After clearing the security gate, I drove into the parking garage and quickly found a parking spot. I grumbled as I pulled off my gloves and stuffed them in the pocket of my jacket, Emi barely having time to secure the helmet to the bike before following me out of the garage and to the entrance to the Silky Doll. "I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner," I grumbled.

"Think of what sooner?" she asked.

"Of course Nene would've been the first logical person to go to. She's the hacker. But Sylia, she's the one who's got the big guns. She can help us figure this out."

"But Nene seemed like she was trying her best to find out information about me. What makes you think Sylia could find out?"

"I've watched enough crime shows with Linna and Nene growing up to know that when they can't ID a body, they usually find a clue that'll help them out. Like if an arm was broken and had screws holding it together, there's a serial number on those screws that they can trace, and find out who those screws were put into. Maybe there's something like that in you she can find."

"You mean she has a scanner or something?"

"Exactly."

"But just because I tossed that guy to the sidewalk…that doesn't mean anything, does it?" She looked confused. "You've been acting paranoid since then."

"LOOK at you! You're tiny! How can you do that if I can't, if Linna or my mom can't?! There's no way! You've got, like, no muscle on you! Unless you're a Boomer…" I chuckled. "That's ridiculous. Or you have cybernetic enhancements. Yeah, that's a laugh. I'm part metal and I don't have any superhuman strength, but I didn't want any. Just wanted to be normal, just wanted to walk again. That was good enough for me."

"I'd like to find out who I am," Emi admitted, scuffing her sandal against the sidewalk. "But if I did have family who missed me, wouldn't they be looking for me?"

"Yeah, but to be fair, I HAVE kept you inside most of the time."

"That's true, but…but I've decided something." She straightened up. "Even if there is family looking for me, I've decided I don't want them to find me. I like living with you. You're my family. You're my big sister! I wouldn't want anyone else!"

I sighed and smiled, scratching the back of my head. A sister?, I thought. "I like you too, Emi, but you can't stay with me forever. It's already been four days. C'mon…let's go inside and ask Sylia for help."

She nodded sullenly and followed me inside. Aside from two customers looking at a five-for-5,000 yen sale on panties, there was only Nene, who was sitting at the register reading a magazine. She looked up when she saw us, and immediately brightened. "Oh, Yumeko, Emi!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk with Sylia."

"Is it about Emi? You know she's not going to have the time for that."

"Something happened a little while ago and I really need her to check Emi out!"

"What happened?"

"I flipped some guy over my shoulder," Emi replied nonchalantly.

"Masahiro," I clarified. "He couldn't even get up when we left."

Nene blinked and eyed Emi. "You did that? But you're so little!"

"I did," she insisted. "And Yumeko thinks it's strange. I don't know why."

"I already told you why!" I huffed.

"I still don't think Sylia's going to do it," Nene said, shaking her head. "She's got important business to worry about, and you know what I'm talking about."

At that moment, Sylia stepped out of the breakroom, and walked up behind Nene, eyeing me and Emi curiously. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked with a smile.

"Sylia, I need a favor," I said. "I need you to take a look at Emi here."

"Yumeko, I don't have time for this."

"Can we discuss it in the breakroom then? Let me make my case before you throw me out, ok?"

She sighed. "All right," she said, letting me step into the breakroom. After telling Emi to wait outside, we both sat down, Sylia lighting a cigarette. "What do you mean by take a look at your friend?"

"I'd like you to do a scan on her."

"A full-body scan?"

"Yes. I've had her for four days and she's been perfectly normal up till today. She flipped Masahiro over her head and made him bounce off the sidewalk! And you see what a waif she is! And you know even I can't pull a stunt like that!"

She took a drag. "And?"

"What do you mean 'and'?! You see her! You don't think that's just a little bit weird?! It freaked me out!!"

"You know people are capable of certain feats of strength when they're threatened."

"Masahiro wasn't even threatening us. He just put his hand on me and Emi took it a little personal. But that's not the only thing. Her personality…changed. She's been nothing but sweet, but when she was talking – threatening – Masahiro, she sounded…she just sounded ruthless. It wasn't her at all. And then she turned to me and asked when we were going home, like nothing happened. I thought…you could help me figure out just who she is."

"There was no build-up to this?" she finally asked.

"No. It was like a switch went off in her head, then turned back on when she looked at me again. It was kinda freaky."

"You couldn't find anything on your own?"

"Nene couldn't find squat. Look, I'll make it up to you!" I declared, standing up and planting my hands on the table. "I'll even repair Monsoon myself the next time I wreck it!"

Sylia put out her cigarette, even though it was only half gone. "I will hold you to that, whether or not I find anything on your friend."

"I know. Do a scan, draw blood, whatever. I just want to help her out."

"And put your idle fears to rest?" she added with a smirk.

"I wouldn't call them fears…uncertainty, maybe."

After telling Nene to watch the store for a little while, Sylia, Emi, and I headed down to a part of the basement separate from the hardsuit bay. It was a sort of pseudo hospital bay, which included the body scanner, which, since it was shaped like a tube, kind of resembled an old MRI machine. In ten minutes, Sylia had Emi changed into a paper gown and was explaining what she was going to do.

"Once I have you lay down, I'm going to sedate you for the procedure. I'm going to do a full body scan on you, to see if I can find any identifying marks that will help us find where you came from." She smiled. "We're here to help you, ok?"

Emi smiled. "Thank you, Miss Sylia. I appreciate what you're doing."

Sylia had Emi lay down on the table, and took something out of a nearby drawer. Seconds later, she was sticking a long needle in Emi's arm, injecting her with a clear fluid. Emi just blinked and didn't move, didn't make a sound, even when Sylia removed the needle. "You'll feel sleepy momentarily."

"Ok."

Sylia and I stood there until Emi's eyes started to droop, then slowly closed. We left the room and went to the monitoring room, where we could watch her through a screen. After pressing a button, the table slid into the tube, and monitors on the board lit up as they began scanning Emi for anything and everything that could possibly identify her.

I tensed my hands and fidgeted, feeling uneasy. As much as I wanted to keep Emi to myself, protect her from the world, I knew it couldn't stay that way. I'd treated her to a day of fun, and now we had to get back to the business of helping her find her home. What had she expected, anyway, when she was wondering if her family was looking for her? Was she expecting them to broadcast something on the news? Of course they wouldn't; there were far too many missing people in Tokyo to dedicate two minutes of a news slot to just one of them. Then the other families would be asking for their two minutes as well. Then the powers that be may as well have set up a network dedicated solely to telling stories of missing persons. However, most of those people didn't want to be found. In one sense, Emi didn't either. But on the other hand, she needed her sense of identity. All she had was her name, and someone she wanted to call her big sister.

I wanted to give her something more. I wanted to give her something that I personally wasn't able to give her.

I just had to tell myself it was for the best…

"We have a problem," Sylia declared, frowning. "I'm going to call Priss and Linna." She abruptly left.

"Huh? Sylia?" I blinked, startled, confused. Why would she leave like that? What was the problem? The machine wasn't broken. Emi hadn't woken up. What would make her want to call Linna and Mom?

I stood up and looked at the main screen on the board. "I guess she really did freak Sylia out. What did she see on here?"

Most of the text on the screen was gibberish, scientific speak I didn't really understand. But one line, right in the middle of the screen, caught my attention. It made my hands start to shake, my knees threatening to give out under me. I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead, and I licked my lips, trying to wet them, but in vain. They'd gone dry.

"She's not…"

Memories surged up inside my head. Times when I felt like I was being watched, the time I'd had a knife plunge into me four times, being left to bleed to death in front of Linna's apartment complex. Times I'd wanted to kill the culprit again and again. The time he showed me what it was like to kill my best friend.

My stomach lurched into my throat, and I had to practically dive for the trashcan, barely making it in time. I tasted the soumen noodles all over again as I hurled them into the trashcan, gagging, dry-heaving when I couldn't throw up any more. I felt tears come to my eyes, burning in the corners.

"No…she's not…she's…not a…33D…"

I'd thought the information Genom had on me was lost when we attacked the Tower in San Francisco. Nene had deleted it all, and left a nasty virus in its place. I'd seen her do it. There was no way she could have missed anything. Genom had sent Emi to kill me. I was sure of it. It couldn't have been a coincidence that I found her down the street from my apartment. Her memory loss? It was a joke! She was here to kill me!!

"Fuck no…no…" I cried.

I heard the door open. "Yumeko?" Sylia said, followed by a small gasp. "Are you all right?"

"She can't be a 33D!!" I bellowed, slamming my fist into the floor. "She can't be! Genom can't still know who I am! Nene got rid of all that! She made sure of it!! How do they still know?!"

She helped me to my feet, handing me a tissue to wipe my mouth with. "Calm down. Don't jump to any conclusions just yet. You mentioned she'd lost her memory when you first brought her up."

"That could be a farce! Just to pander to my good side!!"

"It's possible, but let me check her memory banks. I can find out how far back her memory goes, see if she has a mission implanted in her brain. I'll check on that, but in the meantime, get yourself a glass of water."

I reluctantly left the room, and went down the hall to get myself a glass. I gulped it down, the cool fluid soothing my raw throat, but not the raw memories that had popped up in my head at the sight of the line that said "MAKE/MODEL: ASSASSIN BOOMER, BU-33D." After all the hell Boh had put me through, I'd managed to kill him, and a year later, in the other world, I got a chance to do it again. I'd thought I hadn't needed to worry about Genom anymore after we hacked into their network and deleted their info not only on me, but from Mom so many years earlier. Of course it was likely they'd backed it up somewhere, but they hadn't tried a personal attack on me, not since then. I'd thought I was safe. But even now, over a year after that battle, maybe I wasn't so safe after all. I was still afraid, even now.

Even now, still terrified.

I was still shaking when Linna and Mom arrived. Nene had gone into the monitoring room to help Sylia run more scans on Emi, while Mom and Linna stood outside the door with me, making sure that I didn't go in there and try to kill Emi with my bare hands. The urge was certainly tempting. I'd taken care of her, let her stay in my apartment for four whole days. I'd befriended her. And to think, she'd had more than ample opportunity to kill me. Of course she'd seemed friendly! She was a 33D! She was supposed to seem harmless! Boh had seemed harmless too, and in the end I had never thought that I could hate someone so much. And now Emi…

"I never would've thought she was a Boomer," Linna admitted. "She just seemed like a sweet girl wanting love from someone."

"An affectionate Boomer. Who woulda thought," Mom quipped.

"I'm probably the first person she saw after she lost her memory, besides those guys who tossed her from the truck, if that's what really happened. Of course she latched onto me," I grumbled. "Damn it, just my luck to take in a Boomer."

"You didn't know," Linna said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You were just helping someone in need. If you knew, would you have still left her out there?"

"…I don't know. She's just…too human, too naïve to be an assassin. C'mon, she even blurted out to Masahiro that she was a virgin! Nobody's that forthcoming!"

"Well, if she was forthcoming enough to admit something like that in public, then I think she would have told you if she knew she was a Boomer. Someone who says something like that really has nothing to hide. I think Emi's been entirely forthcoming with you."

"At the same time, who'd admit they're a hired gun sent to kill you?" Mom queried. "And you'd be a hell of a bad hired gun if you became attracted to your target."

"Attracted?!" I protested.

"They both have a point," Sylia interrupted, standing in the doorway to the monitoring room. "But I'll agree more with Linna. There's nothing to worry about, Yumeko. Nene and I did a complete, thorough scan of her brain and memory bank, and there is nothing there that is older than Sunday night."

"Did…she really get dumped from a truck?" I asked.

"That was true, yes," she said, nodding. "The next question we need to answer, of course, is why the men in the truck would decide to get rid of a 33D who's apparently functioning perfectly, and without a mission. 33Ds are far too valuable to just set on the street and leave it to fend for itself."

"Do you think maybe those guys are going to come looking for her?" Linna asked.

"It's possible."

"But why would they ditch her to begin with?!" I said loudly. "They couldn't have ditched her because of something she knew, because her memory got wiped! There must be something else! Was she stolen or something?"

"Her memory was probably wiped for good reason," Sylia deduced, holding her chin in between her thumb and forefinger. "She knew something before that they didn't want her to risk spilling to someone else. And they dropped her off in a spot where they knew she could fend for herself until they needed her again. I'm only speculating at this point, but that seems like the most likely theory going on here. We need to figure out what it was that she was privy to before her memory was erased."

"Is there any way to recover those memories?" I asked. "Are they backed up in her brain somewhere?"

"No. I'll have to run her serial number, which I found on the back of her collarbone, to get her history, what missions she's done. We might get an idea then."

Nene came up behind Sylia and tapped her on the shoulder. Me and Linna both grimaced when we saw how pale she was. She was stark white. "S-Sylia," she said, her voice almost in a whisper. "You're gonna want to take a look at this."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's Emi…"

Sylia followed Nene back inside, but since she didn't tell the rest of us to wait outside, Mom went ahead and followed her in. After a moment of consideration, Linna and I followed suit. Emi was still in the tube, but Sylia and Nene were both hunched over one of the screens on the monitoring board, mumbling amongst themselves and pointing. "I'm not sure I can take any more," I groaned. "What is it?"

"Take a look," Sylia said, moving out of the way. Me, Mom, and Linna leaned over and looked at the monitor. It was an outline of Emi's body, and the screen seemed to be indicating something was inside her.

"Looks like there's a mass in her stomach," Linna observed.

Sylia pressed a few more buttons, and brought up a more detailed image of the thing that was inside Emi. It was roughly oval-shaped, about a foot long or so, and looked to be warped, like it used to be a perfect oval but then got misshapen somehow. She nodded towards the screen to the left of the one we were currently looking at, and brought up an image of what was apparently the OMS.

"Holy shit," Mom gasped, looking from one screen to the next. "There's no…no way…"

"They do look similar," I agreed. "But…that can't be…"

"It's no tumor," Nene said sullenly.

"This, ladies," Sylia declared in a low voice, "is the OverMind Control System. Emi has fused with it. She has absorbed it into her body cavity."

"But…but how…?" I stuttered. This explained everything! The chef Boomer at the fast-food place suddenly going faster…and the Boomers we'd been fighting last night suddenly shutting down! Emi had been watching the news, so she knew about them! She'd made them shut down! But had she been aware of it at all? That's what I wanted to know. But of course she didn't. She couldn't have been… "God…I had it the whole damn time…shit!! Shit!!" I stomped my foot. "I've had the OMS for the past four days?! How the HELL?!"

"I don't think she's aware of any of this," Sylia said. "33Ds don't fuse with things on accident, so her absorbing the OMS was an entirely deliberate action. My guess is that ASI wanted to hide it so that Genom wouldn't find it."

"But ASI was in collusion with Genom," Linna pointed out. "So this really was an inside job gone wrong?"

"It would appear so. And the ASI building was destroyed when someone from Genom went to pick it up and it wasn't there."

"Hiding it on the streets. Genius," Mom said, shaking her head.

"So Emi…really was the small one on that tape," I mumbled. "She's the one who shot out the camera."

"And her memory was erased once she had the OMS inside her to keep from giving it back to Genom," Sylia finished. "It's an ingenious plan, but a fatal one." She pointed at the screen again, this time showing Emi's insides, with the OMS nestled comfortably against them. "Look how well her body has taken in the OMS. Her systems are interacting with it like it's just another organ."

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

"It's become a vital part of her being. I see no way of removing it from her without causing her systems to crash and shut down. In turn, the OMS is so warped and integrated into her that it, too, is depending on Emi's systems to function." Her eyes narrowed as she contemplated. "In effect…she IS the OMS."

"Are you sure we can't take it out?" I demanded. "There's gotta be a way, Sylia! Please!"

"A moment ago you wanted to kill her because she's a 33D. Now you want to save her?"

"I told her I would help her find her family. I sure as hell am NOT going to give her back to Genom!!"

"She's not going back to Genom. We're turning her in to the UN."

"How are you gonna explain THIS to them?!"

"The same way I just explained it to you," she said coolly. "I'm sure they're not anticipating having to deal with a living thing, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"But what are they going to do with her? She's not just a machine! She's…" I started to choke up; she really had become a friend to me. I didn't want to let her go, not even if it was a part of our job. No one would care for her as much as I did. "She's as human as a Boomer can get!"

"Yumeko, there's nothing else we can do," Nene sighed. "I'm sorry. If there was a way for us to remove the OMS and have Emi keep living with you as she's been doing, I'd be happy to. But Sylia's right. Her body's taken it in too well to ever get taken out…"

"…without her dying."

"Yes."

"Those guys could still try to come back for her," Mom spoke up, frowning to herself. "They better not have her marked."

"I didn't find any tracking marks on her," Sylia said. "The ASI people probably removed it. They may not be able to track her, but at the same time neither can Genom. They'll probably still look around district 6 though, as that's where they abandoned her. It's a good thing Yumeko kept her inside."

"So what now?" I inquired. "I guess you don't want me to take her home."

"No. She's staying here. I am going to call my contact at the UN so we can set up a meeting to hand Emi over ASAP. I'll have to explain the circumstances to them, and then we'll have to find a spot to meet at."

"But she's…not just a thing. She's not…"

"I'm sorry. This is the way it has to be done. Our job was to find the OMS, and we've found it. Now we have to give it to the UN—"

"I KNOW that!" I snapped. "I just…wish there was some way…"

"There's not. Tomorrow you're going to have to say goodbye."

I turned and looked through the screen as the table slid out of the tube, with a still-unconscious Emi laying there, unaware of what was going to happen, unaware of what she was, what she'd done, what she could do.

Sorry, Emi, I thought. I found your family. It's just not the kind you were hoping for.

I decided to stay the night at Sylia's place; there was no way I could leave Emi there by herself, to wake up and wonder where I'd gone. Even so, I didn't sleep well. It wasn't so much the fact she was a Boomer that shocked me; it was knowing that she was an assassin Boomer. She just didn't look the part. Her feat of strength against Masahiro wasn't so surprising now that I knew that little tidbit, but it still didn't put me at ease. Of course I hated 33Ds…but Emi was also my friend. And, she had no idea what she really was. Sylia had thought about explaining it to her, but ultimately decided to leave it up to me, as Emi was more apt to listen to me. She knew me.

"Did you find anything during the scan?" she asked me after breakfast. "All Sylia said was that everything went well but that you'd give me the details."

"Well…" I sat down on the couch, beckoning her to sit next to me. "Remember when you were watching the news the other night, and you saw the Boomers?"

"Yes. They were scary-looking."

"What were you thinking when you saw them?"

Emi gathered her thoughts for a moment before answering, "I saw them…and I was afraid that they were going to start hurting people. They were destroying everything. I was just hoping that somebody could stop them, like those Knight Sabers you mentioned. I didn't want to see anybody get hurt."

I smirked and let out a small chuckle. So that was how it was. "Well, they did stop. They shut down. You have something inside you that controls Boomers. When you wanted them to stop, they stopped. That's how that chef Boomer at the fast-food place sped up too, because you didn't want anyone to have to wait for their food. Right?"

"R-right, but…what do you mean I have something inside me? I control Boomers?"

"Yes, you can. You didn't know it, but you made those Boomers do what they did."

"I don't understand," she said, looking confused and a little bit scared at the same time. "How did it get inside me?"

"You absorbed it, before you lost your memory. You're a Boomer too, Emi."

"No…no." She shook her head. "I'm not one of those machines. I'm nothing like them. I don't hurt people!"

"Not unless they bug me," I quipped under my breath. "No, you're nothing like them. You're right. You're far more human than they are."

"But, but…how did they shut down? How do you know that? I don't think they mentioned anything about it on the news."

I sighed. "I…was there when they shut down. I lied when I said we were planning Nene's birthday party. I'm one of the ones who fought those Boomers."

"You're…one of them?"

"Yes." I balled my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. She was the third friend I'd spilled this to, and it never got any easier, not that I'd ever intended to tell any of them to begin with. They'd managed to figure it out though.

"Why couldn't you tell me?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's not something everyone's supposed to know about. I'm only telling you because we were hired to find the thing that's inside you. It was sheer luck that I was the one who found you that night."

"Can't you take it out?"

I grunted. "That's the problem. If we try to take it out, you'll die. You've fused with it so well that it can't even function without you."

"So…what are you going to do?"

"The United Nations hired us to find it. Now that we've found it, we need to give it to them. Do you know what that means?"

Emi mulled it over for a moment, looking like she sort of understood, but didn't really want to believe what she was hearing. I didn't want to, either; I couldn't blame her. "You're going to have to give me to them," she stated.

"Yeah…"

"What's gonna happen then? Will I be able to see you again?"

"I don't think so," I said softly. "And I don't know what's going to happen. It's not up to us to decide that. I'm just hoping that they don't treat you like a machine, because you're so much more than that." I gulped. "Emi…the guy who stabbed me was a Boomer too, the same model as you. When I found out you're a 33D, like he was…I didn't want to believe it. I actually wanted to kill you, because I was…I was afraid."

"Why, Yumeko?" she gasped, eyes wide.

"I thought…you were sent to kill me too. I thought your story of losing your memory was just a way to get close to me, get me to take pity and take you in."

"I wouldn't do that," she cried, throwing her arms around me. "I would never lie to you. I wouldn't!"

"I know. The you right now wouldn't, but if you had your memory back, I wouldn't be so sure… I'm sorry."

"I can't blame you," she said, pulling back. "I'm sorry it was someone like me who hurt you and killed Michiko. I understand."

"Boh was nothing like you," I said firmly. "He was a bastard who toyed with me for five months before making his move. Maybe it's just because you don't have a mission that you're so sweet, I don't know. I just know that as you are, you're more human than most people I know. I don't know if that's supposed to say something about the state of humanity, or just how close to human Boomers can get, but…it's true. You are. I don't want you to ever remember who you were in the past. That Emi is gone. The only Emi left now is the one I'm talking to."

"Well, that's a change," a voice said from the doorway. Emi and I turned, and walking towards us was Mom, her expression unreadable. But still, a smirk played at her lips as she sat down in the plush chair next to the couch. "That's not anything like you would've said two years ago."

"Don't get me wrong," I said, frowning. "If I saw Boh again, whether or not his memory was gone, I'd still shoot him dead. Call me biased, but that's what I'd still do."

Emi cringed. "I hope I didn't hurt anyone the way that he hurt you."

"You probably did," Mom stated flatly. "And there's nothing you can do to change that. Some say living well's the best revenge, and sometimes I think that's a crock of shit; those other families are still gonna be hurting no matter whether you remember what you did or not."

"Is that why you decided to raise me?" I asked dryly. "In the hope that you could cancel out my SOB dad's genes?"

"You're putting it too simply, but yeah, something like that, I suppose," she said, though I could detect a hint of a grimace tugging at the corners of her mouth. It was something she still didn't like to bring up, as evidenced by our exchange the day before. Lord knew I didn't like to dwell on the attempts that had been made on me in the past.

"So what're you doing here?" I sighed.

"Sylia wanted me to let you in on the plan for today."

"Ok, so spill. How're we doing this?"

"We're supposed to head to this diner in Ota district called the Red Baron. At 5 o'clock, this guy by the codename of Tora is supposed to arrive. One of us is gonna have to be sitting in the diner with Emi. Sylia told him what she looks like, so he'll walk up to whoever is with her, give a code, and we have to reply with a similar code."

"So what's this code?"

"He'll ask Haben Sie mich vermisst? And in turn the other person has to reply Ich kenne Sie nicht."

"Sorry, I don't speak German."

"'Did you miss me?' 'I don't know you.'"

"That makes no sense."

"Doesn't matter. Don't think anyone else would know German anyway," she said with a small smile. "But yeah, someone has to sit there with Emi to facilitate the transfer, and everyone else is gonna be hiding out on the roofs of the surrounding buildings in their suits in case something goes wrong."

"I guess you knew I'd say it, but I'll sit with Emi," I volunteered. "I want to make sure she's okay."

"That ok with you, Emi?" Mom asked, turning to her.

"I wouldn't want anyone else," Emi replied, smiling for the first time all day.

"Good, good." She stood up. "I think the rest of us were going to volunteer Yume anyway. Now, Yume, you know not to go anywhere, right? We're gonna need everyone here when it's time to get going."

"I know," I said.

Mom took her leave, leaving me and Emi alone in Sylia's living room again. After a moment of silence, Emi turned to me again. "Yumeko…who's going to take care of you?"

"Huh?"

"I said that I would take care of you, since Michiko's gone."

"Don't worry about it. I can take care of myself."

"You fight Boomers. I'll always worry. What if you get hurt?"

I stood up and put my hands on my hips. "Emi, let me tell you something right now. I have been shot. I have been crushed, I have been stabbed, punched, kicked, blown up, electrocuted, slashed, and almost literally had my teeth knocked down my throat. There is nothing anyone can do to me that I haven't already been through," I declared. "I can handle it. I've seen more than you'll ever know."

I would be the first to admit I wasn't proud of my laundry list of injuries that I'd sustained since taking on this occupation, but it was part of the job, whether I liked it or not. Now came one of the hardest parts of this job that I'd ever had to do: I would have to give up a friend to an uncertain fate. The days leading up to the summit had been nerve-wracking; tracking down that crystal in the other world was hell; and now this…

This I couldn't bear. I was going to lose someone I'd truly come to care for. Emi had provided me with companionship I hadn't gotten in a long time. Now I would be alone again.

As would she.

It was noon. Five more hours until we had to be at that diner, and despite me saying I wouldn't go anywhere, I found myself wanting to head back to my apartment. The rest of Emi's clothes were there, and it wasn't like I'd be able to wear them. I wondered if I'd at least be able to pack them for her.

"Where are you wandering off to?" Linna inquired when she saw me heading for the elevator.

"Back to my place, to get Emi's things."

"We might need to head out sooner than planned, y'know. That's not a good idea."

"I know I told Mom I'd stick around, but she can't leave with just the clothes she's wearing."

"Can't go incognito with a duffel bag, either."

"She probably slept in her clothes last night. I should at least get her a fresh change of clothes."

Linna, the one who always changed at least three times before going on a date, could sympathize with that, and smiled slightly. "At least let me go with you, ok? Y'know, make sure we grab everything."

"Ok."

A few minutes later we were in Linna's car, pulling out of the parking garage. Traffic wasn't that heavy, which was surprising considering it was lunchtime. In about twenty minutes, we were heading into my apartment building, taking the elevator to my floor. I could only let out a sigh as I unlocked my door and we walked in; I half-expected Emi to still be there, to come running to the door and ask about my day. It'd only been five days since I took her in, and she'd already made such an impression on me. I had to admit, I was going to miss her.

"What's this?" she asked, picking up two articles of clothing that were sitting in the corner of my bedroom as I shoved some of Emi's shirts into a duffel bag.

"Oh, that's what Emi was wearing when I found her," I said.

"These are huge. They're made for a man. She must've been practically flashing you when you met her."

"That wasn't exactly something I was paying attention to," I groaned. "Anything would've been an improvement on those, though."

"Were you gonna keep 'em, or put 'em in the bag?"

"…I'm not sure. I forgot about them, actually."

"Well, I was just thinking I could keep them in case a guy stays over at my place…"

"Linna!!" I shouted, incredulous.

"Kidding!" she teased, sticking out her tongue playfully.

"No you're not."

"Well, it's not like you're gonna keep 'em around in case a guy comes over HERE, right?"

"Hmph. Of course not," I said curtly, flushing as I gave a toss of my head. There was only one guy I'd want over, and it didn't seem like that was going to happen, not in my lifetime.

"I'm just saying, these are nice. It'd be a waste to throw them away. So unless you're planning on wearing these as pajamas, I'll take them."

"Fine, whatever. Can we just finish packing? I think those are Emi's jeans by you…"

I frowned as Linna and I looked around and packed up whatever it was that belonged to Emi, which wasn't much. All she had were the clothes that I'd bought her, and she likely wouldn't even be able to take those with her when she left. I hated the unknown…but somehow, I doubted I'd get to ask this Tora guy what was going to happen to her, whether she would be treated well.

Fifteen minutes later we were back in Linna's car, with the duffel bag tossed in the back seat. Heading back towards Sylia's building, Linna started drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. I knew what that meant; usually when she did that, she was thinking about something and was about to open her mouth.

"You care for her, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course I do! What kinda stupid question is that?"

"It's just that outside of me, Sylia, Nene, and Priss, you don't really hang out with anybody else. I know there's Xania, but she's on the other side of the ocean. I just wish you had people here you could hang out with besides us. You need friends your own age."

"I had one. She's gone."

Linna made a face. "That's not your fault, and you know that. I mean, you spend your free time hanging out at work doing your gymnastics. When you're not doing that, you're traveling with your gymnastics team to competitions around the country. And then there's being a Knight Saber."

"I don't have time for friends," I said.

"You made time for Emi."

"That's different."

"I don't see how."

"She was a girl in need. If she hadn't been there in that alley at the moment I was going to look for dinner, we'd still be busting our asses looking for the OMS, probably for the next month. It was dumb luck that the one girl I decided to help out turned out to be the one that had the damn thing."

"Now, if she was a guy, would you have helped him out?"

"Now THAT is a stupid question," I stated.

"Would you have?"

"Hell no."

"Guys aren't so bad, Yumeko," she laughed, turning the car onto another street. "That whole spiel about kissing a lot of toads to find a prince and all."

"Maybe I just have high standards," I said flippantly. "But I'm not about to lower them."

"Doesn't hurt to test the water."

"You KNOW that's a bad analogy with me."

"I'm saying just because you go on a date with a guy doesn't mean you have to marry him. Nothing wrong with just hanging loose and having a good time."

"Well…I'm not about to try to have a good time with a guy I know is a toad. But it seems like all I attract are toads."

"Priss attracts a lot of toads too. But you've learned to deal with them."

"Yeah. With my knee. I'd rather have fun by myself," I spat.

"No one should be alone, Yumeko."

"Alone doesn't mean lonely. And I swear, if you try to hook me up, I won't jump in to save you when you get ambushed in battle."

Linna laughed and slid her license into the scanner at the parking garage gate. It beeped, and the gate opened up. She took back her license and drove in, pulling into an open spot as she said with a grin, "You've just got no sense of adventure at all!"

"Not your definition of it, no," I concurred wryly.

I followed Linna back up to the top floor of the building, Sylia's place, with the duffel bag hoisted over one shoulder. For not having much, the bag sure seemed a bit heavy, but I guess you could say no woman travels light, even the ones who don't have much.

"Is she gonna be ok, Linna?" I asked, worried all over again. "I just don't think she'll want to leave with some stranger if I'm not there with her."

"I can't say," she said, heaving a sigh. "It's not up to us. But I suppose there is an upside to her having the OMS."

"What's that?"

"She'll HAVE to be treated well," she said, grinning widely, "unless they want to risk her siccing a pack of Boomers on them!"

I'll admit, even I had to laugh at that, even if it was something I doubted Emi would do. Still, the image that conjured up was amusing. That thought also brought up another, more poignant one: if she could control Boomers, would that mean that the Knight Sabers wouldn't have to work anymore? Or could she only stop them if she knew they were out and about raising hell? I mentioned that to Linna as well, once we were back at the penthouse, and she didn't seem so sure it'd be that easy. Genom could probably make another OMS, she said, but that didn't mean they wanted this one running around, whereabouts unknown. It was understandable, but it left me wondering…

Was this going to be the end of the Knight Sabers? Or was this just going to be another lesson in Boomer Killing 101? With the turn this job had taken, I wasn't sure what was going to happen anymore. But still…

Let's just get this over with already, I thought. In another couple hours it won't be our problem anymore anyway.

So as not to be disrespectful to the UN guys, I suppose, Sylia had Emi take a shower and change into some of the clothes Linna and I had brought back from my place. She chose a short-sleeve white shirt, shorts, a light jacket with a hood, and her flower sandals.

"Does this look good?" she asked, modeling for me.

"It looks fine," I assured her. "You're dressed for the weather, at least. It is a little cool outside today."

"It's about time for you to get going," Sylia said, walking into the room. "The others are down in the bay getting ready. If you feel you can't do this, I can get one of them to do it."

"No." I shook my head. "I can do it. I should be the one; I'm the one who found her."

"Good. You remember the code, right?"

"Yeah. Tora'll ask me Haben Sie mich vermisst? and I'll answer with Ich kenne Sie nicht. Then what?"

"Play it by ear, and follow his lead. But once he leaves with Emi, stay in the diner for a few more minutes to ensure everything is all right and as not to arouse anyone's suspicions, then feel free to leave."

"Should I go on my bike, or are we taking the bus?"

"I see no reason why you can't go on your motorcycle. That won't be a problem." She handed me a pair of earrings. "Put these on. They're communicators."

I grimaced and obliged, somewhat surprised that the holes in my ears hadn't closed up. I couldn't even remember the last time I wore earrings, so I'd assumed they had. "I'm not the earrings type, but I can put up with it this once," I said with a smirk.

"But they look cute on you!" Emi cooed.

I glared at her. "Say that word in reference to me again and you're dead."

She just laughed.

Five minutes later, after we'd grabbed something small to eat and I fixed my hair so that instead of a braid, it cascaded freely down my back, we were in the parking garage, with me once again lending my helmet to Emi, for what looked to be the last time.

"What are you going to do after this, Yumeko?" she asked, pulling it on.

"What do you mean?" I asked, putting my biking gloves on.

"Your life. Are you just going to go back to working at the gym and going there on your days off and visiting Michiko's grave?"

"Yeah. What else would I be doing?"

"I don't know, but it must be better than fighting Boomers."

"Anything's better than that," I sighed. "Most people don't have to fight Boomers. I just happen to be one of the ones that do. Sucks for me, but it ensures everyone else won't have to worry."

"But I worry. About you."

"And I told you, you don't have to. Right now, we're all worrying about YOU, making sure YOU are gonna be ok."

"Why did Sylia choose German for that code?" she suddenly asked. I blinked, confused and somewhat startled by the abrupt change in subject.

"I'm not sure it was Sylia's idea for the language. But if you think about it, it makes sense. What other language would you speak in a diner that's called the Red Baron?" I laughed.

Ota district wasn't a part of Tokyo I usually frequented unless it was to kill Boomers, so I took this as an opportunity to get to know the place. It was a military hub, with most of the branches of the military, to my knowledge, having headquarters here, which seemed to make it all the more appropriate that a diner with a name like the Red Baron would be located here. I was thankful Genom Tower wasn't here as well, but that didn't really matter, as you could see the damn thing from anywhere in Tokyo, and even for a ways away from it. It was ominous and looming, like Mt. Fuji, but somehow I doubted that Hiroshige would want to paint thirty-six different views of the Tower. It just wasn't as sexy as a real mountain.

The Red Baron was relatively easy to find. Above the door to the diner was "RED BARON" in bright red letters, with an outdoor patio decorated with equally bright red umbrellas to protect people from the sun or rain. And it was packed. It was a lot busier than I anticipated, but part of me figured that was a part of Sylia's plan, to do this in a public place. Better than meeting in some back alley at 3 AM, handing Emi off like some parcel of drugs or piece of merchandise. She was a person, at least to me. Doing it here would make it easier, on all of us.

"Yumeko…" Emi said as we both climbed off the bike, her pulling off the helmet.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm confused about something Priss said. Something about living well being the best revenge…"

"It confused me too," I admitted. "Maybe part of it meant that you living well, being good, might make up for you being a killer in the past, even if she admitted that was a crock."

"Whatever I did in the past, I'm sorry for it."

"I know. And there's nothing you can do about it now. I don't think we'll have a problem as long as you stay the way you are."

"Are you sure?"

I let out a low sigh. "…No."

"Head inside," I heard Sylia's voice say over the communicators. "Sit at the bar. Order something if you like, but don't go anywhere until you hear further instructions."

"Roger," I said. "Let's go."

Inside the diner was every bit as crowded as I expected it to be. Almost every table was taken, as well as almost the entire bar. TVs in every corner of the place were tuned in to sports or news, but the sound from them was drowned out by the noise the patrons of the place were making.

"Hello, ladies," the host said, bowing. "Just the two of you?"

"Yes," I said.

"Where would you like to sit at?"

"The bar, please."

She nodded and led us to the bar, where coincidentally enough, there were only two free seats left. Emi and I climbed onto them, with the copper-haired girl starting to immediately shift in her seat, looking uncomfortable. All I could do was make the same face she was making; I didn't like this any more than she did.

"Anything to drink?" the bartender asked.

"I'll have a Bud. She'll have a Coke."

A moment later I had a bottle of beer in my hand and Emi was sipping her Coke through a straw. I unscrewed the cap with one twist of my hand and took a small sip, making sure to go slow. I knew I'd probably chug the thing because of how uneasy I was, but that wouldn't do any good if the Sabers needed me for something. Somehow I doubted hardsuits and alcohol mixed.

"If only you could stick around," I said, letting out a wistful sigh as I traced my finger around the lip of the bottle. "I was gonna take you with me to the bar I go to after I get off work, maybe sing some karaoke."

"I would've liked that," Emi said with a smile. "I would've liked to meet Craig too."

"Heh. You're not the only one."

"Anything to eat, ladies?" the bartender hollered over the noise of the other people crowding the bar.

"Just some fries," I shouted back before turning to Emi again. "I could've shown you my old high school too. Huh, wonder why I'm thinking about that all of a sudden. I don't miss high school at all…"

"Just wishing we could've done more, that's all," she suggested. "Something to do together."

"What would you have wanted to do?"

"I don't know," she admitted, taking another sip. "I just wish I'd gotten to know you better, know more about when you were little. How your life was growing up."

"You know all you need to know."

I took another pull on my beer. Nothing over my earring communicators yet from Sylia. That meant I had to kill time somehow, but I wasn't very good at small talk, especially at a time like this. What the hell else were we supposed to talk about? The weather? The baseball game on the TV that neither of us were watching? The upcoming Worlds?

"Heh…I should be training for Worlds right now," I mumbled with a bitter smirk on my face, taking another drink from the bottle. "My scores weren't good enough though."

"They weren't?" Emi asked, looking surprised. "Why not? I saw lots of medals in your room, so you must be very good."

"It's my leg. Maybe the Olympics were as good as it was gonna get." I shrugged. "Doesn't matter. The Olympics were my life dream, and I got to go there. I'd sure like to go back, don't get me wrong. But in 2060…I'd be twenty-two years old. That's old for a gymnast, and by then, who knows. Maybe my leg'll be better than ever, and maybe it won't. But right now…life is okay. As long as I can still do the uneven bars, things are okay."

"You don't look like you believe your own words, though," Emi pointed out.

I gave a small nod and clasped my hands around the neck of the bottle. "Maybe if I tell it to myself enough times, I'll believe it. Take this day by day…yeah…that's all I gotta do." It wasn't something I usually did, but it was something I had to learn, or at least try to, in Sacramento. It was something I usually only had to do during my gymnastics competitions, take things one round at a time. If not, you'd probably trip over your own feet, or at least miss the balance beam like I'd done at Worlds three years ago. That had been embarrassing, but a lesson well-learned, and learned hard, even if I hadn't seen it at the time.

"Haben Sie mich vermisst?"

The voice cut through the noise of the crowd around me like no one else was even in the place. I yelped and practically jumped out of my seat, turning around to see a man standing behind me, at least a foot taller than I was, with a buzz cut, shades, and a leather jacket covering up his huge biceps.

My mouth opened slightly, then I closed it again. The code, what was the damn code again? "I-ich…ich bin ein Berliner!" I stuck out my tongue. "No, ich kenne Sie nicht."

He grinned. "I'm not from Berlin, and I'm not a jelly donut, though I'm sure this place makes some great ones. You do know who I am though."

"Yeah," I replied. "You're Tora."

"That I am. And you must be Emi."

"Yes," Emi affirmed, bowing her head. "It's nice to meet you."

"Same here." Tora borrowed an empty chair from a nearby table and sat down. "Are you old enough to be drinking that?" he asked, nodding towards my beer bottle.

"No, but that's not your business," I said, taking a sip to punctuate my remark. "Why, are you gonna give me a ticket?"

"That's not my line of work. Wouldn't be fair anyway, as I did my fair share of imbibing when I was younger than you. That would be hypocritical of me." He cleared his throat. "So, how is the food here anyway?"

I reached for the fries, which had been sitting there for several minutes but that I'd completely forgotten I'd even ordered. "Edible," I determined, munching on the lukewarm fries. "Want any?"

"No thanks, I ate. But I don't have a lot of time. Busy day, you know. Did you eat, Emi?"

"I'm ok," she said quietly.

"What's wrong?" I inquired. "You don't look so hot."

"My stomach hurts again."

"I wonder what's up with that," I wondered aloud as she grimaced and put her hands over her stomach. "It did that the other day too."

"I can give her something in the car," Tora said, standing up. "Emi, are you up for a little ride?"

"I think so," she said.

"Good, good. We ought to get going then."

I felt a flutter of panic in my chest. "Uh…need me to walk you out?" I offered hurriedly as Emi slid off her stool.

"That won't be necessary, dear. Just stay and finish your beer and fries."

Emi looked around nervously as I grimaced. I wasn't sure if he was being genuinely nice, or if he had to be because of us meeting in such a public place. "Is she going to be ok?"

"Emi? Of course. Are you worried?"

"Yes," I admitted bluntly.

"I understand, but she's special, and I'm sure you know that. At the same time, she's no ordinary child, but you have my word she will be taken care of."

"She better be," I warned.

Tora pulled a phone out of his jacket pocket when it started to ring. As he opened it up and answered it, I took a look at Emi. She was still looking around, looking confused about something. "What is it, Emi?" I asked.

She didn't answer, her gaze fixed on something across the diner. I followed her gaze, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary besides a small table nestled against the wall that wasn't presently occupied. "I don't see anything. What're you looking at?"

Tora put away his phone. "That was my boss," he said. "We really must get—"

"GET DOWN!!" Emi shrieked out of the blue, diving at me, shoving me off of my stool. I started to yelp in surprise, but my voice was soon lost in the boom that followed as the world around us blew up.

In midair I found myself being thrown against the bar, Emi shielding me as gravity seemed to have lost its effect. Everything was in midair; the patrons of the diner, the glasses, the tables, dishes, everything. Fire and black smoke filled the place, as did the residual sound of the explosion and of shattering glass, or what I could hear of it, as I wasn't sure if my eardrums were still intact.

I lay there, crumpled against the bar for what seemed like forever. I wasn't sure if I'd been knocked out or not, but when I finally dared to open my eyes, all I could see around me was a dark haze of smoke, what I could make out of the diner beyond that no longer resembling a diner. The wall that Emi had been looking at was no longer there; instead, there was just a large hole, giving us a glimpse into what had used to be the flower shop next door. I coughed and turned towards the entrance to the diner; the door was off its hinges, and the windows were completely shattered. I could make out the sounds of people screaming as they ran, but they only came from outside. No one inside the place was making a damn sound.

"Are you ok?"

I looked up at Emi, who was staring at me, worried, still with her arms around my body. She had protected me.

"What the hell?" I coughed again and sat up, rubbing my cheek. "The place just got blown up."

"I thought I saw something on the other side of the diner," she said. "But…"

"What about Tora?"

Emi gasped; she had forgotten about him, as had I. We both turned to look at where he had been just before the explosion, but he wasn't there. Emi turned to look behind her, and there he was, crumpled against the bar, bleeding from his ears, eyes wide open, unblinking, his shades having been lost.

"Damn. He's gone." I adjusted one of my earrings. "Sylia? Do you copy?"

I only got static. I pulled both of them out and yelled into them, but again, only static. I cursed again and tossed them to the ground. "Nothing. We gotta get out of here."

"Tora's dead and that's all you say?" Emi asked, looking like she was ready to cry. "That he's gone?"

"I'm sorry, but look at him. We can't do anything for him." I gasped and looked at her. "What about you?"

"There's something sticking in my back, but…"

I had her turn around so her back was facing me. Large splinters and small pieces of wood were sticking out of her back. I pulled them out, and amazingly, she didn't wince or cry out. If she were a human that would have been quite a feat, but considering that I'd seen Linna clock Boh upside the head with her baton and leave him unfazed, I couldn't say it surprised me that she didn't make a sound.

"I think somebody knew we were here," I surmised. "C'mon, we gotta get out of here."

"Where?"

"Through the back!"

"Why would somebody blow it up if we were here?"

"Because that somebody wants YOU!" It made sense that the bomb or whatever it was had been on the other side of the diner; it was the only way to make sure Emi would stay intact. Hell, not much else was intact in this place besides her, me, and the bar we'd been sitting at and were now crouched by. Standing up, I hurled myself over the bar, with Emi quickly following suit as we made our way back to the kitchen, where pots and pans and foods in various states of cooking were scattered on the floor, the stove along the side wall in flames. I looked around quickly; where was the damn back door? A moment of wandering around, and we found it, wide open, as the people cooking had most likely fled.

"This way!"

We found ourselves in the alley behind the diner. Trash cans were turned over in the panic, and as I looked down both ways, I wasn't quite sure which way to head. I winced and rubbed my head; I must've hit it when I was thrown against the bar. "Stomach still hurt?" I asked.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, why?" Emi asked, confused.

"It was hurting before, when I went out to fight those Boomers that shut down. It must've hurt because somebody was accessing the OMS. It stopped when you wished for the Boomers to stop moving, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

I heard another explosion, to the left of us. I could see smoke rising into the sky, with car alarms blaring as people screamed and ran by. It was smaller, which told me it wasn't a real explosion. It had sounded mostly like crunching metal. "Damn. Okay, we're NOT heading that way!" I decided, pulling her down the other way.

"What was that?" Emi asked.

"Probably a Boomer. Just wish for it to shut down!" I quipped, turning into another alley. I couldn't figure out how to get out of here. I knew I had to find Mackie's van, but damn it, where was it? Which way was it? I had to get Emi to safety, get my suit…

Halfway down the alley there was an opening to another one on the right. A tall man stepped through, into our alley, tall and muscular like Tora was. This guy, however, was brandishing a gun. I stopped Emi, and we both backed up. I had started to reach into my jacket when he turned and saw us.

"Ah." He grinned, and before I knew it, he was only an arm's-length away from us. "So you've been taking care of Emi for us."

"He's one of them," Emi whispered, trembling. "He shoved me out of the truck!"

"He is, huh?" I said, turning back to him. "You could've given her something warmer to wear, y'know."

"Does it matter?" He took another step forward. "I'll be taking her off your hands now."

"No you're not," I declared in a firm voice. "She's staying with me."

"Maybe you didn't notice I've got a big fucking gun in my hand," he hissed, starting to raise his arm.

I beat him to it. I pulled my gun out of my jacket, pulled back the slide, and aimed. Without blinking, I fired, feeling drops of blood land on my face as I shot him directly in the chest, the gunshot deafening, but only for an instant. The man stumbled backward and dropped his gun, putting both hands over the wound as he struggled to form words.

"You…you shot him!!" Emi yelled, putting both hands over her mouth as the man finally collapsed.

"C'mon!" I barked, grabbing her again, trying to ignore the faint nauseous feeling that had started to rise in my stomach as we went down the alley the man had come from. Those ASI guys were here, and they'd apparently brought company in the form of Boomers to help them out. I knew we were in big trouble if I couldn't find the damn van. My gun wasn't going to be enough.

I could hear more explosions in the street as Emi and I darted through another alley. By now, I was just hoping to get as far away as I could, even if the van likely wasn't in this direction. As long as Emi and I got away, it would be okay. But at the same time, I could hear voices yelling behind us, and the sound of running. "Shit," I cursed. "They're on us."

I liked to think I was a fast runner, and part of me and hoped they'd stop and take care of their fallen comrade – anything to give us some breathing room – but it wasn't that easy. Either they didn't see him, or ignored him completely, as the sounds of feet pursuing us only got closer. I came across yet another alley, and pulling Emi behind me, I turned on my heels and darted into it, in the process letting go of her hand.

Halfway down the alley, I could see a guy walk up to the end, blocking our path. I skidded to a halt, gripping my gun in my hand, ready to use it again, when I heard an electric jolt, then a scream behind me. I turned around, just in time to see Emi collapse to the ground, a second guy standing there, brandishing a stun gun.

I probably could've tried to defend myself, try shooting at both guys even if I went down in the process. But instead, I had a human response. I ran for Emi.

"E…Emi?!" I took her in my arms, patting her cheek. Nothing, not even a moan. She was unconscious. And we were cornered.

"Emi, it's ok," I whispered, rocking her. "I'll get you out of here. We'll get out of here."

"You should've just kept running," the guy who'd blocked my way advised, a skinny guy with ratty brown hair and a pointy chin. "I would've let ya go right by me. The brat's the one we want."

I gripped Emi tightly, glaring up at him. He had his gun aimed right at my face. I shook my head and said, "No. There's no way in hell I'm letting you have her."

"You caught my friend in a good mood," the guy with the stun gun said, bulkier than the other guy, a black mustache and beard covering his leathery face. "He normally would've shot you on the spot."

"Hehe, that's right," the skinny guy cackled, aiming again. "Drop your gun."

"What?" I asked.

"I said DROP your gun, NOW! I've got you in my sights right now, so you damn well know I can kill you before you can even lift it up to take aim at me like you did with Bob."

"Oh, your friend, right?" I said dryly.

"Yeah." He cocked the gun. "DROP IT!"

I took one arm away from Emi, the one with my gun in it. Still glaring at him, I set it down slowly in front of him. "Now shove it towards me." I frowned and did so. "That's a good girl," he said, picking it up. He looked over every corner of it. "A Spitdevil. Very nice. And very illegal."

He grinned and took aim at me with it. "Thanks for the gift," he said with a grin before pulling the trigger.

I just kept my glare on him, taking silent amusement in his befuddlement when the gun failed to fire. "A fingerprint reader. That's nice," he growled. "Real cute. No wonder you didn't look terrified. You thought you could play me."

I drew Emi closer as both men drew closer, now standing directly over me. Now would have been the perfect time for a Knight Saber or two to come help out. But no one came. I sucked in a breath and looked at Emi's unconscious form. I had to get her out of here somehow, but it was increasingly apparent I was on my own here. And with me being both outnumbered, outgunned, and cornered, I was screwed. And with her being out like a light, I couldn't get her to stop the Boomers either.

"She told me she was shoved out of a truck," I said, looking up at them. "And if you're her family coming to look for her, shocking her with a stun gun is a strange way to tell her you missed her."

"She would've been trouble," the bearded guy replied with a cocky shrug.

"You're lucky if you didn't short-circuit her…" My eyes went crossed as I realized what had come out of my mouth. The two guys noticed, too; they both went wide-eyed and looked down at me. "Oh crap…"

"What did you just say?" the skinny guy inquired in a foreboding tone. "Yo, Bruce, I think the kid knows something about our kid here."

"I'd say so," Bruce agreed. "I say we take her with us."

"It was…a figure of speech," I stammered. "Uh, y'know, just a saying…"

"Yeah, a saying," the skinny guy mimicked. "I think we're gonna have a lot of fun with you."

He made a move with his arm. Instinctively I reached up to block it, only to have something very hard slam into my hand, knocking it out of the way on its way to hitting me across the cheek, under my eye. I yelled out and fell back against the brick wall of the alley, the new welt on my cheek burning horribly. I winced and put my hand over the wound, reaching out with my other hand for Emi, when Bruce went and scooped her up. "Uh-uh!" he chided, wagging a finger at me. "She's mine. Nezumi, take her down."

Nezumi grinned and brandished his gun, tucking mine into his jeans. My hand went from my cheek to my other hand, cradling it, as the pistol-whip felt like it had broken my pinky finger. I yanked it back into place, biting my lip as a jolt of pain shot up my hand and right up my arm. "Son of a bitch!" I growled, getting up. He didn't give me the chance. He slapped me across the other cheek with the gun, sending me tumbling back down to the ground.

"Girls kick, bite, and scratch," Nezumi quipped as he yanked my arms behind me and cuffed me, one foot on my back to keep me from getting up. I hollered in pain as he grabbed my wounded hand and put the cuff around it. "I don't like dealing with that."

He stood me on my feet, grabbing one of my arms with one hand and taking a fistful of hair from the top of my head in the other. He yanked on it, pulling my head back, making me cry out. "We're going for a ride. Start walking."

I had no choice; he pushed me forward as he walked, making me walk along with him. We went down the alley, making two or three turns through them before we finally came to a street, where a white van was waiting by a parking meter.

"Still have time to spare, too," Nezumi laughed as Bruce opened up the back of the van and tossed Emi inside like a sack of potatoes.

"Emi!" I yelled.

"See, we'll be nice. We'll let you sit with her." Soon, I followed, as Nezumi forced me inside the van and shut the doors behind me. A moment later, he and Bruce got in the front seats, Bruce at the wheel.

I looked around. It was empty in the back of the van, except for a toolbox and a ladder hitched up on the side. Just as I tried to sit up, I yelped and was sent rolling across the back of the van as Bruce started it up and tore down the street.

"Sorry!" he laughed.

I coughed and got up on my knees, my pinky finger throbbing, the welt on my left cheek still burning, the one on my right not doing anything, as I couldn't really feel it. I turned towards Emi. She was sprawled out, still not showing any signs of movement. I sighed.

We're in deep shit now, I thought. Emi, wake up, kick their asses like you did to Masahiro. Sylia, Mom, do something.

But nothing happened.

"We'll get out of this," I swore. "I promise."

"Haha, yeah, you tell her that!" Nezumi cackled. "But she's home now, babe! She is comin' home!"

This wasn't the family, or home, I would have wished on Emi, or anybody. I grimaced and tried to ignore his piercing laughs. Fuck him. I had to figure out a way out of this.

Somehow…