It had been weeks since Blaze announced his relationship to his friends. Apparently, his so-called friends had spread it out all over Axle City and all over the internet, and needless to say, the reactions of everyone were... interesting, to say the least.

Almost all were totally against the relationship. Plenty swore at the news, yelling and insulting Crusher, accusing him of brainwashing Blaze or blackmailing him or lying to him or replacing their favorite local hero with a clone. This happened both online and whenever he drove through the streets.

Luckily, there were those who accepted them as them other than Zeg, Pickle and his family, and Darington. Gasquatch accepted them. And from Velocity Ville, Blaze's friend Speedrick and all their race car friends accepted them.

Stripes, Starla, Watts, Gabby and AJ seemed to be the leaders of the campaign who hated their relationship. AJ had moved out of Blaze's apartment and had moved in with Stripes, who he was driving now.

Nonetheless, the couple didn't let the negativity hold them back, and they got closer and closer with every passing day. They even planned for one of them to move in with the other.

They just didn't expect the day to come so soon...

.

.

.

There was no race that day, so Crusher stayed at home to clean the place. Pickle was out with Darington, so he had to clean their shared apartment all by himself.

Just as he had started sweeping, he felt like something was watching him from afar. He looked over at the open window and narrowed his eyes. When he couldn't find anyone, he shrugged and turned back to his chores.

It was probably nothing.

Right?

After a while, he still felt eyes on him as he began to mop. He soon heard a click, causing him to stiffen to turn back to the window, heart pounding inside his chest.

"Wh-What was that...?"

He slowly backed away from the window, holding his breath as he turned to try to ignore it once more. Just as he was about to drive off...

BANG!

"GAH!" he screamed as a bullet near-missed him, hitting the wall just beside him.

His heart began to beat faster as he zoomed off to escape. Just as he was heading for the door, another BANG came, and a bullet shot the door. This caused him to skid to a stop before driving off another way. He managed to get behind the counter as a thud came into the apartment.

"Oh no," he glanced up to find a hooded and masked truck inside his living room, shot gun out and ready to shoot. "Oh no, no, no..."

He shakily took out his phone and began to contact his boyfriend. After a few ringing, the screen flashed open.

"Crush?" Blaze's face showed concern as he saw the panic in his lover's face. "Crush, what's wrong?"

"S-Someone's in my house... with a shot gun..." Crusher stammered, glancing back at the intruder fearfully. "I... I don't know what he wants with me, b-but... but I'm scared, B, help,"

BANG!

"Woah!" Blaze gasped as the dark blue truck jumped and zoomed off. "Are you being shot at right now?!"

"Yes! Help, please!" Crusher begged before yelping as his phone was shot. "Oh no..."

"Come out, come out, Crusher." the intruder spoke in a dark voice as he proceeded to shoot the ceiling. "Show me your face, you coward."

Crusher zipped to his room and shut the door behind him with a lock. Hyperventilating, he made his way to his bed and wrapped his blanket around him in an attempt to hide himself as he heard his lock being picked.

His mind was booming with panic as he hoped his boyfriend to come as quick as he could.

He definitely needed his hero at that moment.

X

"Woah, slow down, Blaze!" Officer Anna cried out as she rushed after her colleague.

Unlike everyone else, she and the rest of the police weren't bias and accepted Blaze and Crusher's relationship, especially after a confirming DNA test that he really IS the real Blaze, which was requested by the public, who still rejected the result of the test.

"Sorry, Officer Anna, but I KNOW that I heard him being shot!" Blaze hurriedly spoke, zipping off.

"I know, I know, but if we have any chance on catching this intruder, we need to both be there!" Anna cried out.

They both zoomed towards Crusher's apartment. They made it to the door and found it locked shut.

"Looks like the intruder locked it shut," Anna hissed.

"Crusher!" Blaze banged on the door. "Crusher, it's me-"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"CRUSHER!" Blaze gasped at the gun shots inside. "We need to get this door open NOW!"

He took out the sword from his knight armor and slashed the doorknob, prompting the door to creak open. The two drove in and gasped to find the place completely wrecked.

"Oh no..." Anna gritted her teeth as she took out her phone. "I'm calling for back up-"

BANG! BANG!

"HEEEEELP!"

"CRUSHER!" Blaze zoomed to his lover's room immediately.

He burst in to find the masked and hooded intruder towering over the dark blue truck, shot gun out and pointing at him. Crusher was trembling and sobbing on his bed, a tire up in surrender.

"P-Please let me go!"

"Not with your crimes piled up." the intruder snarled, pointing the gun to his head.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Blaze charged at the assassin, taking away his gun and pushing him towards the wall.

The intruder was knocked out the moment he got in contact with the wall. The red truck growled before turning to Crusher, who wrapped his tires around him immediately.

"I... I knew that you'd come..."

"Of course I would," Blaze returned the embrace, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Shh, shh, I'm here now. It's all okay,"

X

It had been two days since the assassination attempt. Crusher had stayed in a safe room in the police station to help with the police's investigation.

"Alright," Officer Anna spoke as she led Blaze to the safe room. "through the investigation and the interrogation of the assassin, we've found out a lot of interesting things that you, Crusher and all your friends should see,"

"Is it that bad?" Blaze asked.

"Well... that depends on your definition of 'bad', but to us, it's pretty bad," Anna replied with a sigh as she opened the safe room's door, where Pickle, Darington and Zeg were gathered to comfort Crusher, who was still a little shaky.

"Crusher!" Blaze took the other into his tires and kissed his head. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little, yeah," Crusher gave a weak smile and a nod.

"So what did you wanna tell us, Officer Anna?" Darington asked.

"Here," Anna handed a folder with some files. "According to the interrogation, the assassin that tried to kill Crusher has the name Jacob, and according to him, he was hired by a certain cowgirl truck from the nearby ranch,"

"Wait... Starla hired him?" Blaze gasped in shock.

"Not so surprised," Pickle huffed. "She and the toxics would do ANYTHING to get rid of Crusher by now,"

"But why friends do that?" Zeg frowned.

"Because they're not REAL friends," Darington told him with a huff. "because REAL friends don't try to kill,"

"We don't know for certain if the rest of the racers have anything to do with the assassination, but we'll investigate further to find out," Anna told them. "For now, I don't think it's a good idea for Crusher or Pickle to return to their apartment until we've cleared the case,"

"Don't worry, I can stay with Darry," Pickle assured her.

"But, where will I stay?" Crusher asked.

"You can move in with me," Blaze offered. "We HAVE always discussed about you moving in with me... well, in better circumstances, yes, but I know that you'll be safer with me,"

"Really?" Crusher's eyes lit up. "But... what if they hire again and hurt you too?"

"I'll be fine, promise," Blaze assured him. "I'll protect you, no matter what,"

"That's what I'm worried about," Crusher whimpered.

"The police will help in moving everything personal out of the apartment, so we can proceed to the investigation," Anna told them.

"Thanks, Officer Anna, that's highly appreciated," Blaze smiled and nodded then they all headed out of the safe room.