Chapter 6: Wild, Wild West
So later that night, after Killer and Michael had fully moved everything up to their new rooms at the top, Kidd slept spread-eagle across his bed, snoring as the wind blew through the cracked window. The moonlight flooded his room like a silver version of the sun.
It was about 2 A.M. when they came..
Kidd had forgotten about his deal.. and apparently Killer did too, or didn't want to risk waking up Michael to deal with it.. so when a soft knocking at the side door woke up Kidd, he momentarily thought he was being ambushed. He slipped silently out of the bed and grabbed his pistol from his coat pocket which hung around the doorknob of the door, and stepped quietly around the first floor till he met the door.
The person kept knocking, growing louder, and Kidd saw the faint shadows of multiple people through the dirty window. He scoffed and walked up to the door, flinging it open with one hand as he put his pistol to the first unlucky person's forehead who screeched and raised up their hands. The man who stood next to him rolled his eyes and placed his own barrel against Kidd's neck and the two gunmen stood there for a tense moment. Several side-men dragged along people, women, at their sides; women dressed in barely anything at all..
Kidd closed his eyes tightly as he remembered what he had set up a week before and lowered his gun, but didn't leave the doorway.
"Here. Your lovely-ladies are here for you," the gunman stated with wavering voice, stepping in front of the cowardly assistant. Kidd rubbed a hand over his face and just shook his head, turning away from the door as he pointed his gun back to the other man's chest.
"Not now and not again.." Kidd said tiredly, and then lowered his gun and shot between the people's feet, making the girls scream and the men shout and lunge toward him for disobeying his promise. Kidd merely shot around them all till what remained of their sanity, and the owners of the broken sanity, limped off elsewhere and away from there.
Kidd stepped back in the house and locked up the door, groaning about stupid pimps and stupid need-for-sleep, and practically fell back asleep before his body hit the bed again.
At about 8, Killer woke up naturally, somewhat confused as to why Kidd didn't wake him up like usual. Maybe he was just too far up to hear it.. or he was just too tired to hear it. The blonde got up and stretched a little, tying his hair up in a ponytail as he went to check on Michael who was across the hall from him.
"Morning, bud," Killer greeted, peaking his head inside the room to find Michael with his goggles up over his eyes and pretending to punch and kick like his parents did. He thought he was the awesomest thing yet, and, yeah, in his mind maybe he was. It took a few delayed seconds for the boy to notice his dad standing in the doorway, and he squealed in happiness when he saw.
"Morning!" Michael said excitedly, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead as he ran up and hugged Killer's leg. Killer smirked and picked up Michael, and hauled him down the stairs to go see what was up with Kidd and his inner alarm-clock.
"Morning, Ki.."
Killer looked around the kitchen and living room as he set Michael down on the floor, who immediately padded off to Kidd's bedroom door and pushed it open, creaking slightly. Just as the kid had gotten past the doorway, Killer remembered what day it was and instantly regretted letting the kid wander off to there..
"Michael...?" Killer asked, hurriedly walking off to meet up with Michael who only blinked up at him and then looked at Kidd who lay snoring away in his bed, alone, with no strange girl.. phew. Killer let out a sigh of relief and let Michael do whatever he wanted to wake up Kidd, and set out to cook breakfast.
"Wake upppp~" Michael groaned as he attempted to pull the red-head out of the bed by his arm, and only ended up loosing his grip and fell back on his butt. The kid pouted and crossed his arms, and then scrambled up next to Kidd and decided to pull on Kidd's hair. Kidd grumbled and swatted at Michael in his sleep. He only nearly avoided backhanding the poor kid and then flipped over and fell back asleep. Michael puffed his cheeks in frustrated-thought... and then the smell of food lured him back into the kitchen where he got first dibs on pancakes.
Killer took the opportunity to play a prank on Kidd, who somehow just naturally avoided all the blonde's pranks without having any prior knowledge to them or anything.
So Killer told Michael to stay put in the kitchen and snuck into Kidd's room and closed the door behind him...
Several minutes later, Kidd then had a very nice purple Sharpie mustache and goatee, his pants were pulled down, and Killer finished off by shooting a bullet off right next to Kidd's head at the already hole-y alarm-clock wall. Killer placed the gun next to Kidd's arm just as the red-head shot up and instinctively grabbed the pistol and aimed it at Killer.
"The fuck d'you think you're doin', scaring me like that!?" Kidd yelped, wide-eyed and red faced, and then hurriedly pulled up his pants after noticing that they were down for some reason. Killer smirked and shrugged calmly, turning halfway towards the door.
"Thought I might wake you up for once and.. well, I thought you might want to know how you look at the moment," Killer suggested, opening Kidd's bedroom door. He bowed and walked out backwards like a royal servant, and Kidd was very.. nervous.
Killer walked back to the dining room table and joined in the pancake-fest with Michael, and had a hard time controlling himself as he heard Kidd throw something in the bathroom upon seeing his reflection. The bathroom door slammed open and Kidd came rushing out in a fury, pointing to his own face.
"O.K.! Do you know the meaning of the word 'permanent'?!" Kidd bellowed, particularly toward the assumed culprit.. aka, Michael. The kid blinked and shook his head innocently, but couldn't help the grin and few giggles that resulted in seeing Kidd in such a pitiful state. Kidd fumed and stormed back to the bathroom, trying everything to get the accursed purple drawn-on facial hair off of his pale skin. Killer started laughing uncontrollably while Kidd started scrubbing at his face with such a intensity that the other two thought that the man's face would just scrape off and leave a bloody-mess to deal with afterwards.
Michael looked between the two and then grinned as Killer told him the tale..
"He's just mad because he's never been able to grow a beard!" Killer whispered and soon regretted it as Kidd whirled around and glared at Killer, freezing the room.
"You.." Kidd growled, and he ended up chasing the laughing blonde all over the building and out the front door, into the street where it was already starting to become hot and humid. Luckily, there was somewhat of a breeze, and Michael at least liked that part while he followed the other two out onto the front porch. From there he watched in awe once more as Killer actually was just dodging Kidd who swung at him in anger.
"You really need to work on your anger-management problems, Eustass-san- this could be a major problem," Killer teased, throwing a punch to Kidd's face for good measure, and received a growl and a punch right back to the scraped-up forehead where he had landed on the road the day before.
"You really need to watch your fuckin' mouth!" Kidd hissed back.
Michael just smiled at his dads' fight, and noticed a few bums that came up the road to watch the brawl, placing their bets on the punks while standing close to the monument-like squad car from the day before.
"I bet tha' kid on Killer's win," one man said, pointing a jagged finger towards Michael, who only blinked back at him. The man's opposer scoffed.
"Wha's he to ya?" he responded, and they both laughed at each other and wound up both on the ground in a drunken mess. Killer watched the men carefully, hands behind his back as he dodged and threw a kick every once and a while to keep Kidd at it.
"Look behind you," Killer whispered in Kidd's ear as he passed behind his friend like a ninja and then whirled back around again just as Kidd turned around to look at a few of the bums. The guys were dangerously close to Michael and their wide-open front door. Kidd stopped his fight and glowered at the drunks.
"The fuck are you staring at?" Kidd threatened, even though his face was only slightly scary with half of it red from scrubbing and half with an almost-gone purple tint. The men about peed themselves from fright anyway and backed up behind the cop car, but it took a few steps and a draw of a pistol to really scare them off.. except for one daring young man who leaned against the front of their house next to the steps with crossed arms. Even though he glanced warily at the white and black police vehicle he still looked like a cocky kid- a cocky bastard indeed.
"Well ain't you special," Kidd mumbled, approaching the man slowly and menacingly. Michael didn't really mind the other man, though; he wasn't scary looking or doing anything bad, and he was handsome and looked strong too, so he must be a good guy just like his dads! Right..?
"I like to think so," the bare-chested young man replied, tapping his black boot on the cracked concrete sidewalk in amusement. Kidd smirked evilly.
"Yeah, I can see why; your head must be completely hollow," Kidd taunted as his feet met the street's curb, both just outside of each others' reach. The man laughed and pulled his orange cowboy hat down over his eyes, shoving his hands into his black cargo shorts calmly. Kidd was starting to get annoyed, but he couldn't loose his cool right in front of Michael..(As if he hadn't just done so a moment earlier with Killer.)
"What's a cowboy doin' outside a'the wild, wild west?" Kidd asked as Killer walked over and sat on the top stair next to Michael, just watching.. wondering.
"I reckon that this is the wild, wild west considerin' that even though your name ain't Billy, there's still a Kidd that shoots up whatever he likes here, too," the other replied with a teasing tone in his voice, and he poked the brim of his hat up with one finger, and looked up at the red-head with a narrow-eyed grin. Kidd wanted to scowl but ended up smirking instead, not knowing how to react.
Killer studied the cowboy, looking him over and noticed a tattoo on the man's back.. and he recognized it.
"Newgate, huh?" Killer asked. The man laughed and stepped out to show Killer the full extent of the skull and cross-bones tattoo on his back.
"Damn right. Even though the old man's long gone, I still hold him in a high place for what he did for me," the cowboy noted, turning back to Kidd.
Killer glanced at Kidd; Edward Newgate was a very powerful man who once controlled a lot of the area, and so once Newgate went and got himself stabbed, all the small-fry popped up and fought for slices of the old man's property. Kidd ended up gaining a lot just by himself, shooting and cutting up a lot of men along the way, but never once tried to go up against a surviving Newgate follower by himself; they were just bad news.
"You got a name son?" Kidd asked, going with the western theme. The cowboy smirked.
"Ace."
"'Scuse me?"
"Portgas D. Ace's the name," Ace said, touching the brim of his hat with his fingers again. Killer knew this guy was bad news.. he was definitely a big-shot among Newgate's men, after Marco and Thatch..
"So, Eustass Kidd, I've come here to strike up a fine deal with you," Ace said, pointing a finger towards the red-head, who already felt slightly on-edge about the whole situation, "see the kid?"
The man switched his point to land on Michael, instantly making Kidd tense up and glance between the blonde and brunette, and then back to the black-haired cowboy.
"I've heard some mighty interestin' things 'bout 'im; mighty-fine things indeed.." Ace said, grinning, "something 'bout maybe, a man called 'Joker'?"
Kidd took no time in clenching the man's throat in his hand against the brick wall, making Michael jump up and squeal. Killer had to hold back the boy.
"The fuck do you think your doing?!" Killer screamed at Kidd, who turned back towards him like Killer had just risen from the dead.
"I should ask you the same!"
"I take it that.." Ace paused and took a calm but large breath, distracting Kidd with his rising chest as he slipped something from his pocket and held it up to the underside of Kidd's wrist, "you might want some bodyguard assistance?"
Ace flicked the lighter to life and burnt Kidd's wrist, and when the red-head winced but didn't let go, he kicked Kidd right in the gut with his heel and dug his nails into the burnt flesh, drawing blood from Kidd even after he was back on his feet again. Kidd shoved Ace away and muttered curses, shaking his wrist like the pain would somehow fling off of him.
Killer narrowed his eyes at Ace while Michael stared on in confusion. Kidd cussed. Ace grinned.
"Fire-Fist Ace at your service," Ace said while clutching his orange hat to his chest in a bow to Killer, sending a wink up to Michael who smiled and muffledly-giggled.
"Make yourself at home.. I guess," Killer said, letting Ace inside their house and led him down to the basement discussion-room, which.. was still burnt to a crisp (like Kidd's wrist) around the doorway-wall, but was for the most part alright otherwise. Kidd put Michael up in his room, meanwhile, and decided just to let Killer handle the discussion with Mr. Fire-Fist. He still didn't exactly trust the Newgate-man..
"You were awesome, Kidd!" Michael told Kidd, hugging his dad's calf as Kidd sat down on Michael's bed. Kidd awkwardly smiled, feeling awfully sorry that he looked like a wimp in front of the kid when Ace decided to torch his arm. Kidd looked down at his torn up and burnt wrist and winced. Michael blinked up at him and looked curiously at his wrist too.
"Stay here.. I'll be right back," Kidd said, and closed Michael's bedroom door behind him as he walked around the apartment till he found the bathroom and ran cold water over his wrist and shivered, not liking the stinging feeling one bit, but bore with it and washed it with a little soap. Couldn't hurt to wash it, right? Right... infections suck, even for the toughest killer.
Kidd stood back from the mirror and looked at himself again.. the purple marker was still faintly there, but Kidd didn't want to go ripping skin off his face, so he let it be for the moment, grudgingly.. Meanwhile, he looked tired as could be and his hair was limp and parted in all different places and looked like a mess of bruises and cuts from Killer; Killer...
But.. Kidd thought about Killer, and the more he did, the more he realized that Killer had never used his scythes on him. Killer had put them on his hands during practice fights with the red-head but never even brought them close to cutting Kidd when he had the chance to. Heck, Killer was fending off the 'captain' with his hands literally behind his back and wasn't intimidated in the least by Ace's knowledge of Joker and affiliation with Newgate.
"So.. was Killer holding back the entire fucking time?!" Kidd hissed in frustrated confusion, banging his bad fist down on the countertop, and he immediately regretted it as pain shot through his arm.
Kidd let out a sigh over the matter of his 'friend' and decided to focus more on the cowboy.
What was his deal, just barging in and somehow knowing about a secret connection between Michael and Joker? Kidd didn't doubt the man, but he had to wonder how the completely different people were related; an innocent 6 or something-year-old boy and a middle-aged underworld broker. No matter though, really, because Kidd was pretty sure he would've been involved with Joker through the entire 'Law' incident anyway.
So all he needed was.. well, Kidd decided that maybe having Ace around would be sort of nice. While Kidd and Killer went out to do the dirty work, Ace could stay with Michael and maybe teach him stuff, keep him busy... but most importantly, safe.
Keeping Michael safe was the key, because who knew what Joker was up to.
Splashing his face with cold water, Kidd stood up and let the water run off his skin and blinked at himself in the mirror, not used to his normal skin-colored lips. He smirked. Would Michael notice the change? Maybe, maybe not; time would tell. So Kidd walked back out to Michael's bedroom to find Killer and Ace had appeared and were talking with the curly-haired kid; and... drawing on the walls with him.
It seemed to Kidd that everyone forgot that it was his building that he had somewhat-honestly earned!
"Hey. Where've you been?" Killer asked as he looked from behind his bangs; he didn't want Ace to see his face up close... too many people had seen his eyes already over the course of just a few days. It was... freaking him out a bit. Ace leaned back and tilted his head to look at Kidd upside-downly and smirked, holding onto the brim of his hat as usual.
Kidd growled..
Just because Ace could come in handy doesn't mean that Kidd wasn't annoyed with the man.
"How old'r you?" Kidd asked Ace, rubbing a hand over his wet face and through his hair. Ace shot Kidd a raised eyebrow.
"Twenty-one...?"
"Oh really? You sure you ain't lying?"
"Pretty damn sure, Mr. Doubtful," Ace replied with a laugh, leaning back to continue his crayon wall-mural of a burning building...
Great.
Kidd scowled and smacked his forehead in annoyance. How was this guy so.. scary but so immature?
And how in the hell could he possibly be the same age?! Killer was still kind of upset yet proud of being older than everyone so far. Law was just a year younger at something like 25.. but whatever. Numbers don't lie.. But the people who write the numbers do.
"So.. what do you want to do for me, 'Mister' Ace?" Kidd asked with sarcasm, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Ace leaned backwards, letting his hat fall off his head. He blinked at Kidd and smirked.
"Watch your tone or I'll make your hair really red and blazing," Ace taunted, slightly serious, and then coughed awkwardly. "I would be willing to keep lil' pipsqueak here under my care while you go take care of what you need to do."
"Like you'd take care of Michael and not burn this whole side of town down, too? Sounds like a great deal to me other than the big 'I don't know you' problem. Plus, what's in it for you?"
There was a short moment of tense silence and thought.
"Welp," Ace stood up and walked over to the nearest window, opening it up, "if you don't need me, I'll just be on my way-"
"No, wait!"
"Hmm?"
"Ace," Killer warned, pointing a finger down to the floor next to him, and Ace sat back down again pouting. Maybe he really just wanted to jump out a 4th-story window..? Killer stared at Ace and then looked down at Michael who was still silently sitting next to him. Drawing on the wall would obviously become a hobby.. Taking interest, Killer leaned forward and looked at what the boy was drawing.
Behind the picture of Kidd and Killer he had drawn he was drawing the red-brick buildings that he loved so much and the black lamp-posts along the cracked roads. Michael didn't notice that soon the three adults were all standing around and beside him, watching him draw. Kidd wasn't so mad about his defiled-walls anymore. Ace blinked amusedly at Michael's work and pushed his orange hat onto the boy's head, making Michael flail for a second and then turn back around to look up at Ace.
"Kinda heavy.." Michael mumbled, pulling the sides of the hat down and then letting them pop back up again. Ace smirked and bent down one knee in front of Michael who looked up at him from under the hat.
"Better get used to heavy stuff, Michael, 'cause we need to get some muscle on those bones," Ace told Michael with a wink that made Michael uneasy.
"What do you mean by that.." Kidd asked, narrowing his eyes down at Ace.
" 't means that you're gonna have to raise the kid to be a fighter," Ace said nonchalantly. Killer's eye twitched in slightannoyance. Ace, Kidd and Michael blinked up at Killer as if asking for permission.
"...Fine. He'll need it."
The other three sighed in relief, as they had feared some sort of bloody rebellion to the decision.
"I still can't believe that you guys of all people picked up this little munchkin.. and how long are you planning-"
Kidd caught Ace in a headlock and silently dragged him out into the hallway and down into another abandoned apartment, closing the door behind him.
"Shut the fuck up! Don't say that shit around him!" Kidd hissed into Ace's ear. Ace merely smirked at Kidd's sensitivity and surprising compassion for the Michael. Looks can be deceiving indeed.. but that doesn't matter when the person has you in a painful headlock. Ace stuck out his tongue and elbowed Kidd where a man should never be elbowed. He lept up to lean casually against the closed door as Kidd momentarily cursed everything that moved..especially the thing right in front of him.
"Still haven't answered my question, Mr. Kidd."
"Well.. "
"Well?" Ace pressed on, crossing his arms.
"Well, I don't know," Killer told Michael who stood on the blonde's feet while peeking out the bedroom window at the blue sky. Michael pouted and crossed his arms.
"Kidd has to be here somewhere, though.."
"He wouldn't just leave like that with Cowboy-san if it wasn't important, Michael."
Michael leaned back into Killer and pouted, looking up Killer's chest. Kidd never really seemed to be around as much as Killer did, and Michael really really liked Killer, but.. he couldn't like Kidd as much if Kidd wasn't around! Michael didn't want to not-know his own father. If he didn't know the guy who took him in and supposedly cared for him, how could Kidd be a trustworthy dad?
"Hey Killer?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm gonna grow up to be a big, strong guy like you, right?"
"'Course you are, Michael. You'll get there one way or another.. as long as you stay with us."
Michael nodded his head happily and hugged Killer's leg tightly. He was so happy to have loving, protective parents.
...
"I'll keep him here for as long as he wants to stay, and I'll raise him like a real man should be raised, ya hear?"
Kidd had Ace in another headlock as he spoke, confident in his promise.
"Out of all these minutes I've been around you, I don't think I've heard you say the kid's name even once," Ace mumbled with a smirk, silently reaching his hand back around Kidd's back, "Maybe you don't know the poor boy's name? Or is it too sweet for your sour mouth to say?"
"I fuckin' know my kid's name!"
"Then what is it?" Ace smirked and wiggled his fingers..
"Michael, you-"
Ace pulled down Kidd's pants and bit the red-head's forearm amid the squabble, escaping the infuriated-one by scrambling out into the hallway whilst laughing his ass off. Kidd's head almost exploded right then and there and he screeched out at the cowboy, yanking his pants back up as he awkwardly tumbled after the other man.
"ACE!"
Ace turned his head from where he was calmly standing next to Killer and Michael and hummed in response.
"You.. as soon as I get the chance, you're gonna be-"
"Michael, Killer, Mr. Eustass, it's been a pleasure to meet you, kind sirs, but I'm afraid I must take my leave," Ace announced quickly, standing back while tipping his hat to them, and then opened the window and jumped out. The family fought for the view out the window.
The only trace of Ace was the quick thuds of his heavy boots as he ran far, far away, laughing a little as he went.
"Well he was nice," Michael said, blinking up at the ceiling.
"I'm still gonna kill 'im," Kidd growled.
"Oh come on, let's just go downstairs and eat something," Killer decided, taking the others' hands in his own as he walked towards the doorway.
"Let go'a me!" Kidd yelped, trying to pull his hand away from Killer's grip, but to no avail, his hand remained where it was. "I-I think I'll eat on my own..."
"A family that eats together stays together, Eustass, so we all have to go," Killer reminded, digging his nails into Kidd's hand as 'Dad' grudgingly gave in and went downstairs with 'his' family.
~ + WOOOOP. To finish it off, here's a word problem for you-
"Have you ever watched your shadow as you walked along the street at night and observed how its shape changes as you move? Suppose a man who is 6 feet tallis standing below a lamppost that is 20 feet tall. The man is walking away from the lamppost at a rate of 5 feet per second.
1. Who walks that fast?
2. Why do they walk so fast?
3. What are they smuggling?
4. Is this a school-appropriate mathematical word problem?
5. Why are there so many loop-holes for thoughts to get caught in?
6. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS?!
Please respond if you so desire. I will reveal the answers at the end of the next chapter XD + ~