The Skull
Jason walked slowly to school that black day. He carried two human sized duffle bags, each filled with infamous items that the liberal media used to scare their viewers, as well as an ALICE pack filled to the brim. His long duster caught a breeze and billowed up behind him revealing two gleams of silver, one on each thigh. He tugged his coat closed as best he could, but the pistol butts still twinkled in the late morning sun. He reached the school parking lot just after 11:30. He put down his bags behind a battered old Chevy pickup. He then fastened the bottom two snaps on his coat; he couldn't afford an early warning. Then he sat to brief himself once more on his plan. After repacking the map in the ALICE, Jason Castle ran the previous weekend through his mind.
He woke up Saturday depressed because he had to stay home while his parents had gone to Puerto Rico for a family reunion. He had to stay behind because there was a history test on Tuesday. After goofing off all morning the doorbell rang. His first thought was that Gadget, his computer oriented (nerdy) friend, had come over. However, the smile that had filled his face with the thought of his friend vanished as he saw the two police officers behind the door. Both officers were about the same height, shorter than Jason by and inch or two. Their badges gleamed while their faces squinted with a solemn stone-like appearance at the teen.
"Sir, are you Jason Castle?" asked the white, portly officer. He had a faint Irish accent. He removed his cap to reveal his black slicked back hair.
"Y-yes what…" In his confusion and fear, Jason could not finish his sentence. The other officer was a skinny but muscular black man with a salt and pepper beard. He too, removed his cap revealing a shining, hairless scalp. He bore a look of pure anguish before opening his mouth to speak.
"Jason, I'm Lieutenant Bourne and this is Detective Willis. We sorry we have to tell you this but there was a…," he paused for a moment and looked up into the sun," …a problem at the family reunion." He finished looking back a Jason.
"A… problem…" Jason repeated unsurely.
"Yes we'd like it if you'd come down to the station with us, we'll have you back before nine tonight."
"Sure just let me get my wallet." Jason proceeded to spend his entire afternoon learning the gruesome details of how he was the only Castle still alive, of how unknown gunmen cut down his helpless parents, of how they executed his favorite uncle Frank. Then they just sent him home. The sent him to an empty house, that would forever be empty. They brought him back Sunday to identify his parents and to ask questions like "did your parents have any enemies?" How the fuck was he supposed to know. He was their son. They didn't tell him things like that. The officers told him he could take Monday off from school. Since Jason's parents had basically adopted him, Gadget was given the day off and came over to avoid his drunken father. Jason told him his idea and they turned it into a plan.
Now Jason questioned his motive. How was this going to solve his grief? Then a quote from his uncle Frank crossed his mind. He quickly resolved to the task at hand and loaded the rest of his magazines and waited for Gadget to show up. They would trap everyone inside. It would be easy the windows were designed to keep people from sneaking out and there were only two doors, one of which Gadget should have locked. Just as his watch turned 11:45 Gadget rolled up in his customized Barracuda he had been working on since he was thirteen. Dressed in a mix of combat gear and civilian clothing, gadget looked like a Mercenary. Jason tossed him the bushmaster carbine and picked up his own AK-107. Since his uncle Frank was a licensed gunsmith, and a vet, both weapons were modified full-auto.
"The whole school should be in assembly right now." Announced Gadget solemnly
"Did you cut the power?" asked Jason popping a last shell into the 870.
"The phone lines too."
"Then let's rock!" The two gunmen entered quietly through the front door and chained the door behind them. Guns in hand they proceeded to the gym, watched only by cameras. When Jason and Gadget reached the dual set of double doors they slung their rifles, and drew their side arms. For Jason, dual Ruger mark IIs, and for Gadget, a single H&K .45. They assumed, since every assembly they had attended conformed to the formula, the two Police officers stationed at the school would be standing next to the doors. One for each set, to the left of each pair.
The armed duo began a countdown in nods. On the third nod they burst through the doors and blasted two holes in the legs of the police officers. Seconds later Jason had disarmed them and destroyed their radios. He chained them to a pipe together with their own cuffs. Since there were only two exits too the gym, one being locked and the other guarded by two gunmen the large crowd of teachers and students gathered in the center of the basket ball court turned stage for a "say no to drugs" speaker. Gadget covered the officers with the bushmaster while Jason addressed the crowd.
"Good morning. There is going to be a slight change in plan today. Now, I want every one to lie down on the floor with your hands behind your head…" The shocked students and teachers looked at him with gaping mouths. "I said…GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!" Jason screamed. In a great sweeping movement the students and faculty dropped to their stomachs and placed their hands behind their heads.
Robin awoke with a start. A string of nightmares had set upon him like a pestilence in the last week. Each had been longer, and more disturbing than the last. They all started with a sillouette: a teenager. The teen is always carrying two large bags and has a long billowing coat, next a mass of awed students and teachers, lastly a pool of blood around a cross. After the last image, everything is blurry and hard to discern. Robin feared that the dreams might be a sign, but how could he know?
A blaring alarm tore Robin from his ponderings. He ran out of his chamber and to the common room of the tower. The rest of the team followed sleepily.
"What the hell, man?" said Beast boy wiping sleep from his eyes.
"Yes, what of the hell?" groaned Starfire, with a surprising confidence, despite the fact that she did not know what "what the hell" meant.
"There's a problem at Gothem High School!" Robin spoke with intensity having realized what a situation at a school would mean. Hostages, and lots of them.
Author's note: Please leave reviews or comments, especially if you want the story to continue. Also this is a fictional story; all elements are figments of my imagination placed onto paper, well pixels, for entertainment. I accept no responsibility for any actions of the reader. Advise to readers hoping for romantic pairings: look elsewhere, romance is not my style so it is unlikely there will be any in this story or any other of my works, sorry.