GUNSLINGER GIRL: A NEW BEGINNING

Premise - set upon Triela's first learning of her past, from Mario Bossi

Characters:

Hilshire: Triela's handler

Mario Bossi: Former mobster, who turned himself in after finding out about child smuggling. He was called in to testify, and was immediately placed under the protection of the Hilshire/Triela fratello; friends with Hilshire

Maria "Mimi" Machiavelli: Mario's daughter; placed under the protection by Hilshire/Triela fratello while Mario testifies; befriends Triela

Jose: Henrietta's handler; brother of Jean Croce; younger sister and family were killed by an explosion by the terrorist faction known as Padania

Henrietta: Among the Social Welfare Agency's first cyborgs. Mild-natured on the inside; she is still a very skilled assassin

Triela: Among the eldest of the 1st generation cyborgs. The younger cyborgs look up to her for guidance. She is only now coming to terms with her own identity

Cammy White: Former brainwashed assassin for Shadoloo crime syndicate. Now works with Interpol.

Lisbeth Salander: Committed to a mental institution at the age of twelve for the attempted murder of her father. Raped by a legal guardian. She is ultimately granted her freedom as Ward of the State and other crimes she was wrongfully accused of, when her father's crime syndicate is charged with conspiracy and the doctor that cared for her at the institution himself is accused of abuse.

Mikael Blomkvist: Journalist of Millenium Magazine. Worked with Salander to solve decades old mystery involving missing young woman on behalf of Henrik Vanger, of the Vanger Corporation.

SWA: Social Welfare Agency

Prologue

The SWA is an Italian government organization heavily funded with grants under the presumption that it as saved countless lives through advances in medicine and prosthetics. What only a select few outsiders know, the Agency has developed its own government sponsored assassins stronghold. Young girls no older than 13, are selected from a crop of severely handicapped and terminally ill hospital patients, and are subjected to countless hours of brainwashing though the use of specialized chemicals developed by the SWA. After this form of "conditioning", the girls lose the memories of their past lives and become merciless, unemotional killing machines when assigned to specified jobs. The girls are not alone. Each girl is paired with an adult male as her "handler". This team is known in the SWA as a "fratello". Depending on the task at hand, fratello may work alone or be grouped with other fratello on larger jobs.

The protagonist of the story, Triela, has been a cyborg assassin with the SWA for [five years]. Over those years, she has developed a fondness for her handler, Hilshire, even though he has given her no clues to her past. Like his handler counterparts, Hilshire has never told Triela of her past life; even though he has begrudgingly held onto his own regrets deep inside over how Triela's life has turned out. Unlike the other handlers, Hilshire was directly responsible for personally saving the life of the girl who would become his cyborg assassin.

Setting: Hotel room across the street from Mario Bossi's apartment; Near midnight

Premise: Mario has just informed Triela about the truth of how she became a cyborg. Hilshire was working at Europol and befriended a medical examiner by the name of Rachelle, when they uncovered the secret location of where so-called "snuff" films had been shot; demented sickos with the fetish for kidnapping children and filming their abuse and mutilation for anyone interested. The two of them shot their way into the hideout; Rachelle taking a bullet wound to the gut as she managed to compose herself, they stumbled into a room where an unconscious, mutilated young girl lay abandoned. Rachelle began CPR, and as she heard a faint breath from the girl and collapsed, she made Hilshire promise to protect her; in the name of humanity. Hilshire took the girl to the hospital, where he was approached by the SWA. To save her life, he sacrificed her soul. While the SWA brought her back to the living; she was now a tool for the government's disposal. This was the regret that Hilshire would be forced to live with for the rest of his life.

Hilshire puts his hands on Triela's shoulders. "Well now you know," he says to her. "I'll never ask you for forgiveness. Rachelle brought you back to life, and I took it from you again. Each handler has their own inner demons to overcome. None of us have it easy. But at the end of the day, we've come to terms with the fact that we're still human. We can think for ourselves. I would gladly sacrifice my mind, body and soul if I knew that they could be used to make you the innocent girl you were before the bastards kidnapped you."

Treila shakes her head. "I can't blame you for what I am today," she says, "you and Rachelle were there to rescue me. The SWA put me back together. Of course I wish I were more like every other girl. That's why envy Mimi. She can do what she wants. The world is her oyster, as they say. I know it's a horrible thing to say, but every time she tells me it's 'cool' that I get to travel all over and meet interesting people, I want to tell her I would trade places with her in a heartbeat."

Hilshire stands up and spreads his hands out to her. "But don't you see? You ARE capable of having emotions. In my mind, you are on your way to becoming a young woman; not just a cyborg for the SWA's fucking amusement. And just for the record, every time I heard Jean refer to you girl's as a cyborg to our affiliates, I wanna punch him in the face."

Triela puts her head between her hands. "But I am a cyborg! I can disassemble a .357 Magnum in a minute and a half and reassemble it again in less than a minute. I can carry a grown man on my back like he's a stuffed doll. The conditioning makes us that way. You know it as well as I."

Hilshire waves his hands angrily. "The fucking conditioning is where I reach my boiling point. Coincidentally, just the other day I yelled at Jean about the possibility of drastically reducing he conditioning of all of you girls; for fear about what's happening to Angelica. He said that he didn't wanna hear it. I walked out."

Triela bends over to kiss him. "Thank you. For what it's worth, you're the only family I've ever known. I know the other first gen girls look up to me, but I can't go on like this way. Considering how short our lifespans are, I want to make the most of it. If I can't, I might as well end it now. I don't want to be a burden to you. I don't want you to have to live with the regret for what I am; nor do I want you to feel heartbroken over the loss of Rachelle every time you see me.

"I'm ready to make a call to SWA right now." Hilshire says as he gets up from the sofa and stares out the window. "I'll give them an ultimatum; release you from the services or I expose everything to the media."

"I know you're only kidding." She looks up to him with a slightly melancholy expression on her face. "They can't take that threat seriously. You and I both know we're all expendable. They'd just as quckly drop the lot of us like we were ducks in a pond. Don't you remember what happened to Roballo? And I care about the girls. Henrietta and Rico. Claes of course, my roommate. Without a roommate, she'd be the first to go."

Hilshire walks back over to Triela who's now sitting on the couch where he was. "It won't be that way. I know people. Mario knows people. If this went public, the shit would hit the fan all the way to the governor's office. All I need to do is have Mario be the frontman. If we fall, his crew will be the insiders to expose the SWA from the ground up. It's possible that I don't need to bother with threats, maybe hell will freeze over and the talking heads of the SWA would have a change of heart. Who knows?"

"But you have a life. Leave me. Find a girl. Start a family," said Triela.

"YOU ARE MY LIFE!" Hilshire shouts back at her. "I owe that to Rachelle. You have a spark inside that bears a striking resemblance to a young woman. I want to see that spark flourish, or so help me I'll die trying."

"Are you going to tell the other fratellos?" Triela says. "I don't want them to get in trouble because of me."

"I have to think about it," Hilshire responds. "Allesandro and Petrushka would be easy enough. They're like a couple anyway; being that she's a second gen and older than you. Jose and Henrietta could be ok. He does care about her the way I care about you; but he still has the grudge against the 5 factions for murdering his family. Jean and Rico would be the most difficult to convince. Jean's thirst for vengeance against the 5 factions is deeper than his brother's. But if I could convince Jean to come on board, the hardest part is making him believe that Rico isn't just a fucking expendable robot."

"Well while I'm fluent in three languages, I'm no expert in talking with grownups," says Triela. "but I will put my life on the line to protect you and the girls."

Hilshire walks over to get his jacket. "I'm gonna go out and call Allesandro. For all we know he could be in bed with Petrushka anyhow."

Triela turns her head towards Hilshire, holding up her hand. "Hold on. Do you think it's safe to bring it up to Mario and Mimi?"

"Not yet," Hilshire says shaking his head. "Even though I trust them, I don't want them to get the wrong idea that this is a done deal. One slip up by anyone could royally fuck up the plan."

"Fine, then I won't say anything to them for now." Says Triela. " I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. Good luck."