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 18: The Southern Group

Butcho's Palace

The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six all had followed Armand in their own cars departing away from the gun fighting mess that they had left at the parking lot of the Hotel Rachel. The man who had called himself Armand el Mariachi had a candy apple red convertible, but it wasn't shinning new as some would have hoped. It was dirty from lack of being washed, the paint starting to oxidize and fade away to the rust underneath it all. Its white convertible top was already torn, tattered, and dirty like the rest of the car. The windshield already cracked in several places but not so much that it was hard to see out of it. It was still good enough to see through.

Before leaving the parking lot, they watched Armand get into it. He placed his guitar case filled with guns in the passenger side seat as if it was the love of his life and went around into the drivers' seat and started it up. Amazingly the car started up as if it was brand new, it showed both the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew that you can never judge a car by how it looks.

Pulling out of the parking lot, Armand looked as though that the events in the parking lot had never happened. Behind him, the Lupin crew gathered up into the Mercedes, bringing along Inspector Zenigata for the ride. One of the main reasons was that Lupin felt that Zenigata might become useful later on in this adventure that they've been mixed up in.

Following the dirty candy apple red convertible, the conversation among the Lupin Crew (who now included Zenigata) and the Outlaw Six was absolute nothing. Not a single word out of any of them. Then again, how were they supposed to take what had just happened in the past...Melphina looked at the watch she bought and found out that the intensity of what happened in the parking lot was only fifteen minutes. So, everything that had happened in those intense times was only fifteen minutes, but still there was no conversation among them; only the purr of the engine and the two cars trying to follow the leader ahead.

Armand had led the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six down deep into a different part of the town. He took them into the south-western part of the town, "Little Mexico". The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six kept up with Armand's car as they looked out at the houses. Seeing children with shirts but no pants, others without clothes but have shoes. All of the children staring up with all brown eyes at them, all eyes that were cold and hungry wanting a better life or hoping for some ounce of generosity like puppies wanting a better home. It struck some kind of chord with the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six, even though some have had bad experiences with children. It was mainly Lupin, who had quite a run-in with a little girl who wanted a very valuable stamp that he had stolen.

Eventually, the cars came to a stop and Armand took out his guitar case from the passenger side and silently signaled for them to follow him on foot. It didn't take long for them to see where they had pulled up to. They saw a one two story building, much like the other buildings in "Little Mexico", made out of mud, sand, and logs for the roof. They looked down and saw Armand waving at them to come in.

The Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six got out of their cars and followed him in. Pouring in one by one they soon saw the interior of the house. They saw the floor to be like the outside, made of those same earthly materials, while the roof above them was made out of the aged floorboards. Around them they saw Armand standing at an old fire burning stove and a small table with a few chairs around it. The room had only a few windows that had wooden shutters there that didn't keep out a lot of light as they were closed. The light leaked in light water leaking from a busted pipe. Aside from the wood burning stove, the table, and the chairs, there was one last piece of furniture in the room. It was a rather small cabinet, nothing fancy, just something very simple.

Armand set his guitar case next to the stove and went to the cabinet. From there he pulled out a bottle that was half full of Tequila and a few short glasses, with what his hands could carry. He sat down at the table and poured himself a glass. He looked over at the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew seeing that they were still standing.

"Please." He said, "Sit down, but I'm afraid I don't have very many chairs."

With that, the "leaders" of each group took their chairs with the man who had said that he was a weapon smith.

Gene Starwind, Jim Hawking, Lupin the Third, Inspector Zenigata, and Jigen took their seats in the somewhat flimsy wooden chairs. The swordsmen Goemon and Sazuka took their seats by leaning against the wall with their swords nearby them. Melphina, Fujiko, and Asia Clan-clan simply stood near the table that their friends had sat at.

With a little calmer atmosphere and time to absorb a little more of their new companion, they saw Armand in more detail. Despite the fact that the shutters were closed there was still enough light to see Armand. They saw that he had long black hair down to his shoulders that somewhat obscured part of his face as he hunched over his shot glass of tequila. He then straightened up to pour some tequila for his guests. He poured out four glasses and shoved them towards, Gene, Lupin, Zenigata, and Jigen. They watched Armand's hand as he offered them his drink of choice. They saw a scar upon the top of his left hand, a scar that looked as if the flesh had been torn away leaving only dead tissue. Looking back at his face, they had noticed that Armand had a wide and open brow with a broad nose. His eyes were brown and narrow set under a set of thick eyebrows. His skin very tanned like a medium wood finish. Then even noticed that his voice was kind and had the trace of a Latin/Spanish accent, rolling his R's, and giving a little extra hiss to his S's.

As Armand pushed the last of the tequila to his guests, he raised his own glass with his scarred left hand.

"To the success of the quest" He said as he took the tequila down in one shot while his guests kept looking at the strange liquor.

"Alright." Gene started the discussion, "We already know that your name is Armand. You said you're the guard to the one true king of Mydar, but what the hell does this have to do with us?"

"I'll make a long story short." Armand said, "The lord of this land is captured and needs help getting free. That's why all of you are here, all of you have been summoned as part of an army that my master needs."

"An army?" Sazuka asked, "I'm sorry, but I cannot be apart of this."

"Why is that?" Armand asked the lady samurai

"I do not get involved in anything unless it involves anything for my own personal interests."

"In other words, money." Lupin leaned back in his chair and smiled at Sazuka like he had in seducing hundreds of other women, "Am I right, honey?"

"As distasteful as the way you asked it, yes." Sazuka answered with a little grimace

"I'm sure my master would be more than willing to compensate all of you for your help." Armand stated

"How so?" Jigen asked

Armand reached into the pocket of his black jacket, "I knew that the ones for the army would need a little incentive, so I have this." He pulled out his hand and opened his palm, from it came coins. Not just any regular kind of coins, they were gold coins, all of them shimmering in the light that leaked into the room.

"Is that what I think it is?" Lupin asked

"Yes." Armand answered

He looked at the coins seeing the intricacy of the engravings upon them and how they shimmered like all kinds of riches that he had stolen in the past.

"It is beautiful." He uttered

"And there is a million times more of this in my masters' tower where he is being held." Armand explained, "Will you help?"

"Well," Gene said, "Most of my debts are paid off, but then again I'm always on the look out for extra cash. And since we can't exactly get back home, looks like this'll be our best option."

"I'm with Gene on this." Jim spoke up, "Gene and I are partners. Anything he does he doesn't do without me."

Armand looked to his left where the leaders of the Lupin crew sat.

"Well, money is always a great incentive for me." Lupin smiled, "I'm in."

"Wait a minute there, Lupin." Zenigata spoke out, "Since I'm involved in this, any criminal activity you do I'll arrest you."

"Didn't you hear that guy back there, pops?" Lupin asked, "You have no authority here, you're slightly out of your jurisdiction. Plus we may need you."

"Are you nuts, Lupin?" Jigen asked angrily, "Why should we trust him?"

"Yeah and why should I trust you?" Zenigata asked in agreement with Jigen

"Because we don't have any other choice." Lupin said, and he was right there was no other choice but to go along with Armand in whatever was ahead of them. And whoever the King of Mydar is, if he has a million times more in gold than the coins Armand presented, and then they'd be set for life. Then again in Lupin's mind as he had confessed money is always a great incentive, but then again women are another incentive he has.

"Then it's settled." Armand said as he gathered up the coins and put them back in his pocket, "But because of the little fiasco at the Hotel Rachel, the lord of this town isn't going to let us leave quietly."

"Who is this lord?" Jim asked

"He is a vicious drug lord named Butcho. Ever since the Blight of Mydar came to this land, towns everywhere have suffered, and this man is one of them. What makes this situation worse is that he's captured two people very dear to me."

"Who?" Fujiko asked

"Two students of mine" Armand said with deep regret in his tone as if he had made some great mistake in the past, "Rally Vincent and May Hopkins."

The way Armand spoke, even though the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had no idea of what he was talking about when he spoke of the Blight of Mydar, they knew that something had to be done about it. Because they knew that this man would lead them to that vault with the gold in it. That being the most materialistic reason, but underneath it they remembered the faces of the starving children. That's what made them think about the two students of Armand's that were captured. Even though they had never set eyes upon them, it was just the tone in Armand's voice that struck such a deep chord with them, something deep within each person about helping those in need. Then something else came up in their minds, and Gene was the first to say something about it.

"If Butcho won't let us leave this town" Gene said, "then I guess we're going to have to face him."

"As luck would have it." Armand brought up, "Today is Butcho's Fortieth Birthday, and he will be celebrating it at his palace which is only a few miles east of town. He's based at an old mission that he took over as his palace. We strike there and we do it today." He said that last sentence with such an ominous tone as if he were some kind of prophet predicting the future.

At a distance, Fujiko couldn't help but notice the wound in his hand. As Armand turned to gather up his guitar case, Fujiko went to him and asked, "That wound in your hand. How did you get it?"

Armand looked at his left hand as if it were a photo of a woman that he loved dearly and had lost to some great tragedy long ago. "This wound in my hand." He said, "Was from when I had escaped my masters' tower. I wanted to stay by his side and fight the Blight of Mydar, but he ordered me to leave, but those who had taken over the tower captured me. They had given me the choice to join them. I told them that I would never join them that my loyalties lied with my master. It was with that that I was punished. I used to be a great Mariachi guitar player, and with my hand as it is, I can never play the guitar again. So I took to my guns that I had made and swore to return to the tower."

"Such a sad story." Lupin sympathized

"Yeah." Gene agreed

Fujiko paused and suddenly she had an idea. Something clicked in her mind like tab A into slot B of a paper construction. The cup. The cup in the Mercedes, Fujiko dashed out of the room with Lupin and the others calling for her, but all of their voices seemed distant to her in the dreamy daze she was in. She felt like the one who had found the cure to the greatest disease that would ever scour the earth. She alone had the key to unravel Armand's suffering. She went to the place where she left the cup, took it from the passenger seat, and dashed back into the house where Lupin was calling to her.

"Fuji, what are you doing?" He asked, but Fujiko did not answer, she held the cup in front of her as if she was the torch bearer for the flame of the Olympic Games. She came to Armand with the cup in her hands.

"I think this will help you." She said, "I can't explain how, but I think it can."

"What are you babbling about?" Asia asked in her high pride Ctarl-Ctarl voice

Fujiko ignored it like the concern Lupin had for her and looked to Armand whose eyes wend wide with amazement. It was as if the old dirty cup that Fujiko had taken from that antique shop was the most precious thing that Armand had ever laid eyes upon. Fujiko took the tequila that was served and poured it into the cup. Keeping the liquid there she brought it over to Armand, she knelt down beside him, took the very hand that had the wound in it, and poured the tequila in the dirty old cup onto it. Before the very eyes of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew the wound on Armand's hand began to shrivel, shrink, and close up upon itself. As the last of the tequila poured out, Armand discovered that he could move the very two middle fingers that were immobile the day that the wound was placed in his hand.

Armand began to move his fingers to test the regained dexterity. The fingers he thought that were useless for the rest of his life were alive once again as if the punishment never happened. He clenched his fist once again and took the cup from Fujiko's hand and gazed at it.

"Where did you find this?" Armand asked never taking his gaze away from the cup

"At an antique shop in a town called Derry." Fujiko explained

"Always the last place to look." He said with frustration in his voice as well as upon his scrunched up face.

"What do you mean?" Gene asked

"Tell me." Armand implored to everyone, "Have any of you picked up or bought anything unusual? Anything at all."

There was silence for a moment as if everyone was thinking the same line, "I sure didn't." Except for Melphina who brought her mind back to the watch upon her wrist. She brought it close to her face looking at the embossed design upon it, the Chinese dragon that snaked its way to the top.

"Um…" Melphina tried to speak up, "I did."

Armand looked over to Melphina and motioned her to come forward, "Come miss, show me."

Melphina took the watch off of her wrist and handed it to Armand who looked at both the cup and watch together. He looked at them in the same way that a kid looks when they found something that they had lost. Something that was loved immensely and then regained after it was lost.

"At last." Armand whispered

"What is it, then?" Lupin asked

Armand had explained briefly the significance of the objects he held. How they were pieces of his masters power, and that they would need to return them to him at his Dark Tower.

"That does explain the power of the cup to heal." Jim had assessed, "But what does the watch do?"

"God and my master only know what it can do." Armand spoke, "But we shall deal with that a little later, but first we must deal with Butcho, or we'll never leave this town. No doubt he already has men looking for us."

Armand gave the watch and the cup back to the ones who picked them up. After he brought some paper to the table he began to outline what he had planned ever since Butcho and the Obsessed came to the lands of Mydar.

"As I mentioned before, Butcho will be celebrating his fortieth birthday today. There's a million ways that this could go wrong, so we gotta do this carefully."

Quietly the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew agreed and knew all together that they could trust each other as well as put their faith in Armand El Mariachi. They had to, because there really was no other choice about it.

To the east, about three miles out of town there was an old mission, built in the same way as the houses in Little Mexico. It was made of clay and wood, yet it had such quaintness. Its walls containing rooms while above the main wooden gate was the large cast iron bell. The building, which was Butcho's Palace, was an old Spanish Mission. Yet, throughout it there was not a single priest of nun there. All there was were Butcho, his men, his women, and guards armed with guns atop the twenty-foot walls at every post.

At the front gate there were two men. One sat upon a horse looking down at the dirt road that snaked its way into the town of Rachel below. The man on the horse reached up to his face to scratch his scraggily beard as the wind blew through his hear that showed its age with the grayish hairs around his ears. This man was the vicious drug lord over Rachel, Butcho, a member of the Obsessed.

Below standing on his feet was his right hand man, Jefe. He stood holding his rifle in one hand while the other had its thumb hooked into one of his twin crisscrossing belts that held his rifle rounds. He looked in the same direction as Butcho from under his sombrero. He then looked back up at his boss who seemed to have a lot on his mind. Jefe had known Butcho for years, so he was in tune to what his boss and friend was feeling.

"It will be a great day today, Butcho." Jefe smiled exposing his dirty and very yellow teeth from his years of smoking. "There will be a great many presents for you."

"Si." Butcho said in flat agreement, but then stated, "But the one thing I want in this world is the head of Armand El Mariachi. That bandido has eluded us since the day he escaped out master." He paused for a moment, "Did you hear that he showed up today? He took down an agent outside the Hotel Rachel."

"Si, Butcho." Jefe nodded, "I also heard that there were strange people with him too."

"Maldito sea!" Butcho cursed, "I thought that he would come to rescue his students…maldito sea…"

"Do not worry about it, Butcho." Jefe advised, "Because I think you will like the presents here today. I have put many piñatas in the store room each of them filled with little surprises."

"Many piñatas?" Butcho asked taking his mind away from the enemy and focus upon his celebration

"Many piñatas, many!" Jefe said with a great smile on his tanned face happy to see his boss and friend thinking about something else.

Butcho smiled back showing his equally yellow teeth behind his beard, "Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?" He asked his right hand man

"A what?" Jefe asked

"A plethora." Butcho repeated

Jefe felt confused by the word plethora, but so as to not upset Butcho he played along with it, "Si, Butcho. You have a plethora."

Still smiling Butcho asked, "Jefe, what is a plethora?"

Jefe felt even more confused, "Why, Butcho?"

Butcho started to explain his logic, "Well, you told me I have a plethora and I would just like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he had a plethor and find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora."

Jefe already felt stupid by this but he wanted to try to calm Butcho down if he could.

"Forgive me, Butcho." He bowed his head lowering the brim of his sombrero over his face but rose up again to look at his boss, "I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else and are looking to take it out on me?"

"Like what, Jefe?" Butcho asked curiously

Jefe shrugged as he hooked his thumb back into his belt, "Could it be because you are turning forty today?"

"No." Butcho shook his head as he looke din a different direction away from Jefe's gaze

"Could it be because Rally and Minnie May choose to sleep in their cell instead of with you?"

Butcho grew a look on his face, a kind of light grimace or a "maybe" kind of face that said "maybe" without actually saying it. After all it was one of those looks where a person wouldn't have to hear it from their lips. All they could do was just look into their face and see the answer there.

Jefe then drew upon his own experience with women to give advice to Butcho.

"Why don't you just take them, Butcho?" He said politely as well as egging him on to do what he thinks he wants to do, "When you want land, you take the land. When you want cattle, you take the cattle. When you want the women, you just take the women. Why don't you just take them?"

"Jefe." Butcho smiled like a father explaining to his son his own interpretation of life's mysteries, "You do know understand women. You cannot force open the petals of a flower. When the flower is ready it opens itself to you."

Jefe smiled back, "When do you think that Rally and Minnie-may will…'open up their flowers' to you?"

"Tonight." Butcho smiled and then turned angry as he uttered, "or I will kill them!"

In the heat of their discussion, Butcho and Jefe didn't notice that something was coming up the dirt road to his palace. They looked together and they saw a horse drawn cart coming closer. The man driving the cart was dressed completely in rags, so much that they covered his face. The only parts of him that were exposed were his hands that held the reigns of the horses. The cart itself was just a simple wood construction, everything down to the wheels, such a wooden design that it squeaked as it rolled up to the gates of Butcho's palace.

"Stop!" Jefe halted the cart as he approached it and the ragged man stopped his carts.

"I bring presents for Butcho." The ragged man said, his voice sounding old and dry.

Jefe went to the back of the cart finding that there wasn't only one cart but there was a second one being pulled behind the first one. Both of them had brown tarps over the cargo area and so Jefe went to the first one and flipped open the tarp. All he found underneath it were a couple of piñatas. He went to the cart behind it and found the same thing: piñatas.

"He's alright, Butcho." Jefe called out to his boss

Yet, Butcho couldn't help but be suspicious. He couldn't take his eyes off of the ragged man. It's the curse that men of power have, the more they have of it the more paranoid they become. Then again, they usually do have a right to be paranoid because they have so much to loose, but even then there has to be trust somewhere. And Butcho had trust in Jefe, but he didn't trust the ragged man.

"You there!" Butcho pointed at the ragged man, "Take off your hood!"

The ragged man quickly obliged Butcho's request. He took his hands away from the reigns of his horses to the hem of his rags around his face. He pulled the hood back around his neck revealing himself to Butcho. The ragged man had long hair that was brushed back from his receding hairline. His nose was rather long, pointed, and narrow. His beard was long but had no mustache to complete it.

Butcho took a good long look at his face.

"You can pass." He said and turned back to the wooden gates, "Open the doors!" He called as the ragged man pulled the hood back over his face.

Jigen drove the cart passed the wooden gates of Butcho's palace, and as he pulled in, on the right side of his face under his disguise as a ragged man, his tooth began to ache. It always happened whenever he got nervous or extremely twitchy about a situation. For Jigen, getting him in that state of mind would be extremely hard. The whole sneaking around bit was not in Jigen's style, if he was to face an enemy he'd rather do it face to face. Still that tooth ached and pounded within his jaw. In that agony, he wished to God that he had some Novocain or at least some whiskey.

"Gettin' too old for this crap." He thought to himself as he pulled the carts behind one of the many pillars that held up the upper balconies of the mission.

Jigen looked left and right and whispered to the carts behind him, "Coast is clear."

From underneath the tarp of both carts came the rest of the Lupin Crew as well as the Outlaw Six and Armand. All of them dressed in different attire. The men were dressed in dirty serapes so filthy that just a single pat on them would send up a cloud of dirt. As the men got off of the cart they each took a sombrero to wear as well as a gun to take underneath, while in Armand's case he took his guitar case with him.

The women on the other hand, Fujiko Asia, Sazuka, and Melphina were dressed in clothes befitting Mexican dancers. Strapless dresses with low cut necks that gave away so much of their ample bosoms, especially in the cases of the most voluptuous of them. Each dress also had such light and wonderful colors, yellow, red, green, orange, blue, all of them so bright and vibrant, like the colors of the paper on the piñatas. Though there were some who complained of it.

"Is this absolutely necessary?" Sazuka asked as she tried to bring up the low neck of her dress so that her breasts wouldn't be so exposed.

"There's no shame in showing off a little skin." Fujiko advised as she came down off the cart.

"Quite a piece of work." Lupin complemented to Armand, "A Hologram Image Generator."

"Yeah, when that guy threw off the tarp I thought we were goners for sure." Jim said as he brushed a little bit of sweat off of his brow.

"We all know what to do." Amrand said to his group of both gunman and swordsmen, "Goemon, Lupin, and Jim come with me. While the rest of you try to mix in with the crowd. Once we come back with Rally and May, I'll give you the signal, got it?"

Everyone nodded and they all moved out amongst the crowd.

Within the courtyard of the mission the celebration of Butcho's fortieth birthday had already begun with the piñatas being hung like Christmas lights from the central flag pole. Butcho's men firing off their guns wildly into the air as they screamed Viva Butcho! Then the dancing started, the salsa music played with such vibrancy that it seemed that the instruments possessed their players to play what they wanted to be played.

Down below the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were blending in as much as possible. The women dancing around showing themselves off to the men, especially Fujiko who was such a professional at teasing men, while the men of the groups were trying to mix in with Butcho's men reciting lines in Spanish that Armand had told them and swigging back bottles of tequila that were being given out.

The tequila tasted oddly strange to most of them. It tasted a little bit like sake, yet it seemed to have such a sharper bite to it. Yet, despite its taste the men tried not to give themselves away. While at the Eastern side of the courtyard, Armand with Goemon, Lupin, and Jim snuck into the doorway that led to the "cells". It truly was a good thing that everyone was having such a wonderful time. The only guards on duty were the ones upon the posts guarding the mission itself form invaders, it felt as easy as falling off a log when they slipped through the door and setting their plans into motion.

Within one of the man "cells" Rally Vincent and Minnie-may Hopkins sat in wait. The room they waited in was a traditional "cell", back in the day when Butcho's Palace was a mission; it was a room that a nun or a priest would sleep in. That much was obvious from the lack of objects in the room, hailing to the vow of poverty that every nun and priest must take There were only statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary on the night stand, a crucifix on one of the walls, and a portrait of the last supper. The only pieces of furniture were the twin beds, a table, chairs, and a night stand.

Rally and May sat at the table as they heard the music coming through the windows as well as through the balcony door, if it could be called a balcony. It was more like a short section jutting out from their cell that overlooked the courtyard.

Hearing the music, Rally and May knew that they would have to be Butcho's women for the night after the party was over. Yet, the two of them felt disgusted with such thoughts as those. Death seemed to be a better option, or just escaping…if they had their weapons. As well as some clothes that aren't so hard to move in, at least for Rally. The tow of them were dressed in those same Flamingo dancer dresses; low cut necks, strapless, hem down to the ankles, and in colors like the piñatas that were hung outside. Minnie-May found the dress to be quite flattering to her figure, but then again she always the more feminine between the two of them that Armand had affectionately called "The Gun Smith Cats".

Minnie-May did look rather young for her age, but she always had such a sweet and innocent look to her with her blonde hair, blue eyes, and always smiling face. On the other hand she isn't exactly innocent when it came to her weapon of choice: explosives. For Minnie-May Hopkins was a complete bomb freak. Anything that exploded was her taste; grenades, C-4, detonators, TNT, and so on. Once she would start using those things it was rather hard to stop her, which is why Rally Vincent is the voice of reason to May when it came to those sorts of situations.

Rally on the other hand was a little more mature than May on a physical level as well as mental level. She had deep auburn hair that came down to her shoulders and gave her a set of sharp bangs around her ears. She looked down at the table with her deep blue eyes and tried to think.

No great plans came to her. Minnie-May didn't have any brilliant plans either. It was frustrating to her, because she was so used to being on top of a situation. At least that's how Armand taught her, and she did miss him above all else. She started to wonder where he was and that was when a huge thud rang outside the door to their cell.

Rally and May got up wondering what was going on out there. The door knob turned and the door opened. At first they were expecting Butcho to come in and give them their last ultimatum that either they would be his sex slaves or they would die. Yet, their hearts soared to the levels of euphoria that they wanted to sing and dance when the saw Armand el Mariachi coming through that door.

"Armand." Rally uttered as she dashed across the room and threw her arms around his neck. She hugged him closely then took a step back and gave him a good hard punch to his stomach. Armand bent over from the shock of the attack.

"What took you so long?" Rally snarled at Armand.

"Found some help." Armand wheezed

As Armand recovered, it was up to May to try to patch the situation.

"Please, forgive Rally." She said to the others who followed Armand into the room, "She can be touchy at times."

"Is she your girlfriend, Armand?" Lupin smirked

"You're lucky I don't have my gun." Rally threatened Lupin

"Hate to break your ego miss, but that wasn't the first time a woman's threatened me."

"I'm not surprised." Rally cocked her eyebrow

"Enough." Armand said as he got back up, "Rally, May. We're here to get you out and free the King of Mydar."

"'Bout time." Rally smiled then she looked at her dress, "This damn dress and high heels."

"At least Armand came to you instead." May grinned sheepishly

"Oh, shut up." Rally pouted

"Come on, everyone." Jim advised, "Let's get going before Butcho catches on."

Outside in the courtyard, the dancing and music stopped in favor of a feast. Several long tables were set up as Butcho and his men sat, ate, and drank tequila straight form the bottle. The eating was rather quiet; perhaps it was because all the energies were spent in all the dancing and singing that they were doing a few minutes ago.

Jefe decided it was time for the birthday traditions. He reached for his gun in his holster and fired one shot into the air, his bullet missing the many piñatas that were strung over head. But the shot had caught the attention of the men who stopped their eating and drinking.

"Compadres!" Jefe called out, "We're here to celebrate Butcho's birthday!"

The men cheered as they took a good swig from their tequila bottles.

"Today, Butcho is…" Jefe suddenly remembered how sensitive Butcho is about his age. He looked down at Butcho who was giving him a very sharp glance at Jefe. His look seemed to say, don't you dare tell them that! Jefe turned his head back to the men with a younger age in mind as he raised his tequila bottle, "Thirty-three years old!"

The men cheered again as they took another great swig from their tequila bottles.

As Butcho ate he suddenly thought about his men his loyal men. That was when he stood up and decided to make his speech.

"Amigos!" He called out, "What we have done, we've done together! I know each of you like I know my own smell!"

As Butcho looked out among the crowd of men, there was Gene Starwind. He was trying his best to blend in as much as possible. It seemed for a moment that the half-baked plan was going along as was hoped at least until Butcho came over and addressed each individual man.

"Juan!" He laid his hand upon the man's shoulder as the others cheered out his name, "Together we took over the town of Rachel for ourselves!"

The men cheered once again.

Butcho moved down to another one of his men, "Carlos!" Butcho smiled as the men cheered his name and rose their tequila bottles, "Together we fought the priests of this mission."

The men raised their tequila bottles over their heads in their cheer for Carlos. While just a few feet away from Butcho, Gene was scared shitless about what to do, the plan was to blend in until Armand came back. Yet, he didn't see him anywhere; all he knew was that he had to turn things around real fast before he ends up in a prison cell and becomes someone's bitch.

As he thought about the terrible consequences, Butcho came up to him with a smile on his face and addressed him.

"And you?" He asked

The name came right out of Gene's mouth, "Jose!"

"Jose!" Butcho repeated as the men cheered, "Together we?"

"Burn the village!" Gene cheered trying to stay within character of his own half-baked plan.

"Burn the village!" Butch cheered with him along with the men like a chorus line, "And we?"

"Um…" Gene stammered, for a bit and then made the slip, "Raped the horses!"

"Raped the horses!" Butch cheered with the men, "And we?"

"Um…rode off on the women!" Gene said completing his slip

"Rode off on the women!" Butcho cheered with the rest of the men not noticing the silliness that was going on as he asked, "And we?"

"Plunder!" Gene answered back

"Plunder! And we?"

"Pruned…"

"Pruned of the?"
"Hedges…"

"Hedges."

"Of many small villages!" Gene felt confident that the half-baked plan of his was going to be a real bust.

"Of many small villages…" Butcho repeated and then yelled out, "Who the hell are you?!"

"It's a goddamn gringo!" Jefe shouted out as he cocked his gun at Gene's head.

"Take him away!" Butcho shouted out his order and then started his own small rant, "What is happening around here today? Everything was good and this gringo shows up! What's next? Gringos falling from the sky?"

Just as Butcho started in on his rant, Gene looked over to the Eastern wall of the courtyard. Within that wall was the door that Armand and his little team went through. Next to that door was Armand and a couple of new people with him. While the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six weren't with him, Gene knew that they were in place. Armand raised two fingers to his brow and gave off a small salute.

It was the signal.

Throughout the courtyard the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had positioned themselves at several points so as to overtake the mission. There was Jigen at the balcony at the North end of the mission. The higher ground would have given him a better advantage for his gunmanship skills. Zenigata had a similar idea for the balcony upon the Western end.

The women in the courtyard (Melphina, Sazuka, Asia, and Fujiko) were bringing themselves closer to Butcho, while Goemon was in the shadows with his Zantetsuken under his serape ready to strike with his Iai lighting fast reflexes.

Armand had told all of them that there were a hundred ways that the plan could go wrong…and he was right.

At every position that the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six were at, one of Butcfho's men had cornered them. Jigen, Lupin, Fujiko, Goemon, Zenigata, Gene, Jim, Asia, Sazuka, Armand, Rally, and May; all of them were trapped at the receiving end of a gun…and that wasn't even the half of it.

"We've caught them, Butcho!" The men cried out as they kept their eyes on their captives.

"Ah!" Butcho smiled, "Now this day has gotten better."

From among the many faces of Butcho's men something unusual was taking place. This particular foot soldier began to tremble and shake, like that of an epileptic seizure when all the muscles tighten, the body spasms, and the victim can do nothing about it. This foot soldier of Butcho's clutched onto his twelve-gauge rifle as another presence overtook him. He cried out and his voice started to sound muffled as if it were being processed through a one tone speaker. His eyes blackened and became reflective behind the eyelids. Then his clothes changed, his serape sinking inward into his skin and becoming a suit underneath, while a pair of sunglasses came from his blackened and reflective eyes. And so the change was complete as a new Agent dropped the twelve-gauge rifle and approached Butcho.

The agent that approached Butcho was the very same Agent that Fujiko had shot back at the hotel Rachel; Agent Smith, it was absolutely shocking to the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outalw Six to see someone just appear out of nowhere (for starters) and then see the same person come back to life without a scratch upon him.

"Butcho." Agent Smith smiled in a very crooked way, "Congratulations upon the capture of these criminals."

"I've always enjoyed serving our master." Butcho smiled back, "Now, what does our master wish to do with these, gringos?"

"The orders are to kill them, except Armand. Our master wants him alive." Smith said in that same slow halting voice, "I've also been told that two of these criminals carry something that our master has a great interest in taking."

"Who?" Butcho asked, "And what are they carrying?"

"Both are women." Smith explained, "One carried a cup and the other a watch."

The conversation could be heard by those who were closest. Though hearing it already made them feel the fear and panic swirling over their skin in that flash of heat under their clothes. Gene Starwind feared for Melhpina the most since she was the one who carried the watch. He also knew that Lupin must feel that same panic and fear for Fujiko. After all Lupin did love Fujiko even though Fujiko had been an on and off flame to Lupin.

It seemed like the end of the road for them all. That all their adventures and hardships would end there in that mission in an unknown land called Mydar. Except in their hearts they refused to lie down and die, but what could they do? Only a miracle could get them out of it.

As Melphina listened to the conversation that was deciding the fate of her friends and loved ones, she suddenly felt something. It was a slight tickle in the back of her mind. That tickle was like those times of great prowess she displayed when she and the others searched for the Galactic Leyline. The tickle in the back of her mind nagged at her like a child tugging on their parents sleeve asking them to pay attention to them for a moment. It was that sensation that made Melphina look to her left to her raised hand that she brought up when the guns were pointed at her. She looked and saw that watch.

She gazed as she saw the dragon start to move slowly upon its embossed surface. Her eyes widened as if slithered within the watches surface, while the dragon kept its face looking fully at Melphina. Its eyes began to burn red like the coals of a hot fire. From within the watch sprouted a new button upon the right edge of the face; it came out as if something within the watch was pushing it out. Melphina looked at the button and then back at the dragon whose body continued to slither about while its head stayed in the same position.

It became clear to her.

She moved her hand into place with her index finger over the new button as Butcho's foot soldier started to shout in Spanish but Melphina didn't listen as she pushed the button. In pushing the button she heard a great bang like a gunshot but she also saw a flash of bright light like the flash of a camera. Melphina tried to adjust her eyes to the after images of the flash. As she did everything became clearer to her.

To her front she saw a bullet. It was frozen in mid-air while the one who fired it was standing still. His gun having that flash explosion out of its muzzle after his shot was fired. She looked around to find everything frozen in place, even her friends, all were frozen stiff. Instinctively she waved her hand in front of the eyes of the man who fired that gunshot to asses what was happening to her.

Again, that tickle took over and Melphina had her own moment of clarity like Fujiko with the cup before her. She had stopped time all around her or perhaps she was moving so fast that it looked like time was stopped. With that newfound knowledge she went back to the bullet that was fired. She reached out to it grabbed it around its side with her thumb and index finger. She felt its heat but that didn't matter to her, she twisted its course back to the one who fired it. As thought began to build upon thought, she developed a great idea.

Meanwhile, in normal time, to the eyes of those watching, Melphina seemed to vanish and what's more every one began to see a colorful blur zipping from one place to another. As soon as it was discovered, Butcho's men began to notice that their guns were being stolen or that's the conclusion that they came to when their guns and gun belts had vanished into nothingness.

"What is happening around here?!" Butcho shouted at the top of his lungs

"I don't know, Butcho." Jefe said as he looked around himself

"It's the watch." Smith snarled to himself

"Esta Diablos!" One of Butcho's men shouted and just like the start of a wildfire panic overtook them. Much like when the flood gates are opened, Butcho's men fled for the front gates.

"You cowards!" Butcho cursed at his own men. He never got a chance to see it then, but if he did he would have figured that blind loyalty isn't loyalty at all. That was displayed by Jefe who held his ground while the men fled.

"I'm still here, Butcho!" Jefe smiled

While the men were fleeing, Melphina's idea was going along as smoothly as polished marble. She had managed to disarm all of Butcho's men and none of them had suspected a thing until it was all too late. By the time she was done disarming all of them men, Melphina pressed that same button again. There was that same flash that left afterimages in her vision like a camera flash. Soon she saw all of time speed back up to its normal pace with the men running out the gates like cockroaches scattering from the light. She did give a little smile to the idea that no one had any idea of what was going on. She joined her friends of the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew whom had gathered over where Armand stood. She heard Jefe make his declaration to his boss and friend, I'm still here, Butcho!

BANG!

A gunshot rang out and instantly Jefe fell over dead onto the sandy soil of the mission. All that was left at that mission were the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, Armand, Rally, May, Butcho, Agent Smith, and the dead man Jefe. Instinctively everyone left there knew where the shot came from and they all looked and saw the truth. They saw Armand with a gun in his hand, its barrel still smoking from the shot he just fired. The echo of the shot still ringing out throughout the whole mission and everyone felt floored by what they had witnessed. Of course, the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six had seen people killed but not in such an out-of-the-blue sort of way, but the effect was harder elsewhere.

Butcho looked down at the body of his friend and felt true loss. Jefe was always with him like his own flesh and blood while the other men scattered. He then looked back at his enemy and felt his own grief transform into rage that burned hotter than the flames of hell itself. He reached for the gun at his side and took aim at Armand, but the weapon smith shot first, the bullet banged against the gun and fell out of his hand. Butcho grasped his hand in pain while he looked back at Armand who still stood there with his gun in hand and that look in his eye. A look that demanded retribution from him, but Butcho wasn't going to go down so easily and neither was Agent Smith.

"I'll stop this now." Smith said as he drew his enormous hand cannon, yet the speed at which he drew the gun was like a blur. To the eyes of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six, it was just like before; only in that mission there would be no cars to hide behind. Again it seemed like the end, until Melphina acted. She quickly reached down and pressed that button again, the flash came, and all time slowed down to a crawl. She looked at the Agent across the courtyard and saw that his hand reaching for his gun was slowed down to a slow reach that a sneaky man does when going for something in his coat pocket. She waited for what felt like a few minutes to her but were only fractions of a second in normal time.

The agent had pulled the trigger and slowly the bullet came out of the barrel of then gun and so it was that Melphina stepped into action. She waited until the bullet was a good distance out and that was when she took the bullet by its sides and changed its course back to the agent. Yet, she knew the speed at which the Agents move, so she watched until the bullet was touching the cloth of his suit.

It felt like over half an hour had passed before the bullet was within range and the agent did try to move, but Melphina was moving quicker and so she changed the course of the bullet again straight for the forehead of the Agent. Its tip touching the very skin of his forehead and Melphina knew that the move was done. She stepped back and pressed the button again and the world sped up to normal time once again, and the Agent fell over dead and changed back into that nameless foot soldier of Butcho's.

With only Butcho left he looked up at Melphina who was only a few feet away from him. He smiled at her showing his yellow teeth, "That was a good trick." She said.

As Melphina rejoined her friends, Butcho looked down at the ground, to Jefe's hand where he held his gun; he rolled onto the ground, getting it into his hand and took aim at Armand. Another shot rang out and the gun that Butcho took from Jefe's hand flew out like the last one he used.

"You reach for another gun and I'll blow your hand off!" Armand threatened

"That's enough, Armand!" Lupin demanded, "The fight is already over."

"It's not over." Armand whispered sinisterly to Lupin, "Not until the worms feast upon his bones."

"You don't have that right." Lupin tried to reason

"Who are you to moralize with me, thief?"

Armand made a good point, after all the things that Lupin had stolen would have racked up to the Gross National Product of a small country. So, who was he to say what was right and what was wrong?

As Lupin and Armand argued back and forth about the ethics of the situation, Butcho was taking advantage of it. He inched his way to one of the guns on the ground. He kept eying the gun and those over on the other side arguing over his fate. He had the gun in his hand and took his third aim at Armand El Mariachi, victory and revenge would be his.

"This is for you, Jefe." Butcho whispered

"Armand!" Rally screamed as she snatched the gun from Armand's hand.

The first shot was fired…and then it was all finished with the second. Everyone in the courtyard stood frozen waiting to see who was killed. It then became apparent that when Butcho fell over to his death that it was over and it was not Armand who pulled the trigger. It was his protégé, Rally Vincent who protected her masters' life. She smiled as she thought to herself something her father loved to recite when she was young, a well armed populous is the best defense against tyranny.

Later that day with the sun setting in the west, the Lupin Crew, the Outlaw Six, Armand and his Gunsmith Cats were well on the road to the City of Nash. On their way they could see the very thing that they had been questing for; the Dark Tower. It just loomed in the distance behind a curtain of clouds as it reached upward to the sky. To the members of the Lupin Crew and the Outlaw Six it was immense. Its height rivaled that of the Sears Tower in Chicago and its visual complexity was that of Heyfong City.

"Incredible." Lupin uttered to himself.

Everyone could feel something very thick in the air, like that space at the top of the roller coaster. It's not quite climbing and it's not quite making the first drop. Just that space of nothingness where something great was about to happen and everyone knew about it.

Armand thought about it and made a prayer in his mind, May God help us all for what we will face.

To be continued…