Starring:
Date Set: August 7th, 2009
Summary:
At the final destination In Vegas, the day is saved… in more ways than one?
Six Months Ago…
"Saved"
Las Vegas, Nevada
It took almost all night to figure out a plan. They found out, through Micah's efforts, where the thieves had to hit to get the money successfully. A fire exit that had a faulty security camera, perhaps just luck or sabotage. Whatever the reason, it's the only way in and out without getting caught by security.
So that's where Cam and Micah wait, hiding in a closet not far from that exit, the door open just a crack as they wait for the scheduled time. Cam has his hand on the floor, ready to make the hall slippery at a moment's notice.
Beyond that, Micah had found a general timeline on one of the thugs computers. The drop had to be perfectly timed to make this happen. Unfortunately there is no cloak of darkness this time of day, only the light to expose them entirely.
Timing is everything when it comes to planning a heist like this. And so, as Micah and Cam know, it's timed, practically down to the second… yet no one arrives, breaking the all-important schedule.
No one arrives on time.
It's almost five minutes past schedule when the fire exit shoves open with a dull metallic squeak. Still no one steps in, it's simply held open before a figure appears in the entrance (or exit, as it happens, what with the red EXIT sign above). It's not a criminal who stands there… well, not a criminal anymore. It's Niki, and she's looking less than thrilled — in fact, she strongly resembles her more vicious former "other" half, she looks so vindictive. Hair pulled tightly back, covered in sweat and unidentifiable dirt that's smudged on her once white tank top, and even a little blood from a small cut on her cheek, she's already staring down the one out of place thing in the hallway. The crack of the open closet.
Cam is getting so impatient by the time the door finally opens, he starts in on freezing the floor before it even registers who he's seeing. The film forms silently, creating an almost-invisible super-slick patch on the floor. It stops though, before filling the hallway, as Cam registers who he's seeing come in, and his eyes widen.
Micah silently swears in his head. This is not good. Obviously not good. He stares at his mom through the open door, still silent. His eyes widen, his mouth gapes. There is no pretending that this is normal. How his mom found them is anybody's guess, but here she is. And Cam and Micah are in big trouble; that much is clear.
Niki takes a bold step in upon knee-high boots — on a mission, clearly — but stops just short of the ice on the floor… not because she can see it, it's invisible to her eye, but because someone rushes into the hall after her.
It's one of the would-be thieves, a tall man practically twice her size — or at least as imposing as her husband, but this guy has tan skin and slicked back hair. What's more, he has a gun, which he has no problem waving around. "See if you mess with our plan any MORE, chica! I saw what you did to my guys!" It all happens very fast: he backpedals in the hall to face Niki, pointing the pistol at her. She's cornered. He takes one bracing step back and as he pulls the trigger, he slips on Cam's ice.
He aimed before he goes crashing down, but as he slips that he fires, changing what would have been a perfect course just so. The bullet sails lightning fast at Niki as the man falls on his back and hits his head, unmoving.
The tiny but would-be fatal bullet misses Niki by a hair's breadth, grazing her neck and embedding into the corner just behind her. Wide-eyed, she doesn't even breathe, not even sure if she's been shot or not.
It takes just a moment for the ice patch to grow rough, tiny crystals shooting up to give it traction. Then Cam's up and out in the hall, kicking the gun away from the guy who just shot at Niki, and crouching to give the guy icy handcuffs before he wakes back up. After months of doing this kind of thing, he thinks to deal with the criminal before worrying about getting yelled at.
Micah follows his foster brother's lead, only he picks up the gun cautiously, clutching it. He has no intention of aiming it at anyone. He does, however, think of clicking the safety on, and does so quickly. While Cam deals with the thug, Micah checks on his mom. "Mom! Mom are you okay?"
This is not the time or place for scolding. Niki remains frozen in place for a second, a little bit like a deer in the headlights, but soon kicks into action. She touches a palm to the side of her neck; a graze, some blood, but she's fine. Today. "Yeah— yeah, I'm okay," she breathes, managing an out-of-place smile before full on seriousness takes over. She takes the man's gun from her son and quickly tucks it in the back of her pants (classy!) before gesturing at both boys, leaning to tug at Cam's shoulder and hurry them to the fire exit, which she holds open with one hand, letting in the bright sunlight. "We have to get outta here." Before security, undoubtedly already on their way, gets here. "C'mon, hurry!"
Cam gives a little smile of relief at Niki's words, and then nods and follows along, glancing back at the guy on the floor before they're through the door. Still, he isn't so good at figuring the right times and places for things yet, so he's asking, even as they hurry ou, "So we're not in trouble?"
Micah breathes a little easier as Niki says she's okay. He nods at follows her hurriedly down the hall. He sideglances Cam, but chooses to stay silent at the question although his eyes silently echo it. It doesn't seem like they're in very much trouble at this moment, of course, Niki seems unusually focused…
Niki gives Cam a look to kill, although it turns sympathetic one second later and she rolls her eyes at both of them as she bursts out into the open air. "You're grounded for a month when we get home," she declares. The fire exit door shuts behind them as noise — footsteps, shouts — can be heard in the hall they left. There's not exactly a multitude of parking options out here and so, naturally, there's no car to rush away in. Heroes aren't supposed to have "getaway" cars, but one would certainly come in handy right this second. "This way," she says, jogging away from the side of the casino toward the Strip, making sure the boys are beside her instead of behind her all the while. As an afterthought, she tugs the back of her shirt down over the borrowed gun, trying to hide it under the thin fabric now that there are crowds about. "Try to look for a taxi."
Cam's eyes widen again just a little at that first glance, but relaxes a little at the final answer. Whatever he'd imagined, being grounded isn't as bad. He follows along quickly, running until they reach the Strip, then slowing down. He absently pulls off the gloves he was wearing and pockets them, too hot now they're in the open Nevada air. He looks up and down the street, pointing after a moment, "There's… oh, it's already got someone."
A month. There really is no point to object to the punishment, so Micah remains silent on the subject while they march down the Strip. Fortunately, no one appears to be following them. However, at the mention of finding a taxi, he stops walking, instead, he reaches into his pocket and touches his phone. Closing his eyes for a moment, accessing a satellite image from above. "Three are pulling into the hotel across the street," he says as he reaches a crosswalk.
* * *
Niki steps out of the hotel room bathroom, marginally cleaner than she was before, to say nothing of her shirt. She holds a towel to the side of her scrubbed clean neck as she comes to sit on the edge of the bed. She's yet to explain how she managed to get the jump on the boys' plans to interfere with them the way she did, and she knows the questions will come, but for now… "You didn't listen to me." She sounds tired more than mad. "I told you and you didn't listen, again. This's why you wanted to go to Vegas?"
Cam, far more comfortable back in the air conditioned hotel room, has been sitting on one of the beds, fidgetting a little as he waited for Niki to come back out. So, when she asks her question, he's immediately ready to answer, "Yeah. If they'd succeeded, it would have started a war between the local mafia and the gang the thieves were in. People would have been dying all over the place."
Micah isn't as ready to answer, in fact, he's feeling strangely thoughtful, "It was to help people. We knew the risks, and we didn't think… well if we were all here it wouldn't have seemed like a big deal… and yeah, this is why we wanted to come so badly." He sighs as he lays down on the bed again. "We're trying to minimize collateral damage."
"Yeah, I know," Niki tells Cam in all seriousness. "And you know what they do to anyone who gets in their way? Even with a glimpse of you they'd— " Try to shoot them, no doubt, like that guy tried with her. She brings one hand to her head rubbing a few fingers over a closed eye. "They're damaged collaterally alright," she says, but tempers that dangerous tone as she adds with a sigh, "They're fine, I left them for the police to deal with. Micah… you might need to fix some security footage."
Cam looks at the floor at Niki's words, not able to come up with an argument this time, or maybe just not wanting to. He looks back up at the end, though, but stays silent for the moment, glancing to Micah.
"It's already done," Micah says semi-smugly in reference to the security footage; he's not some kind of amateur hero — not in his own mind, anyways. He'd just inserted the footage from the day before. "The police won't see any of us." He nods a bit, "They wouldn't have seen us coming, we were hidden and… stuff…"
Of course he did! "I wouldn't expect any less," Niki says with a smile; even if she isn't thrilled with the boys' choice of cross-country escapades, they are kind of good at it. "But not for you. For me," she explains, dropping the hand with the towel. It really isn't bad, it's just a surface graze on delicate skin, so it bleeds a lot. "I… had some… contacts… here," she says, trying to choose her words carefully — but there's really no point by now. "I figured out what casino was being hit today and by who…" She pauses, reluctant, sighing with a small roll of her eyes off to the side. While this might part might be confusing to Cam, she knows Micah's wise to it. "The gang used to run some stuff for Linderman. It was easier for me to go in aaand… take care of it before you guys even got to the casino. They had their own security set up, I tried to take it out but I dunno how many cameras they had." She stands up to fish her phone out of her pocket, finds a map on its tiny screen, one building pinpointed, and hands it to Micah.
Cam listens to this story with obvious curiosity, sitting up a little straighter. So, that's how she found them! But then he gets a confused look, and asks, looking between both Niki and Micah, "Who's Linderman?"
"Mom, you're so hardcore!" Micah admires with a half-smirk. Although the name Linderman leaves an uneasy feeling in the teen's stomach. His own personal encounter with Linderman's people is wearing enough. With a frown he turns to face Cam, "He's like this bad news guy who … well… he was bad news." Jessica had been used by Linderman; Micah had been used by Linderman — Micah had staged an election.
Niki couldn't agree more with Micah's explanation. With a gesture of her hand, she summarizes. "Ancient history." No love lost. Falling down across the bed with her legs — still clad in boots — hanging over the side, proppedup wit elbows behind her. Undoubtedly, she's tired. She hasn't actually slept for more than a few minutes since New York. "Cam is hardcore," she says with a grin, reaching out to nudge the teenager in question. "Pretty sure I woulda been in trouble if it weren't for that slippery hallway." That said, she falls back, stretching out. "But I think we've all had enough crime-fighting for one weekend," she says on a lighter note. "Your dad's on his way. We're here now so— might as well make it a vacation."
Cam turns a little red at Niki's comment about him, shrugging a bit and looking down. "I guess it was kind of cool. I wasn't expecting that or anything, though. It was meant to catch them as they came in." Then, at Niki's last words, he immediately brightens again, "Really?"
"Yeah! Cam you are hardcore! So awesome!!" Micah agrees with his mom as he pockets his cellphone again. His eyes light up at the notion of staying for a vacation. "Yes! Mom that's awesome! We can show Cam all of the stuff that we used to do here! Like where we lived and my old school! And… we can go on roller coasters!"
"Exactly, just like we planned," Niki says with a wide smile, looking up at the kids from the bed. Never mind all the tenuous reasons she gave for cancelling the vacation before — maybe everything's in the clear now after all. "We can go to some shows, 'n'… that museum of technology… it'll be fun. Rollercoasters," Niki says light-heartedly. Her words are a little fuzzy and distant, though, as she shuts her eyes and thinks about sleeping riiiight here.
Cam is practically jumping with excitement suddenly, but he quickly holds back from any cheer as he sees Niki's falling asleep. He grins and says softly to Micah, "Let's go check the gift shop while she's sleeping. If this is a vacation now, want to get a postcard to send Kory."
"Cam it's going to be awesome!!" Micah says excitedly as he jumps up off the bed towards the door with Cam. "Yes, we should go check out the gift shop!" He gives his mom a quick wave, leaving card keys behind (he doesn't need it to get back inside the room).
"Okay, don't go too far — stay in the hotel!" Niki isn't asleep yet. As the boys prepare to mosey off to the gift shop, she crawls up onto the bed properly, curling into her side with the pillow beneath her head. Her worry for the rebellious teenagers can't completely be diminished, it's a permanent feature, especially after the whirlwind beginning to this trip — but she as she drifts off to nap, Niki looks to be at peace.