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.
Suddenly he felt himself being moved about and then dumped onto a hard floor. He looked around the place in what felt like a drunken haze. It was white here, much too white. There was even a pink haired man dressed in white. He wore glasses and seemed a little scrawny looking. No, kind of lanky. It didn't really matter to him. Turning his head slightly, he saw Jeanne holding the maiden. Oh, he must have been stuffed inside that. Wait, that evil bipolar bitch had him inside that damn torture device? What the hell!?
"I know he isn't much to look at but I hope this vizard will be a suitable replacement for the one that escaped."
Alexei shot her a curious glance. What was going on here? He was a suitable replacement for what? What did that pink-haired nerdy bastard want? He shot him a glance as well. His zanpakuto was nowhere to be found and all those voices in his head were currently quiet.
"Lady Jeanne, what am I a suitable replacement for?"
He saw her take his sword from the closet-like structure. Standing up, he started to walk over toward her. He took two steps and fell to the floor. Something was still hurting in his midsection. He then remembered that he had been impaled by the halberd. He groaned a little. It was tender a little, enough so that moving around was difficult. Dammit, why did he have to get impaled in his core?
Jeanne ignored the boy, he is of little importance now. He was no longer her concern and that was just fine. She did giggle at Szayel's comment though, it was quite amusing. "The boy wouldn't have been able to reach it even if he knew where it was." A true fact, as it was far beyond Alexei's reach unless he was double jointed.
Jeanne was getting bored of this exchange and it was her tea time. She walked past Alexei to Szayel. Presenting the Zanpakuto to him, Jeanne decided to answer his unspoken question. "A gift is a gift Szayel-sama." She did not have anything at the moment that would require his services.
Her future goals were another matter. Right now, nothing in her plans required Szayel. Her gift was just to get on his good side.
Once Szayel took the sword, Jeanne turned to close her maiden. Alexei was continually ignored throughout this engagement. Placing the maiden on her back with the straps she attached to it. She gave Szayel one more look with a genuine smile. "We should do this again, perhaps with tea."
The boy looked around, suitably disoriented, and looked to Jeane. "Lady Jeanne, what am I a suitable replacement for?"
Szayel smirked. What indeed.
"The boy wouldn't have been able to reach it even if he knew where it was," Jeanne replied with a giggle, ignoring the boy's question and holding out the boy's sword. Accepting the sword, Szayel chuckled lightly. "A gift is a gift, Szayel-sama."
While Szayel didn't believe she didn't want something - most likely this was to gain his favor - he was busy thinking where he would begin with the boy. Likely he would begin with taking samples and patching the boy up - though the boy appeared stable it would be annoying to have to carry him around. Rather, it would be annoying to have to order Xuan to carry the boy around.
"We should do this again, perhaps with tea."
"Very well, Jeane-kun, I accept," Szayel replied, returning Jeanne's smile. A pleasantry; he was smiling because he was thinking of how he had left off before, and where he would continue. He would have to start from scratch. "Perhaps we will."
Szayel looked towards a wall, ignoring the boy for the time being. "Xuan, come."
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
He looked at Jeanne as she simply sat there. She did absolutely nothing to acknowledge him. That bitch. Shooting another look at the nerdy looking guy, Alexei ran through his brain to try to think of what could possibly be going on? Was he to be some kind of slave for this man now? Some kind of pawn in his game? What the hell was this. The evil bipolar bitch wasn't saying anything that would tip him off as to what he was going to be used for. Great.
"A gift is a gift Szayel-sama."
He blinked hard. He was a gift now? What was this? He figured they were in Los Noches but he didn't know where they were within it. Was this some high-ranking Arrancar? Was he the head of something important? Godammit, why was this so hard?
Listening as Szayel accepted him as a gift, Alexei just got angrier. He couldn't help but feel like this was completely wrong. There was nothing that could work as a solution in the problem of "What the hell is going on?" Alexei mentally just gave up, and decided to sit there complacently until it was all over.
However, something inside of him made him speak up as the pink-haired man called for his assistant.
Alexei was confused and angry, she could feel it from him. Too bad for him that she didn't care what happens to him. Whatever instruments to remove samples, needles to draw blood, or the possibility of dissection was Szayel's business.
She shot Alexei a smile as she left toward the door. The boy would have some fun here soon, maybe that hollow would pop out and give them some interesting results. But again, it was not her concern.
With another curtsy Jeanne left for tea and cake. So help them if it is not prepared.
It did not take long for Xuan to arrive; good, because Szayel did not want to waste time. The white-haired boy appeared, smirking down at the boy on the floor. As he approached, he laughed, "Another one?"
"Hai." Szayel poked at his glasses, as though to adjust them. Futile; they would not move. They were part of his mask. As the girl left, a patch of wall closed down behind her. The boy would not be escaping, and leaving an open door could potentially allow a window. "A gift from Jeanne-kun."
"What's going on here?" the boy said. Szayel looked to him, coolly at first, and somehow managed to smile ear-to-ear without losing that frigid air to his gaze.
"I'm sorry, Vizard-kun, we've ignored you haven't we? I am Szayel Aporro Granz, Sexta Espada and head of research here in Los Noches," the effeminate espada drawled as Xuan neared the boy. He looked to Xuan, gestured upwards with one hand, and then rested his hand on his hips. The other still held the boy's zanpakuto. Xuan bent down and grabbed for the boy's collar to lift him up, and Szayel continued. "You are going to aide me in my research, Vizard-kun. Now come, come, I have samples to take."
Xuan snickered as he lifted the boy. Szayel almost made it sound like the vizard was going to assist him by looking through a microscope or dissecting a frog. What his master had neglected to mention is that Alexi was the subject of the research, and would most likely be the thing on the other end of the microscope. He started to walk, sort of pulling Alexi along. Maybe the boy would be able to walk, maybe not. Xuan hardly cared.
Maybe that was his first clue.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
He gave Jeanne a cold stare as she smiled and just left. That evil bipolar bitch never even said "Sorry". He had no clue where he was within Las Noches and even less of a clue who this Szayel character was. What the hell was going on here? The conversation that occurred between Szayel and his assistant did very little to clear up his confusion. All it confirmed was that he was some kind of object now and was apparently passed from Jeanne to Szayel.
"I'm sorry, Vizard-kun, we've ignored you haven't we? I am Szayel Aporro Granz, Sexta Espada and head of research here in Los Noches."
That was interesting; he was finally being acknowledged. And with such manners, how polite. Alexei looked up at Szayel and gave him a small smile, he seemed kind of cold but maybe that was just his way. He couldn't help that as much as Alexei could help being socially awkward or Jeanne could help being an evil bipolar bitch. He decided to address the Arrancar to ease some of the tension.
"Greetings Szayel-sama, I am Alexei Romanov."
He really hoped this man would refer to him as that from now on. Being called "Vizard-Kun" was rather annoying and a little derogatory.
"You are going to aide me in my research, Vizard-kun. Now come, come, I have samples to take."
Oh, so he was to be a slave. He was most likely going to be running around with equipment moving it to and fro. That was just plain annoying. However, he supposed it beat simply walking around the human world with nothing to do. When Xuan picked him up he began to simply walk behind him. Perhaps they were leading him to the lab where he would be helping. Perhaps.
"Greetings, Szayel-sama," the boy replied with a small smile, "I am Alexei Romanov."
Szayel considered whether or not he would use the boy's name. He didn't feel obligated to, though it might be more convenient when he retrieved Kaki if he didn't have to switch between pet names. He thought back to his conversation with Stour, how his fraccion had softened just a little bit on the vizard and how at first Szayel found it amusing, decided it would make her easier to deal with, and how later it changed.
It was decided: Xuan was not to call the vizard by his real name.
"Come along," Szayel continued, choosing not to address the boy directly at all. A few thoughts, and the hall took a turn to a stairway. Not bothering to glance behind himself, Szayel continued down.
Xuan knew that they were headed for the lab, and as they approached, he kept a closer eye on Alexei. He wondered if the vizard would try to run away, or fight at all, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he waited, watched.
When the doors opened, Xuan entered and glanced over the walls. As usual, the lab was immaculate, clean test tubes and jars and flasks and a locked supply of chemicals adorned one wall, and samples lined another. In the center, there was a table, and jutting from the table was the usual assortment of tools. Scalpels, bandages, tools for applying stiches.
"On the table," Szayel ordered, looking to Alexei and then moving to the counter. After setting down the boy's sword, his hand waved over a counter, and a compartment emerged. From the now-revealed drawer, he pulled a syringe and began to prepare it for a blood sample. "Xuan, put those scalpels away."
"Fine," he agreed, lifting the tray of tools and moving to set it on a counter further away from the boy.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Alexei simply followed along as per Szayel's orders. There was no point in trying anything else as he was in unfamiliar territory and wasn't much of a fighter. He stayed close to Xuan and tried to seem friendly. However, the white-haired boy simply did not seem very interested in being polite. With a sort of Russian charisma, he smiled and looked around.
After a while he simply nudged Xuan a little and politely asked a question worth asking. "Xuan-san, where are we going?"
His question seemed to answer itself as they entered a decent sized room that seemed to be filled with equipment. So, this was where he was going to be working it seemed. He began to look around as he walked into the room.
"On the table."
Alexei noticed that Xuan wasn't moving to get on the table so he decided the order must have been issued to him. He walked to the table and hopped onto it. He looked at Szayel as he made a compartment appear. That was rather interesting. Alexei didn't notice Xuan removing the tools; he simply remained fixated on the pink-haired man who seemed to control the whole room.
"Szayel-sama, what do you need me to do?" the boy asked, causing Xuan to raise a brow. The boy still didn't understand? Did the hearts and kidneys and brains suspended in fluids not tip him off? Did he not realize that he was in only one room of Szayel's laboratory, that the complex was equipped to house at least several hundred subjects?
Szayel was not bothered, rather turned around and held up the needle. With a bemused smile, he said, "My my, normally my subjects aren't so eager. Do you even know why you are here?" He paused, placing his free hand on his hip, and then gestured at the boy's clothing. "Take off your shirt. It will only get in the way."
"Now hold out your arm," the Espada ordered coolly. He would, at some point, order the boy to stop speaking if it continued. If the boy was smart, he would desist without being told. If not, that boy would certainly not be smiling for long.
If the boy held out his arm, Szayel would quickly find and puncture the vein and allow the blood to enter the syringe. "Xuan."
Xuan knew Szayel just wanted him to prepare containers so Szayel could store the captive vizard's samples. He walked to the other wall and started to pull clean syringes from the drawer, laying them out. Next came the jars. He turned around to watch, fully prepared to smirk at the boy's misfortunes.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
