I finally succeed in writing a fic while hammered. So…eff if I know how good I did. Anyways….chapter seven of ICE is almost finished. Some of it got erased so its taking longer to finish but it's almost done. And this story here is basically about…the wonders of Snow. I don't know how many chapters it will consist of…review when you want more please. This story won't be very long. A few chapters I think. Yeah. Some implied H/T

Please review and let me know what you think.

I do not own Static Shock…dammit. Eff it all.

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The Wonders of Snow

Chapter one

Crash!

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The cold. It was practically unbearable.

Shiv pulled his covers tighter over his body, shivering and thinking that a subway station in the middle of winter was not the best place for a bang baby gang to be squatting at. For heaven's sake he was wearing a stolen winter jacket to bed. Either way, he couldn't argue. Where else were they going to go? A nice warm cozy condo? He didn't think that was very logical. No. Not at all. And so, as he watched his breath form in the air, Shiv wrapped himself up as best he could, debating on whether or not cozying up to Hotstreak would be a good idea. A few seconds of pondering and he decided against it. And he wasn't about to nudge the pyro awake to get him to warm up the room. No. If there was one thing you should never do to an aggressive hothead like Hotstreak, it was waking him up. But god, it was so cold…

A crash! Shiv jolted upright, surprised by the loud suddenness of metal clanging against metal. Another crash, and Shiv's eyes went wide. He quickly fixed his hands to oversized light energy blades and backed off of his worn mattress, nearly getting tangled in his before used covers. He scooted back on his knees, waiting for whatever was in the dark tunnel to show itself. Bang again followed by a howl. Shiv yelped, fell back, stumbled over Ferret ( Did you think I would write a fic with no Ferret in it? Lol) who grumbled in response, and crawled clumsily over to where Talon slept. Nudging her gently in the shoulder, he whispered for her to get up. "Talon," he hissed. "Talon wake up. Come on."

With an agitated moan Talon's head rose up to rest her blurred sleepy vision on the purple haired meta-human beside her. "What do you want?" she asked, tired and angry.

"Something's in the tunnel," his shivering voice exclaimed. He peered back towards the way the sound had come from and back to Talon, waiting for her to chase off whatever was coming for them.

"It's probably just the rats now go back to sleep." Following her own advice, she rolled over under the covers and groaned a "turn the heat up," to the body laying next to hers. The redheaded form though only went about his snoring, and unlike Shiv, slept lightly in just his jeans, tee and hoodie.

"Rats don't howl, Talon." But the feathered woman only ignored him and snuggled up further into the human heater. He heard it again. "Oh man." The scared to hell Shiv crawled in beside Talon, stuttering from fear. "There it is again!" He quickly shoved his face into her back and held onto her waist, hoping that maybe the thing in the dark wouldn't take him if he was holding onto her. It was quite a funny site though; a scared little boy hopping into bed with his mommy…

"Shiv get out of here," Talon growled, pushing Shiv away. But the blade wielder was persistent. "You're being ridiculous Shiv. Now stop it."

The metal banged again, and this time Talon heard it. She stalled in her attempts to rid her bed of Shiv and brought her eyes over to the dark subway tunnel. The only thing she could see was the train's silhouette, one of two rugged couches holding a bundled up Kangor, and a broken down vending machine. "Maybe its just another homeless person," she said, as if the homeless making their way into their abode was an every day accurance. Then the howl. She flinched and quickly turned to Hotstreak, shaking him awake.

Shiv didn't know what was scarier now. A howling monster in the dark, or a really tired and pissed off Hotstreak. "What?!" yelled the redhead, his gelled hair amok, skin smoking and green eyes blazing. Yup, a really tired and pissed off Hotstreak was the scariest thing to Shiv right now. "This better be good," he muttered.

"Hotstreak," Talon seemed not to be intimidated by the fiery teen. "There's something in the tunnels. Go check it out."

Hotstreak only groaned and rubbed his drooping eyes. "Get the hell out of my bed, asshole," he grunted, shoving Shiv off of the mattress and rolling over to sleep.

"No there's really something there," Shiv insisted. There was the howl again, though it was more of a whimper this time. Still, it was strange enough for Shiv.

"Its probably just rats," Hotstreak said.

"No it's not."

"Then there's a homeless person. Go get rid of it."

"But…" there was a the sound again, and all three heard now. Hotstreak sat up and rested on his hands, straining his ears for anything else.

"Maybe it's a really big rat," he said, quietly. He didn't want to draw whatever the thing was's attention to them anymore than they already had.

"Jesus, I'm trying to sleep over here," a groggy Ferret whimpered as he too sat up at the commotion. "What's going on."

Shiv still stared warily into the darkness and whispered to the other meta-human that something had found its way into the subway.

"For the love of…" the brunette muttered. "It's probably just rats."

"Would everyone stop telling me that its just rats!" Shiv was getting rather annoyed. "Its not freakin' rats. Jeeze. It's something else."

"Well," Hotstreak concluded, "Then go see what it is."

"I'm not gonna go see what it is, you go see what it is."

Talon rolled her eyes and Ferret sighed, pushing himself up to sit on his knees.

"Hey, I'm not going. You heard it first."

"You're the braver one though," Shiv whined and bounced on his knees.

"I'm trying to get to sleep. Ferret, you go see what it is."

Ferret grunted and then shrugged. "I don't know Hotstreak, I mean, it's dark, it's late, it's cold and I'm just content with curling up on my bed and…"

"You're gonna be content with my foot up your backside here in a minute. Now go check it out."

Ferret, not one to argue with such an aggressive case, simply mustered up the strength to stand and wondered why he and Kangor were even here in the first place. Zipping up his Jack Daniels Hoodie he grudgingly made his way to the subway train, the cold tile floor causing him to put his worn held-together-with-duct-tape shoes. But, he was tired and he just wanted to go back to bed. If putting up with Hotstreak's bull and Shiv's whining was going to get him back under those warm Mexican covers faster, then so be it. That is, until the loud howl came again. It was a lot closer this time. "Whoa, I'm not going any further," said Ferret. "Hell's no. Not without any backup."

"Don't be such a wuss," Hotstreak told him, sitting up to get a better view. He thought about how hilarious it would be if whatever was in the subway jumped out and attacked the defenseless Ferret. He smirked to himself, but was brought back to reality when Talon pushed him and Shiv to go help out Ferret. "Come on, he's fine."

"Just do it, ok? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can all get back to sleep."

Hotstreak sighed, stood up and after slipping his shoes on dragged Shiv with him over towards Ferret. Shiv was resistant at first, but after the hand on his arm started to heat up he could only give in. Not any less scared either. Upon reaching Ferret's point the three then set off together to search for the source of the noise. Talon hung back, letting the boys handle this little fiasco. Hey, maybe they'd all get butt whooped and she could finally be rid of the bickering bunch. That would teach them. No, she thought. That's a bad thought right there. She then shrugged, "Still..."

The three young meta-humans made it only about ten feet before a very irate Ebon popped out from the front of the train. The surprise caused Ferret to yell, Shiv to lash out with his eyes closed, and Hotstreak to bring fire to his hands. Luckily though, the yelling and the lashing and the fire didn't affect the meta-breed leader, though he was nearly surprised to death by the three of them..."Christ, gimme a heart attack," he murmured, holding his hand to his heart while in the other he held a metal bat, apparently to use on whatever was creeping about their subway station.

"Let us guess," Hotstreak said. "You heard it too?"

"Yeah, woke me right up. I think I got it cornered though?"

After three confused looks came his way he lead the group to the front of the train, kneeling down and gesturing them to do the same. Upon further inspection of the noise making creature, the group came to dub it, a dog. A small white puppy to be precise.

"Quick," Ferret said. "Shiv go get my Slim Jims."

"You have Slim Jims?" the other meta-human said, apalled. "And you didn't share any?"

"Would you just go get 'em. They're inside the mattress."

So, Shiv thought. That's where he's been stashing them. And so, he quickly went to retrieve said Slim Jims and handed an open one to Ferret. "Alright," he said and held the meat out towards the whimpering canine. He couldn't make out what the animal had been howling about; right now it was just whining. He decided not to worry about that now and just worry about getting the puppy out. "I could use some light down here," he muttered. Hotstreak remedied the situation with a fiery hand which only seemed to frighten the puppy more. It moved further away from Ferret's hand, not even bothering to go for the food.

"Maybe it's not hungry," Hotstreak said, pulling his hand away.

"It's hungry," Ferret assured him. "It's just too scared."

"I really don't give a damn," Ebon snarled. "Just get rid of it."

"Chill ok?" Ferret looked back at Ebon, obviously intimidated by the man's glare. "It's not easy." He looked over to Shiv who still had his energy blades out and called him over.

Leaning over the other Bang Baby, Shiv asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Can you make a lasso with your hands? Or something we could use to put around its neck."

Shiv nodded, grabbed the Slim Jim and knelt down with a light energy rope ready to put over the puppy's head. Of course, he had to make a trek shoving himself under the subway train so as to get closer to the whimpering creature. "Ow," he muttered as he hit his head on the underside of the train. "Dammit…" he scooted closer to the puppy, the light from the energy rope illuminating its body, but scaring it less than Hotstreak's fire. When he thought he was a good enough distance from the puppy, he held out the snack to attract it.

The puppy, still whimpering, was obviously hungry. After realizing the light energy wasn't going to hurt it, it tried to get to the tasty treat before it, licking its chops. Unsure of who these strangers were, the puppy was at a fork. Take the food, or run away and probably starve. Good thing for its young age, otherwise it might had just ran for the hills.

"There we go," the others heard Shiv say as he squeezed back out of the underside of the subway train. Both Ferret and Hotstreak were boggle eyed at the small white puffy thing that was puppy. The animal quickly scarffed up the treat in Shiv's hand and was begging for more, trying to lick at his face and then bark with its persistence.

"Dude how'd a puppy get down here?" Hotstreak questioned and pet it on the head, smirking as it licked at his fingers.

"Hey Talon!" Shiv screamed as he rushed over towards the female bang baby. "We got a puppy!"

"Oh no…" Ebon sighed.

"Oh my gosh she is sooooo cute!" Talon exclaimed and grabbed the little puffball from Shiv's arms and cuddled it. "Oh and she has those pretty blue eyes, oh my gosh." The puppy didn't seem at all fazed by being passed around and took joy in thanking these newfound friends with kisses and nibbles and nuzzles.

Finally, Kangor came to consciousness when Ebon shook his shoulder. "Wus goin on?" the tired Jamaican asked, rubbing his eyes. "What?"

"We got a puppy!" Shiv nearly busted Kangor's eardrums when he said this, holding the puppy up into his face and forcing Kangor to take little licks from it. Of course though, Kangor was not approving of such a behavior and asked, while pushing the animal away, what the hell had happened. While Ebon explained to his friend about the crashing heard earlier--which Kangor surprisingly slept through-- Talon, Ferret, and Shiv were all taking turns petting and cuddling the cute furball with all there might.

"Oh can we keep it Ebon?" Shiv begged, holding the puppy to his face, pouting with his lip up at his leader. "Can we, can we, can we?! We've never had a pet and Ferret's not much fun…"

"Hey," came Ferret's response.

"Oh please, please, please, please, pleeeeeaaaaase?"

"What?" Ebon was damn near flabbergasted. "No we can't keep it. We have a hard enough time keeping our selves. We're not adding some mutt into the mix."

"Please Ebon. I'll take really good care of it."

"Yeah come on Ebon," Talon said, sure that her ways of persuasion could change Ebon's mind. "It's obvious she likes us…plus she's sooo cute. I mean, how can you say no to such a sweet little face?" She squeezed the puppy's face with her fingers until it looked near like a hamster because of its fur being pushed forward.

"No we ain't keepin' it. What have I said before about animals?"

"But…" Shiv insisted.

"No buts. The dog leaves…now."

"Oh come on," Talon said. "It's just a poor little defenseless baby."

"Yeah I'm surprised it's still alive at this age," Ferret commented. "What with the weather and everything."

"And you know how Shiv got last time you got rid of his pet," Hotstreak put in.

Ebon barely acknowledged the time he had gotten rid of Shiv's last pet, a cat called Kringle because Shiv had found it just after Christmas last year. "I said no."

All bang babies aside from Ebon and Kangor sighed and murmured and looked down at the floor. Shiv looked damn near heartbroken as he held the happy puppy against his chest, and still showed his pouty lip.

"It's too cold for her out there," the purple haired meta-human muttered as he nuzzled the puppy's head. "And she's so happy here. Look at her."

"Come on Ebon," Talon said. "Just for tonight?"

"Just to keep Shiv just a tiny bit sane," Hotstreak told him. "If that's even possible…" he took a glance at the other meta-human holding the puppy.

"Would it kill ya mon," said Kangor, still laying back on the couch, looking up at the shadow man with a raised eyebrow. "For one night?"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Talon asked.

"Yeah, really," Shiv said.

"Fine alright!" Ebon growled. "It can stay." He then pointed a finger at Talon. "But just for tonight." He then brought his finger over to Shiv to make sure the other understood him. Shiv nodded with a smile of glee plastered on his face as he swung the puppy around in a circle, happy to have at least just this night with it.

"Yay!" was all he had to say.

"We all good then?" Ebon asked, looking at each of the bang babies in the room. All others nodded and with a "alright" Ebon turned to get back to his solitude of a bed within the train, and Kangor just rested his head on the arm of the couch and looked over at Ferret, who waved a good night before patting the puppy on the head for one last time. He then returned to the warm comfort of Mexican fleece comfortors.

Talon and Shiv played with the puppy for another few minutes, feeding it more small snacks and then giving it a trickle of bottled water. Talon sighed as she pet the puppy behind her ears, and was rewarded with a paw on her arm and a tongue sticking out. "I suppose we should get back to sleep, huh?" she eyed Shiv who only giggled at the puppy's obsessive need for attention. "Go back to bed." She rolled over to see that Hotstreak had long ago embraced the feeling of sleep and smiled before she too joined him in slumber.

Shiv crawled over to own bed set up and the puppy followed after, eager to be with its newfound master, not knowing this would be their first and last night together. "Come on puppy," Shiv said to it, pulling it under the covers with him. "You get to sleep with me." The puppy, in response yipped and after seeing Shiv yawn, yawned itself and snuggled in next to him, moaning a puppy moan. Shiv giggled and snuggled with the puppy, falling asleep fast.

XXX

This chapter used to be longer, but just wait for the next one. Hehe, and we'll see what happens.

Mexican fleece blankets are soooooo awesome. Wait…are they fleece? I don't know but…they are still soooooo awesome.