The Ashlanders - Chapter 6: The Blind Man's Last Gambit (Closed, Started)

[Ruedyn]

Another head disappeared, woman in the watchtower. The woman they were meeting also got in on the actions, making a very confused party. At least the nobleman was getting taken away... Aquila saw the boy in rags get up and dash for freedom, towards the woman on the hill. The one in the scarf was the one on the hill...

Aquila sighed, she was in this far, might as well go whole hog. She slung her rifle on her back as she leapt from her perch, and into the fray. She dashed to one of the corpses, picking up the man's pistol. Bloody but working. She let loose a few shots, keeping her eyes on the boy. None out of three shots hit, but the sound of him crying told Aquila someone did her job for her.

"Wonderful. Hey, KID!" She tried calling after him, hoping he didn't confuse her for an enemy. She let out a low sigh, and followed after him, tucking away the pistol. She was a quick draw anyways...

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

'The Real Amy'? Now that would be an interesting concept, if such existed. Amy Turner was a name, a tattered label on an old, careworn bear, with patches of stuffing leaking out at the seams and one button eye hanging loose. Amy Turner was a smear of marker pen on the underside of a red plastic cart; and Amy Turner was all she had.

It was clear that Meredith knew a play when she saw one, or a none too hidden one at least. Still, pouring her heart out to the woman would have been a terribly bad idea; and even if it wasn't, she wasn't about to give anything away that easily.

"So I take it you're the only woman in the world our mutual friend to have opened up to." she said a little insolently, nodding towards the door The Gentleman had just exited. "Or else, something must distinguish him from all the rest, that you'd stake so much on him while knowing nothing of his true character. Not that my past is entirely off limits either, but I'm an information broker. I don't give secrets, I trade them."

 

[The Funslinger]

"We need to get the fuck out of here! How many other Maidens are here with you?!"

"Four besides me. It was five, but we lost Barrot." He frowned, thinking. "That leaves a spot for you. Our Crawler is round the back of the building. I bet we can make it."

===================================

Whiskey peered from behind a tree. Most of the surviving bounty hunters were either trying to find the sources of sniper fire, or going after the kid. Two men, however, were advancing on her position. They had left a sizable gap between them to eliminate her shotgun's advantage. Sighing, she slung it at her back, and drew Tim and Jim. Cocking both pistols, she took a breath. Waited. Ducking out from the cover of the tree trunk, she leveled the handguns, marked each target and exhaled. At that moment, she took her shot, firing each handgun three times for good measure. Both men went down with crimson erupting at various points on their bodies. Noting Viola sprinting in the direction that kid had headed, Whiskey grimaced, bringing up her pistols to take aim at the bounty hunter's back.

No... she had given the Maidens all the help she could. She had to remain impartial. "god fucking dammit..." she lowered her weapons, then turned and ran after the guards carrying Bart.

 

[Fappy]

Pixie considered her words carefully and couldn't help but notice Amy hadn't taken so much as a sip of the bourbon she'd poured. Amy was playing it safe it seemed. Being careful. It was an admirable trait, and no surprise coming from a girl such as herself, but it also meant she didn't trust Pixie either. Regardless, Amy made a decent enough point and Pixie would clear the air as best she could.

Pixie leaned back, planted her hands on the desk behind her and crossed her legs. Her curious smile had returned to her lips, "The two'a us met way back when I was first startn' this whole rodeo. Back then I didn' have the clout I do now. I was in over my head n' I had no room ta' question ar' friend. I reckon he's done more harm 'n good since then, so I never felt the need ta' get on the level with him. We've gotta healthy workn' relationship, so why risk fuckn' that up? He don' ask about my past an' I don' pry into his. It's a mutual understand'n."

"You, on the other," Pixie said, pointing the tip of her boot at the girl. "You've got lil' more'n Gents' good word on yer side. Which, don' get me wrong, means a lot... but ya' know, he's made miscalculations in the past. Under normal circumstances I'd size up someone 'n make a judgement right then n' there, but you're different, sweetheart. Yer a bonafide mystery."

Her lips curled as her smile grew more suggestive, "Y'all said you trade information. Well, what'll it take?"

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"Our Crawler is round the back of the building. I bet we can make it."

As Bennie peaked around the corner to verify his claim he was greeted by a hail of bullets. He pressed himself and Ruffles up against the wall as bits and pieces of wood and clay bounced around the alleyway, "Shit! Three more crawlers just came in an' they're cutting us off from the rest of your crew. I'm sorry Jake, but if we're going to make it out of here alive we're gonna have to bail. They're just trying to keep us pinned down until more swoop in and if that happens we're fucked. "

He glanced around the corner once more and spotted movement in the second floor of Randy's house. Anyone up there was a lost cause, he just hoped Ruffles would see that, "Going back to get them now will be suicide. If we leave now we can come back for them later. Silo ain't stupid, he'll surrender and hopefully anyone else with him will be spared as well." He cocked his shotgun before checking their flank and turned his head. "I'm sorry you two, but we gotta go. The way's cleared down here and I can take y'all to a safe place to lay-low."

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Silo lifted himself to his knees and, next to Aesop, began firing out the window at the hostiles below. He was losing blood fast and couldn't quite see what he was shooting at, but he did what he could, "STEP OFF, MOTHER FUCKERS!" One of the crawlers had pulled up in-front of house and Silo could hear footsteps coming from below. They'd be swarmed soon.

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Sprout dashed from tree to tree, avoiding gunfire as he ran. With all the chaos it didn't seem like they even intended to take him alive anymore. He stopped behind a fallen tree to catch his breath for a moment and gauge exactly where he was when he heard someone call out.

"Wonderful. Hey, KID!"

Who?

Sprout glanced back to see a girl his age chasing after him. Was she another bounty hunter? No, there was no time to think. He had to act, "GET OUTTA HERE, IT'S DANGEROUS!" He shouted as he started for the drain once more.

Moments later Lilith came into view. She was running towards him at about 40 yards away, "Lily! I got the case! Let's get the fuck outta here!"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Lilith breathed a sigh of relief, laughing slightly as she finally got eyes on the kid. The feeling was short lived when she saw he was being followed. Is that a girl?!

"Lily! I got the case! Let's get the fuck outta here!"

"Axel, who's the girl?!" Lilith skidded to a halt, pulling up her revolver as she saw the signature purple scarf of the Poison Thorns bandit clan.

"You! Stay the bloody hell back, we don't want no trouble from the Thorns, just stay back and we'll be outta here, your kind won't see us around here again!" The last thing she wanted was to bring down the wrath of the local bandits on the two of them, especially now that they were on their own.

 

[Ruedyn]

Aquila

"GET OUTTA HERE, IT'S DANGEROUS!"

'...'

Aquila introduced liberal amounts of her own palm to her forehead, sighing. This... was probably not a very smart kid. She grunted, no breaks yet, had to catch up, make sure they didn't get away.

"I just used a round saving you, least you can do is not brush me off!" A round went off to close to comfort, but she decided to not move in to the forest again, kid shouldn't get more advantages here. She growled as she heard the one with the scarf yell back, an accent. Good to remember.

"You! Stay the bloody hell back, we don't want no trouble from the Thorns, just stay back and we'll be outta here, your kind won't see us around here again!"

"YOU PEOPLE ARE VERY UNAPPRECIATIVE!"
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kayneth, Vergil, & Warren

Vergil looked around, things sped up a lot for him. Adrenaline, too much, too fucking much. He'd been in combat maybe, what, 4 times? Stealth was his deal, and he wasn't allowed to kill these people. Could maybe fight the bandito's, but that meant fighting the bandito's.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck... Fuck me." Vergil felt in his pocket, looking around. Well, this would have to work.

The two burlier, fightier men had chosen to work together, Warren spraying liberally into the alley while Kayneth did likewise, with a scavenged weapon. It jammed pretty quickly, and he grunted and pulled out his sword,

"Wait." Warren held up his hand, getting the Duelist's attention.

"... What?"

"You use swords too?" Kayneth stared at Warren for a moment, sitting behind his cover with his sword half drawn.

"... I'm... I'm not even going to dignify that." Warren shrugged, leaning out of cover to deliver some more rounds. Kayneth shook his head, and grinned. Show time...

Kayneth ran over to a pile of crates one was using as cover, hopping on top of it and thrusting his sword down on his head. It caught him, back of the neck where it met the back, severing the spine. He lifted it up, and saw a blonde boy, not much older than a teenager and with near-white hair sparking up a ball of... something. He jumped off, approaching swiftly.

"SHITSHITSHIT GOT IT!" He threw the firework out, the wick burned pretty quickly Vergil noted. It exploded in gold and purple, royal colors of course, blinding the albino. He used the chance to dash across the alley, grabbing a hold of a fire escape and climbing up. He saw the guy with the assault rifle, matched a description of his,

"SMILES, SAVE ME!"

"How do you, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!"

"Sister, I'll explain later, SAVE ME YOU FUCK!"

Warren grunted, raising his assault rifle and shooting at the man who had to leave his hiding place from firework sparks, running under the ladder. Vergil took a deep breath, tracking his movement and falling when he could, right into his arms.

"Couldn't have planned that better!"

"Call me 'fuck' again, boy."

"... I was under stress. Still am, can we move?!" The two turned towards the Duelist, who was looking around with a look that could kill alone, and brandishing the sword that definitely could. Warren dropped Vergil on his ass, taking off back to the crawler. The Orphan sighed, should've expected that, as he took off after the man. He noticed he was actually only about an inch shorter than him, but definitely not as muscly. Reminded Vergil to hit the gym, if nothing else.

"I'm sorry you two, but we gotta go. The way's cleared down here and I can take y'all to a safe place to lay-low."

"The fuck is this?" Warren asked, sprinting back to them with Vergil right on his heels. Kid was fast, surprisingly. "We going yet?"

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"YOU PEOPLE ARE VERY UNAPPRECIATIVE!"

Lilith narrowed her eyes, how old was this girl? By the look of her, she couldn't be much older than the boy. The corner of Lilith's mouth curled into a smirk as she tilted her head curiously.

"Oh? Doesn't one have to have done something in order to be deserving of appreciation?"

 

[Fappy]

Sprout stood behind Lilith as the two women shouted back-and-forth at one another. What the hell were they doing? What were they even talking about?! Sprout looked back towards their escape route and grabbed Lilith's wrist, "Come on, Lily! We ain't got time fer this!" Forcefully, Sprout pulled Lilith with him as he turned and ran towards the drain. "Who knows how many we still got on ar' trail!"

In the event she'd fire at them during their retreat, Sprout guided Lilith back into the densely wooden area. They'd come back up to around where Lilith had set up earlier and make their way back around to the sewer entrance. Hopefully they would have shaken her by then.

 

[Ruedyn]

"Oh? Doesn't one have to have done something in order to be deserving of appreciation?"

[sub]"My shot was more difficult than yours."[/sub] Aquila muttered to herself, beginning to pant. This was a lot more activity than she would have thought would happen today, almost unwelcome. She didn't like killing people, too messy, and... not exactly a thing she enjoyed doing. Something in her gut told her it was wrong.

"Come on, Lily! We ain't got time fer this! Who knows how many we still got on ar' trail!"

"One you... ARGH, why are you even running from ME?!"

The boy pulled his friend into the forest, trying to get away. A good plan if she wasn't right on their heels, and knew exactly how they got there. Other men behind them, less so, seems the woman in the watchtower had moved down. White hair. Would have to remember her.

She felt relief as well as plain dog tiredness when she saw the sewer entrance. She was unsure if they were there, or if there was another, better exit, but it was at least anonymous. This was a... SHITTY distraction. She sighed as she trudged her way in, not bothering with stealth.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"Look, I don't bloody care what you think you did, just don't follow us if you know what's go-WHAAA!" Lilith squeaked as Axel dragged her by the wrist.

"Come on, Lily! We ain't got time fer this! Who knows how many we still got on ar' trail!"

She caught her balance and let him lead her into the brush and back to the sewers.

"One you... ARGH, why are you even running from ME?!"

"You stay! We go! Us, yes! You, no!" Lilith shouted back, grinning, there was no way that kid wasn't going to follow them, but she'd deal with that when the time came, for now though, there were more pressing matters, mostly of the not getting caught variety.

As they got to the are where they had split up previously, Lilith pulled her wrist from the boy's grasp as she moved up along side him. "Lots of fun, huh?" She chuckled, slightly out of breath, as she slapped Sprout gently on the back.

 

[The Funslinger]

"I'm sorry you two, but we gotta go. The way's cleared down here and I can take y'all to a safe place to lay-low."

"Aaaahhh fuck, this is such bullshit!"

Cameron put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Ruffles, we won't do them any favours by getting killed."

"Yeah," he replied. "Jesus..."

"We going yet?"

"Oh, hey, at least someone made it!" Ruffles exclaimed. Taking the albino bounty hunter flit past in the distance, he blinked. "Damn, and I thought the crew had some white-ass bitches."

 

[ProtoChimp]

Aesop and Silo kept shooting down onto the incoming banditos but it was doing much good, there was just too many of them and they could hear footsteps coming from downstairs. "FUCK!" Exclaimed Aesop as he sped over to the top of the stairs, rapid firing any who attempted to walk on the first step. He ran a full clip and had to dart out of the way into the rest of the room, the second he stopped firing a few already had enough time to draw on him. He changed clip and pulled down some drawers to serve as cover, lying prone behind them as he continued to fire on any who got up to his view; however once again he needed to change clip and they were just too fast and had too many numbers for him to have enough time to change clip. Swapping to his handgun he desperately popped off shots, luckily causing a few to topple down the stairs. Empty clip. Frantically and not thinking he pulled out his bolt action rifle, it may have been single shot but at least he could kill one more person, as if it would somehow save his life. Shredding a round through the chest of one last bandito he tried to reload. No time. Too many. There were just too many.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Viola kept following the trail she had found, not stopping for a moment to take a breath, if she did that, it was likely that the Maidens would escape in that oh so crucial moment, and the opportunity to gather that crucial intel on Pixie and Lady Maribel would be lost. Off in the distance she could hear the sounds of people shouting.

"Could they belong to the Maidens? I hope they do." Viola asked herself as she switched trails, following the noise instead. With every step it got that little bit louder. She soon caught sight of a few people at what looked like an entrance down to the sewers.

"Great, the sewers, a winding maze long tunnels, dead ends and lord knows what else." Viola remarked, sounding not to pleased about the prospect of going down there. Whilst she didn't mind navigating them, it was more due to what could be down there.

"HEY! WAIT UP YOU GUYS! I JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU! PLEASE! I MEAN YOU NO HARM!" Viola shouted to those ahead, hoping that they could hear her.

 

[Fappy]

"Lots of fun, huh?"

Panting heavily, Sprout gave Lilith a forced smile, "Yeah, yeah! Gettin' shot at is real fun!" The duo came up around the hill Lilith had been previously shooting from. Sprout noticed the corpses on the ground but chose to ignore them, leading Lilith down back on the other side of the hill towards the drain. When he looked back he no longer saw the strange girl, but someone else entirely.

"HEY! WAIT UP YOU GUYS! I JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU! PLEASE! I MEAN YOU NO HARM!"

"SHIT!" Sprout shouted as he threw open the trap door and crawled through the drain as fast as he could. Once the two of them made it on to the other side Sprout grabbed Lilith's hand to help her to her feet. "Come'on Lily!"

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Bennie came back towards Ruffles, his weapon drawn as Warren appeared.

"Oh, hey, at least someone made it!"

Bennie lowered his weapon when he realized Ruffles knew at least one of their two new guests.

"Damn, and I thought the crew had some white-ass bitches."

Bennie looked past Warren and spotted the albino in the distance, "Yeah, I don't reckon Pixie's lookn' for more whities." He pulled a canister out of his jacket pocket and rolled it out into the street. Moments later a huge plume of red smoke started shooting out of both sides. "Follow me, the safe-house ain't too far from here!" He commanded as he turned and started down the opposite-side of the alley.

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Before they knew it the building was full of banditos. There was no hope of escape left. Silo had run out of ammo long ago and crawled up at Aesop's side, calling out shots. Eventually he too ran out, "Y-your out!? SHIT! You should have saved two for US! FUCK! FUCK! FU---"

Silo silenced himself when a bullet hit the floor directly in front of his face, "*They're out!*" One of the banditos shouted in their family's language.

"*Secure them! We want them alive!*" Another said.

"FUCK!" Silo shouted, as he turned and started crawling towards the window. He could hear Aesop struggling behind him, probably getting the shit kicked out of him. Just as soon as he'd grabbed hold of the windowsill, he was knocked to the ground by the butt of a rifle. The bandito rolled Silo over onto his back. "Go fuck your--"

Consciousness left Silo. When he woke it would be as a prisoner of the Santiago family.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

"HEY! WAIT UP YOU GUYS! I JUST WANT TO TALK TO YOU! PLEASE! I MEAN YOU NO HARM!"

"Hah, yeah right." Lilith thought aloud as she heard a woman shout after them, older, not the Thorns kid. As they made it to the sewer, Lilith began to feel light headed. Damn it, not now, it's been 4 days dammit, you should be over this already.

She stumbled slightly as they entered the sewer, Sprout helping her to her feet. She grabbed her her arm as a sharp pain ran through her shoulder.

"Come'on Lily!"

"Sprout... Just give me a minute, I'm running on fumes here." She took a few moments to catch her breath, her mouth open slightly, she laughed wearily. "Your mum really did a number on me, kid." She rubbed her shoulder, trying to will the pain away.

"Bloody shoulder." She clenched her hand into a fist as the pain began to subside.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Viola let a small sigh escape her lips as the two Maidens went down into the sewers. To be honest, she was expecting that to happen, after all, she didn't exactly give the most trusting first impression towards them. When she arrived at the sewer entrance, Viola unholstered her revolver and loaded a fresh round to replace the one she fired earlier, she always like to keep her guns fully loaded; after that was done she repeated the process with her rifle.

With that out of the way, Viola pulled open the metal grate cover to the sewers and gently climbed down the ladder, her revolver in hand in case of an ambush. Looking down, she was glad to have gotten some decent footing on the narrow walkway, otherwise she'd have to trudge through dirty, stench filled water. Finding the smell just that little bit nauseating, Viola decided to put on her mask and started to walk along the sewers. Even if the mask didn't block out all the odor, it would at least make it more bearable.

The walk was eerily quiet, with only the sound of her own echoing footsteps and the water droplets to stop it from being dead silent. As Viola arrived at a T-Junction however, she could hear a faint splashing sound coming from one of the tunnels. Stopping for the moment, she tried deducing where the noise was coming from. Thinking she choose the correct tunnel, Viola headed left.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Amy spotted Meredith's enquiring glance at the glass of bourbon. Before she replied to Meredith's question, she held it up to her lips and drank. She didn't slam it back or glug like they were in a contest, her movements were as graceful as always, and yet, when she brought the glass back down, almost two thirds of the drink was gone. Amy gave meredith a mischievous little smile.

"So, aside from our mutual friend, who else is on the role call of men in your life?" she asked.

 

[Fappy]

"... Your mum really did a number on me, kid."

Sprout rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her, "Lily..."

"Bloody shoulder."

Unfortunately nothing could done about her pain. With their enemies hot on their trail they could do little more than move forward and find somewhere safe. Maybe once they'd found a place to lay-low Lilith could rest and get her strength back before they skipped town. He stopped rubbing her back when he heard the sound of foot steps echoing down the tunnel.

Wide-eyed, Sprout gritted his teeth and gave Lilith a panicked look, "I'm sorry Lily, but we gotta move! Now!"

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Pixie watched the girl down her drink. Either she knew how to hold her liquor or she was growing more comfortable around Pixie. Good. Pixie reciprocated the smile she was given.

"So, aside from our mutual friend, who else is on the role call of men in your life?"

"I reckon that depends on what y'all consider 'men in my life'. People like Gents and Cranston ar' the closest things I've ever had ta' father figures I s'pose. Not that I really need one anyway." Pixie giggled. She'd gone through a decent amount of booze already and looked rather flushed. At the very least she was getting tipsy. "Lil' boys like my favorite gearhead, Ruffles, ar' more like... buddies, same goes fer most a my crew, honestly. They're some rowdy fuckers but I ain't ever gonna sleep with any'a 'em."

Pixie, realizing her current condition, decided to pour herself a glass of bourbon rather than drink it straight out of the bottle. It was more about the journey after all. She'd make it there eventually. She downed the glass rather quickly and continued, "Then they're, ya' know, those guys. Those rare stallions ya' can' help but jump the moment they whisper yer name. I don' reckon there 'r many of 'em out there, an' even less capable of holdn' my attention fer long. But..." Her gaze wandered from Amy. Staring off into space, her already elated mood grew even happier. "Bennie Carmine. I'm sure y'all heard 'a 'im. He was.... he was somethin' else entirely. I stayed with that sumbitch fer nearly seven years."

Pixie's joy faded a bit, replaced by a sad smile, "We'd make love louder'n anyone on this shitball, I reckon. He knew his way 'round a woman's body, but better yet, he knew just what buttons ta' press to get me goin'.... ta' make me happy." Pixie looked back at Amy with the same smile. "I don' need men like that no more, though. All I need is my lil' boy. My Sprout. He's a good kid. You'd like 'im."

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Lilith noted the concern in his eyes. "Don't worry about me, you pay more attention to that chest, 'cos if you lose it..." She smiled, wincing slightly, sweat had begun forming on her brow. "I'll knock ya bloody teeth out."

"I'm sorry Lily, but we gotta move! Now!"

She heard the footsteps too, clenching her jaw, she twisted her head, cracking the joints in her neck, "Aye, you can take care of me later." She heard the twinkle in his eye. "Not like that." She whispered playfully.

They began to pick up the pace as Lilith got her second wind, but they couldn't shake the footsteps they could hear from behind. Lilith turned her head, as they came to a junction in the system, trying her best to judge the distance of the footsteps. Not too close, but we can't start running, that'd giv-. Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly when something barged into her side. Her bad side. "Ffffffffffffuck!" She swore loudly, clutching her shoulder again. Sprout moved his flash light to the left, the beam resting on a figure. The girl from before, the Thorns girl, she shielded her eyes from the light.

Lilith grinned through her new found agony. "We gotta stop meeting like this." She doubled over slightly, her arm hanging limply. "No, really, bump into him next time." She nodded towards Axel.

 

[Ruedyn]

Aquila should not have gotten so annoyed. Or she should've at least been paying attention to where she was going. As it stood, she was lost in a dark tunnel, with faint footsteps behind her. Likely those people she was just shooting at, who would be upset at least with the 3+ dead men. She wouldn't give into despair, though, her pistol still had 3 bullets or so and her sniper had clubbed a man before. Capability was there... doing so would be tougher. She clutched at her cross, closing her eyes as she sped ahead.

Then there was an annoyingly bright light in her face. She grabbed at the butt of her pistol, as the accented one introduced herself with complaining. She dropped her hands and looked between the two.

"... Can either of you help lead me out of here?" She muttered after a moment, feeling defeated.