Chapter 2: Preferably Dead
Night in Blackthorn City wasn't that different from the day. Since the sun could barely penetrate the think clouds and smog anyway, there wasn't much difference when it was gone. There were still beggars on the streets, an array of shady characters, and citizens with their heads hung low. The presence of the two bounty hunters, Rozik and the new recruit Gary, didn't seem that conspicuous. To Gary, the scene didn't differ much from the prison of Prixtal, except for the absence of barred cells and cages.
"I still can't believe Brom put you on a mission this soon," Rozik grumbled. "I could have done this alone, but now I have to babysit you too." Brom didn't want to send the echidna out that soon, of course, but a sudden mission request had come up, and no one else was available.
"So…what are we after again?" Gary asked.
"It's some merchant suspected of illegal weapon shipping, that's all. The only important thing is the guy who sent us out is giving us a good deal of money for it."
"Okay, we barge in, capture the guy, and come back, right?" Rozik smirked.
"No, this one's wanted "Preferably Dead,"" The white hedgehog explained. "You do know what "Dead" means, right? We kill him." In the hunter's opinion, if Gary couldn't deal with killing someone, he would be kicked out of the group, and then he'd be free of the rascal. Even Brom knew there was no use in someone who couldn't do anything.
"Seriously dead?" The newbie asked. A few faint memories in the back of his mind reminded him of other captives dieing, or being dragged away to never return. Some of them screamed, and some just faded away. A shiver went down the boy's spine. Then again, if the soldiers could destroy someone without even batting an eyelash, it couldn't be that hard, could it?
The shop and house of Jaen Harway, their bounty, had been in his family for years. The house was old, one of the few remaining wood buildings left, about two stories high. The building was starting to finally rot, a faint odor in the air around it. A crooked red sign hung from the entrance, its chipped paint showing the words "We Are Currently Closed," or something like that.
"This is the part where we barge in, right?" Gary asked excitedly. His heart began to race, for here he was, on his first mission! Rozik shook his head.
"One of the few rules of our group is to not kill innocents. And, as far as we know, only Jaen is wanted, so we can't kill anyone else. Unless, of course, they decide to attack us first."
"So how do we get in?" Gary's enthusiasm went down a little, but his blood was still pumping. His companion pointed up to a window on the second floor. The glass was cracked, with bits of moss in the windowsill.
"We climb in." Rozik pulled out his clawed gauntlets, slipping them on like gloves. One claw was then thrust partway through the cracks in the wood, and the other one above it, like a rock-climber grabbing the ledges in a rock face. Using it like this, the white hedgehog easily started to climb. Gary watched, and then looked at his own fists. The two spikes on his knuckles were kind of like claws, weren't they? No reason why he shouldn't try. Remarkably, the method worked for the echidna too, and he began to climb up the wall (imagine Knuckles the Echidna climbing, it's basically like that).
In a matter of minutes, the pair was both positioned to either side of the window, peering inside. A gray squirrel, Jaen Harway, paced about the room, looking over his files of profits and losses for the month. In the corners of the room rested large, wooden crates. Only one of them was open, with a few guns and knives sticking out. Their hirer had been right, he was smuggling weapons in.
"Now we can barge in," The white hunter whispered one second, for he was gone the next, charging past the broken glass. Gary jumped in right behind him, not wanting to miss the action. Sadly, there was no chase, seeing as Rozik was already pinning the bounty to the ground. There was a bit of a scuffle, since the rodent was a bit larger than his predator, but the resistance didn't last long.
"Wh…what do you want me for?" Jaen squeaked in fear. It wasn't everyday that one was being stared down by a hunter that could kill you in the blink of an eye. Rozik snarled, since he didn't generally answer these questions. However, Gary didn't know that.
"We're bounty hunters!" he exclaimed. "Somebody wants you dead for smuggling weapons, so they ordered us!" His partner raised an eyebrow.
"Must you? It doesn't matter what we tell him, he's as good as dead anyway." Jaen tried to squirm away from the claws that held him, only to have one of them slashed across his chest, as a kind of warning. The hedgehog wasted no time in killing; he was used to this. The other, however, was not. The sudden realization hit him, that this other person was about to be murdered right in front of him.
"Rozik, don't," the boy cried as his partner prepared the final blow. "I mean, you can't just kill him. He's alive, just like us!" The squirrel nodded in silent agreement.
"…and your point is?" Rozik asked. "People always die, people just like us. Besides, taking people out is our job. You scared?" There was a pause. "If you can only stand there, how about making yourself useful? Make sure there are no cops outside." Gary slowly nodded, looking away.
"I guess this is why Brom didn't want me to join at first…" His thoughts decided. "Is it really that easy for people to kill one another? There's no sense-"
BANG!!! The sound of a gunshot rang through the air, ending the echidna's thoughts. Somehow, Jaen had mustered enough strength to temporarily get Rozik off of him, and make a run for his weapons. As of now, the bounty was next to his weapon crates, pistol in hand as blood seeped down his chest. Where the white hunter was, he wasn't sure.
"I ain't going down…without a fight," Raising the gun, Jaen aimed it straight at Gary. A maniacal smirk was on his face, the kind one gets when they go into a last-ditch effort to save their life, regardless of cost. Another bullet thrust through the air, barely missing its target. Instinct suddenly took Gary over, and with fists extended, the echidna boy charged at his foe. He struck rapidly and furiously, dealing blow after blow. The pistol fell to the floor with a thunk, leaving the squirrel defenseless to the fists that pummeled his body. The body was soon tossed to the wall, falling into a bloody heap on the floor. It moved no more.
Gary stared in shock. Had he done that? He looked over the body, which was soaked in blood. The limbs were a mangled mess, and there was a vast array of broken bones.
"I see you aren't totally useless after all," Gary whipped his head toward the speaker, which was none other than Rozik.
"Hey, where were you?" The echidna asked. "I thought you were supposed to…you know, kill him. So what did you...?" A smirk came upon the hedgehog's face.
"I decided to test your worth," he replied. "To see if you could actually kill someone, or if you were useless. I must admit…you aren't half bad, kid." Despite what he had done, Gary smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks," he said. "But what if I hadn't of done it?"
"Simple. You'd be dead, I'd kill Jaen, and I wouldn't have to deal with either of you. Come on, we need to get this body to the others, so we can collect our reward." Seeing the disgusted look on the echidna's face at the idea of carrying a dead man, he couldn't help but snicker.
"Do we have to carry that the whole way?"
"We could just take the head. I'm sure I have a bag with me, and the blood soaking wouldn't be too bad after we chop the head off…" Gary almost puked right there, even though Rozik was being sarcastic (at least, he seemed to be). The pair eventually ended up emptying one of the weapon crates, placing the body inside and carrying it in that. "No one would suspect us that way, you see."
Gary couldn't help but wonder about what exactly he was doing as he carried the crate silently through the various backstreets and alleys. It all seemed so odd…here he was, killing someone who could have killed him first, despite having not seemed all that dangerous at first, with his "partner" being a dangerous hunter. And before this, he was…
"What was I doing? I remember being in Prixtal and all that, but nothing else. As if I've been there all my life. But I haven't, have I? Everything here seems so strange...there must be something I don't remember. I'm almost positive I'm forgetting something..."
"But what?"
