Arthur worked for a private detective agency. That meant that individuals paid the agency to work with the police on a case and the agency assigned the cases out to their teams. Arthur's team only had the North case, though it wasn't uncommon for teams to cover multiple cases at once.

When Arthur was called into the boss's office on Tuesday, he was ready to argue about the reassignment of the North case. Instead, he was handed a file for the assignment of another case.

He trailed back to his team's office unit and flipped through the new files. It looked like a simple case. Nothing that would take up as much time as the North case was. This also looked like a good chance to cool things between his team members. On Monday, Vash had returned to work with his normal demeanor and was treating Alfred civilly, then Gilbert and Vash started butting heads. Arthur was glad that it hadn't become serious yet, but putting Alfred and Gilbert on this case would give them something to worry about rather than waiting around for Kiku and Vash to finish processing security camera footage.

"Alfred, could you and Gilbert look through this for me?" Arthur asked, handing Alfred the new file as he entered.

"What is it?" Alfred asked, looking up and spinning his chair around to look at Arthur and take the file.

"New case assignment, it doesn't look like a big deal." Arthur said and started over to his own desk, "I thought you and Gilbert could handle it."

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw Gilbert and Alfred bristle. Wrong words. Oops.

"Are you saying we can't handle the North case?" Gilbert asked, his tone nonchalant, but the challenge clear. Arthur hadn't actually seen Gilbert do anything useful for the last few days, so he didn't mind upsetting him, but by how tense Alfred had gotten, the sentiment was mutual.

"No, I'm saying that this case would be a good break for you guys and would be finished up faster if we weren't all trying to butt in and micro manage." Arthur said carefully, but he tried to sound like he was giving them a break.

"The North case is top priority, wouldn't it be better if we all focused on it?" Alfred asked, he wasn't questioning Arthur, he just sounded disappointed.

Arthur didn't see how they saw this as a down grade, but clearly they saw this as punishment of some sort, "Look, if we can finish up this case quickly and get it out of the way, then all of our resources are back to the North case."

"Right." Alfred said he looked unhappy, but he turned back to his desk without further comment.

Arthur shook his head and glanced over to Kiku and Vash. Although they hadn't moved, it was clear they had been listening with interest. What was it with his team?

Arthur turned to his own work. The person who had hired the agency for the North case was demanding an interview with him. They wanted to know how things were going and Arthur couldn't blame them for that. At the same time, he really didn't want to talk to them. Telling them that they were no closer to recovering the priceless family relic would not make them happy.

"Arthur?"

Arthur looked up in surprise to see another one of the team leaders in the doorway, "Ivan? Can I help you?"

The big man smiled and tugged at his scarf to loosen it, "Well, there is a young man out front that wants to talk to Mr. Gilbert and yourself."

"Oh, thank you!" Arthur got up and motioned for Gilbert to follow him.

"Might I come with you?" Ivan asked politely, "I think he might be giving you guys a tip."

"I don't mind if you come, " Arthur said with a shrug, his mind racing. Who would be willing to give them a tip to the North? Who would even know something useful?

"Why is a tip on the North case of interest to you?" Gilbert asked, his usual carefree demeanor replaced with a wariness he wasn't even trying to hid. Arthur noticed a look pass between the albino and the other team leader. Apparently they weren't friends.

"What does it matter to you?" Ivan replied, his tone never changing, "I think he might know something about my case as well."

"He's our asset." Gilbert said coldly.

"He's Mr. Kirkland's asset." Ivan didn't even look at Gilbert, "You aren't even on his team."

Gilbert made a soft growling noise, but stopped as they came to the front office. Sitting in one of the waiting chairs was a familiar high schooler.

"Vladimir" Gilbert almost choked.

The teen shot out of his seat and turned quickly at the sound of his name and looked at the two detectives approaching him, his face taunt and his stance tense. The kid was on edge and reminded Arthur of a trapped wild animal, searching desperately for a way to escape. He was dressed well, but pale and stood a little hunched over, like he was cold or wet.

"Hello, Vlad." Arthur said pleasantly, "How can we help you?"

"How much will you pay me to tell you who Iceland is?" Vlad spoke quickly and quietly, his words tumbling out of his mouth and running into each other so that he was barley understandable.

Arthur felt his pulse quicken with hope. Still, he had no way of verifying this kid's information, even with learning the names of the North, they couldn't be sure that those were really what the North went by, "Can you prove that this person really is part of the North?"

Vlad's eyes darted back and forth between Gilbert and Arthur, he looked ready to turn and run, "Yes. How much is it to you?"

Quickly, Arthur pulled his wallet out of his pocket and looked through it, he didn't have much, "I can give you thirty now and fifty later."

"I need it all now."

"How do you know this guy is Iceland?" Gilbert asked.

Vlad grew paler and he glared at Gilbert.

"Gil, how much do you have on you?" Arthur snapped, pulling out his thirty and offering it to Vlad.

Gilbert frowned and pulled out his own wallet, "Forty."

"Too little!" Vlad looked at Arthur's thirty like it was poison and made no move to take it.

"You're in your last year of high school, right?" Ivan said from behind Vlad.

Arthur looked at Ivan in surprise, how did he get behind Vlad? Gilbert glowered and Vlad spun and backed away from Ivan, "You stay away from me!"

"You're a senior, right?" Ivan said smiling, "You are working with the black market, aren't you?"

Vlad backed right into Gilbert and started shaking his head. His eyes grew wider and his clenched his fists in front of him like he expected to have to defend himself.

"Ivan, stop it!" Gilbert snapped, pushing Vlad behind him with a gentleness Arthur wasn't aware he possessed, "You're terrifying him!"

"I just want to ask him about-"

Vlad yelped and darted around Ivan and bolted for the door. He dashed down the street with Arthur and Gilbert racing after him, but the younger man pulled a head and away before they had even run a block.

Arthur shook his head and started back inside, panting. Gilbert looked about to explode and Arthur couldn't blame him. Arthur felt about to explode.

Ivan was standing where they had left him, he turned and smiled as they entered, "Sorry about that."

"Ivan! That could have helped close this case!" Arthur growled, "Why did you have to shake him up more than he was?"

"Sorry." Ivan said, "I wanted to see if he was affiliated with-"

"I don't care! That was our tip! Not your's!" Arthur glanced at the ladies at the front desk and lowered his voice, "Loosing him is not appreciated!"

Ivan shrugged.

Arthur wanted to strangle him. Gilbert stood behind Arthur, clearly feeling the same way.

"Hey, he left his jacket." Gilbert said, holding up a reddish trench coat from the chair Vlad had been sitting in before they entered, "We can take this to the school and-"

"Check the pockets." Ivan said shortly, his tone colder when addressing Gilbert.

"Wait! Anything we find in his pocket is going to MY case!" Arthur snapped, snatching the jacket from Gilbert.

"Unless it pertains to my case." Ivan sounded so agreeable, he even looked agreeable! Why was he being so difficult?

Arthur shoved his hands into the jacket's pockets and to his surprise, he found them to be full of stuff. He walked over to the little coffee table and started laying the items out: two folded up pieces of paper, five pennies, four quarters, three gum wrappers, two pieces of butterscotch candy, a business card for the mall near the detective agency, a rolled up set of ear bud head phones, a pen knife, and a black blue tooth-looking earpiece.

The three detectives looked at the junk with disappointment.

Ivan unfolded the two pieces of paper. They were blank.

"You can have it." Ivan said, dropping the paper on the table and turning to leave.

"Thanks." Arthur tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice and failed.

Ivan didn't look back.

Arthur and Gilbert collected all of the little trinkets and moved them to their team's office.

"What happened?" Alfred asked.

"Ivan-Mr- Guines messed things up." Gilbert snapped and plopped down is his usual seat next to Alfred.

"Big surprise." Alfred said and Gilbert nodded. Apparently Ivan had more of a hate club than a fan club.

Silence returned and everyone went back to their work.

Arthur looked over Vlad's stuff. It was pretty unimpressive, even for a high schooler. Then again, maybe it was significant? What was this business card? Why would a high schooler be carrying around a business card for the mall? How about the earpiece?

"Um, Vash?" Arthur called, "Could you hook this blue tooth up to a speaker or something so we can hear if someone calls?"

Vash walked over to Arthur's desk and looked at it, "This isn't a blue tooth, it's a radio."

"What?"

"It's like the military radio earpieces, except someone went to the trouble to make it look like a blue tooth." Vash said, "I can hook it up to a speaker, and we should be able to talk back."

"Would we be able to track any waves coming in?" Arthur asked as Vash took the ear piece back to his own desk.

"We should."

Arthur sat back in his chair and sighed, why did Ivan have to scare the poor kid like that? Why did it matter if he was a senior in high school? Peter was a sophomore.

Arthur looked back at the other junk. Mall. Hmmmm. Butterscotch. Mmmmmm.

"llo? Hello? Is anyone else on yet?"

Everyone in the room jumped and looked around.

"Sorry, that was a bit loud." Vash said.

"Wait! That was the earpiece?" Alfred yelped, jumping up and hurrying over to Vash's desk. Vash had opened the earpiece's case and attached the innards to a control board of some sort.

"Yes." Vash readjusted the sound just as the voice spoke again.

"Hello? Can you guys hear me?" The voice coming out of the earpiece was electric and fuzzy. It sounded mechanical, like there was voice distorter or something. Arthur wasn't even sure if it was male or female.

"Can you figure out where it's coming from?" Arthur asked, "Can we reply and ask them about Vlad?"

"Hang on! Let me set it up!" Vash snapped, "I did't except anyone to actually talk, it seems to have a blocked radio wave, so anyone talking here has special access."

"Can we use it?"

"Well of course! We have the earpiece!" Vash frowned at his work. His control board was flashing little lights at him and Arthur wished he knew that all of those little lights were trying to say.

"Can-" Arthur started, only to be interrupted by another voice.

"Yeah, I can hear you."

"Just you? Where is everyone else?"

Like the first, the second voice was indistinguishable, but different. Arthur stood and move behind Vash to watch what he was doing. Arthur knew nothing about electronics, but it didn't take a guenuis to figure out that Vash was trying to get them able to reply.

"I'm here too."

"Three out of five. How long do you think it will take for those slow pokes to show up?"

A steady green light glowed to life on Vash's controller, "There, we can reply."

"Sweden should be on shortly."

Arthur froze. Sweden. Sweden. The North's Sweden? What? Were they listening in to a conversation between the North? What were the chances of that?

"Don't reply!" Arthur snapped, "Just listen!"

"What about Denmark?"

"I thought he was with you."

"No, Iceland and I are here."

If this was the North, then how did Vlad get a hold of it? He had said he would be able to prove who Iceland was. Apparently he was telling the truth. No, this can't be right. What were the chances of Vlad having it? Well, clearly he did have it.

"Sweden here."

"Is Denmark with you?"

"No."

The names were right. Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. So, which one was Norway and who was the fifth voice? This couldn't be right. What were the chances?

The whole room was quiet and still, everyone was aware of the weight of this conversion really being from the North.

"Can we continue without him then?"

"No."

Arthur's head hurt. Was this a dream? He sure hopped not.

"Wait, he just rode up to my driveway."

"Why would he go to you, Sweden?"

"I will be right back."

Arthur nudged Vash, "Are you recording this?"

"Of course."

Just then there was a crack, the voices fuzzed and turned to static. Vash's hands moved like lightening crossed the controls, the line went dead. Vash cursed quietly and jammed another wire into his control.

"What are you saying, Denmark?"

The room gave a collective sigh of relief as the mechanical voices returned.

"Look, I'm sorry! I thought it would be funny and he must have gotten it off of me!"

"Are you sure you didn't just loose it?"

"I'm looked everywhere!"

"Awe, Denmark! Those were expensive!"

"I'm sorry okay! Sweden has extra!"

"Sweden isn't the one who paid for them, is he?"

"I'm sorry Finny! It was an accident!"

"Finland! Denmark! Please!"

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Finland! The fifth member of the North! Arthur smiled, this was too good to be true, but apparently it was.

"Denmark, please start from the beginning."

There was a sigh, "Okay, I saw the Vamp enter a bar I was going to and I thought I'd steer clear of him since that incident with Iceland."

Arthur frowned, was Vlad the Vamp? Why was a high schooler at a bar? Arthur would have to find out about Vladimir's parents and let them know. He would be furious if he caught Peter drinking underage.

"Eventually, I got bored and went in. The guy was already plastered, so I thought it would be funny to hang out with him. It wasn't like he was going to remember anything."

"You idiot."

"Clearly he was sober enough to have gotten the radio off of you."

"I was set up!"

Apparently the North had other enemies apart from the police. Arthur couldn't help but smile; after all of the pain the North had put him and his team through, they deserved all the enemies life could hand them.

"I'm not an idi-"

"Put Sweden on."

"Sweden here."

"Can you set up that imbecile with another head set?"

"Yes."

"Thanks."

"Five minutes."

"Okay. Turn the speaker up on the one you have so you can both hear us, we need to finish up with this meeting before Iceland has to go."

"Right."

There was a shuffling sound.

"Are you good?"

"Yep! We can hear you!"

"Okay, are we still all good to do the new job tomorrow?"

"Um, about that. . . ."

"What?"

"I sort of have another job on Wednesday. Sorry!"

"It's okay, Finland."

"I'm busy Wednesday too."

"It would be tough without both Icy and Finny."

"Could we go for Thursday?"

"Thursday works for me."

"Me too."

"Yes."

"Denmark?"

"What?"

"Does Thursday work for you?"

"Oh! Yeah! Thursday's cool!"

"Sweden?"

"Yes?"

"Just hit him for me."

"Hey! No! What did I do?"

"You exist. That's enough for me."

"Awe! Norway! You can't mean that!"

"He does."

"Iceland! Don't take sides!"

"All he does is complain about you."

"Shut up! Why aren't you two my friends anymore? Finny is my friend right?"

"Um, sure?"

"Finland! That's not a question! Sweden? You like me, right?"

There was a silence. Arthur checked the earpiece, the light still glowed. Vash wiggled something and the silence remained.

"Sweden?"

The silence returned and Arthur glanced at Vash, who shrugged, "They're not talking."

"Give it up Denmark. Thursday it is then. Sweden will get another head set for Denmark and we will continue according to plan."

"Don't just ignore the problem! Answer me!"

"Finland, do you want to start out early on Thursday or-"

"Don't ignore me!"

"If you guys come at the normal time, then I can have everything set up."

"Good, do you want Sweden with you?"

"Nah, it okay, I can handle it."

"Guys! I'm still here!"

"Denmark! Stop yelling!"

"Don't tell me what to do Icy!"

"I'm Iceland, thank you very much!"

"Ice! Den! Stop it!"

"But, Norway-"

"Stop."

"He started it!"

"Can we focus please?"

"Finland! Stay out of this!"

"Don't yell at Finland."

"Shut up Sweden!"

There was a crash, followed by silence.

"Vash? Can you track were the other waves are coming from?" Arthur asked, he spoke softly even though he knew the North couldn't hear him; it just seemed right to be quiet.

Vash shook his head, "I'm trying." He was messing with a computer and judging by his expression, things weren't going well.

"Sweden?"

"I'll go with Finland Thursday."

"What happened to Denmark?"

"He is on the floor."

"I'm very sorry if he stains the carpet."

"Norway! Don't say things like that!"

"He won't."

"You guys are so creepy!"

"Iceland don't-"

"He just signed off."

"I can do Thursday alone!"

"I'll go with you."

"No! No! It's fine!"

"Finland, I will go with you."

"No! I'm good!"

"He signed off."

"I will go with him."

"Okay, do you want me to come pick up Denmark?"

"He's fine here."

"Okay, see you Thursday."

Vash shook his head and sighed, "They're gone. They turned off their earpieces and I can't seem to find any sort of wave or transmission or anything. Not only do they have a hidden, private frequency, all of the incoming are invisible too."

Arthur sighed.

"Hey, Norway? Are you still on?"

Vash and Arthur both jumped. Arthur shot Vash a look and he shrugged.

"Yes. Why are you still on Finland?"

"When are you contacting our mole?"

"Don't worry about it. We have everything handled. The Kirkland team has nothing on us."

The whole room was frozen, listening to the mechanical voice. Arthur could almost feel the temperature drop. A mole? In the police?

"Arthur is going to loose the case soon though, we should worry about the next team, not the current one."

"If you say so."

Silence followed.

Vash leaned back in his chair with a sigh, "I've got nothing. The line's dead."

I am sooooo sorry it has taken me this long to update! This chapter isn't the best and I'm sorry if the North talking gets confusing, it's supposed to be, but I understand that reading it is weird too. For future reference, written things will be in italics and things over a radio will be bold and italics. I had another vertion of this chapter and scrapped it, that's why it has taken so long to update DX SO VERY SORRY!