Thanks for all the reviews. I personally love cliffhangers, so be prepared that it won't be the last time you get one. :)
12.5.2012, 8.00 am
After taking a very deep breath, Merlin slid the key into the lock and opened the door. It was empty, of course, but he still felt a thrill of excitement.
After glancing around briefly to make certain that everything was in place, he went to the window and put the plain black briefcase down beside him. Aredian would undoubtedly be late, again, so he decided to pass his time watching the passers-by down on the street.
Merlin loved to observe other people. He watched with interest as a couple strolled down the street, holding hands and ogling each other. He saw a little boy crying over the ice cream he had dropped and noticed the car that sped around the corner was speeding about 45 mph.
"Someone's in a hurry, it seems. I wish my client would bother to hurry up for a change. Is it too much to ask from him to actually come on time just once?" Merlin thought. He watched as the car came to a halt at the end of the road with squealing tyres and a man with shaggy dark brown hair and a beard jumped out of it. The man hastily locked his vehicle and then sprinted towards a house across the street.
The shrill ringing of the doorbell startled Merlin out of his observations.
"Finally," the master thief muttered as he made his way towards to door to let his client in, "And only three minutes late. Must be a new record for him."
12.5.2012, 8.03 am
"Good morning, Mr. Hunt, Mr. King. I suggest we get over and done with this as fast as possible, if you don't mind. I've got a tight schedule."
Arthur inwardly cheered. Aredian Hunt and his little helper had rang the doorbell mere seconds after Arthur – who had arrived at the house in record time and met with his colleagues who had set up the monitoring equipment in one of the neighbouring flats – had put on the earphones that were connected to the wiretaps in Merlin's apartment.
He stared at the small display that showed the proceedings in the other flat. He still couldn't quite believe that the most infamous thief in all of Britain was only a few feet away.
"That's just fine by me. I've brought a laptop. Now, give me the memory chip."
Arthur shared a short, triumphant glance with Leon who sat beside him and had his earphones on, too.
"Of course. But first, you should know how to handle the chip. It contains very important, very dangerous information and there are some rather nasty security measures which, if not taken into consideration, can get you into very serious trouble. First, you have to keep in mind that this memory chip possesses an elaborate tracking sys–"
Arthur yanked the earphones off. He had heard enough. Giving Leon and the officer in charge of the SCO19, Lieutenant Alvarr Turpin, a small nod, he grabbed his walkie-talkie.
"Go!"
12.5.2012, 8.07 am
Just as Merlin was about to launch into a nice long rant about tracking systems in memory chips, the door burst open and the room erupted in chaos, havoc and shouting.
Everything seemed to happen at once.
A couple of heavily armed policemen burst into the room along with Arthur and Leon, all of them with their weapons locked and loaded.
Aredian and Cenred, who had been standing with their backs to the door, spun around and whipped out their guns.
Merlin just stood there and viewed the spectacle.
Cenred, who lost his last nerve in the shouting match that had unfolded between Aredian and the operation team, accidentally pulled the trigger, but because of his shaking hands (or his horrendous aim) he missed the officers by several feet.
The SCO19 in turn used that as an opportunity to lunge at their targets without further ado but with a lot of yelling across each other.
Nobody noticed that Merlin gave the briefcase – that still sat by his feet – a kick to make it slide across the room and out of anyone's reach.
Arthur did notice, however, that just as Aredian was about to get a steady hold of his gun and shoot one of the officers he was fighting with, Merlin tripped him up with an incredibly fast and precise kick in the shin.
This resulted in Aredian falling flat on his face, knocking Cenred, Leon and another policeman over in the process.
Lieutenant Alvarr Turpin couldn't remember the last time an operation had resulted in that much chaos and was accordingly disgruntled.
But the fight, as loud and chaotic as it may have been, was over in less than two minutes.
Merlin, who had somehow managed to steal himself away from the fight after tripping Aredian up to observe the scene from the other side of the room in about five seconds without being noticed, made no attempt to escape as Arthur advanced on him.
Instead, he merely smiled knowingly and let his hands hang loose by his sides.
"Arthur Pendragon, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Arthur normally was a very good judge of character, but now he couldn't for the life of him figure out if the thief was mocking him or if he was sincere. It unnerved him. There was something about this man; the way he looked, as if he knew something vitally important that Arthur didn't, made Arthur wonder.
"Keep calm, Arthur. You won, so get the fuck over there and arrest him!"
Before he had the chance to do exactly that, though, Merlin took one step backwards and raised his hands in a defensive manner.
"Before you march me off, I'd like you to know that I'm haphephobic, so if you could refrain from touching me more than absolutely necessary, I would be grateful."
Leon let out a unbelieving laugh and Turpin (who was still miffed about the rather suboptimal arrest) glared daggers at the thief.
But still, after eying Merlin suspiciously, Arthur nodded briefly and made sure not to touch him directly whilst handcuffing the man he had spent weeks chasing.
As he left the apartment with Merlin in tow, Arthur could hear Alvarr Turpin sneer: "Seems like the great master thief Merlin isn't that great after all."
Unfortunately, he missed Merlin's sly smile and the cunning spark in his eyes. Neither did he hear his low murmur.
"That we shall see, Lieutenant. That we shall see."
12.5.2012, 9.16 am
The interrogation room looked exactly as one would imagine it. Plain, white and sparsely furnished. Boring.
Merlin could feel the stares from behind the mirrored window.
But he didn't mind. He was a very patient man and due to Aredian's permanent tardiness, he was used to waiting. Nevertheless, he took a brief glance at his watch.
"Hm, they have kept me waiting for more than twenty minutes already. It won't be long now."
All the nervousness and restlessness from the morning was gone – replaced with a strange kind of calm anticipation the moment Arthur Pendragon had burst into his apartment. Whatever was to happen now, Merlin was ready.
Right on cue, the door opened and the very man Merlin had been thinking of came in, followed by another man with dark skin and a beautiful woman with long, black hair.
"Elyan Smith and Morgana Pendragon," the thief mused. "Pity, I really hoped the whole team would be present."
He patiently and attentively watched as Elyan set up the tape recorder and the three of them sat down opposite of him.
A couple of seconds passed in tense silence.
Then, Arthur began to speak: "So, Merlin, are you ready for this interrogation?"
"I assume it wouldn't make that much of a difference if I wasn't, would it? But don't hold back, ask away. I'm sure we are all in for a very interesting conversation.
"One thing, though. As much as I don't mind being stared at through a window, it would certainly be nicer for all of us if the rest of your team would just come in and join us personally."
The three friends exchanged glances. Eventually, Arthur turned around and nodded towards the mirrored window. Only a few seconds later the door opened and the rest of the team came walking in, everyone holding an extra chair.
After everyone was seated, Merlin sat up straight and gave a small smile.
"A great team they make. I think they deserve the truth. Well, most of it at least," he thought. Out loud, he said: "Alright, what do you want to know?"
12.5.2012, 9.22 am
Arthur was fascinated with the riddle of a man that sat before him. Merlin couldn't be older than thirty – in fact, he looked younger than Arthur himself. And yet, he was one of the world's best thieves, if not the single best one.
This man undoubtedly was a genius, but he seemed so… normal. He was neither overbearing, nor condescending like most of the other professional criminals Arthur had met so far. But what was he, exactly?
Arthur normally could read people like an open book. Merlin, however, was a mystery to him. He seemed polite and also aloof, but in an almost playful way. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking; he gave nothing away.
"Alright, what do you want to know?"
Arthur mentally shook his head at himself. Daydreaming during an interrogation was not professional.
"Why don't you start with your particulars. We can't very well put you on trial as 'Merlin', can we?"
For some reason, the thief found this very amusing – he chuckled.
"Well, as a matter of fact, you can. Believe it or not, my name happens to be Merlin. Merlin Emrys, to be exact. That's quite ironical, isn't it?"
Eight pairs of eyes stared at him incredulously. Morgana was the first to regain her voice: "You're kidding, right? There's no way in hell that your real name is actually Merlin!"
Merlin's smile just grew bigger. "I don't carry my Identity Card with me, of course, but feel free to screen my particulars.
"The name is Merlin Emrys, born on the twenty-eighth of October 1985 in Coagh, Northern Ireland. Right now, I'm living here in London, 371 Greenford Avenue."
Arthur couldn't stop staring at Merlin like an idiot, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out if he was serious or not.
"Do you want my telephone number and email address as well? Or my shoe size, perhaps?"
Alright, now he was definitely joking. Not that Arthur could blame him. It had to be a comical sight. The whole team was still staring disbelievingly at the thief, who by now had trouble to hide his amusement.
Arthur, who did not intend to make a fool out of him and his team, wiped every trace of bafflement out of his face and turned to Elyan.
"Elyan, please remember to do a background check on Merlin Emrys later. The rest of you, close your mouths, you look like carps."
Merlin was obviously having the time of his life. But strangely enough, he wasn't grinning gloatingly, or even sardonically. He simply seemed to enjoy the fact that he had been able to astonish his audience into speechlessness.
"Don't feel awkward. You know what? I laughed for nearly four minutes straight after reading the 'alias' the media has so kindly given me for the first time.
"At first, I worried that I might have to change my name. But then I thought, the best hiding place is and always will be the most obvious one. I've noticed early on that men tend to disproportionately often ignore exactly those places in their search that are the most obvious. Maybe because everybody thinks that no-one could be stupid enough to hide in there, which makes said place the most secure of them all.
"And I was proven right. Nobody ever came up with the idea to actually search for someone called Merlin. They all just searched for 'Merlin the thief' and completely ignored 'Merlin the normal citizen'. It's rather funny if you think about it."
There was a short silence, but it was quickly ruined by Gwaine's guffaw. He shook his head and grinned slyly.
"He's right. I would never ever and not in a hundred years hit on the idea to peruse the phone directory for any Merlins. It's actually quite brilliant."
"Thank you, I take that as a compliment. But I assume you've got more questions than the matter of my name. So let's move on, shall we?"
"What kind of mother names her child 'Merlin' anyway?" Gwen though aloud. It took her about one second to realise that she had actually said that and blushed an alarming shade of red.
"Not that I think Merlin is a bad name! It's quite unique - but not in a bad way, in a… well, unique name and oh my god I'm sorry please ignore me, I'm babbling again aren't I?"
Merlin, who wasn't as used to these outbursts of Gwen-Awkwardness as the rest of the room, seemed to be equally amused, sympathetic and puzzled.
"That's… quite alright, I'm well aware of the rarity of my name. Rest assured, though, my mother had nothing to do with my naming, and she most certainly won't feel offended."
After looking in the quizzical faces of the team, he added: "Am I right to assume that I should have better kept the last part to myself?"
Morgana raised one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows and smirked.
"Oh, not at all. Although you might want to tell us the reason for said part, now that you've made us curious."
For a moment, it seemed as though the thief would object, but then he just shrugged and said: "I suppose it doesn't matter.
"My parents apparently weren't too thrilled with my birth and probably didn't want to bother about filling in all these tedious documents to put me up foradoption, so they just dumped me in front of a supermarket at the tender age of about a week.
"I was sent to the orphanage, obviously, and got a name from the Child Protective Services.
"They didn't name me Merlin, though. I didn't have what you would consider a 'carefree childhood' and therefore decided to leave everything concerning my infancy behind me, including my name.
"So the only person you could have insulted, Miss Gwen Smith, is myself and I certainly don't mind."
The silence that followed was not a pleasant one. Everyone was shocked, not only at the story, but also at the calm and indifferent way Merlin had told it, as if it didn't concern him.
"So," Percy piped up, "Merlin Emrys is not your real name?"
Merlin smiled. "It is not the one I got as a baby, but I never considered that one to be my real name. And this 'old' name doesn't exist anymore anyway.
"I'm registered as Merlin Emrys, it is the name I rented my flat under – well, one of the six I have – and it's the name I use for my normal, everyday life. So in this sense, it is my real one. And before you ask: no, I will not tell you my original name."
Gwaine exhaled deeply and flipped his hair. "Alright, my brain needs a breather from all this," He grinned mischievously, "I don't want to sound mean, but what does it feel like to know you have failed twice now because of us?"
At this, Merlin just gave his annoyingly knowing smile.
"Why twice? As far as I'm concerned, everything went perfectly to plan. Couldn't have gone better, actually."
If you want to kill me right now, please tell me so via Private Messaging. Wouldn't want to scare away the other readers with the reviews, right? :)
You'll probably want to kill me even more after reading this: Thanks to far too much homework and far too many exams in the next few days, it's possible that I won't be able to update as soon as normally. But I will update, don't worry.