Chapter Eleven

Andric's was a bank. I was surprised that they were holding it up. But the waitress had said that they owed the organization money. Sven and I went around from opposite sides, planning to flank the main room where all the people were being held hostage. Meanwhile, Train went in.

"Hey… You must be Apollyon. You're much better looking in person." Train joked, winking at the main man. Apollyon looked up.
"What? Who are you?" Apollyon asked.

"Train. I'm the man who's going to bring you into the authorities." Train said as Sven and I closed in from the back.

"Shh…" I breathed, helping one of the female tellers up.

"Go out the back." I breathed. Sven was watching cautiously, looking around the main room.

There were three anonymous men with Apollyon. They had automatic weapons.

"Put your gun down." Apollyon ordered, grabbing a child that looked like they might be 6 or 7.

"I'll kill her. Do it." Apollyon said.

"Little girl. Close your eyes." Train said calmly. He tensed up. I could tell he was enraged that Apollyon would have the audacity to take a child hostage. The girl closed her eyes.

"Please don't kill me, Mister!" She begged.

Train fired. The girl screamed in terror as blood splattered on her face. Train had fired at Apollyon's hand, forcing him to drop his gun. The girl shrieked as she fell to the floor, deafened by the gunfire but otherwise unharmed.

"You bastard!" Apollyon snarled, pulling another gun from his belt, only to have his other hand shot as well. Unfortunately, the gun went off as it hit the ground, hitting the small girl in the head, killing her.

There was silence in the bank once the shot stopped ringing.

"That was your fault." Apollyon said to train, stepping on the girl's body.

"Get off of her." Train growled, firing his gun at one of the other gunmen, who was about to open fire, hitting him in the head, right between the eyes. The man crumpled to the ground.

"Don't take your failure out on my men." Apollyon said calmly.

"We're just businessmen. This bank owes us money for protection. We merely came to see that they paid us." Apollyon said calmly, pushing the girl's head over the floor, smearing it with blood. Train immediately fired four times, hitting the other four men in the heads, killing all of them. Apollyon growled in pain as he grabbed his 45. And bolted out the door, Train fast in tow. As soon as he got out the door, Apollyon grabbed a person and held a gun to their head and a knife to their throat.

"Can you fire twice fast enough to stop me? If you can't, they die, no matter how quick you are."

Train growled, his gun slowly falling to his side. Apollyon grinned wildly, slicing the woman's throat. Train roared in outrage as Apollyon shoved the young woman's body at Train. She couldn't have been more than 12 or 13, no older than Eve when they first met her. He shoved the woman's body off of him and fired at the man. Unfortunately, seeing red, gasping in rage as he chased Apollyon, he missed as Apollyon fired as well, hitting a middle aged man and woman in the backs, causing them to fall as well.

The shock of that initial shot had caused him to drop his guns. But pain didn't usually bother him. It was part of his Tao. He didn't feel pain as strongly as most people. He got most of his tattoos within a week and it didn't bother him significantly. He could take pain, both that he felt and that other people were feeling and inflict it upon other people. He did that now, taking deep breaths and spreading out his mind, causing people all around him to scream in pain as he continued firing, killing more people, spreading more pain. He was a torturer at heart, a true sadist.

He finally grabbed a middle aged woman, holding her body in front of his.

"You let me go. Or I'll kill her."
"You've already killed the last person you said you'd kill if I didn't let you go… Why… Why should I believe you?" Train growled.

"You can't trust me. You'll just have to take my word for it. Because if you don't, she'll definitely die. If you do, there's at least a chance she'll live.

"If you keep me at gunpoint, her death will be on your hands." Apollyon said.

"You don't want the blood of this innocent woman on your hands, do you?" Apollyon asked. Train sighed as Sven and I pulled up next to him, jumping out of the car.

"Let her go!" Sven ordered.

"Princess… Distract him." Train whispered. I nodded, heading around to the side, not making any attempt to hide myself. Apollyon seemed distracted.

"Hello, beautiful lady. How would you like to be my woman?" Apollyon smirked lecherously. I grimaced in disgust. He made my skin crawl. I heard a shot though. Train had fired. The bullet bounced twice and hit Apollyon in the head. He crumpled to the ground, dead. Train was silent, staring at Apollyon's still, dead body.

"Train… It's okay… You didn't have a choice." Sven said gently, trying to help Train come out of his trance. Train sighed.

"I-y-yeah… Yeah… No-no choice… No choice… I-I had to do it…" Train breathed, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. Sven lifted Apollyon over his shoulder and they carried him to the police station where they could turn him in and get his bounty.

"Eve, take Train back to the house. I'll be there in a little while." Sven said.

-0-

I helped Train back into the safe house. He was trembling violently. I helped him sit down on the couch. He was silent, just staring at the wall. I'd seen that look before. Train was traumatized. He'd just witnessed a man killing. Not that Train had never seen that. But I could tell that Train blamed himself for their deaths. He'd been right there and he couldn't stop Apollyon. It wasn't Train's fault. It could never be Train's fault. He would never willingly let someone die. He would jump in front of the bullet himself before he let someone else get shot. But he'd been there. He'd hesitated.

And even just that moment's hesitation gave Apollyon the time he needed to kill and harm. And then the thing I'm sure Train still hasn't forgiven himself for… He committed a murder himself. Of course, it wasn't murder. Train was a bounty hunter, a Sweeper. And Apollyon's bounty said dead or alive. He really was dangerous enough that they accounted for the potentiality that the Sweeper who got him might not be able to take him in alive. And if he was captured alive, that would just put the job of killing him on the government. So either way, he was going to die.

I sat with Train, hugging him, only to be pushed off.

"Do-don't touch me. Don't come near me. I-you could have… That-that could have been you… I-I could have killed you too…" Train breathed, his voice shaking.

"But I didn't. It wasn't. I'm okay. This isn't your fault.

"YES IT IS!" Train shouted.

"I SAID DON'T TOUCH ME! DOESN'T THAT 250 IQ OF YOURS GET THAT!" Train screamed, shoving me off of him as I tried to hug him again. I just wanted to comfort him.

"I'll make something for us to eat." I said gently.

"Don't bother. I'm not hungry." Train said bitterly. I sighed. If Train wasn't hungry, that was serious. I couldn't remember a time when Train wasn't hungry.

"Okay… If you want to talk, just come up and knock on my door." I said.

I was sure that he wouldn't. But I wanted to be available for him. He'd really suffered today and sometimes I wished that he wouldn't continue this Sweeper lifestyle. But I knew that this was what made him happy. I hoped someday that he could be happy living an ordinary life… But doing what? Train was talented. But what most people saw was his skill with a gun. He might be able to train younger sweepers. But other than that, there was little that he could market… At least as far as I knew. But already, he'd shown me there was a lot that I didn't know about him.

-0-

Sven came home about two hours later. He'd had to give a lengthy report to the police and then to the bounty commission. We'd never killed a bounty, so neither Train nor I knew about the process that you had to go through when you killed a target. You had to write out a report of what happened, what led up to killing the target, report any collateral damage and if possible, pay for that collateral damage out of the bounty. Sven was tired when he got home, but he looked at the couch and saw Train still just sitting there, staring at the wall.

"Hey, Train. You know… I know I won't be able to convince you that this wasn't your fault. It wasn't, but I know you and I know how much of an obligation you feel, especially to women and children. You did absolutely everything you could have. You shot out both of Apollyon's hands. Oh, by the way, his name was Leon Starkomski. They got it off his fingerprints and dental records. But you shot out both his hands. You couldn't have predicted that he would still be able to hold a gun. I don't think even I could still hold a gun if I got shot in the hand." Sven said.

"You followed him and you followed your gut. He killed those people. He held those hostages. That wasn't you. That was him. And you managed to take him down even with him holding a hostage. You were incredible today." Sven said.

"How many people died?" Train asked. That was all he cared about. That was all that mattered to him. He didn't care about how many lives he may have saved. He only cared about the lives that were lost, supposedly because of his inability to act when it was necessary.

"Well… They're still counting the bodies. But… It-it looks like a lot. Around 25." Sven said uncomfortably. He wasn't even going to tell Train about the 15 dead and 25 injured and critical people in the bank because of the one gunman that was hiding amongst the hostages. Apollyon was a tactical genius. He anticipated that someone might interrupt their robbery of the bank and put another gunman amongst the hostages. When the three gunmen that were standing fell and once Train left, the covert gunman got up and opened fire with an automatic rifle.

They were still getting people to the hospitals around the area, alerting families of patrons who had died or who had been seriously injured. Today had been a disaster.

"We went in there, guns blazing, thinking this would be easy. We got all the data we could on Leon and it still wasn't… Wasn't enough… All those people dead… They're all dead because I got soft… Never again… I-I'm quitting. I'm done." Train breathed.

A/N: I know it's a short chapter. But I got in everything that needed to be gotten in. The story isn't over. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Leon's story is over, but Train's story still has a ways to go.