False Promises (Closed training)

[Abaddon]

There were few things in the world that Abaddon disliked as much as the Vandenreich, one of them however was the burning of books. Here he was in the middle of a midwestern American town watching the people of a local school burn books that they had deemed inappropriate. Well really they hadn’t deemed them inappropriate, but the miss informed parents and preachers had deemed them forcing the schools to bend to their illogical and wild rants of how those books poisoned the minds of the youth of their town. How wrong they really were, Abaddon knew exactly what was poisoning this town and it wasn’t the books. Even the writings of a madman bent on genocide had some substance to it, even if it wasn’t a clear sign.

From the crowed he watched the preacher go on about the evils of those books and how the devil’s words flowed through them. Only by the grace of god and his son would they be saved and join the loyal army in heaven to fight the demons. The words weren’t that of a typical Christian preacher as Abaddon knew very well what was going on here. The ring that the preacher betrayed any sort of pretense that the man was actually a man of god. That ring held the distinct and very clear symbol of the Vandenrich, this was clearly a front for something else, Abaddon didn’t know what, but he would stop it.

It was about a few weeks ago that he had come across an article about a new preacher making waves in the Midwest United States. There wasn’t much about it however what did get his attention was the fact that the article mentioned that the preacher was speaking about an army of god and that those who devoted themselves would be reborn. Normally such a thing wouldn’t even been worth a read, however later on in the week he came across another story about a young girl from the flock becoming strong enough to break stone with her bare hands. That alone was worth looking into, as it seemed that she only gained the power after becoming a member of the preacher’s church.

Over the course of the weeks Abaddon had come to learn that this man came from out of nowhere and proceeded to become a powerful influence in the city. It seemed that this place was slowly becoming a place for the Vandenreich to cultivate the spiritually aware into soldiers for them. Abaddon knew that just trying to go head first into this wouldn’t be the right thing to do, but at the very least being a quincy himself he wouldn’t raise any suspicion, for now he would have to observe to try and find out where they were doing the conversion and who had been converted.

[Celes Shindazu]

Today was any typical night for Celes. She had been assigned on a patrol in Midwest America. In truth, she did enjoy these patrols. Normally something would jump out at her to fight her because she was a Shinigami. That tended to be all the reason that anyone needed. Despite the prejudice, Celes did not mind. In fact she relished the thrill of combat. There was something about fighting that left her with a want for more. In a way, it was actually addicting. The clashing of steel, quick-thinking movements and warm blood spilling the ground.

Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, Celes wore her traditional Shinigami garbs with her two Zanpakutou at her hip. She could have opted for a Gigai to blend in more, but she tended to find those annoying. She enjoyed the freedom that her supernatural movement allowed her. As she ended up on a rooftop overlooking a small plaza of the town, she saw the mad preachers. Celes was not the reader type, but she knew of these people. The kind of people that wish to deny others knowledge to keep them controllable.

Yet what was most interesting was that the main preacher in all his ramblings had an emblem. A wheel-like design hanging from his neck. Celes knew the design, but just could not put her finger on it. As she used the rooftop as a perch, the preacher just happened to look up and their gazes met. It was more than coincidence that his ramblings stopped. Staring at her for a few seconds, Celes knew that he was at the very least able to see spiritual beings. Now the Shinigami was certainly intrigued.

It was then that one of the preachers cohort vanished. Naturally kicking Celes into a defensive stance, she did not have time to move as she suddenly felt a presence behind her. A voice accompanied it. "Now now. Let's not be hasty. It's not everyday that a Soul Reaper arrives to interject." Despite her pathetic ability to sense energy, her fighting instinct told her that he was aiming something at her. The spiritual version of being held at gunpoint. Celes was sure she could take him, but maybe milk him for some information first.

Celes smiled and laughed gently. She spoke in a calm and controlled manner, many battles honing her ability to stay calm under pressure. "I'm surprised you have not killed me yet. Normally you Quincy can be relentless. Then again, if your friend is any indication with that medallion of his, you all don't seem to be ordinary Quincy. No. You are that group." There was some flattery in it, but Celes had to wait for a moment to strike lest she get an arrow shot to the back of her head.

The Quincy who was behind her laughed. "Astute observing. Seems you all aren't as stupid as we thought. Yes. We are the Vandenreich. I tell you this because your life will soon come to a close. How does it feel? To be felled by a Quincy? One of the Emperors' Chosen." Celes sighed and shook her head. The fanatical attitude of these Quincies were beginning to get on her nerves. She did not mind speeches as a warrior, but this was beginning to become a chore to listen to. 

Celes did answer before her strike. All that the Quincy heard was a simple remark. "It is a good day to die." As she said this, she slammed her palm in the rooftop. The Quincy laughed at the simple gesture. "Futility gnawing at you. Finally accept-" Before he could finish that sentence, the rooftop had cracks. In fact, it violently split as the foothold of the two participants was rumbling and collapsing violently. The Quincy was caught off guard as their balance was lost, but Celes at least knew it was coming so she could prepare herself.

Quickly using the debris as her temporary foothold, she spun around and did not even need her Zanpakutou for this job. As she spun, she gave a hefty side kick. The Quincy was clearly more adept spiritually. Celes knew this because she kicked him, it felt like she was kicking paper. No real resistance as it sent the Quincy flying backwards. With a smirk and determination, Celes quickly used a Shunpo to appear a few inches above the Quincy. She then grabbed him by his face.

Now at the mercy of Celes, the Quincy would feel the peak of her strength as she pushed downward. This other simple motion sent the Quincy rocketing down to the ground and hitting it with an impressive force. Celes was proficient in martial arts and her high strength meant that she had no need for her weapon yet. At least against this flimsy opponent. Thankfully he was still breathing, but he was certainly going to be out of commission for some time. The Shinigami smiled victoriously.

Meanwhile as the buildings rooftop split in half, it created some hysteria in the crowd. In fact, the crowed was split two way. Some way mesmerized and interested as to the cause. Others were stricken by the fear of danger. As such, some would flee the scene which of course may have left the Vandenreich preacher rather upset. Celes meanwhile rounded the corner and tried to enter the plaza to see what was going on and if there was anything more to fight. This could be her lucky day.

[Abaddon]

The stopping of the preachers speech for a moment and the gaze of where he was looking drew Abaddon to follow with his eyes to see what the man was looking at. There he saw her, or rather he saw the both of them. One a female shingami and the other was a Vandenreich soldier neither of them were trying to hide themselves. This was bad, this shingami was drawing way too much unwanted attention to herself and to the rest of the people in the plaza. His hope of quietly slipping away and lurking in the town till he found out what exactly the Vandenreich was doing here was becoming more and more of an impossibility.

As the building started to fall apart the preacher’s distaste for the destruction and the fear gripping people causing them to flee was clear to see. In order to try and get the rest of the group back to listening he started up again preaching. “See, that is the wrath of god, his holiness tried to save those who lived there yet they rejected him and in his wrath he had smited them with the bricks and mortar that they hide in. Rejoice, however as his holiness has mercy and through his will we shall save those that still live and bring them back to the light.”

As the preacher mentioned saving those that were still alive several people in the crowed started towards the falling building dragging out survivors and using strength that clearly wasn’t human. Two of them grabbed the unconscious quincy that the shingami had knocked out dragging them to the preacher. For now he would remain knocked out, but it wouldn’t be long before the quincy would wake up. For each body that the men dragged out the preacher cheered on and commented on how it was the will of his holiness and the test would make them stronger, this slowly started to draw some of those that ran away back to the site.

Abaddon wasn’t about to stick around however, he had a different plan that he needed to do and he knew one of the first steps that needed to be done. His original plan could still be saved, however he would need to get the one who caused this incident on his side and having them actually knowing what was going on and going in blind like the way they were was essentially akin to a suicide mission. Abaddon didn’t need to have high energy sensory to know where this person had gone to, he had been watching the whole thing and in the smoke and dust he was able to make out the shape of someone heading to one side, that’s where he moved towards.

It didn’t take long to see the female shingami heading towards the plaza, he saw more of her features as he was closer this time. The first thing he noticed and the thing he was most thankful for was that she was much, much shorter than him. If he had to guess she was just over five and a half feet tall. Her extremely pale skin matched her bright and vibrant blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her clothing seemed to be that of the normal uniform, at least that is what he could see from a quick glance. He had other things to worry about at the moment.

Given he was much taller than her his figure obscured her from the plaza and he spoke to the shingami in a low hushed voice trying not to draw attention to the two of them. “You can’t go in running like that, this is larger than you think.” He looked down at her with a serious look across his face as he hoped that she would listen, his own reiatsu was leaking out slightly, enough for her to tell that he was a quincy, yet there was something else that hung on his body, something darker, sinister, it felt very similar as if a hollow was coating his body.

“You might have a job to do here, however going like this will get us both killed, this town…. Is mostly them, you need to be careful.” Abaddon said as he started to take another step towards her. His clothing clearly showed that he wasn’t with the Vandenreich. He was wearing a black pinstripe suit with a white shirt and black tie, over his suit he had a long black overcoat and a set of white gloves over his hands. “We need to move or we will be surrounded.” Abaddon said as he continued to move, for now Abaddon’s body was keeping her from being seen by the preacher, however if she decided to continue onward she would risk reveling herself to the preacher and who knows how many individuals there that were working for him.

Whatever the female shingami would do Abaddon would continue away from the plaza and towards an alleyway that was covered in darkness. He wanted to keep his face from sticking out, the longer he could keep himself from being discovered the better chance he would have at trying to stop this entire operation from doing whatever it was up to. Abaddon had a few ideas as to what was going on, however he didn't understand as to how they could do it and more importantly why normal humans were being chosen and becoming fanatics for them. All he could hope is that the female would listen and he would gain an ally in his endeavor.

[Celes Shindazu]

Celes was ready to fight some more as she came across the corner. These Quincy were turning out to atleast be decent if they could slip around behind Celes. Either way, her blades were sheated as to not attract attention. It was then that she noticed the Preacher speak. “See, that is the wrath of god, his holiness tried to save those who lived there yet they rejected him and in his wrath he had smited them with the bricks and mortar that they hide in. Rejoice, however as his holiness has mercy and through his will we shall save those that still live and bring them back to the light.”

The shinigami bit her lip in annoyance as the Preacher was clearly taking credit for what Celes had done to the building. Then again, she did not know how many people could actually see her nor did she know how many people could deduce what she was. Yet it seemed that not many were paying her any mind. In fact, they were trying to save the others from the building that was on the verge of collapse. As the people went in, they pulled them out, but it was unusual. They seemed much stronger than ordinary humans.

It was then that someone began to approach her. He was tall. A good bit taller than Celes, but the third seat did not like the way that he was approaching her. With that being said, Celes would with care take a defensive stance. She did not desire any trouble. When he approached, he shrouded her in his form, standing tall over her. The Shinigami heard him speak quickly.  “You can’t go in running like that, this is larger than you think.” Celes looked at him with confusion.

It was then that Celes felt a peculiar reiatsu signature. With his proximity, Celes tilted her head somewhat and felt that of a Quincy. She did not know anyone here and quite frankly, this could be the only friendly face that Celes may find here. With a pronounced sigh, she spoke just above a whisper, but loud enough so that he could hear. "Let's be clear. I did not antagonize that Quincy. He was the one who essentially held me at gunpoint. There was not much I could there."

It seemed that Abbadon had more to say as he began to move towards an alleyway to cover both of them. As he did so, she heard him continue. “You might have a job to do here, however going like this will get us both killed, this town…. Is mostly them, you need to be careful. We need to move or we will be surrounded.” Celes sighed once more and did not at that atleast. Using Abbadon's large form as cover, she would move in equal paces with him to the alleyway to hopefully discuss all this.

As they did approach, Celes quickly slipped into the shadows hoping that Abbadon would follow. It would give them adequate amounts of cover to not be discovered immediately if someone looked at their general direction. Besides, Celes was wearing black due and as such could blend in quite easily. As Abbadon approached, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. This was a Quincy who was helping her. Not unheard of to her as she had encountered a Quincy prior who had actually saved her.

Either way, she looked at Abbadon and would speak up a little more, but only so much that those in the alleyway could hear. "So now that we are in a much better position...who are you? Based on your little reveal, you seem to be Quincy. The difference is that you are not at my throat like the others." Celes kept her hand on her Zanpakutou as she wanted to be as careful as possible. If needed, she had to be able to defend herself if Abbadon tried anything out of the ordinary.

Her stance was beginning to even out a little too. In this time, she could find herself to be relaxed. Even if Abbadon was not ready to attack her, she needed to be ready to retailiate against anything in this town that could want her dead. Her expression eased up with Abbadon which hoped to make clear that while her stance was aggressive, she would keep an open mind to him and would atleast give him the benefit of the doubt. She would hear him out and see what he had planned.

[Abaddon]

Abaddon looked at the female shingami’s hand resting on her blade and sighed as she started her questions. He raised a hand out to her and then lowered it down. “There is no need for that.” He said looking down at her holding her blade in such a defensive manor. He didn’t plan on fighting here nor did he want to start a fight in the middle of a cramp alleyway. He could only hope that she would listen and understand that he wasn’t here to fight her. If that wasn’t going to get through then the rest of this conversation would be difficult.

Taking a look around he saw that at the very least there wasn’t anyone coming towards them and worst came to worst he could continue walking into the alley to end up on the other side. This place was safe for now, but he feared that they would eventually be discovered. While this place had been his idea, it was one done with a rushed mind. “Yes I am a quincy, one that came here to understand why there are Vandenreich all over this town.” Abaddon said very frankly as he stood there in the ally.

While he did agree that the primary aggressor in the attack was more likely than not the Vandenreich member he wasn’t exactly too happy with the large display of force she did. He debated for a moment how much should he actually tell her about himself, she hadn’t introduced herself and he could tell that while she was relaxing a bit, her stance was still somewhat tensed. “My name is Abaddon, I’ve been looking into this town for a few weeks now ever since that incident. “ He decided that offering some information would help bridge the gap that the two had right now.

This person was a shingami, they should naturally want to deal with the Vandenreich, however he still remembered what they did years ago and while he doesn’t hold a grudge over them killing his fellow quincy. He isn’t about to blindly trust them, especially since he felt that the Vandenreich allowed for the relighting of the hate between shingami and quincy. “Now then, I have shared my name and why i’m here, proper manors would dictate that you would do the same, miss…” Abaddon trailed off so that the shingami could answer. His words weren’t said with malice or hate, just a bit of indifference with them.

Abaddon would patiently and silently listen to what she had to say about this town and hopefully her name as well. He wanted to know what she knew about this place if there was anything she knew at all. It was possible that she had some information that he didn’t have about this place. Any information at all would be useful however if there was nothing important said or reviled, he would start with his own information about what he knew that was a fact about this town. To try and haver her understand the situation that this place was in.

“A few weeks ago a news article came across my desk, one speaking about a new religious sect that has come out of nowhere and is gaining followers. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered with it, however a few weeks after that article ran another came about how those following the new religious sect have become empowered.” Abaddon placed emphasis on the word empowered as he spoke trying to get across the meaning of his words. “That sect is currently intermingled with the town heavily now, as the preacher you saw is now the head priest at the local church. The Vandenreich are doing something here to people, however I don’t know what it is yet… nor what is causing it.”

Abaddon knew of the conversion process that higher ranked Vandeirech could do to other spiritual races turning them into quincies. However that was only for those who had spiritual powers, there were cases of people being totally normal now showing signs of being spiritually aware and that was what Abaddon was looking for. “This isn’t the normal conversion process, normal folks with no spiritual powers before are becoming quincies, if they can do this on a mass scale…. Well I don’t need to tell you what will happen do I?” Abaddon said as he heard something rustling in the trashcan nearby, turning around he saw that it was just a racoon taking something out of the trash and running off with it.

“I hope you have a gigai around here somewhere, it would be better to try and investigate together if you aren’t being hunted just because of the way you’re dress.” Abaddon didn’t mean to insult her for her uniform, just noting that it would be an issue going forward as the whole town had countless spies and hidden agents in it. “Either way we can’t stay here for long, there is a small motel at the edge of the town that I am staying at, room five meet me there later on if you do wish to work together.” With that Abaddon started to head off towards the hotel leaving the shingami to do whatever she wanted.

[Celes Shindazu]

As Celes held her blades close, it was less out of mistrust and more out of a general sense of protection she felt around them. After all, she was a warrior and while she did not require her Zanpakutou, she felt more as ease knowing that it was in arms reach. Yet it seemed that the Quincy would open up to her to clearly put her at ease.  “My name is Abaddon, I’ve been looking into this town for a few weeks now ever since that incident.“

Celes nodded in response to this. Reveal of a name was a sign of the start of trust. As such, Celes sighed and now fully relaxed. She was then met with Abbadon asking for her name. “Now then, I have shared my name and why i’m here, proper manors would dictate that you would do the same, miss…” Celes would nod and would promptly answer in a stoic manner. "Celes. My name is Celes. Third Seat of Squad 11 of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. My reasoning for being here is a potential rescue mission."

Celes would grimace, but she would elaborate. "We sent a scout after hearing about possible Vandenreich activity in this area. It has been days and the scout has not reported back. They sent me to investigate as well as collect the scout who we presume to have been found out and captured." She felt that it could be in her best interest to work together with someone who seemingly had more information on the subject than the Soul Society did.

It seemed that Abbadon was more open to sharing the details of what he found out after her details about her own mission. “A few weeks ago a news article came across my desk, one speaking about a new religious sect that has come out of nowhere and is gaining followers. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered with it, however a few weeks after that article ran another came about how those following the new religious sect have become empowered.” 

Celes nodded as she continued to listen and analyze the data in her head as best as she could. “That sect is currently intermingled with the town heavily now, as the preacher you saw is now the head priest at the local church. The Vandenreich are doing something here to people, however I don’t know what it is yet… nor what is causing it.” Celes would nod as she would offer her own two cents. "I would imagine that they are converting others into Quincy. To my understanding, the Vandenreich are capable of something like that."

It seemed that Abbadon was already a step ahead of Celes as he promptly replied.  “This isn’t the normal conversion process, normal folks with no spiritual powers before are becoming quincies, if they can do this on a mass scale…. Well I don’t need to tell you what will happen do I?” Celes nodded and sighed. That would be a dire situation indeed. Such a sudden increase in Vandenreich would allow them to start full scale invasions on the Soul Society. 

The Shinigami would sigh and briefly take in everything that she had just been told. This clearly was bigger than the two of them. Celes would look up at the clearly taller Abbadon and sigh as he offered a chance to work together.  “Either way we can’t stay here for long, there is a small motel at the edge of the town that I am staying at, room five meet me there later on if you do wish to work together.” Celes responded rather courtly. "Well I suppose it would be better to stick with someone who I can trust more than anyone else in this place. I'll be there soon." With that Celes would quickly run farther down the alley.

As the Shinigami was running, she remembered that there was an abandoned storehouse that the Soul Society had outfitted with emergency Gigai for this mission. As Celes reached what appeared to the storehouse, she gently pushed agains the door, making sure to peek in. It seemed that there was nobody in sight. Celes smiled as she then closed the door and make her way to one of the closets. In it was a Gigai which a rather modest set of clothes befitting on the area they were in. 

Celes gritted her teeth as she after a few short moments, was in the Gigai. Appearing rather similar, but with different clothes as the Gigai suppressed her spiritual pressure. It would be much harder to discover who she was. Unfortunately, she also believed that based on Abbadon's reports, this would make her more of a target for the Vandenreich. The Shinigami sighed and began making her way to the motel. 

As Celes entered the motel, she noticed that it was rather musty and a little dirty. It clearly was not taken care of in an orderly fashion. As she approached the clerk who was on duty, she smiled and walked past him. He just smiled back and looked back down at his desk, most likely reading a magazine of sorts. As Celes made her way to the rooms, she had a look around for room five. Waiting around for a moment, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer, hopping that it was Abbadon.

[Abaddon]

"Well I suppose it would be better to stick with someone who I can trust more than anyone else in this place. I'll be there soon.” Abaddon was happy to hear that at the very least the shingami was going to hear them out. From the small experiences he had with shingami most of them weren’t exactly the friendliest bunch, nor were they one to listen when told something different than what they believed in. While it wasn’t exactly a short walk to the hotel outside of town the walk was quiet. It game Abaddon some time to think about how his plan would have to evolve.

It was very shortly after Abaddon arrived that he heard a knock on his hotel door. Peering through the peephole on the door he saw that it was Celes. Slowly he opened the door of his hotel room to allow her to enter. He was still paranoid about the members of the town spying on him. Given how many converted quincy that were around the town it was reasonable that there was one possibly around keeping an eye on the edge of town. While he had rented the hotel with the intention of it being a hiding place the fact is he didn’t know if it was truly safe.

While the outside of the hotel looked rather dirty and rundown the room that Abaddon was in looked as if it had been well maintained and clean. There was furniture that was clearly new and didn’t match the décor of the hotel. Most noticeable was the fact that there wasn’t a bed anywhere to be seen. Abaddon had taken the time to clean and change out some of the furniture, using garganta to travel between his home and this place. He wasn’t going to sleep in some random bed in a run down hotel.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve come.” Abaddon said as he offered the only good chair in the room to her. “As I was saying before, the whole town feels as if they’ve been converted. As far as I’ve been able to tell the highest concentration of converts for the Vandenrich is surrounded by the church.” Abaddon walked over to a desk and brought over a book with several paper clippings from newspapers. He would place the book open in Celes’s lap before speaking again. “There are a few articles about what is going on in there and a few noticeable individuals that we need to be wary of.”

Abaddon allowed Celes to look through his notes before stopping her on one image. “As far as I know, that is the new priest and the one we need to take out, or at least interrogate as to how they are converting normal humans.” The picture showed an older man who held a kindly smile with dark rimmed glasses. “It would be better if we moved at night, his home is now the new church that they’ve built.” Abaddon looked at Celes to see if they had anything else to say, if there was any new information it would be helpful if not then he hoped that they could act together to strike the home.

[Kitai Yoru]

53 paragraphs, 260 TP awarded