Rize awoke in a dark room. Awoke would never be the right word but the hunger that kept her in the deep dreamlike state was something that no language could describe. Slowly she stood and wiped the blood from her mouth as she stared at the corpse at her feet, well, at least her dress was clean. Her glasses were folded and set some distance from her feast.

The only light came from a reflection off the door, stepping closer she could see a flashlight set on the ground. Scanning the room with her new light source she could only see concrete, nothing there. No tables, no chairs, not even another door.

She may be the powerful binge eater but even she had a sense of caution, so she was quiet and stifled the light of the flashlight with her hand as she opened the door. There was a long hall with yet another door. This opened into a large room where she finally saw something other than concrete walls.

Sitting on a folding chair was a ghoul. An odd one at that. She glanced up and saw a few bare light bulbs burning when the sound of the chair sliding against the floor caught her attention. She knew they were deep in the underground passages of the wards, no matter how much noise they made nobody would care, in fact the only noise she could hear was the subtle drip of water on concrete. She studied him for a second, worn blue jeans and a black hoody that covered his torso and his face.

His voice was deep and very breathy "Rize…Binge Eater. An S ranked ghoul" then his left sleeve ripped and a large wing like structure came out, it looked more like a drill stuck to his back than any wing she had ever seen.

But she knew that an ukaku ghoul was going to be fast. She was proven right, the ghoul suddenly appeared in front of her and let loose a withering barrage of punches that forced her to not only block with her arms but all four of her tentacles.

She lashed out blindly and was rewarded with the sound of her rinkaku smashing against the much flimsier wing. But it didn't shatter, it uncurled from it's position and wrapped itself around his arm.

The Eater knew that it was the same appendage, she knew it was impossible for one ghoul to have multiple kagune within the same limb. "Koukaku?" she whispered as she took a few steps back. Something was very wrong here.

The kagune wrapped around his bicep before flowing down the length of his forearm and becoming a blade underneath his hand. From Rize's experience the way to deal with a koukaku was to strike first, so she took a step forward and launched all four of her scarlet limbs at him. He dodged by a hair's width and cut the extended portions off before tossing them back to her to be reabsorbed. This, as a fight, was making no sense. She launched forward again but spread her attack out and the sword was forced to curl around itself to make a circular shield that was pierced easily.

The other ghoul leapt in the air and grabbed onto the ceiling with one hand so that he was parallel with the floor. He gave an irritated sigh before unwrapping his kagune from his free arm and letting it hang loosely behind him like a tail.

Rize was growing more and more irritated, no matter what she did she couldn't land a solid hit on him. "A bikaku now? What are you?" she hissed violently as she stretched one tentacle out to swat him from the ceiling.

She finally got him to speak, though he only said "I wonder that myself…" before flicking a hand and forcing the attack off target by a few inches, enough that what would have skewered his head only moved his hair. He had the speed of an ukaku and brute strength that surpassed her own. He could be a very experienced bikaku…but somehow she doubted that, she couldn't even knock his hood off his face with all the fighting.

He let go of the ceiling and fell lightly to the floor. Rize responded with a maddened rush of attacks. Since she couldn't get him with one she would flood the air with tentacles. He twisted and ducked with experience and used his tail to flick his body from one side of the room to the other nearly constantly. She aimed for him in the air but his tail would uncoil like lightning and flick him off course or jerk him closer to a pillar, the final one he slid down.

She had no idea who this was…or why they hadn't killed her yet. The difference in skill was huge and yet they still toyed with her.

It was unsettling and she hated every moment of it.

Amon slowly tightened his fist until his tendons creaked and the gauge in his hand gave a number comparable to his uninjured hand. Slowly he looked at the medal on his desk. Special Class Investigator.

For facing SS-ranked Centipede and bravery in the face of overwhelming numbers during the X-Owl operation.

That was the official bullshit. But he and his partner knew that it wasn't that he held back Centipede, but that the other didn't want to kill him. But that's when things got even more disturbing. Arima put forth an idea that was currently being pondered by the director and the other top brass. A text lit up his phone and he gave an ironic smile, speak of the devil. Shrugging on his suit jacket he sent a response before he called his partner "Akira, it's Amon. They want us back at Headquarters to talk about…that thing"

Silence was the only thing that greeted him for a moment "I'll be right there." was her reply and goodbye.

As they arrived in the building they quickly scaled to the upper most levels to find the room where the other Special Class Investigators were having their meeting at the moment. The tall man walked in and he glanced around the room as Akira stood behind him. Each of the investigators' partners were behind them like a guard. There was a few quick moments of paperwork type things before Arima spoke "Koutarou Amon…what do you think of the latest attack on the Ghoul Restaurant?"

There were multiple shocking things in that incident. Arima very rarely spoke and addressing a newcomer about something seemingly mundane was enough to put several people back on their heels. But the newest special class took it evenly. Tapping the pad sitting in front of him he glanced through the pictures before flicking his hand up and putting a single photo on the screen. Standing he touched the large screen with a finger "This is something I've seen before, a quinque in ghoul hands means that they're starting to either hunt ghouls or, much more likely, the half ghouls Aogiri Tree has started to put out. But this even split is characteristic of Centipede. As you know Ken Kaneki is the first half-ghoul artificially made, we also know that he was tortured by Jason for at least ten days and he developed a deep personal disgust for ghoul restaurants and abstains from eating humans."

Kiyoko Aura spoke quietly "It sounds as if you hold a respect for this…unfortunate soul."

Touching his chin with his hand Amon thought "I don't know if that's what it is. He's suffered very much and yet remains who we believe to be himself. He also does not want to be a killer and has displayed this on multiple occasions. If it's not respect it's close to it."

Marude spat out a "Feh, ghouls need to die."

There was a subtle twitch in Arima's eye that everyone missed "Therein lies another problem…"

The Division 2 commander responded with an elegant "Eh?"

The unbeatable inspector shifted in his seat to lean back "From the technical perspective are they ghouls? They can summon both the red-on-black eyes and the weapons of one. This would almost certainly qualifies them as ghouls, but it's only in one eye. And biologically they are vastly unlike either."

The room stewed in a uncomfortable silence until Iwao shook his head "Let's move onto the other thing we called this meeting for. Amon, we are split on if we should raise Centipede to a SSS-ranked ghoul."

He thought. Hard "This is by no means easy. Having seen what he's done on two occasions and to a special investigator both before and during the X-Owl operation…"

Marude snorted "So what? He destroyed weapons, that's all!"

Mougan shook his head "More like he so outclassed us that he took them out before we could stop him."

Amon looked at his partner "Can you bring up the footage of case 1541?"

She nodded and pushed her flash drive into the pad he handed her. Case 1541 was the identification given to the Raid on Kanou's Lab, the doctor had cameras installed everywhere so the footage of Kaneki's fight with Shinohara was accessible after the CCG took over the lab. Those who hadn't seen the fight watched with blank looks. At the end Akira pulled her drive and said "This was our first experience with Centipede as a Kakuja, and given the time line after which he became a half-ghoul we believe this to be where he evolved."

Arima crossed his arms "If this was his first time using such a measure and considering how much more powerful it was during our fight I would not be surprised for him to become a SSS-ranked ghoul."

A sudden thought stuck Amon with a fierceness that he was not expecting, it came out of his mouth before he could stop it "I don't think we need to rank him at all."

The other investigators turned to him in silence. Kiyoko ordered in her gentle voice "Explain."

Amon hesitated, normally he was a man that would rather do things but here he didn't want to alienate the upper echelon of the CCG. "Centipede…that is Ken Kaneki has never shown signs of predation on humans. Based on his development we speculate that after he was taken by Aogiri Tree he had only eaten ghouls."

Iwao shook his head "We cannot base something like public danger on that."

Akira spoke up "Before he fought Arima, he didn't even attack Hideyoshi. Our assistant investigator said that he said his name before he devoured a ghoul body floating out of the area."

Again a silence came over them. The group seated and standing could be called experts in ghouls, and with Kanou's defecting to Aogiri, the half-ghouls that had started to swarm the country as well.

Mougan nodded several times "I think we should table that discussion for some other time when we've had a chance to think about it. For now I call a vote on the upgrade in rank for Centipede."

Of the six it came a three/one split with Marude against and Iwao and Arima abstaining.

Eto watched this latest batch of half-ghouls scramble out to feast in their mindless hunger. These new half-ghouls were more powerful than your average ghoul but far less restrained. These people suddenly felt a hunger that tore into their sanity and more often than not destroyed it.

Tatara stood beside her on the roof of the building on the outskirts "So many half-ghouls in such a short time, the doctor really is skilled."

She shrugged "I don't really care either way, he's just a means to an end."

The taller of the two silently nodded. He spent many years with Eto but he still had trouble reading her "I should have killed Kaneki when I had the chance."

She didn't reply and for a moment Tatara thought he had offended her "Well, I guess we all made mistakes, though I think he turned into something fascinating."

"How so?"

"He didn't really have ashes to rise out of in the first place but he stood up and not only fought back, but fought back hard enough that the CCG, V and our own forces have to tread lightly around him. So far he's the only half-ghoul who can maintain perfect control of his powers…well, excluding the kakuja but no matter who you are controlling something like that is hard…and with him being an unnatural ghoul it'll be harder."

Her trusted lieutenant tapped his metal mask "Should we try to recruit him? Offer safety to those who he wants to protect?"

She gave a small giggle "Never try to take a centipede's prey from it's mouth. You'll end up with worse than a bite," she went very quiet "I know Arima did." the man in the red mask stopped breathing for a second "He's got a nice little scar from his fight and Kaneki got a SSS-rating from the Special class investigators."

He gave a "Hmm" before mulling over the implications of that "If we can't get him to join us maybe we could change from an enemy to an ally?"

She nodded "That would be good but we made him what he is…in more ways than one. What can we do?"

He could only answer with silence.

In a place where no human will ever set foot three ghouls sat in lush comfort, three red leather chairs sat in a warm room with exquisite art, lit only by the fireplace there wasn't enough light to see anything but shapes. The Shade looked at The Shadow and The Silhouette "The clowns are now known to Centipede."

The Silhouette nodded "It doesn't matter anyways. Long as he stays outta our way I don't give a shit."

The Shadow gave a lilting giggle that betrayed her as the only female in the group "I don't think you understand that he can become a major problem."

Shade sighed "We have two hounds clawing at our door, Aogiri Tree and the CCG, I will not stand for this upstart to join them in these transgressions!" he slammed a hand on the chair arm.

Silhouette snorted "Then kill the bastard, be done with it."

Shadow shook her head "He hasn't done anything against us. Up until Kuzen died he was acting against Aogiri, so the case could be made that he was acting in our interests."

Silhouette, the warmonger, growled "Don't give a shit! Kuzen didn't listen to us and paid the price!"

Shade was by far the intellectual of the group "Kuzen did not do it lightly, in his years working for us he never disobeyed. Only after we ordered Ukina's death and he left did he even try to say no and only when it would have betrayed his family."

Silhouette hissed "And now we've got his mess to clean up!"

Shadow was the 'sister' of the group and often the mediator between the other two. And if words failed she would beat the hell out of both of them and remind them who was the most lethal of the three. "If we either intervened earlier or allowed the one-eyed ghoul to live with him we would have avoided the situation entirely."

Shade knew that tone in her voice "What do you have in mind?"

She rubbed her hands together "Centipede has cut a deal with Aogiri. Purely information. He want's nothing more than to protect his friends, even after knowing what the Clowns did to him he still keeps them around, though they haven't met since he went to trade information with Aogiri. We can use him."

Silhouette put his hands behind his head and put his feet on the glass coffee table between the three chairs "Don't give a shit! I'mmabout two seconds from getting outta here and stomping all these one-eyed wannabies into paste"

Shadow's voice became very hard "You will not." the other two stiffened "I will send out a messenger to Centipede, asking for a meeting. You two don't have to come but I want to offer him a place here, maybe then we can finally figure out exactly how far we need to go before we reveal ourselves to those who don't need to know about us."

Silhouette thought for a moment before a vicious chuckle and grin escaped him "Didn't he put a pretty cut on Arima's face?"

Shade nodded "Indeed he did and he is becoming familiar with that Amon fellow."

Shadow took on an almost seductive voice "Just leave it to me boys, I'll see if I can't work on him a bit."

And thus the heads of V came to an accord.

Rize fell on her back again. The tail pinned her down before she could move "Pathetic. Really? Is this the best and S-rank can do?"

She clawed at his face and managed to catch an eye hole with a finger and snap the brittle sting on the plastic Jason mask. The hood obscured his face and his tail split into four tentacles that lifted him high above Rize, two more lashed out from his back and impaled her wrists before lifting her and securing her own kagune by wrapping his own longer limbs around hers completely. In the back of her mind she realized he had played her, he was a rinkaku like her but just moved the limbs around. But his limbs looked the same as hers, though skinnier and more like insect legs. A quick swipe of a hand and his hood lay against his back. He was familiar…like a waking dream, the contortions changed by the lens of consciousness. "Do you remember me Rize?"

She spat through gritted teeth "I've never met a white haired ghoul."

"No, you met a black haired boy. A scrawny bookworm you tried to eat. But you failed. And now he could eat you." he suddenly released his hold on her and she fell onto the cold concrete below.

Slowly she stood up "Ken?"

He gave a brutal laugh as he lowered himself to the floor. His real mask sitting about his face "Centipede or Eyepatch isn't quite as…brutal as Binge Eater…though I do rank above you…"

Rize had never been more in shock then that one moment. She couldn't reconcile the boy she nearly ate three years ago with this monster before her. He had evolved from prey to predator.

She stood shakily "What the hell happened?"

One of his limbs grabbed the chair and he sat like nothing had happened, that she hadn't been trying to kill him for the past half hour. "Things beyond the scope of the life you had before this. But now I have one question, now that we've freed you what are you planning on doing?"

She glanced at her already healed wrists before staring at him "Wandering again would be nice."

He gave a bleak chuckle "CCG and Aogiri Tree are up in arms, security is up in the places the former controls and where Aogiri rules it's anarchy with artificial one-eyed ghouls running around…not to mention Sachi being out and about." she stiffened at the last name before she could stop it.

She played her last real gambit "I'd like to talk to Yoshimura."

He shook his head "Impossible, he's dead. The CCG killed him. Then I did what he asked me to do and ate his body."