Chapter Twenty-Three

Kaba raised his hand immediately, eyes wide with glee behind his multiple pairs of glasses.

"I volunteer!" he declared, his tone almost threatening anyone else to speak up. "I can do it."

They were looking for a volunteer to try and figure out how, exactly, Caro was hypnotizing his victims, and of course the rest of the cowards in this particular group were sitting on their hands. Kurotsuchi Fukataichou noted his enthusiasm and nodded.

"Good, Taichou thought you might find this interesting anyway. We're setting up in Isolation Lab Four."

Kaba whirled back to his desk, hastily saving and closing down all his work. It could be restored soon enough, and even though Tadataka Yonseki was out of the picture, Kaba was sure the Fourth Seat had lower ranked members of Seireitei still working for him. Spying on Kaba's work at every opportunity. And this could be the perfect chance for them, if things went poorly. Kaba wanted to be sure his station was secure in his absence.

As soon as he was done, he rose, chair spinning away from his sharp movements. "Time to solve this thing!" he declared to the room, and the room was silent save for tapping keys as everyone tried to figure out how he expected them to react to this. Kaba left them to it, striding confidently to the door.

Isolation Lab Four was nearly empty, having been unused for years. Urahara and Kurotsuchi Nemu were the only ones there besides himself.

"See, I knew you'd be interested, but to pull yourself away from all that critical work... I'll admit, I'm a little shocked," Urahara Taichou said teasingly. Kaba drew himself up.

"I suspect, even if I should completely lose my mind to this project, you should be able to convince me to keep working on the Mender Project, at least, with a little smooth talking. A working Dangai would be beneficial to both sides, yes? Just keep me under lock and key while I'm doing it!"

"Heh, we may be able to work something out," agreed Urahara, then gestured to the setup. "Here's the plan. We show you the same video Tadataka Yonseki saw before going over to Caro's side, but we only expose you to it one element at a time – visuals, sound, etc. If that fails, we begin combining individual elements one at a time, see which combination triggers the response. Hopefully we'll be able to narrow down what, exactly, it is that causes the transference of loyalties."

Kaba cracked his long fingers, smiling in anticipation.

"Excellent. And I hope we have something other then my word...?"

Nemu cut him short by grabbing his arm, twisting it and neatly inserting a needle in one smooth movement. "Micro-recorders; they'll let us monitor your vitals and any physical responses. Even if you are hypnotized and unable to answer truthfully, we should be able to see the reaction from inside. Do you have your Zanpakuto on you?"

"In other words, it won't matter what I say," Kaba said approvingly, taking the quill from behind his ear and handing it to Nemu. "You'll find out the truth no matter how much I wish to hide it." He chuckled. "Anything else I need to know?"

Urahara hmmed. "I don't think so. We will be recording all of it, of course, and if you do go over to Caro's side and we can't peacefully subdue you..."

"Make sure you learn all you possibly can from the autopsy."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Urahara said hastily. "Let's get started, shall we?"

The isolation chamber seemed unharmed by its long disuse, but Kaba couldn't help but look at it critically as he stepped through the airlock. It was the sort of unbreakable chamber the former Twelfth Division captain had used to experiment on Hollows and other violent cases. Kaba had always wanted (in a casual sort of way) to get locked inside of one so he could try and figure out how best to break out. Through the ventilation, probably, even with whatever complicated system the designers had come up with to prevent it from being the weak point. It had never been that important before, though, a simple curiosity, and now he was rather glad he had never looked into it.

Though... he had to admit, he was fascinated by the mere idea of Caro's hypnotism. They had no idea what it even was, how it worked, or what it affected... what better way to learn those secrets then to experience it for yourself?

There was a monitor set in the center of the chamber, and Kaba sat down cross-legged in front of it.

"First, we're focusing on his Zanpakuto itself. We've gotten reports that seem to indicate he already released his Resurrección at this point, but there's no proof of it that we can tell, and that Zanpakuto could hold the secret. Ready?"

Kaba nodded, taking off his glasses and leaning in closer. He wanted no variables, no complications affecting the data.

The video was poorly edited; probably by someone's program or robot – something that couldn't be influenced. Everything except the Zanpakuto had been blackened out, and Kaba kept his eyes fixed on it dedicatedly.

At the end of the clip, he shook his head in disappointment. "Nothing."

"This next one is his lips, and after that the audio. It could be something he said."

It seemed possible, but by the end Kaba was shaking his head again. "Nothing." Caro had just been smiling in a sickeningly friendly kind of way. Kaba preferred it when enemies were honest in their facial expressions.

"Eyes next."

It was the eyes.

Kaba's heart skipped.

It was those eyes.

They knew, of course, by now. He had only felt an emotional response himself, but his body had betrayed him. The question now, though, was how to minimize the damage? He would be no good to Caro locked up in this chamber. Curse those micro recorders...

.

Nemu looked up from her station.

"Taichou? The micros got a strong physical reaction. It's the eyes."

Urahara nodded, glancing back at the chamber. His fifth seat looked up from the monitor wordlessly, his expression almost pleading. How strange it must be, to suddenly be on the wrong side of the war. And how helpless he must be feeling...

"Gas him," Urahara ordered, and Nemu nodded, flicking a switch. The vents hissed slightly as gas began flooding the chamber.

"At least now we know," he muttered as Kaba sank, unconscious, to the floor. "We can't fight him if we don't know what we're up against."

.

Maka Urai sat in the sand of the hidden training grounds, thinking.

Planning.

The Twelfth Division, at least, were not all won over to Caro's side. A message had been sent throughout Seireitei via butterfly that carried a dire warning.

Do not look into Arrarrico Caro's eyes. Meeting his gaze is what turns people over to his side, even in recordings. Avoid looking at his eyes at all costs.

How many Shinigami had looked at Caro during that battle at the walls? Urai almost wished he had been conscious for that fight, just so he had an idea of what divisions had been present, and were now compromised.

But if I had been conscious, chances are I would be on his side now, too.

But what was his next move?

With who-knew-how-many divisions, possibly everyone who had gone to meet his assault, now on his side, that meant Caro could very well control a good part of Seireitei. He could be fighting in the streets on even terms with the rest of the divisions... so why wasn't he? What was he planning next? Where was he holed up?

Urai wasn't in a hurry. Even now the secret training room was empty; still secret. He should be safe, and while he was safe, he could be thinking. Caro wasn't an opponent he wanted to face without preparing an appropriate strategy.

And he had a butterfly locked in the warehouse up above. If the Twelfth Division found out anything new, any clues on how to defeat Caro, Urai would hear them.

.

"Do you think Ryohime is alright?"

Steve sighed, shaking his head in dismay. "There's no knowing, I'm afraid." A pause, then, "Herald... I forgot to give out the changed times the Mender was going to be running. It's my fault if she and Vance..."

Herald patted Steve's back awkwardly. "It's not all your fault, though."

"He's right," said Sanseki grimly. "She was... clearly not thinking straight. While infiltrating Caro's facility I heard of this happening... those with extraordinarily strong loyalties can go insane when he starts fiddling around inside their heads. The conflict of interests can be too strong for them to stand."

"So you think she's really lost to us?" asked Herald, sounding more miserable then Steve had ever heard him. And why shouldn't he be? His two oldest friends, Lilynette aside, had just disappeared into a Senkaimon while the Dangai was off-limits. The chances of them making it out alive were... incredibly slim.

"We should probably get Ishida's Hollow back into the basement," Sanseki said, tone turning business-like once more. "With Caro's Hollow gone, there's nothing to distract him if he manages to break out of your grip, Nakamaru Fukataichou."

"He won't," Steve replied. With all other distractions gone and Herald and Lilynette to be the attackers, Caro's Hollow had been relatively easy to capture and then kill, and now Steve could use both hands to hold Dikayumi's Black Hollow still. All the same, it was getting very tiring, holding that powerful Black Hollow in check, so Steve followed Sanseki without further complaint.

"Without Ryohime, I'm not sure Kitsune and Erina can create enough barriers to hold him without dangerously tiring themselves," Herald mused as they headed back. "Though I suppose they should be more rested by now."

"If only we could figure out how to get Dikayumi back! It feels like fate is just... picking off the Fourteenth Division. One by one." There was a large hole in the roof of Kitsune's shop, so Steve aimed for that new shortcut. "And we're cut off from Soul Society for half a day, though whether we could be of any help over there is questionable, considering our current state."

"I should be over there," Sanseki muttered, then saw Steve looking and shrugged. "Duty calls. I have intel to deliver to Soi-fon Taichou... but I can't deliver it. Half a day is a long time when there is game-changing information on the line."

Herald sighed. "If only we had access to a Garganta."

Steve nearly smashed the Black Hollow into the roof of the shop when his fingers twitched. He corrected his steering and looked at Herald, eyes wide behind his glasses.

"You know what... we might. We have Yylfordt."