Glenn could see his breath in the air as winter’s chill began to set in for the night. His love for the cold always made him the top choice for nights like tonight. Being a bouncer came with its perks. Tons of interesting people to meet and observe, free drinks, great performances, it had become one of his favorite jobs he’d ever worked.

Tonight, the club had one of its regular performances going on. The actor putting on a show tonight easily ranked best among all the performances he’d watched at his time with the club. It helped too that the girl running the stage was very pleasant. Even on nights like tonight, she found a way to cut through the cold and warm his heart. He found himself admiring her as she became a regular performer.

“Can I see your ID?” Glenn asked as a young woman walked up to him. She just nodded and handed it over. It was definitely real and the information checked out, she was old enough to go in. “Alright, you’re good to-”

A couple clubbers came sprinting out through the door. They were clearly panicked but Glenn couldn’t get anyone to stop. The line to enter took note and scattered as well. He hesitated for a moment, but went inside amidst the chaos. A staff room was near the entrance, perfect for him to slip into and assess the situation.

Inside, there were classic security cameras watching good chunks of the club. He thanked the club owner for actually listening to him when he suggested upgrading to quality cameras. Glenn was sometimes a little paranoid, but it sure did come in handy. Especially now that he could see one of the intruders heading towards the dressing room.

“Okay, so with any luck someone has locked those doors.” He muttered to himself, “But even with the time that buys me, I’ll have to make it through several dozen men, who all have guns. And I have no weapons and no support. What am I gonna-” He cut himself off to look at his phone. It had seventeen missed calls all from the same person. It seemed she had already been one step ahead of him.

Glenn’s phone began to ring again and he sighed before picking up, “Glenn speaking, who’s calling today?”

“Oh darling, you haven’t forgotten the love of your life have you? I know you recognize my number silly. I hear you got some trouble going on at work?”

“Yep, that’s why I picked up. I’m sure you’ve got me bugged or whatever and right now, I don’t care. I need your help.”

“Aww I am absolutely honored, my love. What can ole Quinn do for you today?”

“I need someone to stay patched in on the cameras, feed me intel, you know the sort of job.”

“Ooh you know I would be more than happy to feed you-”

“Quinn, now is not the time. Will you help or not?”

“On one condition, hotshot.”

“What do you want?” Glenn let out in an exasperated tone.

“I want a whole day of you to myself. We can go out on the town, have some fun, enjoy a cute date. You can help test my waterproof mattress cov-”

“Fine. Just please, stop talking. Time’s ticking,” She let out a squeal of glee. “Just let me get you patched into-”

“I’m already in. Don’t waste your precious time. Speaking of, you’ve got a guy coming from behind. Door furthest to you.”

Glenn grabbed the knife from his belt and threw it at the door. The distance was just right that as soon as the door opened, it struck the gunman in the chest. He collapsed to the floor, stunned and in pain. Glenn took his knife back and grabbed the gun off of him as well.

“Thanks Quinn. Proud of you for not making the obvious follow-up. You’ll earn this date yet.”

“Oh don’t worry, I was definitely thinking it. But you make a better date alive than dead.”

Glenn made his way out of the security room and down the hallway.

“You’ve got two coming from the left corridor and one more in a room on the right about 5 meters down. Three, two, one.”

Right on cue, the two intruders walked around the corner and two well placed shots brought them down. The third sprinted out with their gun raised, but their reaction time wasn’t good enough. Especially not when Glenn had all the intel ahead of time.

“Alright, you’re almost there. They’ve only got one person posted on the door to the dressing room. However, they found the guy in the security room. It's about to get real loud if you don’t hurry.”

“Got it, thanks Q.”

“Eeeek. You’re giving me nicknames now? I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

Glenn sighed to himself. After rounding a corner, it was a straight shot to get to the dressing rooms. The same time the door was in sight, one of the gunmen had finally kicked the door down. He picked up his pace. It only took a couple seconds to get to the door’s threshold.

“His back’s turned to you Glenn. You’ve got the perfect window to slip in behind him.”

Glenn easily popped inside and dispatched the lonely gunman. The room, however, was empty.

“Hey, Ms. Jones, are you around here? It’s me, Glenn. I need to get you out of here okay? Just come out, we don’t have much time.”

“Yep that was the trigger word, you’ve got a handful of them about to hit you from both sides. Give it maybe five seconds. Keep your head on a swivel.”

“Alright, if you’re in here Ms. Jones, disregard what I said. I’ve gotta bounce a couple guys real quick.”

“Wow so you’ll bounce some men you don’t know but I have to fight to get a date with you? Hardly seems fair.”

Glenn fumed within his head for a moment. Nothing felt like a kick in the ass quite like flubbing what was supposed to be a clever line. Unluckily for the half dozen armed men, he now had a series of targets to take the frustration out on. He stood out of sight on the far end of the room. In a couple moments, the attackers were now spread out across the room searching for him.

One of them rounded the column that he was standing behind. Glenn threw his body weight into a punch that disoriented the unsuspecting hired gun. His other arm then grabbed a hold of the gun in his opponent’s hand. In their surprise, they squeezed the trigger but it just shot into the ground instead of Glenn. A quick twist caused the gun to fall to the ground. In a flash, Glenn kicked the attacker away, then shot him multiple times at center mass.

Another one rushed in hopes to catch him off-guard or at least get him out in the open. This backfired, however, as Glenn pushed into him, baiting out some shots from the rest of the room. They took the bait before realizing it was one of theirs they were shooting. With them distracted, a couple well placed shots brought down four more, leaving only one left.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Alright look, consider me out of this. Here.” He tossed his gun to the side and rounded the corner of the other column in the room, “Just let me go, and, and, and-”

At the same time, Ms. Jones came out of one of the lockers she had stuffed herself in.

“You made the right choice this time. Don’t make me regret it.” Without a word, the now unarmed gunman ran out the door and disappeared. He turned to look at the girl, “Are you okay, Ms. Jones?”

“Physically or mentally? Because one is a hell of a lot better than the other.”

“Fair enough. Dumb question, I know, but if you’re not hurt then we can get out of here ASAP.”

“Yeah, then I’m fine,” she paused for a beat, “Wait aren’t you the bouncer out front? What are you doing in here, going all John Wick on these guys?”

“It is a long story. One that we don’t have time for, so let’s get out and maybe I’ll bore you with it sometime.”

“Hey save it for later, loverboy. You’ve got your date with me first. Plus, you’re about to have a whole lot more people after you if you don’t dip out now.” Quinn chimed in over his earpiece.

“Alright, thanks for the heads up. Hey, Ms. Jones, we need to leave now. Stay as close as you can behind me.”

“Loud and clear. Also, it's Daisy, by the way. I don’t need the formality.”

Glenn nodded and the two made their way out into the hallway. An emergency exit was pretty close by, they just had to make it about ten meters down.

“I don’t see anyone on the approach or waiting outside. Hurry, and you’ll be just fine Glenn.”

“Thanks Q.”

Glenn and Daisy made it outside without any resistance. Once outside, there were multiple police and SWAT vehicles. They approached whoever looked like they were in charge. Glenn made sure they got Daisy a trauma blanket as they performed their normal health checks. He also gave them as much information as he could on the situation inside in hopes of helping out.

“Hey, Glenn, thank you. You risked your life for me. So uhh, maybe next time I have a show somewhere fun, I can get you backstage. It's not much, but I don’t have much to offer you.”

“You know what? That sounds great. Don’t stress about it too much though. I just repaid your kindness in the first place. Just, don’t let this stop you from creating and performing.”

Daisy smiled at him. He had almost forgotten that Quinn was still listening.

“Aww you’re so cute my dear. A pretty girl offers you backstage access and you handled it so sweetly.”

“Yeah yeah, I get it. Fawn over me all you want. You’ve earned it for helping me out back there. You did good, Quinn.”

“Wow, didn’t expect you to praise me so much. I might have to help you out more often.”

“Don’t let it get to your head.”

“I would never,” she let out with a dramatic gasp. “So, how about that date?”