Fog curled into the woods, burying the fight within. The air was dense and the scent of blood hung in the air. WP7 stood at the outside of the forest, waiting for the fight to end.

Hailey brushed her lips clean of blood. In doing so, she stained her glove and growled angrily. Her eyes glimmered red, magical portals of boiling lava. The crimson liquid on her lips glistened and a smirk found its way into her features. For a moment her lips parted and a cackle bellowed from her lungs.

"Come on out Trace, are you scared?" Hailey sounded possessed. Her pitch raised an octave very time she spoke, and her pupils shrunk into specks, her veins slightly visible.

Scared? Trace shook his head and gulped. I'm terrified.

He was in a tree. The only thing concealing him was a branch lowered in front of him. Mossy leaves covered down until they reached his crouched knees, and that was enough to keep him concealed.

She was going easy on him. The hand she cut off was his robotic one, so the blood that was shed had been painless. Hailey hadn't harmed him, but she seemed to be at the edge of her sanity, capable of just about anything.

"Where are you, Trace?" She growled, turning around 360 degrees. Trace watched through a gap in the leaves.

He'd stay hidden until Hailey would regain her sanity, but she was already insane. No, worse than insane. She would kill him.

"Trace," her voice mellowed out. "You have to feel like you're in danger or this will never work. I'm acting out the role of Till, the number one assassin in Phantom. You have to defeat him. Think of it that way."

Trace creased his eyebrows, confused, as he watched Hailey warp back into character. This time she fuzzed up her hair and rubbed her thumb under her teeth, testing for sharpness.

"If you're just acting out a character, you won't kill me, right?" Trace mumbled quietly to himself, making sure she could barely hear him.

The smirk spread, bigger, across her lips. "Who knows?" She shrugged her shoulders and bent on one knee to sniff the muddy grass. "I take my role quite seriously." Her voice cracked at her revelation and she rumbled in a wave of laughter.

Trace decided, at some point, that it was time to pursue his killer. It was the same as the other people he had killed, right?

Wrong.

Hailey's eyes widened but her pupils continued to shrink. One was slightly larger than the other. She reached behind her neck and spoke softly to herself, something that was barely audible to Trace.

"Tool HWP," her lips mimicked, her eyes glowing red. The whiteness still left in her eyes turned jet black and the red against it seemed to threat Trace. An overwhelming fear of death and pain banged around in Trace's chest, wanting out. What was he doing, standing there, staring at Hailey?

He tried to move, but found he was glued in place. He stared at Hailey with horror filling him. He couldn't concentrate on breathing, blinking, or anything other than Hailey's transformation.

Her hair turned dark black, and her cloak turned blood red. She grinned at Trace as she lifted a silver scythe over her head to rest on her shoulder. Black chains wrapped around it, and a red glow wrapped around it, like a strange aura or mist filled with some sort of supernatural power.

Trace managed to retrieve two ninja stars from inside of his cloak. A strange gleam slithered around the blades and into Trace's glove. He shivered with the feeling of power filling him.

Suddenly, the grass beneath his feet turned ash black and a wave of air rushed around him. The blades sank into his palms, drawing blood. Why was he squeezing them so hard? He wasn't scared...

His heart refused to slow its pace. His body trembled all over, his skin prickling with goosebumps under the heavy cloak. The frighteningly cold liquid dripped from his fingertips and onto the grass, which spread the red dye to every other blade like a disease.

Hailey smiled wickedly and her eyes turned darker, almost black, as she brought her scythe in front of her. "You think you can beat me with your one hand and two ninja stars?" She lifted her head up looked down on Trace, seeming to grow taller and more powerful.

Probably not, Trace thought to himself, gulping. He was going to die. That's why not many people got into WP7. She killed them all. I shouldn't be afraid. I'm getting what comes to me.

She launched at him like a bloodthirsty demon kangaroo and swung her scythe left and right, hitting Trace each and every time. Blood burst out of his arms, legs, mouth, torso, and feet. He fell to one knee and coughed up carbon dioxide and blood, pounding his fist onto the hard ground. The blades from his weapon cut into his skin further.

"Stand," Hailey ordered, plunging her blade into the ground inches from Trace's head. He didn't flinch until she picked his metal hand up from the ground.

Trace obediently hobbled his way back onto his feet. He couldn't see things clearly with the slick crimson liquid racing down his forehead, over his eyelashes. He couldn't feel the raw pain enveloping his entire body any longer.

"You're a part of Wolf Pack Seven, Trace," Hailey disappeared and reappeared behind him. He couldn't calculate her movements properly. "I'm the captain of this team. You obey my orders."

Trace craned his head around to face Hailey but she was already behind him, holding the scythe's blade to his neck.

"Yes, ma'am," Trace managed, feeling the blade brush against his skin.

"Good," she slowly retracted the weapon. "Stand still. You need to go through immense pain in order to receive the Wolf Pack Seven's insignia."

Trace shuddered, wincing. "Insignia?" The word didn't register in his mind. Too much was going on, too much to be able to think about anything.

Hailey's lips crooked up as she gazed at Trace. "Lift your left arm's sleeve up, if it's not too painful."

Trace obeyed, but struggled pulling the sleeve up. Sappy blood glued it to his skin, but he managed.

Hailey stared at his arm as if she had found the most interest in it. Her tongue licked the blood from her lips. Trace's blood that had splattered all over her.

She lifted her scythe, hovering it over Trace's open elbow. The red glow that surrounded her weapon reappeared, only this time it was darker and more threatening. Without a second's hesitation, Hailey pressed the point of the blade into his skin.

Blood bubbled out fluidly, and Trace shrieked until he ran out of breath. He was immobile, but he could feel the worst pain filling his entire body. His vision went black and he panicked for a second, until everything came back into focus, only more vibrant, real, and painful.

He flashed his gaze to his arm and gasped. What was going on?

Hailey had lifted her blade and slung it back over her shoulder, but Trace still felt like a million needles were scraping at his throat, poking holes through his veins.

His arm was covered in black flames. It was like someone had tattooed a sleeve tattoo of dark black flames onto his arm while his vision failed for a few seconds. The design was so tedious and intricate.

"That's the Wolf Pack Seven insignia, Trace. Did it hurt?" Hailey sounded amused at Trace's shocked expression and bent down on one knee to smirk at him. Her eyes weren't red anymore, but a dark brown.

"Not at all," Trace brushed off with a slight laugh, sitting up on his elbows. Pain shot through him again, this time only a fraction duller. He winced and clenched his teeth.

"I can see that," Hailey laughed, pressing her hand to his chest, pushing him back onto the grass. She didn't remove her hand until she knew he was going to stay down. "Good thing you were knocked out, though. You resisted most of the pain that comes with the insignia."

Trace stared up into the trees stained with red splotches. His blood smelled metallic and salty. The entire area was covered in it.

"And as soon as the insignia was finished imprinting itself in your skin, a silver katana appeared next to you," Hailey supplied, pointing to the long sword next to Trace. He didn't bother turning his head to look at it. "That's your Tool. It'll be helpful when battling other assassins and resisting victims."

Trace blinked, because his eyes were stinging like crazy. Blood was dripping into them.

"You'll get used to that, too," Hailey smiled.

"When can I sit up?" Trace mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut.

"As soon as the insignia's healing property kicks in. I had to numb you up pretty good so that the pain wouldn't be as unbearable," Hailey jabbed her thumb back at her scythe. "Once that happens, we can head back to Phantom and you can show the team your Tool and your eyes."

Trace creased his eyebrows. "My eyes?"

Hailey laughed, pointing at him. "Yeah. They're glowing."