Issue #23(June 2018)
Written by John Cheese Featuring: Flintlock
Silver Sidewinder
Centurius
Hooded Haunt
Mala Mujer
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Somewhere in Mexico heading North - 26.1 Hours Power Remaining
The black Mustang kicked up dust as it sped down the highway, its deep V8 roar echoing across the flats. For a good ten seconds the road was quiet before a cacophony of engine sounds accompanied by plumes of smoke engulfed the tarmac as the Minutemen pursued their fleeing prey. Of the six pursuit vehicles, the rider on the BMW (model) motorcycle was the fastest and drew level with the passenger side door of the Mustang. "You no good lying Yankee!" The rider spat as drew a micro-Uzi from his holster. Before he had a chance to lose off a shot Rachel fired a double-barrelled blast with her pistol, the rider whipping out and rolling across the tarmac screaming. "How far to the border?" Rachel asked as a modified Toyota pick-up truck with a grenade launcher turret pulled off a dirt road on the left and almost barged into the Mustang. Almost immediately the gun swivelled down and fired, explosions striking the road only a few meters behind the fleeing car. "About 200 miles!" The Heathen answered as he looked in the mirror only to see a Dodge Charger slip past the Toyota and gain ground on the Mustang. "Miss take the wheel, we can't outrun these guys so the only option is to fight." He stated as he slipped out of the driver's seat and onto the back seat with Silver Sidewinder not to mention the massive machine gun he'd taken from the Minutemen's truck stop. "The Dodge is coming up the driver's side." Rachel informed him as she slid into the driver's seat, the Mustang rattling as the Dodge Charger drew alongside, sparks flying as the vehicles exchanged paint. "Not for long." The Heathen answered as he fired a few quick shots into the Dodge, the vehicle veering off the road as its driver slumped on the wheel. With a whoop of triumph, the Heathen looked over to where Silver Sidewinder had been seated, the young woman spinning her silver dollar on the parcel shelf. "Look away." She ordered softly as light glinted off the dollar, the beams striking the driver of the pursuing pick-up truck. Seconds later the seizures set in and the pursuing Minutemen were careering off the road. "You are a most formidable enchantress indeed." The Heathen stated as Sidewinder stopped her coin from spinning and pocketed it. "And it looks as if our pursuers are retreating, at least for now." He added, only for a sharp electronic siren to sound from the front seat the noise accompanied by a flashing amber light on the lid of the case. "What is that?" "One of the batteries keeping the case energised has fully discharged!" Rachel gasped as she momentarily took her eyes off the road. "And what was it keeping energised?" The Heathen asked cautiously. "It's a Level 7...shit!" Rachel responded as she came over a dip to see a fuel truck pulled across the road flanked by two Palsan Caracal patrol vehicles. "Mexican Army?" Sidewinder asked. "Not with that flag." Rachel replied as she caught the glimpse of a blue flag with a single shining star painted on the flank of one of the vehicles." She announced as the siren scream stopped. "Oh, this is going to be..." She never finished her sentence as the entire stretch of road ignited, as did the chassis of all the vehicles currently moving along it. "We have to jump!" The Heathen stated as the Mustang's under cartridge began to glow. Nodding Rachel closed her eyes and flung herself out of the passenger side door, her two companions following suite. The fall felt like an age, long enough for the three of them to see the tanker explode open in a green fireball, one that solidified into massive prehistoric looking trees, ones that spread like wildfire for a mile in either way down the road. Then came the impact, one that was hard and fast enough to knock the survivors of the crash unconscious. Mr Carpenter stood before the desk in the darkened room and looked into the two pools of burning fire staring back at him. "Hammer Multinational will pay five million per operative now and another five million each on the arrival of the device." Carpenter stated as he looked at the three shadows flanking the pair of red pools. "You mentioned providing a tracking chip for the device." A male voice stated from somewhere in the darkness. "What exactly does it track?" "Geo-Temporal energy." Carpenter answered as he removed a scanner and offered it out, a black samurai esque armoured figure emerging from the darkness to snatch it from him before retreating back into the shadows. "The device practically haemorrhages it, and there are generally very few natural sources of...ah!" Carpenter stopped as a black bladed katana was pressed against his throat, a slight burning shaped glyph forming around where the steel touched the skin. "Forgive Ronin she doesn't trust employees with a background in big business." A woman stated as pale skinned hands gestured for Ronin to lower her blade. "What condition do you want the current courier to be in when we catch up to her." "I'll leave that to you and your men Ms Wilkinson." Carpenter stated as light flickered on the ghostly pale woman sitting opposite him. "Just get me that case." Rachel opened her eyes to see a dark night sky and what appeared to be a looming canyon wall overhead. Hurriedly she looked over at the case attached to her arm and saw that the timer was rolling randomly through a number of variables ranging from a second to a millennium with no indication of what the real time remaining was. "How far are we from the road?" She asked as she saw Silver Sidewinder look up from a silver glint in her hand. "I don't know." Sidewinder replied as she looked up from her silver dollar. "Honestly I don't think I know anything at this point. They told me that the case was going to be used for energy research, but what I saw on the plane, in the bar and then again on the road..." She stopped as she gave the case a worried look, "...how could anyone harness that kind of power without hurting anyone." "It's why I was taking it to be destroyed." Rachel answered as she heard a crunch and swung round, her shotgun trained on the noise, Sidewinder doing the same. Stepping out of the darkness, the tactical light on his MG 5 the Heathen dragged a dead body behind him. "He's one of the Minutemen alright." The Heathen announced as he dropped the body and unclipped a mobile phone from the corpses belt before tossing it to Flintlock. "Found him at the end of the canyon near a trail up and out." He added as the two women walked over to look at the body, only to balk slightly at what they saw. The deceased Minuteman looked as though his skin was made of dry papyrus, and his eyes looked as if they had been crusted over. "What could have done this?" Sidewinder asked as Rachel flipped the phone open to see the time scrambled just like the case, as well as the incorrect year in the date. She was quite certain that it wasn't 1884 despite how much reality was being altered. "Whatever it was it took out his four buddies as well without them getting a single shot-off." The Heathen answered as he crouched down next to the body. "I've seen a lot of things, but never something like this." "You said there was a way out of this canyon, right?" Rachel asked as she slipped the phone into her pocket. "Let's get out of here before whatever finds them finds us." Cole Yorby chuckled as he pulled his Corvette Stingray up to the Minutemen's bar, the members of the Neo-Confederate militia rushing around and revving their engines. Resting his hand on the .44 Magnum holstered on his hip he disembarked from his car and walked over to the figure clad in a grey officer's uniform, a smile on his face. "You boys seem to be in quite a hurry hoss." Cole stated as the officer turned, his hand resting on the hilt of his sabre. "I hope you ain't up to no mischief Grey Ghost." "The Executioner." The Grey Ghost hissed as he drew his blades. "My boys have much to hate you for, if we didn't have more pressing matters I'd let them rip you apart." He added as two members of the Minutemen carried a stretcher out to the burning fire before throwing the body onto the pyre. "Looks like they couldn't deal with the last person to come through." Cole stated as a number of the Minutemen stopped and went for their guns. "I suspect I'm looking for the same person as you are, if that's the case this is your only warning." "You dare threaten us!" The Grey Ghost snapped. "Not threaten, warn." Cole replied as he walked back to his Corvette. "I'll be seeing you boys later." He added as he got in the car and drove off. A mile down the road he pulled over and removed a phone from the middle console before dialling a number in. "Miss Sinue it's Yorby, your girl Friday was there, the carnage was as big an indicator as the energy trail." Cole announced. "She's still alive and kicking it seems." He stopped as his employer relayed some more orders. "Yes, Ma'am I'll deliver her and the case to your facility just outside Baton Rouge." He added as he ended the call before pulling back onto the highway. "Don't know who you are Miss Neith Sinue, but for what you're paying, I'll bring you anything you want." "So, from what source does your magic come from?" The Heathen asked as the trio of wanderers looked up at the pass winding up and out of the canyon. "My Mum and I collected coins, when she worked as a financial engineer in Austin." Sidewinder replied as she shone her coin across the tall cacti growing round the bottom of the canyon. "Dad had split so we lived with my grandma, but then the building my mum worked in made her sick. She couldn't work so they fired her, I was only eleven when it happened but I knew I had to help make her better so I sold our coin collection to get hospital money." "What happened?" Rachel asked as she saw a massive rattlesnake hurriedly sidewind away from them. "She died, I couldn't raise enough money save her." Sidewinder sighed. "We had a duplicate Silver Dollar so I went out into the yard and begged God to bring Mom back. But God didn't answer, the devil Mephisto did and he gave me the power to be strong at a cost, when I die my soul is his." "Then once we return this case we will make the devil relinquish his hold on you." The Heathen announced as a whispering moan held aloft by the wind sounded. "It will be a great and honourable adventure." "What were you doing at the Hanging Yankee when you found us?" Rachel asked as she looked down the canyon for any signs of what had made the moaning sound. "A little drinking, a little business for my friends, not to mention that those zealots are up for a brawl." The Heathen answered as he pulled himself up onto the path. "Rescuing you two however, that was because it was the right thing to do and that you both were passably attractive." "You friends, what did they want with the Minutemen?" Rachel asked as the same moan came again. "Money, they give the Minutemen their support through their so called 'Secret Empire' in return for a fee." The Heathen announced innocently as Sidewinder shone the light of her cursed dollar onto the grove of cacti. "If they don't pay then we fight. They told me that's how mortals do their business." "So basically, you're a hired thug." Rachel sighed as Sidewinder pulled on her sleeve. "I should have known that you were too good to be..." She stopped as the tugging intensified and turned to address Sidewinder, "What!?" She asked loudly. Almost immediately her outburst was replied by a demonic scream as the nearest cactus sprung forward, it's red eyes burning, black gouts of smoke rising from its mouth. Nearing within a few feet, gunfire sounded and the machine gun fire from the Heathen's weapon cut the animated plant in half, its upper torso and head still crawling forward, green sap trailing behind it. As it reached them Flintlock and Silver Sidewinder opened fire until with a hideous scream the 'demon' cactus laid still. "What in the hell was that!?" Sidewinder asked as she and Rachel scrambled up onto the path out of the canyon. "Demons, you can taste that acrid bitterness to the air." Rachel announced as the three shined their light sources out across the canyon floor. "But these are not the same as the ones I've fought before." (That'd be the Demons stationed at Yellow Cat Land in Project Argent #7-8) Suddenly a scream sounded, one that echoed around the canyon and was suddenly answered by a thousand voices, as a thick cloud of smoke advanced towards them. Without even exchanging a word Rachel and the others started climbing, their demonic adversaries trailing them, occasionally darting forward only to be repulsed by bursts of gunfire. "When we get to the top we need to run!" Rachel gasped as Silver Sidewinder scrambled over the top of the duct boards and out of the canyon. Following suit Rachel swore as she saw the field of cacti shuddering to life in-front of them. "I say we fight!" The Heathen yelled as he blasted the edge of the duct boards away, slowing the advance of the pursuing cacti demons. As he did Rachel blasted the leading edge of the horde ahead of them, sap running from the attacker’s wounds. "Maybe my coin can hold them!" Sidewinder yelled as the heathen turned his machine gun on the approaching wave. Spinning her coin Silver Sidewinder's eyes glowed silver, the light casting on the demons all to no avail. "Maybe the case can help?" She suggested as she drew her pistol and opened fire. "I don't know what kind of damage it's already taken." Rachel answered as she swung the case at one of the demons only for it to intercept the crude bludgeon and belch fire up its victim’s arm. "If we die here at least we die as warriors!" The Heathen grunted as he tossed one of the demons over the side as it lunged at him. <Rachel> A voice called as Rachel looked up to see a brown-haired woman dressed in a blue jumpsuit overlaid with a gold trimmed half coat and a corset with a rose motif. <Lead them over here.> She added as she touched a totem pole featuring a native American man seemingly petrified in the wood. Shaking her head, Rachel realised that her mysterious guide was gone. "We need to break out!" Rachel yelled as she swung the case at the nearest demons, the weight and speed forcing some back and smashing open others. Sticking close behind her, the Heathen and Silver Sidewinder kept Rachel's flanks clear as they scythed through the demon horde to the totem pole. "Keep going!" Silver Sidewinder yelled as her pistol jammed, forcing her to kick the demon reaching for her away. "Oh shit!" She swore as the totem pole cracked and the figure at the bottom blinked, his inhuman face twitching as the wood around him softened. "Which of you demons has the magic you call technology brought to me stand?" The 'Living Totem' asked as he flexed his muscles slightly and grabbed two demons and smashed them to pieces. "Could the case have done this?" Sidewinder asked as she was caught by a blow from one of the demons. "It is a Class 7 Real..." Rachel stopped as the Living Totem almost struck her with a clumsy blow. "That magic awoke me as it did them." The Totem announced as a trio of demons swarmed the Heathen, knocking his machine gun away. "You may wish you'd stayed asleep." Sidewinder gasped as a scream sounded from the horde, causing them to freeze solid, almost as if the demonic energies powering them were depleted. "My god there..." Rachel began to say. "...dead or at least unliving!" The Heathen finished as the Totem's arm split in two to reveal a wooden appendage and an old-fashioned Lee Enfield rifle, one now pointed at Rachel. "Give me my reward." The Totem ordered as he kept his almost painted eyes fixed on the case. "Its power can reverse the disease that turned my skin to bark, had me shunned from my tribe and left me sleeping." "I...I can't it's too dangerous!" Rachel snapped as she looked at the Heathen and Sidewinder, the pair of them levelling their guns at the Totem. "But I can see if my boss can help, her technology can seem to do anything, and should she fail there is this witch I know." "The white man's word means nothing." The Totem hissed, "Your kind lies as often as it breathes, so I will just take what can save me!" "Listen I know history is not on our side but I swear on my life that I'll get you help." Rachel stated, the Totem lowering its weapon as it looked at her. "Then your life is mine." It stated as it lifted its head towards the artificial glow on the horizon. "Uh can we go before they wake-up?" Sidewinder asked as she started walking towards the glow on the horizon. "Sure." Rachel murmured as she looked down at the case the estimated battery discharge timer now stopped on twenty-two hours. "Let's find some cell service and some wheels." She added as she looked up to see her 'allies' stopped in-front of a hooded figure. "Rachel is that you?" A croaking yet familiar voice asked. "Sarah!" Rachel responded, relief washing into her voice. "Thank god, it's so good to see you!" She added as she ran to her former teammate only to stop as she heard a crack of a rifle. Looking around Rachel saw smoke rising from the Living Totem's gun and then heard the thud of Sarah’s body hitting the floor. |