It was near late in the afternoon, in the town of Rondale, a small town,
where many lived in wooden houses, each side by side, the town was the
average one, not any different from the others. Like every town though,
there was a saloon where travelers usually would go for booze or just for
relaxation. The bar though this time wasn't too quiet. A gang known to be
the Bloody Knives was having a small party, but one of the people with
them, a female human, glanced down to the ground with narrow and sad eyes,
as the other men hooted and hollered, drinking their beer from their mugs,
their faces moving closer to her's, she looked away, hating the smell of
the stench of their alcohol beverages.
Each of the members were dressed in a white tank top, and with blue jeans down to the ankles, white loafers on their feet, and a red bandana tied around their forehead. The leader was a blond haired man, who had a scar carved around his cheek, and ever so dark green eyes, he glanced down at the girl, smiling ever so pleasingly at her.
"What's the problem babe, you should be happy your with us, the Bloody Knives.your with one of the best gangs ever to even set foot in this town." He said, smiling, reaching over with his filthy hands, feeling her strands of long light green hair.
The girl said nothing, only kept her eyes shut tightly. She groans as the man leaned closer, breathing against her face, his breath ever a stench with the crude smell of beer, she quivered as her nostrils caught the stench of it. She only groaned, opening her eyes, as she stared over to the woren sitting in the chair across, his back facing her.
He was dressed very casually, his leather brown vest that hung around his upper body, his baggy ruby slacks that extended down to his ankles, his feet clothed in the leather brown boots that almost everyone seemed to wear. His arms already had muscle on them, proving he wasn't any pushover when it came to fighting hand to hand. His yellow hair was long, coming down to his shoulder blades, and tied into a small ponytail around the starting point of his head; the rest of his hair though was out and fluffed up.
"Who the hell are you looking at!!" One of the thugs demanded angrily, as he looked over seeing that woren, clenching his fists tightly, as he walked demandingly over to where the woren was sitting.
Slowly the woren turned, glancing at him with a poker face smirk on his face, his glasses shielding his eyes, his hand picking up the glass mug filled with alcohol, he sipped it ever so down slowly, sighing deeply in relief as he puckered his lips together, the taste ever so delicious to his sour tongue.
"Hey, Woren, are you looking at my girl!?" He demanded, grabbing the woren around the vest, pulling him closer, looking him dead in the eyes, panting in anger.
"Watch the vest, drunkard!!" The woren responded, shoving the flunky a few feet back, as he fell to the ground with a loud thud, that most of the bar went silent.
"You must be an idiot, do you know who the hell we are!" One of the men spat, as the leader growled loudly.
"A bunch of drunken bastards from what I can see." The woren rudely commented, sitting back down as he called over the tender, motioning for another drink.
"Grr, you son of a bitch, boy, get him!!" The leader yelled, as four men charged forth, brandishing their shining metal knuckles, two moved from both sides towards the woren.
The one to the right was first to make his move, dashing forth; he brought his right arm back, and swung forth. At point blank, a hand snatched the thug's wrist, grasping it tightly, as he squeezed it ever so tightly. The thug gasped, eyes widened as he panted, slowly the woren glanced over towards him, as he brought his fist back, swinging forward and smashing the bastard in the face, sending him several feet back.
The one charging from the left though moved slower, wrapping his arms around the woren's neck, squeezing tightly cut his air supply off. The woren reached back, grasping the thug by the shoulders, and grasped ever so tightly, the man slowly let go, his jaw dropping, gasping and panting with his eyes widened.
"Don't you know it is a bad idea to even try to sneak up on a woren." The woren spat, as he delivered a swift punch to the face of the thug with his right fist, forcing the thug over the counter and onto the other side of the bar, as he fell to the ground behind the counter.
Slowly he took his seat once more, sipping his beer like always from his mug, taking a deep breath, and a sigh. Two more men charged in, one to the right, the other from behind the woren. Instantly the woren planted his left elbow deep into the charging from the right thug's gut, forcing the air from his lungs, the thug gasped deeply, falling to his knees, his eyes wide open, one hand on his throat, the other on his pain throbbing chest.
The one charging from behind was met with an unwelcoming kick to his bottom jaw, the kick sending him flying diagonally to the right. The thug landed back first onto a wooden table, upon impact splitting the legs and the middle of the table into two pieces, the thug groaned, as he breathed carefully. The woren looked dead on, to the man who barked out the orders.
The leader looked on with an ever so red and steaming mad face, his fist clenched tightly together, shaking in anger.
"You just don't get it, you should have let them wup your ass, then you would have had a chance to live. Guess your other half follows with the old saying, 'curiosity kills the cat', your proof of it!!" He triumphantly remarked, pulling out his Colt Python, a ruby red metal colored type.
A smile curved on his face, as a few other men pulled out their firearms, with guns aiming the nose of the weapons towards the woren. Most of them had Uzi's, few of them held two in their hands, the others held mp5's, all polished with a ruby red plating of metal. The woren remained emotionless, the coffin that was next to him remained in place, its metal plating already shined, a few scraps still visible by light.
"DIE!!" He screamed, as each of the men opened fire on where the woren stood.
The woren though jumped to the side, grasping the coffin, as he shielded himself from the array of bullets that rained upon his position. The men fired, until each ran out of shots, the coffin still stood, as the gang of punks remained silent, watching with ever so waiting eyes, they gasped, seeing the coffin was unchanged by the amount of bullets.
The coffin fell forward, a loud thud followed as it smacked into the ground. A loud clatter of shots rapidly being fired was all that could be heard, each bullet tearing through each of the gang members bodies, they dropped to the ground, already dead from the deadly shots from the twin guns the woren held within his hands.
Not one of the men could make a shot, in a split second, they were dead, not one of them stood, each laid dead on the floor, bleeding tremendous amounts of blood, the girl though still remained, as the woren glanced to her, halting his shots, smoke emerging from the barrels. She looked up, eyes filled with fear.
"Fools, all talk, but in the end, you're all just a bunch of dumb fools on the ground dead!" he muttered, as he dropped his guns to the ground, slowly walking over to the girl, a smile erecting on his face.
"You have no need to worry little lady, your knight in shining armor is here." He said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "How bout you give him a kiss, mouth to mouth for saving you from these horrible beasts."
He slowly leaned in closer, perking his lips together, only to receive a hard blow to the one fatal area of any male. She stood frantically up, dusting her green dress off, as she turned walking off.
"Keep your filthy hands off me creep." She spat walking out of the bar, as the woren remained on the ground, gasping for air.
"Damn, I save her and this is the respect I get, jeez, girls are such hard asses." He whined, holding his balls as they throbbed in blinding pain.
***
A loud smash was heard inside small rackety run down house, broken glass, and rotten wood already broken apart and laying all over the ground. A young purple haired boy crawled backwards, his eyes filled in tears, and his jaw wide open.
"Stupid kid...you are weak, hopeless, and stupid." The ugly beard man yelled, belching in the boys face. The man already was dressed with a torn white short sleeved shirt, and blue pants.
His eyes already bloodshot, below swelled up in pain, short hairs coming out of his chin; it was obvious he was nothing more but a poor homeless drinker. He punched the kid dead in the face sending the boy on the ground, he repeated his assault.
"Nothing, but a stupid kid!" He mentioned, breathing hard, as he belched in the now bleeding boys face.
"Draco.what happened to your face?" Ryu asked, Draco looked to the ground, with his two beaten black eyes, and tattered face.
"I...I...I feel on the stairs." He lied, looking to the ground.
"Again, man, you really are clumsy, I mean first you tripped onto the ground, then you smash-"
"I know...guess I am to clumsy." Draco responded embarrassed.
"Yeah, but damn, you must have really bad falls."
Though the pain never stopped, few times did his father stop drinking, never did Draco enjoy a good time with his father, all he experienced was pain, abuse, he only had Ryu as a friend, he always was with him, and tried to sleep over when possible. While he wanted to tell Ryu's parents about the abuse, about the horror he was going through, he only was beaten, and left to rest until he healed. Then he was beaten once more, the pain never did leave him, every week he was hell.
Eventually, came the night that would change all. It was on that night, that Draco had come home a tad bit to late, but as usual, his father was drunk, and he didn't plan to even hold back on his fierce assault. The drunken man smacked Draco across the face ever so vigorously, then giving a heavy blow to the boys own gut.
"You're late!" The drunken man yelled, as he belched in his face wildly. "When I said by sundown, I mean exactly before sundown, no excuses!"
Draco spat out the blood spilling into his mouth, slowly he stood to his feet, panting deeply, as he pulled out his gun, pointing it towards his drunken father.
"What you got there? A gun, are you planning to kill me, do you even have the guts, much less balls to kill your old man!" Draco's father yelled, Draco standing with ever so tear filled eyes, shivering with fear, his gun still aimed to his father.
"Go ahead, I dare yah, pull it, or are you nothing more but a weak yellow bellied coward!" At that last comment, Draco pulled the trigger, firing away; the first five shots striking around his chest, before giving the final shot to the head of his father, the man fell to the ground face first.
Draco looked on in tears, still holding the gun. Laughter filled the entire room, as a dark indigo light surrounded his father, who started bulging with muscles. Slowly, the corpse rose, the muscles bulging like a heart beating ever so faster, his blood veins already pulsing, as his eyes glowed in a bright orange glow. The now mutated corpse, once his father was now a monster, it glared ever so evil eyed towards the young Draco, as it roared with an ever so deep, and chilling cry of that only a demon could equal.
Finally, it mutated, its muscles bulging, claws spawned from its hands, it leaped forward, and slashed at the boy, Draco screaming ever so loudly.
He opened his eyes, panting, as beads of sweat dripped down his face. Whipping the sweat from his face, he glanced down, seeing Lecha looking up, as she touched his cheek.
"Bad dream again?" She asked softly.
"A past event, but it had an alternate ending; my father became a demon this time." He said calmly, closing his eyes.
"Hmm, well, get some more rest, I will report to headquarters first thing in the morning, kay?" She asked ever so sweetly.
"Yeah..." He mentioned slowly falling asleep.
***
The woren walked around the middle area of the town, the coffin once more over his shoulders, he gazed around, smiling as he looked to the children, playing Peacemakers and Outlaws. He stopped, watching them shoot at one another with rubber bullets, yelling playfully to one another as they did, running behind one of the barrels in town.
His attention though soon fell to another, as he heard the pout of a female. Glancing over to a shop, he lifting up her sunglasses, as his dark brown eyes caught what looked to be a girl in a pink kimono and a male in a long blue jacket, looking to one another.
"Well, what do we have here?" He spoke silently to himself, watching them from the distance.
"I think it is better that I go in alone, those wings have not brought us any good luck recently, and besides, you can defend yourself, so don't try and play innocent with me!" Ryu strongly replied, as he started inside.
"But Ryu..." Nina could only sigh, Ryu was long gone before she could even try and reason with him.
She glanced out at the town, a frown sprawled onto her face, she glanced around the town, leaning onto the railing, looking out at the ever so peaceful town. She smiled, perhaps with all the chaos she had witness before was indeed reckless. Innocent people were at high risk when Draco and Ryu fought within the Scias, many could have died just by being in their line of fire.
Her thoughts though would soon be drowned out, when she was interrupted by a hand touching her rear end, and feeling it with their fingers, squeezing it softly. Blushing softly, she glanced to the side, spotting the tall and very muscular woren, who looked down at her.
"You know, you shouldn't let him push you around, he isn't your boss, he is just a punk that treats you like a dog." The woren said, slowly massaging her butt cheeks.
"Wha!? Ryu doesn't..." She was cut of, as the woren squeezed her buttocks a bit more firmly, forcing her to blush a deeper red.
"The name is Wes; you wanna ditch that bastard and have a real good time?" Wes asked, with a smirk on his face.
"I um, I....." Nina stuttered, shivering with fear, she couldn't even make a move, she felt scared, vulnerable, paralyzed with perhaps fear, or embarrassment.
She felt very weak, she wished she could say something, but yet, the feeling, while harassing was in another way quiet pleasuring. She already couldn't speak, she had to hold back the feeling, and try and stand up. Though Wes's big muscles were something even she didn't want to have to put up with. The woren though, froze in place; a loud click seemed to freeze the scoundrel in place.
"I may not know the culture of a woren, but I do know that what you are doing right now is not the way you even treat a lady." Ryu remarked, holding the gun to Wes's back head, his lips remained emotionless.
"She doesn't seem to have a problem with it, so beat it, I doubt she want to hang with a guy that just bosses her around." Wes spat, as he swiftly ducked turning around, and rushed Ryu, slamming him hard into the wall.
Ryu groaned loudly, his gun was dropped right at the spot he stood where Wes was. Slowly he stood to his feet, Wes grabbing him by the throat, grasping him tightly, Ryu moved his hands to the where the woren was grasping. Try as he might, Ryu wasn't at his best; his eyelids grew heavy, as he slowly began to fall asleep from not getting some fresh air into his lungs.
"Why don't you go take a nap, that cranky attitude of yours really could use it." He remarked.
Slowly Ryu's arms began to stop struggling, falling to his side. The woren sighed, throwing the sleeping peacemaker to the ground, turning around. A large multicolored ball hit him in the gut, and forced him off his feet, as he was sent several feet back. He landed back first, before he started bouncing roughly and painfully along the ground.
Nina sighed, shaking her head, she really didn't like using her magic against people like that, especially someone like the woren, but she had no choice, he was perhaps nothing more then a low life pervert. She ran to Ryu, sitting on her knees, she reached over to his neck, feeling at him for his pulse, finding a normal beat.
"He won't be waking for a while babe, I put him in a sleeper hold, and he wont be waking up for a long while." Wes said, slowly getting to his feet, as he walk slowly over, picking up a coffin that was leaning against the wall, and throwing it over his back.
"Just what do you plan to do, take me for your own?" Nina yelled, glancing bitterly towards him, raising her fist, tears slowly forming in her eyes.
"Listen here, I don't plan to make trouble, one the count of what happened to the bar, so I will just be on my way." He said, throwing the coffin over his shoulders, he turned away from them, and walked off, not once turning to look back.
She turned back, looking to the ever so unconscious Ryu, she moved closer, touching his handsome face. Whenever someone was knocked out like Ryu had, it took a while for their body to recover, and regain consciousness, but when it came to what Nina had to face, it was an emergency that Ryu was up and alert.
Slowly, she started chanting a spell that would perhaps sooth his stressed out lungs and help him wake up. Her eyes closed, her hands clasped together, she gathered the magic element power she needed to cast the spell. A green light glowed from Ryu's body, slowly it stayed for a short while, before it died down, leaving him still asleep once more.
Nina grasped his shoulder, shaking him gently, as she cried out his name.
"Ryu...Ryu, wake up." She cried out softly, as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking for a second, before he opened them widely.
"Nina?" He softly replied, as she stopped, a smile curved onto her lips, as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.
"It is good to see you awake." She said calmly, snuggling against him.
"What do you...wait, where is here, where is that woren!?" Ryu demanded, standing to his feet.
"Let him go Ryu, he knows when to back off, so just let him go." Nina pleaded, her eyes begging Ryu to not go after him.
"And let him come back and harass you like that again?" Ryu mentioned, as he crossed his arms together.
"He won't, Wes told me he wasn't planning to start trouble with us, give him a break already." Nina said pleadingly as before.
Taking a deep sigh, Ryu looked to her begging eyes once more, shaking his head, he was pissed off at what the woren had done to Nina, but perhaps he was overreacting.
"Okay, okay, I will let him go, as long as he doesn't try anything funny." Ryu finished, standing to his feet.
He walked back in, finishing his shopping that he had been forced to put on hold when the woren showed up. He bought a few extra short sleeved cloths, food for the road, and of course, a few more bullet rounds for the pack that would eventually come for Nina. Paying the shop clerk, he walked out of the shop, taking a deep breath, glancing around the small, ever so pleasant little town. Walking back outside, he looked to Nina, who smiled cheerfully, ever so glad to see him.
"Now then, shall we find an inn to stay at?" he asked, getting a silent nod from the Fae.
He said nothing more; he started off, walking around the middle of the street, Nina following closely behind him, the two looking at each of the buildings, searching for the more average and affordable inn. It took around a half an hour for them to look around before finding the perfect one. It was called the 'Dream Hall Inn', with an unbeatable price, Ryu jumped immediately at the opportunity, as he paid the female desk clerk for a one night stay.
"Room thirty-two, third floor, please enjoy you stay." She cheerfully said, as Ryu turned, walking to the available elevator nearby, pressing the up button, the twin doors slid open, both he and Nina stepped in, Nina this time pressing the button marked three, the doors slowly closed, as the elevator began to ascend up to the next floor.
"You sure it is a good idea to leave you bike in that one place?" Nina asked with concern.
"Worry not, the bike is hard enough to even hot wire, plus it is parked in a more secured spot, I doubt anyone would even try to steal it." He replied confidently, to keep Nina from worrying.
A ding rung about, as the elevator doors opened, Ryu and Nina both walked out, looking around at the yellow painted wall, and looking for their room number.
"Guess our paths were purposely meant to cross." Spoke a voice that made Ryu clench his fists together, as he looked around, there a few doors to the left of where they stood was the woren, arms crossed, and his lips emotionless as he gazed towards them.
"Grr, you again, don't tell me-"
"Look, I don't plan to even make a move on your girl, but there is something I want to ask you." Wes replied as he took a few steps towards them.
Ryu sighed irritated, shaking his head, the woren stopped before them, uncrossing his arms, as he held a hand out.
"I should properly introduce myself, the name is Wes, and sorry for...well, you know Fae." He said, scratching his head in nervousness.
"You really need to learn to keep you hands to yourself you know, but at least you know when to back off. My name is Nina, pleased to meet you." Nina replied, stretching her arms out, softly elbowing Ryu in the back.
"Ow, hey...Oh, I am Ryu, a top ranking peacemaker in the...well, I am sure you know what group." Ryu responded, his tone emotionless.
"Peace Ranger Corps, your red trench coat says it all." He said pointing to the name tag and kill list. "But, onto business, I am sure by now that you have encountered several gunfights, correct?"
"Why would it matter to you, Wes?"
"The Black Market, not only an illegal underground market, but also it is a syndicate that is highly feared by many, anyone who crosses them is a walking dead man. I don't know how my orphanage was involved or why, but for eleven months, I have been searching for the bastards." He said, his head glancing to the ground, his tone bitter as he neared the end of his sermon.
"Orphanage, what happened to it?" Nina asked curiously.
"I came back to see how things were, to me, St. Helens Orphanage is the only place I can even call home, in the town of Clover. Well, when I went there for a visit, I found the place set on fire, but the real sorrow was what lay in front. The children and their caretaker, Elena Rosedale were there in front, all bleeding from bullet wounds all over their bodies, I couldn't even believe what I saw. After that, I asked around, many refused to answer, much less even speak of who the hell was responsible, but of course, one weak bastard talked when I threatened to rip his head off." Wes answered sadly, looking to Nina with ever so serious eyes.
"And was it the black market?" Ryu asked demandingly.
"Cool your jets already Ryu, he did say it, but he also told me of what they truly where, the syndicate, and that they were responsible for destroying not only the orphanage, but many other area's. So as usual, I decided to end their reign of terror, by making a deal with a big time dealer in heavy firearms, well, I was off, and searching for those bastards, so now...I still haven't had luck in finding." Wes finished, shooting a smile.
"So what gave you the idea that they are after Nina? Unless you have ties to them, well, do you!?" Ryu demanded, grabbing his vest, only to be shoved back, and down to the ground.
"Watch the vest punk! I heard a merchant spouting a lot of gibberish about how a damn Fae is attracting trouble, and from what he summed up as the attackers; it is the same men who are part of the black market. What I would like to offer is a short term alliance, I mean, c'mon, you may be able to handle a gang of those men, but in time, you're a dead man, and the Fae, well, I think where I am going with this." He said calming down.
"So a short term alliance sounds a bit, oh, not to promising." Ryu replied with caution.
"I want head boss, nothing more, if we take him down, then the bounty he has on Nina is off, and I doubt he wants to give it to any other people, understand?" Wes pointed out, taking a step closer to Ryu.
"Well, since you put it that way, I guess I could use some help, but if I can define how you act, you need to learn to keep your focus on the current situation, and not on the girls in the town, understand!?" Ryu answered with a stern voice.
"Understood, you hard ass." Wes replied with a smart ass tone, turning back, and walking back to his room, opening the door, as he walked inside.
"Think you can manage to get along with him." Nina piped in teasingly.
"Don't even start, Nina, just don't even start!" Ryu aggravatingly replied, walking to his room, opening it up to find a more pleasant and well kept room, everything was decent, decorations average, and the furniture was not such a wreck.
"At least it was worth the payment, these people sure know how to welcome their guests." He brightly commented, as he glanced around.
Nina walked around the room, her hands tracing along the furniture's edges. She sighed, slowly sitting herself down on the soft cushioned couch. Ryu strolled around, sitting himself down onto the chair nearby, one with a few cushions that helped him relax.
"Well, at least we can relax, I am sure they are not hot on our trail right?" Nina asked with concern.
"Who knows, I just hope you didn't jinx us." He replied jokingly.
***
"So you encountered the Fae, just what the hell were you thinking of trying to catch it?"
"Well, we were going to share the profit with you guys, that is the main reason why, but I have other reasons I rather not speak of." Lecha said with a more defensive tone.
"Draco I assume is why, but you might as well forget it, the Black Market is only a cover up, they are like puppets with strings, being manipulated by a more higher force."
"So it is them, figures, nobody else could offer a reward that high, especially when it deals with someone innocent as her." Lecha responded in disgust.
"Draco is also wanted by them, according to one of our spies that is within the Black Market, he has a price tag around fifty thousand zenny on his head, for the robbery he pulled and the plans he stole. You best be on the guard, the both of you!"
"Understood sir...I will comply." She responded, turning off her communicator.
"That reward on the Fae's head is meaningless to me now."
Lecha turned, finding Draco standing, still bandaged from his last fight, but he wasn't trembling to even stand on his feet, he was in one peace.
"You're already wanted by every town for you reckless acts and murders over these lands, and now your wanted by the same scumbags you could almost be a family with." Lecha commented, shaking her head.
"Like I give a damn, I plan to pursue the Fae, but I recommend you take care of her." He directed, still emotionless.
"Ryu I assume you want?"
"Yes, as long as he roams through these lands, I will chase him, to the ends of the earth, I want him to pay for what he did to me two years ago." He muttered, clenching his shaking fist.
"I am not planning to stop you; Ryu is the reasons why you have suffered, but you still will need my help, remember that peacemaker has a partner, your going to need my aid." She lectured, grasping her rifle, smiling to him.
"Well, the only way to find him is to follow the trouble. Wherever he and that Fae go, they will leave bread crumbs of disaster for us to follow, and for some odd reason, I feel much, much stronger." Draco finished, cracking his knuckles, a smile wide spread on his face.
"Ryu, when I find you, I will make you pay." He said, punching his left hand, laughing sadistically.
***
"Buffet breakfast, now this is what I would call hospitality." Ryu brightly commented, grabbing a plate and putting whatever her could onto it.
"Nothing so different for me, I had breakfast like this all the time, though I was given more gourmet then average like this." She mentioned, whispering as not to upset the cooks.
The buffet was indeed exquisite, eggs in every variety of any early morning breakfast, flapjacks down to freedom toast. Coffee galore, tea in every flavor, and doughnuts perhaps a fanatic would indulge himself in. All placed on a silky white tablecloth tables, the two walked alongside of others, taking whatever was needed.
Ryu took some pig strips, and a few flapjacks, Nina though, being on the less meat loving side grabbed hold of the fruits that were set on a very organized platter. She picked up a few apples, strawberries and peaches, most grown in dome greenhouse farms, scattered and highly secured by soldiers.
"Vegitarian are we?" Ryu asked rudely.
"No, I just don't eat meat to often, that's all." She responded in a harsh tone.
"Just asking, lets find a seat, I doubt this place is that big, and I don't plan to eat out in the hot sun at all." Ryu said, the two walking into the round, sky view dining room four seats to each of the round white tablecloth covered tables, the two glanced, finding already the place a bit crowded.
"You two need a place to sit."
Ryu glanced over, finding the ever so outgoing woren seated at an already empty table, with nobody else sitting, as he patted down on the table for them to come over.
"I think we can manage, thanks anyway-"
"Ryu, don't be so rude, it is an offer we should grasp while we still can." Nina said, sitting down at the table.
"Grrr, fine!" He growled, sitting down, as he slowly began eating his food.
"I guess your friend doesn't seem to let things go so easily, huh?" Wes asked, nibbling slowly on his sausage, still looking to Nina.
"Oh, well, I am not too sure of that, but I guess he might see you as someone who has little respect for some people." Nina answered trying to sound not so biased to either of their sides.
"Jeez, okay, so I did a bit of foreplay, but she doesn't seem to upset about it. Lighten up already." Wes suggested, Ryu eating his pork strips, chewing ever so slowly on them.
Wes sighed, finishing his sausage off, as he looked out, at the water tower that seemed to already mark the entire town. The dark red tower, held up by five metal polls, and with a huge pipe running from the bottom down to the ground, and perhaps deep where the water was.
"Amazing, a water tower like that can serve a whole town such as this, it is a surprise that this is the only town with one that is this large." He said, glancing the structure in the distance over.
"Don't other towns have them?" Nina asked with a thirst for knowledge.
"Not as big as that, for a water tower, it is pretty high compared to anything I have seen any-"
Wes suddenly went silent, his eyes pearing to the left, his head slightly turned to look behind.
"Wes, is something-"
At that moment, he jumped forward, arms spread as he tackled both to the ground.
"GET DOWN!!" He yelled, pushing both Ryu and Nina to the ground, shots fired through and into the building.
Screams echoed all around, as the bullets shattered the buffet table, and blazed through each of the many innocent people who feel to the ground, squirming in utter pain. Nina stared in horror, her hand covering her mouth.
"Looks like the flunkies have found you already, and hells breaking lose fast." Wes muttered, crawling along the floor.
"Damn, this isn't good, we have to escape. Nina, our time here is not going to be long." He commanded, glancing over to her.
Nina though was shaking her head, her eyes watery, as she looked all around the horrible area, at those who lay bleeding helplessly on the floor.
"N-no, I have to help them, there bleeding!" She whined, shaking her head.
"It's them or us, either we stay here and die, or we escape while we have a chance." He replied harshly, slamming one of his fists onto the floor.
Nina only clamped her hands together closing her eyes, the magic element energy gathering around her, a green illuminate surrounded her, as she hummed calmly, the light spreading around the room, each of the victims caught within the lines of fire healed up ever so quickly. The illuminates vanished quickly as they came, Nina falling to the ground, breathing deeply.
"Damn it Nina, get up, we have to go on." Ryu said, grasping her, and pulling her up, as she fell against his chest.
"Give her a break; I doubt it is that easy to pull off a spell like that." Wes harshly said, grasping his coffin, pulling towards him.
"Ryu...please, I..." Nina begged weakly.
"Great, it's bad enough with all those gunslingers outside waiting for us, but with the extra weight this Fae is going to put on me-"
"Relax, you just have one free hand, if you can sneak up on me so quickly that I can't react, then it is more obvious that this is going to be a cakewalk for you." Wes interrupted quickly, peeking above the table they were shielded by.
"So just what are you planning to do in the meantime?"
"Lets just say cover you, why else would I call it a cakewalk, just don't try to make any sudden movements when I am gunning from above."
"Wait, gunning from above, are you-"
"Sharpshooter, no, but dual gattling guns are still better then nothing, just try to stand clear of the vehicles, cause things could heat up fast."
"Well, okay, just don't keep me waiting!" Ryu replied, as he stood up, running for the back door, his body shielding the Fae, as his glance remained outside, his gun pointed in the same direction as well.
He moved cautiously, fearing that they would be another attack; his heart throbbed ever so fast as he neared the exit, and he felt they would perhaps kill him as soon as he reached the hallway, just for their own entertainment of seeing him scared. Stepping foot in the area, not a round was fired, he carefully moved along the hallway, Nina still hugging him, her arms wrapped around his neck, as he cautiously moved through the hallway, moving closer to the door.
***
Bang!!
As the trench coat dressed fool fell to the ground, the one holding the smoking hand gun blew the smoke from the barrel, as he looked to the men.
"Let that be a lesson, don't ever open fire into the hotel unless I give that order, understood!?" He yelled harshly, that the men flinched at this voice, they nodded, fearing his handiwork of murder.
"Understood sir." They responded weakly, shivering like the cowards they were.
"Damn fool, that Fae could be dead now because of his foolish call. Though whatever you boys do, don't let them escape!?" He yelled, as the men scattered, surrounding the entire hotel, their guns armed and ready to open fire at any point.
The men waited patiently for any sign of the Fae or the Peacemaker to make a move. Already they knew that the only route out was the front or back entrances, their was no underground route, they though weren't yet planning to break in, the only armed man was perhaps the peacemaker, anyone else perhaps owned a rifle, but their sharp shooting skills perhaps were no match for the men surrounding the area.
***
Ryu glanced at the mirror that was around the front, seeing the armed men already armed and ready to fire at a moments notice.
"Wes, just what the hell do you plan to do?" Ryu thought, taking numerous deep breaths.
The elevator doors opened, Wes walked out from the elevator, heading through the hallway, he opened the emergency exit, going up the stairs, to the push open door, carefully opening it up, as it creaked ever so loudly, he looked out to the sun glazed town, a soft breeze blowing his hairs in a soothing manner. Taking out his sunglasses, he placed them over his eyes. Setting his coffin down, he opened it up slowly, grasping his gattling guns, unlocking the safety from them, he continued slowly over to the edge, gazing at the punks below, he gave a short loud whistle, afterwards opening fire upon the men, his shots fast and piercing through the thugs, each falling down at the hits.
Wes continued his relentless shots, striking each of the armed thugs down instantly; it massacred all who were within range of the bullets path. The men's vehicles were shot up into cottage cheese, as just about hundreds of bullets were shot through them.
Ryu immediately busted through the door, firing three rounds and killing two of the men outside, dashing for the nearby vehicle out of Wes fire. The men from the back area quickly ran to the front as one of the thugs yelled 'Fae', Ryu was about to shoot a few bullets, but Wes mowed them down fast. Ryu moved fast holding Nina in one arm, dashing fast between the cars, stepping over each of the dead bodies lying down on the ground. Wes repetitively murdered any of the punks, as he destroyed their vehicles, rendering them useless.
Ryu dashed out to the parking lot, where his bike was still set, but a man seemed to be laid flat on the ground, skin burned, and hair sticking out like a puffed up afro.
"And I though he just customized the handling, but the anti theft guard...damn!" He muttered, Nina looking up at him.
"Anti-theft guard?" She asked confused.
"A device that only the highest workers can own because of the stiff price, a top peacemaker though never should have one, I guess the boss really does admire me." Ryu said, shaking his head, he did thought pity that the boss would give him something like this, there were others just as good as him, but perhaps he was the only veteran who had lived the longest.
"Nina, get in front."
"WHAT!?"
"Get in front, your going to have to drive this thing."
"And just what the hell are you going to do?"
"Simple, I am going to clear a path; I doubt we are going to escape without a high speed chase."
"But I don't know how to drive one of these things."
"If you can learn magic and pull off the spells I have seen, then you shouldn't have a problem driving this. Just take a seat on it, grasp the handles tightly." He lectured, Nina following his steps.
"Now, remove the kickstand, kick the peddle on the bottom, and rev this baby up, and shift the left handle, and remain calm, I have faith in you." He continued, getting on behind her, as she started the engine up, the revving of the engine roared loudly, the motor now starting.
The bike accelerated forward, as Nina screamed noticing they were driving to the wall. Ryu immediately grasped Nina's wrist, turning away, as they drove out to the open roadway that existed within town, a wide space between buildings, his arms and hands remained with the still nervous Fae.
"Just keep going Nina, your doing fine; just don't let yourself lose focus." He calmly said, Nina remained calm, increasing the speed, as she shuffled through the traffic area.
"Lets head south; there is at least a town we could stay in, I just hope the black market isn't there already." He muttered shaking his head.
Wes walked out of the hotel in ease, as he shrieked in surprise, jumping to the side, the bike speeding off in the distance, as he growled loudly, shaking a fist at them.
"Nina, what the hell are you doing!?"
"I think I am getting the hang of this!" She said cheerfully, driving faster, smiling greatly, as she spotted the ramp ahead.
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I think I will." She delightfully replied leaning in, as she pulled on tightly on the handle bar, speeding faster, as Ryu hugged her ever so tighter.
The bike speed up the ramp at an ever so neck-breaking speed, flying high into the air, Ryu already could feel his stomach float, as he screamed, flying across the entire length, landing with a rough bump.
"Ow, damn it, don't do that!?"
"Oh, why whining Ryu, I though you liked this line of work."
"Grrr!!"
Nina finally reached the exit of town, the bike speeding out of town, heavy winds of dust trailing from behind them. Ryu though noticed through one of the side mirrors they were not yet finished with escaping. A truck trailed them, two gunners already in range for warning shots to be fired. One stationed around the back, but used the roof as his aid, stationing it on the roof. The second was on the opposite side of the driver's side, leading out of the window, ready to give off any warning shots.
"Nina, put the peddle to the.ah, screw it, just keep on driving, were being pursued." He yelled, loading his gun, as he turned around, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, aiming towards the men.
The dust though made it a bit hard to aim, even if he had his goggles on, he still wouldn't have perfect aim, as his hand just couldn't grasp Nina's side. Slowly, his arm remained on searching, as he reached around, finally finding something to grab, squeezing it firmly, Nina squealing immediately after.
"Ryu, your touching my-"
"You rather I strangle you with my arm, now stop complaining, and keep driving!" He yelled, Nina already blushing with embarrassment.
Ryu turned around, aiming for the one on the left side, keeping one eye closed, his gun in perfect alignment, he pulled the trigger, his bullet knocking the firearm from the fiends grasp, he fired away again, this time, the shot went directly into the fiends shoulder, as he whelped in pain, the force pushing him out of the window, and in a very awkward position.
Ryu though knew he had only one other target, the one gunner on the top, who shot off several warning shots that Nina swerved away from, each shot had narrowly missed them by a hair. Ryu fired upon the top, but his bullet didn't hit the proper target that lurched above. Firing his second round, he missed again. Growling, he concentrated, taking a deep breath.
"Third time's the charm." He thought, as he pulled the trigger, delivering an accurate shot straight into the head of the fiend, as the thug fell back, and out of the back of the truck. The one in the awkward position finally lost balance, falling to the ground to be run over by the large vehicle, never getting a chance to scream.
"That's the last of them." Ryu said with a sigh, releasing his grasp from Nina's breast.
***
Running like a predator after its prey, he trotted ever so agile, running to his only transportation vehicle, a sand cart that was his only transport around the entire planet. Designed like a go cart, it's wheels were more suited for desert transports, and its size was about one and a half times larger then a regular one. He jumped in, placing the keys into the ignition, his engine purring loudly, as he revved it up, and drove it to the south.
"Don't think your going to leave me behind so easily." He muttered to himself, accelerating ever so faster, as he pursued the two by trail.
***
The truck increased its speed, closing in to the bike they road on, the idea was plain to ever see.
"He's going to ram us...the crazy bastard!" Ryu yelled, aiming for the driver's seat, but already found it hard to aim.
"Nina, please don't take this the wrong way." He said, grabbing at her left breast once more, as she blushed in embarrassment, a beet red face.
"I won't...but please, try to be gentle." She said, trying to hold back her laughs.
Ryu carefully aimed, knowing he had only one shot left, and he had to make this one count, the driver already was nearing them fast. Aiming at point black, Ryu opened fire around the driver's side, the bullet though didn't ever smash through the thick glass that it hit. The bullet in the hole, and only a few cracks were within the window.
"Just my luck, he had installed glass!" Ryu muttered, as the truck burst forward, ready to ram the bike down and the two with it.
A loud pop come from behind, then another, gunshots rapidly were heard. Ryu gasped, looking with widened eyes. There, trailing only a few feet behind was the ever so reckless woren, Wes, standing up, and unleashing shots on the tires, forcing the truck to speed out of control, Wes standing upright, as he closed in on the truck, shooting it out the side, murdering the driver as he blasted away the windshield and continued shooting, spraying a hells load of bullets to the frail man driving the car, blasting him limb from limb, blood splattering all over the vehicle with each muscle piercing shot the woren gave off.
The truck swerved, the sand roamer breaking as the truck flipped over, wrecking terribly. Ryu kept his eyes locked on behind, waiting for Wes to speed up and perhaps greet in a very unusual manner.
"Hey hypocrite, what was that about respecting females you were ranting on about earlier?" He spat aggravatingly, Ryu immediately removing his hand from her breast, as he shook a fist at the Woren.
"Put a sock in it, I did it only to help protect her, unlike some who love foreplay." Ryu replied, giving him the bird.
"You son of a bitch, when we get to Flome, I'm gonna open one big can of whup ass on you!"
Next Time:
Greed, dark desires that corrupt many, consuming their hearts to a life of darkness, of sin, of murder. Men striving to for fame, by acts of destruction and disaster, they make name for themselves by having their face mounted on a wanted poster, spread wide across lands, with a large bounty placed on their heads, all in the name of fame and stardom.
Next Chapter: Legendary Outlaws.
Each of the members were dressed in a white tank top, and with blue jeans down to the ankles, white loafers on their feet, and a red bandana tied around their forehead. The leader was a blond haired man, who had a scar carved around his cheek, and ever so dark green eyes, he glanced down at the girl, smiling ever so pleasingly at her.
"What's the problem babe, you should be happy your with us, the Bloody Knives.your with one of the best gangs ever to even set foot in this town." He said, smiling, reaching over with his filthy hands, feeling her strands of long light green hair.
The girl said nothing, only kept her eyes shut tightly. She groans as the man leaned closer, breathing against her face, his breath ever a stench with the crude smell of beer, she quivered as her nostrils caught the stench of it. She only groaned, opening her eyes, as she stared over to the woren sitting in the chair across, his back facing her.
He was dressed very casually, his leather brown vest that hung around his upper body, his baggy ruby slacks that extended down to his ankles, his feet clothed in the leather brown boots that almost everyone seemed to wear. His arms already had muscle on them, proving he wasn't any pushover when it came to fighting hand to hand. His yellow hair was long, coming down to his shoulder blades, and tied into a small ponytail around the starting point of his head; the rest of his hair though was out and fluffed up.
"Who the hell are you looking at!!" One of the thugs demanded angrily, as he looked over seeing that woren, clenching his fists tightly, as he walked demandingly over to where the woren was sitting.
Slowly the woren turned, glancing at him with a poker face smirk on his face, his glasses shielding his eyes, his hand picking up the glass mug filled with alcohol, he sipped it ever so down slowly, sighing deeply in relief as he puckered his lips together, the taste ever so delicious to his sour tongue.
"Hey, Woren, are you looking at my girl!?" He demanded, grabbing the woren around the vest, pulling him closer, looking him dead in the eyes, panting in anger.
"Watch the vest, drunkard!!" The woren responded, shoving the flunky a few feet back, as he fell to the ground with a loud thud, that most of the bar went silent.
"You must be an idiot, do you know who the hell we are!" One of the men spat, as the leader growled loudly.
"A bunch of drunken bastards from what I can see." The woren rudely commented, sitting back down as he called over the tender, motioning for another drink.
"Grr, you son of a bitch, boy, get him!!" The leader yelled, as four men charged forth, brandishing their shining metal knuckles, two moved from both sides towards the woren.
The one to the right was first to make his move, dashing forth; he brought his right arm back, and swung forth. At point blank, a hand snatched the thug's wrist, grasping it tightly, as he squeezed it ever so tightly. The thug gasped, eyes widened as he panted, slowly the woren glanced over towards him, as he brought his fist back, swinging forward and smashing the bastard in the face, sending him several feet back.
The one charging from the left though moved slower, wrapping his arms around the woren's neck, squeezing tightly cut his air supply off. The woren reached back, grasping the thug by the shoulders, and grasped ever so tightly, the man slowly let go, his jaw dropping, gasping and panting with his eyes widened.
"Don't you know it is a bad idea to even try to sneak up on a woren." The woren spat, as he delivered a swift punch to the face of the thug with his right fist, forcing the thug over the counter and onto the other side of the bar, as he fell to the ground behind the counter.
Slowly he took his seat once more, sipping his beer like always from his mug, taking a deep breath, and a sigh. Two more men charged in, one to the right, the other from behind the woren. Instantly the woren planted his left elbow deep into the charging from the right thug's gut, forcing the air from his lungs, the thug gasped deeply, falling to his knees, his eyes wide open, one hand on his throat, the other on his pain throbbing chest.
The one charging from behind was met with an unwelcoming kick to his bottom jaw, the kick sending him flying diagonally to the right. The thug landed back first onto a wooden table, upon impact splitting the legs and the middle of the table into two pieces, the thug groaned, as he breathed carefully. The woren looked dead on, to the man who barked out the orders.
The leader looked on with an ever so red and steaming mad face, his fist clenched tightly together, shaking in anger.
"You just don't get it, you should have let them wup your ass, then you would have had a chance to live. Guess your other half follows with the old saying, 'curiosity kills the cat', your proof of it!!" He triumphantly remarked, pulling out his Colt Python, a ruby red metal colored type.
A smile curved on his face, as a few other men pulled out their firearms, with guns aiming the nose of the weapons towards the woren. Most of them had Uzi's, few of them held two in their hands, the others held mp5's, all polished with a ruby red plating of metal. The woren remained emotionless, the coffin that was next to him remained in place, its metal plating already shined, a few scraps still visible by light.
"DIE!!" He screamed, as each of the men opened fire on where the woren stood.
The woren though jumped to the side, grasping the coffin, as he shielded himself from the array of bullets that rained upon his position. The men fired, until each ran out of shots, the coffin still stood, as the gang of punks remained silent, watching with ever so waiting eyes, they gasped, seeing the coffin was unchanged by the amount of bullets.
The coffin fell forward, a loud thud followed as it smacked into the ground. A loud clatter of shots rapidly being fired was all that could be heard, each bullet tearing through each of the gang members bodies, they dropped to the ground, already dead from the deadly shots from the twin guns the woren held within his hands.
Not one of the men could make a shot, in a split second, they were dead, not one of them stood, each laid dead on the floor, bleeding tremendous amounts of blood, the girl though still remained, as the woren glanced to her, halting his shots, smoke emerging from the barrels. She looked up, eyes filled with fear.
"Fools, all talk, but in the end, you're all just a bunch of dumb fools on the ground dead!" he muttered, as he dropped his guns to the ground, slowly walking over to the girl, a smile erecting on his face.
"You have no need to worry little lady, your knight in shining armor is here." He said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "How bout you give him a kiss, mouth to mouth for saving you from these horrible beasts."
He slowly leaned in closer, perking his lips together, only to receive a hard blow to the one fatal area of any male. She stood frantically up, dusting her green dress off, as she turned walking off.
"Keep your filthy hands off me creep." She spat walking out of the bar, as the woren remained on the ground, gasping for air.
"Damn, I save her and this is the respect I get, jeez, girls are such hard asses." He whined, holding his balls as they throbbed in blinding pain.
***
A loud smash was heard inside small rackety run down house, broken glass, and rotten wood already broken apart and laying all over the ground. A young purple haired boy crawled backwards, his eyes filled in tears, and his jaw wide open.
"Stupid kid...you are weak, hopeless, and stupid." The ugly beard man yelled, belching in the boys face. The man already was dressed with a torn white short sleeved shirt, and blue pants.
His eyes already bloodshot, below swelled up in pain, short hairs coming out of his chin; it was obvious he was nothing more but a poor homeless drinker. He punched the kid dead in the face sending the boy on the ground, he repeated his assault.
"Nothing, but a stupid kid!" He mentioned, breathing hard, as he belched in the now bleeding boys face.
"Draco.what happened to your face?" Ryu asked, Draco looked to the ground, with his two beaten black eyes, and tattered face.
"I...I...I feel on the stairs." He lied, looking to the ground.
"Again, man, you really are clumsy, I mean first you tripped onto the ground, then you smash-"
"I know...guess I am to clumsy." Draco responded embarrassed.
"Yeah, but damn, you must have really bad falls."
Though the pain never stopped, few times did his father stop drinking, never did Draco enjoy a good time with his father, all he experienced was pain, abuse, he only had Ryu as a friend, he always was with him, and tried to sleep over when possible. While he wanted to tell Ryu's parents about the abuse, about the horror he was going through, he only was beaten, and left to rest until he healed. Then he was beaten once more, the pain never did leave him, every week he was hell.
Eventually, came the night that would change all. It was on that night, that Draco had come home a tad bit to late, but as usual, his father was drunk, and he didn't plan to even hold back on his fierce assault. The drunken man smacked Draco across the face ever so vigorously, then giving a heavy blow to the boys own gut.
"You're late!" The drunken man yelled, as he belched in his face wildly. "When I said by sundown, I mean exactly before sundown, no excuses!"
Draco spat out the blood spilling into his mouth, slowly he stood to his feet, panting deeply, as he pulled out his gun, pointing it towards his drunken father.
"What you got there? A gun, are you planning to kill me, do you even have the guts, much less balls to kill your old man!" Draco's father yelled, Draco standing with ever so tear filled eyes, shivering with fear, his gun still aimed to his father.
"Go ahead, I dare yah, pull it, or are you nothing more but a weak yellow bellied coward!" At that last comment, Draco pulled the trigger, firing away; the first five shots striking around his chest, before giving the final shot to the head of his father, the man fell to the ground face first.
Draco looked on in tears, still holding the gun. Laughter filled the entire room, as a dark indigo light surrounded his father, who started bulging with muscles. Slowly, the corpse rose, the muscles bulging like a heart beating ever so faster, his blood veins already pulsing, as his eyes glowed in a bright orange glow. The now mutated corpse, once his father was now a monster, it glared ever so evil eyed towards the young Draco, as it roared with an ever so deep, and chilling cry of that only a demon could equal.
Finally, it mutated, its muscles bulging, claws spawned from its hands, it leaped forward, and slashed at the boy, Draco screaming ever so loudly.
He opened his eyes, panting, as beads of sweat dripped down his face. Whipping the sweat from his face, he glanced down, seeing Lecha looking up, as she touched his cheek.
"Bad dream again?" She asked softly.
"A past event, but it had an alternate ending; my father became a demon this time." He said calmly, closing his eyes.
"Hmm, well, get some more rest, I will report to headquarters first thing in the morning, kay?" She asked ever so sweetly.
"Yeah..." He mentioned slowly falling asleep.
***
The woren walked around the middle area of the town, the coffin once more over his shoulders, he gazed around, smiling as he looked to the children, playing Peacemakers and Outlaws. He stopped, watching them shoot at one another with rubber bullets, yelling playfully to one another as they did, running behind one of the barrels in town.
His attention though soon fell to another, as he heard the pout of a female. Glancing over to a shop, he lifting up her sunglasses, as his dark brown eyes caught what looked to be a girl in a pink kimono and a male in a long blue jacket, looking to one another.
"Well, what do we have here?" He spoke silently to himself, watching them from the distance.
"I think it is better that I go in alone, those wings have not brought us any good luck recently, and besides, you can defend yourself, so don't try and play innocent with me!" Ryu strongly replied, as he started inside.
"But Ryu..." Nina could only sigh, Ryu was long gone before she could even try and reason with him.
She glanced out at the town, a frown sprawled onto her face, she glanced around the town, leaning onto the railing, looking out at the ever so peaceful town. She smiled, perhaps with all the chaos she had witness before was indeed reckless. Innocent people were at high risk when Draco and Ryu fought within the Scias, many could have died just by being in their line of fire.
Her thoughts though would soon be drowned out, when she was interrupted by a hand touching her rear end, and feeling it with their fingers, squeezing it softly. Blushing softly, she glanced to the side, spotting the tall and very muscular woren, who looked down at her.
"You know, you shouldn't let him push you around, he isn't your boss, he is just a punk that treats you like a dog." The woren said, slowly massaging her butt cheeks.
"Wha!? Ryu doesn't..." She was cut of, as the woren squeezed her buttocks a bit more firmly, forcing her to blush a deeper red.
"The name is Wes; you wanna ditch that bastard and have a real good time?" Wes asked, with a smirk on his face.
"I um, I....." Nina stuttered, shivering with fear, she couldn't even make a move, she felt scared, vulnerable, paralyzed with perhaps fear, or embarrassment.
She felt very weak, she wished she could say something, but yet, the feeling, while harassing was in another way quiet pleasuring. She already couldn't speak, she had to hold back the feeling, and try and stand up. Though Wes's big muscles were something even she didn't want to have to put up with. The woren though, froze in place; a loud click seemed to freeze the scoundrel in place.
"I may not know the culture of a woren, but I do know that what you are doing right now is not the way you even treat a lady." Ryu remarked, holding the gun to Wes's back head, his lips remained emotionless.
"She doesn't seem to have a problem with it, so beat it, I doubt she want to hang with a guy that just bosses her around." Wes spat, as he swiftly ducked turning around, and rushed Ryu, slamming him hard into the wall.
Ryu groaned loudly, his gun was dropped right at the spot he stood where Wes was. Slowly he stood to his feet, Wes grabbing him by the throat, grasping him tightly, Ryu moved his hands to the where the woren was grasping. Try as he might, Ryu wasn't at his best; his eyelids grew heavy, as he slowly began to fall asleep from not getting some fresh air into his lungs.
"Why don't you go take a nap, that cranky attitude of yours really could use it." He remarked.
Slowly Ryu's arms began to stop struggling, falling to his side. The woren sighed, throwing the sleeping peacemaker to the ground, turning around. A large multicolored ball hit him in the gut, and forced him off his feet, as he was sent several feet back. He landed back first, before he started bouncing roughly and painfully along the ground.
Nina sighed, shaking her head, she really didn't like using her magic against people like that, especially someone like the woren, but she had no choice, he was perhaps nothing more then a low life pervert. She ran to Ryu, sitting on her knees, she reached over to his neck, feeling at him for his pulse, finding a normal beat.
"He won't be waking for a while babe, I put him in a sleeper hold, and he wont be waking up for a long while." Wes said, slowly getting to his feet, as he walk slowly over, picking up a coffin that was leaning against the wall, and throwing it over his back.
"Just what do you plan to do, take me for your own?" Nina yelled, glancing bitterly towards him, raising her fist, tears slowly forming in her eyes.
"Listen here, I don't plan to make trouble, one the count of what happened to the bar, so I will just be on my way." He said, throwing the coffin over his shoulders, he turned away from them, and walked off, not once turning to look back.
She turned back, looking to the ever so unconscious Ryu, she moved closer, touching his handsome face. Whenever someone was knocked out like Ryu had, it took a while for their body to recover, and regain consciousness, but when it came to what Nina had to face, it was an emergency that Ryu was up and alert.
Slowly, she started chanting a spell that would perhaps sooth his stressed out lungs and help him wake up. Her eyes closed, her hands clasped together, she gathered the magic element power she needed to cast the spell. A green light glowed from Ryu's body, slowly it stayed for a short while, before it died down, leaving him still asleep once more.
Nina grasped his shoulder, shaking him gently, as she cried out his name.
"Ryu...Ryu, wake up." She cried out softly, as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking for a second, before he opened them widely.
"Nina?" He softly replied, as she stopped, a smile curved onto her lips, as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.
"It is good to see you awake." She said calmly, snuggling against him.
"What do you...wait, where is here, where is that woren!?" Ryu demanded, standing to his feet.
"Let him go Ryu, he knows when to back off, so just let him go." Nina pleaded, her eyes begging Ryu to not go after him.
"And let him come back and harass you like that again?" Ryu mentioned, as he crossed his arms together.
"He won't, Wes told me he wasn't planning to start trouble with us, give him a break already." Nina said pleadingly as before.
Taking a deep sigh, Ryu looked to her begging eyes once more, shaking his head, he was pissed off at what the woren had done to Nina, but perhaps he was overreacting.
"Okay, okay, I will let him go, as long as he doesn't try anything funny." Ryu finished, standing to his feet.
He walked back in, finishing his shopping that he had been forced to put on hold when the woren showed up. He bought a few extra short sleeved cloths, food for the road, and of course, a few more bullet rounds for the pack that would eventually come for Nina. Paying the shop clerk, he walked out of the shop, taking a deep breath, glancing around the small, ever so pleasant little town. Walking back outside, he looked to Nina, who smiled cheerfully, ever so glad to see him.
"Now then, shall we find an inn to stay at?" he asked, getting a silent nod from the Fae.
He said nothing more; he started off, walking around the middle of the street, Nina following closely behind him, the two looking at each of the buildings, searching for the more average and affordable inn. It took around a half an hour for them to look around before finding the perfect one. It was called the 'Dream Hall Inn', with an unbeatable price, Ryu jumped immediately at the opportunity, as he paid the female desk clerk for a one night stay.
"Room thirty-two, third floor, please enjoy you stay." She cheerfully said, as Ryu turned, walking to the available elevator nearby, pressing the up button, the twin doors slid open, both he and Nina stepped in, Nina this time pressing the button marked three, the doors slowly closed, as the elevator began to ascend up to the next floor.
"You sure it is a good idea to leave you bike in that one place?" Nina asked with concern.
"Worry not, the bike is hard enough to even hot wire, plus it is parked in a more secured spot, I doubt anyone would even try to steal it." He replied confidently, to keep Nina from worrying.
A ding rung about, as the elevator doors opened, Ryu and Nina both walked out, looking around at the yellow painted wall, and looking for their room number.
"Guess our paths were purposely meant to cross." Spoke a voice that made Ryu clench his fists together, as he looked around, there a few doors to the left of where they stood was the woren, arms crossed, and his lips emotionless as he gazed towards them.
"Grr, you again, don't tell me-"
"Look, I don't plan to even make a move on your girl, but there is something I want to ask you." Wes replied as he took a few steps towards them.
Ryu sighed irritated, shaking his head, the woren stopped before them, uncrossing his arms, as he held a hand out.
"I should properly introduce myself, the name is Wes, and sorry for...well, you know Fae." He said, scratching his head in nervousness.
"You really need to learn to keep you hands to yourself you know, but at least you know when to back off. My name is Nina, pleased to meet you." Nina replied, stretching her arms out, softly elbowing Ryu in the back.
"Ow, hey...Oh, I am Ryu, a top ranking peacemaker in the...well, I am sure you know what group." Ryu responded, his tone emotionless.
"Peace Ranger Corps, your red trench coat says it all." He said pointing to the name tag and kill list. "But, onto business, I am sure by now that you have encountered several gunfights, correct?"
"Why would it matter to you, Wes?"
"The Black Market, not only an illegal underground market, but also it is a syndicate that is highly feared by many, anyone who crosses them is a walking dead man. I don't know how my orphanage was involved or why, but for eleven months, I have been searching for the bastards." He said, his head glancing to the ground, his tone bitter as he neared the end of his sermon.
"Orphanage, what happened to it?" Nina asked curiously.
"I came back to see how things were, to me, St. Helens Orphanage is the only place I can even call home, in the town of Clover. Well, when I went there for a visit, I found the place set on fire, but the real sorrow was what lay in front. The children and their caretaker, Elena Rosedale were there in front, all bleeding from bullet wounds all over their bodies, I couldn't even believe what I saw. After that, I asked around, many refused to answer, much less even speak of who the hell was responsible, but of course, one weak bastard talked when I threatened to rip his head off." Wes answered sadly, looking to Nina with ever so serious eyes.
"And was it the black market?" Ryu asked demandingly.
"Cool your jets already Ryu, he did say it, but he also told me of what they truly where, the syndicate, and that they were responsible for destroying not only the orphanage, but many other area's. So as usual, I decided to end their reign of terror, by making a deal with a big time dealer in heavy firearms, well, I was off, and searching for those bastards, so now...I still haven't had luck in finding." Wes finished, shooting a smile.
"So what gave you the idea that they are after Nina? Unless you have ties to them, well, do you!?" Ryu demanded, grabbing his vest, only to be shoved back, and down to the ground.
"Watch the vest punk! I heard a merchant spouting a lot of gibberish about how a damn Fae is attracting trouble, and from what he summed up as the attackers; it is the same men who are part of the black market. What I would like to offer is a short term alliance, I mean, c'mon, you may be able to handle a gang of those men, but in time, you're a dead man, and the Fae, well, I think where I am going with this." He said calming down.
"So a short term alliance sounds a bit, oh, not to promising." Ryu replied with caution.
"I want head boss, nothing more, if we take him down, then the bounty he has on Nina is off, and I doubt he wants to give it to any other people, understand?" Wes pointed out, taking a step closer to Ryu.
"Well, since you put it that way, I guess I could use some help, but if I can define how you act, you need to learn to keep your focus on the current situation, and not on the girls in the town, understand!?" Ryu answered with a stern voice.
"Understood, you hard ass." Wes replied with a smart ass tone, turning back, and walking back to his room, opening the door, as he walked inside.
"Think you can manage to get along with him." Nina piped in teasingly.
"Don't even start, Nina, just don't even start!" Ryu aggravatingly replied, walking to his room, opening it up to find a more pleasant and well kept room, everything was decent, decorations average, and the furniture was not such a wreck.
"At least it was worth the payment, these people sure know how to welcome their guests." He brightly commented, as he glanced around.
Nina walked around the room, her hands tracing along the furniture's edges. She sighed, slowly sitting herself down on the soft cushioned couch. Ryu strolled around, sitting himself down onto the chair nearby, one with a few cushions that helped him relax.
"Well, at least we can relax, I am sure they are not hot on our trail right?" Nina asked with concern.
"Who knows, I just hope you didn't jinx us." He replied jokingly.
***
"So you encountered the Fae, just what the hell were you thinking of trying to catch it?"
"Well, we were going to share the profit with you guys, that is the main reason why, but I have other reasons I rather not speak of." Lecha said with a more defensive tone.
"Draco I assume is why, but you might as well forget it, the Black Market is only a cover up, they are like puppets with strings, being manipulated by a more higher force."
"So it is them, figures, nobody else could offer a reward that high, especially when it deals with someone innocent as her." Lecha responded in disgust.
"Draco is also wanted by them, according to one of our spies that is within the Black Market, he has a price tag around fifty thousand zenny on his head, for the robbery he pulled and the plans he stole. You best be on the guard, the both of you!"
"Understood sir...I will comply." She responded, turning off her communicator.
"That reward on the Fae's head is meaningless to me now."
Lecha turned, finding Draco standing, still bandaged from his last fight, but he wasn't trembling to even stand on his feet, he was in one peace.
"You're already wanted by every town for you reckless acts and murders over these lands, and now your wanted by the same scumbags you could almost be a family with." Lecha commented, shaking her head.
"Like I give a damn, I plan to pursue the Fae, but I recommend you take care of her." He directed, still emotionless.
"Ryu I assume you want?"
"Yes, as long as he roams through these lands, I will chase him, to the ends of the earth, I want him to pay for what he did to me two years ago." He muttered, clenching his shaking fist.
"I am not planning to stop you; Ryu is the reasons why you have suffered, but you still will need my help, remember that peacemaker has a partner, your going to need my aid." She lectured, grasping her rifle, smiling to him.
"Well, the only way to find him is to follow the trouble. Wherever he and that Fae go, they will leave bread crumbs of disaster for us to follow, and for some odd reason, I feel much, much stronger." Draco finished, cracking his knuckles, a smile wide spread on his face.
"Ryu, when I find you, I will make you pay." He said, punching his left hand, laughing sadistically.
***
"Buffet breakfast, now this is what I would call hospitality." Ryu brightly commented, grabbing a plate and putting whatever her could onto it.
"Nothing so different for me, I had breakfast like this all the time, though I was given more gourmet then average like this." She mentioned, whispering as not to upset the cooks.
The buffet was indeed exquisite, eggs in every variety of any early morning breakfast, flapjacks down to freedom toast. Coffee galore, tea in every flavor, and doughnuts perhaps a fanatic would indulge himself in. All placed on a silky white tablecloth tables, the two walked alongside of others, taking whatever was needed.
Ryu took some pig strips, and a few flapjacks, Nina though, being on the less meat loving side grabbed hold of the fruits that were set on a very organized platter. She picked up a few apples, strawberries and peaches, most grown in dome greenhouse farms, scattered and highly secured by soldiers.
"Vegitarian are we?" Ryu asked rudely.
"No, I just don't eat meat to often, that's all." She responded in a harsh tone.
"Just asking, lets find a seat, I doubt this place is that big, and I don't plan to eat out in the hot sun at all." Ryu said, the two walking into the round, sky view dining room four seats to each of the round white tablecloth covered tables, the two glanced, finding already the place a bit crowded.
"You two need a place to sit."
Ryu glanced over, finding the ever so outgoing woren seated at an already empty table, with nobody else sitting, as he patted down on the table for them to come over.
"I think we can manage, thanks anyway-"
"Ryu, don't be so rude, it is an offer we should grasp while we still can." Nina said, sitting down at the table.
"Grrr, fine!" He growled, sitting down, as he slowly began eating his food.
"I guess your friend doesn't seem to let things go so easily, huh?" Wes asked, nibbling slowly on his sausage, still looking to Nina.
"Oh, well, I am not too sure of that, but I guess he might see you as someone who has little respect for some people." Nina answered trying to sound not so biased to either of their sides.
"Jeez, okay, so I did a bit of foreplay, but she doesn't seem to upset about it. Lighten up already." Wes suggested, Ryu eating his pork strips, chewing ever so slowly on them.
Wes sighed, finishing his sausage off, as he looked out, at the water tower that seemed to already mark the entire town. The dark red tower, held up by five metal polls, and with a huge pipe running from the bottom down to the ground, and perhaps deep where the water was.
"Amazing, a water tower like that can serve a whole town such as this, it is a surprise that this is the only town with one that is this large." He said, glancing the structure in the distance over.
"Don't other towns have them?" Nina asked with a thirst for knowledge.
"Not as big as that, for a water tower, it is pretty high compared to anything I have seen any-"
Wes suddenly went silent, his eyes pearing to the left, his head slightly turned to look behind.
"Wes, is something-"
At that moment, he jumped forward, arms spread as he tackled both to the ground.
"GET DOWN!!" He yelled, pushing both Ryu and Nina to the ground, shots fired through and into the building.
Screams echoed all around, as the bullets shattered the buffet table, and blazed through each of the many innocent people who feel to the ground, squirming in utter pain. Nina stared in horror, her hand covering her mouth.
"Looks like the flunkies have found you already, and hells breaking lose fast." Wes muttered, crawling along the floor.
"Damn, this isn't good, we have to escape. Nina, our time here is not going to be long." He commanded, glancing over to her.
Nina though was shaking her head, her eyes watery, as she looked all around the horrible area, at those who lay bleeding helplessly on the floor.
"N-no, I have to help them, there bleeding!" She whined, shaking her head.
"It's them or us, either we stay here and die, or we escape while we have a chance." He replied harshly, slamming one of his fists onto the floor.
Nina only clamped her hands together closing her eyes, the magic element energy gathering around her, a green illuminate surrounded her, as she hummed calmly, the light spreading around the room, each of the victims caught within the lines of fire healed up ever so quickly. The illuminates vanished quickly as they came, Nina falling to the ground, breathing deeply.
"Damn it Nina, get up, we have to go on." Ryu said, grasping her, and pulling her up, as she fell against his chest.
"Give her a break; I doubt it is that easy to pull off a spell like that." Wes harshly said, grasping his coffin, pulling towards him.
"Ryu...please, I..." Nina begged weakly.
"Great, it's bad enough with all those gunslingers outside waiting for us, but with the extra weight this Fae is going to put on me-"
"Relax, you just have one free hand, if you can sneak up on me so quickly that I can't react, then it is more obvious that this is going to be a cakewalk for you." Wes interrupted quickly, peeking above the table they were shielded by.
"So just what are you planning to do in the meantime?"
"Lets just say cover you, why else would I call it a cakewalk, just don't try to make any sudden movements when I am gunning from above."
"Wait, gunning from above, are you-"
"Sharpshooter, no, but dual gattling guns are still better then nothing, just try to stand clear of the vehicles, cause things could heat up fast."
"Well, okay, just don't keep me waiting!" Ryu replied, as he stood up, running for the back door, his body shielding the Fae, as his glance remained outside, his gun pointed in the same direction as well.
He moved cautiously, fearing that they would be another attack; his heart throbbed ever so fast as he neared the exit, and he felt they would perhaps kill him as soon as he reached the hallway, just for their own entertainment of seeing him scared. Stepping foot in the area, not a round was fired, he carefully moved along the hallway, Nina still hugging him, her arms wrapped around his neck, as he cautiously moved through the hallway, moving closer to the door.
***
Bang!!
As the trench coat dressed fool fell to the ground, the one holding the smoking hand gun blew the smoke from the barrel, as he looked to the men.
"Let that be a lesson, don't ever open fire into the hotel unless I give that order, understood!?" He yelled harshly, that the men flinched at this voice, they nodded, fearing his handiwork of murder.
"Understood sir." They responded weakly, shivering like the cowards they were.
"Damn fool, that Fae could be dead now because of his foolish call. Though whatever you boys do, don't let them escape!?" He yelled, as the men scattered, surrounding the entire hotel, their guns armed and ready to open fire at any point.
The men waited patiently for any sign of the Fae or the Peacemaker to make a move. Already they knew that the only route out was the front or back entrances, their was no underground route, they though weren't yet planning to break in, the only armed man was perhaps the peacemaker, anyone else perhaps owned a rifle, but their sharp shooting skills perhaps were no match for the men surrounding the area.
***
Ryu glanced at the mirror that was around the front, seeing the armed men already armed and ready to fire at a moments notice.
"Wes, just what the hell do you plan to do?" Ryu thought, taking numerous deep breaths.
The elevator doors opened, Wes walked out from the elevator, heading through the hallway, he opened the emergency exit, going up the stairs, to the push open door, carefully opening it up, as it creaked ever so loudly, he looked out to the sun glazed town, a soft breeze blowing his hairs in a soothing manner. Taking out his sunglasses, he placed them over his eyes. Setting his coffin down, he opened it up slowly, grasping his gattling guns, unlocking the safety from them, he continued slowly over to the edge, gazing at the punks below, he gave a short loud whistle, afterwards opening fire upon the men, his shots fast and piercing through the thugs, each falling down at the hits.
Wes continued his relentless shots, striking each of the armed thugs down instantly; it massacred all who were within range of the bullets path. The men's vehicles were shot up into cottage cheese, as just about hundreds of bullets were shot through them.
Ryu immediately busted through the door, firing three rounds and killing two of the men outside, dashing for the nearby vehicle out of Wes fire. The men from the back area quickly ran to the front as one of the thugs yelled 'Fae', Ryu was about to shoot a few bullets, but Wes mowed them down fast. Ryu moved fast holding Nina in one arm, dashing fast between the cars, stepping over each of the dead bodies lying down on the ground. Wes repetitively murdered any of the punks, as he destroyed their vehicles, rendering them useless.
Ryu dashed out to the parking lot, where his bike was still set, but a man seemed to be laid flat on the ground, skin burned, and hair sticking out like a puffed up afro.
"And I though he just customized the handling, but the anti theft guard...damn!" He muttered, Nina looking up at him.
"Anti-theft guard?" She asked confused.
"A device that only the highest workers can own because of the stiff price, a top peacemaker though never should have one, I guess the boss really does admire me." Ryu said, shaking his head, he did thought pity that the boss would give him something like this, there were others just as good as him, but perhaps he was the only veteran who had lived the longest.
"Nina, get in front."
"WHAT!?"
"Get in front, your going to have to drive this thing."
"And just what the hell are you going to do?"
"Simple, I am going to clear a path; I doubt we are going to escape without a high speed chase."
"But I don't know how to drive one of these things."
"If you can learn magic and pull off the spells I have seen, then you shouldn't have a problem driving this. Just take a seat on it, grasp the handles tightly." He lectured, Nina following his steps.
"Now, remove the kickstand, kick the peddle on the bottom, and rev this baby up, and shift the left handle, and remain calm, I have faith in you." He continued, getting on behind her, as she started the engine up, the revving of the engine roared loudly, the motor now starting.
The bike accelerated forward, as Nina screamed noticing they were driving to the wall. Ryu immediately grasped Nina's wrist, turning away, as they drove out to the open roadway that existed within town, a wide space between buildings, his arms and hands remained with the still nervous Fae.
"Just keep going Nina, your doing fine; just don't let yourself lose focus." He calmly said, Nina remained calm, increasing the speed, as she shuffled through the traffic area.
"Lets head south; there is at least a town we could stay in, I just hope the black market isn't there already." He muttered shaking his head.
Wes walked out of the hotel in ease, as he shrieked in surprise, jumping to the side, the bike speeding off in the distance, as he growled loudly, shaking a fist at them.
"Nina, what the hell are you doing!?"
"I think I am getting the hang of this!" She said cheerfully, driving faster, smiling greatly, as she spotted the ramp ahead.
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, I think I will." She delightfully replied leaning in, as she pulled on tightly on the handle bar, speeding faster, as Ryu hugged her ever so tighter.
The bike speed up the ramp at an ever so neck-breaking speed, flying high into the air, Ryu already could feel his stomach float, as he screamed, flying across the entire length, landing with a rough bump.
"Ow, damn it, don't do that!?"
"Oh, why whining Ryu, I though you liked this line of work."
"Grrr!!"
Nina finally reached the exit of town, the bike speeding out of town, heavy winds of dust trailing from behind them. Ryu though noticed through one of the side mirrors they were not yet finished with escaping. A truck trailed them, two gunners already in range for warning shots to be fired. One stationed around the back, but used the roof as his aid, stationing it on the roof. The second was on the opposite side of the driver's side, leading out of the window, ready to give off any warning shots.
"Nina, put the peddle to the.ah, screw it, just keep on driving, were being pursued." He yelled, loading his gun, as he turned around, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, aiming towards the men.
The dust though made it a bit hard to aim, even if he had his goggles on, he still wouldn't have perfect aim, as his hand just couldn't grasp Nina's side. Slowly, his arm remained on searching, as he reached around, finally finding something to grab, squeezing it firmly, Nina squealing immediately after.
"Ryu, your touching my-"
"You rather I strangle you with my arm, now stop complaining, and keep driving!" He yelled, Nina already blushing with embarrassment.
Ryu turned around, aiming for the one on the left side, keeping one eye closed, his gun in perfect alignment, he pulled the trigger, his bullet knocking the firearm from the fiends grasp, he fired away again, this time, the shot went directly into the fiends shoulder, as he whelped in pain, the force pushing him out of the window, and in a very awkward position.
Ryu though knew he had only one other target, the one gunner on the top, who shot off several warning shots that Nina swerved away from, each shot had narrowly missed them by a hair. Ryu fired upon the top, but his bullet didn't hit the proper target that lurched above. Firing his second round, he missed again. Growling, he concentrated, taking a deep breath.
"Third time's the charm." He thought, as he pulled the trigger, delivering an accurate shot straight into the head of the fiend, as the thug fell back, and out of the back of the truck. The one in the awkward position finally lost balance, falling to the ground to be run over by the large vehicle, never getting a chance to scream.
"That's the last of them." Ryu said with a sigh, releasing his grasp from Nina's breast.
***
Running like a predator after its prey, he trotted ever so agile, running to his only transportation vehicle, a sand cart that was his only transport around the entire planet. Designed like a go cart, it's wheels were more suited for desert transports, and its size was about one and a half times larger then a regular one. He jumped in, placing the keys into the ignition, his engine purring loudly, as he revved it up, and drove it to the south.
"Don't think your going to leave me behind so easily." He muttered to himself, accelerating ever so faster, as he pursued the two by trail.
***
The truck increased its speed, closing in to the bike they road on, the idea was plain to ever see.
"He's going to ram us...the crazy bastard!" Ryu yelled, aiming for the driver's seat, but already found it hard to aim.
"Nina, please don't take this the wrong way." He said, grabbing at her left breast once more, as she blushed in embarrassment, a beet red face.
"I won't...but please, try to be gentle." She said, trying to hold back her laughs.
Ryu carefully aimed, knowing he had only one shot left, and he had to make this one count, the driver already was nearing them fast. Aiming at point black, Ryu opened fire around the driver's side, the bullet though didn't ever smash through the thick glass that it hit. The bullet in the hole, and only a few cracks were within the window.
"Just my luck, he had installed glass!" Ryu muttered, as the truck burst forward, ready to ram the bike down and the two with it.
A loud pop come from behind, then another, gunshots rapidly were heard. Ryu gasped, looking with widened eyes. There, trailing only a few feet behind was the ever so reckless woren, Wes, standing up, and unleashing shots on the tires, forcing the truck to speed out of control, Wes standing upright, as he closed in on the truck, shooting it out the side, murdering the driver as he blasted away the windshield and continued shooting, spraying a hells load of bullets to the frail man driving the car, blasting him limb from limb, blood splattering all over the vehicle with each muscle piercing shot the woren gave off.
The truck swerved, the sand roamer breaking as the truck flipped over, wrecking terribly. Ryu kept his eyes locked on behind, waiting for Wes to speed up and perhaps greet in a very unusual manner.
"Hey hypocrite, what was that about respecting females you were ranting on about earlier?" He spat aggravatingly, Ryu immediately removing his hand from her breast, as he shook a fist at the Woren.
"Put a sock in it, I did it only to help protect her, unlike some who love foreplay." Ryu replied, giving him the bird.
"You son of a bitch, when we get to Flome, I'm gonna open one big can of whup ass on you!"
Next Time:
Greed, dark desires that corrupt many, consuming their hearts to a life of darkness, of sin, of murder. Men striving to for fame, by acts of destruction and disaster, they make name for themselves by having their face mounted on a wanted poster, spread wide across lands, with a large bounty placed on their heads, all in the name of fame and stardom.
Next Chapter: Legendary Outlaws.