It was a big day today. It was graduation day and the ceremony was said to be grandiose. Many were sad to leave the school where they had had so many good memories. Those classrooms where they had laughed and cried would no longer welcome them. But of course there were others who had already forgotten about school and were hurrying to step into the big new world.

"Excel, did you find a job already?" the short-haired girl asked the one that was skipping along the path, smiling widely.

"Across!" the other girl, Excel, sang as she jumped and waved her school bag back and forth. Apparently she hadn't heard her friend at all. "Across!" bumping into people without carrying about their insults, she continued down the path happy to be finally free to do whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately, as she was carelessly skipping along the way, she missed to notice that she had reached the street. And along with that, she was too late to notice the dangerously closing truck. The breaks screeched and everything was over in just a few seconds. People gathered around her, saying things that she couldn't make out. The truck driver, who miraculously didn't have even a scratch, came out of his truck and started to panic when he saw what he had done.

"What wonderful life force." a deep male voice made her turn her head to the side. And there, among the crowd of people, was a tall white-haired man. "You are indeed an existence worthy of becoming an officer in my idealistic organization, Across."

Her eyes were clouding and she blinked to clear her vision, but the moment she opened them again, he was gone. Who was he? How did he know of Across? She had applied for the job just yesterday… Her vision was clouding again and her own thoughts seemed to become somewhat distant. The next moment she was looking at a medic in an ambulance. He was saying something…

"Hey, hold on! Even a little bit!" the medic sounded urgent and worried.

"Her pulse is very weak." another one said.

"A-cross…" Excel mumbled, trying to focus on something only she could see.

"Hang on! You're too young to die!" the medic said.

But she wasn't listening anymore. Instead, all she could see was that mysterious white-haired man. She tried to say something, her lips moved but there was no sound. Finally, her eyes lost focus and she breathed her last breath.

"Hey!" the medic yelled, panicking, when her lifeless hand dropped from his. "Hey!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Silence… Peace… Floating…

"Where am I?" Excel wondered dazedly.

"Excel, wake up." the same deep voice said. "Excel!" she opened her eyes, but as much as she tried to see where the man was, she couldn't. "Excel, you can't die. You must value your life, because from now on it belongs to me."

"Who are you…?" she asked weakly, staring at the deep blue and black in front of her, all around her.

"I am Il Palazzo, your master." the voice said. "Now, with this great power I give you, rise and serve me."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I can't believe she's alive!" someone was saying, but in her dazed mind she couldn't quite understand what he was talking about.

"Miracles happen." another voice said.

"Where…am…" Excel opened her eyes and turned toward the two people in the room – a man and a woman dressed in white.

"She's awake." the woman that looked to be a nurse said and she and the man moved closer.

"Where am I?" Excel asked again.

"You're in a hospital, dear." the nurse replied, while the doctor checked her pulse. "You suffered in a car crash, but now everything is alright. You'll be fine soon."

"Her pulse is good." the doctor said and then turned to her. "Do you have anyone we could call?"

Excel's chin quivered, her eyes filled with tears and she sniffled. The nurse and the doctor panicked and just as their patient was about to start crying, the door opened. A tall white-haired man in a black suit entered. He looked at the two people and something made them step back. Excel on the other hand, smiled widely.

"I am here as miss Excel's employer." the man said, removing his glasses, looking at them for a second and then putting them on again. "If there is anything you need, you can turn to me. Now, what is her condition?"

The doctor gulped and cleared his throat before he could start talking. "S-She h-has a broken leg and arm, three broken ribs, a head wound and a concussion."

"I-It's better if we let her rest now." the nurse suggested, whishing she could finally get rid of that scary man.

"Very well." he said and turned to leave. "I will come back tomorrow."

"Finally." both, the doctor and the nurse exiled in relief.

"Il Pala…" Excel mumbled and was back to sleep with a smile on her face.

"Well, at lest she's happy." the nurse said and she and the doctor excited the room.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After only two weeks Excel was as hyperactive as she had been before the accident. The only problem was that she couldn't get up from the bed and all she did was talk and talk and talk. At least the other patients in her room had some fun. It would've been really boring for them is she hadn't been there. The only times she stayed quiet were when she fell asleep, and except at night that happened every time the white-haired man came.

"She's asleep again." the doctor said when the two entered the room.

"Then, I will come back tomorrow." Il Palazzo stated and turned to leave.

The moment the two were gone, Excel opened her eyes and breathed a sigh in relief. The other three people – two old ladies and a middle-aged woman, exchanged knowing glances. Excel laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head with her good left hand. She couldn't explain why she didn't want to talk with her boss, but his presence alone made her feel nervous and somewhat embarrassed.

The next morning the doctor and Il Palazzo entered again. Excel was really sleeping this time, but woke up when she heard them talking. The doctor was asking what exactly her job was. To her surprise Il Palazzo stuttered. It was true that she didn't know what she was going to work when she had applied for the job but shouldn't at least her boss know? His response was even more surprising…actually shocking.

"As a toilet cleaner." Il Palazzo said.

"Really?" the doctor asked. "I'm surprised you care so much even for such employees."

'Yeah.' Excel thought. 'I didn't know that toilet cleaners were so well paid. For 100 000 yen an hour I thought I'd be some secret agent!'

"Anyway, she's recovering fast and we'll soon be able to let her go home." the doctor continued.

"Good." El Palazzo nodded. "I'll be going then."

And that was the last time Excel heard her boss. From that day on he never showed up again. But she wasn't worried about that. Somehow she knew that he hadn't abandoned her. And that gave her strength to continue being loud and annoying all the time. Two weeks later she was well enough to go home. But someone had sent a car for her and she was taken to a different apartment.

"This is your new home, miss." the driver said, helping her in.

Excel stared in awe. The apartment wasn't very big but her small hostel room was nothing compared to it. On the table in the main room, there was a light greenish uniform. The driver helped her with her belongings and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Excel stopped him. "Who did that?"

"Your boss, I suppose." the driver shrugged. "I was sent only to pick you up and bring you here."

"Oh…" Excel sighed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." the man smiled and walked out.

Excel closed the door and moved back to the main room. Her left leg was still bandaged, so she was dragging it a little, but it wasn't broken anymore. She only had to be careful not to put too much weight on it. Her arm was in better condition but she still wore a cast. Her ribs were fine and her head wound had long healed.

"So, what am I going to do now?" she asked herself and looked around the room. "What's that?" she saw a note next to her uniform and picked it up to read it. "This is Across' address. I have to be there in one week, at 8 in the morning. Alright!"

Excel grinned and sat down to look at her new uniform. The rather large shoulder pads caught her attention but she thought it was cool. If her boss thought she had to wear them, she was going to wear them no matter what. Actually, she liked the uniform very much. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Suddenly, her stomach growled and she gulped.

"I wonder if there's anything in the fridge…" Excel mumbled as she walked into the kitchen. "Whaaa!" she almost screamed at the full refrigerator. Grabbing everything she could carry, with the thought of returning for more later, she went back to the main room to eat. "Oh, Grand Will of the Universe, this week will be good!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"You're late." Il Palazzo sounded just slightly irritated, sitting in his large red throne, while Excel looked around the big hall in awe.

Hearing his voice, she turned toward him and raising her right hand in the air… "Hail, Il Palazzo!"

We don't need to say that Il Palazzo was surprised by such a salute but he let it pass and decided to get to the point. "This world is becoming rotten."

"Il Palazzo-sama! I'm so happy to see you! So happy! So happy to…" Excel was yelling and jumping, apparently not listening to her master at all. Instead of saying anything to her, Il Palazzo just waited until a rope came down from the ceiling and caught it. "Hey… What's the rope for?" Excel asked in confusion.

"Never mind that for now. Anyway…" Il Palazzo released the rope and it was pulled back up. Instead of it a small globe came down. "This world is rotten." he started again. "In order to stop this the world must be dominated and corrected! However, I may encounter some strong resistance. So, I will start here…" a map of Japan appeared and Il Palazzo stepped in front of it. Excel just continued to stare in awe. "Yet I must be very careful and start off small." the map changed its scale and showed a certain prefecture. "Right now, I need not worry. I will carry out the domination at an easy peace. This will become my foundation." the map disappeared and he turned to Excel. "And my first goal is…"

"Domination of the city!" she screamed. "That pure and grand idea of yours should be respected, Il Palazzo-sama!" she continued screaming. "For you, Il Palazzo-sama, I, Excel, would do anything! I would give my life for you no matter if it's in fire or even water! If you tell me to strip, I'll…"

"That won't be necessary." Il Palazzo said after clearing his throat.

Realizing what she had just said, Excel's face turned read and she looked down in shame. "Sorry…" she mumbled.

"Let's get to the point." he said.

"Understood!" she saluted.

"Do you know what that is, Excel?" Il Palazzo asked and showed her a set of four books.

"Isn't it manga?" she asked.

"Yes." her master answered. "It is the #1 selling item in the history of this country. However, its content is absolutely vile and downright low!"

"My God!" Excel exclaimed.

"In a world that Across will rule, there is no need for such filthy garbage." a paper cutting machine came up from the floor and Il Palazzo threw the manga in it. "The creators of these despicable things must be disciplined without delay. In other words, I want you to exterminate the manga author."

"Exterminate?" Excel asked in shock.

"Yes. Is there a problem?" Il Palazzo asked, his voice colder than usual.

"No, not at all!" the now scared girl hurried to answer. "If it's your command, no matter if it's a manga author or an animator, I will surely and ultimately crush them!"

"Then, this man is your first target." Il Palazzo said, showing a picture of a middle-aged man with glasses on a monitor that came down from the ceiling. "I'm counting on you."

"Yes, sir!" Excel exclaimed and hurried to get out.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Exterminate… Exterminate…" Excel was slowly walking down the sidewalk, dragging a large sword. It was good that it was night – nobody could see her and call the police. "It's all for Il Palazzo-sama." she mumbled. But…wasn't she supposed to be a toilet cleaner? "I was joking about that secret agent stuff…"

When she had showed up in the Across base, she had never expected things to turn out that way. And when she thought about it, wasn't her boss afraid that she was going to tell the police about his world domination plans? Somehow, even as she thought about that, she didn't really think she could do it. Betray Il Palazzo? Why did it sound so wrong? Why was she ready to kill that manga author for him?

"I don't understand. How am I going to do it?" she mumbled and lifted the sword in front of her. Looking at the reflection of her face, she sighed. "I've watched enough movies… I'll slice him in half."

Bracing herself for what she was about to do, Excel slowly and quietly started to climb up the stairs to the manga author's apartment. She reached the door and found it to be open. Thinking that her target was rather stupid and unfortunate, she entered the small corridor. Walking deeper into the apartment, she saw various dolls of manga and anime characters, posters and other stuff arranged on many shelves on the walls.

"Well, it's showtime." Excel took a deep breath as she stood before the last door. It was slightly open and a fait light coming from the room told her that her victim was inside.

The man was muttering something to himself, while drawing something on his desk. He was so caught up in his work that he didn't notice when Excel entered the room and stood just a meter or two behind him. Now she heard that he was singing some kind of strange song about himself. Something about how much he loved his job and life and how much people liked what he was doing.

Excel almost dropped her sword. There, on the desk were some framed pictures of him and a dark haired girl, maybe his girlfriend, and of his family. 'I can't do it.' she shook her head and stepped back, terrified of herself and what she had to do. 'I can't. Even if it is Il Palazzo's orders, killing people just isn't right!'

"AAA!" the man had suddenly turned around, startling Excel. "W-Who are you!"

"Sir, I…" she tried to explain herself, but holding a sword while trying to do that, wasn't helping her much.

"A burglar!" the man yelled, falling from his chair and pressing himself to his desk. His eyes were wide with fear and his whole body was shaking.

"Don't worry… I won't steal anything." Excel tried to explain again, this time hiding the sword behind herself.

"Please leave! Please leave!" the man cried, bringing his arms up to shield himself. "Don't kill me, please! Take anything you want, but… Please, don't kill me!"

"I'm sorry!"

…

A while later Excel found herself a few blocks away from the apartment, tears running down her cheeks and panting for breath. She hadn't even realized when she had run out. The sword was still in her hand and she looked at it with fear, as if to reassure herself that she hadn't done anything to that man. Seeing that it was still clean, she sighed and walked to a nearby bench.

"It was an order…a direct order from Il Palazzo-sama." she told herself. "But…a person's life is more valuable than anything… Where have I heard that? No, it wasn't quite like that… But I'm sure that life is valuable!" suddenly having a surge of power and self-confidence, Excel stood up and held her sword up. "Il Palazzo-sama will forgive me! I sure scared that guy! He won't be having inspiration for a long time!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hail, Il Palazzo!" Excel shouted.

"Good mor…" Il Palazzo started but then to his great surprise, she fell down to her knees and bowed down to the ground.

"Forgive me, Il Palazzo-sama! Last night's mission was a failure! I couldn't kill that despicable manga author!" she shouted, while her speechless master started in shock and confusion. "But I scared him a lot! And…and he won't be producing such filthy garbage for quite some time!"

"Is that so?" Il Palazzo quickly became serious again. "Well then, you will be punished after today's briefing."

"Thank you, Il Palazzo-sama!" Excel exclaimed and stood up.

"I have arranged a part time job for you at one of our buildings that is still in construction." the leader of Across started. "I received information that a certain organization is planning to sabotage us. Your mission is to prevent them from interfering with the work on the building. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now, about that punishment…" the rope came down from the ceiling and this time Il Palazzo pulled it down, sending his agent falling down a deep hole filled with water.

"AAA!" Excel screamed until she hit the water.

…

"I hope this won't happen again, Excel." he said when she was back up in the throne room.

"Yes, sir!" the wet and freezing girl nodded.

"You're free to go now." Il Palazzo said and Excel ran out.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A few hours later, Excel was at the building site. She was wearing a blue uniform and a red truncheon. There was a sign right next to where she was standing: Pardon the inconvenience due to construction, it read. She looked around and gulped when she saw how heavy the traffic was. Honestly, she had no idea how she was going to be watching out about saboteurs while trying to control that traffic.

"Get a grip, Excel." she told herself. "You don't want to go down that hole again. Lunch break is in an hour, soo…"

"You taxi, stop! Go! Go! And now stop! Now go! Hey you, in the blue van, go! You, stop! You go! Stop!" to her greatest surprise, she was doing quite well, but… "I wonder if I can keep up for another 8 hours."

"Hey, young lady!" some worker yelled.

"Yes, sir? What's up?" she turned to look at him.

"There's a 2-ton truck coming in." the man pointed.

"Huh?" Excel looked back toward the street, her eyes widening.

'Excel, you can't die.' Il Palazzo's voice rang in her head. '…value your life…it belongs to me…'

Suddenly, with speed, strength and flexibility she didn't know she possessed, Excel jumped up and flipped back. The truck stopped right over the place she had been standing. People gathered around her, asking her if she was alright and how she had managed to jump like that. But she was just staring at her hands, breathing heavily.

'How did I do that?' she thought and gulped. 'And why did I hear Il Palazzo-sama say those things?'

Just then, there was a loud explosion and everybody turned to see the whole building engulfed in flames. The workers all started to run around in panic, while Excel just stared at the slowly crumbling structure with wide and unbelieving eyes. But there was no doubt – she had failed her mission again. She hadn't caught or even stopped the saboteurs.

"What am I going to do now?" she asked the burning building with shaky voice. Something touched her right leg and she looked down. "A doggy? Hello." crouching down, Excel scratched behind one of the dog's ears. It leaned into her touch and she smiled. "Are you hungry? 'Cause I am."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A while later Excel was back at her apartment. She was supposed to report to Il Palazzo first but didn't feel like doing that right now. She had failed two missions in a row and she didn't think that he'd go easy on her like last time. Walking in a daze, she went to the refrigerator and opened it. The dog stood at her feet and started with wide eyes at the food.

"There're people that actually eat dogs." Excel said and the dog froze. "You know what? In case Il Palazzo-sama throws me out and if by any chance he doesn't kill me, and when I eat all my food, and if I don't have money to buy some… I think I'll use you as an emergency food supply!"

The poor dog fainted. Excel smiled a sad smile and moved into the main room with the food she had taken and the dog in hand. Of course she wasn't going to eat it. Since she had nothing else to do at the moment and she couldn't think of what to talk about in front of the dog, it was kind of fun to say a thing like that. Too bad it was unconscious now.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the neighboring apartment a dark-haired man around his twenties was preparing to have dinner. It wasn't anything much – just a vegetable soup. But at least it was something. After all, some people around the world wouldn't eat at all tonight. So, we can say that he felt he was very lucky indeed.

"Tonight, this moment…spend all you have to savor this glamorous moment of eating." he said happily, but his face suddenly darkened and he bowed his head slightly. "No matter how hard I try, I'm still broke." as on command his mood brightened again. "But this last meal…this hot pot…!"

"I'll eat, too!" a man hanging on a rope came down from the ceiling.

"Iwata…! Where'd you come!" the other one yelled angry.

"Me too." a fat guy with big foggy glasses came from under the floor, holding a bowl and two sticks.

"Hey, Tsumiyoshi, what the hell!" the first man yelled again. But that didn't stop his two 'friends' from attacking his food. "Stop it!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Many casualties have been reported from this incident…and we believe that…" a woman was talking on the news, while Il Palazzo watched her on a small portable TV.

"So, that's why Excel didn't show up today." he said to himself and sighed. "The world is as rotten as ever."

TBC