^^^Troublesome Children^^^
Several hours after Neal had been put to bed, and long after exhaustion had taken over his young body despite his best efforts, Mozzie tried to creep out of the bed unheard. Neal though, used to years of sleeping lightly, woke up at the slight rustling of the bed.
"Moz?" Neal asked sleepily.
"Shh, your going to wake someone up" Mozzie whispered.
"What are you doin'?" Neal asked curiously as he scooted back on the headboard.
"Nothing, go back to sleep"
"You were going to leave without me?" Neal accused.
"Be quiet" Mozzie hissed. "You said it earlier, Peter is going to be angry if we are caught, and really it is a one man mission" Mozzie explained.
"I don't care if Peter catches us, but you're not going alone."
"Neal, you need to stay here in case El or Peter comes to check on us."
"I am coming with, or I am going to go tell Peter right now." Neal declared, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Are you kidding me? You are going to tattle on me?" Mozzie asked in disbelief.
"If I am in a four year olds body, I might as well use it to my advantage" He declared smugly.
"Fine" Mozzie gritted out. "But don't go blaming me if we get caught.
^^^Troublesome Children^^^
By some miracle Neal and Mozzie managed to sneak out without waking Peter, Elizabeth or Satchmo. Their next challenge came by trying to sneak around as children in the city that never slept. Luckily, there skills as conmen gave them an advantage.
"Mozzie, it's cold" Neal complained as they were approaching the warehouse.
"Seriously Neal?" Mozzie admonished. "I am sorry I didn't account for your accessories while sneaking out."
"All I am saying is that I could have grabbed my coat before we left"
"Keep an eye out" Mozzie order as he approached the door and gave the lock there his full attention. "And you mean we should have grabbed your coat from the closet with the squeaky door?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't want to get caught before we even left. And besides, you knew what we were doing tonight, why weren't you prepared?" Mozzie asked.
Neal's response was a huff. Mozzie looked over and saw the look on his friend's face and decided to take pity on him. He shrugged off his own coat and handed it to Neal. The younger boy paused, but put it on when he saw the look on Mozzie's face.
"Thanks" Neal mumbled and Mozzie ignored the awkwardness of the situation.
"Alright, I got the lock" The older boy exclaimed quietly a minute later.
"Do we actually have a plan?" Neal asked.
"What?!" Mozzie cried in exaggerated shock. "Neal, asking if we have a plan? Do you feel alright?"
"Shut up" Neal grumbled, though happy to return to their normal banter. He shoved past Mozzie and walked into the warehouse.
"Neal!" Mozzie yelled in real anger and grabbed his young friends arm. "What the hell do you think you are doing!?"
"You said there wasn't a plan, so I chose to take some action." Neal explained, confused by his friends reaction.
"And you thought barreling into a warehouse into the unknown was a good idea?" Mozzie bellowed.
"Relax Mozzie" Neal pacified. "There are no cars around and there is no noise coming from inside, this isn't my first rodeo." Now it was Mozzie's turn to huff.
"Let's look around." Mozzie suggested and walked ahead of Neal towards where the ink had spilled the night prior. "I don't know if this will work, it is all dried up."
"Why don't we wet a rag and see if we can wipe some of it up? Or look for more ink bottles. It looks like they left in a hurry without even coming back."
A half an hour later after collecting evidence, the boys left with four vials of ink, two rags covered in the previously dried ink and some passports that looked to be created with the same ink Neal and Mozzie had touched yesterday. They then began their way back to the Burkes.