making progress (Arawn)

He followed the cat creature's lead. Moving slowly behind him looking for some sign of Lavi's passing. There was plenty of foot traffic, but hard to tell if they were the ones that had taken him. After a while the signs of movement through the area ceased. Which in itself is odd. It was like no one came this way and yet he could vaguely sense people around him. The lack of a trial made this area quite suspicious. He only barely hold the creature's exclamation that they had reached the destination. So man people for such an unused road. Whatever passed for Arawn's sixth sense was now going into overdrive. A small tickle in the back of his skull; something is wrong here. He ducked back around the corner before those outside could spot him.
"Hide you moron!" he hissed through clinched teeth to get the cat's attention. Not knowing what to expect he might have to wait and scout the area before going in. "Stay here. I'm going to look around." As he spoke he dug into the pouch at his side. Slowly he dug through the vials til he pulled out a pale yellow one. He grimaced and took off the stopper. Closing his eyes he put the vial to his mouth and downed half the contents. Shaking his head he burped, the rest of the liquid he splashed upon his gray cloak. "Keep yourself hidden and don't do anything stupid." His breath and body now stunk of alcohol. Bending over he took dirt from the road and rubbed it over his body. He poked holes into his cloak and ripped the edges. Within seconds the new disguise was complete; a very dirty looking man now staggered down the back alleys. Arawn strained his sense trying to get a feel for the people around him. His irregular steps and shabby appearance kept people at bay. All the while he muttered to himself to further sell the illusion of a drunken man wandering the dangerous streets.

Yoru hid down between a few crates in the area where he could see mostly everything that was going on, else he would just have to move quickly around, he was small, so very few would notice him move around at ground level.

The thugs around payed little attention to Arawn, for all they were concerned he was just some drunk nut trying to get home, so as long as he kept out of their way, and a good distance to the building, they would not do anything against him.
The guards was a bit on edge though, as they had been told to watch out for the friend of the person they had captured, they did not know his appearance though as he had kept his identity hidden all the time.
Few stronger spiritual powers could be felt from in the building, they were all stationary at the time, but after a while one of them would begin moving again, and shortly after that a person came out and whispered something to one of the groups then ran back inside, one of the thugs separated from the group and went to one of the other groups to pass on the message.

As he stumbled and staggered he kept an eye on their movements. Arawn was too far away, but he could see the person exit the building and talking. There must be something going on. He lurched forward and fell down into a roll. The almost comical maneuver brought him quite close to the building in question and nearer to the guards around it. Slowly rising he pretended to have extreme difficulty standing. The haggard looking man was within earshot of the guard. He hoped they wouldn't bother to help him and allow the fake struggle to his feet to go on longer. Arawn strained his hearing hoping to catch some snippet of the conversation. Already he could feel the energy of those within. This was no normal place they had to know something about Lavi's disappearance.

They payed little attention to the seemingly drunk Arawn, what harm could a drunk idiot be, they had more important things to do "He has escaped somewhere inside the complex, we need two from each group to come inside to hunt him down" They then two of them moved back and one moved on to the next group to inform them as well.

Back at the boxes Yoru looked up to see a familiar person looking out from the window up there, Lavi was standing there looking out, although he seemed confused, Yoru got very exited, and wanted to inform Arawn, he flew out low from his hiding, in under Arawns cloak, and stopped on his back whispering I found him" Yoru had not really thought about how Arawn would react to this however.

The sudden motion of the creature flying up his back wasn't expected. This time Arawn fell down for real and clawed at his body trying to get whatever it was that had decided to make a home of his clothes. He gave a loud cry, but hoped the men would disregard it much like they had his other motions. When he heard the cat creature's voice he got quite angry, but kept with his flailing motions.
"DON'T DO THAT!" he hissed. It would seem that the creature was no confirming that Lavi was within the place. With that being know there was no need to hide anymore. He popped up from the ground and charged the first man. Arawn shot a uppercut into the surprised guard's ribs. Even holding back the man's feet left the ground after the strike. Once he landed he doubled over in pain. Arawn hop-frogged over him and launched a flying roundhouse at his rather shocked companion. The foot met with face, and the foot won. The man reeled backwards into the wall clutching his face's now bloodied nose. By now the other men were starting to react, their mission in the building now overwritten by their duty to protect the entrance. But the dirty form was a blur of motion he had already darted to the next guard. A low kick knocked the man down, and a double footed stomp to his stomach kept him down. The fourth guard rushed him, but Arawn simply jumped over the man's charge and ran to entrance. Lowering his shoulder he rammed the door. The door buckled, but held firm. Honestly he hadn't expected such fine quality in a such a shabby looking place. Appearances could be deceiving. The fourth guard had turned and was coming fast upon him at full speed. He spun and the man got close and pulled him. The guard was unable to stop his charge and hit the weakened door, the larger man slammed into it and knocked it off it's hinges. He collapsed on the other side. The other guards were moving forward, but Arawn didn't have time to deal with them. He moved into the building and ran down the hallways.
"Get out here." he said to Yoru breathing hard. "Lead me to Lavi."

Yoru quickly got out from Arawn's clothes and stood on his shoulder, he was a bit afraid to fall off though, he had a hard time doing that from what had just happened "He is up on the second floor, though I do not know where the stairs are, but turning right a little ahead leads us towards where he is" Yoru knew Arawn was gonna run again, so he held on to Arawn's clothes to be sure not falling behind.

Lavi had just seen Arawn make a reckless attack on the thugs and made a break inside the complex, he had hoped to be more subtle about it until he could get his weapon back, but there was no helping that now.
He had to find the stairs to get down to Arawn, then he could look for his own weapon later.
He ran through the halls, it took him quite a while before finding the stairs, and they were guarded, two people, he could easily handle that, if they were as weak as they looked.
Lavi decided to take them by suprise, he rushed forward from his hidding, punched this first in the stomach, made a quick turn to punch the next with ease, no need to hide the shinigami fact anymore either, Lavi had used hado 1 push in combination with his punch to add extra strength to the the punch so they were both send flying down the stairs, and he then proceeded down himself.

Focusing his senses upward he could faintly feel the presence of someone on the next floor. Unfortunately it was difficult to figure out who they were. They were stronger than anyone else around him. So it could be Lavi, or someone tough. Arawn still wasn't good enough to identify someone by their spiritual pressure alone. It was enough to actually sense anyone and their strength. He made a mental not to work on that skill, as it would be handy at times like this. A man cam exiting out a door on his right. He turned and looked at Arawn surprised to see a dirty looking man in the building.
"Hey what are you doing here!?" he exclaimed as the disguised shinigami rushed him. Since the man was in the doorway Arawn had to wait until he was in front of the man to attack. There were shouts and footsteps coming from down the hall. Arawn punched the man in the face. The man recoiled as his fist broke his nose. Now Arawn's hands grabbed each shoulder as he brought his knee up to the man's jaw. The man flew backwards into the room he was about to exit. The body slammed into the wall and then fell down unconscious. Unfortunately for Arawn two more men were inside. They shocked to see their companion suddenly fly back, and stood up from the table they were playing cards. Both darted at him. Cursing under his breath Arawn quickly shut the door and ran down the hallway again. That wouldn't stop his pursuers, but it would give him a small head start. He didn't have time to stop and fight everyone. Once he found Lavi he could worry about taking down the opponents. He turned a corner, there looked like stair at the other end of the hallway. But there were three men standing in his way. Arawn grinned, no choice but to charge through. The first man was large and wielding a club. Although he was big it was obvious that he wasn't known for thinking. It was nearly impossible for him to use his dangerous weapon completely in the hallway. Something he learned to late as Arawn ducked under the clumsy swing. A low kick broke his kneecap brought the tall man down to Arawn's level. Bawling like a baby from the pan of the shattered bone. The crying stopped as a spinning elbow to his right temple drove his head against the left wall. The man's body swayed back and his eyes locked on Arawn. It was if the previous pain was forgotten due to the strike. His lips curled upward in a snarl as he tried to stand using the club like a cane.
"Tough bastard." Arawn muttered. "Guess I don't have to hold back." He let his energy flood out and struck the man with an uppercut to the gut. A loud grunt escaped his lips as the fist smashed into his body. He stopped rising and fell forward to the ground. Arawn had hoped the display would dishearten those behind the large thug. He was only half right. The third man ran away up the stairs, while the second advanced upon Arawn with a wide grin. He wielded a small knife in both his hands. Apparently he thought he had an advantage. Having faced swords when fighting other shinigami, daggers weren't too much a challenge. The man thrusted as he lunged at the other man's neck. He was faster than expected. Not to mention he was keeping the blades close trying to avoid over extending himself. It wouldn't be easy like the first man he had just stepped over. More footsteps were coming from behind, he had to hurry. Being attacked from behind and in front was hardly ideal.

Yoru was holding on the best he could, he could not do the best when it came to fighting, he was pretty weak when it came to anything really, but during Arawn's fight Yoru saw his chance to do something, the fighter was so focused on Arawn he would not see Yoru coming.
Yoru jumped off Arawns shoulder and rushed forwards hitting the head of the fighter with his whole body and clinged on with his claw so "Go ill keep him occupied for a few seconds, find Lavi" it would only hold for a few seconds before the fighter would take hold of Yoru and throw him into the wall to get rid of him.

Lavi reached the end of the stairs, he looked down at the two guards for anything useful, but their weapons were a bit oversized, he then looked up, and down the hallway he could see a known figure, he was happy to see that, but he was followed by quite the horde, and Lavi had no real means of fighting at the moment, so they would be horrible outnumbered.
"This way hurry" Lavi yelled at Arawn, he decided not to call out his name, for as far as he knew they only knew of his identity identity.

Honestly Arawn had forgotten about the cat creature with him during the fight. The creature moved suddenly and clung to the man's face. A brave move to be sure, but unnecessary. The man's blade dance was daunting, but not unbeatable. Even as the man's hands wove about with the knives Arawn figured the obvious flaw in his technique. The man was only focusing on the upper body, he was ignoring Arawn's legs. A point with disguised shinigami brought to bear: a crude and yet simple kick directly to the man's groin. The man's eyes bulged in the sockets. Apparently Arawn had used more power than needed for the kick, the man's feet left the ground from the titanic kick and he dropped his weapons. He stood solid like a statue as Arawn pulled Yoru off his face. The poor man's eye now rolled backwards as a whimper escaped his lips.
"Don't interfere." he grunted holding the creature at arm's length. "Lavi will blame me if you're hurt." He took a step toward the now unguarded stairs when someone shouted. Arawn looked up, someone was on the stairs. It was a familiar voice, and he could faintly sense the spiritual power. If it was an enemy it was doubtful it would call out to him rather than attack him. "Looks like we don't have to rescue him after all." Arawn muttered as he ran towards the man's direction.

It seemed they could not return the way Arawn had come from, then the best course of action would be to regroup someplace, and the archives would make the best place at the moment as it was still unguarded after Lavi had taken care of the guard.
Lavi moved up the stairs and waited so Arawn could see what way he went, he had some idea of the layout now, he could recall quite a few parts of the complex now, but there were still many blank spots in his memory.
He moved down the hall and turned around a corner when he was sure Arawn had seen him, and then waited at a door for Arawn to get there too.

Quickly he ran up the stairs after Lavi. He could hear the thunderous pounding of footsteps behind in the hallway as he reached the first flight. Arawn sprang up the steps four at a time and once he reached the top he let his reiatsu flare. Sa Shin Mu: Beck-Ho All of his energy flooded into his arm as he raised it over his head. He could see the first of the men had reached the stairs now. Once he had compounded the energies he brought it down sharply. As his hand impacted he released the build up pressure. The technique he had learned to break rocks tore the wooden stairs to shreds. The top destroyed the remainder of the steps collapsed. The men shouted in surprise and terror as they fell to the floor below. Arawn grinned from beneath his mask.
"Guess we can't go back down that way. but that should slow them down abit." he said and turned to see Lavi disappear around a corner. He ran to catch up and spotted him not too far away. A short sprint and he was at the door. He looked down the rest of the hall. It seemed empty. Arawn reached into his robe and pulled out Yoru. "Here, you forgot something." he handed the critter over to Lavi glad to be done with the creature. "So what are we doing up here? We could have fought our way back out the front door. More could come down from the top floors at any minute. "

Lavi took Yoru and lets him go to follow them "Thinks got a little complicated, we can hide in here for a while, ill explain the situation there" Lavi waited for Arawn to enter the room with the guard that was still knocked out from Lavis assault.
Once inside Lavi pulled out a chair and sat down, he was slightly exhausted from the commotion, and a moment of rest could do no harm to either of them.
"Long story short, some old friends of mine saw trough my disguise, and felt like greeting me back to the neighborhood in a less friendly way, they surprised me and overwhelmed me" Lavi was ashamed that he was defeated so easily, but he was underestimating his opponents at the time too.
"They brought me here, and they figured out I was working alone without Sereteis knowledge" Lavi was not sure how to explain the entire situation however "But I ca give you all the boring details later, right now I am missing my Zanpaktou, and my identity is revealed, however they still do not know who you are, so it would be best for you to not use Kido, maybe then they will just think you are an old contact from Rukongai... hopefully"

"Recognized so quickly?" Well this was bad. It was true that Arawn hadn't been discovered, but it they knew who Lavi was. They would guess he was also a part of Seireitei as well. It was very unlikely they would think him random thug. Still they hadn't seen his face so everything would be okay for now. He hadn't used any kido yet. By the untrained eye the technique he had used to smash the stairs would look like a feat of brute strength. While the people here did have more than normal spiritual strength he didn't think they would have noticed his strike completely. "Well, let's get your weapon and get out of here." The longer they stood in one place the harder it might be to escape. Right now there was confusion the ranks. Once that was gone they might fortify their forces and surround them. "Do you know where they might have put it?"

Lavi took took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to think of somewhere they could have left it "I think I know where they might have placed it, and as you said, the longer we wait, the more organized they will be" Lavi got up from the chair, he had caught a second wind and was now ready to fight them head on, he wanted revenge for what they had done to him, if he had to blow up the entire building, then so be it.
He could feel the wavelength of his sword slightly, he looked to Yoru "You have a connection with my Zanpaktou as well Yoru, you lead the way, your senses should be better than mine" Yoru made a nod and then turned to the door, Lavi looked back to Arawn "Well shall we go raise hell?" Lavi felt different, most likely on the outside too, his fighting spirit that had been so low for a long time was reawakening, it began to remind him why it was the 11th squad he joined, and not some other squad, there was no way he was going to let some stupid bandits keep him down.
Lavi did not wait for an answer as it was meant as a rhetoric question, he kicked the door up, he cared little for stealth now "Lets go!" Yoru landed on his shoulder and said " start out left here, then go right at the end of the hall" Lavi stormed off, with little idea of looking ahead, he was going to make anyone who got in his way regret ever crossing him.
Two bandits was running down the hall as Lavi passed by, he landed a quick punch at the first, then turned and used his ongoing momentum to kick the other one right in the gut, only one went to the floor by it, but he did not feel like ending it, he stormed off forward again towards their goal.