to deal with such force. Ayato's eyes widened at how little his kagune did. Bastion moved appearing beside the younger man. With a deft hand he delivered a powerful blow to Ayato's stomach. The young man shot into a nearby wall creating an imprint before fall to the floor.

"Have I jogged your memory yet?" Bastion asked. Then pointed his bolter at the mint haired mummy.

"Aren't you scary do you want to play with me?" Eto asked. Bastion turned his head to the side and dodged her efforts to damage him. Powerful ukaku shot out as multicolored tentacles aimed at his chest. They pressed against his shields draining their power quickly. Bastion twisted and moved to Eto's side power knife in hand. He slashed her throat, smashed her forehead in, and slid the knife through her achilleas heels before stepping back for some distance.

"Don't ask to play when you don't know the game. If you play with me at your level, your going to die." Bastion said. He replaced his knife with his beloved hand bolters. The massive handguns were light as feathers in his hand but kicked back with so much force. Even Eto wouldn't survive a few direct shots from his weapons.

"Your scary big bro, I haven't met someone like you since Arima, but you aren't him. You're not breathing hard are you, that gas mask is scary. It makes you look like something inhuman." Bastion pointed his bolter at her head.

"Withdraw or there won't be enough of you left to regenerate. Ayato is returning with us, he no longer works for Aogiri tree." Tatara leapt from his perch and attacked with a blast of flames. Bastion let them hit to see how his shield dealt with flames. For some reason they ripped 20% of his shielding away in a single go. Bastion dodged the next wave and pulled back on the trigger twice.

Tatara stood for a moment before falling, his legs below the knee exploded. Bastion holstered his weapon and kicked Tatara before he could fall sending him off the roof. Then he turned to see Eto.

"How could someone like you exist?" Eto yelled.

"You're normally cool Eto my organization has been watching you for a while. Eto Yoshimura partner to Arima the current king, a one eye ghoul, and the daughter of our esteemed café manager. What you see is merely evolution. Technology will always surpass biology. Sure, a ghoul's skin can stand up to knives and bullets, but what about rocket propelled armor piercing rounds or power knives. Well the answer to that is no." Bastion said. Eto was fully healed and about to transform. He could tell by her eyes. She felt backed into a corner and Aogiri Tree couldn't afford to lose her. Bastion holstered his weapon. "I've wasted enough time here, I better grab Ayato and go kill Jason. A sniper round slammed into his head taking 30% of his shield. He ducked under the next few rounds.

It seemed the field wasn't as strong around the head. He looked over using the HUD to magnify his view. The sniper was a CCG agent, he didn't know who. Bastion took his lasgun, flipped it to max heat, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A deep crimson bolt of light flew through the sky before burning a hole through the head of the sniper. Bastion put the lasgun back on his back and looked back to see Eto, why hadn't she retreated yet.

"Powered armor, that shouldn't exist for years to come, if ever. How do you have it?" Eto asked.

"This is merely a prototype. My HUD should have warned me of the incoming round and moved me out of danger. Another glitch in the system that will need fixing. Give it a year and this suit will seem prehistoric. A new age is coming and this little skirmish between ghouls and humans will end. The space age is coming, and this nonsense won't go on. It can't go on and it shouldn't go on." Bastion said.

"It's a shame I'll have to kill you." Eto shouted and transformed into her Kakuja form. Bastion grabbed Ayato and Touka before leaping from their building to another one. Eto ran after them as Bastion ran up the building. "Is that some sort of magnet locking mechanism in your boots. I must have your suit." She yelled as she scaled the building after them.

Bastion kept a leisurely pace making use of the suit's magnet lock boots instead of his own wall walking skills. That was the point of a test. He slipped a lot and Eto nearly got him but failed. Once he reached the roof, he tossed Touka and Ayato over Touka flashed her kagune and gave him supporting fire. Bastion drew both bolters aimed and began firing aiming for lightly armored joints. Eto's body broke apart as he continued to destroy her form. When his guns clicked empty, she had lost several arms and only held on by ukaku tentacles. She was rapidly regenerating the lost arms and opened her mouth to laugh in his face. Bastion took out his lasgun and blasted the inside of her mouth.

He grabbed Ayato and distanced himself keeping one hand bolter in his arm pit he replaced the clip before tossing Ayato to Touka. "Maybe I shouldn't have knocked him out." Bastion said with a chuckle.

"You think, why the heck didn't you finish her off when you had the chance?" Touka yelled, as she got some distance. Eto laughed as she charged them.

"I wanted to finish testing out my suit and weapons. Kaneki already killed Jason, so I reasoned the best course of action was to see what the new conventional weapons could do. If things get too dire, I'll just punch her. Bastion tossed a flash grenade in Eto's face before grabbing Touka and Ayato before leaping over the roof. Once the flash went off Bastion crashed through a window a few floors down. He reloaded for a final time. After this he was out with the bolters.

Eto ripped through the ceiling cracking the concrete like an egg. Plaster, rock, and rebar fell slamming down and filling the room with dust and debris. Touka started a coughing fit and Ayato awoke when he couldn't quite breath. Bastion was in love with the rebreather add on and the filtration system.

As Eto's one eye glowered over them, Bastion shot a hole in it with his bolter before taking her arms with two more well placed shots. The arms came tumbling down while Bastion moved out of the way of incoming plaster. She shot a stream of shards down on them steadily lowering Bastions shields again. It seemed it didn't matter what Bastion took off, Eto kept on coming. He holstered his gun with a sigh. The fun was over it seemed. Touka and Ayato were taking damage and Bastion only had a few shots left anyway.

He dashed through the shards and delivered a punishing blow to Eto's Kakuja face. The mask exploded along with the front half of the monster. Eto's face became visible and Bastion smashed his other fist into the Kakuja's body. The whole thing exploded like a piñata of guts. Eto fell out tumbling. She stood up breathing heavily. Bastion kicked her again, this time out the window. Then he put a bullet in her chest while she fell. This wouldn't kill her, but it would deter her from coming back.

Bastion waved his hand forcing the debris out of the air and laid against a wall before pulling off his helmet. This had been a fun night all things considered. He hoped for many more like it to shake up the monotony of work and research.