[Dark Elite_H2]

I will post out whatever I have on the next chapter, because this is takin' me a while. Here yeh go:

SURGERY, LIES, AND OUTLAWS--The hunt for 20,000$ (cont.)

They walked on down a dusty path left of Buzzarton, when they saw Eugene Ius near a gate, muttering angrily to himself. He heard Stranger and Umi’s footsteps crackle in the dirt, and spur around. He put a smile on his beak, straightening his bow tie and dusting his shirt off. Stranger walked up to him, tipping his hat down to him.
“You fix that gate yet?” Stranger asked, keeping in his impatients.
“Oh, wish I could say, but my laptop that held the schematics was stolen during my kidnaping. Yer gonna have to find that Outlaw that took my laptop so I can fix the gate, Stranger,” Eugene said calmly. Stranger sighed slightly, but nodded to him, and left to his way to the Bounty store. The clerk only nodded them its greeting, and Stranger already took out the poster of Meagley McGraw. The clerk brought out the stamper....and you get the idea. Then it brought up one last poster, and slapped it down. Stranger took two fingers to slip it to him, and took it up, looking at the information of the next bounty, while the clerk narrated what it was about.
“The bounty’s Packrat Palooka. He’s hidin’ down at the Junkyard, doin’...somethin’ with our technician’s laptop. We need you to get it back so you can get the hell outta here,” the clerk explained. Umi shook her head to the clerk’s comment, but looked back up to it. “Well, the thing is, you need a top-secret password just to enter Junkyard ditch. There’s an informant ‘round town, goes by the name of Scuzz. He wants to get back at Packrat really bad-like, and he’ll probably be willin’ to help yeh out. G’luck you two Bring back the laptop safely ” the clerk shouted to them, as they pushed their way out. They stood a few inches away from the doors to the Bounty store, and Stranger was rubbing his beard in a thinking kind of way.
“Scuzz, huh?...Sounds like a, dirty fellah. Dunno if I want te, talk to him,” Stranger mumbled loudly. Umi looked up to him with a dumbstruck face.
“Excuse me? We traveled through a DIRTY sewer, to get to an Outlaw, and now all of a sudden, you don’t want to talk to someone that’s dirty to get to another Outlaw ? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDIN’ ME ” Umi shouted, snapping both her arms above her head. Stranger huffed a laugh out, patting Umi on the head, then looked up to all the Clakkers walking around town with no reasons. He walked up to a female, straightening her apron out on her stained red dress. “‘Scuse me...D’you know the whereabouts of a fellah named Scuzz?” Stranger pinched the brim of his hat, locking his eyes on the Clakkers’ olive-green eyes. Her brows turned down in to a suspicious look when she heard the name Scuzz.
“Why d’you need to know where he is?” she asked, putting her arms on her hips. Stranger didn’t want to answer questions to a question he just asked, just a straight answer. “I need’s to, get to Packrat Palooka, and he’s the only one to help me,” Stranger replied, hoping no more questions would come to the Clakkers mind. She looked hardly on Stranger, then relaxed her arms. “Well, he’d be hidin’ down in somewhere dark and out of civilization. Check down them sewers,” she finally replied, and walked on away from him. He turned his head to the sewer treatment plant, seeing the Clakkers passing by it waving their arms to waft away the stinky aroma of the sewers.“I knew it,” he said to himself, and walked towards the entrance and to the dangling rope that led down in to the sewers. Fortunately, to Umi, they didn’t have to travel down the sewers again, for it was poorly nailed down with wooden planks, and had a spray-painted sign. But the bottom of the sewers down the rope, wasn’t that big. The both of them gazed around, not noticing the door behind them. They both stopped, their backs facing the door behind them. Umi still looked around with caution, hoping that nothing that would surprise her would come out. Even her hand was close to her belt with a Needler on it.
“If anyone’s down here...” Stranger said loud enough so that the Clakkers above and near the sewers heard him. There was a sudden silence, but hearing scraping footsteps on gravel come closer behind them. Then, the doors behind them slid open, revealing a regular Shooter minion, but had a spiked mask over its face, and held the same gun a Shooter would wield.
Put ‘em up where I can see ‘em ” Scuzz shouted, pressing his face against the butt of his weapon. Umi’s nerves kicked in, and she spun around with her Needler in her hand, pointing directly at the minion. Scuzz line of sight then switched over to Umi, pressing down harder on the trigger. “Hold it ” Stranger shouted, stepping in front of the both of them. “I didn’t come down ‘ere fer a gunfight. I’m here to talk to someone,” Stranger lowered his arms. Scuzz remained locked on Umi, but then lowered his rifle when Stranger wouldn’t move. “You’s Scuzz?” Stranger asked. “Yeah. You found me. Now, what d’ya want?” he asked rudely, sounding a little impatient. “I need’s te, get in to Junkyard ditch to bring down Packrat,” Stranger told. Scuzz’s lip curled up in to a malicious smile. “Packrat, huh? Well, to get that two-timin’ jackass, yer gonna need a password...” he began to look around in suspicion, cupping a hand on one side of his mouth. “...the password is...” and I’m sorry to say, that I can’t say the password to you, for the mature content and vulgar language used in one sentence. Poor old Umi couldn’t stand to even listen to the foul language that was put in to one sentence Stranger’s back leaned back, his face turned in to surprise. “Whoa. Did you just say...” and he repeated the password once more to get things straight. Scuzz wheezed a laugh. “Yeah, that’s it. Now go get that double-crossing asshole, and give him a punch fer me ” Scuzz turned back to his lair, and shut the doors. Stranger regained posture, smiling slightly and cracking the bones in his neck. “Wow. That was interestin’...” Stranger said to himself, then turned to Umi. The look on her face nearly made Stranger leap up on the rope, and scurry away from the sewers. Her face was ghost white, her jaw hanging lower to her chest, and her eyelid twitching under dilated pupils. She was shocked. Too shocked for words. The sound she only made was a ghastly exhale. It was obvious she has never heard such language packed in to one bite-sized sentence. She might’ve heard the basic words that only a sailor would use, but never what she just heard.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Stranger nearly gripped the rope, but controlled himself. She was making a sound, like she was trying to say something.
“H-how can you...use, such words...” Umi finally said, trying to sound perfectly clear. Stranger chuckled, rubbing her back so she’d be comforted. “Well, it’s what we outlaws speak of. Like our native language,” Stranger joked. Umi’s jaw clamped shut. “Oh, shut up...” Umi said like her regular self. He laughed this time, climbing back up the rope to Buzzarton. “Now...where’s Junkyard ditch?” he looked around the musty town, seeing two main roads turning up around the bend of a small canyon. He walked up to a Clakker with a cowboy hat on. “Pardon. You know where...Packrat Palooka is hidin’? Say’s he down in...Junkyard ditch,” Stranger spoke gruffly. The Clakker turned to him.
“Well, Junkyard ditch’s over ‘round that oil rig. When you pass that gate, yer in Junkyard ditch. Passed the security gate, and yer on Packrat’s turf,” the Clakker replied, and walked away without a word more to him. He turned right to see a small oil rig, bobbing up and down from the ground. He lobbed passed the oil rig, passing a glance to Eugene who was still near the gate. The Clakker waved to them, managing to shout a howdy as they sped passed him. The gate read a sign above that was unclear to read out. But they knew they were in Junkyard ditch. Up on a half-broken bridge was another gate, with a loud speaker above on a cement pole. There was a non-noticeable marker under their feet when they landed on the bridge, which alerted the outlaws inside that someone had come. The loudspeaker gave off a cringing feedback, and voices flowed out from the background. Then, a recognizable voice spoke loudly through the speaker.
“What’s the password?” a minion asked. Stranger smiled under the shadow of his hat, and stepped up.
“Yeah, I got’s a password fer you. It’s...pack...” and that’s when he repeated the entire sentence that Scuzz gave him, in one breath. Umi didn’t even had time to plug her ears when Stranger repeated the password. He fell silent when he finished the password, and nothing but bare silence came out of the speaker. Then, a wheezy laugh shot out. “Ahh, I love makin’ people say that C’mon in if yeh want. And try not to track dirt everywhere,” the gates opened mystically, summoning them in. Now, Umi wondered when the minion said not to track dirt everywhere, did it mean metaphorically...or literally? Because, all there was on Packrat’s turf was nothing but dirt, dust, and plain ole dirt. There were three rows of dead stalks, looking to be corn. In front of them were steps up to a hole with a metal slide, leading lower in to Packrat’s lair. Stranger looked down the hole, then back up to Umi.
“You ready?” he asked with a mischievous grin. Umi didn’t reply, but looked down lower in to the hole. He didn’t hesitate any longer, and scooped Umi up under the legs, and slid down the slide with only two feet balancing them. There was a slight drop at the end when they came to it. He lowered himself to the ground when he hit the dirt, then stood straight up. Umi’s arms were crossed over her chest, looking up to Stranger with no emotion at all.
“Are you done now?” Umi asked lowly. He chuckled, putting her on the ground and looking at the environment they were in. It was a junkyard, I can say, but not the typical junkyard you’d think of. Metal scraps shot right out of the ground as if they grew there. They were also created in to building-type heaps of scrap, like a bunker of some sort. Reeds grew commonly beside the scraps, and lower down the hill was a built-in gate, with a button below it to open it. Minions were also occupying the area of the junkyard, in one variety pack.
Two Nailer minions, three Shooter minions, and two Snipers, perched above the gate, trotted around with the most bored look on their faces. They hid in to the reeds, Stranger watching them closely as he unlocked his bow. Umi laid prone on the ground, also watching from Stranger’s feet. He grunted when he didn’t load anything on his bow, and lowered his arm to his side. Umi looked up to him, then stood up.
“What’s up?” Umi whispered. “I can’t do it. If I draw them Nailer’s attention to us...” Stranger whispered, not looking at Umi. She sighed irritatingly. “Well, use Stunks. That’ll get ‘em down,” Umi suggested. But she didn’t consider the small vicinity they were in, and that she could be prolonged to the stench of the Stunk, which would make her violently ill to the stomach. So, he only shook his head. “Well, what are we supposed to do!?” Umi said in a high whisper. He didn’t reply, but a frown stretched across his lips, as well as him baring his teeth accidentally. Umi grunted. “I’ll take care of this!” she reached in to his pouch of critters, and held a Stunk in her grip. She stamped out of the reeds, Stranger reaching for her arm. “Umi! Get yer ass back ‘ere!” he growled, but she didn’t comply. His nostrils flared, and his eyes glowed brighter, while his upper lip rolled up above his gums. He was NOT happy with her behavior, and he knew that she knew there was going to be only one thing after this: Tirade.
She continued towards the Nailers, while holding the Stunk behind her back. The critter gibbered fearfully, as she saw the Nailer’s eyes lock on to her. They whispered to each other, then their arms lifted up a little in to a defensive stance. She stopped meters away from the two Nailers, who were now approaching her, with arms behind her back secretly. When the Nailers were inches away from her feet, the corner of her eye sparkled, and she threw down the Stunk. The Nailer’s reaction to what the human did was dramatic. They stopped midway in their steps, and felt their stomachs react to the stench that flowed in to their nostrils. Umi took a step back, as the Nailers vomited on the ground. She smelled part of the Stunk’s smell waft towards her, but she covered her nose before it could really affect her. But the aroma and effects were temporarily. One Nailer regained control of itself, and raged towards Umi, one fist in the air and one tucked further out from its body.Umi only stood like nothing regrettable was going to happen. And she predicted well.
Fuzzles were launched out from the reeds, stamping on to the approaching Nailer and biting lower beneath its armor, and skin. He walked in front of Umi, still firing the Fuzzles outward towards the other outlaws standing still and watching him fire the biting fuzz balls. When he knew all of them were occupied with the Fuzzles, he spun to Umi, eyes flaring brightly.
“What the HELL is going on with yer head today, Umi ? You could’ve gotten killed, and I couldn’t of done anything about it ” Stranger raised his arms above his head, and continued his little rant. But he forgot one Nailer that was still retching from the Stunk. The Nailer raised its head from looking at the ground, and glared at Stranger’s back. He regained balance, and charged towards Stranger, with a fist high in the air. Umi ignored his tirade for one second, looking over his arm to see the Nailer, inching on closer to him. She gasped loudly, and screamed, “Stranger, look out ” But before he could stop and say, “Huh?” the Nailer knocked its spiked fist up in to Stranger’s skull, and knocked him senseless, and out cold. Umi felt very defenseless, and angry for the cheap shot the Nailer had served. But hey, whatever worked for the outlaws, they did it. The Nailer looked up from Stranger’s fallen body, and up to Umi, who had her arms away from her body, and eyes locked fearfully on the Nailer. It chuckled sinisterly, slamming its fist in to its palm. The Shooters behind it watched deviously, as the other Nailer also crept up behind it. She backed away, avoiding Stranger’s spread legs so she wouldn’t trip. But she tripped anyways, over a stuck-out piece of metal, falling directly on her back, and scooting away from the Nailer as well. But that didn’t last for long. The Nailer snatched up her legs, and dragged her away from the direction she was heading through. She dug her nails in to the parting soft dirt, making five long and thin trails from under her fingers. The Shooters and the two Snipers laughed evilly at the bounty hunter, helplessly laying out in the hot evening sun, and even at Umi’s attempt to stop the Nailer from dragging her away. But the only thing she could scream, before she was far enough away for no one to hear her, was: “STRANGER ”
Nerves in the back of his head began to react with the throbbing pain in the back of his head. His eyes opened to a blurry sight of the sun, creeping down below his lower eyelids. He groaned painfully, sitting up and holding his head to where the pain was. The memory of what happened didn’t occur to him, but what did was Umi shouting the warning, then total black. He sat for a while, then got up, searching around calmly. But when he didn’t find what he was looking for, he began to feel panic clenching to his chest. He whipped around, then saw the five trails of finger markings in the dirt, right by his boot. He knelt to the trail, feeling regret now, and sniffed the trail. He then looked down further to the trail, and his upper lip flared up to his gums. He slowly stood up, still looking down at the trail leading down and passed the gate that was open. The Sniper minions above the gate was gone as well. Then, he remembered Umi screaming, but faintly in his conscious.
“Don’t worry, Umi. I’ll come fer yeh. They won’t do anything to yeh. And if they did, I’ll kill them all...” he growled his vow to himself. “Nobody takes away my partner from me...” his lip relaxed down on his lip again. Then he looked around again, but more behind him, then put his hand over his head, only feeling his head of soft tan-brown hair. He sighed irritatingly. “And where the hell’s my hat...” he mumbled.
She was regaining consciousness, while she heard loud talking voices far right of her. She popped open her eyes, and saw one minion right of her arm, tapping in to a laptop connected to some weird generator in front of her. The minion looked over to the waking human, and gave a slight grin she felt most uncomfortable to.
“Hey boss! The human’s awake!” the minion shouted over its shoulder to someone else. And that someone else was the Outlaw in particular: Packrat Palooka. Packrat listened to his minion’s call, and turned over to the human, squinting with glowing red eyes. His pupils were a light orange, examinating all over the human to see if it was truly awake, then walked on over to her. He put his fists on his ribs, still looking at Umi with madly red eyes.
“Get up!” Packrat said in a most rudely tone Umi nearly growled to. She snapped her head up, looking wildly in to Packrat’s eyes, nearly about to stand up and smack the living shit out of him. But she did as she was told, lest not to begin something mad. She supported herself with the cement wall, leaning against it and locking her legs. Packrat was nearly as tall as her, but by a mere few feet. His face practically met up with hers, as he took one step closer. He pulled out a lighted cigar from his jowls, and puffed a ring of smoke around her face, that swept passed through her nostrils and eyes, making her gag and water. She wiped her eyes, and glared at Packrat.
“You won’t get away with this. I won’t let you,” Umi growled between her clenched teeth. Packrat stuffed his cigar back in to his mouth, and let out a laugh. “Oh will you?” he said, a little sarcastically. “Listen here, human. I’ve got you, and yer lil’ Bounty hunter friend can’t do shit ‘bout it, ‘cause he’s bakin’ out in the sun. Yer mine, and all I have to do to get rid of yeh is to send you off to Doc, and he’ll take care of yeh, permanently,” Packrat sneered devilishly. Umi didn’t make a gesture, but continued to glare deep in to his red-orange eyes. “Welcome to my world, missy. You damn lucky I’m in a good mood not to send yeh off to Doc right this time. I still have a few things to work out before I even THINK of lettin’ you go to Doc’s,” Packrat pulled his cigar again from his jaw, and tapped it so little pieces of ash fell below by his feet. Umi swallowed, but kept it invisible to Packrat that she was afraid. He then looked over to his minion. “Patch. Keep an eye on the human fer me, but don’t stop on that generator. That bounty hunter’s bound to show up any minute now,” he whispered it closely to the minion. It nodded, taking a glance at Umi, then went back to typing on the keypad of the laptop. Umi slid back down the wall, keeping in her tears from the outlaws around and biting her lip hardly to leave marks. She slumped down on the ground, looking around for something to mess around with. She felt something soft, but leathery touch her hand, and she recoiled her hand back, and then looked at it. It was Stranger’s hat, oddly that she could remember clenching on to it when she was being dragged away by the outlaw Nailers. She picked it up, examining the hat. Two holes she didn’t notice, were punched in to the back of his hat.
‘Probably for his ears...’ Umi thought, putting her finger through the hole and wiggling it. Then she put it overtop her head, and the hat drowned her head. She muffled something ,”Damn, he has a big head...” and pulled off the hat. Patch, the Shooter minion working on the laptop, looked over to Umi, which she hid her face behind the rim of the hat. He shrugged, and continued his work. Umi pulled down the hat, seeing the minion diverting his gaze back to the laptop’s screen. She set the hat back in to her lap, still looking at the faded brown of the leather that was soaked out from his head. She felt a tinge of regret zoom through her gut, thinking that if she hadn’t done what she done with the Nailers, none of this would’ve happened. But what was done was done. She clenched the hat again, and brought it up to her face, rubbing deeper in to it. A tear stained on to his hat, leaving a little circle of darker brown. Umi brought her face back up, her eyes bloodshot now.
‘I’m sorry...’ her mind wandered off from his hat. Regret now overcame all her thoughts, and she couldn’t even drop it. She got Stranger hurt, AND herself in to some deep trouble, and if she did anything else, results may vary in to something more worse. Umi took in a deep breath, erasing the regret from her mind, and settled down, hoping for the Bounty hunter to come and save her.
“Why does it always have to be like thi’...” Stranger grumbled, hiding in a large stock of reeds near a deep canyon drop down to shallow water. Minions were on the other side of the gorge, continuing to bring back up the bridge that Stranger kept attempting to bring down, which irritated the piss out of him. He saw Fuzzles, jumping around outside of the reeds. He scooped some up, and loaded them on to his bow on each side. He launched the Fuzzles all the way to the other side, and landing between the group of outlaws that looked down at the growling creatures. He could hear one curse loudly at him, and then murderous screams flew up. He took his chance again to lower the bridge with a Zapp fly aimed towards the main outlet that made the bridge operational. None of the outlaws had a chance to get to the button that brought up the bridge, and that is what made his job a little more easier. He brought down the minions while they screwed around with the sinister Fuzzles nipping at their heels. Well, it was easy and not so easy. The easy part was that he could knock them out while fighting the Fuzzles. The not-so-easy part was that they were running around like pansies, flailing their arms and screaming bloody murder, which making direct hits with his fists turned out to be misses. But, he managed them with no harm.Where he went to next was a challenge. He broke down a few rotten fences to get to a wide bend with two Shooter minions cowering back behind the bend. But what also came out were a new type of minion. They were similar to Shredders, but they didn’t wield shredders on their gloved knuckles. Oh hell no. On its hump-shaped back were piles among piles of explosive arsenal, and a little ringer clock on its left shoulder, with a string leading from the ringer to its hand. The clock made a buzzing noise instead of a ring, and as it got closer, the buzz would intensify, like it were a proximity mine.
The Shooters returned with reinforcements, acquiring the Suicide bombers. Three of them came along with the Shooters, their sharp baring teeth gleaming to Stranger. Then yelled something incoherently, and pulled the string to their timers, and ran like the devil was trying to kill them. I’m not kidding. These things were faster than the Speedy Gonzalos mouse that lived up for cheese. Even Stranger could believe these types of minions ran this fast. But he didn’t have time to concentrate on their speed. It was the type of damage he worried most about.
“Thud slugs should do the’r trick...” Stranger locked two Thud slugs on the bow, and aimed carefully at the first Suicide bomber coming for him. Then, the Thud slug launched right towards the minions screaming face, which it had stop jabbering loudly, and stared at the Thud slug that directly hit it between the eyes. The other Thud slug crashed in to the eye of the second minion, which its time bomb detonated when it hit the ground. The last one passed through the cloud of smoke and blood, its time bomb sparking with a red and green color. Stranger quickly reloaded his bow with Stingbees this time, firing right when it latched on to the launcher. The Suicide bomber recoiled with the impacts of the Stingbees, its face nearly covered with little stingers when the Stingbees ran out on his bow.Luckily for him, the minion didn’t have energy enough to run to Stranger, and fell completely dead, blood leaking out of its mouth. The time bomb continued, but didn’t detonate. The Shooters behind cowered in fear of the fallen Suicide bombers, and ran back behind the bend. Stranger bountied the minions up, and followed the minions to their hideaway, knocking them out with his bare fists. He bountied the minions up, then looked up to see a platform with a rope dangling to his level, leap over a tall metal wired fence, and drop down to the other side, where he could see cement poles sticking up with more metal wired fencing around it. He could also see some type of generator top overseeing the fences. He grew suspicious, and climbed up the rope and over the fence, thinking only of two things: Was Packrat over on that side, holding Umi for ransom, and was she still alive?
Umi heard a while ago, screams, further away from her region. She snapped her head up, listening hard to see if Stranger had made it out.
“God damn it. Patch! Have yeh got the generators workin’ yet!?” Packrat shouted turning around to the minion. Patch cringed to Packrat’s shout, but turned to him.
“Not yet, boss. But it’s gettin’ there,” Patch said wearily. Packrat growled. “We don’t have time! That mangy bounty hunter’s gettin’ close, and I need to cash in that damn human!” Packrat flailed his arms up. Patch nodded at Packrat, turning back around to the laptop and tapping hardly on the keypad. Umi slumped back down, hiding half of her face behind Stranger’s hat again but eyeing Packrat’s back as he turned around and watched carefully for Stranger. Umi lifted her head back up above the hat, watching for his arrival as well.
Stranger jumped down from the platform and ran up a slope, leading to the fencing he saw. The fencing was the entrance to his main priority that he just saw on top of a cement stage. Packrat Palooka.
Packrat squinted to the tall object standing out and entering the fence area. His eyes opened wider, and turned back to Patch.
“GOD DAMN IT, BOY! D’YOU HAVE IT UP NOW!?” Packrat nearly screamed. The minion’s body leaned a little more to the laptop, then slammed down on one key. He smiled brightly, and turned to Packrat.
“I got’s good news boss. The computer is now online to the generators, and fully functional,” Patch pointed to the screen of the laptop. Packrat’s lip then curved up happily. “Alright! Now I can activate the power supply to activate my shields from the generators!” Packrat shouted happily. Stranger heard every word Packrat said, as he approached closer to his feet.
“Not so fast, Palooka. I’m a, takin’ yer ass in. Dead ‘r alive,” Stranger’s stained teeth bared largely at the Outlaw. Packrat looked at Stranger for a moment, then ran back to the laptop, shoving Patch away and slamming down on the enter key. Electricity surged through the wires attached through the laptop and to the generators. The generators hummed to life, electricity shocking out of the metal rods, and formed a purple near-holographic dome over Packrat Palooka. He turned back to Stranger, chuckling sinisterly with neon red-orange eyes. “I don’t think so, ya pansy! Just see if you can get to me now!” Packrat gloated, and laughing hardly up in to the air. Stranger growled at what Packrat has done. “There’s no way I can get through that shield...” Stranger said to himself over the hums of two generators. He saw Packrat holstering what looked like a mortar cannon and held a rocket launcher in his hands as well. ‘Oh damn...’ Stranger frowned. “It’s yer day of reckoning, Stranger! You ain’t gonna get outta here alive!” Packrat cackled, then shot all of his artillery at him. Stranger ran back, far away from the range of the rocket’s explosions that impacted the ground before him, leaving meteor-sized craters in front of him. Umi shot up, looking at Stranger helplessly.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll help you...’ Umi began to look around to at least knock out Packrat with. But they stripped her clean of weapons, and there wasn’t anything strong and hard enough to hit the Outlaw with. Then, she darted her gaze to the laptop...
“That’s it!” Umi said to herself, and lunged towards the laptop. She typed in a bunch of letters and numbers, hoping it would override the generators. Well, she did hear the hums lowering and going back up like a power failure. When Packrat saw his shields flicker dim, he looked back, seeing the human messing around with the laptop. He growled angrily, stomping back to the human, his fingers writhing in hatred. Stranger noticed the rockets stop falling, and looked back up the stage to see Packrat attacking Umi.
“No...” he growled, beginning to sprint towards the stage. Umi, wrestling back with Packrat’s strong arms, heard Stranger do a loud roar, and then leap up on the stage, scrambling up from the edge. He stomped towards Packrat, and then grabbed one of his arms that was about to slam Umi in the face. Packrat felt his arm being held back by a stronger force, and looked back to Stranger’s very bright green eyes. He could definitely tell the bounty hunter was pissed off to high heaven.
“Don’t you dare, even lay one hand, on my partner...” Stranger growled in to Packrat’s ear, and slung him away from Umi, and down the stage. He leaped off with Packrat, him scrambling up to his feet. He scraped off the mortar cannon on his back, and dropped his rocket launcher. He was ready to fist-fight. Stranger drew his fist near his face, and made the first move, by throwing his fist by Packrat’s face. But the Outlaw dodged his attack, and went straight for his face as well. Stranger dropped down on to his hands backwards, and forced his boots in to Packrat’s gut, pushing him closer to an electricity field near the generator. Packrat held down his ground by digging his heels in to the dirt to stop him from going any further, and charged back with a fist in the air. He brought it to Stranger’s chin, which made a pop sound, but Stranger looked back to Packrat with a little smile. Packrat leaped away from Stranger, and tried to do another attack, while Stranger began to lope on his four limbs towards Packrat. Both had faces of confidence, but Stranger came out with the bigger advantage. His skull slammed right in to the middle of Packrat’s stomach, the weakest and most softest part of anyone’s body. He could hear the air inside Packrat’s lungs wheeze out through his throat, and he was pushed back further, closer than ever to the electric field of the generator. Packrat regained his control, looking over to see his rocket launcher within reach to him. Umi, who was looking over the edge of the stage, saw Packrat reaching for the rocket launcher. She gasped, and dropped down from the stage, and in front of Stranger and Packrat.
“That ain’t fair!” Umi screamed to Packrat, but he didn’t care. What wasn’t fair was cool with him. “Fine. Then I guess you go with the Bounty hunter as well!” Packrat threatened, holstering the launcher on his shoulder. Umi’s eyes widened, and tackled Packrat down, making him release the launcher. Stranger gasped, watching Umi wrestle Packrat, but that didn’t make him gasp. The fact is that they were too close to the generator, with it’s electric sparking.
“Umi! STOP!” Stranger roared, running over to them. Packrat then held down Umi by the arms, chuckling maliciously in her face, and his body over hers. “This time, you won’t be shipped to Doc. ‘Cause I’m a kill you myself,” Packrat literally pressed his face to hers. Umi’s eyes glared hardly in to Packrat’s, she digging her legs under his gut.
“I don’t think so,” Umi sneered back, and used every strand of energy and muscle in her legs to push off Packrat in to the generator behind them. Stranger pulled off Umi from the ground, watching Packrat in the live wires, zapping him to death. His eyes were still locked on Umi, while being electrocuted to death. Umi clenched hardly to Stranger’s poncho, continuing to watch Packrat slowly dying. The generators gave off a loud whine, then shut down. Packrat was still looking at them, but he really wasn’t alive. His eyes were a faded dark red and his pupils disappeared. His body smoked and smelled of something disgusting, like fried flesh. She could feel tears run under her eyelids, as she settled to the ground. Stranger gave off a loud but comforted sigh. She was happy that he came for her, and he knew it well. Stranger ran his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She didn’t hesitate, but could feel hot tears run down her cheeks. Stranger bent down in front of Umi, he locking on to Umi’s eyes.
“It’s ok now, Umi. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Stranger said comfortingly in a soothing purr. But she only shook her head.
“No. It’s not that,” she took in a deep quivering breath. “It’s all my fault this happened,” Umi cried harder. Stranger felt sympathetic to what she said. “No it’s not,” Stranger picked Umi up like a child, and embraced her. “It’s not yer fault...It ain’t nobody’s fault,” Stranger nuzzled his snout in to Umi’s hair. She hugged around Stranger’s neck, continuing to sob in to his shoulder. She felt that moment was more tighter than expected, but she savored it for a long time. When she felt she was done with her crying, she pushed gently off of Stranger’s chest, and he let her down. She wiped her eyes, looking at Packrat’s glaring dead eyes still locked on to her. She felt a little uncomfortable with the dead eyes still staring at her. But Stranger bountied him up before she could say otherwise. Her eyes were red of tears, and her face was steaming hot from the tears. She just wanted to splash some ice cold water all over her face when she got back to town. They climbed back up to the stage, Umi running away from Stranger’s side, and picking up his hat. She reached on tiptoe to put his hat on his head, and then relaxed. He chuckled, straightening his hat to the more comfortable position on his head, and picked Umi up again under the legs. “Lil’ rascal...” Stranger said in a playful type purr. “Why does it always seem at the end of each bounty, you carry me back to town?” Umi asked, slinging her arm around his neck. He only shrugged, but did a peck on Umi’s forehead, and began to walk down the tunnel in front of them. Nothing made Umi feel better but having a stranger around to take care of...