Hoss looked on at the meeting, having since zoned out. So far the questions Ichika had to answer were simple and mundane.
"Have you had much experience with the spiritual world?"
"No."
"Did you know of the spiritual world?"
"Besides folk lore, no."
Hoss could only roll his eyes. This was turning into a waste of time. Zoning out again, he could hear Moon Goddess muttering in his Inner World.
(Line Break)
Groaning, Chifuyuu slowly woke up, feeling cold concrete on her side and back. Trying to move, her body ached in protest.
"Well, look who decided to wake up." Chifuyuu struggled to look up and was sharply kicked in the stomach.
Inside, she felt something snap. The feeling of power quickly began to flow out of her body.
(Line Break)
Hoss focused in on the feeling that suddenly came at him. Closing his eyes, he felt the steady, but decreasing pulse of spiritual pressure. It was familiar in the pulses, three shorts pulses, three pulses with long 5 second intervals, and three short pulses again.
"An SOS." He muttered.
"HOSS LOHMAR. IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, YOU WILL SPEAK UP."
"Yes Sir Head Captain."
(Line Break)
Hoss escorted Ichika out of the meeting, his orders were to train Ichika for combat and take him back to the World of the Living immediately.
"Come on. Lets move." Hoss called to Ichika as he started walking a different way.
"Where are we going?" Ichika scurried up to the Cowboy of Death.
"Radar lab in the 12th division."
(Line Break)
"Ah, Hoss, what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you in my lab?"
"Cut the crap Kurosuchi." Hoss growled, specks of sliver appeared in his eyes. "I need you to track a spiritual energy signature."
"I cannot do that without a spiritual energy signature on file." The researcher captain looked down on Hoss, which was hard to do given the cowboy's stance. Reaching into his jacket, Hoss pulled out a small vial shaped item.
"Kiskue Urahara created this to capture trace amounts of spiritual energy. I lucked out, he gave me a few of them before the person I want you to track disappeared." Hoss handed the vial to the captain, who scowled and muttered something.
"I will have your results ready soon. We are very busy, I will send the message to you as soon as I get the coordinates."
(Line Break)
"Meteor Strike."
"GUAH!"
The two energy sources hit each other and the resulting explosion of energy destruction and purifying energy meeting.
Off to the side, Shunsui and Nanao watched the spar with some interest. The clanging of metal filled the air.
"Hado number 33."
"WHAT! You can't do that! That's cheating!"
"My this is most interesting Nanao." Shunsui chuckled as the IS pilot and Cowboy of Death argued over battle tactics. "The Infinite Stratos are certainly something."
(Line Break)
"Keep up Ichika." Hoss called back. Running through the Dangai, He had finally received the information from the radar lab he was waiting for. The paper now tucked in his jacket pocket, held the coordinates to several areas that the 12th division had tracked a similar spiritual energy to the sample Hoss submitted coming from. With the list of possible places it originated from in his hand, all of which were in one area…
Detroit, Michigan.
Motor City.
(Line Break)
Hoss stood on a podium, it had only been a few hours since he and Ichika had returned from the Soul Society. In that time he had taken a shower, shave and change into a fresh suit Spencer had delivered for him.
"Hello, thank you all for coming to this press briefing. I have prepared this on behalf of the IS academy and Henderson Independent Military and I will not be accepting any questions at this time." Looking out he could see cameras, reporters, cell phones and other things to record the meeting. "My name is Hoss Lohmar, I am an operative for Henderson Independent Military. One week ago, the main buildings of the IS academy were attacked. As of this time I am not going to disclose who is believed to be the behind this. I was escorting Ichika and Chifuyuu Orimura off campus when the campus was attacked. Attempting to reach a secure location, where coordinates have been withheld due to security reasons, we were overpowered. The reason I am telling you all this is simple." Hoss paused to let the reporters catch up. "Chifuyuu Orimura has been kidnapped." Shocked gasps from the majority female crowd filled the room followed by questions. "Will everyone please calm down. I will not be answering questions at this time. However, I also have a statement from Spencer Henderson and myself." Clearing his throat, Hoss began. "To whomever was responsible for this action; on behalf of myself and Mr. Spencer Henderson of Henderson Independent Military, if you are watching this, we have taken the laying of siege of the campus of the IS academy and the ambushing of myself as well as the kidnapping of Chifuyuu Orimura as a declaration of war. As I speak, operatives of Henderson Independent Military are mobilizing and souring every lead to track you down. We know who you are, we are currently tracking you down as I speak, we are tracing you through the technology you hold dear and we will not stop until you have been brought to justice and pay retributions for the damages you have caused." Hoss folded his official briefing papers and stuck them in his jacket. "I thank you all for your time today. Please drive carefully and have a good rest of the day."
(Line Break)
The cargo helicopter had the rotors turning slowly. Having only landed and shut off the engines few minutes ago, Hoss was impressed by how easily he could load his remaining supplies into the cargo hold. The Black Widow was already loaded in and tied down and several crates of supplies were soon loaded on as well as several building contractors that H.I.M worked with. Materials were being flown in and equipment was being offloaded at the IS academy's rather small harbor.
Grabbing the last box of supplies that was being returned with him, Hoss could see six figures coming to the chopper. And they were none other than Ichika, Hoki, Cecilia, Charlotte, Lin Fang, and Laura.
"You all want to jump in on this action too?" Hoss chuckled.
(Line Break)
Hoss strode through the hallways of the busy office building. The occasional voice calling out to him broke the strides with a simple wave, which only resumed the powerful strides soon after.
With the small group following him, the door to a particular board room opened to allow the group inside. Fine, handcrafted oak furniture and the finer items of life welcomed them.
"Come on in. Help yourselves to a drink."
(Line Break)
As the overhead projector changed to another picture, the only sound was a match being struck.
"Need a light Spence?" Hoss held the still burning match in his hand and a cigar in the other. Taking a puff, he blew the smoke out to the side.
"Nah, I'm still good." Motioning to his own cigar, Spencer continued on with his presentation after taking a drink from the scotch that sat on the table near his laptop.
"Now, going between the information that Hoss found and what I have found using my own sources, we know that Phantom Task is operating out of several abandoned buildings in the downtown Detroit area."
"Wouldn't anyone notice something odd going on down there?" Hoss looked over to Charlotte.
"If there was anyone there. Downtown Detroit has been effectively abandoned about early 85. There are whole blocks that are effectively empty now."
"Why would Phantom Task go to a place like Detroit?" Charlotte started to cough.
Turning on a ventilation fan, Spencer looked at the blonde French girl. "Simple, the whole city is effectively abandoned, companies abandoned whole factories, intact. Houses are empty, and there are still people who live and work in there, so there is living essentials, the police force is effectively overworked."
"So they have a perfect hideout." Hoss continued his friend's train of thought. "Factories to maintain equipment, warehouses to store it, houses to live in, and no one would notice more than likely."
"So, what would be the operation?" Laura's thick German accent cut through the smoke and the bourbon near Hoss and the scotch near Spencer.
"Simple, we are going in boots on the ground and feet in the air." Spencer couldn't help but smirk as Hoss grinned and the rest of the group blanched.