"Beilschmidt!" Arthur called, swinging open the frosted glass door to the busy headquarters. "What've you got for us today?"

They finally decided to show up to the office around 4 in the afternoon, spending the whole day drinking coffee (or tea, in Arthur's case) and listening to all of Matthew's gossip on the high rollers of New York City.

"I was beginning to wonder when you lazy sons of bitches would finally show up." Ludwig, an intimidating German man, glowered at them from over his desk. "We've had work for you all morning."

"Yeah," Arthur handed his and Alfred's coats to a secretary and grabbed a donut from the box on their boss' desk, earning him a glare. "we decided to sleep in."

"Why is Jones wearing sunglasses?" Arthur looked over at his partner, who was, in fact, wearing sunglasses inside. The truth was Alfred still had a head splitting hangover, and the light outside was driving him crazy. "He already wears glasses."

"Because...I look cool." Alfred answered lamely, removing the second pair of glasses and tossing his hair, pushing the stray lock out of his face. "Anyways, what work did you say you had for us?"

"It's not the Vargas', but we have knowledge of another bootlegging outfit." He slid a file over the table to the pair of detectives. "Take a look."

"Matthias Køhler." He read aloud, Alfred scanned the file over his shoulder. "Operates out of Queens, so this punk's their leader?"

The photograph clipped to the file depicted a blond man with gravity defying hair, an almost feral grin on his face. He looked to be around Arthur's own age.

"Who's that behind him?" Alfred said, pointing at a figure behind the mob leader. "The one glaring at the camera?"

"We have a file on him, too. He's the only other associate of his we're certain of. We have other suspects, but that's Lukas Bondevik, he's always seen around Køhler. We assume he's the hitman, tough kid. Hard to crack."

"Right," Arthur closed the file and looked up to see Alfred sneaking three more donuts out of the box. "So what do you want us to do about it?"

"Go undercover. I want you to find out where exactly they're working out of, and how many are on their payroll. And how many more high-ranking Nordics we have to deal with."

"Maybe we should've come earlier." Alfred said through a mouthful of donut, and Inspector Beilschmidt studied him distastefully. "Do we have to go now? Like today?"

His question was answered for him when Kiku Honda, the new intern, burst into the room, papers spilling out of his hands.

"We've got an emergency, Inspector." He reported, breathlessly. "The agent's you sent out this morning to tail Køhler? Well, one of them is back, sir."

"What do you mean one of them?" Ludwig asked, with an expression that showed he knew exactly what Kiku meant.

"Bondevik, sir. But that's not all. There's news. A showdown." The intern said, nervously. "They operate out of an old warehouse on 97th and 35th. The Vargas mafia is meeting them there."

All three men in the room's jaws dropped.

"Scheisse." Ludwig cursed, standing up and grabbing his hat from the rack. "Honda, alert the Queens department. Kirkland, Jones, you're coming with me. Do you have your guns?"

The private eyes nodded, following Ludwig as they left the building.

Alfred was terrified, his hands were trembling as the three of them strode down the sidewalks to Beilschmidt's car. He'd never been in the middle of danger before. He was still pretty new to the business. All Alfred did was get into people's heads, figure them out and manipulate them into giving the information he needed. He'd never had to actually fire the pistol he kept tucked into his pocket with his ID.

Arthur, on the other hand, kept his green eyes level and mouth turned downward in a pissed off pout. He looked cool as a cucumber, as if shootouts with two dangerous crime families was what he did every Tuesday night. He'd probably had his fair share of danger, Alfred thought. Arthur had been running around the city, sticking his nose into places where bullets whizzed and cops and robbers alike wanted him gone.

Arthur noticed Alfred's nerves as Ludwig stepped around to unlock the sleek black car.

"Hey," Arthur whispered, giving Alfred's hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure it won't come down to a shootout. But if it does," He said grimly, eyes flashing, "I'll protect you."

"Ah, fratello, where are we going?" Feliciano asked from the back seat of his brothers car. Lovino and Antonio had picked him up shortly after he arrived back home and both had been eerily silent since Feliciano got in the car. His stomach twisted at the thought that they somehow knew that he had had lunch with Ludwig earlier, though he knew that it was nearly impossible.

"We got a call earlier, Feli." Antonio said, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.

Feli could feel his heart pounding in his chest. A call from who? About what? Had someone seen him with Ludwig? Did Ludwig know who he was the whole time? Had Feli accidentally told him where they lived? The possibilities that soared through his head made him feel sick.

"A call?" He managed to squeak out.

"It's those damn Nordic bastards!" Lovino shouted. his grip on the steering wheel making his knuckles go white. "They want to meet to talk about territories! They know damn well where the lines are those motherf-"

Feliciano sat back in his seat, relieved, letting his brother's words glide over his head. It was just the gang in Queens.

"Lovi, slow down the turn-!" Antonio cried as Lovino swung the wheel hard, throwing his passengers against the side of the car. They barely had time to recover when they were thrown forward, Antonio almost slamming his head on the dashboard, as Lovino slammed the brakes in front of the warehouse.

"I think I'll drive home." Antonio said with a small laugh.

"I'm gonna go in first," Lovino said, ignoring him, "Make sure they aren't planning to blow our heads off the minute we walk in. I'll shout if I need you, or if you hear shots come and help, got it?"

"Lovi, I don't want you to go in there by yourself."

"Yeah and I don't want them to be able to kill all of us at the same time. Stay here. I'll be fine."

Lovino slid out of the car, not leaving any time for Antonio to argue. As he disappeared into the warehouse, Antonio and Feliciano got out of the car and leaned against it, waiting in anxious silence for a clue as to what was going on inside. A few quiet moments passed before there was a crash and a yell from inside. The two men had their guns drawn in an instant and ran to the door. Just as Antonio reached to open it, it swung open, revealing Matthias Kohler pressing a gun to Lovino's head. With a cocky and slightly crazy looking grin, he motioned for them to get inside.

The moment they entered, they were forced against a wall by Matthias's cronies, who Antonio recognized as Berwald and Lukas, and their weapons were taken from them. Then, with guns pressed to their backs, they were led through the huge shelves that lined the warehouse to the back, where there was a metal chair facing a couch. Antonio and Feliciano were directed to the couch while Matthias shoved Lovino down onto the chair, keeping the gun trained on his head. Berwald stood facing Antonio and Feliciano, his facial expression telling them that they were as good as dead if they moved a muscle. Lukas roughly grabbed Lovino's wrists and tied them together behind the back of the chair.

"I thought we were going to talk." Antonio spat, rage burning in his eyes.

"We are," Matthias smirked, "I just thought you might be more... Agreeable like this."

Lovino scoffed.

"You smug son of a-"

"Ah, ah ,ah, Lovino." Matthias tisked, cocking the gun. "I don't want to hear a word out of you."

Lovino's lips pressed into a thin line. Feliciano looked around the room, panicked. A few other members, Tino and Emil, he recognized them from other dealings they've had with the nordics, watched the scene from near the door. Antonio and Lovino were too mad to think straight, they could get them all killed. But Feli hated dealing with other gangs. They all seemed unstable and crazy. Especially this one. Nonetheless, he couldn't let Antonio do the talking.

"What are your demands, Mr. Kohler?" Feli tried to ignore the enraged looks he got from Antonio and Lovi for giving Matthias any amount of respect. Instead, he focused his eyes on Matthias, who smiled.

"We want to extend our territory. We'd be taking a small portion of your already huge area here in Manhattan, I doubt you would notice-"

"I'd die before I gave up my territory, bastard!" Lovino spat from the chair he was tied to, tipping forward in his violent outburst. Matthias grabbed the front of the chair, holding him up so Lovino's face was barely an inch from the ground.

"Well that's a promising offer." Matthias grinned dangerously. "I might have to take you up on that-"

"You wouldn't dare." Before either of the gun-wielding men could hold him back, Antonio had crossed the room and righted Lovino's chair and grabbed Matthias by the collar. "Don't fucking touch Lovino."

Matthias smirked at the angry Spaniard, but nodded at Lukas to stand down for the moment.

"Ah Carriedo, Lovi's faithful lapdog." Antonio just glared at him. "So are you going to negotiate for yourself, Vargas, or are you going to let your boyfriend do it for you?"

"Fiancé, actually." Lovino said from behind him, having spent the last encounter freeing himself from the rope.

"How did you-" The tall blonde turned around just in time to see Lovino's fist flying toward his face. Feliciano stood up and pulled out his pistol, at the same moment Lukas had already fired three warning shots into the air.

"Careful, Lukas!" Tino cried, panicked. "We can't attract any attention!"

"Too late." A short boy with pale hair said grimly, looking out the window.

"Cops!" The door was broken down and the room fell into mass chaos.

A/N: Sorry this chapter was short, we are NOT abandoning this don't fret, we were having troubles figuring out where the chapter should end. Lots of action in the next chapter, hopefully there won't be as long of a wait ;) As always, favorites and reviews are greatly appreciated, it keeps us motivated to get chapters out sooner! 3