Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekazu. The plot of this AU belongs to myself and theartisserie.

"Surprises come in all shapes and sizes—some are sweet and nice, some are nasty and frightful. Others have the potential of changing your entire life as you know it."

o

Matthias couldn't think of a retort in time as all hell broke loose. Men of all shapes and forms entered the field, either wielding knives or guns in their beefy hands. The superhumans broke away from the circle they had created around the Rogue Assassin and immediately engaged with their new opponents. Matthias went head to head with a burly fellow, who had dark tattoos running down his arms and who, unlike his companions, carried a nasty looking machete.

He swung the weapon at Matthias, who narrowly dodged it. Forming a fireball in his palms, he threw it into the air and, using his willpower, made the flames scatter around the man's feet as it fell like a ball towards the ground.

'SLAM DUNK!' he cheered, cackling madly. Oh how he loved the adrenaline rushing through his veins. 'Take that!'

However, once again, a whoosh rang through the air as Emil and the other super speeder ran between the fallen machete-man and Matthias. Matthias, for moment, watched with fascination as the super speeder, as opposed to Emil, went from person to person, displaying a range of powers. He ran up to one man, who was engaged with the doppelgänger, turned into steel and gave him an almighty sucker punch to the stomach. The man doubled over with a grunt, allowing for the doppelgänger to give him a kick in the chin, knocking him out completely.

The super speeder flashed the doppelgänger a grin before running off to where Berwald and Tino were in a double combat with two extremely stocky fellows. They were much bigger than Berwald was, and even more terrifying. The super speeder joined them, his body glowing green, and he sent a blast of light their way almost exactly as Lukas usually did. It caused the pair to separate and yelp in fear. One walked straight into Berwald, who, with his metal skin, was no match for him. The other rolled into Tino who, with some impressive karate skills, rendered the man unconscious in seconds. Tino sent the super speeder a thumbs up before swivelling around to throw a knife at another foe. He fell to the ground with a pained scream for Tino's knife had sunk into the flesh of his thigh.

And that was how it went. The super speeder, seemingly able to use an array of powers, went from person to person. He went from using super speed to energy projection in less than a second, to turning his body into the same steel as the doppelgänger or as Berwald to switching to using firepower like Matthias was. There was no way to describe him other than a superhuman machine.

How is he doing that? Matthias wondered incredulously as he caused a nasty burn on a skinny man's arm, who ran away in tears from the intensity of his wound. That is actually insane…

Soon, he came to stand next to Matthias, chest rising and falling rapidly. His slumped body looked like he was drained of energy, but the expression on his face suggested otherwise. He waved a hand at Matthias to come closer and Matthias, too curious for his own good, did as was requested.

'How's the idea that you and I deal with that arsehole we came here for, huh?' he rasped into Matthias' ear. 'You have that awesome fire power of yours—let's use it to trap the guy.'

He began to roll a plan off his tongue and Matthias' smile grew larger as the words sunk in. It was perfect… The Rogue Assassin was going down.

And there he was, hiding away in a corner of the place, avoiding all the fighting. He looked like a mess: blood poured from his nose and there was a limp in his step. Matthias pointed him out to his partner and he sent him a nod in response. After telling him to go and draw him out, Matthias cracked his knuckles and snuck towards the opposite side of their temporary "arena".

Most of the fighting had dwindled. Only a few brave contenders were left to sample the destruction that were the superhumans. Needless to say, Matthias had to congratulate them on their hard work, although he knew they would have a lot of bruises and scratches to nurse at the end of the night…

'YOU ARE ASKING FOR IT! LEAVE ME ALONE OR SO GOD HELP YOU!'

Matthias let a satisfied smile make its way onto his lips at the Rogue Assassin's roar. For someone who had killed so many people, he certainly seemed to be very scared of a few young adults. He definitely has a reason to be, he thought.

'I swear if you don't leave me alone, you'll never find that wretched girl of yours!' the Rogue Assassin taunted, slowly backing into the centre of the place. At his comment, Matthias' blood turned to ice. Anne… If a single hair on her head had been touched…

'Little bitch deserves all she gets,' the Rogue Assassin growled, holding onto his mace with a death grip; his nunchakus were nowhere to be seen. 'Serves her right for sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong!'

All it took then was for his partner to yell, 'Now!' before Matthias unleashed every ounce of energy he had left within himself. While his partner shot out fire from his arms, Matthias unpacked the particles and forced them to obey his every command. The embers whirled and twirled, their size reaching the ceiling and wrapping their flickering arms around each other. They formed a spinning tomb of heat and scorching flames around the Rogue Assassin and Matthias' fury at him doubled at the thought of Anne suffering things she probably hadn't even dreamt of.

The inferno grew stronger and his partner stopped shooting fire—instead, he followed Matthias' example and began to control the fiery phenomenon. The Rogue Assassin had broken out into a sweat, turning this way and that to try and figure out an escape route. Matthias grinned. Ha, you're not escaping this time.

Matthias suddenly lost his momentum for a second. He felt like his head had been repeatedly punched in. Shaking it, he locked eyes with the Rogue Assassin and he felt violently ill. A feeling he had never felt before started rising in his stomach: a desire, an emotion so strong… He felt murderous.

A yelp caught his ears as Matthias made the particles in the air tighten. From the corner of his eye, he saw his partner stare at him in horror. He attempted to do something about Matthias' change in character, but he was deflected as a blast of fire was sent his way. Matthias returned his focus to make the flames close in around the Rogue Assassin, who yelled in alarm at the onslaught of heat.

'Hey now… Do you mind?' he shouted, staring at Matthias with frightened eyes. 'They're getting awfully close, you know? Please… Hey, stop!'

His pleas went deaf to Matthias' ears. Blood pounded in them instead, and a voice in his mind told him to keep going.

Kill him! He deserves to die! KILL HIM.

'What are you doing?' a distraught voice cried. 'You're going to kill him! Hey, we need him alive! Stop!'

But Matthias had no intention of stopping. The Rogue Assassin kept screaming and Matthias found that he relished the sound. He was going to make him burn alive as punishment for everything he had done wrong…

YES! KILL HIM! KILL THE TRAITOR.

All of a sudden, Matthias' feet flew from underneath him, his body crumpling into a heap, and his head hit the ground. The fiery inferno vanished instantly and the Rogue Assassin's heavy breathing and whimpering filled the otherwise quiet space. But even they went quiet as he was knocked out with the butt of a revolver.

On the ground, Matthias blinked several times, his foggy vision starting to clear. The back of his head throbbed and when he touched it, pain flared at the spot. His fingertips came away wet and warm with blood. Getting to his feet, he looked around the place he was in, taking in the scorch marks on the dirt-strewn floor, which looked almost like a crop circle. He drank in the number of unconscious bodies—or were they actually dead?—and the splatters of red around them. Lifting a hand to run it through his hair, he froze when he saw that it was alight with glowing embers. Letting out a shriek, he shook it out, and was alarmed to see that there were no burns on his fingers. There were no traces of there having been any flames on his skin.

What the hell happened? What the actual fuck is going on here?

He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he came face-to-face with a shorter male. He studied Matthias curiously from under his navy blue hood and squeezed his shoulder. He moved closer forward, as if he was about to tell Matthias the secrets of the world, and Matthias, for some reason, felt happy to oblige.

'What the hell was that, Matthias?' the man asked him, his tone blunt and straight to the point. 'Is your head screwed on properly or do I need to shake it out a bit for you?'

Matthias, startled, simply gaped at the strange man in confusion. Confusion… He was beyond confused. He was lost.

'I…' He saw a few others staring in bemusement at him and the other man, with eyebrows raised or their arms crossed over their chests. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

His brow dipped in a deep frown and he shook his head lightly. His eyes then raked over the man's face, with his sharp cheekbones and the flop of pale blond hair sweeping across his forehead. 'Who… who are you?'

The man's eyes widened slightly and his hand dropped from Matthias' shoulder. Matthias' heart dropped at the expression on his face. He looked almost… betrayed. Why would he be betrayed? Matthias hardly knew the guy.

Matthias' world began to spin, the full weight of his situation hitting him hard. His muscles and bones protested, and his knees gave way. He felt so drained of energy he could barely think as his head throbbed and the extent of his exhaustion overtook him. Arms caught him as he fell to the ground and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. How had he not noticed he was this tired?

He felt the hood come off his head and his sunglasses being removed. An array of objection came from parts of the room, Matthias couldn't really tell where, but the cool voice he had heard only moments ago said harshly, 'His health is more important than his identity at the moment, don't you think?'

When he received no reply, he returned to Matthias, lightly patting his cheek and turning his head this way and that to get a better look at him.

'Jesus, did you have to knock him that hard?' a boy in a brown and grey hoodie aimed to his right.

'I had to! He was going to kill the guy!' the shortest male cried, his hands working furiously at wringing a piece of black fabric. 'I didn't know I hit him hard enough to give him fucking amnesia!'

'Kill? What guy?' Matthias slurred, his blurry eyes slowly returning to normal. 'I didn't kill no one… Did I?'

'You almost killed him,' the boy in brown told him, pointing behind him with his thumb. 'He's lucky he only got singed and not cooked…'

Following the direction in which he was pointing, Matthias saw a man, with his hands tied up to a metal bar and his head hung. The state of his clothes made Matthias suck in a breath: patches of black soot surrounded various sized holes, which decorated his shirt, pants, even the balaclava he had bunched up around the top of his head. A trail of red running from his hairline down to his neck made Matthias' stomach churn. Did he do that? Why would he do that? He didn't know him! But staring harder at the man made something in his brain click. He knew him…

Then it all came flowing back: the Rogue Assassin; Anne disappearing; fighting against a bunch of men; generating fire with another man and encasing the criminal in a fiery tomb; feeling the need and the desire to burn him alive, to kill him…

'What have I done?' he mouthed, covering the bottom half his face with his shaking palm. 'Oh god, what have I done?'

'You remember?' Tino asked him.

Matthias only nodded, not trusting his voice. Had he really almost killed the guy? He could barely remember doing it all… He felt sick thinking about it.

'That wasn't me…' he said out loud, looking beseechingly at the others. 'I would never… I'd never hurt someone like that, not on purpose. I'm not a murderer… I'm not!'

When he saw doubt on their faces, Matthias turned to the one person he trusted for an honest opinion. 'You don't believe I would do that… Do you, Luke?'

But when Lukas averted his gaze, Matthias' hope vanished and he gave a disappointed nod in acknowledgement. Maybe he was a murderer at heart after all…

'Look guys, sorry to break this up,' Matthias' fire partner interjected, 'but is anyone else finding this really weird? Like... We know you guys, or at least have heard of you in one way or another.'

A stunned silence followed. Berwald's doppelgänger came to stand awkwardly beside his companion, rubbing his neck and keeping his eyes on his shoes. His skin had gone back to its normal state. Matthias blinked and tilted his head in inquiry. They didn't seem familiar… Perhaps they were mistaken?

Lukas was the first to respond. 'And how is it that we know you?'

'Well… I know you from Engineering,' the doppelgänger replied, pointing at Matthias, 'and your dorm room is close to our one, so I usually see you,' he aimed at Berwald, who frowned deeply and scratched his cheek.

'As for me, I've seen you guys around campus,' the other man stated. 'But I've seen you more than the rest, especially around the history building,' he said to Lukas. 'We've had a few conversations in passing. You're doing a Bachelor of Arts, right?'

Matthias saw Lukas' eyes narrow dubiously. He himself felt a bit doubtful. It seemed ludicrous… But was it in anyway true?

'I can see that you don't believe us,' the doppelgänger said. He glanced at his companion. 'Shall we prove it to them, bruder?'

The other simply shrugged in reply before he slipped his cap and sunglasses off. Matthias heard Lukas squeak in surprise when the man's appearance came into view: a head of white hair, something Matthias had never seen before in his life, nor had he seen eyes as red as cherries as the ones that stared back at him. Yet what shocked him more was when the doppelgänger pulled his balaclava from his head and smoothed his blond strands back. His eyes widened as the taller blond sent him a sheepish look.

'Oh shit.'

'You've got to be kidding,' Tino moaned. 'Is our entire freaking university full of superhumans?'

The white haired one merely smiled and waved. 'Hallo.'

This can't be real… It can't be!

Matthias let out a strangled sound at the sight of his classmate. 'Ludwig? You—what? What?'

Ludwig smiled. 'And suddenly it all makes sense. Now I know what you were really doing and why you keep falling asleep in Engineering. Explains the scratches and bruises too.'

'Why are you so calm about this?' Matthias shrieked, his hands tearing at his hair. This was the last thing he had expected. First he almost killed someone. Next, another one of his friends was a super? Could this night get anymore mind-blowing? Scratch that—could this month get anymore mind-blowing?

Matthias watched as Ludwig sighed and shook his head. 'I'm not. I'm screaming inside,' he said seriously, eyebrows furrowed together. 'I often wondered… But then I thought myself ridiculous for thinking it.'

'Why are you here?' Matthias asked him. 'What's your business here?'

'Same as yours probably,' Ludwig told him, blinking. 'To save Anne.'

A moment's pause passed between them. It was broken by Ludwig's companion saying quietly, 'Anne is a very lucky person to have the both of you looking out for her.'

Matthias shrugged nonchalantly. 'She's our friend. We can't just leave her hanging.'

'Well, that's nice sentiment and all… but I'm afraid our situation just became a lot more complicated,' Ludwig's companion continued. He looked over to Ludwig, who seemed to read his expression and went over to the tied-up criminal. Matthias only had the chance to exchange a brief look with the others before Ludwig came back, carrying the Rogue Assassin's duffel bag.

'While you were… indisposed, Gilbert and I went through this guy's bag. This bag of his… His weapons weren't the only things in it,' said Ludwig. He dumped the bag in the middle of their circle, allowing for the five of them to peer into the open item.

Tino gasped. 'Cash? That… looks like a lot of money…'

'What does he need with that much money?' Emil asked, his wide eyes glued to the duffel bag. 'Where did he get all that money?'

As soon as Emil's question passed his lips, the answer came to them immediately. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as the painful realisation of Anne's situation and what was going on slapped them harshly in the faces.

'He's been paid,' Matthias growled out. 'The bastard's been paid for kidnapping Anne.'

Silence overtook them at Matthias' words. Their next question hung over their heads like a dark raincloud, battering them with a storm of endless possibilities as an answer.

By whom?

To be continued...