ax_main | Vance and Wanda

Wanda combines power-training with improving the Brotherhood's finances. In other words, Vance robs an ATM

Wanda glanced around the bank's parking lot as they headed towards the ATM. Deserted, which it should have been at this time of night. The ATM was in the last drive thru lane - it had a camera, of course, but she could take care of that.

Especially if she didn't have to fuck with the ATM as well.

She looked over at her trainee with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Ready for this?" she asked Vance.

"Uh..." If Vance looked nervous, it was only because he was. For so many reasons, ranging from his fear that he would do this wrong to the lingering discomfort and uncertainty about stealing from an ATM machine at all. "Uuuuh.....maybe?"

"You're gonna do fine," Wanda assured him. She reached over and squeezed his shoulder as they approached the machine, pausing to direct a hex at the camera above it. The lens fogged over as any condensation that had gotten into the mechanism suddenly settled there. "Alright, the camera's set. Your turn. Just poke around inside and find that storage place that all the damaged bills go into."

Vance swallowed, and looked over at her. "A-are you sure? Do we really...do we need to do this?"

"Well, it definitely won't hurt." Wanda's eyebrows rose, and she sighed. "Look. I know you're not totally cool with this, and I get it. I honestly do. But I'm not okay with running through all the money in Dad's accounts if we don't have to - we need some there for emergencies. Also not cool with running out of food." She shrugged and gestured towards the machine. "Besides, we're going to take the bills they're going to throw out, anyway, and it's good practice. If you're careful, you won't fuck up the machine at all; you're just taking money out of the trash and pushing it through the slot."

Couldn't they save the stealing from ATMs for emergencies? But maybe they couldn't. Wanda was pretty smart, and maybe she knew something he didn't know. Heck, she probably knew lots of things he didn't know. Besides, Wanda was a pretty nice person. It wasn't like she was...he didn't know, a bad kid or something. She wouldn't just ask him to take money that wasn't theirs out of an ATM for the heck of it.

"Uh, okay." He carefully began to reach out with a very thin tendril.

"Is it going to fuck you up if I talk while you're doing it? Or would it be easier if I didn't?" Wanda asked, watching the display of his powers with interest.

Vance wasn't actually sure, so he said, "It should be fine," he said, as he slipped the tendril oh-so-cautiously into the machine. "Especially if you've got any particularly good advice."

"Not really," Wanda admitted. "Though if you tell me what you're feeling, I might have suggestions?" She shrugged. "Or maybe not. I've studied the blueprints for the things a few times, but I can't say I've actually taken one apart."

He smiled slightly, "then you can just say anything you want." Vance's brow furrowed a little as his tendril began gently working itself down into the guts of the ATM, looking for the little container that they sorted the reject money into.

"Just wanted to ask how you're doing? In general, I mean, not with the ATM," Wanda clarified.

"Pretty good, I guess. I mean, you guys are all great. It's cool to be able to, y'know, be a mutant....use my powers." The tendril carefully followed the arm that mechanically separated damaged bills from undamaged, but smoothly so as not to jostle it. This was fine, precision work, and it was hard. A bead of sweat dripped down from his temple and he began to feel some pressure in his brain.

"Hey, no one's going to discourage you from doing that. Fuck, we don't even discourage Mort from doing that, and believe me, we'd all love to, sometimes." Wanda smiled a little.

Vance chuckled, admittedly a little weakly, as the pressure in his head grew. But at that same time, his tendril hit a stack of what felt like.....yes! Like old bills. "I think I found them," he murmured.

"Still doing okay?" Wanda checked, eyeing Vance with concern.

"Y-yeah. I think so." He felt that tickle in his nose that told him he was straining himself, but he pushed past it, and began to pull the bills up and towards the slot that would eject them.

"Awesome." Wanda glanced around the parking lot, just to make sure there was still no one watching, and nodded. "Just wrap it up and we'll go grab something to eat before we head back."

Vance tugged a little more and a little more, the promise of food serving as a solid motivation. Finally, he got the bills loaded into the ejector, just in time for him to feel the the hot, wet slide of blood beneath his right nostril. Almost there. Another little push, a flick of a tendril, and a stack of bills popped out just like they were supposed to.

"Yes!" Wanda stepped forward and picked up the wad of bills, then presented them to him with a smirk. "Congratulations, dinner's now your treat. Also, your nose is bleeding." Which she'd seen happen before, and it didn't look too bad, but still. "You got kleenex, or should we stop somewhere with a bathroom?"

"I got it," Vance promised. He pulled some kleenex out of his pocket, he always kept some just in case, and began mopping himself up. Hey, he'd done it! He still felt a little weird about it, but he'd done something real hard and tricky, and fiddly. And he'd done it right! That was pretty awesome. Vance grinned. "So what's for dinner?"

"Your pick." Wanda slung an arm around his shoulders and headed out of the parking lot - no point hanging around the scene of the crime, after all. "You're the breadwinner here. What're you hungry for?

"Food," he quipped. Vance wasn't exactly picky.

Wanda rolled her eyes at him fondly. "You're impossible. What's your favorite?"

"I dunno. I like burgers. And pizza," he offered, sounding cheerfully unconcerned with which one Wanda chose.

"Burgers, then. There's a diner a couple of blocks down that's pretty decent." She shook her head and smiled, dropping her arm now that she was sure he wasn't wobbling. "You did a nice job back there. How hard was it?"

Vance smiled back happily. "Thanks! I mean, it was fiddly, right? Lots of little stuff, and I had to be real gentle. That's always harder than just, y'know....shoving stuff around. But I could do it. I wasn't sure I'd be able to, to be honest."

"Fiddly stuff's always harder." Wanda made a face at that - she had the same problem, after all - then smiled. "I knew you could, though. You don't give yourself enough credit, that's all.

He blushed a little, but looked pleased with himself. "Thanks. I mean, I don't know about all that, but I really do appreciate it."

Wanda rolled her eyes. "For what, telling you the truth? Honestly, how do I deal with you morons?" Her tone was fond, though, despite her words, and she pointed across the street to a diner whose lights were on, despite the late hour."

He grinned incorrigibly and walked across the street, nearly bouncing as he did so. "With a lot of patience?" He teased, sounding amused.

"Do I look like the patient type?" Wanda countered. "I mean, compared to anyone other than my brother or Tommy?"

"Hey, you haven't killed us yet," he pointed out easily. "Take the win."

Heh. Yeah, no one dead, yet. Considering the crap in Limbo after Christmas, that was definitely a win. Still, he had a point. "Yet." Wanda grinned. "Buy me a malt to go with the burger and live another day?" she teased back.

Vance grinned. "Deal."