Bringers Of Pain[Inv]

Seran opened an eye lazily, the empty void of meditation fading away as normal thoughts returned to his mind. How long had he been resting? A day? A week? Human concepts of time still seemed rather lackadaisical to him; but then, he didn’t need to sleep, or rest at all for that matter unless he was injured. There was no day and night to him, just time spent active and time spent….. Not. In that way Hueco Mundo suited him perfectly; there was nothing here to base time off of. Perhaps that was why humans never seemed to enjoy their time in Las Noches. The mod soul closed his eye again, unsure of what had disturbed him. The room was still completely dark, and he had no reason to be “awake” at this particular moment. But before he could drift back into meditative rest, something nearby stirred, and a large snuffling sound caused him to open his eye again.

“What is it Garm?”

Across from the couch Seran had chosen to rest on, the large, bear-like, black hound shifted from its lounging position and sniffed the air again. The creature growled softly, a deep rumbling that caused Seran to turn his head and look at the creature.

“What are you complaining about? I told you you could sleep in here so long as you kept quiet.”

Garm’s lips parted and soft green light illuminated the room from its glowing mouth. Seran winced slightly; in the pure blackness any light he didn’t expect was bright. The black hound rumbled again and Seran grimaced in annoyance.

“There are no shinigami here you stupid dog. And what are you, some kind of night light now?”

The mod souls turned on his side away from the light, but Garm continued to growl, and eventually stood up entirely and nudged Seran with his head. Seran growled himself in exasperation and sat up, looking his dog in the face.

“Fine. I guess you just sleep and I’ll go be the guard dog.”

He stormed out of the room in annoyance, and headed down the hallway towards the lab. If he was going to be up he might as well do something. The lab section of Las Noches was quite large, and before Seran could reach the area he’d left some of his older projects, the sound of someone moving in one of the other rooms made him stop, and cautiously open the door. To his surprise the room was indeed occupied by someone.

“Gage. What are you doing here?”

"Seran? Wow, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in a while," turning the Theocelese he raises an eyebrow. Its was true that he had never shared his past, what little Gage knew being from things that he could find in the Gotie file that they kept on superpowers outside of their ranks in addition to anything that happened to be on file in the human world was much less substantial. Even so, Theocelese had been able to prove himself worthy of both Gage's time and energy through several occasions including a rather docile trip to Soul Society where he was to possibly be reintroduced into their ranks. While Gage had left before the verdict was passed there was much more under the surface than he was aware of and he was fine with that. Everyone was entitled to a path. All he could hope to do was to mold it in the right direction so that at the least the humans would be out of danger.


"I do have some things that you can use but without much notice I can't say that they are tailored to your needs," Gage had developed these items several months ago but had never tested them, all of the virtual tests on them showing positive feedback but new 'bigger and better' projects got in the way of running them through the rigorous tests that he would have liked. "But yes, you have my help."

Theocelese was charismatic as ever, yet his glibness revealed more to Seran than the arrancar intended. Confirmation that he had no idea of Hidane’s current whereabouts to start. The Vizard was currently imprisoned, hidden away in the depths of Seran’s laboratory in the human world, kept in a induced mental stupor until the mod soul could decide what to do with him. But that was a conversation the two of them would have to have at another time.

The mention of Sophia, though he had not directly said her name, turned Seran’s soul to ice. One of the many names of those the Alliance had been unable to protect. Yes he did remember, even if he didn’t want to, seeing Theocelese in the same agony he had been in all those year ago, when he had lost his own family. He could not deny his friend the right to vengeance.

The mention of Caesar intrigued him though, Seran had never really considered the man a full member of what was once The Alliance. Caesar was not a man of idealism or loyalty, at least Seran had never seen any reason to believe he was, so for Theocelese to take an oath with him as witness confused the mod soul. Perhaps there was more to their relationship than Seran understood. Regardless, what had to be done was clear.

“There is no changing your mind. There never is. But Gage is right, we can’t properly equip you without a better understanding of what you’re truly up against. These ‘things’ you face, they may not be of this world, but they can be beaten, you’ve proven that before.”

Seran glanced around at the room.

“But this space won’t do. We’ll need to use my workspace. You can give us details on this ‘Apollo’ as we walk. Gage you’ll need to show me what you’ve brought as well, though I’d imagine we’ll need to collaborate on something more substantial than either of us thought if we want to keep this fool alive.”

Gage thought about Theocelese's problem, being a creature of the night and how he was limited by the daylight of the realm he was heading. Maybe there was something that he could do to help, a small window but something none the less. Something for another time though. Gage was solely focused on the conversation at hand, not missing the small glance at Seran, hinting that there was something not being said. Biting his lip he kept his opinion to himself, being cut out of the loop at this point being slightly insulting but there were times and places for this kind of conversation. Now was not that time.

"Demi-gods? Gods? I don't have anything on my records about that. What are they? Soul Reapers? Plus' that have evolved beyond? Unless I can get some testing done on them I can't even say whether or not this," Gage taps his container," is going to be useful against them. Your asking for a specific set of tools to go fix a random car without telling me what kind of car it is. Against the others they will be functional but I have no idea what you are calling a god." As of now Gage had only been exposed to a singular god, the Soul King who supposedly created all this 'balanced' world and the problems in it. Elder humans though...Some kind of supernaturally aware godlike being. Seemed far fetched but there was much out there that Gage was still unaware of so he could do nothing but accept that he was uneducated on the topic.


Snapping his box open Gage flips the lid open showing his two revolvers. "I brought what I had at home. I put them together some time ago but new projects came up and I never got around to testing them." Pulling out the extended revolver he sets it on the table," Its a pair of revolvers both firing Synthed Silver rounds. The short one fires 50 cal hand cannon rounds supposedly accurate out to 75 meters. This one here," Gage pulls out the short rifle revolver," is a bit shorter range due to the size but has a considerable amount more kick. It fires a .577 Tyrannosaur round on a shorter cartridge due to some advancements in propulsion. The rounds themselves are capable of denting if not penetrating up to one inch of steel without spiritual hardening but with it I have no idea. It should get the job done. Against gods though? Your literally trying to bring guns to a god fight."

The look Gage had given did not go past Theocelese, as tired as he was. It was hard trying to not say the same thing again and again without sounding like a broken record. "Rest assured, Gage, I am not with holding anything from you. If you need me to say it plainly, I will do so, but do not call me a liar." He wasn't sure how many packs he'd gone through, but whatever cigarette he was tugging off of was smushed out in between his fingers, and another one lit up. "Remember the topic of a secondary stage in an Arrancar's Zanpakutou? It is something I am capable of. Yet in this fight I cannot use it. This god cursed me on the day of my birth, and it has effected me ever since. Part of my Resserecion allows me to be more lethal during the night...but if the sun's rays should be present, I am greatly weakened." He hated having to be blunt on the next bit Gage mentioned, when as man who planned to fight for the security of the human world, basic tactics and battlefield knowledge should have come easily. Maybe the humans were not in such good hands, after all. "My intentions for all of these weapons are not to kill Apollo with. I will not hide behind cover and unleash a storm of lead against him. My battle with him is to be close and personal. It is for his minions and champions." Seran had put it best prior to asking Theocelese of his opinion on the...soul vessel? He reckoned it was something like the Shigai, or the Gigai, or whatever the proper term for whoever was using it was. The weakling wretches who stood in his path were the ones privvy to steel rain and every single shell of ammunition carried on him.



"I've never driven an 'exo-suit' before, but it looks like it can take a beating. And better that than myself. If this can be the proto-type to something we may be able to utilize in the future, I suppose it is only natural that I give it a proper test run. If it helps...I do know how to use a machine gun and artillery pieces." He took a drag from the smoke, wishing there was a bottle in his hand. Something strong. He looked back to Gage, hoping the man was able to figure it out for himself.



"As to what Apollo is...he is a God." Theocelese shrugged. "I know nothing more. If he is a human like I think he is, one of great power, then the corpse will be dragged back. His soul will be mine, though, for the countless years he has tortured my own. Just as he is a being capable of extreme abilities, no doubt his armaments will be of great quality as well. These will be brought back for whatever testing and reforging is deemed necessary. If I can manage to get flesh or blood samples from other creatures of my home's mythology, I will."