A strange recruit

Holly walked out of the department store, loosely holding her purse to one side, humming happily to herself. She looked down at the shoes she had worn out of the store, doing little half turns to get a better look at them. Yes. Yes these looked just lovely. And to think, they were only a little out of range of her allowance! Of course, that hadn't used to be a problem, but after bouncing Vera's bank account, it was decided Holly would be given cash and pre-paid credit cards to use. She didn't mind. Between her cards and her cab fare home, she'd had enough for these AWESOME shoes!

Which... She put a finger to her lips. Well. She looked down. She supposed that presented a problem... She bent down, removing the shoes and placed them gently into her purse. Well, not like she didn't walk barefoot sometimes. She shrugged and headed down the road, attracting a few strange looks. Some of those looks, she maybe should have paid more attention to. It was a ways down the road when she decided to cut through a small side street, blissfully unaware that anyone was following her until they turned down the street.

She turned to look behind her and saw two men walking down the street, her smile only fading once she turned around. She absentmindedly picked her pace up, glancing back again. The two men were... speeding up. She bit her lip, starting to get worried. She didn't have a lot of time to worry however when she heard running footsteps behind her.

Holly broke into a run, sprinting down the secluded road as fast as her legs would take her, which was significantly slower then the men chasing her. She gasped as a hand grasped the back of her dress before pushing forward. She stumbled forward, hitting the ground hard. "OWW!" she cried out in pain, scraping her knees and palms as she hit the ground. She spun around and crawled backwards away from her assailants.

"Give us the bag, girl." The one said. The other just pulled out a knife, coming closer to her. She looked from one to the other, fear filling her eyes. She clutched the bag reflexively.

"He said, give us the goddamned bag!" the one with the knife came at her. She gasped and reached up, grabbing the sides of her face. She wasn't panicking, however. She pulled forward and, much to the surprise of her attackers, her face began to pull forward, her body seeming to siphon into it. Suddenly, her face came loose, reverting into a plastic mask. In her place was a tall lanky girl dressed in all black with pale skin.

She looked up at the two assailants who were reasonably perplexed, but starting to move back towards her. The girl, Vera, looked up at them with narrowed eyes. "You mugged the wrong girl." She said with a glare before, lightning quick, reached into her bag, different from the one Holly had had, and pulled out a different mask. She placed it on as the one with the knife went to stab her.

Light spewed out for a moment, but it was the pressure of the air that pushed the attackers back. Her figure began to stand up, growing as it did so, until the light dissipated, revealing a large shirtless man who didn't QUITE look human. The man, Regulus, turned to the muggers, knife stuck in his chest. He plucked it out with two fingers and flicked it away before pulling his sword out. "You have made a terrible error in judgement." He said, with something that almost seemed like a smile before rearing his sword back.

The two muggers, scared beyond belief, made a break for it. One of them would be fortunate. The other, Regulus was targeting. He swung his sword and a crackling tendril of energy ripped out of it, chasing the fleeing men. It shot forward and slammed into the one who had had the knife. He cried out in pain, the energy seeming to dig into his body, looking at the other. "H...Help me man!"

The other mugger looked back at him, face white as a ghost, before simply turning and fleeing. "W-wait! Fuck you, man!" He cried out before Regulus swung his sword. A shockwave shot up the tendril with a crack, like a line of energy travelling down the channel. When it connected with the man, his body seemed to separate on its own, a terrible cleaving noise mixed with his cry of pain as a clean cut appeared across his body the same way Regulus had cut the air.

The two pieces of the man fell to the ground as Regulus turned and sheathed his sword. "When will Vera simply buy that girl a bus pass." He said in reference to the small blonde who'd walked down here alone.

"Well well well, isn't this interesting." A bemused voice said coming from above. The man who had been observing from a roof top dropped down to street level to greet the would be 'victim'"

This day Adam was decked out in full uniform with a stark black mask covering his face giving away no features and slightly distorting his voice. "I guess it must be an old habit from my days with the Jag to follow unusual fluctuations in reiatsu but the funny thing is that you weren't the one I was tracking. That is not to say that this is an unpleasant surprise. Far from it in fact."

Adam muses almost absentminded of the existence of this stranger before he corrects himself. "Forgive my rudeness, I my name is Adam and I am a Quincy if it is not obvious. Would you be so kind to tell me who... and what you are."

Regulus' stature seemed to stiffen when the newcomer spoke, but made no other movements. He sniffed the air. Quincy. He took another sniff. Powerful Quincy. He drew his sword again and turned slowly to face him. "I don't know this Jag of which you speak. Nor do I know why you have come here, but let me be up front. If you mean harm, be out with it. I've little patience for pleasantries on the battlefield."

His grip tightened on the sword but he gave a little frustrated growl. "That being said... My name is Regulus and I am an Arrancar. State your business."

"The battle is over so put away your sword. I mean no harm" Adam said flatly before almost laughing again at his last statement.

"An arrancar huh? But no mere arrancar if what I caught a glimpse of is the truth. So let me do you the courtesy you did me and be flat with you. You are being deceptive. To what extent though is the question. Let me ask a different question. Do you know why you are here?"

Regulus continued to glare at the man and craned his neck a little to crack it. "I'll be the judge of whether or not the battle is over. I don't have the luxury of being so trusting as to take a man at first word that he comes in peace." His grip tightened on his sword, but he made no motion of moving. He wasn't sure if he could take this Quincy. His senses weren't quiet keen enough to properly gauge an opponent's power level when their spiritual powers were at rest. That said, he wanted to test him in combat. Very badly.

But to do so against a foe that might be able to outright overpower him was... to put his wards in rather stark danger. Suddenly he, in a way, missed the incessant nagging of Meiko or Alison.

"Hm?" He narrowed his eyes and cocked is head. "What sort of question is that?" For a man being flat, he was beating around the bush an awful lot, informing Regulus that he had seen something but not say what, or asking him leading questions that would give the Quincy more insight then it would him. His grip tightened further and he lowered his head, teeth bared with a growl.

Why did he have to ETERNALLY worry about the silly children who's lives he carried by default? What he wouldn't give to have no burdens, able to throw himself into whatever foolish challenge he fancied.

But that was not the case. "I don't know what you saw, but I am Regulus. And my purpose is... to protect." Whether he liked it or not. He would not give the man any less of a cryptic answer then the question he had been given.

"To protect? Like the girl I saw who suddenly disappeared when you appeared? Could have sworn I saw the dead man stab her or was it somebody else? When I looked again here you were." Adam crossed his arms. His amusement was slowly turning to annoyance. He didn't quite know what he was dealing with but he'd get to the bottom of it even if he had to resort to good old fashion fisticuffs

For the first time, Regulus visibly tensed. He had seen that? Then he had seen.... But he didn't seem to fully understand... Regulus shifted his sword slightly. Judgement call. He either needed to reason with the man.... Or silence him permanently. It was just a matter of whether or not he could take the opponent.

He remained still and silent for a few seconds before, begrudgingly, relaxing. The man could easily be a match for a captain or an espada, which Regulus couldn't rightly risk the lives of the whole of them just to test himself against. He sheathed his sword.

"I can tell you... Or better show you, everything. But first I will simply ask how I can trust that your intentions are as benign as you say?" It was a reasonable thing to ask considering how vulnerable Regulus would be leaving his charge.

"In my line of work I find that trust is earned so let me tell you a secret." Adam said cooly while turning his head to see if anyone was around. Once he confirmed that there wasn't he removed his mask revealing his face.

"My name is Adam Dumont. It's a name that is quite well known if you don't know it yourself. Now you have the means to ruin me if you so choose. Now I know your suspicion might be that I could kill you or might even do so still but trust me when I say that if I wanted you dead I'd have killed you already." With a flex of his hands the reishi wire that Adam released a few minutes prior made itself visible with the naked eye showing an intricate web had been spun around the alley way. He disperses the lot and smiles.

"Understand that a man such as myself cannot afford to make mistakes, if you so choose you can leave now but understand that I will still follow you until I get my answers. I trust this is sufficient."

Regulus wasn't sure where he was going with this. Not until he took the mask off anyway. Regulus looked... almost surprised. If it were any of the other personas, they most likely would have been shocked. Regulus had too little human world relevance to really care, but he still understood the ramifications. Adam Dumont. The top of Alison's suspicions for being the head of the Quincy faction. Most likely... very strong. Stronger then him.

He still wanted to fight him, but at this point it was stupid. He could definitely beat him and his identity added credence to his claims of non-hostility.

Regulus sighed. "You wanted answers? Fine..." He growled, placing his hands on his face. "But you had best be polite to the lady." He dared to threaten before pulling forward on the sides of his face. Red electricity seemed to crackle around it as his face pulled away before it pulled loose from the figure, turning into a mask.

A much smaller, shorter person was left holding Regulus' Mask. Vera blinked a few times and raised a hand to move her hair out of her face before placing Regulus' mask in her purse. She was wearing a black pair of jeans and a long sleeve black shirt. She looked up at Adam. She already knew who he was. All of her personas shared memories, but she had the most clear recollection of her persona's actions. The others had the innate knowledge that they were viewing someone else's memories. She had no such feeling.

She reached one arm over to nervously clutch the other, while that arm clung to her purse. She looked prepared to run, no matter how pointless it would be. She took a nervous step backwards. "Uh...Sorry..." Her voice was quiet and rough. "Regulus is supposed to be protective of me. He was just doing his job." She looked up at him and hazarded a weak smile. "My name is Vera."

Adam places the mask over his head to conceal his identity to any wandering eyes and said, "Yes, I believe I understand now. You seem almost familiar to me. Have we met before?"

This woman, Vera had Adam intrigued even before she had revealed herself. Now that she appears Adam's mind wandered through the possibilities of who she was and what she could do but for now he would play it slowly. There was still an element of danger that could be present and Adam was nothing if not cautious... oh who am I kidding, Adam's flirtatious fascination with danger was well known. Curiosity killed the cat, but it had yet to kill him.

Vera took a few cautious steps back. She knew running was impossible. It was just an uneasy reflex. So far, the man really seemed to mean no harm, but she couldn't know for sure. And what's more he was incredibly rich and famous. Even if he weren't a Quincy, Vera would be a little intimidated by someone of such power. Not even to mention the fact that without her personas, she was no stronger then a, let's be honest, below average human.

"No. I've..." She paused. Even when someone knew of her personas, she tried not to let them know Alison was part of her roster. She was too high profile to have that sort of information out there. "I've seen you in public before. You're... Well... I mean, YOU know how famous you are." She sunk a little. Her social experience as herself was mediocre at best. Talking to celebrities was really not her forte. "Um... What....What do you want?"

Ignoring most of the girl's nervousness, Adam shrugged. "I came out hunting and I discovered you. What I want is to enjoy your company. Tell me about yourself. I may yet have a proposition."

She crossed her arms a little tighter, trying to think if there was any persona who would be better equipped to handle this situation. Maybe, but not one she was going to switch into in front of a stranger. "M...My company?" She gave him a suspicious squint, trying to figure out what his game was. "I'm... nobody worth a billionaire's time..." Her fingers squeezed her arm. "I don't know what you could be proposing..." The idea that, even seeing her ability, the possible head of the Quincies had anything to say to her just seemed unlikely.

"Let me be the judge of what is a waste of my time or not. Please tell me about these abilities of yours. Actually on second thought I believe we have lingered here for far enough. There is a coffee shop not to far from here that I meet with many choice clientel that I keep a spot on reserve. Meet me there in about 10 minutes. Do you think you can do that?" Adam asks realizing that even if he couldn't be noticed the site of his uniform would cause some commotion at some point if anyone happened to be walking by.

She opened her mouth to, however begrudgingly, explain her powers to some degree to the man. Just as she was about to, he requested her to instead meet him at a coffee shop down the road. Could she handle that? She made a face that was something like a dubious glare. Did he think she was stupid?

"Y... Yeah... I'll be there, I promise." She said before turning and running off.

Ten minutes later, Adam would find a girl in the coffee shop waiting rather patiently next to his reserved spot but ut was not the same one from the alleyway. A short Asian girl with black hair and a rather curvaceous figure stood calmly by the table wearing a homely sweater and skirt outfit.

Adam arrived in style as always. A stretch Limo appeared to drop him and a would-be bodyguard off. When he walked in and saw a new girl standing in his usual spot. Not wanting to give too much away he calmly said "Please sit. Would you like a drink?"

She raised an eyebrow. Did he already piece together she was a different persona? Was he playing safe for some reason? Regardless, she sat as she was asked, scooting into the seat. "Some coffee would be lovely. Extra cream and sugar." She said with a pleasant little smile. She would wait for Adam to sit down. "I'd like to apologize on Vera's behalf. She's just... incorrigibly shy. She decided to have me take over." She extended her hand. "My name is Meiko Rikonda. I... am the same as Regulus, who you met earlier. And I would be happy to explain Vera's ability to you." She said cheerily.

"It's fine. I had mostly perceived the nature of your... Her abilities" Adam said correcting himself as he shook her hand.

"It is well met but please continue. I'd like to understand the nature of it all. I believe we may come to a mutually beneficial arraignment"

She frowned. Had he? Had he perhaps seen more then he'd let on originally? Or was he perhaps just very perceptive. Well, then again... She supposed with her here now and if he'd seen Regulus de-masking, it didn't require Sherlock Holmes to put it together. "Hm.." She pressed a finger to her lips in thought. "No, 'your' is appropriate. As appropriate as pronouns get in this situation." She fiddled with some of the silverware on the table absentmindedly. "See. Vera, the one you met taking off the mask is... I guess the foundation of all of us. If you want to speak a little less poetically? She's the only fully real person." She put the silverware down and crossed her arms. "Basically speaking. Vera can make these masks that embody her power and express themselves by forming distinct personalities. Not just simple constructs, via her power these personalities grow and develop outside of her original design for them."

She uncrossed her arms as she continued. "Each of them has their own appearance, reiatsu signature, personality, likes, dislikes and abilities. They're essentially closer to half-lives then anything else. Although we are all Vera we are each our own person. We share memories, but not knowledge bases, skillsets, or personal feelings. We all could have a memory of reading a book, but only one or two of us might have any memory of what the book was about." She crossed her arms again, with a smirk, feeling some sense of pride, it seemed, when discussing their unique situation. "The only catch is that there is but one body for all of us. Vera switches between use by donning a mask and only by removing the mask ourselves does Vera truly become 'herself' again." She even included little finger quotations.

"So I am Vera, but I am also Meiko. Vera is her, but she is also me." She sighed with a shrug. "Which sounds nice and cool, but it's really less mystical and confusing then you would think, and more like having a whole family of miscreants arguing for control over one body." She placed her hands back in her lap and gave Adam a pleasant smile. "I'm the one in charge of managing our schedule actually, so the majority of work falls to us. Vera had me meet you because I'm the most inclined to proper formal conversation." She paused before a devilish smirk crossed her face. "Well. That's not strictly true, but I also think she picked me because I'm a lesbian and you make her far too nervous to talk to you directly." She chuckled a little, pleased with how she had made things awkward for her creator.

Adam took this all in and nodded at the appropriate times. "Well, I must admit that while I had glimpsed the short of it from watching Regulus and Vera, I must say that the explanation of it all is far more enriching and enlightening. Thank you"

Adam goes silent for a moment to think of what he wants to say next. "I suppose an apology is needed, I did not mean Vera feel uncomfortable but given the situation I do understand why. So these masks are an extension of herself then? Are these facets of her personality that she has hidden away or are they rather traits she wished she had? Or maybe they are neither?"

Meiko's posture straightened up a little, responding well to the compliment. "Why thank you!" She said cheerily, not letting her vanity get away from her as the man continued to talk. She settled back down, listening to him talk, her eyes narrowing at one point. Not out of anger or anything of the sort. but just focusing on what he was saying. After a moment, she 'hmm'd softly.

"It's a good question. I suppose it's a mix of all three. I believe that all of us have traits that Vera does not realize are a part of her. At the same time, many of us, such as myself or, more obviously, Regulus, have traits that Vera knows she could never have. That said, she plays some active, intentional role in our creation and, often, our existence comes about out of some sort of need. For instance, Regulus was made with the primary intent of serving as protection for Vera. Meanwhile, I was made for the purpose of organizing her growing family of personas, as well as managing our finances."

She adjusted her glasses, before pausing as her coffee came. "Ah. Thank you!" She said, before sipping at it. "But we develop in ways Vera could never have expected. For instance, I began to grow... stressed... with my duties and now have been given a day off." She paused, taking a long sip. "Vera also did not design in any particular way, my romantic preferences for women." She smirked. "That was all me."

"You chose to like women? Well I think there are a few fascinating psychological implications of such a thing." Adam said with a bright laugh. Just then a waiter came in with a glass of red wine for Adam. He put his nose to the glass and took in its aroma before lightly sipping it. While Adam had not ordered the drink himself, it was a customary thing for them to keep a bottle on hand for such occasions.

"Alright then, so let me cut to the chase. I run an organization both in the public and private sector that acts as a front for the empire I run. Customarily we prefer to hire internally, but we are an equal opportunity employer if you catch my drift." He lets that hang for a moment and glances around to make sure there were no prying eyes. True his personal area was fairly secluded but it never hurt to be cautious.

"I believe that your unique abilities would be a powerful asset to my company and empire. Therefore, I would like to employ you to my services and if you want to take it a step further, you can join the Wandenreich itself."

Meiko made a little gasp, as if offended. She wasn't, but she liked to play along with these sorts of things. "Chose? No no no. It is not a choice, Mr. Adam. I simply enjoy what I enjoy. It was merely an example of how we are our own people."

She quieted down once he put the offer on the table. Well... This was... different. They'd never been offered an opportunity by someone who knew their condition. Not to lend their actual abilities to someone. It was certainly... a new sort of thing. "Well...I think it would be a wonderful opportunity. But... Perhaps..." She made a small thinking noise and looked down. "Perhaps, it would be best if you spoke with Vera. It is not appropriate for any of us except for her to make decisions that effect the whole of us, after all."

"Oh forgive my rudeness then, m'lady." He says with a warm smile and a slight head bow. He takes another small sip of his wine as she offered to invite Vera into the conversation. He placed the glass down and looked into her eyes, his eyes were calm like stilled water but presented themselves with a crushing depth that could many people would lose themselves in them for a time being. For now, it almost looked like they were smiling. When she finally looked down Adam nodded knowingly.

"I believe you are correct, I suggest that you leave and have Vera come back in lest we confuse the staff here. Does that sound agreeable to you?"

"Of course!" She said, getting up from the table. Deciding it would be fun to leave the staff a BIT of confusion, she walked into the bathroom. A moment later, Vera slowly walked out of the bathroom, a little shaky as she made her way back to the booth and sat down. "Uh... S-sorry. Meiko was right. I should be the one to talk to you. But I still feel weird being somewhere this nice." She said with a little half-frown, half-smile.

"Uh... I was thinking... or.. y'know... remembering your conversation, I'm thinking now... You said you hire internally usually... You mean like quincy, right?" She asked, picking up the coffee without thinking about it and taking a sip. "UGgh. Jesus. I don't know why I did that." She grumbled to herself. "I mean.." She looked over at Adam, giving a tiny short embarrassed laugh. "Like she was saying... I KNOW she ordered her coffee way too sweet, but I forgot she did it..." She looked at him, her face going blank as if she had forgotten what she was saying.

"O-Oh. Yeah... Uh... Well, several of my personas actually mimic the reiryoku of different species. I was just thinking.. Y'know.." She crossed her hands in her lap and looked away with a little shrug. "I could make a Quincy persona for your company?"