Like I said there's action. I suck at action... Jeez I don't like this chapter, but at least there's yet another twist. Hmmmmm... It looked so cool in my dream but on my comp it just looks retarded because unlike my dream it has to be put into context. Try to enjoy this.

standard disclaimers

Natsuki's POV

"Are we going for this?" Big Sei asks as we stand up front of the mansion that the mask is held in. I look around and shake my head absent minded with the whole situation before I turn to her.

"It's too quiet. We got here without one incident with any black car and now we're her there aren't people waiting for us. This isn't right and you know it." I say to her and she nods slowly before turning to Jo.

"I think we should go in all guns blazing." Jo says in her droning voice. I shake my head totally disagreeing with her.

"There's no way that I'm going in there all out, without a notion of what we're getting ourselves into. There might be people in there waiting to put bullets in us the moment we set foot inside." I argue.

"I'm going with Natsuki on this one. Shimako will kill me if I get shot up in there." Sei says and I give a determined nod.

"Okay then, we needs a plan of action." Meg says. She looks all seriousness and determined instead of her usual hyperactive bubbliness. This has got to be bad if even she is taking it seriously.

"Right: Natsuki... I want you to use you 'abilities,' to get you in through one of the top windows." Big Sei pulls out a map of the place that Ami sent her and draws a line through the corridors.

"If you go in through this window here then you can go down this corridor avoiding the cameras that are here, here and here. You need to go down this shoot here instead of the main stair well and that will take you down three floors where you can get out and into the room that is right next to the one that is holding the mask.

"Meg I want you as backup for Jo... Jo you can go in all guns blazing if that is what you want. Mini me, you get to wait behind then follow in after everyone else to make sure that nobody has been captured or something stupid. Remember though this guy is dangerous. He has stolen this and he has killed the security guards where it was previously held so don't hold back. Blow his twat of an ass up as soon as everyone is out of there." Big Sei says and Mini Sei shakes her head.

"I can't do that." She says in a quiet voice.

"That's Youko's dad and even though he tried to kill her I just can't knowingly kill him. She's like a sister to me and he was there for me when Youko pulled me out of my rut. It'll be harder to kill him than it would be to kill my own dad." She says and I put my hand to her shoulder.

"Try not to worry about it. All you have to do is set the explosives. If he's in there he'll be dead before the place goes boom." I say and she gives me a weak smile.

"Right then are we ready?" Big Sei asks and we all nod. I check my guns. The two strapped to my thighs and the big one that is strapped to my back. They both fit comfortably against me. I clench my fists and give them a very Mini Sei like grin before legging it. I launch myself over the wall and stick to the bushes as I head for the house. Like it showed on the schematic of the place the window I am heading for is on one half of a right angle. I jump up hit one wall and push myself back to the other. I grab the windowsill and start to climb up the old brick work to the top floor. Its killer on my fingertips but it doesn't take me long to reach the window I am heading for. I ungracefully tumble into the room and pull out my guns. I don't move until my eyes become slightly adjusted to the darkness of the room. It's filled with junk in my opinion but it's probably all worth a lot of money. Books are pilled high up the walls and furniture is dotted around the place covered in sheets. There're vases, statuettes and stuffed animals everywhere. If I'm being totally honest it creeps the crap out of me. I rise to my feet from my crouching position near the window and creep to the door silently. It's been so long since I've had to do stealth. I never had a need for it during the carnival or any of that so the last time I had to do anything at all like this was on my last mission with Big Sei. Now that had been a mission. None of this hunting for masks shit. We got a mark, tracked him down, got every single bit of background info that we could and when we found him Jo put a bullet in him after he kidnapped Meg. I'd had to stealth my way into the room where he was keeping Meg whilst Jo went on a rampage and shot anything that moved; including the man's cat. When she got to us the man was holding a gun to Megs head. Jo didn't flinch once. She just raised her right arm and put a bullet between his eyes. I had to get the cuffs off of Meg because Jo was too busy hugging her. For some reason I thought that they were together all the way back then... Guess not.

I snap out of my memories and slowly open the door a crack. There doesn't look to be anyone standing guard. I fling the door open, roll out and aim down both ends of the corridor. Nobody... I don't like this one bit. The man has info on us all; that is power for him. We only know basic things about him, and that is all from Youko and Sei who had no idea he was into anything like this. I run through the map in my mind and dodge the cameras easily enough whilst keeping my eyes open for any guards. This is just too quiet.

Mini Sei's POV

I'm sat in the van waiting patiently for my turn to go in. I'm torn between disobeying Big Sei (which I have never in my life done), and going in there and blowing the place to shit. My hands are shaking and I don't know if it's from excitement or fear. Natsuki was right; it is too quiet. It feels more like a trap than anything I have ever witnessed but what can we do.

"Sei..." I say and she turns to look at me.

"Don't worry so much Mini Me."

"How can I not worry? This is my best friend's dad we're talking about. For crying out loud..." I whisper.

"You don't realise how close I am to her. If it wasn't for Shimako then Youko and I would probably be a couple by now. She's family Sei. I can't just blow her dad's body up even if he is already dead." I say and she just looks at me with those sisterly eyes of hers. She nods once before passing me her mobile phone.

"Ring her and explain to her what is happening. Ask her what she thinks of it. The man will die but if you can't do it then we won't blow the place." She says and I nod through a wave of depressing feelings. I dial Youko's number and wait for her to answer. On the fourth ring her voice comes through and my words catch slightly.

"Youko...?" I ask and she replies.

"Sei...? What's going on?" She asks me. There's worry in her voice from the get-go and I feel so small inside.

"Youko... I was just ringing to say that... well... I was wondering if you understand what this whole thing means for your dad." I whisper and she stays silent for a long moment. In the silence I can hear my heart echoing throughout my body in strums. I don't want to be here. I hear her take in a deep breath and I stop breathing.

"Yeah... I understand. Sei please... I know he tried to kill me but... Please I don't want you to be the one to do it. I don't think that I could look at you in the same way if you did."

"I'm not... I can't do it Youko. The thing is... it's my job to blow the place up when this is done... I won't do it if you don't want me to." I say and she goes quiet again.

"That is your decision Sei... I have no say on that. So long as you're not the one with his blood on your hands..." She dwindles off and I sit here not knowing what to say. She has been with me through everything, and now she is in a pain that I can't help her through. I feel sick knowing that Mr Mizuno is about to be murdered; I can't even begin to understand how she feels about it.

"I don't want any of my friends to kill him..." I whisper as my heart leaps into my throat.

"Youko I'll ring you back later I have to go." I say and hand up before she even has a chance to say goodbye. I chuck the phone at Big Sei and jump out of the car. The next thing I know I'm racing towards the front door of the mansion. I've been here once before when Youko dragged me here for the winter holiday with my Onee-Sama after that fateful night at the train station. I spent pretty much the whole time huddled between the two of them much like Youko had been between Eriko and I the other night. I run in not paying any attention to anything... I'm not even looking out for any guards. I'm just running through the huge home. I'm not heading for the trophy room like the others though. I take the stairs two at a time and run right down to the bottom of the long corridor. My foot hits the door to Youko's dad's office and I tumble in. I regain my footing after a blind moment and find myself looking down the barrel of a gun.

"Sei...!" Mr Mizuno blurts. I stand there panting for air looking him dead in the eyes. I can feel the tears stinging my own. He betrayed Youko... He screwed over his own daughter, my best friend... My heart skips in my chest with a horrid feeling. The tears start to roll and I ignore the gun as my arms wrap around him. I sob into his chest with my shaking body and he just stands there too shocked to do anything before he drops his gun and holds me.

"You tried to kill Youko... You tried to kill your own daughter... and my friends and me..." I sob into his jacket. For a moment there is no sound in the room except that of my tears then a quiet...

"No..." I look up at him with watery eyes and see the tears in his.

"Sei I never did anything of the sort. Please believe me none of this is my doing... Well it is but I never tried to kill Youko. I would never harm a hair on her head." He says. I've never seen a grown man so close to tears as he is. He pulls away from me and sits down in the chair behind his desk.

"A few months ago I found a tome speaking of this African mask that grants its user the power that only gods could wish to control. I researched it and researched it until I had every bit of information that I could gather on it. My wife found the research... She's the one that started all of this carnage. I don't need powers I have money and info that is all the power I need. She... She took the tome and found out where the mask was housed and ever since she has been on a power binge. She wants it for herself. I've been locked up in here for the past week, surviving on what food I have in the fridge. I've been a prisoner in my own office trapped by the information that I drew together." He says and I sit down listening to him in silent wonder. Right before a thought intrudes on my mind.

"But then... Why try to kill Youko...?" I ask and his eyes become sad again.

"The tome says that nobody of the living world can wear the mask because it turns them into uncontrollable monsters. She was going to... k-k-k... try to control the mask through Youko... Sei your friends are in danger... The trophy room is booby trapped so that nobody can get to the mask."

"Don't worry; Natsuki can dodge any trap you throw her way." I say in total confidence.

"She can dodge bullets?"

"If the need arises then yes I think she can." I say as I look over the barred windows and the cartons of old food lying around the room. It looks as if he is telling the truth about being locked in here for the week. It's a good job that there's an en suite otherwise this place would be a real nasty mess. This isn't how my plan was going to work out. I was intending on storming in here, knocking him out and carrying him unconscious to the guy that ordered our services. That way none of my friends would have his blood on their hands. I think it is much better this way. My head snaps around at the sound of gunfire and Mr Mizuno jumps to my side. I hear Jo shouting and Meg hollering and I know that the trap has been sprung. I want to go help them but then I don't want to leave Mr Mizuno's side just in case Natsuki makes it to him and puts a bullet in him after I have found out the truth. I choose to stay with him. I can't let him die.

Meg's POV

Ambushed on the second floor; how typical is that? We had nothing to hide behind either so we just fired and prayed that none of their bullets hit us. We were actually quite lucky on that respect. I have a few welts and rips from where the bullets glanced off of me but nothing actually penetrated either of us... I turn to Jo and smile. She nods and my eyes widen in shock as she moves her hand and I see the blood spilling from a bullet hole. How did she manage to get hit? She's bleeding from pretty much everywhere like me but the difference is; she actually has a hole in her. The fuckers shot her! How many of us have to get shot by these people?

"I'll live, but it really stings." She says. I can see that she's trying to do the big hard woman act but it just makes me worry even more.

"Let's give Natsuki that backup before she gets ambushed. She can't survive something like that on her own." She winces but treks on. I look back at the sound of more footsteps and see that it's only Mini Sei catching up with us... with a man following behind her. I raise my gun and aim it at the man. It looks like the photo of Youko's father I saw. The man we are here to kill after getting the mask back. I cock the gun and this time I make sure the safety is off as Sei and the man both stop.

"Shoot and I will hurt you so bad Meg...!" Mini Sei says and I lower my weapon.

'What the hell! We're ment to kill him! That's our jobe here so why aren't we doing just that?' I think to myself as I eye Mini Sei up with a confused glance.

"Ask questions later right now we need to get to Natsuki." She says and I nod. The three of us catch up to Jo who is going slower than her usual self. We quickly make it to the trophy room and the sight that meets us is that of Natsuki pressed back against a wall by a woman with a big gun. Natsuki is holding the mask an inch away from her face and she actually seems to be taunting the woman. Trust Natsuki to try and piss of the person with a gun. Does she have no common sence what so ever?

"You want this ugly piece of wood? It doesn't look that wonderful to me. We risked our lives for a bit of fire wood. I wonder what you would do if..."

"Natsuki DON'T...!" Mini Sei screams but it's too late. Natsuki has put the mask to her face. The woman backs away from her as far as she can and we all watch in silence as Natsuki looks at us. I don't know what's going on but Sei and the man and woman are all freaking out at it. Jo just slides herself down the wall and sticks her fingers into the bullet hole to pull out the offending piece of metal.

"What are you freaking out about Sei?" Natsuki asks as she puts her hands back up to the mask. She tries to pull it off once... twice... She stops and looks at us with wide eyes.

"Guys'... It's stu... aaaarghhh!" She screams clutching her head as she doubles over and collapses to her knees. Her hands go to the back of her head; her forearms covering her face. The most horrifying screams I have ever heard leave her and intrude on my ears as I find myself stepping back.

"Sei... She's going to become that thing I told you about." The man says as he steps back. I watch totally traumatised as Natsuki's skin starts to turn black... red strips run through her flesh in what looks like the same pattern that had been on the mask. She's bashing the face of the mask into the floor whilst trying in vein to get it off. Her fingertips are pulling on the edges until the edges are no more and only her skin is showing. I can still see the wood for the moment. It's like another layer of her. I don't know what to do... Nobody does. What can we do...? The entire room is filled with silence. She rises up, arching her back as she kneels and screams at the ceiling. Her hands are clenched as she doubles foreward and smashes her face down into the marble flooring with all her might. She doesn't even bleed. The mouth of the mask opens with her mouth as she screams once again. She's stopped... everything. I hear a gun shot but I don't see where it came from. All I see is Natsuki putting her hand up and stopping the bullet as if it's a spit ball from the end of a straw. The mask has moulded to her face... the lines that were in the ornate wood are now slips of bright red running through her skin contrasting vibrantly with the blackness of the rest of her. Her eyes are more gold than anything I have ever seen. She looks at the bullet that she is now holding as if it is confusing her. Her head goes to the side in her typical puppy dog look but this time she doesn't look like a cute pup. She looks like she has a screw loose. She licks her lips and I see a row of razor sharp teeth before she moves. I blink and in the next instant I see her holding the woman against the opposite wall. The scream is only half complete when Natsuki rips out her throat with her teeth. I'm so shocked that my brain doesn't even send the signal to my stomach telling me that I should be sick right about now. The woman is just twitching in her grip. There's no more life in her; just her muscles reacting to the last few messages from the brain. Natsuki drops her and turns to us. My mind goes blank with fear as she grins at us with blood and flesh dripping from her teeth.

A.N There you go peeps hope you enjoy it. R&R pretty please :D