Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with the original Trigun series *beats everyone with a stick* No!! Plushies are MINE!! *evil cackle . . . cough cough*
Chapter 11. (What, so soon?!) Control
"And I . . . am Knives."
The fear in Milly's eyes lit up instantly as he introduced himself. She knew who he was, unfortunately, and now she feared what was to come . . .
"Have you found her yet?"
"No, Vash . . . Milly is no where that we could find in the city. We looked through every pile of rubble, stone, and debris we could find! We did a body count as best we could and she wasn't among them either."
Vash was silent. He had been treating Meryl's wounds while Kate, Rath, and Joseph went to search for Milly.
"You guys rest then. Watch Meryl. I'm going out to have a look."
"I'll come with you-" started Kate.
"No, you won't," Vash interjected firmly. The missing Plant was still on his mind at the moment, and the fact that it didn't blow up was more possible than any other explanation that could be given or thought of puzzled Vash even further (A/N: believe it or not, that sentence did make sense). If the Plant had been blown up, the base and support and everything else in Fondreake would have gone with it. If it had been a natural occurance and it blew out, then it would have only cracked and stopped working . . . not disappear altogether.
Kate's POV
It kind of made me mad. After everything that had happened, Vash still thought of me as a nineteen-year-old girl, when really I was nearly one hundred years older. I was tough enough and mature enough to handle it. I was a grown woman! Well . . . sort of.
Though . . . maybe it was better that I did stay behind. I was still Vash's enemy, after all, even through what Knives did (which, by the way, I had already begun to form a large bruise above my eye). Technically, helping Meryl through recovery wasn't helping the enemy, not in the field I was working in anyway. I dealt with the Plants, not the genocide or humans; that was Joseph's and Knives's field of work.
Speaking of which, not even I knew what had happened to the Plant and it was my ordeal!
Though Milly's whimpering was small, it still echoed around the large, empty room with might, making it sound a lot louder than it really was. Milly was frightened. She knew it was only natural to be scared, but she'd eventually lose her head and bend to Knives's will. That's just what he did to every other person- including Plants- that happen to cross his path. Why wouldn't it happen to her as well?
"I can hear your thoughts," came a soft voice from somewhere in the depths of the shadow-cast room. Milly looked forward. "Nothing will happen to you yet, worry not. You'll die with the others, not individually. Although I wouldn't mind hearing you scream in pain and agony right now . . . a mass of humans is more fun and I need you for Vash."
Milly was silent.
"Frightened? Figured as much. It's only natural, you know." He laughed, loud and long, more hollow than in amusement . . .
"You jerk!" Milly said. "What did the humans ever do to you!" Knives stopped and approached the woman slowly, until he was standing right in front of her. Of course, she didn't know until he stopped beside her, whispering in her ear,
"You will never know."
"Meryl? Joseph, I think she's waking!" There was a small crash, a curse, then a thump as someone heavy dropped down beside her.
"Meryl? You awake?" Meryl couldn't talk. The feared that she would fall apart (literally) if she tried to speak or move anything other than her eyes and fingertips. She had been so comfortable . . . it was pleasant to her, that light was. It was warm, yet not hot, and the state of numbness it sent her in to was every so delightful . . .
But why was she in excruciating pain now? She gave a small groan, her eyes looking to her left and seeing Kate and Joseph kneeling there beside her.
"Meryl, are you okay?" Kate said in barely above a whisper. Kate expected Meryl to hate her. Kate knew that Vash had told her about Kate, so she just knew Meryl had to be angry with her for lying. But either Meryl wasn't angry or she could bring up the energy to look like it, because she sure as hell didn't.
Meryl attempted to speak, but failed, resulting in a loud groan of pain. There was only one way Kate could communicate with Meryl at this point, and that was to sift through her mind. She swept it carelessly, finding the question she wanted to get out.
"Vash went to look for Milly. She's missing." Meryl looked back up at the ceiling and closed her eyes.
Without so much as a clue, Vash still knew where Milly was . . . and who she was abducted by. The only problem was getting there . . .
Vash knew perfectly well that where Knives was staying was basically on the other side of the planet from the remains of Fondreake, and by foot that was an incredibly long time. He knew that the only reason Rath and Kate had gotten there and back so quick was the use of Rath's wings. Unfortunately, Vash didn't share those traits with his siblings . . . or at least as far as he knew.
Kate's POV
He knew I was going to follow him. He had to have known. As soon as Meryl went back to sleep and through my unwashed cloak around myself and headed out into the light wind. Calm before the storm, I'd say.
I knew Vash wasn't that far away. He couldn't have gone far. Still, his rather large footprints were leaving me a clear trail in the sand. I followed them straight out of town and toward the famous cliffs just out of Fondreake. Of my many, many years of living on Gunsmoke, I knew from genuine experience that those cliffs were perfect hiding spots for bandits to bounce upon the occasional unsuspecting traveler and rob them for all they're worth. I didn't think that after the town practically blew up I would see any bandits around there, much less Alexander.
Alexander was a plain guy, really. Tall, lanky, but still a little handsome. He looked like a biker, clad in a black leather jacket, T-shirt underneath, and black pants with boots. He was usually showing off his all-famous smile with a cigarette in the corner of his mouth. His black eyes glittered with joy a lot of the time I saw him, usually signifying he had recently killed. This was a look that would make any girl swoon. Well, not me. He was human after all.
He approached Vash, several feet in front of me, and pointed his gun at him, rather lamely, as though it were a chore.
"Oh, it's you," he said with a loud yawn, taking the cigarette from his lips. "Back again for more?" They had obviously met before.
"Down, boy," I said, coming up to stand just beside Vash. My tone sound just as dull and bored as Alexander's had. Vash looked at me before saying,
"I told you to stay with Meryl." He didn't seem surprised.
"Joseph's with her. Hey, wait! I'm not on your side anyway!" Alexander laughed at the both of us but his next statement was directed at me.
"The way you were described to me I would have thought you an angel, Kate, so where are your wings?" I glared at him. Even though we had only met once before I knew he knew the story behind me and my wings . . . poor things they were, too. Probably take a whole 'nother century to grow 'em back!
"Ha ha," I laughed sarcastically. It was then that I remembered I had never shed any light on the story behind my poor tools for transportation with Vash. Well, I wasn't now. It was rather embarrassing, and I don't think I could stand reciting the story in front of this imperfect, mischievous mortal, who was very clearly laughing me in the face about it anyway. "What are you doing around here anyway?" I questioned after a moment.
"Keeping guard. Not s'posed to let anyone outa the city, including you guys, now get on back-"
"I'm looking for Knives," came Vash's very firm defense. "He has something very important to me-"
"-the both of us-" interjected Kate.
"-and I want her back."
"That silly little woman?" Alexander doubled over with loud laughter, taking the cigarette from his lips again for safety hazards. "Jesus Christ, Vash! How low are you?! No wonder your own brothers and sisters wanted to kill you, you've gone soft!" He then pulled out his gun. "Now, get back there before I have to shoot you-"
Kate pulled Vash's own gun from its holster at his side and pointed it back at Alexander. "I can guarantee this'll hurt you a lot more than that'll hurt us," she snapped. Instead of shrinking back in fear like the coward he was, which was intended, he gave another amused laugh, high pitched and irritating and stepped back two steps.
"Go, go on!" he said between gasps of air. "Go for it. I'm not stoppin' you." Kate and Vash past him by slowly, watching his cautiously until they were pretty far away.
"Uh . . . here's your gun," said Kate, handing it back to him. She seemed a little fazed by his sudden outburst. "I just . . . don't get it!" she said after a minute. He's an idiot! I mean . . ." She gave up and didn't speak another word until Vash thrust his hand out to stop her. She looked up at him, tearing her eyes away from the ground. "What?"
"That's why he didn't care if we went down here. I'm guessing it's also why he was standing post there . . ."
"Why?"
"Geysers. Steaming hot . . . Knives might need more hostages so he didn't want them coming out here and getting killed, but Alexander couldn't care less about us. He might've thought we'd turn around and come right back."
"But we're not," Kate said firmly, as though to finalize the decision, or actually an order to Vash.
"No, we're not. We've got to find Milly . . ." Kate nodded and they both continued their trek.
Inepril was a rather small city, but perfect for their next stage in plans.
"Are you gonna do this or not?" Rath said, holding the large, black gun out to Joseph. Joseph hesitated, looking down at the gun in Rath's hands, and took it. Joseph really didn't want to do this, but he knew . . . that he had to. In a split second his wings burst from his shoulder blades and he was in the air. Rath was flying away from the town, prepared for the blow.
Joseph's 'angel arm' at the ready, he took aim at the Plant, waiting for a few seconds, holding his breath . . . and fired.