Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any copyrighted materials that may appear.

Neon lights flashed around her as Rukia walked down the dusty polluted street of the city. Rukia hated it here; the skyscrapers made her feel claustrophobic. It was strange for a mercenary, but, nonetheless, she had to put up with it. She pulled her hood up and spoke into her radio transmitter, located on her arm.

"Yuki reporting, what's your status?" She said, waiting through the static, hoping for a response.

A garbled message came through the old tech, and she sighed with relief. "Clear in the skies Rukia, boy, you sounded worried." She could just picture Ichigo's smirking face in the seat of his black fighter, the Zangetsu.

"Shut up moron." She hissed underneath her breath, she would have yelled, but, it would have drawn attention.

"If I can break up this love call here, your target is leaving the building." Ishida said, reporting from his station at the top of the building across from Roku's.

"You'd best shut it too four-eyes." She said, growling at the mental image of Ishida pushing up his glasses while aiming his weapon at the building's door. (Think the bow from the soul society arc.)

"Just do your job Kuchiki." He said through the static.

Rukia sighed and plastered on a grin. She walked out of the alley, heading straight for the criminal. She fake tripped and bumped into him, before recoiling and saying a meek "I'm sorry."

"Watch where you're going!" He snapped, brushing past her and walking down the street. Rukia's smile was this time real, and she quietly spoke into her communicator after the criminal had faded into the distance.

"Micro tracker set."


They were back onboard the BawaBawa, which was orbiting the planet. They were all crowded around the hologram that showed the city's map. There was one flashing red dot inside one of the three dimensional transparent buildings. This was where they tracked Roku to.

"Now for the easy part." Renji said, leaning back and stretching his arms over his head.

"What, exactly, is easy about it?" Ulquiorra said, turning his gaze to Renji.

"Well, from here on out, we can just bomb the building with our ship, can't we." Renji said. "After pulling the civilians out of course."

"Even if we did pull them out, we wouldn't be able to hit that target with our fighters." Ichigo said. "One reason is that we want him alive, and the other is HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE COULD PAY FOR THAT?!" The leader screamed.

"Urahara would pick up the price." Renji said, looking at the enraged man.

"Good luck squeezing any money out of that miser, the most we'll be getting is our pay for this job, and that's not much." Rukia said, looking at her friend.

The group continued to bicker until the dot began to move again.

"It's probably one of his "experiments." Chad said, showing his disgust.


Ulquiorra ran down one of the streets, dodging people and other obstructions. He made a left at one of the crossroads, and then a right. The alleys of this city were a virtual maze, but, Ulquiorra had a fine sense of direction. He finally made it to the alley where the tracker was on his map. He stepped into it, shadows covering most of his sight, His eyes widened as he spotted the tracker, hooked up to a metal box with wires poking out of it. He jumped back and turned the corner, just in time to avoid the wall of flame that just ingulfed the alley. He grimaced, one of his arms had been grazed by the bomb's blast. He lifted it with much difficulty. There was hardly any skin left on it, but, it seemed to be intact otherwise. He stood up, swaying as he made his way to the extraction point. Orihime could fix him up.


The man ran; breathe hitching as he tried desperately to escape. The alley he was running through was suddenly cut off by a solid wall. He backed up against it, and looked for a way out. A needle whizzed by his head and impaled itself in the brick in front of him. His eyes glanced at it for a second, and then a hand closed around his neck. He was lifted off the floor and his throat felt like it was stretching. He was certain his time had come, until a voice came from behind his assailant.

"Roku Jin, I hear you like killing people. That's good, because the folks down at the Punishment Bureau do too." Ichigo said, smirking to himself as he aimed an energy rifle at the back of the tall man's head. Rukia rolled her eyes at Ichigo's corny line, and drew Sode no Shiraiyuki, the white pistol glistening in the orange daylight.

Roku smirked, revealing animalistic canines. "Just how exactly did you know where I would be?" He said, looking at Ichigo. "Leader's intuition." Ichigo replied, grinning back at the tall man. "So you sacrificed your teammate to catch me? I'm flattered." The man said. "We hardly sacrificed him, Ulquiorra can take care of himself, and Orihime can patch up almost any wound. It's not him you should be worrying about though.." Ichigo said, raising the rifle in his right hand.

"It's you!" He said, firing a neon blue shot from the black rifle's tip.


There we go! Chapter 3! Sorry that it's short, but, my head is killing me, so I decided that I'd continue it in the next chapter. All I've got left to update is A Dark Blade, and I've got the rest of the night to do that. I hope you liked this one! I'll keep writing, so stay tuned! Wow, saying that feels great!