Hi, I'm Maru. Let's just see how this goes over.

MT

He sprinted over the rooftops of a quiet city, footsteps careful and calculated. It was quiet. His thoughts, consistent and hot in his focus, were among the only sounds audible to him. That, and the light footfall of two others behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder every now and then to assure himself they were keeping up well, and though it made him feel a little better each time he saw the two on his heels, keeping up a perfectly matched pace with each other, footing expertly placed, it didn't surprise him in the least when he heard the gasp, followed by a thud and the sound of weight shifting over a rough surface.

"Dammit.." a low voice muttered behind him while another went straight into hyperventilating and stammering out pleas for assistance.

He slowed down and stopped, sighing as he turned slowly to face his partners.

"Train, give me a hand." one of his partners beckoned him over to the point where the other had fallen off, and now clung haphazardly to the shingles on the edge of the roof, kicking out at empty air as he dangled over the three-story drop.

Train let his eyes wander to the ground below. Maybe if they let him fall just this once, he wouldn't do it anymore. The partner that was still on his feet had crept to the edge of the roof, working hard to maintain his balance, but he turned his attention back to him for a moment.

"Train. Don't be cruel." he said in a sing-song voice, looking almost amused by the hesitation.

Their partner whimpered from where he hung, scrabbling at the edge. Evidently, his claws weren't doing the trick.

"Creed, pull me up. Please?" he mumbled frantically. Creed looked up at Train again, shrugging. Train shrugged back, getting over his moment of irritability and sliding carefully down to the edge where the two waited. From there, he and Creed took either of their partner's hands and hoisted him up. Once he was safely up, he immediately hit the ground and covered the upward distance from there to the top of the roof on his hands and knees. From there, he turned and looked back at his partners, who stared back nonchalantly.

"Train, you weren't really gonna let me fall...?" his wide eyes took on the reflective quality that the beginnings of tears always produced, and once again, Train was defenseless. He sighed again.

"No, Rae. I was kidding." The dewy eyes went away in the blink of an eye, and despite all the times that had happened, Train could still never be convinced he was faking it. He blinked at the boy as he carefully rose to his feet, sticking his arms out in either direction to balance himself.

"Oh." he responded with a cheerful smile. "Well, we should keep going, then."

"Holy shit."

Train scanned the property, ignoring Creed's awestruck remark. He could definitely understand where it came from. Most of their targets were aristocrats of some kind, so it was nothing new for each to have a large estate with a lot of unnecessary adornments to add to the grandeur of it. This one, though. It took the prize. The manor itself was a sight that could be compared to renaissance chapels. It was huge, definitely, and with every kind of decoration imaginable for a house. There were at least three floors, and the house itself exceeded the size of the middle school Train had attended for a short period in a phase where he'd tried to pretend he could have a life outside Chronos.

The lawn was an entirely different matter. Flowers that would almost have to be of some kind of foreign origin painted the scene with shades of reds and blues and yellows that were stunningly clear, even in the base light of the moon. The grass was trimmed down to a uniform height, the shrubs trimmed into intricate shapes. There was a large fountain with stone angels rising from its depths, and a well-kept driveway splitting in half to circle around it before reconnecting and continuing on the other side. There was no telling how old this place was, but it was beautiful, to say the least. It was a shame it belonged to such an arrogant asshole.

"Train?"

His thoughts were interrupted by Raenef, who apparently had been trying to get his attention for a while, and had resorted to poking him repeatedly in the side. He turned to meet his wide eyes.

"What is it?"

"Are we gonna go?"

"Have you found a way in?"

Raenef looked pleased with himself.

"Uh huh." he answered with a smile, spinning on his toes and taking a step in the general direction of his suggested entrance. "There's a good window right there. See it?" he pointed to a window, but if Train was expected to be able to tell which one he meant of the myriad of them that littered that particular side of the house, he'd failed miserably.

"No." he frowned. "Just show us."

Raenef blinked before turning on his heel and starting off at a brisk pace, tracing along the gentler curve of this rooftop before finding a good jumping-off point to reach the house. From there, there was a lot of navigating that seemed like it would send them falling to their deaths at any time, but Raenef appeared to know what he was doing, leading them confidently along the sills of windows, loose holds in the bricks, the edges of the roof. He didn't pause or hesitate, and that gave Train a good amount of confidence. When at last they stopped- clinging heavily to the side of the building and with the whole of their weights inclined to fall backward and downwards- he motioned to the window next to him.

"This one."

Train looked over the window, blinked, and looked back at Raenef.

"What are we supposed to do? Won't it be locked?"

"Just break it."

"What?"

"Trust me, Train!" the boy smiled persuasively at him, and Train rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." he breathed. He braced himself, let go with one hand, swung out, and met the window heavily with the entire left half of his body. The sill trembled a bit, which was unnerving, but the glass broke easy, and he scrambled in, cutting up his palms and knees but landing safely on the inside. His partners were at his side by the time he'd gotten to his feet, and he drew his gun immediately. Glancing around the room, it was easy to see that it was empty. Not just devoid of life, but of any kind of adornment. He let out a shaky breath, slowly, deeply. Raenef had been right again. Train really needed to have more faith in him.

He lowered his gun but kept it in hand, at the ready as he raised his other hand, holding up two fingers and using them to motion toward the door. Creed started forward immediately, footsteps fast-paced but cautious, and Train fell in behind him. Raenef was on his heels, light footfall not making a sound, unarmed. Train felt a bit of irritation as he glanced back at his youngest partner, eyes wide and determined, hands empty. The boy wasn't defenseless- Train had seen him use some weird-ass magic before in a fit of panic- but still his utter helplessness in most combat was a consistent cause for concern. Creed paused in front of the door, hand resting on the door knob.

"Okay?" he mouthed back at Train, who nodded solemnly in reply. Though it probably wasn't nearly as dramatic as it seemed, the door seemed to creep open centimeters at a time, and it had the exact affect of a continuous stream of thunder sounding off and ringing through the house. It was odd how the simple task of opening a door became of a nerve-racking ordeal when stealth was of import. By the time Creed lifted his hand from the door knob, Raenef had worked himself up pretty well, eyes wide like yawning holes in his head as he searched the hallway with his eyes and ears for any movement. Nothing appeared to be amiss, and once he'd assured himself of this, he gave his older partners, who had both turned to stare at him with pity, a sheepish smile and relaxed a bit.

Train sighed, exasperated. Glancing in either direction of the hallway, he quickly decided that this entire floor was under renovation. Paint cans littering the floor, canvas pulled tightly over windows. Doors leaned against the walls, leaving empty hinges and almost intimidating blank spaces that seemed like they might eat someone who wandered close enough. He narrowed his eyes. Or someone could hide in them and not make a sound opening doors to ambush us.. He started off toward a staircase, eyes flicking uneasily back and forth, carefully guiding not only himself but his teammates down the center of the hallway, keeping a safe distance from the gaping doorways.

The floor just below that one showed more promise. At least the doors were on the hinges. He led his partners through, this time at a much more brisk pace. Doors were thrown open now, weapons taking aim at nothing in particular in each one so no one had time to react, and when one room had been thoroughly inspected- each one taking the whole of thirty seconds with Train standing guard outside each door while his two partners tore the room apart until there was nowhere left to hide- they moved onto the next.

Activity was minimal, excluding the occasional outward collapse of the contents of a few closets which often took several seconds of pointed glares and held breath to make sure no one burst out laughing. Train knew he couldn't be angry about this. They were wandering around in the pitch black groping around for a target they still hadn't found. If anything, they could blame the economy for catering this criminal and rewarding his corruption with this huge and very much unnecessary manor. This whole thing was becoming a nuisance. How many rooms could one house possibly have? How many did it need? More importantly, how many times had the floorboards above them creaked now?

Train had counted eight, but he'd been forcing himself to disregard it. Raenef's skittishness had probably just rubbed off on-

CREAK

"Oh, hell."

Raenef and Creed glanced up from their work to meet Train's eyes, which had suddenly hardened. His teeth were clenched tightly so that he began to worry they might shatter. He couldn't really afford to think about that, though. Because in that second, he'd been careful, he'd been focused. He'd been sure to pull himself from his thoughts and listen only to the sounds that were truly, physically there. And that had definitely been a footstep directly above their heads.

His partners straightened up, turning to face him.

"What is it?" Creed asked, his voice dropping low to accomodate Train's newfound panic.

"Someone knows we're here." Train hissed, turning on his heel to face outward. "We're leaving. Now."

He started off without waiting for a reply, and though his partners were soon at his heels and keeping perfect pace, some part of him was starting to feel the pressure, giving under an urgent feeling that they were not going to get away. He picked up the pace, not really sure where he thought they were gonna go. Up was no longer an option. Whoever was there had definitely already taken the upstairs.

"Rooms with windows. A decent sized window. We need to get out."

The two behind him immediately began muttering between themselves. None of the rooms on this level had windows. None of them.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive. That's kind of weird, now that I think about it. Kind of like.."

Creed trailed off, and Train paused, turning sharply to meet the alarmed eyes of both his partners.

"Find a way out, Rae. I don't care what way. We need to get out right now."

The blond rushed ahead, glancing around hurriedly while Train and Creed kept their eyes trained on him.

"No.. no.. no.." The boy was pacing the hallway at this point, having abandoned the idea of finding an escape in any given room. He sounded close to tears now, panic bringing his voice to a pitch that was almost painful to the ear.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything's sealed off. What is this? How could someone live in a house like this? No one lives here, Train. It's a trap house. It's a trap house, and I got you both into it I'm so sorry!"

His panicked words seemed to implode in on themselves at the last second, leaving him with gasping cries.

Train took him by the shoulders, shaking him violently.

"Raenef. Hey, Rae! Look at me." It took a moment for the boy to quiet himself, still breathing heavily, and look up at Train with watery eyes. Train couldn't help but feel like he'd just shaken a baby into submission. "We're gonna run now. I need you to be quiet and run with us. Let's go."

Train let go of him then, keeping his eyes on him for a moment until he saw him nod, then turned and started running, moving toward the stairs at the fastest pace he could manage without stumbling in the dark. It seemed to him he was doing a lot more tripping than he should. This was a trap house. That was unmistakable. From the looks of it, someone had gone to a tremendous effort to box them in here.

They descended the staircase, more jumping over the railing than actually taking the steps, until they hit the lowest level they could achieve. It definitely wasn't a basement, meaning this house either didn't have one, or the path down to it was in a different place. That was irrelevant. A basement was the last place they wanted to be right then.

The steps above them had given up on subtlety and had begun a thunderous pursuit down the stairs. Now that no attempt at stealth was being made, it was alarmingly clear just how many were here. Not an individual or a close group, as Train had hoped. It sounded like a small army.

"Shit. Shit. Shit, shit shit shit.." the word started out as a breathy snarl before trailing off and becoming more of a monotonous chant as he took off across the floor, his partners at his heels. Luckily, the front door wasn't hard to find. Less fortunately, he found it locked up tight with no visible way to open it from the inside.

"Shit!"

The footsteps had reached their level. Train threw himself against the door full force, trying to ignore the sound of approaching forces.

"'Raenef! Wanna show us a magic trick? Now's a good time!"

Train felt something in his arm crack but continued his effort. There was no audible response to his words. In fact, it was dead silent, the echoes of his violent prison-break attempt the only sound he could hear. He paused, panting heavily, and leaned his head against the door. He held onto his left arm, which had only just started to feel the sharp pain of splintering bone. Oh yes. He'd broken something. He took a second to gather his bearings before he turned to face his new company.

It was definitely not a simple mercenary troop. This was full-on military, advanced weaponry and armor that proudly displayed the name of the district for which it fought- Amestris. A quick glance at the floor confirmed what he'd feared- Raenef and Creed were down. Creed was lying motionless, but Raenef, to Train's horror, was still twitching, a gurgling whimper filling his mouth, bubbling from his lips every few seconds, like filthy water. Train raised his eyes from his partners to meet those of a dark-haired man that was walking nonchalantly toward him.

The guy glanced down at Train's partners, too, as he stepped over them both, and looked proud of himself. When he looked back up to address Train, the murderous look on the Black Cat's face made him flinch before he froze and refused to take another step. The man, clear now by the lights being shone on the assassin from every possible direction, appeared young. Maybe a few years older than Train. Though he seemed reluctant to get any closer, he raised his hand, palm up, toward Train, curling two fingers in on each other and holding them as if snapping his fingers was a serious threat.

Train kept his eyes trained on the man's, not giving him the satisfaction of a confused look.

"We've got your partners."

Train nodded, not breaking eye contact.

"I'm guessing that doesn't mean a lot to you. That's fine. I don't expect assassins to care about each other. But understand that you're not going anywhere, and as good as you might be with a gun," the man held the hand that wasn't poised to snap out at length and gestured to the ranks behind him, each with guns aimed at Train. "-you're not getting out of this."

Train didn't respond.

The man sighed.

"Men."

Train had already worked it out. Before the surge of soldiers charged him, before the taser lit his skin on fire and brought him first to his knees, then to his side, and then to unconsciousness. He couldn't leave without his partners. He wouldn't be able to drag them both away without killing a lot of innocents. He couldn't afford to fight.

The assault was brief. It took all of four seconds for the men to surround him, as easy as it would have been to get out before any of them could lay a hand on him- he'd already worked out a viable path in his mind- and in just as little time, they'd parted to let their leader through. The man stood over Train's twitching body, a smug grin on his face.

"Okay. That's a wrap, people. I want these three in handcuffs now. I need a good report written. Make sure you- are you listening? Make sure you mention that I was the lead on this taskforce. Have it on King Bradley's desk by tomorrow morning. Before office hours." he crouched down to grin at Train as the assassin's heavy eyelids started to slip shut.

His last few thoughts were oddly coherent, considering the sporadic jolting of his muscles, over which he definitely had no control at this point.

Son of a bitch.. I'm gonna wipe that smile right off your face.