Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 11 – Gunslinger Huntsman
Dan heard the van took off from behind him as he walked down the footpath, where he still held his revolver behind his head. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and flicked the moisture onto the pavement. He then holstered his gun from within his suit, where he then disappeared into a nearby alleyway.
'Jeez, Kaede,' he thought irritant, 'Your really had to say those nice things about me, did ya' sweetheart?'
He then stepped into the shadows, where he seemingly disappeared into them. Suddenly, the sound of electrical surges could be heard and a few seconds later, the Cleaner known as Garcian Smith appeared where he stepped out of that same alleyway, carrying his briefcase in his hand and a smug look on his face.
"Well, that went well," he said to himself.
Suddenly, he heard his cellphone ring, where he reached into his pocket and pulled it out, placing the receiver against his ear.
"Smith," Garcian begun.
Is it done, Mr. Smith? the other line asked.
"We've eradicated the nest in the Projects area, but I seriously doubt it'll stop the flow of the smiles here. We have to find the Queen smile, and something's telling that whoever's behind this may reveal himself to us. And that…"
He paused for second, then exhaled.
"…he's gonna want to pay a visit to the magical community sometime."
We can't allow that! the other line blurted, Who knows how many innocent beings could die.
"We're working on finding him, man," Garcian reassured the other line, "We just need to take care of one last thing, before we drop the hammer on this bastard once and for all."
Then you better get to it, Smith. For all our sakes, we must eradicate these…these…freaks, once and for all.
The Cleaner smirked, "Trust me, Mr. K. Just keep the American Dragon busy with his duties."
And with that he switched off his phone and put it back in his suit. He then brushed the dust of his suit and begun walking down the street, where a full moon was once again in the sky. He looked up at it and frowned.
'This is your show now, Coyote,' he thought, 'Don't disappoint us. And for God's sake, don't do anything stupid.'
Shove it up your ass, Garcie.
The Cleaner frowned and rolled his eyes and walked down the street, disappearing into the night.
----------
"No way, dude!" Spud exclaimed enthusiastically, "Was she hot?"
Trixie frowned at Spud, while Jake just smirked; having told everyone what had went on in the smilies' nesting place. How he and a beautiful young woman named KAEDE, whose last name also happened to be Smith, raided the building and had set fire to it, before smashing through almost a hundred Smiles.
He then thought, 'Hey! How'd Dan get inside that building to finish the job?'
"Then what happened, young dragon?" Lao asked.
Jake was shaken from his thoughts, "We reached where the suckers were coming from…from an even bigger, uglier version of them. But that wasn't the sickest thing I saw."
"What was, kid?" Fu asked from behind the wheel of the van.
Jake's smile disappeared where he then shuddered, "KAEDE slashed her own wrists, and blood, like, gushed out like rain."
Trixie and Spud were now beginning to feel ill. They wished they didn't picture it.
"She killed herself before you?" Trixie cried, "That's SICK!!!"
Jake shook his head, "She didn't die. She summoned some ghost dressed in gear from a R rated flick and it created some kind of force field, trapping the creeps in their nest. She then told me to run, and I did so."
"And that leads up to where you leapt out of the burning building, I must assume?" Lao asked.
Jake sighed, "Yeah. Gramps?"
"Yes?"
"Do have any idea what the heck is going on here?" Jake surprisingly asked, frantically, "My heads starting to trip."
Lao rubbed his head in frustration, where he forced himself to lie, "No, young dragon. I do not know."
Fu rolled his eyes, 'Get real Lao. You're a terrible liar. The kid's gonna know the truth sometime.'
The van then pulled up in front of the store, where Jake was quick to open the door and jump out, where he stepped into the shop, only to find Love, in her human form, sitting behind a desk. She smiled upon seeing him.
"Love?" Jake begun, surprised, "Wha…what are you doing here?"
"I heard you were in trouble," Love replied, concerned, "So I came over to help out. And…"
She chuckled.
"…boy, was this shop in trouble."
Jake blushed slightly, before shaking her head and asking, "Have you seen Rose? She's a blonde haired…"
"The Huntsgirl?" Love queried, "Yes, I saw her. We stayed here and held the fort…well…at least I did. She took off once the others came to get you."
Jake's eyes widened, "HUH?"
"Figures!" Trixie exclaimed as she, Spud, Fu and Lao got out of the van and slammed the door of vehicle, "Guess she didn't want to be part of the siege of electronic store two-hundred and fifteen!"
"Harsh," Spud commented, then stepped up to Jake and patted him on the shoulder, "Sorry, dude."
Sadness was evident on Jake's face, where he then turned to the wall and punched with his fist, actually making a hole in it, and sobbing quietly, muttering something incoherent. Lao shook his head sadly, seeing his grandson's reaction. He stepped over to him.
"You must stay vigilant, young dragon," Lao said, "We have not much time. The agents of the Dark Dragon are sure to take action during this time of crisis."
Jake looked over at Lao over his shoulder as he stepped into the shop and frowned, where he bluntly asked, "Doing what, exactly?"
"They plan to acquire an artifact of untold power," Lao explained, following Jake, "Which, if it fell into the wrong hands, could destroy all of dragon and human kind."
"What is it?" Jake asked, "No…what…don't tell me. I'm trying to figure out several other things."
"Such as?" Lao surprisingly asked.
"Duh!" Jakee exclaimed, "The smiling time bombs and the gun-crazy guys who share the same last name. All this is whacked, man!"
"Maybe, kid!" Fu explained, "Besides, we don't know what's inside this chest as well, held up in the secured wing of the Museum."
Jake queered his eyebrows, "There a 'secured wing' at the Museum?"
"Mm-hmm," Fu said, before finishing out a book and opening it, where an image of what appeared to be a gold-encrusted chest with a red-coloured dragon insignia was present on it. Everyone in the room fixated themselves on it.
"The contents of this chest belonged to the Blood Dragon," Lao asked, "Thirty years ago, he was the most powerful and evil of all the dragons in the world."
"Even more powerful and, dare I say it, evil than Darkie?" Jake asked, interested.
Lao nodded, "Before his disappearance he was more powerful than the Dark Dragon. And his utter hatred of everything that lived surpassed even the dark one."
"Man, he was cold-blooded alright," Fu said, shuddering slightly, "He'd kill anyone just to see the sight of that precious red liquid otherwise known as blood. And legend pointed out that he was a God Killer."
"Heh! God Killer?" Trixie asked, crossing her eyebrows.
Love cleared her throat and explained, "It means that a certain individual blessed with unbelievable, unimaginable and somewhat unnatural abilities that could have the potential to challenge the might of even the most powerful supernatural force, namely a god; even able to kill him. "
The dragoness instantly silenced herself after saying all that, having sounded ridiculously like a newscaster. Spud slowly nodded, having taken that in, whilst Jake and Trixie didn't understand all that well.
"Whoa, deep," Spud said.
Jake shook his head, "So, you want us to pilfer this chest?"
Lao nodded, "I will be coming with you, where I will monitor your progress. I was hoping Love can also come accompany us."
Jake turned to Love, who nodded and said, "I will, Master Lao Shi."
"Er…"
All eyes turned to Spud and Trixie, as they stood outside the door, bags over their shoulders and smiling rather awkwardly.
"If you don't mind," Spud said, "I think we'll take off. All this about gun-packing dudes, dames and blood…"
"Yeah, I think I'm about to hurl!" Trixie exclaimed.
Jake sighed, " Yeah, I think you guys should sit this one out."
Trixie nodded, "See you tomorrow. Oh, and Jakey…"
She narrowed her eyes, which caught Jake completely off balance.
"Watch your back."
----------
Rose watched the shop sadly from a nearby rooftop as Trixie and Spud stepped out and begun walking home. Followed by Jake, Love, Fu and Lao who got into the van. She sighed, wishing she could go with him, but something in her heart was telling her to not lead Jake into any more trouble than he already was in.
'I'm nothing but trouble,' she thought, wailing on herself, 'I'm nothing but bad news.'
She got up and climbed down the building into the alleyway, hearing the van take off. She kicked a can out of her way, which rebounded off the nearest wall. If there were any 'smiles' around, they probably would have heard that and come after her once again.
Rose heard something rustle from behind some garbage cans, where she instantly put her fists up.
"Who's there?" she asked, then demanded, "Show yourself!"
A raspy voice replied in a rather cold tone.
"My, you've grown, Huntsgirl…"
Her eyes widened upon being identified as her. She couldn't help but slightly shiver in both fear and anticipation, the latter being of what supernatural force she would now stand toe-to-toe with. She frowned nervously."
"Why'd you call me that?" Rose asked, "I'm not Huntsgirl."
"You ARE the Huntsgirl," the voice said, "Now and forever. You've got the mark. It's your destiny to slay the American Dragon, otherwise he will slay you."
She shook her head in disbelief, "No. I'm not following that particular destiny any more. Now…"
Rose narrowed her eyes vehemently.
"Show yourself!"
The ghostly voice sighed, "As you wish, Rose."
What appeared to be a ghost phased through the garbage cans and before Rose, she instantly cried out in fright and fell backwards. The ghost, whom was grey-skinned with white hair and empty eye sockets with a blue tank top with the words I'M BACK on it, smiled down at her and crossed his arms. Rose eyes were wide with fear.
"You don't recognise me, do you?" the ghost asked.
"Shoud…should I?" Rose asked.
"I'm Travis," the ghost identified himself, "You're uncle killed me. And if I remember correctly, he did it right before you when you were still in your diapers."
"What?" Rose cried, "What…are you doing here?"
Travis put his hands on his hips and replied, "You seem rather complex at the moment. You can't seem to think straight and not sure if your next move is a right or wrong one. Not surprising for someone in your position."
Rose nodded, "That's true."
"Well, because of these rather shit times I'm here to make sure you stay on the straight and narrow," Travis said.
"Huh?"
"You heard me," Travis said, "You're gonna be needing my help if you hope to survive the endless torrents of misery that'll be coming your way. Just follow my advice, do what I say, and the both of us will be okay."
Rose narrowed his eyes, "What makes you think I'm going to listen to whatever you say?"
Travis shrugged, "Suit yourself, Huntsgirl. But as long as your uncle is alive and that I'm a ghoul, I'm gonna need someone to haunt, and guess what…"
Rose's eyes widened again.
"…you're IT."
And with that Travis disappeared, leaving a rather dumbfounded and somewhat shaken Rose standing there, trying to understand the fact she was just visited by the ghost of someone her own uncle murdered. She quickly pinched herself, checking if she was awake…where she unfortunately was. She rubbed her head, feeling a stress headache come about.
Suddenly, laughter echoed around her in the alleyway.
'Why me?' she thought, 'Why does it have to be me?'
----------
The drive to the museum was a quiet one, with Jake, Love and Lao deep in thought, each trying to comprehend and untangle what had just happened within the past few days. Jake immediately guessed that his grandpa was keeping something from him, while Love thought about their objective, and of the Blood Dragon himself.
'We should be locating and destroying the source of the Heaven Smile,' she thought, 'Instead of robbing a museum and some relic.'
She then thought of the Blood Dragon, where she had only heard of him once, and that was when she was ten. She heard how he was the only dragon to have a torrent history of extreme violence and how he lived up to his name in killing dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent magical creatures. Surprisingly, Lao thought about the same thing and how this 'relic' could have resurfaced after so long…give or take thirty years.
"We're here," Fu announced.
They pulled up in front of the museum, where Lao got behind his console, flicking the TV screens on.
"I will be monitoring you from here, young dragons," he said, tuning the screens, "The artifact is sure to be held in the back, within the vault."
"Got you," Jake said, putting on his earpiece.
"And I'll be sitting right here," Fu said sheepishly, "Once the fuzz arrives and we need to make a quick exit."
"Alright," Love added as she put on her own earpiece.
The screens then revealed security camera images of the museum's interior, where…
"WHAT?" Lao cried.
"What's wrong, Gramps?" Jake asked, before turning to the screens, "Oh…"
The screens revealed what appeared to be Huntsclan member lying dead all over the museum ground, each one in his own pond of blood, which was also smeared on the walls and over the other exhibits; some of which were smashed and lying on the floor in pieces.
"What's going on?" Fu cried, "Somebody beat us here?"
"Yeah," Jake nodded, "And someone beat them as well."
"The vault!" Lao exclaimed.
He checked the top left screen to see the large vault door. Luckily it was still intact, where Lao turned to both Jake and Love.
"Go!" he exclaimed, "You have got to retrieve the artifact before it escapes our grasp."
Jake nodded, "Got it!"
Suddenly they all heard the sound of glass breaking outside, before something hard landed on the roof of the van, where Jake and Love suddenly cried out in fright as the roof bent in slightly from the impact. He quickly opened the van door and stepped out, seeing an unmasked Huntsclan member, who laid on the roof of the van with a large, smoking hole in his chest and an expression of horror on his face, where his eyes happened to be missing.
"T…tr…traitor..." the Huntsmember gasped, just before he expired.
Jake looked up at the museum, to see that someone stood behind the smashed upper window, before he frowned…
"Dragon UP!"
…and shifted into his dragon form, flying up towards the smashed window. Love followed suit, where she changed into her own dragoness form. Jake flew through the window and found himself in the upper floor of the museum, seeing nobody around. He scratched his head in confusion, where Love landed next to him.
"Where'd he go?" she asked, "The guy who killed that Huntsmember?"
"Long gone," Jake replied, "And he was quick about it."
Don't just stand there, Lao interrupted, The intruder is heading towards the vault.
"Right!" Jake exclaimed, "We're gone!"
----------
The Huntsmember felt tears sting his eyes as he laid dying on the museum floor, right next to the 'Evolution of Man' exhibit, where some more Huntsclan bodies laid strewn about, their weapons scattered all over the place. He and his comrades didn't stand a chance as they were ambushed and literally blown away by someone who was once one of them. He tried to get up, but the fact he was missing an arm and one of his lungs was punctured didn't help. He fell back down.
He rolled on his back, to see him standing above him, holding his smoking magnum revolver. The Huntsmember's eyes widened as the killer smiled evilly and aimed his revolver straight at the Huntsmember's head.
"Let me put it this way, pal," the killer said nonchalantly, "To the entire Huntsclan…"
He lowered the hammer of his magnum, where the Huntsmember opened his mouth and screamed in terror.
"You're all FUCKED!"
----------
Jake and Love heard the sound of a loud magnum go off, silencing a scream, as they reached the ground floor of the museum. The both of them were in their human forms, citing the fact there were cameras all over the place.
'Poor guy,' he thought.
Hurry, Jake, Lao said, The intruder is heading for the vault. Turn back into your dragon forms.
"And get snapshot by almost a hundred cameras?" Jake replied, "No way!"
I will shut them off then, Lao replied, Now make haste!
Jake sighed, before…
"Dragon UP!"
…he and Love shifted back into dragons, before they flew through the museum, careful not to bump into any of the exhibits in their rush towards the back of the museum, passing by the corpses of several Huntsmembers, where not only their blood was all over the place, but so were their guts as he each received a blast to the chest and gut.
Jake once again had to strain to keep his lunch down, as did Love.
'Never seen this kind of violence before,' the dragoness thought.
Hurry! Lao urged them, The intruder's before the vault, and…
Great! Fu interjected over the radio, It's that latino crook from a few hours back.
Jake glared, "Coyote Smith?"
Yeah! Fu said, He's just cracked the safe's panel and it's ope…
Suddenly, static was heard over the radio.
"Fu?" Jake said, tapping his earpiece, "Gramps? HEY!"
"Something jamming the radio?" Love asked.
"Sounds like it," Jake replied, then complained, "Ah man! When is this day gonna end?"
They past through an empty security checkpoint leading to the back of the museum, where the security guard was found bound, gagged and blindfolded, obviously by the Huntsclan. Jake reached for the guard's security guard.
"Sorry, gotta borrow this," Jake said.
He swiped the door and it opened, revealing an even larger, circular room. The room was littered with several more Huntsclan bodies, lying outside the large safe door, which was opened, revealing all matters of priceless artifacts within it. As Jake and Love stepped forward, he stepped out, revealing himself and the chest he carried under one arm.
Jake narrowed his eyes, "Coyote Smith?"
The Puerto Rican thief smiled and said sarcastically, "I feel honoured that the great American Dragon knows my name."
Jake smirked, "Thanks, yo. Now hand over the chest or…"
He pointed at his balled left-fist.
"You'll get the 'honour' of feeling the Am-Drag's fist in your face."
Coyote shook his head, "Sorry, pal. I can't do that."
Jake's smile faded, "Why not?"
"I'm allergic to giving," Coyote replied, "I'm a taker. And I'm taking this baby…"
He indicated the chest he now held under his arm.
"…somewhere where you scalies can't possibly doom the world with it."
Love glared daggers at Coyote, whom she saw had the mark of the Huntsclan on his right hand. Her eyes then widened, noticing the Huntsclan that he possibly killed. She eyes narrowed in confusion, rubbing her head.
"What kind of Huntsclan kills his own kind?" she demanded.
"I prefer the term 'cull', girly," Coyote replied, "They stood in my way, and they paid."
Coyote's head jerked up with attention when he saw a badly wounded Huntsmembers standing behind the dragons, clutching his Huntstaff and aiming at them. He quickly pulled a magnum from behind his pants and pulled the trigger, where the bullet whizzed past Jake's ear and hit the Huntsmember in the forehead, killing him.
"WHOA!" Jake cried, where she and Love spun around to see the splattered Huntsmember lying behind them.
Coyote then ran forward towards them, where they turned to see him approach. The both of them charge forward, rearing up their fists. As they were about to strike, Coyote leapt forward and jumped up on both Jake and Love…
"HEY!
"ARGH!"
…and pushed off both of them, sending them falling onto the ground in a heap, where Coyote ran for the door leading out of the safe room. He smirked.
"Adios, scalies!" he called out, "Don't wait up! WHA…?"
Suddenly, Lao in his dragon form descended from the ceiling and dropped before Coyote. His frowned and stepped back, aiming his gun upside-down 'gangster' style at the Chinese Dragon. Lao was confused, seeing the Mark of the Huntsclan on his palm and the bodies lying scattered all over the museum.
"Where do you think you are going with that artifact, Smith?" Lao demanded.
Coyote smirked, "Sorry, old man. What the other old man wants, he gets. And it's not wise to keep him waiting."
"I figured he would be on the Council's side," Lao said vehemently, "Along with his servants."
"Oh, we are," Coyote said, "But there is no way in Hell we are letting you get…"
The Thief rolled his eyes back when he sensed Jake charge from behind. He sidestepped and grabbed him by the tail. Jake's eyes widened as Coyote spun him around comically and flung him at Lao, sending the both of them through the glass of another exhibit. Love attacked, where she swung her tail and he bent over backwards, the tail skimming past him. He then aimed his magnum at Love and pulled the trigger.
Jake's eye widened in terror, hearing the trigger being pulled, but instead…
"ARGHHHH!"
…a Sphinx Hair net was fired from the barrel of the magnum, hitting Love and entangling her feet and hands together, sending her onto the ground. Jake lunged at Coyote, who then spun around and kicked Jake in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him falling down on the floor. Lao let off a fireball, where Coyote swerved to avoid and he aimed his revolver.
Coyote pulled the trigger and fired, instead of a bullet, a Huntsclan staff stun shot, where it took the elder dragon by surprised, sending him flying across the air and against the wall, shattering exhibits and other priceless artifacts along the wall.
"Grandpa!" Jake exclaimed.
Jake threw a fireball, where Coyote thumbed back the hammer and fired a real bullet, dispelling it. He then fired again, where Jake felt the bullet graze his cheek, where his blood hit the floor and he cried out in pain. He held his bleeding check and stared daggers at Coyote, where he frowned.
"I hated to do that, Dragon-Boy," the Thief said, eyes narrowed, "I know you're Con's pal, but the Council's so up themselves they'll want to get this chest, and God knows what'll happen if they do."
"You tell us that after you knock us flat on our butts?" Jake cried.
"Hey, you attacked me!" Coyote exclaimed, "Now, I gotta go!"
"NO!"
Lao appeared and heat-butted Coyote from behind, sending him sprawling onto the floor, the chest hitting the ground with a loud clank. Lao seethed slightly, angry beyond content. He then stepped over and picked up the chest.
"Gramps!" Jake exclaimed, never seeing Lao this angry, 'He's blown a fuse big time!'
Lao then burnt the binds of Love, where she rubbed her hands and feet in pain.
"We have no time for this!" Lao cried, "The Council demands this artifact. And we know for sure that Smith has turned on us."
Coyote groaned in pain and struggled to get back on his feet. Jake looked over at the Thief with sympathy, before touching the wound on his cheek, gritting his teeth slightly with the pain.
"Goddamn it, you old pedango!" Coyote cursed, "You don't wanna know what's in that chest."
Lao glared and gripped the chest firmly in his hands. It was true that he did not know what was in the chest, but questioned within his mind of why he didn't want to know. Nevertheless, he knew his mission and was determined to accomplish it for the good of the Council.
"Why not?" Lao asked nonetheless.
Suddenly, snow, lightning and flame struck from behind Lao, causing him to drop the case, which once again landed on the ground, and he fell face forward onto the floor, where he passed out.
"GRAMPS!" Jake cried, "Not again."
"We got company!" Coyote growled.
Sure enough there were four armoured dragons, one coloured red, one white and one yellow floating in the air, having come in from the roof's dome window. The fourth dragon leading them was…
Councillor Chang"Chang!" Jake cried, seeing the renegade councillor in her dragon form.
"Herself, dear boy," Chang responded smiling as she and her troop landed on the ground.
Coyote picked himself up from the floor and rubbed his sore back. What the old man did to him was definitely going to leave a mark in the morning.
'This day keeps getting better and better,' Coyote thought snidely.
----------
Meanwhile outside the museum, Fu laid on the asphalt outside the van as an armoured dragon pinned him down with his clawed foot, with Fu literally tasting the road, where he groaned in utter discomfort and pain.
The dragon smiled, "Those who oppose the Dark Dragon shall feel his wrath."
"Get bent!" Fu struggled to say, before thinking, 'Aw crud, we're in deep now! Where the heck are ya', Smith?'