Vash woke up to the sound of Ace and Mark talking. He looked at the clock by his bed and saw it was twelve after eight. He got up, stretched and walked into the where Ace and Mark were. Vash looked in and saw Ace, Mark, and Sam going over a map of some kind.

"This plan should be easy to carry out." Ace said.

"When should we ask your friends if they want to take part?" Mark asked.

"Take part in what?" Vash said out loud.

Ace, Mark, and Sam looked up and saw Vash.

"I see that you're awake." Ace said, "We thought of a plan to hold off Miller from trying to track us down, and maybe take out some of his men."

Meryl suddenly appeared from behind Vash.

"What do you mean by Ôus'?" she asked.

"Well, since you four helped me out at Crystal Vista, Miller will try to get you too." Ace replied, "To him, any friend of mine is an enemy of him."

"So, what do you plan to do?" Vash asked.

"Let's wait for Milly and Kate to get up so they can hear the plan." Mark said.

"No need for that, we're already up." Milly said as she and Kate came out.

"All right then, let's get to business." Ace said.

Over breakfast, Ace explained that Miller had a compound about thirty iles away from New Wichita, and that the plan was to take a shortcut to the compound, and destroy the weapons depot. Ace said that Vash, Meryl, Milly, and Kate didn't have to take part, but after thinking it over, they all agreed to take part since they felt they owed Ace for helping them earlier. The plan was simple: Mark, Meryl, Milly, and Kate would cause a distraction by getting some of Miller's men to follow them away from the compound. Then, Ace and Vash would sneak in through a small gate and plant timed explosives inside the weapons depot. Once they were set, and the building was destroyed, Ace and Vash would escape and meet back with everyone else. If anyone was to put in serious danger, it would be Ace and Vash only. Ace said it was a good chance that Miller would have other men helping him.

They headed out at five o'clock in the afternoon. They decided to use their thomases since they wanted to approach quietly. At around quarter until seven, they reached the target. The broke into two groups, Vash and Ace went to the south wall, and Mark, Meryl, Milly and Kate took the east wall. Mark pulled out his Walther P38 pistol and two grenades. He chucked them over the side and they exploded next to a fuel tank. Mark, Meryl, Milly, and Kate made their getaway as alarms began to sound, people were yelling in confusion, and flames reached ten feet high what remained of the tank. Miller, Sphinx, and Ivan ran out to see what had happened.

"Sir, we've spotted four people running away from the compound, heading north." one of the men said, "They seem to be using thomases.'

"All right." Miller said, "Sphinx, take six men with you and hunt them down."

"Yes, sir." Sphinx said and she and six other men mounted their own thomases and took off after Mark and the others.

Ace headed Vash the six explosives.

Okay, we need to put two on each level." Ace said, "There is a ground level, an upper, level, and a lower level. You set the timers for fifty seconds, and I'll place them."

"Got it." Vash said and he set the timers as Ace looked for places to put them.

Ace and Vash each took two and Vash went to the lower level as Ace placed his on the ground level. After they planted the explosives for the upper level, they went to the door and Ace pulled out a detonator.

"Okay, in fifty seconds, this place will go up in flames." he said and pressed the button.

"Wait, fifty seconds?!" Vash said startled, "I thought you said fifteen!"

"What?!" Ace yelled, "Run for your life!'

Vash and Ace ran like two bats out of hell. The explosives went off and the building was enveloped in a giant fireball.

"OHHHHHH SHIIIIIIITTT !!!!" Vash and Ace yelled at the same time as the force of the blast threw them in the air.

The explosion rocked the entire compound.

"What the hell is going on?!" Miller shouted.

"The weapons depot has been blown up! Fire is spreading to the surrounding areas!" one of Miller's men said.

"Ivan, go get Sphinx and tell her to get back here." Miller said.

"Yes, sir." Ivan said and he left.

"There's only one person who would pull a stunt like this." Miller thought to himself, "It's got to be Ace."

Elsewhere, Meryl, Milly, Kate, and Mark got to the meeting place where they would wait for Vash and Ace. They were unaware how close Sphinx and the other men were. They were spotted and Sphinx was the first to open fire. Mark jumped out and fired a barrage that managed to take out one of the men. Kate pulled out her shotgun and fired at Sphinx, who tried to dodge, but was lightly hit in her left upper arm. Meryl began to fire all her pistol rapidly and managed to disarm two more of the men. Milly used her stun gun and two more men were put out of commission. Mark saw the last guy had snuck around and was aiming for Milly.

"Milly, look out!" Mark yelled, but he knew Milly won't have time to get out of the way.

He leaped forward as Milly turned around and saw the gunman. Mark shoved her out of the way right before the shots was fired. Two of the bullets struck Mark in the left shoulder and his right leg, but he shook off the pain and shot the gunman dead, he then collapsed.

"Oh, my god!" Milly shouted, "Mr. Rose, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I should be fine." Mark said, shaking from the pain, "They're just flesh wounds."

Milly quickly applied tourniquets to Mark's wounds and managed to stop the bleeding. A short ways away, Sphinx, after tending her own wound, prepared to go in and take them out herself. Just then, Ivan showed.

"Sphinx, Miller says for you and your group to haul ass back to the compound." he said.

"Why? We nearly have them." Sphinx said.

"There's a fire in the compound. If we don't contain it, the whole place will be ablaze." Ivan told her.

"All right, I only have two men still alive, anyway, but they're out cold." Sphinx said, "We'll be back for them later."

"What about the dead?" Ivan asked.

"Screw them. Just leave them for the scavengers." Sphinx said coldly, and she and Ivan left.

Vash and Ace got away without being seen and met up with the others. Mark was in serious condition and there was no way he could be taken all the back to New Wichita without making his condition worse. But Ace wasn't out of ideas yet. He told everyone there was an old oasis not too far from where they were and they could hide there for a couple of days. Ace took out a map, and a short while later, he got everyone to the oasis.

"Good old Jack, you've never failed me." Ace said as they went in.

The oasis covered about ten square miles and was fairly wooded and had a lake almost three iles long and two iles wide. After they found a good hiding spot, Mark was patched up and he fell asleep fast, as did everyone else. In the morning, Vash and Ace woke up to the smell of cooking. They got up and saw Meryl making breakfast while Milly watched over Mark. Ace looked around and didn't see Kate around.

"Where's Kate?" he asked.

"Oh, she went to take a bath in the lake." Meryl said.

"Oh, no." Ace said and he took off running.

"What was that about?" Milly asked.

"I don't know, but I'd better go find out." Vash said and he went after Ace.

Ace ran with all of his might towards the lake. He made it to the clearing and didn't see Kate. Suddenly, she emerged from the water, saw Ace, screamed, and covered herself with a towel.

"Hey, you don't sneak on a woman when she's bathing, you jerk!" she yelled.

Ace pulled out his gun and aimed at something. Vash came up from behind and stopped.

"What are you doing, Ace?!" he said, "Are you crazy?!"

Ace fired a single shot, everything was still. Kate stood motionless and heard something splash behind her. She turned around and saw a large dead animal. (Author's Note: Think of it as a cross between a gator and an otter.) She then quickly ran up next to Ace and held onto him like a frightened child. Ace hugged her and comforted her.

"You...just saved my life." she said.

"It's no biggie." he replied.

"Damn, you had me going for a second, Ace." Vash said relieved, "What is that thing?"

"It's called a Maw." Ace said, "They live in lakes like this one and usually eat fish, but they will attack other creatures, like humans. Come on, let's leave before another one shows up."

Kate got dressed and they headed back to camp. Later, Mark woke up and felt stiffness in his shoulder and his leg. He tried to reach for a canteen, but Milly stopped him.

"Don't try to move yet." she said, "You might hurt yourself more."

"Thanks." Mark said as Milly gave him the canteen, "Were you hurt?"

"No, you got me out of the way in time, Mr. Rose." Milly told him.

"That's good, and you can call me Mark" Mark said, "Milly?"

"Yes?" Milly said.

"To speak the truth, that was the first time I had never cared about almost getting myself killed." Mare replied, "Usually, I try to avoid situations like that, but at that moment, I could only think about your safety."

"That's very kind." Milly said.

"And one more thing, when I first saw you, something in my mind clicked." Mark said, "I have to ask you, do you believe in love at first sight?"

Milly was speechless.

"Well, I..." she started to say, but she was cut off when Mark reached up and kissed her.

An instant later, he leaned and and started to apologize, but Milly said it was okay and they kissed again. All the while Meryl and Vash witnessed the whole thing.

"It looks like those two have a thing for each other now." Meryl said, "Last night , Milly told me that she kept thinking of Mark and hoping he would be all right after he saved her."

"It's pretty soon, but I really think they are right for each other." Vash said.

An hour later, Ace came up and told everyone to gather around.

"I thought about it, and I think now is the best time to tell you all my life story." he said.

"Really, you're finally ready to tell your story?" Kate asked, sounding excited.

"Yes, all I ask is that no one interrupt me." Ace replied, "It's best to start at the beginning."

TO BE CONTINUED....