Yo, minna-sama! Like what I did to 'The Hitman', I'm going to put up a trial chapter to see how this goes.

As already written in the summary (which sucks, by the way), this is a sequel to The Hitman, so if you haven't read the first part, I suggest for you to read it before continuing on with this one.

To those who have read this in The Hitman, I'm just transferring the newest chapters over this new story post. :) Please bear with me with these changes. Thank you again. :)

By the way, I'm grateful and happy because of the dear readers who had read Tip Off (The Mercenary: Kise Ryouta) and I've Been Waiting (The Mercenary: Midorima Shintarou). They're really like part of the Hitman-verse but in no particular way that affects the story line of the 'The Hitman' and 'The Agent'.

Warning: All writing errors are all my sin!

Disclaimer: Meh...

Prologue
The Hitman

Mashiro Public Museum
August 10, 00:26

Kagami Taiga watched in horror as Kuroko Tetsuya squeezed the trigger of his gun. The hammer in the gun's rear clicked and the muzzle burst in a small explosion, as soon as the barrel blew off that single ammo to the outside. Small fire crackled – too little to be seen, too quick to be observed – from the gun's tip; the slide tipped back in powerful recoil, as it locked itself back to its previous position. The gun was ready to be fired again in that instant. It all happened in a split second that the only thing apparent was Aomine Daiki's flabbergasted expression.

Nevertheless, his arm reached out unconsciously to his chest. Aomine's eyes were wrought in pain and confusion, in anger and disbelief. The tanned detective was more than surprised to see that the one who pulled a trigger against him was no other than his previous partner. His normally narrowed orbs widened into round forms, shock clearly glazing those deep cerulean. Aomine, in a last ditch of effort, fueled by that immediate feeling of loss, was able to pluck out the canister-bullet of the Paralysis Dart. However, just as soon, he slowly fell to the cold floor, joining Midorima Shintarō and Kise Ryōta in their catalepsy.

Kuroko's face remained blank, although his gaze lingered upon Aomine's figure for some seconds. Even though harsh and cold, his eyes were seemingly filled with different emotions, feelings that he would not bother to set apart for as long as his objectives were unmet. Although he appeared stone-hard, Kuroko had a sad gleam that shone from his eye, a small prompt that never went noticed except for himself. After taking the time to look at the fallen bodies of his previous workmates from Teikō, Kuroko inched forward in a steady pace.

Kagami looked at the whole farce with a distinct feeling of mortification. The Generation of Mercenaries were monsters in their own right. Their tales never remained in records alone or in the minds of those who had seen. They had worked in a way Kagami never expected; too good to be true, too excellent that he had been pushed back because of their skills alone. The Generation of Mercenaries were a living history – a history Kagami wished to have defaced if not because of the Phantom Hitman that joined the fray. Even though Kagami wanted to defeat them fair and square as fellow detectives, there was a haunting semblance of respect he had for them.

Nonetheless, the Generation of Mercenaries were felled down one by one – in a quick succession. One man did all the effort to knock them out cold. It was outright impossible in first glance, but it was the thought that the 'impractical' was the border of police work that led them to their current situation. Because they thought that the seemingly impossible could not be done, all them fell into a single trap laid out for them. Just because they trusted the overvalued logic, they did not know what hit them. All of it had happened in a way that seemed to have been orchestrated from the start; they were unaware because they had dismissed it from the beginning as well.

"So…" Kagami spoke as he felt the torrential horror that began to blanket him. He steeled his orbs up and waited to see the face of the single person who did three of the Generations. "The real hitman comes…" He seethed, as Kuroko's face twisted to meet him. The gaze the teal-head gave him was suffocating and, at the same time, it gave him the impression that Kuroko would stop at nothing. Two pistols were held in two hands. The former detective intern of Teikō tried to look nonchalantly at the former detective of Seirin, although a subtle derision escaped from his countenance. The weapon remained pointed down the floor, away from Kagami. "Everybody thought that you died… I don't care though; I'm still right, after all,"

"Hello, Kagami-kun," Kuroko greeted at first, ignoring the red-head's words. He remained on his spot and stood tall in front of Kagami, who stayed on his knees; in the same position Midorima put him. The teal-head leveled down his eyes to Kagami, while he expertly twirled the handgun in his left gun and placed it back into its holster. The stare they gave out to each other did not falter once, as if a silent battle happened between their glares. Gradually, Kuroko stepped forward near Kagami and kicked the nearest gun on the floor away from the latter. "If there is one thing I understand about you, it is that you do not easily give up." The teal-head said, observing Kagami's pissed expression.

"And now you pretend to know me well," Kagami scoffed. "You're already exposed."

"You have forgotten what I told you before, Kagami-kun." Kuroko answered. "Anyone is innocent until proven guilty." He repeated the statement he had shared with the red-head before. "Unless you are sure that your assumptions are real, then no one will ever believe you." Kuroko said, his tone sounded that he was challenging Kagami. However, the teal-head was slightly surprised that Kagami looked smug and not even worried. He held a silent remark back at the detective-turned-criminal.

"I have all the proof I need, Kuroko." Kagami only said. "Even if if my claim can be easily be trashed, the only thing that I need is to see this in my own eyes." Kagami Taiga said. "You also told me before that the thing that separates a detective from a criminal is decisiveness." He added. "But there was one thing unclear that time," he held a snide smile. "You forgot to point out who is to be decisive one between the criminal and the detective." He finally declared, as he revealed a confident smirk. Kagami's lid batted close – his pupils appeared to have taken a very quick peek at something – and opened them again. "Show me what the hell is that decisiveness you are talking about, Kuroko!" Kagami yelled out to the teal-head.

Kuroko only looked back with those blank orbs. At that point, his face twisted but did not reveal his thoughts and feelings, and turned back to the mere expressionless countenance. His gazes were as cold as his certitude and as silent as his moves. Kagami could not read any of his looks. In a quick movement, Kuroko's arm flexed forward, the pistol loaded with the Paralysis Darts already pointed at the red-head's chest. There was not even a warning when the teal-head fired the weapon away; the next thing that happened was that Kagami's vision faded into black while he haplessly fell to the floor.

The whiff of smoke from the gun slowly vanished. Kuroko Tetsuya's eyes were suddenly filled with resentment and sadness. He knew that from that point on, everything had simply become a complication. As he watched Kagami's figure as he did with Aomine, Kuroko was filled with silent thoughts and words, ideas that fleeted inside his mind, seemingly clouding his senses and awareness at the moment. Nonetheless, a scratching sound from behind him pulled him from his musings, the same pistol readied for another volley. But then, he let go of it when a painful sensation coursed through his hand.

His pistol was fired upon by a live bullet, effectively disarming him at an instant. Kuroko's teal orbs widened in surprise when the person he thought had been taken down a while ago was in a semi-crouched position, own gun pointed back at him. Aomine, though looking bleary, raised his head and looked at Kuroko, pistol carefully aimed at the latter. His pupils flicked down at the red-head, Kagami, who earlier noticed that he was not totally incapacitated. The former detective managed to buy some time for Aomine, an action he was still unsure if he was thankful for. The tanned detective from Tōō strengthened himself despite the overall weakness that stressed his body.

"T-Tetsu," Aomine called out, pistol still leveled against the teal-head. "I-Is it a-all t-true?" He asked, stuttering. He had removed the canister from his body even before it zeroed him totally, but he was not without the effects of the neurotoxin. He shook his head vigorously as if it only stuck in his skin and hair. Slowly, he regained his footing. He wobbled a little bit, but he was stable on his own. Aomine Daiki flashed an expression of hurt – either it was because of the Paralysis Dart or the feeling of another betrayal, it could not be discerned – before he spoke again. "Tell me the truth, Tetsu!"

Kuroko was silent at first. He slowly raised his right hand and looked at it first; the powerful tremor that surged to his hand made it feel painful and it almost numbed. Still, even with the turn of events, his breathing was still normal. He inhaled a large volume of it, finally whipping his head back at Aomine. "During the last time you were told the truth, Aomine-kun," he began, quickly attracting the tanned detective's attention, "you have turned different in my own view." He said. "You have changed for the worse,"

Aomine bit his lips. 'Shit,' he muttered silently as he staggered. He suddenly remembered that painful memory, that very scene that happened in their last year in Teikō. It was… It was… Aomine only clutched his head; a lone eye remained opened due to the sheer pain that he felt all throughout his body. His right hand, the one which held his pistol, shook in weakness, his aim slowly getting off the mark. "I-It was a different matter!" Aomine spat back and changed the topic. "We-We all thought that you are already gone! Seirin was fuckin's toasted!" He said. "What the fuck is all this, Tetsu?! How did you survive?! What the hell is that idiot saying about you?!"

"It would not be an important matter to you soon, Aomine-kun." Kuroko responded. "With the mere sight of you and I standing like this–" Kuroko rested a soft gaze at Aomine's pistol, noting his index finger weakly latched upon the gun's trigger "–means that you have lost, Aomine-kun." He told the male. "The same lies you believed that mock you before returns right now. Perhaps, they are not really lies at all. When a person denies a certain truth it becomes a lie to them." Kuroko pointed out. "You are indeed a prodigy, Aomine-kun. But, as I promised Momoi-san, you will be beaten." He added.

Kuroko's hand slowly wormed through his left side. While Aomine started to lose his balance once again, the teal-head took the opportunity to pull out the other pistol he kept before shooting Kagami. He worked his hand carefully and slipped it in the holster, making sure that the tanned detective did not notice him. He finally grasped the gun's grip and delicately laced his index finger at the trigger, in order to fire a quick shot. Kuroko waited for a chance and found it when Aomine fell to his knees – appearing to be in severe pain. He tugged the pistol and—

A gunshot grazed the floor an inch away from his foot. Kuroko instantly let go of the weapon and twisted slightly to the right, raising both of his hands in a submissive manner.

"Good work, Minechin," a lazy voice droned. Purple seemed to have flooded Kuroko's vision when a tall man entered the scene. The violet locks swayed at his movement, his large frame overwhelming everything within the corridor. Amethyst orbs matted with sluggishness landed upon Kuroko, those eyes that hid a seemingly caustic demeanor under it. He held a semi-automatic shotgun, but, with his large hand, it seemed smaller. Instead of holding it with both hands, the man took it singlehandedly. "Kurochin," the shotgun remained pointed against him. "It's been a long time."

"Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko regarded, looking a little annoyed. He did not voice out any words after it.

"Just like what Akachin has said," he then filled up the silence with his own statement. Murasakibara glowered down at Kuroko, as if trying to inform that latter that there won't be any escape for him. "I thought back then that Kurochin is a good guy," he said. "But you have annoyed me right now,"

Nevertheless, it was not Murasakibara Atsushi's words that upset him. Kuroko Tetsuya let his eyes settle on the periphery – turned into the shadow – since there was some other thing that began to bother him. The presence of Murasakibara did not even appear in his equation, Kuroko knew. Nonetheless, it told him that there was another player that was on the field, ridiculing him for his miscalculations. Seconds after that, as Kuroko theorized, there was another figure that slowly materialized from the dark.

"Good work, Daiki, Atsushi," the person said. Heterochromatic eyes quickly fell towards Kuroko. "Tetsuya," his voice was perfectly leveled, but it already denoted that a plan was already in motion. Akashi Seijūrō looked at Tetsuya with slightly displeased and curious gaze – that gaze that as if looked at a person's very soul. "You've done one mistake, Tetsuya." He continued. "Believe me; I know everything."

"Akashi-kun," Kuroko only replied. "You know nothing."

"Our daily lives and actions are merely pieces of a game. Invaluable, but still pieces," Akashi stated. "You do understand that for one to attain victory, sacrifices are needed to be in order." He told Kuroko, while he looked at Midorima and Kise. He slowly took out his own gun, a silver caliber .45. With no hesitation, Akashi started to move forward and approached Kuroko, with Murasakibara preparing himself for any chances of a struggle. Akashi's stern expression did not even change, did not even weaken, as he went nearer Kuroko. "You've done mistake, Tetsuya. Just one mistake," he repeated.

Kuroko tightened his lips. The .45's muzzle was now upon his chest, almost poking through his ribs. He felt the pressure exerted by Akashi as he stilled the gun over him. Even so, Kuroko remained wordless and watched the whole thing without fail. His impassive expression was ever audacious than ever. He was ready to challenge Akashi Seijūrō, right there and then.

"I said that I'm going to make the person pay back then; that person that hurt you in our graduation," he said. "Now, he is in our hands, judgment is already prepared for him." Akashi told Kuroko. "Perhaps, you can say that because of that, you owe me that justice as you owe me what you have right now." There was a little smirk on his lips. "It simply means that as the one who you owed that justice with, I am the same person who can exact you that same judgment."

"You'd better been prepared, Tetsuya," Akashi continued, "If you did plan to fight me. I'm the one who first discovered your power." He finally steadied himself. "You'll come to understand what that means." And then—

Gunshots rang inside the museum once again.

- End of Prologue -

[author prepares a bullet proof shield] Okay, no more author-hitting, okay? Please, please, kill me now (like I wrote above) but don't hurt me! (;A;) This is really a Dark!Kuroko thing, after all! [haha, LOLz]

Thanks for reading! Really, really, thank you!