Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.
The DarkTower:
Anime's Unite
Chapter 13: The Southern Group
The Mariachi
Up ahead of the parallel roads that left the towns of Boulder and Derry was the town of Rachel where the roads were going to meet each other like twin paths of destiny. Upon those roads were two groups that were both amazingly similar and at the same time so awfully different.
It had been hours since the Lupin crew had departed the town of Derry with such expeditious speed. They've already committed grand theft auto in their first few days of being in this place called Mydar, but driving away in style was always Lupin's signature. Plus walking didn't seem like an attractive option, especially with Fujiko in her high heels, and Lupin was always the chivalrous one when it came to Fujiko. On the other hand, he didn't like the idea of walking either.
The hours had passed quickly as Fujiko slept in her seat with the wooden cup that she had gotten from that antique shop. It sat in her lap as if it was her prized purse from some great New York shopping center or store in Paris. Yet, she didn't allow it to lie in her lap; she still kept a good grip around its stem to make sure that it doesn't go anywhere. It seemed so strange to the others that a woman who was obsessed with clothes, diamonds, and such would fall so head-over-heels for a simple wooden cup. Lupin did give a few glances at it and it seemed so ordinary, why Fujiko would want it was such a mystery to him, but he had to put it aside since he was still driving.
Jigen worked on a small crossword puzzle that he kept in his pocket. He has already completed the first few pages as Lupin kept driving the red Mercedes Benz along the black road to Rachel. Whatever that is, Jigen would think as he tried to work out the six-letter, seven-letter, three-letter, four-letter words to the clues that were given.
Last of all, Goemon who sat cross-legged in meditative contemplation with his sword at his side, but that's Goemon in a nutshell. If he wasn't fighting, he was simply sitting and silently contemplating…about what, God only knows.
It was morning when they had left Derry, but it was turning into later afternoon as they came upon another sign written in English.
Rachel 5 mi.
"Hey Lupin." Jigen called from the backseat, but never looked up from his cross-word puzzle as he tried to figure out a three-lettered word for a flightless bird.
"Yeah?" Lupin answered
"What'd you think we'll find in the next town?"
"I don't know." Lupin answered back keeping his eyes upon the road ahead of him. He had answered Jigen's question seriously but still somehow kept his cocky smirk, "But I have a pretty good feeling it'll be very interesting."
"I certainly hope so." Jigen grunted as he filled in the letters, e, m, and u, for the question he was thinking about in his puzzle.
Just to the west of the road that the Lupin crew was traveling upon was the second of the twin roads that led to Rachel was the Outlaw Six, who had Gene Starwind at the wheel. Since the car they had gotten was a very ancient antique to their eyes, it wasn't that much different than the case they drove. The only thing that Gene had to get use to was the bumpiness that the car has upon the road, thanks to the wheels that made contact with the asphalt below.
Aside from the bumpiness, the car was quiet. Gene had his mind filled with thoughts about what was on the road ahead. Jim was fast asleep with his head bobbing up and down as if he was fighting to get out of whatever dream his was in. The same was with Asia, though she was a little deeper into her sleep, curled up in her seat just like a newborn kitting on her first day in the world. Sazuka was simply sitting in her seat with her wooden sword in its cloth lying next to her, she had her eyes closed though in some way she was asleep, but she was so disciplined that even sleep was a ritual for her.
Then there was Melphina, who sat slightly hunched over with her newly acquired watch in her hand. Her long smooth lady fingers brushed over the surface of the watches cover, feeling the embossed figures of the tiger and the dragon. She had lifted that cover with the tab that had PULL engraved into it. Under it she had found it to be like any other old fashioned watch, three hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds that were ticking away. She closed it back up again and went back to the cover.
Despite its blandness Melphina still found something genuinely beautiful. Perhaps it was the beauty and craftsmanship of the embossed cover. On the other hand that was Melphina unto herself, she found beauty in the simplest of things like the colors in a wonderful desert or watching a caterpillar inching its way along a leaf. The watch that she traded for her gold anklet for had that simple beauty to her eyes.
In the drivers' seat Gene could see the next road sign up ahead, the white English letters against the green background.
Rachel 5 mi.
"I can feel we're getting closer." Gene thought to himself as his foot pressed down a little more on the accelerator. Though as he sped up to the town of Rachel, there was something very eerie about the road that he was upon. He didn't notice it until he had passed that sign. The road was empty. There was hardly a car upon it, either coming or going to Rachel. Thinking about this empty place suddenly felt very creepy to Gene. He remembered back to movies that he saw growing up, normally when a place is that empty everyone is usually a zombie or that some terrible disease has killed everyone. That was when he tried to think rationally about it so that he wouldn't loose his cool; there were people in the Boulder.
"Relax, Gene." He said to himself, "We'll see what's there in the next town."
The town of Rachel sat at the cross-roads of Mydar, where the twin roads from Derry and Boulder had met each other like two long lost friends coming together once again. To the north of the town was the River Isen which stretched across Mydar from the Misty Mountains in the East to the Tempest Bay in the far west. Ever northward of the town were the roads that led to the place where everyone who had come to Mydar were all searching and questing for. Between that and Rachel was a thick forest of Redwood trees, all of them giant and majestic that must have taken centuries for them to grow.
Rachel itself wasn't exactly the most industrial of towns. It was more of a suburban area, with its highest building being about 6 floors or so. The six story building, the sky scraper of the town, the Hotel Rachel, which had such a stark contrast to the rest of the town. It had such a gleam to its exterior as if it had its grand opening just yesterday or perhaps that afternoon at the latest. Then again that's how it was with most of the buildings on the north end of Rachel.
The town was divided into four sections like a pie being cut into four pieces with the main road running straight through it and to the north and another within it from East to West. Yet on a social and building level the town was divided into three sections as if they were all separated by using a T-cut. The top half of the town was the business section, grocery stores, stores of all kinds. To the south were the other two quarter sections that made up the rest of Rachel. The South-western quarter was residential, almost like suburban areas with streets that were named after trees like Oak, Pine, Rosewood, Alder, and so on. The houses themselves in that section were very rich looking, all large with swimming pools, great landscaping, and all kinds of luxuries. Then there was the south-eastern quarter of Rachel, the place was an even greater contrast to the northern half or the south-western quarter. All the houses there looked like adobes all made out of mud, sand, and wood. The rich people of the West Side (as it was called) called it "Little Mexico", mostly because the people living there were laborers, people who worked for slave wages in order to make ends meet. The kind of jobs that no one else wants to do, park cars, rake leaves, and pick fruit. Rachel was truly a place where the rich and wicked thrive while the innocent and poor suffer; at least that's how it was in the modern times of Mydar.
At the Southern End of Rachel was where the roads that came from Derry and Boulder met along with one coming from a town to the East called Talkers Mill. It was there at that meeting of the roads where the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six arrived at. Both cars coming to that one road that split the town down its center on its way northward, but neither one noticed each other.
The streets of Rachel were busy with cars coming and going, going and coming. In their journey northward it was bumper to bumper traffic, but as the cars inched their way along the main road, both members had the same idea. Arsene Lupin III and Gene Starwind suggested to their crews:
"Let's find a hotel."
Both parties agreed in their separate isolation, that's how it was when anyone drives for hours on end, the tendency is to what to stop to eat, rest, and get out of the car. They could already see that it was coming to the later part of the afternoon. That time when the sun was already showing signs of the day by sending its gold waves across the sky and clouds.
With the sky turning the way it was, it had occurred to the Lupin Crew as well as the Outlaw Six in their separate cars that something's never change no matter where one goes or where they are.
Going along the long street both of them saw the south-western and south-eastern quarters of Rachel. The rich side with their large luxurious houses and the poor side with adobe-like houses and their residents looking out the windows like sad puppies wanting an owner. All of their eyes speaking of a wanting that they once knew, but was taken from them like the dignity taken from a rape victim.
Eventually the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six came to that T-intersection where the main road was intersected by the road that divided the town into North and South, residential and commercial. There the two drivers from different worlds had spotted the Hotel Rachel.
The hotel stood on the other side of the dividing road that separated the North from the South. It had its own corner on the North-western slice of Rachel as if it was a casino on the Vegas strip. It's parking lot massive and nearly filled completely by cars except for a few stray spots on the outer edges like leaves that were missed by the rake.
Lupin and Gene pulled into that lot and the only spots they could find right away were right next to each other. The two cars pulled into those spaces like two full-grown men diving for the last slice of pizza. All the while, no one on either side knew of the destined paths that would bring them together.
Gene had opened the door of his car and got out to stretch, reaching upward and giving a great yawn as his friends did the same thing. All of them stretching like cats coming out of a very long nap, especially in the case of that Ktarl-ktarl Asia Clan-clan. Melphina and Sazuka tried to stretch in lady like ways as they could. Jim did it in the same way as Gene; just reach his arms up, taking in a breath of the odd air in Rachel and yawning. The air around Rachel seemed odd indeed as Jim breathed it in. It seemed….clean. Almost like being out in the country despite all the activity that was going on with the cars and such, but he took his mind off of it as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Gilliam pod that he took from the Outlaw Star.
"Gilliam." He said to the bubblegum pink cylinder, "Can you still read us?"
"Yes Jim." The Gilliam Pod answered, "You're still within contact range and so far no one has tried to enter the ship.
"I just don't like the idea of leaving the Outlaw Star out there like that in the condition it's in, Gene."
"What choice do we have, Jim?" Gene asked as he took one more yawn, "We basically can't do anything at this point."
"I guess you're right, Gene." Jim said as he placed the Gilliam Pod back in his coat
Meanwhile Sazuka was trying to stretch herself in the best way possible. Then again the best way possible was always a good one especially with the martial arts training that she's had. She took in the deep breaths, always with deep breaths in any kind of physical training. As she did she too noticed the strange taste in the air of how clean it was.
From the car next to the Outlaw Six came the Lupin crew. Just like two men walking down the street on opposite sides never knowing that their twin is across the street. The Lupin crew did just the same thing as the Outlaw Six, got out to really stretch after being inside the car for hours on end.
Though Goemon wasn't exactly stretching, his super senses were already starting to detect something amiss. It was a fragrance, something that he had not smelled in a very long time. Not since he had been in the presence of another Japanese woman, the real kind, the genuine one who was born and raised in the culture. Goemon smelled something sweet like white plum or maybe jasmine. He turned around to see where the fragrance was coming from and he saw her. He saw a Japanese woman dressed in clothes that seemed befitting of someone who was studying the martial arts. He felt a strange attraction at first but then he looked down to see what she had in her hand. His quick-draw synapses fired in super succession, she was carrying a sword that was covered in a cloth.
"You there!" Goemon called out as he reached for the hilt of his Zantetsuken, "How are you?"
Across the way, and to the ones from another universe, Sazuka turned to look at the samurai. She too noticed the same things about him that he noticed about her, his clothes, his stance, even the sword that he was drawing for. Already she knew that he meant to start a duel despite any kind of answers that she would give. In response to the samurai's demands, she reached over to untie the knot that covered the sword cloth.
"Why not give me your name before we start this duel?" She asked politely as both the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew gathered behind their teammates to see what the outcomes would be.
"I am Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth."
"I will extend the courtesy then. My name is Sazuka, but some know me as Twilight Sazuka." She said as she pulled out the wooden sword from her cloth, "It is nearly sunset, how many sunsets will you see after this duel is over?"
"I don't believe I will loose." Goemon said as his eyes narrowed and the grip upon his sword grew tighter.
"Neither shall I." Sazuka said with a smile across her ruby red painted lips when she took her stance with the sword in hand.
Both groups gathered upon opposite sides of the barrier that came between them as Sazuka and Goemon were about to being their duel. But to the duelists the rest of the world seemed to slip away as if they had brought themselves to an empty dimension where there was just those two ready to carry out their duel.
Goemon already felt that he could win the duel because there was nothing that he and his Zantetsuken could cut. He had proved that once when he had sliced a plane in half. It was back when a Chinese Gangster had discovered the secret to the metal of Goemon's sword with the use of a small dragon figurine. The madman had made a bomber plan with the same metal as its coating, but despite that Goemon had sliced through it like he had with everything that met his swords blade in his hand.
Sazuka on the other hand was already thinking the same thing that she would defeat this man named Goemon. Even though he had a metal sword, but she had faired against opponents with metal weapons that didn't leave so much as a scratch on her wooden sword. She remembered that from facing one of the Anten Seven, Hitoriga; a man whose skills were steeped into the martial arts. Even with his martial arts skills, metal claws, and Tao Magic, Sazuka still killed him. So, she thought, he shouldn't be any different.
Goemon made the first move. With his lightning speed and reflexes he leaped up over the heads of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew as he drew out his Zantetsuken with grease-like smoothness. He had his target acquired like a heat seeking missile and was ready to make his slice, but something surprised him. He watched in slow motion as he came down upon the woman named Sazuka as she drew up her wooden sword and blocked the Zantetsuken.
His eyes went wide as he had witnessed it happening. A wooden sword had blocked the sword whose very name meant "The Sword that Cuts through Iron". Not even a single chip of wood came out and that was when Goemon knew that he had gravely underestimated his opponent. Maybe because of that wooden sword or just because of the most sexist reason; she was a woman.
The two sword fighters were locked, both pressing against each other with all the strength they had. In all they're struggle neither one was gaining the upper-hand. The samurai knew that there had to be a change in tactics in order to win the duel. He broke the lock and dashed across the tops of the cars in the parking lot with Sazuka following suit. The two of them dashed across the tops and hoods of the cars as if they were skipping across stepping stones in a pond of a Japanese garden. Sometimes their steps had left dents and other times they had set off the car alarms, while behind them the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six watched in such awe of the skills of their friends' opponent. How similar they both were to one another, as if God had made two halves of the same person, one masculine and the other feminine, using their swords as if they were extensions of their own bodies.
Goemon and Sazuka continued their battle as they leaped off the cars and sliced at one another trying to make any kind of dent or scratch in the other, but every move was both anticipated and blocked. Despite the fact that they wanted to either disable or kill their opponent they both felt something twitch in their face. They could feel themselves smile at their opponent.
Bath among the Outlaw Six, Jim Hawking leaned over to Gene and asked, "Should we help her?"
"How can we?" He asked in return, "I think we would get in the way."
"You said it, brother." A very cocky voice said.
Gene looked over and saw a very lank man dressed in a bright red suit coat, "If those two want to fight then the best thing to do is let them fight."
"But it's a fight to the death isn't it?" Jim spoke up to the man in the red coat out of his great concern for Sazuka's life.
On the other side of the device, Lupin had been trying to assess the situation in the back of his mind. There next to him was a group of people that were similar to him in some small way; at least the woman from their group was like Goemon. How could the rest of those people on the other side be like him and his crew? Perhaps the man with red hair was like Lupin, though looking at the twin scars on his left cheek, Lupin already assessed that he was the more handsome of the two. Still, it was that red hair on his head that Lupin pondered over the most in those few minutes he had to think to himself. The hair was much like his coat, it could have been a coincidence or maybe that man was an alternate version of himself. Yet, the events of the day remained to be seen for the professional thief.
As Lupin thought about it a little more a loud voice boomed out over them.
"STOP!"
Everyone turned to look where the voice came from, even the fighting swordsmen Sazuka and Goemon stopped their duel to look where that voice came from. As they had put away their swords the came off of the tops of the cars and walked up the isles to their respective groups. It was like they were walking to the scene of a major traffic accident to get a better look and still find a way not to piss the police off. Slowly, Goemon took his place beside his friends and Sazuka did the same as the crowd had turned itself into an odd u-shape around the one who made that command for everything to stop.
The one who was in the center of the crowd that consisted of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six was a rather aged man, roughly in his late forties. His hair was balding, but there was no touch of gray anywhere in his brown hair that was parted to his right. He wore a brown suit, tie, gold tie clip, and a pair of sunglasses that did show a little bit of what was behind them because of the semi-translucence in them. Yet his face was lined with the wrinkles of his age as he continued to keep his neutral face. Yet the thing that seemed very eerie to them was the thing in his ear, it looked like one of those headphones that plug straight into the ear itself, but this one had a chord that went right down into his suit. The man looked like an Agent.
"Mister Starwind." He said to Gene, "Mister Lupin. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Smith, Agent Smith." He spoke in a very sinister low tone to all of them, elongating the S as if he were a snake. "It seems that my superiors were right about all of you. Whatever you're planning I suggest you stop right here, unless you want to be killed."
"Heh," Gene laughed, "Get a load of you. You waltz up here and say to us to stop or we'll be killed, when none of us know what the hell is going on."
"You go that right." Lupin agreed with the outlaw, "I for one don't like to be ordered around."
"Hmmm, Mister Starwind, Mister Lupin, you disappoint me."
As the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six both were trying to grasp the overall situation as well as the one that had just walked in and started making demands upon them, a very familiar and gruff voice called out to them.
"LUPIN!"
Lupin froze for a moment, but turned his neck to find out what was there like looking over his shoulder to see if he was being followed. Sure enough, he was being followed by the very man who had chased him across the Earth for most of his professional life. The man from Interpol, Inspector Zenigata, he came pulling up into the hotel parking lot in his very policeman looking car and got out straightening his brown trench-coat and approached the Lupin Crew. The inspector, who had dealt with all kinds of local authorities around the world, recognized the agent immediately from his suit and earpiece.
"Aha!" he said with a gleeful smile, "I see you've caught them, sir." He approached the agent with a glow as though he had won once again against the thief not knowing the dangers that lurked in that situation. He saluted the agent, "Inspector Zenigata from Interpol. Thank you, very much. You're involvement is no longer needed I'll simply take back the criminals to Interpol HQ."
"I'm sorry, Inspector." The agent said as his aged eye brows raised his forehead wrinkled, "But you have no authority here."
"What?!" Zenigata shouted at the Agent, but he was quick to think that he could give proof to the agent of his authority. He reached in and pulled out his badge, "See, I'm Inspector Zenigata of Interpol."
The Agent looked at the badge in such a way that it looked as if he was turning his nose up at the inspector. "Lovely badge" He said, "But Interpol does not exist here. Only the authority of the Obsessed and my orders are to kill all of you. Good bye, Inspector."
As the agent made his farewell to Zenigata he reached into his coat. The most experienced gunman of the group already knew what was going to happen; the agent was going for his gun, but it was the way he was going for it that added the extra odd feeling to the adrenaline that was pumping through all of them. The agent's hand and arms that reached for the gun seemed like a blur like a cheetah running at full speed across the African plains.
The agent pulled out his gun which was more like a hand cannon with the words "Desert Eagle .50" written along its barrel. In that blur he made his first aim and it was at the head of Inspector Zenigata who was looking down the long chrome barrel. His eyes then moved down into the dark passage into the chamber where he knew there was a bullet with his name on it. His life didn't flash in front of his eyes because he was too goddamn scared to think. So, what could he do? Just pull a stupid face and wait for the inevitable to happen.
The trigger was pulled and Zenigata closed his eyes as he heard the gunshot run out but he felt himself tumble over. He didn't know what happened at first but then he knew the feeling of what did happen an instant later; he was being pulled. He opened his eyes to find Lupin on top of him.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Zenigata shouted
"Show a little gratitude, pops." Lupin said very surly, but still kept that smirk on his face, "I couldn't just let that guy splatter your brains everywhere."
The three way gunfight had started between the agent, the Lupin Crew, and the Outlaw Six. In the great expanse of the hotel parking lot all of them sought temporary refuge behind one of the large SUV's, the kind so large that a rhino could be hid behind it. They hid crouched down at its side with the agents' bullets flying cracking out glass and putting in holes in the cars bodies. As the bullets flew, all of them began to arm themselves.
Lupin was loading up his Walther P-38, Jigen was loading his hand cannon as well, and Gene was loading his caster with a number ten shell.
"Whatever or whoever this guy is," Gene observed, "We can't let ourselves die like this."
"You don't need to tell me." Lupin said as he cocked his Walther, he held it in his left hand as he reached over to Gene with his right, "By the way, my name's Lupin the Third."
"Gene." The outlaw returned the handshake, "Gene Starwind."
"Enough chit-chat." Jigen stewed, "Let's kick some ass."
"Suits me just fine." Gene said as he, Lupin, and Jigen dashed to their feet and jumped out from behind the SUV and had the agent in their sights. The first ones to fire were Lupin and Jigen. They emptied their clips at the agent but as they fired they noticed something that defied all logic and reason.
Their bullets flew at the agent and he turned into a blur. At least the upper part of his body did, there were after images of his upper section bending forward, then sideways, backward, and back again. All the while the bullets only made holes in the cars beyond their target.
Click-click
Lupin and Jigen's guns ran out, but the two of them could only look and see that with all the effort that was done the agent didn't have a single scratch about him. He looked just as he did when he first introduced himself. The two of them tried to get over the disbelief of what they had just witnessed despite knowing that if they didn't do something quick they would be killed. They watched in the same stunned amazement as the agent had brought himself about and aimed once again.
"Games over, Old Man!" Gene shouted as he pulled his casters trigger. The twin rings of the barrel spun round and round like the engines of a jet and the ball of magic fired straight at Agent Smith. It came out in a bright stream of blue light, at first the agent tried to dodge it much like he did with the bullets fired by Jigen and Lupin. Unlike the bullets, the agent couldn't dodge fast enough and the magic had hit him. He went flying backward and hit the side doors of one of the parked cars, smashing in the windows, body frame, and setting off the car alarm.
"Not bad for a number ten." Gene said
Then as quickly as Agent Smith went down, he got back up and took aim once again at the thieves and outlaw.
"Take cover!" Gene shouted as the agent opened fire.
Crouching back down beneath the SUV as the bullets flew once again, Gene, Jigen, and Lupin were reloading their weapons.
"What the hell did you hit him with?" Jigen asked in his raised voice as Gene went for another caster shell.
"It's my caster. They use magic inside of these shells." He displayed the golden shell as he shoved it into the casters chamber.
"How many more of those things have you got?" Lupin asked
"About 14." Gene said as he closed the casters chamber, "But I don't think this guys going to go down that easily."
"Then we'll have to hit him with everything we've got." Lupin smirked as the three of them stood up and went back out to make another attack. When they came out from behind the SUV they saw that the Agent was reloading his weapon as well. The quick synapses of their minds made the connection that it was their golden opportunity to take the Agent down. All of them took aim, but before they could pull their triggers another voice shouted out.
"SNOOTCH TO THE MOTHERFUCKIN' NOOTCH!"
All heads and eyes turned to where the sound came from and from over the tops of the cars came a man dressed in black with a guitar case in one hand and a large gun in the other. He came down from the top of a nearby van and landed upon his feet and began unloading all of the bullets in his gun at the agent. As he fired the agent had turned himself back into that blur with the bullets passing him by and hitting everything else except the target.
"TAKE COVER!" The man in black shouted to Gene, Jigen, and Lupin
They couldn't figure out why but of course in the panicked situation that they were in they were willing to take any kind of help from anyone as long as they would take down the agent. They ducked back behind the SUV with a new man accompanying them in their efforts to either injury or kill Agent Smith.
Over the sounds of the bullets, they spoke.
"Who the hell are you?" Jigen asked sternly, "And what the hell are you doing here?"
"My name is Armand el Mariachi and right now I'm saving your ass. Now look here's what we're going to do, I need everyone here to attack him in any way possible, gun, swords, bare fist, anything. It's just a distraction while one of you will have to sneak up and shoot him from behind."
"Great idea." Lupin smiled, "Don't you think so, Fuji…" Lupin looked around to see if Fujiko was anywhere near them but she was gone, just like all those times before when Lupin would turn his back and she had vanished. Lupin went down upon his hands and knees to look for where she had gone. Peeking around behind one of the wheels of the SUV he found the back of her fuchsia dress. She was a good five feet away ducking behind one of the cars.
"Alright, are all of you ready?" Armand asked
"I'm ready." Gene smiled
"Same here." Jigen said as he cocked his gun
Armand laid down his guitar case and opened it quickly as if his life had depended upon opening that lid. Inside the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six found guns, bullets, gun belts, and knives. He went in and pulled out two M-16 automatic rifles one for each hand and set them aside. Then he pulled out a couple of Uzi's and stuffed them nozzle downward into his pants. He dove his hands back into the guitar case and brought out a couple of small handguns that seemed to have extra long clips that went a few inches longer then the actual guns handle. He handed both guns over to Jim. Then his hands went back for the rifles.
"ATTACK!" Armand shouted out as the Lupin crew and the Outlaw Six made it for one big attack. The first wave was Jigen and Lupin who emptied the bullets out of their guns as quickly as they did in their first attack with the agent. They knew that he was going to dodge them again, but they knew that this was all just a build-up.
The next attack came from Gene and Jim. Gene fired his caster, this time he did a number eleven shell. He brought it about and took aim against the agent who was still dodging the last of the bullets fired by Jigen and Lupin. The twin rings of the caster spun round and round and the magic fired once again, but in the blur of adrenaline and gunfire Gene saw that the agent dodged the casters magic. It seemed that the agent wasn't about to fall for the same ploy twice. That was when the next wave came from Jim who brought out those twin guns that were given to him by Armand. He pulled both triggers and at first the kick back of the guns was too much for his childish hands but Jim wasn't a novice about guns. He tightened his grip upon them and aimed for the agent, who was still dodging the bullets.
Then there was the wave of attack that involved Goemon and Sazuka. The two of them dashed out over the tops and hoods of the cars setting off more alarms and making more dents thanks to their wooden shoes. Goemon was the first one to make his slice at the agent; he knew that there wasn't anything that he and his sword couldn't cut. Using the art of Iai, he tried to pull a few fast ones on the Agent, but the agent was quicker than Goemon. He dropped his gun and used his palms to catch the blade of the Zantetsuken. Goemon was shocked when he saw this and what was even more incredible, he didn't even see any blood running down the blade of the sword at all.
As Goemon absorbed the shock, Sazuka made her move. She used one of her specialty techniques. She leaped up into the air and brought down the blade of her wooden sword in one swift swoop. As she did the energies of her specialty technique came down upon the agent like a cartoon character trying to drop a piano on his enemies head. Yet, like the Zantetsuken, the Agent had stopped the specialty technique. He simply took his hands and used it to throw Goemon against one of the near by cars, giving him the ability to raise his hand to the specialty technique and divert it like stopping a small stream of water from a hose.
"No one has ever been able to stop it like that." Sazuka thought to herself as she waited for the next attack.
It came from Armand who had brought about his twin M-16 rifles allowing each arm to fire them. Even with the huge kick-back the guns had in firing, Armand still held his own trying to keep them on the target ahead of him. He didn't even think about the barrel heating up or anything like that. He knew that the Agent had to be taken care of in order to obtain the objective that was handed to him a long time ago and he wasn't going to let it slip.
The M-16's had run out of bullets. Armand threw them aside and went for the Uzi's that he stuck down his pants and with the lightning blur that was nearly equal to the agent he started to fire once again, but again the agent dodged them all.
Click-click
The Uzi's had run out of bullets and the attacks had stopped. The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six kept looking around them at the devastation that was caused. All the cars around them were riddled with bullet holes, windows cracks, and tires popped. Among all the damage and destruction, the Agent still stood there, unscathed, not a scratch in his clothes or in his skin cut. He bent down and picked up his gun as if he had dropped it by accident, that same casual way that anyone picks up anything while the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were dumbfounded by all the attempts that they had made.
The agent took aim at Armand and made his shots.
One….
Two…
Three…
Then something surprising happened, Armand himself had turned into a black blur as the bullets were fired. The next image of him that anyone had seen was him lying down on the ground with the bullet scratches in his black clothes. Lying upon the asphalt of the parking lot, the Agent had approached him. He brought about his gun and aimed it at his head.
"Only human." He said to himself but as he took aim, there was a click behind him. He looked and there she was; Fujiko Mine standing there in her sexy fuchsia dress with her hand gun pointing directly at the Agents head.
"Dodge this." She said as she pulled the trigger. The gun ringed out and the agent fell over in one swift action onto his back. As he lied there upon the asphalt, his visage began to vanish as if it were just an illusion and in his place was a young boy. The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six gathered around his body. They saw that from the looks of him, he was no more than 14 years old with that wound in his head, pieces of his skull and brains scattered across the asphalt and the blood beginning to pool all around him.
It seemed horrific, even to those in the group who have killed people. Killing someone who had the intention of killing them was one thing, but to kill someone like that and to see that it was just a mere boy?
"Wait a minute…" Gene said as he looked at the body, "Didn't we just kill an older guy?"
Armand got himself back to his feet, "This is the power of the enemy." He said as he gathered up his guns and dusted off his black clothes. "What you just saw is an Agent, complements of the Obsessed."
"What'd you mean, kid?" Jigen asked and said very angrily, "Cut the crap and come clean."
"Like I said before," Armand said calmly, "My name is Armand el Mariachi; I'm a weapon smith and one of the guards to the one true king of Mydar."
"Woah, back up there." Lupin stopped Armand, "A weapon smith, a guard, the true king of Mydar? This is getting a little weird for me."
"Maybe so, but all of you have been brought here for one reason." Armand explained
"What reason is that?" Gene asked
"To free the one true kind of Mydar. He did open the doors for you."
"More like fell through." Fujiko grimaced when she thought about falling through that hole in the shower.
"Please, come with me." Armand instructed as he gathered up his weapons and his guitar case, "I have a small place where we can have a little drink and discuss this a little more."
To be continued…