Sven walked into his small, dingy apartment, knowing no one was there to greet him. He was walking into the kitchen to grab dinner when the phone rang. He grabbed it off the wall and held it between his ear and his shoulder as he searched the fridge. “I don’t apologize, but I can’t come to the phone right now, please leave a message after the beep… BEEP!” “Oh, very funny Sven. We have something to do, so we’ve got to meet up soon.” Came the light voice on the other end. Sven smiled lightly, “Of course, Great Dasha, I am at your connivance.” His voice dripping with Sarcasm, “What does Your Greatness have planned?” He grabbed a coke from the fridge and slid into his worn arm chair. There was a heavy sigh, “Sven, you’re kind of a d****e.” Then her voice went all sing-songy, “There’s money involved.” In an instant a wolfish grin a wolfish grin appeared on his face on his pale face. “Tsk. Tsk. Why didn’t you say so in the first place? That changes everything… for the right price that is.” He chuckled, “And if you picked it, then it had better pay a lot. Because you always seem to pick a job that is less work for you… which means more work for me.” The accusation in his voice lightened by his teasing tone. “Oh, yes. Sooooo much less work for me. Then NO problem, I’ll take the job and the money for myself.” The blonde’s smirk was audible in her voice. “No problem.” She repeated, chuckling. His smile widened even more, “Of course, of course, you could…,” he said jokingly, “But you won’t. Because then I would starve to death, and you would be charged with murder.” He was trying not to laugh, but not entirely succeeding. “They wouldn’t be able to catch me~! If I REALLY wanted you dead, I’d be able to kill you and I’d never be caught. And you~ know it.” Dasha giggled. “Does that make you nervous~?” Sven sighed, overly dramatic, “Terrified. But if you are gonna kill me; can you wait until after dinner? I would simply HATE to die on an empty stomach! Which means you should treat me to a meal, otherwise you’ll have to find a new partner in crime.” His stomach growled loudly. “Oh, as if I know you’re just housing a lion.” She laughed again, “Alright. Pizza at Cecilia’s Diner sound okay? I’ll throw in a smoothie, ‘cause this next assignment is just… wow.” He groaned, “Please tell me it’s not like last time, I almost got shot…Can we get the Meat Attack Ex-large? Ooh!”, he continued excitedly, “and extra CHEESE!” He was already up and scrambling for his keys, “Want me to pick you up?” “Oh, come on. I’ll get you a small. You know I’m a vegetarian. And yes please~ I’ll give you five minutes-any longer and the sodas are on you.” “NO fair! You live 10 minutes away even with my reckless driving!” He laughed, Finding his car keys under a pile of mail, “See ya soon!” He hung up the phone and left his apartment, locking the door. He ran down the wobbly stairs that led to his crappy apartment. Opening his car door and sliding in, he started the car. Sven LOVED his car. It looked like someone had beaten it with a sledge hammer and dumped acid on it. It was ugly with a capital U, but it could run. He turned down the street to the main drag that headed toward where Dasha lived. ---------------------------------- Dash sighed and grabbed her coat before flopping into the chair by the front door. She flipped though the manila file containing the details for the next assignment. “God this one’s a doozy. I’ll have to see Will about this one.” A car horn honked impatiently from outside and Dasha threw her coat on, running out and jumping in the car. “That was… 7 and 3 quarter minutes. You~ my good sir, owe me a soda.” The blonde smirked and glanced over at Sven before hitting him amiably on the shoulder. “So what’s up with you, dude? You never call anymore.” Sven shrugged, his dark hair falling over his bright green eyes. “I’ve been busy… work, class, and… well…” he trailed off, unsure of how to tell her that the nightmares he was positive were gone forever, were back and worse than ever. That his chance at normality seemed to be flying out the window. Dasha narrowed her eyes at the boy, not believing he was telling her the whole truth. “Brat,” she didn’t want to force Sven into something he didn’t want to talk about. “Ah! Left here.” She reminded him. He turned pulling carefully into the packed parking lot. Backing his car in to an empty spot, far away from the other cars, he shut off the car and climbed out. He moaned and walked around to Dasha’s door, forcing it open, “I really need to fix this door…” he smirked, knowing she knew he never would. Holding open her door, he sniffed the air, “Ah… The sweet smell of food!” “Why think you, kind sir. And it smells like dead pig.” She replied cynically. “Yes… dead pig that’s been deep fried and smothered in cheese. All on a doughy crust!” Sven responded in a loving tone. He pulled open the diner’s glass door, “Now let us enjoy a meal while discussing your diabolical plans.” “That’s Disgusti-Wait. MY diabolical plans? OUR diabolical plans.” With a glare at him she walks up to the counter. “One small meat pizza and a personal veggie. Drinks are an a separate bill, but two cokes- one zero, one reg.” He pulled out his ratty wallet and set a five dollar bill on the counter. “No, YOUR plans are diabolical; I just come up with the means to complete them.” He grabs the sodas off the counter and walks toward a table. “Window seat?” “And that makes you my minion, does it not?” She laughed, “Yeah, thanks.” Dasha sat down at the booth and looked at Sven seriously. “I… think we might need to contact William for supplies.” Sven shivered, he did not like William and William did not like him. They had what you could call a Hate-Hate relationship. “Do we have to?” He paused to take a long sip of his soda, “I mean, you do realize that we nearly always attempt to kill each other?” He glanced at her, his green eyes glowing as the fluorescent light reflected against them. “Well, then I’ll just go by myself.” She pouted. “You just need to take me to and from. Wolly LIKES me~ HE’s our supply guy, though and he’s really nice. I don’t get why you two can’t get along.” Sven shook his head, “Not happening. I am not leaving you alone with that sadistic pervert.” His attention temporarily displaced by the food the waitress was placing on the table. He grabs a slice of pizza, burning his mouth, “I’ll go but I won’t enjoy it.” He mumbles though the food. “Tsk! He’s not a sadistic pervert! You’re just jealous because he threatens your manly man masculinity.” She teased. “And you SHOULD be threatened.” She grinned before laughing loudly, taking a bite out of her pizza. Sven glares at her, “He does not. Besides he doesn’t have enough masculinity to threaten mine,” He smirked, “All he does is tinker with that toy robot of his.” He tore into his third piece of pizza, mumbling something about robot girlfriends and sadistic perverts. “Tsk. I find his intelligence VERY masculine, and you don’t have any of that, so he totally threatens you. Besides if will is making a robot girlfriend,” She took a second bite and swallowed, “It’s only because you commissioned him to. Will’s hot; he doesn’t need to make one.” She smirks over at Sven, knowing she was pushing his buttons. Sven leaned back on to the sticky vinyl seat, raising one eyebrow sarcastically, “If he is so ‘hot’, then why isn’t he eating one of those rabbit pizza with you?” He waves a hand at her food, “Hmm?” He was trying not to fall into her trap but he hated the mere idea of Will and Dasha alone… not that he would ever admit it. “But you have one thing in common, you both eat remarkable slow.” Glancing from her barely touched pizza to his half eaten one. “Because he~ is busy. And it’s not my fault we can’t all INHALE our food like you do. Our slow eating… just brings us closer together in the end.” Dasha finished off the pizza part of her slice and throws the crust at Sven, “There, eat the burnt bread.” Sven pantomimes a begging dog, catching it in his mouth. “Wufh. Wufh.” He mumbles though the bread. “Pfft. Good Boy.” She reaches across the table and ruffles his raven hair. He grins, “As Anne would say, ‘all men are dogs at heart.” He chews on the crust, “Now when do we meet Will so I can bite him?” He grins, tugging off a piece of crust. “Umm…” She pulls out her phone, “Let me text him, and ask.” Her thumb flying across the key board, she quickly typed a message. “Don’t tell him I’m coming!” Sven said, “It’ll be a nice surprise!” He grinned wickedly. He has just finished his last slice of pizza and considered the safety of stealing some of Dasha’s. “B’awww, too late! It’s sent.” She smirked at him. Sven just looked at her contemplatively, having just finished considering the pros and cons of stealing part of Dasha’a pizza. His eyes widened and he points over her shoulder, “Well speak of the sadistic pervert and he shall appear.” Then as she turned to look he went to grab a slice, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. “You really think I don’t know you better than that?” She scoffed. “I’m hurt!” Sven tilted his head in mock confusion, “Hurt? What did I do?” He fought the smirk that was forming on the edge of his mouth. “You either think I’m stupid or don’t know you well enough to know you were going to steal my “rabbit pizza” when I turned around. I know you, Sven Alek Bublava, and everything about you. Don’t think you can fool me.” Sven openly pouted, “You could at least PRETEND you didn’t notice.” He suddenly grinned, “If I recall there was a promise of smoothies?” He reached for the crust of a pizza she had finished. “But that’d satisfy your ego.”She stated matter-of-factly. “Right, right.” She sighed, “Rita’s is closer, but Roboks is better. Which one would you like, Oh master who eats a lot?” “ROBOKS!” Sven crowed, drawing attention and glares from the other customers. “What? I like smoothies.” He looked around, feigning innocence and confusion, a silly grin on his face. “God you’re obnoxious.” Dasha gave Sven a sly look, “I’d never have this problem with Willy-will~” Attempting to make it sound romantic. Sven’s eyes widened, “Don’t tell me you…” He choked on an imaginary sob, “don’t tell me you like him more than me?” He puts his hand on his forehead and dramatically swoons onto the bench. Popping back up, he looks at her seriously, “So what’s the deal with this job?” His voice steady and business like, “What will we need to do?” “Well… you won’t like this, but the Society called- We’ve been disappearing and Our traces have been taken off, so none of Us know where We are.” Sven eyes flashed an ice blue for a moment, “Do We have any clues?” He asked, his voice tense. “That’s the sticky part. There are two leads, so… we’re going to have to locate another Pair. Which is one of the reasons we need William.” He ran a hand though his hair, giving it an even more bed-head look. “So I guess I should call Anna? She has knack for finding the hidden.” Stretching his hands over his head, he got up, “Let’s go Will…” “Yay! I love Annie-anne~!” Dasha got up, following Sven out the door.