Chapter 13: You'll Do

All the members of the Gotei 13 had received orders with a basic description of the criminal. Mira had testified to having seen his shikai and given a description of that as well. The Captains stood at their headquarters while they sent out patrols of five men. Each patrol searched the nearby area, but when they saw no one for an hour, a second patrol was sent out, and the first patrol continued searching as well. After four patrols were out concurrently, the fifth patrol that left replaced the first patrol, and in this way, the patrols rotated so that there were constantly 20 men from each squad searching. These were the foot soldiers of each patrol too. The seated members were on their own to search for the intruder. The Captains and Lieutenants stayed at base though so there were 23 members of each squad, leading to a massive search party of 297. One was subtracted for the 3rd seat of Aizen's squad keeping watch on his squad and another for Mario..

Todd evaded the search party by remaining underground while he recovered until he said, "I need to clear my name." Iwambo nodded, but said nothing. They were both sitting, Iwambo's legs were crossed while Todd had one knee up and the other leg resting under the other knee. "Can you lead me to the 1st squad's headquarter from here? If I can talk to Commander Yamato, maybe he'll call it off. I…I know he'll listen."

"He is a man of duty. He will not disobey the orders given to him by the Central 46." Todd couldn't meet Iwambo's eyes.

"Take me there then." Iwambo breathed in deeply.

"I'm afraid that is not possible. Not from here. To do so, we must exit well before their Office." Todd started tapping his foot impatiently.

"Fine. Can you….Can you take me there?"

"I can take you as close as the headquarter of the 5th Division. They are without both a captain and lieutenant and we will have the best chance of evading patrols there." Todd nodded and they continued down the sewer system. Iwambo led them through it until they reached a ladder, when he started climbing, Todd held grabbed the black robe.

"No, I'll go first. This is my problem and I should take all the risks." Todd insisted and Iwambo listened. When he pushed the panel off, he peaked out and saw no one near. They were behind a large ornate building. He hopped out and waited for Iwambo who quickly came after.

"We are behind the headquarters. I am afraid we still have a ways to go though."

"Thank you Iwambo." The two held each other's eyes until Todd heard some swords jingling in the distance. They both turned and they saw a group of 5 from the 5th squad running at them, their swords already being drawn.

"It's him!"

"Get him!"

"Kill the Ryoka!"

"Come on guys!"

"Yeah!"

They all shouted out similar phrases and it all blended together. When Todd reached for his Zanpaktou, Iwambo stayed his hand by grabbing Todd's wrist. "Let us not do anything rash. Instead, we run." He then proceeded to pull Todd along the other side, but as they reached the corner, the swords behind them weren't the only ones drawn.

"Sorry bud, but I guess we have to do something," and immediately Todd's hand held the scabbard at his waist, while his other prepared to draw the sword. They didn't bother introducing themselves and Todd didn't care. He charged towards the first group who all had their swords in the air, ready to swing down, but they were slower than Mario, a lot slower, and with a single horizontal slash, he disarmed them all. They had small wounds on their knuckles, but at least none had died. Iwambo chased after Todd and they both ran past the stunned foot soldiers. But the second group kept coming and the first group picked up their swords and were ready to try again. Todd didn't bother facing them now that they had a way out. They chased him all around the area and occasionally he turned to Iwambo to see which way they should go. He hadn't forgotten his mission.

Iwambo was too slow occasionally on deciding and Todd wasn't ready to lose ground. They had lost sight of the patrols and he wanted to keep it that way, but they kept seeing new patrols and Todd would either blow by them or knock them off balance. He only inflicted small wounds on these guys until he reached a dead end.

"Shit," Todd said as he heard the foot steps nearing. "How strong is this wall?" He asked Iwambo, but it was too late, they had closed in. All 21 of them in a single mass with small cuts on their arms, hands, and feet. Some of them were limping or bent over and out of breath, but from behind stepped a man that at first Todd couldn't see his face. He was pretty short himself and apparently so was this guy. The patrols parted for him and some were snickering at the new twist. He even heard some people say, "Yeah, get him boss, you got this."

He spoke before being in sight, "You have intruded our sector and have disgraced our squad. You will be hauled back to the jail house where you will await execution. Under High Decree of—"

"Like I'm going to let you haul me in so I can sit and die. You'll have to knock me out first." Todd's sword was out and Iwambo was backing into the corner. The man stepped into view. He had short, messy dark green hair and a headband. He was as short as expected, but wide. Stout for sure, he looked like a bulldog on a leash.

In a low voice, Iwambo spoke. "This is the third seat of the 5th squad. He is a proud warrior and will not hesitate to execute the orders given to him by his Captain-Commander. Currently he is acting Captain of the squad…" Todd looked back to see Iwambo gulp.

"Meet my gaze, Kikorokokou!" It came instantly, unlike before, and the explosion shocked the patrolmen, but the 3rd seat held his ground in front of them. He didn't even have his sword out. His large green eyes never blinked as they stared each other down. Todd made the first move, launching his ring blade at his opponent. It scraped against the walls and the men behind the 3rd seat officer ran from it, but he side stepped it. In this narrow alley, he dodged the large ring with fluid movements, but the ring blade, as Todd hoped it would, rounded itself back towards Todd and he bent over and stood up in the middle catching the handles easily.

With his hand on the blade's hilt, he spoke "Irvin Balsk of the 5th squad. 3rd Seat officer and Acting Captain and Stand-in Lieutenant." By the time he finished, his blade was drawn.

With a sly smile, Todd said, "Todd Mackinac of Pella, Iowa. Wanted Criminal." Irvin lowered his head and readied himself to attack and defend. He bent low like he was a sprinter coming off blocks, with the sword in his left hand pointing behind Irvin. "Are you going to release it?"

"I promised myself I would not need to for this."