Me: NEXT CHAPTER.
Alfred: What.. no rant?
Me:... Nope! ONWARDS!
Alfred: Wait, why are we in a-
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or Hetalia. GET TO READING!
.::~Matthew~::.
Matthew awoke for the second time that evening, tied to a chair and still in a drug-induced stupor. But as he awoke, he heard loud arguing.
"I 'ave done everything you 'ave asked! You promised nothing would 'appen to 'im!" Matthew perked up at the sound of his boss Francis's voice.
Recollection hit him like a train.
Francis had kidnapped him. No, someone else had to have actually kidnapped him. Francis wasn't strong enough to capture the avid hockey player...
"Sorry mate. Boss's orders. He doesn't think the Justice-man will keep his promise."
This voice sounded… Australian? His brain was still hazy and it wouldn't let him place the accent.
"Give 'im time, mon cher. 'e will come. Trust moi. Everything will go according to the plan." Francis's voice sounded strained, like he was close to snapping at the other man. A different voice chimed in.
"It better. Or else the boss gave us specific instructions to get rid of him." This voice sounded like the man had a slight Spanish accent.
"It was your fault, mon ami! You got mon petit Matthew instead! I showed you 'is picture! 'ow could you have messed that up?" Francis hissed at the men.
"They look exactly alike!" Matthew froze when he heard that from the next room. They were after Alfred, not him! He gasped.
"What was that?" the Australian asked. The second man responded.
"You did knock the boy out, right Francis?" the voice sounded harsh and accusing.
"Oui… I did." Francis's response was short and strained. Matthew heard a phone ring.
"Yeah?" the Australian answered.
"… Bu-" the other voice must have cut him off because he was stopped.
"Okay. Are you- Yes. We'll do it… I understand." He heard the phone click shut.
"I'm sorry, mate. That was the boss. He wants us to do the job now… I'm so sorry mate." Matthew heard a loud smack, along with the thump of something hitting the floor. The door to the room that the three men were in opened.
.::~Justice~::.
Justice hurried into the front lobby, the entire room shrouded in complete darkness. He stiffened, feeling as though the darkness was crushing him… Suffocating him… But he had to buck up, Mattie was in danger and, dammit, he was going to save him!
"You alright Justice?" Guardian asked, his voice cracking through a small ear piece that Justice had.
"Fine. It's just… very dark in here." Justice could almost see Guardian's customary smirk.
"I can fix that." Alfred almost screamed when a ball of blue light appeared beside him, illuminating the area around him.
"What is that?" Justice asked in a high whisper, backing away from the orb of light.
"Oh, don't be a baby. It's called a Léoht. It's just an illumination. It will go away when another light source comes in contact with it. It's not like it's a ghost or something." Justice let out a nervous laugh and tried to touch the orb of light. His hand passed right through it.
"Didn't know you could do this kind of stuff Guardian." He whispered through the ear piece. Guardian paused before responding.
"…I have freaking wings, and that one time where I saved you from the building should have tipped you off that I could do magic." Guardian responded in a sarcastic and mocking tone. Justice frowned.
"Whatever. Can we go over this again…"
Guardian sighed.
"Okay, you'll head up to the fifth floor where Francis should be holding Matthew. Once you get there, distract Francis… He's easy to distract…. Then I'll sneak in from outside and get Matthew. Then you get out of there as fast as possible, do you understand me?"
Justice now wore a serious expression as he got into the elevator, the orb disappearing as the light from the elevator illuminated the empty hall.
"Perfectly… Guardian?"
"Yeah?"
"Stay safe. I need to talk to you once this is over. Don't go disappearing." Guardian paused for a moment, the only noise being the click of the elevator as it rose to the fifth floor.
"Okay. I promise that we'll talk after this." Justice smiled and the doors slid open, revealing a dim hallway. His serious expression returned as he approached the only door in the hallway.
The door opened without a sound and Justice stepped in, looking around for his brother, but there wasn't a trace of life anywhere in the room. The room was elegant but simple, two black leather couches faced each other with a glass coffee table set between them. Other than that, the room had only a few plants and a painting or two on the deep red walls.
Justice frowned and looked around, upon closer inspection he noticed a dark stain on the expensive-looking carpet. It was blood, and it was fresh. He felt his own blood boil. If it was Matt's blood on the carpet, heads would roll. Standing up from examining the stain, Justice noticed a set of wooden double doors with the letters "FB" carved elegantly onto the wood. A small whimper escaped from the other room, making up Justice's mind. Mattie was in that room. He could feel it.
Once Justice had pushed open the double doors, he saw his brother sitting in the middle of the room tied to a chair, his hair slightly covering the side of his face that Justice could see.
"Matt!" Justice's brother looked up, his eyes widening.
"No! It's a-" his soft voice was cut off by a loud slam as the doors were shut behind our hero. Justice looked from the doors to his brother, now seeing what was tied up to a chair that was in back of his brother's. It was Francis, and he was unconscious and bleeding, the red liquid slowly oozing from his temple.
"Hey there mate." Justice turned abruptly, grabbing for his fighting staff and extending it. The two men sitting on and at the desk in the front of the room were staring at our hero who was tensed for conflict.
One man, an Australian, he could tell because of the man's accent, was leaning on the desk, his hair was a light golden brown and it stuck up oddly in the front. He had a warm smile on his face and was dressed like he was going on an adventure out in the outback. His skin was nicely tanned and his eyebrows were thick. The man sitting beside him had dark skin and black dreadlocks. He was wearing a scowl and smoking a cigar, his clothes looked as if he was going on vacation in the tropics.
"Who are you two? What happened to Francis?"
"Oh God, what happened to Francis?" Guardian's voice came rasping through the ear-bud. It sounded worried and annoyed at the same time.
"We were sent by our boss-" began the man with the cigar, he had a slight Spanish accent.
"Lemme guess, AXIS?" The Australian nodded, his smile only faltering slightly before it came back, warm and inviting. The cigar-man only huffed in annoyance.
"Yes, AXIS sent us, 'cause Francis wasn't going to do the job right. So our boss told us to fix it and make sure you never play the hero role again." He seemed to growl out the last statement. Justice 'tsked' and scowled at the men.
"Why doesn't he want me to be a hero? How does he know who I am?"
The Australian responded, his smile turning sad, but serious.
"AXIS is powerful. They have control over a lot. They have dirt on a lot of people… It isn't surprising that they know who you are. We don't know why they want you gone. All we know is that they do." The cigar-man stood and reached behind the desk, returning with a baseball bat.
"Sorry mate, Boss's orders." The Australian smiled sadly once again as the two approached Justice. The cigar-man didn't seem as sad as the Australian, Justice noted. Matthew squeaked, his eyes widening.
"No! Please, stop!" Justice lunged forward, despite his brother's protests.
His staff collided with the bat, making a loud clanging noise. Justice and the cigar-man clashed the two weapons together repeatedly, making clangs and swipes at the other's heads.
Justice had almost forgotten the Australian. He soon remembered when a boomerang whizzed by his ear, grazing it. Our hero jumped out of the way of the returning object as the Australian caught it.
Justice continued to clash weapons with the cigar-man, while extending kicks to combat the Australian who was fighting and throwing his boomerang, always missing our hero by just a hair. Justice couldn't keep this up much longer, he felt his strength and stamina dwindling.
Suddenly, the cigar-man's grip tightened on the baseball bat, but it was no use. The bat seemed to glow and was tugged away from him.
Guardian had joined the fight.
"Took you long enough!" Justice gasped out, clutching his staff while catching his breath, Guardian seemed to melt in out of thin air, his mouth placed in his characteristic smirk.
"Well, you could have told me that it was two against one." He said, jumping out of the way of the cigar-man who had lunged himself at the newcomer. Guardian jumped back, away from the man's punches and grabbing hands, his feet seeming to be walking on air as he danced away. He soon stopped air-dancing and landed a well-rounded kick to the cigar-man's stomach. He gasped and the cigar fell from his mouth.
Justice turned to the Australian who, he learned, was an equal match for Justice's strength. After several minutes, Justice finally felt his stamina running dangerously low. The Australian landed a final punch to Guardian's stomach and he turned away from the doubled-over hero.
"Mate! We have to get out of here!" The cigar-man nodded and kicked away Guardian, sending him flying into the wall that was close. The two men ran out of the room, but not before locking the doors behind them, preventing escape. Justice got up, still in pain from the kick, and hurried over to his brother and the unconscious Frenchman.
"Matt, are you okay?" He asked, untying his brother.
"We need to get out of here!" Matthew responded, struggling away from the chair.
"Wha- Why?" Justice asked, questioning his brother.
"They set up a bomb! I heard them talking about it! We need to get out of here now!" Justice's eyes widened.
"Guardian!"
"On it." Guardian wiped his hand across the length of the window-wall, causing it to shatter and disappear. Justice grabbed Matthew and pulled him onto the Justice Board. The three shot off into the night.
"Wait! Please! You have to save Francis! Please!" Justice looked back at his brother.
"What? He kidnapped you and put your life in-"
"I know what he did! But he really isn't a bad guy! He's my boss, please!" Matthew begged, tears in his eyes.
"I'll get him." Guardian said, turning on a dime and blasting back towards the doomed building.
"Guardian!" Justice called back to him. He wanted to go back and stop him, but Matt had to be as far as possible from the danger. The brothers landed on the street a safe distance from the offices.
"Was there anyone else in there?"
"N-no! Just us four!" Justice nodded and picked up his board to go back to Guardian.
"Can you hear me? Guardian!" Alfred called into his ear-bud. Only static was received.
"Gua-" He was cut off by a loud boom. The two looked back towards the offices. They were on fire, the bomb had exploded. Flames licked across the building, slowly turning it into smoldering ash.
"GUARDIAN!" Justice screamed, Matthew was holding back tears. No response came from the ear-bud. Justice began do head for the offices but was stopped by his brother.
"No! Please! You're Alfred, right?" Justice nodded.
"Please, Alfred! Don't go! I'm not going to lose you! You're all I have!" Tears betrayed Matthew as he held onto his brother. Justice looked back. He couldn't leave his brother. Tears fell from his eyes as the two watched the fire burn and sirens beginning to wail, hurrying towards the fire.
Not fast enough. Justice thought, T-they can't save him… Justice clenched his fists, tears betraying him.
They can't save Arthur.
Alfred: /jaw hits floor/
Me: Mhm. Close your mouth, the bugs will get in.
Alfred: Me... and he... and Francis... But... WHAT THE HELL MAN?
Me: Oh, you don't like the chapter?
Alfred: Was it badass... Yes... Did I like how you left us hanging at the end... NO WAY. NU-UH. NOT GOOD.
Me: Oh, I've already taken percausions. I rented out a bomb shelter to protect us from the people who don't like cliff hangers.
Alfred: ... So that's why we're in here?
Me: Yep. I love this chapter. ACTION AND PLOT DEVELOPMENT! FTW! (/O7O)/ HA! Can't get bricked in the shelter. But, anyway, The bad guys? CAN YOU GUESS WHO THEY ARE? Daaaas right. AUSTRALIA AND CUBA. No, no names for them yet. If people know their official names or names that they think would fit, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY TELL ME. And yes, they ARE henchmen. I don't know what Australia's personality is like so I just made him kinda like Spain... Cause I love Spain. He's so cute.
Alfred: /clears throat/
Me: Ah yes. Right. The ending. WHO. GUESSED. THAT. Oh... Everyone? Realy? Bah, I suck at surprises. (If you didn't guess that, tell me. Please. I want to know if I pulled off the whole 'mystery angel' thing.) But, now I can make the story how I want it. It's gunna be kind of a long story, with different villains and such. Kind of like a... COMIC BOOK! (/O7O)/ YAYYY! But, enough rambling. Toodles~!
Alfred: WAIT! WE NEED TO KNOW IF ARTHUR IS ALRIGHT! NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO GIVE UP RAMBLING! WAIT DON'T CUT OU-
IN THE NEXT EDITION OF HEROES, VILLAINS, AND EVERYTHING ALONG THE WAY: Will Guardian and Francis survive the explosion? Will Justice ever get to tell Guardian that he knows who he realy is? WILL MUFFIN EVER STOP BEING A JERK AND LEAVING HER READERS WITH CLIFHANGERS? (Prrrrooooobibly not on that last one.) Find out NEXT TIME!