A Rumble of Frost chapter 16

February 15th 2001, 177A Bleeker st. 10:00 AM EDT

"Well  this seems...excessive." I said, staring up at the palatial mansion. It  wasn't the size really, I'd been in bigger. I was a Frost after all.  No, the thing that struck me most about the mansion was that since this  was New York, it was practically stuffed into the plot of land it was on  until there was nowhere left. Like they'd built the house first and it  was too big, so they'd greased it up and worked it into the lot with a  shoe horn. It was practically bursting out of the designated space, not  that anyone seemed to notice.

Felicia cocked her head at  it a bit, framing it with her fingers. "I don't know. I kind of like it.  It's imposing. Like some ancient beast looming over the city." She gave  me a devilish grin. "Plus there's nothing wrong with shoving something  huge in a tight place. You'd be shocked where you can fit things if  you're will to really pound it in"

Peter sighed in  exhaustion, checking his watch. "Almost a full hour without you making a  double entendre. We were so close. I was going to buy you a cookie."

She grinned and yanked my arm between her tits. "I already have one. But it's certainly nice of you to offer."

I  rolled my eyes and swatted her ass, because she needed to focus, and  also because it was a REALLY nice ass and I enjoyed seeing it bounce and  jiggle. She squeaked fetchingly. "He's right, kitten. This place is  dangerous so we need to focus. I promise you can be as dirty as you want  when we finish, we can even take a shower so I can clean you up. But  while flirting might help calm you down it gets ME worked up, so I'd  appreciate if we could keep the humor PG-13 and below."

That  got a pout, but she nodded, her shoulders slumping. "Yeah. Sorry.  Pushing buttons helps me relax. But I don't want you too keyed up to  focus either." She  shot puppy dog eyes at Peter. "Sorry Petey."

The  little sucker folded like a wet towel. Felicia liked to mess with him,  but she also treated him pretty well. He was developing a soft spot for  his new big sister figure. He just waved her off. "It's cool. I'm  nervous too. Breaking into the lair of a self styled 'master of the  mystic arts' is like...bad idea from concentrate. On the upside I think  this is all the stupid I'm due for the year, so hopefully I can use it  all up at once and get it out of the way."

"I don't think  it works that way." Said Felicia solemnly. "Otherwise Billy would be a  flawless super genius. Can you imagine how many years of rollover he  built up before we even met him."

Her yelp at the next  spank was less fetching and more affronted as I smacked the same cheek a  bit harder. She rubbed it and glared at me, but I just winked and stuck  out my tongue. "ANYWAY." I said loudly. "If my bad kitty is finished  earning herself a punishment later, we should actually go in. I propose  Felicia leads up inside, since she's the only one of us who can  literally manipulate probability."

"That's true." Said  Peter. "The only probably I can affect is how likely it is that a  printer will break when I try to use it. Which, oddly, is all the time.  Seriously, it's freakish. I don't even do anything different than other  people, just being nearby seems to do it. Pretty sure I even broke your  printer at the penthouse."

Now I glared at him. "If I  smack you." I said lightly. "It's going to hurt a lot more. YOU don't  have big fat jiggly ass to soak up the impact." I paused. "Probably, I  don't know how to gauge man butts, I was just going to smack you upside  the head anyway."

Felicia shook her head. "He doesn't. He  has a pancake butt." I raised an eyebrow at her. She just shrugged.  "What, girls look too. We just pretend not to most of the time." She  patted my face. "Don't be jealous honey. You definitely don't have a  pancake butt." Now she smacked me on the ass, giving me a sly smirk, but  the effect was ruined when I caught her shaking out her hand in pain as  she tried to hide it with her body.

We approached the  front door, which was a large wooden structure with a dragon head  knocker, and Felicia knelt down to examine the lock. "Billy, stand  behind me so no one on the sidewalk sees if anyone passes by." They  didn't seem likely to, but I wasn't going to argue. I stepped up behind  her, and was impressed at the skill and professionalism from her as she  rattled off lock info. "It's a Medeco. Decent company but only an issue  for basic bitch thieves. Still this one is higher end, they have the  driver pins set up inverse of the key pins to partially obstruct picking  attempts." There was a click. "Got it."

She popped to her  feet, pushing the door open with a smug grin. We both looked at her in  surprise. She'd made it sound like it would take a minute or two to  open, even for her, but it had been less than ten seconds. "I'm the  best." She said with a shrug. "I've practiced on at least four models of  every commercial lock company more times than I can count. Daddy said  to make sure I had a firm foundation when doing anything. Basics kill."  She had a fond smile as she said that, but it melted away into grief  soon enough.

Peter stepped forward and gave her a hug, and  she stiffened slightly, before returning it once she realized he was  just...sympathizing. I got the impression Felicia didn't get many  sympathy hugs. I felt kind of bad about that actually, I was always  thinking about her sexually too, even if it was protective sometimes. I  stepped up and wrapped my arms around both my teammates and gave them a  squeeze. Felicia's eyes got misty, but she smiled at both of us.

"This  is really sweet guys." She said gently. "But we're group hugging in  front of the open door of a house we're breaking into. We should  probably go." I pulled back with a chuckle and Peter looked embarrassed,  muttering an apology. Felicia ruffled his hair. "Don't sweat it kid, I  needed a hug. I can tell you've been there yourself." I knew his uncle  Ben had died a few years ago, and was impressed she'd read him so well.

He  just nodded at her solemnly, then the three of us turned to head  inside. I grabbed both of them before we actually entered though.  "Wait." I said. "I reconsidered. Felicia opened the door, but I'm first.  I'm the sturdiest of us, so it makes sense for me to take the lead."  Felicia's luck manipulation might save us true, but I kept seeing images  in my head of that fucking explosion.

Doing the smart  thing and doing the right thing aren't always the same. I wasn't too  interested in morality in general, but taking care of your people was  always the right thing. They looked like they might argue, so I ignored  them and strolled right over the threshold. I braced for impact,  but...nothing happened. After I confirmed that I wasn't on fire or being  eaten by acid bats or something, I turned to wave the others in.

Felicia  stood up on her toes and smacked me upside the back of the head with a  glare. "What the fuck Billy? You said I'd take the lead. What if there  had been some kind of defenses here?" She paused. "Actually why aren't  there some kind of defenses here?" She paused, looking around  suspiciously. Her eyes took in the whole room, finding details I  couldn't see, and she scowled. "Someone already broke in here. Recently.  I can see signs of disturbance in the decor, but there's no dust."

My  guard immediately rose as I stepped in front of the others. If someone  had come here to steal something like us, that was fine. It wasn't like  we needed any of this shit. But if someone had come here for Strange, he  might actually be in danger, and if he died our only lead on the key  might go up in smoke. I slipped a hand into a pocket, withdrawing my  hockey mask. "Alright, Felicia kick that door shut, and then masks on."

We  were planning to come here as civilians, since Strange would probably  be more hesitant to melt a bunch of teens into random goo, but if we  were going to fight I wanted that extra level of protection. They didn't  even question it as the slipped them on. Cat had hers in a pocket and  Peter's was hanging off the torso of his suit, which he apparently had  on under his clothes.

Ok, this might be getting  complicated, but we didn't even know anything was actually going on. I  trusted Felicia, but maybe Strange's maid service had skipped a day or  something, it wasn't like we'd heard someone actually say- "Old  bastard!" A voice boomed through the house. "You dare enter the  sanctuary of my father with thoughts of theft?" There was a series of  loud explosions of varying distances that implied a battle.

"Wow."  Said Peter admiringly. "The acoustics are REALLY good in here. That was  really crisp." He wasn't wrong, the vaulted ceiling in here really  carried sound well.

Still, I snorted. "Yeah, but it was  also vague, that could be referring to anything. Is it too much to ask  for some detail? Who is the intruder? What do they want? These are  things I need to know."

As if on cue, a high pitched voice  cackled. "Foolish boy! Struggle all you like, but soon it will belong  to me! No one will prevent I, Xandu, from gaining control of the Wand of  Watoomb!" There was another peal of malevolent laughter, and peter and  Felicia both turned to look at me confused shock.

I looked  around suspiciously. "A million dollars in gold bars and a yacht. These  are things I need to have." I waited. Nothing. Damn. I turned to them  and shook my head. "Ok, that was weird, but I guess it was coincidence."  I shot a contemplative look at Felicia. "Did you do that?"

She  looked at me blankly. "I...don't THINK so? My powers aren't exactly  intentional. I think that guy is just a huge dramatic idiot. Anyway, we  should try to help Strange. I bet he'd be more likely to give us answers  if we show up to help him save his stuff, rather than just breaking in  and jumping out at him like a bunch of creepers."

"Ok,  this was YOUR plan." I said indignantly. "You're the cat burglar. Not  really fair to call me creepy for following your lead."

She  smiled back sweetly. "It is if you spend the entire time with your eyes  glued to my ass. Anyway, let's go. We need to find Strange. Can you  tell where the sound is coming from?" We were in a huge room, and while  there were balconies overlooking it at various points, there were no  stairs here. I turned to Peter, cocking my head questioningly.

He  jumped a bit. "Oh! Spidey sense. Ok...hold on." He scanned the room,  looking at each door carefully before pointing to one. "That door is the  only one I feel imminent danger from. Since they're throwing fireballs  I'd say that's probably the one. I can't swear to it though, might just  be an alligator pit or something." He shrugged. "Wizards, you know?  Subtle, quick to anger, the usual."

I shrugged. Seemed  like decent logic to me. Though it also seemed kind of reckless for  Peter. Maybe I was a bad influence on the kid...nah, I was awesome, he  was just getting more awesome like me. Still, I wasn't fucking stupid. I  didn't charge over and bash the door down or anything. I had the others  back up and then slowly approached, a fist drawn back with a condensed  hypocenter ready to strike. As I reached the door, I carefully turned  the knob, pushing it inwards while waiting for something to try to eat  my face. When I opened it though...there was nothing.

Now,  when most people say things like that they mean there isn't a threat.  But in Strange's house, terms like 'there was nothing' took on a whole  new meaning. There was LITERALLY nothing on the other side of the door. A  huge empty abyss of terrifying dark space. There was a horrible suction  from the doorway, trying to pull us all in, but I just punch the space  in front of it and the air shattered. The solid spatial fracture  protected us while the vibrations countered the wind, so we didn't all  going spiraling into the darkness.

I  stepped out of the way of the door and shook my head. "Nope, pretty  sure that's just a death room. Decent idea though Pete. Let's try  another one." I condensed the hypocenter around my drawn back fist again  and moved on to the next door. When we reached it, I pushed it open  slowly, ready to attack, but I didn't end up needing to. One the other  side of the door was the very thing we had been looking for in this  first room. Stairs.

So  many stairs. Like..hundreds of flights. Going in all directions, some  of which didn't even make logical sense. Felicia perked up as she saw  the room. "It's this one." We looked at her in confusion, but she just  shrugged. "Instinct. I can't really describe how I know, but I do. This  is the door we need to go through. I THINK I can pick the right path for  us too." There was another series of explosions, followed by a few  curses back and forth (probably not literal ones though) from Strange  and Xandu.

I  nodded, and held out a hand. "I'm going first, no arguments. You can  lead from behind, help steer me toward the other side, but if anyone  attacks I won't let you be the one tanking it." With Peter here it  should be fine, but the whole exploding warehouse thing proved that  Peter's spidey sense wasn't infallible. He would pick up danger when was  imminent, but if there were already measure in place that outpaced his  ability to avoid them (like wide area blasts) he wouldn't be able to get  away fast enough.

I  wasn't sure if his power was intent based or if those bombs had just  been there for so long that they didn't count as active danger until  they were primed and were just considered part of the architecture, but  whatever the case, I needed to be proactive protecting my friends.  Felicia looked sourly at me, but finally sighed and nodded, taking my  hand. With that, I led us into the room of stairs. I just hoped I could  lead us out again.