Hetalia - Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 5 and it's a long one! Thank you for your patience, and let's get straight into it,

Enjoy!

Terra City, Diamond District, the S.S Lovecraft.

'No. Fucking. Way.' Matthew vocalised Alfred's thoughts as they stared down at Arthur Kirkland on sprawled on his back. The Brit was flush in the face, his suit was crumpled, and in his hand he gripped a metal briefcase. Alfred's mind was blank. What had he done to deserve this? Of all the possible people, why did Arthur have to be here on this exact night in the most dangerous place in Terra. Arthur opened his eyes and his frown disappeared with shock as he stared back at Columbia.

Alfred opened his mouth to ask, to demand why Arthur was here, when the shouts of men snapped his head to the end of the corridor. They'd be on them in moments. Alfred's body moved before his mind did as he reached down and hauled Arthur up, marching over to the nearest door to throw him into the broom cupboard. He had already stepped in after him when he realised just how little space there actually was.

The darkness of the narrow room seemed to heighten every sense. Alfred was acutely aware of the rise and fall of Arthur's chest pressed against his as he held his own breath. Outside, he heard footfall thunder closer, and closer, before they pasted them and continued down the corridor to eventually disappear. Alfred left out a shaky gasp and looked down at Arthur; Matthew had turned on his night vision so that he could see the Brit's pale face contorted in discomfort.

'Are you hurt?,' Alfred whispered and Arthur shook his head.

'Fine.' He quietly returned, and tried to increase the near non-existent distance between them; an impossible task given the room Alfred had shoved them into. Alfred privately sighed with relief and leant backwards to peer through the slits of the wooden door. The coast was clear, but the ship was too dangerous to be walking the corridors. He needed Arthur safe and out of the way.

'Okay, good. Good. Listen, the ship's been hijacked. They're mainly in the theatre and they've got guns and a bomb somewhere on the ship. Oz and I are dealing with it, but I'm going to need you to stay here where it's safe. You got that?' Alfred explained without breath, and waited for Arthur's answer as his eyes flickered from either side as he processed the information.

'I understand.' Arthur finally agreed, shuffling back as Alfred gave him a grateful nod and opened the door to step out.

He paused when he was about to close the door again. 'Don't worry. I'll come back for you once it's safe again.'

'Don't worry. I'll come back for you once it's safe again.' Columbia promised, and Arthur mirrored his earlier nod. It seemed to appease as the hero as he flashed his signature sunny smile before he closed the door and set off down the way the men who had chased him had. Arthur stood still for a full minute and reviewed this new information.

A group of gunners had hijacked the ship. They had a bomb stashed somewhere, Oz and Columbia were aboard, and he had to track down Edelstein between it all. The evening was going to be eventful than he had anticipated. With a click, the silver latches on the briefcase opened. Arthur looked at Britannia's gas mask that sat on top of his folded suit, and sighed. He had a long overdue appointment with the good doctor.

'You're just going to leave him in there?' Matthew cried as Alfred ran away from the corridor he had left Arthur in, skidding right to bound up a staircase. The sign above it labelling it as the way to the engine room.

'What else could I do? Drag him around the ship with me? Ask if he can diffuse a bomb?'

'Given the way you've raved about him, I wouldn't be surprised.' Matthew countered bitterly.

A gunshot resounded, and Alfred's stomach coiled another knot. 'What's happening?' He asked.

Matthew made a troubled sound. 'Oz is fighting the lead gunman on the stage. It's- it's not good Al. He's got hostages, five of them and one of them is Doctor Edelstein with a noose around his neck!'

'Motherfu-.' Alfred hissed as he skidded to a halt and twisted his body to go back the way he had came.

'No! Al, the bomb! Oz is handling himself fine, but he can't land any real hits with that bomb threatening to sink the ship.' Matthew blurted with a crackle of static, and Alfred internally fought against the notion, before accepting it with a nod, and began to run again.

Britannia's boots padded muffled down the plush halls, and slipped under the velvet rope that sectioned off the theatre's royal box. The golden door hardly creaked as he pushed it open and peeked inside to find the box empty. Staying low, he blended as a shadow to the ledge, and swore bitterly when he raised his head to look over it.

Reflected in the glossy, waxed boards, the vigilante Oz grappled and brawled with a man all in black; the centrepiece of a scene garnished by four bound celebrities on their knees. However, none of them held Britannia's attention as Doctor Edelstein did, a rope noose around his reddened neck, and a unbearably fragile stool the only thing that kept it from snapping.

At centre stage, Oz lunged for the assailant and cried out as he was in turn grabbed and thrown off the stage into the front row of the terrified audience. The man in black laughed as he strolled over to Edelstein.

'Now suffer as she did!' He crackled as he swept out the stool from underneath the doctor. The line went taunt and the Edelstein dropped with a guttural choke.

Adrenaline shot through Britannia like a splintered bullet, and his brain shifted into automatic mode as a shiver ran down his spine. Moving with the speed of a striking snake, he grabbed the gun that was aimed at the back of his head and ripped it out of the silent intruder's hand, reaching up to grab and slam his head hard against the marble ledge. In the same motion, his panic giving him speed, Britannia spun out of his crouch, wildly aimed and pulled the trigger. The shot's bang explode throughout the hall, and the bullet whistled as it cleaved through the rope. Edelstein dropped purple faced to the floor, gasping for air.

All eyes locked onto Britannia even as he tucked the pistol into his belt and leapt off the box's ledge to grip and slide down the stage's colossal curtains. When his boots hit the ground, the man in black spat.

'Britannia,' He growled, 'of course you're here to.'

'Release the hostages. No one dies tonight.' Britannia stated as his eyes darted behind his mask for any gunmen hidden in the stage's wings and the crowd. He saw a few laying unconscious with blunt blows at the back of their heads. Oz and those sticks of his no doubt.

The man in black spat again and pointed at Edelstein, who was still gulping for breath on his back; his face calmed to a ruddy red now, with spittle drooling from his swollen lips. 'If you knew how many lives he has ruined. If you knew what suffering he has created in the name of 'science', you wouldn't be defending him.'

Britannia drew his pistol and aimed it at the man's chest. He saw what this was about. The poor sod was out for revenge, and he was willing to sink the entire ship to get it. It was too bad that Edelstein was Arthur's strongest lead to the missing scientists, else he might of been able to step aside with a clear conscious.

'I know too well of that man's crimes. But regardless,' He carefully returned, steadying his hand, 'I will not allow you to kill him.'

'Then I'll cut you down first.' The man hissed and charged. Britannia pulled the trigger, to have the gun immediately jam, and barely had enough time to curse his sloppiness for not checking the bullets before he was forced to sidestep out of range as the man unsheathed a switchable and slashed at him. His gloved hand shot out and Britannia caught the follow up swing, twisting the man's wrist to send the knife clattering to the floor. The man grunted and dug his knee into Britannia's exposed side to knock the breath out of him. The Brit stumbled back and failed to avoid the next punch directed at his head; lights flashed dangerously behind his eyes as he backed away disoriented.

The villain sighed as he bowed to pick up the fallen knife. 'It's a shame. I respect you Britannia, I respect what you've done for this city. You saved my friend from his addiction by shutting down his drug dealer's network. I'm grateful for that, tells me you're not just in it for the kicks, that you're a good man,' He brandished the knife before pointing it at Edelstein. 'Which is why I can't understand why. This piece of scum promised that he could cure my sister, and what did he do? He fucking lobotomised her! He took away the only family I ever had.'

Britannia's stomach twisted. 'You aren't the only one.' The words escaped him before reason could stop them, and from a distance, the doctor raised his head to look at him.

'Britannia please—'

'Shut up,' Arthur growled with fermented venom, the doctor's voice giving rise to memories that he had long buried. 'After him, you're next.'

The man in black's eyes darted between them. 'I'm sensing some history between the two of you. Should I leave you two alone?,' He smirked before he took a step closer to Britannia. 'Britannia, you and I are victims here. You should be helping me enact justice, not stopping it.'

'I…will not repeat myself again,' Britannia returned with difficulty, the temptation so dangerously alluring. Interrogate Edelstein and then allow this man to have his merry way with him. Deliver the lethal justice he had sworn himself off, because by god did he deserve it. He deserved everything the man in black had planned for him. He deserved it all and Britannia would be blameless for it…Except, he would, because guiding a hand to pull the trigger was no different than pulling it yourself. 'No one dies tonight.'

At that point, the sound of broken glass filled the hall as the light box's screen shattered, plunging the space into stunned silence.

Ten minutes before

Alfred slowed his pace from sprinting to walking as he heard voices ring out from around the corner of the corridor. He sank low into a crouch as he approached the ajar steel door, and rolled his head around to spy through the gap. The small square room was that of some sort of control room, with an impressive panel of nobs and buttons that on which, two woman perched. Both had silvery blonde hair and wore black khaki, and while one held a rifle aimed at something beyond Alfred's sight, the other made Alfred gasp in recognition. He had seen her before, the night before at break in at the Clover bank. She was the one that Britannia had chased to the rooftops. As the two watched through a glass window (that led Alfred to realise that they were in the theatre's light box) down the stage, both ship staff and henchmen lay on the ground unconscious or wounded. The woman with the rifle pulled back from staring down the scope to look at the other.

'This is pathetic. I could take the shot now and we could walk out of here with Britannia and be done with it all.' She hissed.

'Why sister, could it be that you are actually losing your patience?,' The woman from Clover bank replied with a scoff and nudged her 'sister' with her elbow. 'Relax, it's just until she shows. With both Britannia and Edelstein, it's bound to happen soon, then we'll have them both.'

Alfred's brows drew together. Britannia was here? Who were these women that robbed Clover, were they the Winter Syndicate? and what did they want with this person that they referred to as 'She' and Britannia? Why would this 'She' come for Britannia and Doctor Edelstein only? He leant in closer when one of the men inside barked out a series of wet coughs.

'Fuckin' bitches,' He spat out with a mouthful of blood, 'we'll sink this god damn ship to the bottom of the ocean before that happens!'

The sniper scoffed. 'If you are referring to that pathetic excuse of a bomb, we've already disarmed it and thrown it overboard.' She said with a smirk, a smirk that vanished when she saw all-too-late the man reach for his radio.

'The bomb has been found! All men charge the engine room! Bring this ship down!' He shrieked into it before the woman from Clover bank unholstered a pistol and put a bullet between his eyes. The shot's echo hadn't even faded when she looked back to the sniper.

'Go! I will wait alone.' The sniper shouted and the woman from Clover bank gave a single nod. Alfred had had to throw himself behind the door before it could be flung open and his position discovered. He made it just when the woman burst out into the corridor and took off down the corridor Alfred had been heading.

'You can take one of them, right?' Matthew's voice whispered in his ear, and Alfred gave a silent nod as his response. Time to run with the big dogs.

With a bang, Alfred kicked in the door with full force, and launched it at the sniper on the panel. The woman didn't have time to react as a solid metal door smashed into her, it's unstoppable momentum carrying her with it through the glass window. Alfred stood there, panting heavily as he strode past the control panel to look down at the damage done. Luckily, the door hadn't landed on her, and when Matthew zoomed his goggles, Alfred saw that her chest still rose and fell as she lay with awkwardly bent limbs on top of broken glass fragments.

'Jeez Al, take no prisoners much?'

'No, that's just how the big dogs bark,' Alfred justified before he turned his sights upwards and saw on the stage that all eyes were on him, including Britannia and Oz on the stage. 'Let's make an entrance.' He chuckled and backed up a distance to use as a run up.

Britannia stared with dumbfounded astonishment as he watched Columbia make an impossible leap from the light box to the stage, landing in the stereotypical 'superhero landing' pose as the force of it cracked the smooth wood. The striped and starred hero straightened up and winked at Britannia as he readied himself into a stance. From the front row, Oz got to his feet and climbed onto the stage to stand beside Columbia.

'Hey. How you doin' gorgeous? Your hero was arrived.' The prick quipped and Britannia's urge to punch him was interrupted when he realised that in the midst of all the chaos, Edelstein had slithered away.

'No.' Britannia hissed as he spun around to catch sight of the doctor fleeing through the green lit fire exit door. He was not getting away.

'Britannia, wait!' Columbia yelled after to him as he took off as Edelstein, but Britannia was too focused on regaining lost ground, already through the door before he could glance back when another cry called out.

'Britannia, wait!' Alfred yelled a second late as Britannia raced for the fire exit door in the wings. He tensed to shoot after him when Oz cried out in pain and dropped. Alfred whipped around and froze. Behind Oz, stood a figure in white. Unmistakably female with her tall, slender form, she wore a white face mask with silver markings above the brow that resembled a crown and her white-blonde hair was knotted into a bun. Her suit looked as though it were made of bleached leather and bullet proof in places. On her thigh was a gun holster and on her hips, a utility belt that looked like it held an armoury. The two stared at each other for a beat, before the woman severed the connection and looked past him. Her gaze fixed onto the fire exit that Britannia and Edelstein had escaped through.

'She's 'She'!' Alfred mentally exclaimed and started when she shifted to run past him. Britannia, he couldn't let her or those women from before get to him!

However, Alfred's optimism was short lived as when he moved to intercept, a swift kick to his face sent him spinning to the ground. His jaw throbbing, Alfred groaned as he lifted himself up and looked over to where Oz was. He wanted to go after Britannia but…

'Go!,' Oz urged over to him as he clutched his side; when he lifted his hand away, it was bloody. 'Go! Don't let our lead get away!'

Alfred bit his lip conflicted, but nodded and turned heel to chase after the woman in white, praying that he would find Britannia before she did.

Past the bar and out onto the main deck, Britannia ran after Edelstein at full sprint, ever closing the distance between them until he brought the chase to a violent finish with a final burst of speed and tackled the man. Both men grunted as they hit the deck and in a flash, Britannia was spinning Edelstein onto his back and straddled his chest, one hand pinned his neck down, the other Edelstein's wrist and his heel, the other wrist. They stared at each other while their chests fell and rose heavily, out of breath. Britannia's was the first to slow to a rate that he could speak at.

'It's been a long time, Edelstein.' Britannia panted and tightened his grip, quite aware of the satisfied, slightly crazed cat smile that pulled at his lips; enjoying this more than he should for it to be 'just business'. Edelstein gave a sputter and a spasm shook him as he tried to resist.

'How fitting, that you took up your mother's mantle. She'd be so proud.' He weakly choked with a wicked glint in his eye, and Arthur's vision tinted red as he gripped Edelstein neck harder and slammed it back against the wood.

'You heard me back there, Doctor. I came for answers, so talk. Why are you in this city? You didn't keep your arrival here particularly low key. Suspicious, don't you think, considering the recent string of neuroscientist kidnappings?'

A condescending leer slipped onto Edelstein's face despite it slowly turning a shade of pink and Britannia had to battle with himself not to slap it off. 'Come now boy, I know there is a brain behind that mask. Use it. Why would I come here, and put myself at such risk?'

There was a long moment of silence as Britannia thought. 'You want the kidnapper's attention. You know who they are, and you're their bait…Which means the Syndicate is also in the city.' He strung together, and Edelstein's smile grew.

'Yes. In fact, you're already encountered them.' Edelstein prompted and Britannia kicked himself for not putting it together earlier.

'Clover bank,' He hissed and shook the doctor. 'What did they steal from the vault?'

'My research.' The doctor answered, and Britannia frowned beneath the mask.

'Why keep it in the vault?'

'I needed a safe place to stash it. They were after it.'

Britannia grabbed him with both hands by the collar and yanked him up. 'Who?! The kidnapper? Why are they targeting neuroscientists? Tell me!'

'Britannia look out!' Columbia's voice cried out and Britannia felt what must have been a small bus slam into him. Air was forced out of his lungs, leaving him winded and dazed. When his brain rightened itself again, he finally processed that Columbia was on top of him on hands and knees, their bodies gasping in time, inches from each other. Anger came as a fast ally.

'Get off me, you git!' He snapped as he pushed the all american hero off him with a hard shove and scrambled to his feet, ready to give Columbia what for, when he saw that something else seized his attention. Britannia followed his stare.

Beside Edelstein (who now had a sleep dart sticking out of his chest, exactly where Britannia had been seconds ago) was a woman in white, regal and flawless. The white woman, this white queen, lowered the barrel of her tranquilliser minimally as Britannia stared back at her. Something intangible passed between them, something different…Green eyes widened when he realised what it was he sensed. The presence of another who was Lucid, an ability user like himself.

'You have to run.' He quietly warned Columbia with a pointed look his way. With nervous glances between him and the woman, Columbia stepped closer; every muscle tensed.

'Like hell I'm leaving you B,' Columbia hissed back, 'I listened in on two Winter Syndicate women, the same we saw at Clover bank that night. They were waiting to kidnap you and that woman over there. They said that she would come for you and Doctor Edelstein.'

'What?!' Britannia blurted and snapped his head around to the woman. She- she was here for him? and Edelstein? Why? Why would she—. Britannia's whole body locked up as the final puzzle piece slid into place. The Winter Syndicate, Columbia had said they were here. 'You're the bait'. 'They were after it.'.

Oh no.

'She's the one kidnapping the neuroscientists.' He breathed the words and Columbia's stared at him with raised brows.

'What?'

'She's the reason for the robbery at Clover bank. And she's the reason why the Syndicate is here now,' Britannia explained and furrowed his brow. 'Question is: why? Why is she gathering neuroscientists?'

'Dude, you kinda lost me there. Explain to me later but right now, let's book her!' Columbia exclaimed and Britannia grabbed his arm and yanked him back before he could dive forward. It was the first time they had touched on his terms.

'Don't. She's lucid. She has powers like me,' He warned and ground his teeth together when Columbia didn't take this as the lethal information it was; the idiot instead wearing a irritatingly happy grin for whatever reason. 'Listen to me. I'll hold her off while you grab Edelstein and run.'

Columbia shook his head and lowered himself into a boxing stance. 'Not a chance I'm letting you face a psychic psycho alone.'

Britannia's blood boiled and he leant in threateningly. 'I don't think you've ever seen two people who are Lucid fight before, Columbia. It gets messy. Fast. With a lot of collateral. I need you to take Doctor Edelstein out of the firing line.'

The hero opened his mouth to speak when he tilted his head to listen to the voice in his ear, while Britannia listened to a voice of his own.

'Keep your distance with this one. Use long range attacks. Short, quick and powerful bursts are the key here.' His mother advised and Britannia was about to throw himself into battle when a whining noise disturbed his focus.

'Good news B! We've got backup,' Columbia grinned and Britannia looked around as SWAT helicopters whipped towards them, their blinding spotlights shining on them.

'ALL OF YOU DOWN ON THE GROUND! DROP YOUR WEAPONS WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!' A male voice crackled and boomed amplified from a megaphone, the chopper's closing in on the ship.

'Oh bloody brilliant.' Britannia hissed under his breath, before he threw himself out of the flight path of a tranquilliser dart. The white woman was moving now, fast. She was a blur as she tore towards Britannia, the barrel aimed for the small exposed space of flesh beneath his mask. Britannia felt the world slow as he sidestepped the darts, a quick smirk flashed on his face when the gun jammed after the fifth bullet was fired. Someone hasn't their bullets either. His smirk was gone as quickly as it had came when she pulled a high voltage taser from her belt. Shit.

'Get Edelstein!' He screamed as he threw himself into a rough handspring out of her way, landing on his feet near the edge of the rocking ship. He came up from the tumble and the woman shot out her open palm to him. An indivisible wave slammed into Britannia and his spine felt like it broke when it the banged against the metal railing. All his limbs shook from effort as he tried to stand, but when he looked up, Columbia's body was already flying on a collision course. To late to roll out of the way, the impact sent them both over the ledge to plummet into the freezing back sea.

Frankly, it was a miracle that Britannia didn't pass out from the impact when his body broke the water's surface with a crash. Some instinct had taken control, pushed down the all consuming pain, the numbing cold into the back corner of his mind, and made him crush Columbia's form against his while his bloodless lips moved to recite a spell; later, he wouldn't even be able to recall what the spell was. He must of briefly lost consciousness as the next thing his adrenaline dosed brain became aware of was that he and Columbia were laying on the shore, near twenty miles from the spot they had fallen from.

Britannia just lay there for one long, exhausted second, before he remembered the danger in the numbness of his body. Hypothermia.

With a strained groan, he rolled onto his side and felt Columbia's neck; the pulse definitely there, and despite the wet, blue skin, it was strong. Good. Britannia forced his torso to roll again so that it was partly on top of Columbia's, his arms and legs too numb to respond.

'Halitus ignis.' The words came out as a cracked pant and Britannia gave a long groan as his magic boiled within his veins, feeling like fire warming him from the inside out. Slowly, the feeling in his limbs gradually returning to him, Britannia fully climbed on top of Columbia to create as much contact as possible between them. Bloody hell, if he woke up now…

He pressed his warm hands against Columbia's freezing cheeks, and privately noted that he actually had good cheekbones and a handsome jawline whilst he massaged the warmth back into them, encouraging the blood to return. When the hero's breath changed from it's slow, deep rhythm, Britannia stood up dizzyingly fast and backed away a distance. He dismissed the spell and positioned himself so that it was though as he had been watching the SWAT force swarm ship the entire time.

'Urgh, what happened?' Columbia mumbled as he sat up and winced at the wave of pain that assaulted his whole body. Britannia looked over to him with his arms crossed, immensely grateful he hadn't been electrocuted with the taser. He imagined that if he had, they'd have never made it out of the sea.

'We fell into the sea. I got us out.' Britannia returned shortly and watched Columbia groan as he got to his feet.

'Aw man. My body feels like it got bitch slapped by a nailed- Fuck! Oz! Arthur! That woman!' He cried in remembrance, and Britannia indivisibly frowned. When had he ever told Columbia his name? Had it slipped from his tongue without him realising? Shit, he was usually so careful with that.

'I'm sure your friends are safe. As for the woman though…I hope the TPD got to Edelstein before she did,' He replied and turned to walk away. His movement was abruptly stopped by Columbia's vice grip around his arm. 'Let go of me.' He hissed.

'Wait Britannia. We need to talk.' Columbia stated as Britannia tried to free his arm to now avail. The rumours were true, Columbia did indeed possess some degree of super strength (Then again, that should of been obvious when he ripped a steel door off it's hinges and threw it through the light box's window).

'About what, exactly?'

'About what happened on the ship. I've told you what I know, now I need you to do the same.'

'I don't have to tell you anything. It's none of your bloody business.' Britannia curtly retorted and Columbia's grip tightened.

'What the hell Britannia. You expect me to just walk away from this? You said that she is the one behind the kidnappings. I want to help rescue those scientists as much as you do. But I gotta understand what this all has to do with the Winter Syndicate and you. Why are they both after you?'

Britannia gave a scoff and looked away. 'As if I'd just tell you.'

'You can trust me, B. I trust you.'

'You don't even know me.' Britannia growled back with the ferocity of a lion and the two glared at each other. A minute pasted of mute, smothered anger.

'I'm not letting go until you tell me.' Columbia finally said, and Britannia saw that he would stay true to his word. There was no getting through that brand of stubbornness.

'Fine,' He sighed, 'the Winter Syndicate and I have history. Bad history. Edelstein is one of their scientists and they wanted to use him as bait to draw me in, and apparently this other woman to. Whom of which, I know nothing about save that she is behind the neuroscientist kidnappings and that she was after the research Edelstein locked away in the Clover bank vault. I have no idea why she would be after me.' He finished with a huff and tore his arm out of Columbia's slackened grip. The hero stared at him.

'There's more than that.' Columbia disagreed and Britannia scowled at him, crossing his arms.

'Of course there is, but that's all you'll ever bloody get.' He snapped back, shoving past him to leave.

'What was Edelstein researching? Surely whatever it was could be a clue to what that woman wants with the other scientists if he tried to keep it out of her hands?' Columbia called loudly after him, and Britannia stopped when he realised that he was right. Edelstein hid that research to keep it out of the kidnapper's hands. It had to be important.

'You're right. The contents of that case is my next lead.' Britannia agreed and heard footsteps in the sand crunch closer to him.

'Britannia. Please. I'm involved in this now, I can help you .You don't have to do this alone.'

Arthur stopped, and briefly considered the words before the hardened persona of Britannia took command again.

'Yes. I do.' Britannia snapped and walked away, leaving the hero alone on the grey sands, the gentle sway and crash of the waves the only things to comfort him.

Favourite part of this chapter? Columbia causally calling Britannia gorgeous and 'B'.

So this action chapter was exceedingly fun to write, accompanied with the relationship build up between Columbia and Britannia, I did really enjoy writing this and am looking forward to the future chapters.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you are enjoying this story and want to see it updated more frequently, then please consider leaving a review leaving me your thoughts, feelings and questions. Once again, thank you for reading and as always,

Until next time folks!