(Chapter 26: Crackdown)
A few days went on to pass, and the Marston Gang was split in two. One half was in the Redemption Mountains, and the other half was in the mining town of Colter in the Grizzlies. The gang was lucky that it wasn't Winter, or else they would be in trouble. Bill would be leading the half of the gang in which was in the Grizzlies Mountains.
Jack Marston and his half of the gang was working on rebuilding Cochinay, a fortress at the highest point in the Redemption Mountains. Those days turned into weeks, once the second week went on to pass. The BlackJacks arrived in New Austin once again, ready to decimate the Marston Gang even further.
Archer Fordham, who had taken Edgar Ross' place months after he died, was waiting for the BlackJack elites to get back to the Town Hall of Blackwater so he could speak to them. He still didn't know that these people he took for bounty hunters were actually notorious criminals West of the Grizzlies.
The first thing that the BlackJacks did once they all returned back into West Elizabeth, was that all of the working men and women settled back into Thieves' Landing. The generals of the gang all took shelter in the Wreck of Serendipity.
"Finally, home." Jake Lanza said with a tone of relief, happy to be back in familiar territory, it was much cooler in this area than in the hot deserts of Mexico.
"Yes, after a few damn days of constant travel, we are finally back. Now we have to rest, we have no clue where the Marston Gang is, I might send a squad out to scout around town later on today. We need to rest, but I along with Nicholas Lana, is going to Blackwater town hall to report on what happened over the past few weeks, even a month."
"Any plans on getting The Marstons from out of hiding?" Markus asked, leaning in a doorway.
"I've got an idea, to take away that darkie woman from the gang. The entire gang went to get her back, she alone, is the reason we are on this wild goose chase all throughout the two countries. I've got a hunch to send her up into the mines by Annesburgh, she won't last long.."
(Cochinay)
In the place where Dutch met his end, the stronger half of the Marston Gang was setting up base. They aimed to build it up just like Dutch's Gang did, except it wouldn't fall as easy. They all had just completed working on the first area of the settlement, it was divided up into three areas.
The front gate stood to be seventeen feet tall with a wall equally as high, there was a walkway for a watchtower. There was also peepholes in the front gate with slots for eyeholes, this was the front gate, and the most important one at that. The first area was beyond the front gate, it is a narrow area between two cliffs, with some trees on the right side and several boulders scattered around the central clearing. They were going to start building the second area of the base at some point today, for now, they were resting and eating mid-day meals.
"Jack, I don't think it is a good idea to start robbing people this early, a bank heist or even a store robbery should wait for a bit longer. We've been collecting hides and valuables from the animals we've hunted so far, perhaps if we sell it at the stores, we can get some money." Dred advised as he sat by the campfire in the clearing within the first area, sticking a piece of deer meat over the fire.
"Well, what stuff do we have?" Jack asked, taking a bite out of the cooked deer meat he was holding.
"We have all sorts of shit, boar tusks, wolf pelts. Several buck antlers, the choice is yours to make."
"Jackie, you mentioned big plans for our gang looking forward. What are those plans?" Rebecca asked, curious to know what would happen in the future years or days.
"Well, I am looking forward to getting many more members into this gang. We could form an entire army, when that day comes, we will start our robbery spree. There are a few key banks I am wanting to rob with this gang, that is the Blackwater bank, and the Saint Denis bank. Once we deal with the BlackJacks, we will move beyond the mountains and navigate West."
"What about Bill Pierce? I wonder how his half of the gang is doing.." Tonya asked with a worried tone in her voice.
"It's cold as hell in the Grizzlies, I remember being up there as a small child. It is colder than it is here. I can only hope that he doesn't do anything stupid, knowing his idiocy, he might flee with his half of the gang. Me and him don't seem to get along all that much…" Jack explained, letting out a sigh moments later..
(Grizzlies Mountains, Colter)
A few log cabins had been built by Bill's half of the gang, so far, he has proven to be an excellent leader. He went out to hunt by himself a couple of times to provide for the gang, killing him some elk and bighorn rams within the snowy tips of the mountains. The old mining town had been restored and several members of Bill's half of the gang were taking shelter in it. His half used it how the Van Der Linde gang used it back in 1899.
Bill was eyeing down a mountain, the same mountain that John Marston got trapped on way back in 1899. He felt that if he had gone to the top of the mountain and used binoculars to scope out the land, he could potentially find another spot for a base. After a few minutes of thinking, he left the camp unexpectedly, traveling to the top of the mountain via a snowy path. Once he reached the top of the mountain, he walked over to where a tight squeeze of a crevice was, he could shift through the tight space and come out on the other side.
He was at a perfect enough height, the ground was a few thousand feet below him. He decided to pull out the binoculars now, and scout around while he was safe at the top of the mountain. As he looked at all the land West of the tallest mountain in the Grizzlies, he wondered if he could actually leave away with his half of the gang into a warmer environment. After a few minutes of looking around, he decided to make his way down into Colter once again.
"Bill, food is dwindling again. We'll be needing some more provisions when night falls, try and find us a big animal. Like a bear or something, or a moose." One of the members suggested to him, the thought put a smile on Bill's face.
He wanted to kill a moose for the longest time, not because he hated the animal itself, not because it was for food, but because it stood as a symbol of his failure when he was a teenager when his parents were sick, and starving in the cold. To kill a bull moose, preferably a large one, was a way for him to lift a heavy burden that has troubled his mind for a long time.
(Later that day)
Douglas Mulligan and Nicholas Lanza sat before Archer Fordham at the Blackwater town hall, both were ready to deliver the news of all that has gone down since they have been out of the country and in Mexico for quite some time.
"We've chased them all over the state, even traveling down into Mexico. They attacked El Presidio, one of the most heavily guarded fortresses in that area. Their gang was decimated, but somehow it grew to large size once again."
"They managed to get inside of El Presidio!?" Archer boomed, shocked at how much the Marston Gang had done.
"Yes, their generals were critically hurt. I don't know how healed they are, they managed to make it to another settlement. We managed to run them off, we killed a good slew of them, but the gang is still at large."
There was a pause in the room, with Archer Fordham letting out a sigh of disbelief.
"I am placing a higher bounty on the gang, if they stormed Sisika and stormed El Presidio. Their bounty is going to go up in the thousands, I would say four thousand dollars for the downfall of the gang. Nine hundred dollars for each of the generals." Archer announced.
Suddenly, there was a loud cheering uproar from outside of town hall. Douglas gave Archer a puzzled look, he wondered why people were suddenly cheering.
"What's going on?" Douglas asked.
"Governor Nate Johns is coming back here, he fled from West Elizabeth because people didn't like him. Ever since then, he's gotten a shitload of money from his campaigns. He is coming here to deliver some news concerning gangs, rumors have it that this is a pretty big announcement."
The three men headed outside and walked over to where Nate Johns was delivering a speech, he was at the docks with a large canopy over his head and a crowd surrounding him. Some people in the back of the crowd were booing, even flipping Johns off from afar.
"Fellow citizens of Blackwater, and West Elizabeth. I am here to address some things and I am here to also announce some things." Johns spoke into the microphone, his voice echoing across the area of which he stood in.
"I am back as governor, now you may remember me going away for a while after some lies were thrown around about me being a crook. Instead of me, you fellers gotten Henry Walters as governor. It is unfortunate news that he passed away, the reason has yet to be discovered. So the government of this fine state came calling to me again, since I was the only one that was left."
Archer Fordham gave Johns a questionable look from afar, Henry Walters was the governor of the state. Walters had control over most of West Elizabeth and New Austin, until he supposedly passed away due to unknown reasons.
"So in order to win back the audiences, I have decided to try and get rid of the problems that have been haunting this state. I know the various gangs have caused chaos, the town of Armadillo was left in ruins due to an unknown gang passing through. Word has gone out that the biggest prison in Mexico has been raided by the Marstons. I am here to announce that from this day forward, there will be a crackdown on all gangs. The searches will extend from the farthest reaches of New Austin, all the way into the Grizzlies Mountains ..."
Douglas and Nicholas both looked at each other, the Wreck of Serendipity was dangerously close to Blackwater. They both knew that their gang caused the ultimate destruction of Armadillo, and if they were to be caught, their penalty could be death.
"I am proud to announce that bounty hunter Douglas Macintosh and his band of bounty hunters have came to West Elizabeth to destroy any gang member found within this state."
Douglas let out a sigh of relief, but he was still on edge about it. Now that there would be a statewide crackdown on violence and gangs, he could very well be in trouble.
"Mr. Fordham, I have to leave. I'll bring back more news if we get any more info on the Marston Gang's whereabouts." Douglas said, before leaving Blackwater with Nicholas Lanza.
As the two rode down the dirt path towards Thieves' Landing, they both gave each other a look of worry. They feared that the law would find their camp and would attack them all, he felt that the BlackJacks should move away from their current camp. It wasn't so good for the Marston Gang either...