Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia: Axis Powers or Black Mirror. All rights go to their creators
Chapter 16: The Break-In
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Matthew was surprisingly really good at axe throwing, having gotten bullseye three throws in a row already.
Matthew, Alondra, Arthur and himself were at an arcade that had a bowling alley, axe throwing, and a bumper car station.
Alondra took three minutes to freak out over the fact that Arthur was an android, not in a good way the poor woman was terrified. They all managed to calm her down and reassure her that Arthur wasn't a threat to the whole of humanity. She'd gotten all of her throws in the inner rings.
Arthur wasn't as good as Matthew, having not thrown it hard enough the first time and hitting the floor.
Lovino laughed at him, while Matthew looked apologetic, Alondra chuckled as well.
"You didn't program him to throw like a little bitch did you, Lovi?" Alondra nudged his shoulder.
Lovino shook his head, still overcome with a fit of giggles.
Arthur let out a growl, "I was just warming up."
The next few were in the inner rings and the last was a bullseye.
"At least you're not a total disgrace!" Lovino said, to which Arthur rolled his eyes.
They lightly applauded him, a trend they'd followed after each of their turns, Matthew had gotten the loudest cheers from Alondra and vice versa.
It was Lovino's turn and his hands were sweaty. The weight of the axe was a little heavy. He threw one as hard as he could and it landed in an upper light fixture. Said light sparked and flickered before blowing out completely.
Lovino was treated to howls of laughter from his three companions. Matthew was trying to hide his mouth behind his hand as he wheezed. Arthur was hugging himself, overcome in a fit of chuckling.
Lovino was shit at this and was starting to regret choosing this as a group hangout. His cheeks were warm and he clenched his fists.
Alondra wiped tears from her eyes, "It's alright Lovi, don't worry about the rest of the game. Let's go eat."
The four of them found a window seat, having gotten pizza to share. Alondra got ham on her side of the pizza, Matthew got mushrooms, and Lovino got pepperoni. Their last quarter was plain cheese.
"So how uh… did this happen, if you don't mind me asking?" Alondra asked, gesturing between the two of them.
Lovino took a bite of his pizza.
"I was originally in an app on his phone, a digital companion before all of that data was transferred to this android."
Lovino looked up, anticipating the looks of bewilderment on their faces, furrowed eyebrows, heads cocked to the side and all. But that wasn't the case. Matthew had a hand on his chin in thought.
"No, no that makes sense, you're like Frosty the snowman." Matthew spoke up then, and Lovino furrowed his eyebrows.
Alondra turned to him before she nodded, "You're right, it's exactly like that but instead of a group of children it's Lovino."
"What?" Lovino heard himself and Arthur ask in unison.
"Where the snowman comes to life because the children love him, eh? It's not uncommon in children's entertainment for a previously inanimate object to come to life through the power of love or imagination." Matthew said.
"That's not what happens, the snowman has a magic hat." Lovino patted his head for emphasis.
"O-oh sorry aboot that, continue." Matthew said, gazing back down at his hands before he took another bite of pizza.
"Being stuck with him as my only companion was some kind of weird catharsis; it was fun hurling insults at him because he hurled them right back, like a 6th love language." Arthur glanced at him, Lovino felt his cheeks warm.
"But it just wasn't enough, and I wanted to experience life outside of the digital void."
"Well that's sweet in a way that fits with you both." Alondra said, grabbing Matthew's hand. "I know Lovino knows how we met, through the cafe, Matthew would put little hearts in my lattes."
"And she convinced Alfred to have us make and sell beaver tails at the cafe during the week of my birthday."
"Oh shit, I remember that! Last year we had these crispy pastries with the cinnamon sugar. I've never seen them sold anywhere." Lovino said, holding up his hands and bringing them together in an oval shape.
"They're a Canadian treat, Alfred and I would get them when visiting our mom's side of the family in the summer. It was so sweet Lonnie made them all week just for me…a-and the cafe." Matthew kissed Alondra's cheek.
The woman giggled in response.
"That is very romantic." Arthur said, giving them a nod.
Lovino took a sip of water as Matthew and Alondra proceeded to feed each other their slices of pizza. Then the two were finished eating their half.
"We're going to head over to the arcade. You two coming?" Alondra asked, as they slid out and got up from the booth.
"I've got a few more pieces, we'll be over in a little bit." Lovino said
"Don't be too long," And then the two trotted over to the arcade area.
Lovino grabbed Arthur's metallic hand and interlaced their fingers underneath the table.
"I-I like hearing the sound of your laugh."
"If I could blush I would, w-what's this about?"
"Ever since I heard it the first time I knew I wanted to keep hearing it." Lovino felt his ears burning, "You asked what it was about you that made me care at all. I know I haven't done anything romantic like putting hearts into your lattes, or singing a song for you, or painting a portrait of you for my gallery, but I-I wish I could. I'm just not–"
"Lovino, darling, I don't need anything extravagant to know that you care about me. It's about the little subtle things." Lovino flinched slightly at the chill of having Arthur's hands on either side of his face.
"You're always looking out for me, and doing things in what you think are my best interest. I adore that, truly. I had to play catch-up essentially. And with my multitude of limitations I often feel like I'm not doing enough to show you I care." Arthur continued, and Lovino was forced to look into his eyes.
"You are, I-I just felt a little inadequate."
Arthur pulled Lovino's face to his chest, he didn't have a heartbeat, just the low rumbling sound of turning gears and cooling fans. "No, never. I should be feeling that way, we can't do a lot of things together because I'm not human."
"I guess we're both kind of a mess huh?" He asked, voice muffled in his shirt.
It was strange to feel so much compassion from Arthur, where exactly did it come from?
Did Antonio rub off on him or something?
It was genuine, he knew, because Arthur only did it to him. But it was quite a difference from before.
Does being in love really make you act weird?
"Yes, but I wouldn't have it any other way."
Lovino felt his lips twitch into a smile. He could worry about it later but for now it was nice.
Lovino ate the last of their pizza and they played a few arcade games. Lovino was a pro at mobile games. They won a few tickets playing mobile app type arcade type games and no prizes at the claw machine. Lovino kicked the machine in frustration and it kind of hurt his toe.Then they got in the bumper cars, Lovino managed to hit Alondra and Matthew at least once. Arthur hit him a few times, along with Matthew.
Alondra and Matthew promised to plan something for them for their next double date. Lovino felt a little down about that knowing it probably wouldn't be happening again anytime soon.
The afternoon was fun and when Lovino got back, he saw a note from Berwald on the refrigerator saying one of his coworkers had an emergency and he had to go back to the hardware store for a few hours.
"Well I guess we're here by ourselves for a little while."
"Movie? Or would you like me to read something to you?"
"Tch. A movie, I don't need you to read to me." Although Arthur's voice put him to sleep sometimes when he did read aloud.
They settled on something in the horror genre because it was October.
Lovino flinched and screamed, hiding underneath the blanket the two were sharing, and peeked through the slits of his fingers during the movie. It was about some kind of man wearing a mask, going around stealing children, but he was previously a magician.
He found himself rooting for the kid to escape at the end though.
"Well that was something. Not terrifying in the least, but still engaging." Arthur said.
Lovino muffed his face, "You knew that shit would scare me!"
"I didn't know exactly how much of a little bitch you were when I recommended it, honest."
Lovino let out a huff as the android kissed the back of his hand, grin and all.
00000
"We're going to find a way out of this. I promise." Arthur paced in front of Berwald's couch where Lovino was sitting upside down a couple of weeks later. The blood was rushing to his head, but he was going to wait until he felt dizzy to get up.
"We're not. Give up like I have and let's ride this out until the party."
"I'm not going to give up! That whole thing you told me that Gilbert said didn't sit right with me. Was it their first time using the machine? I would assume not considering he'd been there for a year. How does it just malfunction? What protocol was in place for that? Why such a rush to cover it up?"
"I don't know! None of that matters anyway. No one murdered him, you were wrong. End of story."
Lovino rolled over to his stomach before sliding to the floor. He got back up, sitting right side up, and shaking his head upon seeing black spots dancing in his vision.
"We have to find out for sure. There's got to be something left over. Security footage, anything."
"Good luck getting in, Hedervary's probably on the lookout for anyone trying to break in."
"Lovino I'm putting all my eggs into this basket, and I need your help to do this. Please." Arthur said, gripping his hands, giving him a pout.
Lovino sighed, "Fine we'll try this last thing. Otherwise, my plan is to hand you over to Honda during the engagement party."
"Great! This plan I have will work."Arthur let out a sigh and flopped himself down onto the couch, next to him. "It has to."
00000
Lovino was trembling as he stood right outside of the Lionessolutions headquarters. Feliciano had made him a delivery man disguise, they lied and told Ludwig it was for halloween. Lovino was wearing a blond wig and blue contacts along with a fake blonde mustache on his face.
Lovino's name tag read Linguini, he gripped the handles of the dolly that had the wooden box with Arthur inside on it.
"Darling I can feel your vibrations through this box, take a deep breath and calm down."
"I can't! Why is this the plan?" Lovino hissed.
Lovino heard static coming from the walkie-talkie attached to his hip, he picked it up and held it up to his ear, "Lovino, just checking in, you good my dude?" Alfred asked.
Apparently Alfred's gaming friend Yong Soo knew how to hack into the Lionessolutions security feed, so they'd be watching while they went in.
Lovino held the button to reply, "No! Fuck why did I let you all talk me into putting myself in the lion's den?"
"Dude you're the only one who knows what you're looking for. We've got your back bro. Plus your android can kick ass right?"
Lovino doesn't know if Arthur has any fighting skills, only that he got bullied a lot by his older brothers. And that typically means he's the weakest, so they might be screwed.
"You'll do just fine, love. I believe in you."
"We'll see." Lovino muttered.
He took a deep breath and blew the air out of his nose. Then he made his way through the glass doors of the building.
The woman at the front desk beamed at him with light brown eyes. She had coffee brown skin and her hair was in pigtails.
"Bonjour!" She said, giving Lovino a wave.
"Howdy, I-I'm here to deliver a package, dude." Lovino tried to pitch his voice higher to imitate Alfred and get into character.
"Who for?"
"A uh…Kiku Honda."
"Oh! Mister Honda isn't in today. But you could leave it here, and I'll make sure it gets to him."
"No can do Miss. I was told it was a very important package and to give it to him personally. Maybe I could leave it in his office?"
"Hmm hold on, let me contact my manager to see what to do."
"No-no! You don't need to do that! How about someone escorts me up and I could drop it off?"
"Good idea! My manager could escort you up!" The woman said, pushing a button and picking up the landline phone on her desk.
Lovino bit his lip as he watched the woman talk on the phone, ecstatically. Then she hung up, "Good News! He should be right down!" One look at the woman's name tag, he could see her name was Michelle.
"T-thank you d-dude."
An overly eager blond haired man greeted him before leading him to the turnstyle and swiping his card to let him through.
They rode the elevator. The man still smiled. Lovino's heart was racing, hands sweating, loudly pounding pulse in his ears. He gripped the handles of the dolly as he swallowed.
The elevator dinged, they were on the fifth floor.
The man led him down the hall before stopping at a particular door. He waved his card in front of a reader. It buzzed before the man pushed open the door. Lovino followed him in, setting the box down in front of him and closing the door.
"This is his office, I suppose you could set the box down in this far corner." Lovino had his hand still on the door handle, before he met the man's gaze from around the box.
"Sir?"
"I'm sorry but I can't let you leave." Lovino said as the man looked at him bewildered.
The box shook and wiggled before he heard… Crackle!
Crackle!
Snap!
The man ran over to Kiku's desk, "Sir I advise you to open the door right now. I've already called security for backup." The man was bluffing, he didn't have a walkie-talkie.
And suddenly Arthur grabbed the man, hooking his arm around his neck. The man sputtered and clawed at Arthur's arm before he passed out. Lovino ran over to dig in his pockets for his key card. He grabbed it off the man and stuffed it in his own pocket.
Lovino heard static again before picking it up as Arthur stuffed the man in the box, he didn't close it all the way so the man could breathe.
"You gotta get out of there dude, some security guards are coming your way."
Lovino held the button on the walkie-talkie, "Alright copy over."
Lovino led the way to the stairs knowing they'd have to go down to the third floor. Alfred told him through walkie-talkie that there was a testing room on that floor according to the floor plans. Lovino would usually complain about having to go down the stairs, but his heart felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.
The third floor looked almost abandoned, he saw a few supply closets and went by empty rooms but saw nothing that resembled the testing room Gilbert mentioned. It seemed that room didn't exist.
Lovino heard footsteps approaching and pulled them into an abandoned room, having opened it with the key card.
Arthur's eyes glowed before casting a dim ray of light over the direction he was in.
"I didn't know you had a built-in flashlight."
"It doesn't usually come up in casual conversation."
There was a large glass mirror on the wall adjacent to the door, it was cracked with a few pieces missing in a spiderweb fashion making it hard to see whatever it was reflecting. There was a small desk, chair and an old dusty monitor in this small room, not seen from the mirror.
Arthur placed his hand on the glass and didn't see his fingers reflected on its surface. "It's a two way mirror. There must be another room next to us but it's been sealed off."
"How are we going to get in it now?"
"Watch out, take a step back." Arthur picked up the chair and smashed it against the mirror twice causing both sides to shatter. Lovino kicked a few glass pieces from off of his boots.
"They defo heard that, and are coming for y'all!" Alfred said from his walkie-talkie.
Arthur stepped through to the dusty closed-off room. He held out his hand to help Lovino through, when he did, he coughed violently, minding stepping on the glass.
Sitting in a layer of dust was a dentist chair with leather straps next to a fried machine with a few hoses coming out of it that connected to a headband that was perched in the seat.
A few paces from the machine was a broken lever that was stuck in the adjacent wall. Lovino saw a spider crawling over the leaver. He took out his phone to snap some pictures of the room. The door was sealed shut, the knob having been taken out, and a seal plastered around the frame.
"Ok but what does this prove? They could've sealed this off because of a hazard."
"There's probably a camera in here…" Arthur trailed off before looking up into the ceiling. "There! I'll give you a boost." Lovino looked up to see a camera covered in cobwebs in the far corner of the room, it looked like it hadn't been powered up in years.
Lovino sat on Arthur's shoulders but still couldn't reach. Arthur crouched back down so Lovino could stand on his shoulders. Arthur held his feet but was rattling and wobbling a bit, "I-I think you're too heavy, and I might collapse."
He was already up here, so he might as well just get it. Lovino popped open the cartridge and pulled out the memory card just as Arthur collapsed, causing Lovino to fall on top of him. He felt a sharp spike of pain from landing on him, right on his ass.
"Fuck!" He hissed.
"Sorry! Are you alright?"
"Probably not." Lovino sat there for a second.
"Take as much time as you need, I can't feel pain." Arthur didn't move from under him, face down on the floor.
"Lovino you've got to get out of there now!" Alfred said from the walkie-talkie.
Lovino groaned, pain throbbing in the lower bottom of his spine. He heard the rumbling of multiple thundering footsteps.
Just as Lovino managed to make it to his feet, he had flashlights and guns pointed at him by security guards that had just burst down the door to the other room. He squinted at the blinding lights.
Lovino and Arthur were handcuffed and escorted to Erzsébet's office once they figured out who he was.
They were sitting in front of her desk, his mustache painfully ripped off, two burly guards stood just behind their chairs.
"Mister Vargas, I must applaud your courage." She leered at him with sea green eyes. Then she held up the memory card, "You really thought you'd get away with destroying and stealing my property?"
Arthur was seething, at least Lovino thought he was, he didn't look scared.
"Please don't break my kneecaps Miss Hedervary!" Lovino bowed his head. "I messed up! Please spare my life!" Lovino felt his eyes wet with tears as he trembled in his seat.
"You really are a pathetic little man. You don't even make capturing you fun. Where's the last shred of defiance? The promise not to back down?"
"I'll do anything! I'll work for you! Whatever, as long as I don't get sent to jail!"
Erzsébet tilted his chin up, and stared him straight in his watery eyes. His vision blurred her face a bit.
"You're too cute. I'll let you go with a fine for breaking and entering. I got what I wanted. That sound good?"
Lovino nodded fervently, the woman scared him so much.
There were two dull thuds and Lovino turned his attention to Arthur who stood up and touched Erzsébet's arm with exposed electrical wires.
Lovino jumped back causing the chair to screech as it scraped across the floor. She spasmed briefly, dropping the memory card.
"What the fuck? She was going to let us go!"
"No thank you for saving us? For getting the memory card?" Arthur grabbed said memory card with the only hand he had left before pocketing it. He had ripped off the other one to taze the two guards and Hedervary.
"I mean yeah that's badass but shit! Warn me next time!"
Lovino got up and Arthur handed him his severed hand, "Hold this please." Arthur squatted down and grabbed the keys to unlock his and Lovino's cuffs.
They made their way out of the room and down seven flights of stairs before finally making it to the entrance. Only to be stopped by security again, and having the memory card confiscated anyway. Erzsébet said she enjoyed their last act of defiance, and they were thrown off the property.
00000
Lovino hobbled a bit, lower back still hurting from the fall. They were back at Berwald's house. Berwald was currently out doing some grocery shopping, he'd left a note.
"Well that failed spectacularly." Lovino turned off his walkie-talkie as he heard a thud.
Arthur had dropped to his knees, "I feel…l-like I can't breathe."
"You can't." Lovino walked over to him, as he clutched his chest, bunching up the fabric of his shirt.
"It's like everything's closing in…I-I can't."
Lovino pursed his lips, "What's going on?"
He let out what sounded like a choked sob.
Lovino didn't know he could cry, there were no tears, but he assumed it made sense in the grand scheme of things. If he had feelings, then he could cry.
Lovino squatted down although it took a little while because he was still sore, and wrapped his arms around the android.
He hoisted him up and carried him to the couch. Once Lovino laid him down, he continued to let out what sounded like more sobs.
"We tried, there's nothing else to do really." Lovino said. He went into Berwald's kitchen and looked through his drawers for some electrical tape. When he found a roll, he went back over to where Arthur was.
He turned Arthur off so he wouldn't shock himself and reconnected the wires in Arthur's hand with the ones coming out of his arm by wrapping together the ends of each wire in tape.
Then Lovino turned him back on, pleased to see Arthur flex his newly reattached fingers briefly. "Thank you, although all for naught."
Arthur rested his head on Lovino's lap.
Lovino stroked his cheek with his thumb, smooth like porcelain glass. Arthur had the easy part, once Kiku decided to reprogram him, he would forget all about Lovino, back to being unaware.
Lovino would be the one who would have to move on without him.
A/N: We're down to the wire essentially, pun intended.
Thank you for reading!
Constructive criticism welcome.