With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
A small figure stood outside the laboratory. There was no movement from this figure. It simply stood there, waiting. It had an appointment with the person who currently ran this laboratory. It had been set up after Yukishiro-taichou had agreed to reattach what had been taken from him at the hands of that Espada. This figure was of course, Izaya Kogi.
His jacket fluttered in the breeze and he held his one arm behind his back. Closing his eyes, he thought about how this meeting would go. He had heard...odd things about Kurotsuchi-taichou and he didn't know exactly what to expect from this meeting. Surely he would agree to help him. He might also offer some "upgrades". This wasn't beyond the enigmatic captain of the Twelfth Company.
However, at the moment he was simply waiting for entrance to the labs. He still had to talk to the man, after all. Most likely a scan would be made of his left arm to figure out how the new one was to be made. It was most unfortunate that his arm had been destroyed; he didn't much care for all this running about to get back to where he once was.
It was not often that shinigami voluntarily sought the expertise of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and in Sanmaru's opinion, hesitance was not the appropriate response. Running for the hills screaming might have been more appropriate. Not that Sanmaru was one for screaming. Or running.
"You are Yotogi Izaya?" the bespectacled man asked, not making the faintest attempt to comfort the one-armed shinigami. Normally, he deduced, this would be a job for someone of the Fourth Division. But from what he'd read, it was simpler. "Kurotsuchi-Taichou is working. I can assist you for the time being."
When Sanmaru said "working" what he really meant was preforming horrifying experiments on some grotesquely mutated hollow or arrancar. Or soul. But Izaya didn't need to know that.
"This way," Sanmaru instructed, turning back through the hall and leading Izaya through the lab. In the front, things were mostly simple. Supplies, like syringes and test tubes, and stacks of notes and findings, lined the shelves and counters. The floor was tiled, and computers beeped and fingers flew over keyboards as lower members of the research division worked. Sanmaru left through a sounder hallway, and continued until he reached a testing room. An empty one.
No need to scare him off. The captain had already suggested retractable nails.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Izaya was approached by a bespectacled man who dwarfed him by about half a foot. This, however, was most likely the main physical difference between them. This man was very thin with neutral colored hair and eyes. He looked the opposite of someone like Kin. His hair was black and his hair was grey. He looked as if he could just blend in to a wall. That might actually be handy in his Company.
"You are Yotogi Izaya?"
Breathing a bit, Izaya's face physically twitched at his old name. It still hurt a bit being reminded of what he used to be. Living with the knowledge that he had been disowned by his own family was still kind of hard to process. However, he was used to this by this point and did his best not to get angry about something so arbitrary.
"Kogi Izaya."
"Kurotsuchi-Taichou is working. I can assist you for the time being."
At this, he simply nodded. There wasn't any real need for him to converse with this man more than he needed to. All Izaya needed from this man was either an arm or a meeting with someone who could. This would be the extent of their relationship; he wouldn't even bother to remember this man's name.
"This way."
Izaya followed him through the laboratory. He tried not to look too much at what went on around in this are of the Twelfth Barracks. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw syringes and test tubes. He did his best to not see what he didn't need too. He had heard a lot of rumors about Kurotsuchi-taichou and this whole Company. Eventually, he was led into a test room. He simply looked at his guide and rolled back the one shoulder he did have.
As they entered the room, Sanmaru rechecked the chart in his arm. They already had his medical information from the fourth. Blood type, a recent antibody check...he was free of infection at the least, though the nerves were damaged and after receiving his new arm he would most likely need to retrain himself.
He gestured to the table, the only seat in the room. There was a counter along the wall. Though Sanmaru didn't expect Kurotsuchi's methods to include putting his patients under, there was always the "unfortunate" chance that Izaya would complain to someone. Likely Unohana.
"Kurotsuchi-Taichou will most likely have questions about the espada you fought," Sanmaru warned. He didn't mention the chance that Kurotsuchi would also sneak surveillance equipment into the new arm. The tall shinigami shifted around the room, lifting materials he would need. It would be a quick fix compared to the fourth division's usual methods.
"He should be finished soon. He'll come then."
And Sanmaru left to deliver the message, thus initiating the time-old tradition of medicine men ignoring their patients for half an hour or so.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
The man gestured him to the table and Izaya complied. He had to hop up a little to get seated upon it as he wasn't exactly the tallest person in the Seireitei. This wasn't his greatest feat of agility, but it did hurt his ribs just a bit. Those weren't healing almost at all. He went without the bandages just to make it seem they no longer hurt him. In all actuality, however, the opposite was true. Going without the bandages meant that he could bend more and often did to try to emulate that he was okay. That. Fucking. Hurt.
"Kurotsuchi-Taichou will most likely have questions about the espada you fought,"
"Do you know what kind of things he would want to know about her?"
"He should be finished soon. He'll come then."
As he said this, the bespectacled man left. This left Izaya mostly alone to his devices for about a half an hour. During this time, he mainly just sat there on the table. He laid down and tried to get a little sleep. This was a losing battle that he fought constantly. Deep circles had formed under his eyes during this period of being a one-armed man. Maybe this problem was with his konpaku and the constant tension wouldn't let him rest.
Maybe.
All he knew was that Kurotsuchi-taichou could most likely fix him. If his arm was fixed; his konpaku might be able to be healed. Then his ribs would be fixed and he could continue training. Then, he could get his revenge.
"Do you know what kind of things he would want to know about her?" Izaya asked. Sanmaru paused outside the door. He recalled when Mayuri had asked about his shikai - yes, he would likely be very thorough.
"Most likely, more than you'll be able to recall," Sanmaru said, leaving the other shinigami to his own devices.
Half an hour later, Mayuri entered the room with a manic grin. If he was lucky, there would be residual evidence of the fight on this shinigami, and he would be able to study this Espada. What luck!
Pleasantries thrown to the wind, he pulled a syringe from his belt and began to prepare it at the counter. It would be much easier to just shove some flesh-repairing serum into a syringe...but easier didn't prepare him for when the fool marched back into battle.
"Tell me--how long did you fight this arrancar? Did it release? Display any unusual abilities?" Mayuri asked, grinning to himself.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"Tell me--how long did you fight this arrancar? Did it release? Display any unusual abilities?"
Izaya looked at the odd captain and closed his eyes for a moment. It was a painful memory; it wasn't the funnest thing to relive. He remembered that she had said something before firing that blast against him. She had said "Gran Rey Cero". Not knowing what that meant, he didn't know how interesting Kurotsuchi-taichou would find it but he would tell him anyway. Either way, he had to establish something rather early on.
"Kurotsuchi-taichou, I only 'fought' the Espada for a couple seconds. I fought her subordinates for minutes on end though. She didn't release her ability but did use something called a Gran Rey Cero. That's what did some much damage to me."
At that, he just swung his legs dangling off the table just a little. Having heard such rumors about this particular captain, he was unsure about exactly how this encounter would go. It was just the slightest bit frightening to be honest.
[Sorry about the wait...I was totally not researching how to create a rift in the universe using doritos and diet cola.]
Mayuri vaguely bobbed his head as the lesser shinigami explained his fight. Her subordinates could be equally interesting, and, as he prepared a freshly sterilized syringe, he asked, "Oh? And what were those subordinates like?"
He had only seen cero himself, perhaps there had been a few hollows with special ceros...none of them were particularly interesting though, and so he found difficulty recollecting them. He'd lost interest long ago, but perhaps this other cero would resurrect that interest.
He tapped the syringe and pressed the plunger to remove the excess air. It was mixed with some of his surveillance equipment, and he would be able to put it under the guise of actually caring for this man. "You may feel some slight discomfort," he said. Really, he would feel exploding pain. Growing back a limb was not at all pleasant. "Most likely you won't die."
He plunged the syringe into Izaya's arm and stood back to watch the show, smiling expectantly.
Last Edit: Sept 17, 2012 22:12:23 GMT -5 by Wicked
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Izaya looked at the strange man who seemed to bob about almost eerily as he spoke. It was haunting, forewarning even. However, Izaya needed this limb back for several reasons. It was more than just not having an arm. It was also about fixing his konpaku and being a real Shinigami again. As such, he had to put up with this excessively creepy captain. With a small gulp, he recollected what Adela was like.
"Well, there was two of them. They both had brightly colored hair and the one I directly fought had a segmented sword that could act as a whip. They looked as if they were twins. I think because of this they had to stay within a pretty small area of each other. When I was able to actually separate them, the one I was fighting lost her hollow powers I think. The mere effort of blocking my attack caused a laceration on her side from her shoulder to her hip."
That was all he remembered. Well, for full disclosure, he remembered hitting on the quiet one but didn't feel that was relevant. As a matter of fact, he hadn't told anyone about that part. Izaya wasn't the type to be overly emotional so something like hitting on an enemy during battle was the type of thing he kept to himself as a rule of thumb.
"You may feel some slight discomfort,"
At this Izaya simply nodded. He was going to regrow a limb here, it wasn't supposed to be a pleasant process as he understood. He had already accounted on it being significantly unpleasant before coming. That much he was prepared for.
"Most likely you won't die."
At this Izaya's jaw dropped. He didn't get much time to protest, however. Before he could contain his surprise, Kurotsuchi-taichou had plunged a syringe into what was left of his arm (really just his shoulder). As he backed away, Izaya began to feel slight discomfort. This stage didn't last long however, the real pain began quickly.
It was worse than having lost his arm. Feeling as if what was left of his arm was on fire and being stabbed simultaneously, he grasped at the missing appendage. This did no good as the wound was opening up and the new arm was beginning to grow. Throwing himself down on the table, he tried the best not to scream out in pain. Unfortunately, that was hard to do. The best he could do was muffle his cries of pain. At this point, he didn't care what Kurotsuchi-taichou thought of him. This pain was unbearable.
"I think because of this they had to stay within a pretty small area of each other. When I was able to actually separate them, the one I was fighting lost her hollow powers I think." That got Mayuri's attention. He had yet to study something like that, but it would be quite entertaining to start. He sincerely hoped Izaya reentered battle.
He couldn't help the grin spanning his face.
The boy started screaming, and Mayuri's grin faded. He rolled his eyes. "Oh don't be so dramatic."
The pain would be intense for a while, but the arm would grow back long before the pain finally abated. There was a reason Mayuri tried not to lose his limbs very often. Useful as regrowing limbs was, it was not particularly pleasant.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.