Chapter 2

Joe's POV

'Yes, her back is turned' Joe thought as he snuck towards his goal… one foot… 8 inches… 4…3…2…

"Joe Hardy if you lay one finger on those brownies you WILL regret it."

'Busted' Joe thought sadly. "Just how does she do that?" he muttered to him-self

"Woman's intuition" replied his Aunt Trudy with her back still turned, "and honestly one would think that you were still a child stealing sweets like that."

"That's Joe for you," said Joe's Brother Frank as he entered the room, "still love little kid stuff".

"Well you're only young once," Joe protested. Then he noticed a game cartridge lying on the table. The game was titled 'ATAC in Japan' (A/N I know its lame but couldn't think of anything else).

"Speaking of little kid stuff, feel up for a video game Frank." He said flashing Frank a glimpse of the cartridge. ATAC was created by their father. The information for missions comes in the form of video games, CDs, or DVDs that after being played once would reformat into normal CDs.

"Sure," replied Frank, knowing what was coming, and eager for a new mission.

As they left, they heard Aunt Trudy muttering some thing along the lines of "Boys." Complete with a rolling of eyes

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The brothers quickly hurried up to their room and set the disc in their game station. As the game loaded the face of their boss Q.T. filled the screen.

"Hello boys," he said' "your next mission will be in response to this video that was sent to our website." His voice faded out as the video began playing and the face of a pretty teenage Japanese girl replaced his.

"umm hello, my name is Mouri Ran" said the girl her voice had a strong Japanese accent. "I was recommended to this site by a friend because I need help. My childhood friend Kudo Shinichi has been missing for almost a year and I was hoping that someone in ATAC would know where he was or how to find him…" her voice faltered and she held up a picture of a Japanese boy about the same age as her.

"You see," she began again, "Shinichi is a high school detective, one of the best in Japan. He first vanished at Tropical Land Amusement park. Since he's vanished he has often called and has given the excuse that he's just on a difficult case, but it's never taken him this long before. And also he occasionally turns up out of nowhere to solve a random case then vanishes again like he was never there. He also asks that his involvement in the cases be keep secret, which is unlike him because he has always loved the spotlight. And he never tells me anything about what's going on."

She broke off again and looked like she was fighting tears. "If anyone in ATAC has anything that could help me find him, please…" she didn't seem to be able to continue and the video ended.

Q.T.'s face filled the screen again "Shinichi Kudo is indeed a great detective, and for him to hide like that could only mean something bad has happened. You mission will be to go to Japan to investigate his disappearance and help him with his 'case' if necessary. Your cover will be as foreign exchange students. Good luck," and with that the screen went blank.

The Brothers exchanged glances, "well this should be interesting" said Joe.

End Chapter 2

A/N so that you know I completely made up the whole ATAC website thing, honestly I don't know if there is one in the books, but it seemed to be the best way for Ran to get ATAC help