The Mission From Hell
Chapter 3
"I Hate James Bond"
By: Deep Shadows and EckoStalker
Severus and Alexis spent the next week as a 'couple', if you could call it a couple, by day and spies by night. They had quite a large array of evidence, but not enough to pinpoint the mastermind or enough to prove that it wasn't a legal venture to bring the United States Ministry of Magic into this. Severus and Alexis had spent every night sleeping in the same bed, the heater still not working, even though Severus had spent countless hours in front of it, trying to decipher the instructions. Alexis had mastered a new dish in her limited cooking ability, Easy Mac. She also managed to teach Severus the art of the perfectly popped bag of popcorn, seeing as they spent most of the day either pretending to house shop or watching movies in the apartment. Severus swore that he had seen every James Bond and Indiana Jones movie in existence.
So far they had made no mishaps, so far they had not been detected. So far...
---------------------
"Oh bloody hell, how hard is it to get up here? I'm like, three feet shorter than you and got up here without any trouble." Alexis hissed into her earpiece, staring down at Severus from her station on the wooden walkway of the loft above the warehouse floor they had pinpointed their first night out here. Below her, Severus uncrossed his arms, shaking his head as he looked for a way to join her in the loft. Alexis leaned back, once more studying the locking mechanism on the office door she had been trying to break into since day one. They had always been cut short on time or on the verge of being walked in upon by the several or so guards that patrolled the warehouse all night, so this room had so far gone untouched.
This night, this was the first place they had decided to search. She looked up as Severus scrambled over the edge of the walkway, crawling towards her with a scowl on his features as Alexis snickered at him. He studied the lock as well as he sat on his knees in front of the door, pulling out a lock picking set and shoving Alexis aside as he went to work. Alexis took up the position of watch, looking down at the numerous crates below and wistfully thinking of how easy it would be to finally get her pet dragon form this place. If only she wasn't an Auror... No. Being a good girl...
She heard a click behind her several minutes later, looking at Severus as he smirked triumphantly, the door swinging slowly outward. Alexis smiled, scanning the grounds once more before turning to the door. Severus stood and took a step back as he put away his tools, and Alexis peered into the dark room, distinguishing the blinking lights and boxy forms of several computers.
Looking up around the room for any type of camera, she stepped inside, Severus following cautiously behind her, searching the floor for any trip alarms. She walked up to a computer, bringing up the main screen and searching through a few files as Severus rifled through a large filing cabinet across the room, occasional clicks from his sunglasses camera as he came across something of interest.
Alexis couldn't get to much on the computer, everything requiring some type of password that she didn't have time to crack, but she came upon a list of places and locations from where the live 'cargo' was coming from. Calling Severus over, he fumbled with the camera as he snapped a few frames from the lists she pulled up. Leaving him to rummage along the desks and argue with the camera, wondering just how many pictures of himself he had taken by now, she rummaged through a few boxes laying on the floor.
Nothing of much interest in them, so she pulled her attention over to the wood and glass cases near the computers.
She recognized a box of computer disks and floppies, along with some folders that looked like secret files off of the movie Mission: Impossible. Smirking and cocking her head with interest, she made her way over to them, pulling on them. She frowned upon finding it locked, guessing whatever was on those disks or in those folders were important, and it was her job to find out what it was. She checked on Severus, who was warily pushing a button on a computer and jumping in surprise when it suddenly changed screens. She snickered, rubbing her hands together as she studied the simple lock.
She pulled out of a pouch on her thick belt a lock-picking tool, picking at the mechanism for a few seconds until she heard a satisfying click. She called over her shoulder quietly as Severus looked up from his rummaging. "See? I can pick locks just as good as you..."
She heard frantic whispers behind her, and Alexis felt Severus grab her shoulder as she pulled open the cabinet doors. She looked at Severus with confusion, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose with frustration, glaring at her wearily.
She shrugged, asking. "What?"
Severus shook his head, and outside the office, she heard muffled yells and approaching footsteps. Alexis paled as she realized her mistake. Severus growled as he looked about the room. "Never occurred to you to check for alarms I suppose..."
Alexis smiled apologetically, and Severus looked up at the roof, grumbling mostly to himself. "I hate James Bond..."
Alexis looked up with confusion as Severus walked to the nearest desk, having seen an old, unnoticed hatch on the ceiling above them. Severus jumped on the desk, reaching up with difficulty to unlatch the small door and shoving it open, the voices getting louder outside the office. Alexis looked at the entrance door nervously as Severus pulled himself up and out of the room and onto the roof, disappearing from sight.
Alexis quickly scrambled onto the desk, jumping up and trying to reach the hatch also but missing it by more than a foot. Her head darted back to the door, seeing shadows moving towards the office, and whimpered to herself as she looked up desperately, wondering how she was going to get out of this one in time. Severus suddenly appeared back in the hatch, leaning down and reaching out his hand to her. Alexis felt a swell of relief as she jumped up and grabbed his hand, Severus straining to pull her up enough for her to get a hold. Alexis scrambled onto the freezing tin roof as Severus closed the hatch behind her and locked it as people swarmed into the office under them.
They both lay flat on the tin roof, breathing quickly and shallowly, their breath steaming in front of them like puffs of smoke. More voices rose up from all around the warehouse, and Severus closed his eyes as he grumbled.
"We're surrounded. We're bloody surrounded, on a metal roof, and it's snowing. Just beautiful... thank you so much..." Severus growled, looking at Alexis accusingly. Alexis lowered her eyes guiltily, not saying anything as they lay there side by side, soft snowflakes floating silently about them.
The people surrounding the building remained there for quite a long time searching the grounds. Way much longer than necessary... Alexis thought as she hugged herself tightly, shivering relentlessly as she watched her breath in the air in front if her, realizing they must've been there for the most part of an hour. Severus remained silent as he lay beside her as well, looking perfectly calm as he stared up at the star patterned sky.
Alexis wondered how he could handle the bloody cold so well, her teeth were about to shatter from all the chattering, and she had lost feeling in her hands and feet after the first fifteen minutes on the metal roof. And she could swear that the temperature had dropped at least five degrees in the last few minutes. She looked beside her at Severus, who kept his gaze fixed on the sky and she tried to chatter softly. "H-hey."
"What." He replied shortly.
"It's really c-cold out h-here. When do you t-think we can g-go?" She asked softly, finding that talking only let out more heat. Severus rolled his eyes, looking at her as he replied. "Well, we can try now, but I doubt we'd get fifteen feet before they spotted us."
Alexis nodded, though it was kind of erratic with her continuous shivering. Severus continued to look at her for a moment, and then sighed as he scooted closer to her, Alexis staring at him in confusion. He merely stated. "Body heat."
Alexis nodded, hugging herself tighter as she stared at the sky, the cold still spreading through her limbs like a disease. Presently, Severus spoke to her with surprise. "My god, you're practically convulsing."
Alexis nodded, replying softly. "Y-yeah... it's really c-cold man... and all I g-got under h-here's a halter t-top..."
"You bloody imbecile! What, you expected when they said we were going to a northern part of America in the middle of winter that it was just going to be pleasantly cool!" He snapped at her as quietly as possible with a look of disbelief.
"W-well, I didn't expect it to b-be this c-cold and then lay out on a r-roof all b-bloody night..." Alexis grumbled, not arguing too much at this point, it took too much energy.
Severus sighed with frustration, grumbling to himself for a moment before sitting up carefully. Alexis sat up slowly as well, watching him in confusion as he removed his jacket, glaring at her and holding it out, demanding. "Put it on."
Alexis glared as she snapped back. "N-no. Then you'll f-freeze and I'll f-feel guilty and g-get blamed for you d-dying. I'll m-manage a while l-longer." Alexis said sulkily, crossing her arms and looking away from him.
Severus was silent for a minute, and then continued. "No you won't. There's more of me and less of you. And besides, I'm wearing two shirts. Put it on before you freeze to death."
Alexis glared at him defiantly, thinking that he thought she was too weak to last out here like him. Well, she'd show him. She snapped stubbornly. "N-no. You p-put it on. I'm f-fine."
Severus glared dangerously as he growled. "Put it on, or I'll force it on you."
Alexis glared back, then huffed and turned away from him, drawing her knees up under her chin. Severus was silent for a moment, and Alexis wondered what he was plotting. She soon found out as Severus snatched her back towards him, forcing her arms into the jacket's sleeves and wrapping it around her.
She turned to glare at him angrily despite the blessed warmth the large jacket offered her. He nodded once with his 'I-warned-you' stare, lying on his back once more. Alexis sighed, shaking her head as she lay back beside him, her shivering lessening as she curled up in the warm jacket.
--------------------
Severus lay on the roof next to Alexis, looking at the sky in general annoyance as he felt the cold seep into his body. Yes, he was wearing two shirts, but neither of them were charmed like his jacket. He involuntarily shuddered in the cold, glad that Alexis had missed it or else she would be forcing his jacket upon him. He swore that Alexis was a moron. A halter top in November in Boston, come on. He sighed, his breath leaving him like a puff of smoke and he glared at the sky.
Damn it all... I just cared... About Alexis of all people... He criticized himself, crossing his arms to keep in some of his warmth. He glanced at Alexis and saw that some color had come back to her blue lips.
But she is my partner in this... Though I hate working in teams, I may need to rely on her to save me later... And Damn it, there is no one else to prove that I cared... Severus confided in himself, shuddering again as he listened around them. The crunch of boots on snow had faltered and no noise was heard now. He figured they had been on that bloody roof for a few hours, two at least. He sat up, looked to Alexis and nudged her, breaking her out of whatever daydream she was enveloped in.
"Hey, we can go now." He told her and she sat up, taking his jacket off. She handed it to him and he rolled his eyes as he noted that it smelt like her.
"Ugh... The scent o' Alexis..." He groaned as he put it on and she glared at him.
"You can just deal with it, Ass." She barked at him and he sighed.
"Bitch." He replied and she snickered, trying to get to her feet. As she went to stand, she slipped and suddenly was sliding down the roof. Severus reached for her and managed to grab her, but he didn't have well enough footing himself and they both went sliding down the roof. Severus had enough presence of mind to turn himself about as they soared off the edge of the roof, the ground coming fast.
He bent his knees and prepared to hit the ground. He landed on his feet, his cloak flapping and then closing in around him smoothly. He moved aside to the far wall, narrowly missing Alexis as she landed on her feet in the soft snow. He knew that their descent had made some noise and guards would be there any minute. Alexis looked around panicked, her hands on her nunchucks and Severus sighed, grabbing her arm and pulling her as he began running toward the alley. She caught on quickly and he had to no longer to pull her but fight to keep up with her.
They made it to the alley and they dove into the darkness, not stopping until they were a block away from the warehouses. "Never, EVER, stand on an ice and snow covered roof." Severus told her as he fought to catch his breath. His lungs were burning with the cold air, but his body was warm with the pump of adrenaline. She nodded at him, obviously not able to speak as they began to stalk toward the apartment, trying to catch their breath. Severus shook his head as they doubled back more than six times, making sure they were not followed. They finally made it the apartment and he entered it with the same joy as he would a room full of students, none at all.
"I'll make tea." He stated and Alexis nodded, this becoming ritual for them. She headed to the bathroom and changed, and he made her tea with the elixir. She hadn't caught on that she was being drugged yet, but he knew it would occur to her sooner or later. He set her cup of tea on the table and downed his as she walked out. Then he went to the bathroom, changing out of his own spy gear and into some warmer pajamas. He looked at Alexis as he walked out to the kitchen and shook her head. She was sitting there in a tank top, acting as if she wasn't cold to the bone. Shaking his head, he took the now empty teacups and put them in the sink, rolling his eyes. He turned off the lights as Alexis walked back into the bedroom. He followed her and walked around to his 'side' of the bed. He got into it and sighed, his back facing toward Alexis. He shuddered as her frozen foot touched him.
"Jeez, keep your cold feet to your self. Put some socks on for Pete's sake." Severus growled at her and she mumbled at him getting out off bed for a moment and then returning. Severus surrendered to the comfort of his pillow and was just about asleep when he felt frozen hands on his stomach. He nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Good God! You are freezing to the touch! Get your hands off of me." He snarled at her and she moved away from him, shaking her head, grumbling under her breath. After a minute of feeling guilty, he sighed.
"Oh damn it, just cuddle with me and get it over with, the sooner you are comfortable, the sooner I get to sleep." He barked at her and suddenly a warm body was clung to his back. He shivered and closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep. After about twenty minutes, it worked.
You know guys, seeing as I had something to do with this that this is just going to get worse and worse for Lex and Sev, just think what would be the worst thing the two of the would have to do... and add alcohol... HEHEHE... Coming soon...
Toodles,
Deep Shadows
