The whip-wielding merc, called "Cobra" was hired for a private eye job to find a missing woman. This job led him to discover a whole scheme within a town and chase the mastermind.
The gangster, nicknamed "Mr. Niceguy".
Cobra: Run all you want! I will catch you!
Mr. Niceguy: We'll see about that, Mister... "Cobra".
Cobra chased the Niceguy into a warehouse. It was pitch black, but Cobra could still follow Mr.Niceguy in his footsteps until there suddenly was none.
(CHA-CHOOO)
Heavy industrial lights flashed on, momentarily blinding Cobra, who raised his arm to block the light.
Cobra: Ugh!
Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Cobra looked around to get his bearings.
A wall of light surrounded him, preventing him from seeing any further than a couple of meters. Yet despite being surrounded by the light there was a large shadow he stood upon.
Cobra:(slowly looks up)...
A massive container with a funnel pointed at him hung above him.
(Drip, droop, drip)
It leaked something down onto Cobra who calmly raised his hand to catch the drops.
Despite how he wore gloves, the drops quickly burned him. He looked at his palm to see metallic droplets which he quickly shook off before getting away from the center of where the dropping was.
Mr.Niceguy: I wouldn't move too far from that spot if I were you.
Cobra:?
On a catwalk, standing in front of a light leaving him a towering silhouette of Cobra, Mr.Niceguy spoke.
Mr.Niceguy: Above you are roughly a few tons of boiling lead.
Mr.Niceguy: Set to go off in a few minutes or if you leave a certain area.
Mr.Niceguy: You'll either be crushed, or burned by a massive splash.
Cobra: Lead... So you really are going to build a dirt-cheap town that'll slowly kill its people.
Mr.Niceguy:(chuckles)... Of course not.
Mr.Niceguy: The lead is only for my new brand of paint. The town itself will cast half as much as the lead over your head!
Cobra: What's the point of that? What exactly is your endgame?
Mister Niceguy leaned on the railing in front of him, still giving a light chuckle at Cobra's question.
Mr.Niceguy: I guess your specialty really is combat, not logic.
Mr.Niceguy: Money and reputation is my endgame, Mister Cobra. It is, after all, what makes the world go around.
Mr.Niceguy: Right now, my pawn, the Mayor, is pushing for this new housing district.
Mr.Niceguy: "A new town, around our city's arm" or whatever slogan they're using.
Mr.Niceguy: Those cheap houses will collapse in a few short years.
Mr.Niceguy: Then I'll swoop in and fix the town to be solid as a rock.
Mr.Niceguy: Of course, I'll do it in a way where each resident owes me EVERYTHING.
Cobra: And you'll have an entire town under your fingertips...
Mr.Niceguy: Now you're getting it. With a little percentage of their income as compensation...
Mr.Niceguy: I'll have enough money to repeat the process again, and again.
Cobra: That plan is ridiculous.
Mr.Niceguy: Says the man calling himself "Cobra".
Cobra:(glares) Cobras are cool. Like me under pressure. That's why I was given the name.
Mr.Niceguy:(smiles) Heh... If you say so.
Mr.Niceguy: Enjoy your measly two minutes of life before the lead rain.
The gangster leaves Cobra to perish within his trap for him.
Cobra: Hmph.
He checked his phone and the quality of the recording of their conversation. Once he knew he had definitive proof of his deeds, Cobra pocketed the device.
(94 seconds remaining)
Focusing his sight, Cobra searched for something of to aid him. If he couldn't find anything, he planned to run and gun it.
(58 seconds remaining)
Cobra:(mind) Wait... This isn't just a warehouse, but a makeshift factory.
Cobra:(mind) There has to be a fire extinguishing... If it's a water-based one I might just be saved.
(45 seconds remaining)
Cobra:(mind) I might not be a science major, but I know the occasional fun facts...
Seeing a cylindrical silhouette in the distance, Cobra knew he found what he was looking for.
Grabbing his whip, Cobra swung it at the object, enabling him to pull it over towards him. As it got closer its appearance became more and more clear.
It was a fire extinguisher.
But he wasn't saved just yet, in fact, Cobra might have just made things a bit more difficult for himself.
Mister Niceguy claimed there was some type of proximity trigger to the bombs above. Perhaps a motion or sensory-based one.
With his whip not triggering it, Cobra knew there were a couple of reasons as to why.
The whip was too fast.
The whip was too small.
It was all a bluff.
Whatever the reason, Cobra was prepared to move fast.
He caught the extinguisher, pulled the safety pin from it, and ran forward as he sprayed himself with the contents of the extinguisher.
(BA-BOOOOOM)
Triggering the explosives, Cobra caused it to rain boiling lead all over the warehouse. But to his luck, the fire extinguisher was indeed water-based.
This was important because of a little trick.
When molten metal hit the wet Cobra, it causes the water to immediately evaporate on the surface of the Cobra, creating a powerful but short-lasting layer of vapor that protected him.
The only question is, did Cobra cover himself enough to survive?
(Outside the warehouse)
Mister Niceguy got on his motorcycle and prepared to drive off before the cops came to investigate the explosion.
But on the road, he saw a man walk right in his way. They slicked back their wet blond hair, before turning to Mister Niceguy, showing him his face.
Mr.Niceguy:!?
Cobra grabbed his whip by two points and held it so there was tension. When the gangster was about to hit him, Cobra flipped over the Niceguy.
Clotheslining the gangster with his whip, Cobra knocked Mister Niceguy off his motorcycle who was knocked unconscious.
Cobra: Shouldn't have cheaped out on death traps.
FIN.
YOU ARE READING
Adventure In Action
Action#AdventureInAction This is my entry in the Adventure In Action competition. The stories will be about misadventures and moments in Cobra's life based on the prompts given for the competition.
