Hood and the Wolf vs. The Grandmother

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    You all know the tale of Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf. How the foolish girl led the wolf straight to her grandmother’s house, and the following...disaster. A fairy tale told to warn children to stay on the path, not to talk to strangers, to have a healthy amount scepticism. A cautionary tale, with morals, everything in black or white. But, we know that’s not how life works. Nothing is that clear. Those who may appear at first glance to be heroes are often something much, much darker.

    Little Red was on a mission and she was determined to see it through to the end. Failure was not an option. Pulling her distinctive red helmet over her head, and pulling her gloves on to her hands, she set off. The road beneath her motorcycle was smooth as she sped along the forest path. She had two hours to get to the location, complete the mission and get out. There was no time to waste. She mentally ran through the plan: get into the house, assassinate the Grandmother, and get out. If she succeeds, the War will be over. If she doesn’t, well she won’t have to worry about anything anymore. She shook her head, not wanting to think about that possibility. She raced on towards her goal.

    The hidden camera zoomed in on the lone rider. The screens in the Monitor Room lit up and several alarms went off. The Grandmother was an important tactician and she was never without protection. The hidden cameras along the road showed her Red speeding towards her cottage, alone. She chuckled to herself and began her preparations.

    Now, it was well known that Red didn’t work alone. It was a rare sight indeed to see her without her partner,‘the Wolf’. The two made a deadly team, with Red’s bloodlust and determination and Wolf’s knack for spotting traps and sniffing out hidden enemies. They were ruthless and left no survivors. They were the ones the Empire sent on the most difficult missions. And this mission was the most difficult of them all.

    “Red, come in, can you hear me?”

    “Loud and clear, Wolf. What’s the status?”

    “All camera’s trained on you, I’m at the designated meeting spot. See you in five.”

    “Gotcha.”

Red wasn’t stupid. She knew that such a highly respected Rebellion tactician would have traps she couldn’t even dream of. Wolf had a better chance of getting close enough to the Grandmother than she ever would. Red suspected that the Grandmother had probably already tapped into their comms network. Wolf was not in the glade of flowers that Red was approaching that was someone far more expendable. No, Wolf was currently sneaking his way through the Grandmother’s extensive traps one at a time. Red grinned under her helmet. This was going to be fun.

She pulled to a stop in the glade and jumped off her bike. She removed her helmet, shaking out her red hair. In the corner of the glade, the Expendable waited for her, in a perfect disguise. The Faery Godmother had outdone herself, even Red couldn’t tell the difference. She approached.

“Hello, little girl, what are you doing here in the woods all by yourself?” As if they needed a code. But, better safe than sorry. She flashed him a grin.

“I’m on my way to my Grandmother’s house. She’s not feeling well, so Mother said I’m to bring her some medicine.”

“Well, then we best get going.”

Red nodded and walked over to her bike, tossing the Expendable a helmet before putting on her own. And off they went.

    The Grandmother focused on the two intruders riders heading towards her cottage. She smiled, confident in her abilities. If Red and the Wolf were both in the same place, she could take them both out in one fell swoop. It would be a great victory for the Rebellion.

    Though… Red wasn’t stupid and neither was the Wolf. They definitely knew she had cameras all along the route, so what were they playing at? The pair usually work alone, but they had teamed up with the hacker Ali-Baba on occasion. Perhaps Ali-Baba was planning to prevent her traps for alerting her to something else. The Grandmother grimaced and double-checked her security.

    At this point, Wolf was nearly through the last of the traps and Red and the Expendable were within twenty minutes of the cottage. Wolf moved slowly, there was plenty of time after all. The traps all had to be disabled than re-enabled in the exact same configuration as before. Of course, this left an opening when the traps were not operational that the Grandmother may have noticed. But by some miracle, she hadn’t noticed yet.

    Red and the Expendable pulled up directly in front of the cottage. There was no point in hiding their approach. She already knew they were there. Red signalled to the Expendable, motioning for him to approach the cottage from the side. HE nodded and went around to the window on the left. Red went to the front door and turned the knob. It opened easily. She stepped inside the door.

    This is the point that all communication with Red was lost. Her comms cut out and her camera stopped transmitting. The same happened when the Expendable entered via the window. What is transcribed here is from the accounts the survivors gave during their imprisonment.
   
    By the time Wolf had made it to the monitor room, both Red and the Expendable were lying dead on the floor. The tiled floor was covered with blood, some had even splashed onto one of the monitors. The Grandmother, sitting in her chair, didn’t react to Wolf’s entry. He stepped over the bodies of his comrades, filled with rage. He brought his knife to the woman’s throat.

    “Why, what a beautiful knife you have,” her voice was cracked and croaky like an old tree bending in the wind.
  
“All the better to avenge my friends with,” Wolf whispered quietly in her ear, before slashing her throat. The Grandmother offered no resistance, her wounds from the previous battle weakening her.
 
  Victorious, the Wolf walked over to the bodies of Red and the Expendable. Gently, he picked up their bodies, carrying them out the front door.