The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back by Christopher Helwink

his work, Jones barely noticed
Charlie approaching. Still giving out orders and admiring what was
going on, Jones was in his own world. Charlie walked up behind
Jones and stood there for a second. When he realized he wasn’t
going to be acknowledged, Charlie let out a small cough to get
Jones’s attention.
    Jones spun around and saw Charlie standing
there. Jones was a bit puzzled as to what he was doing here.
    “Thompson,” Jones simply stated, “what are
you doing here?”
    “I did some digging around, Phillip,” Charlie
started, “seems you didn’t file the proper permits to start your
work here today,” Charlie paused there and handed Jones the
paperwork he had been carrying. Before Jones could read it, Charlie
added “I’m shutting you down.”
    Jones let out a huge laugh. “You can’t be
serious!” he said. The laugh continued.
    “Completely serious,” Thompson returned. He
stood there, very confident and not intimidated by Jones.
    “What will you do, Charlie? Take this to
court? You will lose millions!” Jones said joyfully. He got great
amusement in Charlie’s vein attempt to thwart him. Jones remembered
Charlie fondly from their days back in politics. When Jones became
mayor of Elmcrest and Charlie was voted out of office. That’s when
Charlie lost his loving, caring Elmcrest and it was replaced by
Jones’s cold, faceless Elmcrest.
    “You forget, Jones, I ran this town before
you did. I know some people,” Charlie answered.
    “Ha! You’re people are now my people,”
Jones scowled.
    “We’ll see about that, Jones. We’ll see about
that,” Charlie came back – still with no intimidation towards
Jones. There was silence between the two and a long, dark stare
down proceeded. Jones’s smile began to disappear and was replaced
by his evil snarl.
    “But, for now,” Charlie said, “You’re
shutdown. Get these trucks out of here. Immediately!”
    Jones didn’t answer Charlie right away. He
just stood there, starring at him, and thinking. He thought back to
a time, not too long ago, when his plans for this same park were
blocked, mysteriously, and all of a sudden. Jones started to piece
things together. He took a step closer to Charlie, trying to
intimidate him.
    “This is the second time you and that kid
have stopped me with Maple Forest, isn’t it?” Jones asked of
Charlie. Charlie, unable to help it, didn’t answer Jones – but he
did let out a smile that gave Jones his answer. “You must be
protecting something very valuable.”
    “I am. The future leader of this town,”
Charlie answered.
    Jones let out a grunt. Charlie’s smile just
got bigger. Jones’s temper started to boil over – you could see it
in his eyes. Jones realized, once again, he had lost in his attempt
to take over Maple Forest. His fists were balled up tightly and his
teeth clenched. The anger consumed him, but Jones knew there was
nothing he could do.
    “You win this round, but, consider this your
warning, Thompson,” Jones said – pointing a finger at Charlie. “I will get even with you…”
    Charlie didn’t answer Jones’s threat. He just
stood there and continued to stare down Jones.
    Jones, for the first time in a long time, was
the first to flinch. He turned away from Charlie, and radioed his
men.
    “Shut it down, men. We have been shut down,”
Jones said over his radio. He walked away from Charlie and
proceeded out of Maple Forest to his waiting limo. He got in, never
looked back, and drove off.
    Within minutes, the crews and trucks started
to leave Maple Forest. The big, loud machines, backed out of the
park. The damage was done, though, as the ball field was filled
with deep tire treads and the grass was torn out in most areas.
    Only three trees were taken down in
centerfield – not nearly enough to cause any danger to the secret
entrance to The Playground.
    As the last of the trucks and men exited out
of Maple Forest, Kid Combat, Samantha, and Gears, walked up to
Charlie.
    “Ah, there you