I'm back! And for my first story in almost four months I've thought about entering a new Anime category. It probably helps if you've watched the second season of DTB before reading, but you'll probably be just as confused as I was with the entire show anyway. Still, I hope I'm not too rusty for my comeback one-shot and I hope you enjoy!

With Hands that could Reach the Stars...

What price would she have to pay to see those real stars again...?

Her pink hair flowing in the breeze, the girl – wrapped in only the simplest of rags, gazed up at the fake stars which robbed the night of its genuine beauty. It almost seemed like her escape from Hell itself was all in vain when she found herself imprisoned, yet again, in a cage of twinkling forgeries.

"Oh...another one went out..." she said as though such words were as natural as her breath. She also knew what it meant when a fake star's flame finally burned out. An omen within the constellations of that fraudulent sky.

Another Contractor had paid their ultimate price.

…

Diclonius, that was the name coined by the Syndicate for these... creatures. The perfect Doll that could sense its own kind and could let out observer spirits undetectable by regular Dolls. They were the perfect reconnaissance weapon – almost, too perfect...

"Number's 25 and 32 have been captured. Still in pursuit of Numbers 15 and 30. Several more still unaccounted for."

Head of the Diclonius monitoring facility, Kurama bashed his fist, containing the majority of this frustration within his clammy palms. This failure was entirely his responsibility. They had underestimated the intelligence of these creatures. Once they realised their true capabilities, they no longer felt the need to be kept in shackles and rebelled against their own masters.

"It can't be helped," Kurama's college buddy and co-worker, professor Kakuzawa shrugged his shoulders. "I've sent out three of our best Contractors. We'll just have to round 'em up and reprogram 'em."

"Tch. We've blown nearly three-quarters of our budget on this project and this is our result." Kurama. Though he wasn't a Contractor, he had already paid the price a long time ago. With his job taking precedence over his wife and family, he was too buried in his own controversial work to ever notice her illness. She was eight months pregnant when both her and the baby passed away.

"Relax, Kurama. I won't let Dad take your head for this," the much more composed Kakuzawa gave his friend an assuring wink as he checked the monitors. "Have they identified any more Numbers?"

"Yes sir," a young woman working on the monitors answered. "It seems three more Diclonii have been spotted in an abandoned industrial estate – oh no!" she suddenly gasped as her face was illuminated by the blue hue of the monitor screen. "He's just killed two of them."

"What!" Kurama and Kakuzawa both barked at the man appearing on the screen. "His orders were to capture them not kill them. Oi!"

…

"Oh dear," A Man draped in black cloaks removed his hat and sunglasses. As his shoes were slowly surrounded by a pool of fresh blood, he knelt down and produced his long tongue, lapping up the cocktail of blood and dirt like a cat drinking from a saucer of milk. "Looks like I went a bit overboard again."

"You idiot!" another man scolded the vampire as he took another bite of his pocky. "If you can't follow orders what's the point of having come out with us?"

"The third target managed to escape, I'll go after her." a third man said as he loaded his .50 calibre. "You just keep that creep from doing anymore reckless things."

"Hmph, you think you can catch one of those little brats by yourself huh?" the blonde man scoffed as he snapped another pocky in half with his teeth. "If you die I'll have to actually take it serious you know."

"Cheh. How many boxes of that crap would you have to eat then huh?" the other man retorted as he ran into the dark cave of pipes and steel bridges.

The pocky junkie sighed as he scratched his head. "Actually, I might not have enough left to go all out tonight..."

…

Feet, burning from the intense cold. Hands numb and mouth dry from the night air. Her naked body struggling to keep her going. Her energy almost depleted from the constant flow of adrenalin. This is what it felt like to be truly fighting for your life.

She had already seen what that man in the black cloaks was capable of. Her two sisters screams of pain still tortured her memory. The only thing to put that memory at bay for a brief moment was the ear-piercing sound of a gunshot metres from her head.

Her "hands" would not be able to stop such a heavy bullet so she could do nothing but flee. Choosing the latter of the fight-or-flight options was far more rational than staking your life on a Western shootout with a Contractor. She had already had a form of "field experience" with these Contractors before with her reconnaissance missions. She came to believe that these people were even more monstrous than herself; with lives based solely on the purpose of murder for profit.

She hoped that she could break out of the facility with a few of her sisters so she could start a fresh new life, away from the constant sight of blood and sounds of pain. But now the Syndicate were using whatever loyal members of her sisters remained against her to track her down and all but eliminate any remote chance of such a dream.

Using her hands to glide and swing across the poles and railings, she was beginning to feel some distance between herself and the pursuing Contractor. But she noticed a bullet curve right out of its path and lodge into the back of her left shoulderblade just as her "hands" were about to reach another overhang.

Crying in a sudden surge of pain, her "hands" lost their grip and she fell from a height of two storeys to the cold hard floor which sealed her fate below. Just barely able to cushion her fall with those "hands", she saved what would have been a fatal fall and was left with only a broken arm and some broken ribs (though even that is an understatement).

To painful to even cough, the poor girl lie there in agony as her undertaker slowly strolled towards her, inserting another clip of ammo.

Gazing up at her killer, she noticed the person fumbling with their jacket for a moment before ripping it down the middle, revealing a large pair of breasts.

"Sorry you have to see this but it's my price." the woman explained behind her cold expression as she hid her assets back under her torn jacket and aimed her weapon at the Diclonius. "Well it won't matter soon enough. Unlike those other two Contractors, I didn't come here to pick you up – well..." she looked away for a moment thinking about that grotesque Man in the cloak. "Anyway, before the Syndicate's new toys get out of hand I've gotta do this. Nothing personal..."

Click.

Just as the girl was about to close her eyes and resign her fate, she noticed a long cable drop down from above and coil itself around the neck of the female Contractor. A steel blade appeared to be attached to the end of the wire, making an effective anchor as it finished tightening around the woman.

"What's-" just before the woman could finish her explanation her body jolted as electricity engulfed her body. With her jaw wide open in silent terror and her eyes bulged out of their sockets, the woman fell to the floor, death quickly taking her soul as black pillars of smoke escaped from her jacket.

"Huh..." The pink haired girl gasped in confusion and shock as the woman's body lay before her. The next moment she felt a wire cling around her body. The cold wire brought her back into the realm of fear as she lifted up off the ground and onto a steel platform.

"Please don't kill me." The girl pleaded weakly, ignoring her broken ribs. Once she felt the wire loosen from her body and a blanket over her body, she soon realised that these people weren't from the Syndicate or whatever organisation that woman worked for either.

She was in safe hands, for now at least.

"Take care of her for a second." Her eyes followed the sound of a deep male voice, but she only caught a glimpse of the back of him as he swung on a long wire disappearing into the mesh of steel and fog.

"Sorry but this is all I can do for now."

The soft, tender voice of a young girl, not much older than herself. As she heard those words, she felt a warm blue light cover her wounds. In a matter of minutes, the pain was gone and her broken arm and ribs healed.

"I just copied the cells of the bones around the fracture, so try not to move too much for a while as they're still new cells." The girl explained in a gentle yet somewhat melancholic voice. Sitting her up in a more comfortable position, the healing girl looked towards the direction of where the other man left, her long red ponytail whipping around her shoulders in the strong midnight breeze.

"He's already killed them. He should be back soon."

…

"Gngh!" The spiked iron ball he pulled out of his stomach managed to take a few scraps of cloth and flesh with it as he discarded it to the floor with a heavy sigh. "Damn, that's the worst pain I've felt since..."

Blue and red reflected off the cloaked man and his blonde friend's blood as the sound of sirens echoed across the industrial complex. This Contractor knew there'd be no time to catch his breath here, throwing his wire around a thin pipe and ascending back to his domain, closer to the fake stars which made up this world's night.

…

"Four more tonight..." A young woman regarded the bodies as she got to her feet and went back through the police tape. "These were the Contractors we had on our wanted list, but I don't see the third one here."

"Ms. Kirihara." A young detective ran over to the bespectacled woman, holding a few cards and documents in a gloved hand. "Officer's have just found the third body about a hundred metres away. These documents were found inside her jacket."

Kirihara scanned the documents for a moment, her oval eyes soon widening to circles as she came across some startling material. "So this is what the Syndicate's been planning."

"Fortunately, this person must have been a double agent for a rival Syndicate and had been collecting these documents under the noses of her superiors." The man hypothesised as Kirihara returned the documents to him for collecting.

"We'll have to find BK201 as soon as possible." Kirihara said as she stared at the sea of corpses before her. "If he's really after her, then we might lose our only chance of tracking down the Syndicate's HQ..."

…

"It seems all three Contractors were killed by the Reaper. From what little we could obtain for identification, their bodies exhibit evidence of extreme electrocution. Also, it turns out that one of them was in fact an Agent from the Saseba faction. I've already informed our own agent in Saseba to use extra caution when obtaining any future information."

"You should stop overexerting yourself Kurama, otherwise you'll suffer the same unfortunate fate as your wife." Inside his office, Chief Kakuzawa revealed his wrinkled features to his much younger but overworked subordinate.

"But sir-"

"We still have the advantage over Saseba, the Police and BK201," Kakuzawa sr. showed his teeth as he clasped his hands behind his back in confidence.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes. Our Oracle has prophesied again. She has already laid out our destiny. Not even BK201 can change what has already been set in stone."

"But what if he reaches "her" before us?"

"The stars don't lie young man," and as Kakuzawa revealed the true potential of his wretched expressions, he revealed his determination engraved within those very creases of skin. "Our Queen's star will definitely burn once again."

…

Several Weeks Later:

What price would she have to pay to see those real stars again...

"Oi, Sanshi pay attention."

The girl who was once only known as Diclonius Number 30 left her stargazing for another night and returned her focus to their current mission.

"30 metres East; 400 metres North. Wind NNW at about 23m/s. Adjust aim by..."

Sanshi felt an overwhelming presence coming from that location. Although she couldn't quite make out the person from such a far distance with her naked eye, she knew there could only be one who would possess such a powerful aura.

Sanshi once asked Hei why Contractors never cry. She now understood that reason as Suo aimed her sniper at the target.

This would be the price. Until her "hands" could reach that blue marble in the sky...

Suo pulled the trigger...

THE END

Incidentally, Sanshi's name mean's Thirty in Chinese. I really enjoyed DTB, but I enjoyed Gemini of the Meteor a lot more than the first season. This story was mainly a tribute to that season and Elfen Lied in general. I think they both complement each other in some regards. Now please review, or I might go another 4 month hiatus!