DOWNFALL
by
Greg Wong
Chapter 10: Collateral
Well, this sucked. She was going to have to officially abort this operation.
Yenni frowned as she peeked out from behind a cart at the white walls of the Seireitei. There was zero chance that she was getting there now with the Soul Reapers on high alert for her, and it just got more dangerous the longer she hung around.
At least it wasn't a total bust. The creepy-eyes had never been found, and they'd rolled along on their merry ways collecting valuable intel.
Captain Kreepysutchi, unfortunately, had gotten anti-Hollow damping fields into the prototype stage, and, judging by how fast the Squad Twelve Captain moved in the R&D area, several models of the weapons would be ready for testing—and a final model ready for combat deployment—before Lady Unohana ordered an assault. Sure, the guy was unscrupulous, egotistical, and had the most hideous fashion sense, but no one could ever call Mayuri Kurosutchi dumb.
On the bright side, while the weapons research was moving as fast as she was afraid of, it fortunately wasn't moving faster than expected. Sure, the damping devices would be ready for battle, but they would still be limited in number. On an even brighter side, some of the other projects—healing serums, kido-esque explosives, and whatever—were lagging behind. The Soul Reapers wouldn't have as many cards stacked in their favor when push came to shove.
Still, when the invasion kicked off they would be fighting on the Soul Reaper's home turf. Sure, the average Numero could kill any random Soul Reaper easily enough, but the higher-level Soul Reapers would be trouble. That also didn't take into account that the Seireitei was better organized, logistically and militarily, when compared to the Las Noches forces. Yeah, yeah, Lady Unohana had kicked the Hollows into shape so they'd be a coherent military force and not some wild mob, but Hollows didn't like working in groups, and it was going to show.
She frowned. Okay, why the hell was she thinking these things when she should be thinking of a way to get her ass out of here?
First things first, though. She called up her remote controller and directed the creepy-eyes to roll themselves into drains or sewers. After they were all hidden away she sent the kill order. Two internalized compartments holding chemicals broke, and the combination of the two liquids mixing created an acid powerful enough to melt the creepy-eyes into puddles of plastic, glass, and silicon.
Okay, time to beat it.
Ooh, the Hollow girl was running!
Yachiru hopped down from her spot on the roof and crept after the Arrancar. The Hollow might have spotted her, but she was being really, really careful with hiding her reishi. She should be calling for some Stealth Force people to do the actual following, but this was more fun. Plus, she was better at it than they were. When it got boring—or if the Arrancar did something important-looking—she'd bother Soifon.
Okay, okay, Soifon might get a little angry that Squad Two wasn't informed as soon as possible, but she could just say that she was exercising her authority in the field. Or she could have Kenny glare at everyone. Or throw a black kitty at Soifon.
Hmm, the Hollow lady was pretty good at this stuff. Kept moving, quickly but not conspicuously, always sticking to large crowds of people and ducking into alleyways when there were too many people to get through.
The Hollow girl was a pro.
Wait a second. "Hollow girl" was boring. Had to think of a nickname. Hmm. Oh. How about Fluffy. Yeah, since the Arrancar's hair was all messy and stuff. Fluffy it was.
Oops. Better catch up to Fluffy.
Well, damn. She was being tailed. She wasn't a newbie, so she wasn't going to look back and let the Soul Reaper know she knew he was there. Hmm. Doubling back and neutralizing the Soul Reaper trailing her would keep their tactical squads from converging on her. Then again, taking out the Soul Reaper—especially one skilled and powerful enough to even stick on her in the first place—was probably going to be messy. And loud.
Loud was bad. She was going to have to be really, really sneaky about this.
Hmm. Fluffy had suddenly ducked into an alley. Weird. There was an open path in front of the Hollow, so why would Fluffy just go out of her way?
Oh, dang. She knew. Fluffy must have detected her, even though she was suppressing her spiritual pressure as much as she could. She pouted. People like Ichi or Kenny or Cueball weren't even able to sense her when she didn't want to be found. Why could that Arrancar do it? Grrr.
Okay, choices. She could still try to follow the Arrancar, even though Fluffy knew she was around, or she could call in Soifon and the Patrol Corps. Ew. None of those sounded very fun anymore.
Or... third option. Beat the stuffing out of Fluffy.
Uh... uh-oh. Her tail's spiritual pressure had just skyrocketed... meaning that the Soul Reaper wasn't concerned with staying stealthy anymore. She shot a glance backwards.
Oh hell no! It was Yachiru Kusajishi, lieutenant of the Eleventh Squad. There wasn't any real combat data on the Soul Reaper because no one had seen the girl fight, but considering Kusajishi hung around Zaraki all the time...
Ah, dammit. She did not want to mix it up with this person. Kusajishi might fold if she kicked the Soul Reaper in the face... or she wouldn't and would proceed to—fatally—beat the crap out of her. Considering what Specialist Ise and the others did know, the second scenario sounded depressingly more likely.
She reached underneath her cloak and stabbed two buttons on her control console, the first sending a panic signal to any of the other Arrancar support teams scattered around the area. If she could make it outside the last of the Rukon districts, she had a decent chance of getting some evac.
The second button started a mass data dump to any accessible receiving unit it could reach. Because of the nature of the upload, most of the files would be corrupted garbage, but at least there would be some partial copies in the event that she got whacked and couldn't deliver her own, full, copy.
Man, that was a depressing thought.
Well, at least with the little pink-haired psychopath chasing after her, the cat was out of the bag. No more hiding. Now it was matter of how fast she could run. She threw off her cloak—extra weight she didn't need at right now—and gathered her reishi around herself.
A split second later she was a hundred meters down the street after moving with her Sonìdo. She might be able to shake the lieutenant if—
"Whoof!" she gasped as something kicked out her legs from underneath her. She instinctively tucked into a roll so she could recover immediately from her stumble. What the hell had—
"Gah!" she cried as something hard hit her stomach. She recoiled from the blow and fell backwards, letting the momentum roll her back onto feet. The hell had hit... ah, crap.
Lieutenant Kusajishi had somehow gotten right up in her face without her detecting it, and apparently it was the Soul Reaper that had kicked her right before, too. The lieutenant stood a few meters in front of her, grinning.
Okay, fine. She reached behind and drew out her zanpakuto. She noticed Kusajishi's harmless-looking smile tighten a bit when her sword came into view.
Good. Distracted.
She then aimed a fast snap kick at the Soul Reaper, focusing reishi into her kicking leg. As her leg extended she fired a Bala blast straight at Kusajishi.
Huh. Well, as expected the lieutenant could dodge that, too, but the Soul Reaper was out of her way off-balance. She flashed forward with her Sonìdo and it was off to the races again.
Whomp.
Or... it would have if Kusajishi hadn't appeared next to her and walloped her in the side of the head. Ow. Why were there planks on here. Planks didn't grow in the wild.
She shook her head. Damn. The little maniac wasn't going to let her get away. Her only choice was to fight the damn Soul Reaper. Okay, okay. Couldn't dodge fast enough. Let the lieutenant make the first move. Counter attack with a Cero if she had a chance, Bala if not. Okay—
"You're mine, Arrancar!" a raucous voice shouted out from above. Huh.
She rolled out of the way as something crashed down onto the street where she'd been standing a second before. What, though.
Eh, who cared. It was a distraction, and she sure as hell wasn't going to stick around to thank whatever it was. She was a-running out of this messed up situation.
"Baldy, you dummy!" Yachiru shrieked at the third seat. "I had her!"
She saw Ikkaku bristle at her name-calling. "She was about to get away from you, you little midget!"
Midget? Midget! "Baldy, when Kenny—" Wait a second, she was forgetting something. What was... Fluffy!
"Cut her off!" she yelped to Baldy. "We have to get her!"
She heard Ikkaku mutter something that sounded very naughty, but the other Soul Reaper flash-stepped after Fluffy.
Eh. Fluffy was really fast. The Arrancar was already far ahead, and it was going to be a while until she and Baldy caught up. Well, Ikkaku might be too slow, but she sure as heck could.
And then punching time.
Okay, things didn't look so bad for Yenni. Not only had Madarame startled Kusajishi enough that he could slip away from them both, but the Third Seat was also throwing out enough spiritual pressure in a threat display that it was going to screw up Kusajishi's senses... which means all she had to do was to sheathe her zanpakuto and move quietly and quickly. Okay, okay, she could do this. She could do this. She could—
...
Huh. Uh. What? She was suddenly inside a building, covered in dust and rubble. Ow. Stuff hurt. Like everything. Ouch. There also seemed to be a girl-sized hole punched clean through the wall. Hmm. Not just girl-sized. Yenni-sized.
She was staggering to her feet when the sunlight coming in through the opening was blocked off. Huh. She rubbed her eyes to get grit and mucous out of them.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Run/flee/hide/escape.
No, she wasn't going to argue with her inner voices.
She fired off a Bala into the wall opposite the figure. Had to get out of her. Couldn't take this on. Dammit, dammit, dammit.
She dashed towards the opening her Bala had created. Crap, she was half-panicking. Couldn't panic. Had to keep calm otherwise she would be—
And suddenly the figure was in front of her, fist cocked back.
And suddenly she was back outside.
"Ah... ah..." she wheezed, half-sobbing. Broken ribs. Had to get out of here. Run. Had to run...
She heard something that sounded like a violent breeze, and a pair of legs were right in front of her face. She looked up instinctively.
Captain Soifon, commander of Squad Two and the Stealth Force.
Panic.
She yanked out her zanpakuto. Soifon disappeared... and then she heard a loud snap, felt blinding pain, and saw her blade spinning away.
The Soul Reaper released her broken arm, letting her collapse to the ground.
"By the order of the Head-Captain, I'm to bring you in, Arrancar. Stop resisting, and I won't damage you further."
Well, screw that. She was scared out of her mind right now, but she was a damned Arrancar, not some pansy Whole. "Screw your head-captain, ninja-bitch!" she snarled out of fear and... well, mostly fear.
She concentrated all the spiritual energy her freaked-out mind could muster into a ball of swirling energy a meter above the ground. With a burst of a Sonìdo she was on her feet again, kicking the orb while releasing more pent-up energy.
The Cero blast sailed towards Soifon, but she wasn't going to stick around to see if it hit. She had to get back to her zanpakuto and release. If she didn't she was going to get taken apart like a chicken. Well, even if she released she'd probably still get stomped on by the freaking captain, but there was a slight chance she could evade long enough to get the hell to the other teams.
She charged towards her sword with a Sonìdo.
She heard something that sounded like "Danku" from where Soifon had stood.
She reached for her blade.
She concentrated, focusing on her previous form as an Adjuchas-class Hollow. Focused on her zanpakuto and waited for power to come bursting out over her body.
She turned back to face the Soul Reaper captain. Nowhere to be seen. Heck with it.
"Strike down, Pata—"
She heard a voice behind her whisper "Nigeki Kessatsu".
She felt two spikes of blindingly hot pain at the small of her back.
And then she felt nothing.
Uh... okay.
Yachiru crouched down on the roof as she saw Fluffy topple over. Soifon had done the two-hit stabby thingy. The Arrancar was a goner.
So why was the captain lifting Fluffy up onto her shoulder? You didn't carry dead bodies away, right?
She was the blur of a flash-step, and Captain Soifon was standing next to her on the roof.
"Uh... hiya," she said cheerfully to the other Soul Reaper. "Uh... isn't that Arrancar dead already?"
Soifon stared at her for a few moments, and she stared right back, looking at the captain's energy patterns. There were yellow cat-ears floating behind Soifon which twitched to the left every half a second while also shifting from gold to black. Ooh, Captain Soifon was annoyed and a little angry.
"No."
"You did your two-hit killing strike on her, right?"
"I am a master of my zanpakuto, Lieutenant Kusajishi," Soifon said to her gruffly. "I can decide whether its twin strikes kill or not." She watched the captain turn to go, but then Soifon paused. "Oh, and I think you and I need to have a discussion on how to handle things like standing orders and when you're supposed to alert the people responsible for tracking and capture of infiltrators. I should not need to get involved in something like this when it could have been handled easily by the Stealth Force. Are we clear, Lieutenant Kusajishi?"
She looked back, careful to keep her expression neutral. "Yes, Captain."
"Good." And then Soifon was gone.
She stuck her tongue out at the captain's back. She was going to tell Kenny and Kenny would...
Do nothing. Sure, Kenny would talk and talk about how he did captain stuff only so he could fight things, and nothing else, but she knew better. Kenny always went to captain's meetings and did whatever Captain Yamamoto ordered him to. If she told Kenny about what Soifon had said, her captain would just pat her on the head and tell her she should have followed procedure anyway.
You know, when she thought about it, if she had alerted the Stealth Force—and stupid Baldy hadn't rushed in like that—she probably could have stuck around to help catch Fluffy.
Eh. Oh well. She'd just go and talk to Kenny about Fluffy and what a dummy Ikkaku was. Maybe see if Kenny was still sad.
"Well, that tears it." Nanao heard Kyoraku mutter darkly.
The ten Espada, Wonderweiss, Kyoraku, Ukitake, Unohana, and herself reviewed the reports from one of the observation teams from outside the Rukongai as well as the partial data dump Laiggs had managed to send their way before the operative's capture.
Most of it was a garbled mess, but she'd devoted a good forty-eight hours to recovering what she could, and it didn't look good. Mayuri Kurotsuchi had Hollow-supressing devices in pre-production, and it looked like Laiggs was taking that very seriously. In fact, the operative had sent a total of three copies of that piece of data... and since it had been a panic data dump, it meant Laiggs was had found that information to be extremely valuable. She was able to recover nearly seventy-five percent of the transmitted data.
The other parts were equally troubling: there were partial reports of kido-based weaponry, healing serums, reishi-amplifying armor, and other projects that would be very, very troublesome if they were deployed in the field.
Worse, they didn't have a clue as to their status. They could be years away from a breakthrough, or they could already be issued to Soul Reaper squads.
In any case, she had to agree with her captain's sentiment.
"Specialist Ise," she heard Unohana say to her, "have your teams identified and marked possible points of assault?"
She frowned at the question. "A few, Captain. However, the observation and reconnaissance teams did not have the time they needed to monitor patrols and deployment patterns."
She watched the older woman nod. "I see." Unohana regarded the holographic display in front of her for a few seconds. "Which two, in your estimation, would be viable points for assault?"
She blinked, then shook her head. She moved a hand over her console and highlighted two points in the southern Eightieth districts. "These two areas have the most sporadic scheduling for patrols and my teams report that heavy forces don't usually move through the area often. However," she emphasized, "I did also get reports that the occasionally captain-led teams will sweep the area."
"Sporadic, Señorita Ise?" she heard Dordonii inquire. "Would we be able to isolate a team—captain-grade or not—if we came in by force?"
"No," she said simply. "Drive them away from our point of entry, yes, but to isolate them and eliminate them wouldn't work. They know the layout of the land better. Scouts and spies can only see so many nooks and crannies that the Soul Reapers can use to escape."
"I see," Dordonii said, stroking his moustache. "Thank you, Specialist."
She nodded. "In any case if we can establish a beachhead we'll be able to pour more troops in via garganta gates." She wrinkled her nose. "Still, with only two points of entry we can't hope to sustain an invasion when the Seireitei brings the squads down on our heads."
"We're not aiming to invade," she heard Unohana say softly.
Wait, what? She stared at the older woman. So did everyone else.
"I remember the point Tia brought up a month ago, about Ichigo Kurosaki."
She saw Gantenbainne sit up straighter in his chair. "How we don't want the kid to butting into our work?"
"Exactly, Gantenbainne," Unohana answered. "We want his attention elsewhere."
"He's only a human." That from Cirucci Sanderwicci. "What can a little brat like him hope to do to a force of Espada?"
She watched Unohana gaze at the Sèptima Espada. Cirucci looked right on back, before averting her eyes a few heartbeats later. There was silence for a few moments until she heard Unohana speak again.
"I want to make one thing clear to everyone here," she heard the woman say firmly. "Ichigo Kurosaki is not to be taken lightly. His only faults in regards to his combat prowess are his inexperience and lack of control of his reishi. His spiritual pressure fluctuates without rhyme or reason: at his lowest points, he has little more energy than a Whole. At his crests... his power eclipses mine. We cannot run the risk that Ichigo will take command of his reishi and attack us with his power at its peak.
"Therefore, I want a small diversionary force to make a preemptive strike on the outermost Rukongai districts. I want it loud, highly visible... and civilian casualties to be kept to an absolute minimum. Dordonii will be command of his force, supported by Tia, Aaroniero, Luppi, and Rudobon. You five will make initial contact, and, if need be, Gantenbainne and Cirucci will assist in case the Thirteen Court Guard Squads bring in more forces than expected."
"And us, Lady Unohana?" she heard Nelliel ask politely.
"Nelliel, you, Nnoitra, and Starrk will lead a small strike force to the human town of Karakura."
"For what purpose?" she heard Starrk ask. "I have a feeling it isn't about general mayhem."
"You are correct. Nanao?"
Ah. She saw where this was going. "Yes." She turned to the seated Espada. "As Captain Unohana mentioned a moment ago, we have to keep Ichigo off balance so he doesn't appear to aid the Seireitei at an... inopportune moment. To that end, we're directing the team in Karakura Town to abduct the human girl Orihime Inoue."
Silence.
"That takes three Espada?" she heard Luppi mutter incredulously.
"It's all about intimidation, Luppi," she replied evenly. "We want him to feel sufficiently threatened that he will take direct action against Hueco Mundo itself instead of going to the Soul Society."
"That seems counterintuitive, Specialist Ise," Nelliel said to her, thoughtfully. "Wouldn't he seek assistance if he felt overwhelmed?"
"It would seem. However, from what I get of Ichigo's psychological profile is that he takes threats to his companions seriously... and personally." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. "If a mere three Espada can set foot in his town and abduct someone he holds close, what could the Soul Society do? He would have to set out himself to rescue the girl. It doesn't hurt that the last times Ichigo was in the Soul Society was when crises had practically frozen decision-making. To Ichigo that's going to come across as an institution too glacial to respond to so glaring a danger."
She saw the Wonderweiss nod from across the table. "The logic seems quite sound. However, would it not be less trouble to simply kill the human and be done with it?" The blond Arrancar looked at Captain Unohana for a moment. "If, perhaps, this Ichigo Kurosaki is as powerful as you suggest, can we not simply send a half dozen of the Espada and eliminate him?"
She frowned. Surely Wonderweiss would know... Oh, wait a moment.
"My apologies, Wonderweiss. I don't think you were ever completely appraised of the situation in Karakura town."
" 'Situation?' "
"Yes. I'm sure you know who Kisuke Urahara is, or Yoruichi Shihoin, or TessaiTsukabishi. Or Shinji Hirako and beings that call themselves Visoreds?"
"I do."
"Do you know where they live now, after having been driven out of the Soul Society?"
"I do not."
"Karakura Town."
She saw lavender eyes narrow. "Then our goal should be to burn this human settlement to the ground, and every human, Soul Reaper, and half-masked freak in it."
"Which goes against my goals, Wonderweiss Margera," she heard Unohana say to the Arrancar with a touch of coldness in her voice. "Furthermore, launching an attack on Karakura Town will only serve to concentrate our enemies. The Soul Society will come running once we begin attacking human settlements."
"And won't the ones cowering amongst the humans come to the Soul Society's aid once we attack there?"
"No. They are persona non grata in the Soul Society. During my experiments with Soul Reaper Hollowification, the Visoreds were declared traitors and sentenced to extermination. They were saved by Urahara, Shihoin, and Tsukabishi, who were then retroactively exiled from the Soul Society. Any loyalty they felt to Yamamoto and the Seireitei has crumbled away in the last century. They will not be coming to the Seireitei's aid.
"In any case, Wonderweiss, I do not want to start a conflict in that town. If we were to send in a force powerful enough to ensure Ichigo's complete destruction—I would demand no less than myself, Ukitake, Kyoraku, and at least three Espada, for thoroughness—it would force Urahara's group and the Visoreds into action, and I have no particular desire to split our forces along two fronts. The girl will be kidnapped, and Ichigo, Kakakura Town, and everyone else living in it will be left alone. Understood?"
She saw Wonderweiss gaze at Unohana for a few heartbeats before nodding.
"Indeed."
"Good." The other woman turned to look at her. "Now, Specialist Ise, please continue."
"Yes, Ma'am." She cleared her throat. "Now, strike teams should be deployed..."