(Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach Characters in any way, shape, or form.)
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Chapter 1
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Saturday; August 7, 1982; 7:46pm
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In a small room dimly lit from the setting of the sun by a small metal-barred window, sat a young man whose promising life went into complete chaos in the course of less than a month. There at the lone table he sat with an empty chair in front of him, presumably waiting for the person that he guessed hid behind the two-way mirror that hung from the wall in view. How long was he supposed to be in there waiting? How many hours was it going to take to prepare for this exchange of words? As the time it took for anyone to believe him, to truly be convinced, the damage couldn't be undone; then what was the point in having to wait further? Here he sat, waiting in this tiny interrogation room of the NYPD 19th Precinct in the Upper East Side of the town he had come to know and love to confess of not only his own crimes, but to bring a means to an end of the event that would be known as the United States' 1980's Energy Crisis.
With the sun now nearing its daily fading from the horizon, the room darkening by the second, the critical moment finally arrived. The door opens and light from the hall now briefly illuminating the room as a woman, of below average height and build, wearing a black suit walks in; the atmosphere instantly changing. Approaching slowly, the woman flips a switch on the wall activating the overhead lights above; the man briefly wondering why they were not turned on when he first arrived. And as if in a crime drama series, the woman dramatically drops a tan folder onto the table with a small thud; the entire interaction caused the man to let out an anxious breath.
"Don't be nervous," she spoke with a confident tone while pulling out the empty chair to sit down. On closer inspection the young man notices just how tiny she seemed to be, no taller than five feet, yet so very intimidating at the same time. He was brought up to never judge a person by their appearance, but damn did she look like an innocent high school student.
"Where is the detective?" He asks, fidgeting in his chair slightly. Up until this moment, he was told to not trust a single person, not even a lawyer, other than the detective that had saved his life days prior.
"Please relax, Ichigo Kurosaki. Detective Kensei Muguruma has informed of the situation at hand, you are safe." The damn audacity for this unknown woman to say that Ichigo was safe. Does she even have the faintest clue of what really has been going on? Know exactly everything he went through to reach this point and live to tell the tale? Ichigo decided then and there that he did not like this person, not one little bit.
"I don't feel safe," Ichigo replies, "I was brought to this room several hours ago, haven't been home in days. I am tired, hungry and sick of all this shit and I want things to return to normal!"
"I understand your frustrations, but this is critical that we talk things out. We now know several pieces of information that caused harm to not only you, but our entire nation," She spoke, gesturing to the folder below. The appearance of said folder is clean and tidy with a fresh red "confidential" watermark stamped on its surface. Ichigo could only guess at its contents, but he would soon learn the missing pieces of the puzzle that he himself does not possess. "And until we have all the pieces, our next set of actions cannot take place."
"What actions? What do you plan on doing? Should I even trust you? I don't know who you even are." Ichigo retorts defensively, all of his questions being fair to ask after all. It took awhile for Ichigo to even trust Detective Muguruma, but the man proved his worth after taking a bullet to protect Ichigo.
"I am FBI agent Momo Hinamori. I was tasked to gather all information regarding this now international investigation. And you Ichigo Kurosaki, are the unfortunate bystander that got involved by complete accident." Grabbing the folder and flipping it open, Agent Hinamori spreads across the table pictures of various men and woman that Ichigo had come across over the past weeks. Some were like himself, innocent bystanders that were affected by the ordeal, others major criminal figure heads that caused the situation at hand. Possibly everyone Ichigo had met recently were all there in that single folder, yet what information could the FBI be missing that Ichigo has?
"Baraggan Louisenbairn," Momo began while pushing a picture of an old man wearing a white crown in-front of Ichigo, "leader of the Brazilian Cartel group known as the Espada. Came to New York City with his gang of criminals in 1933 after being left to die by his former colleagues. Thought to have turned over a new leaf since leaving Brazil and was keeping an eye on him for years, but his organization secretly amounted quite a bit of power here in New York City, right under our noses. We've known about his where-a-bouts but could never convict him for a crime because all his shady deals were conducted by one of his advisors or underlings. The old bastard sure knew how to get around the system." Ichigo had come to know the man very well, the number of near-death encounters and shoot outs were far too many to count. Ichigo was an innocent bystander in the very beginning, until he managed to piss off Baraggan by interrupting a very important exchange.
"The man simply known as Yhwach," Momo brought another picture forward. "Rumor has it that he has an ancestral royal blood line running through his veins. He was first seen gathering power in Germany under the group name Quincy, but it is believed he has ties to Russia. He appeared in New York about fifteen years ago and has been actively fighting against other crime groups and street gangs for territorial power. Things turned for the worst and were never the same again whe he and Baraggan started frequent skirmishes all around the city." Another man Ichigo had the unfortunate circumstance in meeting. This Quincy King as he liked to call himself didn't hate Ichigo nor got personally involved in Ichigo's day to day life like Baraggan did. However, Yhwach was much more cunning in nature and aimed for destruction throughout the city such as car-bombs or armed robberies. Baraggan liked to keep low and was simply keeping to the shadows with his drug trade.
"You have encountered both men on several different occasions and significantly diminished their forces. But the link and key missing pieces involves this man." A final photo was brought to Ichigo's eyes. The face of the very man that Ichigo is now witnessing had been haunting his dreams since the very beginning. A cold sweat and goose bumps formed quickly over Ichigo's form as he took in the photo. The man scared Ichigo to his core, yet it was Ichigo who managed to cause his downfall.
"Aizen Souske," Momo spat with an annoyed almost angry attitude. "Legendary Soldier and CIA operative having experience in hundreds of different missions worldwide turned rouge and faked his own death. Founded alive and defeated by one young Ichigo Kurosaki here in New York City." Momo couldn't help but glare at Aizen's picture. Aizen was the best in the business, a promising man of limitless potential, and yet, caused so much harm to the world for reasons that have yet to be cleared. This was Momo's true objective today; to learn how some slightly above average college student had taken down two different organized crime groups, but also the core enemy of the state that is causing the current recession in the US called the Energy Crisis. Aizen Souske turned out to be a much scarier man than the United States Government had ever anticipated.
"That man," Ichigo stared with worry as flashbacks of prior events started to flood his head.
"AIzen and his associates Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tousen are arrested and awaiting trial for their crimes. They will not be getting out ever, but the reason why am I here to speak to you today is about his plans. The very plans you had discovered while being in the middle of an all-out war between the Quincy and Espada groups."
"All-out war?" Ichigo rebuts dramatically. "It was a plain out massacre, so many people died! And for what cost!? Aizen was behind it all; behind Baraggan's success, behind Yhwach's killing spree. Aizen was behind all of it!" Ichigo had experienced it all; the great conspiracy that led to Energy Crisis. If Ichigo didn't stumble upon this situation, never got involved, how successful Aizen would have been?
"Calm down, Ichigo. It is over now, Aizen is captured, Baraggan is dead and Yhwach is on the run. They have no more power; no more control in this city!" Momo tries to reason.
"Yet I was the cost of all this! Me! A simple college student thrown into the underworld of society. I've killed people!" Ichigo cries out defeated. "Is my family safe? Friends? Where the hell were you guys? How couldn't you stop this!?"
"Ichigo he was supposed to be dead; I saw him personally get killed in the line of duty. He was never to be alive to achieve this." The situation was just terrible, but Momo had a job to do. The US was counting on her discoveries. What was Aizen's true goal? With this recession being the first stages of his grand master plan, what was his end game? Was Aizen trying to topple the US Government?
"Ichigo listen, his crimes are unforgivable. What he did to you and many others worldwide, also unforgivable, but I please need you to help me. What did you learn? What was Aizen planning? Do you know!?"
"…I do know." Ichigo pauses trying to gather himself. "I tried to explain it to Detective Muguruma, and by the time he believed me, Aizen succeeded in the first phase of his plan. And todays ordeals are the result of it; but to explain what I saw, what I read, I have to tell you how all of this started."
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23 days before - Thursday; July 15, 1982; 10:45pm
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"Now then, did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky?" Aizen, under the alias of Kyoka the Ace Detective, spoke humorously while holding his gun to a thug at the most famous vintage bar in town.
The very same bar, Ichigo Kurosaki was celebrating his 21st birthday.
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A different spin to the Bleach Universe. No supernatural, no magic swords, a new story based in the underworld of society. A Black Lagoon meets Bleach if you will.
Oh…..and just maybe 'One' Super hero…
(P.S. Rights to the "Six shots or only Five" quote belongs to the Movie Franchise Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood.)