Virginia Maxwell entered in awe through stone gates forty feet high into a labyrinth of an indoor city. Constructed of stone and what little timber could be found, old, shanty buildings and towering sun dried brick structures created a metropolis of the hundreds of Drifters that the Maxwell gang blended into. Gunner's Heaven was an enormous dome, and at its center was the arena, the major attraction of Gunner's Heaven. Carts pulled by mules carrying loads of supplies passed through the brick red street. Clive had never seen such things before. On all street sides were vendors of every sort, selling the finest ARMs and ammunition available among other things. The wooden shanties loomed over the street, so that the innkeepers and whorehouse owners would dump the sewage out of a window and onto some unlucky Drifters head. Jet could spot Drifter Police standing at every corner. They resembled the train-robbing Drifters; only these had a special insignia on their hats. Fireworks shot above the buildings and exploded in loud, colorful bursts. Virginia stopped in the street to witness the explosions and to see a great sheet unfurl from dome top, reading 'Fight Tonight, starting at nine o clock!'.
"Wow! This place is amazing…" Virginia said in awe.
"Keep moving Ginny. We don't want to be spotted." Gallows pushed her along.
"The architecture of this place seems like every building was made with different contractors. This dome, it's an architectural miracle." Clive said as the four passed through the crowded streets towards the arena.
Jet managed to leap out of the way of a large covered wagon being pulled by three oxen. He bumped into a Drifter who spat in Jets face and pushed him back into the opposing lane of traffic. Jet was being pushed all over the place, his small frame allowing the larger men to hassle him without second thought.
"Guys, we're losing Jet!" Gallows stated.
"We can't stop though. We'll meet him at the arena." Clive reported.
"B-but we can't leave him all alone with all of these Drifters!" Virginia pleaded.
"Jet's a tough guy. He can handle himself." Gallows said. "Now lets get going before the rest of us get noticed."
Virginia hesitantly nodded and the three pushed forward in the crowded streets as Jet was jostled until he found himself at the edge of an empty alleyway between two shanties. Jet sighed and leaned against a wall.
"Must have forgotten about the traffic laws since the last time I was here." Jet mumbled as he tried wiping the spit of many Drifters of his shawl.
"Hey kid!" Came a creepy old raspy voice. Jet looked down the alley in the poorly lighted space to see an old woman in a dark cloak approach him, the fireworks lighting up her face with every burst.
"Not interested." Jet said, warding off a possible vendor.
"I aint's trying to sell you something son. I wish to guide you. Let old Georgia be your guide! I can tell you all sorts of information and lead you anywhere in the city! I can take you right to the Duke's chair if you wanted me to! Hee hee hee!" The old woman cackled.
Jet raised an eyebrow. "How much is this going to cost?"
"Oh nothing much sir, nothing much at all. Only a few Gella for an old woman in need of an eye operation!" Georgia pointed to her left eyeball, which she strained until it nearly fell completely out.
Jet scowled. "You're looking at the wrong guy for sympathy. Twenty Gella is as high as I'm going.
"Twenty Gella will work fine sir! Works fine indeed! Where shall I take you sir? The Madison Avenue whorehouses? The Richmond Avenue bars? Possibly the T85 intersection for a theater show? Hee hee hee!" Georgia cackled again.
Jet looked up through the small slat between the two shanty roofs. The only object he could make out was a tall bell tower. "Can you take me to that bell tower?"
Georgia stepped back for a moment, worry appearing on her diseased face. "You don't want to go to the bell tower! That's where the Riflemen spend their time. Old Georgia can take you anywhere else in the whole city."
A train whistle was heard and Jet could already smell the chimney smoke pouring out of a smoke stack. Jet looked back out into the street to see some men wearing fancy tailored suits with tall black chimney hats walking by. Jet turned back to Old Georgia. "Who are the Riflemen?"
"Oh you don't want to know about the Riflemen! Just speaking their names can get you killed!" The old woman waved her gnarled hands.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP DOWN THERE?! I'M TRYING TO GET SOME BLINKIN SLEEP!" Came a shout from one of the shanties.
"WHY DON'T YOU SHUT UP YOU TAPEWORM!" Came a rough male voice that directed from Georgia's cloak.
Jet immediately aimed the Airget-lamh at the old lady. "Who'd in your cloak?!"
The frightened old lady stepped back as something scrambled out. From under the cloak crawled out a little gray cat creature with purple wings. "Yea? What do you want?"
Jet looked confused. "Shadey?"
The cat pulled out a cigar and put it in his mouth, lightning it and taking a smoke. "I ain't no Shadey. The name's McGregor. And the way I see things you want information. Pay up bub or granny here keeps her syphilis infected gums shut." The cat held out his paw.
Jet took out forty Gella and handed it to the small smoking cat creature. McGregor shook his head disappointedly and leaned against a shanty wall. "Alright kid. The Riflemen are a committee of the highest skilled Drifters that serve under Duke Begguci as his elite crack commando team. Not much is really known about these 'super Drifters' other then the fact that there's four members to it and that they're a little on the insane side. But in this town, who isn't." McGregor took another breathe of smoke. "Ah. That shit's good. Hits the spot real good, wouldn't ya say?"
"I don't smoke." Jet said coldly.
"Yea whatever kid. So you really want to go to the bell tower? What do you want there anyways? Tonight, chances are the Riflemen are at the arena with the Duke. They say the Duke has something big planed for tonight at the big fight and every Drifter should attend. If I were you, that's where I'd be."
Jet put a hand to his chin. "The army of Drifters…"
"You need some directions to the arena. It's hard to miss, but if you want to avoid traffic, I could get you there through the back alleys for a little G paper." McGregor exhaled a cloud of smoke into Jet's face.
Jet coughed and waved the nauseous fumes away from his face. "Where can I find Coney?"
"Coney's at the arena! She's the announcer for the fights, but before the fights begin, she hangs around the-" Georgia was cut off as McGregor leaped upon her face.
"If you want to know more kid, you need to pay up." McGregor instructed. Jet sighed and handed the feline forty more bills. "The broad can be found hanging around the Arena lobby, gate thirteen. Look for a skinny wench all dressed up." McGregor's ears began to twitch. He leaped off the old woman and started flying through the crack of the shanty. Once up there, he let out a hearty laugh. "Would you look at this? Looks like a Gang War is about to happen! This should be good!" McGregor took another whiff of his cigar.
Jet ran to the alley entrance and looked out, but was unable to see anything. Frowning, Jet started running down the alley and then up the wall a bit before leaping for the slit between the two shanties. Once he managed to climb upon the steep triangular roof, he met McGregor at the top and viewed the scene. There was a lot of yelling and shouting in a sea of sounds as at least forty Drifters were about to clash in the street. Jet couldn't make out any ARMs, just knives, swords, claws, bats, and the like. And then he made out Virginia in the middle of it.
"This looks like it should be good! Nothing beats a good gang war!" McGregor laughed.
Jet gritted his teeth as he looked for a way to get in to the crowd.
"We've had enough of your talk, Pheresons!" a Drifter armed with a large knife shouted into the crowd.
"You know just as much as we do that we are the best Drifters in all of Filgaia!" One of the Pheresons shouted back.
"Clive! What do we do!?" Virginia asked the sniper. The three Maxwell members were stuck between the two gangs.
"I don't know! I'm still thinking!" Clive said desperately.
"Well hurry up! This doesn't look like it's going to end well!" Gallows gulped.
"It's time to settle this once and for all! Samsons! ATTACK!" With that order, twenty Drifters on the left of the "T" intersection began running towards the other twenty, knives, claws, swords, daggers, bats, clubs, maces, and any other archaic weapon ready to deal a blow. The Samson's clashed with the Pheresons, spraying blood all over the brick street in the midst's of the fireworks exploding over head. Virginia, Gallows, and Clive tried their best to avoid the battle of the two deadly rival gangs, sprawling over the street. Metal claws ripped into scalps while swords buried themselves inside torsos. Carnage became king of "T" intersection 65.
Jet started running towards the edge of the roof. McGregor quickly flew over in response and grabbed the end of Jet's scarf with his tiny paws. "What in the name of Calamity Jane are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed kid!"
"My friends are stuck in there! I have to save them!" Jet yelled.
"With what?! You can't fire an ARM in Gunner's Heaven! You'll be thrown in jail!" McGregor continued pulling.
Jet then heard an ARM fire. He quickly scanned the street below to see what was going on. Cormano had fired the Domar 55H into the gang war.
"Get the hell off of the innocents in yer war!" Cormano shouted.
"Cormano! What if Maxwell has already been killed in that crowd!?" Ian asked.
"Don't think of it that way! Maxwell's in there all right, and if we don't get her out then she'll die! I mean we'll lose out on twenty-six million Gella!" Cormano replied. "So they don't want to listen eh? Boys, fire away! Just be sure not to hit Maxwell and her gang!"
Ian, Dario, and Romero replied as they drew their weapons and fired into the crowd. Cormano began running into the crowd, firing the Domar 55H with every opportunity, dodging the attacks of the melee combatants. Ian ran in as well, brandishing Love and War, felling any in his way. Dario and Romero, though hesitant, ran in as well, Dario firing with his coyote M14 and Romero swinging his giant shuriken.
Jet stopped trying to leap off the building to set the battle seep in. "Cormano is trying to save Virginia?!"
"What the hell are those men thinking?! They'll be arrested for sure!" McGregor commented.
And almost if on cue, Drifter police began running towards the battle from every direction. Jet narrowed his eyes and leaped, catching McGregor off guard.
"You fool!" McGregor shouted from the rooftop.
Jet ran in to the crowd, rolling under legs and dodging attacks from the various assortment of destructive weapons. Coming in from a different direction then Cormano did, Jet managed to find Virginia, Clive, and Gallows in the crowd.
"Jet?! You came for us!" Virginia latched onto Jet.
"You shouldn't be thanking me! Thank Cormano and his merry band of morons! Now let's get out of here!" Jet replied, taking hold of Virginia's hand and running out of the crowd, closely followed by Clive and Gallows.
"Cormano?!" Gallows asked surprised. "Why the hell is he doing that!"
"You got me! I just know the Drifter Police are coming and from what McGregor said they'll be arresting Cormano and his gang pretty soon!" Jet answered.
The four Maxwell members dodged and parried enough to get them out of the crowd safely. The four dipped into an alleyway and stopped to catch their breath. Jet and Virginia peeped out of the alleyway to see the Drifter police restraining the four Cormano members.
"Arg! Let go of me you idiots! I was just trying to save a wee lass and her friends!" Cormano shouted.
"Shut yer hole! ARMS are not to be allowed to be fired outside of the arena, under penalty of death!" One of the Drifter police shouted.
"Death?!" Virginia, Dario, and Romero all gasped at once.
"We at least got the Maxwell gang out right." Ian mumbled.
"Right. No jail can hold Cormano! We'll get out!" Cormano said as he was hauled into a covered wagon.
"…There isn't much time left before the Duke finishes his army from what McGregor told me! We have to get to the arena!" Jet said.
"But what about Cormano! He saved our lives!" Virginia said.
"The Duke is more important! Jet, lead the way." Clive stated.