The One Ought to Die

A mission that has gone wrong is still a mission until it's completed. Vantage point from the terrorists during the attack at the Kansas Selections.

The One Ought to Die

 

In the balcony of a big house in Missouri, four men sat at a rounded table. One was big and muscular; the next ones, identical twins, were athletic and not so tall. And the last one, from Latin origins, broke the silence by saying…

 

-Next is a big one, guys.

 

The big, muscular man, with a grave and strong voice said…

 

-Just give me the name and I’ll deal with it using nothing but one hand.

 

Then the twins quickly answered…

 

-Ending with a dozen unnecessary deaths.

 

-We take care of it, Sanchez… quickly and clean.

 

Sanchez formed a fist with his right hand and quickly hit the table before saying…

 

-Shut the f**k up and listen, it’s not about a name, it’s about a group of names. And no one here is skilled enough to handle the job on his own. All of us are going to participate.

 

Seeing that there was no objection, Sanchez continued…

 

-We are going to finish what Smith started… we are going to prevent David Bowman from competing in the Estate Cup.

 

-Why do we all have to take part on it, anyone of us can just kill him.

 

Said one of the twins; to what Sanchez answered…

 

-The time to do that passed. If it is seen as an assassination, as an assassination it will be investigated. And with David’s records as one of the fastest riders in the USA, it will affect the rest of the racers throughout the country; within them our contractors.

 

The muscular man then answered…

 

-Well… what do you have in mind?

 

-At the end of the competitions, we will kill David Bowman, along with his whole companions in the field and…

 

One of the twins leaned forward and interrupted Sanchez, then asked…

 

-Including “Wings of Liberty”?

 

-All of his companions.

 

The other twin sharply raised his voice and exclaimed… followed by his brother…

 

-That’s insane! How are we going to kill her?

 

-Are you forgetting that dragon and her rider are the strongest alive?

 

The muscular one then proceeded to hit the table and growled at the twins…

 

-Shut the f**k up already!

 

The twins leaned on the back of their chairs and reluctantly maintained their mouths shut. A couple of seconds later, Sanchez said…

 

-Thank you, Shawver… and to answer your questions, Claypool Brothers… No dragon is strong enough to fight after completing the Endurance Course; and that goes to Furia as well.

 

-How about Patrick?... �"Snapped again the first twin. At what Sanchez answered…

 

-Shawver and I will deal with Patrick. Now listen; this is a tricky mission for us exactly because of Furia’s and Patrick’s intervention in the matter. If we threaten David Bowman, he would have to tell Furia not to win, and she would later tell Patrick because it’s odd and none of them is stupid. Should they win, the only way to get away with this is with a mass murder to cover our real targets… and Patrick and Furia are precisely the cover. Now listen well, as I will say it only once. A dozen shooters will be hired for the occasion; they’ll be ready to shoot at the crowd from onto their dragons at the moment David ends up getting victorious. Claypool brothers, when that happens, you’ll attack whatever security trying to control the situation. Shawver, you and I, we’ll be going after the racers and their group.

 

Sanchez looked at Shawver straight at his eyes and continued…

 

-Ours, Shawver, is the most important part of the job… and we have no more than half a minute to do it. Long term success of the job depends on getting Furia and Patrick killed; no one has anything against them and thus no one can be found suspect. And even their deaths will be lightly covered by the havoc the shooters will make. There will be confusion around who the target was.

 

That said, they proceeded to arrange the positions each of them was going to be located in the stadium and other topics related to the job. Before long, they all flew home with their dragons. Time passed as they got tickets with fake I.D.’s for the Kansas’s Selections and tried to get the seats the nearest possible to their strategic positions.

 

On the last day of the Selections, early in the morning, the four men met once again at the balcony, but they didn’t sit; they just reviewed the plan…

 

-Through all the competitions… -Sanchez explained-… all I hoped was for Furia and David to just lose and save us all the trouble. Well… Have the security changed?

 

-No.   -Answered one of the twins; followed by his brother.

 

-We will hit them before they even react.

 

-Good. Shawver, since our targets are more than what you and I alone might be able to handle, I got two of the shooters to help us with David’s and Furia’s group. They wouldn’t attack the Double Scarred Rider or a D.D.I. agent, so they’ll take care of David’s friend and wife, along with their dragons. You and I will deal with Patrick and his brother while your dragon deals with Furia, and mine with Patrick’s brother’s dragon.

 

Shawver popped his knuckles on both hands as he said…

 

-It’s going to be interesting.

 

Then Sanchez took the word again and said…

 

-Well, you all know where to meet at nightfall, now let’s get this done.

 

The four of them exited the house and mounted their dragons. They took off at the second they were ready and headed for the stadium. As they got nearer and nearer, they looked for a place to leave their dragons close enough to the stadium for they to contact if the day was going to turn bloody. Dragons were not allowed to fly over the stadium nor were they allowed to land in the stadium for there was no space. The dragons landed near the stadium’s entrance, leaving their riders in the line of people flowing inside, to then fly a couple of blocks away and rest under some building’s shadow.

 

As Sanchez and his fellow soon-to-be terrorists slowly advanced to the area of the spectators, he thought…

 

To think all these people is late for no reason at all…

 

Eventually, the group separated and each of them headed for their seats. Before Sanchez sat, he glanced at the crowd, looking for the positions his partners were by. And then his sight stopped down on the field, at the borders, where Icy, David’s dragon, David’s wife and her dragon, Dani Quismat and his dragon, Patrick Darst, his brother and his dragon chatted… ignorant of what might happen at the end of the race.

 

As the competition developed, Sanchez spent the time reading a magazine on his seat. He had to stand up and walk to the bathroom more times than which he actually needed to go to the bathroom, all in order to prevent his muscles from getting too numb. Eventually… he fell asleep.

 

Suddenly, Sanchez felt a pat on his right shoulder and shook his head. He looked at the kid sitting next to him as he said with his high pitched annoying voice…

 

-Sir… wake up, sir… they are in the last sprint!

 

Sanchez looked in the distance and located the racers as tiny points coming towards the finish line. His senses sprang awake and he readied his mind for the tensest seconds to come. He listened to the commenters as he thought…

 

Good… Furia and David are in second place. We might not need to…

 

And the commenter interrupted his thought…

 

-What is this, everyone? Something happened to Furia!! That dragon is going for everything in the very last sprint!! This is…

 

Well… too good to be true…

 

As Furia glided over the finish line, Sanchez got a mask from his pocket and leaned to his side while unfolding the mask and told the kid…

 

-Tell your parents to hide under the seats and stay there.

 

And with a flowed move, Sanchez put the mask on and generated a spear on his right hand as a dozen riders on their dragons invaded the stadium’s aerial space. Then Sanchez threw the smoky spear on his hand at David Bowman, hitting the racer right in the back of his chest. The Last Roar of the racer’s dragon was heard right at the second the shooters rained death from onto their dragons. Their machineguns roaring with a nonstop melody that was joined right afterwards by the panicked screams of the crowd.

 

As the D.D.I. agent, Patrick and the rest guarded up and looked around confused, Shawver threw a spear at the agent, who turned around and received it with a Vital Energy shield and afterwards pushed Patrick behind him. Shawver fought off Patrick Darst’s brother while Sanchez joined the skirmish and faced the Double Scarred Rider. It was odd for Sanchez to hear the agent yelling “Just remember your training, Patrick!”, yet not enough to distract him. As he and his opponent generated their weapons of choice, two long knives for the terrorist and some kind of blade attached to a chain for the legend, Sanchez yelled… -Today you meet your match, Double Scarred Rider!!-… and lunged on the attack. Patrick suddenly switched his weapon to a shield, blocking Sanchez’s first attack, and countered with a sword. The movement caught him off guard and blocked the blade just centimeters away from his neck… Let’s see what you are made of, Double Scarred Rider.

 

Sanchez’s black dragon fought the D.D.I. agent’s gray dragon while Shawvers monstrous soft blue dragon started to attack Furia as she weakly answered and was slowly driven to the end of her days.

 

Dani Qismat, David’s friend, guarded up with a Vital Energy sword and shield and stood in front of David’s wife while his and her dragons hissed and showed their fangs, scratched the ground with their claws and ready to fight the two dragons in front of them. Their masked riders strapped to their saddles, letting their guns hang from the slings and generating weapons of their own twisted imagination: curved and sawed blades not made to cleanly slash, but to rip and push through their targets.

 

The terrorists’ laughter muffled by their masks only made Dani tighten his grasps of his sword and shield as his opponents jumped from the backs of their dragons, who showed their bloodlust by sticking out their tongues to lick their fangs, and got to their own fighting stances. The fight of his life quickly begun when the racer let out a loud cry and charged along with his dragon and his best friend’s wife’s dragon against their opponents.

 

46… 47… 48…

 

Riders shooting from the sky… the rest of the racers flying away on their dragons while people ran in panic to the exits, crushing themselves against each other and stepping on the fallen… dragons fighting off other dragons and riders fighting other riders… and an execution… Shawver’s dragon managed to finally get a hold on Furia’s neck as she clawed at the ground and squealed in pain right before the monstrous jaws crushed her scales and stabbed her neck with each of his fangs… killing her voice and turning it into a torrent of blood and gargles as Furia started to both bleed out and drown on her own life.

 

Suddenly, a dragon tackled Shawver’s dragon; freeing Furia from his jaws. Sanchez looked at his own dragon, who shook his head and stood from the ground while Shawver’s dragon prepared to engage his new opponent, Patrick Darst’s brother’s dragon.

 

55… 56… 57… Sanchez blocked another of Patrick’s attacks, his opponent could continue fighting like that for another three minutes while he was panting… It’s too late, other D.D.I. will arrive.

 

Sanchez then pushed himself from Patrick and yelled with all his strengths…

 

-BAIL OUT!!!!

 

The dragon ran towards Sanchez and picked him up to quickly take off while Shawver’s dragon retreated from the fight and picked his rider as well. The shooters dispersed to nothing and the Claypool brothers were nowhere to be seen, though Sanchez and Shawver were not bothered by D.D.I.’s, so they were fine, flying away as well.

 

Sanchez and his dragon flew away as he climbed to his dragon’s saddle… thinking…

 

Damn it, that Patrick Darst is the Double Scarred Rider for something; at least Shawver’s dragon got Furia, so the cover is still alive. This will be history… history of the interesting one.