|
|
Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, although I wish I owned Vash and Wolfwood. They are the property of Yasuhiro Nightow, Young King Ours, and Madhouse.
What's the use of happiness? It
can't buy you money.
-Henny Youngman
***************
Vash the Stampede and Nicholas D. Wolfwood crept noiselessly down the corridor, toward what, even they didn’t know. There was only two ways to follow, back towards the door or straight ahead, so the pair went strait ahead.
“Remind me what we’re doing here,” Wolfwood whispered to Vash.
“I don’t know Nick,” Vash responded.
Wolfwood stopped long enough to rub his face with his hand before he continued on. Sneaking into a place like a plant with the planet’s most notorious trouble prone outlaw was bad enough, but for said outlaw to not even know why, was atrocious.
The two came to the first corner and stopped. Vash peered around the wall carefully.
“All clear,” he said turning to face Wolfwood.
Wolfwood nodded to the blonde and walked around the corner without saying a word. Vash followed the priest and the two continued on. The pair followed the corridor, ignoring the various doors, until it came to an end. There was a massive door at the end of the last hallway and Wolfwood wondered if the plant could be behind it.
Vash reached out to push the door open and as soon as his hand made contact with it, he knew the plant was behind the door. He was close now, so close. So draining, he thought. Why? What could possibly be the problem?
“Hey, you okay?” Wolfwood’s voice cut in.
Vash looked over at the priest curiously.
“You just seemed like you spaced out for a little,” the priest explained.
“Sorry Wolfwood, I was just thinking.”
“That’s great Vash,” Wolfwood started dryly, “ but do you think we could get on with it, so we can leave sometime before we get old?”
A small smile pulled at the corners of Vash’s mouth and he nodded for the man in black to continue. Wolfwood pushed on the door latch and shoved.
The door swung in with a whisper and two men standing inside looked up stunned at the pair.
Vash smiled nervously and waved at the men.
“Hi boys. Working hard?” Wolfwood asked conversationally.
One of the men regained some of his composure and cleared his throat.
“This area is off limits. What are you doing here?” he managed to ask.
****************
The guard outside sighed helplessly. It had been such a peaceful morning. But now it was one thing after another, first the priest and the sick man, and now two women. No one ever came here, so why was everyone interested on his watch all of a sudden?
“Look,” the small, dark-haired woman said placing her hands on her hips, “all we want to know is if two men came here earlier.”
“One was blonde with a red coat and the other was dressed in black,” the brunette explained.
“Did you see them or not?” the smaller woman demanded before he even opened his mouth.
“Uhh… well, yea, are they wanted for something?” the guard asked.
“Only by me!” Meryl said stomping the ground.
“What she means is, we are traveling with them,” Millie explained.
“Then don’t you know where they are?” the guard blurted out.
He thought better of it a second later as the small woman’s face turned red and he saw her gray eyes harden.
“Now Meryl,” Millie said soothingly, “he’s just doing his job.”
The guard nodded vigorously and laughed uneasily.
Meryl bit her bottom lip and counted to ten. That helped a little. She snapped her gaze back to the guard.
“Well?” she snapped.
“Well what?” the guard asked surprised.
“Well did you see them?” Meryl shouted.
“Yes, maybe, I don’t know,” the man stuttered and Meryl sighed.
“Was one of them sick?” the man asked on impulse.
Meryl and Millie both brought their eyes to rest on the guard and the man looked slightly nervous.
***************
“A man in a red coat you say?”
“Yes, the gentleman would also have blonde hair,” the quite man responded.
The hotel clerk looked thoughtful for a moment before he responded.
“Can’t rightly say. I see a bunch of people and can’t keep tabs on them all, but I don’t think a blonde man in a red coat came in lately, at least while I was watching the desk.”
“Thank you anyway sir.”
The man in the brown coat turned and left the building. One hotel down and two to go, he thought. The city seemed surprisingly calm this morning, especially since Vash the Stampede had been here all night. Mmm, maybe the rumors were true. If it were the same man that destroyed July, then he would have to be an old man by now. But, no, same man or not, he was supposed to be looking for a young one, so it really didn’t matter.
“You think too much Drake,” the quite man teased himself.
Drake Flintlock walked out into the bright street and shielded his eyes. Might as well check out the next hotel, he thought with a shrug, and crossed the dusty open road.
****************
“Come on you coward!”
“Yea, what’s your problem? We’re on the edge of town. All we have to do is go in, take the money, and disappear out of town!”
The five men looked to the sixth man with impatience brightening their eyes. They had all come up with this idea, all planned it, and all were going to do it!
“Alright, alright,” said the man with his gun shaking slightly, “it’s just that, haven’t you heard?”
“What?” the leader growled.
“Well, V, V, Vash the Stampede is supposed to be in town!”
At that the other four men started to mumble and look around suspiciously.
“If he finds out and wants the money for himself, we’re all in big trouble.”
At the resounding ‘yeah’ from the others, Big Jim Matterson growled at his men to be quiet. So, Vash the Stampede was in town eh? Well, this could be interesting. The bounty on the human typhoon’s head was by far a greater prize. Of course it would be a lot harder than robbing banks, but the reward was worth it. This could be interesting indeed!
“New plan boys!” Matterson said cheerfully.
*************
“Uh, well, you see, we were just walking down this hall here and couldn’t find our way out, so we thought we would come in and ask for directions,” Vash strung on as he walked up to the three men.
“Well, you will turn right around and…” the technician began.
“Hey, what’s this?” Wolfwood called as he reached out for one of the control panels.
The technician shrieked and ran over to Wolfwood.
“Do not touch anything!”
The man slapped the priest hand away before he could touch anything.
“You mean it’s not a cigarette lighter?” the priest asked innocently with an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
The technician became so frustrated that he couldn’t talk, so he just glared and stuttered.
“Are you alright? Ya know; you should get that checked. That can’t be healthy.”
That only made the man stutter even more.
While the two men were gawking at Wolfwood, Vash took the chance to get closer to the plant. He drug himself out the other door leading to the outside and along the platform. Vash came out from the first floor, which brought the blonde out underneath the large bulb shaped glass. The gunman stopped and looked up at it thoughtfully.
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
****************
“Did Vash get sick again? Is he okay? Do you understand me?!” Meryl said impatiently before the man could answer.
“Meryl I think he’s trying to say something,” Millie suggested.
“Yes, um, there was a sick man and a priest.”
“That’s them! Isn’t that great Meryl?” Millie said happily.
“So, they are here? Why didn’t you say that from the beginning?” Meryl demanded with her hands on her hips.
The guard didn’t try to get out of this one. He simply sighed and looked up for some sort of miracle to save him.
***************
For Vash, this close to the plant, it was hard to stand up with holding onto the rail. It was strange, Vash couldn’t feel the plant in distress or even growing tired, but it was calling for help. What was going on?
**************
“Hey,” the silent technician finally spoke up, “where did the other guy go?”
The first one narrowed his eyes at Wolfwood suspiciously.
“I will have the two of you locked up if you even touch anything!” the man shouted as he ran to the open door.
“We’re just here to look around,” Wolfwood tried to protest as he followed the man towards the door.
Wolfwood gave a silent prayer that Vash hadn’t destroyed anything.
The three men ran to the door and Wolfwood pushed his way out first, to find Vash standing there calmly. He looked over at the three, smiled, and waved. Wolfwood had to fight to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. What do you know, he thought, miracles do happen.
“Wow, it was really great getting to look around the place. Thanks for letting us in,” Vash said shaking the technician’s hand wildly, “I guess we’ll be going now, thanks again.”
Wolfwood smiled broadly, gave a small laugh, then drug Vash, arms flailing, out of there.
**************
“Look lady I can’t let you in,” the guard pleaded.
No one wanted to listen to him today!
“But you don’t understand,” Meryl began crossing her arms, “Vash the Stampede is in there and that man is dangerous. If you don’t let us in the Bernardelli Insurance Agency will not cover any damage.”
“Vash the Stampede!” the guard squeaked.
The guard looked like he was about to faint, but never got the chance.
The door behind him came crashing open, caught the man, and knocked him into the wall.
To the girls’ surprise out came Wolfwood denying everything and dragging Vash behind him. Followed by a man yelling at the top of his lungs, and Vash giving him his innocent and clueless smile, while thanking the man profusely. The little parade made quite the racket and the girls’ just stared at the three blankly for a moment. To their amazement Wolfwood passed them still dragging Vash, without saying a word. The man following them stopped outside the door, but continued to shout and wave his fist.
Meryl and Millie regained their senses and ran after the pair. They caught up with Wolfwood and Vash just as the priest stopped and turned to Vash. The two men didn’t seem to pay attention to the two girls.
“Vash?”
“Well? Find out anything?” Wolfwood asked calmly finally lighting the cigarette in his mouth.
“Uh guys?”
“What was that for? That really hurt?” Vash whined.
“Hello.”
“Stop your whining, you almost got us thrown in jail, you know that?” the priest responded.
“Excuse me.”
“Me?! It was your idea to look around,” Vash argued.
“Uh, hello.”
“I just followed you down the hall,” Wolfwood said.
“Hello! I’m standing here!” Meryl finally yelled.
“Oh, hi Meryl!” Vash said loudly,
“hello Millie.”
“Hello Mr. Vash!” Millie said happily.
“What are you doing here?” Vash asked Meryl.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You’re sick remember? You were supposed to in no way leave the hotel!”
While Meryl was ranting, Wolfwood gave Vash an amused smile over the small woman’s head, as if to remind him of his earlier comment.
“Well,” Vash laughed nervously, “we didn’t go far.”
“Maybe, but the guard said you were sick and you are going right back to the hotel mister.”
“But Meryl.”
“No, absolutely not,” she cut the blonde man off.
Vash let out a deep breath. He wasn’t going to get out of this one. Not when Meryl was so angry anyway.
“Alright,” Vash said like a scolded child.
The small group, under Meryl’s intense gaze, made its way back to the city.
******************
“Boss, are you sure about this?” the small blonde man asked.
Big Jim Matterson stood to his full imposing height of 6 foot 11. His dusty hair fell almost to his broad, very broad, shoulders and highlighted his wide jaw. The right eye above that jaw was forever closed by a long grizzly scare that ran from the top of his forehead all the way down to his lower jaw. Big Jim’s good steel gray eye shone now with a savage glint.
“Of course. Just think of what we could do with $$60 billion!!”
“But boss, we have to catch The Humanoid Typhoon to get it!” the smaller man said frantically.
“Who said anything about catching him? Trust me, he’ll put up no fight once he’s dead. That reward is ours!” the large man laughed.
The smaller man just laughed nervously and tried to look calm. The boss never listened when he set his mind on something. He also never stopped until he got it, either.
***************
Drake, about to return to his own room, stopped dead once he saw a man in a red coat walking down the dusty street. The young man walking toward him and was accompanied by another man and two women. He recognized one of them as the young lady who had run into him earlier today. Off to find her outlaw friend no doubt. That was the real crime, he thought, these violent men who seemed to attract the young and innocent to them and use them for their own selfish causes.
Well soon there would be one less reckless outlaw in the world.
Drake “Dead Aim” Flintlock usually brought in all his bounties alive, but once in awhile, he made an exception.
He had made enough exceptions to earn his nickname of Dead Aim after all.
A nickname that had always held up, no matter what. One didn’t survive to be his age unless they could live up to their name.
***************
“Vash you don’t look so good,” Meryl commented as the small group headed for their hotel.
“Maybe you should eat something,” Millie chimed in, “Meryl and I could make you some more soup!”
“Thanks Millie, but I’d really rather just lay down.”
Wolfwood wanted to get back to their room in hopes that Vash would tell him what happened after he stepped outside to the plant. The outlaw hadn’t said one word about the plant since they left, and it was driving Wolfwood mad! But at the mention of food, the priest noticed how hungry he was. As they walked up to the hotel’s porch the smell of food drifted down the street. Just so he had to smell it, the priest thought with irritation.
“Come on Vash, you won’t get better if you don’t eat!” Wolfwood said enthusiastically.
This seemed vaguely familiar somehow. Vash sighed and for the second time in two days, he let the group convince him to go with them a restaurant. The group walked past the hotel with the afternoon sun shining down on them and headed for the same restaurant.
**************
Unnoticed by the group, a man in a brown coat also crossed the street with the unwavering, calm concentration of a hunter closing in on his prey.
**************
“Cheer up Mr. Vash, I’m sure you’ll be able to eat something this time,” Millie said cheerfully as she pushed open the restaurant doors and entered.
Millie, still smiling, turned around to face the front and froze. Meryl right behind her ran into the back of the larger woman.
“Millie, what are you doing…” the rest of the woman’s words faded away and she too stopped.
Vash and Wolfwood, the last to enter, came up behind the girls and finally saw what had halted his path to food.
The restaurant was deathly quiet inside and all the patrons were huddled under the tables. What had halted their progression was a total six guns pointed eye level at Millie. As soon as they saw the men enter all the guns came to rest Vash and Wolfwood.
“Please to meet you Vash the Stampede,” the large man in the back said.
Wolfwood glanced briefly to Vash.
“Friends of your?” the priest asked dryly.
“Not yet,” the big man rumbled, “but after we kill him and collect the $$60 billion, I’m sure we’ll be good friends.”
Meryl sighed and looked up at Vash.
“Here goes another one,” she said miserably to herself.
“Get ‘em boys!” Big Jim shouted right before all hell broke loose.
****************
Out in the street, the sounds of gunfire and people shouting wafted out of the building to Dead Aim Drake.
“Damn it,” the man cursed to himself pulling his gun.
If that was Vash causing trouble, he had caused his last. If that were someone else after his bounty, well, he would simply have to go through them first!
Ch.1 / Ch2 / Ch.3 / back / Ch.6