"I can't believe we are being kept in a cell just like the other stinking, high profile criminals these guys have caught." Aelita looked out of the inch thick glass door and pouted cutely, brushing back a strand of her pink hair.

"I can't believe we got caught at all," Yumi grumbled, glaring daggers at the guard that passed by. The guard seemed to speed up as he caught Yumi's glare.

"True," Aelita said, scowling at the ground. After a moment she added, "And I can't believe that we were supposed to bust into the organization that our other mission partners were working for. I suspected it when we got there, of course, but how coincidental is that?"

Yumi didn't answer as she kept her eyes glued to the walkway outside. She didn't feel like talking. Instead she rubbed her wounded arm, trying to get rid of the dull throb of it that was always present.

What had gone wrong? Yumi finally had decided that her failure in this mission would have been inevitable, unless Jeremiah, Ulrike, and Odd hadn't been there that night. But they were and there would have been no way to defeat them, not with a whole floor or maybe even building full of other agents. And she had never considered Ulrike that big of a threat, that good of a fighter…

Somehow, she found herself worrying. Not exactly about Ulrike, but more like what Ulrike would think of her now. Would he be unspeakably angry? After all, Yumi had lied to him. And they had just started to barely get along too. Or would he be haughty and smug and be like all I-told-you-so? After all, he had caught the infamous Dark Beauty. Yumi started getting angry just at the thought of that. Of course that would be what he was doing. He would go bragging to all his stupid buddies about how he had gotten lucky and caught them in the act…

Suddenly, the muffled beeping of a keypad was heard right outside Yumi and Aelita's cell. Both looked up as one and there stood Ulrike and Odd. Yumi, in spite of herself, had a quick intake of breath. Speak of the devil… Ulrike still had his sunglasses on and looked as stern as ever. Yumi immediately brought up her guard, letting her dislike boil over…whatever she had been feeling.

The door swung open slowly and Ulrike and Odd filled the doorway. Odd said something to the guard, who hesitated. Then Ulrike said loudly and impatiently, "It's not like we can't take them, as we have already proven." Then the guard reluctantly left the reunited four alone.

Yumi looked up at Ulrike and narrowed her eyes at him when he said, "Come with us." However she bit back an instinctive retort of, "Why?" and stood up. Aelita looked at her partner, amazed, for a second but then stood up as well.

Ulrike then leaned into Yumi and said very softly so only she and Aelita could here, "And don't even think of escaping, because it'll just make it harder on you." Yumi glared at him even harder as she and Aelita followed the two men out of the cell.

Yumi let them lead her and her partner for a while, biding her time. She already fully planned to disobey what Ulrike said to her, even though she was curious of where the two men were taking them. However, it wasn't like Yumi to miss out on an opportunity to get free. As soon the four of them had created enough distance between them and a particularly large group of guards, Yumi pounced on Ulrike from behind, hitting him hard on the back of his skull.

Ulrich was knocked forward and he swore while grabbing onto his sunglasses to keep them on. Yumi was already running past him swiftly, Aelita on her tail. He turned to see Odd lying unconscious on the ground, a lumping already forming on the back of his head. Even though he didn't want to, Ulrich yelled for some nearby guards to attend to his knocked out partner. Then he took off at a sprint after the two escapers.

The guards caught onto what was happening pretty quickly. A multitude of them started to give chase after Yumi and Aelita and a lot of them tried to stand in their way and cut them off. Yumi merely smirked at their efforts. She and Aelita plunged right into the thicket of guards, punching, kicking, and smashing left and right. As Ulrich neared, he had to dodge a few guards flying out from the brawl. Then, he himself dove in, searching for the one and only Dark Beauty.

He found her using the butt of one of the guard's guns to knock out another three guards that were busy fighting Aelita at the moment. Immediately, he barreled toward her and knocked her from the main fight, the three unconscious guards dropping to the ground at the same moment. Yumi gritted her teeth and felt her back jar as it hit a metal railing. Immediately she tried ducking to throw Ulrich off. Ulrich already saw it coming, however, and didn't lunge at her, instead letting her spin away.

"Hello, Dark Beauty, otherwise known as Yuliana Imshi," he said, panting and glaring at the beautiful girl before him, tense in her fighter's stance. He hated himself for thinking that she was beautiful.

"Spare me the pleasantries," Yumi said, glaring back harder at Ulrike before her. "I just want to beat you in our rematch and get out of here." Suddenly, she had to turn around to fight off more guards that had come up behind her. Ulrich took advantage of the distraction to grab the Japanese girl around the waist, just as her kick felled the three guards that had come up behind her.

Yumi, outraged that he was so close to her, grabbed one of his hands and yanked it off of her, spinning around at the same time. She found herself face to face with Ulrike, their hands clamped and right in front of the both of them like they were a couple in some twisted soap opera. Yumi hesitated, feeling his warmth seep into her hand, her fingers, her skin…

"I told you not to try and escape," he whispered to her.

Yumi snapped herself out of her immobile state. "Well, too bad," she said calmly. Suddenly she spun around the other way and her foot caught Ulrich full in the face with a spinning back kick. He flew backwards and knocked into some guards that had been approaching them from that direction. At that moment, a pink haired blur leaped over the four men in a heap on the ground and joined Yumi, panting.

"I was finally able to fight them all off. Where do we go now?"

Yumi gestured for the door to their left that was now visible. "The exit," she said, and started to sprint again toward the door. The both of them knocked aside the last few guards that tried to stop them. As they neared the door, it slid open, revealing the blackness and coolness of freedom. Suddenly, just as they reached the door, both of them fell flat on their face.

Insanely angry and bewildered, Yumi pushed herself up quickly to a sitting position and looked back at what had tripped her and her partner. She found a leg stuck out behind her. Then she looked to see that the leg belonged to a grinning Odd.

"And you were so sure you would get away too," he said, giving them both a radiant smile. He was holding an ice pack to the back of his head, but he looked like he was having a jolly good time.

Then both Yumi and Aelita once again found themselves surrounded by pointed guns and guards. Yumi sighed and got back up, admitting defeat once again.

A/N: Just a quickie. Sorry about there being no dividers and being so short. It's all one scene, so the dividers would have just screwed up the rhythm. Thanks for reading!