"Speaking Japanese" "Speaking English"

'Thinking' 'Zanpaktou'

"Hell Butterfly" "Radio"

'Hichigo' "Hollows"

"You're way to frickin' paranoid, you know that?" Renji grumbled.

"I'd like to see you try and survive the military when you have no idea why they've been after your head and were supposedly dead." Alex spat back.

"Okay, that's pretty harsh. But seriously, there wasn't any need to attack the guy like that."

"His posture made it obvious he was military."

"If he was military, wouldn't he be in uniform?"

"Know what, I really don't like you." Mercer's hand became the large black claws as his patience grew thin. Renji flinched, his hand going towards Zabimaru's hilt.

"Mercer! Abarai! Shut up!" The temperature dropped as the tiny Captain finally lost his own patience. Ice formed around his feet. "Mercer, transforming in public is a sure fire way to get the military on your tail!"

The infectee grumbled profanely, but reduced his claws back to a hand anyway, glaring daggers at the red-head beside him.

"Abarai, as a Lieutenant you should know better than to provoke an ally."

"Sorry, Captain." Renji bowed deeply in apology.

"Pansy." Alex muttered.

"How about you say that to my face!?"

"Enough!"

The men froze, realizing just how angry their Captain was, the ice around his feet quickly crawling up the walls and the air turning freezing around them. Knowing full well what he could do, Renji silenced and bowed once more in apology. Inside Alex, the virus screamed to be relieved of the cold weather, and he obliged by apologizing as well so Toshiro would get rid of the ice.

Taking a deep breath the white haired Captain let the air return to normal, water pooling around him from where the ice had been moments before.

"If you're done being complete imbeciles I'd like to find McMullen before the day is out. We lost our chance to get close to him with the Bloodtox pump due to the fight with Elizabeth and our conditions."

"Oh, and I suppose you have an idea?" Alex snarled, his grumpy mood had gotten worse with Renji around.

"They make the Bloodtox somewhere on this island in a facility, correct? You simply need to make it look like you're sneaking in to destroy the place and allow yourself to get captured. They'll take you right to McMullen."

Completely caught off guard by that, Mercer stopped to take in what the child had said.

"He's not called a prodigy for nothing." Renji snickered, following behind as Hitsugaya kept walking on.

Remembering only he was visible, Alex put himself together and kept walking after them. They were out of the alleys, which meant he couldn't be caught talking to himself. He decided to switch to Japanese.

"I still didn't expect such a quick answer." Alex growled at the Lieutenant.

"You better get used to it. That, and the cold."

"I hate the cold."

"The virus, I'm guessing?"

"That and I never really did like the cold. Even before this whole thing happened, I do remember that I wore this jacket and hoodie for a reason, and one of those was I that hated being cold."

"Then I suggest not making Captain Hitsugaya mad."

"You'd do well to live by those words yourself, Abarai." Toshiro grumbled.

"Uh, right, Captain."

Toshiro was thankful for the brief silence after that, able to reach out with his Spiritual Pressure for anyone surrounded by Bloodtox. It wasn't exactly easy, a gas facility wasn't something as simple to find as a person.

'Is there anyway you can sniff out the Bloodtox, Hyorinmaru?' Toshiro asked his zanpaktou, seeming hopeful.

'Bloodtox is a gas that kills off the virus, it is odorless and harmless to humans, Soul Reapers, and in turn me. The only indication that Bloodtox is being pumped would be a red vapor, but that too dissipates into the air after some time.'

'Damn. Looks like we'll need to do things the hard way.'

'Sadly.'

The two behind him were grumbling at each other again, earning Alex some cold stares for 'talking to himself' and overall attracting too much attention.

"Abarai, come with me. Mercer, join us when no one can see you." Toshiro then darted up onto the rooftops. He'd added the last part because a few military personnel were roaming and Alex's seemingly talking to no one was getting the bad kind of attention.

Renji was quick to follow the Captain and the two Soul Reapers waited for their virus infected comrade before Hitsugaya said his theory, not realizing he'd switched back to English.

"The facility isn't traceable by our senses, so we need a different way of finding it." He spoke out.

"Considering the fact that I'm around, it would be heavily guarded, right?" Alex suggested.

"That's true." Renji put his hand to his chin in thought. "So wherever there are a lot of soldiers, it might be a Bloodtox facility."

"Or a military base." Toshiro reminded. "Must I tell you how many of those there are?"

"Oh…"

"But that's one clue." Alex argued back. "And it's a start. If it's where they're making it, there's surely going to be some kind of red haze around it from all that gas."

"As well as various other places with Bloodtox pumps. I noticed they have them set up around the bases now as well to keep you out, Mercer."

"Dammit." Alex punched a wall, startling Toshiro and Renji as it cracked and gave way easily. Renji hadn't expected such power, but for Toshiro, he hadn't expected Alex to suddenly be so irritable. He wondered what was getting to him. "Wait, I have an idea."

Just like that, he darted off, ignoring Toshiro's frustrated call of his last name. He disguised himself as one of the civilians and walked among them. Only the Soul Reapers were able to separate him from the crowd. They noticed with dread that he was heading right for one of the high ranking officers lounging about in the street, gun held loosely in his hands.

"What is he…" Renji was unfamiliar with Alex's 'interrogation' techniques, but Toshiro had the misfortune to witness it once before and did his best to stamp the habit out of the man. So he was therefore the first to take action.

"Way of Binding Number Four, Crawling Rope!"

The yellow energy bonds darted towards their targeted and constricted around him. Those around him stared curiously as Alex fidgeted with bindings they couldn't see, hidden in the disguise of a common pedestrian. The caster of those bindings quickly appeared in front of him.

"I said once before, as a Soul Reaper our job is to protect humans. What you're about to do will bring you to the level of a Hollow and I will not hesitate to kill you." Toshiro growled.

"It's one damned soldier and no one will miss him." Alex snarled back. "Think of all the fucking lives that bastard has murdered, eh?"

"And think of all the lives he's trying to save by stopping this outbreak! It may take time, but we will find that facility without the need for you to consume him!"

"Oh fuck off and let me make things easier! I want my answers!"

"And you'll get them!" Toshiro let the temperature drop around Alex to further discomfort him, ice crawling up his legs. People began to panic, thinking the man before them was completely insane and not liking the sudden cold weather. "But we'll do it without you consuming the souls of humans!"

Though the man was still fuming and needed something to take his anger out on, he was attracting far too much attention and the cold was not helping his comfort level any. The binding spell was weak, but with the virus part of him subdued by Hitsugaya's ice, he couldn't summon up the strength to break it. Very reluctantly he calmed down and settled for an icy glare and an animalistic growl. His glare couldn't compete with the icier glare Toshiro was giving him for even considering the idea of consuming someone.

"Fine, we'll do it your way." Mercer practically spat the words out.

Glad he was submissive again, the tiny Captain sighed and calmed himself, releasing the binding but not relieving the man of his Spiritual Pressure. The cold would remain until he could be sure Alex was calm once more and in no way hungry for human souls. If they had to, he would take the man on a detour so he could consume the infected instead, which would at least keep him off the military. They were doing so well, perhaps a little more and they would come to trust Mercer in this fight.

The arrival of Renji gave a good enough distraction to keep Mercer's mind off the soldier only a few yards away, giving him a curious look, and Toshiro let his icy Spiritual Pressure disperse some.

"I think I might have found a lead. There's an area further north that looks pretty hazed over for a large area." Abarai reported. "And if the…helicopters," he stumbled over the new word, "are any indication, then I'd say it's heavily guarded."

"Good work, Lieutenant. We'll head that way immediately."

Grumbling profanely once more, Alex brushed off the ice and followed the Soul Reapers as they headed over, changing back to normal when no one was around.

He did feel a bit better after remembering that he would soon learn everything from McMullen and finally learn the truth behind how he became so infected.

So Renji brings out the bad side of Mercer, and his quest for answers is making him desperate. Possible conflict? Who knows!

Still waiting for an answer about whether or not to post all the chapters in one or keep to the one a day like i do now(though this one was a little late in the day thanks to homework)

Review with your answer!