Rukia arrived in Las Noches some days later with Grimmjow. Her face was expressionless as she walked alongside the big man. She had a lot of questions that she needed to ask and many mysteries she needed to clear, however she doubted whether the mafia would actually answer her questions. Grimmjow led her to the boardroom inside Aizen's palace where they found him waiting. In the boardroom there were also Tousen and Ichimaru, Shuhei and Szayel Aporro.
"Welcome my dear. It's been some time." Aizen smiled at Rukia as he walked slowly towards her. Aizen looked at the delicate girl in front of him and he smiled to himself as he remembered the first time that he had met her. She had always been small and there always seemed to be a fire burning in her eyes. He stroked her face gently as he reminisced on the memory. Rukia felt blocked and powerless in front of the taller man and she plucked up all her courage to speak to him.
"What do you want with me? What are all these experiments about?"
"My my. Have you really forgotten everything my dear? Well then I shall remind you of your powers and you shall wield it again for my sake." With that Aizen tightened his hand around Rukia's chin and dragged her behind him to the head of the table where he had been sitting. From there he grabbed a short dagger and to everyone's surprise he stabbed her in her heart. Rukia was shocked and couldn't react as she felt her chest filling up with blood and her breathing grew heavy. She collapsed to the floor, choking and gurgling on her own warm blood. As she started to lose consciousness she felt a cold sensation gripping at her chest and weighing on her.
Every person that was present remained silent at the shocking actions which had occurred in front of them. They eyed their cold leader as he wiped the dagger on Rukia's clothes as he left her lying on the ground, as she struggled for her final breathe.
"I beg you pardon lord, but didn't we need Rukia alive?" inquired the puzzled Tousen who was answered by chuckling.
"Rukia has blocked out her past, the trauma of her actions must have been too terrifying for her that she has repressed her memories along with her powers. The only way to remind her and to re-awaken her powers is by attacking her. Her instincts have already kicked in and have saved her life. Remember that Rukia has strong healing tendencies, and thus it is an instinctual and unconscious response. Do you remember Gin, when Kira identified Rukia and reported her; he had identified her because she had tried to heal Vice-Sheriff Kaien's wounds. It was an instantaneous reaction- but she was dazed since she failed to react to our man who tried calling out to her. Luckily for us she failed to save Kaien since she was interrupted. Otherwise The Organisation would be on our heels and might have discovered our research by now." Aizen crouched down next to Rukia as he pushed a strand of hair out of her face. Her chest had completely frozen over and she seemed to be in a comatose state.
"Szayel Aporro- I want you to insert the inhibitor on Rukia, when she wakes up I want her to be docile and obedient. We don't want to repeat the Hueco Mundo disaster." Aizen got up and looked at Grimmjow sternly, "You on the other hand are in big trouble."
As soon as Aizen finished his sentence, Tousen shot a tranquillizer bullet in Grimmjow's neck. Shuhei Hisagi was surprised at the blind man's perfect aim and wondered how he was able to achieve it. Then he helped Gin carry his limp body and lock him away in a cell in the basement of the palace. They were accompanied by Szayel Aporro and one of his assistants who was carrying Rukia's unconscious body. The science department was one level above the prison cells and they used the same elevator to reach these locations.
"So you inserted one of these inhibitors in Kira Izuru's brain too?" Gin inquired with the pink-haired scientist.
"Yes of course. These subjects can be very dangerous if they act on their own volition. They would surely turn against us. At the moment Kira doesn't know about his powers. He believes to be a faithful dog of the mafia, but when the time comes his powers shall be activated and he will only follow our orders. His whole personality and judgement will be suppressed. These inhibitors are excellent since the brainwashing that the previous scientist had employed had much more side-effects. This way, we can suppress any area of the brain that we want, be it memory, emotions and the area responsible for their powers as well. Well this is my stop gentlemen." Szayel Aporro left with his assistant and his test subject for the Hougyoku Project.
Shuhei Hisagi felt restless in Ichimaru Gin's company, he didn't like the way he grinned so stupidly and so suspiciously. He was also trying to digest the fact that Kira Izuru was one of the subjects, and felt anxious about the mafia's brooding plan. He knew that it would soon be the time for them to act. After all, they only had to wait for Rukia to regain control on her powers since she was the strongest of all the subjects.
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