“I had taken one of Biba’s researchers captive, so we knew the thrust of his plans,” Kurusu stated. “We bound our wounds, and went to stop them.” He drew a breath. “We couldn’t catch up before the monster was unleashed.”
Which was neatly avoiding how they’d caught up at all. “The city was surrounded by Kabane,” Dogen pointed out.
“We were armed.”
That was the most bushi non-answer of an answer Dogen had heard in a long time.
“Kurusu’s the most skilled samurai we have,” Kibito said heartily, “and Ikoma figured out how to give us an edge.”
Dogen raised a wary brow. So, under Kibito’s calm and level exterior lurked a sly sense of humor-
With a bow, Kurusu presented his blade for inspection, exposing two thumb-lengths of lava-veined black metal.
Dogen stared at that newly-familiar glow, and shuddered. “This… is from an iron cage?”
“You have to refine it, or the coating won’t be strong enough to pierce the heart cage,” Ikoma stated. “And it’s not just iron. There are other metals, and something organic. If we had a proper metallurgist….”
“We have you,” Ayame said firmly. “Find out what we need to do it better, and we’ll look for that at the next station.”
Kurusu sheathed his blade, calm as if he weren’t carrying a weapon made from dead enemies. “With these, close combat is possible.”
Close combat. With Kabane. Dogen didn’t know whether to give his blessing on the spot or lock his beloved niece up until she found someone far less insane. “And… the two of you…?”
“We shoot them.” Mumei smiled. “With jet bullets, it only takes one shot.”
“We avoided as many fights as we could,” Ikoma said practically. “If you’re not screaming, sometimes they don’t notice you.”
At least one of those three had a sense of his limitations. So Dogen could reassure his people what Ayame’s lost trio had done was unlikely, and ill-advised – but certainly not impossible.
Though that did leave one worrying loose end. “You said you had one of Biba’s doctors,” Dogen noted. “Where is he?”
Kurusu had a very thin smile. “He created the monster. He wanted to see it. We let him go.”
A/N: Yep, they’re glossing over a lot. Dogen probably wouldn’t want to know. “Actually, the monster’s been cured and she’s fine now,” would not go over well.
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
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Dogen didn’t know whether to give his blessing on the spot or lock his beloved niece up until she found someone far less insane.
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Of course there is a third option. Give his blessing and lock them up together in the hope Ayame can bleed off some of said insanity. 😛
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*G* Kurusu is bad. Ikoma is bad. Team them up and you get… well, Kongokaku. Heh.
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Not go over well because the z-pox of this setting is thought to be incurable?
On the one hand, I kind of want to watch this show. On the other, it’s a z-pox. I hat z-poxs…
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Ikoma and Mumei aren’t cured, exactly… But Mumei’s no longer an unstoppable Fused Colony monster, so that’s good.
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You really should give it a shot if you’re curious. It’s only twelve episodes long, and I found it to be a lot less grimdark than other series like The Walking Dead. For starters, the main character has a clue from pretty much episode 1, kicking things off by building a super-effective weapon *and* quasi-curing his own infection. My main problem with most z-poc settings is the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness that permeates everything. I never felt that way while watching Kabaneri.
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That is, indeed, one of the things I love about it. There’s a spot in eps 10 and 11 where things look very dark, but you never get the despair I find in most zpoc scenarios. The main characters are always trying something. And many plans actually work… enough to survive, at least, which is all you can ask of a plan….
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This explanation has been brought to you by Cliff Notes Abridged!
(Yes, I know they can’t tell him any more, and their evasions amuse me)
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*G*
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I see everyone is employing the Saitoh school of reporting: Short, to the point, not a lie.
A little thin in details, perhaps, but one has found that one’s superiors are seldom interested in minutiae. In fact, many of them don’t care how something is being done provided it gets done.
Also do your best to make sure that the anyone important avoids seeing anything that might be upset them since that generally leads to no end of bother, turning your smoothly working operation and system into a FUBAR of epic proportions at the hands of people who think they know better and/or what they are doing when they really, really don’t.
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Very, very much so. Unfortunately given a couple hundred people who know about the Kabaneri, even with all of them trying to be careful, Dogen’s overheard a few odd things.
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And somehow I don’t think he’s going to like any of their answers for why they didn’t mention the Kabaneri thing when and if he finds out about it (only part because most of them boiled down to: You didn’t ask). . . . which he probably will eventually. Things like that have a tendency towards coming out, often at the worse possible time.
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Given the stunt Biba pulled in Kongokaku about “hidden Kabane”, there are very good reasons they’re not talking about it.
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How far off base is he going to be with initial assumptions/guesses? Those can be pretty amusing.
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Well, he starts out thinking it was a rumor from the Kongokaku mess….
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