A/N : I decided to write this first before EXILE and The Fallen since I spent my day reading all my The Authority comics and Detective Comics along with Stormwatch. So, here we go!

I'd like to say thank you to : Smiley-sama, Dark-nesey, rhired191, Zemmno, Forgotten Dragon, and CactusNoir for following this story. And also to : CrazyAnimeChild15 and CactusNoir for their review, and also to Smiley-sama and CrazyAnimeChild15 to favorite this story.

Disclaimer : no own, no sue.

Warning : Grammatical errors, swearing, and a bunch-of-nonsense-scientific-crap (even though I'm a student of International Chemistry Education, I understand nothing about Biology, maybe just the basic, but not that advanced) so, tell me if I got it wrong (that's why we call it science-fiction).

And also, this chapter's timeline seemed like jumping around the time stream, I'm still getting use to this writing style. Forgive me if this make you more confuse. I'll try to make it clearer in the next chapter.

On with the story!

Chapter 1

ENCOUNTER

Northern Tower

Goodhaven

Three hours ago.

As the dark clouds covered the starry sky of Goodhaven, a dark figure sneaked around the rooftop. He wasn't very tall, but not very short either. He was wearing a dark green balaclava, dark colored goggle, Kevlar, and camo-pants along with military boots. On his body, people could see several kinds of weapons; hand-guns, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, two sub-machine guns, a shot gun, and a different kinds of grenades. He was like a walking armory.

People called him Falcon.

A vigilante-slash-detective.

Right now, he was on a mission to stop inter-gang war. But it seemed like there were more of it.

"Falcon in position," he said to his comm.-link.

"Roger that, Falcon," a sound of a young man could be heard.

"Thanks, Observer."

"Anytime."

He used his scope to scout the area around the target's building.

"You okay down there, Arthur?" another sound came from his comm.-link.

"It's Falcon, Silver Storm," said Falcon to his comm.-link.

"Awww… Don't be like that. This is a private line," said Silver Storm.

"Shut up, Gilbert."

"See? You use my real name!"

"We have contact here…" said Arthur as he kept scouting with his scope. He swore he could hear Gilbert's grin as the white-haired superhero talked into his comm.-link.

"It's showtime."

Kirkland Enterprise

Goodhaven City

Two days ago.

When Arthur Kirkland woke up from his sleep, as usual he found his assistant stood beside his bed with the usual frown on his face. Arthur tried to get rid the sleep from his eyes as he tried to keep them open.

"What is it, Vash?" he mumbled quietly.

"Beilschmidt is here."

"Younger?"

"Older."

"Should've known."

Arthur got out of his bad, as he took one of his long sleeved sweaters and wore it outside his pajamas. But before he could open his bedroom door, Gilbert Beilschmidt already rushed in without any care.

"And I was wondering when you will show up," said Arthur.

"Miss my awesomeness?" asked Gilbert with his grin.

Arthur just shrugged him off. Vash already went outside as soon as Gilbert got in. He was never felt comfortable being in one room with Gilbert. Gilbert said it was because he couldn't resist the awesomeness, but Arthur knew better that the Swiss never really liked Gilbert because of his loud mouth. But he tried to restrain himself from grabbing one of his firearms (or sometimes Arthur's) and shot the hell out of him because he knew that Gilbert was Arthur's best friend.

"You got back just in time, Gil," said Arthur. "I have my new sources gain more information about the Equinox."

"You starting to talk business first thing in the morning?" said Gilbert. "How's Alfred?"

"He's fine. Have to done some research for past few days though…" said Arthur as he smiled.

"Sure, sure."

Public Library

Goodhaven City

Six months ago.

"This is ridiculous, Gilbert!" said Arthur. "I'll call Vash to pick me up."

They were standing in front of the Goodhaven Public Library as Arthur stuffed his newly borrowed book into his backpack. It was suppose to be a perfect Sunday afternoon when Arthur could forget his work as the CEO of Kirkland Enterprise and enjoy the books with a cup of tea in his backyard.

But a certain Gilbert Beilschmidt just had to come and ruined his beautiful afternoon.

"What's wrong with that, Artie? We can always visit him for sometimes…" said Gilbert as Arthur pulled out his cell phone from his pocket.

"You just want to pick a fight with him," said Arthur. He started to walk away from Gilbert, but the albino man followed him. "I'm not sure Roderich would please to see you, after all you've done to his wife…"

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Yeah, except for endanger their beautiful home and almost destroy half of it."

Gilbert grabbed Arthur's arm and turned the smaller blond around until Arthur was facing him. The red orbs looked into the green ones.

"That's why I need you."

Arthur didn't do anything when he heard Gilbert's voice so pleadingly and he almost gave up, especially when Gilbert looked at him right into his eyes like that. He could never refuse that look. But Arthur quickly came to his sense and shrugged Gilbert's hands of his shoulder.

"Y-you can go by yourself!" said Arthur as he turned around. And that was when he bumped into something solid. "I'm sorry!" said Arthur while he rubbed his head as he looked up and saw him.

He was tall, with sky blue eyes behind the glasses. Tan skin and dirty blond hair with one strand of hair that refused to go down with the rest of his hair. The taller blond smiled as he offered his hand to help Arthur.

"It's okay," said the man. "Did you hurt? You bumped into me hard enough…"

"No, I'm fine," said Arthur. He looked around and saw that his books already spread out around him since his backpack hadn't fully zipped. Arthur started to collect them and make sure none of them damaged.

"Here, let me help you," said the stranger as he kneeled beside Arthur and help them to collect his books. "I'm Alfred F. Jones by the way."

"I'm Arthur," said Arthur.

"Arthur what?"

"Kirkland. Arthur Kirkland."

"Whoa! Dude! That Arthur Kirkland?! The owner of Kirkland Enterprise? What a surprise!"

Arthur blushed at Alfred's excitement that almost looked childish. He was loud, almost like Gilbert. Gilbert helped them to put the books back, as Alfred helped Arthur up. The taller blond kept talking about something while Arthur only half listened to him. Somehow, Gilbert and Alfred managed to befriend each other quickly.

"I'm a scientist at S.T.R Facilities," said Alfred. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Kirkland, Mr. Beilschmidt. I gotta go."

And thus was the first time Arthur met Alfred. The meeting in which his world turned upside-down.

Scientific and Technological Research Facilities

Acropolis City

Three days ago

Arthur knew there was something wrong in this place. S.T.R was the government facilities to develop the most advanced technology in the world. That was why he was here tonight, in his Falcon suit. Without a voice he walked up along the corridor of the empty research facility. His hand was ready on his knife, because he could use a silent infiltration in order to avoid major chaos.

Arthur believed that S.T.R had a connection with Equinox, a group of super-villains that he'd been chase for a few years. Along with the Nightfallers. But, until now, he couldn't find any physical evidence to pull out an action against this facility. He even tried to gain more information using his alter-ego, Arthur Kirkland, but until now, he had to rely on Falcon's ability as detective.

"Falcon, do you read me?" the familiar voice could be heard from the radio.

"Loud and clear, Observer," answered Falcon quietly. "Something's wrong?"

"Silver Storm is in major rage when he found out you go to this mission alone. Should I send you back-up?"

"Don't worry, Toris, I could handle this. Tell Silver Storm to belt up, will you?"

"I DON'T CARE! COME BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD!"

Falcon could hear Gilbert's tantrum in the background. He let out a sigh.

"FALCON! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE! YOU DON'T FUCKING GO TO A MISSION ALONE, BASTARD!"

Arthur dismissed the comm.-link as he continued to search through the hallway until he reached the server room. According to his blue print of the building, this server room had two doors and they were locked with high security technology. But it wasn't a big deal for Falcon. In a few minutes, he already disarmed the alarm and the protected metal door before he stepped in into the room. Falcon walked up to the computer and copied all the document he might need with a small transmitter that transmitted the downloaded data into his computer in Kirkland Manor.

He waited and turned on his comm.-link.

"Vash, are you there?"

"I'm here, Arthur."

"I send you an encrypted file right now. Make sure to secure them immediately."

"Roger that. Make sure you'll be home safely. I hate to see Lily keep worrying about your well-being."

"Sure, sure."

He disconnected the comm.-link and continued with his work. He took the transmitter and prepared to leave as quiet as he could.

His movement stopped as soon as he heard some noises from the outside. Falcon quickly hid himself in the shadow as he saw the dark figures from the window of the door. He reached for his silenced M1911 and took the safety off. He was ready. He tried to breath as quiet as possible, but damned him that his comm.-link started to crack.

"Falcon, are you there?"

Damn it, Gilbert!

"Falcon, answer me!"

He couldn't risk it, so Arthur just tapped his comm.-link once. Gilbert seemed to get the clue.

"Should I bring back-up?"

An angry tap once. No, dammit!

"I'll help you, Arthur. Silver Storm out."

Well, bloody fuck.

Dragonfly Restaurant

Goodhaven City

Five months ago

Arthur couldn't believe that he would meet this man again. Alfred F. Jones, the scientist from Scientific and Technological Research. Right now, he was waiting there, in a restaurant called Dragonfly. He knew the owner of this restaurant. Wang Yao, a Chinese man who also known as Fire Dragon, a martial arts master who was also the protector of Goodhaven and member of The Nightfallers.

Arthur was always careful with his identity, though. No one in The Nightfallers knew who he was with the exception of Gilbert. They only knew him as Arthur, but there were hundreds of people with the name of Arthur. Unlike Gilbert, who was so carefree with his identity (because he was awesome just like that), Arthur liked to keep his as secret. He was a vigilante for God sake. What would people think if the Prince of Goodhaven liked to roam the city at night, wearing Kevlar, balaclava, camo-pants and brought L115A3 AWM sniper rifle, a MP5 submachine gun and a Magpul PDR, along with a shotgun and an M240 machine gun with also an AK-47 (you would never find more compatible rifle than that!) and a M1911 along with his favorite Dessert Eagle.

Overall, the Falcon was like a walking armory. Especially with his so called "toys", including grappler, several combat knives and so on.

"Sorry, I'm late, Mr. Kirkland. There's some problem that I have to deal with before the meeting," Alfred F. Jones said as he startled Arthur from his daydreaming.

"It's okay, Mr. Jones."

"Just Alfred, please."

"Alfred, then."

"Thank you for agreeing in meeting with me, Mr. Kirkland. I'm glad that I can meet you again after our brief meeting…" unconsciously, a small blush appeared on Alfred's face. There was no way that Arthur could still remember that meeting when they bumped at each other.

"Neither do I," said Arthur. "My assistant has explained to me about the concern of this meeting that the S.T.R needs more help in their research and asked for Kirkland Tech to do join research with the facility."

"Something like that."

"That is I've read your proposal, but somehow, I'd like to hear more about this from you."

"Me?"

"I believe you're the head of this research?"

"Yes, I am."

"Then explain it, Alfred."

Alfred took a deep breath before he started to explain their research in an unknown chemical element they found recently in South-East Asia. The elements had its unique characteristics; especially the color of the metal that kept changing depended on the temperature. The metal also release a radiation of particles which could easily reacted with oxygen and formed a gas that they called "Ferus" or "Ferusine" based on its effect on living beings.

"I believe that by develop its unique characteristic; we could create a new energy source which we think would be safer than nuclear energy. You see, the Ferus could affect the activation of lateral orbitofrontal cortex and cause the feeling of anger which is more animalistic until the person forgets about the moral traits and humanity. This gas also functioned like steroids that mimic the effects of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the body. They increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the buildup of cellular tissue, especially in muscles," said Alfred. "The Ferus produce a lot of energy in form of ATP like in human's body, but it is more powerful. We think that we could alter this energy into an energy source. This energy could be much more effective than five nuclear power plant at the same time."

"Sounds interesting," said Arthur. "But from your description about another effect of this gas is…"

"It can change a human into a monster," said Alfred. "We took a sample of this Ferunite metal and tested it in our laboratory, but until now, the research is unfinished because of the lack of facility. The government had agreed to help with the budget, but it seems like we need more than that. That's why we propose to you to help our research."

"It doesn't sound safe," said Arthur as various arguments emerge from his brain. Questions and answers, all of them popped up at the same time. After awhile, Arthur let out a small smile at the young scientist in front of him. "Let's give it a shot."

A/N : Well, that's the mess I've made in between my studies for exams... Please forgive me! Anyway,

Please review~!