Menagerie: Jack of Clubs

Chapter II -- The Next Steps

Heathrow Airport was massive, quite possibly the largest airport Jack had ever seen. People bustled around her like ants in an attempt to get to their locations on time, and she watched them, drawn into the chaos out of sheer boredom and curiosity. The whole group hadn't gotten to all fly together, and she sat there with Croc as they waited for everyone else to arrive and leave.

"So why London, do you think?" If anyone would speak their mind in this group, it would be Crocodile. The big guy had always been pretty open and friendly with her, and she was dying to know his thoughts on this whole situation. Now that they were away from the others, he might speak a bit more freely. "I mean, what's so important about London?" Well, besides it being London, she supposed.

Her hopes were dashed when Croc shrugged, his brow furrowed in what appeared to be deep thought. "There's the London Museum, for sure. Then there's the National Gallery, the Wallace collection..." He rattled off a list of locations, before he paused and looked down at his hands awkwardly. "One of my little sisters is an art major. I told her I was heading to London and she gave me a checklist of things to see." This earned a chuckle from her friend, and he continued. "I don't know how much sightseeing we're actually going to get done, but it is a helpful list, all things considered."

Jack nodded along in agreement, and her attention wandered back to the people around them for a bit. What were they here for? Obviously, to steal something. Their enemy wouldn't have sent them to another country for fun when they could just get them arrested back in the US. London didn't seem like a particularly odd choice, at first glance, for a heist. But it really was, the more that she thought about it. The Menagerie had only ever stolen things back home, as far as she was aware. Hell, they never even really left the east coast for that matter. That's what made this bizarre to her. The only one of them that knew anything about London would probably be...

"Cobra lives in this area, right?" She broke the silence again and tore her eyes away from the crowd to look back at Croc. "Could that have anything to do with it?"

Croc shook his head. "Cobra's from London, but he doesn't live here anymore." He explained, before he elaborated further. "For a long time, he lived in the Boston area. He mentioned moving somewhere else maybe a year or two ago?" The big man considered it for a moment, before he shrugged it off. "Maybe he did move back."

Just then, Jack saw a familiar flash of blonde in the crowd approaching them, and she leapt to her feet. "Mock's here! That must mean their plane's arrived, right? The three of them were on the same flight." As she spoke to Croc, Jack waved her arm in an attempt to catch the doctor's eye. It worked, and Mock changed her course to meet them.

"The other two are on their way, they told me to go ahead and find you guys while they got their bags." She explained automatically. "We can meet them at the baggage area, now that I've got you two, and we can get the hell out of here." Mock fidgeted with a pair of earbuds she had in her ears. "I hate airports." The tall woman threw a disdainful glance over her shoulder, before she attempted a slightly awkward smile towards the two of them. "Let's get going, then? I can lead you back there." She gestured for them to follow her, and once she was sure that they were, she started to walk again.

"Hey, Mock?" Jack made sure to raise her voice slightly, so Mock could hear her over her music.

"You don't have to shout, I can hear you just fine. They just block out," The blonde made a motion to indicate the rest of their surroundings. "All of this." That made sense to Jack, and she tried again. "But why do you think we're here?"

"I think this is an attempt to be the biggest pain in the ass that they can possibly be." Mock asserted, and shook her head. "Think about it. There are thousands of places they could have sent us in the United States, and yet here we are, having to do things like international travel, get our passports checked, exist in jet lagged hell." The last word was accompanied by a large yawn, and her friend continued. "It feels like they're trying to make us as scattered and disorganized as possible, so we can't settle down and make an effective plan to retaliate." This guess made sense to Jack, and she nodded.