Leon and the soldiers were following Bando as he dragged the girl through the sand by her heel. She had given up on struggling, and instead was looking up into the eyes of all of the men behind her. Leon noticed that whenever her gaze drifted over any of the troops, they began glancing up, to the sides, forward… anywhere to escape her pitiful expression.

Then she came to Leon, walking behind all the other men. Her eyes… they were pleading with him in a way words couldn't. But he stared back, doing his best to convey that he would do his utmost to keep her safe... until she had been captured. As they walked through the storm, he offered her slight peace of mind with his soft smile.

They were passing through the trash piles now, and the sound of a siren in the distance let them all know that Kohta had been found. He'd be safe, and even if he told anyone what was happening… it'd be too late.

Finally, a soldier voiced what had been plaguing Leon's mind for the past two days.

"Is this even the right girl? She's not acting like any killer I know," He waited, but received no response, "Bando!"

While Leon was questioning the man's choice of words (he knew killers?), Bando was busy offering up a response that proved to Leon that he was unaware of what this girl even was; That there were others like her.

"And how many girls do you know with horns growing out of their heads?"

"I guess you're right…" The soldier muttered. Still unsatisfied, he withdrew a walkie-talkie and spoke into the receiver, "This is Bando Team, over. We've apprehended a female matching the suspect's description. We're located at—"

Bando spun like lightning, releasing the girl and ramming the butt of his rifle into the back of the man's head, startling everyone else.

"Don't you dare try to undermine ME!" He shouted threateningly, proceeding to smash the communication device into the sand, "I want to have a little fun here."

The soldiers stopped and gathered around Bando and the girl. Leon entered the circle to help the one who had been bashed, earning a scoff from the man's attacker. Leon scoffed back mockingly, and guided the dazed man away from the action. Bando rolled his eyes and got back to dealing with his prey

"So, I hear you're some kind of big-time badass, am I right?" he laughed in the Diclonius' face, "Let's see some! C'mon! Show me what you've got!"

The girl yelped in pain as she was thrown several meters by her hair, her punishment for her innocent and unknowing stare. Everyone else was distracted by the involuntary acrobatics, but Leon noticed the dart release itself from her shirt and lodge in the sand at his feet. He satisfactorily ground it into the beach, glad to note that it was still full of the paralyzing drug.

Bando grabbed and flung the girl again, knocking her into an abandoned boat, "Are you a cold-hearted killer or not? God damn it, DO something!"

"Nyu…" The girl squeaked pitifully; it hurt Leon just to hear it. But then he and everyone else present noticed her hiding something behind her.

"What's this now? What are you hiding back there?" Bando spat, as the soldier Leon had helped to his feet want forward.

"Careful! What if it's her secret weapon!"

Leon furrowed his brow. He already had a good idea of what the object would be… it made him feel kind of sad. But Bando was only more angered in her reluctance to show him.

"If you've got a secret weapon, you'd better use it NOW!" he roared, scaring Nyu. She turned and hopped into the boat, hiding her head and whimpering. It was so childish. Like she thought they couldn't see her if she couldn't see them?

After a few moments, she cautiously peered up at Bando over the rim. Leon smiled. She looked so… cute. There was no way she coul—

The *thud* made everyone except for Bando jump.

The reason he didn't jump is because he was the one who had caused the noise.

The reason Nyu jumped is because it was her head being kicked. Blood flew from a fresh wound in her scalp, spattering on the boat. There was no doubt she was unconscious.

"What the hell was that?" Leon shouted angrily, stepping forward. Bando whirred around and took aim at him, but Leon's combination of reflexes and shock took over. The rifle was yanked from Bando's hands and immediately rammed into his faceplate, shattering it.

Recovering from the blow, he growled at Leon. Their eyes met for the first time. Each one held the other's stare. They both, for a moment, saw the strength possessed by their counterpart. Bando with his raw force, Leon with his focused finesse.

This went on uncomfortably long, before Bando huffed and turned back towards the boat. Leon joined him, looking down at the poor girl. The Diclonius had blood pooling around her head, but still appeared to be breathing.

"What a waste…" Bando muttered, walking away from the scene, "Raito. Tie her up."

"Yessir." The soldier who had been assaulted earlier called back, jogging towards Leon and the boat.

Bando was removing his helmet and lighting a cigarette. Leon sighed and walked off to join the other three men, who had done very little besides spectate this whole time. In his head he worked out the numbers of what he was about to attempt.

xxxxx

"So, you're a world-famous assassin?" One of the soldiers asked curiously.

"Yep."

"Anyone you killed that I would recognize?"

"Yep."

There was a moment of silence during which it was debated in the man's head whether Leon was clever or a jackass. He tried again.

"…Who have you killed that I know?

Leon smirked and looked around. Bando was struggling to get a lighter working in the downpour. The soldier, Raito, was fiddling in the boat, and suddenly looked surprised about something. The rest of the men were gathered around, looking expectantly at Leon.

It was a scene that had played out before, come to think of it. In an apartment building in the United States, before this whole mess with the Diclonius.

Raito and the boat exploded. More accurately, they were ripped to shreds and flung in all directions. Blood, sand, and pieces of metal soared into the air and came to rest several feet away from where they had originally been. Before the men could react, Leon answered their previous question.

"You."

There was a strange crunching noise, and the curious soldier's eyes went blank. He slumped to the ground, dead. As he fell, Leon caught his rifle and leapt to the side, aiming at the other two troops. Bullets tore at the flesh of their legs, and the one who had managed to get his rifle unslung promptly lost it as he and his ally fell to the sand.

Bando had quicker reaction time than the rest, and both he and Leon dived for their respective pieces of cover.

From the debris where Raito had been standing moments prior rose the Diclonius. Blood trickled down her face, which was no longer sweet or innocent. Just very… unamused.

Through the shadow cast by her hair, a single eye stared back at Leon. It was unnerving in it's depth; completely lacking in compassion and seething with rage. However, Leon had a default method for dealing with angry.

He flashed a smile and waved.

"Sorry about the head wound! I paid him back for it already," he pointed towards Bando, peering disbelievingly out from behind his cover, "but you're definitely entitled to return the favor yourself!"

This earned no response from the girl, who Leon had a feeling was definitely Lucy. But she did turn her eyes upon the shocked Bando, who unslung his rifle and unloaded on her.

Leon stared in awe as the bullets pinged ineffectively off the air around her, then he noticed something else strange. The rain was impacting and sliding along the air above Lucy. Her vectors… it was quite a strange display of their practicality. Bullet-proof vest and raincoat in one!

Two large pieces of debris were uprooted from the piles of junk around Lucy, and lifted into the air. Poor Bando looked on, mouth agape. Leon didn't blame him, especially if he had been given absolutely no info about vectors before being sent on this mission. Which… Leon found somewhat disturbing. He'd have a chat with his employer about that later.

His ponderings were interrupted by one of the large pieces of metal being hurled his direction. Both of them dove for new pieces of cover as their previous ones were demolished by trash flying at high speeds.

Leon had rolled to his feet and found a new hiding spot, but Bando had clambered up and was unleashing another hail of gunfire on Lucy. "WHY WON'T YOU DIEEE?"

Still the projectiles bounced harmlessly off of the air in front of her, and when Bando's rifle emitted the *click click* of an empty clip, she saw her chance to strike again.

Her invisible arms actually were visible in a sense, as Leon could see the rain moving around them. Bando must've noticed this too, as he dove out of the way just in time to avoid one of them slamming into the ground where he had been an instant prior.

As he ran for a new piece of garbage to hide behind, Leon looked on in horror as Lucy walked almost casually over to the two soldiers whose legs he had shot out from under them. They were silent, with a classic 'deer-in-headlights' look on their faces. One of them mustered the courage to try and fight, and did his best to point his weapon at her.

The… fountain of blood. Leon had seen the aftermath of a Diclonius ripping people apart, but the actual tearing off of a man's head was much different. Crimson fluid came forth like a geyser from the soldier's stump, and his decapitated head hovered up into the air while Lucy knelt down in front of the second man.

Leon couldn't hear the exchange of words; he didn't even know if there was one or if the soldier was just babbling and begging. Regardless, his head was torn off and floated up to join the other.

The faces turned to and fro, as Lucy prepared to throw them. As the extinguished flame in their eyes - the mist of death an assassin saw so often yet dreaded so much - passed over Leon, he did his best to remain focused on surviving rather than vomiting.

While Leon was ready to dodge an incoming cranium, Bando had a brighter idea. He turned and fled through the piles of trash.

A lot happened that next second, blatantly obvious as well as below the surface. Lucy shot a glance towards Leon, which he met with the unfalteringly confident look of a man who means no harm. The severed heads fell to the beach, and all four of Lucy's vectors turned their attention towards the fleeing Bando.

On either side of the man, large metal barrels, fishing nets, crates, and other rubbish all came tumbling down in a messy attempt at crushing him. When he reached the end of the aisle between trash heaps, Bando disappeared around the corner.

Leon was actually quite nervous about what ability Lucy displayed next. Soda cans and wooden slivers were suspended in front of her, turning towards Bando. Sure, she could drop and throw things - but the unmistakable sound of gunfire hitting the soldier's cover came not from guns, but from the small projectiles. The force with which they impacted was astounding; they even tore their way through metal.

There was a brief pause during which Bando's head briefly poked out of cover. The hail of makeshift bullets began again, but when Lucy ran out of ammunition, Bando's laugh was audible over the ever-present rain. Leon knew the only things that could bring about the man's laughter were a psychotic breakdown… or he figured out what Lucy's 'secret weapons' were. But that didn't give him any more of an advantage, right? Besides, Lucy now had a shipping container hanging in the air.

Leon blinked. She was fast; it had only taken her a few seconds to silently scoop up the giant hunk of metal. It was thrown, and not-so-gracefully came crashing back to earth. Next was a racing boat covered in year's worth of sludge, pulled from its resting place in the sand.

"You know, this is actually kinda fun!" Bando hollered from somewhere out of sight, before the boat detonated. Leon had to duck to escape the rain of metal and fiberglass. A grenade launcher?

There was silence. The debris from where Bando had fired was promptly dissected and crushed, but the soldier was nowhere to be seen.

For almost a minute the only noise was the cold rain. Leon considered his options. He could keep quiet, because Lucy probably wouldn't take kindly to him revealing himself, even though he hadn't done anything to her. Would she attack him if he offered-

There was a noise from Leon's right, near an overturned refrigerator. Leon knew what was coming, and distanced himself. Lucy heard this sound too, and began strolling towards the noise. In her path were the three dead soldiers that had been questioning Leon. As she came to them, she knelt and… picked up one of their rifles!

Bando stood up behind the refrigerator, mouth open and ready to spew some form of mockery, when he noticed Lucy holding the gun and aiming directly at him.

"Th-that's cheating!" were the last words he uttered before the gunfire tore up his side, from his waist to his shoulder. He dropped his weapon, and collapsed backwards onto the wet beach.

xxxxx

Lucy's stroll towards the fallen soldier was as slow and unemotional as ever. Bando desperately struggled reach the last few inches for his gun, but was losing a lot of blood fast. She was now straddling him, looking down upon him as he panted in defeated.

Leon removed himself from cover, and silently positioned himself in plain sight of Lucy, but far enough away to be somewhat safe. She glanced up for a moment, and resigned to let him be out of either curiosity or so that she'd have something to play with when she finished with her current prey.

"Do you enjoy this?"

Leon looked up. It was the first time Lucy had spoken since she started using her vectors. Wondering what she could be referring to, he noticed that from where he was sitting, Bando had an… interesting angle right up her shorts. It could be that.

Unless… she was talking to Leon?

Noone said a word. Lucy shifted her gaze up to him.

"Me?" Leon replied confusedly.

"Do you enjoy watching these humans die? You have not done anything to help them or save yourself. So you get some pleasure or benefit from seeing them slaughtered."

She spoke so flatly, as opposed to Leon's persistent personality, which he tried to tune down so as to not annoy her. "They had orders to capture you, as did I. They... failed."

"If you have the same goals, why didn't you shoot, why not try anything? You'll soon regret your inaction."

"I'm sure I'd regret my action more." he smiled.

His smile caused none of her features to shift. "So why betray them?"

"I have had... second thoughts about you. About my life, as a matter of fact. As for these men... they put their orders on hold thinking they might be able to rape and abuse you. I think such a choice merits death."

She lowered her gaze back to Bando, "There we are in agreement."

"You.. BITCH!" Bando coughed, finally getting a hold of his gun and raising it. In an instant, his lower arm was cleanly shaven off at the elbow, resulting in even more places for blood to flow out of him onto the sand. His pained and pitiful roar rang through the night; that of a man who had never known defeat… only to be beaten by a girl with bright pink hair and shorts.

He reached up with his remaining arm, "YOU BITCH, YOU DAMN BITCH! HOW DARE YOU CUT OFF MY—"

The sound of bones breaking was never one that Leon could get used to, but this time he saw it coming. Still, he flinched. It was like the sound of a steamroller going over a kitten. Repeatedly. Not that he'd ever heard such a thing…

Pulled from his thoughts by the blood curdling scream, Leon decided to speak up again. "He deserved the first one for trying to shoot you, but don't you think you should just... end it?"

"No." The arm snapped jaggedly in the other direction, producing more horrific cracks.

But Bando was becoming furious, ignoring the blinding pain he must've felt. He screamed in rage, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU DO! I'LL FIND YOU! JUST YOU WATCH ME! I'LL FIND YOU AND TEAR YOUR GODDAMN HEARTS OUT! BOTH OF YOU!" He coughed violently, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, "YOU WILL DIE!"

He paused to catch his breath, and when Lucy's vectors lowered to his face his eyes widened in surprise. Which was convenient, because the thumbs of her invisible hands were unceremoniously shoved into his tear glands, scooping and crushing the two delicate optical organs. The now blind Bando swiped furiously at her with his stump and broken arm, letting loose an inaudible string of profanities. This went on for a while longer.

"Fun time's over." Lucy whispered, gripping the man's neck with her vectors and slowly crushing it. Leon watched in disgust as she went about her business, but she never got around to finishing.

In his flailing, Bando's broken limb managed to brush against Lucy's tightened fist. This made her jump slightly, and then she lifted her hand and opened her palm. Inside she found the object she had been tightly clinging too since Leon first spotted her. The seashell she had dug up for Kohta...

He watched as her expression morphed, and she gripped her head, stumbling backwards. She had been torturing Bando in a relatively clear spot, but was about to fall over into a heap of trash. Leon had no clue if there was anything that would actually hurt her, but a lot of the junk looked metallic.

Without a prayer or bit of logical thinking, he rocketed forward and caught her before she fell. Still she clutched her skull, screaming in pain. Leon eased himself down to the ground and let her lay across his lap. He whispered words of comfort, only now realizing that she could lop him to pieces any second.

She managed to open her eyes for a moment, and he saw the change occur within them. The pained and scarred eyes were replaced with the peaceful and innocent ones he had first seen her with, which slowly closed as she lost consciousness. He now knew what her situation was…

Her... personality had been split in half.

Positioning his arms under her, Leon lifted her and began to walk away from the scene of the carnage. Bando's screams faded behind him… the man would bleed out soon enough, but this girl was also bleeding. And she was more important.

The rain began to finally soften, which Leon couldn't help but consider symbolic as well. Now he was stuck walking down the road with an unconscious killer in his arms, needing to make a decision.

That boy, Kohta… he would've died for this girl. And they were embracing each other. But… that was the peaceful personality. Did the other one even know about Kohta? She had to… as soon as Lucy looked at the shell in her hand, she changed. But if she wasn't aware, then putting her back with the boy would be endangering him…

On the other hand, giving Lucy to the researchers would guarantee safety for the people of this town, and those who knew her. Leon could easily lie about what had happened to the men. He'd be free to what he wants after that... he could take more jobs or even retire if he wanted to! Move somewhere quiet, where Lucy could go outside without worrying about her horns... it'd be wonderful.

Leon looked down at the unconscious Diclonius. Lily would be waiting for him at home after this long day…

He had fallen in love with the Diclonius... It's possible that Kohta had as well.

And... Leon had no right to step in and tear apart a relationship involving one of these girls, who so rarely got to experience happiness.

He'd lie. He'd tell them... Yes, he shot her with the dart containing the drug, but she had faked getting hit by it. She waited until everyone was distracted, and then she tore them all apart. Leon had fought hard, he really did. He even had her on the run, pursuing her across the beach. But she had fled the town... disappeared into the wilderness around Kamakura. Getting as far from civilization as she could.

It was... perfect. They'd have no way to prove him wrong, and no way to track her.

So that just meant... leaving Lucy with Kohta. Hopefully the boy was smart enough to keep her hidden from society.

Leon looked up. He had wandered absentmindedly to the door of the inn where Kohta and Yuka lived… apparently his body had decided even before he had.

Resigning himself to the future, whatever it may bring, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

xxxxx

Took longer than planned because I wanted to figure out some future plot bits and watch some of the episodes so I could decide on what to include. :D

Chapter 10 will be the end of this sort of "introductory" arc, I suppose. Leon has acquired Lily... and they are the two elements changing the standard storyline of the series. Then some romance shall begin. And some... other things.

I would really appreciate... I dunno, maybe a little, minuscule, diminutive, tiny review! It would just make the world a brighter place, is all. xD

-TN