Toing the Line (Orgoth and Zenke)

Seireitei

Jun zipped past the guards, heading straight to the captain commander. When he found her, he slapped a piece of paper on her desk with the coordinates to the Original Alexei's lair. "Coordinates to Alexei's lair, good luck." Jun went into a spin and moonwalked right into the Ark portal he came from.

Hueco Mundo

Alex kicked the doors down. He'd snuck past the guards easily enough until he got close to Azazael. Then he had to brute force his way through. When he got there, he saw that same odd arrancar, but there was a few others with him and the King. "Here's the coordinates to Alexei's layer...though I suspect you already know."

The little arrancar nodded. They'd both checked the Bermuda Triangle time and time again. Closest he thought of was some sort of stealth device. Little did that arrancar knew, Alex was thinking the same thing. With that out of the way, the Ark portal opened up and allowed Alex through without so much of a fuss.

Bermuda Triangle, right in the middle of it.

On an island with a mountain and facility attached to said mountain. Its cloaking device needed recharging. Alexei, sitting in his throne room with a newspaper in hand, read an article. He expected he'll be getting visitors soon. This would be the only time they'll find him. Luckily, the man had sent his stealth submarine with his pride and joy experiment, guarded by his Keeper, to go away. Now it was only time to wait.

Azazael grinned  madly when the bounto kicked in the door. "Wow, like a ninja! you could of knocked on the front  door moron. I did promise not to kill the messenger." He looked at Rui. "Bit late though, Rui already got it. I was about to send a messenger of my own." He said. Then the man left. "Alright then, Rui. Your work here is done my friend. Don't worry, you still get that favor. Make it count though." He said, then opened a gargantua.

He heedlessly walked into the soul society without worry. Of course, it opened in the Rukongai, just outside Seireitei's walls.. But as soon as he arrived he could sense her. Good. That would save him looking for her in the Bermuda triangle. Azazael walked up to one of the four gate and straight past the guardian who tried to stop him. He kicked the smaller door off its hinges and strutted in like it was nothing. He wouldn't normally do anything like this, but he didn't expect to be attacked. They weren't that stupid.

In a burst of sonido he made his way to where Grainne was and stopped a few feet in front of her. "Grainne! Dear, are you ready?!" He said. He looked incredibly excited. Probably because he was. He was smiling, hands in his pockets and bouncing on his heels, ignoring the fact that several shinigami looked incredibly on edge, hands on their swords. The only one in the room besides Grainne who had any sense was Jensen, because he looked completely calm.

Gráinne sighed when she sensed the Coalition portal opening in Rukongai. At least the shielding worked, stopping the portal from opening inside the walls of Seireitei. Ever since Arngrim's death, Gráinne had taken steps to secure Soul Society from outside attack. Part of this initiative included reinforcing the existing barrier around Seireitei to stop artificial portals, as well as spiritual, just in case the enemy somehow gained control of the Coalition's Ark portal. She didn't think the Coalition would mind having to walk for a bit to see her in the name of security.

Gráinne walked to the door and opened it as Jun approached. The young man slammed a folder down on the desk, wished her good luck, and promptly left. Gráinne walked to the window and shook her head as she saw the white-haired young man moonwalking all the way back to Rukongai. She walked back to the desk and picked up the folder. Perusing its contents, she saw that Alexei had been detected on a remote island in the centre of the Bermuda Triangle. She pulled up all of the data she had on the island. It was tiny, only the size of a couple of city blocks, and it was called Haidara. It basically resembled a mountain on the water.

Then, she felt another power signature arrive in Rukongai. It was Azazael. Gráinne ordered her guards to let him pass, knowing that the time was not right to have him killed. There would be too much collateral damage. Gráinne retrieved her sword and walked down to the entrance hall, where Jensen and a few other nervous-looking guards were waiting. She nodded to Jensen and then addressed the guards. "Let him say what he has to say. He won't start anything here on his own. Even he's not that stupid." Azazael arrived soon after. He asked if she was ready to go. She nodded, barely managing to hide the disgust she felt at his very presence.


Gráinne landed on a tree in her bird form, scouting out the area. She then fluttered to the ground and gazed at the facility, transforming back into her normal form. It was time. She waited for Azazael before acting.

As soon as they landed down outside on the island, and Grainne turned back in to a person he stopped and looked at her, very serious. "I'm sure you don't want to be here with me, but you are and without Kai i'm the best hope you have Against Alexai. I've fought him twice, once his clone and once him, with the help of Tadatomo. He is not an easy opponent to beat. So what ever grudge you've got with me, and I'm sure there's more than one reason for you to hate me, you've got to put it aside for now. When this is over you can try beat the hell out of me all you want, but leave it for now. We need to work together or one of us dies today, if we're lucky." He said. For a moment, it would seem almost like Arngrim was talking.

Then Azazael gave her a diabolical smile. "Now with that said, lets go fucking knock!" He said and casually started walking towards the building and started firing cero at the front door. Most missed, blowing holes in the wall, but one hit the door and breached it, allowing them to walk in. Azazeal slammed on the remainder of the door. "Hey Alexai, time to come out to play you piece of garbage!" He shouted into the faciltiy.

Gráinne looked at Azazael with a steely gaze. Despite her own personal feelings - and the fact that Azazael was the Gotei's main enemy, she knew he was right in this case. Alexei Romanov was far too dangerous to be left alive. That kind of situation leads to strange alliances. This was no different. "I accept that this alliance is necessary for the immediate situation, but know this. You are right. Once this mission is complete, we will be enemies again and you will return to Hueco Mundo immediately. Your refusal... would be unwise. Now let's get this over with."

With that, Azazael went to "knock". The Cero King began to spray the front door area with cero. Eventually, the door was blasted open and they went inside. Gráinne entered Toukai straight away, and they confronted Alexei in his throne room. "Alexei Romanov. You are guilty of heinous crimes and for being an all-around danger to everyone. Your punishment is death." She raised her hands in front of her forehead. "Hado #89, Masenko!" She thrust her hands forward and sent the golden beam of energy at the throne, and the man in it.

Alexei couldn't hide his smile, but did almost bust out laughing. When the two came into his throne room. He tapped a panel on his throne to activate a shield that blocked the high leveled kido spell. "Oh, Kai and you two don't even know the half of it. Even Yuri only knows about two thirds of it. Give me a few minutes to finish this paper, then I'll play with you two. By the way, all around danger to everyone? If that was your criteria then everyone with power should commit suicide. As everyone with power is a danger to, well, everyone. What stops them is either their personality, discipline, or out of need."




After Alexei was done reading, he put the paper down and stared the two of them down with a cocky smile. The second the barrier went down, he was in front of Grainne, aiming a slap to her face then spinning into a roundhouse kick at Azazael. "By the way...my kind of evil never sleeps." Even if his body was destroyed, he'd still live on, still be active. But he was gonna make them earn any victory here. He activated his Dark Shell ability. That would make any weak attacks worthless for a while and lessen damage from other attacks.

He'd try to stay between them, and activated another spell when they were close. Illusions of Power. A dark mist covered around them, hopefully infecting his victims. Then their worst fears will come to life, often instigated by Alexei. A battle of wills. And he'll do what it takes to demoralize them using those fears. Nice thing about the illusion was that it protected everyone so that they wouldn't be hurt.

(ooc: Not sure if you saw in chat, but since when did Jun have white hair? XD)

While Grainne was spouting her valiant speech, which Azazael was forced to resist laughing at, he powered up into resurrection segunda. There was no point playing around here. Unlike Arngrim his form was not huge and hulking. He was six foot, with bright blue eyes and dark red skin. A pair of black horns protruded through his long white hair. Azazael leaned against a wall, waiting for Alexai to finish his reading. When he did, the barrier fell and Azazael moved to meet him, intercepting the man's attack at Grainne with a slash from an energy blade that formed as he moved. He ducked the round house kick and tried to cut off the man's foot.

When he was done he spoke and Azazael just grinned. "Oooh so spooky. This guy's the real deal Grainne. A regular Aizen." He said, mocking him. The man released a dark mist and Azazael laughed. That old trick. He looked at Grainne. "When that mist catches hold, your gonna see some trippy shit. Its all an illusion. As I said, we've faught before. I doubt Alexai remembers. But I do." Azazael said.

Gráinne spun to the side when Alexei charged her, and was replaced by Azazael, who attempted to slice Alexei's arm and leg off. Then, a dark mist began to fill the area. Azazael told her that it was some sort of illusory ability that will play tricks on her mind. She didn't know what he was speaking about until she began to see images that tried to evoke her deepest fears. However, knowing it was all an illusion, she simply used her training she had received from Jensen in the aftermath of her rampage in Bogota, and moved forward fuelling herself with willpower by remembering her purpose here.

Gráinne used the cover of the mist to begin charging a Fire Tornado. Being in such a remote area, collateral damage was not an issue. So she would hold nothing back.

Alex stopped his slap and moved it away from the blade. When the arrancar tried to cut off his foot, he simply backflipped and aimed a kick to the chin. After a small chuckle, he responded to the arrancar. "From my understanding, Aizen was a damn fool...and pales in comparison to me..." He heard the arrancar tell the shinigami something. And smiled. Old trick, maybe...but apparently he didn't know everything about it...or failed to share.

She had a stronger will than most...but that didn't mean it would do anything. She would just endure...if she can handle his torment. She should have used that flame to blow the mist away. Instead of him being burned, out of the fire came Riku, screaming. Then Jensen. Then Aki. Then Rena. Then Raiden and Elayne. One by one, her captains, her officers, her friends came out of the flames, a charred corpse. The last one was Diath. "Why...why did you do this...sis...ter..." That wasn't the only thing.

Chains and cuffs started to go after her, to imprison her. It should be noted that even though she thought she used any of her abilities, the reality would be that she didn't, and no energy was lost.

The arrancar on the other hand, was a different beast. Falling apart and not being in control...well, that last one should be easy and fun to do...

Everything warped and changed for Azazael and he knew the effect of Alexai's helucination was kicking in. The man didn't seem to be able to get at him though. Azazael had fears, but they weren't very easy to attack him with. And then the ground shook. Azazael froze in place, as something big took another step. No. It was back. Azazael took a step forward and spun around to face a 50ft tall duck, with glowing red eyes. The massive fowl cocked its head and quacked, shaking the area with a sonic blast.

"No. I seen you die!" He shouted at the duck, which responded with a quack. It lunged, pecking at him and he reflexively dived out of the way of its mighty beak as it smashed into the ground, throwing up a shockwave. Azazael spun and launched a cero at the duck with a scream. The mighty blast of energy smashed into the duck and blasted off chunks of feather.

"Begone fowl bird!" he roared, and the duck responded with a mighty quack, slapping him with its huge wings. Azazael hit a wall and went through it. "I will not be bested by you again! This is my sandwich!" He shouted, holding his ham sandwich close, and kicked off the ground, screaming he smashed into the duck as it pecked at him. He passed through its head like a bullet exploding blood and bone and beak everywhere.

Azazeal flipped and fell to the ground, landing on his feet. Breathing heavily, he let out a sigh, and tried to take a bit of his hard won sandwich. When he heard a quack. And another. And then a hundred. He paled, and turned slowly to find a swarm of ducks before him, eyes glowing, quacking incesently. "NOOOOOOO!" He screamed as they swarmed the hollow king, and stole his sandwich from him.

Gráinne had almost finished forming her Fire Tornado, when the game changed. Instead of her flames consuming Alexei where he stood, the tornado stalled. To Gráinne's horror, the charred corpse Riku Tomoshibi emerged, screaming inconsolably. Then, Gráinne watched aghast as more corpses emerged. Jensen, Aki, Elayne, Rena, Raiden... her captains and friends all emerged, bloody and burnt. Gráinne spoke, her voice trembling. "This isn't real! What is going on?" The corpse of Diath spoke, condemning her younger sister for abandoning them, for causing their deaths. Tears began to stream down Gráinne's face as she struggled to find some way to deal with what she saw. "No! This is an illusion!" Or was it? Gráinne's belief crumbled as the spell's grip tightened. She was suddenly filled with inescapable despair. How could she have forsaken them? They had trusted her to lead them, to ensure their safety. But she had let them down, all of them. Suddenly Gráinne felt something clamping around her wrists and ankles. The scorched forms of her friends converged on her, and she was utterly helpless. They transformed into black metal bars, and surrounded the Captain-Commander, closing in around her. The air around Gráinne suddenly became very heavy and close, and she struggled to breath. Sweat poured from her forehead and she began to feel sick from the claustrophobia. A voice spoke from the darkness, chilling her to the bone. "I... have tasted... the flesh of fallen angels..." Gráinne fell... alone.

A light suddenly shined through the darkness, illuminating Gráinne's prison. A new voice spoke, overruling the one that condemned her. "Rise, Gráinne Xios. It is not your time. Remember your purpose here. You must end him now, for the good of the world." The light faded somewhat so Gráinne could see its source. Gráinne understood now the familiarity she had felt. The voice belonged to Marie Reinhart. "I didn't spend all of that time training you for you to fall here! Wake up! Finish this!" Gráinne focused on the light, knowing now what she must do.

On the outside of the mental war being waged, Gráinne's hands raised up to point at her forming tornado. The tornado increase dramatically in intensity, threatening to consume the three of them. The black mist was dissipated by the sheer force of the wind and fire, causing the spell to drop. Gráinne did not say anything, simply directing the tornado towards Alexei, trying to drown him in flames, just like he had tried to drown her in darkness.

Alex grinned maliciously as he tapped into the Arrancar's fear. Ducks...who would have thought? But something more concerning about the shinigami. She didn't fall into darkness...instead she rose like the sun. Too bad his mist's second ability forbid anything. So whatever she wanted to do, she only saw in her mind, not what really happened, and if she had a wonderful amount of control of her power, she'd feel that nothing was lost. Out of the flames came whoever that voice was, probably her zanpakutou, scowling at her. "Not me you dumbass..." Whatever the spirit appeared, she started to puke blood. Then she burst into black flames and went to consume her once more. In the woman's mind, the arrancar likewise turned on her, going after her exactly like a zombie would...but on much more even ground.

On the other arrancar, he wasn't alone, aside from the duck army, arose a duck/T-rex hybrid monster that was leading them. But it was much stronger than the ducks...about as strong and fast as the arrancar...and that sandwich was gonna be his!

Ok, the fear of ducks was hysterical...he was twisting that knife so hard right now. But Alexei decided to mainly focus on Grainne...since she was fighting back his illusions pretty well. He had to show her his will was absolute...

(ooc: Sorry for the semi-crappy post, this illusion is long lasting)