Hero

LEBRON

               About four years ago, Vladimir had gotten trapped in Tod's house. Tod had placed an audio recorder in the room where Vladimir was stuck. Vladimir had said something about their Temporary HeadQuarters and described it, unaware that he was being recorded. The place where Adrian and I had arrived had to be their Temporary HeadQuarters.

               "It's just an old shed with a whole spy and military base under it. They'll never suspect," he had said. I chuckled to myself.

               "Fat chance," I whispered. Adrian began to walk around, and then he was about to step on a loose floorboard. I realized that it wasn't just any loose floorboard.

               "Adrian, don't–" I tried to warn, but he had already stepped on it. As I suspected, the whole floor beneath him broke, and he fell into a very deep pit, more like an entrance like a trap door.

               He screamed as he fell downward, reaching up his hand to me, but I didn't reach him in time to grab it.

               "Adrian!" I yelled after him, hearing him fall to the floor at the bottom. Thank God it wasn't too far of a drop, like a well. I got a rope from the car to climb down it. As I climbed down, I looked for Adrian.

               "Adrian, If you can hear me, then say something!" I hollered. I reached the bottom and looked upward. Between the surface and where I stood was a pretty hard fall, but not enough to kill someone unless you landed the wrong way. I turned around and saw Adrian lying on the floor, flat on his back. His eyes were open, and he stared at the opening of the floor. "Adrian...?" I called to him, "You alright?"

               "I've never felt better," he mumbled as he stood up.

               "Great, come on. There's got to be a door handle down here–" I noticed that Adrian lost his balance again and started to fall. I caught him. "What was that, some trust fall? Are you sure you're okay?"

               "I feel fine, but my legs won't steady me," he told me, irritated at himself.

               "Did you land on them?" I asked.

               "Yeah," he answered.

               "Well, that might be why," I stated, "They're going to hurt for a few minutes. Here, put your arm around my shoulder. I'll help you walk."

               "No," he refused, "I can walk on my own. I'm just as strong as you are–" He fell again, swearing as he knelt on one knee.

               "You're hopeless." I shook my head. "Put your damn arm around my shoulder and let's go." Adrian scoffed.

               "F-fine." He reluctantly put his arm around my shoulder. I fumbled around for a doorknob. Suddenly my finger slipped into a notch on the wall, and I slid open a door that led to quite a nice facility to be held underneath an old shed. We entered carefully and reached a hallway. We walked down the corridor, and the tracing device told us that Rodriguez was close.

               "Adrian, can you walk now?" I asked him. He nodded and followed behind me. I stepped in front of the door that the device led me to.

               "Wait, LeBron," Adrian said, "Can I kick it down?"

               "After what you just went through–"

               "I can do it," he persisted.

               "Sure." I stepped out of the way, and he kicked the flimsy door down, and inside we saw Sergei holding Rodriguez's phone in one hand and a gun in the other, aiming it at Rodriguez, who was laying on the floor unconscious. He had bandages wrapped around his head and severe burns on his body.

               "I never said you could shoot my old man," Adrian growled. Sergei looked at us with an unphased expression.

               "You're early," he said, "I like early ones. Let me reward you. I'll kill Rodriguez first and then you." Adrian scoffed. He stepped closer and then stopped as Sergei pulled the hammer back on his gun.

               "Don't screw with me," Adrian said, "I know you can't kill him, and I haven't forgotten what you've done, bombing our car like that. You don't play by the rules, you bastard."

               "Are there ever rules for assassins?" Sergei smirked at Adrian. "All we do is kill without thinking about whose lives we're ruining," he giggled evilly and shrugged, "I kill for the money, Adrian. Once I get a request, there's no stopping me once I've signed the contract." Sergei stood from where he was sitting. "Just like what happened to your parents."