So I got a review the first hour of this story being up, which made me feel good. Thanks Maiahini. I'm excited about doing this too, so I hope we both end up liking the outcome ^^

I want to focus more on Ulquiorra, so if everyone was like "OMG why did Orihime just walk off to never be seen again? THIS IS ULQUIHIME! GET IT RIGHT!" –I'm telling it slightly from Ulq's view. Not entirely, though, since the prime trait Ulquiorra has is being unreadable. I will lead you through his logic, but there will be blank spots where I hope you can use your imagination.

For now, Orihime is still just an 'interesting human' to Ulquiorra, and hasn't registered as something more yet.

I don't own Bleach or the characters. Tite Kubo does. *long depressed sigh* T-T

Chapter Two: Unfavorable Odds

Piercing green eyes scanned the blank horizon before landing on a small body out near an arrangement of rubble. There, Ulquiorra found the fallen form of Nel, the former 3rd Espada. Despite her child-like appearance and case of amnesia, she was yet another desirable associate that could accompany him to the human world along with Grimmjow. The 6th Espada eyed the sleeping child and scoffed.

"Why the hell are you helping her?" Grimmjow asked as Ulquiorra scooped Nel up with a swift movement of his arm. It was something between elegant and gentle, both making Grimmjow tempted to puke.

"She is stronger than you. I suggest you give her more respect." He spoke quietly and moved on.

Ulquiorra was amazed with how empty Las Noches felt. There were no other survivors besides the two he had collected. The rest were just lowly hollow.

"Says the one carrying her like she's a rat," Grimmjow pointed out the way Ulquiorra held Nel by the back of her clothes. But Ulquiorra soon justified his reasons by shoving Nel into Grimmjow's hands. Slobber and vomit smeared on the child Arrancar's face made contact with one of the 6th Espada's chest wounds. He hissed with disgust and pain and held her away from him, nose scrunched up.

"Fuckin brat…" he muttered, but noted a slight relief tingling through his wound. Despite the nasty fact that it was her vomit/slobber, it was somehow healing his cut. Ulquiorra seemed to notice but moved on as planned.

He swiftly entered one of the many treating rooms, taking Nel and laying her down on a bland white couch. Ulquiorra turned and opened his mouth to call for one of the servant hollows to come and wrap Grimmjow's wounds; however one scurried to him before he had to speak. It was apparently hiding ever since Aizen left for the human world, thinking no other Espada were present. Ulquiorra stepped back and watched as Grimmjow was ushered towards a chair and treated. All the while, the 6th Espada complained and scoffed, his pride damaged. This seemed like an opportune time to speak of plans.

"We're going to help Kurosaki."

Grimmjow snapped his head to look at Ulquiorra, and the tension in the room seemed to double. The servant shrunk in comparison.

"What the hell? What did that shinigami do to you that made you suddenly his bitch?" For once, Grimmjow's voice was low and quieter. It was as if Ulquiorra got him past surprise and shouting to the point that he was literally close to being speechless. Ulquiorra sighed and closed his eyes.

"We no longer need to serve Aizen-sama. We're the last left." Ulquiorra gave his bit of reasoning, but Grimmjow just scoffed as his chest was tended to.

"That's no reason to back down and kiss the shinigami's asses. I'd kill all of them myself. Who needs the other Espada?"

Ulquiorra wasn't too sure of himself. In fact, he had no idea why he was doing this. But, the feeling was familiar to when he was forced to improvise on missions that were difficult. The logic felt the same—it was the usual 'This won't work, so I'll do this instead'. However, this was a little more severe. To aid the enemy...Ulquiorra needed more convincing. The fact that he still despised Ichigo didn't support the conclusion of his decision to aid the shinigami.

So what had done it? Furious that this desire to go against protocol was still full of foreign logic, Ulquiorra dismissed his thoughts for later. He went back to thinking more on a tactical side—a task which also involved earning Grimmjow's allegiance.

"If we don't help Kurosaki now, he'll die before you can ever repay him for sparing you."

That seemed to strike a nerve.

"Shut the hell up. He didn't spare me, I spared him! And like hell I'm going to repay him! Besides, you're here too. I bet he went real easy on you."

Ulquiorra opened his eyes again. "Kurosaki did not spare me. His inner hollow was quite direct in its approach towards those it deemed as its enemy."

Grimmjow eyed Ulquiorra with a vague curiosity, then huffed and looked away like a child. He was thankful that Grimmjow's pride stopped him from asking too many questions. It was a defeat he was still trying to grip on himself, despite the fact that he openly 'accepted' it as the shinigami pounded him into the ground. Looking back, he regretted not just causing his lance to explode as soon as the hollow Ichigo flash stepped in front of him. It would have blown him up too, but he had faith in his regeneration abilities. After a small pause, Grimmjow sighed.

"Whatever. I never liked Aizen or you, but Aizen is worse than you. Fuckin' Shinigami ordering us Hollows around." Grimmjow hissed, firing himself up for the confrontation by making himself loathe his newly chosen target—a naïve way to think of a mission, but it was enough for Ulquiorra. The servant hollow quickly finished their job and scurried away for its life.

"I'll kill Aizen, sure. But you aren't gonna get in my way. I'll go right for those Soul society brats as soon as I'm through."

Ulquiorra was constantly astounded with how blunt and idiotic Grimmjow could be sometimes. Did he truly believe he could defeat Aizen on his own? The 4th knew he didn't stand a chance alone. However, the surprise and ace of a second release could possibly keep him alive against Aizen just a few seconds longer than the others. But that wasn't enough.

"As you wish," Ulquiorra said with an offhand tone. He glanced over at Nel, noticing that their voices seemed to be waking her slowly. Childish teal orbs blinked and looked up at him. Hopefully she wouldn't stay like a child forever.

Now that both his allies were at least somewhat useful—Nel being able to still swallow up a good cero or two in her child form—Ulquiorra glanced towards the window to his right, eyes focusing past the sky. They had to hurry. Aizen is the type to take his time, but they still needed to be there before he decided to make his move.

Unfortunately due to the loss of the majority of Espada, Ulquiorra knew he'd have to literally team up with the Shinigami in order to stand a chance of surviving. Three Espada working separately wouldn't work at all, and even if Grimmjow decided to be tolerant and Nel managed to turn into her released form without forgetting why she was there, the chances were still very slim.

The 4th Espada wasn't used to being thrown into a situation where the odds of him winning or surviving weren't high. Even during his battle with Ichigo as a hollow, he believed that since he was able to officially kill him 2 times that he'd somehow pull off a third and final. However, this was the first situation that he knew without a doubt that he'd lose without outside help.

The fact that his dulled tactical senses were now being asked for use was even worse. He hadn't been required to think this intensely about an oncoming confrontation for a long time. In fact, Aizen usually just fed him his plan and he followed willingly. Any thoughts he had on how to do the mission more efficiently was occasionally allowed and brought him up to being one of Aizen's 'favorites', however Ulquiorra shunned his ability to think for himself and branch off of Aizen's orders. To him—in his early days of being in the Espada—it was a sign that he wasn't loyal.

Even though Aizen created each Espada with the ability to think for themselves, to do so felt wrong. It was as if Aizen was expecting them to have inner conflict between who to follow, and the test was to create a self-established sense of loyalty to him for those that chose him. In a way, Aizen had changed them into believing that they decided themselves to believe and be loyal to him…but in reality, it was hardly a choice. Those who disobeyed were never seen again. They were banished out of Las Noches without hesitation.

"Oi, are you done?" Grimmjow snapped, annoyed that Ulquiorra was being so quiet and unfocused. Whatever happened had the 4th thinking a little too much.

Ulquiorra glanced back at the blue-haired Espada and then walked out of the room.

Nel leaped off of the couch she was on, now fully conscious and aware…well, for her child form. She scurried after Ulquiorra. Grimmjow sat there for a moment before realizing that the 4th Espada was going to leave without him. Gruffly, he stomped out of the room and joined the younger.

"So, are we just gonna appear outta a gargantua and scare the shit out of Aizen, or do you have some better plan?"

"We'll have to wait until he's entirely focused on Kurosaki. Aizen-sama takes a long time to even slightly lower his guard, and he'll only do it for about half a second. We have to be there and ready to take that chance. But we must also be undetected. Meaning…"

Ulquiorra glanced down at Nel, who looked back up with big shimmery eyes. The 4th Espada refused to think little of her, but it was getting increasingly hard not to.

"You will go into the human world first. You're less threatening to the shinigami and small enough to stay undetected." Ulquiorra had his doubts that Nel—this child—could successfully spot Aizen's weakest point. She was not the brightest or sharpest. If only Stark was still alive…

"Awight!" was the only feedback Nel provided, which did little to ease the concern over her ability to gather enough information. Ulquiorra stopped where he was standing and Sonido-ed, giving no warning as the surrounding white walls blurred from his view. Then, the darkness of Szyael's lab greeted his eyes. He stopped and glanced around, eyes searching through the organized clutter of the deceased scientists' room.

He had been working on a new way to communicate, similar with the butterfly that the shinigami used. Only, it resembled some sort of parasite-like bug. It was probably a lesser hollow that was altered into being a mindless device, since it appeared to have a set of eyes and a mouth. Also, occasionally the long boney legs and pinchers would twitch. Regrettably, Ulquiorra had to carry two of them.

Grimmjow and Nel were in the same place he was when he flash-stepped away, though Grimmjow looked half ready to follow. He wasn't expecting Ulquiorra to return so quickly. The 4th threw one of the bug-hollow devices into Grimmjow's arms. He promptly cursed and tried to drop it, however the creature clung to his forearm with defiance.

"What the hell is this? Get it off me!" Grimmjow pulled at the creature with his free hand, but his efforts were in vain.

"It's a way to communicate. Nel will have the other."

Nel happily took the other device and stared at it like it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. The creature crawled up to hoist itself on her small shoulder, which threw Nel into a bout of giggles.

"Use it to tell Grimmjow and I when to attack."

"Hmph! Why can't you hold it?"

"Because it's trash," Ulquiorra mumbled "and it's stuck to your arm."

Grimmjow was suddenly having second doubts on whether or not Ulquiorra had changed.

"Nel, you will contact us the moment you believe Aizen is most vulnerable. Then, release directly into your Resurrección. Grimmjow and I will follow." Back to business, the 4th was truly a strict Espada.

The small child nodded once, and even Grimmjow took a deep breath as the small child climbed through the portal to the human world. She disappeared, leaving the two male Espada in the blank white castle. Grimmjow turned and urged a smirk to reform on his lips.

"So…knowing you, you've got a plan for us two to follow."

Ulquiorra nodded solemnly. Grimmjow smacked his hands together; one formed as a fist, and cracked his knuckles with enthusiasm.

"Bring it on!"

Ulquiorra was tempted to smirk, but held back the expressions for when this entire ordeal was over with. His green eyes flickered for a moment before hardening.

"We need to separate Aizen from the Hōgyoku."

It was the quiet before the storm. Even as a small tear in the sky formed, the surrounding area was hardly shaken out of its trance.

Out popped Nel—the gargantua she traveled from closing quickly behind her. She landed on her backside with a flourishing 'oomph!' and then darted her wide eyes around. She scurried to hide behind the shadow of a considerably large building, which was partially collapsed. The fight had only just begun.

Out in the center of the sky—the shinigami keeping their distance as a girl was stabbed by a captain with white hair. Both were slain so easily and thrown aside—no doubt tricked into hurting each other. Nel trembled, and so did the device clinging desperately to her shoulder.

Aizen truly was a formidable figure.

Phew. Ok, so I lied. This was a pretty short chappie too. My deepest apologies~ I worked really hard to give a good piece of Ulquiorra's logic and thoughts on this entire thing, so bear with me if it seems completely off to you. I worked uberly hard D; Anyways, the plot will be changing from here on out. It will be roughly based on the Manga, so the scenes coming up will be following my own plot. Orihime will hopefulyl show up in the next LONGER chapter, but that all depends on how much I can squeeze out of me before giving up and ending the chapter where ever.

Please review D:

Ulqy-chan~