Chapter Nine

Previously. . .
"Tex. . .Tex this is Carla. I don't know if you're there, but I'm in big trouble. They've got me tied up, and I've been taken hostage. I need you to get me out of here!" Taking the radio back, Vipra snapped,
"Tex, this be no joke! Stampede put Dan in charge of heist, not you. . .You want that?"

During this time, I just so happened to look up and froze to the sight of Dan and a couple of other dingo's walking into the room. Swallowing hard, I watched as Dan slowly crept inside, drawing out his weapon. Completely engrossed with what she was doing, Vipra never noticed that, or the nervous expression on my face. Shaking the radio, she hollered,

"Tex! Can you hear me?!" Now I watched as Dan literally stuck the barrel of his gun in the small of her back. "No. . .but I can!"

*** Within the next thirty minutes, Vipra was fit to be tied. Hog-tied, that is! For not only did they tie up her hands, but her feet as well! Sneering down at us, Dan looked at her and asked, "Are you comfy? Because you're gonna be here for awhile!"

Glaring up at him, Vipra hissed between her teeth. "You'll pay for this. So help me, If I get loose you'll be sorry!" Looking at the other dingo's, Dan began to sarcastically rub his chin. "Hmmm. . .There's still one thing you haven't covered, boys. . ."

"What's that, boss?" One of them asked.

"Her mouth, if she don't stop runnin it!" Now before Dan had a chance to vex her any further, he was interrupted when the sounds of loud gunshots rung just outside the cabin.
Gaping at me rather surprised, Vipra asked, "Did you hear that?

"
"Yes. . ." I said, getting very excited. "You don't think. . . .that maybe the Marshall's on board?" Gaping down at me, Dan snarled and glared at the rest of the pack. "Rrrrrr. . .Not for long! Go out there and see who it is!"

Lifting their guns, they began to yep and howl in a frenzy as they all scurried out the door. But just as quickly, their noisy ruckus had stopped cold! Through the eerie
silence, Vipra and I watched as Dan's eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What's going on, here?!" he muttered under his breath. Growing more and more paranoid, he crept up to the door and locked the panel. In that second the light turned red, indicating that someone was trying to come in. This was followed by another gun bast that was so loud, it had Vipra and I jumping out of our skin.

By the way Dan's jaw dropped, I thought for sure it was the Marshall. That is, until I saw the barrel of a Hexmaker pointing dead at him! This was followed by the unexpected sight of Tex walking through the doorway with an evil smirk on his face! Sneering down at Dan, he uttered only one word, "Surprise. . ."

He was immediately followed by Thunderstick and Scuzz, who had their guns drawn as well.

Weakening with relief, I watched as Dan's hands quickly rose in surrender. Nervously he began to back away, until he was pinned up against the counter!

Swallowing hard, he asked, "What. . .what are you doin here?"

Coolly peering at him, Tex replied, "What does it look like?! I'm takin over what should've been my job in the first place!" Eyes widening, he muttered,

"But. . .but. . .you can't do that!" Cocking his head, Tex leaned forward until his face was inches from his. "Watch me!"

"Tex?" I said, watching as his mean gaze found mine, and softened. Looking back at Thunderstick and Scuzz, he muttered, "Keep an eye on him, will ya?" Thereafter he turned, and headed in our direction. As he knelt down and untied the ropes from my hands, I let out a deep sigh of relief. "Boy. . .am I glad to see you."

Looking up at me, Tex gently gazed into my eyes and muttered,

"Yeah, me too. . .In spite of the circumstances." Now I watched as his stare playfully shifted on Vipra who was glaring at him with a mortified expression on her face. Slowly shaking his head, he muttered, "Boy. . .You sure had everything under control here, didn't ya?"

"Oh, Shut up!" Vipra snapped, as Tex mischievously grinned at her. "And you have a lot of nerve! This not happen if you would've answered in the first place!"

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He argued, as he began to untie her hands.

"Yeah! And it about time, too! I been trying to call you all night! I even let Carla talk, and you still not answer! Why?"

Hesitating for a minute, Tex defensively replied, "Cause they would've known I was there, and would've been waitin for me ta come on board!"

"So. . .Stampede doesn't know you're here, either?" Now I watched as his gaze solemnly found mine. "No. . .But he'll know soon enough."

"Yeah. . .And when he does, you'll be sorry!" Rolling his eyes, Tex turned around and glared at Dan with disgust. "Ya know somethin? I'm sick of dingos! Especially half-breed, flea-bitten mongrels like ya self! Somebody tie him up and throw him in the brig with the rest of them coyotes!"

Jumping to her feet, Vipra pulled out her venomizer and hissed, "I do it! But I put him in special place!" Knowing he was in big trouble, Tex looked from him to her and mocked, "Be my guest. . ."
Giving Dan an evil grin, she tauntingly waved the gun in his face.

"Move it, buster!" Scowling, he done as he was told, not saying another word. As they walked out of the cabin, Tex headed for the power console

.
One of the first things he noticed were the operators, who were still sound asleep. "Well, now. This makes it more convenient. . ." He said, leaning between the two of them.

Stepping on the side I asked, "Don't you want to wake them up?"

Gaping at me, he scoffed and said, "Are you crazy? The last thing I need is for them ta interfere. This is the best thing that could've happened." Now he began to stare out of the window, as though completely submersed in his own thoughts. Looking over at me, his eyes rolled with frustration, and he let out a sigh of disgust. Quickly his hand sprung forward until it had pulled back on the ships main control breaker. Within that instant everything shut off, including the lights and the engines, and we were standing alone in the dark. Overwhelmed by my own curiosity, I nervously asked, "What are you doing?"

Silently his darkened silhouette walked up to me and stood there. "With the power turned off, the Marshall will be up here in a matter of minutes. So you'll be safe. . ."

When it occurred to me what he was about to do, I could only stare at him in wonder. Unable to help myself, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "Thank you, Tex." I whispered, as his hand gently stroked my hair. "And. . .goodbye."

Pulling me away, I watched as Tex's darkened form stepped back and hesitated, as though he were looking at me for one last time. "Goodbye, Carla."

He murmured in a cracked voice. Then like a ghost, he slowly faded away, vanishing right in the front of my eyes.

Within a matter of minutes, Tex turned out to be right. In no time at all Bravestarr, Thirty, and Fuzz all climbed aboard, and began to scope out the rest of Dan's gang. Once the pack of rogues had been found, they were taken and thrown into the ships brig. Strangely enough, Dan was still nowhere to be found.

During this time, Captain Silas had managed to find his way back to the control room, just as the rest of the sleeping crew were beginning to wake up. Although very weak, he was still competent enough to turn the ship around and head back to Fort Kerium.

Upon our arrival into town, Bravestarr began to let off as many passengers as he could. Letting out a sigh of relief, Silas slowly shook his head and replied,

"Boy. . .That sure was a close call."

"Yeah, I know. Too close. I should've known something was up when all them Dingoes started causing a ruckus outside of town. It was just a tactic to drive us away, so they could get on this ship!" Swooning a bit, Silas moaned and weakly flopped down in his chair. "Hey. Are you alright?" Bravestarr asked with concern.

"Yeah. I'm still a little drained, is all. But, I'll be fine." Silas replied, "What I want ta know is, did Stampede get a hold of that cannon?"

"No. . .And before he tries anything else, I'm going to take it off the ship as soon as we get back into town. Better to be safe, than sorry, I always say. . ."

"Whooo-whee!" Thirty-Thirty interrupted, as he tromped through the doorway of the cabin. "I thought we'd rounded them all up, but looky who I found. The one hooligan who started all the ruckus!"

"Dingo Dan?! I should've known! I thought you're voice sounded familiar. But I never would've guessed it was you."
Giving the Marshall a look of utter disgust, Dan growled out,

"And ya still wouldn't have known if Tex wouldn't have interfered!"
Giving Dan a suspicious glance, he asked, "Interfered? What are you talking about?"

Now before Bravestarr had a chance to interrogate Dan any further, his nose strangely began to twitch, as though sniffing something. In that instant his eyes widened, and a hand quickly covered over the bottom of his face. At first, I didn't know what was wrong, that is, until the overwhelming stench hit my nostrils too.

"Whoa!" Silas muttered, fanning a hand in the air. "Where in the world did you find him, anyway?" Trying to keep his distance, Thirty muttered,
"In the garbage chute!"

Hearing this caused a grin to uncontrollably cover my face. Trying not to laugh, I muttered, "Well. . .Vipra said she was going to put him someplace special. . .I guess she meant it." Although wanting to question me, Bravestarr looked at Dan, not being able to take much more of his pungent aroma. "Oh, Fuzz. Lock him up somewhere will ya? Preferably in a cell away from the others. No need ta punish them too!" Holding his nose, Fuzz saluted Bravestarr with his other hand.
"No problems, Marshall!"

As he quickly led Dan down the walkway, Bravestarr's head slowly cocked in
my direction. "Now Miss Carla, I need to know exactly how Tex was involved
in this take over?"

"He wasn't." I quickly replied. "In fact, he didn't even know anything about it until the last minute. And when he found out. . .well. . .he came and stopped it."

"What? But why?" Taking a deep breath, I sighed then nervously replied,
"Because. . .maybe, I was on board?"

When the Marshall realized what I was implying, his suspicious glance turned into a surprised gape. "No. . ." he muttered.

Boldly looking him in the eyes, I nodded, "It's true. . ."

Now he, Thirty, and Silas all looked at each other with amused expressions on their faces. This in turn only annoyed me. Letting out a chuckle, Bravestarr shook his head. "Oh, come on, Carla. There's got to be another reason! I told you before that as long as Tex as been around, he's always been a selfish, self-centered person. He'd never go out of his way for anyone."

Putting a hand on my hip, I defensively replied, "Well, he just did, Marshall. . ."

Deep in thought, Silas looked away, rubbing a hand on his chin. "Well then, he must've had a motive."

Having about all I could take of their pessimism, I folded my arms and snapped, "Just like when he saved your precious town on Christmas? Did he have a motive then, too?" Completely overtaken by what I'd just said, the three of them could only stare at me in silence. Shaking my head, I sighed heavily then asked,

"Why is it so hard to believe? I mean. . .ya'll might have seen him one way all these years. But over the past two months, I've seen him in another."

"Well, speak of the devil," Thirty Thirty muttered, under his breath. "Isn't that Tex out yonder?" His unexpected question caused us to quickly walk toward the doorway. From far off I was surprised to find that it was Tex climbing along the side of a rocky peak, until he was standing on the cliff's summit. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he began staring toward the ship. By the way his hand slowly went down, I could tell he'd found who he was looking for. Me.

By then I began to get a lump in my throat as we continued to fix on each other's sad gaze. Letting out a heavy sigh, I replied, "It sure is. . ."

By the way my voice cracked with emotion, I could tell Bravestarr was beginning to catch on that there was something more going on than meets the eye.

Gently I could feel him tugging on my arm, causing me to look up at the moved expression on his face. "What's going on, Carla?" Getting teary eyed, I swallowed down a lump in my throat, and whispered, "Nothing. That's the problem. . ."

Before I could finish my sentence, I stopped short when I began to hear low rumbling sounds in the distance. This was soon followed by a hissing, vaporous noise that had the Marshall's eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Uh-Oh," he muttered, as the ominous noises grew louder and louder. Then within the next second, a loud crack of thunder was heard. And before we knew it, Stampede's massive form blew up over Tex, startling him so much that he literally dived into the ground. With a pounding heart I watched as Tex slowly looked up at him with a stunned expression on his face.

Snarling, Stampede pointed down to him and growled, "I'm surrounded by fools! Especially you, Tex Hex! I can't depend on you for anything! If I want something done around here, then I've got to do it myself!" Lifting up his massive head, Stampede glared towards the group of us and noticed the Marshall standing in the doorway of the ship.
Letting out a deep, gruff chuckle he growled, "Ohh. This is going to be too easy!"

By then a group of townspeople had all gathered below from the commotion. This included Judge J.B. and Mayor Daringer, who were all gaping up at him with
stunned expressions on their faces.
"What-what do you want?!" Daringer stuttered in a cracked voice.

Balling up his massive fist, Stampede snarled, "I want that cannon! You either surrender it to me, or this will be last time you see your precious Marshall, or anybody else on this ship!"
In that instant two flaming bolts shot out of the transistors of his horns, engulfing the entire ship in an eerie iridescent glow.

Before we realized what was happening, the glare turned so bright that it literally blinded the group of us. Turning away, I quickly shielded my eyes. Through the cracks of my fingers I noticed how the blinding gleam began to fade off, slowly causing my hand to lower with caution. When it did, I was stunned to find that we weren't on the ship anymore, but in some kind of a prison chamber surrounded by seemed like an electrical dome of some sort.

"What is this place?" Silas's voice echoed out. Taking a look around, I actually began to recognize where we were, due to my prior visit from before. "Wait a minute. . .Isn't this the Hexagon?" Rather impressed, Bravestarr nodded.

"I'm afraid so, Miss Carla. And I gotta hunch that Stampede put us here. But where did he go?"

"I dunno. But we gotta get out before he comes back!" Thirty-Thirty said, whipping out Sara Jane and aiming it at the force field.

"No, Pard!" Just as he fired, Bravestarr lunged forward and kicked the gun sideways, causing the huge laser to blast a hole into the wall. Quickly we scattered, ducking as huge pieces of rock flew in every direction. Fanning the dust out of his face, Bravestarr glared at Thirty-Thirty and said, "You fire at that dome and the ricochet could kill us all!"

"He's right, ya know. . ." That voice! We looked ahead to find Tex leaning up against the wall with his arms folded. Looking toward me, his head began to shake. Letting out a snicker, he mocked, "Dang, woman. I can't seem ta get rid of you no matter how much I try!" As he smirked at me, Bravestarr let out a scoff of disgust.

"Tex Hex. . .I knew it! I knew that somehow you'd have a part in this!"

Glaring at Bravestarr, Tex walked up to the dome and snapped, "I wish I had,
Marshall! But for once you're wrong! This time I ain't got nothin ta do with it!" Now his mean gaze shifted toward me, turning soft and very gentle.

"Actually, I came ta finish what I started. . ."

Quickly his hand flew sideways, roughly pounding the button on the wall. The next thing we knew, the dome had completely disappeared! Stunned, all we could do was gape at Tex with complete and utter disbelief. Especially the Marshall.

"Well, I'll be. . ." he muttered, noticing how Tex looked away from him and stared at the floor. Slowly shaking his head, he asked,

"Tex, why are ya doin this?" Although humiliated, Tex looked from me to the Marshall now giving him one of the gravest expressions I'd ever seen. "Never you mind, Marshall. I just want you ta take Carla and get her out of here now. . ."

"No Tex. . . I don't want to leave you. Please come with me."

Immediately I could see a hurt look flash over his face. Full of frustration, Tex firmly grabbed me by the arms and looked into my eyes. "No, Carla! It ends here! Do ya understand?! It has to!" Now he swallowed hard, then gently pushed me away. "And no matter what happens. . .You just keep goin, and don't look back."

Getting an uneasy knot in the pit of my stomach, I suspiciously peered up at him and asked, "Tex. . .Why are you telling me this?" Stepping away, he shook his head and whispered, "Just go."

Now we began to hear that all too familiar hissing and rumbling, that had Tex nervously looking over his shoulder. Quickly he looked back at the Marshall and hissed loudly, "Go, now!" By the way Bravestarr stared at Tex, it was almost like he sensed that something more was about to happen. Then, he gently nudged me and said, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

One by one we fled out of there as the hissing noises grew louder and louder. Quickly, the group of us climbed up some stairs until we'd come out into the main chamber of the Hexagon. Immediately I began to recognize the smell of burning sulfur, and the huge double doors that led to Stampedes lair. Just as we were about to cross the corridor, his massive form appeared out of nowhere, causing us all to fly back up against the wall in a panic. From the corner of the hallway, I could hear him fiercely growl out,

"Their gone! Gone! And I bet I know who's responsible for this! Tex Hex, get in here now!" Quickly I stepped forward just enough to witness Tex appear out of nowhere, right in the front of Stampedes hideous form. Now I watched as his massive head came within inches of Tex's entire body. "My prisoners! Where are they?!"

By then I began to notice that the ruckus was the rest of the gang to emerge from different parts of the Hexagon. Slowly Vipra, Sandstorm, and Scuzz all crept out to get a better view of what was going on. Together we watched as Tex slowly folded his arms and sarcastically replied, "I don't know what you're talkin about. . ."

Glaring down at him, Stampede snarled out, "Oh yes, you do! I don't know what's gotten into you, Tex! But this time, you've gone too far! First by letting that freighter go and then by releasing my hostages! Now, you either tell me where they are, or else!" Through the apprehension, I saw Tex stiffen with spite. Narrowing his eyes, he sharply replied, "No!"

"What?!" Stampede growled, literally taken back by Tex's rebellious stance. Holding his ground, he shakily repeated.
"You heard me, I said, no!"

Growling with rage, Stampede yelled,
"You insolent fool! How dare you oppose me to my face! You seem to
forget who's in charge here! Your pitiful life is nothing without me!"
Balling his massive fist he shouted, "I made you what you are today!"

"Yeah, I know! Take a look at me, will ya?!" Tex shouted, slapping a hand on his bony chest. Quickly looking down at the floor, he shook his head and muttered, "I sure have. And ya know somethin? The years have made me tired, and I've had enough," he whispered, daring to look Stampede in the eyes.

By then it was so silent that you could've heard a pin drop! Tex's unexpected declaration had everybody marveling at him with disbelief. This included Stampede, who began to realize just what Tex possibly meant. Slowly his glowing yellow eyes narrowed, glaring down at Tex in a threatening manner.

"So have I, Hex!" he growled out in a menacing tone. "You're either for me, or against me. . .But you can't be both! Now. . .You either do as I say, or I'll destroy you! And this time, Hex, I mean it!"

To be continued. . . .