-Be Spitfire-

You slink along the wall, keeping your body low to the ground as you hear Sollux's a-bit-too-loud footsteps following you. You refrain from hissing, knowing it isn't his fault he doesn't know how to sneak around like you do; you've been learning this stuff from before you were six; you guess you have to give him some credit.

For all it's glory, the private reserve is not as guarded as it should be. At least, not with real guards. And all the electronic and automatic security systems are fucking easy to bypass once you figure out their patterns and blind spots. The only big problem is the guard turrets set to shoot at anything moving without a registered ID, which is scans for. You do not have an ID, so you have to stay out of the turrets' range, much like the search lights.

The only problem there is keeping Sollux out of them, since he hasn't memorized their placements like you have. You send a few quick commands to him, and are glad when he listens; albeit not very well. After a bit, you reach out and take his hand to lead him better, and it works much better from then on.

You two have to walk around pretty much the entire length of the wall to get to the secluded alcove you and Crabdad had made a while back by rubbing away at the stone with sandpaper. Once you get there, you kneel down and sling the bag from your shoulder, rooting through it. You slip out of your shoes, and into the skin-clinging ones that you'd brought, before taking out the harness.

"Stay down," you whisper to Sollux as you start hooking yourself up to the harness, slipping the different array of straps over yourself. Sollux watches you with curious eyes as you attach the rope to the belt of the harness, your hands working quickly to secure it all. "Okay," you turn back to Sollux, slinging your bag back on. "I can't take you into the Reserve. In the slim chance I get caught, I don't want them finding you as well. I'll be back in exactly half an hour, and if I'm not, go back the way we came in. Follow our footprints, got it?" You nod to the dusty road, where their footprints are clearly visible. "Be careful, okay?" You put a hand on his shoulder and smile a little, before standing and taking two precise steps back, then start swinging a small grappling hook in a circular motion.

You can feel Sollux's apprehensive eyes on you, and do your best to ignore them so you don't have to try this twice. You launch the hook into the air, the metal hitting the stone wall with a muffled clang. It luckily stays fast when you yank on it.

You take three more calculated steps back, then break into sprint, launching yourself at the wall and hitting a small lever on your belt, which immediately kicks gears into movement to start coiling the rope back up at your hip. Your special shoes give you extra grip on the wall as you quite literally run up the wall, until you get a grip at the top and fling yourself over. You hear a muffled gasp as you launch over to the other side, flipping the gear at your hip again to let the rope retract again on the way down.

You land near-silently on the dusty ground inside the wall, bracing yourself before looking around you and making sure the searchlights aren't in range still. A while back, something hit them, a meteor or something, and knocked several of them out of place, meaning sneaking in is rather easy now that they don't aim at the wall where you landed.

You break into a sprint again, heading for a line of buildings bearing some resemblance to greenhouses, though you know better. They're filled with crates upon crates of food and ammunition kept away from the common people.

You head straight for the one in the middle, sidling up to the door handle. You pull the hooked knife from your pocket, shimmying it into the screws under the handle and twisting roughly. You keep your back to the white-washed glass wall so no one sees you, making quick work of taking out the screws and pocketing them.

That done, you slip your hand through the hole the removed handle makes and unlatch it from the inside, pushing the door open and slipping over the threshold.

Heading through the towering stacks of boxes, you make the familiar path towards the ammunition crates at the very back, shoes making no noise on the clean chrome floor. You slide around a stack of crates and to a stop at the one you'd marked with a small line of white chalk, then freeze as your gaze connects with that of another.


Your body goes completely rigid, and you see his do the same, your hand yanking out your knife in a precise movement that's only marred by the fact the figure before you pulls out a sword in the same amount of time. You chalk it up as your shock interfering with your speed, and immediately launch yourself over the crate and at the figure.

You almost make it too, but your blade barely grazes its arm before it spins away, though it knocks off its and shades in the process, revealing a severely freckled, but pale face, and wide red eyes staring right back at yours.

The two of you make a collective sound of fright and surprise, both freezing thankfully in the cover of the crate towers. He's no older than you, you're positive, but he can't be much younger either. He's taller than you, of course, but that doesn't surprise you. What surprises you is his crimson irises, almost kin to yours in color, and how they stare at you inasmuch wonder and bewilderment as you do them.

You slowly start to process that he's here for the same reasons you are, and that he's... far too young to be doing just that. Better yet, you sense the distinct trace of a Runner's powers on him.

He's like you in more ways than you'd like to admit, and he seems to be processing the same thing, because he's slowly lowering his blade. You do the same with your knife, but keep wary, though you're seeming to have less and less need to be.

You two slowly relax, and you nod to the crate he'd been leaning over, as if asking permission to take some of its contents. He makes a little bow with a snarky smirk, and you quickly get what you need. You'll need to get other food supplies, but the boy seems to be done, so you look at him once you've put the lid back on the crate.

The boy before you points to you, then to the door you'd come through, questioningly, and you nod a little, hoping he's asking where he came in from. He then points to himself, then up to the ceiling, and you chance a glance upward, finding a rope slung down from there, a panel removed from the roof expertly.

You cock an eyebrow at him, then take a cautious step forward as you pull a pen from your pocket. He flinches at the movement, then lets you approach, even holding his arm out to you as you scribble a quick, short message on it.

MEET ME AT CRABDADDY'S, BLONDIE. -VANTAS

He reaches over for your arm in turn, scribbling a note on your skin with terrible punction that makes you smirk a little.

fine by me shorty

ill see you in a bit

By the time you've put the pen back in your pocket, the boy's picked up his fallen attire and made a dash for the rope still hanging there, leaping lightly off his feet and latching onto it. You watch in mild surprise, quirking your eyebrow again as he mock-solutes you and quickly scales to the rafters, disappearing in a flash.

You're left in the warehouse with the dull echo of the faint thud made by the roof panel sliding back into place.


You meet Sollux outside the wall again, easily packing up everything and starting to lead him the way back. You know he senses something's up with you, so you're thankful when he doesn't say anything on the precarious way back, remaining silent as he follows in your wake. You don't make any detours, heading straight for Crabdad's; you're eager to know if there's a Runner that matches the boy you'd met's description.

You can sense Sollux's dejectedness as you go straight for Crabdad, who's working in the kitchen again, but ignore the psionic for the time being, wanting answers.

"Crabdad, how many Runners are there about my age?" You see Sollux perk up out of the corner of your eye at this, but again ignore him, focusing on the surprised and confused look you get from Crabdad.

"Aside from you and John, and Sollux now, I don't think there's anyone. No one who'd be known by me, anyway."

"So, you're positive there's not a blonde kid running around with powers?"

"I know of a blonde, but he's no where near your age... Dirk, I think his name is. He's worked with us a few times but he's mostly freelance."

"Is he short enough to look my age?" Crabdad shakes his head.

"Of course not. Why do you ask?" You open your mouth to respond, but are quickly cut off by te opening of the empty restaurant door. You look over your shoulder and jump in surprise at the sight of said blonde kid.

You quickly calm your expression into a scowl, snapping at him. "Don't just barge in here like you own the place, blondie."

"Ooh, got a spitfire on my hands do I?" The blonde smirks, sticking his hands in his pockets as he strides over to the counter and leans on it. Crabdad gives you a cuff around the ear for yelling at a customer, before turning to the newcomer.

"Ignore him. What can I do for you?"

"I dunno, you tell me." You can't see his eyes behind his shades, but you know they dart to you for a split second. "Spitfire's the one who told me to come." Crabdad rounds on you at this, growling angrily.

"You gave someone the address?!"

"I did not! I just said come to Crabdaddy's! Besides, it's not like he's a spy or anything!"

"How do you know I'm not?" Blondie piped up, and you in turn treat him with a glare.

"Because I can sense it, obviously." You ignore his disgruntled look to turn your attention back to Crabdad. Unfortunately, you're interrupted once again, this time by Sollux.

"Where did you meet him? ~When~ did you meet him? You were with me the whole time."

"I ran into shorty here at the raserves. You can imagine my surprise." From there, you completely lose crontrol of the situation.

"You what?"

"I am not short!"

"Karkat, why didn't you say anything?"

"Your name's Karkat? Can I call you Karkles? And don't deny it; you're short."

"Karkat, you really should have said something."

"You are pretty short, KK."

"I AM NOT SHORT!"


A/N: My apologies for no top note; I'm writing on my iPod and I am laaaaazyyy. Anyway: DAVE. I wasn't planning on putting him in there, but then I read a fic (don't remember which one) and Dave called Karkat spitfire, so I had to do it.

Also: I will most likely be putting Sollux jealousy, and some romance drama just 'cause. I would love to hear your opinions on it, so tell me what you'd like to see in this!

I also can't get rid of that line below this; please ignore it.

Ciao for now!

~Webs