"Boss?" Luke glanced to his left at the low murmur in his ear. A man with brown hair and blue eyes was looking at Luke with concern, "Do we need to cut out of here? I know you don't like discussing your past."

-Ryder Colt-

-Grifter, Team Snowdrift-

-insists of formalities in public, but in private he doesn't care-

Luke's lips tightened into a thin line, as he listened to the current commotion of everyone talking at once.

"No..." Luke inhaled, deeply, before sighing, "I... I'm fine. So long as no one addresses me directly."

"Well, just say the word, and Tyler and I will cause a distraction for you." Ryder said.

Luke nodded, but that was his only reply.

Ryder disappeared back into the shadows with Tyler.

A shrill whistle broke through the air, and everyone went quiet, and turned to who had whistled.

-Bao Blackheart-

-Thief, Team Wang Hu Zhong-

-alias: The Crimson Flash, as he's too fast for anyone to catch-

Bao's gold eyes flickered over the room, his eyes holding each person with a gaze that kept them from saying a word. He finally spoke, his voice holding a note of finality.

"Let's have Wales and Luke tell their side of the story." Bao said, "Just because their parents may not be the... best, people, in the world, doesn't mean that Wales and Luke aren't. We've known them since before Project Nemesis-"

"One of them, at least." Masamune muttered and shut up at the glare Bao leveled his way.

"And they've never betrayed us." Bao continued, "Does anyone remember when Julian temporarily went dark side?"

There was some shifting, a scowl from Nero, and a mutter from Julian of, "Why'd you have to bring that up?" before there was some nodding from people in the room.

"Wales helped us get Julian back. He and Sophie both did." Bao said, "They were both willing to put their lives on the line if it meant getting their friend back on our side."

"Wales more so than me." Sophie admitted.

-Sophie Deveraux-

-Grifter, Team Excalibur-

-not even she knows all of the names she's used on missions-

"See my point?" Bao said, "And all of you, or maybe just some of you, I want you to think when Luke has put his life on the line, or his career, to get your asses out of trouble."

Luke blinked, trying to think himself- he knew he'd helped a few people in here, definetely gotten them out of some sort of trouble, but he'd never put his career or life on the line, and it couldn't possibly be that many times-

"Three years ago, I was in Greenland." Luke blinked and turned to who had spoken.

-King-

-Hitter, Team Dungeon-

-better known as Agent Ares for his violent kills-

"I got double crossed by who I thought was my trusted inside man on the job. Turns out he was working for my mark the entire time." King continued, "And I guess Luke got wind of it or something, cause the next thing I know..."

-FLASHBACK-

"So now maybe we renegotiate the deal." Baddie #1 was saying as King was fiddling with the handcuffs on his wrists.

"Renegotiating after the package has been delievered..." King shook his head, "Hardly seems fair. What terms did you have in mind?"

"Agent Ares!" King and the Baddies looked up at the voice that echoed on the other end of the room. From the shadows stepped Agent TKO, "You're a bit of a hard man to find."

"Tyler Blackout." King smirked, "Picking a hell of a time to settle scores there buddy."

Tyler frowned a little, as he knew what King was referring to- just a year earlier the two men had gotten into a violent scuffle that had left Tyler with nine ribs broken and a concussion.

"Who are you?" Baddie #1 asked Tyler.

"Hey..." Tyler said, arching a brow and looking at King, "Not here to settle any scores. Came to get you out of this mess, and offer you a job."

"Well, as you can see," King held up his handcuffed hands, "I'm fairly unhappy in my current job situation. What terms do you have in mind?"

"Two days." Tyler made to step forward but two of the Baddies raised their guns, pointing them into his chest, stopping him in his tracks. Tyler paused, before grabbing their wrists and then slamming his elbows into their faces, knocking them out cold. He straightened out his jacket, "Six figures."

"Not bad." King stood up, and slammed his elbows into two more of the Baddies necks, choking them them and sending them down.

"And Team Snowdrift would owe you a favor." Tyler crossed his arms.

"Alright, I can deal with that." King smirked, then headbutted one more guy, while Tyler dealt a solid right hook to another.

"That a deal?" Tyler asked, standing next to King.

King surveyed their damage, before turning to Tyler, offering a grin and holding up a handcuffed hand, "Deal."

They turned to Baddie #1, King saying, "Now if we can just get the keys to these pesky handcuffs..."

"I think he's got them- have you got him?" Tyler asked Baddie #1, before he and King descended on the man in true hitter style.

END FLASHBACK

"You're still saving that favor, aren't you?" Tyler asked, eyeing King.

"Course I am! I'm not gonna just gonna use it up whenever I'd want! I may not be the smartest of people, but I do think!" King exclaimed, then he continued, "Point is... You got me out of that situation, weather for yourself or by Luke's orders- and I'm guessing it's the latter, since you said your entire team would owe me favor- and I'd trust Luke with my life. I was in his territory, my team didn't know I was there, and he didn't leave me hanging."

Luke scratched the back of his neck, while looking away, embarrassed.

"It was nothing..." Luke muttered.

"If that was nothing, then what you did for me was definetely something." Agent Player said.

-Chao Xin Wang-

-Grifter, Team Wang Hu Zhong-

-his codename comes from the fact he can 'play' anyone like a fiddle-

Luke shook his head, "Disarming a bomb was nothing, once again."

"I was holding the bomb!" Chao Xin exclaimed, "It was a motion sensitive one, and if you hadn't been there I'd be dead right now!" He blinked, "What were you doing there, in Mongolia of all places? That's over 4,000 miles away from Greenland!"

"The same thing you were- I was working the same mark you were. After I did what I did in saving your life," Luke shifted in his seat, "I called in a few favors, found out why you were after the same mark I was, and... let you have it."

All of Wang Hu Zhong looked at Luke in shock.

"You... dropped a mark for us? Why?" Bao asked, after a long moment of silence.

"She was smuggling kids, both kids who had parents and didn't have parents, out of China and into Mongolia, right?" Luke asked and Bao nodded. Luke cleared his throat, "Normally, a case like that I would've been all over, even if I was after her for a different reason, but when I found out she'd grabbed a family member of one of you..."

Chao Xin's face darkened, his blue- gray eyes going almost black, "Yeah... the bitch nabbed my sister. I wasn't about to let that go unpunished."

"I left it to you. No one should get in the way of family, right?" Luke asked, but he was looking at Wales as he spoke.

Wales nodded, not breaking the gaze.

"Oh, this is preposterous!" Doji exclaimed, making his presence known again, "You can't possibly think that just because he saved some of you, that you can all trust him!"

"What's preposterous," Ryuga snarled, "Is the fact that we decided to trust any of you- Team Akui, or Team Garcia- five years ago! We should've known you would have backstabbed us- it was just a matter of time. And you will be charged for your crimes- your assaults on Agent Frost and Lightning will just be the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure if we do a little digging, we'll find a lot more to charge you for." Ryuga turned his head to Ryo, "Where do you want to hold them until we can put them away for good?"

Before Ryo could answer, the metal sheets on the window flew up.

"What the- Kakeru!" Ryuga barked at Kakeru, who had whipped out his mini laptop and was typing away on it, "Did I tell you to-"

"It's not me!" Kakeru exclaimed, "S- someone has overridden my system-"

The room went pitch black, the only light from the night lights of the city outside.

"Everyone get down!" Tyler barked, "We got incoming!"

The entire room moved in sync, hitting the floor as the glass shattered and seven figures flew in on cables, dressed in black from head to toe. Their faces were covered in black masks, their heads covered in hoods.

Two of the figures pulled a can off their being, and flipped them into the middle of the room. There was an explosion of light from one can, and an explosion of gas from the other.

There was a mix of coughing and cursing as the gas filled the room, the flash bomb having disoriented many of the people in the room, and the gas bomb knocking out more in mere seconds.

"Grab Team Akui and Garcia!" The tallest figure barked, the voice female, but muffled due to her mask.

That voice... Tsubasa thought, dazedly, Don't I know that voice...?

There was movement, and the last thing that Agent Eagle saw was the Garcias and Team Akui making their escape with the masked figures.

*shrug, smirk* Go ahead, sue me for the ending! I don't regret a thing! Leaves you in suspense, don't it?

Leave a review, my pretties!