Hope you all remember where the last chapter left off… enjoy!
didn't notice as Sydney quickly tossed something white out the window. She held her breath as the shirt floated by the bus.
"Was that…" Sark paused briefly, turning towards Sydney, who gave him an innocent smile.
"Was that a dove?" Sydney sighed in relief; another bullet dodged.
"Who knows? We're in Vegas, it could have been anything." Sark nodded absently.
"I suppose that's true…" Sydney kept a close eye on him as he reached for an overhead storage bin. He continued to stretch upwards, rummaging around in the bin for a few minutes before sighing in defeat and lowering his arms.
"I was hoping to find a shirt in there. It's a bit chilly out tonight," he explained dejectedly.
Sydney grinned stupidly.
A moment later, there was a commotion outside.
"How can I be a successful ninja if I don't have a shirt?" someone roared. Sydney fought to contain her laughter; she hadn't known Weiss would be forced into shirtlessness as well. He clambered aboard the bus and looked around angrily. His rage seemed to abate as he caught sight of Vaughn, still struggling to sit comfortably, and Sark, rubbing his arms vigorously in an attempt to warm up. Then he turned to Sydney, and gave her an appraising look.
"Well… at least I'm not the only one in this boat…" Sydney shook her head.
"Not at all, Weiss. Not at all…" He glanced around again.
"But you know, at least the shirtless gladiator over there doesn't look too bad, and the shirtless angel… is kinda goofy, but at least he's wearing white! I have black pants and a black mask; my skin totally clashes with it!" Sydney raised an eyebrow.
"Weiss… I didn't realize you were such a fashion expert." He flushed, and quickly pulled his ninja mask on.
"Well… it's just… you know." Sydney shrugged lightly.
"I mean, how can I be a ninja if the enemy can spot me coming a million and a half miles away?" he protested. Sydney laughed.
"Please… it's not like you're neon white or something." He pouted, and plopped into a seat near the back. Sydney rolled her eyes.
"I shouldn't be forced to be in this condition… it's just not right," Weiss mumbled, folding his arms and pulling his legs up in front of himself. Sydney turned to once again look at Sark, when she heard a joyous shout from Weiss.
"Found one!" he crowed, proudly holding up a black shirt. Sydney narrowed her eyes, but before she could comment, she was practically trampled by Vaughn and Sark, who each dove for the shirt. The three men fought over it, and before anyone could say that 'Port-of-Spain is the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago,' the shirt had been torn to shreds. All three stared at one another accusingly.
"It's your fault," Weiss said to no one in particular.
"It's his fault," Vaughn said, pointing to Sark.
"That's ridiculous," Sark protested. "If he hadn't made such a big deal of finding the clothing to begin with, this never would have happened."
"He has a point," Vaughn admitted.
"No he doesn't," Weiss growled. Sydney said nothing, watching the interaction happily, until she heard her parents returning.
"Jack, you must remember one thing: the Effeffnedders are complete idiots, and not to be trusted, at any cost." Sydney raised an eyebrow, wondering which clueless branch of society her mother was referring to.
"I realize that Irina… not to mention the fact that their English can be impossible to decipher sometimes…" They fell silent as they boarded the bus. Weiss growled as he caught sight of Jack.
"He's got a shirt," he grumbled. Catching Jack's glare, he quickly amended his statement, saying, "Which is totally understandable and well deserved." Jack wore black pants, a gray shirt, and a… flowered overcoat. He also carried a black top hat in his right hand.
"Is this Bill the Butcher resurrected as a hippie?" Sark questioned mildly. Jack glared at him as well, but he didn't back down.
"Might I remind you that I'm a very cold, shirtless… angel? It doesn't get much worse than this." Jack began laughing, causing everyone to look at him in awe. As suddenly as it had started, his cackling stopped, and he glared at everyone before proceeding to the front of the bus to take his seat as driver. Irina finally had room to step onto the bus. She wore a white skirt down to her knees, a teal and yellow shirt that just barely did its job, and a very Egyptian looking headdress.
She also wore a homicidal scowl.
"I don't look like a pharaoh. I look like… an Egyptian whore." Jack smirked as he looked back at her.
"At least you're mostly covered," Sydney replied through gritted teeth, indicating her black miniskirt {when we say 'mini,' we mean '[I]mini[/I]'} and lacy red bra.
"You do have a point," Irina conceded.
"Of course I do," Sydney stated.
"Hey… where's Will?" Vaughn suddenly asked.
"I'll go find him," Sydney said, stepping off the bus. A moment later, she hurried back on.
"Sark… you go find him."
"What? Why me?" Sark demanded.
"Because I look like a damn prostitute, and you're semi-normal." He frowned.
"I refuse." Sydney glared at him, then looked around.
"Vaugh-"
"No."
"Weiss?" she pleaded; he sighed.
"Why must I always be the nice guy?" Sydney smiled.
"Thanks Eric."
"Don't mention it," he mumbled. The bus fell silent as he stepped off. Sydney took a seat across from Sark, who looked bored.
"Let's sing!" Sydney proposed. Jack and Irina stared at her; Vaughn shook his head vehemently; Sark shrugged.
"You'll sing with me?" Sydney asked hopefully.
"Sure… why not," he replied, sounding bored. Sydney grinned gleefully.
"How about… Row, Row, Row Your Boat?" she suggested. Sark brightened.
"I actually know that one!" With Jack, Irina, and Vaughn staring at them in amazement, Sark and Sydney began singing.
"Row row row your boat,
Gently up the way,
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
You'll all die today." Sydney had fallen silent on the second line, and Sark looked around apprehensively as he concluded the song.
"You'll all die today?" Sydney questioned.
"Yes, so what?" he said defensively.
"That's… different…" Sark didn't reply, instead sitting back and glaring at everyone. These people really do like glaring, don't they? Is that healthy? Hmm… we don't know. Ah well. Let's move on now.
Sydney's next attempts at a group song proved futile, as not even Sark would join in now. So she settled for happily humming some Evanescence songs to herself while they waited for Weiss and Will to return.
A short time later, they did. Return, that is. Weiss re-entered the bus first, quite obviously having to literally drag Will with him. Will managed to slip his grasp a moment later, as Weiss flew back and landed on Vaughn.
"I'm not coming in there!" Will called.
"You'd prefer to be left on the streets of Vegas, dressed… however you are?" Sark questioned. "That should be quite the adventure." His point was obviously made, as Will came scurrying in a moment later, though still managed to conceal himself behind one of the seats.
"Come on Will… it can't be that bad," Sydney said gently.
"Yes it can. And worse!"
"Look around, Mr. Tippin! We're all in the same boat!" Sark said angrily.
"Oh yeah? Well you know what? None of you have bright blue feather attached to your ass!" Will declared as he finally stepped into view. He had a long, fluffy blue boa… thing… wrapped around his shoulders, a headdress of the same color… and even brighter blue feathers attached to the rather skimpy underwear he was, essentially, stuffed into. And, naturally, there was no shirt. That would just be utterly goofy.
Now, the real question here… would you believe me if I said I actually love Will?
So anyway… Will, now blushing a deep red, in sharp contrast with his lovely blue, uncomfortably made his way to a seat, only to discover the difficulties inherent in attempting to sit while one has feathers attached to ones ass.
"Uh… I'm not exactly an expert in the whole spy trade… but aren't disguises usually meant to deflect attention, not draw it?" Will questioned. Irina looked around furtively, then stood up.
"We're off to Sporkane!" she declared. Jack whispered something into her ear as she sat down, prompting her to stand again.
"My apologies… we're off to Spokane!" she declared. And with that, the long ride on the short bus continued once again.