When Arthur got back to the office it was pleasantly empty. Kiku and Vash were gone, probably trying to track down all of Emil's contacts. While Alfred and Gilbert had gone to the school for Emil's records. Arthur had the office to himself. What a rare occasion.

When he got to his desk, he frowned. There was a piece of paper laying on top of everything that he hadn't put there. He picked it up. At first his brain didn't want to comprehend what it saw. The first emotion he felt was anger which quickly faded into understanding.

It was a resignation letter. From Kiku. Kiku was resigning. Kiku had gotten another job. There was a note at the bottom of the paper.

I'm sorry Arthur, but I have a little sister I have to think about. With Peter being kidnapped, I can't risk her being taken. The North are dangerous and even if we know Emil is guilty, we can't prove it yet. I would ask to be transferred to another team, but I'd rather not. I found a job at a tech company and will be working with you for another two weeks so you have a chance to replace me if needed. Again, I'm sorry.

This was out of no where. Arthur had thought Kiku was happy working here. Apparently not.

Oh well. Arthur couldn't blame him. Had he known that the North were going to kidnap Peter or humiliate him and his team in front of the whole police force, he probably would have given up the case to Francis after the bank break in. Maybe. No. Probably not.

Arthur wouldn't give this case up for anything. He has wanted it for too long. He had spent weeks hoping it would be assigned to him since that first North card had been found. Arthur had so much invested in this case. It had cost him so much sleep, so many days off, it took his brother, but even before that, he had been living for this case. Every day, even at home, he went through information, worried, fretted, mulled, and ever waking hour was consumed with the North. Arthur hated them so much. Even before they took Peter, he had developed a loathing for these genius thefts.

Treating Emil civilly hadn't been hard before, but Arthur found it getting increasingly difficult. Emil was not what Arthur had expected, but there was no doubt about his guilt. Arthur knew Emil did not personally kidnap Peter, but it was Emil fault that his cronies did. However, the more time Arthur spent with Emil, he was more and more sure that Emil was a lesser member. Whatever role Emil played in the North, it was not too terribly important, but the other members clearly wanted Emil back. So, he was looking for people with attachment to Emil.

A criminal organization whose members where close was not uncommon. Gangs were often thought of as second families and it would make sense for such an efficient group as the North to be fond of each other. Chances were that the North might even meet up or see each other on a daily basis.

The list Vash and Kiku came up with would be crucial. It would include all close family and friends of Emil. Expect Kiku was resigning. He would still be with the team for another two weeks, but Arthur knew that given the first chance to get out, Kiku would.

At least they had Gilbert for a while. As much as Arthur hated to say it, Gilbert had been useful. Not recently, however.

Arthur was looking forward to meeting the master mind behind the North. He wanted to meet the guy who organized the wonderful thefts and he wanted to see that person behind bars. He wanted to see that person in the prison garb and he hoped that the North's leader would have enemies in prison. Arthur hated the guy so much that Arthur almost expected to know the man when he met him. Such intense hate must effect the other person on some unconscious level, right? Arthur had read an article about different magic energies people let off and how they effect others. Arthur had thought it was a ridiculous idea, but him hating someone so much must effect the North's mastermind in some way, right?

"Where is the Vampire?"

Arthur froze. The earpiece was still hooked up. He looked around wildly, wishing Vash was here.

"We know you can hear us. We also know the Vamp is to blame."

"Where is he?"

"I've looked everywhere I can think of. My best guess is he is at the station."

Arthur's mind raced. Why did they want Vlad? Vlad hadn't said that they had threatened him, but judging by his demand for protection, it made sense.

"Talk Mr. Kirkland. We can hear you too."

The North could hear him. The North had known about the operation for Thursday. The North had cameras. That meant that his team hadn't rated him out. Maybe there was no informant in the police.

"We are willing to make a deal with you."

There hadn't been a ransom note for Peter. Arthur slowly sat down at his desk and cleared his throat,"What sort of deal?" He spoke softly and scanned the room. It he was the North, where would he put a camera? Where would there be a vantage point where he could see the whole room?

"You want Peter back?"

"Of course." Arthur forced his voice to not crack. There. Above the bookcase, that's where he would put the camera.

"Do you want to catch us?"

"Yes."

"We would like to talk to you Mr. Kirkland."

Arthur felt his heart quicken. Please let this be about the ransom.

"There is a warehouse on the far end of the city. It is the only blue warehouse in that area."

"Will you have Peter?"

"We want you to bring all the files containing information against us. You understand that we will be watching you and will know if you miss something."

Arthur looked at the ground and swallowed, "I understand." He hoped they couldn't see his expression. He hoped they couldn't see the hate written in his every pore. Like hell he was bring them the evidence just to hand it over. Like hell he was.

"We will expect you in one hour."

Arthur closed his eyes and tried not to smile. This was perfect. They wanted to bring the war to them? Okay fine, he could play that game. One hour? They wanted him to be short on time. That was fine, he could handle this. He could go on the offensive for real now.

In the blue warehouse, four men sat and waited. They knew Arthur would call the police the moment he thought he was out of range of their cameras. They knew men like Arthur and they understood what made men like Arthur tick. Arthur would come looking for blood, backed by a fleet of officers. They knew this. Still, they sat and waited.

This was something they were good at. All criminals had to be patient if they wanted to survive. The hasty messed up and made mistakes. They weren't making anymore mistakes. The North knew what they had to do and there was nothing Arthur was going to do to mess up their plans.

It was impossible. Arthur was a key figure in what they needed to do, after all. Arthur was a good guy and good guys were predictable. The North were the bad guys and bad guys kept the story interesting. They knew what they were doing.

They had been up all night talking about it and this was the solution they had come up with that solved all of thier problems. They had voted and everyone had agreed.

A phone rang. The cheerful ringtone echoing around the almost totally empty warehouse.

There was a sigh, "Who's is that?"

"Sorry! Mine!"

"I thought I told you to leave it at home."

"Can I answer it?"

"Fine. Then smash it."

"Hello?" There was a soft laugh, "Oh, hi Peter. Sure, you can order pizza, there is a twenty in the third drawer of the bathroom, that should cover it. What? No, don't get bread sticks, you'll never finish them all. Okay, fine."

"Tell him I said hi."

"Berwald says hi! Peter says hi back! What's that? No, there should be milk in the fridge." He covered the mouth piece of the phone, "Berwald? Did you buy more milk?"

"No."

"Oh, sorry Peter, no milk, but there should be some juice concentrate in the freezer."

"There isn't."

"Take that back! Berwald said there isn't. Well, you can always drink water. Water isn't going to kill you! Okay, bye. No ice cream before you go to bed! Bye!" There was a click as he hung up the phone.

There was another sigh, "He's a good kid."

"He trusts us too much."

"You kidding me? He's crazy about you two! He loves you guys and he barely met you!"

"He's too good of a kid."

"Smash your phone before you forget."

"Right." The phone hit the concrete floor and shattered, sending pieces skittering off in all directions. "You owe me a new phone."

"Fine, whatever."

"I want the same phone number though."

"Yeah. I think we can manage that."

"Should we sweep all that up?"

"Why bother?"

"Our signature is leaving the crime scene spotless, we should go out with a bang."

There was a chuckle, "Going out with a bang! Literally!"

One of them got up and started sweeping. "Why are you so morbid?"

"Hey, I'm the one who gets to do all the dirty work, so you have no right to complain!"

"West told me you put on a little show for Arthur earlier today, Norge."

"Yes."

"He said he was impressed."

"Why?"

"He didn't think you had it in you."

"It's not his job to know what we are capable of. It's his job to keep us out of jail."

"Then why are we making his job so hard right now?"

"You're not having second thoughts."

"I wouldn't call them second thoughts, just that maybe we overlooked something. Maybe we don't have to be here."

"We don't have to be here, you're right. We could leave another earpiece and talk to Arthur without it being recorded by the police."

"We could, but there would be no guarantee he actually lets Emil go for good."

"We talked about this last night."

There was a sigh, "I know. Sorry. Nerves I guess."

"No time to back out now. The police are starting to arrive."

So, this chapter is much later and shorter than usual, sorry! School started and is sucking up all of my time! Hope you like it!

As Always, Thank You to my Reviewers!