Finally they made it. Aerith's words rang true, though only Toshiro could see the proof, tiny wisps of spirits floating about in masses around and inside the building. It was hard to keep his control, knowing just how easily these people killed their own. If this happened on his world, Soul Society would be packed and the balance of souls would be upset, causing chaos among both sides. They'd be cleaning up the mess for decades.

And to know something similar was happening, that the Lifestream was preparing for the death of its world, made him hate the man in charge of Deepground even more.

However, being a Captain, he really needed to reign in his temper. This atmosphere of death was getting to him…perhaps it was because of the child spirit from before.

His fury may have been hard to control for a few moments, but he could still sense the strong soldier inside with several grunts around him. Not even taking a moment to consider who the ambush was meant for, he stormed inside, Hyorinmaru drawn, and stood across from the giant soldier armed with multiple weapons.

"Oh, the Keeper's kid partner." The giant snickered and Toshiro's brow twitched. The Keeper had to mean Vincent, since he was the only one people called a kid.

"Tell your boss this." Toshiro seethed. "I'm NOT a kid, I am Squad Ten Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and I will kill him."

He held Hyorinmaru out in front of him, daring the giant to strike first. The spacious room became deathly cold.

"Captain?" The giant tilted his head, before breaking into laughter. Snipers, three on each side of the catwalk around the right and left, aimed at him and the gunman behind him. The four grunts on the ground also took aim, but he noticed they were more concerned with Vincent than him.

Time to change that.

"Snipers first, big guy last." He said briskly to Vincent, before vanishing and reappearing next to two of the snipers on the left of the building.

They were dead before they could realize he was there, and the third went down before he could turn to fire. Vincent shot down a grunt down below. He killed two more only to find Toshiro was done with the snipers and killed the final grunt. In the span of thirty seconds, the giant was the last one left.

"H-h-hail W-Weiss!" The giant chanted with a stutter, aiming unsuccessfully at the Captain with his rocket launcher.

The machine was cut from him swiftly, so he tried his sword. The giant metal broadsword was no match for the dragon spirit sword. Toshiro kicked him down and pointed the sword at his throat.

"Where did you take the civilians?!" He demanded.

Scowling, the giant made to take a punch. Toshiro dodged and then froze the man to the floor, letting it creep up his legs slowly so as to interrogate him longer.

"Where?" He asked once more.

"He won't answer." Vincent warned. "Remember, they have no moral."

Hosting a scowl of his own, Toshiro let the ice travel faster and backed off, turning towards the door. Behind it he could sense the final being, the warped one. He was getting better at this and his range was increasing. Now that he was closer, he could tell it was stronger than the others. This could prove problematic.

Vincent made to walk through the same door Hitsugaya was staring at, but noticed the nearly frozen soldier move out his final weapon, aiming right at the white haired Captain. He called out but not fast enough. The bullets ripped through Toshiro's side, having managed to avoid the worst of it with quick instincts. Still, the pain was unbearable, and he fell to his knees trying to stay conscious.

"Toshiro!"

After truly finishing off the giant, Vincent rushed to Toshiro's side.

"I'm fine." Toshiro lied through his teeth. "There's still another one outside. The…energy is warped though. I can't figure them out."

"You stay here and heal that." Vincent helped Toshiro to the wall where the Captain gratefully leaned against it and stayed put. "I'll take care of it."

"I can still use Kido."

"Then using Healing Kido."

"I can still fight, this wound is nothing." He tried to stand, but the bullets had hit a few nerves and the pain was blinding 'Hyorinmaru, can't you freeze it over and at least stop the bleeding?'

'Not without paralyzing that side.' The dragon replied worriedly. 'It would do more harm than good.'

'Damn.'

It took willpower just to remain standing, and he couldn't summon the strength to take a step.

"That shot got too close to your spine." Vincent said after looking at the multiple bullet wounds. "Heal it up first."

"Oh, so this is why you took so long."

Both men turned to the source of the voice. It was a red-haired woman in a rather scanty outfit. A long red fur tail covered her rear, but not her sides, the front covered in thin metal armor. Her legs and middle were out in the open, her arms covered in thick metal clawed gloves. As with all Deepground, there were neon blue lines on the armor.

'Red…she's the one that soldier from earlier mentioned.' Toshiro realized. 'So it was a Tsviet.'

'You're in no shape to fight her.'

'I know…'

The woman turned her ruby eyes on him, making him shudder. Her lips lifted into a smirk at the sight of his bloody side, making him turn away in discomfort. Her chuckle only made it worse.

"I was rather enjoying being outside." She purred. "I had never seen the sky until a few days ago…and this was my first time to feel rain on my skin."

Her gaze moved to the soldier encased in ice with a bullet in his skull.

"So the child has potential, fascinating." She was back on them, taking slow steps towards them. "I assumed the Keeper of the Protomateria would be alone."

"Protomateria?" Vincent narrowed his eyes at her, taking a step back but remaining in front of Hitsugaya.

"Yes, dear. It is the key to controlling Omega. We know you have it." She stopped. "Hand it over now, and I'll kill you quickly."

She lifted a hand, staring lovingly at her metal claws, before turning a hungry gaze on Vincent.

"What are you talking about?" Toshiro snarled, using the Healing Kido as fast as he could. The wounds were too deep to make it before she noticed it and took action while he was down.

"Come now, shouldn't a Captain be able to figure this out?" She sneered.

"How did-?"

"Your little call out to him." She pointed at the frozen giant. "We all saw it, it was quite amusing."

'Good, that means their leader saw it too.' Toshiro thought to himself, trying to remain calm even though Hyorinmaru's rage was coming off in waves. 'But…what is Omega's role in this? And why do they need the Protomateria to control it?'

Now that he was quiet, the red woman turned back to Vincent. He hadn't spoken yet.

"Not one to bargain, are we?" Her smirk was all devil and made Toshiro shiver. And he'd thought seeing Hichigo smile was creepy. "I'll make sure you suffer."

With a swift run, she was behind the gunman. But her run couldn't beat Flash Step, and Toshiro overcame the pain long enough to stop Vincent from getting a fatal hit to the back. The woman's weapon was as blood red as her hair and seemed to be some kind of connected blades, another weapon he had no knowledge of.

"Reckless, are we child?" She purred, pushing him easily aside due to his weakened state.

"Way of Destruction Number Four, Pale Lightning!" He chanted, sending the Kido straight for her as she tried to hit Vincent once more. He was prepared now and easily dodged her strike while moving back when the Kido smashed against her blade, knocking her back.

'No more, you're running out of Spirit Energy.' Hyorinmaru warned the Captain.

'I can't just let him die.'

The dust from his blast cleared and a rather frustrated looking Tsviet rushed at him, grabbing him roughly around the neck and throwing him into the wall. The pain spread from the bullet wounds to the rest of his body. Still he made to stand.

The wound froze over and Toshiro found he couldn't use his sword arm.

'Hyorinmaru!'

'You will die if you keep going.'

Though he knew it to be true, Toshiro refused to give in to a Tsviet. Teal eyes turned to the battle.

Vincent couldn't draw his gun; the woman was attacking too fast to let him. If he was to dodge her strikes, he couldn't arm himself. At one point she paused, holding the bladed weapon out in front of her as if aiming, and he drew his gun. Turns out, she was aiming, and he was forced to bolt or be shot down.

'I have to do something.' Toshiro growled, but noticed his vision was fading as unconsciousness threatened to engulf him. 'Aerith…I need Aerith.'

Focusing back on the fight, he saw that Vincent had been hit hard as the woman cornered him, throwing him into a pillar and throwing up thick dust as the force of his hit split the thick stone.

"Dammit." Hitsugaya fell to the ground as his body gave out.

The last thing he saw was a bright crimson flash and the figure of a winged demon. The last thing he heard was the Tsviet cry out in alarm and a crash as she was sent flying by a force he could feel even as he blacked out.

And here's another chapter! So Shiro gets a little overconfident and gets hurt. Deepground is really starting to piss him off, don't ya think? No worries, he'll kick some ass later for sure, he's still a little rough around the edges in terms of the Tsviets and how things work on Gaia, so he was unprepared, but he won't be soon. Hope you like!