So... yep another chapter. I don't feel bad at all about the pause between. I posted like 4 chapters in one day. I have the right to take my time and make a good ending for this story. Not that this chapter is it, but you all must realize it is winding down. Onward.
Chapter 30: Momo
Tia dodged another fireball. The office of the 5th division was wrecked, as were the hallways around it. Tia was desperately trying not to even touch her Lieutenant. She could only imagine how bad it would look if she, a hybrid Captain, so much as scratched her Shinigami subordinate. Just that morning she'd given orders for the other hybrids of the division to not engage any of the infected Shinigami. While some had questioned her, others had understood her hesitation. Yes, they were supposed to be allies, but the Shinigami would never cease to be suspicious of their one time enemies. Another fireball flew, rather close to her face. She turned away from Momo long enough to send a wave of water over the flaming building. Not that blasting the walls with water jets was less damaging, but she didn't want the fires to spread. Tia knew she'd have to find a way to end the battle soon. She just couldn't let Momo continue to destroy things and hurt people. She thought on her next move. If she could get close enough, she could knock her out. Just as she blurred into sonido to strike back, snowflakes in the air stopped her. A giant ice dragon blasted between the two of them. Tia froze in her tracks. She wasn't sure whether to back up or to breathe out her relief. As the tail of the dragon zipped past her, she relaxed fractionally. Momo was slumped over in Captain Hitsuguya's arms. He turned and laid the girl on the ground. "Captain Hitsuguya, I appreciate your coming here," Tia called out to him. He turned to glare at her. "Captain, I assure you, I've done her no harm." He continued to glare. Finally, he was ready to speak.
"Of course, it would be you who was the next person to put her life in danger," Tia froze, and back stepped. She took a minute to look over the kid sized captain. There was pure rage on the young looking boy's face. That, and the dull palor to his skin. He was infected too. Tia summoned forth the power of her Zanpakuto, and tossing away her jacket. Even though she was already tired from holding her resurrection for as long as she already had, she knew this was going to be a long battle. "So you admit your intentions of harm?" he asks. Tia shook her head.
"You're sick Captain Hitsuguya. You're infected too. Please, go somewhere and lock yourself up." Tia told him. Naturally, he looked offended. He opened his mouth to reply, and then he snapped. Another ice dragon soared at Tia. There was no way she could beat Hitsuguya without injuring him. She knew that. She also knew that if she didn't fight back he would kill her. She'd gone from one bad situation, to an even worse one. But there was no way she could get out of this without hurting someone. How she wished she'd just knocked Momo out and threw her in a cell from the beginning. What was one bruise on the head compared with fighting the same captain she'd battled for Aizen. It would look like treason. She had to get to someone who could help. Her options... what were her options. She dodged an ice dragon, carefully watching for the return trip. She could go to fourth. No. She'd felt the battle there earlier. The captain there was still recovering from her battle with the 11th captain. Her next nearest option was 6th. But would that jerk help her? She didn't have a choice. The 3rd division was too far. And she didn't want to talk to Gin anyways. She jumped up into the air, and ran for the 6th division. Hitsuguya followed, sending multiple dragons after her. Her only choice was to defend herself and so she blasted the dragons away from her when she had to.
Ichigo watched as Rukia apologized to her brother for being 'an inconvenience'. It was ridiculous that she should apologize to him. But instead of telling her that, all Byakuya did was nod in acceptance of her sentiments. He was looking out the window. Maybe that's why he felt it first. The racing spiritual pressure of Toshiro. He was fighting someone, and they were headed in this direction. Byakuya noticed next, and stood from his desk. Renji and Rukia followed suit. The left the building and jumped up to the roof. They could see in the distance, Hitsuguya's dragons, being blasted away by water jets. He was fighting Tia again. Renji looked conflicted. "That could be any situation..." Ichigo reminded them, trailing off at the end. He knew that most of the hybrids were good now. But they also knew that it was only Shinigami getting infected. So there must have been a hybrid behind it. Perhaps Szayel, who had disappeared a while ago without a trace. "Either way, someone up there might need some help." Ichigo finished. That seemed to get everyone's attention. He jumped up in the air, and headed to meet the battle. Byakuya turned to his Lieutenant and adopted sister.
"You two will stay here." he stated in a no nonsense, don't you dare disobey me, kind of tone. Then Byakuya followed after Ichigo. There was still a distance to travel, but the closer they got, they noticed that Tia was trying very hard not to attack at all. So she was the innocent in the situation.
Tia saw the two figures running for the fight and couldn't be more relieved. She put an extra burst of strength into her sonido and covered the distance between them. She skidded to a stop careful to turn back to face Hitsuguya. "He's infected. I can't fight him." she stated. She looked a little worse for the wear, her resurrection chipped away in places. Hitsuguya had paused his onslaught to see what would happen with the new additions to the battle.
"And why can't you fight him?" Byakuya asked her. Tia gave him an are-you-stupid look. Byakuya drew his Zanpakuto. "Very well," he stated. He turned the blade handle side up, preparing to release it. Ichigo grabbed his arm.
"You can't draw blood. Rukia would kill me if you got infected too." Ichigo told him. Tia couldn't believe what she was hearing. The human boy was going to prevent Captain Kuchiki from helping her. But Byakuya scoffed.
"I don't have to be close to draw blood, if you remember, Kurosaki. Scatter." He released the handle of his Zanpakuto and it disappeared into the ground. A sea of pink petals flew forward to meet an oncoming ice dragon.
"You can't kill him either! He's one of your comrades! Fix him!" Ichigo yelled. Byakuya glared at Ichigo.
"I don't have the familiarity to fix him." he stated before turning to the battle. Ichigo turned to Tia. She nodded, and headed in the direction of tenth. She would have retrieved Momo, but that would have involved going past Hitsuguya and then he would have gone back to attacking her. She dashed through the halls of tenth, skidded around the corner, and threw open the office door. Matsumoto was lying on the floor. Tia dropped to the floor beside her, and rolled her over. She had a large black bruise on the side of her face, but other than that, seemed unharmed. Tia grabbed the flower vase on the woman's desk, and dumped it on her head. Matsumoto gasped awake. She looked at her captain's desk and stood, gripping her Zanpakuto.
"They can be saved," Tia murmured to her. "They can be saved by forcing them to think. He won't want to hurt you. He'll fight it so that he doesn't hurt you. We have to hurry. Kuchiki is fending him off." The two women race off in the direction of 6.
Uryu saw Nemu walking away from the scientist's camp. He skirted around the camp, being careful to stay a good distance away. Chad followed him. Uryu had stolen reiatsu suppressors from Mayuri's lab and they were coming in handy now. Finally, Nemu was far away enough from the camp, and the two of them grabbed her. Uryu covered her mouth so she couldn't call for help. They ran away from the camp, covering what they hoped was enough distance so that they couldn't be heard. Once they stopped, Chad held on to her so she couldn't escape. "You need to tell us what's really going on." Uryu told her. She hung her head in shame, but didn't reply. "I've been watching you. I broke into your division. You killed all of the hybrids you had didn't you?" again she didn't reply. "Nemu answer me!" Uryu said, grabbing her face, and forcing her to look up at him.
"Its Mayuri-sama. All of this is Mayuri-sama. He created this virus, putting it in people. He wants the head captain to get rid of the hybrids. So he can experiment on them. I can't stop him. I tried. He dissected me and put something inside of me. I can't lift a hand against him now. I can't take it out either." Nemu finished. Her eyes watered. Uryu nodded to Chad, who released her. Nemu collapsed against Uryu, sobbing. "Mayuri-sama is a monster." she cried.
"We're going to stop him." Uryu reassured her. "I've beaten him once, I can do it again. I have Chad helping me too." Nemu nodded against his chest. Then she leaned back.
"I will help too." She sat down by a tree, leaning against it. From her sleeve, she pulled out a scalpel. "The device is here," she indicated, pointing to a spot on her abdomen. She cut a large tear into her Shihakusho where she'd pointed. "I will not die if you cut me open. So long as you don't hit my heart. But you shouldn't. While that isn't where it should be, I don't think he would put it in the same location as the device." Uryu hesitated, lightly grasping the scalpel. She pointed to the spot, and Uryu dragged the scalpel in a steady line. He pulled open her skin and breathed a sigh of relief. She was wrong about where Mayuri had placed her heart, but Uryu hadn't hit it with the scalpel. Nemu watched, not even showing any discomfort. Uryu saw the edge of the device, and reached in, slowly pulling on it. Wires connected the device to her heart. He looked up at her, and she nodded softly. He cut the wires.
And chapter end. Not much of a cliff hanger, but it seemed like a good place to stop. I'm thinking maybe two more chapters. Maybe an epilogue... Probably an epilogue.