Upon his return to London, Arthur had hoped that things would immediately return to normal, however; he was wrong.
America had changed him, and he didn't know whether it had changed him for the better.
Arthur glanced at Gilbert as his new German partner pressed his back against the wall, listening into the hotel room from the other side of the door. Recently MI6 had received a tip-off that an assassination attempt was going to be carried out during a speech being performed by a Minister hopeful, that was due to be taking place in a couple of minutes in the park that stood across the road from the hotel. All sources pointed to a notorious assassin being behind the threat: an Austrian killer-for-hire by the name of Roderich Edelstein. Who hired the assassin is a matter that the agents would have to deal with later; right now the matter at hand was preventing the assassination from happening at all.
Gilbert opened the door and quickly marched in with Arthur in tow, and systematically he and Arthur marched in with their guns at the ready, "Clear!" Arthur announced as he checked every corner of the main room, looking past the twin beds and into the walk-in wardrobe.
"Clear!" Gilbert confirmed after glancing into the bathroom.
Immediately the agents moved to the next room, checking it as thoroughly as they did the last, as each room was proven to be empty, the agents didn't know whether they should take this as a good sign, or as a signal to worry: did they have it right...?
Gilbert went to open the door to the hotel room; however, the doorknob didn't budge. Arthur and Gilbert glanced at each other as Gilbert slowly tried again to turn the doorknob; however, its stubbornness persisted.
"Shit!" Gilbert hissed as he stepped back before kicking the door down with his black boot, breaking the foundations of the doorknob and the lock, forcing it open. Promptly, Arthur and Gilbert ran inside with their guns at the ready, bursting into the dark hotel room.
Despite the front desk informing the agents that the hotel room wasn't booked to anyone's name, it was obvious that someone was living there, a suitcase laid open on the bed and clothes were arranged around the room, along with packets of food and books as well as notes of paper were scattered around the floor.
Immediately the curtains were drawn shut, plunging the room into darkness, until Arthur flipped the light switch, brightening the room. A man was laying on the floor in front of the window, recoiling at the sudden burst of light in the room, next to him sat a large gun, that was propped up on a small tripod.
"Put your hands behind your head, Edelstein!" Gilbert ordered as he hovered his gun over the stunned Austrian. As Gilbert proceeded with the arrest, Arthur found himself looking around the hotel room, desperate to find clues as to who put the Austrian assassin up to the task.
Everyone in the hotel room froze when the noise of applause erupted through the room, echoing from the park across the road.
"We were just in time," Gilbert pointed out as he forced the Austrian to his feet, with his hand handcuffed behind his back. "The speech is starting."
"He's been staying her for a while… there's at least a month's worth of food scraps here…" Arthur pointed out, rummaging through the small bin, before standing in Gilberts way as he began to take the Austrian out of the hotel room. "You're too picky for a long-term job; you must have been paid a lot for this one…"
Roderich didn't reply, instead of speaking, the assassin smiled as though Arthur had told a joke, which told the Englishman that he was right about his assumption.
Of course the Austrian refused to speak to the police, but Arthur knew that it wouldn't be long until the Agents would know who hired him to do it. However, that was none of Arthur's concern: his job was to simply find the assassin, and he did it well.
"I spoke with Ludwig last night…" Gilbert explained, "He told me to thank you again for your help, as well as offered—"
"I don't want their Band-Aid mental health solutions, I am fine," Arthur grimaced.
"I was going to say a meeting with the president at next year's state dinner; but if you're going to be a jerk about it, I'll just tell him that you'll pass," Gilbert explained, "He also told me that you made a lot of friends there, but you didn't say—"
Gilbert was interrupted by Arthur's glare, however, Arthur couldn't deny what the German was talking about: as Arthur hadn't even said goodbye to Ludwig, not even Feliciano got a goodbye from him… Arthur told himself that he did that because he always hated goodbyes, that there was no point because he was only going to linger on the fact that he was never going to see those people again, saying goodbye was only going to make leaving and staying away harder… especially for… Arthur shivered at the mental image of Alfred leaning in to kiss him, dreading the idea of saying goodbye to him, knowing that it would be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to do. He would be saying goodbye to someone who understood his suffering, made him happy.
Those beautiful eyes filled Arthur's chest with warmth, he didn't want to say goodbye to that, he just wanted to move on, and saying goodbye would open Arthur's heart for lingering feelings.
Besides, it would have been better for them if Arthur had just disappeared, especially after what happened to Matthew. Despite knowing what was going to happen, Arthur still left Matthew alone in the building with that bomb, and held Alfred back as he screamed to save his friend… Alfred probably hated him for it.
Eventually Arthur and Gilbert arrived back at the MI6 base, a place that Arthur had grown to actually miss during his time away; however, what had changed was the emergence of a new agent.
Yao had joined MI6 at least a week after Arthur left for America, immediately proving his use for the team.
"Gilbert!" Yao cried as soon as Arthur and Gilbert entered his field of vision, "something came in the mail for you!"
"What?" Gilbert asked, frowning with confusion, as the Asian flashed a yellow envelope with 'Gilbert Beilschmidt' and the address of the MI6 offices written in black marker. Gilbert took the envelope, feeling the hard mass in the corner of the envelope.
"We don't get personal mail here…" Arthur pointed out as he and his fellow agent shared concerned glares.
Impatiently Gilbert opened the envelope and took out the device, a small memory stick… Arthur watched Gilbert's expression change drastically as he glanced at Yao.
"It seems safe…" Yao muttered.
"Well, I'm not putting it in my computer, I've angered a loooot of tech experts in my time," Gilbert pointed out as he nervously fiddled with the golden ring on his finger, before handing the small memory stick to Yao.
Yao quickly inserted the memory stick into his computer, only to see the files open to reveal only one video file.
Instantly, the presence of a simple video file sent a shiver down Arthur's spine, immediately Arthur remembered what he had seen the last time a memory stick was received in the mail… Arthur's mind was blasted with the image of Matthew strapped to a chair, terrified as his Russian captor spat demands towards the camera.
Yao played the video, and at first the screen turned black, until the camera turned on, revealing a face that made everyone present freeze with shock.
Arthur couldn't believe what he was seeing, nor the shocked choking noise that came out of Gilbert's mouth as the camera revealed a familiar figure sitting in a chair, slumped over and tired…
"Feli…" Gilbert whispered with shock as his hand covered his mouth.
"Feliciano Vagaras! From the CIA!" Yao pointed out loudly.
"Oh god…" Gilbert gasped, quickly taking out his phone, "I need to call Ludwig, now!"
"What the hell is he doing there?!" Arthur asked as he leant over Yao's chair, intensely watching the footage, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing, "why are we receiving this?!"
"Could he be in London?" Yao asked.
Suddenly, red text appeared on the footage, as though it was subtitles.
Here we have Agent Inferno; Feliciano Vagaras, a special agent of the CIA. We show you this footage to reveal that he is captured, and is currently being held in London.
Take this as a statement that much worse is to come.
A video shall arrive shortly after this one with our demands.
Do not try to find us, otherwise; Agent Vagaras may never see the sun again.