AN: Hey everyone. Long time no see. Well, maybe it wasn't that long but it felt like it. I apologize for the delay in this chapter and my writing in general. I got busy and it didn't help that a week or so ago I started playing League of Legends and World of Warcraft. Then time just sort of got away from me. Next thing I knew it was February and I hadn't updated anything. Anyway, thank you to the following who reviewed the last chapter:

ThePanicHour, Aka Chibi-chan, kiruchi, Hyuuga-sword, Mia-n43, Nyaaaaaaah, darkvalk, Jay, koan, megamar, priest1drago, genetic-depression, trumm12345, ElementalMiko12, The Last Poison Apple, and Lotte-oc

I saw that two of you (kiruchi and Aka Chibi-chan) guessed who Sniper was so good work you two! Not surprised that everyone is wondering what it is that The Guild is planning to do, but you'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Safe and Sound

"Sir?"

"You heard me. They will be detained and stripped of their freedom."

A figure sat at his desk sifting through reports from the latest mess involving a certain pair of blondes.

"We may not be able to do so."

"My orders will not be ignored. They will do as they are told"

"That is not the problem."

The man stopped shuffling his papers to look up at the woman standing before his desk. She was tall with short purple hair and a pair of stylish glasses.

"Go on."

"The Prime Minster has something to say on the matter."

His eye brows furrowed. "He dissuaded me the first time, but not again. I think they've made it obvious that they can't be reformed."

"He's not the only one."

"Who else?"

"Takamachi, Bannings, Tsukimura, and Gracia-Acous."

The man growled. This was the second time they'd interfered with his plans. Why did these assassins mean so much to these people? He didn't understand and frankly, he didn't really care for their reasons why. His only issue with them was the influence they wielded to back him into a corner. He hated to admit it but, those families had much more say with the government than anyone knew about. Even if he had planned to go against the Prime Minsters wishes to incarcerate the girls again, it was something else if he displeased those families as well. Like in any government, those with money could wield a lot of power if they had the right people working for them from within and those families had that. If he went against them as well, unlike the Prime Minster who had limited power, these families could make it very difficult for him to move up from his position. They might even be able to remove him from his current one. He couldn't have that. Not yet. His future plans would not be ruined just because of a couple meddlers.

Of course he had hoped this would be his chance to finally lock up the twins for good. Having them out there doing what they pleased could become an issue if they were ever got involved with The Guild again. He knew thought that Guild business was strictly kept within the Guild. There had never been an instance when those who had retired from the profession would be informed about any issues the Guild might be having at the time. This time though, things might turn out differently for them. What he was planning might force their hand and call back those they'd exiled, like Precia Testarossa and her two girls. The exile though only really held true for Precia. Normally, the Guild would have handled her as a threat and killed her. Rouge assassins were never allowed to act on their own but for some reason they hadn't stopped her, instead they let her have free reign. The Guild let her get away with things they'd never tolerate of others. Training those girls since they could walk was just one of the many rules she was allowed to break without a second thought. He wanted answers and her capture was invaluable to him. It was a setback that he couldn't contain those girls as well, but not by much. In the long run, it was more vital to make sure he didn't lose the upper hand in this situation. He looked over a file once again. Something would have to be done about them in the future. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. That meant having to talk to a certain man. He never looked forward to those types of conversations especially with this particular person.

"You know what to do."

"Yes sir."

The woman walked out of the room to give new orders. The man pushed aside the clutter on his desk. Folding his hands on the table, he looked around his office. For many years, he'd toiled in his position attempting to do more than just hiding the government's dirty secrets. Much to his displeasure, his hard work had been unrecognized and unrewarded. He was through being the lapdog of the government. Soon, it would be they who followed his commands.

xxx

Nanoha looked over at Fate and Alicia's empty desks. Once again, she and the rest of her friends had been separated from the two girls. Just like they'd predicted it didn't take long before the police along with a special police force to stormed the mall and find them. After making sure that Hayate and Nanoha were okay, they proceeded to make sure that the other girls were unharmed as well. Lindy and Shiro arrived shortly after. The two parents were relieved that their children were okay, for the most part. Fate and Alicia did receive a few light wounds to which they kept protesting when Lindy began to fuss over them.

The happy atmosphere didn't last long. One of the teams investigating found the dead bodies. Fate and Alicia did not attempt to hide the fact that they had been the ones to commit the acts. They knew they'd only have more problems if they tried to hide anything so it was best to be honest about what had happened. Naturally, their friends had been shocked. They were so shocked that they could do nothing but watch as a different team escorted them out of the building, more than likely taking them into custody again.

It's been well over a week now since the whole incident. Nanoha attributed their delay in return due to the fact that, unlike the first time, they'd actually done something that worried those who gave them a chance to live normally. Nanoha didn't know how she felt about what the twins had done. It was true that they did it in order to save not only them, but the rest of their friends. She should be grateful to them, but instead she was left feeling uneasy.

After everything had been said and done, an interrogation of the captured assailants by Shiro gave them some more information on what their orders had been. He wasn't surprised to find out that they were ordered to capture Nanoha and Hayate, what he hadn't expected was their orders to kill everyone else. In his personal opinion, the girls had taken the correct course of action. Still, Nanoha had to wonder, did they feel anything when they killed those men? Or had it been such an ingrained act that it was like breathing to them? She hated herself for doubting them after they'd done everything they could to save them.

The lunch bell rang, snapping Nanoha out of her unpleasant thoughts. She was glad for the new distraction, but she didn't really feel like eating anything.

"Cheer up." Hayate stepped beside Nanoha, giving her a friendly pat on the back. "They'll be back."

Nanoha shook her head. "That's not what has me worried. I mean, it still does but…."

"But?"

"Do you think they did the right thing?"

Hayate seemed to be caught off guard with the question.

"Of course they did!" Arisa joined her two friends at Nanoha's desk. "It was them vs us! Good vs bad! Do you think those guys would've shown us any kind of mercy if the blondies hadn't stopped them?"

Arisa made another good point. Those men hadn't shown any kind of restraint as they rained bullets on them. They had truly intended to cause them harm. Why should she feel sorry for them?

"Come on, let's get to lunch." Hayate advised. She could tell Nanoha was struggling with finding an answer to her question and who could blame her? She was also having a hard time deciding if what the twins had done was indeed right. She'd thought she'd known the difference between right and wrong but many had pointed out that the killings were justified. It was self-defense. Like Arisa had said, those men had no qualms about using deadly force against them. It would stand to reason that if they had no problems doing that then neither should they. Us vs them. Good vs evil. There should be no question who was in the right. The justification was all the reason they needed.

Hayate halted her thoughts for a moment to greet Carim, Verossa, and Suzuka who were joining them for lunch. As they entered the cafeteria, they were shocked to find their usual table was surrounded by other students.

"What's going on?" Arisa looked around trying to find some reason for the sudden gathering.

"Let's find out."

The friends followed Hayate's lead as she pushed her way through the crows of students. It had been difficult, but they managed to squeeze through the human wall. They stopped in their tracks at the sight they were greeted to. Alicia and Fate sat with their food trays in front of them looking at the crowd as if they might attack them at any moment. Their muscles were tense and their hands twitched ever so slightly as if hoping a weapon would appear.

"A-Alicia?" Hayate managed to stutter.

The older blonde had never been so relieved to see her brunette stalker. She and Fate had finally been released from their prisons. It felt far more maddening this second time around to be held alone in those cold cells. All Alicia could think about was getting out and seeing Hayate again. She didn't even question why at the time. She just knew that if she could see her again then everything would be okay. The feelings she had at that moment made her believe that she'd been right. Everything that happened had been worth it. Hayate and her friends were safe. That was all she needed.

"You're back!"

Hayate flung herself at the blonde, expecting to be shoved away like she'd always been, but to her shock, Alicia did the opposite. She'd hugged her back just as fiercely.

"I'm back." Alicia whispered into Hayate's shoulder.

"Welcome back." Hayate responded tenderly.

Nanoha was less shocked that Fate hugged her back, but it still amazed her how open Fate had become with physical contact. She was glad for the change. It meant she could give out more hugs to blonde whenever she wanted. Carim, Suzuka, and Arisa soon piled on more hugs to welcome back the two girls.

"Alright everyone, nothing to see here." Verossa figured he should make himself useful and begin dispersing the crowd so that they could have a proper conversation with their newly returned friends.

Suzuka and Carim pulled themselves away so they could help Verossa with the crowd control. Hayate and Nanoha eventually released Alicia and Fate, but they claimed the seats next to them. Now that they were back, they didn't want to be apart from them. The crowd broke apart, albeit slowly, giving the friends the privacy they needed. At least as much privacy as they could get in the cafeteria.

"When did you get back?" Carim decided to kick off the questioning.

"This morning." Alicia answered.

"We would have gone to class first but Lindy-san wanted to have breakfast with us. Alicia and I decided it would be best to spend the morning with her before coming back."

Lindy had been the most to suffer through this ordeal a second time. She'd gotten very little sleep the first time she awaited to hear what the fate of the twins would be. Doing it again was worse considering the circumstances they had been held under. Sleep was practically nonexistent since she was stuck with the knowledge that she couldn't interfere with the twin's case. Had she tried anything, her superior would have made sure she never saw her girls again. The twins wanted to somehow cheer up their adoptive mother and chose to spend the morning with her.

"When we arrived we realized it would soon be lunch. Lindy suggested we surprise you." Alicia continued.

"We had hoped to greet you as you walked through the door, but everyone surrounded us before we could do anything. Our surprise was foiled." Fate frowned slightly.

"I don't know about that." Hayate grinned. "I was still pretty surprised to see you."

"Is… everything going to be alright?" Suzuka turned the conversation serious.

Really, it was probably one of the first things that crossed all their minds once the reality that the twins were back set in. Would they suddenly be taken away again?

"We were issued a warning." Alicia revealed. "Seeing as we acted in self-defense, they were willing to give us the benefit of the doubt."

"Is that why it took so long for you guys to come back?" Arisa asked.

"Yes." Fate nodded. "They had to make sure all the evidence and testimonies correlated before coming to a decision."

The twins did not mention that even with how fast all the evidence was gathered, they still shouldn't have been released so soon. When they'd been taken into custody, it'd been very clear their case would be handled as a homicide. If anything, they were sure they'd be held for a lot longer than over a week. They knew exactly how homicide cases were handled and the length it took to make sure all possible evidence was gathered to be used against them. It was no secret that they weren't trusted at all and if they could be put away with this case then everything was going to be done to do so. It's why Lindy had practically worried herself to death about their situation. She couldn't be involved with the case since she had a personal investment in them. It came as a shock when they'd suddenly been released. Not only that, but all they were given was a warning and told that if they wanted to avoid having to go through a similar situation they needed to become official bodyguards. Once they had that they would be legally able to use deadly force. Bodyguards were given a license to kill in case they were in a situation where they could not escape without taking a life. Thus, they were left with an important decision to make. Fate already had a potential person to work for thanks to Nanoha's declaration a while back. Alicia on the other hand was going to have a difficult time deciding who she should work for.

During their breakfast, Lindy filled them in on what they'd missed while they were locked up. Much to their surprise, many people had suddenly been calling Lindy with the purpose of hiring one or both of the girls. Lindy never thought she'd hear so many people excited at the prospect of hiring the twins. It was odd but she was also pleased that others were no longer afraid of them as they used to be. Alicia and Fate had looked over the packets of applications Lindy had been sent. Shiro had even sent a packet for Fate to fill out. The younger blonde stared at the packet long and hard. Lindy encouraged her to fill it out and turn it in so she could begin guarding the younger Takamachi in earnest, but Fate hadn't decided if she should.

"So they're not going to come after you again?" Suzuka looked skeptical about what they'd been told. The twins couldn't blame her and they suspected that their friends didn't buy the entire story. It was far too convenient but it's what had truly happened. The twins had their suspicions that it wasn't just good luck that got them out of their messy situation but they hadn't had a chance to dig further into the matter. There would be a chance to do so in the future.

"No. All they asked was that we make sure to get hired properly as body guards so we would not have this same issue again." Alicia confirmed.

"Makes sense." Carim stole a fry from the Alicia's plate. "The whole, you know, license to kill thing…."

Carim winced as an uneasy silence fell across the table. That really hadn't been the right thing to say.

"So, you're looking for a job?" Hayate hoped that distracted everyone from Carim's awkward comment.

"I suppose I am." Alicia acknowledged although she wasn't sure she was completely comfortable with having to move out of her home if she found someone to hire her. From what she'd seen though, it wouldn't be a problem to get hired with how many requests Lindy received. "There were a lot of calls and files sent to Lindy for both Fate and myself."

Hayate didn't like what she was hearing. She hadn't heard about this sudden development which wasn't like her. Why hadn't she been informed that Alicia was out on the market for a job? Her request would have been the first to go through. Heck, she would've already hired her. More than likely, it was because she already had a whole group of her own bodyguards. That didn't mean she couldn't have one more though. She'd have to talk to Signum to see if there was any way to move to the front of the line with her request. There was no way she was going to let someone else hire Alicia.

The friends took a small break to get some actual food before continuing to catch up. They didn't want to go the whole school day without having had a meal. Things had been going great after everyone got some food to much on until Kyrie stopped by for a visit. Much to Nanoha's annoyance, Kyrie had gone to their table in order to try to entice Fate into filling out the paperwork to become her bodyguard. Things got a bit heated as Nanoha and Kyrie came close to trading blows, but Fate and Yuri kept the two girls at bay just as the lunch bell signaled the end of their lunch break.

Despite this little hiccup in their day, it had been great to be back in school.

xxx

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

Lindy looked up from her stack of files at Vice. He'd been sent on his 5th coffee run of the day and it was only 2pm.

"No time to sleep." The yawn that followed did little to convince Vice that his boss was alright. Despite this he handed over the cup of coffee.

Vice looked around the room. It wasn't just Lindy's desk that was full of folders and papers. Around the small space officer were boxes and boxes of more case files. From what he wasn't sure but he had a vague idea what those files were for.

"Do you need any help? Having an extra set of eyes might move this along a bit faster."

Lindy smiled tiredly at her right hand man.

"No, I want to do this myself. Thank you for the offer though."

"If you're sure… don't hesitate to ask if you need it."

Lindy waved off the dark haired man. Once she was sure that Vice would not be barging in on her again, she opened a certain file on her desk. It was Vice's employee record. The green haired woman rubbed her eyes tiredly. She'd been combing through case files, employee records, and anything that could be of use to her. During those days she'd been waiting to hear news about the twins, she'd tried to occupy her mind with anything she could. Inevitably, her mind turned towards work. It'd been awhile since she'd thought about Precia but thanks to this her mind drifted back to those meetings they had. Thinking about the woman's cryptic words, she began her search through files attempting to find whether there was any truth to the things she'd said.

She was convinced that perhaps Precia was trying to deceive and lead her astray, but she'd found that didn't seem to be the case. She retrieved every report she'd complied since starting to work on the twins' case hoping to find something more; something she might have missed. Somewhere in those files there was a link connecting everything. She needed to find it. Slowly but surely, she was beginning to see odd things; inconsistencies in reports or mysterious files that had gone missing but evidence remained that they'd existed at some point. She continued to think about all the things that Precia had told her when it suddenly clicked. There was a mole in the organization, maybe more than one but for who were they working for? The Assassin's Guild? For what purpose? To stop them from breaking up their organization? It was a possibility but that didn't explain Precia giving her hints. She was still technically with The Guild and no one ever ratted out The Guild. Not even those who were exiled or retired. The possibility of a second party being involved couldn't be overruled either.

Then there was the matter of the name she'd dropped so long ago. Jail Scaglietti. No matter how much she'd looking into the name, she couldn't find anything. It was like this person never existed, but she had a feeling it was a real person whoever it was. So far Precia hadn't given her false information so she couldn't give up on finding something just yet. There was still plenty more files to sort through. On more than one occasion, she'd wanted to ask Vice for help, but she couldn't risk it. Not with the possibility of a mole being under her command. Until she knew who she could trust, she had to do this on her own; connecting as many dots as she could. Unfortunately this meant she would eventually need to talk to the captured assassin when she ran out of pieces to puzzle Precia clearly wanted her to solve. The woman was the only one giving her hints. The problem of course was that they weren't talking to each other, at least Precia wasn't. Even now, the dark haired assassin hadn't tried to have a meeting with her. Lindy found it frustrating knowing that she would have to give into her demands in order to get her to talk. She'd have to deal with it when the time came, but in the meantime, she is going to sort through all her files and gather as much Intel as she could on her own.

xxx

"Why are we here again?" Laguna grumbled at all the chatter going on around them. Linith just couldn't pick a good place to conduct their meetings or at least a place that had less annoying people.

Linith ignored the younger girls grumbling and took a sip of her tea. She and Laguna were having a meal together outside a cozy little café she'd happened to find during one of her strolls.

"Not enjoying the lovely weather?"

"What's so lovely about it?" Laguna stabbed her fork into a carrot. "Couldn't you have picked a better place for this?"

"What better place than across the street from our assignment?"

"It's still not a good place. Others can eavesdrop."

Linith smirked slightly at that. "A lot of outsiders seem to suddenly have an interest in us these days."

"It's annoying."

"For once I agree with you."

Linith studied the girl sitting across from her. She was only 15 and already so willing to go out and do assignments with her. It was no secret that The Guild frowned upon training anyone younger than 15 into the profession. There had been some talk that even 15 was too young, but it was widely argued that by that age an individual was capable enough to make such a life changing decision. It was easy enough to enforce this rule since The Guild never took applications to become part of the organization. The Guild recruited you, you didn't ask to join. Should you be lucky to get an invitation then it was a life time bond, however if you chose to refuse, you were killed. No exceptions. They couldn't risk having someone become curious and snoop around because of misguided curiosity. Secret originations wanted to remain just that, a secret. It wasn't unheard of to have someone refuse an invitation but more often than not, many chose to join.

Others, like Laguna, were born into the lifestyle.

Linith knew that not many thought of them as human beings considering that they made a living by killing people, but deep down they were still human and because of this it wasn't so farfetched to believe that assassins were capable of falling in love. It happened but it was never an easy situation to be in not to mention the decisions that befell those that chose to have a family as well. Choosing whether or not to raise a child in that type of environment was always a difficult choice to make. Parents though had the option of choosing to give their children up for adoption so they would not need to raise a child in that type environment but they would not be stopped if they wanted to raise them in the Guild. The children raised within the Guild headquarters were taught everything they needed about life outside The Guild and about non-combative roles they could take up once they were old enough. They were never taught to become assassins like their parents but in some cases, the kids took the initiative and began to learn on their own. In those cases, the Guild would make an exception if it was unanimously decided that the minor should be given a chance to prove themselves and if the minor was 15 or older. Under no circumstances did they teach the art of killing to anyone younger than that. The child would then be trained by either their parents or by someone else depending on what kind of work the minor wanted to do.

Once they were ready, they'd perform their first real test and eliminate a target chosen by the Guild Master. If they failed to kill their target, they would have to live the rest of their lives as non-combative members of The Guild since, at that point, they would have learned things about the organization that were considered classified.

Laguna was such a child. Beginning at the age of 10, she began training herself in order to become just like her brother. The two were offspring of previous members who had died on a mission. The Guild had been raising them until they were old enough to decide what they wanted to do. Now that she was old enough to be trained, Laguna was performing her test by helping Linith with a classified mission she was given by the recently deceased Guild Master. If all went well, she'd be promoted to a full-fledged member of The Guild. If that happened, she would be the first to join without having to kill someone as an assignment. Laguna knew that whatever this mission was, it was important enough that The Guild held it above killing which said a lot for an organization that specialized in just that.

"Will I have time to finish my meal before the fireworks begin?"

"Probably not."

"Damn. I guess I won't be able to enjoy my salad."

Linith simply grinned apologetically. She couldn't help compare her young apprentice to her very first pupils not because Laguna was a bad student, but because of how she wished she could have taught the twins in the same manner. The older woman remembered when she was called upon to help train the two blondes. It was the first and only time The Guild had ever broken their golden rule. Her feelings had been mixed at the time and they still were. She hadn't liked turning those girls into weapons, but it had to be done. Even now, the training they'd received at such a young age would be the thing to save them from what was to come. The Guild was counting on them to survive even if they didn't know it. It was for this reason alone that Precia was allowed to turn them into what they were.

Would it be worth it? That was still left to be seen.

"Fireworks are starting in three, two, one…"

Boom!

The pleasant atmosphere was shattered by the explosion that rocked the building across the street from them. Laguna popped one last carrot into her mouth, unamused by all the commotion.

"What's next?" Laguna casually got up from her seat, Linith followed her lead.

"We find Quattro."

"Dead or alive?"

"It's preferred she be captured alive, but if all else fails, we do what we have to." Linith paused a moment. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"I've been training for this day for a long time."

Linith twirled two knifes in her hand as they walked across the street to the building. Laguna wasted no time in drawing out her hand gun as well. The people within the vicinity were far too panicked to notice what the two assassins were doing. They were more interested in running as far away as they could from the scene.

"Then let's do this."

AN: I know it's not my longest chapter and I apologize for that considering I made you guys wait so long. I'll make the next chapter longer to make up for it. Not a lot of Nanoha and the gang in this chapter but I gotta set up the story for what's to come. Until then, reviews are always appreciated and remember to check out my profile for updates if I go too long without updating again. I'll try not lose my focus.