Chaos and Chance

Tweet Here's my attempt for this week's Fiction Friday challenge on the Write Anything blog, also submitted to the Friday Flash collection. The prompt was;

In her right hand a woman holds a loaded gun, in her left, a coin that just came up ‘tails’.

The silver coin flashed in the air, a disc of light that flipped and landed in her waiting left palm. Her right hand gripped the revolver swiped from Sarah's antique shop.

Temper flared behind her eyes as she stared at the coin. Instead of looking down at the profile of the Queen, she saw only the ring of dolphins on the 'tails' side of the 50p.

"Tails again?"

Andrew shifted in his chair slightly. The ropes binding his arms behind his back chafed with the movement. He smiled, despite the pain. Sheila tossed him a filthy look.

"That must be the eighth tails in a row, isn't it?"

"This isn't fair!"

"Just face it, Sheila. You don't have it in you to shoot me. You have to pretend you're some stupid supervillain and flip a coin," he said. "You want to be able to blame it on chance, but even that's not on your side. You have to take responsibility for your actions, you know."

"I'm not Sheila, I am Chaos," she replied. She tugged on the hem of her costume's skirt to prove it. The cheap black vinyl made her skin itch, even through the tights.

"Rubbish. You're not Chaos, you're just angry I left you," said Andrew. "Are you really surprised I walked out? Jenny would certainly never be seen dead in that get up."

"Talk back to me again and she will be seen dead," replied Sheila. She pulled herself up to her full height of 5ft 4ins, hoping she looked imposing. She remembered to thrust out her chest and planted her hands on her hips.

"Oh shut you, you silly cow. You don't know what you're doing - you're a real amateur at this, do you know that? You've even gone for the hero stance instead of the villain hunch."

"Shut up, Andy. Just...shut up." Sheila let her shoulders sag.

"That's your big witty comeback? Pathetic. It's all so ironic. You're doing this to punish me, aren't you? You're punishing me for leaving you for someone else. Yeah, I cheated, aren't I a bad guy? But what you don't get is that if I'm a bad guy, and you punish me, then that makes you a hero, not a villain."

"Shut up!" Sheila banged the revolver on the desk beside her. She jumped at the sudden slam of metal against wood, but Andrew barely flinched.

"No, I won't shut up. God, Sheila, you just haven't thought this through, have you? You call yourself Chaos, but then you do something you've clearly spent time planning. Not very chaotic, is it?"

"It is chaotic! Your life depends on the random flip of a coin!" Sheila stamped her foot.

"Eight flips is hardly random. What are you going for, best of twenty?"

"Stop right there!"

The door to the basement flew open. A tall figure with a mane of red hair stood in the doorway. One hand rested on her hip, while she held up the other in some kind of 'stop' gesture. She strode down the stairs. Sheila gawped at the white Lycra catsuit and white domino mask.

"Jennifer? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Andrew.

"I am not Jennifer. I am the Angel of Order," replied the newcomer. "And I'm here to defeat Chaos, wherever I find it!"

Andrew groaned. His ex-wife and current girlfriend struck amateur fighting poses beneath the striplight. He rolled his eyes, wondering where he could find a normal woman.