Prompt 17-Overindulgence

What area of your life do you tend to enjoy in excess instead of moderation?

“Alright people, we’re gonna do this clean,” the sharp feminine voice crackled in Cari’s earpiece. “In and out. Everyone knows their role.” Raven always sounded so serious at the execution launch of a contract. “Time check, 22:30. Mark.”

A chorus of confirmations clicked through one after another. “Mark,” she chirped when it was her turn.

“Cari, you make sure you wait for the signal before you set off the diversion.”

She groaned. “Yes, Raven.” She turned off her comms before her leader could retort. Geez, you blow your payload prematurely one time and you never hear the end of it.

She crouched on the edge of the rooftop and watched her teammates move through the shadows toward the Archives. She grinned. They were all professionals, after all.

Cari dropped to the alley below and consulted her wristwatch. She had 27 minutes and 11 seconds to finish rigging her explosives. It was about twenty minutes more than she needed. More time meant she could plant more explosives. Her smile widened.

With two minutes to spare, Cari returned to the roof to await her signal. The lights at the center of the little city went dark. Raven had cut the power. It was time to light her beacon. She ran along the rooftops, away from where she had set enough semtex to level a city block, to a secondary vantage point where she could watch her diversion explode.

Cari held a detonator in each hand. The second was supposed to be a backup, but since she’d had so much extra time to play, she had set the rest of her explosives on the next street over. She could have rigged it all to the same detonator, but that wouldn’t be as fun as pressing two buttons at the same time.

She thrust her fists out in front of her, pretending to conduct a symphony, and then she triggered the light show. The ground shook with the force of the blasts and Cari almost lost her balance. As she steadied her footing, she surveyed the block.

She applauded and laughed as both streets erupted in flames. Sirens flared in the distance, their pitches low at first, then rising as they closed in on the conflagration. “Whoops, time to go!” Cari fled east along her predetermined escape route before they could catch her admiring her handiwork.

Raven cornered her at the rendezvous point a few miles into the mountains. “What the hell was that?!”

“Just a little fire,” Cari giggled. The smoke could still be seen even this far out.

“You call that a small fire? I asked for a diversion, not the Big Fucking Bang.” Raven sighed and ran her hand through her long, dark hair.

Cari shrugged. Everybody’s a critic. “Did you get the blueprints?”

The other woman’s demeanor changed. She folded her arms across her chest and smirked. “Of course,” Raven crooned. “We would never dishonor the guild by failing to complete our mission.”

Whoops and cheers erupted from the rest of the team. As one of the guys clapped a congratulatory hand on Cari’s shoulder, she looked back down the mountain towards the small glow of her “little” fire. It would burn all night. She smiled. She loved her job.

Notes: I was told my stories don’t have enough explosions, so when I was trying to think of what sort of routine thing might be enjoyed in excess, I knew I could two-birds-one-stone my plot with a pyro. And I had just the pyro for the job. Cari is one of my older characters, an early incarnation of Ali but with a predilection for weapons of mass destruction. She is very much a mayhem character.

What sorts of things do you overindulge in? Do you binge on food or Netflix? Do you treasure downtime so much you put off doing things that need doing to another day so you can extend your relaxation? Maybe there’s something you wish you did more of. Come on, write it down. You never know when inspiration will strike!

Wednesday’s prompt: Write about three realistic goals you would like to achieve in your lifetime.

Heh, nice try, book, getting me to think about the future again. First you trick me into thinking about a 10 year plan, and now lifetime goals? I’m sure tomorrow will see one of my characters sorting out their goals instead. Hmm, a Valentine’s special maybe? Eh, anything’s possible. Until then! Good night!