A/N: The smells of pasta sauce and seasonings come from the author's kitchen, the sound of Skillet "Sick of it" and "Not gonna die tonight" as well as Thousand Foot Krutch "Courtesy call" issue from her computer. A ferret is flopped somewhere in the apartment thats dark and comfortable, and minecraft is left idle as the authoress begins to edit.
RIGHT! I wasn't sure how much attention this fic would get. I was very happy at all the favorites! Thank you! I happen to be fairly good at crossovers and after reading a naruto/justice league fanfic called "Connecting the Dots" i had an idea to do this one. Now that I know people are actually paying attention, whoopie! Lets get going.
Oh yes, Adam Buckley rules, Endermen are cute as buttons and sound like hoover vacumes, Ferrets would be the best ever superpet for Flash and YOUR MOTHER. That is all.
"Now, the government doctors that advise civilians on these matters are instructed to say 'you may get thyroid cancer' from not taking these during a nuclear incident. 'May' is an understatement. If you don't take your iosat tablets during a nuclear incident, you /will/ get Thyroid cancer. Could be next year, could be next decade, could be fifty years from now."
Yoruichi had sprawled herself out in the odd cave on a bunch of newspapers. Not far off, the dog, Ace, had simply laid down near the giant computer databank and was almost asleep. Yoruichi was reading the papers from Gotham and Metropolis, though clearly the humans didn't think she was sentient enough to read since "Shadow" was only a cat.
The man, Bruce, was giving a lecture on emergency management during a nuclear accident or strike, a chemical attack, or a biological terror attack or naturally occuring outbreak. The boy, Timothy, had carried her down the hidden passageway that evening along with the girl "Barbara" and the older boy "Dick." The Butler, Alfred, had set up for the lesson and then gone to make tea and something sweet for the dessert for the three teens. The quartet had hurried into a dressing room, come out in costume, and started addressing each other by codenames. Joining them for a lesson were two others in costume, codenames Huntress and Question.
"Now Iosat tablets won't protect the rest of you, they won't protect your lungs, your skin, your eyes, or any vital or non vital part of your body. However, taking them prevents one kind of cancer that could result from nuclear exposure. The Batfamily keeps a regularly rotating stockpile for up to two dozen people. In a nuclear accident, get your own Iosat tabs first. Then /our/ plan is to bring a round each to the Police Commisioner and the Mayor, /assuming/ that both are still alive. The remaining stockpile is for Justice League first responders working on the rescue mission, and they will almost certainly mount one. Captain Atom is almost certain to be on whatever team they send, along with Green Arrow due to his experience protesting nuclear armament.
"For the /rest/ of your vital organs, it /is/ possible to reduce your exposure. Alfred constantly and consistantly has hazmat versions of your costumes on hand for emergencies like these and these same hazmat bat costumes are certified for protection against radiation, biological weapons down to the size of a flu virus, and chemical weapons both commonly researched during the cold war and commonly used by our rogues Gallery including Scarecrow's Feargas and Poison Ivy's mind control pollen."
Batman walked over to a nearby armor stand and gestured to a large skintight version of his current costume very similar to the CDC's hazmat suits. "Its all one piece, there isn't even an opening between the gloves and shoes and the sleeves. In the wrist we have a detector for any number of biological and chemical contaminates from Chemo's toxic slime to nerve gas to anthrax to ebolla and smallpox. Not only that, but if you're infected, it will /tell/ you."
Timothy/Robin raised his hand. "uh, Bats didn't I learn in school last month that Smallpox was eradicated in the 70s?"
"it wasn't entirely eradicated." Question replied. "Somebody decided it was too useful."
Batman gestured for Question to be quiet. "Smallpox officially exists only in two laboratories. It wasn't completely destroyed because it had a piece of stray human DNA in it that allows Smallpox to fool the body's inflammatory response. One in America at Fort Deitrich Maryland, one in Russia, and here's the caveat. The stockpile dates from the soviet era. When the soviet union collapsed /everything/ was up for grabs. Thats part of why we're doing this lesson. The Soviets had massive stockpiles of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, parts, and materials. Not only did the Soviets have human biological weapons like smallpox, they also had warheads packed with the blight strain Ug 99. You might say "so what? Its a wheat blight, its not gonna kill anyone." Wrong, Ug 99 is an indirect killer, and could cause massive famine if it got loose in the United States. Three different companies in Gotham including Wayne Tech are trying to create strains of wheat resistant to this blight. But such strains of wheat aren't widespread.
"Such indirect killers are the reason why the /entire/ soviet chemical and biological weapons stockpile is coded into the wrist detector on these hazard suits, regardless of if it can kill human beings. As far as I'm concerned, terrorists or dictatorial countries /have/ these weapons. Its easier for an emergency planner to assume that they have /everything/ than that they have nothing or something." Batman explained.
"now, in addition to the detector, every suit has a dosimeter for detecting radiation. Its located in your icon." He tapped a glass icon in the shape of a bat on the suit three times. The icon beeped. "That beep means the dosimeter is working. To make sure its okay, tap it three times. If its been tampered with, the dosimeter will automatically turn red and make a loud screeching noise. Now the dosimeter detects the /amount/ of radiation you've been exposed to, not how much time you have left. So the amount of time you have to work in any given nuclear hotzone is varied, and widely. There was a recent poll of emergency responders in Gotham, Central City, and Metropolis in which 34 percent of Gotham's emergency responders stated they would remain in a radioactive hotzone longer than was safe for them to be there to help save injured victims, in central that number was 47 percent and in Metropolis 65 percent. Similar polls of military and intelligence personelle as well as federal law enforcement indicate that Gotham's percentage is the exception rather than the rule. The FBI had the highest number in this poll, gotham the lowest. And besides Gotham, nobody had fewer than 40 percent of their first responders say they would do this. The point is, you /can/ take the risk of staying in a nuclear contaminated area if you want to. But I will not tell you whether or not you should to it. Thats /your/ call. There's no way to tell if the people you save during the emergency will be more or less than the lives you save during the rest of your total career. There is /no/ way to know, therefore, there is no way to know if that kind of sacrifice is worth it."
Yoruichi looked up at Timothy, the youngest of the three, to see his reaction. The boy was quiet, jaw tensed. So long as he was taking this seriously Yoruichi had no objection to what she suspected was a lifestyle much like the old ninjas of Japan. Though the types of emergencies and missions possible was clearly different, the idea and lifestyle was more or less the same.
"That said, I've done everything in my power to make sure that you have as much time as possible to accomplish as much as possible. We have automated drones that can be remote controlled to investigate hazardous sites, we have a variety of tools that only a Kryptonian couldn't be cut by. We have detectors, filters, masks, medicines, we even have quarantine chambers, fully automated with respirators, life support, and there's a reason I made each of you keep extra bags of blood stored here. Well, except Question..."
"Paranoid... cough cough... paranoid..." Dick joked.
"Am I paranoid? Or is it that you just refuse to see?" Question responded coolly.
"cough... paranoid... cough cough..." Barbara agreed.
"Question isn't my responsibility, however, as allies he and Huntress /are/ allowed to have their medical care taken care of here at the Batcave. Since ventilators are in short supply during a mass outbreak of either pandemic flu, sars or any other respiratory disease, we have life support including ventilators here at the batcave." Batman quickly got the others attention back on the lesson. "Now, who knows what a cytokine storm is...?"
The clueless look on the three youth's faces amused Yoruichi.
"oh boy... this is gonna take awhile." Huntress facepalmed.
"Don't tell them the answer." Batman told her. "They have to not only learn this, they have to be able to remember it accurately on reflex."
Yoruichi privately decided she liked this "Batman" character. Though he was as serious as Soifon was, he did understand and believe in a lot of the things that ninjas tended to, and being a child of that lifestyle, Yoruichi rather considered Batman a modern colleague and good company to have while she recovered. She'd lay odds and a captain's entire monthly paycheck on Batman having been trained by Ninjas at some point.
An alarm went off in the Batcave, and the monitor revealed a robbery by Mister Freeze currently in progress. "Alright, suit up, we'll finish this tomorrow night. I'm going to give each of you a folder of information on different biological and chemical hazards and I expect you to be able to recite the information back to me in three days time without looking at the paper."
Yoruichi returned to her studying of the news, determined to learn as much as she could about her surroundings and find any clues as to Ichigo's location. She was quietly keeping track of how long it took them to get back though, this group was useful in accomplishing her retrieval of Ichigo.
Ichigo groaned in the medical bed, his eyes creeking open rather painfully. A woman with a hawk like helmet clasped under her arm was leaning over him. "Easy." She said quietly. "Its the middle of the night... I'll get the medic on duty."
"My head..." Ichigo groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." Ichigo doubled over the side of the medical bed.
The woman thrust a basin into his hands. Ichigo gratefully let his stomach empty itself. Not that there was much in there.
Ichigo lay back, head still disoriented and swimming. The woman got up and hurried out of the room, and Ichigo felt himself fading to black.
Grimmjow had found himself a place to sleep off his bruises. It was about twenty miles away from Metropolis. The city was behind the hill the base was built into. His eye was just about swollen shut, his ribs, diaphram, and shoulders were black and blue. Despite this, he'd managed to evict the previous occupant of his hidey hole, of all things a talking Gorilla. Sputtering in rage, the talking ape had been forcibly booted from the cache site Grimmjow was taking over. He then opened his special garganta with the huge brass knuckle /thing/ that Szayel and Aizen had invented. Tousen hurried through with six adjuchas, Halibel, Starrk, Lilinette, Mila Rose, Apache, and Sunsun. "Right. Sunsun, you and I scout the area." Halibel told the snake woman. "You six..." she told the adjuchas. "Stand guard and stay out of sight!"
"Why's she get to go?" Apache whined.
"You're too noisy." Halibel replied. "We need stealth today Apache. Save your strength for if battle erupts!" The two of them hurried off.
"The rest of us have to turn this place into a decent base." Tousen sighed. "This is not going to be easy, exploring a brand new dimension will require a basecamp thats as tight as a drum."
"Agreed." Starrk replied. "Grimmjow, you're injured, go back and feed then come back and get some sleep. Lilinette, you take first watch."
Grateful for the chance to feed and heal up, Grimmjow left through the garganta and ran for Los Noches as fast as he could to get healed up for round two with that flying caped freak he'd fought earlier. Seriously, no human should be that fast, fly that well, or be that strong.
But Grimmjow would see Superman again. A demonic grin spread on his face as he scampered through the passage between worlds. And /next/ time, he wouldn't come out of it with his pride as bruised as his eye!
Grodd grumbled in aggravation in the bushes, spying on the base and the odd people now moving in it. That was his metropolis hideout! He smirked, pulling out a small remote control and pushed the button.
A blast of psychic energy screeched through Tousen's mind, the other arrancars screamed in pain around him. Then BOOM! The base exploded. Medical and hydroponics equipment, as well as all of Grodd's stores of technology burned.
Tousen grabbed Lilinette and Apache, Stark grabbed Mila Rose, and the five of them dove into the Garganta with the flames from the explosion licking at their heals. Tousen threw up a barrier into the Garganta mouth. Angry cursing was coming from Lilinette and Apache's direction. "God damnit." Mila Rose looked like she wanted to kill.
Grodd smirked and hobbled off into the forest. He knew how to recreate everything in that base. But now the enemy that had attacked him would not be able to use the technology in it against him.
"Damn! Its a total write off." Mila Rose surveyed the damage two hours later when they'd finally gotten the fires under control. Tousen had had to use an ice kidou, which melted in the flames and doused them. "Aizen-sama's not going to like this."
"What's happened here?" Halibel and Sunsun appeared in a burst of sonido.
"The person Grimmjow stole this base from just blew it up, and made our job much harder." Tousen sighed. "I'll need to send for additional resources. But first we need to conceal this wreckage. If the man who landed punches hard enough to break Grimmjow's ribs sees this damage, he will certainly come to investigate. We may be able to take him, we may not, we can't know that because we're new here. I'll also need gigai for us, we have to hide. Grimmjow can be our backup but..."
"If we're going under cover can I be Starrk's daughter?" Lilinette asked hopefully.
"It would make sense why?" Tousen leaned down to towsel Lilinette's hair paternally.
"Then I want Halibel to be my mommy!" Lilinette snickered, kicking Starrk in the balls.
HURK! Starrk doubled over, trying to recover from the kick, only Lilinette kicked him over so that his face landed in Halibel's clevage. "Kiss mommy daddy!" Lilinette sneered.
Tousen couldn't see what was going on, but the yells of protest and the punching noises that ensued told him that whatever it was had provoked outrage from Mila Rose and Apache.
"Can I be your big sister Lilinette?" Asked Sunsun hopefully, a fake sweet expression on her face.
"Only if you promise not to hide your face behind your sleeve like that, it makes you look like a vindictive little bitch." Lilinette replied casually.
Apache and Mila Rose burst out laughing. Sunsun forced a smile. She had another reason for doing that. She didn't want others to see the snake fangs in her mouth. So she covered her mouth when she laughed. Still, it often got her teased by the other females.
Grodd wobbled over to the door of Ultra Humanite's hideout. "Humanite! Hey I need a hand here!"
Ultra Humanite peered out the viewing hole, then let Grodd in. He pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge, sliced up some bread and cheese, and sat Grodd down with the medkit, fixing his wounds while they ate and Grodd told his entire sorry tale.
"Alright, you have a hideout in Gotham?"
"No the Justice League took it last week." Grodd growled angrily.
"I'm going to go find us some reinforcements in the morning." Ultra Humanite sighed. "Nearest villain hideout to ours is Copperhead's and /he's/ doing a bid in Strykers."
"Damn, hope we don't have to range to get some help."
"We won't... focus on recovering your wounds and getting some rest. I've got some favors to call in." Humanite pushed his new glasses up his nose.
"hey... is it true that Batman made a grant in your name in order to drive Luthor crazy?"
"Only for letting him free. No offense to Luthor, but he can be rather annoying. And anyone who dislikes opera I find to be beneath me." Ultra Humanite chuckled. "Besides, you and I share something in common, a love of culture and intellect. I just take it a little further than you and will do anything for the sake of furthering the education of the masses. Look at that toy I 'improved' for Flash last Christmas. Instead of making farting noises it tells the story of the Nutcracker. I hear even into the spring it was a favorite with the children that it went to." Humanite sighed, picking up the empty food tray and letting Grodd savor the wine. He brought it to the kitchen and then returned for his own glass. "Batman simply asked what it would take for me to sabotage Luthor and let him go."
"So you could have asked him for anything huh, even to kiss your boots."
"Perhaps, but Batman seems to have a cultural appreciation almost on par with ours." Humanite sighed. "Now, those burns, what attack made them. You were outside of your base when you let the device off right?"
"yes, there was only one invader but then I discovered that it was a takeover when two more people I hadn't seen go in came out of it. I thought wrecking as much as I could would be a good precaution." He sighed. "Half man, half cat, and from what I saw in the skies above Metropolis this afternoon /fully/ capable of taking on Superman."
"I'll help you give them hell Grodd, but we need some backup. Sinestro /owes/ me a favor and so does Luthor." Humanite sighed. "Copperhead's in the can but... I think I might be able to give Killer Croc a little incentive... we need brawn to reinforce our brains. I haven't seen Solomon Grundy in awhile..."
"He's dead." Grodd sighed. "He gave his life helping Doctor Fate save the world. At least a year ago. The justice league buried him. I used GPR to probe the gravesite, he's down there."
"Damn, Grundy probably would have been a good match for the intruder." Sighed Grodd in disappointment. "Think we can get bizzaro..."
"Naw, too stupid. Grundy at least knew how to bargain." Muttered Humanite irritably.
The two supervillains sighed, drawing up lists of who they wanted to ask to help and splitting a very good bottle of wine. There were irritated mutterings and grumbles of disgust coming from their kitchen long into the night, then finally at one in the morning Grodd wobbled over to the couch, thoroughly intoxicated and passed out.
Ogichi had a problem. "Damnit this isn't good." He muttered.
"What is?" Zangetsu asked.
"Ichigo's connection to his body is rusting and I'm gonna go into heat in about a week. If we don't take care of both problems by then..." Ogichi's face turned faintly red at the cheeks.
"Heat?"
"I haven't even figured out how to broach it to King yet either." Ogichi groaned. "Man... Zangetsu whatever I do in that state of mind... I don't fucking mean it."
Zangetsu chuckled a bit. "so... what does this 'heat' entail..." He fully intended to tease Ogichi till his whole face turned red.
Zangetsu didn't get the chance as a figure flickered into being in their world. The man had green skin and orange eyes and wore a blue cape. Zangetsu turned his head slowly to meet the figure's eyes. Then he drew his blade and pointed it at the man. The man's eyes widened. "SHO." Zangetsu cast the weakest hado, which Ichigo had only learned the week before, and he blew backwards and out of Ichigo's head.
"Who or what the heck was that." Ogichi asked, peering around Zangetsu. "Was that man green?"
"A telepath being nosy. But he doesn't belong here. All Zanpakuto attempt to protect their owner's world from invasion. I am no different."
J'on rocked back, using his ability to levitate to right himself. He was shoved back into the wall and heard a very loud, angry voice in his head. Doncha got any sense of privacy mister nosey? The first mental voice was raspy, almost echoing and had a smug, superior air that reminded J'on of some of the super villains he'd fought.
Enough Ogichi. You're his inner hollow, you're not obligated to make a comment. The other voice was a deep baritone. Injured or not, that telepath wasn't invited and he had /no/ cause to enter Ichigo's world. Therefore, this and any time he comes in without Ichigo's permission I will do as all zanpakuto do and repel him. He got off light, Hyourinmaru I know for a fact does not just give a light swat at intruders.
"you okay J'on?" Asked Superman, looking worriedly from Ichigo to J'on.
"There are two entities protecting the boy's mind, they were offended at my intrusion, considered it rude. I could hear them talking for a moment. I heard the boy's name, Ichigo, and the name of one of the voices, Ogichi."
Batman strode in, a long bleeding slice on his cheek. He was holding a rag to it and went immediately for the disinfectant and something to suter it with.
"What happened to you?" Superman demanded with an arched eyebrow.
"Mister Freeze decided that his freeze ray wasn't enough, threw suriken of ice at my face." Batman growled.
"How... inventive..." J'on rolled his eyes at that. "WE could use some help. What do you make of an entity in the head of a boy named Ichigo when the entity is named "Ogichi?""
"hmm?" Batman looked up from where he was trying to stop the bleeding with a quik clot dressing. "Obviously an alternate personality but part of the host mind."
"What about two personalities in a kid's head?" Superman asked.
"Possible. Since I've been giving your guys lectures in disaster response, why don't you give me more Data." Batman smirked while J'on moved to work on cleaning his friend's wound. Whatever this ice projectile of Freeze's, it must have been /very/ sharp. He could tell by the clean cut of the wound. Dull blades tended to rip the skin unevenly, making closing the wound difficult. Sharp blades left clean skin edges.
"This meeting of the Captains, Lieutenants, and Vizards will come to order." Yamamoto said quietly. "Take note..." Sasakibe was taking the minutes for the meeting. "Also present are Urahara Kisuke, former captain of squad twelve and Kurosaki Isshin, former captain of squad three. The two are to be listed in the minutes as on extended leave."
"Where's Yoruichi-sama?" Soifon demanded as soon as it was time to say something.
"Sucked into what we believe to be a Garganta to an alternate universe." Urahara replied grimly.
"This is to discuss a chase team to retrieve former Captain Yoruichi Shihouin and Shinigami Daiko Ichigo Kurosaki." Shinji told Soifon.
"We need high level fighters capable of being autonomous and taking on multiple arrancar and adjuchas level enemies. However, we're stuck in a bit of a bind." Urahara sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "We can't spare more than one captain and lieutenant at the moment because Aizen will almost certainly have been behind taking Ichigo out of the picture to make an opening. As it is, the vizards that don't go will be helping to shore up our ranks."
"Whaaat? No WAY!" Hiyori growled. "Put me in eleventh with Kenpachi, I'm not going back to squad twelve with that freak in charge of it!" She jabbed a finger at Kurotsuchi.
"I'm as much a freak as he is..." Kenpachi chuckled. "You sure you want to come to my squad?"
"you're more my type of freak!" Hiyori grinned impishly.
Kenpachi returned the grin. "is that so... I won't go easy on a former egghead lieutenant though. But if you help entertain Yachiru when she wants to play you can come. Just don't feed her any candy."
"Ahahahahahahaha! Fang-chan do you like hide and seek or tag?" Yachiru asked cheerfully.
Soifon sputtered in protest. "you mean..."
"She jumped in to try to rescue Ichigo." Byakuya replied. "There's a good chance she's alive on the other side. But we have no idea what awaits us there. I'm in charge of the chase team. You aren't going because you're too close to her."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Demanded Soifon.
"You mean the noises I heard last time we were working on the Karakura Barracks wasn't you screaming Yoruichi's name in the throws of sexual release?" Byakuya had begun to tease his colleagues more often lately.
"How DARE you!" Soifon snapped, a single provocation away from punching Byakuya.
"She simply means you can't be impartial Soifon..." Isshin replied. "I'm not going for the same reason. My son went through there, and I don't trust my judgement when it comes to his safety versus the mission. Hey clownface, show Soifon what you found, then Unohana will do her bit."
Kurotsuchi pushed a button on the projector remote. "Although the space in the sky above Karakura town seems solid, there is a depression, almost a crator, in the space time fabric where Kurosaki and Shihouin went through. Much like a black hole, too close and you'll get pulled in. However we believe we may be able to open a cross dimensional senkaimon routed through this point to the place that Kurosaki is located."
"And for that reason I've asked Kuchiki-taichou to put together a chase team. The vizards, because they can handle any medical issues that might arise from Ichigo's inner hollow, have chosen three representatives. Ichigo's friends are going, as are Rukia, Renji, and Kuchiki-taichou. Kon will be going with them in Ichigo's body, which he /will/ need fairly soon. Once contact is established safely with the other world they'll send a signal, and video, back to us in the soul society. They will need to get all the information they possibly can. From there we will establish a covert safehouse capable of housing up to twelve. /If/ its feasible every captain and lieutenant will be asked to become passingly familiar with the other world. Komamura, Hisagi and Yamada Hanatarou are to be put on standby for an emergency." Yamamoto finished.
"We have a ticking clock." Unohana added. "An analysis of Kon's health in Ichigo's body shows that Ichigo's connection to his mortal form is fading. We have three days to get his body near enough to him or Ichigo will end up being a full shinigami, permanently. As it is, his soul chain will be weak once Kon gets there, the enemy could easily finish what the dimensional rift started /even/ if we save him. But even being on the same dimensional plane as Ichigo should prevent anything dangerous to Ichigo's health as long as he takes time to rest. But there's more... Shinji tells me within the next year or so a piece of vizard power currently latent will activate in Ichigo, care to explain?"
"Right, vizards combine the traits of shinigami and hollow, as you know." Shinji grinned. "Unfortunately, when it comes to reproductive systems, we get more from hollows than Soul Reapers. We go into heat, the really higher level ones of us actually become hermaphroditic for a time, female organs an all an even able to have kids. Hell, last time it happened to me I had Hachigen sedate me, which is now standard for all unattached vizards in our group. Don't want one of us really goin wild." He got an irritated look on his face, probably embarassment. "Unless there's only wilderness on the other side, then I dunno, maybe Kurosaki wouldn't mind but... eh... beside the point. We were monitoring Ichigo's health for the past year or so, and we expect this part of his inner hollow will activate in the next six months to a year. We can't have that happening on strange ground where our buddy could be taken advantage of ya know?" Shinji quirked a brow. "So we got two ticking clocks, and I can tell ya right now, if we don't get to him before his soul chain snaps, its likely to throw him over the edge. The weaker that chain gets, the more likely his inner hollow is gonna go into heat."
"We're leaving as soon as this meeting is over. This is considered a priority one emergency." Byakuya said quietly. "Arrangements have already been made. Our gigai are waiting for us. Lets go..." Byakuya turned to leave. Rukia and Renji followed him. "Ichigo's friends are waiting for us at the senkaimon." He told Rukia, handing her and Renji each a large, internal frame camping backpack. (1)
Kon took the pack Byakuya handed him, hefting it onto his shoulders and buckling it on. Shinji, Hachigen, and Kensei hurried to catch up, each with a bag of their own. "Hey..."
"Hey..." Rukia said shyly. She knew that Kensei and Shinji had once been captains. But she didn't /know/ them.
"Lil Bya, lookin forward to workin with ya." Shinji offered a handshake to Byakuya.
"Former Captain Hirako, likewise, I hear my grandfather was a colleague of yours."
"Yeah, stern fellow he was, liked his tea, his quiet, and his koto music. Never could get him into jazz, even though it was all the rage in the soul society at the time." Shinji shook his head. "Very good with all the traditional noble's crafts. Very subtle sense of humor. That sort of guy... I could respect him, just not work with him."
"Is that so?" Byakuya got a small, almost smile on his face. "Come on, we're shinigami, we can go at a human's pace later." He took off with flash step, the others following. A brief stop at the gatehouse to get their gigai and equipment and they were joining the group at the senkaimon designated solely for the mission.
"Everybody ready?" Orihime asked cheerfully when Byakuya touched down.
"Yes, you have your pack?"
"Yep! All of us are ready to go!"
"Very good, we're going to be doing side along flash step. Not only are we on a time limit but we have a lot of distance to cover in the dangai." Byakuya told her, "Rukia, take Orihime, Renji, Uryu, Shinji, Sado, I'll take Kon as Ichigo needs his body first and foremost." (2)
Byakuya's eyes focused on the senkaimon as it opened, Hell butterflies flew over to them, several nestling in his, Rukia's and Renji's hair, tagging along to provide their aid when they reached the other side.
"The Dangai is online and has reached the other world successfully." Rin said into the Hell butterfly channel. "Akon and I will be taking turns on the line to watch for any problems. Kurotsuchi-fukutaichou bids you luck."
"Thanks." Renji sighed. "We're gonna need it."
Then they took off through the open senkaimon. Byakuya needed to get a good start, this could take as long as a whole day to accomplish. An entire day in the dangai was not one that Byakuya was looking forward too. He was just glad the restrictive current was turned off and the cleaners diverted.
As the hours wore on, the blackness began to sparkle around them in a way that Byakuya knew it wouldn't in a regular senkaimon. They ran as fast as they could go, but in the blur of the walls, Byakuya saw strange glimpses of other worlds. A place where ninjas dominated the land, a place where strange creatures lived and fought alongside humans, a boy sitting at his desk with a black journal and a macabre, crow like creature eating an apple and standing behind him as he wrote names in it, a place where demons and shinigami with strange glasses and eyes did battle for the souls of man, a place where giant robotic... cyndrilical creatures perpetually invaded and a dedicated group of humans and one alien fought to protect their planet, a world where men flew among the stars, could teleport from one place to another faster than any senkaimon and create worlds and games of animated, solid light...
all of this flashed across the sides of the dangai passage they were in. A world in computer code, a world where the last shinigami trained humans and humans who could transform into weapons, a world that was ocean with only a few islands across its surface dominated by ships, navies and pirates, a world of mutations and magic and mechanical powers and struggles by their wielders for basic human rights. There was just NO END to them!
They plunged through the odd looking dangai area, which slowly became more and more and more blue until...
Two streaks, one cloaked in green, another in blue, shot past them and suddenly...
WOOOOOOSSSHHH!
Byakuya grinned hugely as he took a deep deep lungful of air on a new world. Stars glittered above them, below a city with the biggest sky scrapers Byakuya had ever seen glistened with lights brighter than the ones in the sky. He caught sight of a large tower with an L shaped light on it, and a bronze colored tower with a globe that said "Daily Planet" and had damage in the side of it, a huge gaping hole. Byakuya was pretty sure he knew where to start searching. These two towers were particularly distinctive, enough so that he could use them as reference points for navigation if he had to.
Kon peered behind them. "uh... Byakuya... I think only half of us made it here."
"WHAT?" Byakuya immediately reached for Rukia's spirit ribbon. "holy... she's over two hundred miles away from us! Renji too!"
Byakuya turned, Shinji and Hachigen emerged from the dangai with Sado... "WE'VE BEEN SPLIT!" Byakuya cried in alarm. "Rukia's spirit ribbon is at least two hundred miles from us."
"Call them on the hell butterfly. We can find her and they us Byakuya, there is no need to panic. We need to get down on the ground."
"Yeah, or have you forgotten our fine giant friend..." Sado looked like he was going to be airsick. Kon was already throwing up.
"Right, the pier below us." Byakuya began to descend, clearly disconcerted at the circumstances they'd arrived in and a world that seemed so... normal... so like the human world back home!
Byakuya took about three steps on terra firma when he heard a noise from the water. He whirled. A dolphin was looking at him from the water. "You can see me?" He moved to the water, trying to figure out if this creature staring at him was a threat. There was something odd about it. As if it /knew/ he was unusual.
The dolphin chattered at Byakuya's question, it opened its mouth as though it wanted food.
"We have no food to spare, and none that you can eat safely." Byakuya said quietly. "We're new in this land, and we need shelter. Tell me grinning one, do you understand?"
The dolphin bobbed its head and swam off before darting under a warehouse that jutted out over the water, probably a loading dock for ships. A gruff looking man with blonde hair and a hook for a hand was sitting by a camp fire inside of it. "Strangers huh Felicity?" The dolphin chattered happily. "You can stay by my fire until daybreak, after that leave me alone." The man grunted.
"you can see us?"
"yeah, I can see that most of you are ghosts too. Your sort has created quite a bit of trouble in my home as of late so more of you are not appreciated."
"Trouble?"
"A half a dozen masked, ghostly beasts broke into my city last week, stole our technology and then wreaked havoc before disappearing again. I tracked them down here."
"Did they have holes in their chests by any chance?"
"yeah... right in the sternum. They were powerful enough they killed thirty of my best guards. I'm an Atlantean, we're a warrior race. My royal guards are no slackers!" The man's mood was dark and his reiatsu seething with barely contained wrath.
"You're lucky, we hunt those beasts for a living and we /came/ here looking for their boss." Byakuya said quietly. "Perhaps we should help each other."
"Only as long as it serves to protect my people. Once the battle starts suiting your ends more than mine you're on your own and this is the only warning you're going to get on that score." The man said sourly. "I'm Arthur, King of Atlantis, here on the surface they call me Aquaman. A friend of mine will be coming to join me in the morning, Doctor Fate may be able to give you better sanctuary than I. Atlanteans don't like spending too long on the surface and we don't trust outsiders."
"Sounds like an under water soul society." Muttered Sado.
"Very well Arthur O-sama, we are grateful for your assistance and will not trouble you." Byakuya settled his pack on the ground and sat on it while Arthur ladeled up fresh wakame soup for them, seasoned with wasabi paste to warm the stomach.
This was going to be a very long night.
1. I have one of these backpacks, they're strong, they hold a lot, including a sleeping bag, a tarp, rope, food, camp stove and fuel, water ecetera. They're also made with hip and waist supports to minimize muscle strain. Although an external frame backpack could carry more and be converted into a temporary seat or rain cover, its very uncomfortable for the hips.
2. As I'm writing this bit, I have the Stargate themesong playing in my headphones. :D I'll put captain jack's themesong on once they're in the dangai.