The War of Four: Persona Non Grata

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The Extent of Your Resolve; Worthiness of Vitality
"Empresa's evacuation will spread like wildfire. No one's going to overlook the fireworks we made during the defense, especially not our enemies."

Casilda had her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the ones who would currently address her. She and they were standing within the meeting room of the D.C.O.'s main dimension, grouped together and discussing what would be the next plan of retaliation. After getting acquainted with the rest of them a bit more, they were quick to roll right into tactics and strategies. There was no time to waste, as there was the risk of the Inner Circle moving at any time without warning. Even if the supposed rest time after the assault was a few days, no one wanted to take any chances.

As of this particular time, the Primera was speaking. "The guard that were pulled out along with the citizens are a hardy breed. But their numbers are limited, considering they were drawn out from only a city. With the neighboring cities from Empresa alerted and prepared for possible invasion, though, I can at least take comfort that it'll take quite a lot if Sōsuke's wanting to take over all of Hueco Mundo. For now, the looks of things are saying that Soul Society should be the main attraction..."

"From what little intel we have on the situation involving the Seireitei, it appears that they're already starting to erect substitutes for the damaged structures around the Soul Society. Not to mention place their own monuments and imbue their propaganda within the captive populace and military," Hana declared, pacing back and forth across the 3-D layout table that currently was emblazoned red and showed various structures that were exceptionally crafted, despite being only several days after the invasion occured. Studying the Soul Society she stroked her chin as she spoke, "they also rolled in the bulk of their military power in a wide perimeter around the Seireitei, with airships with an even wider patrol to spot any abnormalities or oncomers of interest. Even the Senkaimon gates have been sealed, making ordinary access impossible and improbable..."

"There appears to be a similar invasion that had occured only half a day ago at Yūrei Ōkoku," Kukkyōna added, as he turned a sympathetic gaze to Avaron as he added, "we have lost contact with them as well. Needless to say, I believe every proximate Society, with the irrelevent exception of Tendan Dākusaido, is incapable of aiding us. All forces we will be utilizing will be what we have now."

The police commander had closed her eyes in solemnity upon hearing those words. Jūshin, Chidori, Shiro, and countless others were in the same predicament that they were. It was not pleasant knowing that she as well as what remained of her Dragonbird scouting force was the only portion that Yūrei would have within this effective fighting force. Still, she couldn't let that bother her, not with the stakes.

After taking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes to regard them all with a stern yet empathetic gaze. "It'll be all that we'll need." She said firmly. "I've grown to learn that even one man can make the difference between life and death, even on the likes of a grand scale. If it took the minds of a few to bring waste to our society, it can take a few to bring it back. We will not be the ones to just sit by while the afterlife burns to the ground..."

She was quick to switch her tone from encouraging to tactical fluidly, turning her attention to the 3-D grid. "As of now, the top priorities should be locating and securing HVIs such as the Captains left behind. I doubt the Inner Circle are above torture and interrogation to squeeze even more information out for possible use. Trying to dismiss them will result in possibly unattainable recovery for the Gotei 13, and considering the heavy casualties you all took, I doubt you have very much reserves other than what from the D.C.O. offers..."

Noriko let out a light scoff, but said nothing.

"We'll have to keep a low profile if we want to pull our guys out of there..." Qilin said lowly, keeping his tone casual and cool as he spoke. "The Horsemen, Aizen, Juhabach... there's no doubt that they'll be there to oversee everything. Even without involving the higher powers, there's the matter of the foot soldiers. Many of them have us outgunned with their technology, including Kidō guns, heavily modified melee weapons and the like. Their numbers outstrip ours, and they've proven themselves to have plenty of skill and experience over our own troops. Open confrontation with any of them would be a no-go when our injured are involved."

"We can't involve the Shinō Academy's teachers or students. They are the future and foundation of the three branches of our military, so they are considered top priority protection while they reside here, in a safe pocket dimension," Captain Hando insisted, pointing out their uninvolvement to be had in this campaign.

"It'd be more likely that we'd need to sneak behind enemy lines and distract the majority of their enemies from the real targets. If we can cripple their leaders, their men will be rendered into any chaos we can toss into their midst," Kaien Shiba added, as he observed the display himself, "but discounting that aside, the Dragons are the biggest concern of their generals. Each of them have incredible skill, and would require multiple skilled warriors of our own to defeat them, along with their subordinates."

"Its a pity we can't use the man power they have in custody within the Soul Society. While they didn't kill them, they still could be useful in battle if we're to further the seeds of chaos among them," Senna added, seeing it as an advantage.

"That would be risky, and probably fruitless," Renji pointed out, shrugging as he locked eyes with her and those around them of importance, "all those men who hadn't died are probably in a condition a fraction of what the captured Captains are. Not many of them will be combat worthy, and even if they will, their numbers wouldn't be worth putting them in a position to fight..."

"If we could possibly lure the enemy away from their positions, we could send a few squads to escort them out of the Soul Society until the battle has calmed down," Daisuke suggested out, wanting to escort as many of the Soul Reapers as they can, "significant to battle strength or not, they are still our comrades. Should they perish, we will most certainly be left with less than desired man power for any future battles of this scale..."

"So, in summary, you want to have someone serve as a guinea pig to turn resistance away from targets of opportunity..." Senkaku summarized. "For that to work, we're going to have to use combatants that will last a good amount of time against any level of strength put against them. That way, the time the actual damage teams have to get to their locations will be maximized to full effect. We don't want allies that will break under the will of Dragons and Horsemen if they are confronted by such..."

"We will also have to pinpoint and hit locations separately, if you're aiming to take out the leaders first..." Qilin added. "The Dragons and Horsemen won't stick together in one spot with the knowledge of a counter-attack. Each Horsemen will be within his or her own location, guarded by their respective Dragons. But if we're aiming to pull our guys out, we'll need to move quickly. What possible locations could they be hidden in that no one would be permitted to go normally?"

"That's what we're intending on learning, of course!" Kaze spoke in an exasperated tone, as he leaned over on his cane and looked to Qilin, then to the rest of the gathered, "as soon as we can get a few probes out towards the Soul Society, and maybe spare a scout here and there, we can collaborate a number of details for which we can track these targets of interest down-"

"Sorry we're late!"

"-here comes one of our volunteers," Kaze chuckled as he heard the voice of his long absented Lieutenant, taking Rukia and what appeared to be the Espada they've been waiting for. Regarding his uniformed appearance as hastily put on, he cocked a brow up as he inquired, "did you enjoy yourself with your company, Shio-san? Or were you cut short by our dilemma?"

"Not funny," Meikurai growled under his voice before clearing his throat as they arrived in front of the fully gathered alliance.

The moment that the trio appeared, Casilda was quick to turn her eyes on Lobo.

Though her gaze was mostly unreadable, there was a slight flicker of irritation within those eyes of hers. Although Rukia had reason to be sympathetic, the Primera was not one to overlook the fact that Lobo had went against orders for the sake of chasing someone that had been irrelevant to the situation at hand. By that alone, he would have been considered to have committed defection and treason. Had she had been Bernabe, she would've gladly made the decision of executing him right then and there.

But she wasn't her Segunda. So instead, she remained silent and allowed only her eyes to pass judgement on him.

This didn't seem to be picked up by Rukia, who was busy giving a respectful bow to the rest of them. "Our apologies for the late arrival." She said, giving a look towards Avaron in particular. The police commander seemed more than ready to forgive her, giving a dismissive wave of the hand in response.

"Don't worry about it, Kuchiki. You're here now, and that's all that matters..."

"Glad to see you could arrive to assist, de Norte..." In contrast to the attitude his superior was carrying, Senkaku's tone seemed more welcoming to the Novena. "I take it the injuries you sustained were taken care of?"

"My battle took me farther away from the rest of you than I would've liked, so I wasn't able to sense any of your presences," Lobo spoke honestly and straightforwardly, his eyes not meeting the Primera's as he looekd away in shame, "the only Spiritual Pressure I had been able to read was within the Spiritual Realm where Rukia Kuchiki and I had battled. After dressing my wounds, I narrowly infiltrated the resort before collapsing due to exhaustion and blood loss. I apologize for my weakness, all of you, for I am not worthy of forgiveness..."

"You really shouldn't put yourself down that much," Daisuke spoke out readily, causing the Arrancar's eyes to shift to his own. Daisuke beamed a smile as he gave him a thumb's up, "what's most important is that you escaped with your life, just like your comrades did. Sure you got sidetracked, but you kept yourself alive for your friends, didn't you?"

"Indeed..." Hachiro noted coolly, his arms folded across his chest. "There's no need to apologize to us. We're just glad that you three could make it as soon as you did." He glanced over towards Kaze, directing his tone towards the scientist. "Kaze. You mind explaining to him what you mean by "volunteer"?"

"I am grateful," Lobo bowed to them, glad to see his allies had as much understanding as his duelist partner to-be, but could only hope Senkaku would be not the only one to greet him with such enthusiasm. It was at this time Meikurai quirked a brow upwards, but made sure not to get on Kaze's bad side and allowed his Captain to explain.

"If none of you are aware of it, or have forgotten," Kaze pointedly rolled his eyes at Hachiro, as if blaming him for not remembering about Meikurai's abilities, "Meikurai would be the perfect scout amongst the enemy lines. His Zanpakutō, Kagami, allows him to blend in perfectly with his surroundings, no matter what amount of high tier perception or surveillance technology would prove futile. He can also lace illusions around people and objects, allowing him to send out false happenings around his environment and cloak his allies within fields of light refracting energy to keep them hidden as well as any Kidō would..."

"So if he's going to be one of the scouts, if not the only one..." Noriko inquired, quirking an eyebrow. "Then who's going to be serving as part of the teams? The Gotei 13 doesn't have much on its side who's capable enough, and risking the leadership here will just jeopardize us if they get captured..."

"Why not send some of the D.C.O. squad in?"

That was when Braeburn's voice cut in, with his form leaning against a nearby wall. His arms were folded across his chest. "We're trained in stealth, assassination and recovery." He explained, using a hand for the occasional gesturing purpose. "Sending a fireteam or squad out to the H.V.I.s would require maintaining a low profile, obviously. Since the 2nd Division's HQ got destroyed, I'm doubting the Gotei 13 itself has many reserves to go by... especially with the 2nd Division's Captain out of commission for the time being. While we do that, some of the Espada Afilado can take the role of providing the distraction. Considering they've fought in hardy and hellish conditions, they're the most capable of withstanding an onslaught. Better than the Shinigami, at least..."

He ignored the faint scowl that crossed Noriko's face, as he regarded each and every one of them from his position. "Of course, that's just an idea being thrown out. If anyone has any other ideas or advice, I'm all for it..."

"Quiet you insec-"

"Actually, Captain Sasayaki, he has a good point," Hana intervened before Kaze could hiss openly at Braeburn, looking over at the other Captains and the Espada that had gathered as well, "if we used the D.C.O. squads we have available, both Reserves and the Shadow Squad, we could be able to rescue the imprisoned non-combatants as well as set up special surprises for the enemy behind their enemy lines. That, and I think I have a far more important task selected for the Lieutenant..."

"You do?" Meikurai voiced aloud in query, his Captain also narrowing his eyes suspiciously at his protoge and current superior but dared not to say a thing and wanted to see how things played out, "what would that be?"

"The Captains. You're going to sift through all this chaos and free the Captains, as well as rejuvenate their health and Spiritual Power," Hana spoke aloud with the important task assigned to the man before her. Knowing the gravity of such a task she smiled with assurance in her voice, "you're one of the only ones that can make that particular rescue, as you have more information regarding locations they'd take prisoners of such noteworthy power and prestige, to hide them away."