Nightheart followed Lady Une to the Lab inside the Preventors compound. She made certain to keep her senses alert, taking in smells and slight tastes as she breathed as well as sights and sounds. It created a better mental map that way. She also continued to study the aura of the woman she followed, ascertaining whether or not she was a useful Normal or if she was merely a functionary. Everything she had sensed thus far seemed to indicate that Lady Une was deeply involved with her Guardians, or "Preventors" (Nightheart thought that they probably served in much the same capacity).

Meanwhile, Hunter and his remaining retinue were shown around by Fire and her partner before being taken to meet the Vice Foreign Minister. During that time Millirado took it upon himself to acquire a bit more information about their strange new enemies as well as the one who was called the Executioner.

"Your President Takahashi seemed very confident that your partner would fulfill her Mandates quickly and completely. Is she truly prepared to kill on our behalf?" he asked. Zechs was not one to mince words, diplomacy was his sisters area of expertise. Formality and social tap-dancing did not suit soldiers.

"She'll do it alright," Hunter reassured them in a surprisingly grim tone (quite at odds with his normally cheerful demeanor). "She would say that 'it is necessary that these Nightsiders be terminated for there is no other way to end their threat.' Their powers and abilities cannot be bound and they require Human life-energies to keep their Symbionts strong. The ones we're dealing with also desire power and a higher position within the Nightsider Court, possibly even the First Circle. We'll both work end their threat by terminating their lives because that is the only way it can be done."

"First Circle?" questioned Noin. "I was not aware that Nightsider Assassins had a social structure. I've only heard that they consider themselves somewhat outside of Human law."

"She told me about it and this is what she said to me. It was brought about when the Nightsiders broke away from the control of their master's and creators," said Hunter following along behind Zechs, memorizing the twists and turns of the grounds and surveying their security measures. Their technology was…well, less advanced than what he was used to dealing with. The Nightsiders wouldn't even have to use their powers to sneak past. He'd have to make some adjustments with some of his own equipment soon.

He continued: "To start at the beginning…when a test subject made a successful Transition and bonded with a Symbiont the subject was put into Conditioning. There the subject was either mind-wiped of all humanity and personality and rebuilt into their ideal Nightsider Assassin, or, if the subject was slightly more cooperative and not requiring the mind-wipe, they were simply put through a rigorous form of brainwashing."

"So these beings no longer even think like a Human being? Then how is it that your friend had retained her own Humanity?"

"From what she's told me, she was stubborn, and clever, and very, very lucky. She hid her symptoms of Transition and they judged her a dud. They were taking her out to kill her when she made a break for it. That's when she ran into me on my first mission as a Guardian, trying to infiltrate the Institute and get some information on its Black Projects. She was in bad shape…real bad shape."

"So how does their society work?" Noin asked quickly. The look on Hunters face prompted her not to pursue further questions about that particular story.

"It depends," said Nightheart. "The microcosm of their society is still pretty young, but effective none-the-less. When the Nightsiders rebelled, and broke away from the control of their makers, they originally went on massive feeding sprees, killing people left and right, and absorbing their energies to grow stronger. Slowly, out of the chaos and uncertainty of their rebellion, a structured and hierarchical micro-society grew. It was based on Power. The Nightsiders could grow very powerful based on the amount of life-energies one Drained from the innocent. The most powerful Nightsiders were the ones who had Drained the most lives, they sort of ruled over the weaker ones by using the power they had collected to control or influence or rule through fear. A Nightsider can move up or down within the structure by gathering more energies as a result of Draining more people."

"And this is where your friend stepped in and offered her services as the Alliances only Executioner?" Zechs surmised.

"Shortly before that, but yes," Hunter replied. The continued with his narrative.

"For a time they were united under the banner of Thanatos, who had started the Rebellion as a way to gain power and control. It was he who had set up the little Nightsider Conclave based on power and crowned himself king. His closest rivals are the Nightsiders in the First Circle. The First Circle was the highest possible rank next to becoming the Nightlord. Nightlord Thanatos fights aggressively and ruthlessly for his position."

"He is your greatest enemy then I take it?"

"And the only one who can match Nightheart's power," he agreed. Then he continued his explanation.

"Within the Nightsider's court structure there are Four overall levels of Power called Accumulations and within each Accumulation there are three Circles, making twelve in all. The weakest Nightsiders are the Twelfth Circle and the strongest are the First Circle. Once a Nightsider has drained enough life-energy and accumulated enough power to master another Ability he or she is allowed to move up to the next rung. To do this is not easy, for the Nightsiders in the Circle above do not want an interloper in their power, and the ones below would just as soon see the person dead so that they might get their position."

"I imagine this causes much conflict among the Nightsiders does it not?"

"Indeed it does. To prevent internecine "wars" Nightlord Thanatos introduced a policy of organized combat to control the fights that would eventually happen anyway called Challenge. Through Challenge, a Nightsider who felt that he or she had acquired enough power through the killing of innocent people to move forward could Challenge someone in the next Circle to a Fight. The fight could be one of weapons, hand-to-hand combat or the use of the abilities granted by the Symbiont to its Nightsider."

"Wise of him. It sounds like Nightlord Thanatos may have the best interests of his people in mind as well as his own interests."

"Nightlord Thanatos is a difficult man to understand. He seems to be only power-hungry and ruthless, pure evil…but he has demonstrated a desire to see the Nightsiders well-served and stable. I think he only desires this because it will serve him as well. And recently things in the Nightsider Court have been changing. A new ability has been discovered, and with it has come some terrible changes. Nightsiders have begun to diverge from the accepted ways of doing things. This new ability grants a Nightsider the power to use Nightsiders below their own abilities as…" Hunter searched for the word. "Channels? They can tie another Nightsiders power to their own and take the life-energies that Nightsider absorbs as their own; so instead of the weak nightsider getting the energies to feed its own Symbiont, the energy goes to the strong Nightsider to fuel its power."

"What happens to the weak Nightsider?"

"If the Sect-Master is relatively kind, the weak Nightsider will get just enough energy to appease its Symbiont. If not, then the weak Nightsider eventually goes into a Hunger-rage and starts draining anything that moves. As the master grows stronger, the weak Nightsider is effectively its slave, saving the Sect master from having to go out and Hunt for itself."

"Sect-Masters?"

"They broke off from the original Court and formed Sects of their own in their own territories. These sects started out as a way for those who no longer wished to pursue power within the Conclave to have their own little court and have some power and freedom of their own. But eventually these mini-courts become as bad as the Main Court, where the weak are oppressed by the strong. Those who no longer could hunt became beholden to the more powerful Nightsiders to provide them with life-giving energies. They become slaves to their Sect-Masters. The weak made the kills but their Sect-Masters have bound the weaker ones own Draining power in such a way that the energies they Drain goes directly to the Sect-Master. Even Nightlord Thanatos cannot destroy a powerful Sect-Master, and their territories are avoided by all but us. Apparently Thanatos uses Nightheart as a tool. In this instance, to rid himself of his loose-cannon rivals."

"This sounds like a dangerous thing to go seeking out. Granted, some of the abilities demonstrated by the assassin that came for Relena are incredible, but the cost is not something I'd be willing to pay no matter how powerful it made me."

"Surrendering ones past and ones humanity? Yeah, I'd say that it's a bit much too, mate," said Hunter flippantly.

*

Nightheart was shown to a chamber where ten bodies were lined up side by side on morgue slabs. Most of them were in fine business suits.

"I take it these are the victims, or presumed victims?" Nightheart surmised.

"Yes. How is it that you can tell whether or not a Nightsider takes a life? Why can't a non-Nightsider tell whether or not a victim is a Nightsider kill?"

"I can read their energy signature. When a Nightsider Drains a Human, they leave behind a signature trail of power among the currents. I can perceive their kills and their energy signatures with my abilities but a normal human would be unable to perceive this trail."

Nightheart closed her eyes and shifted he vision from that of Normal sight to where she could perceive the energies of Nightsiders and their ilk. She looked at the first victim…sure enough, there was the residual glow of a Nightsider kill, sort of like a colored glowing fog that hovered around the corpse for days after the soul had departed. It carried a unique flavor, as individual as scent, that was perceivable almost the same way.

"It's a definite Kill, and I recognize the signature…a woman who calls herself Demise. She's in the Tenth Circle. I have a Mandate for her."

Nightheart moved on to the next victim. The strange sense of energies that was not quite smell and not quite taste seeped into her consciousness.

"Another Kill," she said, looked at the rest of the bodies. "All of them are Kills, all of them done by different Nightsiders."

"There are twelve of them here in our world. There are only ten victims so far."

"That you know of," Relena qualified. "The real body-count is likely much greater. The Assassins are here in this world to build up their Accumulations, they will be out there among the general populace taking energies freely, and not just taking only from their assigned targets. That was where the Institute went wrong, thinking they could control their creations by limiting the amount of energies that they absorbed. The Nightsiders had other ideas of what they would do while they were out on their missions, they slipped off for side-trips to drain a few extra innocents. Whoever invited the Assassins over here to your alternaty is definitely getting a whole lot more trouble that they bargained for. It would not surprise me in the least to discover that they will turn on their inviters and get rid of them when they have served out their useful purpose."

"You're so reassuring," said a dry voice from behind her. Nightheart turned to face the source, she had been concentrating on identifying which of her Targets had killed whom that she had been aware the approacher only vaguely. Nightheart looked at the person, glowing with ephemeral mist churning with a rainbow of colors. Oh, she had forgotten…she was still snapped into her soul-sight.

Threat? she wondered briefly. It wasn't a Nightsider, probably just one of the people who worked there then. Nightheart quelled the Power rising to her call within her (just in case she had to blast away any attackers) and looked at the person inquiringly.

"Is there a reason why you are interrupting my work or did you disturb me only to beat about the bush wasting time playing twenty questions as you Outworlders seem so fond of doing," Nightheart asked bluntly.

"There's been another victim Lady Une," said the young man, addressing the woman hovering near Nightheart as she identified who the killers were. "The description of the crime scene matches what you said you wanted to be notified about. However, the guards outside were not choking, they just suddenly and mysteriously keeled over. The autopsy shows no cause of death that we can discern."

"Show me," ordered Nightheart. The functionary's brow wrinkled in puzzlement at taking orders from an unauthorized source, he looked to Lady Une for confirmation. Lady Une nodded.

"This young woman is a specialist that we've brought in from outside to help us with this case. She has carte blanche to use whatever resources and materials she required to fulfill her job."

"Aye ma'am," said the young man. "If you'll come with me?" he gestured before him. Nightheart fixed him with a cool look and signaled that he would be proceeding her. She did not trust exposing her back to anyone, especially not when she was a stranger in a strange land.

*

Relena covertly glanced up from the document she was perusing, a little last minute fine-tuning and editing before she presented it to the Council the next day. He stood still as a carved marble statue, posted just inside her door, Relena was half tempted to get up, walk over there and make certain he was still breathing! He had not so much as twitched a muscle for the entire three hours that Relena had been working in her…well actually, Quatre's office. His shoulders were braced against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, head down…he looked like he was asleep, but there was not a doubt in Relena's mind that he was taking in everything. He was no more asleep than she was! She breifly entertained the amusing notion of seeing if he was like one of those famous old guards in England that wouldn't blink or move no matter what one did to them.

"Heero?" she inqured tentatively. He cracked an eyelid and glances sideways at her.

"Hm?" he asked in acknowledgement of her delicate query.

"I was checking to see if you were still alive over there, you didn't appear to be breathing, or blinking and you haven't moved in hours. Don't you need something to drink?"

"No."

Relena shrugged and turned back to her work. If he wanted to go without eating or drinking while he was on duty, that was his business and not hers unless he decided to make it so. She didn't think it particularly wise, but that was his lookout. He would know better than her what his body's limitations were. He'd been there all day while she worked, the sky was the purple-blue of twilight now. Where was her brother?

"Very well, just don't keel over and hit your head on the coffee table," she said. "Blood stains are very hard to get out of carpeting." She didn't know why she needed to have the last word on the matter, but there it was.

There came a knock at Relena's door a few minutes later. Heero moved for he first time in hours (without a trace of stiffness Relena noted with envy) to go answer it.

"Relena it's us," The voice of Noin called from the other side.

Heero answered it with his customary expression of lack of joy, only to be pushed aside by Noin, followed shortly by Milliardo, who took the time to frown at him before walking over to hug his little sister. There was a third person whom he didn't recognize. Heero took some small satisfaction in detaining him. He had to endure Zech's attitude without saying anything since he was allowed to be near his sister, but this fellow had no clear call to be there at the moment, which meant that heero could do as he pleased until he was given a reason.

"We brought the Executuioner from the other Alternaty over to this one," Milliardo said. Relena looked over at the person Heero was busily ensconced in searching, patting down and running a small weapons detector over.

"Blimey mate, are you gonna give me a cavity search now?" asked the young man in an Austalio-British accent.

"Are you implying you need one?" he asked.

"Thanks anyway love, but you aren't my type," he said with a grin then sauntered past Heero into the room.

Relena's jaw about hit the floor with her tongue rolling out of her mouth to join it when she first caught sight of him. There stood one of the most handsome men that she had ever laid eyes on. He was gorgeous! Tall, lean, athletic with a robust fighters build and the hard grace of a habitual martial artist. His shoulders were broad but not overly muscular. His form spoke more of the strength that came with speed and agility rather than muscle mass, but Relena could just barely make out the chiseled pectoral muscles underneath his uniform so she could tell he was built. His shoulder length hair was wavy, raven-wing-black, and thick! Relena was immediately jealous of it, and it made her want to run her hands through it at the same time. But it was his eyes that arrested her and held her attention, he had the most incredible eyes. They were an intense, mesmerizing, impossible electric blue. A blue so utterly incredible they seemed to glow from the inside. And then he smiled. Relena had never seen such an incredible smile on a man before, she felt like she was going to melt into a pile of goo right then and there, and she couldn't help her audible gulp.

He was clean shaven and dressed…rather strangely now that she looked at him. He wore boots, then nondescript dark pants. Over that was a dark charcoal-grey…tunic? Held to the waist with a matching belt with an ornate buckle in matte-black. Under the tunic was a long sleeved shirt slightly darker grey than the tunic and over all of that was a long calf-length robe-cloak of a strange material Relena knew she had never seen before. It almost seemed to shimmer part of the time, like it was going to reflect light, but it never did.

"Ah, so there's the lovely Lady we were sent here to protect… I'm Hunter Kylaran milady," he said coming forward to kiss her hand in a courtly gesture. "My life is yours if you should need it."

Relena absolutely could not help the blush that crawled its way up to her cheeks. She shyly averted her eyes and when she finally found her voice she said

"Let's hope it never comes to that." The she swallowed, clearing her throat and her sudden attraction at the same time she said. "So you're the Executioner?"

"Who me?" asked the young man in his charming accent. "No, I'm only her partner, or if you asked her, her tag-along. The alliance picked me to keep an eye on her. She's out hunting down her first Targets now, but she'll be along later. No, I'm here to hold down the fort as it were. Doctor Ishora is already setting up facilities to accommodate Nightheart."

"Nightheart? She? She's a girl?"

"Yes," said Hunter simply. "So, no offense here miss, but you look a little young to be a politician."

"You look a little young to be a warrior," Relena replied.

"Touché," he said, flashing another dazzling grin at her. Relena was suitably dazzled. "Well, I'm not technically a warrior. My main mission in life is to patrol the borders of Terra-Dome, Mars Colony and Space Nation, to look out for the interests of peace and the welfare of the Alliance as a whole. I don't actually see any good fighting action unless all other avenues have been tapped out. I'm primarily an information gatherer. My organization has been nicknamed "The Eyes and Ears of the Alliance." A very fitting description if you ask me."

"Sounds like the Preventors," said Relena. "Can I offer you some tea?"

"Oh, I love tea, but not while I'm on duty. Perhaps a trifle later luv."

Heero had spent the entirety of their exchange glaring at the newcomer, (who seemed spectacularly oblivious; was Heero losing his touch? Nah, couldn't be.) cleared his throat ostentatiously and said

"Show me your clearance, proof of identification, passport, visa, and travel papers as well as your assignment forms," he demanded.

Hunter noted that the young man in the green tank-top not only looked displeased to see him, but also had a glare that was a rival even for Nightheart when she was using her abilities to frighten someone into conformance. That was scary. He had also kept his body between himself and the young woman at all times, hovering just within lunging-reach of Hunters neck. Hunter knew, with his deeply ingrained, born-and-raised-on-the-streets instincts for survival that the lad was not one to take lightly.

Well, neither was Hunter. If it came down to it, he had no objections about taking the obviously battle-hardened youth out for a scrap in a bar. Then they'd see who was the bigger fish.

Hunter presented the forms with a small show of reluctance. He noted that the guy frowned in momentary puzzlement when Hunter handed them over.

I guess they don't use plassies or holo-plas flimsies for their documents here, thought Hunter. He spied the paper on Relena's desk. Paper? From trees?! What a waste! This Alternity definitely was not as technologically advanced (or environmentally conscious) as Hunters own.

Heero handed the papers back to Hunter with no further comment.

"Heero, this man has been assigned here to help us," Noin said. "Please try not to kill him off casually."

"I'd appreciate that too," said Hunter lightly. "I've always rather objected to dying stupidly."

"Hunter Kylaran, this is Heero Yuy," said Noin gesturing to the man who had turned his glare up a notch.

"Heero, Hunter…you two boys play nice." Noin said, exactly as if the two of them were her own cadets. Relena was attempting to repress a small smile.

Hunter could never resist pushing his luck. His mother had told him that it would someday be his downfall, and he agreed that she was probably right. But still, he had to test the limits of other peoples' patience, because it was just so damned amusing to see them give into exasperation. He loved outsmarting people too. It was just so much more interesting when people were reacting exactly as he predicted they would. Oh, he wasn't manipulative, well, maybe just a little… but he liked to think of himself as more mischievous. His prods and pokes at other people nevr had malignant intent, he just liked to see what the limit of their patience was.

"You heard the lady, play nice. That means why don't you go burn a hole into someone else's forehead with that glare of yours for a while? And that reminds me, what's your level of clearance…I demand to see your authorization. I have been assigned by the President to protect this Vice Foreign Minister and I do not take kindly to being harassed by subservients! Who's your commander? Get them on the phone for me. I oughta have your badge for that…just snatch it right off your jacket."

Relena watched in a mixture of surprise and amusement as the dark-haired man turned the tables on Heero so fast her head swam. A chuckle at the new boy's antics almost escaped her, he was amusing company at least; he rather reminded her a bit of Duo. Heero, however was not quite so amused. In fact he had a rather trusty answer to when situations changed on him so suddenly, and a surefire way of shutting almost anyone up.

~kla-chleck!~ His trusty gun was simultaneously loaded, cocked, and aimed at the irritating pest from the next world. Hunter only grinned and said

"I've seen worse. Point that pea-shooter someplace else kid."

"Uh-oh," siad Relena. She had never seen any one openly insult Heero before. If she moved quickly, maybe she could stop things before the new guy got pounded into a bloody pulp fifteen minutes after meeting her.

CRASH!

The sound of breaking glass and something heavy thumping onto the floor near her window disrupted their little "conference" the lights went out, exactly as they had last night before the Assassin attacked her. The shadows seemed to dance while the heavy velvet curtains billowed in the breeze from the broken window.

"You boys certainly don't waste time," said Hunter, drawing out what looked like some weird form of weapon from a holster at his side.

"Hunter!" the shadows hissed. "You should know by now that your weapons do not kill me."

"Maybe not, but I know they certainly take it out of you for a while. Weaken you with the need to heal your bodies and recharge your Symbionts. Nightheart says she can't wait to find you by the way."

And with that, Hunter fired at the heart of the shadows, but only ended up blowing a burn into the walls.

"Damn! I'd forgotten how fast they move," he cursed. He turned to the boy who'd been about to kill him only a moment ago. "Get her out of here. Myself and these two," (gestured to Noin and Milliardo) "Will draw him off, or at least attempt to hold him back for a bit. Get her as far away as you can. Get moving!"

Heero didn't hesitate, but grabbed Relena's arm and hauled her through the doorway at their backs while Noin and Milliardo tipped over the desk to use as a shield and barrier from behind which to fire. They hauled out their pieces and fired whenever the shadows moved.

"I can't see him!" said Noin over the sound of gunfire, and the odd noise that Hunter's plasma weapon made.

"Keep firing," sias Milliardo and Hunter at the same time.

Heero was running down through the corridors of the large estate house dragging Relena in tow.

"Heero," *gasp* "can't we," *pant* " just rest," *gasp. "For a minute?" *gasp* she said as he hauled her by the wrist at a speed much greater than she was accustomed to traveling. Her breath was coming heavily, not that she was out of shape, but running wasn't really her thing. Plus, she was getting a stitch in her side.

"No," he said. Not unless she wanted to end up dead that was…he left that unspoken comment hanging in the air. Relena said no more for a little while. Heero dragged her down the long corridors and at last found a room he felt was defensible. Relena could have cried with relief and exhaustion at this point. Her legs felt rubbery and her chest was burning.

She crouched in a corner panting and gasping for breath, while Heero set about making the room a little more defensible. Barricading the doors, checking his clip. He pushed Relena behind an overstuffed couch and told her to stay there and be quiet. He crouched in a defensive position over her, gun drawn and ready, listening for the slightest sound of the approach of his enemy.

His old mentor Odin Lowe had once told him that most of a war was spent waiting. When he'd been young and had not actually taken part in a battle, the advice had not made much sense; now he knew better and had learned how very true those words were. The old military saw about "Hurry up and wait" was alive and kicking in 199.

Relena fidgeted a bit and made as if to get up probably thinking the coast was clear. More people had been killed based on that assumption than he cared to think about. He shoved her back down into her former position and shot her a feirce look in th dark that plainly said 'you don't move, until I tell you to move.' She meekly regained her former position and continued waiting silently. After a few minutes of what must have been to her unbearable silence she looked as if she were about to say something but before she could Heero gestured sharply that she was to remain silent. She subsided and he returned to watching the door like a cat at a mouse hole.

The shadows in the room started to dance once more and another eerie voice pervaded the air.

"You cannot escape me little mouse," said the voice. "I know you're there. Your little Normal can't protect you either. There's only one person who can be our downfall and she's safely behind in the other Alternity. Your vital essence is mine."

Crash!!

The door flew inward and crashed against the opposite wall. Heero started emptying his gun into the silhouette framed against the doorway.

Crash!!

The tinkling of glass from the window being smashed in joined the sound of gunfire. There was another invader coming in through the window! This one was glowing with a strange misty-white light shot through with tiny stars. Unnatural. It had to be a Nightsider.

So Heero opened fire on that one too. Nothing was going to harm Relena, not while it was his mission to protect her.

The new Nightsider turned to fix him with a glacial look of utter disdain. He stalked over to where Heero stood. Heero continued firing, and watched as its torso jerked back with each shot, but it simply kept coming, and it did not look pleased with Heero for his efforts.

"Give me that you stupid Geshkana!" he…no, it sounded like a woman. Heero's eyes widened in shock as the Nightsider took his gun and crushed it one handed, like a beer can.

"Sit down before you hurt yourself," she said haughtily. "And stay out of my way."

She shoved him to the ground over Relena and turned her attention towards the Nightsider.

"Executioner Nightheart…What a surprise to see you here," said the other Nightsider smoothly.

"Nightsider 1137, alias-codename Havoc," she stated seriously. "I have been assigned and authorized by the Alliance to terminate your existence for the acts of killing you have perpetrated. My Mandate has been signed and sanctioned. As the Executioner it is my duty to kill you."

"Oh that was lovely, can we have a round of applause for her little speech?" he asked of the room in general. Then he turned to her. "You are welcome to try to little bitch, but I'm not going to lie down and let you." He lashed out at her with a bolt of power collected from his accumulation pool. It bounced harmlessly off Nightheart's shield.

"I know." Nightheart looked calm and unruffled. "You're Sixth Circle, no sense of style, no finesse, which is why you'll never make it very far. In fact, your life path ends here. If you wish, I will give you a quick and slightly more honorable death. You may face me in combat with blades."

"I'm going to lop your tiny head off that scawny neck of yours Executioner," he promised her, and drew his weapon a hook-bladed thing that was sharp on one side and came to a wicked looking point which was serrated on the other. He came at her, not giving her a chance to draw, and Nightheart merely stood her ground, blocking his clumsy swings with the edges of her wrist-sheath gauntlets.

You aren't so tough," Havoc sneered. He actually did. "I'll bet the only reason you've beaten all of those others is because you wouldn't meet them in open combat."

"You are not the first who has said this," Nightheart informed him, her face devoid of anything but concentration on his next move, reading the telltale signs of his muscles and body.

The guy didn't have a prayer, Nightheart reflected after a few minutes of having read his moves and assesses his skill level. She could have beaten him when she was but a green child studying the Art in her Homeland. He was unskilled, uncoordinated; he used power and brute strength instead of his wits and fine-tuned control, and he had too much pride in his own meager abilities as a Nightsider to believe that he could be beaten. He relied too heavily on his Nightsider abilities without having learned to discipline necessary to harness those abilities to their fullest potential.

Nightheart continued to fight him using minimal effort. After all, the night was still young and she had eleven others to track down and eradicate still, it would be wise to conserve her energy.

"Stop toying with me!" he screamed at her.

Oooh, and impatient too, she noted.

"Very well." She sprang at him, a deadly shadow like a panther pouncing on its prey. She put one hand on his chin, the other on the side of his head and twisted. In an ordinary human, such a move would have snapped his neck, but for a Nightsider it was a moments inconvenience. However, a moment was all she needed.

Shiing! The sound of a blade being drawn was followed quickly by the sickening sound of flesh and bone and cartilage being cleaved into. There came the sound of something wet splattering against the wall. Blood most probably.

"Kresh'tak! He got blood on my working uniform, I just got this one today too," the Nightsider Executioner muttered in annoyance.

Heero looked over the rim of the couch to observe what the Nightsider was doing. She was knelt by the prone form of the Nightsider that had been hunting them and he watched as she put her left hand onto his forehead, right where the third eye would be. Her hand started to glow with a misty white light shot through with tiny stars that danced…no, flowed, like a river being absorbed into her skin. For a moment they both seemed to glow, then the luminescence faded from the Nightsider called Havoc and all that was left was a dead empty shell. The Executioner knelt there, shuddering for a moment.

"It never gets any easier," Heero heard her murmur to no one in particular.

The Executioner leaned on her weapon, a long staff curved and recurved blade that glowed along its edge (some form of energy weapon from the other Alternity perhaps) and looked around for the Nightsider's head which she had severed from its shoulders. She found it and picked it up by the hair.

Relena whimpered in fear, loathing and disgust at that particular sight. Nightheart looked over at the couch in curiosity and it was at that point that Hunter, Milliardo, Noin and Quatre rushed into the room calling frantically for Relena.

"I'm here!" Relena cried standing up. She was soon wrapped up in relieved hugs.

Nightheart tossed the head of the dead Nightsider casually to Hunter.

"Here, go bury that or something," the strange Nightsider (who must have been the Executioner they'd sent for).

"Nightheart, people already think you're weird enough without you proving them right by tossing heads about like that," said Hunter, pained expression of long suffering on his face. "So just for the duration of our stay, could you not go casually throwing around dead body parts please?"

Nightheart gave a small shrug.

"Sure, whatever you say." She glanced over at Hunter Kylaran with a small smile. "What about live ones?"

Hunter saw the gun that Nightheart had crushed and picked it up.

"Hey Nightheart, look at this," he said holding up his prize. Nightheart looked over at him. "An old-fashioned slug-thrower. I saw one of these in a museum me mum and I went to once...of course, we were breaking into it at the time…"

"Slug?" she questioned, looking down at the bullet holes in her torso. "They look nothing like slugs, more like painful bits of metal."

Hunter looked over at her, standing there casually, bleeding.

"Nightheart, you really should let Doctor Ishora have a look at you."

"Why?" she asked, smirking as the bullets one by one fell out of her chest wounds and the flesh started knitting itself back together.

"Show off," Hunter muttered.

Nightheart ignored him and turned instead to Heero, growling in annoyance.

"Friendly fire isn't!"

Heero nodded once. Acknowledged.

His Alternaty was being over-run by predators from another dimension, and now he had to deal with an arrogant bounty-hunter and her-too-cheerful-to-be-real partner. As if his life wasn't already complicated enough just dealing with the strange stirrings that Relena caused within him (which she seemed to be perfectly oblivious to). He'd heard of set a thief to catch a thief, but he wasn't so sure about this Executioner… Sure, she killed the Nightsider Assassin sent to kill Relena, but how could he be sure that she wouldn't just decide to cut her losses and join up with the other Nightsiders in this Alternity?

I don't trust her, he thought looking at the slight form of the Executioner. She should be monitored. I'll have to send a watcher after her on her next mission to make sure about her. He knew precisely the right person, perhaps the only person besides himself he'd trust for a job like this.

But in the meantime, he had a princess to protect.

End Chapter 4

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Disclaimers: See Chapter 2