Clinch River: Gotei, Rollout!

The Clinch River as a whole was hardly an impressive body of water, it was little more than a river that flowed through a valley in the middle of the North American continent. The Third World War had done much to hamper the natural beauty of the landscape across the globe, and here was no exception. Of the three dams that had once stemmed the flow, only one now remained in the far north and so the southern run had become more of a marshland than it had any real right being. The years spent trying to put the world back together had done some work to rectify this, but the surrounding lands were still rather devoid of the life they had once supported.

The Urahara Shop Forward Research Base, as Kisuke had quickly grown fond of referring to his little outpost, had a particularly advantageous position overseeing the local area without drawing too much attention to itself. Tucked away on the edge of the ruins of a little town on the southern side of the river proper, it provided enough cover that he had been able to bring in his tech without turning any heads. Proper cloaking devices, the kind that would keep the Vandenreich off his back unless they really wanted to pick a fight and might even keep him off Lux's radar entirely.

It was rather surprising to receive a call from Captain Murasaki, he had to admit that even the 7th Division of the Gotei often forgot that he existed some times. This wasn't a bad thing, given his inclination towards pursuits that some might consider most peculiar, but did invite questions about whether he should do more. The call had saved him the trouble of having to intercept the Gotei party before they made some foolhardy attempt to do things their own way, now they were coming his way of their own volition.

He felt the change in spiritual pressure, they were here, and so the man with the Hat and Clogs stood to attention and awaited the arrival of his new subordinates. A trademark fan masked the lower half of his face, just a pair of eyes peering over the top.

"My my, Captain Murasaki was not kidding. Welcome to the Clinch River, everyone, I'm here to help you to help me to avert this disaster."

His free hand flew outwards, inviting the assorted Shinigami to take in their bleak surroundings, though his gaze did not leave that of the team before him. It was an assorted bunch of irregulars, some faces even he struggled to recognise and he did have quite the memory, but they were up to the task. They had to be, he supposed.

"Let's not beat around the bush, I know that you know next to nothing of what is actually going on so I'll bring you up to speed as fast as I can. A long time ago, the old American government had a research facility here and buried it deep underground. Things went dark during the Third World War, and nothing ever really come in or gone out since, so most anyone that knew about it figured it had been closed down or abandoned. But, recently, this whole area started giving off strange energy signals, not like anything I've ever seen before. Shortly after that, an unknown force moved in and occupied some land just on the north side of the river. They're armed, dangerous, and not taking questions."

A device whirred into life at that point, projecting a map of the local area onto the wall behind him. Urahara half-turned, hardly pausing to give them time to react, as he began to point at various areas with his cane.

"They have control of the main entrance to the site, here. It's heavily guarded, fortified even, but they have definitely breached the facility and are focused on making ventures inside. The Vandenreich is also on the scene further to the north, and I expect other interested parties will be coming in from any which angle, but we can use this to our advantage. There is a second entrance to the facility on the south bank, here, and given that it remains unguarded I am inclined to believe that this mystery party does not yet know it exists."

"Now, the mission itself. I've studied the readings and all signs point towards it being a single object that is causing these strange energy emissions, your first priority should be to recover that object and get it out of there so I can dispose of it. I cannot tell you where in the facility it is, or even what it looks like, but I recommend that you all avoid coming into physical contact with it unless absolutely necessary. Whatever it is, it is imperative that it does not fall into anyone else's hands."

Snapping the fan shut with a dramatic flair, Kisuke flashed a wolfish smile. This was not going to be pretty, but maybe it could be done.

"Now, it's up to you how to proceed, but my team and I will be here to assist in case of emergency."

As soon as the paper doors of the Senkaimon parted and slid open, Hanako could feel the cool air of the world of the living on her face. She had taken Murasaki’s advice and prepared for cold weather by putting on a short jacket. It covered her arms and had a collar against wind, but ended where her obi began, in which she carried Bakumusha. She let one hand rest on it’s hilt and thought she could feel the sword vibrate in anticipation.

Hanako took a quick look around. It was some next-to-dead marshland, this Clinch River. A sad landscape, choked almost to complete extinction by the war. Yet it was still better than the last region of the world of the living she had visited. At least Clinch River wasn’t glassed over.

Awaiting them was a person that even a former part-time recluse like Hanako had heard of. The famous and infamous Kisuka Urahara. With the trademark hat. There was probably no living soul in the entirety of Seireitei who didn’t know of “Mr. Hat-and-Clogs”. And most of them also knew one or two stories. If they all were true…who could know? But this day sure got more interesting by the minute.

The group received another briefing from Urahara. Luckily there was a little more meat to this one, although it still wasn’t all that much. What they knew was the kind of facility they were about to enter and that, in addition to the unknown force, the Vandenreich had already appeared at the scene. However, all in all, it still left so many questions unanswered.

Hanako crossed her arms before her chest and digested the new information for a moment. Then she stepped forward and bowed politely to Urahara for greetings.

“Urahara-san, I only have two questions: If you know what kind of place this is, do you have any idea how the inside looks and what could await us? And how are we supposed to move the object out here without touching?”

Maybe the last question was a stupid one, but if, for example, a kido-based solution existed, someone that barely passed her final exam in kido, like Hanako, wouldn’t know.
She looked at her fellow Shinigami.

“What do you say, the unguarded second entrance sounds like a perfect way in.”

She grinned in her usual, crooked fashion. Her left hand gently patted bakumusha’s saya. She could feel how eager he was for real combat. She was, too. But it would take them too long to fight through a heavily fortified front entrance. They needed to make haste, especially if the Vandenreich also had already appeared.
She looked at her fire team mates again. They should leave as soon as they got the intel about the inside from Urahara, if he had any. If…one of the stories about him was that he always knew more than he let on.

"Ah, Acting-Captain Hanako, I suppose I should first offer you both congratulations and commiserations."

Kisuke nodded politely in response to her formal greeting, clapping the closed fan against his other hand to create a quiet round of applause. He did make a considerable effort to keep up with Gotei matters, and the untimely demise of the Captain of the 4th Division had certainly dominated recent news. An interesting matter, perhaps better left un-investigated for the masses, but it had allowed a young up-and-comer to step out from the shadows and take a step up the ladder.

"I am afraid my information is only surface level. The only people who have been down there and returned in the past couple of centuries are across the river right now, so I can only theorise. You'll be on your own, I'm afraid. Ideally, it's abandoned, but it would be foolish to assume so until you have returned. Dealing with the object will depend upon its scale, but I believe it to have an adverse effect on living matter if it were to come into close contact. If you have to touch it then do so sparingly."

A look was spared to the more vocal of her companions, who asked a hushed question that a person as attentive as Kisuke Urahara could certainly comprehend but quietly wished he had not. He didn't exactly know who they were, but if that was the gap in knowledge that the Shin'o Academy did not cover then what exactly were they teaching the kids these days?

Hanako turned her head slightly when Amon asked her about the Vandenreich. She didn’t really think about that this was common knowledge and just proceeded to quietly and concisely answer the question.

“They are Quincy. Mortals, kind of. Never met anyone from Vandenreich myself, as far as I know, but I read they can be extremely dangerous. And they have a history with Soul Society. So we’d better be prepared for anything.”

When Urahara spoke again Hanako focused back on the man. He was really a unique being. Despite them being pressed for time he still found it necessary to hold on to manners and etiquette. Somehow Hanako found it quite likeable, even though he used her first name, which was a bit odd.
She had opened her mouth to answer his congratulations and commiserations. She wanted to say that she gladly accepted the commiserations but chose to not do so with the congratulations. She didn’t feel like she deserved congratulations. She hadn’t done anything yet to deserve them. It hadn’t been her achievement that she rose to the position of acting-captain and at this point she wasn’t on it long enough to have proven anything aside from her administrative talents. Yet the commiserations was something she gladly accepted. Aside from the personal connection and gratitude she had felt towards the late Captain, a strong warrior was taken from the ranks of the Gotei. In her mind, and those of many others, the division was severely weakened, as was the whole Gotei and by that all of Soul Society. And when Hanako thought about this she didn’t even think about the sense or nonsense of duels to the death, that were still permitted between Shinigami. She only had to go so far as to think about ramifications it had on the Gotei as a military organisation and it was only the most superficial layer of the issue.

However, because of the complexity of this topic she chose to stay silent on it, closed her mouth and simply nodded in appreciation of the sentiment.

However, hearing that there was basically no intel about the inside of the complex beyond that there was an inside, was much less appreciated by Hanako. She frowned while she listened to Urahara and, not for the first time, asked herself why there was no intel. At first she had thought that it was simply because this mission was rushed and there hadn’t been time to gather intel. But if Urahara knew who had and who hadn’t been inside the complex for the past centuries told her that the existence of this installation was at least known. And the man who was rumoured to be one of the most resourceful of all Soul Society claiming he had no idea what was inside there also seemed pretty unbelievable. However, there was neither the time to press him any further, nor did Hanako believe that Urahara would tell anything, even if he really knew more.

“Well then, no use in delaying any longer.” she said and turned to the other two Shinigami of her team.

“Are we ready?” She asked. It was no challenge, no implication that she expected a specific answer. It was a matter of fact question, meaning exactly what the words said: Whas everyone ready to head into the unknown and face whatever awaited them? Because everyone not ready had that much higher a chance to not come back.

With a sharp gaze, covered in the shadow from the brim of his trademark hat, Kisuke quickly grew serious as Hanako and her team affirmed that they were ready to go. This was the best chance they had at getting this done cleanly, and the element of surprise would only last so long.

"Now, I promised you a secret entrance, didn't I? Stay close, and try not to make too much noise."

No sooner had he spoken than the man vanished, before appearing behind the group not a moment later at a speed blistering enough to make most of the current serving Captains blush. A few centuries away from Soul Society certainly hadn't been enough for the famed Shinigami to lose his touch if any had been of that line of thinking. A flash of a smile and then he disappeared again, heading further away before leaving a sufficient interval for the Gotei squad to come into eyesight.

This cycle continued for several minutes, the pace certainly leisurely for him even if it was punishing for his companions. With Urahara leading the group out of the ruined village and down towards the actual riverbed itself, the terrain became a little murkier and softer underfoot. A bog of sorts, though they travelled upon a carefully planned route that avoided the worst of it. All the while, Kisuke tried to keep track of them so that they didn't go wandering off and making fools of themselves.

Eventually, a small building could be seen poking through the swamp and that appeared to be their destination. It was well-camouflaged amidst the foliage, worn down and dilapidated, but still intact enough that one could call it a building. Urahara came to a stop beside a pile of broken rubble, waiting for everyone to catch up before addressing them again. There was the slightest of tangs in the air for those spiritually inclined individuals, that feeling that something was not quite right, and it did seem to be emanating from the building most of all.

"You'll find the entrance in the basement, should be hard to miss given that it's a vault door. But this is where we part ways, for now, my friends. I'll keep an eye on things topside, and if I need to know something you can reach me on your mobile devices."

Of course, what he was not going to say was that he doubted they would be able to reach him at the depths the laboratory was rumoured to be. It was meant to comfort them at least, just a little. Let them know that he was never too far away.



Clinch River Valley, South Bank Side.

The Laboratory beckons...

Urahara raced away with a flash step that was a unit of its own. He might not have been a part of the Gotei for a small eternity, but he definitely hadn’t lost much of his abilities. Hanako frowned as she thought about what kind of an adversary Urahara might be in a fight and was grateful he was an ally.

She wasted no time and with one flowing movement she steadied her sword in her obi with her left hand, bent her knees and upper body a bit…and then she, too, was gone. She didn’t know how proficient her colleagues were in the art of Hoho, but they had to try and keep up. Hell, she herself wasn’t even anywhere close to fast enough to keep up with Urahara. He waited in regular intervals to let them catch up, but she was sure even these flash steps, that hopelessly outpaced her, were rather relaxed.

Soon they reached a kind of bog. Tricky terrain. There was a way, but of course it wasn’t a straight line. That made it even harder to keep up with Urahara and Hanako fell further behind. She had always thought that she was quite adept at Hoho, but compared with someone that had really mastered it it was as if she was creeping on all fours.

Finally they arrived at a small building. Although…calling it a building was mere flattery at this point. It was a ruin, held together by dried mortar, mould and memories. It was still more than could be said about anything else in this area. Aside from this small, well camouflaged structure, there was only rubble. It was a sorry sight. Decay was like a mist, hanging over everything. It reminded her of Las Noches: fallen, crumbled and half forgotten.

“Basement, huh?” Hanako mumbled. She just hoped this ruin wouldn’t decide to collapse over their heads while they were down there.

“Alright then.”

She bowed quickly a farewell towards Urahara and entered the ruin carefully. An odd smell assaulted her nose as soon as she stepped inside. It smelled dry and moist at the same time. And she was sure that she had been right about the mould. Plants had found their way inside, growing small bushes from the floor and through cracks in the walls. Given enough time and left on its own nothing of this here would survive. It would all fade away and disappear, until nothing on the surface would hint at something once standing here.

With wary steps she went down to the basement. At least this intel was correct, the vault door was indeed hard to miss. It was an old, bulky rusted piece of metal, integrated into one wall, with a handle wheel in the middle. Hanako didn’t know much about architecture or statics, but she would have bet a months pay that the whole building would come down on them if they had to blast their way through the door.

Luckily it didn’t seem to be necessary. When she very cautiously and slowly tried the wheel it moved. Not much and it made a nasty grating sound, but it moved.

“Doesn’t seem to be locked.” she said quietly.

Slowly she drew her sword and held it in her right hand next to her thigh. Urahara did say that this entrance was unguarded, but you could never know. She didn’t expect him to lie, but circumstances could have changed without his knowledge. At least she assumed that even the famous Kisuke urahara couldn’t know everything.

Hanako made eye contact with her colleagues, gesturing them to help. It was time to open it and see what awaited them inside, but she hoped if any one of the others had reservations about it they would speak up now.

Slowly she began pulling on the steel door...