Lights, Camera, Action!

Chapter 9: Briefing

Blaze had finally finished brushing Starlight's hair when there was another knock at Shadow's caravan. Both girls expected it to be the boys with the food but when Blaze opened the door she was greeted with someone she didn't recognise. They were around her age with brown eyes and a fairly strong build. "Uhh, hi. I'm Blaze. Shadow isn't here." Starlight poked her head round the door to see who their new arrival was.

She smiled when she saw him. "Oh hi Branch! Shadow isn't here." The person named Branch sighed and facepalmed. "Oh sorry." Starlight laughed at his expression. "How can we help?" He gestured to the main studio building.

"Beauty has called a star team briefing. Honey has been sent to find Shadow and anyone else along the way and I've been in search of you and your brother." Branch explained as he looked towards Blaze. "I'm Branch, nice to meet you. Where is Sliver?" Starlight looked out towards the studios where no one was there.

She turned back to Branch. "He and Shadow went to get some food but they haven't been back yet. You said Honey was meant to pick people up that she saw?" Branch nodded. "Well, Honey came by here and didn't pick us up. Strange." Blaze nodded beside her but had a feeling the reason the assassin didn't collect them was because of her.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, she realised that Branch was staring curiously at her. "Yes, strange." He repeated before smiling at them. "Well nevertheless, I'm here now. Come on, we don't want to be late." The two girls nodded enthusiastically and quickly followed behind their friend, into the building and up to thr briefing room.

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Sliver stumbled after Shadow with his arms ladened with crip packets, water bottles and doughnuts. In turn, Shadow was juggling with an apple, orange and pomegranate. "You know, for a guy who likes to emphasise that while his brother has strong legs and you have strong arms, don't you think it would look better if you were using your muscles to be helpful?" Sliver complained as he kept a crisp packet from falling to the floor.

Shadow grinned at him as he collected the fruit he had been playing with. "Hardly, because then I'd been stumbling around like an idiot. Like you." He dodged a flying water bottle that they both expected to clatter to the ground. However when they look behind Shadow, they saw Honey taking a big sip.

"Boys. Nice to see you. Ashtray, you should be kinder to your friends. Metalhead, stop being a doormat. Beauty needs us for a briefing. ¡Vamos!" Honey clicked her fingers and both males immediately jumped to attention. Shadow threw the fruit into the bin but Sliver wasn't quite as prepared and dropped all of his products to the floor. She glanced amusingly at them and shook her head as she finished her drink. "What a waste of hard earned money and effort." Honey sighed as they both realised what they had done. "Plus, I'm sure they were rather tasty." Annoyed that their brains had tricked them into being fools, Shadow and Sliver followed Honey as they made their way to the briefing room.

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Amy stood behind her mother to her left slightly as they watched as people filed into the briefing room. It wasn't so much a room as it was an empty filming set. She liked the star team a lot as they were many of her friends and she got to apart of their projects. Any other projects by other directors she wasn't allowed to work on and spent all that time studying or practicing painting. Sonic was unofficially part of the team as he was still in school which suited them just fine as it meant he could work with her whenever he had a day off without being held to any other responsibilities.

Right now, her handsome blue boyfriend was off stage to the side of his mum. It warmed Amy's heart to see him sat on the floor with a colouring book in his lap with his tounge stuck out. Sarah flanked Beauty on the other side with a clipboard at hand. Looking upwards, one could see Petal hanging upside down from the rafters above so Beauty was protected on all fronts. Not that she would need protecting, the woman was a vicious killer in her own right but much more secretive than the Forests'. Speaking of Forests', Amy spotted Honey waltzing into the room with Sliver and Shadow in tow. They looked mildly annoyed whilst she had a pleased grin on her face. To the doors on the other side, Branch strolled in with Blaze and Starlight beside him. Amy hoped that once the briefing was over she would get a chance to talk to the new girl.

As two trios made their way to the middle of the group already there, Beauty clapped her hands and an immediate hush fell over the crowd. "Thank you all for coming. Not that you had a choice. You are here because you are the best of what you do at Thorn Pictures. Therefore, my expectations of what we will achieve here are a little more than god-like. If that scares any of you, feel free to walk out those doors and I'll find a replacement." She waited a beat in which no one moved or even breathed too loudly. "Excellent. As you know, I've worked on thirty-nine projects here since it's creation, this will be my fortieth. Bloodshed will be the best thing to ever be filmed here and I state that as a fact." There were a few nervous whispers that rose above her voice as Beauty stopped talking with narrowed eyes. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting you?" The crowd immediately parted to show two people with bright red faces and utter terror in their eyes. Beauty looked at them for a moment before turning to Sarah. "What do they do?" She didn't even ask who they were.

Efficiently and without question, Sarah looked at her clipboard. "Writers. Script." She replied in a crisp tone rarely heard by her. Above the proceedings, Petal started to move steadily and slowly to the ground out of site. Amy hung her head and turned away.

Beauty nodded. "I see." She turned to the pair. "Do you have children?" Blinking, they both shook their heads. "Do you care for someone other than yourselves? And by that I mean do you go to say an elderly relative's house and wash, feed and care for them?" Unsure of what would in store for them, they shook their heads again. Beauty smirked as an amused hum escaped her lips. "Well then," She looked to the rest of the crowd, fear growing in the crowd as Beauty moved her hands behind her back. People nearby them began to move a lot further back and the pair seed to realise what was in store to them. One turned to run only to collide with Petal and be pushed back to their friend. "Let them be a lesson to you!" Then she flung her hands out, now adorned with a pair of sliver daggers, and watched in glee as they flew towards their targets. The two blades were so fast neither could react and both writers soon found themselves impaled and spouting blood. Within a matter of seconds, they were both on the floor with blood pooling around them. "Please can someone clean that up? Thank you." Beauty asked nonchalant like that was a regular thing as the two daggers, now slick with innocent blood, somehow managed to return to her.

Blaze couldn't believe what she'd just witnessed. Within the span of two minutes, the two writers were dead. For whispering through her briefing. That was absurd and she wondered why more people weren't shocked. Then the terrible truth hit her and Blaze fought against herself not to throw up. As Beauty continued with the briefing, she watched as Petal and Honey dragged the bodies away, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. Blaze needed the job sure, but she doubted if it was worth it if she had to work under a murderer.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry it was a day late but I had creative writing club and then a case of writer's block which I think is ironic. I liked the briefing Beauty gave everyone. I'll definitely update again tomorrow so bye, bye.