With Anna...

Fingers darted over the sleek keyboard, typing away as fast as one could. "Frost, are you in position?" Only the light of the screen illuminated her facial features, the windowless van void of any light aside from her equipment that lined the inside of the vehicle like wallpaper. Her cocoa skin looked a sickly yellow from the light of her computer and her long eyelashes were almost motionless, like she didn't have the time to waste on blinking.

"Frost?" She spoke into her headset. Her voice felt hollow in the van without a response from her companion. Static filled the line and her heart thumped painfully, her entire being aching for a response.

A few crackles and some shuffling sounded through the piece until it went silent for a moment. "I'm in position Tooth," Jack told her.

"Bunny?" Anna called for, her purple eyes scanning the data on her computer. "North? Ready?"

"Don't worry, package will be delivered on time," Nick answered with their code, his Russian accent heavy. She felt obliged to let out a sigh of relief. Only a week of planning and they only had one shot at this. Everything had to go perfectly.

Aster let out a long, irritated sigh as a response and the soft drum of thuds managed to sound itself through his ear set. He was tapping his foot again, oh how that frustrated her. "Do we really need the cooler?" Do we really need Jack it translated into.

"Of course we do," Nick heartily replied.

"Whatever. I just don't think we need another piece of luggage to worry about," Aster complained.

"Alright, Bunny, North, this is where you two split up. You know the drill. Go." The darkness of the van seemed to creep over her, her anxiety spiking up. Her only way to communicate was through her headset and keeping tabs on all of the team through GPS until Nick got her hooked up into the main system. Her plan was perfect, but their situation less so. Anything could go wrong and everything could be ruined if she had looked over something or she had expected too much from her teammates. In theory, everything could go great. Everything would be fine, but this was not theory anymore. This was real.

With a few buttons on her keyboard, Nick and Aster's mics went dead and it was just her and Jack.

"Frost..." she whispered longingly.

"Tooth, don't worry. I've got their backs. Your plan is flawless. Everything will be fine, okay?" His words didn't exactly put her mind to ease, but it was enough to lower her anxiety a tad.

"You don't think-"

"Sandman won't let us down. Just you see." From his tone, she could tell that he wore that trademark smirk of his but she knew all too well he was just as worried as her.

"I'm going to keep the line up, but keep radio silence unless your position has been compromised."

A long silence lingered through the mics before he replied with a simple, "Alright."

With Aster...

The lobby was big, as the building took up an entire block. The entire place felt dark and hopeless, sending chills down Aster's spine. With sleek black walls and tiled floors and violent sculptures that littered the grounds, it was a surprise employees didn't die from fear for being trapped in here during their shifts. It was like a cage.

"See you when this all goes down," Aster said and waved at the dark haired man before nonchalantly moving his hand to his ear to remove his earpiece and letting it drop to the ground.

"Have luck, good friend," Nick, a tall dark haired man in his early thirties, told him before wrapping his friend in a life threatening hug. It felt like hours before Aster was able to breath but it had only been a few short seconds of painful longing for air. Quickly, as not to waste anymore time, they parted in opposite directions. Whereas he headed towards the elevator, Nick made his way across the lobby. Visual contact only lasted so long as the man disappeared behind the mass of people coming and going, paying absolutely no attention to the tall man dressed as a janitor.

He took a step into the elevator, half expecting security to be all over him, to invade the small space and throw him to the police - or worse, to his enemies. No such thing happened. Ha! And he thought Anna was being too worrisome over the whole endeavour. They were the best! No one could beat them, and especially not him.

Aster's grip on his suitcase tightened, the contents of the case suddenly feeling like a hundred pounds. "Good golly," he complained with his green eyes fixed on the floor level. Third floor, fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor... It didn't stop until the eighteenth floor, the top level.

Every moment seemed too painful to wait through, imagining himself up this high. He ended up with his back to the wall of the moving room and held his head in his hands. No- his fear of heights had to wait. He tugged at his collar, adjusted his gray suit jacket and straightened his tie, anything to keep his mind occupied.

The mission came first, he repeated over and over again as if it would make him feel less dizzy. When the doors opened, he spilled out into the hallway, thankful to not be escalating anymore. Well, calling it a hallway was something of a courtesy. It was barely bigger than the elevator - which had already been called for down below and far away from his rescue- and far too fancy to even be related to a hallway. The almost black dark colored wood ran up and down and the floor was golden, shining under the dim light of the bulbs on the walls.

Three knocks at the door and out called a voice, one he loathed and despised for ages. "Come in, Edward Aster Hare. Hare, is it now?"

Aster gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain calm as he looked upon his old enemy. Charcoal black hair pulled back, matching his midnight color suit and tie. The only thing not of a dark color were his skin, a pale white, and his eyes, yellow and hungry like a predator who had just found itself a small snack. "Where is the girl, Pitch?"

"What's the rush?" the main said. "Why not have some tea first? We should never skip the pleasantries."

"Not this time."

Pitch remained calm and smooth as he crossed his office space to a small kitchen where he poured himself a glass of water, sipping it ever so slowly, grating at Aster's patience.

"I assume you've brought what I've requested?" the sly man asked, the last word chimed like it had been a request at all and not at all blackmail, a threat, a ransom.

"Not until I have the girl."

"No, no, Aster, I don't believe that's how this is done."

"Look here, Pitch," Aster said more calmly than he thought he would sound and it knocked some sense into him. He couldn't lose his cool, not if this was going to work. He had to remain calm and do his part. "I came here for one thing and one thing only."

"Hm, how about this? Indulge me for a few moments and we'll have our trade."

"Fine."

"Glad we could come to an understanding." Aster could only stand and watch as Pitch trailed back to his desk. "E. Aster Hare, infiltration specialist, wanted for stolen information and smuggling. Nicholas St. Claus, high time thief, wanted-"

"Hey!" What was this? What on Earth was he doing this for?

He carried on as if Aster hadn't made a noise, "-for priceless art pieces, breaking and entering high security buildings, etcetera. Anna les Dents, hacker, wanted for tampering with military files and compromising locations of those in the witness protection program. Sanders Wilkinson, con-man, wanted for... well, that obvious." He pushed aside the files on his desk. "Now why should I cooperate with you?"

"You kidnapped a little girl. You wanted the ransom, we have it," Aster said, walking up to the desk and dropping the suitcase on it without care.

Pitch dragged the case over to his side, undoing the latches before Aster's hand pushed the top down to keep it from opening.

"The girl," he demanded. Anna's plan would only work if he kept his time.

"Fine, fine!" Pitch exasperatedly sighed. With a snap of his fingers, a hidden door opened and a small girl tumbled out, a tall dark suited man at both her sides. "Let the girl go," he told them, uninterested in anything else but the case on his desk, knowing Aster couldn't go anywhere without the elevator, which wouldn't be coming for a while.

The gray-brown haired man swooped down and picked up the light brown girl that ran his way, her eyes red from crying and her grip on him very tight which almost ruined the wonder she held in her eyes, one purple like her sister's, the other blue for whatever reason.

"You have what you want, we're going," Aster stated matter-of-factly as he turned around and made his way out of the office. Pitch didn't react and neither did his guards. They stood at the entrance to the hidden door, unmoving, unnerved. It seemed a bit too... smooth of a transaction. This wasn't like Pitch. He jabbed the DOWN button on the elevator with his thumb several times and his ears perked at the sound of the latches being undone on the suitcase and he closed his eyes, waiting for what would happen next.

"Come on, come on," he whispered to the elevator. As if on que, the doors openend and he hopped inside. "Thank God." The elevator didn't even close when it began to descend at a surprisingly fast pace. "Tooth!" he shouted, only remembering then that he had tossed his ear piece. Nick had managed to hook Anna into the controls, but what was she thinking, making it go this fast? He bet Jack messed something up.

"Bunny," the girl whined, holding onto him tighter and he instantly forgot his own fears.

"It's al'ight little one, you'll see your sister soon enough," he cooed, smoothing down her chocolate hair. "Sorry we were late, Tina. Ice cream on me."

Tina wrapped her arms around his neck and her fingers matted themselfs into his hair. It could have been his imagination or the fact he was mostly paying attention to the elevator, but he swore he heard a stifled giggle from the tiny girl.

A thundering noise shook the building only moments before the elevator landed on the main floor. Chaos erupted but was quickly calmed down. Police began to pull up around the building.

Thank God, he thought to himself. Good, good, even Sanders came through. Though, at the time, Aster had thought it to be the most unneeded part of the plan, he began to see why. Security that had been heading towards him was swept into the current of the crowd. Even if they did get to him, they wouldn't be able to do anything with the police around.

How Sanders actually managed to get the police to head out before the explosion even happened was beyond him, but he was thankful - for the first time - of what that man could do.

With Jack...

Jack watched through his scope, two buildings away from the headquarters of CEO Hans Pitch of Security Cooperations. "Tooth, Bunny's delivered the package. Send up the elevator." The teen watched as a girl stumbled out, a striking resemblance to the girl that had contacted him for his help.

No response through the line, leaving himself to his own thoughts. But keeping his mouth shut for long wasn't his forte. "It's your sister, isn't it?" he asked.

"Frost, radio silence," she told him. He could hear the taps on her keyboard very clearly. He really shouldn't distract her but he wanted to hear her voice.

"What did Boogeyman want?" he asked. Anna let out a long sigh before she answered.

"Files. On my fairies." Her informants. Another long pause. "Alright Frost, wait 'til my signal."

Jack wrapped his finger around the trigger, moving his sniper rifle into position, watching as the man pulled out the files from the case, going over them with some sick pride.

"Go."

He fired and it was barely a moment before his bullet collided with the gas pipe in Pitch's personal kitchen. The gas was let out. Jack quickly loaded the rifle and fired once more, igniting the gas. Jack looked upon Pitch's surprised face for a moment with satisfaction, seeing the man scared, outwitted.

"The police are coming," he told her as soon as he saw the flashing lights, and was taken back when he heard her voice come through the line.

"Thank you."

He figured from the moment he met her that she didn't want to sit on the side lines, that she wanted to actively help, that this wasn't her forte to sit around despite her profession but she was too well known nowadays for her to be out and about.

"North is back," she told him. "Bringing the sleigh around after Bunny comes." Jack grunted in response as he immediately worked to pack up his belongings.

"Good work, Frost," said the affectionate Russian man in the background from Anna's headset.

Jack laughed. "Thanks big man."

Later...

A ring of laughter chimed in the air of the small, damp apartment. It wasn't the best place to be by far, but it was enough to call home even if for a few moments. "Good to see you!" Jack exclaimed as he picked up Tina, swinging her around and she continued to laugh.

Aster scoffed. "You're such a kid."

"Hey, I'm eighteen!" Jack pouted, hugging Tina tightly who pouted as well, even fluttering her eyes.

"Barely!"

"Doesn't change the fact I'm still eighteen." The arguing seemed to distract him from the fact Tina was now tugging at his white hair.

"Are you old?" she innocently asked as she compared her dark brown hair to his.

Anna scowled at their bickering and walked forward to relieve her sister from Jack. Tina giggled, kissing her sister on the cheek. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes," Tina whined, this being the -what?- fifth time the question was asked.

"Can't we have some peace for five minutes?" she asked, rolling her eyes at the boys when Aster threw his chair.

"Fine, fine, I'll be the bigger man here. Aster, I admit that I still act like a kid," Jack sarcastically said as he doubled over with a deep bow.

"Hey, no! I'm the better man. I apologize for calling you a kid!" Sanders tried to calm the two from their argumentative apologizing but to no avail as they ignored him like he wasn't even there.

If it was possible for the conversation to take that kind of turn, it happened. Anna took a seat at the dimly lit table with Nick. "Thank you," she said to him. "I wouldn't've been able to do this without you."

"No," he modestly waved the compliment away. "Your plan." He reached over and picked up Tina. "Plan was good, we won."

"No quite," a metallic voice said behind them.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, turning to Anna's computer screen where Pitch's scarred and burned face showed itself.

"Impossible," the woman breathed as she rushed to her computer. She tried to get rid of him but her computer wouldn't respond. A thought came to her, to simply turn off the computer but if Pitch managed to get past all her firewalls and defences set up to keep her work safe, she doubted just turning it off would stop him.

"Nice trick you had back there, but it will take more than that to take me out. Costed me one of my favorite bodyguards," he complained as one might to losing a toy they got at McDonalds.

"Seems like I have one more to add to my little dossier," said, picking up a file and showing it towards his camera, to them. On it was Jack's picture. "Jack Overland, marksman, wanted for the murder of his sister."