"Do you think he deserved that note?" Luciano drawled, glancing at the bow tucked under Kuro's arm. Kuro nodded.
"After all, we always make the first move."
...
"Good news!"
Alfred burst into the office, panting. Ivan looked up from the pipe he was casually polishing.
"Da?"
"I found a dude who's willing to give us some info on Luciano! He lives in the old abandoned district!"
Ivan smiled eerily. "Good. Are any of the teams available?"
"I'll go check."
"Thank you, comrade Alfred."
"No problem! I'm the hero, after all, so this is second nature, helping people out and stuff."
"It is also your job."
"Well, that too."
...
"Are any of you dudes available for stakeout duty?"
"No, sorry." Francis replied. "We have that job with the Mayor, remember? Mattie is going to sneak in to grab some files, and we need backup. Meaning you."
"Boo."
"Us neither." Roderich commented. "Gilbert, Elizaveta and I are hacking into the FBI's database tomorrow. Can't make it."
"BOO."
"We can!" Lili piped up. "We can stakeout...wherever needs staking out!"
"Great, dudes! Go talk to the weird british dude."
"You mean boss?"
"Whatever you want to call 'im."
...
"Okay, so you're up for taking this job?"
"Yup!" Lili called out sweetly. One of the youngest in the business, second only to the Specialty Team, Lili looked innocent and pure, and was (for the most part), but her brother had trained her well. She could hit a target from 50 feet using her customized rifle.
"Are you sure? It could be pretty grating on a child like you."
"I can handle it! Me and big bruder are the best in the business!"
Arthur ruffled her hair and spoke to Vash. "You, Lili, and Antonio are going to be staking out an old office building in the north district. There's supposed to be an informant of Luciano's working there. You and Lili can take him out when he gets there; Toni's a great interrogator."
"The north district? But it'll be freezing!"
"You've got to learn how to deal, Toni. You've been in freezing temperatures training before, no?"
"Y-yeah, but-"
"Then you'll be fine. Best of luck to you, Vash."
And so, Antonio ended up with the most boring job in the history of ever; staking out an old abandoned warehouse while Lili and Vash went and shot stuff.
In the freezing cold.
At night.
...
Antonio was bored. Stakeout duty was boring. His job was boring. Everything was boring. Well, except for his little Lovino. And tomatoes.
Speaking of tomatoes...
Toni thought he saw a bright flash of red to his right. He turned, and rubbed his eyes.
"Must be seeing things...qué?"
A bright red tomato was waiting, plump and juicy, at the corner of the building.
"What are you doing out here alone, my little tomate?" Toni said to the tomato, chuckling.
"Do you come from a large family?" He pondered picking up the tomato and wiping it off. Turning the corner, he saw another red object a bit further down. Whistling, he said to himself, "I thought so."
He walked up to the tomato, humming softly. Picking up the small red object, he glimpsed another a little ways away.
"Perfecto!" He ran to that one, carefully making sure not to drop the two others. He did this for a while, picking up the tomatoes, and everytime he found one, there was another one a couple miles down.
Finally, his arms full of bright red fruit, he came upon the final tomato.
"No more? Poor thing." A mocking voice called out. Antonio turned to see a whistling, blonde man holding a metal canister. His face was hidden by a brown gas mask.
"Catch, Toni." The man giggled, throwing the canister. Toni struggled to catch the metal object, dropping tomatoes everywhere. He stepped on one, slipped, and fell to the ground. The canister opened, releasing a green gas. Toni struggled to breathe, but soon fell back, head lolling on the pavement.
"Poor, poor thing." The blond murmured, adjusting the straps of the gas mask. He whistled, no easy feat when your mouth is guarded by leather. An unknown, stocky, figure, also wearing a gas mask, emerged from the green fog. He picked up the unconscious figure and slung him over his shoulder. Toni was still clutching a tomato. The figure went to remove it from his stiff, cold fingers, but the blonde stopped him.
"Don't throw that one away, he'll need it where he's going."
Both of them walked away, leaving only a slowly dissipating cloud of green smoke and seven brightly colored tomatoes, the red standing out like a warning beacon against the pea-green mist.
...
"Big bruder?"
"Ja?"
"I didn't see Toni at the doorway. Did he leave?"
Vash froze. Toni would probably abandon his post, if he got too cold or saw a tomato or a turtle or some other bulls*** like that.
"Toni?"
No reply. Vash called again, louder.
"TONI?"
Silence. Vash ran to the doorway. No Antonio.
"Schwester, go check the left side of the warehouse. I'll check the right side."
"Right!"
"No, left."
"No, I mean right, let's go."
Vash's cheeks went slightly pink. "Ja. Let's go."
After fifteen minutes of searching, Lili called out, "No sign of him!"
"Me neither." Vash cursed.
Verdammt, dass idiot und seine tendenz zu frieren so leicht!
"Where could he have gone?"
"I don't know. He probably got too cold."
They sat in silence for a while, thinking about how they were going to explain this to Arthur. Out of nowhere, Lili stiffened.
"Lili?"
"I heard a clattering noise...over there."
Vash swung his rifle over his shoulder and aimed it at the spot where Lili had pointed. He nodded to Lili, who disappeared up to the rafters. When she was finally perching on a sturdy beam, Vash fired a warning shot into the dark. He heard a thunk and a startled yelp.
"Come out where I can see you!" Vash yelled.
A brown haired boy, only about twelve years of age, stumbled out of his hiding spot.
"Why are you here?"
"We're here with the HDA, you have the right to remain silent."
"You're not the police, you can't tell me what to do!"
"We have the same rights as the police, however we are an independent organization. Hands up."
The boy slowly raised his hands, muttering an obscene word under his breath.
"Izdrāzt."
Vash raised the gun higher. "How about we sit down and talk?"
"Nah, I have a life. Thanks for the offer."
Vash looked up and nodded to Lili, who fell from the rafter and landed in a crouch behind the boy. She grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back, smiling.
"Why don't you want to talk to us?"
The boy just stuttered. A pretty girl had just jumped out of the ceiling and landed nearly on him. Now she wanted to talk.
"I...I guess I could talk to you. Don't really have a choice now, do I?"
"No." Vash snarled.
"Don't be mean to him!" Lili yelped. She put one knee on his back until he was forced to sit.
"What's your name?"
"Ruslan." The boy snapped.
"Do you know the name 'Luciano Vargas'?"
The boy hesitated before answering, "N-no."
Vash held the gun to the boy's head. "Try again."
"Yes. Who doesn't?"
"Do you work for him?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because we are interested in you!" Lili chirped, beaming at the boy. She adjusted her grip before knocking him backwards into her lap. The boy stiffened, then surprisingly began to relax. Lili knew how to make people feel comfortable, that was kind of her job, but this was different.
"Yes. He's my boss. I'm in charge of torturing the prisoners." Lili gasped. "Why would you do that?"
"Boss's orders." Vash adjusted the gun.
"Why were you here?"
"Gathering materials. This place has a whole bunch of scrap metal." This was true. Vash had seen enough rusty pieces of junk here to put him off shiny things for a while.
"And, may I ask why you need rusty metal?"
Ruslan grinned. "You don't wanna know." Lili made a face, and ruffled Ruslan's hair. "You're a naughty boy, aren't you Ruslan?" Lili whispered, and Ruslan blushed. "D-do you like bad boys?"
"Step away from my sister, blödmann." Vash snapped. Lili tutted. "Don't be rude, bruder." Rusland looked embarrassed, and Lili softly stroked his hair until he relaxed again
"That's all the info I have." Ruslan shifted his position slightly. "Now, let me go!"
"Oh, but don't you want to stay with us just a little longer?" Lili helped Ruslan up and brushed off his uniform. Ruslan blushed.
"I...I guess I could stay with you a little longer. But only a little!" He added in his defense. Lili clapped her hands together.
"Yay!" She took hold of his hand and led him back to the car, skipping and chattering. Walking a few paces behind them, Vash thought to himself.
Good job, Shwester. I trust you to get some more information out of this boy. That is your job, is it not? We really do make a "Good Cop, Bad Cop" team.
He slid into the front seat of the car, took hold of the wheel, and drove back to HQ.
