Hetalia - Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 4! Thank you to you awesome people who reviewed, I really appreciate your feedback. Super hyped to get into it, so let's!

Enjoy!

Terra City, Diamond District, The Sterling Docks.

Columbia sat perched from his vantage point on a loading crane, and watched the S.S Lovecraft cruise ship as it's celebrity passengers slowly boarded onto the deck; remotely controlled by Matthew, the lens of his goggles zoomed in and out while a mini target symbol zipped from face to face.

'See him yet?' Alfred asked softly and the comm channel crackled as it opened.

'Nope. Looks like he'll be a late boarder,' Matthew sighed as his screens focused on a lovely couple as they climbed the catwalk onto the deck. 'Need a refresher on the plan before Oz gets there?'

'I got it. Bad guy organisation, 'The Winter Syndicate' is going to try to kidnap Doctor Roderick Edelstein. It's on me and Oz to stop them and find out where they're keeping the rest of the missing neuroscientists. Boom. Heroes save the day.' Alfred enthused but Matthew made a noise of disapproval.

'These people aren't street thugs brother. Their list of criminal activities is off the chart; multiple counts of theft, abduction, assassination, trafficking, and suspected political sabotage…I don't know, Al. Maybe this is over our heads.'

Alfred shook his head. 'No way, man. This is our time to run with the big dogs, stamp our name on the map. We do this, we find those scientists, we'll be up there with Britannia.' He allowed himself a private giggle at the thought. Him and Britannia, defenders of Terra. It was a dream, one that could come closer to being real if he pulled this off. Matthew indivisibly rolled his eyes at him.

'Couldn't of been a cheerleader. A nice, blonde cheerleader with a cute sister.' Matthew huffed miserably. Alfred chuckled and straightened out of his crouch when he heard a noise behind him. The Australian vigilante 'Oz' stood a foot away, casually leaning against a metal crate. His attire was in some ways similar to Britannia's; in that they both had the 'rogue' look down, as though they'd stepped out the apocalypse. He had a pair of boomerangs strapped to his back and another three on his belt. Most interestingly though, instead of a mask to conceal his identity, a thick black strip of paint had been sprayed across his eyes. It actually looked kinda badass, Alfred thought as regarded him.

'G'day mate.' Oz greeted with a nod, and Alfred smoothed out the ceases in his suit. Right. Time to make an impression.

'Greetings, Oz.' Alfred returned in his deepest voice, puffing out his chest as he did. There was a long pause of silence.

'Oh my god.' Matthew despaired in his ear just as Oz burst into hysterical laughter and strolled over. He clapped Alfred on the arm.

'Shepherd hadn't said you had a sense of humour. Ha! You and I should get on fine.' Oz grinned, and Alfred dropped the airs and graces.

'Ha, uh, I mean to,' He stammered awkwardly before he mentally shook himself. Get it together man! 'So, I'm a big fan of what you did last summer, in Hearts.'

'Oh, that tin can? That was nothing.' Oz chuckled and Alfred felt his jaw drop open in disbelief.

'Nothing?! Dude! It was a giant robot, it was awesome!' He cried, immediately cringing at how much of a fan girl he sounded. Oz humbly shrugged and then nodded to the cruise ship; the majority of passengers now boarded.

'Still good for game sheila?' Oz offered and Alfred stepped forward and crackled his knuckles, a wicked grin on his face.

'Oh hell yeah I'm game.'

Terra City, Diamond District, The Sterling Docks.

Arthur's eyes darted between faces as he waited in line to board the S.S Lovecraft, the impressive, sleek vessel lit up in golden spotlights. The crowd was the same kind as the night he and Alfred had visited the exhibition, the kind that had too much money to know what to do with. He wore a casual suit and held a metal briefcase that hid the Britannia mask and suit inside. In his other hand, a throwaway phone that had Allistor on the other end.

'You should of taken something.' Allistor scolded, and Arthur rolled his eyes at him.

'I can't exactly sneak in a bow and quiver with this level of security,' He muttered as he continued to scan the crowd for Edelstein to no avail. Where was he? 'I already look like a bloody wanker with this briefcase as it is.'

'Just go in, get the answers you need, and get out.' Allistor reminded and Arthur ended the call without answering. He hated to admit it, but Allistor was right. He couldn't allow himself to get emotional with this. It was just business… He tucked the phone into his jacket pocket and exchanged it for his fake ID. When it came his time to board, the bouncer took the ID off him and compared it against the guest list. He narrowed his eyes when he looked Arthur up and down.

'Augustus Funklen?' He asked with a scoff and Arthur ground his teeth together. He was going to kill Dylan when he got back. Great Glitter.

'Leider weiB ich den Namen.' Unfortunate name I know, Arthur returned in fluent german and the bouncer burnt a bright red, stepping aside to allow Arthur passage. Arthur walked up the catwalk, and followed the signs that tracked the way to the theatre hall. The interior was plush and stylish, with the constant tink! of champagne glasses and sophisticated chatter in the air. A live band played played smooth jazz and the smell of food wafted around under the suffocating smell of tobacco and women's perfume.

'Time to disappear.' His mother's voice prompted and Arthur mentally nodded, tightening the grip on the case as he made his way towards the west corridor, which he knew led to a stairwell from memorising the ship's layout. He was just fortunate that the ship had no cameras. Behind him, a voice announced for all the guests to take to their seats in the theatre.

'Knowing Edelstein, he'll likely be seated in one of the boxes. If I can get to the stage, I'll be able to see which.' Arthur thought to himself as he pushed himself up against a wall and waited for a guard to pass. Once he had, Arthur continued to make his way towards a secluded place where he could change.

Alfred heaved himself through the small porthole window, sucking in his gut to squeeze through. Off balance, he hit the floor hard with a groan while Oz slipped in after him.

'That was easy.' Oz remarked brightly and Alfred gave a huff as he clambered to his feet, clumsily stumbling into the cabin's table where a game of cards had been set.

'Speak for yourself. I was worried that I was gonna get stuck!'

Oz laughed before he sank into a crouch and crept towards the door, pressing his ear against the dull metal.

'All quiet. Shepherd, we good?' He asked as he pressed his index finger to his finger piece. After a moment, he looked back to Alfred and gave him a thumbs up before opening the door and darting right. Alfred followed him down the dank corridor, the groans of pipes all round them.

'So…is it true that you have super strength?,' Oz whispered and Alfred shot him a questionable look. It didn't seem the time to have a chat. 'The rumours say so but y'know.'

Alfred decided to humour him. 'Yeah, I do. Do you have any powers?' He asked back and Oz shook his head.

'Nah. I'm just really, really good at throwing things.'

There was another pause of silence as they eventually came to a sealed door that was labelled, 'Main Ventilation Shaft.'

'We can climb it to the upper levels and Acadia can guide us to the theatre.' Alfred suggested, and Oz smiled his approval at the plan. After they'd got the sealed door open, they were met with a rush of upward flowing cold air that filled the hollow cylinder that opened to the night sky. Oz leant out with Alfred acting as his safety wire, and threw a boomerang up to engage it's magnet. It activated and clamped onto the grated metal covering of the shaft. Seconds later, a wire fell down. Oz grabbed it and offered it to Alfred.

'Take the lead?'

Alfred accepted and began to climb, not a challenge in his fit condition. As they climbed, Alfred decided to restart their question and answer session.

'Hey, just curious, do you know Britannia?' He asked with his voice echoing off the walls around them.

'Britannia? Not really, why?'

'Well, I remember that you and him had a kinda team up moment once.'

'God give me strength.' Matthew groaned in his ear, but Alfred ignored him as he heard Oz hum thoughtfully.

'I'll be honest mate. It was more of a 'right place, right time' deal. I was there, he was there, it just kinda happened,'

The green eyed monster was relieved, but Alfred was disappointed; he'd hoped to learn to approach him without relying on luck.

'What's your interest in him?' Oz followed up.

'Oh, you know, just…curiosity.' Alfred airily returned and frowned when Matthew had a mini laughing fit. Below him, Oz chuckled.

'Y'know, you wouldn't be the only one. There are a lot of people who wanna know about him. Specially his powers. Can't remember the last time I saw him use them though.'

'He doesn't use them much, huh?' Alfred mused.

'To right. Probably likes to keep them as an ace or something.'

'If you'd stop fan-girling for a second, I'd tell you that you need to get into the vent on your left.' Matthew interrupted, and Alfred looked around to the spy the vent he spoke of. He pointed at it.

'We crawl through there. Ready?' He asked and began to swing. Between them, they gained enough momentum to grab onto it's ledge and haul themselves in. The space was large enough for the both of them to fit, though Alfred suspected it that wouldn't be the case for long.

'Okay, you're on the same floor as the theatre. If you keep heading down the vent, it'll branch out into several smaller ones. You'll want to take the fourth one and slide down.' Matthew's voice popped with static and on hands and knees, Alfred followed his directions.

'Are you a student?,' Oz's voice reverberated behind him and Alfred's hand slipped in shock, creating a loud bang. 'Guess so.'

Aw crap. 'That obvious?' He asked with a sigh as he slid down the slop Matthew had told him of.

'You gave the vibe, and I scored lucky,' Oz chuckled, 'well, that, and that you don't seem to have that much experience in all this.'

'So stealth isn't my strong point. Doesn't mean I'm terrible at hero work.' Alfred defended himself sourly with a pout.

'Never said that. Hell, I've seen you punch a guy through a wall.' Oz chuckled.

'And you still asked before if I had super strength?' Alfred smirked back to him and Oz shrugged.

'Confirmation is always nice.' He smiled, a smile that vanished when an explosion of gunfire splintered throughout the ship. The heroes stared at each other.

'Acadia…'

'Shepherd…' Alfred and Oz said slowly in unison and jumped when another round went off.

'Fuck! Acadia, what's happening?' Alfred cried as he began to crawl as fast as he could, no longer caring now much noise he made. Oz was close on his heels.

'There's no freaking cameras on this tub. The only thing I've got is the security radio frequency.' Matthew came immediately and Alfred wanted to tear his hair out.

'And?!' Alfred hissed.

'It's saying that a group's hijacked the ship. A lead gunner man is demanding that Doctor Edelstein surrender himself or he's going to start shooting.'

'That's not all,' A new voice said over the comm, who Alfred assumed was Shepherd. 'the man's threatened to set off a bomb he's planted if he's met with any resistance.'

'Could the gunner be with the Syndicate?' Alfred wondered and a hard line set itself onto Oz's face.

'Doesn't matter who he's with if he starts killing people. We're gonna have to split. You take the bomb, I'll go after the blighter.'

'Are you sure? We don't know how many men there are!' Alfred cried as Oz shuffled backwards to angle himself towards a vent cover. After a check to see if the coast was clear, he punched the grating cover off with a ear grating clang!

'Then I'll find out and keep you posted.' Oz snapped as he landed on the corridor's carpet, Alfred pulled himself out after.

'But—'

'But nothing! Find that bomb!' The Australian shouted as he took off, turning left at the end of corridor T junction. Alfred stared after, his brain a hectic, clumped mess.

'Alfred c'mon! The Engine room first! It's most likely place he'd place it to bring the ship down.' Matthew urged and Alfred furiously shook his head to clear it. Matt was right, he had to keep it together. He broke into a jog in the opposite direction Oz had gone in, a jog that escalated into a run. He sprinted through the maze of corridors when, quite suddenly, very abruptly, he collided with another at full force. Alfred gasped as his breath was forced from his lungs, and he stumbled back dazed.

'Bloody hell!'

Alfred's stomach fell into his feet as he recognised that voice. Oh no. It couldn't be happening. Only, it was. Blue orbs met green in silent despair as Columbia stared back at Arthur Kirkland.

*Blasts Wonder Woman theme* Let's get the party started!

So we're met Oz and his coordinator, Shepherd who correspond to Australia and New Zealand for whose who missed it. I see them as quite high tier vigilantes in Terra, not quite as big as Britannia, but big enough that they'd occasional pop up in the media. Favourite moment in this was when Alfred tried to be sneaky while asking about Britannia, and Matthew splitting his sides as his brother tries to be cool. There's more to Oz and Shepherd than you think, and they aren't the only ones...All will be revealed in time.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Super pumped for the action packed chapter upcoming up, get ready for some awesome sauce fight scenes! If you are liking this story and want to see it continue, please consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again, thank you for reading, and as always,

Until next time!