The Fast and the Explosive [Cupid Challenge: Pietro]
For a day in the middle of February, the weather wasn’t half bad. Compared to how nasty Perivale got around this time every year, the City was a nice place. Ace decided to take advantage of the non-snow day and work outside. It was always safer to mix explosives in a large, open area than in a cramped hotel room. As long as the police weren’t around to stop you. Besides, what else were you suppose to do on Valentine’s Day?
Ace went exploring The City, trying to find the best place to set up a work area. Nothing was really suitable, if she was honest. It was starting to look like she was going to have to stick with the lab in the TARDIS. Maybe she could get something small set up in the hotel room she was renting. That could work if she remembered to keep the maids out. Cleaning crews always seemed to throw out the stuff she needed.
She found a bench on a street corner and decided she might as well take a load off and try to think about where else she could look. She perched on the back of the bench with her feet on the seat. While she rested comfortably, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like some whacked out alien in a nappy. With a weapon. A bow and it was pointed in her direction.
Ace dove off the bench, throwing a small can of nitro-nine at the alien. The Doctor would not be happy with her explode-first-ask-questions-later move, but the alien had started it. And it seemed to be the right move anyway. Even as the explosion went off where the alien had been, Ace felt a tingling prick in her shoulder. The bloody alien had not only gotten its shot off; she saw it escape the explosion.
“Bloody bilge rat!” she yelled at the rapidly departing shooter. Maybe it hadn’t shot her, though. The pain was gone now and there was no blood. “I must have imagined it. No real person could ever move that fast.”