When I regained consciousness two thoughts struck me.

One; Holy shit I can’t believe I’m still alive!

Two; why am I in handcuffs in a hospital?

I woke up in a fairly nice looking room, even if it was more on the empty side. A quick glance around showed me besides the bed, side table, and a few wooden chairs nothing else was in the room. The bed I was on was pressed up against the wall right under a large window, so at the very least no one was worried about me making a break for it.

Not sure how capable I would be at it anyway.

Moving hurt.

A quick examination with an Analysis spell showed micro tears on practically every muscle I had along with several other injuries like the broken ribs and the damn hole in my chest. While I could probably fix that with a couple healing spells, I lacked the desire to move and since laying still didn’t hurt I decided to just let it heal naturally.

For now.

I would probably get bored and fix it eventually, but I just faced off against two and a half Captain-level opponents and didn’t die. I deserved to be lazy.

Toshiro wasn’t actually fighting me. He doesn’t count.

With nothing better to do and no reason to get out of bed, I closed my eyes again and started dozing.

-o-

Some time later there was a soft knock on the door before it opened and a nurse in a powder pink uniform walked in. Going by the widened eyes and quick departure I think she was surprised I was awake.

A few minutes later she returned with Natsumi, Soifon, and surprisingly Yoruichi.

“Um, hi guys. How did everything go, everyone alright? And, uh, why am I in these?” I limply raised my arms and gave the handcuffs a light shake. Yoruichi gave me a small smile with a complicated expression on her face. Natsumi refused to look directly at me. Thankfully, Soifon decided to answer me.

“Sosuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen succeeded in their attempt at stealing the Hokyoku and have retreated to Hueco Mundo with the aid of the Menos Grande.”

Not surprising. With all the Captains scattered and not knowing that the Hōgyoku was a thing it would be incredibly easy for Aizen to grab Rukia during all that if he was serious about it.

“While several of your companions were severely injured in your invasion. She stopped to glare at me. I just raised an eyebrow at her, completely unrepentant. I hoped she wasn’t looking for an apology. I don’t think a single one of us would give her one.

With a defeated sigh, Soifon continued. “Everyone managed to get medical aid in time. They should all completely recover and are currently resting . Unlike a certain officer, who should be doing the same!” she said, glaring at Natsumi.

Natsumi simply looked away. I noticed a slight wince at the movement and that she was lightly holding her side. Definitely still feeling her injuries then.

“So, sounds like things worked out about as well as expected. Does this mean I can take these off then?” I asked, gesturing to the handcuffs.

Going by the awkward atmosphere and uncomfortable expressions on everyone’s face, I was going to guess no, I couldn’t.

“Guys? Kinda starting to feel like I should be running.” I said nervously.

“No! It’s just…!” Natsumi started before hissing and grabbing at her side again.

“It’s just that Aizen screwed you over before he escaped.” Yoruichi finished. “And now the Head Captain needs to decide what to do with you.”

I sat up straighter. When the three of them walked in I was feeling pretty relaxed since I thought everything was over, but now I was regretting not healing myself when I had the chance. I slowly started to circulate mana through my arms and legs.

It wouldn’t fix the injuries, but it would let me move without cramping up.

“What do you mean ‘decide what to do with me’?”

Yoruichi held up a placating hand, trying to keep me calm.

“Aizen might have told everyone you were one of Akihiro Kanou’s experiments and I was kinda forced to tell the Captain’s what I knew about your past.” She said.

“And this is an issue, why?”

Natsumi finally spoke up, “Because all of Akihiro Kanou’s experiments were declared bioweapons, and the law says any illegal bioweapons are to be destroyed immediately.”

Well...fuck.

“So should I be running right now?” Looking between the three of them I noticed neither Soifon or Natsumi had their Zanpakuto with them. That was either a good thing, or it meant they were confident enough they could deal with me without a weapon and an injured person in the same room.

Considering my current condition, I wouldn’t blame them for thinking the latter.

Yoruichi waved her hands in front of her in denial. “We already got the Head Captain to agree to not do anything drastic until we had a chance to talk. But now that you’re awake he is going to want more information about Kanou in exchange for ignoring the laws regarding you.”

It was kinda hard to describe what I was feeling at the moment. A mixture of incredible rage and mind numbing fear for certain. I was basically being told my reward for helping the Gotei 13 by exposing the whole traitor problem was a temporary stay of execution for existing and it was only an issue because Aizen fucked me over on his way out.

I shifted so my feet were on the floor and I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I absently noticed my hair was down from my normal ponytail and I was wearing a light blue japanese outfit instead of my normal one. A yukata I think?

“Okay, and I guess you guys are here for that information then?” I looked around waiting for their nods. “Can I ask a question first?” More nods.

“Who the fuck is Akihiro Kanou?”

-o-

After a few wasted minutes arguing that no, I really don’t know who that is, I was told that Akihiro Kanou was once a respected scientist that worked for the Soul Society until roughly one hundred and fifty years ago. His studies into soul technology were revolutionary and eventually formed the foundations to things like the Gikongan and Project Spearhead even if he didn’t actually participate in those projects.

Instead, he was obsessed with finding a way to craft a ‘perfect’ soul by growing artificial souls meant to specialise in one area, then frankensteining them together to remove any perceived imperfections. Central 46 approved his work as long as he delivered on making super soldiers to use against the Hollows.

As I expected, eventually Kanou ran into issues. Prototypes were unstable, either not functioning as expected or unstable and prone to falling apart randomly. His experiments grew more and more expensive to maintain with little tangible improvement, so Central 46 ordered his resources scaled back and his projects shut down.

Without the massive amounts of artificial souls he needed for his experiments available, Kanou did what any morally bankrupt scientist would do in pursuit of finishing his work.

He started kidnapping and experimenting on human souls.

This continued for several years undetected before Kanou made a mistake. Confident that no one managed to track anything back to him, he got bolder in his kidnapping. Going after souls that he considered ‘higher quality’ for his tests. One day, rather than sticking to the lower districts where a soul disappearing was less noticeable, Kanou grabbed a young boy from District 15.

This wasn’t new behavior from him. It was later discovered Kanou kidnapped hundreds of children for use in his experiments. The difference this time was the boy was actually part of a minor noble family visiting the area while his father inspected a new business opening nearby.

When his son failed to return, the father immediately demanded the Onmitsukidō investigate.

Eventually they tracked down both the lab and the kid. There they found and fought dozens of monstrosities that the scientist had spliced together from the victims he kidnapped. The mindless creations poured out of their holding cells and into the streets. They tore through hundreds until the Gotei 13 mobilised and killed them all. Akihiro Kanou was forced on the run until he was eventually hunted down and reportedly killed by a freshly promoted Fifth Seat Officer, Sosuke Aizen.

-o-

“We thought that was the end of him, but now we can’t be sure. Any more information on the experiments you went through would go a long way into easing our fears.” finished Soifon.

I shrugged at her.

“Not much I can tell you, I had one converstation with the guy who made me. And I didn’t even see him before I was declared defective. Practically the next thing I knew I woke up near a riverbank a bit outside Karakura.” I said. Technically true, and I was never going to let anyone know I was created by an extra-dimensional entity. If that meant I got labeled a bioweapon I would deal with it.

Worst case scenario would be that I disappear and help from the sidelines, though I didn’t expect it to come to that. The Gotei 13 weren’t exactly in the position of devoting a lot of resources into hunting me down at the moment.

“Well that’s more than we had before.” Soifon turned to Natsumi. “Go get a squad to investigate the area around Karakura for any signs of unusual spirit fluctuations. Then get back to your room, I am not going to deal with Squad 4 complaining about you sneaking out before you are officially released.”

Natsumi was clearly not happy about the last order but accepted with a simple “Yes, Captain.” She turned back to me and bowed as low as she could without aggravating her injuries. “Alexandria Cross, I wanted to thank you for saving my life. I look forward to working together in the future.” She said before turning and walking out the door.

I watched her walk out before turning back to the other two. “Um, what did she mean by working together?” I asked.

“We kinda fudged the truth about your situation. As long as you cooperated with telling us what they wanted to know you were off the hook.” Yoruichi said with a shrug. “The Head Captain knows better than to make an enemy out of our group after what we just did and with Aizen doing who-knows-what.”

“So the implied death threat was just your way of having fun then?”

“Nope, just them wanting to make sure you took this seriously and didn’t try dodging out of an answer.”

I sighed. Whatever, I was still way too tired to deal with Yoruichi right now. “Can I take these off now?” Gesturing to the handcuffs again.

Soifon started walking towards me.

“Yes, they shouldn’t be needed anymore.” She said before inserting some sort of card into an opening. The handcuffs popped off and I had my hands back, yay.

“Any other ways you want to mess with me?” I yawned. Now that I wasn’t in fight-or-flight mode I was exhausted again.

“I have several I want to try out!” Yoruichi said happily, ignoring my glare. “But those are for later. Just know Orihime will be stopping by soon to help deal with your injuries. She pushed herself too hard helping with everyone else so we forced her to take a break. So don’t run off anywhere for a bit.”

“I can do that. Anything else?”

“Nope! But I need to go help get in contact with Kisuke. Need to coordinate getting everyone home in a few days.”

The two of them walked out the door before Yoruichi looked back at me. “Oh, and Alexandria? You did a great job, feel free to take it easy for a while.”

And like that, all the tension I had building up flowed out of my body. I let out a groan and collapsed back onto the bed.

Yeah, taking it easy sounded good.