Disclaimer: This is me not owning Trigun :(

This is me putting in another chapter :)

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Chapter 5.

I paced my room the next day. It was not yet time to meet them at the store. Jingle and Shawna stopped at my window to see if I could play, but I told them I couldn't. I didn't tell them about Vash; I couldn't because it might endanger our endeavor to save my dad. I'd tell them afterwards, maybe.

I had the dishes finished early and the clothes folded. I folded Maya's sloppy on purpose because she kept messing up my job. I would finish with Mom's pile and then she'd "accidentally" bump them off the chair or couch.

"One of these days…" I spoke quietly to myself. I thought about starting with today, but I didn't know what to do about her behavior. Maybe after Dad was home, I would stop sneaking away, and then she would have no reason to be mean…right?

I had five minutes, but I chose to get to the store early. I had nothing better to do with my time. I grabbed some of Maya's money to get some more donuts. I hoped Vash wouldn't get sick from eating all that sugar and no real sustenance. Heroes don't get sick, do they? I couldn't be sure. Dad would know.

"Hey, where's Amanda?" I asked the male cashier. His nametag read Scott. I guessed he was a new employee.

"Don't know." He said giving an immediate bored response.

"Are you a new worker?"

"What, is this the third degree, or something? Get off my back, kid!" He looked like he was squinting at me, but he just had small eyes.

I shrugged my shoulders and ordered a box of donuts. The others would be here any minute. "You know, you might get more business here if you have a nice attitude, mister."

"Look, missy, if you don't like my attitude, then get outta' my store!" He walked around the counter and stood straight and tall. Very tall.

"What do you mean 'your store'?" I pried further before I could stop myself.

He smirked. "You're a nosy little brat, you know that?" He walked up to me. It made me rather nervous. "I hate nosy brats! As a matter of fact, you look like the one who was spying on me the other night. I knew I would find you eventually!"

I gulped and clutched the box of donuts tightly between my fingers. He remembered and knew who I was! I didn't think that was possible. I didn't think anyone had seen me. What was I going to do? I couldn't run because I knew he'd catch me. I didn't have a head start, or even a plan. My heart pounded fiercely and my knuckles turned white. Vash, where are you?

I couldn't tell which guy this was. Could it be the one with the mask, or the nervous one, or the other guy? Making a quick deduction, I concluded it was Dex, even though his name tag stated otherwise.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about." I stuttered in denial.

"Hah! Yeah, right, they all say that. I know who you are; I followed you home! Don't even think you're gonna' make it out of here. There is no where to run anyway; I'd just catch you in a second."

He knew where I lived? He followed me home? Now everyone else was in danger too! The bad guys would go in and take away all of Dad's work plans and equipment. I kept glancing at the door. What did the girls and Vash do, stop off at the ice cream parlor? Or worse, they went to get more donuts! They wouldn't be here for hours, if that was the case.

"We'll just sit right here and wait for my friends to come around. You are not leaving at all, got it?" He sat down in a chair and pulled out a gun.

I dropped my donuts. He waved it at me and motioned for me to sit across from him. I edged my way toward the chair and slowly sat down. I didn't want to give him a reason to fire his gun. What friends were we waiting on exactly? Was it the other two men, or the boss?

Five or ten minutes later, but it felt like an hour, I heard the bell on the door chirp. I couldn't bring myself to turn around and see who it was. A wave of relief swept over me when I saw a red coat out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, there you are, Denise!" It was Jingle. Darn! "Like my new jacket?"

"I thought you said you couldn't come outside?" Shawna said next to him. "Oh, are these your donuts? Why are they on the floor?"

I started sweating. I didn't know if I was allowed to say anything so I looked to the man across the table. He had his gun hidden, but he made eye contact with me and shook his head. What did that mean? I kept my mouth shut.

"Hello, is anybody in there? We're talking to you Denise." Shawna said.

"Answer them," the man whispered.

I looked at Jingle and Shawna and wished I could communicate to them I was in danger. No such luck. "Those belong to Uncle V." I said.

The man cleared his throat roughly. "Yeah, they are mine. Do me a favor and put them on the table for me."
Jingle picked them up and placed them on the table. "Did you get a haircut while you were out of town?" He asked, thinking the man was Uncle V. He really didn't look that similar to Vash.

"Do you want to purchase something or not?" The man asked in the same bored tone he had used with me. He narrowed his eyes, as if it was possible to get them any lower than they already were.

Jingle blinked at him and scratched his head. Then he looked at me. "Well, do you want to come with us, or not?" I shook my head and they both groaned and left.

The man looked at me. "Smart, kid, now who is Uncle V.?"

I wrinkled my brow as I thought up another lie fast. "He's just some man you look like that I met the other day."

"You're lucky I don't blow your head off now."

I visibly gulped and sunk lower in my chair. This is a nightmare!

Several minutes later, the bell on the door rang again and I looked straight ahead at the donuts on the counter Jingle stuck them on. They were making me hungry. "Oh, are these for me? Thank you, thank you, thank you!" This time it really was Vash! Would the trio know I was in trouble though?

"Put those down, will you? You don't even know if they belong to you!" Meryl scolded.

The man didn't leave the table where he was sitting. "Can I help you?"

"No, actually, we're meeting someone here." Millie said politely. "Oh, there you are!"

I didn't know what to do. I looked from them to the man and back and forth. I almost said something, but the man spoke instead. "She's not going with you today; she has to stay here with me."

He never even turned to look at them, but kept his eyes on me. I couldn't signal them at all! I thought of something though. "Yeah, I have to stay and help—"

"A-hem!" He cleared his throat loudly. He wasn't going to let me say anything! I rested my cheek in my left hand.

"Oh, well, how about we meet you tomorrow then? Uncle V. will let you come same time tomorrow." Vash said.

Don't leave me, please, don't leave me alone with this guy! I thought to myself and begged with my eyes.

"No, I won't. She has to stay with me then too! Now, if you're done, please leave my shop!" The man boomed.

"Oh, okay," Vash turned to go.

I heard Meryl say, "That man is very rude! I hope he isn't like that to all his family members."

I watched them walk out the door then turned my head back around. My help just walked right out, leaving me alone with a murderous kidnapper. The door opened a second later.

"I changed my mind. She is coming with me!"

The man in front of me stood up. He turned red. "No, she isn't. Now leave my store before I make you!"

I looked at the two. Vash drew a gun out of no where and aimed it right in the man's face. "I said, 'she's coming with me,' so I suggest you back off!" Vash turned to me. "Get out of here, Denise."

I did as I was told, but as I made it to the door, two other guys walked in. They blocked the exit and pulled their own guns. I recognized Corrin right away. "Drop it, mister, or I'll blow your head right off your shoulders!"

"Aw, come on, guys! That's not very fair, don't you think? Where's the love?"

He dropped his head. He caught us all by surprise by shoving his foot high into the air behind him and kicked both of the weapons out of their hands lightning fast! WHAM! Millie and Meryl kicked them from behind and caught their guns. My mouth dropped wide open and I was stuck in one position: shock!

I covered my eyes and ears because I didn't know if Vash was actually going to shoot them or not. I prepared for a few loud blasts, but I didn't hear a thing. I opened my eyes cautiously and gasped. They were all tied up on the floor! How did that happen so fast?

"You can uncover your ears now." Millie said gently.

"Do you recognize any of these men?" Meryl interrogated like she was the police.

"I know him," I pointed to Corrin, "and they know where my dad is!"

"What are you going to accomplish keeping us here like this?" The one I guessed was Dex said.

"Do you even know who this is?" Meryl demanded. "You're lucky you are still alive! This is Vash the Stampede and if you don't tell us where Dr. Ernest Hinckley is, you won't be alive to see daylight tomorrow!" None of her threats went ignored.

Corrin started whimpering. "He will find out we screwed up for sure now! We will die either way!"

"Shut up, you fool!" The other man shrieked.

"Who will find out? You will have to tell us one way or the other." Meryl stated.

"I know how to make them talk!" Vash grabbed Corrin and took him to the back.
He went away screaming, "Don't let him take me away! He'll kill me!"

Vash opened a storage room door and Amanda fell out. Vash caught her before she fell to the floor. Millie came over and helped her up, untied her and pulled the tape off her mouth.

Millie, Vash, and I went into the room and pulled out all the information we wanted from the guy. He was worse than a leaky faucet! I wondered how the others had put up with him. I assumed they would have killed him in the end anyway when they got a chance. That happens in books all the time.

"Not even Vash the Stampede can stop this guy! He's a madman, a maniac, a lunatic—"
"We understand: he's crazy. We got the picture, we catch your drift, we know what you mean—"Millie began.

I tugged on her shirt. "Okay, we all got it."

"Oh, good, I didn't know what else to say." She sighed with relief.

I shook my head. This planet was full of strange people! I've never met anyone like these guys before. That's probably because my mom never lets me outside the house often.

From all the information we gathered, we found that Mr. Jack Cracker wanted my dad's plans to create a universal disease and then make a cure that only he could sell so he would have all the profit! They lured him in by making him think there were moon rocks that had fallen down. I felt my blood boil then. It was all crazy, sick, and twisted! Why would anyone want to make someone sick? Of course, right now, I wanted to make that cracker, Jack, worse than sick!

Meryl was right; they were hiding him in a basement, more like a cellar, really. Amanda went to report the incident to the police. Vash brought Corrin out of the storage area and set him on the floor with the others.

"I could kill you myself, Corrin! You backstabbing, yellow-bellied, traitor!" One guy said.

"Dan, what else am I supposed to do? I don't wanna' die." Corrin whined; he was getting very good at that.

"It looks like the police are coming, Vash. We should get going before they spot us. If they do, they'll want to…what are you doing?" Meryl looked grossed out.

I threw my gaze towards Vash and noticed his mouth was covered with a white substance and there were a few spots of red and purple on his cheek. He looked up innocently and stuffed another donut in his mouth.

"Gross! Get a napkin, you nasty pig!" Meryl demanded. Vash stuck out his tongue at her. It was covered in powder and bits of donut. They acted like me and my sister did sometimes!

We grabbed some extra food and headed out. I thought we would finally be free to go find him, but when I caught sight of my sister, I knew this would be a tough situation. She spotted me before I could flinch and caught up to us before we could go too far. "Denise! Just what do you think you're doing? If I have to, I'll chain you to the fence until every last chore is done. Mom is going to have a cow when I tell her that you snuck out again!"

I turned red. I almost panicked. Then Millie popped up and said, "What kind of cow?"

"And just who are you guys anyway? Who said you could hang out with strangers? Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"

Meryl answered her. "We're helping her find her father. What are you doing to find him? We need all the help we can get, you know."

For the first time in years I saw my sister blush from embarrassment, and I cherished every moment of it! "Well, I…I helped my mom hire someone,"

I folded my arms and looked her straight in the eye. "I did too, and I'm helping them, so you can just go back and tell Mom to wait up for me. And go back to that cubbyhole you call a room." I stuck out my tongue at her.

We glared at each other for a moment and she turned away with her fat snout in the air and stalked off, defeated. Another battle had been won and now we would finally be off to find my dad and bring him back.

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Thanks: Mucho thanks to Alaena Night for her supreme reviews.I corrected the spelling of Meryl's name in this chapter and will continue to keep it that way.

A/N: Vash may be a little OOC, but that shouldn't be a problem. Hehe, Millie is so funny! I should have given her more lines. Thank you for reading!