Trapped in Madness: Part Two

[omnomspecimens]

Who: Szayel Aporro, Shikamaru, Ishida, and Nill, with guest star appearance by Celes
When: 1/21; night time
Where: SERO Headquarters
Summary: Szayel begins his plans from SERO Headquarters. Ishida and Nill throw a wrench in his plans.
Warnings: Angst, Szayel being a bastard, character death.

Comments

[sequincy]

If I thought I could do it myself.

Kill him. She was talking about killing him.

Uryuu shook in place. Something roared in his ears, like he was just under the surface of an ocean, waves crashing overhead. Like he was drowning. Shikamaru. This thing was Shikamaru. That was Shikamaru's face encased by metal, a fleshy, human mask on a dead steel skeleton -

Bile burned his throat, painful and acidic, and it tasted like the sudden surge of rage in his head and limbs and heart. Uryuu's gaze sliced towards Szayel, blinking through a hot, wet film. His reiatsu pulsed and seared in a white flame around his bow hand. He felt it in his voice. "...What have you done to him?"

In answer his own question, he pictured just what would have brought Shikamaru to this state. Szayel, the lab, the tools, his lover alone and trapped and suffering and tortured, torn apart to be pieced together, metal, blood, scalpels, screaming -

A volley of arrows seared towards Szayel and his computer. Uryuu had never felt more prepared to kill someone.

[reassures]

I know.

Of course, she knew. Nill had heard him after all; praying for it to just be over, that he could go home. That's why she had come. She was going to make sure Shika was able to go home, that he'd come back to them.

But not as this - never as this.

For a moment though, Nill froze, and though she was certain that Szayel could't actually see her her gaze locked onto his. He was looking right at her. But-- how?

She's distracted long enough that she doesn't react as quick as she should. Doesn't manage to get anything else in before Uryuu is shooting those arrows, and immediately she starts talking again, voice frantic.

"Uryuu, stop, this isn't the time for that! We aren't here to deal with him, please-- he doesn't deserve to die!"

But she lifts her gun again, trying as hard as she can to get her hands to stop shaking. If Uryuu wouldn't do it, then... maybe she could count on him keeping Szayel distracted long enough for her to.

"Dying is too easy. He should live and suffer for what he did. He doesn't just get to die without

[omnomspecimens]

It was probably fortunate that Szayel could not hear Nill's communications, because he would have laughed at her assumption that he actually felt guilty for what he did. At the moment, however, he was in a panic over the Quincy's arrows heading for the computer that was the key for his plans. Fornicaras was in his hands in a blink, batting away the bolts of energy like his life depended on it. One nicked the monitor and he nearly panicked, sparing a glance to make sure it was okay, only to have one final arrow pierce through his shoulder

[underachieves]

His heart sank - or it would have - when Uryuu's rage was directed at Szayel. No! he pleaded silently. Me first. You have to get rid of me. I can't stay like this and I don't wanna hurt you. He wished he could reach up and destroy what remained of his face so it would stop confusing Uryuu, stop making him hesitate to do what had to be done.

At Szayel's order, Shikamaru was grateful for this inferior body. Detain the Quincy would have been too easy for him when he still had chakra, when he could use his abilities. But this robotic body - which Szayel no doubt considered superior in every aspect since it wasn't human - operated in the most mundane way. Speed, but no grace. No technique. Only the most base power.

So, thankfully, instead of using every shadow in the room to bind Uryuu in the blink of an eye, the cyborg was forced to barrel forward instead. With a running leap, it stretched out its hands to seize Uryuu. Shikamaru prayed for an arrow to pierce him before the cyborg could manage it.

[sequincy]

Uryuu was moving the moment the volley faded, calloused fingers - trained, honed, deft and agile - pulling free a seele schneider and igniting the long, blue beam. The false sword hummed with the reishi revolving along its edges at three million revolutions a second; a chainsaw for the spirit.

More than enough to end Szayel's life.

Nill's words echoed in his mind but failed to pierce it. He didn't care. He didn't care what they'd come for. What they'd come for was Shikamaru, and this monster had taken him from them. From Uryuu. Of all the pains he'd suffered at Szayel's hands, this surpassed redemption. The Espada no longer deserved to exist.

Before he could cross to Szayel's station, the cyborg leaped. The reaction was pure training - seele schneider arced under and upwards for the outstretched arms.