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.
”Did you think that we would shrug our shoulders and be complacent?”
Alexei thought about it. He really didn't want to consider what might happen to him if he couldn't be of use to them any further. Would they throw him out and back into the human world? No. They would probably cage him up or something of the like. The young Russian became rather nervous at the thought of it. It was quite possibly terrifying.
The cuff on his ankle disappeared and Szayel walked through a door that formed in the wall. He watched Xuan approached and thought of the worst. He slid off the table and turned to face him. Was he about to be thrown into a small place? It couldn't end like this. NO! Xuan grabbed him by the collar and was leading him somewhere. This was it, it seemed.
”Come on, you wouldn’t want to keep Granz waiting.”
Alexei hung his head and let Xuan push him in the right direction. He shot a weary look in front of him and simply slumped along.
Slumping and complying, the boy asked, "What's going to happen now?"
Xuan preferred to let the boy guess; whatever he could imagine would probably be worse--or perhaps more merciful--than what Xuan suspected would happen. There were ways of drawing powers out of people, sometimes arrancar, sometimes hollow. Why would it be different for a shinigami with hollow powers? It was simple. Corner the animal, force them to fight back.
Szayel stood in the doorway of a mid-sized room. It was large enough for Xuan to use his whip, which made Xuan smirk. It didn't have many places to hide, unless one were very creative and hid in a corner of the ceiling.
"Perhaps it is fortunate that you've yet to harness your hollow powers," Szayel said, facing away from the pair. He paced forward as he spoke, gesturing broadly with his hands. "You see, the last one did not give me very much in the way of how she came upon her mask."
In Szayel's hand, he held a small, rectangular device, housing a shocking amount of reishi-gathering bugs. This way he could learn more about the boy's brain waves as he channeled or attempted to channel his powers, and he would learn exactly how unrefined his powers were. Without his sword, he would have little to defend himself. Szayel wished to capture those moments.
"Come. Give me your index finger," he ordered, holding out his hands and the device as he turned. If the boy gave his hand, Szayel would prick his finger, simultaneously release the bugs, and step back. He turned to Xuan as the door shut behind the pair. "The curtain is rising, Alexei-kun."
Xuan lifted his whip, unraveling it with deliberation. Link by link, tiny blade by tiny blade. He raised a brow as he murmured, "Hai...hai, just a moment."
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"Perhaps it is fortunate that you've yet to harness your hollow powers."
Alexei walked through the hallway and smiled a little. Maybe this wasn't a bad thing after all. Perhaps they would be understanding and work with him to get control over Sablya Tigra. The young Russian was rather naive when it came to the behavioral patterns of people. He looked behind Szayel and into the hallway he was currently blocking. He wondered what would happen in this room.
He felt a slight frown cross his face as he rubbed his bare back a little. That lumbar puncture was still hurting and Alexei could still feel the headache pounding within him. He rubbed his forehead a little and tried to ignore the pain in his back. The Young Vizard did not look at Xuan or even acknowledge him. He knew he was back there and that was enough.
"Come. Give me your index finger."
The tall man obliged and gave Szayel his right hand. He felt a small prick and eyed his finger oddly. What had the strong Arrancar just done? He already had a blood sample, why could he need more? Surely there had to be some reason. Thinking a bit, Alexei could not fathom that the scientist had injected him with bugs that allowed him to study the Vizard at a cellular level. The Russian was not the brightest man.
"The curtain is rising, Alexei-kun."
Szayel spoke and the door shut. It left Xuan and Alexei alone in the room. The Vizard didn't know how to feel about that. Then he saw the Arrancar begin to unravel his whip and heard him murmur to himself. What was going to happen now? Wait...was Xuan going to fight him? What was going on here?
The whip-wielding arrancar raised a brow when the vizard asked what he would do with his weapon. "Why, I'm going to polish it," he replied sarcastically, idly tapping the blade of one. He didn't use quite enough pressure to cut himself, and it wasn't at the right angle. "What did you think I would do?"
He smiled in an almost fond way before he brought his arm back and aimed his whip at the boy's knees. A sneer crossed his face as he brought his weapon back. "We're going to paint a picture, you and I."
Szayel, standing directly outside of the room, leaned against the wall with his eyes shut. He could watch the video feeds whenever he liked, and he already knew what happened within his walls.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Alexei simply looked at Xuan. It didn't seem likely that was the case. He looked at the whip as Xuan tapped the blade. It would sting. Yes, it would most likely sting. However, the young Vizard knew that there was simply no point in even objecting. There was no way out of this room and Xuan had the advantage with a weapon. Even without that, Alexei wasn't much of a fighter.
"We're going to paint a picture, you and I."
The young Vizard didn't have the time to react to the whip. It cut him on his left knee and he fell backwards. He was able to kind of roll as he hit the floor and struggled to stand once again. The knee was going to be a problem. He cocked his head curiously at Xuan and cleared his throat.
The white-haired arrancar didn't answer the question, instead wearing a falsely warm smile as he stepped forward. Then, closer to the boy, he swung his arm again, this time aiming the whip for his arm and chest. He quickly drew his arm back; it was quite possibly for the whip to have wrapped around the boy and caused damage to his back as well. Good. It would make this go a little faster--or make him bleed out a little too soon.
"I'll use small words so you can understand. You are going to draw your mask. If you are lying, and you do in fact have a mask, you will show me. And Szayel-sama," Xuan said coolly, eyes trailing to Alexei's bloody knee. "If you are being honest, you will learn or..."
His green eyes narrowed and curled with his smirk.
"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there now won't we?"
He wanted to see the boy squirm. It wasn't like the last one--she had squirmed as he had expected. This was like a game. See how far he had to push until the vizard finally broke. There was a morbid curiosity--as with everything Xuan did.
Szayel breathed a sort of laugh. It could be interesting, seeing how his fraccion operated. He would have to break Xuan of his bad habits, though--putting himself before his master. No, that was inexcusable.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Alexei tried to walk back to dodge the whip. But he only managed to somehow make things worse. Instead of taking certain damage on his back and front, a deep cut formed on his left arm and chest. Blood began to drip onto the ground and matted the pants of his uniform. It wasn't as bad as being impaled...but not by much. The Russian looked wearily at Xuan as he made his little speech. This room was too small for him to do much dodging; there seemed to be no way out.
Knowing that he couldn't just call out his mask, he had to harden his resolve. Sablya Tigra wasn't the type to come out when it was simply convenient for his host. He knew that it take a little while before he could produce the results that Szayel-sama so desperately wanted.
"You know that they're not going to help you one bit with me. They're going to use you. And I'm not going to stand around and watch."
"What do you mean?"
"If you want my help, you're going to have to suffer for it."
I figured as much.
After his little conversation, he tried to back away from Xuan as much as possible. His back finally hit a wall and he tried to straighten up. Then the cut in his chest began to throb and wouldn't let him stretch out any more. He almost had to double over to alleviate it. This was going to be a long day.
The vizard backed away until his back pressed against the wall. He doubled over. Xuan thought this was appropriate; perhaps he wasn't sniveling and begging, but he was retreating, which was a start. To Xuan, just seeing how far he could push would be interesting. He brought his arm back again and then shot his whip in an upwards arc. Maybe it would strike the boy's face, or his arms if he tried to cover himself. Xuan knew it wouldn't have enough power to gouge out his eyes or anything so drastic, but it would hurt.
Not that he cared - Xuan opened his mouth, allowed reiatsu to gather on the tip of his tongue, and shot thin purple needles of energy at the boy. Picadura was useful; not very damaging but painful, especially for someone who wasn't fighting back. Not that the boy would be able to fight back; Xuan had a sizeable leg up on the boy just by having his zanpakuto, but even without it the difference in power was immense.
Now, he worked more like a machine, albeit grinning as he readied another strike. The whip rattled as it returned to him, and he swept it across the room at the boy's left side.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Xuan had shot his whip at him again. Alexei bent back as much as he could until blood began to drip out of the cut in his chest. Even with this he couldn't completely dodge the attack. A smaller cut appeared on his face and left shoulder. He hadn't tried to cover himself up any. There was really no point in spreading out the injuries.
He looked down at his blood-stained chest and shook his head. That would have to be patched up a little. If not, he risked serious injury from blood-loss. Alexei didn't know when to give up, but he did know when his limits would be reached. If he didn't do something in the next minute or so he might be in trouble. His hollow seemed to know this, and was laughing about it.
"If I take over, I won't be a good little boy. I'll try to kill him."
"I know. And I don't want that."
"Too bad. You can't stop me without the dog."
With that the mask began to form in its usual spot. Alexei's body let out a blood-boiling scream and bent over. It placed its hands over its face and began to shake slightly. The mask sped up its formation. When he looked up a fourth had been formed. It saw the whip coming at it. Sablya Tigra dropped to the floor; he wasn't as keen on taking shots as Alexei was. The hollow rolled forward and popped up near Xuan. He shot both of his hands at the boy's throat.
The boy's hands shot over his face, and he screamed. Despite himself, Xuan started and stepped back. The boy dropped down to avoid two shots, and bounced up in front of Xuan with his hands outstretched.
"Die! Die!"
Xuan dropped down low, and, with his free hand, shot an back-handed blow at the vizard's solar plexus. The boy was stronger now, but Xuan could still handle it. He smirked. "That didn't take long, did it?"
Szayel stood outside and counted in his head. He would give Xuan ten seconds to subdue the vizard before he stepped in himself and restrained him. Likely, transporting Alexei - or was it Alexei's hollow? - would be the most challenging aspect, but there were ways around it.
One, two...three, four...five six...
Szayel's hand trailed to his zanpakuto. This would end quickly.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.