Former PenName: crazy4horses
Snow and Fire Don't Mix!
Ch. 22
Hide and Seek
Green eyes, bright and full of life *flash* Teasing giggle *flash* Broad jaw, clenched perfect white teeth *flash* Green eyes, still and frozen *flash* Wicked laugh *flash* Lower lip, playfully bitten, covered in dark red lipstick *flash* Two slim hands with dark purple painted fingernails gripping the collar of a powder blue button-down shirt *flash* A close-up of those now empty green eyes staring at nothingness. Only a reflection of a blurry grinning face is present. *flash* Wicked laugh grows louder and louder…
Abruptly awoken by fragments of a memory that was not one of her own, Rogue propped herself to a sitting position, rearranging her hair from her collarbones to her back. Veronica's chilling laugh echoed in her head. The TV grabbed her attention as the weatherman announced that over two feet of snow had fallen. He went on to say that this storm would be entered into the record top five biggest snowstorms in the tri-state area. She slid out of the bed on the right side and took a few short steps toward the window. She pushed and held one part of the curtain to the side. The untouched snow was blinding, but remarkable to look at. Tall snow-covered pine trees gave the scenery some color and an idea of where the woods started. Rogue jerked her head as she heard banging, scratching, and grunts. The door that separated their room from the room next to them was ajar.
Cautiously, she peered into the room, ready to pull off the glove if necessary. Her eyebrows narrowed at a person's backside. "Bobby?" she whispered. "What are you doing?"
He took a brief glance at Rogue and then went back to his search. "We have to find Veronica's dagger. It's far too important. It has to be nearby and I have a hunch it's in here." His voice was muffled as he was behind the headboard.
"Did you look in the toilet tank?" She offered.
"Mmm." Bobby ran his hand along the metal frame but didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. He eased himself out of the tight space, straightening his back. He crossed his arms over his chest and scanned the room looking for possible hiding spots from where he stood.
Rogue crossed the room and lifted her arm to touch the cheap abstract primary colors oil painting that hung solely on the wall.
"I checked there as well," Bobby said, rubbing his forehead with his palm in frustration.
She retracted her arm and turned around so that she was facing him. She smiled softly. "Don't beat yourself up, Ice. We'll find it." As she passed by, she made shoulder-to-shoulder contact, playfully giving him a push. "I'm going to check on Veronica," she paused and added, "to make sure she's comfortable."
The implausible pair descended the stairs together. Just as John was about to take another step to the first-floor platform, Kitty grabbed his arm. "What?" he said, slightly agitated.
"Aren't we going to have a plan?" she asked.
The fire manipulator scoffed. "No. Just wing it."
Her jaw dropped halfway like it was the most foreign thing she'd ever heard.
He sighed as his face made contact with his left palm. John slightly spread his middle finger so that he was able to see her face with his right eye. "What is Cyke teaching the future mutant generation?"
"Well, maybe you would learn something if you bothered to stay awake!" she spat back.
"I've got instincts. That can't be taught. Stop arguing with me, Kitty, and let's get this done. I've been over this place from the start." As he continued to the ground floor, he added, "We're not about to infiltrate a high-security facility with armed guards or anything . . . relax."
Kitty shook her head, watching him go. After a minute, she smirked and muttered, "Just wing it." She jogged a short distance to catch up with him.
Rogue cracked open the door to the bathroom. A small portion of light fell on Veronica. Her head was resting on the off-white tiled wall; hands still bound at the wrist by frozen water. Veronica used her bent knees to give support to her outstretched arms. Rogue stared at Veronica's lips. The bitch was smiling in her sleep. Though it crossed her mind, she chose not to deliberately wake her. Carefully closing the door behind her, she turned and immediately beamed at Bobby when she saw him sitting in the same chair that John was bound to earlier.
His brows furrowed at her expression. "What?"
"Check under the chair you're sitting on."
He rose off the chair, picked it up, and turned it upside down to take a look. She couldn't see because he was in the way but when he looked back at her and smiled, she knew instantly. "How did you—"
"Instincts."
John was waiting by the door, holding it open. The lobby was busier than the two young mutants would've preferred. Kitty scanned the room, noting that there was currently only one male clerk and a security camera behind the desk, another camera facing the front doors, and probably more by the side doorways. "I'll be right back," she told him hastily and ran into the bathroom.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head, muttering to himself, "Girls". John took a few steps over to the large flat-screen TV and crossed his arms over his chest. Even though he was scowling at the screen, the snow-covered cars, houses, and everything else was astonishing to look at. The local news team switched to a helicopter view showing sanitation workers doing their best to clear the main roads first. A spokesperson for the local sanitation department said that their workers would clean up around the clock, non-stop. He asked the locals to be considerate and not dump snow on the streets that have been already cleaned up. John snorted at that, thinking, people don't listen and they are rarely ever considerate towards others.
Meanwhile, Kitty pushed open each stall door making sure they were empty. She went into the last stall and closed the lid to the toilet. She stood on top of it and phased through the ceiling. She made sure she was alone before fully entering the room above the lobby bathroom. Kitty quickly looked in suitcases and drawers but didn't seek the object she was looking for. She walked to the adjoining door and put her ear to it first: nothing but silence. She phased part of her face through and immediately pulled back. The room wasn't empty, but both occupants seemed to be sound asleep. She quickly decided to look again and luckily saw what she'd been searching for. The tablet was located on the left nightstand aligned with the bed's headboard. Kitty phased her whole body through the door and held her breath as she crept towards the bed. As she got closer, she outstretched her arms toward the device. She froze in place when the man moved to change his position in the bed. His head was so close, she wondered if he could feel her body heat on his face. She let out a tiny breath of air and gripped the item securely with both hands. Kitty hugged the iPad close to her chest, turned on her heels quickly, and quietly exited the sleeping couples' room.
Once back into the first room, which was still empty, she made a bee-line towards the door. She exited the room as casually as possible and hurried down the staircase. She found John by the TV, and asked from behind him, "So . . . what are they saying?"
"Same shit more or less." He turned around to face her, and asked, "Why do women always take so long in the bathr—"
She hit his shoulder with the heel of her hand. John scowled and rubbed his shoulder. "I didn't go in there for that!" she said through gritted teeth, suppressing a scream. "I had to get this." Kitty shoved the tablet at his chest. "Hold it, Mr. Wing It," she ordered.
"Watch it, Kat. You can only get away with so much," John said in a semi-serious tone, but his warm gray eyes would've made you think otherwise. "Why do we need this? I thought the flash drive was all we needed?"
She smirked. "You made the mistake once already of underestimating me, Pyro. Don't forget," she paused as her smile grew wider, adding, "I never will." Seriousness flashed behind her eyes and then her smile faded. "The flash drive contains personal information directly from V's laptop but I also want to get articles on her using the iPad." Then Kitty subtly jerked her head towards the clerk. "Nothing major," she instructed, whispering to John, "Not yet, anyway." She walked past the left side of the main desk and stopped in the hall out of sight of the clerk and the other lodgers in the lobby.
John sauntered over to the desk clerk. The clerk was in his low 30s, slightly taller than John, but built the same, with dirty blonde shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes. "Any word on when I can get the fuck out of here . . ." he paused to look at the clerk's nametag, "Dan?" John hoped that that didn't come off as harsh as he assumed other guests were when they asked the clerk that same question. He didn't want to be another "dick" on Dan's notch. He knew it wasn't the clerk's fault that so much snow had been dumped causing inconvenience for everyone.
Dan looked at John for the first time with a deadpan expression and said in a monotone tone, "Read the sign."
"No one reads signs. They can't be bothered, it seems."
"I know. I could write a book," Dan grumbled. "But I rather say that short statement than repeat myself over and over." The lodge employee shifted his weight to the other side. "Annoying people aside, is there anything I can help you with?"
Kitty smiled at John's conversation, regardless, the job of distraction was getting done and she felt herself unwind. She walked a little closer to the lobby as she pretended to be busy with her phone. She lowered herself to a crouch just before the desk. She waddled over to the beginning of the back of the desk, rather than guessing where it was. She made sure the coast was clear before backing into it. Once fully inside, she got to her knees and crawled. At about five feet in, Kitty stopped to position herself on her back, so she could eventually look up. She hoped John was still distracting Dan as she slid out from the desk to take a peek; the security camera was directly above her by a few feet. In the blink of an eye, Kitty disappeared—if you were able to see her in the first place, that is—however, John made sure no one did but himself by barking at anyone that would hover.
John let Dan talk about . . . something. He wasn't giving the clerk his undivided attention and he couldn't remember what he had asked. The pyromaniac gave the impression that he was listening by occasionally offering an 'oh yeah?' or a nod. The camera started to spark and went limp. "What the . . ." Dan looked up over his shoulder at the defective device, which was smoking, then he looked at the other camera, which seemed to be working. Dan picked up the telephone receiver and dialed someone regarding the broken camera. John took that as the opportunity to casually walk away, his fingers tingling to play with the embers, which he ignored. John peered for Kitty in the area he saw her last. He felt a tap on his shoulder. Before he turned around, he rolled his eyes at himself for being wrong and somewhat stupid. John handed Kitty the iPad and said, "Remind me never to play hide and seek with you."
A/N: Please leave a quick review or just urge me to continue. Cheers!
"Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you." Tyrion Lannister to Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)