The Game Begins
Isane smirked and took a firm grip on her broken baton which stuck out of Ryo's chest. Hopefully he would cooperate for the interrogation but there was bound to be problems. "First question...Who sent you?"
"Someone special." Ryo laughed but his fun ended when Isane drove her knee into his crotch. He groaned and doubled over. After a moment when he could get back into a seated position he stared daggers at his foe. "Kaien-Dono. He sent me!"
"Kaien...Who is that?"
"He runs the prison..."
"Huh? I thought that Ganju-"
"That's right; he made up a fake name. Yeah, you'd know him as Ganju, but that was the name of his brother. That guy died several years ago..."
"An alias...That bastard! I knew there was something off about him!"
"Good intuition. He's gonna kill all your friends, hell he probably already has!" Ryo laughed. "You saved that girl, but the others are doomed."
"What is he planning?" Isane pressed.
"I don't know. He didn't tell me. He only shared his plans with the other leaders." Isane was about to torture him when he raised his hands sluggishly. "Trust me! I'm just a foot soldier to him! I was only ordered to kill that girl over there and then I was to come straight back! That was all he told me!"
Isane sighed. "How many of you are there?"
"Heaps! I don't know the exact numbers." Ryo grunted. "Just kill me already!"
"Not yet. What's your name?"
"Ryo...Ryo Utagawa."
"Alright. I'm going to have a chat with Mr Kaien Shiba and then I'm going to crush your little organization. Got it?"
"Ha! Tough luck! The boss skipped town!"
"What?" Isane gasped.
"He thought one of us would fail, so he said he was going to hide for a while."
"Where?!" Isane roared.
"Sorry. I don't know. But two transport buses left the prison earlier. One was full of prisoners, he took the other one."
"A prison transporter...Alright. That's good. One last thing though..."
"Sorry ma'am, but I'm sick of playing twenty questions." Ryo jerked his head sharply to one side and a loud crack could be heard. Isane watched with wide eyes as his head turned ninety degrees before his body slumped. Blood seeped out through his nose and mouth and the insane man died with a smile on his face.
Isane fell back and finally took in her surroundings. Police could be heard storming the building now. Their thunderous footsteps made an awfully loud racket. It was then that Isane realised the problem.
There were two dead bodies and a wounded, half naked girl in the room with her. Since the police were only here for her, then this would look very suspicious.
"Thank you Isane."
"No problem, but I think it would be about time for me to run. If they escort you to a hospital try and contact me and I'll meet up with you there. Until then, see ya!" Isane ran to the window and watched a group of officers guarding the street. "Shit! Is there another exit?"
"Yeah. There is a small window in the bathroom. If you can fit through there is a tree right outside. You can climb down and make a run for it."
"Thanks." With that, the wanted police-woman made a dash for the bathroom. She found the window and forced her way through, but got stuck on the hips. She cursed when she heard the boots of a number of cops burst into the front of Orihime's apartment. Isane squirmed and she slowly wriggled out. Before she fell two storeys to certain injury, she caught hold of a thick tree branch which as Orihime said was right up against the wall. She swung several times before shimmying across to the trunk and then making her way down from there.
An officer poked his head out of the window but Isane retreated into the thick foliage before she could be spotted. From there, she could vaguely see the window without him seeing her. She waited for him to leave, and then scanned the area below her. It was at the side of the building and for now it was unguarded. Isane dropped and landed in a crouch. She then leapt up and began to run for cover.
She leapt over a few fences and ended up in a different street. She then made her own way to a familiar building...the Kurosaki Clinic.
*****
Back at what the guards called 'No-Man's-Land' the bus rolled up to the fenced off town. It looked like a ghost town from a horror movie with dusty streets, derelict buildings and absolutely no sign of life.
A barbed wire fence was erected around the little town and the bus came to a stop while two guards got out and opened the gate. They then waved the bus through and closed the gate behind them.
The remaining four guards on the bus began herding the prisoners out, making them line up outside. They then did a mock salute as a black sedan approached them. The car stopped and the man from the prison, Kariya, stepped out. He smiled, making the scar on his jaw crease.
"Welcome, to the next step to your road to freedom!" Still, some prisoners clung to the belief of freedom and they hung onto every word he said. The other half of the cohort merely rolled their eyes at his lies.
"I'm sure your guards have joked about, making you scared...But be assured that this town was evacuated a while ago due to the arrival of a dangerous criminal. The area was then sealed off and now here we are."
"So, our community service id to be the bait to lure out the killer?" A menacing looking prisoner with wild blue hair said sarcastically.
Kariya closed his eyes and his grin grew in size. "On the contrary, lad."
"Lad?!" The prisoner scowled.
Kariya ignored him and went on. "It is our belief that since you were all convicted of a variety of crimes, that every single one of you has some knowledge on the mind of a criminal. That is why we want you to use your skills to find this man and bring him to us dead or alive!"
"Like Hannibal Lecter?" Soi Fon asked with a smirk. "You watch too many movies!" the prisoners then had a brief spout of laughter before one of the guards fired a round into the air.
"Yes, the idea is similar to that, but we believe it is an accurate theory. Who is better at catching a crook, than the criminals themselves? Anyway, you shall co-operate with each other and find him, then your freedom is granted."
"Really?" The leader of the female prisoners, Yoruichi asked. She folded her arms expectantly awaiting the answer as her female bodyguards nodded and did the same.
"Of course. That is, if you can succeed." Kariya's eyes flickered for a second and many began to feel uneasy.
"Ha! It's twenty against one! How could he beat us?!" Yoruichi laughed.
"Because this man...Is Ulquiorra Schiffer." The name made most of the group tremble. Even Yoruichi was taken back a step by the two words.
"Ul...Quiorra?!" She repeated with a crack in her voice.
"Yes indeed. The human blade himself. As you know with the riot some time ago there were a small number of you who escaped, though we found most of you. That little pest however managed to elude us. That is why we need you."
"Catch him yourself!! I'm not going near that psycho!" A young man roared.
Kariya frowned and he strolled up to the man who began to sweat profusely. Kariya swung his arm in a horizontal arc and suddenly the man's head detached from his shoulders in a fountain of blood.
The prisoners screamed and Rukia hid behind Ichigo as she cried.
"We are only going to let you go free if you take part in the hunt. If not, then you are just as worthless as the dirt I stand on! Now is there anyone else who feels the need to make a scene?"
Everyone shook their head silently.
"Good. Now I shall let you go. You are free to move however you like. The town is yours. There are supplies in several designated areas and only a handfull of us guards will be patrolling the borders. Whenever you are done, bring us Ulquiorra, or at the very least, his head...but I'm warning you, he won't go down without a fight!"
Everyone stood around dumbfounded.
"Go!" Kariya waved his arms and everyone dispersed.
Rukia and Ichigo joined up with Kiyone, Toshiro and Kyouraku. The group shared uneasy glances and then they headed out to find a makeshift camp.
The rest of the prisoners split up into their own little factions and went off to find their own territory. The female prisoners went to the East. The strange blue-haired man and his crew took up the West. Rukia and co rested in a small bed and breakfast in the North. They thoroughly searched the whole building before settling down.
"This is going to get ugly." Toshiro murmured. "Even though we are all working to escape, we can't really trust many people here."
"The female prisoners shouldn't be a problem. I made friends with that girl...um...Soi Fon." Rukia said.
"Really?! You made friends with one of the Black Cats?!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"Black Cats?" Rukia repeated uncertainly.
"It's the name of their gang. It comprises of pretty much every female in the prison. Yoruichi leads them with an iron fist. Soi Fon is her second in command. She is also known as the 'Stinging Assassin. She will kill anyone her master despises and she is a cold and ruthless woman." Toshiro explained.
"What about that creepy guy with the blue hair?" Ichigo looked out the window as if the man in question was right outside.
"Grimmjow. He's a rough guy. He got busted for killing seven men in a pub brawl and then going on a rampage through his local town. He's always after a fight and his gang of thugs are not much better. I'd avoid them at all costs as well." Kyouraku sighed.
"So, that means we can't go anywhere near the Western part of the town. It would be best to avoid the cats as well, but it shouldn't be too problematic for Rukia to go there." Kiyone pressed a finger to her chin. "If you could gain the favour of their leader, Yoruichi, then we could use them to help us get out of here. We need numbers, even if there are only a few guards around here."
"But...Why just me?! You're a girl as well!" Rukia pointed to Kiyone who raised her hands in protest.
"Yeah, but I'm a guard. They hate ma even if I'm now one of them..."
"What about the other prisoners?" Ichigo queried.
"They should be pretty much neutral. I wouldn't think of them as friends, but if we play it safe, then they shouldn't come after us." Toshiro pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "This is really bad."
Everyone fell silent.
"It will be hard enough being able to avoid a fight with fellow prisoners, but...Ulquiorra is something else..."
"Who is he?" Rukia asked. "I've never even heard of him yet everyone is so scared of him."
"He's the single deadliest criminal in this whole city, hell even the world. Even the most hardened serial killer goes pale at the mention of him." Kyouraku cleared his throat and then went on. "He was a normal kid when he was young. Quiet and always alone, but he never seemed to be a problem case. However...by the time he reached high school there was a string of child murder cases with evidence pointing to him. The day after the news surfaced, his parents were found dead in their own house and Ulquiorra was gone. He resurfaced a few months later in a neighbouring town and about twelve people went missing."
"All the bodies had wounds that could only have been inflicted with a knife or some other bladed weapon, though on analysis of several of the bodies they found traces of Ulquiorra's skin flakes in all of the wounds. It was investigated further, but nothing really came out of it. A rumour spread that he was beheading people with merely his hands and the name the 'Human Blade' began to spread."
"It was another eight years before he was caught. Someone witnessed him slaying a victim and she filmed the whole thing on her phone. She went to the police and the whole town was scoured and sealed off, sort of like this. The operation was a success. Ulquiorra was finally found and put behind bars, but he escaped the death penalty because they said he was mentally unstable."
"What?!" Rukia couldn't believe that such a dangerous man would escape execution.
"They came to that decision because during the whole court case, the guy didn't move an inch!" Kiyone interrupted. "When people spoke to him or asked questions, he didn't even look at them! He just stared straight ahead the whole case."
Kyouraku nodded. "She's right. He never answered their questions throughout, though right at the end he confessed, though he still looked straight ahead with that creepy look in his eyes, as if the world around him didn't even exist."
"Weird..." Ichigo whispered. "So we have to find a crazy serial killer who can somehow use his hands like an axe. Great!"
Everyone bowed their heads. They all knew this was going to end in bloodshed and all of them were in grave danger. They would have to use everything in their power just to survive, let alone escape.
Can Rukia and her friends survive this 'game' with so many threats?! Not only must they stay wary of the guards and their own comrades, but their target is the most dangerous criminal they have ever faced! Is it possible to escape with their lives? Read the next chapter to find out!
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