Wolf isn't sure how she feels about movie night with the guys after the disaster of the afternoon. It isn't that she didn't enjoy it, she did, she just... didn't want to watch another eight hours of movies that were pointless or lovey dovey. "I'm not sure about a movie night," she says to Storm and Snake when Flint, Ripcord, Roadblock, and Duke argue over what movie to start first. "I'm not into those pointless-"
"These aren't what you were watching earlier," Storm Shadow interrupts. Wolf is still a bit unsure, listening with reluctance as they throw the names of movies around at each other and claiming a difference on opinions of what she would and wouldn't like. "If you don't like the movies, I'll let you sleep. So will Duke. So sit between us and you'll be fine."
"We don't have the original A Nightmare On Elm Street, Duke. We have the remake, but not the original. So she can watch the remake and we can get together later for the original," Roadblock says to poor Duke who just wants to watch that one movie. Roadblock puts it in, and Duke did next to Roadblock as Snake Eyes and Flint go to get popcorn.
Wolf sits next to Duke and Storm Shadow perches next to her. It starts on the menu until the boys get back with the snacks. Wolf tries to stay awake, but finds it a bit difficult while they're waiting. She eventually lays her head on Duke' s shoulder. He shifts a bit too keep her comfortable when Flint sets a bowl on her lap.
Wolf takes one of the pieces from the hotel as another form of candy is thrown at her. "It's popcorn," Duke says. He takes the piece from her hand and throws it in his mouth with a bit of a grimace. "Flint put too much butter, but you might like it." Wolf takes another piece and eats it, finding it delightful. He takes the wrapped candy. "They gave you a Reeses, which is alright. I'd save it for later."
The movie starts, and Wolf can tell automatically it is different from what she watched with the girls. She looks on in fascination as it continues, but one thing is found to be true about Wolf after a few minutes into the movie. She is really jumpy. Duke chuckles, putting a hand on her shoulder when Kris dies. "Block, I don't think Wolf should do anymore horror movies. Poor girl is shaking."
Storm, who is watching the movie with only slight interest, turns to look at Wolf out the corner of his eye. She is shaking, her black hair compiled in a bun quivering, lookng as though it will fall over. He sighs, and Wolf looks over at him. She watched as he crosses his arms, and looks back to Duke. He's absorbed in the movie, and she rests some of her weight on Storm.
Wolf barely makes it through the movie, and knows she won't sleep if Freddy plans on entering her dreams. She feels better with the next movie, an action movie with a lot of fast cars and a dead actor. Wolf slightly hates the actor is dead since she would love to see more recent movies. "Block, I think she liked it. Do you wanna watch the other ones, Wolf?"
She nods, resting her chin on Storm's shoulder. He pats her head, trying not to mess up the bun she's managed. They put in the second movie, and she enjoys it a little bit more than she did the first one. The third one rolls around, and she automatically likes a character from one of his lines. "I don't care if you're in bed with Beyonce or sick as a dog. I call, you show." She laughs, now knowing what it means.
But when something bad happens, she stares slack faced. Roadblock waves a hand in front of her face, Duke, Flint, and Storm Shadow laughing at her reaction. "But... But... But..." She crosses her arms. "I actually freaking liked him, damn it!" Pouting like a child, she begins to see something about the whole idea of her watching this movie and all of those other movies. "Wait..." She stands up. "You want me to feel bad for killing the people I've killed."
Duke shares a look with Roadblock and Flint, but Wolf is already leaving. She stops when Duke says something that makes her think back on everything her teacher taught her. "At least we know you have emotions, right? Your friend Cutter told us she's never seen you show anything but curiosity, glee, mild irritance and mild amusement. Now we've seen something else."
"There's nothing more to me other than killing, Duke," Wolf says, repeating the first words her teacher ever told her and had her memorize into her heart, even allowing her to tattoo it if she wanted, which she did. Not that anyone would know since she keeps it well concealed. "What you've seen here is a dream, nothing more." She walks away, hearing Storm Shadow follow a short time later with another set of steps, Snakes.
Snake Eyes grabs her arm, but she shakes him off. "I'm going to my damned room." She keeps a cool mask, concealing this new emotion she hasn't felt since she was a girl. She knows what it is, but she can't deal with it right now. She makes a turn, both of them close behind as the only two who could really take her without some type of formulated plan. She waits next to the door for Storm Shadow to open it.
"You're angry," he says softly as Snake Eyes goes away, and Wolf just glares at him. "It's another emotion. This time it isn't a dream. You can't separate everything from yourself, no matter how you were taught. Wolf laughs at him. "This is the most mature I've seen you act. You seem almost your age."
Wolf is silent for a while, and he's about to open it when she says, "My teacher taught me that every killer has a theme. Wind Rider's theme is seduction. He's quite handsome, and I was taken with him for a while until I found my own. No one suspects a child of murder. As soon as I began acting like a child around Rider, he stopped going after me. He knew then and there that trying to use emotions wouldn't work. Once you've got a path, you're a threat. He didn't know how big a threat."
She tugs her bangs down, and Storm is surprised to see something flashing. Wolf pulls it from her hair, not even flinching as she pulls several strands with it. She shimmers, and Storm Shadow can see all of the ink she's collected over the years. He grabs her arm, seeing the words she had repeated before. "What you fear, you kill." Wolf grabs some of her bangs and clips it back, proceeding to use her bobby pins to hold her bangs, the flashing unseen. She shimmers again. "Was Wind Rider your teacher?"
Wolf smiles slightly, amusement entering her face as he opens the door. "You don't betray the Family." A look passes his face as he makes the connection. She goes into her room, fully comprehending what she's done. If, or when, she gets out of here, they'll send everything after her. She has failed to learn her teacher's teachings, and hence, she has failed her teacher.
But he will never know the depth of what she's done to give him this information. If he did, he would probably tell Duke, and telling Duke would result in the whole place going under lockdown. But during the movie she walked out on, Wolf saw herself showing emotion too. It scares her to think about it.
She stares at the ceiling, waiting for them to come for her. But they don't. Instead, she only has Storm Shadow enter her room. She feigns sleep, and he walks to her bed. "You know, you do feel things. Those tats don't make you who you are. Neither does your pretending to be a childlike in order to not feel terrible for killing. No one suspects a child of killing. But the ones who do never understand what they've done." He sighs. "I don't think you understand anything about people. They're born, then they die. You don't quite get the emotional side of it all."
"Emotions are not meant to be understood by the Family," Wolf says, surprising him. She opens her eyes. "You have a lot to learn." She looks back to the ceiling, and Storm Shadow just stays there, watching her. "Wind Rider will kill all of you. You understand that, right? Until you can learn all of the lessons I learned, even two or three, you will all die."
"Why did you tell us his name?"
"Betraying the Family means they will come to kill me," Wolf replies. "I failed my teacher, so I have to die as soon as they catch me." She closes her eyes again, heaving a breath out. "Then I can go to my true home and take my place as the one and only Arctic Wolf in history to be in the Family."
"The Family isn't where you belong. I saw someone tonight, Wolf, and she wasn't who you are. She was the girl you parade around as, the one without the tattoos or the scars." He sighs when Wolf doesn't say anything reply. "I'll see you tomorrow." He leaves, and Wolf can't help but notice he shut the door a little harder than he normally does.
Storm Shadow runs a hand through his hair. He didn't tell them about the tattoos or anything, but he did tell them about Wind Rider. He knows he probably should have told them everything, but something didn't seem right. Wolf shared something with him. Sharing is something she just doesn't do.
He sits in his bed, turning it over and over, remembering everything she had there. "What you fear, you kill." "Loving makes you weaker." "Weakness is a liability. A liability is death." "Trust is for those who are weak." "Never betray the Family." But one that stuck out most was the one that surprised him. He saw it once in a book Scarlett and Jaye were reading. "To love is to destroy. To be loved is to be destroyed."
Looking at the door that separates them, he wishes he could see into her mind. She's too different from the Joes. Too different from him. He knows watching her fall will be a true crime to the Family, but it will be a true justice to her. It will be better for her to learn emotions and personality and people. He just hopes she's open to it, more so than he when Snakes first brought him to be a Joe.
"Arctic Wolf has turned off her tracking signal completely. She isn't even online." The figure turns to another he trusts. "Wind Rider, you will find her. I don't care if it's where those Joes have her, but you will find her."
"Of course," he says, a grin decorating his features. It looks good natured, but the figure knows he is anything but good. "How will she go?"
"Slowly. Painfully. If she has emotions, kill everyone she knows." He turns again, and Wind Rider backs out of the room, knowing he's dismissed.
As soon as Wind Rider is out of sight, he grins. "This will be pleasurable."