Comes Around

This is no fun. They have figured out our tricks, Rizu, and they have immobilized our puppets. What? They are hurting you? Hush hush my precious. Mabashi promises to make them pay. What are we to do now my dear? More of them? A hundred of us, for every one of the squads in the Gotei 13? Or, shall we say, quantity over quality? Perhaps one of her is worth more than hundred in the streets of Seireitei… come Rizu, we shall have some grand fun this time. We shall make them pay for our injuries.

Hmm… where is she… where is she… I spy with my little eye a fallen captain and the weak pulse of an ebbing reiatsu. Aha!

Mabashi sniggered as he approached Soifon's prone body. "So, you've crawled here to die? No matter." He prodded her lightly with his foot and she looked up, her face wracked with pain. "I thought of finishing you off but it might be more fun to throw a more powerful enemy at the shinigami." His eyes turned hard. "I can't hold back when people are hurting my Rizu. So now… how about that? Rizu taking charge of you and pitting you against your fellow shinigami – now that would be fun wouldn't it?"

"Taichou!" Soifon looked up and saw the outline of several black shapes amassed on the rooftops. The keigun… they have come… Within seconds, they were by her side, helping her up. "Taichou! We will take you to the emergency ward!"

"Ah how touching, did you come to save your captain? How sweet the loyalty of one's comrades," smirked Mabashi. "Or are they really your comrades? Rizu!"

A strange high-pitched giggle filled the air. Soifon's jerked her head up as the supportive arms of her subordinates became oppressive grips pinning her down. A strange flower had erupted across their torsos, an ugly mimic of Soifon's homonka. The flowers appeared to be controlling them. Soifon's eyes widened in fear.

"How does it feel to be held down by your own subordinates, Captain? And after we are done with you, you will see what it is like to cut down your comrades with your own hands. Rizu!" The little doll shrieked in acknowledgement and flew towards Soifon to take possession of her.

That's what you think.Suddenly, Soifon was enveloped in a pale blue light as she gathered her power, her reiatsu crackling around her. With a surge, she sent her subordinates and the doll flying away from her. Shocked, Mabashi put his hands up to shield the light…

…and exposed the homonka on his chest for a direct stab with Suzumebachi. Soifon landed a hit and Suzumebachi's poison began its lethal work.

Mabashi's knees buckled under the pain and he fell on the floor. "How… how…"

"And who do you think you are dealing with, Bount?" Soifon asked coldly. "I have been with the keigun since I was a child. I have been trained as a master assassin and I am familiar with all manners of poison, and I have been poisoned before. I have become resistant to most common poisons and I have developed the know-how to create antidotes to new ones. With Suzumebachi, I can inject or extract poison from my body."

She fixed him with a steely gaze. "You thought you could dominate me. You underestimated me. And you tried to turn my subordinates against me and hurt them. They are my precious subordinates! I am their commander and I will protect them."

Mabashi gasped in pain. "I… I am not done yet! Rizu!" The dolls disengaged from the keigun's bodies, rose up in the air, and clustered around Soifon. "Attack her!" The high-pitched cries of affirmation filled the air.

And they turned on Mabashi.

Soifon watched as Mabashi writhed helplessly on the ground, desperately shielding himself from Rizu's attacks. These dolls were only driven by power – when that weakens, they turn against their "masters". Within a minute, Suzumebachi's poison had done its work. Mabashi's body withered and the Rizu dolls dissipated in a cloud of spirit particles.

Soifon checked on her unconscious troops anxiously. Only when she had summoned help for them did she collapse from her exertions.