Turns out I didn't have that much left to write up! Whoo!! Any how, enjoy this and tell all your friends!! I'm sure I lost some reads while I was out for a year. Again, I'm really sorry for just up and leaving without a word I'll try not to let it happen again!!!

Voices filtered through the door late that morning. One of them was high pitched and whiny, making Andrea grind her teeth as she sat up on the couch. She wasn't surprised when she heard Vash's voice as well; he was always in some sort of trouble. Whoever this lady was, was going to get it for interrupting her sleep.

"-I've seen you do stupid things before but Vash, how could you be this irresponsible!

"Meryl please-"

"She's a child for crying out loud! A child!"

"Meryl please, this is the most responsible that I've ever been in my life. I can't tell you why, you just have to trust me."

"Now why should I do that when-"

"Oh she's adorable!" Both Meryl and Vash closed their mouths and looked at Millie, and then over Vash's shoulder to see what she was looking at. Andrea was standing in the door way, not having one of the happiest looks on her face.

"Sorry if we woke you Andrea," Vash stated, turning to look at her, "we were just having a discussion about you. This is Millie and Meryl," he pointed to each. "They're going to be following us around now so we– I -don't get in trouble." So that's the annoying one's name, Andrea thought. She glared at Meryl until what Vash said sunk in and then she glared at him.

"It's not my fault," he said in his defense, "And it usually works..." She kept glaring at him, she had been tolerant of the humans so far, mostly because of promises that Vash somehow twisted out of her, but she would not let a couple of humans follow her around no matter what the reason.

"Don't worry Andrea; it's not going to be for long. They're only going to be here until they get reassigned."

"Actually Mr. Vash, we've been permanently assigned to you now, isn't that great!" Millie exclaimed with a large smile. Andrea glared more as Vash stood speechless.

"This means we'll chase after you twice as hard when you ditch us."

"D-ditch? Oh no, I'd never do that, you must be thinking of someone else." Vash responded as he waved his hands in front of him. Meryl walked up to him and poked him in the chest.

"We're on to you Vash; don't forget we know all your tricks already." She poked him again, "so don't even think about trying to leave without us." With that, Meryl turned and headed down the hall for the room she shared with Millie.

"Nice to meet you Andrea." The tall girl announced as she followed Meryl. It was only when the girls where gone when Vash regained his voice.

"WHAT!?" His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Andrea glared daggers at him and went back into the room, locking it behind her. "Hey! Andrea open up!" Like all beings locked out of a room, Vash jiggled the handle and rattled the door. It of course did not work. "Andrea c'mon, open the door, my stuff is in there." She refused though and he gave up after a minute. He trudged to the room the girls were staying in and knocked on the door. He only said one thing when Meryl answered. "Andrea locked me out."

A few moments later, Andrea sensed Meryl at the door. She did not make any movement that indicated that she would leave her book, another that she was "given", and open the door. The standard handle jiggling and door rattling did not faze her. The clicking of the lock opening did make her look up though and she was almost stunned to see the short woman walk into the room.

"Vash locks us out of his room all the time, especially when he's trying to ditch us." She explained, holding up the lock pick that she purchased early in her adventures with Vash. Andrea glared at her. How dare a human intrude on her like this! Meryl ignored the glare and put the lock pick away. "Anyway, Vash and I have been talking," The aforementioned gunman magically appeared behind Meryl shaking his head. Oblivious, Meryl continued talking, "and we believe it would do you some good if you had more of a feminine influence in your life." Oh yes, this woman was not going to last long here. She didn't need any type of influence that came from a short, high pitched, annoying woman that did not know how keep to herself. Slowly she started to get up, she was going to take care of this woman right now.

"Meryl maybe you should leave." Vash stated, "Andrea doesn't take kindly to being told what to do."

"Gee, I wonder whose fault that is." The woman shot back shortly before putting a hand to her head. "Great, now I have a headache. Thanks a lot Vash." She turned on her heel and left. Vash couldn't say anything to defend himself so he closed the door when the girls left again.

"Andrea stop it, please. You can't go around trying to kill everyone you see, it's rude. I know she can be annoying at times but she means well. She's only trying to do her job and she kind of grows on you after awhile." Vash sort of smiled at the latter, as if he thought it was ironic or something. Andrea on the other hand thought she was going to vomit. Why did Vash have to get so…mushy, when it came to humans?

She chided herself, Vash was trying to distract her and it was working. Concentrate on killing the human. Vash continued to try and talk Andrea out of it; he had to before Meryl was seriously hurt. If anyone was killed while Andrea was in his care-

Ignoring Vash and slowly killing Meryl had the plant child's attention averted sufficiently enough that it wasn't until he was thoroughly in her head that Andrea realized that Knives had found her. She didn't care if he did or not, but she like being out in the open, and not behind those awful compound walls. She quickly pulled in her powers. If she was lucky he wouldn't have pinpointed her location yet.

Vash, sensing her power lessen stopped talking. He knew now that she when she did that, she was hiding from Knives. He was almost slightly grateful that he had chosen to search for his apprentice at this very moment. He would never know he had just helped a human though.

"Andrea please, just give her a chance, you get used to her after a while."

----

Knives grew furious. His desk cracked as he brought his fists down upon it. How could she?! How could she be with that sorry excuse for a plant that is his brother? He had yet to feel something like when she started to hate humans, but with Vash's influence who knew what her current opinion of them was. His desk fell to the floor in pieces. No, this was not the place to take his anger out. He had to do something else, something that would agonize Vash as well. The humans, he had taken his frustrations over Andrea's disappearance by making the humans go out into the desert and then killing them. He had only done one or two places so far but, but now he would show Vash exactly what it meant to get him angry.

A commotion outside got his attention. About a hundred yards away a large group of people stood, members of the local peace keeping group, whatever they were called. Among them was a giant of a man, at least twelve feet tall, with a green Mohawk. He was trapped from the neck down in a steel box.

"Legato."

"I have already sent Grey, Hoppered, and Mid-Valley out to meet them." Legato answered, anticipating his master's question. Knives nodded even though no one was there to see him. The giant man was released from the box. His right arm was missing. In its place was a robotic arm, no doubt made specifically for throwing the three, six foot plus metal boomerangs sitting in a cart next to him. When he threw it forward, there was an explosion a split second before he released, and the boomerang gained even more momentum. It was also at that very moment that the other members of the group opened fired upon the mansion.

Indeed the three gung ho guns that Legato mentioned had indeed gone out to meet the intruders. Grey the nine lives had gotten hit by the first boomerang and knocked back while Hoppered and Mid-Valley were lost in the spray of bullets. Some of the aggressors were using explosive ammunition and by the time they ran out, the mansion was in shambles. Only the area with Knives' office remained intact. The rest was just debris now; it looked as if some horrible disaster had come through, which technically was true.

The man with the Mohawk stepped forward carrying the remaining boomerang. He went through the wreckage, inspecting certain areas more thoroughly than others. Knives watched from his office window as Grey jumped out of the debris to kill the giant. Mid-Valley and Hoppered reappeared to and made their own attacks. Knives quickly got bored though and told his subordinates to fall back. He counted how many were left, about forty. Good, there were more than enough left. He grinned, it was sadistic, and demonic grin. The humans below suddenly lined up in a row and walked for the container the now deceased man with the green Mohawk had been transported in. They were struggling and trying to figure out what was going on but of course none of their efforts were fruitful and they crawled up the ladder on the side of the huge crate and jumped in. There was no room for forty people, but they made themselves fit. The cries of the dying hadn't even faded when Knives gave the order to gather up what was left and move to a secondary base that Knives had made prepared just in case.

Knives left the crumbling remains of his office, he had liked it so. Oh well, he didn't have time to dwell on material possessions he had to find Andrea. Yes, he knew she was with Vash but Vash's location was one thing he didn't know. He had been in her mind completely, but he couldn't tell how far away she was, or what direction she was in. Their powers didn't work that way.