Fanfic #46 The Revenant by Greed720(TokyoGhoulXAvengers)

This is a crossover with Ken Kaneki from Tokyo ghoul is in the world of the avengers. Hasn't gotten to far into avengers, but there have already been some big changes.

Synopsis:This isn't how he thought it would go, then again his life had been falling apart for sometime now, so maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised that one minute he'd been in Tokyo, and the next he was in a whole other world. In a place without Ghouls, and where no one knew who he was, or what he is.

Rating: M

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13137588/1/The-Revenant

Here's the first chapter:

(In Tokyo, Japan)

It was silent in the cavernous warehouse, save except for the soft sound of dripping, as crimson red, droplets of blood fell from a mangled body in the centre of the room, the blood pooling on the cracked tiles and concrete around the body, slowly spreading out in every direction.

Elsewhere around the room two other broken corpses could be seen, one of them was a young girl in her later teens, her neck bruised and broken, with the jagged remnants of her spine protruding from it. The other was a boy around the same age who was slumped over dead in a pool of his own blood, his glazed eyes looking on accusingly at his killer, and his killer's killer.

A soft sigh left Ken Kaneki's lips as he looked around the room takin gall of this in, his breath misting front of him in the cold air as he looked from the two dead teens and instead down at the mangled body in front of him, his grey eyes apathetic as he gazed at the still whimpering slab of meat.

The person before him had once been a giant, muscled beast of a man, one who had once been clad in what once might have been a smart, white suit, but which was now dyed dark red with his own blood, and who had terrorised humans and his own kind alike with his savagery.

Jason that was the name that the man was referred to as by the authorities and many of his fellow, and he had been a sadistic, cruel, callous murderer and torturer. On top of that he had also been a Ghoul, a humanoid species of creature, with incredible supernatural abilities, and an inherent need to feed on humans to survive. A trait for which this species had gotten its name, after all for as much as they looked human, and could pass for human, they were not. Instead they were something else completely. They were Ghouls.

Kaneki let out another breath at that though, as his eyes roamed hungrily over the whimpering man in front of him, the other Ghoul's blood bathing the floor around him crimson, the pool around Jason's twisted body spreading outward, soaking Kaneki's bare feet crimson.

The man was broken and beaten, a slab of barely alive meat, but that wasn't enough, not for Kaneki, not after what the man had done. The man's current suffering wasn't enough to satisfy him, no, he wanted the monster who had been torturing him for so long to be beg for death by the end, he wanted him to plead with Kaneki for an end to his suffering, only for him to then be denied as Kaneki prolonged his torment until he shattered Jason's mind.

With that in mind Kaneki placed his bloodstained foot on the older man's broad back, noting absently as he did so, that at some point during his days of torture his toenails had changed colour, each of them now a deadened black colour.

Tilting his head sideways at that, Kaneki's apathetic expression didn't change for a second, as moments later he dug his foot into Jason's back and then twisted it, cracking several ribs as he did so, and forcing a scream of agony out of the beaten, bloodied man.

"What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki asked quietly, ignoring Jason's cry of pain as he pressed down with his foot, still grinding his heel into the man's back.

Following on from that, with barely a thought, his kagune exploded out of the small of Kaneki's back, four glowing red tendrils forming up before they then shot down into Jason, each one of the tendrils spearing one of the larger man's limbs into the ground, piercing through flesh, bone and the concrete beneath as they pinned him in place.

In response to this Jason let out a bellow of pain, his voice pitching slightly as he did so before the pain then seemed to focus him, as afterwards he turned his and glared up at Kaneki with hate filled eyes.

Kaneki tilted his head again as he saw this, his lips twitching as a ghost of a smile tried to break through the placid, dispassionate expression on his face. This wouldn't do.

With that in mind he twisted his foot again and pressed down, even as his kagune drilled deeper into the man's limbs, cracking and splintering the already broken concrete below, before with a twitch of one of his tendrils he tore one of Jason' legs completely off, causing a spray of crimson blood to spray across the floor, and a scream to tear itself loose from the larger man's lips.

"What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki asked again, his tone of voice dispassionate as he looked down at Jason's shaking form, the previously kind and gentle person that he was, now completely gone, consumed by the darkness of the world and spat out as something new, something darker, something more capable of surviving.

Following on from this Kaneki cracked one of his fingers with his thumb, the sound almost deafening in the cavernous, but all but empty room.

A small voice whimpered below him, responding to his previous question.

"Louder. What is one thousand minus seven?" Kaneki continued, his tone holding no irritation or anger, as he instead calmly demanded a proper answer from Jason, his tone tranquil, but unrelenting.

"Nine hundred and ninety three! Nine hundred and eight six... nine hundred and seventy nine," Jason screamed in response, beginning to count down from seven as Kaneki commanded, his voice choking on blood as he did so. With him knowing as he did that this is what he had forced hundreds of others to do when they were under his tender mercy.

Still despite inflicting upon Jason, what he had done to him, Kaneki found that he did not get enough pleasure or satisfaction from his revenge. No, instead he just continued to feel cold and empty. He still felt unsatisfied.

Perhaps... yes, that could work, Kaneki thought to himself, even as he brought his pale hand to his head, noticing as he did that his fingernails had turned black too, before then grabbed one side of his head.

Following on from this, with a groan and a bit of pain, mild in comparison to the torture he had undergone recently, he forced his fingers into his ear, breaking the side of his skull a little bit as he did so, in order for him to be able to reach the red headed centipede buried in his inner ear, a gift from Jason, during the near ten days the larger man had tortured him.

Grabbing the centipede Kaneki carefully pulled it out, ensuring as he did that it wasn't damaged, with his skull and the flesh on the side of his head regenerating near instantaneously as he pulled his bloody hand out, before he brought he five inch long bug up in front of his face, inspecting the many legged creature as he did so.

The moment Jason looked up and saw what Kaneki was holding, he immediately began to scream, begging for release as he instinctively knew what Kaneki was planning on doing.

Kaneki though by this point was beyond caring, any empathy or mercy he once had were gone, replaced by an all-consuming emptiness. He didn't care about the man's pathetic sobs, or that his actions were making him a hypocrite. No, all he cared about was getting even, and inflicting torment on his former tormenter. Which is exactly what he was going to do as he put the centipede into Jason's ear, just like he had done to him, where it then instinctively began burrowing. An action that caused an almost ear splitting scream to erupt from Jason's thick, bloody lips as he thrashed about, unable to get away as Kaneki's burning red kagune kept him pinned down.

Seeing this Kaneki finally allowed the sides of his lips to twitch upward, into a small, sadistic, but still genuine smile as he listened to his tormentor's screams. With him just standing there, his body and face covered in blood, both his own and Jason's, watching for a minute, before he twisted away when he heard an explosion in the distance.

Kaneki's smile disappeared as he heard that, with it instead morphing into frown once more as he then turned and began to head towards the door, making to leave the room. Quite suddenly, he wanted to be gone, gone from this place, gone from all of the horror and misery.

"You... can't..." A weak voice spoke up, with a large, clammy hand gripping his ankle moments later as he turned to leave.

Twitching at this, Kaneki turned to look down at the dying Ghoul blankly, his grey eyes emotionless as he looked down at the twitching and pale faced man. Knowing as he did so, that without an instantaneously regenerative healing factor, like the one Kaneki possessed, then the other man would not survive the centipede burrowing through his head. On top of that Kaneki had already consumed his Kakuhou. Jason was a dead man, he just didn't know it yet, even as the centipede continued to burrow into his brain.

"You... won't..." Jason said again, his voice weak and raspy as he looked up to meet Kaneki's pitiless eyes, a burning, all consuming hatred driving him through the pain as he glared up at his victim turned killer.

With that said Jason's other hand clumsily pulled out a small controller from his pocket, his hands shaky as Kaneki continued to look curiously down at him, pondering just what the man was up to as he did so.

The moment he saw the controller though, Kaneki moved fast, his kagune exploding outwards and impaling Jason through the chest and arms, but he was too late, as Jason had been just a bit faster, pressing the button as he did so, moments before Kaneki lashed out and killed him.

Suddenly, in response to this the floor beneath them dropped. Before a moment later, Kaneki found himself in a sea of red. He was surrounded by kagune, which were created by vital organs of Ghouls, the Kakuhou. With the ceiling closing rapidly above him, just as fast as it had been opened, cutting off the light from the room above. Despite this though he could still see what was around him, using the glowing red light which came from the pulsing kagune around him.

That being said, Kaneki frowned in confusion as he looked around, unable to help but ask himself, how were these things still alive?

A crimson, droplet of blood landed on his nose, answering his internal question, as he then glanced up and saw the faint cracks of light through the hatched floor above. Blood would drip down here from the torture sessions, feeding the starving kagune enough to keep them going, even without a body.

However, if the removed organs in this 'larder', or whatever the hell is was, were still alive, then that meant that he was likely in a lot of danger.

Glancing downwards he could already see that the kagune around his feet had begun to swell up, slowly moving to cover him, with Jason's now dead body having already been mostly devoured by the monstrous pile.

Seeing this and feeling a slight stinging on the bottoms of his bare feet, Kaneki quickly realised that the kagune were already trying to absorb him, just like they were doing to Jason.

Gritting his teeth, Kaneki quickly leapt off of the pile of harvested kagune, only for him to then land on another. Ignoring this Kaneki twisted around and tried to use his kagune to try and find an exit, or force one, his red tendrils striking out at the metal walls, only to find out that the entire place was reinforced. Kagune covered the walls, preventing him from simply breaking down the metal, and the ceiling was too far above him for him to be able to reach it, and still have enough power to break through it.

That being said, he didn't give up, as he still tried to find the remote to open the ceiling. Unfortunately though it seemed that Jason had gotten the last laugh as it had vanished beneath the slowly writhing red mass.

Kaneki truly hated that man, in fact he hadn't known it was possible to hate a person this much, but he felt like he was burning up from so much hatred. He just wanted the world to burn as recompense for what he had undergone.

"Agh!" Kaneki screamed, echoing his pain around the empty chamber; calling for help in a way he didn't even realise was happening as he lashed out, clawing at the surrounding kagune with his hands, even as he started tearing into them with his teeth, trying to eat them, before they could consume him.

Dimensions away, a strange being beyond anything else heard his cries, and spared Ken Kaneki a thought, and in doing so it changed his life forever. 'This is... a very strong, realised desire. He will never flower there, but maybe if he was elsewhere. Well, if he was elsewhere then the impact he could have on the events to come, they could be truly interesting.'

It was as the being thought this that, Kaneki, who by this point was still struggling to survive, his body now completed covered in blood as he bit and gnashed at the surrounding kagune, even as said kagune began to absorb him, suddenly found himself feeling odd.

Moments later the world around him seemed to shatter, as if someone had just broken a mirror, the cracks in the air around him getting larger and large, causing Kaneki to pause in his actions and ignore the surrounding kagune as he looked around at what was happening, with him having never seen anything like this before in his life.

It was as he stopped his struggles though and started looking around that the cracks in the air around him stopped forming, with time seemingly stopping for a split second, before suddenly they seemingly imploded, with darkness consuming Kaneki moments later.

Thankfully though the all-consuming darkness only lasted for a moment, before Kaneki suddenly found himself someplace else, covered in sunlight, with cool air blowing over his body and the scent of freshly cut grass lingering in his nose.

Opening his eyes, a strange feeling of foreboding and hope built up within him as the now very confused Ken Kaneki looked around at his surroundings, only for him to find himself slumped down naked and unbloodied, in an unfamiliar emerald, green glade, the mid-morning sunlight shining down upon him.

( - )

(Two Years later)

It had been two years since that day, since the phenomenon, since Kaneki had somehow escaped from that pit of despair, only to somehow find himself in another world. In a place where there were no Ghouls, and in Northern America, of all places, a far cry from Tokyo in Japan, both culturally and otherwise.

Luckily though, he knew a fair bit of English from his time at school where it had been taught as a class, and his conversational English had improved drastically whilst living here, so much so that he now considered himself fluent in the language.

Originally Kaneki had awoken to find himself in the American State of California, a hot, yet surprisingly liberal part of the country, and, after headed to the only city he knew of in this state, Los Angeles or rather, LA, as the locals called it. In which he had later found that it wasn't all that hard to find someone in the criminal underbelly of the city who could forge some paperwork for him.

Furthermore there were plenty of murders and suicides in LA, far more than he had expected, which for Kaneki was ideal, as he could feed on the recently deceased corpses of suicide and murder victims, or if he gets there on time then on the murderer. Though more often than not he is late to the scene, and therefore only able to grab the scraps before disappearing into the night.

All he really had to do was to keep a weather eye out for witnesses and cameras when he was eating, or wrapping the body up in a bin bag so he could transport it someplace quieter and more secluded.

This problem though was made far easier by him getting a new mask, though to call it a mask was a bit generous when comparing it to the previous mask he had worn, after all this one was little more than a black buff that he used to cover his lower face, as well as him wearing a black parka coat with the fur lined hood pulled up to cover his white hair in order to avoid it standing out so much. With the only thing really visible in this getup being his eyes and a slight sliver of his pale skin.

That being said not everything was going well, as he had been struggling with finding any real work in the city. He had been a college student back in Tokyo, so he could fake high school papers, but the only local college that wouldn't check his background was a community college, and that still required money for a tuition and he had no history or assets against which he could get a loan, and he couldn't get a grant from the college without proof of his accomplishments from outside sources.

So, in the end, he had to temporarily give up on getting his college degree and just settled for working in the service industry, in which he already had some experience at Anteiku, with him stealing what money he could from the corpses/ meals to bolster his meagre wages, which allowed him to rent out a shitty one bed flat of his own in the city limits, and buy himself the necessities, as well as some decent clothing and furniture.

"Just a muffin, please," A young lady ordered from in front of him, making Kaneki blink for a moment before he nodded, his gaze flicking up to the woman, a plain looking blonde with thick glasses and a laptop under one arm, no doubt another wannabe writer who would sit in the café all day writing and networking, and futilely trying to catch a break, and make her dream a reality. It was a scene he had seen repeat itself many times over his two years working here. Still to each their own.

With that in mind Kaneki grabbed a napkin and a muffin from behind the counter before he handed it over to the customer, an empty smile on his face as he did so, one that she returned.

"Anything else?" Kaneki asked blandly, only for the woman to shake her head as she instead pulled out some change from her pocket. "Then that'll be $3.79, thank you," Kaneki continued, going through the motions as he rang her up on the till.

With the woman paying and then leaving without a word, not even a thank you as she instead just found a seat at one of the empty tables, opening her laptop as she did so, before she then got to work, doing the same thing she did every day she came in here, still chasing her dream, despite the odds being that she would never accomplish it, and instead just run out of money and have to head home, and get a real job.

Kaneki chuckled at his cynical inner thoughts as he looked away from the typing blonde, it was odd to think how much he had changed from the quiet, naive child he had been back when life had still been simple and he had been just an ordinary human.

Before he could muse anymore on this though, Lisa, Kaneki's kindly if ditzy, middle-aged boss, came running out from the kitchen in a rush, pulling her jacket on as she did so, her frizzy brown hair a mess as she then made an attempt to loosely tie it back in a ponytail.

"Hey, Ken! I need you to close up shop for me tonight! An emergency came up at home!" Lisa said quickly as she zipped up her coat, after which she shouldered her way to the till, taking out several notes as she did so before pocketing them. "Make sure you lock up properly, and turn on the alarm."

"Alright!" Kaneki called back easily, more than used to his flighty boss doing this, knowing as he did that this 'emergency' was more likely to be some spontaneous night out that her on again and off again partner proposed, the married man no doubt having grabbed a bit of time away from his family to spend time with Lisa, his woman on the side.

A few moments later, the door closed and, after another an hour or so, with little to no business as the café slowly emptied, Kaneki eventually started wiping down the counter and the surfaces, sweeping the floors and then binning the food that would spoil, and putting clingfilm over the stuff that wouldn't and then putting it in the fridge.

By this point it was nearly five o'clock in the evening, and he would soon need to close up shop, which wasn't all that troublesome considering how small this place was, and the type of clientele they attracted.

'Lisa's Table' as the café was called, was nothing like Anteiku was, there was much less camaraderie and such between the workers for one and the quality of the coffee wasn't great, and according to reviews the food wasn't all that good either.

But despite that, his boss Lisa, despite being a bit of a mess, was pleasant enough, and the pay wasn't quite the minimum wage.

On top of that the patrons mostly kept to themselves, focusing on their laptops and tablets and tuning everything else out, still that didn't bother him too unduly, after all this meant they ignored his odd appearance, what with his black fingernails, pale white skin and hair and the eye-patch he wore. Then again, Los Angeles was a city of eccentrics, which meant that Kaneki's own oddities often passed unnoticed even when he was walking out in public.

In fact for the most part Kaneki had found that he was content for the moment, he could make a living here for now, even if he did feel a bit lonely and isolated on occasion. With the feeling of loneliness gnawing at him from the inside on occasion, as he missed his friend Hide and the companionship he had had at Anteiku. With him having not been able to really strike up any friendships with anyone here since he first arrived.

The chiming of the bell over the door quickly distracted Kaneki from these thoughts as he looked up in surprise, he had thought that everyone had already left the café, the last of them being the young lady who bought a muffin an hour or so earlier.

But as he looked up though he saw that the bell didn't chime to announce someone leaving, but instead to make Kaneki aware that someone new had just entered the now closed café.

"I'm sorry but we're closed," Kaneki said dryly as he finished sweeping up the floors, before he then looked up at the intruder, the scent of humanity filling his nose as he eyed the newcomer with interest, noting as he did that this man looked more eccentric than even Kaneki did.

After all the man was around six foot tall, with dark skin and a bald head, over one of his eyes the man also wore a simple black, leather eyepatch, with him also wearing a knee length, black leather trench coat, and a black polo neck jumper, trousers and boots. The man definitely seemed to be trying to go for the edgy look.

"Ken Kaneki?" The dark skinned man asked as he stepped into the doorway, his broad, leather clad frame blocking it entirely for a moment, as his one visible eye surveyed the room, before locking onto Kaneki.

Nodding his head at this, Kaneki leant his broom against the counter before he fully turned to face this strange man, his single visible grey eye narrowing as he looked at the larger man curiously.

The newcomer scowled grimly at this, before he nodded, stepping in to the café fully as he did so. "You're under arrest!"

Kaneki's facial expression didn't change as he heard that, even as he saw the dark skinned man fully enter the room, a blond haired man wearing dark combat fatigues and holding a metal bow with a nocked arrow, and a sheath like mechanism full of more arrows on his back, entering after him. The man in question looking at Kaneki suspiciously as he entered, his arms twitching as he did so, even as he pulled his bow a little tauter.

"For what?" Kaneki asked carefully after a few moments, taking a step back as he did so his muscles tensing minutely, even as his single visible eye, still seemingly emotionless trailed over the duo. With him not being all that concerned about modern day Robin Hood, or the angry pirate.

After all Ghouls were incredibly durable and could easily tank bullets with no problems, in fact it had required specifically made weapons and bullets of quinque steel, a metal forged using a Ghoul's Kakuhou, an organ unique to the species, for the specially trained humans, 'the doves', to even hurt Ghouls, that or something which was heavy and had a lot of kinetic force, like a ton of building supplies falling on them from several hundred feet.

Either way he had little to fear from arrows or bullets, after all back in the place he had lived humanity had adapted to defend themselves against Ghoul's, their apex predator, whilst here they were oblivious and unprepared.

Still these people had done nothing to him yet, and so he wasn't all that keen on just killing them.

"For the desecration of at least twenty two corpses that we know of!" The dark skinned man said sharply, the hardened expression on his face not changing for a moment as he continued to stare Kaneki down.

In response to this the curiosity faded off of Kaneki's face, only for it to slowly shift into one of apathy. He had no idea how the police of this world had managed to track him, when the investigators of his own, 'the doves, specially trained in ghoul hunting, had not? But it didn't matter, they had found out and somehow tracked him, though they only seemed to be aware of a portion of what he had done, and had seemingly not linked him to the disappearances of any of the half dozen criminals he had preyed on over the last two years.

"I see," Kaneki said slowly after a few moments of thought, before he slowly began to angle his body slightly, preparing himself for a quick fight. He didn't want to kill them, but he would if they forced his hand.

That being said he would probably have to head to another state if he did so, that or leave the country entirely, maybe head somewhere that didn't spy on its citizens as much, maybe Central or South America. It would be inconvenient, but no more so that building a life for him here had been.

The dark skinned man seemed to notice Kaneki's actions, as too did his bow wielding bodyguard, with the bald man raising his hand to calm things down as he did so, the bodyguard relaxing his grip slightly, allowing the bow to go slack, even as the dark skinned man kept his single visible eye fixed on Kaneki.

"Stand down, I'm not here for a fight, if I was then I wouldn't be conversing with you like this. Rather, I'm here to make you an offer," The man continued confidently, his expression giving away no wariness of nervousness as he continued to look down on Kaneki.

In response to that Ken blinked, somewhat caught off balance by this reaction. This man was police wasn't he, and he had confronted Kaneki with the knowledge that he had 'desecrated' bodies. Then if that were the case, what on earth was this guy playing at?

"An offer?" Kaneki asked curiously, standing up straighter as he did so, though he didn't let his guard down quite yet, as he felt his Kakuhou pulse on his lower back, even as he prepared to unleash his kagune at any moment.

"Yes an offer. Though first how about an introduction? I am Director Nick Fury, and at present I have fifty of my best agents, armed with everything from pistols to sniper rifles ready and waiting outside the shop, positioned all around. Now you have a choice, you can either be forcefully arrested here and now, or you can come along peacefully. If you do come peacefully, then we are willing to give you quite a bit of leeway in your sentencing." The now named Nick Fury sad confidently, his expression unrelenting, and his tone of voice demanding. This was a man who was used to people doing what he told them to do, when he told them to do it, Kaneki could pick up on that instantly.

"Why so many? I haven't killed anybody," Kaneki said blandly, skipping over the fact that this was a lie as he instead went off of Fury's accusations, and the over the top reaction.

Besides Fury's words, despite being meant to intimidate, didn't really mean much to the white haired Ghoul, after all it wasn't like guns could hurt him. And even if some high calibre, armour piercing bullet did manage to penetrate his skin, then he would heal from it almost instantaneously, so long as they didn't hit his kagune he would be fine.

"Correct, which is another reason why we are willing to give you leeway. However, we have been watching you for about a year and a half now, and the few times we have spotted you, we have seen you making the same jumps as the suicide victims you end up eating, yet unlike them you never end up dead." Fury replied, not a hint of distaste as he openly stated the fact that Kaneki ate human flesh, though Kaneki did note that this Fury's Intel was not absolute, after all they had found out about his preying on suicide victims, but not on murder victims or murderers.

"Furthermore, we have seen evidence of your combat abilities in filmed cage matches downtown, as I said we have been aware of you for a while now, and have been tracking your every movement for the last couple of months. And besides I'm a cautious guy, and suspect you are capable of even more than what we have actually seen." Fury then continued, his eye narrowing at the disinterested expression on Kaneki's face, as he once again tried to bait him.

Kaneki though knew what Fury was doing, he was trying to put him off balance, and make it seem like he knew more about Kaneki than he did. It was a gamble, but the man had taken it, that being said Fury's expression was inscrutable, so for all Ken knew he could know more, but just be holding back so as to try and trick him somehow.

Kaneki frowned at that thought, uncertain what to do as this Fury character had a damn good poker face. It was true that he had taken part in cage matches, earning himself a bit of extra money that he could stash away, just like the valuables he took from his meals. It was also true that he predominantly hunted for suicide victims, and that he was slightly more sloppy with recovering their remains than he was otherwise, after all suicides tended to be in secluded out of the way spots.

Kaneki's eyes narrowed slightly as he eyed Fury up and down, uncertain about just what the older man was thinking. It was as he did this that he glanced past Fury and saw the bow and arrow wielding man grimace a bit at the 'eating' part, showing a more natural response, even if it did make him bristle a bit. It wasn't his fault he had to eat people to survive!

Still it also meant that Fury hadn't fully disclosed everything about Kaneki to his subordinates, which meant he was playing his cards close to his chest, even with his own allies.

( - )

As for Fury, he was entirely undeterred by the white haired man's proclivities, silence, and his piercing gaze, as he instead continued speaking without provocation, pretending not to notice the interplay between Kaneki and the bow wielding man, Clint.

Instead Fury forged on with his sales pitch, internally tensing as he eyed Ken Kaneki's blank face, trying to read the younger man, just as the younger man was obviously trying to read him.

"Fortunately for you, this all lends itself to your case. We are willing to overlook your... habits, seeing as you've not killed any innocents that we know of, in return for your cooperation on the Avenger's Initiative Project." Fury finished, his eye narrowing as he saw a flash of curiousity and wariness flash across the younger man's face at his words.

( - )

Ken looked at him slightly confused now, this is not what he had been expecting at all. In fact none of this had, first things first he hadn't expected to be caught, and then if he was, then he expected that he would have had to fight to escape and then flee. An offer to overlook his habits, and a request for his cooperation with some Avenger's Initiative, that was not something he had expected.

"Avenger's Initiative?" Kaneki asked bluntly, his gaze flicking from Fury to his bodyguard and back, before he glanced out of the window trying to find these 'fifty agents'.

"A gathering of skilled or extremely talented individuals, who when combined will form the Earth's last line of defence against anyone or anything that might threaten it. You agreeing to be a part of it would mean that if we need your help for a case or a situation, then you would come running and help save the world," Fury explained quite succinctly his gaze boring into Kaneki, as if daring him to say no.

Kaneki though didn't answer immediately as he thought over Fury's words for a moment puzzled. His explanation hadn't been great and what he would get from helping out was still not fully explained.

"But in the meantime, you leave me alone?" Kaneki asked after a few moments, his gaze back on Fury. "I continue going about my daily life with no interference?"

"Correct, you can continue doing what you do. But we'll still be watching, and the moment you kill someone from this point forward, then we will come down on you with no mercy," Fury stated, his face hardening as he looked at Ken.

Kaneki's eyes narrowed as he heard that, he didn't necessarily need to kill for food, anyway, even if it would taste better fresh. In fact the only reason he had killed since coming here was when he saw said person kill another in cold blood, the only people he had killed, had themselves been hardened criminals and murderers. As such he had deemed it a public service to remove them from the streets, as well as a treat for himself.

He had never harmed anyone he deemed innocent, nor people who committed petty crimes. He might have fully accepted his status as a Ghoul, but remnants of his humanity remained.

Besides those kills had been very few. Only six over the course of two years, and if it meant giving him a peaceful life then he would desist, unless he believed he had no other choice, or had to defend himself. Instead he would return to just preying on suicides and the occasional accidental death.

"If I agree, you'll leave me alone? And if I do end up helping, my fighting style is very violent, would I be arrested?" Kaneki asked, wanting assurances now, after all if this man had gone to all this trouble, then he and his organisation would likely continue pursuing Kaneki, even if he did flee the country.

"Yes, as I already said. And I believe that I can trust you to gauge the situation correctly, your psychological profile indicates that you are generally a quiet and thoughtful person," Fury replied promptly, relaxing slightly as Kaneki appeared to agree with him, with the cannibal only now quibbling over the terms of his participation.

Kaneki tilted his head to the side for a moment as he heard that, after all he couldn't help but think to himself that it was only his human half that was that way, when he allowed himself to eat and fully indulge in his Ghoulish side, well there was not as much thought involved, more instinct, hunger and a callous, cruel disregard for life. He had been working to fix that and bring the two distinct pieces of his personality into balance, but like with everything, these things took time.

Despite that though, Fury's offer, or rather his ultimatum, sounded like a good deal. Too good of a deal really, but then again he already knew the catch, he could be pulled away at any moment to fight a 'global threat', but then again how often did those occur really? Though he was curious about why they had approached him now, and not a year ago if they had indeed been watching him for that long? Yet, perhaps there were others like him, maybe not Ghouls, but other unique people who didn't quite fit in to the normal mould. Now he would be interested to meet individuals like that, after all, after having experienced life as a Ghoul, for all the pain and fear involved, he had also found it exhilarating, a far cry from the boredom of mundane life.

"Alright, I accept," Ken said carefully after several long minutes of thought, his mind racing as he went over the pros and cons of Fury's offer, and what it may or may not mean to him if he accepted it, or chose not to.

Fury nodded curtly in response.

"I'll hold you to that," Fury then replied, before he turned to leave, only pausing to look over his shoulder at the white haired man as he did so. "Oh, and Kaneki, do try to avoid the local police. We won't be able to help you if you get caught by them, there would too much negative media attention."

Then with that final comment Fury walked out of the small coffee shop, his bow wielding companion silently followed behind him, sending a single wary glance back at Kaneki as he did so, before he left the café, closing the door behind the two of them.

Moments after they left Kaneki locked the front door to the café and then pulled down the blinds, hiding the inside from view, with Kaneki letting out a loud breath of air once he did so, before he then rested his head lightly on the doorframe.

Why did he have a feeling he would be called for soon rather than later? And as for Fury's final comment about avoiding the local police? Did that mean then that Fury and his 'agents' were not local? Then, were they from a central base, like the American secret service, be it the CIA or FBI, or whichever one it was? Or perhaps they were a part of an even larger organisation?

Ken sighed at that though, at least he had managed to get his freedom without bloodshed. It would have been a shame to kill them all.

In fact he probably would have likely ended up with a target on his back from law enforcement the world over for the rest of his life, and would have been hounded by this Nick Fury's comrades from this point onwards, had he gone ahead and just killed them like he had first thought to do.

Shaking his head at that, Ken Kaneki grabbed his broom from where it was lying propped up against the counter and got back to work as he finished sweeping up the shop and then locked up. He kind of felt like getting something to eat after all of the excitement.

( - )

(A couple of weeks later)

"Regular black coffee please, no sugar or cream or anything like that in it." A smartly dressed man with short black hair, an expensive high quality, grey suit and sunglasses, inside, requested, his tone coming out confident, and smooth as he wrapped his hand on the counter and sent Kaneki an amused smile.

Ken blinked as he heard this, his gaze flicking to the man's face, before going down to the man's hands as he pulled a the thick wad of notes he had in a money clip from his pocket, thumbing through them as he looked up at Kaneki and gave him a pleasant smile.

Tilting his head to the side curiously Kaneki realised that he recognised the man, though he was not sure just why someone like him was here. After all the man was Tony Stark, some billionaire weapon designer, who had apparently gotten himself kidnapped a while ago, and then had a change of heart upon his return from captivity, after which he then decided to build himself a robotic suit and become a superhero by the name of 'Ironman'.

The older, middle-aged man was almost constantly in the news for one thing or another, so Kaneki was more than aware of who he was. Though just why one of the richest men in the world was ordering a coffee from a shitty little café like the one Kaneki worked at, he didn't know? Didn't the guy have a personal chef and butlers, or something like that?

"Ah, sure, that'll be $4.53," Kaneki said after a few moments, ignoring the gawking customers and other members of staff as he instead turned and set about making the 'celebrity' a coffee, all the while thinking of just why a guy like Stark was in this coffee shop, and whether it was a coincidence that Ironman paid him a visit only a couple of weeks after that Nick Fury had.

"Yeah sure," Stark replied easily before he thumbed through his wad of cash, after which he grabbed a five dollar bill and handed it over to Kaneki, waiting for him to ring up the order on the till, before Stark then held out his hand expectantly, waiting for his change, which Kaneki handed over. "And make it fast, Hannibal, I'm in a bit of a hurry today."

Kaneki froze for a fraction of a second after hearing that, picking up on the film reference, after all he didn't have much of a social life and needed something to do in his free time, before seemingly without any reaction he calmly met the smirking billionaire's gaze.

"Of course, sir," Kaneki replied after a moment before he turned and finished Stark's order, even as Stark watched him, the wealthy superhero ignoring the muttering of his fans around him, and of the others who recognised him for one thing or another.

Bringing the hot coffee in its cardboard container over to the counter, Kaneki handed it over to Stark, his gaze still locked on the man, who in response merely held it up to him in a gesture of thanks, before he then walked out of the shop. The billionaire not even leaving a tip, the bastard!

Still Tony Stark's tightness didn't particularly bother Kaneki at the moment, no, instead he was more concerned with just how many people knew about him?

( - )

(A couple of weeks later)

It was a couple weeks later, after his unusually meeting with Tony Stark, that Ken Kaneki saw the news.

Currently he was sat in his armchair in his shitty one bedroom apartment, the curtains closed and the television on, a nice hot cup of coffee sitting on the side table beside his chair, and his bare feet raised and resting on the cluttered coffee table in front of him. With him taking a few moments to relax, after having just gotten in from work.

However it seemed that was not to be, as within about ten minutes of sitting down he found that the current television programme he was watching, an American sitcom called 'Friends', was unexpectedly interrupted by an emergency news broadcast.

Seeing this Kaneki casually put down the human arm he had been chewing on, a snack leftover from last night, and instead looked at the screen blankly.

His eyes trailing over the image of a massive crater, one that the news helicopters were currently circling over, filming, even as the newscaster spoke giving context to this odd image.

"...no one is quite sure of what was being researched there, but last night a secret government facility collapsed, killing hundreds of workers and trapping hundreds more inside. Officials have declined to give any comments regarding the situation, but work is still ongoing as rescuers try to dig out those trapped within the complex, initial estimates put the casualties at nearly several hundred and rising."

Kaneki frowned as he saw this, even as the image of the massive, kilometre wide crater vanished, only for the television to then show clips of people digging out the dead bodies, the news anchor commenting all the while, speculating on what might have happened, and appealing that anyone that knew anything, or had loved ones working there should get in touch.

It was all very macabre, Kaneki noted that much, then again accidents happened, and for the moment all he really thought about the situation was that if he could got over there quick enough then he might be able to get a small stockpile of food for his larder from the carnage.

Then again there was a lot of media attention, too much maybe.

Nodding to himself at that, Kaneki moments later decided that attempting to get over there to salvage some bodies really wasn't worth the risk of exposure, which is why he instead reached for the remote, hoping to change the channel to something else, after all he enjoyed watching television whilst he ate.

However before he could do so, Ken's ear twitched as he heard a vibrating sound coming from somewhere in his apartment. Glancing around he quickly locked onto the source, a small, black mobile phone which was sitting on his coffee table, the screen lighting up blue as it loudly buzzed.

The phone had arrived anonymously in the mail about three weeks prior with no note, though he had guessed pretty quickly who it was from. After all who else would want to send him a top of the line phone, other than Nick Fury, the mysterious agent he had met all those weeks ago, the one who had requested his help, in return for immunity, so long as he didn't kill anyone, which thus far he hadn't.

Eyeing the still buzzing phone, Kaneki wondered for a moment if he could get away with ignoring it, after all he had just gotten back from work and hadn't even stripped out of his work clothes yet, his black polo shirt with green outline around the sleeves, and black jeans.

Then again if he was being called for a legitimate global threat, well, he could hardly leave humans to deal with it alone, could he?

Sighing at that all too human sentimentality, Kaneki reached over and put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Kaneki, I need you to be ready to leave now! An agent will be there within a couple minutes to pick you up." Fury said immediately the moment Kaneki answered, his tone brusque as he brushed aside conventional decorum like saying 'hello', and instead got straight to the point.

"Alright," Ken replied just as abruptly, before he glanced down forlornly at the arm, his after work snack. He could throw it in the freezer once the agent got there. He would have to change shirts though, this one had blood stains on it and would need a wash before he wore it again. Luckily he had quite a few others in his dresser so that was not too much of a concern.

Unfortunately though it would appear that he might not get the opportunity, as moments later after Fury sharply hung up the phone, once again ignoring standard social conventions like saying 'goodbye', Kaneki's doorbell rang.

So much for having a couple minutes to get ready, or prepare himself Kaneki thought, as he sighed, before he went to the door, opening it carefully as he did so, leaving it ajar for a few moments as he peered out, only to see a balding, middle-aged man in a plain black suit, white shirt and black tie standing there, the man pretty much embodying what most people would think an agent would look like.

"Ken Kaneki?" The man at the door asked abruptly, his gaze flat and lacking any real emotion as he stared Kaneki straight in the face, pausing for a moment as Ken nodded, before he then continued. "The name is Agent Coulson, I understand Fury has been in contact. I'm here to take you to where the Avengers will be meeting up," The now named Coulson then continued, extending his hand as he did so, an expectant expression now on his face.

Ken blinked slightly at this curt greeting and explanation even as he opened the door a bit more, his grey eyes fixed curiously on the man, noticing as he did so that Coulson hadn't even flinched, or blinked at Kaneki's blood stained mouth and shirt.

Tilting his head to the side Kaneki glanced down at the offered hand, though he didn't take it, aware as he was that his own hands were currently covered in blood, but he did open the door fully now, stepping aside to let the man inside as he did so.

"Please wait a moment while I get changed," Kaneki said quietly as Coulson stepped into the small studio apartment, the middle-aged man's gaze roaming around the small one bed apartment, roaming over the windows, cupboards, corners and doors almost automatically. With Kaneki's apartment being open plan, in that the bedroom, kitchen and lounge were all in a single large room, with their being another smaller room connected, with this being the bathroom.

It was as the agent was looking around the room that his gaze landed on the bodiless, half eaten, arm, which was just lying limply on a plate on the coffee table.

In response to seeing the arm though, not a hint of emotion or discomfort flashed across Coulson's face, as he instead looked at it blandly for a few moments, before looking away.

There was no disgust, no hate, and no curiosity on his face, just a bland look of disinterest as he looked back at Kaneki.

Glancing back at the agent, Ken let loose a slight sigh before he wandered over to the table, picking up the arm as he did, before he then threw it into the freezer.

He hated freezing things for long, the blood expanded and bruised the surrounding tissue, taking away a lot of the flavour. It probably wouldn't be much good by the time he got back.

Still he had made an agreement with Fury, and Kaneki was a man of his word. So with that done, he then grabbed a change of shirt and a hoodie from his drawer and stepped into the bathroom. An already dead arm not attached to a body didn't bleed that much, so he just needed to rinse his face and change his shirt.

Filling the sink bowl with hot water, Kaneki then dipped his hands into it before he then scrubbed them to get the little bit of blood off, before pooling the water in his cupped hands and then bringing it up to wash the drying blood off of his face.

After which he then looked up at himself in the mirror, his own dispassionate grey eyes looking back at him, with his white hair seeming to shine in the dim light. Running a pale hand through his hair, Kaneki sighed again before he then checked his face over for any bits of blood he might have missed.

Not finding any he then pulled off his blood stained polo shirt and dropped it onto the floor, before he then kicked it into the corner of the room, after which he then pulled on a clean black T-shirt, and then pulled on a dark grey hoodie over the top. After which he then glanced back at his reflection, wondering as he did whether or not he should bring his mask.

Shrugging Kaneki then grabbed his black buff out from the laundry basket, throwing the blood stained shirt in it as he did so, before he pulled it on over his head, adjusting it as he did so, so that it entirely covered his lower face up to his eyes, with the pattern on the buff, of a grinning skeletal mouth now covering his own.

Tilting his head at this Kaneki then plunged his hand into the pocket of his trousers and grabbed his eyepatch, pulling the black leather patch out as he did so, before he then covered up his Ghoulish left eye, not that it looked all that Ghoulish at the moment, still it was pretty unique and memorable when the sclera did turn black and the iris crimson, and so was something he would rather keep quiet.

With that done, Kaneki then flipped up the hood of his hoodie, hiding his white hair from view as he did so, before he then stepped out of the bathroom and faced Coulson. The agent only raising an eyebrow at the addition of the mask, and but said nothing, no doubt he had seen Kaneki in a similar getup when he had surveyed the surveillance his organisation had of him.

Ignoring that for the moment though, Kaneki merely rolled his shoulders before giving Coulson a dull look. "Ok then, I'm ready."