Ultrabross's Vision
CHP49: Held Up
As they journeyed through the halls kept a close lookout regarding their surroundings. Everything was a lot quieter than expected and for Ichigo was a red flag. They were able to break in and enter so easily and to that moment still hadn't been confronted. Akua, Ruby and Mizore shared a similar feeling. Ichigo was fully confident in his own abilities so didn't worry so much. Much as they speculated nothing could be confirmed. Unknown to them a certain someone observed their action from afar, sitting back with a grin. He knew after lowering the barriers they'd find their way to the fortress in some way or another.
Things were about to get entertaining and could hardly wait to see how it would play out. From the main entrance one of his subordinates entered. She positioned behind him taking a look at what was on the screen, "Isn't it just Kurosaki you're interested in, if that is so than why let the rest of his comrades into the building?"
"You speak as if they're a danger of some kind, have you already forgotten the powerful beings here at our disposal Feyaglia? Including yourself and some of the top generals they would be rendered useless, Ichigo is the only one possessing any kind of menacing strength. Besides it is more interesting this way…this will be the last time they're together as well. The statuesque will be taking a huge jump very soon. I eagerly await the expression on the Death God's face in his last moment's right before he becomes mine." Ultrabross rubbed his hands together.
"Yeah about that, you still haven't given me or the oth…"
"Feyaglia, must you inquire of such a useless thing. At this point in time will see it with your very own eyes. This'll be a day for you to remember, and once we're done here will pay Ichigo's homeland a visit. I've got just the plan to draw out the Gotei Thirteen and knock them out of the picture. When it is all set and done my power will be on a completely different scale than even they can handle. World domination is in my reach, oh how I can hardly wait."
She leaned against the nearest wall observing some of the other security feed throughout the castle. Ultrabross grinned watching as Ichigo and company made their way to the sixth floor. His fingers ventured over the main panel; Feyaglia taking notice of his sinister expression.
"I love it when I'm right." Ultrabross uttered.
"What are you planning?"
"Kurosaki and his group are headed down the path I predicted they'd choose. Once they come up on the hall ahead they will be separated. What they do from there is the question, but shall be amusing to see unfold. Just like a cluster of mice that have fallen right for the bait." Ultrabross laughed.
Feyaglia leaned forward taking a closer look at the screen knowing right away what her master had in mind. As it had been since entering Ruby led the way. The device given to them by the headmaster worked wonders and appeared to be drawing nearer to Moka with each step. As a flight of stairs came into view, something none of them prepared for happened. The floor beneath them split open! Being the only ones with flight capability, Kurumu and Ichigo were the only ones that avoided the fall. Unfortunately the surface slammed shut before either could make a move at recovering even a single of their friends.
"What the hell!" Ichigo grimaced.
They could hear their screams, but only for a brief moment as it died down. Though he was unable to see them knew they were still alive, "There's no reason to panic, everyone is ok for the moment."
"How do you know that?"
"I can detect their spirit energy. They might have suffered some bumps and bruises but are still alive. Question is whether we go after them or continue where we were headed, I can sense Moka somewhere up ahead. Whether we persist on or turn around will have some ground to cover. And with what just happened is safe to assume the enemies of this place know we're here." Ichigo implied.
Kurumu crossed her arms whilst frowning, which as a result Ichigo took a step back raising an eyebrow.
"Where was this ability of yours back when the headmaster's device was not functional? Able to detect spirits, uses a blade in battle and possess unbelievable physical strength…"
"We aren't discussing that right now, we've got more important matters to deal with and you know it. Strange as it might sound I wasn't able to detect Moka until right around the instant that device of his decided to start working again. I have no explanation but believe whatever was the cause is undoubtedly from the same source." Ichigo said.
The succubi stayed silent for a brief period thinking things over.
"If what you say is true and everyone is ok, then I have no doubt they will continue their pursuit of Moka. With that I think we should do the same. If we're lucky might even meet up at around the same time. That seems like the only logical thing to do with the current circumstance." Kurumu suggested.
"I was thinking something similar, good to know we're on the same page. Not that we hadn't before but going forward need to especially be on guard."
Kurumu nodded as Ichigo stepped ahead leading the way. The thought of smashing through the ground and going after the others did come to mind, but could have done more damage than help. And secondly would all but confirm to the enemy of their exact position. It was still unknown if the trap was automatic or if someone manually put it into play as they passed through. Down below Akua pushed Haiji off her side, both sore from the fall. The surrounding was a good deal different to what they experienced up top. It didn't occur to them right away but quickly realized they were the only ones there!
"We've obviously been separated from the others during the fall. Without the item in Ruby's possession we're good as screwed trying to find Moka, not only that but the others as well. Wait where are you…" Haiji was unable to finish.
He watched Akua begin her way down the hall without speaking a word. Haiji followed after her in a quick jog, "Are you really trying to divide us further; if you truly think that will help the situation than you've gone mad."
"Try and keep up karate boy, we're like sitting ducks if we stay here for long. I don't know how we'll do it but must get to nee-chan. It's that or find your friends, I have a bad feeling about what might happen if we don't do one of the two quickly." Akua replied.
Haiji understood her thought and couldn't agree more. The tiles under their feet were of black and white like that of a domino. Just as their situation, Ruby, Mizore and Yukari found themselves in an entirely unique environment. Mizore blinked a couple times confirming she was seeing things correctly. The carpeting was a bright sky blue with the walls painted a pink blue combination with photos of colorful dinosaurs, castles, bunny rabbits and rainbows.
"Uhhmm are the rest of you seeing this?" Mizore asked.
"Yes and before either of you say anything I think we can all agree this is way high on the weird scale. It comes into question just what kind of people we are dealing with. I just hope the rest of everyone is doing ok. All we can do now is continue following this and hope we bump into them on our way to Moka-chan." Ruby said.
"I don't know how we got ourselves into this but the sooner we get out the better. I just hope we get back to the yokai realm in one piece." Yukari added.
From where he sat Ultrabross was all smiles. The two divided groups away from Ichigo were already in the quarters of two of his more skillful pupils. He pushed back standing from his chair facing Feyaglia, "Alert Captain Crash to cut into the path of Kurosaki Ichigo and the succubus. I'm sure by now his scanners have already alerted him of activity near his area of operation, but contact him just in case. After you've done that meet me on the main dock, I will have the vampire with me. In the meantime I will notify the rest of security, changes in positions will be necessary."
"Yes sir, I'm on it." She stepped away from the monitors exiting out.
Ultrabross took one final look at the screen before stepping out as well. No one was more ecstatic than him; everything he'd planned for was finally coming to fruition. Down below Haiji and Akua stayed close and hadn't said anything since ending up where they did. A strange sound echoed from ahead and became louder the further they went. Before long two figures came into view one dressed in white and the other black.
"Who the hell are they?" Haiji thought silently.
Akua and Haiji resumed down the path given it was the only apparent exit out of the section of where they ended up.
"Welcome, welcome…we don't get very many guests down here, so thanks for coming. Looking at you bunch gets me all excited, the blood is pumping and I'm ready to get down and dirty. How about you Sister Day?"
"Oh you know it Brother Night; these two will make for the perfect prey." The woman licked her lips.
Haiji scratched at his left cheek.
"Did you just refer to us as prey?" Haiji questioned, wide eyed.
"If that's what Sister Day said then that's what you are. Those that are sent to our sector don't make it out alive. How's about a little insight on what we're gonna do to yah? Yeah, yeah I think that sounds like a splendid idea. First we're gonna beat you to a pulp and then we ar…"
"Listen I think you've got things a little mixed up here. You're A going to show us the way to the main floor or B we kick your ass and force the info outta yah. The choice is yours." Haiji cracked his knuckles.
Both laughed seeing his comments as some joke.
"Quite the comedian isn't he Brother Night?"
"Yes indeed Sister Day. But I like his confidence, it'll make it just that much more worth beating him through the ground. His friend however hasn't spoken a word…a true realist. I'd be trembling in fear to if I had to stand before us in battle. Oh well it can't be helped and since you're here now will be dealt with accordingly. Sister Day is there one in particular you'd like, I'd personally like to silence this karate nut if you don't mind."
"Fine by me Brother Night. These two roaches don't even have the slightest chance, we're Yin and Yang, fire and water and of course darkness and the light." She giggled.
"So basically opposites, yeah we get the idea and frankly don't care. Out of the way or get ready for the pounding of your life." Haiji declared.
xxx
Roughly waiting out the time Ultrabross requested Morrigan returned to a specific prison cell from the aquarium dock. As she reached for her keycard, realized it was missing and figured she must have set it down somewhere between the library and aquarium. She however had a backup keycard unlocking the door and entering; as she did felt her heart skip a couple beats.
"Impossible! He's gone!"
She looked around scouring the entire space and was clear he did in fact escape. Morrigan punched at the nearest wall and knew one thing for certain, and that was she needed to find the Batman before anyone else did, especially not Ultrabross. Guards were scattered and moving all over from their usual posts. The changes came immediately as word came in from up top intruders were within the fortress. Hidden within a dark corner he watched as a couple guards passed by in full stride. After things cleared he stepped out into the open. He had escaped his cell but was still something he needed before leaving completely.
Passing the maintenance center meant what he was in search for wasn't too much further ahead. Footsteps from ahead approached quickly so again found a place to keep hidden taking to the ceiling with his grapple gun. Soon as the group of ten passed, returned to the ground. It wasn't long after that Dock B Eleven came into view. Switching the mode within his cowl was able to distinguish the exact location of where the computer systems were. He forced open a side door and to his surprise wasn't a single guard.
Dozens of screens were on display, and was similar to a room he passed in the maintenance section. He quickly made his way over to the control panel and though portions of the setup were foreign to him was able to figure it after some time of inspection. More importantly found a place where he could insert a device. The first of the two were not compatible which came as no surprise seeing that he was dealing with alien tech. As he pushed in the last of the three hacking devices was thrilled the one in particular fit perfectly and attuned with the system. He'd dealt with more eccentric firewalls so was able to break passed the security with relative ease. All that remained was uploading what he could and getting out of the castle before they discovered he had escaped.
As the group led by Ruby carried on down the hallway something ahead stopped them in their tracks. They weren't able to make out what was said but were positive it was the voice of a child. The first thought and shared by the entire group was it had to be a prisoner to the ones in control of the place. The voice became clearer the further they progressed and looked to be coming from an open door. Together they stepped through and their suspicions were confirmed.
"Would you care to join me for some tea Sal…oh of course my dear anything for you. Oh I knew you'd come through for me. Of course my love, I'd do anything for you and give you anything just say it."
Situated on her knees beside a coffee table was a young girl with long orange hair; facing the opposite way. Two dolls were in her grasp, setting them down as she felt the presence of the three spinning around. She had dark brown eyes, a white bow in her hair and green dress standing at 4'9.
"Hello there hehe, have you come to play?"
Mizore, Ruby and Yukari all looked at each other, before focusing back on the young girl.
"What's your name little girl? I'm Ruby and these are my friends Mizore-chan and Yukari-chan. I don't know your circumstance but if you're looking to escape this place than feel free to tag along with us. I can't imagine a place like this would be home to a child like you." Ruby extended an arm.
"Hehe don't be silly of course this is my home and it's been quite a while since I've had friends stop by to play. The last of em weren't very fun though, they were so mean," The girl pouted sticking out her lower lip, "But I put them in their place, yes. They won't say or do another mean again, no no no!"
Mizore and Yukari couldn't help but exchange glimpses; similar thoughts regarding the young girl.
"What happened to these other friends of yours?" Ruby asked politely with a smile.
"Over there on the shelf." She pointed.
All three looked and couldn't believe their eyes. There had to at least be thirty of them, all of which human skulls!
"So what do you think of my collection?" She smirked perceiving the fear upon their faces.
Elsewhere Ichigo and Kurumu advanced closer to Moka and to that point couldn't be any more than sixty yards from where they stood. Just as he took another step Ichigo dropped to a knee positioning a hand over the side of his head. Though he wasn't within his physical body felt like he was burning all over. It was comparable to being engulfed in flames. Kurumu kneeled down beside him placing a hand over his shoulder.
"Ichigo are you ok, talk to me?"
It was in that moment someone stepped in front of them clad in a combination of silver and gold armor. He stood at 5'10 wearing a gold helmet over his face, glowing purple lenses around the section of his eyes.
"Hello children my name's Captain Crash and this is as far as you go."
To Be Continued