False Pretense 10
"Hey… wake up." Zoro groaned and rolled over, slamming the pillow on top of his head.
"Come on! We're checking out soon! Get your lazy asses out of bed!" Zoro let out another groan and sat up, blinking furiously against the sunlight filtering in through the blinds. Next to him was Luffy, eyes pinched closed tightly in an attempt to stay asleep, as though the action would ward away the sun. Zoro slipped off the bed and heaved a pillow at Luffy, which caused him to squeak because 1) he hadn't expected it and 2) it was too early for someone to be throwing things at him.
Suddenly realizing that it was morning and therefore breakfast time, Luffy hopped out of bed with such sudden energy that you would think his reluctance to get up had been an act. Luffy immediately headed for the left over pizza sitting on the counter while Zoro ensconced himself on the sofa with Ace, who had been sitting there watching them pry themselves from the bed with amusement. Zoro glanced at the clock.
"Wait, I thought check out was at one. We've still got like, 3 hours."
"Oh it is, I was just getting bored watching you two sleep, and there's nothing good on TV. Besides, it's better to keep on the move anyway." Ace said.
"And how long, exactly, are we going to 'keep on the move'?" Zoro asked.
"Either until they stop looking for us or we go somewhere that they can't find us."
Luffy whined in the back of his throat, meaning that he had eaten all of the pizza and was unsatisfied. Eyeing the mini-fridge as a child would a cookie jar, Luffy began to scoot towards it in a way he thought was inconspicuous.
"Don't even think about it." Ace said, not even giving Luffy a second glance, "If you're that hungry you can grab something from the lobby when we go to check out. They should have the breakfast out… Get a doughnut or something."
"Well, I'm hungry now so let's go check out!" Without giving Ace a chance to protest, Luffy walked out the door and into the hall. Zoro and Ace followed him down the corridor to the lobby, but just before they had gone in Ace gestured for them to stop. He turned around swiftly and retraced his steps back towards their room. Passing it, he ran up the steps.
"Did you see them?" he asked, walking down the hall.
"See who, Ace?" Luffy said, matching his tone of voice.
"No, not who. How. There is no way they could have found us that easily. Not with out some sort of tracking device. But they couldn't have planted one on the car, I would have noticed it when I gave you the Glock yesterday." He said, scanning the hall in front of them and taking frequent glances back from where they had come. "So they either had a very skilled tail and we didn't notice. Which I doubt. Or they planted a tracking device somewhere else, because I know they didn't just get lucky. Turn out your pockets." They did as they were told, but neither Luffy nor Zoro had anything resembling a transmitter.
"Give me your phone, Zoro."
"My phone? Why?" he asked, handing it to him. Ace ignored his question as he looked over the cell, then gripped the phone and pulled it apart at the seam. "What are you doing? You just broke my phone in half!"
"No I didn't. False back. However long you've had this phone, they've been watching." He handed the phone back to Zoro, keeping the other half in his hand. He walked down the last stretch of hallway and back down the steps, making a complete circle around the lobby and back to their room. He slid the key card through the slot and pitched the transmitter in the garbage bin before closing the door behind again.
"So should we go out the back then?" asked Luffy who, in retrospect, didn't seem all that worried.
"Nah, they aren't stupid there'll be people waiting for us out back." Replied Ace, his brow furrowing in thought.
"Well, then what do we do?" he asked.
"Well…were gonna need some kind of diversion so we can slip out to the car without them noticing." He sighed, eyes wandering across the hallway as if the answer would be written on the walls. The hallway was deserted, which led them to believe that the guys from earlier were going to wait for them to come into the lobby. Suddenly Zoro, who had been leaning on the wall for some time now spoke up.
"I have an idea but I don't know if it will work and you're gonna think I'm insane …"
"Well I'm sure it better than nothing so go for it."
"fair enough." With that he reached to his left and grasped a handle jutting for the wall that was hung at about waist level. Almost immediately alarms went off throughout the entire building and the sprinklers overhead went off. People from nearby rooms began to flood the halls.
A cacophony of voices began to grow as parents and children, lovers and friends began to flood the wide hallways until there was barely enough room to walk. Everyone was heading for the lobby, most likely because most of them didn't trust their knowledge of the layout of the hotel to try and go a different way, although it was certainly safer than everyone leaving via the same route. That or the fact that anyone who tried to go in the opposite direction than the mob would most likely be trampled. Small children were hoisted off the ground and families were clinging to each other for dear life in order to stay together. Even though everyone knows that in a fire you need to be calm and exit the building quietly, everyone seemed to disregard this seeing as they were practically yelling to family and friends in order to be heard over other screaming patrons.
In the lobby, there was quite a few of the hotel staff trying to calm everyone and keep them from panicking, at least until they were outside. No where in the room, however, could the people who had alarmed Ace a few minutes be seen. More likely than not the staff had already ushered them outside and, not wanting to cause a scene or attract attention to themselves they happily obliged.
Going with the flow, the three walked-shoved-stumbled with the panicky and obnoxiously loud crowd until they had gotten outside. The noise outside was even greater than it had been inside because, combined with the people who were extremely worried about their possessions, there was also a buzz of excitement traveling through the crowd now that they were out of immediate danger. Sirens wailed in the distance, signaling the approach of an emergency fire-rescue vehicle. Still unable to assailants, they calmly inched towards the parking lot and power-walked to the second row of cars. Ace got into the drivers seat and both Luffy and Zoro slipped into the back. They pulled out as quickly as they could without flattening a pedestrian, which was in no way quick, considering the lot was swarming with a mob of people.
After what seemed like hours- but couldn't have been more than a few minutes- they had pain-stakingly pulled out of the lot and onto the road. The car was silent and the tension in the air was tangible, as though they were expecting their escape plan to fail at any moment, even after they had pulled it off without a hitch.
After driving in silence and watching the Thousand Sunny Hotel vanish on the road behind them, they finally relaxed, convinced that they had avoided catastrophe.
"Are you a moron? When I told you to go for it I meant tell me your idea, not put it into action and hope we don't die!"
"I dunno Ace," Luffy said "I thought it was a pretty good idea."
"No, no. A good idea would have been to climb out the window. A good idea would have been to look for another exit. That was not a good idea. That was stupid!"
"But it worked." Zoro said.
"Ya, well, you're lucky it did, because if I had died I would have killed you." Ace said, exasperated. "… So… Where do we go now?" he asked no one in particular. Their silence continued for a few minutes.
"I think I have an idea." Zoro said.
---
A sour-yellow light washed from the inside of the house, gleaming between the blinds. Images flickered across the television screen. Usopp and Nami were focused contently on the screen. The events of the week had taken their toll on the two, for they were struggling to keep their eyes open, but they refused to stop watching their show. The hum of the microwave and the tell-tale 'pink ponk' of the kernels suggested that Sanji was making popcorn in the kitchen. He hadn't been near as interested in the television as the other two, so he offered to make popcorn, maybe grab a few cokes. The other two gratefully agreed.
Both lie casually on the sofa, Usopp with his feet on the coffee table in front of him, while Nami kept in an at least decent posture, seeing as she was a guest. However, you don't have to be courteous in your own home, as so Usopp took advantage. The room was dark other than the light filtering in thorough the slit beneath the kitchen door and the pulsing light of the television. Just as Sanji entered, bearing three cans of name-brand soda and a large bowl of popcorn, the room pulsed with such intensity that the shadows in the room danced.
Sanji plopped down to the left of Nami, sandwiching her between the two men. The two instantly tore at the bowl until at least half its content had been eaten. Sanji made a motion for Usopp to turn it up, which he quickly obliged. Just as the scene switched from a mellow moment in the film to a more dramatic climatic statement someone knocked at the door. Sanji stood.
"I'll get it."
"No no," Nami interjected, grabbing his arm and pulling him to sit beside her, "Usopp's got it."
"But he was just going to go get it…"
She glanced at him "Ya but this is the most important part of the movie, he can't miss it!"
"Oh, so I can though?"
"Well the more you argue the more you miss"
Usopp sighed and stood, quickly rushing to the door and peering out the peep-hole. No one. Scoffing at an annoying attempt at a prank Usopp turned away, just as the knocking came again. Skeptically, he turned to look out the peep hole once more. There was still no one standing there, no girl scout with cookies, no pastor trying to convert him towards a different faith, nothing. This time, however, he could have sworn that someone was standing just beyond that door but, by some grace of God, couldn't be seen from through the peep-hole. He pulled open the door.
---
"This is a stupid idea. Suicidal even." Ace said, turning onto a residential street.
"No it's not. I think it's our best bet." Zoro replied, peering warily at the empty road behind them.
"This is pure stupidity. You're dead, they'll probably think you're a freaking zombie! They might not even answer the door." He said, slowing down and turning down one of the roads Zoro motioned to.
"Then why are we going?" Luffy asked.
"… Because it's our best bet. But it's too obvious, so we can't stay long…"
"Glad you agree. Besides, we can figure out the details when we get there… That grey house on the left, park a few blocks down." Ace drove past the house without slowing down and parked down the street, just as he was instructed.
They walked down to the house as quietly as possible, trying to appear casual even with no witnesses in sight. Walking up the sidewalk, Zoro took a position next to the door while Ace and Luffy stood back and to the left. Zoro rapped sharply on the door and waited.
After waiting what seemed like and eternity, he knocked yet again, positive that they had either not heard him, or weren't home to hear him. Again there was a pause, and the door swung into the house. Usopp stuck his head out the door, saw Zoro, and after overcoming a moment of shock, he moved to slam the door. Zoro stuck him foot in the way and pushed into the room.
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