The black haired girl whirled about quickly, long plait twisting behind her like a whip. She brought her leg up and landed a roundhouse kick in her opponent's back, right on the kidneys. Her opponent, a tall, thin man, screamed and fell to the ground, whimpering in agony. The girl smirked and stepped back, watching as the man writhed, clutching his back. Two other men stepped forward, pulled the man to his feet and dragged him out of the room.

The girl turned around, her eyes questioning.

'Well done,' rasped a soft voice. The owner of the voice walked towards the girl. He took her hands in his and kissed her cheek lightly.

The girl smiled, her Anglo-Chinese features catching the late afternoon sunlight streaming in from a high window. 'I did well?' she asked.

'Very,' the man answered. He dropped the girl's hands and studied her. The girl was short and petite, but her arms were wiry and muscled and she was quick on her feet with superb balance. She's just what I was looking for, the man thought. And she's perfect for the job.

'What do you want me to do now?' the girl said.

'Meet me in B Block,' he said calmly, but inside he was excited. She was ready. Soon, in just a matter of days, those four pesky brats would be disposed of. For good.

'Of course,' smiled the girl, nodding once. She turned and started to leave but stopped. 'Greg?'

'Yeah?' Greg frowned slightly.

'Am I going on an assignment soon?'

Greg grinned and nodded. 'I have a special assignment for you, my dear. I'll tell you in B Block.'

The girl hurried through the maze of hallways. When she'd arrived here just a month before, she'd gotten lost and had to have a guide with her at all times for the first two weeks. The guide had also doubled as a guard, to prevent her from escaping, though the girl had forgotten about that now. She'd been brainwashed so that every memory of her past life had been erased. Her head had been filled with thoughts of revenge and anger and removed of any love or happiness. Once in a while she'd get a brief flash of images in her head, but the pictures were appearing less and less and becoming more blurry by the day.

The corridor turned sharply and the girl pushed open the door leading to B Block. It wasn't so much a block as one room; white ceiling, walls and floor, just like every single room in the complex. A table was set in the very centre of the room, and three black chairs were positioned on either side of it.

Greg was sitting in the chair furthest from the door, a woman sitting on his right and a man perched on a chair across from him. Greg looked up as the door opened and smiled a welcome.

'Come on in,' he exclaimed pointing to a seat. The girl entered and sat by herself at the far end of the table.

'Mr Edwards says you are ready for your first job. Is that correct?' the woman asked, a tinge of venom in her voice.

The girl drew herself up and looked squarely at the woman. 'Yes. That is correct. I am very capable of going out on an assignment.'

The woman put on a pair of black rimmed reading glasses and skimmed the sheet of paper in front of her. 'You have shown amazing talent in the dojo and on the obstacle course. You know several languages and have survival skills. You are skilled in free-climbing and gymnastics...' The woman pulled the glasses off and pushed them up onto the top of her head, where they settled on her jet black hair. She regarded the girl for a few seconds before turning to Greg. 'Mr Edwards. This girl could have gone on an assignment weeks ago.'

Greg looked uncomfortable and leaned closer to the woman, lowering his voice. 'With all due respect, she needed the first three weeks in treatment.'

The woman sat up sharply and raised her eyebrows. 'But she is fine, now?'

'Of course,' Greg said hurriedly. 'She can't recall a thing about her past.'

'Right.' The woman gathered her folders and stood up. 'I am assuming that you have an assignment in mind, Mr Edwards.'

'Yes,' Greg agreed. 'I have the perfect job.'

'Good.' The woman was almost out the door when she paused and turned back to face the girl. 'What's your name?' she demanded.

The girl blinked and said slowly, 'Li. Li Cheong.' The woman smiled, a tiny twitch of her lips that didn't reach her eyes, and left.

Greg turned to Li and gestured to the other man. 'Li. This is Sparks. He'll be guiding you along, but leaving most of the work up to you.'

'Hi.' Sparks beamed at Li, extending his hand. Li shook his hand briefly before turning back to Greg.

'Tell me what I have to do,' she said.

Greg hesitated before drawing a series of photos out of the folder in front of him. Sometimes the memories came back when photos were shown and he shot a casual look at Sparks. He nodded slightly and his hand drifted to his belt, gripping the handle of the knife gently.

Li had stood up and come round the table to Greg. She slipped into the chair next to him and pulled the photos out of his grasp. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the images. There were four pictures. One was of a pale faced boy with grey eyes, blonde hair, standing outside a school building; the second photo showed a heavily-built boy, his Latin-American features blurred slightly, as though the camera had moved just as the shutter had clicked down; a tall, black girl with close-cropped hair was the subject of the third photograph; the final picture was of another boy, this one with green eyes and short brown hair, sticking up in spikes. Li studied the photographs before sliding the back to Greg. 'These are my targets?' she asked incredulously. 'They look the same age as me.'

'They are the same age as you,' Greg said, packing away the photos. 'The have caused a fair amount of trouble and some people want it stopped. These are no ordinary kids and they don't stick to doing ordinary things.' Greg paused and looked steadily at Li. 'You need to find them and kill them. I want no witnesses and preferably one scene.'

'One scene?' questioned Li.

'If possible, get rid of them all in the one place, at the one time. I don't care how you do it, but they have to go.'

Li answered without hesitation. 'They're gone.'