Wrapping her hands around Damien, Jasmine asked, “Are you excited about the movie?”
“I am,” he replied as he broke her grip, “I was worried that you were going to be late.”
“It’s my birthday, and you didn’t wait outside for me. Just because you had your own ticket…” Jasmine teased with a grin. Her hand absently brushed against her pendant as she continued, “Now can we go watch our movie.”
Moving her hand aside, he lifted the pendant, “What’s this, babe?”
Jasmine sighed and unclasped the pendant, passing it to Damien, “Birthday present from my brother, Chase.”
Taking the ring of metal, Damien ran his fingers along each of the blades. “Where did he find a hexagon made out of swords?”
“I have no idea,” Jasmine answered, pulling him towards their theater.
Damien opened the door, letting Jasmine in first. She led them through the short hallway to their seats. When they rounded the corner, she gasped, and Damien followed her gaze and found someone kneeling over a large box. He took a step and asked, “Hey, what are you doing?”
The man lifted his head, and they caught sight of the flamboyant suit. The dim light did nothing to tone down his silver pants and jacket. Standing up, the wiry stranger raised his hands in welcome, “Oh look! More guests for my debut.”
Stepping in front of Jasmine, Damien asked, “What debut would that be?”
“My message will be heard,” the man declared stepping in front of the box.
“We’re in the right theater, right?” Jasmine asked.
Pointing at the box, Damien asked, “What kind of message do you keep in a box? You have a dead animal in there or something?”
“No,” the man replied, walking toward them, “nothing so trite.”
Damien whispered to Jasmine, “Find out what’s in that box.”
“What are you going to do?” Jasmine whispered.
“Give you the chance to figure it out,” Damien answered as he walked towards the wackadoo. “Would you like me to get an attendant in here to help get that out?”
The weirdo flashed a manic grin at Damien, “No. It would spoil the message.”
Damien reached out for the maniac’s hand. But he dropped, sweeping Damien’s legs out from under him.
“Damien!” Jasmine squealed.
The silver stranger rose to his feet and strode towards her. Rolling to his stomach, Damien reached out for the man’s legs but only managed to get a grip on his pants. With a swift pull, Damien screamed, “Not so fast, Slinky!” The pants slid down the lunatic’s leg tripping him. Glancing at Jasmine, Damien shouted, “Check the box!”
Nodding, Jasmine rushed to the box, peered inside and squeaked.
The maniac turned over, yanking his pants up. Removing his silver jacket, the man fished for his suspenders. Damien scrambled to his feet and got between the stranger and Jasmine. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a bomb!” Jasmine squealed.
“A bomb!” Damien took a step away from the bomber, “What kind of debut involves a bomb, Slinky?!”
“Mine,” the bomber said as he secured his suspenders. Taking a step towards Damien, he bellowed, “And don’t call me Slinky!”
“Damien, there’s a timer!”
“Great,” Damien said as he ducked the wackadoo’s fist. Lunging into the silver stranger, he muttered, “I’m sorry, but flashy bombers like you get to be called Slinky.” Wrapping his arms around the bomber, Damien drove him into the floor.
The nut job wheezed as his shoulder hit the ground, and again when Damien flattened him to the floor. Flipping the stranger onto his stomach, Damien pulled Slinky’s arms back and asked Jasmine, “How much time do we have?”
“A couple of minutes,” Jasmine whimpered.
“Can you stop it?”
“How?” Jasmine wailed. Looking from the bomber back to the bomb, she whined, “I’m not a member of the bomb squad.”
“Is there anything we can use to tie him up?”
Looking around, Jasmine found a canvas bag. Tossing Devin the bag, she chirped, “Try this.”
Rummaging through the bag, Damien found some zip-ties, “These should work!”
Dropping the sack, Damien barked, “Disarm the bomb!”
“You want me to disarm it?”
“Would you rather tie him up?”
Jasmine looked at the silver stranger and then bent to examine the bomb, “You have any bright ideas?”
“I don’t know,” Damien muttered as he lashed the wriggling bomber’s wrists together. “Look for an off switch or something.”
“An off switch?” Jasmine mocked. “Oh yeah, cause mad bombers really want to make diffusing their bombs easy.”
“Slinky the bomber is dressed in a silver suit,” Damien muttered as he managed to tie the bomber’s ankles together. “Just look for one!”
Jasmine groaned, but she leaned into the box and looked, “There’s no switch!”
“Did you check everywhere?” Damien asked as hurried over to the bomb.
“Making me search for a switch on a bomb,” Jasmine muttered. “You really know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday,” Jasmine quipped. She reached into the box anyway running her hand along the bottom of the bomb. The timer loomed next to her eye, and she watched seconds tick away. “There’s no switch! We need to get out of here!”
Damien plopped down next to her and reached his hand under the bottom and started hurriedly searching for a switch too. A moment later, Jasmine groaned, “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me?”
“What?”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Did you find a switch?”
“Yeah,” Jasmine replied dumbly. “I can’t freaking believe it.”
“Flip it!” Damien howled.
Jasmine flipped the switch, and nothing happened. They stayed crouched there for a few moments until Damien asked, “Did we stop it?”
“BOOM!” Jasmine yelled in his ear, making him jump. “We stopped it!”
Rubbing at his chest, Damien muttered, “See an off switch wasn’t such a stupid idea.”
Sitting down next to him, Jasmine muttered, “Even broken clocks are right twice a day.”
Rubbing his hands, Damien asked, “Do you think we’ll get free popcorn for the movie?”