Hunters and Hollows

by thatguyvex

Chapter 7: Prisoners of the Storm King

Chapter 7: Prisoners of the Storm King

Tense didn’t begin to cover X’s mindset, seeing the approach of the hundred meter tall mountain of dark, headless armor. The fact that the armor bore the scars of its battle with Irys did little to ease the sensation within of a tightly bottled storm, raging at the seams to be set free. Only ironclad discipline kept him externally seeming calm, while inward emotions battered at the gates.

Was Irys dead? From their vantage point near the ridge, X and the others had seen most of the titanic duel between Irys and Tempest Shadow, although some details had been difficult to make out as the two massive combatants’ fight had drifted several kilometers away. Even so, they’d seen the end of it, with that last exchange of powerful blows, and witnessed Irys’ body revert to its human state. Whether she was still alive at that moment had been impossible to tell.

“X,” Gigan said, foregoing any of his usual pseudonyms like ‘boss’ or ‘chief’, “I have just enough juice left for a teleport. Once that bitch is in range, I can get you and me to the top of that monkey suit.”

X nodded. It might be their one shot at taking Tempest Shadow out, if Irys had done enough damage to weaken the Soul Reaper. The only alternatives were to either surrender, or flee. Flight seemed unlikely, and surrender had no benefit to it that X could see... assuming Irys was dead.

If she wasn’t... X frowned inwardly at himself. He’d been in more strange circumstances over the course of his life than he could count, but time and again his leadership of the Dark Hunters brought him to new crossroads that forced him to think in ways he never had before. They were his charges, his comrades, and the closest he had to family. He was responsible for them, while at the same time relying on them. He didn’t even want to consider what he might be without them, and the very thought of one of them dying was an abyss he wasn’t prepared to stare into just yet.

If Irys was alive, that meant Tempest Shadow had a hostage. A hostage that X couldn’t afford to place in further danger.

Mission objectives be damned, his people came first.

If Irys was alive.

The next minute it took for Tempest Shadow to walk her Bankai back over to cast it’s looming shade over Forlorn Ridge were among the longest sixty seconds of X’s life, waiting to see whether someone who’s life was dear to him was still among the living or not.

Gigan glanced at him, clearly waiting for a signal as to whether or not they should attack. Tempest Shadow was visible, now. Oddly, she wasn’t standing atop the neck of her giant, headless armored giant, but rather was riding in the palm of its right hand. She was kneeling over something, although X couldn't see what. A spark of hope rose inside him, but he didn’t let it take over just yet. He did, however, glance at Gigan and shook his head, whispering, “Not until we know for sure about Irys.”

Gigan gave the barest of nods. Meanwhile Megalon carefully set the unconscious Gaw down next to the equally still unconscious Roka and went to stand next to his comrades, expression stern as he too waited to see what would happen. Di Roy, holding his stomach wound, propped himself up with his Zanpaktou, muttering under his breath, “Swear to the Soul Queen, next time Adagio gets a scheme in her head, I’m putting in for my vacation time.”

The armored suit’s foot crashed down no less than ten meters from where they stood, and the suit’s right hand lowered. Not all the way to the ground, but close enough that Tempest Shadow could speak without having to shout. X was tempted to signal Gigan to attack right then and there. Tempest Shadow looked even more battered than he imagined she might. Irys had really given her a savage fight, and X felt a sense of pride for his friend in that fact.

Yet the sight of Irys halted any notion of resuming immediate hostilities.

She was alive, that much X could tell from the shallow breathing from the pale girl’s mouth. Her arms and legs were bound by chains, probably created by the armored suit itself. She looked in even worse condition than Tempest Shadow, to the point where it was surprising she even was still breathing, but the reason for that was apparent with just a glance. Not only was Irys’ most grievous wound, a deep gash that went from shoulder to hip, already bound by what appeared to be Tempest Shadow’s overcoat... but the Soul Reaper Captain had her left hand hovering over Irys’ chest. A soft blue glow of light flowed from the hand and into Irys. X didn’t need a great leap of logic to tell what was happening, but Tempest Shadow confirmed it a second later.

“In case any of you were wondering, your compatriot is alive, and is largely staying that way because of a healing Kido I’m casting on her. I wouldn’t recommend doing anything like attacking me, otherwise that’s going to complicate her recovery. This spell is probably all that’s keeping her alive right now.”

“If she dies, you’re going to be following right behind her,” Gigan said in a tone that was neither threat nor boast, just cold hard statement of fact. Tempest didn’t seemed bothered by this, and only nodded as if the words should’ve gone without saying.

X shocked even himself with how level his own voice was, given the storm of emotions inside him, “What do you want? If you wanted us dead, you’d have no reason to keep Irys alive, and would have attacked without exposing yourself to danger by getting this close.”

Tempest looked at him with a frank stare, “From a tactical standpoint, killing all of you would make the most sense. Your presence compromises my mission, given I can’t afford for word of us to leak back to Las Noches. If you were dead, well, problem solved.”

She turned her look down towards Irys, “But what a waste that would be, wouldn’t it? She fought so hard, and I can’t help but respect anyone who can show that amount of dedication to her comrades at arms. That being said, I really can’t just let you lot walk. Even if I was inclined to believe you wouldn’t tell the Espada you worked for about this incident, there’s always the chance another Espada might wring the information out of you, or those Arrancar with you. The risk is simply too high. As someone with the mentality of a fellow soldier, I imagine you’d come to the same conclusion were you in my shoes.”

X wasn’t going to gainsay that, one way or another. Were his and Tempest’s positions reversed, he supposed it was possible he would think along similar lines. Then again, were their positions reversed, Tempest Shadow would likely be dead. But that was neither here nor there.

“So here’s the deal,” Tempest went on, “Become my prisoners, and I guarantee the life of your friend, and yourselves. I will not further harm, nor allow further harm to come upon you as long as you don’t strike first.”

“And for how long will we be your prisoners and for what purpose?” X asked, wondering if he strung his conversation on long enough if Irys might recover enough to regain consciousness. She was bound by hands and feet, but her mouth wasn’t gagged.

“You’ll be prisoners until I have good reason to render you not prisoners. As for the purpose, call it... satisfying curiosity. I haven’t quite given up on the prospect of convincing you lot that there’s value in considering a career change.”

Gigan didn’t quite snort, but he did say under his breath, “This lady is a special kind of bananas.”

X didn’t disagree, but whatever Tempest Shadow’s motivations were, he was hardly going to argue them while they turned out to benefit him and his team. A team that for the moment also included Adagio’s people, so he glanced back at Di Roy, Gaw, and Roka.

“Does this deal include them?”

Di Roy grimaced past a grim smile, saying, “I sure as hell hope so, otherwise this is literally going to rank as my second worst day ever. Still can’t top the day I accidentally walked in on Grogar taking a bath. Mind. Scarred. For. Life.”

“For the record,” Megalon said, “I kinda like these guys, so if they’re not part of the deal, I’m also kinda thinking of taking our chances at still kicking your butt.”

“Fortunately for you, I was considering the three Arrancar as part of this arrangement,” Tempest Shadow said, “Whatever loyalty they may have towards their Espada, I’m willing to give them a chance to consider other opportunities.”

Di Roy pointedly turned a concerned look towards his unconscious fellows, both Roka and Gaw barely stirring. “You gonna heal them up the same way you’re doing for Irys?”

“I will, assuming we all have an accord?”

Tempest had answered Di Roy, but directed her words more at X, whom she recognized as the one calling the shots for the group. As for X, his mind worked through the options, playing over each potential scenario with the highest objective in mind being the survival of his team. Of course the Kaiser portion of his mind still seethed inside, aggressively desiring to push towards finishing the battle, but X didn’t have to fight to keep that part of him contained. There was balance, of a sort, between them, and Kaiser was allowing the practical X to do the thinking.

X considered the likelihood of an all out assault succeeding. Gigan’s warp ability would allow them to potentially take a weakened Tempest off guard. However, even if they could dispatch her fast enough to prevent her retaliating, that still left Irys critically wounded, with no hope of further medical attention. There was no telling when Roka might regain consciousness on her own, and X was not willing to risk Irys’ life on a bet that the Arrancar medic would awaken before Irys bled out.

Conversely, accepting Tempest’s offer put them in a potentially much worse situation. As prisoners he couldn’t imagine they’d be given much freedom to act, and while escape would be their immediate objective, there was no way of knowing what manner of defenses might exist where they’d be taken. He could be condemning his entire team by agreeing to become prisoners, whereas in attempting to fight it out here and now, he’d only be condemning one of them.

Yet that simple numbers game had no appeal at all to X. Either he would get his whole team out of this alive or... Well, there was no “or”. He would do all in his power to protect those who’d entrusted him with leadership, until all other options had turned to dust. So while it may have seemed, on paper, the worse of the two options, becoming prisoners remained the best chance for everyone making it back alive.

“...We have an accord,” he said in a flat tone, and he could feel the tension in the air as he said it.

He couldn’t be sure how Gigan felt. The cyborg was supremely skilled at hiding his thoughts. Yet X could see the almost imperceptible nod from Gigan, indicating that regardless of what he thought of the choice, as always he’d follow X’s lead. Megalon, far more prone to wearing his heart on his sleeve, just seemed to relax, dropping his battle stance once X gave the word. X knew Megalon would jump right back into the fight if needed, but once hostilities were done, generally so was the easy going Megalon.

Di Roy, breathing a far more audible sight of both relief and consternation, said, “Well, guess since we’re done trying to kill each other for the time being, can somebody help carry these two?” He nodded towards Gaw and Roka, “This hole in my stomach is leaking way more blood than I’m used to seeing on the outside.”

“Oh, suck it up,” Gigan said, coming over and picking up Roka, “I swear you people with your ‘internal organs’ and need for ‘blood circulation’. I’ve been decapitated... twice, and you don’t hear me complaining about it.”

“Hey at least I can eventually heal on my own, and don’t need a freakin’ Radio Shack every time I get damaged, Mr. I’m Too Cool to Bleed,” Di Roy said, Megalon strolling past him to shoulder Gaw’s unconscious form.

“I hope these two will be okay. Irys is being healed, but Miss Gaw here doesn’t look very good,” Megalon said.

“I’ll see to it they get treated as soon as possible,” Tempest Shadow assured, “It won’t take long for us to arrive at our stronghold. Speaking of which...”

Whether they’d been watching from nearby, or had only just arrived from observing from further away, the area suddenly started to fill with Hollows. Mostly it was the same troopers as before, lesser Hollows bearing the black uniforms and horn-like blue sigil. Among them, however, were three Arrancar. X recognized the red and blue haired twins from the fight, but the short fellow with the dark granite colored skin and white mohawk, sporting a stout pot-bellied build, was a new face.

“So, you done having your fun, Captain?” asked the rotund shortstack, placing one hand on a sheathed blade that looked more like an overly large bowie knife than a regular sword.

“Yes, Grubber, the fighting is done with,” Tempest replied, “X here has agreed to allow us to take him and his team as... well, I would say ‘guests’ but I don’t think he’d appreciate the pretense, so for now we’ll go with ‘prisoners’. Of a hopefully temporary variety.”

“What? But Captain, they’re clearly dangerous!” said the red haired Arrancar girl, “Look how much they hurt you! Shouldn’t we just... you know... make sure they’re not a threat anymore?”

“Yang, your concern is appreciated, but I’ve agreed to treat these prisoners with respect and due care. I expect you to honor my agreement and give them all the proper courtesies.”

“Y-yes, Captain! Of course, Captain!” Yang’s face was flushed to almost as red as her hair as she bowed. Next to her, the blue haired Arrancar girl crossed her arms and spoke in a calmer tone.

“If we’re taking them prisoner how can we ensure they won’t become aggressive again? Not questioning your orders, Captain, but given the powers they’ve displayed, keeping them prisoner isn’t as simple as just disarming them. Most of them have built in attack ability we can’t remove by simply putting them in chains.”

Tempest’s face creased in a sour frown as she looked at Irys, who’s breathing remained shallow. Tempest’s hand hadn’t ceased producing the soft glow of healing light for a single instant during the entire conversation, “As long as their friend’s health remains tied to their good behavior, that is a chain more solid than anything we could physically place on them.”

X didn’t really have a counterargument for that. Although it did occur to him that if Tempest had wanted to coerce their cooperation in the long term, she could have always taken Irys as a permanent hostage. Had Tempest thought of that, or was some manner of internal honor preventing her from realizing just how powerful a lever Irys was for her to use? Regardless of the reason, he was glad she hadn’t made mention of that, at least not yet.

“Right, I hear you, Captain,” said Grubber, eyeing Dark Hunters and the Arrancar with them with a shrewd pair of beady blue eyes, “If you’re going to be doing the whole recruitment spiel, I’ll take my usual bet with you.”

Tempest made a surprisingly, for lack of a better term, ‘human’ grunt of irritation, “You could show a little faith in me.”

“Hey, recruiting people is your fetish. I just like getting free smokes off you when it doesn’t work.”

“What are you calling a fetish!? It’s a perfectly normal method of expanding our forces!”

“You are literally the only lady I know who will try to kill someone one second, then invite them into the family the next. If that’s not a fetish, what else is it?”

As this exchange continued, Gigan looked flatly at X and said, “These people are crazier than we are. I don’t like being surrounded by people that are crazier than we are.”

X, much quieter, simply said, “For now, we roll with it. Until a chance to escape presents itself.”

It was low enough that likely only Gigan, with his enhanced cybernetic senses, would’ve heard it, and he just nodded again as the argument between Tempest and Grubber wound down with the blue haired girl stepping in.

“Now, now, Grubber, it’s the Captain’s prerogative to do what she likes with her prisoners. Don’t rile her up so much.”

“Yeash, Yin, I’m just having fun with her. I swear, it's a curse being the only one around here with a sense of humor.”

“Oh, just open a Garganta already,” Tempest said, blowing out a heated sigh.

“What about those Hollows that ran off earlier?” asked Yang, “Illforte and his people?”

“Leave a small contingent here to scout for them, and see if they return to Forlorn Ridge. Illforte hates Espada enough that he probably won’t go to them anytime soon, but I’d rather not take chances if I can help it,” Tempest replied, “If needed, I’ll... have a chat with him about what happened here. Grubber, that Garganta, if you please?”

“Yeah, yeah, you got it Captain. Home sweet home, coming right up...”

In short order Yang issued orders to a group of about a dozen of the remaining Hollow soldiers, who saluted and separated from the main group to march off in the direction the residents of Forlorn Ridge had fled. Meanwhile the rest of the soldiers took up flanking positions on either side of the group of “prisoners”. Yin moved behind them, while Tempest had her Bankai stand back up to its full height. The giant suit of armor then started to shrink in size, surrounded by a faint white aura as it compressed itself to a much smaller thirty meters, compared to its earlier hundred meter tall, behemoth stature.

There was still a general sense of hostility in the air, and X could tell he and his team were being very carefully watched. He imagined any move on their part would trigger an immediate response, and with Tempest not deactivating her Bankai, it was clear she wasn’t entirely trusting that one of them might not try to pull something.

At the head of the group, Grubber held out a palm and made a quick, almost cutting gesture.

X was used to seeing Garganta portals open now, seeing the air tear itself open like a toothy maw yawning wide into a void of black. This one was much taller than any other he’d previously seen, and it seemed to cause Grubber some strain to make it. Also, unlike other Garganta, it seemed the other side of this one was more immediately visible, as X could catch a glimpse of white stone, and shockingly enough, green trees just a few meters across the void.

Tempest gave the order to move, and soon enough X and his companions were marched through the portal alongside their captors, and into the fortress of the Storm King.

----------

It wasn’t precisely what X had been expecting.

He’d seen many fortresses before. Massive, high-tech citadels of glass and steel. Concrete bunkers that went miles underground. The monolithic, dark corridors of the temple in Zenith.

Soft greenery and gently rushing waterfalls amid a picture of scenic beauty was not what he’d pictured at all.

The area the Garganta portal opened onto was a grass covered hill that was situated along the wall of a wide, circular canyon that must have been at least several miles long at its widest point. The canyon walls rose to what was likely around five or six hundred feet of rugged white and gray stone. The circular canyon had two clear entrances cut into its walls, where green grass gradually gave way to pale sand as the paths rose up to the canyon tops, where sand sometimes still billowed down in mist-like streamers. The black sky and stark while crescent moon above proved this was still Hueco Mundo, at least.

At least a dozen or so natural seeming holes in the canyon wall where what was producing the waterfalls, perhaps sourced from underground rivers or lakes. The water formed multiple pools that all filled channels carved into the ground, forming straight rivers that ran towards the center of the canyon floor. Trees, most of them dark pines, formed a forest encircling the heart of the canyon. There, amid the trees, stood clusters of buildings shaped from white stone, most of them only two or three stories high, but a few rising to twice that. All bore a straightforward, square architecture, save for the roofs, which all rose to twin points, mirroring the horn symbol worn on the uniforms of the Storm King’s warriors.

And while the sights of nature were very out of place, and not very much like a fortress, the ‘fortress’ part of the equation did appear at the very center of the canyon. It had the look of a twin pyramid, multiple square tiers of stone stacked atop the other for two large constructions that rose side by side until they dominated the area at easily half the height of the canyon walls. Unsurprisingly, each rose to a point that, when the tops of the twin pyramids were taken together, it resembled the horn sigil once more.

“Eh,” said Gigan, “I’ve seen better.”

Yang glared back at him with an angry flash in her eyes, “No one asked your opinion.”

“And yet I give it freely. Truly I am a generous soul,” came the utterly deadpan reply.

“Hey, we agreed to be prisoners,” said Di Roy at Yang’s increasingly reddening face, “We never said we wouldn’t be sassy about it.”

Yang growled under her breath, “Stupid jerks- *mumble mumble*-lucky the Captain is being so-*mumble mumble*- light nuts on fire and see how mouthy you are-*mumble mumble*.”

“Easssy Yang,” Grubber said, elbowing her, “Remember what I taught you. Good vibes in!” he put a hand on his chest with a deep breath, “Bad vibes out...!” he finished with a long exhale and moving his hand away from his chest as if tossing something away. Yang, grimacing, reluctantly mimicked his movements, although the sour look on her face suggested it only helped minimally.

“Move along, folks, we don’t got all day,” Tempest Shadow commanded, and with her Bankai still looming over the procession, albeit in its shorter stature, the column began to march down the hill and into the canyon proper.

The prisoners remained under close watch and guard, but X noted that the Hollow soldiers, while not precisely relaxing per se, gained a fresh air of energy about them as got deeper into the canyon. It triggered vague memories of soldiers from another world and time, returning home after a long campaign. He was Monster X now, but that had not always been the case, and in some corners of his mind, there was a familiarity with the lighter steps of the Hollows and the eager sense with which they moved towards home.

Even Di Roy seemed affected, despite his earlier comments, looking about at the surrounding area with confusion he was trying his best to hide. Tempest must have seen the look, because she chuckled dryly and said, “Sass us all you want, but you have to admit, this place looks much nicer than Las Noches does.”

“Greener, sure. Doesn’t exactly look well defended,” Di Roy drawled, gesturing at the canyon walls, “Not sure where you got the water from, either. Las Noches has its underground sources, but there isn’t supposed to be much of it anywhere else in Hueco Mundo.”

“That’s our own secret,” Tempest replied cryptically, “Suffice to say the Storm King has put a lot of effort into building this place and making it far more livable than the rest of this dead realm. If our ambitions succeed, far more of Hueco Mundo will resemble what you see before you. Think on that, as you contemplate whether our side is worth joining or not.”

Di Roy said nothing to that, clamming up as his eyes looked about intently underneath his helmet of bone. X wasn’t sure if the Arrancar was actually considering Tempest’s words, or just focused on taking in the details of their surroundings. That was what X was doing, building a mental map of the area and keeping a close watch for anything that might prove valuable in an escape.

The forest grew thicker around them, but there was a road of white cobblestones that led in a straight path towards the fortress itself. While the outer area of trees were tall pines, almost seemingly designed to act as a screen, once they went further in the treeline thinned out once more and were gradually replaced with what appeared to be neatly ordered orchards. These trees appeared to bear fruits of various kinds, and were tended to by uniformed Hollows who gathered the fruits into baskets and carried them towards cylindrical buildings like miniature silos.

While bearing a striking resemblance to various Earth fruits, X noted each one bore an odd, purple tinge to them. He caught Di Roy glancing at him meaningfully, and the Arrancar fell back a step or two so he was close to X, allowing them to speak in whispered tones.

“This is getting weird,” Di Roy said, “This Storm King asshole has to be a Privarron Espada, and I’ve heard gossip some of them have the power to alter their territories, but I’ve never heard of one that can make shit grow in Hueco Mundo. Not like this. Any plants growing here are usually half dead already, and the only Espada I’ve ever seen pull off making a bloody lake was Adagio, and even she had help from the underground water already there.”

“Should this matter?” asked X, “Whatever means they’ve used to create this place changes nothing about our situation.”

“Maybe not, but it gives me food for thought.”

“You’re considering changing allegiances?”

“Hell the fuck no. I owe Adagio way too much to think about playing for another team. But if this Storm King dude is a Privaron Espada, and he’s got a hard on for taking out Tirek, maybe we can finagle some reverse diplomacy here.”

“They don’t seem interested in allying with an Espada, even one who seeks to overthrow Tirek,” X commented, and cast a look towards the looming fortress that rose ahead of them, “And our sole task now is to escape this place.”

“No argument here,” replied Di Roy, “But in case you didn’t notice, Miss Purple Badass seems to be more interested in chatting us up than killing us, and also seems to look at you as some kind of peer. Just a suggestion, but consider using that. If you can’t finagle talking our way out of this, you might string her along to buy us time to figure a way to bust out of whatever slammer they’re going to toss us in.”

X gave the barest of nods, indicating he acknowledged the point, but didn’t reply, for their conversation had drawn the blue haired Arrancar, Yin, a bit closer to them.

They were now past the fruit orchards and now entered what seemed to be the stronghold proper. The road led to a wide, circular courtyard from which several more roads split off in different directions between clusters of the tall, square buildings X had seen from a distance. By now the procession had drawn a crowd of onlookers, dozens upon dozens of Hollows looking out of building windows or moving onto the street to watch them march into the courtyard. Strangely to X, a number of the Hollows waved greetings to their returning compatriots, and it was also clear that among those gathered there were other Arrancar.

In terms of estimating numbers, X guessed, based on the size and number of buildings, combined with how many he was seeing on the streets, there had to be around several thousand, perhaps more than five thousand, Hollows living in this canyon. The Arrancar were far more sparse, making their numbers difficult to judge.

One of them, a gaunt man with short blue hair and neatly trimmed mustache and goatee, wearing a thin straight katana at his hip and wearing identical black armor to the other Arrancar in the Storm King’s army, met the procession at the middle of the courtyard. He wore what seemed to be a perpetually dour expression, partially covered by the white portion of skull mask that covered his upper left face, including his eye.

“Captain, you’re back sooner than expected, and with prisoners in custody no less? What happened out there?”

“I’ll make my full report to the Storm King himself, Patros,” Tempest replied in a firm tone, “But before that, I need to secure our prisoners in proper accommodations. Send word ahead to have the warded cells prepped.”

Patros’ eyes narrowed slightly, “Did the Storm King not give standing orders to eliminate any threats to our presence here? Your mission at Forlorn Ridge was to ensure everything was in order for using it as a staging ground for an eventual attack on Las Noches. What, then, are these people doing here?”

“Nothing you need to be concerned with,” Tempest replied, “This is a matter between me, them, and the Storm King. As it stands, I’ve given them my word they won’t come to further harm. You’ll just have to trust me on that, Patros... or are you going to stand in my way?”

Tempest’s tone was perfectly cordial, but the way she looked at Patros spoke of the fact this wasn’t the first time there’d been friction between them or that she wasn’t in the mood for it, today.

Patros grimaced, and reluctantly offered salute, “No, Captain.”

As he departed, Tempest turned to the rest of the troops in the column, “Grubber, go let the Storm King know I’ll be reporting to him shortly.”

“You got it, Captain.”

At that point Tempest rather gently picked up the still comatose Irys and hopped down from her Bankai. X could see both Gigan and Megalon tense up, and even Di Roy shot him a questioning glance. X just gave a slight shake of his head. Still too risky to make a move at this point.

It took some time for them to be put into cells, if only because of how cautious they were being treated. Word quickly spread of what had happened, and any Hollow guards they countered besides the ones already still surrounding them were doubly tense as they were marched past. A stretcher was brought out to lay Irys, Roka, and Gaw upon, and X didn’t miss the fact that a pair of Arrancar were put in charge of carrying each stretcher, including Yin and Yang. Tempest had reduced her Bankai back to it’s sword state, the armor transmuting into flowing streams of energy that took the shape of her Zanpaktou once more... rather pointedly still released to its Shikai state.

The cells in question were in a curious spot. Between the two pyramids forming the main fortress a small, almost humble dirt path led behind them to what looked like a simple, square bunker very akin in style to the small entrance Adagio had used to take them outside of Las Noches. It even had a plain ramp heading down underground, which switched back upon itself several times through dusty corridors lit by some manner of artificial light that permeated the walls.

At the bottom of this place was a corridor that stretched to the left and right, seemingly terminating in dead ends about a hundred feet in either direction. Here, Tempest demonstrated an incantation upon the wall, which in turn flared up with an orange sheen of light across its surface. The stone itself seemed to meld into itself, forming an opening into a cube shaped chamber about thirty feet wide on either end, and half that tall.

“These were built in case we ever captured a strong Arrancar, a Vasto Lorde-class Hollow, or even a Privaron Espada that we wanted to keep around,” Tempest explained to them, raping a knuckle on the sheet of orange energy that remained in place over the opening. “These cells are warded by specialized Kido spells, reinforced regularly by myself. In short, these barriers contain a similar level of strength to my own, which means unless one of you goes giant again, breaking out would be... dangerous for you. I figure you’ll still try, just fair warning. Okay, Shark-Teeth and Shades, this first one’s yours. It isn’t first class accommodations, but hey, you’ll be warm and fed. Assuming you even eat, Shades?”

The question, and nickname, were directed at Gigan, who just stared back at Tempest silently. She stared back just as flatly, then glanced at X, who didn’t respond either. Tempest sighed.

“Oh yeah, this’ll be fun times, I can tell.”

The wards appeared to be designed so they could be entered freely one way, but couldn’t the other, as Gigan and Di Roy had little trouble moving through the barrier into the cell, but when Di Roy gave the barrier a kick from the other side, it accomplished little other than giving the Arrancar a sore foot.

Megalon and Gaw were placed in the next cell, just to the right of Gigan and Di Roy’s. Roka an Irys were put inside the cell on the left, and finally X was taken alone further to the left to the final cell in that direction. As he moved to enter, Tempest stopped him for a moment with a gesture, drawing his silent attention.

“Your friend is in stable condition. I’ll finish healing her, and your other comrades, as soon as I make my report to the Storm King. In the meantime I’ll ensure someone is sent with medical skills to keep them stable until I can do the rest. We’ll... talk once that’s all taken care of.”

His only reply was to give the smallest centimeter of a nod before quietly entering his cell, striding to its very center, and calmly sitting down in a meditative pose, eyes closed. The only other thing he heard was a slight sigh form Tempest, and the sound of stone grinding as his cell closed.

----------

“This is stupid.”

Di Roy looked at Gigan as the odd cyborg paced their cell’s perimeter, testing the warded walls with one of the blades of his chain-saw blades. The blades screamed and ground upon glowing orange stone, the energy of the wards deflecting the Nebulan saw teeth with offensive ease.

For Di Roy’s part, he tried not to groan too much as he kept a hand on his stomach wound. This one wasn’t anywhere near as large as the one he got when those asshole Adjuchas had nabbed him some time ago, but the injury still hurt like hell. His Arrancar physiology would heal the wound faster than any human’s could, and he wasn’t in danger of dying or bleeding out, but that didn’t mean the long walk to the cell had been pleasant for him.

“Ugh, look, man, you might as well stop it with the caged raptor routine and just chill for a bit.”

Gigan didn’t even look in his direction, continuing to methodically test the walls while muttering, “I’ve gotten awfully tired of physics defying magic and other things that don’t behave like good, rational laws of reality say they should.”

“Says the dude who can pop out blades from his arm that are larger than his actual arm,” Di Roy laughed, then winced, tasting a bit of blood at the back of his throat. Maybe laughing was a bad idea. “I’ve seen you make physics your screaming step child multiple times during that fight, man. Don’t tell me everything you do is above board where science is concerned.”

Gigan paused, then shrugged, “ Nebulan science is extremely advanced compared to what you’re used to.” After a moment of testing another part of the wall with his chain blade, he glanced back at Di Roy, “Can’t you create one of those Garganta portals to get us out of here?”

“If I could, I’d have already done it,” Di Roy replied, making an off hand gesture at their cell, “These wards are suppressing my Hollow energy. Doubt I could pry a Garganta open, or Cero blast us out of here. Even without these wards, it’d be hard to pull off a Garganta, since I need to be familiar with both my present location, and the spot I’m making the portal to. If I tried without that knowledge, we could end up anywhere, including buried miles underground.”

“Joy,” Gigan said flatly.

“What about you? Can’t you do a teleporting trick of your own... with science?”

A sour look crossed Gigan’s otherwise neutral features, “I... can’t, right now.”

“Because?”

“...Science.”

“Specifics, please?”

Gigan let out a withering sigh and turned to face the Arrancar fully, arms crossing over his chest, “There’s too much electromagnetic interference that’s destabilizing my internal polarity compensators and quantum flux calculators, which leads to astronomically exponential fluctuations in time/space phase transition stability which would result in catastrophic demolecularization in over 99.99999999128% instances of an attempted dimensional transition.”

Di Roy blinked. Several times. “Okay, man to man question, how much of that did you just make up and how much of that is real science?”

“Look, bottom line is, I can’t risk a teleport, because these wards and their stupid spirit energy/magic bullcrap is screwing with my teleporter’s ability to calculate a jump so I don’t paste myself over several cubic miles with my base molecules. So no, can’t use that, at least not until we get out of this cell.”

With a grunt of pain, Di Roy managed to prop himself up so his back was resting against the wall, “Ugh, yeah, been picking my brain on how to pull that off myself. Doubt we can brute force our way out. Wards are funny things, though. Usually they’ve got passkeys to let things in or out.”

“That Tempest woman used a spell to open them,” Gigan noted.

“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s the only way to do it, otherwise none of the Hollows around here could open these cells, because that spell she used was a Soul Reaper-only Kido. Must be another method so the soldiers around here can get in and out.”

Gigan paused for a thoughtful moment, then said, “Then we wait until they open our cell, either to feed us, or treat your wounds. I’ll record everything, and try to pink down their method of opening the cell.”

“That’s a start,” Di Roy agreed, “Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long. Gaw and Irys were both in real bad shape.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” Gigan said, voice turning colder than ice, “If I get a clear shot at that woman...”

“Your friend, Irys, she means a lot to you guys, doesn’t she?” Di Roy said.

Gigan shot him a sharp look, but then slowly nodded. Di Roy shared the not, holding his wounded stomach and looking up at the ceiling, “I know the feeling. I... worry a lot about Gaw. You saw her out there, during the fight. Girl has no damn clue how to hold back, or be cautious. It’s just all or nothing with her, in a fight. Sometimes makes me wonder if she’s trying to get herself killed.”

“I doubt that,” Gigan replied, finally finishing his first circle of the room, having tested most of the walls. He put away his chain blades, which folded mysteriously back into his arm, and he went to sit against the wall opposite from Di Roy.

“What makes you say that? You’ve seen her fight. Heck, you guys fought her. Totally reckless, right?”

“Reckless? Sure. Also fiercely dedicated,” Gigan said, “I’ve analyzed her attack patterns, in case I ever need to fight her again. She’s not trying to get herself killed. If my analysis is accurate, she fights like someone trying to make sure the enemy never looks at anyone other than her. It’s a protective fighting style. Megalon is the same way. Get the enemy’s attention, keep it, and take the heat so others are freed up to fight.”

Di Roy heard the words, and thought back to other times he’d fought alongside the violent little firecracker of a Arrancar. Gaw had never once shied away from a foe’s attacks. She was always in the front, fiercely brawling and often getting the brunt of the enemy’s attention as a result. The only time she’d ever shown caution was when he’d been so badly wounded he could barely fight, and the foe so overwhelming that running was the only option.

He remembered the first time he’d seen her, surrounded by Gillians in the Forest of Menos, fiercely roaring defiance against the odds mounted against her. He also remembered freshly the recent fight, and seeing her so battered and bloodied, and so very small and fragile seeming.

“If that’s the case, then I need to seriously up my game. I can’t let her ‘protect’ me to the point she croaks. We’re a team, and I haven’t been pulling my own weight...”

“I can’t comment on that. If you think you’re weak, then yes, it’s your task to fix that. Especially if you have a team mate who’s compensating for that weakness. I...” Gigan hesitated, then went silent. Di Roy perked up.

“Whoa now dude, don’t pull this stoic silent-guy routine on me! I spilled my emotional guts, now you do the same.”

“...”

“Oh, c’mon! It’s just us guys here. I swear I won’t tell anyone any mushy, emotional details.”

The chain blade came back out and revved up, and Di Roy held up his hands in mock surrender, “Okay, fine, keep your stoic ‘bad boy’ persona. Geez, try to get a guy to open up a little and you get nothing but guff.”

“I know right? I keep trying to tell Patros he just needs to talk his feelings out, but all he ever does is glare at me!”

Both Gigan and Di Roy whipped their heads around to see Grubber standing in the now open stone archway into their cell. The ward barrier was still in place, a thick orange sheen of energy, but Grubber was fully visible on the other side. He carried a circular plastic tray in one hand, and a black leather bag in the other. Seeing the looks he was getting, Grubber coughed awkwardly.

“So yeah, brought food. Figured we’d feed you while the Captain’s busy.”

More silence followed, along with hard stares from both Gigan and Di Roy.

“Wow, tough crowd. Can’t say I blame you. Here...” he slid the tray through the one way ward. On it were a number of the fruits that they’d seen being harvested outside in the orchards. “This stuff isn't like your average fruits grown in the living world. It’s got some spiritual kick to it, if you catch my drift. Might help that hole heal up. Don’t know if you eat food, Shades, but if you’ve got a request, I’ll take down the order.”

“Sure... go walk through a buzzsaw.”

“Aaaand that’s about my quota for attempting to be a good Samaritan today, but you know what, man, again, I get it. The Captain hurt your friend. It sucks. She’s not happy about it. You’re not happy about it. We’re making due with the craptastic situation we find ourselves in. So I’ll toss you an extra olive branch whether you appreciate it or not...” Grubber reached into his uniform and pulled out a notepad and pen, “If you want to talk to your buddies, I’ll take down a message and pass it to the other cells. I know what it’s like to worry about your own.”

There was a moment of silence as Di Roy and Gigan exchanged looks. Grimacing, Di Roy was the first to speak.

“Uh, could you tell Gaw, the red headed one, when she wakes up that... I appreciate how hard she tried to protect us? Oh, and tell Roka, chick with the half-skull mask, super pretty on the other half, not to worry, that this isn’t any worse than when the Quincy hit her dad’s tower.”

“Got it,” Grubber said, writing the words down. He then gave Gigan a frank look. “Last chance. Anything you want me to pass along to your pals?”

It took a few moments, but Gigan finally said in a level tone, “Tell Megalon to sit still and remember what happened on Osiris IV. Tell X ‘Next time’. And Irys, tell her...” the cyborg actually sighed, “Tell her ‘You did good, so don’t blame yourself.’”

Grubber nodded, frowning slightly, but tucking the pen and notepad away, “I’ll deliver the messages with their food. Captain ought to be along soon enough to help treat their injuries until they’re conscious and on the proper mend. I’ll be having Yin and Yang checking in on you guys too, just in case...”

“In case we try to escape?” asked Di Roy.

“No, in case Patros tries to do something stupid we’ll all regret,” Grubber replied, then reached to his sleeve, removed a small wooden badge, and pressed it to the side of the cell archway, which caused the stone to shift closed once more.

Di Roy narrowed his eyes once the door was closed, “That badge. Must be a ward pass.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to take out the short, pudgy one out when he comes back and take it off him,” Gigan said, extending one of his non-saw based blades, and Di Roy stared at him flatly.

“Dude, you’re at an eleven, and I need you dial it back to a solid eight. Assuming we could take him out without tripping some kind of alarm and snag his ward pass, we don’t know for sure that it’ll open our pals’ cells, and we still wouldn’t have a plan for getting out of here. Chill, and let’s work on some info gathering.”

“...Fine,” Gigan replied, retracting his arm blade, “Once Megalon receives my message, we’ll at least be able to start coordinating efforts.”

“What, that weird Osiris thing you said? What was that about?” Di Roy asked, “Sounded like something you two did in the past.”

“No. It’s a code phrase. Megalon and I have several for communicating in emergency situations. Osiris IV is code for him to switch his internal coms to a specific frequency that’ll allow us to talk to each other and share sensory data. Kind of a pain in tactical situations due to how disorienting it can be, but for this, it’ll be useful and I can tell him about the ward pass and what to look for.”

“Okay, awesome. Now then all we’ve got to do is wait, keep our ears to the ground, and play it nice, smooth, can cool like-”

----------

“Grrrraaaa!” Gaw hurled herself at the wall, bouncing off like a pinball only to stagger back up, blood coating her from freshly opened wounds as she clawed at the wall, “Let me out!”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be moving,” Megalon said, wincing as Gaw rammed her shoulder into the wall, and even in her rage couldn’t help but let out a pained grunt, “You’re kinda, well, in bad shape.”

“Urrrg, don’t care, want out!” Gaw took a few unsteady steps back, then shook her dazed head and looked ready to ram into the wall again, but this time Megalon stood in her way, holding his arms out.

“Look, you’re hurt. You got hurt so bad you were out for awhile, and I’m pretty sure smashing yourself into a wall as the first thing you do after waking up from suffering that kind of beating isn’t the brightest thing to do.”

Gaw let out a weak growl, clearly not possessing much energy after she’d just awoken from her comatose state. She looked absolutely awful, with much of her darkly tanned skin marked by welts and purple bruises, or freshly oozing wounds. She staggered towards Megalon, and looked ready to take a swing at him, but it mostly just became her falling right into him as her eyes rolled up into her skull. Megalon caught her, and gently set Gaw down against the wall as she murmured.

“Got to get out...”

“We will, but definitely not while you’ve got more blood on the outside than the inside. C’mon, you just rest up and eat some of this food the nice spiky haired guy brought us.”

Grubber had visited mere minutes before Gaw woke up, delivering a tray of food. Megalon didn’t need to eat nearly as much as most people did, but the fruit did look pretty good. Clearly, however, Gaw would need it more, so he picked up one of the fruits and brought it to the weakened Arrancar’s mouth, “Have a bite. Looks pretty good.”

Gaw sniffed at it, and grunted, “Plants. Like meat instead.”

“Hey, food’s food, and this might be the most we get for awhile. You want to get your strength back or not?”

Her starkly yellow eyes flicked towards him with clear irritation, but she relented, albeit in surly fashion as she took the fruit and gingerly scooted away from him, where she proceeded to stuff the food into her mouth and chew with the manner of one to whom tableware was a theory and not a fact. While she did that, Megalon settled in himself and accessed his internal systems. He’d taken some damage during the fight, but got off pretty light compared to Gaw. Diagnostics showed he was still in fighting form.

Since Grubber had passed along the messages from Di Roy and Gigan, Megalon knew Gigan wanted to link up internal coms, which made sense given the circumstances. There was some interference from the odd barriers encasing their cells, but not strong enough to actually stop either cyborg’s signals. While Megalon waited for the uplink to finish connecting, he turned to look at Gaw, who’d moved on to snatching the next fruit from the tray to devour.

Watching her, Megalon recalled the message that Grubber had given to be passed along to her, and he cleared his throat, “By the way, Gaw, your pal Di Roy had a message for you that the short guy passed along.”

She didn’t stop eating, but turned her intense gold eyes towards him, squinting.

“Di Roy said ‘thanks for trying so hard to protect everyone’.”

Gaw growled, her hands reflexively squishing the fruit in her hands. “Didn’t protect anything. Failed... again.”

Megalon gave a curious tilt of his head, “Failed how? I saw you fight. It was pretty amazing. You grew all tall and spiky, then helped us all out by taking the brunt of that Tempest lady’s hits, and didn’t go down until throwing everything you had at her. Doubt we’d have lasted long enough for Irys to transform, however she pulled that off, if you hadn’t been there.”

Her eyes bored into him, her entire body shaking in agitation, “Liar. The dark one who is alpha of your tribe fought more, better... all I did was lose.” Her eyes gained a distant look as she looked at her hands, which while stained with the juices from the crushed fruit had a look of being coated in blood. “I keep losing. Failing tribe. What use am I if I not strong enough to win?”

Megalon stared at her for a second, then scooted over next to her, and proceeded to bonk her on the head. Gaw let out a pained growl and glared at him. “What that for!?”

“I’m weaker than my brother,” Megalon said plainly, “That’s not me being down on myself, that’s just stating a fact. Gigan’s way better at fighting than I am. So’s Mr. X. Even Irys has a lot of natural talent and instinct in a fight I just don’t have. I was built to fight, but a lot of the time I feel like it’s not something I’m all that good at. I don’t have a lot of ‘wins’ under my belt.”

Gaw was looking at him with curiosity now, although her barred teeth suggested she still might bite him. Megalon just shrugged and said, “My point is that I sometimes feel like I’m holding the others back, or might be the weakest link in the team, but I don’t let that get me down because I know the others trust me. They don’t treat me like a liability. As long as I know they’ve put their confidence in me, then I can help out without worrying about pointless stuff like ‘losing’ or ‘failure’. You should too, because far as I can tell, Di Roy, Roka, and your own ‘alpha’ Adagio all trust you. They don’t see you as a failure, so maybe you should stop looking at yourself that way, too?”

Gradually Gaw’s agitated stance bleed out and she instead leaned her back against the wall and stretched her wounded body, wincing, but saying with a calmer tone, “You are a strange male. I rest now. Weak or strong, matters not if I too tired to fight.”

“Good idea. You get some rest. That Grubber dude said something about getting Roka healed enough to heal you, so guess we’ll get to see her soon. Until then, I'll keep an eye on things while you sleep.”

Gaw nodded, closing her eyes, not bothering to explain to Megalon that her willingness to close her eyes and sleep around him was among the greatest signs of trust she was capable of showing, since it was making herself vulnerable around him. The only other person she’d done that with was Di Roy. His words echoed in her head, and she tried to sort them out as she drifted back into sleep. The string of defeats she’d experienced of late, not just against Tempest, but against other foes threatening her tribe, including Megalon and his own group, had left Gaw feeling a deep unrest in her gut. But Megalon’s words helped, if only to give her something to puzzle over rather than just gnaw at herself.

While Gaw feel into fitful sleep, Megalon started to share info with Gigan over their internal communications link. Neither group had much information to go on, yet, but even so they started to plan how they’d escape.

----------

Tempest knew where to find the Storm King without needing to ask anyone. He wasn’t a man of subtlety, despite a healthy dose of personal paranoia that had helped keep their operation secret from the Espada of Las Noches all these long years. His spiritual pressure was always easy to sense, and as expected he was in what he dubbed the ‘Strategic and Tactical Operations Room of Monitoring’. Because acronyms. She’d argued that ‘Command Center’ or just ‘strategy room’ would be simpler, but Storm King had a particular... style to how he did things.

This could be evidenced by the ever growing presence of motivational posters lining the winding stairs leading up to the chamber in question, which was situated about halfway up the left pyramid of the fortress. The Storm King didn’t like the similarly sized chamber in the right pyramid. Said the floor was slanted, despite countless assurances from Tempest that they had checked it and the floor wasn’t slanted.

Two Hollow guards stood at the large double doors of stone leading into the chamber, who both saluted Tempest as she approached and needed no bidding to open the doors for her. The room beyond was a prominent sized hexagon with each of its sides, save for the one the doorway was in, bearing a slab of stone that stretched out from it, forming a large and smooth table of sorts. Upon these tables different parts of Hueco Mundo were mapped, often with exacting detail, especially for a realm of such generally unchanging topography. Tempest knew the maps corresponded to vastly different regions the Storm King had visited over the centuries, acquiring allies or resources, marking dangers or potential rivals.

In between the tables, at the center of the room, was a single, cylindrical shelf, packed with file folders that contained information pertaining to the different mapped regions. The maps and those files represented many years of work and the cumulative efforts of both herself and the Storm King to prepare for the inevitable clash with Las Noches, once they’d gathered a sufficiently powerful enough army to do so. These records contained notebooks on other known Privaron Espada, of which there were quite a few more than Tempest suspected Tirek or his fellow Espada knew about. These records were copied and also placed in the fortress’ underground vaults, alongside emergency supplies that had been gradually stockpiled over the years.

The walls of the chamber bore several large, simple monitors, roughly hooked up to a power system of cables that snaked into the walls. The technology was a combination of things taken from the living world, and some of the devices salvaged from the small fort that Tempest had once overseen, long ago, before she’d lost her Division, her faith in Soul Society, and any right to consider herself a Captain of the Gotei 13.

Putting those dire thoughts aside, she circled the room and found the Storm King standing at the furthest stone map, the one that represented the region containing Las Noches.

She always found him to be something of a physical contradiction. He should be tall and imposing, as he stood an impressive seven and a half feet, and bore a broad shouldered if somewhat lanky overall frame. His skin was a dull blue that was so dark it touched upon being near black, and it was offset by a thick head of shaggy white hair that framed his head in a wild mass that hung down his back. Long, rounded features with a large sloped brow gave the impression of someone not quite of human decent, but more related to some of mankind’s other ape ancestors. The term ‘missing link’ almost came to mind.

His Arrancar nature was apparent from the fragments of white, bone like Hollow mask that formed a jutting chin guard around his jaw, complete with teeth akin to a large baboon. His Hollow hole was located in an unusual spot, not commonly visible; the center of his tongue.

He wore a slimmed down, yet somehow more ornate version of the black armor his troops wore, showing off sizable spiked shoulder pads, but not bothering with leg guards or anything heavy down below, instead opting for wide, white pants and pointed black boots. He, as always, carried his Zanpaktou in his right hand, which took the form of a large bladed staff with the “blade” splitting into two points at the tip, and forming around an odd, blue crystal down the center.

Tempest had always felt the spiritual energy of that Zanpaktou was a tad... odd, but had never felt the need to question it. The Storm King himself was odd, so it somehow seemed appropriate his weapon was a bit off kilter to match the man himself.

Although she knew he’d sensed her presence well before she’d even come through the door, she still respectfully paused behind him as he continued to examine the map in front of him and announced herself, “Storm King, I’ve returned from Forlorn Ridge, and am ready to report on the situation encountered there.”

“Situation, yeah, that’s one term for it. I might also use the phrase ‘holy crap a thirty story tall dinosaur bat tried to eat you’. Or ‘Yin and Yang screwed up again, a Netflix original series’.”

He turned to her and leaned back against the table, tapping one of his large feet as he looked at her with frosty blue eyes, “So c’mon Tempest, let’s hear it. Going to guess there’s a reason you think it’s a good idea to bring a whole cadre of Espada agents, especially one that can do a Power Rangers monster impression, into our goddamn home and why I shouldn’t be royally ticked off that we’ve also lost our forward observation post. Again, not pointing fingers here *cough*YinandYang*cough*, but I want to hear the details from you first since I know you don’t do things without thinking it all through. You’re not impulsive or anything.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a level look, “You’re grumpier than usual today.”

“Kind of happens when my perfectly normal day goes tits up due to my trusted right hand apparently losing her mind, but again, kinda used to it, so I’m not in full freak-out mode yet. Might be soon. It’s not even noon, after all, and the day can go oh so many ways. So less attitude, Tempest, and more explaining. Nowish.”

“That is why I’m here, so try to moderate your blood pressure and hear me out, Storm King,” Tempest replied without batting an eyelash at his commentary. Just as he was used to her and the way she did things, she was rather used to him and his sarcastic personality. This wasn’t the first time they’d had disagreements over how to run their joint army, and the back and forth was just part of the process, far as Tempest was concerned.

She went on to give a simple summary of how things had played out at Forlorn Ridge. How the establishment of the observation outpost, hidden in the Hollow, Illforte’s, settlement was proceeding as planned until out of nowhere an unknown group of what appeared at first to be Arrancar appeared and started questioning Illforte on the presence of Privaron Espada. Tempest and Grubber had been overseeing the construction of an escape tunnel at the time and hadn’t been present initially when Yin and Yang, who had been put in charge of monitoring Forlorn Hope’s Hollow population with a small contingent of troops, acted on the belief that the seven strangers were agents of Las Noche’s Espada and launched a preemptive attack to try and destroy the intruders.

By the time Tempest and Grubber had arrived on the scene the battle was already in full swing, and not being at all certain of the nature of the enemy, Tempest had at first observed, then chosen to step in personally when it became clear the unknowns were too much for Yin, Yang, and the regular troops to handle.

It was then she’d been able to learn a bit about who the strangers were. Indeed they were working for an Espada, a new one, apparently, but they had no idea Tempest or the Storm King’s forces were here or even who they were. Not sure whether to believe that entirely, and not wanting to risk information getting back to the Espada anyway, Tempest decided the most prudent course of action was to capture the lot, and hence a battle ensued.

“Riiiight,” said Storm King, looking at Tempest with an incredulous air, “So it’s true what I heard, one of them went giant dinosaur bat on you, forcing you to whip out the ol’ Bankai?”

“Honestly I’d say she was more of a giant bat bird-”

“Birds are dinosaurs, Tempest.”

“-...yes, true. Moving on from that point, it’s clear that four of the seven capture are not actually Hollows, and after speaking with them both during and after the battle, I’m convinced they’re not here specifically looking for us,” Tempest said, and the Storm King scoffed.

“They were sent by an Espada to look for Privaron Espada. Last time I checked I fit the bill. So pretty sure that means these weirdos are right up there on the threat scale with having an actual Espada show up on our doorstep. Where’d they even come from, if they’re not Hollows?”

“That is an excellent question, and one they weren’t immediately keen on answering, although I do intend to try to get more out of them,” Tempest replied, moving over to the table map and placing a hand on it, “All four are immensely powerful, but I sensed most of that power is locked away. Contained. I’m not sure why the white one was able to transform all of a sudden, but it felt like there was some sort of resonance with Hueco Mundo’s very essence, as if it was responding to her emotional state.”

“So, what? You saying they transform with the power of Emo?” Storm King asked, his thick brow curling upward.

“I couldn’t say, but my point is they can’t transform at will, so for the moment there’s limited danger in keeping them as our... guests for now. I don’t doubt they work for an Espada like they say, but from what I understand it was a temporary arrangement and their real allegiance lies elsewhere.”

“Soul Reapers? Quincy?”

“Neither. Whoever they work for is a new player on the board, and one I suspect may be from well outside the boundaries of our realm,” Tempest said, thinking back to her old days in the Gotei 13, and the occasional rumors she heard about the Twelfth Division’s experiments with travel between dimensions of reality beyond the realms currently known. As crazy as it sounded, even to her own mind, she had to consider that X and his companions represented an unpredictable element that came from reality outside her own.

“Okay, now I’m worried that fight smacked something in your head,” Storm King said, shaking with a quiet chuckle, “Like, what, they’re travelers from Dimension X? C’mon, Tempest, chances are they’re just more crackpot experiments from Grogar’s labs, just like Yin and Yang. Maybe Grogar saw a few giant monster movies from the human world and got on a bender. You’re getting taken for a ride if you believe they’re not here to find us and rat us out to some Espada loser who’s looking to score points with Tirek. So, again, why are they here, and not dead and buried?”

“Because I want to try to convince them to join our cause.”

“...Hold up a sec,” Storm King said, and went over to a small cabinet set up by one of the walls. Rummaging inside he pulled out a flask and a glass cup. Coming back to the table he calmly poured himself a drink of what looked to be fairly expensive alcohol from the flask, took a long sip from the glass... then proceed to spit-take it out all over the map, “WHAT!?”

“Does that statement really warrant that reaction?” she asked, “You know that we’re still nowhere near the level of strength we require to beat Tirek and the rest of the Espada. Like I said, these four are powerful, and quite frankly the three Arrancar with them were no slouches either. They’d make excellent additions to our army.”

“Yes, sure, if they weren’t the enemy, Tempest. Besides, didn’t you already try to kill them?”

“...Only a little bit,” Tempest murmured, glancing away with a hint of embarrassment, “I mean, why does everybody take a good, clean fight so personally these days?”

“Most people don’t grow up as career soldiers, Tempest. Pretty sure sword-choppies and sword-stabbies is universal language everywhere else for ‘I want you dead’, not ‘Let’s be pals’,” Storm King replied in a flat tone, but he then set his glass and flask aside and proceeded to rub his forehead, “Then again, this is very, very you... so guess I shouldn’t be surprised by any of this. So, let’s say on the hypothetical that I was willing to entertain your particular brand of crazy this time, how were you going to pitch recruitment to them?”

“I need to get to know them a bit better first, find out the nature of their allegiance to this mysterious ‘master’ of theirs. Then I was going to show them the benefits of what we’re doing here,” Tempest said, nodding to the map, “How we can change this realm into something better. Even the three Arrancar might consider shifting allegiances if they realize how much more we can give them over serving the Espada.”

The Storm King drummed his fingers on the map for a few moments, giving her a shrewd gaze. Eventually he let out another snort, “You know what? Fine. I’ll give you three days to pull a rabbit out of the hat with this one. Personally I think this is a waste of time and that we’re still just dealing with Espada spies, but you’ve been right before when it comes to calling potential allies, so I’ll give you a chance. Just a chance, Tempest. Three days come and go and they’re still not playing ball...” He made a throat slitting gesture.

Tempest stared at him, and Storm King coughed, “That means killing them.”

“I know what the gesture means, sir. It won’t come to that.”

“Says you. If this bunch is as powerful as you say, and they refuse to join us, then I can still add their power to mine by getting my buffet on with their souls,” Storm King said, “You’ve got three days to see it doesn’t come to that, but if not, then its Nom Nom time, get me?”

“Yes, sir, I get you.”

She gave him a respectful bow, then proceeded to exit the chamber. She had a lot of work ahead of her.

----------

The click of a food tray on the floor was the only sound in the small chamber for a good half hour. When Tempest had arrived, Yin and Yang had been standing guard outside the prisoner cells, having kept watch while one of the few healers among the army had worked on Roka to get her conscious. That having been done, Roka was now busy with healing Irys, and soon would be escorted into Gaw and Megalon’s cell to work on them. In the meantime Tempest would begin this process by speaking with X, but she wanted to be alone for that so she’d asked Yin and Yang to wait up top at the prison’s entrance. The twins had little doubt their commander could handle the situation herself. After all, they’d seen that she’d single handedly overcome the titan that Irys had become, and their loyalty to Tempest was unshakable. So they’d departed and left Tempest to take the food tray into X’s cell, alone, which after setting it down she’d been left to watch him in silence.

A silence that was… eerie…

There was another reason Yin and Yang were eager enough to be elsewhere for a bit. While Gigan was straightforward and open about his hostility, and Di Roy was annoyingly joking about everything, and Gaw was just acting the expected level of aggressive, while Megalon was being oddly behaved... X was unnerving. The lack of response to any taunts. Resistance to eating. Even the visage seemed to warp and twist at times, like the world or the gravity holding it together might slither and shift instead of constantly pull down around him.

Even with his eyes closed, Tempest could still very much feel the levitating X was looking at her.

It had been a waiting game, them both aware the other was there, and she was at last prepared to cease it. After all, she was on a time limit here that X didn’t know about yet, so if he wanted to play the waiting game she couldn’t afford to indulge him.

“You should know, this was nothing personal. You and your people stepped into a complicated situation, and my people responded in the manner they thought best. The moment you linked yourself to the Espada, that put you at odds with us, and once the fight was begun my own hand was forced,” Tempest sighed before relenting some of the hard stone in her tone to soften it with a hint of regret, “Harm upon your lot was never a goal for us.”

Slowly, cinnabar eyes opened up and despite the distance, the clarity between them was perfect as either stayed on their respective sides of the barrier covering the cell’s entrance.

“We only were allied with Espada tangentially, non-aggression pact if you want to call it that,” X noted dryly, “We were merely passing through and decided fighting them wasn’t worth it and more was to be learned by peace.”

“I’m honestly surprised any of the Espada gave you a chance to talk,” Tempest poised, her expression turning to a thoughtful frown, “It’s not their usual MO to choose negotiation over killing. Either you ran into an unusual Espada, or you’re not giving me the whole story. Either way, at least you’re talking. Some of my troops are convinced trying to talk with you is a waste of time. I’d like to prove them wrong.”

X briefly recalled the Arrancar named Patros who was rather verbal about his objections to Tempest bringing them in as prisoners.

“Unfortunately for you and your troops, your actions have only unleashed another conflict on your ranks,” X growled with his arms crossed, slowly levitating closer.

“Your master you spoke of, you believe they might stage a rescue?” Tempest asked. She’d considered the possibility, but considered it a remote risk compared to the more immediate issues of ensuring information about the Storm King’s forces didn’t leak back to Las Noches.

“My master trusts us to free ourselves,” X hummed, “But that doesn’t mean more may not come. And they likely will hold far less regard for civility than me.”

‘Hmm, more like you?” she asked, a keen interest entering Tempest’s tone, “Mind telling me what you and your companions actually are? The one named Irys somehow used the latent spirit energy of Hueco Mundo to transform, but she certainly isn’t any Hollow. I know a few Hollows that can get that big, and a few Arrancar with transformations of that size...” she shuddered slightly, “Including Tirek, but again, obvious by now you’re not Hollows. So, what's your deal?”

“What reason do I have to explain it?” asked X, “Any information I give could be used against us later. Suffice to say we’re not weak, and that is all you need to know.”

“Heh, fair point. Just wondering if you’re all giant albino bats, or if you transform I’ll get something... different. Also curious why all of you didn’t transform, but I’m getting the impression your friend’s transformation was more happy accident than intent,” Tempest said, pursing her lips in consideration.

“I’m also curious how you think any further forces from your group would even locate you? You’re far from Las Noches, and we’re rather well hidden in this mostly endless desert. And even if they did find us here, they’d have a hell of a fight on their hands. You’ve seen my strength already, and the Storm King is stronger still.”

X nodded, “Your power is respectable. As are you.”

Tempest’s brow perked at the unexpected acknowledgement, but remained silent to listen to the extension she detected coming.

“Which is why I am warning you. Regardless of which victor there is in war, causalities always ensue. So ask yourself less how mighty your allies are and more how mighty is your will to risk losing them?” He nodded towards the walls of his cell, “That town outside the fortress, the forest and orchards beyond, imagine them choked by toxins or scorched until stone ran like liquid. Victory for you and your lot or not, you will still lose much in achieving it.”

“Still haven’t answered the how of it,” Tempest noted, “How would your master even find this place?”

“He found Las Noches, did he not?” X replied cryptically, “Can you afford to underestimate what he might be capable of?”

That gave Tempest some pause as she considered that she still didn’t really know what X and his companions were or where they actually came from, “Fair point. That said, it sounds more like you are concerned with how your master might react to your imprisonment than you are to take such action yourself.”

X tapped at his chest, “I only kill whom I am commanded to, and I find no qualms with doing so.”

“And how deep does that loyalty lay?” Tempest grunted as she uncrossed her arms, “You said yourself you hardly owe loyalty to Espada and you clearly care for your team. So why not join with a force that can safeguard your friends and give you a cause?” Tempest spoke in such a calm, quiet tone, like speaking to an old friend in a civility rarely seen, “Storm King believes you’re loyal Espada agents, but we both know that’s not the case. Help me convince him, and you could find a new home, here.”

The distance between the two was but a mere foot, separated by the transparent barrier and empty air.

“Is freedom really what awaits us if we bent the knee to him?” X asked, then added, “Furthermore, if we shifted our loyalties with such ease, what reason would you have to trust us not to do so again when it became convenient?”

Tempest smiled then, giving him an amused little chuckle, “Call it a... warrior’s intuition, but I suspect your loyalty to your team is higher than that to your current master. You won’t even name him, and haven’t so much as mentioned any cause he has you fight for. Doesn’t seem to me that you have much tying you to him, besides those you brought here with you. Furthermore, is freedom what you enjoy now? You just said your master commands you, but you only act if you have no qualms. What if you are given a command you do have qualms with? Can you trust your master would still have your best interests at heart? “Tempest whispered and was pleased to see a slight perking of his brow behind his mask. “Storm King is in charge here, yes, but I have plenty of autonomy and none of us are slaves, here. And once Tirek and the other Espada are beaten, Hueco Mundo itself will be made a free and safer realm. You and your companions could find a worthy home here, and I give you my word you wouldn’t be treated as tools, but as valued comrades.”

X was silent… but not unresponsive to imply he was giving it any deep thought. Tempest decided to press with what she thought was the crux of the issue.

“Is your loyalty to your master, or to your team?”

This, this was a linchpin moment and she knew it, in her bid to save the four and make them allies instead of foes. If his story about the Espada they worked for proved true, there were several possibilities that she could pursue from there, but the key was turning X, first. He would likely be able to convince the others, after, and then-

X’s voice was barely audible, almost… with tinges of regret, “You’re too late…”

Tempest stiffened.

“A year ago I was near my wits end. Locked inside a pitch black tomb for decades on end before being sent out as a weapon by commanders, I wished sometimes nothing more than to crush underfoot. My only two companions I might go years without seeing…. If you had asked me then, I’d have joined in a heartbeat,” X slowly shook his head, “But it didn’t turn out that way. Another recruitment came. At first, I thought it only another master to use me as their sword despite their promises…. But…”

“But?”

"For the first time in my life, those promises came true. And in ways I couldn’t imagine. If I hadn’t joined, my comrades and I would never had met Irys. If I hadn’t joined, I’d have no purpose. All because of my master,” X sighed, his voice growing in volume.

“Master... Master, are you being elusive or have your bent the knee to a lord you know nothing of?” Tempest shot back, a mix of frustration and concern flashing through her. Part of her understood the emotions clear in X’s voice, for she’d once lost everything that mattered to her, every comrade she’d held dear. Lost due to the callousness of masters who hadn’t been worth her loyalty. Then the Storm King had found her, and given her another chance, another family. It wasn’t too far off from what she was hearing from X.

In response to her question, X shook his head, “I do not know their name, if they even bear one. But I don’t care. I need not know all of them to know what they have given me.”

“But if you don’t know them, whatever they’ve given you, you have no reason to truly believe they aren’t using you,” Tempest said, deciding to do something she rarely did, and open up part of her own past.

“I had a life before this one,” she said slowly, a note of uncertainty entering her tone that caused X to twitch an eyebrow at her, not having seen much in the way of uneasiness from her before now. “I served the Soul Society and it’s governing body with loyalty for centuries. I never once imagined my loyalty wouldn’t be returned. When my Division and I were tasked with establishing a permanent base in Hueco Mundo, I had my misgivings, but I took to the task with a will, because I was loyal and believed in Soul Society. When the Espada inevitably found us, and came down on us like a storm, we fought, and fought hard, because we believed reinforcements would come, that Soul Society wouldn’t abandon us. Surely...”

She took a deep, shuddering breath, “No support came. We were abandoned. We were abandoned because those in charge saw us as tools and nothing more. We were serving their purpose, distracting the Espada while other Divisions gained ground against the Quincy. A disposable sacrifice, viewed as expendable because out of all the Divisions, the Eleventh was the most numerous. Central 46, Soul Society’s governing arm, likely just assumed our losses could be replaced. Numbers on a calculation sheet to be written off and replaced later.”

Taking a moment to steady herself with a calming breath, she shrugged and finished with, “I wouldn’t have survived without the Storm King’s intervention that day. I didn’t trust him at all at first. After Central 46’s betrayal, how could I? But he took the time to earn that trust, to tell me of his goals, to make me feel like a comrade, rather than a tool... heh, grating as his personality could be at times. So I ask again, just how well do you know your master, and has he really earned the trust and loyalty you give him, just because he gave you your first taste of real life?”

“You... don’t understand,” X whispered, solemnly, almost sadly in such dissonance to the energy before. He considered then, telling Tempest of Aria Blaze. More than any other reason, Aria was why this arrangement Tempest proposed could never work. X might not know much about his master, or what their goals were, but to X, that was immaterial. His master had sent him on the mission that had led to him meeting Aria, and everything that followed, the love that had been discovered, was in owing to that master. Besides, even if X felt no loyalty at all to his master, it didn’t change that without that master, X had no means of reaching the reality his Aria existed in.

Nothing Tempest could ever offer would compensate for that. However, he hesitated in explaining this, because while he was starting to see that Tempest and he had some things in common, and he did believe she genuinely didn’t wish to bring further harm to him or his team, he did not want to risk Aria’s safety in any way. On the off chance they did have a means of reaching his Aria’s reality, the risk was too great. Even if he trusted Tempest, which he still didn’t quite yet, he most certainly didn’t trust her ‘Storm King’.

Tempest was more than a tad disappointed by his response. This entire mess was one unfortunate scenario after another. X and his team, along with Di Roy, Roka, and Gaw, were essentially a neutral group that had stumbled into something they shouldn’t have, and Yin and Yang jumping the gun had forced things to spiral more out of control. Patros was making airs about wanting this prisoners dead, and Storm King was understandably paranoid about them working for an Espada. In an ideal scenario, Tempest could diffuse mistrust and get everyone on the same page as comrades, but this was far from an ideal situation. Through the threats, anger, frustration, and general disgruntlement she could tell this was a noble and rational soul in there, glaring back at her.

If things had been different, something he himself had acknowledged, they’d have maybe been friends. She got the sense she’d get along better with him than she did with Patros or others she tolerated and generally tried to still treat as comrades.

It felt like there was an ocean of roadblocks in the way of forging any lasting trust, but Tempest was nothing if not persistent and not inclined to give up just because things had gotten hard. Even if she couldn’t earn his trust here and now, she had three days to work with, and she sensed he was still holding something back. On top of that, while her primary focus was on X, she wasn’t discounting that she could still make progress with the others. Grubber was pretty good at talking to people, and Yin and Yang both needed to sharpen their social skills anyway.

She wasn’t about to throw in the towel just yet.

“I am… sorry,” she said, “For my part in hurting your friend. That fight shouldn’t have happened.”

“You seemed to enjoy it,” X pointed out, and Tempest couldn’t help but nod.

“True. Not for the pain being caused, but because I’m a warrior, and a good fight runs in my blood. You and your friends, Arrancar or otherwise, gave me one of the best I’ve had in ages. I’m sorry it happened the way it did, that’s why I’m apologizing. If things had been different, I’d have loved to fight you as a comrade testing my skills against a friend. Didn’t turn out that way, so I’m sorry for the messed up way the fight happened, but I won’t deny it was still... a little fun.”

“You have the oddest way of apologizing...” X said.

She closed her eyes and shrugged, letting her face hang slightly.

The voice that spoke back was as it had been at the start of their conversation, “But I shall accept it, and in the spirit the apology was given, I shall also tell you this.”

She felt a force nudge her face back up, as it gravity was working in reverse. The back of her mind registered this detail. That some fragment of X’s abilities was working through the barrier. But tellingly, he seemed to have no hesitancy at revealing this face. When she looked up again, cinnabar gazed back with no gold surrounding it.

“We will eventually get free. And we will eventually return to our home,” X sighed, “Do not get near the others when it happens. If you must fight anyone when the time comes, fight me.”

Her lips quirked in a small, oddly satisfied smile as she asked, “Interested in a rematch that much?”

X found her smile... odd, but shook his head, “Not particularly. This is just a warning. Irys will try to kill you out of want of revenge. Gigan will try to end your life to remove a threat. Megalon no doubt will cause either of those two to launch into a bloodlust if you harmed him. But in my case, I’ll make you this promise, Captain Tempest,” The frown behind his mask was so obvious she felt it. Evidently she wasn’t the only one who sensed a kindred spirit, “If I am the victor, you’d live and I would take my group away as fast as possible.”

She was silent for a moment, eyes contemplative. Eventually, she said, “I appreciate the warning. That being said, there’s more to it than that.”

He tilted his head slightly, and she met his gaze evenly. “I’d rather, if it really does come to it, that I be the only opponent you or any of your friends face. I’ll not risk losing more comrades, so if blood needs spilling, I’ll have it be my own instead of theirs. That said, I’m not convinced it’ll come to that, yet. Haven’t given up on convincing you, and even if I can’t, there might be other options.”

“Such as?” X asked, finding he had a rather difficult time reading this woman and understanding her intentions.

She raised a hand as if to forestall the question he’d just asked, “It’s too soon to say for sure, but we’ve got time to talk more later. For today, I think we’ve both said enough. Now please, stop being so damn stubborn and eat. You’re not doing yourself any good by ignoring food, and I don’t care what you are, everybody needs to eat. Even if you’re dead set on escaping, you won’t pull that off on an empty stomach.”

After a few seconds, X slowly reached for the tray of food and levitated it to himself. He didn’t respond to her beyond doing that, quietly beginning to eat. With a soft sigh, Tempest nodded and with a gesture caused the stone of the cell entrance to close once more.

Comments

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

Nubian? It is Nebulan.

Besides that error, this was excellent. Loved Megalon reflecting on his place in the group and the discussion between X and Tempest.

[TheUnfitComedian]

Shit man, with X's reasoning for following Bagan being meeting Aria and his team, it's going to suck when that absolute bombshell of a realization hits that Bagan's master plan involves tearing everything X currently has apart.

This story is going fantastic so far, absolutely loving every bit of it! Keep. It. Up!

[sailing101]

The irony here is that The Storm King is doing exactly what Adiago wants to do, but is to paranoid to let her in on it, despite the fact that this would gain him at least two Espada as allies. Perhaps D Roy can sweeten the deal, say let slip that Adiago knows how to turn lesser hollows into Arancar.

I also wonder how interconnected the underground waterways of Hueco Mundo are?

[Starlight Nova]

Will I need to read The Bridge in order to understand this story?

[thatguyvex]

10096702
That shouldn't strictly be necessary. Reading The Bridge would provide some additional context for some of the characters, and is a good story that's worth the read, but I did write this story with the intent that it could be enjoyed even if the reader is only familiar with one side of the crossover.

[MSie95]

Hey, don't want to be pushy, but it's been more than a month since last chapter. Everything's fine?

[thatguyvex]

10164663
Yup, just had a rather distracting month. Next chapter is progressing, and should have it ready to go in the next week or so.

[MSie95]

10165071
Well, I hope is better now. You're doing an amazing job keeping the 2 weeks schedule. Wish you health.

[Aemon Targaryen]

Di Roy grimaced past a grim smile, saying, “I sure as hell hope so, otherwise this is literally going to rank as my second worst day ever. Still can’t top the day I accidentally walked in on Grogar taking a bath. Mind. Scarred. For. Life.”

Excuse you ?

“You are literally the only lady I know who will try to kill someone one second, then invite them into the family the next. If that’s not a fetish, what else is it?”

It’s called being a shonen character pal.

“Easssy Yang,” Grubber said, elbowing her, “Remember what I taught you. Good vibes in!” he put a hand on his chest with a deep breath, “Bad vibes out...!” he finished with a long exhale and moving his hand away from his chest as if tossing something away. Yang, grimacing, reluctantly mimicked his movements, although the sour look on her face suggested it only helped minimally.

If i were to guess, Grubber kinda served as uncle figure to Yin and Yang, similar to how Tempest served as their adoptive mother, hence why Yang listened to him, did I guessed correctly ?

Cirrio grimaced, and reluctantly offered salute, “No, Captain.”

Wasn’t it « Patros » just before ?

“If I could, I’d have already done it,” Di Roy replied, making an off hand gesture at their cell, “These wards are suppressing my Hollow energy. Doubt I could pry a Garganta open, or Cero blast us out of here. Even with these wards, it’d be hard to pull off a Garganta, since I need to be familiar with both my present location, and the spot I’m making the portal to. If I tried without that knowledge, we could end up anywhere, including buried miles underground.”

Wouldn’t it be « even without these wards « ?

[thatguyvex]

11105785
Your guess on Grubber is fairly accurate, yes. Tempest was most certainly the "mom" to the twins, but Grubber could be something as either an uncle or big brother to them.

[Aemon Targaryen]

11109010
Grubber is really likable, instead of being the annoying sidekick, he is more like Tempest’s snarky but loyal and insightful second/little brother, she actually respect him and value his opinion, and damn does he deserve it.

it make his death even sadder, and definitely will make Soul Reaper Tempest uncomfortable if she meet his Equestria alter-ego