During the biggest snowstorm of the decade, London's resources were stretched to the max. The plow trucks couldn't keep up with the buildup of snow and ice as the blizzard raged on for the third day in a row. The city had practically shut down some thirty-six hours prior and everyone was holed up in their homes praying that the power didn't cut out and that the supplies they did have, would last.

The storm wiped out any plans for New Years Eve parties. The roads were too dangerous to drive on and the air was too frigid to even consider walking anywhere. Alex was hard pressed to even venture into the garage to where the trash cans were overflowing. It had been a full week since the trash truck had been by. The storm had halted everything. Even the mail.

It began a day before New Year's Eve and Jack had been in her room staring at the clothes in her closet when the first flakes had begun to fall. They had been invited to a party by Wolf's sister- a pleasant surprise- but the dress code was black tie and Jack was fretting. She wasn't a fancy kind of girl. She didn't know what she'd do. Somewhat fortunately, it had been canceled that next morning when the news reported a foot of snow on the ground and more to come.

Tom had spent the night and had no inclination to try to go home in this weather, something his mother agreed with. She didn't want him braving the conditions. K-Unit, on the other hand, did brave the conditions to get to the Rider home in Chelsea. Jack had been shocked that they could be so stupid until she'd heard them explain. Wolf's power was out, Snake didn't have any food, and Fox didn't have nearly enough room in his small flat to hold them all. The three had cleaned out their fridges and stopped by the store on their way over. They were set.

So the seven of them had piled into the living room to watch movies, play video games, and make fun of old sitcoms. They stayed up until way past midnight, ate, joked around, and just had fun. Things were looking good and the New Year had started off better than to be expected.

But then the power went out.

Alex was playing a video game with Tom the next morning on Tom's new Wii. The teen had yet to come up with a name for it, but he was considering several. They had been boxing for at least a half hour when the TV screen turned black. The lights clicked off and the living room was cast into a grayish half light. Alex also heard the heat shut off. The power was out.

"The hell-" Eagle muttered from his spot on the couch. He had been reading the paper.

"The power went out," Tom noted. "I was just about to beat Alex too."

"You were not," Alex defended.

"I so was, superhero," Tom replied. He refused to admit that it would have only happened because Alex was prepared to let him win, something that was somewhat nice and completely annoying. Alex rolled his eyes at him.

The argument probably would have continued had Wolf not entered the room in all his scowling glory.

"Do you have a generator?" he asked the blond teen who shook his head.

"No, we've never had a need for one," he replied. They heard Jack come thundering down the stairs.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed loudly. "What happened to the power?"

"Power lines probably froze and snapped," Snake told her as he came in. Fox followed behind him nibbling on a cookie which Tom promptly stole. "Do you have a generator?" Again, Alex shook his head.

Wolf and Eagle went to stand by the window and looked out at the raging blizzard. The storm wouldn't have been nearly as bad if it hadn't been for the intense wind which drove the snow across the land in a way that reminded Alex of the Arctic. It eliminated all visibility and drove the temperature down even further than it already was.

"Turn on the radio," Snake said and Tom obliged.

"…force winds that have knocked out the power to several sectors of the city. Power companies are working to restore power to the areas that have lost it but progress is slow due to the conditions. The city is urging people to stay at home and try not to brave the storm. If you have lost power dress as warm as possible and use any tools you can. The power is expected to be restored within a few hours."

"Great," Wolf growled over the announcer. "Well, you heard the guy. We need blankets, lanterns, the works. And for the love of God, Harris put some clothes on." Tom looked down at his nightclothes which consisted of basketball shorts. The teen had no shirt and no socks but then he'd hardly expected to need them. The house had been warm and Tom didn't get cold easily.

They all scattered off to obey Wolf, who had entered team leader mode unconsciously. Jack and Eagle went to pull blankets out of the linen closet, the rest of K-Unit went into the garage to see what they could find, Tom went to borrow warmer clothes from Alex's room, and Alex went to pee. They met back in the living room ten minutes later, their various tasks completed.

They sat down and started to talk. K-Unit and Alex discussed the best course of action should the power not be restored by the end of the night. Tom and Jack listened but didn't contribute. Both had grown up in the city and neither had taken any kind of wilderness survival course. Tom hadn't even been camping as he had gotten kicked of Boy Scouts before that trip had occurred. Jack had been camping once back in America, had been nearly bitten to death by mosquitoes, and promptly refused to ever go again.

"For now we'll just do what the announcer says and wait," Wolf finally said, concluding the discussion. Alex was actually a little relieved. The predictions of freezing to death had been a little over the top in his opinion.

However, the power didn't come back on in a few hours. It wasn't even back on by the next morning. They'd all slept on the floor of the living room in order to share body heat as it had cooled off rapidly inside the house.

Tom had happily sandwiched himself in-between Snake and Fox thoroughly more concerned with freezing than his pride. It also helped when you weren't bothered by awkwardness. Snake however was a bit put out when Tom kept stealing the covers. The soldier had eventually just elbowed the boy into letting go.

"Ow!" the teen exclaimed as he woke up. "That's going to bruise."

"Tough," Snake hissed back both in anger and in consideration of his sleeping friends. Tom just rolled over in teenage indignation and fell back asleep.

By the time breakfast came about-cooked on a Coleman grill that ran on batteries-the house was freezing. Not nearly as cold as outside but hardly comfortable.

"We really need to get better insulation," Eagle said as he shivered. Jack nodded miserably. He was leaning up against the couch and she was leaning against him. They were sharing a thick wool blanket but it was just too cold.

"This has got to be the worst holiday ever," Tom mumbled through chattering teeth.

"It could be worse," Fox replied and nobody had the heart to ask him what he meant. Knowing K-Unit, they'd probably spent a holiday being shot at. "Besides, at least we aren't out of food." Alex just kicked him in response.

"What the hell Cub?" he snapped, glaring at the blond teen.

"Shut up," was Alex's only reply. "Either way this is a bad situation. We can't just stay here. If the power lines are frozen they aren't just going to be able to fix it overnight. They'll have to wait for warmer weather or the cables will never be able to function right."

"Since when did you become an expert on power cables?" Eagle asked trying, with all his might, not to snap at the kid seeing as Jack was in the room.

"Since common sense hit me over the head," the boy snapped not having the same problem as Eagle in terms of Jack.

"He has a point," Snake said quietly before they could disintegrate into bickering. "If the power lines snapped because of the weather they aren't going to be able to do anything until it changes. So either we find a better way of staying warm until this storm blows over or we get out of here."

"Where would we go?" Wolf asked.

"The comic book store," Tom piped up. Wolf raised his eyes to the ceiling as if praying for patience and sighed in frustration.

"Harris could you please be serious for at least ten minutes?" he snapped.

"I am being serious!" Tom exclaimed looking as if he'd been insulted. "If you would listen to me, you'd know that!" Wolf's eyebrow lifted in silent challenge and Tom pressed on before they could cut him off. "The comic book store two blocks over has a generator. The owner lives above the store and I know him. If we bring what food we have he'll let us stay until the storm blows over."

When Wolf could not immediately poke a hole in his location choice, Tom stuck his tongue out at him. Wolf glared at him but Tom had long become accustomed to the man and was unaffected.

They made it to the comic store a lot quicker than they'd anticipated. Tom was thankful for that as he was almost positive some sort of body part had frozen off during the trek. He was so cold he couldn't feel anything other than his torso which was scarier than one would think.

He and Jack were the only two to really show any discomfort as they were the only non soldiers in the group. They hadn't signed up for something like this and so were inclined to complain for as long as Wolf's patience lasted.

"I can't feel my toes," Jack said.

"I can't feel my feet," Tom retorted. And that was all the opening they needed to start naming body parts they could no longer feel, trying to outdo the other.

"I can't feel my thighs," Jack said.

"I can't feel my entire face."

"I can't feel my boobs."

"I can't feel my balls."

"Tie?"

"Tie."

"There it is!" Alex exclaimed and Tom whipped his head towards the dim light that was coming through the windblown snow.

"Thank god," Eagle said. "I have to pee so bad."

"Why didn't you go at the house?" Jack asked a scowl on her face.

"Didn't have to go then," Eagle replied grinning.

"Does anyone else think that we might be getting a little too comfortable with each other?" Snake asked as Wolf opened the door to the warm store and led them inside. There were others inside as well, all looking for the heat and comfort their own homes had lost.

Jack gave the owner the food they'd brought and they all settled in for the night. They ended up sleeping between two rows of comics which Tom happily perused.

It had been the worst storm in a decade with the terrible winds snapping power lines and throwing the city into survival mode. Those who had taken refuge in the comic book store were there for only one more day before the storm stopped suddenly in the night.

In the time spent in cramped quarters, K-Unit discovered that Tom Harris was not well suited to being cooped up indoors. He'd quickly gotten bored with the superheroes and had moved on to annoying them all to the point of violence. Wolf, predictably the first to snap, had grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and tossed him out of the store and face first into the snow. The boy had spent the rest of that night sulking and glaring.

Alex never did bother trying to keep Tom entertained and out of trouble. He was too wrapped up in his plans on what to do with all the snow and whose shirt he was going to stuff it down first.