"What the hell do you want, Nnoitra?" Grimmjow asked his phone, tone on the brink of outright hostility.

He was worried, really fucking worried. It had been two more days and Ichigo hadn't called him. Renji just gave him vague answers about his family, and that pissed him off. How dumb did the spikey haired bastard think he was? Pretty dumb, apparently. Or maybe Renji was the dumb one and couldn't think up a better excuse. Either way he was scared and pissed and the last thing he needed was this asshole on his phone.

Pantera! Is that any way to talk to your old friend? Nnoitra sounded hurt, but that was complete bullshit. Grimmjow could practically see his shit eating grin.

"We were never friends. What is it? I'm retired." Nnoitra was part of his old life. A really sleazy lawyer, he specialized in divorce cases and was known as a cut throat bastard. He also had a reputation as a go to guy, someone who could set you up with whatever you needed, legal or not. Whenever a fellow lawyer needed a witness found or a PI was looking to subcontract a missing person case, Nnoitra was there with a helping hand. And that hand went in turn to El Pantera, who could find anyone if he had a sample of their aura. It hadn't made him a ton of money, but it had been easy work and he'd been glad to do it. Several of those missing persons had been runaways and one had actually been a kidnap victim. It had been one of the few times someone had been glad to see El Pantera.

I have a job you might be interested in. Grimmjow was about to hang up the phone when Nnoitra purred out his next words. It involves your old friend the Mask. His hand clenched tight around his phone then and he had to carefully control himself to stop himself from shouting at the bastard. If Nnoitra knew he was that concerned, he'd want to know why, and that was a place Grimmjow was not going with him.

"Oh?" He kept his tone casual, although he knew Nnoitra would see through that. He knew all about El Pantera's playful rivalry with the Mask. "What about him? He got himself into trouble?" He asked and Nnoitra laughed.

Actually, he's gone missing. His super hero friends have been trying to find him, but they're not investigators. So they contacted a PI and the PI called me. Would you be interested in a job? Nnoitra said and Grimmjow didn't have to think twice. However, there were practical considerations.

"Fuck yes, I'm interested. But I've got a condition. You need to set up a meet for me with these super heroes." He said firmly. "If someone or something managed to kidnap the Mask, it must be more powerful than him. Therefore, more powerful than me. I'm gonna need backup and I'm damned if I'll hire it myself." That would be expensive and he just didn't have the money. Renji could fucking well help out. There was a thoughtful pause on the other end.

That could be difficult, but you make a very good point about the power involved. It wouldn't do a bit of good if you vanished as well. I'll get in touch with the PI and see if we can work something out. You know, you haven't asked how much this is paying. Grimmjow grimaced. He should have asked that. He would, with any normal case. The offer is two thousand. The PI and I are both getting five hundred as a finder's fee.

"Fair enough." A bit steep for making a few phone calls, but Grimmjow trusted Nnoitra with some of his information. He'd go to jail before giving up any of his contacts. The fee itself kind of sucked for the danger involved, but if Ichigo's friends were paying they probably didn't have much money. "I'm always ready for a challenge. Call me when you arrange the meeting. Oh, and if any of them have access to his apartment or anything I want to see it." That was the simplest way to get a great aura reading, so Nnoitra wouldn't be the least bit surprised. And Grimmjow wanted into Ichigo's apartment for another reason. If he was lucky, he might get an aura reading from whoever had taken him. They had to be strong and he wanted to know how strong.

I'll take care of it. Expect a call soon. Grimmjow hung up and went to get a coffee. He was sure it wouldn't be long. Sure enough, Nnoitra called back in less than a half-hour. They've agreed to meet you. Can you do it tonight?

"Depends. Where do they want to meet?" Grimmjow said, trying not to reveal that he'd meet on a bed of red hot coals if they wanted it. Nnoitra gave him the address for Ichigo's apartment building and Grimmjow swallowed. "I assume that's where the Mask had been living? They're not wasting much time." He said, playing ignorant to the hilt. Nnoitra laughed.

Apparently, they're quite worried. They tried to find him themselves for several days. That made Grimmjow grit his teeth. If only they'd known… well, it was water under the bridge. And he wouldn't have wanted them to know he was El Pantera anyway. So can you make it? Oh, they'll meet you on the roof.

"Give me a couple hours and yeah, I'll be there." He said shortly. "Later, Nnoitra."

Later Pantera. Grimmjow hung up and frowned for a moment before dialing the local taxi company. If he was going to make this meeting in good time, he wanted to get home faster than public transit could take him. The money didn't mean a damn thing, not with Ichigo's life at stake.

He got home, changed into the monkey suit and went out through the window after checking to make sure no one was watching. Once on the roof, he began to jump from roof to roof, then did a quick dance over rush hour traffic. No doubt the owners of the cars were pissed as hell about the dents in the roofs, but he couldn't give less of a fuck. And living in this city, most people just resigned themselves to slightly dented cars.

He made it to the meeting place with time to spare, and began surfing his e-mail again with his helmet. He'd actually missed the helmet a bit. The screen was a helluva lot bigger than a little cell phone. But he didn't have much mail, so he started up a game of minesweeper. After his third loss in a row, the super heroes finally showed up.

Grimmjow wasn't remotely surprised to see the Red Tornado. The guy liked to wear a half-mask, and his bright red hair stuck out behind him like a pineapple. His wife – at least, he assumed she was Rukia – wore a Mexican style wrestling mask. That was nothing surprising, most heroes and villains wore those. They struck the perfect balance between concealing the identity and looking stylish. Renji's mask was less popular due to the lack of coverage, and things like El Pantera's helmet were damned unusual, too bulky and heavy for most people. Renji's outfit and mask were red and gold, while Rukia favored black and gold.

"Hi there Red, long time no see." Grimmjow said easily, wondering if they'd recognize his voice. There was a real possibility they might. "And who is this?" He gave his attention to Rukia, wondering what her super hero name was.

"Spirita." She said and Grimmjow nodded. That was Rukia's voice behind that mask. "We weren't intending to hire you when we contacted a PI, but he said you have a tracking ability."

"Yeah. Give me a bit of the Mask's aura and I'll find him for ya." Grimmjow said, smiling grimly behind his helmet. "Then I'll kick his ass for scaring everyone, heh."

"Fuck no. He's done fighting with you." Renji said, hostility so heavy in his tone you could have cut it with a knife. Grimmjow sighed, standing up. He actually planned to kick Ichigo's ass in bed, but he could hardly say that to them, not when he was still keeping his identity a secret.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's worry about that when we find the little bastard, eh?" He said in a bored tone, gesturing to the door leading inside. "Why don't you take me to his apartment?" The two of them exchanged a glance and Grimmjow could see they were not thrilled about letting Ichigo's nemesis into his rooms. But they finally led the way, taking him down the stairs. Grimmjow was careful not to let on that he could have led them there himself.

Inside Ichigo's apartment, Grimmjow immediately coughed. Something stank. He followed the smell to the kitchen and grimaced at the charred condition of a pot on the stove. It was absolutely disgusting, not surprising though, the metal had been heated literally for days. He quickly turned off the stove, giving the pot one last glance.

"That shit is for the trash." He muttered. There was no way it was ever going to be clean again. And that was pretty lucky, actually, the thing could have set the apartment on fire. "Can you two stay at the door? I need to sniff around." He said to the two super heroes. Renji looked ready to refuse but Rukia gripped his arm.

"It's a reasonable request." She said, which meant she didn't like it either but was going to allow it. Grimmjow left them at the door and started scouting.

He didn't need to do a thing to fix Ichigo's aura in his mind. He already knew that, intimately. No, he was looking for any sign of who might have taken him. His cell was still in his room, so Grimmjow picked it up and quickly checked his texts. To his surprise, there were a few from a girl who was clearly interested. From the looks of it, though, Kurosaki hadn't been giving her any encouragement. Amused, he set the phone down. Ichigo also had a land line, it was required for the enterphone. He had an answering machine on it and Grimmjow checked his messages, including the ones that had already been listened to. Most of it was pretty random crap, telemarketers and friends, including himself. But one of the messages was weird.

"A sperm bank?" Grimmjow flipped up his visor so he could rub an eyebrow, easing an itch. "Shit, those things have to advertise? Since when?" He flipped his visor back down, wondering if they were just soliciting everyone at the university. They were offering a bit of cash, and students were notoriously poor at money management. Shrugging, he turned away from the answering machine and took a deep breath before turning all his attention to the aura sensing.

There was just a trace of something noxious in the apartment. Grimmjow sniffed, lip curling at the stench. It was vaguely familiar, but that meant almost nothing. Plenty of super villains had shitty auras, and he had been willing to be muscle for their grand schemes if the pay was good. The scent wasn't very strong in the bedroom, though. Leaving the bedroom, he followed the trail to the bathroom. He hit paydirt there, but it really pissed him off. Someone had done a good job at cleaning things up, but not quite good enough.

"Hey, you guys. Come here." He called, confident the two super heroes would hear him. They joined him in the bathroom and he pointed out what was obvious to him. "Did you notice the blood?"

"Blood? Where?" Renji stiffened as Rukia put a hand to her mouth. Grimmjow pointed out the tiny flecks stuck in the grout, and also a very tiny splotch on the tap.

"Someone ambushed him in here." He said, sniffing the air. The scent was strong here. But there was one question that needed to be answered. "I need your permission to do a ritual. I need to see…" He hesitated a moment, his own pain threatening to come through. But it had to be said. "I need to see if someone died in here." He said softly. Both the super heroes looked sick for a moment.

"Can we watch?" Rukia asked and Grimmjow nodded. "Go ahead." Gripping one of his gloves, Grimmjow peeled away the black fabric. Then he bit the tip of his pointer finger, ripping the skin until the blood flowed. The mirror was a perfect place, and he drew a simple rune there in his own blood. Then he focused a bit of power through the tattoo on his chest. It resonated easily with the rune, which flared for a moment with black and blue light before crumpling to dust. He quickly turned, but to his relief he saw nothing.

"Okay. If someone had died, you'd have seen a big patch of black." He said, not bothering to hide his relief. There was a soft sigh behind him, and he was sure they were every bit as relieved as he was. "So we're on a rescue mission, not revenge. I think I've learned everything I can here." The foreign aura was strong here but he still didn't recognize it. "Let's get going, hey?"

"Lead the way." Renji said and Grimmjow nodded before brushing past him.

The trail led out the window, and Grimmjow swore quietly before calling on his hidden powers. He could use them, he just chose not to because of the dangers. The tats on his back flared for a moment, and then he was flying. There was a curse behind him and he glanced back, stopping to grin as he saw Red carrying Spirita. She was glaring at him behind that mask, he could tell.

"Someone can't fly, eh? Don't worry, I can't either usually. But these assholes took him through the air." He said. That was a first for his missing person's cases; he'd never actually needed his hidden powers before. Renji just glowered at him and he shrugged before flying on.

It was hard to tell at first, but after a while Grimmjow became sure they were heading for the bad part of town. That made sense, it was a hell of a lot easier to hide a secret lab or something in the slums. He followed the trail unerringly, despite it being days old. That was his unique power, something his family had never been able to explain or replicate.

He finally touched down on the roof of a building, frowning as he glanced around. He'd felt his skin tingle as he landed, and it had almost reminded him of a ward. But that was ridiculous. Only someone with the same kind of powers he had could possibly –

Renji had just landed, still holding Rukia, when power rose around them. The two super heroes and one super villain were frozen, caught easily in a web of darkness. Grimmjow grinned behind his helmet, just standing still. Someone was about to get a brutal surprise, and it wasn't him.

"Well, well. What have we here?" Three girls slid out of the shadows, and Grimmjow wasn't surprised. Three was a natural number for their kind. The girl facing him had light purple hair and golden eyes, set in a face that was incredibly pale and slightly doughy. It wasn't a good look, and if anything her friends were worse. One of them had a bad case of cold sores and the second was so boney, she looked like a mobile skeleton. In fact, she reminded Grimmjow of his mom. They were both quite pale with dark circles under their eyes. "A bunch of super heroes? Tsk."

"Can we kill them Mapake? Can we?" The skeletal girl said eagerly, her dark green eyes blazing with eagerness. The middle girl shook her head and pulled out a wand. It was a piece of polished black wood with a tiny green agate in the tip.

"No. Memory modification. Try to keep up Hari." She said, stepping close to Grimmjow. His grin widened to shark like proportions as she tapped his helmet with the wand. "Higani – HRK!" His kick took her right in the belly and knocked her across the roof, spittle and blood flying from her mouth.

"Just because I didn't move doesn't mean I couldn't, bitches!" Grimmjow snarled as the other two stood in shocked surprise for a moment. Then his sword rasped out of his sheath and the two of them came out of their shock and began trying to fight.

Emphasis on trying. They weren't bad, but they clearly had never fought a serious opponent in earnest before. Where Grimmjow, on the other hand, had honed his fighting style on the Mask. Power flared and danced, but Grimmjow shed it easily, using his sword to end things. The skeletal girl's eyes went wide just before he slashed her throat, then went after her sister. She screamed and tried to run but he tackled her, punching her in the back of the head and slamming her face onto the ground. He wasn't sure if she was alive or dead, and he honestly didn't care. The only one who was certainly alive was the girl he'd kicked, who was retching up her last several days of meals. He walked over to her, his bloodstained sword ready if she tried anything.

"H-How… how… what are you?" She whispered, her golden eyes wide and her pupils tiny pinpricks. "Only one of us – hck!" He gripped her neck, lifting her up easily and choking her.

"Yeah, one of you." He said softly and saw the panic in her eyes. She wasn't expecting mercy from one of her own kind. But she hadn't been planning to kill them. So instead of slitting her throat, he bashed her in the temple with the hilt of his sword. Her eyes rolled up and he dropped her to the ground. She'd have one hell of a headache when she woke up, but she'd probably live. Then he glanced at Renji and Rukia and grimaced. They were both still frozen. "Great." That meant the spell had been pre-set, probably by someone stronger than these three. The only thing to do was to find the runes anchoring it and deface them.

It took him a while, but he finally located one of the runes on the side of a chimney. He slashed his sword through it and felt the power snap, releasing the two super heroes. Renji staggered and almost dropped Rukia, who yelped and found her feet.

"I couldn't move! How did you do that?" He immediately demanded and Grimmjow hesitated. But it was going to come out anyway, so he shrugged and decided to tell them.

"That trap was set up to catch anyone who doesn't have a particular power signature. I have that power signature, so it registered me as a friendly and let me move." He explained and both super heroes gave him deeply suspicious looks. "They're… they've got witchblood, alright? And so do I. I'm what we call a warlock." And now that he knew witches were involved, he knew a lot. "I think I know what's going on." He mused, cleaning off his sword and putting it away. "I think I know why they kidnapped the Mask, and even what they want him for. He's a warlock too."

"Wait, what? What in hell are you talking about?" Renji demanded as Rukia crossed her arms. Grimmjow sighed. He didn't really want to explain, but it looked like he needed to.

"Okay, it's like this. These people are real witches, not wiccans, more like a dark cult based on power and bloodlines." He said, glancing around. Someone might have felt what happened to these girls, he needed to make this fast. "That power is really fuckin' recessive, and it travels best in the male bloodline. But witches hardly ever have boys, so warlocks are rare. The witch clans trade them around, trying to make sure they don't get too inbred." Grimmjow grimaced to himself as he thought about it. He was incredibly gay, to the point of not being able to get it up for a woman, but with modern technology that hadn't stopped the clan. They'd let him go only on the condition he give sperm samples. "So in comes the Mask. A witch must have spotted him fighting and realized what he was." In retrospect, Grimmjow thought he was a moron for not figuring it out sooner. But warlocks were incredibly rare, and Ichigo had no tattoos. So neither of his parents could be part of the clans, which meant his witchblood was further back. That was even rarer. "I bet you anything a lot of hot chicks have been trying to get laid with him the past couple weeks." Renji started and Grimmjow grinned. "The clan would send out the cutest girls to try an' woo him. Then, when that failed, they tried to bribe him to go to donate to a sperm bank." Now he knew why that message had been on Ichigo's phone. It had been targeted to him specifically. "When that failed, they resorted to this. He's a warlock that isn't related to the clans for generations, they want him really fuckin' bad."

"But you're one of them. Are you still helping us?" Renji asked, his tone borderline hostile. Grimmjow sneered behind his mask.

"Each clan works on their own, and I don't know these bitches. They mean nothing to me, and my own clan let me go after I told them I'm gay as fuck." Grimmjow said bluntly, seeing Renji blush and Rukia frown. "So yeah, I'm still with you. Come on, we need to get moving before someone checks up on these three." They were taking too much time. And now that he knew witches were involved, he was pissed. There were a lot of ways for them to get Ichigo into line, and some were better than others. It would depend on how much of a taste for torture the matron of this clan had.

They found the door that led into the building, which appeared to be abandoned. Rat droppings were everywhere and the air was thick with flies. Doors were broken and standing on their hinges, letting them see inside the former apartments. Grimmjow glanced into one and wished he hadn't. There was a dead rat there, crawling with maggots.

"Oh my god. How can they live here?" Renji asked, appalled, and Grimmjow laughed.

"They don't. This is a cover to keep people away." He said, finding the stairs. "We're looking for the basement." He led them down several flights of stairs, stepping carefully on the creaking wood. "Is this place up to code? Stay next to your girl, in case these steps give way." He said and heard an annoyed sigh behind him from Rukia. She didn't like being carried, was his guess.

There was no opposition, no sign anyone knew they were there as they penetrated the basement. The basement was full of spiders, all of them venomous but Grimmjow summoned his power and they scattered, hiding in the shadows. He had to search the basement for a while to find what he was looking for, but he finally did.

"And here it is." He pointed to a blank wall of stone and grinned at Rukia and Renji looked at him like he was insane. "See those two notches, one on either side?" There was a flowing, waving line grooved into the stone, one on either side of a large space. "Those need to be filled to open the door. You're lucky you called me, I can fill 'em. Spirita, do me a favor here and unzip my top." Mystified by the request, the female super hero walked up behind him and pulled down the zipper of his jumpsuit. "Thanks. Now…" Grimmjow pulled off his gloves, tossing them to Renji, then he pulled his arms out of his jumpsuit. Pulling it down, he revealed his tattoos, and wondered if Ichigo had mentioned them to his friends. But there was no help for it if he had. Stretching his arms out in front of him, Grimmjow locked his fingers together and began to chant.

The chant was soft, sibilant, and as he spoke the tribal patterns on his arms began to stir. He heard a gasp behind him but ignored it, concentrating on bringing his tattoos to life. The snakes slid off his arms, taking a physical form, dark grey and dappled with blue. Then the snakes crawled up the walls, fitting their bodies into the groves, their heads resting at the top. Eyes flared blue, and the wall changed.

A great double door appeared, black painted wood with silver doorknockers in the shape of spiders. Grimmjow gripped them both, pulling the doors open with a great tug. Behind were dozens of stairs, leading down into darkness.

"Into the rabbit hole. After you, lovely lady." He said mockingly as he pulled his jumpsuit back on. Rukia gave him a look, but stepped inside. Renji passed him back his gloves and he put them back on before following. The door closed behind them with a sharp, hollow sound, then vanished.