Standard warnings apply. I don't own, blah, blah, blah, blah……

Okay… For the sake of this fic, and the fact that I have no REAL clue as to their ages, I'm making them up. " " is for English speech; stands for Japanese speech.

Age:

Ryo - 26

Dee - 27

JJ - 23

Drake - 28

Manx sighed and checked her face in the mirror for the umpteenth time in the last few minutes. It wasn't that she was really worried about her appearance. Hell, she could walk in wearing nothing but her bathrobe and they would still treat her the same way. Granted, Yohji might make a few choice remarks if she were to do something like that, but he wouldn't act different around her. It was more of a delay gesture to stall for time. Because when she walked through those familiar doors, the mission she was supposed to give them would, one way or another, change all their lives forever.

After everything that had happened, Manx considered the four men she was about to visit sort of like a family to her. She didn't know just how they felt towards her, but she knew that if it came down to it, she would do just about anything for them.

Finally coming to the conclusion that she had wasted enough time and no matter how many times she looked at her face in the mirror it wouldn't help her situation any, Manx sighed once more, collected herself, and got out of her car.

The short trip from her car to the front door of the Koneko seemed to last only a heartbeat and before Manx knew what had happened, she was back in the familiar basement and standing in front of the four men she cared so much for. Mentally shaking herself, Manx opened her mouth and started telling the members of Weiss about their new mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Omi blinked and stared at Manx as if she had grown two heads. What she had just told them about their next mission, if it could really be called that, was not what he was expecting. If she had told them that his family had come back to life completely changed and were now model citizens, Omi could not have been more surprised. And it seemed that his friends shared his opinion. Aya's eyebrows were disappearing in his hairline, Ken had the cutest (in Omi's opinion, at least) expression of disbelief on his face, and Yohji's sunglasses had slid all the ways down to the upper part of his lip and he wasn't pushing them back up.

"Okay…," Yohji began, drawing out the word. Now he took the time to fix his sunglasses. "Let me see if I understand you correctly here. You're saying that for our next mission, we're going to have to train a whole new team to of people that we pick out? And just where are we going to find these people, Manx? Off the street?"

"No," she answered. "Actually, everyone is going to be moved to a different location to chose the members of the next team. Everything has already been taken care of, should you chose to accept this mission. Housing, money, and even transportation."

"And just where exactly will we be going to?" Ken questioned, resting his head on his crossed arms resting on the chair he was sitting backwards in. This was the part that Manx had been dreading. As soon as she told them where they would be going, there was no turning back and there was a good chance that she would never see them again. Granted, one of the missions in the past they had gone on might have led to the same consequences, but then she wasn't sending them to another country where they didn't know the rules and how for a mission. Still, however, Manx had a job to do and could not back out of it.

"The four of you are going to be moving to the states; New York, in fact."

"NEW YORK?!" Omi exclaimed, eyes close to bugging out of his head. "Why there?!"

"Apparently Kilter has decided to expand it's reach into other countries, now that the times have changed. But in order for us to do so, we need to establish firm relations with the local authorities of that country first. The ones who dealt with international relations thought that if we trained the next team, it would be a good show of faith," Manx explained. This was a decision that Manx had mixed feelings about, but she couldn't deny the fact that some of those mixed feelings came from the knowledge that it would be her team that was sent over.

"There's a problem with all of this," Aya spoke up. "None of us speak enough English to even begin to teach a single person anything, let alone a whole team."

Manx internally winced. She had hoped to avoid this certain topic for a while, but it seemed that she would be dealing with that topic now. Trust it to be Aya to deliver the killing blow.

"There is a device we have our hands on that will solve that problem for you gentlemen. Within the span of a single day, all four of you will be able to learn and master the English language. But I must warn you that there are side effects. However, considering who we attained the prototype from, the side effects are quite mild."

Now that was an ominous statement, if the members of Weiss had ever heard one. Considering what they had dealt with in the past, there was not a single chance that they were going to leave any question unanswered about this 'device.' The four members of Weiss turned to face one another and locked eyes. Through silent agreement, they decided that Aya would be the one to ask the question most prudent on their minds.

"Just who exactly made this device and what side effects are you talking about Manx?"

Let's hope they don't kill me for this. "The person who made the prototype was Masafumi and the side effects are that you will become like those you have fought against, Shwartz."

~~~~ 2 MONTHS AFTERWARDS IN NYC~~~~~~~~~~

"SENPAI!!!!!"

Dee choked and spat out the bit of coffee he had been drinking till he had heard JJ's loud cry, spilling some on himself in the process. His partner, Ryo chuckled and turned to see what had ruffled JJ's feathers now. Since he wasn't throwing himself all over Dee, Ryo guessed that it was a bit of news concerning work that had gotten him all riled up.

"What the hell do you want JJ?" Dee asked, in a slightly ticked off tone.

"Have you two heard anything about the latest news that's going around the station?" JJ asked, quickly walking over and perching himself in the middle of their two desk. He looked back and forth between Ryo and Dee to judge their reactions to his question. The looks on their faces was all the answer JJ needed. For New York detectives, they sure let an awful lot of their emotions show on their faces. Right now, Ryo's face was expressing his unknowing curiosity, and Dee's was expressing the question he didn't want to ask aloud, which was 'what news?'

"There's going to be some big changes happening to four members of this precinct," JJ began, the excitement growing in his eyes as he spoke. "No one knows who the four people are going to be, but whoever they are, two things for certain. They're going to be moved to a different department that has just formed and they'll be given a higher pay." THAT got the two men's attention.

Dee whistled. "A higher pay? This must be some kind of fancy new department if they can already afford to do something like that. Just what does this new department do exactly?"

JJ shrugged and held up in his hands in a gesture of uncertainty. "That's something else no one's been able to get a word on. Not even Rose knows all the details about this. From what I've been able to sniff out, this is being handled by the people at the top. In H.Q."

"If it's being handled by the people in high-ups, then how did you find out about it JJ?" Ryo asked. He knew office gossip was good and covered a wide area, but if this had come from the main office, how had JJ gotten wind of it?

"Rose was given a notice to start organizing things down here because some hotshots are coming down to check us out," JJ went on, ignoring Ryo's question completely . "He wasn't given too much information. Just told that he'd be given more information at a later date. Curiosity got the best of him and he went snooping around for the reason. And everything that I've told you guys is all the information he was able to find out."

"Makes sense considering that it's his department that's being messed with. However, that still doesn't explain how you got wind of it JJ," Ryo pointed out. JJ flushed and tried his best to give Ryo an answer he would accept, without reveling how he had got his information. Strangely enough, it was Dee who came to JJ's rescue.

"It's office gossip," Dee cut in. "There are a million different ways that JJ could have gotten wind of the information, Ryo. All that matters is whether or not it's true. And if it is, what I want to know is what kind of people are they looking for? And why our prescient?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ryo stated. "Any idea when all this is going to be taking place?"

JJ shook his head. "No one has any idea about that either."

"Great," Dee muttered. "So basically, we're all expected to be on our toes and best behavior till Rose finds out more information, huh?"

"Basically," JJ agreed.

"Just fucking fantastic."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The members of Weiss were currently engaging in one of the most difficult task they had ever had to do in the course of their entire career. With everyone hunched over the kitchen table, they were trying to pick out, from a selection of over several hundred, just who would form the team that they would be forming and then training. And all they had to go on was a bunch of information on a computer and a HUGE stack of files. Files that littered every single available spot on the kitchen table and floor.

I don't see how in the world we're supposed to pick a brand new team just by looking at their files. Ken muttered sourly, glaring at one of the files in his hands. He threw it back amongst its siblings. Just how are files about a person's stats supposed to help us here?! Like I'm going to pick someone based on their weight!

There is no way that I'm going to go through all these files just to find four guys to train, Yohji agreed crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. We need to find a better way to do this. Any ideas Bishy? Omi stopped tapping the butt of his pencil against the table and a thoughtful look crossed his face as he tried to come up with something that would make this part easier.

Since everything we really need is already in the computer, maybe it would be a better idea if we run a search on the different type of people we do or don't want instead, Omi suggested warily, eyeing the computer that stored all the information with caution. It was kinda old and temperamental from what Omi had seen. He didn't want to do anything that might set off its temper. He had already warned the others about this and thus, no one, other than Omi himself, was allowed to touch the thing.

Sounds like as good a place to start as any, Yohji said. So, what type of personality do we want in our to-be pupils?

They have to be young, Omi began, standing up and taking a new seat at the computer. He booted up the computer and began running a search program on all the files they had been given. Under 30 at best. We can't train old people to do our jobs.

They shouldn't be anyone too big, Ken added. We don't have enough levy to ask for someone in a high position.

They shouldn't have a perfect record, Aya continued. We need people who can break, not only rules, but laws as well.

Okay… Young, not too high up on the ladder, and with a record of some sort, Omi listed off, his fingers flying over the keys. Anything else?

Yeah. Can you try finding people who are open-minded and are willing to adapt? Yohji asked. Considering what's going to happened and who they're going to be learning under, I think that's important, ne?

Looks like you can use that brain of yours for more than just cheesy pick-up lines after all, Aya commented with a smirk. Yohji grinned at him and playfully winked in the red-head's direction.

Now why would I want to flirt with anyone else other than you Aya? This caused Aya's smirk to widen just the tiniest fraction and he turned his head to look the blonde in the eyes now. He was about to comment when Ken beat him to the punch.

I don't know. Maybe because you do flirt with every single woman you meet up with? Ken commented off-handily. Omi giggled and added the finishing touches to the program before hitting the 'enter' key, while the others continued their banter in the background.

Okay, Omi called out, interrupting Yohji in mid-comment. I've narrowed it down to 50 different possibilities. The three other men stood up and crowded around the youngest member to get a look at the smaller list of different people they had to chose from now. By each person's stats, there was a picture on file besides it. The majority was men, but there were a good number of women as well in the list.

This still isn't good enough, Ken complained. I still don't know who we should pick. Now what do we do?

Now we go down to the station ourselves and check these people out with our own eyes, Aya declared. That's the only way we can do this. Yohji stood up and rested his hands on his hips. He regarded each one of his teammates with a excited smirk.

So the mission has really started, huh?

"Hai."

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I'll get around to writing about the meeting between the different groups eventually. Actually, I think it's going to come up in the next chapter. So if you want to read about it, give me some reviews. Oh, and thanks to the people who actually reviewed this fic.