Good evening, ladies and gentlemen :D And thank you for your kind words over the past week. :) I've felt truly encouraged :)
As usual, thank Maidros for putting up with me :)
I had meant to put an Author's Note up tonight in my profile. Sadly, the profile page is resistant to copy paste, so I have temporarily uploaded it as a chapter. I apologise. It will come down tomorrow night.
Chapter 53 - Where Renji helps himself. To Szayel Aporro.
'Nononononono!' Szayel Aporro exclaimed, grabbing hold of Renji's wrist and resolutely keeping him from drawing Zabimaru. They darted in opposite directions, and Wonderwice's Barra exploded far behind them.
The accursed creature was strong, Renji thought, a lot stronger than he should have been, given the fact that he had a more delicate frame than even Rukia. Szayel's grip on his wrist had been so powerful that it had immediately left a bruise. It felt as if his delicate, silk gloves had been reinforced with steel.
Content that he had gotten away from the Octava, Renji yet again prepared to draw; this time, however, it was not Szayel's horrified grimace that stopped him, but mere confusion at the fact that the blonde Arrancar before him seemed to have lost his focus entirely. He simply crouched in mid-air, a single, white spot in the complete darkness of the chamber, looking at Byakuya in open and childish curiosity.
'Waaaa…?' it said, blinking twice. 'We-heee!' it added, in a happy tone.
'I think it likes you, Captain Kuchiki,' Szayel said, from somewhere in the darkness. 'Somehow, I do not find this surprising. Tell it to heel.'
'Excuse me?' Byakuya asked, with a mild frown. 'It is not a dog, it is a human…well, he is an Arrancar,' he corrected, to Unohana's light chuckle. 'Nonetheless…'
'Wooh,' Wonderwice agreed.
The Barra flew without any trace of warning, energy gathering and bursting forth from the Arrancar's fingers within the blink of an eye. For something that had taken so little time to form, the explosion was tremendously powerful, and though its aim had been uncertain, its tail burned the hem of Unohana's haori.
Szayel Aporro gasped audibly, sounding far more terrified than the situation warranted; the guardian of the control chamber did not feel particularly strong, and although he was fast, he seemed to have no span of attention. Renji frowned.
'What's with you?' he asked, with a disgusted smirk.
'This…' Szayel whimpered. 'A horrifying sight! Beyond words!'
'It's bloody pitch dark,' Renji growled. 'What did ya see? Eeeh!' he muttered, as another Barra hissed by his ear, 'he's really annoying now! Howl…'
He did not have time to finish the command, and the Octava was upon him before the blade had been half drawn; Szayel Aporro grabbed Renji's arm and twisted it around his back in a quick, indefensible motion.
'…the Hell!' Renji cursed.
'Are you really unable of processing articulated speech?' the Arrancar hissed from behind. 'I said – no!'
'Why the bloody hell not?' the Shinigami spat in return. 'He's already attacking us – there's no chance he's going to back down simply because we're not drawing…'
'That's not the point,' Szayel snarled.
'Huuu,' Wonderwice said, in an approving manner. Without facing away from Kuchiki, he extended his arm to the side, rotating his wrist. Instead of letting go of Renji, Szayel Aporro pushed him forward. Since the movement had relied on the Arrancar's wheight, it had had little effect, and Renji had pointedly resisted it – only to jump to the floor of his own accord half a second later, dragging Szayel along. The blonde Arrancar's Barra hissed inches above Szayel's back. Szayel Aporro cursed under his breath – frowning, Abarai looked up, and, in the burning light of the explosion, he caught a glimpse of the dark panels around them, finally understanding the cause of the Octava's mewling distress.
The panels that lined the wall seemed damaged and inactive; long cracks ran through along the bottoms of the boards, and most of the monitors were no more than gaping holes with cutting, broken shards of glass instead of screens.
'Well, that's not good,' Renji said, in as neutral a tone as he could muster.
'Now you get it, you abysmally thick creature,' Szayel said, standing up, but not moving a single inch to the side. 'This idiot has done unspeakable damage to the controls already – the last thing we need is for you to start mindlessly whipping at them with your little sword…would you kindly stop moving?' he snapped, in Byakuya's direction.
The captain had gracefully avoided the first of Wonderwice's sword blows, by taking a small step to the side, and letting the Arrancar's ill aimed, but powerful blow hit the panel behind him. Sparks flew and Wonderwice laughed, trying to catch them with his hands.
'Are you requesting that I stop dodging?' Byakuya dryly asked.
'No, I am asking that you stop patrolling about the room,' Szayel sighed, adjusting his glasses. 'The more you move, the more he will move, and…'
'And even if he does not hit us, he is still hurting us by destroying the controls,' Unohana nodded. 'I see.'
'Try to keep him in front of already damaged portions,' the Octava said, in an embittered tone.
'Yes, but which are they?' Renji asked, standing in his turn. 'It is so dark that I could poke my own eyes out…'
Unohana smiled, extending her hand – though her lips did not move, the red light of the kidou expanded between her fingers, then slowly drifted upwards, revealing the true dimensions of the disaster. Few of the panels had been left untouched, but most had been damaged in a way or another – torn wires, broken glass and shards of plastic lay everywhere on the floor, and dark, empty slots, which indicated that buttons had been torn off, littered the keyboards.
Incapable of gazing around, Szayel cursed profusely, with vocabulary that might have earned him Grimmjow's respect, and that made Renji blush. The Octava hid his face in his hands.
'I can't look,' the Arrancar whined. 'It is too awful.'
Oblivious to it all, and especially to Byakuya's bewildered stare, Wonderwice continued to slam his sword into the panel before him.
'Aaa-huu,' he plaintively said, noticing that his blows failed to produce new electrical sparks. 'Eeeee?' he continued, looking up a Kuchiki as if the captain of the 6th had held the solution to his dilemma. Fascinated by the Arrancar's dreamy gaze, Byakuya slowly reached out his hand, almost succeeding in grabbing him by the shoulder; the Arrancar vanished in the last split second, and Renji barely had time to bring Zabimaru up across his chest, catching the insanely fast blow of Wonderwice's own blade.
'Heeee!' the blonde merrily exclaimed, raising his sword again, and bringing it into a vicious, horizontal slash. Though he parried correctly, the mere force of the blow made Renji lose his balance and step aside; he kneeled and rolled over, sensing the gathering heat of the Cero. The red ray missed him by several feet, and, had it not been for Szayel Aporro's fast reaction, it would have carved another hole into the tortured machinery. The Octava caught it along Fornicares' length, and deflected it towards the corridor.
This could not go on for long, Szayel Aporro thought, shifting to the side and catching another Barra. Wonderwice had already severely damaged the room, and a simple glance around had shown that most of the technology within it was of Soul Society make, and unknown to him. While under different circumstances the Arrancar would have been ecstatic at the chance of exploring it thoroughly, he understood that even if the panels had been in pristine condition, he would have needed the better part of an hour to figure them out. Now, though…He'd need far more, and, with each second that Wonderwice was alive and capable of doing damage, the length of time and the complexity of the problem increased.
There had to be an advantage to be had out of the situation, Szayel Aporro thought, the machinery of his mind whirring at light speed.
Each crisis is an opportunity, if perfectly exploited.
And, Szayel suddenly thought, repressing a little grin, he knew exactly what he would get out of this one.
He jumped, letting Wonderwice's sword circle under his feet, then, after leaning a foot on the panel behind him, flipped over the blonde, to land behind him. His breath did not falter.
'Lumina,' he whispered to his wrist, knowing that in the laboratory, the Fraccion had stood to attention. 'Bring up the secondary controls.'
The Arrancar looked up, meeting Renji's concentrated stare; the Shinigami must have caught the movement, but surely not understood the words – and, as Szayel Aporro rose to his feet, he composed his features into the most convincing dismayed smirk he could muster. He did not need long – just long enough for Lumina to make its way to his bedroom.
'We need to do away with him, fast,' Szayel breathed out.
'Well, if you won't even let me release my shikai…' Renji protested furiously, 'What are we supposed to do?'
Release a Bankai, of course. But not yours, Abarai. I already know yours.
'I wonder how many times you need to be told that Shikai is unable to harm the more powerful Numeros. In fact,' the Arrancar sneered, 'I cannot recall a single battle report in which a Shikai triumphed. Besides, we need to prevent him from touching the walls before we even think of killing him,' Szayel muttered. 'I would fire a Cero, but it is too imprecise. Is there no Kidou…'
'Kidou can still miss,' Unohana said softly. 'And if he can avoid a Cero, he is certainly fast enough to dodge a Kidou.'
'Huooo,' Wonderwice merrily exclaimed.
'I am at a loss,' Szayel winced, pleadingly glancing at Unohana.
Perfect words, perfect tone of voice, perfect facial expression.
Too perfect.
Renji frowned deeply, sensing that something was amiss. He looked to his captain, but could not catch Byakuya's glance – it was locked to Unohana's. The woman shrugged lightly, and, only when Byakuya had half drawn his blade, did Renji realize exactly what he did not want Byakuya to do.
'No,' he shouted – he was neither loud enough, nor fast enough.
'Bankai,' Kuchiki said.
The swirling circle of swords rose just in time to hide the look of insane glee on Szayel's features. Cautiously, the Octava stepped out of the Bankai's range, and did not notice that on the opposite side of the room, Renji had done the same – the only things that truly mattered was that now, an impenetrable defensive wall stood between Wonderwice and Gin's machinery, and that Byakuya did not strike Szayel Aporro as the type who lent enemies any particular regard.
Three birds with one stone…
'I hope we're getting this, Lumina,' the Octava hissed again.
A small electrical pinch of the transmitter on his wrist was the only response he received, but it was enough. Szayel Aporro licked his lips in satisfaction; after a quick glance around, he tapped the side of his mask, letting out a little pleasured sigh when tiny, almost unreadable numbers started flowing over the left lens of his mask.
They were, indeed, receiving, and it took all of Szayel's self restraint not to shriek with joy when Byakuya's voice, calm and cold, once again resounded in the silence of the chamber.
'Senkei, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi.' Byakuya said, and, to the Octava's extreme delight, pink swallowed the chamber.
Not a single, but multiple Bankai forms! It was more than Szayel had hoped for. To make the prize even more appetizing, the extreme strength of the release was not as wondrous as its precision, and the control that Kuchiki exerted over each of the cutting petals, the graceful look, as well as the faint, delicate smell that accompanied the release caused Szayel to make a mental note to reconsider Byakuya's previously irrevocable placement within the ranks of the completely unattractive. When the pink tidal wave withdrew, all that was left of Wonderwice were the Bakudo bindings that Unohana had used to keep him in place.
The Arrancar patiently tapped the side of his mask, making the numbers that had flowed across it disappear.
'Bravo,' Szayel exclaimed, clapping excitedly. 'How very, very thrilling…'
Kuchiki did not even have time to look the Arrancar's way – Renji swept in between them, clenching is fist into Szayel Aporro's shirt and slamming the Octava roughly into the wall behind.
'You sneaky little bastard!' Renji breathed, not letting the fact that Szayel Aporro had defensively lifted his palms stop him. 'You sneaky, cowardly, bastard!'
'Vice-captain Abarai,' Byakuya began, frowning menacingly, yet, neither his frown, nor the cold fury in his voice made Renji step away.
'Why are you talking in your sleeve, Szayel Aporro?' Renji growled.
'I cannot speak to the more intelligent parts of my anatomy in public,' Szayel Aporro gasped. 'Most people find it rather offensive…'
He whimpered, as the red-haired Shinigami's forearm rested heavily across his neck, and Renji's features, adorned with feral satisfaction, leaned within an inch of his.
'I knew you were up to something,' Renji followed, in a low hiss. 'I knew it! And I've been watching you for a long time; was wondering if you'd make any mistakes, but now I've got you…'
'You are, quite clearly, more insane than your hairdo suggests,' the Arrancar protested, in a tiny voice.
'What is the meaning of this, vice-captain Abarai?' Unohana asked, brining herself closer; had it not been for a minute shake of Byakuya's head, she might have pulled Renji back.
Sheathing Senbonzakura, Kuchiki stepped forth in his turn, and, as if feeling his captain behind him, Renji sneered.
'Do you know how he defeated me, captain Unohana?' Renji asked. 'He defeated me because he used machinery implanted in his brother's body to gather data on my Bankai, and keep me from calling it. That's how he defeated me,' the red-haired Shinigami breathed, in long delayed satisfaction. 'That's how he hopes to defeat you.'
'Seriously, Abarai,' Szayel attempted to protest. There was no victory to be had.
'I am just curious where you implanted the machinery this time,' Abarai said, bowing his head, as if the movement could disguise his chuckles.
With soft gestures, but without allowing the Octava to even flinch, Renji slipped the fingers of his right hand inside the tight rim of Szayel's collar, savoring each inch of the advance – then, with a swift and fast pull, ripped the soft silk apart from neck to waist. And though he'd expected much, Renji had not quite been prepared for what he had found.
The cylindrical collar of the Arrancar's uniform hid at least five of his controllers, but a myriad more patches of circuitry lined the chest of his uniform, each of them meticulously sown into the inner lining of the fabric. Hair thin, spider-web like wires ran across the chest and sides of the shirt, disappearing into the sash that Szayel used as belt – and, amazed at the intricacy of the design, as well as at the sheer, impressive quantity of sensors that the Arrancar had managed to conceal, Renji gasped and took a step back.
Despite what the Shinigami had expected, Szayel paused for long enough to regain his breath, then straightened, adjusted his glasses, and smiled winningly to Byakuya's frozen stare.
'Admit it,' the Arrancar chuckled, propping his hand on his hip. 'You all had me coined for a fashion victim.'
The others were too stunned to respond.
'Yo!' Lilinette exclaimed, suddenly standing still. Hisagi's blade whirred once more, but inches above her head, before the Shinigami wound it in, frowning with concentration. 'What took ya so long?'
'Gin was over,' the air behind Hisagi responded, in a lazy male voice. 'We had a nice chat and he got the lady with the gigantic chest. He also killed the little kid with the white hair. I say, the day belongs to Gin so far.'
'Well, Halibel ain't doin' bad for herself,' Lilinette smirked, sniffing at the air, and cranking her nose. 'Big boobies get lucky around!'
The male voice sighed, and, unwillingly, Hisagi swatted his left hand over his shoulder, wondering why his back felt drenched in cold sweat, if his kimono was perfectly dry. He then winced, as the mass of cold, wet air passed over him and through him, materializing next to the girl he'd been facing.
It was only after the adult Arrancar had finally shown himself that Hisagi Shuuhei had finally grasped the full extent of the thing's reiatsu. Oddly, however, the Arrancar took little notice of him; he did not even look the Shinigami's way, contenting himself on giving the young girl an appraising glance.
'You don't want big breasts, Lilinette,' he sighed, in a conciliatory tone. 'They are uncomfortable, no shirt fits you, and they attract all sorts of unwanted attention…'
'Like, yours?' the girl answered, arching an eyebrow with obvious and very mature malice.
'I'm more of a leg guy, in all fairness' Stark defensively shrugged.
With her reiatsu in attack mode, Lilinette was insensitive to anything but large variations of energy – she had felt Halibel's release, but she had not felt Mira Rose's disappearance. Or at least, not yet, and Stark saw no reason to cause her to panic.
'So,' he began, conversationally, 'we are being slow and careful with this one?'
'Fuck slow and careful,' Lilinette answered, with an annoyed shrug. 'Can't reach him.' She added, in the way of an explanation, waving her fingers towards Hisagi.
'Exacta,' Findor sighed, painstakingly propping himself up against the wall; Stark looked his way and shook his head.
'His Majesty Barragan is not going to be happy with you, Findor,' he amusedly said.
The Fraccion sighed deeply, and nodded sheepishly.
'We can tell Barragan that Findor got him,' Lilinette answered, tugging on Stark's sleeve. 'Don't really matter, as long as he's…got.'
'Are you done with the chit-chat?' Hisagi asked, feeling his annoyance at being ignored was growing by the second.
'No,' Stark shrugged, looking up and taking a second glance at the Shinigami. 'And, if I were you, I would use the time to consider my position…' He squinted in disbelief, then unwillingly chuckled. 'A 69? Tattooed on your face?'
The vice-captain of the ninth frowned menacingly.
'It is none of your concern, Arrancar…,'he began, tightly clasping the hilt of his Zanpakutoh.
'I'll freely admit that, but…a 69?' the Primera laughed, trying and failing to contain his amusement.
'What's with it?' Lilinette asked, tugging on his sleeve. 'What? What does it mean?'
'I would have thought Grimmjow would have explained that one at length,' Stark answered, his amusement not dimming, but changing flavor.
'Yeh, well, he ain't!' the girl muttered, visibly irked by the fact that even Findor had found the strength for a little grin. 'What is it?'
'Eeh,' Stark sighed, scratching the back of his head. 'Now's not a good time for me to elaborate on the subject. Let's just say it is something…eh…'
'That the former Octava Espada Szayel Aporro Grantz is reputedly good at,' Findor completed, and Stark nodded gratefully.
'Not that it is a skill that one would advertise in such an obvious location,' the Primera added, for completeness.
'Exacta,' Findor agreed.
'What, math?' Lilinette said, in complete confusion.
'Who are you people?' Hisagi burst. 'The bloody comedy relief?'
Stark bit his lower lip and nodded.
'I am,' he said, 'indeed, a very funny man. Not in the sense of funny as amusing, more in the sense of strange and dangerous. And you are not running, Shinigami. This also makes you funny, in more than your absurd sense of self decoration.'
Hisagi's features twisted in rage, and he opened his mouth to protest, but his words were cut off; behind him, in the distance, debris exploded towards the sky.
'Madarame!' he breathed, in utter disbelief.
The shock of the fact that third seat of the 11th had allowed his tower to be destroyed was enough to completely do away with whatever remained of his focus; though his ranged weapon had kept the young Arrancar at bay, Hisagi had begun to feel some strain in his muscles – she was unspeakably fast, and radiated a tremendous amount of reiatsu. Yet, in spite of the fact that she had challenged his defenses continuously and from all directions, and of the fact that her newly arrived superior had a presence that was enough to terrify anyone, Hisagi had not felt intimidated. Not until now.
The vice-captain of the ninth firmly believed in the triumph of the good; his childhood brush with death and almost miraculous rescue had left him with a deep, innocent and somewhat simplistic confidence in the fact that the Universe conspired in favor of the just. It had, perhaps, been this very trait that had caught Kaname Tousen's attention, and earned Hisagi his vice-captain position.
Though it had been severely shaken after his captain painful betrayal, Hisagi's trust in the power of simply being just and kind had not died – he'd told himself that the wicked had not been rewarded, but simply that the ultimate victory of the good side had been delayed to this moment, to this one decisive battle. The battle they could not afford…could not lose.
But…
Madarame's tower had crumbled; the reiatsu of this Arrancar was so powerful, that it rendered him deaf to the rest of the battle – against the strangely shaped one, the one that came in the form of a child, he'd been unable to concentrate on anything but repelling attack after attack, growing increasingly more tired, but never being able to pass to the offensive. Not according to the plan, Hisagi thought, feeling an unpleasant knot in his stomach. Not like the plan at all.
'Well, that was fast!' Lilinette exclaimed. 'Is this good or bad?'
Hisagi turned around snappily, unable to discern if he had truly heard the question; in his turn, Findor, who'd not caught the phrase, frowned and painstakingly leaned forward.
'I can't tell,' Stark answered, in an as quiet as voice as his Fraccion's. 'Depends on how they will react to it.'
The Primera frowned. He had hastened the pace of the offensive precisely because he had been sure none of Barragan's Fracciones would achieve any measure of success, and because he had not wanted to allow the Shinigami any sort of morale boost. Nonetheless, he had not wanted them to feel desperately threatened either, as he understood all too well that once they realized the chance of losing actually existed, the Shinigami would either concentrate their forces, or withdraw to a more auspicious battle location. In the end, Stark had thought, Karakura Town meant as little to Yamamoto as it did to Aizen, and, if push came to shove, the Shinigami captain commander would not hesitate to abandon the humans to their fate.
On the other hand, even if the Gotei 13 chose to continue fighting to the bitter end in the human world, they would soon understand that, for however few in numbers, Aizen's creations were a force to be reckoned with. While the Shinigami had clearly underestimated the Arrancar's strength in the beginning, the loss of two captains and one of the towers would soon dispel the illusion, and, if they were not completely deprived of intelligence, they would begin concentrating forces. Which, in turn, would make the usage of non-lethal force increasingly difficult.
Still, Stark reasoned, questioningly glancing down at Lilinette, there was a third possibility – that the Gotei would seek to reinforce the towers, and not concentrate around Yamamoto; this, among all possible courses of action, would have suited Stark's intentions best. Three towers still stood, and the Shinigami would probably attempt to recover the ruins of the fourth. In that case, the remaining captains would spread out in manageable groups, and initiate their own battles, not only weakening themselves, but also leaving their commander open to attack.
Though he had not been party to Aizen's planning, Stark felt reasonably assured that Yamamoto would become the former Shinigami's target as soon as the opportunity arose. The Gotei 13 had always been heavily reliant on his leadership, for however poor and rigid. If Aizen succeeded in eliminating Yamamoto, he'd deal a severe blow to the Shinigami group, not only in terms of sheer strength, but also in terms of confidence.
The only thing that remained questionable was whether Aizen himself could take on the Captain Commander, yet, that worried Stark little. In fact, the Primera thought, the expression on his features twisting in a way which made Lilinette frown disapprovingly, in that aspect alone Aizen himself had little to worry about.
There, he'd have plenty of help.
After thoughtfully pursing her lips, the girl smirked and turned her glance to Hisagi.
'Hey! Yo!' she shouted, as if she had been trying to cover hundreds of yards. 'What ya reckon y'all are gonna do now?'
'What?' the Shinigami gasped; his sword hand slipped down to his side.
'Lilinette, I regret to tell you, but this is not the way of getting enemy intelligence,' Stark muttered.
'Why not?' the Fraccion frowned. 'If I wanna know something, I ask. Eh, so, Shinigami guy! What ya reckon your bosses are gonna do now that they see y'all are losing?'
Shaking his head as if the gesture had had the power of chasing away his crippling bewilderment, Hisagi stared at Stark. The Primera shrugged.
'Judging by the look on your face, you have no idea.' Stark said, dryly.
'This…' the Shinigami whispered, the word and the subsequent shake of his head escaping his volition. This was not meant to happen, he'd meant to say, and Stark had understood it all too well.
'No contingency plan,' Stark said dryly. 'You have no clue.'
'You fucking surprised?' Lilinette chuckled.
'Not really,' the Primera admitted. 'Alright,' he sighed, in surrender. 'We nonetheless need to assess their reaction. Go check it out, Lilinette.'
'You're hallo…halla…halcyonating.' She dryly refuted, her shoulders growing stiff. 'I mean, you're imagining things. I ain't leaving you.'
The man frowned, but he did little to change her determination.
'I ain't movin',' Lilinette repeated coldly; the two exchanged a long glance, the sudden air of seriousness on the young girl's features sending a chill down Hisagi's spine. 'Cuz I have a suspicion you're prone to doing stupid shit at the moment, and if I stay around, you're more likely to bloody think before ya do it. Ya got it?' she shot, in such a mature voice that, for a moment, the roles of the two Arrancar seemed reversed.
'I felt your Cero,' she hissed, in the way of an explanation, and Stark's frown grew deeper; in turn, Findor stirred. The odd body language and facial expressions of his two companions, whom he'd never seen as much as frowning at each other, as well as the fact that Hisagi, who clearly heard what Findor could not, looked more and more confused with each passing second. 'I ain't saying more.' Lilinette dryly concluded, casting a brief glance in Findor's direction, then aiming her burning, narrowed eyes at Stark.
'Did you also feel that Mira Rose is dead?' the Primera asked, regretting the words as soon as he had uttered them, but knowing that they would immediately distract her – they did. The Fraccion breathed in sharply, but controlled her exhalation, her reiatsu sweeping delicately outwards, then inwards; her hands began trembling, but remarkably, she did not cry.
Nonetheless, Hisagi could feel her energy dyeing down, her attention faltering and scattering, just as the other's grew more present, more poignant; for a brief second, in sheer amazement at the fact that a Hollow could radiate such tangible pain and fear, he allowed his sword arm to slip even lower. The brief moment was long enough, however, for him to regret the movement – the cold, wet and wide tentacles of the Primera's reiatsu slithered over him once more. Hisagi's arm jerked upwards, in a motion that he understood to be too slow, but he parried against thin air; instead, there was a dry thud as Findor's head connected to the wall behind, and another thud as Barragan's Fraccion slipped limply to the side, unconscious.
The next thing Hisagi felt was Kazeshini's chain being jerked from his hands, wrapping around his shoulders, then looping wildly over his head and around his neck. He barely had time to frown, and could do nothing more than look at the Lilinette in sheer disbelief – the chain passed from her hands to the Espada's, before the cold metal dug into his flesh, stealing his breath. He let go of the right hand blade, instinctively bringing his hand up to pull the chain loose; the Espada caught it before Hisagi's fingers had the chance to reach his neck. At the very same moment, he felt the Fraccion's tiny, but nonetheless sharp claws dig into his other wrist, burning, rather than cutting through his flesh. He opened his mouth, to shout, or gasp for air – he did not truly know, and it did not particularly matter – the blade slipped downwards, separating flesh from bone and severing the tendons; Hisagi could feel his fingers extend, despite his will, and, as Stark caught Kazeshini's left handle, the pressure on his neck and shoulders became torturously tight.
'Findor's out,' the Espada hissed, right in Hisagi's ear. 'Anything you'd like to tell me, Lilinette?'
The young girl smirked, but said nothing.
'Well?' Stark said. 'Anything you'd like to say? Along the lines of – I understand this is not a game, now? I understand that we are fucking Vasto Lorde, and they are fucking Shinigami, and that they will kill us, given the chance?'
'A game? To me?' she screamed. To Hisagi's ears, each sound felt like a stab. 'You're the one who's playing! Anyone will fucking see though that Cero, Gin saw though that Cero! What the fuck do you think you're doing? He will kill you given the reason, and I think if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll be giving him reason enough!'
'Me, not us,' Stark whispered. The words sounded like a caress. 'The rest of them will not be as discriminating. Or do you think differently? Shinigami?'
Hisagi had no strength but to gasp. It was perfectly all right; the question had not been addressed to him, and the Fraccion did not need him to speak the answer.
'Aizen won't move a finger against me while I am still useful,' Stark said. 'And I am very useful at the moment – Hitsugaya is dead, even if not by my hand, and I'll leave this one up to Findor, who is unlikely to be nicer than Gin was. But if he is, he'll be working in my favor as well.'
'How?' the girl inquired though gritted teeth.
'I will not tell you that,' the Primera responded. 'You need to trust me.'
'Why don't you bloody trust me for a change, ha?' she growled. The Arrancar's reiatsu writhed in pain, but the chain that painfully restrained Hisagi's breath did not loosen.
'Go see what they are up to, Lilinette,' Stark said, softly. It had not been a command; it had sounded more like a plea, and though her pretty features were crumpled into a mask of terrifying rage, she did not yet have sufficient power to refuse. 'Leave him to me.'
When Findor came back to his senses, amid the crumbled ruins of the tower, the first thing he saw was Hisagi Shuuhei, wrapped tightly in his own released shikai, and barely able to draw breath. Neither Lilinette nor Stark were anywhere in sight, and, had he been totally, exactly truthful to himself, Findor would not have been able to swear he remembered either of them ever being there.
Which was all for the best, Findor thought, dragging himself to his feet. He would have preferred to have done this all on his own, and he knew Barragan would have preferred the same.
Up next - Szayel Aporro is in a bit of a tight spot, and Tesla is looking for someone to adopt him.
(I would...)
