Rukia is summoned to the R&D Department

“Rukia, I don’t think this is a good idea…”

“Don’t worry, Isane. We’ll be just fine.”

Be that as it may, Rukia didn’t quite believe her own words. She felt nervous as she walked through the squad twelve compound, even with Isane at her side. Both vice-captains had volunteered to help captain Kurotsuchi with an experiment. Or, well, they’d been convinced by Nemu. Also a bit of threatening to expose some of their secrets. Yes, that was one of the main reasons for volunteering.

Damn that Kurotsuchi for installing spyware all over the Seireitei! She didn’t want anyone to hear about how she’d written Chappy theater, nor did she want anyone to see her act out said drama in private – especially her friends. Renji would keep bringing it up for months; the bastard.

As for Isane, well, the poor girl was too shy and helpful to decline Nemu. Honestly, she was too nice sometimes.

Speaking of which, their fellow female vice-captain was walking in front of them, leading the two to wherever her captain was. They’d been wandering through empty corridors for a while now. How much longer until they reached their destination?

“So, Nemu.” Rukia said, in an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this experiment? All you told us, was that it has something to do with captain Kurotsuchi’s latest invention?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

The silence returned. Isane glanced at her, confused by what was happening. Alright, maybe she had to be more direct with the monotone girl.

“And what is this invention, exactly? You didn’t tell us.”

Nemu looked over her shoulder. “Mayuri-sama does not wish for me to divulge such secrets. I have been explicitly forbidden to share information, even to those who volunteer. My apologies.”

Ah, of course. That sounded very much like the paranoid captain. Rukia sighed dejectedly, having expected to at least learn a bit more about what was going to happen. Kurotsuchi was unpredictable, after all. Not to mention crazy. The man was a genius; not even Rukia would dispute that fact. But still, also crazy.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Isane offered weakly.

That wasn’t very reassuring, now was it? Rukia relented though. There was no way the captain would involve people of other squads, and then cause them harm in some way. He might be able to get away with it when doing such things to his own subordinates, but the other captains wouldn’t stand for their own to be harmed.

The trio moved past another door, and Rukia chose to peek inside this time. It was dark – upsettingly so – and various tubes of sorts were lined up against the wall, filled with a strange substance. Some kind of liquid, she guessed. Various machinery was scattered everywhere. Combined with the gloomy atmosphere, and the unnatural light that came from the vats, the laboratory looked like something out of a human horror movie. She remembered watching one, back in the human world when she’d been staying over at Ichigo for an assignment.

Rukia’s face turned a shade of green as she spotted the dissected head of a Hollow floating inside one of the tubes.

“That’s just not right.” Isane echoed Rukia’s thoughts, less shaken due to her profession as a medic. She’d seen plenty of gory scenes.

Alright, now Rukia was officially freaking out. What if her head was next? Rukia wisely turned away, kept her eyes on Nemu and followed along without making a sound. The quicker they reached Kurotsuchi, and helped him with whatever experiment he had in mind, the faster they’d be gone from this nightmarish place.

They eventually arrived at their destination. With the amount of checkpoints they passed by, you’d think Kurotsuchi was hiding the entrance to the Soul King’s palace itself. Sadly, this room was not much better than the last. It was just as creepy, and unsurprisingly filled with scientific tools that she didn’t understand the purposes of. Suddenly, the memories of the horror movie resurfaced, as she spotted a machine that had electricity sparking violently between two pylons. Rukia felt a chill run down her spine.

Down in the middle was a desk, which was currently occupied by a familiar mad scientist. There was no mistaking the captain’s haori, nor the weird headdress he always wore.

“Mayuri-sama, your guests have arrived.” Nemu announced.

“Mhm? I thought I asked for test subjects?” The bleached clown of a captain answered offhandedly. Rukia felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. The man looked over his shoulder, and scowled. “Only two? Where are the rest of them?”

“They are the only ones who agreed to help us, captain. The other members of the Shinigami Women Association are busy.”

Busy? Smart and lazy, you mean. Rukia wished she could have dragged Rangiku along, but the busty woman was being disciplined by her captain for being such a lazy bum. As for the others, they had either vice-captain duties to attend to, or were higher ranked, such as captain Soifon. Again, were it not for the blackmail, she would have made an excuse as well.

“Um, captain Kurotsuchi?” Why did you summon us, if I may ask?” Isane tried hesitantly.

“To participate in the experiment of the decade, of course. Nemu! Have you not told them?!”

Nemu remained emotionless as she answered. “No, captain. You ordered me to–“

“Bah! I don’t want to hear any of your excuses. Once again, you manage to screw up spectacularly.” The captain of the twelfth squad groaned, waving his hand dismissively. Calling him hypocritical would be generous. “Very well. I can see, that I have to teach you the importance of what is to come. Hopefully your little minds will be able to follow, and grasp the fundamentals of my newest invention.”

“We’re listening.” Rukia said dryly.

Kurotsuchi stood up, gesturing towards a strange device on the table. The girls stepped closer to get a better look. Its appearance could only be described as that of a toy gun, made by humans. It was painted in flashy colors, with wires connecting certain bits, and a glowing container on top of it. A power source, perhaps? The gun had a long barrel, but was relatively the size of a simple handgun – minus the extra parts.

“Behold! This incredibly creation of mine is the next step to unraveling the very mystery of life.” The captain grabbed it in his pale hands, presenting the gun for his audience. So far, they were not exactly impressed with the childish design. “For years, I have researched the molecular structures of living and non-living matter. My aim has always been to expand my knowledge, you see. That’s why I create at least five hypotheses a day! One of said theories of mine, is that it’s possible to take apart the essence of one creature, and fuse it into the next. Brilliant, isn’t it?!”

Rukia raised her hand.

“Yes, vice-captain Kuchiki?”

“Sir, what are you trying to say?”

Kurotsuchi groaned in despair. “I am surrounded by brainless amoeba… Listen carefully, girl. This gun could combine two people into one. Is that simple enough for your monkey brain?”

Pointedly ignoring the obvious insult, since she couldn’t smack a captain, Rukia had to admit it sounded spectacular. She’d never considered of something like that being possible. After all, combing people together was nothing but the work of fiction. Captain Kurotsuchi obviously disagreed.

“But captain,” Isane spoke up. “Does that mean you called us here to…”

Oh. Rukia’s eyes widened, and she paled considerably.

Kurotsuchi, on the other hand, grinned a yellow-tinted smile. “Precisely, vice-captain Kotetsu. I have decided to put this invention of mine to good use. For the sake of Soul Society’s security, the military power of our squads, and yada yada – you get what I mean.”

He spoke so dismissively of his justifications, it made his visitors shake their heads. Even Nemu seemed to let out a small sigh. Kurotsuchi’s personality was infamous in the Gotei 13, but this was just ridiculous. Almost as if the man had no filter. That being said, he wouldn’t be involving members of other squads if he didn’t have the required permission – probably – so there was little they could do.

“How does it work though?” Rukia inquired.

“Well, as you know, all living beings are made out of reiatsu. Even non-organic matter can be made out of this energy, albeit less so than in something alive.” Captain Kurotsuchi patted the funny-looking device. He looked tenderly at it, caressing the barrel. “This invention breaks down the target’s reiatsu, unraveling their very being, and stores it within the device. You could say it almost digitalizes the information of one subject, saves it like a computer, and can then be transferred to another. This leads to a fusion; the first target is combined with the second, but has thus lost all consciousness. It’s the receiver of the digitalized reiatsu who will be in control of the result. Either that, or we create a persona with combined traits of its donors. Honestly, I have not yet done enough experimentation to be sure. But that’s what you’re here for.”

Isane folded her hands nervously. “Then, you plan on fusing Rukia and I together?”

“Fusing two Shinigami together? Bah! How pedestrian. My imagination and brilliance is much grander than that, girl. Nemu! Bring out the materials!”

“Yes, Mayuri-sama.”

The third vice-captain in the room pressed several buttons on a nearby terminal, causing four holes to open up in the floor, much to Rukia’s surprise. Four cylinder-shaped containers rose out of the ground, and she quickly recognized them as the vats from the other room. However, rather than a Hollow’s head, it were four women who floated inside the strange liquid. Two of them were around her height, with one being a bit taller. Their skin was fair and pale. As for the other two, one had chocolate skin like Yoruichi, whereas the other had tanned skin.

They were also very naked.

Rukia and Isane blushed, being able to see everything the four women had to offer. The shortest girl was of similar build as Rukia, meaning that – as frustrating as it was to her – they both had very little curves, aside from being slender. There was an elegance to her petite frame, and she seemed beautiful in a princess-like way. Especially with those cute features, and the long, flowing olive-colored hair. The girl next to her was more tomboyish; black, jaw-length dark hair and a bit rougher around the edges. Still, she had nicely shaped breasts, and her figure wasn’t unattractive.

Their companions, however, were far more advanced in the curves department. The dark-skinned woman fit the image of an Amazon of legend. Her long, wavy brown hair matched her skin. In addition, her breasts were quite big. Bigger than average, at least – though nowhere the level of someone as Rangiku. Maybe more on Orihime’s level. She was quite muscular though; not in a way that diminished her sex appeal, but rather went well with her Amazon look. Her defined abs, toned legs, and strong physique.

Still, none of the three could hold up a candle to the last woman. In a way, she somehow represented them in one way or another.

She was as tall as the dark-skinned one, but had more of a tan. She was also fit, with toned legs, thick thighs and hard abs, but less so. The mysterious woman’s blonde, wild hair framed a beautiful face which had two lightning patterns tattoos; one on each cheek. With these traits alone, she was already incredibly exotic. What stood out the most, however, was how her beauty and fitness matched her bombshell body perfectly. This woman had wide hips, a generous butt, and massive breasts that rivaled Rangiku’s.

On the bottom of each vat, there was a name.

Tier Harribel - 3rd Espada

Mila Rose - Fraccion

Sung-sun - Fraccion

Apacci - Fraccion

“Wait, aren’t those Hollow holes?” Isane pointed out all of a sudden.

Rukia followed her line of sight, and sure enough, each girl had the hole of a Hollow. Now that she took another look, she also noticed the bone fragments. They were damaged though. For example, the tanned woman’s bone fragment seemed to be some kind of mask, made out of frighteningly sharp teeth. But it only covered a quarter of her face, seeing as the rest was broken. The same went for the bone fragments of the other three.

“These are Arrancar.” Rukia gasped.

“Correct. These are the remainders of Aizen’s Arrancar army, who were recently captured during an expedition to Las Noches.” Kurotsuchi tapped the glass of a tank, but the shortest Arrancar did not react. If anything, she looked positively dead, were it not for the fact that the life support installed in the vat displayed life signs. “Luckily, we managed to bring them in alive. But since they have no useful intel, it was decided that we could use them for experimentation, in order to further understand the Arrancars. I decided to keep them in stasis like this.”

Nemu added. “Mayuri-sama has already gathered enough data, which means we can still use them for other experiments such as this one.”

That made sense from a logical perspective. Rukia found it weird though. Being captured by the enemy, and then used for experimentation, was not a good way to go. But these Arrancar had chosen their fates when they’d willingly fought for Aizen. She felt sorry for them. Not enough to break them out of there, however.

“We’ll be fused with the Arrancar? Can’t say I expected Central 46 to agree with this.” Rukia said.

“Tch. Bunch of ignorant fools, who don’t have the slightest understanding of science.” Kurotsuchi openly displayed his distaste for the organization as he scowled.

“Permission was granted after presenting the usefulness of the experiment.” Nemu clarified in her father’s place. “However, testing has to be limited, as to avoid accidents. We wouldn’t be proceeding if it wasn’t safe either.”

“Indeed. Now, enough of all this nonsense and prattle. It’s time to begin.” Captain Kurotsuchi picked up the gun, and pressed a button on its side. There was an immediate response, as the device began to hum and beep. “We shall commence experiment AP-1. Nemu, make sure you record everything.”

“Of course, Mayuri-sama.”

“As for you two, it’s time to make a choice. Being the generous, brilliant man I am, I will allow you ladies to pick a partner.”

Rukia and Isane glanced at each other; there was no backing out.