Chapter 6: �And a Tooth For a Tooth. by: DragonMouse
We lay shoulder to shoulder, sprawled on the floor, ice on our respective injuries. The magazine was spread in front of us and we looked mainly at the ads for now. When the page was turned, I exclaimed, �Damn, I want that gun!� I read the rest of the ad, then added, �I really want that gun. Jeez, are you seeing this thing? It�s beautiful.�
Crys chuckled and rolled onto her side. �When do you turn 15?�
�April. Why?�
�Ask for it for your birthday. Until then, you can still use my backup. It�s worth a try.�
�Yeah, I guess,� I said. �I won�t get it-�
�Except maybe from Edward.�
�Yeah. Hey, yeah! You�re the best. Wow.� I rolled over and sat up, unfortunately hitting my leg on the side of her bed. My jaw clenched in reaction to the pain, which made it flare up again. While muttering my vocabulary of curses, attempting to keep it clean for the benefit of the kid; I pulled up my pant leg. An area on my shin was mostly red; trying for purple and closely resembled the toe of a tennis shoe. Near it, but more toward my calf, was a splotch trying for the same color. That was where Rio bit me.
�Ow. Jeez, I�m sorry, Pete. That looks like it hurts,� Crys observed.
I chuckled. �Well, yeah.� Pulling my pants back down, I said, �But we�ll both be hurting worse if we don�t think of something to tell my mom.� She made a small noise to show that she agreed, but offered no suggestions. A comfortable silence fell over us as we tried to think of something smart _and_ believable. It stretched for several minutes until I thought of something so daring, something so wondrous, something so _stupid_, that my mom would ignore our wounds.
�I�ve got,� I stated, struggling to contain maniacal laughter. �I�ve got it. If you don�t mind being grounded for a bit, that is.�
Crys shrugged, a grin spread across her face that probably matched mine to a tee. �Great,� I continued. �I need you to go out to the garage and get your dirt bike ready for a quick take off. Both helmets together and with it. Um, is your foot locker unlocked?� She has a blue footlocker with silvery edging that she keeps her paintball equipment in and serves as a stand for her rat�s cage. Her dirt bike came form a drawing she won. I swear that kid has more luck then humanly possible. Everything she wants, including Edward as a father, she gets.
�No, it�s not.� Crys got up and crossed to a dragon sculpture that had a key dangling from it�s upraised claw. Grabbing the key, she crossed again to the locker. She put the key in the slot and gave it a twist. �There you go. Be careful when you�re moving Squirt�s cage, I�ll go get the bike ready. You�ll tell me the plan when I get back, right?�
I nodded and she walked out the door, shutting it behind herself, leaving me looking at her X-Men poster. Turning to the trunk, I said, �Time for a bit of a change in scenery, Squirt.� The black and white baby rat stared back at me with its flat black eyes as if it understood exactly what I�d said.
*~*
A bit more then 20 minutes later, we were pretty ready. I glanced at my watch as Crys checked how the front door swung. �Okay, Mommy �n� Me got out ten minutes ago. If they got into the car immediately and traffic is good, we�ve got five minutes, if not, ten. How�s the trajectory coming?�
Crys ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at the room. �I think I�ve got it, Peter. You sit over there, yeah, right there, and I�ll be right here. That way, even if the door is opened wide, we can both get our shots when she comes even to the couch.�
�And we won�t hit each other.�
�Yep. Just like Eddy taught us about crossfire: maximum damage, minimal casualties on our side.�
�Ok. Ok, um, yeah.� My nerves were getting to me, so I started running through out checklist. �We�ve got our guns, our ammo, and masks. Bedroom door is open, the screen is off the window and the window is openable. Dirt bike is ready with two helmets and we�ve got Dairy Queen money. Do you agree?�
The girl looked at me as if I was insane. �Yes. Just like the other, what, 5? Times you�ve gone over that. Breathe, Pete. It helps.� With that, she set about putting on her paintball mask, leaving it on top of her head.
A car door slammed outside and we both kind of jumped. My mom�s car is _wa-ay_ too quiet for _our_ good. As little running footsteps came toward the door, we slid our masks into place. Becca burst in the door and we held our fire. She didn�t even notice us crouched there. We could�ve killed her 5 times over before she would�ve known. Suddenly, I realized why Edward is so protective toward my little sis and Mom, they are so na�ve. She was already in the other room chattering at �Ted� when Mom came humming toward the door.
Her makeup was probably fresh, just for Ted, and she most likely had a little grin on her face. As she came through the still open door I saw briefly that I was right. Luckily for us, she pushed the door to without turning. If she had, we�ve had problems. Then, she was past us and I began sighting on the middle of her back, my barrel following her movements easily without losing my spot. I knew I was about to pull the trigger on my own mother, but knew that it wouldn�t kill her, but at the same time, a thought gnawed in the back of my mind that this could be real. But as soon as she reached the couch arm, those thoughts dissolved and Crys and I opened fire. My green and her orange paint pellets erupted almost simultaneously on my mom�s back, followed quickly by more.
She shrieked immediately. It took her longer to actually turn around, probably until she realized she wasn�t dead. When she started turning, I barked out, �Go, go, go!� to Crys. I felt like some military dude giving orders in a firefight. In a blink, we were done, up and running, masks still on, the gun pointed down and away. Crys got to her room first and as soon as I was through the door, she slammed it behind me, locking the knob and shedding her mask. The guns were tossed into the still open locker, cleaning could wait, and my mask went to her bed as I jogged across the room. I threw open the window and held it while she climbed through, then followed, allowing it to close behind me.
We ran in a kind of crouch, hopefully keeping us below the windows and keeping the adults thinking we were still in the room. Upon reaching the cycle, our helmets were on in about two seconds, but Crys took another couple seconds to pull on a pair of goggles and adjust them around her glasses. Faintly form inside, I could hear my mother yelling still. Then that was drowned by the roar of the Kawasaki as Crys kick started it. I climbed on behind her as she revved the engine and when I thumped her helmet to signal I was ready, she peeled out of the drive and we were on our way to Dairy Queen. A look behind us revealed Mom tearing out of the door, yelling and waving her arms, probably saying something about being grounded until I�m forty. Edward was standing by the front door, his arms crossed over his chest. I could�ve sworn he was smirking. Rio stood next to him, looking between Eddy and us, his tail wagging. Becca was about half way between Mom and Edward and only looked confused.
Unable to contain myself, I thrust my arm into the air, fist clenched, and yelled, �Ya-hooooooo,� as loud and as long as possible. Then, we were out of sight of the house and visions of victory banana splits danced in my head.
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