Chapter 14
A few hours before Skylar woke up, back at home
"Do you wanna take a little break?" Roy panted, wiping the sweat off his face. He put his shovel back into the dirt. Ashton ignored him and continued shoveling the dirt. "Ashton!"
Ashton stopped and turned to him. "Hm?" He glanced at his watch. "7 AM already? Was our last break really 15 hours ago?" He asked. He shook his head. "I have to continue. So we can... so we can find Sky..." Ashton leaned on to the shovel for support. He rubbed his eyes as his consciousness slipped away.
Roy noticed it and he caught him right before Ashton fell in a dirt pile. Roy dragged him to the house and dropped his body on the couch. The phone ran. He picked it up without looking as he made more coffee. "Hello?"
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" Miracle yelled. Roy hung up as he went to the door to open it. Scott and Miracle walked in, Scott with his jacket and Miracle in a T-shirt and sweatpants. She was rubbing her arms as she shivered of the cold.
"I told your dumbass to go with your jacket," Scott scolded while they took off their shoes.
"Well, I'm so sorry that I didn't listen to your God-like words," she muttered sarcastically. "I thought that we'd be standing in the cold for a minute. Not for 10!" She wore the slippers and went to the living room. "Now, Mustang. I know that it's already April, but that doesn't mean that it's warm at 7 AM." Scott hit her on her head. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"Why the hell are you calling Roy Mustang?"
Miracle rubbed her head as she complained about the pain. "He said that it was fine." Scott looked at Roy who nodded with a sheepish smile. "Back to my rant now! And the worst part is that you didn't hear your phone when we tried to call." She stopped rambling as she saw Ashton on the couch.
"He pushed himself too hard," Roy explained. Scott joined them. "He had been here for 5 days now. He helped me a lot, but we still haven't found it."
Scott crossed his arms. "Why didn't you ask us sooner for help?" He asked. "If we were here a few days ago, there might have been a chance that Skylar could've been sound asleep in his room now."
Miracle slapped his arm. "Bear, stop it. You're making him feel guilty," she scolded, glancing at Roy. "But he is speaking the truth."
"I know, I know," Roy sighed. "But just because Skylar is gone, doesn't mean that you're supposed to miss school. Parker also came by and I told him the same thing. I had to tell him the truth too."
"About us being assassins?" Miracle asked.
"Yes."
"But did he help though?"
Roy nodded. "For a moment." He chugged down his already cold coffee and put the mug on the coffee table. "Ready?"
Scott put his hands on his shoulder. "Maybe it's for the better to also take a break," he suggested. "Miracle and I can continue alone."
"No, I'm fine."
Miracle sat on Ashton and he didn't even respond. "Damn, he's definitely out cold," she laughed. "When was the last time that you slept? A day ago? Two days ago?"
"Five days ago," he replied.
Scott and Miracle shook their heads as the pushed Roy to the other couch. "Uh uh. You're gonna sleep! NOW!" Miracle ordered. "We're going to find that thing. And when you wake up, we're bringing Skylar back."
"Really?" Roy asked hopefully. "Can I really count on you guys?"
"Yes. Definitely. Absolutely," Miracle replied, grinning at the Gravity Falls reference.
"Thank you guys," Roy smiled as he fell on the other couch.
Scott was amazed that he fell asleep in a second. He turned to Miracle who was poking Ashton's cheek. "Aye, stop that shit. Leave him alone." Miracle glared at him. "And drop that damn face. Let's start."
"But I'm not really in the mood," she yawned, stretching her arms.
Scott observed the backyard. "Miracle, it was a great idea to bring the metal detector. Because I definitely don't want to do this."
Miracle walked up to him. "How big is the backya- HOLY HELL IT'S FREAKING HUGE!" She screamed. He glanced at her. 'I'll grab the metal detector." She jogged to the car and grabbed it out of the trunk. She went back to her dad.
"You can start now."
"Why do I have to do it?" She yelled.
"If we finish before 10 o'clock, we'll go to Mc Donald's to buy some breakfast."
That was the only thing Miracle had to hear. She turned the metal detector on and sprinted around the backyard. She avoided all the piles of dirt and holes as she tries to keep the machine steady. 30 minutes later, they heard it go off. Scott grabbed two shovels and ran to the back where Miracle stood. She put the metal detector down and they began shoveling the dirt. After a few minutes, Miracle's shovel hit something hard. She cleaned the dirt off of it.
"I got it!" She pulled the metal case out of the dirt and high fived Scott. She checked her watch. "It's 9 AM. Can we go to Mc Donald's now?"
"Yeah, let's go."
12 hours later
Ashton was woken up by the sound of reggaetón playing loudly in the kitchen and a deep voice singing along with it.
"But Roy doesn't listen to this type of music." He saw Roy passed out on the couch next to him. He yawned as he went to the kitchen to see the source of the deep voice. In there, he saw Miracle cleaning the counter with her headphones on as Scott was washing the dishes.
Scott noticed him and paused the music. He held his hand out. "Scott," he smiled.
Ashton shook his hand. "Ashton."
"So you're Skylar's boyfriend?" Ashton nodded. He turned to Miracle. "Miracle!"
She took off her headphones. "Hi Ashton," she greeted and she turned to Scott. "What's up?"
"Why can't you find a good guy like him? Is it that hard? Because your last boyfriend was fucking trash."
Miracle rolled her eyes. "I know, bear. And I don't like anyone."
Ashton's brows knitted together. "Don't you like that one g-" He shut up when he saw Miracle putting her index finger against her lips. "Never mind." There was a small pause until Ashton spoke again. "Are you two also assassins?"
"Didn't Roy tell you?" Scott asked. Ashton shook his head. "Now you know. Food's ready." He nodded his head to the hot plate on the kitchen table.
"Thank you." He sat down at the table and took a bite of the food. "It's delicious. What is this?"
"Moro with chicken," Miracle grinned. "It's basically rice with beans, but with a lot of other things in it."
Roy walked in half-awake and shot up when he saw the kitchen clean. "Did you two do this?" He asked Scott and Miracle.
"Mhm," Miracle hummed. "We finished early and it was a mess in here. How can you guys live on so much take out?" Ashton and Roy both shrugged as Roy sat down.
"Have you found the case?"
Scott ignored him and put Roy's plate down. "I'll tell you when you're finished."
Roy took a small bite to see how hot it is. When he found out that it's lukewarm, he devoured it. Even Ashton stopped eating his chicken to see how quickly Roy finished. "Thank you for the food!" He put the dish on the kitchen counter. "Have you found the case?"
Scott chuckled and grabbed the case behind the fridge. "We found it."
Roy grabbed his phone the second that he saw it. "Hello? Yeah. We found it. We're heading that way right now."
"You could at least say thank you," Scott muttered angrily.
Roy hung up and turned to him. "Thank you," he smiled.
"That's more like it! Now let's go." They rushed to the door as Roy grabbed all the keys that he needed with the case in his other hand.
"We'll meet you there." Miracle waved and they went to their car.
1 hour later
"Have you found him?" Roy asked the ICT guy. He didn't respond and continued typing on the computer. "Hey! I asked you a question. Did you find him or not?"
The ICT guy held his hand up to tell him to wait. He continued and after a few minutes, coordinates popped up on the screen. The guy studied the coordinates and turned around in his chair. "I've found him. He's somewhere uptown in the suburbs in one of the villas. I'll print the info and blueprints for you."
Roy thanked him and went to his office. The others followed him and Miracle shut the door. Maddie and Oliver were sitting on the couch inside. They introduced themselves to Ashton as Ashton did the same.
"So what's the plan?" Miracle asked. Roy had an unbelievable look on his face.
"We're gonna kill him. What the fuck did you think otherwise?"
Miracle shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't hurt to ask," she replied. "But what's the real plan?" They heard the door open and the ICT guy brought the info and the blueprints. Roy studied the information and handed it to Miracle for advice. After she was done with the papers, she put them down on Roy's desk. She grabbed a fine liner and began marking all the exits of the villa, including the windows. After that, she counted all the assassins in the room.
"5 people would be enough. If we find Skylar in a good state, we can also give him a weapon," she mumbled to herself. She thought of all the plus and min points of everyone and paired them up. "Oliver, I know that you have been working on your near ranged battles over these past few months, but I think that you should be the sniper. Because you're a great sniper and we don't know precisely how much bodyguards there are."
Oliver nodded. "That's fine," he replied.
"Maddie, after Skylar, you're a great actress. No offense."
"None taken," she laughed. "He's so good that it's scary." Everyone agreed on that.
"But I don't think that it's a good idea to use that for this. The best option is for you to begin on the roof with my dad. Bust this door open-" She showed the door to the stairs."-and go down while checking the rooms. One floor is going to take 10 to 20 minutes if you're fast. 30 if you're walking." Maddie and Scott nodded.
"And that leaves Mustang and I. We're going through the front door," she said to Roy. "Every pair cannot separate. I'll explain the rest of the details in the car."
"Alright, let's go to the weapon room."
At the weapon room
"Man, Rome is going to be fucking awesome!" Miracle cheered. "The food, hot Italian people, the buildings, the food!" Scott hit her on her head. "Ow! What the hell!"
"We're supposed to gear up. There's no time to talk about a stupid school trip that's over 2 months," he scolded as he put his gun on safety.
Miracle muttered to herself about how she's going to run away from home as she rubbed the spot where he hit her. "At least Jumin is gonna be fine at that time," she mumbled.
"Does this happen all the time?" Ashton asked Roy.
Roy scratched his head. "Yeah," he replied with a sheepish grin. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Ashton exhaled slowly as his hand balled into a fist. "Please let me join you to save Skylar!" Roy's eyes met Ashton's determined ones. "I know that I'll be useless at some parts because I haven't had any training. But let me at least be on the field!"
Roy smiled and slapped him on his shoulder. "Absolutely not," he replied as his face hardened.
Ashton was shocked that he was denied. "But-"
"No buts. Skylar is going to kill me if he saw you with a gun. And I don't want to get killed." Roy paused to think about the consequences of Ashton joining them. "You know what? Fuck it. You can join us. But first, I'll show you how to use a gun. You have an hour to learn everything." Ashton followed Roy to the weapons as he thought about Skylar.
"I hope that Skylar's okay. I wonder what he's doing right now."
Back to Skylar
Music was playing in the background as Lex and Skylar were slow dancing. Skylar was beaming on the outside and cursed Lex out on the inside.
"Can I go to my room? I'm feeling really sleepy," Skylar asked as he faked a yawn.
Lex tapped his cheek. "Can I get a goodnight kiss from you?"
"Oh hell no! Kiss your fucking mother!" Skylar smiled apologetically. "You know that I'm still not comfortable with that," Skylar pouted.
Lex chuckled and rubbed Skylar's shoulder. "Goodnight then sweetheart."
Skylar smiled. "Goodnight Lex." Skylar made a detour and went to the kitchen. In there, he grabbed the carving knife. He went to the room and hid it in the blind spot of the room. Lex watched Skylar walk around the room through the camera.
"It's a mystery how he's still not comfortable around me. Do you have any tips for me?" He asked his friend on the phone.
"You know what I did when my wife was like that? I made love to her," he responded. "It really helped, because she became very comfortable with me after a day or two."
"That's a great idea! I'll make love to him tonight, even if I have to do it by force."