Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 18: Hide and Seek

⭐️Chapter 18: Hide and Seek

Well, the Wave Crashers were more persistent than the Infernos and Thistlins had thought. It was nighttime now, and Bird was currently sleeping at Cosmos' place. They'd all stayed up just to attempt to squidnap Bird at night, when the others were asleep. They knew the Infernos knew about her, but they weren't sure about the Thistlins...yet. For now, they'd all split up to each of the members' houses to try and find where Bird was. If they couldn't find her, Thistlins it was.

They'd been given some tools by the laboratory to assist in capturing Bird, though they'd considered keeping some of it hidden somewhere else for later use on people who got in their way. Said tools included special nets and bags that couldn't be escaped via squid form, tranquilizers, and more. Of course, the Crashers also didn't really want to handle the kid too roughly because Hunter didn't want her dead. Surely it would be easy since she was sleeping though, right? Just knock her out and put her in a bag, make sure she can at least breathe, and get the heck out of there!

Each of them were by an Infernos member's house, doing their best not to get caught by any night guards or people wandering about. Thrash was targeting Silvia, Thorne took on Jack, Spyke was by Cosmo, and Fang was at Ryn's house. Frankly, he was just going with this by now. Was this overkill, and was this really necessary? Probably not. Why was he doing this anyway? Because everyone else was, and he'd rather not drop out last second.

At the moment, all of them could really only look through the windows to the best of their ability, or super jump to higher ones if possible. They couldn't risk a break in or anything, since that could definitely land them in severe trouble. There weren't any cameras stationed anywhere per say, but the doors were definitely locked. This left the option of chimneys or vents, and you can bet that none of them were willing to let their squid forms fall through a chimney to land on god knows what awaiting them down below. After all, their humanoid forms wouldn't fit, and god forbid someone walk in on them the second they landed because they just wanted a glass of water or something.

So, vents it was. 

The only problem now would be finding where the heck to enter in, and if the vents even led outside at all. 

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Bird was resting at the moment, relaxing while the group still had peace. She'd been given a nice, cozy bed and clothing, and frankly she really liked it here. It was definitely better bedding than the lab people gave her, and there were less noises to deal with. No more going to bed to the sound of a new experiment screaming or something else moving around at night. Just simple peace and quiet.

She was currently just laying down and closing her eyes in a bedroom without a care in the world, knowing she could relax and be away from those creepy lab people for now. There was only one window anyway, and it was on the second floor of the building. It surprisingly wasn't overly hot since there was a fan in the room keeping her cool, plus ventilation. That was something the lab messed with inconsistently, which made her irritated a lot, but now she didn't have to deal with it. As she dozed off to sleep, she failed to hear the sound of someone super jumping up to peep through the window.

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It was only moments later until one Crasher found a way in via an outside vent that led to the indoors. Trying to still remain as quiet as possible, they made their way through, checking each opening for Bird. The house was quiet, which was great as long as they remained quiet and didn't make too big a mess of anything. All they'd have to do is escape via a window with Bird (because a bag probably wouldn't go through vent grates so easily), go back in through the vent and close the window so it wouldn't be obvious, and obviously leave via the same vent. Simple as that.

Or at least, that's what they'd thought. Houses were large, and things were usually easier said than done. They had to scan every room they passed by reeeally carefully to make sure Bird wasn't elsewhere in the room and/or just slightly out of sight. Sometimes they'd have to exit the vent completely, something they didn't exactly want to do but had to anyway, and quickly. Still no sign though, and the Crasher was ready to move to the second floor area.

The Crasher swore they saw a lump through the window when they shot themselves up there repeatedly, but they'd decided to check the downstairs just in case. After all, someone could still be down there. Now that they'd been proved wrong, they just had to figure out which room held Bird and they'd be good. Never again would they sneak into the Infernos team's houses, because frankly they had better things to do. They listened for breathing, making their way around the house as the vents let them.

They soon came across one room that was decorated in posters and such. Probably wasn't Bird's room unless Bird was sleeping WITH someone. Deciding to check back later, the Crasher kept moving until they came across another room with a bed in it, and this one also happened to have a window by it. Was there a bed with a lump in it? Yup. Was it Bird though? Time to check.

The Crasher slowly crawled out of the vent in squid form before shifting to their humanoid form and readying the tranquilizer gun. They then quietly snuck over to the bed and peered over to see if it really was Bird. Sure enough, the yellow ink and signature hairstyle proved that it was. She was fast asleep, and she hadn't heard anything at all. In fact, Bird didn't even notice the figure sneaking up on her until it was too late.

"Gotcha...." a male voice sneered before tranquilizing her and dragging the helpless girl into the dark depths of a bag.