A/N: Two years after Jo died, Meg has taken on her mantle as Tokyo's top bounty hunter. But things are never so simple. Hired to investigate a new street drug named Blaze by a mysterious benefactor, Meg will find a lot more than she bargained for. Can she stay alive long enough to keep her promise to Jo and find someone to protect?

Burst Angel: Someone To Protect

Prologue: Stand-in Angel

--- Name: Miles, Donavan

Age: 34

Place of Origin: Unknown

Offence/Crime(s): Petty theft, robbery, arson, assault with a deadly weapon

Status: Pending termination under zero tolerance policy, Counter Crime Act (4th Revision)---

Somewhere in the rusted and discarded innards of RAPT's central executive mainframe. In the remnants of what had once been the headquarters of the stabilizing force of modern Tokyo before it had been reduced to so much rubble a little over two years ago. A solitary screen hung suspended over a yawning chasm by a thin stretch of wire, still displaying the last update on the criminal its operator had been reviewing just before a large section of the ceiling above him drove him and most of his console through the floor during its realise from its former duties.

The screen flickered briefly as one of its wires eased a little closer towards snapping, eventually compensating for the reduced current and returning the display to normal.

Had it the capacity to do so, it might have realised how pointless its continued adherence was, and allowed itself to fall, but such things are beyond a simple monitor to think on.

Still, it would continue to do what it was made to do until the display of this information became unnecessary.

Little could it have known its purpose would soon be fulfilled.

Miles Donavan was not a native of Tokyo, or even Japan for that matter.

His exact place of birth was long forgotten, even by him thanks to the use of a wonderful new drug he had discovered while here on vacation with a small group of friends.

Blaze was ingested into the body via the eyeball, and actually absorbed into the protein structure of the irises before entering the bloodstream.

The effects varied from person to person, but the generalresults to expect included a boost in mental capacity, pushing the most average of people into the realms of gifted or genius level intelligence, but only for the first few minutes.

The drug didn't stop there however, it continued to increase the mental faculties of the user until they began to surpass the body, what some users had described afterwards as the development of a meta-intellect, a kind of borderline psychic ability that made it seem as if the observer was able to influence the world or problems around them without physically interfacing in any fashion.

It was the greatest rush anyone could ever hope to experience, a sense of expansion and wonder so vast it usually overwhelmed everyone who used Blaze, leading to blackouts, hallucinations or in extreme cases, brain death as the mind shutdown under the strain.

Miles could only wish for a shot of the stuff now, his eyedropper had long since run dry and he was fresh out of inspiration.

As he crouched behind the remains of a burned out car in the cool evening air, the sun edging closer to twilight by the second; he tugged his flimsy coat a little tighter around his scrawny shivering body, racking one hand through greasy blond locks as wide, bloodshot green eyes darted back and forth across the barren, dusty landscape of the junkyard he was currently hiding in.

There was no sign of her yet, but there hadn't been the first time she had shown up either. One moment he had been alone in the small alley he had then called home, looking mournfully at his lonely dropper and wishing he had had the forethought to use the last of it to come up with a plan to make a little cash, the next she had been standing over him, staring down at him with those sad blue eyes hidden amongst a mix of long red hair and fury collar of her thick red bomber jacket.

Even without Blaze kicking up his faculties, he had no trouble recognizing the rather large and sinister looking guns secured in the heavy looking holsters on either side of her shapely hips, in themselves making up the majority of the covering for her lower body.

Deciding that the guns were reason enough not to stare for to long he had plastered on his most appeasing smile and tried a little civil conversation, not noticing at first that she wasn't responding to a word he said.

When his mouth eventually wound down, she had only asked him one question: "Who is selling Blaze?".

Just that and nothing else.

She didn't exactly strike him as the drug type. Hair and general appearance were too well organised, poise too confident and ready, speaking of someone at the top of their game, not a person who is only firing half their neurons because their brain is fried.

Suspecting that she might not have the best of intentions toward his dealer, bounty hunters were becoming more and more numerous in wake of RAPT's fall, the citizens and even the government needing a trained force ready to counteract the latest waves of crime, Miles had pretended he didn't know what she was talking about.

She had smiled sweetly at him, making her look so much like a young girl out of her element for a moment, that he didn't notice her draw her gun until she had crouched down him front of him and placed it against his forehead.

As he had trembled, she had quietly told him how much she usually liked acting, chatting about some of her favourite actors like they were old friends, not a homeless washout and a gun totting child.

She was young, that was something he noticed even in that situation, probably not even in her twenties yet, but her eyes, even as she giggled at her own candour, held the look of someone who has had something very dear to them taken away.

When she tired of her game, she asked him again, making it clear when all he did was open and close his mouth silently that she wouldn't hesitate to kill him, and childish features or not, her eyes told him she was serious.

Apparently there was still a viable bounty out on him, his records having survived the destruction of RAPT somehow, and she planned to collect unless he offered her information on a bigger target.

He had spilled everything he knew at that point, which was very little, and she had let him go.

That had been two days ago.

He had been on the run since then, not wanting to risk her deciding he was better dead anyway and returning to finish the job.

However it appeared all of his concerns were for naught, as she had found him again anyway.

Why, he didn't known, and would prefer never to find out, which was why he was hiding here.

His head snapped around as something tumbled noisily down one of the mountains of scrape around him, echoing loudly amongst walls of mechanical refuse and making it impossible for him to figure out either the source, or location of the noise.

He hunched a little further down.

Was she out there somewhere, taunting him? Why bother, he was nobody. Even if his information had been inaccurate, was there a reason for her to come after him personally like this?

Was he worth more than he realised or was it because he had dared to utter the other name for Blaze, a name none of them were supposed to know and were forbidden to use?

"Thousands of questions hide a single answer", he muttered to himself, eyes feral as he tried to discern whether he was still truly alone in this silent monument to industrial malfunction.

Another crash, this one closer spooked him from his cover like a startled animal, sending him sprinting across the open courtyard, arms pumping frantically as his poorly conditioned body huffed and wheezed, straining to keep up with demands it hadn't faced for months.

A single shot range out amongst the stillness, shattering all hopes of escape even as it ripped through bone and tendon before exiting via the front of his lower leg in a minor shower of blood.

Pain paralysed his throat as he tried to scream and everything pitched to one side as shock removed his ability to process what he was seeing and experiencing.

He felt the impact, jarring his wounded leg and sending him into fresh spasms of agony as he rolled over to clutch at it, instinctively attempting to staunch the bleeding.

He cursed aloud, at volumes his scratchy voice was ill suited for, only stopping when exhaustion robbed him of the power of speech.

"I'm sorry for doing that", he froze, emerald eyes lighting on the source of the voice as she crouched near him, monster of a gun in one hand, and her chin resting on the other, her face seeming genuinely apologetic, lending a surreal air to the whole encounter.

"W…Why?", he managed to choke out.

Again she looked sorry for a moment, but this time her face hardened before she spoke.

"You lied to me. There was no one at the location you gave me. I warned you what would happen if you lied… I hate liars", her gaze turned distant for a second, before she shook her head resolutely, returning the full intensity of her sapphire gaze on him.

Coming from a face like hers, it should have been like watching a kitten attempt to appear intimidating… but Miles felt only fear.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I didn't k-know he wasn't there a-anymore", he pleaded with her silently to believe him.

She nodded slowly, taking him by surprise as she smiled at him reassuringly, "It's ok, I believe you".

As she stood, the look on her face saying she was lost in thought, the blond reached into the tattered remains of his coat, his hand closing over the grip of the small object concealed therein and levelling it at the bounty hunter.

"D-don't move", his voice shook as he tried to maintain his aim, the ancient glock in his hand wavering slightly, "P-put your g-gun down".

The look she gave him was unidentifiable, but she made no move to either escape his sights or to disarm herself.

"I was going to let you go…", she spoke in a voice he could barely hear, "Why? Why do something that means throwing your life away when you could just walk away? Can anyone explain it to me… please".

Miles had no idea what she was talking about, but he knew what would happen if it ever got out he had betrayed his supplier and the rather unsavoury man ever found out about it.

If he didn't kill her, he was as good as dead.

She hefted her weapon, pointing the barrel square between his eyes.

"Don't, I'll shoot, I mean it!", his voice was bordering on hysterical as she surveyed him in a disinterested fashion, only her eyes ever betraying the unfeeling mask.

"Are you sure you can? It's not as easy for us as we think, taking the life of another…you never really realise it until you have no other choice", her aim was steady even as his arm began to protest, shivering and shaking profusely.

He barked a laugh, not knowing what he found funny but unable to stop himself.

The wind picked up, tussling her long auburn tresses as it trailed out the lengths pf the scarf she wore behind her like a pair of cotton wings, the setting sun behind her making her seem to glow with an unearthly radiance as he lay in her shadow.

Miles was dumbstruck by the image, all thoughts of resistance banished in an instant.

"An Angel…", he whispered reverently, feeling the grip on his weapon loosening.

With the sun behind her, he couldn't see her face, but her voice was full of sorrow when she spoke.

"No…I'm just standing in for one…", there was the sound of a hammer being cocked back.

Unable to hold back any longer, Miles let loose the bubbling laughter that had been welling up inside him, letting it overrun his drug addled mind.

His gun hit the floor with a puff of dust and a dull thud, as his mirth rang out in the evening air, dancing with madness.

His vision blurred as the tears ran down his cheeks.

The hammer fell, and the world vanished in an instant of pain and a clap of thunder.

As the criminal's lifeless body hit the dirt, bouncing lightly before going still, Meg lowered her weapon, the muzzle of the gun still smoking lightly even as the musical tinkle of the round casing striking the ground filtered in over the ringing left over from the discharge.

Wordlessly, she stared at the corpse of her bounty, not really registering the dull throbbing in her wrist caused by the recoil of the oversized handgun.

It started as a small shiver in her upper arm, an unwilling clenching and relaxing of her bicep that rapidly expanded, soon encompassing her entire arm.

The weight of her gun fell from her unresponsive hand, clattering loudly before coming to a rest by her feet.

"Why…", she whispered to the breeze, her words unheeded be the effaces of rotten steel around her.

A single tear traced a solitary path over one pale cheek.

"Why can't I do this, without crying?".

There was a flurry of electrical activity as the RAPT database processed the information being uploaded into its core system from an external outlet, the impersonal software taking no note of the personalised algorithms or the display picture of smiling, chibi, pony-tailed girl as the foreign program proceeded to bypass all of its security protocols as it had time and time before.

The update complete, it sent a message to the appropriate station and in a nanosecond the display was updated with the new information.

--- Name: Miles, Donavan Age: 34

Place of Origin: Unknown

Offence/Crime(s): Petty theft, robbery, arson, assault with a deadly weapon

Status: Post-Human: Terminated…---

There was a sharp crack as the few remaining cords snapped, this new image vanishing as all power and data input to the monitor was cut off.

The terminal sighed as it powered down, releasing heat as it plummeted to its long deserved rest.

---Author Notes---

I watched this series a while ago, and recently brought the DVD's so I could view it again and found myself inspired to dabble in the realm of fiction for this universe after a long and ongoing stint writing exclusively Love Hina based stories.

Obviously this is only a prologue so that explains the rather brief nature of this segment, but things should pick up in Chapter 1.

R and R people

Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell