"...You're kidding, right?" Soryu deadpanned, leveling his stiff glare with Halle.

"No." Halle just shook her head no as she continued to walk down the dimly lit hallway of her apartment complex, holding a paper bag of food from a local bakery in her hand. "Not at all."

Soryu stopped in front of a door when Halle did, briefly glancing at the room number 402D. "How do you manage to forget this, of all possible things?"

"Hey now," Halle turned over her shoulder and held up a finger in defense. "You try getting bound, gagged, and drugged on a job, then sold to an asshole mobster at a secret underground black market auction who makes you abandon your gig as an assassin and forces you work as a hotel maid instead." She stared him down, quirking an eyebrow at the Hong Kong mobster who looked irritated by her insult. "Then you tell me if you manage to remember the fact that you were in the middle of interrogating a covert government agent you had previously kidnapped that morning."

Soryu rolled his eyes as he watched Halle pull a knife from her leather jacket and abruptly kick in the door to her apartment, and he pulled his gun as the two of them charged in. The grey color scheme of the apartment was dimly lit by the few windows that were covered up by raggedy sheets, and the barren apartment with little furniture or personal touches at all was immediately outshined by the several swords and knives hung up all over the walls. Papers were scattered all over the floors, and this place looked more like a dingy prison cell rather than an apartment. There was no way this was a permanent place to live; it was clearly a temporary safe house.

However, the shady guy that was practically wrapped in a cocoon of duct tape that widened his eyes in horror at the sight of Halle was a more apparent concern of Soryu's, rather than her not-very-girly "apartment."

"Hello, darling!" Halle smirked sadistically as she calmly strode into the apartment, walking towards her hostage with the knife she was spinning in her fingers. "Miss me?"

"MF MFFF!" The guy tried to hop away from her despite his bound ankles, struggling to escape his prison of duct tape.

Halle gripped the man's abdomen and thrust him back into the chair that he had clearly been tied to previously, instantly pressing the sharp edge of the knife against his throat. "Sorry, but I'm not done with you yet." She looked over her shoulder at Soryu back behind her, who slowly lowered his gun. "Hey, pass me the duct tape on the counter, would you?"

Despite not looking too happy about taking orders from the woman, Soryu complied and tossed the duct tape her way as he shoved his gun back into his jacket.

After Halle re-duct-taped the man to the chair, she frowned a little as she abruptly ripped the piece of duct tape off of his mouth.

"OUCH!" The man yelped in pain, and he winced now that a red rectangular shape began to appear around his mouth. "Hey, kidnapping a federal agent is already a bad idea, but what are you, stupid? Are you trying to let me die?"

"Sorry, I was detained." Halle tossed the knife aside and plopped the paper bag she was holding onto her kitchen counter. "I really didn't intend on leaving you here for twenty-four hours without food or water." She pulled out two halves of a giant sandwich and two bottles of water, handing them to the man as she cut his hands loose, but left his torso taped to the chair.

The man shot her a weird look as he hungrily dug into the food, not taking his eyes off of the assassin as he grew even more confused. "...oh-kay. Well, I don't know what exactly you think I'm capable of, but I can't just give you secure government files of that cold case you were talking about. I don't have that kind of clearance---"

"That's fine." Halle cut him off, suddenly leaning forward and resting her hands on the arm rests of his chair as she inched her face uncomfortably close to his. "I don't want that information anymore."

The guy truly never looked more shocked. "Wait, what?"

Soryu shot Halle a weird look as his patience began to wear thin, trying to figure out what was going on as Halle continued to scare the wits out of the man. "Tell me everything you can about Byron Yakov."

The guy's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and his short blonde hair fell in his face as his blue eyes grew wide with shock. "Byron Yakov, as in my boss Byron Yakov!?"

"Yes." Halle backed up and stood up straight, crossing her arms over her chest. "Tell me, is he dirty?" She cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at him. "Is Byron Yakov a double agent?"

The man was almost too stunned to reply. "I-I... Byron Yakov, of all people, a double agent!?" He sputtered nervously. "You've got to be kidding me! That man is the biggest stickler for the law, and he's the best good cop out there in Japan! If anyone was a double agent, it definitely wouldn't be him!"

Halle frowned and pressed her finger to her lips, not liking that answer as she began to pace back and forth. "Yeah, I know... That's what I thought..."

The man eyed Halle strangely, but couldn't quite understand what she was thinking. "What?"

Halle abruptly spun on her heel and faced him, changing the subject before he could ask more questions. "What's your name, kid?"

The man, who appeared to be around the age of twenty-two, gulped nervously as he stammered, "M-Momo... Momo Tetsuki."

"Okay, Momo." Halle firmly met his gaze as she watched him continue to nervously eat the food she gave him, as well as down all of the water. "You're going to be my man on the inside now."

Momo spit out a gulp of the water he just drank. "What!?" He gaped at her in amazement. "Okay, I don't know who you think you are, but there's no way I'm going to just betray my country for you! That's treason!"

Halle raged as a vein bulged from her forehead, and she rose her voice as she got up in Momo's face again. "Hate to break it to you, kid, but our country's government is already corrupt, and you're going to help me fix it before any more innocent people get hurt."

"What...?" Momo blinked back his shock as he met her terrifying eyes. "What do you---"

"Look." Halle rested her hands on the arm rests of his chair, leaning in to really look into his eyes. "I used to work for the bureau, so trust me, I know. Everyone knows that there's been a mole within the bureau since the Iraq OP went wrong last year, and my money is on Byron."

Momo just slowly shook his head back and forth as he began to process what she was saying. "N-no... There's just no way. Byron Yakov...? I just can't believe he'd be the mole in the bureau..."

Halle just sighed as she backed up and stood up straight again, crossing her arms as she thoughtfully stared off into space at one of the covered up windows. "Yeah, I know... In all the years I worked for the man, I never would have suspected him..."

Something seemed to dawn on Momo as he warily locked eyes with Halle. "Wait a sec... You used to work for Byron and the bureau?" He paused for a moment as he grew uncharacteristically serious. "...you're Jack Cavanaugh's girl, aren't you? The agent with the highest kill record and mission success rate at the bureau."

Halle seemed to jolt at the mention of that man's name, which didn't go unnoticed by Soryu at all. She slowly turned around with a grave look on her face as she locked her saddened eyes with Momo's. "...Yeah. I used to be."

Momo slumped his shoulders and slowly looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am... Jack was a great agent."

Halle abruptly drove her fist into the wall with a powerful punch, releasing her pent-up anger as she seethed it through her teeth. "Yeah, I know he was. And it's all Byron's fault that my boyfriend is dead."

Soryu's eyes instinctively widened. It was at the mention of "boyfriend" that he began to put all the pieces together.

"So, what now?" Momo hesitantly followed Halle pacing around the room with his eyes. "You're just gonna go on this crazy path for revenge until you take down the mole because of that OP gone wrong?"

Halle turned around and glared at Momo wildly at his casual statement. "Is that all you can really call it!? An OP gone wrong!?" She reached out and gripped the arms of his chair, angrily digging her nails into it. "That bastard Byron is the one who blew both mine and Jack's cover a year ago, which got him tortured and brutally killed by the terrorists we were undercover investigating!" Her red eyes seemed to grow even more red as she vehemently seethed her anger through her teeth. "Byron turned on us! He betrayed us! I've been trying to find out who the mole is for the past year, and now that I know for sure that it's Byron, nothing can stop me from taking him down!" She stood up and locked eyes with Soryu, who instantly returned her glare. "Nothing, and no one at all."

"What about our deal?" Soryu crossed the room over to her, getting all up in her face as he glared down at her. "You belong to me now, remember?"

Halle turned her chin up so she could meet Soryu's angry stare with a fiery look of her own. "Yes, you won't let me forget. I'll still obey you and carry out any orders you give me, Soryu, but I can't just stop this now. I have to finish what I started."

Soryu shook his head no. "No, I refuse. I don't give you my permission to carry out this petty need for revenge of yours."

Halle clenched her teeth as she balled her hands into tight fists. "I'll do anything and everything you say, Soryu, but you can't stop me from taking down Byron. I have to do this." She stared directly into his steely-grey eyes as she got her point firmly across to him. "He's a dirty cop, Soryu. If I don't stop him, more innocent people will get hurt. More innocent people like Jack..." Her eyes awkwardly flickered to the floor as Halle lost some of her gusto, and Soryu just let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine." Soryu crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "But whatever I say goes, and my orders take precedent over yours. I don't care if you're in the middle of doing something when I page you; you drop whatever you're doing and come running."

Halle nodded her head determinedly. "Deal."

"Ahem." Momo awkwardly cleared his throat as if to remind the weird couple that he was still there, feeling a little third-wheelish as he remained duct-taped to the chair. "Umm, sorry to interrupt, but...what about me?"

Now noticing just how closely she was standing to Soryu, Halle awkwardly removed herself from his personal space bubble and dug a small object out of her jacket pocket before plopping it in Momo's hand. "Here. This is a burner. You'll use it to contact me with any information you dig up."

Momo eyed the old flip phone in his hands strangely. "What do you expect me to report?"

Halle crossed her arms as a confident smirk came over her face. "Oh, are you finally starting to come around to my side?"

Momo awkwardly cleared his throat as he instantly averted eye contact with Halle. "W-well... I mean, if you're right about Byron being dirty, then someone needs to stop him before he rises to too much power and really does some damage..."

Halle smirked mischievously as she reached forward and sliced through Momo's duct tape with one of her knives in a single, clean cut. "Welcome to the team, Agent Tetsuki. I'm your new boss: Halle Mitchell. First thing's first: you're going back to work and are going to pretend nothing is amiss as you spy on Byron and give me daily reports on his whereabouts and actions."

"Okay, I can do that..." Momo stood up from the chair and awkwardly met the eyes of the smirking assassin and dangerous mobster that were standing side-by-side in front of him, nervously gulping as he looked between the strange duo. "So... Now what?"

Halle crossed the room and grabbed a duffel bag of some of her weapons and clothes, throwing it over her shoulder. "Now? We find out a way to take down one of the Japanese government's most powerful law-enforcers without him catching on."

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DUHN DUHN DUHN. And the plot thickens. We learn a bit more about what happened to Halle in her past, but not ALL of what is to come has been revealed yet...

XD so, what do you guys think of Momo? I bet you weren't expecting THAT to be what Halle forgot about. He's going to be an important role in the book, so look forward to seeing more of him! I think he and Ryosuke will get along swimmingly once he's introduced XD...

Read, comment, vote, and enjoy!