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[7th/8th] Week 301: Another One Bites The Dust
Word count: 12,000
Yamamura Eiji
Ole Bishoff
Apart from the unfortunate event that unfolded the first day of his re-allocation to the ranks of the shinigami, Ole’s new life as a Soul Reaper had been quite uneventful. When all is said and done, the spellbinder had not had the occasion to see his own Division’s Captain yet. A thing that bugged him somehow. He had expected some form of enquiry of his determination in the post he had been assigned to, some form of questioning or test. Nothing had come his way, though.
Nothing to dodge either, eh?, he commented to himself gloomily, walking towards the Seventh Division.
Not from his Captain anyway, but life has a funny way to kick you where it hurts most, especially if you are not looking. From a mathematical point of view, the Russian did not believe in coincidence. As any god would say, he did not play dices either. From a statistical point of view, on the other hand, there exists a not null probability that at least one succession of events is capable by itself to produce Ragnarok. Even if not so drastic, the letter that had been delivered to his desk and hour before seemed like a sign of destiny.
The blonde spellweaver had been tasked to retrieve a rather special stone from the human world. Said stone had demonstrated abilities comparable to bloodstone - Which is just bad news, Ole pondered - rendering his owner unable to defend from black market merchants. And their agents, the mathematician added in his mind, which we can only suppose be of the worst persuasion possible.
A possible bright side was that he would be helped by a member of the Seventh Division - oh no, they expect bloodshed of some sort, Ole commented - but, as the letter stated, ‘...and hide it wherever it can be safely declared as irretrievable.’ And how the heck were they going to hide something that would render all their effort just vain?
I guess we’ll think of something as soon as we have gotten our hands on this stone... the Russian evaluated, while nodding to a prison guard to obtain access to the Enforce Criminal Service’s Facility.
Eiji sat quietly in his cell as the door opened with a bang. Two gaolers stood by each side of the door, one held the chains for his feet and the other had a pair for his hands. They were both cloaked and wore shinigami robes.
Omnitsu Kidou? They want to bring me out for a mission again? I can’t believe they are here so quickly again. This can’t just be a coincidence.
“Get up punk”, one of them called out. He shaked the chain for a bit to try scaring the assassin but it did not affect him in any way. He rose from his seat and walked slowly towards the jailors, let them put the chains on without any struggle and followed them out. They escorted him out to the division grounds and all the way to the front gate. Eiji looked around himself but could not see anyone or feel anyone around him.
“What are we waiting for?” As he turned around towards the two cloaked men, they were gone. He had been left alone in the yard without anyone to watch him.
What are they thinking? Are they really doing this again? I should’ve learned this by now.
The black-haired man was standing there. If it was not for the fact that his ankles and and wrists were shackled, Ole could have taken him for a casual bystander. On the other hand, the scar on his face, which resonated with the mathematician’s own one, denoted him as the convict that had been assigned to the task and his supervision. For a brief moment, the Russian wondered what the young man could have done to end up in such a situation, but if he reflected retrospectively, Ole had been in a similar situation himself.
With a fluid motion, the spellbinder reached the shackled man.
“Good morning, Eiji, right?” the one-eyed shinigami said, “my name is Ole Bishoff. It seems that you have been assigned to me for this task...”
It was not easy to explain what the mission exactly required, for even the spellbinder had only a vague idea of how to solve some details. Nonetheless he tried to be as thorough as possible, in order to give his companion a complete perception of what was awaiting them.
“Any question? Ideas?” the blonde mathematician questioned, genuinely interested.
Eiji listened to the taskmaster with one ear as he explained the mission. He was not that interested in anything that came up and what made it worse was that the reaper in front of him seemed to be the type that did not take bullshit when given. It would not be easy for him to follow orders from anyone he did not know, especially someone who seemed to be quite a bit weaker than himself. He could not feel much spiritual power coming from his body so he figured he had been called to protect a lower ranked shinigami.
“No, nothing at all. Do we leave immediately.” Eiji took one last look at the shinigami in front of him, from head to toe. The patch over one of his eyes caught him by surprise for a moment but he did not dwell over it for too long. “The briefing for the mission? Do you still have it?
“Could I possibly take a look at it before we leave?” Even though he did not wonder much, he still wanted to know where they were going, and why.
Hmmm, was all Ole could think after the other had spoken, has he even listened to just one word? That was not a great start to begin with. Who does he think he is? the blonde mathematician continued in his mind, it is not that he has that much of a Reiatsu pressure anyway. Moreover, something in the tone of voice of the criminal had put the scarred spellbinder on his toes, I hate being pushed!
“Whatever,” he said at last, gesturing in an annoyed manner towards the shackled man to pass him the written communication. “Let’s start moving,” he added with more spite than he wanted or would have found necessary in a different situation, “I want to check something with the Ninth Division as we walk...”
Ole had not the experience nor the authority to boss someone around, and had always thought that working together would always prove more fruitful. Those beliefs seemed a thousands of year in the past, by then. In the case at hand, however, it seemed that there was a certain distance to gap, and the Russian was not the most charismatic shinigami in the whole Gotei Thirteen. Not the last of the ladder, though.
“By the way,” the spellweaver asked, dialing on his phone, “which division were you with before ending up in here?”
“Twelfth.” His answer was short and simple, yet he hoped it would startle the reaper in front of him. He knew that he had to follow orders, he had no problems with that, as long as they made sense. Eiji’s first impression with this guy did not impress him much. He seemed to be new at what he did and did not do it really well. Perhaps his mind was wavering because of something, the scarred assassin was not sure.
He kept listening and Eiji agreed, it was time to move out. But just as the spellsword started walking, he called for him and stopped him in his tracks.“Before we actually leave, you could perhaps remove these shackles? It might be a little hard to move like this.
“The briefing. Could I have a look at it please?”
Dah!, Ole thought with little elegance, what does he think I’m waving in his face, a written invitation to a ball? Which, by the way, would be hilarious...
Instead he said, not without a certain scorn, “Still here, assassin, take your time...” or do you need me to read it for you? he added mentally. This criminal was pissing him off already.
The mathematician looked around the precinct, until he located the security guard. “Come,” he said to his forced companion, “the gaoler will take care of those.” Without even a look in his direction, the spellbinder raised the phone to his good ear, waiting for the line to pick up.
“Dokon, are you there?” the Russian asked through the microphone.
“Here I’m, lad,” the senior researcher replied, a burst of static in the line, “no need to shout!”
“Fine,” the blonde consented, “have you read my note? Have you prepared a transport to a suitable location on Earth?”
“No worries,” Dokon retorted, “everything is set. We’ll send you two as close to the target as possible, but from there you are on your own. You’ll need to find the actual location the old fashioned way... sniffing him out!”
A small briefing was given to the assassin, not many papers and certainly not a lot of information. He quickly shuffled through the few papers he was given while his employer was on the phone. He pulled out the first paper again and started reading it thoroughly. Bloodstone. He kept on reading. Impossible to destroy. His eyes kept on drifting down. Retrieve it and hide it.
What the hell are they sending us out to do. And this boy... Will he survive the black market? It’s a dangerous place even for us shinigami.
Eiji waited for him to finish his phone-call until speaking. It was a short call but Eiji could not hear what they were talking about. His mind was still in the briefing he had just read.
“So we’re leaving Soul Society?”
“Everything is set for our departure,” Ole informed his now unshackled companion, ”even though I would preferred that the Ninth had come up with some gadget of theirs...”
Although the blonde mathematician did not find the assassin a reliable source of information or support, he thought that it would be needed some more trust, once they were in the heat of battle.
“Before we leave,” the Russian began just in front of the Senkaimon, two Jigokuchou already flying over their head, “what do you really think of this mission?” The question was asked keeping his only good grey eye on the face of the criminal in front of him.
“My thoughts don’t really matter.” It was not that he was uninterested. No, it could to be something quite challenging to the assassin. It was simply the fact that he could not be bothered with answering such a question. His opinion did not matter, only the result did. He wanted to finish this mission as quickly as possible, and hopefully be assigned to something else soon. All he wanted to do was to get out and be free.
“If you want us to complete this, we better get going?” Eiji pointed at the gate in front of them. “The gate might close if we continue chatting away like this.”
“Whatever,” Ole commented sourly, even more disappointed on what he keep believing in as a companion and not a mere subordinate. “Let us move then...”
They walked toward the Senkaimon and the butterflies darted forward to lead the way. The passage through the dimensional tunnel was brief and they both kept to their inner thoughts. I just hope he’s getting a more practical attitude when things start to get nasty... the blonde mathematician pondered gloomily, his single eye looking at the light at the end of the path.
It was not much before they found themselves atop one of the higher buildings in the industrial district of the Keihin Region by the Tokyo Bay. The sight, which spanned to the horizon, was relaxing, a feeling much in contrast with the tension that was accumulated due to the mission at hand.
The Russian turned toward the assassin and fixed his one grey eye on the other, “You have been an assassin... How would you flush this human out?”
“There are a lot of ways, depending on how brutal you want to be.” Eiji looked out over the grand city. There were people everywhere, souls walking around, running, driving. It would be impossible to find a single person in this huge lot of people.
“Perhaps we can go at it quite quickly. If you want to find a needle in a haystack, you burn the hay. We can simply kill everyone until we find the right person.” Eiji smiled a little, inspecting the reaper who was with him. He looked for something that could be out of order, but everything seemed to be in order. He knew that killing anyone was out of the question, unless it was a life or death situation. There was too much at stake right now.
“Or we can try to lure him out. The easiest way would be to check out the black market and see if we can find some information.”
Was the assassin really proposing to kill humans by the numbers in cold blood? Ole was shocked that he would really move that way if they were not able to conceive a different plan. Especially considered the grin the scarred criminal had given the mathematician as a token of a comradeship-like prank. Maybe the Russian was a bit green behind the ears, but he would not allow others to mock him like that.
“Luring him out will not be that easy,” the one-eyed shinigami commented, mostly to himself, “especially since he’ll already be on the defensive by now... ” There was not much they could do about that, yet Ole started doubting they had all the necessary information. What if the whole story was a hoax and they had been lured there, on the Living World?
“Do you have a contact in the black market by any chance?” the blonde mathematician asked, understanding that his own resources were extremely limited for this kind of mission.
“I do not know anymore. I’ve been gone for way too long. We’ll have to check that out ourselves.” Eiji kept looking out over the city, trying to find something that could lead them to the right place. A motorcycle gang, the mob, anything really.
“If we could perhaps find someone who can lead us there, I could probably find someone who could give us the information. If not, we can always make the give it to use.”
“I see,” Ole nodded, and fished his hellphone from the recesses of his robe. “Dokon, do you copy?” he asked in the receiver, switching to speakers. It was the typical military-like mumbo-jumbo that the mathematician had lacked before being re-allocated inside the Gotei Thirteen. He also felt a bit silly for saying that.
“Hey, Ole,” the senior researcher replied, a high pitched sound merging with static, “what do you need now?”
“Any living soul in the know in the vicinity?” the Russian asked without much fluff.
“I think the Senkaimon should have dropped you near to an acquaintance,” Dokon’s voice reached the living world with a certain delay, “let me just check.” The pause was not very long, but no intelligible sound was carried over, until, “Yeah, yeah, there should be a small ramen-shop just two blocks on you right--- the owner is some sort of small advent dealer named Hu.” Another burst of static crippled the conversation, but then Ole was able to hear again, “--- and I doubt he will be really prone to help.”
“Dokon, the transmission is working poorly,” the One-eyed shinigami cut short, “is there anything we should really know?”
No response.
Well, then, Ole thought, no more help from that side, I guess... Then, turning towards his convicted companion, he said, “Shall we move?”
Eiji was a bit surprised about the fact that the research and development institute managed to answer their call that quickly. It almost felt as if they were concentrating on solely their mission, which got Eiji thinking a bit.
Are they keeping tabs on us because they still don’t trust me? Or is it that the mission needs this kind of instant information. If so, what is that stone we are looking for? Why are they after it so badly and what kind of abilities does it have?
The assassin had completely drowned in his own thoughts and did not listen to a single word said in the phone conversation. He looked up at his comrade and watched his lips move. Without realising it, he had completely shut down to the other world. He snapped back immediately, just in time to hear Ole utter his question.
“You’re the boss here.” he answered leisurely. “Lead the way.”
There was no rancour in the stare that Ole gave his companion before turning and moving straight in the direction that had been given them. There was some sadness though. No trust meant no unified intent. If that was how things were supposed to go, who was the Russian to take position against it?
A yatai was exactly where Dokon had indicated. From the top of a building overseeing the bay, it was not very definite, but it looked like a rather old one. What was more important from Ole’s point of view was that if the advent humans inside were good enough, they might have already spotted them. There was no way to say that for sure, and the blonde mathematician had no technique to hide his reiatsu. There is not much to do, I guess, Ole pondered, just go and greet them.
“Whether they know we are here or not,” he said to his convicted companion, peeping in the direction of the stall, “there is no advantage in subtlety...” Hence, he added, switching to a less amiable tone than before, “I’ll enter through the front and you check if there are any exit from the rear. If none are present, do come in after me.”
Eiji left the man in a flash and arrived at the backside before he even finished listening to his partner. He walked around the building quickly, finding nothing around it. Not a single window, not a single door, nothing. He moved back to the front entrance quickly, his companion still standing there.
“This seems to be the only entrance,” Eiji said as he pointed at the door in front of them. “Perhaps we’re both meant to enter here.”
Without giving him a chance to react, Eiji kicked in the door and walked in. It fell down easier than he thought it would but that was just a good think.
“No advantage in subtlety you said huh?” An assassins interests lay in their ability to be subtle and swift, not brute. For Eiji, this way was more fun, even better in some situations perhaps but it was not the way he had been taught. It felt wrong to use his strength to pass barriers, when there were other ways.
That was taking things literally slightly too much, but he liked that aspect of the assassin anyway. He had been contending with the most elevated thoughts a soul could make for fifty years, just to realize that his post was a more material one. He was a Soul Reaper and it was time to act: that was pretty clear.
Damn, he is fast, Ole commented by himself, realizing that the criminal had circled the hut and came back before he could reach the entrance. That may come in handy later, though, he added and made a mental note about it.
Nodding to his convicted companion, the mathematician moved forward... just in time to see an arm the size of a shovel sweep an inch away from the assassin’s head. A muscled, even though over rounded around the belly, bald human peered through the open door and fixed his piggy eyes on the convicted shinigami, making that face that come only from sudden shock and instant realization. With no delay, he grunted, slapped his thighs and then charged towards the dynamic duo.
Eiji jumped back as the man came rushing towards him. The first thing to do was to make sure you had enough distance to defend yourself. He awaited the bull-like human to come with great force but was displeased. With the lash of a hand, he had knocked his foe unconscious. The man fell heavily on the ground, almost shaking it.
“I guess if this is the kind of guards they have, we’re not really gonna have a problem.” The man he had just knocked out felt as if he was just a henchman or a doorguard, perhaps not even someone who knew what was going on inside.
“Where do you suggest we continue?”
The human would have had no chance even if his ability had been greater. The effortless movement of the assassin had been smooth and even too shallow in terms of intention. Yet it hit fair and square.
“Nice punch,” Ole said, crossing over the bulk of the human’s midsection, “I would not hope that much, but if this is the case...”
The mathematician grinned wildly, proceeding inside the stall. The first room, a sort of lounge, was empty. Another door led to what looked like the boss’ office, which the Russian
could easily get from a small opening left in the doorway. From what he could make from where he stood, a man was hiding behind the desk. What the heck is happening? he pondered gloomily, how could it be possible that Dokon had described this person as dangerous?
“Hello there,” the spellbinder said aloud, “we are here to talk... nothing more.”
Eiji followed his companion into the warehouse, on the alert for every step he took. Even though they had just faced someone who could be counted as a foe, he was still too weak to actually make any difference. If the Research and Development Division gave them the advice to be careful, there was probably something worse inside.
As they walked, Eiji noticed that there was not a single guard stationed anywhere except for the entrance. The person they had met acted a bit strange but it was nothing that he thought more of. If anything, he was probably just a doorman hyped up on drugs.
They entered the only office they could find in the building, the spellcaster in the front and the assassin in the back. In there sat a man, all alone, without anyone to protect him or even warn him about what just had happened. The fact that he was there alone, without protection showed that he was at the least confident in his own abilities.
“As long as you cooperate that is.” Eiji said, finishing his comrades sentence with a twist. A threat always worked when talking to someone in a higher position. “If you know what I mean.”
The man was looking at them with a cynical, calculating stare, one that conveyed a very strong sense of self-confidence. He never looked at the window at his side, or behind the two shinigami, but maintained his gaze fixed upon them for a while, before shrugging his shoulders. Approximately in his forties, the boss had an upright posture, but from the other side of a counter, it was difficult to say more of his physique. His hair were dark, his complexion rather swarthy. His face was somber, with a number of wrinkles criss-crossing his cheeks and forehead. Ole considered those marks again, when he realized that they were very old scars, colored darker by prolonged exposure to sun.
“I respond badly to threats,” the black-haired man pointed out, his voice steady and his eyes firm,“but I’ll accept a truce for the time being. My name is Mitsu Yokohone... who the hell are you two?”
The fact that he was able to see them clearly was a clear sign of his relative power. That fact put Ole on his guard, for it appeared that this man Mitsu was not scared at all, and was even trying to get something out of the whole affair. As the businessman who he was.
“Our names are not important,” the spellweaver said slowly, “since we are here for information and nothing more. Do you have any contact in the black market?”
Eiji watched as his companion tried to extract information from their target. From what he could see, the older man seemed to be what you could call ‘old school’. He was everything that a mobster was, he had the scars, sat alone in his office and the scarred assassin was pretty sure that he had at least a bag of cocaine and a gun somewhere near himself.
He did not move, he did not speak, and you could barely hear him breathe. He tried to be as quiet as possible, letting the spellsword do all the talking. Extracting information from someone of his stature would not be easy but he wanted to see how far Ole would go. It was quite probable that the assassin would be able to get something out of him, he had a lot of experience in the field.
I wonder if he’ll get violent. Perhaps if he doesn’t get the right information or enough. Only time will tell.
The mobster’s eyes were not green in color, but had the same hue of money while the blonde mathematician stated their simple purpose. The man had clearly had the ability to rise above the other criminals of the area of the harbor. Whether it was for sheer luck, pure ability or true violence, Ole could not yet say, but it was clear that the man knew something. In fact, as soon as the Russian mentioned the black market, Mitsu’s expression of contempt transformed into one of joyful interest.
“The black market, eh?” the black-haired human repeated, changing position slightly, stretching his torso towards the two shinigami and latching his hands together before his face. “Let assume that I might help you,” he postulated pensive, “and I’m not saying that I can, what is there in it for me?”
Ole blinked once and raised his only remaining eyebrow. The eyebrow had shot up of his own volition because he was seeing his companion standing by, without saying anything. The mathematician could not understand if it was ready to strike, or just slacking around. On the other hand, the proposition of the mobster was a clear invitation to the table of negotiation, although the Russian felt already relegated with the lower hand.
What kind of advent is so at ease with the supernatural? the one-eyed spellweaver commented between himself, before crossing his arms lazily on his chest.
“Nothing, I guess,” Ole retorted, trying to look casual, “but you would not like to try my silent friend over there...” Good cop, bad cop, in your face... he added mentally. “I can just promise that you won’t see use again...” the spellbinder continued, grinning. The smile was slightly deformed by the asymmetric scars, conveying a very grotesque sight.
Eiji pulled his comrade to the side, before giving the mobster a chance to speak further. The conversation seemed to go in the right direction but something still seemed to be off.
“You can’t start out with threats with this kind of man,” the assassin whispered in Ole’s ear. “I might be able to do something to get some information from him, but I can’t promise anything. A man of his stature always has his way with people, even people like us”
He turned back to Mitsu. His expression had completely changed. The once calm shinigami was now serious and there was not a single part of his face that concentrated on anything but the man in front of him.
“We can perhaps do something for you, depending on what you need.” The assassin could do much with his power. He just hoped that he would not have to resort to anything that could put him in a bad situation.
“As long as you help us, we will help you. Do you have anything for us?”
Three eyes widened – for Ole had only one eye that could be opened up to show surprise - when the assassin intervened in the middle of the conversation. It did not cut the flow of the whole conversation, but it could disrupt the façade that was being erected to confront the mobster. The Russian could agree with his convicted companion, yet the blonde mathematician was still startled by the ease with which the other was granting his, or their, help in such an unrestricted way.
The mobster considered the situation with a poker face, and he was pretty fast to follow the line of thoughts that the assassin’s was offering.
“That much is enough for me,” the dark-skinned man pointed out, “and I can give you the location of a safe house of sort for black market agents.” Then standing up to his average height, pushed his hand outward towards the two shinigami, “Let seal this deal as gentlemen, by shaking each other hand.”
The assassin looked with a puzzled look at the russian. He knew that the deal was too good to be true, even for someone who was as threatening as himself. A person of this mans stature would not give in so very easily, to someone whom he did not know to have any power.
“What are your playing at?” Eiji asked him, reluctant to grab his hand. “What’s the catch?”
The former monk was as surprised as his companion by the sudden change in attitude of their interlocutor. The reason behind that behaviour could only be mischief, although the reason of such a blatant change seemed a mystery. Ole could not think of any plausible solution to unhinge the stalemate, and least of all he wanted to shake hands with that peculiar subject.
Seeing the reluctance in the two shinigami, it was the dark-skinned man to take the initiative by saying, “I’m not going to bite you, but given my age, you should indulge me at least a bit...”
That sentence was even more creepy than the anyone before, promising future pain of the slowest persuasion. The one-eyed mathematician would rather not put himself in a less defendable position, yet they needed that man’s cooperation as much as a thirsty man needs water.
“Very well then,” Ole cut short, extending his bandaged limb to give the equivalent of a timid five to the human criminal. I only hope I’m not regretting this later... he added mentally, pinning that note on his personal notice board.
He grabbed the reapers hand and shook it. From what it seemed, it was a normal shook. Little did the two shinigami know that he had succeeded in planting a small bugging device, to transmit sound, to Ole’s clothes. The russian mobster wanted to follow their movements, as much as he could. His reason was unknown to anyone but himself, and depending on what side you were on, it was a good one. He knew that he had been visited by something out of this world, perhaps even death itself but he was not frightened. He did not have a reason to.
“What information do you have for us?” the scarred assassin asked, as he watched the two men still connected with their hands. Almost immediately, the mobster released his grip and turned to Eiji.
“An address.” He took a piece of paper from his desk, grabbed a pen and wrote something on it. As he handed the note to Eiji, he looked for anything out of the ordinary with the two men who came to visit him. “Go to this address and you will find what you seek.”
Without any further wait, the two reapers exited the room. Eiji turned to his companion.
“What do you think, was he telling the truth?”
The five was not enough apparently, for the mobster took the outstretched hand of the blonde mathematician firmly in his own and gave a decisive shake. Ole might have been expecting some trick or another, but modern technology was not one of those. Therefore, the precise sleight of hand of the human criminal had passed completely unobserved. The address seemed a meager consolation and an even too easy loot. Nonetheless it was all they had to work with.
“Partially, I expect,” Ole commented lost in his own thought, looking at his own hand as if he had the ability to discern whether something had happened to it or not. “I presume that he merely omitted something,” he added, lowering his arm back by his side, “but I cannot fathom if it is something just useful or utterly important.”
The Russian grinned his asymmetric smile. “Mostly, I hope he is not going to throw a sucker punch at us,“ the blonde mathematician continued sourly, ”I imagine that neither of us would take that lightly.”
The spellweaver considered the address in his companion’s hand. “Let’s get to this place first,” Ole pointed out, “we will have time to worry, when worries come to seek us...
“Anyway, do you have any information on the Black Market that may be useful to us both?” the spellbinder enquired, forgetting that asking question to the assassin rarely brought any valuable insight.
Unknown to the two shinigami, Mitsu was already tuning in.
“Not much. A black market often is filled with a lot of criminals and scum, usually people that are not as honest as you want them to be. Watch your pockets and don’t get into any fights.” Eiji knew that they would probably not stand out much in a place as the one they were searching for but there was always the chance that someone else could make some trouble.
“Just make sure that you don’t get into any mess. Even though it may not be your fault, it will be our problem.”
They kept moving towards the exit and not long after they exited the room, they were outside. Eiji searched his pockets but did not find what he was looking for.
“Do you have any way for us to get the directions to that location?”
Ole listened carefully to the assassin description, but it was nothing that he could not have thought of by himself. Nonetheless, the fact that the convicted shinigami seemed so at ease with the whole black market world should be considered an asset for the proper completion of their mission.
“I’ll be sure not to create any ruckus,” the Russian agreed, nodding thoughtfully.
When the other patted his robe, the blonde mathematician smirked, but quickly regained his composure, fishing his phone from his own shihakusho at the same time. With a few precise strokes on the keyboard, the software – rendered just slightly cranky by a bad signal reception – pinpointed a location on the map, not so far from them. Looking around just once, the former monk nodded to his criminal companion before initiating a warp step. The spellweaver was confident that his companion would be more than capable of following and outrun him if necessary. For minimal as it was, that brief exertion of power gave him a break from the almost uneventful morning.
When they stopped again, they found themselves in front of a crumbling warehouse, one that seemed to come out from the past and the great depression. Typical, was what Ole thought upon looking on the decaying building. It was even too cliché for a mobster cartel. What was even more unsettling was the feeling that someone was staring at them.
“Rise and shine,” the Russian said with an ironic tone towards his companion, “your move.”
“We have definitely come to the right place,” Eiji said, convinced that they had arrived just in time as well. “Speaking from experience, it will either be a fancy mansion or a rotten warehouse like this one. Most of them are old, abandoned buildings. It’s usually because the law enforcement won’t come near places like this.”
They entered the crumbling building, careful enough to not be noticed but they knew that they had made their presence known. Even if regular people could not even see a glance of them, the scarred assassin was sure that there were people here who could. He walked slowly with his companion next to him, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
“Can you check if there is some sort of anomaly anywhere in the building?”
Ole agreed with the line of thoughts of his companion. It was the same perception he had, even though he could not boast the same experience. Inside the warehouse, various hobos and addicts shared makeshift camp beds or gathered around the various available fires. It did not seem rational to believe that any of those was able to perceive the two shinigami, but a clever organization would have people dislocated even amongst the throng of derelicts to keep an eye on the entrance without arousing suspicions in turn.
“Keep an eye out for anything unusual,” the Russian advised the other Soul Reaper.
Then, taking into account the assassin’s request, the blonde mathematician cut himself off from the contingent reality. Inside a single building, his ability to perceive with sufficient precision spikes in spiritual pressure was more than enough. After a single swipe, the spellweaver had not found any considerable reiatsu signature, except for a rather recent remaining trail.
“Follow me,” Ole proposed, leading Eiji away from the main hall and into a side area of what were probably offices when the warehouse was still used. “This section of the wall has something weird to it,” he explained, “but I cannot understand whether there’s a mundane trapdoor or something more...”
Eiji looked at the wall for no more than a few seconds before he acted. As he lifted his leg, he leaned back a bit and pushed his foot right through the wall. The concrete crumbled from the brute force he had used, just as he imagined it would. He took a few steps back and gestured for his comrade to go.
“See if you can find anything.”
It was for time like this that his prosthetic may come in handy. Mimicking the effect of a famous low-level spell, the orb that substituted his missing eye gave the blonde mathematician perfect low-light vision.
“There’s a stairs going downstairs,” the Russian pointed out as soon as the dust had settled.
Putting his torso and head into the landing on that floor, Ole was able to take a peek down the stairwell. It was not that much longer than a single floor below the ground, but it ended directly in front of another door. The spellweaver descended and stopped just in front of it. Light was coming from below the door, and there were muffled sounds from the other side of it.
“Ready when you are,” Ole affirmed to his convicted companion, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Where do you think it leads?” the assassin asked as he went through the hole he had just made, stepping on the first step of the newly found staircase. He slowly de-escalated down the stairs, one step at the time, watching not to step on anything or miss a step.
He ended up next to his companion, right in front of the door. The reaper noticed that Ole was ready to enter and kicked in the door, making way for the spellsword to enter.
“Go!”
Ole shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. That was a new territory entirely for the former monk; remaining cloistered for decades might have not given him the edges for adventurous situation, even though his heart was welcoming the thrill. It was a complex feeling the one that pitted him against his past decisions and required his focus on his current actions.
We’ll see, the Russian said silently, nodding in the direction of his comrade.
His first instinct had been one of preemptive defence, a kidou coming to his mind and lips in order to cover the area beyond in darkness. His better judgement kicked in, considering that they could not assume they were in enemy territory. Possibly just hostile. They would need something more of a suspect before starting going all-out. Therefore, the blonde mathematician stepped in the basement ahead of them. A series of interconnecting cellars opened and invited them to move further on.
The area was not illuminated, the floor coated in some kind of goo, and cobwebs sat in every corner. The only evidence that the place was somehow used was represented by the trail and the sign of footsteps left in the muddy tiled flooring.
“Which way?” the Russian asked to his companion, making a vague gesture with his maimed hand.
As the entered the enclosed cellar, both the reapers looked around, trying to find something that could help them. Every single door seemed locked, the hinges had either melted together with the door or were so rusty that you could probably just push the door down from the wall. The scarred boy walked to the end of the hall, looking at the last door that was in front of them. With a push of his hand, the door fell down and opened another entrance for them. This time around, they felt as if they were making progress.
The had paved the way to a smaller room, only a tenth the size of the cellar itself. Eiji entered it all alone, his companion standing in the back, waiting for him. The room did not have much in it. At the end of it sat a small table and a chair. Eiji crossed the doorstep and looked left at first, and then to his right. He found another item, a pedestal to be more exact, standing in one end of the room. He walked up to it only to find that it was empty. There was no dust on it; it was almost as if it had been recently cleaned.
“There was something sitting here,” he said to the spellcaster as he made his way into the room. They both walked up to the table, which was full of notes. At the top of the stack, a single note stood out. It had recently been written, it was quite easy to see. Compared to the rest of the notes, it was a new one. Everything on the table seemed months, heck even years old, apart from the one at the top. Eiji snapped it up and started reading it.
“It’s another address. It seems to be in the vicinity.” Eiji handed his companion the piece of paper. “I think we might find another lead there.”
The sense of frustration shared by the two shinigami was palpable. Each progress they seemed to make, was just leading them to another place. Was that whole situation nothing less than a prank?
While his companion went forward, deeper into the basement, Ole contemplated for a moment the larger cellar. Something did not add up in his mind. The overall situation seemed one of utter abandon, with the exception of those footsteps. For some reason, the Russian was bothered by them. Kneeling closer to the muddy ground, the blonde mathematician observed those signs more carefully, aided by his augmented sight. Although they were extremely similar between them, they were all combat boots of the same factory, they did not belong to the same person.
Keeping this information in mind, the spellweaver reached his companion, who had already fished through the room for evidence. The recent note was a bit out of place in the one-eyed shinigami’s mind, and all he could see around them screamed ambush.
“This may well be a trap,” he commented sourly, in the direction of his convicted comrade, “but I guess we have only this lead to follow...”
They arrived outside another building shortly. Contrary to where they had come from, this building was quite something. Eiji could barely see to the top; it seemed to have easily over fifty floors. The door had two door-men, ready to open the door at any time. Glass covered the whole building and it seemed to be some sort of hotel to the assassin. People were walking in and out of the doors all the time and the assassin would make sure not to miss this chance.
He signaled Ole to follow him and quickly paced through the entrance, making his way towards the staircase. He ignored everything that was going on, every human walking by, every person working in the building, the fancy decorations, literally everything. As they entered the door to the stairs, Eiji turned back to his companion.
“Can you sense anything at all coming from this place?”
Fancy, was the only thing the spellweaver thought before entering the building. The building was indeed a hotel and an extremely posh one at that. The values of some dresses he saw around would have sustained a common household for decades. Interesting, he added mentally, this is not what I would have expected the location of a trap to be.
Following his comrade inside, Ole lost interest in the surrounding quite quickly. It was time they nailed this mission, instead of running around as cattle lead to the slaughterhouse. His criminal companion had not yet made his question that the Russian was already concentrated to perceive the ambient of the building with all his senses. Despite his best efforts, however, there were nothing there. This is not possible, the blonde mathematician commented between himself, frustrated, there has to be something here...
The spellbinder focused once more, extending his attention to the far top of the hotel, where the most luxurious suites ought to be placed. Nothing was there as well, but emptiness rather than nothingness greeted him. Uhm, what? he found himself surprised.
“Forty-ninth floor or something,” Ole spat quickly, returning to a more physical set of perceptions, “I cannot be sure, but something is surely amiss there.” Hence, leading the way, he added, “Let’s go.”
They moved quickly up the stairs, jumping a few steps at the time. Eiji led the party, as the spellweaver followed closely behind. Within a few minutes, the two of them had reached the top. The assassin noted every floor they passed and signaled towards the door as he saw the big forty-nine sign next to it. He opened the door for his partner who stepped through it with haste.
As Eiji followed him, he scanned the floor they had entered as quickly as possible. It was completely empty. Not a single person was in sight. The assassin had expected at least a few guests or an employee or two, but there was nothing there.
“Which way do we go?” Eiji kept staring deep into the hallway, looking for someone to come out of a room, or at least to hear some noise but there was nothing.
“That way,” the Russian confirmed, pointing his thumb down the corridor. He could not tell exactly what his perceptions were, but he was growing accustomed to that sensation and his instinct suggested that they were close to the stone, one way or another.
The feeling of uneasiness grew step by step, until the duo moved into a short corridor with a single smaller door, and a fashionable double one further down the aisle. To the one-eyed shinigami’s dismay, a camera’s lens was aimed in their direction already, hal-hidden between the leaves of what looked like a ficus in a pot. There is always a ficus sooner or later, Ole commented annoyed. The fact that the camera was not moving anymore hinted that there was an human mind behind it, and an advent one when it came to it. Have there been a clearance sale in the advent human department which I was not aware of these days? the blonde mathematician observed to himself.
Although slightly lost in his thought, the maimed Soul Reaper realized that the smallest of the two doors was opening. A goon in suit emerged from it with his hand already going to his armpit-holstered gun. Jumping onward in that direction, Ole caught the armed muscle with the hilt of his sword at the solar plexus. A resounding thud left as a demonstration of a well connected blow, while another thug approached from behind. The Russian ducked away, unsure what kind of weapons the duo of gorillas were sporting.
Eiji watched as the spellweaver fought. The two men that came at him were little to no problem for the two reapers to handle. The assassin simply waited for his companion to solve the issue. He knew that if he tried to fight, he would have problems holding his strength back and succeed without dealing lethal damage. Not many people he knew could actually work with him in a fight, and the few that did, still risked their lives.
The scarred reaper peeked into the room where the first one had come from, from the opening he had created when he attacked Ole. Eiji moved between them swiftly, landing inside the room just past the door. Inside sat a few men surrounding a single person holding something inside of a piece of cloth. He held the item tightly to his body, not letting anyone near him as well as he could.
With a flash step, the reaper arrived behind the goon who had his weapon pulled. A single chop to the neck knocked him unconscious, dropping him on the ground. The other three that sat there immediately pulled their weapons. But Eiji had disappeared from sight. He moved behind one of them in a speed that none of them could see. He grabbed his weapon and pulled it back, snatching it out of his hand and pulling his shoulder out of his socket in a single move.
The other two started shooting at the reaper but he was faster. In a single move, he punched the first one who flew into the other, knocking them both to the ground. He was unsure if they were still alive but that was not any concern of his at the moment. He watched the man who held the cloaked item push it even tighter towards his body.
“Ole! I think we got something here,” he called at the spellweaver, expecting him to be finished with his little bout.
“Would you stop gloating?” Ole sent in the direction of his companion, while hitting the goon in front of him with his sword still kept sheathed. The thug was sent against the jamb of the door, knocking the light out of his eyes. Then he re-aligned his eye in the direction of the convicted assassin. You are fast, Eiji, we did get that much, he added mentally to himself, man...
“What is it that you have found?” the Russian enquired getting inside the small room and considering the man in front of them. “Who are you?” he said, convinced that the human was able to see them.
Whatever that one could answer would not be worth that much, when compared to the object he was carrying. The feeling of gravitational nullification came right from the bundle in his hands. Ole knew what they had to do, but was also concerned with his criminal comrade’s attitude. there had different approaches that could be employed at that point, yet the Russian doubted that the assassin would settle for the more diplomatic one.
“You should not fear us,” the blonde mathematician continued in the direction of the advent, “we are here to help you...”
Nonetheless, there was something else that worried Ole. Those goons could not be the brain behind the whole operation. Where was their boss? Behind the closed double door nearby? The Russian concentrated his perceptions briefly in that direction, just to get an idea.
Help him? Is he crazy. We’re here to grab the stone and make a run for it, not help anybody.
Eiji watched as the spellweaver tried talking sense into the man in front of them, maybe even become friends with him. He knew that it would be hard to befriend someone who had as much fear in him as this person but it did not matter. The scarred reaper already had another approach in mind.
Without giving Ole a chance to further his ‘interrogation’ or the man to escape, Eiji reached into his hand and grabbed the cloaked item from him. He felt the emptiness from it, hoping it was what they looked for. He held it for a second and threw it to his companion in the next.
“Is this what we’re looking for?” he asked him.
The advent was probably just a newcomer, for even if the assassin had not used his augmented speed, he had just been hopeless in defending from being robbed. The shocked expression on his face told that much. Anyhow, the stone was exactly what they were looking for. Just by holding it by the tips of two fingers, Ole could perceive that his ability to mould reiatsu was being diminished. In a very brief time, he would be rendered unable to produce any reiatsu-based effect. How are we supposed to dispose of something like this? the Russian reflected by himself. We surely as hell cannot bring this back to Soul Society...
The blonde mathematician’s mind lost itself in calculations regarding the nature of that stone, wondering if there was a way to shield, even temporarily, the surroundings from its effects. While deep in personal concentration, his still active senses tugged at his mental side, requesting attention. As soon as he turned his head towards the door, the former monk realized that the presence he had felt before had just materialized in front of them.
Dressed in a suit worth more than the American Gross Domestic Product, the man scrutinized the room and frowned. Characterized by an average proportioned size, the boss seemed rather young for his post, although a stripe of white hair coloured his right temple. A different magnitude of power boiled and throbbed inside him.
“What are you doing with my property?” the man demanded, with anger filling his voice.
Eiji turned towards the door, as the mobster they had met earlier entered the room. Contrary to what the assassin had though, he felt quite a bit of spiritual power coming towards him. He looked at the man for a few seconds before opening his mount.
“Your property? I wouldn’t say that a piece of stone coming from Soul Society belongs on earth, even less to anyone from there. Given the fact that it was not in your possession when we retrieved it and the man holding it actually seemed scared to death by your goons, I don’t really see how it can belong to you. Do you disagree?”
The scarred reaper was confident that he would have to fight here but he did not want to involve the civilian or the spellweaver. When he held the stone earlier, he felt his spiritual power vanishing, only to return as soon as he had given the stone back to his companion. He expected nothing while Ole held the stone, solely because he was powerless. Leaving the stone there was no option, so he would have to fight alone.
This is getting bad... and fast! Ole reflected, while hearing his companion’s retort. As soon as he convicted criminal had spoken, the Russian had tried to conjure enough juice to produce a binding effect. Any binding effect would have been fine when he thought about that. Instead, nothing had happened. His reiatsu gathering and moulding capabilities had been rendered inert so much, that the former monk suspected he would not be able to produce even the simplest of feat. Nonetheless, he could not leave the assassin on himself if things got tough. The blonde mathematician was not really sure how strong the mobster was either just yet.
Keeping his eyes on the advent human, the maimed shinigami moved further away from the door, taking the original thief of the stone with him, and behind the bar counter next to the window. A very brief exchange of glance passed between the assassin and the former monk. A swift nod demonstrated their mutual agreement, even though Ole was not going to let his convicted companion fight alone. Still, enforcing measures to assure that the stone was not taken by the advent mobster was paramount. The one-eyed mathematician brought the other human on the relative cover of the counter and waited. He needed more information about that human criminal before taking any action.
“Did your mother raise you with that kind of attitude,” the mobster spoke, as he took a battle stance. “The nonsense you’re spouting about it not being my property. That stone, that man, this room. Everything is mine. Don’t you dare think that you can walk in here without my permission.”
Without giving Eiji a chance to react, he attacked. The blows came fast, quicker than the reaper could’ve ever thought they would ever come from a regular human. They were not a problem for him though. He could see every blow, parry every strike and probably attack in between.
Eiji parried the first two blows, pushing them away from himself, almost dropping his foe off balance. As the third strike flew at his face, he grabbed it. Pulling downwards, he finally got the mobster off balance and dropped him to the ground.
“You’re actually threatening me?” Eiji grabbed the man by his throat and lifted him high into the air. “I am not your every-day, afraid of some gangster who thinks he’s got some power.”
The reaper threw him back towards the door where he had stood just before he jumped the reaper.
“Don’t think that you can toy around with me. You might end up dead.”
Ole was following the whole scene from his defendable position. The speed of the advent was amazing, but the one of his convicted companion was just unbelievable. The Russian doubted that he would have been able to defend from the series of attacks that the mobster was chaining, but the assassin could even retaliate without even losing his pace. When the black-haired shinigami threw the human criminal back, the blonde mathematician took a step forward, worried that his companion may act too harshly. On the other hand, his movement was stopped by sudden fear.
The grin that appeared on the mobster’s face was not the expression you would expect from someone that has been put in the corner and is facing hard times. It was the face of someone that was found out cheating, but still had all the aces up his sleeve. Moreover, the temperature inside the room had dropped various degrees, and the air seemed to ripple in slow waves from the advent human’s body. The mobster looked up towards the assassin, smiling wildly.
His shadow blurred and wavered, a dozen fists sprouting from his shade and attacking the assassin from every direction. The mobster moved at the same time, his speed even more heightened than before. Eiji skillfully evaded every attack, reading himself to counter the human’s charge. Eventually they circled each other, but as soon as the criminal stepped onto the assassin’s shadow something unexpected happened. The assassin stopped his movements abruptly as if he had been blocked into a vise, his back straightened over any normal posture would.
“Now I’ve got you,” the mobster commented, advancing slowly towards the shinigami.
Eiji wanted to move but could not. The shadow he had stepped in acted like a binding and held him in place. He tried yanking his feet, swinging his arms, jumping back, moving forward - nothing worked. It was as if he had been frozen completely in space.
I still have my mind. And it seems as if I can move my head, he thought to himself. It was true. He could move everything above the neck, except for the neck itself. He noticed his comrade had once again entered the room but was still standing in a corner. He glanced back at the mobster who had caught him just a few seconds ago and immediately turned his eyes back to Ole.
“Now would be a good time to do something,” he yelled, loud enough for everyone on the floor to hear it. “Let go of that damn stone!”
It was not that he wanted to be free, he needed it. The reaper knew that his comrade would not be able to handle the suited man alone, let alone with the mystical orb draining and blocking him from using any of his reiatsu. It acted a lot like sekkiseki, vaporizing any spiritual power that tried to pass through it. But there was still something that seemed to be off. Why’d they send out two shinigami to fetch a piece of stone. And why does it seem to be so valuable to this guy?
Ole watched the scene in slow motion, as if he was not even there, but in some other far away place. How had it come to this? There were tons of details that didn’t fit together, and didn’t even fit with the bigger picture. The blonde mathematician felt that they should stop and evaluate how the story had reached that unpleasant climax, for they had misunderstood something. Probably, undervalued something as well. The cogs and wheels of his brain were trying to put together the leit-motiv of the hows and whys, but the actions in front of hip sapped his ability to cogitate.
The shout of his convicted criminal broke his chains of thought. Indeed, the former monk could not remain idle while events unfolded. Checking the trembling state of the human at his side, the blonde mathematician concluded the best that could be done for him was to leave him there. Getting on the other side of the counter and towards the almost unmovable form of Eiji, the one-eyed shinigami considered the possibility of taking and attack of opportunity directly at the back of their adversary.
A sharp look of the mobster, on the other hand, discouraged the Soul Reaper from doing that much. The advent human seemed strong enough to be able to keep the assassin ensnared and defend against the meagre attempts of Ole himself. Moreover, the former monk considered the stone in his hand. There was not much he could do while holding that rock and its nullifying properties. The best option he could possibly conceive would be to drop the stone, shove the enemy away from Eiji and call a quick ride home. That would leave the rock on earth and in the hand of that crimelord. Was it their only plan, or was it not?
“Mitsu, is that your name?” the blond mathematician shouted, waving the artifact at the same time. The mobster turned his head as much as needed to fix an enraged eye on the maimed shinigami. “You want this stone, right?” Ole asked, hinting at the rock in his hand, “catch it!” The Russian tossed the stone in the direction of the advent criminal, forcing him to face and step away from Eiji.
Eiji could move again. The mobster had caught the stone without any problems. What he did not anticipate was the reiatsu-blocking powers of the stone. It did not only affect shinigami, it affected supernatural humans such as himself as well. This fact made the assassin happy. He knew that the man now used spiritual powers and that he could attack.
“Nice one,” he called out as he jumped back, away from his attacker.
“Carriage of thunder. Gap of the spinning wheel. Divide this light into six pieces.” He pointed his finger at the mobster. “Bakudou number Sixty-one, Rikujoukourou.”
Six beams came from one side each, flying at a high speed towards him. They all pushed at his midsection and locked him into place. Unable to move, unable to act, Eiji had managed to catch his foe. He turned back to his companion.
“What do you suggest we do with him?” Eiji’s first instinct was to kill, not this time though. He did not want to harm any civilians past the point that he had to, simply because he did not want to further lengthen his sentence. He had to be careful now.
If someone had told Ole that his little trick would work out that well, he would have stared that innocent bystander with his grey-blue eye until submission. Either the mobster had not taken into account the consequences of his actions, or he was oblivious of the stone’s powers. Yet, the latter seemed improbable, given the amount of energies he had put into retrieving it. The Russian considered the human bound at their feet and Eiji’s behaviour. It didn’t seem that the assassin was going to jump him, so they had time to talk.
“You really caught us off guard for a moment,” the blonde mathematician commented, “but it seems to me you should know better than that... Could you please tell me what is your true motive?”
The mobster looked worried for the first time, but kept up his poker face when he answered, “As if I would tell anything to a grim!”
The one-eyed shinigami had had only a couple of experiences with advent humans, and most of those had not the steel will of the earthly criminal. Looking at Eiji, he said, “I think we should head back to Soul Society... and bring him along for interrogation.”
If I could have my way with him... He’d spill everything...
“I suppose you are right.” The reaper knew that his companion would not be able to get any information out of the mobster but he knew that he had to follow orders. Going against his employer could have him face the charges of treason, even if it seemed improbable. His position did not give him the power to do anything other than listen and agree.
“What do you suggest we do with the stone?” Their attacker had dropped it as Eiji cast his spell on him and it still lay on the ground next to him. One of them would have to carry it back, while the other one carried the mobster.
“I am not sure whether it interferes with the Senkaimon or not,” Ole pointed out, “let me just check this out, before we continue.”
Getting as far as possible from the stone, the Russian took out his phone and dialed the senior technician’s number once more.
“Dokon, do you copy?” he asked over the line full of static.
“Yeah, no problem kiddo,” the inventor replied after a while, “but either you are in the middle of a reishi storm, or this joke is no fun...”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about,” the blonde mathematician retorted unsure, “but I would need passage for three... could you arrange that much?” After a split second he added, “By the way I’m just five meters away from that annoying stone, could you pinpoint its exact coordinates now?”
“Passage for three?” Dokon repeated hesitant, “who is the third?” Despite the static, the former monk could hear clicking sound on the other side of the line. “No, Ole, I cannot pinpoint the stone’s location,” the researcher confirmed, “it’s probably blocking our scans...”
“Ok, then, we’ll think about something else,” the maimed shinigami observed, “just prepare the Senkaimon for me, Eiji and an human prisoner. Get in touch with the Onmitsukido as well!”
Turning towards the assassin, Ole explained, “I fear it is not possible to bring the stone with us, but we’ll take Prince Charming... What do we do with the stone?”
Eiji held the prisoner and the stone as his companion called his contact in the Ninth Division. They seemed to have some problems to understand each other from what he could see but not enough for them not to come to a conclusion. They had to get rid of the stone. Eiji threw it to his companion.
“Either we bury it somewhere or hide it where it won’t be found. My first thought would be to blow it up but that won’t work. We can’t break it either.” Eiji thought for a few seconds before getting an idea that seemed good enough. “I think I got it!
“What if we just throw it in the sea?”
“That should work,” Ole commented, when a shimmer in the air betrayed the opening of a Senkaimon. Three dark members of the Onmitsukido stepped forward, seizing the human prisoner and gesturing harshly towards Eiji.
One of the reapers apprehended the assassin, drawing Eiji’s hands back and cuffing them within seconds. He had flash-stepped behind him quickly, quicker than the assassin could react.
“Easy now, I’m not resisting.” Eiji knew that he could not do anything towards these people, especially because of his sentence, so he didn’t. He just relaxed, let go of everything and waited to be carried away.
“Hey, I had not asked for this transport, yet,” the Russian complained, looking helplessly from his convicted companion to the leader of the mysterious organization’s small team.
“This has nothing to do with your request,” the gaunt figure in black replied, “finish your mission and get back to Soul Society. That’s all.”
The blonde mathematician could not do much but watch while they brought the convicted assassin and the human mobster away with them, leaving him with a reiatsu-nullifying rock and a trembling individual. How lucky am I? he commented grimly in his head, before flashing the advent human to implant a fake memory. After that, the former monk went solo to drop the stone in the depth of the ocean, hoping that the measure they had conceived was enough to keep it hidden from malevolent hands.
“Make sure you throw it deep,” Eiji called towards his companion as they went towards the Senkaimon. The Omnitsu Kido were well on their way to return with the two prisoners in their hands. “We can’t have anyone find that stone.” The assassin entered the gate with them, leaving earth in cuffs, hoping this would be the last mission he would have to do for his freedom.
There were too many questions that still needed to be answered, but it appeared it was not the blonde mathematician in charge of finding out that much. Obviously, that bugged him. It was with a mixture of sadness and relief that the Russian got himself clear of that damned stone. If the whole of Soul Society had not found a proper way to treat it, how could he or Eiji discover a better plan? Everything had just been too superficial from his point of view, and Ole really would like to know why. What was the missing information the higher ups had not told them?
While the stone sank swiftly to the bottom of the sea, the former monk reflected that, when all is said and done, he would be content to know that the story had ended and that his convicted companion was closer to his freedom. His researcher’s mind, on the other hand, was already putting the pieces of the puzzle together: it was just a matter of time before something up stirred the bottom of the stew.
The reaper woke up in his cell once again, unchained and alone. It was cold, he could feel the wind coming in through the small window above his head as it made its way down towards him. The Omnitsu Kido agents had brought him back quickly, leaving him in the yard of the Seventh Division once again, alone. Within minutes, a few gaolers had arrived and brought him back to his cell. He fell asleep quickly, waiting for the next day, waiting for another notice of his future. This time, he hoped he would be able to return home.
Another One Bites The Dust
Word count: 12,000
Yamamura Eiji
Ole Bishoff
Nothing to dodge either, eh?, he commented to himself gloomily, walking towards the Seventh Division.
Not from his Captain anyway, but life has a funny way to kick you where it hurts most, especially if you are not looking. From a mathematical point of view, the Russian did not believe in coincidence. As any god would say, he did not play dices either. From a statistical point of view, on the other hand, there exists a not null probability that at least one succession of events is capable by itself to produce Ragnarok. Even if not so drastic, the letter that had been delivered to his desk and hour before seemed like a sign of destiny.
The blonde spellweaver had been tasked to retrieve a rather special stone from the human world. Said stone had demonstrated abilities comparable to bloodstone - Which is just bad news, Ole pondered - rendering his owner unable to defend from black market merchants. And their agents, the mathematician added in his mind, which we can only suppose be of the worst persuasion possible.
A possible bright side was that he would be helped by a member of the Seventh Division - oh no, they expect bloodshed of some sort, Ole commented - but, as the letter stated, ‘...and hide it wherever it can be safely declared as irretrievable.’ And how the heck were they going to hide something that would render all their effort just vain?
I guess we’ll think of something as soon as we have gotten our hands on this stone... the Russian evaluated, while nodding to a prison guard to obtain access to the Enforce Criminal Service’s Facility.
Eiji sat quietly in his cell as the door opened with a bang. Two gaolers stood by each side of the door, one held the chains for his feet and the other had a pair for his hands. They were both cloaked and wore shinigami robes.
Omnitsu Kidou? They want to bring me out for a mission again? I can’t believe they are here so quickly again. This can’t just be a coincidence.
“Get up punk”, one of them called out. He shaked the chain for a bit to try scaring the assassin but it did not affect him in any way. He rose from his seat and walked slowly towards the jailors, let them put the chains on without any struggle and followed them out. They escorted him out to the division grounds and all the way to the front gate. Eiji looked around himself but could not see anyone or feel anyone around him.
“What are we waiting for?” As he turned around towards the two cloaked men, they were gone. He had been left alone in the yard without anyone to watch him.
What are they thinking? Are they really doing this again? I should’ve learned this by now.
The black-haired man was standing there. If it was not for the fact that his ankles and and wrists were shackled, Ole could have taken him for a casual bystander. On the other hand, the scar on his face, which resonated with the mathematician’s own one, denoted him as the convict that had been assigned to the task and his supervision. For a brief moment, the Russian wondered what the young man could have done to end up in such a situation, but if he reflected retrospectively, Ole had been in a similar situation himself.
With a fluid motion, the spellbinder reached the shackled man.
“Good morning, Eiji, right?” the one-eyed shinigami said, “my name is Ole Bishoff. It seems that you have been assigned to me for this task...”
It was not easy to explain what the mission exactly required, for even the spellbinder had only a vague idea of how to solve some details. Nonetheless he tried to be as thorough as possible, in order to give his companion a complete perception of what was awaiting them.
“Any question? Ideas?” the blonde mathematician questioned, genuinely interested.
Eiji listened to the taskmaster with one ear as he explained the mission. He was not that interested in anything that came up and what made it worse was that the reaper in front of him seemed to be the type that did not take bullshit when given. It would not be easy for him to follow orders from anyone he did not know, especially someone who seemed to be quite a bit weaker than himself. He could not feel much spiritual power coming from his body so he figured he had been called to protect a lower ranked shinigami.
“No, nothing at all. Do we leave immediately.” Eiji took one last look at the shinigami in front of him, from head to toe. The patch over one of his eyes caught him by surprise for a moment but he did not dwell over it for too long. “The briefing for the mission? Do you still have it?
“Could I possibly take a look at it before we leave?” Even though he did not wonder much, he still wanted to know where they were going, and why.
Hmmm, was all Ole could think after the other had spoken, has he even listened to just one word? That was not a great start to begin with. Who does he think he is? the blonde mathematician continued in his mind, it is not that he has that much of a Reiatsu pressure anyway. Moreover, something in the tone of voice of the criminal had put the scarred spellbinder on his toes, I hate being pushed!
“Whatever,” he said at last, gesturing in an annoyed manner towards the shackled man to pass him the written communication. “Let’s start moving,” he added with more spite than he wanted or would have found necessary in a different situation, “I want to check something with the Ninth Division as we walk...”
Ole had not the experience nor the authority to boss someone around, and had always thought that working together would always prove more fruitful. Those beliefs seemed a thousands of year in the past, by then. In the case at hand, however, it seemed that there was a certain distance to gap, and the Russian was not the most charismatic shinigami in the whole Gotei Thirteen. Not the last of the ladder, though.
“By the way,” the spellweaver asked, dialing on his phone, “which division were you with before ending up in here?”
“Twelfth.” His answer was short and simple, yet he hoped it would startle the reaper in front of him. He knew that he had to follow orders, he had no problems with that, as long as they made sense. Eiji’s first impression with this guy did not impress him much. He seemed to be new at what he did and did not do it really well. Perhaps his mind was wavering because of something, the scarred assassin was not sure.
He kept listening and Eiji agreed, it was time to move out. But just as the spellsword started walking, he called for him and stopped him in his tracks.“Before we actually leave, you could perhaps remove these shackles? It might be a little hard to move like this.
“The briefing. Could I have a look at it please?”
Dah!, Ole thought with little elegance, what does he think I’m waving in his face, a written invitation to a ball? Which, by the way, would be hilarious...
Instead he said, not without a certain scorn, “Still here, assassin, take your time...” or do you need me to read it for you? he added mentally. This criminal was pissing him off already.
The mathematician looked around the precinct, until he located the security guard. “Come,” he said to his forced companion, “the gaoler will take care of those.” Without even a look in his direction, the spellbinder raised the phone to his good ear, waiting for the line to pick up.
“Dokon, are you there?” the Russian asked through the microphone.
“Here I’m, lad,” the senior researcher replied, a burst of static in the line, “no need to shout!”
“Fine,” the blonde consented, “have you read my note? Have you prepared a transport to a suitable location on Earth?”
“No worries,” Dokon retorted, “everything is set. We’ll send you two as close to the target as possible, but from there you are on your own. You’ll need to find the actual location the old fashioned way... sniffing him out!”
A small briefing was given to the assassin, not many papers and certainly not a lot of information. He quickly shuffled through the few papers he was given while his employer was on the phone. He pulled out the first paper again and started reading it thoroughly. Bloodstone. He kept on reading. Impossible to destroy. His eyes kept on drifting down. Retrieve it and hide it.
What the hell are they sending us out to do. And this boy... Will he survive the black market? It’s a dangerous place even for us shinigami.
Eiji waited for him to finish his phone-call until speaking. It was a short call but Eiji could not hear what they were talking about. His mind was still in the briefing he had just read.
“So we’re leaving Soul Society?”
“Everything is set for our departure,” Ole informed his now unshackled companion, ”even though I would preferred that the Ninth had come up with some gadget of theirs...”
Although the blonde mathematician did not find the assassin a reliable source of information or support, he thought that it would be needed some more trust, once they were in the heat of battle.
“Before we leave,” the Russian began just in front of the Senkaimon, two Jigokuchou already flying over their head, “what do you really think of this mission?” The question was asked keeping his only good grey eye on the face of the criminal in front of him.
“My thoughts don’t really matter.” It was not that he was uninterested. No, it could to be something quite challenging to the assassin. It was simply the fact that he could not be bothered with answering such a question. His opinion did not matter, only the result did. He wanted to finish this mission as quickly as possible, and hopefully be assigned to something else soon. All he wanted to do was to get out and be free.
“If you want us to complete this, we better get going?” Eiji pointed at the gate in front of them. “The gate might close if we continue chatting away like this.”
“Whatever,” Ole commented sourly, even more disappointed on what he keep believing in as a companion and not a mere subordinate. “Let us move then...”
They walked toward the Senkaimon and the butterflies darted forward to lead the way. The passage through the dimensional tunnel was brief and they both kept to their inner thoughts. I just hope he’s getting a more practical attitude when things start to get nasty... the blonde mathematician pondered gloomily, his single eye looking at the light at the end of the path.
It was not much before they found themselves atop one of the higher buildings in the industrial district of the Keihin Region by the Tokyo Bay. The sight, which spanned to the horizon, was relaxing, a feeling much in contrast with the tension that was accumulated due to the mission at hand.
The Russian turned toward the assassin and fixed his one grey eye on the other, “You have been an assassin... How would you flush this human out?”
“There are a lot of ways, depending on how brutal you want to be.” Eiji looked out over the grand city. There were people everywhere, souls walking around, running, driving. It would be impossible to find a single person in this huge lot of people.
“Perhaps we can go at it quite quickly. If you want to find a needle in a haystack, you burn the hay. We can simply kill everyone until we find the right person.” Eiji smiled a little, inspecting the reaper who was with him. He looked for something that could be out of order, but everything seemed to be in order. He knew that killing anyone was out of the question, unless it was a life or death situation. There was too much at stake right now.
“Or we can try to lure him out. The easiest way would be to check out the black market and see if we can find some information.”
Was the assassin really proposing to kill humans by the numbers in cold blood? Ole was shocked that he would really move that way if they were not able to conceive a different plan. Especially considered the grin the scarred criminal had given the mathematician as a token of a comradeship-like prank. Maybe the Russian was a bit green behind the ears, but he would not allow others to mock him like that.
“Luring him out will not be that easy,” the one-eyed shinigami commented, mostly to himself, “especially since he’ll already be on the defensive by now... ” There was not much they could do about that, yet Ole started doubting they had all the necessary information. What if the whole story was a hoax and they had been lured there, on the Living World?
“Do you have a contact in the black market by any chance?” the blonde mathematician asked, understanding that his own resources were extremely limited for this kind of mission.
“I do not know anymore. I’ve been gone for way too long. We’ll have to check that out ourselves.” Eiji kept looking out over the city, trying to find something that could lead them to the right place. A motorcycle gang, the mob, anything really.
“If we could perhaps find someone who can lead us there, I could probably find someone who could give us the information. If not, we can always make the give it to use.”
“I see,” Ole nodded, and fished his hellphone from the recesses of his robe. “Dokon, do you copy?” he asked in the receiver, switching to speakers. It was the typical military-like mumbo-jumbo that the mathematician had lacked before being re-allocated inside the Gotei Thirteen. He also felt a bit silly for saying that.
“Hey, Ole,” the senior researcher replied, a high pitched sound merging with static, “what do you need now?”
“Any living soul in the know in the vicinity?” the Russian asked without much fluff.
“I think the Senkaimon should have dropped you near to an acquaintance,” Dokon’s voice reached the living world with a certain delay, “let me just check.” The pause was not very long, but no intelligible sound was carried over, until, “Yeah, yeah, there should be a small ramen-shop just two blocks on you right--- the owner is some sort of small advent dealer named Hu.” Another burst of static crippled the conversation, but then Ole was able to hear again, “--- and I doubt he will be really prone to help.”
“Dokon, the transmission is working poorly,” the One-eyed shinigami cut short, “is there anything we should really know?”
No response.
Well, then, Ole thought, no more help from that side, I guess... Then, turning towards his convicted companion, he said, “Shall we move?”
Eiji was a bit surprised about the fact that the research and development institute managed to answer their call that quickly. It almost felt as if they were concentrating on solely their mission, which got Eiji thinking a bit.
Are they keeping tabs on us because they still don’t trust me? Or is it that the mission needs this kind of instant information. If so, what is that stone we are looking for? Why are they after it so badly and what kind of abilities does it have?
The assassin had completely drowned in his own thoughts and did not listen to a single word said in the phone conversation. He looked up at his comrade and watched his lips move. Without realising it, he had completely shut down to the other world. He snapped back immediately, just in time to hear Ole utter his question.
“You’re the boss here.” he answered leisurely. “Lead the way.”
There was no rancour in the stare that Ole gave his companion before turning and moving straight in the direction that had been given them. There was some sadness though. No trust meant no unified intent. If that was how things were supposed to go, who was the Russian to take position against it?
A yatai was exactly where Dokon had indicated. From the top of a building overseeing the bay, it was not very definite, but it looked like a rather old one. What was more important from Ole’s point of view was that if the advent humans inside were good enough, they might have already spotted them. There was no way to say that for sure, and the blonde mathematician had no technique to hide his reiatsu. There is not much to do, I guess, Ole pondered, just go and greet them.
“Whether they know we are here or not,” he said to his convicted companion, peeping in the direction of the stall, “there is no advantage in subtlety...” Hence, he added, switching to a less amiable tone than before, “I’ll enter through the front and you check if there are any exit from the rear. If none are present, do come in after me.”
Eiji left the man in a flash and arrived at the backside before he even finished listening to his partner. He walked around the building quickly, finding nothing around it. Not a single window, not a single door, nothing. He moved back to the front entrance quickly, his companion still standing there.
“This seems to be the only entrance,” Eiji said as he pointed at the door in front of them. “Perhaps we’re both meant to enter here.”
Without giving him a chance to react, Eiji kicked in the door and walked in. It fell down easier than he thought it would but that was just a good think.
“No advantage in subtlety you said huh?” An assassins interests lay in their ability to be subtle and swift, not brute. For Eiji, this way was more fun, even better in some situations perhaps but it was not the way he had been taught. It felt wrong to use his strength to pass barriers, when there were other ways.
That was taking things literally slightly too much, but he liked that aspect of the assassin anyway. He had been contending with the most elevated thoughts a soul could make for fifty years, just to realize that his post was a more material one. He was a Soul Reaper and it was time to act: that was pretty clear.
Damn, he is fast, Ole commented by himself, realizing that the criminal had circled the hut and came back before he could reach the entrance. That may come in handy later, though, he added and made a mental note about it.
Nodding to his convicted companion, the mathematician moved forward... just in time to see an arm the size of a shovel sweep an inch away from the assassin’s head. A muscled, even though over rounded around the belly, bald human peered through the open door and fixed his piggy eyes on the convicted shinigami, making that face that come only from sudden shock and instant realization. With no delay, he grunted, slapped his thighs and then charged towards the dynamic duo.
Eiji jumped back as the man came rushing towards him. The first thing to do was to make sure you had enough distance to defend yourself. He awaited the bull-like human to come with great force but was displeased. With the lash of a hand, he had knocked his foe unconscious. The man fell heavily on the ground, almost shaking it.
“I guess if this is the kind of guards they have, we’re not really gonna have a problem.” The man he had just knocked out felt as if he was just a henchman or a doorguard, perhaps not even someone who knew what was going on inside.
“Where do you suggest we continue?”
The human would have had no chance even if his ability had been greater. The effortless movement of the assassin had been smooth and even too shallow in terms of intention. Yet it hit fair and square.
“Nice punch,” Ole said, crossing over the bulk of the human’s midsection, “I would not hope that much, but if this is the case...”
The mathematician grinned wildly, proceeding inside the stall. The first room, a sort of lounge, was empty. Another door led to what looked like the boss’ office, which the Russian
could easily get from a small opening left in the doorway. From what he could make from where he stood, a man was hiding behind the desk. What the heck is happening? he pondered gloomily, how could it be possible that Dokon had described this person as dangerous?
“Hello there,” the spellbinder said aloud, “we are here to talk... nothing more.”
Eiji followed his companion into the warehouse, on the alert for every step he took. Even though they had just faced someone who could be counted as a foe, he was still too weak to actually make any difference. If the Research and Development Division gave them the advice to be careful, there was probably something worse inside.
As they walked, Eiji noticed that there was not a single guard stationed anywhere except for the entrance. The person they had met acted a bit strange but it was nothing that he thought more of. If anything, he was probably just a doorman hyped up on drugs.
They entered the only office they could find in the building, the spellcaster in the front and the assassin in the back. In there sat a man, all alone, without anyone to protect him or even warn him about what just had happened. The fact that he was there alone, without protection showed that he was at the least confident in his own abilities.
“As long as you cooperate that is.” Eiji said, finishing his comrades sentence with a twist. A threat always worked when talking to someone in a higher position. “If you know what I mean.”
The man was looking at them with a cynical, calculating stare, one that conveyed a very strong sense of self-confidence. He never looked at the window at his side, or behind the two shinigami, but maintained his gaze fixed upon them for a while, before shrugging his shoulders. Approximately in his forties, the boss had an upright posture, but from the other side of a counter, it was difficult to say more of his physique. His hair were dark, his complexion rather swarthy. His face was somber, with a number of wrinkles criss-crossing his cheeks and forehead. Ole considered those marks again, when he realized that they were very old scars, colored darker by prolonged exposure to sun.
“I respond badly to threats,” the black-haired man pointed out, his voice steady and his eyes firm,“but I’ll accept a truce for the time being. My name is Mitsu Yokohone... who the hell are you two?”
The fact that he was able to see them clearly was a clear sign of his relative power. That fact put Ole on his guard, for it appeared that this man Mitsu was not scared at all, and was even trying to get something out of the whole affair. As the businessman who he was.
“Our names are not important,” the spellweaver said slowly, “since we are here for information and nothing more. Do you have any contact in the black market?”
Eiji watched as his companion tried to extract information from their target. From what he could see, the older man seemed to be what you could call ‘old school’. He was everything that a mobster was, he had the scars, sat alone in his office and the scarred assassin was pretty sure that he had at least a bag of cocaine and a gun somewhere near himself.
He did not move, he did not speak, and you could barely hear him breathe. He tried to be as quiet as possible, letting the spellsword do all the talking. Extracting information from someone of his stature would not be easy but he wanted to see how far Ole would go. It was quite probable that the assassin would be able to get something out of him, he had a lot of experience in the field.
I wonder if he’ll get violent. Perhaps if he doesn’t get the right information or enough. Only time will tell.
The mobster’s eyes were not green in color, but had the same hue of money while the blonde mathematician stated their simple purpose. The man had clearly had the ability to rise above the other criminals of the area of the harbor. Whether it was for sheer luck, pure ability or true violence, Ole could not yet say, but it was clear that the man knew something. In fact, as soon as the Russian mentioned the black market, Mitsu’s expression of contempt transformed into one of joyful interest.
“The black market, eh?” the black-haired human repeated, changing position slightly, stretching his torso towards the two shinigami and latching his hands together before his face. “Let assume that I might help you,” he postulated pensive, “and I’m not saying that I can, what is there in it for me?”
Ole blinked once and raised his only remaining eyebrow. The eyebrow had shot up of his own volition because he was seeing his companion standing by, without saying anything. The mathematician could not understand if it was ready to strike, or just slacking around. On the other hand, the proposition of the mobster was a clear invitation to the table of negotiation, although the Russian felt already relegated with the lower hand.
What kind of advent is so at ease with the supernatural? the one-eyed spellweaver commented between himself, before crossing his arms lazily on his chest.
“Nothing, I guess,” Ole retorted, trying to look casual, “but you would not like to try my silent friend over there...” Good cop, bad cop, in your face... he added mentally. “I can just promise that you won’t see use again...” the spellbinder continued, grinning. The smile was slightly deformed by the asymmetric scars, conveying a very grotesque sight.
Eiji pulled his comrade to the side, before giving the mobster a chance to speak further. The conversation seemed to go in the right direction but something still seemed to be off.
“You can’t start out with threats with this kind of man,” the assassin whispered in Ole’s ear. “I might be able to do something to get some information from him, but I can’t promise anything. A man of his stature always has his way with people, even people like us”
He turned back to Mitsu. His expression had completely changed. The once calm shinigami was now serious and there was not a single part of his face that concentrated on anything but the man in front of him.
“We can perhaps do something for you, depending on what you need.” The assassin could do much with his power. He just hoped that he would not have to resort to anything that could put him in a bad situation.
“As long as you help us, we will help you. Do you have anything for us?”
Three eyes widened – for Ole had only one eye that could be opened up to show surprise - when the assassin intervened in the middle of the conversation. It did not cut the flow of the whole conversation, but it could disrupt the façade that was being erected to confront the mobster. The Russian could agree with his convicted companion, yet the blonde mathematician was still startled by the ease with which the other was granting his, or their, help in such an unrestricted way.
The mobster considered the situation with a poker face, and he was pretty fast to follow the line of thoughts that the assassin’s was offering.
“That much is enough for me,” the dark-skinned man pointed out, “and I can give you the location of a safe house of sort for black market agents.” Then standing up to his average height, pushed his hand outward towards the two shinigami, “Let seal this deal as gentlemen, by shaking each other hand.”
The assassin looked with a puzzled look at the russian. He knew that the deal was too good to be true, even for someone who was as threatening as himself. A person of this mans stature would not give in so very easily, to someone whom he did not know to have any power.
“What are your playing at?” Eiji asked him, reluctant to grab his hand. “What’s the catch?”
The former monk was as surprised as his companion by the sudden change in attitude of their interlocutor. The reason behind that behaviour could only be mischief, although the reason of such a blatant change seemed a mystery. Ole could not think of any plausible solution to unhinge the stalemate, and least of all he wanted to shake hands with that peculiar subject.
Seeing the reluctance in the two shinigami, it was the dark-skinned man to take the initiative by saying, “I’m not going to bite you, but given my age, you should indulge me at least a bit...”
That sentence was even more creepy than the anyone before, promising future pain of the slowest persuasion. The one-eyed mathematician would rather not put himself in a less defendable position, yet they needed that man’s cooperation as much as a thirsty man needs water.
“Very well then,” Ole cut short, extending his bandaged limb to give the equivalent of a timid five to the human criminal. I only hope I’m not regretting this later... he added mentally, pinning that note on his personal notice board.
He grabbed the reapers hand and shook it. From what it seemed, it was a normal shook. Little did the two shinigami know that he had succeeded in planting a small bugging device, to transmit sound, to Ole’s clothes. The russian mobster wanted to follow their movements, as much as he could. His reason was unknown to anyone but himself, and depending on what side you were on, it was a good one. He knew that he had been visited by something out of this world, perhaps even death itself but he was not frightened. He did not have a reason to.
“What information do you have for us?” the scarred assassin asked, as he watched the two men still connected with their hands. Almost immediately, the mobster released his grip and turned to Eiji.
“An address.” He took a piece of paper from his desk, grabbed a pen and wrote something on it. As he handed the note to Eiji, he looked for anything out of the ordinary with the two men who came to visit him. “Go to this address and you will find what you seek.”
Without any further wait, the two reapers exited the room. Eiji turned to his companion.
“What do you think, was he telling the truth?”
The five was not enough apparently, for the mobster took the outstretched hand of the blonde mathematician firmly in his own and gave a decisive shake. Ole might have been expecting some trick or another, but modern technology was not one of those. Therefore, the precise sleight of hand of the human criminal had passed completely unobserved. The address seemed a meager consolation and an even too easy loot. Nonetheless it was all they had to work with.
“Partially, I expect,” Ole commented lost in his own thought, looking at his own hand as if he had the ability to discern whether something had happened to it or not. “I presume that he merely omitted something,” he added, lowering his arm back by his side, “but I cannot fathom if it is something just useful or utterly important.”
The Russian grinned his asymmetric smile. “Mostly, I hope he is not going to throw a sucker punch at us,“ the blonde mathematician continued sourly, ”I imagine that neither of us would take that lightly.”
The spellweaver considered the address in his companion’s hand. “Let’s get to this place first,” Ole pointed out, “we will have time to worry, when worries come to seek us...
“Anyway, do you have any information on the Black Market that may be useful to us both?” the spellbinder enquired, forgetting that asking question to the assassin rarely brought any valuable insight.
Unknown to the two shinigami, Mitsu was already tuning in.
“Not much. A black market often is filled with a lot of criminals and scum, usually people that are not as honest as you want them to be. Watch your pockets and don’t get into any fights.” Eiji knew that they would probably not stand out much in a place as the one they were searching for but there was always the chance that someone else could make some trouble.
“Just make sure that you don’t get into any mess. Even though it may not be your fault, it will be our problem.”
They kept moving towards the exit and not long after they exited the room, they were outside. Eiji searched his pockets but did not find what he was looking for.
“Do you have any way for us to get the directions to that location?”
Ole listened carefully to the assassin description, but it was nothing that he could not have thought of by himself. Nonetheless, the fact that the convicted shinigami seemed so at ease with the whole black market world should be considered an asset for the proper completion of their mission.
“I’ll be sure not to create any ruckus,” the Russian agreed, nodding thoughtfully.
When the other patted his robe, the blonde mathematician smirked, but quickly regained his composure, fishing his phone from his own shihakusho at the same time. With a few precise strokes on the keyboard, the software – rendered just slightly cranky by a bad signal reception – pinpointed a location on the map, not so far from them. Looking around just once, the former monk nodded to his criminal companion before initiating a warp step. The spellweaver was confident that his companion would be more than capable of following and outrun him if necessary. For minimal as it was, that brief exertion of power gave him a break from the almost uneventful morning.
When they stopped again, they found themselves in front of a crumbling warehouse, one that seemed to come out from the past and the great depression. Typical, was what Ole thought upon looking on the decaying building. It was even too cliché for a mobster cartel. What was even more unsettling was the feeling that someone was staring at them.
“Rise and shine,” the Russian said with an ironic tone towards his companion, “your move.”
“We have definitely come to the right place,” Eiji said, convinced that they had arrived just in time as well. “Speaking from experience, it will either be a fancy mansion or a rotten warehouse like this one. Most of them are old, abandoned buildings. It’s usually because the law enforcement won’t come near places like this.”
They entered the crumbling building, careful enough to not be noticed but they knew that they had made their presence known. Even if regular people could not even see a glance of them, the scarred assassin was sure that there were people here who could. He walked slowly with his companion next to him, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
“Can you check if there is some sort of anomaly anywhere in the building?”
Ole agreed with the line of thoughts of his companion. It was the same perception he had, even though he could not boast the same experience. Inside the warehouse, various hobos and addicts shared makeshift camp beds or gathered around the various available fires. It did not seem rational to believe that any of those was able to perceive the two shinigami, but a clever organization would have people dislocated even amongst the throng of derelicts to keep an eye on the entrance without arousing suspicions in turn.
“Keep an eye out for anything unusual,” the Russian advised the other Soul Reaper.
Then, taking into account the assassin’s request, the blonde mathematician cut himself off from the contingent reality. Inside a single building, his ability to perceive with sufficient precision spikes in spiritual pressure was more than enough. After a single swipe, the spellweaver had not found any considerable reiatsu signature, except for a rather recent remaining trail.
“Follow me,” Ole proposed, leading Eiji away from the main hall and into a side area of what were probably offices when the warehouse was still used. “This section of the wall has something weird to it,” he explained, “but I cannot understand whether there’s a mundane trapdoor or something more...”
Eiji looked at the wall for no more than a few seconds before he acted. As he lifted his leg, he leaned back a bit and pushed his foot right through the wall. The concrete crumbled from the brute force he had used, just as he imagined it would. He took a few steps back and gestured for his comrade to go.
“See if you can find anything.”
It was for time like this that his prosthetic may come in handy. Mimicking the effect of a famous low-level spell, the orb that substituted his missing eye gave the blonde mathematician perfect low-light vision.
“There’s a stairs going downstairs,” the Russian pointed out as soon as the dust had settled.
Putting his torso and head into the landing on that floor, Ole was able to take a peek down the stairwell. It was not that much longer than a single floor below the ground, but it ended directly in front of another door. The spellweaver descended and stopped just in front of it. Light was coming from below the door, and there were muffled sounds from the other side of it.
“Ready when you are,” Ole affirmed to his convicted companion, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Where do you think it leads?” the assassin asked as he went through the hole he had just made, stepping on the first step of the newly found staircase. He slowly de-escalated down the stairs, one step at the time, watching not to step on anything or miss a step.
He ended up next to his companion, right in front of the door. The reaper noticed that Ole was ready to enter and kicked in the door, making way for the spellsword to enter.
“Go!”
Ole shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. That was a new territory entirely for the former monk; remaining cloistered for decades might have not given him the edges for adventurous situation, even though his heart was welcoming the thrill. It was a complex feeling the one that pitted him against his past decisions and required his focus on his current actions.
We’ll see, the Russian said silently, nodding in the direction of his comrade.
His first instinct had been one of preemptive defence, a kidou coming to his mind and lips in order to cover the area beyond in darkness. His better judgement kicked in, considering that they could not assume they were in enemy territory. Possibly just hostile. They would need something more of a suspect before starting going all-out. Therefore, the blonde mathematician stepped in the basement ahead of them. A series of interconnecting cellars opened and invited them to move further on.
The area was not illuminated, the floor coated in some kind of goo, and cobwebs sat in every corner. The only evidence that the place was somehow used was represented by the trail and the sign of footsteps left in the muddy tiled flooring.
“Which way?” the Russian asked to his companion, making a vague gesture with his maimed hand.
As the entered the enclosed cellar, both the reapers looked around, trying to find something that could help them. Every single door seemed locked, the hinges had either melted together with the door or were so rusty that you could probably just push the door down from the wall. The scarred boy walked to the end of the hall, looking at the last door that was in front of them. With a push of his hand, the door fell down and opened another entrance for them. This time around, they felt as if they were making progress.
The had paved the way to a smaller room, only a tenth the size of the cellar itself. Eiji entered it all alone, his companion standing in the back, waiting for him. The room did not have much in it. At the end of it sat a small table and a chair. Eiji crossed the doorstep and looked left at first, and then to his right. He found another item, a pedestal to be more exact, standing in one end of the room. He walked up to it only to find that it was empty. There was no dust on it; it was almost as if it had been recently cleaned.
“There was something sitting here,” he said to the spellcaster as he made his way into the room. They both walked up to the table, which was full of notes. At the top of the stack, a single note stood out. It had recently been written, it was quite easy to see. Compared to the rest of the notes, it was a new one. Everything on the table seemed months, heck even years old, apart from the one at the top. Eiji snapped it up and started reading it.
“It’s another address. It seems to be in the vicinity.” Eiji handed his companion the piece of paper. “I think we might find another lead there.”
The sense of frustration shared by the two shinigami was palpable. Each progress they seemed to make, was just leading them to another place. Was that whole situation nothing less than a prank?
While his companion went forward, deeper into the basement, Ole contemplated for a moment the larger cellar. Something did not add up in his mind. The overall situation seemed one of utter abandon, with the exception of those footsteps. For some reason, the Russian was bothered by them. Kneeling closer to the muddy ground, the blonde mathematician observed those signs more carefully, aided by his augmented sight. Although they were extremely similar between them, they were all combat boots of the same factory, they did not belong to the same person.
Keeping this information in mind, the spellweaver reached his companion, who had already fished through the room for evidence. The recent note was a bit out of place in the one-eyed shinigami’s mind, and all he could see around them screamed ambush.
“This may well be a trap,” he commented sourly, in the direction of his convicted comrade, “but I guess we have only this lead to follow...”
* * *
They arrived outside another building shortly. Contrary to where they had come from, this building was quite something. Eiji could barely see to the top; it seemed to have easily over fifty floors. The door had two door-men, ready to open the door at any time. Glass covered the whole building and it seemed to be some sort of hotel to the assassin. People were walking in and out of the doors all the time and the assassin would make sure not to miss this chance.
He signaled Ole to follow him and quickly paced through the entrance, making his way towards the staircase. He ignored everything that was going on, every human walking by, every person working in the building, the fancy decorations, literally everything. As they entered the door to the stairs, Eiji turned back to his companion.
“Can you sense anything at all coming from this place?”
Fancy, was the only thing the spellweaver thought before entering the building. The building was indeed a hotel and an extremely posh one at that. The values of some dresses he saw around would have sustained a common household for decades. Interesting, he added mentally, this is not what I would have expected the location of a trap to be.
Following his comrade inside, Ole lost interest in the surrounding quite quickly. It was time they nailed this mission, instead of running around as cattle lead to the slaughterhouse. His criminal companion had not yet made his question that the Russian was already concentrated to perceive the ambient of the building with all his senses. Despite his best efforts, however, there were nothing there. This is not possible, the blonde mathematician commented between himself, frustrated, there has to be something here...
The spellbinder focused once more, extending his attention to the far top of the hotel, where the most luxurious suites ought to be placed. Nothing was there as well, but emptiness rather than nothingness greeted him. Uhm, what? he found himself surprised.
“Forty-ninth floor or something,” Ole spat quickly, returning to a more physical set of perceptions, “I cannot be sure, but something is surely amiss there.” Hence, leading the way, he added, “Let’s go.”
They moved quickly up the stairs, jumping a few steps at the time. Eiji led the party, as the spellweaver followed closely behind. Within a few minutes, the two of them had reached the top. The assassin noted every floor they passed and signaled towards the door as he saw the big forty-nine sign next to it. He opened the door for his partner who stepped through it with haste.
As Eiji followed him, he scanned the floor they had entered as quickly as possible. It was completely empty. Not a single person was in sight. The assassin had expected at least a few guests or an employee or two, but there was nothing there.
“Which way do we go?” Eiji kept staring deep into the hallway, looking for someone to come out of a room, or at least to hear some noise but there was nothing.
“That way,” the Russian confirmed, pointing his thumb down the corridor. He could not tell exactly what his perceptions were, but he was growing accustomed to that sensation and his instinct suggested that they were close to the stone, one way or another.
The feeling of uneasiness grew step by step, until the duo moved into a short corridor with a single smaller door, and a fashionable double one further down the aisle. To the one-eyed shinigami’s dismay, a camera’s lens was aimed in their direction already, hal-hidden between the leaves of what looked like a ficus in a pot. There is always a ficus sooner or later, Ole commented annoyed. The fact that the camera was not moving anymore hinted that there was an human mind behind it, and an advent one when it came to it. Have there been a clearance sale in the advent human department which I was not aware of these days? the blonde mathematician observed to himself.
Although slightly lost in his thought, the maimed Soul Reaper realized that the smallest of the two doors was opening. A goon in suit emerged from it with his hand already going to his armpit-holstered gun. Jumping onward in that direction, Ole caught the armed muscle with the hilt of his sword at the solar plexus. A resounding thud left as a demonstration of a well connected blow, while another thug approached from behind. The Russian ducked away, unsure what kind of weapons the duo of gorillas were sporting.
Eiji watched as the spellweaver fought. The two men that came at him were little to no problem for the two reapers to handle. The assassin simply waited for his companion to solve the issue. He knew that if he tried to fight, he would have problems holding his strength back and succeed without dealing lethal damage. Not many people he knew could actually work with him in a fight, and the few that did, still risked their lives.
The scarred reaper peeked into the room where the first one had come from, from the opening he had created when he attacked Ole. Eiji moved between them swiftly, landing inside the room just past the door. Inside sat a few men surrounding a single person holding something inside of a piece of cloth. He held the item tightly to his body, not letting anyone near him as well as he could.
With a flash step, the reaper arrived behind the goon who had his weapon pulled. A single chop to the neck knocked him unconscious, dropping him on the ground. The other three that sat there immediately pulled their weapons. But Eiji had disappeared from sight. He moved behind one of them in a speed that none of them could see. He grabbed his weapon and pulled it back, snatching it out of his hand and pulling his shoulder out of his socket in a single move.
The other two started shooting at the reaper but he was faster. In a single move, he punched the first one who flew into the other, knocking them both to the ground. He was unsure if they were still alive but that was not any concern of his at the moment. He watched the man who held the cloaked item push it even tighter towards his body.
“Ole! I think we got something here,” he called at the spellweaver, expecting him to be finished with his little bout.
“Would you stop gloating?” Ole sent in the direction of his companion, while hitting the goon in front of him with his sword still kept sheathed. The thug was sent against the jamb of the door, knocking the light out of his eyes. Then he re-aligned his eye in the direction of the convicted assassin. You are fast, Eiji, we did get that much, he added mentally to himself, man...
“What is it that you have found?” the Russian enquired getting inside the small room and considering the man in front of them. “Who are you?” he said, convinced that the human was able to see them.
Whatever that one could answer would not be worth that much, when compared to the object he was carrying. The feeling of gravitational nullification came right from the bundle in his hands. Ole knew what they had to do, but was also concerned with his criminal comrade’s attitude. there had different approaches that could be employed at that point, yet the Russian doubted that the assassin would settle for the more diplomatic one.
“You should not fear us,” the blonde mathematician continued in the direction of the advent, “we are here to help you...”
Nonetheless, there was something else that worried Ole. Those goons could not be the brain behind the whole operation. Where was their boss? Behind the closed double door nearby? The Russian concentrated his perceptions briefly in that direction, just to get an idea.
Help him? Is he crazy. We’re here to grab the stone and make a run for it, not help anybody.
Eiji watched as the spellweaver tried talking sense into the man in front of them, maybe even become friends with him. He knew that it would be hard to befriend someone who had as much fear in him as this person but it did not matter. The scarred reaper already had another approach in mind.
Without giving Ole a chance to further his ‘interrogation’ or the man to escape, Eiji reached into his hand and grabbed the cloaked item from him. He felt the emptiness from it, hoping it was what they looked for. He held it for a second and threw it to his companion in the next.
“Is this what we’re looking for?” he asked him.
The advent was probably just a newcomer, for even if the assassin had not used his augmented speed, he had just been hopeless in defending from being robbed. The shocked expression on his face told that much. Anyhow, the stone was exactly what they were looking for. Just by holding it by the tips of two fingers, Ole could perceive that his ability to mould reiatsu was being diminished. In a very brief time, he would be rendered unable to produce any reiatsu-based effect. How are we supposed to dispose of something like this? the Russian reflected by himself. We surely as hell cannot bring this back to Soul Society...
The blonde mathematician’s mind lost itself in calculations regarding the nature of that stone, wondering if there was a way to shield, even temporarily, the surroundings from its effects. While deep in personal concentration, his still active senses tugged at his mental side, requesting attention. As soon as he turned his head towards the door, the former monk realized that the presence he had felt before had just materialized in front of them.
Dressed in a suit worth more than the American Gross Domestic Product, the man scrutinized the room and frowned. Characterized by an average proportioned size, the boss seemed rather young for his post, although a stripe of white hair coloured his right temple. A different magnitude of power boiled and throbbed inside him.
“What are you doing with my property?” the man demanded, with anger filling his voice.
Eiji turned towards the door, as the mobster they had met earlier entered the room. Contrary to what the assassin had though, he felt quite a bit of spiritual power coming towards him. He looked at the man for a few seconds before opening his mount.
“Your property? I wouldn’t say that a piece of stone coming from Soul Society belongs on earth, even less to anyone from there. Given the fact that it was not in your possession when we retrieved it and the man holding it actually seemed scared to death by your goons, I don’t really see how it can belong to you. Do you disagree?”
The scarred reaper was confident that he would have to fight here but he did not want to involve the civilian or the spellweaver. When he held the stone earlier, he felt his spiritual power vanishing, only to return as soon as he had given the stone back to his companion. He expected nothing while Ole held the stone, solely because he was powerless. Leaving the stone there was no option, so he would have to fight alone.
This is getting bad... and fast! Ole reflected, while hearing his companion’s retort. As soon as he convicted criminal had spoken, the Russian had tried to conjure enough juice to produce a binding effect. Any binding effect would have been fine when he thought about that. Instead, nothing had happened. His reiatsu gathering and moulding capabilities had been rendered inert so much, that the former monk suspected he would not be able to produce even the simplest of feat. Nonetheless, he could not leave the assassin on himself if things got tough. The blonde mathematician was not really sure how strong the mobster was either just yet.
Keeping his eyes on the advent human, the maimed shinigami moved further away from the door, taking the original thief of the stone with him, and behind the bar counter next to the window. A very brief exchange of glance passed between the assassin and the former monk. A swift nod demonstrated their mutual agreement, even though Ole was not going to let his convicted companion fight alone. Still, enforcing measures to assure that the stone was not taken by the advent mobster was paramount. The one-eyed mathematician brought the other human on the relative cover of the counter and waited. He needed more information about that human criminal before taking any action.
“Did your mother raise you with that kind of attitude,” the mobster spoke, as he took a battle stance. “The nonsense you’re spouting about it not being my property. That stone, that man, this room. Everything is mine. Don’t you dare think that you can walk in here without my permission.”
Without giving Eiji a chance to react, he attacked. The blows came fast, quicker than the reaper could’ve ever thought they would ever come from a regular human. They were not a problem for him though. He could see every blow, parry every strike and probably attack in between.
Eiji parried the first two blows, pushing them away from himself, almost dropping his foe off balance. As the third strike flew at his face, he grabbed it. Pulling downwards, he finally got the mobster off balance and dropped him to the ground.
“You’re actually threatening me?” Eiji grabbed the man by his throat and lifted him high into the air. “I am not your every-day, afraid of some gangster who thinks he’s got some power.”
The reaper threw him back towards the door where he had stood just before he jumped the reaper.
“Don’t think that you can toy around with me. You might end up dead.”
Ole was following the whole scene from his defendable position. The speed of the advent was amazing, but the one of his convicted companion was just unbelievable. The Russian doubted that he would have been able to defend from the series of attacks that the mobster was chaining, but the assassin could even retaliate without even losing his pace. When the black-haired shinigami threw the human criminal back, the blonde mathematician took a step forward, worried that his companion may act too harshly. On the other hand, his movement was stopped by sudden fear.
The grin that appeared on the mobster’s face was not the expression you would expect from someone that has been put in the corner and is facing hard times. It was the face of someone that was found out cheating, but still had all the aces up his sleeve. Moreover, the temperature inside the room had dropped various degrees, and the air seemed to ripple in slow waves from the advent human’s body. The mobster looked up towards the assassin, smiling wildly.
His shadow blurred and wavered, a dozen fists sprouting from his shade and attacking the assassin from every direction. The mobster moved at the same time, his speed even more heightened than before. Eiji skillfully evaded every attack, reading himself to counter the human’s charge. Eventually they circled each other, but as soon as the criminal stepped onto the assassin’s shadow something unexpected happened. The assassin stopped his movements abruptly as if he had been blocked into a vise, his back straightened over any normal posture would.
“Now I’ve got you,” the mobster commented, advancing slowly towards the shinigami.
Eiji wanted to move but could not. The shadow he had stepped in acted like a binding and held him in place. He tried yanking his feet, swinging his arms, jumping back, moving forward - nothing worked. It was as if he had been frozen completely in space.
I still have my mind. And it seems as if I can move my head, he thought to himself. It was true. He could move everything above the neck, except for the neck itself. He noticed his comrade had once again entered the room but was still standing in a corner. He glanced back at the mobster who had caught him just a few seconds ago and immediately turned his eyes back to Ole.
“Now would be a good time to do something,” he yelled, loud enough for everyone on the floor to hear it. “Let go of that damn stone!”
It was not that he wanted to be free, he needed it. The reaper knew that his comrade would not be able to handle the suited man alone, let alone with the mystical orb draining and blocking him from using any of his reiatsu. It acted a lot like sekkiseki, vaporizing any spiritual power that tried to pass through it. But there was still something that seemed to be off. Why’d they send out two shinigami to fetch a piece of stone. And why does it seem to be so valuable to this guy?
Ole watched the scene in slow motion, as if he was not even there, but in some other far away place. How had it come to this? There were tons of details that didn’t fit together, and didn’t even fit with the bigger picture. The blonde mathematician felt that they should stop and evaluate how the story had reached that unpleasant climax, for they had misunderstood something. Probably, undervalued something as well. The cogs and wheels of his brain were trying to put together the leit-motiv of the hows and whys, but the actions in front of hip sapped his ability to cogitate.
The shout of his convicted criminal broke his chains of thought. Indeed, the former monk could not remain idle while events unfolded. Checking the trembling state of the human at his side, the blonde mathematician concluded the best that could be done for him was to leave him there. Getting on the other side of the counter and towards the almost unmovable form of Eiji, the one-eyed shinigami considered the possibility of taking and attack of opportunity directly at the back of their adversary.
A sharp look of the mobster, on the other hand, discouraged the Soul Reaper from doing that much. The advent human seemed strong enough to be able to keep the assassin ensnared and defend against the meagre attempts of Ole himself. Moreover, the former monk considered the stone in his hand. There was not much he could do while holding that rock and its nullifying properties. The best option he could possibly conceive would be to drop the stone, shove the enemy away from Eiji and call a quick ride home. That would leave the rock on earth and in the hand of that crimelord. Was it their only plan, or was it not?
“Mitsu, is that your name?” the blond mathematician shouted, waving the artifact at the same time. The mobster turned his head as much as needed to fix an enraged eye on the maimed shinigami. “You want this stone, right?” Ole asked, hinting at the rock in his hand, “catch it!” The Russian tossed the stone in the direction of the advent criminal, forcing him to face and step away from Eiji.
Eiji could move again. The mobster had caught the stone without any problems. What he did not anticipate was the reiatsu-blocking powers of the stone. It did not only affect shinigami, it affected supernatural humans such as himself as well. This fact made the assassin happy. He knew that the man now used spiritual powers and that he could attack.
“Nice one,” he called out as he jumped back, away from his attacker.
“Carriage of thunder. Gap of the spinning wheel. Divide this light into six pieces.” He pointed his finger at the mobster. “Bakudou number Sixty-one, Rikujoukourou.”
Six beams came from one side each, flying at a high speed towards him. They all pushed at his midsection and locked him into place. Unable to move, unable to act, Eiji had managed to catch his foe. He turned back to his companion.
“What do you suggest we do with him?” Eiji’s first instinct was to kill, not this time though. He did not want to harm any civilians past the point that he had to, simply because he did not want to further lengthen his sentence. He had to be careful now.
If someone had told Ole that his little trick would work out that well, he would have stared that innocent bystander with his grey-blue eye until submission. Either the mobster had not taken into account the consequences of his actions, or he was oblivious of the stone’s powers. Yet, the latter seemed improbable, given the amount of energies he had put into retrieving it. The Russian considered the human bound at their feet and Eiji’s behaviour. It didn’t seem that the assassin was going to jump him, so they had time to talk.
“You really caught us off guard for a moment,” the blonde mathematician commented, “but it seems to me you should know better than that... Could you please tell me what is your true motive?”
The mobster looked worried for the first time, but kept up his poker face when he answered, “As if I would tell anything to a grim!”
The one-eyed shinigami had had only a couple of experiences with advent humans, and most of those had not the steel will of the earthly criminal. Looking at Eiji, he said, “I think we should head back to Soul Society... and bring him along for interrogation.”
If I could have my way with him... He’d spill everything...
“I suppose you are right.” The reaper knew that his companion would not be able to get any information out of the mobster but he knew that he had to follow orders. Going against his employer could have him face the charges of treason, even if it seemed improbable. His position did not give him the power to do anything other than listen and agree.
“What do you suggest we do with the stone?” Their attacker had dropped it as Eiji cast his spell on him and it still lay on the ground next to him. One of them would have to carry it back, while the other one carried the mobster.
“I am not sure whether it interferes with the Senkaimon or not,” Ole pointed out, “let me just check this out, before we continue.”
Getting as far as possible from the stone, the Russian took out his phone and dialed the senior technician’s number once more.
“Dokon, do you copy?” he asked over the line full of static.
“Yeah, no problem kiddo,” the inventor replied after a while, “but either you are in the middle of a reishi storm, or this joke is no fun...”
“I don’t understand what you are talking about,” the blonde mathematician retorted unsure, “but I would need passage for three... could you arrange that much?” After a split second he added, “By the way I’m just five meters away from that annoying stone, could you pinpoint its exact coordinates now?”
“Passage for three?” Dokon repeated hesitant, “who is the third?” Despite the static, the former monk could hear clicking sound on the other side of the line. “No, Ole, I cannot pinpoint the stone’s location,” the researcher confirmed, “it’s probably blocking our scans...”
“Ok, then, we’ll think about something else,” the maimed shinigami observed, “just prepare the Senkaimon for me, Eiji and an human prisoner. Get in touch with the Onmitsukido as well!”
Turning towards the assassin, Ole explained, “I fear it is not possible to bring the stone with us, but we’ll take Prince Charming... What do we do with the stone?”
Eiji held the prisoner and the stone as his companion called his contact in the Ninth Division. They seemed to have some problems to understand each other from what he could see but not enough for them not to come to a conclusion. They had to get rid of the stone. Eiji threw it to his companion.
“Either we bury it somewhere or hide it where it won’t be found. My first thought would be to blow it up but that won’t work. We can’t break it either.” Eiji thought for a few seconds before getting an idea that seemed good enough. “I think I got it!
“What if we just throw it in the sea?”
“That should work,” Ole commented, when a shimmer in the air betrayed the opening of a Senkaimon. Three dark members of the Onmitsukido stepped forward, seizing the human prisoner and gesturing harshly towards Eiji.
One of the reapers apprehended the assassin, drawing Eiji’s hands back and cuffing them within seconds. He had flash-stepped behind him quickly, quicker than the assassin could react.
“Easy now, I’m not resisting.” Eiji knew that he could not do anything towards these people, especially because of his sentence, so he didn’t. He just relaxed, let go of everything and waited to be carried away.
“Hey, I had not asked for this transport, yet,” the Russian complained, looking helplessly from his convicted companion to the leader of the mysterious organization’s small team.
“This has nothing to do with your request,” the gaunt figure in black replied, “finish your mission and get back to Soul Society. That’s all.”
The blonde mathematician could not do much but watch while they brought the convicted assassin and the human mobster away with them, leaving him with a reiatsu-nullifying rock and a trembling individual. How lucky am I? he commented grimly in his head, before flashing the advent human to implant a fake memory. After that, the former monk went solo to drop the stone in the depth of the ocean, hoping that the measure they had conceived was enough to keep it hidden from malevolent hands.
“Make sure you throw it deep,” Eiji called towards his companion as they went towards the Senkaimon. The Omnitsu Kido were well on their way to return with the two prisoners in their hands. “We can’t have anyone find that stone.” The assassin entered the gate with them, leaving earth in cuffs, hoping this would be the last mission he would have to do for his freedom.
There were too many questions that still needed to be answered, but it appeared it was not the blonde mathematician in charge of finding out that much. Obviously, that bugged him. It was with a mixture of sadness and relief that the Russian got himself clear of that damned stone. If the whole of Soul Society had not found a proper way to treat it, how could he or Eiji discover a better plan? Everything had just been too superficial from his point of view, and Ole really would like to know why. What was the missing information the higher ups had not told them?
While the stone sank swiftly to the bottom of the sea, the former monk reflected that, when all is said and done, he would be content to know that the story had ended and that his convicted companion was closer to his freedom. His researcher’s mind, on the other hand, was already putting the pieces of the puzzle together: it was just a matter of time before something up stirred the bottom of the stew.
* * *
The reaper woke up in his cell once again, unchained and alone. It was cold, he could feel the wind coming in through the small window above his head as it made its way down towards him. The Omnitsu Kido agents had brought him back quickly, leaving him in the yard of the Seventh Division once again, alone. Within minutes, a few gaolers had arrived and brought him back to his cell. He fell asleep quickly, waiting for the next day, waiting for another notice of his future. This time, he hoped he would be able to return home.
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