Prologue
Alfred's POV
I pulled my hat straighter, my other hand's grip tightened on my gun. I felt that something was coming near. I shook my head, tried to get that eerie feeling off. The dark corridor frightened me more than the bad guy that was said to be hiding in this office building. I shook my head again vigorously. It's so uncool for a hero like me to feel scared like that.
I stopped in front of the door at the end of the corridor. It was made of wood and painted dull gray. I guessed that it must be a storage room or something like that. Nevertheless, I opened the door to check it out.
It turned out to be a small kitchen, with big windows opening to the city view outside. I was about to leave when I spotted a big paper bag on top of the counter, with a big 'M' printed on top of it. I took the bag and sniffed it cautiously.
Mmm, Big Mac! The delicious smell wafted into my nose. And french fries too, it seemed, as I recognized the delicious salty scent. My stomach rumbled audibly.
But stealing was the most unheroic thing someone could do, so I put back the paper bag back to the counter. I stared longingly at the bag for a while, and then I forced myself to turn to the door to leave.
When my hand was about to turn the handle, suddenly I heard something from the windows just beside the door. It sounded like something whipped through the night air outside.
I turned my head, and then suddenly a flash of brilliant green flashed before my eyes.
* * * * *
Arthur's POV
"Hey Artie!! We're clear over here!"
"No, we're not!"
"Sure we were. We just kicked a few stupid police's ass, didn't we?"
Sound of gunshot issued from my walkie-talkie, followed by a series of swearing and angry voices. I sighed heavily. God, those two, I thought. Now, the sound of the gunshot must've alerted all the police inside the building. Great.
I grumbled and whispered to my talkie, "You guys shut up right now, unless you want to be discovered by those polices!"
The two shut themselves immediately upon realizing the possible effect of their reckless argument. I sighed, for this is not the first - nor will it be the last - time that Vash and Gilbert had an argument during our mission. Their argument nearly ruined our mission for more than once.
"So, how is it going there anyway?" I whispered tensely.
"Well, Gilbert recklessly attacked two polices, so our position could be discovered within any moment," Vash answered. "So we'll be the perfect decoy. You can enter at any time"
"Roger," I replied.
I turned off my talkie and tucked it inside my vest, which was filled with all kinds of instruments. I turned to Kiku, who was still busy with his computer.
"Ready, Kiku?" I asked.
"Sure, Captain," he replied lightly.
I blushed slightly upon the nickname. Okay, then. I can finally begin my part in this mission.
I turned and scanned my surrounding. We were standing on the roof of the Alfroskaya Office building, in the downtown of Lussallia. The wind blew gently, tickling my face. The sky was filled with cloud, covering the ivory colored moon in the sky. Perfect.
I tightened my vest and my belt. I checked the strong iron rope that was attached to my belt, which was twisted three times around my torso.
"I'm off then, Kiku," I smiled.
"See you later then, Captain," Kiku replied, smiling back.
I turned and walked to the edge of the roof and peeked down. Down there, car lights flashed like shining ants scurrying. I inhaled a lungful of air, and jumped in a graceful leap.
And, once again, the sensation overwhelmed me. The feel of the wind, tearing through my body, whipping furiously around me, ruffling my choppy hair; the gravity force pulling me down; the chilly night air slapping me wide awake. I sighed happily, but the sensation only lasted for a few moments, before the ropes stopped my track.
Yet, what I didn't know was that as the ropes stopped my track, it actually also stopped the track of my fate, and turned it into a completely different direction.
And yeah, I knew nothing about it, until I turned my head to the window beside me, where I was planning to sneak in through.
It was a young man, barely twenty, with the brightest blue eyes visible through the windows.
* * * * *
"Robbery in Alfroskaya Office building?" Alfred cocked his eyebrows. "Where is that?"
"Really, Alfred; you don't know about Alfroskaya Trading Ltd, aru?" Wang sighed. He didn't get the slightest idea why his own team's leader didn't even know about one of the richest companies in the country. "It's pretty expansive right now, aru. And they've built a branch office in the downtown, aru."
Alfred scanned the document he was holding. From what he had read, it seemed that a group of robber had planned to ambush the building and steal some precious documents concerning trading and joint ventures. Alfred sighed internally.
"Why must people do things like thic some times.
"Anyway, we were told to guard the building for tonight to prevent the robbers from doing whatever they wanted to do, aru," Wang explained. "We should get ready, Alfred. We'd have to employ quite a lot of police to cover the entire building, aru. It was quite huge, aru."
"All right then," Alfred snapped his head up, intent upon doing his job. "I won't just let these bad guys get away easily! I'll take care of this problem. You may leave, Wang."
Wang smiled slightly upon seeing his enthusiastic superior. "Okay, aru. Call me whenever you need me, aru."
Wang left Alfred alone, sitting beside his desk while he thought about his mission. His first mission as a leader of a team. It had been only last week when he was finally assigned with his own personal team.
At the first day with the team, he was quite nervous though, because he didn't really know any of the team's members except for Matthew. However, it turned out that the other two members, Feliciano and Wang, were extremely cooperative with the younger man, explaining and helping the rookie with his assignments as a lieutenant. As a lieutenant, Alfred must report daily to his Captain, Ludwig. Ludwig was the one who chose Alfred as one of his deputy, considering he's one of the most talented newbie in his department.
So far, Alfred's team only helps other team's mission, and was never really assigned with a mission of their own. So, this mission in the Alfroskaya Office building was their first official mission. The thought of being able to finally getting into action instead of just watching from afar made Alfred fidgeted with excitement.
He filled a document requesting a number of police to help them with the mission, humming happily, when suddenly his best friend, Matthew plopped into their office.
"Mattie!! Look what we've got here!" Alfred swung the documents, showing them to Matthew.
"Umm… A piece of paper?" Matthew stared confusedly at Alfred.
"No, no!! This is our first official assignment, it is!!" Alfred exclaimed proudly as he stood up to show Matthew the paper in his hand.
"Really? That's great!!" Matthew's face lit with excitement at their first official mission as a team. "What is it?"
"Robbery in Alfroskaya Office building," Alfred read his papers. "We were assigned to guard the building tonight. I'm supposed to employ quite a large number of polices to cover the entire building."
As the two of them chatted about their assignment, Alfred recalled how he met Matthew, about a year ago. They met in their test to be a police, and got along well immediately. Matthew's docile nature got along well with Alfred's boisterous and sometimes pushy attitude. He was also able to lure Alfred out from his wild plans, such as to spend his entire monthly wage to buy Big Macs from McDonalds.
They were discussing about the number of police they might need in the mission, when suddenly Feliciano slipped into their office.
"Ve~ What's happening in here?" said Feliciano when he spotted the other two chatted with excitement.
"Ah, Feliciano-san!! We've got our first official assignment right here!!" Alfred exclaimed with excitement, showing the official documents to Feliciano.
"Please, Alfred, just call me Feliciano, ve…" Feliciano smiled. "Really? That's great!!"
The Italian joined into their conversation, discussing about the number of police they might need. Alfred chatted with mounting excitement, thinking that their first mission would be their most awesome assignment ever.
* * * * *
"You want us to rob the Alfroskaya Office building?" Arthur raised one of his thick eyebrows.
"Yes," the young woman in front of him fidgeted nervously. "I know it sounds a little impossible, but…"
Arthur stared at his fingers, his brows furrowed. This young woman requested for their help using an email. She said that she managed to get their email address from an acquaintance. And she appeared with a surprising request as well. Robbing one of the most prominent buildings in the middle of the city was never easy.
"We'll try. But we can't guarantee the result," Arthur answered, still deep in thought.
His teammates stared at him incredulously.
"Arthur, are you for real, man!?" Gilbert exclaimed with disbelief.
"Sssh!! Shut up, fool!!" Vash snapped and pulled the silver-haired youth back to his chair. They were sitting inside a small café in the outside skirts of Lussallia, because they've never used their headquarters for meeting their clients. The café, luckily, was quite empty, so no one heard their conversation except for the barmen, which Arthur had already known for a long time.
"Arthur-san, do you realize that we're about to rob one of the most highly guarded building in the city?" Kiku tried to talk to Arthur, yet Arthur took no notice at all.
"Roderich?" Arthur called the barmen.
"You wanted me to find information on the Alfroskaya Office building?" the barmen asked, slightly irritated. "It'll be difficult."
"Can you?"
"Sure, but perhaps it will take some time," Roderich pushed his glasses straighter. "Are you okay with that?"
"How long?"
"About two hours or so. I need to use my best connections for this," Roderich half smiled.
"Fine, then. I'll take it," Arthur sat straighter as he looked at the young woman. "Katyusha-san, what do you want us to steal?"
"It's… A document I believe was stolen from me," the young woman said timidly. "My little sister stole them from me."
"Sister?" Arthur cocked his eyebrows.
"Well, more like a step sister really. We're not genetically related. But we've lived together as a child," Katyusha explained. Tears started to well in her eyes.
"Okay, then. We'll see what we can do. Can't really promise though," Arthur said.
The young woman stared at Arthur with a mix of gratitude and awe, and bowed deeply.
"Well, I must be going now. Contact me if you need anything," she stood up, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. "Thank you so much, Arthur-san. I really appreciate your efforts. I promise I'll pay you well for this."
"Anytime, Katyusha-san."
The young woman smiled slightly, and left the little café.
* * * * *
"And this is what I've managed to get," Roderich showed a large number of papers on the table. The papers were filled with maps and datas about the Alfroskaya Office building.
"Perfect," Arthur murmured, observing the details from the papers. "Thank you, Roderich. You will get your fair share on this."
"So you're gonna do it? Alfroskaya Office building's gonna be tough, isn't it?" Roderich said as he wiped washed cups. They were alone in the empty café. The rest of Arthur's team had gone home to their headquarters to prepare the equipment they needed for the mission.
"Yeah, but I'm interested with this one," Arthur said. "Can I have a beer or something like that?"
"No, no alcohol for you. I've seen what you do when you had too much alcohol," Roderich grimaced, cringed upon remembering the apparently awful memory.
Arthur grumbled audibly, yet he didn't push his luck. He continued to study the papers for a while, until he finally stood up, bringing the papers with him. He pushed a few coins to the counter.
"Here's for the tea earlier," Arthur said. "And thank you for your help."
"Sure, Arthur. Anytime you need me again, just call," replied Roderich, still busy cleaning his precious tea and coffee glasses.
Arthur smiled and walked out from the café, into the hot summer evening outside.
"Hmm… It looks like it'll be a little difficult… But not really one we can't handle…" Arthur mused, scanning the paper while he walked through the pedestrian in a quiet shopping district, until he arrived in front of a shabby two story apartment.
The apartment was once painted white, but now the paint had peeled in various spot and stained from rain water. The gates are rusty and stained, and it creaked when Arthur opened it. Overally, the building looked quite abandoned, although it's not. Arthur's team's headquarter was located inside, and there were also a few other tenants as well.
Arthur walked through the shabby front door, and climbed the stairs to the second floor. The sound of water trickling through the broken ceiling accompanied the sound of his footsteps, along with the sound of muffled bickering from a certain apartment from the room at the end of the corridor.
Arthur sighed and knocked the door. "Open up, you guys!" Arthur shouted.
The muffled bickering stopped, and sudden footsteps echoed towards the door. The door opened, revealing a young girl with short blonde hair accentuated with a dark blue ribbon.
"Ah, Arthur-san. Welcome home," the girl greeted Arthur shyly.
"Thanks, Liechtenstein. I take it that Vash and Gilbert were bickering again?" Arthur stepped into the room.
The apartment was quite big, although it was shabby. Despite the shabbiness, the room inside was immaculately tidy. Not a speck of dust was visible, due to Arthur's habit to clean everything, everywhere, and at any time. The apartment had two bedrooms; one for the girls, Liechtenstein and Seychelles; and one for Vash, Gilbert, and Kiku. Arthur himself slept in the sitting room, on one of the old sofas.
Arthur, accompanied by Liechtenstein, walked into the dining room, where the team always discussed their latest mission. It has a big table, where everyone would sit when they had a meeting. On the wall, a big LCD screen was perched, connected to a high-tech laptop which belongs to Kiku. A mini bar sat at the end of the room, beside a door that opened into the kitchen
On the table, a total ruckus was happening. Vash looked like he was about to beat Gilbert into a bloody pulp, while Gilbert seemed like he was about to explode as well, with his flustered face. They panted heavily, sweat trickling down their skin.
"Hey, hey, what the hell's happening in here!? We've got a mission, and instead of preparing for it, you guys were fighting like this?" Arthur tried to calm them down. "Vash, calm down, go wash your face. Gilbert, you help me prepare for our mission."
Vash stomped out of the dining room, leaving Arthur and Gilbert. Liechtenstein followed her brother, trying to calm him down.
"My, my. Are they done yet?" A tan skinned girl with long brown hair tied into two pony tails walked into the room.
"Seychelles. Please prepare some tea for us," Arthur asked her while he laid all the documents he managed to obtain on the table.
"Beer for me," Gilbert muttered as he scanned the documents while he wiped his sweat with his hand.
Seychelles walked to the kitchen, leaving the two guys alone.
"So, what happened anyway?" Arthur asked Gilbert calmly.
"Nothing. It's just me teasing him about something," Gilbert muttered, his face blushed. It always makes him nervous whenever Arthur started to talk like this.
"You slapped his arse again?" Arthur's brow furrowed.
"Ummm… Sort of…?" Gilbert muttered again. "How do you…"
"Whenever I saw Vash lost control like that, I knew that you must've done something like that," Arthur half smiled. "Just make sure that you don't do such a thing whenever we've got an important mission."
Seychelles entered the dining room once more, binging along a heavy tray filled with three cups of tea, a cup of coffee, a glass of juice, and a very frosty looking glass of beer. Arthur left the papers and helped her setting the tray on the dining table. Meanwhile, Kiku entered the dining room, bringing a heavy suitcase filled with all his computing stuffs.
"Arthur-san, I've researched quite a lot of stuffs about Alfroskaya Office building," said the Japanese, pulling an USB from the pocket of his white hoodie.
"Excellent. Now, we've got all we need!" Arthur beamed as he received the USB from Kiku. Then, he turned on the laptop and the LCD on the wall, and plugged in the flash disk into one of the ports on the laptop. As he waited for the OS to start, Arthur reached for a cup of tea from the tray, and sipped it, inhaling its aromatic scent.
"Kiku, I've managed to obtain some information as well. Please take a look at it."
"Sure," Kiku took one of the papers from the table.
Suddenly, Vash entered the dining room with Liechtenstein by his side. Arthur turned around, looking alarmed. But his expression was perfectly calm, so Arthur turned back to the laptop to check on the datas.
"Arthur, I've prepared the equipment we'll need. I've put it in the sitting room," Vash said.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks, Vash," Arthur replied, feeling reassured that Vash had regained his calmness.
The team continued their discussion, until about three hours later at 9 o' clock.
"Looks like that's all we need. Okay, then, let's recite our plan once more," Arthur tapped on the table, slightly impatient. "Vash, Gilbert, you guys will…"
"We'll be the decoy. When we arrived, we'll disguise ourselves as janitors. Then, we'll check on the police's plans," Vash recited.
"Okay. Seychelles, you..?"
"I'll disguise as one of the employees there, and I'll pretend to be sick and needed help from the two janitors. After you managed to obtain the papers, you'll give them to me, and the three of us shall leave the building," Seychelles recited her parts carefully.
"Okay. Kiku…?"
"I'll go to the roof together with you, and once you've located the safety keeping, I'll hack it using my computer. After that, I'll disguise myself as one of the employees and go downstairs and pretend to go home," Kiku recited.
"Okay, then. As for me, I'll use my usual way of escape," Arthur pointed out.
The team nodded, understood. "Okay, then. Let's go!" Arthur stood up and walked to the door, the team followed obediently, bringing various equipments with them.
"Mina-san, be careful, okay?" Liechtenstein stood by the door, smiling shyly.
"Thanks, Liechtenstein. We will," Arthur smiled.
"We must," added Vash, his mouth pressed into a tight line.
A/N: Well, then. That's it for Chapter 1! Thanks if you've read this stupid fic, and I'm sorry if there's any grammatical mistakes, or some OOCness. Reviews greatly appreciated, so please give me some! Not too demanding, right?
[Edit] So yeah, once a lot of people started to complain about the name usage, I've started to realize how stupid I am. I mean, the summary and the story don't get along correctly! So I've edited and posted the newest version of the first chapter… Hopefully you'll forgive me for all my stupid mistakes ==
PS. I haven't got any names for Liechtenstein and Seychelles, but hopefully I'll come up with something.
