Chris Maldonado
Casters, Girls and Bounty Heads: Vendetta
Oz Cortez took a dive behind a pile of trash bags and some trashcans to avoid the hail of bullets flying towards him. Their latest bounty head pursuit was a space pirate who was trying to run from the law.
He had been under police surveillance for some time as a suspect in an arms smuggling ring, things got too hot and he decided to run just before the police were going to arrest him, and that's where Oz came in. Ed regularly kept track of police activity, since the police were usually the ones to issue bounties. Being a super hacker extraordinaire it was no complicated task for Radical Edward to go in and out of the police networks without being noticed. She was infamous for her hacking abilities and there are few that can match her abilities.
For the time being though Oz was more concerned with getting out of the current situation than how they found their latest prey.
His shots are wild, Oz thought, must be a confusion tactic. Oz grabbed one of the trash bags and flung out into the alleyway they were in. The pirate made quick work of the trash bag and Oz took the opportunity to make quick work of the pirate. Oz dived out towards the alleyway wall and took several shots at the pirate and out of four shots he hit him with three.
"ARRRGGGHHHH," The pirate screamed and fell to the ground. The leather jacket he had on now had a hole in its right arm and shoulder and was splattered with blood. His left leg also had a bullet wound that was bleeding. The pirate was lying there in a fetal position clenching his leg and gritting his teeth. He looked up at Oz and became enraged, "You fuckin' cowboy, you'll pay for this if it's the last thing I do, you better hope to God these wounds don't kill me or you won't be able to collect on my bounty." It was clear that he was trying anything to irritate Oz and maintain some dignity in the matter.
Oz looked down at the pirate and smiled, "Don't be such a wuss those wounds aren't fatal, you're not worth anything dead." Oz proceeded to pick up the man and cuff him, "Oh and by the way," Oz began, "I'm no cowboy, I'm a bandito."
While still in pain the pirate had to ask, "What the hell is that?"
"Lend me your ear pal," Oz said rather poetically, "I'm not a cowboy because that label just a little too white for me, but I'm also no outlaw because they don't pursue bounty hunting as a career like me."
"Get to the goddamn point," The pirate interrupted.
"I'm about to," Oz said, "A bandito is like an outlaw, but is also a cowboy, back in the old days banditos were cattle rustlers, outlaw cowboys, and so it goes that I'm a bandito, not a cowboy."
"Whatever," The pirate mumbled.
"Ryoko, get down here, we have a package to deliver," Oz spoke into his wrist communicator.
"Sure thing," Ryoko responded. A few minutes later Ryoko showed up in her air cruiser, which is the common term used for anything that could fly that people used as a mode of transportation. Ryoko's ship looked almost like a manta ray with a cockpit on it. Oz simply waited as she slowly hovered down to the ground. The cockpit opened up and she levitated herself out of the seat towards Oz, "Hey," she said and kissed him on the cheek. She let her feet touch the ground and looked at their latest catch, "We can toss him into the cargo hold and dump him off at the police station a few blocks away from here."
"Sounds good to me," Oz said. They took the man to the back of the ship and the small cage-like cargo hold opened up and they tossed him in.
As they did so he let out another cry of pain, "Dammit you stupid pieces of," he was cut off by the closing hatch.
"Let's get out of here and collect our money," Oz said.
"Right you are," Ryoko agreed, "I'll drive," Ryoko announced, and they were off.
They flew for only a few moments until they made it to the police station when and then they walked in with their bounty head.
"Here you are guys, he could stand to get patched up some," Oz handed him over to one of the officers standing around. "We'll take our payment in all 100's please, and put it in a brown bag," Oz requested nonchalantly as if he were at a restaurant.
"One million dollars," Ryoko said with a wide grin on her face, "With that kinda money we can really go out on the town." Ryoko rested her head on her shoulders as she turned to walk out with Oz.
"Yeah we can," Oz agreed, "After we take care of the ship costs and get my jet tuned up."
Ryoko had began running her fingers through her long silver hair, something she did when she was thinking. When it finally registered in her head what Oz had just told her she stopped and gave him a frustrated frown, "Oh come on, we always 'take care of ship costs first,' what about us, lets just have some fun first and not do the business-before-pleasure thing this time."
"It costs money to keep that ship flying and tolls are expensive, so are docking fees and everything else that we have to do to keep that thing running." Oz seemed set on keeping it all business before pleasure.
"Come on Oz," Ryoko pulled herself close to him and wrapped her arms around him, running her fingers through his hair. "Just this once lets enjoy ourselves first huh?"
"If we do that we might not have enough to take care of the ships costs and the jet," Oz said.
" I know but the jet can wait, Jim can just give it another one of his tune ups it'll be fine until we get ourselves a big bounty." Ryoko gazed into Oz's eyes in a pleading manner.
Oz couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was as he looked into her eyes. Her sleek silver hair always smelled sweet and even though she never seemed very emotionally involved, he could see something more in her eyes, something deeper. "I'll take you out for a night on the town okay beautiful?" Oz grinned.
"Sure thing," she responded with a smile.
Oz and Ryoko returned to the ship about and hour later, they had brought back a massive amount of food with them as well, pizza, Chinese food, chili dogs, tacos, donuts, and groceries as well. When Ed and Jim saw all the food they were amazed.
"Dig in everyone, we're gonna feast like there's no tomorrow," Oz announced.
"WOW, lots of yummies!" Ed shouted for joy and leapt at the food, gracefully taking it to the living room as it balanced on her head.
"This is great," Jim gleamed as he saw all the food being set on the table, "Finally we get to eat a massive meal, i was getting sick of noodle cups," He added.
"I know what you mean," Oz replied in between bites of pizza.
"And just as we were getting sick of noodles we ran out," Ryoko interjected, "It's a damn shame that guy was worth a measly million bucks."
"Which reminds me," Oz began. "Jim, I need you to do some math for me."
Jim pulled out his calculator, "Okay, what do you need me to do?"
"Add up all the cost for the ship, repairs refueling etc, and then add $1000 to that, and tell me what's left," Oz directed.
" Sure," Jim began typing away and running numbers until be finally came up with the final remaining sum, "After all that, subtracted from the million you just got, we'll have $28,954.22 left."
"Well, like I thought," Oz mumbled, "Not enough to give the jet a tune up, short by about $75,000" He looked at Ryoko.
Ryoko shrugged, "Having a ship jam packed with food is better, and you know that even if we hadn't spent the money we wouldn't have had enough," Ryoko put in her two cents and proceeded to wolf down more chow mien noodles.
Oz grinned at her subtle sass, he found it amusing sometimes, "Yeah you're right, this was a better idea," He left it at that and picked up a chili dog, taking a massive bite out of it.
They all ate and joked and it all was said and done there were almost no left-overs and they were extremely full from their feast. A few days had come and gone and all the immediate expenses had been taken care of and the jet had been tended to, nothing was out of place and it was overall becoming a lazy week. They had all gone out on the town at various space ports that they stopped at and purchased various gifts for themselves as well along the way.
"You know Jim, just because it's Ed doesn't mean you have all the time in the world," Oz said. He and Jim had been working on the jet yet again doing more fine tuning and banging out dings from the body work.
"What are you talking about," Jim was trying to act ignorant, but wasn't doing a good job of it.
Oz stopped tightening the bolt he was working on and looked at Jim, "You know exactly what I mean, I see you looking her way whenever you get a chance." "Come on," Oz went on, " I know you like her, you know you like her, and odds are she knows too, just go for it."
"It's not even so much that as how weird she is, I just don't know how to act around her," Jim paused to think of how to be more descriptive, "I mean, i think she's beautiful and fun and all that good stuff, but when it comes to just one on one with her i fumble and get all clumsy," Jim left it at that and went back to work.
"It's not always an issue of being suave, just do it, you never know if you'll have the chance for much longer," Oz added.
"Yeah," Jim responded, but said nothing more.
Meanwhile Ed and Ryoko were lounging around in the living room which was a few decks above the hangar. They were both just lying around saying nothing and suddenly Ed sprang up and sat Indian style, looking right at Ryoko.
Ryoko noticed Ed's staring, "Whatta want Ed," she asked with resignation in her voice.
"Does Ryoko love Oz?"
"What?" Ryoko was caught completely off guard by this question, did she love Oz? It was a good question, one she was never brave enough to answer herself. She knew she had feelings for him, but whether or not it was love was something she didn't know, or want to say, love was something that never went her way, and long ago she decided that all love did was break someone's heart.
"Well?"
Ryoko hadn't realized she had been quiet, " Take a nap Ed," Ryoko turned over on the couch, so her back faced Edward. She simply lay there and listened to Ed slump back down on the ground, all the while thinking about that question.
It was late and they had all decided to go to bed. Oz and Ryoko slept in the same bed and as they lay together Ryoko rested herself on Oz's chest and he wrapped his arm around her, something they did almost every night. It was while they lay there saying nothing that Ryoko decided to ask a question.
"Oz," she paused for a moment to build up more courage, "How do you feel about us?"
"Whatta mean?"
"I mean what do you think of us, this life, do you like it all?"
" Why wouldn't I?"
"How do you feel about me?"
"I think you're great, where's all this coming from?" Oz was puzzled, she never asked questions like this.
"I'm just asking, if you don't want to talk about this just say so!" Ryoko got up and began walking out of the room.
Oz sat up, "Hey, Ryoko, wait," She kept walking down the corridor, Oz sighed, "Women," he mumbled under his breath. Oz tried to sleep but couldn't and decided to check on Ryoko. He thought of doing that earlier, but he felt it was a time to give her space. He walked down the corridor and into the living room. The large observation windows revealed outer space in all its glory, the stars gleaming through the windows. Some of the lights on the ship were designed to duplicate earth light according to the time of day, it was close to one in the morning and the lights created a dim glow in the room Oz looked around and saw Ryoko sitting on the couch looking out at the stars. He walked over and sat down next to her. "What's up," he asked.
"Nothing," Ryoko answered.
"So be it, if you don't want to talk, I'm going back to bed beautiful," Oz stood up to walk out when Ryoko decided to speak.
"When you call me that," She paused, "Do you mean it?"
"I don't say things I don't mean."
"Okay."
Oz stood there a while longer, hoping she would say more, but she didn't. "Goodnight," he said, and walked away. He went to bed and had a restless night of sleep.
Some days had passed and Ryoko remained silent and distant. Oz's attempts to find out what was wrong were in vein and often ended up making her more distant. It took a toll on them both and Oz was left to only wonder what was wrong.
It was another typical day and Oz was taking the time to do more fine tuning to the jet, mostly as an excuse to avoid Ryoko and get time to think. As he was doing so an alarm began to go off. The red light flashed and Oz dropped what he was doing to run over the computer screen and find out what the problem is. He looked at the screen and saw several missiles heading towards the ship and a small squadron of fighters following behind them, by their rag-tag appearance they were pirates. "Nice," he mumbled, "I could use a straight forward problem right about now." Oz picked up the intercom microphone and warned the others, "All hands brace for impact," he yelled. Just then the ship was shaken several times and a damage report screen popped up on the monitor, luckily there were no hull breeches, yet. The ship had been designed to take a lot of abuse, but everything had its limits. Oz had to sloppily replace the panel he had taken off and jumped into the cockpit of his jet.
His jet was dubbed the x-71, most closely resembling a three engine delta-winged F-15 fighter. Although it wasn't in reality a 'jet,' which needed atmosphere to use it engines, 'jet' was the most suitable word for it. For the times it was and incredibly crude design, but looks were very deceiving. What it lacked in modern appearance it made up for in maneuverability, speed, and deadliness. The cockpit closed and hissed as it became pressurized to protect from the vacuum of space. The floor section the x-71 was parked on began to elevate up towards the top level onto the runway. As soon was it reached the top level Oz put his foot on the throttle and the x-71 quickly shot off the 500ft runway. The engines roared as they shot Oz towards the ensuing enemies. "Hiya fellas, you've come to the right place for trouble." Oz armed his missiles and began firing away.
"We're here for you Cortez, and the anyone else who hang around with you," one of the pirates shouted over the short range communicator.
"Oh," Oz grunted as he dodged some of the missiles and tried to outrun the hail of bullets being launched at him, "And why is that?"
"You're the reason one of our guys is locked up in a max security prison."
Oz thought for a moment and realized who he was talking about, "What that loser who was only worth a stupid million bucks, he was hardly worth my time, what makes him so special?"
"All you need to know is that you made a mistake catching him, and now you're gonna die for it."
Oz grinned at that threat, "Sure I am," he taunted.
For several minutes Oz bobbed and weaved, dodging and firing missiles and bullets. He was taking a lot of damage near the end and still hadn't taken care of the entire squadron, they were very skilled. What Oz didn't know was that this was a diversion to get him away from the ship.
A large ship came over Oz's ship and began to dock. Ryoko heard the sound and knew what it meant, "We're gonna have company soon," she looked over at Jim and Ed, "You two find somewhere safe to hide, I'll take care of these guys." Ryoko teleported up to the docking hatch and waited for the men to enter. The hatches opened, but Ryoko never got the chance to fight, the moment they entered she was paralyzed with pain by two men who were equipped with large blasters attached to a power pack they carried on their back. They blasted Ryoko with massive amounts of energy, had she been aware of it sooner she would have been able to block it, but she never saw it coming. Ryoko slammed into the wall and slid down, still in pain and unaware of what was happening, she looked and through her blurry vision she saw the two men aim again and fire. She screamed in pain and passed out, unaware of anything else.
"Too easy," one of them said smugly. The man looked back at the other two men who didn't have packs, "You two, go find those kids that hang around with them, if they give you any trouble kill 'em, otherwise let them live, we might be able to use them later but right now we only need Ryoko alive."
"Gotcha," one the men nodded and both men ran off, automatic weapons in hand.
Jim loaded the chamber of his handgun and listened cautiously for any unusual sounds. "This is bad news Ed, whoever these guys are they mean business," Jim peaked around the corner to see if anyone was coming.
"I'm scared Jimmy," Ed had a frightened look on her face.
Jim looked into her eyes, "I won't let them get you," He whispered.
"There they are!"
Jim looked to his right and saw one of the men, "Run Ed!" Jim fired two shots, hitting the man with one of them.
The man began firing back and through one of the ricochets hit Ed in the leg, "AAAHHHHHHH," Ed collapsed to the ground grabbing her right leg.
"ED!" Jim cried. He saw the man turn the corner and he fired two more shots, killing him. Now, looking down at Ed in pain a red rage consumed him. He ran towards the other man shooting him in the legs and taking away his gun. "You filthy bastards," he growled, "You shot her!"
"Good, maybe she'll bleed to death," the man grinned.
Jim heard him and said nothing, then with a swift kick he broke two of the mans ribs. Jim tied him up and gagged him. He ran back to Ed, "Ed," He whispered.
"Unit 3, Unit 4, answer," One of the men with energy packs ordered on his communicator. There was no answer, "They're dead, lets go we have what we need." The man turned and went back into the pirate ship, the other man followed with Ryoko slung over one of his shoulders.
Ed looked up at Jim and her eyes were filled with tears, she managed to smile, "Thank you for not letting them get me."
Jim took off his jacket and put it on Ed to keep her warm. He examined the wound, "It went through luckily, and it's not bleeding too badly, so I don't think it hit an artery." Jim grabbed the first aid kit and cleaned the wound then wrapped it in bandages.
When Oz returned to the ship he found out everything that happened. Oz walked into his room and came out putting on his double holster that had his casters. One caster was strapped to each leg and the belt was filled with caster shells all around. A caster was basically a gun that fired spells, or rather 'cast' them, each shell has a spell inside, and depending on the number decides the power and type of spell. A caster is also rare and no two are alike, with the exception of Oz's, which make his casters even more valueable than most others.
"Where are you going?" Jim asked.
"Where else," he said with a resigned tone, "I have to go save my damsel in distress don't I?"
"But your jet is all shot up, we need to patch it up, replace some parts and probably recalibrate the vectoring controls, that's a half a day's work," Jim said in a desperate voice.
"That thing can take a beating, I'll be fine and besides there's no time."
"How sure are you?" Jim asked.
"She's bait, this is all to get me to come to them, when I do they'll try and kill me, and then they'll kill her, and if I don't come soon, they'll kill her then comeback to finish us all off."
"They can't kill Ryoko, she's an immortal," Jim retorted.
"Even immortals can die Jim, an immortal is immortal as long as they don't lose too much blood, their super immune systems keep them alive, but if you make them bleed too much they'll fade away just like you and me, but most people consider that an irrelevant fact since most people never even come close to cutting them. And as far I can tell, these guys have the means to kill Ryoko."
Jim sat silent taking it all in for a moment, then he spoke, "I'll take care of Ed, you go get Ryoko."
Oz grinned, "Yes sir," and he gave a mock salute as he went back to the hangar for take off. Thex-71 was riddled with bullet holes, and there were also patches on ragged metal where shrapnel from the missiles had hit. He jumped in the cockpit and fired up the engines again, they roared to life but had a distinctly rougher sound to them now, they too had been hit a few times. Oz also noticed that the cockpit was slower in powering up than usual, which could be a problem if he had to do more dog fighting. A sluggish control system was a very bad thing when speed is what matters most. Oz took off and headed in the direction given by the captured pirate. Within an hour he was at the asteroid that was dubbed their headquarters, Oz landed on their runway and pulled into their hangar. The hangar doors closed behind him and he waited until the area was pressurized before walking out. I don't need to worry about anything until I leave this hangar, they want to enjoy killing me, this would be too easy, he thought. Oz pulled out his special goggles and set them to x-ray mode. He looked through the door that he was going to walkthrough to see if anyone was on the other side. As he did so he saw several people waiting for him, each with a gun. Oz made a wry smile, "So much for enjoying it, " he said to himself. He pulled out one of his casters and hit the open switch. Before the door opened completely Oz fired, killing everyone in the corridor. He ran down the rest of the way and dodging traps and groups of armed pirates all along the way. by the time he reached his final destination he was bruised, bleeding and shot in his left arm. The final door opened and there he saw Ryoko strapped down, upright and unconscious. He held a caster in each hand by now and was panting from all the running. "I'm here for the girl," Oz declared.
"I know you are," Oz had to look up to see the face of the man before him, he was nearly seven feet tall and his hands were large enough to wrap around Oz's head.
Oz looked up, "Daaaaammmmnnn."
The giant looked down at him, "You beat me you can get the girl, your move little man."
Oz knew it wasn't that simple, he knew that even if he got Ryoko he would still have to fight someone else to make it out of this place alive. But he also knew no matter what the giant had to go. Before Oz could shoot the giant he was swatted down and his casters went flying. Oz had to scramble to get around the giant and dodge his massive fists. Every time Oz punched him it was like hitting a wall. Finally Oz managed to get near one of his casters. Just as he grabbed it he looked up to see the giant grab his head. In a panic oz tried to break free but felt the giants grip tighten.
"Say your prayers space cowboy," The giant grunted.
"I'm not a cowboy," Oz wheezed. He pulled up his caster, aimed at the giants chest and pulled the trigger. The caster shell that he fired released a massive amount of energy in the form of electricity, it surged through the giant and through Oz until the giant dropped him and Oz could move away. The giant screamed and then collapsed to the ground. Oz waited a moment to catch his breath and then freed Ryoko, upon doing so an alarm began to sound. "Shit," Oz muttered, "Everyone wants the last laugh." He ran as fast as he could with Ryoko and managed to get to the jet just as the asteroid began to explode and decompress.
On the way home Ryoko began to wake and she looked over at Oz, "Hey cutie," She whispered in a raspy voice.
Oz looked down at her, "Hey beautiful," He winked at her.
"I'm sorry," She said as her eyes began to well up with tears.
He saw her begin to cry and he was confused, "For what?"
"For the way I've been acting," she answered, "I was being so distant, it was because of something Ed asked me."
"What did she ask you."
"If I loved you."
"And."
"And I didn't know how to answer, I didn't want to say yes because I've never had good experiences with love, but the more I thought about the more it seemed like a yes, and the more I hate myself, and you for that." Her eyes still had tears in them.
Oz brushed away her tears, "If you don't know whether you love me or not, don't say one or the other. Only say what you mean beautiful."
Ryoko looked at him and smiled, she was tired and soon she fell asleep.
When they reached the ship Oz carried Ryoko in his arms and brought her into the living room. As they walked in Oz was pleasantly surprised to catch Jim and Ed in the middle of a kiss.
Jim saw in the corner of his eye Oz with Ryoko in his arms. When he saw this he ended the kiss prematurely. "You're back, " He said surprised.
"Looks like Jimmy Boy was gettin' himself some love huh?" Oz had a wide smile on his face. He looked at Ed and she could only blush in response.
Ryoko was slightly awake in all this time and she smiled at that, "It's about time you two got together," she said tiredly.
"That's what I'm sayin'," Oz agreed.
Ryoko looked at Oz with her eyes half open, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest, "I love you," she whispered.
Oz looked down at her face, she had a grin as she was looking at Oz, "I love you too beautiful," he said, and kissed her on the forehead, but she was already fast alseep.