Serious: Meeting on Io Island (Closed)

All was quiet aboard the ship known as the Hound. Then a loud ringing sound broke the peace. Nick Palemino, who up to this point had been fast asleep, sat up and swung himself around to face the Den Den Mushi that sat on a table beside his bed. Actually, there were two of the snail phones there. One of them was for...personal calls. The other was for business. The business phone was the one ringing so Nick reached over and picked it up.

“What have you got for me?” he said.

“No hello or anything?” the other voice replied. It was a man’s voice. Age somewhere between 30 and 32. His voice was also slightly scratchy, perhaps an oncoming cold? “I could just be calling to be polite,” the man’s voice continued.

“You never do,” Nick replied evenly.

“You’re right,” the man said, sounding contemplative. “Next call will be purely for conversation, I promise.”

“Sure, whatever,” Nick shrugged. “Now, what’s the target?”

“His name is Kyle Worthington,” the man’s voice said. “I’m sending you his picture now.”

A small machine that sat behind the Den Den Mushis began printing out a bounty poster. The picture on the poster was of a red-haired man. He was big and muscular looking. His face was scarred and his expression was that of a scowl. The bounty wasn’t all that high, just 8,000,000.

“Despite what his last name may sound like, this guy’s got no noble connections,” the man on the other end of the line continued. “He’s a bit of a psycho. Last time anyone saw him, he was leaving what used to be a bar.” The man paused, as if waiting for Nick to ask what he meant by ‘used to be’, but Nick remained silent. So, after a few seconds, the man continued, “The bar was on Io Island. I’m sending the island’s location over as well.” The printer behind the Den Den Mushi spat out a map, leading to the island. “We don’t think he’s left there yet, so there’s a good chance of you picking up his trail again. Just be careful. A lot of other bounty hunters are sure to have heard about this guy.”

“Right,” Nick nodded. “I’m on it. Oh, and you should talk to a doctor. Sounds like you might be getting a cold.”

“How did you-” the man began to say, but Nick simply hung up.

Nick quickly got dressed and gathered up his equipment and the map to the island before he strode out onto the deck of his ship. He pulled up the achor, turned his ship in the right direction, and went on his way.

On a bright sunny afternoon with a clear sky, a small unpainted sailing boat gently slid itself on to the sandy beach of a small cove, its plain flag with words 'Bounty hunter' and 'Part-time mercenary' sloppily painted on their own sides.
"Huh? the boat stopped." a hoarse, emotionless voice bluntly stated.
An extremely tall man with strangely long limbs sluggishly got up from where he was napping. He had shaggy dark hair, complemented by his ghostly pale skin and his tired eyes, he wore a pair of ordinary buisness shoes, caked with mud, dirt and various other elements it's owner has truddged through, orange pinstripe trousers with white stripes, mostly hidden by his long trenchcoat, reaching to his ankles, with sleeves even longer than his arms. This was the man know as Waltes 'Stan' Stanley. He clusmily clambered out of the boat, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He saw a small sign post and stared at it a while.
"Its a hassle but I guess I'll read it.", He murmered to himself, then slowly read aloud the sign which said;" W-e-l-c-o-m-e - t-o - I-o - I-s-l-a-n-d".
He then took out his note book an flicked through it, realising a man with an 8,000,000 bounty was reported to be last seen in this area. "That could buy quiet a few of the supplies I need." Stan said to himself, slowly making his way to a small village in the horison.

((Want to hear something interesting? I picked the name ‘Nick’ for this character because there was another bounty hunter named Nick Logan in a show, called Roswell Conspiracies, which I liked. The Nick from Roswell Conspiracies had a father whose name is Walter, which is pretty much the same as your character’s name.))

It didn’t take Nick too long to reach Io Island. His current location was part of how his bountyheads were chosen. He pulled into the dock and tied his boat off. After negotiating a cheaper docking fee, he left the area. So, first things first. He would have to check out this ex-bar.

“Hey,” Nick said to a passing man. “I heard that a bar around here got destroyed. Could you tell me where it is?”

The man stopped and looked around at Nick, suspiciously. “Yeah,” he said, slowly. “Go on down this street until you find a sign that says Pine Street. Turn right there. You can’t miss it.”

“Thanks,” Nick moved on.

Something wasn’t right about the way that man had spoken to him. He didn’t appear to be lying about the directions, but he seemed almost hesitant to give them. Most people would dismiss something like that, but in this line of business, even the smallest piece of information could save your life. Nick filed it away and returned his attention to the task at hand.

(( wow what a concidence , heres my fact, I was gonna put wesker instead of walters, but then realised people might of thought he'd be a rip off of albert wesker from resident evil because of the trenchcoat, plus his name is in japanesse order))

"That was a good nap." Stan yawned, walking out of a small clearing of trees and leasuriely making his way towards the village again.
He then realised he didnt know where his target, Kyle Worthington, was and mumbled to himself; "Its a hassle, but I have to ask someone if they seen him."
He then saw a woman nervously checking round for people heading away from the town, who he approched slowly before taking out a wanted poster from one of his trenchcoats deep pockets of Kyle Worthington and asking, " I'm after this man for his bounty, its a hassle but can you tell me were he is?"
The woman hesitated for a moment before answering; "He's in that village over there, heard he's in pine street, now please leave me be, I dont want to get in any trouble." , and with that, hastily departed.
Stan stared at her leaving for a few moments before going back to heading towards the town, complaining to himself; "Its a hassel to walk to the village, I wouldn't have to walk much if I went to the docks, but its a bigger hassel to navigate and sail."

Nick found a wooden sign with the words ‘Pine Street’ scrawled onto it with what looked like a marker. He turned right and saw it the bar. It was in ruins. The whole building had caved in on itself. Table fragments were mixed in with roof tiles. The building was cordoned off by DO NOT CROSS tape, but it didn’t look like anyone was guarding the place. Perhaps the Marines had already investigated the area and found all that there was to find. Or maybe not.

Nick ducked under the tape and stepped into the wreck. He crossed over to the remains of the bar and looked over it. There was a red streak on the surface. Nick leaned over and sniffed it. Yep. It was blood. He looked around and noticed several more red marks on various objects. Most of them seemed to be on chairs or tables. It looked like Kyle liked to smash his victims with heavy objects. That said a lot about his strength, but not his future destination.

Nick crossed his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, thinking. His next move would normally be to contact anyone connected to the event. Had there been any survivors? Surely someone had lived to tell the tale or seen where this man had gotten himself to.

After slowly taking his time, Stan finally made it into the village. It was a rather small homely place, not the sort of area you would think would of had been visited by a criminal. Stan stopped and looked around at the normal everyday going ons happening around him, relaxing on a age worn bench. After getting bored of watching, he then decided to find out were was pine street. He walked up to one of the locals and asked bluntly," I want to go to Pine street, please tell me where it is."
The villager looked starteled for a moment and then replied "Its the second left just down there, but it pretty much closed off now so not much point going there."
Stan then nodded his head and thanked the man and headed towards his new destination at his own pace, mumbling under his breath; "That was a hassel."

“Thinkin’ about somethin’?”

Nick looked up to see an elderly man standing just outside of the cautionary tape. The man was dressed in a ratty old sports jacket, a ripped up t-shirt, brown pants that looked as old as the man himself, and some shiny, dark shoes.

“Yeah,” Nick said. “I’m wondering how I could find the guy who did all of this.” He waved his arms indicating the building. “There’s nothing here that would help.”

“Can’tcha just look aroun’ and find a label o’ some kind that’ll lead ya in the right direction?” the old man asked.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Only if this were poorly written fiction,” he replied. “The only labels around here are ones that were torn off of old wine bottles.” Nick looked at the old man curiously. “Do you live around here?” he asked.

“Sho’ do!” the man said. “I sees everythin’ that happens in these parts.”

“Then you would have seen the man who did this,” Nick said.

“Yeah!” the old man nodded. “He was hightailin’ it outa there like his pants was on fire.” He chuckled. “It sho’ was a sight ta see!”

“Which direction did he go?” Nick asked.

“Hmmm…I’ll show ya,” the old man said, looking thoughtful. “But it’ll cost ya.”

“How much?” Nick asked. He winced at the high figure. Still, Kyle’s bounty would cover this expense several times over, so it would be all worth it. “Lead on,” Nick said at last, after he had handed over the money.”

“Foller me,” the old man said, turning away. Because his back was now facing Nick, the young bounty hunter did not see the wicked gleam in the old man’s eyes.

Stan was plodding along Pine street, but then saw there was a large amount of tape around the area, making difficult to go through it without attracting too much attention.
"I don't think he's here anymore, thats a hassel." He complained to himself. He then walked up to an old man who had a young man folowing behind him and once again took out his poster and asked; "I want to capture this man for his bounty, have you seen him?"
"Sho' have! If you want me to tell ya its gonna-", the old man replied, before Stan interupted him with "Take me there please, its been a hassel to find him."

“Yes, yes,” the old man said testily. “I’m already takin’ this one there now.” He turned and walked on.

As they went, Nick glanced over at Stan for a very brief instant before looking away. Just great. Another bounty hunter had already shown up. He hoped this guy wasn’t one of those idiots who tried to steal his kills. Nick really hated having to put them down. His concentration lapsed as he was thinking and the next thing he knew, they were stopping in a back alley.

"Here's the place," the old man said.

Nick looked around. At first glance it seemed like an appropriate hiding place. There was only one problem. Or rather, two problems. This place was too open. Anyone passing by could look over and see them. Not only that, but it wasn’t very far from the crime scene. This guy had had at least a day to get out of the area. That could mean only one thing.

“Trap,” Nick stated calmly, just as five more figures appeared, surrounding them.

Stan stood watching the clouds roll by for a few moments, and then decided to follow the old man and young man, who were quiet a while away at the time.
"Its a hassel, but I have to keep pace with them." He told himself, walking after them slightly quicker than his usual awkward slow paced walk, at quiet some distance. He then saw them turn into an alleyway, stopped to scratch his head in slight confusion, and then decided they must have realised he was following them and ran into the allyway to try and lose him. He briskly walked round the corner of the alleyway and saw the young man from ealier surrounded by five armed men, and the old man watching with a smile on his face from a distance.
"He's outnumbered but he looks strong so might be tougher than them. should I help? Its a hassel to decide now, its easier just to watch." He concluded, and then sat down with his lengthy legs crossed, his enourmous trenchcoat covering them completely.

“HA! Got you, bounty hunter!” the old man said, his voice changing. He sounded younger and his words were not so broken. “Bet you didn’t expect this, did you?”

“Actually, I kind of did,” Nick replied. “You were waiting there at the building for someone to come by. Then you would lure them into this trap. What was it you first said when you approached me? I think your words were, ‘What are you thinking about?’ That’s a fairly generic statement that could be followed up in many different ways. However, that’s not all. Your shoes are to shiny to be owned by a street bum. You could have stolen them, but with all this grime on the streets, it wouldn’t have taken you long to dirty them.”

The ‘old’ man looked surprised for a moment, but then burst out laughing. “Well, if you’re so smart, then why did you let yourself get brought into a trap?”

Nick didn’t answer at first. He simply looked around at the men surrounding him. Each of them was fairly large and muscular. One had a sword. Two of them carried large, wooden braches as clubs. One had a spear and the last one was wearing bronze knuckles.

“Two minutes,” Nick said.

“Huh?” the ‘old’ man frowned. “Two minutes? What are you talking about?”

“I agree,” said Nick, nodding. “I’m being far too generous. It shouldn’t take any more than thirty seconds and take all of you down.”

Stanley listened in on the conversation for a moment and then realised the old man probaly didnt know where Kyle was, and he decided that if he got the bounty hunter to help him, it would be much easier to capture Kyle, and even easier to kill him. He plodded towards armed men and said bluntly; "Its a hassel, but you thugs are in the way."
And then produced two knives from each sleeve, and rushed towards the nearest man, one which held a club, and lunged for him.
"Its a hassel, but I'll only need two knives." He stated, with a hint of gloating in his voice.

The man with the club saw Stan coming and spun around, aiming a blow at Stan’s head. Another man, the one with the spear, saw what was happening and turned to help his comrade. The other three looked around, distracted and Nick took that moment to run and leap towards the nearest opponent, the other one that had a club. He kicked the side of the man’s head and knocked him to the ground. Nick landed lightly and then was forced to duck just as the swordsman took a swing at his throat. He swept the man’s feet out from under him with one leg and then rolled to the side to avoid the man with the bronze knuckles, who was throwing a punch at him.

Stan stared at the empty space sheepishly for a moment, and then quickly put the flat of his knife under where the club would of cracked his skull, centermeters from his head. He then looked round to see a spearman rushing towards him to help his comrade, and sweep kicked him with his lanky leg, sewnding him toppling head over heels.
"Its a hassel but im gonna use three knives now." He said blankly to the clubman, quickly put his free knife in his mouth, and produced another from his pocket. He then put the flat of his held knife under the club and fpushed it back, leaving the clubman wide open with his arms in the air. "Its a hassel but you die now." Stan announced, before using the knife in his mouth to stap the clubman in the center of his forehead.

The swordsman was back on his feet and the man with bronze knuckles was slowly, but surely, advancing on Nick, punching at him. The bounty hunter kept taking a single step back and twisting his upper body to avoid each punch. He watched his opponent’s movements and waited until he had the timing down. Then he dove forward just as the man was punching. Nick’s dive took him under the man’s arm and he rammed his shoulder into the man’s gut, knocking the wind of him. A quick kick to the chest propelled his opponent backwards. This gave the swordsman an opening and he rushed towards Nick, swinging his blade at his chest. Nick jumped forward, flipping over the swordsman. He seized the swordsman by the shoulders as he went and when he landed he flung the swordsman over his head. Now the club wielder was back up in again. After all, Nick had only knocked him down. The club wielding man was more cautious, knowing now Nick’s strength. He hung back, circling slowly. Nick did not wait for him to attack. Instead, he rushed the man and seized his club. Nick yanked the man towards him and then slammed his fist into the man’s jaw, flooring him.

The man Stan just killed had a suprised look on face, and then went limp. Stan pulled his knife out of his forehead and as he did was admedietly stabbed in the arm by the spearman.
"Oooowwww! Pain is such a hassel." Stan complained trying to pull out the spear with his spare hand. The spearman now taking out a knife and dashing towards him to avenge his comrade.
"Revenge is such a hassel." Stan murmered, before activating his heel flick boots and lifting his leg enough to block the incoming knife attack with a metalic clang. "I guess I'll use four knives then, such a hassel." Stan stated bluntly.

That was all for Nick's opponents. The young bounty hunter cast a glance towards the man who was fighting the other...assassins? He wasn't sure how to classify them. Nick looked back at the 'old' man, who had brought him here.

"Why don't you show me your true face," Nick said.

The 'old' man grinned. "So you noticed," he said.

"Obviously," Nick muttered.

The 'old' man reached up and pulled off his gray 'hair'. It was a wig. Underneath was fuller, darker hair. The 'old' man then pulled off his 'face', which was a mask. As his voice had indicated, he was a young man, perhaps even younger then Nick.

"It seems going after bounty hunters wasn't the wisest decision," the man said. "Still, not everything is lost." He reached down and drew out two daggers, one from each of his sides. Apparently he had hidden them under his clothing. "Don't think I'll be a pushover like the others!" he spat out.

The spearman looked in suprise at Stan's heel flick knife, and then jumped back a few feet suprised at the weapon.
"If I knew killing that club guy was going to cause such hassel I wouldn't of done it" Stan told the spearman, "Best if I knock you out now."
He then pulled out the spear from his arm and threw it to the side, leaving his injured arm to hang limply while slowly bleeding adding a patch of crimson on his sleeve. Stan then kicked forward with his held knife at the man which just managed to block it in time, though was rewarded with a knee in the gentleman's area and a flip kick to the head by Stan's non knife foot, making the the man collapse cold on the floor. Stan then turned around to talk to the stranger and then noticed where the old man had been there was a rather young man man dark hair and a vile expretion on his face wielding a pair of daggers, ready to leap into a fight.
"Oh, the old man left and sent another person at us. He's a cowardly old man and a hassel. Tell me young person how old are you?" Stan conversed sleepily, shuffling next to Nick.

The younger man appeared to be surprised by Stan’s question, but then he grinned at Nick. “My disguise wasn’t too bad, then,” he gloated. Then he turned back to Stan and answered him saying, “I’m twenty-two.”

Stan then nodded and replied creepily; "Good, I can kill you then, if you were eighteen you would of stayed alive." He flicked his spare heel so his second boot knife came out. "Five knife style is a real hassel to use sometimes, so if you don't mind you could just tell us where Kyle Worthington is, i'd not be a hassel." He droned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Kyle Worthington?” the young man repeated. “I can’t tell you that. He’s part of a crime family that kills anyone who messes with them. They take care of their own. I wouldn’t even last a week!”

“That’s still better than dying right now, isn’t it?” Nick suggested. He pulled out one of his pistols from under his trenchcoat and pointed it at the man. “You might be skilled with those blades of yours…” Nick said. He glanced over at Stan for a moment and then returned his attention to the young man. “…but I’m sure that between the two of us, we could probably take you out.”

The young man considered his options, but there really was only one choice. “Fine,” he snarled. “The Worthingtons have a warehouse down near the docks. They use it to store smuggled goods. It’s owned by a company called Red Coral, which the Worthingtons run.”

Stan nodded in approval at what he was told. "Okay you can run now, too much of a hassel to talk to you." He stated to the young man.
He then turned his head to the man with the pistoles and said bluntly to him; "My names Walters Stanley, call me Stan for less hassle, I want you to help me take out Kyle, less hassel for me then. Oh and its a hassel but whats your name?", while retractinghis heel flick knives and placing his normal knives in his sleeves and pockets.

The young man got out of there as quickly as possible. He didn’t even bother to check on any of his comrades.

Nick smiled slightly as Stan spoke. When he finished, the younger bounty hunter stuck out his hand.

“Do you have to mention hassle in every sentence?” he asked. “Or is it to much of a hassle not too?” His smile faded slightly and he said, “My name’s Nick. That’s all you need to know. And I prefer to work alone. Though I must admit, your fighting ability is intriguing to say the least.”

"Its too much of a hassel to take a complament." Stan replied, "I gonna take a nap, ypu can wake me up if you change your mind, though I might go off to get that bounty anyways when I wake up." He then awkwardly got himself on the ground, lied down, put his hands under his head for support, and fell asleep.

Nick stared down at him for a moment, and then shrugged. “More for me then,” he said quietly. He turned away from Stan and ran off to the docks.

When Nick arrived, he looked up and down the pier. There were many warehouses here. Many of them had names emblazoned on the front of the building. It didn’t take long to find the Red Coral warehouse. It was one of the biggest ones there.

“This thing is the size of a stadium!” Nick realized.

The bounty hunter looked over it, looking for a way in. There were several windows he could use, if he got high up first, and there were a couple of doors, each of which was undoubtedly locked.