Here is Chapter 2
It had been 5 months since that fatefull day at the layline, since that
time the crew of the Outlaw Star had changed a little. Gene was still a shoot first
ask questions later type of person, but he seemed less jumpy with Melfina around.
Suzuka had not killed once since the layline, but she had knocked the crap out of
people. Jim was still extremely over mature for his age, but Aisha had brought out
some of the kid in him. Aisha was still a live wire, but she no "jumped the gun".
Then there was Melfina. She was no longer the timid girl that Gene had first met.
She now had self confidence and even a little attitude. But one thing she still had
was the ability to worry. That ability was currently in full affect.
"Gene, Jim at least would have shown up by now." said Melfina
"Mel, listen he is only a half....no wait an hour late...I...well.."
stammered Gene
"Gene, she is right Aisha may have caused him to be a little late but this
is just not like him. Something is wrong" said Suzuka
"Alright, Mel you stay here in case he comes back. Suzuka you and I will
search for him. said Gene
"Very well" said Suzuka as she headed for the corner however before she
could make the turn a badly burned and injured Aisha appered.
"Gene,.....Jim...is." said Aisha weakly before she passed out into Suzuka's
arms.
"AISHA!" yelled Melfina in panic
"Back to the Outlaw Star on the double" said Gene
A few minutes later Suzuka was helping Melfina banndage their hurt freind.
Gene had injected a painkiller so she would not hurt as badly. As they continued
the first aid instructions in the Outlaw Star med bay. Aisha came to her senses.
Aisha's eyes open slowly and then when she rembemered what had happened
her eyes popped open and she began to ramble. "Oh no, oh I failed. Oh Gene I am so
sorry........they got him....oh no...oh god no....Gene please...oh Gene please"
Gene went to the panicy Aisha and said "Aisha where is Jim"
"I don't know, two men took him" Aisha said attempting to fight back tears
of guilt.
"Aisha I want you to think do you rembemer what they looked like." said
Suzuka
"One was really tall and huge arms. One was cybernetic thats what I was
shocked by. Before they left the other one called him Growler" said Aisha.
"Alright....we are looking for large cyborg with a busted arm. Now he's
gonna need to fix that fairly quick. Gilliam download all known cybernetics shops
on this staion and let us know witch one is closest." said Gene
"Please wait" said Gilliam......"The nearest one is only 2 blocks away,
It is called the Vapor trail tech shop. I have also taken the liberty of printing
a map for you."
Gene then said "Alright Suzuka you come with me. Mel I want you to stay
here and look after Aisha when we fi"
"NO!" said Melfina cutting off Gene
"But Mel listen" said Gene
"No! Gene, Jim means just as much to me as he does to you. He is part of
my family too. I will not just sit by why he is in danger" said Melfina being
very defiant in her statements.
Gene was about to protest but Suzuka grabbed his right sholder and when
he looked into her eyes he saw that she agreed with Melfina. Gene didn't like it
at all he would have to worry about Melfina if a battle occured. He would have
aruged further but he knew that he was fighting a losing battle. He knew that
in the long run it was pointless. "Okay, Mel but promise me you'll be carefull"
said Gene
"I promise" said Mel with a sigh of relief
"Aisha will you be alright by yourself?" asked Gene
"Sure Gene, I am a Ctarl Ctarl. I'll be up to help you find Jim soon I
just need rest" she muttered
"Alright, but don't push yourself. You'll be no good to us if your half
dead." said Gene
Aisha just nodded and fell asleep
"Alright lets go." said Gene and with that the trio headed of to the tech
shop.
About 15 minutes later the trio had found the shop and could tell it was
not the most reputable bussniess around. To tell the truth the place looked more
like a biker shop then a cybernetics center. Dumpster full of who knows what sat
all around and the neon sign above enterance blinked on at off quickly.
"hmmm well not exactly the Ritz is it?" said Melfina
"Well lets go find us a Growler" said Gene
The trio walked in to find a grease covered man at the counter. "Yeah
what do you need" beltched the man
"a gas mask" muttered Gene
"What?" said the man
"What my freind here ment was we are looking for someone." said Suzuka
"Really who?" said the man as he seemed intreged
"A man named Growler" said Suzuka
The man's expression quickly changed and he said "You better leave right
now before I am forced to make you"
Challenging Suzuka was not the brightest of ideas. Suzuka dashed around
the conter and pointed her sword at him. "Where is he"
"Oh please a wooden sword" said the man
Suzuka then swung her sword obliterating the counter in the process.
"What the hell! Rocky, Snarl, get you asses over hear I pay you for
protection" said the man
Two large ugly individuals then appered. One had a chainsaw for a hand
and the other had a large blade coming out of each elbow.
"Kill her!" yelled the man
The pair then began to charge at her. Then Suzuka merely said "Gene"
Gene then pulled to hand guns and with one shot a peice killed them. The
pair fell to the ground with holes in their foreheads and all the man could do
was let out a low groan.
"Now where were we" said Suzuka as she picked up the man by is shirt
"Growler is in the back room number 9." he said
"Thank you" she said as she tossed the man out the window.
"I think you enjoyed that a little to much Suzuka" said Melfina
Suzuka just shrugged her sholders.
As the trio made their way thought the dark passageways they finnaly came to
room number nine. Gene once again pulled his guns as he and Suzuka leaned up against
the door. Melfina was close behind but was sure to stay out of the way. "On three"
said Suzuka
"Three!" yelled Gene and he ran in the door, with an annoied Suzuka close
behind.
Upon entering the room, witch incedetly looked more like a landfill then a
cyper operation room, they found a small man wearing a meatal face gurad as he used
a blowtourch on a much larger man's arm.
"Well, well, well if it isn't a large ugly guy with a busted arm. I'm
willing to bet that your name is Growler" said Gene
The large man looked up and said "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Gene Starwind and according to a very reliable soruce you took
something away from me." said Gene
"What would that be?" asked a confused and annoied Growler
"A member of my family, now where is Jim" said Gene
"Jim? Hey Joey, who is Jim?" said Growler as he turned to the smaller man.
"I'm guessing its that kid we nabbed this afternoon" said Joey as he raised
the mask.
"Oh right, the one with the deep fried Ctarl Ctarl. That bitch reall trashed
my arm ya know!" Growler said, now looking squarly at Gene
"Spit it out ugly where is he" said Suzuka
"He is right here!" yelled Joey as he turned the Blowtourch all the way up
and sent a giant fireball at the trio.
Gene and Melfina quickly dived out of the way, but Suzuka had other ideas.
She jumped over the fire ball and quickly dived down on Joey with her boken. Joey
litterally never knew what hit him. The boken slammed into his skull. Not enough
force to kill him, just enough to give him a serious headache for the next year or
so.
The utter speed was enough to get Growler's attention. But when his best
freind fell to the ground like a sack of potatos he became flat out pissed. "Joey!
You bastards you'll pay for this" yelled Growler
"No you will unless you tell us what you did with Jim" said Gene
Growler then began to laugh. The laugh became louder and louder.
and then he said "Time I let you know why they call me growler" and he then
reared back his head and began to growl and then he roared. The roar was
so loud it droped Gene to his knees instantly as he grabbed his ears in pain.
Suzuka soon followed.
However, with out Growler's knowledge. Melfina was unharmed and hiding
close by. Being a bioandroid Melfina could regulate her sense. She could hear
as carefully as she liked or not at all. It was like turn down the volume.
Now Melfina was anything but violent, she would avoid fighting at all
costs. Under normal circumstances she would stay where she was and hope for
Gene's saftey. But today was anything but normal. Melfina searched through the
trash bin next to her and found a large steel pipe. It did not take her long
to figger out what should be done with it.
As Growler continued to roar he failed to noticed Melfina creeping up
behind him. The concrete walls were begining to shake behind Gene and Suzuka,
Melfina knew it was now or never. She then jumped in front of Growler and before
he had enoughttime to react Melfina jabbed the steel pipe into Growler's mouth,
nocking out a few teeth in the process.
Growler fell back the pipe still jammed in his face and finnaly shut
up. Gene was happy to hear silence but he knew he didn't have time to wait.
He quickly jumped to his feet and ran to Growler.
As Growler pulled the pipe out of his face he was met by a caster
gun pressed against his temple. Growler's face turned ghost white and he spit
out the teeth Melfinaand nocked out.
"Now you, your going to tell me where you took the kid or I am gonna
pull this trigger. Then we get to see just how messy your face can really look."
said Gene
"Allright, allright" Growler said in a panic "This guy named Kaza he
paid us to get him. We gave the kid to him a few hours ago. We took him to
wharehouse 13 down by the waterfront. I swear!"
"What did this Kaza guy want with Jim?" said Suzuka as she came to
Gene's side
"He just asked for a kid, he ussally pays us to bring him adults but
this time he wanted a kid. We don't ask what he does with em." said Growler
"If we don't get him back, I swear I will hunt you to the ends of the
universe" said Gene as he reared back his right and and slugged Growler in the
face obvioulsly breaking his nose.
"Why not fire the Caster gun?" said Suzuka
Gene then opened the barrel of the gun to show Suzuka it was not loaded.
"Jim carries the caster shells." said Gene in a somber voice.
The trio then walked out of the building now surrounded by spectators
drawn by Growler's yell. When they cleared the crowd they found Aisha waiting
for them.
"Aisha what are you doing here" said Melfina "your hurt!"
"Don't worry Mel, I'm a Ctarl Ctarl I heal real fast" said Aisha
"Are you sure" said Suzuka, obviously thinking she was not
"Of couruse Suzu, now have you found where Jim is?" said Aisha
"Yeah, he is at the waterfront, wharehouse number 13." said Gene
"Then lets go, if we don't get Jim back who will fix my gameboy!" said
Aisha with a smile
Gene nodded and began to march. He knew that Aisha was lieing. He
susspected the others knew it as well. Aisha felt guilty about losing Jim and
was hiding it with humor. It didn't matter if she was still hurting or not.
She was going to save Jim or die trying.
Chapter 3 is coming up.
It had been 5 months since that fatefull day at the layline, since that
time the crew of the Outlaw Star had changed a little. Gene was still a shoot first
ask questions later type of person, but he seemed less jumpy with Melfina around.
Suzuka had not killed once since the layline, but she had knocked the crap out of
people. Jim was still extremely over mature for his age, but Aisha had brought out
some of the kid in him. Aisha was still a live wire, but she no "jumped the gun".
Then there was Melfina. She was no longer the timid girl that Gene had first met.
She now had self confidence and even a little attitude. But one thing she still had
was the ability to worry. That ability was currently in full affect.
"Gene, Jim at least would have shown up by now." said Melfina
"Mel, listen he is only a half....no wait an hour late...I...well.."
stammered Gene
"Gene, she is right Aisha may have caused him to be a little late but this
is just not like him. Something is wrong" said Suzuka
"Alright, Mel you stay here in case he comes back. Suzuka you and I will
search for him. said Gene
"Very well" said Suzuka as she headed for the corner however before she
could make the turn a badly burned and injured Aisha appered.
"Gene,.....Jim...is." said Aisha weakly before she passed out into Suzuka's
arms.
"AISHA!" yelled Melfina in panic
"Back to the Outlaw Star on the double" said Gene
A few minutes later Suzuka was helping Melfina banndage their hurt freind.
Gene had injected a painkiller so she would not hurt as badly. As they continued
the first aid instructions in the Outlaw Star med bay. Aisha came to her senses.
Aisha's eyes open slowly and then when she rembemered what had happened
her eyes popped open and she began to ramble. "Oh no, oh I failed. Oh Gene I am so
sorry........they got him....oh no...oh god no....Gene please...oh Gene please"
Gene went to the panicy Aisha and said "Aisha where is Jim"
"I don't know, two men took him" Aisha said attempting to fight back tears
of guilt.
"Aisha I want you to think do you rembemer what they looked like." said
Suzuka
"One was really tall and huge arms. One was cybernetic thats what I was
shocked by. Before they left the other one called him Growler" said Aisha.
"Alright....we are looking for large cyborg with a busted arm. Now he's
gonna need to fix that fairly quick. Gilliam download all known cybernetics shops
on this staion and let us know witch one is closest." said Gene
"Please wait" said Gilliam......"The nearest one is only 2 blocks away,
It is called the Vapor trail tech shop. I have also taken the liberty of printing
a map for you."
Gene then said "Alright Suzuka you come with me. Mel I want you to stay
here and look after Aisha when we fi"
"NO!" said Melfina cutting off Gene
"But Mel listen" said Gene
"No! Gene, Jim means just as much to me as he does to you. He is part of
my family too. I will not just sit by why he is in danger" said Melfina being
very defiant in her statements.
Gene was about to protest but Suzuka grabbed his right sholder and when
he looked into her eyes he saw that she agreed with Melfina. Gene didn't like it
at all he would have to worry about Melfina if a battle occured. He would have
aruged further but he knew that he was fighting a losing battle. He knew that
in the long run it was pointless. "Okay, Mel but promise me you'll be carefull"
said Gene
"I promise" said Mel with a sigh of relief
"Aisha will you be alright by yourself?" asked Gene
"Sure Gene, I am a Ctarl Ctarl. I'll be up to help you find Jim soon I
just need rest" she muttered
"Alright, but don't push yourself. You'll be no good to us if your half
dead." said Gene
Aisha just nodded and fell asleep
"Alright lets go." said Gene and with that the trio headed of to the tech
shop.
About 15 minutes later the trio had found the shop and could tell it was
not the most reputable bussniess around. To tell the truth the place looked more
like a biker shop then a cybernetics center. Dumpster full of who knows what sat
all around and the neon sign above enterance blinked on at off quickly.
"hmmm well not exactly the Ritz is it?" said Melfina
"Well lets go find us a Growler" said Gene
The trio walked in to find a grease covered man at the counter. "Yeah
what do you need" beltched the man
"a gas mask" muttered Gene
"What?" said the man
"What my freind here ment was we are looking for someone." said Suzuka
"Really who?" said the man as he seemed intreged
"A man named Growler" said Suzuka
The man's expression quickly changed and he said "You better leave right
now before I am forced to make you"
Challenging Suzuka was not the brightest of ideas. Suzuka dashed around
the conter and pointed her sword at him. "Where is he"
"Oh please a wooden sword" said the man
Suzuka then swung her sword obliterating the counter in the process.
"What the hell! Rocky, Snarl, get you asses over hear I pay you for
protection" said the man
Two large ugly individuals then appered. One had a chainsaw for a hand
and the other had a large blade coming out of each elbow.
"Kill her!" yelled the man
The pair then began to charge at her. Then Suzuka merely said "Gene"
Gene then pulled to hand guns and with one shot a peice killed them. The
pair fell to the ground with holes in their foreheads and all the man could do
was let out a low groan.
"Now where were we" said Suzuka as she picked up the man by is shirt
"Growler is in the back room number 9." he said
"Thank you" she said as she tossed the man out the window.
"I think you enjoyed that a little to much Suzuka" said Melfina
Suzuka just shrugged her sholders.
As the trio made their way thought the dark passageways they finnaly came to
room number nine. Gene once again pulled his guns as he and Suzuka leaned up against
the door. Melfina was close behind but was sure to stay out of the way. "On three"
said Suzuka
"Three!" yelled Gene and he ran in the door, with an annoied Suzuka close
behind.
Upon entering the room, witch incedetly looked more like a landfill then a
cyper operation room, they found a small man wearing a meatal face gurad as he used
a blowtourch on a much larger man's arm.
"Well, well, well if it isn't a large ugly guy with a busted arm. I'm
willing to bet that your name is Growler" said Gene
The large man looked up and said "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Gene Starwind and according to a very reliable soruce you took
something away from me." said Gene
"What would that be?" asked a confused and annoied Growler
"A member of my family, now where is Jim" said Gene
"Jim? Hey Joey, who is Jim?" said Growler as he turned to the smaller man.
"I'm guessing its that kid we nabbed this afternoon" said Joey as he raised
the mask.
"Oh right, the one with the deep fried Ctarl Ctarl. That bitch reall trashed
my arm ya know!" Growler said, now looking squarly at Gene
"Spit it out ugly where is he" said Suzuka
"He is right here!" yelled Joey as he turned the Blowtourch all the way up
and sent a giant fireball at the trio.
Gene and Melfina quickly dived out of the way, but Suzuka had other ideas.
She jumped over the fire ball and quickly dived down on Joey with her boken. Joey
litterally never knew what hit him. The boken slammed into his skull. Not enough
force to kill him, just enough to give him a serious headache for the next year or
so.
The utter speed was enough to get Growler's attention. But when his best
freind fell to the ground like a sack of potatos he became flat out pissed. "Joey!
You bastards you'll pay for this" yelled Growler
"No you will unless you tell us what you did with Jim" said Gene
Growler then began to laugh. The laugh became louder and louder.
and then he said "Time I let you know why they call me growler" and he then
reared back his head and began to growl and then he roared. The roar was
so loud it droped Gene to his knees instantly as he grabbed his ears in pain.
Suzuka soon followed.
However, with out Growler's knowledge. Melfina was unharmed and hiding
close by. Being a bioandroid Melfina could regulate her sense. She could hear
as carefully as she liked or not at all. It was like turn down the volume.
Now Melfina was anything but violent, she would avoid fighting at all
costs. Under normal circumstances she would stay where she was and hope for
Gene's saftey. But today was anything but normal. Melfina searched through the
trash bin next to her and found a large steel pipe. It did not take her long
to figger out what should be done with it.
As Growler continued to roar he failed to noticed Melfina creeping up
behind him. The concrete walls were begining to shake behind Gene and Suzuka,
Melfina knew it was now or never. She then jumped in front of Growler and before
he had enoughttime to react Melfina jabbed the steel pipe into Growler's mouth,
nocking out a few teeth in the process.
Growler fell back the pipe still jammed in his face and finnaly shut
up. Gene was happy to hear silence but he knew he didn't have time to wait.
He quickly jumped to his feet and ran to Growler.
As Growler pulled the pipe out of his face he was met by a caster
gun pressed against his temple. Growler's face turned ghost white and he spit
out the teeth Melfinaand nocked out.
"Now you, your going to tell me where you took the kid or I am gonna
pull this trigger. Then we get to see just how messy your face can really look."
said Gene
"Allright, allright" Growler said in a panic "This guy named Kaza he
paid us to get him. We gave the kid to him a few hours ago. We took him to
wharehouse 13 down by the waterfront. I swear!"
"What did this Kaza guy want with Jim?" said Suzuka as she came to
Gene's side
"He just asked for a kid, he ussally pays us to bring him adults but
this time he wanted a kid. We don't ask what he does with em." said Growler
"If we don't get him back, I swear I will hunt you to the ends of the
universe" said Gene as he reared back his right and and slugged Growler in the
face obvioulsly breaking his nose.
"Why not fire the Caster gun?" said Suzuka
Gene then opened the barrel of the gun to show Suzuka it was not loaded.
"Jim carries the caster shells." said Gene in a somber voice.
The trio then walked out of the building now surrounded by spectators
drawn by Growler's yell. When they cleared the crowd they found Aisha waiting
for them.
"Aisha what are you doing here" said Melfina "your hurt!"
"Don't worry Mel, I'm a Ctarl Ctarl I heal real fast" said Aisha
"Are you sure" said Suzuka, obviously thinking she was not
"Of couruse Suzu, now have you found where Jim is?" said Aisha
"Yeah, he is at the waterfront, wharehouse number 13." said Gene
"Then lets go, if we don't get Jim back who will fix my gameboy!" said
Aisha with a smile
Gene nodded and began to march. He knew that Aisha was lieing. He
susspected the others knew it as well. Aisha felt guilty about losing Jim and
was hiding it with humor. It didn't matter if she was still hurting or not.
She was going to save Jim or die trying.
Chapter 3 is coming up.