THREE DELIVERY – SINISTER BALLS OF FIRE 4
BY CRYSTALQUIRT
CHAPTER 4
INCOMPLETE. Violence, angst, disaster, brief implied nudity.
Description: Tobey, caught in an innocent situation that looks real bad, is arrested for breaking and entering. Because of his 'dark' past, a security guard who blames Tobey for getting kicked off the police force, three years earlier tries to frame him for more and more terrible crimes to make him pay!
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Sid and Tobey went on to their classes and met Sue for lunch like usual. Sue was planning to tease Tobey for having to wear her shoes, but he looked so down, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. The staring and whispering around them took Tobey's appetite away again and he didn't even finish the shrimp toast that he brought from Wu's. In History class, someone smashed a jelly donut against the back of Tobey's head and jelly with powdered sugar got in his hair and ran down the back of his shirt.
Tobey got excused and went to the showers in the gym to rinse the jelly out of his hair and off his shirt. He missed the rest of History class and spent the next two classes wet and sneezing. At least the sneezing helped distract him from all the rubber bands and paperclips that kept flying at him.
After Sid's last class he had tennis practice and three seconds after the bell, he could be found jogging happily to the courts. He was really looking forward to being out of the stuffy classroom with all the staring and whispering. Stacy was already there when he got there and she got the court for them with no problem.
Feeling totally miserable by the end of the day, Tobey got out of his last class and headed to the tennis courts to watch Sid and Stacy practice. Not that he was a huge tennis fan, but he wanted to wait for Sid anyway so they could ride home together. He was in no hurry to get back where Mr. Wu was sure to have something else to accuse him of.
Tobey took a short-cut through the outdoor basketball courts on the way and after he got across the playing areas found the exit blocked by more of Dirk's friends. He just changed direction badly wanting to avoid any more trouble for one day. But there were two more boys at the next gate and when he turned around Dirk and two more were right behind him!
Now we will finish what we started this morning. "No! Not again! I don't have time for this! Come on you guys, even six of you can't beat me and Sid – so just leave me alone."
"Your friend is playing tennis with some girl so he won't be rescuing you this time."
"It's ok, maybe I don't need him. I wouldn't want to miss out on having the pleasure of kicking all of your butts myself." Tobey dropped into his defensive snake stance and waited for their first move.
"Oh, I'm so scared!" Dirk replied. The same two guys from the morning's fracas tried to grab Tobey from behind again and he easily flipped them both forward at the same time. They fell for the same move twice and this time when Tobey put them down they almost knocked down their leader Dirk, but he jumped over them right at Tobey and delivered a punch that Tobey easily blocked.
The other three in Dirk's 'gang' spread out, determined not to let their prey get by them. Dirk tackled Tobey and they both fell. After a roll they both jumped up and Dirk kicked at Tobey. He had no 'form' at all so Tobey easily caught his foot and pushed him back on his butt.
While Dirk was down again, Tobey took off running. He tried to run between two of the others. One managed to trip him and when he fell on his already bruised ribs and chest, the force of his fall knocked the wind out of him. He was slower to stand back up than usual.
Tobey looked up from the ground and saw them all standing around him with their arms crossed. Dirk spoke, "What do you guys think we should do with him?"
"Let's 'pants' him! That will show the whole school how tough the cop killer is."
"Yeah! That will show everyone 'everything'!"
"Haven't you moron's figured out yet that I didn't kill anyone?" Tobey argued and threatened as they pulled him to his feet. Two held his arms and two more stood near. "You guys better let me go before I go Kung Fu all over you!"
Tobey's threat made them all laugh. Tobey planted Sue's old gym shoe into one of his attacker's guts and made him double over, but he couldn't twist away from the two that held his arms that time. They grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms out to his sides.
Being restrained by his wrists again, Tobey started screaming hysterically. They shrieked with laughter the whole time. Dirk undid Tobey's belt and pulled his pants and boxers down around his ankles, he tried to kick him but only got tangled in his pants. He struggled futilely while they dragged him backwards across the court before they stopped at a basket. Dirk intended to tie him to the pole with his boxers tied around his wrists and ankles.
Dirk yanked Tobey's pants the rest of the way off his legs and his shoes came off with them. He kicked them far away and tore Tobey's boxers to use to tie him to the pole. While his arms were being held, his legs were free! Tobey started kicking wildly connecting with two of Dirk's friends, but he only got punched below the belt for his trouble. Now he tried to curl up in a ball to cover his important parts and struggled to get his wrists free.
The two guys he just kicked joined in and Tobey's arms were pulled around the pole. They held him tight against the pole and Dirk went behind him. Tobey struggled and yelled the whole time, they held onto his wrists, just under his wristbands, digging their fingers into his hands while Dirk tied knots tightly around his wrists.
Without warning, one of the smug guys just watching his friends torture Tobey flew through the air and landed on his back a dozen feet away.
Shocked and enraged when he saw what they were doing to Tobey, Sid nearly lost all control when he ran onto the court in his white tennis outfit. Another guy got a smashed face when Sid's elbow connected with it and he took Dirk down with a round kick to his ankles before he finished him off with a palm strike to his sternum.
The others ran away, soon followed by the rest, except for Dirk after they picked themselves up off the court. Dirk was still on the pavement wheezing and whining.
Sid grabbed Tobey's pants and belt off the court and held them in front of him with one hand to provide some cover while he cut Tobey's hands apart with his pocket knife.
Sid heard hysterical laughter and saw a group of girls standing by the fence were pointing at Tobey and yelling rude comments.
"Go find something else to do!" Sid shouted at the girls and then spoke softly to Tobey. "Sorry, your boxers are shredded."
"That's ok, after the week I've had, it was time for clean ones anyway." Tobey smiled trying to hide his embarrassment. While he put his pants back on he tried to hide his private parts too at first, but soon he realized there was no point to hiding anymore and gave up. Everyone had already seen all he had. He boldly stood up and put his pants back on during a chorus of cat calls and whistles.
"Thanks Sid, again. Sorry you missed your tennis practice with Stacy."
"No problem, Stacy knew I had something important to do. We heard you yelling."
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When they got to their bikes, someone had stolen the front wheel off Tobey's. They also spray-painted it and beat it with a hammer or something. That was more than Tobey could stand.
"My BIKE!" Tobey sat down and cried. He would have rather been naked and hung from the flagpole all day, than have them touch his bike.
He hugged the bent handlebars and tried to polish the spray paint off with his shirt. He couldn't even find his helmet. Sid called Sue and found out she had gone straight home and finished three deliveries already. He told her what happened and told her they would be even later.
Sid sat with Tobey on the curb until he felt like going home. Tobey had been staring at his hands, or rather his wristbands for several minutes before he took them off and threw them as far as he could.
"I guess those don't work after all." Tobey wiped his eyes.
"Sorry Tobey." Sid patted his back and they sat quietly again. Tobey stared at the shoes on his feet and thought about how he hated them too. Having to wear Sue's old gym shoes was just . . . embarrassing, but he melted his! Not wanting to lose anything else he considered 'his', Tobey insisted on taking every piece that was left of his bike home. Sid helped him carry things and walked with him all the way home. Sid picked his wristbands out of the bushes too, without Tobey seeing him.
They put the pieces of Tobey's bike in the garden and Tobey sat with them for a while. Sid went in and told Nana what happened to Tobey and his bike. It was already dusk and it wasn't long before Tobey was shivering out in the garden. After the sun went down, a cold wind started blowing. Sue was out with deliveries and Mr. Wu was yelling like usual when Tobey finally came in. He went straight up to the shower, got the water just a tiny bit hotter than he could stand it and stood under it until it ran cold.
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The next morning early, Nana called the school and told them they were having a family crisis. She stated that she would be home-schooling Sid, Sue and Tobey until it was over. She could hear someone trying to argue even as she hung up the phone.
When Sid, Sue and Tobey came out of their rooms, ready to go to school, Nana told them they were not going. Sue was instantly worried. "Nana! Can you do that?"
"Yeah! Can you take us out of school? Just like that?" Tobey mirrored Sue's question. "Why didn't you do it years ago?"
Nana spoke mostly to Sue, ignoring Tobey. "I already did it, don't worry, I will take care of it."
"Sweet! No school!" Tobey cheered. He really dreaded going back, more than usual. "Ten straight hours of Dragon Robot 7 and a constant supply of food!
"Don't think of it as a vacation Tobey, we have a lot of work to do, and I will give you enough homework to make you look forward to going back to public school."
"What do you want us to do first Nana?" Sid was ready to hit the streets.
"Now that Gary has been released on bail, the need to get the recipe he took from Tobey back as quickly as we can, just took priority. If he uses it, he could cause a lot of damage very easily and target whatever or whoever he wants. Many people could be hurt."
"What does it do Nana?"
"Once the recipe is prepared he will be able to aim the destruction at a specific location. The recipe will send a fireball of destruction to any target."
Sid perked up, "Oh, like the great balls of fire recipe! You remember, Sue found it when we thought our only problem was the green fireballs. Wouldn't the same antidote work on this recipe?"
"Well no, that was an ink recipe." Tobey wasn't listening.
"No, not that one, I mean the spicy fireball recipe that Sue found before we learned that the one Eugene was using was for ink. If it is similar, maybe the same antidote would work."
"I'll look into it, but in the mean time you three must find Gary and see what he's up to and get the recipe back. I 'found' this at the police station. It is Gary Smith's address."
"Yes, Nana." Sid and Sue went out to their bikes and put on their helmets without thinking. Tobey was still standing inside watching them through the glass door. He was really missing his bike and longed to join them.
"Tobey! Hurry up! Hop on!" Sid called. Tobey ran out and stepped up behind Sid on his bike. It made him long even more for his own bike. After they went several blocks Sue stopped, and Sid stopped next to her. Tobey got down and stretched his legs.
Sue checked the note Nana gave her and stuffed it back in her pocket. "This is it. His apartment is on the third floor. I will go in and find which side of the building it's on and call you guys. Then I will give you a few minutes to get up there using the fire escape and knock on his door to distract him."
"But he'll recognize you!"
"Great distraction, huh? I'm sure seeing me at his door will keep him occupied while you two get the recipe."
"Tobey looked real nervous, but aren't we breaking and entering again? What if he catches us? I –I don't think I wanna do this!" Sid could see Tobey's hands were already shaking.
"Well just follow me up – I might need you to pick a lock or something and then you can back me up if I need you, but don't worry - I will just slip in and out so fast Gary will never know I was there."
Tobey agreed and they separated. Sue left them to go through the entrance and up in the elevator.
Tobey and Sid only had to wait a few minutes before she called and told them to climb up the fire escape on the east side of the building. Tobey and Sid ran around the corner and leaped up the fire escape. There were a lot of foot holds and pieces missing from the old fire escape but it didn't even slow the boys down.
Once on the third floor, Tobey was getting more nervous the closer they got and he backed back down the ladder to wait about a half floor below. Sid motioned an 'ok' sign down at him and Tobey nodded. Sid pressed himself flat against the wall to peek inside the apartment.
Sue waited as planned and started knocking. With any luck Gary wouldn't be home and they could just get in and out. She heard someone stomping around inside and fished in her hoodie pocket for a pad of paper and pen. When Gary opened the door he was in his filthy robe and gym shoes without socks. There was a lit cigarette hanging loosely like it was stuck to his lip.
Sue hid her disgust well and smiled at him. "I'm from the Chinatown news, just how big a JERK are you?" she smiled sweetly at him and ducked when he swung his fist at her. "Oh! Too slow!"
"You're the friend of that little punk that got me fired - again!"
"You got yourself fired – what are you mental?" she was playing with fire as she ducked, dodged and blocked drawing Gary farther from his apartment door, teasing him louder if he slowed down.
Sid went in the window at the same time he saw Gary follow Sue into the hallway. The window was unlocked and he had no problem climbing through, but it fell closed unexpectedly behind him with a bang and he froze waiting to see if the noise would draw attention to him. Gary was occupied with Sue and never looked back.
Sid saw cooking pots and hotplates, all dirty near the window even though it was the family room, and knew the guy was already trying to make the recipe. One large pot in the center of a coffee table was half full of something that really stunk and looked like pizza vomit.
There was so much garbage spread around Sid sighed, feeling defeated before he even started looking for the recipe. He dug through stacks of dirty magazines and newspaper trash on the table and floors. He threw the cushions off the couch, fan-flipped quickly through a book and an auto repair manual – but couldn't find the recipe!
Out in the hall, with Gary bearing down on her, Sue missed a step and had to roll away from a punch he threw at her, but he was already wheezing with his smokers lungs and would never be fast enough to catch Sue. Suddenly he stopped and after a drag blew smoke at her.
"You little punk kid! You're just trying to get me away from my apartment!"
He turned and ran as fast as he could back to his apartment never dropping his precious cigarette. Sue tackled him once, but he stepped on her hand as he fought to get away. He left Sue sitting on the floor cradling her hand with angry tears in her eyes. She started screaming to warn Sid. A little old lady peeked through a crack in her door and slammed it quickly, and a man's voice from across the hall yelled "Shut UP!" through a door.
Sid heard Sue's warning and ran for the window, but he tripped over some of the garbage on Gary's floor and lost precious seconds. Gary came in the doorway of his apartment. "Another one!"
The window jammed when it slammed shut and was stuck! As Sid tried to force it open, Gary threw his cigarette and it landed in the pot full of vomit-like stuff. The fiery explosion that followed, blasted Sid through the window, frame and all and out on the fire escape. The force of the blast pushed his helmet forward off his head, singed his hair and the flash burned through both of his shirts baring his back to the heat.
Tobey startled and put his arm over his face to protect his eyes from the falling glass. He looked up in time to see Sid's helmet falling, with Sid falling right behind it. As Sid went over the railing off the fire escape, he managed to hang on to part of the railing. He was stuck in a precarious position hanging backwards, facing away from the fire escape. He couldn't use his feet to climb back up and could barely hang on.
"Tobey help me!" he screamed.
The blast also loosened the whole fire escape structure and Tobey could feel it swaying when he ran the rest of the way back up to help Sid.
It took all of Sid's strength to hang on and it seemed like an eternity before he felt Tobey trying to pull him back over the railing. During the emergency Tobey's phone rang, it was Sue, but he needed both hands to hang onto Sid and couldn't answer. Tobey's back was getting very hot, with the flames still shooting out the window Sid came through.
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Sue didn't feel the full force of the blast but still got thrown against the wall. She jumped up and saw Gary running down the hall. Flames were shooting all the way out in the hallway.
She put up her arm to protect her face from the heat, and considered trying to go in after Sid, but she couldn't even see past the flames and really hoped he had already gotten out when she warned him. The apartment was burning like it was fueled by rocket fuel with a loud hissing noise.
"SID! TOBEY!" Sue screamed! What if they were still in there! Maybe the fire escape – I gotta try! She took off running to the stairs to get back down and out to the fire escape, if he hadn't got out she hoped Tobey could have still gotten in that way to save him. She called Tobey's phone as she went, but he didn't pick up!
Sue looked up as she came around the corner and saw Tobey struggling to pull Sid up from his precarious position over the railing. From where she was it looked like the flames were licking right up Tobey's back.
"NO" she exclaimed as she leapt nearly to the second floor in one leap to land on the fire escape. She climbed quickly, but Tobey got Sid pulled back over and they started down before she got there.
With just that little bit more weight on the structure more bolts pulled out of the wall and it swayed. Sid managed to start climbing down on his own and Tobey let him go first so he could watch him. Sue realized how much damage the fire escape had taken, and held still when she saw them coming down.
Sue gasped when the fire escape structure swayed again. Sid was hanging onto the ladder, but Tobey almost fell off the platform. "Hurry! Guys!"
"Ai-ya." Sid mumbled, "I am hurrying."
The fire escape was coming down for sure! It made a horrible screeching metal sound as it came away from the wall and folded in on itself. It was coming down in two very large pieces. Sid jumped down the rest of the way, and landed in a roll, the pavement digging into his burned back. He landed panting on his stomach, his teeth gritted against the pain.
Wearing Sue's strange shoes, Tobey missed his jump and went down head first with the platform he was on. He somersaulted forward and pushed off with his feet in the last second before the platform above crushed him. He landed in a run and got away from it just as it crashed down behind him.
They could hear the sirens were very close now. "Sid, can you bike? We gotta get out of here!" Sue cried.
"Yeah, I'm ok." They helped Sid up and ran to their bikes. Tobey stood behind Sid again and they just made it around the corner before any of the emergency personnel saw them. "Oh man! Sid your whole back is red!" Tobey was careful not to touch his back while they biked.
Tobey felt the back of his own head. "NO! My luscious hair is singed! It's all curled up and smells like barbeque! I'm really gonna get that guy!"
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Gary was sitting calmly in his car behind a bus stop across the street watching the chaos. He saw the kids get away. The other residents had gathered across the street.
He took the recipe out of his robe pocket and grinned, showing all of his tobacco brown teeth. "Well, I guess they really want this back!" Gary started the engine and followed Sid, Sue and Tobey.
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Once a little distance was behind them, Sid had to stop and catch his breath. Sue and Tobey were worried about him because he had started coughing uncontrollably.
"I got a lung-full of smoke or heat or something." Sid sat on the curb and coughed some more. Tobey touched his shoulder and looked under the edge of his shirt where the blisters stopped. "Nana will have something to make you feel better."
Sid couldn't answer him for the coughing fit he was having. Sue sat by them too. She took the opportunity to call Nana. They didn't notice the old car with Gary in it pull over down the block to watch them.
Nana could hear the coughing in the background over the phone. "Sue, is that Sid coughing?"
"Yes Nana."
"Get him home as quick as you can - call me back if you have any trouble and I will come to you." When they started off again, Sid switched with Tobey because he couldn't pedal anymore.
Gary followed them back to Wu's. Now he knew where they hung out at least, and he suspected they lived or worked there since they went in the back.
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The dining room was busy and Sid didn't want to scare any of Mr. Wu's customers. He knew they all three looked like an accident looking for a place to happen, and he couldn't stop coughing! So they went around back go in through the garden.
Sid was coughing harder, and it was almost constant. Before he made it through the garden, he had a coughing spell that put him on his knees. Sue stayed by him and Tobey ran to get Nana. He held Sue's hand and whispered 'Mei Mei' in-between violent spells of coughing.
"Breathe as deeply as you can into this bag." Nana instructed. "You will inhale the aroma from the roots and flower petals inside that will help clear your lungs of the burns and control the coughing. In minutes it should start to reduce the inflammation." He was almost lying down on his back when Nana got to him. She mixed some herbs and magical ingredients as soon as she heard how badly he was coughing through Sue's phone.
Sid looked frightened as he continued to cough violently into the bag, but did as he was told and in a about forty seconds, he was breathing better and coughing less. Sue helped held the bag over his nose and mouth while he propped himself up on his elbows so his burned back wasn't on the ground.
After a few minutes he spoke through the bag. "Ok Mei Mei its better thanks." Sue handed the bag back to Nana.
"Thanks Nana, that was really scary – I thought I was done for when that stuff blew up right behind me!"
"You were extremely lucky. It is too bad Gary has already figured out part of what it does. And you didn't find the recipe?"
"No, but hopefully it was blown up too."
"I doubt we will be that lucky. He probably keeps it on him somewhere and escaped with it."
Nana looked at Sid's back and told him to go take a cool shower. When he got out, Nana spread another herbal mixture on his burns. Amazingly the burns weren't bad. She told him to leave his shirt off and go lay down on his stomach for a while, which he was more than willing to do. Whatever she put on his back cooled and soothed it so much by the time he woke up from his nap, he could see in the mirror that most of the redness was gone.
When Sid got to the kitchen, Nana told him that Sue and Tobey were out making deliveries with instructions to look for Gary as they went. She was keeping watch in Wu's and out back in the garden while Mr. Wu and Barney went about their usual business.
"What do you want me to do Nana?"
"Are you feeling well enough to join them on the streets? We have to find Gary."
"Yes Nana, but before you said he figured out only part of what it does?"
"Come sit with me." They went out and sat in a booth. They were speaking softly so they weren't concerned about others sitting around them.
Nana almost whispered, "From what you told me it really went up out of control. He ignited it right in the pot he cooked it in by lighting it off. If he figures out how, he can direct and control the explosions."
"Oh man, do Sue and Tobey know about this?"
"No, I want you to tell them. The effect will be similar to fireballs from the spice recipe, but those fireballs are random like the green ones from Eugene's ink recipe. With the recipe he stole, he will be able to control the fireballs all he will need are Fire flowers. They are available this time of year from any nursery."
"What do they look like?"
"Their petals are red in the center and yellow, forming shapes that look like flame with long thin green leaves. Ok Nana. I'll tell Tobey and Sue to watch out for them." Sid left the booth to get out on the street and meet up with the others.
Sid really didn't expect his bike to still be there, thinking Tobey would take it since he was sleeping, but it was still chained to the post out front. He took his helmet back inside and down to the storeroom to crazy glue the chinstrap back in his helmet, and wiped the soot off the back of it, but in just a minute he was on his way.
Gary folded his paper back up and drank the rest of his tea. He had been in the booth right behind Sid and Nana the whole time! After Nana went back to the kitchen, he smoothed his fake horsehair mustache and went out to his car.
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[Tobee continued . . .]