Bring The Heat

51. The Storm

-(JUST OUTSIDE THE HANGAR THAT AFTERNOON, STILL JANUARY 27TH)-

"Jesus fucking christ Nick, where'd you get that!?"

Nick just looked back at Tenson, confused about what had him so stressed out. In their hand, they were holding a pistol.

"I found it in a dumpster last night. You guys wanna shoot me with it?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Nicholas..." Dominic reprimanded, concerned.

"Don't 'Nicholas' me, little man. My ex does that. I should probably stop messaging him, to be fair..."

"Wait," Tenson chimed in, "why were you looking through a dumpster?"

Nick groaned.

"Guys, cmon. So many questions and reservations, and not enough shooting me! I just think it'd be pretty cool..."

Tenson was about to deny the offer, but Dominic interrupted.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Nick handed him the gun joyously, but Tenson was gobsmacked.

"You? Wh- why? Don't you hate guns?"

"Guns, like any other weapon, aren't inherently evil. But they can be used for wrongdoing in a much higher capacity than anything else, so yes, I condemn their usage. I find diplomacy to be much more potent as a problem solver... but I trust this weapon more in my hands than either of yours!"

"Woah, dude," Nick interjected, "coldblooded! I like it. Now shoot me!"

Dominic walked to a moderate distance from Nick, and spaced his feet apart in a bracing posture. He raised the gun in front of him, arms held firm. 'How did I end up like this...' he thought to himself momentarily, before clearing his mind to focus. He breathed in, then out slowly... and pulled the trigger.

'BANG!'

Yes, that's meant to be in quote marks. There wasn't a bang noise, the gun said 'BANG!'.

Dominic looked down at it and sighed.

"It's a toy."

He was relieved, but Nick seemed vastly disappointed. Tenson, on the other hand?

"What!? Dude, are you kidding me? It's a toy?" he exclaimed, snatching it from Dominic's hand. "It's so light! How did you not feel the weight difference?"

"Are guns meant to be heavy? I've never held one!" he argued back.

"Hey, Tennie, deep breaths, remember? Just a toy. Now... I'll go get some knives or something, ok?" Nicki interrupted.

They turned back to enter the hangar, but stopped abruptly upon reaching the corner.

"Who the hell is that?"

-(INSIDE THE COMPOUND, A MINUTE EARLIER)-

Cece stormed down the hallway towards her room. She was used to her brother being a huge asshole, but this? It was too much. She hadn't deserved that...

She stopped when she saw Mariah coming down the opposite way.

"Hey Mariah, what're you doing here?"

"Uhhh... I live here?" she answered rudely.

"Ah, yeah, of course, sorry."

Cece returned to storming down the hallway.

"What's got a stick up your ass, hey?" Mariah asked, turning back and jogging to catch up with her.

Cece examined her face suspiciously, wondering why she wanted to talk to her, but decided that there was probably no ulterior motive. She let out a heavy sigh.