Red Currant #3, Mango #2
Story: Blaze Mafia Family
Title: Always Wear a Helmet
Prompts: Red Currant #3: distant thunder, Mango #2: look behind you
Rating: R for violence
Characters: Firebird Blaze, Paul Robinson, Unlucky schmuck #11
Summary: Part Four of Firebird’s winter wonderland adventures! Part 1, 2, and 3.
“You ready?” Paul asked Firebird.
Firebird was not in the least ready to leave the heated car so she could go chase after some idiot thug. The only thing she was ready for was to tell Paul to drive her home so she could get in her big warm bed and forget that this clusterfuck ever happened.
Firebird sighed and readjusted her scarf. “Yes.”
Paul turned the car off then got out. He opened Firebird’s door and handed her out. Finding their next target had taken some doing because the rat brother hadn’t been lying about the thug being some sort of weirdo. Everyone had known who he was, but it’d been awhile before they’d found out where he hung out because he was a little paranoid. Still, the Blaze network of informants hadn’t failed her and now they were in the thick woods just outside of the northern city limits. There was only one road to the wooden cabin that a couple people had said the thug stayed at sometimes, and Paul had blocked that off in case the idiot got any bright ideas. Now they just had to wake him up and get some information about the elusive twins’ location. Hopefully without God intervening and killing him.
“What’s that noise?” Paul asked out of the blue. He took a step forwards, placing himself between Firebird and the cabin.
Firebird cocked her head, trying to hear what her bodyguard’s abnormally acute senses heard. There was a faint buzzing noise coming from their target’s house. “Is that an engine?”
“Yeah,” Paul affirmed, and pulled out his gun. The only thing going in their favor on this mission is that it was the middle of the night and everyone they’d come across before now had been caught completely unaware by their attacks. Obviously that minute amount of good luck was coming to an end.
Out of nowhere, huge floodlights on the front of the house blazed on. Paul shoved Firebird back through the open car door and ducked down, making himself a smaller target for any impending attack. The buzzing got louder as a snowmobile shot out from behind the house into the woods on their right. The rider turned around on the snowmobile and flipped them the bird. Firebird could practically hear their target’s laughter at getting the jump on them.
“Stupid fucker!” Paul yelled and aimed at the rider. He wasn’t going to kill him and let him get away that easy. A leg shot would be much more satisfying.
Before Paul could pull the trigger, though, the rider’s arrogance got the best of him. The consequence of looking back at them to flaunt his superiority was that he wasn’t looking at what was in front of him. The snowmobile ran straight into a huge oak tree with a sick crunch of metal and wood. The rider flew forward, hitting the tree headfirst before crumpling on top of his wrecked vehicle in an unmoving pile while snow that had accumulated on the tree branches showered the gruesome scene.
“Oh good god,” Firebird growled. Now this was just getting ridiculous. They hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to the idiot before he’d offed himself.
Paul sighed and put the safety back on his gun. “You want me to go see how dead he is?”
Firebird got off of the car floor as gracefully as she could. “I’ll come too.”
They trudged through the thick snow the fifty yards the idiot had gotten before natural selection got the better of him. “Definitely dead,” Paul stated the obvious then pulled the rider out of the mess of metal shards and tree splinters so they could examine what was left of him. Paul held the guy’s head steady while Firebird pulled the helmet off. They both stared at the man’s battered face for a long moment in silence.
“Who the hell is this?” Firebird snapped.
Paul shook his head slowly. “I have no idea.”
The thug they were looking for had been described as a bulky bear of a man with shaggy brown hair and a thick mustache. The man in front of them was slim with bright red hair and a hundred freckles splattered across his face. There was no way that her informants were that wrong about his looks. So this wasn’t the thug they were looking for, but there was a connection somewhere. There had to be something that this idiot had done to make him run at the sight of the Blazes pulling up. Plus, he’d been in the cabin that their target was supposed to spend time in. There was a reason that this happened here. There had to be.
Firebird’s eye twitched. She set a finger under her left eye to control the muscle spasm and forced herself to unclench her jaw. “We never should have gotten out of the car.”
“Yeah,” Paul agreed, putting the helmet back on the corpse. “That was a mistake.”
Title: Always Wear a Helmet
Prompts: Red Currant #3: distant thunder, Mango #2: look behind you
Rating: R for violence
Characters: Firebird Blaze, Paul Robinson, Unlucky schmuck #11
Summary: Part Four of Firebird’s winter wonderland adventures! Part 1, 2, and 3.
“You ready?” Paul asked Firebird.
Firebird was not in the least ready to leave the heated car so she could go chase after some idiot thug. The only thing she was ready for was to tell Paul to drive her home so she could get in her big warm bed and forget that this clusterfuck ever happened.
Firebird sighed and readjusted her scarf. “Yes.”
Paul turned the car off then got out. He opened Firebird’s door and handed her out. Finding their next target had taken some doing because the rat brother hadn’t been lying about the thug being some sort of weirdo. Everyone had known who he was, but it’d been awhile before they’d found out where he hung out because he was a little paranoid. Still, the Blaze network of informants hadn’t failed her and now they were in the thick woods just outside of the northern city limits. There was only one road to the wooden cabin that a couple people had said the thug stayed at sometimes, and Paul had blocked that off in case the idiot got any bright ideas. Now they just had to wake him up and get some information about the elusive twins’ location. Hopefully without God intervening and killing him.
“What’s that noise?” Paul asked out of the blue. He took a step forwards, placing himself between Firebird and the cabin.
Firebird cocked her head, trying to hear what her bodyguard’s abnormally acute senses heard. There was a faint buzzing noise coming from their target’s house. “Is that an engine?”
“Yeah,” Paul affirmed, and pulled out his gun. The only thing going in their favor on this mission is that it was the middle of the night and everyone they’d come across before now had been caught completely unaware by their attacks. Obviously that minute amount of good luck was coming to an end.
Out of nowhere, huge floodlights on the front of the house blazed on. Paul shoved Firebird back through the open car door and ducked down, making himself a smaller target for any impending attack. The buzzing got louder as a snowmobile shot out from behind the house into the woods on their right. The rider turned around on the snowmobile and flipped them the bird. Firebird could practically hear their target’s laughter at getting the jump on them.
“Stupid fucker!” Paul yelled and aimed at the rider. He wasn’t going to kill him and let him get away that easy. A leg shot would be much more satisfying.
Before Paul could pull the trigger, though, the rider’s arrogance got the best of him. The consequence of looking back at them to flaunt his superiority was that he wasn’t looking at what was in front of him. The snowmobile ran straight into a huge oak tree with a sick crunch of metal and wood. The rider flew forward, hitting the tree headfirst before crumpling on top of his wrecked vehicle in an unmoving pile while snow that had accumulated on the tree branches showered the gruesome scene.
“Oh good god,” Firebird growled. Now this was just getting ridiculous. They hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to the idiot before he’d offed himself.
Paul sighed and put the safety back on his gun. “You want me to go see how dead he is?”
Firebird got off of the car floor as gracefully as she could. “I’ll come too.”
They trudged through the thick snow the fifty yards the idiot had gotten before natural selection got the better of him. “Definitely dead,” Paul stated the obvious then pulled the rider out of the mess of metal shards and tree splinters so they could examine what was left of him. Paul held the guy’s head steady while Firebird pulled the helmet off. They both stared at the man’s battered face for a long moment in silence.
“Who the hell is this?” Firebird snapped.
Paul shook his head slowly. “I have no idea.”
The thug they were looking for had been described as a bulky bear of a man with shaggy brown hair and a thick mustache. The man in front of them was slim with bright red hair and a hundred freckles splattered across his face. There was no way that her informants were that wrong about his looks. So this wasn’t the thug they were looking for, but there was a connection somewhere. There had to be something that this idiot had done to make him run at the sight of the Blazes pulling up. Plus, he’d been in the cabin that their target was supposed to spend time in. There was a reason that this happened here. There had to be.
Firebird’s eye twitched. She set a finger under her left eye to control the muscle spasm and forced herself to unclench her jaw. “We never should have gotten out of the car.”
“Yeah,” Paul agreed, putting the helmet back on the corpse. “That was a mistake.”