Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Warnings: Language, violence, AU, boy love, POV shifts (maybe?)

Pairings: US x UK (primary), France x Canada, Germany x Italy (implied, for the most part)

Summary: Arthur, Matthew, and Francis are the best agents in their countries. When they get transferred over to a top secret, high security branch in America, they begin to have their doubts.

England: Oh, great. Now you're doing two at the same bloody time?!

Me: Yup~!

America: You're probably going to die. ._.;

Me: Yup~!

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Episode 1: Project Pandora's Box (Part 1)

~*~*~*

Arthur Kirkland sighed and ran his fingers through his pale blond hair. He rubbed his tired, emerald eyes and tried not to think about his last mission. That backfired and he groaned before he walked into the kitchen to make his morning tea.

The mission had been incredibly easy: protect the museum, its artifacts, and the occupants. That particular museum was having a party to show off all of the artifacts it owned, but the centerpiece was a medium-sized, ivory statue of Anubis. Legend stated that the statue was cursed, although Arthur couldn't remember what the curse was exactly.

It was the damn statue that had caused the problems. Everything had been going well that night, until Arthur had gone to take a look at the statue. That was when he noticed something dark about it. He had sensed something off about the Anubis statue. It was only when Arthur saw what appeared to have been a ghost behind the statue that he acted on instinct. Funny thing was that nobody else noticed that Anubis was starting to turn pitch black.

Still, Arthur had grabbed the statue, calmly telling the others that it was secret service business, and power-walked up to the roof. When he got to the roof, two men were waiting for him. Needless to say Arthur was surprised, but they said that they were from the government and he could do nothing but give the statue to them. He had given them Anubis, only to have them put it inside a stainless steel suitcase. Arthur could have sworn that when they put it inside, he heard a screech of both anger and pain.

Explaining what had happened to his superior got him suspended.

That was why Arthur was currently at his apartment with nothing better to do.

"Oh, bloody hell," he cursed when the phone started ringing. Arthur sighed, poured himself a cup of tea, and went to answer the phone. "Arthur Kirkland."

"Arthur, you are one lucky duck right now," the deep voice of his superior made him forget what he was doing. Why the hell was he getting a call from him?! "You are being transferred over to a high security branch in America."

"W-what?!" Arthur sputtered, almost choking on his breath. The man on the other line chuckled at his reaction.

"You were recommended by a couple of agents last night. From what they were saying, it sounded like they needed you over there," came the cryptic reply. Arthur wanted to ask more, but he was cut off. "You're plane will be leaving in an hour. I suggest getting to the airport ASAP, instead of bothering with packing."

The man hung up, leaving Arthur to stare blankly at the phone. Things were either looking up for him, or they were only going to go downhill from there. The knock at the door interrupted his train of thought and he briskly went over to open the door.

"Just this one, sir," the person in charge of the mail told him. Arthur thanked him and closed the door. He stared at the envelope as though it would bite him (and with his luck, it might actually do that). The agent knew what was inside it and sighed.

America, here I come.

***

The long flight to Phoenix, Arizona was long, dull, and exhausting for the blond Briton. Arthur sighed in relief when he got off the plane and into the terminal. That was when he noticed that there was someone waiting for him, if the white board that had "Arthur Kirkland" in big, red letters was anything to go by. Only slightly annoyed, he went over to the person holding up the sign.

"Good, you're here. We still have a little bit to wait, though. Still got one more person to wait for," the man gruffly told him. He then pointed to a seat next to another, younger man and Arthur obediently sat next to him.

This youngster had blond hair that was kind of…poofy and reached to a few inches above his shoulders. His eyes were a merry blue and wore glasses. The clothes he wore were casual, unlike Arthur's (he always wore a suit). He seemed kind enough.

"Good morning. I take it you were assigned here, too?" he asked softly. It took a moment for Arthur to figure out whom he was speaking to.

"Ah, yes," Arthur replied, and fidgeted a little. The Canadian smiled in understanding. He looked as though he had been assigned over long-distances before, if his relaxed posture was anything to go by. He also seemed like he was going to say something, but they were interrupted.

"Bonjour! Pardon my tardiness, but it takes a bit longer to get here from France," the light French accent caused them to look at the newcomer. He had caramel-colored hair, although it leaned more toward the blond side of the color. His eyes were a bright, almost seductive blue. The French man's clothes were casual, but they seemed to make him stand out in a crowd.

"M-maybe we should introduce ourselves before leaving. I'm Matthew Jones," Matthew said to the two agents. He was nervous, that was apparent, but he was strangely calm about the re-assignment.

"Ah, Mattheu, such a handsome name! I am Francis Bonnefoy!" somehow, somewhere, Francis had pulled out a red rose, kneeled to the ground in a fashion that made him seem like he was proposing, and held out the flower to Matthew. His face had blushed a bright scarlet and shyly took the rose. Arthur was only slightly disturbed by the French man.

"Right. I'm Arthur Kirkland," Arthur stated bluntly, merely nodding his head in greeting. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't get a rose. That hope came true, but somehow he wished it hadn't. Getting a rose was preferable to having his ass groped (although, Arthur's reaction to the grope was stomping on Francis' foot as hard as he could).

"If you lunatics are ready to go, we have a cab to catch," the burly, mocha-colored man told them. His words made all three of them sheepish as they followed him out of the airport.

***

Even though it took them about five minutes to reach their destination, it felt like an eternity to the three agents. The silence that was between them was awkward and nervous. In all honesty, they didn't want a repeat of the airport incident if it annoyed the burly man so much.

"Here we are. Good luck, you three," his voice interrupted their thoughts as the cab stopped. Hesitantly, Arthur opened the door and the three got out. As soon as the door was closed, the car took off, abandoning them in the desert. They hadn't noticed, since they were too busy staring at the rundown shack in front of them.

Not seeing much of a choice in the matter, the three agents walked toward the shack. Francis was the one who opened the door, allowing the other two to get inside first. The inside surprised them greatly, since it looked more like the waiting room of a doctor's office and there was more room on the inside than from what it looked like on the outside.

This…has got to be a joke. The three thought simultaneously as they looked around the whitewashed room. There was a reception counter and an Italian man was standing there. He hadn't looked up from whatever he was doing, which caused the trio to be only slightly nervous. Abruptly, the brown-haired Italian looked up at them with a bored expression and pressed a button on the intercom next to him.

"The newbies are here," he said before holding out passes for the three, "Show these to the door and go inside."

They obeyed and went to the stainless steel door. There were two holes on either side of the door. When they held up the passes, a blue laser scanned the barcodes and the door hissed before gently opening. The sight that greeted them was…unexpected.

"OH-NOOOOOOOOOOOO! LUDWIG IS GOING TO KILL ME! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THESE GUYS COMING!" another Italian man who looked scarily like the receptionist ran passed them, his arms loaded down with a stack of papers that went way over his head. The only difference between the two Italians was that this guy's hair was a few shades lighter and had a more pleasant attitude.

"What the hell are you screeching about, Veneziano?" a blond-haired, blue-eyed German had stepped out from behind a bookcase, his arms also laden with paperwork. When he looked at the three agents, he sighed. "Kiku! The new agents are here."

As soon as the German had called, a Japanese man seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He gave them a look before bowing politely to them. Unsure, the three bowed awkwardly back.

"Welcome. Please, follow me. The superior will tell you what you need to know," Kiku told them politely as he turned around and started walking away. Arthur glanced at the other two, who merely shrugged, before they followed the Japanese man.

They were going passed countless bookshelves that seemed to form cubicles until they got to another stainless steel door. Kiku opened the door and said something quietly in Japanese. Of course the three agents followed him inside, and they gaped at the mounds of papers that cluttered the small office. Nothing in the room was organized and it made Arthur twitch just looking at it. The only thing relatively organized were the books sitting on the shelves along the back wall.

Carefully, Kiku walked around the desk and whispered something in someone's ear (the person was shielded from sight thanks to the papers). He then bowed to the hidden person and the other three agents before leaving the room.

"Sorry about the mess," a muffled voice told them and they heard the shuffling of papers. The man chuckled nervously as he walked out from behind the papers. His short hair was also blond and his sky blue eyes were…intense. Arthur just wasn't able to put his finger on it, but discarded the thought. The man's clothing was the plainest of them all, since he was only wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, shoes, and a tie. Although, there was something vaguely familiar about him…and he wore glasses, too.

"A-Alfred?!" Matthew exclaimed incredulously. Francis and Arthur gave him blank looks. He knew this guy?

"Hi Matty!" Alfred replied with a huge grin, "That reminds me. I'm Alfred Jones, Matt's older twin brother. Don't bother telling me your names. We knew you guys were coming."

Seriously, this has to be a joke… Arthur thought as he stared at the American agent. It looked like Alfred was waiting for someone to ask a question. The Briton felt tired all of a sudden. He sighed and braced himself for the worst.

"Would you mind telling us why we're here, exactly?" Alfred just smiled, completely ignoring Arthur's tone of voice. That annoyed him a bit.

"You three are here because you guys can see and hear things most people can't. When I say "things," I mean stuff that deals with the paranormal, occult, and all that jazz," the American told them cheerfully. There was silence.

"I don't think I heard correctly, but did you say that this branch of the government deals with," Francis trailed off before ending with a, "with hocus-pocus?"

It seemed like Alfred was expecting that kind of response. The smile never left him, though, and it was starting to grate on Arthur's nerves.

"I wouldn't say hocus-pocus, but, yeah, that's the gist of it," Alfred replied cheerfully, "This branch is much more dangerous than you realize, of course. So, I need to say that in this line of work, you either get killed, lose your mind, lose your soul, or much, much worse. You see, we're in charge of gathering not only genuinely magical artifacts, but also to make sure the mythological creatures don't cause mass mayhem and panic."

During the rant (which he said in a scarily cheerful tone), the American had dug out a laptop from a huge pile of papers. Alfred gestured for the three to follow him and exited his office. Arthur's head was spinning by the fast pace he was setting information-wise. He wasn't quite sure what to believe.

"All right! Allow me to introduce you to my sadly overworked team! You met our receptionist, Romano, of course. I'd watch what you think around him; Romano is one crazy telepath," the young man commented, still wearing that infernal grin, "He's the only one on my team who can communicate via telepathy with other telepaths and his brother. Basically, Romano is not just reception, but our little security alarm, too.

"You've also met Kiku. He's our lab and research specialist. If you have a question or need a sample analyzed, then he's the guy you call. You can also ask send him a piece of an artifact if you need to know its past. Kiku is wonderful at reading the past of objects and can tell a fake from the real deal.

"Ludwig is the German and you'd better remember him if you need a warrant. He'll get it to you in less than an hour, usually. Don't ask him how unless you want to take over his position. Anyway, Ludwig has the manipulative aspect of telepathy, but he's got a strict moral code on that. Don't worry about it too much.

"Finally, Veneziano is Romano's younger twin brother. He doesn't have telepathy, but he does get visions of the possible future. Veneziano is in charge of phone calls and case files, with Ludwig's help. He's the guy you'll be going to if you want to dig up some dirt on someone," Alfred had finished the lengthy introductions in a fond voice. He had been leading them down the maze of bookshelves in a confusion of twists and turns. Arthur was vaguely wondering what they were getting themselves into.

Eventually, they stopped at a rusted, iron door. The blond American had taken out his ID card and swiped it through the card reader. Then a blue laser shot out from the wall and into his eye, apparently scanning it for identification purposes. Finally, with a hiss and a mournful groan, the door opened on rusted hinges. Alfred winced.

"Sheesh, we need to oil those things at some point," he muttered before going inside. When all four of them were inside, the three newbies gaped in astonishment. It looked as though they had stepped into a warehouse that stretched on for eternity. Alfred leaned against the black, metal railings, a soft smile on his face.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Project Pandora's Box."