Chapter VIV -

Hi, everyone. Once again you will have to re-read the end of the last chapter because I changed it slightly. I wasn't happy with the other one. I don't like ending so predictably and I am an elliptical writer at heart (not very useful I know). Also, I corrected my mistakes in the last chapter so it reads better. ( I am not going to make a habit of that as they say in life there are no second chances) However, I am terribly sorry if there are loads of mistakes in this chapter.

Enjoy.

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Hei didn't know whether he was alive or dead until a hand on his chest reminded him of what was underneath its touch. Waking up, he was unsure whether his heart had been beating whilst he was unconscious. Every sensitive nerve that was underneath the hand's warm touch reawakened slowly and the sensation spread throughout his body. His eyes painfully strained themselves to focus, zooming in and out of a grey blur.

He remembered a shrill shout and her running into the room, frantic. He remembered the alien beep of a timer, the reach of her hand, the blazing flames scorching his eyes, pain and then darkness.

Misaki must have saved him.

His eyes finally focussed and the ache in his body was next to make itself known. Misaki was suddenly all he could see; with those fire- filled eyes flickering with an ambiguous mix of worry and relief, his hand automatically gravitated towards hers and rested on it. With neither person rejecting the contact, he squeezed it hard and for the first time he had felt her reciprocate that same feeling. She squeezed back. He didn't let go of her hand. He didn't know why himself but he allowed himself to enjoy their silence. For now.

It slowly came to him that her glasses weren't on her face and that she had been glowing blue for a long time now. The world was grey around her, a strange monotone, it brought him to try and sit up. She immediately slipped her fingers out of his. He felt the centre of her attention shift from him to the voices outside of the door. People, no, police and forensic scientists scuttled past them oblivious, unseeing, unaware that they were there – Hei finally understood.

Hei looked back to Misaki to find that her eyes were blank. She turned to him and stoically put a finger to her lips and turned back to what was left of a door. She had shielded them in a shadow. How? He thought, but thinking proved painful. He must have hit his head when Misaki crashed into him before the explosion, he smelt blood. He felt her suddenly tense.

"It won't be the same without the Chief" voiced suit garbed Satiou as he walked through the opening. Konou followed after him.

"Yeah, her old man had been taking her to these department parties since she was a kid. He hasn't hosted this without her in twenty years" Misaki was unfazed and Hei realised that she wasn't paying attention to them but rather, their next opportunity to escape. She was still using her power.

"Well, what have we got here Section Chief Satiou?" Konou teased.

I told you not to call me that! That title is reserved for Misaki alone…" he trailed off, the tinge of longing in his voice almost made Hei smirk. Satiou returned to the original question.

"The military higher-ups want BK201 and the Black Valkyrie's bodies picked up. If they somehow managed to survive, we are to shoot on site. He walked to the side of the room which had the entire wall blown out. It opened up the street below. The echo's of faint screams drifted to his ears. Satiou whistled as if to reject the notion that they had any chance of survival. The irony.

The two men walked past them where Hei found himself a second or two behind Misaki's lead. She darted for the shaded side of the room and they managed to slip out. Mute and unlike herself she took a breather by the entrance of the stairs. There was no time for that. Hei ran up beside her and grabbed her wrist. It was only a matter of time before they found out that they had escaped. Misaki was practically dead weight behind him as he painfully ran down the myriads of steps. Escaping via the back entrance, they were out into the sunlight. Misaki Kirihara collapsed in his arms.

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Mina Hazuki had been sleeping… not like she enjoyed the dreamless pit that her kind had to endure, but she could at least appreciate when she woke up the pleasures of pondering on the cups that held the breast of a formidable Kirihara Misaki.

The order from Madame O had ruined that.

Instead she found herself trailing after Zero's swishing coat after climbing a wired fence, in one of the CIA's military bases, in America. They entered a clearing. Hazuki could smell them before they could even train their guns on her. In one swing of her arm three soldiers were decapitated to her right. A violet eye turned to Zero's side of the clearing to find him walking, eyes forwards whilst soldiers, who were meters away, dropped like flies. Hazuki supposed that he was efficient that way but so was she. They silently made their way inside the facility. Hazuki smelled the same stench from the man that strode in front of her that she smelt on herself every morning since the first day she killed. It was the lingering cologne of a person who repeatedly killed and had no complaints. It made working with him convenient.

She followed Zero to the front entrance he paused and she took the initiative. She sliced through the doors hinges then delivered a power kick to the door and they moved in unison into the building. Hazuki's eyes feasted on the myriads of guards that met them. Their enemies seemed to like meeting them first. She liked that, they were easier to kill. However today was not the day for a slaughter.

Both contractors waited with ease whilst the men surrounding them prepared to fire. Hazuki stood still as the first shots were fired; she stood still when they were less than a metre away, half a metre away, less than 30cm…

Hazuki and Zero disappeared from the soldiers eyes. Their teleporter had been on cue effectively allowing them to create confusion before being taken to their target - another convenience she liked.

They were already walking along the corridors of the underground levels, Hazuki being the one casually taking care on any hindrances to their mission with a quick slit of the throat.

It was unusual to see a fully focussed face on Zero and for a brief second she wondered why, after that she didn't care as they turned the corridor to find the huge reinforced door that held the every first contractor. According to Oreilles description she was the devil himself, the biggest threat to humanity, bigger than Izanami. It was the first time she had ever felt Madame Oreilles's fear.

Every government intelligence agency in the world had participated in this woman's complete isolation and had poured money into building five underground floors in order to prevent her from escaping. They didn't even fight over which country should have to right to detain her. Apparently, she decided to fall asleep, said that this world was not entertaining enough. She has been asleep for fifteen years.

Zero told her that on the other side of the door, was the most powerful force field contractor keeping up a force field with 30 dolls to enhance his power and help him sustain it; Zero said he would deal with him. When November eleven came back, he had so kindly left a piece of a meteor shard in Misaki's room, courtesy of the Memory of the future no doubt. Hazuki's job was to lodge the katana in the titanium door, with the help of the meteor core, once Zero 'disarmed' the shield. Apparently, if Blitz is awake then she will assist her in breaking down the door, if not then her sword will stay stuck in it. Why the contractor wouldn't break out themselves if they were awake was beyond Hazuki. It was more likely that the contractor was dormant – not that Hazuki knew what Oreille meant by giving her assistance when Blitz was supposed to be chained, under maximum security. It all seemed stupid and irrational to Hazuki.

With glowing red pupils Zero stuck his hand out as if to caress an imaginary object. Like a baseball crashing into a window, Hazuki was suddenly able to see the force field and then see it shatter, but she had no time. She sprinted forwards, meteor shard in her pocket and katana in both hands she ran at it, not allowing the cloud of doubt to effect her precision. The hard bang when the sword met the door made her wince but she pushed, a task that would have been impossible without the meteor shard, her muscles screaming with every inch that she managed to edge in.

It won't go in any further.

With ragged breath and sweat slicked skin she stopped pushing. Only the tip of the sword lodged in. She powered down, the light fading. It was time to wait for her assistance. Zero was unmoving behind her. If the door was somehow dealt with then the only threat left will be Blitz, the ten dolls will be unable to recreate the force field without the contractor who, according to Zero, would be passed out from the shock of having his power stopped by Zero.

Nothing has happened. Hazuki looked to Zero who said nothing, amber eyes fixed on the door ahead. As if it would open, he began walking towards the door whilst Hazuki strode in the other direction. The mission was over.

No,no,no, I didn't say you could leave Hazuki Mina. Chastised a mocking voice.

Hazuki swerved around shock- stricken eyes to the door, just in time to see the door glow a hot white, just like her contract. Then it was gone and her sword clattered to the floor.

Hazuki hadn't evolved enough to have any positive feelings or strong emotions but this… a strong feeling of disbelief grew in her stomach and she wasn't sure whether she liked it. Blitz had easily slipped into her mind, took control of her own power and then magnified it ten times and made the door vanish. She was asleep supposed to be asleep.

She caught up to Zero, staring into his yellow eyes for an answer, an explanation, an excuse even. But, when he went to the control panel in the lab and pressed the button to open a titanium shell, she found herself falling deep into an almost identical pair of yellow pits of the first contractor, who was very awake and smiling behind the glass holding chamber.

Zero grabbed her arm, and dragged her out at break neck speed. She knew it as well, the scent of a predator that was only biding its time with its prey. Hell, she was usually that predator but whatever was in the air, the atmosphere felt like it had been claimed by this woman. She turned back, a mistake that would cost them their escape because when she looked into those eyes again she couldn't move. Zero turned back too and just like that they were stuck in the contractor's domain.

Good humans the woman's voice resonated through their heads. Blitz smiled behind the glass chamber. Hazuki knew that smile but she couldn't do anything about it.

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Finally the plot is going to develop! Yay. I am quite pumped to write the next chapter. Review if you want.

Kei :)