sly13

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

Interactions with @DisturbedSpec

James smiled at Nora accepting his offer to join her on her quest. 'this should be interesting.' he thought to himself as he watched her grab her bag and prepare for bed. "I spent a bit of time out here before so I don't know much about it other than there a small town called Armadillo not far from here." as he finished Iris came by and laid down right behind him allowing James to lean back against his horse. "it is an interesting little town that has lots of characters for sure. we best be careful of some of them ." he added before adjusting his hat so that it covered his face as he slowly let sleep take him as he calmly waited for the constant nightmares to take hold for what would surely be yet another restless night.

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

Interactions @DisturbedSpec

After the fire had been started James took his seat by it leaning up against a rock using it as a sort of chair. He listened intently to what Nora had to say. He himself was not a big fan of Cornwall but then again, neither was most of the west. The first part of her tale about how he had wormed his way into the town and bought himself a small army sounded similar to that of other stories he had heard about the man and others like him. In truth, it pissed him off to no end what happened to people like him and Nora it seemed. The poor man always being pushed around by those who sat atop a gold throne. What surprised him most was the fact that it appeared that she had been at war with the man by herself for some time, going so far as to rob a train.

“Well I'm glad that you have a conscious in you. Not many do anymore it seems.” he paused as he looked down at his hand to see himself rolling his gold coin across his fingers out of habit once again. Looking back up he continued. “I must say that is one impressive feat, taking on a whole train like that by yourself.” he studied her for a moment trying to see if she showed any signs of lying about doing it alone but either he had lost his touch or she was much more skilled than he had once thought. Looking up into the now dark sky he cursed himself thinking 'oh what I will do for a pretty face.' settling his gaze back onto Nora he took a moment thinking over what he was gonna say. “Well, I do believe I found how I can repay you. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Cornwall or his associates and while it appears you don't need it I'm sure other hands never hurt.” he paused for a second turning his gaze to his coin before continuing “If you would allow I would love to accompany you on your war against this man who wronged you.” as he finished he snatched the coin in his hand and turned to look at Nora waiting for her response.

Academy of Heroic and Villainous Children

Thinking about possibly being the son of Gambit

Academy of Heroic and Villainous Children

I'm liking the sound of this.

Marvel: Shadows and Secrets (18+)

Smoke Screen

Finnlay let out a small grunt when he felt his arm get a small cut from the needle that was once in Oberon's hand but was now smashed on the ground. Seeing Oberon activating his suit and moving for the door Finnlay wasted no time grabbing his jacket before running to catch up. He quickly came to a stop however when he heard a loud cracking sound coming from the building itself. Looking at each other with a worried look on their faces. “I'll go get Jocelyn you go do your thing.” Once finnlay was done his body began to break down on command as a large amount of black smoke made its way to the air vent nearby.

Traveling quickly Finn was going over what could have hit them that hard at such a random time. Suddenly it hit him as if clear as day. “I swear if that damned bastard ruins this for us ill kill him.” Just as he finished the thought he started to hear talking coming from the vent opening in front of him. Pouring out of the vent the smoke cloud reformed into the standing form of Finnlay standing in front of Jocelyn and The devil named Alistar. “Jocelyn we need to leave now.”

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

James gave the women a healthy grin and a small chuckle. “Well, it would seem that some men are just sore losers when it comes to a fair game of cards. Can hardly blame me for being so good at it.” he paused for a second looking out over the vast horizon. It was quite beautiful he had to admit if it wasn't for all the damn heat. Patting Iris on the side of the neck he moved his head back when he heard Nora tell him to ride with her. Giving her a nod he slowly began to ride alongside her into the vast desert for a short time before he turned to her.

“We’d better set up camp here before that sun drops. Getts cold as hell out here at night.” pulling his horse a short distance off the main road he finally stopped when he came to a flat area mostly devoid of plants that seemed to work well. Hopping off his horse he searched through his pack looking for the various camping supplies he used on his travels. As he walked back to the center of the dirt patch with some sticks he asked without looking at her. “What's a beautiful woman such as yourself have to do to get on the bad side of old O'driscolls, boys?” he waited for her response as he continued to build up the fire for them.

Marvel: Shadows and Secrets (18+)

Infiltration

The evening with everyone was fairly tame with everyone but it seemed that Cross had elected not to join them. Athena had gotten a quick glimpse of him as he had exited the elevator and for some reason, she felt that it would be the last time or at least for a long time that she would see him. He was free to leave if he chose though.

Athena toasted everyone to the success of the project and told everyone that she was heading to bed. Ava proclaimed the same and they went off to their separate rooms. Oberon looked over at Alistar as he watched Athena leave then spoke, "You know I don't know how you fell for a program but just be careful. " Alistar grunted and sat down his drink as he got up and told Oberon he was turning in as well. As he left an alarm went off on O's watch. :: DEVICE DOWN:: following that was number that belonged to Finnly. That was impossible for those things to be down. Then another alarm. :: Device Restored:: Oberon shrugged it off till the morning as it was getting late he needed to sleep as well.

Finnlay stood outside of his apartment looking at the small device that he had been given by Athena in the event he needed to contact her. He had almost thrown the damn thing away as soon as he had got back to Boston but had decided against it. “This had better work.” he said to himself as he opened the device calling his new “friends”

Oberon woke to an alert that came from the cellphone like thing Athena had given everyone. On it was Finnlay's number again. Oberon's brow furrowed but got up and draped a robe over himself before answering. "Hello? Finnlay is that you? Everything ok with you and Jocelyn?" It was strange that he was getting this call and received an alert last night. He probably shouldn't have asked about Jocelyn just in case but it slipped. Oberon typed out a message to the others on a screen to the side of him, "Everyone available meet in the conference room one." With that, he listened for Finnlay and headed out.

“Yeah well that's the problem.” said in a somewhat worried tone. “We got attacked by a Hydra assassin. she got shot but she should be fine once her thing kicks in.” he paused for a second. “Don't worry I scared the bastard off.” he stopped again letting out a grunt. “Look I don't want to be making this call but with what's happened I was wondering if that offers still up about a safe place?”

As Finnlay had been speaking Oberon had reached the conference room and Athena and Alistar came in right after. Once there Athena threw the call up on the screen and started a voice pattern recognition program and background noise filter. "Finnlay this is Athena. The offer is still on the table. We will send a jet out to your location. Keep the device on you and we will find you. You may not like it but it's good you called. We had been dealing with Hydra a lot lately and it seems we might have stirred the nest. " With that, she stopped talking and watched the monitor to see his voice pattern read out. As well as the note that the device had been interrupted which gave her pause that this might not be Finnlay or he was being manipulated.

“No shit you kicked a damned hornet's nest. It's like you and Jocelyn are asking to kill with what you have been doing,” he said when he heard from Athena that they were attacking Hydra bases. “You might want to tell your friends to be careful. That assassin who attacked me said he was going after everyone. Jocelyn was lucky number 1. Unfortunately for him, he didn't expect me to be there.” he paused again waiting for a response.

Athena stayed silent for a second then spoke again. "Listen Finnlay you knew I and a few others were going after hydra. I offered you protection and you didn't want it. Jocelyn had her own agenda and I don't fault her for wanting to go after hydra. Honestly, once you are here we aren't going to stop. They need to be taken out. Especially with what is going on in the world and maybe even beyond it. We don't want hydra in on that action." She stopped and nodded to Oberon to head off in the jet to the coordinates.

“Well ill grab our stuff together and be ready to go by the time our ride gets to hear.” he said once he no longer talking slightly ticked off about what she was saying. “We can finish this conversation when I get the base if you don't mind.”

Athena sighed. "Yes, we will do that. Oberon is currently headed your way. He should be there within the hour. Tell Jocelyn I said hello." Athena disconnected the line and sat back in her seat.

Finnlay closed the device before walking back into the apartment. Once inside he let out a heavy sigh of frustration. Walking over to Jocelyn’s room he knocked hard on the door to make sure she woke up. “Pack your stuff we’re going to your friends place. We have about an hour before the plane gets here.” He started to walk to his room before turning around again. “Oh and Athena says hi.” Satisfies finnlay walked into his room going straight for the closet where he kept a special bag he referred to as his ‘get the hell out bag.’

Looking around the room he made sure that he had everything ready to go. There wasn’t a lot that needed to be taken being as he was pretty low maintenance and low tech when it came to his job. Walking over to his nightstand he looked at the picture on it showing himself and the women he had just been in the car with along with Jimmy O and two others. Smiling pleasantly at the picture he set it back down as he heard a rumbling sound above of what he figured was the jet. Slinging his duffle bag over his shoulder he headed to the roof with Jocelyn to board their flight to wherever this base was.

Oberon kept the cloak on and the engines low but it seemed to him the plane needed a tune-up. As the two came to the roof he let them on. Once inside he slid the door to the cockpit closed and darkened the windows. After they were buckled in he took off heading for base.

Once there Oberon came out in his costume but tapped his wrist. It then began to slide across him like goo then into a watch. Wearing his normal suit he exited the plane and beckoned them to exit. "Welcome to DarkStar Technologies. Alistar and Athena are upstairs in the conference room waiting. Ava is attending her own projects and won't is joining us. For now, we will head to the conference room so you can give a full account of the attack." With that, they had reached the elevator which Oberon enter with them and pressed penthouse.

Stepping off the plane Finnlay let out a whistle at how nice the place looked. ‘How the hell couldn't we find this place.’ he thought to himself as he followed Oberon up to the penthouse where he was told everyone was waiting.

Entering the large conference room he saw two people already sitting down at the table. “Great the devils hear,” he said under his breath before turning to look at the women. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked.

The woman stood and walked over to Finnlay. She wore some black leggings and a work out shirt that was darkened with sweat. "Nice to see you too asshole." She then smacked his cheek. "I believe that is a typical greeting for a human female to Male who is being an asshole." She smiled at him then walked past and hugged Jocelyn. "Now that you are both here let's go over the attack and see if we can get a rendering of the scene." She moved over to a chair and sat down then waited for the two of them to sit. Oberon sat and pulled out a tablet bringing up the programs he needed.

Finnlay just stood there surprised at what Athena had just done. He wasn't mad at all but was simply shocked at her actions. Brushing it off he sat at the table begging to recount the events. “Well I and Jocelyn were talking about some of the events occurring in Boston at the moment before a sniper round went straight through her.” he finished pointing over to Jocelyn. “I followed where the shot had come from and engaged the man in the building across the street. He was well trained in combat and was able to adapt to fighting someone like me in the heat of battle. He's definitely a high-level threat. He was wearing some kind of power suit armor thing with the display of a skull on its LED screen.”

Athena listened intently and frowned. "So no facial ID. This is going to be a bit harder. We don't have any intel on this LED Skull." Athena knit her eyebrows while thinking. Oberon, however, was running a voice program that detected lieing from how the person's vocal patterns fluctuated. Nothing out of the ordinary for now it seemed but Oberon wondered what he did to the device as it had no off switch and now power issues. "So Finnlay we detected a problem with the device. Any reason for that?" Oberon adjusted the program slightly then waited for the answer.

“Well I'm not a tech genius like yourselves,” he said gesturing to everyone else in the room. “But it could have gotten messed up when I set a bomb off in the room we were fighting in.” he was mentally cursing himself. This would prove to be a problem if they kept looking into it. “Or the guy may have been tampering with it with some kind of jammer so I couldn't call for backup.”

Athena lightened a little at the explanation. She knew very well that a bomb wouldn't have done anything. It was designed to survive a concussive blast point blank but there was no way she could make it resistant to jammers. It would have to alternate frequencies faster than they could be jammed and jammers were far easier to make those communication devices. "You could be onto something there Finnlay. He may indeed have had a jammer." Oberon would have lightened as well but there was the ever so smallest of ticks in the program indicating he might be lying. Of course, this could be explained by simple stress as well. A sort of PTSD from the situation they were in but Oberon backlogged it just in case.

“But anyway, the suit is bulletproof and wasn’t damaged much from the bomb save for some exterior scratches.” He said continuing with the story. “The only way I seemed to be able to chase him was with hand to hand combat which he is very skilled at. The suit didn’t seem to construct his movements at all.” Finnlay paused for a second thinking of what else to say. “As a note, he is very skilled and was clearly used to fighting mutants and powered individuals.”

Athena recorded all the information then proceeded. "As far as we can tell Hydra is still stable even though we have taken down two bases of operation and another associate has taken down a number of others from the inside. It seems hydra's network is far larger than what even I could detect at the beginning which may mean they have access to alien tech. This suit might be a result of that tech though he seems to be more if a gun for hire." Athena stood and smiled. "Well, we have all we need. If you two have nothing further we would like to get you down to medbay for a checkup then see what we can do after that." The door slid open and Oberon stood to escort them out as Athena sat back down.

"I'll let you know if anything else comes up but that's about all I have for you." Finnlay began to stand up from his seat. "Just say when you have a mission or job to be done and ill be more than happy to help out the cause and earn my keep.," he said before turning around and exiting the room to get checked up on.

Jocelyn looked up pushing her blonde hair out of her face. "Did the protocols for the lab go off? As far as I know, I locked that place down better than Fort Knox. With your tech, if someone tried to get through they'd have to be seriously powerful to get through. Finnlay didn't even know where it was. There are things in there that Hydra would kill to have access to. I was so close to getting the formula right. We're probably lucky that Finnlay was present when I was shot. If not then I might not be here. It sounds like this guy had a lot of information on us, or rather me, and he wasn't there to kill me maybe just incapacitate me then use it to draw everyone else in. At least that's what I would have done." Jocelyn paced. "I mean think about it. Take out the healer draw the others out of hiding. Unless I'm overestimating my self-worth." Jocelyn looked from Oberon to Athena and back again.

Athena looked over to Jocelyn after she hadn't spoken the whole time. "Oh umm, your lab. Honestly, I'm not sure to give me a moment." Athena accessed a secure server and routed a search for the address then piggybacked a ping onto that server giving her access to the systems it was connected to. Flicking in the cameras she looked around the lad. All was dark and undisturbed it seemed. Suddenly the connection was gone and Athena felt light headed. Blood trickled from her nose. "Oh." She dabbed her nose. "It seems the lab is secure but someone is trying to get access to the files. I got through the firewall with one of my pings and they noticed. Couldn't tell who it was though. Seems my body has more limitations than I knew. They shouldn't be able to get through unless they have an alien strength decoding system." Athena took a handkerchief offered to her by Oberon. She held it to her nose. "Stay for a minute, Jocelyn. We need to catch up. Oberon, could you escort him down to medbay though?" Oberon nodded walked out and escorted Finnlay to medbay.

Jocelyn looked at Athena raising a brow. "How long have the nosebleeds been happening? And how often? I ask because they saw pretty regular based on Obie's reaction."

Athena avoided eye contact with Jocelyn. "Its the third time. I think it happens when I connect and overreach. I can control things in the facility just fine. The drones can go up about half a mile before I lose them. Seems my brain is more human than a computer which is bittersweet." She sat down and tilted her head back and activated her healing. The blood stopped and she tilted her head back up wiping the rest of the blood away. "So now that Finnlay is gone and we are alone. I need to ask you, is everything ok? I mean it's been two years with limited contact. Has anything strange happened or has Finnaly been weird?" She cleared her throat and drank some water that was in her glass.

Jocelyn looked over at Athena. "Depends on your definition of weird." Jocelyn sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Distant. Yes. But that's par for the course. Technically I am a criminal. At least in the public's eyes. Good little Irish Catholic boys don't bring home British criminals, no matter the truth. Which I don't think he believes. The truth that is."

Jocelyn looked away toward where Finnlay disappeared into. "Honestly we both could use babysitters. Boston was... complicated. More so than I realized. And Hydra picked up on my tail again. Which means Sinister, Stryker and anyone else wanting a walking talking torture machine. The thought of just giving up is more tempting than you realize."

Athena's brow furrowed a bit. "I don't know how they found you, Jocelyn." Just then her nose stopped bleeding and she took the kerchief away. Soaked in her blood she looked back at Jocelyn. "If both of you need babysitting then I'm giving you a job. Currently, I don't have a head of genetics or chemical engineering both departmentments could use someone like you and they are good teams just need someone they can work with. I can have a few drones go out and watch your lab and when the coast is clear digitize your equipment then bring it back here. If they trace the drones then they will be in a world of hurt. Also and this might be hard to stomach, but we need to know everything you know about Finnlay." She looked at the kerchief one more time then handed it to Jocelyn. "I'm abnormal. Study this to see if you can do anything for yourself with it. If you want that is, but don't tell anyone here but me or the team. Your underlings are not to know." Athena sat back and sighed as she pulled up a computer screen accessing files then opened a blank one titling it Finnlay. This was so when Jocelyn began it would copy the info and begin to cross-reference it with all databases. Well, all except shield.

Jocelyn nodded as she took the kerchief. "Having a pet project that keeps me out of sight for most of the time would be great. I'm qualified for both since you have the need. As for the equipment that should probably be a top priority. Sensitive stuff that." Jocelyn was silent as Athena pulled up a file. "What are you looking for? That might narrow the field and help me out.".

Athena smiled as her friend accepted the project. They would decide departments later. When opened a second screen and ordered three stealth tech drones to be outfitted and sent out to the pinged location with orders to take all the equipment and make sure nothing was left behind. "Honestly anything. I need to know somethings you might only know. I do know he has a past from the way he talked the first time we met but yeah just whatever you can tell me." Athena looks back at Jocelyn as she saw the drones being outfitted then fly off recording their journey.

Jocelyn nodded. She debated talking about the incident where Finn shot her. She still had nightmares from that. It was shortly after his trip to Ireland and she wondered if having the others know was better or worse. No, not right now. Maybe later. "So he's from Ireland. Dublin I believe. Came to Boston when things got heated at the border. Moved up the Boston food chain to owning a gym and I think he's a silent partner of the bar I worked at while we were there. He took a trip to Ireland recently family business. His mum is getting up there in years and he went to see her." Jocelyn shrugged.

The program ran, copying everything Jocelyn said, and once it was done Athena went through and highlighted certain words before running a second program that then began to scour everything save for hydra and shield. "This will search for some databases so we can come up with a plan of action if needed. Now I won't ask but once as I trust you. Is there anything you didn't tell me that you didn't want to be recorded?" Athena let the question hang in the air then shut down the programs in the forefront letting them run in the background.

Medical room.

O opened the door and ushered Finnlay inside. Once there Oberon took out a pair of gloves and strapped them on. "Alright first we are going to run a series of tests dealing with your blood. Need to make sure that everything is still good from the last time we did this." O took out a syringe and prepped it. Before walking over to Finnlay he put on a mask. "Ready?"

As Finnlay entered the medical room he took a moment to look at how high-tech it all looked. It was definitely a far cry from the bars he was used to being patched up in whenever he got into fights. Hearing Oberon's question Finnlay nodded before taking off his jacket and laying it to the side as he went to lay down on the table with his eyes closed. In truth, he hated hospitals with a passion and this, was as far as he was concerned, a mini hospital. But beyond that, he was also worried about what was being said between Jocelyn and Athena. “This could put the whole damn thing in jeopardy.” he had thought to himself as he heard Oberon walk closer.

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

Interactions: @DisturbedSpec

James could see that the women had stopped not that far up ahead from him. Coming up beside her she didn't look too pleased with the whole situation and the events that had just occurred outside the bar. After hearing her question James gave her a smile and scratched his head a bit. “Well let's just say that the O'driscolls are not the biggest fans of me it would seem.” looking back towards the city it seemed as though they had lost their pursuers for the time being. “Well, I do believe I owe you thanks and a debt for saving my arse back there. Was not sure how I was gonna get out of that one.” he eyed her carefully not quite sure what to make of her. She could handle herself that much was sure, but he was confused as to why she would help him. Not that he didn't trust her, she didn't give him the vibe of being a snake but that could also be because he was a sucker for a pretty face. Tipping his hat slightly to the woman he introduced himself “Names James by the way. James Kelly. And what, if I may ask, should I call you Ma'am.”

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

James entered the saloon of Black water with a cocky smile plastered on his face. It was a good day's work and he intended to blow off some steam in the best way possible, cards and whiskey, and, if he was lucky, maybe sweet talk one of the local ladies. Walking over to the bar keep he placed down some money “A bottle a whiskey and a glass.” as he awaited his drink of choice he took a moment to survey his surroundings and scope out who was in the saloon with him. The current patrons where to be expected, no one to fancy but not dirt poor like in some towns he had been in. Turning around behind him he grabbed the bottle and the glass and began to head towards one of the tables. Just as he was about to leave he pulled out another small amount of money placing it on the table. “And get another for the beautiful lass here.” He said tilting his head to the women who had been standing beside them. Before she had any time to say something James was already making his way over to a card table inviting himself to play.

Even though her eyes were enraptured into the patterning of the table, her ears were alert and listening as she kept her head lowered. The Saloon doors swung open behind her as a lone figure thudded their way up to the bar- and placed an order of Whiskey for her? She’d be damned if some fool was trying to pick her up having just walked into the establishment. Her head perked up slowly as the bartender nodded, glanced at Nora (making her sneer in disgust) as his grin widened before moving on to bring a second shot-glass of Mule Skinner. Whoever had placed the order quickly doubled back to one of the corner tables of the Saloon, as she could hear the new arrival seat himself at one of the gambling tables. Swallowing the rest of the first glass, she held her hand up to refuse the second- she didn’t trust getting intoxicated on someone else’s good charms. Who knows what they’d do. Humoring her curiosity, Nora tipped her hat back and turned around to see the individual who’d just entered at the table; eyes scanning him like a hawk. Every subtle detail to be analyzed, she had already mentally cataloged. The man seemed overly confident- relaxed. Perhaps a bit snide, cocky… Yet, he wasn’t a pervish loon like the bartender, so that was an improvement. Glancing away, Nora turned back to the bar in precedence to be distracted but kept the new figure within her peripheral vision.

James having sat down at the table, quickly fell into the pace of the game cracking jokes and telling stories of past adventures with the men all while downing whiskey shot after whiskey shot. It was either the whiskey or it was needed for a little entertainment this evening but James got a devilish idea as he saw that some tension was starting to rise at the table. Still winning his fair share James, however, started making sure the man on his left would win whenever it was his turn to deal. Of course, to make things more interesting he would always give someone a hand that would almost win only to be beaten by the man on the left. Seeing as how the men slowly began to become mad at one another James decided to speed up the process a little with mans best friend, Alcohol. Ordering another bottle for the table he merely had to bide his time until he found the right opportunity.

After about all the bottle had been downed in record fashion, taking only about two hands, the deck came back to James to be dealt out. Figuring now was as good a time of any James dealt out the hand seemingly normal, except for the fact that he made sure the man to his left an ace of hearts while also slipping over another ace of hearts to the man on his right. As the hand continued everything seemed to go normally until hands were shown revealing the same cards.

Almost immediately the two were at each other's throats leaping across the table starting to fight it out which spread throughout the bar as James calmly stayed seated for a minute. After seeing total chaos had taken over the bar he calmly grabbed what money was on the table as well as what was left of his whiskey bottle he calmly made his way to the door.

Just when she thought she had a break. The bastard that walked in had started a bar fight. Even more unfortunately for her, was that the bartender behind the counter saw this as an opportunity to make his move. With a malicious chuckle, the man used the sudden eruption of chaos to lean in and violently attempt to latch onto Nora’s collar with his right hand in an attempt to take her over the countertop with him. Not being one to literally want another count of manslaughter on her hands, the woman took the partially full shot glass in her left hand and swing the object in an open-palm strike across the man’s temple. The man’s eyes widened a second before the crystalline fragmentation splintered across the side of his head, with fine granules seeping into the soft sclera of his eyes. With a reflexive yell, the man let go as Nora made a mad dash to the exit of the bar. The brawl was nothing short of full-on chaos now. Chairs were being overturned, bottles went sailing through the air, and one man was picked up and hurled out of a nearby window. She knew that the man responsible most likely dipped as soon as the fight broke out, and wasn’t sure just who she’d encounter upon exiting from the bar.

All things considered, her plan with the documents was ground to a halt, and now she’d have another count of assault on her record should the law enforcement of Blackwater somehow meet with the province of Lemonye.

James calmly walked out the main door to the saloon narrowly dodging a variety of bottles and bodies that were being thrown around. Stepping into the main street James let out a small laugh “Another good days work.” he said before lifting his bottle up high letting the Whisky flow down his throat as he closed his eyes. His movement was suddenly stopped when he felt something pushing against his chest. As he stopped he opened up one eye looking around the bottle to see a man with a rifle pressed against his chest. Slowly lowering the bottle back to his side James tried to study the man “Do I know you?” James asked.

“Your gonna remember us here in a second you damn cheat.” as soon as the man finished James heard footsteps coming from the side and the sound guns being drawn. Looking around slightly James could see that he was now surrounded.

“Did I beat you at poker?” James asked with a sarcastic joking voice mocking the man.

“Enough games Kelly. You crossed the wrong man ya hear.” the man said knocking the whiskey bottle out of James’s hand as it broke on the dirt street.

“Now that was a waste of perfectly good whiskey.” James was about to say something else when he felt a hard hit in his gut from the man's rifle butt. Dropping to his knees James doubled over in pain from the hit. Yet unlike most James let out a laugh from his position. “You know you’d think id remember beating a bunch of sorry sights as yourselves in a poker game.” for this James received a hard kick in the stomach forcing him to roll over onto his side for a moment.

“We’re O’driscolls you hear. You best show us respect you drunk cheat.” the man said as he cocked the rifle moving it to aim at James’s head.

“O’driscolls? Well shit. I should have shot you to then.”

As luck would have shined upon the keeled over man, Nora came walking out of the saloon to see the group encircling the downed bastard. She would’ve smiled internally had these men not been wearing the signature black trenches and wide brim hats of the O’Driscolls. If she didn’t act fast, the man was sure to lose more than the little sense of smug pride he had. No-one else had their guns on the downed cheat except one, and the rifle was aligned with his head. The woman growled out, “God-dammit..”, sighed, and burst out of the saloon doors and screamed at the top of her lungs. “SOMEONE THREW DYNAMITE- IT’S GOING TO BLOW! GET DOWN!” In the blink of an eye, as the gang members looked to the woman and peered into the saloon before beginning to step back, Nora seized the opportunity to quickdraw her revolvers and fire two shots in rapid succession. The first bullet from the right Schofield firmly planted itself in the gunman’s temple. The man grunted as his hands clenched reflexively; squeezing the trigger. The rifle exploded in a flash of combusting gunpowder- propelling the bullet a few inches into the dirt right next to t Jame’s head. The second bullet found its way into the talking man’s open mouth, burying itself into the back of his neck with a heavy crunch.

“MOVE! NOW!” The woman shouted to James, hoping the stunned man would recover and heed her instructions. She whistled, and the Arabian jerked his head and pulled backward- the reigns snapping off the hitching post as the horse obediently galloped toward his master, trampling the remaining standing men and crushing the leader’s head flat into the ground. She goddamn hoped rescuing this fool would be worth the trouble.

James not waiting a second longer instantly began scrambling up to his feet while whistling for his horse. Looking up as he ran he could see the women he had bought a drink for running for her horse as well after having shot the O’Driscolls that were around. Grabbing hold of Iris’s reigns James through himself up onto the saddle kicking the horse slightly starting to gallop head to catch up with the women.

Red Dead Reckoning

James Kelly

James sat with his back against a tree shuffling a deck of cards mindlessly as the sun was setting over the beautiful landscape. His favorite Horse, Iris, was laying beside him asleep as the loyal horse she was. Bridging the cards in his hand he fanned them out once more before bringing them back into a neat stack once more in his left hand. With a serious look on his face, he gazed out over the road just in front of him to see what appeared to be a wagon with two other horses trotting alongside it. Making a card appear seemingly out of nowhere in his right he placed it back on top of the deck with a smile. Patting the top of Iris’s head he spoke “Well looks like it's time to go to work.” before standing up.

As the wagon drew closer he stumbled out into the road waving his hand while keeping the other around his midsection as if he was injured. “Help. Help. Please Help me.” he called out causing the Small caravan to stop in it tracked much the irritation of the men who seemed to be the guards. “It's best if you get out of our way partner. Less you want to end up worse off.” one of the men called down from his horse. Putting his hand up again James spoke in a sorry and worried tone “please I don't want any trouble. It's just I'm stuck out here all by myself and my horse just collapsed.” after saying this he pointed over to Iris. as the men turned their heads naturally they saw as his horse decided at that moment to stand back up as if nothing was wrong. The realization struck the two men a little too late as by the time they looked back they had already been shot square in the chest.

As their bodies dropped to the floor James’s colt was trained on the wagon driver daring the man to reach for something. “Don't worry son, I don't want to spill your blood today.” He said with a small smile before moving closer to the door of the Wagon. “Mr. Johnson, I am here to rescue that sum of money you have with you from your greedy hands so if you could step out of the wagon that would be great.” As the door slowly opened an older well-dressed man stepped out of the beautiful wagon with a face that had a mixture of anger and worry. “If you could be so kind as to step of there sir I would be much obliged,” he said as he motioned with his right Colt. Compiling the man merely walked off to the spot in question and watched as James stepped into the Wagon for a few seconds before coming back out with a small strong box. “You won't get away with this I hope you know.” the old man said in an even tone showing just a hint of anger. "Bandits like you don't scare the likes of me. Do you know who I work for the people that I know? Well, have bandits and criminals like you gutted.”

James chuckled a bit “oh I've heard that one before and as you can see.” he paused as he moved his hands putting emphasis on his person. “I'm still standing. But you make a good point. I'm sure you will hire some men to try and hunt me down and put my head in a rope necklace, so I'll make you a wonderful deal.” he said as he seemed to play with the cylinder of his gun. Satisfied after a second of mindlessly playing with it he threw the revolver to the man who caught it awkwardly clearly not used to holding a gun. “I'll let you skip the trouble of having to go hire a couple of bounty hunter when you can deal with me your self. All you gotta do is beat me in a duel and I'd be more than happy with leaving you with this money here.” as he finished James placed his gun back in his holster waiting for the man to think over the proposition.

Grinning evilly the man chuckled slightly before instantly attempting to fire the gun at James' forehead without a second notice. Much to the man's dismay however the gun merely clicked signaling the fact that there was no ammo in the gun to speak of. “What, what is this. how.” he tried to speak before James cut him off as he slowly lifted his own gun out of its holster. “You think I would trust a greedy price of shit like yourself with a loaded gun.” he slowly began to walk closer as the man began to step backward like a coward. “If I thought you had even a sliver of honor I might have considered giving you a fair shot, but as you can see you clearly don't have any.” by this point the man had tripped and fell to the ground hard. As the man looked back up he has greeted a flash that would be the last thing his eyes ever saw in this life as his body fell back down.

Picking up the strong box once more James looked through it grabbing the money that was inside which unfortunately wasn't as much as he was hoping. Looking it over he soon looked back up to the driver of the Wagon who was a young boy frozen solid with fear to scared to even look at James in the eyes. “Now listen here, son. I don't want to hear anything about me being in this robbery do you hear.” as the boy slightly nodded his head showing he understood while still being scared to death. “Here,” James called as he handed the boy some of the money. “I don't take from the working man you understand.” after receiving a nod James whistled as Iris slowly made her way over to him.

With a soft kick into her under section and small Hyahh, the horse began its slow trot towards his next destination…. BlackWater