Confession ~Juuzou x Reader AU~

Chapter 28: The King Falls

~Juuzou's POV~

My chest hurts.

My heart is beating so fast that it hurts. And it's so loud. The blood is swooshing in my ears so hard that they're starting to ring. Or were they ringing before this? I can't remember.

"Sir, the first unit has visual on three large males - most likely ghouls - guarding a door on the east side of the building," Hanbee says.

I blink and snap myself out of it. "What about units two and three?"

"Two has secured the west entrance and three has the north."

"Kay. We'll take the south. Tell the other units to proceed - apprehend anyone they come across."

"And if they're hostile?"

I smirk, "Cut them down."

But only the hostile ones. That's what I have to keep telling myself. If I don't, I'll end up killing every ghoul here without a second thought. And while that could fly back when I was with the CCG, it doesn't fly now, and it really doesn't fly in a whole other country.

I finish securing any part of my uniform that needs it and say, "Alright everyone, are we ready?" A flurry of 'yes' echoes quietly around me. I give the command. "Move in."

It's fast. You have to move fast. When we do this, we have to be quick and quiet. And that's what we do. We move. We charge, silently. Only our boots scuffing the pavement. Then we burst through the door.

That part's not quiet. It never is. But it could be worse. I could be crashing through the doors with a motorcycle. That sounds fun. I wonder if Marude would let me borrow his new bike. Hmm. Probably not. It would be fun, though!

Inside, it's quiet. There's no one here. Which is weird. A guy like Key... You'd think he'd have this place crawling with security.

"Hanbee, check in with the other units," I order, still looking around.

"Unit X is in the building. No encounters, yet. Radioing for updates," he says into his radio.

There is a pause. Then: "Unit three here. We're in the building. No contact yet."

"Unit one. We have secured the east and have captured three ghouls," says another voice.

"Unit two. We're in, but haven't come across anyone."

I knit my brows and take the radio. "Unit one, did they put up a fight?"

Radio static. Then: "No, sir. They surrendered immediately."

I look at Hanbee. He looks as confused as I feel.

"They didn't resist at all?"

"Not even a little bit, sir."

Strange. Missions are never this easy. There's always a catch. Always something. Maybe it's a trap?

"Everyone stay alert," I say both to my unit and into the radio. "There's no saying what they have planned. All units advance."

We move forward, working our way up a flight of stairs. Still no one. My heart is racing. I don't like this. I'm used to fighting and battling ghouls. All this quiet has me paranoid. Where are they? Why aren't we being met with resistance? I don't get it.

We continue on, eventually encountering two ghouls. They surrender before we even have a chance to say anything. We apprehend they and ask where Key is. They don't say. Honestly, I don't even know if they know.

We do another radio check in. All the units have encountered ghouls by this point. None have been hostile and have surrendered - unit one has dealt with two ghoul groups by this point. In total, five separate groups of ghouls have been arrested, but still no Key. We progress.