FROM AUTHOR TO READER (FATR): I have a score of stories over on the Spider-Man section. This is the first one I've posted here. It's actually a coauthored fic that I'm working on with Sage. Actually, it's more like her version of RPGs. We take turns writing sections for the characters we control. Let's see... Carrie is property of Sage. I don't have any stake whatsoever is Sobe, aside from enjoying the occasional refreshing Lizard Blizzard on a hot day. I don't own Francis "F-Stop/Hotstreak" Stone, either, nor do I own Shiv, nor Talon. Heehee, if I owned Francis, he'd be chained up by my computer right now, wearing one of those power suppressing collars like in Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Nine. ANY-hoo, enjoy the first chip chip...
#)X(#
They had been driving aimlessly for two days now. Two days in a small car with Shiv was not something Francis would have signed on for willingly. However, under the circumstances, both of them had little choice. Francis could have kicked Shiv out at the nearest rest stop, would have, if he hadn't been worried he would be picked up by the cops. No, no, it wasn't about any compassion. Shiv, loose cannon that he was, might tell the cops something about Francis. It was self preservation.
"Cows! Cows!" Shiv pressed his face against the glass. "Look, it's a calf! F-Stop, look! You're not looking!"
"That's because I'm driving," Francis growled.
Shiv ignored this as he rolled down the window. He stuck his head out to get a better look, the rather chilly wind ruffling his blue hair. "Moo!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth in a makeshift megaphone. A sharp tug at the back of his jacket hauled him back into the car.
"You could lose your head that way, you know... On second thought, go ahead. Stick it back out there."
Shiv laughed wildly, missing the malice in his travel buddy's voice. Suddenly thirsty, he stood up and leaned over the back seat to riffle through the contents of the gas station bags. "Hey, wasn't there another Sobe back here some where?"
Francis glanced at the passenger side. All he could see were black jean clad legs, the coat hanging down to Shiv's knees. A rather passive aggressive plot formed in his head. Francis slammed on the breaks. Shiv tumbled into the back seat and the cars behind Francis honked angrily.
"What happened?" Shiv asked, face popping up between the seats.
"There was a cow crossing the road," Francis lied.
"Oh. Well, it's clear now. Hey, you want anything while I'm back here?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Hey, asshole! What's the hold up!" Someone in a car behind them leaned out the window to scream.
Francis smirked and the car behind them began to smoke imperceptibly. He sped off quickly. As soon as the car behind him punched the gas, it disappeared in ball of fire.
Just far enough to be unaware of this explosion, Carol Annmore often known as Carrie, stood cursing her sister and husband by the side of the road. The former had caused the trouble; the second had convinced her that it would be wrong to allow him to become involved. She had agreed, forgotten the cell, skidded through a patch of ice in order to avoid a dyslexic cow, and was now stranded. God damn.
"Hey, what's that?" Shiv asked around a mouthful of snickers. He was still in the back seat.
"Let's play a game," Francis offered without looking at Shiv.
"Do you mean that?" Shiv had been trying to start a game since the drive had begun. He had been cruelly shot down at every suggestion, though he wouldn't let it break his spirit.
"Sure. It's called the quiet game. When I say go, we both see who can stay quiet the longest. Ready?"
"Wait, what if I have to sneeze?"
"You can sneeze. Ready?" He didn't wait for Shiv to answer this time. "Go."
There were a couple minutes of blessed silence, then. However, as they reached the top of a hill, they spied a car broken down by the side of the road. Francis was going to pass it by, but Shiv leaned forward between the seats. "Hey, slow down. What if she needs help?"
"We're supposed to be laying low, remember?" Never mind that the pyro had just blown up a car. "And you just lost the game." Besides, something about the woman struck the seventeen-year-old as rather unpleasant.
"Come on! Comeoncomeoncomeon! Please? I'm soooo bored!"
Francis gritted his teeth. "Fine, but only to shut you up." He slowed down, passed the car, and eased off onto the shoulder in front of it. Francis stopped the car, cursing his travel partner. God, even Talon would have proved a better travel partner.
Carrie stepped over to the first link in the new chain of events, carefully enough, but still pissed like a bear; poor luck for the family, if she'd catch up. "Hullo?"
Francis stayed in the car, cursing water and everything related to it. This included ice and snow...
Shiv climbed over the front seat and out the window, not even bothering with the door. "Hey, lady, need some help?" He asked, grinning his trademark cheshire cat grin.
She nodded, enthusiastic. "Yes, please!" There was a gesture towards her car, and the sad state it was in. "You see, I've got to catch up with my sister, she took my car so I had to borrow my husbands but I need to catch up with her anyways before she does something completely uncalled forthat's always been Nell, you understand, she just won't function normallyand wrecks the chances we have of finally selling the damned old thing but she's too far ahead and it's like I'll neverevengetclosetocatchingUP..." The words had sped up and bled together; finishing, Carrie sighed deeply and rubbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry. Tensions over an inheritance."
"Eh, we'll give you a ride, right?"
Francis made a whatever gesture at Shiv, clearly not pleased with the whole idea.
"Awesome!" Shiv started to climb back through the window.
"Use. The. Door. You. Freak." Francis kept his voice low so the woman couldn't hear the annoyed words.
Shiv shrugged and opened the front door. Almost as an afterthought, he turned to the woman and bowed slightly. "Would you like a lift?"
Smiling and plotting some form of revenge or another against her remaining immediate family, Carol nodded. "Thank you. I don't suppose you're going far north?"
"How far north?" Francis asked as Shiv, leaving the front seat to their 'guest,' bounced into the back seat behind his crimson haired friend.
"A decent ways into Canada; I suppose my sister's already into Manitoba by now..."
"Canada..." Francis had never thought of this before. And why ever not? There was no goddam mutant registration law in Canada... "Sure. We'll take you to Canada." Though getting through the border would be difficult. Too bad there wasn't much time to prepare. No matter, he'd burn that bridge when he came to it... or something to that effect.
"What's your name, anyway?" Shiv asked as Francis eased back onto the road.
"Carrie Vance; very pleased to meet you. That's great of you; it's so hard to find anyone willing to do something for someone else..." Despite that, caring for their mother had always been her sister's job. "And you two?"
"He's Fr-"
"Frankie," Francis jumped in. "And he's... Steven." He shot Shiv a pointed look via the rearview mirror.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Vance," Shiv grinned and extended his hand to her.
"What business is it, exactly, that takes you to Canada?" Francis asked to divert the conversation away from him and his companion.
She shook. "Only finding my sister, and seeing to it that she can't get enough of the inheritance to mistreat it and see it all roont; She can't be trusted to handle things." Carrie went on, explaining how her sister sometimes refused to do the things the proper way, the acceptable wayCarrie's way, in other words. She went on for quite some time.
Francis felt his body temperature beginning to rise. This was worse than Shiv's jabber. Yet Shiv seemed to be eating it up. Francis tightened his grip on the wheel, trying to keep his cool, as it were. He felt the plastic give a little beneath his hot fingers.
"What is the inheritance, if you don't mind my asking?" Shiv asked, cocking his head. Francis was never this talkative.
"A number of things; paintings, property, investments..." She shrugged. But fate smiled on Francis a little; the older Vance noted a small gas station. "...Could we stop here? There are a few things I ought to pick up."
"Of course." The pyro suppressed his devious grin.
"Hey, there could be a phone, too," Shiv suggested.
"Maybe." Francis personally didn't care whether there was a phone or not. He would never listen to Shiv ever again. Never. He parked out front of the little store.
Carrie hurried in, not looking back.
Francis waited for her to disappear inside then backed out as quickly as he could without calling attention to himself.
"What are you doing?" Shiv asked.
"Getting the fuck out of dodge," Francis growled. He merged with the traffic, every foot he put between himself and that woman cooling his flaring temper. "Now that we have more time to prepare, how do you suppose we get across the border?"
"We could get fake Ids."
"We have no money, and I doubt it would be safe for us to talk to just anyone. Who knows how far this mutant hatred goes."
