“Ask away.” He nodded once, arching his back to spin the katana handle around his wrist, catching it so that it was held more or less like a knife more than a blade, and cut through a dense bush of roses, Nina raising a slender arm to catch one of the flowers, careful not to prick the skin. Raising it to her nose, she took one small sniff, taking in the aroma of the nectar inside of the petals. In moments, she found that Sven was waiting for her, turning his head to glance over his shoulder, smiling brightly at her. She returned the favor, the sight of his grin a rarity among all treasures which existed on the Earth, following him with haste as he led her through the woods. Her beam, however, was stopped abruptly as she caught sight of heavily armored men in front of her house, all of whom were armed with semi-automatic rifles, all of which fired in bursts for extreme accuracy. Immediately she recognized the guns, and pulled Sven down with her, taking cover behind a bush.

“Sven…those are the Kingston Plaza’s men…they’ve got M16s and who knows what else. I was going to ask what you wanted to do once we got to my house, but it looks like we’re cut short. You’ve got the only weapon here…so I guess you’re going to have to assassinate all of them…” Nina explained, Sven merely nodding, his face paling as he caught the sight of more of the troops heading into the building, gunfire being heard as if it were happening right next to them. “…Sven…I know what you did…and I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to if we’re going to get the money from my parent’s…bodies…”

“I’ll be right back…but I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this without getting shot…” He spoke finally after a moment of silence, his azure eyes spotting every detail of the armored and trained combatants, all of whom seeming to not have a single weak point on their suits.

“Okay…don’t get hurt…my dear.” She pecked his cheek, his face reddening from the small gesture and he crept away, half-heartedly, her magenta gaze following him as he disappeared behind the underbrush. As he continued to pad his way over to the edge of her house, his shoes caused the forest floor to crackle and, despite the roar of activity overhead, he was sure anyone could hear him walking. In moments, he felt the wary eyes of one of the scouts upon him, and he froze, planting his foot just in time to escape a tripwire, which he could easily guess was hooked up to an alarm system. Having studied this technology earlier, he tossed a stick towards his right, and a heavy set of underbrush rattled against the force which struck it. Alarmed, the scout took a few steps toward it, not noticing how close Sven was to him, and he lashed out with the katana, spinning to lob off an arm and thus, with one final arc, the blade reaped the body in half. Once he leaped over the tripwire and stepped over the halves of the man, he grimaced, feeling remorse take over as he sighed heavily, turning towards one of the helicopters above him. Reaching for the weapon which the man had carried with him, placing the katana down, he searched many of the pouches on the armor, finding clips for the gun, which he placed in his pockets.

Sven sighed and held the M16 in his left hand, carrying the katana in his right. This won’t go as I wanted to…but hell…Nina won’t mind a bit of a show, I’m hoping? Placing his finger on the trigger, he sprang up, revealing himself to full view of the armored personnel. All of them raised their weapons towards him, but none of them dared fire at him, even though he was armed.

“…Subject Sven. That’s him. Nina must be close by…”

“Best assessment?”

“Captured alive…!” A hoarse voice echoed behind him, and he blinked, turning around to find that he indeed was surrounded, lasers pointing at his chest, and he shook his head.

“…I just…want to get away from all the torment I had suffered through in that God forsaken house…when really all I’ve been doing is just baiting me for you…”

“Ah…Sven…that’s the dread talking…” A suited man, his eyes twinkling as he spotted the boy, finally taking a few steps forward from behind the circle of armored men, all of which had their weapons focused onto his heart, their trigger fingers hovering over the mechanism. “…If I had known about you sooner, I would have almost guaranteed that your life would be easier, and you would be much more content with yourself. Honestly…do you think that I would let a prize, so fierce and noble in your own right, go so easily? That family wronged you…and I’m terribly sorry, for the Draclau heritage is to be horrible to their youngest, and they had adopted you, although they showed you that they were somehow your parents. Yes, Sven…they were never tied to you in any way…I honestly could tell you that they treated you more unfairly than their own youngest because they were afraid…frightened by the power in which you held in your body. We call that Ghost’s Soul Complex, a sentient being who holds within them more power than they could wield with such a frail vessel… Your Soul wants to propel that sword with such force that it would cut the house in two, but it can’t, because the body isn’t as strong as it should be, or as it wants to be. Really, you could just work out for almost twelve years and not even be able to make a fourth of that cut… I, however, see through this, and am willing to let you embark on a journey, with your Nina, to be experimented on us with your consent. We’ll take good care of both of you…and besides…it’s better than being on the run from the law…hmm…? I honestly would think that was better than any other choice you may encounter on the road, so I beg to differ if you decide to disagree…”

“…And what about them...?" He motioned towards the encirclement of armed men, all of whom hadn’t even twitched while the man in the suit spoke. “…They’ve got to be in the way, don’t they?”

At this, the suit garbed man hesitated, as if he was taken off guard by the whole idea of having so many witnesses, all of whom were in obvious view. He merely nodded once, grinning wryly, and he merely shrugged.

“…Sven, my boy…you are one smart kid…today, I mark the day of Ghosts…the Complex in your body will help us bring together a new world, a world in which man and machine are one…where even the small shall be known as the strong…and the strong shall become the weak. We are among many of the great discoverers, mapping the brain with our nimble fingers. Sven, I must congratulate you…for you are one of the immense amounts of others who will be brought to our facility in Germany, and later, to America, where we will make you into something altogether different, but whole in its own right.”