Vices and Maces

Chapter 17: The Car Goes Boom

CW: car crash/bombed(?? a car goes over a landmine and flips over)

Roman was driving to the office the next day. He decided that Remus's guard should be Sal for now. She was the only one that could keep up with him, and Remus would be less inclined to escape her since they're close friends. She'll at least keep him entertained whenever he leaves the office.

He smiled as he remembered Sal's face when they returned to the office yesterday. She was pissed, and didn't bother to hide it. Roman found it hilarious that all the people who care for Remus, often end up annoyed with him.

His music stopped playing as a call came in. Roman glanced at it to see blue iris flowers on the screen in the middle of the dashboard. He accepted the call and was greeted with a familiar cheery voice.

"Roman!" Patton greeted.

"Hello Patton, is everything alright?"

"Yup, I came into the office early this morning to get some things done. But I also took a look at your schedule, and called to remind you that you're all clear for today."

Roman blinked. "Oh, I am?"

"Uh huh! Your brother is going to test some new bombs today, but there really isn't anything else to do."

"What about the medicine?"

"The latest batch is already being prepared to be shipped out. I'll be over seeing that today, so there's nothing left for you to do."

"Alright, just make sure the medicine gets to the correct people. Oh, and remind the deliverers that if they over charge, they'll be out of a job. And possibly a life. I don't want them to charge a cent more, or we're no better than the overpriced hospitals."

"I'll remind them."

Roman turned on his turn signal. "I guess I can just turn back home if I'm not needed. Maybe I can paint for a bit."

"Ooh, send me a picture when you're done!"

"Will do, Patton." Roman turned down a street. "Let me know how-"

He was interrupted when there was an explosion on the passenger side of the car. The car flipped and landed upside down, metal tearing and glass shattering.

"Ro- P-Petals!" Patton shouted.

The vampire grunted in pain, having hit his head on the glass window. He was just glad Remus never drove with him to work, wanting to fly instead. Guess Roman was going to have to start doing that as well now...

He looked to the passenger side to see the door gone, and a good chunk of the lower half of the car. It must have been a landmine of some sort. Good thing it was on the passenger side.

"Burns are you okay?" Patton continued to ask.

"I'm fine, Iris!" Roman looked over to see people rushing towards him. They all held some sort of weapon. "I just need to take care of some things first."

"Wait, what happened?"

Roman kicked his door open, unbuckling and lowering himself onto the roof. He lit his hand on fire and threw out a fire ball, hearing a shout of surprise. He used this time to crawl out, dusting off his jacket as best he could, noticing a tear in the side.

"Well, this is quite the expensive mess you've made," he told them, glaring at the group.

A demon with a chain, an electric genie with a sword, and a goblin with some sort of gun. Well, that's insulting.

"Yup, that's him," the genie said, letting an electric current run down their sword.

"Great, we can bring him back to the boss then," the demon replied. "Now let's hurry this up."

They swung their chain at Roman, who noticed a small weight at the end of it. He caught it, feeling it bruise his hand, but it wouldn't matter. He sighed in disappointment.

"I can't even take my frustration out on you all, you're too weak," he complained.

"Then let's see how strong you are against this!" the goblin screeched, raising their gun. They shot it, and the car exploded, but Roman wasn't anywhere to be seen. It was as if he just disintegrated.

"Huh, that gun is actually pretty powerful. What's used for the ammo?" he asked, standing behind the goblin. The chain was taut, and the demon was desperately trying to pull it back, but Roman looked like he was barely holding it.

"How-"

"Oh, I'm a vampire, that's how," Roman answered, flashing his fangs.

The goblin whimpered and fell back, trying to point the gun at him again. Roman had it in his hand in a blink of an eye, looking at it with a curious look. He could feel magic coming off of it, making him all the more curious.

"Well, guess this gives me something to do today." He pulled the chain, making the demon fall to the ground. Considering how weak they were, they might as well have been an imp, a real demon would have given Roman a challenge in tug-o-war. To be fair, he is half orc, and full vampire.

Roman let go of the chain and cocked the gun, pointing the gun at the genie who paled, freezing on the spot.

"Wait!" they begged. "We weren't going to kill you! O-or we aren't supposed to. Black wants you alive."

"Black? Your leader I'm guessing?"

"Y-yes. Please don't hurt us!"

"Hmm, well, you see I'm really angry right now. You tore my jacket, and destroyed my car." Roman gestured to the burning wreck. "However since you asked so nicely, I just have a few questions. Why does he want me alive, but has tried to kill the other leader several times now?"

"Y-you're a leader of Bleeding Rose?" the demon asked.

"Ah, well that answers that, sort of. Next, what is this gun?"

"I-it's a- it can shoot fire crystals!" the goblin explained.

"Interesting, I know someone who will be interested in that. Last question, how fast are you all?"

~~~

Kayden looked up from watching Cecil welding something together as the door opened. He looked up to see Roman walk in, holding something in his hand.

"Petals! Dad said you had the day off, what's up?" Kayden asked.

Cecil turned off the blowtorch and lifted up the welding mask he wore.

"I was... stopped on the way home by a few people."

"Is that what happened to your jacket?" Sidney asked from where she sat on a counter, holding a half eaten muffin.

"Oh, they were just friendly enough to help motivate me in getting a new car. However, I'm here because they gave me a present." He lifted up the gun, the magazine taken out and in his other hand. "Anemone, I want you to take a look at these. I want to figure out how they work. The bullets seem to be fire crystals. So please be very careful. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Got it," Cecil agreed. "Do you want me to try to recreate it?"

"Not... right now. Just take any notes. You know how I feel about you creating dangerous weapons."

"And yet you're giving him a gun and a magazine full of hot bullets," Sidney pointed out.

"Unfortunately we don't have an engineer that is immune to heat, though I suppose I could help. Later though, I'm afraid I'll be spending the rest of the day replacing what was destroyed. Including my phone. Oh, Rose, can you please message Iris and tell him I'm alright? I was on call with him before I was interrupted."

"Ah, I'll do that now." Kayden pulled out his phone.

"Thank you. Oh, and I suppose I should find Daffodil too. I have some planning to do with her."