The Pact

“Commander.”



The Commander’s head shot up from where she had been focused on paperwork. Her frown deepened when she saw the four people who had been herded into the office. Four males no less. All were bound and she had to presume that they’d been blindfolded previously as well as they all stood squinting and blinking in the dim light of her office. Curious. There were also angry pulses of power coming from each of them in varying degrees. The fact that one of them had been sealed off at all was astonishing. The sheer brute force of it should have blown through the bindings like they were air. Even more curious.



“Captain,” she said slowly. “Why are there three outlander children and one shinigami in my office?”



“They’re here by order of the high council members.”



One eyebrow rose faintly. “Fine. That doesn’t answer why they’re in my office.”



“They’re in your office because one of them is the traitor Ryuuken Ishida’s son,” Alexa said, stepping from behind the others.



“I’d thought the Quincy line died out with Ryuuken.”



The older woman’s eyes narrowed. “You are perfectly well aware that Ryuuken produced a son. You were there for his baby blessing as I recall.”



“I was a child and that was twenty years ago. Why would I endeavor to remember something that has nothing to do with me?”



“It has everything to do with you, Nyx. It could mean our survival and theirs as well per the pact,” Alexa said testily.



“The pact be damned. As you are perfectly well aware, Councilwoman Alexa, we do not require the Quincy to further perpetuate our line. I have no intention of putting myself or this child through bearing the weight of that responsibility. Now, if that is all you have to say about this matter, you’re dismissed.”



“You don’t have the authority to order me to do anything, Nyx.”



No one initially saw her move, one moment she had been behind her desk and the next she had the council member pinned to the floor with a boot heel at her throat and an odd modified crossbow pointed at her. The crossbow seemed to be made of the same red light the longbows were made of but where there had only been dark shadows wrapping around certain parts of the others, this one was very different. The shaft of the bolt was a solid black as was the initial curve of the bow, the red pulsed and seemed to move angrily on its own.



“It is my office and I will have whomever I wish in it. I do not wish you here. If it requires making you gone by more permanent means, I have no problem with making that happen,” she said, smiling coldly down at Alexa. She removed her heel from the other woman’s throat and watched carefully as she slowly got to her feet, keeping the crossbow trained on her all the while. “Now. Get. Out.”



“Being Desaria’s daughter does not give you unlimited leeway, Nyx,” Alexa ground out, rubbing her throat.



“No. It doesn’t. But I can kill you where you stand and shatter your soul on top of it. I doubt anyone would be terribly broken up about your loss.”



“You’ll regret this, Nyx,” Alexa threatened before turning on her heel and storming out.



The crossbow in her hands seemed to vanish as quickly as it had appeared. “I doubt that most heartily,” Nyx said before turning to look at the four wide eyed males in her office. “Untie them this instant!”



“But, Commander . . .”



“What? Afraid they’ll escape? To where? Unless they know how to open our inter-dimensional gates I don’t think they’ll get very far. You and you,” she said, pointing at two of the guards. “Go make sure they have quarters somewhere in the guest houses.”



“But, Commander . . .”



“Are they prisoners?” Nyx questioned impatiently.



“Uh, no ma’am. The only actual prisoner is the traitor Ryuuken Ishida.”



“Then I see no reason to treat them as such. Move!” Nyx said, sending the two guards scrambling to obey her order. She started moving around behind the young men one at a time and releasing the energy bands from around their wrists and ankles since the rest of the guard seemed to be frozen in place. She paused momentarily at Ichigo, looking him over thoughtfully. “Why is this one gagged?”



“Because he hasn’t the faintest clue as to when it’s best to be silent,” Uryuu murmured.



Nyx chuckled a little and pulled the gag away from Ichigo’s mouth.



“Damn it! Where the hell are we? What was all that about a pact with the Quincy? Why . . .” Ichigo began and was silenced by Nyx stuffing the gag back into his mouth.



She turned to Uryuu. “I see your point.”



“Thank the gods someone finally does.”



“I take it you’re Uryuu Ishida.”.



“What makes you think that,” Uryuu said coolly.



She smiled a little. “The attitude.”



“What attitude?” he asked, his chin going up a notch.



“That one,” she said, moving around to untie him. “You take that after your father.”



Uryuu growled a little at being compared to the man who had fathered him but kept his teeth firmly together. To anger possibly the only half hearted ally they had here would be stupidity. He needed more information. Needed to know what kind of a pact the Quincy had made with these people and how his father had managed to become a traitor to them. Needed to know who and what they were dealing with because he had never seen nor read about anything like them before. At least not that he knew of. They definitely weren’t shinigami like Renji was, not hollow or arrancar either. Come to that, how had she moved so fast that none of them had seen her? Had it been a flash step like the shinigami were capable of or . . . what?



“You also have the eyes,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts.



She finished untying them all and patted Uryuu’s cheek as though he were a child. She was just stepping back toward her desk when she heard someone’s stomach growl. Loudly. She glanced back at the four of them and Sado shrugged sheepishly.



“Sorry,” he said. “Haven’t gotten to eat for a while.”



Nyx revolved around slowly, taking in the other three. “The rest of you as well?”



“Hell no! We got dragged out of my house, tied up, blindfolded and marched to wherever the hell here is,” Ichigo ranted.



“Damn, why don’t you just tell her we didn’t get a pee break either? And you call me a moron,” Renji said.



“That’s because you are a moron. Moron,” Ichigo fired back.



Renji grabbed the front of Ichigo’s shirt. “Why you little . . .”



“Boys!” Nyx barked. They stopped and looked at her, Renji turning Ichigo’s shirt loose. “Captain, how long have these people been in your care?”



“Approximately six hours time, Commander.”



“And in those six hours did you think to give them food, water or bathroom breaks?” The tone of her voice sent a shiver through everyone gathered in the room. Half of them were tempted to look to see if frost had formed on the windows and Renji was forcibly reminded of Hitsugaya in one of his less than friendly moods.



“Ah, no, Commander. We were trying to get back to the portal before it closed.”



“I see. So, you abducted them, tied and blindfolded them, didn’t tell them where they were going or why, then marched them here without seeing to their basic needs. Am I correct in presuming that?”



“Y . . . yes, Commander,” the Captain said, now looking very afraid.



“Get out of my sight. All of you. If I have to look at any of you again tonight I’ll not be responsible for my actions.”



“Of course, Commander,” the Captain said, starting to take hold of Renji’s arm.



“They are staying with me.”



“But, Commander . . .”



“Do you really think me incapable of handling a shinigami and three outlanders? Go!”



The whole lot of them scrambled to get out the door and away from their commander first. Nyx shook her head in disgust before turning to look at the four remaining people in her office.



“Who needs the bathroom?”



All four of them raised a hand. She sighed and shook her head again. “I should have just gone to bed. Come on.”