Episode 3: Aggressive Negotiations
Gigan’s mood was less tense than what he was gauging from his companions. He understood on Irys’ part. He couldn’t sense what she was, even with all his various built-in scanning technology, but he didn’t doubt her when she said she sensed something ‘off’ about this world. He’d been on deserted, dead planets that felt more alive than this place did, and ever since Irys had awakened that unusual power during the fight with X’s inner Kaizer form she’d seemed more sensitive to her environment.
Megalon was Megalon, so Gigan didn’t have any worries there, but he did not like that X was more on edge than usual. He didn’t know if it was because of X having so recently dealt with that other personality inside of him, or if it was because of the current mission, but whatever the case it seemed clear X was agitated. Still, Gigan wasn’t too worried, yet. X could handle himself.
The only thing truly getting on Gigan's nerves was how much interference his sensors were getting. He could still get good readings out to about a hundred meters, but beyond that there were too much odd ambient energy interfering with things. This left Gigan feeling a bit more blind than he was used to. Fortunately this didn’t affect his focus, which was why he was able to detect the incoming energy surge and motion before any of his teammates.
“Guys, incoming!” he shouted, alerting his friends before instantly turning towards the source of the oncoming hostile, who was moving on par with the same speed he’d seen in that Greta woman. He lifted his right arm without needing to think about it, his cybernetics moving with such speed that it looked like he moved between eyeblinks. Other cybernetics kicked in, extending a gleaming, curved metal blade from his forearm.
This was just in time to intercept the larger, inward curved sword of Gaw, who appeared from seemingly thin air from a lightning fast Sonido as she hammered the blade down at Gigan. The forearm blade clashed with the sword in a burst of sparks and Gigan frowned at the physical strength of this short, rail thin teenage girl. No way her tiny frame should be capable of producing that much force. Still, while his arm strained, he was able to hold firm and wasn’t driven back, despite the ground beneath his feet impacting downward. Internal data sensors calculated relative strength outputs, and his Nebulan cybernetics combined with the inherent physical prowess of his original body were matching this girl’s strike. And strong as she was, mass was mass, and she didn’t weigh any more than her frame indicated. Gigan smirked as he pushed against her blade in a burst of his own strength, flinging the girl backwards towards the wall fast enough to make a small shockwave. She smashed into the wall back first, cracking the stone in all directions for several meters. Gaw grunted from the impact, dazed for a second, but landed on her feet. With a feral growl that barely sounded like it came from a human shaped throat, she catapulted herself right back at Gigan.
However by now the other Dark Hunters had reacted to the attack, and Gaw’s charge was met by the swift, dark form of X rushing in from one side, and Megalon’s bulk barreling in from the other. Streams of bright yellow gravitons, looking for all the world like forks of gold lightning, crackled around X’s fist. Megalon’s own fist was abruptly covered by two pieces of metal that folded out of his arm and snapped together to form a heavy drill.
Both drill and graviton boosted punches struck Gaw in the chest and hammered her to the ground in an explosion of sand. Without missing a beat, X and Megalon jumped back, giving clear lines of fire for Gigan and Irys, whose timing with their teammates was so spot on that they were already charging their own attacks even as their companions got clear of the line of fire.
Irys’ open mouth gained a pale glow as she unleashed a thin, violet beam of sonic energy with a sound like the air itself being torn. Gigan’s crimson shades flashed brightly with power as he unleashed a focused eye laser through them.
Gaw, coughing and clutching her chest with one hand, managed to get to one knee and interpose her curved sword between herself and the beams before they hit, bracing it with both hands. Miraculously the sword held up to the twin energy attacks, but the force of them still knocked Gaw flat on her back before the beams petered out. X, not one to let go of an opportunity, rushed in, leaping up into the air. Slight and swift manipulations of gravity around his body let him gain a good twenty feet into the air before dropping like a heavyweight bomb towards the prone Gaw.
Gaw saw the attacking coming, and not wanting to get hammered again, she showed a remarkable amount of limberness, agility, and speed, Gaw flipped her body vertical, pulling a handstand before her whole body flickered out of view with a high speed Sonido, just in time to avoid X’s strike. His body hit nothing but sand, but it created an explosion that left a crater several feet deep and dozens of feet wide.
His eyes flicked about, trying to track Gaw’s movements. Gigan was doing the same with his scanners. Gigan had no way of knowing the name of the movement technique Gaw was using, but he could guess it was one of those point-to-point ‘flash steps’ that cropped up in a lot of human animation media. His sensors tracked motion, and he could tell who Gaw was going for.
“Irys, duck!”
Irys didn’t even question Gigan, dropping into a combat ready crouch instantly, and just in time to avoid Gaw’s sword slicing past where her neck had just been. In the same instant, Irys unleashed a cloud of thick, dark mist with a sweep of her arms. The mist expanded in mere seconds to fill a space about ten meters in diameter, cloaking Irys, and blinding Gaw. Within the impenetrable black smoke, Gaw could not see or hear anything, and even her spiritual senses felt muddled. It was as if this black cloud was filled with an energy that disrupted her natural, Arrancar Pesquisa, the sense that let them feel the reiatsu of their foes. So in all ways Gaw was momentarily blind, deaf, and even cut off from her ability to feel spiritual pressure. Meanwhile Irys could still use her own echolocation to know precisely where Gaw was, and used the Arrancar’s instant of confusion to fire another sonic beam, this time striking Gaw dead center.
Gaw was blasted out of the smoke cloud, the beam sparking against her Hierro “iron skin” as it withstood the sonic beam, although blood did flow from a wound on her chest that left the dark skin raw and red. Growling as she used her sword to dig into the ground to slow her tumble, Gaw retaliated by flinging up her free hand towards Irys’ cloud. Red energy crackled in small arcs around her hand, then she fired a swift series of Bala spheres, essentially small bullets of Hollow spirit energy, into the cloud. The Bala were a rapid-fire technique, and Gaw let loose a ‘spray and pray’ fan of them, trying to hit Irys inside the cloud.
Fortunately for Irys she’d already rushed out of the cloud, figuring the enemy would try something like that, and she dove out of harm’s way just in time.
Behind Gaw she sensed a burst of energy. Not spiritual energy, but something different, and turned just in time to almost mirror Gigan’s defensive counter from the opening of the fight as the Nebulan cyborg teleported behind her in a flash of red light. He brought both his extended arm blades down on her, and even as Gaw parried them he spun left and lashed out with a cross slash that forced her back a step as she twisted her sword around to guard, then attempted to slash back with a powerful backswing. For a second or two the alien cyborg and recently evolved Hollow were little more than a blur of blade slashes and sparks, ironically both kaiju trapped in humanoid forms utilizing swordplay that would’ve made most actual human swordsman go pale.
The exchange ended a mere second later with both opponents managing shallow cuts on each other, Gaw scoring a hit on one of Gigan’s arms, while his own caught a blow on her leg, but then both slammed their blades into each other hard enough to send themselves flinging away from each other.
Breathing hard, but far from done, Gaw started to flicker in and out of view, using a series of quick Sonidos to try and confuse her opponents. Gaw had already figured out that these intruders were too strong for her to beat as a group, so that was no longer her goal. Her only objective was to keep them busy long enough for her rising spiritual pressure to alert the rest of her tribe to the danger. Her own safety was irrelevant, so she was intent on attacking all four intruders so that none of them had a chance gang up on her.
Picking at random, she ended her swift series of evasive moves and she went for the short, stocky one with the drill hand and began to slice away with her Zanpaktou.
Megalon wasn’t as fast as his companions were, but he was a bastion of raw toughness, and as Gaw attacked he brought out his second drill hand, crossing them in front of him. He didn’t even have to adjust his position much, he just let the strange little feral girl slice and dice at him while his Nebulan forged drills took the brunt of the assault. Advanced alien metals forged using techniques beyond modern human technology were a ready match for the cutting edge of Gaw’s Zanpaktou. Megalon’s clothes got ripped in a few places, and his skin, much harder and durable than mere steel, received a few shallow cuts, but he took the attacks like a steady steel bunker. From Gaw’s perspective it was like trying to hack through another Arrancar’s Heirro, only by her guess this man’s ‘Hierro’ was quite possibly stronger than her own.
While she was focused on Megalon, this gave the rest of the Dark Hunters plenty of time to catch up. Gigan was getting fed up with this girl, especially now that she was focusing her attacks on his cyborg brother. Putting away his single-edged metal blades, he replaced them with a twin pair of dual chain blades, both of which revved up with a viscous buzzsaw whine. This blades took up more energy to use, and were more unwieldy, but their armor penetration was second to none. He came in right behind Gaw, slicing both weapons in a cross pattern at her back.
Gaw whipped around to respond, blocking one set of chain blades, but missing the other. Gigan was already becoming familiar with how tough these Arrancar’s skin was, so he’d calibrated his chain blade’s to compensate, revving them up to a fever pitch. Gigan’s chain blades cut along Gaw’s stomach in a shower of sparks, but still penetrated, drawing a gushing wound that might not have been as deep as Gigan had expected, but still was nothing to sneeze at. .
Gaw let out a low growl at the pain, raising her sword to retaliate against Gigan, but in that same instant X and Irys had moved in, already prepared to time their attack with Gigan’s. X opted to see how much damage his graviton beams could inflict, while Irys jumped onto Megalon’s back and used him as a springboard to leap above Gaw and try to aim at her with another sonic beam from above.
X’s eyes glowed red as a storm of golden gravity beams coursed around his chest and flowed down his arms, discharging in a focused pair of coiling bolts thick as tree trunks. At the same time Irys’ sonic beam lanced down at Gaw, forcing her to choose which attack to block. Gaw raised her Zanpaktou with one hand, while extending the other towards the gravity beams, trying to take both at once.
The sonic beam struck the edge of Gaw’s sword, some of it reaching past the blade to cut Gaw’s shoulder, managing to draw more blood. At the same time the gravity beams smashed into Gaw, her outstretched hand hardened with her spirit energy to absorb some of the blow, but she was still hit like she’d been smacked by a wrecking ball.
Gaw went flying into a nearby dune, sand shooting like a geyser into the air from the impact.
“Did that get her?” Irys asked, landing with a graceful flip.
“Probably not,” Gigan said, keeping his chain blades up, “I’m still getting energy readings.”
“Does anybody else feel kind of bad beating up on a kid?” asked Megalon, and Gigan just looked at him, and at the small cuts on Megalon’s arms, and Megalon added, “Not that I’m against it, just saying this four on one stuff felt a lot more epic when we were fighting the Three Headed Jerkface.”
“That was three on one,” Irys reminded him.
“Oh, right, X was kinda out of it back then-” Megalon started to say, but then the sand dune Gaw had been knocked in to burst out with another eruption of sand as Gaw flew out, landing in an animalistic crouch. She was now bleeding from a cut on her forehead that coated part of her face, and the arm she’d used to take X’s gravity beams was bruised and bleeding as well. She was breathing heavily, her stance somewhat shaky, but her eyes hadn’t lost their feral focus. Her whole body was coated in a pulsing glow of red light, and in a similar manner to Irys, she opened her mouth and dark ruby energy started to gather there.
“Scatter,” X commanded, recognizing a potent attack when he saw one, and realizing it’d be too dangerous to try to directly counter it.
The Dark Hunters split, each leaping back a different direction as Gaw fired a wide, powerful beam of deadly crimson light. The Cero beam destroyed a swath of desert nearly twenty feet across as the Dark Hunters narrowly avoided it. X could feel the force of the beam on his skin, and Gigan’s sensors went haywire with the sudden energy spike.
Irys winced, not in pain, but at a twisting, cold echo inside her. For a brief second bright purple symbols appeared on her skin, then faded.
Gaw’s Cero continued on until it hit the exterior wall of Las Noches, where it exploded in a shockwave that tore out a sizable chunk of the wall while sending large hunks of rock flying every which way. As pieces of demolished stone, some the size of small cars, smashed around the desert, the Dark Hunters looked at each other and then back at Gaw.
The short Arrancar girl looked battered and bloodied, yet clearly had no intention of giving up the fight. X had been considering how to end this fight quickly, and had an idea on how to do so. Not that he wasn’t confident he and his team could win if given enough time, but this fight was stirring up a lot of noise and he was concerned about reinforcements arriving. They didn’t have all day to deal with this threat.
“Everyone, distract her for a moment. I need a second to focus,” he said, and took a deep breath, concentrating on the potent well of energy inside himself.
His team didn’t need to be told twice, each of them giving a nod as they charged at Gaw.
Megalon opened up by making a sound like hocking up a loogie, only the ‘spit’ was a flaming red grenade sphere that flew at Gaw and detonated in a concussive blast of flames. Gaw had used her sword to shield herself, but the blast still knocked her off balance as Irys spat a sonic beam at her from the left side. Gaw jumped up, leaping over the beam, but this left her open to Gigan, who jumped into the air as well, easily matching Gaw’s height as he went into a spinning slash like a flying, bladed top. Gaw got her sword in the way to block, but Gigan continued to use the momentum of his spin to wheel her around and fling her into the ground, continuing on to make a stylish landing several dozen feet away.
Gaw propped herself up on her sword, turning her head around and spitting a thinner Cero beam in a wide arc, roaring as she swept the sands with it. However it was a wild beam, not particularly well aimed and the Dark Hunters were nimbly able to avoid its path.
More importantly, X had gained the seconds he needed to charge up and focus his gravitons. Opening his eyes and focusing entirely upon Gaw, he reached out and sent a wide swath of gravity beam towards her. Only instead of striking the Arrancar dead on, the beams swept around her until they formed a sphere of anti-gravity. This lifted Gaw straight off the ground, suddenly floating in a simulated sphere of zero-G.
Against most normal opponents this would essentially leave them utterly unable to move. In that regard, X had surmised an ideal counter to Gaw, leaving her in a state where her only means of counter attack would be her energy attacks. But he’d seen she wasn’t very accurate with them, and as long as she couldn’t move, she’d be an easy target for his team’s own ranged attacks.
However what X didn’t know was that Gaw, like the majority of those who utilized spirit energy for their high speed movements, also essentially ‘walked’ on air by pressing spirit energy against either air particles or reishi particles already present in the air. Even floating, Gaw had the ability to ‘push’ off of the particles in the air as if it were solid ground. That said, Gaw still had to concentrate for a moment to try and orient herself, which gave X enough time to realize what she was doing and compensate for it. Instead of keeping his gravity field as a zero-G variety, he altered the gravitons to instead press inward. This took more concentration and power to do, but as Gaw tried to Sonido out of the gravity field, she was blocked by a crushing force of gravity that instead left her with her arms and legs bound tightly as if she were packed under dozens of tons of earth.
“Everyone, fall back to the exit,” X commanded past grit teeth, straining to concentrate and hold Gaw in place, “I’ll keep her stuck here long enough for the rest of you to get clear, then follow after”
“Screw that noise,” Gigan said, “She’s not moving. We can finish her off quick.”
“That’s not the point,” X said, “This fight has probably alerted others to our presence. The mission is scrubbed. We need to get out of here before reinforcements show up.”
“Hate to break it to you, buddy, but it’s too late for that,” said a new voice, and the Dark Hunters all blinked as a man zipped into view, landing in front of the entrapped Gaw.
He was clearly an Arrancar, but what was odd was that he was buck naked save for a pair of dark blue swimming trunks, his body and grayish white hair still dripping with water. He was bouncing a sword that looked like an elongated shark’s tooth over one shoulder as he pointed a dramatically cocked finger at the group.
“Now I see a group of weirdos giving my dino-gal a hard time, and I say to myself, ‘Di Roy, are you a bad enough dude to make a dramatic entrance and impress Gaw’, and I say ‘No, previous experience suggests not’ and then I’m like ‘Okay, now that’s just sad, don’t you have any confidence in yourself’, and the conversation kind of degrades from there. But that’s not important! What’s important is that I’m here now, the badass of the day, and I’m going to kick all of your-”
A very annoyed looking Gaw proceeded to interrupt him with a loud growl of, “I not ask for help!”.
He turned back to look at her, still suspended in X’s sphere of crushing gravity, and drawled “Oh, yeah, I can see you totally have this covered, what with you being unable to move and such. Was your plan to lure them into a false sense of security by getting your ass kicked first?”
“I not losing!” Gaw growled, although it did come off as a rather petulant growl as she tried and failed to break free of X’s gravity, “Just testing intruder power before getting serious.”
“Uh-huh,” Di Roy said, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping one of his feet as he leaned towards her, wearing a smug grin as he pointed a finger at her, “How about you just admit you needed my help for a change? I bet you were totally waiting for me to show up and-”
She shot a venomous look towards him and though she couldn’t move her whole body, she managed to wriggle through the gravity enough to get her mouth in biting distance and chomped down on Di Roy’s finger.
“Gyaaah! G-Gaw dammit, I’m trying to help you! Bloody hell, girl, are you still pissed off about me throwing you in the pool!?”
He finally managed to dislodge her, but Gaw just snapped at him again, eyes glaring, “I make you pay for pool later! That was for being dumb, annoying male!”
In the meantime X, Gigan, Megalon, and Irys had all exchanged looks, nodded to each other, and slowly started edging away.
However their attempt at a quiet exit was interrupted by another arrival. X’s ears twitched with recognition as a new, sultry female voice that resonated with confidence and strength spoke.
“Di Roy, Gaw, stop playing around and pay attention to our guests.”
X recognized Adagio almost immediately, although he was thrown off by the notable differences from the last time he’d seen the siren. Her hair, an almost ridiculously large and poofy arrangement of orange and yellow streaked curls was the same, as were the yellow skin and intense magenta eyes. However X would have needed to be both blind and a fool to think this was the Adagio Dazzle he was familiar with. His experiences in one of the many human realms dotting reality had indeed led him to encounter a trio of sirens, and even become quite close to one of them, but this was not that realm.
This Adagio was clearly one of these ‘Arrancar’, her brow sporting a crown-like ridge of bone with three up-swept, curved spikes. The middle of her chest, between her breasts, was a dark hole just like what the other Arrancar possessed. However, suspended in the middle of that hole was the familiar sight of a lustrous, blood red siren gem. X knew what the gem was, but wasn’t sure what it was doing floating in the center of the hole in Adagio’s chest, but he made a note of it. Besides that, Adagio was wearing similarly colored white and black trimmed clothing to everyone else in this place, consisting of a revealing halter-top chest pieces, a long cloth and sash around her waist that left most of her legs and midriff bare, and tall, nearly knee high boots. A white cape trailed down her back and covered her shoulders. Finally, there was a tall trident held loosely in her right hand, its shaft bone white, and its head and prongs seemingly carved from red crystal of the same luster as her siren gem.
If X needed any more proof this wasn’t the Adagio he knew, she looked at him and the rest of the Dark Hunters without a single spark of recognition as she placed her free hand on her hip, adopting a cocksure yet surprisingly balanced stance. The Adagio X knew wasn’t exactly trained in battle. This Adagio, while seeming at ease, had a ready tension that X associated with experienced warriors.
“Now, before any further violence, I’d like for you to set my subordinate down,” Adagio said, her eyes going to X and each of his companions individually with a calculating look, “Once that’s done, we can talk about just who you are and what you’re doing in Las Noches.”
“Confident, aren’t you?” said Gigan, “There’s four of us, still fresh and barely scratched, and we’ve got one of your people right where we want them. What kind of leverage do you think you have?”
Adagio turned a steady glance towards Gigan, voice cordial, yet frosty as a northern tundra, “A rational argument. My counter argument is thus...”
She made a gesture with her trident, a circular motion that was followed by a rumble beneath everyone’s feet. An instant later pillars of water shot up from the sands, swiftly forming together in a wide, enclosing dome that surrounded the area in a swirling vortex of high-pressure water. Gigan could scan the water currents to note the dome of water was moving at such high speed that it’d be able to slice metal. His and Megalon’s Nebulan alloy bodies would be able to break through, but not without effort. X could also probably use his gravitons to form an exit through the water dome, but it’d take even more energy to do that than what he was expending to hold Gaw in place. Irys was in a similar boat, with her sonic beams possibly being able to cut through the dome, but being able to do that and flee through it while still having enemies to fight would be problematic.
Adagio didn’t look as if creating the dome was taking any particular concentration on her part, and looked back at them, voice still smooth as glass, “Now, I appreciate that chances are my subordinate likely attacked you first, which is fairly normal for dealing with unwanted guests in Las Noches, so if you were merely defending yourselves I don’t hold it against you that you roughed Gaw up a bit. Still, I would appreciate it if you put her down. I would like to talk, but I will not do so while one of my own is still being threatened. On the other hand if you truly wish to fight, I can offer you all of the violence you could possibly stomach and then some. Please decide quickly, I am a patient woman, but that patience has limits.”
The rest of his team looked they were still prepared to fight it out if need be, but they call cast a questioning look towards X, looking for him to make the call.
X normally wasn’t one to hesitate, but Adagio gave him some pause to consider. It was obvious she was stronger than either Gaw or the one called Di Roy. It was clear she was the one in charge of the other two, as both had ceased their own squabble and had gone instantly silent the moment she’d arrived. Gaw wasn’t even struggling under his gravity sphere any more.
Of course Gigan had a point they still outnumbered their opponents, but he wasn’t certain how much that mattered at this point. They had been handling Gaw, but not without effort. One on one they might be an even match for her, but it was clear she was packing power on a similar level to their own. Di Roy didn’t look any tougher, but if he was on the same level, and this world’s Adagio was powerful enough to command both him and Gaw, then X was not as optimistic about winning an outright slugging match against her. She was already displaying more power just with this water show alone.
If they had the ability to assume their true forms, things would be a different matter, but that wasn’t the case, and wishing for it to be otherwise was meaningless.
The options really boiled down to; fight, retreat, or talk. He didn’t like the ‘fight’ option with things as they stood. ‘Retreat’ seemed the most rational course, but with that water dome in place it’d be a dicey affair to try to create an opening through it to escape, and chances were at least one of them would have to stay behind as a distraction to allow the others to get away.
Talking seemed like the better option, but how to answer Adagio’s question? It seemed unlikely she’d buy any lie he’d concoct, if she was half as sharp as the other her that X had met. The Adagio he was familiar with could smell BS with a keen perceptiveness, and he got the impression this one wasn’t that different. Besides, given that she spoke on behalf of her subordinate and had arrived the way she did wouldn't be likely she would be so ready to sacrifice and underling in a slugging match to win. Just as he wasn't going to sacrifice any of his team. If an all out match ensued The winning side will probably lose a member or two, something he got the sense neither of them really wanted.
He’d extend the first olive branch and use a little truth, then, and see where things go.
“I don’t see any benefit in continuing to hold your person hostage, as long as you agree to hear us out,” X said, and Adagio nodded.
X loosened the gravity sphere around Gaw, gently setting the Arrancar girl down. Gaw breathed a little easier, and Di Roy gained a relieved look that he swiftly hid behind a nonchalant glance away as Gaw looked at him.
Adagio gave X a grateful nod and with a gesture the dome of water ceased moving, then splashed down to soak the sands around them, “Good, I’m not a fan of wasteful violence. Now please, answer my questions; who are you and why are you here?”
“You can refer to me as ‘X’. The others are Gigan, Megalon, and Irys. We’re here because our... benefactor wished to know more about this realm,” X decided that while this Adagio might be good at picking up on lies, it might work to mix in a bit of downplayed reality with the straight up truth, “Our task was to explore and learn about this world. Our exploration was interrupted by your subordinate, who attacked us without provocation or warning.”
Adagio flicked her eyes towards Gaw, “Yes, she’s something of a ‘strike first, ask questions rarely’ sort, but she’s competent at her job of protecting my territory and she behaved as I’d instructed; driving off intruders. I’ve had something of an issue with rivals poking their noses in my business, and given you bunch are dressed like Arrancar, I can’t fault Gaw for assuming you were rivals snooping around where you don’t belong. Which may still turn out to be the case. You say you were sent here to explore our world? That makes it sound like you’re not from here, yet you’re wearing clothes in local Las Noches fashion. Can you explain that?”
“We do come from another world, and the portal that brought us here tends to alter our appearance to match the realm we arrive in. Believe me, these clothes were as much a surprise to us as anyone,” X replied, “It’s up to you whether you believe my words or not, but I’m speaking the truth. We have no hostile intentions, and were only defending ourselves from the girl’s attack. Leave us be, and there’s no quarrel to be had.”
“Hmm... well, I do believe you’re telling the truth about merely defending yourself from Gaw. Surprisingly effectively, I might add. Gaw is the strongest of my vassals, so handling her, even four on one, rather impresses me.”
Gaw let out a rather objecting bark of, “I could still win!”
Adagio smiled like a razor blade, “Don’t let your pride be stung, Gaw. There are four of them, and one of you. You’ve performed well, and your rigorous defense of our territory is appreciated. Just, next time perhaps take some extra time to observe intruders to confirm their identity, and if there’s too many of them, come inform me first. Or don’t hold back and use your full power from the get go. You didn’t even release your Zanpaktou.”
Gaw scratched her head, looking at her sword, “Forgot about sword release. Not used to it yet.”
Di Roy sighed, shaking his head, “Figures. You see, Gaw, this is why you need me around to look out for you so you-Gaaah! Enough with the biting already!”
“I’m confused,” said Megalon, raising a drill hand like a student in class, “Are we still fighting or what?”
X shot a questioning look at Adagio, and she looked back contemplatively, tapping a slim finger on her chin.
“How does this sound? We’ll shelve hostilities for now, and I’ll formally invite you to come be guests in my territory. Since no one else seems to have noticed you’re here, you shouldn’t need to worry about any other Arrancar attacking you. And if any do find out you’re here, I can claim you as my guests and under my protection, at least for the time being. Not so certain how well that will play out with my fellow Espada, but I’m intrigued enough by you four that I’ll take the gamble.”
“And what exactly must we do in exchange for this hospitality?” inquired X.
“Simply answer more questions, and possibly listen to a proposal I might have. As long as you give me your word not to attack any of my people, I’ll ensure you’re treated fairly...” Her eyes narrowed then, and she gestured out at the rest of the vast interior of this fortress, Las Noches.
“Just understand that if you refuse my offer, even if you did get past me and my vassals, there’s many, many more like us out there. Some of them quite a bit more powerful than I am, and significantly less reasonable towards intruders on their turf.”
All things considered, X decided it wasn’t such a bad offer.
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Half an hour later X and his companions found themselves enjoying modest, yet surprisingly homey, accommodations in one of the many chambers filling the wide interior of the stone wall that encased Las Noches. It was hard to appreciate the wall’s scale until one was walking through its wide halls, some as wide as five to ten meters, with ceilings tall enough that even someone twice X’s height would have headroom to spare. The old, sterile stone walls, combined with the size, gave X a familiar sense of the temple in Zenith, although the room they were in now was much warmer and smaller scale than anything there.
It was essentially a combination of recreation room, lounge, and bar. It was packed with simple yet comfortable furniture that clashed with the rough stone walls, but still made the place feel shockingly welcoming. A pool table and dart board sat in one corner of the room, while another wall was occupied by a dark bar table and several shelves and cabinets of drinking classes and alcohol. Several coolers and a fridge filled up a nook on the right side of the room. Across from the numerous plush chairs and couches filled up the center area, the far wall had a stereo system and large screened TV set up, with an entertaining center lined with devices and a generous shelf of movies.
Not exactly what X had imagined from the meeting place of one of Las Noche’s warlords, or ‘Espada’ as he now understood them.
“So there’s ten of you,” he was confirming with Adagio, ignoring the drink she’d placed in front of him on the bar table. She seemed to enjoy playing host, pouring drinks herself while allowing the Dark Hunters to get comfortable. Di Roy, having taken a detour to put some clothes on, had dropped any aggression and was now showing off the movie collection to Megalon, who looked absolutely giddy.
Irys and Gigan were both occupying one of the couches, Irys watching Megalon, while Gigan kept an eye on the door. Gaw wasn’t present, Adagio having sent her to go see someone named ‘Roka’ to get her injuries looked at and apparently inform the rest of Adagio’s people as to the cause of the disturbance.
“Ten, yes,” Adagio said, leaning against the bar in a casual manner, “Ranked in terms of power, with the Tenth as the weakest, and the First as the strongest and unchallenged ruler of Hollow-kind.”
“And what rank are you, among these Espada?” X asked pointedly, but she just smirked.
“Ah ah ah, I answered one question, now it’s your turn. This is an exchange, after all, and a lady needs to have her due. You and your friends, you look mostly human, at yet I’m guessing you’re not. So what exactly are you?”
X had been expecting the question. After all, it was a fairly basic one, and if he’d been in Adagio’s position it would be among the first he’d want to know. Of course how to respond wasn’t quite as simple as just outright explaining it. X and each of the Dark Hunters had their own unique origins, and weren’t even in their natural forms currently. He also didn’t want to give too much away. Adagio may have been acting pleasant enough in hosting them, but X was well aware that this hospitality could be retracted in an instant and they’d go right back to their previous standoff.
He chose his words carefully, “You’re correct that we’re not human, although the portal that brought us here altered our forms.”
“Why is that?”
He frowned, partially because he didn’t fully understand the reasons himself, “It has something to do with the way the barriers between realities works. I don’t understand the particulars, only that our natural forms can’t be taken without a massive influx of energy once we pass through a foreign reality's barrier.”
“I suppose it’s not the first time I’ve seen portals force those entering them to assume new forms,” Adagio commented, likely form personal experience, X guessed. He wondered how much of this Adagio’s personal history mirrored that of the siren he knew. It was impossible for him to avoid wondering where Adagio’s kin were, Sonata and Aria.
He wasn’t about to ask, however, but Adagio didn’t give him time to contemplate much anyway.
“So what exactly are your natural forms?”
“Isn’t it my turn to ask a question?” He riposted, arching an eyebrow. Adagio smiled coyly, seemingly pleased as she nodded at him.
“Of course.”
“What exactly are Arrancar? Like us, you look human, but clearly are not.”
“The simplest way I can answer that is that we’re an evolution of Hollows, which are for lack of a better description, what happens when a deceased soul becomes transformed by either negative emotion, or certain... unpleasant circumstances.”
“Wait did I just hear that right?” spoke up Gigan as he tilted his head towards them, turning over on the couch, “Deceased souls? As in, ghosts?”
Irys had perked up as well, looking equal parts intrigued and confused. Megalon was too busy picking over Di Roy’s movie collection to have heard anything, and the pair were discussing the comparative pros and cons between Schwarzenegger and Stallone films.
Adagio shrugged, as if the notion wasn’t that big of a deal, “Use whatever term suits you. Each Hollow is a soul that once lived, died, and became as we are through various means. Usually by dying under less than pleasant circumstances, but numerous ways exist. I myself became one because I... needed to. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?”
“Wait, so if Hollows are departed souls,” said X in a musing tone, “Then where are we? This world isn’t a physical one?”
“Asking more questions past your turn, but I’ll indulge you this once,” Adagio said with a light laugh, “Hueco Mundo is a spiritual realm. An afterlife, I suppose you could call it. One where Hollows naturally dwell. Now from what I understand, living beings can’t survive here for very long without some means of protecting themselves from being drained by this realm’s very essence. The fact that none of you seem to be experiencing any ill effects from Hueco Mundo is quite interesting, suggesting either incredible lifeforce, or some other manner of energy is protecting you.”
That was a lot to take in all at once, and X heard Irys give a sharp intake of breath. He recalled she said something felt wrong about this realm, and he immediately considered the possibility that this draining that Adagio mentioned might be affecting them. Yet he didn’t feel even remotely weakened. If a drain of some sort was happening to them, it must be so slow as to be imperceptible. That or Adagio’s theory was correct and their lifeforce was strong enough to endure in this realm.
A spiritual realm. It was hard for X to wrap his head around. Matters of the spiritual were as far from his day to day thinking as it got. He was solely focused on the here and now, and had given no thought at all to the idea of an afterlife. Was this Hueco Mundo unique to this world, or was it like this in every world?
Strangely, despite the existential abyss that lay before him, his thoughts rapidly turned to Sonata and especially Aria. Were they dead in this realm as well? He knew it was illogical but there was a tightening in X’s chest, all the same. He didn’t even know this world’s Aria. His Aria was safe and sound in her own reality. He held onto that thought and pushed away the rest of his darkening thoughts.
“Look,” Adagio said, her eyes focused on him rather intently for a moment before sweeping across the other three Dark Hunters, “As much as we could spend hours asking each other questions, I feel as if it dances around the real thing we should be discussing. Which is what am I to do with you four?”
“Do with us?” Irys said, “I thought you said we were guests here.”
“For now, yes,” Adagio replied coolly, coming around the side of the bar with sinuous, smooth steps, “But eventually one or more of my fellow Espada are going to discover you’re here, and I’ll have to answer to them concerning who you are and why I haven’t simply done away with you. Now I am a very reasonable woman, and don’t particularly desire for that impasse to arrive, so let me make a guess and you tell me how right I am. You wouldn’t have come here without a means of returning to where you came from, correct?”
The others looked to X, who answered the question with a carefully neutral monotone, “Correct. We were given seven days to complete our explorations of this world, upon which we’re to return to the location the portal opened the first time. Our... benefactor will open a portal then for our return trip.”
Adagio made a thoughtful ‘hmm’ noise, pursing her lips, “Seven days. That should be enough. How about we make a deal? You want information on this world? Fine, I can provide you with more than you’d ever learn by trying to skulk around Las Noches. It won’t be anything too compromising for me, and quite frankly I don’t much care what your ‘benefactor’ does with it. It might even end up helping me in the long run.”
“I said our intentions weren’t hostile,” X said, but Adagio waved him off.
“Yours might not be, but that says nothing about who you’re working for. As I said, I don’t really care. If your benefactor ends up causing trouble, it could still be useful to me down the road. You see, I have no intention of remaining contently as I am. I have my sights set upon shaking up Hueco Mundo’s status quo. To that end, outsider interference isn’t the worst possible result. More to the point, in exchange for the information I’d give you, I’d like you four to help me with a little job.”
Gigan grimaced at this, clearly not enthused with the idea, and he looked to X, “I’m not liking the sound of this. We were sent here to info gather, not get mixed up with local politics and power plays.”
“If we refused, what would you do?” inquired X, not ignoring his friend, but wary of immediately refusing. Adagio still held more cards than they did, simply due to this being her home turf. Plus, even if they managed to escape her and her servants, they were still woefully ignorant of this realm and its connected worlds. Adagio was offering to give them far more information than they’d be able to collect on their own.
“Oh,” said Adagio off handedly, examining her nails, “I don’t imagine I’d have to do much of anything. You’d be free to go your merry way. Of course, as I said, I doubt you’d be able to learn much more trying to sneak around Las Noches. Then there’s the consideration that if you were caught by another Espada, you’d be quite hard pressed to talk your way out of trouble. As I mentioned before, none of them are as reasonable as I am, and some of them are both more powerful than I, and command actual hordes of hundreds of warriors. If your caught, how do you intend to survive? Your only option, if you refuse my offer, is to sneak back out with what paltry information you have now, and hope your benefactor is satisfied with your performance. Do you think they will be?”
X had to hand it to her, she had excellent points, all around. Their master wouldn't likely be pleased that they gave up and ran because the danger seemed to great to risk further recon. Yet X’s first duty was to the safety of his team, and he’d seen enough of Arrancar to know that while they could take on a few of them, a whole horde, led by one stronger than Adagio seemed, was too tall an order without being able to assume their true kaiju forms.
He looked at Gigan, and saw the resignation on his friend’s face as Gigan worked through the same logic chain X just had. Irys still looked worried, but there was trust in her eyes as she nodded at X. She’d trust him to make the right call, whatever it turned out to be. Megalon finally noticed the tension in the room and had turned his attention to them.
“Huh? We doing something? What’d I miss?” Megalon asked, and X couldn’t help but smile a bit. Megalon’s obliviousness was, at times, a great comfort.
“What precisely did you have in mind for this job?” he asked Adagio.