Alpha Males, part six
"The Enemy at the Gates" or "One hell of a fight"
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"Enemy at the gates!" Murdock called from atop the bell tower on the empty church. He'd seen the riders coming in, fast.
Hannibal looked up and gave the thumb's up signal at him, then looked across at Chris. Both men were on opposite sides of the main street leading into the town, Hannibal in front of the "saloon" and Chris in front of the "jail." The others were scattered around, most up on the balconies covering the street -- the high ground. Vin and BA were both on roofs, on sharpshooter duty. Face and Ezra shared a long balcony above what had once been a hotel, while Buck and JD were atop the old stable and livery. Nathan and Josiah were on the ground, hanging out near the "hotel." Murdock came crashing down from the bell tower and went to join them.
The outlaws rode into the town in two groups, one entering from the direction of the river, and the others going around to enter from the other side. They both reined in to stop where the buildings began, pausing to have a look around.
The town was dead. The outlaws were aware that they had been spotted coming in, but it was still a little odd to see such completely empty streets...except for the handful of men.
Sitting lazily on the boardwalk with their heads down were two men, neither of which looked like a sheriff, while two others hung out up the road a bit looking as if they were playing cards, and one...
What was he doing?
As if he were on the vaudeville stage, Murdock jumped into the middle of the road and bowed to the outlaws.
"Thank you, thank you!" He said, though, of course, no one was clapping. "And for my next trick...."
He turned sideways and stuck out one of his thin legs to tap the ground in front of him. His head bobbed curiously, his back arching as he moved into a half squat. The lead foot set itself down, and the other one started the same motion.
Then he started clucking like a chicken and "flapping" his wings. He craned his neck around to blink up at the lead outlaw, and grinned.
The outlaw shook his head, then frowned.
"(Get him!)" he ordered, spurring his horse forward.
Murdock squealed and dashed down an alley, as outlaws poured into the town from both sides.
Gunfire exploded from all around them, totally confusing the outlaws. Some had the presence of mind to look up and see the men on the roofs and balconies, picking them off from their higher positions. Horses reared and jumped, running into each other in their confusion, and outlaws fell from their backs. Several beasts went down in the melee, tripping up other horses and those unseated outlaws now trying to flee.
Several outlaws plunged off down one of the alleyways, only to feel their horse's muscles suddenly bunch up and come to an abrupt halt in front of the paper wall. Three men were thrown off and through the false wall, ending up in unmoving heaps among the hay bales on the other side. The horses backed up, totally bewildered by a wall that both was and wasn't there.
"(Back, back! Regroup)!" One of the outlaws yelled, trying to steer his horse around and back out of the ambush. Those that responded were already backing out, while those that had fallen from their horses were being knocked out by fists that seem to come from nowhere. Like ghosts, Chris, Hannibal, Murdock, Nathan and Josiah flitted through the chaos and took down all the men they could find. Bullets continued to rain down from above, but in the mess none of the outlaws could get a clear fix on any of the shooters.
Then the horses were turned around and the outlaws galloped back out as quickly as they had come in.
They left about twenty men behind, some dead, most completely out of it.
"Get these ones into the jail," Chris ordered, leaping down off a boardwalk and wiping some of the sweat out of his eyes.
"How long before they return?" Josiah panted, lifting an outlaw up over his shoulder.
"Not long," Hannibal muttered. "I give them fifteen minutes at most. They'll be more careful next time, and will be expecting the boys up above. They might even try to come at us from behind, coming through the buildings."
"They'll see how empty the buildings are then," Nathan said, grabbing two groggy outlaws by their collars and steering them in the direction of the jail. For all that it was a ghost town, the jail here was actually bigger than the one in Four Corners. Josiah had made a mention of the irony of that fact for a town that had been called Freedom.
"Aye," Murdock grinned, grabbing his own man, "but we have only just begun to fight!" He shook his free fist and headed across to the jail.
"He means the traps," Hannibal told Chris as they met in the roadway. Chris smiled wryly.
"I know."
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It wasn't fifteen minutes, it was more like ten. They had just finished clearing the street and getting into more defensible positions when the outlaws returned. This time, the sixty or so men attacked in small groups, coming up through the alleyways and, as Hannibal predicted, through the buildings. Like rats riding a rising tide, they swarmed into the town, the bulk trying to get to the men on the balconies and roofs.
Especially the roofs.
"Tanner!" BA yelled from his roof perch, "Behind you!"
The tracker spun around and kicked, the movement being his first instinct when he saw the shadow looming over him. The outlaw lost his balance as the foot slammed into his leg, the shotgun slipping from his grip. In that moment, Vin gutshot him, sending the unlucky outlaw off the roof with a scream.
"BUCK!" On his balcony, Ezra got up on one knee and aimed across the road with his rifle, a single shot taking out one of the two men advancing on the ladies' man. The dead outlaw fell back onto the other one, giving Buck enough time to turn and knock them both off the balcony.
Then someone had hold of Ezra from behind, grabbing his rifle and pulling it back against his throat. The faint sound of JD yelling his name was blurred under the blood rushing to his ears as his air was cut off. Risking letting go of the rifle, Ezra brought his arms up and elbowed the man holding him as hard as he could in the ribs. The gust of breath past his face and the loosening of the rifle told him he had succeeded. Whipping around, he got in a couple of solid punches to the outlaw's face, then threw him off the balcony.
Unfortunately, Ezra's rifle went with him. Pulling his Remington, Ezra hunkered back down and looked to check on Face further down the long railing.
The conman was deep into his own problems, fighting off two men...and his arm was bleeding from a knife wound. He managed to shove one back, but the other one aimed a sharp punch to the conman's kidneys from behind, causing Face to stagger.
But for a moment, it gave Ezra an opening.
"Face!" the gambler yelled, standing up, "Down!"
The lieutenant instantly dropped out of range, and Ezra picked off both outlaws with deadly accuracy. One fell over the edge, and the other barely missed following him. Face grabbed the man by his belt and heaved him over the edge to follow the other. Then he threw a grin at Ezra in thanks.
Ezra had already knelt down again and was back to covering the men below.
Chris was pinned behind some barrels in front of the "saloon," trying rapidly to reload his peacemakers, while Hannibal continued to fire upon men from the jail with a borrowed rifle - he'd been stealing weapons rather than wasting time reloading. Josiah and Nathan were both locked into fistfights, while Murdock was running around like...well...a madman...with about six men on his tail. He flew past where Chris was reloading, distracting the outlaws that had been attempting to sneak up on the gunslinger. Moments later, Chris was back up and firing, stopping the attackers and forcing them back.
Meanwhile, the same six were still on Murdock's tail, despite the captain's impressive speed. When Murdock passed just in front of him, Hannibal pointed to the ground and shot a single shot into the dirt.
BOOM!
The ground exploded, raining dirt and filth onto the six men who had been chasing the captain. They all collapsed back, overcome.
"BA! NOW!" the colonel yelled up.
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Up on his roof, BA grinned and started shooting at the ground beneath the men. One after another, charges exploded upwards, knocking outlaws from their mounts and knocking those already on the ground into the filth, completely dazed. Horses screamed at the suddenly erupting earth, increasing the chaos and driving riders around in circles.
The men fighting Josiah and Nathan were all thrown with the blasts of air and noise, as were the preacher and healer. But, having expected them, the two peacekeepers were back on their feet quickly, using the distraction to gain the advantage.
BA continued to fire at the ground, unaware that three outlaws had managed to get up onto the roof behind him. Vin looked up, yelling a warning, but over the noise of the rifle and the explosions, BA didn't hear.
Face heard the tracker's warnings however and looked up, seeing the men coming up behind BA. Switching his aim, the lieutenant aimed to hit the piece of roof just by BA's head.
The sergeant reacted immediately, switching his aim to point at Face. The lieutenant lowered his rifle and swung his arm in a spinning motion three times.
As "ordered," BA spun around and fired three times. All three outlaws went down, falling off the peaked roof like rain off a duck's back. Turning back, BA saluted his lieutenant.
Vin shook his head in amazement.
JD grunted as a lucky shot winged his right arm, though he continued to fire with his left. Buck bit back an urge to go and shove the boy inside the building to protect him.
"You all right JD?" he shouted, hunkering down to reload his rifle. JD glanced over, his mouth open to answer, then, suddenly, the kid turned and aimed directly at Buck. The ladies' man didn't even have to wonder as he ducked, feeling as much as hearing the kid's colt hiss a shot past his ear. Turning, he was just in time to see the outlaw that had been sneaking up behind him fall backwards off the balcony.
"Yeah, just a graze," the kid said, finally answering Buck's question. The ladies' man grinned and snapped the chamber closed on the rifle.
The last of the charges in the road hit, BA got back to shooting at outlaws.
For all their work, there were still a good number down below, firing and, considering that Hannibal was now as pinned as Chris, looking as if they were getting the upper hand.
At that moment, a loud whinny erupted from the stable, turning a few heads. The large double doors flew open and a handful of outlaws on foot came running out, half of them slipping in their haste, followed by an extremely angry Vandal. The huge black reared and huffed, his steel-shod hooves catching anyone and anything in its way. Like a force of nature, the horse was trained as a cavalry charger, but, when angry, he acted more like one of the ancient medieval warhorses -- a weapon as dangerous as any sword. Vandal crashed through the crowd of horses and men in the street, terrifying the beasts and causing quite a few to bolt, whether their riders wanted to or not. Then the big black was gone, vanishing around a corner just as one of the outlaws had the presence of mind to try and shoot him.
BA picked the outlaw off before he could finish the thought.
Ezra almost laughed, trying to picture Chaucer doing that and failing. His horse was a lot of things, but he was not a warhorse!
Just then he heard his Remington click empty, and, as his left hand went for the colt in his side holster, he happened to catch the red rimmed eyes of an outlaw pointing his rifle in his direction from down below. Before he could even move, he felt the bullet rip through his left shoulder, the accompanying bang a dull afterthought. Thrown back against the wall behind, he gasped, the sudden pain literally blinding, his vision tearing up and blacking out. Vaguely, he was aware that he pitched forward...and over the edge of the balcony.
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Face split the shooter's head with a bullet, then ran to where Ezra fell. Without thinking, he jumped off the balcony and rolled with the fall, narrowly missing being trodden by another horse's hooves. Had he looked behind him, he would have seen Vandal explode out of another alleyway and knock the trampling rider and his horse to the ground, giving the lieutenant enough time to cross over to Ezra's unmoving form and grab his red jacket in two hands.
Face dragged Ezra into the relative safety of a building, and into a space that had probably once been a milliner's shop, based on the empty hat boxes in one corner.
Ezra blinked owlishly up at him, his vision returning slowly as the pain began to register.
Pulling off his navy coat, Face pressed it against the wound on Ezra's shoulder, his blue eyes scanning the gambler's desperately for a sign that he wasn't dying. The gambler winced at the sudden pressure, but no sound came from his lips. The lieutenant pressed harder.
"You can't die, damn it!" Face hissed. Then he tried to smile as Ezra blinked up at him again, "Murdock will never forgive me if you do," he whispered.
A slight smile crossed the gambler's features, then his head titled to the side to face the door. Face looked over his shoulder in the same direction, sensing more than hearing the creak of the wooden flooring. He shifted sideways as he saw three men shove in through the door of the deserted shop, his hand looking for the weapon he had dropped when he took off his coat. One of the outlaws grinned and shook his head as he raised the gun in his hand.
A twitch and Ezra engaged his derringer, the snapping sound causing Face to look down at the red clad arm just as Ezra fired two shots in the direction of the outlaws. Two of the outlaws fell dead, while the third staggered back to the door. He shook nervously, his mouth open, watching the derringer with bewildered eyes. Ezra's arm fell slack, the derringer empty, and oblivion once more taking his senses.
Realizing then that the gambler's little pistol was empty, the third outlaw shakily raised his own gun at Face, almost as if he were unsure of what exactly was happening. The lieutenant could only stare back, his blue eyes intense in the half light of the room, his only thought to block as much of Ezra's body as he could with his own.
Almost simultaneously, two shots exploded through the last outlaw's back, shoving him forward several steps. One shot was fired from a peacemaker, the other from a rifle. As the outlaw fell to the floor, Chris ran in behind him, peacemaker raised. Hannibal was just behind, the rifle in his hands up as he covered the black-clad gunslinger.
"You all right kid?" Hannibal called.
"Yeah," Face whispered back, his eyes on Chris Larabee.
Wincing at the sight of the blood covering both Ezra and Face, Chris jumped across the three bodies and knelt next to them, seeing the soaked coat pressed against Ezra's shoulder. The lieutenant asked a silent question, and Chris nodded.
"I got him," the gunslinger said, reaching over to take Face's place. The lieutenant sighed quickly and got back to his feet to go join Hannibal by the door. On the way, he found the gun he had dropped. Hannibal nodded at him and hunkered away down the boardwalk. Face ducked out of the door, covering his colonel.
Chris gave Ezra a lopsided grin as the pale green eyes blinked open again briefly.
"Hey," the gunslinger greeted quietly.
"I'm sorry, Chris," Ezra gasped, feeling the pain more now. Chris furrowed his brow.
"For what?"
"They need you out there," the gambler replied hoarsely.
"I know where I'm needed," Chris said softly. "Besides, that captain told me the king in his story dies in the end. I'm not in the mood."
Ezra blinked...then smiled.
Outside, Josiah and Nathan dashed to opposite sides of the street as the last of the still mounted horses headed in their direction. As one, they grabbed the ends of the thick clothesline sticking out of the dirt and pulled backwards sharply.
The thick braided clothesline pulled up out of the dirt in a single motion, looking like the tape at a footrace...except this one didn't break.
The horse's bowed their heads under the line without conscious though, leaving their riders to hit the elastic line full on...and snap backwards off their horses.
Those lucky enough to fall out of their stirrups just fell, while the others got dragged several feet before their beasts came to a stop.
And it was over.
Vin whooped and stood up off his roof, shaking his gun in the air. JD and Buck jumped down from their balconies to help the others cover the men on the ground. BA got up on one knee and saluted the tracker across the way, and Vin returned it proudly.
Down in the disused shop, Chris pressed desperately down on the bleeding gambler's shoulder, trying not to notice that Ezra had lost consciousness again. Trying to repress the numbing fear he felt, the gunslinger turned to the door and screamed Nathan's name.
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Epilogue
Colonel Smith shook his head, "I made you a promise, Mr. Larabee, and I intend to keep it."
Hannibal faced Chris in front of the Freedom jail, his men standing around him. They all stood at attention before Chris, the action of respect not lost on the gunslinger.
Chris nodded, "I know you did, Colonel Smith, and if we were in Four Corners, I would put you back in jail. But...well," he smiled wryly, "we're not." He looked around him at the ghost town, smiling a little at the false signs that proclaimed the Four Corners Saloon and the Four Corners Hotel. He looked back at Hannibal and smiled. "We're in Freedom."
"So, if we were to return to Four Corners?" Face asked.
"I'd lock you up and throw away the key," the gunslinger replied easily.
"Ah," Face looked to his feet.
"The army is going to be here in a couple of hours, Colonel, and, if I were you, I'd get out while you can," Chris added.
Hannibal nodded and stuck out a hand. Chris shook it firmly.
"We'll leave just as soon as we say goodbye to the others," the colonel told him. "By the way, how is Mr. Standish this morning?"
"Recovering, albeit slowly. It'll be a while before we can move him out of here. He broke his left wrist in the fall and sprained his back, and, with the shot to his shoulder, he'll be in pain for a long time. But that medicine you gave Nathan seems to be working; it has really dulled the pain, I think."
"You can thank Murdock for that one," Face said, looking to the captain. Murdock didn't hear, he was focused on something in the distance.
"Murdock?" Hannibal turned to look in the same direction. Nothing but sky.
"I can hear the final chorus calling, as gentle as that of leaves falling," the captain said cryptically, raising his hands like a conductor, "They say, time to go, muchachos!"
"Well, hell, can't argue with final chorus," Face said. 'C'mon Murdock, time to say our goodbyes."
Of the outlaws that had attacked the town, only about thirty ended up in the jail, though they were packed in like sardines. Another fifteen others were laid up across the way in the old saloon, being watched over by Nathan and JD. Ezra was there too, asleep most of the time. The rest of the outlaws had either been killed or had run off. Truth be told, not that many had escaped, and none of the original gang of twenty were among them. When Josiah and Buck had gotten the grim job of counting and shifting the dead, it was assumed that probably only five or six were unaccounted for.
The A-Team wished Buck, Vin and Josiah well where they were keeping guard in the jail, and all three peacekeepers returned the sentiment by telling them that they were welcome back to Four Corners any time. And if Chris locked them up, all three promised, they would be the first to help them escape. In the background, the gunslinger sighed heavily.
"Such disloyalty," he mumbled, just loud enough for the others to hear.
Across the way in the makeshift saloon/clinic, Nathan and JD (with a sling on the kid's arm) shook all four men's hands, and Murdock and JD promised to write each other. Face tried to wake up Ezra but the gambler was well out of it. Instead, the conman wrote a quick note and asked Nathan to give it to him when he woke up.
Then, quietly, the A-Team vanished into the landscape. It was so unlike the manner in which they had arrived, that, for a moment, it didn't seem real.
When Ezra awoke, he frowned at the knowledge that the team had left, upset that he hadn't had more time to talk to them. But he cheered up when he unfolded the note.
"What does it say?" Nathan asked, sitting down on the cot next to him.
Ezra smiled, shaking his head, "It's just a thank you note for the card lesson, and an invite to come visit when he's rich and famous."
"Rich and famous, eh? Sounds like something you'd write," Nathan replied, leaning over his shoulder. "Hey, what does the postscript say?"
Ezra chuckled, his green eyes bright, "It says, See, I told you Murdock wasn't crazy."
(Queue music)
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End
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Love Tipper
"The Enemy at the Gates" or "One hell of a fight"
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"Enemy at the gates!" Murdock called from atop the bell tower on the empty church. He'd seen the riders coming in, fast.
Hannibal looked up and gave the thumb's up signal at him, then looked across at Chris. Both men were on opposite sides of the main street leading into the town, Hannibal in front of the "saloon" and Chris in front of the "jail." The others were scattered around, most up on the balconies covering the street -- the high ground. Vin and BA were both on roofs, on sharpshooter duty. Face and Ezra shared a long balcony above what had once been a hotel, while Buck and JD were atop the old stable and livery. Nathan and Josiah were on the ground, hanging out near the "hotel." Murdock came crashing down from the bell tower and went to join them.
The outlaws rode into the town in two groups, one entering from the direction of the river, and the others going around to enter from the other side. They both reined in to stop where the buildings began, pausing to have a look around.
The town was dead. The outlaws were aware that they had been spotted coming in, but it was still a little odd to see such completely empty streets...except for the handful of men.
Sitting lazily on the boardwalk with their heads down were two men, neither of which looked like a sheriff, while two others hung out up the road a bit looking as if they were playing cards, and one...
What was he doing?
As if he were on the vaudeville stage, Murdock jumped into the middle of the road and bowed to the outlaws.
"Thank you, thank you!" He said, though, of course, no one was clapping. "And for my next trick...."
He turned sideways and stuck out one of his thin legs to tap the ground in front of him. His head bobbed curiously, his back arching as he moved into a half squat. The lead foot set itself down, and the other one started the same motion.
Then he started clucking like a chicken and "flapping" his wings. He craned his neck around to blink up at the lead outlaw, and grinned.
The outlaw shook his head, then frowned.
"(Get him!)" he ordered, spurring his horse forward.
Murdock squealed and dashed down an alley, as outlaws poured into the town from both sides.
Gunfire exploded from all around them, totally confusing the outlaws. Some had the presence of mind to look up and see the men on the roofs and balconies, picking them off from their higher positions. Horses reared and jumped, running into each other in their confusion, and outlaws fell from their backs. Several beasts went down in the melee, tripping up other horses and those unseated outlaws now trying to flee.
Several outlaws plunged off down one of the alleyways, only to feel their horse's muscles suddenly bunch up and come to an abrupt halt in front of the paper wall. Three men were thrown off and through the false wall, ending up in unmoving heaps among the hay bales on the other side. The horses backed up, totally bewildered by a wall that both was and wasn't there.
"(Back, back! Regroup)!" One of the outlaws yelled, trying to steer his horse around and back out of the ambush. Those that responded were already backing out, while those that had fallen from their horses were being knocked out by fists that seem to come from nowhere. Like ghosts, Chris, Hannibal, Murdock, Nathan and Josiah flitted through the chaos and took down all the men they could find. Bullets continued to rain down from above, but in the mess none of the outlaws could get a clear fix on any of the shooters.
Then the horses were turned around and the outlaws galloped back out as quickly as they had come in.
They left about twenty men behind, some dead, most completely out of it.
"Get these ones into the jail," Chris ordered, leaping down off a boardwalk and wiping some of the sweat out of his eyes.
"How long before they return?" Josiah panted, lifting an outlaw up over his shoulder.
"Not long," Hannibal muttered. "I give them fifteen minutes at most. They'll be more careful next time, and will be expecting the boys up above. They might even try to come at us from behind, coming through the buildings."
"They'll see how empty the buildings are then," Nathan said, grabbing two groggy outlaws by their collars and steering them in the direction of the jail. For all that it was a ghost town, the jail here was actually bigger than the one in Four Corners. Josiah had made a mention of the irony of that fact for a town that had been called Freedom.
"Aye," Murdock grinned, grabbing his own man, "but we have only just begun to fight!" He shook his free fist and headed across to the jail.
"He means the traps," Hannibal told Chris as they met in the roadway. Chris smiled wryly.
"I know."
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It wasn't fifteen minutes, it was more like ten. They had just finished clearing the street and getting into more defensible positions when the outlaws returned. This time, the sixty or so men attacked in small groups, coming up through the alleyways and, as Hannibal predicted, through the buildings. Like rats riding a rising tide, they swarmed into the town, the bulk trying to get to the men on the balconies and roofs.
Especially the roofs.
"Tanner!" BA yelled from his roof perch, "Behind you!"
The tracker spun around and kicked, the movement being his first instinct when he saw the shadow looming over him. The outlaw lost his balance as the foot slammed into his leg, the shotgun slipping from his grip. In that moment, Vin gutshot him, sending the unlucky outlaw off the roof with a scream.
"BUCK!" On his balcony, Ezra got up on one knee and aimed across the road with his rifle, a single shot taking out one of the two men advancing on the ladies' man. The dead outlaw fell back onto the other one, giving Buck enough time to turn and knock them both off the balcony.
Then someone had hold of Ezra from behind, grabbing his rifle and pulling it back against his throat. The faint sound of JD yelling his name was blurred under the blood rushing to his ears as his air was cut off. Risking letting go of the rifle, Ezra brought his arms up and elbowed the man holding him as hard as he could in the ribs. The gust of breath past his face and the loosening of the rifle told him he had succeeded. Whipping around, he got in a couple of solid punches to the outlaw's face, then threw him off the balcony.
Unfortunately, Ezra's rifle went with him. Pulling his Remington, Ezra hunkered back down and looked to check on Face further down the long railing.
The conman was deep into his own problems, fighting off two men...and his arm was bleeding from a knife wound. He managed to shove one back, but the other one aimed a sharp punch to the conman's kidneys from behind, causing Face to stagger.
But for a moment, it gave Ezra an opening.
"Face!" the gambler yelled, standing up, "Down!"
The lieutenant instantly dropped out of range, and Ezra picked off both outlaws with deadly accuracy. One fell over the edge, and the other barely missed following him. Face grabbed the man by his belt and heaved him over the edge to follow the other. Then he threw a grin at Ezra in thanks.
Ezra had already knelt down again and was back to covering the men below.
Chris was pinned behind some barrels in front of the "saloon," trying rapidly to reload his peacemakers, while Hannibal continued to fire upon men from the jail with a borrowed rifle - he'd been stealing weapons rather than wasting time reloading. Josiah and Nathan were both locked into fistfights, while Murdock was running around like...well...a madman...with about six men on his tail. He flew past where Chris was reloading, distracting the outlaws that had been attempting to sneak up on the gunslinger. Moments later, Chris was back up and firing, stopping the attackers and forcing them back.
Meanwhile, the same six were still on Murdock's tail, despite the captain's impressive speed. When Murdock passed just in front of him, Hannibal pointed to the ground and shot a single shot into the dirt.
BOOM!
The ground exploded, raining dirt and filth onto the six men who had been chasing the captain. They all collapsed back, overcome.
"BA! NOW!" the colonel yelled up.
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Up on his roof, BA grinned and started shooting at the ground beneath the men. One after another, charges exploded upwards, knocking outlaws from their mounts and knocking those already on the ground into the filth, completely dazed. Horses screamed at the suddenly erupting earth, increasing the chaos and driving riders around in circles.
The men fighting Josiah and Nathan were all thrown with the blasts of air and noise, as were the preacher and healer. But, having expected them, the two peacekeepers were back on their feet quickly, using the distraction to gain the advantage.
BA continued to fire at the ground, unaware that three outlaws had managed to get up onto the roof behind him. Vin looked up, yelling a warning, but over the noise of the rifle and the explosions, BA didn't hear.
Face heard the tracker's warnings however and looked up, seeing the men coming up behind BA. Switching his aim, the lieutenant aimed to hit the piece of roof just by BA's head.
The sergeant reacted immediately, switching his aim to point at Face. The lieutenant lowered his rifle and swung his arm in a spinning motion three times.
As "ordered," BA spun around and fired three times. All three outlaws went down, falling off the peaked roof like rain off a duck's back. Turning back, BA saluted his lieutenant.
Vin shook his head in amazement.
JD grunted as a lucky shot winged his right arm, though he continued to fire with his left. Buck bit back an urge to go and shove the boy inside the building to protect him.
"You all right JD?" he shouted, hunkering down to reload his rifle. JD glanced over, his mouth open to answer, then, suddenly, the kid turned and aimed directly at Buck. The ladies' man didn't even have to wonder as he ducked, feeling as much as hearing the kid's colt hiss a shot past his ear. Turning, he was just in time to see the outlaw that had been sneaking up behind him fall backwards off the balcony.
"Yeah, just a graze," the kid said, finally answering Buck's question. The ladies' man grinned and snapped the chamber closed on the rifle.
The last of the charges in the road hit, BA got back to shooting at outlaws.
For all their work, there were still a good number down below, firing and, considering that Hannibal was now as pinned as Chris, looking as if they were getting the upper hand.
At that moment, a loud whinny erupted from the stable, turning a few heads. The large double doors flew open and a handful of outlaws on foot came running out, half of them slipping in their haste, followed by an extremely angry Vandal. The huge black reared and huffed, his steel-shod hooves catching anyone and anything in its way. Like a force of nature, the horse was trained as a cavalry charger, but, when angry, he acted more like one of the ancient medieval warhorses -- a weapon as dangerous as any sword. Vandal crashed through the crowd of horses and men in the street, terrifying the beasts and causing quite a few to bolt, whether their riders wanted to or not. Then the big black was gone, vanishing around a corner just as one of the outlaws had the presence of mind to try and shoot him.
BA picked the outlaw off before he could finish the thought.
Ezra almost laughed, trying to picture Chaucer doing that and failing. His horse was a lot of things, but he was not a warhorse!
Just then he heard his Remington click empty, and, as his left hand went for the colt in his side holster, he happened to catch the red rimmed eyes of an outlaw pointing his rifle in his direction from down below. Before he could even move, he felt the bullet rip through his left shoulder, the accompanying bang a dull afterthought. Thrown back against the wall behind, he gasped, the sudden pain literally blinding, his vision tearing up and blacking out. Vaguely, he was aware that he pitched forward...and over the edge of the balcony.
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Face split the shooter's head with a bullet, then ran to where Ezra fell. Without thinking, he jumped off the balcony and rolled with the fall, narrowly missing being trodden by another horse's hooves. Had he looked behind him, he would have seen Vandal explode out of another alleyway and knock the trampling rider and his horse to the ground, giving the lieutenant enough time to cross over to Ezra's unmoving form and grab his red jacket in two hands.
Face dragged Ezra into the relative safety of a building, and into a space that had probably once been a milliner's shop, based on the empty hat boxes in one corner.
Ezra blinked owlishly up at him, his vision returning slowly as the pain began to register.
Pulling off his navy coat, Face pressed it against the wound on Ezra's shoulder, his blue eyes scanning the gambler's desperately for a sign that he wasn't dying. The gambler winced at the sudden pressure, but no sound came from his lips. The lieutenant pressed harder.
"You can't die, damn it!" Face hissed. Then he tried to smile as Ezra blinked up at him again, "Murdock will never forgive me if you do," he whispered.
A slight smile crossed the gambler's features, then his head titled to the side to face the door. Face looked over his shoulder in the same direction, sensing more than hearing the creak of the wooden flooring. He shifted sideways as he saw three men shove in through the door of the deserted shop, his hand looking for the weapon he had dropped when he took off his coat. One of the outlaws grinned and shook his head as he raised the gun in his hand.
A twitch and Ezra engaged his derringer, the snapping sound causing Face to look down at the red clad arm just as Ezra fired two shots in the direction of the outlaws. Two of the outlaws fell dead, while the third staggered back to the door. He shook nervously, his mouth open, watching the derringer with bewildered eyes. Ezra's arm fell slack, the derringer empty, and oblivion once more taking his senses.
Realizing then that the gambler's little pistol was empty, the third outlaw shakily raised his own gun at Face, almost as if he were unsure of what exactly was happening. The lieutenant could only stare back, his blue eyes intense in the half light of the room, his only thought to block as much of Ezra's body as he could with his own.
Almost simultaneously, two shots exploded through the last outlaw's back, shoving him forward several steps. One shot was fired from a peacemaker, the other from a rifle. As the outlaw fell to the floor, Chris ran in behind him, peacemaker raised. Hannibal was just behind, the rifle in his hands up as he covered the black-clad gunslinger.
"You all right kid?" Hannibal called.
"Yeah," Face whispered back, his eyes on Chris Larabee.
Wincing at the sight of the blood covering both Ezra and Face, Chris jumped across the three bodies and knelt next to them, seeing the soaked coat pressed against Ezra's shoulder. The lieutenant asked a silent question, and Chris nodded.
"I got him," the gunslinger said, reaching over to take Face's place. The lieutenant sighed quickly and got back to his feet to go join Hannibal by the door. On the way, he found the gun he had dropped. Hannibal nodded at him and hunkered away down the boardwalk. Face ducked out of the door, covering his colonel.
Chris gave Ezra a lopsided grin as the pale green eyes blinked open again briefly.
"Hey," the gunslinger greeted quietly.
"I'm sorry, Chris," Ezra gasped, feeling the pain more now. Chris furrowed his brow.
"For what?"
"They need you out there," the gambler replied hoarsely.
"I know where I'm needed," Chris said softly. "Besides, that captain told me the king in his story dies in the end. I'm not in the mood."
Ezra blinked...then smiled.
Outside, Josiah and Nathan dashed to opposite sides of the street as the last of the still mounted horses headed in their direction. As one, they grabbed the ends of the thick clothesline sticking out of the dirt and pulled backwards sharply.
The thick braided clothesline pulled up out of the dirt in a single motion, looking like the tape at a footrace...except this one didn't break.
The horse's bowed their heads under the line without conscious though, leaving their riders to hit the elastic line full on...and snap backwards off their horses.
Those lucky enough to fall out of their stirrups just fell, while the others got dragged several feet before their beasts came to a stop.
And it was over.
Vin whooped and stood up off his roof, shaking his gun in the air. JD and Buck jumped down from their balconies to help the others cover the men on the ground. BA got up on one knee and saluted the tracker across the way, and Vin returned it proudly.
Down in the disused shop, Chris pressed desperately down on the bleeding gambler's shoulder, trying not to notice that Ezra had lost consciousness again. Trying to repress the numbing fear he felt, the gunslinger turned to the door and screamed Nathan's name.
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Epilogue
Colonel Smith shook his head, "I made you a promise, Mr. Larabee, and I intend to keep it."
Hannibal faced Chris in front of the Freedom jail, his men standing around him. They all stood at attention before Chris, the action of respect not lost on the gunslinger.
Chris nodded, "I know you did, Colonel Smith, and if we were in Four Corners, I would put you back in jail. But...well," he smiled wryly, "we're not." He looked around him at the ghost town, smiling a little at the false signs that proclaimed the Four Corners Saloon and the Four Corners Hotel. He looked back at Hannibal and smiled. "We're in Freedom."
"So, if we were to return to Four Corners?" Face asked.
"I'd lock you up and throw away the key," the gunslinger replied easily.
"Ah," Face looked to his feet.
"The army is going to be here in a couple of hours, Colonel, and, if I were you, I'd get out while you can," Chris added.
Hannibal nodded and stuck out a hand. Chris shook it firmly.
"We'll leave just as soon as we say goodbye to the others," the colonel told him. "By the way, how is Mr. Standish this morning?"
"Recovering, albeit slowly. It'll be a while before we can move him out of here. He broke his left wrist in the fall and sprained his back, and, with the shot to his shoulder, he'll be in pain for a long time. But that medicine you gave Nathan seems to be working; it has really dulled the pain, I think."
"You can thank Murdock for that one," Face said, looking to the captain. Murdock didn't hear, he was focused on something in the distance.
"Murdock?" Hannibal turned to look in the same direction. Nothing but sky.
"I can hear the final chorus calling, as gentle as that of leaves falling," the captain said cryptically, raising his hands like a conductor, "They say, time to go, muchachos!"
"Well, hell, can't argue with final chorus," Face said. 'C'mon Murdock, time to say our goodbyes."
Of the outlaws that had attacked the town, only about thirty ended up in the jail, though they were packed in like sardines. Another fifteen others were laid up across the way in the old saloon, being watched over by Nathan and JD. Ezra was there too, asleep most of the time. The rest of the outlaws had either been killed or had run off. Truth be told, not that many had escaped, and none of the original gang of twenty were among them. When Josiah and Buck had gotten the grim job of counting and shifting the dead, it was assumed that probably only five or six were unaccounted for.
The A-Team wished Buck, Vin and Josiah well where they were keeping guard in the jail, and all three peacekeepers returned the sentiment by telling them that they were welcome back to Four Corners any time. And if Chris locked them up, all three promised, they would be the first to help them escape. In the background, the gunslinger sighed heavily.
"Such disloyalty," he mumbled, just loud enough for the others to hear.
Across the way in the makeshift saloon/clinic, Nathan and JD (with a sling on the kid's arm) shook all four men's hands, and Murdock and JD promised to write each other. Face tried to wake up Ezra but the gambler was well out of it. Instead, the conman wrote a quick note and asked Nathan to give it to him when he woke up.
Then, quietly, the A-Team vanished into the landscape. It was so unlike the manner in which they had arrived, that, for a moment, it didn't seem real.
When Ezra awoke, he frowned at the knowledge that the team had left, upset that he hadn't had more time to talk to them. But he cheered up when he unfolded the note.
"What does it say?" Nathan asked, sitting down on the cot next to him.
Ezra smiled, shaking his head, "It's just a thank you note for the card lesson, and an invite to come visit when he's rich and famous."
"Rich and famous, eh? Sounds like something you'd write," Nathan replied, leaning over his shoulder. "Hey, what does the postscript say?"
Ezra chuckled, his green eyes bright, "It says, See, I told you Murdock wasn't crazy."
(Queue music)
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End
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