She should have never agreed to any of this in the first place. She shouldn't have met Riya in the cafe. She shouldn't have followed her to Paris. She could have been off on her own this entire time working down her hit list. But no... the bitch had conned her into partnering up. All this time and what did she have to show for it.. a few new contacts, some more guns and knives and a few Agents dead at her hands.

She'd killed a few Agents, not something anyone could claim, but Agents weren't what she wanted dead. A temporary release of anger. A temporary source of relaxation and fulfillment. Unfortunately the kill she needed wasn't here. No where near here.

The kill that she needed was waiting for her patiently in London. She best not keep her public waiting.

She walked down the street and glanced at the building. Her temporary partnership with Riya was over. When she thought about it this time she wasn't angry. Riya had secured her kill for Reeder. No one else would take the contract. He was hers. It made all the time she'd spent here worth while.

She pulled her coat closed tight against the wind. It was a little more cool and windy here than it had been in Hong Kong. And she didn't want to let anyone see the guns prematurely. Everyone knew that she normally was armed very lightly, if they saw her new arsenal people would begin to question. She didn't want anyone to spoil the surprise for Reeder before she got to him.

The metal detector at the entrance beeped as she walked through and the security guard started to approach her. She'd been gone a while and the guy was new. She rolled her eyes and pulled out her ID card. Reeder, even if he did hate her, couldn't expect her disarm herself just to enter the building... Not if he wanted her to remain their assassin. He hated her but knew that she was the best that he could get... especially with what he paid so he'd been forced to give her special privileges.

The hesitant guard took the ID and looked at her cautiously. He was probably a little younger than she was. Probably should have been in school... like she should have been years ago. The guard pulled out his walkie-talkie and a few minutes later gave her back her ID and let her go. She hated security. If anyone really wanted to smuggle in a gun or a bomb they would find a way without going through the front door. Waste of time and money.

Reeder's office was on the fourth floor. The building was really the office building for some company. A car company or something. It was owned by Soldats as a cover for their operations. Fourth floor was completely Soldats. Why the fourth floor and not the fifteenth she didn't know and Reeder was too dumb to have a reason. The elevator chimed and she stepped out. She was only ten paces down the hall when Keith turned the corner and came face to face with her.

"Asuka? Where have you been? We hadn't heard from you in so long. Didn't know if someone was finally able to finish you off or you had just disappeared."

"No one is finishing me off any time soon and I was taking a personal vacation. My work is hard. I have to have some time off now and then."

"Reeder is pissed. He has a long list of names for you and you haven't been around to do any of the jobs. Apparently he finds the jobs urgent."

"He should have found another assassin then." She sidestepped him and made her way down the hall only to hear him on her heels.

"Watch yourself. It's that time of the month for him. He won't be happy to see you. I think that he's been contemplating putting a contract on your head in fact."

"That would be funny to see. Him trying to find an assassin, better than me, that will work for the money that he pays. And since that's not going to happen. I've got a job to do and if you'll be so kind as to get that list for me I'll take care of a few after I finish this job up."

She could hear him stop and turn to go the other direction. Good. She didn't want to get him involved in this. If something happened it would be unfortunately to get him in trouble. It was a simple plan. Reeder would die. She would be the one behind the trigger. Keith would take over the business.

The door to his office was unlocked so she let herself in. His back was to her, he was pouring a glass of vodka. "Sam, you're a little early. I've got the proposals sitting on the table." He turned and stopped as he saw Asuka standing there with the Maessai that Riya had given her pointed straight at him. "....Uhhh.. Hello Asuka. It's been a while...."

She nodded. "Yes. It has hasn't it. And it'll be a very long time again.... Oh! And just so you know I was talking to Noir a while back. She thinks I'm insane for taking the contract. Too easy. Too little money. Oh well. I'll get over it." She pulled the trigger and Reeder fell back a hole through his head.

A couple people rushed through the door in a panic. Asuka just walked past them, saluting them mockingly with the gun. A couple people stared at her as she walked down the hall, but the majority were smiling. They knew what was going on.

Keith met her halfway down the hall with a confused look in his face and her list in his hand. Asuka plucked the list up and winked at Keith. "Better go clean up your new office. But be careful. Blood is a pain to get out of the carpet.. especially when it's that white. Oh! I almost forgot. I was hoping you could get a job for someone." Asuka pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed him. "I kinda made him loose his job over in New York. Tell him I'd love to see him again if he isn't too sore from me not calling. Thanks Keith. "

"Oui."

"Jesus, Henri, where've you been? I was getting worried about you. Where are you?"

"You don't need to know. I am not happy with this mission, Enrique."

"What happened?"

"They went to an empty building and looked around. It was cleaned out. I was spotted, Enrique."

"Jesus. Henri, they may just have gotten lucky..."

"I'm finished, Enrique. I do not risk my life. The Fleet has always been good to me, and to my family, and I have served you well. But our association is at an end."

"Henri, don't you think-"

"I'm going to hang up now, Enrique. Goodbye."

The woman watching on a security monitor bit her lip. This was always the worst part, when they brought her a new conscript. She understood the necessity of quick action, of course; the IF's eyes hardly ever left these children from the shuttle's landing to its blast off. When a chance did present itself, the collectors had to act, and act with lightning efficiency. There was no time to be concerned for a child's perception of things. That was her job. But this was when the children were most afraid, and therefore, the most hostile. This was when their indoctrination was still freshest. But the woman was good at her job, and she knew better than to leave the child alone for too long.

She entered the guest bedroom, her footsteps soft. Her clothing was carefully selected; neat, professional, but unthreatening. She closed the door and stood just inside, not approaching the frightened child. She would not apporach until her instincts told her that the child no longer feared her. "Hello, Michael," she said. She had trained her voice through repetition of this ritual a dozen times to be calming, an auditory sympathetic hug. Not that she had to force the emotions behind the sounds; she felt for this child, for all the children they brought her. She never lied to them. These children were much too smart for that. She had to earn their trust, and to do that she had to be perfectly, brutally honest with them. And sometimes that truth hurt them. But they came to trust her nonetheless, because they knew that she would not lie to them, would not tell them anything she did not herself believe.

The child was watching her, but had made no reply but to wipe the moisture from his cheeks. His jaw had hardened, a forced attempt to appear strong to his captor. She understood the mentality. Appear strong and you will find your strength. But he did not appear strong. The child looked scared and alone.

"I'm sorry for what happened, Michael. We would have gotten word to you that you would be rescued if we could have. But there was no way to contact you without tipping them off to our plans. We had to extract you without your foreknowledge for it to work. I'm sorry if you were handled roughly, or if they frightened you. But that's over now. You're safe."

"Where am I?" the child asked, doing a reasonably good job of keeping his voice steady.

"This is a safehouse. We'll be staying here while our transportation out of the country is arranged. It will only be an hour or so. You can sit or lay on the bed if you like. It was made up just for you."

The child looked at the bed. The floors of the apartment were wood, a carefully calculated feature. The children almost always sat on the floor to begin with. But the wood was uncomfortable, and the woman always offered them the bed, and they usually accepted before they left the apartment. It was the first gift a conscript accepted from the woman. In time there would be others. Start small in all things, the woman told other recruiters. Start small and work toward the large things. It is not necessary for a conscript to believe in the cause the first day or month or even year. But it is vital that the conscript believe in the recruiter.

"Where are you taking me?" The child forced himself to look away from the bed.

"We're going to Kiev," the woman replied. "There we'll stay for a few days, and then we'll go someplace safe and stay there for a longer time. You'll even get a vote where we go. What languages do you speak? Is there anyplace you wanted to visit after you escaped that orbital prison?"

A seed here, a seed there. Must be gentle or the soil will reject them. Subtlety is best.

The child disliked the reference to Battle School being a prison, and clenched his jaw, looking at the wall. Which was fine. Early seeds were the last to bloom, but only because they were planted deep.

"I escape from there too, you know," she said, angling her head in an attempt to see his eyes.

The child slowly turned his head toward her. "You went to Battle School?"

She nodded. "Years ago. And I was rescued when I came down for Earthside leave as well. A kind man stood where I'm standing, in a different room in a different country, and said a lot of the things I'm saying to you now. And at first I didn't believe him. At first I was afraid to even think that he might be telling the truth. Wouldn't it make me a traitor to think those thoughts?"

The child said nothing, just looked at her, but he was interested, and that was important.

"You'll come to understand slowly, Michael, and I'm not going to rush you. You'll discover the truth about the world at your own pace. But I'll be at your side for it. I'm your friend." She decided to switch tracks while she still had the child's attention. "Are you hungry? Let me get you something from the kitchen."

She turned to go.

"What's your name?" The child hesitated then, knowing he had betrayed his interest. "I mean, I might have heard of you."