The Magnificent Seventh
Chapter Five The Gang's All Here"I can't believe my eyes! Billy the Kid… Calamity Jane… Wild Bill Peacock! You did it, Matt! You brought them all back!" Timmy said as hugged my legs.
I smiled as I patted him on the head. "Thank you, but where's Duck and Buffalo Bill?"
"Oh, Duck and Bill – er, Buffalo Bill, that is – they aren't here. They went on ahead to the old Chirp place." Timmy said, looking up at me as he let go of my legs. "Duck told me to tell you to meet him there, when you came back. Boy howdy, the Seven have come home! What a day!"
"Is he always this loud?" Wild Bill asked me, chuckling softly. "I think he's just excited that all of you are here. In fact, he was the one who convinced me to get you guys. Now, we'd better get to the old Chirp place."
A few minutes later, Timmy excitedly waved goodbye to us as the Aquila sailed out of Tumbleweed's docks and into the skyway.
As it turned out, the old Chirp place wasn't that far from Tumbleweed, and soon we had dropped anchor at the small dock at the beginning of the trail leading to the wooden gates of the old Chirp place.
We walked to the front door of Wyatt's wooden two-story plantation house, and I opened the door to the living room to find Duck Holliday and Buffalo Bill sitting inside on opposite couches in front of the unlit fireplace.
As I looked around the room, I could see that the walls were filled with crossed-out wanted posters, so I guess Wyatt must've been a busy boy.
"You're here at last! It took you long enough! Don't know how much longer I could have stayed cooped up with this blasted skunk!" Buffalo Bill said as he rose from his seat.
"Now Bill, cough, cough, are we not friends anymore?" Duck Holliday asked, coughing.
"Buffalo's right. You've got a lot of nerve calling us back here after what you done." Billy said, pointing a finger at Duck Holliday.
"That's enough of that! It's the Wild Bunch we're here to fight, not each other." Calamity Jane snapped, and the three quieted down, though not without muttering under their breath.
"That's right. It's time we did some good again. It's what Wyatt would have wanted. It's time to get our badges." Wild Bill said as he gestured to a strongbox atop the mantelpiece. Taking the key resting atop the strongbox, Wild Bill opened the strongbox and handed the Seven their badges.
"And so, the Magnificent Seven ride again! Too bad we are only six." Bat Masterson said as he pinned his badge to his black shirt, and Duck Holliday coughed again, but it was an intentional one this time. "Seven. Matthew is our seventh."
"Give Matthew Wyatt's badge." Buffalo Bill said as he pinned his badge to his leather vest. Wild Bill nodded as he turned to pin the badge to the outside of my coat. "You've earned it."
"Thank you." I said, grateful for the fact that they were willing to give me, a character suffering from designated protagonist syndrome in a badly-written work of fan fiction, the prized possession of their old friend, who's probably done a lot more good than I have.
"It is done. Before we go to battle, we should pay our respects to Wyatt. Let us go to his grave." Bat Masterson said, and the other members of the Seven nodded.
We got out of the house and walked to the grave of Wyatt Chirp near the barn, and we all stood solemnly around the gravestone.
"Wyatt, wherever you are, we hope you know that the Seven ride again, and that justice will be done." Wild Bill began, but Duck Holliday coughed. "Did you hear that?"
Suddenly, three members of the Wild Bunch, Mustang cowboys wearing green sashes and armed with revolvers, came out from behind the barn, and Billy the Kid shouted, "It's an ambush!"
We saw even more members of the Wild Bunch appear from their hiding places, and one even burst out from the outhouse near Wyatt's home, with his pants on, thankfully. I drew my weapons and heard the others do the same as I counted heads.
They outnumbered the thirteen of us three-to-one, and the Wild Bunch looked at us like hungry wolves waiting to pounce.
Duck Holliday made the first move by firing twice at a member of the Wild Bunch, stunning his hand before shooting him in the chest to incapacitate him.
A member of the Wild Bunch, armed with two knives, attempted to sneak up on Buffalo Bill from behind, but his target heard him coming and blasted him with his shotgun at almost point-blank range, leaving him stunned on the ground.
Wild Bill shot three members of the Wild Bunch in the limbs, but when it became clear that he was going to be overrun, Calamity Jane stepped in to shoot them behind their backs in record time.
Bat Masterson screeched, and the same glowing green skull with purple flames for eyes appeared to breathe purple gas onto three members of the Wild Bunch, who started coughing. I turned to look at Old Scratch, and he seemed just as surprised as I was.
Billy the Kid took on the Mustang cowboy from the outhouse, and seemingly in one smooth motion, he raced over to his opponent and unbuckled and yanked away his belt.
He then laughed hysterically at the Mustang cowboy's embarrassment as his pants fell down to reveal white boxers with a pink heart pattern, and as he dropped his revolvers to cover them up, Billy shot him in the chest.
My own crew wasn't doing so bad themselves. Rena had drawn her knife and began fighting a Mustang cowboy armed with knives, and Bonnie, after shooting her opponent's gun hand, slammed the butt of her Scaramanga into her opponent's head, knocking him out.
Emmett had fired his four pistols in rapid succession to stun four members of the Wild Bunch, and Jack had disregarded the use of his cutlass to sneak up on and choke out a Mustang cowboy who had dropped his knives as he was being choked.
Old Scratch, not to be outdone by Bat Masterson, summoned three smaller skulls to breathe purple gas onto three members of the Wild Bunch, who coughed as they fell to the floor, knocked out.
Ratbeard kicked one Mustang cowboy in between the legs with his peg leg, and slammed the hilt of his sword into his opponent's head knocking him out.
"I've seen enough! It's time for some payback!" A member of the Wild Bunch, seemingly their leader, shouted as he ran towards me with guns blazing. I recognized him from the wanted posters of the Wild Bunch at the Desert Rose saloon as Ike Bronco.
Drawing my two swords, I ran towards Ike, low to the ground to avoid his wild shots fired in anger, and I lunged towards him, tearing through the side of his shirt, and I saw blood trickle from his side.
I turned around to face Ike, and he fired twice at me, catching me in the left shoulder, and I felt my arm go limp as I dropped my sword.
In a last throw of the dice, I threw my other sword at Ike, which he easily dodged, and he smiled arrogantly at me only for his smirk to fade as I shot him in the face.
As the last gunshot stunned the last remaining member of the Wild Bunch, we had them bound and gagged just as Ike came to, and he growled at us as we stood near the hatch aboard the Aquila leading below deck.
"This isn't over. The Wild Bunch owns these skies! We don't want any law – we're the law. You're going to pay for this. Tumbleweed will too." Ike said as two of my men took him to the brig.
"My, it seems we've caught, cough, the attention of the Wild Bunch. Let's take these miscreants back to Tumbleweed, and see how the jail suits them." Duck Holliday said. We all nodded, and soon we were underway to Tumbleweed.
We walked up the ramp to Main Street, where we walked into the Desert Rose saloon, and Sly Winkum's jaw slightly dropped as he saw the Magnificent Seven behind me, and then he closed his mouth. "If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it. The Magnificent Seven ride again."