1
It's late. An ice-encased streetlight hums and flickers.
The pumps are vacant. A heavy blanket of sooty snow covers the grounds of the station. The fluorescents of the mini mart are the only beacon of light in an otherwise fog-bound night.
An Asian woman mans the counter. Her toddler sits in a circular safety walker nearby. The kind that rolls and is affixed with toys to keep a baby occupied. The woman glances at two surveillance monitors. On the first monitor she sees a car pull up to the pumps outside. A man gets out, slides his credit card through the reader, and starts pumping gas.
On another monitor there is the interior of the store and a man is standing at the back by the Slurpee machine. He is looking out the window like he is waiting for something, his drink well and truly poured. His hood it piled over his head and a cap as well, it hides his face.
Behind him is a shadow, just a dark form and the camera seems unable to pick up any clear features. A smear on the lens? The figure turns, approaching. It's Ianto. He sets a package of gummy bears on the counter, looks to the baby. He smiles, wriggles his finger. The child coos and smiles back.
Unnerved by his silent manner, the woman quickly rings the transaction, gives him his change. He removes a gummy bear from the pack, carefully hands it to the child then chose another and slides it into his mouth, watching the child all the while. Finally, he nods to the woman and leaves.
The door chimes as he exits.
The woman looks to the surveillance monitors again.
The car is still there, but the man pumping gas is gone.
Puzzled, the woman steps from behind the counter and moves to the glass doors, looking out.
The car's driver side door hangs open. Even more disturbing, the hose for the gas pump lies untended on the icy ground, spilling fuel from its nozzle.
The Asian woman cautiously exits the mini-mart. No one is in sight. She hurries to the abandoned car, disengaging the lock on the pump handle, and then setting it back in its cradle.
She looks to the open driver's door. A few droplets of blood have stained the snow just outside it. Then she sees a ghostly figure standing off in the fog-bound in the shadows. The woman looks back to the mini-mart, then back again to where the figure was standing. But the figure is gone! Growing increasingly anxious, the woman hurries back.
The woman shuts the door, locks it. But she's still just a target standing inside a well-lit glass box. She moves to the safety walker, scoops up her child.
After another moment's indecision, she turns off the lights. Feeling somewhat more secure, the woman moves back around the counter and sees an unwrapped candy bar resting on the tray of the baby walker. It wasn't there before. With a rising sense of dread, the woman backs away, bumping right into the man from the slurpee machine that had been waiting for her the entire time. Well… the Blowfish's head is now visible.
He smiles cruelly. The woman gasps, turns to run and bumps into Ianto. The door had not chimed. It had been locked…. Right? She feels a new fear as he looks at her with eyes that seem to be bottomless pits, holes leading straight to hell. Something moves in there. Something… deadly.
"Go mother" he says softly as he steps around her to face the would-be holdup man, the face of the Blowfish unreadable as he adjusts his stance and prepares to lift the gun in Ianto's direction.
The smile starting to cross Ianto's face is not unlike that of the Cheshire cat or maybe more Pennywise the Clown as Ianto shifts his body to take the hit.
The woman runs without looking back.
The gunshot egging her on… as does the screaming.
Cut off suddenly…..
Silence.
.
.
"WOW, it's a bloodbath" Owen gushed happily.
"And nothing shows on the footage that can help us?" Jack asked as he leaned against the counter to watch Toshiko as she worked with her tablet plugged in directly in the CCTV source.
"It's like… I know it sounds silly but… it's like the man moved wrong. Looked like something out of the Matrix, a blur sometimes" she said and Jack watched Ianto's attack with wonder.
He moved like such a dancer.
"Third hit this week, and they always killed the cashier after the till was opened. The fact she had her little one with her gives me the chills" Andy said as he leaned around the counter as well, then added "Rhys called. It's hitting the social media pages."
"Damn it" Jack sighed, then added "and what is the general mutterings?"
"Am Avenging Angel" came the laughed reply.
"Well, whoever did this, he took a hit to the chest dead bang an there were no signs of blood on the floor, hopefully it was just a flesh wound. Angle of the CCTV was useless. God, maybe he wears body armour or something." Owen called out as he rose from examining the remains of the victim… er… fuckwit.
"Or something" Jack muttered as he rubbed his face. Ianto had tried to tell him this was going to be a trend and any child involved would be his time to step in.
Bloody fish heads.
What a mess.