For the second time in three days, III was stalking a girl through the streets of Heartland.

'I need to stop this before it becomes a habit,' he muttered, and laughed softly at his own joke.

Further up the street, Anna was pushing through the crowd of people, heading towards one of the several entrances to Heartland's central area, the massive carnival at its core. Behind her, Kyubey was crawling through the crowd, staying out of her sight, but close enough that he could easily engage her once more.

'Okay,' whispered III, 'here goes nothing.'

There was a flash of light from his seal, and time froze around him. He leapt around the still people and ran over to Kyubey, grabbing it and vanishing back into the crowd.

As time resumed, Anna was happy to notice that the constant whispering of that cat-creature had stopped. With any luck, she thought, it would go bother someone else now.

'Kaito-sama!' yelled Orbital, wheeling into Kaito's hospital room at high speed. 'Oh, Kaito-sama, are you alright?'

'Do I look alright, Orbital?!' yelled Kaito in response. 'Where were you?'

'I was checking up on Haruto, as you requested,' said Orbital. Kaito relaxed.

'How is he?' he murmured.

'He's still in a critical condition,' moaned Orbital. 'He was badly hurt by whatever those bastards did to him, despite your victory.'

Kaito frowned. 'Maybe they aren't all that bad,' he whispered, remembering III protecting his brother and his monsters over himself.

'What?' cried Orbital, spinning backwards in surprise and colliding with Homura, who was walking in.

Homura looked down at the robot with distaste. 'You're a very clumsy thing,' she stated.

'Hey, watch your mouth!' protested Orbital.

'She's not wrong, though,' remarked Kaito.

'As you say, Kaito-sama,' said Orbital, chastened.

'Maybe you should go get your boss something to eat?' suggested Homura. Orbital looked at Kaito, who nodded back, and Orbital rolled out of the room, head bowed.

'I'm sorry about him,' said Kaito to Homura. 'He's been in the family for years, he's all I really have left of my parents.'

'Your parents are dead?' murmured Homura. Kaito laughed.

'Well, you could say that,' he replied. 'To be honest, the few memories I really have of my parents aren't that welcome any more. And even when Haruto was born, it was more like one day he wasn't there, the next day he was.' He frowned slightly. 'Heartland knows my parents, though,' he muttered. 'Or at least one of them.'

Homura raised an eyebrow. 'And what about those number guys?' she asked. 'Do you know anything about their parents?'

'You mean, III and IV and V?' replied Kaito. 'Yeah. Their dad used to work with mine, but I think he's dead now. I don't know too much about it.' He shook his head. 'Not sure I want to, with the way that they're acting now.'

There was a clicking sound, and Heartland's chamber went dim.

A huge sphere appeared in the centre of the room, and the aged face of Dr. Faker, Heartland's sole superior, appeared upon the screen.

'Heartland!' said Faker, and Heartland bowed. 'How goes the Carnival?'

'Everything is in place for the finals,' replied Heartland. 'And from what I am told, the hunting is going brilliantly for Kaito.'

'That's excellent,' declared Faker, before noticing the worried tone in Heartland's voice. 'Is something troubling you, Heartland?' he asked.

'I heard a name today,' replied Heartland. 'One that I have not heard in a while. "Tron".'

'Tron?!' repeated Faker. 'Tron? That was… that was the name of the project that I was leading to open the gateway to the Varian World… with Byron and Kazuma…' The blood rushed out of Faker's face. 'Impossible…' he whispered. 'That one of them could be alive… Why did you hear this name?!'

'Gauche asked me if I knew it,' replied Heartland. 'I felt that I would not be able to get any further information from him, so I dismissed the question.'

'Well, find out how he knew it!' commanded Faker. 'I do not want anything interfering in the collection of the Numbers! And if either of them… Byron… Kazuma… are alive, then disposing of them must be our top priority!'

Heartland bowed, then added, 'And if one of them is indeed alive, then would you say that they may be behind the attack of Haruto's life?'

'It is a possibility we cannot dismiss!' replied Faker. 'I want your best people on this – no.' His eyes glinted. 'I want you on this, Heartland. I do not want you to rest until you have found this… Tron… and destroyed him!'

Heartland bowed again. 'As you wish, Dr. Faker,' he said, and the sphere vanished and the room went dark.

III returned to the Tron family's second building, a small abandoned art gallery on Heartland's outskirts, Kyubey in tow.

'Why are you taking me?' protested Kyubey, agitated, but III ignored the creature as he walked into the building's central hall.

'III!' came a laugh from nearby, but the voice was cold and twisted. III turned slowly to see IV limping towards him, leg somehow healed and eyes glowing with a strange red light.

'Nii-sama?' replied III, startled.

'You look worried, III,' said IV contemptuously. 'There's nothing wrong, I just got Tron to give me a bit more power so that I'd be able to interact with this creature of yours.'

IV leant down so that he was at eye level with Kyubey, and Kyubey stared back into his cold, glittering eyes. 'What are you?' whispered Kyubey, and IV laughed insanely, a violent, piercing laugh.

'I,' declared IV, grabbing Kyubey and holding him by his tail, 'am your new master, Kyubey. And you're going to tell me all about these contracts of yours.'

'Why do you want to know about the contracts?' asked Kyubey.

'You said you'd turn III into a Puella Magi,' replied IV. 'And why would you want to do that?'

Kyubey blinked. 'I turn people into Puella Magi so that they can fight witches,' it replied.

'"Witches"?' repeated IV. 'Do elaborate.'

'They are creatures of pure chaos and destruction,' replied Kyubey. 'They live to inspire fear and hate in other, and feed off of their misery.'

IV smirked. 'And would it be possible to capture one of these witches?' he asked. Kyubey blinked again, startled.

'Why would you want to capture a witch?' replied Kyubey. 'Well, I suppose it could be possible, but only a Puella Magi has the ability to defeat a witch, and most of them would rather kill the witches than attempt to capture them.'

'Oh, I think I know someone who could help with that,' stated IV dismissively, before turning to III and smiling again, a cold, vicious smile.

III looked back at him with wide eyes. 'Nii-sama?' he whispered.

'How'd you like to make a wish for me, III?' replied IV, and his eyes flared red.