Disclaimer: I don't own Tirgun, any of the characters, or the Hope Diamond. I would like to though.

Yes, I'm back from my schoolwork, with a vengence.

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Blayne slumped against a rock, breathing heavily. A wolf walked up to her and began to lick her wounds, then nuzzled her arm. Absentmindedly, she began to pet the wolf while staring up at the moons, focusing on the crater that marked the fifth moon like a scar.

She smelled the man approaching before she heard him, and heard him before she saw him.

"Hiya Blayne," Johnny said as he stepped out of the shadows and slumped down beside her. "Meeting point fifteen, right? When it's all said and done with, we show up at meeting point fifteen." He pointed over his shoulder. "Right over there."

Blayne didn't respond, just continued to pet the wolf. Eventually she turned to Johnny. "I failed. I failed him… the master. What will he do to me?"

Johnny shrugged. "What does he normally do for failure? I failed as well… but I learned something very interesting-"

Blayne's hand slapped over Johnny's mouth. "Shhh… I hear something."

Johnny took her hand off his mouth. "Polster and Callox?"

Blayne nodded slowly. "And… someone else. Two other people. Female. They're… son of a bitch..."

Johnny stood up and dusted off his jeans. "I told you I learned something interesting."

********************************************************* ************

Calamity leaned against the window and stared out at the passing scenery. Quiet ruled the bus. This was mostly because everyone was asleep, but even if everyone had been awake, Calamity was willing to bet a fistful of double dollars that the bus would be still be quiet.

They hadn't said much before she had flagged down the bus, they hadn't said much as Meryl and Millie had their cuts bandaged up, and they hadn't said much paying the fare to get wherever the hell it was they were going now. Calamity couldn't really blame them for their silence. [After all,] she thought, [what do you say after something like that? "Hi, look you all thought I was dead" doesn't quite cut it. Neither does "Ohhhh, so you're my father. I wondered where the inability to grow a beard came from." I suppose… that there's nothing you can say after that.] Calamity sighed, leaned against the window, and closed her eyes.

Meryl leaned against Vash and tried to sleep. She shifted her position so she was resting more comfortably. It was then that she noticed that Vash wasn't asleep, wasn't even trying to sleep. She stared up at his face, eyes wide open and looking at the other side of the bus. He caught her gaze and pointed to the seat diagonally across from them.

Meryl's gaze followed his finger to their daughter. Nikki sat at the edge of the seat, Evans head in her lap, the rest of his body lying on the seat. His eyes were closed, but the Demon's Eye could still not be completely hidden merely by closing it. Nikki's eyes were closed as well, and her chest lifted up and down slowly as she wandered in dreams.

Millie slept fitfully, having the dream she had been having off and on ever since Jeremiah was born. Jeremiah would ask where his daddy was, and Millie would smile and take him to the church, where Wolfwood would be preaching the mass that day. There they'd find Wolfwood's body, kneeling in front of the altar, still carrying his cross. And Jeremiah would say that it was good that his daddy was dead, because he didn't like him anyway. At that point, Millie would wake up in a cold sweat and roll over to tell Wolfwood about the nightmare. Then she would remember that he wasn't there anymore, that he had never been there. Whenever she had that dream, she wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night.

Wolfwood, of course knew none of this. He could hear her mumbling in her sleep, could feel her shivering faintly in some fear, and he mentally kicked himself for being so weak that he left her alone. Quietly as he could, Wolfwood slipped out from the seat and walked back to the bathroom, nodding to Vash as he passed.

Jeremiah stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for the bathroom to become available. He lightly kicked at an open seat and frowned. What was it Danil had said? "It's in your blood, Jeremiah. Wolfwood was a killer, and so are you." It was always difficult to tell when Father Danil was lying or telling the truth, he had turned out to be right about many things. Which story about his father was right? The killer or the hero? The sinner or the saint?

Wolfwood walked up next to Jeremiah and stared at the bathroom door. The two men slowly turned to each other, distrust written on their faces.

********************************************************* ************

Out in the distance, a wolf howled at the three full moons overhead. Polster jumped and glanced around him.

"Easy brother, easy. Not every wolf belongs to Blayne."

Polster nodded, but continued to glance around, staring up at the canyon walls. Sister Amy stood next to him and squeezed his hand. Of the four of them, Amy and Polster had never liked closed in spaces.

Sister Mary saw the two shivering slightly. "Don't worry, Father Danil will be here soon, then we'll all be out of Knives reach."

Callox nodded. "Good, I'm sick of working under that crazy Plant. There's nothing more we can learn. They'll all be dead soon anyway."

This seemed to calm their nervous siblings, until another wolf howled. Amy gritted her teeth and muttered. "Did we have to come and meet you? Why couldn't you have been picked up by yourself?"

"Because the rest of the Flock wouldn't know us from Adam," Polster said. "Now don't worry sister, Callox is right. It's not necessarily one of Blayne's pack. You don't need to worry."

Amy nodded, but slowly pulled her pistol out anyway. A knife hurtled through the darkness and hit the gun, knocking it out of her hand.

"You can start worrying now, little girl."

The quads looked out into the darkness to see the yellow of eyes of a wolf and the laughing hazel eyes of a murderer stare at them. Behind them, a massive pack of wolves had gathered, snarling and howling.

In danger, humans tend to fall back on instinct. In this case, all four of the Gemini had the same instinct. Run.

Thousands of copies of Polster, Callox, Sister Amy, and Sister Mary sprang towards Johnny and Blayne, who stood still as the duplicates ran through them. After the flow of duplicates had finally ceased, not a soul stood in the canyon, save Johnny, Blayne, and the wolves.

"Should we go after them?" Johnny asked.

A voice rang through their heads. [No. Not yet.]

[Why not sir?] Blayne thought.

[Because the Master hates traitors. Because he wants something special for them. Because he wants to test their faith.]

********************************************************* ************

The Gemini ducked through the network of canyons, desperately searching for a way out before Johnny and Blayne caught up with them.

[Do you really think you can escape?]

The four Gemini skidded to a halt, terror in their eyes.

[You for cannot escape alone. You're outnumbered, outgunned, why not just give up? End the pain early]

Callox summoned up his courage and spat on the ground. "We're not outnumbered." Copies of him started running out. The other three took hear in their brother's courage and started to duplicate themselves as well.

"The Gemini are never outnumbered!"

Legato's low chuckle rang through their minds, destroying any false bravado they might have built up. [Don't be ridiculous. Smoke and light, nothing more. If I wanted to, I could kill all four of you before your hands even started to move.]

"Then why don't you?" Sister Amy shouted.

A shadow unfolded itself from the canyon wall. Martinez stood perpendicular to the cliff face and stared down at the crowd of Gemini below him. "Because the decision is not ours to make."

"K-K-Knives?" Polster stammered.

Martinez smiled, showing his fangs. He nodded slowly.

The four began to edge away slowly, scattering the duplicates to every corner as a distraction. They broke off from the crowd and make a rush for one of the two branching paths of the canyon. Saxophone music rang though out the canyon and the quads flew backwards.

"Wrong stage my friends. Your performance is the other way." Midvalley's transparent form smiled at the four, and raised the saxophone closer to its mouth.

Polster pushed himself up and wiped some blood from his lip. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now… you run." Martinez said.

The quads stared up at the grinning vampire, then bolted down the other branching path, away from the demons, ghosts, and monsters.

[Release the wolves.]

********************************************************* ***********

The quads raced through the canyon, the snarls and growls of Blayne's pack not far behind them. Sister Mary tripped over a rock and fell. Polster hung back, helped her up, threw her arm over his shoulder and helped support her as they continued to run.

"We can make it, we can make it, we can make it." Callox repeated over and over.

Sister Amy reached into a pocket on her black coat and pulled out a small glowing orb. "Father Danil said that when this thing started to glow red, it means he's come to pick us up. We just have to survive until it turns red!"

Callox looked behind him. "Hurry! We can duck into a cave somewhere and wait it out!"

Sister Mary looked at Callox critically. "What cave? Where can we hide from them? They're wolves, Callox, wolves! They'll smell us wherever we go!"

"All we can do is run, my siblings." Sister Amy said. "Run, and hope God offers us some form of deliverance."

********************************************************* ************

Nikki shifted her weight and felt something fall against her leg. She opened her eyes and saw that Evans' dog tags had fallen out of his shirt. She stretched out her hand and held them up.

Lieutenant Evans Braxler

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 180 lbs

Medical Notes: Left eye is naturally larger and discolored from birth defect.

Nikki dropped the first tag and picked up the second one.

Family:

Father, General Phillip Braxler, February City Garrison

Sister, Lelia Woodenhouse Harker, St. Mary's Clinic, New Seattle

Nikki dropped the dog tags and drifted off to sleep. Her last thoughts before Morpheus took her were "New Seattle? We can take him to his sister then."

********************************************************* ************

Polster slipped through the crack and motioned his siblings to follow. Callox gave Sister Mary to Amy to support. Callox and Polster ran behind a boulder resting by the slim passage to the main canyon branch and threw their weight against it. The boulder grinded against the rock and slowly rolled in front of the passage. Polster and Callox sighed and slumped against it.

"Thank God. All we have to do now is climb out of the canyon."

"Oh really? To what purpose?"

A man with platinum-blonde hair stepped out of the shadows. He had his hands stuck in the pockets of his gray duster, which covered a black and red plug suit. The holster at his hip was empty.

"We… we will be saved," Sister Mary whispered.

Knives grinned. "I'm going to assume you don't mean God. And why would Father Danil save you? You're useless to him now. The black widow does not save the wolf spider. The wolf spider's death will show the black widow where the predators are, so the black widow may stay away, thus surviving that much longer."

"It doesn't matter whether we're useless to him or not. He'll save us because it's the right thing to do. The moral thing to do."

Knives laughed. "The moral thing to do? The moral thing to do? You're sinners. Not only that, you're the worst type of sinners."

The Gemini looked at him questioningly.

Knives shook his head. "Evidently you don't know your Dante. Cocytus, the frozen lake at the bottom of Hell, is reserved solely for traitors and mutineers."

Sister Amy took out the glowing orb and held it in her hands. "When it's red, we'll be saved. Everything we did, we did for God. God won't forsake us."

Knives shook his head. He walked over to Sister Amy and snatched the globe from her hands. He smirked. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." He took the globe in both hand and pried it open, revealing nothing more than a well-set up light bulb. An illusion, nothing more. "You've been forsaken."

Polster started laughing. "Where's your gun, Knives? Where is the tool you use to call up the so-called "Angel Arm"?

Knives smiled. "It was shooting off center. I gave to Lorand the Gearhead to tune up when I left."

Polster and Callox's hands started moving towards their Heatwaves. Sister Mary and Sister Amy began to slowly reach for their laser pistols. "So you're defenseless?" Sister Mary said.

Knives' eyes narrowed. "Am I?" His right hand opened up and a metal cylinder shot out of it, flipping around to land on top of Knives' arm. He grabbed the trigger and squeezed.

The sound of gunfire rang through the canyon. The wolves stopped running, and took up a howl.

********************************************************* ************

Martinez grunted and threw the boulder behind him. The wolves scattered as the boulder crashed into the canyon walls.

Knives stood among the four bodies, smoke rising from his right arm. He turned to the remaining Gung-Ho Guns and shrugged. "I believe this is the first time Danil and I have actively agreed on something. These four had to die."

Martinez nodded, then stepped aside to let Legato through. Midvalley had already strolled through while Martinez was lifting the boulder. Legato pulled a sandwich out of his coat and began to nibble on it.

Johnny and Blayne entered behind them and stood to the side, looking at the bodies.

"Good work finding the traitors," Legato said. "Very good work indeed."

Johnny and Blayne bowed.

"However… that does not change the fact that you failed."

Johnny and Blayne nodded.

Knives turned to Blayne. "We expect more from both of you, but especially you Blayne. I don't think you've lived up to your full potential."

"What does that mean, Master?"

Martinez grinned. Knives flexed his right hand. Legato swallowed the last of the sandwich and began to slowly lick the fingers of his left hand.

"Do understand, though, that I cannot wave the punishment for failure."

Johnny and Blayne nodded. They turned to face each other, Blayne pulling a blade fan from her tattered corset and Johnny flipping a knife out of his poncho.

Johnny shrugged. "No hard feelings, eh?"

*********************************************************************

Wolfwood knew Millie was having some sort of nightmare, but he didn't want to wake her. He had heard somewhere that waking someone in middle of the nightmare was bad for them.

The gray-haired priest sighed and reached for a cigarette. He needed it after that uncomfortable stare down with Jeremiah in front of the bathroom. His hand stopped halfway to his pocket. Smoking would probably wake Millie up. Wolfwood sighed again and looked across the aisle. Evans head still rested in Nikki's lap, but Nikki herself had fallen asleep.

[Damn, never thought I'd see him again. I had all but forgotten about him. I guess all of us all but forgot him.]

Wolfwood leaned back into the chair, and remembered.

*********************************************************************

Twenty-three years ago

The lightning flashed. Then silence. Thunder crashed. Then silence. Then, a woman's scream pierced the night, and all future thunder was drowned out.

Martinez chuckled, then sipped at his drink. "Sounds painful."

Legato shrugged and continued to eat his steak. "I wouldn't know. I've never given birth, and I never intend to have a child."

"What, the thought of fatherhood doesn't appeal to you?"

Legato shook his head. "No, it's just that I have to kill all of them one day. I see no reason to make my job harder by bringing another into the world."

Wolfwood shifted in his chair. He hated hanging around up here, but Chapel the Evergreen insisted that he at least try to spend some time with the Gung-Ho Guns every once in a while.

"After all," he had said, "we're traitors. And nobody trusts a traitor."

"Where's Rai-Dei?" Wolfwood asked.

Midvalley laughed. "As far away from Dominique as he can get, I imagine. I never saw that one coming, wonder how much sake it took?"

Martinez shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine Hornfreak."

Lightning flashed outside, briefly illuminating the room. Legato sat at a table, a steak in front of him and a fork and knife in each hand. He was eating slowly, methodically, enjoying every bite. Occasionally he'd sip from a glass of red wine on his right. Across from him sat Wolfwood, smoking silently. A full ash tray sat in front of him, and he was a quarter of the way through a second one.

Behind Wolfwood a full bar was laid out. Midvalley sat on a couch, tapping his fingers to some rhythm only he could hear in his head. Maybe he was composing something new for a jam session, maybe he was thinking of new ways to kill with his music. Only he could say for sure.

Martinez stood in front of him, a glass of reddish-brown liquid in his hand. When he was finished with the glass, he reached for two bottles and mixed himself another drink. One bottle read Wild Turkey. The other one was devoid of any marking, save a large red drop on the front.

Midvalley laughed. "A lot, that's my guess. I don't understand why we didn't abort it in the first place."

Martinez took a drink from his glass. "Not an option." he said. "The Demon's Eye organ is dependent on the-"

"Hold it." Midvalley said. "Is this going to involve a complicated explanation of the unique biology of the Demon's Eye and the genetic alterations involved to make it?"

Martinez nodded.

"I don't really care then. The practical upshot is that we couldn't abort because it would mess up her powers, right?"

Martinez took another sip from his drink. "Got it in one."

"The screaming's stopped." Wolfwood mumbled.

Legato ate the last of his steak and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "So it has. Go see what's going on, won't you Chapel?"

Wolfwood stabbed his cigarette into the ashtray and stood up. He pocketed his cigarettes and left, all to glad to leave his psychotic bosses.

*********************************************************************

Wolfwood descended the staircase to find his mentor at a sink washing his hands.

"It's over." Chapel the Evergreen said.

"Where's Dominique?" Wolfwood asked.

Chapel pointed to a closed door. "In there, presumably trying to sleep."

"The kid's with her?"

Chapel laughed. "The kid? Are you joking? I don't think Dominique could care less about what happens to him. He's over there."

Wolfwood walked up to the counter. A baby, covered in a blanket, lay in a small bed, sleeping. Wolfwood could see that the left eye was larger than the other one. He was almost afraid of what he'd see if it opened. The Demon's Eye had mutated again.

"I'll take care of the kid," Wolfwood said.

Chapel reached for a towel and started drying his hands. "I thought you'd say that. Don't let the kids get to you, Wolfwood. It's just another decision you're going to have to make at some point. A decision you won't have time to make."

Chapel turned around to find that his student had already left. He shrugged, then went upstairs to have a drink.

*********************************************************************

Wolfwood carried the baby down the steps and walked to the main door of the crashed ship. A voice from the shadows stopped him.

"Is that my child?"

Rai-Dei stepped from the darkness, straw clenched between his teeth. He looked down at the bundle Wolfwood was carrying and scoffed. "Weak. He'll never amount to anything. Do with him what you wish."

"He's your son. Don't you care about him at all?"

"He won't help me achieve spiritual awareness. I don't really care what happens to him," Rai-Dei said as he left back into the ship.

"Son of a…" Wolfwood whispered. "You'll get yours one day, Rai-Dei. And if God likes me at all… I'll give it to you."

*********************************************************************

Sister Analie, head of the December Orphanage, was sleeping soundly in the hotel room when a loud knocking woke her up. Muttering quietly to herself, she got out of bed and stumbled over to the door. She opened to find a tall shadow blocking the light from the hallway.

"Father Wolfwood?"

Wolfwood nodded, then handed her small bundle. "I've got another orphan for you to take back to December."

Sister Analie unwrapped the blanket and stared down at the green-haired sleeping infant. "Father, this a new-born. Are you sure he's an orphan?"

Wolfwood nodded. "He might as well, he was dead to his parents before they were born." He turned around to leave, but Sister Analie stopped him.

"What's his name Father?"

Wolfwood shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you come up with one?" He turned down the hall and left into the night.

Sister Analie closed the door and looked down at the sleeping child. "Mmmm, you're a strong one. My brother was a strong one, before he died. What if I name you after him, eh? What if I name you Evans?"

*********************************************************************

Twenty-three years ago, Wolfwood had saved that kid. Now, not five hours ago, Evans had saved him.

"But at what cost?" Wolfwood said. "What's rattling around in your skull? What do you see when you use the Demon's Eye?"

*********************************************************************

Jeremiah stirred slightly, awake, but keeping his eyes closed. Eventually he knew he wasn't going to get back to sleep and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Calamity, staring out the window.

"We there yet?" he mumbled. He was cramped up all over. Men his height should not sleep on bus seats.

"Soon," Calamity said. "Bus driver said we should be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Fantastic." He stretched his neck, trying to work out a knot. "Sleep well?"

Calamity shrugged. "Had a couple of bad dreams. Nothing major."

"Wolves? 'Cause that's what I dreamed of. Lots of wolves."

She shook her head. "No, I dreamed of those guys in black on the Sandsteamer. The Flock. Millions of 'em. A never ending stream of black-clad killers, purging the land of something."

"It's not like there's that many of 'em. Maybe two hundred at the most. And not all of them are fighters," Wolfwood said.

Jeremiah jumped. [What the? He's awake?] He glanced across the aisle at his father. "Maybe that's how it was when you were with them, but things have changed since then. There's more. A lot more."

Wolfwood shrugged. "What could possibly drive that many people to listen to Danil's murderous sermon?"

"The Neon War."

"What?"

"The Neon War, you idiot.

Wolfwood turned to face Jeremiah. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite up on current events, mind explaining it to me?"

"Twelve years ago, some nutcase down in southern Arkansas decides that he wants to run the entire planet. Thing is, the bastard's got the manpower and the weaponry to actually pull it off!. War breaks out, not the fighting that's always plagued this place, actual freakin' war! Towns are burned, cities razed, people killed, entire lives destroyed!" Jeremiah was starting to get worked up. "How hard do you think it was for a man like Danil to come in and pick up the broken pieces. Fashion himself an army from the disenfranchised, the homeless, those who had seen what their fellow man could do to each other and wanted all the evil gone? How easy do think it was for him?!"

"I wouldn't know, I wasn't freaking there! I quit a long time ago!"

"Damn right you weren't there! You've never been there! You weren't there for you friends, you weren't there for mom, and you were never there for me!" Jeremiah stood up, reached forward and grabbed his father by the lapels.

At the same time, Wolfwood stood up and grabbed his son by the lapels. They both pulled hard and ended up inches away from each other.

"Sorry about being there, but I WAS DEAD AT THE TIME! A little hard to look after your loved ones from the damn grave!"

"Stop it! Stop fighting, please!" Millie shouted. She stood up and tried to pry the two apart, but as strong as she was, she wasn't strong enough to separate the two.

Vash and Meryl sprang up and tried to pull the pair apart. Jeremiah and Wolfwood's shouting had steadily crescendoed, drowning everything on the bus, including the complaints of the other passengers. Nikki stood up, placed Evans head on the seat and got behind her mother in trying to pull Wolfwood back.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU JOINED UP WITH DANIL!"

"OH LIKE YOU DIDN'T! AND IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WERE HERE TO STOP ME!

The bus slowed to a stop and the driver turned around. "HEY! IF YOU CAN'T SHUT THOSE TWO UP, I'M DROPPING YOU ALL!"

Calamity vaulted over the seat in front of her and landed in the aisle behind Jeremiah. She sprinted up to the bus driver, pulling a wad of cash from one of her pockets. She slapped it into the driver's hand. "Here. Happy? Just stand the noise for a little while longer. In fact." She reached into another pocket and pulled out another pile of cash. "We weren't ever here. Got it?"

The driver nodded, and turned back to the steering wheel. Calamity sighed and turned around, only to meet Jeremiah's accusing gaze. "Where did that money come from, Calamity?" he said. "Don't recall ever seeing it before. You stole it, didn't you? You stole the damn money, didn't you, you little whore of Babylon?"

Calamity reached out with her left hand and grabbed his shirt. She pulled him forward, then grabbed his face with her right hand. The anger on Jeremiah's face suddenly disappeared, replaced by nervousness. For a brief second, they were both outlined in blue light, and then Jeremiah lay on the floor, slightly twitching.

"Fuck you, Jeremiah. Fuck you."

As the bus started to pick up speed, Calamity dashed to the front and jumped out of the door, rolling as she hit the sand.

Jeremiah stood up and rushed to the door. "CALAMITY!"

But she was already gone. Disappeared into the sand, bound for the town, without friends. Alone again.

*********************************************************************

Nikki: She's been alone for so long, the woman named Clarissa Shriver. She forsook that name and took a new one, a name meaning a disaster, a catastrophe. A Calamity. She was alone for so very long… Can somebody live alone that long, with only themselves, only their own memories, to keep them company? Next chapter: The Outlaw.