The WIT-nesses: Hostages (My Art-Fiction-Witness Contest Entry)

(Original hand-drawn picture)

"Sir, there's an hostage situation at the Steem Mall", Stella announced, walking into the office of the Prime Minister.

Ned, the Prime Minister of Steemaria, who had been looking through the glass and enjoying the view of the Content Lake behind his office, while sipping on a cup of freshly brewed coffee,turned around slowly, then facing the defense secretary, Stella, he said, "Call in the Hostage Rescue Team or something. I don't know why you're telling me this".

"I dont think you understand the gravity of the situation, sir, ", Stella frowned " The perpetrator of this attack is Jeremy"

"Jeremy?", He shivered, spilling his coffee in the process, "I thought he was in jail?"

"So did everyone, until this morning when news came in of his attack on steem mall but turns out he escaped prison yesterday night", she said, handing him a picture of a CCTV footage of Jeremy leaving the Steem Federal Jail (SFJ)

"How is this even possible?", Ned aked with surprise "The SFJ is supposed to be a high security prison. It's impossible to break out from"

"Well if anybody can break out from a high security facility like SFJ, it's Jeremy and he already has." Stella sighed "Now its our duty to stop the teenage maniac from wreaking havoc again."

"What are his demands?", Ned inquired.

"He's asking for 40 million sbd and 20 million steem. He demands the ransom in 24 hours and did I tell you Dr. Block trades is among his hostages?"

"He has Dr. Block trades as an hostage? Is he crazy?", Ned exclaimed and Stella gave him the "duh" face.

Of course, Jeremy was goddamn crazy. Though just 15 years old, he was the most dangerous criminal in Steemaria and had been on the SBI (Steem Bureau of Investigation) most wanted list since he was 13. After being captured last month, everyone thought they had heard the last of him until now.

"Dr. Block trades is very vital to our nation and we can't lose him. The Hostage Rescue team can't stop Jeremy and we defintely can't give him the money hes asking for." Stella explained.

"There's only on way to stop him" Ned sighed, sitting on the edge of his desk, "Call in the WIT-nesses"

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Jerry Banfield drove his red Ferrari to the defence headquaters, the Pyramid. He'd received a call from the defence minister while on his was to the park with his daughter and wife. Though angry about his family time being disrupted, he knew his duty to protect Steemaria was important, especially with a maniac like Jeremy walking free. He parked the Ferrari next to a Black Camry and head up to the Pyramid.

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"Hey buddy", Curie hollered as Jerry walked through the door.

"Long time, no see, huh?", Jerry said shaking Curie's hand with a beaming smile.

Jerry always seemed to be smiling. He was just one of those people who were happy most of the time.

" Detective Banfield, Colonel Curie", Stella said as she walked into the room "Thanks for coming"

"Always a pleasure", Curie said.

Switching to a serious face Stella began " Like I've already informed both of you, the teenage maniac you helped us capture just last month is now on the loose. We don't know how he escaped prison but we're not surprised he could. This morning, he attacked the Steem mall and for the first time, he's not working alone"

A picture appeared on the screen.

" Sir Solomon Sticks, popular gang leader", Curie exlaimed, recognising the face.

"Yes", Stella affirmed, nodding "They're both in this together and since Sir Sticks is involved, we expect there would be a lot of goons around".

"We shouldn't have too much trouble getting past them", Jerry smirked to Curie

"Aye", Curie said " I'm only worried about Jeremy. It took us months and months of sleepless nights and planning to catch him last time out and this time, we've got just 24 hours"

"We better stack up our ammos and get to work then" Jerry heaved " Wait, where's Feruz?".

Feruz, Special Agent Good Karma, was the third member of the WIT-nesses special ops team.

"Agent Good Karma wasn't able to make it. He's in Lisbon for Steemfest".

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Jerry pulled up the minivan in the woods just behind the Steem Mall.

"We'll have to walk from here", he said to Curie.

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"Did you hear that?", A white man with a British accent said to his friend, pulling out his gun.

"Hear what?", The black guy responded, confused.

The white guy fell to the ground with a thud and just as the black guy turned around to pull out his guy, a bullet hit him at his temple.

"Nice shot", Curie smiled to Jerry, who returned a grin as they moved forward.

"Shush", Curie said as they approached the stair case. He went up the stairs and three bodies rolled down in quick succession. He whistle to signal that Jerry could come and Jerry went up the stairs.

"HQ, Agent Curie here. Where are the hostages?", Curie whispered into his walkie talkie

"Fifth floor. The lobby of Steem Power Cinema", a feminine voice answered on the other end "By the way, I'm not HQ. My code name is Geekgirl"

Jerry Shrugged and Curie responded "Okay GEEKGIRL, we're headed up. Any info?."

"Yeah. I'm logged into the cctv cameras in the mall and from what I can see, you have to take out about twenty guys before you get there. Goodluck", she said

"We'll need", Curie said, raising his gun and putting the walkie-talkie in its pouch.

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They both pulled their triggers and two men fell.

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Jerry docked the bullet and returned a shot at the black man approaching him while Curie sprayed five guys with bullet and more bodies rolled down.

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As they reached the fifth floor, they were greeted with bullets. Curie grunted.

"Are you okay", Jerry asked

"Yeah, I guess", Curie answered in pain, holding his arm where he had been shot.

The had taken cover behind a metal bin. More bullets ricocheted off the metal before Jerry stood and fired in retaliation while Curie left the cover and ran forward, shooting. When the shooting ended, seven men lay dead on the red rug. They headed towards the Lobby and as they entered, a bomb went off, throwing them of their feet.

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"Curie", Jerry whispered.

Curie coughed and opened his eyes to see Jeremy standing right in front of him with a menacing grin. He had had them tied up to chairs and now they were two of his many hostages.

"Hello", Jeremy shrieked in ecstasy, grinning like an imbecile " Welcome to my little party. Having fun?"

Jerry and Curie stared at him without responding.

"Have you no mouths?", Sir Sticks croaked stepping forwards and landing punches on the faces of both men.

"That's no way to treat our guests, Sticks", Jeremy said, then facing Jerry and Curie "I'm sorry. He lacks manners"

"I'm sorry too", Jerry said as he stood with the chair and turned, letting it hit sticks in the process. He had untied himself, then raising his hands "that your men can't tie knots properly".

Six men ran forward, forming a circle around Jerry and Curie, who had already picked up Sticks gun. Jeremy backed out of the circle, smiling.

Standing with six guns pointed at them and Curie wielding the only gun for them, Jerry whispered,"Can you take out all six of em?"

"Yeah, But you'll be dead by then and I might too", Curie grinned.

"I'll take my chances", Jerry heaved.

The guns went of and as if on cue, Jerry and Curie slid dodging the guns, letting the goons ex themselves out and Curie shot the last one of them. Just as he and Jerry stood up, a gunshot went off and a chandelier crashed to the ground causing the hostages around to shriek in fear as the pieces of glass shattered as they avalanched.

Jeremy was holding Dr. Blocktrades by the neck and pressing a gun to his temple. "I'll shoot him and yunno it"

Curie crouched to drop the gun he was holding.

"No. Don't drop it." Jeremy whined "Shoot yourself"

"What?", Jerry said in surprise looking at the top to bottom window.

Just as Jeremy looked behind him, glass shattered letting a man in black swing in, feet first, and hit him right in the face. He and Dr. Block trades fell to the ground and he lost grip of his gun. Pushing Dr. Block trades away, he scrambled for the gun and just as he stretched to pick it, a foot kicked it away and as he looked up to see who it was, the foot slammed into his face, knocking him out.

The man in black turned around and Curie and Jerry smiled. It was Special Agent Good Karma. But it wasn't he who had taken Jeremy out, it was Dr. Block trade.

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(Digitally edited version of my drawing)

CAST (in order of appearance)

@stellabelle as Stella
@Ned as Prime Minister Ned
@jerrybanfield as Detective Jerry
@curie as Conlonel Curie
@geekgirl as geekgirl
@ajremy as Jeremy
@sirsticks as Sir Solomon Sticks
@blocktrades as Dr Block Trades
@good-karma as Feruz "Special Agent Good Karma

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THE WITNESSES

The team behind the scene and never seen,
But work had day and night to keep steemit alive.
And though almost unnoticed and unseen,
They're the reason steemit can survive.

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Author's Note

Hey,

It took me the whole day to write this story and draw the picture then edit it but I hope it makes the cut for the contest but whatever the result, I really want to say a big thank you to @geekgirl for this exciting and demanding contest. . I wanted to end the story at 1k words but well, I couldn't stop till I reached 1.4k+ words. I decided to add other steemians, apart from witnesses to my cast and decided to add @curie too (though he's not a featured witness) because I love his worķ . I decided not to draw what the witnesses really look like but to create an imaginary image of them and after drawing, I edited digitally but posted both images. I have to say it was really an adventure and being and artist and a writer, I felt this competition was meant for me. And just to make it a complete treble of art, prose and poetry, I decided added the poem at the end. I hope you love it and don't forget to vote for a witness today