0. twilight said

The red digits on the bulky device seemed to mock him. With every tense second slipping away from Alfred F. Jones, the numbers on the panel counted down to the moments leading to his untimely end. His eyes scanned the several wires as his hand shook, grasping firmly onto the portable cutters as he unlatched them from his belt.

When he got back, the first thing he would do is request time off.

As Alfred examined the device, he heard a cackle of static on his earpiece, before a soft and agitated voice was heard in his ear,

"America, answer me! The target has left the building. You're losing time! What are you even doing? You've been silent for ages!" Being expected to answer his anxious handler, he couldn't help but feel the extra weight of pressure on his shoulders, knowing very well the reaction that would follow his reply.

"I, um. Haha, here's a funny little story, Canada..." It didn't take long for Alfred's assumption to be confirmed.

"You WHAT?!" Alfred cringed at the sudden increase in volume of the voice over the line. "America, you knew damn well that the target was a pain to track down, and you still let him go just like that?! Not only that, you let him put a BOMB in the room when you watched him flee?!"

"I didn't decide to do that, Canada! How was I supposed to know he would pull such a stupid disappearing act like that?!" Alfred pouted, beginning to work on the bolts and screws on the exterior of the device. Alfred felt relieved when he received a second of silence; before his handler spoke again.

"You weren't paying attention again. Weren't you, America?" Crap, Alfred inwardly groaned.

"Haha, no I- Well, you see...- Funny you mentioned but...Oh, just...Shut up." A groan crackled over the line, followed by an exasperated sigh.

"We'll focus on that later, America. But this is serious! You can't lose focus on something as important as this! You know very well that..."

Having decided that it was not the time and place to let himself get overwhelmed by the nagging of his controller, he raised a hand and squeezed the knob on his earpiece. With a swift motion, he lowered the volume of the transmission to a bare minimum; just enough to hear the handler, but not enough for the angry nagging to distract him. Alfred quickly pulled away plastic and metal from the bomb, before he opened up a small compartment. His eyes widened as he realized that he had found the wires.

"America? America! Don't you dare ignore me!" Alfred felt the rush of panic filling up his chest. Sky-blue eyes hovered over to the red flickering digits, and he thought he was going to faint.

1:03

A bead of sweat slid down his forehead as his heartbeat picked up. The voice crackled over the line again, and Alfred could feel himself start to get irritated by the controller talking off his ear.

"Ma- Canada. Could you shut up for a moment? I'm trying to- Shit."

Beep.

Alfred felt his stomach sink as he heard the beep. Without hesitation, he settled for two wires; one blue and one red. His gaze flickered over to the small black panel on the device before his eyes widened in shock.

0:30

Alfred started to panic even harder, his forehead beginning to soak in sweat as he stared at the wires. His hands were beginning to shake, and the constant beeping from the device didn't help him one bit. Without a moment to lose, the blond agent began to analyse the cords. A bit of examination proved to be effective when he pulled out two wires, one red and one green. Normally, Alfred would be able to fiddle with with device a little more, but time was not on his side. He decided to rely on his luck. The agent took a big gulp and whispered a soft prayer; before he immediately pressed the blade of the cutters to the red wire.

0:15

Beep.

It was now or never, and Alfred's silent prayer quickly escalated to a loud, verbal one; directed to every single God he could name off the top of his head. With his eyes tightly shut, he squeezed the tool by its handle and braced himself, biting on his lower lip hard enough that he could have sworn he tasted blood.

Bee-.

It seemed like forever before Alfred heard his Controller again.

"... Wow. I never knew that you're familiar with so many celestial beings." Said the amused voice. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he finally released his breath. His shaky fingers twisted the knob on his earpiece, and the transmission increased to its normal volume again.

"Shut it, Canada. I feel like I just shaved off ten years of my lifespan." Alfred hissed and sat down, feeling the blood rush to his legs after squatting in an awkward position for several minutes. Suddenly, he felt like he needed to lay down and sleep for two days.

"After that there's no way..." He trailed off, noticing that a dent in the door that he could work with. He got up, stumbling for a second, before he quickly made his way to the door. The junior agent pressed his fingers to the dent, silently making calculations in his head.

"Hang on for a sec," Alfred took a step back and braced himself for impact.

"Alright. America, the helicopter's on the way, retreat to base ASAP." Taking a deep breath, he ran to the door, before he slammed the heel of his boot into the dent with all his might. The wood splintered underneath his strength, and Alfred found himself standing in the now vacated hallway without a single trace of the target and his underlings.

"Roger that." The agent nodded, and he ran down the hallway as fast as he could.

"We're going to have to review our mission plans before we go after the target again." Alfred slumped in the seat and sighed, looking reasonably uncomfortable. He had accidentally lost the target, after all. Thankfully, not many people were able to see his glum expression due to the dim lighting in the room, save for his brother and the boss himself.

Due to his upset, the American was uncharacteristically silent, and that had certainly not gone unnoticed.

Sitting in the large plush chair in front of the board was the Director, an elderly man whose loud booming voice made up for the unfortunate lack of his hair. With wrinkled skin and a cigar clenched between his teeth, the ex-LAPD officer had somehow found his way to the boss' chair, calling the shots in the frankly large agency.

The man's eyes gaze over to Alfred for a moment, before focusing on the rest of his agents once more.

Feeling quite sorry for his brother, Matthew patted him on the shoulder, before he smiled.

"Al, try not to feel so bad, okay? After this, we'll go out for burgers." That seemed to perk up the American, who gave his older twin a more cheerful smile. After quite a bit of discussion in the conference room, the Director stood before all of them and clasped his hands together.

"Now everyone, I know that we weren't expecting for Mark Semira to suddenly pull a vanishing act, but we have to hunt him down again. Our previous investigations show that he's planning something; something big. It is our job to make sure that we put a stop to that." Suddenly, an accented voice spoke up, accompanying a raised hand.

"Sir, may I make a suggestion?" Calculating brown eyes gazed at the Director as the long haired brunette spoke.

"Go ahead, Yao." The Chinese controllers nodded.

"We should start pairing agents up, instead of sending individual field agents out on their own," Yao paused for a moment and waited for an objection, before he continued. "As of late, we have had some field agents return with major injuries. Assigning partners would ensure the safety of our agents, and improve completion time on missions."

"Sounds pretty convincing. Any objections?" The Director waited for objections, and nodded when none came. The corners of his lips crinkled as he gave an approving smile.

"In that case... Controllers. I assume you know what to do? Ready the datebase."

"Yes sir!" The controllers in the room said.

"It's been a long day for everyone. Hasn't it, agent Jones?" Alfred's head snapped up in shock as he realised the Director was addressing him.

"Y-Yes sir!" The elder male simply chuckled.

"At ease, boy. And with that, the meeting is adjourned. Yao, I expect a full report once assignment has been complete." With a nod, the short Chinese controller stood up and hurried out of the room.

"Come on Alfred, those burgers aren't going to eat themselves!"

Walking under the blanket of the twilight with their stomachs full and hearts warm despite the slight chill in the autumn air, the two twins slowly made their way back to Headquarters, having decided to live in the dormitories provided for them. As Alfred talked his mouth off, Matthew listened attentively like he usually did, which was the norm for the pair of siblings.

Suddenly, Alfred bumped into a blond male, who seemed to be in a hurry.

"H-hey! Sorry-...!" Alfred's apology was cut short as he catched a glimpse of the most gorgeous pair of emerald-green eyes he ever saw.

Unfortunately, before he could recover his voice, the slightly shorter person had already hurried off; seemingly too rushed to even voice an apology.

"...-Alfred!" The American jolted as he realised his brother had grabbed him by the shoulders and started to shake him.

"H-Huh? O-Oh! Sorry, Mattie! Got a little distracted there!" Alfred grinned at his brother, who had let go of his shoulders with the puzzled raise of his brow.

"What happened back there?" Matthew asked, concerned with his brother suddenly spacing out after the stranger had bumped into him. Alfred's cheeks began to flush pink, before he quickly waved his arms in front of him to show he was alright.

"Nothing! Sorry, I'm just a lil' tired from today, that's all!" The Canadian narrowed his eyes in suspicion, before shrugging.

"Right. Quick, Alfred. We gotta get back soon." Matthew then hurried on, increasing his walking speed towards the familiar tall building. As the footsteps began to grow softer on the stone path, Alfred couldn't help but turn his head; watching the direction where the stranger had gone.

The assignments took at least three days. It wasn't a surprise, considering the amount of agents in the agency. Alfred would be lying, however, if he said that he wasn't excited to meet his assigned partner.

"Relax, Alfred. You don't wanna scare your partner away!" Matthew smiled, clapping him on his back. The American gave his brother a nervous frown.

"What if they don't like me, Mattie? What if they request for a change? I don't want to change partners the moment I meet them!" Alfred whined and shook his fists. This earned a sigh from the older twin.

"Alfred. Take deep breaths," When the younger twin started dramatically hyperventilating, Matthew couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Slowly. I don't want you to faint."

"Look Alfred, just be yourself! I'm sure whoever it is, they'll warm up to you in no time." Alfred then gave his brother a hopeful look.

"Y'really think so, Mattie?" Matthew nodded and smiled again.

"Alright then," Alfred finally grinned and turned to the metallic door, pulling out his keycard. "Let's do it!"

When the door slid open, the Field Agent-Controller duo was greeted by a rather sophisticated Frenchman.

"Ah, so you two are assigned to Angleterre and I?" Alfred could have sworn his hair was spun from gold.

"U-um... Yes! And you are...?" The stranger chuckled and held out his hand, cerulean blue eyes seemingly gazing over Matthew's form.

"Je m'appelle Francis. Controller."Matthew seemed to be very interested in Francis' usage of French.

"Well, howdy, Francis! My name's Alfred F. Jones!" To Francis' (and Matthew's) dismay, Alfred had grabbed the Frenchman's hand first and shook it firmly.

"M-Matthew. Je m'appelle Matthew." Francis' eyes widened as a look of pure surprise spread over his face.

"You speak French?"

"O-Oui. It is my second language." The controller's surprise was then replaced by a look of sheer joy.

Before the two could continue their conversation, the door behind them slid open again, and Francis' expression crumbled into a grimace.

"Mon dieu."

"How nice of you to casually inform me of this meeting, Francis. Oh, wait. You didn't." A very accented voice growled at Francis from behind Alfred. Curious, the American turned behind him with a huge smile, ready to greet his new partner. His smile quickly crumbled and his eyes widened when he laid his eyes on the fellow field agent.

Under blond, thick (but very cute, Alfred might add) eyebrows, were a pair of gorgeous emerald-green eyes. The very ones that belonged to the stranger Alfred had bumped into earlier that day.