"Halle, please stop trying to kill me!"

"NO!"

Eisuke remained seated on the couch as he watched the crazy woman with a knife continue to furiously swing it at Baba, smirking as he found himself rather enjoying the show. Soryu stood next to Ota, calmly watching the scene go down and waiting for Eisuke's cue to break it up. Mamoru and Ota wore equal looks of concern for Baba's safety, although they would be lying if they said they didn't find this completely hilarious. Honestly, it was karma for all of the heartbroken women the womanizing thief had left behind over the years.

Baba grabbed Halle's wrists firmly in his hands right before she plunged her knife straight into his face, and he held her still to keep her from killing him. "Halle, please stop!" He grinned at her awkwardly, putting on the charm. "Come on, Halle! We're such great friends! You don't really want to kill me, do you?"

Halle's hands trembled within Baba's grasp from the adrenaline as her anger seethed through her gritted teeth. "...fine." She released her grip on her knife, letting it fall and clatter to the floor.

"Phew..." Baba looked visibly relieved as he let out the breath he was holding. "For a second there, I thought you'd never stop being pissed at me."

Halle's lips instantly stretched up into an evil, sinister grin at that comment. "Oh, I'm still pissed."

Halle drew her head back and quickly slammed it at full force into Baba's forehead, causing him to let go of her and stumble back, clutching his head in agony.

"OW!" Baba agonized over the pain, rubbing his throbbing forehead gently. "That really hurt, Halle!"

As Ota doubled over laughing, Halle sighed deeply as she quickly rubbed her forehead for a second, already used to the pain she absorbed from that head-butt. "There. Now we're even."

As distressed, pained tears streamed down Baba's cheeks, Soryu chuckled under his breath, enjoying seeing the flirty pervert be in pain just a little too much. "As much as I enjoy seeing this, and I would really hate to stop it here, I'm going to have to." He looked over at Baba before giving him a command with the jerk of his head. "Baba, frisk her for weapons."

Baba's eyes widened a little in terror. "Why me!?"

Ota let out a "pfft" sound under his breath as he reached up to brush his orange hair from his eyes. "Because we don't want to get stabbed."

"But it's okay if I do!?"

Halle took in one deep breath before letting it all out in a harsh sigh, and she placed her hands on top of her head. "Fine, pat me down for all I care. But I swear to god, Baba, if you try anything, I will reach out and choke you."

Baba cautiously approached her with fear in his eyes. "Understood..."

As Baba began patting her down for weapons, one by one, he kept finding knives hidden all over her body, and he placed them all in a pile on the coffee table. Soon, a large collection of miscellaneous knives, brass knuckles, and other hand-to-hand combat weapons were piled up on that table. Although, to Soryu's immediate surprise, there wasn't a single gun in sight. What kind of assassin didn't carry a gun...?

"There. All done." Baba sigh in relief, stepping back a little.

Halle just scoffed as she let her hands fall back down to her sides. "You missed some."

"What!?" Baba dropped his jaw in shock. "How many!?"

"Eight." Halle simply deadpanned her answer, shaking her head at him as she couldn't help but grin.

She reached down and pulled two knives from each of her boots and put them on the table. Then, to everyone's immediate surpise, she pulled up her shirt just enough to reveal her stomach, which had four more knives strapped around it, which were then added to the pile.

"...wow." Baba blinked back his shock as he watched Halle fix her disheveled clothes. "I didn't know you carried that much..."

"Pfft." Halle scoffed, trying not to laugh too hard at Baba's statement. "You think that's impressive? This is just what those idiots who abducted us didn't find on me."

As everyone in the room sweatdropped at that, Eisuke lowered his voice and commanded all attention in the room. "You, woman. You keep mentioning something about a job and being abducted. Just how exactly did you two end up being put up for auction?"

Halle's eyes instinctively narrowed themselves at Baba, who in return just let out an awkward laugh.

"Well..." Baba opened his mouth to speak, but he was quickly cut off by Halle pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

"Not a damn word..." She glared harshly in order to silence him.

Baba took a few cautious steps backwards. "Yes ma'am..."

Halle sighed exhaustedly, and she combed her fingers through her hair. "We were on a job in Tokyo this afternoon, which you don't really need to know the details of. Basically, all we had to do was grab the painting and get out, but since Baba was left in charge of disabling the security system because I was preoccupied with the guards, he botched it and cut the wrong wire."

Baba looked appalled at such a harsh accusation. "I cut the blue wire just like you told me to!"

"That was the teal wire, you moron!" Halle got all up in his face as she rose her voice, glaring a thousand daggers into his eyes.

"Well don't put all the blame on me!" Baba whined dramatically, reacting rather girlishly to Halle's more masculine style of arguing. "You're the one usually in charge of that sort of thing. I'm the thief! I'm not used to working with such complex security systems..."

"Oh, well sorrrrr-yyyyy!" Halle drew her head back and scoffed sarcastically. "I had my hands full taking out the seven guards on the second floor!"

Baba just rolled his eyes. "But you're a master assassin trained in God-only-knows what! I've seen you take out fourteen guys by yourself in less time!"

The others watching this argument went a little pale at that revelation as Halle completely paid them no mind, continuing to argue. "Yeah, because I killed them all! It's a lot harder to fight and knock out someone when you're not allowed to severely injure or kill them!"

"Alright, alright!" Ota clapped his hands together, shutting them up. "Guys, knock it off!"

"Enough of this already." Eisuke impatiently cut in, sighing as he pressed his hand to his forehead. "So, let me get this straight... You two went on a job together, Baba tripped the security system, you got captured, and then you were put up for sale at the auction tonight?"

Halle and Baba exchanged an awkward glance before they both nodded their heads in unison. "Basically."

"You're all idiots..." Soryu grumbled to himself, covering his face with his hands momentarily before slowly dragging them down.

"Didn't you try to escape at all?" Ota curiously butted in, having genuinely wondered about that. "If Halle is such a skilled assassin, I'm sure she could have escaped captivity at some point."

Everyone in the room grew even more confused as they watched Halle embarrassingly slump her shoulders, and her face turned a little blue as Baba busted out laughing.

"Shut up..." She snapped at him angrily under her breath.

Baba clutched his stomach as he nearly doubled over laughing. "I'm sure she could have, but Halle was knocked out cold the whole time we were captured! She only woke up a couple seconds before we were brought out on stage."

Everyone's eyes were on Halle now, and her cheeks flushed a little red. "...I don't go down easy, okay?"

"Pfft." Baba covered his mouth with his hand, trying desperately to smother his laughter and completely failing. "She took out almost all of the security guards that came running when the alarm was tripped. The guy we were trying to rob, Moniko, had a really hard time trying to subdue her, since she's ridiculously stubborn."

Halle's cheeks flared an even deeper shade of red as she slapped her hands over them. "They had to knock me out with a horse tranquilizer, okay!?" She huffed, not liking this feeling of embarrassment. "There, are you all satisfied!?"

And that was when everyone else in the room just started to laugh.

Halle just pouted. "I barely even know you guys yet, and I'm already starting to hate you all..."

"Geez, kid... It took a horse tranquilizer to knock you out?" Mamoru laughed good-heartedly, pressing his hand to his forehead as he took a puff of his cigarette. "Just what the hell are you?"

Baba slyly snuck close to Halle, snuggling up to her from behind. "She's a beautiful Englishwoman from London with milky skin, a lovely English accent, and voluptuous curves that...ACK!"

Halle just glared straight ahead as she reached out and grabbed Baba by his throat, and she instantly started choking him.

"Halle...ACK!" Baba struggled to get out of her grip, and he pulled at her hand as best as he could, unsuccessful in getting her grip to loosen.

"What did I tell you?" Halle glared at him sharply. "I don't have the patience to tolerate your sexual harassment today." She suddenly released him from her choke hold, and Baba practically melted into a puddle on the floor as he gasped for air.

"So...cruel..." Baba's lip quivered as he sputtered out the words. "Come on, Halle! You know you love me!"

"Hmph!" Halle turned on her heel away from Baba, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she kept her back to him. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm still pissed that I'm flat broke because of you!"

"Oh yeah." Ota widened his eyes at Halle as Baba in the background dramatically fell to the floor with a heartbroken look on his face. "Didn't you say something about that guy draining your bank accounts?"

Halle opened one eye and looked over in Ota's direction, maintaining her sassy pose. "Yeah. When Moniko captured us, he took everything we had on us, and then he got into our Swiss bank accounts and completely drained them. What a bastard..."

"Well, you're an assassin, right?" Ota widened his eyes as he looked at her. "Can't you make your money back pretty fast?"

"She's not just any assassin, Ota."

Everyone turned to look at Baba who had suddenly regained his composure, and he had a serious look on his face as he spoke.

"She's the best there is." He swung an arm around Halle casually, only to have it immediately pushed off by her. "That's why I team up with her on my big jobs. Honestly, you've probably heard of her before."

"Is that so?" That piqued Soryu's interest, and he looked Halle up and down as if he was trying to tell if she was something special or not just by looking at her.

"Yep!" Baba cheerfully wore a big smile on his face, proud of Halle as he bragged about her. "Ever hear of the infamous assassin called the Wraith?"

An intense silence fell over the room as that horrid name was spoken, and Mamoru was the first to break it. "Baba, don't tell me this kid is..."

"Seriously?" Ota snapped his eyes wide open, having heard of her too. "Halle's that crazy assassin? But she looks so cute and nice!"

Halle cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, and she turned away from Baba in a huff once more. "Again with that stupid nickname... Geez, why did you have to bring that up!"

"Whaaaaat?" Baba laughed and swung his arms around Halle, hugging her against her will. "Can't a guy brag about his friend without having some ulterior motive?"

"No." Halle shrugged him off, shooting him a glare.

"So you're that assassin." Soryu leveled his gaze with her, a little impressed. Although he wasn't about to show it on his face. "The one who starts by slashing the throat of the victim, and then lets them slowly drown and choke on their own blood?"

"Yeah." Halle bit down on the inside of her cheek, still a little flustered from suddenly being the center of attention again. "I don't know who gave me that dumb nickname, but it's stuck ever since."

"Why do they call you the Wraith?" Eisuke hadn't really heard of her before now, and he was a little curious.

Halle looked over at him with a dark, unreadable expression as her voice grew cold. "They call me the Wraith, because just like the mythical creature, my face is the last thing my targets ever see."

...

Everyone in the room just sweatdropped at that, staring at her awkwardly.

"So, back to the more important topic at hand..." Baba broke through the cold atmosphere of the room and killed the awkward silence, and he shot a glance towards Soryu. "Sor, are you okay with taking Halle?"

The mobster just kept his cold glare fixed on nothing in particular. "I don't care." He turned his back to everyone and sauntered off, heading towards his penthouse suite for the night.

"Good luck, Halle." Baba smiled awkwardly to her, patting her on the back.

Halle just heaved a heavy sigh. "Great. So now I'm on a mobster's payroll..."

Halle felt more than just a little depressed about having her freedom stripped from her. Who knew what this guy Soryu was going to have her do? For the past year that she had been an official assassin, she had a strict honor code of killing only the bad guys who deserved it. Was being Soryu's personal attack dog now going to violate her beliefs?

Ota flashed her a mischievous grin, then glanced at the door Soryu left through. "You better hurry up and follow him, Halle."

"Yeah, before he locks the door on you." Baba agreed, chipping in.

Halle's eyes just widneed instinctively at that. "Seriously!?" The expressions on their faces suggested that they weren't joking, and Halle just quickly turned and started to jog after Soryu. "Okay, okay... I'm on it."

This...was going to suck.

Ah, finally, I finished chapter two and got it up! I'm so glad that I'm taking a writing break from Pokemon to work on my voltage books... Honestly, it's so refreshing to work on something new like this, and I'm feeling so inspired. Less writer's block for me, too. Thanks guys for being so understanding, and supporting my works!

Anyways, so we learned a little more about Halle the assassin in this chapter, as well as how she and Baba were put up for auction. And now, Halle is Soryu's bitch, and things are about to get crazy XD

Read, review, and enjoy!