"Run for cover?"

Blood threw his head back and laughed, irritating Layne

"Now why would I do that? We didn't come all this way for nothing you know"

"Ichigo" Layne said quietly "Grab Jim and get out of here, these guys have done something to Joel… and I'm going to beat it out of them"

Ichigo was about to protest, but something stopped him… for the first time in his life he felt like he was dealing with himself and he understood what all of his friends must have felt every time he told them to hang back, so he said nothing and instead backed away

Hookhand attempted to give chase but was stopped by Layne diving in, quickly blocking any avenue he might have had to give chase

He quickly backed up and stood next to Blood,

He quickly backed up and stood next to Blood, staring down Layne as Layne stared back at the two of them coldly.

Layne glanced behind him and smirked, satisfied that Ichigo and Jim were out of range of what was to come

Slowly turning back, he began addressing Hookhand and Blood

"You wanted me? Well… I'll give you a little more than you bargained for"

Layne stepped forward, took a deep breath and cleared his mind, attempting to abandon his fear, anger and rage and letting everything else become nothing but purpose, and then, feeling a familiar power rise within him, he exhaled, and in that breath uttering a single word

"Bankai"

The air seemed to erupt around him as his power rapidly expanded and compressed, an unnatural effect characteristic of Layne's unusual nature and he stepped forward from the cloud left in his wake, his appearance changed, now sporting fingerless gloves that appeared to be made of glass, and filled with a clear water, additionally the armor extended from his elbows up to his shoulders, and around his feet like boots

Blood whistled dramatically

"Pretty cool, does it have any tricks?"

Layne ignored him and lifted his white blade, Oathkeeper to the Sky, and brought it down forwards

"Riptide Strike: Maelstrom"

The sky darkened as clouds immediately came into being from nowhere, and it began raining, where once the sky had been a perfect shade of blue it now shifted into black and unleashed it's payload heavily, noisily impacting the surrounding buildings, the ground, and anything else under its uncaring curtain in fierce defiance of all but the one who had called the storm into being.

Layne smirked, the rain falling heaviest over where he stood, but he didn't look soaked through at all, in stark opposition to Blood, Hookhand and the very surroundings

"Tricky enough for you?"


Renji, Moll and Rukia emerged in the sky above the lazy city of Karakura town, and immediately began scanning for signs of Layne

Moll held a hand up and pointed at a tremendous storm cloud, seemingly localized over the one area, even though the breeze was strong enough to be blowing her hair into her face that day

"Ten to one I can tell you where Layne is"


Back inside the rain, Layne had the upper hand versus Blood and Hookhand, and they had retreated slightly to regroup

"Well, are we confirmed or not?" Hookhand said urgently

Blood nodded "It's confirmed alright, now we just need to take him down"

Renji, Moll and Rukia came up behind them, surrounding them

"Or maybe we need to get out of here" Blood conceded "We need him alive, and we won't be able to get him like this"

"Get out of here!" Layne shouted at the three new arrivals "I can't account for any collateral damage!"

Taking advantage of his distraction, Blood and Hookhand ducked around a corner and began sprinting away, causing Layne, Moll, Renji and Rukia to give chase.

As they rounded the corner they saw Hookhand disappear into a Garganta, with Blood about to follow

Fuck Layne thought to himself If they both disappear into that thing, we'll never be able to find them, but there's no way I'll be able to get there fast enough… unless

Layne seemed to disappear from near Moll and reappeared next to Blood, swatting his blade out of his hand before Blood could blink

Layne's reiatsu had shifted, and it felt thicker, heavier and with a quantity that made Moll's hair stand on end, and she couldn't work out why, until she looked at his right hand, morphed into a claw, seeming to strain against Layne's Bankai glove

Involuntarily she glanced at his face and gasped, for he was now wearing a mask, one that resembled none other than the mask of a hollow, covering what would usually have been either a stern expression, but with dancing eyes, one deep green and the other brown, instead his iris' were an unnerving golden yellow, with blacks where whites once were

"Got you, you bastard" Layne said triumphantly, his voice altered by the transformation he had undergone

Despite herself Moll gasped, this wasn't the Layne she knew, the Layne she had known all her life, this was someone else, this was something else

Layne heard her gasp and was distracted for a millisecond, but it was all Blood needed, disregarding his zanpakuto he grabbed Layne, tackling them both into the Garganta, which closed shut behind them, making no sound but still leaving a resounding impact in the shocked figures of Moll, Renji and Rukia who had just witnessed their charge snatched from right under their noses.

Ironically, freed from Layne's influence, the ponderous storm cloud cleared up almost instantly, resuming the sunlight that had been shining down on Karakura town previously.

It felt wrong to Moll who knelt down in despair, certain that she would never see her friend ever again

Why should the sun come out, Why couldn't it rain forever?

Ichigo appeared from around the same corner they had turned around not even two minutes ago, an unconscious Jim in tow

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked in surprised "Where the hell is Layne?!"