Author's Note: And yet, another one! I think the many movies I've been watching and a few fast-paced gaming skirmishes I've been having with friends actually got me into another writing mood...or I'm making up for this summer. Whichever floats people's boats.

Digimon is not mine, yadda yadda yadda, it's copyrighted to someone that's not me, etc etc etc.

Hatch was feeling a bit of dread as he flopped himself into a black plush chair, crossing a leg over his other. What Yamaki had said disturbed the gray Renamon a little, considering that the leader of Hypnos always seemed to be filled with questions. Serena, seeming to sense the mild distress in Hatch, laid down against his leg and rested her chin on his foot.

It comforted him a little, at that much Hatch appreciated.

Yamaki made his way over to the large office chair behind his desk and sat down, putting his hands together and resting his forearms on the cool wood.

Hatch suddenly found himself smirking.

"'Much' huh? Must be pretty important if I'm the one involved."

Yamaki nodded as his expression remained neutral.

"You know that we can't allow you to roam around Shinjuku now that the Eastern Army is on the front doorstep. You're a valued target now for them."

The Renamon raised a brow.

"This seems a little like overkill just to find me..."

The agent smirked as he leaned back a little farther.

"Believe it or not, AssassinRenamon, but they aren't here just for you, no matter what your ego is thinking."

Hatch scowled at that as Yamaki continued.

"The government of Japan had been mulling over the issues of Digimon for some time now, since the D-Reaper caused quite a stir in the people of Tokyo over a year and a half ago. Ever since that virus had been destroyed the boundaries between this world and the Digital World had weakened considerably, causing mild outbreaks of rogue Digimon across major communication grids."

He gestured at a large map that was displayed on a far wall, with what looked like miles of multicolored threads and dozens of pins stuck in key locations on the green masses and even some in the blue that he guessed was the oceans.

Yamaki continued to speak.

"The main island of Japan...countries like Russia, America, Brazil, Germany, Australia...almost every continent slash Antarctica has been getting sightings of Digimon. The branch of Hypnos located in Nevada in the United States has been sending us updates of the political situation in America, along with other branches in different continents."

He took a glass of water he had sitting on the desk and took a small drink before speaking once again.

"To keep our discussion short, the world is gearing up in case of Digimon attacks, and said Digimon are starting to appear around the world, with anti-Digital Monster protesters only fueling the civil unrest. The Parasimon Incident didn't help very much either after all the damage they caused using Locomon."

The brown-haired man gave a grave shake of his head as he set the glass back down on the desk.

"We were already on the verge of having the military coming here before you showed up. Your appearance only gave them a real reason to visit, especially after you saved that little girl from the fire."

Hatch sighed and spoke up with clear irritation in his voice.

"I better not be the one you're blaming for this. I didn't choose to come to this world. I would've been happy just sitting back and doing what I used to do."

Yamaki leaned forward.

"Really now? Tell me, what did you do before you came to our world..."

That was the million dollar question. Hatch had no idea why he was in this world. He had no idea why he was a Digimon, why he was brought here, or why all this happened. Then again...he didn't really remember that much past his early and middle years in the Lost.

Was he dead and was simply reincarnated?

Oddly enough, this didn't seem to bother Hatch...not that much anyways. After all the shit that he had seen in his service with the Lost, he was pretty de-synthesized to weird and just plain unnatural things that happen to him.

The fox Digimon leaned back in his chair and answered Yamaki's question.

"I was...well, I was as my name says. I was an assassin, a hired killer. I was paid to either eliminate or capture those that were of danger or of high value."

Yamaki seemed to be mulling it over as he crossed his fingers on his hands, resting them on the table.

"An assassin you say..."

Hatch smirked.

"For the right price and right reason, though I don't think an organization like this would require the likes of me. Besides, I need my equipment and I need information."

Yamaki slowly shook his head.

"We don't need any assassins. What we need are people that can carry things out. A Digimon would only draw suspicion, especially one as infamous as you right now."

Hatch gave a small tilt of his head, his curiosity peaked at this turn of events.

"And what would you need an expendable soldier for? It's not like this kind of organization carries out hits."

Now Yamaki was giving Hatch a hard look, his brows scrunched together in thought and realization.

"...You sound like you know how all of this works in our world, like you've already known things about this world and the inner workings of it's defense and offense."

Hatch returned the hard look and statement with a glare. His defenses were starting to kick in.

"I'm entitled to my privacy. I may be a Digimon, but I still have a sense of mind and being. I keep my secrets, you keep yours. That's how it works."

The Renamon was squeezing the arms of the chair as he returned to a neutral look, his hazel eyes no longer showing emotion.

"From what I gathered from this conversation, you have things that need to be done and you can't give that job to any of your personal or you'll be traced. You need someone that allows you 'plausible-deniability'..."

Hatch narrowed his gaze at Yamaki.

"What is causing you problems? If the price is right and you supply me with info, then I can have it done clean. Or messy, depending on what it is."

Now Yamaki was showing more emotion instead of a scowl. He was wearing a small smirk.

"You're saying that you want to be a mercenary for us..."

Hatch tapped a claw on an arm of the chair.

"I carry the ability to destroy walls, melt into shadows, travel into a superficial plane, summon blades, a healing factor...and I have 'Assassin' in my name. This may be sudden, and this conversation may have been unforeseen...but it's who I am. Who knows, you might just learn a little about me while I work. One favor for another, right?"

Yamaki continued to stare at the grey Renamon until sitting back in his seat, sighing and putting a hand to his temple.

"I don't know why I'm doing this...but having someone that can crawl under the red tape would be a valuable adversary...I can only offer you equipment and information as a payment should you complete any jobs I give you, since money is currently too valuable of a resource to this organization. I don't have anything gathered for you, so feel free to hang around the building, but just don't go outside or be seen by anyone wearing a military uniform."

He put the hand that had been on his temple back onto the table.

"But let me make this clear: You are both valuable and a liability. We made an oath to protect Digimon, but also protect Shinjuku, nay, Tokyo, from Digimon. You may be a strange and special case, but there is an extreme possibility that you will not be the only one. I can't have you traced back to us. Remember, you were the one who offered to do this kind of work for us, so if you are captured or killed, it was never our business."

Hatch, instead of feeling threatened by the words, actually smirked. Serena blinked as she could have sworn that his eyes had flashed gold and a few patches of fur on his legs had turned red and gold.

The Renamon sighed.

"Just like every contract I've read have I heard those words. Oh yeah..."

He made made a gesture with his hand.

"I only accept my work in writing. If it isn't on paper, I walk out."

The Digimon gave another sighed and leaned farther back in the chair, smiling a little.

"I think you said that you wanted to 'discuss' something with me, right? Might have gotten a little off topic."

Yamaki smirked this time as he laid his hands on the desk.

"I wanted to discuss with you what we should do with you. The only thing we would be able to do is give you a room here and keep you hidden until the JGSDF left, but that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. Since you offered to be a mercenary and we both agreed to it, I will say that we came to a conclusion without asking the question."

This made Hatch chuckle as he stood.

"Well then, if we're done here, then I will simply retrieve my equipment and go on with my day. And, if you have anyone traveling along a street labeled...um...dammit, I'm terrible with this language. It's a white building with 'Rehabilitation' written in fancy gold lettering and the street's under construction."

Yamaki nodded as he stood.

"I know the street. You lived in a water tower, correct?"

Hatch eyed him warily, but nodded.

"I need someone to retrieve the stuff that's in it. A friend gave me that equipment, so I would very much appreciate having them back."

The grey fox leaned on Yamaki's desk, tilting his head a little as his eyes narrowed.

"Now, Janyu said that you had my own personal selection of various weapons and gear. I would like those back as well...Please..."

Yamaki held the stare evenly before pushing back on his seat and getting out of the office chair. He strode over to a small wooden cabinet that was on the wall. He opened it, pulled a lever that was in it, then turned it. A part of the wall slid away to reveal a metal safe about as big as a refrigerator. He dialed in what Hatch guessed was a seven number code into a dial, which he then pulled out. The large door swung open and a small room was revealed.

Yamaki stepped inside the small room, which Hatch stepped over and peered inside.

Weapons.

There were weapons of great variety in the room, and some of them didn't look to be made by the hands of man.

One of them even looked like a glorified Thompson sub-machine gun.

A name went through Hatch's head.

"Is it common for you to take trophies from Digimon, like Astamon's main weapon?"

Yamaki gave a very short laugh as he returned from a small corner of the room, carrying a bag on his back and a rifle that was very familiar.

He tossed the black double-barreled rifle to the grey fox, who swiftly caught it and slung it across his back. Hatch then grabbed the bag from Yamaki while the man spoke.

"Not trophies, data. We needed to know every Digimon in and out should they come again. We managed to save that gun from falling into useless data after we defeated an Astamon that came here. It shot up an entire city block before the Tamers defeated him."

Hatch snorted softly as he adjusted the vambraces on his arms, making sure the D-Arc on his wrist was in place.

"I'm guessing that you did the same with me?"

Yamaki gave a shake of his head.

"No...we didn't, or rather we couldn't. Your signature was too difficult to crack, and everything we got off of you didn't offer anything. Not even one of your blades could give us any information."

Hatch smirked.

"I couldn't be interrogated back in my world, not even my equipment can give an answer to any question."

He finally tightened the silver fox head buckle on his black belt, holstering the LeMat revolver on his hip. He decided to keep his hood down and put the metal lantern on his side instead of near the front of his belt.

The Renamon waved a hand at Serena and signaled to her to come over and join him, in which she did. Leaning down to pet her head, Hatch looked back up at Yamaki.

"I appreciate the assistance. There aren't a lot of people out there that would help a dangerous person like me."

Yamaki nodded as he stepped out of the small room, the large vault room closing behind him automatically.

"And I appreciate the orderly cooperation you showed. Last Digimon we tried to get to cooperate destroyed someone's house."

Hatch gave a small laugh as Yamaki led both Hatch and Serena to the door.

The agent continued.

"There's a room you can have a few floors below. Someone can show you to it. It can be...temporary until you can find somewhere else to go."

Hatch nodded.

"Thanks."

Yamaki opened the door to the hall, showing them out.

"No problem, AssassinRenamon."

Author's Note: Wait...two chapters? In a span of two days? With no long stretch of months between them?

Who am I?

Oh well, I guess it'll have to be accepted.

I decided that I still had the need to write and got another chapter out just to show that this story won't be as dead as it was before.

Hope you enjoy it!