Too Many Bridges to Cross Over [Reida, Safira]

Reida's work, by design, wasn't work that got any formal oversight. She was expected to operate independently, and apart from making sure her assignment was complete, the higher ups didn’t really care much about what she did. That allowed a lot of wiggle room, and frankly, it meant she was damn good at her job. Not that she necessarily thought most people would approve of how she went about it. She was in Africa to locate one particular MIA member of the Vandenreich. Arrancar, relatively new recruit. Given the reports coming out of this place, a lot of people had expected that he might’ve gotten caught up in whatever was messing with some people’s heads.

Turned out they were right. He wasn’t much of a hard hitter, at least not when compared to Reida herself, and she’d been able to deal with him without much trouble. In the circumstances, after beating someone oblivious and getting the upper hand, there was only one answer to a problem like this. Without hesitation, and with only a faint bit of remorse in her eye, Reida aimed her gun at the back of the Arrancar’s head.

“Sorry, kid.”

A crack echoed across the plains as the job was finished, easily loud enough that she knew she'd be dealing with unwanted attention soon, and Reida took a moment to send her report back to HQ on the matter:

Target KIA.

Sliding her comm device back into her jacket, she sighed and took a long drink of whiskey, looking out over the empty, dusty wastes that not long ago had been a bustling metropolis. Words echoed through her mind that had been eating at her for a hot minute now: Do you think the Vandenreich can grant you what you’re after? Blood? She still didn’t really know the answer to that question. But the blood of some poor soldier who’d been wearing her own uniform wasn’t exactly what she’d been after when she joined.

She stood in a pool of blood with corpses. For the moment it was a waiting game, she needed Ichigo Kurosaki to make his move and for her foe to make his as well. Until that time Safira acknowledged that there was very little she could do, devouring these insufficient souls would not be sufficient in regaining the power that she had cultivated and honed over millennia.

Without her zanpakuto she had taken advantage of a patrolling group of unseated shinigami to slaughter them with her cero, ringing out in the landscape with an explosion that could level a house. The survivors were weak enough for her to finish off with her hands. She didn't need to kill them but having one of the shinigami's swords would serve as a suitable weapon for the short-term future.

She let out a sigh at how even the killing of the group required more thought and effort than she had ever had to do. It was its own kind of struggle.

When the sound of a gunshot rang out it made her cock her head towards the source. Asher's thralls didn't use guns nor did the shinigami which gave her two options. They were either unaligned or the Vandenreich, neither of those had the same kind of weight to their organisation's title than the former ones.

So with a sonido, she dashed towards the source like a snake crawling over the earth until the diminutive form of the snake apppeared in the air above Reida looking down as if she was an interested child who had came out of pure curiosity. Safira would play to her strengths of this form with her unassuming presence.

The sound of sonido, and another presence in the area, was enough to set Reida on edge. She was no slouch when it came to sensing a spiritual disturbance, doubly so when it was another Hollow, but it didn't seem like this was much. Even so, she was a woman always on edge, and out here in the desert, she couldn't take chances. Turning carefully, gun at the ready, she spoke quickly.

"Whatcha want?"

Despite the casual wording, there was nothing casual about Reida's tone of voice, or the harsh gaze of her single eye. She didn't trust someone out here just because they looked like a kid, especially when they set off her senses like this. The Hollow side of her was on edge. She didn't like it.

"Um..."

She looked like she was deep in thought, a juvenille hollow that couldn't articulate it appropriately but that was not the case. Her thoughts took a moment to click with the familiarity of the features and scent of her reiatsu. The whole experience almost gave her goosebumps from the elated feeling she felt at her realisation.

Not that Reida would likely understand the cause for the sudden smile. Safira was happy to play dumb if she could use Reida to her advantage, it's what she'd done from the moment this woman was born.

"Some people attacked me, it really hurt, I took this from them though. Do you want it?"

She said while offering the shinigami's zanpakuto to Reida as a peace offering, the blood from its true owner had gone dry until it caked the handle.

Reida's eye narrowed at the offering. She'd dealt with more than enough arrancar to know how wildly different they could be from one another, but she also knew they were plenty crafty. Couldn't reliably expect that looking or acting like a kid meant they were one, and her hollow side was still none too pleased. Something wasn't right.

Even so, her gaze moved slowly to the zanpakuto in the arrancar's hand. She knew enough about the Gotei to recognize a zanpakuto anywhere, and the sight of it caked in blood was one that spoke to her more than she'd have cared to admit. Reida remained silent for a moment or two, and then spoke in the same terse tone as before.

"Yeah. What're you doing out here?"

Though one hand reached out to take the blade, the other kept its hold firmly on her gun, the stock pressed a bit harder into her shoulder to maintain her aim even with only one hand. Just because she was tolerating this for now didn't make her want to relax.

Well that was short-lived but the deceased shinigami had served some purpose to the very least. They should feel very glad to have enabled this peace offering between hollows.

"I came because I felt a strong presence that felt like me, uh, you also feel like a hollow but you don't look like one... Then I got attacked by a monster but I got away from him."

She declared like she was impressed with herself for getting away in one piece and puffed out her chest like she was proud of something childish.

"What are you doing here? Ge doesn't look like he's dressed like the other ones."

Safira asked and pointed at the dead man in uniform. Why did she kill him? He looked like he belonged to the same group as she did. Was he a traitor? Did she just need to sate the ferocious bloodlust she'd observed Reida have at different points in time?

"Mm... Yeah, guess I'm kinda like a hollow."

The fact that shinigami had been trying to kill this kid told her more or less everything she needed to know about it. However, she'd be lying if she said she really disapproved that much. Still, she remained tense as she kept her interrogation going for now.

"He was a traitor. Had to put him down. You probably don't wanna be around here if you're tryin' to avoid a fight. Place ain't gonna get any more peaceful."

That reminded Reida that she probably needed to get out of here soon, too. Her hand stayed on the stolen zanpakuto, before she simply put it unceremoniously into her pack, both hands returning to her gun for now.

"Not everyone in the Vandenreich's gonna be as nice to ya as me, just so ya know. I just figure I oughta let you off easy for getting rid of that monster."

Ha. She was sure that'd go over real well if anyone knew about it.

"I can't."

She said through feigned sheepishness at Reida, her eyes were at the dirt where her bare feet had made footprints since she dropped to the ground.

"The one that attacked me stole from me so I can't get away. He's making hollows his slaves so maybe I could stay with you for a bit, you wouldn't let him enslave us, right? You seem really nice."

Safira said with an innocent grin. Whether that was a compliment to Reida's goodness for letting her go or it was complimenting her savage behaviour in how she dealt with the traitor, accepting bloodied trophies, and the like.

It was all for interpretation.

Pieces were gradually falling into place here for Reida, pieces she wasn't entirely glad to see fall into place. Seemed like this was one more victim of that figure at the middle of all this. Admittedly, Reida couldn't say she cared that much about some random arrancar who'd been messed with. This wasn't her problem, and she wasn't inclined to trust any arrancar in a place like this. Not after they'd showed up with a bloodied zanpakuto, and certainly not when the hollow side of her was still so unwilling to settle down.

"Ya think so, huh? Not really my job to do much protectin'. Best I can do is help you get outta here. I shouldn't stick around long, after all."

After all, this was all hush hush. She didn't need to be seen with some random arrancar around these parts. She really didn't need to be seen at all around these parts.

"I ain't much for slavery, so I wouldn't condemn ya to it. But you're askin a whole lot outta me. And, to be real honest with ya, I don't exactly have a nice history with your kind. Just so happens I've got a worse history with other people 'round these parts."

"Huh... Aren't you here to help these people? Why would we leave when there's so many souls in need?"

Safira furrowed her brow to make Reida see the concerned gaze. Her slitted pupils sharpening a bit more like she was trying to figure something out about the other woman.

Why was she here?

Safira hoped that she could have that thought creep into Reida's mind. Her organisation wanted to help the world, no? Yet she was here to do nothing more than kill this one target, she had accepted a bloodied trophy from a stranger, how did this help anyone?