Blogbuster - A comedy-laced blogger sci-fi thriller

18 - Stax Crash

Big reveal night. It marked the start of the Blogbuster event. 

Roman Stax stretched out in the back of his crimson limousine and sipped Champagne. And when he sipped Champagne, it was the real deal, flown over from the Champagne region in France, not that urine-flavored sparkling imitation they sold for pittance.

Anyways, he clinked glasses with Lucy, or was it Laci, and stared into her body-hugging, figure-flattering bombshell dress. He lifted his glance and stared into her arctic blue pupils.

“Your eyes sparkle more than my Champagne.”

She chuckled and touched his shoulder. It made him all fluffy down under.

“Are you nervous ?”

She chuckled even more and touched a lower part of his body. Purr.

He shrugged.

“Let’s call it excitement. I’m curious to see how the audience will respond to today’s announcement.”

He sighed and stretched his neck. Three years of daily hustle went into this project, it better deliver, given the fortune and technology it cost him.

“Don’t worry,” Laci said and placed her ringed fingers on his lap.

“Everything you touch seems to turn to credits, this project will be no exception.”

Stax put on a faint smile, felt how Laci’s hand wandered along his lap, closing in on his crutch. He liked where this was going, and she smiled, because she knew. 

“You’re such an overachiever, Roman, very classic-chauvinist.”

She clinked her glass to his and took a nip.

He grinned.

“Heh, you have to be, in this world.”

Stax turned back to the display in front and stared at the vlogger profiles. Looked at Violet Gear’s image.

“Seriously, if you wake up in the morning and you don’t believe you can be the most epic human being on the planet, you’re wasting oxygen.”

Laci touched his chin and turned it towards hers.

“I hope I’m not wasting your oxygen.”

He smiled.

“Impossible.”

She moved in for the kiss, because he allowed her to. When both were a breath away, an impact shook up the limousine, rattled the seats, made the Champagne glasses spill all over Roman’s five million credit suit.

“What the hell ?”

He knocked on the bulletproof glass that separated him from the driver.

“What happened ?”

The driver turned around, spoke with a faint french accent.

“Something crashed into our trunk, sir.”

“And I thought Santa Clause came knocking. Who is it ?”

The driver shook his head. Useless. Laci took out a napkin and wiped Roman’s suit. He moved his finger towards the side door and motioned for the driver. Laci grabbed his arm and squeezed it.

“Plz stay inside, it may be an assassination attempt.”

Roman sighed, leaned back into his seat, pondered. He had enemies galore in the battlefield of business. Maybe one of them was standing in front of his limo right now.

Bad.

So he pulled up the display in front and checked the footage of the limo cameras that recorded the outside. He saw a silhouette moving up from the ground, towards the limousine. Roman grabbed the repeater pistol from the secret stash under his seat and opened the door.

No one messed with Roman Stax.

No one messed with him and walked away unscathed.

With a limp, maybe. 

Outside the car, he saw the silhouette waddling towards him. Roman released the safety lock and pointed at the figure.

“Buddy, you just made the biggest mistake of your life. Do you know who I am ?”

The guy who crashed into the trunk straightened up and smiled. 

“Oh, I know, Mr. Stax. The real question is, do you know who I am ?”

Roman squinted his eyes, tried to recognize the stranger’s facial details. It was hard, especially under the dim street lights.

“Come a bit closer and I will.”

The guy did and even pulled up his hoodie to reveal his face. Short-trimmed hair and a blood-soaked bandaid on his nose were the first features that stood out. Roman frowned, but kept his pistol pointed at the guy.

“Nah, doesn’t ring a bit.”

Whoever that guy was, he was no assassin. He carried no visible gun, only a strange blue/green vest with a skull shoulder plate over the right arm. Looked more like a cosplayer than a killer, but nowadays, you never knew. Frustrated geeks of yesterday were the killers of today.

“Stand where you are, or I’ll rip a bullet through your membrane,” Roman said.

The guy stopped, held up his hands and said,

“This is going to be my best crash vid ever.”

Roman snorted, glanced to his side, saw a couple of bystanders emerging from the dark, pointing their devices at him. One of them, a girl with curly hair, said,

“This is going to get viral, Bam.”

Bam, with the boyish smile, in front of Stax, staring into the barrel of his gun, smiled.

“I hope so.”