| Wolves in Sheep's Clothing Chapter Six Confinement |
Joker rubbed his head against the metal shelving in the closet, in an attempt to loosen his gag first. It took a long while, and he had a crick in his neck, but he finally managed to free his mouth. He could hear Neon's muffled grumbling as she tried to free her hands.
"What rotten people," he said, wetting his mouth and reveling in being able to move his jaws once more. "And they have absolutely no idea on how to gag a person properly." He managed to scoot across the floor and maneuver himself behind Neon. With a little work, he managed to undo her blindfold first with his teeth. It was much more laborious to remove her gag. It seemed that Henson had been somewhat more adept at this sort of thing than Lawrence was.
Finally, she could speak. "I thought we checked the hotel for bugs as soon as we got there," she growled. "And the phone line. And all that good stuff."
"We did," Joker agreed. "We're not complete infants… but they said they put it in about two weeks ago."
"I wonder what tipped them off?" mused Neon.
"Probably Lawrence… I think we did a good job of buddying up to Henson-san and his wife. But that creep's been after you the whole time… I guess we're not as good at pretending as I thought we were." Joker's voice was disappointed.
Neon laughed. "He just can't take 'no' for an answer," she said cheerfully. "But Joker-san, you played a wonderful husband…"
"Well, then, as my last request of my loving wife, would you do me the favor and get this blindfold off me?"
An impish grin fluttered across her lips. "I don't know," she said, pretending to think it over. "You know, it can be fun-"
"Neon-han, this is neither the time nor the place," sighed Joker. What business did Neon have goofing around when they were in such a serious situation? "Just get the stupid blindfold off, so I can see what I'm doing."
"There's no light coming from the crack under the door," said Neon. "It's pitch-black. If my hands were free, I couldn't see them in front of my face."
"Just get the stupid blindfold off!"
"Don't make me re-gag you," teased Neon, reveling in this sudden power she had found. Oh, it was such fun!
Joker contented himself with muttering under his breath, but stopped when he felt her working at the knots with her teeth.
"This tastes terrible," she remarked, tugging. "And it's a lot more difficult than it looks…"
Joker laughed. "Too bad they couldn't have tied us up with something more edible… I'm starved. I have a feeling dinner was a long time ago. But it would make things a lot more pleasant."
"You're not particularly worried about this mission at all, are you?" asked Neon curiously, biting in annoyance. The knot wasn't loosening.
Joker shrugged. "They're amateurs. If they knew what they were doing… we'd be dead already."
"Even the Red Baron got shot down by an amateur," reminded Neon.
"And since when did you become a World War II history buff?" inquired Joker with a wry grin. "Besides, I thought Snoopy shot him down. You know, he asked the Great Pumpkin for a new battle plan…" He began humming under his breath. "Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more, the bloody Red Baron was blowing up a storm; eighty men died, trying to end that spree, of the bloody Red Baron, of Germany…"
"Baka," said Neon. "I'm going to have to stop now… my mouth is tired." She wiggled her lower jaw back and forth, trying to work the aches from it.
Joker worked at his wrists, but it was too awkward for much progress. "Lawrence-san was over-enthusiastic," he said. "I tried keeping the muscles flexed, so I'd have some slack… no luck."
Neon leaned against a shelf. "What a miserable little closet," she grumbled. "I wonder how much time has passed."
"I've got my watch on… see if you can press the little light button so you can see the time," suggested Joker, turning back-to-back with her. She fumbled around before finally locating his hands. A little more fumbling, and she found the light button. She craned her neck around to read the time.
"It's nine at night," said Neon, raising an eyebrow. "We've been in here for five hours." She began working at his blindfold again.
"It feels like forever," commented Joker. "There's no room to stretch… my poor legs have cramps." He wiggled ineffectually.
"Don't move your head!" said Neon irately. "How am I supposed to aim properly?"
"Oi, why don't you let me try getting your hands free?" asked Joker. "If it's as dark as you say it is… it won't matter if I can see or not."
Neon looked around nervously. "All right," she agreed uncomfortably. She tried placing her hands as far away from her body as possible.
"This is certainly a Kodak moment," grinned Joker impishly as they sat back-to-back, his bound hands groping behind him, trying to free her wrists. "Oi, it could be something people could write captions for."
"You can kindly forget this ever happened after we get out of this mess," said Neon primly.
"Oi, you haven't fulfilled my last request of you, so you can't be so cold to your dear husband yet," reprimanded Joker playfully. Impishly, he twisted slightly and sent a trail of feather-soft kisses down the back of her upper arm.
"Aii! That tickles!" exclaimed Neon, automatically lashing out at him with her elbow and striking something.
"Oi, that's my nose! Such domestic violence!" mourned Joker, wiggling his nose because he was unable to rub it. He turned his back on her again, once more focussing on his task. "I was only playing, Neon-han… you were getting cranky. You needed a distraction."
"If I need a distraction that badly, I'll be the one to initiate it," scowled Neon.
"Anything you can start, I can finish," he answered promptly, working once more at her wrists.
"And that's supposed to comfort me?" she asked wryly.
"Once I get your hands free, you can get mine free much more quickly… and we can get our legs working again, and I can take off this stupid blindfold," suggested Joker. "And then we can figure out a good way out of this closet… and once that happens, it's a cinch. We can completely destroy their madougu. We can take the plans and get out of here fast. We can grab the next flight to Japan, and not have to worry about mysteriously disappearing."
Neon nodded. "Sounds like a plan… now, if you could just get my hands free…"