Seamus picked up the large stone at his feet and cradled it above his head to deliver a massive deathblow to the RC car lying upside down on the grass. The anguished screams of a young girl of about 7 were deafening his right ear from her shrill pitch, but his friend was securely keeping her in place with an effective arm lock. He gave Seamus a nod with a wicked smile. Do it.
"You're always playing with such stupid toys, Emmanuelle," Seamus sneered. "What's a girl like you messin' with stuff like this?" He loved the way the weight of the rock felt. He couldn't wait to smash the little metal rustbucket beneath him, but he had to savor his victory first.
The wailing blonde girl squirmed and struggled against her aggressor with little result. "DON'T YOU DARE, SEAMUS. I BUILT THAT. I AM GOING TO TELL MR. BAKER ON YOU!"
Dominic smirked in disbelief as he kept her arm pinned behind her back. "You did not make that. You bought that dumb thing from Toys 'R Us or something."
Seamus smiled sardonically to her streaming eyes. "Wherever you got it, it is going back to mother earth....because I'm going to pound it into the dirt." His arms were trembling from the weight of the rock above his head and he was ready to bring it down to crush. The trembling felt good. It hurt a little, but he felt a rush of adrenaline as the boulder began dropping at terminal velocity towards his target -
Seamus felt the earth teeter 90 degrees as he fell hard onto his right side. The tinker-toy murder weapon fell harmlessly onto the soft ground just besides the car. Dominic froze in place with his mouth gaping open which gave Emmanuelle the opportunity to elbow him in the stomach with her free arm and escape his grasp. He crumpled to the ground in a heap not far from Seamus. Emmanuelle turned to see her RC car untouched with a boy holding a trash can lid standing over Seamus.
His face was flushed out of anger and haste. His hair a brown tangled mess and a pudgy body that would even out in height in his later years. His friends at the table he was sitting at 30 seconds ago were eagerly looking over at the kerfuffle, pointing and covering their mouths in astonishment. One boy was laughing and cracked a lame joke about taking the garbage out.
This boy picked up Emmanuelle's RC car, dusted it off and handed it to her without a word. His impromptu weapon of choice was still in his off-hand, unbeknownst to him still. His adrenaline was still pumping strong, but it felt good to hold onto something - to squeeze something. She mouthed a nearly silent "Thanks, Gilles" with her lips, while the boy gave her an awkward smile and nodded. He turned back to return to his friends at the table while Seamus and Dominic brushed themselves off and muttered something about how lucky it is to have friends.
Monte braced every ounce of his weight against his extendable shield as the 3 operators slammed into it, trying to break his balance. He was outnumbered, outgunned, outmanned. His arms were getting heavier and heavier, and the corner he was backed into gave no indication of escape. Every blow against the metal wall separating him and his enemies caused one more black spot to appear his vision.
Just before he fell unconscious, he dreamt of a long distant memory from grade school...