"Speaking Japanese" "Speaking English"
'Thinking' 'Zanpaktou'
"Hell Butterfly" "Radio"
'Hichigo' "Hollows"
"This way." Toshiro panted, dragging Alex with him.
The military had finally found a way to use the Bloodtox as a sort of pesticide, spraying it into infected areas to help lower the number of infected. Alex had been trying to sneak past in a disguised form when they turned the Bloodtox on and it hit him full blast. Toshiro was forced to step in and drag him off before anyone noticed his reaction to it.
"Dammit, just my luck." Alex coughed, his body rejecting the Bloodtox and slowly healing him.
"We'll need to be more careful from now on." Toshiro let go of the man as he stood and leaned against the wall to finish recovering. "Looks like I'll be taking care of this one."
"I can still help; I just can't stay for long." Alex growled. "I'll at least be able to call in a strike team to cover up whatever you do."
"Are you sure?" Toshiro narrowed teal eyes at him.
"Yeah, come on. The Hunters will find us if we don't hurry."
"Those won't be a problem. It seems they've begun fights with the Hollows because their turning to them as a food source now. My presence is keeping them from attacking souls as often as they used to."
"Alright then." He stood, looking as if he'd never been attacked by the gas, and walked back out of the alley in the form of a soldier.
Toshiro followed from the tops of the buildings. Just ahead was the hive, being bombarded by helicopter missiles and tank rounds. This one seemed a little tougher, holding its own against the bombardment.
"Ready Captain?" Alex's voice came over the private line he'd hacked onto the radio. It was easy to come by radios from dead soldiers, so he'd given one to the tiny Captain.
"Always, are you?" He replied, unsheathing Hyorinmaru.
"Alright, I'll call in the artillery strike and they'll shoot on my mark."
"Tell them to fire when I'm in the air. I'll be using one of my attacks to freeze it. The strike will shatter it and the heat will melt the ice before anyone notices."
"Will you get out in time?"
"I will."
"…Alright, get moving." He switched it to the open military channel, one Toshiro could still hear but where no one could hear him. "This is Ground One to Rain Dad, come in."
"…This is Rain Dad, what is it Ground One?"
Satisfied that they had the attention of the artillery team, Toshiro spoke the release command for Hyorinmaru and prepared for his attack.
Further off, Byakuya and Ichigo sat up quickly and looked out the side of their helicopter.
"That Spiritual Pressure…it's Toshiro!" Ichigo called out.
"Say what?" The pilot spared them a glance.
"Uh, nothing." They shrugged off the pilot and looked towards where they'd sensed the sudden rise in Toshiro's icy Spiritual Pressure.
The strike team was waiting for Alex's mark. It would take a few seconds for the missiles to get there, giving Toshiro plenty of time to move in and get back out. Hyorinmaru was held in position and he leaped.
"Now!" Alex shouted to the strike team.
"Dragon Hail Flower!" He called out, stabbing into the building. Ice flowed from where the blade punctured and froze the building over in seconds. Once frozen, Toshiro turned and used Flash Step to escape just as the missiles rained down, breaking the ice building into pieces. The explosive heat melted the ice immediately.
Toshiro landed swiftly on the ground in an alley, where he was met by a soldier.
"Nice one, didn't see that coming." Alex smirked, shifting back to his normal self.
"How come you can trick the military so easily?" Toshiro asked him.
"I get the memories of the people I consume." Alex said, a little solemn now as he spoke. "Whenever I consume a soldier, I know how to do what they do. It's easy to call in a strike team or anything else, and I can walk right into a military base…or, I could, until they got those sensors."
"I'd say convenient, but it comes with a price."
"Yeah, I don't exactly like it either, but it gets me by."
Teal eyes turned to see Bloodtox carriers coming in to set up.
"We need to be more careful from now on. There's got to be a way around the Bloodtox."
"I've learned a lot about hacking from a couple people." Alex suggested. "Let's find a safe place to talk and we'll work something out."
"Sounds good." He made to follow Alex when he noticed something. It was faint, but he could sense Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure. 'Damn, they sent Kurosaki as my replacement. I can't be found yet, not with Mercer.'
'Then hurry, Toshiro. I will help to mask your presence as you run.' Hyorinmaru rumbled.
One Flash Step and he was gone from the area, catching up easily with Alex's quick speed.
The helicopter landed among a group of armed officers and the Soul Reapers jumped out quickly, running off to see if there was any trace left of Toshiro. His Spiritual Pressure lingered on building debris from his ice attack, and they even found the alley where he had been mere moments before. However, that was where the trail ended, leaving them nothing to go off of.
There was a blur and Soi Fon joined them.
"So you felt it too?" She questioned, Yoruichi jumping off her shoulders.
"Yes, it seems he took out another hive and left." Byakuya responded. "What I don't understand is why he ran; surely he didn't sense us coming."
"He's up to something, that much is clear."
As they discussed what could possibly be going through Toshiro's thoughts, Yoruichi used her experience to thoroughly search the area. There was another trace Spiritual Pressure mixing in with the Captain's own. It felt dark.
"Someone else was here." She called out to the three. "It feels similar to the virus, but very highly concentrated, mixed with that of several humans."
"Mercer?" Byakuya's eyes widened. Something dawned on him and he rushed over to where Yoruichi was searching.
"Who?" Both Soi Fon and Ichigo asked at the same moment.
"The man who controls the virus, I gave you a brief description of him Kurosaki."
"Oh…But why would Toshiro be hanging out with him?"
"By the looks of it they're working together to take out the hives. But why would a man infested by the virus be willing to destroy it?" Soi Fon mused.
"He's been avoiding conflict with the military and is only seen attacking infected now. There's the occasional fight between the two, but generally Mercer sticks to attacking the Blacklight Virus." Byakuya explained. "And if the soldiers are to be believed, Captain Hitsugaya has been assisting him with destroying the hives."
"Not to mention taking out Hollows. There's hardly any in sight, and it seems like the souls leave too after a hive is taken down. He didn't have time to send them off, did he?" Ichigo spoke up.
"No, but after a hive is destroyed, the souls move on by themselves, happy to be free from the curse of the living dead." Byakuya replied while trying to find any sign of Toshiro further off. He was hiding himself very well. "Those who don't become Hollows immediately."
"They, however, are in conflict with the Blacklight Virus." Soi Fon reported. "With souls being freed so quickly and Toshiro fighting them off, it seems they're turning to them as a food source."
"That means they're not working together, which is very good." Yoruichi finished off.
"Alright, keep searching for him. Kurosaki and I need to return before we are suspected." Byakuya nodded to the girls, watching them run off with Flash Step.
Ichigo followed Byakuya back to the officers outside, watching the Bloodtox spread through the area. His headache came back as his Hollow complained about the smell; so Hollows were mildly effected by the gas. Though, instead of being painful, it was simply annoying and irritating to them. At least it meant that Hollows wouldn't go near the gas either.
Their predicament with the military was getting better, but finding Toshiro was quickly becoming a problem.
So they didn't catch Toshiro or Mercer, but they got really close to them. And it seems Toshiro has a good influence on Alex, could he possibly be friendly in this one? The first fanfic where he's not a total bad guy?
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