*Chapter 9*
~Saturday Morning~
Kitty gazed up at the bottom of Zero's bed as her sleepy mind reviewed the events of the previous night. The Blue Lotus had been an absolute blast. She had met some really cool people and had the time of her life on the dance floor. There had been drugs all over the place of course but she knew better. Never accept anything from anyone and always guard your drink. She'd had no problems whatsoever but she hadn't learned anything either. That was okay, it would be beyond lucky to find out anything the first time out. She had to work her way into the regulars' night scene and form some contacts before she had any real hope of collecting meaningful information. It would take time but it would work.
Zero's method seemed a bit chancier to her. He just sat at one table all by himself and waited for the information to come to him instead of chasing it as she did. He had looked so lonely when she'd checked in with him that she felt a little sorry for him. Whenever she'd bought a drink, she bought one for him too to help keep the poor guy awake. Just sitting there like that for hours couldn't have been easy on him. But then again he spent twice as much time unmoving in front of the TV so maybe that was normal for him. Though she noticed that, as the evening progressed, he became increasingly nervous and twitchy. Maybe it was the crowd of strangers, or all of the caffeine that had been in the pop she'd given him, but whatever it was it had pushed him near his breaking point by the time they left.
He was still so wound up after they'd left that when she'd tried to engage him in friendly conversation he'd snapped at her. He had actually expressed some emotion last night and it had startled her. Perhaps he wasn't the cold emotionless zombie that she thought he was. On the other hand, maybe caffeine just had a really weird effect on his brain chemistry. But at least she'd gotten what she wanted from him. Now he had a codename thanks to his 'buddies' back in Germany. Nightcrawler, how very interesting, I wonder how they came up with that. Kitty wondered. She pondered this for a few minutes more before finally dragging herself out of bed to start the day.
She tiredly scrubbed the sleep from her eyes and pulled her fingers through her sleep-tangled hair as she sat at the edge of her bed. She peered at the clock, 10:00 AM, good thing she'd turned off the alarm. Kitty slowly crawled up the ladder to give Zero his morning wake up call. At the top, she cleared her throat, pulled her face into a bright cheerful expression, and gave his shoulder a shove.
"It's ten o'clock, time to get up!" She chirped. No response. "Hey Zero, wakey wakey!" Again, nothing. "Yo Nightcrawler, it is late, time to get out of bed." She tried again raising her voice slightly. Still nothing. She growled in frustration. Why must he make things so difficult? She smacked him in the side and he barely flinched. If she didn't get him up soon it would be lunchtime. "Oh come on, please get up." She whined, unable to keep up the cheerful act any longer. Not a twitch. Kitty narrowed her eyes into her best glare before she reached through his sheets, grabbed his devil tail, and gave it a good yank. The next thing she knew there was a faint flash of light, a strange BAMFing sort of sound, and an expanding, foul smelling ring of dark smoke. By the time it cleared, there was no sign of the German Mutant anywhere.
"Uh, hello? Zero? Where are you?" She called out nervously. There was no immediate response. Kitty quickly slid down the ladder and darted out of the bedroom in search of her wayward roommate. He hadn't gone very far. She found him sprawled awkwardly over the couch in front of the TV. He looked really mad.
"Never, ever touch my tail." He growled, glaring darkly at her.
"Right, don't touch the tail, got it." She quickly agreed. Kitty then scampered off to take a quick shower and get away from Zero. Why does he have to be so mean to me? All I do is try to be friendly and he either ignores me or gets mad at me. I spent good money on those drinks for him and he never once said thank you. And every morning I wake him up so he doesn't sleep in and he gets all grouchy. And I thought I wasn't a morning person. She thought as she stepped into the cramped shower and turned on the water just hot enough to drive the last shreds of sleep from her brain.
***
Zero slumped tiredly down into the old beat-up couch. Why couldn't she have just left him alone? If he wanted anything, it was to be left alone. Back at the Facility, that's pretty much what they did. They left him alone most of the time, they gave up trying to talk to him a long time ago. But here in America this crazy, confusing American girl insisted on trying, she just did not understand. She could not understand. No one could. His brief solitude abruptly ended as Kitty returned from her shower.
"Shower's free!" She called over her shoulder as she vanished into the tiny kitchen. Zero wearily picked himself up off the comfy old couch and made his way to the bathroom after a quick detour to grab some clean clothes. He turned the heat on high and just let the steaming hot water pour over him for a while to burn away the last hints of sleep from his mind. After he finished washing his hair and fur, it was time to towel dry and get dressed. Once that was completed, it was time for breakfast. He found Kitty in the kitchen making something.
"There you are." Kitty chirped. "I made some breakfast." She said as she handed him a plate. Freshly made pancakes instead of frozen waffles today. He seated himself at the table, cut a piece of the somewhat crumbly pancake, and took a bite. That was a mistake. The pancake had a gritty texture to it like it was made with sand and it tasted like vinegar. It was all he could do to swallow the disgusting stuff. He quickly gulped down the glass of orange juice that Kitty had poured for him to wash the foul taste from his mouth. Once his eyes stopped watering he glared at her.
"What?" She asked innocently.
"What do you mean 'what'?" He growled.
"What's the matter, why are you mad?" She nervously asked.
"What did you put in these?" He growled gesturing towards the questionable pancakes.
"Oh the sort of stuff you put in pancakes. Why do you ask? Don't they taste alright?" She asked with mild concern.
"No, they don't." He flatly replied.
"Well sorry then. I didn't mean to mess up." She apologized. "I don't even know what I did wrong. There's always next time I guess." Kitty mumbled to herself. Somehow hearing this gave Zero a deep feeling of foreboding. Kitty cleared off the table, threw out the bad pancake batter, and returned to the good old frozen waffles. Breakfast continued from there the same as it usually did. Once Zero finished eating and cleared his place he headed off for the TV.
Zero collapsed onto the age worn couch and reached for the remote to turn on the TV and escape his mind for a while. By the time his hand arrived at the spot where the remote had been it was gone. It took a moment for this fact to register. Zero slowly turned to see that Kitty was sitting in the same position that she had yesterday and was channel surfing with the missing remote. He blinked slowly. Hadn't she at least asked him nicely last time? For a fleeting moment, he seriously considered protesting her actions but the notion quickly passed. Why waste the energy? It didn't really matter anyway. So he settled in to watch whatever it was that she wanted to watch.
What she wanted to watch just so happened to be 'SpongeBob Squarepants'. The instant he saw it a little alarm went off somewhere deep in his brain. The introduction, the characters, the plot, or lack thereof all screamed at him that this show could drive certain individuals to increasing levels of stupidity. The moronic and simple actions of the 'star' of the show made him want to squirm. By the third episode, he could take no more.
"Why are you watching this?" He asked. Kitty started at his unexpected question.
"Why do you care?" She countered.
"Because this is stupid." He replied.
"And watching the public access channel and infomercials isn't?" Kitty asked.
"I don't really watch those, they're just a way to distract my mind. This is just plain annoying." Zero answered.
"Well if you find it that annoying you can just leave. I've waited weeks for this marathon and I don't intend to miss it." She firmly replied; there was no way he could change her mind on this.
"What do you see in this show anyway?" He asked.
"It's funny." She tersely replied as she refocused on the childishly simple cartoon. Zero sighed unable to take anymore of SpongeBob and Patrick tormenting Squidward. He slowly rose up off the couch and returned to the bedroom. Zero climbed up the ladder and sank down on his bed striving to clear his mind. But no matter what he tried, it didn't work. The apartment was so small and the walls were so thin that the sound easily leaked through to assault his ears. After a good hour or so, he gave in. There was no escape. And so the rest of the day passed with Kitty glued to the TV screen and Zero lying on the top bunk praying for it all to end.