A Bad Partner

Thrill Rider:

Seeing the address written on the sticky note, I slow down my motorcycle and park it beside the sidewalk.

"Okay," I think, getting off and onto the sidewalk. "Not exactly what I thought a gang hideout would look like, but I guess it's one of those 'hidden in plain sight thing' scenarios."

In front of me is a simple, one-story house with a green front yard. The house isn't in bad condition, nor is the car parked in the driveway. The lights are on, meaning someone is home. Taking out my batons, I carefully and quietly walk up the stone pathway and onto the front porch.

"This is crazy," I think as I reach for the doorknob. "This is crazy. This is crazy. Why am I doing this? Where is my partner? Seriously, where is Vengeance?"

Grabbing the doorknob, I turn in slightly and open the front door.

"What? A gang hideout with an open front door?"

Still thinking this is crazy, I push open the front door. The second I do, I hear screaming, yelling, and then gunfire. Immediately, I jump to the ground and cover my head.

Someone screaming, I recognize the voice.

"Vengeance," I shout. Pushing myself up, I run through the front door. Unsure what could be on the other side, I already have my batons ready. However, as I ran inside, I saw that they were unnecessary.

"What in the world," I say, looking around.

All over the floor, I see unconscious bodies. Lying all over, covering the whole floor, I see nothing but swollen faces, black eyes, and purple bruises. Looking closely, I also see cuts on their arms and legs. These are long cuts, ones that are made from a machete.

"Oh no."

My head snaps up when I hear my screaming. Not wasting a second, running into a narrow hallway, I burst through a wooden door and into someone's bedroom. Inside the bedroom, I see Vengeance with his machete out. He's pinning a man with short black hair and a blue vest against a wall, and holding his weapon against the person's throat. The person is already covered in cuts, and judging from the redness, he has a broken hand.

"Tell me where Mick is," Vengeance yells, slamming the person's head against the wall.

"I--I don't know," the man says weakly.

Vengeance slams the man's head against the wall again, forcing a scream out of him.

"Don't waste my time," Vengeance yells. "Where is he? Where! Is! He!"

Grabbing the man's head, Vengeance is about to slam his head again. Running fast, I grab Vengeance's hand and stop him.

"Easy there, Batman," I say. "I think he had enough."

Hoping with fingers crossed that Vengeance would let the man go, I'm proven wrong when he turns toward me and raises his foot. Stomping me in the chest with his whole foot, Vengeance knocks me back into a wall.

Screaming as I hit the wall and slide it down, I rub my head while pulling myself up.

"You know something," Vengeance says. He goes from slamming the man's head to gripping his throat. The man's hands go crazy as he tries to push Vengeance away but Vengeance isn't moving a muscle. "Tell me what you know."

"The museum," the man cries. "The museum!"

"What museum?"

"Natural History Museum," the man shouts. "Mick mentioned something about the Natural History Museum two days ago!"

A second later, Vengeance pulls back his machete. Throwing it forward, I run from the side and push Vengeance away. Stumbling away, Vengeance catches his footing. Once he has it, he turns and looks at me.

"What was that for," Vengeance shouts.

"What was that for," I repeat. "You were about to kill that man."

"He deserves to die," Vengeance says.

"Maybe," I say, "But we're not judges. We don't make that decision!"

"No! I got to make that decision when Mick and his gang took away the most valuable person to me!"

"The most valuable person," I repeat. About to ask what he means, I stop when I hear the sound of a door opening, followed by heavy footsteps.

"What the," someone yells. Judging from the footsteps, I, and possibly Vengeance, can tell there's more than one person. Pulling out his second machete, Vengeance heads for the bedroom's door.

"Oh no," I think. Pulling out my second baton, I follow Vengeance and in less than a minute, the two of us are in a living room with five other guys.

"Thrill Rider," one of the men screams. "And who? Who are you!"

"I am Vengeance," Vengeance yells, charging in.

"Wait," I say, trying to grab Vengeance again. I lunge for him but two of the men stop me. They grab and push me back into a wall. With my back against a wall, the two men rush toward me.

"Shoot," I think, ducking under a punch from one of the men. Accidentally hitting the wall instead of me, the man screams as he pulls back his hand.

Kicking and knocking him into the same wall, I hear something and turn around. The second man pulls out a switchblade. Flicking it open, the small blade reflecting some light in my eyes, he runs toward me.

Screaming as he runs toward me with the blade in the air, he lunges it down the second he can.

"Ahhh!"

Vengeance:

Left with three gang members myself, they all pull out switchblades and charge toward me. Pulling back my hand, I punch the first gang member in the face, stunning him. Holding his face as he stumbles back, I kick him away. A second member rushing toward me, I drop to my knee and swing my machete.

He screams and falls as I cut his leg. Holding his leg as he shakes on the floor, I push myself up and stomp on his head over and over. However, since my back was turned, I couldn't do anything when the last and third gang member charged into me.

Dropping my machetes, the gang member tackles me onto the floor. Moving fast, he wraps his arm around my throat and starts choking me.

Fighting for every breath now, I use both my hands to try and pry his arm away, but the bastard's grip is strong. Choking as he tightens his grip, I start losing the feeling in my legs. Forced onto my knees, my vision going blurry, I can still see something in front of me. Whatever it is, it's grey, thin, and within my reach.

"I only got one shot at this," I think, fighting to keep my heavy eyelids from falling. Slamming my hands together, I shoot them behind me and hit the gang member in the head.

He screams as I hit him, letting me go and stumbling back. The second he lets me go, I gasp for air, opening my mouth as wide as it can go and inhaling.

My vision goes back to normal and I can see what is in front of me.

"Thrill Rider's baton!"

Crawling on the floor, I jump for it. Hearing screaming, I turn around. The gang member who was strangling me had recovered. He's running toward me with a knife in his hand, but I don't care. Pushing myself up, I turn around and swing the baton with all my might.

Hitting him in the hip, the gang member stops running and cries out. He drops his knife and holds his hip. While he does this, I raise the baton into the air. Slamming it down, hitting him in the head with the end of it, the gang member falls to the floor.

Throwing Thrill Rider's baton to the floor, I wipe the sweat from my forehead while gasping for air. Seeing my machetes on the floor, I walk over to them, stopping for a few seconds to stomp on one of the gang members.

I smile a little when I hear him scream. Picking up my machetes, I stand over one of the members.

"This is for Tiffany," I say, raising my machete. Throwing down my machete, about to kill him, Thrill Rider tackles me. He wraps his arms around me and pushes me away.

"Stop," Thrill Rider yells, holding out his hand. "Vengeance! Just stop! Okay! It's over. They're out cold."

"That's not enough," I shout. "Yes, they're out cold, but they'll wake up again! And when they do, they will hurt so many people. We have to end them now so that can never ever hurt anyone else."

"We can't do that! Yes, these are bad people who have done bad things but ending them is not the answer! Come on, Vengeance, think this through. Don't do something you will regret."

Breathing in and out as I think about what Thrill Rider is saying, I look at all the thugs we took down. No, all the thugs I took down.

Looking back up at Thrill Rider, I raise my machete and aim it at him.

"I already did something I regret. I asked for your help. You're a bad partner, Thrill Rider. I don't know why you want to save these low-lives, but if you do, then it means our 'partnership' is over."

Pulling back my machete, I run forward.