Ranged Attackers Assemble

Levi looked curiously at Motaro's assisant. He wasn't sure what he had done to draw the irk of the Quincy; not a fool, he hadn't missed the barely-subtle middle finger. But he figured that someone like Motaro wouldn't keep him around if he didn't have some good qualities, and he grunted with approval as Motaro bopped his assistant on the head. He's my type of guy.

Back to the issue at hand, Levi furrowed his eyebrows. "To be truthful, I first thought that the other shinigami, the one who wasn't wearing the traditional Gotei 13 clothes, to be like the undercover cops we have in the human world." He chuckled softly. Besides a basic understanding of the hierarchy of Soul Society and the roles of each division, Levi really didn't know anyone from that world. "I'm sure there are shinigami who don't get along with each other; after all, they're hardly perfect beings." Levi reached into his pocket and took out a cigar case, taking one out and offering the others to Motaro and Somachiryou. "But I hardly assume that they'd let their differences get the best of them in a mission like that. Those two looked like they were really trying to kill each other."

((Oh hey, didn't see that you had posted.))

"I personally have never seen a shinigami without wearing the traditional uniform. While they can be in a human like body and thus wear human clothes, they normally can't fight in that form. So seeing one without their uniform usually is very unusual. And considering that they would be noticed by hollows whether they were in their garb or not, I doubt there are any undercover cops or anything."

"And if there is one thing I know, it is that you don't see two shinigami fight like that against each other. Especially not in the real world. While there may be some who don't like each other, it is a serious offense if they have that interfere with their missions. My only guess is that the Shinigami are having more internal problems then would be expected. Perhaps one of them rebelled or something? Did you hear them say anything before they fought?"

"Me? I couldn't hear much. I was trying not to be burnt to a crisp by that hollow's annoying cero attacks." Levi furrowed his brows, trying hard to remember that moment as best he could. "It seemed to me that there weren't any formalities, or any sign that they recognized each other for that part. To me, that seems interesting; they seemed to be as friendly as a mongoose and a cobra." Levi took a puff from his cigar and slowly exhaled, savoring the smell and taste of the finely-rolled Cuban. "I don't know what their deal was, but it sure seems intriguing, and might run deeper than we can guess."

Levi turned toward Motaro's assistant, trying to involve him in their guessmaking. "What about you, Mr. Kazetsubaki? Do you have any ideas?" Levi glanced down at his watch. Any time now, Fuuga

((I'm not sure when you're coming to the room, Fuuga. Now would be nice ))

Natsu finally came up to the building Levi had told him of, the game company Megator with none other than the Quincy Council leader as its CEO. As he walked up near the front of the building he raised his reiatsu a bit, enough to be noticed by others. It was a habit of his to announce his arrival in this way, he would often do it before entering a Overseer meeting. I wonder what they've been talking about... and how much I can learn of the recent attack from them. I certainly hope we can get along, Quincies and Superhumans. It'd be great with more allies. He stopped in front of Megator and waited for someone to come and show him to where Levi and Motaro might be.

((Woah, hadn't seen these posts... for some reason this hasn't shown up for me when I logged on before today o.o))

Motaro looked over as the nearby phone rang. He quickly answered it expecting it to be from the security guards at the front. It was as he expected as they described the person who had apparently been invited to the building without a previous appointment. A quick question about his name and he gave the approval for him to be allowed up to the current floor.

"Seems that the other Overseer has made his way here. He should be up shortly Levi."

(Crap post is crap, just want Fuuga to get his butt in here.)

After waiting for a short moment Natsu was greeted by an employee of the building, then got shown to the room where Levi and 2 other people were having a conversation. In accordance with japanese etiquette he had brought a small gift - a little glass sculpture of a crane - in a paper bag. He looked at the 2 other men, and handed it to the one he thought looked the least hostile - which happened to be Motaro. He took the crane out of the bag, which he placed underneath the gift when giving it to Motaro, using both hands, saying in near perfect japanese with an Okinawan accent "It only amounts to a symbol of my appreciation, but..."

After this formality was over, he bowed respectfully to both of the men he didn't know. "Fuuga, Natsu, Overseer of London" After this he went over to Levi and extended his hand. "It's been a while since last we met, hasn't it Sempai?" he asked with a grin.

Levi grinned as Fuuga entered the room. He and Levi were close friends, as he was one of the few Overseers whom Levi could relate to. Lucky him for being in from Japanese family and all. Levi's smile lessened slightly as he noticed the bag that Fuuga had just given to Motaro. Now I feel bad for not having a gift. Then again, it's not like I had the time.

"Yep, it's been a while all right, though I have good reason. When are you going to give up trying to cut my hair?" Ever since they had met, Fuuga and Levi had had an inside joke (at least, it SEEMED like a joke to other people) that Levi had to defend his locks from Fuuga's barber scissors. As if to reassure himself, Levi glanced down at Fuuga's dominant hand for a glance of steel. He didn't see anything, but he did not let his guard completely down.

"So now that we're all introduced, how about we bring Fuuga up to speed about what we've been talking about?"

Motaro only reacted with a stunned silence when he was handed the gift. He was honestly not used to any person still going through with that custom, especially someone not from Japan. And he was also surprised by the Overseer's grasp of the Japanese language. He was so used to speaking in English to most of his employees and business associates that it was a very big surprise.

He then smiled and looked at the new Overseer. Already he had gained several brownie points with the Council Leader. "I thank you for your gift. It is rare that anyone from outside of this country is even aware of that custom, let alone actually follows through with it."

"My name is Motaro Shisoku, the head of this wonderful business and the Quincy Council Leader. We were just discussing an event earlier today which began with a hollow attack on the city. While the hollows were repelled by Levi, myself, and some shinigami, it also led to a bizzare battle between what seemed like two powerful shinigami. They managed to destroy a couple of buildings and only stopped when the Shinigami captain took a large amount of damage. The victor also seemed for a few minutes to be using power similar to that of a hollow."

"We were trying to see if we could guess what was going on as this was an occurrence we have never seen before. I am even at the point of seeing if I can contact the Sotaicho of the Shinigami and see if I can get any information from him. Perhaps you or my subordinate Soma have an idea instead though."

Soma had kept quiet this whole time. Not really listening to any of them, he didn't even take notice to another of the superhumans enter the room, but instead stared out of the window. As things stood he didn't like what was going on. Shinigami fighting in the human world against others with unbelievable power, and the destruction it caused. All these things went trough his mind like a computer, till finally his thoughts were broken by the sound of Motaro asking for his thoughts.

"I think they Shinigami will be coming here very soon. A Captain had a fight, and lost. Not only that another shinigami came along with the power of a hollow. They will most likely hunt that person down. What we should prepare for is the aftermath. What they will leave in there wake, while also preparing for the future. We need a way to clear the city if such a battle should take place again. No.....when it takes place again. the underground. Outside the city limits. Anywhere but within the borders of this town. That is what we should be focused on. Let the SHinigami handle there own mistakes. Our duties lie with protecting human life. Not meddling in others affairs."

With that Somachiryou turned, and left the room. Heading back to the stairs where he simply disappeared outside of the building. Leaving them to talk about whatever it is they wanted. He himself wanted to meet that unknown enemy, and ask him a few questions.

Levi watched the Quincy leave the room, his eyebrows furrowed a bit. A bit zealous, isn't he? But maybe we'll need more guys like him, if my gut feeling is right, though I hope it isn't. Levi turned to Motaro. "I don't think that the shinigami would generally be so reckless as to cause unnecessary damage to property and lives. They will try to prevent as much of that as possible. But..." Levi grunted as he changed position in his seat. "The hollows are the ones attacking, and we're defending. The problem is, we're defending the whole world against any attack on the cities. It's like trying to catch every fish in a stream with just a couple of hooks. To be broad, the superhumans just don't have a large enough reach to every single city in the world, and I don't think Gotei 13 has a large enough reach either. So what can we do?" Levi posed this question, partly rhetorical, but he was curious as to what Motaro's response might be like. You can really judge a man's character when he is pressed into a situation that requires action.

Natsu replied with a simple "I'll stop trying to cut it when you start taking better care of it, Sempai." As he said it his eyes got a better look of Levis hair, and he noted something odd about it. "Speaking of which, it looks like you had a close encounter there. When looking at the damage of your hair, it was something really warm. It wasn't a fire technique, there'd be more burned hair. It looks more like it was in a controlled shape. A Cero, perhaps?"

Having seen the various techniques from Hollows, and being one who cuts the hair of people from the Organization for free in the shop, that was his best deduction. As rare as it was for Hollows with the ability to fire a Cero to appear in the human world, it was something that left a mark on those who had seen them.

He then turned towards Motaro as he introduced himself, and this Soma person, who quickly left the room. "Well, he certainly seems like quite the cheery fellow, huh?" Guess the Quincies have just as many, and as colorful personalities as the rest of us...

"My dad's Japanese, from Okinawa. Very traditional. Though it's been a while since I spoke the language, so do forgive me if I'm a little rusty."

The mentioning of a Shinigami with the powers of a Hollow made some terrible thoughts turn up in his head. A Shinigami with the powers of a Hollow... could it be? He came up with a few ideas, but at first dismissed them. At least he would wait mentioning them until Motaro had a chance to reply to Levis question.

"Thats the million dollar question isn't it Levi? How do we protect all of these people with our limited resources and people?" He sighed to himself. "I have asked myself this question hundreds of times myself. If we could just have some way to snap our fingers and appear where hollows were, it would make everything easier. Unfortunately we do not have that ability."

"However, that is where the shinigami excel more than anything else. They do have the ability to appear in large numbers where hollows are if they so choose. It isn't as simple as just snapping their fingers and appearing, but it is much more efficient then what we can do."

"However, the shinigami also have a habit of splitting up their forces and being slow when it comes to small hollow attacks. Which is why I have tried to assist using the Quincy forces. Instead of splitting our numbers up all around the world like the shinigami do, we have instead concentrated the largest number of our forces here in Japan. Most small hollow attacks are ended in seconds by the various Quincies that patrol this country and allow the shinigami to focus on other matters."

"I can assure you that Soma and a few of the other Council members do not like this position, but I have always felt that the best way to fight the threat of hollows is to support the shinigami. They have been fighting hollows the longest, have the best technology for fighting them, and also have the extra bonus of being able to transport in mass whenever there are large numbers of hollows that their small patrols would not be able to deal with."

"Those small patrols around the world also make things easier for the human races to fight against the hollows. While they may not be the fastest or most efficient way to combat the hollows, it allows there to be at least some defense against the weak hollows all over the globe. Since they have that covered, I feel that the superhumans and the Quincies outside of Japan should focus their efforts on protecting the large spiritual cities around the world. It is unlikely that any group of hollows will attack areas outside of large cities, so it is possible to focus troops in those areas to hold the hollows back until the shinigami come."

"Its a terrible situation where we humans have the odds stacked against us. But regardless of whether or not we like them or feel that they could do things better, we do have the greatest allies on our side in the form of the Gotei 13."

He stopped for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "My apologizes for that, when you get me on topics like that I tend to ramble on. In the end I feel the best way to combat the hollow attacks is to concentrate forces in the most likely to be targetted area. That also will increase the lure for the hollows to attack those areas DUE to the fact we are situated there. Which just increases the chance of them focusing on attacking where we are stationed rather than some other area."

He smiled at Fuuga. "As for Soma, you will have to forgive him. He isn't a fan of any race outside of the Quincies and takes any attack or failure by any person to heart. The events that occurred with the shinigami are probably making him want to tear down everything in sight right now. His passion is one of the reasons why he was made a Council Member, but it also is why I have to usually keep a watch on him."

"Do you two have any suggestions besides concentrating forces in key locations?"

Natsu looked at Motaro during his speech.

"I'm not sure if I have any decent suggestions for patrolling, at least not without knowing more about the way the patrols are now. How many, how well informed, how well trained, how much interaction with patrols from other towns... The way they communicate, how often they report in, how much intel they find... there's much to concider. Though with the way things are now, I personally think the Superhumans and Quincy should work together more. Though I know it is not my decision to make" he replied to Motaro, turning his face towards Levi during his last sentence. The Overseers would have to discuss it first, and he figured that the Quincies would have to do so as well.

"When you asked about thoughts on the Shinigami who apparently had Hollow powers for a few minutes, I might have a few. Theories of course, and they sound crazy even to me. Still, if you'd like I'll share them."

Levi chomped down on his cigar, looking down to see that the tip had burnt down to about 3 inches. He contemplated reaching for another cigar, then decided not to. At the moment, he was to busy thinking about the conundrum that Natsu and Motaro were talking about.

"Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many other options that we have. We can only hope that the hollows will attack large cities with big spiritual energies, like Karakura, New York City, London, etc..." This is one thing about those wealthy Overseers that Levi kind of admired. Many of them had gotten that wealthy through building up corporations, something that required a lot of leadership skills to do. It was really them who could organize an organization of the superhuman forces.

Shaking off that thought (and slightly kicking himself for being lost in his thoughts), Levi turned towards Fuuga. "Sure, Natsu, I'd like to hear what your ideas are. Hopefully not some conspiracy theory like 'the shinigami experimented with hollow powers and covered the whole thing up'." That idea seemed to stick in Levi's mind for some reason, but he brushed it away for the moment, focusing on Natsu.

"I wouldn't put it past the shinigami honestly." Motaro said rolling his eyes. He had a lot of respect for what the shinigami did to protect the human world, but he didn't really trust them when it came to their experimentation. He had read the reports/horror stories of the experiments some shinigami had done to understand the way that Quincies used their abilities. There had been no actual deaths as far as they knew, but there were a few people who had mental issues when it came to scientists for years afterwards.

At least that is what he had been told and read in the records. It hadn't happened for several centuries, apparently the shinigami had gotten all the data they had wanted. But it still made the Quincies a little wary of the twelfth division members. "I don't care how farfetched the ideas are Natsu, might as well listen to them. Maybe one of them is closer then you would expect."

"Well...." Natsu began with a sigh "I don't know about you but... I've heard rumors. You may know of them as well... I have no proof, nor have I seen this myself, but it seems there are Hollows who somehow lose their masks... they become stronger, smarter... much more dangerous. Apparently, they look more like humans or Shinigami after losing the masks. It could be what you saw was a more complete version of this, or a different type. Possibly trying to infiltrate the ranks of the Shinigami and gain intel before leading an assault on them, or for some other purpose we can't even imagine."

Natsu paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

"Of course, if we say the maskless Hollows exist, it should in theory be possible the other way around... Shinigami gaining the masks of Hollows. If they did, it would most likely brand them as traitors... Hollows are hated by Shinigami even more than by the Superhumans or Quincies..."

He smiled when thinking about how ridiculous it had to sound to Levi and Motaro, but continued none the less.

"Finally, it may be something completely different. Like a new species. Almost akin to when the Quincies found out about the existance of Superhumans. Except, of course, as we are still humans the Quincies didn't raise their bows at us, at least not according to what I've heard. Those are the ideas that spring to mind. I could be completely wrong of course, and I have no proof for any of these theories. But with the limited information, that's the best I can do. For now, anyway. Given time I may be able to think of more."

Natsu finished with another sigh. None of these ideas were very pleasant.

Motaro looked up at Natsu' mention of the hollows and clicked his tongue. He waited until the overseer was done before speaking. "I can assure you, there is a lot more strength behind those rumors then you might expect. I have been personally informed by the shinigami that there are hollows who have indeed removed their masks. They are known as the Arrancar and are at the top of the shinigami's hit list right now."

He looked over at Levi. "If you think what that group of hollows could have done was bad, the arrancar could make things even worse. Even some of the weaker ones are terribly destructive and only the top seated positions of the Gotei 13 can deal with them. The most powerful are even captain level. The top ten have apparently named themselves the Espada and have actually declared war on the shinigami. So far they haven't done anything for decades, but that matters little when you can live for hundreds of years. The Quincy have been preparing themselves for their attack for a long time now, and we just have to remain prepared. It could be tomorrow or it could be a century from now. But in the end they will attack."

"However, it is apparently very easy to spot an Arrancar. Despite the fact that they have to an extent gained shinigami powers, their power is obviously hollow so they would not be able to infiltrate the shinigami or anything. Their power would get them spotted in an instant. So they at least don't have to worry about that."

"But I guess it is possible for it to happen the other way around. Hollow and shinigami power must be somehow related to allow it to occur one ways, so I guess it logically happen the other way around." He bit his lip in thought. "I can only assume the shinigami either don't know this can occur or try to ignore it as much as possible."

"Since one of them was fighting that captain, it may be that they are a rebel group of angry shinigamis. I mean, if you wanted to piss off the shinigami, what better way then to get strong by taking in hollow powers?"

"Of course it could be a new race, but I doubt it would have just appeared like the Superhumans did. Superhumans as far as I understand are humans who have been in a way mutated due to large amounts of reishi and have gained new reishi based powers. But both shinigami and hollows are made of reishi so I doubt that could occur. And the Arrancar apparently have a specific process for being created so there is probably a specific thing necessary for a shinigami to gain hollow powers as well."

He looked over at Levi again. "Sorry for asking again if I already did so, but do you remember anything specific about the way the two shinigami interacted? If the Captain was surprised or unsurprised at the shinigami with hollow powers?"

Levi frowned as he heard Motaro confirm the rumors of these incredibly strong hollows, remembering the wounds he had suffered in the previous fight. And there are much stronger foes out there? Dang, I'm starting to get old for this type of abuse. I should cut it back a bit.

Levi thought back to that fight between the two shinigamis yet again. Due to his sharp eye, he had been able to see the shinigami's faces as they fought. "I can say with certainty that the captain was surprised to see this shinigami with hollow powers, though why he was surprised is a trickier issue. Maybe that shinigami was someone whom the captain had known long before and not because of those hollow powers...." Levi pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes. There really was no way for the superhumans to find out how much the shinigami knew and did not know; Levi was lucky if regular soul reapers would stop and acknowledge him, let alone answer his questions.

But I've been putting off this other conversation with Natsu, and it needs to be addressed. Levi shifted his position on the couch and cleared his throat. "And before I forget Natsu, I think it's about time that we talk about Thomas. Thomas Hopper," Levi continued to explain to Motaro, "is a general in the organization who's actions need our attention. If you would like to voice your own opinion about the matter and how to deal with him, then I'd be more than happy." Levi turned back to Natsu, allowing him to open the discussion.

From one uncomfortable topic to another, eh? Natsu already thought it was quite a bit to take in what had happened to Karakura, an innocent town. Now having to discuss the activities Thomas Hopper had been doing behind the back of the Superhuman Organization was another thing entirely. None the less, he knew it had to be taken care off, and rather sooner than later.

"Unfortunately, I've confirmed our suspitions. He has indeed been taking on various jobs. The Jordanian politician only being the most recent one. Interpol has been linking the style to a series of other hits... and he didn't try to deny that he'd done them, which, if I read him correctly, was a form of confirmation." He looked at Motaro with a sad look in his eyes, he didn't want to burden the Quincies with the problems of the Superhumans. However, if they were to become allies they had to be honest to eachother... with as few secrets as possible, including the darker ones.

"I suspect he'll either wait for a bargain from us... or await a chance to escape, which is also part of why I had him escort me. With several Overseers in town at the moment, I figure he won't be foolhardy enough to try something... at least not for a while." Surprisingly, Natsu showed remorse about the situation not because of the situation with Thomas, but because part of him feared he may have only brought more trouble to Karakura in the end. Especially after the recent attack, which in ways reminded him of the time his powers awoke for the first time.

"I also wanted to hear more opinions as to how to deal with him. You have to agree, his old contacts are an asset... and his personality makes him too dangerous to leave alone. He wouldn't mind innocent people getting injured or killed, as long as his target is eliminated and he gets to collect his payment..."