Jack's POV
It has been a month since I have heard or seen anything about Avalanche, which has been relaxing for me.
I have continued talking to VoiceofWinter21, like actual talking. After the first couple of weeks we set up a web chat to talk to each other. We cover up the cameras, because we still don't want to see each others faces yet. I learned that she has an accent, that I still can't figure out where it is from. She says her first job is a singer, she doesn't have a lot of friends, she has one sister and one cousin, and she takes a lot of fighting courses for protection and fun. Over all she sounds like an amazing person, and I am really wanting to meet her face to face. Though right now is not a good time.
I am trying to tidy up my place for Emma. It is almost time of the memorial of the shipwreck of 2001, and it was also the same day our parents died in the car wreck. Every year they hold a memorial in the cemetery, and that is the only time of year Emma comes here. Sadly Hiccup has taken me away from my cleaning saying that he is going to check up on Liz again this week, and he wants me to come along with him this week.
I tried to tell him no, but when he said he would help me clean my house afterwards, I couldn't refuse. I suck at cleaning.
So right now we are in Liz's driveway. I'm frowning, and Hiccup is smiling. I'm assuming he has never seen her house before.
He ran up and knocked on the door, and Merida answered.
"Hey guys! Come on in!" she said. Hiccup and I walked in, and he was awing at the house.
"Where is Liz and the maid?" I asked wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Gerda has the day off, and Liz is playing with her new toy." Mer chuckled, then led us to a room. She scanned her thumb and used a voice pad, then the doors opened.
The room had this large two story chamber, with a little square in the middle and a key pad outside of it.
"Is that the........" Hiccup said starting to tremble.
"The TM5000, yes it is." Liz said walking into the room. She had on long tight black pants, black combat boots, a gray and black vest. She had on no makeup or wig, so she looked like she does when she is stealing.
"I though it was just a myth!" Hiccup said squealing, "Where did you get it!"
"I stole it from North Korea." she said.
"Wait, I thought Hans gave you a break?" I asked.
"That lying piece of shit made me go all the way to North Korea two weeks after my torture was over saying he didn't want me to get rusty and wanting to see if I still had skill." she grumbled.
"How did you steal an entire room?" I asked in disbielf.
"I went there a day before I stole it and lined the roof above the room in exploding dental floss, then the following night, I blew the roof off, and hooked it up to two helicopters. After that I flew away with it."
"Why wasn't there a report on it being missing?" I asked curious.
"Because they were making it illegally." she shrugged, "Want to see how it works?" she asked Hiccup
"YES!!!" he squealed.
She chuckled and shook her head.
"Mer, pick me out a weapon." she said, and Merida handed her a bow and arrow. Liz grumbled, but nodded.
Must not like the bow and arrow like Mer.
Then Liz typed in some stuff on the keypad, and walked in the chamber and stood on the square. A bunch a lasers started moving around. Then suddenly a they formed a man out of cubes. She quickly shot him, and then another one came at her. Each one had a weapon and tried to attack her, and each one she killed and dodged their attacks until there was no more to kill.
When she finished she was sweating and Hiccup was clapping. She smiled and walked out handing Mer the bow back.
I have to admit I was impressed. The bow was not her weapon of choice, yet she managed to use it like an expert.
"That was amazing!" Hiccup said.
"I know, I love this thing." Liz chuckled, "So what brings you to my humble abode?" she said talking in a british accent.
"Check up, come on to the living room." Hic said
She chuckled and nodded. We all walked out into her large living room, and she lied down.
"Okay, shirt off." Hiccup said. She raised an eyebrow at him, but took her shirt off leaving her in a sports bra.
Most of the scabs on her stomach and back was now replaced with skin. Her bruises were gone, and the cuts were healed.
"Looks like in a week or two you can wear a belly shirt again." Hiccup said.
"Thanks, couldn't have healed this quick without your help." she said, then put her shirt back on, "How is my ribs?"
"The cracked ones are healed, the ones that were broken are still on mend. You only need to wrap yourself at night now, and I am estimating in around two to three weeks you will be all healed up."
"Great! I have to do a performance in around a week, so it is great I will be able to breath without pain."
"Cool, Hiccup can we go now?" I asked.
"Sure! Liz, I got to go help Jack clean up his house, want to come?"
"WHAT!?!?!?!?" I said shrieking in horror.
"I don't have anything planed for tonight, so I don't see why not." she said, "Just let me get my disguise on."
She came back around ten minutes later with her fake tan on and wig on. She had on a pastel blue pair of shorts with floral print on them, a white and tan stripped shirt, with cream lace vans.
"Ready!" she said smiling.
"Great, lets go. Mer can come with me. Liz, you ride with Jack." he said making me glare at him.
She chuckled at my reaction.
"Come on inspector, I don't bite." she said then started approaching me, "very hard." she whispered in my ear making me shiver and my cheeks warm up.
"Seriously, come on." she laughed, then walked out of her house.
I shivered again at the memory of her cool breath on my neck, then walked out the door where she was waiting.
When I reached the car she chuckled, "No wonder why you can't catch me, you are so slow."
I glared at her, but unlocked the car. She jumped in and I took off towards my house. The ride was silent. She just looked out the window with an expression deep in thought.
When we got there she walked in my house and her jaw dropped.
"Dude, you need a professional to help you!" she chuckled.
"Shut up, like a spoiled girl like you could do better?" I asked. She gave me a glare so scary that I wish I had my gun right now.
"You don't know the first thing about me, so don't you make acquisitions that you don't know are true."
After that she walked off towards the kitchen, and locked the door. I just started cleaning up the living room.
Hiccup and Merida came in and started helping me clean. We cleaned in silence, because anytime Mer would talk I would glare at her, and then Hiccup would glare at me.
Liz then came out of the kitchen, and walked into my garage.
Did she give up or something? I walked into the kitchen, and I was shocked. Everything was perfect, I swore things were even sparkling.
She even cleaned out the fridge, the guest bathroom, the laundry room, and the upstairs!
"Hey Mer?" I asked walking out to the living room, "Do you know what Liz is doing in the garage?"
"Yeah, she was looking for your shotgun." she said then looked at her phone, "Never mind, she found it."
"WHAT!!!" I ran outside, and found her in the back yard pointing my gun at my fence.
"LIZ!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
She looked at me, then turned back to the fence. She shot the gun, and white paint came out of it.
"What?" I asked now confused.
"I'm repainting your fence num-nut." she said, and continuing shooting until all of the fence looked brand new.
She looked at me, then smirked, "I think I missed a spot." she pointed the gun at me, and fired. I was covered in white paint.
She handed me the gun, and started laughing. I glared, but she gave me a pouty face.
"Oh, come on, that's funny." she laughed.
I raised an eyebrow at her, and pointed the gun at her. I shot it at her, but it was empty.
She smiled at me and giggled.
"You are so going to pay for this."
She raised an eyebrow at me still smirking, but within an instant it was gone. She didn't see I had the hose right behind my back. I started spraying her with ice cold water, and she was running around the yard shrieking trying to get away.
I was now laughing and chasing after her. We probably looked like idiots, but I didn't really care, it was so much fun.
I finally caught up to her, and threw her over my shoulder. She was laughing/screaming trying to get away while I held the hose on her. She lifted her legs up, and managed to flip us around. Now I was flat on the ground.
She jumped on top of me, her legs straddling my waist so I can't escape, and grabbed the hose. She started spraying me with it, getting me soaking wet.
"Stop, stop stop!" I yelled all while still laughing.
Finally she took it off and smirked at me. Her wig had fallen off, and her platinum blonde hair was down and dripping wet. All of her tan and makeup had been washed off too.
"Hey Jack-ass, we are not cleaning your house while you play outside with the pretty lady. Get your ass back in here!" Mer shouted.
"Oh shut it Mer! I cleaned over half of the house in the time you did one room!" Liz shouted back, then looked down at me.
It was then I realized how our position right now must look to people. Liz must have too, because her cheeks warmed up, and she got off of me.
"Sorry." she said. She walked over and grabbed her wig which looked like a mop, and went into the garage.
I shut off the hose, and followed. When I walked in Liz was frozen in one spot, shock written all over her face.
"Liz? Is something wrong? Did you see a spider?" I asked the last part playfully.
Liz shook her head and pointed straight ahead.
"Is that a painting of me playing the violin?" she asked in a whisper.
Then my eyes widened, and I started blushing.
"Ahh, yeah. I sort of paint when I need to take my mind off of something. After a couple hours later, that happened."
"Going to be honest, I don't know should I be flattered or mortified."
"Why, is it that bad?"
"No, it's beautiful. It's just we play for the opposite team and I am sort of in a shitty relationship right now. We should hate each other, yet you make a painting of me."
"Yeah, I was shocked too. I'm going to burn it, so don't worry, no one will ever see it."
"Oh, okay." she said, "Good, I don't really think I have the face for being painted anyway." she sadly chuckled.
"What?" I said shocked. Note once again I do not like her, but I am a guy, and I know if someone is attractive or not. She is a rock hard solid ten in my books.
"Never mind. Hey, do you have a dry shirt I could use until my clothes are dry?" she said looking down at herself.
"Yeah, come on." I said. I drug her up to my bedroom, handed her a long gray sweater, and left her to change. She came out a few minutes later, and started laughing.
"What?"
"You inspector are as skinny as a noodle, yet your clothes seem to hang on me." She had a point. The shirt came all the way down to her knees and she had the arms rolled up. The shirt was small, yet it was big on her.
I must say she looked cute walking around in my shirt.
"Where is the drier at?" she asked holding her wet clothes.
"Here, let me get them." I said picking up her clothes.
"Thanks." she smiled, and handed them to me.
I wanted to smile back, but I restrained myself. I walked out of the room, and put them in the dryer.
Then I helped Hiccup and Merida finish cleaning the rest of the house.
Liz came back out with her body resprayed and her wig on. She mush have blown dry her wig and styled it so it was exactly like it was before the water fight.
"Hey", she smiled at us.
"Hey Liz!" we all said.
"Well, I see your house is all clean." she said looking around.
"Yeah, thanks for the help guys." I said.
"You're welcome." they all said.
"Well, Mer and I are going to take off. Liz can stay here until she gets her clothes back." Hiccup said, and those two ran out.
I am really starting to think they are up to something.
"So...... you work out, huh?" she said.
"Are you sure you're not stalking me?" I asked again in disbelief.
"You are still wearing the wet shirt from our water fight. I see an 8-pac and a v-line, very impressive. Especially someone built so thin." she said.
I looked down at myself realizing she was right, and started blushing.
"Umm, one moment." I said. I quickly ran into my room and changed into a pair of brown sweatpants and a navy blue hoodie.
I came outside to see Liz sitting on the window seat looking out into the distance. The way she was sitting showed almost all of her legs, which were toned and strong.
"Hey, check over this list, and tell me am I right." I said picking up the list of names from the coffee table and handing it to her.
She looked over the entire list, and at the end smiled.
"Nope."
"Seriously! Come on, give me a hint, this is killing me."
She chuckled and shook her head.
"Sorry, no can do."
"Not even a little hint." I begged.
"Nope."
"Fine, I will get it eventually."
"If you say so." she chuckled, "So what do you do for fun while your here?" she asked.
"I don't know. I read, play violin, paint, stuff like that. I don't really live in a mansion with infinite amounts of entertainment." I pointed out.
"True, but I like this place. It is small and quaint. My mansion, it's nice and all, but it gets lonely." she said sadly, "Here, give me a notepad and a piece of paper." she said.
I got up, and gave her them stuff she asked for. Then she turned and looked at me.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"In my free time I like to sketch, now hold still." she said.
I chuckled, but sat down, and held still. I watched as she concentrated. The sound of the pencil scratching against the paper filled the room. Her bewitching icy blue eyes kept glancing my way, then back to the page. She gently rubbed her finger against the page for shading, and smiled when she was done.
"Here, what do you think?" she said handing me the notepad.
My jaw dropped in awe when I saw it. It was me from the shoulders up. I was sitting up straight, my hair was messy as always, and had tints of silver in it. I was smirking but not an smug one, but one that showed my playful gentle side. My eyes were bright and fixed on something in the distance, and you could see traces of snowflakes in them. I was wearing the hoodie I had on now, only it had a silvery frost design creeping down around the collar.
It looked just like me, but when I am at home and more playful. She did all of this in 30 minutes?
"Wow!" was all I had to say.
"Do you like it?" she asked slowly, "I know that I can't get your eyes right and....."
I cut her off, "No, it is amazing. Where did you learn to draw like this?"
"My father taught me. He was a dancer and an artist. I can't paint though, something about holding a paint brush makes my hand tremble."
"Well, he did one hell of a job teaching you."
"Thank you." she said blushing, "That would make him happy to hear that."
"So.... do you want some hot tea?"
"Sure, but I'll make it. This is your home, you should relax." she smiled, then walked off towards the kitchen.
I sat and stared at the picture of me amazed by the tiny details, then I heard her phone buzz.
I picked it up, and it was a text that read;
We want you to steal Captain Hook's golden hook earlier than I told you. You have to do it in exactly two weeks from now. Do not disappoint me, or you know the consequences. I trust you will obey the code, because if you don't the punishment you got last time will seem like baby taps compared to what will come.
Hans
I sat her phone back exactly where it was and thought. What was the consequences besides getting beaten to the brink of death?
Then Liz walked in the room and handed me a cup of tea.
"Hey, your phone went off." I said blankly.
"Oh?" she said. When she read the text she frowned and sighed.
"What was it?"
"My next heist." she bitterly chuckled, "Sideburns moved it up again. He keeps doing this he is going to get me caught, hurt, or even killed." she growled.
"Then say something."
"You don't understand, and I hope you never do." she said, "He is in charge, last person who stood against him is currently buried."
"He killed someone!"
"Lots of people, and he isn't hesitant to kill me." she said sadly, "Even if I ran, I couldn't get very far."
"Why?"
She showed me a red spot on her neck, one that I didn't notice before.
"When he sent me off to Korea for that pointless mission he injected a tracking device in me so I couldn't run off. The only way to get it out is to remove it, and I don't think I could cut open my neck and do it. Right now there is no where on this planet he couldn't find me."
"Does he do this to all of the Nightmares?"
"Nope, only the stubborn ones or the really good ones. I fit in both of those categories."
"So what is it.... what your stealing?"
"I can't tell you. I can't have you getting in my way." she chuckled.
Little does she know I already know what she is stealing.
The rest of the time we sat silently sipping out tea until the drier went off.
"I'll get it." Liz said standing up. She walked into the laundry room, and came back dressed in her original clothes.
"Well inspector, this has been fun but I need to go now." she said handing me my sweater that was neatly folded.
"Do you need me to drive you?"
"I don't need to, but it is up to you." she chuckled, then walked out the door.
I watched as she walked down the street, and just before turning the corner I am sure I saw her do a small wave goodbye.
I didn't want her to get in trouble again, but I didn't want her to steal another item. I took an oath, and it is my sworn duty to protect the people of this city and its items. So I started planning to stop her. I knew Hiccup wasn't going to help me, so I was going to have to be on my own.
Avalanche, lets hope you are as clever as you think you are, because I'm coming after you.