False Pretense 12
Zoro woke to sunlight shining brightly in his eyes. The offending light was pouring in through a window very high up on the wall, shades drawn but at just the right angle to shine light in his eyes. The only purpose said window served was, in fact, to allow light into the room. He groaned slightly and rolled out of bed, onto the hard carpeted floor. Standing he popped his back loudly, grimacing at the uncomfortable crick in his neck. Apparently, since he had earned irrevocable rights to the TV he had also earned the rights to sleep on the couch since there weren't enough beds to house them all, even after Usopp left to sleep in his own bed. Had to defend his title, after all.
Some good-smelling stuff was coming from the kitchen so obviously first impulse was to get breakfast. He walked casually into the kitchen and pulled up a chair. Sitting backwards, with the back of the chair between his legs simply because he felt like it, he helped himself to what was left of the food after Luffy, Ace, Nami, and Sanji, but mostly Luffy had mowed it over.
"Zoro's awake" chimed Luffy, stating the bluntly obvious. "Now we just have to wait until Usopp gets here and we can go!" Zoro shoveled another spoonful of eggs into his mouth.
"When's he gonna get here? We should be long gone by now…" Ace impatiently puffed as he, for what must have been the tenth time walked to the blinds and peeled that back just enough to look onto the street without being seen himself. Zoro too a bite of toast.
"Don't worry about it. He probably slept in or something….maybe stopped off for a cup of coffee." Said Nami from behind her newspaper.
"No, no something's wrong. They probably jumped him on his way home or something." Zoro chugged a glass of OJ and reached to refill it.
"Again with the 'they'. You're paranoid you know that?" She insisted. Munch. Another bite of toast.
Instead of answering Ace simply hummed with annoyance. Luffy stood, just as Zoro finished his meal and stood as well. Both started for the living room.
"Where're you going?" Sanji protested.
"Living room" stated Luffy.
"Gonna watch some TV" Zoro added.
"You know idle hands are the devils workshop"
Four eyebrows raised in unison.
"Dishes, now, both of you." comprehension spread across both boys like the plague and they grudgingly grabbed the dishes and started their protests that Sanji need a dishwasher, the soap smelled funny, etcetera, etcetera. Ace crossed over to the blinds again. Sanji walked into the living room, ensconced himself on the sofa, and reached for the remote—which wasn't there. Growling in annoyance, he pulled cushions up and snatched it up. Zoro had a habit of doing that. He began flipping channels.
Luffy handed Zoro a wet and sudsy plate. Zoro moved to dry it before stopping and looking at it.
"Luffy, you have to rinse it before I can dry it."
"What? I did rinse it!" Zoro wiped the soap off and flicked the bubbles at Luffy.
"No, you didn't." With that he grabbed the hose from the side of the sink to finish rinsing it, just as Luffy –with a defiant "I can do it!"- turn the faucet on full blast. The hose squirted Zoro right in the face, and got his shirt fairly wet in the split-second it took for him to release the handle. He blinked before turning the nozzle on Luffy.
"Stop!" Luffy tried to cover the hose with one hand and turn the sink off with the other. He turned the sink down before grabbing a half-full glass of water floating in the sink and promptly emptying it on Zoro's head.
"What are you two doing? Didn't your mother's teach you any manners?" Ace asked.
"Nope." Luffy replied defiantly.
"My parents taught me their own refined version of manners." Zoro squirted Luffy with the hose again. Nami, deciding she had had enough, thumped them both on the head.
"Jeez, look at the mess you made… Start mopping it up." She shoved a rag in Luffy's hand. "There's a mop in the closet, Zoro." She walked into the living room and disappeared from view. Zoro moved for the closet while Luffy swiped the rag across the counter, sending most of the water to the floor. He grinned and swiftly pushed the rest off the counter while Zoro was digging in the closet. When he came back with the mop he looked questioning at his suddenly larger puddle before shrugging it off and mopping the water up while Luffy snickered happily.
The floor was once again dry when Sanji came in and tossed the two a change of clothes. Zoro smirked.
"Why'd you keep our clothes?" He quirked an eyebrow. "That's weird."
"Oh, just in case you happened to come back as dream zombies, then happened to slip and fall in the toilet." Sanji smirked and Zoro scowled.
"Good thing, huh Zoro?" Luffy said eagerly, obviously not understanding the insult. Sanji laughed as Zoro headed out the room to change, Luffy on his heals. He turned around, just about to join Nami elsewhere, when he saw Ace peel back the blinds—again.
"Relax. Lord, you're overreacting. Get a grip." Just as Ace prepared to protest he heard a car in the driveway. He returned to the blinds. "I told you there was nothing to worry about." Usopp opened to door from the garage and entered the kitchen, seeing as he had a garage-door opener and his own set of house keys.
"Sorry I'm late, I stopped at Mc Donald's to grab a quick bite, when I saw Kaya sitting ALL ALONE, so being the valiant Usopp-sama, I decided to join her, and she said the funniest thing…"
"Yah, you know that's great, but we have to hurry, so please give me the keys."
"Wait, wait, and wait. Might I ask just where you are planning to go?" Usopp asked.
"I already told you that I can't tell you."
"I don't really like that answer, try again." A tell-tale tick appeared on Ace's forehead.
"Seriously, we have to go…"
"Seriously, tell me where you're going. I'm not going to just give you my car, my beautiful car, and not know where it's going." Usopp puffed out his chest "I demand you tell me." He added over-dramatically. Ace gave him a look that suggested he was seriously considering mugging him and grabbing the keys. He heaved a sigh.
"I was planning on going to their headquarters and changing some of the data. Now give me the keys." He promptly held out his hand. Usopp shook his head.
"Nope, expound." Ace glared at him.
"It's a big company, okay? We're three people. I was planning on going and erasing our names from the data banks, labeling us dead or something like that, and just disappearing. There are so many names in that file that three less would make no difference." Usopp studied him before handing him the keys.
"So that means you're not going to fight them?"
"Not yet… Maybe not ever. I don't know." Luffy and Zoro returned with new, dry clothes on, and Ace ended the conversation. He grabbed the doorknob.
"Oh, and Ace? I'm not sure if this is important, but that car out there has been sitting down the block since I left last night. No one on this street owns a Yukon, and even though the windows are tinted, I think there's a guy in there." Ace let go of the knob.
"… Thanks."
He'd been sitting in the damn car waiting for something to happen, but since last night, the only thing that has happened was that damned long-nosed kid leaving and coming back. The car was hot and stuffy, and he wasn't even sure what he was waiting for, considering it was a total half-witted hunch that brought him here in the first place. Thinking like the three for whom he was waiting, he just assumed they would come here eventually, and seeing their car about one hundred yards down the road had been encouraging.
The garage door began to slide up, and he leaned forward in his seat expectantly. Once the door was entirely open, he waited for the car to pull out, but it didn't. After sitting for several minutes without any movement, he leaned forward further in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the driver. The garage door began to close.
"Damn it, just a fluke…" He mumbled under his breath, slumping back in his seat. A terrible, tortured-rubber shrieking came from the driveway as the car shot out of the garage, barely avoiding the descending door. The driver made a much-too-sharp left turn, causing him to fishtail into a ninety degree turn before stopping completely and then shooting off in the opposite direction that the Yukon was facing. Swearing under his breath, he whorled the car around, tearing through several lawns before tramping the accelerator and rocketing after them.
Haha! High speed car chase! Man, will I have fun. And before any of you ask why cops would even allow this, remember: They don't bother worrying about speeding vehicles; they're too busy trying to find out who ripped the tags off the mattresses in Wall Mart. What troopers (It is a federal crime, after all)! Oh, by the way, Mr. Mystery Guy, good luck making sharp turns in your 'precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics' 3 I wonder why we picked a Yukon… Maybe because it's scary and just screams "I will jump out and mug you." Gotta look intimidating. –winks- Review and Mystery guy will end up being the person you want him to be. Cm'on, you all have guesses on who it is –wink- Haha, winking disorder today… -wink-
