by Roaming Tigress
Chapter Six:
Over the past few months there were noticeable changes in Javert's behavior. He was becoming more rebellious, and at times, struck out at his mother when she gave him an order. Discipline rarely did any good. If anything, it made him worse, but she wouldn't let him get away with challenging her authority. Her associates gave her some advice, one being that he should be dumped at an orphanage, the other that he be sent to boot camp. She chose neither.
One night he had gone off on his own to do a little "target practice", or so he said. Siege allowed this, wanting her son to be as independent minded as possible. He needed to go off on his own to hone his skills.
"What did I tell you, Javert? Your curfew is set at nine o'clock!" Siege firmly informed her son as waltzed into the apartment with a smug grin on his face. The clock read 10:30pm, and he acknowledged this with a smirk.
He gave his mother an aloof glance as he flopped on the couch and polished his sniper rifle. When he was done, he propped it up against the wall. "I am ten years old, mother. I am not a little kid anymore! I was only out shooting some cats, set the zoo animals loose . . .What's it to you? I'm entitled for my fun, aren't it?"
"Well for as long as you are under F.O.W.L control you will do as High Command says!" Siege growled, marching up to him and looking him straight in the eyes. When he rolled them, she took a firm hold onto his bill and gave it a shake. "That includes ME, not only as a High Commander, but also as a mother. "
Javert pulled his head away from his mother and spat in her face. He watched with an amused smirk as she hissed in disgust at this. "What the HELL was that for?!"
"For giving your mother an attitude!" She shouted, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and giving him a hard smack across the face. It wasn't hard enough to loosen any teeth, but it left him startled with one reddened cheek. He shrunk back, scowling ruefully. Never before had he been struck.
"Don't you EVER, EVER disobey me! Spit in my face on more time and I will personally feed you through ten trash compactors!"Siege said in a lower, even more serious voice. Her intent was not to harm her son, only to shake him up enough so that he could take her warning seriously.
"Now go to your room, NOW."
Not wanting to get another smack in the face, Javert reluctantly trudged to his bedroom. Grabbing his pocketknife, he carved "die, lowlifes" on his bedpost. At this moment, he hated everyone: his mother, the world, and everything to do with FOWL. These feelings stemmed from the smack on his face, and then some. He thought things would go his way if his mother wasn't in the picture, and he grinned evilly as he thought of completely eliminating her.
If children won awards for being cruel, Javert would surely win it. Once his mother was killed off, he would go after Steelbeak and take his place as Chief Agent. Should the other High Commanders try to intervene, he would finish them off them as well. He was determined to climb to the very top, just at ten years old.
"How should I do the job? There's a million ways . . . What would Elaine do?" He mused, examining a glass box that contained a bullet from Elaine Montague. This handsome Wood Duck drake was founder of F.O.W.L It dated back to 1820, when the organization started. "I can always use my rifle, or better yet, poison! Or I could blow up the building while everyone but me is in it!" What he didn't realize was that his mother was listening in on him.
Siege didn't take this plotting too seriously, but couldn't afford to risk him turning against her. Thinking quickly, she hid his gun in a secret wall container. With it, she hid anything he could use as a poison. Knives were locked in the cupboard, and she slipped her F.O.W.L Taser into her pocket should he attack her. With everything out of his reach, she was more miffed than anything. Who does that ungrateful brat think he is?! He's just asking for trouble . . .
At the ring of her communicator, she hissed. "Yes, what is it . . . .?"
"Your assistance is most urgently needed!" Said the voice on the other end. "Get to High Command chamber as soon as possible! We have an emergency situation on our hands!"
"I'm on my way!" She replied as she hurried out of the apartment, forgetting to tell her son. She switched off her communicator, threw on her black trenchcoat and practically flew down the winding set of stairs.
Remembering he had left his gun in the living room, Javert slunk out of his room. He heard his mother leave the apartment on a call of duty, and took advantage of being left unattended. Sure, Siege wasn't here for him to kill, but there was still that other F.O.W.L employee that he was after. If he couldn't kill his mother, he would kill Steelbeak, or at least try.
"Were's my gun?" Javert thought out loud as he noticed it wasn't were he had last left it. He looked under the couch, not there. He checked his mother's bedroom, also not there. He spent half an hour looking for it before giving up, finally realizing that Siege had hid it.
No worries, however, he still had his pocketknife. He grabbed it from his bedside table and made his way out into the apartment hallway. "Apartment 626 . . . " He muttered to himself, looking at each number that was printed on the top of each door. "Apartment 389, 654, 550, 666, 789 . . . Where the hell is 626?"
The apartment's landlord, a scruffy-looking jackal, couldn't help but to wonder what was up with Javert. He seemed lost, and decided to go up and ask him. "Looking for something, Jav?"
"Eh, yea . . . Were's Apartment 626?" Javert asked, trying to sound as if he wasn't up to anything. "Am I even in the right apartment complex?"
"Yes, you're in the right building, but you're just not looking hard enough," the jackal scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "You're standing in front of it."
The child grinned sheepishly while looking up at the number of the door. At a moment like this, he felt like he was the stupidest kid in the world. "Oooh . . . So I am!"
Stupid kid.
He watched as the jackal shook his
head and walk off around the corner of the complex. With no eyewitnesses
about, Javert decided to take this moment to do what he wanted to do.
He unlocked the door using the tip of his knife and quietly slipped in.