"Kei, are you there?" Iria screamed into her com-link. "Kei, answer me. You have to be there. You can't give up now, not when we're so close. Kei!" There was a moment of static. Iria groaned and leaned against the wall trying to shield herself from the enemy's fire. She shouldn't have let Kei go out on her own.

"Iria." Kei's voice came in loud and clear. Kei laughed slightly. "Were you worried?"

"Of course I was, you little brat. Where's your position?" Iria responded in the midst of returning the enemy's fire. She took out nearly all ten of them before she finished her last sentence. "Kei?"

"Yeah, I'm still here." There was an exchange of gunfire. Kei shouted curses at the robots who stood guard at the entrance of Tuedou Enterprise. "I'm about to enter Tuedou Enterprise now. Give me five minutes."

Iria took out the last sniper before answering. "You got it, kid."

"Thanks. Kei signing off." Kei blasted her way through the robot blockade and breached Tuedou.

Kei's heart was pounding so hard that she almost thought it would explode. She made her way through the corridors of Tuedou with her gun cocked and her body tense, ready for action. Kei hated to admit it but she was nervous, more so than usual. It wasn't so much the mission but what was waiting for her at the end of the mission. Kei could hardly believe that upon completing this oh so easy mission she would be a full fledged bounty hunter. Kei would have her licensee and would no longer be Bounty Hunter Iria's apprentice. It was almost too good to be true.

"Getta grip on yourself, Kei." She whispered to herself. "You may have gotten in Tuedou but there's still the problem of getting to the top floor and getting those hostages to safety." Kei made her way stealthily through Tuedou Enterprise. "It's too quiet." Kei eyed her surroundings, shadows everywhere.. She strained her ears to pick up every sound. There was only silence.

"Kei, how's your situation? Need back up?" Iria's voice caught Kei completely off guard. She nearly screamed out. "Kei?"

"I'm here." Kei had to catch her breath. "You scared me, Iria. Don't tell me it's been five minutes all ready."

Iria laughed. "Five? Try ten, kid, you need to be more alert. Stop day dreaming or else you won't get your license."

"Oh, I'll get my license, Iria." Kei stopped in mid step. "Iria, I gotta go. I just heard something. Kei signing off." Kei switched off her com-link before Iria could respond.

"Halt! You are ordered to retreat by Tuedou Security." An officer shouted. He was flanked by five other officers on either side of him. The man continued to shout orders as he and the others raised their arms.

"They've got to be kidding." Kei shook her head. "These Administration Enforcer rejects couldn't shoot their way out of a wet paper bag, but still..." Kei put away her gun and raised her arms. "Okay guys I give up." She said as she took several stops toward the eleven man barricade. To Kei's surprise the fools actually lowered their guns. "They're buying it. I can't believe their stupidity." Kei muttered under her breath. She planned to use small finger length blades to take out the ten men beside the officer who spoke. She would then take him out with her gun. She had to be quick. She doubted the officer was as quick or as skilled with his gun which was oversized and out dated as she was with her own. Kei all ready had the blades in hand, a quick downward motion of her upper arms saw to that. "It's now or never." Kei said to herself.

Crash.

"What the?" Kei's eyes instantly went to one of the large windows. She frowned when she saw who was standing there. "Fujikuro! You jerk. This mission doesn't belong to you." Kei was so angry at Fujikuro that she completely forgot about the guardsmen.

It didn't matter anyway. The loud, unexpected entrance of Fujikuro drew the attention of the guards. Almost instantly they open fired on him. The battle was short. In less than two minutes Fujikuro had taken out all eleven men. The danger eliminated he joined Kei on the ground.

"Just what do you think you're doing? This mission is important to me, Fujikuro. You know that my license depends on this mission. I will not let you take this away from me." Kei screamed. "You're a heartless snake, Fujikuro." Kei flicked her wrists and sent ten finger blades in his direction.

"Hey, calm down." Fujikuro somehow managed to dodge all ten blades. He stared at Kei. "You need to be more careful with those things. You almost hit something very important to me, you little brat!"

"Small price to pay, Fujikuro, I assure you." As if she hadn't even spoken Fujikuro turned and walked away. "You worthless dog. You will not steal my license away from me!" Kei stated as she broke into a run. In a flash of orange hair and black and red armor Kei passed Fujikuro.

"Just like, Iria." He said amazed. "Uncanny."

"Bob." Kei raised her arm and waited for the yellow and pink hologram to appear. "What floor is Dukas on?" Kei was running at full speed but her voice was steady and even.

"It's on the ninetieth floor. There's a slight problem though."

"Shoot." Kei said as she shot down five more guards.

"All ten lifts are down. You'll have to climb the shafts, one floor at a time."

"You've got to be kidding." Kei stopped in front of a lift. "It's now or never." Kei said as she flicked the beads dangling by her right ear. Kei walked into the lift. "Before I go, tell me that this lift goes to the ninetieth floor."

"Which lift is it?"

"Four." There was a second of silence before Bob told her it went to the desired floor. "Good." Kei took one look at the cables and groaned. "This is going to take awhile." Kei said before jumping from the lift onto the cables.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Kei, come in. It's me, Iria." Iria's voice echoed throughout the lift shaft. "Kei what's your situation. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Iria. All the lifts are down so I'm stuck with climbing the shaft. Where are you?"

"I'm on the hundredth floor making my way down. I was able to reach the roof about five minutes ago." There was a brief pause. "You say you're climbing the shaft?" "Yeah. I'm at the eightieth floor now." Kei tried not to sound tired.

"Man, if that doesn't get you a license I don't know what will. I'll be on the ninetieth floor in five minutes or so. Iria signing off."

"Kei signing off." Kei took a breath a breath and continued upward.

To Kei's surprise she reached the target floor in three minutes. She took an extra minute to catch her breath and jumped into the room. She was angry more than anything else at the sight before her.

"I should've suspected you would use your depadon to fly up her, Fujikuro." Kei was burning with rage. She just climbed ninety floors up a cable to get there. She would die before she'd let Fujikuro steal this mission form her or Iria. "You're so heartless. This isn't about money. My license is on the line. I'm not going to wait three months more for this chance to come back around."

Fujikuro had his gun pointed at Dukas who was on his knees. He cast an indifferent look in her direction. "With me it's always about money. If that slave driver Bob would give me a decent job every now and again I wouldn't have to do this. Besides three months ain't that long. You'll have your license in no time." He turned his attentions back to Dukas.

Kei clenched her jaw, suppressing tears of rage. "You will not steal this mission away from me or Iria!" Kei bellowed at the top of her lungs. In the blink of an eye Kei drew her gun and shot Fujikuro's gun from out of his hands. She then turned on Dukas. "Now it ends." She dropped Dukas with one precise shot between the eyes.

"You little brat!" Fujikuro yelled at Kei. "You just cost me half a million dollars." Fujikuro made his way over to Kei. "I'll teach you-"

"I don't think so, Fujikuro." Iria stood at the window her gun aimed at his back. She looked up at Kei. "Guess I missed the party." Iria entered the room and looked down at Dukas' corpse. "Hmm. I would think a terrorist as powerful as him would be much harder to kill. Didn't even put a fight."

"Naw, the guy's a coward just like all the rest." Fujikuro said. "I guess the next order of business is to see these hostages to safety." He added.

"How? The lifts are down." Kei said as she looked over at the group of twenty or so people. All of whom looked expectantly at Iria, Kei, and Fujikuro. Kei saw a lady timidly raise her hand. "Yes? What is it? Don't be afraid." Kei turned to the woman.

"There's an auxiliary lift down the hall. It should work." The woman's voice was timid and low.

Kei could barely believe her ears. "An auxiliary lift? You mean I climbed ninety floors for nothing?" Kei's face turned red. "Why didn't you tell me this, Bob?" Kei spoke angrily to the hologram.

"I didn't know."

"What'd you mean you didn't know?"

"Calm down, Kei." Iria put her hand on Kei's shoulder. "Fujikuro, see to it that the people are taken care of." Iria and Kei made their way to the window.

"Hey, what are you up to?" Fujikuro ran over to the window but it was too late. "Come back here." Fujikuro shouted to Iria and Kei as they made off with his depadon. The two laughed and blew Fujikuro mock kisses.

"Serves him right, calling me a slave driver." Bob said. "Like I always say 'I match the job with the skill' Speaking of which, good work Kei. I've all ready sent word to headquarters. You're badge will be waiting on you. You're a full fledged bounty hunter."

"Congratulations, Kei." Iria said.

Kei proudly put on her badge. "How do I look?" Kei posed in front of Iria. The two had since left headquarters and were back at home. "I can't believe it." Kei repeated for what had to be the thousandth time.

Iria stared at her and Kei's reflection in the mirror. "It is kind of hard to believe." She said. "To think that eight years ago I met you as some smart alec street punk on Dowejon. I didn't even know you were a girl at first."

"Yeah. I was a pain back then wasn't I ?" Kei smiled and flicked her beads.

"I wouldn't say that." Iria replied as she looked at the beads sway back and forth. "Hmm. I remember when you took one of my beads. It was my favorites. I was so angry with you." Kei laughed. Iria shook her head. ""You're hair has been through some serious stages. Remember how it all used to stand on end?" Iria asked.

"Yeah. I did it like that so that I would look more like a boy."

"It worked." Iria dodged a mock punch from Kei. "For the life of me I couldn't get you to change it. For nearly a year you wore your hair like that."

"I liked it."

"Whatever. Finally, I got you to wear it down. I surprised at how long it actually was. But of course that hairstyle didn't last too long. It took you fours years but you got rid of that hairstyle too."

"It made me look 'girlie'. I didn't like it. Besides it would always get in my face." Kei stared at herself. "I like this hairstyle better." Kei said. Her hair was all cut off save for the hair that the beads were attached too. The hair that sat atop her head was short and loose while the back was shaved.

"It is pretty cute but I wouldn't want my hair that short."

"What'd you mean? It is that short." Kei laughed.

Iria gave Kei a wry smile. "Brat. You know you've come a long way." Iria said quietly. "I'm proud of you, kid." She slapped Kei on the shoulder.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you, Iria. You taught me everything I know." Kei was right about that. She was like Iria in almost every way. Even her uniform was like Iria's. The only difference was color. Where Iria's uniform was blue Kei's was red and where Iria's was white Kei's was black. "I can't believe I'm a full fledged bounty hunter. I was something else today wasn't I, Iria?"

Laughing. "You sure were, kid. Not only did you complete your mission successfully but you stole Fujikuro's depadon." Iria laughed even harder. "He was so angry."

Laughing as well, "He was pretty ticked off. Serves him right, trying to steal our mission, the jerk." Kei tried to pout but her mouth twitched and she began laughing all over again.

Iria put a hand on Kei's shoulder. "You are definitely one of a kind. Welcome to the club, Bounty Hunter Kei."

"Bounty Hunter Kei." Kei repeated to herself and then turned to look at Iria. "I like the sound of that."