Hell Breaks Loose
MOTE Prompt Response
“Watch it!”
“Grab it!”
“Agh! Be careful!”
We took a breath; everything calmed. Then the sausage rolled onto the button, and all hell broke loose.
“Damnit!”
“Aw, shit!”
“Everybody, SHUT UP!” Jules shrieked.
We all froze, staring at her. I don’t think any of us had ever heard Jules raise her voice, never mind scream like that. At us.
“The sausage hit the damn button. What are we going to do?” Jules said in a quiet voice. “What are we going to do?”
I snapped my head around and stared at the monitors behind me. It was starting. What had been a small dot of red on the map was spreading rapidly… hell had literally broken loose, and we were right in the middle of it.
Taking a deep breath, I hit a couple of buttons. The view shifted and I could see the massive gates slowly swinging open. I also saw Joe, the door custodian staring around in confusion. The doors kept moving. Joe shook his head and although I couldn’t see it, I knew he was rolling his eyes. He rubbed one clawed hand over his horns and reached to his left. Another button push and the doors stopped. A second button pushed and the doors began their ponderous slide home to the closed position.
The red dot on the monitor shrunk back to its original size.
“It’s okay, guys,” I called. “Joe was right at the doors and he caught it.”
“It’s not okay,” Jules growled. Her normally red skin was turning purple. “Who put that damn sausage roll ON THE ARMAGEDDON KEYBOARD???”
The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife. No, wait. Don’t do that. Who knows what you’ll activate, and trust me, you don’t want to piss off Jules any more than she already is.
Seriously. Trust me on this one.
Finally an hand went up in the back and Frank cleared his throat.
“Uh, sorry, Jules, I didn’t think…”
“You obviously did NOT think! No food in the Armageddon office means NO FOOD IN THE ARMAGEDDON OFFICE, Frank!” Jules took a deep breath, obviously controlling her anger.
“That’s it, Frank. This is the fifth time you’ve screwed up. I could overlook the others, but not this time. You are hereby banished for a hundred years to an insanely ritzy resort to work as a cabana boy. You will be catering to every whim of the super-wealthy, super-entitled guests. And no, you will be unable to use any of your powers to ‘teach them a lesson.’” Jules sounded like she really meant it this time.
I swallowed hard. This could get ugly… er. It could get uglier.
Frank dropped his head into his claws. “No. Please no. I’ll do anything else. If I can’t use my power, where’s the fun in being at a super-ritzy resort?”
I could see him crack one eye open to check on Jules’s reaction. Surprisingly, her expression simply hardened the more he talked.
“I’m done with you Frank. It’s the resort, or I’ll ask the Boss for his ideas. Your call,” Jules said, her voice low and hard.
Frank’s head jerked up and his goat eyes widened. “No, no. No need to bother the Boss. Um, I’ll get to the resort right now. Uh, bye.” He vanished in a puff of smoke.
Jules glared at the rest of us. “Thanks to Sam’s quick thinking, and the luck of having Joe at the gates, we’re okay.” I nodded when she waved a hand in my direction.
“Nevertheless… safety briefing, conference room, one hour. Ev.Ry.One will be there.” Jules spun on one hoof and stomped out of the room.
I followed immediately and headed for the restroom. Emergency safety briefings were rarely short and I sure as hell (ha, see what I did there?) wasn’t going to be the one to get Jules all riled up again by trying to sneak out.
At least this safety briefing wasn’t my fault.
******
TA Leederman gifted me with: We took a breath; everything calmed. Then the sausage rolled onto the button, and all hell broke loose.
I have no idea why a near miss in Hell and the subsequent safety briefing hit my brain… but here you go. You’re welcome. Make your way on over to More Odds Than Ends to see what everybody else’s brains came up with… under the caveat that some of them are stranger than me!