Partners 03

Section three:

For the second time in two days, Terry came home early. Matt watched from the hall as Terry  came in, threw his bag on the couch and flopped down next to it. Normally he was called away by Dana, failing that Max or Mr. Wayne would commandeer him. He seemed restless, like he didn't know what to do with himself. After a minute he picked up his phone and speed dialed.
"Hay Dana, what? No."
Matt stopped listening. It was one thing when Terry was talking to Mr. Wayne, but Dana was just boring. He crept back to his room. He had to get out of the house before Terry noticed him; it wasn't like he could get anything done with him around anyway. It didn't make sense for Terry to be home, not with a major jail break only two days ago. Matt emptied his backpack of books and homework; refilling it with a number of odds and ends that he found useful.  Unlike half the kids in his class who just slung their bags over a shoulder half zipped and practically falling open, Matt wore his bag snug against his back where it wouldn't hinder him if he needed to run, or in this case, climb. He opened his window.
Their apartment was on the fifth floor, meaning the only safe way down was the fire escape. The problem was that the fire escape wasn't outside Matts window, it was outside his mom's. His mom kept her window tightly shut and the curtains were perpetually closed just in case someone got the idea to rob the building. There was no way he could sneak out her window without her noticing that the curtains and latch were open. To get around this Matt was going to sneak out his own window, crossing the six feet to the fire escape in the proses.
Matt had first snuck out his window the week after his mom had signed him up for that after school thing. Since then he had perfected the stunt. A length of clothesline, one of his old remote control cars, a bit of string, and one of the hooks from his closet was all he needed to make it look like no one had ever used the window.
His window was the type that opened by being pushed up until it clicked into place. To close the window after he was out, he set up his remote control car upside-down beneath the windowsill. He tied the string to one of the wheels then connected the other end to the latch on the window. Once outside he could set the car going and it would pull the window shut. If anyone went onto his room it would look like the car had been forgotten and the string had been thrown on top of it. That was the easy part. The other part he stole from Batman, not his brother, the original Batman. If a grappling hook was part of Terry's gear Matt would have taken the risk and stolen it. Since that wasn't the case, he made due with what he had.
He tied the clothesline to the hook and tugged at it a few times experimentally. The hook had been advertised as being able to hold up to 75 pounds. Matt had tested it out and found that it was the wall that broke, not the hook. Matt leaned out the window and tossed the hook in a lazy arc so that it looped over the railing of the fire escape. Pulling the rope in, the hook caught on the railing. He then tied the other end of the rope to his dresser, pulling it tight. Matt had moved his dresser into the perfect spot a few months back. At the time he had turned his whole room into a giant fort with the sheets from his bed. His mom had humored him, and he had never moved the dresser back afterward. He checked the rope was secure, made sure the car was in place then stuck his head out the window. He had never been caught, coming out the window this way but that didn't mean he wasn't going to check just in case.
Sure that no one was watching, both from the ally below and the windows above, he swung himself out onto the line. For a moment he hung upside down, hands gripping the line with his knees still hooked over the windowsill. He reoriented himself then shifted until he could hook his legs over the line as well. He crossed the gap by pulling himself with his hands and sliding forward with his knees until he could reach the railing of the fire escape. Then came the tricky part. Matt grabbed the railing maneuvering until he was half twisted around with his arms crossed. In one movement he unhooked his knees from the rope and swung around. He hit the fire escape with a soft thud, the bottom edge of the structure cutting into his upper thighs. From there he wriggled, pulling himself up until he had a foothold and could swing over the railing. His feet hit the platform, and he took a moment to check himself over. That stunt had left him with bruises more then once. Not having the right gear was a pain, especially since it was part of the batman legacy to swing over rooftops on wires.
Reassured that he was in one piece and no one had noticed him, he once more set to work on the rope.  This was the real flaw in his escape: He hadn't yet found a way to get the clothesline back in through his window. But then, that was why he was using clothesline. With the hook tucked into his backpack he tied the line the the balcony railing with a slipknot. Anyone looking up would assume someone was using to save a few creds. He pulled out the car's remote and used it to pull his window shut.  Satisfied that it looked inaccessible once again, he began his climb to the ground.
He effortlessly slipped into the flow of people heading for the station. There were a couple of things he could work on but he didn't really have anything planed. Terry had thrown him for a bit of a loop, coming home like that. Matt hadn't shown his face at the center for a few days, he could go there.  Maybe he'd go to the library; he could always get a computer there for his "homework". Then again, he could swing by the arcade and waste some time there.
They had a new sim that matched your body type and reaction times. In chase mode you could literally dodge bullets if you were fast enough. Matt hadn't managed it yet but he was getting better. The game was set about a century ago, just before the first batman had shown up. You could play in any of four cities, Metropolis, Gotham, Coast City or Central City, and there were tons of different modes. He probably should have gotten ahead on his homework, or done some more research into the puzzle that the jail break was turning into. He chose the arcade.