Nostalgic.
Gin felt a host of memories and experiences well up as he followed the path to the squad twelve barracks. The cloak he wore felt itchy, he scratched his periodically as a result.
In a normal setting he would just sigh and be done with it. To his dismay a sigh would make him fail his mission. Gin wore a cloak that hid his spiritual pressure and energy, the thing even hid him from sight and smell too!
He slipped past the advanced detection systems of the Research and Development squad. The layout of the barracks was best described as efficient. Not a millimeter of space of the several floors was wasted on anything that would aid in their research.
The floors were clad in metal plates, the few gapes that existed were sparce openings into a world of wires and neon lights. Scientific discoveries occurred in every room each dedicated to a specific field.
Gin's eyes wondered when he saw the seated officers. They acted more akin to professors to their subordinates, each officer had an oddity to them. Something the traitorous soul reaper liked. He was a fan of the weird and the odd.
The researchers left and came back as he passed. The invisible man pouted as he reached the lowest level of the facility.
'Now this could be a problem.'
A vault door. On the lowest level of the barracks resided in Gin's prize, the squad captain's personal lab.
Mayuri was brilliant. Eccentric ,but brilliant none the less.
Not on the level of Aizen, however few or any could be said to be on such a level.
Only one thing drew the attention of Aizen, Nemu. An artificial soul, wholly man made, she was the crowning achievement of a man who improved endlessly merely for the sack of it.
Now, however, a vault door made from a golden material that had symbols of infants, children, adolescents, adults, the elderly and finally the decayed represented by skeletons. Were all on the handles of the vault the door itself had engravings of flames, minerals, dark liquid and of animals of different features.
Aging, life and evolution.
The problem of death. The problem of energy. And finally evolution.
Two major issues that have plagued science since its conception. And a personal obsession.
'Poker face has no life balance!' Gin chastised his once comrade mentally. From beneath his cloak he grabbed and readied a bronze colored disk.
In the next instant the disk was on the floor as the invisible Gin used Shunpo to evade a barrage of azure arrows.
"Oh, reishi arrows which means Quincy archer." As he assumed Uryu Ishida stood behind him, his new reishi bow resembled a pentacle at the ready.
"The snake of all soul reaper right in front of me." Blue sparks flew around him, as the surroundings began to disintegrate.
"Really? Name calling that's so low. Hmph. Now the real question is why are you here? Protecting Mayuri of all people, don't you want dead just as badly as I do?" To have a conversation Gin had to remove the hood of his cloak, information was vital after all.
"That's the reason I can't let you. Licht Regan!" Arrows fell from the heavens, as the Quincy pointed his bow upwards prior. The traitor moved, similar to the beast the archer dubbed him, spiritual energy filled his body as he moved towards the bowman.
In the corridor light and the shattering of the sound barrier filled its former quiet state. Located near the vault door, the panels were pierced and tore under the monumental might of the arrows.
The sound of tearing metal could be heard by the two combatants. A cloud of smoke arose, then fell. Gin and Uryu were face to face, Reishi bow against short sword Zanpakuto.
"You seem to be a bit fatigued, I honestly would let you go if you just stop right now."
"I refuse my honor as Quincy would not allow it, the man I want to kill is behind that door. I will never let you get to him before me." The bow dispersed in a storm of blue sparks.
Gin leaped away to the vault. An arrow nearly struck his heart. A quick shunpo to avoid any fatal wound, a blade pointed at the floor, and a command uttered.
"Shinso!"
The blade extended with tremendous speed and might, the Quincy felt his hair be cut by the wind as the sword passed by him.
"Licht Regen!" With bow in hand and arched, he chanted and released a storm of azure projectiles at the air borne Soul Reaper.
"Bakudo Nr.39 Enkósen!" The saw of dull yellow energy spun before Gin, his short sword held in a defensive manner as he approached. Uryu took to the sky on a Reishi platform, he slammed the ceiling with a punch and absorbed the spiritual matter.
"Well that is certainly one way to fight. No?" The corridor began to collapse ,the duo began to make their exit. The battle despite the circumstance was not over. The archer bombarded the snake with arrows while the snake occasionally used his weapons ability to extend to ward him off.
Both of them made an interesting discovery as they dueled.
'Ah, so that's how he does it. He doesn't sense for me he senses for the disturbance in the air instead. He must have bypassed the defenses via absorbing the matter that made them up, oh how ingenious.'
'Curse it. The bastard is treating me like a fly, I have to be careful how I fight him I got sent here by that Professor Paradox. I need time to recuperate, to make matters even worse this guy is a terror when it comes to speed.'
The duo thought as they fought through the several floors of the Squad 12 barracks. Seated and unseated officers ran as the mad men tore through. Many shielded their experiments with their feeble bodies while others evacuated.
The scientists did take it lightly, several monsters were released from secret hatches.
Uryu felt his heart speed increase, spindly arms stretched out from the hatches in order to grab the invaders.
Nimbly and covertly, the traitorous Shinigami dodged the onslaught of twisted limbs.
Giggling while death surrounded him, Gin formulated a plan.
With the precision and speed of an arrow, the archer rode on his Reishi platform through the compound.
Uryu and Gin braved the compound and reached the first floor exit.
"Seems like this is where we part, toodles."
He could feel his heart protesting against his next action.
He tossed his cloak in front of the both of them space contorted.
The light and structure surrounding the cloak, compressed as spiritual matter gathered. The cloak then shifted as it released a malevolent aura that began to expand.
Gin drew a cloth from his sleeve that moved to wrap around him then he disappeared.
"Damn." The archer cursed due to space being distorted; he was fundamentally stuck.
"Brass yourself." A feminine voice that he recalled uttered and grabbed him by his sweat drenched white shirt, he was recalled behind backwards with terrible force. Everything began to be pulled in by what was essentially a miniature black hole.
He fell on his butt which was a less than comfortable experience, despite that he was grateful.
"So it was you Nemu." The person who stood before Uryu in a spacious room was none other than the lieutenant of squad twelve, Nemu.
The young woman had a slim frame, with a generous figure, her black hair was tied into a pony tail. Her green eyes were like gems, against her light complexion and onyx hair.
Her kimono was shorter than the average, reaching only just above her knees, her waist was fastened by a white obi. That paired well with her gloves of the same color, a choker adorned her neck while her lieutenant badge was around her left arm.
"Yes, thanks to Master Mayuri's portal we were able to relocate you and everyone else into the central lab." The woman spoke as she gently helped the downed young man to his feet.
Uryu felt extremely embarrassed not only because of his loss to the snake, but also the current situation being the second time the lieutenant saved his life.
She guided him through the white stagnant air filled lab. In the archer's mind calling it a meer lab would be a disservice; the space was vastly wider within than outside. The lab had several more rooms and floors than the actual barracks had, which meant he and the young woman were close together for an extended period of time. The young Ishida knew she had no qualms or even comprehended what he felt.
"We've arrived." The duo stood in front of an azure blue wall that contrasted greatly with the alabaster of the entire structure. The wall of no meer wall Uryu even when exhausted could always recognise a Quincy spell form.
"Geldschrank." The word was laced with the highest amount of venom he could muster, simply looking at the thing made him imagine what had to have been done to his people in order for the mad scientist to obtain it.
He looked at the emotionless woman she seemed to wait for a command, but for an instance he swore he saw a shred of remorse on her face.
In the next instance the barrier collapsed and they made their way in.
With mad efficiency and determination the Captain of Squad twelve and president of the Research and Development department typed away near his large monitor.
"That's-!"
"Footage from your battle with Gin Ichimaru? Why, yes it is. I am pleased to see you did not suffer any brain damage from your bout with the traitor. I deal with enough incompetent fools already."
The mad man had no reservation in mocking the Quincy, his blood boiled he felt his muscles contract only for him to feel the hand of the young woman who he leaned on. Squeezed his hand gently, that level of emotional comprehension threw him for a loop however it accomplished its purpose he calmed down.
"What is happening outside? I was teleported here by someone named Paradox." That seemed to grab the scientist's attention as he was typing he turned to the duo.
"Paradox you say? The secret archives mentions such a name, could he be the same as the head captain? An ancient monster from a time long ago? This will require some investigation. Nemu begin healing the boy the are some tests I want to run on him after my analysis is complete."
"Of course Master Mayuri." She bowed and began to take Uryu to another section of the pristine lab, until.
"Hmm." The attention of the three individuals was grabbed by the sound of shattering glass from above.
The lab had the shape of a semi-circle, split into multiple rooms; the main one was for monitoring and had a curve atop it.
It was not glass itself that shattered, instead it was space. In the air above them thin cracks similar to that of a mirror appeared and grew.
"Odd, this is a pocket dimension of my own design; it should be easily breached like this."
The cause of the phenomenon made itself known or more accurately it fell through its own distortion as one behemoth and three smaller beings came down.
"Ow, Kev you're not allowed to do the teleporting anymore."
"Why am I still carrying around this old geezers body anyway?!"
"For your information, Tennyson I'm still getting the hang of that move. Also I'm the only one who could have gotten us here."
Mayuri, Nemu and Uryu soon had three young men suddenly with them in the lab, one with brown hair and green eyes. Another with hair and eyes as dark as the endless night sky, the last the oddest one had blue hair and light blue eyes, he was holding-
"Is that a corpse?"