Concrete Summonings

LATER THAT NIGHT

Janet told her to wear something dark and nondescript, she didn't really have anything like that, though. She did back home. She had plenty of dark, earth toned hoodies and black t-shirts she never wore. She wasn't really one of those girls who wore nothing but black t-shirts all the time, not that there was anything wrong with that. She had a phase when she was maybe thirteen or fourteen where she'd wear nothing but plain, black, nondescript t-shirts, but that kind of left her at some point. Still though, she had some of those shirts still around at her father's house and that's what she was wearing right now. It was a little tight, and maybe full of holes, and maybe not even black now but a shade of light charcoal, but that was the best she could do for a sneaky midnight outing such as this. Never mind the red sneakers. At least her hoodie was more of a forest green. Kind of.

It didn't matter. No one had said anything about it. And the two of them didn't look much better. They weren't exactly in their finest ninja garb as it were, all though they were matching in head to toe black. Maybe that was on purpose that they weren't in full ninja gear. Like if they got caught, it wouldn't look suspicious. She could very well picture Arnold or even Janet saying something to the effect of "I'm not up to anything officer, just creeping around in my ratty old black jeans and faded heavy metal t-shirt." But that was all speculation if nothing else.

More than anything, she was scared of being arrested. And cold. Extremely cold. It had stopped raining, but the nighttime wind was here now and had given everything a nice hard chill. The streets were still completely damp, and the only thing that would clear them up would be a long blast of day long sunshine that the news said would not be coming for almost a week now. That seemed very far away right now.

They stood about a block away from the back door of Nathaniel's. It was dark. Even for the city which never gets that dark, but it was hard to see what you were doing. Arnold had his crossbow and was struggling with it.

"Come on." Janet whispered. But it really didn't count as a whisper if you said it loud. And in a dark alley filled with the potential of many ominous echoes. "What is taking you so long."

"Shh!" Arnold said. "Shut up- I'm trying to... I'm trying to. I have to set the bow exactly right with these ink pack shots because I don't want to shoot it too hard and then knock the camera off its base. Because then it might alert the cops and then we blow everything to hell. If I could just- damn it, I can't see anything! And I think the bolt action is stuck on-"

"Here-" said Janet, taking his crossbow from him. She then fished around in her jeans and pulled out a bright red plastic lighter, which she shoved in his hands, which still grasping out in the dark for his own crossbow. "Take this and use it while I try to get this thing unjammed. You're lucky you have me around to fix things for you! I've shot so many of these that I-"

-Thwack!

That was the sound that went through the air. Maybelline didn't quite know what is was at first. A short windy sound taking place somewhere near Janet's head that ended two or three seconds later behind them with a sharp clack and a splat. Arnold sighed.

"Oh awesome, Janet." He said. "You fixed it. Goodness, what would I do without you? Good thing I brought two of these. However, I did not bring three just in case you want to fix it again."

"Shut up." Janet said. She was somewhat out of whisper mode now. "-and don't say names, damn it."

No one could see it, but Arnold rolled his eyes at her for saying that last part. They fumbled around to get their stuff back. Arnold his crossbow, and Janet her lighter. This caused more bickering between the two, and Maybelline had to interject to help untangle the strap from Janet's elbow. Finally, the situation resolved itself, Arnold got the second in pack in with a satisfying click and he was ready to finish what he started.