Five Times Chronos Did Not Send the Numbers After Train (and the One Time They Did)

A Black Cat fan fiction by Hitokiri-san

A/N: Ah, Black Cat. I've loved you for so many years. For some reason I've revisited the Black Cat manga recently, and it is as I remembered - a well-drawn, exciting piece of work, thoroughly enjoyable.

And as for why this piece is born - First, I've always thought the Numbers deserve to have more screen time. Second, if Chronos had really wanted to kill Train after he defected, they wouldn't be sending someone like Cleaver (Train's mentee in the first volume who got his ass kicked within one second, for those who don't remember) to eradicate him.

If they'd wanted to be done with him once and for all, the obvious solution would be sending Numbers after him, like what they did with Creed, instead of sending footmen after him for a whole two years without success.

So obviously, they hadn't been trying hard enough.

This story is manga-based, with some of the settings borrowed from the anime. Another title to this story would be "The Numbers react to Train Heartnet", haha. Also, the story is in six short installments, just to be neat. Enjoy.

The rumours spread like wildfire within the week: No. XIII had defected to another organisation. No. XIII had had a row with the Elders. No. XIII had eloped with a woman. No. XIII had deserted Chronos.

No one was sure what the true story was, as the higher-ups were predictably tight-lipped about it all, but it was clear that the Black Cat had decided to leave them for good: members stationed at HQ relayed stories of how No. XIII had stormed the main building in the middle of the night, raiding the armoury and making off with his trademark gun, Hades.

The men of Chronos didn't stand a chance against him, and no one expected them to be able to - the legendary Black Cat was a force of nature, and infiltrating strongholds singlehandedly was straight up his alley. Luckily for them, No. XIII had taken care not to kill, or even maim, any of the Chronos soldiers, opting for the most part to just shoot their guns out of their hands instead. It seemed that even though he had decided to leave them, he bore no ill will towards his former comrades, or at least he didn't hate them enough to eradicate them despite the fact that they had mostly aimed to kill him.

V.
I.

Nizer took Sephiria's hand as she descended from the helicopter, noting the slightly furrowed brows, the fatigue around her eyes. She'd been in a three-hour meeting with the Elders, and though he wasn't privy to the details, he already knew what it was about - this had been going on for many days now; the Elders taking No. XIII's defection extremely badly, and the Black Cat's unwitting raid of HQ had just added insult to injury.

What the hell was XIII thinking, Nizer wondered, as his captain swept her hair back as if to dispel her worries and made her way resolutely into HQ. He'd never met XIII in person throughout the two years the man had been appointed, since they'd both been snowed under with assignments, most of the time.

What little he'd heard of the young Number, though, was mostly positive: he was stable, loyal, efficient, even if he was aloof and power hungry. He was a man with dignity, reluctant to harm women and children in his missions. To the organisation he was a force to be reckoned with and a comrade to be respected. That he'd just up and leave Chronos was not something Nizer had ever had in mind.

It must have weighed heavily on Sephiria as well - the Numbers, however unruly, were her charge, her responsibility. She'd recommended Heartnet's initiation as the thirteenth Time Guardian at the young age of eighteen, something unheard of in the whole history of Chronos. That she'd let Heartnet stray so far from the right path signified her personal failing as his captain.

"Captain," Nizer decided to venture after a while of pondering, "why did XIII leave?"

She stopped in her tracks. It was not his place to ask such a question and he half expected her to rebuff him, but she merely sighed, hooking a strand of wavy hair behind her ear absently.

"I should have waited until he was older," she reflected, heavily, "he is too young to understand the gravity of being a Time Guardian. I've sent him on missions without impressing on him the meaning of his power, the weight of his duties, and now the outside world has led him astray."

There is a woman involved, Nizer recalled the gossip in the corridors. Thinking about it now, it might well have been an old seduction trick, one the Black Cat, for all his prowess with the gun and assassination, couldn't recognize. In short, they'd lost one of their strongest Numbers, all because XIII was too young, and because Chronos had all along just capitalised on his talent without bothering to guide him properly.

Nizer felt a sudden exasperation as he realized this. At least it would mean that the situation was still salvageable. It would be a waste if they had to get rid of their youngest prodigy because of something like this, and god knew how many Numbers they'd have to deploy against Heartnet (and better yet, how many of them would be hurt or worse) if they really wanted to take him down.

"Let me deal with him, Captain," he offered abruptly, and clear blue eyes turned on him, assessing.

"Deal with, as in erasing him?" she asked, expression unreadable, and he snorted.

"I'm not Kranz or Baldor. Jeez, Captain, give me some credit; I'm perfectly capable of talking to the guy for five minutes without trying to throw him into a wall. I'm just going to bring him in. Peacefully, if possible."

"And if he turns Hades on you?"

"Well, I'm sure that Ash and I could handle a lost kitten," he countered with a raised brow, and Sephiria laughed softly, shaking her head.

"I am not sending any of the Numbers after him," she finally said, sighing, "he is already confused and lost, there is nothing to be gained in provoking him further. I'll have someone talk to him, and if that does not work, I'll talk to him myself. Before he loses himself further."

That was a lot of trust and concern directed at someone who had just deserted them all, but that only confirmed Nizer's image of the Black Cat: he was a comrade who needed a hand, not an enemy who had to be erased as soon as possible.

"Understood, Captain. ...I hope he comes to his senses soon."

For Heartnet's own good, and for theirs', he sincerely hoped he would.