"Well, who can you contact?"

Gilbert shrugged, "The criminal network is a pain to use to your advantage, but I can bring in a kid that ought to know something."

Arthur suppressed a sigh, he supposed that was the best he could ask for, but he had been hoping for something more dramatic. Gilbert acted like those cops from the movies with secret agents underground in the criminal world and lots of fast cars and explosions. Arthur always found those sorts of movies silly, unrealistic, but interesting in the romantically adventurous light that they put one law enforcement. Arthur could see Gilbert being one of the annoying side characters that died halfway through the film.

"When?" Arthur asked, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. His mind always wandered like that when he was tired. He had been tired for the last few months.

"Wow, aren't we in a hurry!" Gilbert chuckled, "As soon as school gets off, if you want to go wait at the high school with me, you can."

Arthur did not want to wait in a car with a prick like Gilbert. "Sure, Kiku can come too."

Kiku looked at Arthur like he had been slapped. Clearly, Gilbert wasn't very popular with him either. Or at any rate, the thought of sitting in a car with him while they waited was unappealing, "Yes sir." Kiku said stiffly and started collecting his papers.

"Awe, can I come?" Alfred said, popping up from behind his desk.

"No." Arthur wasn't sure how much high strung, full of them self, idiot he could take right now. It occurred to him that there was probably a reason those silly cop movies only had one character like Gilbert and Alfred, any more than one would make the movie unbearable.

"Can you give me a minute before we head off?" Gilbert asked.

"Sure, we'll meet you out by the cars." Arthur said and grabbed his jacket.

Their unit had only one car assigned to them, but it was enough. Arthur fiddled with the radio dials and listened to the police dispatcher sending out someone to a house break in. Kiku leaded against the car, he was reading some book in Japanese. Arthur noted that Kiku was wearing glasses. He didn't usually, so he must wear contacts.

The door to the building opened and Gilbert came out. He had changed his cloths and was now wearing baggy black pants, a white shit, and a leather jacket. As he walked toward them, Gilbert pulled a red plaid bandanna out of the bag he was carrying and tied it around his neck.

"Sorry, that took longer than I thought it would." Gilbert said with an apologetic shrug, "Lets go."

"Why are you wearing that to a school?" Arthur asked warily. Gilbert looked like a punk rocker kid, not like a respectable detective. Arthur didn't want Gilbert to give the rest of his team a bad name. Then again, Arthur wasn't sure Alfred ever really looked respectable either. "Sorry, why are you wearing that at all?"

"If I look like a cop, they'll run before I get near them." Gilbert said and slid into the back seat of the car, "Lets go."

"Excuse me, you look like some delinquent." Arthur snapped, not moving to turn the car on. Kiku looked on silently, but he clearly agreed.

"That's the point." Gilbert said with a smirk, "I was lucky that I haven't really grown since high school, so this still fits."

"That's what you wore in high school?"

"Yep. You said I look like a delinquent. Well, I kinda was."

"Why are you a detective again?"

"What? You don't believe in second chances changing people?" Gilbert's relaxed look had changed to one of annoyance. He didn't seem to think this conversation relevant, which disturbed Arthur all the more.

Arthur didn't want to challenge Gilbert's ability as a detective, but the idea that he was once a criminal himself made Arthur . . . . . uneasy. Arthur didn't think a leopard could change his spots. Still, getting into a professional detective agency wasn't easy, so maybe Gilbert really was a good guy now. Arthur shrugged and turned the car on. Kiku sat down and put his book and glasses away. They drove in silence.

Gilbert rolled down his window and Kiku got his book out again. Gilbert rolled up his window. Arthur tried to ignore the tension that had arose. Gilbert rolled down his window.

"Please stop that." Arthur said.

"Sorry." Gilbert said and left the window down.

They approached the school to see a line of cars parked outside the front entrance. Bored parents were waiting patiently and the parking lot was full of more parents and siblings and empty cars that probably belonged to the older high school kids.

"Park crossed the street." Gilbert said, pointing to the neighborhood beside the school, "I don't want the kids running just because there's a police car parked too close."

"Would they do that?" Kiku asked, "The police sometimes oversee that the speed limit is obeyed around the school zone."

"I would have." Gilbert said, "Plus, the kids I'm looking for are rather flighty."

"Have you used them as a resource before?" Arthur asked and parked the car.

"Yep, they aren't major offenders of anything, so people tend to overlook them," Arthur saw Gilbert smile in the rear view mirror, "But kids hear things. People tend not to pay attention to the little, unimportant people. These kids aren't in any loop that I know of, but I'm sure they'll know something or they know someone who knows something."

"How do you know they'll tell the truth?"

"I don't." Gilbert said and got out of the car. He opened the bag he had brought and took out two simple jackets, "If you guys want to watch me work my magic, wear these."

Arthur got out of the car and took a jacket. He didn't want Gilbert doing anything stupid and he wanted to see the kids Gilbert was going to talk to. The jacket was huge and baggy, but he pulled it on and tried to straighten it.

Kiku just shook his head. "I'll stay here, radio me if you need to." Kiku said and turned another page in his book.

Gilbert nodded and shoved the other jacket back into his bag. He put the bag in the car and glanced at his watch. "We'd better hurry, the bell is going to ring soon." He said and look at Arthur, "That look suits you."

"I look like a hoodlum." Arthur said and tried again to make the big jacket look presentable.

Gilbert laughed and started walking towards the school, "It's big on me too. It's my brother's."

Arthur followed slowly, scanning the school grounds, "Are you sure about this? What if we can't find the kids?"

"Then we can try again Monday." Gilbert said, "Put your hood up, you're still managing to look like a cop. Relax."

Gilbert moved onto the school grounds and sat down under the flag pole. Arthur put up his hood and leaned against the pole in an effort to look relaxed. Gilbert glanced at him and laughed again, shaking his head, "You're hopeless. Don't ever go undercover, you'd never pull it off."

Arthur glared at Gilbert, "Yes I could! I could go to Italy right now, and no one would ever look at me twice!"

Gilbert snorted, "Keep dreaming! You are so obvious, it's almost sad! You'd make a horrible criminal!"

"I'm going to take that as a complement."

The school bell rang and momentarily the grounds were flooded with a river of high school kids. Arthur grew tense, scanning the crowd. He didn't know what they were looking for, but he looked all the same. He spotted Peter's bright blonde head bouncing beside a boy with white hair and a little blonde girl. Wasn't Peter having friends over this weekend? Wasn't he supposed to make lunch for them or something? Arthur remembered Peter talking to him about something like that, but he hadn't been paying much attention. Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Gilbert stand and enter the sea of students. After that, it was like Gilbert was gone. Arthur looked around wildly, searching for Gilbert's white hair and red bandanna. There! Arthur started after him, moving as fast as he could in the throng of kids.

Gilbert had pulled a little brown haired boy out of the river and was talking to him. Another boy stood a few feet away, watching warily. Arthur approached Gilbert and saw the kid look at him quickly.

"Arthur, this is Aurel." Gilbert said and pointed to the older boy watching them, "That's Vladimir. They hear things."

Arthur looked at the boy, he looked to be a freshman, so a little younger than Peter, who as a sophomore.

"We don't talk to police." Vlad said, scowling at them.

"Hey! You know me!" Gilbert said, "You're not still mad at me are you?"

"Of course not. We just don't talk to cops." Vlad's voice was cold and Aurel looked scared.

Gilbert put an arm around Aurel and smiled at Vlad, "That's fine, we just want to know what you know about The North."

Both Aurel and Vlad grew tense. Their eyes locked. Gilbert casually reached into his pocket and removed a twenty dollar bill.

"I'm not asking you to rat out your boss, I'm just asking about locations, names, identities." Gilbert gave Aurel a squeeze and held the twenty in front of him, "Just tell us the rumors."

Vlad looked at the money, face tense, "We're not that cheap." He said softly.

The flood of students had lessened to a trickle, and the few stragglers ignored them. Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He barley glanced at the bills before pulling out another two twenties.

Vlad smiled, if Arthur had ever thought that Gilbert's smile was evil, he realized he was wrong. This high school had a way of looking terrifying. Vlad approached them slowly, Aurel still looking scared. Vlad snatched Gilbert's twenty and folded it carefully in half.

"The North has four people for sure, possibly more." Vlad said and put the twenty into his pocket. He reached over and plucked one of Arthur's bills out of his hand and folded that in half too, "The ones I know of go by the names, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden." He put this bill in his pocket too and took Arthur's other twenty, he looked at it, glanced at Aurel, and looked back at the bill.

Gilbert removed his arm from around Aurel and gave the kid a little push in Vlad's direction. The boy scurried behind Vladimir and peered at the two police with wide eyes. The school grounds were now empty except for the two pairs of people. A soft breeze swept between them, and Vlad offered the twenty back to Arthur.

Gilbert's eyes narrowed, "Is that all you've got?"

Vladimir said nothing and offered the twenty to Gilbert. Arthur looked between Gil and Vlad. It seemed to be a battle of will. Both stood there frozen, eyes locked and faces expressionless.

Gilbert won.

Vladimir took the twenty, folded it in half, and stuffed it in his pocket, "The North may have a job coming up soon."

"With in the next week?" Arthur asked.

"Soon." Vlad looked between Arthur and Gilbert again, then turned and walked away. Aurel following at his heels.

Gilbert and Arthur watched them go.

Emil watched them go. He watched the money being exchanged. He watched the police walk away and back to their car. Emil watched and Emil had heard all that had been said. Emil exited the school for grounds for the second time.

He had needed to get rid of Peter and Lili before he back tracked, and it hadn't been hard. Quick little lie about leaving a book in detention and he had walked back. The moment he had seen the guy leaning on the flagpole, he had known he was a cop. Seeing that other one pull Aurel out of the crowd had scared Emil. Aurel was Vladimir's little brother, and Leon had mentioned Aurel calling him Nor earlier. If the police were going to find a contact, they had come to the right place. Emil didn't think that Vlad would give him away, but he didn't know what else Vlad might say.

Vlad had said all the wrong things. Well, not all the wrong things, but almost. Vlad hadn't told them who Iceland was. That was good, but Vlad had told them who to ask for. They knew the names, well, the code names, of The North. Vlad had given the police a key to finding out more, now they knew what to ask for. Plus, if they went to Vlad, they probably knew exactly who to ask.

Emil walked to where Lukas's car was usually parked. It wasn't there. The buses had already left, so Emil sat down on the curb and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts and selected one. He hit send.

The phone rang three times, before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Emil."

"Oh! Hi Emil! Why are you calling Berwald?"

"Why do you have Berwald's phone, Tino?"

"He was over here earlier and left it. Is anything wrong?"

"Lukas isn't here to pick me up from school, have you heard from him?"

"No."

"Is he okay?"

"I'm sorry, Emil, I don't know."

"I didn't want to call Mattasis."

"Why not?"

"He's annoying and probably drunk. It's a Friday. If Lukas is with him, I don't want to know."

There was a silence on the other end of the phone, the Tino sighed, "Here, I've got to bring Berwald his phone, so I'll come get you, okay? I can drop you off at home."

"Thanks Tino."

"Just stay there, I'll be there in a minute."

"Thanks."

"Okay, bye!"

"Bye."

Emil hung up and watched as a police car drove by. The white haired guy who was talking to Vlad was seated in the back. A blonde guy was driving, he was wearing that over sized sweater. Emil watched them. The white haired guy glanced at Emil as the car passed and waved. Emil didn't wave back, but watched the car turn the corner and disappear. Those people. The three guys in the car, they were the enemy. They would put The North in jail. They would destroy everything Emil knew and take everyone he cared about from him. Emil hated them.

There we go! New Chapter! I'm not sure when I will get the next one up, but at least this one was fastish.

Special thanks to writingandchocolate and Angeldonut for reviewing! Thank you so much! You guys are great!

Everyone else should review too! 3