Dying to Breathe

11.3: lock picking tutorial

A/N: Hey guys! I'm here again. So sorry for the break! Thank you for continuing to trust, support, and encourage me throughout my break in writing though. I really appreciate it. So let's get straight to it. Apologies for the rough starting, I was pretty rusty. 

Listen to Tantrum by Ashnikko (it was admittedly a quick find so it's not 100% the correct vibe, but I think it works well.)

Chapter 11 Part 3: Lock Picking Tutorial

"I said plot it." Poppy spoke through her teeth, her panicked yet irritated voice hushed in a low whisper. "Not wing it out of the blue and ask me to be your accomplice!"

Penelope ignored her, her stomach already in her feet as she readjusted her grip on the ice machine—pushing it towards the elevator inch by inch, her arms straining as she pushed with everything she had. It was the last (barely) moveable object she could find on the fifteenth floor, and hopefully it was enough.

Standing back with her lungs struggling for air and muscles aching for mercy, she looked at her masterpiece in the elevator. It was like real-life Tetris with all the tables and chairs piled high to the top all on the left side.

Penelope had never been very good at the game, but then again, she'd never been great at any game. Clearly—she felt her lips pull up into a proud smirk—she was now in the middle of changing that fact.

"Penny darling, what was the point of all that?" Poppy cocked her head, flipping her braid behind her shoulder and crossing her arms as she stood in the same exact position that she'd been in for the ten minutes it took Penelope to gather everything all by herself. "The elevator probably wont even work now if you're trying to like... steal that stuff and cash it in. Plus, there are cameras literally everywhere."

Penelope's eyebrows furled together as she looked the shameless girl down, "You do realize I'm not actually poor, right?" She might not have been as rich as the average student, but did Poppy really believe she was trying to sell an entire ice machine? "If you put all the weight on one side of the elevator, it will get stuck trying to move it to another floor." She explained, smacking a bunch of the floor buttons before stepping out and hitting the 'close door' button at the same time. Since it wasn't above the weight compacity, it would still start to move towards the designated floor. If she had done it properly, the fail-safe would turn on and the elevator would be stuck (she and Millie learned this trick the hard way when trying to move Millie's ridiculously heavy art piece to the first floor in their school).

A look of confusion flashed through Poppy's eyes before mumbling. "Intriguing. What did Herman do to piss you off?"

Within seconds, they heard the gears come to an abrupt stop. Penelope felt a breath of relief leave her mouth as she smiled.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's the plan here?" Poppy moved off the wall, sliding her hands over her hips.

Penelope clicked her tongue as the excitement and nervousness grew inside of her, "First, plant the distractions." She began to walk towards the emergency stairs.

"Okay... well, can the distractions involve taking the second elevator down rather than the stairs?"

...

It took Penelope another ten minutes to jam the doors on random floor levels. She would have done a few more but Poppy began to complain about the annoying noise the doors made when they weren't shut properly, and she was beginning to get a headache from Poppy's relentless whining.