THE GUNSLINGER
Chapter 10: The Bloody Guns
Vincent Valentine finally came to. He briefly recalled that he had succumbed to sleep. He looked towards the closed window for a moment and noticed that it wasn't quite dawn yet. "The sun will rise soon, yet all I see is more darkness..." He remarked.
He was actually sitting in the bathtub while the water dully hit his tattered form. After a time, he got dressed and exited the dwelling in silence, so as to avoid disturbing the others.
He stepped out into the open, the only light came from far off in the eastern horizon. "What?" He spoke as he looked around. He could have sworn that he was being watched. After a moment, he dismissed it as only the effect of a brief moment of paranoia. He quickly forgot about the issue as he began his early morning walk.
.o.o.o.
Tonmar watched him through the scope of his rifle. "We should kill him now, while his guard is down." He remarked. "I could—"
"No." Jackal replied simply. "The death of Vincent Valentine is something I wish to savor." He added.
"He's nothing." Another figure remarked, still covered by his cloak. "Give me a chance to fight him, I will claim his life!"
"Silence, Skull!" Jackal snapped. "Are you truly so eager to fight him?" He then asked.
"Yes." He replied.
Tonmar set his gun down and snagged his cap off of his head. "I say we let him give it a try." He announced. "It would at least be amusing to see how exactly you plan to kill him."
"Go, then." Jackal instructed him dully.
The others watched as he departed from the roof top that they were on.
.o.o.o.
Vincent stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Who's there?" He asked.
He swung around to see a man materialize about ten feet away. He was rapped in a cloak and could not be seen in any real detail.
"My name is Skull, and I have come to kill you, Vincent Valentine!" He replied as he through off his cloak. He appeared to be dressed in some sort of gray body armor and he wore smooth mask over his face that was pained to look like a grinning skull. His right arm was covered by some sort of machine that looked as if it was a canon of some sort.
Vincent took a step back. "I don't know who or what the hell you are, but I'm in no mood to fight an amateur like you!" He replied.
"How dare you!" Skull snapped. "I'll show you just how dangerous I really am!" He exclaimed as he aimed his arm-mounted gun at Vincent.
"BARRIER!" Vincent called out, just in time for a laser blast to reflect off of the shield he formed before himself.
Skull watched as the red-cloaked figure leapt up into the air and landed behind him. Vincent pulled out two pistols and opened fire on his back.
"Idiot!" Skull snapped. "I'm covered in reinforced armor, those little guns of your won't even put a dent in me!" He exclaimed as he turned around and fired another laser blast out him.
The beam missed, as Vincent seemed to practically vanish in secants.
Skull spotted him on a rooftop and fired at him, only to have the red figure slip out the laser's path. Vincent darted around several time, easily avoiding the blast. Then, he stopped, right in front of the Skull, only a few meters distance between them.
"It doesn't matter how fast you are, I'll get you eventually!" Skull exclaimed as he fallowed Vincent into a darkened alley, only to hear his footsteps behind him.
The gunman stepped out of the way of another beam and then turned to watch his attacker run out into the open. "No, no you won't." Vincent replied as he slowly walked towards him. Skull took a step back.
"Get the hell back!" He yelled as he held up his laser cannon.
"This fight was over minutes ago, you just don't know it." Vincent finished.
"We'll see." Skull replied calmly as he prepared to fire at the former Turk. But the surprise came when the laser canon exploded. Skull fell back screaming. "How?" He managed to say.
"While I was distracting you with that flip I did, I got in a shot that you were to slow to notice- I shot the spot on that fancy toy of yours that houses the regulating unit for the laser beam generator. After that, it was just a matter of time before your gun overheated itself." Vincent pulled a sawed-off shotgun out of his cloak. "This is the part where it ends." He then began to walk towards him, the new sun slowly emerging behind him in a picturesque scene.
Skull held up his hands. "Now, wait just a secant, I surrender!" He exclaimed.
Vincent stopped. "Who sent you?" He asked.
"I was sent by—"He began to say, but then looked up as a bright light headed towards him. The red-cloaked gunfighter looked up in a similar fashion.
But then, a huge explosion vaporized Skull and sent Vincent flying. Bits of dirt and rubble rained down on the immobilized Vincent. Dust rose up all around him.
Jackal then holstered his gun. "Pathetic." He remarked. He then turned to Tonmar and the other three figures that were with him. "Skull was expendable, I used him as a way to show you all just who we're dealing with." He finished. "For now, we'll just bide our time and wait for a chance to kill him."
Jackal looked down and saw, as the dust cleared, Vincent role onto his side and look up at him. He simple smiled down at the prone gunman.
Vincent struggled to his feet, only to vomit. He gasped for air as he tried to clear his thoughts. "No, I can't loose it now, not yet!" He thought. "I have to hold on for a while longer." He reasoned.
'Give it up; you can't keep me in forever.' A dark voice inside him warned.
"C-C-CHAOS!" He screamed and fell back down. "n-n-NO." He spluttered.
"You, I'll kill you, i-if it's the last thing I do."
Vincent rolled over and looked up at the heavily battered and bloody form of Skull.
Skulled held up another (smaller) gun and aimed it at Vincent- when a wound blew open in his chest, over his heart. Skull fell down and began bleeding out.
The former turn looked up to see a strange figure he couldn't make out in the dim light. The stranger tucked his gun back in its holster. "No one kills you but me." He said, and vanished into the shadows.
Vincent quietly slipped away before anyone built up the nerve to go investigate what was happening.
End of Chapter 10