Frozen Solid

She Never Missed.

Hayden enjoyed his second helicopter ride even more than his first.  It didn’t matter that he was all dressed up in bullet proof vests, combat boots, and a hand gun.

“And you double-checked that you have enough bullets?’ Deven pestered once again.

“Yes!” Hayden sighed, slightly irritated.  They were the same age, why must he be babied over?  Even so, he had to admit he enjoyed it.  Neither of his parents had ever babied him.  It was odd, but certainly not bad.  But it did get annoying.

“Hayden, you’re my responsibility, and more importantly, my friend.  If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.” Deven admitted.  “And this is dangerous.  Most likely, you’ll get hurt.  You could die.  I want to change the ratio so the danger is as minimal as possible.”

Hayden smiled.  “I promise I’ll be safe.  You should be more worried about the government.  Once I‘m done with them, they‘ll resemble Alphabet soup.  And a frog.”

“And a frog?“

“My dad’s the frog.  Cause he’s the big boss.  Big bosses in video games are always fat.” Hayden insisted.  Deven sighed, but his smile was still there.

The window recaptured his interests, their landing point in sight.  Once they landed, the ground forces would start the attack.. Deven was his ‘bodyguard’ and Hayden felt strangely calm.  He couldn’t imagine anything going wrong. Everyone else was high on nervousness, but he was calm.  Being bipolar was actually helping him for once.

No one heard him think that.

That cloud looked like an elephant.  Hayden giggled.  Riding in a helicopter was so fun, and he felt so free.  Hayden had Deven, Crow, and Loise this time.  The Helicopter started its descent, while butterflies in his stomach attacks in internal organs in a flurry.

The flying machine touched ground once again.  Hayden didn’t wait for the blades to stop spinning before slamming open the door and jumping out.  They were at the abandoned pentagon, and the attack was beginning.

Crow radioed the head of the rebel troops, a tough sewer rat who’d never lived in the constraints of the government.  He’d offered himself up for the job.

Their correspondence was short.  “Cover us, keep safe, say strong.” Crow instructed.

Hayden wrapped the tiny steel wire he was using for the attack around his fingers.  “Same for us as well.” He muttered.

Deven looked at his gun, triple-checking.  “I’m ready.  Hayden wanted to eat half of his easy confidence.  

“I have a question, before we go.” He interrupted.  “Who is going to kill my father?”

Crow paused. “Whomever is capable.”

Hayden felt the unwarranted rage filter through.  “That’s not enough!  This is my family!  I have the right to know!”

And it was.  It was his father’s life on the line.  It was his dad, the man he’d lived with since birth, half of his DNA…  It was something he just wanted to know.

Loise mumbled, “Ash has the sniper rifle.”

“So it’s you?  That’s all I wanted to know” Hayden swallowed his anger.  The explosions starting around them flattened it into a calm yet nervous feeling.  Crow nodded, grabbing Loise’s forearm to drag her forward.  It was time to move.

…

“Clean!  I‘ve dumped the trash all out of that place.” Loise jumped out of her 4th apartment.  Ash and her were driving forwards, while Deven and Hayden were setting up the trap for the enemy forces.