Jackie: I don't have any sour grapes about it Maria. I am glad to know you haven't been keeping quiet this whole time, and the problem is recent. Feel free to review each chapter. Everyone else does. Including, me. You can guide the whole story that way. I do my best to keep everyone happy!
The fanfic definition was for anyone who doesn't know. I saw it come up in a review and though 'uh-oh' better clarify before someone gets offended and hunts them down. It happened to me. I read a fic and posted to following review:
"I LOVE it… But where are Vash and crew?"
To which I received a NASTY reply from the author and about four other people. I didn't want that to happen to any of my reviewers. I hope you don't feel like I was attacking you in any way.
Robert: eventually I will be done with the fanfic. Then you will have plenty of time to catch up, because I won't be creating a lead on you. Besides, I don't want to make anyone mad by stopping my updates. It's one of the things I'm famous for! Just call me speedy!
DISCLAIMER: refer to previous chapters.
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Knives furiously typed at the console. Vash was so close to breaking, only a few minutes more.
"My Lord," Monique started.
"What is it?" Knives barked, "I told you not to disturb me!"
"Unless we had caught the intruders," Monique corrected, "Which we have."
His eyes narrowed to slits. That had sounded a lot like she was talking back to him. Surely, just because she was the mother of his children, she did not think she could get away with such things. He would have to deal with it later.
"Take them to the main chamber and 'assure' them that Vash and I will be there soon," Knives said and went back to typing.
"Yes, master," Monique said and exited the room.
Knives knew exactly why Vash wasn't breaking. It was the same reason he had refused to turn on the human race for over a century. Rem Saverem…
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Vash cuddled up to Rem. He sighed and said, "I love you, Rem. I really love you."
"Do you?" Rem asked and turned to him sliding a hand over his young chest, "Do you love me enough to keep a secret, Vash?"
Rem's hand slid lower. Rem smiled into his suddenly terrified little eyes and asked, "You did say you loved me didn't you? This will be our little secret."
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Knives smiled wickedly as Vash's brain wave patterns viciously contorted. Then something happened that Knives did not expect… His brainwaves split.
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Meryl looked over the chamber breathlessly. She had never seen so many plant bulbs. They were forced to kneel on a central platform, overlooking a seemingly bottomless drop. As far down as her eyes could catch, plant bulbs lined the walls of the large hole.
Nick, Millie, and Mira knelt beside her. All of them had their hands bound behind their backs. A guard of ten gung-ho-guns stood around them, awaiting the entrance of their master, Knives Millions.
"Change of plans," Knives's voice said over the intercom, "Take them to containment and have them frozen. I will deal with those disgusting spiders later."
"F-frozen?" Meryl squeaked, "You can't be serious!"
"Our Lord and master is ALWAYS serious," A young man said as she clobbered Meryl over the head.
"Well, then I guess it's time for plan B, girls," Nick said pleasantly.
"Alright," Millie chirped with the same wicked smile she had given Meryl when they made their escape from the sand steamer.
Mira couldn't believe her ears. It was true. Knives meant to betray them all. He had probably meant to do it from the start. That meant his abduction was counterfeit as well. Her heart lurched in her chest. She was right, in the end, she only attracted sickos. But it was worse than even that. The faces of her two little babies flashed through her mind. She would NOT let him have them.
Meryl growled and slipped her slender wrists from their restraints, silently thanking Wolfwood for showing them the technique before they were captured. Mira was already to her feet. The chamber echoed with gunfire.
"KNIVES!" Mira yelled with tears in her eyes. She promised herself she would never love again.
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When the rain of bullets stopped the only one left standing was Mira. No one had been killed, but there were quiet a few people that would never hold a gun again. They laid in every direction, cradling their shot mangled limbs. Meryl, Millie and Wolfwood had long since gotten down out of the way. Blood trickled from Mira's right shoulder and left thigh. They had managed to hit her twice before she had taken them all down.
"She's snapped," Nicked breathed, "Look at what she did!"
"You're one to talk!" Meryl scolded, "What did YOU do at the end of that quick draw tournament?"
Meryl was only scolding him to hide the fear welling up inside her. Mira really had snapped. Mira was just standing there, glaring at her victims. Her arms were shivering with the urge to finish the job, and she hadn't even acknowledged her injuries. Mira opened both guns and reloaded them. She retrieved two that she had thrown down when they ran out of ammunition, and reloaded them as well.
Meryl had seen that kind of fierce, deadly look. Meryl had felt the coldness that radiated off Mira. Meryl had experienced this kind of wrath once before, in the presence of Vash when he turned into the Diablo. Meryl breathed, "Oh god. There's no stopping her."
"Mira?" Millie started, but Nick held her back and shook his head no. He could also recognize when a person was beyond reason.
Mira picked up a man with brown hair and honey-colored eyes by his collar and said, "Tell me where Knives Millions is or you will BEG for death before I'm done with you."
That 'man' was barely out of boyhood from the looks of him. He smiled and said, "He's in the brain bulb room, but you're too late. We have undone the damage you did to him. Our master has returned, and soon his brother will join us as well. You will all burn in-"
Mira's eyes narrowed, she punched him hard across the face, and said, "I didn't ask for a dissertation. Tell me how to get to him!"
"Two floors up," The boy laughed some more, "First door on the right, not that it makes any difference. He'll destroy you all!"
Mira stood and said, "You all should run away from here. I am going to kill my husband. Then I will find and free, Vash. Then…"
Mira looked down at her guns. What kind of mother would I be anyway? Constantly attracting garbage to their lives?
"Meryl, Millie," Mira started, "Not matter what… Please take care of my children."
With that, Mira was gone.
The three only watched her go in silence and awe of the tension around her. Once the door slid shut behind her Meryl ran over to the boy. Mira might have missed to vital sentence, but Meryl did not. Meryl shook the boy by his shoulders, "What do you mean 'we have undone the damage'?"
"We put them in the brain bulb," He said with a sick smile.
"What is a brain bulb?" Meryl asked.
"An instrument of rebirth," He answered cryptically.
It was Meryl's turn to clobber the young man, "IN ENGLISH!"
"It creates a new reality on their mind," He answered, "It changes their perception of their old memories and gives them new ones."
"Dear god," Meryl breathed and released him.
Millie covered her mouth as she gasped, and Wolfwood could only shake his head.
"What were you thinking, Knives?" Wolfwood breathed, "Even for you, such a tool is far too dangerous."
"We can ask him later," Meryl barked and ran out the door.
Meryl held two derringers ready. Right now we have got to stop Mira.
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Jackie: And the plot thickens. Will Mira kill Knives? Will Vash emerge from the bulb as a vicious killer? Where is Monique? What would you like to see happen?