Arthur glared at the computer screen. It was unforgivably confusing. The camera footage showed the van pull up to the bank, someone got out and was immediately let into the bank by another person. In exactly five minutes, the first person came out, got into the car and drove away. There was no moving of boxes of money, or files, or jewels. or anything like that. Clearly the people didn't want to be recognized, otherwise they wouldn't be wearing black ski masks, but they didn't remove anything from the bank via the front entrance. What was the purpose of coming in that way then? Five minutes? That was ridiculously fast for emptying and cleaning a vault. Arthur had no clue what was going on.

It was possible, he supposed, that this was a trick. A group that was never caught on camera, suddenly filmed; that was a little suspicious. If this was a trick however, what was the purpose of showing this?

Arthur sat back in his chair and massaged his temples. It was about ten and he hadn't left this wretched computer since he had gotten home. Arthur turned and glanced at the dinner plate that his brother, Allistor, had brought him. Arthur hated to admit it, but Allistor was a much better cook than he was; it would be a waste to not eat.

As Arthur started to eat, a small head peered quietly around the corner of his office door. Arthur ignored it, but the boy entered the office and quietly sat down on the floor beside Arthur's desk.

"Arthur?" Peter asked carefully, "Is everything okay?"

"Shouldn't you be in bed? You have school tomorrow." Arthur said shortly, "Go away, I have work to do."

"But you're home!" Peter said, "Allistor never brings work home! I'm in high school! I shouldn't have a bed time!"

"You're in high school, start acting like it. Go to bed, I'm not Allistor."

Peter looked hurt, but he stood and left. Arthur listened to his retreating steps and turned his attention back to the camera. He restarted it from the beginning of the day before the break in. It was all normal. He watched for anything: Strange interaction, people loitering, people coming twice, but he saw nothing that caught his attention. It was frustrating, it seemed like there was no set up or preparation. Then again, Arthur wasn't sure what preparation for such a clean crime would look like.

He sighed, and leaned back again, eyes still trained on the screen. His mind wandered as he watched. Francis had sent over his most annoying agent, just before Arthur was going to leave.

"Yo! I was told that you guys need my awesome help!" He had burst into the room, causing everyone to jump.

"Thank you for offering we-" Kiku had started, but he was interrupted by Alfred pushing past him and hugging the newcomer.

"Gilbert!" Alfred had yelped, "I'm so glad Francis sent you! This is going to be great!"

Gilbert had laughed and hugged Alfred back, "Jeez man! It's been forever! You never drop by anymore! Mattasis and I thought you were dead!"

Arthur and Kiku had watched the pair in silence. The last member of Arthur's team, Vash, glared at the pair.

"Excuse me, but we have a job to do!" Vash snapped, "If you haven't noticed, it's about time to clock out!"

"You're on hourly?" Gilbert asked with a smirk, "Sorry man, I forgot you were Arthur's home-base guy."

"Home-base guy?" Vash said, eyes narrowing, "What are you implying?"

"Nothing." Gilbert said with a shrug, "It just must be nice having a tech guy. My team is just three of us, we don't have anyone back here."

"So if it's just three of you, isn't your absence going to put a strain on your teammates?" Kiku asked, polite as ever.

Gilbert had grinned and Arthur remembered feeling a slight dread fill him, "Of course not!" Gilbert had said, "After all, The North case is a whole lot more interesting than what we are on right now."

"What?" Arthur said slowly, "You guys have a string murder case. How are robberies more interesting than that?"

"Nah, we finished up today. Our guy was tried and found guilty." Gilbert said, "We have nothing on and a little bird told me that if you guys don't come up with something soon, The North case is going to be reassigned."

"They wouldn't!" Arthur snapped, "How do you know?"

Gilbert shrugged again and gave Arthur that evil smile, "A little bird told me. I figured that I could get a head start if I started on this case now. Since we have nothing on, this case would go to us if it were to be reassigned."

Vash, Kiku, and Alfred had all looked at Arthur. He remembered the frustration and exhaustion wash over him. Again, his mind ran through the thoughts that had come to mind at the time. He knew he had a good team, they just didn't always work well together. They knew how much he wanted this case closed. Gilbert was going to be working with them now, and this didn't look like a good mix. Rumors of The North case being taken from him was unsettling, but they had the camera footage. Plus, Arthur knew that Francis's team often used some underground contacts to solve their cases, getting in touch with some of the other organized criminals might help with getting at least a few suspects.

Bringing in a suspect would be good. They couldn't take the case from him if he had a suspect. Arthur's eyes glazed over and he stared at the computer screen without really seeing it.

"Gilbert, we are done for today, please meet up with us here tomorrow morning." Arthur had said, trying to sound agreeable.

"No prob! I'll just come in with Alfred." Gilbert smiled devilishly at all of them, then turned and left.

"He's working with us?" Vash said, his tone illumination his displeasure.

"Sorry, I thought he might be useful, I was hoping Francis would send Antonio." Arthur said, "Get me that analysis for the video, we will start trying to find some of the contacts Francis's team has tomorrow."

Vash and Kiku nodded and started cleaning up for the night. Alfred seemed oblivious to the tension Gilbert had caused and continued on normally.

Arthur stared at the screen. Gilbert was going to be difficult to handle, but he really could be useful. On the screen, a thin, pale blonde man was walking in front of the shop, blocking the view to the bank's entrance. The man scanned the items on display with an uncaring air. Arthur rubbed his forehead, he had to have a suspect. He had to keep this case. The man looked up casually, his eyes locked on the camera. Arthur paused and looked at the man. The man looked back, he seemed to be able to see Arthur. Then the man looked back to the display and moved on. Arthur blinked and re winded the film. The man's eyes locked on the camera. He looked to be about Arthur's age, but the worry lines were missing from his face. Arthur blinked, he was drawing suspicion were there was none. It seemed perfectly reasonable to look at a security camera, Arthur knew he often looked at them for fun and mentally tried to find blind spots in stores. There was no reason to be suspicious of this man, but Arthur was. The guy looked directly at the camera, he already knew were it was.

"Arthur? I'm going to bed, don't forget to turn the thermostat down before you finish for the night." Allistor called.

"Okay!" Arthur called back and glanced at this watch, midnight. He sighed and started the film again. He needed to come up with something before work tomorrow. He also needed sleep.


Emil stared at his teacher and tried not to fall asleep. He hadn't been able to sleep all night because Lukas had spent the night pacing.

Step, Step, Step, Pause, Turn, Step, Step, Step, Step, Pause, Turn, Step, Step, Step, Step, Step, Pause, Turn, All Night Long.

It wasn't like Lukas to pace. Not sleeping was normal, but anxiety? Something really must be wrong if Lukas was this nervous about it. Pacing and Pacing, all bloody night long. Emil was a light sleeper and Lukas's pacing seemed to ring through the quiet house like a jack hammer. Emil had complained this morning, but Lukas had been too busy pacing to notice. Emil had to walk to the bus stop. Emil had made it to third hour, so lunch was next, then only three more hours before school was over. Then the weekend! Today was Friday. Saturday tomorrow. They were doing something tomorrow. Emil couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. Robbing a bank? No, that was last month. What were The North doing tomorrow? Something. Something that might be important.

Step, Step, Step, Step.

"Mr. Steilsson! I thought better of you!"

Emil jerked up and looked at his teacher towering above him, "Pardon?"

"Detention! At lunch! Sleeping in class is inexcusable!"

"Right." Emil wondered if sleeping during detention was excusable. If not, he would sleep during lunch. Oh wait, detention was during lunch.

Detention was held in the In School Suspension room. Emil walked in, handed his slip to the bored looking teacher and sat down. There were a few other kids there, he recognized most of them, but ignored them. Detention started. As the door closed the teacher continued on his crossword puzzle and kids pulled out their phones and started talking quietly. Emil slouched down in his seat and closed his eyes.

"Hey Icy." A soft voice said from behind him, "I'm rather surprised to see you here."

Emil's tired mind froze, he knew his body had grow tense, and he forced himself to relax and make no other sign that he had heard.

"Hey, you don't have to ignore me. I know what you are, Mr. Top-Of-The-Class."

Emil slouched lower in his chair before sitting up and turning around. He knew this kid and was more than mildly annoyed. "What do you want Vladimir?"

"I just want to talk!" Vlad said with a toothy grin, "Com'on Icy, don't like to talk?"

Emil forced himself to stay calm, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

Vlad leaned forward, "Please, I have a second life too. I'm just much less of a, what's the word? Hot shot? Big wig?" Vlad shrugged, but Emil knew he was looking for a reaction, "I'm just less important."

"I have no clue what you are talking about." Emil said and turned back and slouched down, "Now, if you would excuse me, I'm trying to sleep."

"Oh, please Iceland! I just wanted to congratulate The North on their latest job! That bank thing was really impressive!" Vlad said, his voice soft and cocky, "What, I heard it took you guys less than five minutes."

Emil couldn't stop himself from sitting up straight and spinning around. He must have looked alarmed, because Vladimir smirked. "How do you know about that? The police report isn't out yet." Emil hissed, suddenly Lukas's pacing made sense.

"I hear things." Vlad said, "I heard about your stint with the bank and I heard that someone found a camera. The police will be onto you guys before you know it."

Emil was silent then smiled back at Vlad, "I doubt it. They'll never come close and you know it."

"I could turn you in."

"You could and we could have your evidence discounted and turn you in." Emil said, "The police will never have anything on us. They don't even know how many people are in The North."

"I could tell them."

"You don't know."

"Four."

"Wrong."

"Liar."

"Not." It was Emil's turn to smirk, it was nice to know that even the criminal network didn't know much about The North. "Name who you know."

Vladimir looked uncertain for the first time, "Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden."

"Do you know who the people are behind the code names?" Emil could see that Vlad didn't and again he smiled.

Vlad just shrugged, "I know that Mr. Emil is Iceland. I suspect that his friend Leon is Norway. Beyond that, I don't have a clue."

Emil couldn't hid his surprise, "Leon? Norway? Don't make me laugh! You're still missing someone though."

"Oh? Enlighten me then."

Emil was sorely tempted to tell Vlad about the fifth member of The North, but he knew Lukas would be mad at him. Tino was a secret weapon of sorts and knowledge of a more than four of them was enough to make Vlad dig around. Emil shrugged and shook his head.

"Awe well, actually, I was supposed to contact you about a job." Vlad said, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of paper, "My boss wants to hire The North."

"You know we only take interesting jobs." Emil said, "It has to challenge us."

Vlad nodded, "Yeah, we know and we think you guys will like it. We weren't actually sure if you were Iceland, but you gave yourself away pretty quick."

Emil frowned, Lukas would be mad. "So, do you have someone checking Leon out?"

"Yep." Vlad said and offered the wade of paper to Emil, "This is a summery of the details, if you're interested-"

"We will contact you." Emil said and took the paper. He shoved it into his own pocket and gave Vlad a smile, "Thanks Mr. Vampire."

Vlad's face didn't change. They both knew the other's code name for the underground. They both knew the other's double life. They both knew that they may never speak again. It wasn't hostile, it was just business.

The bell rang and Emil hefted his backpack onto his back and left.