TRIGUN: MOON CHILD Chapter 10: Artist's License, a trigun fanfic

Chapter Seven

TRIGUN:
MOON CHILD

Artist's License

By R. A. Stott

"Boss! Boss! We can't hold him back! That gun of his is just too strong!"

The bandit was odd looking – it was as if he was wearing a boiler-plate over his face. The lenses on his helmet were cracked and the unit was dented – colorful bands that had wrapped his shoulders were shattered - behind him, explosions and swearing could be heard.

The man he called 'boss' sat in a chair and glowered at the floor. Even seated he seemed to loom over top of him. On his shoulders was a pair of dynamos that hid massive machine guns and power plants. They vibrated as he grumbled.

"What is this crap – it doesn't sparkle – it has no style!" he cursed. "ARE WE GOING TO BE BROUGHT DOWN BY ONE SCRAWNY DISHWATER DULL LOOSER!? THERE IS NO BRILLIANCE TO THIS! THERE IS NO GLOW! I WANT THIS FAKER DROWNED IN A CRIMSON SHOWER OF HIS OWN BLOOD! THAT WILL BE THE ONLY WAY THAT HE COULD SHINE!"

The men around him cheered as they dashed out of the room towards the outer wall of his stronghold. B.D.N. rose from his chair and opened a locker next to his desk. He pulled out a special gun, long and shiny, complete with an array of neon tubes that wrapped it in a rainbow of glowing colors.

"It looks like I myself will have to bring this dull boy down," he gritted. He slid open a small door on his right dynamo and inserted a wire from the gun into it.

"Jack me Philo," he told a small man who had been sitting in the corner of the room. The man swallowed. He opened a drawer at the bottom of the locker and pulled out a heavy cable. He climbed on the desk and opened two more hatches on the backs of the dynamos. There he inserted the plugs on the cables, joining the two power units together.

"You're smokin', boss," he said as he slapped the right dynamo, "212 to 212. Give 'em sparks!"

"Are they sparklin'?" B.D.N. asked with his usual panache.

"You light up the night boss," Philo said as he sat down on the edge of the table. He had to cling to the edge as an explosion rocked the room. Outside the door, a few bodies flew by all twisted and distorted. B.D.N. looked back at the small man.

"Better have my overdrive ready," he said. He then exited the room.

"The… the overdrive?" Philo winced as sweat poured off his face. He quickly jumped into a small door in the wall beside him and scurried down a narrow tunnel that seemed only large enough for him to move through. He emerged in a large room deep in the heart of the mountain. He looked up.

The Plant looked down at him. She looked up briefly as a shockwave from another blast rocked the room.

"Baby, he's asked for his overdrive," Philo said to the girl behind the glass. She placed her hands over her face. He shook his head. "Yea, I know baby… but he is the boss… I've gotta do it, or he'll do us both, you know that."

The Plant lowered her hands and looked at the small man. She reached down and placed her hands on the glass. He did the same on the opposite side.

"I love you, baby," he said as he felt a wave of energy flow through him. He then dropped below the bulb and reached for a cable that was attached to a belt. He dragged it out and strapped it to his waist. He took a look back at his Plant then jumped into another narrow hole in the wall that lead up towards the front of the stronghold dragging the cable behind him.

Another explosion caused him to get bounced like the clapper of a bell within his own private pathway through the mountain. He rubbed his head where it had struck the ceiling twice, no three times. "Good thing it's my hardest spot!" he kidded himself as he continued up the shaft towards a grill.

Philo popped out of a wall near a pile of debris. He looked about for B.D.N. and saw him near a group of his men to his left. Another explosion rocked the tunnel he had emerged in forcing him towards the outer wall. He stuck his head out a hole that had been blasted through to see just what was doing all this damage to the fortress.

Down below was a single figure. From what he could see, it was holding a shotgun. But then it was fired, and he was jarred out of the hole. He hung from the end of the cable waiting the worst as the shotgun was turned towards him.

Deep in the mountain, the Plant sensed that Philo was in danger and retracted the cable. He was sucked through the hole again just as the gun blasted the wall near him.

"Wasn't that sweet!" B.D.N. bellowed. "Nice diversion Philo. That sparkled with glitter!"

Philo waved his hand from the rubble he landed in. "Whatever boss," he mumbled.

B.D.N. took this chance to swing his large gun over the edge of the wall and point it at their attacker. He revved up both dynamos and readied a salvo. But as he let fly his bolt of energy, the shotgun was turned to the side and was used to deflect the round into the nearby mountains. A curved aura was all that the men in the stronghold had seen as the burst had been diverted. B.D.N. snorted.

"Not flashy enough," he fumed as he ejected a large shell like battery from the gun that clanked on the ground. "I need to make a statement! PHILO! THE OVERDRIVE!"

The small man scrambled to his feet and dragged the cable over to his leader. He removed it from his belt and plugged it into a center coupling in the cable he had installed earlier. He then took a wrench and clanked a housing coupler, sending a signal back down the line to his Plant. She grimaced and sent all she could through the cable.

"You're hot, boss!" Philo yelped as he dove for cover, followed by most of the men around him.

B.D.N. stepped to the top of the wall, exposing himself to the stranger's gun, but also putting his own firearm in a position to deliver its maximum potential.

"THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE, SCUM BAG!" he shouted. "I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO BE FLASHY WITH STYLE! I'LL GIVE YOU A SHOW THAT YOU'LL REMEMBER FOR ALL ETERNITY! THIS WILL BE BEAUTIFUL!"

Pulling the trigger caused all the neon tubing around the barrel of the gun to explode. The energy released from the muzzle caused the wall he was standing on to crumble, and kicked him back off it like a rocket motor launching a missile. But his aim was straight and true, and the area where the shotgun wielding stranger had been was instantly changed to molten rock.

The roar of the blast echoed off the hills for minutes after the shot was fired, as was the sound of rock and debris falling. B.D.N. found himself at the base of the wall to his outer office with the withered chunk of metal that had formally been his special weapon.

"Now that had pizzazz!" he grinned. He listened to the silence that was around him. Something wasn't right. There was a slight sound – as if one person was clapping?

He stepped over to what was the wall a moment ago and looked down the ravine. Below, the stranger stood applauding him.

"Very flashy," was heard from the bottom of the gully. "Allow me to show you how a real artist works! We do it in MASTER STROKES!"

"Boss!" one of his henchmen yelped. "That's a dame!"

She raised the shotgun up and transformed it into an Angel Arm. She then pointed it at the hill directly before her.

"NO! BABY, NOOO!" Philo shouted as he saw where she was aiming.

His Plant gasped as his thoughts touched her for the last time.

Horloge smiled as she flexed her new finger. She could feel her sister's scream of anguish as she was used again to kill, though this time, possibly kill one of their own. She ran the new digit down Sandusky's back making him jump.

"Dear, must you do that when I'm busy?" he complained as he worked on the adjustments to a shotgun.

"Humm," she smiled. "Our latest delivery is having fun with her new brush and canvas."

He looked over his shoulder at her. "Painting the town red is she?"

Horloge laughed. "Yes, I guess you could call it that!" She popped open a pocket watch and bemused herself by slowing time around herself to make everyone in her mind talk funny. No one noticed, though Sandusky did note that for some reason, she would chuckle and it would sound like a chipmunk.

Philo had to hold back at first – fire was shooting out of the tunnel that he would normally scramble down. As soon as the flames had subsided, he was down one before anyone could hold him back.

"Boss, shouldn't we stop him?" one of the henchmen asked as he looked down the hole in the wall.

"His woman is down there – let him be," B.D.N. said as he dropped the cable that had powered his gun.

The henchman looked at B.D.N. puzzled. "His woman? The only thing down there was the old Plant!"

The large gunman looked down on the man. "No kidding," he said in a low rumble, making the bandit wince. "Alright scum, listen up! Obviously, this is no longer flashy or fun. I want 6 of the shiniest of you to back me up – the rest… get the hell out of here through the lighthouse – got that?"

"But boss!" one complained. "We can't leave you like this!"

"Yea," another one harped in. "We'd never live it down with the other groups out there! They'd slaughter us!"

B.D.N. grabbed one of the whiners by the scruff of the neck. "What? You have some friggin' resume on you? Outside of this boiler-plated turkey suit no one knows what you look like stupid! Now get the hell out of here! You don't shine anymore!" He tossed the one in the direction he wanted them to go. Many followed as another blast hit the compound. He looked at the 6 who were staying.

"Okay men, this is all about presentation!" He looked over the edge at the woman with the now BIG weapon. "If she's an artist, I would think she'd appreciate a little proper layout! You three go to the left – you others, to the right. Don't stay at the same level along the wall. I want to show her how neon tubes curve! Make us sparkle! Make this spectacular!"

"Right boss!" they all said and scattered to their respective locations.

"BRILLIANCE DYNAMITE NEON!" the woman yelled up the hill. "MY NAME IS BRANDYWINE THE ARTIST!"

"Well, a nice flashy name – full of fireworks and style," B.D.N. yelled back. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing with a huge gun like that?"

She smiled under her short bobbed and slightly spiked hair and long off-white jacket. "As a freelancer, I take what jobs are given me, sweets!" she smirked. "And my job right now is to paint you a picture of death, Brilliance!"

"Well, isn't that just so sparkly," B.D.N. noted. "And to what reason have I been given this pleasure?"

"Why simple, love," she said, powering up her arm. "It is my job to layout, paste-up and final render anyone who may help Vash the Stampede, and kill them!" She shrugged. "Sorry, but it's a job!"

"Vash? You damn fool! Don't you know that if I ever see that spiked haired freak of nature again that I swore I'd kill him!?"

Brandywine took aim. "My client can't take that chance," she said. "Besides, just the fact that you're human means that you'll be dead soon anyway."

"What the…" B.D.N. grimaced. "Aw, your show has no flash – it's a lame excuse and isn't dynamic enough! Let her have it men!"

Philo entered the remains of the Plant room. He found that the hole Brandywine had drilled through the solid stone structure had been precise, like someone had used a straight-edge ruler to draw a line. The bulb was almost intact, but a circular hole faced the matching hole in the far wall. At the bottom of the bulb lay a small naked woman, her legs oddly shaped, as if they had just started to form when she had been cut down. Philo ran over and grabbed a service ladder and climbed into the hole.

The haze of the yellow gas was still about, and he knew it would kill him if he breathed too much of it, but that wasn't going to stop him. He jumped in and slid down the inside of the bulb to his lady's side.

"Philo," she whispered to his surprise. "You'll die – get out…"

He gathered her up in his arms. "That doesn't matter now, baby," he said to her as he brushed her hair from her face. "I won't leave you like this." He coughed. "What is this stuff? It smells almost like roasting nuts…"

"It is based on a cyanide gas," she said. "You must get out of here now!"

Philo knocked on the glass behind him and looked up at the hole above them. "Too late for that now," he said. "I can't climb that, and I have nothing to break the glass with. Besides, I doubt that lady with that gun will let me live anyway…" He slumped over her and held her tight.

Above them, the roof of the room vanished in a massive flash of light. When the glow faded, blue sky shown into the bulb - A massive curved cut could be seen where the mountain once was.

"How is THAT for symmetrical?" Brandywine laughed. When no one responded she turned and headed down the hill from the wreckage she had created. She picked up a pallet and easel she had been carrying – she noted a bullet hole in the canvas frame – and strapped them to her back. She picked up her tackle-box of colors and strolled away whistling.

The final blast had shattered a section of the fortress which B.D.N. had fallen through. When he came to, he saw a face from his past and winced.

"Crap… Insurance Girls…"

"You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Neon," Meryl said to him as she placed a cold compress to his forehead.

"Yea," Millie added. "If Dallas hadn't hit the breaks when he did, we would have run right over you!"

He looked over to his right. A large machine with bright lights was sitting behind them chugging away. A hole in the ceiling was letting sunlight in from above. A ladder on top of the machine told him someone had climbed up.

Sara watched as Dallas slid down the inside of the bulb to the two bodies below. He checked on the man and shook his head.

"Can we save the Plant?" Sara asked.

"Yea, she looks like she could be restored," he said. He looked up at the damaged mounting unit and back down at her. "She seems awfully small to run a Plant this size though. I'm not sure she's the original Plantoid for this unit."

Sara nodded. "We'll have to check the serial number of this unit to confirm whose it was then."

Dallas waved Sara back as he readied his way out of the bulb. He reared back and planted his fist hard against the foot thick glass. Even Sara was shocked as he easily broke it. He was a big one… bigger than Lexington…

"Ow – ow – ow – ow!" he grimaced as he shook his hand about.

Sara sighed. She looked up at the missing ceiling and watched some birds fly by.

B.D.N. sat and watched the wrap be applied to a badly mangled hand – he asked for no pain killers, just a cleaning of the wound. Meryl stood back as Millie worked on it and was surprised to find how much smaller this former hulking man was without those massive dynamos on his shoulders.

"You say you found Philo in the bulb of his Plant?" he asked.

Sara nodded.

B.D.N. sighed. "He was… a good man," he said much to Meryl's surprise – he almost sounded emotional about his loss. "Best damn powermaster I had. And you say he was cradling her?"

Dallas was placing the glass bulb over the regen unit having just finished placing the small girl into it. He too nodded to the large man.

"I never really understood about those damn Plants," the outlaw said. "Philo had come into our group with her one day when I let it known that we were in need of a powermaster." He looked at the girl in the jar. "That was the last time I had seen her. I guess that was what that Plant was missing all that time – its core unit…"

He sighed. "Damn, that's classic - A real show stopper."

"Mr. Neon," Meryl asked while getting a notebook ready, "please could you tell us how all this started?"

B.D.N. snorted and gave a slight chuckle. "Little Missy, unless you're the law or the cavalry why should I tell you anything?"

B.D.N. was shocked to find himself being held off the floor by the collar of his jacket by Sara – the petit little blond who he had been keeping an eye on.

"Because I AM the law here, Mr. Neon," she said calmly. She placed him back in his chair with a thud.

"I believe that, ma'am!" he said, a bit flustered by her strength. "Geeze, I've been having my troubles with the ladies today, haven't I?"

"Besides, after all this help we're giving you, wouldn't you'd like to give us some Mr. Neon?" Millie added with her usual gleeful expression. B.D.N. gave her an odd look. He then roared with laughter.

"Lady, you have flash! You have style! HAW!" he bellowed. "Fine. Where should I start?"

"Why not at the beginning?" Meryl suggested. "Who was it that tore the top off your hideout?"

The smile left B.D.N.'s face. "Tore it off?" he asked.

"All gone," Millie added. "We only found two rooms, and both of them were open to the sky."

He sat back and thought a moment. Brandywine's words went through his mind - "Besides, just the fact that you're human means that you'll be dead soon anyway." – He coughed, and the pain in his broken hand started to build.

"Crap…" he grumbled. "Okay, damn it." He reached for some pills that had been offered to him earlier and found Millie gleefully handing them to him with a glass of water.

"It had started early this morning," he reminisced. "Two of my men had found someone at the base of our hill with an easel and supplies painting the mountains. In hindsight, it probably would have been smarter for my boys to have just left that person alone, but my guys never been big on the smarts part…"

"BOSS! BOSS!" the strangely costumed bandit yelled as he climbed the steps to the hideout's offices.

"Beremy, what are you yowling about?" B.D.N. sniped from behind a planning desk. "You're makin' enough of a ruckus to wake the buzzhawks!"

"Boss," the second in command yelped, "two of our men found some stranger down at the base of the hill… when they went in to check on him, he shot them down with a single blast!"

B.D.N. sat back in his chair. "Well, that's not beautiful… Get the boys up, Beremy." There was then a long and drawn out rocking of the base as something slammed a wall nearby. The two men exited the office and looked up at a cloud of dust coming from a wall outside the compound.

The word "DIE" had been etched in the stone facade.

"Fancy greetings," the boss said.

The second ran back out of the room barking orders to the others in the staging areas. Philo watched him dash about kicking the stray sleeping Bad Lads or tossing guns into their hands. He looked back and saw the boss pointing at him.

"Great," he said as he walking into the office. He was shown a chair in the corner and told to sit in it.

"I don't know," B.D.N. said to the Insurance Girls. "Something inside me said that this wasn't gong to be some rival boss tryin' ta muscle in on the Bad Lads… it just didn't sparkle. I had Philo park his tail in my office just in case I had to bring out my show-pieces."

"A converted thruster rail and a beam weapon," Sara noted looking at the small pieces of the gun that B.D.N. had removed from his dynamos on the service deck. She then noticed the surprised look on the bandit's face.

"Lady, you know what that is?" he asked in confusion. "Philo slapped that thing together and told me that it would give me the same punch that Vash the Stampede had when he blew away July."

Meryl snorted. Sara smiled.

"Not exactly," she said. "A small representation at least." B.D.N. looked down.

"Really… Damn, now I wish I could see Philo again… I'd PUNCH HIS LIGHTS OUT!"

Millie and Meryl looked at him with a confused expression. He laughed.

"He swore that it would be enough," he continued. "But what happened after that, well, you can see what happened after that…"

"And the weapon used was more powerful than the one Vash used," Sara noted. B.D.N. winced.

"Shit… What sort of show would that have been?" He grimaced at the thought.

Dallas tapped on the side of Lexington's Plant. They both gave a thumbs-up. Dallas started inserting the carbon rod into the rear of the regen unit. The girl inside woke up and looked around as the power from The Source was sent via Lexington's conduit. She seemed surprised at the sight of the strange people in the room around her, until she saw B.D.N. – she quickly acted as if she were covering herself up. The outlaw cleared his throat and looked aside. Sara looked back at him after looking at the girl a bit perplexed.

"You've got to be kidding," she murmured. She then swung around with her nightstick and walloped the outlaw, sending him sprawling across the table he was seated next to.

"YOU DISGUST ME MISTER," she shouted, "YOU REALLY DO!" Millie attempted to hold her back, but she would have had an easier time holding a mad bull.

"Please stop," a voice yelled. Sara found that it had come from the girl in the regen unit. The girl smiled at her with a weak but sad expression. "Philo would not approve of your actions, Officer Sara."

"Sara! Sara!" Meryl yelled while trying to grab the flaying baton. "What did he do?"

Sara stood up, sweat running off her forehead. She glared down on the man she had just administered a pummeling on. He seemed no worse for wear, though he did now have a look of fear in his face.

"This… man," she had a hard time saying, "raped her in exchange of not killing Philo the first night they arrived."

The girl looked down from her inverted position. "There was little we could do," she sent to Sara in a thought transmission, "but I did agree freely to do it."

Sara snapped a look back at her. "You did not agree freely – you were coerced." She looked back at Neon, who remained sprawled on the table.

"I never knew she was the power unit… believe me… I never knew…" he whispered. It got another belt from Sara.

"You even threatened this Philo after she disappeared," Sara snarled. "You demanded that she be brought back!"

B.D.N. looked up at her with shock. "How did you know that?" he gasped.

"I saw it in her mind," she said, pointing at the girl in the glass bulb. "Then I looked into history with my mind…" Sara looked up at Millie, who had taken a position between her and the outlaw.

"Miss Sara, please… settle down. You're an officer of the law, not the judge," the Insurance Girl said in a hushed voice.

Sara glared at her and nearly brought the stick to bear on her as well.

"SARA, STOP!" another voice commanded. She looked up at the ceiling and felt where it had come from. Her heart leapt to her throat and her knees felt as if they were about to collapse.

"M-mother… how…" she said.

"I am using all my strength to talk to you," the strained voice of Cindy echoed through the Steamer. "Sara, my child, Millie is correct."

"Mother, stop!" Sara started to weep. "You'll injure yourself transmitting through a Plant's containment vessel like that!"

"Justice, Sara… remember… Justice." The voice faded.

Sara wiped her face. "But how do I get justice for a violation of a Plant?" she cursed.

"I would place him under arrest then," Meryl said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Deliver him to the Council of the Plants for judgment."

B.D.N. sat up on that one. "Council of the PLANTS?!"

"Oh yes," Millie exclaimed as if this were a happy thing. "We're on a mission for the Council prior to the trial of Mr. Millions Knives! You'll be the next one I suppose!"

"WHAT!?" the outlaw bellowed as he was picked up by Dallas. "Where's your evidence!?"

"Time is our evidence, Neon," Meryl said smugly. "She can see history since she's part Plant!"

"And all I have to do is have someone confirm my read on it, and you'll be convicted," Sara said as she slipped the nightstick back in its holster. She looked at Millie and Meryl and gave a weak smile.

"I'm sorry girls. I nearly blew it."

"Hey, you're only human," Millie smiled. When she opened her eyes, she found Sara giving her a perplexed look. "Well, almost…"

The Steamer's brig wasn't very large, though it did have all the accommodations of the other cabins. But it was the smallest cabin, and to someone as large as B.D.N. it was pretty cramped. He leaned up against the back wall while sitting in the cot.

"Part Plant?" he wondered recalling what Meryl said. "How many of those damn things are there walking around?"

She had set up her easel at the edge of a dirt road and was starting to paint the mountains in the distance when a cloud of dust caught her attention. She quickly covered her canvas as to not get any of the flying dirt on the fresh gesso.

The man behind the wheel of the car was a bit round and squat. He was wearing a gray tweed suit and a large bowler hat. He slowed when he saw what the person along the side of the road was doing and approached without the dust storm he had been creating. She nodded and removed the covering from her canvas.

"Sorry," he said as he pulled up and tipped his hat. "I know how it is when someone ruins a work in progress like that." He looked at her for a moment and she at him.

"You're a Plant!" they both said almost simultaneously. They both laughed. He reached his hand out and shook hers.

"Boston," he introduced himself as.

"Brandywine," she replied.

"So, you're going to paint those mountains?" he asked. She nodded.

"It's in my blood I guess," she said looking back at the blank panel on her easel. "There were people always painting near me back on Earth – some sort of art class that would meet in the park I was seated in back in Delaware…"

"Ah, you were an open Plant back then," he said. She nodded again.

"You?" she asked.

"No, not me," he laughed from behind his mustache. "I was the Number Three North Station Plant for Boston ConEdison. I was cooped up all the time. When I was brought here and found myself outside of my containment vessel for the first time, I took up law…"

Brandywine blinked. "You're a lawyer?" she asked.

He laughed. "There are more Plant Lawyers than you would think – I believe at least five members of my class were Plants. The teachers never knew it – helped out too, when we'd share answers during tests… it got a little busy though when we'd start debating situations in our minds… But anyway…"

Brandywine giggled. "Well, that would explain why a man would be out here in the middle of nowhere in this heat wearing a suit like that!"

He smiled. "I do have to look the part! Speaking of which, do you know the way to Promontory Flats and Sutter's Mesa?"

Brandywine looked around her canvas. "I believe it's out in that direction," She said pointing with a large brush. "It's some two hundred iles or so. The road doesn't turn that way for another ten iles when you'll reach a crossroads that heads that way."

"Much obliged, missy!" he said. He then noticed something about the canvas.

"You know you have a hole on your painting," he noted, pointing at the gap at the top corner.

She snorted as she looked at the bullet hole. "Accidents will happen – I'll fix it after I get back home."

He nodded and tipped his hat again to her then slowly pulled away. He stopped a few yards down the road and looked back at her.

"May I ask, you do seem to be out in the middle of nowhere," he stated. "Have you a ride out when you are done?"

She smiled and pointed across the road, where a motorcycle sat. He nodded then noticed something. There was smoke coming up from the mountain behind the cycle.

"Looks like someone has a nasty fire going on there," he said. Brandywine looked back and smiled.

"Indeed," she replied and waved to him.

He shrugged and continued on.

Sara sat before the monitor of the communication station. She was busy reading the updates, or at least trying to read them. She was troubled with the way she handled B.D.N. earlier, and news about the judges now being able to read wasn't much comfort to her, even though last week they had only learned to crawl. She decided to punch up the data charts on the Plants in an attempt to figure out just where the Plant unit they had found in the remains of B.D.N.'s hideout was from.

She punched in the serial number they had found on the base unit. It said that the power unit had come from the city of New Orleans, but the Plant that had been in it had left some 100 years prior to the little girl and Philo coming to it. She found no information on what became of the Plant that had been inside the unit. The closest she could come to any information on that person was someone named Red Stick.

"Baton Rouge," Meryl said over her shoulder, making her jump. She had not heard the Insurance Girl enter the room. She looked back and held her heart.

"Sorry," she smiled as if she were Millie. "Geography was one of my strong suits back in school… even though most of it was about a planet we aren't even on…"

Sara tried to put her best face on, but she could hardly muster it. Meryl shook her.

"Hey you, snap out of it! You're supposed to be the strong one here!" she told the officer. "Besides, I think I know what you need."

"Huh?" she asked with a bit of grogginess in her voice. She was then presented with a newspaper at point-blank range.

"Right here," Meryl said as she placed the rag in Sara's lap. She pointed at a large ad that had glaringly huge letters running across it.

"THE 50TH ANNUAL GREATER PROMONTORY FALLS BALL" the banner for the ad read. She looked up at Meryl with a confused expression on her face.

"A ball? You want me to play with a ball?"

Meryl pinched her eyes. Sometimes Sara could be JUST like Millie.

"A ball in this case is a dance – a BIG one," she said. "This is the most popular one on this planet! And you need to get out and breath some air, girl!"

Sara looked at the ad again. "Well, it's obvious that I've never been to one before…" she started.

"Exactly – then again, if what you say is true, and you're less than a year old, that's not surprising!" Meryl stepped in front of Sara and held the arms of her chair. "You need a break!"

"Pardon?"

Meryl stood back up. "Don't give me that," she mockingly scolded. "We've all been through the wringer lately, and personally, I'd love to go to that party. You need to get out too, stretch your feet, so to say. Besides, Millie found something that might make you want to go." She grabbed her by the hand and dragged her back to the cabins in the rear.

In a stray cabin behind her own, Millie was rustling in a closet. She looked out when she heard someone enter the room.

"Meryl, this is great!" she exclaimed. "Look at me!"

She had pulled out a gown and was holding it up to her chest. She spun around and giggled.

"Where… where did this come from? Who said you could get into this?" Sara asked as she started to sound official again.

"Lexington did!" Millie said and she handed Sara a piece of paper. It was a print-out from a wall unit each cabin had.

"Meryl and Millie," it read. "I heard you saying that you wished that you could take a break and go to that ball in Promontory Falls. If you'd like to go, you will find gowns and all you need in Cabin #12. Enjoy! PS – take Sara with you – she needs a break!" As she looked up from the note, she was presented a blue chiffon dress.

"You'll knock 'em out!" Millie added with a grin. Meryl just looked at her with a smirk on her face.

Sara sighed. She remembered the words of OneO'Five back home. She had asked him if she would 'knock 'em out' when she arrived. He had told her that she'd have more trouble with the men on this planet than with Knives. She pressed a button on the wall.

"Dallas, how far are we from Promontory Falls?" she asked.

"We're almost there – we were going to pass by it on our way to Bedford," he replied from the pilot's seat.

She smiled and looked at the expectant expressions on the Insurance Girl's faces. "Stop there tonight," she said. "We'll be here a day or two."

The girl squealed and jumped around. The rest of the evening was spent trying on the gowns and having fun.

B.D.N. had nearly cut the first bar from his cell with his hidden wrist wire. He gave it a final yank and severed the base from the rest – only 10 more to go…

As he sat up and wiped the sweat from his brow, something flashed in front of him. He spotted a waft of smoke from the base of the bar he had just cut, and found it freshly welded to the floor again. Over his shoulder, a piece of paper fell out of a slot in the wall. He picked it up and read it.

"Can't get out that way," it read. "Lexington," it was signed. He crunched the paper and crossed his legs and pouted.

"That's not beautiful," he grumbled. He stared at the weld and cursed the Plant that had put it back together on him. He would have stayed that way for the rest of the night, but a pair of feet stepped into his view – a pair of white glowing feet.

He looked up and saw the girl from the Plant in front of him. She was covered in a nightgown-like garment that was nearly as white as her skin. And she was emitting an iridescent shine that made him drop his jaw.

"Flashy… extremely flashy and beautiful," he said in awe of the girl. She smiled.

"I'm old enough to be your grandmother 10 times over," she said. She sat down on the other side of the bars and looked at him.

"What… what are you doing?" B.D.N. asked the staring girl.

"I was lonely" she said. "I figured you were too…"

He sat back then looked away. "Believe me girl we have nothing to talk about."

"Yes we do," she said with a smile. He looked back at her.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Philo," she replied with a simple smile. "After all, you knew him better than any of us, didn't you?"

B.D.N. looked down and grunted. He then started to laugh.

"Yea kid, Philo," he said behind his bars, and on a monitor in Cabin 12. Sara had been alerted that the girl had left the regen unit by Lexington.

"So, she's going to be okay?" Meryl asked.

"That's hard to say," Sara said. "She should not have come out of the regen unit so early. She needed at least a month in there to fully recover… unless she no longer wants to be a Plant or a full Plant that is…"

The girl laughed along with the outlaw. She wiped a tear from her face and looked at the huge man behind the bars.

"You know, you never told me your name," B.D.N. said quietly, almost ashamed to ask.

"I was Delta 174 of Miami, Florida," she said. "Since the locals have seemed to have taken their hometown names, I guess you can call me Miami."

Neon smiled at the glowing girl. "Miami – sweet."

The Tunnel Steamer pulled into the station at midnight. The Insurance Girls and Sara had been busy with their attire for the following night, and Miami and B.D.N. spent the evening just talking. Dallas came back later when the girl had fallen asleep to take her to a cabin. B.D.N. stared at her as he picked her up.

"You take care of that angel, you hear?" he told Dallas. "She's a spectacular waiting to happen."

Dallas nodded and smiled. He then retired her to a private cabin, leaving the outlaw to stare at the floor where she had been that evening. It was amazing just how much he knew of Philo, and she truly wanted to hear it. She had listened intensely as he had told her of his work for him, and the equipment he had created for him. If it hadn't been for that little man… and his… wife…

…he wouldn't have been Brilliance Dynamite Neon… he shuddered. He slowly stood up. A shadow passed over the bars in the cell. He looked up and saw Sara there.

"She is something, isn't she?" Sara asked. B.D.N. nodded.

"Damn straight," he said. "She had a glow I've never seen in anyone… Not sparkly – not flashy… She was incredible…" He sat down on the cot.

Sara sighed. "Look, I want to apologize for earlier. I was out of line."

B.D.N. looked over at her and shook his head. "No you weren't. You were correct. I will take what is due me. Miami - the Angel of Peace… Spectacular…"

oOo

Next Episode

Have you ever been ashamed of something you did after you did it?

Ask Brandywine the Artist...

Have you ever wished you were anyone else but yourself?

Ask Brandywine the Artist...

Were you ever asked to do something you knew was wrong, but fate seemed intent that you do it anyway?

Ask Brandywine the Artist...

Next Episode of TRIGUN: MOON CHILD - Chapter Nine - Belles of the Ball - Part 1 of the Promontory Falls Trilogy

When duty and love don't mix, ask Brandywine the Artist - she'll sing you a sad tune.

Edited 0311.17. 1901.24

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