Mayuri Kurotsuchi strolled through the wreckage of the Seireitei unconcernedly. True, it did feel very odd to not have Nemu walking behind him, but that was an easily fixed discomfort and detail. She was his best creation, his path to immortality and all the lofty goals of science. No, she would never be perfect, but she would be better than anything else any Soul Reaper could dare dream of! And he was her creator! Already, he had the next Nemu brewing in his lab. He would raise her again, and this time, it would be grander than before.
However, he first had to deal with the troublesome rebellion that was banging at the front gates. When the invasion from the Rukon district had begun, bombs had gone off in his lab, killing most of his staff and destroying a lot of his equipment, which had already been painstakingly repaired after the Quincy invasion. How rude of these country monkeys, these morons incapable of understanding his sheer genius and the glories of his research and experimentations!
With his lab in ruins, it only made sense that he should go and engage the enemy. It was the orders of the dottering Head Captain anyway, but now he knew it was personal. He would destroy every last one of them and get back to work. He highly doubted that there were any among the rabble who would interest him for long. There had been reports of strange swords, which slightly tickled his curiosity. But unless they performed well in front of him, he held off judgement and excitement. Only a fool would get giddy about an unknown element before determining if it was fascinating or dull.
A half-wit scientist like Kisuke Urahara might lose his mind over such trivialities, But not me, he thought smugly. No, I will help put an end to this rebellion quickly and get back to my experiments. Nemu is waiting, and I am feeling a little impatient today.
He reached a long stairway leading down to the ruined rows and barracks were rebels and Soul Reapers battled. As he was about to descend, he felt something. It was someone's spritual presence, only lightly masked. How annoying. He was being stalked by a novice.
Groaning he called out, "Alright, whoever is hiding out there, come over here and get it over with. I am not in the mood to chase silly mice. So if it's death you want, come out now! Or scamper away and die somewhere else."
"That's pretty rude to say," a woman replied, stepping out from the shadows and the rubble to reveal herself. "But it fits what I know about you, Captain Kurotsuchi. As appraisive as ever. All talk with only party tricks to cover up the man you are. I see you have again changed your appearance."
Indeed he had. After the Quincy War, he had gone for having only half of his face striped with a new headset that accented his jaw with a metal beard and allowed his blue hair to flow like a mane behind him. It made people look at him funny, which was always amusing, and it was time for a change. A good scientist was never stagnate.
"My, my, here is a stranger, who thinks she knows so much about," Mayuri said, grinning with his full smile of yellowed teeth. "I wonder what makes a little fool such as yourself so confident and presume too much?"
The woman was very tall, with long blonde hair that fell in curls down her back.. Almost as tall as Kenpachi Zaraki, with a big bosom, muscular arms and leg, shown off by her revealing short skirt and too tight blouse. She also wore heavy, purple rimmed glasses that shone in the sunlight. She pushed them up her nose with her middle finger and smirked at him.
"My name is Helga," she began.
"Yes, I'm sure you think you are very fascinating, but I already know what you are. I can tell from your spiritual presence that you are a Fullbringer, and I do believe that your glasses are the tool by which you use your powers. I have already run a number of experiments on your kind in the past since they revealed themselves to us," Mayuri bragged.
"An overall worthless lot as a species. The only one of any real note is Ichigo Kurosaki, but he is more of a mutt than anything else. I do hope that he trips up with his promises to Central 46. He would make a marvelous specimen to dissect!"
"Kurosaki is a special sample, truly," Helga agreed. "I would think him much more interesting than you, to be all honest."
"There you go again, stating things as if you knew so much," Kurotsuchi cackled. "Where do you get off with such comments and snide remarks? You are a lowly, pathetic Fullbringer and a part of a pointless, troublesome, mediocre rebellion. My, my, my, what a waste of time! At least the last two invasions provided me with challenges! These are mostly inconveniences what I have had to deal with today."
"So the destruction of your lab was merely an inconvenience," Helga asked, raising an eyebrow. "How interesting to hear that from you."
"I gather that you know something about that," the captain said, a little more softly and more dangerous now. "Were you possibly the one behind it?"
Helga smirked and said, "I am responsible for much of what is happening here. I am one of the great minds behind this rebellion and the takeover of the entire Soul Society."
She then pulled out a small glove and fitted it on her hand. Mayuri observed something within the fabric contract and the glove compressed around her hand. Little tentacles grew out of the glow and wormed their way into the woman's flesh.
Now that is rather interesting. I was expecting to see something like happen with the swords, or least something new. It appears as though I won't have to go too far to experience something engaging today. That is an unexpected delight, he thought as his smile grew ever wider.
"And you, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, I have sought you out particularly so that I can kill you and claim your place within this world," Helga declared.
"There you go, making wild claims again," Kurotsuchi said in an annoyed tone.
He implemented Flash Step to charge the Fullbringer wench and cut her in two with hi sword. If she did have any special powers, she would be able to block his attack. If not, then he was expending only the minimal amount of effort to slay her. As he closed the short distance and pulled out his sword, Helga shot out her hand and touched his sword wrist with her gloved hand. Pain shot through his arm as his hand was blown away.
The captain leaped back and frowned. "That was unexpected, human. You got the drop on me there. You used your ability to enhance your body to match the speed of my Flash Step. Very nicely done. And the weapon on your hand allowed you to shred off my hand. Impressive. Is this really your Fullbringer power? If so, it is not nearly as impressive as your reaction time."
He pulled out a needle and injected a healing serum in to his stumpy arm. His hand quickly regrew, and he unsheathed his sword. He flipped the blade's point to aim directly at the woman's heart. She looked bored and only glanced at his zanpakuto.
"You will need to be quicker than that if you ever want a chance at defeating me," she sneered. "Now then, let's see what you've got for me!"
She slammed her gloved hand into the ground and the already broken structure they stood atop crumbled into pebbles. Mayuri easily kept his stance as the ground fell away underneath him. He wondered how she had done that. It was clear the glove wa the conduit for her powers, which meant that if he wanted to disarm her, he needed to separate that weapon from her. It would probably be best to just take her arm off so he could run experiments on her flesh and the glove later.
"Claw Out! Ashisogi Jizo!" His sword transformed into its shikai state and he charged Helga. "All I have to do is immobilize you and then taking your arm will be easy!"
Helga reached out with her gloved hand and Mayuri dodged, cackling, "You cannot pull the same trick over me twice!"
He came around her and slashed her across the back. The large woman screamed in pain and fell with the debris to the ground. She was nearly buried underneath it all. Mayuri clucked to himself, idly wondering if he might have gone overboard, but decided he really hadn't. It was the Fullbringer who had destroyed the platform and stairway after all, not him.
The rubble gave way as Helga stood up, despite the wound across her back. She appeared to be moving easily, despite the paralytic cut from Ashisogi Jizo. SAhe then reached to her back and touched it. The wound he had inflicted quickly resealed as if she was using instant regeneration. But he noticed that even her clothes restitched themselves.
Her powers are not just for destruction, she can also recreate and heal. That must be how she was able to overcome my zanpakuto. He then smiled wickedly to himself and thought, Perfect! I laced its edge recently with a whole new array of poisons and toxins. Let's just see how well she can recover from them! If she is able to, then I might have just found a very worthy specimen indeed! If there is someone who can heal on the same level as that Orihime girl, then I must have that ability!
"Helga was it? That is a new one for me. Okay, test subject helga, tell me how you feel," he prompted, trying to keep himself from salivating too much.
The Fullbringer gave him a cold stare and said, "I can feel the poisons that you injected into me, but I am breaking each one of them down. Your pitiful science and meddling with potions is no match for what I wield. I specifically crafted my bakoto to match you and your eccentric ways point for point."
"Again, you act as if you know me so well. Why is that? It's so bothersome," Mayuri sighed.
"I know you so well, because you are a selfish, egotistical, prideful idiot," she sneered. "You laid the groundwork for your own defeat, and now I am just building on it."
"Fascinating," he responded, rolling his eyes. "The monkey thinks it's smart. In any case, you mentioned a new word to my ears. A bakoto was it? Is that your glove right there? I recognized the tentacles that wove their way under your skin. That is not a traditional Fullbringer technique."
"You are as observant as ever," Helga said dryly. She lifted her right hand and informed him, "This is my bakoto, and with it, you do not stand a chance against me!"
She suddenly clutched her breast and the shot her hand out in a wide arc. A dark blue gas emitted from her glove and started covering the battlefield. Captain Kurotsuchi cut through the acrid fog with his zanpakuto and made his way to the Fullbringer. As he did so, his breathing started becoming laborious, and he saw that cancerous, green blotches were formed all over his hands. He could even feel them on his face.
"What did you just do," he coughed.
"I just reused all of the poisons that you used on, and I perfected them," helga smiled.
"And you said you wanted to supplant me," Mayuri spat, taking out yet another needle and injecting himself. The itching and pain instantly ceased, and he started healing again, quickly. "As a scientist, you should never strive for perfection, because once you have achieved it, your very reason for existing will be lost. We are always pushing boundaries, learning, exploring. Perfection is the end to that! You are no researcher, just a pathetic, aspiring copycat. You rebounded my poisons well, but you did not even come close to perfecting them!"
Helga did not say anything but frown at him.
The captain continued, "I think I have it figured out now! Your glove, or bakoto allows you to take the physical makeup of anything you can touch and rearrange it! You are even able to affect a target on the molecular level, allowing you to reach through the flesh of your body and into the bloodstream, purging your system of my poisons. What a tantalizing option! I can only begin imagining at this very moment what I could achieve with such a device!
"Tell me, so it will at least prolong your life, how did you make this bakoto? It references a weapon, but it appears more like a Fullbringer talisman in truth."
Helga held up her right hand in a fist and snarled, "Most bakotos that have been made are swords, or other such crude weapons. But it does not suit me or my skill set. So I worked with the Kasumioji Clan's smiths to form a bakoto that could be much more flexible, and suit my needs perfectly. It works by taking my spiritual pressure and devouring it. In return, i am granted an exponential increase of power so long as I have the bakoto engaged."
"Fascinating! So in theory, if this battle were to drag out for a while, you would be consumed by your own weapon," Mayuri observed happily. "And it is an exponential increase in power you say? I would like to see that at work! Especially because previous encounters have shown conclusively that Fullbringers, even with borrowed Soul Reaper powers, are no match for Captain Class warriors."
"Thinking in terms of power will only get you killed in this battle," Helga responded.
"Ah, so it is a battle of wits and preparedness that you seek? You want to see if your bakoto can take on all of my inventions," Mayuri declared. But then he held up a finger and said, "But I have not forgotten that you haven't said what your Fullbringer power even is yet. I am no fool to engage in earnest combat if I do not have all the facts I need."
"You should think it through," Helga said, walking slowly towards him. "I am certain that your oversized head can even solve this riddle."
"It's simple, honestly," Mayuri said with his arms spread out. "You have the ability to analyze all you see through your glasses! They stick out on your face like a wart, and is clear that they are a direct match to whatever powers you have.. Sight. Analytical insight. It's rather easy."
Helga smiled and said, "Very good. Now that you have figured it out, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, let me end this!"
With a wave of her hand, the Fullbringer brought the poisonous gas together into a tornado around the captain. It turned from blue to a deadly yellow and then exploded. Mayuri cackled and walked out of the dust, unharmed.
"Let me show you how a true master of poisons works! Bankai! Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo!" There was an explosion of purple smoke and poison and his sword summoned the large, caterpillar beast, belching even more venom into the air. "And this time, I am the only one with an antidote to this attack! Perish, test subject Helga!"
Helga launched herself into the air and right for his sword's bankai form. He wondered what she could possibly be thinking. He saw her slap the beast, and it disintegrated! The poison in the air became thicker and fell to the ground like liquid. Helga landed next to him as Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo continue to break apart around them, then she punched right through his chest. He felt his organs turn to mush and his bones shatter. It was only through sheer willpower that Kurotsuchi was able to bring him sword up and ram it into himself.
The liquidification process began. He still hurt from the hit, but with his bankai miraculously defeated and his body so quickly compromised, he needed to retreat. He would return, better prepared once his body was reformed, and take his revenge. He knew that the others could deal with the girl for a little while and hold her off. He should issue a report saying that she was to be his and his alone to kill. He just had to make it back to the lab.
"Oh no you don't," Helga said viciously, with a wide smile on her face. She plunged her hand into Kurotsuchi's liquid, green body.
He was about to taunt her at a futile attempt to hurt him, when he suddenly felt his body reforming. With shock and pure terror coloring his face, he was pulled back into the same form he tried to escape. Only, this time he knew there was no escaping it. He felt something inside his head and heart. He lay on the ground looking up at her.
"There was a part of me that always wanted to collect data from death personally," he sighed, as a familiar voice called out to him. "Don't you dare touch Nemu, you wretched man."
Kurotsuchi's head and chest exploded, killing him instantly, and splattering Helga's legs and skirt with his blood and gore. She laughed and turned to face the newcomer.
"You should have stepped in early. You could have saved him, but you just couldn't let go of that thing you call pride, could you? Kisuke Urahara?"