Ky glared across the café table at Colt, who stared out past the veranda at the crowds who moved to and fro past the two in the morning sun. The mass-murderer of last night had one arm holding a coffee cup, black and full of aspirin, in the air, the other by his lap pointing a gun at Ky under the steel table, though everything was covered by Colt's jacket that was removed and laying over his lap.
Colt turned back to his adversary of also last night with a fierce grin. "I'm actually a little surprised that you managed to find me so soon."
"It shouldn't be, since you're so stupid as to stand out in the middle of daylight while bounty posters are being printed." Ky replied flatly, undertones obviously of disgust.
"Well, it'll take a whole day to be enough posters to fill the city, so I figured I had at least one day to relax before I crawl 'back to Hell where God hath justly punished you to be with all the heretic Gears', which is what you probably might say" Jeremy said with a deep, mocking, preaching tone, then after taking down the still hot and steaming drink, and then continuing with a question, "How's the bump?"
Ky recalled his mental image of the sizable sore on the back of his head "How did you do it?"
"What?"
"Catching me from behind while you were in front of me, did you have a partner?"
Jeremy rolled his eyes and snorted, "Now why should I give some brat like you my trade secrets? Even if I had a partner, I'd probably have him as a scapegoat, not as my buddy."
There was a silence between the two, while Colt continued to drink his coffee with disregard to Ky, while the Knight had to stay in order to keep the public around them secretly safe and not let this criminal slip away again.
"You were a Seikishidan Knight, right?" Ky said again after a while.
Colt grinned again before putting down his cup of coffee. Using his freed hand he grabbed the large belt buckle dangling off his left leg and dropped it onto the metal table between them. "Well what do you think?"
Ky looked down and saw it was a standard issue Holy Order belt. Like nearly every other soldier, including Ky himself, Colt's buckle had a word inscribed in it as well: Dream.
"Didn't we teach you anything then? About the value of human life? How could you just butcher those-"
"The value of human life? That's a nice line." Colt smirked while popping open another aspirin bottle.
"What do you mean by that?" Ky asked.
"If I recall Kansas, the only reason why we were there was to hold the Gear in the battlefield long enough for the Artillery to rain down on us both. It doesn't matter anyways what happened last night. Everybody dies, one step at a time. In the end, life's journey is to determine the outcome of your death."
Ky reached forward angrily, though still keeping in mind of the weapon below the table. "Is that supposed to justify what you did?"
"Not really, but it's what I think." Colt shrugged as he downed more of his headache half-cure.
"I can't believe people like you were in my command…" Ky muttered.
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I was never in your command to begin with."
"…What?"
"You weren't my Commander." Jeremy simply replied again.
Ky still continued persistently "But if you were in the Seikishidan, how could you have not been in my command?"
"Who knows when you'll get the answer? Anyways, I wasted too much time here, I gotta go."
Both men stood up at the same time, while the Bounty Hunter dropped a few coins onto the table. Ky kept his face locked on Colt while he threw his jacket over his shoulder, not caring whether or not a gun was revealed in his grip.
"I'm not letting you get away again, Colt." Ky said, his voice full of hidden acid and steel.
"'Course you will … or do you want half the city to disappear? "
It was strange then, the vacuum of time in between the two. It seemed like the Seikshidan Knight was the only one who heard those words. Everyone else passed by the café, while the two stood in front of each other, in some twisted game of Chicken. Ky was the only one who at the moment knew best about Colt. It seemed very likely the Bounty Hunter's proclamation could be done
Jeremy began to move forward again, with Ky's darkening looks as the only resistance. Jeremy took note of it though, and stopped his stride beside him.
Jeremy looked at the knight Kiske, amused at his facial expression. "Don't be so upset Ky…" He began while he shoved his gun into the back of his pants, so he could reach for another bottle of aspirin.
"…If you're really that adamant about punishing me-," another pause as pills were poured freely into the speakers mouth, then the swallow. "-Then relax and watch. If things go right this time, I should be dead by the end of this year at least, so just watch."
"If things go right this time"? "I should be dead"? Ky turned around at those words to watch in confusion at the disappearing man. But his duty came to mind just as fast as he watched the criminal escape. Ky felt something like a growl, or some feeling of frustration or anger arise.
I'll get to the bottom of this. Don't think you got away, Jeremy Colt.
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"God damn it! How could you let them him get away? Corisione is dead now!" One of the men in suits slammed his fist on the long table, opening the discussion to the real topic at hand. Seated around table in the room no one knew where, were the heads of countless crime families in Paris.
"Calm down, Lucius."
"I am not calming down about this issue till I personally shit on that man's corpse. Just for kicks, some prick goes and kicks out a major foundation in the peace of the families!"
Another spoke up "Lucius, it's true that we cannot take this lying down, but whoever did this plowed through an entire warehouse of men, and also, we don't know how to find this man. The world has gotten bigger again, you should know."
A new opinion came in then, "Yo, yo, yo, wait here, what 'bout that group Corisione worked with? Ya know…" The slick talker snapped his fingers a few times to conjure up the memory, "That Post War group or something or other, ya know!"
"You mean that group that Corisione thought was his great secret?"
"Yeah! I always remember how he boasted about how he had a friend that could see anywhere he wanted. What if that buddy of his is that Post War bunch? If they really were all palsy with Corisione, I'm sure they'd they pretty pissed with what's going on!" The slick talker said.
"So are you saying that if we partner with this Post War group, we'd some how miraculously find out where this punk killer went? Some story." Lucius snorted.
"What, you got a better idea?"
"Yeah, make a bounty! Make it expensive; make it so public it'll make people's eyes bleed from seeing the same number everywhere they go. Cover the city in bounty posters!"
"Didn't you hear? That doesn't make a difference! Did you see the inside of that warehouse? The place was literally painted in gore!"
Arguments broke out between the men around the table as for how to handle the situation. Several minutes passed by the time the men at the end of the table managed to get the mess back together.
"Gentlemen, the course of action we should take is open to discussion, but not to war. However, the two of you do bring up good points. At this moment of time our only course of retaliation is to place bounties on this man's head. However, I believe it would be better if the Families personally killed this man. If an agreement with this Post War group can be met, it should be attempted. Until then, we must leave this matter in the hands of the bounty hunters. Any other opinions?"
There were murmurs around the table again, before a unanimous shaking of heads and uttered 'no's.
Despite the landscape of the woody path being torn to pieces from the battle, Jeremy found the scene oddly pleasant to look at from under the shelter of one of the remaining trees.
Like a Magritte painting, Jeremy decided as he threw another empty bottle away. It's weird to look at, because it looks nothing out of the ordinary… but it should."I guess you could call it art… What about you, samurai?" Jeremy asked the unconscious, kimono wrapped form he shredded and was using as a footrest.
This had to be probably the worst off-times Jeremy ever experienced in the whole of his life. Not even being buried under hundreds of pounds of dead Gears for days before somebody noticed him, or even that time he was being tortured by those damn UN hating Brits compared to this. At least he didn't have time to be annoyed.
But now, he had bounty posters by both the International Police Force and several mercenary sponsoring groups AKA Those gangster families that were buddies with Corisione. Ky just wanted him arrested, but the Families just wanted Jeremy dead. Pretending that Jeremy got caught (Which, outside of that time with those UN hating Brits, will never happen), he would probably be taken to the party paying more for him. Because of this, Ky and the Families would be caught in a race to see who could pour more money into the bounty. Eventually, Jeremy could very well end up being so expensive…
I can't end up being like this. It catches too much attention. Jeremy glumly thought. I might have time to lie low…but I'm not going to wait forever for an opportunity to get to Dizzy again.
Either way the prices are going to raise, whether I lie low or not. The only break I got is right now, while the newbies try to take my head now. Once I get more expensive, the good bounty hunters, or at least the experienced ones will come after me
Including…
…Sol…son of a bitch…
But then again, there's her…
Jeremy noted idly the unconscious and bleeding psycho samurai he was resting on. This person, whoever she was, was another of the many bounty hunters that had caught up to him. Among the numbers included a ninja, a transvestite twelve year old, and a few other notable clowns, but they were still average human clowns. Of course, whenever Jeremy beat them down, they would always say that a woman, or musician wearing red was the person that sent them on their merry way in their lame attempt to make money. Colt for sure knew it was the same one he met when on the Jellyfish's Airship
What the hell does she want from me anyway? Is she another bounty hunter? That's pretty low of her to send confused lackeys after me. She must be pretty quick on news to know about my price…
Colt pondered this situation. Though he appreciated the company, he was more than sure that Dizzy was all he would need to accomplish his objective, so having armies of idiots looming over him constantly would just slow down his chase on a flying enemy. Also, he needed a radio so he could listen up on what this Post War group had to say on Dizzy. He was sure that one of his hideouts in his undisclosed location in Europe had one of those. After his short service with the Knights and Boss Commander, he generally had a lot of free time, hence resulting in him collecting lots of Black Tech junk over the years and having him dump it among his countless lairs. He was sure that his undisclosed location had one of those.
So there was only one thing Jeremy could do at the moment.
Go there, get the radio, hang around for a little while and relax. Eventually things will cool down enough that I can go out and track Dizzy… maybe a month perhaps?
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In a certain town in Europe, Jeremy walked into the only Inn they had.
"Oh, Mister Colt! You're back!" Noticed the beefy enough Innkeeper, typical of one who owned Inns for some reason.
"Yeah, dunno how long though, so I want my room back."
"Of course." The beefy enough Innkeeper moved behind a counter to collect the room key and followed after Colt's memorized steps.
"So… where've you been? We haven't seen you in… about a year, I'd say."
"None of your business, unless you're my partner. Even then, you'd just be a scapegoat, not a partner." Colt replied with a business-like edge.
"Y-yes, of course." The beefy enough Innkeeper mumbled before speaking again. "You heard the news, didn't you?"
"About what happened in Paris?"
"Yes, and I'd like to say first and on the behalf of everyone in this village, that we would never, ever think of betraying you, ever, and-"
Jeremy raised a hand to pause the man's speech "Alright, that's enough. As long as I know where everything stands. Well, where you stand at least."
Shutting the door behind him, Jeremy gave off a snort of amusement at the man's speech and popped open another bottle of aspirin.
It was a funny story, really, of how Jeremy made himself into a local legend here. Before Jeremy came around, the village was a desolate fortress for a mish-mash band of rouges and thieves. Then one day, the bounty hunter picked up a price for cleaning out the place. It took one week of travel, and one night of bloodbath. Before long, everyone had their eternal praise and gratitude for Colt saving their town. So really, the only reason why this place was flourishing again was because of Colt's bounty.
Though that was only half the reason why nobody here dared to cross him. The other half was because the people in this habitation were smart. They knew Colt wasn't some hero that descended the sky to save them. They knew that the bounty hunter was no better than the bandits he saved them from. It was only because they were indebted to him, and the fact he could easily wipe out this village, that the people here thus decided to do their best to over look the questionable nature of his profession.
Plus, the only thing he didn't pay for was his stay at the Inn (But he was 'Checked In' all the time, so there was still a bill, technically), he came only occasionally, he was polite enough, and he didn't ask too many outrageous favors. So it was all right in the end.
The town square was a pretty beautiful place. There was a sort of simplicity and charm to it. There was a primitive enough fountain in the center of the area, a good deal of benches strategically placed around for the lovers at night, and the dreamers during the day.
And as the people passed by, two homeless bums sat on a bench. On the bench behind them was another man, dreaming.
"…Can't believe they gave us all this nice food, those pirates." one of the bums guffawed, as he chewed on his sandwich
"It's too bad they'll be leaving so soon as well." The other said.
"It's pretty funny, I'd never think I'd see all so many girl pirates."
"Yeah, even if they looked pretty young… They were pretty hot!"
The two bums laughed.
"Yeah, especially that blue-haired one! She's a killer! Man I'd kill for a gentle sweet like that!"
The dreamer behind them twitched.
"But what do you think of that guitar chick that passed through today? Man, she was really asking for it!"
"Yeah, it's funny. Everything about her was screaming 'I'm a whore!' It makes me wonder who the hell gave her that idea to be a bounty hunter."
"What I wonder is why she's after those pirates."
"And what I wonder is what the hell makes her think those pirates are in the forest?"
"Yeah, don't most pirates have an airship?"
"Maybe they ain't pirates."
"Then what else they'd be?"
"Bandits?"
"What the hell you up on? 12-year-old girl bandits? What. The Fuck."
"I'm just offering opinions…"
"Well, your opinions suck."
And as the people passed by, two homeless bums sat on a bench, arguing. The bench behind them had only an empty aspirin bottle.
Jeremy supposed he was truly grateful for the PWAB and Corisione. If it hadn't been for them, he wouldn't be having a new Beretta to go with his Colt Cavalier, and frankly at this point he really needed whatever firepower he could get.
Maybe the pirates were in the forest, if those two drunken bums were right. Maybe it was both the pirates AND that guitar slut. Or perhaps it was just the guitar woman. Maybe it was just an elaborately staged trap get the Bounty Hunter killed yet again. Either way, he needed to find out what this whole thing meant.
Eventually Colt had ventured deep enough into the woods so that the sun could not penetrate enough to give good light, leaving the place covered in dark greens and blacks. Shadows shifted everywhere, and the wind whispered past the Bounty Hunters ears as the only companion in this place.
"WARNING!UNIDENTIFIEDSUBJECTENTERINGSAFEZONE!SCANMODEACTIVATED!"
Jeremy turned around surprised and tried to pinpoint the source of the noise, pull out both guns and pointing them wherever he faced.
That…wasn't wind…"WARNING!UNIDENTIFEDSUBJECTISNOTINPOSTWARADMINISTRATIONBUREAULISTOFEMPLOYEES!STANDBYUNITNUMBERTHREEHUNDREDANDSIXTYONSEARCHANDDESTROYMODE!SUBJECTIMAGECAPTURED!PROCEEDING!
Post WHAT? Did that whatever just say-Colt ducked in time and low enough for a Seikishidan model sword to zoom narrowly over his hat. And about ten other swords quickly came out of the darkness to stab him wherever he fled. Backing away, Jeremy ducked under a stab while one of the figures cloaked in shadows ended up impaling the tree the ex-knight was in front of. Colt's assassin struggled for another second to remove the blade before his head exploded from Jeremy's Beretta. Jeremy watched in a mixture of amazement and shock as metal pieces flew from the attackers head while sparks emitted and the attacker twitched and tossed uncontrollably on the ground of the forest.
While not a good comparison, Jeremy Colt's aged memories of Star Wars and The Matrix reminded him of the only other really sentient thing that was composed of metal and electricity.
A robot! Since when were there robots? I thought Gears did all the menial tasks.
Jeremy noticed the area around him darkening and looked up in time to see another of his shadow cloaked attackers fall on him.
Two Magnum shots left, seven Nine-millimeter rounds left, ah, geez, this sucks. Jeremy had returned to his reasonably bleak gray colored, dust covered, wood-planked Inn room, managing to avoid much fuss, since the blood trail that he left, by comparison, wasn't as bad as that time.
And so Jeremy Colt lay in bed, wooly covers over him since it felt kind of nice over the bandages on his bleeding chest… whatever.
"So…whose brilliant idea was it to get two homeless bums to sucker me into a trap?" Jeremy snorted while wiping some excess blood that was running down the side of his face. Shoved to the side of the alleyway was a piece of meat that was one of the bums. The other was pinned up to the wall through his appendages by purple blades that curved back into Jeremy's back.
"L-look! I didn't know! It sounded harmless enough!" The remaining bum whimpered.
"Who gave you the idea?" Jeremy icily asked again, getting tired of the run-around of his questions.
"It was some woman in red leather with a guitar. She said she'd have sex with me if I told you that story the next time you came around!"
"And you believed someone like her?"
"Hey! I was having sex with a god for just telling you she and some pirates were in a forest! How was I supposed to know!"
"Whatever."
The remaining bum's head was lopped off before he even knew it. Colt then walk off, blades disappearing like violet mist, with the blood coating them splashing to the ground off the blades that were once there.
-
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-
What's this all supposed to mean though? Jeremy questioned mentally into the air. The woman in red suckered me into a bunch of robots from the Post War group. Does that make her from the Post War group as well? How does someone like her tie in with them? A phantom group that I only learned about a few days ago? What does she want from me? Why are there robots?
Why does me hunting down some damn Gear have to be so complicated? Back in Kansas it was go, stab, kill, done!
Jeremy pulled the cover over himself and mumbled to himself, annoyed.
Whatever. If no one entered this room since last year, the Radio should be in the closet. My Aspirin is beside me. I should go get that generator tomorrow. For now I will sleep.
And for a month, Jeremy disappeared off the face of the world.
A/N: Dunno how I should apologize… yeah I was gone for three months or so, but I feel rather stupid if I went "OMG I'm SO SOWEE! GOMEN GOMEN! (wow look at me, I do look like I know Japanese!) FORGIVE MEE!" You know the act. Well anyways, I'm sure to get some more of Jeremy's mad romp done over this break. I swore to myself to finish this, or never write anything else for the rest of my life, so… yeah…