Project Rain 17

Chapter 12 continued


It worked. The five robbers not expecting this strange turn of events where at a loss. I had to take advantage as long as their little brains were still working out what was happening.

"I gave you a chance." I said and then remembering the lessons learned from light night TV and whiskey session added "Motherfucker."

    I caught them off guard. Changed my stance and showed them who was actually in control of the situation.
    The four goons looked close to starting displacement activities. I was sure that one of them would scratch himself behind the ear any second now. When I focused on Funny Man again he did not seemed as horrified as he should. His eyes had narrowed. He was carefully evaluating me. His stance relaxed a bit and he put his big knife between my gun and himself, the laser points glinting on its polished blade. 
   
"You aren't gonna shoot." he said with care placing every word carefully one after another watching my reaction. He was certainly more cunning than I had given him credit for.

"Really?" I had not even finished saying the word when I knew that I was losing control of the situation fast. The goons were relaxing and now grabbing into their jackets. Even if they weren't packing heat they would become extremely dangerous if they all came at me at once. If that wasn't enough Petrova was very slowly approaching the group from behind with crystalline eyes and murder in her heart. I was getting anxious. I started a cold sweat to cool my nerves. IT just make me feel itchy all over.

"What makes you think I will not shoot an ingrate scumbag like you?" I asked scratching myself behind the ear.

'I've seen killers. And hard nutters. And you aren’t one. Haven't got the eyes."

He was right of course. I was a grand collection of bad habits but murder wasn't among them. This could not work. But it had too. At this point violence would happen. But I could still decide in which direction it would go. I could do this. I had to move things into the right direction.
    Rhythm. Rhythm was important. Time to re-establish a beat.
   
"Fuck you." a stab with my voice accompanied by one with the gun. Funny man paused. "And fuck", I waved the gun "your shit", in time "head" with my words "cronies!" I channelled my frustration, my anger into my adrenalin filled veins.

"Do you want to know why my eyes were calm?" a slow wave with the gun, painting all of them with the lasers. Holding their attention. They had stopped moving and where no concentrating on what I was saying. Good.

"Because you usually don't really think about it when you crush a cockroach." my Checkhov was now aimed directly at Funny Man again.

"Look into my eyes again you stupid little fuck and tell me how your chances are now?" I screamed at him little drops of spittle flying out of my mouth.

    He started to turn his head towards his companions.

"Look at me when I am talking to you!" I screamed. And he did.

"And now," I demanded through gritted teeth "answer my question!"

Funny Man looked at me visibly shaken but not yet broken. Petrova had reached the bandit closest to her but she held beck. She had her hands up ready to grab the man in front of her in a blink of an eye but she was looking at me waiting for my signal. Funny Man locked his jaw and pushed his chin out.

"You know what? You're full of shit!" he said. He saw my hesitation and pushed on trying to get control of the situation.
   
    "Your fucking hand is shaking. What kind of killer are you? Eh?" he stab the air in front of me with his knife. "Eh? I'm gonna cut you man. I was goin' to be nice to you", he said taking a step forward. "'cause you had so many Creds and that nice box."
   
    Petrova bared her teeth ready to let go
   
    The Funny Man continued "But now I'm gonna..." his sentence was cut short by the sound of shattering steel and a loud screams. I had fired a shot at his knife. The blade had exploded into a hundred glittering shards. Many of them embedding themselves in Funny Man's out stretched arm and face. He was suddenly covered in blood that was running down his body in thick red rivulets. I became slowly aware that one of the screams was mine. I forced myself to stay in control nudging my cry from hysteria into defiance. I vaulted over the box and punched the bleeding man before me with the gun. As I his his stomach I released some of the guns mass. The blow drove the air out of his lungs. He collapsed on the floor silently flopping in a pool of his own blood.
   
    I felt like vomiting. But that had to wait.

    "Is there anyone else that is going to question me?" I screamed the question. To my surprise there was only one man left standing to answer the question. Petrova had not waited for me to dispatch all of the idiots on my own. While I had disabled the leader she had somehow beaten three of his companions.

    "You there!" I demanded. "Give me all your money!" both him and Petrova looked at me with wide eyes. Petrova mouthed a 'What?' in my direction. Yeah I had no idea where that had come from either. I decided to make the best of it.

    "It's a bit shit getting beaten up, being threatened with weapons and then robbed isn't it? See this as a lesson. Now you give me all your money and weapons while we are at it and you and your friends get to live." I at least hoped they would, Funny Man was in a very bad shape and the other three weren't moving. The last crony complied. Moving quickly but not so fast as to provoke more violence he dropped the baton he was holding and gave us his money. He then proceeded to loot his friends and give us their credits, brass knuckles knifes and a black-jack.

    As we moved away the big light box between us I kept looking back. One after another the knocked out bandits regained consciousness. The four stood around their fallen. Like stooped shades standing vigil over a fallen hero. The hero was mostly furious and not really dead. The next time I turned around he was standing, bent in uncomfortable ways, but not broken. With the most light sources behind him he looked a bit like a demon, his spiky hair the horns, sweating tiny rubies.
I flipped him the bird. He shuddered, turned around and hobbled away refusing the help of his friends using what little he had left of his dignity to cover his shame.

    Petrova spoke for the first time after the gang had vanished behind one of the stone structures.

"Are you OK."

"Yeah. I am fine. Feel a bit shaky. But that's mostly the nerves."

"If you are feelingly dizzy we can take a break."
   
"No. Really I'm fine. Thanks."

We kept on walking for a while before she spoke again.

"Thank you."

"What for?" I asked.

"Without your meddling I would have killed them.", she sounded relieved.

"Never mind it seem... wait. What? Meddling? I took control of the situation. And it all went well."

"I respect your point of view." I could hear her smile as she said that.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well the way you stood behind the box and slammed you money on top of it I was already thinking that you were trying to pay them to take it away from you." she said eyes straight ahead.

"Sure. That was my fault. Next time I shall vault over the box and cover it with my coat in one bold movement. And then I will distract them with magic tricks."

"It's OK. You did well." she then added after a dramatic pause "For a civilian."

I laughed and shook my head. "Is that your sense of humour or are you just a sore loser?"

She just smiled. We had now almost reached the stairs leading us down to the water. "You know," she said "that you are bleeding?"

    I looked down and saw that the front of my suit was soaked in blood. I had thought that it was the blood of the Funny Man. But now I realized that the blood had soaked through my clothes. I also felt quite woozy all of a sudden. Handle of the box slipped from my hand. The big crate fell slowly to the ground with a soft thud. I sank to my knees turning a bit so that I could use the create to rest my back on it.

    The gun that I had still be holding in my other hand slipped of my fingers. I could Petrova moving rapidly to my side. She cast a look around to make sure that we were alone before she had a closer look at me.

"How are you feeling? Do you feel dizzy? Are you cold?" the urgency in her voice didn't really match her usual composure.

I smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I just have to rest for a little while."