Chapter Thirty-Eight

What was left of the Fourteenth Division stepped through the garganta into a ruined Seireitei. All lingering thoughts of their former arguments vanished as the stark reality of Caro's war hit them all at once. Kitsune, obviously the weakest of the group, shuddered and rubbed his arms, his fox-red hair standing up on end from the sheer amount of ambient reiatsu in the air.

"What happened?" murmured Herald, his usual stoic expression broken by the sheer scope of the destruction. He had seen massive damage before, had caused it himself when he drained most of his inherited Arrancar power to kill Aizen, but that had been in a pre-existing wasteland. This was spread out across the whole of Seireitei and, from the look of black smoke in the far distance, across the upper districts of the Rukongai.

Perhaps smaller battles were still going on somewhere beneath the chaos, but their attention was captured by the dozen captain-level battles raging across the ruin. Two, Steve recognized. The spiritual pressure of Kurosaki Taichou raged against that of another captain near the Eleventh Division barracks, and somewhere in the distance he could sense Urahara Taichou battling what felt like an Arrancar, but the air was so messy with energy it was hard to tell. He could point out those few because he was very familiar with those particular captains.

Behind the co-lieutenants, the other members of the Special Units slowly gathered themselves. Yylfordt and Edward drew their Zanpakutos almost at the same time, and Dikayumi began scanning the area for enemies. Erina and Kitsune exchanged concerned looks; their usual job, being the only Kido-users left, would be to find and tend to the wounded, but there was so much destruction (and potential for casualties) that they didn't now where to start, or even if they should start at all.

"Alright," declared Steve finally. "The priority should be the... two last generals, and Caro himself. From the records in the catacombs, we are dealing with Kurotsuchi and Halibel, but I would rather not fight Halibel if at all possible. She's undoubtedly being controlled, too."

"And Kurotsuchi isn't?" asked Herald, and Steve grinned humorlessly.

"Does anyone care?"

No one cared. Even Erina had heard the stories of the former Captain of the Twelfth Division.

"Shinigami... die, Shinigami..."

All eyes turned to the source of the growl. A bestial Arrancar, like any of the many lesser Arrancar created by Aizen before he perfected his technique, came crawling towards them along a crooked street wall. Already released, already with blood staining his jagged white fangs, and the hunger for more seemed to have overridden any sense of caution about throwing himself at eight opponents at once.

Edward grinned. His blue eyes narrowed, and an old tone crept into his voice.

"This one's mine. Go on, guys, I'll catch up."

Steve nodded and gestured, and Yylfordt was the only one to hesitate before following him off down the street. The enemy Arrancar tensed to pounce, even as Edward whipped his Zanpakuto to eye-level and scratched his fingernails gratingly over the blade in an unnecessary, but gleefully faithful, display. His eyes burned fiercely over the top of the silver blade.

"Grind your teeth, Kagehyō!"

A moment later, racing even the blast of reiatsu caused by the release of the half-human Resurrección, a black, blue-streaked feline bullet pounced on the Muerte minion. Kagehyō had no reservations about meeting tooth and claw with tooth and claw.

...

Erina could hear the yowls moments after they ran from the battle site, but she kept her eyes fixed ahead. The enemies here would start coming at them hard and fast, and if he couldn't handle one opponent on his own, then the Special Units were in for trouble.

Then, a thought struck her. As they ran, she shouted over to Kitsune, who was closest, "I'm going to help him. We forgot about Caro!"

His red eyes widened, then he nodded. She abruptly turned, skidding backwards for some distance before her momentum ran out, then ran back towards where they had come in.

Divide and conquer. The sight of Seireitei in flames had distracted all of them, made them remember the old battles where force met force and the stronger won out, but the danger they had faced in the World of the Living was the same they faced here. The threat of manipulation. However strong Edward might be, and he was strong, it would not help if Caro found him while no one else was around.

She reached him again only a few moments after they left, but already he and the released Arrancar were tearing into one another in a furious midair brawl. The hard, bony hide of the full-Arrancar seemed the far more effective armor compared to Kagehyo's black fur, but Edward had every instinct of a feline battlemaster. The mane of electric-blue fur along his spine stood straight up on end as he weaved through the larger Arrancar's attacks, hissing and clawing at the hardened bone hide with deadly white claws at every chance. Erina wondered for a moment if she should even get involved, then quickly chanted one of her favourite bakudos and wrapped shining yellow chains around the snarling Arrancar.

Edward took full advantage of the sudden advantage. He pounced onto the Arrancar's back like a mongoose and snapped his teeth into the back of the Hollow's neck. Then, with a twisting jump that looked like it would break the back of anything not-a-cat, he vaulted over the Arrancar's head and slashed at it's throat with claws fully extended.

Of course, he landed on his feet.

The Arrancar howled in pain and stumbled, falling heavily to the ground. Edward darted forward, resealing his Resurrección even as he moved, and rammed his Zanpakuto straight through the Arrancar's chest, burying the full length of the blade in the thick, vaguely animal-shaped body. The struggling Arrancar went limp, then it's own Resurrección faded, leaving only the red-cloaked body behind.

Edward slashed his Zanpakuto through the air, then sheathed it in satisfaction. He glanced questioningly at Erina, but she didn't notice.

"I wonder..." she muttered, jumping down to kneel next to the dead Arrancar. She pulled the cloak off and, after using a very low-level kido to clean the blood off, swirled it around her shoulders and flipped up the hood.

"You're not thinking what it looks like you're thinking, are you?" asked Edward, and Erina grinned.

"Why not?"

"Because, I feel I must remind you, we are not sneaky. There are passwords, remember, and code phrases and group numbers, or whatever... none of which we know."

"Does it look like anyone is paying attention to that right now?" she protested, and an explosion near the base of Sogyoku Hill helped make her point right on cue. "We might be able to avoid more battles if we go undercover, and I, for one, would rather not have to fight brainwashed Shinigami."

Edward considered for a long moment, then lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. "Alright, it's worth a shot. We'll just have to pick up another cloak on the way to wherever it is you intend on going."

"After the others, of course. We still need to stick together, and I have a feeling that, without some disguises, we are only going to keep getting noticed."

"By worse and worse opponents," growled Edward, and, again, an explosion emphasized his point.

This time, the explosion was not at Sogyoku Hill. It was right on top of the rest of the Fourteenth forces.

A white hyori flapped in the wind, and glaring, cold grey eyes focused on each of the Special Units members in turn. Without waiting for the dust to clear, four young voices rose in command, releasing their various powers while Kitsune alone dropped to the ground, gasping for breath under the captain-level pressure.

Lilynette prowled around Herald's legs, snarling. Yylfordt cracked his released whip in the air threateningly, taking a swift step forward and to one side to get between this new opponent and Steve. Charles did the same for Kitsune, though he dared not take his eyes off the enemy in order to help the mod soul up. Dikayumi instantly hopped back and up into the air to get a bird's eye view of the situation, his bow materializing in his hand before any of the others had finished their releases.

And so they were as ready as they could be when the dust settled, and they realized the woman facing them, small and deadly as a poisoned dagger, was the Captain of the Second Division.

Charles stiffened.

Nnoitra awoke.

They killed Tesla.

It was only by the swift action of Steve that he did not immediately jump into almost certain death. As soon as the captain revealed herself, Steve looked at Charles and saw the sudden shift in stance, from defensive to aggressive, and he knew it wasn't Charles anymore. One of his hands flashed out and he closed his invisible puppet strings around Nnoitra in that split second, yanking him back even as he leapt forward.

"Let me go, Szayel," snarled the Fifth through Charles's voice. His body tensed like a spring and Steve clenched his fist, feeling the strain threatening to break his hold.

"Not... yet..." he hissed through gritted teeth. "She hasn't... attacked yet."

Soi-Fon Taichou had not moved an inch since she landed, except her eyes. They scanned the group dispassionately, appraising them like cattle at an auction.

"So, what side are you on?" asked Herald, just for the sake of stalling. He did not doubt where her loyalties were; the Stealth Force Commander had barely paid attention to them when her forces were actively arresting them last year for (apparently) murdering a captain. For her to be here now when there were Arrancar loose in the city, there was obviously something manipulating her prioritizes.

Nor did she feel the need to reply to him. She drew her small sword and fixed her eyes on Herald, prompting the wolf-spirit that was Lilynette to raise her hackles and growl threateningly.

"You killed Aizen," she declared. "Caro wants you dead."

Herald shrugged. "I killed a third of Aizen, and it actually cost me quite a bit, so I'm not as big a threat as you probably think."

Soi-Fon's eyes narrowed. "Regardless, orders are orders."

She twitched, and everyone exploded into action at once.