"Jaegerjaquez!"

A folder slammed down next to the blue-haired man's head. He shot up, jolted awake. "What?" His eyes focused and he was able to make out Ulquiorra standing before his desk.

"The full autopsy. Granz is waiting to present his findings downstairs." The pale man began to walk towards the doors but paused. "I looked into those names you gave me."

"And?"

"And you need to leave them alone, Jaegerjaquez. All of them." He glanced over his shoulder disdainfully. "Including the one you neglected to mention, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Are you fuckin' crazy? They're not only our best lead but our only lead!"

"It's not a suggestion. It's an order. Don't question me about it again."

Grimmjow wanted to argue, but looking into Ulquiorra's cold, unnerving eyes for the first time rendered him speechless. Instead, he followed the other man to the elevator. He wondered what he had found out; he wasn't being told to back off for no reason.

The two of them stepped out of the elevator and into the morgue, where they were greeted by the pink-haired man. "How nice of you to join us, Agents."

"What'cha got, Doc?"

Szayel gestured a signal to follow him to the examination tables where the men were laid out. He pointed at one of the large holes, encircling it in the air. "Artificial epithelial tissue was found in both chest wounds. Difficult to trace, but it seems likely to be Kisuke Urahara's work."

"Epithelial tissue? Like… skin?" Grimmjow furrowed his brows in disbelief. "This freakshow is out there punchin' holes in people's chests?"

"I believe so, Agent. Unfortunately, any other trace evidence we may have uncovered was washed away by the rain. The only additional information I was able to glean from autopsy is that the men had no sign of further injury. It's likely they had no time to fight back or even react to the attack."

"Forensics said they both drew their weapon, but neither fired. So they probably saw him, but he was too fast for them to do anything," Grimmjow concluded. "Why kill 'em in the first place? If he was fast enough to finish 'em before they could fire, he was probably fast enough to just run away with the girl. Why even worry about them?"

"To leave no witnesses." Ulquiorra's voice was as monotonous as ever. "He is a wanted man, after all."

Peering out of the side of his vision, the blue-haired man studied his partner. He thought he'd sensed something from him, something he couldn't quite place. A part of him was screaming out a warning, an instinctual danger signal that made his every muscle tense up. He stood there, unsure if he should challenge Ulquiorra's logic or simply run as far from here as he could.

Szayel cleared his throat. "Well, that was all I have to share with you gentlemen, so unless you have further questions…"

Grimmjow shook from his reverie and broke into a mask of a grin. "We'll get outta your hair."

Upon returning to their office, he had a hard time concentrating on his work. He kept thinking about what he'd sensed. What was his partner hiding? He began to feel a sinking in his stomach, a cloud of uncertainty looming overhead. He decided to leave early; he wasn't getting anything done anyway. Still in a daze, he navigated the office floor without really seeing. He walked straight into a colleague. "Watch where you're fuckin' going," he snarled reflexively.

"Oh. It's you again." The man he had collided with looked up at him with disgust. It was Luppi.

Grimmjow groaned. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with you today, Princess. Can I get a rain check?"

"So intimidated by me already? Can you perhaps sense that I'm correct when I tell you I'll be the one to replace you?"

"Not a fuckin' chance."

"Can you really not see the writing on the walls? Have you deluded yourself into thinking that you have job security?" Luppi was given no answers. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, then. You are currently considered a liability. They're waiting for any slip-up to warrant giving the ultimate order." He licked his lips. "Your days are numbered, Jaegerjaquez, and I'm going to be the one there at the end when they finally run out." He patted the taller man on the shoulder and stepped around him.

Grimmjow watched with clenched fists as he walked away. "Fuck this," he growled, shaking his head. "Fuck all of this." He was going to get answers, Ulquoirra's threats be damned.

Grimmjow leaned over the front desk, displaying his badge for the secretary. "Hueco Mundo Intelligence. I'm lookin' for a uh… Dr. Uryuu Ishida?"

"Dr. Ishida is a resident here, but it's quite late and he's busy in the ER tonight. Can I take a message?"

"I need to talk to 'im. Tell him it's about his missing friend."

"Well, I can certainly try to get ahold of him for you, but—"

"I'll wait."

"There's no need for that." A doctor with white hair and thin glasses stepped out from an office near the front desk. "You are looking for Uryuu, correct?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

"The director of this hospital… and his father. I will take you to him so you can ask your questions and leave."

Grimmjow shrugged. "After you, I guess."

The hospital director briskly steered through several winding hallways and into a secluded breakroom, where the younger Ishida sat eating a small meal. He cleared his throat. "Uryuu. Someone from Hueco Mundo Intelligence is here to speak with you. Do not embarrass me." He stepped out of earshot and leaned against a doorframe with intimidating authority.

Grimmjow sat down at the table across from Uryuu. "You hear from Ichigo already, too?"

The man didn't look up from his food. "I am aware of the circumstances."

"You got anything you wanna tell me about it?"

"Can't say that I do."

"What about your friend Chad? Ya know what's happened to 'im?"

"I don't know what you're referring to."

"Have you seen him lately? His arms are more than a li'l weird. Thought Kuchiki was gonna drop dead when she got a good look."

Uryuu adjusted his glasses. "He showed you, did he?"

"He was tryin'a scare me off."

"It doesn't seem to have worked."

"And why do ya think that might be, Ishida?" The blue-haired man leaned in, mouth snarling to bare pointed teeth.

"Orihime's disappearance isn't all that Ichigo and I discussed." His gaze was cutting; he wasn't intimidated. "He also told me—"

Grimmjow's phone began to ring in his pocket. It was Ulquiorra. "Fuck." He answered.

"Did you not think I would be keeping eyes on them?" The voice incited a panic that gripped Grimmjow's chest. "Or on you, for that matter?"

"What's the deal with these kids, Cifer? I can't even talk to 'em?"

"It is none of your concern any longer, Grimmjow. This was your last misjudgment. Goodnight."

He stared at the screen; the call was over. He scrambled to his feet, knocking over the chair in his haste. "I gotta go."

"Don't leave on my account, Agent." Uryuu regarded the other man with an arched brow. "We were just starting to get somewhere with this conversation."

"Listen, fuck you, kid. I know you and your friends are hidin' something, and I have a pretty good idea of what it is. Consider yourself lucky that I have bigger fish to fry tonight. I'll be back eventually. I'm not gonna let this go."

"I'll be waiting."

Grimmjow's hand twitched as he suppressed the urge to relocate the insufferable doctor's glasses to the inside of his skull. He charged the entryway where the man's father still waited.

The older man pointed toward two large receiving doors. "The closest exit is that way. Do keep whatever trouble you've found for yourself out of my hospital."

Throwing open the doors, he found himself in an ambulance bay. He didn't know how to get back to the garage he had parked in but figured it wasn't the smart play to drive anyway. His car was fast and loud, in an ostentatious coral blue that was immediately recognizable as his. Instead, he skirted around the building to the rear, looking for a back alley to slip into.

Finding one, he effortlessly scaled the chain-link fence barricading it. He landed light on his feet and took off, running as fast as he could and picking forks in his path arbitrarily. He didn't know who Ulquiorra had assigned to watch him or how close behind they were. The best he could hope for was to confuse them enough to slip away from their pursuit. He turned a corner and started to vault another, shorter gate when something caught his ankle. He fell over it headfirst, face cracking on the pavement. He tasted blood.

"Sorry about that. I was getting tired of chasing after you, you see."

He recognized the voice from the way it made his hair stand on end. "Luppi." The grip on his leg twisted violently, flipping him onto his back. He could see now it was a chain whip that had tripped him up.

"Ding ding ding!" The man was smiling, a hellish grin that turned Grimmjow's stomach. "I told you I'd be the one here at the end, didn't I? I must say, though, I didn't expect it to come so soon."

"And I already told you..." Grimmjow kicked hard with his unrestrained foot, striking Luppi in the shoulder. This stunned the man, loosening the chain's grip enough to escape. He pulled his legs down from atop the gate and deftly executed a kip-up. He flicked his hands, releasing titanium claws through the tips of his fingers. "You don't have a fuckin' chance, you bastard."

The smaller man pulled his chain taught between his hands and snapped it several times. "I think it'll be fun to knock you off your high horse, Jaegerjaquez. I've been looking forward to this."

Grimmjow launched himself at Luppi, clearing the gate with ease and knocking him to the ground. He pressed his hand against the slender throat to pin him down. "Why'd Ulquiorra send a rat like you to do his dirty work? He's gotta know that unaugmented, you're no match for me." Metal pressed against his abdomen, and his eyes widened. He rolled forward and skidded across the pavement, claws digging in to slow him down.

"He didn't send me unprepared!" Luppi stood up slowly, brandishing the handgun Grimmjow had felt. "You know what this is, don't you?"

"He gave you Hierro-piercing bullets… He's really pissed about these kids, huh?" Shots rang out, flying towards him as he leapt to his feet. He began to scale the buildings they stood between, jumping from wall to wall to get onto a roof where he'd be out of Luppi's line of sight. Before he could make it to the top, however, a bullet blew out his knee and his grip faltered. He sunk his claws into the brick, but another shot pierced his shoulder. "Fuck!" He scraped down the side of the building.

"You underestimated me, Jaegerjaquez." Luppi was wielding his chain in the hand opposite the gun. "That's the problem with guys like you. You think you're untouchable. Lucky for you, I'm here to put you in your place!" His whip cracked and wound tight around Grimmjow's forearm. "I hope you enjoyed being Sexta Espada, because I'm going to tear that title from you myself!"

Grimmjow dug at the binding, but Luppi only tightened its grip. "Like hell am I gonna die to someone like you!" He wrapped his hand over the chain and pulled, dragging the smaller man to him. He threw him into the wall, once again pinning him by the throat. He was sure to also restrain the gun. "Won't fall for that one twice, Princess."

"How… about… this one?" Luppi choked out. He pressed a button on the handle of the whip, and barbs emerged from the chain that burrowed into Grimmjow's skin. The gambit gave him enough leeway to duck out of his grasp and get behind him. He shot him again in the thigh, sending the man to his knees. Luppi placed a foot between his shoulder blades and jerked the whip towards himself.

There was a pop as Grimmjow's shoulder dislocated. "You fucking bastard! I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!" The contortion of his arm hadn't stopped, and he could feel it beginning to split where the bullet had already damaged his toughened skin. Slowly at first, then all at once, his arm tore from his body. He screamed, collapsing in a heap.

"Smile for me, Jaegerjaquez." Luppi had his phone out, presumably to snap a picture of his handiwork. "I'm sorry it had to go this way. You were just the weakest link." He stepped over his victim's crumpled body and walked out of sight.

The man lay broken for a few minutes, listening as the footsteps gradually became quieter. When he didn't hear them anymore, he rolled onto his back and managed to wrest his phone from the pocket of his jeans. He opened the list of recent calls and dialed one. "Ichigo?" He slurred into the phone.

"Grimmjow?"

"You were right. I was ready to just roll over and die. I didn't think there was any avoidin' it. But I just got a taste, and…"

"A taste of what? Are you okay?"

"I wanna fight, Ichigo. I don't wanna die. I won't let them kill me."

"What happened, Grimmjow?" The redhead pressed.

"Crossed one line too many, apparently. Asshole ripped my arm off… I'm losing a lot of blood."

"Where are you?" His tone had become serious, urgent.

"I dunno anymore…" He tapped the screen a few times. "I sent you my GPS location."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Lookin' forward to it… kid…" He closed his eyes and passed out. When he came to, two pairs of hands were loading him into the backseat of an unfamiliar car. He saw a flash of orange. "Ichigo…"

A hand gripping his shoulder squeezed gently. "I'm right here."

"I wasn't sure you'd actually come." He was laid on his back, feet on the floor and head resting in the smaller man's lap. He felt dimly like he was floating.

"If I let you die, how would I kick your ass for talking to my friends after I told you not to?" Ichigo reached with his other hand to wipe blood out of Grimmjow's eye. "Besides, it's really Yoruichi you should thank. She's the one with the car."

"Yo… Yoruichi?" He struggled to turn his head towards the driver. He squinted at long, dark hair, then a glimmer of golden irises. He could've sworn they were the eyes of a cat. "Yoruichi Shihouin?"

Ichigo shushed him. "It's okay, Grimm. You're safe with us, I promise. Things aren't the way you think they are. But don't worry about that right now. There'll be time to explain later, tonight you just gotta survive." He stopped talking for a moment, perhaps because the other man's eyelids had drooped. "Hey. Grimm! You hear that?" He patted his face. "You're not gonna die on me, alright?"

Without opening his eyes, Grimmjow chuckled. "Grimm, huh? That's real cute, kid."

"Shut the hell up, idiot." The harsh words didn't match the soft tone.

He continued drifting in and out of consciousness, catching snippets of conversation and flashes of street lights in the window. You remembered to destroy his phone, right? Do I look like a fucking moron? Of course I did! Are you sure he'll still be on our side when he wakes up? They did this to him, Yo. He knows he can't go back to them now. Are you okay? Yeah, I just… He looks bad... What if he can't save him? You just have to trust in him. In both of them.

They stopped moving, and suddenly he was being lifted out of the backseat and onto a gurney. A scruffy blonde man in a striped bucket hat peered over him. "Well, that's no good." He stepped out of Grimmjow's fading vision. "Ichigo, why do you always have to bring the worst cases to me?"

"Where else was I supposed to bring him?"

"Oh, I don't know, you're only a med student working for your father's clinic, friends with a resident at a local hospital."

"He's one of Aizen's. Already enhanced. A regular doctor isn't gonna cut it."

The man was back at his bedside, a crooked smile on his face. "My, my, that certainly changes things, doesn't it? You're in good hands here, Mr. Blue. Don't you worry about a thing."