Black Rain [Private]

"Your hollows seem bad to you, they may even seem bad to the Shinigami but to me. I know what really is bad and this beast is the nightmare. Let the Shinigami handle this and you can get back to putting the last of the masks away for us to destroy or else a bad situation is just going to get worse."

"Yeah? And what good am I? I lost my Fullbring thanks to you and your 'hunt'. I have a third of the power that I had before," Gage could feel his frustration growing, his emotions tied directly to this conversation and Charilus' wish for him to turn his back on this town, ignore the deaths and pain of the Arrancar that want to destroy the world of the living.

"Even at the level of strength that you have now your still sufficient enough to manage these tasks. Besides we did not select you based on your strengths. We chose you because you more than any other possible applicant that we looked through were trust worthy. We need someone that is both determined and will follow through the mission even if they feel like it might not end well for them," Charilus picks out another fry, wiping up some salt on his dish before eating it.

"That was a long time ago grandfather," Elan walks over to the table and pulls out a chair after giving Gage a good long 'hello' hug. "The Soul Society does not do that kind of thing any more and even if they did there is no way that we could be sure that they would do that to us. There are just too many Fullbringers for the whole of Soul Society to declare war. On top of that we very well could use all the extra help that we can manage to get this done. If there are more masked hollow out there then we need to make use that we do everything we can to get the masks while at the same time giving everyone involved the best chance of survival."

"Yes well I am not willing to take the chance that if we do make it through this that the Soul Society is not going to just turn around and execute us all. Once in history is enough for me." Charilus finishes off his fries and slides the plate away.

"Fine, your right. What do I have to do?" Charlilus smiles and leans over the table to continue, digging through a bag on his side.

"Well I have the grill still hot and some more fries in the back. Would you like a bite to eat?" Gage couldn't help but smile. He has known Elan for over six months now and never once did he ever consider her to be the cooking type, her high end life style being more along the lines of bringing her the food to eat. It was a little surprising but Gage was still starving, his stomach not letting him turn down the chance to eat.

"I think that I will have a burger if your offering. That sounds nice actually," Smiling at him Elan leads the way to the back into the kitchen, the smell of cooked fries taunting him the whole way making his mouth water. "I never really took you as the cooking type. When did you start cooking?"

"Oh not that long ago actually. After we did that run up in Russia I decided I wanted to see if I could make a steak as good as the ones that they were serving and I guess I just never really put it down." Gage looked Elan over as she continued to talk, explaining her new found hobby with food. Before she was a slight build, almost 110lbs at 5'4" but now she seemed to have put on a couple of pounds and not in a bad way. Her hips and chest had filled out, her face not quite so gaunt and her skin now more 'healthy' for first glance.

"Its a Swiss and Portobello mushroom stuffed cheese burger with fries. Its a little out of the ordinary for this area but I figured you would like it being that you are from the US." Gage nods his approval. He hasn't had a 'real' burger, hand made and cooked for just him, in some time. The kitchen here was used to cooking and handing out food for who ever had the money but there was something to say about how good food is when its made with care.

"I love it. Can't wait. So aside from cooking what have you been up to?" Elan keeps at it, molding the burger and setting it aside. She has been working on doing it for some time, Gage himself not being able to make a decently shaped burger for the life of him.

"Well Grandfather has been keeping an eye on you and letting me keep up to date with what you are looking for," stopping with what she is doing she looks up at him. A normal person would have been a least a little upset with being spied on but Gage has been dealing with her grandfather and the looming shadow of the group that he works with for so long that he no longer cared about the minor loss in his privacy.

"Actually I do have something. Its in that bag over there," Elan gestures with her head over to a blue paper bag on the counter. "I couldn't think of anything that I could say that would show you how sorry I am that you lost your Fullbring so I took some time and read up on your 'alchemy'. From what I know everything that you will need to finish your 'symbol' will be in that book."

Gage walks over and props the book open, reading though a small section of page at a time. It was exactly what he was looking for. It held idea, concepts, theories with experiments and basic physic's behind the reaction that occurs from the activation. "This is...This is amazing." Gage was in awe, this book held everything that he needed for his glove, all the way down to the last little bit of how to best wire the interior of the glove for the least interference of Reiatsu. "Is this...Is this mine?"

Elan smiles,"Yes you can keep it. Its an old book though so be gentle on it. The pages have seem more years than your country." Gage smiles and walks over to the counter where she is preparing the vegetables for the burgers, the patties on the flame grill and fries set aside on a napkin to get any extra oil off. Hopping up onto the counter he begins to read.

"Well that was nice of you, how much did he-" a sudden crash through the front window makes both Gage and Elan jump, knocking their food to the ground as their table flipped over. "Fuck!" Gage stared at the food for a split second before looking back to the crash. There coiling in a withering pile on the ground in front of them is a massive snake like being. Totaling in what had to be over thirty feet in length is a snake, slithering and rounding itself into a ball. Jutting from the top of the coil is the body of a woman, naked save for what looked like barbed chain wrapped around her wrists and chest like a makeshift armor, the spikes not seaming to draw blood from her. Extending from each arm a length of chain, withering like their own snakes, is tipped with a four inch long hooked blade.

"elan...is this one of yours?" Gage was referring to the large resources of manpower behind her and her grandfather, the hollow like energy emanating from the snake-woman stifling the the air.

"No...no that is nothing I have ever seen before," Gage moved slowly, stepping over the mess on the diner floor so that he stood in between Elan and the snake. If she did not know what it was and the Hollow, even though it seemed to have no mask, was crazy enough to attack Gage in him home territory then it would be safe to bet that this thing was more than it appeared. Normal hollows tended to wake around him naturally, moving to create a path for him to travel. This had to either be crazy or stronger than the normal hollow, that made it more dangerous too. Taking his chance Gage leaps into action. Elan was a severe liability here, her skills in combat were not lacking but her actual power level was far too low to be in the vicinity while Gage even in his weakened state was fighting.

Screeching at him she releases, Gage being flung aside by the quickly unwrapping tail into a concrete wall with enough force to prop him into a small man sized crater. Hissing at him the snake woman reaches over and tenativly touches the rebar jutting out the side of her arm. Wincing away from it she begins to slither over to him, the lengths of chain on her arms dragging across the ground. Gage was winded, his legs and arms numb from the choking while his eyes were blurry and fading in and out of focus. His left hand, falling to his waist dangles at his belt line while the snake woman flicks a length of chain up to grabe the blade like a dagger.

Thrusting forward the blade peirces his skin, driving into his abdomen as Gage reaches forward and grabs her wrist with his right hand. Looking down at the blade he feels her hands, all grabbing him from the head, shoulders and waist begin to push him against the wall.

"You missed one," Gage's left hand, still free at his belt line grabs his 'x' shaped belt buckle, a blade erupting from one of the arms. The tip of that blade leaps out, peircing into the ribcage of the woman cutting off the supply of air to the scream that she would have let out. Ripping out his blade he goes to thrust again but before the blade is able to peirce her skin she launches herself backwards out of range, blood pouring out of the wound in her side. Slithering into a ball she curls up, weaving in and out of her coils until nothing is visible except for the scales of her tail. In and out it weaves until the ball gets smaller and smaller, the last bit of the tail seeming to slither into a small portal and vanishing.

"I am still not sure. I have no idea, that was unique. No masks, not Heiro, it had reiatsu similar to a hollow's but it was much more malevolent. If you made me guess I would say that it was something closer to an escaped 'Hellion'," Gage kept one knee on the ground as she spoke, only looking back at her after she says that it might have been an escaped Hellion.

"Hellion? Like a demon from hell?" Gage had heard of the 'hell' before, a place similar to the world of Hueco Mundo but some how it was supposed to be worse, the land filled with fire and lava. There were rumors that some one had escaped a few years ago but there were no official papers on it so it might have just been that. A rumor.

Elan finishes up on his back, patting him on the wound's white scar to 'bless' it as o0ne would a tattoo. "Something similar to that. Reports from Polarity are that some where a Gate has opened for a short time and by the time that boots were on the ground there the gate was closed. Grand father was on the scene shortly after, confirming that there had indeed been something that had managed to get out." Gage stands up and touches his chest with the palm of his hand, green soul communication energy arcing across the fabric of his shirt mending the hole seamlessly until there was nothing left, save for the blood which then vanishes in a flash of green light. "I have someone here in town that would know a bit more about that though. He works in a church on the other side of town. I want to get over there to ask him some questions before we get caught up in this."

Her waist is covered by a riding armor belt making her look like the hottest biker girl he has seen in quiet some time. Everything except for one thing. "The flats have to go. You need those." Gage points at a pair of riding boots on the wall up on a shelf. Together everything looked amazing on her, the boots a nice touch. "If you fall, just land on your butt and use your elbows and back to slide to a stop. The armor will keep you fine so just dont freak out." Barely touching the throttle the engine roars, louder than any of his other bikes currently in stock. It was like riding a dragon, more than enough power to outrun a corvette in any race for any distance.

Rolling out the garage door he pulls his Fullbringers dog tag and slips it around his neck, the magic of the token keeping others from 'noticing' him as he was about to break several city ordenances and most likely commit a federal offense with how he is about to drive around. "Hold on and lean when I lean." Tucking himself in and ducking his head he could feel her squeaze him from behind her arms clutching him desperatly, he could feel it in her hands. She was shaking from fear," I will start out slow and let you get the feel of everything.