Kashif – Heavy Hitter

Two days after Jak’s death, Wednesday, October 15th, Seth, Kashif, and Josh were having a couple of beers and talking strategy. They weren’t nearly as mournful as the heroes over Monday’s incident, but they weren’t exactly jumping for joy, either.

“Still can’t believe she pulled that move,” Kashif muttered into his nearly empty stein.

“I know, man,” Josh said. “What in the hell was she thinking?”

“Who knows, but it doesn’t change anything,” Seth put in. “We’re still on for this Saturday, right?” It didn’t come out as a question. The other two would-be villains nodded.

“Wait,” Kashif said, a new thought occurring to him, “is Amanda still on for Saturday? Do we even trust her now?”

“I don’t see how we can pull it off safely without her power, so yeah, she’s on and she’s trustworthy until proven otherwise,” Seth replied with a frown, unsure if he believed his own words.

“I don’t know.” Josh pushed himself back from the table a bit, looking back and forth between his friends. “What if she starts killing hostages? What if she messes up the whole thing?”

“I’m not too worried about that,” Seth said. “Leslie has talked to her several times in the last couple of days, and Amanda has convinced her it won’t happen again. She said it was ‘done in good faith for our group’, bringing down their biggest power, our biggest potential threat.”

“That’s just it, though!” Kashif burst out. “Potential threat! First of all, we have no real idea how many heroes there may or may not be, though it looks like that number has grown to at least four if you include the kid that died, and secondly, we don’t know if they would have even shown Saturday! Though I think it’s pretty obvious that if there are other heroes out there, come Saturday we’re gonna be in a world of hurt if we don’t pull this off right. Did she even consider for a second that they might just want revenge?”

“Then we’re just going to have to pull it off right,” Seth said firmly. “So let’s talk strategy. Kash, what are you planning on bringing?”

Kashif drank down the last of his beer, set his glass down, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The change of topic perked him up a bit. “I was thinking of packing up with an extreme amount of sports equipment to help me augment my strength safely. Golf bag slung across my back, filled with a few golf clubs, a couple baseball bats, one metal and one wooden, a bunch of golf balls, a bunch of baseballs…oh, and a lacrosse stick in hand, with a lacrosse ball in each pocket, and one in the net of the stick, naturally. I could just about whip a lacrosse ball into space with the right twist of my wrist.”

Seth smiled. “I like the way you think. Any mask or body armor or anything?”

“Of course. To complete the look, I’ll be wearing a hockey mask, wrist guards and shin guards, and maybe some football chest gear in case of stray bullets or something; unless someone in our group owns a bulletproof vest?” Kashif looked around at his friends, expecting the head shakes. “Thought not.”

“Football gear will probably do the job, not to mention it’ll make you look bigger and more intimidating that you already are. We’re not expecting any shots to be fired anyway. And if there is a firefight, we’ve got Amanda to get in the way of the bullets. Josh, what about you? How will your body be decorated?”

Josh jumped right in, having obviously already spent a lot of time selecting his repertoire. “A ring of throwing knives around each wrist and forearm. As Kash knows I’ve been practicing throwing for years just for fun, out of boredom, and now it’s going to pay off. Longer blades for any close combat on the insides of my biceps. A handgun on the outside of each hip, fully loaded, with extra magazines running down the outsides of my legs. On the inside of my left ankle, I have a smaller handgun in case of an emergency; likewise, on the inside of my right ankle, a small Swiss army knife. Never know when you’re going to need something from one of those.” Kashif grinned at that. “If I can find my stun gun, I’ll crotch that. I’ll leave my chest, back and head untouched for protections sake. As far as a mask goes, I’ve got an old Zorro mask from a couple Halloween’s ago, that’ll look pretty sweet I think.”

Kashif finally burst out laughing. Josh frowned.

“I’m sorry man, but you just sound so…formal about all this. Like James Bond or something. It’s a little ridiculous.” He laughed again.

“At least I don’t need to wear a football uniform as my costume, you overgrown jock!” Josh sniped.

“Maybe, but I’m going to make that football uniform look good,” Kashif replied with a broad smile.

“Come on guys, I thought we were having a serious discussion,” Seth cut in before Josh could respond. “I didn’t know you even had any guns, Josh.”

“I don’t. My dad has quite a collection, though. I don’t think he’ll miss three of his smaller ones as long as his rifles don’t disappear.”

“Right on. Now, we should talk about positioning during the heist.”

“Shouldn’t we talk this over with everyone?” Josh asked.

“We will, but to be honest I wanted to go over it with you guys first. I think the three of us are the most level headed right now, not to mention the most mature.”

“True enough,” Josh said. Kashif nodded his agreement.