8

Snowman had fallen asleep moments before Spades Slick had charged out of his apartment to go on his temper energized walk around the city. She slept soundly, having no dreams for the most part and any visions she might have were quickly forgotten. It felt like a peaceful sleep with no interruptions.

Or it would have been that way.

She was woken from her slumber by a loud thump coming from the living area of the apartment. She sat up with a start, her white eyes going back to the bedroom door.

What was that? she wondered, feeling nervous. Was it Slick?

No, he wouldn't have made that kind of noise if he were the one coming home. It had to be someone else. But who? An enemy?

Slowly and cautiously she slipped out of Slick's bed and slowly made her way to the door, opening it ever so slightly to peek into the other room without being noticed.

The apartment was dark because Spades had shut off the lights when he'd gone out, so she couldn't see much. He'd also pulled down the shades so no light from the street or the pink moon shone into the building either. The room seemed to be pitch black or the closest it could get to that color anyway.

She listened for a moment, waiting to hear the sound again but this time only silence reached her ears. Maybe she'd just been hearing things so she closed the door and turned to go back to the bed, considering going back to sleep. But just as her fanny compressed the mattress the thumping picked up again and she jumped letting out a curse word.

THUMP!

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands to keep herself from making any further sounds.

THUMP!

A threat, it had to be there was no other option. A voice in her head stated this and she didn't question it. Something was in the other room and it sure as heck wasn't friendly.

Well whoever it was, if they were there for her she wasn't going to go down without a fight. It was going to regret ever entering this apartment. Snowman looked around the room a moment before noticing the knife laying on Spade Slick's bedside table. Of course, Slick couldn't even go to bed without having a blade in close range,k she thought to herself as she reached out and grabbed it off the table. Whoever it was they were not going to take her out without a fight!

Gripping the knife in her hand she tiptoed to the door and slowly opened the door, cautiously peeking out into the living area of the apartment once more.

Whoever was out there was about to get themselves gutted.

Just as she placed her eye against the small crack in the door she'd made something bumped into the door which made her gasp and fall backwards.

"ARGH!" Whoever had hit the door yelled out in fear at the sound of her hitting the floor.

Snowman sat up, her eyes widening. That scream sounded familiar but it didn't belong to anyone in the Felt. Whoever it was they were one of the people from Derse and they were either terrified or bonkers.

The door suddenly opened and something that looked like a staff swung at her. She gasped and dived out of the way of the blow.

"You can't escape me, you lime green pickle!" a familiar voice shouted. "No one breaks into Spades Slick's apartment and gets away with it! Feel the wrath of my bull cane!"

Now she knew exactly who it was. Rolling on her back she put out her hands and when the cane came swinging at her again she raised her hands and grabbed the cane firmly, yanking it out of other assailant's hands. Then she was in the middle of a struggle with whoever it was when they gasped and grabbed it back, though she didn't let go of it.

Snowman pulled hard on the cane, yanking the other person off their feet and onto the floor. She rolled on top of them, pinning them down with the cane.

"Snowman?!"

She stared down at the other person, recognizing them as Clubs Deuce, one of Spades Slicks associates.

"You!" she shouted, not releasing the cane. What in the world was he doing sneaking around Slick's apartment? "What are you doing here?"

The small Dersite who used to be the Courtroom Droll back on the Kingdom of Derse before they'd all be exiled stared at the female carapace with large white eyes. He seemed surprised to see her there of all places. "Snowman?" he repeated himself.

She frowned. "It's me," she said blandly. "Now tell me what you're doing here." she pressed down on the cane to give him an incentive.

Club's eyes popped out. "I was looking for Slick!" he exclaimed, fighting against her to keep the cane away from his neck.

Her next question came out as an icy growl. "Why?"

"I brought something over for him."

"And that would be..?"

"Could you let go of my cane so I can show it to you?" he asked, squirming under her. "I can't exactly get it if I'm stuck using both of my hands to hold onto this."

"How do I know you won't try something?" she demanded. From experience she knew what that kid did when people weren't looking. She didn't want to get hit by his cane again any time soon. One thrashing was enough for the millennium anyway.

"I won't," he meekly promised her.

Very slowly and cautiously she let go of the cane and moved back. Clubs sat up once she was no longer close enough to choke him and rubbed his head. He stared at her, an obvious question in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking but wasn't feeling up to explaining herself a third time. He wouldn't react rationally anyway, which was to be expected seeing as he wasn't as mature at Droog and Slick were.

"Well?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"What did you want to bring to him?" she asked, feeling exasperated.

"Oh! Uh..." he reached into his coat and pulled out what looked like a time bomb.

Snowman frowned at it, knowing right away what he would be using it for. When he noticed the look on her face he quickly out the bomb away. "Ehhh.."

"What is that for?" she asked, pretending she didn't know its purpose. "You planning a little demolishing exertion in the near future?"

"Uh... I guess you could say that..." and he quickly changed the subject. "So umm... where's Slick and why are you in his bedroom?"

"Slick went for a walk," she informed him in a nasty voice. "and it's none of your business why I'm in his bedroom or anything else for that matter."

The small carapace was about to comment but then noticed all the wounds on her body. Her coat didn't hide all of them so they were easy to spot. He stared at her for a long moment, his mouth hanging wide open as the image sunk into his brain.

She glared at him seemingly reading his mind.

"What?" he yelped.

"Stop staring at me."

"Eh... sorry.. I think I'll just leave since Slick's not here and I'm sure he wouldn't want me to interrupt whatever it is you and him were doing here and-" he started for the door but she grabbed his arm and yanked him back before he even left the room. "Yipe!"

"You're not going anywhere," she hissed. "You're going to stay here until he comes back and we decide what to do about this." the last thing she needed was for big mouthed Clubs to know where she was and blab it all over town. She didn't want anyone, especially the Felt, to know she was there. Droog, she knew would keep a secret, Slick wouldn't tell for personal reasons, Clubs on the other hand...

No way was she going to trust him without Slick being there to make sure he didn't open his mouth if he knew what was best for him.

Clubs didn't seem to happy about the arrangement. She could easily tell he didn't want to stick around, and she didn't really blame him for feeling that way. Their relationship hadn't really been that great on Derse, though she honestly hadn't abused him and mostly left him to do whatever he wanted. "Umm.. do you know when he'll be back?" he asked slowly, cautiously.

"No," she responded. "I don't know when he'll be back, it could be a few minutes it could be a few hours." she shrugged. "He'll come when he comes, you'll just have to be patient."

He didn't want to be patient! He wanted to leave because being around her was making him a little nervous. Not that he couldn't take care of himself if she tried anything but you never know. Aside from that hanging around would make him even more curious about her cuts and bruises and he would start asking and she would probably flip out at him and act like a maniac.

"And stop staring at me like that!" she shot at him. "I don't appreciate it!" He made another move toward the door only to be yanked back again by Snowman. "Don't you dare!"

"Make up your mind then!" he shouted. "You don't want me staring but you don't want me leaving! I can't hep staring because you don't want me to know what happened."

She groaned and got up off the floor. "I'll tell you if you shut up."

"Okay, okay!"

"Good," she finally let go of his arm.

"Are you going to tell me why you look like you and Sick-"

"Don't even go there," she growled at him. "And get your mind out of the gutter!"

He quickly shut up.

"That's better." then she repeated the story again, omitting parts from it because she didn't want to tell this guy all the details.

Clubs didn't have much of a comment when she finished, he seemed to just be trying to let what she said sink into his mind. His silence of course started to get on her nerves. Why was he just staring at her like that? Why didn't he say something? Did he think it had been easy for her to explain this to him? It wasn't like she had to tell him that, she'd only done it so he would stop being annoying.

"What?" he asked, noticing the look on her face. "I didn't say anything!"

"Best you didn't." she folded her arms and looked away. What was she going to do now? She didn't know but she was already regretting telling Clubs what happened. He would probably tell Hearts Boxcars about it or one of her other many enemies. They would jump at the chance to get at her while she was down. Great, just what she didn't need. "If you tell anyone what I just told you your hat won't be the only thing getting smashed in the near future."

"My hat?" he took it off his head and hugged it protectively.

"Yeah, you're hat." she grabbed it from him and crushed it in her hand, making him squeak. "This is what will happen to you if you say anything to anyone."

"I won't say anything!" he said, staring at his crushed hat.

"Good," she dropped it on the floor then got up as he stared forlornly down at the crushed article of clothing. "Glad we came to an agreement."

"Yeah..." he picked up his hat mournfully. His poor poor hat.

She pulled herself onto the bed and looked down at him. He wasn't going anywhere and wouldn't be saying anything either. Now all she had to do was wait for Slick to come home so they could decide what to do about him.

Slick returned half and hour after Snowman had told Clubs he had to wait. As he stepped into the apartment it became very clear he was in no better a mood than he'd been when he'd left it. If Snowman wasn't mistaken he looked worse. But before she could make any remark about it Clubs was up from the sofa and charging over to him like a child greeting their father after a hard work day.

"Slick!" Clubs Deuce exclaimed, getting up from the floor and making a beeline for him."You're finally back!"

Slick's expression said he hadn't been expecting company, especially the smaller Dersite's, and that he wasn't welcome either way. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "and who let you in?" he glared at Snowman as he asked this as if she were responsible.

"I let myself in," he explained. "I came by to drop off that thing you wanted."

"You let yourself in?!" he demanded. "How did you do that? I locked the door!"

"I picked the lock," Clubs responded as if it should be obvious.

Spades Slick looked ready to blow up at the smaller carapace but the fact that Snowman was standing there, watching might have given him pause. Instead he said through gritted teeth. "You shouldn't have done that, you should have called me."

"I didn't even think about it..."

"Of course not! You never do!" he glared at Snowman again and his eyes seemed to be sending a clear message to her, one she didn't exactly appreciate.

He was still blaming her. But what could she have done? Her powers didn't even work now and moving too much still hurt. She was even more sore from her little conflicts with Slick and Clubs. If he blew up at her now she probably would do something regretful, not that anyone could really blame her.

Clubs looked from one to the other as if he too were deciding what to say. He could feel tension rising. "Uh... I think I'll be going now." he started for the door but Slick grabbed his arm to stop him. "Oh no you don't! You're staying right here!"

"But why?" he whined. "I didn't do anything!"

"You broken into my apartment," his college snapped at him. "I wouldn't call that nothing!"

"Well I'm sorry, I told you why I did it."

"And now you have to pay for it."

"what are you going to do to me?"

"Depends," he said. "What have you learned since you got here?"

"About what?"

He pointed at Snowman. "Her."

"What..." Club's eyes wandered over to the woman who was leaning against the door frame. "Oh um... just a few things like she's here because Lord English beat her up and-"

"That's enough!"

"Yikes!" he ducked his head as if expecting his boss to swing at him.

"Why are you telling him these things?!" the angry mobster demanded of Snowman. "He's going to just go out and open his big mouth and tell everyone where you are and then we'll both be in the can because nearly every gang in this city wants a piece of you."

The female Dersite sighed tiredly. She didn't want to talk about this anymore, it was starting to give her a headache. "He won't say anything if he knows what's good for him."

Slick gave her a suspicious look as if he didn't believe her. "And how do you know he won't?!"

"Oh, I know," she assured him, slowly sliding down the frame until she was sitting. "Trust me."

But he wasn't going to trust her. He never had so he couldn't take her word for it, no matter what, until he realized she had more to lose than he did if that information came out. She would make sure the little guy didn't tell and if he did he was certain he'd regret it.

"Fine," he grunted. "Whatever you say."

"Can I go now?" Clubs wanted to know since it seemed the two had come to an agreement.

"No!"

"Aw..."