A.N.: This chapter goes out to everyone. Don't let anyone hold you back, or rule your life. You are who you are and don't ever let someone else's views change you. Love freely, live life as you want, and make it what you want. Thanks to my little friend Potato Queen who dropped a review for the last chapter so quickly, you gave me a little jolt and I wanted to say thanks. ^^ Don't worry, Anne's story doesn't end here! I have a lot in store for her and her relationship with E-Class. An inspiration for this chapter and Chapter 5 would go out to Nightcore's versions of You Don't Own Me.

~20 Minutes Before Korosensei's Arrival~

The halls lead ever deeper into the complex, taking me further away from the outside world and deeper into the lion's den. This is where I wanted to be, closer and closer to the heart of this place. The guard's numbers grew heavier as I got closer to the man known simply as Mr. Black. I was growing weaker with each and every fight, losing stamina fast. The adrenaline I had used earlier was wearing off quickly, and I knew I didn't have long.

"Damn it...move!" I cursed at my body, feeling faint a bit. I struggled onward, doing my best to ignore my body's protesting aches and pains. Finally, I reached the huge room where the heaviest armed guards were, trained and ready for this, they showed no hint of fear or any emotion towards the dead guards in the doorway. I panted heavily, leaning against the door frame for support.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

"Bravo! Well done! You've gotten so far in so little time my dear Anne. Yet...not far enough it seems. You look like hell, why don't you just give up now and go back to your little cell and leave your mission to me now? You're obviously not up to the task like the government thought you were if you can't even get through this facility unscathed, let alone attempt to kill me in your current condition. From my guess, you should be dead soon if you go without treatment." I growled darkly, glaring at the man who was so casually sitting there, drinking a steaming cup of his favorite coffee. He chuckled, a cruel smile on his face.

"Shut up! You are one sadistic bastard, aren't you? You enjoy watching me kill your men, don't you? Do you even care if they have families, lives outside of their jobs?!" I snapped, pissed off at his careless attitude.

"Of course I do! But it's because I care that I can't let you live any longer. We have had a good run together over the last twenty years Anne, but you're old, outdated, no longer worth the resources it will take to maintain your existence. I think the government will back me up on my decision. I am going to have my men kill you now, so this is goodbye, Anne." He snapped his fingers, and all of the soldiers lined up in front of him aimed their guns at me, safeties clicking off. "Fire~"

I screeched in agony as the bullets tore through me, too many to keep track of. All I saw was a haze of red as my eyes focused on the bastard that had been my personal hell for the last 20 years of my 50-year captivity, and I lost it. A dark haze of energy formed around me, and my form started to distort, no longer appearing human, it changed, elongated, and grew. The sounds of bones snapping and reforming were sickening and even more painful with the wounds that were covering my already damaged body. I roared as I took on my true form, black, silver and white scales shifting in the light. I swung my tail in an arch, throwing all of the men back against the wall, several of them killed on impact while others were knocked unconscious. Mr. Black dodged out of the way, cursing as he slipped out a door and ran.

I growled, following him. I rammed through the wall, destroying it like it was just made of paper. I found myself outside and suddenly realized that I was grossly outnumbered and in serious danger. Guns clicked off of safeties, laser dots aimed at me from everywhere, and there were three tanks about two hundred feet out in front of me, aimed at my body. 'Oh shi-!'

I didn't get a chance to finish that thought as everyone started shooting at once. I heard a loud blast as the tanks fired, roaring in pain as the giant round shattered through my scales on my side and pierced deeply into my body. Two more hit, one on my shoulder, the other just grazing my neck as I flapped my wings and dodged it. I roared out in fury and pain, slamming my tail down onto one of the tanks and crushing it. The people in the second tank bailed out as I picked it up, throwing the now empty tank at the third one, crushing it.

I swiping my claws at the soldiers, though most scurried out my reach. I panted, then, taking a deep breath, released a belt of fire that rained down on the ground around me. Screams of the people now caught in the fire were music to my ears at this point, and I spotted Mr. Black hopping into a truck and trying to escape. He barely got five feet before I picked up his truck in my claws, ripping the door off of the driver's side, I grabbed the man by his shirt and dragged him out, dangling him in front of me.

He was scared for the first time in his life, truly, and thoroughly frightened of the being that was holding him 30 feet above the ground, fire and death surrounded him, which this time, he felt was beyond his capacity to handle. "Please..I...I don't want to die!" He begged, though it was useless, he knew I would not listen to his pleas.

I growled, claws suddenly squeezing into the man's flesh, and his screams were high in pitch as I cut the muscles in his arms and legs. Though I had damaged his body, I hadn't killed him, instead deciding to let him live to suffer being unable to walk or move ever again. I set him down on an unburning patch nearby, turning to face the oncoming troops that were armed to the teeth. A new tank drove forward, and I barely got two seconds to react when it fired, hitting me square in the chest. I reeled back, coughing up blood.

I stared in surprised shock, realizing I had made one mistake...I hadn't paid attention to my surroundings as I was taking care of Black. I attempted to make a tactical retreat, only to find I was trapped. There were Humvees with turrets behind me now, and soldiers with 50 cal rifles were strategically placed around the facility now. I was trapped, and my body was no longer responding properly, my movements sluggish as I attempted to change forms to fly away, finding myself unable to barely even do that. As soon as I was in hybrid form, I heard the hail of bullets coming at me and knew I was dead. There was no escaping this.

"Goodbye," I whispered, closing my eyes as I slipped into darkness.

~Korosensei's POV~

"ANNE!" He saw the guns firing at her falling form, and he sped to her as fast as he could, wrapping her up as tightly in his tentacles as he could to protect her body. He quickly flew away from the place, the people around them barely having a chance to realize she had vanished into thin air. "Anne, can you hear me? ANNE!" He stopped a few miles away in a clearing, checking her over and immediately was filled with horror and fear as he saw how severely she was injured. "What do I do?! Ah, hospital? No, she's in her hybrid form and they'd freak out seeing her and call the police….Karasuma! He'll know what to do!" He cradled Anne in his tentacles, holding her close to his body to prevent the Mach speeds from affecting her as badly as he rushed to Karasuma's place. He quickly banged on the door, impatient as he waited for the groggy and half awake man to answer the door. As soon as the agent saw the yellow octopus and the person he was holding, he ushered him in quickly. Korosensei was freaking out as Karasuma had him set Anne down on a table, looking over her injuries.

"What-no nevermind, I won't even ask what happened. I'm going to call her handler and have him come over. You're lucky he's in town to check on her right now, otherwise, we would be in trouble." Karasuma dialed the number of the old man. The phone barely rang once before it was answered, a soft old voice on the other end answers.

"Hello? Ah, Mr. Karasuma, how may I-"

"I need your help, Anne has been severely wounded and is in critical condition."

"Bring her to me, now. It would take too much time for me to grab all of my equipment and come over to your place."

"Understood. I'll have Korosensei bring her to you immediately." He hung up and looked at the octopus who was flitting back and forth, frantic and worried. "Snap out of it! You need to take her to this address, the old man there will help you. He is Anne's handler and has been taking care of her for the last 30 years. He knows more about her than anyone else on Earth." Karasuma quickly wrote the address on a slip of paper, which was snatched out of his hands almost instantly once he was done. "His name is Lucien Hardwick. Try not to scare the old man, if you can."

"Thank you Karasuma." Korosensei hurriedly, yet very carefully, picked Anne up and wrapped her carefully in his tentacles, rushing out the door in a blur as he flew to the address Mr. Karasuma had given him. The agent didn't even get a chance to say another word, though this didn't bother him too much since it was an emergency. Korosensei spent no time in rushing to Lucien's house, appearing at the old man's door in less than a minute, the door already opens for him as the old man was sitting in front of a gurney. "Set her down on here and let me see the damage."

He carefully set Anne down on the gurney, hesitant to let her go. The old man slowly stood up, obviously rather rickety in his advanced age. He looked her over carefully, sighing as he patted Korosensei on the shoulder. "Would you do me a favor, lad, and grab some tools for me?" He listed off several different medical tools and other items he would need, and Korosensei quickly retrieved them from around the room, setting them down on the table beside Lucien. "Thank you, now if you would be so kind as to hold her down for me. I don't want her flailing while I work on repairing her body."

"Yes, sir." Korosensei carefully wrapped his tentacles around Anne's wrist's and ankles, pulling them tight against the gurney. Lucien quickly set about tending to the more serious injuries first, one of which was a gaping hole in her side that was bleeding out. Korosensei was doing his best to carefully contain all of the lost blood in a membranous bubble to keep it stored, while the old man sutured up the torn artery with a special dissolvable thread that wouldn't need to be removed later on. Lucien was careful and quick as he tied off three more bleeds, then worked on removing the bullets and shrapnel. Korosensei did his best to be patient, watching the man work. As soon as he was done tying off the final stitches, he returned the lost blood he had collected to Anne's body, though he was aware that she had lost quite a bit, there was no possible way for a viable donation due to the fact she was not of human origin. Her blood didn't match the same as humans, the closest match being that of the rare Rh Null blood, which was next to impossible to acquire.

"As I'm sure you have noticed, there is no replacing the lost blood. She will have to regenerate it on her own. What happened to her anyway? I've never seen her return this badly injured before...and I've seen her through thick and thin over my 30 years taking care of her." The old man glared at Korosensei accusingly.

"It was not of my doing sir. She left a note though, saying that she was going to deal with the people that had held her captive." He sighed, looking down at Anne. She hadn't even woken during the entire operation, let alone moved. He gently cupped her cheek with his hand, a sad look on his face.

Lucien smiled softly, chuckling. "I'm not surprised...may I ask a personal question of you?"

"Eheh...umm...sure." Korosensei was slightly nervous at the sudden request.

"What do you intend to do with her? I can tell you obviously care about her a great deal, but I want to know that you aren't going to hurt her like the bastards that have so cruelly kept her captive." The old man was rather scary, though Korosensei wasn't too fazed about it.

"Well, you see...I do like her a lot...and well...I...want to be with her." He blushed lightly, nervous and jittery.

"You're in love with her. Don't deny it. I can tell by the way you're acting. I was in love once also, though my wife passed away many years ago, I know that look anywhere. You treat her well, and don't abuse her; she is not some toy to be played with! I have seen her suffer enough these last 30 years, and I don't want to see her heart broken by you." The man growled a serious threat.

"No, sir! I have no intentions of hurting her. I only mean the best for Anne." He chuckled, his grin returning a bit.

"Good. You can take her home now, but be careful with her. She is to remain in bed for the next three days at least, let her move around if she wants to, it'll help her heal quicker. And make sure she eats well, she has a ravenous appetite on a normal day, but when injured it is nearly double."

"Double?!" Korosensei was surprised a bit, not aware of that fact.

"She already has a high metabolism, but her body is now trying to repair itself and replace almost half of her blood that was lost today." Lucien was serious, handing him a list of foods that would be preferable for her.

"Thank you for helping her." Korosensei bowed, then stood up straight. He gently and carefully picked up Anne, wrapping his tentacles around her body protectively. "Take care, Mr. Hardwick." He practically vanished as he took off out of the old man's house, heading back to Anne's home. It barely took any time at all to reach the small two-story house, and he unlocked the door, heading inside quickly. He made sure to lock the door behind him and went straight into Anne's room, carefully pulling back the covers. He debated laying her down and leaving her be, and decided against leaving her alone right now. He laid down on the bed, carefully nestling Anne against his side as he pulled the blankets over both Anne and himself. Once the blankets were wrapped around them, his tentacles curled carefully around her as he held her close to his warm body, nuzzling the top of her head. "I'm not ever going to leave you alone like that again." He murmured softly, drifting off to sleep with Anne wrapped in his warm embrace.