Chapter IX: Outnumbered

Kim was surprised to see such determination in both men's eyes. Determined but also a hint of mischief. They knew something the rest of the world didn't. They had a plan.

"So what do we do?" Ron asked through the corner of his mouth.

"Have no idea," Nicholas answered. Kim sighed as she heard the exchange. So much for that idea. "We need to buy some time."

"That would be seriously hard," Ron said. "Why do we need to buy some time?" Nicholas didn't answer him.

"Shego, do you think you could reach my luggage?" Nicholas asked. Shego looked at the large cross leaning on the side of the saloon's wall. Judging from the distance, it was about a hundred meters away.

"No prob, what will I do with it?" she asked.

"Throw it to where I am," he said. "Ron and I will keep them off your backs."

"We will?" Ron smirked, not really liking the plan. Nicholas ignored his gibe and focused on their opponents.

"The odds are five hundred to one, any takers?" Nicholas prepared himself to move as soon as hell broke loose.

"How interesting," Jack Hench leered. "Saying goodbye?" Nicholas chuckled much to the owner of Hench Co.'s bewilderment. Looking around him, the whole place was littered with henchmen and robots. There was no obvious way to escape.

"Why? Are you going somewhere?" Nicholas asked to Shego's mirth. He still kept cool even though the odds were against them. "Hey Outlaw. How much do you think the bounties are on their heads?" Ron groaned.

"Now is not the time to be thinking of money," Ron shook his head. "I can't believe you."

"You must admit, I'm new here and kinda strapped for cash," Nicholas said to the confusion of the girls.

"You're not thinking of getting all of them?" Shego asked incredulously but she could see that he was weighing his options.

"Bye, bye," Nicholas suddenly said as he raised his hands up and two pistols unsheathed from his sleeves and quickly fired, dispatching first the robots that were near him.

"Oh, crud," Ron said as he tossed a smoke grenade towards the crown. It created a distraction and also gave them a better chance since most of them could not see their enemy.

"Go!" Nicholas gave the signal as he ejected his spent clips and tilted his guns downward. From his sleeves, an auto loading mechanism replaced the clips with fresh ones and he continued shooting.

Despite their numbers, the villains were unorganized. Most of them were confused and the rest tried to shoot at their targets. Ron, with his revolver, created more confusion as he struck every robot in the confused crowd.

Kim and Shego were busy fighting off the henchmen. Since they were flesh, they were easier to dispatch than the robots.

"Nicholas's good," Kim commented as she tossed a henchman towards his teammate. Shego, after giving her opponent a roundhouse kick, glanced to see Nicholas shooting at the enemy.

For her, it was like he was dancing. It was more of a gunplay than a gunfight. His movements were graceful and swift and his aim was true. Shego never knew that someone that was definitely deadly would be so hot!

Kim, while taking out her share of bad guys, watched Ron as he took fought. In contrasts to Nicholas's grace, Ron was fighting almost seriously. It was like that time in Bueno Nacho. Ron was determined, to say the least, to protect her. She also noticed that Ron was aiming to disable, not to kill.

Sometimes, Ron shot the hand, or a leg but often, it was a cascading effect that he was using. As if he had missed, Ron's bullet struck a sign on the roof, which fell on some henchmen. A part of the sign struck a stack of barrels, which rolled over another set of henchmen coming after Kim. One of the barrels struck the brake lever of a wagon filled of gunpowder kegs, the wagon rolled towards platform where Jack Hench was standing on. One of the kegs was split open, leaving a trail of gunpowder in its wake.

Shego, while fighting another henchman with her glowing hands, back flipped, not noticing that her glowing hands touched the ground where the trail of gunpowder was.

Instantly, the gunpowder burst into flames, burning like a fuse towards the wagon of gunpowder. Despite their own battles, Ron and Nicholas saw the trail and immediately left their opponents and sprinted towards the girls.

"Get down!" both men said as Ron tackled Kim and Nicholas did the same to Shego, both men covering their bodies to protect the women.

With a massive explosion, the ground rocked as all the gunpowder ignited, sending a powerful shockwave that stunned half the remaining villains.

"Nice," Nicholas growled as he got to his feet. Shego, momentarily stunned by the explosion, looked at Nicholas in disbelief and awe. Even though he tackled her, he was surprisingly gentle.

"It's not my fault," Ron said as he got to his knees and checked on Kim. "You okay, KP?"

"I'm fine," Kim said as she sat up. "Whoa," she said in awe at the destruction the blast caused. Almost half the town was burning and in shambles. Was this why Ron was nicknamed the human typhoon?

Judging by Nicholas's expression, this was a common occurrence. But this was not the time for questions. The villains who were not dazed began flocking to them.

"Shego!" Nicholas called out.

"I'm on it," Shego sprinted towards the building where the cross was. Most of the remaining villains were reluctant to attack, seeing that only four people defeated half of their ranks.

"You will not leave this place alive," Monkey Fist, who was nursing his shoulder, taunted as he led the group.

"Dude, who's gonna stop us?" Ron returned, making Nicholas groan.

"Will you stop?" Nicholas pleaded as he looked at Ron.

"Stop what?" Ron asked, clearly confused.

"You're jinxing the moment," Nicholas said, looking at the approaching villains.

"How?" Ron asked but was answered by the sudden stomping of footsteps. Giant footsteps. From behind the enemy ranks came three gorilla golems. Each was about eleven feet tall and stronger than a tank.

"That's how," Nicholas said with a sigh.

"Your puny guns are no match for my gorilla golems," Monkey Fist gloated. "You possibly don't have enough bullets to even chip it." Monkey Fist sneered but when he saw Nicholas smile, he knew that something was up. "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing much," Nicholas said and suddenly, a green flash made Monkey Fist blink. He knew that Shego had fired one of her Plasma Blast but what was that object hurling towards Nicholas?

Nicholas caught, without even turning to see, his cross and spun it on its axle to reduce the force of the inertia. Monkey Fist laughed. What would a simple cross do against his Gorilla Golems?

"Praying for your life, Preacher?" Monkey Fist mocked.

"More like yours," Nicholas smiled. With a simple flick, the strap was removed and the cloth covering the cross flew with the wind. Shego and Kim were surprised. It was a silver cross with cobalt blue trimmings. Nicholas grabbed the middle of the cross and suddenly, a skull like trigger emerged. With one hand, he aimed the longer part of the cross at the golems.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Monkey Fist growled but Nicholas continued to smile. "Gorilla Golems! Attack!" the golems charged at Kim and the others, shaking the ground as they did.

Suddenly, the long part of the cross split open, revealing a large barrel, gleaming in the sun. With a final adjustment of aim, Nicholas fired.

The roar of the gun was deafening. Kim knew it must have been a large caliber weapon and the evidence was before her.

The Gorilla Golems were being pounded by the gun. Each hit tore through the thick stone of the golems. And in a while, two of the golems were pounded into pebbles. The third continued on.

Nicholas stood his ground and fired another volley. The golem's legs were the first to disappear, then its arms and its head leaving a hunk of stone in the middle of the street.

Shego smiled at the sight. It was truly unbelievable. She, herself, was surprised to see such a weapon. She reckoned most people underestimated Nicholas and his abilities. Ron was not half bad, okay he may have been lucky a few times though that was open to debate, but she had eyes only for Nicholas.

"That was amazing," Kim said as she looked at Ron, who was shaking his ears from the noise.

"I wish I saw that coming," Ron said. "I never got used to the sound of a .50 caliber."

"A futile attempt," Monkey Fist said as he looked at the destroyed golems with dismay. "You are still out numbered."

Suddenly, a dune buggy slid to a halt in front of Kim and Ron. Ron immediately pulled Kim towards the buggy and helped her into it. Blinking in confusion, Kim sat at the back of the buggy, looking at Ron who reloaded and stood on the seat beside her. Shego, while Nicholas was covering her, walked towards the buggy and sat on the passenger side, confused as hell but didn't show it.

"We may be outnumbered…." Ron said as he aimed his revolver at Monkey fist.

"But we're never outgunned," Nicholas said as the cross hid the barrel and he flipped it so that the long part of the cross was resting on his shoulder. Slowly he backed towards the buggy, watching everyone.

"You'll never get out of this town alive!" Jack Hench said as Nicholas climbed aboard, leaning on the rollbars. Nicholas smiled as the long part of his cross opened once again but now revealed a honeycomb along the shaft.

With a smirk, Nicholas pulled the trigger and micro missiles launched in succession from the honeycomb. The villains scattered as the missiles struck and destroyed everything. The saloon, the sheriff's office, practically destroyed the town. Jack Hech was furious. His fantasy was burning in front of his eyes. But what made him flip was the nonchalant way that Nicholas said…

"What town?" with that, the dune buggy raced away, leaving the confusion and destruction behind.

"I'll get them for this, Jack Hench vowed, the fires around him echoed the burning soul within.

>>>>>>>>>>>

"We're just going to leave?" Kim asked as Nicholas, while they were traveling fast, strapped the cross on the rollbars.

"We accomplished the mission," Nicholas said as he slid beside Shego. The green skinned woman was looking at him incredulously.

"We didn't get the gem," she pointed out.

"She did," Nicholas pointed at their driver, who was enjoying the drive.

"Indeed, Shego-san," Yori smiled. "While Nicholas-san and Ron-san were distracting the people, I went to get the gem. However, it was that riot that made it possible for me to succeed."

"You mean that we're only the distraction," Kim frowned at the thought.

"Oh, come on, KP. They'd never thought that you'd be distracting them," Ron said, smiling as he teased his beloved.

"He does have a point," Shego relented. "We always fight without backing down. They'd never thought of us being a distraction since we are always the one getting the goods."

"We had the element of surprise," Nicholas sighed. "But after this, they'd be careful. The only way to fight them now is to keep them guessing."

"Why the long face, Nicholas-san," Yori asked, noticing the disappointed look on the preacher's face.

"Imagine the bounty I could get if we got them all," Nicholas said much to the surprise of the ladies and the groan from Ron.