The streets of Athens were filled with people and cars. No one followed particular traffic laws but it somehow seemed to work anyway. Tourists strayed through the city, searching for either their hotel or a restaurant or some random ruins. Among them walked a young cheerful man with tousled brown hair who somehow didn't fit in but wasn't very striking either. After half an hour of aimlessly strolling around he headed for a small airport. When he arrived a wave of foreigners came his way. While he struggled with the mass of people streaming outside a new plane surfaced among the unusual thick layer of clouds. Antonio passed the check-in area and forced his way to the long rows of seats in the hall. Above his head the timetables kept clicking as they changed their inscriptions. One brief glance upwards confirmed what he already knew. Relieved he turned his attention to the exit for the passengers. People were streaming out of it already but the pair of golden eyes he was searching for never came in sight. The Spaniard sat down and crossed his legs, adjusting to a long time of waiting. Romano probably fell asleep in the plane and the stewardesses were having a hard time waking him up right now. Antonio chuckled lightly imagining the Italian man clinging to his seat, snoring and sleep-talking, while a handful of the personnel was shaking and pulling him. Thinking of him also brought back darker thoughts. Two days ago Antonio hadn't had a clue about what was going on and in what a grave danger his Italian friend had been in Turkey. He had been too furious to ask Senor Karpusi about it before but yesterday he finally had been let in on the plan and his anger quickly had faded away to be replaced by excitement. It felt good to finally understand everything. Neither the Spaniard nor his partner had known what purpose all their past work had but now he knew. It was something he actually already had known before. He was still not sure if he should tell Romano about this, though. Antonio couldn't tell how he would react if he learned what he had risked his life for. He was young and hot-blooded. If he rebelled against Senor Karpusi no one would be able to save him. It was half an hour later when the doors opened a last time and Romano entered the hall. He had his hands buried in the pockets of his pants and lowered his head to shield his eyes from the sudden sunlight. Antonio sprang to his feet and practically flew up to the younger man. Then he remembered how much Romano hated it when he hugged him in public and jerked to a sudden stop in front of him. For a second the two of them just stared at each other with expressionless faces. Then Romano muttered: "Are you alone?"

His partner nodded, surprised. "Senor Karpusi allowed me to come here to pick you up."

"So he isn't with you?" he pressed.

"As far as I know."

The next second two arms were wrapped around the Spaniard's torso and an Italian pressed his face to his chest. His whole body was trembling and Antonio could feel his shirt soaking up saltwater. The only thing that was to be heard for a while was the muffled sobs of a crying man. Antonio gave his best to calm him down while he was slowly leading him towards the seats.

"Now, now, it's okay. I missed you, too. Romano, don't cry." He muttered and patted his back. He expected the younger man to smack him now but nothing of that sort happened. He just sobbed louder. They sat down, or in Romano's case: slumped into the chair.

"I was so scared!" He whined and hiccupped desperately. Antonio couldn't do much besides holding him and mumble soothing words every now and then. He was utterly shocked by the open display of emotion Romano showed, to be honest. Not because he cried in public, he did that all the time –which was somehow adorable-, but because he had picked his Spanish friend to be his strong shoulder to lean on.

"It was crazy over there, they…they followed me, a-and then they tried to shoot me." Romano told him through a thick layer of tears.

"They did what? Oh, damn, Adnan must have discovered our little trick sooner than expected if he chased you. Senor Karpusi will be angry." Antonio just had uttered his thoughts without any further meaning to it but it earned him a punch in the ribs, nonetheless.

"How dare you worry about Bastard Heracles' stupid plan when I just told you they almost fucking killed me, you damned asshole!"

The tirades of insults and complains didn't stop until the Spaniard treated his partner to some ice-cream at the Gelateria a few streets downtown.

"You know," Romano muttered while shoveling gelato into his mouth, "Greece sucks at making ice-cream."

"But this is an Italian restaurant." Antonio reminded him softly. They were sitting in a dark corner, far away from the open doors that let in not only the noise but also the heat. The other man shrugged and grumbled something in defense that was too low to understand.

"Now what was Turkey like? Any cute girls?" The Spaniard asked, showing off his usual chipper attitude in order to cheer his friend up. The truth was that he had been very stressed himself. The thought of his little Romano in a far-away country and in the claws of their very enemies still made his stomach turn a somersault. Heracles knew why he had sent him to this mission and Antonio knew as well. The Italian was young and unknown in the criminal world, neither Hassan nor Adnan had ever heard of him. No one but he could have been able to sneak the microchips into their system. Those chips were something Antonio was pretty proud of. He had equipped them with a worm that was not only complex but also difficult to spot in the first place. He trusted Adnan's men to find it, though. Obviously they hadn't disappointed him.

"What do I know 'bout Turkey? I just ran in there, left the chips with those bastards and ran out of there. What do you think? That I was on some kind of vacation, damn it!" The Italian snapped, angrily pushing the cold dessert around in his bowl.

"I'm sorry, of course, you weren't." He muttered but he was already miles away. The main plan had been placing the worm right in front of the Turk's nose so that he had no other chance but notice it. The fact that his men had tried to captivate, if not kill, Romano supported Antonio's assumption that he had found it. The clever thing about this virus was that if you destroyed it, which they undoubtedly had done by now, a hidden spyware got activated and all the data in the computer went non-stop to Senor Karpusi's server. Inserting this software into Adnan's system had been the Italian's actual job. Antonio was proud to say that he had succeeded. Then he remembered the other part of the deal, the little addition, so to speak. "Do you have the money?"

"'Course I have." The other man reached down to the backpack he had thrown away carelessly when he had sat down. He opened it a bit to reveal an unsuspicious silver case inside.

"Nice. All in all, that worked quite well."

"Whatever, you jerk. Let's just ignore that a fucking bullet missed my head by half an inch and that they chased me all the way to the airport and that I had to negotiate with a gun held to my temple and that this weird Egyptian freak looked at me with his creepy sick eyes as though I was a piece of meat, let's ignore all the hardship I went through."

"Yes, let's do that. The best way to deal with such bad experiences is not to deal with them." The Spaniard grinned.

All he got for an answer was: "I hate you... so much."

"Hey, you are with the Greek jerk longer than I am, so you probably know why." Romano said all of a sudden. The two of them were slowly strolling back to the big mansion Heracles Karpusi had chosen to be their hideout.

"Why what?" Antonio asked, utterly confused.

"Why what, why what! Why this! I was totally fine with ruining combines and stealing money from the government, it was kinda fun to forge all those documents Greece sent to the EU, I had no problem with messing with the Yakuza and the Mafia, really, but why are we suddenly focusing on that one Turkish bastard only?" He growled under his breath, lowering his voice even more when they passed a police officer, despite the fact that they weren't speaking Greek but Spanish. The man wasn't even looking their way, probably mistaking them for harmless tourists. As Romano talked his friend's expression darkened. He whispered: "It's a long story." He hadn't expected him to start with that topic again since he was so easy to distract.

"But you know the reason?"

"Sure do… now."

Now it was the Italian's turn to frown. "So just tell me." They had slowed down until the Spaniard didn't even move anymore. He had his hands in his pockets and looked into the skies as though there was an answer to fall right out of those clouds. "I suppose, Senor Karpusi wouldn't care if you knew but I don't feel comfortable with talking about other people's pasts." He sighed.

"Now you listen! I have the right to know what I'm risking my life for… and why!" Romano snarled and grabbed his companion's arm. He dragged the man to a bench nearby the street and made him take a seat. They weren't far away from Senor Karpusi's house and Antonio couldn't quite shake off the weird feeling of paranoia as he looked around. He felt like somewhere a tall brown haired man was standing in the shadows and watching them.

"I suppose you're right. Fine, I'll tell you but not a word to Senor Karpusi, are we clear?" he gave in and leaned back against the bench.

"Don't make such a fuss over it and just get started, damn it."

The Spaniard cleared his throat, trying to recall what Heracles had told him all those years ago.

"As I said, it's a long story and I don't know all of it, anyway… Well, when Senor Karpusi was just a young boy, a child actually, his mother died and he had no one else to turn to. He tried to get by on his own but it was difficult and he couldn't sustain himself properly. He must have been starving. At the age of fifteen he met Adnan," he interrupted himself when he saw Romano's surprised face and added: "Yes, the Sadiq Adnan you met in Turkey.

"Whatever, Senor Karpusi never wanted to tell me about it so I can't say how it happened but in the end he became part of Adnan's gang. He said that all that went against his will but I'm not so sure about it, considering he gave him food and a roof above the head and so on. Anyway, Adnan must have planned for him to become his partner or assistant, otherwise he wouldn't have taught him all the things he did. Everything Senor Karpusi knows he has learned from Adnan." When Antonio paused Romano interjected: "And why the hell does Heracles hate him now if they were such big buddies?"

"Who said they were on good terms with each other? No, they never were, even though Senor Karpusi has hinted that Adnan had been interested in him, in more than one way. I doubt that this feeling was mutual, though. Senor Karpusi had told me how annoyed and crept out he had been by his overtures. All that wasn't that big a deal, though. There had been a tension between them but nothing that could justify the enormous amount of hatred he feels for Adnan. According to Senor Karpusi Adnan behaved like a slave-driver and was nothing but manipulative, condescending and greedy the whole time he had been with him. I have met him in person only once and I can second that, by the way. Plus, he is kind of scary, I can't put my finger on the reason why, but he is. Where was I? Oh, right. For a few years nothing happened between them but the dislike kept boiling and growing underneath. Then one night everything collapsed, something snapped. Every time we talk about that subject, and that isn't often, he continuously blocks my questions about that night. All I know is that Adnan had been terribly drunk and that Senor Karpusi had left him before the next sunrise. He said his shoulder still hurts sometimes from that little encounter so I suppose there was a fight between them. A few weeks later I met him. Now that I think about it, he had a bandaged neck when I first saw him. I wonder why… If it was because of an injury there should be a scar somewhere but on the other hand I never paid too much attention to his neck. –I'm losing track! Ehm, back to the story… What was I…? Oh, right! He 'recruited' me and together we dived into the criminal world. He had some experience, I had some experience and together we managed to build the shady company we all love and live for.

"Two years ago Senor Karpusi mentioned Adnan again and I knew at once that his plan was reaching his peak. He started to work for the one purpose only: Tracking him down. I think the only thing Senor Karpusi ever really wanted was seeing this man dead. All of our work, our stealing, cheating, killing and plotting is only for one goal; Sadiq Adnan's death. I hadn't known about that before so don't look at me like this, Romano. You see, over the years Adnan has become a very powerful man with connections all over the world. You can't just walk up to him and shoot him; you have to plan such things over many years. Mainly Senor Karpusi just did all he could to possess as much power as him in the last years, so that they are equal. That is why he didn't search for him sooner, I guess. But now he had stroke, now we're at war. Something we have been preparing ourselves for since we met, even though we hadn't known that." Antonio took a deep breath. All that talking had made him thirsty. Romano had stared at his hands the whole time without raising his head once but now he glanced at his partner with the words: "You say that as though it was your vendetta."

"Well, Senor Karpusi and I know each other for many years now. And he is our boss. His word is our command, Romano."

"I know, I know. Stop playing the same record over and over. With you it's always 'Boss this, boss that'. I get it. I'm just not sure if I want to die for such a stupid reason. Sorry."

"Who said you will die? Don't be silly." He tried to laugh but it somehow got stuck in his throat. "You did great in Turkey, Romano. Your part is done." He tried to reassure his younger companion.

"What could that Turkish bastard possibly have done that's terrible enough to make someone hold a grudge for such a long time?" He growled and raised an eyebrow, ignoring the compliment completely.

"Mankind has killed for reasons far more trivial than revenge." The Spaniard shrugged. He did have his own suppositions about what happened between the Greek and the Turk that infamous night but he wouldn't talk about such things in public.

"Come on, Antonio, don't treat me like a child, damn it. I know you have at least an idea-"

"Let's go. We have to report that you're back, safe and sound. I bet Senor Karpusi is waiting for us already."

Heracles didn't look up from the gray fur under his hands when his two assistants entered the room. They didn't pay attention to him; they were all wrapped up in a silly quarrel.

"But Lovino is such a cute name. It suits you, Romano." Antonio said using that wheedling tone of his he thought was appealing.

"Have you lost it? That name sounds totally gay –Don't say a word!"

The Spaniard let out a cheerful laugh and chirped: "From now one that is your nickname. My little Lovino!"

"I'll punch you in the throat…" the Italian dryly replied.

Heracles lowered his head and smiled. His eyes rested on the purring cat in his lap. She stretched under his fingers as he caressed her neck. He was happy Romano was back. Not only did it lift Antonio's mood but it was also awfully quiet around here without him. Then he remembered why the young man had been absent the last days and at once the smile turned upside down.

"How did it go?" he asked instead of a greeting, suppressing the urge to clear his throat. His voice sounded very hoarse. When he raised his eyes to look at the pair he found himself pierced by two long stares.

"Well?" The Greek muttered raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"I'm alive, Adnan has the chips and we have the money. Conclusion: It went okay." Romano listed, counting his fingers.

"Fine. Thank you, Romano, I know you never volunteered to do this but you did an extraordinarily good job over there." Heracles praised him and rose to his feet. He staggered a little due to the sudden shift of perspective but then let the cat jump on his shoulder where she did her best not to fall off. He could feel her claws sinking into his flesh but didn't wince once. He was too amused by the startled look on the other men's faces.

"You're welcome, I guess." The Italian muttered and shrugged. He couldn't see it but Antonio smiled proudly at him. He had something of a mother hen sometimes, didn't he?

"I suppose you are exhausted from the flight. You can take the day off. That's fine, we have to wait for Sadiq's counterstrike anyway." Then Heracles turned around and spread his arms in a triumphant manner. "Antonio," he grinned. "Your chips worked great. Since last night data keeps arriving at my computer. We already have gotten hold of his supply routes and several lists of various companies he is in touch with."

The Spaniard gave him a two-handed thumbs-up and smirked. "It's all a matter of passion, amigo."

"Indeed, it is." His boss replied and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I can't believe how well everything is going for us. If this continues we'll be rid of that Turkish bastard in no time. I can't wait to see his face, begging for mercy." Heracles giggled and stroked the cat again. His companions remained silence, giving each other meaningful looks.

The Grecian man reeled slightly and grabbed the armrest of the couch he had been sitting in for support. "We have to celebrate, guys. Free booze for both of you!" Heracles cheered and pulled the others into a rather crude hug. Still mumbling and chuckling the tall southerner left the room and slammed the door behind him without any further explanation.

"I don't know about you, but to me he doesn't look like someone who had a hard childhood. He enjoys himself pretty much." Romano said emotionlessly after a while. His friend didn't react for a few seconds. Then he slowly answered: "He enjoys himself too much."

It was amazing how fast the mood of the Latin man could change. More than once the young Italian had been left totally clueless because of the unpredictable behavior of the Spaniard. Antonio wasn't paying attention, though. His eyes never left the two empty bottles that lay under the occasional table next to the sofa.

"What's your problem now? Are you worried about him? Give me a break! Look at that Greek jerk. He's happy!" Romano groaned when he heaved a sigh.

"No," his partner replied and began to clean the room up. "He's not happy, he's just drunk."