Mr. Grizzly glared up at the two boys, but he was mostly concerned with Bolt. He raised his meaty fists and slammed them upon the wooden railing and bellowed: “PATCH! YOU GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE NOW!”
Bolt tensed, grinned sheepishly down at Mr. Grizzly and waved. He then lowered his hand, turned over onto the beam, and lowered himself down to the fifth beam. He released the sixth one as his boots thudded onto it. The orange-haired teen straightened out of his crouch and glared up at Taeto before he told him, “Look, I dunno what yer problem is but I gotta go. I got sum explainin’ to do to the boss, and if I don’t get down there, he’ll have my ass. Whatever’s goin’ on with you will hafta’ wait until after work.”
He then turned toward the tunnel and started for the steps.
Taeto snickered, more so at Bolt’s glare than his words. He let the construction worker’s statement bounce around in his head. Even if he wanted too, the feeling in his stomach, the one pounding around just itching and begging for a fight, wouldn’t let him.
He bent his knees slightly and dropped to the fifth beam. His tail twitched left then right once he landed, watching the orange-haired worker stride towards the stairs.
Sorry but I’m not letting you slip through my fingers. Taeto, all of sudden, dashed towards him with his left fist cocked back,
“Yo!” he barked.
“You’re not going anywhere, Bloody Mary!” Bolt peered briefly over his right shoulder, and then uttered a curse,
Shit! before he started to run. He quickly started down the stairs. “Go away! I’m not gonna fight you, you maniac!”
And the chase was on. Taeto abandoned his preemptive strike in order to keep up. He felt himself gaining on the guy.
He grinned largely at the insult.
“I’m guessing those useless muscles are weighing you down,” he chuckled.
Bolt
bolted through the EXIT doorway that a door hadn’t been attached to yet. He couldn’t believe this was happening. This was so stupid, and if he planned to fight him in front of Mr. Grizzly, then he was going to be pissed—and so was his boss. “You can’t keep chasin’ me! It makes you look gay!”
He turned left toward one of the open windows, lacking a window installment. There was a window chute extending four stories to the ground. Bolt hopped out the window and slid down the chute turned sideways and in a crouch. His left arm was stretched out for balance and his right clutched his yellow hardhat. His orange ponytail fluttered behind him as he bore his teeth in panic.
Ohshitohshitohshitohshit! Right before he reached the bottom, he jumped off, dropped to his feet and rolled to break his fall and the momentum. Springing back to his feet, Bolt made a dash for Mr. Grizzly who was leaning over the rail with his big sharp teeth bared as though he was going to eat him alive.
“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED UP THERE, PATCH!?” Mr. Grizzly boomed.
“There’s this weird fella’ chasin’ me!” Bolt reported before he raced up the porch and hid behind the bear. “He trynna’ fight me for some reason.”
Mr. Grizzly growled, leaned off the railing and turned around to gaze at the kid hiding behind him. “I DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT! WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE BEAM? YOU COULD HAVE CAUSED AN ACCIDENT!”
He was so hot on the mouse’s heels that he could almost wrench him back by his girlish ponytail. In fact Taeto had tried twice on the way down but failed both times.
“ Come on, gramps, stop struggling!” He fell into a sideways roll once they reached the end of the chute, skidding to a stop in the midst of a bunch of workers. He just barely caught sight of him as the man dashed towards the grizzly foreman of Quad C for shelter.
You’re not safe yet, buddy. It had not escaped him that the situation had changed. However, all it needed now was a bit of finessing.
“Could have?!” Taeto said aloud.
“I’d say he did cause one. I mean what kind of competent worker causes all that big of a ruckus. Not to mention...” Taeto eye’d Bolt mischievously as he rubbed his arms.
“I think I was injured during the whole mess. Bear Guy, that can’t get the company in trouble can it? Maybe I should call a Budd Bot over and ask it.” A rumbling growl escaped Mr. Grizzly as he turned toward the kid with the…monkey tail. He stared at the boy’s tail for a long moment until Taeto attempted to scare him with his bullshit. The bear pointed a clawed finger at Taeto. “YOU CALL A BUDD BOT, AND I’LL TELL IT YOUR MEASLY-ASS WAS TRESPASSING! AND YOU STILL ARE! WHY DON’T YOU BEAT IT KID!”
Bolt peeked from around Mr. Grizzly’s hip to give Taeto a
victorious grin.
That mocking smile had flipped Taeto's switch.
His excitement was now boiling with anger. The tail that the foreman was staring at had lashed out at the ground with heavy
THUD!, showcasing the strength it possessed. Taeto’s mischievous gaze had evened out into indifference. His smile now a soft line on his adolescent face.
He sauntered toward the two without hesitation.
“If you touch me I’m going to put you down,” he said specifically to the bear.
“Bolt, you’re not getting out of this. I’ll tear this all this down if that’s what it takes. You know that I can.” He wasn’t necessarily lying, it would just take some time and grit. He stopped mere inches from the grizzly foreman, his fist balled and ready to strike.
Mr. Grizzly hunched his hulking form over to peer down at the boy. His snout wrinkled, maw rolling back to reveal his dagger-like teeth as he growled, “YOU BEST MOVE ALONG BOY BEFORE I SEND YOU BACK TO YOUR MAMA!”
A sweat bead drooped down the side of Bolt’s head as he stared at the back of Mr. Grizzly. Had the boss not seen how he held the beam and put a hole in the ground with his tail? “Hey, don’t make’im angry, Boss. Just call a Budd Bot or somethin’. He’s gotta screw loose and he’s pretty dangerous!”
Mr. Grizzly turned his head over his shoulder and snarled at Bolt, “YOU BROUGHT HIM IN HERE PATCH! YOU SHOULD GET RID OF HIM! I DON’T WANNA ACIDENTALLY BREAK HIS TINY BONES!”
Bolt’s ponytail could have stood straight up in shock. “WHAT?! I didn’t bring’im in here! I don’t even know the guy. He just started attackin’ me!”
Mr. Grizzly growled again and turned his attention back to Taeto.
“I’m giving you till the count of three, Mr. foreman. One.” Taeto begun, his right foot taking a definitive step back.
Bolt was starting to sweat at Taeto’s threat. He rested a hand on Mr. Grizzly’s hip, trying to pull the hulking bear back.
“Uh, Boss, y’know maybe yer right. I can handle’im. Don’t worry 'bout it,” Bolt assured.
The bear’s big black snout nearly jabbed Bolt in his eye when it swung around. His fish breath blasted in Bolt's face like a blow dryer of funk.
“YOU CALLING ME WEAK?” the bear bellowed.
Bolt’s eyes turned red and started to water. He turned his face away and began rubbing at his eyes.
The bear faced Taeto and trudged closer to him. “I COULD SNAP THIS KID IN TWO!”
Taeto’s jaw tightened at the frustration of having to go so far. His left fist became rigid as he pulled it back chest-level.
”TWO!” he yelled, reassuring himself that he
would throw the punch.
Bolt poked his head passed Mr. Grizzly and angrily yelled, “Just piss off ya damn dirty ape!”
Why don’t they ever heed the warning. “Three,” he said with finality. While simultaneously thrusting his fist quicker-than the average eye could perceive into the grizzly’s thick-furred gut. Within its heavy folds, he forced the friction between the punch and its impact forth, his balled fist rotating, a gust of air disturbing the staleness.
Mr. Grizzly’s eyes bulged and his cheeks inflated with air. Bolt blankly glanced at Taeto’s fist and then up at his boss’s face. The large bear folded over, dropped to his knees, and buried his face into the porch. Bolt’s mouth fell open in
stunned silence.
“Did you just kill my boss!?” Bolt exclaimed.
He rested his hands on the bear’s back and shook him. He received no response. Retracting his hands, Bolt inhaled deeply and exhaled a long exasperated sigh.
“All right. You gon’an done it,” Bolt growled. “Ain’t nobody hit the man who pays me and get away wit’ it.”
Bolt grasped his hard hat by the bill, removed it from his head, and placed it down on the back of Mr. Grizzly’s head. He then turned to face Taeto, his orange brows knitted in a scowl. His fingers curled into his palms, balling into large fists. The bones in his hands cracked softly as a cool gust spiraled up his body causing his white, sweat-stained tank and bladed bangs to ripple. Behind his head, his ponytail whipped behind him much like monkey boy’s tail did in his excitement. A power surged through his veins, causing his chest to inflate with his energized breaths.
“If itsa’ fight you want. You gonna get it,” he growled.
Bolt’s left foot slid a foot forward, his right remained where it was as he raised his arms. His arms curled at the elbows. His fists rose to his face resting against his mouth as his blue eyes fiercely peered over them. The teen facing Taeto seemed to be a whole different person.