Under Twin Suns...
 

OOC: Yes, I'm finally starting this RP. Been really busy and not much in the
mood to roleplay lately, but by golly - I know how much you all have been
waiting for me to do something with this story idea (especially Shien.....).
Basic Rule To Remember: Don't post your signatures, please.

BIC:

As the grand Sandsteamer known as "New Horizon" began pulling into the
station at August City, and the usual hubbub that arose from it arriving
already into full heated furvor, most of the departing passengers couldn't
seem to sense that something wasn't right in August. Sure folks did their
best to be friendly and welcome the newcomers and all returning citizens,
but they seemed to be giving false smiles and were a bit uncomfortable.
Into this strange atmosphere, the marksman Holly Jackson plunged, in the
hopes of pursuing the chance to get herself a good job and some money.
It had been a while since with a heavy heart she'd heard about the "5th
Moon Incident" and that everyone considered Vash the Stampede to be
deceased. Having learned from his example to treat others well, that all
life is precious, Holly had fallen into a major depression for a while over it
and almost gave up all hope of ever living a life of meaning or being able
to one day meet her beloved idol face-to-face. So when she discovered
a poster advertising a need for expert marksman in August, she decided
that it might be worth her while to check out and possibly do her good.

Exhausted from her long trip there, Holly decided to go to a local inn and
spend the rest of the day napping. After paying for her room, she felt a
strange desire to go look around the inn's "Lucky Thomas" tavern. A lot
of oddball patrons were hanging around, even some creepy guy dressed
in some kind of white labcoat and a black Australian-style hat. And he
wasn't welcome there apparently, since most of the people there were
keeping distance from the table where he sat with a drink in his hand.
Not afraid of any kind of scum that she came accross, Holly promptly
sat down at the table next to where the stranger was seated.....and
ordered a glass of ice tea from a nervous waiter who'd snuck over.

Trundell glanced over at the woman who had sat down next to him. His eternally fixed smile, when added to the softness of his face, seemed to give him an almost friendly look. The feeling that seemed to seep out of him, however, was pure venom. Every movement, every breath seemed to be aimed at killing everyone in the tavern. He shrugged to himself and took a gulp of his drink, then looked at the waiter who had scurried in from nowhere "Refill." he said, in a voice that seemed to taint the very air around him.

Holly found this stranger to be quite interesting, and as she sipped her tea,
she wondered how she might engage this fellow in a friendly conversation.
Suddenly, in came some goth-like young man with long silver hair tipped in
black (apparently dyed) and hurried up to the stranger sitting at the table.
The more she saw of his face, the more Holly could tell that he was some
relation of the labcoat-wearing man. But what scared the crap out of her
when she noticed it, was that this young man held in one hand a very big,
sinister-looking and ornate scythe. On top near the blade there was a large
spearhead point, which had some red ribbons attached to it. The teen was
out of breath from hurrying to the tavern, and had to stop a few moments
to catch his breath before speaking with his companion. Though he tried to
speak softly, Holly managed to make out most of what the young man was
saying... Rather odd things, including something about "some turd accidently pissed-off Dangol and is now a smear on some wall in the city". He chuckled a bit darkly after relating that part, then let out a sigh.
Brushing aside a few wisps of his hair that had gotten in his face, the teen spoke to everyone.

"Would you crapdrinkers quit being so damn negative and show respect?
You're lucky my big bro here is in a good mood today, otherwise he'd be
cleaning your guts off the bottom of his boot in a matter of minutes. So
just quit being so damn rude to him and treat him the way that you treat
any other newcomer in this place. Or are you all a bunch of assholes?!?
Heh... I thought August was the 'city of opportunity'. Maybe I'm wrong."

Immediately after he gave this speech, the bartender, waiters, and the
patrons all began to act more at ease (though still with a sense of terrible
uncomfortableness from the young man's comment on "cleaning off guts").
Satisfied with how much the demeanor of everyone was changing, he then
smirked and gave a partial salute to his older brother and went outside...

Holly (in her head): "Odd fellows, those two. Really tough, and creepy..."

Trundell chuckled and took a quick sip of his drink, then looked over at Holly and said in a casual way "My brother. Isn't he just adorable?" and then gave a small snicker before returning to his drink.

The comotion that had just finished going on stirred the slight attention of a figure, him sitting in a corner of the room, his black shades sitting upon the ridge of his nose, half way down, as if a self description of his on the tight rope wire side of snapping. Those who knew him knew to get the hell out of there when he took them off... becouse at that moment, all hell was to break loose. He sat, leaning slightly back against a wall, his blonde hair wifting as the gust brought with the new comer's entrance slwoly blew against him, dry and dead, the air smelled with the stench of the deseased. He held to his mouth a cig, the smoke billowing up slowly in curles as he breathed out, his blue eyes now watching the three sitting at the table.

A slight fluxiation, a change that none would ever notice, a very small narrowing of the eyes played across his face as he saw the three of them, his hand coming up and taking the cig, holding it there. He held upon his face a look of extreme concentration, but a softness stayed present upon it that some may not even notice such concentration. He was giving a shell of acting upon the outside of his body, his face looking relaxed and soothed, as if he was enjoying himself. Reality, could not be any farther away.

"Um... Mr?..." A small childs voice came to the ears of the seated stranger, his eyes snapping away from the three and eyeing a little boy, about the age of seven looking up at him, a look of wonder and intrigue present upon such a small little face. The figure's face changed once more as he brought the cig from his mouth and jabbed it into a closeby ashtray, the last amounts of smoke wifting away. His face hade changed, it now holding a smile upon it as well as a gleam in his eyes, the look of a friend, someone anyone could trust, a gentlness that seamed to radiate outwards. His smile was genuin, he was not acting, but his concentration was still active, he was hearing every word those three were saying...

"Mr?... Are you... a Preacher?..." The child's voice was young, the fealing of adulcense seaming to seap through, it's gender hardly distinguishable from a voice such as this, it held within it a since of innocense, something that very few had anymore. After looking aroiund and wondering what a child was doing in a bar, the man concluded that he must be the barkeaper's child. The children... maybe the children would get to see a world better than this someday... The man smiled, the child had noticed his chosen proffession easily from his looks, Black loose fitting shirt and pants, silver crusifix around his neck. He smiled, leaning over, resting his arm upon his knee in a cross fashion, the smile still present.

"What if I am?" he smiled a charming smile, seaming youth upon his face, his age looking to be about 25 or so, but none could quite be sure with people now adays, espeacially like Vash the Stampede who looked like he was in his twenties, when people had heard of him for 50 so odd years...

The child smiled, losse fitting over alls being the only clothing he wore. "Wow Mr.! I've never really met one before." With that the man's smile faided slightly but then was back again within moments. This town had no churches... so a sight like his would be odd and out of place. This town was sure different... he smiled dispite his thoughts.

"My name's Alex." he smiled. "What's your name?"

"Tim!" the child giggled slightly, such innosence...

"Well Tim, what are you doing talking to a stranger?..." he smiled slightly still.

"Well... you're... a Preacher..."

"But you didnt know that at first did you?..." His face held a small glint within his eyes, and then he gave an overly done fake scolding look. "what would your mother think?"

"Oh no! Not mom!" Tim shreiked slightly, a worried look now on his face. "Please Mr, Dont tell her!"

"I wont... but you better get on back to her! i dont want her to be worried!" he chuckled and smiled as the child ran off. He continued grinning as he watched him go off, then his frace unsoftened and he was serious once more, his peircing blue eyes instantly shifting back to th three, the cold seriousness maddening.

When he got off the Sandsteamer, he got the usual welcome from the folks of August. However that is nothing new to him since he has been traveling for weeks already, visiting every city from time to time. His black trench coat, newly bought sunglass, and fairly large guitar case got people thinking he is some sort of jazz player. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter anyways.

He pass by the swaying welcoming crowd and head over to a nearby Sheriff office which is just across the street. When he came in the sheriff at his desk kept one eye on him, knowing that he rarely gets any visitors. The man didn’t bother with the sheriff and look at the bulletin board with all sorts of papers pin to it. He found what he wants and pick off a wanted poster from the board put it into his pocket. The sheriff seeing the wanted poster taken down couldn’t help but smile at the person.

“Well now…” Said the sheriff as he stood up. “Lookie here. A bounty hunter. Haven’t have see one since the Vash was off the bounty list. And I reckon was thinking that you some jazz player looking if any clubs in this here city that would want you to play.”

The man ignored him. The sheriff expecting a response scratch his head in confusion. The sheriff then took a pamphlet from his desk and hands it over him. “Ya must be new here. Well since that wanted poster just came in last week, the person ya hunting for must still be here in the city. Here a map. I hear that he was last seen west of his here city.”

He look at the map pamphlet and nod his head to the sheriff. Before he left the sheriff tap his shoulder. “Tell me young man. Wat your name?”

The man turned his head slightly. “Ash…”
Ash then took his leave.

Holly didn't like the way the man laughed at her, and was annoyed by the
air of sarcasm he gave on speaking of his brother. Whoever these two were, they certainly didn't care much for making friends with anyone. Feeling she'd spent enough time there with her ice tea, Holly decided to get up to go and check out the room she'd paid for - hoping it didn't have any bugs or other unpleasantry. So many places she'd been to in the past were pretty crappy. As she rose to her feet, she felt a slight twinge of pain in her chest, and had to stop a moment to get over the shock of it. Damn shotty workmanship. If she hadn't of been so poor, she could've afforded a better doctor to attend to the wound she'd received in a shoot-out with an old bounty's relative. Gripping the back of her chair to steady herself, she just stood there for a while and closed her eyes...calming her breathing and hoping the pain would soon go away. After several minutes, Holly felt some relief and decided she would leave now. Not being careful as she went, she accidently tripped on the edge of the chair that the hat-wearing stranger was sitting and fell to the floor with a small yelp. Rising to a crawling position, she cursed in fury.

"Damn feet 'o mine just won't do as I wish. Real sorry about that, sir. Hope
that I didn't jostle you any in my fall. I'm glad I'm not as clumsy with a gun
as I am with walking.....heh heh heh..... You wouldn't by any chance know
of where I can find a place that's hiring marksmen, would you? See ----"

*proceeds to show to him the poster that led her to ride the New Horizon*

".....says right here that someone here in August is hiring marksmen to go
and protect their merchandise while its being transported to a few places.
I aim to get that job and wow them with my badass skillz." ***smirks***

Trundell had barely lifted his glass off the table when Holly had knocked it around. He never flinched, and his smile never even flickered. He reached under her arm and gently pulled her to her feet, then said "Please be careful. Another few inchs and I'd have had to perform surgery on you." he said as he nodded his head to the large white bag under the table, which set very close to where Holly had landed. "I'm Doctor Raven. And I have no idea about any marksman recuitment. I'm simply in town for a visit." he said as he sipped his drink once more.

The figure stood from his place and walked over to the counter to order a drink. "Give me some tiquilla..." The bartender gave him an aprasing look, cleaned a glass, then nodded and started making his drinbk for him. the figure turned and leaned against the counter, looking towards the three. Who were they? He really didnt know, nor care, but he did see the amount of deadly power each held within themselves. he took his drink after the bartneder slid it to him, and he drinked, watching them. he almost wanted them to notice his watching...

"Oh, I see. Then sorry to bother you, Mr. Raven. I should ask elsewhere then. If you're a doctor, anything in particular that you might specialize in? Just, um, curious a little... I've had my share of bad luck and the need for medical help."

Feeling a bit nervous around him now, not because she didn't trust him, but because she had to open her big mouth and say what she did. He didn't need to know that she's been to a doctor often. What a dip. Regaining her cool, she rested a hand on Fiesta, her rifle, for a few moments while awaiting his reply.

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Meanwhile, back outside where he'd gone, Trundell's brother was making
his way through the city - getting all sorts of frightened looks from anyone
who caught sight of his sinister scythe that he carried. Tobias just grinned
and continued on his way, kind of delighted to see the looks on their faces.
His long, black-tipped silver hair flowing in the breeze, he seemed like some
mystical being who'd been sent from beyond the gates of hell to do a task.
Stopping to rest at a corner, Tobias caught sight of a man who appeared
to be having health trouble and was taking deep breaths to overcome pain.
Tobias casually walked up to the man and asked his wife if he was allright.
She worriedly muttered that he'd been having trouble with his heart lately,
and that her son had gone to find the local doctor to come and help him.
Kneeling down beside him, Tobias placed a hand on the man's chest & let
it stay there for a bit.....a look of concern and curious interest in his eyes.
Frowning as he removed his hand, he softly whispered in the woman's ear:

"He hasn't much time, I'm afraid. His heart's beating too fast to work right.
My brother isn't far from here. If I were to fetch him, he might be able to
save your husband from the brink of death. Be sure to keep him reclined,
in the meantime - allows blood to flow easier to the heart. Be seeing ya."

With that, Tobias rushed off to the 'Lucky Thomas' tavern to get his bro.

OOC: Shien, don't think I'm making him out to be a goody-2-shoes, okay?
There's an alterior motive at work here, and if you want to know it, PM me.

Trundell gave a half-shrug and said "I specilize on just about anything. I can even do dentistry if you need it." he said as he motioned to his half-open bag, and the dentist drill visable inside it.

Alexd smiled slightly off the corner of his mouth, slowly taking his cig from his mouth with one hand. He placed his glass down and walked over to Holly. "Here for that job too eh?"

"The medical Jack-of-all-trades, eh? That's useful. Especially with people in
need of help almost everywhere you go. You must be really busy often, then."

*hears Alex mention that he was in the city after the same job she was*

"Ah, so I'm not the only marksman who knows about this. How encouraging.
But let me tell you this, sir, I desperately need a job and I won't give up on
getting it no matter what. You can just forget that you even heard of it..."

*raises up her beloved Fiesta and cocks it, then shoulders it with a smirk*

"Me and Fiesta here can handle just about anything we come accross, and
I think I'd certainly be able to take you on in a contest of marksmanship. So
if I were you, I'd go and try looking for work elsewhere. And don't think I'd
give you the chance if I did any 'favors' for you. Come that close and you'll
be damn sure to have an immediate and violent change of gender.....heh..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Trundell's brother Tobias came sprinting into the tavern and
rushed up to his brother. Grabbing his doctor's bag, the young man took
Trundell by the arm and got him to rise. Whispering in his ear, Tobias gave
him a look of serious concern and eagerness to hasten out the door.....

"We... haven't much time, bro. If the geezer bites it, my effort's wasted.
I suggest that we get his family to bring him over to the old barn at the
end of the next street over and deal with him there. Should be sanitary."

*speaks more softly to him, hoping not to be heard by anyone around*

"...if you make it in time, you can have fun with him until he does croak.
Hell, if his kin make the dumb mistake of staying outside, then you could
let me have a little fun with him... cut him open and let me play around."

The long-haired teen had an almost demonicly hungry look about him
as he spoke with his brother, licking his lips as he added the last part.

When Ash stepped outside his sights caught Tobias. He tailed him from a distant to not get his attention. Then he saw Tobias talking to the dying man and his wife. Ash recognize the man and couldn’t help but give a slight grin.

“Hiting two birds with one stone.” Ash whispered to himself.

He kept watching from the distant until Tobias rush inside the tavern. When Tobias was out of sight, Ash made his move and walk up to the dying man. The man looked at Ash seem to give a look of being troubled. Ash lift his large guitar case upright in his arms and unlock the locks.

“Sir, I play for the living and mostly to the dying and dead. For your case it would be a for a fee that was already been paid for you…”

The man was lost in words of what Ash was talking about and trying to stay alive was his first priority than understand what the heck Ash was talking about.

Then Ash suddenly threw his guitar case the air. The case open wide in mid air which roses and rose petals came out and rain above them. Everyone looked up and wondered. Suddenly a blade sword also came out of the case and fell into Ash’s hand. Ash then spun the sword in a upright position and quickly stabbed the dying man in gut.

Before the dying man can react, Ash move the blade upward cutting his chest, throat, and face making a massive red blood spray which mix with the rose petals. Then Ash finish him off by beheading the man. The man’s wife scream in fear when her husband’s head rolled next to her feet. The crowd heard her and then saw the corpse, making everyone panic run in fear.

Alex smirked slightly hearing this remark. "Dont worry lady, i wont be trying anything." he chuckled slightly. "As for the marksmanship contest... we shall see on that one... I'm still putting in for this job, like it or not, if it comes down to such a contest, then I'm fine with that." he smiled, a rather charming smile. "Dont let my ocupation fool you... i may be a preacher... but..." he heard the sounds of the screaming croud outside. "what the hell?..."

Running out the door he gritted his teath, seeing the blood shed and the people screaming. Running up to the center of it all, he sees Ash, the wife of the man killed, and the beheaded man. "Why did you kill him?..."

"Just doing my job. The man would have died anyways, might as well end his pain. And I think death by my hands is better than the other guy's since I take no pleasure in killing."

Turn to Alex and realize how he was dressed. Ash took off his shades and threw in the ground in front of Alex.

"Forgive me Father. But there nothing in sociality that fits me that I can't murder. It will follow me. Not that you would understand me anyways. A bad habit of Sin that he couldn't get enough of."

Ash turn his back and pause for a moment. He still sees the rose petals falling from above.

"Don't hate me. For a Mercenary takes no sides. But I still would like to know why my life is different."

He takes one more look at Alex.

"I'll see you soon... I think"

Trundell's eyes narrowed sharply and he stared at Ash as he left. He turned to Tobias and said "Him. I want Him." as he grabbed his bag from Tobias. "Lets find Dangol and-" he started, as a giant crashing sound was heard. Trundell whirled around and sighed at the sight of Dangol walking down the street, his shirt and pants covered in splatters of blood. Trundell stepped out of the shadows and said "Do you always have to make such an impression?" to Dangol. Goliath's crackly, almost static-like voice responded "It's not our fault. These humans just like to stare."

Alex's hyand had twiched for a slight second, almost lowering his glasses. he then sighed and closed his eyes, then opened his eyes once morer and looked towards the woman. "I am very sorry that your husband had to die in such a way... if you wish i will perform services for him." he looked to Holly after speaking to the woman. "I may be a marksman... but I still have my duties..." he then looked off towards the direction Ash left. "What about you?... Feal like sticking around for awhile before we go to check out that offer?... or you could leave now as I stay here and do the services for this man and get a very nice head start, your choice." He gave a slight smile. "I would enjoy the comapny..."

"Dangol, you big ass! You want to get us kicked out so damn soon? Jeesh...
I thought that you'd both have some shred of common sense. I suggest that
we go find a good place to hide out and get you cleaned up before someone
comes after us. And bro, I agree with you on that guy. Pisses me off. Be nice to see his f-ing heart beat its last - whether by my doing or yours..."

Tobias seriously hoped that no one affiliated with local law enforcement was following Dangol's gargantuan bulk and wondered if there was any place at all in this city that could hide all 3 of them well enough not to get bothered. As they began to travel along the alleys in search of a hideout, Tobias felt like nervously fingering the pendant he wore around his neck - shaped like a human heart and with a knife thrust through it, the heart being painted with crimson metallic paint and the knife done in silver chrome.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The recently widowed woman agreed to Alex assisting with the burial. And
as she and her son attended to the man's remains, Holly considered Alex's
question and came up with a decision. Letting out a sigh, she replied to him.

"I suppose I can stick with ya. And I'd be glad to help out in any way I can.
Protecting the lives of innocent people is something that I make a stand on,
and seeing a tragedy like this occur really makes my blood boil. That fellow
needs to have a decent burial, even if his life might not've been so great."

Alex nodded. "ok." He gave a long sigh and helped the woman and child with the remains, and preperations. The next day he gave the services and the man's remains were barried. He smiled after it was finished, putting away his bible and picking up his bag. he waslked over to the widow and spoke to her

"Well Miss, I have some things to tend to, I'm sorry i mjust leave on such short notice, and I hope my services were of good order, as much as a traveling priest can do." He smiled again and shook the woman's hand and started away, then stopped and looked back. "You coming Holly?"

"Of course I am, Alex. Too bad these folks can't afford a better tombstone.
But that's how things how these days - ya need money even if dead..."

Stopping to pause for a moment at a fencepost near the cemetary, Holly
was having another unpleasant experience like the one she had in the bar.
It was really pissing her off now that her last brush with death left her w/
a shotty job of repairing the damage done to her. These bouts of pain not
only caused her immense discomfort, but forced her to stop whatever she
was doing just to bear it until the pain passed. It only made things worse
that in order to get rid of it all, she'd need a ton of money and a damn fine
surgeon who knows what he's doing (unlike the 1 who attended her last).
Once the pain had passed, a feeling of uncomfortableness was still in her
chest and this troubled her greatly. But she had more important things to
worry about right now and could not afford to go visit a doctor about it...

"Hope it's not too far for us to travel, Alex. I'm feeling like I might need to
retire soon to my room at the inn. Kinda feeling under the weather a bit."

Alex nodded. "I can tell..." He turned away. 'you might want to get those looked at before we have to duel one another... if we do duel, I'd like it to be as equils... and I have no entention of hurting myself so it's equil that way." he chuckled, pushing his glasses up. "lets get going, it's only a five mile's walk, we'll get their by sunsett."

A man came to the edge of the August, watching his surroundings once in awhile. When he came by a building in the back part of the city of August, he was approach by Ash from the shadows of the alley. The man jump in surprise then realize it was Ash.

“Geez, you got to stop doing that! Even in the aftermath!” The man shouted, not that Ash was even listening.

“So the money?” Ash whispered in cold way.

“Yeah, attend the man’s funeral.” The man took out a small case filled with cash and drops it next to Ash.

“10,000 double dollars. Count them if you like, it all nothing but blood money now.”
When the man said blood money it made Ash a bit depress. The man can read Ash’s face like a book and notice his change in feeling. “It was another family man wasn’t it?”

“Can’t say I like it…”

“I was thinking that you wouldn’t ever since you killed that person who had a daughter.”

“The mob boss… Sometimes I like to forget that. But today it was the same, another kid without a father except he had his mom. Tell me… whatever happen to the mob boss’s daughter?”

“No idea…”

OOC: TZM, Kei, you guys need to work on getting spelling right... And
TZM, that comment that Alex made to Holly didn't make sense a bit...

BIC:
Holly was a bit annoyed to hear Alex suggest that she attend to her
health, but since he had just met her and knew nothing of her situation,
then she had no reason to talk back at him for it. And if all went well,
she might be able to get the job she came for and be able to afford to
go see a doctor about her condition. Not sure what to say, Holly said:

"5 miles ain't too long. Wonder what kind of cargo needs protecting to
have to hire marksmen like us to guard it. Hell, might be 'living' cargo..."

OOC: Sorry, my spelling sucks..., also, he eamnt not wanting to hurt himself so the fight'd be equill

Alex nodded as they started off. "Makes me wonder as well..." he looked towards Holly and smiled. "so, howed you become a marksman?"

Trundell growled to himself as he paced the floor in the rat infested house that him, Dangol and Tobais were using as a 'hideout'. His sadistic grin still plastered to his face, he seemed slightly shaken, which was off to his character. His eyes flew about the room, and when a rat made a particularly loud noise, he spun around and threw his hand out, the rat being carved in two by a scapel. Trundell walked over and picked the scalpel up off the floor, then wiped it off on the inside of his coat.

Dangol sat in a corner wearing his 'disguise'; A brown poncho, brown jeans and huge hat that covered most of his head and shoulders in shadow. Goliath looked over at Tobais and said "Whats up his arse?" and then looked back over at Trundell. The crackle of radio was heard, then Dangol's low, dark voice rose out from the speaker on Goliath's shoulder. "Seems that fellow beating you two to the punch has upset Trundell a tad?" and then gave a hollow chuckle.

Trundell's eyes flew to Goliath and he leaped over at him, scalpel in hand. "One more word Dangol, and I'll cut you out of this cheap toy car and rip your heart out with my teeth!" as he backed off, then resumed pacing.

Dangol gave another chuckle, then sighed over the speaker. "So be it. Just seems that we should be out doing something instead of sitting here like...criminals?" then chuckled loudly.

OOC: Shien, you spelled that wrong. *sigh* It's "scalpel"

"When did I become a marksman? Heh, well, at the age of 15, actually.
Been highly gifted with any kind of gun since I was little, and it was at
that age that I decided it might be a good idea to put my skills to good
use in the world. For a while, I used to be feared for my deadly aim. But
hearing a lot about how that Vash The Stampede fellow never killed his
targets and was always preachin' about 'Love & Peace', I got interested
in adopting his way of life and soon became a master of 'non-lethal' hits.
And I've done pretty well following his example. However, all that came
crashing down last summer when the brother of some bastard I sent to
jail decided he'd try to shoot me full of holes. Got one lucky hit, then he
dropped like lead with one quick shot from 'ol Fiesta. I was in bad shape,
and if it wasn't for some doc having witnessed it all, I probably might not
have made it. Almost didn't a few times under his care, since I felt like
my life wasn't really worth living anymore. If it wasn't for the comfort of
the guy's kid, I wouldn't be walking here beside you right now. That kid
put the smile back on my face with his kindness... made me think of...
Vash The Stampede. *sniff* Gosh, it still tears me up inside that he's...
that he's gone. Guess it's true what they say about life being too short."

Holly had to hold back some tears as they continued walking. Bringing
up the fact that the man she greatly admired and idolized wasn't alive,
brought a lot of pain to her just like the pain she often felt in her chest.

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Tobias glared at Dangol with an annoyed look at his last comment.

"I don't appreciate your crap, but I do agree with you on feeling useless.
The nerve of that guy. And what the hell did the old man do to him? Got
no idea what his problem is. Now we'll have to find someone else in this
city who's at death's door for us to deal with. It's been so long since the
last time I got to feel a heart pulsate beneath my fingers. I can see that
you're just as bored as I am, bro. Though I must say that I don't exactly
enjoy the brand of fun that you do, at least we both love ushering some
unfortunate sickly person quicker into the afterlife. And that reminds me
- there doesn't seem to be anyone here worthy of my scythe's blade....."

Trundell growled in an almost animalistic way, quite different from his normally collected self. He slammed his fist against a wall, and the boarded up window on that wall shook so hard that nails fell out of it. He turned to Tobias and said "To hell with killing some old man. I want that kid who killed him!!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the room. Trundell glared at Tobias for a split second, then his face softend back to it's normal features. His smile returned full force, and he turned around again. "Whats wrong with me? I'm getting all worked up about some idoit....Ugh.." he thought to himself. Then he turned back towards Dangol and Tobias "We should most likely head out. There doesn't seem to be a good reason to be in this town, and we seem to have attracted more..attention" he said, adding a glare at Dangol with the last part "Then we need."

Dangol's voice once again crackled out of the speaker "Hey, don't blame me. The idoit had it coming. Insulted my taste in clothing! So I showed him how effective Goliath's boot were." he said, then added with a low sneer "Several times."

Alex continued walking and shrugged. "Who knows, vash may Still be alive..." he did not continue on with the idea, but instead, changed the subject. "have you ever heard of a 'Nicholas D. Wolfwood?' Some came to know of him as 'Chapel.'

"Yeah, I've heard of 'Nick D.' as some acquaintances of mine called him.
Wasn't he like an ex-member of the GungHo Guns or something? Weird.
Ugh..... *pants* You know, I think we need to stop a moment. I feel...
rather dizzy... I gotta sit down..."

Holly found a rock nearby and immediately went to go sit on it, almost
falling down as she did. She felt kinda sick & faint and really had to sit.
Resting on the rock, she gently placed a hand on her chest and took a
few deep, cleansing breaths. Holly tried not to, but she looked worried.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"I know that you've lost interest in this place, but I haven't just yet. Guys,
remember that rugged girl that was hanging out in the bar and then hung
out with that preacher? Damn, she's hot. Nice 'extras' on her. I wonder if
she'd be a real hoot in bed. Heh heh... I could do the sheet-shimmy with
her and then borrow some of your tools, bro, and check out her ticker..."

Tobias got a nasty smirk on his lips as he mentioned 'doing Holly', and
then got all dreamy-weird when he spoke of borrowing Trundell's tools.

"Boy, you are one sick freak." said Dangol, his voice wheezing in laughter. Goliath scooted a bit away from Tobias.


Trundell chuckled and said "Fine. We'll stay in town long enough to carve up Miss...Holly, wasn't it? Then we'll head outta here. I hear theres an opening for a Sugeon a few towns over..we might be able to have some fun." he said with a deep chuckle.

Alex looked to her and sat besides her, knealing on one knea. "Do you need any help Holly?... anything I can assit with i will do..." he looked away slightly. "We are over half way there... another couple of hours at most... we can make it." he looked at her again. "if you want, I could carry you..."

OOC: Woohoo, crappy short post for Tobias...oh well...

BIC:
Tobias looked pleased at his brother for agreeing to stay in August. Then
he proceeded to give a sort of nodding salute to Trundell and Dangol and
went out the door w/ Trundell's toolbag... wondering where Holly was.....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Holly was bothered that she be so weak. It didn't suit her to act like most
women - she needed to be tough. Well, that's what she told herself.
After taking a few moments to rest, she decided it wouldn't hurt to give
up at the moment and gave a reply to what Alex had suggested.....

"You know, I think carrying me won't be so bad. If you can handle it."

Alex smirked. "Try carrying a giant metal cross around sometime... believe me... i can handle it..." He smiled then positioned himself so she might place her arms around his neck and climb onto his back. "Dont worry, I wont tell anyone..."

Ash lie back against the wall. He let out a sigh and took out his blade which is covered in black harden blood. The man who was still there gave a rather odd look.
“Something tells me that troubles you more than that family Ash.”

Ash looked back in reply as he wipe the black blood off his blade. “…I saw ‘Little Boy’ messing with the old man. Can’t say if ‘Big boy’ or ‘Sadist Boy’ were with them.”

The man recoiled back a little when Ash mentions ‘Little Boy’. He then nodded and waved his head. “Jesus, what the hell is going on? Did they become mercenaries?”

“No, somehow I doubt it. But I can tell that the old man being poison was not part of their act.”

Shocked, the man recoiled back some more. “Geez, a third party?!!”
“Is it another mercenary?” Ash asked as he stood up straight.
“No, otherwise I would have heard it.”

Before Ash can say anymore, he caught Alex and Holly in a distant view. He put his finger between his lips and waves it to his right signaling the man to get out of sight.
“I not too concern, but I am on everyone’s hit list. I’ll find a way.”

Ash and the man exchange handshakes and both disappeared in the alley.

Trundell sighed loudly, then leaned up against the boarded up window. He glanced at Dangol and said "What shall we do whilst we wait for him?"

Dangol's voice seemed hollow as he said "I dun care. But I need to get out of this damn suit for a moment." and then scoffed. There was a loud whirring noise as Goliath's chest burst open, ripping away the poncho and shirt underneath. There was a grunt and a large disk came into veiw. It flew straight out of Goliath and hovered a few feet infront of him. Ontop of it, sat Dangol. His inhumanly long silver hair hung all over him, covering most of his face and arms. What was visable, however, was covered in scars. The burns were mostly present on his chest, but one or two were visable on his arms. He flexed slowly, and the crack of bones was heard. He took a deep breath, then said "Ahh. Fresh Air."

Trundell stared at Dangol for a second before looking away. He didn't know why, but seeing Dangol chopped off from the waist down was somehow fufilling, deep down in his dead soul. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall, staring into space. "My dead soul..."


"D-Dad...don't come any closer.."

"Boy, you won't shoot me. Now put that gun down and c'mere. I got a fist with your name on it."

"N-No...Stay back....STAY BACK!"

*BANG!*

Trundell's eyes flew open, and he glanced through a hole in the window. Outside the hole, a man had just shot a old woman and was now grabbing up her belongings and purse.

He glanced at Dangol for a moment, then nodded. Dangol flew back inside Goliath and the open hole in the robot's chest closed again, and he stood up. "Shall we have some fun?"

"Lets."

Trundell motioned at the wall, and Goliath charged through it as if it were made of paper. He emerged on the other side and grabbed the man by the neck and tossed him inside. Trundell picked him up off the floor by his nose and said "That wasn't very nice...Dangol, hand me that scalpel from my spare bag.." and Dangol tossed it to him. Trundell's eyes flashed as he threw the man on a bench and walked over to him, then brought the Scalpel up..

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


"Oooh. This one bleeds a lot."

"Ha..... very amusing. Just hurry and let's get there, okay? For all we
know the position might have been filled by now with how slow we've
been at the moment..."

As they began to draw near to where Alex suggested they go, Holly
hoped that her words didn't manifest themselves and they be out of
luck on trying to get the job. She'd never needed work so badly like
this before, and missing out on the chance was too unbearable.....

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, as Tobias went in search of Holly, he learned much to his
annoyance that she'd left the city for the dunes closeby. Someone he
questioned mentioned the poster that both Alex and Holly had seen,
and this made him grin devilishly. Asking around at the 'Lucky Thomas',
he learned that Holly had a room reserved there and proceeded to go
and sneakily break into the room. Not much was in there, aside from a
bed, blankets & pillows, and Holly's suitcase. Tobias rifled through this
for a bit, rather bored at how unfeminine most of her belongings were.
But while he was doing this, he discovered an interesting parchment.
It was a letter of apology to Holly for the shotty work done on her by
a doctor after her near-fatal shooting accident. This made Tobias grin
even more fiendishly, and he decided he might stay in the room until
Holly came back later. Perhaps he could tie her to the bed somehow.

Alex carried her for the remainder of the journey, untill they got to the building in which the poster had mentioned. 'well... this is the place..." he looked around. 'want off?..." he chuckled. "I doubt they'd like to hire someone who needs to ride another just to get places..."

Holly just merely chuckled at Alex's remark as she slid off of his back. The
place they'd come to certainly looked like some kind of business, but it was
hard to tell as to what kind. Walking up to what Holly believed was the main
building, she knocked loudly on the door. She almost gave up after several
minutes of knocking, when the door suddenly opened just when she was
about to strike it again. A short man with a big handlebar mustache and a
cowboy hat with a long feather stuck in it, appeared and eyed them both
rather curiously before saying anything.....

"Ah, you two must be here about the job. Bunch of folks already been
here about it, so I don't know if you'd have a chance at getting it. But,
no harm letting you try. Follow me and I'll show you where to go....."

The man led them through the building, which resembled some kind of
office - all sorts of desks covered with paperwork and a musty smell in
the air as they walked. Soon he led them to a door in the back, which
took them outside to what looked like an already-used shooting range.
A man with a gunmetal-blue duster and a tan hat was sitting in a chair,
and apparently was taking a snooze from the way he had cocked his
hat on top of his head. The short man went over and whispered in the
man's ear, which promptly made him wake up a little startled and stare
a few moments at Holly and Alex before he got up and walked to them.

"Golly jee..... didn't know anyone else would show up for this. Wow.
Allow me to introduce myself. The name's Roger Silverblue. And this
here establishment is what, um, is left of my once propserous little
company. You see, what I specialize in is shipping anyone's precious
and valuable stuff ahead of them if they're moving to a different city.
Yeah... it's mighty dangerous in this business, but folks pay a whole
lot for the peace of mind of having their stuff safely arrive in the city
they're moving to. Been doing this for years.....until now. My gunmen
in charge of keeping the shipments free from robbers and other scum,
disappeared a month ago. Quite a mystery indeed. So I've been doing
all I can to advertise in all the cities I can in order to hire some new
blood to guard everything. So far, only 5 folks have come and none of
them had the kind of skill or courage that my employees need to have.
But hoowee, you two sure look like the kind of sharpshooters I need!
All you gotta do is prove to me that your skills are sublime, and that
you can handle yourself in any kind of situation that might come up.
If you can do that and damn well enough to impress me, your hired!"

Roger directed their attention to the shooting range and ushered
them over to it. Holly was glad to hear that they were the first to
show any promise in becoming employees, and even more delighted
to hear that this was the kind of job that she'd been doing on her
own all this time... heck, she might actually enjoy showing off...

"You go first, Alex. I'd really love to see what you can do....."

Alex looked to her, raising his eyes brow, glasses close to his face and cigaret in mouth, which he had lit and was smoking all the while the guy had been talking. He then nodded and took the cigaret from his mouth and dropped it to the ground, crushing it into the ground with the heal of his shoe and he stepped forward, walking to the assorted sized and shaped targets, all seamingly set upon a small track in a circular pattern, the shooter having to stand within the middle. He walked forth and then looked back and nodded, giving the signal that he wanted him to start the revolving mechanism so that the targets would spin around him, following the track, several rings of targets surounding, obviously made to confuse the marksman, the rings of targets larger and larger so that each set over lapped the other, looking as if the marksman was surounded by multiple shooters. The man pulled a small crank and a gas engine's backfire sounded out before the dummies began to slowly revolve, quickly becoming faster and faster.

Alex stood there, seamingly with no weapon's in hand or guns in a holster, which he had neither seamingly on his person. He stood, his glasses hiding his eyes and his face showing no emotion as he stood there, the targets revolving around him, spuinning faster and faster. he gave a slight sigh, then brouyght his ahnd behind his back, taking out what could be thought as a rather large crusifix, the base being slightly longer than his forarm. He held it before him slightly, arm outstretched and seemed to stare at it's metal surface for a moment, ignoring the targets.

He held the cross with one hand, and with his other hand he slowly brought up to his glasses, which he slwoly took one finger and touched the ridge of the nose of his glasses, and slowly pulled them down the ridge of his nose, ending at the middle point. Suddenly he tossed the cross upwards and caught the base with one hand, and seamed to grip it and twitched his arm, the base seamingly sliding down, the side posts lifting up and revealing gun handles, and the whole cross split down the middle, flipping sideways away from Alex. he stretched his hands out to the side and caught both simultaneusly, then quickly brought one up and fired six times. He stood there, the smoke of the muzzle of his custom gun slowly wifting upwards. Finally after a moment he relaxed...

He looked back and nodded, telling the owner to turn the target revolver off, he had finished what he was to do. Placing the guns abck together, he slid the base back upwards and it changed back to it's normal crusifix form and he slid it back to his back belt loop, and pushed his glasses back up slowly, the targets slowing down to a stop.

Every target was smoking, a hole through every target's head. Waiting for them to stop completly, he finally walked back over towards the others and lit another cigaret, leaning his abck against the wall.

"The way your targets are aligned alows, if done correctly... a line up of every target... if the marksman fired correctly... he or she could shoot every target with merely six shots... the lign up shooting through one and into another... you just have to get the timing right..." He spoke these words in an emotionless way... he wasnt bragging, being snide, showing off, nothing, he was stating a truth, a matter of fact. "Do your thing Holly, I wish to see how you do as well."

‘Messing around in front of the Lion’s cave’ as Ash has stated in his mind of where he currently is. Hearing a crashing noise and finding a huge hole in the wall soon after that made him more curious to spy on the suspects.

But it wasn’t wise to see with his own eyes where he can be seen back. Then he saw the items that were scattered on the ground that was toss out of the old woman’s purse. The closest item was next to his feet was a make-up kit complete with a mirror. A mirror, just what he needs.

Ash picked up the make-up kit and wedges the mirror out. He then took out some tobacco and licked it making it sticky. Then he sticks the tobacco on the mirror and stuck it on the tip of his blade. He then points it next to the opening hole. The old peeking mirror trick.

And there he could see two of them from the reflection of the mirror including the man who just became their victim. The only thing keeping him from being seen is the wall of the building hideout. And if they knew he was there, that result from that huge hole will happen right next to the wall where he press himself against.

“So they are here…” Ash whispered to himself, looking carefully at the mirror.

Listening and watching carefully, he caught one of their names. Ash took out a list from his coat, and crossed out ‘Big Boy’ and wrote “Dangol” above it.
Putting the list away, he felt he it was like taking too much of an advantage for him which he personal considered ‘Cheating’.

“There is no honor in this…” He said to himself.

Ash took out from his pocket the wanted poster he took from the sheriff station. The poster’s facial portrait drawing was clearly match Trundell’s face but the name is coded ‘Sadist Boy’ because they didn't knew his name. Too bad no one August knew about this.

He pulled out of his pen and wrote on the poster, then sticks the mirror on the poster. After that, Ash pulled out some dynamite from his hidden pocket in the back of his coat and tape the poster with the mirror attached and the dynamite sticks all together. “The least I can do is give them a warning.”

Ash then threw it at the window, shattering it as it went though. The dynamite hit the wall and fell flat on the floor with the written message showing and a three seconds timer. The message was “I SEE YOU!”

Trundell was busy poking the insides of the still (barely) breathing man when he hard the crash. He spun around quickly and then yelled out "Now this can't be good." and then he ran towards the hole, and just kept going.

Dangol sighed and walked over to the stick. Picking it up, he said "Someones trying to screw with us.." and the grabbed the fuse, preventing it from exploding.

((OOC: The above post was an overreaction to calling on the phone
when my dad was using a dialup modem to go online; I lost my cable
modem, but not internet access. But my access is horribly limited...))

Holly was amazingly impressed with Alex's skill at shooting, but was
rather disturbed by the fact that all of them were shot in the head.
Not sure how she could beat a performance like that, Holly stepped
forward and prepared to give a display of her own. Taking out her
beloved 'Fiesta' and holstering the butt of the gun on her shoulder,
she readied herself for whatever Mr. Silverblue had in store in terms
of a challenge after seeing what Alex did. Roger smirked with glee
as he gave the signal for the next set of targets to be revealed to
Holly... a much different signal then the last one he had given. She
wondered if that was a bad thing, but merely sighed and waited.

Suddenly, Holly was grabbed from behind by a very strong man and
held in a crushing grip. Knowing it means death to drop your gun in
such a situation, she kept hold of Fiesta. Her mind racing as well as
her pulse, Holly did what she though would be best in such a mess.
Twirling her gun with fantastic skill and speed, she then struck it
backwards and slammed it into the man's side as hard as she could.
Winded from the blow, the man let go long enough for Holly to get
free and turn around to face him. Seeing that he was going for a
weapon in his coat, she acted quickly - firing her gun and shooting
the man in left leg. He cursed in agony and collapsed. Holly fired
again, and this time shot the man in his right arm, then used the
butt of the gun to whack him upside the head. He was out cold.
Though she hated to have to shoot the man twice, at least she
had done well that the wounds would not be fatal. Mr. Silverblue
grinned at her show, and gave yet another signal. This time, a
man appeared holding a scared young woman firmly by an arm.
She screamed to save her, and the man cursed and slapped her.
A look of hatred gleaming in her eyes at this scumball, Holly saw
that this was another test of her skill and that Roger obviously
had heard of her fame of doing non-lethal hits. Smirking and not
at all intimidated by the man's constant insults, she aimed right
at the man's chest. The woman took this badly, and freaked out.
But Holly knew what she was doing, and fired off a few rounds.
The gun the man had been toting had been shot out of his hand,
and his shoulder was bleeding - causing him to let go of the girl
and allow her to escape. Though a tad bit dizzy, Holly was eager
for more and hoped that this wasn't the end of her test. And as
she was about to relax, thinking it was over, a very large row of
targets began popping up from practically nowhere. She was so
fast that Mr. Silverblue just stood there with his mouth agape.
In a matter of 7 seconds, Holly had succeeded in hitting each of
the 7 targets that had appeared. But what was unique about it,
is that each one had been hit in a non-lethal area, as well as an
8th target being the image of a kid and having not been hit at all.
Applauding joyously, Roger had his men attended to and taken
away to have their wounds dealt with, then walked over to Alex
and Holly with a warm smile on his face. Wiping sweat off of his
forehead with a fancy red handkerchief, he exclaimed to them:

"That has got to be the finest damn show I've ever seen, folks.
And Miss Jackson, that was certainly some great skill that you've
got as well. I appluad you for not wanting to kill a target. This's
definitely the kind of balance that I need for this job, and both
of you complement each other nicely. So, if I'm to hire you, then
Alex here has got to agree to kill only when it's necessary, okay?"

He smiled. "I understand this condition, and although telling me not to kill is as telling me not to breath... i can hold my breath for a long time, so no worries." he looked towards Holly and smiled. "Looks like we wont have to have a shoot out after all."

As soon as Trundell took a step out, Ash from outside shoved him back in.
“So there you are.” Muttered Ash as he slowly walk inside in a relax manner. “After 5 years hearing about you we finally meet. Though I am quite disappointed.”

“I didn’t want to kill any of you now but…” He was interrupted by the dying man’s sickening dying voice. Not tolerating it, Ash stabbed the man and lift him over his head by his blade. He then turned around and kick the man off his blade and out the window.“Annoying…” He muttered to himself again.

“So anyways,” He continued. “I am here to test you. And I see that a bomb won’t stop you.
Tell me. No. Show me how strong you are!”

Trundell's eyes had been wild with confusion, then snapped into his normal cold glare. Dangol stood behind them, then shrugged and stepped back.

Trundell said "Test me, eh?...Fine then." he said as he stepped backwards. He reached his hands into his coat and pulled a scalpel from inside his coat. He then reached over and pulled on one of the small pouches on the arm of his sleeve. The pouch was velcro, and came off easily. He took a small package of red powder from it, then put the pouch back in place. He sliced the top of the bag open with his scalpel, then threw it.

The powder flew out of the bag, and slowly, a red mist began to cover the place. It seeped through corners and windows, slowly covering a good portion of the town in thick, red mist that smelled like blood.

Trundell smiled and pulled another scalpel out of his coat, then rushed towards Ash under the cover of his blood mist.

It surprised Ash that such a thing would have a huge effect. Ash couldn’t see anything at all, not even Trundell or Dangol. Not only his sight, but his sense of smell too was blocked by the smell of blood. The smell of blood being breathed in could make a normal person choke, but not Ash. He been used to it for far too long.

The red mist prevent Ash from seeing and smelling (if possible) Trundell, but not hearing. His hearing senses are superior as a born blind old man. One of which Ash called ‘the effects of beyond super soldier training’. He knew where Trundell was, but using this one sense is rather annoying, as for the red mist, dishonorable as Ash would put it.

“Fool… Think of me as a normal person?!” he shouted as he clearly heard Trundell rushing at him. When Trundell came very close to him, Ash made his move. And when Trundell expected to hit Ash, he instead landed on a bunch of wires attach with what seems to be explosives on the walls and ceilings.

Instead of triggering a explosion, it blew harmless clouds at Trundell as if Ash was toying with him. But it wasn’t funny to Ash, he was angry with disappointment. “Pathetic! Do you expect me a super soldier to be foolish as your victims?! Show me honor!! Make this battle a glorious one!!”

Trundell growled, then stood up. He put both his scalpel's between two of his fingers, then he focued for a moment, and smiled.

"Theres Dangol's heartbeat..Ah. There he is."

He put his free hand inside his coat and pulled out a cordless dentist's drill. He wedged a scalpel into the power button, turning it on and making it run without him pressing it. He then threw it in one direction, while he himself went straight for Ash.

"Interesting..." Ash whispered to himself.

Ash quickly reach the back of his trench coat and out a rather huge weapon. Instead at aiming at Trundell, he aimed at the ceiling. "It is your show Min!"

Pulling the trigger, the gaint weapon named Minhander fired three rockets which blew the ceiling apart and cause huge pieces of it to fall to the floor which prevent Trundell from advancing toward Ash.
"Let's see you adviod this!" The weapon change it's formation and fired 10 tiny rockets which lock on Trundell.

Trundell sighed, and put the scalpel back into his coat. He pulled Pandora from inside his coat, and raised it to eye level. Then he pressed the small red button on the handle, and his grin went wide.

The mist around the saw began to swirl, and the air seemed suddenly thicker. The rockets began to waver in their flight, then flew off mark, hitting the walls and floor around Trundell. Then the sound came.

It at first sounded like a low screeching, like that of train breaks. Then as it got louder, it began to sound very much like a glass-shattering human scream. It got louder and louder, and then the remaining windows withing earshot of the saw began to crack and shatter.

Trundell jumped off to the side, then ran at Ash from a differnt angle, aiming to slice him with the saw.


(Edited. Sorry. >>;; )

((Shien… Kei is me, Ash is the my character in this story…
Unless your say that Trundell came to Kei’s house and kills him so he can’t make another post on the HTLOZ forums, but I highly doubt that.))

The screeching noise got to him and he stood still enduring the pain of sound. Out of Trundell's tricks, this seems to get to Ash making him a much easier target to Trundell. However, Ash knew that Trundell to heading at him again so he quickly jump to the side. Trundell barely missed and cut Ash's trench coat.

Ash was now in a very bad position. Blind by the mist and deaf by the Pandora, which also cause his ear in pain. But he quickly had an idea to counter the noise. He took hold of Minhander, and blast the wall right next to him. The screeching noise in Ash's ear suddenly stop and he heard nothing but ringing which is far less painful. Ash was still deaf for moment but the painful screeching can't be heard.

"Yes, as I thought. You are indeed worthy of a fight, but it ends now!" Ash reached into his coat again and this took a type of hand grenade. He threw it across the room. It burst in mid air and made a colorless shockwave that blew out the mist, make the room very clear sight. Not only did it blew the mist out, it jammed the Pandora that now made harmless fizzing sounds instead of painful screeching.

"That’s was especially made by me." Ash slightly grin. "But lets see if you like this one."
Ash pulled out another weapon, Ginhander, and spin it in a revolver style. "Survive this, and we can call it a day."

Ginhander shot out like a stream of bullets (20 per sec.) around Trundell, missing on purpose. The bullets however bounce off the walls and with many fired, it seems impossible to dodge as they fill the room in madness like the mist before.

Dangol blinked in surprise, and put up his arms to block the bullets from hitting him. "Dammit, this is you and Trundell's fight, leave me out of it!"

Trundell himself sighed as he turned off Pandora. He raises it to his own arm, and with a quick slice, has made a rather deep cut on himself. He quickly flung the arm to the side, the blood flying out in a spatter, hit the bullets and they..melted.

He repeated this in another direction, and another, until the bullets were nothing more then small puddles of molten metal. He lowered his arm, and the blood dripped to the floor slowly, and began to sizzle and eat through the floor.

"Any more tests?"

He put Pandora back into his coat, and pulled out a roll of gauze. He wrapped it tightly around the wound on his arm, and bit the end of it off. He put the roll back inside his coat, and held the gauze down.

Ash was still deaf for moment and couldn't hear what Trundell said. But he knew what his question was by the motion of his lips. Ash raised his Ginhander over his head and the molten metal puddles which once bullets flew back inside the Ginhander.

"That is all for now. I haven't fought anyone like that for a very long time."

He put away the Ginhander in a revolver motion again back into his trench coat. Walk over and picked up his used custom hand grenade and pulled out the second pin. Then he began to juggle it across his two hands.

"Still, I seen better... But you will do..." He laughed. He turns his attention past Trundell and look at Dangol. He grew an interest but he had no time to test him.

"I see that the shockwave didn't effect you. Maybe you can do better than your friend."

"My name is Ash, know that name well. I have a bad habit for battle, which sometime gets to me over work. Well only honorable fights." He gave a guesture to Trundell. “And if you and are wondering who killed that old man, that would be me.”

"I'll take my leave now, but don’t think it was my best today. This battle was to show me if your still human." He said as he pulled out his blade. He tosses the used grenade above and suddenly vanishes in a blink of an eye. The grenade fell on the floor and then fell apart in two like an act of ninjutsu. Seconds later, the sound of a blade cutting was heard. And the building started to collapse on itself.

Trundell sighed and said "It doesn't end, does it?" and walked out of the building, still holding his arm.

Dangol shrugged and said "Sounds like you have yourself a Fan." and followed after Trundell.

OOC: *drools a bit at Shien's sexy new avatar, then snaps*
Sorry that I haven't been online lately, but I can see that
you two have been doing a damn awesome job of RPing...

BIC:
Pleased to have finally found some worthy employees, the
man called Roger Silverblue led Holly and Alex to a part of
his estate that was less cluttered and run-down, and had
them sit on some fancy upholstered chairs while they all
waited for some tea to be made up. It felt so good to him
that he had found such talented marksmen, but a lot more
that he'd found so good-natured a woman as Miss Holly.
People like her were rare nowadays, and she had an aura
that seemed to emulate the great Vash the Stampede...

"Hope ya'all don't mind waiting a bit for our tea to steep.
And while that's going on, why don't we get to know one
another better since we'll be working together after all.
Alex, why don't you tell us a bit about you? Don't be shy."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting immensely bored trying to wait around for Holly to
arrive at her hotel room, Tobias felt a strange feeling that
maybe he should leave and go back to the hideout. Being
very cautious as he snuck through the alleys and shadows,
Tobias stopped suddenly. He could smell the powerful scent
of his brother's 'blood mist', and the aroma of gunpowder as
well as explosive chemicals. He could sense that really bad
crap had recently occured, and wondered if his brother and
Dangol were allright. Finding the hideout to be in ruin, the
semi-goth teen was fearful that the others had been hurt,
and took off down a side-road in the hopes of finding them.
Spotting the backs of his brother and Dangol's hulking form,
Tobias did his best to get their attention without detection.

"Trundell..... Dangol..... Wait..." *rushes quietly up to them*

"Damn, I leave for an hour or so and all hell breaks loose.
Trun...Trundell - you're wounded! Allright, who's the ass
that did this to you? I'll go rip his heart out with a spoon."

Trundell's blood had by this point eaten through the guaze, and was dripping off his arm onto the ground. He was smiling, but his eyes were smoldering. He paid as little attention as possible to Tobias, and merely said "Fight."

Goliath shrugged, and Dangol's voice crackled "Your brother has a fan. Some guy attacked him. Pretty intense fight, and the bastard almost won. Trundell had to..well..you see." he said, as Trundell hissed loudly, his blood burning his arm.

Trundell growled and walked over to a bench. He dropped his spare bag, and pulled out a needle with his free hand. He shoved it through the sides of the wound, holding it closed until he could find some string or more guaze.

Tobias filled with burning rage...
 

Tobias was annoyed to hear that some guy nearly beat his bro.
Assisting his brother with getting out the supplies he needed for
repairing his arm, Tobias wore a very disgusted look of anger on
his face. If he ever met the one who did this, he'd definitely rip
him open and fiddle with his heart - and squeeze it in his hands.

"Bro, whoever this guy is, in my eyes.....he's fit for the Reaper.
If we ever run into him again, I'll remove his heart with my bare
hands, then lop off his head with my scythe. And if he's got a
family of any kind, I'll... hehe... mail 'em his decapitated head.
Because no one DARES hurt my big brother this bad and lives
to tell the tale... and I damn well mean no one. Right, Dangol?"

Goliath nodded, and said "Said his name was Ash." and there was a slicing sound, and a post fell over. Goliath's razored hands fell back to his side, and he said "In all honestly, I think he was toying with Trundell. He wasn't even fighting hard." and sighed.

Trundell's eyes flew to Dangol and he growled "Shut up." as he sewed his arm shut slowly. Ending it by biting off a bit of unneeded string, he slapped a gauze bandage on it and pulled his sleeve down. The saw blade had sliced the sleeve too, but it wasn't a bad tear. "Lets get to somewhere I can take a nap." his voice, which would normally be a bit friendly around Tobias, had taken a icy tone. It felt almost as if the air around him was chilling as he spoke, but it passed.

Alex smiled slightly, putting out his cigaret and leaning back in the chair, crossing his arms. "Well, I guess i have to start with the introduction. My name is Alex Saran and I am a traveling priest." he chuckled slightly. "Being a man of the cloth can be hard, seeing as the paqy isn't the best in the world, so I... dabble in marksmanship you could say." he held a warm smile, his sunglasses close to his face dispite the fact that they were indoors.

Tobias grew concerned from his brother's tone, but knew better than
to speak up to him about it. Remembering something he'd seen on his
way back to the hideout, he decided he'd tell the others about it...

"Hey, I know of a great place we can go - and you can get a nap. On
my way here I noticed there was a boarded up building that looked as
though it used to be some kind of restaurant. Might have seats and a
kitchen we can use, and should be decent enough for us to live in. As
for this Ash fellow, if he comes lurking around again, he's a dead man.
Toying is Trundell's thing, and I don't like it when others emulate him."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Both Roger and Holly enjoyed the simple (albeit a little brief) description
that Alex had given for himself. Roger then cleared his throat and asked
Holly to relate her own tale for them to hear. A bit nervous, she replied:

"Well, for starters, I'm an orphan. So life's been damn hard on me mostly.
Possessed great skill since I was little, so when I got old enough I felt a
desire to turn that into a career. It wasn't long before I earned a decent
reputation for myself as an elite marksman, and one day I decided to go
back to my home turf and see how everyone in that town was doing and
maybe lend a little monetary aid to a few local businesses. That day's one
I'll never forget. Having been a fan of Vash the Stampede, I took on his
"All Life Is Precious" ideal and became excellent at doing non-lethal hits.
And when I went home that day, I saw him...up close. But it would all
end in sorrow, for that was when he shot a hole in the 5th moon. Yup,
I'm a genuine survivor of that incident, yet I don't consider myself at all
lucky for it. Seeing the man I admire with all my heart disappear, it hurt.
Got massively depressed. So when the brother of some creep that I got
a bounty for, decided he'd go and take me out, I didn't try to fight back.
Shot me right in the chest - almost killed me, too. If it wasn't for the kid
of the doctor who attended to me, reminding me to keep Vash's legacy
alive, I probably would've died that same night. After that, things have
been rough in terms of employment, so you can imagine the joy it gave
me to spot that poster you have been circulating around, Mr. Silverblue.
And so I traveled here to August, and the rest is history now, I guess..."

A servant having come in with the tea, Holly was delighted to take a
cup and finished her piece by taking a sip of it - her eyes lighting up in
delight at finding that it was very delicious and quite savory in flavor.

"Hoo boy, this is damn good tea! Where'd you get this? Wonderful..."

Roger: "It's a unique blend. I hear they call it 'Indian Chai', and is best
served with a good amount of cream mixed in. Glad to see you like it."

(OOC: That is damn good stuff; my mom recently bought some...)

Alex nodded, but shook his head at the offer ofr tee. "never been much of a tee man, thank you though." he smiled slightly and nodded. He turned towards the two of them then leaned his neck back. "Vash the Stampede eh?..." he left it at that and chckled, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I did not speak much about my past and who i am... all that really matters now is my job and what i do really... and I've made it so that is all that matters to me as well, a past is something a person like me... just cant keap with..." he turned his head and his smile vanished, his eyes unseable underneath the sunglasses, an emotionless look upon his face.

((I don't remember that! But whatever... I spoiled something for nothing.))

What Trundell and the others didn’t notice is that Ash was on the other side from where they were. The only that kept them from see each other is the building in-between them. Listening carefully, he caught Tobias’s every word.

“Sigh… Stupid kid can’t keep his mouth shut. Now I know the place he suggest hiding. Not that it matters anyways.” Said Ash nodding his head. He began to walk away from Trundell and the others, no longer tailing them and going the opposite of their direction.

Moments later, someone was tailing him. Ash keep walking but in a slower pace. When he came very close, Ash pulled out his blade and point it at the man's throat.

"Whoa Whoa!!! Ash it me!!" The man cried out, waving both his arm in panic. It was one of the Mercenary agency people.

"Its not smart sneaking up on a professional killer." Said Ash, as he put his blade away. The guy fell on his knees, got up and dust himself. He sarcastically laughed to put away the bad moment, Ash replyed giving a confused look.

He than pulled out a folded paper with photographs attach to it and hands them to Ash. "Another job for you, this one is from the top! Received intel about it minutes ago."

Ash unfolded the paper. It turn out to be the same poster that Holly had about hiring marksmen. Ash frowned and stared at the agency man. “Is this a joke? I don’t do this crap not that am fit for it!”

“I know! I know! But you are missing the point!” The agency man smiled, but Ash still didn’t understood what he meant. “You see, you are not going to be the marksmen for the job. That’s not our type of work. You are what the marksmen are aiming for. And the pictures you see there is who they are.”

Of course it was Alex and Holly. “Might watch out for that guy. According to our inside man, he an very excellent shooter and using a few bullets too. As for the girl… she not much to worry about. She will try to stop you but she refuse to kill anyone.”

“Funny, I already met them.” Looking closely at the photos of them, it was a rather strange photo shot. Holly happily enjoy her tea at the table while Alex had an opposite impression. The photo was taken from the outside by window, as Ash can already tell seeing the window frame as part of the shot.

“Err… You did? Friends of yours?”
“Friends?” Ash softly laughed. “If someone cold and unfriendly killer like me were to have friends, I’ll give you a ten million double dollars that I have earned so far.”

“Well anyways, your objective is to raid and dump the cargo whatever it maybe. We have other agents waiting in the field so don’t be afraid to throw it out. Our main concern are the two marksmen, that were you have to take them out if they get in your way. Is that clear?”

“Understood.” Ash answered. He looked over the folded poster and turn to the backside. On the back was the message ‘Roses and Sin are waiting by the building if needed’

(OOC: Hey Kei, Holly isn't in the city - she's at Roger's place near the dunes.

And I'll post as soon as Shien has the chance to post something good. Oh,
and I'm sorry that I haven't been here all week - I was really sick.))

OOC: Despite Shien's recent lack of creativity, I will not let this
story dwindle into nothingness... I love the Trigun universe too
much to let an RP jewel like this get shattered into dust...

BIC:
After getting some interesting information from his new marksmen,
Roger Silverblue decided he might as well call it a day and send 'em
home to rest and prepare for their first day of work. Rising from his
seat, he cleared his throat a little to let them know he was serious.

"Well folks, I suggest that y'all go on back to August and get rest.
I hope for you two to be here tomorrow morning at 9pm for you to
begin your first-ever job of guarding a shipment. Precisely why we
were so damn urgent in posting thousands of those posters in all
the major hotspots that sharpshooters hang out in. You see....."

*leans in closer to them in order to speak softly in case of spies*

".....we've got a big load of priceless antiques to deliver to the
private property of a very wealthy customer. A place not that
far from August, but in dangerous terrority for valuable things
to be carted through in broad daylight. And the owner insists
that his cargo get to its destination safely or else we are not
getting paid even one double dollar for the whole shebang. So,
go off to wherever it is you're staying, rest up, and be ready
for whatever the hell comes your way on this mission, okay?
Oh, and Miss Jackson...you might want to see a doctor this
evening - you look a bit pale. Hope you're not getting sick..."

Holly: "I'm sure it won't be a problem tomorrow. I can fight well
even if I was hurling all my guts out. And shoot well, too. Just
feel sorry for whatever dune-scum thinks of crossing paths with
Holly 'Mercyshot' Jackson... and this fellow Alex, too, of course."

Flicking her braid behind her, having rested on her shoulder while
she'd been sitting down all this time, Holly rose to her feet and
gave a polite sort of saluting gesture to Mr. Silverblue, and then
walked off towards the way out. She hoped that Alex came after
her soon, for it'd be kind of boring on the walk back to August...

Alex walked up to the man, smoking his cig as he did, then took it from his mouth and curshed it into an ashtray. He stared at the man, sunglasses still close to his face, a stern emotionless look upon his face. "I know you dont think to highly of me... but know that i will do everything in my power to do the best job as I can for you sir... as well as not kill any person, unless I truelly have to." he smiled, nodding his head, then chuckled. "May God's Mercy and praise shower upon you..." he looked down slightly, as if praying, then started away out the door. "Have a nice day Mr. SilverBlue." he turned and smiled, looking back for a moment before he opened the door and strode out after Holly.
"Well, our first job together, I wonder if this will continue to happen in the future." he smiled, taking out another cig and lighting it. They continued walking a little ways in silence then looked towards Holly, her face paler than before and her obvious lessening of breath showing her dicomfort. "You have got to be one of the most amazing women i know... he sighed. "if you want a ride again... you can have it, as for that opperation... I have some money tucked away... if you need it, it's yours."

Holly stopped in her tracks for a moment and faced Alex.

"I don't need no stinkin' charity. I prefer to do things on my own.
And even if I did have the money to fix what's wrong with me, I'd
need transportation over to the best place it can be done - and
I've no idea how to manage that. For now, I'm happy that I got
this job. Been such a while since I've gotten paid for anything, so
it'll be a real treat guarding this shipment on to its destination."

With that, she hastily resumed walking back towards August,
hoping that Alex would have the deceny not to bring up the
subject on her health again.....

---------------------------------------------------------------

Leading his brother and their associate to the building that he'd
mentioned to them earlier, Tobias busted into the old boarded up
establishment and learned that it was indeed once a restaurant.
Though it was missing some chairs and had a ton of dust and
cobwebs here and there, the teen immediately took a liking to
the place and helped the others clean it up and get comfortable.
During their last bit of cleanup, Tobias discovered to his utter
joy that the place had a HUGE refridgeration unit that still felt
rather cool when he walked inside - despite that it hadn't been
operational for years. He pointed out to Trundell that it could
be used for "entertaining guests" as he fiendishly called it, and
that it'd be pleasant place for him to rest. So while his brother
inspected the fridge, Tobias checked the rest of the place to
make sure they'd done a good enough job of cleaning and also
making certain that none of the windows let folks peek inside.
Once he was satisfied that it was okay, he then walked over to
Dangol to speak with him and accidently tripped over a loose
floorboard. Luckily, he only scraped his chin, and loudly said:

"Damn it! Here we cleaned up this place, and I've tripped on a
frikkin board on the floor. Sheesh... huh? What the flippin' hell?"

*inspects the loose board and discovers it could be removed*

"HEY! There's some kind of secret room under this floor! Oooh,
I wonder if it's got any money or valuables in it. Dangol, help me
open this damn thing up so we can find out what's down there."

Alex continued walking, silently smoking his cigarett. it had been like he was verbally slapped by Holly, when all he had meant to do was show something she may not have seen alot of, compassion, kindness. He walked slighjtly behind her, smoking for a time, thinking about it. Finally, after a time, he spoke again. "I'm sorry." The words were quite and recessive, he was submitting, and he was truelly sorry.

Goliath set the table he had been holding on the floor and walked over to the floorboard. He leaned down and knocked against it. "Sounds kinda deep. Maybe an old boarded up tunnel or something?" and shoved one of his fingers through the board, and lifted. He tossed the board behind his back, and it landed strangley neatly on a table.

Goliath looked down in the darkness and said "Too dark to really see down there...Lemme see if this damn light still works.." and there was a clicking sound. A panel opened on his chest, and a large light rose into view. There was a sparking sound, and a single spark flew out of the panel behind the light. The light flickered on, and then went out. "Dammit. Anyone got a flashlight?"

Trundell turned, and reached down into his bag. He fumbled about a bit, and pulled out a penlight. He blinked, and then sighed as he tossed it to Goliath. "Best I got." and turned back to the unit, obviously interested.

Goliath grabbed the light, then handed it to Tobias. "Here. I'd crush the damn thing trying to hold it."

OOC: Holly's not being mean or anything, and didn't use a harsh tone
of voice when she spoke to Alex; actually, she sounded rather sad.
And the unpleasant reason she doesn't want to deal with her health,
is that she still secretly wants to die over Vash the Stampede...

BIC:
Realizing that he might have taken her the wrong way, Holly was
startled and felt miserable to hear Alex's simple apology to her.
Stopping once more in her tracks, she just stood there a few
minutes in silence. If Alex looked at her right now, he'd see that
she was in fact shaking a bit, for she was quietly crying a little.

"Alex... there's no need to apologize. I'm the one who should. I had
no reason at all to talk back to you like that.....I'm really ashamed.
And I was wondering...could you maybe...spend the night with me?
I feel that I need to be around someone tonight for some reason..."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Tobias frowned when she saw the kind of light he'd been given.

"A frikkin pen-light? How the hell can I see anything with this? Ugh,
might as well figure out myself how to look down in this hole. Hmm...
Let me see - ah, yeah, this'll work! Excuse me a moment, Dangol..."

Fiddling with some of the junk they'd found during the cleanup of
the building, Tobias actually managed to create a sort of lantern
using the pen-light. Amplifying the tiny light to the intensity of
most flashlights, he was able to shine it into the darkness below.

"Much better... good thing you taught me science, bro! I never
thought I'd ever need it much, but oh well. Now let's see what
the hell is in this here chasm in front of me... hmmm... weird..."

As he shined his make-shift flashlight into the inky blackness,
Tobias suddenly got spooked a little when the light illuminated
something odd. He also was able to figure out that it was some
kind of compartment that he'd found hidden beneath the floor.
Realizing what odd thing he'd seen down there, he exclaimed:

"Hey bro, you'll never guess what I found! Looks like whoever
owned this place last used this here secret room for hiding all
their most priceless stuff. Guess they never had the chance
to take any of it when they closed this place down...heh heh.
There's a few metal boxes, jars full of coins, an old chest, and
what I think is some kind of high-tech weapon...but not sure."

Alex smiled and nodded, tkaing his ahdn and palcing it on her shoulder. "sure, anything for a person who can stand someone like me." he chuckled slightly and shook her shoulder lightly in a reasuring way. he looked out, seeing the town far off in the horizon. "We better hurry... its almost sundown for the second sun... an hour at most... unless we want to walk at night when it freases... we better get to town."

((I have to apologise... i know my posts are short and not very interesting at the time, but I'll make up for it when it comes to the gunfights and such, lol.))

OOC: Hey, it's okay. Happens to the best of 'em...

BIC:
Feeling the touch of Alex's hand on her shoulder gave Holly a most
peculiar sensation that almost made her tense up. Not since she'd
been attended to by a doctor's son did she have such contact, and
it acted much like an electric shock to her. But after the first bit,
she relaxed and it began to feel kind of nice to her in an odd way.
Loneliness may have ruined her life, but it least it hadn't killed her
emotions or her senses. As he gently shook her a little, she sighed.

"Yeah, we'd better hurry up and make it back to August before it
gets dark - I'd hate for the both of us to wind up being icicles on
the eve of starting our new job...what a bummer that'd be..."

Beginning to run quickly in the direction of August, she shouted:

"Last one to the 'Lucky Thomas' has to pay for both our dinners!"

Alex shook his head, chuckling, then flicked his cigarett to the side and ran after her. 'hey, thats wrong, I'm a smoker!" he ran after her quickly gaining on her, it wasnt long till they were side by side. "Heh, at this pace, we'll make it in less than an hour!" he chuckled, smiling warmly. "Hope you can keap up."

Ash wandered outside the city, feeling the ground becoming softer and softer as he kept moving. The second sun was fading and turning the sky red as time pasts in his travel in the open field. Deeper and deeper he went to his destination but it seem like forever as the sky already turn dark blue and faint star started to appear. It could be that he is lost, but he knew that he isn’t.
He suddenly stepped on a small patch of grass. It was rather unusual that a patch of grass surrounded by the wastelands could be out here without a resource of water. But to his surprise the grass was very dark green as if it had plenty of water and was not affected by the intense heat of the twin suns. It was a rare moment, which nature in this planet can make dark green grass without much water or the help of man.
But it did stop there. Ash soon realized that beyond that patch was an endless field of grass with flower growing amongst it. It unbelievable but to Ash it was familiar. It like he has been there before in that endless green and he could see birds pasting by in the night sky. The impossible has happen.
He turned around to look back at August. What he saw wasn’t August at all. But many towers filled with lights close to each other. The buildings below also glow with many lights. “It must be a magical city of some sort,” Ash thought to himself. Suddenly images of the city flash in his head. “…Or …was it science?”

Confused and rather lost to where and why is he see such things in a desert planet, he recoiled backwards in amazement. He almost lost himself in the moment that he fell on his back. It wasn’t scary to him; it made him… happy for unknown reasons.
He then heard voices behind him. He turns and points his revolver in that direction to only find that it was boy and women. None of them notice him, and they keep on talk to each other. Ash tried to speak to them but he couldn’t let out a word. Instead he came closer and listens to them.

The women place her hand gently on the boy’s shoulders. “Tell me, did you ever love someone?” She asked the boy.

The boy slightly turns his head. “I do not understand love. But know what it means.” The boy answered. “Can you show how love works?”

She didn’t answer but smiled as she wraps her arms around the boy. “Let me show you how a mother’s love feels like.”

Ash kept watching and it made him felt light. He didn’t understand the feeling. It something that turned back to that horrible moment that seems to relate to that topic.
Then in a flash moment, the sky turned red and the ground was sand again. He looked back and it August as it should be. Again it was back to reality where tiny life is rare to see. He shook his head and looked at the ground once more. There is no grass. As it should be, as it must be.
He was only halfway to where he should to be. “A hallucination. The heat must be getting to me.”

A figure stood at the edge of town, alone, his black coat flowing as the dry wind blowed through the town, heat still active, yert the collness of the night was begging to set in, it maing it possibly the most barable time of day. The figure stood, long black hair placed up in a piny tail behind his back, and a thin red scar going down his left eyes, although his eyes still seemed normal unlike it should be. He stood there, staring entently towards the direction of the small settlement in which he knew the two would be coming from. Sure enough, a quarter mile away, there they were, running this way. The figure smiled a cold smile, a toothy grin upon his face that curled to the side slightly before bringing his hand down and parting his coat. he brought his hand down and swiftly pulled out what looked like a rather long barrel revolver, custimization all around it, an aiming reticle on the top, as well as several other different looking ornants on the sides and back. He brought his ahnd up slowly, smiled again, and fired, Holly being right within his aim...

***

Alex was running along with her, chuckling as he did before he stopped suddenly, spun around and brought his arm around, stopping her (and knocking some of the wind out of her,) and well as holding that same crusifx shaped contraption that he had before in his hand and reached over his back, holding it there just as the sound of Metal striking metal rang forth. he had stopped the bullet aimed for her, he looked down towards her. "You okay?..." he looked into her eyes, his sunglasses on the ridge of his nose, half way down, trying to see her reactions in this.

Trundell raised an eyebrow, and walked over to the hole. He kneeled down, and stared inside for a bit. "Goliath, I'll go down and make sure the place is safe. You get the cord out of my bag." as he pushed himself up, and pulled a pair of scalples out of his coat. He turned around, and stepped backward into the hole. As soon as he started falling, he shoved a scalpel into the wall, holding him in place. He began to climb downward, using the scalples like a ladder. He eventully reached the opening of the hole, and dropped inside the room.

He landed in a pile of items, and stood up. He dusted himself off, and looked around the room for a bit. He looked up, his face lighted up by the lantern, and nodded to Goliath.

Dangol stood up, and walked over to Trundell's bag, which he picked up and reached into. He extracted a good thirty feet of strong cord, which he knew Trundell saved for 'special time'. Shaking his head, he tied the end of the cord to the bolted down bar, and tied the other end to the handle of Trundell's bag. He walked over to the hole, and dropped the bag into the hole.

Trundell caught it, and untied the cord from it, before reaching in and extracting another penlight. He shined it about the room, and said "Tobias, you go ahead and come down. Dangol, stay up there and make sure the cord keeps intact."

Dangol nodded, and then grinned inside Goliath. He lifted his arm, and swiped it into Tobias's back, trying to send him hurtling into the hole and onto Trundell.

Having been using his scythe to lean on during all this, Tobias lost
no time in trying to use it to keep himself from crashing onto his
brother - hooking the curved blade on the edge of the hole entry.

"GAH! Dangol, you frikkin' basterd! What the hell was that for?
Be lucky I don't come up there and tear that shell of yours to
pieces for what you just did. Dammit, I think I pulled a muscle
in my arm.....jeez... Hey bro, got the cord now. I'm coming..."

Tobias shimmied down the cord and joined Trundell below, a
hand grasping his left shoulder in pain on reaching the ground.

"Dangol, if you and that hulking piece of machinery try anything
like that again with me, I swear I'll use your blood to paint with.
Urrraaah! Damn, my shoulder's hurting like fucking hell..."

---------------------------------------------------------------

Holly was rubbing herself where she'd been knocked by Alex in his
valiant dash to protect her, the pain of the soreness very evident.

"Yeah... I'm allright. But don't get comfortable. Whoever's shooting
at me will probably try again. Why me? I have the worst luck..."

Pulling out her beloved Fiesta from its holster, Holly got ready to
defend herself if needed and wondered as to where the shooter
might be hiding in the area. This was a bad place for them to be,
even though they were so close to the entrance to the city, for
there wasn't anything for them to hide behind and snipe from...

He nodded then got away from her and crouched to the ground. "The only person who could snipe that well was a gung Ho gun... but he's dead now... defeated by Vash the Stampede..." Alex didnt make sure to think about the timefraim of what he was saying, espeacially since it having happened after his saposed death in the fifth moon incident. he glared, bringing his ahdn up and drawing his glasses down low near the edge of his nose, a glare in his eyes, shimmering pools of blue, possibly the first time Holly would have seen them, him having his glasses on at all times. He shoved the handle portion down on the cross, and switched it into its twin hand guns mode. His eyes showed a certain entence fury within them and shook his head. 'he's at the outskirts of the town... sniping at us with a modified hand gun... I was wrong... that gung Ho Gun had an aprentice... this may be him..."


The figure smiled slightly, raising his gun to the side slightly but did not fire. "Run for me..." he fired to the side of Holly, just to scare her.

"What the fuck are you doing? Whatever it is, don't get yourself killed."

Holly proceeded to run in the direction that Alex had fired, thinking it to
be the best place to head. If this guy was trained by one of the Gung Ho
Guns, then this was one hell of a bad nightmare for them to be in. And to
hear Alex bring up the day that dashed Holly's dreams to pieces was very
painful for her. But it also reminded her of something she'd forgotten - her
desire to hunt down and take vengeance on whoever caused the death
of Vash the Stampede... no matter who they are. She may have adopted
the code of "Peace and Love", but when it came to losing someone dear,
revenge was something which burned in her mind like the twins suns.

"He'd better have a good plan... *huff* or this will be our last night..."

Making a dash towards the nearest sand dune, Holly hoped that she'd
be successful in getting herself behind it before the sniper could send
off another shot at her. She could see the sandy slope rising before her
as she ran - ignoring the pain which had returned to her chest again. All
she could think about right now was getting to the dune and hiding.....

The figure smiled, trailing the shot, and fired. She'd never make it to the dune...


Alex watched her run for the dune and shook his hea,d looking back towards the shooter. "He's aiming for her..." He jumped up quickly and fired twice just as the sound of the shooter's gun fired as well. Alex closed his eyes, hoping the shots made it... As he hit the sand, Alex's eyes were on the figure, as well as was his gun aiming

The odd sound of metal hitting metal came once more as Alex hit the sand, then a loud cry as the figure was hit in the arm, dropping his gun. "Fuck..." He glared, then his eyes widdened. "No... it cant be... How... How did the Wolf find her?..." He shook his head, his glare turning to a smile. "The damage is done... she is now hurt worse than before... and Master will be very interested in knowing that the mysterious Wolf has seamingly come back from the dead... very interesting indead..." He tilted his hat and smiled, walking away. "My accuracy is good... but he was able to do the unthinkable... stopping my own shot with his own, mid air... truelly a worthy advisary..."

OOC: Creepy... I can imagine what that last scene was like, especially
the fact that if anyone heard Holly's heart beating, it sounded strange.

Holly's face looked rather pale after the eerie sort of vision had passed,
and as soon as things seemed back to normal again, she shakily turned
around to see what had become of Alex after he'd blocked the sniper's
shot from hitting her. Trying to walk towards him, she struggled for a
few minutes and then..... she fell..... collapsing weakly to the ground.
As Holly lay there, her eyes seemed to be threatening to close...

"Alex.....Al...ex....." Her voice trailed off as her eyelids flickered.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Having injured his shoulder on the way down into the secret room
beneath the floor of the old restaurant, due to Dangol's odd humor,
Tobias was swearing up a storm and leaning against the dusty wall.
Now that he was down there with his brother, he had a better view
of what this place was like and was surprised to see that it was a
lot larger than he'd previously believed. Whoever had owned the old
restaurant, had either been some kind of paranoid rich man or some
kind of criminal desiring to hide things away like this. And as he had
seen before with the penlight, it did contain jars of money and other
unusual items, as well as the weapon-like machine that he'd no clue
as to what it was for. Dazzled to see such wealth before his eyes,
Tobias was able to ignore the pain of his shoulder as he panted.....

"Damn bro, if I'm... thinkin' correctly, this place's... a real sweet find.
There must be... close to about... $$10 million here... or even more.
And this... other stuff... we could sell. That machine could be sold,
too - ancient technology... like that... could fetch... a grand price."

Alex stared upwards, seeing the haunting image of the little girl, then seeing it dissipating. "What was...?..." he shook his head, then looked to Holly, slowly standing. He coughed slightly, him throwing himself to the ground like that must have broken a rib... Slwoly but surely he walked over to Holly and knelt besides her. He brought his ahnd up, the paused hesitently, then closed his eyes and took the glasses off, for the first time in front of Holly, his pale blue eyes seeming to be a destinc difference in the pale yellows and reds of the setting sun's light, bothing looking like small pools of water within the desert. He looked down streight into her eyes, hoping that she was consious enough to see him, hear him, anything.

"Holly... come on Holly... stay with me..." he shook her slightly. "COME ON Holly... you cant die on me now... I know your made of tougher stuff than this..." He closed his eyes, then placed his guns back into their position then took his ahnd and layed it upon her waist. "I'm going to take you into town... we only have a quarter Mile or so left... stay with me..." he brought his hand away, then took his othger hand down, pauing for a moment, then placing his glasses back on, close to the edge of his nose on the ridge, then bringing his arms down and picking Holly up, one arm holding her arm and propping her back up slightly, his other arm holding under her legs (the usual carrying look, ya know...) He stood slowly, turning to the town. "Come on... I still have that Dinner at the 'Lucky Thomas' that I ow you..." he walkede slowly, smiling slightly, looking down at her. "You would have won you know..." Something was seamingly wrong with his voice, the last few words seaming stressed, voice cracking slightly, as if the emotional stress was finally getting to him.

Holly's breathing was ragged and shallow, for she was obviously in a lot
of pain. Noting the strange tone in Alex's voice as he carried her off to
the city, she tried her best to muster enough strength to speak to him.

"I know that... Your gun... slows you down. Alex... please hurry...
There has to be... a doctor somewhere... in this crazy city..."

Needing to save her energy, Holly stopped talking and just relaxed...

Alex mustered a smile, trying not to talk much more himself, his own strength ebbing as he walked, stumbling sligtly, but regaining his footing. She was right... his gun was a bit heavy... but he could handle this... he had to... she needed to survive...

Finally reaching the edge of the city Alex looked around. "Damn..." most people had fled becouse of the shooting, and they would not be re-emerging anytime soon. "Someone... someone help us..." His voice was week, as if he himself was hardly staying consious, his body weekening as he walked, but he continued along, cuts on his face stinging as sweat poured in, him gritting his teath, spikey blonde hair slightly flowing in the wind. He closed his eyes, struggling to continue walking. "I'll... get us... some...some..." he fell to one knee, his glasses falling off, crystal bluish grean eyes shimmering, being a sharp contrast to the reds and yellows of the sunset. Oddly enough, he looked very much like a worn Vash the Stampede in this situation, eye color and hair color as well as stuyle being very similar, something that wouldnt be noticible with those glasses.

Yelling, he gave all his strength to stand again, slowly rising. "I...have to get you there...!"

The room was so dark, you can’t really notice the two men across from each other. Their faces’ hidden. Their voices’ deeper spoken. Between them is a ash tray recently smug with the cigar still burning within.
“Are you sure?! This is the best of the best we are talking about. It has brought many expectations as you suspect it to be.”
The other man answered without any emotions, nor effected by the tone of the other man.
“Yes, it was how I suspected it to be ever since the beginning. However, it is our choice on what we decide on him. Not yours or your agency.
But I would like to know, how are you going to handle him?”
“That our agency prepared. Without the risk of our valuable people.”
Interested, he asked. “With who?”
“She is has no weapons, she isn’t trained to kill, and she never has to be there.”
The man laugh deeply to such description of the women’s lack of killer instinct. “And how do you expect such a woman with no kill style of any sort to kill a highly trained professional in all expectations?”
He grin in reply. “See for yourself.”
At first the man wasn’t impressed. Then the notice the cigar disappeared from the ash tray. His eyes followed the trail of smoke left behind to find that the used cigar is floating.
“I see…”


-----------------------------------------

A hand reach out and touched Alex’s shoulder as he stood up with Holly in his arms. Hand belong to a young man covered in a strange white robes and his hood covering the top of his face. Among the whole crowd who ran in all directions, he was standing still, smiling.“Don’t let your worries trouble you. Relax and everything will be fine.”
Alex suddenly felt a burst of energy flowing in his body, making feel as if he wasn’t tired at all.
“If you rush, you will hurt yourself… and you'll end up losing…”

Alex felt releaved almost, as if a great burdan had been lifted from him, he stood to his full highth and looked towards the white robed person. 'thank you..." he spoke the words quitly, beforer taking off again, heading inwards to the town. 'where's a hospital?..." he looked down to Holly. "I'll get you there... I promise..."

***

"So has our man found the target?"
"Yes."
"Interesting... it seems the Wolf has exceded the expectations of us all..."
"We knew he was better than him... and yet Knives..."
"Either way... he is going as expected... however... something seems wrong..."
"what?..."
"The very reason that he was not chosen before..."
"Great..."
"His emotions..."

“Oh my. He didn’t listen to what I have said.” Said the young robe man as he saw Alex run off again. He smiled and shrug.
“Ah well, it didn’t matter. Mankind is bound to rise again.” He reach inside his robe’s inner pocket and took out a small pen like device. He raise it over his head as he stood in the middle of the city.“…It begins…”

The device gave a bright light glow that everyone stared in wonder. All watching this strange robe man as he stood hold what seem to be a ball of light. The light then expand quickly engulfing everyone and everything in the city.

Soon, the brightness disappeared. And to everyone’s surprise, they see their city covered with grass and flowers. Never has someone ever seen this much plant life ever on this desert planet. Some were so stun that they fell on the soft grass. But it didn’t stop there. Moments later the sky turn gray and it started to rain. A forcast that was also impossible on this planet.

Alex stopped running, slowly coming to a stand still, looking upwards. "its...its raining..." his eyes were wide as he saw this happening, and slowly looked down to Holly then looked up again, his eyes widdening once more. "Fuck..." He looked back, seeing everyone staring at the cloaked man. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!" he ran once again, a new determination in his eyes. Running into a small buiolding with the words hospital on the side, he layed Holly down. "I'll be right back..." Running through the building he looked around. "Damnb it wheres a doctor when you need him?!" he looked back, shaking his head, everyone walking towards the cloaked man. "Damn it..." he ran outside. "hey, is anyone a doctor?!" Nobody answered.

OOC: Wow, Kei, you're making this get so damn cool now! I'm eager to
see where you'd like this story to lead.....wow... And nice job TZM. As
for finding a doctor for Holly, me and Shien were thinking it'd be weird
and kind of hilarious if Alex were to somehow get Trundall's attention.
(namely, he pictures him helping Holly and Alex aiming a gun at him)

Alex looked through the crowed of people, none of them even caring he was there. "This is bad..." he looked around, then growled, pulling out his twin handgun cross and firing one shot into the sky. Several heads looked his direction. "Is anyone a fucking Doctor?!"

The robed man smiled, then walk towards Alex as the crowd of people step away creating a path towards Alex.
"No need for the hostility now friend. But like I said... If you rush things, you will lose."

The robed man slowly remove his hood from his face, reveilling a brownish color skin face with white and blonde streaks of hair. "My name is Denton. My knowledge is so great that I would be 'The Scientist of Magic'. But ...perhaps I can be your doctor for today."

Alex gives the man a long, cold stare, then, after some time, sighs and nods slightly. "follow me..." He turned and started back towards the hospital, soon entering within and coming to Holly. "I found you a doctor..." He looked towards the man then back to Holly. He didnt like this... somthing felt wrong... very wrong...

He looked at Alex for second and he couldn't help but smile and laugh a little. He can tell there was distrust by the expression on Alex's face.

Denton then ignore Alex's face and focus on the matter at hand. He got closer to Holly, moving as if had no worries at all. Again he turn to Alex, then back to Holly. It seems to his eyes that Alex is about to burst with anger if Denton doesn't quit acting relaxed.

"I can tell you that you really don't trust me. Heck you may not trust me at all if stab this into her arm." Denton took out a strange needle that seems to contain a strange glowing blue liquid. On the needle, it has a word or name on it, 'NANO'.

"As I am ready as you are once you give me word. But if not, you can find yourself another doctor."

Alex looked to the man. he had known he had it the whole time... he had known he'd use different sorts of techniques... and yet he alowed it. he looked to Holly, then sighed, closing his eyes and taking his glasses off again. he opened them again, staring at her face, focused, as if a desision was to be made that could change their life. "Do it..." he closed his eyes again and walked over to a chair, sitting down. "?:I'm going to be watching you... the whole time..."

"The good man as always." Denton then stabbed the needle into Holly's arm. It quickly injects the liquids into Holly's bloodstream. Nothing happen for the first few seconds. But then Holly can feel the liquids interact with her body. It felt like it was freezing her from the inside. It then gave her electrical shocks making her body jolt and jump.

Denton can feel the tension as Alex is not pleased with what’s happening. He smiled at Alex. "Don't worry it will be over soon."

True to his word, Holly's body stop jolting and no long she felt the cooling effect inside her. Denton nods his head up and down in interest.

"Ah! I see… rip tissue around her chest. In worst cases, next to her organs. But this isn’t much of a problem. She should feel better soon.” It was strange that would know that without look at Holly’s bare chest. All that Denton did was inject her with strange chemicals.

Alex stood, arms crossed, closing his eyes. "will she survive?..." he lookd to Holly then the man again. "What was that anyways?..."

"A gift from the past my friend. As for 'will she survive' that we will have to ask her... if she wakes."

Denton let out a little laugh. "Just kidding! She will be fine. It has not like this failed me before."

Alex shook his head. 'why all this... why now?..." he walked up to the man. "Its as if you come baring gifts... or some old technology thought long gone..."

OOC: Dude, this is sooo cool! Kei, you keep amazing me with how cool
your ideas keep getting... I love your imagination. Nanos? Badass! ^o^

BIC:
Holly's breathing was becoming more noticeable now, and she began
to blink her eyes open. She looked at Alex with wonder in her eyes,
and then curiously over at Denton - a look of slight confusion in her
face yet also some relief. What amazed her was at how wonderful
she felt inside and how much easier it was even to breathe now.

"Alex..... how long have I been out? And, what the hell happened?
I feel so...great. It's almost freaky how good I'm feeling right now."

OOC: Shien, you better get off your butt and quit having writer's
block so that Trundell and the others can do something...oivay...