Average Joe and the Extraordinaires by Belart Wright Page A

expensive-looking cigar from his office drawer and snipped the
tip.  He lit it and took a few puffs.  An earthy, smoky aroma filled the room. 
Blonsky blew the smoke towards the group of black suits.  One of them let out a
cough.  They were all lined up shoulder to shoulder and kneeling in front of
Blonsky’s desk.  They were a gift from his partner, a poisoned gift if truth be
told.  Sure, they were obedient, but they were also fools.  He dropped the fool
voice and spoke in his normal tone.
    Blonsky:
“Here’s a quick history lesson.  Back before the Revolutionary War, America was
a lowly servant to Britain.  Whenever the pretty little queen and king said
‘jump,’ America asked ‘how high?’  That’s because America was young, and like
any child feared to bite the hand that fed them.  Children don’t like to be
punished, so America obeyed.  Britain had an iron grip on the country, they
were not to be trifled with because they were the Red Coats, a strong name for
a strong nation.  Anyone that challenged a Red Coat was an enemy of the crown
and thusly doomed to a jail, gallows, or a life of indentured servitude only
slightly better than a slave.  But after a while, children get bigger and
bolder and they try you, they try to taunt you and challenge you to see how far
they get.  If the parent balks at this challenge, the child runs roughshod and
the parent loses what control they had.  Britain lost that control when
Americans stopped calling them Red Coats and started calling them
Lobsterbacks.  You give a child an inch and they’ll take a mile.”
    Blonsky
pulled a bottle of some dark liquid from his desk.  The bottle had the labels
removed so one could only guess what was in it.  He opened it, placing the top
on his solid oak desk while he poured all the contents of the bottle into the
spray bottle that sat on top of the desk.  It didn’t take him long.  He got up
and walked to the front of his desk.
    Blonsky:
“I know you guys have got to be thirsty after all that fighting.  Here, have a
drink.”
    He
sprayed them all with whatever was in the spray bottle until their suits shined
in what little light the office received.  When he was done, he sat on the top
of his desk, in front of them, and set his nearly empty spray bottle down next
to him.
    Blonsky:
“Good, good.  You guys look sharp.  You see, fellas, even controlling a rough
bunch of creeps like you is made difficult when you lack proper motivation. 
Today I will motivate you.”
    The men
sat in silence and waited.  Some sweated, others looked off into space, others
looked at the floor. None looked at Blonsky.  Blonsky puffed his cigar nice and
long and flicked it into the air.  He exhaled an excessive amount of smoke and
grinned sickly when the cigar landed softly on the man in black that had coughed
earlier.  The man’s suit ignited quickly and easily.  He dropped to the ground
to try to smother the flames, but the floor was laden with excess amounts of
whatever liquid Blonsky had coated them all in.
    Blonsky:
“I didn’t give you permission to put yourself out, ya moron.”
    Blonsky
laughed as the man screamed.
    Blonsky:
“Now that is proper motivation.  Fear is a tool and I use it to make money,
lots and lots of money.  I need to reacquaint those who have wronged me and
continue to wrong me with it.”
    The man
on the floor screamed louder.
    Blonsky:
“Now, fellas, let’s find a reason to make my enemies fear me—and for the love
of Jove will somebody please put this idiot out!”
    One of
the men took off his jacket to fan the flames and caught fire himself.
    Blonsky:
“No, no!  Don’t touch him!  What’re you doing?  Get an extinguisher!  Run,
don’t walk!  What circus am I dealing with?  Idiots, idiots, and more idiots! 
That’s what I’m cursed with.”
     

 
    Chapter
16
    Team Badd
Azz
     
    Buzz Buzz
Buzz!
    The alarm
clock seemed louder than ever before and Joe had to karate chop the big