Corey inspected the coconuts at the local fruit vendor for ripeness. Or rather, she pretended too. In truth she was checking for size and firmness. Her secret hang out spot, a basement level of a collapsed building, was still missing a few final details. She had meant to pick up the remaining items last night, after work, but the excitement of the mask arriving after an exceptionally melancholy day, caused her to procrastinate. "Probably for the best." She thought. More time to prepare, after all.
"Hey fry cook." A flash of turquoise blue caused her head to snap in its direction. A 50 Blessings van had pulled up just alongside of her. Her eyes locked onto the messy spray paint job, that some how captured the savage intent behind the phony patriotic support hot line. In truth, 50 Blessings had been so much more.
How much more, Corey could not say. No one could, none that could. Jacket, along with the rest of the masked vigilantes, apparently worked for 50 Blessing but that was only theoretical. The only concrete evidence the press had released was that the masked vigilantes were all on the 50 Blessing mailing list.
Rumor has it, they somehow brainwashed their operatives, turning a curious, or bored citizen, into a programmed killing machine. The details were sketchy at best, everything from government conspiracy to aliens were rumored to be the cause. The truth of the matter was, if anyone knew the details, they werent talking.
"I said… hey Corey, how's it going?" Corey blinked and looked up for the first time at the driver of the van. Ash, Alex's sister, was looking out at her from the front seat side window. Corey always found him to be an unusual looking man. He was lithe, and short of stature, not much shorter then the average man, but because of the width of shoulders and slenderness of his body, he was often described as "little guy" among his friends. He also started balding back in high school and had kept his head clean shaven ever since. His bright blonde eyebrows were the only traces of his original hair color.
He was giving her an annoyed look. "Sigh… your doing it again Corey." She thought. "Oh, hey Ash… sorry I was distracted. Where did you get this van?" Corey did her best to reign in her interest level over Ash's new ride. He smiled proudly, before his eyes betrayed his own manic excitement. "The find of a life time, right? The pawn chop next to the place I used to work had it, they were going to sell this beauty piece by piece!" Ash said. Corey shook her head in disbelief. "Are they nuts? This thing is a piece of American history. It would be like chopping up the car Kennedy was assassinated in." Ash chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Yea, that's what I told them. Cost me more then I really could afford… I lost my job at the VCR repair shop…"
An awkward pause fell between them. Corey was the one to finally break the silence. "Oh, that's to bad." Ash nodded, disinterestedly. "Yea, shit happens... say have you been in contact with Mark?" Ash asked. Corey shook her head. "Not lately, I should give the big guy a call though…" He nodded, biting his lip. "When you do, could you mention my name? I was kinda hoping he could use some help at the shop, the kind that pays." Ash chuckled, smiling shamelessly. "I'm sure there's something for a guy with a bachelor's in electrical engineering to do there." Ash said, to which Corey smirked ever so slightly. "Yea, especially if he gets a new shipment of death rays…" Ash frowned. "Whatever, I'm sure there's something I can do, I'm good with my hands." Corey nodded and looked off to the side. "Yea… well I should really be heading off, I have a lot left to do today so…" Ash nodded. "Fine Ill let you go. You know... they say a coconut is about as hard as a human skull." Ash said. "Yea, I think I have heard that…"
Corey smashed the coconut with her bat, splashing the big nut's juices all over the concrete half wall it was resting on. She nodded her masked head in approval. "Guess that answers that question…" She said to herself, picking the pieces of coconut from her bat before giving it a spin in her hand. She glanced at the rest of her "Urban Training ground."
There was a dozen filthy tires, set up in two crooked rows for stamina exercises. The support pillars were wrapped with cardboard and duct tape with crude penciled depictions of Russian mobsters drawn on them to act as targets. Several empty glass bottles, hammers, and other heavy, dangerous if thrown objects were laid across collapsed cardboard boxes on the ground.
Corey had transformed her little condemned basement, in the same way she wished to transform herself, making what was one plain and dumpy into a functioning palace of vigilante justice. It wasn't much, but it was enough for her, at least for now. She quickly ran across the trail of tires, ending with a flourishing somersault, tucking the baseball bat close to her body. She landed roughly on her hot pink roller blade knee pads, and rolled to her feet. She staggered off balance with a grimace.
"Not good enough." She was being overly cautious. Her natural inclination to meet each problem with reserve was slowing her actions. "Never getting anywhere in life going slow…" She grinned under her mask at the irony of taking advice from her portly employer. If he could see her now… what would he think then?
Still, it troubled her that she was hesitating. The whole point of doing something as crazy as donning a mask, to become a vigilante, is to act, not hesitate. From all that she read on the man, Jacket never hesitated, he simply acted. "Speed." She thought. She took a deep breath, thankful she had cut a slit near her mouth for better air intake, and stormed through the gauntlet of tires again.
She imagined those pillars to be armed Russian thugs, in their white suits. She thought about San Francisco and the bomb that had dropped there. She thought about her piece of shit job, and her piece of shit apartment, and her piece of shit life. A prison within a prison within a prison, the first cage starting within her mind.
No longer. Her cages ceased to exist. It was only for the moment, but it was her moment. Before she even remembered taking a step through the first tire, she was already across the whole obstacle course. She rolled so fast, and with so much momentum, she glided across the concrete floor like a zebra striped canon ball.
She rose to her feet, using the momentum from her roll, and brought the bat across the card board target that was wrapped around the pillar. The bat snapped in half from the sheer violence of her swing. The adrenaline pumping through her body, through her brain, made her feel like she could have torn the pillar down if the bat didn't break. Without hesitation, she threw the handle from her hand with violent, deadly accuracy, slamming into the targets in front of her. She glanced at the two remaining mobsters, who know doubt saw her smash their friends skulls wide open in front of them.
She sprinted and rolled around to the side of the mobster she threw the bat fragment at, now considering it a pillar to block any potential bullets. She didnt stay in cover long, she sprinted and rolled again, snatching up a bottle on the ground on her way back up to her feet. She threw the bottle, striking the mobster in the chest. The bottle shattered into a million pieces. She closed the distance between her and her target, picking up hammer on the ground. She buried it into the cardboard face, making a divot in the concrete underneath.
She glanced around the pillar/mobster, scoping out the best way to kill her last target. A cinder block, just five or so feet away. Corey was no fool, she knew the odds of reaching the cinder block, without being cut down by a hail of bullets were low. She would need a distraction. She threw the hammer, striking her last enemy in the shoulder. She sprinted faster then she ever ran before in her life, reaching the cinder block and thrusting her fingers inside of its rectangular openings with one hand. She spun her whole body around, spinning her and the block in a wide, powerful circle before letting it go, sending it out like a deadly boulder towards the last remaining Russian.
The cinder block flew passed the mobster target, landing with a thud onto the ground. The unscathed gunman would have assuredly pumped her full of bullets by now. "Guess I'm dead…" She thought. Even though she had "died" she had never felt so alive.
She popped the buttons of her Miami Dolphins jacket, giving her sweaty stomach underneath some much needed air. She panted under her mask, refusing to take it off, even as she gasped through the slit for oxygen. She had herself quite the workout. If the smashed in coconuts were any indication of her lethality, she had proven she was capable of putting fantasy, into reality.
She had run through her course from every different angle she could think of, dozens of times by now. She would run it a thousand times more, but for now, it was a long day, and her body needed rest. She smiled under the mask, at the waves of euphoria that released themselves into her blood, as she stretched her sore arms and shoulders. Though her body was exhausted, her mind couldnt have been happier.
She reluctantly slipped off the mask, and placed her fantasy back into the duffle bag she hid it in. She took a messy slurp from one of the smashed coconut husks, before tossing it aside. It was time to go home. She opened the door of the to the outside world, to the loud, stress inducing city, and closed it behind her. It took all of her depleted strength to slide the heavy slab of concrete in front of the ruined building's basement level. Hopefully the heavy fragment would keep her secret sanctuary out of the hands of the homeless and drug addicts, at least for awhile longer. As she made her way from the ruined building and back to civilization, a familiar figure walked in front of her.
It was Tony. "What is he doing here?" She grimaced. She wanted to go home, and she wasn't in the mood to banter, especially with Mr. Testosterone. He blinked in surprise, before smiling smugly. "Hey there, couldn't get enough of me, huh? You following me now?" Corey rolled her eyes, and tried to push passed him.
"Excuse me…" Corey glanced down at her bag, and tried to subtly move it out from Tony's line of sight, and behind her back. Tony let her walk passed him, only to thrust a hand out and grab the bag roughly. Corey let out a yell and quickly pulled against it defensively. Tony's arm barely flinched, and he looked down at the bag curiously.
"What'd you bring me?" Corey jerked the bag from his grasp, or rather, Tony released his grip on it. She huffed and gave him the best withering glare she could muster. Tony didnt even look at her, much to Corey's dismay. His eyes seemed locked on her bag. As Corey tried to stare a hole through the back of his head, she slowly realized his blank stare, was slowly changing to that of realization. His mouth was partly opened in thought. Corey's face flushed with red with horror. She looked down at the bag… the big ape had opened it during their tugging. He had been staring into the empty eye sockets of her zebra mask. Into the eyes of her fantasy.
Corey looked back up, her angry glare further fueled by a wounded humiliation behind it. Tony looked back at her glare, and gave back a shit eating grin. Her heart sank in her chest. She felt the flames of her passions grow cold. Her fiery glare became a broken stare, as she awaited for Tony to mock her. Much to Corey's surprise, he didn't say a word, he only grinned a strange knowing smile.
After awhile, Tony took a step back, and then another, maintaining his teasing smirk as he walked backwards several steps. Finally, he turned and strutted away, leaving Corey to her shattered sense of self. When she returned home she threw the bag against the wall, and swore out loud. Her teeth clattered, and she felt tears well up in her eyes. That big thug, that giant ape, why did he have to be there? Why did he have to try and ruin it for her?
A nagging doubt, began to rear its ugly head. That she was not doing anything remarkable, but rather, behaving like an idiotic child. She grit her teeth. Right now, she needed a cold shower, and a good nights sleep, though she doubted the latter would come.
Corey awoke to the grating sound of her alarm. "Oh no…" The new day was here, and she had no idea what she was going to do. She would change for work, eat a hardy breakfast of cold pizza, and wait for the bus, sure… But it was what she would do after work, that gnawed at her guts.
Work was over before she knew it. This surprised Corey. She assumed work would drag on and on, but with all the thoughts of the mask, of her urban obstacle course, and Tony's smug, stupid face, she didn't have the mental energy to even register that she was at work.
From the look on her bosses face, she would be lucky if she still had a job by the end of the week. Even Alex looked at her oddly, sensing something was wrong, or at the very least different. Alex never was the one to ask how Corey was doing before, and she didnt start now. Then again, Corey wasn't exactly curious herself of the blonde bimbo's personal life either, especially now.
She had planned to return to her vigilante training, to her second, arguably real life, as if she had never ran into Tony. That was what she planned to do, but as the hour approached, she tried put off even thinking about it… but in the end, all she could do was think about it. She decided to pick up more coconuts on the way home from work, so she could at least say to herself, she did that much.
She walked passed her duffle on the kitchen counter and went straight into her room. She stopped to stare at the wall. Every article, every picture and every letter stared back at her. No, she had to go back. As her wall reminded her, this was her true self. She couldn't just let one mocking look throw it all away.
She stuffed the coconuts into the bag with her mask before throwing it over her shoulders. As she waited at the bus stop, a feeling of dread grew in her stomach. A sullen expression was clung to her face when she arrived at the ruined building. The slab of concrete had been moved. She knew who had moved it.
She opened the door, and entered slowly. Her face was a grim mask as scanned the area. Though she couldn't see Tony, she knew he was there. She closed the door behind her and pulled her mask from the her bag. She swung the duffle bag onto the half wall, where a hammer, and the crushed remains of several coconuts, lay sprawled across it. She reached down slowly, and gripped the handle of the hammer, and brought it down at her side. There she stood, mask in one hand, hammer in the other.
Her mind went to a dark place. She didnt know what she would do when Tony showed himself. She was mad at him, she hated him, but did she want to kill him? Could she kill him? She narrowed her brow. She would find out soon enough. "I know your here, quit hiding and show yourself…" Corey said, gripping the hammer tightly in her hand.
Tony moved his foot into view. The big bastard was hiding behind one of the support columns that Corey re purposed for target practice. He had taken a single step to the side, but still, he did not fully show himself. Her lips snarled. "Show yourself, now." Corey's voice was quite, but a dangerous intent dwelt within her words. Tony's foot, slid to the side slowly. The sound of his cowboy boot scraping the dirt across the concrete screeched in Corey's ears as he stepped into view. He did so quickly, spreading his arms to the side in a brazen display. "Hey, check this shit out!" Tony said, his voice slightly muffled.
Corey held her breath, her eyes were glued onto his face, rather, what he was wearing over it. It was a mask. A rubber tiger mask. Not a simple Halloween costume like she had. His was damaged, ripped and shredded in several places. One of the eye holes was torn larger then it once was, with dried blood sprinkled over its exterior. This was a mask, a mask worn by a late 50 blessing operative, and Tony had it in his possession.
Her lips trembled, and she dropped the hammer. "How…?" She muttered. Corey could see by the raising of his cheekbone, through the torn eye hole, that Tony was grinning back at her, his eyes burning with their familiar, predatory light. "What? Y'think you're the only one?" Tony asked smugly.
Corey didn't react, she was speechless. The thought never really occurred to her. She stared at Tony's bloody tiger mask, even as he walked over and removed one of the coconuts from her bag. "Nice little psychopath playground you got here. Noticed you've been practicing with weapons on these coconuts here." Corey felt naked, as Tony complimented her training ground, so she slipped on the mask. For some reason, it was comforting for her, that they both were wearing masks. Maybe Tony really was like her, and this relic he found, was more his true face, then the one underneath it.
She watched silently, as he reached into her bag, and placed a coconut on the ruined half wall, next to the other smashed husks. Tony looked back at her, as he leaned his upper body over the coconut. "The thing with me is… I don't need weapons." Without saying a word to explain himself, he threw a sudden punch straight down. His gnarled knuckles crashed against the rough exterior, cracking a deep fissure through the large nut. He followed up his first punch with another, caving the coconut in and spattering its milk across the concrete.
Corey's mouth opened his astonishment. Tony turned around, his fist dripping with juice. "My body is a fuckin' weapon." Corey understood. He didn't need to explain. Without words, and in little time at all, they understood one another more intimately then most people who spend an entire lifetime with one another.
What happened next was strange for Corey. They talked and bantered. Tony's abrasive personality was no less caustic, but for some reason, with their true faces on, Corey didn't mind it so much. The longer they prattled on, the more she learned to accept his rougher qualities.
Tony watched Corey run her gauntlet, and she listened silently as he mocked her afterwards. It all somehow felt… normal, as if it was something they should have been doing all along. Corey cleared her throat, and gathered her thoughts. "So, do you think there are others…?" Tony grunted. "Others like us? Probably." Corey nodded thoughtfully. "What do you think would happen, if we found more people like us?" Corey asked, chewing her lips afterward, in thought.
Tony didnt respond for awhile. He kicked at a broken cinder block on the ground, before looking back up at her. "We could take this shit to the next level." He said with a murderous gleam in his eyes. Against all of her better judgment, against all common sense, Corey smiled.