The Six Guns

"So who is that Don guy anyways?" Rose asks Tanya.

"He was my old boss" Tanya replies, "and my old friend. He gave me a way out when I needed to take care of my child. And her father didn't stick around to help, so I needed all the time I possibly could to be a proper mother... a single mother. Come to think of it, I've never given Ali the care she needed. Sometimes I think she depends on her babysitter more than me. Her babysitter is her best friend's mother, so I guess it's only natural that she looks up to her, but... I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid".

Siran looks down at his feet as he sits on the floor and says "I'm sure she still looks up to you".

Tanya laughs, as if trying to laugh away her stressful thoughts and asks "You think so?".

"You know" Siran continues, "I know a story about a little girl who lost her mother at an early age".

"What was her name?" Tanya asks.

"Lily" Siran replies. "She lost her mother as an infant, and never knew anything about her own father. Furthermore, she was taken away by a group of men who promised to protect her..."

"And did they?" Tanya asks.

Siran buries his face into his knees as he recalls this story. "I tried to be there for her, but those men wouldn't let me see her".

"So you knew her personally then?" Tanya asks. "Who was she exactly? Your first crush or something?".

"Nothing like that" Siran replies. "I knew her mother and I just felt... responsible when she left the world. The men that took her into custody had no bad intentions, but she didn't want to stick around with them. She looked up to me like I was her own uncle. Eventually, she had to move away on her own, and start her own life. She grew up faster than I realized".

"Aren't you only like in your mid-twenties?" Alex asks. "You're not that old".

Siran looks up with a slight smile on his face as he finishes the story. "She used to ask me about her mother all the time!" He says. "Through it all, even though her mother couldn't be around, she still looked up to her and loved her. I'm sure your daughter still looks up to you too. A bond between a mother and a daughter is hard to break. Even death can't break those bonds".

"Thanks for answering my question" Alex says. "Seriously, you're not that old, are you?".

Siran laughs a little and says "Don't worry about it, it doesn't really matter how old I am".

Siran stands up and stretches. "Anyways" he says, "about time we go check up on Demetri, isn't it? He wanted us to transport him out of Vega".

"Wait" Tanya says, "Why is he in a rush to leave Vega? I'm assuming he's in trouble?".

"Dunno" Siran replies, "but a deal is a deal".

As the team leaves, Tanya goes with them. However, Tanya walks back inside and picks that metal card up off the ground that Siran gave to her the night before. She looks at the card for a second as she thinks, laughs a little bit, then slides the card into her back pocket and catches up with the crew.

As the crew finally arrives at Demetri's place, they find that most of the place seemed to have been nearly cleaned out completely. Demetri was putting on a backpack and grabbing cases of other things he wanted.

"Took long enough" Demetri says.

"Sorry 'bout that" Finn says, "but what's with all the stuff?".

"Just some necessities" Demetri replies. "Tools, cybernetic equipment, explosives-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Finn panics, "Explosives!? Why are you going out of your way to borrow trouble!?"

"I'm not borrowing trouble" Demetri responds.

"Then what the hell do you call carrying explosives!?" Finn asks.

"Covering our asses" Demetri replies.

As Finn stresses out, Tanya says "So I guess it's clear that he's getting into trouble. Anyone else getting a bad feeling about this?".

The whole team nods in unison. Then Demetri throws one more strap over his shoulder and says "Let's go".

The crew leaves with Demetri closely behind. They got about halfway across Therio before what looked like a group of mercenaries stopped them. Three strange men walked in front of them as they were leaving and blocked their path. The first thing they said was "Give us the Doctor".

Demetri doesn't leave any time for contemplation, as he starts to open one of his bags and starts trying to pull out a well packaged pack of explosives. Tanya stops him by putting her arm in front of him and saying "Let me take care of this. You guys get ready to run in case more of them come".

Tanya takes off her over-shirt and reveals her tank top she was wearing underneath. Her tank top exposed a plethora of magic charm tattoos on her shoulders and back. As the team started running forward, they could see her tattoos starting to glow. Tanya looks the first guy in the eyes and gestures that she's ready for a fight. By the time the first man's scream was heard, the rest of the crew was already moving towards their exit. Tanya used a speed and stability boost spell to move in quick, hitting the first man in the gut with enough force for him to keel over, trying to refrain from vomiting. The next guy swung his fist with an immense force but Tanya jumped back, doing half of a backflip. Tanya landed on her hands, holding herself upside down and split her legs to kick the man in the face. After the guy was sent onto his back, Tanya grabbed the other guy's arm with her legs, putting him in a lock. She pulled her body backwards and sent the last man toppling over. She got up and ran to catch up to the group.

"Alright" she says as she catches back up with The Six Guns, "made quick work of them. Not enough to keep 'em down though, just enough to lose them".

"Good work" Siran says as they continue to run.

"Question" Demetri asks, "if you're The Six Guns, then why are there seven of you?".

"Actually" Siran says, "Tanya hasn't given us word of whether or not she's joining the crew yet. How about it?".

"I told you" Tanya replies, "I'm a mother first! But if you ever need the help, I don't mind helping out some friends, even if they do stupid things like pick fights with gangs".

Alex laughs and says "Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Embarrassing, even".

"Then I can consider you one of us then?" Siran asks.

"I guess so" Tanya replies.

"Which only begs question" Demetri asks, "why are there seven of you?".

"Oh right" Siran says. "She's not the seventh member".

"She's not?" Demetri asks.

"I'm not?" Tanya asks.

"No, there's actually nine of us" Siran replies. "Well... ten of us now. The Ly'Lum doesn't know enough about us yet, which is why we currently have the advantage".

"If this is going to be bandwagon" Demetri says, "then allow me in your ranks of idiots".

"Hey!" Rose shouts, "I resent that! Also, what?".

"Don't you mean you represent that?" Alex asks, "since you are an idiot?".

"You'd be a fine asset" Siran says to Demetri, "having our very own engineer would be great, especially since Rose is probably going to need you later again".

"Hate to break the mood" Rose says, "but we have people tailing us!".

Demetri reaches into his bag again. "I've got this" he says.

"Nononononono" Finn argues, "no explosives!".

"I have an idea" Holly says, "just get to the gate and I'll take care of it".

"Thanks, Holly" Siran says.

"Hey" Holly says, "I agreed to help as long as you continue to help me learn about Endo. Might as well make good on that promise whenever I can!".

"But Holly!" Rose says, "what's gonna happen to you?".

"Oh, calm down" Holly assures, "you act like I'm about to sacrifice myself. I'm not the heroic type".

As the crew arrives at the gate, everyone besides Holly starts pushing the gate open. Holly turns to face the people following them. As they get close, Holly starts charging a spell that causes the air around her hand to glow a dark blue color. Holly points her palm at the incoming mercs and says "Data Wave". A ray of blue digital magic hits the mercs chasing the crew. The mercs continue to move, but it appeared that they were slightly convulsing as they tried to move. One by one, they collapsed. The last one stood strong on his feet, moving slowly, step by step. He got caught up to Holly, who stood still, and put one hand around her neck. Before he had the chance to squeeze, he collapsed like the rest and fell to the ground.

The gate finally opened, and Tanya turns around and asks "What... the?".

"I used a digital spell" Holly says. "Data Wave. I overloaded the nervous system, and their brain responded the only way a brain could when the body is sending too many signals to the brain. It shut down temporarily in an attempt to heal itself".

"That sounds brutal" Tanya says.

"It's painless" Holly replies.

"Really?" Tanya asks.

Holly shrugs as she says "Probably".

The crew escapes Vega. As they get outside, Tanya says "I've got my car outside of Pilloa, but you're definitely not all going to fit in that car... we need to figure something out".

"You take Demetri" Siran says, "and take him to Seeira. I assume you know the way to Seeira?".

"Yeah, I do" Tanya replies, "but where?".

"Are you familiar" Siran explains, "with an arms dealer shop named Valentine Shoppe? It's close to that kitchen. If you stop to ask for directions, you should be able to find it easily".

"The Kitchen?" Tanya asks. "You mean like that restaurant that was poorly named? I mean- they do make good food though".

"Yeah" Siran says, "Take Demetri there and tell him you were sent by Siran. Then you can go back to your daughter or whatever else you want to do".

"How do you plan to get there?" Tanya asks.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan" Siran says.

Tanya takes Demetri and leaves. Finn turns to Siran and asks "So... what's the plan?".

"The plan is" Siran says, "we walk. We've already asked for enough from Tanya".

"Not much of a plan" Alex complains.

After a few hours, Tanya and Demetri arrive at Vivi's place. She was working on a project as they arrived.

"Who are you guys?" Vivi asks.

"Siran sent us" Tanya says. "We need to relocate this Russian Doctor. He's a cyberneticist-"

"A cyberneticist on the run, am I right?" Vivi interrupts.

"Y-yeah..." Tanya says.

Vivi sighs and says to herself "That damned idiot".

After several more hours of walking, The Six Guns crew ended up running into Tanya again, whose car was one Russian doctor lighter than before.

"You didn't actually have a plan, did you?" Tanya asks.

"Did you already drop the doctor off with Vivi?" Siran asks.

"Yep" she says. "Now, I realize I'm not a public transport, but get in... you're kinda pathetic just walking like that. Now it's clear why you guys need my help".

Siran laughs and then everyone tries to fit into her car once more. Eventually, they also arrive at Vivi's place. When they walk inside, Vivi sighs, picks up a rolled up newspaper, and starts lightly hitting Siran on the nose with it.

"No... no... bad boy" Vivi says as she hits Siran.

"Look, I realize this isn't exactly what was supposed to happen" Siran says to Vivi, "but there's nothing else we could've done".

"Don't worry, scary lady" Demetri says to Vivi, "I don't plan on staying for long. I'll find place to stay". Demetri gets up and starts walking out of the door.

"Hey!" Finn shouts to Demetri, "no more explosives, okay!?".

Demetri stops in the doorway, with the door still wide open. "Sometimes, when you can't be great person, your only choice is to make great thing" Demetri says. "For some, this would be their children". Demetri then smiles over his right shoulder at the rest of the crew and says "for me, it's explosives". Then Demetri leaves.

"That only makes it sound worse!" Finn shouts.

"Wait!" Siran shouts as he runs out of the door at Demetri. Siran then hands Demetri a metal card of The Six Guns mark and nods at him. Demetri nods back with a smile and walks away.

After Siran walks back inside of Vivi's house, he asks Vivi "Did you get a new commission? I've noticed you were working on something".

"Yeah" Vivi says, "strange request".

"What's strange about it?" Rose asks.

"What isn't strange about this request?" Vivi asks. She starts gesturing at all the work on her desk and says "This kid comes in and asks for a very specific mod for a handgun. He wants it double barreled and in the likeness of a classic revolver. It would be fine making another double barreled weapon if it weren't also for the fact that he requested it to be 'compact and concealable' as if that doesn't raise any alarms".

"You're selling to kids now?" Alex asks.

"Hell. No." Vivi says. "Though he looked young. He did have a military license, he just doesn't look like... you're average soldier. Go ahead and take three guesses which military he's from".

"The Ly'Lum?" Siran asks.

"Ding ding ding!" Vivi says, "and he came in wearing this hood like he didn't want his military buddies knowing that he was here or something. It's just all a mess. He'll be back more than likely rather soon, so I want you guys to help me look into this when the time comes".

"I'm down" Finn says, "but what do you mean by look into?".

Vivi looks up with a stern face. "Trap him inside the house, question him, torture him, I don't really care" she says. "Apparently, and here's the scarier part, his last name is Hood. I'm sure it's just coincidence, but there's a possibility he's related to Garreth Hood of The Mages Guild. That's why I'll need your help with this".

"Then we wait here until he comes back" Siran says. "We'll get what we need to know from him when the time comes".