Daniel, Dakota, and Lunare crept up to the house, their feet treading carefully upon the packed earth. In the dim light from light poles off in the distance, Daniel could see a well-worn trail leading from the end of the road to the front door. Most people unconsciously gravitated to such paths. Daniel knew better. In one of his more idiotic drunken moments, his father had purchased a ton of gadgets for home defense. When they had arrived, he blamed Daniel and demanded that Daniel set them up himself as punishment. Motion sensors, laser alarms, electrified fence, it was all very elaborate.
And it was all pointed directly at that path. Nothing that would stop a halfway decent criminal, but then again, who would honestly think there was anything in the house that made it worth breaking into.
Well, except for a certain valuable fingerprint.
Motioning for Dakota and Lunare to follow him, Daniel quickly moved over to a half-dead tree that stood forlornly next to the fence. Getting a running jump, Daniel grasped onto one of the branches and hauled himself up. He then moved from branch to branch until he was safely over the fence. Dropping down, he moved out of the way for Dakota and Lunare to follow suit. When they were all on the right side of the fence, Daniel led them to the side of the porch and clambered up. Dakota moved to try the door, only to find it was locked.
"One sec," Dakota whispered. "I've got a set of lockpicks I can use."
"That won't be necessary," Lunare said, pulling out a strange bulky contraption that had what vaguely resembled a key on one end. "I have a universal key that will get us in with much less noise."
Daniel pushed both of them aside and bent down at the grubby welcome mat. He slid it off to the side and pressed on one of the boards. The board flipped up to reveal a small open box underneath with a single key within. "Or we could just use the keys like normal people," he said. He unlocked the door and dropped the key back in its hole before flipping the board back down and covering it all up with the welcome mat again.
Lunare stared wistfully at his universal key before placing it back within his coat. Dakota grumbled but eventually did so as well. "Fine, but if this guy is awake, I'm knocking him out."
"No one's knocking anyone out," Daniel said as he stepped inside and past the old washing machine and dryer, gently the door to the cramped coat closet closed, and stepped into the cramped kitchen. "He should be passed out by now. The only question is, where?"
"He's your father," Dakota said, "You tell us."
Daniel peered through the darkness for a minute. Even in the gloom, he could still see the grime, the alcohol stains on the rug, the unwashed shot glasses on the kitchen counter; It was like he had never left.
"Okay, Dakota, you check the bedroom and bathroom," Daniel said after he was done reviewing the interior. "Lunare, look around the sofa and dining table. I'll check the basement. Meet back here when you're done."
"Wait, I thought you slept in the basement," Dakota said, confused.
"I had a bed that I usually used in the basement," Daniel said. "That doesn't mean much to a guy who should be in a coma from how much he drank that night. Seriously, I'm somewhat certain that his semblance is being able to consume four times as much alcohol as anyone else in town."
They split off and began their searches. Daniel followed Dakota before splitting off and coming to a thin door next to the bathroom. He opened it to reveal a set of dark stairs going down into an inky black abyss. Daniel walked down the stairs, counting them as he went. Twelve; Just like every night. He reached the bottom and grasped at the right-hand rail. Finding the switch, he flicked it on to ignite a bare bulb that revealed his basement bedroom, but no father.
He was just about to leave when he saw something that he had forgotten to grab. He walked over to a bunch of boxes near his bed and picked up a picture frame. In the time that he had been gone, dust had blurred the glass, but he wiped it away with his sleeve to reveal a pretty woman in a lilac shirt and jeans with light brown hair that fell to the small of her back. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't diminutive either. She had laugh lines at her eyes and a small smile on her lips. At the time of her death, her name was Mary Grigio. She was Daniel's mother.
According to Daniel's father, before Daniel's grandparents had cut of contact with Daniel and his father completely, they gave Daniel's father the picture so that Daniel would have a way of knowing what his mother looked like. It had been taken the day of her 21st birthday. The day she went out to the bar for the first time, leaving her parents at home, and ended up conceiving Daniel with his father. The rest was history.
Daniel desperately wanted to take the picture with him, with his grandparents God knows where, the picture was his only tie to that side of his family. Somehow he doubted that his father would even notice it was gone. But there was still a chance that he would notice and if he did, he would know that Daniel had returned and broken into his house. If he asked around about it, he might learn of Scrapmetal, and eventually be able to trace it right to Daniel. He just couldn't take that risk.
Daniel was about to return the picture to its original position when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He clutched the picture to his chest, ripped his pistol out from the back of his Jeans, and whirled around to find Dakota standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands in the air.
"Dust Grimm and Huntsmen, you scared me Dakota!"
"The feeling in mutual," Dakota said. "What's in the picture?" he asked, motioning to the picture Daniel still had clutched to his chest.
Daniel looked down at it, memorizing its features since this was the final time that he would ever see the picture. After what seemed like an eternity but would still not be enough, Daniel sighed and placed it back on the boxes. "Just an old picture," he said.
"Seems like more than just that," Dakota said, eying his team captain. "You sure you're-"
"Have you found him yet?" Daniel interrupted hotly.
Dakota stared at Daniel for a long moment, then shook his head. "No. I was just about to get back to the washer when I saw the light on down here."
"Well here I am," Daniel said, pushing past Dakota and flicking the switch to turn the lights off. "Let's go and find Lunare."
Dakota shrugged and followed Daniel up the ladder. The two carefully crept back to the washing room to find Lunare standing next to the coat closet waiting for them. He took one look at Daniel and immediately began rummaging in his jacket.
"Did you find him?" Daniel asked.
"One moment please," Lunare said. He pulled a filthy rag from his jacket, inspected it, and shoved it back in before producing an equally filthy rag. He tried one more time and finally came up with a hand towel that wasn't too greasy. Having passed his inspection, he handed it to Daniel.
"Why do I need this?" Daniel asked.
"Because your eyes are leaking fluid rather profusely and I can only assume you would want removed from your face," Lunare replied.
Daniel felt his face to find that he was in fact crying. He immediately put the towel to use and managed to wipe up most of the tears.
"Daniel found a picture in the basement," Dakota explained to Lunare.
"I wish I could say my search was as successful," Lunare said. "I'm sorry Daniel, but I couldn't find him."
"That doesn't make any sense," Daniel said, handing the cloth back to Lunare who took it with a nod. "He should be here right now, passed out drunk and perfect for us to get his finger print."
"Then he has to be somewhere," Dakota said. "Daniel, think. This is your father we're talking about here. If he wasn't at home at this hour, where could he be?"
Daniel was about to answer when out in the yard, he heard the gate creak as someone stumbled into the yard, cursing drunkenly.
The three teens reacted instantly. Daniel dropped to the ground, Dakota let loose a continuous stream of curses, and Lunare threw himself into the coat closet and slammed the door shut. Realizing what Lunare was doing, Daniel followed suit by lifting the lid of the washer and throwing himself in. Judging from the clambering sounds outside of the washer, Dakota had done something similar.
Dakota's movements had just quieted down when Daniel's father slammed into the door with a loud crash that reverberated throughout Daniel's metal cube. As his father fumbled drunkenly with the keys, Daniel scrunched down further and prayed that his father wouldn't open the lid and throw up on him. It had happened before; both throwing up in the washer, and on Daniel. Neither were particularly pleasant experiences.
Fortunately for Daniel, his father successfully locked the door and moved on without vomiting on them. Daniel waited until his noise went into the bedroom before lifting the lid of the washer slightly and peering out. The lights were still off and there was no sign of his father. Daniel carefully opened the lid the entire way and clambered out of the washer. As he did so, the dryer next to him opened and several of Daniel's father's shirts fell out. A moment later, Dakota clambered out with them.
"That, was way too close," Dakota said as he exhaled deeply
"Agreed," Daneil replied. "Let's get his thumbprint and get out of here. I don't want to test our luck any more than we already."
Daniel moved out of the hallway and moved a few steps before realizing that Lunare still hadn't left the coat closet. He returned and opened it up to see that Lunare was hanging from a coat hanger he had jammed inside his long coat, and furiously constructing something out of a battery, some tinfoil, and several wires. He looked up in shock when the door opened, but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Daniel.
"What are you doing?" Daniel asked. "Let's go!"
"My apologies," Lunare said. "I was constructing a way of subduing your father should he have opened the door."
"So in the time that it took us to hide in the washer and dryer," Dakota said, "You managed to hang yourself by your coat and build a Taser, all without being heard by Daniel's dad?"
Lunare nodded. "Although considering a Taser merely stuns someone, I believe that calling it a Taser would be-"
"I get it Lunare," Dakota said. "Now come on. I need to get out of here and take a shower. I haven't felt this dirty since I was last on the streets."
"Tell me about it," Daniel agreed. He moved through the house with Dakota and Lunare right behind. They followed the sounds of snoring to the bedroom that Dakota had checked earlier. Lunare pulled the tablet out and made a move to enter the room when Daniel put a restraining hand on him. "I need to do this alone," he said.
"Wait, what about us?" Dakota asked.
"If he wakes up, I might be able to make him think it's just a dream," Daniel answered. "Two strangers would be a bit more difficult."
Dakota grumbled but conceded.
Daniel took the tablet from Lunare and ventured in to his father's room. In the darkness, he could see his father sprawled upon the bed in the middle of the room face-first; his snores loud enough to give a fully grown Ursa a run for its money.
As he neared the bed, his foot hit a beer bottle and made a loud clink. Daniel froze as the bottle rolled noisily across the floor, hitting several cans before rolling to a stop underneath the bed.
Daniel's father grunted and rolled over in his sleep.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer to his father. When he reached the edge of the bed and got a good look at his father's position, he was faced with a predicament. The few times that Daniel had needed his father's fingerprint, his father had supplied him with his left thumb. When he had rolled over, his left hand had become pinned underneath his body.
Daniel sighed. "You're still finding ways to screw with me, aren't you pops?" He walked over to the left side of the bed and grasped the hulking mass and pulled. To his dismay, despite the muscles that he had gained since enrolling in Beacon, his father refused to roll over.
Hearing Daniel's grunts of exertion, Lunare peered into the room. Daniel saw him and waved furiously at him to come over, deciding that it was worth the risk of his father waking up and seeing a stranger. Between the two teenagers, they managed to roll Daniel's father over. As soon as they got him rolled upright, Daniel's father decided to continue the roll and rolled straight off of the bed as Daniel and Lunare scrambled out of the way. He landed with an almighty crash that shook the room and rattled dirty dishes far away in the kitchen sink. Before anything else could happen, Daniel swooped down with the tablet and pressed his father's thumb to the tablet. The box where his fingerprint was needed turned green and an image of the thumbprint appeared. Daniel stood back and did a miniature dance for joy. They had done it.
Lunare took the tablet and moved out of the room. Daniel stayed a moment longer to look at the dark form of his father. "I always hated you," Daniel said quietly yet harshly. "You made my life a living hell. You beat me, ignored me, and forced me to take care of both of us. Your reputation completely isolated me from the rest of my peers. But you know what?" he asked, his voice rising, "That's all over now. I've found a way to rise above you, and make something out of my life. When I came here, I thought I'd feel hate and anger towards you. But now that I see you, all that I feel is pity."
As if to agree with this sentiment, Daniel's father let out a massive belch.
"This is goodbye father," Daniel said with disgust. "I hope we never meet again."
In the time that it took Daniel to cross the room, he had composed himself. "Let's get the hell out of here," he said.
"Right behind you," Dakota said, as he re-buckled his belt. Seeing this, Daniel stopped right in his tracks.
Wait, why are you buckling your belt back up?" Daniel asked in confusion.
"I had to use the bathroom while I was waiting," Daniel answered. "There's no way I'm getting back in that death trap that Lunare calls transportation with a full bladder."
Daniel opened his mouth to argue that it could lead to his father realizing that someone had broken into his house, but then closed it. Chances are, his father had forgotten to flush.
"Besides, the question you should really be asking yourself Daniel, is why Lunare brought me along in the first place. All that I've done is search a room and hide in a dryer."
"I believed that including you on this mission would prove beneficial, should acquiring the fingerprint prove more difficult than anticipated," Lunare replied. "Even with both of our Auras, two Huntsmen-in-training could easily be overrun simply through superior numbers."
"Yeah, that would be pretty bad, wouldn't it," Daniel said nervously. Unbeknownst to Lunare, had Dakota not come along there would've been only one person with an unlocked Aura in the house tonight."
Dakota noticed Daniel's uneasiness, and quickly changed the subject. "Well we didn't need me, and I lost out on precious hours I could've spent sleeping," he said gruffly. "Let's get on that piece of Scrapmetal and hopefully end up at Beacon in one piece."
Together, the trio raced out of the house, Daniel being careful to lock it behind them, and hurried away on the street, to the convenience store, and around the side to Scrapmetal. As they neared the vehicle, Lunare broke into a full out sprint and beat both Daniel and Dakota to his masterpiece. He wrenched the door open and was buckling up by the time Daniel and Dakota reached the doors. Daniel yanked the door open and was about to climb in when a restraining hand was put on his shoulder. He turned to see it was Dakota.
"Hey, when you came back from getting the fingerprint, I wasn't in the bathroom," Dakota said. "I was actually back down in the basement getting this."
He reached into his black leather jacket and retrieved the picture of Daniel's mother. Daniel took the picture reverently and proceeded to punch Dakota in the arm. "You idiot!" he shouted over the noise of Scrapmetal as Lunare turned the ignition and started the loud engine. "If he finds this missing, I could be in so much trouble!"
"What trouble?" Dakota shouted back. "How is a picture going to somehow lead him to Beacon? Besides, it means something to you! I'm not that dense!"
Daniel opened his mouth for further protest, but was stopped by Dakota. "If you really want that slimeball to keep the photo, then you can go back in that house and return it! Otherwise, get in Scrapmetal! I'm going to regain my sanity and hitchhike out of here if I don't get in now!"
Daniel looked at the photo, then in the general direction of his house. Then at Scrapmetal. Finally tossed the photo into the cabin next to the beanie and clambered in alongside. Dakota followed suit as well after a longing glance at a payphone off in the distance where he could probably call a cab to return to Beacon.
"That was an idiotic thing to do!" Daniel shouted as they sat down, "But thanks for doing it!"
Dakota looked at Daniel and graced him with a nod.
With both of them beginning to fasten their seat-belts, Lunare floored the accelerator and Scrapmetal shot up the embankment. Just as they cleared the top and scampered off into the night, two policemen in a cruiser turned the corner with their lights on, investigating a report of someone revving their engine at three in the morning. Seeing nothing but hearing everything, they drove off after the receding noise. But it was too late. The three teenagers were long gone into the night.
Bit of backstory for you guys. I had to write about half of this on my IPhone because my family was taking a trip up to Tennessee where my dad and I were going to hike a bit of the Appalachian trail, and I was told to leave my Laptop back at home. Fortunately I hadn't deleted the word processor app that appeared on my phone during an update and was able to use that. When Croe finally got back to me with Scrapmetal's design as I told you guys last chapter, It was about two weeks out before we were leaving. I rushed through chapter 13 in like a week, and managed to get to where Daniel's dad starts walking up to the house (I figured that scene would make a good stopping point in case I didn't get any time to write). Fortunately I did, and I have to say the chapter came out amazing.
So what happens now you may ask. Well, absolute awesomeness of course! I'll see you all in two weeks with a new chapter!
ns 15.158.61.20da2
