With a Vengeance

Thrill Rider:

"Wait, wait, wait," I shout, stepping back as Vengeance charges toward me. Ignoring me, Vengeance runs over the knocked-out gang members before wrapping his arms around me and tackling me onto the ground.

"Ahh," I cry. "Ahh! I never did like football!"

Pinned on the floor now, Vengeance pushes himself up. As he pushes himself up, Vengeance also raises his machete.

"Vengeance," I yell, "Come on! Stop this! It's not too late!"

"No," Vengeance yells, spit wads flying out of his mouth and hitting my mask. "It is! It is too late! No matter what happened next, it is too late."

Trying to raise my hands to free myself, I look down and see them trapped beneath Vengeance's knees.

"Come on! Come on!"

I shake my hands, trying to get them out from beneath Vengeance. When I look up again, I see his machete high in the air, only seconds away from coming back down.

"Just a little more!"

Vengeance screams as he swings his machete down toward me.

"Ahh," I scream as I pull out one of my hands and raise it. Vengeance's machete hits my arm instead of my head. I scream again as the machete hits my arm. Despite the burning pain I'm feeling, I can still see Vengeance is stunned. He must be surprised I was able to pull out my hand and block his attack. Using this opening, I wrestle his weapon away from him.

"Thanks for this," I say, smiling as I take Vengeance's machete away from him. Hitting Vengeance in the face with the end of the handle, Vengeance yells out as he stumbles away. The second he's off of me, I push myself back onto my feet.

Letting out a moan as I look down at the cut on my arm, I look back up at Vengeance as he pulls out his second machete. As much as I don't want to, I throw the machete into my second hand, the one without a cut, and raise it.

"Vengeance," I say, "Stop this now. I don't want to fight you."

"I didn't want to fight you either," Vengeance replies, raising his machete and mirroring me. "I thought you and I could have been partners, that we could have destroyed the whole 23rd Gang!"

"We can still destroy them," I say, "But we can do it without killing anyone! We don't have to cross that line!"

"No. No, we do have to cross that line! At least, I do!"

Letting out an ear-piercing scream, Vengeance pulls back his machete as he charges toward me again.

Swinging his machete, I grip the machete with both hands and swing it forward. Our blades spark as they hit each other. Vengeance's swing goes forward while my swing is forced back.

The forced-back swing throws me off-balance slightly. Vengeance must have seen this because he quickly makes a fist and throws it forward.

Punching me directly in the face, I stumble forward, tripping over something and falling onto the floor. My cut rubbing against the floor as I fall, I fight the urge to scream as my cut burns. Biting my lips and keeping my mouth shut, I push up and turn around.

Vengeance is standing right behind me. Pulling back his machete, Vengeance throws it forward. Jumping out of the way and back onto the floor, I see the blade go right through the wall.

"Son of a--," Vengeance cries. He stomps his whole foot on the wall and tries to pull out his weapon.

"This is my chance!"

Pushing myself up again, I run toward Vengeance as he tries to pull out his weapon. Catching him off-guard, I shoulder-charge him, slamming Vengeance against the wall and holding him there.

"Vengeance," I yell, struggling to keep Vengeance against the wall as he claws at me. "Vengeance! Give it up! It's over!"

"It's not over yet," Vengeance yells back. Vengeance stops clawing at me and I wonder why. I stop wondering when something hits my leg and force me down.

Screaming and looking down, I see Vengeance stomping against my leg. Vengeance raises his foot and stomps it against my leg again. He forces me down, and when I'm down, he pushes me away.

Falling back onto the floor for what feels like the millionth time tonight, I moan and groan as Vengeance stands over me. He stomps on my hand, turning my moan into a scream.

"I'm taking this," Vengeance says, taking his machete back. He walks away for a little bit but it's only to get the machete that is still stuck in the wall. Now, with dual machetes again, Vengeance looks over me.

"I didn't want to do this," Vengeance says, pulling back one of his machetes, "But you choose to protect them, and I choose to destroy them and every single one of them allies."

About to swing his machete, Vengeance stops when we hear sirens.

"Shoot!"

Turning my head, I see red and blue lights coming from the windows.

Grinding his teeth and growling, Vengeance leaves me. He turns away and runs through the hallway and out the backdoor. A few seconds after Vengeance left, a squadron of police officers barges into the room.

"I am so happy to see you guys," I say, smiling as I push myself up. However, the second the police officers see me, they aim their guns at me.

"Thrill Rider," one of the officers yells, "Freeze! You're under arrest!"

"And there goes my happiness," I think.

Seeing myself surrounded, unarmed, and with a cut on one arm and possibly a broken leg, all I can do is put up my hands and surrender.

"Cuff him," another officer says. A third officer nods and puts away his pistol. He switches it for a pair of handcuffs and, after pulling me up onto my feet, cuffs me.

While two officers hold me by my arms and a third officer fetches my batons, a fourth officer looks around the living room and sees all the unconscious gang members.

"I recognize some of these people," a fifth officer says. He drops to his knee and grabs an arm. Raising it so we can all see, the officer points to a hidden tattoo of a '23'. "These are 23rd gang members!"

"23rd gang members," the fourth officer repeats. "No way! Thrill Rider fought 23rd gang members?"

All of the police officers turn to me.

"Uhh," I start, thinking of something to say. "Uhh. I got nothing."

As the officers turn away from me, I subtly and carefully raise my shoe.

"Easy," I tell myself. "Easy. Slowly. Be careful. You only got one shot at this."

With all the officers being too busy discussing the down gang members, they don't notice me raising my shoe and grabbing a lockpick from it.

"Been a while since I've done this," I think while picking the handcuffs' lock. "I have to hurry."

"We're going to need more handcuffs," an officer says. "All of these are wanted criminals. We have to take them with us."

"I know, I know," another officer says. "Hold on."

The officer reaches for the radio on his shoulder.

"Dispatch. Send backup. We're going to need a few more cars for this."

"Got it," dispatch answers.

"While we're waiting, let's unmask Thrill Rider. We'll finally learn who he is."

"Uhhh," I say, trying to back up but the officers holding me stop me. "How about no? No, let's not unmask Thrill Rider! Let him keep his mask!"

The officers completely ignore me. They walk over to me and grab my mask. They start pulling it off. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to unlock myself.

"Don't take off my mask," I beg, "I have an ugly face! Wait, I mean I have horrible breath, and the only thing keeping you guys safe from it is my mask!"

My mouth is now exposed. I have to stop talking, otherwise, the officers might recognize my voice. As it climbs up, I hear a clicking sound.

"Yes!"

As the handcuffs open, I swing out my arms and push the two officers holding me back. They stumble and fall back.

"What the--," the officer pulling off my mask shouts. Pushing him back too, he hits the officer behind him, and the two fall. Pulling my mask down, I quickly grab my batons before pushing the officer that was holding them. With everyone down, I start running for the front door.

A pain shooting through my leg, I endure it as I limp through the front door.

"For the record," I shout as I limp toward my motorcycle. "I lied about the horrible breath! I have sweet breath!