Disclaimer: I would really like to own Hotstreak but sadly, no
Chapter Two: Stakeout From Hell
Talon perched on a gargoyle and stared through binoculars at the street below. People scurried to and from buildings in the dying Saturday light. "Any sign of them?" Ebon's voice crackled over a walkie-talkie and disturbed the serene silence.
Talon sighed and pulled the walkie-talkie out of her pocket. "Nothing yet." She said into the mouthpiece.
"Well keep an eye out. I'm going to check in with Hotstreak..."
"Tell her I say hi Ebon. C'mon, tell her!" Shiv's voice overlapped Ebon's.
"No! Shut up and keep looking out the window!" Ebon shouted.
Talon smirked and turned the walkie-talkie off. Lovers' quarrels weren't meant to be broadcast.
She was supposed to be looking for Static or Gear while Ebon and Shiv broke into Dakota National Bank.
Then there was Hotstreak and Ferret at the fairgrounds on the other side of the city. They were decoys, meant to lure Static away from the real crime with some small nuisance.
'With Hotstreak's destructive mentality and Ferret's natural talent for getting into trouble, those two should have no problem distracting Sparky.' Talon thought with a wry grin. She focused the lens and frowned. Had that been a spark of electricity in the distance?
Yes! Static and Gear zoomed into sight from around a skyscraper. Talon shrunk back into the gargoyle's shadow and let them pass her. She flipped the walkie-talkie back on.
"I've got 'em Ebon. They're heading east towards the bay."
"Great. Hotstreak, you on the channel?" Ebon asked.
"Why? Why did you do this to me? Is it because I drank your beer you vengeful bastard." Hotstreak's voice sounded gravely and far off, and annoyed.
"Shut up. Get to work making some trouble." Ebon ordered.
"Fine."
Talon heard the click as Hotstreak turned off his walkie-talkie. "What do I do now?" She asked.
"Come to the bank 'n give Shiv and me some cover." Ebon clicked off.
Talon spread her wings and paused, to relish the feeling of the soft summer wind bristling through her feathers. Then she took a step and plunged straight down, pulling up before she dropped more than a story and arced gracefully through the air towards the bank.
Ebon stared at Shiv who stared out the window at a bird sitting on the sill. Shiv waved at it. "Hi bird!"
The bird startled and flew away. Shiv's face fell. "Awwww."
Ebon chuckled. "It's a bird dude."
Shiv turned in his chair and grinned at Ebon. "Yeah, but it was such a cool bird. It was blue!"
"Like a blue jay?" Ebon asked sarcastically.
"Precisely." Shiv nodded. "Would a purple bird be cool? I think it would." Shiv ran a hand through his purple Mohawk.
"Yes, very cool. I'm going to call Talon." He picked up the walkie-talkie lying on a card table nearby. "Watch the bank." He ordered.
Shiv turned back around to watch the bank across the street.
Ebon pressed a button on the side of the walkie-talkie. "Any sign of them?"
"Nothing yet." Talon answered.
"Well keep an eye out. I'm going to check in with Hotstreak..."
Shiv jumped at Talon's voice and ran across the room, trying to wrestle the walkie-talkie from Ebon. "Tell her I say hi Ebon. C'mon, tell her!" He shouted in the general direction of the mouthpiece.
Ebon grabbed Shiv's shirt and shoved him away. "No! Shut up and keep looking out the window!"
Shiv groaned and walked back to his chair, shoulders slumped sadly. Ebon softened. "Well, ummm. Want a Mountain Dew? Huh? You love Mountain Dew." Ebon reached into a cooler by his chair and held the forbidden drink out to the slumped boy.
"Really?" Shiv perked up immediately. "I thought I wasn't supposed to have Mountain Dew. It made me vibrate last time, remember?"
Ebon shivered at the memory. "Yes I remember, but maybe a sugar high's just what you need before a heist. A well-planned out heist I might add."
"Sweet!" Shiv jumped up and snatched the pop from Ebon. In seconds half the can was empty and Shiv's pupils were dilated.
"I've got 'em Ebon. They're heading east towards the bay." Talon's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.
Ebon held the button down. "Great. Hotstreak, you on the channel?"
It took a moment but then Hotstreak's unmistakable voice floated out of the ear-piece. "Why? Why did you do this to me? Is it because I drank your beer, you vengeful bastard."
Ebon frowned, very clearly not amused. "Shut up. Get to work making some trouble."
"Fine."
"What do I do now?" Talon asked.
"Come to the bank and give Shiv 'n me some cover." Ebon put the walkie-talkie in the pocket of his pants and stood up. "We wait two minutes and then we're blowing holes in that building right there." He said to Shiv.
Shiv downed the rest of his drink and jumped onto the window ledge. "Let's go now." He jumped out of the third-story window and landed with a thud on the sidewalk below.
Ebon stuck his head out the window and sighed before slinking out the window, down the wall, and re-forming on the sidewalk beside Shiv's crumpled form.
"You okay?" He asked mildly.
"Yup." Shiv jumped up and patted himself off.
"Great, let's go."
'Dear God? What have I done to deserve this? What!?' Hotstreak pleaded.
Ferret ran up to him with arms laden down with stolen goodies. He sniffed loudly at a caramel apple. "I think this caramel is stale, what do you think?" He held out the apple for Hotstreak's inspection.
Hotstreak knocked it out of his hand and hit the ground, dirt and grass quickly sticking to the caramel.
Ferret frowned. "Well that was uncalled for. Hold this will you?" He handed the pyro a pilfered balloon and bent over to retrieve the apple.
"Hey mister?"
Hotstreak looked sideways and saw a little girl tugging at the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "Yeah kid?" He asked cautiously, tugging the brim of the baseball cap he wore down lower to hide his distinctive hair.
"Can I have that balloon?"
Hotstreak looked at Ferret, who was busy picking grass out of the caramel. "Sure." He handed the girl the balloon.
"Thanks." The girl smiled and skipped away, staring up as the balloon danced in the air beside her.
Ferret returned a moment later, licking caramel off of his face. "Turns out it wasn't stale…hey. Where'd my balloon go?"
"Ummm, there was this bird and it clipped the string with its beak and the balloon floated away." Hotstreak lied.
Ferret narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What color was this so called bird?"
"…blue?"
"Oh, okay then." Ferret turned and sniffed the air. "Hold this stuff for me, I smell ice cream." Ferret loaded everything into Hotstreak's arms and darted off between the stalls.
Hotstreak opened his mouth to protest but Ferret had vanished from view. He stared down at the mass of food and blew a loose strand of red hair out of his face. There was another tug on his sleeve.
He looked down and sure enough the girl was back. And she had brought friends.
Hotstreak looked at the group of children, then at the bundle of food, then back at the kids. Finally he sighed and got down to one knee, divvying up the good between the kids and handing them out. "Here y'go." He gave a little boy with a dirt-smudged nose cotton candy and then stood up.
The kids all smiled and thanked him before running off with sweets stuffed into their pockets and jabbering amongst themselves as to who got the best candy.
Ferret returned moments later with a double-scoop of vanilla ice cream. He stopped short at the sight of a food-less Hotstreak. "Where the hell is all my stuff?"
"Birds ate it?"
"That was my food and you had no right to…"
"Great. Hotstreak, you on the channel?" Ebon's voice rang out from Hotstreak's pants. Hotstreak jumped and fumbled with unclipping the walkie-talkie from his belt.
"Why? Why did you do this to me? Is it because I drank your beer, you vengeful bastard." He whined into the mouthpiece.
"Shut up. Get to work making some trouble."
"Fine." Hotstreak frowned and turned off the walkie-talkie. He nodded at Ferret. "Mischief making time."
Ferret grinned, ran to the nearest stall and kicked the support beam out from behind it. The stall shuddered and collapsed. A woman screamed.
Hotstreak whipped off his hat and burst into flames, more intent on making a show then actually doing any damage. He threw a few lazy fireballs at the fleeing crowds and abandoned stalls.
Ferret took the opportunity to ransack a few stalls and replenish his food supply.
Within minutes Static and Gear whizzed through the air towards them, zap caps and fists of electricity blazing. Hotstreak and Ferret took off in different directions, Static after Hotstreak and Gear after Ferret.
Hotstreak led Static on a maze, ducking through stalls and dodging around attractions until they were in an empty baseball field. Hotstreak skidded to a stop in the dust and turned to face Static, a smug look on his face.
Static stopped in the air, hovering uncertainly on his disc. "You've got a lot of nerve firebug. What were you stealing? Just wreaking havoc for the hell of it?"
"Pretty much yeah." Hotstreak shrugged.
Static inched forward. "I hope you enjoy your time in prison then."
"Oh I'm not going to prison."
Static raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"
Hotstreak rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch. Then he grinned, saluted Static mockingly, and vanished.
Static leaped forward but Hotstreak was gone and all he saw was the last swirling traces of one of Ebon's well-placed shadow portal. Static swore and zoomed off towards Gear, figuring Ferret would have disappeared in the same way.
Sure enough, Gear met Static halfway over the fairgrounds with a puzzled look on his face. "Ferret gone too?" Static asked with a frown. Being beat by Ferret was the worst thing he could think of...
Gear was staring at encryptions racing across the screen of his visor. "We've got bigger problems V. Dakota National was robbed."
Static swore again. Strike that, being beat by one of Ebon's stupid schemes was the worst thing he could think of.
Author's Note:
Yay! This chapter's so much longer! And I have decided there will be one final chapter, making a three chapter story for those of you who are bad at math. Also, what's up with the lack of reviews? C'mon guys you know the rules, you read it you review it.
PLEASE REVIEW!