Hey everybody! Again, sorry for not updating in so long. I don't know, my brain's been kinda dead lately. So I was thinking that if I set a realistic deadline for myself, and all of you wonderful people who have read, reviewed, favorited, and/or followed my story continue to give me encouragement, I'll be able to get chapters up periodically. Not sure what that deadline will be, since I took so long to get this chap up, but we'll see what happens. It takes me pretty long to write these, (not to mention get my mind together enough to form a cohesive chapter). So far, though, it seems that they make sense. I'm hoping this chapter will satisfy you all on the action part. The drama will be heightening, too.
I've decided that I will add Donna Tobin, just in case any of you were wondering about that. Maybe she can prove useful to add even more romantic tension between Kim and Jack (that's all I can give away for now.)
Disclaimer (I'm not sure if you have to do this for every chapter, any of you guys know?): I do not in any way, shape, or form, own Kickin' it.
So now, on to the story!
Kim held Jack's gaze for what felt like an eternity. Jack felt as if the breath was caught in his throat, held prisoner by this girl's watchful eyes. He couldn't understand why he felt this way. He told himself over and over again—she's a stranger, he doesn't know her, he shouldn't trust her. Yet he trusted her, and he wanted to know more about her. He wanted her. Though he had only been around Kim for a few hours, he already felt his walls beginning to crumble. Yet he was still reluctant for the barriers to disappear. He didn't know what he'd do if he finally dropped his guard. None truly saw inside of him. Not even his closest friends. No matter how many more defenses he threw up around himself, he knew she would somehow slip through. A stranger. He told himself again. A stranger. Don't trust her. She's a stranger.
She's different. He argued. She's special.
You don't even know her. Yet somehow, he felt he had known Kim his entire life. Was there something wrong with him? What had made him abandon his better judgement? Or had it left him long ago. He didn't use his better judgement that night when Lucy died. After what happened to her, he had learned to keep some things to himself, to distance himself from others. Yes, he had friends, and he cared for everyone at the warehouse, but none of them knew his darkest secrets. None of them, not even Jerry knew the real reason why he went missing from the warehouse for almost three months. He wasn't actually working undercover with the Black Dragons. Those months weren't spent gathering information to help the kids in the Warehouse. Stop thinking about it. He told himself, and pushed the memories even deeper into his mind. Something told him that they'd come out some day, that he couldn't hide his emotions forever, yet something else told him to deny the other voice. Everyone else had their own problems. Everyone else cried in the night. His problems shouldn't be a priority. He was there to comfort the ones who cried in the night. He had to be strong.
"We should all get some sleep before the raid. Everyone has to be alert and awake, or else we won't be able to pull this off." Milton, Eddie, and Jerry eagerly took the opportunity to catch up on a bit of shut eye, and were practically asleep by the time their heads hit the ground. Jack carefully maneuvered to the wall opposite of the door to keep watch. He relaxed, leaning against the rough cinderblocks, and slowly slid to the ground. A sigh escaped his lips that he didn't realize he was holding in as he ran a hand through his tangled mess of hair. He noticed Kim sitting at the other side of the room, fingering through the contents of her backpack.
"Hey," he called softly, "I thought you were supposed to be sleeping." She looked up, startled. A piece of her blonde hair fell into her face, and she reached up to tuck it back behind her ear.
"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" She countered after she managed to collect herself enough to speak. Jack wasn't sure if he scared her, or if she was so tongue tied for some other reason. Well, not really tongue tied, her wit certainly never escaped her. From the little time they had spent together, and the few words they had exchanged, Jack couldn't help but notice how sharp she was. She was smart, sensible. Yet while her tongue may not be tied, his certainly was. He wanted to talk to her, truly, he just didn't know what to say. He didn't even know how to answer her question. He looked down, unable to think while watching her, and his head finally cleared, and he remembered.
"Someone's has to keep watch. And besides, I'm not that tired. But you still haven't answered my question." Kim opened her mouth, then closed it, as if unsure how to answer. He shot her a quizzical glance as again, she began to fiddle with the contents of her backpack. He noticed a silver pendant dangling from her neck as she bent over he satchel, and his heart nearly stopped. Jack wore an identical pendant around his neck. He could feel the warm metal on his chest underneath his shirt. He was strangely attached to the necklace—it was the last thing his father gave him before he died. A new question formed in his mind, the previous one completely forgotten.
"That necklace, can I see it?" She looked up, and again, he realized, he had startled her. They held each other's gaze for a moment, and he tried to convey his curiosity, that he wouldn't hurt her. A lot to communicate in a single glance, yet it seemed the two of them had spoken the most by staring at each other. She probably thought he was strange. Not just strange. A stranger. Kim seemed frozen for a moment, then she nodded slowly, and rose quietly to her feet. Jack couldn't help but watch her as she padded across the building until they were mere inches away from each other. With shaky hands, Kim unclipped the necklace, and lifted it from her neck. Jack tentatively reached out, and fingered the seamless silver. It was exactly like his. It was still slightly warm from sitting around her neck next to her body. He felt like he was touching her through the pendant. Then, slowly and methodically, he fingered the chain around his own neck, and removed it. The two of them hung side by side, swinging like pendulums, captivating Jack's attention. Again, he felt the strange connection between them.
"Where—Where did you get yours?" Kim stuttered quietly. Painful memories resurfaced as Jack thought back to the last moments of his dad's life. How the blistered hands clenched around his own, clenched around the locket. How they suddenly went limp, yet still clenched. How he screamed and cried at the same time, out of both grief and terror.
"My dad gave it to me," He whispered, to conceal the tightness he suddenly felt in his throat. "What about you?"
"My mom." He watched her carefully as she tightly shut her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She was still shaking, he noticed, then realized why.
"You're cold." He thought aloud, then silently cursed himself for blurting it out. She seemed offended, her insecurities disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Her expression hardened slightly, her blue eyes no longer vulnerable or glazed with tears.
"I'm fine." She snapped, stifling a cough. "I just spent the night outside the President's estate. I think I can stand a little cold." Jack held up his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright. I'm guessing this means I won't be able to convince you to get any sleep, either." Jack grumbled, trying to suppress a half smile from creeping on his face. Kim made no attempt to hide the smirk she was wearing.
"I've had enough sleep already." Kim replied. "But that shouldn't stop you from getting any. I can take the watch." Jack must have looked uneasy, because she added, "You can trust me, remember." I can trust her. She can trust me. Even if she is a stranger. Jack felt a yawn rising in his chest as Kim mentioned the word sleep.
"Whatever you want." Jack replied, rising to his feet and stretching. He shuffled to an unoccupied area on the floor, and lowered himself, slipping off his jacket in the process, to use it as a pillow. The yawn finally escaped his mouth and his eyes already felt heavy.
"Night, Blondie." Jack murmured, sleep almost surrounding him. "Wake me up when it's getting dark."
"Blondie?" he heard Kim's questioning word just before slumber finally took hold of him.
Kim and the group of boys stood at the gates of the President's Estate, the buildings looming high above them. The bright lights illuminating the entire compound made the white-washed houses glow. She thought they looked strangely like ghosts or skeletons. They were hardly what one would call friendly. Kim was wearing an extra infrared bracelet the boys had brought in case one had been lost or malfunctioned. She realized that if one broke now, there wouldn't be another to fall back on. The prospect scared her. The group had stopped there a few minutes ago, and they had been standing—waiting, Jack had told her, for the clock to strike ten o'clock. It marked the halfway point in the holiday party when a friend of theirs who was working the party would get the chance to let them in.
"I thought you didn't know anyone on the inside." Kim hissed at Jack. He glanced sideways.
"He can't stay and help us, only let us in" Jack held up the memory stick, "and bug the cameras so we won't be seen. After that he has to return to the party." Kim nodded.
"Oh." she said. Jack grinned.
"What?" she asked incredulously. He was looking at her funny.
"Nothing." He said, and grinned again. She shifted uncomfortably, trying unsuccessfully to ignore him.
"Stop looking at me like that! Or—" She snapped at him.
"Or what?" The playful tone still hadn't left Jack's voice. It was strange, how many sides he had. Sometimes he was solitary, sometimes he was caring, sometimes he was playful. "You haven't known me long enough to threaten me, Blondie." She could see the laughter in his eyes, and it almost made her madder.
"I've watched you while you sleep," Kim suggested, "and don't call me Blondie."
"You watched me while I sleep?" Jack asked, even more smug than before, "I guess I have something to threaten you with, huh, Blondie." Kim scowled, the heat rising in her cheeks.
"That's not what I meant." She tried, but she already knew she had dug herself a hole that was too deep to get out of. And she couldn't really deny the facts, now. She had watched Jack sleeping. His face was relaxed, and it lost a quality that she couldn't put a finger on. He almost looked sensitive—weak, like anything could hurt him at any time. Until his expression grew tense—almost scared, and he twitched and trembled, and cried out softly. Not loud enough to wake anyone, but loud enough for her to hear. She contemplated waking him, but decided against it. There wouldn't be much she could do to help anyways. Again, she saw another side of him, the side that he probably never wanted anyone to see.
The time until the group's inside worker would arrive was spent in silence. Kim didn't know if it was the tension, excitement, or simply that no one really knew what to say. Still, not a word was spoken. Soon enough, Kim spotted a boy making his way to the operating booth right next to the gates. He was too far away for her to make out any features, but judging by how quickly excitement seemed to ignite in the other boys, she assumed that he was their insider. As he grew closer, she started to be able to point out certain features. He was fairly short, that much she could tell, even when he was still a distance away. She noticed the white gloves on his hands, and the white bow-tie that fit snugly around his neck. His suit allowed him to almost blend in to the night. His reddish hair, combed back in the traditional serving style. His facial features seemed to belong to a man, not a boy. But that couldn't be, Kim told herself, there's only one server who's not a child, only one man who had survived the plague.
"Rudy." Their inside man, was Rudy. Rudy, the man who taught her everything she knew about protecting herself. Rudy, the man who had accepted the fatherly role among the other servants. Rudy, the man who held her when she was still just a little girl, and told her everything would be alright after one of the other serving-boys told her she would never see her parents again. As if she needed to be reminded. At first, she couldn't believe her eyes. How could the head butler play a part in any of this? Then the pieces started to come together in her mind. She could see it now, his position in whatever game of rebellion these boys were playing. How he'd slip different things under his jacket when he thought no one was looking, and then the guards would search the serving quarters, and they wouldn't be there anymore—even when Kim could have sworn he took them. How he'd disappear in the night, when he thought everyone was asleep, and not return until morning. How he sometimes came back the worse for wear, and Kim and Grace, and some of the other maids would force him to rest, and how he would end up working anyway. Jack turned.
"You know him?" He asked. Kim nodded. "Well, Blondie, if you're friends with this guy, then we made the right choice in trusting you." Kim suppressed a smile. She was supposed to be frustrated with him for calling her Blondie again, but the anger wasn't coming. Butterflies filled her stomach at the words we made the right choice in trusting you. She hoped she had made the right choice in trusting him. But she still wasn't sure. Yes, he was trustworthy, but was she really willing to throw herself into his mess? To turn her back on all she had known for so many years?
Rudy had reached the gate, and again, she couldn't help but smile. Kim thought she would never see him again, yet here he stood.
"Kim?" The word came out like a desert wind. Quiet, yet powerful. He seemed uneasy all of a sudden, like he'd seen a ghost, but then it was gone, replaced with a business-like expression similar to the one he wore whenever spring cleaning came around. He reached out to touch her, as if unsure whether she was real. Her heart beat heavily in her chest, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She realized that even though she had been gone for a day, she missed Rudy immensely.
"Yeah, it's me." She whispered in reply. She felt like she was smiling to her ears, and he was beaming right back at her. Someone cleared their throat, and Rudy shook his head. Kim must have thrown him off immensely as it took him several minutes of fumbling with the memory stick to finally get it working. Maybe it was nerves that were throwing him off, but Kim doubted it. Rudy had done many more stressful things. He had learned to control his nerves long ago. None of the other boys noticed, but then, none of them actually knew Rudy.
But soon enough, her worries for the butler were forgotten, replaced by another new one. Perhaps this worry was closer to excitement than dread. The doors were unlocked. The cameras no longer worked. The guards were on the other side of the compound. The mission had begun.
One by one, the group entered the estate, moving fluidly, like the night. Jack went first, followed by Kim, then Jerry, the Milton, and Eddie in the rear. They kept in a single file line, and stayed in the shadows as best they could. Yes, the cameras may no longer see them, but there were plenty of guards and other prying eyes on the estate. Their footsteps seemed unnaturally loud on the black pavement, slapping like hands on a drum. Then Kim realized the drumming was her heart, not their feet. They moved agonizingly slow. Every movement, every shifting light made her jump. She remembered a time when she felt safe in this place. She wished she could muster up some of those memories to calm her nerves. Jack had told her on the way to the estate that the vault was located in a building near the middle of the estate. It was always heavily guarded, except, since the Holiday Ball was going on, the boys usually responsible for guarding the vault were needed to protect the nation's diplomats, and other, less experienced individuals replaced them. Kim already knew this, of course. The vault often surfaced in the conversations she and Grace had in the servant's quarters. Every holiday ball, different maids and footmen were recruited to guard the vault. They always came back with elaborate stories of what they saw, or at least, what they thought they saw in the vault.
Again, Kim bumped into Jack. She stepped back, and craned her neck, realizing why they had stopped. A black tower loomed above them, it's sharp edges and barred windows giving it an eerie life. It reminded Kim of the monsters in her nightmares, ready to eat her alive. But this time, it was different. This time, she was not dreaming. And she readied herself to walk into the mouth of the monster.
Kim was surprised how easy the job had been. Almost too easy. She felt as if she was forgetting something, a nagging feeling suddenly making itself known in the back of her mind. It shouldn't be this easy. She was reminded again, of her escape out of the president's estate. That seemed too easy, until the Black Dragons almost murdered her. Still, they were so close, and she knew the faster they looted the vault, the faster they could get away from this place where she used to feel safe but now could never. So she didn't think twice as she stepped through the monster's teeth, and into the fiery belly.
The floors were black as well, polished so carefully that even in the darkness Kim could see her reflection. They entered a lobby of sorts, with a ceiling hundreds of feet above them. But it wasn't a ceiling, Kim realized. It was the floor to the vault. Rudy told her once that the vault was on the top floor so the intruders would have a hard time escaping, (though he doubted anyone would get far enough to have to flee). Was he ever wrong. Suddenly her footsteps were loud, everyone's were loud, and they echoed, like when one throws a rock down a ravine. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong. Her heart beat louder and louder, and she wondered if it too, would echo.
Kim thought she saw a guard circling one of the many balconies that surrounded the lobby, but shook her head. She was scaring herself. She needed to calm down. But perhaps Jack had seen the guard too, for he led them to the outer wall of the lobby, out of sight from the balconies. She glanced at him, for a moment, and noticed his chest rising and falling. She noticed his eyes darting to and fro, trying to find a safe path for the group to travel. Suddenly he found one, and they were moving again.
Jack had found a stairwell, and the group began their long trek up flight after flight after flight. The further they traveled, the more the sense of unease grew. Her stomach seemed to sink with every step she took. Her hands shook, her legs ached, her heart beat louder, and louder. She was sure it everyone else could hear it. She was forgetting something. But what? Something Rudy had told her one of the nights he had returned all bloody and bruised. What must she remember? What had she forgotten?
The moment she remembered, it was too late. They reached the tenth floor, and it was too late. The entire floor was booby-trapped. Only the guards could disarm the system. They had left their memory stick with Rudy. The traps had been reactivated. She didn't know the purpose of these traps, whether they were to kill, or whether they simply were used as an alarm or disabling device.
Jack stepped out. It was too late.
"Jack, stop!" She cried. It was too late. She heard the hiss of an arrow, and Jack yelp in pain. Kim clamped a hand on her mouth to keep the scream from escaping. Jack crumpled to the ground. She knew she couldn't go to him, else risk her own life, and the rest of the mission. She couldn't know if he was alright, if he was even alive.
"Halt! Stop right there!" As if things couldn't get any worse, Kim's exclamation and Jack's cry had led a guard right to them.
"Get back!" Kim hissed to the other three boys. "The guard hasn't seen you yet." Jerry opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, Milton pulled him back behind the door.
"Please," Kim said, louder, so the guard could hear, "is he alright?"
"Get out where I can see you!" The guard was a girl, Kim realized, and she sounded familiar. She stepped out of the shadows, the moonlight streaming from the windows illuminating her golden hair. The guard had her gun trained on Jack. Kim couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. That meant he wasn't dead. Suddenly, Kim heard the guard gasp, and she couldn't help but gasp as well when she realized who was about to shoot the boy who saved her life.
"Kim?" Again, her name was uttered by a worker from the president's estate. The guard dropped her gun with a clatter.
"Grace?" Grace. The guard was Grace.
Oh my goodness I am SOOOOOOOOOO sorry for not updating in soooooooooo long. I can't say it enough, but I'll say it some more. I'm sooooo sorry. I'm sooooo sorry. I'm soooo sorry. There. I'll probably be saying it a lot in the future, though. I hope you kind of forgive me, since I wrote a longer chapter this time. I don't even know, really. I feel like a terrible person.
Anyways, read and review. Feedback is always appreciated. Again, PM me if you want to be let in on some of my ideas that I will include in this piece later.