In short order, Uryu and Meg had joined Urahara, Ukitake, Chad, Ichigo – now returned to his body – and Orihime in the small sitting room. The teen had already relayed his experience to the rest, and Ukitake had translated it for Meg.
"Hm," Kisuke intoned darkly from behind his fan, "this is quite dire news, isn't it?" Shadowed eyes shifted to the young winged woman settled between Uryu and Ukitake. "I believe it's about time you shared with us just exactly what you told your former keepers, my dear."
Once the white haired captain translated the statement, Meg furrowed her brows, and hesitantly began to speak after a brief pause. Hands neatly folded before her, her gaze remained fixed upon the intertwined fingers as the words flowed. All eyes were on her as her soft voice filled the chamber with its foreign words.
Changes in tone combined with the strangely lyrical way she pronounced many of the words put the shopkeeper in mind of song. While English wasn't exactly the most delicate of languages, especially when compared to his own or its cousins French and Spanish, it was really quite musical in the mouths of certain people – especially when those people happened to be young women. His gaze drifted briefly to the Quincy at her side, and a smirk arose behind the shielding fan. The subtle softening of the young man's eyes as he watched her speak was perfectly obvious to anyone who knew to look. It would appear as though Ishida was also enjoying the sound of their guest's voice – perhaps more so than anyone else in the room.
However, Urahara's attention focused again on matters at hand when he noted Ukitake's nod and upheld hand.
"Meg tells me that these people do have some video footage of Ishida and Chad, although she doesn't know what kind of quality it is. She was not allowed to see it. They also have descriptions of Ichigo and Rukia; however, from what she's overheard, their spirit forms did not appear on the film. Additionally, their technology could not pick up visuals or audio of neither shinigami nor hollow." Jyuushiro's eyes returned to Meg as she spoke once more, before he nodded again. "She doesn't know exactly why they want the hollows, or how they know of their existence, but she does have some ideas."
"Oh?" Urahara snapped his fan closed, and motioned with it for her to go on.
After her speech sounded for a few moments, Ukitake cleared his throat and resumed speaking himself. "There were probably reports of great destruction due to an unknown cause, and unverified reports from spiritually aware people of these beasts. She believes that these reports are what prompted her commanders to send her here. She speculates that they desire the hollows to study them, then incorporate their discoveries into future experiments." He paused, furrowed his brows and cast her a disturbed look at the comment she shared next. "Either as future alterations to her own body, or as future generations of living weapons. Again, however, this is simply hypothesis."
Stillness filled the room as everyone contemplated this. Ishida unobtrusively took one of Meg's hands in his, reassuringly squeezed it, then gently released it. Her initial startled glance at him warmed to a thankful grin and eloquent shrug. It was sadly apparent she was painfully used to this sort of thing. Kisuke wondered just how much of her current state was natural, and how much had resulted from these 'alterations'. It would bear some looking into. Perhaps Mayuri would have some research to share on that matter, considering he specialized in such 'enhancements'. Another side-bar to address later.
Ukitake and Urahara exchanged a meaningful glance, before Ukitake spoke to her again.
"What's he saying?" Ichigo quietly asked Urahara.
"The captain's asking her to elaborate on what kinds of weapons we can expect from them, in addition to what we've already seen from her," the normally evasive shopkeeper replied in a sober tone.
The orange haired reaper nodded, then cringed when he noticed her mimic the act of drawing something. Evidently, she was asking for paper and a writing implement. An amused grin spread over the shopkeeper's lips – he could practically hear the boy griping about yet another chick with, shall we say, an artistic bent.
Nonetheless, the shopkeeper pulled a drawing pad and pencil from one of the cupboards nearby, then slid them over to Meg.
She shot him a fanged, though oddly sweet, grin and set pen to paper. As the drawing took shape under her hand, she pointed certain details out to Ukitake about the weapon. Upon his apparent request to add notes to the sketch, she paused awkwardly, shook her head and her tone took an embarrassed note to it. Jyuushiro blinked at her, then nodded with understanding. Once she finished the drawing, she handed him the pen, and proceeded to point out the different features, which he jotted down in each location relative to where she pointed on the diagram.
The end result was a surprisingly realistic drawing of the whip she had used to subdue the hollows. It was supplemented by Ukitake's neat script to point out the names and uses of the different buttons on the handle of the whip.
Even Urahara found himself grateful she seemed to have quite a bit more drawing talent than Rukia possessed as he leaned forward to examine the work.
"The primary weapon she used is this energy whip. The light you saw arching along it wasn't exactly electricity, although it was closely related in its properties. Apparently, her keepers had discovered the correct vibration which would disrupt a Hollow's consciousness enough to subdue it. She said that was probably the same kind of energy Ichigo saw shooting from the helicopter before. It's a very good thing you avoided being struck by it, as she's not entirely sure of what it would have done to you."
Kurosaki repressed a shiver. "I'm with her on that."
The tearing of paper was heard as she carefully separated the drawing from the notebook, set it aside, then began the process again. This time, a helicopter like the one Ichigo had run afoul of took shape on the page. Again, Ukitake added notes at her indication.
"Further, she was ordered not to engage any human authorities on unless absolutely necessary, and to keep a low profile. Those orders are partially why she avoided fighting us. This was to avoid any sort of international conflict between human governments, or so she was told. As such, these helicopters are primarily for surveillance, but they are also equipped for defense and offence."
He proceeded to point out the camera mounted just below the body of the machine, the guns mounted on the sides, as well as the missile launchers balanced on either side of the craft. The weapon which projected the lighting-like energy was mounted at the nose. "While these craft are apparently more stable than average helicopters, they're still very susceptible to drastic changes in wind speed and direction. They're also heavily armored." Dark brows knit slightly, as he tilted his head to listen again to Meg's soft speech. "They are also likely to use things like tear gas, and tranquilizers to subdue people in physical bodies. She was told those pellets she used were simple smoke bombs." A pale hand patted her shoulder gently at her next words, "If she'd have known, she would not have used them. For that, she's sorry."
Uryu simply shrugged, though his lips did turn up in a grin at her. It grew slightly when she met his eyes, and a slight blush colored her cheeks.
Ukitake watched this exchange, and then listened to her next sentence. "That, to the best of her knowledge, is the extent of what they're likely to use. She herself was their primary weapon."
"Something bothers me," Uryu spoke up, and met Meg's eyes. "If their equipment can't see shinigami or hollow, how would they have known where Ichigo and the arrancar were? How were they then able to track him before he used shunpo? Do they have employees who can see them?"
The young woman glanced from Uryu to Ukitake, then furrowed her brows and shook her head with a few words upon the translation. She then picked the pen back up, and began sketching again on a blank piece of paper.
"Last she knew, she was the only one in their employ who could see us clearly, which is partially why she was chosen for this particular mission. Beyond that, she isn't completely certain, but she thinks they may have developed some sort of sensor to detect the presence of spiritual bodies. Right now, she's etching the uniform she was assigned before we caught her." The captain accepted the pen from her to transcribe her descriptions of the various devices she knew of sewn into it.
Kisuke was silent for a few moments, before he spoke up, "There are a few issues we need to address, here." He waited for all eyes to turn to him. "Firstly, I would prefer if Chad would stay here at the shop until we're a little more prepared to deal with this new threat. Uryu, you'll continue to stay as well, especially because you will need to regain your strength as you recover. The fact these people know your faces, and likely at least something of your talents, means you may be targeted. Orihime, you should be safe enough for now, but it would be best if you at least tried to keep a low profile for a while."
He tapped a finger on the smooth matte surface of the table at their respective nods, "Secondly, we will need to train Meg here on how to use her new talents." He held a hand up to belay questions from the teens in the room, "I'll explain that later, as you'll each have a direct part in her training. Rukia and Renji will, too, once they return from Soul Society."
He paused to let Ukitake translate, then continued, this time directly addressing Meg, "Lastly, there are some tests I would like to run on you, my dear. We also need to know more about your unique," his study drifted from her eyes, to her wings, then to her hands, and back to her eyes again, "qualities."
The white haired captain again translated, then chuckled softly at whatever Meg muttered and the wary look she shot the shopkeeper. He replied, then grinned quietly at the hesitant nod. "Urahara, I don't think she trusts you just yet," Jyuushiro dryly informed, "but she will agree to the tests, so long as I am present to chaperone."
The shopkeeper tipped his hat to them, and offered his most charming smile. "Me? I would never do anything improper to a lady." He chose to ignore the snort from Ichigo. "But I do believe that will be acceptable." His fan snapped back open and fluttered before his face, "As for now, I believe we should call it a day, agreed? I get the feeling we'll all need what rest we can get before the action really starts."
I know...this is a lot of talk, but I did feel like it was neccessary. Anyway, Uryu/Meg interraction is turning out to be very cute. I dunno, I always found that side of Uryu to be pretty endearing. I really liked that part of the Bount arc of the Anime, even if a lot of the other things (*coughplushiescough*) drove me up the wall.
To be honest, I might end up trying to revamp some of this. I've been very sick ever since new years (finally getting over it, though. YES. I NO LONGER SOUND LIKE MARGE SIMPSON!), and I kind of think that may have effected my writing ability. Any opinions?
As always, I hope you guys enjoyed!