Ken watched his friend and comrade Omi as the teen picked at his chips and watched people as they ate at the american restaurant. A woman got up from a table behind him and headed for the door. Strands of gold blonde hair poked out from underneath a brown crochet hat. Despite the summer heat, she wore an olive green fleece jacket over long jeans. Her only concession to the heat was a pair of black sandals covering her feet. She was halfway down the block before Omi spoke.

"So much has changed, Ken. a month ago, she wouldn't have made it to the door."

"How do you mean?"

"Remember when I discovered that Schwarz had five members, not four?"

"She's the fifth? How can you tell?"

"I saw her with Berserker several times, with Mastermind twice, and I have surveillance of her and Oracle discussing business."

"I thought they were all dead except for Nagi. And he never mentioned her."

"He's probably protecting her. Aya and everyone else still hate all of Schwarz."

"We put up with Nagi, heck, we even like him!"

"Nagi was never interested in harming us. Ohr, that's her codename, is vicious. She located Aya-chan and sent the rest of Schwarz to kidnap her! She and Mastermind are demons!"

"Calm down, chibi! We aren't assigned to them anymore."

"That's why I let her go."

Outside, Yohji cruised the streets in his super seven roadster. He passed ayoung woman in a grey tanktop and black sandals. An olive green jacket was tied around her waist. She clutched a silver binder to her as she muttered to herself in an odd mix of German and Gaelic. Remembering a phrase he learned second hand, he called out to her, "Vegehts, fraulein!"

She froze, the overlarge crochet hat falling in her face. As if in slow motion, her legs went out from under her as she gasped something he didn't understand, possibly a name. She started to cry when she hit the concrete, more from some emotional pain associated with the phrase. He turned the car off in the spot he'd pulled in to speak with her. He went over to her and pulled the hat out of her eyes, revealing medium cropped blonde hair pulled into a messy pony tail and a pair of silver wire-rimmed sunglasses. Hot tears of grief rolled down her cheeks as she tried to regain control.

"Hey, fraulein, calm down. You ok?"

She flinched at the German word, but looked at him with grief-stricken doe eyes for the moment before she recognized him.

"WeiB! Bali......balinese, right? Leave me alone, katza."

Yohji did not recognize the woman, so he did not raise his guard, a blunder that disarmed the deadly telepath's own defenses. A shielded enemy she could take down with a thought. But an open, friendly person, her battered psyche associated as a friend, regardless of the number of times she had been assigned to kill him.

"Miss, please. I didn't mean to say anything to upset you.... please, let me buy you a soda, or I can take you home...."

The woman turned her tearful gaze on Yohji to explain, against her instincts, why she had started to cry. "Schuldig.... Schuldig always called me fraulein or liebe."