Bill’s in Charge
(This is a fanfic of https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59664808-boom-boom-boom , check out this wonderful book!)
It was an old wooden urn of a smiling cat with both paws hanging over its head to form the shape of a heart. Made by one of the Legacies, or in other words, direct descendants of the Empress. Meant a toy for terminally ill children, it could turn any kind of illness into wonderful wishes. But according to rumors and legend, it was not limited to children’s illness, there had been others who had their wishes granted, just by throwing in something valuable as sacrifice.
William Cockburn intended to save it for a rainy day, yet after almost half a decade stuck in his current position, his patience grew thin. So before a “business trip” to a place in the middle of nowhere in Russia, he put an heirloom ring from his mother into the cat’s belly and made a wish - that he would be in charge of the Control Room.
“Bill Cosby, what happened?” The voice of Harvey in the earbud broke his reminiscing: “We’re dealing with an issue here. Focus. ”
“My apologies. I am going in.” William turned to the other armed agents in tactical gear: “Ready? Remember, last check, no gunpowder weapons. He could detonate it even from afar.”
“Are we really going after a potential Legacy, sir?” One of the agents asked.
“He’s not a legacy, there’s no evidence for that.” Bill Cosby, or Wlliam Cockburn said: “Just some freak, from Russia.”
The backdoor of the armored truck opened, Bill Cosby was the first to jump out, still wearing a pair of flip flops with socks on, a Hawaiian shirt under a tactical vest, and a straw hat.
A strange smell rose, the hairs on his back stood up. He jumped to the side without even thinking.
Boom! A ball of fire rose as the armored truck was flipped on its belly, throwing the other agents all over the place. Bill was blasted onto a car behind him, breaking its window.
“Fuck!” Bill cursed at the familiar goggles at a distance before his mind succumbed to darkness, with the question “How the hell did he know” lingering in his mind.
When he came to, Bill had no choice but to take a bicycle from a kid who was licking a three-scoop ice cream and started riding like hell towards the hotel. If that Russian virgin knew about their attack plan, he must have known about the Control Room as well.
The chains almost fell off when he ditched the bicycle in front of the hotel, he almost threw his keys at the valet parker before he realized he did not drive here nor was it the occasion.
The smell of smoke and burns tortured his nerves. The smoke made his eyes wet when he got to the floor of the Control Room. That Russian virgin already came. Who would have thought, a Youtuber with almost no followers and liked to play with random explosives would be able to do something like this.
The bodies of agents were everywhere, all seemed to have died from explosions. Bill pulled out his hand crossbow and tried to snuck through the empty hallway. This was probably the only thing that could work now - a purely mechanical weapon with only solid metal and a bolt with specialized piezoelectric ceramic tip that could shock an elephant upon impact.
The control room door seemed to be open from where Bill was standing, there was no sign of forced entry - either someone forgot to lock the door, or that Russian virgin had somehow figured out how to hack their encrypted locks.
“Bill?” A familiar voice came from behind and almost made him jump.
“Hey… there’s my favorite Youtube star.” Bill turned with a stiff head and a stiffer smile: “How are you? What are you doing here? It’s not safe - ” Before he could continue, a hand grabbed onto his neck and slowly lifted him up. Never could he ever think this slim goofy young man could possess this much physical strength. “What - what are you doing? The studio would be very unhappy - ”
“I know who you are, Bill.” The young man’s smiley face and goggles on his forehead had never seemed so menacing and deadly: “And I know what you did to her. You shouldn’t have, Bill.”
“But - we didn’t know! We - we didn’t - ” Bill’s feet kicked in the air.
“You did.” The young man smiled: “You just didn’t care.”
“It’s not what you think!” Bill felt his breaths getting shorter: “She’s actually out there! She’s - shes’ - ” And just when the young man was confused for one moment, he pulled the trigger of the hand crossbow, aiming at the young man’s foot.
The bolt hit the ground next to the target which was probably why the electric shock did not hit Bill as hard as it should. He rushed towards the open metal door and triggered an instant lockdown with his key fob. There was no guarantee that it would hold for long, but it was the only thing he could do.
Inside the Control Room, all he could see under the dim lights were bodies. And the ones of Harvey and Kevin were not that hard to find - even without their heads, their distinct Hawaiian shirts and flip flops were impossible to mistake.
It seemed he was on his own now, and he was possibly the only survivor in this division. But there was nothing he could do but send out a distress signal to call for help.
“... Bill Cosby sending out this signal of warning… ” He felt his throat burning up and swollen, on the screen, the red handprint on his neck grew brighter and even started smoking. He could barely let the words out: “... DON’T go for her! She’s - ”
The human body was made of nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen atoms, easy to make a bright, colorful boom if arranged the right way. How could Bill not know?