OY VAY!! I got behind because I literally ran into a REALLY BIG writer's block, more like a writer's wall. But I blasted my way thorugh that and- Voila!- chapter 6 is here for your enjoyment. For those that have been waiting, I'm sorry.

Oh, and I do not own Trigun, only this fic and the characters that are created for it. Enjoy and please reveiw when your done. It makes me feel very happy when you do. Love and Peace!

"A"-speaking; a-thinking

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Chapter 6: Runaway

Meryl, Milly and Vash finished their breakfast and got ready to leave. Vash kept on wondering what made Devi act so weird all of a sudden. It was as though she knew that something, or someone, was coming and she didn't want to be here when it came.

They were all about to head out the door when a dark-haired man wearing a black outfit entered and half-shoved his way through the trio.

"Hey, why don't-" Meryl started to say, but stopped when Vash placed a hand on her shoulder. Meryl glared at Vash, but Vash just nodded in the direction of the door. With a sigh, Meryl reluctantly walked out the door, followed by Vash and Milly.

What they don't know about the man is that he is Captain Logan Exsony and that he is after Devi, but he knows her as "it" or "5201." Captain Exsony made his way to the bar. His hand slipped into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out the photo from the file he received from Dr. Locheski. The barkeep took notice of Exsony and poured him a glass of beer. Exsony placed the picture on the bar and slid it towards the barkeep. "Would you know anything on this person?"

The barkeep picked up the picture and studied it for a moment. "Yes, she actually stayed here for a bit. She's about to leave real soon. Why, is she a relative of yours?"

Exsony allowed a smile to creep across his face in a small victory. She is still here, which means, there is a chance that this small escapade of hers will be cut rather short. "No, she is actually the genetic experiment that escaped about two days ago."

Much to Captain Exsony's surprise, the barkeep knew what he was talking about. "Really? Isn't there a $$100 billion reward for her then?"

Captain Exsony nodded. "Can you tell me what room she's in?"

"As long as I get the reward."

Exsony narrowed his eyes. "You'll get half, and that is IF we cpature her."

"Fine, her room is the second door on the right. You can't miss it."

"Thank you." Captain Exsony took a gulp of his beer, stood at the bar and headed for the stairs, and towards what he thought was a victory.

*****

Devi finished neatly packing up. Placing her sunglasses on and swinging her pack on, she walked towards the door. She was about to reach for the doorknob when she caught the scent of that captain, much stronger than ever before. Stepping back, Devi trying to figure out a way to get away. She looked around and spotted the window.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Devi turned and walked towards the window. She was halfway to the window when there was a knock at the door. Devi stiffened and looked over her shoulder. Then she continued toward the window. As soon as she heard the door start to open, Devi took a few quick steps towards the window, opened it and jumped out the window.

The door opened and Logan Exsony entered the room. He quickly looked about and saw that 5201 wasn't in the room. But he did notice the window that was open. Exsony walked over to the window and leaned out it. Looking both ways, Exsony noticed 5201, now more of a black figure in the crowd, weaving through the crowd.

He pushed himself back into the room. Exsony dug into a hidden pocket that he put his clunky "walkie-talkie" into.

"Beta, Delta, target is on the move. I repeat, target is on the move. It's wearing a black trenchcoat and blue sunglasses," he quickly said as he headed for the door. Both groups responded as Exsony left the room and ran down the stairs. He dashed through the saloon, everyone watching him run out the door before going back to their business.

*****

Devi weaved in and out of the crowd. Some of the people she had to gently shove her way through making sure that she wouldn't shove them to the ground. What she did leave behind her in her path was a trail of disgruntled or pissed off people yelling at her to watch where she's going.

She didn't want to be on the run already, she pratically just got out. Devi turned into another street and skidded to a halt when she saw at least ten people, all wearing black and with guns at hand about to go in the direction that she just came from. Devi instantly knew that they were hostile and very quickly turned to continue down the street. She barely heard the order from on of the people behind her.

"Quick, shoot it!"

The group came into the street that Devi went back on. As soon as they thought Devi was in sight, she turned into an alley. Devi jumped and scaled the wall a bit before stopping just before the roof. No later did she stop moving those men appeared at the one end of the alley.

"Where'd it go," one of them asked, clearly confused.

"I don't know," answered another. "But it couldn't have gotten far though."

The group ran down to the other end of the alley and turned left.

Note to self, Devi thought as she climbed down the wall. Don't go left. Devi leapt off the wall and landed softly in the sand, listening for a moment for anyone else to come into the alley. She stood, dusted the front of her trenchcoat off and walked to the entrance of the alley that she used, taking her own advice. Devi turned right and - ran into someone.

Devi took a step back to keep her balance. The person she ran into was slightly shorter than she and had spikey blond hair. The person looked up as he said, "Excuse me..."

It was Vash, and his voiced trailed a bit before saying, "Devi, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

Devi straightened herself up a bit. "Well, I did say that we'd be meeting each other again."

Vash gave a small shrug. "That's true."

"We better be going," Meryl stated in an annoyed tone. Meryl proceeded to turn Vash around. Milly was waiting to be on the go again.

"But I thought we were going that way," Vash said as he pointed toward Devi.

Devi tensed up a bit, she could smell the person that was in the inn coming close. She tried her best to keep a calm face, but she could tell that worry and fear were in her eyes. Taking the opportunity of no one paying much attention to her, Devi ran towards a building and jumped high. She managed to get a grip of the edge of the rooftop and pushed herself away from the wall to do a flip onto the roof, hiding from anyone that may be coming for her.

"And if we're going again, I want to say 'Good-bye' to....," Vash started to say as he turned toward where Devi was standing. He blinked in pure confusion. "Devi. Where did she go?"

Meryl was still annoyed. "I don't know, but apparently she didn't want to say 'good-bye' to you."

Behind them, the man that shoved his way through them at the saloon appraoched them. "Excuse me, could you tell me where a person wearing all black and has a braid in her hair?"

Vash was still clearly confused. "I would considering that we were just talking to her, but I don't know where she disappeared off to."

The man nodded. "Oh, well. Thank you for nothing really. I should be going." With that said, he walked past the group and hurried down the street.

"Well," Meryl huffed. "That was rude of him."

*****

Devi sat on the rooftop, listening to the conversation until that man left. Then she silently stood and walked to the other side of the building. Jumping off the rooftop, Devi surprised a bunch of people, which they either yelped or jumped away from her. She stood and headed down the street in search for the body shop that she left her motorcycle at to be painted.

Approaching the shop, she shifted her pack onto her shoulder a bit more before knocking on the door. Devi waited a moment until the man that she saw yesterday opened the door and looked at her.

"May I help you?"

"I'm here for the motorcycle."

The man studied her a moment. "Oh, you're the one with the motorcyle.You changed a bit since yesterday. But it's ready for you."

He opened the door a bit more, allowing Devi to entering. She entered and instantly smelled a mixture of oil, gas, grease and paint. The scent wasn't that strong, but it was enough to give a slight buzz in the head.

She followed the man to where he put her motorcycle. This part of the shop had a more stronger scent of paint, a small headache started to develop due to the smell of the paint. Right in front of her, was her motorcycle, but not as she remembered it. It was pure black with a glossy finish. Devi was able to see her reflection in the covering.

"Good job. How much?"

"Hmmm....I'll have to check the records. If you'll follow me to my office, I'll be able to tell you."

Great, he forgets how much the job costs and she's in a hurry. The longer she stays here, the more of a chance whoever is after her, can catch her here, stuck paying something. She was starting to become slightly impatient.

In the man's office, the air was more cleaner than the rest of the shop, but the original smell still hung in the air like a spider web does, unnoticable, but eventually seen, or smelled in this case. Devi watched the man flip through a notebook on the desk, but then turned her attention to the surroundings of the office.

Besides what little pictures the man had, what really caught her eye was a big display case. In the case was a collection of knives, all of varying color, size and style. She particularly liked the one that was displayed on the top shelf. It was a black handled, foldable knife. The handle would split in two and fold up, covering the knife. She was still looking at the knife when the man walked up beside her.

"Like that knife? It's for sale if you want it."

That was weird, it was as though the man read her mind. Devi wasn't sure what to say at first. "Uhh...how much?"

"$$150, but for you, I'll take $$100."

Sounding like a good enough deal for her, Devi nodded. "Sure, I'll take that too. And how much for the paint job?"

"$$500."

Devi nodded, then proceeded to place her pack down to dig through her pack to find the money that she took. She made a mental note to self that she'd have to count it before going into the next town. Making sure that the man didn't see the money that she's carrying in her pack, Devi counted $$600 and gave the man the money. He thanked her before getting the knife for her.

Heading back into the main shop, the man handed her the key to her motorcycle.

"Say," Devi started as she palmed her key. "Do you have a back way?"

The man nodded. "Why sure."

"May I use it?"

"I don't see why not."

"Thank you."

Devi took her motorcyle and exited the shop through a back door, which opened to a different street. As she started the motorcycle, the man shouted. "You have a safe journey!"

She just nodded for her reply and checked to make sure everything was clear. Devi noticed that group of people that are wearing all black again, this time some of them were in vehicles. They were down the street a bit, but were in the direction that she wanted to go.

Guess, I'll just have to get pass them. Hopefully they don't notice me. Devi revved the engine of her motorcycle up and faced the group. After sending the man a small wave, she put pressure on the gas and headed down the street.

As she figured, the group looked up at her. One of the men recognized her and shouted something. In reply, the men rose their weapons and took aim. Devi put more gas to the engine and sped right by the group, dodging what shots they sent at her. After she passed them, she went down the street a bit before turning left.

Now to get out of here. Devi thought as she drove down the street, a semi-cocky smirk on her face.

*****

Captain Exsony called his people to meet in one area. His one group, Beta, was taking its time getting there. After waiting a few minutes for all groups to gather, Exsony grew impatient and asked even though Beta wasn't there, "Did anyone get it? Or even seen it?"

With a silent reply, the captain knew the answer all too well. The doctor was right, this one was a tricky character to capture. This thing seem to know what it's doing. His head turned in the direction of where he heard an engine being revved up.

Exsony couldn't seem to believe his luck. It was heading down the street towards them on a black motorcycle. That must be the motorcycle that it took. He faced the group of men with him, all where looking at it on the motorcycle.

"Ready your weapons. This is the thing that we're after!"

Quickly, the men complied to his orders. 5201, to him, closed in closer on the group. After shouting the order to shoot, the men shot at 5201, and missed. Some of them 5201 dodged at it sped the motorcycle right by them. Angry and frustrated, Exsony slammed a fist on a nearby vehicle, then climbed in.

"Follow it!" As soon as the vehicle started to move, he realized something. His last group never made it to him. He brought the clunky walkie-talkie to his mouth. "Beta, target has been located and is heading in your direction. Set up your sniper and be ready. We'll be there as soon as possible."

The captain shut the walkie-talkie before Beta could answer. He watched 5201 turn the motorcycle onto another street. That thing is not going to get very far. Not when my sniper has the tranquilizer gun.

*****

Devi drove the motorcycle turning left and right towards the edge of town and keeping her path of flight very unpredictable. At one point, she could have sworn that she saw even more people wearing black just before turning. She thought to herself as she made that turn, Are they multiplying or something?

Taking another right, Devi revved the engine of the motorcycle before speeding down the street. She was close to the edge of this town, there were more houses than anything else and it was less dense as the middle of the town. Making one last turn, Devi was able to see the edge of town.

She was halfway there when something whizzed by her ear and barely missed her hand. Gasping in surprise, Devi glanced back and noticed someone standing on one of the buildings. Once again, she put more gas into the engine of her vehicle and sped towards her goal. Devi felt something hit the seat of the motorcycle, but she wasn't about to look to see what it was.

Devi narrowed her eyes as she leaned towards the handlebars and blast out of the town. Breathing a sigh of relief, she continued her journey to wherever her motorcycle leads her.