Captain made it
pass the quiet Coliseum, being too early for any Warriors fighting. Captain had been in there a couple of times,
never betted on anyone, but had seen some of the fights, finding many good
soldiers for his troop there. He walked
near the corner and passed more alleys to an empty corner, near Pride Castle.
It seemed empty, just a corner of city with a stage that most people had forgotten. Captain waited a
bit and …
“Hello Captain. You’re early.”
Even though he
was expecting it, Captain had to force himself not to react. Salric has that effect. In one second, some cloaked figure wrapped in
black bandages appeared right in front of him, silently and without much
movement. There was a slight unease to
that.
It also didn’t help that he was a Walker. Or at least, part of one.
Captain asked, “Report.”
“Nothing,
sir. Been quiet as a mouse for the last…”
he pulled out a watch that was heavily dinged up, “six hours.”
Captain raised an
eyebrow. “Six hours? I’m two hours early then?”
Salric shook his
watch. “Give or take. Besides me, you’re the first one to be here.”
Captain looked
around again, still empty and quiet. “Hmm…
and no sign of our supposed employer?”
“No movement, no
sign.”
So no way for a
trap, thought Captain. “Then I’ll be
back. Going to get something to eat and
check up on some stuff before the meeting.
Stay hidden till the rest of the group gets here.”
“Understood.” He didn’t really
disappear, but he suddenly couldn’t be focused on. And then… nothing.
Captain looked
around and then headed towards the other side of the ruined castle.
Fat John and Thin
Luke were renown as the best cooks in Silver City
once, during the years when the Shadow King was still around. Fat John, called for him being a pretty hefty
guy, could cut a slice of meat and cook it to perfection. Thin Luke made
spices, drinks, and combinations with Fat Johns meals that made them the most
wanted cooks in the land.
But after the Burning Man, they
changed. Their mouths became cursed and he could no longer eat or taste
the same way. Fat John, which was the only name he responded to after he
lost his shadow, was driven almost mad.
He took this as a time to learn and repent, sewing his mouth shut in an
act of penitence. Fat John took this in
acceptance, but Thin Luke did not. He fell
into the madness, grieving insanity to the point of becoming monstrous.
It also didn’t
help their sanity or reputation when the public found out that their meat came
from a Holy Cow. After that...
Captain
knocked on Fat John’s door, and waited till it was opened by a thin almost
skeleton man with a stitched up mouth.
“Hey Fat John,
got anything you can cook up for me?”
Fat John looked
at Captain, who produced a shiny red apple from his pocket, and welcomed him in
with a silent gesture.
Inside Fat
John’s house was a diner table with stools facing a large grill that was
designed for a large group. It was kind
of sad to see it empty. Captain choose a seat and faced the grill as Fat John quietly walked behind it and put on a apron. The grill didn't seem hot, nor did it feel like it in the room, but after Fat John grab a handful of grounded meat (which looked almost too fresh) and placed it on the grill, the meat started to hiss and burn.
With a spoon and a spatula, he moved the meat around into a simple patty. And with an almost graceful gesture, grabbed a bread bun and cut it in two with a blade that the Captain really couldn't see. Without much of a reaction, he quickly flipped the patty into the bun and placed it on a plate in front of Captain.
Captain looked at it, and it was the perfect piece of meat. But... "No sides? Is Luke awake?"
Fat John gave him a silent look.
"Yeah, alright, probably better this way." Captain went to grab it, but Fat John grabbed it before he could, and in no time at all, placed a fried egg on top of it. Captain smiled. "Aw, you spoil me Fat John. It didn't come from a Holy Chicken though, right?"
Fat John gave another silent look.
"Just kidding. I really appreciate this." Captain grabbed the burger and was about to take a bite, before Fat John tapped the plate and pointed to the corner.
Captain turned and stared right into the Holy Cow.
Now, there is nothing wrong about the Holy Cow. It's just a regular looking brown spotted
cow sticking his head out of a room of hay and with blood leaking on the floor. But it's what happens to him that get people unnerved. Captain knows when Fat John doesn't have anymore meet to cook, he walks to the
butchers area behind the house and takes off the limbs and organs out of that Cow. However, it doesn't die, nor does it feel any
pain. It barely reacts to any sort of damage that is inflicted upon it, and heals so fast that it seems in a few seconds that nothing happened.
Fat John can cook and endless supply of meat...
but the down side is that he still has to take care of the cow. It moos, pees, shits, and
constantly wants food. Fat John likes the cow and treats it right, but
Thin Luke hates it, trying multiple ways to kill it. But nothing
works.
Most people, after finding out
about the Holy Cow, have stopped going to there place for the inconvenience and
guilt of eating a piece of a creature that was staring back at you.
Captain, however, did not. He knew the right way of dealing with it. He took his burger, turned to the cow, handed it the apple that he showed to Fat John before, bowed in respect as it ate the apple without any emotion, and then a bite from his burger without any regret.
Fat John, with his thin sewed lips, smiled in a way of the payment that gave Captain a more satisfied feeling than that delicious burger could ever do.
After finishing the meal, and giving respects to Fat John for it, Captain started his way to Gun Metal Heavy Shop, a blacksmith shop run by a man by the name of Horace. As Captain got closer, he noticed the shop and a bright light shining behind a large figure of a man with black leather chaps.
Like Captain, the owner Horace just a regular person. But unlike
Captain, he didn’t enjoy being normal.
He was a heavy set man, with long wild hair and heavily pierced almost
everywhere. Metal pieces stuck out of him
and gave him a menacing look, but Captain knew him to be like a nice guy.
“Hey, Horace,”
Yelled the Captain over the loud noises of the welding.
Horace finished his part on the metal sheet
and turned around.
And the image of
his welding mask would forever haunt the Captain.
The hood started
from a simple black squared masked. But
then it had a pair of horns, real horns from what looked like a goat, coming
from the top forehead area. Those
weren’t so bad, but it was the design on the mask that unsettled Captain. They were teeth. Very sharp looking teeth that went across the
mask like a smile from nightmare.
A grin in the
darkness.
Horace lifted up
the hood to reveal his heavily pierced, sweaty face. “Yo, Captain!
You’re here early.”
“That’s some
mask you got, where did you find that thing?”
"Oh this? I traded some guy at the pawn shop for it. He said he got it from some strange person from an unknown land and that he was told it had mystical powers..."
Captain gave him a strange look. "Really?"
"Nah, just pulling your leg. I made it from parts around the shop. I put the teeth on it to give it a sort of Cheshire Cat look to it."
"The Cheshire Cat?" Captain asked.
"You know, from Wonderland? Like the book?" Horace looked at Captain, who had the look of someone confused, and then changed subject. "Nevermind. So you ready to see it?"
"That's why I'm here."
Horace got up, placed the welding mask on the table, and went into the corner, as Captain couldn't help but stare at the mask.
"Here you go sir, good and new" Horace placed a silver gun in front of Captain, which caused him to stop looking at the mask and take a look at his gun.
Which was nothing like the gun that Captain owned.
"What the hell is that? What happened to my Magnum?" Captain asked, being both confused and irked.
"I upgraded it." Horace said with a smile. "Made it cool."
"Upgraded? I didn't ask for a upgrade, I asked for a tune up."
"Same thing. I made it a DW PPC. "Protective Power Controller." It still uses the .357 Magnum bullets that you are used to and I even lessened the recoil for you. Should even be easier for you to aim. Give it a try. I'd even made your holder able to hold it."
Captain looked doubtful, but he grabbed it and found it surprisingly lighter than he thought. It was still heavier than he was used to though... but it did have that intimidating look to it.
"And how much more are you wanting for it?"
"No charge, no charge. I'll even add some bullets to the order. All I want is a favor in return."
Captain hesitated instantly. "What favor?"
Captain walked down the road, gun now in toll, and looked around towards the area of the Lusted. The Lusted always lived near the hot volcano river that went through the south-east part of town. It does get a little too hot for some people there, but they couldn't tell you if it was the lava or the Lusted.
He made it to an alley, before he heard crying from a girl.
Captain put his hand to his new gun and stopped near the edge of the alley, before peaking out and seeing a little girl being pinned up to the wall by a very dirty man with an crazy look in his eye.
"Yes, scream if you want, it won't change anything." The man said in a way that upset Captain even more. As silently as he could, he walked out of the man's sight and pulled the gun towards his head.
"Yeah, it would. It would make me pulling this trigger so much easier." Captain said in a cold voice.
The man turned suddenly in disbelief, then screamed out obscenities to the large gun in front of his face, and after being pistol whipped, ran off without much dignity left.
Captain replaced his pistol, happy with the reaction he got with it without needing to fire, and turned to the little girl. "You alright?" He asked as he started to look at her in the eyes.
And then he remembered. There were no children here in the Silver City.
"Oh, hi Evita." Captain said.
In an instant, the little girl turned into an regular sized woman, beautiful to behold. The rags that she once wore, barely covered her gorgeous pale skin. She quickly took a strand of cloth that was as dark as her hair and pulled it across her eyes to blind herself to Captain, but it didn't stop her from getting really close to him.
"Captain!" she said, sounding happy. "Pleased to see you again. Wished we could have met during better times though."
"What was that about?" Captain asked.
"Part of the job. Some customers have just the "meanest fantasies" sometimes." She said 'meanest fantasies' in a kiddish voice that made Captain shiver. "I would have been mad if it wasn't you. What are you doing here? To visit me?" She asked while using one finger to feel around Captain's chest.
"Actually, I did. I need a message for Sally."
The finger stopped moving and started to feel sharp. "Oh? Why's that?"
Captain didn't react. "Horace wants her to visit him soon. He's feeling kinda lonely lately."
The finger became soft again. "Oh, ok. I can do that. Is that all?"
Captain had to smile a little at this. "Well, maybe I could also ask for a visit later today?"
The finger started to move lower and she smiled even though she couldn't see. "I was hoping you would ask."
Captain, now alone, headed back to the corner of the Pride Castle that he had just visited a few moments ago to now see that it was now crowded with all sorts of people. Most of them looked like mercenaries, but Captain could only recognize a few of them.
"Welcome back, Captain." Salric said as he appeared behind him. "The rest of the team is over here." He pointed towards the front, where Captain could see some familiar faces and headed towards them with Salric close by.
"Anything new?" Captain asked, as he saw that the stage was still empty.
"Nothing except the crowd. Looks like we weren't the only invited ones here."
"I noticed." Captain said as he made his way to the front.
The group greeted him, but they were cut short as in an instant a cloaked armored man appeared suddenly on stage in front of them.
And a female voice spoke.
"Welcome, gentleman."
End of Part 2~
A lot of small characters inspired by a certain event. And even more introductions to the city life. Sorry it took so long, but just been so busy and wanted to write more and more... May also be drunk while writing this.
Also, you don't know it yet... but some reveals about a certain character just happened. And you don't know because I haven't revealed it yet... in the future!
Yeah, I'm definately drunk.
Also definitely need to edit. Anyway, that's part 2. Till next time
