Ken's Notes: Here's good ol' chapter two. In case you haven't noticed, my story is SUPPOSED to be like the series... for a while anyway... I WILL try to make it original as possible. Oh, and in case you have no idea, Socrates' father is Descartes, the big guy from episode 1. Liah and all new characters are copyright to me & Kara Jade who is doing a kind of alternate version of my story! (Don't ask me to explain... It's a long story... even though it's kinda short...) Anyhoo, on with the story! Trigun New Blood Chapter 2: Bounty Hunters Liah and Wolfwood burst from the bar, weapons drawn... and instantly wished they'd thought things through properly. Standing there was the largest man they had ever seen. He stood roughly 20 feet, had a blonde crewcut and, save for his head, he was all mechanical. He had a large shield, as well as an oversized shotgun. he was accompanied by ten men armed with Ak-47s... who all promptly opened fire! Liah and Wolfwood quicly ducked back into the bar for shelter. This was a bad idea, seeing as a few seconds later, the bar was reduced to rubble by the combined efforts of the man and his cohorts. Finally, the gunfire died down. "Liah the Stampede! Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Socrates! Twenty-two years ago, my father attempted to capture your father. He failed. But_I_intend to do better! Now, please DIE for all our happiness!" "Yes, please do," piped in one of his henchmen, "or he'll beat us like somebody's bi-" "SHADDAP!" yelled Socrates, backhanding the "offending" henchman into a nearby hill. Wolfwood and Liah exchanged nervous looks. "I'll try to reason with him..." whispered Wolfwood. "Oh_SURE_Wolfwood! I'm_POSITIVE_he'll listen to you!" Liah hissed back. "Thanks for the vote of non-confidence, Lee..." muttered Wolfwood. Then he took a deep breath and walked up to the giant. "H-hello... Um... We were wondering if we could end this without causing more damage than this is worth... Y'see..." The giant and his underlings interrupted Wolfwood by pointing their weapons at him. "Okay... perhaps not...Liah? a little help?" Liah sighed. In a mere 2.5 seconds, the man's cohorts were on the ground clutching their knees and in pain. She had shot them in the kneecaps. You see, in the years after she was born, the inhabitants of this planet, dubbed the Planet Gunsmoke, had re-learned how to make DVDs and DVD Players... and a whole cache of DVDs had been found on a Project SEEDS ship. One of them happened to be a movie called "Terminator 2". Liah enjoyed it so much, she decided to use the T-100's method of "not killing anybody"... with great glee. "How's the knee, doctor?" she chuckled. "I wish you'd quit saying that all the time, Lee..." muttered Wolfwood running back towards cover. "Your welcome!" said Liah, beaming from ear to ear. "M-m-my men..." said a shocked Socrates "Perhaps I have underestimated your abilities somewhat... I, Socrates, shall eternally regret this turn of events... but NOW you must pay, Liah the Stampede! And I know you have one bullet each in those guns of yours... However, they will do you no good, as I have bullet-proof armor!" He then began to laugh. It was high-pitched and annoying. Wolfwood and Liah covered their ears and looks of annoyance spread across their faces. "Can I use my stungun on him, Lee? PLEASE?!" "No, no..." replied Liah, "Let's just... RUN AWAY!" So they did. It wasn't long before Socrates realized his bounty had disappeared. And that perhaps pursuing them might be a good plan of action, the idea of getting his comrades medical help be damned! On the outskirts of town, Liah and Wolfwood stopped running. "Did we lose him?" puffed Liah. "No... I think... he's running towards us..." wheezed Wolfwood. "Well..." Replied Liah with a frown, "at least we're out of town... no sense turning the whole town into rubble..." "Point." "Aha! I've got you cornered, Liah the Stampede!" Boomed the large man. "Not to be picky or anything, but... we're in the middle of the desert; I'M NOT CORNERED!" replied Liah. "Ah, but you have no place to hide and there's no place to take shelter... You are my prey, Liah!" chuckled Socrates. "He does have a point, Lee..." "You aren't helping, Wolfwood..." The man aimed his weapon at Liah, cocked the hammer back and... All the sudden, Socrates had no gun... or an arm to fire the gun! His severed arm landed 10 feet away. Being mostly cybernetic, he felt no pain. "Way to go, Liah..." gaped Wolfwood. "I didn't even see or hear the gun go off!" "It wasn't me!" "She is quite right... She did not fire her weapons." said a voice. The three of them looked around and saw a figure fully clothed in black... He appeared to be a ninja. "Forgive my intrusion. I am the infamous ninja known as Sabre Wolverine. I heard this man's empty boast in town and followed you all here. As you can obviously see, all armour has a weak spot... and I can find them!" "Thank you muchly for helping an innocent young lass, stranger." said Liah in the most sultry, yet girlish voice she could muster, batting her eyelashes. "Be silent. I am a bounty hunter just like him... He is obviously incapable of defeating you! Unlike me, a well-trained ninja!" "What is this? Is the whole world after innocent lil' me?" said Ky, her eyes getting big an glistening. "Pretty mu-" Wolfwood decided not to finish his sentence, because of the filthy look that Liah shot him. "Yes. So give yourself up, as you have no chance to survi-OOF!" said Sabre Wolverine as the severed arm tossed by an angry Socrates struck the ninja square in the back, knocking him senseless. "Incapable, am I? Look at you!" chuckled Socrates. "Taken out by an unarmed man!" "A lucky strike, fool..." muttered the ninja, dragging himself from underneath the arm. "...and such a bad pun, too... I must admit... Hitting me from behind... Done like a true ninja! Why don't you come over here and we'll see who is more deserving of the reward!" "Very well." replied Socrates with a grin. "Maybe we should use this opportunity to escape..." suggested Wolfwood. Liah shook her head in agreement and they quietly sneaked away. Mere moments later, as they hid behind a sand dune, they heard a horrendous explosion. Seconds later, there was a pair of doppler-shifting scream as the Ninja and the behemoth flew overhead, blackened and crispy around the edges. they landed a few feet away, groaning in pain. "Let me guess... You secretly left a mini-proximity mine for them while they were arguing... And they just stepped on it, right?" "Two actually... I think they stepped on both of them at the same time... and they were my last ones, too. Oh well..." "Well, that's good... at least their not dead. By the way, where's Kuroneko?" "Kuroneko? uh... I think we left him in that totaled saloon..." "WHAT?! You left my poor little kitty-kins behind in that death trap?! He might be hurt... or worse!" "Well, we BOTH lept into the fray with hapless abandon..." retorted Wolfwood "and then we ran away so that more innocents would be safe from the bumbling of those bounty hunters "True. Well, let's go see if we can find him... Hopefully he's all right" replied Liah, glaring at her half-cousi as they headed towards the town. When they got there, they found the cat was okay. In fact, it was sitting on top of the pile of rubble that was the saloon. As soon as he saw Liah, he mewed happily and leapt onto Liah's shoulder. "Ahaha!" winced Liah, "Watch the claws! WATCH THE CLAWS!" After Liah had freed Kuroneko's claws from the depths of her shoulderblade, they dug out the pet carrier, the duffle bag, the cross-shaped bundle and the suitcase from the rubble and went on their way. They found Wolfwood's car under a tarp outside town and drove off to wherever they could. As they drove off into the distance, a man with a minigun strapped to his back and wearing a black trenchcoat stood on a hill overlooking the town. He suddenly perked up as if he were hearing some unheard voice. He said "She's on the move." He stood there as the unheard voice told him what to do, then said "Understood." and walked towards the bottom of the hill. TO BE CONTINUED...