Jet Fuel and Pistol Rounds [Group.R]

Chris leaned his head against the window of the taxi cab, feeling the warm sun radiate upon the glass. His eyes were closed, drowsiness taking over him, even though he had been in Karakura Town for almost a week now and the effects of jet lag had long worn off. Something about the area he was in made him...drowsy. The land was familiar, but he wasn't so sure if that familiarity was a happy thing.

"サー、私たちは町に到着しました。" The cab driver said.

"<I'm sorry?>" Chris replied, confused.

"Sir, we've arrived in town." The cab driver repeated.

"Ah, thank you. Would you mind if you just drove around town? I lived here before, and you know..."

"It's your money, sir." The cab driver chuckled at his own joke, and drove into Karakura Town.

Baku Park.



The Daikoku Supermall.



Past the road to Dosojin Junction.



Karakura Churchyard.



"We're exiting the town now, sir. You'll be at Hephaestus Industries headquarters in a few minutes." The cab driver said, pulling him out of his daze.

"Ah. Thank you."

Chris arrived. He looked quite the handsome gentleman exiting the cab with his business suit on, carrying a briefcase with documents, his resume, as well as a Sig Sauer P226 with two fully loaded magazines and accessories for it. Leaving about 2000 yen for the ride, the taxi zoomed off, looking for another customer. He went into the building, and headed up to the secretary.

"Hi, I'm here for my interview." Chris said after gaining her attention.

"My name is Chris Leon."
--
Word Count: 868

The intercom on Kyouko's desk chirped and Annabelle's voice, tinny and metallic, roused Kyouko from her reverie.
"Vero—Kyouko, reception just called. Chris Leon is here. He's on his way up."
Kyouko flashed a smile and checked her reflection in the glass before turning and marching off. She threw open the frosted glass doors and strode past Annabelle, who was gazing disinterestedly at her computer as usual. "I reckon he'll be at our floor in about thirty seconds," she called after Kyouko, who stopped abruptly.

"In that case, I'm going to need—" she said as she turned, but Annabelle had already hurled the dagger at her without even bothering to look up from the computer.
"Ah." Kyouko caught it deftly between two fingers and slotted it neatly into the sheath strapped to her thigh, concealed by her skirt. "Thank you, Annabelle," she called, before turning back toward the elevators. She had just barely reached them when a chime sounded and one of the doors slid open. Pausing only for the slightest of moments to make sure this was the man she had been waiting for, Kyouko immediately strode into the elevator, hand outstretched in greeting.

"Mr. Leon, pleasure to meet you. I'm Kyouko Kagami. Hope your journey here was a pleasant one!" Without letting the poor man get a word in edgewise, she punched the button labeled "Roof" and the doors slid shut behind her. A plan had been forming in her mind, and it seemed like an appropriate way to interview a soldier. "You and I are going to be making a small outing together, it's really the best way to gauge whether or not you're right for the job—or indeed, to see if the job is right for you. You see, I'm a big fan of the idea of a trial by fire. You ever flown a helicopter before?"
It was a rhetorical question, of course—Kyouko had read the file, she knew full well that he had—and she didn't wait for an answer before continuing.

"In our line of work, helicopters provide a much-needed tactical advantage over what one could achieve with a jet. Navigating a city like Tokyo in fixed-wing aircraft would be a nightmare, moreso if you were moving at the speed of sound. At the same time, with a helicopter that's too small you aren't really achieving the effect you want. The dinky little things most companies have parked on their rooftops are nothing but toys, air-taxis for suits who think they're too good for street level." She was speaking quickly, almost blabbering, but there was a certain effect she was going for here. She was trying to overwhelm this guy, trying to get him out of his comfort zone to see how he would react.

The elevator chimed once more and the doors slid open, bathing them in sunlight. They were in a glass atrium at the top of the building, and just outside, on the helipad, a gargantuan mass was resting on its wheels, like some ponderous black bee waiting to take flight. "I think you'll find that here, at Hephaestus, we're all about being impressive. We mean business. And when you mean business, you don't fly toys. You fly helicopters. And that—" she pointed at the Black Hawk on the helipad, "—is a helicopter. Go start her up, I'll be right with you." She started walking away and stopped herself short before she got too far. "Oh, and, uh, just pretend the gatling guns aren't there, okay?"

Alright, Quincy, she thought. Let's see what you can do.


°609

The doors to the elevator opened, and he was greeted with an energetic woman putting out her hand. He grabbed it, shaking it as she continued with her speech. Kyouko told him of the "outing" she had planned, hitting the roof button. It became obvious to Chris what would happen- he would probably be charged with flying a helicopter. Chris didn't pay attention to the rest of the words- while her attempt at trying to play mind games with him was certainly heartfelt, he had felt more out of his comfort zone at Navy OCS, let alone his extended training to become a pilot. She then began her tirade about helicopters and such, until he saw the helicopter that lay in front of him- a Black Hawk. Chris walked up to it, feeling its smooth exterior. New. How Kyouko had acquired such a fine piece of military equipment, a UH-60 at that, bothered Chris only a small bit. He wouldn't be surprised if the CEO of this company had connections to multiple militaries.

"May I say, this is a very fine bird you have here, Ms.Kaga-" Chris said, looked at her as she walked away, telling him to start the bird up.

"Of course. It'll be ready by the time you get back."Chris slipped the handgun out of the briefcase, loading it putting it in a holster in his sports coat discretely. Chris looked at the crew waiting around the ship. "Is she good to fly?" Chris asked. One of them nodded.

"Alright then, lets go. I assume you guys don't have any flight suits?"

They didn't. Chris sighed, climbing into the helicopter. Putting on the HUD, he began his cockpit equipment check. Everything checked out alright. He then began the starting sequence, turning on the engines, checking the servos and his flight controls. The helicopter was ready to fly.

Waiting for Kyouko to come back, he began to think about his past again, back in the country he'd called his home for years.

-
--
WC:367

Kyouko strode out onto the helipad, the gentle breeze tousling her ponytail playfully, now wearing a black ballistic vest over her white blouse. The combination of otherwise quite formal wear and combat gear struck an odd chord, but Kyouko bore it well. It seemed to suit her better than just the skirt and blouse did. She had ditched her pumps in favor of a pair of black combat boots, and she was wearing her signature Aviators: gold-rimmed with red lenses. There was really no other word than "tacky" for them, but somehow she managed to pull it off well enough to look impressive.

In her hand was a nondescript black duffel bag from which she withdrew a pistol and holster before tossing the duffel into the cargo compartment in the back. She slid the large door shut—taking care to hide the side-mounted gatling gun—and climbed in the front seat next to her interviewee as she affixed the holster to the front of her vest.

"I noticed you were carrying," she yelled over the sound of the engine as she fiddled with the velcro straps, "thought I'd join you!" Kyouko looked up with a grin and then frowned at the sight of what Chris was wearing. "Be a shame if anything happened to that suit, though. Have no fear, Mr. Leon. I'll be happy to replace it if anything should happen. The helmet is very flattering, I might add." She slipped on her own helmet and adjusted the microphone so she could speak at a slightly more normal level, then pointed out toward Tokyo Bay. "I've plotted a course for us—we're heading toward the harbor, to the industrial areas. Gonna retrieve some stolen property of mine."

She grinned again, wider this time. Helicopters always made Kyouko happy, for some reason. It was probably some memory of her father's, or her grandfather's. There had been a lot of helicopter rides in Vietnam, and almost as many in South America and the Middle East.

"We'll have time to speak while we get there, I'm sure you're full of questions." With that, she buckled in and waited for the Quincy to take off and the questions to start flowing.


°370

"I noticed you were carrying, thought I'd join too."

Heh. Not so subtle. Jasper watched as a frown took over her face, lamenting over him wearing a suit.

"Well, unfortunately, your crew didn't have any flight suits. And don't worry about the suit, Ms. Kagami. I have enough money in signing bonuses to buy myself a suit for every day of the year." Chris said over the microphone as she adjusted it to her head. He saw the course that had been plotted, apparently taking them to the Tokyo Bay, to pick up some stolen property. Interesting that she would already have him fly a mission- it was like he had the job already. But it gave Chris a chance to impress, which he certainly most wanted to do. "Alright then, Ms. Kagami. I'd say 'hold on, this is going to be a bumpy ride', but you've already read my file enough to know how I fly." Chris said. "Right?"

Chris gave a thumbs up to the aircrew signaling that he was ready to dust off, watching as they backed away, and he hit the throttle. He carefully and slowly rose the plane upwards for some feet off the roof platform, and then lurched it forward, making a sharp turn that almost made the the helicopter go fully horizontal, that had them going in the exact direction of the location on the Tokyo Bay. "I probably shouldn't have been so harsh with that turn, I apologize. I did fly with the military. So you know what they say about old habits." Chris chuckled sheepishly. "Question time for me, correct? I really think I'm going to like this interview."

"Well, first of all, since you know practically everything about me, let's talk about you, Ms. Kagami. Tell me a little bit about yourself. Second, could you tell me a bit about your company and what position I would be filling? I figure it has something to do with helicopters, but in depth. Speaking of machinery, this is a fine helicopter, the UH-60. How did this end up falling in your ha- never mind that, it's not important."

Chris paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"I know why you're considering me, Ms. Kagami. Unfortunately, however, I do not retain the powers of a Quincy anymore."

Chris explain how he had used his Final Form upon the rogue Shinigami that had captured him and his fiance, utterly destroying them in blind fury- well, Chris left out that last part, but it was implied in the way he told the story.

"I am able to still see spirits, however my essential powers are gone. There are tales of Quincies regaining their powers once again, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I want them back. The purpose of a Quincy bow is to destroy hollows, and doing that destroyed everything I had ever known once."

Chris watched as the Tokyo Bay came ever closer to the helicopter.

"Now, what questions do you have for me, Ms. Kagami?"

--

WC:500

The two of them pulled away from the shard-like Hephaestus Tower and Kyouko couldn't help but feel like she was back over the dunes of Somalia, waiting to be dropped into Mogadishu. The way Chris handled the chopper was nostalgic in a way she couldn't quite describe; it was as if she had been flying like this since before she was born. Well, she thought to herself, That’s all on father, I suppose. Some of the memories weren't that bad. This was one of them.

She couldn't help but smile to herself as he mentioned his file, but decided not to comment on it. She had indeed read his file—more than once, actually—along with a multitude of other candidate files, but Chris Leon had been more or less the only candidate that had displayed all the necessary prerequisites: skill, ambition, and a professionalism that placed him high above the rest. The fact that he was the only one with actual military experience was also a deciding factor.

"No, no, Mr. Leon! Military flying is exactly what I'm looking for. You're doing fine so far. But please, I'm sure you have questions."

As they soared over the urban sprawl toward the Bay, Chris asked his questions, and Kyouko relished the opportunity to speak about herself.
"I was made CEO of this company just over a year ago, Mr. Leon, and I am proud to tell you that in the last six months alone, our stock has enjoyed a 1,000% rise. I run this company very differently from my predecessors, and I am happy to say that I do so with great success. Naturally, it isn't all my doing—where would I be without my employees?—but I'm afraid my predecessors took an approach that was altogether too passive for my taste." She looked down at the metropolis she had called home for the last few years, trying to remember why she had picked Tokyo, of all places. She couldn't quite make up her mind, this was where she came for R&R when she was serving in Korea, wasn't it? No, that wasn't her. She—she couldn't quite recall the reason, but she supposed it didn't matter now. She was here.
"Regarding the chopper, it's funny you should ask, Lieutenant. This helicopter is not the only one of its kind in my possession, nor is it the only kind of heavy machinery I own. Your employment will exist in two parts: on the one hand, you will be responsible for overseeing the testing of all aircraft Hephaestus locally manufactures, licensed or of our own design. Your less... Official task will be close air support for me personally and the company at large." As Tokyo Bay drew ever closer, she was reminded that there was a lot riding on this Quincy's performance under duress. "You will find," she continued, now turning to look at the pilot, "that our substantial profits are not generated by a solid consumer base alone. Our power, our influence allows us to take greater liberties than our competition, and I think you will find that we do so quite frequently. I am telling you this because I've read your file, I think I've discerned what kind of person you are, and I'm willing to trust you with it. Your qualifications speak for themselves, and I don't think you would have come today if you were not interested in the job."

And if you aren't, there's a white phosphorus grenade in the duffel that can just as easily be used on you as on our destination, she thought to herself, as she looked out the cockpit window. It would be a tremendous waste of a good Black Hawk, though.

There was a short moment of radio silence, the drone of the engines the only sound that either of them could hear, and then Chris spoke, explaining the loss of his bow and all it symbolized. She was taken aback, but only slightly. The file hadn't mentioned this at all, of course, she had discerned from other sources that he had been a Quincy, but to learn that he had lost the ability to manifest his bow... In the short run, it didn't matter—he was here to fly aircraft, not kill Hollows. In the long run? In the long run, this gave Kyouko the opportunity to have the phenomenon studied. Chris wasn't the only Quincy she employed, his unique situation could prove to give them some valuable intel.

"I must confess, Mr. Leon, I was definitely not aware of your situation. You'll be glad to know that it doesn't influence my offer in the slightest. The prerequisites for this job boil down to being able to perceive the spiritual, not necessarily to influence it. In all fairness, you would have a difficult time firing your bow if you were at the controls of an aircraft, and between the two of us, Research and Development are making excellent progress with their reishi-based armaments. I'm sure it won't be a problem—at least not a problem a good Hydra wouldn't fix."

It was true; she didn't care much if Chris didn't have his Quincy powers at this point. If what he said was true, the possibility of him regaining them existed. In the interim, he was still perfectly capable of flying. No, this wouldn't be a problem at all. Not even a minor hitch.

"I only have two questions, Mr. Leon. The first, you should find easy enough to answer. The second, that remains to be seen." They were mere minutes from their destination now, already passing above dockyard cranes and warehouses.
"We're running out of time, so I'll start with the easy one," she said, as she unholstered her HK45 and made sure there was a round in the chamber before flicking the safety back on and holstering it once more. "Why did you leave the Navy, Mr. Leon?"


°1005

Good- she didn't care that he didn't have his powers. He was afraid she might have killed him for a moment- that's the air Chris got from Kagami - be useful to me or I'll dispose of you.

"Why did you leave the Navy, Mr. Leon?"

A flash.

Chris was back on the flight deck, in his Seahawk, about to take off. They were going to go pick up and provide air support for some Marines, but Chris was keeping his group from dusting off due to some "errors" found by the flight deck staff.

"The fuck's going on, Flint? Why aren't we dusting off?"

"Not sure, Hannibal. Systems aren't reporting any errors. Everything should be-no, is good." Chris replied to his WSO.

"Viper 73, what the hell is wrong?" Chris heard a voice over the radio said, instantaneously recognizing it as the CAG.

"Not sure. Flight deck isn't telling me shit."

"Flint, we need to kick the tires and light the fires right fucking now."

"Good idea."

Chris started the engines and lightly pushed on the throttle. The rotors began to spin, and the personnel began to back off from the helicopter.

"Viper 37 is ready for dustoff."

"Roger. All Viper elements, dustoff and head towards target coordinates."

The group of helicopters rose from the deck of the aircraft carrier, and all stared heading in the same direction.

Within ten minutes, the group was in visual range of the city.

"Alright, I'm patching us into Anvil."

Chris could hear intense gunfire through his headphones.

"Viper, where the fuck are you? We're under heavy fucking fire here!"

"We're three minutes out, Anvil, prepare for exfi-"

"Bandits, bandits, bandits!" he heard one of the aviators scream over the channel.

Chris saw four Su-54s coming straight at the wing.

"Break formation, break formation!"

The formation of aircraft, all attempting to avoid the Su-54s.

"Flint, they've got tone on us!" Hannibal screamed over the beeping tone signaling weapons lock.

"Get ready to deploy countermeasures!"

The beeping tone turned into a continuous tone, and Chris yelled to fire the flares.

"I can't! The system's fucking jammed!"

There were barely seconds to react.

"Ejecting!"

Chris pulled on the yellow handle which ejected the seats out of the helicopter through the glass.

They were barely fifty feet above the helicopter when it exploded into a fiery ball.

A fiery ball of metal.

A fiery ball of shrapnel, shrapnell which became deeply lodged in Chris' shin.

Hannibal pulled him to the Marines under heavy fire from the enemy.

He received two fatal bullets for that.


"Honorable discharge. Had to get my leg cut under the knee after an accident during a sortie. You might've not seen it though- my gait is kept perfectly normal through the help of advanced cybernetics replacing my leg. I didn't really want to leave the Navy, but it was good that I did. It was my way of compensating for losing my powers, and wasn't healthy for me."

Chris looked as they approached the desired coordinates.

"Now, what's that second question, Ms. Kagami?

--
WC: 511

Kyouko smiled to herself. Cybernetics, eh? That was very interesting. Hephaestus' medical advances had started seeing them broach new territories, cybernetics being one of them. Getting their hands on a piece of U.S. military tech would be a godsend, especially one as advanced as this particular specimen seemed.

It would have to wait, though, because they had arrived. "No time for that now, Mr. Leon. Set the bird down over there," she said, pointing at one of the concrete docks. The area was fairly run-down; it wasn't exactly the most trafficked area of the harbor. If anything, this particular harbor district was infamous for being home to a number of small- and medium-scale criminal operations since the decline of the dock usage, and remarkably low Hollow activity, for some reason, thought Kyouko to herself as Chris gracefully set the imposing black insect down between two aging container cranes. Probably the lack of intelligent food. Probably tastes like wharf rat.

"Well, Mr. Leon, it would appear we have arrived. What happens next, I can't say for sure, but I want you to keep calm no matter what. Keep the engine running, I won't be long." She unbuckled and opened the door, but halted herself before she slid onto the concrete. "You may see or hear signs of a scuffle. You're not my employee yet, so I can't order you to do anything, but I'll ask you not to intervene. For your own safety."

She retrieved the duffel in the cargo compartment after removing her helmet and sunglasses, then set off at a brisk pace toward the flat, grey facade of an abandoned cement factory a couple of hundred meters from the waterfront, crossing several railway tracks as she did. She couldn't help but think to herself that in the right state of dilapidation, anything could look like it was taken straight out of the Eastern Bloc. This was certainly no exception, despite them being mere minutes away from the heart of Tokyo.

The sound of the helicopter's engines had no doubt notified the entire area of her arrival, but Kyouko liked to think that the fact that she had arrived in a helicopter—a Black Hawk at that—would commandeer a certain amount of respect from the local thugs. Nobody would interfere with her business here. The contents of the duffel clanked softly as she passed through the doors into the lobby of the factory, and then she could no longer be seen.

Moments passed with only the sea breeze and the helicopter's drone to break the silence, and then the gunfire started. Shots rang out, staccato bursts of automatic and semi-automatic blindfire blended with the slow, almost rhythmic cracks of a professional's firearm being discharged. There were no screams, not yet. The outside lighting flared in the bright sunlight, then all the bulbs exploded in a shower of sparks, and silence reigned for a few short moments once again. Then the screaming began. It went on, a cacophony of voices screaming in pain and fear for what seemed like an eternity, uninterrupted by peace. Then it stopped, trailing off into silence once again. Time dragged on, and then Kyouko emerged once again, the duffel replaced by a steel briefcase. Blood spatter covered her face and she was wearing a grin that would have looked right at home on a serial killer. There was an odd spring in her step, as if she seemed unusually pleased about herself. She reached the chopper with a jaunty wave at Chris, tossed the briefcase in the back and got in her seat. She looked at her pilot and put a hand in her pocket.

"My second question, Mr. Leon," she said, as she produced a detonator, "is as follows."

Kyouko grabbed Chris's hand and stuffed the detonator into his grasp, holding it there as she stared into his eyes. "How far are you willing to go for this company?"


°667

A short scuffle. Barely even a minute long.

Kagami came out, a bounce in her ches-walk, her walk, and blood on her face.

She handed Chris a detonator.

"How far are you willing to go for this company?"

Oh god.

Chris stared at the detonator, and looked back at Kyouko.

He lifted the helicopter up, taking it to a safe distance, and detonated it.

However, there were a few thoughts that ran through Chris' head before he pulled it.

She wanted him to blow up this building. What if this was some local Tokyo Police undercover operation and he could be arrested, or even worse, a military operative who could snatch him away for life. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Should he do it? No, he shouldn't do it. But he would be shot if he didn't- this Kagami woman obviously didn't fuck around. She didn't have to even claim responsibility for the action, as he wasn't an employee yet. Either way, he was pretty much fucked over. But these people had to have done something wrong to deserve death, of course.

Of course?

Look at you, Chris. Caring about whether one deserves death. Weren't YOU the one who killed just based on orders from your "superiors". How can you condone anyone else killing?

What?

But you didn't care. You wanted to do it. It was your way of making up for it. Making up for your weakness after SHE was killed- oh, and you left out that little thing that happened before her death. That tiny little-

Shut up. That's not true, that's not tru-

Do it, Chris. You WANT violence. You WANT to kill. But don't feel so bad about it. It's only human.

Shut up.

DO IT.

And, he did.