A Call to Arms (PM for invite)

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

The ocean was a black churning maelstrom under the ominous thunder clouds. the waves rising tens of feet into the air as the storm tore at the water with little care for any being unfortunate enough to be caught in its fury.

Under the waves, beneath the mayhem above, a dark shape slipped through the murky depths like a bullet. Hundreds of feet long, its hull perfectly mimicking the salt water around it and shaped like a tapered sword. The submarine flew no color, it had no allegiance, it didn't exist in the eyes of the world and nor did the men inside.

"Time!" Barked Commander Decker, a grizzled 45 year old, his face a mess of scars and his hair cropped so short that only a thin grey fuzz was evident on his head.

"2322 hours sir, 0020 minutes until the recon team report in!" Sounded an ensign at a console to the left of the podium which the command chair sat on.

"Take us to broadcast depth, beam the transmission to the War Room." Decker growled.

The war room had no chairs, just a large rounded table that showed a map of the world holographically, the rest of the room was devoid of anything one would deem a luxury.

The Commander rested his knuckles on the edge of the table and he didn't flinch when the sedate blueish map suddenly sprung to life, a screen forming a few inches above the surface and the helmeted face of a man appeared.

"Whats the situation on the ground Captain." Decker asked, noting the scenes of utter devastation in the background and the static that occasionally flickered across the transmission.

"Its him, he just wiped out seven city blocks." The Captain responded.

"Casulties?"

"None, the area was evacuated before the fight took place."

"Was it Them?" The Commander asked, the tension all to evident in his voice.

"No sir, we believe it was the manifestation of his Zanpakuto."

"Did he win?" The Captain asked his tone suddenly insistent.

"Ye-yes sir, it was one hell of a fight." The Captain said and you could tell he was both shocked and awed by what he'd seen at ground zero. "Why would he fight his own weapon?"

"Bankai..." The Commander said and a crafty smile had crept up on his life battle ravaged face.

"Sorry sir?"

"Its a ritual, to fully unleash their powers a Reaper has to manifest and defeat their Zanpakuto in the living world. That son of a bitch just doesn't stop." Decker answered with a grunt.

"You know the drill Captain, you'll have dozens of Hollow on you looking to slurp up the residual energy. Take care of it then come on home." Decker finished and turned away from the table.

Glasgow, Scotland. Ground Zero.

"Aye sir," The Captain said, his helmets com-system giving his voice a metallic edge. "Take up containment positions." He added, the communication going out to the 4 other men dotted around the war ravaged area.

"Rod 1, in place"

"Rod 2 in place"

"Rod 3 in place"

"Rod 4 in place"

Came the affirmatives from his team. The Captain checked the reading on the small LCD screen on his suits right arm. The energy levels were in the green while the Spiritual Energy reader was swinging more into the red. They'd be here soon.

"T.E.S check!" He barked, each man equipped with a Tactical Enhancement Suit, which pushed their speed, strength and reflexes to inhuman proportions through the use of advanced cybernetics and a spiritual energy absorption engine that allowed them to fight all the nasty things that lurked in the dark.

The Captain checked his Mark II Fulcrum Energy rifle, the weapon of choice for any human who wanted to stand a chance against the otherside. The weapon drew weapon directly from the S.E.A Engine and converted the energy into rapid fire bursts of highly condensed rounds of pure Spirit Energy.

His Spirit Energy reader beeped at him and his eyes shot skyward in time to see a dimension rift begin to form, the very sky cracking as these monsters broke into the world of the living. He waited, stood motionless, his shoulder pressed against a piece of broken stone, and gave a slow count as the bastards poured out from that black hole.

The anticipation grew, squirming in his gut before he finally yelled. "Arc em!"

The Four harmless looking rods placed at certain points around the area suddenly came to life and bolts of spiritual energy shot from them, covering the vast area like an electrical storm they struck anything within the containment area, latching onto a Hollow and disrupting its Spiritual Energy to such an extent that it literally atomized it in less than a second. It was short lived however, such was the energy consumption of the device that it had a four second life span before it was spent.

The Arc device had taken care of 90% of the Hollow and the Dimension rift had sealed so no more would be coming but there were still stragglers and thats where he and his team came in.

The five armored soldiers converged at break neck speed, their bodies a blur of black against the rubble strewn back drop, their rifles raised and ready. The first of the Hollow spotted them and the Captain broke off as it swooped toward them, its dull grey wings beating furiously as it made its dive directly toward him, its horrible jaws wide with anticipation for the kill to come.

It didn't expect the Human to meet it in mid-flight, the Captain bounding from the ground his rifle blasting a Salvo into the creatures chest as he rose forcing a scream from its lungs and then an armored hand snaked out, gripped its wing and he swung up onto its back firing again and again unleashing rounds of the purest white energy until the Hollow crashed into the ground and quietly dissipated.

The Captain rolled to a stop and was back on his feet charging in at a hulking amphibian like Hollow. The creature swung its massive arm at him and he somersaulted over it, snatching his energy blade from his belt as he landed and slashed at the offending limb, cleaving it off at the forearm.

The Hollow was undeterred, although in agony, and lunged at him again with its remaining arm. The Soldier dipped at the waist and spun under the attack and flicking a switch on the Mark II squeezed the trigger. The round released was much larger than standard and when it hit the Hollow, right between its black eyes, it exploded in a brilliant flash of light that sent the beat tumbling backwards before it died.

The Captain looked around the battlefield, his men had slain or were finishing off the rest. "Exceptional, as always." He said with a touch of pride. That pride was short lived, when his S.E reader went ballistic, its readings way off the charts and above them a dimension rift formed and a single, solitary being descended to the ground ahead of them.

"Holy shit..." The Captain gasped. "We got an S-Class, pull back! Pull back!" He screamed, his team weren't equipped for this fight, the strongest of the Hollow weren't something a recon team could handle. All they could do was run like hell.

The Captains heart surged as the suit, which weighed a metric tonne, carried him effortlessly at speeds upwards of 90 MPH, giving him the strength to leap over ten foot building shards and to run straight through the rest. It really was a magnificent piece of tech, without it humanity wouldn't stand a chance.

The first Cero cut their escape plan short and they had to come to a skidding halt as the wall of red energy rose up before them. The Captain turned and faced the casually approaching Enemy.

It was female, as female as you can get when you're a monster, and a head shorter than he was. The top half of its humanesque face was covered in the white skull like mask he had come to know all to well.

"The bitch ain't letting us leave, get ready!" He ordered and his men raised their rifles in unison. The Captain looked down at the powerful gun in his hands. Against ordinary E-Class hollow and even some of the Weaker B-Class, the massive mindless giants that occasionally came through, they were useful...but against an anything higher they might as well use harsh language for all the good it would do.

"Recon Team Gladius to Damocles, we need immediate fire support. S-Class Hollow, i repeat we need immediate heavy fire support on my co-ordinates." The Captain said on a long range channel. He knew it didn't matter, the big guns wouldnt get here in time. They were as good as dead.

"Food shouldn't play with guns..." The Arrancar said with a smile and raised her pale skinned hand, the bright spot of red light growing, ready to fire and The Captain and his men were sure that this was it for them. Their number was up.

Then she fell over, like a plank of wood she hit the dirt and that's when they saw a very familiar sight. Norongachi, still bloodied and burned from his fight, extracting his Zanpakuto from the creatures spine.

"What the hell is this guy?" The Captain thought and then Sal seemed to notice them and pinned him with that brown eyed stare that had been the last look hundreds had ever seen.

Immediately the training took over and rifles trained themselves on Norongachi, each soldier taking up an aggressive posture that promised they would open fire if Sal so much as blinked.

"So, who are you lot? Iron Man wannabe's?" Norongachi said, ignoring the sudden temperature dip, and noting the high-tech battle armor the five men wore. "A Bang up job by the way, i wasn't aware humans possessed that kind of firepower." He finished, wiping the blood from his blade on his trouser leg.

"Just stand where you are Reaper. There doesn't need to be any bloodshed here." The Captain responded as he and his men edged slowly backwards.

"I'm sorry guys but i need to know the answer to one question." Sal said, his voice calm.

"We'll answer what we're able to." The answer was a delay tactic, if they tangled with this madman they'd all be dead in an instant. The way he had dispatched that S-Class hollow without even unsealing his Zanpakuto was proof enough of that.

"Where the fuck have YOU been?"

"I'm sorry i don't understand."

"If humanity could kill off Hollow's as easily as i just saw, where the fuck have you been eh? While people have been dying, while *I'VE* been fighting, constantly. Where the hell were you?" Sal snarled.

"We had our orders..." The Captain said, no trace of emotion in his voice.

"Yeah, and you're going to take me to the pricks who gave em. Its time you fucking humans got off your arses and lent a hand in this fight." Sal said with finality.

"We can't do that."

"I wasn't asking...." You could have chipped ice cubes off Sal's response and the Captain knew that he was deadly serious.

There was a roar of engines above them and from the sky descended a craft the likes of which Sal had never seen. It had the characteristics of a Harrier jump jet but it was much larger, with four rotational engines that scorched the ground under it as it came to a hovering rest a few feet away from them.

Having anticipated his service to the Gotei 13 ending in the near future, Ryouta had been for quite some time archiving all of the data in the SRDI's vast database to take with him when he left. This included, of course, not just downloading all of the information to a different site, but also meticulously going through all the books that he as a Captain had access to and transforming the information therein into digital form. That was how he had stumbled across several interesting tidbits of information from the journals of former officers of the 12th Division, some as high-ranking as Vice-Captains.

The writing had been faded in nearly all the texts, and also coded in increasingly archaic format, but Ryouta could make out bits and pieces of an overall message. Concisely, the earlier ones had said, "Made contact with humans. Providing them with intel and technology - hopefully will use it to lessen burden on Shinigami."

However, later on, the journal entries became increasingly vague, though mention of the project was still obviously given. Perhaps that explained the many instances where Hollow threats were called in, only to be nonexistent when Shinigami finally arrived on the scene. Ryouta also noted (rather irritably) that no Captain was ever mentioned - obviously this sort of thing was illegal, but still. Surely all previous Captains of the 12th Division had shared Ryouta's disregard for rules when it came to certain things.

That was unimportant at the moment, however. Ryouta wanted to learn more about this, but affiliating himself with it as a Captain would be just another crime on his head once he left the Gotei. He decided to disguise himself again, donning clothing a doctor might wear, i.e. dress shirt, khaki pants, dress shoes, coat etc. (his favorite style of clothing outside his normal garb), and also accessorizing with gloves and sunglasses to hide his metallic body parts. This disguise would also allow him to use his Hollow mask if necessary.

Finally ready to leave, Ryouta pulled his Hollow mask down briefly so that he might open a Garganta to the location of the latest reported disturbance. His Garganta opened in the sky high above the human flying vehicle (Ryouta was unfamiliar with its make and the like, as flying machines are sort of unnecessary for Shinigami) and he stepped out, quickly removing his mask as he did so. A brief glance told him that the situation below was a tense one between a Shinigami whom he did not recognize and some humans wielding some very high-tech weaponry. Ryouta could also sense traces of Arrancar reiatsu, though the Shinigami's overpowered it.

That was strange...a Shinigami as strong as that, and Ryouta didn't know him, or even know of him - a rogue, probably. A potential ally, maybe. As were those humans. It would take some diplomacy to ingratiate both parties to him, but the benefits would prove well worth it. A direct approach seemed best to him. Ryouta floated down slowly to the roof of the hovering vehicle. He doubted his voice could be heard over the roar of the engines, so instead chose to stand there with an inscrutably serene expression on his face.

A hatch slid aside on the 20ft long craft and from it stepped two very large mechanized suits, that were more like walking tanks compared to the sleek and trim body armor of the soldiers in front of them, thundered out.

Red photoreceptors focused on Sal and immediately arms as thick as his body swung up in the blink of an eye and Norongachi found himself staring down the barrels of two rather nasty looking cannons.

The Glaswegian didn't make a move, he just stood there watching them as they watched him and then his gaze was drawn to a scarred, muscular, man stepping out behind the 8ft tall powerhouses and came striding toward Norongachi and the five soldiers like he owned the place.

The mans steely blue eyes took the measure of Sal and the fallen Arrancar just behind him and then he gave a very small gesture and the Battle suits stood down, the whirr of servos primed to unleash hell quietening to a soft purr.

"You've caused a shit load of problems since you came back from upstairs." The Commander growled and then turned to his men like Sal had ceased to exist.

"Any casualties Captiain?"

"None sir, we got lucky." The Captain responded, his spine practically as straight as a rod as he snapped to attention.

"Good, get your boys home. We'll follow." With that the Soldiers headed for the transport craft and the Commander turned to face Sal once again.

"We ain't got much time boy. So get you're ass on the plane or stay the hell out of our way." Decker growled and then they all heard it. The warning cries of several S.E Readers, the Soldiers that had been heading for the craft spun on the spot searching for the source.

"You know that guy?" Sal asked motioning to the top of the transport, while the hulking heavy suits sped away from the transport with much greater speed than Sal would have pegged them as having, to take up firing positions.

"Can't say i've had the pleasure..." Decker said his eyes narrowing to slits, if there was one thing he hated it was interruptions.

So it seemed that while the situation was tense, the two did know each other. That might bode well for Ryouta's plans, but then it might not. He thought it unlikely one would be amiable to him if the other wasn't - this might unfortunately prove to be an all-or-nothing endeavor.

None of this thought process was betrayed by his actions though. Ryouta gave a slight nod of acknowledgment to each of the commanding presences before him. "Nor have I," he said with a thin-lipped smile. These people didn't seem the type to be impressed by hollow shows of camaraderie and overtures of friendship - Ryouta pegged them more as the type to respect confidence, and the skill and power to back it up. Therefore, he let his own mind become more passive, and allowed his Hollow alter ego Stein to influence his words.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush - Soul Society does not have any knowledge of large groups of normal humans knowing about the existence of the spiritual world, much less having the capability of combating its inhabitants. From some old archives in the 12th Division, I discovered that humans were - (Ryouta almost said, 'a project,' but tactfully changed his words at the last moment) given these capabilities by someone from the 12th Division, and have been helped in this way for some time." Ryouta laid his fingers over the hilt of his Zanpakuto - it was not a threat, simply a gesture to indicate he had every confidence in his ability to survive should violence occur. "I know things that would make the Gotei's hair curl if they knew - so how is it I did not know of this until recently?"

Ryouta of course deliberately did not divulge a name, nor any particular affiliation. He spoke of Soul Society as if it was an interesting place he studied as a scholar, but did not actually belong to. The intent, of course, was to gauge the reactions of the people around him to Soul Society. If they were hostile towards it - or at least had differing views with it; well then there was potential.

"We're real good at keeping off the radar." The Commander responded coolly and to the rest he simply responded. "Thats below your pay grade son."

Sal stepped around the commander, this was the first time since the virus had been released that he'd met anyone with any knowledge of 12th division or its whack job experiments.

"What do you know about a bio-weapon that can mutate humans?" Norongachi asked, trying, unconvincingly to stay calm. He didn't have the self control for torture, he'd learned that the hard way, but the urge for answers was pushing that course of action to the forefront of his mind.

"12th division created it. Released it and well, If you know as much as you say you do, you know the rest. I want to know *WHO* released it." Sal was audibly grinding his teeth as he spoke in a vain attempt to bite back the anger.

"I'd like to know the answer to that as well, both of you get in the ship. The civies will be here soon and we don't like awkward questions." Decker ordered with absolutely no doubt that he would be obeyed before he stalked into the dark interior of the transport followed by his soldiers and the mechanized suits.

"You're here for a reason. So lets not pretend like you won't be coming." The words were like ice shooting at the stranger and then Sal joined the rest in the ship.

"Below my pay grade...!?" In his head, Stein reared and gnashed his teeth in anger at the perceived slight, but Ryouta quickly shunted Stein's anger aside - the news of a bio-weapon was new to him; and he had found nothing in his database search that had spoken of such a thing. He could only imagine that the process was similar to the one he had used on himself to release his inner Hollow. This definitely warranted further inquiry.

Ryouta appeared to ignore the questions of the other Shinigami for a moment, and then thought better of it. "I know...less than I would care to." He nodded at the human captain. "I agree, we should leave quickly. Soul Society will have dispatched a squad by now as well, and I would like to be away before they arrive."

That being said, he stepped briskly into the transport. There was little time to waste - this had turned into a different sort of mission now. No longer was Ryouta's priority to garner allies - he wanted to know who was responsible for this just as much as they did. He would have to make sure that once he knew who, that person would have to be eliminated along with all traces of evidence that led back to 12th Division's involvement. It was too early in the stages of his treacherous plans for suspicion to be cast his way. Everything else, allies included, was secondary. Then again...if he could manipulate the evidence to show that the humans and this rogue Shinigami were responsible, Soul Society might declare a state of war, and Ryouta might find himself with comrades with a common enemy.

The passenger area of the transport was spacious, easily seating twenty men and its hold could carry about the same in those armored suits Sal saw earlier. They sat in silence for awhile as the craft took off at speed and shot over the city heading for the gods knew where. The windows were blacked out and there was no indication of time or the crafts bearing.

"I'm Sal by the way," Norongachi said to the man sitting across from him and then turned to the Commander. "He has a point though, where did Humanity get this kind of hardware and why haven't Soul Society or anyone in the know heard of you?"

Decker reached into his shirt pocket and extracted a half smoked cigar and lit it up, puffing the blueish smoke into the air around his grizzled face. "Thats below YOUR pay grade, Norongachi" Was his sharp response and Sal couldn't argue, they barely knew him and judging by the lengths they went to, secrecy was the top priority.

"There's a war coming, you know that." Sal began, unsure how to proceed, he needed allies, he needed something other than stubbornness to win the coming fight. "Will you join the cause?"

"All in good time." Decker responded, his face as unreadable as a block of granite.

The transport was airborne for almost and hour and then a red light came on in the passenger cabin and Sal's stomach lurched as the craft descended. What was that he could hear above the noise of the engines, the ocean?

The hatch slid aside and Sal was greeted by the sight of dozens of personnel attending ships very much like the one he had just arrived with in/ They were in a sealed hanger the size of several football fields and the in the background, above the chatter and clunk of boots and mobile suits pounding the metal grating under them was the hum of engines, powerful engines by Sal's estimate.

"Where the fuck are we?" He asked turning full circle to gauge the scope of his surroundings.

"A pleasure," Ryouta responded. Now that he was seated among these people, apparently privy to whatever it was they were doing, Ryouta was a lot more comfortable, not to mention more confident of things going his way. "You may call me Stein." Briefly, Ryouta experienced a glimmer of hope when Sal asked about how the humans had obtained their equipment, but those hopes were quickly dashed. The Captain was proving irritating. If he didn't spill the beans in due time, Ryouta might just consider having Soul Society do his work for him. That is, he would call them in when the time was opportune to take the Captain in for questioning. It would be a dangerous game to play both sides, but worthwhile, in Ryouta's opinion.

He shunted those thoughts aside for the moment. He did not want to have to resort to such things, not when he was certain the information he wanted would come in due time. Besides, Sal was speaking of a war. And one not caused by me, thought Ryouta. He did not want a three-way war going on - it involved too many variables and loose ends for a scheme like his to be reasonably confident of coming to fruition.

When the transport landed, Ryouta said nothing. If it was a trap, he was perfectly capable of defending himself and escaping, and if not, again, it was valuable information. He waited patiently for the Captain to explain himself.

They were ushered through the hanger deck by a literal army of armed escorts and Sal was growing more and more agitated by the second. He wasn't built for patience and the answers weren't coming quick enough for his liking but he held his tongue, nothing would be solved by obliterating
everyone in sight, despite the instant urgings from his dark passenger.

They were lead to a conference room of sorts, the walls a bland grey and a table in the center of the reasonably sized room with wooden chairs, 6 either side and 1 at either end. Sal chose a seat and parked his butt while the Commander took his place at the head of the table and shortly there after a younger man, in his late 30's, joined them, taking a seat opposite the Commander.

"We've watched you for a long time Norongachi," The Commander began. "We know your on our side...." He trailed off,

"Others in out company cannot be included in that assessment so you wont get all the answers your looking for." The younger man chimed in. Sal fixed him with a dead stare, these weren't the answers the Glaswegian was looking for.

"We all have a lot of questions but none rank higher, in my mind, than exactly what the Soul Society spy wants" The Commander said his icy blue orbs drilling holes into Stein. "Whatever you say, you showed up in too convenient a fashion."

Ryouta walked briskly along with the escort, completely unperturbed by their numbers. If he really wanted to, Ryouta was certain he could reduce the surrounding area into a miniature Ice Age in microseconds. Upon reaching the conference room, Ryouta selected a seat next to the other Shinigami. He smiled as it was confirmed that the Shinigami was working with the humans, if not for them. That was all he needed, frankly, for Soul Society to pronounce them both as threats. Still, it would probably be fruitful to stay longer.

"Soul Society spy? Please," Ryouta gave a snort of derision. "You must not know very much about Soul Society. Spying is done by 2nd Division, the Onmitsukido Corps to be more specific. And if they were here, you'd never notice them until you had a blade between your vertebrates. I would know - I was part of them for some time; and I know the reputation of the Captain of that Division. No one is faster than him." In revealing these facts about himself, Ryouta hoped to garner some modicum of trust. He lost nothing by revealing this - in all likelihood, they would take everything he said with a grain of salt anyway.

"That being said, I am here for a reason. For starters, everything that Norongachi here wants to know, I also want to know. Following that I may have further inquiries, but for now that will suffice." Ryouta smiled thinly at the icy-eyed Captain, matching his coolness. While his reiatsu was not as powerful as some of the other Captains (unless his Hollow mask was on, then the air itself seemed to freeze), Ryouta's reiatsu felt like liquid. In spiritually weaker individuals, prolonged exposure would give an uncomfortable feeling of drowning.

"Convenient, yes. But not for Soul Society. For me. Believe what you want gentlemen, but my agenda is not Soul Society's."

"Ha!" Decker gave a barking laugh that sent wisps of smoke from his mouth. "Don't be so narrow minded boy, you think what division you're in determines what orders your given?" He finished and then, as unreadable as ever, filled away the news that this man was part of Division 2 and confirmed that he was a Shinigami, or used to be at the very least.

This guy thought he was the smartest man in the room, hell he could have been right, but Decker had found in his 46 years on this planet that those who marvel at their own genius have the idiotic ability to disregard the intelligence of those around them. "Let him play his game..." Decker thought.

"Can we cut the macho shit here? You don't trust him, he doesn't trust you and i don't trust any of you bastards." Sal spat, blunt as ever. "I don't have time to watch you two compare penis sizes, if you know whats going on then tell me. If you've got my back then say so. If not get the hell out of my way and i'll take care of it myself or die trying..."

Sal felt the peaking of Steins spiritual energies, just the barest flicker higher than the natural state it had been at since they had met and his hand snaked out and gripped his wrist. "You keep that crap under control.." He warned in a whisper that only Stein would hear and let go of the mans wrist.

The man was on par with himself, or perhaps more powerful. Sal had never been the greatest at sensing the subtleties of spiritual energy but since leaving Soul Society his skills had grown substantially. He couldn't get a pinpoint reading but at an estimate, yeah, they were on an equal footing.

The Commander watched the very, very, brief exchange between the Reapers. He didn't know what was said but whatever it was, it wasn't friendly. He turned to the young man at the opposite end of the table.

"Lieutenant Garik will give you all the info we have, he'll also show you to your quarters oh....and just in case you two get any ideas. Take a closer look at the walls." He added and then stood and left the three alone.

Sal did take a closer look at the walls, standing and running his hand over the bland paint he found nothing and then, as he focused upon one spot he saw it. Tiny symbols, no more than a millimeter across, painted in grey, they were repeated all across the wall, giving the illusion that the paintwork was just a simple brush job.

"Suppression seals," Garik said from his seat, his tone all business. "You won't notice their effects yet, but you guys are capped...at a manageable level. A precaution, repeated throughout the base."

"Nifty..." Sal responded his manner uninterested by this revelation. He knew there had to be some kind of security plan or they wouldn't have been brought to the nerve center of their operation.

"I've been authorized to give you any information we have gathered so far on the Circle of Twelve, the mutagenic virus and any intel on their global network.
We know that time is short, the pieces are moving into striking position. All that remains now is to formulate a battle plan to strike first before the world goes to hell."

"I hope you're as good in a fight as i think you are Stein, I've gone up against one of the Twelve and that...thing...kicked my ass. Its like nothing Soul Society has ever encountered before." Sal said retaking his seat.

"You will be placed under armed escort, you may roam the base unless directed otherwise. We have prepared quarters for each of you and we will be giving a full briefing tomorrow at 0600 hours. Until then gentlemen." And with that Garik made his exit. Leaving Stein and Sal on their lonesome.

"Maybe not in the human world, but in Soul Society, yes, your Division is a predictor of your orders. It is a flaw in their workings that I have often considered laughable," said Ryouta, apparently uncaring about the Captain's attitude towards him. In truth, barely more than an iota of attention was being paid to this Captain - as far as Ryouta was concerned, he was only useful for the information he carried. And as for his arrogance, well, Ryouta considered taking such slights on par with taking the opinion of someone who had never taken a physics course's opinion on string theory - completely and utterly insignificant.

Sal's outburst caught Ryouta's attention - he was an angry man, perhaps prone to rash behavior. He filed that away in case it could be taken advantage of later. "I apologize," he whispered back. "I forget that I am in the presence of humans."

The Captain's parting statement intrigued Ryouta - he also got up to investigate the walls. "Hmmm...interesting," he muttered. They probably worked the same way the seals that went on Captains and Vice-Captains worked. They could be bypassed, given time and effort perhaps. Fortunately, Ryouta had something up his sleeve that the humans didn't know about - his mechanical arm and eye, both of which served as storage tanks for his reiatsu. If need be, he'd be able to release tremendous bursts of energy from both, without having to first deal with the suppression seals.

"Oh excellent," Ryouta said rather sardonically. "I do relish the opportunity to learn more about this war that I find myself suddenly a part of." Noting that Norongachi had taken a seat, Ryouta took the seat opposite him. It really was bugging him that he didn't know who this Shinigami was. He had a nagging suspicion he had met him before, but couldn't really pinpoint from where or when. Given his own recent drastically altered appearance, he doubted that the Shinigami would recognize him either.

At Norongachi's words of warning, Ryouta's thin lips tweaked up into a grin. He leaned forward slightly, as if about to reveal a big secret. "Thank you for your concern, Sal. But...I am also something the likes of which Soul Society has never seen."

"I often wonder what would happen if the comfy womb all these old time soldiers of Soul Society are used to were striped away. You think they'd survive in this world? With no one giving them orders, with no one giving them respect that wasn't earned in blood." Sal said and then banished the thought with a disgusted grunt.

"I really am sorry you wandered into this Stein. It doesn't matter how much i try to contain all this shit more and more people get pulled into the meat grinder." Norongachi said, his voice weary. He was exhausted, mentally and emotionally, the constant never ending battles did that to you, they sapped you of every ounce of innocence you had left.

He had seen things, done things, that he never imagined possible since this began and he knew that when this was over...he could never be that man again, there was no going back.

"You too?" Sal responded, leaning in until He and Stein were only six or seven inches apart and for the briefest of moments Abaddon's vibrant green, pupiless, eyes rose to the fore, obscuring the dark brown and whites of his own and then he was normal again, the creature suppressed.

"We all have secrets...whats yours?" The Glaswegian asked.

The thought that passed Sal's lips next genuinely surprised Ryouta - though none of his surprise showed on his face. Instead, he leaned back and spread his arms, sighing expansively as he did so. "4th Division members would become doctors and the like, 11th would probably go do the mercenary thing, and so on - but in the end they would just become a group of squabbling old men who can only reminisce about the 'good ol' days.'" Despite his lack of facial expression, Ryouta's tone clearly indicated that he considered himself above such a fate - and perhaps those people in general.

"There is no need to apologize. A person like me is drawn to this sort of thing. I would've become involved one way or another. It was just particularly fortuitous that I stumbled upon what led me here when I did," Ryouta continued. It had been some time since he had actually conversed with someone that wasn't Stein -

Curious...he could've sworn that Norongachi's eyes had glowed green, and a bestial presence skirted the outside edges of his senses...or was it his imagination? "The whole point of a secret is that it remains one," said Ryouta evasively. "Suffice it to say, my secret is highly illegal. Also arguably amoral - at least by Soul Society's standards."

"It must be nice," Sal began. "To be able to see the world in such a manner. Black and White. Right and Wrong. Good and Evil. Soul Society has made an art form out of it." Sal leaned back in his chair, letting one arm rest on the table top while the other lay across the arm of the chair.

"Narrow minded, thats what it is. Everywhere there are shades of grey and its only on very rare occasions do you come across a cut and dry black and white situation." Sal wasn't the shy sort, he really didn't care what anyone thought of him now. Least of all soul society and so he continued on.

"You think all Hollow are evil?" He asked rhetorically. "I've fought beside more than one since this all started and let me tell you they are just as afraid, just as confused and just as fucked up as any human or soul reaper."

"Whatever it is you've done Stein, you won't get any judgement out of me. I'm an abomination, i know i am, but i did what i had to do to survive, to win, to keep on breathing and I'd do it all over again and then some to keep the air in my lungs and the blood in my veins." He said passionately and then he grew quiet for a moment and his tone had a cold edge to it when he spoke again.

"And if anyone wants to judge me for it, they can go fuck themselves." He finished his hand curling into a fist involuntarily on the varnished wood.

"I couldn't agree more," Ryouta said with a knowing smile. "Their stodginess and commitment to tradition is one of their greatest weaknesses. Eventually it will be their undoing, when those that have the willingness to adapt and progress for the sake of progression eliminate them."

Curiouser and curiouser. The Shinigami was clearly the emotional type - tough, and driven to succeed. He would certainly be one of the more interesting members of an 11th Division squad. Either that...or he was acting, and if so, Ryouta silently congratulated him on his prowess. Well, two could play at that game.

"My condition is not something that I view as capable of being fairly judged without bias," Ryouta said in a low voice, head lowered slightly, glasses-covered eyes not making contact with Sal's. He shivered almost imperceptibly, though the room was a comfortable temperature. It was the textbook appearance of someone who was about to reveal a shameful secret or memory. "I..."

All of a sudden, he stopped, his head snapped back up. For a moment, his eyebrows and forehead were crinkled, and his jaw set, teeth almost bared - a textbook expression of fear. But in an instant that expression was gone, and he was calm and poised once more, his face turning to Sal's. It appeared as if he had been on the verge of revealing something tantalizingly dangerous, something he had realized he would care not to. "Let's just say I have my own inner demons to...deal with." His right fist tightened angrily at his last words.

Ryouta was fairly confident that his performance had been spot on. If all went well, Ryouta would come off as a hardened individual, sure, but also one with his own fears and confusions, his own anger. In short, a character not unlike Sal Norongachi. Psychology showed that people tended to be more amiable towards people similar to them, with similar ideology and the like. That is to say, it didn't matter how wrong one's opinion might be, if another person shares it, the original person is apt to look at the other and remark, 'Oh how clever that person must be, he has come to the same conclusion as myself!'

Quite the clever ploy, Stein said in his head. You're quite the actor.

Thank you, Ryouta replied demurely. I do try to ingratiate myself with passersby when necessary.

Stein's wry chuckle sounded rather pleasant to Ryouta just then. My id is quite content at the moment, he thought to himself. Aloud, he asked, "So...I know little of what the upcoming conflict is about - you obviously know more than I. Will you tell me what you know before our briefing?"

"Condition?, Inner Demons? He couldn't mean...." Sal thought and then mentally slapped himself, the chances of meeting someone, no, sometHING like himself that wasn't playing for the other side were slim, almost non-existent.

"Inner demons come part and parcel with the life we lead..." He said quietly and then perked up when Stein asked about what he knew.

"I can only tell you what i've learned in the trenches, i'm no scientist." He began and then started to arrange his thoughts.

"Just under two years ago, it was...december i think, myself and several other shinigami were sent on an away mission in the English country side. We weren't told why we were there just that we should act if anything strange occured." He thought back to that night, the snow on the ground, that sleepy little town square...the rain...Lieutenant Jin.

"Something had taken over the humans who lived there, we didn't sense it until they had burst out of the human guise they assumed, giants, razor sharp claws...teeth...they wiped out the squad in seconds but that wasn't the worst of it.." He said and then he grew very serious. "The bites, the ones that survived the initial attack, they transferred something into their bodies and it changed them...it turned them into monsters." Sal ran a hand over his face, he was tired, so damn tired and memory lane wasn't where he wanted to be.

"I got away, somehow, and...i found out that it was a field test....we were there as prey for these things. Some maniac in 12th division had cooked up this virus and infected the townspeople. Months passed and the infection spread despite everything i did, they got stronger, smarter like they were evolving at a phenomenal rate, variations appeared, wings, spirit energy manipulation." Norongachi took a breath and leaned his head back his eyes closing as the words lined up in his mind.

"Whoever started this worked for the Circle of Twelve, These Millenia old creatures from the space between dimensions. They've infiltrated every super power on the planet and are ready to wipe humanity off the map, then it will be Soul Society and then Hueco Mundo. That's it, that's everything I've learned after nearly two years of work....seems like jack shit when you say it out loud."

Ryouta listened raptly to Sal's description without interrupting until he was finished. "Fascinating, if horrifying," he commented. "I wonder how anyone in the 12th Division got away with that without the Captain knowing - from what I know, Ayame runs a tight ship. Unless Ayame's in on it. Which I doubt, really. Humans are terribly uninteresting to him, even humans turned Hollow. All of his personal research nowadays is in robotics and Mod Souls." It seemed that Ryouta's run of good luck was continuing with every endeavor he undertook.

If only he could meet this 12th Division member and take his research - he could replicate his results elsewhere, in places all around the world to separate the Shinigami forces, divide them so they could be eliminated squad by squad. Or perhaps, if he could get a sample of one of these humans turned Hollow, or data... "Has any of these humans turned Hollow ever been captured alive for study?" Ryouta asked. "I would imagine so - humans love searching for cures. I wonder if it would be possible for me to take a look at their research. I *am* something of a scientist after all."

This of course, was simply stuff that would be put away until the main threat of these Twelve was dealt with. From what he was hearing, they would not be people Ryouta cared to ally with, nor would they be trustworthy. Still, stealing bits and pieces of their scheme was not something Ryouta was above doing. "Rather melodramatic, actually. What do they hope to gain by destroying it all?"

Sal opened his eyes and viewed Stein with his most serious stare. "They weren't Hollow's....you think I'd be worried if it was just a bunch of white masked son'sa bitches!?" Sal snarled.

"They're Human and they read like human. They walk around with human skin and when they get you were they want you the creature comes out and its game over." He let out a small laugh. "Hollow's, hell I've pissed on Arrancar more than once but I'll tell you what, now, after two years of the weak being culled from the strong i really don't feel confident i could come out of a straight up fight with a pack of these things unscathed."

"None that I'm aware of and if i find out some have, I'll be the first to torch the thing. I know that of all the creatures roaming in the dark humanity is the worst of them. They'd take this virus and they'd weaponize it and rationalize it and then we're all screwed." Sal said, utter convictions and more than a touch of disgust in his voice.

"These things are bad but they can be dealt with if you're strong enough...its the Twelve we have to worry about...or rather the thing behind the human face....." He trailed off, was he really about to volunteer himself for testing, to be poked and prodded, to reveal that he had one of those evil bastards inside him?

"The Fifth explained it to me, a little, before he handed me my ass. Its about opening the rift, creating an entrance to their world. Normally they can only break through when a person is in great pain, so much pain that it creates a crack..i guess..in their soul. They come through that crack, latching onto the host and eventually growing strong enough to take full control. Imagine an entire world in agony, mass slaughter, genocide, and throw in some ancient voodoo or whatever and hey presto literal hell on earth....and soul society...and hueco mundo...bye bye creation." He finished and then he stood from his chair.

"Its been...fun...but i need to sleep. Big day, worlds to save, demonic creatures to kill, all that Jazz." He walked to the door and stepped out into the corridor, where, on cue, his armed escorts appeared and lead him to his quarters.

That was surprising - Ryouta had thought that the virus was something like the one he had created to give himself his Hollow mask. This was something wholly different. If he had been keen on getting his hands on research a few seconds ago, now he was practically chomping at the bit for it. "I see. I apologize for my misunderstanding - old habit from my time as a Shinigami. Hollows are usually the enemy."

As Sal continued to speak, lines set in Ryouta's face - lines that actually displayed his true feelings for the first time in their meeting. They were lines of concern, and almost fear. These were beings he knew nothing about, in fact was wholly unfamiliar with. Ryouta's intellect and vast knowledge had made him confident that he could take anything that the world threw at him when he started his plans. Still, there was a certain exhilaration about it. "I had almost forgotten what it was like to know uncertainty..." he muttered to himself thoughtfully. "It's almost...delightful."

Ryouta only gave a slight nod of acknowledgment when Sal left. He continued to sit where he was for two hours afterward, thoughts whirling in his head, ranging from hypotheses concerning the nature of this new enemy, to how this might figure into his own agenda. What he knew for certain was that these beings were organic - they could be killed. He presumed that the Twelve were simply stronger than the run-of-the-mill ones created from humans, though he would not be surprised if they were something entirely different.

Satisfied for now, Ryouta left the conference room to be greeted by his armed escort. "If you would show me to my quarters, I would be much obliged," he said politely. As he walked with his escort, behind his glasses, his mechanical eye looked around, and through use of its x-ray vision and infrared vision, Ryouta documented in his head large swathes of the complex. Upon reaching his quarters, Ryouta thanked his escort and sat down to meditate with Reifujin Arashi and Stein. He hoped that he would not have to release his Zanpakuto or use Stein's powers tomorrow - the first because his Zanpakuto spiritual pressure (even if he only used Shikai, and definitely if he went Bankai) would draw the attention of Soul Society and identify him as working outside his orders, and the second because he was unsure how humans would react to a masked Shinigami. Probably the same way a Shinigami would.

Though...based on what Sal had said earlier about Hollows, Ryouta could probably count on him to not attack him out of irrational hatred.

Another sleepless night came and went, the cogs spinning in Sal's head with the same old questions, the same nightmarish memories come back to haunt him for the millionth time. The clock on the wall ticked with finality, counting down the very seconds till dooms day each movement of the hands shaving off precious time that was running out too quickly.

6AM came and Sal dragged himself out of the single cot attached to the wall, again covered in the grey seals he had found everywhere he was shown. The guards posted on his door were the same as those last night, each still donning their T.E.S suits.

"How do you guys piss in those things?" He asked but he got no response. They walked down the corridor, snaking through this labyrinth of doors and walkways that all looked identical.

They turned right at a t-junction, and Sal saw one door at the end of the corridor. He stepped inside, the Commander, Lieutenant Garik, a man in his twenties and a dark haired woman with spectacles were already seated around the holo-projection table.

"You're late," The Commander said. "Get a seat, we're still waiting on your chum from Soul Society."

Sal did as he was told, he was too tired to argue, his mind felt like mush in his skull and so he sat down and tried not to zone out.

Ryouta was roused from his intensely deep meditation session (just as good as sleep, if not better) by a loud banging on his door.

"Wake up Shinigami! You're late for the briefing!"

Ryouta was on his feet in an instant. "Of course, I apologize. Lead the way." He followed his escort to another section of the complex. The door was opened for him, and he stepped in. Ryouta recognized three of the faces, but two were unfamiliar. "Good morning," he said perfunctorily. "My apologies for my tardiness."

Ryouta took an empty seat beside the man he did not recognize. "So..." Though he didn't show it, Ryouta was quite eager to get on with the briefing. Once he knew more about these Twelve, he could properly formulate a plan to destroy them.

"We're all here." Decker began and then nodding to the two new faces began an introduction. "This is Captain Ryan, you met him and his team before and this is Professor Kelly." He finished, indicating to the brown haired man next to Stein and the woman across from Sal.

"Now that we're all bossum buddies lets get this show on the road. Garik." Decker said and the young lieutenant stood.

In his hand was a small circular device, at a touch of his thumb the lights dimmed and the blueish hue of the projection table flared briefly and then resolved into a 3D projection of a creature Sal knew all too well, the simian like appearance with the elongated forearms, the gaping mouth filled with silver fangs, the talons on each finger, dark green skin and the cold yellow eyes of a reptile.

"This is the end result of the mutagen the Twelve released, these creatures are strong, fast and hard to kill. As far as we can tell the make up the bulk of the Circles army, numbering in the thousands despite our best efforts and growing daily." Garik began, the projection spinning lazily in the air.

"What we know is that the longer these things stay alive the stronger they become. Changing in much the same way a Hollow would from evoloutionary step to evoloutionary step in a fraction of the time." The projection swicthed through the various forms they had come across, a few resembling everything from dragon like to almost human in appearance.

"You'll each be issued with a full summary of behaviour and tactis regarding the 'Hybrids' as we have taken to calling them." The projection shifted again and this time it showedheadshots of five men.

"Meet the leaders of the free world. China, Russia, Japan, America and Great Britain. They all came to power in the last two years and everyone of them is an Agent of the Twelve. Chances are high that we'll be going up against our own when the time comes." The projector flickered off and the lights went up.

"As for the Twelve themselves, we have next to nothing on them. We have no idea what they look like, no idea of what kind of power each of them possesses and no real way to know if anything we have can even hurt them" He finished.

"Thats it ladies and gents, we know that we have under a week before dooms day and we're unprepared. If you lot have anything to share, nows the time." Decker asked, his icy blue eyes scanning the faces around the room.

"It won't just be Humans and Hybrids. I've gone up against Bounts, Hollow and Superhumans that worked for them. So we have to factor that into the mix." Sal said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I know for sure though that any member of the Circle of Twelve are more powerful than a Vasto Lorde and well...myself which is no mean feat when you consider the prick took us both on at the same time and we didn't make a dent." Sal's face took on a very serious look as he considered just how much he should reveal, what would they try to do to him if they found out?

"Until we get something, anything, on them i can't find out who or what they are. I'm good at what i do but i can't pull that kind of information out of thin air." It was Kelly this time and she was American, from california if Sal was any judge which was a surprise.

"I.." Sal began and then swallowing the knot that caught in his throat continued. "I can...help...with that...sort of."

"And just how in the hell can you do that, you said it yourself you came, you saw and you got your ass kicked in under ten seconds. You don't even know if what you saw was its true face." Decker responded, a little sharply for Sal's liking and then he turned to Stein.

"Okay braniac, whats your take?" The Commander demanded.

Ryouta pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and paused for a few moments before speaking. "My 'take' as you say is that our primary concern right now should be the gathering of information. From what I gather, all you know are that the Twelve are dangerous, and so are the...things they command. Not exactly the database of information someone like me would prefer."

"Firstly, I understand that the cause of this...disease was started by an Agent of Twelve that was a Shinigami of the 12th Division. That's a lead that I would definitely follow - the 12th keeps meticulous records of every resource that it ever uses, and its members are under constant surveillance. How you might go about getting those records, I have no idea. I doubt you trust me enough to allow me to retrieve them, and such a plan assumes such records exist. If these Twelve know what they're doing, they'll have covered their tracks well. If Capt. Ayame doesn't know about this, it is unlikely he would believe anyone telling him otherwise - he's an arrogant person, to be sure."

That being said, Ryouta formed his fingers into a steeple as his brow furrowed in thought. "Other possible leads are those leaders - are they human? Because if so, torture might prove effective in getting information. I assume that they are outfitted with the same technology you have though, so infiltrating each base of operations to steal away each leader might also prove difficult."

He ran a hand through his hair as he leaned back, sighing as he did so. "This is a dilemma. I presume that you have no intentions of proposing an alliance with either Seireitei or Las Noches, correct? Help would certainly be nice in this situation-" Ryouta slammed his fist down on his armrest, imitating anger. "Damn it I hate knowing nothing. Would it be at all possible to capture one of those beasts alive? At very least, I could analyze its organic structure, and maybe create a weapon for your soldiers that would prove effective against them."

Which would mean I'd have to alter them so those weapons would be useless when I steal the means to create these things...but that's a small price to pay to get this information, thought Ryouta.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Ryouta turned to face Sal and the Captain. "You fought one of the Twelve, correct? Was it a spiritual being, did it have reiatsu? Anything you can tell me about its nature, its feel, even - could prove useful."