Warnings - as always when Lilinette is around, language, language, language. Lili's ability is my invention, of course. I dare Tito Kube to give her something cooler...No really, I do.

Many thanks to Maidros for reading this yesterday - I'll never know why you put up with me, pet :)

Chapter 12 - Where Renji sux!

Stark saw the red-haired Shinigami that stood beside the Quincy flexing his arm, and put his hand forward to intercept Zabimaru's flat edge, but the sword never reached him. The sharp, wide front blade simply froze against Szayel Aporro's wrist, the giant length of the steel whip tensed and humming oddly in the air between Renji and the Octava.

'Am I experiencing a slight déjà vu?' Szayel purred, tucking a soft strand of pink hair behind his ear. He was once again fully clothed, but he had not retrieved Fornicares. 'He will say 'Damn you!' now,' the Octava whispered, softly tilting his head to the side.

'Damn you!' Renji spat, and Stark laughed out loud.

'That was unexpected, vice-captain Abarai. You make my head spin,' Szayel sighed. He flicked the blade away, causing it to hiss dangerously to the side. 'And our Quincy! Suerte!' he shrieked in delight. 'I swear, life is a box of chocolates!'

'Could you be more gay?' Lilinette chuckled, making Szayel frown briefly.

'Bastards!' Ishida hissed, his glance locked on Nemu's frail form. 'What have you done to her?'

'Eh, Uryu,' Stark began excusing himself, stepping up to Szayel Aporro's side. 'I tried. But she kept propping up, so…'

'It's not her fault,' Ishida furiously snapped. 'Kurosutchi controls her like a puppet whenever he is around!'

'Then, blame him, not me,' Stark muttered in return. Understanding that Kurosutchi was not dead, but merely incapacitated, and that the Shinigami that had just walked in was also a captain class, albeit not as powerful as the other, the Segunda nodded his head, and transported himself to the opposite corner of the laboratory, out of the new enemy's sight and earshot; Szayel and Lilinette promptly followed. 'Szayel,' he uttered, softly. 'What does Kurosutchi's shikai actually do?'

'It is coated in some nano-mechanic composite that imitates a neurotoxin,' the Octava explained, arching an eyebrow.

'…what kindda?' Lilinette perked, pulling on Szayel's tight sleeve. 'Do you ever talk like normal people?'

'Do you possess a brain?' Szayel sighed. 'How the ignorance of the world offends me! Did it touch you?' he asked, with mild concern, ignoring the Fracction.

'Yeah,' Stark conceded. 'I forgot my own not playing with one's food advice. Probably because he smells too putrid to eat.'

'Then, you may be slowed or even incapacitated for a while,' Szayel shrugged. 'It's not a spirit-based weapon, there is nothing you can do against it; it affects your human body, not your reiatsu. Nothing I can do against it either, or at least not on the spot, with these pests still infesting my laboratory.'

'Well, that is not the best news I've had,' Stark muttered.

'However, Stark…' Szayel began, slowly. 'I do not think it should make a difference to you. I am surprised you even let him touch you. And no, Lilinette cannot take him. He would be deadly to her. Just in case that was what you were trying to assess,' he added slyly.

'I thought I was fighting against someone like you – all bark and no bite - so I lowered my guard,' the Segunda responded, with an icy glare; the Octava arched an eyebrow, to demonstrate he was neither convinced nor intimidated, and Stark sighed. 'You're right, she cannot take him.' he briefly conceded. 'I don't want to kill him, however, so watch yourself. I will explain later. Where's your sword?' he asked switching discourse before Szayel started to argue.

'He has her,' Szayel sighed, tilting his head in Kurosutchi's direction. 'But I don't need her, for the moment.'

'Oh?' Lilinette mused. She had always found the fact that Fornicares – what Stark called the exceptional representation of a phalla…phallo…phallic! symbol - was female, sharply and unquestionably amusing.

'I just need to get to the machine,' the Octava snapped. 'So help me get to my panels before Kurosutchi gets up…'

'He's broken,' Lilinette smirked.

'No, he's not,' Stark and Szayel Aporro responded, in a single voice. The Fracction cranked her nose, but did not argue further and found that if she listened intently enough, she could hear him recovering too – hasty mechanical buzzing and unpleasant slithering reiatsu.

'I'll rapidly deal with the Quincy,' Stark said softly, measuring the two enemies with half closed eyes. 'All his weapons are reiatsu based, he cannot touch me even if I stand still. Can Lilinette keep up with the little Shinigami, Szayel Aporro?'

'With Abarai?' Szayel frowned. 'I assume so, he is quite injured. I would not go as far as thinking she can beat him, but…'

'Well, if you beat him, I am sure I can pound him into mash…' she laughed.

'Your self confidence is distressful. He's a power-type and a captain class,' the Octava sighed. 'Though his lack of intelligence is most unfortunate, his body will learn to match your speed on its own.'

'Maybe I even get to see a Bankai,' Lilinette continued to chime, lending him no attention.

'Don't,' Stark cut in, frowning. 'Don't let him achieve his Bankai – be happy with keeping his shikai down. You've already shown me you can. I won't be long with the Quincy. Come on, Lilinette,' he added, distractedly ruffling the child's hair to curve her obvious disappointment. 'I am sure you will see more Bankai than you care to soon enough. What about the masked beauty, Szayel Aporro? He is beginning to stir.'

'I will need two minutes,' Szayel said. 'Do try not to wreck anything; the laboratory is proofed against many things. Sadly, stupidity is not one of them.' he added, with an ugly scowl in Lilinette's direction. He then started his Sonido and vanished.

'Did ya notice how grateful he is?' Lilinette whispered. 'If he had thanked us one more time I would've been sick.'

'Indeed, he warms my absent heart,' Stark laughed. 'No provoking a Bankai, Lilinette. I'm serious.' He repeated, in a serious tone, as if reading her mind. 'You cannot face one yet.'

'Ya, ya. We'll see.' She answered, waving his words away before darting off.

'I'll be watching,' Stark whispered, mostly to himself; the Fracction did not need to hear what she already knew, anyway.

'What the hell is she?' Renji whispered to Ishida as Lilinette dropped from the ceiling, coming to stand six feet before him. She cracked her fingers, and grinned merrily, crossing her arms behind her back as if waiting for them to make the first move. 'How can a Vasto Lorde be in this shape?'

Understanding Renji's true doubts, Ishida frowned and remained silent; just like with Nel, the form of the Hollow was mentally incapacitating, even more so for a Shinigami, who believed that all the denizens of Hueco Mundo thoroughly deserved their place in it. Though Renji must have understood – and had, in fact, actually felt – that Lilinette posessed enough reiatsu to be quite dangerous, he could still not bring himself to see past the child. Rather than accept that one of his comrades had once judged her ghost and sent it to this place, Renji wanted to believe that it was all an elaborate deception.

'Do you think she has another true shape, and keeps herself in this form so she screws with my mind?' Renji stubbornly muttered.

'I don't think she is like this by choice, Abarai.' Ishida answered.

'Ei, ugly Shinigami!' she called, making both of them wince at the high pitched sound. 'Ya gonna come at me or what?'

'Get vice-captain Kurosutchi out of the way,' Renji muttered; the Quincy agreed, with a brief nod. 'Where did the other two get to?'

'I'm afraid we'll soon find out. Watch your back for Szayel Aporro,' Ishida warned, making him laugh.

'I'd think I should watch my back for the other one,' the Shinigami answered, running his hand over Zabimaru's blade, to wake him again.

'The other does not seem the kind that strikes from behind.' The archer hissed, before dashing away.

The Shinigami was ready for the speed of the blow, but not for its force; though her feet had connected with the forearm he'd crossed over his chest, Renji felt he was being pressed into the floor, the stone cracking under his feet. He tried to brush her away but she was already gone, she was already behind him; Lilinette barely touched the floor before punching him in the kidneys, and making him feel as if she'd just dislodged his spine. Zabimaru hissed in between them just in time to block another strike. The blade dented, taking the surprisingly clear imprint of her fingers – it was as if she had been made of hot metal.

Lilinette jumped out of the shikai's way, allowing the serrated blades to circle beneath her feet, at the height of Renji's waist. Catching the moment, the Shinigami grabbed hold of her foot, attempting to pull her down – the sole of the sandal tensed against his palm, and she pushed herself off, slipping between his fingers, bouncing on the wall and casually slapping him over the head as she floated over him.

Hundreds of colors erupted into Renji's mind, yet, he noted in surprise, none of them had the intensity that he had previously felt. She had not hit him in earnest.

'Damn you,' he hissed. 'You're playing with me!'

'Naaa,' the girl giggled, landing before him. 'Ya think?'

In the next second, her hands were lodged into his shoulders, and he felt himself lifted and helplessly spun in the air, above her head.

'Make Bankai.' Renji imagined he heard her whisper, before she slammed him into the floor, and stepped onto his chest, pressing all the air out of his body. This time, the explosion had been there, scalding metal coursing through Renji's arm and into the zanpakutoh's blade. He rolled to the side and rose to his feet within a flash, but Zabimaru was already transformed to its primary katana shape.

Renji looked down his arm in annoyance, and shook his shoulder – on command, the blade unwound and widened. Clearly dismayed, Lilinette danced close and grabbed his free arm twisting it around his back; she darted upwards. Understanding that if he did not follow the movement, she would rip his arm off his shoulder, Renji winced and jumped in his turn. Zabimaru ran by the side of her face, severing a strand of silver blonde hair.

'Make Bankai,' she whispered again, before the sword stubbornly dissolved. 'He knows I can handle your shikai already…make Bankai, so he knows I can do better.'

She let go of his arm, propping her knee between his shoulders and kicking him down; Renji landed on his feet and rolled his aching shoulder back in place. He gritted his teeth, sweat rolling down his forehead, right arm tensed and lines of red energy dancing about the blade, charging, crackling as he called…to no avail.

What the…

'Bah,' she exclaimed, darting under his defenses and punching him in the chin before retreating again. 'No fun if you're so stubborn and slow…'

He spun, and hit her in the stomach with his eyes closed, the speed of his reflex catching even him by surprise – as if she had been made out of straw, Lilinette coiled and flew backwards.

There was no strength in her body, Renji understood. Only in the arms and the legs.

The back of her head hit the wall and bounced painfully forward, her eyelid fluttering and her gaze becoming unfocused; had she not been donning the mask, the hit would probably have shattered her skull. Not missing the opportunity, Renji clenched his teeth and sent Zabimaru against her. For a moment, when white silk flew between him and the half unconscious Arrancar, the Shinigami thought he had finally made her reveal her true from.

Yet, the Zanpakutoh's blade stopped abruptly against Szayel Aporro's wrist, sending painful vibrations into the Shinigami's elbow. He did not even have time to notice Stark's figure slipping behind the Octava – a crushing wall of reiatsu, harder and heavier than the side of a mountain, hit him and hurled him several feet back. The force of Stark's push barely made Szayel Aporro's hair sway.

'Slow reaction, Stark,' Szayel chuckled, not looking over his shoulder. 'I guess the poison is getting to you after all. How very interesting.'

'I thought you had all the data on me already, Szayel Aporro,' Stark snarled into his ear.

They darted off in opposite directions, as Lilinette rose back to her feet.

Can you feel the love? If you can, it's odd, because there is none...

Immediately up next - the riveting conclusion of the long fight scene. Yeeeees, it does end.