[Dark Elite_H2]

THICKETS, MASKS, AND OUTLAWS--The shadow of the Steef


“Welcome back, Stranger! Glad you two made it!” the clerk greeted brightly. Umi walked on her own, standing by Stranger and holding her arms down heavily. Stranger leaned closer to the clerk, and explained about Lefty. The clerk understood greatly, and gave Stranger his moolah he deserved, then spreaded out the last two posters.
“Elboze...Freely?” Stranger questioned, looking at the poster clearer. “Yep. He’s been causin’ trouble down at the Mongo Wilds, blowin’ up expired explosives in to the water. What makes things worse is that he and his gang are all banged down in the head, you know...mentally...” it whirled a finger around the side of its head. Stranger knew what it was talking about, but didn’t reply. Instead, accepted the mission, and slipped the poster in his poncho. The clerk sighed greatly, looking up to Stranger. “You sure?” it asked.
“You know it,” Stranger grinned impatiently. The clerk let out one more sigh, then let Stranger and Umi go, but with a warning.
“Well’p, let’s get it on,” Umi stretched her arms. Stranger grinned in concern down to her. “Oh no, you don’t. We’re gonna get that arm checked, ‘fore we go anywhere,” Stranger said firmly, and led themselves to Hectors office again.
“Well, seems you got yerself in quite a pickle down thar, Umi! That bullet shot clear through yer arm! Yer lucky it didn’t hit yer main vein in yer arm!” Hectors scolded, taking off the soaked bandage on Umi’s arm. She frowned slightly, rolling her eyes, but Stranger stared at her, shaking his head. Hectors examined the hole in her arm, a clot forming inside the hole. He mumbled a little, moving her arm around more. “It’s healin’ well. That’s good. Just put a fresh bandage on there, and yer good to go...” Hectors pulled out of his pouch a white thick bandage, and wrapped it tightly around her arm and pinned it up. “Now, I’m warnin’ yeh. You’ve got to let this wound heal, or it won’t heal properly like it is right now. If you do, then...I’m gonna have to remove yer arm. Nothin’ else to say, Umi. You need to be more careful. And Stranger. If yer gonna do these missions, I suggest you keep a closer eye on her. ‘Cause, honestly, I really don’t want to remove someone’s arms fer such a thing,” Hectors said firmly. Stranger looked down to Umi, thinking of way to protect her more. “Ok-doky, then. Be careful, you two. ‘Specially you, Umi. I’m serious. Watch yerself if yer gonna do such things. I’d keep you here, if I did such things you guys do...” Hectors suggested. Stranger nodded, and left behind Hectors office again. Umi checked her newly-wrapped bandage, then back up to Stranger. He sighed heavily, but grinned to her a little.
“Well, let’s go!” Umi said sweetly. Stranger nodded slightly, his grin slowly slipping down to a frown. She cocked her head to the side. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Nothin’...Just, thinkin’ what the Doc said...” Stranger’s mind trailed off from her. She rolled her eyes while he wasn’t looking. “I’ll be fine! That was just unexpected! I’m sure my arm’ll be fine when we come back!” Umi raised her arms, but accidentally slammed it on a barrel next to her. She mumbled a painful “Ow...” then smiled back up to Stranger. He let out a concerned sigh, shaking his head down from her sight. They walked silently on down the streets of New Yolk, Stranger’s mind on the fritz. They passed once more through the Mongo River passport, and up to the down-leading slope to the Sky cart facility. She looked up at him awkwardly. “What’s up?” Umi asked concerned. He didn’t reply this time, but grumbled something incoherently. She became frustrated with him, knowing what he was thinking. “Look, if I had to make this clear, nothing’s going to happen to me!” she nearly shouted.
“How are you sure?” Stranger asked, looking down to her. Her brows furrowed down to her eyes. She didn’t reply, for she wasn’t sure at all. She stomped down the slope, leaving Stranger to his thoughts. He didn’t follow for a while, watching Umi walk away from him. “Wait a sec. Umi!” Stranger ran down to her. She stopped, looking behind her. “Don’t be mad at me,” he stopped. “Well, if you keep on thinking ‘bout these things, then I wouldn’t be so mad,” Umi folded her arms over her chest, looking away from Stranger. “You’ve got to understand, Umi. I have to worry ‘bout you,” Stranger walked to her face. “Really? Tell me exactly,” she huffed a sigh. “Because! I care fer you! It’s my instinct to do such a thing now!” Stranger knelt to her. “You’ve got to understand such a thing, kid,” she looked at him, her arms relaxing down. “We’ve gotten really close, Umi. I know this is slightly annoying to yeh, but...it’s what I do now. It’s more of my duty now to watch out fer yeh, rather than bounty huntin’, which is my second priority when it comes to you,” Stranger’s voice softened. Umi’s lips curled down in to a frown. “I love yeh, kid. It’s turned out to me that yer like, a part of me now. Family, close partners. I would never let anything happen to you,” he put his hands on her shoulders, his eyes softening to her. She felt her throat choke with emotions, feeling tears come from her eyes. She sunk down to her knees, embracing him around the neck.
“Yeah...I understand...” she swallowed her sob. “Thank you...” she whispered. He curled his arms around her, lifting her up in a tight hold, rubbing his furry jaw on her head. “T’ain’t a problem, kid...” Stranger purred gently, shuffling his fingers through her hair. They held each other for moments, until Umi pushed off his shoulders, smiling greatly to him. “Well, yer ready?” Stranger asked, putting her down. She nodded deeply.
“Damn-straight!” she said excitingly. He grinned happily, reaching in his pouch, and pulling out her scarf. “Here. Fergot’s to give this to yeh,” he walked behind her, and tied her hair up. She tightened the scarf, then smiled up to him. “Thanks. Now, time to kick some Outlaw ass!” Umi slammed her fist in to her palm confidentially. He let out a chuckle. “Such a challenger, aren’t yeh?” Stranger said. “Eh, quit stalling! I wanna get these bounties before nightfall!” Umi growled, grinning, running further away from Stranger, and passed through the docks to the Mongo River, and through the forested strip of land by the riverside. He snickered down to the ground, and then followed behind, loping passed Umi. She gave a challenging grin, and ran as fast as her legs could go, but he was just too fast. He slowed down a little, so it’d make the challenge a little more interesting.
“This ain’t fair! Yer faster than me! You lil’ cheater!” Umi shouted ahead of her. Stranger slowed himself to her side. “Wish I had my speed...Then you’d be sorry,” Umi grumbled. He slowed more down until he got behind her, and lifted her on to his back. She gripped tightly over Stranger’s neck, as he loped through the thick brush, and leaping far over the river to the other side of the riverside. They heard explosions far out in the river. They were closer than they expected.
“Good morning to all of you! Today’s objective: Dumping all those explosions in to the river, and blowing the hell outta them!” a loud voice from far across the river shouted to the minions out on the riverside. Stranger hugged closely to the steep rocky hillside, avoiding the line of sight from the outlaws far across the river. There was no easy way to cross, so they had one option to do: Swim across.
“But Stranger! What ‘bout my arm? It can’t soak the bandages!’ Umi whined in a whisperly tone.
“Stay here, then. I’d rather you not be in that river with all them outlaws blowin’ up those explosives,” Stranger said, and dove in to the river, resurfacing and shaking his head off of water. He swam away from the small island, and deeper in to the deep parts of the river. Boulders and large rock formations stuck out of the water, making good sniper spots for the outlaws. Mortar minions stood on flat rock, firing their mortars randomly out in to the river. Semi-autos patrolled further in the back, and Suicide bombers held further in the back, near an abandoned mill. There was a narrow passage, leading further back to a higher platform, jumping up to a plateau, with more to come. Stranger zoomed in on his scope, seeing the Mortars in his sights. The Snuzis took out all the Mortars, but left the Semi-autos and Suiciders left in the dust. They scrambled over to the dead bodies floating out in the river, and glared around suspiciously for the culprit. Stranger swam down passed more of the tall rocks until he hit land. He shook off the water on his fur so it wouldn’t slow him down, and unlocked his bow, loading on Boom-bats and Thud slugs. He pressed his back to a tree close by him, twirling around to the group of Suicide minions in the far back. He shot the Boom-bat unnoticingly on the first minion the Boom-bat could get to, and detonated. The entire squad of Suicide minions flung away and in to trees dead, with one last scream at hold. All the Semi-autos gathered around the dead minions, roaring and glancing around aimlessly at whom was causing the trouble.
“This is too easy...” Stranger grinned with a slight growl, loading on his last Boom-bat for the rest of the minions alive. They all turned to the direction of one who saw the Boom-bat fly. It was a little too late for Stranger to put back down his arm, when one of the minions called out that they spotted him. “Damn...Ferget what I just said...” he said to himself disappointingly. The minions scrambled over to the trees, while Stranger frantically thought of a plan. He looked up the tree, then grinned mischievously. The minions parted to each side of the tree, baring their armaments. They appeared to nothing in their sights, but moving grass. The minions grumbled in confusion, wandering around what would be their death bed. Stranger hung down like a monkey, on the branches of the trees the Semi-autos stood under. He crawled down slowly, putting his boot securely between the middle of the tree. His bow was loaded on with still one more Boom-bat, puffing smoke out of its tiny mouth.
“Where’d that bounty hunter go to?” one minion grumbled. Stranger smiled, with his lips parting to show his teeth. “Right here...” he whispered, and launched the Boom-bat on the minion’s head. The Semi-auto screamed bloody murder, swatting at the time bomb about to go off. The Boom-bat exploded, the chain reaction affecting the outlaws all around. He jumped down in the circle of outlaws, burning and smelling of singed flesh. He sneered at all of them, then bountied them up. He looked over to the island he left Umi on, she laying under the shade of the trees, her eyes locked on the sky above her. He leaped back in to the river again, this time swimming underwater, grinning in that devilish kind of way again...
Daydreaming, and not even noticing where Stranger had gone to. She twittled her thumbs around with boredom. She wished she had some action right now, beating outlaws, tricking Stranger, the sort. She gave a loud, irritated sigh, looking across the river again. She noticed no outlaws activity was going on around there, but no Stranger as well. She knelt closer to the river’s edge, squinting hard through the evening sun blinding her. She sat back in curiousness.
“Where’d he go?” she said to herself, glancing around the river and the island. A dark figure passed through the deep end, going closer to the shallow and near the shore. Then, the figure stopped, and headed down deeper, touching the riverbed. She didn’t even know what was in the river. The figure kicked off the bottom hardly, and resurfaced high, leaping over to the shore where Umi was. She screeched loudly, cringing and flinging her arms over her head. The water splashed back down, and then there was quiet. Umi quivered, lowering her arms, and not noticing who was next to her. It laughed deeply.
“Scare yeh?” Stranger laughed. Umi slammed her arms down on the grass, her nose crinkled and her brows furrowed angrily. She growled lowly at him, with eyes sparking of anger. “That was...NOT...funny!” Umi roared, baring her teeth widely. Stranger laughed, sitting up from his propped elbow and on to his hands. “I thought it was. Scarin’ yeh has to be, the most fun, ter me,” Stranger grinned. Umi’s anger broke, and she pounced on Stranger, wrestling him with great fury. He played around with her for a little while, then got a little more rough, pinning her down in a rock-hard lock. She growled at him, as he kept her arms locked down on the ground, and his knees pressing on her legs. She wasn’t going to escape this one.
“Yer a rough lil’ missy, you know,” Stranger smiled to her face. She only sneered, moving her head aside from him. He gave a chuckle, picking Umi up in an embrace. She nearly clawed him, but realized what he was doing. “C’mon. We ain’t done yet with our mission,” Stranger stood up with her. He walked in to the water, holding her up to his chest, and jumped off from the shore. He paddled his feet, Umi keeping her arm in the air from the water and her bandages. The deep end came upon, and Stranger’s self fell a little more lower. Umi was half-way sunken with him, but still held her tiring arm up. The shallow ends came up now, and then Stranger ran on shore. Umi wrung her shirt out and wiped her face of water, while Stranger acted like a dog, and shook his entire body. She glared at him for a moment, then followed him passed through the narrow passage, and up to the plateau of land.
“Ok, fellahs! There’s that bounty hunter sneakin’ ‘round here somewhere. So keep a sharp eye out for it. Oh! And that bounty on that human’s still up fer the takin’! So if you spot it, lemme have it!” the familiar voice came to Stranger’s mind, like all the rest of the Outlaws he faced. Elboze was taking over the speakers. Stranger pressed himself and Umi against a sheer stone wall, hiding from the many outlaws around that bend. But what made him grin again, was the many explosives on a wooden carrying cart, trailing from the cart all the way to the backside of the hill, up to more outlaws standing aimlessly up on the top.
“These guys makes it too easy fer us, Umi. It’s almost as if they planned on this,” Stranger nearly laughed in glee, but forgot that he was a man, not a girl. He loaded on the last possible explosive-causing thing he had left, besides the Boom-bat, a Zapp fly. He waited for it to charge, then pulled his arm over the bend, and shot randomly near the cart. He waited for a reaction, but only heard angry outlaw growls. The impact took some delay, then they felt the earth shake with the rumbles of the explosions going off like dominos. Outlaw bodies were flung everywhere, even to where Umi and Stranger were, and heard nothing more but the distant echoes of the minion’s screams. Stranger let out a hearty laugh, walking out to the wreckage of dead outlaws. Umi looked up to him widely, as he dimmed down his laughter. “What?” he asked breathlessly. Umi shrugged, looking back away from him.
“Yer just creepin’ me out, is all,” Umi said. Stranger patted her head, going by each outlaw and vacuumed them up. They heard the loud feedback come back, hearing the loud growls of Elboze Freely.
“Hello? Is this thing on?” he tapped on the microphone, emitting a loud screech. “If I have to go down there to beat somebody’s ass, I’m going to be so pissed off!” Elboze roared, then slammed the microphone off. They went on another higher plateau of land, the high rocky cliffs bordering the area off, and another smaller narrower passage leading down. This time, the explosives were a small group, with another group of minions surrounding the explosives and drooling tastefully to the explosives. Semi-autos held further back to the passage, watching around aimlessly. Stranger snickered again, shaking his head down and loading his bow up with another Zapp fly.
“We won’t be getting them all this time. Watch yerself when those minions in the back come up to us,” Umi warned. Stranger didn’t reply, and aimed for the explosives around the drooling Suiciders. It was almost as if they were doing him a favor. He shot the Zapp fly, impacting and leaving a hole, with the sparks running in to the flammable liquid. The barrels exploded on impact, sending the surrounding minions to their death. The others behind gibbered loudly, rushing up to the scene, glaring at the bend where the Zapp fly was launched. Stranger jumped out from the bend, sending rock-hard Thud slugs out to the remaining Semi-autos. They groaned out loudly in pain, flying on to their hides and falling unconscious. He ran out to the last outlaw, throwing its rifle on the ground angrily, and roaring at Stranger, him loping on his limbs. The outlaw held its ground, which was a very stupid thing to do, as Stranger came closer and closer, with his head baring out. After what seemed time slowed in to slow motion, Stranger rammed his hard skull in to the outlaw’s gut, it suppressing the air out of its lungs, and flying backwards, crashing its spine in to a small boulder. The minion moaned for a second, then fell its limp head down. Stranger rubbed his head painfully, turning to Umi.
“Damn, that thing had a rock-hard belly,” Stranger moaned, lowering his arm. Umi scoffed at him. “Baby...” she insulted quietly, walking by his side. He rolled his eyes at her back, bountying the fallen outlaws, and following to the smaller passage leading downwards, in to what seemed as a arena. There were eight metallic platforms hanging above the arena ground, with wires attached to the hinges to a button box. Four high-powered air vents blew upwards and a small grill in the middle of the arena was wide open. They walked on the closest platform to the entrance of the arena, staring at the monstrosity in the arena, stomping around boredly: Elboze Freely.
He looked mostly of metal and machinery, but his head was awkward. It seemed as if his brain was encased in a glass case on top of a metal-coated head. His stomps shook the entire arena, as he lumped around, muttering angrily to himself.
“Oh, I bet that bounty hunter’s bound to get here...” he reached over his back, scratching a bare patch of skin. He trembled his arms in fury, “...AND WHERE’S MY BACK ARMOR!?” he roared out irritatingly. Stranger and Umi jumped down from the passage, trying to keep as quiet as they could be, but failed. “What’s that sound?” Elboze spun around, and froze. His robotic eye whirled around the intruders, his radar going off the fritz. “It’s you! And that human! Oh, am I going to give you SUCH a pounding,” Freely smacked his fist hardly in to his iron palm.
“Scatter!” Stranger yelled, and both parted from Elboze’s rage. Umi ran right and behind Elboze, while Stranger ran oppositely. Elboze scrambled back around to the sprinting bounty hunters, his eye wandering around, choosing who to go for. He took the path to Umi, he running and catching up much faster than she expected. She panted scarcely, watching Elboze catch up to her back. Stranger loped around the arena, running as fast as he could to get to Umi. He pushed aside his partner, holding off Elboze’s attack. The Outlaw cackled wildly. “I’m stronger than you, puny bounty hunter! I’m all metal and machine, and yer just flesh and bone!” he smacked aside Stranger in to an iron beam. Umi saw Elboze gaze dart directly to her, and she began to sprint again, away from the much-faster-and-stronger Outlaw. Stranger regained his conscious quickly, and sprinted oppositely of where Umi was going. He scooped her up, sliding under Elboze’s legs, and towards the high-pressured air vent. He jumped on to it, and the vent shot him up flying to one of the metal platforms. He was safe, for now.
Elboze glared up at the pathetic bounty hunters, looking over to the button box that was wired to the platform, and rushed over to it. Stranger watched Elboze go for it, and he jumped down with Umi, his bow loaded with a Thud slug and Zapp fly, the only thing that would tire out this Outlaw. Elboze groaned loudly, tripping down to the button’s box, but regaining his balance again, and spinning back to Stranger.
“You ain’t gettin’ me that fast, Stranger!” Elboze roared, and ran back to him. Stranger carried Umi again to another one of the air vents, and jumped on it. His plan was simple: Lure, jump, and tire. He would keep on jumping on the air vents, and when Elboze went to drop the platform, he’d drop down and shoot the Thud slug and Zapp fly at Elboze’s open back. He waited for Elboze to drop the platform, and dropped down, firing his ammunition again. Elboze let out a gasp of air, nearly falling to his knees this time, but stood back up. His eyes were a faded shade now, which was a good sign. He was tiring out. He tried his plan once more, jumping on the platform, luring Elboze to the button box, and launching his ammo again at his back. Elboze this time fell to his knees, moaning painfully, and slamming his head harshly on the metal box. Stranger grinned widely, approaching Elboze’s body, seeing faint breathing from his rising and falling back.
“Wow...That was...easy,” Umi blinked surprised. But it wasn’t over yet...Elboze’s self suddenly came back to life, whirling around and snatching Umi up in his metal arms. He chuckled maliciously to Stranger, “Now what’cha gonna do?” Stranger growled heinously to Elboze and his dirty trick. Umi grunted at his arm around her neck, her body dangled down to his hips. She tried kicking him, but his metal self was too hard to even feel a little. She wiggled a little, feeling herself slip down a little, but not much. But she came up with a plan, grinning over to Stranger. He had no idea why she was smiling, but he knew what she was thinking of. And he didn’t like it.
She pulled her legs up to Elboze’s arm, and used both her arm and leg muscle strength to loosen his grip. It was coming along finely, but her muscles were tiring out quickly.
‘C’mon, Umi. Just a lil’ more...’ Stranger thought, watching intently at her efforts. Elboze tried to fight her, but she was just a little more stronger than him. And he was part machine, for god’s sakes! She grunted loudly, until she felt his arm snap loose, and she fell to the ground. Elboze looked at her wildly, but she crawled quickly under his legs. She jumped up on his back, getting a secure grip, and spun out her Needler. Elboze frantically clawed at his back, while Umi pressed her gun at his open patch.
“Dirty varmin...” she scowled, and shot her full round in to Elboze’s skin. She pushed off his back, and landed on the ground. Elboze roared loudly, as the explosion shrouded his body. A mighty thud crashed on the ground, and then total silence. Umi sighed tiredly, kneeling heavily on the ground. Elboze’s entire back was blown off, like the same for Lefty, but less worse. Blood trickled out of the metal casing, and fell down the grill in the middle of the arena. Stranger walked up to Umi, his arms wide out.
“Good work, Umi. Might be the third Outlaw you’ve killed so far, but good work,” Stranger put a comforting hand on her shoulder heavily. He turned back around to Elboze, while Umi worked at her wounded arm. She moved it around slightly, not feeling a slight tinge of pain whatsoever. She slipped off some of the bandage, seeing a pinkish color. She gazed in surprise, tearing off the entire bandage, and only seeing small scabs covering the areas of the wounds, and the rest of it a light pink. She smiled excitedly, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating or anything.
“Wow!” Umi said with joy, jumping up. Stranger finished boutying the Outlaw, turning to her, and looked at her in amazement. “My implant! It must’ve had a little more juice in it!” Umi said in a near crazily voice. Stranger cocked his head to a side. “Implant?” he asked. She looked up to him. “Long story. I’ll tell you later,” she said quickly, rubbing her arm up and down, but not even the slightest pain came. He chuckled while walking up to her. “Yer weird, I hope you know that,” he said, wrapping his arm around her neck, giving her a one-armed hug. “Yeah,” she agreed, lowering her arm. He snickered some more, but leading themselves to the grill widely open. He jumped down it, landing in what seemed as an exotic sewer pipe, with mosses and shrubs growing between the pipes and above. Critters roamed around the planted areas, which made Stranger’s thought of buying more ammo slip away. The pipe led back to town, fortunately, and with one more bounty to go.