Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ And So Shall Darkness Fall ❯ Duck and Run ( Chapter 10 )

Part Ten-Duck and Run

Jenny-"I loved the last chapter!"
Kelly-"This one is pretty short."
Jenny-"Hey hey hey! It's quality that matters, not quantity!"
Kelly-"Bum."

Psych and the others pressed their backs to a crumbling wall, listening for any telltale sounds of an approaching enemy. Milly began to cry and Wolfwood patted her hand and smiled at her, "It's gonna be alright Milly."

"If you say so, Mr. Priest," she replied, drying her eyes, "I wish we hadn't gotten involved now though. I have a terrible feeling that all of us aren't going to make it out of here alive."

"Nonsense," snorted Psych, loading her guns, "You have me here! I'm a professional Sheriff, if you remember."

Milly looked at Wolfwood.

"Oh, and Wolfwood's here," Psych added, "He's a--a--professional....liar."

"Hey! I thought we were all made up!" he cried, face contorted strangely.

Psych laughed, "Ew, not your best face pal."

"I feel better," announced Milly, putting on a smile.

"That's wonderful," said Psych, "Now be quiet already. You two talk more than an old woman at Bingo."

"I think someone's coming this way," whispered Wolfwood, pulling a gun from the slide arm of his cross. Milly whimpered.

A shadow fell upon a wall a few houses down from them. "It's Dominique," he whispered to Psych, "Watch out, she can move so fast that the human eye can't even pick her up. I don't think she's ever met her match."

"Well, she's never met Psychout the Ricochet," said Psych, creeping forward, ignoring Wolfwood's protest and Milly's oooh's. Psych stood up and strutted out right in front of Dominique, a friendly smile on her face. She lit a cigarette and tipped her hat politely. "G' day miss. Lovely weather today, huh?"

Dominique was stunned that an opponent would treat her with such respect. "And just who are you?" she asked, looking over the strange girl.

"Me? Well, I'm Psychout the Ricochet," replied Psych, bowing politely and turning the charm on full blast, "And It's a pleasure to meet you, Dominique the Cyclops. I've heard many great things about you."

"Really?" Dominique was perplexed. Was this really the one she was sent to kill?

"Well yeah," Psych laughed, "You're like a legend!"

Dominique was flattered, "I-I don't know what to say. You do know that I am ordered to kill you, correct?"

"Oh, sure!" cried Psych, waving her hand to the side, "I'm honored to be killed by a fabulous outlaw such as yourself too. Smoke?" Psych offered Dominique a cigarette.

"Uh, thanks," she let Psych light it for her and took a drag, "Wow, Legato never said you were so nice."

"That's just the type of person I am," Psych smiled, "By the way, I simply love the hat!"

"What in the hell is she doing?" Wolfwood said out loud, "Is she insane?"

"Wow, I never knew Miss Psych was so cool!" cried Milly, little stars filling her eyes.

"Well," said Psych busily, tossing her cigarette butt aside and brushing her hands off, "How about we get this over with? You must be a busy woman, with being sooo famous and all."

Dominique shook her head in amazement, "You know, if Legato hadn't ordered me to kill you, I think we could have become good friends."

"You really think so?" exclaimed Psych, lifting her hands to her face, "That would have been so cool! Hey, can I ask you for a favor before I let you kill me?" <Yeah, like give me back my smoke.>

"Oh of course," she replied readily, "Since you're not giving me a hard time about this, ask away."

"You're too generous!" complimented Psych, watching Dominique blush and try to wave her compliment off, "Can you show me a few of your moves? I've always wanted to see them! You're like my idol!" <No one would ever buy that lame excuse. Prepare to fight ol' Psychy>

"How can I refuse?"

Psych's eye twinkled mischievously and she suppressed a wicked smile. <Never mind. Boy, for a Gung-ho Gun, she sure is full of herself...not to mention incredibly stupid. She makes Milly look like a freakin' genius!>

"Oh really? You mean it? I am so happy!" Psych looked as if she really was excited about it. <I'll be happy for real when I yoink that hat of yours from your corpse>

"She's a great actress," commented Wolfwood, "That's for sure. Let's hope she doesn't get herself killed for being so foolish."

"What would you like to see?" Dominique asked, smiling.

"Well, I heard that you can move like lightning! I find that so cool! Can you show me?" <Gawd, I sound corny!>

Before Psych could blink, Dominique was standing next to her. Psych pretended to be totally surprised, "No way! How did you do that!!" <She's a Gung-ho Gun? Wow, they must let anyone with a gun join. Talk about cheap carnie tricks.>

"You're too much! Are you trying to give me a bighead?"

<Yeah, like your bowling ball could get any bigger> "Are you able to do that because you're magic or something?" asked Psych, trying to sound stupid.

"Oh no," replied Dominique, shaking her head, "My Demon's Eye gets all the credit." She leaned in to let Psych take a closer look.

<Fucking idiot!> Psych looked intently at her eye, trying to seem in awe. She backed up, seeing how proud Dominique looked. She dropped one of her mirrored cigarette cases at that exact moment. "Oopsie! I am such a klutz!" She made as if to bend down and pick it up but Dominique stopped her.

"No, no, allow me," she bent over to pick up the case as Psych drew her gun and shot a nearby wall. The bullet smashed into Dominique's Demon's Eye as she stood up.

"Wha?" Dominique was stunned. Her eyepiece fell to the ground, broken in two, "What are you doi--." Unfortunately she didn't get that far. Psych fired her gun twice more and both bullets found their marks in her neck. She fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Psych smirked and grabbed her cigarette case from Dominique's lifeless grasp.

"Pity, you got blood on the hat I was going to take," Psych said out loud, putting her smoking gun away, "Well, that was hard. Hard to keep from laughing at such a damn wimp."

Wolfwood and Milly came out of their hiding place, mouths open.

"Y-you killed Dominique the Cyclops!" cried Wolfwood, pointing.

"Yeah, you're quick," replied Psych, giving him a crazy look, "Don't think too fast. You might strain that tiny brain of yours."

Milly came forward and smiled at Psych, "M-miss Psych, c-can I have your autograph?" Milly looked so serious that she couldn't just say no.

"Uhh, yeah," she said, using the pen that Milly handed her to autograph a piece of paper. Wolfwood rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, let's go find Sight and the others," said Wolfwood, and started back towards the center of town.

Meanwhile...

"Vash, you and Meryl can handle Gray. I'll take care of Monev."

"Are you sure you can take him alone?" Vash asked, as the two Gung-ho Guns started towards them.

"Yeah, no prob," Sight said, loading her lancer. "He's more bark than bite."

"If you say so..."

At that point, Monev started firing at them. "Come on, you weaklings! Show me what you've got! I haven't been training for twenty years for nothing! I at least wanna get winded!"

"See?" Sight asked, and then ran at Monev. Vash and Meryl engaged Gray.

Sight fired at Monev while running and he laughed at her. "Hehehe, you can't hit me running like that, but if you slow down, I'll be able to shoot you!"

Sight grinned to herself, and then came to a dead stop. The sneer on Monev's face faltered. "Why'd you stop? You know I can kill you easily now."

<Just as I thought. Easily confused.> She looked him full in the face, the laser sighting in her new eye aimed at his forehead. He, of course, couldn't see it.

"No matter. Just less work for me, I suppose," Monev said, and the giant gun on his back started its countdown. "3...2..."

Just as Sight was about to pull the trigger, Vash appeared.

"No! You can't kill him! It's wrong to kill people!" he shouted, and launched himself at Sight. She still fired, but the bullet went wide of its mark, and struck Monev on the side of the face. He was unfazed, and started shooting at the two.

Meryl appeared right after Vash tackled Sight. She started shooting at Monev, trying to distract him. "Come on you two! Get out of the way before you get killed!" she shouted, and then all three of them ducked behind a large piece of wall.

Sight whacked Vash upside the head. "What was that? Are you nuts? I could have been killed!!"

"You shouldn't kill him!"

"You killed Gray, didn't you?" Sight asked, fearing the answer.

"Well, yeah, but he was a robot. He wasn't a living breathing creature. No one has to die!"

Sight snapped. "You try telling that to Legato! He's going to slaughter us all if we don't get to him first!"

"No more people have to die," Vash said quietly, but forcefully.

"Listen to me, Vash the Stampede. I used to live here. This was my home. *Before you destroyed it*." Vash flinched. "Yes, Vash, you killed all the people in this town. Granted, there weren't that many, since most of them skipped town. Just like you killed all the people in July. You blew a whole in the fifth moon. Now, you can't tell me not to kill any more people. It's Legato, for Christ's sake! Dammit, Vash, if *you* can go around killin' innocent people, then fuck if I'm gonna let you stop me from killin' a pile of downright evil people!"

"That's enough!" Meryl said, as Vash hung his head. "Can't you see what you're doing to him? He's been hurt enough! He doesn't need to hear it from you!"

"Vash, I'm not saying this to hurt you," Sight said, ignoring Meryl. "You can't live like this. You can't expect people to feel the way you do. The world would be better for it, but it will never happen. Heh, if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade, goddammit. Don't look at it and hope it becomes an apple." With that, Sight popped up from behind the wall and fired at Monev, who had been steadily advancing on their hiding spot. His giant gun fell off first, and then he tried to run away. But suddenly, he turned around, almost like he didn't want to. He picked up a piece of metal and charged Sight with it. Sight was caught totally off guard by the sudden action, and she didn't have time to pull up her lancer.

Two shots rang out before Monev got to her. Monev slid to a stop at her feet, dead as a doorknob. Sight let out a breath. "Thank you Vash," she said, and turned to him. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I know what you're thinking. That I let him get that close to me on purpose. I didn't. If I could spare you from killing, Vash, I would."

Vash sniffed, and wrapped his arms around Sight.

"Ack. Me-eryl, get him offa me 'fore I choke!"