Slowly, I walked down the hall. The hilt of my sword was gripped tightly - maybe too tightly - in my right hand. In all truth, I was afraid of losing it. I was afraid of anything that would screw this mission up as badly as the last one.

I shuddered at the thought of that failure. It had been a simple chore; Find and terminate a prolific serial killer. That did not include the hundreds of civilian deaths, countless fires, and public spectacle I'd caused. Even though the murderer had been caught and apprehended, it was not by me. I was just lucky that Number VII had followed to ensure my safety.

Thinking aloud, I said, "I have to complete this assignment without complication, or they'll never let me become a Number . . ."

A dark blur whipped through my peripheral vision and I spun on my heel lightning fast. As my little nickname indicated, I did everything lightning fast. Before my eyes even focused, I had my blade out in front of me, ready to fight. As the haze clouding my vision subsided, I smiled.

My target was right in front of me; Number XIII, Train Heartnet - also known as the Black Cat.

All of the other, older Erasers had already tried to exterminate him, but failed. It fell to me, just a newbie, to get the job done. The successful completion of this mission would mean much more than an adequate cover up for my last job, it would prove my worth to Chronos. They would make me a Number; the replacement Number XIII. That was what I wanted, above all else.

All I had to do was kill my idol.

"Number XIII, Train Heartnet?" I called without wavering. Good, I thought, Everything is already going better than last time.

Who else would it be?" he sighed back.

Moving like lightning again, I pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. His infamous gun, Hades, skittered a few inches away from his outstretched hand and he tried to make a grab for it. I pinned both of his wrists to the ground and pushed my knee into his stomach so he couldn't try anything funny.

"I've come to deliver some bad luck," I hissed, trying to keep the now-wriggling Train pinned.

He stopped squirming for a moment to protest, "Hey, that's my line!"

Moving my sword to his throat, I murmured, "Not for long."

To my great annoyance, he started to laugh. It came slowly at first, but in no time at all his entire being was shaking with peals of laughter. It took a long time to die off, and while he was trying to calm himself, I discreetly inched the blade of my Jinsoku-Yaiba closer to his pale skin.

"Jesus, I've never even seen you before! Who are you?"

I shook my hair out of my eyes and proudly stated, "Misaki Kaida, but they call me the Flash." I'm rather proud of my nickname. I thought it up myself, and spread it when one of my victims asked who I was. I shouted it loud enough for the guards cowering outside the door to hear, and before I knew it, people were muttering, "Oh my God, there goes the Flash!" when I walked by. Pretty ingenious, no?

However, Mr. Heartnet didn't think it was so great. He laughed even harder.

"Like the stupid comic book from America?!" he snickered.

I leaned back, ignoring Train's gasping coughs from the pressure now put on his abdomen. I'd never even thought of that . . . Would they arrest me for plagiarism?! No, I couldn't be arrested! I needed to get it right this time! Composing myself, I situated Jinsoku-Yaiba back on his throat. This time, I actually pressed the blade into his throat and drew blood. Rivulets of dark, thick liquid dripped down to the floor.

"Easy, easy," he muttered.

"No can do," I sighed, getting ready for the kill. It would be a little hard, seeing as I'd aspired to be just like him for what seemed like forever.

"Let me guess," he said bitterly, "You're from Chronos. After you kill me - if you kill me - you're going to report back to them and they're going to make you the new, improved, obedient Number XIII."

I nodded, a tad surprised. How did he know?

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen," he hissed. Venom dripped off of his words, and quite frankly, I was scared.

I must have eased up a bit, because Black Cat sprang out from beneath me and grabbed up his gun. I had the sword up before I heard the shot and I managed to deflect the bullet, along with the three he shot after that.