A/N: Just so nobody's confused, the beginning of this chapter takes place at the same time as the majority of the last chapter. This is what happened when Shinji and the Visoreds invaded Los Noches. Enjoy, minna! ;3

Chapter 7 - Rescue?

Arriving in Hueco Mundo proved to be the easy part. Shinji gestured as they touched down and Kensei, Love and Rose spread out to flank him. The foursome took off into the desert towards the somewhat damaged and inverted silhouette of Los Noches in silence. Just as the shape filled their vision Kensei was knocked off of his feet. He spun back, both feet tangled in a cord with heavy spheres on the ends, with a grunt, and landed in the sand. This pulled the other three up short.

"Kensei!" Shinji called.

Then Love cried out and when the blonde leader whipped around he saw the black man caught in the same kind of rope around his chest.

"Love!" Torn between the two, Shinji didn't know which to help first.

A voice echoed out over the wasteland, "My, my, Hirako Shinji. I should have expected a tainted soul like you and your pack would sympathize with the filth in my labs."

"Kurotsuchi! Yer behind this?!" The blonde Visored leader growled, spinning back towards the castle.

Standing on a dune just before them were the vice-captain and third seat of the Twelfth Division. Nemu was down on one knee with a bazooka type weapon on her shoulder that was faintly smoking, and Akon carried a black kido-style box with faintly glowing purple edges. Both looked impassive with a touch of regret.

"Yer s'posed ta be dead! All of ya went through the Garganta from Soul Society. I watched yer trackers disappear without emergin' here." Shinji glared. He did not like to be deceived, especially now.

The voice of Mayuri Kurotsuchi laughed mirthlessly from wherever it was being projected. "Of course they did. I instructed my faithful followers to discard them as soon as I was certain the rip had closed behind us. Central 46 is weak, and too guilt ridden to truly see things as they are. Aizen's experiment was delightfully organized. Did you know, Hirako-san, that all Hollows have the potential for breeding? That the disgusting creatures have been doing so for centuries?! Their filthy offspring crawl all over the desert, having never been a real soul. Just bits and pieces of reishi meshed together into the form of a new being. It's fascinating."

"That's why you've locked yourself up here? To study Hollow breeding patterns?" The slow tones of the only other standing Visored entered the conversation, as Rose let his hand drift ever so slightly towards his blade.

"No, no. That was merely a delightful side-effect of my presence here. Though captivating information, my purpose here is entirely different." He seemed to know that Shinji planned to say something because he immediately followed that with, "Now, don't go asking questions. You'll see soon enough what I've been able to accomplish. Akon!"

The third seat almost looked apologetic as he tossed the box up into the air. The kido sides exploded with an ear-splitting scream and a green-skinned, female humanoid with four arms dove on insectoid wings at Shinji. She screamed a second time, the parts of her tongue vibrating between fangs that dripped. She was dressed in leather hot pants and bustier with a thick metal collar around her neck, and held a double-bladed scythe in each hand, all four poised to slice the pack leader's head off as soon as she was in range. Seeing this was her objective Rose jumped in the way, his sword drawn to catch the scythes.

The insect-woman screamed again as the pair tumbled through the sand with her momentum. She sprang back, chittering, gathering her strength in legs that did not end in feet, but in rounded stumps with wicked looking spikes jutting back from where her calves curved. The wind whipped her long silvery-green hair, and she glared with faceted glowing sunset colored eyes that had no pupil or sclera. She made a raspy chattering noise that sounded somewhere between a cricket's chirp and the tail of a rattlesnake. Then she launched herself at Rose again, swinging her scythes violently.

Again the wavy blonde Visored caught her blades with his own. Seeing Shinji tense from the corner of his eye, he yelled, "Get Love and Kensei and take those two down! I can handle her."

The pack leader hesitated a moment more, then dove toward Love as Nemu fired her bazooka again. The bollo spun over his head to land heavily in the sand just beyond where he had been moments before. He noted that she had to take time to reload the weapon, and took advantage of that reprieve to use Sakanade to slice through the ropes binding the black Visored's arms. Across the dune from the pair, Kensei had freed his feet from his restraints and was in the process of attacking Akon, who had flash stepped between the white-haired Visored and his vice-captain. This left Nemu's other side open, and as she lined up to take a shot at Rose, both Shinji and Love tackled her.

The bazooka fired again when it hit the sands, but it caught the attacking insect around her torso, slamming her into the ground. Her collar snapped in several pieces at the force of the impact and she went still. If Rose was surprised he didn't show it, but he did pick himself up from where he'd been knocked down by one of her scythes against his shoulder. The wound was bleeding but wasn't serious. He stepped up to the captured insect and contemplated her unconscious form.

Shinji grasped Nemu around the waist, and Love had her legs. The dark-haired woman blinked down at them as though she was processing the fact that she'd been attacked while they flew through the air. Neither Visored noticed when she twisted her foot to bring her lower leg through Love's grip and strike Shinji in the side. He gasped and fell back from her, which gave the android the freedom to take Love down and pin him when they landed. She quickly wrapped the black man's arms in a binding kido and removed his Zanpakutou.

She was in the process of breaking the blade when Kensei and Akon crashed into her, both with dagger-style Zanpakutou. The scientist had a grip on Kensei's shirt trying to pull him closer to where his sword arm was being held back from stabbing the white-haired Visored in the gut. Kensei's blade pressed against Akon's throat, and his hand on the scientist's arm was bruising in its attempt to save his mid-section. They tumbled over the vice-captain and only slamming the scientist against a convenient crystal tree saved Kensei from the worst of the damage of the impact. But even as his opponent fell into unconsciousness, the blade of the other dagger sliced through the soft flesh of his stomach. Again it wasn't a deep slice, but it hurt like a bitch and was bleeding pretty badly.

Nemu had been thrown for a loop, but was back on her feet and diving at Kensei when Shinji deflected her drill-like hand. She still looked apathetic but the Visored leader snarled at her. "Why are you doing this!?"

"Father has instructed me to detain you. He will remove your taint. It is why we are here." She answered in monotone.

Shinji shook his head as they clashed hand versus blade. The idea that his Hollow could be removed was tempting, but after a hundred and five years with the bastard he'd grown rather fond of it. Besides, knowing Kurotsuchi, the scientist bastard would make the whole process as painful and drawn out as possible. So, thanks but no thanks, as far as Shinji was concerned, and if he wasn't willing to do it, he wasn't about to let any of his packmates go through it. Things were going fairly well for the half-Hollows, and until Mayuri had loused it up, the Soul Society and the Living World had been experiencing a kind of peace that hadn't been enjoyed in over two centuries.

"AUGH!" He yelled in her face, shoving the vice-captain against another of the skeletal trees sticking out of the sands. He had Sakanade pressing her drill-hand against her chest so the spinning point was aimed up over her shoulder.

She brought her other hand around to grab his neck and drove her knee into the same side she'd assaulted before. He gasped in pain and buckled. In her new freedom Nemu reversed their positions, causing a branch of the tree to slice through Shinji's sword shoulder because of their height difference. Dropping Sakanade, he grabbed her kimono near the waist and pulled her closer; too close to effectively use her drill. As was typical she did not have her Zanpakutou with her, and so once her hand was entangled in the tree she was disarmed. Shinji ignored the tearing of his shoulder to duck out and around the slim vice-captain, his other hand gripping her other wrist. He pushed her into the tree further, pinning her non-spinning hand up behind her back. It wasn't typical hakudo but surviving a hundred years in the Living World had taught the Visoreds some street fighting techniques.

The second her flesh touched the tree, Nemu realized why the blonde Visored captain had grabbed her kimono. He used his body weight to keep her pressed against the tree, and lashed her obi to tie her there with her arm pinned up and behind her back. Due to the tangle of crystal-like branches her drill was stuck, even when she stopped spinning it. She tried to kick behind her but that brought rough stone-like bark against a few very sensitive places.

He stood back with a piano-tooth grin. "I'm certain yer father will be 'round to set ya free before we leave, but in case he doesn't, Kurotsuchi Nemu yer under arrest fer treason against the Soul Society. Now hang tight, an' we'll be back in a bit." He walked off to check on his teammates.

Kensei had knocked Akon out by slamming the scientist in the face with his own, and subsequently had three slices in his forehead where the third seat's horns had cut him open. His stomach was sliced, and he had numerous bruises. Love was virtually unharmed, though his back would sport a bruise from where he'd landed on one of the balls of the bollo Nemu used to tie him up the second time. Rose had the most shallow cuts from what the insect-woman had done between her scythes and the sharp hooks on her legs, but also had a slice in his shoulder, similar to Shinji's, and, of course, bruises.

"Alright, let's move before Kurotsuchi comes up with somethin' else ta throw at us." Shinji grabbed Sakanade from the ground with a mental apology, and sheathed it. Then he set off to cross the distance left between them and Los Noches at a flash step. The other three followed immediately.

None of Visoreds noticed the insect-woman glaring at them with intelligence in her previously wild eyes. A Hollow lizard that looked like a gecko with a skull mask crawled into her peripheral vision and her top right hand snapped out to grab the creature, similar hooks on her forearm slicing through the ropes of the bollo. She ripped the lizard's head and torso off with one bite, and continued to glare at the retreating Visoreds. Her wings fluttered as they settled against her back, and she pushed herself up with both left hands. She ate the other half of the lizard in a second single bite, and climbed to her feet, fluttering her wings again.

Within the stone walls of Los Noches, locked in shackles that were the only thing keeping him falling over onto his face, the unconscious form of Nnoitra shuddered. His once luminous long hair was tangled and matted, dried blood smeared across his face and his already lithe body was gaunt and pocked with hollows where the flesh had sunk between his bones. Next to him on the wall, Grimmjow wasn't much better, though instead of unconscious he was still locked deep within his mindscape, still pressing against the infernal barrier that kept him from reaching his mate. To the outside world, both looked almost dead. On the table Starrk burned up in fever, the gash across his middle green and purple, swollen with infection. Along the opposite wall, Halibel hung next to Yylfordt, their injuries seemingly nothing in comparison to the other three. Though the female was beginning to show the same wasting away that the Quinto, the Sexta and the Primera were displaying. On the floor, Tesla clung to Yylfordt's foot, at the very end of his chain. He was attached to the cage that contained Nel, and but for the longing in his posture, he was mostly unharmed, sporting only a few bruises. The green-haired woman was pressed against the side of the cage closest to Nnoitra, though she had no hope of touching her Alpha from there. Other than the small distortion in her middle that showed where their cub grew, she was just as thin as the others. Without Nnoitra's reiatsu feeding the fetus, Nel was forced to feed it herself, which was starving her. Szayel took all of this in from his hiding spot. He didn't come out much now that his reiatsu was starting to be depleted from his own infections. The entire room was silent, the atmosphere heavy with despair and resignation.

At that moment the wall between Szayel and Nnoitra exploded and light flooded the dingy room. Those that were awake froze and stared at the intrusion. Framed in the artificial sunlight of the external parts of Los Noches were the Visoreds.

"Holy shit." Shinji swore, taking in the scene before him.

"Wh-who are you?" Szayel croaked from his now exposed corner.

Kensei, already with his mask on from having helped Love bust out the wall, crossed the room ignoring the pink-haired form. He didn't care who anybody was, his inner Hollow told him that these were brothers and sisters and that was all he needed to know. Love joined him and together the two of them slammed into the shackles holding Halibel against the wall. The white-haired Visored caught her.

"Can you stand?" He asked, his voice distorted. She nodded, her jaw painful to move from healing wrong. Setting her down, he and Love moved on to Yylfordt. The blonde nodded his thanks, and joined them in freeing his fellows, beginning with Tesla, who leapt into his arms crying.

Shinji, supporting Szayel, asked, "Yer mate I'm guessing?"

"Yes. And that is my brother. Who are you?" Yylfordt echoed the Octava's question.

"Friends." Was all the blonde pack leader would say. They didn't have time. He knew the broken wall would set off alarms, and after facing that insect from earlier, the Visoreds had no desire to hang around finding out what other toys Mayuri had cooked up.

Yylfordt nodded skeptically, but set Tesla next to his brother so he could join the two Visoreds attacking Nel's cage. With his added strength, even not being in resurrection form, they shattered the bars easily. The green-haired woman hobbled, using a long piece of the cage as a crutch for her missing foot, over to Nnoitra. She nuzzled him, but he didn't react. Her hazel eyes filled with tears.

"I can't reach him." She whimpered, looking from Alpha to Alpha in the room.

Rose placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder. "They're coming." He intoned, concern on his face.

"Right. Stay with these two." The pack leader pulled on his mask and joined the three. Love and Yylfordt tore Nnoitra's chains from the wall; Shinj and Kensei did the same with Grimmjow's. "Rose an' blonde girl, help the one with no foot. Pinky lean on blonde Beta boy. Uh, Love, can ya handle stick man on yer own? Somebody's gotta get the corpse on the table."

Yylfordt stepped up after the black Visored nodded, and picked Starrk up from the table. "Let's go."

As they made their way across the bright sands towards the break in the wall, they almost thought they were going to make it. Until a shadow crossed over head. They didn't look up but couldn't move any faster with their burdens. So they were easy pickings when the shadow swooped down and knocked Yylfordt off his feet, snatching Starrk away from the blonde fraccion. Halibel growled, but weighed down with Nel she couldn't do anything. Kensei hefted Grimmjow over his shoulder, and Love made to set Nnoitra down.

"No!" Shinji yelled, "Ya all make it out to the desert. Get through to Kisuke an' the others. I'll save the corpse." He flash stepped after the shadow.

When it doubled back, now free of its burden, the pack leader got a better look. It was a pale man with large bat wings and ears. He had long, stringy black hair, and his arms from the elbows down and his lower half were covered in black fur with wicked claws on both fingers and toes. From the top of his head a pair of twisted, sweeping horns arced back, and the base of his spine sported an incredibly long tail with a tuft of fur on the end. His chest had a black marking like a circle that bled down his front, and his eyes were gold on black with stripes of black running down his face like tears. His appearance was so similar that Shinji was held back for a moment.

"Ulquiorra?" He asked, frowning.

That hesitation was all the figure needed to make another run at the fleeing group. This time, he snatched Nnoitra away from Love. He was faster than Shinji had ever seen the Espada ever go. The bat-like man was able to made a third successful trip, carrying off Grimmjow, before Shinji could get in his way, sword drawn.

Sakanade met those vicious claws, and Shinji shouted, "Ulquiorra, why are ya doin' this? How are ya here?!"

"My name is Murcielago. Ulquiorra was the trash that failed to wield me effectively. Now move, or I will cut you down." The monotone voice was an exact duplicate of the stoic Espada Shinji knew.

"I won't let ya pick 'em off like flies." The blonde Visored tried to shake off the feeling of astonishment.

The bat blinked. "No." Then he drew back and shot at top speed towards the pack leader. Shinji barely had the time to bring his Zanpakutou up in defense before those ebony claws were at his throat. They traded blows, backing off to crash together, again and again, sending sparks down on the group below, and the clang of metal echoing through the expanse of artificial daylight. Twice Murcielago almost broke through Shinji's defense, and the Visored bore gashes across his injured shoulder and arm for it. His shirt was in tatters now and sweat gleamed against his skin, matting his blonde hair to his forehead. The black sword spirit showed no signs of tiring at all, and after a moment's consideration, sped forward again to slam Shinji into the wall of the building behind him.

His breath was knocked out of his body, but at the last second he'd angled Sakanade to slice through the bat's midsection. Now, as he was pinned against the stone, contemplative curiosity filled the gold eyes of his opponent as he stared at the place where the sword was embedded into his flesh.

"Odd." Was the monotone comment. "I had thought pain would be more distracting than this."

"Heh." Shinji smirked. "I'm just gettin' started, fuzzy." He spat blood that had trickled into his mouth from a cut on his cheek he hadn't noticed into Murcielago's face.

Momentarily blinded the bat let up on his pressure somewhat, so Shinji was able to pulled his sword out and around. "Taorero, Sakanade." Gripping the inside of the ring that was the blade's pommel, Shinji spun the blade.

A pink mist surrounded the bat and when the gold eyes of the creature opened again, from his perspective the world was upside down. He tilted his head and a flash of something went through his expression.

Shinji attacked, coming from the opposite side of where Murcielago saw him, to slice the bat's arm, but he didn't move, merely allowed the Visored to cut him. "I see." He said and closed his eyes.

The pack leader smirked, "That won't help." He attacked again but this time the bat dodged. Shock flashed across his face for a moment, but he glared and simply attacked again. Again, the bat dodged. When several more strikes had the same result, he yelled, "Just give up, beast. You can't attack something you can't sense and eventually you won't dodge fast enough."

"I can sense you." Murcielago opened his eyes and gave the first hint of emotion, a small curl of smile. "I am a bat. I live in a world where up is down. I do not need my sense of sight to see you." He let out a series of popping almost beep-like sounds.

"Echolocation." Shinji glared deeper.

In that moment they were clashing again, sword and claws, blood flying, stones thrown, and wind whipping around them from the force of their strikes. It no longer mattered if the world was right side up or upside down. After a short while, Shinji caught the position of the group from the corner of his eye. He twisted, pulling Sakanade back, and slamming both feet into the bat's chest. He zoomed toward the group, ignoring his opponent. The Garganta was open and Szayel and Tesla were already entering.

As such, Shinji didn't notice Murcielago charging Lanza Del La Luna behind him. Yylfordt turned back at that moment and saw the incoming attack. The blonde Arrancar leapt from the ground, and Love followed with Kensei and Rose on his heels. Halibel held Nel at the entrance of the Garganta. Just then a half-naked Nemu appeared from one of the buildings with her bazooka.

A bollo-style, weighted net fired at the three Visoreds in the air, snatching them before they could reach Shinji. The three slammed into the wall of a building, entangled in the kido-laced ropes, stronger than the bollos the vice-captain had used before. Shinji roared, and angled Sakande to change his direction. He saw the green light from Murcielago's attack out of the corner of his eyes this way, but ignored it until the weight of a bull slammed into him.

Yylfordt grabbed the blonde pack leader and whispered, "Take care of my cub." Then he threw the Visored at full strength into the Garganta. Shinji was like a pool cue. He slammed into Halibel, who pushed Nel into Tesla's arms, who in turn knocked into Szayel and the crash angled them all to watch as Lanza Del La Luna impaled the blonde bull through the chest with an explosion of green light as the rip closed behind them.

By the time they landed in Kisuke's basement, Tesla was sobbing, clinging to Nel like a life line. Shinji gathered the Betas of the Visored pack to him, in an apology for not bringing Kensei, Rose and Love back with him. But now they could go to Yamamoto and demand that Central allow the use of the Shinigami to take Mayuri down. Assaulting the Arrancar was still not quite illegal, since they were technically still Hollows, but Nemu had actively attacked three captains of the Gotei 13. That meant that Mayuri could officially be labeled a traitor, and brought to justice.

Ichigo held Nel while Hacchi bolstered Orihime's Soten Kisshun. The seafoam green head rested against the orangette's shoulder watching the regrowth of her foot. Halibel's jaw was fixed easily, and the infection Szayel suffered was cleared as well. Both now sat with Ichigo and Hacchi. Yoruichi still had Tesla in her arms, and the blonde was inconsolable. The Shinigami gathered in the basement were uncomfortable, but more because they were unsure of what to do or say than the presence of the new Arrancar. The mood was somber.

The orange-haired hybrid broken the uneasy silence. "So what happened to Kensei and the rest?" The Betas in the room all knew exactly what he was asking, and none of them would meet his searching gaze.

The fights with both the insect woman and Murcielago were explained to the gathered group. Ulquiorra shifted uncomfortably at the knowledge that it had been his Zanpakutou to have caused Tesla such pain. After making the report, Shinji moved off to confer with Kisuke, Byakuya, Renji and Rukia. Ulquiorra joined them as well after making sure that Orihime was fine after healing the injured Arrancar.

This left the Betas in the room to gather together. Once again Ichigo was on the bottom, this time with Nel and Tesla curled into his lap. Hacchi sat behind him, a living cushion for him to lean against, in turn leaning against a rock. Halibel, uncertain of her place, and still feeling vulnerable because Orihime couldn't replace her arm while Tiburon was separate from her, held back until the female orangette pulled her into a hug and wrapped them both around Nel. Lisa and Mashiro took the other side, curling around Tesla. Hyori plopped herself across the middle with her head on Ichigo's knees, and Yoruichi shrank to cat form in order to fit into the hollow on Ichigo's thighs where the three main bodies on top of him left a space. Szayel also hesitated, but Hyori glared up at him.

"Get in here, Baldy." She yanked the pink-haired Beta into the pile, which sort of scattered everyone a bit until arms and legs were organized and all eleven Betas were comfortable woven in and around each other in the largest Beta-pile any of them had ever seen. Ichigo just had that way of drawing people in. It didn't matter that they were two different packs, they were all Betas, and that was what mattered.

After a few moments Ichigo made a noise, and all eyes trained on him. He looked around at the gazes that met his mismatched one. "I think we've sat back long enough." Murmured agreements mingled with confusion and apprehension. He continued. "The Alphas think we should just sit back and let them handle this. They think because we're Betas we should be left behind, protected and locked away in the den. Shiro and I think we should show them why Betas need to be weakened to mate." One gold eye on black sclera and one amber eye shifted to meet a collection of brown, hazel, yellow, and turquoise. All of them glowed with resolve as the collective mindscape created by the Beta-pile allowed Shiro to share his plan to storm Los Noches and rescue the missing Alphas with all of them at once. As soon as it was laid out, eleven heads turned as one to where the Shinigami were conferring with Shinji and Ulquiorra.

The Shinigami took Shinji to Yamamoto to explain what had happened to the Central 46. Orihime, being the furthest into her pregnancy, couldn't risk travelling through the Garganta. So she took Ulquiorra up to their room under the pretense that all of this excitement had bothered her and she needed her Alpha to make it better. She had no protest about being left behind because she knew she needed to get her rest before the other victims were brought back. Kisuke was easy to convince to seclude himself in his labs attempting to discover exactly what Mayuri had done to Szayel, Halibel, and Ulquiorra. The pink-haired scientist happily joined him as a test subject, fully willing to throw himself into experiments to ignore the last few months of torture and deprivation. Hacchi, with the help of Nel and a despondent Tesla, set up a triage, hidden behind an outcropping of rocks that formed an almost cave. The kido master was easily able to close the place off and sterilize it in preparation of what was to come. This left Lisa, Hyori, Halibel, Yoruichi, Mashiro, and Ichigo to slip into Hueco Mundo without any of the Alphas being the wiser.

The sands of Hueco Mundo shifted slightly under his feet. Tensa Zangetsu rested comfortably in his hand, and the robe of his Bankai was less constricting than he'd feared. Mismatched eyes swept across the barren landscape, alert for anything threats. Being all Betas, he and his team of five were able to hide their reiatsu completely, in spite of all but one of them being in Bankai form. The moonlight glinted off of ebony steel and he nodded. The Visoreds in the group summoned their masks, and they took off.

The Arrancar in their midst hung back, the energy to summon a Garganta at her fingertips in case of trouble. Ichigo took point, with Halibel directly behind him, as they flash stepped in an almost diamond shape. To his right Yoruichi and Hyori; to his left Lisa and Mashiro. There was no joking around, no distraction, nothing but focus. Los Noches wouldn't know what hit them.

Belly Report:
Ichigo – 10 weeks
Orihime – 29 weeks
Nel – 5 weeks
Tesla – 4 weeks