Bringing the House Down

Thrill Rider:

Falling down after Iron Fire shoots me, I hold my chest and scream.

"Oh my god! Oh! My! God! That hurts! That hurts a lot! Ouch!"

As I scream, I roll around on the floor.

"What in the world," Iron Fire says. "How are you still alive?"

I push myself up and face Iron Fire.

"Iron chest plate," I answer, tapping my chest. "What can I say? Minecraft gave me a few ideas."

I look down and see bullets stuck to my iron chest plate.

"Now if only I can get a real-life diamond sword."

"You're going to need a lot more than a diamond sword or an iron chest plate to stop me," Iron Fire screams as he raises his flamethrower. Squeezing the trigger, he unleashes a stream of fire.

Seeing this, I immediately start to run again. Running around the room, I spot a set of stairs that aren't completely on fire yet and run up them.

"You can't hide from me," Iron Fire screams. He stops firing and follows me up the stairs. With each step he takes, it sounds like a ticking clock.

"Why did I run up here," I ask myself. I slap myself on the head. "I'm not Superman. I can't fly out of here. At least when I was on the first floor, I can jump through a wall and be outside. If I do that up here, I'm going to take some serious fall damage."

I curse myself again as I listen to the sound of Iron Fire's heavy footsteps. However, as I hide behind the wall, I'm surprised to hear Iron Fire curses himself as well.

"Dammit," he says after a step breaks and he almost falls through.

"Wait," I think, replaying what I just saw. "He almost fell through the stairs. Iron Fire almost fell through the stairs. His iron suit. It must weigh a lot. Fall damage. That's it. That's it right there. That's how I'll take down Iron Fire. By literally taking him down."

I peek around the wall again and see Iron Fire. He had just reached the second floor.

"Where did you go," Iron Fire yells. He looks around but can't find me. "You can't hide from me. Even if I can't find you, the fire will."

He walks down the hallway looking for me. Luckily for him, he doesn't have to look very hard.

The second he looks inside the first room, I come charging toward him. Screaming as I run, I shoulder charge right into Iron Fire. The two of us break through the railing and falls onto the stairs.

I may have fallen onto the stairs but Iron Fire falls right through them. He falls through the burning stairs and disappears down a massive hole. Fighting through the tears in my eyes and biting my tongue, I roll myself down the stairs and onto my feet.

"Ohh," I cry out. "I bet that hurts me more than it hurts you."

While rubbing my many, many sore spots, I jump when I hear the sound of gunfire. A second later, I hear Iron Fire screaming as he bursts out from a wall.

"You think that is enough," he yells, dusting some charcoal dust off him. He aims his flamethrower at me and fires. With a stream of fire rocketing toward me, I dive to the floor and roll out of the way. Landing back on my feet, I push myself up and hide behind a nearby wall.

As expected, Iron Fire keeps his flamethrower on me. He keeps burning the wall. The wall is crumbling fast, pieces catching on fire and falling right off, one after the other.

"Just a little more," I think, smiling as I watch all the pieces fall down. However, as I watch the wall burn, I see the stream of fire stops.

"It stopped. Why?"

Since there's a hole in the wall now, I peek through it and see Iron Fire looking at his flamethrower. He's trying to change what I think is the fuel can.

"Out of gas uh," I say, waving at the Iron Fire through the burning hole in the wall. "Oh, that's the worst."

Iron Fire looks back at me and raises his machine gun. However, I look to the side and see a single wooden beam. The wooden beam is covered in bright-red bits and is already squeaking.

An idea burning inside my head, I wind up my swing before hitting the beam with one of my batons. The beam breaks into two and jumpstarts a chain reaction that causes the whole house to start falling apart. What started as simple sawdust falling turns into whole pieces of the roof falling onto us. In only a few seconds, the walls and even the staircases start to fall apart as well.

The crumbling house grabs Iron Fire's attention. He lowers his machine gun and looks around.

"What did you do," he shouts, covering his head as a piece of the roof drops onto him. "What did you do!"

"Actually," I say, stepping back. "I think you did most of the work."

I nod my head, shoot Iron Fire a wave, and run toward the front door. Screaming as I run toward the front door, I jump off the floor and through the door, breaking right through it.

Falling onto the ground after breaking through the front door, I look back to see Iron Fire still in the burning house. He tries to chase after me but with his very, very heavy iron suit, it's not possible. As he takes another step, one of his feet falls through the floor and traps him. He screams as the whole house falls onto him.

"I'm sure he's fine," I say. Once again, having to fight through tears in my eyes as I push myself up, I look ahead and see a whole line-up of fire trucks and police cars. All of the firefighters and police officers that are standing around are looking right at me.

"Uhh," I start, looking between them and the destroyed house. "Uhh, that wasn't my fault! At least, not entirely! Maybe a little, but I can explain! I had to do it! You see, there was this guy. He called himself Iron Fire. He had a flamethrower and an iron suit. I guess he looks like a discount Ironman! A really discounted Ironman."

"Freeze," one of the police officers yells. He reaches for his handgun but before he could pull it out, I turn and run away.

"Sorry, I can't stay to give you a statement," I say, limping away, "But I'm sure the situation is more than explainable. Bye!"

Limping as fast as I can, I somehow manage to make it back to the opening in the fence. Going through it, I jump onto my motorcycle and ride away.

"Don't cry," I say after turning onto a street and driving down it. "Don't cry. Don't cry. Note to self. Buy more ice before getting back to the hidden base. Ouch."

I wipe a tear that escapes from my eyes.

The Raven:

I pour myself a glass of scotch before taking a seat in my chair. Grabbing the nearby remote control, I increase the volume and listen to the new story.

"Earlier today," the new anchor starts, the screen showing a video of a man being pulled out from underneath a burnt-down house. "Iron Fire, or as we now know him as Kenneth Orr, was being pulled out from beneath a burnt-down house on Keller Road. According to various sources and even a few officers on the scene, Kenneth Orr burnt down the house. He would have escaped if not for Thrill Rider, who was last seen escaping from the scene."

As the story goes on, I take a sip of my scotch.

"Hmm," I say as the story finishes and a commercial break comes on. As the commercial breaks come on, my cell phone rings, and I immediately answer it.

"Hello."

"Hey, Boss," my second in command starts. "I got word from someone who is interested in the contract for Thrill Rider."

"Who?"

"The Black Archer."