"He's on the roof!" The radios crackled to life in Alex's pocket as he hurdled easily over the small metal electric box with the black bundle over his shoulder, "Unit Five, prepare for intersection. He's closing in on the roof. Net him and prepare for the fall. Prepare the cushion. I repeat, Unit Five, intersect him and do not let him run away!"

Alex smiled as he leaned forward and pushed off the edge of his rail with his hands, his feet giving an extra frog-like push as he leapt between the empty space of the bank and the adjacent business building. He felt a net shooting out beneath him, grazing his jacket softly but out of reach, before dropping back as gravity took control. Still too short, Alex chuckled. Luckily, the opposite building was built in similar height to the bank he had just came from and he rolled effortlessly across the surface as he broke his fall.

"Fail intersection! He's over!" The same man's voice rang out in the radio, "I repeat, he is over! Unit Two, prepare interruption."

"We're too far away, sir," A different man said hastily and Alex heard footsteps echoing across the static.

"Jesus Christ, is anyone near his position?"

"Unit One coming up the stairs," A loud voice informed the commander and the rest, as well as Alex, through the radio, "We can intersect him on the roof."

"Good, corner him but do not harm him. He's just a boy," The commander said.

Just a boy. Alex raised an eyebrow to no one as he did a ninety degree turn over the metal pole much like pole dancing and rolled down the steep surface of the solar panels, cutting across to the roof of the building next door, "Sir! Target has cut across and taken a different path!"

Alex heard the loud impact of the metal roof door against the walls as he landed lightly on his feet. Oh bloody hell, they're going to break the door if they don't stop opening it that way. He could hear it fifty meters away for heaven's sake.

"Yo Al," His earpiece crackled to life as he made his jump cross building, latching onto the rim of the outcrop window before pulling himself up. The building was just a little taller than he had expected. His feet found secure footholds and he reached up with slight propels and helps from his legs.

"Great timing, mate," Alex grunted as he swung himself over the edge, "Clear the east street traffic for me, will ya?"

"You've got it!" Tom replied cheerfully as Alex pulled open the trap door and climbed down the immediate stairs, "Gonna steal a car, Al?"

"Motorcycle," Alex corrected him as he flipped himself over the second story stairs, "Faster and more efficient."

"He has entered the building!" The police radio by his belt was alive again and this time in a furry of activities, "All units, surround the building perimeter. Unit Six, are you near?"

"Yessir!"

"Block all exits."

"Sir, this is a high-traffic hotel," Someone else said, "There seems to be a ball going on. We can't just storm in and-"

"We bloody well can when he's holding two hundred grands!"

"Where're you gonna nick a motorcycle, mate?" Tom asked as Alex slowed down to a walk before pulling the door open. He was in a hotel now. Pretty bad decision, but he needed to get to the parking lot beneath.

"Parking lot," Alex rolled his eyes as he began a slow run again, passing the fancily dressed men and women in a rush, nearly tripping over a waiter in the process. This was a ball in addition to a hotel. Just great. The waiter yelled at him from behind as Alex ducked and rolled beneath and long banquet table. Hmm, the food smelled really nice.

"We have confirmation of his location!" Someone said.

Alex's eyes roamed his surrounding as he rolled out from under the table and made a mad dash down the nearby staircase, flipping himself over the freshly dusted railing and landing in a roll on the soft carpet floor. Fancy. It smelled like freshly laundered clothing.

There, at two o'clock, he could see two uniformed men coming his way, "Hey, Tom?"

"Yah?"

"Any chance you can turn off the light?"

"Like a power outage?" Tom asked, delighted, and Alex could hear his fingers flickering over keyboards.

"Yes."

"You've got it, mate."

Two seconds later, the power fizzled and went out, right before the chaos started. It was night and without light it was hard to see anything. And when people loosed one of their sights, they tend to panic like critters. He shrugged. Maybe not critters but at the moment, he couldn't find a better word. Alex flicked his night vision goggle over his eyes, getting accustomed to the green light, as he slid down the railings.

"Sir, there's a power outage!"

Alex easily snuck past the panicking guests as he rushed down the last staircase and pushed open the exit door. The fire alarm sounded and Alex grimaced. It was an emergency exit door. Oops. Wrong door.

"He must have left the building," A man reported over the police radio, "Can someone check which exit he took."

"There're only a few each floor," Someone replied, "I thought you blocked of all the exits?"

"No sir, Mayford hasn't report in."

"Then that's the one! Where is it connected to?"

"The parking lot, sir."

"Oh bloody hell!" The commander swore loudly, "Do not let him get his hands on any vehicles."

"Hey Tom, are motorcycles considered vehicles?" Alex asked as he scaled the stairs and spilled into the dark parking lot. It was even darker down here if possible, seeing that it was underground and the 'power outage' had shut off all lights, even the dim and barely visually-pleasing electric tubes overhead.

"Of course they are," Tom replied, "Vehicle's a very general term, Al."

"I suppose I need to know that for SAT."

"Nah," His friend said and Alex heard someone else shouted in the background, "You need to know words like Otorhinolaryngologist."

"Otor-what?" Alex nearly choked on the word as he skidded to a stop beside a motorcycle. It looked pretty new through his night vision goggles. He bent down and began hotwiring the vehicle.

"Otorhinolaryngologist," Alex could differ James' voice out better for he must have moved closer to the microphone, "Like a toe, ear whatever doctor or something."

"I don't think they really need to know that," Tom objected, "You barely even use that word."

"I agree with Tom," Alex said as he finally heard the engine spluttered to life. He kicked the stand up and gunned the engine.

"We have sighted him in the parking lot, sir!" Oh damn, maybe it was a little too loud.

"Take him down!"

"Shoot him, sir?"

"No! Physically take him down! Stop him from leaving!"

By the time they'd finished their short banter, Alex was already zooming out of the slowly closing entrance on his stolen motorcycle.

"He's out, sir!"

"Oh Jesus Christ!"

"And I think he has taken one of the radios, sir."

"Bloody hell! That's why he knew our every moves! Track him! Do not let him get too far."

One minute later with Alex zooming through the green lights, the policemen on the other side of the radio brought in grave news, "I think we've lost him, sir."

Alex shrugged easily. How depressing.

The two hundred grands in his black sack was getting heavier by the moment. He should bring a cart next time to bank robberies. Like seriously.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

"We made the headline again!" Tom said, pumping his fists into the air as he rocked back on the smooth tiling, "You've gotta hear this, Al!"

Alex glanced unamused from his computer at where Tom was holding a newspaper, rather battered from being thrown in excitement, and was dancing like he was two.

"Parkour Robber: Central Bank Failed to Withstand," Tom said as he whooped loudly, "Let's go, Al!"

"Oh shut up, Tom," James threw his bread wrapper over, "It was all Al's victory."

They were sitting on the roof, staring down at the busy North Harrison square. Tom had said, in his best serious news reporter style voice, that the square was named after him and there must be three other squares, South Harrison, West Harrison, and East Harrison, out there waiting to be discovered by His Truly. James' 'yeah right' turned it into a loud banter about the correct usage of 'yeah' that Alex had opted out.

"But I created the perfect escape plan for him."

"Correction, I did," James said as he bit down a chunk of his bread that Alex had legally brought from the store few streets by, "I was the one who mapped out all the streets and escapes."

"I create the power outage."

"Al suggested."

"I nicked the police radio."

James opened his mouth but found nothing to retort and Tom whooped again, "Ha! Beat that, James!"

Alex turned back to his computer. He had given the money to the man but, great news, they were still short of fucking three hundred grands as the email he had just received said.

"Cheer up, Al," Tom said, noticing his deepening frown and narrowed eyes, and slapped him on the shoulder friendly, "We've got this. Just three hundred more, and then the debt will be wiped slate clean and hostage released. We haven't been caught the last four times, we can do this."

"This is rather illegal though," James added in an afterthought to Tom's reply.

"I should've never involved you guys," Alex ran a hand through his hair, "If any of you get caught…"

"We volunteered for this, Al," James cut him off, "It's our choice. So stop blaming yourself. Besides, it's your father we're talking about."

Tom gave James a skeptical glance, "I bet you just like that man's cooking."

"Hey, he cooks really well!" James protests, "He invites us over every now and then too!"

Alex cracked a smile then turned the computer over, "We've got our next assignment."

"Let's enjoy it while it lasts, eh?" Tom said as he stuffed the newsletter into his backpack, "What is it this time?"

"Some documents," Alex said, glancing at the screen as the three of them gathered around, "From the animal shelter center."

Tom frowned, "Documents? I thought it was just money?"

"Yeah, me too," Alex swallowed, "Can't be that much worse."

"Well, this is some sneaky Scorpia we're talking about holding your father ransom," James said, "I don't suppose we can take any chances in not doing that."

"James' right," Alex said as he shut the lid and placed it into Tom's backpack, "C'mon, let's get ready."

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

"Radio check!" Alex turned down the value from the police radio Tom had managed to nick, again, "Make sure your radio is there and that it's not taken."

Alex glanced at the radio in his hand. After the last one, Alex had come to the realization, much to James and Tom's horror that he hadn't earlier, the police officer Mayford was actually an undercover alias Tom had created for him. And that was how this radio landed in his hand. It was rightfully his, in a way.

Too bad that Officer Mayford was a relatively small figure in the police force. His radio wouldn't be missed. Oh, he meant Officer Mayford wouldn't be missed. But he supposed they were the same thing.

"Mayford present," Alex spoke in his best grown-man voice as it got to him reporting in.

The current situation looked rather bleak. He hadn't notice the tripwire alarm outside the file safe when he took it. It alerted the authority immediately. In the long ten minutes that Alex tried to deactivate the alarm, the police had already surrounding the building though rather reluctant to enter.

"Unit Six, I hope you have all exits covered?" The commander, the same one again, asked, "Especially you, Mayford!"

"Yessir!" Alex said seriously before grinning as he heard the commander replied in approval.

"All right, tonight might be it," The commander said, "Take him down but do not harm him. I want him in custody immediately."

Alex had been hiding in the air vent for the past five minutes, flickering softly over the files he was holding in his hand. It was some file about a guy. He was a very generous donner to the shelter. Absently, he wondered why Scorpia would want a file like this. Not that he knew the ways of psychopaths.

Alex placed the police earpiece to his ear as he tapped the one connecting him to James and Tom awake, "Hey Tom?"

"Al?"

"Is there a speaker in the shelter?" Alex asked as he rolled over gently onto his stomach and peered down the vent. The police was still yet to enter.

"Yeah, want me to connect it to you?" Tom asked.

"No," Alex replied as he tapped the police transmitter alive. They were still preparing and spreading out. He would need some distraction. What makes police tenser than shots fired? "Can you put some machine gun firing over the speaker?"

"Like gaming stuff," Tom said, excited.

"Yes, but without the yelling and all the hack n' slash sounds," Alex corrected him, "Make it realistic."

"Should I go on YouTube?" Tom asked, "Or should I make it manually?"

"YouTube," Alex said immediately, "They have quality gun sounds."

"Righto," Tom said and a moment later, the sound of gun firing erupted across the encased shelter.

"Shots fired!" He could immediately hear the response from the police radio, "Inside the building! There might be more than one person inside! Enter with caution!"

"Yessir!" Came the replies and suddenly, the front door was kicked open and guns were splayed out.

"Cut it out," Alex said quietly to Tom immediately as the door was kicked open.

The speaker went dead at his command. Alex watched, rather giddily, from atop as the policemen began slowly walking into the room.

"Damage count?" The commander asked.

"Nothing's broken, sir," He saw one men replying to the com on his shoulder, "It must have come from the backroom."

"Proceed with due caution."

"Yessir."

"Hey Al," James came online.

"Yeah?"

"If you go up that vent you're in," James instructed, "You can reach the roof."

"I know," Alex replied softly, "But it's too low. They'll spot me almost immediately."

"Do you plan to stay stuck in there?"

"Oh all right," Alex sighed as he heaved himself slightly to his forearms and began pushing himself back slowly.

"There's a taller building right next to the shelter. Jump on there and then there will be more roof for you to take." There was a pause, "Hey, look at this, Tom! It's a dance roof."

"Care to explain?" Alex asked as he slowly pushed up the exhaustion pipe and eased his head slightly over the top to peer over.

"Well, it's like a hangout place for people to like dance and such," James said, "I've always wanted to attend one."

"That's just weird," Tom replied, "Hey, Al. Want another burst of gunfire for distraction?"

"That'd be great," Alex said as he tapped the other radio.

"All clear, moving to backroom," One of the men was saying.

The loud eruption of gunfire once again made him wince and taking the chance, he hoisted himself out of the pipe and rolled across the flat roof silently.

"Sir, it's blasted from a speaker!"

A tad bit later. Perhaps two seconds, Alex mused. They shouldn't drive with that reaction time.

"It's a distraction!"

Definitely shouldn't drive.

Alex stashed the file into his inner jacket pocket and flung himself onto the adjacent building, latching onto the edge and swung himself up with a simple pull-up. Oh who was he kidding, with his hands nearly frozen from the AC the shelter, doing a pull-up was similar to cutting a frozen pork in half.

Not that he knew how it felt like.

"Target sighted! He's on the adjacent building!"

Alex glanced at the loud speaker located on the corner of the roof and tapped Tom, "Hey, can you connect to that dance speaker thing?"

"Hmm, I'm in," Tom said after a brief strokes of keyboards. Alex saw the green light blinking on, "What do you want me to play?"

"When you hear the confirmation, play a single gunshot," Alex said as he tune in to the police radio.

"Mayford, you're the closest! Take him down and buy time for us!" The commander was yelling, "Don't screw this up!"

"What's the confirmation?" Tom asked.

"You'll know," Alex said before switching to his Mayford voice, "Target sighted. Permission to take the shot, sir?"

"What? No!" The commander yelled, "Physically take him down! Tackle him, whatever! Don't shoot! I repeat, don't shoot!"

"Now?" Tom asked.

Alex rolled his eyes, "Yeah, now."

The loud speaker had excellent sound quality as Tom blasted the shot over the system. Pretending to stagger for theatric dramatics, Alex stumbled across the roof like a drunkard, holding his side to make it more appealing.

"Target has been shot!" Someone yelled.

"Mayford!"

Alex let himself drop onto the floor and out of sight before speaking into the police transmitter, "I have the target apprehended, sir."

"Did you shoot him?"

"Yessir."

"Oh Jesus Christ!" The commander was yelling louder if possible, "Apply pressure to the wound! Do not let him die! And Mayford, you're fired after this!"

All in the right time, "Yessir."

Alex rolled across the roof quickly and flung himself to the close-by roof, all the while keeping low and out of sight.

"Al," Tom was suddenly serious.

"What?" Alex asked, suddenly feeling apprehensive as he one-handed the railings, breaking his fall with a roll and leaping to his feet immediately, "Something wrong?"

"Did you just get Mayford fired?" Tom asked incredulously.

Alex sighed, "I don't like him. Mayford's such a stupid name."

"James and I put so much effort and time into this!" Tom whined and James joined in, "Yeah, I even had to be there physically for the check-in. You can't just throw away our hard work, Al!"

"I'll reconsider," Alex said half-heartedly, heaving himself over the wall and tumbling down the outside of a metal chute.

"Sir, the roof is empty!" They'd caught up.

"Mayford, report position!"

"I'm chasing the target, sir!" Alex said, deepening his voice slightly, "He was wearing a bullet proof vest," Alex glanced at the building to the opposite direction he was going, "He's heading toward your position!"

"Alright! Everyone at the ready! Be prepared to apprehend him!"

"Yessir!"

"Mayford, how close?"

Alex tapped Tom as he unplugged his ear piece and placed it near the police one, "Hey Tom, give me a really loud gunshot through this thing."

Tom did.

"What was that?" The commander demanded as Alex fixed the ear piece back on, "Mayford?"

Alex didn't reply. The man Mayford was 'shot' and he had to act perhaps a little like it. He gave a great grunt before replying, "Been shot. Target has a gun."

"Oh great job, Al," Tom said sarcastically, "Now you're one up on their list of dangerous criminals."

"I'm enjoy this, shut up," Alex chuckled slightly, "This will make them rethink."

"But you still haven't secure the job back for Mayford!" James whined.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The phone rang and the three of them were crowding around it in an instant, "You pick it up, Al. It's for you."

"I'm not Mayford, you are," Alex objected, glaring at Tom and James in turn.

"You spoke with the man before."

"Over a badly-static radio," Alex pointed out as he scooped up the phone reluctantly, "Harry Mayford."

"Mayford, report to my office immediately," It was the commander, "I need to speak with you regarding your work lately."

"I thought I was fired," Alex said then added, "Sir."

"You are," The man didn't sound too happy about it, "But you're probably the closest person we've ever had near the target."

"He was wearing the usual black mask," Alex said, "He looked the same close up as he did far away."

"Get your ass down to the station right now, Mayford," The commander said before he hung up abruptly.

"What did he say?" Tom asked, catching the context almost immediately after Alex said 'sir'.

"Get my ass down to the station immediately," Alex said, shrugging slightly, "Should I go and save Mayford's arse?"

"Yes," James and Tom said in unison, "But before that, let's give you some pretty make-ups."

Two minutes later, he emerged from the door to the rooftop with his blue and his hair pulled back with gel. Tom told him he looked handsome and perhaps a few years older. By Tom's standard, Alex didn't really think too much about it.

"Officer Mayford reporting to work," James said in a deep tone behind him, "Stay safe, honey."

"Oh shut up," Alex rolled his eyes as he pulled his tie up and buttoned his suit by one, "Alright, here I go."

"And Al?" Tom said.

"Yeah?"

"No parkour in that suit," Tom said, patting him on the shoulder, "Absolutely no parkour. That suit is expensive."

"Right."

Alex biked to the station. He couldn't risk using the motorcycle he'd stolen and he hadn't had a chance to nick a car yet. It was weird, he knew, to be biking in a suit but Tom said no parkouring. That means he couldn't run. Dammit, that took all the fun.

The sakura trees outside the station was blossoming and pink petals gave him a welcoming as he pushed the door open and walked inside. This was, he realized, the first time the commander was ever seeing him. Like, really, face to face. Because according to James and Tom, Mayford came to the officer only a few days ago and did some desk job before he was suddenly promoted to Unit Six thanks to Tom's editing skills. They'd never really see his face besides that one time that James apparently had come to the station to work.

"You must be Mayford," Alex recognized the man immediately by his voice even if not by his face. Not that he'd seen the man's face before, "I'm Wolf Lestrade, Commander of the units."

"I'm Mayford," Alex confirmed.

"Come in," The man gestured toward his office and led the way.

Alex followed, feeling the formal suit and shoes very unfitting of him as he walked gentlemen style into the room.

"Take a seat," The man offered.

Wolf Lestrade was probably in his early thirties, or late twenties to be precise. He had a slightly crooked nose but a handsome face, by Tom's standard, nonetheless, "Now, I want to discuss with you your work and a chance of promotion."

Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was the man mentally disabled? Mayford, promotion? That man, or Alex himself really, had shot the target, managed to lose the target, and had never really shown up physically to work

"Promotion, sir?" Alex asked, bemused.

"You've demonstrated excellent reflexes and instincts," Wolf nodded, "When our men were scouting the interior, you were already one-step ahead and chasing down the target. You're very close, the closest, as I've told you over the phone, to seeing the target."

"I'm sorry, sir," Alex said as politely as he could, "But I-"

Just hold on a second. Having an inside contact with the police station will grant him more benefits than he could've thought. Instant updates on how they were going to look for him, new fancy gadgets, and great food. Maybe not the last two, but nonetheless, it was a great opportunity, like James and Tom had said, for him.

"But?" Wolf inquired.

"Nothing sir," Alex put on his award-winning melodramatic damsel-in-distress face, "It's just that, I have a wife and four children at home. I really need this job right now."

"How old are you?" Wolf asked incredulously without even bothering to hide his skepticism.

Racking his brain to pull up the Mayford file, he recited, "Twenty two, sir."

"And you have a wife and four children."

"A girlfriend," Alex backtracked a little. He should keep things along the normal humane path. Something along the line of him never being able to get a stable relationship with the rate he was going. Perhaps after he saved his father from doom, he would consider some serious relationship issues. That was, if Uncle Ian didn't have him go on another match date. Or if Tom weren't on his normal routine of throwing his profile on Tinder date.

"And four children?"

"Imaginary," Alex offered helpfully with an award-winning awkward toothy grin.

"And your girlfriend hasn't left you yet," Damn, what a blunt commander.

Alex hummed slightly and clicked his fingers after several seconds of thoughtful silence, "She might be imaginary too."

This conversation was officially turning awkward. Really awkward. Way over the awkward-meter Alex constantly carried.

"Right," Wolf dragged the word out then sighed, "Look, you look like an honest kid an-"

"Man," Alex corrected.

"Well, you look like you're sixteen, young man," Wolf shook his head exasperatedly, "You're honest, I can see."

Oh boy, how far from the truth the man was. Especially when less than a day ago the man was over his head chasing him down the building.

"And I'd really hate to sack you over this, especially since it's just your first week," Wolf continued, "So what do you say that we pretend this how conversation didn't happen and you were never this close," Wolf pinched his fingers together and left no gap, "to getting fired."

"That'd be a great idea, sir," Alex grinned.

"Good," Wolf straightened, himself and his tie, "In the future, I expect you to act your part in all police scenes and do not step out of line. Am I making myself absolutely clear?"

"Crystal clear, sir."

"Dismissed."

Oh boy oh boy, things were just getting fun. He would have giddily rubbed his hands together like some sort of cliché cartoon character but instead, acting the part of a civilized police officer walking out of his commander's door, he did a small joyous dance. He was really enj-

"Oh right," Wolf called out, "How's your bullet wound?"

"Bullet wound?" Alex paused. Oh right. Oh shit.

"That parkour boy shot you yesterday. Did you get checked out?"

"Just some bruising," Alex said, placing a hand slowly to his side in a vain attempt to pretend that he was holding his side the whole time, "Bullet proof vest."

The commander shrugged, "Coincidental that the parkour had one on too."

"Yeah," The word was dragged out dramatically slow like a dying penguin, "Coincidence."