Hiddenchest

“Sounds like you know everything then.” he took a sip from his coffee, “what’s it like? being a know it all? Did that get you a lot of black eyes coming up?” he laughed, “look at you, just throwing that name around like you’re in some sort of movie. You having fun, yet?”

“I’ve had my scraps” Victor responded “guys who were bigger who thought a few mean words was enough to get me scared” He sat back and looked at the guy “You’re the one here throwing around clichés about dangerous games and I’m acting like this is a movie?” He took another sip of his tea “So, they sent you here to warn me, which means I must be on the right path” He leaned in “Tell me, what is it like working for a family who is destroying this city?” He smiled “You can tell me, off the record”

‘no.” Romeo sat down, one leg crossed over the other as he stared at Victor, “I know your name but I have no idea who you are or why do you have a death wish.” He said as he waived the waitress over, “coffee, black.” he turned back to Victor, “you’re playing a dangerous game.”

Victor looked at the stranger and at his words he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standup. Still, he remained calm “I take it this is about the story, but you’re not here to give me anything useful” he added “aside from the tough guy act” Taking a sip of his tea he wrote down something on his notepad “Since I assume you work for the Featherstone family I’m about to get the ‘stop now if you know what’s best for you’ spiel.

It had started with a body being fished out of the Hudson river. One gunshot right between the man’s eyes and he was gone before he hot the water.

Chalked up to a wrong place/wrong time situation Victor Federico knew that something more was at play. The John Doe had been too well dressed to be just some mishap. No way a guy like that would be in Brooklyn at 3 in the morning without a reason.

That had been his first story and with each new detail and new body Victor found himself as the premier story in New York City. The Featherstone mob was notorious and dangerous, at least as far as Victor was told. Putting Dan Featherstone’s name across the Times was a bold statement, but one Victor was not afraid to do.

Now, sitting in a café waiting for his next source he looked up as the guy sat down at his table.

“Four days?!” his eyes went as wide as they could, “and you live like this? Knowing that you’ll be locked in more than a few times per year? That’s a lot of commitment to the craft.” He wrapped his scarf around his neck, “no need for a hotel. Not much different than my place on campus, neither would be my permanent home so at least this one has a full kitchen.” 

Locking up behind himself he walked down with the other professor, “well definitely should get some liquor, being on locked down for a week without a drink sounds miserable.” They stepped out, the snow was covering most of the ground already and the cold hit his face like an ice cold bath. “Frigid.”

“Yeah, it’s not for everyone, but to be fair I did try to warn you” Edmund teased “but it’s a good way to catch up on school work and rest if you need it. Besides, there is something really nice about having the solitude” After getting dressed he headed to the entrance and smiled when he saw Buck.

“Wise choice” he laughed “I, for one, keep a bottle of scotch at the bottom of my kitchen sink for when it’s a particularly cold night” As they headed out Edmund blew into his hands “Yeah, it’s going to be a bad one” Hopping in the car he buckled up waiting for Buck to do the same before pulling off “Also, I should warn you, the isolation can wear on you after a few days so try and not freak yourself out”

“So it’s really that serious huh?” Buck was sitting at one of his chairs, reading over a student’s work, “well how long do they really anticipate us being snowed in for? I mean does it warrant doomsday prepping or just to get us through maybe a day or two?” he set the paper down and stood up. Needless to say he had never been in this sort of position, but he knew just how bad some of these storms could get from watching the news. 

“Some of the students left town to avoid the storm, I imagine that should tell me enough about the situation?” he questioned while grabbing his coat and beginning to layer up. “Frankly, I don’t intend on living my apartment. I could do with some time away from work as I’m sure you could too.”

“The first blizzard of the year is usually one of the worst” Edmund said “the ground hasn’t frozen over yet so there is no real protection for wheels” Putting the papers in his bag he looked at Buck “If I’m being conservative maybe 4 days? But more than likely about a week, by then they should have most of the roads back into the city cleared. Some Professors rent a hotel in the city for a week so if sounds good to you I don’t think anyone would hold that against you”

“Yeah. most of the kids think of it as a Winter Break, but a handful usually stay behind so I’m usually one of the staff that stays here too. You’re going to be bored and need some comfort foods so any favorite snacks? Beer? Now’s the time” Chuckling, he nodded “Good. Let me grab my coat and I’ll meet you at the entrance”

Radio: A strong blizzard is coming down from the mountains. Wind is expected to reach nearly 80 miles an hour and drop at least 25 inches. White out conditions will be a factor and police and mayor are saying to stay inside. Stay tuned to WCAR for further details.

Edmund looked at his class “Just because classes will be cancelled for the next few days doesn’t mean this is a chance to act up” he pointed to the class “I still expect all assignments to be done and curfew remains the same. No leaving the premise after 6 p.m. and check-ins every morning and evening” 

The bell rang and Edmund looked up at the speaker and then back to his students “Class dismissed” The kids stood up and said their goodbyes as Edmund gathered his papers and looked at his watch.

Going over to Buck’s office he gave it a knock “We have one last trip to the market to get anything we’ve forgotten. You want to come?”

“Dimaggio.” Thomas corrected the man as he reached out to shake his hand, taking in the space surrounding him. He knew where he was, he knew the Chelsea well, but wasn’t sure why he was here. “ok…Do you have any other information? An itinerary? Something about my parents?”

This was a rush, Thomas was fighting, listening, talking, healing, hurting, every emotion all at once. This Caleb character was here and while he heard him, h head was also swimming back and forth checking on Victor and he felt himself slip between memories. 

“Ok…” he said, not sure what he had agreed to but regardless he walked towards the void regardless. Box in hand, unsure of where it would lead him to. 

Lincoln looked up at the guy who had just walked in the door and gave him a warm smile “Good Afternoon, welcome to the Chelsea Hotel” he said as he offered his hand with a smile “You must be Mr. Federico, pleasure to have you here” 

Thomas chuckled, “I literally don’t know what’s happening.” he was saying until he saw the blonde and jumped out of his chair “WHAT THE FUCK!” he screamed out before he tackled the guy to the ground and punched him in the face, “You fucking psycopath!” 

Hitting his back hard on the floor the man looked up and gave a hard knee to Thomas’ side before standing “Name’s Caleb, the first son....the real one” he said “and I got pulled into this bullshit because you and whatever version of my father you call dad have issues to workout” Taking the sword he pushed it into Thomas’ foot “So fucking work it out, because believe me, you don’t figure it out and I’ll be the nice one”

Victor looking up from the ground could feel the wolf coming to the surface as his eyes flashed gold and he got to his feet. Turning his head Caleb chuckled “Damn, why couldn’t I get the werewolf father” he told him before disappearing into a bright void.

Thomas walked slowly, sitting down at one of the bar stools, “so it is evil you.” he sighed heavily, “I don’t understand the schtick here. Like what’s the whole point of your little multivitamin thing. And none of your business to be honest.” 

“I mean, I hope not” Victor responded and then put his hands up “Fair point” he relented “I guess I was just curious, but we have bigger things to worry about now” He was about to stand when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and he looked down to see what looked to be a large knife sticking out  and he coughed up blood before the knife was pulled out and he was kicked to the ground.

A hooded man standing where Victor had just stood he lifted the knife and slashed it across Thomas’ cheek “Get in the game you stupid bastard. Time is running out and I’m not about to lose everything because of your laziness”

Thomas couldn’t be more confused as he looked around before he felt the hug (which he didn’t have the energy to return), “do you know what’s going on? I can’t tell if you’re an evil victor or a good victor, is it the same thing? I don’t know…I need a drink, you have any tequila?”

“I could definitely pull off the suit, but I’m too fit. More of a captain America probably…” He was about to say something else when he blinked and saw the living room then the two little demon children. “the fuck…I really need to stop taking that weird melatonin. I told Miguel.”

Thomas knew something was wrong but it could also just be a wild dream. He didn’t really have the right tools at the moment to figure out what was going on. This Victor was very aggressive, a chip on his shoulder of sorts, but what he was saying did seem to ring a bell– “ok…so what the fuck do you want me to do with this information? Sorry, not exactly spiderman or whatever the fuck.”

Thomas stood up again, rubbing his eyes as he stood to look at teh sudden wall. Wondering if maybe his coffee had been laced, or maybe he forgot he had a gummy? What the hell was this? “Huh.” Thomas said, feeling an incoming headache. Victor was talking weirdly…weirder than usual anyways. But how did he explain the wall and well, everything else. “Is this  dream? Am I high? Fuck I don’t what’s going on.”