Striking While The Iron Is Hot [Closed/Zabel]

The test subject was sleeping again while Zâbel sat at her computer desk going over the numbers. She was glad he was resting, considering how objectionable the last run of samplings had gone. Threat of death had no effect and this was known from the onset so Zâbel had never made that part of her procedures. Nao had explained how he had been acquired and his attempted suicide that had fortunately been thwarted by the quick thinking Shinigami. It was no surprise really when one considered the secrecy of the species.

To have gone undetected for so long was proof enough of that, it only followed that they would be doubly protective of their powers and abilities. So not only did she refrain from using the threat of death to gain compliance from the specimen, but she made sure he was unable to use any method to end his own life and prevent her experimentation from yielding the desired results.

This one seemed overly secretive when it came to their mating practices. From what she could detect he appeared to be approximately 33 human years of age but as yet she was unable to obtain information on if he had sired children of his own. It was crucial to be able to extrapolate a max and min range for population density of the Quincy. However, even if she had acquired the information she requested nothing definitive could be determined without more subjects to study. For all they knew this Quincy could either be typical or atypical of the adult male of the species.

That line of questioning was dropped as nonproductive while she focused upon the critical data that would hopefully result in a way to neutralize their deadly powers. If that could be done it hardly mattered how many there were. Ideally, a virus would be an efficient agent for infecting the entire race but first such a weapon would have to be developed then put into production. Then and only then could the specimen be released back into the wild so it could then infect the herd.

And so with her mind on biological warfare, her test subject sleeping in the isolation chamber in the back room, Zâbel was roused from her focus by the knock at the door. It did not occur to her that it would be anyone but Zenji for she was well aware of the Branch Family Monks providing security detail just upon the other side of this chamber. They were, of course, just the last measure in the myriad of kido barriers and steel reinforced doors that made up the bulk of their defenses against detection, intrusion, or escape.

Drawing the door open, Zâbel bowed to her cousin and said, ”Hello Zenji-sama. Please be welcome.” Her right arm extended to the open room as she stepped back from the doorway to permit him entry. She wondered what he was doing here. Despite the less than stellar incident from the other day, Zenji was not one who constantly had his eye on her nor did he hound her for results. She did file reports, keeping him apprised of what lines of inquiry she was pursuing and what she hoped to gain from each. She definitely spared him the data sets and just fed him the summaries. ”How can I help you today, Lord Hatayama?”, she quietly prompted hoping to deal with this visit as quickly as possible so she might get back to her experimentation.

Zâbel laughed softly at her cousin’s remark while he turned to shut the door on the heels of his entrance to her test chambers. ”You know, I guess that I am”, she said. Unclasping her hands, which she held before her waist, she let her arms fall back to rest at her sides. ”I mean really Zenji. When has anyone ever had the opportunity for the discoveries this specimen brings?” If others in the past had captured a Quincy then the research was so classified that she hadn’t even been able to find indexes that included reference to one, let alone an actual study.

All their lore was anecdotal when what she needed to solve this Quincy enigma was empirical data. Zâbel planned on getting enough results to make a difference. This time the Shinigami had to overcome this threat to the balance and know with certainty they had prevailed. The scientist was hard pressed to think of a more exciting field of inquiry nor one that was even half so important to their very survival. It was the stuff of fantasy and she could little think how that wasn’t ‘fun’, as her cousin hoped it would be.

This polite conversation, however, was prerequisite to getting down to the substance of his visit. She was intrigued by these favours and points of business he mentioned at the outset as though they were merely incidentals. Naturally the main objective of his visit wasn’t to see if she was having any fun. That the head of her Family asked rather than commanded was yet again nothing more than tending to proprieties. Very conscious of his way of moving, Zâbel pivoted to keep respectfully facing him in anticipation of him moving away from the door and partially into the center of the room.

She half expected him to wander about the area as though feigning an inspection while having other things on his mind than the state of this facility he had created for her use. She waited for him to be all lordly and condescending to descend from the main estate and mingle here among one of those lesser relations among the branch family. Instead he offered her a commemorative gift to mark the occasion of her promotion to Sixth Seat.

”Are you really going to fall for that old ploy?”, her Zanpakutō said as if amazed by her gullibility. She reached out her left hand for the jewelry box, while supporting it with her right, and bowed as she accepted the token. ”Thank you cousin”, she replied to Zenji completely ignoring the blade’s spirit, ”how kind of you to go to the trouble of bringing it down here in person.” Her spirit was not so thrilled and taunted her further by saying ”Oh sure. Just buy her off with beads. Ooops, spoiler; sorry.” His laughter didn’t sound one bit contrite and as she opened the box to look inside and see what was there, she finally had words for the hateful being.

”Shut it you nameless fuck. You’ve no idea what this means at all’, she snarled to her Zan Spirit. Slipping her fingers inside the box, she pulled out a strand of jade prayer beads and she was certain the strand would be long enough to wrap round her waist even before she had extracted its entire length from the box. A closer inspection of the individual beads revealed the markings she had expected to see because she recognized it immediately. Zâbel ran her thumb across the sacred symbols of the Soul King etched into the jade with the expertise of a master craftsman and knew it for one just like Zenji wore. It revealed much to her about the importance of his visit on a variety of levels. More pointedly, it spoke of her importance to him. "If spite is all you have to share, please do stay quiet for another 55 years", she told her irritating internal commentator.

Despite this revelation, she was still confused by Zenji’s mannerisms. He continued to stand guard before the doorway and she wondered of what he was being protective. Her eyebrows drew slightly together with her eyes narrowing in thought. The likelihood of a security breach here was negligible at best, she surmised. Checking off other possibilities, she replaced the beads into the box and shut the lid while he informed her of his request. His mention of the Qunicy, teased at the edges of her tendency to problem solve thinking she would have to determine this information through mundane investigation rather than any confession the specimen might make. To this she made comment by saying, ”The Quincy is very guarded about their numbers. He won’t even reveal if he has offspring of his own.” To that revelation she shrugged because it truly was a dead avenue of inquiry.

As though she was afflicted by delayed hearing, his tone when he spoke on the urgency with which he received these details caused her to wonder once more why he was guarding the doorway. It occurred to her that people sometimes sounded angry when in fact they were scared. Zâbel sniffed at the notion and slipped the jewelry box into her pocket. Her cousin might be wary of the Quincy but he had faced them in battle and did not fear to do so. He could hardly be afraid the specimen would escape.

As the most probable answer came to mind, her eyes widened slightly and her brows eased once more. Zenji was afraid of what he might do…”I will of course be more intrusive with my questioning”, she suddenly reassured her cousin. She couldn’t take the chance that his rage against these tainted hunters would stay restrained. The Soul King alone knew if they’d ever get another specimen if Zenji flew off the handle and killed the one they had.

As a result she was quite eager to acquiesce to his request for aid and said, ”Of course, Zenji-sama. Anything that you need my assistance with I will be happy to give.” She knew how critical determining the effects of Hollow and Quincy upon one another were crucial to her research, but how she might facilitate a matter of authority with Zenji was a mystery she aimed to solve. ”How can I help?”, she asked.