HuniePop Space Adventures

Chapter 9: Outlaws

The two lovers stared blissfully into each other's eyes as they intensely took off each other's clothes and tumbled onto the bed. The lieutenant was throbbing with anticipation as his hands found his way to the captain's bare chest and he began kneading her breasts.

"Not so rough!" the captain said as the lieutenant continued. Although he was being completely rough with her poor breasts, she could not control her ecstatic moans and they made the lieutenant more and more desperate until he could no longer take it.

"Permission to enter, Captain?" the lieutenant asked. The captain was taken aback by his question, but her uncontrollable and insatiable lust for him was too much and she gave him an extremely seductive smile.

"Permission granted, lieutenant," the captain said. The lieutenant cautiously positioned himself to enter her cockpit and before either of them knew it, he savagely thrusted himself into her-

"OK, SERIOUSLY! COULD YOU PLEASE STOP READING FROM THAT DAMN BOOK!" I finally yelled. Zero Two just looked at me with a bit of confusion. She was reading from one of the Jenny Jupiter light novels that she had bought and had decided to read probably one of the lewdest parts of it to me.

"Why? I was just getting to the good part," she replied.

"I know that, but it sounds wrong!"

"Really? I think that it's romantic."

"Well, OK, it is! But it's extremely embarrassing when you have to describe word for word!" I said, blushing bright red.

"Suit yourself," Zero Two said, shrugging and falling onto the bed with her hands behind her head.

"So, how did things go between you and Hiro last night?" I cautiously asked.

"It went pretty great. The two of us came to an understanding and we decided to stick together no matter what Earth we're on. Hehe, you should've seen him in action last night, he was so romantic."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think you know," Zero Two said, sitting up with a cheeky smile. I was a bit confused a first, but it took me almost 5 seconds to figure out what she was talking about.

"You didn't." I said. Zero Two just smiled some more.

"I did. And it. Felt. WONDERFUL!"

"Are you kidding me?! You can't just expect that everything will get better if you have sex!"

"No, no, no. We apologized to each other first, we talked about what would happen next and that we wouldn't leave each other, and THEN we had sex. You need to stop jumping to conclusions like that," Zero Two said. I just immediately blushed in response to her answer and how I had made a complete fool of myself.

"OK, well, when you word it like that, it's confusing to me, so PLEASE think before you speak next time," I said. Zero Two just nodded and hung off of the bed upside-down.

"I'm bored. You wanna go see what Darling and Max are up to?"

"They're busy training."

"Uh-huh. And?"

"What do you mean 'and'? They're just training."

"Exactly…" Zero Two said with a smug grin on her face.

Max's perspective

Hiro came in again swinging at me, but I was able to dodge out of the way and land a few light punches on him. I could tell that he was getting extremely worn out from the amount of training that we were doing, but he wasn't even letting up after the first 4 times I knocked him down. After he came in again, I swept his leg and knocked him to the ground for the fifth time. Hiro rubbed the back of his head in pain as I helped him back up to his feet and he bent over and put his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"You OK? Do you need to take a breather?" I asked.

"You kidding? I can do this all day," Hiro said, looking up at me.

"You know, you say that, but you're not Captain America. You should stop trying to wear yourself out like this. You need to think about where and how to strike at the most opportune moment and locating their weakness earlier than they can locate yours."

"I know that! But Zero Two's way better at fighting without a FRANXX than I am, so I need to catch up to her level!"

"I understand that. But you don't need to continually push yourself just to be as good as she is. You've gotta pace yourself, give yourself some time to rest and relax before you train some more. I mean, you were able to knock me down once."

"And you've knocked me down five times! FIVE!"

"But you've been getting better. That's what you should be taking away from this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So… how did things go between you and Zero Two last night?" I asked as Hiro grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off of his brow.

"It went great. We actually came to an agreement together that if we end up having to stay in this dimension, then we would stick together no matter what happens," he replied, wrapping the towel around his shoulders.

"I'm glad."

"I mean, I should be thanking you. You and Nikki were the ones that kept us from a worse outcome. If you didn't… I don't know what would've happened to either of us."

"You love her a lot, don't you?"

"With my whole heart. And she loves me with her whole heart as well."

"Maybe a lot more than you realize."

"What are you-" Hiro started to say. But he turned to where I was looking and saw Zero Two and Nikki standing behind the door to the gym, looking in on us. Zero Two had a cheeky smile on her face, but Nikki looked like she was extremely embarrassed to be peeping in on the two of us.

"Ummm, so what are you two doing?" I asked. Zero Two just cheekily walked in to the room, dragging Nikki along with her.

"Oh, we just wanted to see what you two were doing," Zero Two said.

"I told you this morning that I would be training with Max," Hiro said.

"I know. But we're just bored out of our MINDS and wanted to come watch you two train. With your aching muscles… and those glistening abs of yours…"

"And that weird birth mark on Hiro's chest…" Nikki said, which immediately set off Hiro, who covered up his chest like he was ashamed of that.

"It's not a birth mark! It's a scar from a tumor that I once had!" Hiro said.

"Dude, I was the only other one who asked you about that. You don't need to be so sensitive about it," I said.

"OK, but I don't see why they need to watch us spar with each other!"

"Well, then how about we make things a bit more interesting? How many times have each of you won?" Zero Two asked.

"I've won only once," Hiro said.

"And I've knocked him down 5 times," I said. To be honest, I really wanted to say only twice, but I just had to be honest with her.

"OK, then this is what your prizes are," Zero Two said, walking behind Nikki. Before any of us could ask what she was doing, she took off Nikki's shirt in one swift motion, exposing her bra. Nikki's face immediately turned bright red and immediately covered herself up in embarrassment.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Nikki yelled. Zero Two didn't answer and instead proceeded to take off her uniform top, both of her shoes, and both of her socks before she stood in front of us triumphantly.

"Uh, what is the point of you doing that?" I said, trying my best to avert my eyes away from her.

"It's simple. Every time you win, I take off a piece of clothing, and every time Darling wins, Nikki has to take a piece of her clothing off. The goal here is to not get distracted as you fight each other," Zero Two said, placing her hands on her hips.

"How exactly does that help anything?!" Nikki asked.

"And shouldn't it be the reverse way? If I win, you strip and if Max wins, Nikki strips? I mean, not that I'm suggesting that, I just think that it's common sense!" Hiro said. Zero Two and I just gave him a look of amusement.

"Attention all crew: Report to bridge in 3 minutes for mission debriefing," Celeste suddenly said over the intercoms.

"Awww, really? Just when it was getting interesting!" Zero Two said in frustration. Nikki just picked up her shirt and turned to head out the door.

"Look, I know that we're friends, but please, please, PLEASE, DO NOT take my shirt off like that next time," she said before she stormed off. After about three minutes, we all assembled at the bridge, where Celeste pulled up a map of a desert-like planet alongside a picture of a male alien with a slightly bushy mustache and a cowboy hat.

"We've received intercepted messages from Planet WW1873 concerning threats of one Lonergan Dolarhyde to capture some kind of ruthless bounty hunter," Celeste explained.

"A bounty on a bounty hunter? That just seems ironic," I said. Celeste just pulled up pictures of an unknown figure dressed in black shooting cowboys with pinpoint accuracy and a wanted poster with the reward of 150,000 dollars on it.

"The local legends call this person, 'The Four-Eyed Gunslinger' due to how fast and accurate that he shoots, almost like he knows where all the targets are and how to space his shots. But where he's stationed, his motives, all of them are unknown. All that we do know is that Dolarhyde's placed a large amount of money on this person's head and he's willing to put innocent people in harm's way just to get what he wants."

"What exactly is Dolarhyde's backstory?" Nikki asked.

"He's a ruthless crime lord. He runs the oil mills, owns the largest gold seams on the planet, and has his gang terrorize the populace every now and again. Our mission is to either apprehend or kill both the bounty hunter and Dolarhyde and put a stop to this war before it tears the planet apart. Any questions?"

"Actually, yeah. Are we even sure that killing or arresting the gunslinger is the best idea?" I asked.

"What?" Amki asked.

"I mean, it seems like this guy's trying to make a difference and protect people. Each of these photos shows him attacking the gang, not any innocent people. If we're gonna win the fight against the Overlord, we should start getting new recruits," I said. Everyone just turned their heads to me before Celeste just sighed.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it, Max. Does anyone else have any other questions?... Dismissed. The fabricator will create some disguises and weapons to help us blend in with the populace. And Hiro, go wash yourself up. We will meet back up in 15 minutes," she said. As the group went to go get ready, Celeste pulled me aside.

"Max, what exactly are you suggesting?" she asked.

"Well, if this person is really trying to help people, then he'd be a great help to us taking down the Overlord. He seems fearless," I replied.

"I actually concur with Max. The more of us that there are to fight the Overlord, the better our chances of succeeding," Eva said, walking up to us.

"I do agree with that, but we would have to know exactly what this gunslinger's backstory is before we start recruiting," Celeste said.

"You're the boss."

"One more question: How much do you know about the Wild West?"

"I've seen a few Clint Eastwood movies in my day," I said, leaving to go get ready.

Hiro's perspective

I sat underneath the water, deep in thought as I let my skin soak. I just couldn't stop thinking about what went down last night. I mean, it did feel amazing and all, but it also felt like me and Zero Two did something really… what's the word? Dirty? Was this… what Kokoro and Mitsuru went through before they decided to get married? I immediately lifted my head out of the water to try and clear my head a bit. But my thoughts were still on what we did last night. Zero Two said that it was a way of expressing love, but it felt like there was more to it than that. My thoughts were broken by the sound of a slight splash coming from the other side of the bath, but I couldn't make out who it was because of the steam. After only a few seconds, I rested my head back again, trying to think some more. But I suddenly felt something grab my legs and I jumped in fear and surprise. Zero Two's head slowly rose out of the water with a smile and her eyes stared at me intensely.

"W-w-w-what are you doing in here?!" I asked, utterly confused and dumbfounded.

"You didn't lock the door," Zero Two said, pressing her naked body up against mine and gently kissing my neck.

"Dammit, I knew there was something I was forgetting! That aside, what are you doing?!"

"Oh, I think that you know, Darling," Zero Two replied. I awkwardly looked down in embarrassment as I slowly put together exactly what she was after.

"You mean… what we did last night?"

"Exactly. I want more of it."

"SERIOUSLY? We do it once and now you're like this?!"

"Well, nobody told me how good it would feel. Just two people, sharing their love for one another, their heads engulfed in thick, white, pleasant clouds. It's unlike any other feeling that I've ever had."

"I mean, yeah, it did feel really great, but shouldn't we pace ourselves? I mean, I would like to do it again with you, but I think we should take a break every once in a while. That plus the fact that we should be getting ready in about… 10 minutes?" I said. Zero Two just smiled some more and moved behind me, gently caressing my chest.

"That's what makes you so adorable, Darling. You're so considerate of my feelings. But you need to open up some more. You need to stop worrying so much. Otherwise, you'll never be able to relax," Zero Two said before she playfully nibbled on my ear. I don't know why, but I felt EXTREMELY disturbed and aroused at the same time.

"Why are you biting my ear?!" I asked, trying to get away from her.

"It's called 'foreplay', Darling. It's a way of trying to get you into the mood."

"OK, look. Can we just focus on the mission first and we'll worry about the other thing later?" I asked. Zero Two just smiled and got out of the bath, wrapping a towel around her body.

"I think that's fair. But you better be ready for a relentless assault later, because we'll be going at it until we're both tired! So be prepared, Darling," Zero Two said, heading out the door and leaving me in the bath, a little more light-headed than I was earlier.

Nikki's perspective

The poncho Celeste gave me was a nice snug fit as I put on the cowgirl belt and took a look at myself in the mirror.

"Looking pretty good if I do say so myself," I said, making a couple of finger guns at my reflection. But Max came in from behind and placed a Stetson on my head, smiling at me in the mirror. He too had a poncho on top of his armor and a cowboy belt and a Stetson.

"Now, you look complete," he said. I just turned to him and put my arms around him, smiling.

"You look like McCree."

"Who's McCree?" Zero Two asked, entering the room.

"Eh, that doesn't matter right now. So, are you ready?" Max asked.

"For what?" Hiro asked, trying to get his prototype battle suit on. Max just smiled and pressed a button on the wall, revealing two upgraded armored battle suits. The one on the left was red with fingerless gloves and high heels and the pistols Zero Two used before on the thighs, along with light blue stripes running along the arms. The one on the right was a dark blue with broad shoulder pads and a bandolier across the chest as well as a belt with grenades on it. Both Hiro and Zero Two just looked in awe at the suits, completely speechless.

"Wait a minute… these… are ours?" Zero Two asked.

"Yeah. Celeste drew up a few designs and Max and I picked out the colors for you guys," I said.

"So, why are you showing them to us?" Hiro asked as he closely inspected his suit.

"Because you're going with us! Why else would we show these to you if you weren't going with us?" Max asked. Zero Two immediately took her suit down from the wall and put it on with Hiro following suit. Both of them stood there in awe and triumph as they showed off their suits to us.

"How do they feel?" I asked.

"It feels great. Except it feels a bit tight in the shoulders," Hiro said, rubbing underneath the armor plates on his shoulders.

"Yeah, the suit should adjust to your body the more that you wear it. The suits are like high grade body armor to help protect you from blaster bolts and debris and things like that," Max said.

"Hey, Darling, I have a question for you. Does this suit make my butt look big?" Zero Two asked, turning around and presenting herself to Hiro. Her suit was also a bit tight and it was perfectly sculpted to her ass. Hiro just blushed and his nose started to bleed a bit. I also started to blush a bit, but when I looked at Max, his head was turned in the other direction and his face was its normal color. Zero Two couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Zero Two, may I ask that you refrain from asking derogatory questions unless you and Hiro are alone?" Celeste asked, walking into the room and handing each of us a revolver.

"What are these?" Hiro asked.

"Standard issue revolvers. They are common on the planet and are usually carried around by gunslingers and cowboys. They use plasma-tipped bullets that are extremely lethal and damaging. I advise using caution when using them and avoiding any fights while you try to track down the bounty hunter and Dolarhyde."

"What? We can't use our normal weapons?" Max asked.

"The residents of this planet don't mind if other aliens with more advanced tech come to visit, but we're just making it seem like we've been here a long time," Celeste said, placing a hat on Zero Two's head.

"Anything else that we should know?" she asked.

"Don't die."

"Well, duh," I said. After about 5 minutes, we were teleported 10 miles outside of the town and after a REALLY long walk, we finally reached the main street of the town. Celeste apparently was right about the planet being like the Wild West of Earth. The residents were all walking to and from different buildings. There was a bank, a post office, a sheriff's office, a gunsmith store, a general store, and a saloon. The residents either wore rugged cowboy attire or classy suits and frilly dresses. Some were riding their horses, others were tending to their shops or sitting on chairs on the deck. Everything seemed to be all quiet and peaceful.

"So, this is what old towns on Earth looked like?" Zero Two asked.

"It's how they once looked on Earth in the 1800s. Some towns nowadays look like this to try and give a sense of nostalgia to that time," I replied.

"Is there somewhere that we need to go? This poncho's really starting to itch," Hiro asked.

"The saloon is always a good start. That's usually where any cowboys, gangs, or bounty hunters like to hang out," Max said.

"What's a saloon?" Zero Two asked.

"Oh, you know, it's the place where people go to drink beer, play darts, that sort of stuff," I said. We made our way over to the saloon and walked inside. Surprisingly, nobody stopped what they were doing like they did in the movies. They just went about their business, drinking, talking, dancing, playing cards and darts. As we made our way to the counter, a few did turn to us and gave us a smile while tipping their hats or doing a curtsy. When we did get to the counter, Max and I just looked around as the bartender came over to us.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Just that we thought that we would get the whole 'awkward silence' treatment the second we walked in here," I said.

"Yeah, newcomers and visitors are pretty commonplace. Everybody around here has gotten pretty used to it by now."

"Well, that's convenient," Max said, looking around the room again.

"So, anyways, you gonna order somethin' or you just here to talk about where to drop off the dead bodies?... Hehe, just kiddin' with ya. You can take yer time if ya want," the bartender said, walking away to help some more customers.

"This place looks very eccentric," Zero Two said, twirling the lollipop she had.

"And a bit too normal," I added.

"So, what exactly do we do now?" Hiro asked.

"Wait here until we can find a lead on the bounty hunter or Dolarhyde. I'll bet that the next person who walks through those doors is associated with either of them," Max said. As if on cue, a group of burly-looking aliens barged in through the door, making everything fall silent for about 30 seconds before everyone went back to what they were doing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that there were six of them, all armed with the same revolvers that we had. They slowly walked closer and closer toward the counter until the leader stood directly in front of Zero Two, who was drumming her fingers on the counter.

"Hey. You're in my seat," the leader said gruffly. Zero Two just looked back at him for a second before getting off the chair and closely examining it.

"Zero Two, what are you doing?" Hiro whispered through his teeth. Zero Two just kept looking all around the chair like she was looking for something.

"Wait, I'm sorry. What exactly is your name?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter," the leader replied.

"Hmmmm… nope, don't see that name or any other on this chair. Sorry about that!"

"I don't care that it doesn't have a name or that you were there first. It's my seat, so get lost!"

"Zero Two, just give the alien his seat, please," I muttered under my breath. But, Zero Two just held up a finger to me and casually smiled at the alien leader.

"Now, listen. We can come to a compromise. If you ask me nicely, I'll give you the chair. Do we have a deal?" Zero Two asked politely. But the alien leader angrily picked her up by the throat, causing a bunch of people in the saloon to gasp in fear and turn their heads towards us.

"You listen here, foreigner! I don't know who you think you are nor do I care, but this town is property of Lonergan Dolarhyde. And we're a part of his gang. Anything that we say goes without question or bargaining!" he said.

"I didn't ask you for money. I just asked for a 'Please let me have the seat'. It's a fair deal, right? You don't need to be so difficult," Zero Two said, smugly. The gang leader just pulled out his revolver and pointed it at her head. Hiro was frantically tapping his leg and Max reached for his own revolver. But before anyone could do anything, a female voice rang out.

"Put her down," it said. Everyone turned their attention to the right side of the room. Sitting at one of the tables was a female alien with dark purple hair wearing a black leather jacket that had purple glowing outlines along the sides. She was also wearing a black cropped shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow underneath her jacket, a black western hat, a black bandana mask which was covering her face, a bandolier of ammunition, a mini fringed poncho draped over her left shoulder with a spiked shoulder pad covering her right shoulder, and spiked pads on her forearms. Holstered on her belt was a revolver, but it looked more advanced than ours did and the back of her boots had spurs on them.

"What did you say to me?" the gang leader asked, tightening his grip on Zero Two.

"I said… Put. Her. Down," the female alien said. The gang leader dropped Zero Two and turned to face the woman, holstering his revolver.

"So, you think you make the rules around these parts, doll-face?" he asked. The woman just pulled down her bandana and lit up a small cigarillo. After she had smoked it, she stared at the gang leader with her fierce green eyes.

"Well, this IS my saloon. So, yes, I do make the rules here. And if there's one thing that I hate that comes in here, it's gang members causin' a whole lot of trouble for a bunch of decent folks just tryin' to settle down," the female alien said.

"Well, maybe you didn't hear the news around here. Dolarhyde put a huge bounty on this so-called 'Four-Eyed Gunslinger' and we heard that this here saloon was where he loved to kick back until his next job!"

"Heh. Well, Dolarhyde's runnin' out of smarter recruits."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?!"

"The Four-Eyed Gunslinger that you're lookin' for? She's sittin' right in front of ya," the female alien said. Me, Max, Zero Two, and Hiro looked straight at her with wide eyes while the rest of the room fell silent. The gang leader just scoffed.

"You? Don't make me laugh. Since when was the Four-Eyed Gunslinger ever a woman?!" he asked. The female alien just gave him a smirk.

"Since always. It's just that any wannabe bounty hunters that Dolarhyde sent have never survived an encounter with me. If I were you, I would take that as a sign to get out of town and live another day instead of risking your lives for a bounty you can't get. So, I'll give you one more chance. Get out of my saloon and tell Dolarhyde that if he wants to take me down, he needs to do it himself."

"Uh, boss? Maybe we should listen to her," one of the gang members said. But the leader just shoved him to the side and stared down the female alien, his right hand hovering over his holstered revolver.

"I think that it's best that we settle this the old fashioned way…" the leader said. The entire saloon was silent, safe for the ticking of a clock that read 11:59 with its minute hand slowly making its way towards the top. The female alien looked both left and right as the gang stood behind the leader on either side.

"You REALLY sure that you wanna go down this road, boy?" she asked. The leader didn't answer her and continued to breathe in and out, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. And then the minute hand reached the top.

"DR-!" the alien leader barely got the entire word out of his mouth before, in the blink of an eye, the female alien took out her revolver, pointed it at the leader's head, and shot him. The gang leader's body fell to the floor with a thud and the rest of his gang just stood there, completely stunned.

"Anyone else?" she asked. All that the rest of the gang could reply with was taking out their own revolvers and pointing them at her. But she shot them down one-by-one in quick succession, leaving only one left. The female got up from the table and approached the cowering member, her revolver still in hand.

"Looks like you're the lucky one, boy. The only question you gotta ask yourself is if you're gonna walk out of here and forget about all of this or if you still want the bounty. It's your choice," the female alien said to him. The member didn't do anything at first and the female alien turned and started to walk out of the saloon, but as she made her way to the door, the remaining member pulled out his revolver and aimed it at her. Max immediately leapt into action and aimed his own revolver at the gang member and fired. Unfortunately, the gang member heard him fire and moved out of the way of the bullet, which sped towards the side of the female alien's head. She suddenly moved her revolver's cylinder into the bullet's path, which slid into one of the chambers and she turned back around and shot the last gang member in the head, who fell to the ground dead. The female alien holstered her revolver and looked back at Max before she tipped her hat to him.

"Y'all have a nice day. Barkeep, give everyone drinks. Put 'em on my tab," she said before she walked out of the saloon. Everyone just started talking about what just happened and some of the cowboys started to move the bodies out while Hiro started taking a look at Zero Two's neck.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Darling, Honestly," Zero Two replied, smiling. After about 25 minutes, everything in the saloon returned to the way it was when we first arrived. Zero Two and Hiro were now dancing with some of the residents to a song of celebration. Max, meanwhile, was deep in thought about what we were going to do next while we both sat at the counter.

"What's on your mind?" I asked.

"Just how we're gonna get her to join us. I mean, did you see those reflexes of hers? Someone as fast as that is DEFINITELY a great fighter," he said, taking a sip of the beer he had. He then held it out to me as if to offer me some.

"I can't drink."

"Why not?"

"I just… think that we should have our minds focused on the mission instead of dulling it with alcohol. Besides, you heard what Celeste said! We need to either apprehend her or put her down," I said.

"Yeah, but it seems like she's more focused on killing Dolarhyde than anything else. Besides, she seemed like she wasn't about to let anyone get hurt," Max replied. Another big, burly alien, more properly dressed with a bowtie, suddenly walked up to Max and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, human. The boss wants to speak to ya," he said.

"What for?"

"Boss said it was important. This way, please," the alien said. Max picked up his hat and got up from the table, following him into the side hallway. Zero Two and Hiro then came back from the dance floor and sat down at the counter with me.

"Where's he going?" Zero Two asked.

"Hell if I know. But I'm sure that he can handle it. He always does," I replied.

Max's perspective

The muscular alien led me up the stairs and down the hall to an office that had a chair in the middle of the room, which I walked into.

"The boss'll be with you in a minute," the alien said before he closed the door and left. I just sat down in the chair and patiently waited. I looked around the office, spotting a semi-automatic rifle mounted on the wall underneath a stuffed mounted head of an animal. There was also a bookshelf with some kind of books with names I could make out and a normal looking rug, which seemed a bit out of place for the Wild West aspect of this planet. On the rack next to the desk was a black western hat and a long black leather jacket with a pair of cowboy shoes sitting at the base of it.

"So, you're the human who lent me that bullet, aren't ya?" a female voice said from behind a folding screen. Her voice sounded a bit familiar.

"Uh, yeah, that was me," I replied. And then, without any warning, the female alien walked out from behind the folding screen, completely naked and slightly wet. It was the same alien from before, except I could see even more of her body. Her skin was a light purplish color and I saw that she had two smaller eyes above her main ones. But what stood out the most were her breasts, which were about as large as Nikki's were. My face blushed bright red and I turned away from the alien. She came over to me and sat her naked ass down on my lap, making me feel uncomfortable and my pants feel a bit tighter.

"Well, I guess that I should be thankin' you. Saved my bacon back there. I mean, sure, if he had shot first, I would've done the exact same move I pulled back there, but you were a quicker draw than he was."

"Uh-huh," I said. The female alien sat down a grabbed my chin and made me face her.

"Don't you know that it's rude to not look a woman in the eye when she's talkin' to ya?"

"I know that. It's just that you're… completely naked right now."

"Yeah. It helps me think when I get outta the shower," the female alien said, having a smoke of her cigarillo. After she breathed the smoke out, she held it up to me as if to offer it to me.

"I don't smoke."

"Suit yourself. So, you got a name?"

"Max Smith. And you are?"

"Name's Rhonda. So, what the hell's a human like you doin' all the way out here? Last I heard, it was illegal for any alien species to abduct humans."

"We heard about Dolarhyde and the bounty he placed on your head."

"So you and your crew are here to either kill us or send us both to jail."

"Well, that was the original plan, but I was hoping to come to a compromise," I said as Rhonda disappeared behind the folding screen again.

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" she asked as she got changed.

"You ever heard of the Overlord?"

"Never heard of him."

"He's this overly powerful alien who wants to rewrite the universe the way that he wants. Me and my team have been trying to figure out how to take him down."

"And you think that a ragtag cowgirl like me is the solution to your problem?" Rhonda asked as she walked back out, fully dressed.

"Sort of. But, it's got to be better than just hiding out on a planet where you'll be continually hunted down by every bounty hunter Dolarhyde sends at you," I said. Rhonda just walked over to a window and looked out over the town.

"It runs deeper than that. When I was just a little girl, Dolarhyde shot down both of my parents because they wouldn't move from the ranch I grew up on. They hid me deep in the basement before he killed them and Dolarhyde burnt down the ranch. The town's local gunsmith raised me and helped me hone my skills for the day I would finally put him down. This revolver I have here? He made it himself. It fires custom high-caliber ammunition with technological enhancements, which means I have an advantage against him and his crew."

"So why haven't you taken them out by now?"

"There's just too many of them. Dolarhyde keeps recruiting more and more hunters to add to his crew and he sends several of them to try an' get rid of me. If I leave this town before he's dead, then he'll take over and kill everyone who gets in his way. Several of the hunters that he sends are still young and are throwing away their lives for the bounty on my head. I've never seen so many men wasted so bad."

"Wait a minute. That quote… The Man With No Name?" I asked.

"You've heard of him? My ancestors idolized him. Saw him as one of the great legends from Earth. After my parents died, I saw fit to learn from his example and be a silent defender, goin' where I needed to protect the innocent and keep the peace," Rhonda said. I got up from the chair and stood behind her, staring out the window as well.

"That's what we're trying to do. If the Overlord succeeds in his plans, no planet will be safe to live on. And if you wanna take down Dolarhyde, then you should do it with a team, not alone. And luckily, there's a spot open for you on the team, if you're willing," I said. Rhonda looked back at me with a smile.

"How 'bout this? You help me with my problem, I'll help you with yours. Free of charge, of course."

"Sounds like a plan to me… partner," I said, extending my hand to her. Rhonda shook it and then walked over to the semi-automatic rifle and took it down off of the wall and then put on her hat, jacket, and shoes. We then exited out the window (although I don't know why we couldn't go out the normal way) and made our way back to the town. But, as we were, Hiro suddenly busted out the door and began vomiting on the ground, with Zero Two following behind him and gently rubbing his back. Nikki also walked out, but she was completely shocked to see Rhonda standing next to me.

"Uh, Max? Why is SHE here?" she asked.

"We're gonna help her take down Dolarhyde. But… what happened to him?" I asked, pointing at Hiro, who was still vomiting.

"He drank some beer and I think that it's not agreeing with him."

"God, that stuff is so disgusting!" Hiro said, finally standing up.

"Yeah, that Kandolorian ale is pretty strong stuff," Rhonda said, taking a smoke of her cigarillo again.

"Well, I'm glad I didn't even bother drinking it. I don't think I would've liked it either!" Zero Two said.

"So, what do we do now?" Nikki asked.

"Now… we ride," Rhonda said.

Rhonda's perspective

I have to say, riding through the desert alongside a gang of my own was… pretty damn good. One of my pals was able to lend us four horses so we could ride all the way out to where Dolarhyde's hideout was. But when we were almost 15 miles away, we spotted a pretty big spaceship just sittin' in the desert in plain sight. Max immediately steered away from the group towards the ship and the rest of us followed him all the way to the ship, where we saw the rest of his team. As we got down off of our horses, the blue one seemed really mad.

"Max, what is this?!" she yelled.

"Like I told you, we need more allies to help us take down the Overlord. Rhonda here is going to help us do that after we take down Dolarhyde," Max said. I walked over to the blue one and held out my hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said. But she didn't take my hand. She just gave me an angry look.

"Max, I thought we agreed that she either apprehended or…"

"Celeste, we obviously weren't going to kill her," Max said.

"Plus, think of this as you apprehendin' me and now I need to serve my sentence by helpin' you," I said, taking another smoke.

"AND she lives for danger! That's why I respect her the most! …Also, Darling, can you let go of my breasts now?" Zero Two said. Sure enough, Hiro was clinging to her harder than a baby possum to its mama. He blushed hard and fell down off the horse.

"Sorry! My head was still feeling a bit fuzzy and I didn't want to fall off, so I-," he started to say.

"Darling, if you really wanted to touch me that much, all you had to do was asked. In fact, if you wanted, you could've grabbed a little lower. Like a lot lo-"

"Can you two love birds table that discussion? We've got business to finish!" I interrupted, taking out my revolver and walking towards the hideout.

"You listen! I am the leader of this team and I make the decisions! Not you!" Celeste said, walking in front of me.

"An' I respect that. But I was born here and I know these lands better than anyone else here. Just think of this as 'temporary leadership'. You know, until after we kill Dolarhyde," I said.

"She's got a point. Who better to lead us than someone who knows the place?" the Quadrasapien behind her said.

"That's because you were a rebel before, Amki!" Celeste said.

"That was ONE TIME!"

"OK, look. Bottom line: We need to take down Dolarhyde before this gets too out of hand and innocent people die as a result. I trust Max. And if she says that Rhonda can help, then we should let her," Nikki said.

"Alright, fine. But, just so we're clear: If you try to escape after we're done, we WILL hunt you down and you WILL be sent to jail or executed," Celeste said.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Now could you please get that ship outta here? You're gonna attract some unwanted attention and we're in EXTREMELY dangerous territory here!" I said. Celeste just pressed a button on her wrist and the entire ship disappeared, which I just smirked at. We then trekked through the desert on foot until we were within long range firing distance of the base. Surrounding the hideout were a whole bunch of bounty hunters and gang members, all armed and lookin' mighty angry. Standing outside was the head honcho himself, Lonergan Dolarhyde, with his black Stetson, his rugged suit and tie, and those sleazy shoes of his, who was talking to an armored figure and some kind of dominatrix. Celeste pulled out a pair of binoculars and aimed them at with a small microphone popping out. She gave me a pair of headphones so that I could hear.

"So you have what the Overlord requires?" the dominatrix asked.

"Everythin' is right here. 500 pounds of smelted Pyrothium metal, a thousand pounds of galvanic-grade wiring, and 200 pounds worth of celestine quartz. As per our agreement," Dolarhyde said, twirlin' his mustache. The dominatrix pressed a button on her wrist and the supplies Dolarhyde were talking about disappeared within beams of light.

"Here's your payment," the armored one said, tossing a bag of money at Dolarhyde. He simply opened the bag and gave a wicked smile before he closed it and tipped his hat at them.

"Much obliged. Please give the Overlord my regards, would ya kindly?"

"OK, look. I'll cause a distraction and the rest of you sneak around th' back and take them by surprise," I whispered.

"I'll give you some cover," Rhea said. She held out her staff and whipped up a small sandstorm that reduced the visibility to make it seem like I was just appearing out of the sand. The entire gang was confused as to what was going on and the second that they saw me, they tried to fire at me. I took out my revolver and shot down each of them without even missing once despite the sand whipping all around me. I then walked out of the sandstorm to face Dolarhyde and the rest of his gang head on.

"Well, well, well! Rhonda Rygel, the Four-Eyed Gunslinger! Thought you'd be around sooner or later…" Dolarhyde said, lighting a cigar with a smile.

"Well, you've forced my hand, Dolarhyde. You keep sendin' your damn goons to threaten the local folk, so I had no other choice but to take you out myself," I replied. Dolarhyde just smugly snapped his fingers and one of his best men walked over to his side. The fella was a 7-foot tall Snapptheian named Fred. The Snapptheians were mean bastards with large mouths and row upon row of teeth and very small brains. Fred had all of that, but he was also well dressed with a bowler hat on his overgrown head.

"As much as I'd love to deal with you, Fred here's been dying to have a go at ya. Play nice with him."

"Hehehe. I always wanted to go toe-to-toe with the so called gunslinger I've heard of around town," he said, walking up to me and cracking his knuckles.

"Is that so?" I asked. Fred just gave me a toothy grin and pulled out his revolver, pointing it at me.

"Y'know, seven of my buddies died because of you. And right now, I've got you right where I-," he continued to say. But I immediately took out my revolver and shot him straight in the head. His body fell right to the ground, splattering blood into the sand.

"If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk," I said. Dolarhyde looked a bit peeved, but he didn't seem that upset.

"Well, that's a shame. He still owed me a bit of money," he said, taking another smoke of his cigar.

"Now listen Dolarhyde, because I'm only going to warn you once. Call your gang off and let's settle this the old-fashioned way."

"It's a feint. Her team has probably gotten around back and taken out half of this gang," the dominatrix said to Dolarhyde. But he just scoffed and then laughed.

"Are you kiddin' me? She's a loner. She's been that way her entire life and she'll be that way for the rest of her pathetic life!"

"Well, you're right about one thing, Dolarhyde. I have been alone all my life. But, as the saying goes… times change," I said before I took my revolver and shot him in the shoulder. The rest of his gang immediately returned fire but I took cover behind a partially destroyed carriage. I then threw out a flashbang grenade, which stunned a few gang members, and shot each of them down. I got into a fist fight with one of the gang members and used him as a body shield as I made my way into the hideout. The dominatrix and the armored human both disappeared in pillars of light, leaving Dolarhyde and his gang to fight alone. After I had gotten into the hideout, a bunch of gang members surrounded me, all pointing my revolvers at me, but Max came in from behind one of them and stabbed him in the back with his arm blade while Nikki created a shield for him to protect him from the gunfire while I took cover behind the bar where Celeste and Zero Two had also taken cover.

"So, what exactly was this plan of yours?" Celeste asked.

"Kill every one of Dolarhyde's men and then we turn our attention to the big man himself," I said as I threw out another flashbang.

"No. You need to take him down NOW. Do not let him call in any reinforcements or we all die!"

"Now you're speaking my language! Zero Two! Give me some cover!"

"With pleasure!" Zero Two replied. She took out one of the folding tables from underneath the bar and used it like a shield as we made our way to Dolarhyde's office. Several of his gang members shot at the table as we inched our way over to the door. But when we were pretty much there, a large muscular hand busted through the wall and grabbed me and threw me out of the hideout. It was Fred again. The thing about Snapptheians is that they have unusually thick skulls, meaning that they could survive a plasma bullet to the brain and still fight. Fred pinned me to the ground and took a revolver from one of the fallen gang members before pointing it at my face. I took a flashbang grenade from my bandolier and threw it at his face, which disorientated him a bit and made him stumble backward into a flaming carriage. I took out my semi-auto rifle and shot out all four of his eyes. He angrily roared and blindly charged forward to attack me, but I dodged out of the way and he instead crashed into Dolarhyde's office. His startled men shot up Fred like a wild animal until one gang member finished him off with a shotgun blast. Before his body even hit the ground as I rolled into the room, I took both my semi-auto rifle and my revolver and shot up the rest of the gang until only Dolarhyde was left. He sat against the wall, holding his shoulder as he bleed out and I stood over him with a menacing look, pointing my revolver at his face.

"Now, I know what you're thinkin': 'Did she fire six shots or only five?' Well, truth be told in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But, right now, you've only got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, PUNK?" I said. Dolarhyde just angrily spit blood onto the floor and looked at me with pure disgust.

"Do you really think anybody in town will appreciate what you've done? You'll be nothing more than an outlaw!" he said.

"What exactly did those two want with those supplies?"

"The Overlord won't tell me anything. All I know is that his zealots are all over the galaxy. If I were you, I'd give up."

"You took my family from me. My whole life. And now here you are, bleeding and broken with my gun pointed at your face. I never give up. But, you? You're nothing but dirt beneath my boot," I said as I pressed my foot into his shoulder, making him scream in pain.

"Wait, wait! Look, I can't tell you much, but I do know someone who knows how to defeat the Overlord!" Dolarhyde screamed as I pressed my boot further onto his shoulder.

"And who might that be?"

"He's this crazy guy who was once a zealot. He was involved in this crazy attack and he got arrested for it. If you let me live, I'll tell you where he is!"

"You already did. When someone crazy like that attacks a large populace and gets arrested, where do you think they put 'em?" I said. I took my foot off of his shoulder and took his revolver off the desk. I tossed it to his feet and prepared to head out the door, leaving him to die. Unfortunately, as I predicted, Dolarhyde picked up the gun and tried in vain to shoot me, only for him to find that the gun was empty. I turned around and showed him that I had taken the bullets from the gun, which I dropped to the ground.

"You're out of bullets. And you know what that means… you're shit outta luck," I said. I then took out my revolver and shot Dolarhyde in the head with the last bullet that I had. His lifeless body fell to the ground and I exited the hideout. As Max and the rest of the team rounded up the rest of Dolarhyde's men, I took of my hat and bandana and looked up towards the sky. Over 16 years of me trying to take down the man who killed my family and his gang war had finally come to an end. I couldn't help but feel happiness now that my family had been avenged.

Max's perspective

I looked out over the horizon with the binoculars I had back on the Centurion. Celeste and Nikki were also looking out over the horizon with me while Odango, Rhea, and Zero Two were trying to dislodge a bullet Hiro had in his side. Amki, on the other hand, was busy taking a shower while Eva was trying to get the Centurion ready for takeoff.

"Ow. OK, OW!" Hiro said as Odango used a pair of tweezers to cautiously pull out the bullet.

"Darling, the more that you struggle, the more it's going to hurt," Zero Two said.

"I know that, but I thought that Rhea said that her magic would dull the pain!"

"Well, yes, but the more that I use magic, the weaker it becomes later on. That's why I usually meditate in order to make it stronger," Rhea said as Odango patched up his wound.

"So, you see her yet?" Zero Two asked as she helped Hiro to his feet.

"Nope. But she DID say that she had to take the horses back and take Dolarhyde's men to the sheriff," I said.

"Well, I should go get some rest and let this heal," Hiro said.

"I'll join you. Maybe we can get some time to ourselves," Zero Two replied as they walked away to their room. I still scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of Rhonda, but there was nothing so far.

"If she doesn't show up in the next five minutes, we're going out after her," Celeste said.

"Well, she did save a lot of people. Maybe she just got held up," Nikki said. I nodded in agreement before I looked back through the binoculars and saw a small dust cloud speeding towards us. I barely had time to jump out of the way before Rhonda sped past us on a red hoverbike and swerved to a stop. She got off of the bike and walked over to us.

"Sorry 'bout the holdup. Hope I'm not late," she said, taking a smoke of her cigarillo.

"Actually, you're right on time. Glad you could join us," I said.

"Well, I'm a woman of my word. I'm pleased to have been apprehended by y'all."

"Actually, Max and I have talked at length and we've decided that it's better that you are treated like a team member rather than a prisoner. You put yourself at risk to help us and saved countless lives," Celeste said.

"And having you on the team would be a really big help," Nikki added. Rhonda just gave us a content smile.

"I do, however, have one rule on this ship: No smoking," Celeste said. Rhonda flicked her cigarillo outside the ship and adjusted her belt.

"I can live with that. But, just wondering… I can smoke OUTSIDE the ship, right?" she asked.

"You may. Max and Nikki will show you to living quarters," Celeste said. We took Rhonda up the stairs to an empty room similar to the ones the rest of us had. She went into the room and sat down on the bed, taking off her jacket and her hat.

"This looks nice."

"Yeah, everyone decorates their room every now and again. You're welcome to do so if you want to," Nikki said.

"Y'know, I always wanted to be part of a team. I don't know why, but I just felt like doing the whole 'lone gunslinger' thing was never enough for me," Rhonda said.

"Well, that's one of the benefits. You can never do certain things alone and having others to help you is the best way to get a job done. We're here for each other," I said, putting my arm around Nikki's shoulder. Rhonda couldn't help but smile again.

"I appreciate that. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a nap I need to take right now. Wake me up when we get to wherever we're goin', partners," she said, making us laugh.

To Be Continued…