You strike and punch and kick and attack

But never do you guard or watch your back

As the sweet voice sung those verses, the boy felt a heavy blow strike him from behind. He spun around only to see his attacker disappear into the shadows, laughter following after him. With a smirk on his face, the boy followed after him, fruitlessly trying to see through the pitch blackness.

When all is black and hope is lost

Remember what is gained when sight is the cost

With a sigh, the boy forced himself to stop running. He closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths.

At first, there was only silence. But, as he stood there, silent and still, a soft padding began to echo in his ears. They were footsteps, soft and careful, but footsteps nonetheless. The boy focused on those steps. It took all his concentration to keep from losing those quiet pitter patters but, as he continued to listen, he could hear them growing closer.

And closer...

And closer...

And...

In a whirl of movement, the boy spun around. Fist held out, he felt it make contact with the hard headed skull of the one sneaking up on him. The attacker tried to draw back, but he had already made too much noise.

With a smile of triumph on his face, the boy leapt into the darkness. His hands easily found the other boy. The two bodies fell to the ground and an instant later the lights in the room flashed on.

"Man, you're way too good at this kind of thing. I never had a chance," the thin boy said with a smile as he looked up at his friend.

The other boy smiled back down at him before standing up and holding out a hand to his fallen companion. The boy on the ground chuckled before grabbing his hand and standing up as well.

"Very, very good, boys. Especially you, Number 36," a sweet and pleasant voice called down. The two boys looked up to see a tall, extremely beautiful woman walking down a wide expanse of stairs towards them.

"Thank you, Mistress," Number 36 spoke softly before bowing low.

"Kiss-ass," his friend whispered below his breath, smile still on his face.

"Number 73," the woman said in a voice stern, yet intoxicating. "You need to work on your movement; your steps are still far too heavy."

"I was moving as lightly as possible! It's not my fault 36 has got the ears of a bat!" Number 73 huffed, folding his arms in defiance.

Number 36 felt a warm blush form on his face. He was very sensitive about his abnormally large ears, and 73 knew it.

"Well, Number 36 has managed to best you yet again with his 'bat ears' so I suggest you work on acquiring the feet of a mouse before the two of you face off again."

"Yes, Mistress," Number 73 replied with a roll of the eyes.

Number 36 spared his friend a sympathetic smile before letting his eyes trail off to look back at their Mistress. He quickly and subconsciously felt himself tracing the curves of her hips to the smooth lines of her slender face. He immediately averted his eyes when she looked over at him.

"The two of you have done very well over the past year. I was not mistaken in choosing the both of you to outlast your brothers and sisters. You two have achieved far more than any of them ever could. I am very proud to have had you train under me."

The two boys gave their teacher surprised looks at those last words. In all their months of training, they never once heard their Mistress express this much gratitude before. She looked back at them with a smile and a raised eyebrow. They both immediately flinched and bowed low.

"Thank you, Mistress," they both said in unison.

...

"Do you think 26 is still waiting for me?" Number 73 asked out loud as they both lay in their cots in the small dark room.

"Yes," Number 36 responded with certainty, glancing over at his friend in the dark.

It had been several months since their trio had been broken up, but 73 never stopped talking about her. Number 36 knew if she had even a fraction of the affection for him that he had for her, she would wait.

"Could you imagine her reaction if she knew that we were the last two left?" 73 continued with a chuckle.

36 smiled at that. Number 26 had always gone on and on about how they spent too much time goofing off instead of training. Her favorite phrase was that 'they should try to be more like her'. Now look where they were. 26 was one of the first to be let go while one of the two 'goofoffs' were destined to be the Mistress's apprentice.

"I'll be sure to say hi for you when I see her again," Number 73 said, laughter gone now, and 36 knew he was looking at him through the darkness too.

"The tests aren't over yet," 36 assured his friend.

73 laughed at this, but it was a laugh that sounded empty and dry. "Don't try to delude me," 73 replied, his voice serious. "We both know you are way better at combat and...thinking than me. Plus, the Mistress always has her eyes on you. Don't think you're the only one who has noticed."

"I..."

"Look, don't sweat it," Number 72 said, and this time there was a smile in his voice. "I don't mind losing if it means losing to you. And besides, when it's all said and done, I get to leave this place and be with 26 again. She seems like a city person, don't you think? I'll have to check every city out there until I find her!"

Number 36 smiled to himself as his friend went on about 26. He remembered back when they all first met. He and 72 both immediately fell in love with 26 and were always bickering and fighting over her. 36 would always win, but then always found himself unable to talk with her properly. Every time his eyes met with hers his throat always seemed to close up or his tongue became too dry. He also couldn't help but notice that every time 72 had a chance to talk to her 26 seemed to smile and laugh more than she ever did around him.

So, one day, 36 approached 72 in the cafeteria, where the 98 other teens could see them, and openly and uncharacteristically challenged him to one final fight for 26's heart. Number 72 immediately accepted and, to everyone's surprise, took out 36 in less than a minute. Through all of the shouts and cries of confusion and amazement, the two enemies looked each other in the eyes and in that instant both understood as smiles spread on both their faces.

Number 36's current smile remained on his face as he began to fall asleep, Number 72 still going on about he was going to hunt down 26. He was going to miss him even more than he missed her.

...

I am here for you and only you

I love you, I want you, I need you

You are my shadow, my darkness

My tool and my weapon

While others withered and died, I've allowed you to ripen

Into my own special flower, so twisted and dark

A hand crafted knife, so slim and so sharp

You are my own, my one and only

I have given you the weapon and target

All you must do is know how to stick it

Into the flesh of the only one left

And then you will be my own, my shadow, my Kid Wicked.

The boy awoke with a gasp and in a cold sweat. Immediately, he looked over to his friend to see that 72 was still sleeping. Number 36 wiped a hand over his cold and wet forehead. These dreams kept happening, strange and rhyming, and they filled him with a certain dread, even though he did not know why.

After his breathing finally started to settle down, Number 36 finally lay back down on his cot. He wouldn't fall back asleep that night. He never did.

...

"Today will be the last of your training," the Mistress told them as soon as she stepped down those expansive steps and immediately the two boys woke up completely, even 36.

"You can't be serious!" Number 72 exclaimed, his face awash with amazement. "It can't have been a whole year already!"

"Oh, but it can, and it has," the Mistress continued, a smile gracing her beautiful face. "And you two have but one final test to prove yourselves worthy to be my apprentices."

"Wait, wait..." 72 spoke again, this time he and 36 exchanged looks, "...did you say both? As in two?"

"Yes..."

"As in...we can both be your apprentices?"

"Potentially, yes."

For the first time that day, Number 36 felt himself smile as he looked over at his friend. Number 72 smiled back, but not as immediately as 36 would have expected.

"Now...as for your final test..."

The Mistress then pulled from the snug black robe she was wearing two cloaks, both the same midnight black as her attire.

"I'm sure the two of you have wondered, just like the 98 other recruits, and the thousands of other people who know of my exploits, how I have managed to infiltrate, steal, assassinate, and so much more without being caught. How I manage to slip through the strongest of security with ease, how I can kill a man with a several hundred guards and none of them witnessing the death, or how I plucked up one hundred troubled and disturbed teenagers right underneath their parent's noses."

Number 36 and 72 then shifted their gazes from the Mistress's face to the two cloaks she held in her hands.

"Here is your answer, boys. The result of twenty years of my own research and thievery."

"What...What are they?" Number 72 asked as he eyed the cloaks warily.

"As you can see, they are capes," the Mistress said with a smile before handing them towards the two boys. "Each of you take one."

The two recruits grabbed the capes, though 72 took one only after 36 had and did so with careful, gentle hands.

"You don't need to worry about tearing them," the Mistress said in an amused tone as she watched them. "They make look fragile, but I assure you that neither bullet nor fire will be able to pierce them. And, even if they do tear, they have the ability to repair themselves."

"Whoa!" Number 72 breathed as he felt the fabric between his fingers.

Number 36 did so as well, the black cape felt just like any other sort of fabric. He found it hard to imagine something so soft could be so deadly. Number 36 then looked up at the Mistress, subconsciously tracing her smooth and firm curves beneath the robe.

Then again...

"Go ahead and strap them on. You will need a clasp to keep them in place..."

Reaching back into her robe, the Mistress pulled out two small, circular, metallic looking objects. She handed those to her potential apprentices as well.

"What's this symbol on them?" Number 72 asked as he and 32 clasped them on the cloak around their necks.

"It's a cat's eye," the Mistress said with a shrug. "Just a symbol I used back in my more youthful days."

Once they had their capes on and secured, Number 36 couldn't help but feel a little silly. He knew going into this that he would potentially end up fighting some of those costume nut job heroes out there, but he never expected that he would have to look like one.

"Do these things actually have hoods too?" 72 asked out loud as he pulled his over his head. Number 36 had to stifle a laugh. The hood made him look like he had cat ears with the two pointed flaps that were on either side.

"What's so funny?" Number 72 asked as he felt the hood, quickly finding the flaps. "Is it torn or something?"

"They are...ears, you could say, that I personally fitted on these two cloaks. They may look a little silly, but they enhance your hearing by nearly tenfold if you concentrate enough."

"C'mon 36, let's see what it looks like on you!" 72 dared, noticing 36's failure to hold back an amused smile.

Reluctantly, Number 36 did so. 72 did not hold back his laughter nearly as well as his friend did.

"Forgive me, Number 36," The Mistress said with an endearing smile. "I had to make yours slightly bigger to compensate for the natural size of your ears."

36 felt a warm blush begin to bloom on his face as 72 tried to stifle another laugh.

"Well, now that you both have become quite suited to your cloaks, let's say we give them a test run."

"A test run?" 72 echoed after he finally managed to control his laughter. "You mean to test the hearing thing?"

"No, no," the Mistress said with a knowing smile. "You see, I have yet to mention what truly makes these cloaks so special. But I fear words fall short to what actions can prove. Now, if you both will be so kind as to follow me to the roof..."

...

Number 36 and 72 squinted as the trio stepped onto the roof of the large warehouse. It had been almost a month since the last time they had been outside, and even then they had spent most of their time within another building as they attempted to steal the valuables within.

"What I am about to show you is something that you should only do when you have no other options," the Mistress told them as they stood there, the wind billowing the two boy's cloaks around their thin bodies. "It is the ultimate utility of these cloaks and is to be used with extreme caution."

As she spoke, she continued to walk backwards towards the edge of the roof until, finally, she was only one step from falling. The two boys looked on in wonder, though Number 36 grew slightly nervous to see his Mistress so close to falling.

"Do I make myself clear, boys?" she asked, giving them a stern look. The two recruits instantly nodded their heads.

The Mistress smiled. "Good."

Then, the Mistress pulled her robe from her body, revealing very tight, leather skinned clothing beneath with her own cloak flapping in the wind behind her. Her smile widened as the two boys continued to stare in amazement.

"See you on the other side."

And with that, their Mistress fell backwards from the roof. Number 36 and 72 immediately let out cries of shock and horror and quickly ran to the edge of the roof.

"Where did she go?!" 72 asked out loud as the two of them peered downwards, seeing nothing but the trees and the grass that surrounded the warehouse. "I don't see her anywhere!"

Number 36 only continued to scan everywhere that he could see below them, panic quickly starting to take over. He was just about to say something when he heard a soft clearing of the throat somewhere behind him. Very slowly, Number 36 turned to see the Mistress, standing just where he and 72 had been seconds ago, smile still on her face.

"And what are the two of you looking for way over there?"

At the sound of her voice, Number 72 immediately spun around, face white and eyes bulging. "But, you...I...saw you...fall...off...roof..."

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" the Mistress asked as she cupped a hand to her ear. "You look like you have just seen a ghost. Speak up!"

"We just watched you fall off the damn roof!" Number 72 blurted out, pointing an accusing finger at her. "How did you fall from there but then manage to end up behind us?!"

'"Isn't it obvious?" The Mistress asked, her smile growing wider. Number 72 and 36 shared a look before looking back at her and, both still wide-eyed, shook their heads.

The Mistress laughed a cool, airy laugh before looking them dead in the eyes. "I teleported."

"You...teleported," Number 72 repeated, looking at the Mistress like he was expecting her to suddenly change her mind. Number 36 couldn't help but look at her in the same way.

"Yes," she simply replied, staring at them.

"...How?"

"Like this," And, in a split second, the Mistress pulled the cloak around her and disappeared from sight. Number 72 let out another surprised yelp, before turning to his friend.

'"36, please tell me you just saw—" But Number 72 was cut off when his eyes fell on the Mistress, standing right behind 36. Letting out a third cry, he jumped back several feet.

Very slowly, Number 36 turned around to see the Mistress standing there, looking at him with a quizzical smile.

"You believe it now?"

Number 36 slowly nodded, face still full of wonder and amazement. When she looked over at Number 72, he looked back with wide bug eyes, face still as white as chalk.

'"I'll just take that look as another yes," she said with another airy laugh. "Would either of you like to give it a try next?"

The two boys remained silent for a long time as she looked between them. Finally, Number 72 let out a feeble attempt at a cough. "I'd be more than happy to, but not before Number 36 tries it first."

Number 36 shot his friend a dirty look before feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked over at the Mistress to see her giving him her sweetest of smiles. Already, he could feel a blush forming.

"It's really as simple as it looks," she said in a soft, patient voice. "Simply think of where you want to be— another part of this roof, for instance— and pull the cloak around your body. Before you know it, you will be there."

Number 36 simply nodded and the Mistress stepped away from him. He stood there for several minutes, thinking of where he wanted to be, but found that simply gripping the cloak was proving more of a daunting task than it seemed.

"Don't be afraid of the power," he heard his master call to him as the stood there. "It may seem strange and...creepy, at first, but use it enough times, get to know it, and you may find out that you actually like it."

Number 36 looked back over at her and found that the Mistress was smiling at him again. He quickly averted his eyes and face before she could see him blush again. Was she talking more of the cloak...or him?

With a deep sigh, Number 36 grabbed the hem of the cape and, without anymore hesitation, he pulled it around his body. A sensation of extreme darkness and cold was all he had time to notice before he was back out into the world, colliding with a body soft and warm. He heard her let out a small exclamation of surprise, followed quickly by 72's laughter assaulting his ears.

"I did not know you desired to be so close," the Mistress said softly, looking down at 36 as he felt himself pressed against her, his head buried between her...

"I'm sorry!" Number 36 immediately apologized, jumping away from her. "I did not mean to—"

"It's quite alright. It is hard to control exactly where you want to go the first few times," she said with a forgiving smile. Number 36 merely nodded, keeping his eyes fixed to the ground. He could still here his friend snickering.

"Number 72," Mistress called in a pleasant voice. Immediately, the snickering stopped. "Now that you see Number 36 has teleported and come back just fine perhaps you are more comfortable with trying it yourself?"

"Uhh..." 72 replied, looking just as uncomfortable as Number 36 did now.

"Try it," Number 36 encouraged with a soft smile. "It's not so bad. Just cold."

Number 72 looked back in silence for a moment before finally breaking out into a smile of his own. "Yeah, alright. If 36 can do it then so can I!"

"Good," the Mistress said. "Now, just think of a spot on this roof you would like to teleport to and pull the cape around you. Simple, yes?"

"Yeah, simple..." Number 72 muttered.

He closed his eyes and looked to be in deep concentration. After a few minutes, his eyes snapped open and met Number 36's. The two friends shared a look for only a second before 72 smiled and, gripping his cape, pulled it around him and vanished.

The seconds ticked away very slowly. Time went by even slower as they became minutes. Number 36 looked all around the roof, but his friend did not appear. Glancing over at the Mistress, he noticed that she was still staring at the spot that 72 disappeared from, arms folded and smile gone. When it began to feel like they had been up there for hours, the Mistress let out a sigh.

"Number 36," she began, turning to face him. "Have you—"

But she was cut off as a figure suddenly appeared between them.

"72!" Number 36 called out as he began to approach his friend, but felt himself come to a halt when his eyes caught a glimpse of his friend's face. In that moment, it looked more miserable than 36 had ever remembered seeing it look before.

But, as soon as that look was there, it vanished beneath a wide smile as Number 72 stood up straight and looked at his friend. "I did it!" he exclaimed, laughing lightly. Number 36 forced himself to smile back.

"So you did," the Mistress said, arms still folded. "You took a bit longer than expected."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Number 72 quickly replied, turning to face her while rubbing the back of his head. "I think I teleported to the wrong rooftop or something."

"I see..." The Mistress looked 72 square in the face. The two of them shared icy eyes for several seconds more before she broke out into a smile. "Well then, I think that's enough training. Get a good night's rest boys. Tomorrow one, or even both, of you will become my apprentices."

The two boys shared a slightly surprised look at such a short training session, but after seeing the raised eyebrow of their Mistress they immediately got back in line.

"Yes, Mistress," the two boys said in unison, bowing low.