Bleach Hereafter RPG

Track: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1snr9wqlfr8

Well now, that was the most sensible thing to do… if he had a lot of time. The order was to find out and eliminate the traitor quickly, only that he didn’t know they were going to meet with somebody outside of the Order. Yael was in a predicament, Niji’s plan would surely bring home the bacon, they could even know more about this other party, and possibly hold the other fullbringer hostage.

“Well, this mission is supposed to be a one-time operation. But you have a point there.”

The challenge now was how to track these two people after, as well as the mysterious fullbringer without blowing their cover. Was it possible that Athena had access to Zoren’s phone to track his location? But certainly, if he goes to suspicious locations, he would be careful to jam the device or leave his phone somewhere else so as not to get caught.

Before he could think about their next course of action, a powerful blast disturbed the area causing some of the houses to turn into rubble, thankfully it seemed that the residential area was empty of people for some strange reason.

“What was that?!” Zoren searched for the direction of the attack, meanwhile the mysterious fullbringer ran off to escape the scene. Zelreicht, on the other hand, was left dumbfounded and confused.

“You didn’t stay true to your word, Zoren. I’ll have this reported to my bosses.”

“Don’t let the fullbringer escape! We can use her as intel,” Yael instructed Niji while he went off to meet the traitor.

“Not so fast, fullbringer!” the white-haired guy muttered from a distance, aiming his SSG 82 at the woman who met with the two guys earlier. Instead of bullets, the gun fired small bolts of reishi that would electrify anything or anyone it hit. It was also equipped with a binding spell to immobilize its targets.

Meanwhile, since their cover was already blown up by the explosion, Yael had no choice but to face the traitor. The quincy then leaped towards the roof and jumped down immediately where Zoren was, striking him with his sword. The priestly-robed man was caught off guard at first, shielding himself with his right arm, which caused serious bleeding. He then activated his cross which turned into a flintlock, and fired at the blonde teen, the reishi infused gun would fire a small reishi bullet which would burst into flames once it came into contact with anything.

Yael successfully blocked it with his blade, however, the impact was too strong, he was thrown off and he tumbled near the ash-blonde fullbringer but immediately recovered as if nothing happened. He then averted his gaze briefly from his opponent to meet with emerald eyes, “Now kid, which side are you on?”

[469] Niji

The winds rippled around them as the building exploded, deflecting bits of rubble and debris from Yael and Niji.  She had a moment to notice the man with the spiritual rifle shooting before Yael rushed off to engage his spies.  Amazingly, Niji's estimation of the Quincy went down once again, wondering if all of their spiritually enhanced members were just a venn diagram of manipulative little shits or murder-happy psychos.  So far every Quincy she had really encountered fit into one of the two categories, or both.

Either way, she decided it was easy enough to follow along with Yael's schemes.  She called the wind beneath her and hopped lightly up to the roof of a non-ruined building.  Several birds manifested nearby, birds of the swift family; and so aptly named.  As far as flight speed went, these ones could easily keep track of even fast moving vehicles.  The birds soared overhead, ensuring Niji did not lose her quarry, and keeping an eye on Yael's progress.  She ran quietly along the rooftops, effortlessly aided by the wind to keep pace with the fullbringer on the street.  The sniper's bullets appeared to crackle with electric energy as they smashed into the pavement near the other fullbringer, some sort of tazer round, perhaps?  

She silently watched the accused fullbringer, trying to figure out what her abilities might be; trying to get a read of her attitude.  She was fleeing, not fighting.  Maybe Niji could simply get ahead of her and convince her to stop?  If she was associated with one of the other groups, Niji did not want to antagonize them; the Noelle, or whatever her name actually was, had made her future potential discussions with the shinigami difficult.  If this woman belonged to one of the organizations Janus had told her about...well, she didn't want her only allies in the spiritual world to be the Quincy, who had proven to be generally not the most trustworthy of folk.

So Niji continued to follow and watch, hoping that maybe the Quincy sniper could actually hit the target and she wouldn't have to reveal herself.

“Who are you? And what are you talking about picking sides? I don’t know which one to---” before the boy could continue speaking, the blonde teen interrupted him, “Well, that guy just tried to sell you off to some shit. What do you make of it? Are you fine with that?”

Yael then lunged forward again to his enemy, swinging his sword as he drew closer, a concentrated amount of reishi surrounded the blade, the emissary raised his hand, releasing the spiritual energy towards the guy.

Zoren was able to dodge, though, the wall adjacent to him got enclosed in ice. He then countered by firing the same bullets from his flintlock as he moved around the blonde quincy. Meanwhile, Zelreicht was still standing and observing the action-packed scene.

The emissary moved in the opposite direction as he evaded the gunshots, one of the shots almost got past his instinctive movements, the bullet was about to hit him, when he crouched down and rolled to the other side, however, it would now find its way to the confused fullbringer.

“Tsk,” he immediately ran towards the direction of the ash-blonde and tackled him to dodge the incoming attack, “Are you done drinking the view? Fight or you gonna get yourself killed,” He rose to his feet again, and prepared in defense should the priestly robed guy strike again. For a moment, his eyes scanned for Niji, though he couldn't totally avert his gaze from the enemy, at least, he could still sense her presence within the vicinity.

“So it seems, rumors have spread in the Vatican again that they’re trying to hunt down those who are against them eh? Gabriel?”

---

Meanwhile, after two missed shots, the white-haired guy finally caught the fullbringer who was trying to escape. The bullet connected to her body and transformed into a thin spiritual electric wire wrapped around her chest.

He caught sight of another fullbringer, thinking it was an enemy, he aimed his scope at the ginger-haired. Peering through the lens, he got a clearer view and realized it was the company of the blonde teen they were working with. Using hirenkyaku, the quincy agent drew closer to the captive and after a while, joined Yael to confront the mole.

[376] Niji

Niji flinched instinctively as her birds alerted her that the sniper was aiming at her, but he seemed to think better of the situation.  She nodded at the sniper as he swiftly moved to confirm the captive.  The woman hadn't done anything unusual, and Niji found herself wondering if she was even really a fullbringer, or just a mortal middleman that knew of the organization, similar to Matthias.  She hoped that the sniper was actually on Yael's side, and just a bit of a moron that didn't understand the value of counterintelligence, rather than another secret ally of the woman that was about to whisk her away to safety.  It was not really her problem either way, and she called upon the wind to rush her back to the roof above Yael's fight.  

To Niji's eyes, it seemed Yael was on the defensive; apparently the potential spy had not decided on his loyalties, and Yael was trying to talk him out of betrayal.  The robed man was yelling accusations as he leveled the flintlock at their cover, seemingly unaware of Niji's presence on the rooftop.  His shot went wide as a pair of pigeons suddenly flew at his face, leaving him distracted as the sidewalk erupted under his right leg and clamped down, the sudden growth of earth muffling the wet crack of a snapping femur.  It was not a particularly delicate solution, but it seemed likely the best way to force a surrender before it got too bloody; so far no one had taken a lethal stab or shot, after all.

Yael didn’t respond to the robed man’s accusations. To be honest, he was already on the fence working for the Vatican since Sofia found out their true intentions. He was about to strike again when suddenly, two pigeons dove down to Zoren to displace him.

“Aaaargh!” Zoren shooed away the birds as they continued to attack him, accidentally pulling the trigger as he raised the gun upwards, missing his intended target. The shot resounded in the air, but nobody in the neighborhood seemed to get alarmed. Perhaps this area was a ghost town after all. At the same time, the ground pulled the robed man down, swallowing his right leg, thus breaking his femur, preventing him from escaping. Certainly, it didn’t come from the two other quincies as they were also caught in surprise as him, so he turned his gaze above and noticed the ginger-haired fullbringer. So, it was her fault.

“Hmph. You have no place in this situation, fullbringer. You don’t know what’s going on in this decrepit organization. It would be best that you stay away from those two, if I were you.” the tanned man warned.

Glenelg fired his weapon at the limped quincy, binding him with the same spell he cast on the fullbringer, “ Enough of the talk, Zoren. It was enough evidence that you are turning against the Order and the Vatican,” the white-haired gunslinger deadpanned towards Niji. It wouldn’t be safe to talk about internal matters in front of a stranger, not to mention, the fullbringer they just captured, “I’ll take it from here, Gabriel. Thanks for your help.”


“Hmph, my help? You only served me as bait. Clearly, you were also following his tracks and you only wanted outside aid to hasten the arrest.” the emissary then caught a glimpse of the young fullbringer, “What about him?”

Glenelg walked over to Zoren first, and knocked him out with the butt of his rifle. He did the same with the fullbringer hostage. “His identity might’ve been exposed to the enemy already. It would be best if you can take him out of here.”

Yael breathed heavily, reluctant at the suggestion of his comrade, "What? Now you want me to become a babysitter?"

The white-haired man then lowered his weapon and transformed it back to a quincy cross as he spoke, "Eh? Just take him to somewhere safe. I just assume the enemies here were already keeping an eye on him."

Realizing that it really wasn't much hassle, the younger teen finally agreed.,”Fine.”

"Wait, but what about the scholarship Zoren promised?" the ash-blonde protested.

"Oh? So he did lure you into joining us. Look kid, we barely have enough funds to support our operation. If you caught a glimpse of our office. I understand you need some higher source of income to support your medical studies. But this isn't the job for you. I'm sorry for breaking your expectations."

"B-but..." Zelreicht muttered in disappointment. It was only natural to feel bad, and if he had the power, he might've retaliated against these bastards for manipulating him. But he was still trying to understand how his fullbring worked, and it was really not his concern as of the moment since he had his studies to worry about. With his parent's death, he had no one left to consider a family, and he had to learn how to live on his own.

Yael just stared at him, while he understood his predicament, the blonde quincy had nothing to offer as well. He was busy with supernatural affairs, and he had a major decision he needed to resolve. Seeing that the conversation was a dead end, he looked in Niji's direction and spoke, “Well, I think that solves our problem for now,” implying that his mission was done.

[640] Niji

Niji stood nearby listening to the exchange, unfortunately this whole stalking and fighting thing had taken more than fifteen minutes, so she would have to reschedule with Matthias.  But overhearing this conversation was informative on its own.  It made some degree of sense that spiritual organizations might be hurting for money usable in the normal world; but surely the deep pockets of the Vatican would cover such an important organization.  A very large part of her wanted to walk over to the young fullbring and hand him a business card and offer to help with medical school.  It have helped a confused boy in a situation she had navigated without aid, but she could not shake the feeling that this might just be some scam.  Her experience with Quincy thus far had not been positive, and Yael (who obviously was wealthy enough to be a country hopping traveler with his own driver) had been quick to point out her wealth after she had agreed to help him on this mission. 

Hrm. The fact that the entire area they went to appeared to be cleared of people could point to this all being an act.   After all, no one had even gotten injured until she had snapped the Quincy's leg.  And once she actually got involved in the fighting everything stopped practically instantly.  The boy seemed genuine, though; but she was not a telepath, just extremely skilled at reading people; he might not even be in on it.  Niji did not think Matthias was in on it, but who knows, maybe he had some part in arranging this.  He had seemed legitimately surprised when Yael arrived, though.  It was probably still worth scheduling a second meeting with the man.  She nodded back at Yael, her face unreadable, "I suppose this was your initial desired outcome, so congratulations on your successful mission."

After everything was settled, Glenelg was joined in by Athena to secure the capture of Zoren and the mysterious fullbringer. The white haired girl approached the blonde quincy to thank and apologize for the trouble and Yael assured her that it was nothing and was just doing his job. It was a different response as it was with the sniper, but their exchange earlier was more of a tease.

Yael approached Zelreicht first, “Well, it looks like you’re coming with us.” He then nodded at Niji, and motioned for the two fullbringers to follow him and get in his car.

“So, we’re going back to the restaurant? Or where else can I drop you off?” the teen quincy asked as he started the engine of his car. His eyes met with the fullbringer’s for a brief moment and averted his gaze on the road, ”Uh… thanks. It might take a longer time for me to figure out what’s happening if not for your help.” Niji might wonder about the blonde teen’s change in his personality, but that was just how it was. The meeting at the quincy orphanage had led to a major turning point in his life. He was beginning to understand that the world does not revolve around him, and that many other people suffered or might suffer a similar fate as his. Quite ironically, since he was working for the Church, he didn’t seem to learn the lesson in the four corners of the religious building, but rather outside, as he explored the world. Not to mention, his growing relationship with Valentina. Before, the relationships he had with many women were shallow and merely promiscuous. He didn’t care about their feelings so long as they could satisfy each others’ lust, it was fine. It was enough. At first, he thought it would be the same with the brunette, but the moment he saw her cry after their second meeting confirmed that there was more to it than physical desire. It was something more profound and deep, and as he described it, he found his freedom in her.

The long silence between them was broken when he remembered how he acted towards the ginger-haired lady in their first encounter and he felt the need to apologize, “Uh… I know our first meeting wasn’t that good. I had been quite rude, but uh… I apologize. Don’t know if that would change anything but yeah…”

Whether or not Niji would accept it, he left it to chance, but at least he made peace with it. It was uncertain if they would meet again, considering the big decisions he had to make, but hopefully, if this would be their last, it left a better impression on her.

[465] Niji