Chapter 32

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Heller laid out the plan as they headed to the location Kisuke had sent them. Heller and the rest of them would keep Blackwatch busy while Unohana would find Dana and get her to safety. After they took out Blackwatch, Heller would call Unohana by giving her the cell Kisuke had given him, and then call them.

"Any problems with that?" he asked as he gave Unohana the phone.

Tōshirō said nothing, but inside he was seething. Who was this man, this human, to order him around? He had lived 10 lifetimes, had more experience in battle, yet he was ordering them around. And what was worse, he was obeying him.

Matsumoto, on the other hand, had no objections and said "very nice plan. Good looking and smart, a nice combo. "She said while crossing her arms under her chest, pushing it up.

Heller wasn't affected and simply said "for your information, I happen to have a child."

Matsumoto blinked in surprise, but shrugged and made no other comment.

Heller and the group stopped on a skyscraper and overlooked the red zone. It really was a living hell. As far as the eye could see, there were devastated or crumbling buildings, skyscrapers leaning to the side, and infected walkers or creatures running through the streets below, the ground almost complete red with blood. And that wasn't all. Growing out of the ground were tendrils, like in lairs, but huge, crawling up building and skyscrapers like vines, but easily 100 feet wide at the base, and growing up like twisted blood red trees. In the distance, they could hear gunfire and small explosions, Blackwatch fighting the infected away from the shaky bases they had managed to make in the red zone.

Everyone was overlooking it with grim looks. Even in the poorest districts of soul society, this was easily worse. Even Unohana looked grim, her normal smile nowhere in sight.

Heller looked around and then spotted what he was looking for. He pointed it out to the others and said "there."

They turned to see what was most likely part of the force that had been sent to take out Dana mercer. They couldn't see the streets, but they saw a group of 5 helicopters shooting at the ground while they flew in formation, and they heard tanks rounds hitting buildings and the street.

Heller tilted his head to both sides till it cracked twice, then shifted to his blade arm as he said "let's rock."

Everyone but Unohana flash stepped to the area. Unohana proceed to where Kisuke said Dana mercer was while the others flash stepped to the road where the choppers were. They got there to see about 10 tanks, maybe 15 phase one's and 50 regular soldiers, all fighting infected as they worked their way forward.

Heller turned to Tōshirō and Matsumoto and said "may want to go into Shikai, but watch out for the phase one's, they're tougher then they look."

Matsumoto and Tōshirō nodded, and then drew their blades. Matsumoto held her blade horizontally before her, one hand before the blade as she said "growl, Haineko." Heller watched as the blade turned into what looked like a cloud of dust or ash, leaving only the hilt. He knew a little about it, knowing that the cloud was really thousands of tiny blades that swarmed to look like ash. In a way, it reminded him of Byakuya's sword.

Tōshirō took a more flashy appearance as Blackwatch spotted them. He leapt into the air and shouted "sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyōrinmaru!"

As Heller watched, the sky over head rapidly became covered with dark cloud, and the temperature dropped quickly. Tōshirō's energy went up quickly as ice began to form from the tip of his blade, rapidly growing until a limbless Chinese dragon, whitish blue with red eyes, appeared out of it and roared, spiraling around Tōshirō.

Heller shouted "not bad! Take a look a mine." He got into his stance and shouted "REFLECT IN DESPAIR, SHADOW SHIFTED!"

Heller created his aura with the normal blast of air, and his new shadow shifted formed, but he saw that they weren't that impressed. He said "but wait, there's more. Tōshirō send some ice my way."

Tōshirō landed and swung his blade, sending the dragon Heller's way, but going past him in order to begin attacking Blackwatch, who were charging forward and beginning to fire, but it did nothing to the dragon other then hit of slight chips and slivers.

Heller quickly drove his blade into the dragon's side, and activated his copy ability, prompting his blade to glow red.

Heller leapt into the air, and held his blade to the side as he raced to the closest helicopter while he yelled "sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyōrinmaru!"

As Tōshirō watched shocked, Heller began to form an identically ice dragon, but the ice was a light shade of red, and only about as wide as Heller, but longer, looking more like a snake.

The helicopter's tried to break formation and get room to fire, but it was too late for the one Heller was going for. He swung his blade and sent this dragon after it. The dragon flew into the windshield and shattered it, going through the pilot and then ice spikes shot out, going through the helicopter in several places. Then the spikes and dragon retracted, leaving the helicopter to free fall and hit the ground, exploding in a cloud of shrapnel, and flame, injuring several.

Heller looked at Tōshirō, who was looking at him in shock, as his dragon wrapped around him and said "nothing like a duplication ability to perk you up."

Then they stopped talking as the phase one's hit. Ichigo stuck with Shikai, Rukia and Renji activated theirs, and then all of them began to fight back.

Rukia used her sword and speed to cut the tendons in one Orion's legs and arm, so he fell like a doll with its strings cut, and left Renji to behead it. The two worked like a flawless team, Rukia using her speed to distract and deal small yet critical wounds, distracting them from Renji's sneak and whip attacks, both of them smiling at the other when they saved them from hits.

Matsumoto was using her ash attack, swinging her handle at the normal guards to cover them, and then pulling the blade back to have the ash cut them all over their body. When they tried to shoot her, she used her ash to deflect them or just used flash step.

Tōshirō and Heller were taking the tanks and helicopters. Tōshirō was using his slower yet more powerful dragon to attack the tanks. Despite direct hits from rockets and rounds, the dragon never showed any significant damage as it crushed them or used its body to send them flying.

Heller and Ichigo were dealing with the choppers, Ichigo using his speed and strength to create shockwaves of air to unbalance and send them into buildings while deflecting the missiles they fired. Heller was riding his ice dragon and using its speed and smaller size to get close to the before slicing through the main body of the helicopter or cut through the blades.

In 5 minutes, only a few tanks were left, 3 phase ones, and 15 soldiers.

Heller looked down and shouted "Ichigo, lets wrap this up with a combo!"

Ichigo grinned before he yelled to the other's "guys get clear!"

Tōshirō and Matsumoto didn't know what Heller was talking about exactly, but Rukia and Renji knew enough to flash step a few blocks away. The others followed except for Heller and Ichigo. Ichigo and Heller took up a spot above the remaining force, Heller dissolving his ice dragon, and then stood side by side a few feet from each other.

Ichigo and Heller looked then nodded and began charging a lower level attack. Despite that, the combined force began making a minor earthquake as they both created an aura around their swords, Ichigo a light blue, Heller a mixture of dark red, ice blue, all with a white outline. Then they both swung back their swords while shouting "GETSUGA…"

The remaining force realized what was happening and began running while the others a few blocks away braced themselves.

"…TENSHO!"

The attacks went flying downwards, both only about 10 feet from tip to tip, and about a foot at the middle. As the attacks hit the ground, they exploded in a bomb of spirit energy, shredding through the thick tank metal like tissue paper. When the resulting dust cloud cleared, the only thing left was a he crater easily 50 feet across and 30 feet deep. The surrounding buildings were damaged as well, but not enough to cause them to collapse.

Heller and Ichigo admired their handy work for a minute before they looked at each other and nodded before flash stepping to where the others were waiting. Tōshirō and Matsumoto looked at Heller shocked, while Rukia and Renji looked at them in disappointment.

Rukia shook her head and asked "did you have to use so much power?"

Heller snorted and said "power nothing. We barely charged at all. Those were small ones."

Then he held a hand as his phone rang. He picked up and said "hello?"

He heard Unohana saying "Heller, I managed to receive Dana before the fight broke out."

"Great, where are you?"

"About 10 blocks to the north. I'll flare my energy so you can find us."

"Got it." He hung up and said "Unohana got Dana, they're 10 blocks due north. Let's go."

Heller paused for a minute as he tried to feel for the energy, and then found it. He locked it in mind before he and the others flash step to a roof top. Heller spotted them instantly. Unohana was standing there with calm and collected face, but then smiled when she noticed the others. Behind her was the woman that had called Heller, Dana mercer. She was wearing a black denim jacket, torn at the sleeves, a black tank top, black baggy pants, and brown combat boots. She also had a black duffel bag sitting on the ground beside her.

Dana's eyes had widened when Heller and his group had just appeared out of midair, but she quickly got over and approached him. She held out her hand and said "James Heller. Nice to finally meet you."

He shook her hand and said "nice to meet you too. I see Unohana got you okay."

She nodded and said "I have to say though, when I first saw her I thought I was going crazy. That quickly changed once she…smiled…at me."

Heller shuddered as he said "yeah, that's a talent of hers."

Ichigo was looking around, keeping his eyes and ears open, as he interrupted and said "while it's nice to meet you, don't you think we should get going Heller? We're too exposed here."

Heller nodded but he said "before we go though, you said you had some…information." He finished, trying to not feel too hopeful in case it proved false.

Dana nodded and went over to her duffel bag. She zipped it open and rooted through it a little bit, but they couldn't see inside it. Then Dana pulled out a large photo, the white side facing them, then zipped back up the duffel bag. Dana walked back over and handed Heller the photo. He took it with shaking hands as he saw it.

The photo looked like it had been taken from some traffic camera, so it had an angled view from above, but the quality was very clear and showed from a time stamp it had been taken later at night, around 11:00 p.m.. On it showed a young African American girl around 12 in t-shirt that was a darker shade of pink, shorts, and her hair in braids, but she was being held by the arm by a Blackwatch guard, and the legs of another were in the back ground.

Heller knew who that girl was all right. It was a picture of his daughter, Maya.

Heller's knees gave out as he looked, feeling weak and dizzy with relief as he looked at the photo, and his eyes watering. His daughter was alive. Kidnapped by Blackwatch, but alive.

Dana knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder as she said gently "she's in the red zone. I wasn't able to get more than that, but she's alive. She's alive, Heller."

Heller let a few tears leak out his eyes while the others maintained a respected distance and remained quiet, letting Heller have a moment to let out his feelings.

Heller then stood, backhanded his eyes and said "I'm going after her."

Everyone looked shocked as Heller handed back the photo and turned, seemingly planning to leave right now.

Ichigo walked up to him and said "whoa, Heller, wait a minute, we don't even know where she is. We don't have a plan."

Heller glared at Ichigo, his eyes hard and determined, with a hint of rage mixed in as he snarled "I have a plan all right. Rip this entire fucking city to the ground until I find her."

Ichigo tried to reason with him as he put a hand on his shoulder and tried to say "Heller, I get your determined and mad, but we need to…"

He was cut off as Heller knocked off his hand and growled "either you help me or get the hell out of my way."

Ichigo tried on last ploy as he tried to say "Heller, we can't just tear down…"

Heller shouted "SCREW THAT! You're telling me that I can't go look for my daughter?! Just try and stop me!"

He then punched Ichigo right in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a nearby building, which caved in and let a cloud of dust out.

"ICHIGO!" Renji shouted. While everyone was distracted, Heller looked up and flash stepped. He only got a about 10 feet up before the dust suddenly burst out wards and Ichigo met Heller in midair, covered in slight scratches and dust, with his sword bare as he swung down the flat side of it.

Heller quickly brought out his own sword as he blocked, the two stopped at a standstill and shaking as Ichigo shouted "Heller, think for a minute!"

Heller didn't bother responding as he threw of Ichigo and shifted to hammer fist, then he flew after him. Ichigo managed to righted himself just as Heller tried to punch him. He knocked it aside and tried to stab, but was blocked by Heller's sword. Heller then flash stepped behind him and slash at his back, but Ichigo blocked without turning around, and then kicked Heller in the chest, sending him skidding backwards.

Heller looked up as Ichigo shouted "Heller if Blackwatch has Maya, then we need to think of a plan."

Heller snarled "I got a plan. Rip through those bastards till I find her. And nothing is going to stop me." He rose his sword arm and got into a ready stance.

As those watched from below, Matsumoto said "captain, shouldn't we…"

Rukia cut her off, looking up with sad eyes. "No, we shouldn't do something." She didn't look at Matsumoto, but she kept talking.

"Heller has a great amount of power at his disposal, as much as Ichigo has. We can't help at all, only get in the way if we try."

Renji nodded and said "but if anyone can get through to Heller, it's Ichigo." He looked at the Tōshirō and Matsumoto, and said "let's trust Ichigo. That's all we can do right now."

With the battle Ichigo noticed what Heller was planning as asked "so that's how it is?"

Heller snorted and said "yeah. That's how it is. REFLECT IN DISPAIR, SHADOW SHIFTER!"

Heller sent out a blast of air as his arm withered into his sword. Dana was sent flying backwards slightly, but was caught by Unohana. Dana muttered quick thanks, never taking her eyes off the fight.

Heller wasted no time, flying forward to attack. He and Ichigo engaged in sword play, moving at high speed while staying the same spot.

Then the tide began to turn. Heller found himself being pushed back, losing ground while Ichigo looked at him calmly, but with sad eyes.

Then Ichigo dodged to the side, and sliced out a chunk of Heller's side, sending blood out his side. Heller snarled, but the wound was quickly healing, and Heller rose his blade to attack again. But Ichigo was done playing games and decided to wrap it up. He pointed at Heller with his index and middle finger and said "Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō."

The tips of his fingers flash yellow for a brief second before the six rods of light slammed into Heller's mid-section, the spell stopping Heller from moving anything besides his mouth and eyes, but he tried to break the spell with his immense strength. Ichigo compensated by increasing the energy in the spell as he walked to Heller and stopped before him.

Ichigo said "Heller, you need to calm down."

Heller snarled back "I'm not calming down so long as my little girl is being held by those assholes. Don't you dare try and reason with me, you can't begin to know what I'm going through."

Ichigo's face twisted in anger. He leaned forward and growled "have you forgotten Orihime?"

Heller stopped struggling. He felt deep and sudden guilt as he looked into Ichigo's face, twisted in anger and pain.

Ichigo kept going in the same tone. "I'm no different from you, I care about others, my family most of all, but I also care foe my friends. Just like your daughter, Orihime is being held by despicable and evil bastards, also in the red zone, but I know better than to tear this place down. That won't help save her; it'll only put me and her in danger, and help me deliver myself right into mercer's hands. If we are going to save either of them, we need to think straight and make a plan."

He stopped as Heller felt his anger collapse in him. Ichigo was right, in every way. He was a good kid who rightfully cared for his family, but he also cared for his friends. His girlfriend was held by somebody worse than Blackwatch, but he still knew he had to think in order to save her.

Ichigo noticed as the fight went out of Heller and said carefully "I'll let you go, but only if you agree to find a safe house and sit down so we can plan. Deal?"

Heller looked down, like a child that had been scolded, and nodded, still ashamed by his behavior.

Ichigo released the spell, which faded and let Heller move freely again. Heller shifted his arms back to normal and they flash stepped down to the roof top. Everyone was looking at Ichigo with a smile on their face, save for Tōshirō, for Ichigo handling that like he did.

Rukia and Renji were most impressed. What had happened to the punk he had been when the first met? Before, Ichigo had been rash, short tempered, and thought any problem could be solved with force. Now he handled himself differently, thinking ahead and planning things out, noticing the troubles of his friends more and knowing how to help them, and yet he had a great power in him that he used, not for personal gain, but to protect what mattered to him. And that touched them on a deep level as he had taken charge and subdued Heller.

Heller shook of his mood and said "Dana, do you have any sort of safe house?"

Dana shook of the shock she felt at the raw power that had be released and nodded, saying "I have a few set up around the red zone. One isn't too far from here."

Heller nodded as he said "then let's go."

Dana looked at them all and said, "Soooo… who am I traveling with?"

Unohana stepped forward and said, with her normal smile, "I would be willing to carry you."

Dana would've preferred someone else, on account that Unohana scared the crap out of her, but she couldn't think on how to politely turn down the offer, so she nodded and said "that'll be fine." She picked up her duffel bag and slung the strap over her right shoulder, leaving the bag on her left side and said "let's go."

Unohana gently grabbed Dana's upper arm and then they all flash stepped, leaving nothing but the wind on the rooftop.

And…cut. So how was that dear readers? I'm sorry for not updating for a few days, but after a long and cold winter, well, god dang it, I'm not spending the spring days we've had go to waste. And this is Wisconsin so…

In any case, review, follow, and take a look at Dante price: Multiverse jumper chronicles. Thank you and till next time