Serious: Mansion Rumble (Open to just the Bounty Hunting Trio)

As Stan franticly dodged the flamethrower by diving to the side speedly, hitting his face against the sewer fall. As Stan recovered he heard the quick sound of someone being sent flying and a helmet falling off as the pyromaniac landed with a thud. The lanky bounthunter turned round to look at what happened and saw Nick managed to take out the pyromaniac who was in fact a woman. "Huh, I think we've seen her before, well maybe, can't remeber well. Ah memories are such a hassel." Stan blabbered, unsure if he had actually met the woman, scratching his head, and then as an idea struck he started rifling through his pockets to find a bounty poster, but realised that when he was took prisoner that strangely even they were conviscated.

Nick ignored Stan's ramblings and crouched next to the woman. She wasn't moving, but she was still breathing. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that some of the glass had cut her when her helmet shattered and a few small pieces had gotten lodged in the sides of her face. Those were going to hurt when they were pulled back out, but she didn't seem to be in critical condition. With a sigh, Nick came back up and glanced over at Stan.

"Looks like we can keep on going," he said. "Nothing else to do..."

"Hey!" Another of the strangely suited people came running out of the shadows. This one sounded female. She didn't even look at Nick or Stan, but instead dropped down next to the other girl and started shaking her. "Come on! Wake up!"

"Like I said, too hot for me to handle. You can uh...go back if you want. I'll stay here and wait."

Kanta watched as Nick ran back in the direction they came in to go and assist Stan. He leaned back against the inner wall of the sewer and waited, and waited. For what seemed like an eternity the pair of bounty hunters hadn't shown up yet and Kanta himself was more or less anxious to get out of the sewer. Taking hold of his trusty shotgun, the mercenary ran at a brisk pace towards where the other two faced the masked stranger.

"Can't send a boy to do a man's job, I suppose! ...Huh?"

While running, Kanta heard the sound of something hitting one of the walls. Hard. Eventually he caught up to the two bounty hunters and quickly surveyed the scene. Apparently, they had just defeated this "pyromaniac".

"Hm, what's with the chicks in the suits?"

Another similarly dressed person ran in, though obviously female from the pitch of her voice. She tried to wake the unconscious woman up, but to no avail. Putting his shotgun away for now, Kanta turned around and looked at Nick and Stan.

"Soooo...what now fellas?"

"Now?" Nick looked over at Kanta. "Now I guess we just leave. Nothing else for it..."

"HEY! YOU!" The woman who had just arrived came to her feet and advanced on the three men. "What were you thinking? My sister wasn't going to burn you! She just wanted you to go that way!" The woman pointed off down the corridor in the direction that Kanta and Nick had run. "'Course, she did have to defend herself when you attacked...so you might have gotten hurt from that..."

Nick's mouth dropped open at this revelation and looked back and forth between Kanta and Stan. "T-That was their plan? Is everyone in this town so stupid?"

"Not stupid," the woman growled. "You just would have had no reason to trust us unless we held you down and forced you to see that we were friendly."

Nick sighed and hung his head. This was ridiculous. They were getting blamed for defending themselves against a fire wielding maniac, who had decided not to announce her intentions beforehand. Of course, she did have a point about them not trusting her. He certainly wouldn't trust anyone in this city. They could all be in league with the Worthingtons.

Stan strached hos head in confusion, trying to make sense of the strangers plan, before concluding; "Why put so much hassel into doing that? Guess I should of ran, a lot less hassel then." He then stared a tthe two women once again, before placing his knife into his pocket, and smacking his fist against the palm of his hand and smiling by finaly remebering. "AHA! I don't know either of you! Finall now I won't have to-" Stan the suddenly started coughing up blood, and fell to his knees from his coughing fit, managing to splutter out a few words; "I shouldn't of tried to swallow that knife, too much hassel.", before going into another coughing fit, spewing blood once again.

Nick dropped down next to Stan and grabbed the other man's arm, putting it around his shoulders. He then stood, helping Stan back to his feet.

"Come on, man," he said. "We've got to get out of here and find some weapons."

"We've got weapons," said the woman who was still conscious.

"So?" Nick asked her. "What good does that do us?"

"Well...we were going to share them with you," the woman said. "You are bounty hunters, aren't you?" Nick's eyes widened in shock. How could she have known? But then, seeing his expression, she waved aside his concerns, saying, "We've got spies in the Worthington household. We know a lot of their dirty little secrets. And one such secret is that two of their family got taken down by a couple of bounty hunters and they wanted to capture said bounty hunters to make an example of them. So we set up ambushes to help you get away from them. Fortunately, they were not needed." She paused and looked first at Stan and then at Nick and she said, "You see, we want you to drive out the Worthingtons for us."
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Mary stood in the center of the city, her hands on her hips. Ren and Calin stood before her, exchanging guilty looks. Mary had just almost had her head cut off by Calin's chain when she ran into the smoke. Fortunately for her, she had heard the sound of its movement and blocked it with her spear. Now the smoke was gone and the two of them were left to face her fury.

"YOU LOST THEM?" Mary exploded. "Do you realize what you've just done? Our own lives with be forfeit for this! Even mine! And this is my family we're talking about here!"

Mary began to pace back and forth, agitatedly. Never before in her life had she been caught in such a predicament. Sure, her oldest brother put a lot of stock in taking care of his family, but when it came to personally dealing out punishments, he wasn't very forgiving.

"Okay, so we've got to get them back," Mary muttered. "And soon. You two. Get my younger brother. You know, the one who is not in prison because of those bounty hunters."

Calin gulped nervously. Even the tough-acting Ren looked frightened.

"But ma'am...he's..." Ren began to say.

"I know what he is," Mary whispered. "But I need him. So go, and bring me Hyde."

Stan managged to stop coughing blood for a moment, long enough to ask; "Wait, your giving us weapons and want the worthington's turned in? Are you guy's marines? Or maybe you just want someone else to get the bounty for you? Eh, talking hurst so it's too much of a hassel right now." Although managing a fairly long questioning, the lanky bounty hunter began coughing blood once aagain, attempting to wheeze out the words; "Five knives".

"Uh...we might want to get you fixed up first, man," Nick told Stan. He looked questioningly in the woman's direction and she nodded before reaching down for her own injured comrade: the unconscious girl on the floor.

"I'll take you to my people and explain things as we go," she replied. She headed off in the direction Nick and Kanta had been running. As she did, she spoke, saying, "My people once lived in Goldendale. We were merchants, fishers, doctors, chefs, waiters, Marines, and there are even a few ex-pirates with us. Some of us knew a few of the others, but most of us did not. The thing that brought us together was the Worthingtons. To put it simply, they hate our guts. There are many reasons for why they do not like us. Gambling debts. Stolen secrets. Sex slave escapees." She shuddered at the mention of this last one. "Regardless, they want us dead. So we survived the only way we could. By making a new home where they could not find us."

At this point, the woman came to a halt and reached over, taking hold of a roundish-looking stone in the wall. She turned it and pushed and a part of the wall opened. Nick marveled at the sight. The stone was a door handle and this door....it was ingenious. He would have never figured out what it was on his own.

The woman's story continued as she led them into another passageway, this one much cleaner than the first.

"Fortunately for us, there was a man who planned ahead for this eventuality," she said. "He is a mechanical genius who worked for the Worthingtons. But as he learned, and has told us, the Worthingtons kill those they no longer need. After they had learned all they could from him, he was going to die. So he built an underground chamber with the help of the others who are hiding from the Worthingtons." The woman glanced back behind him. "Last one in, close the door."

Kanta folded his arms and listened to the woman's story. He followed along as best as he could, though something else was bothering him. That "something else" being Stan's blood-filled fits of coughing every so often.

"Geez man could you...oh I don't know, not swallow knives anymore," he exclaimed. "So these people want the Worthingtons gone too, huh?"

By the time he spoke, the woman had finished part of her story and walked over to a part of the wall. She fiddled around with a stone fixation embedded there for a moment, prompting the wall to open up and reveal another passageway. It was impressive; whoever built this place must've been one heck of a genius. He let the others go on ahead before muttering a brief "Got it!" in response to the woman's request, closing the door behind him.

"So these Worthingtons...they sound like real jackasses," he said. "I mean, what's their deal? Why haven't the Marines done anything about these guys yet?"

"The Marines have tried to stop them," the woman replied. "Remember how I said that some of those down here hiding are Marines?" She paused for a moment, letting this sink in. "Besides, the Worthingtons make deals with the Gorosei. They 'fix' things so that they can operate without too much interference."

"Until we came along," Nick commented.

The woman smiled and nodded. "Yes. I guess you could say that you and your partner are the stones that were tossed into the perfect pool that the Worthingtons set up. Your presence has created ripples that have not only angered them, but shown people that they are not invincible. In short, they fear you." All the while as she talked, she was walking on and on down the tunnel. Finally, they reached the end and the tunnel widened before them. "Welcome to the underside of Goldendale. This is our town."

It was indeed a town in its own right. Stone houses had been constructed in the center of the tunnel area, which had been significantly enlarged to fit them all in. Some houses were even built into the walls. People strolled up and down the streets, purchasing goods from stores or merely window shopping. Some were even walking pets.

Stan stared sleeply at the large underground town for a few moments before concluding; "Is there somewhere that I can get my throat fixe dif it isn't too much hassel?", but before he could even get an answer, the lanky bounty hunter yawned ludly and awkwardly layed on the ground, putting his head on top of his hands which where pressed together, acting as a pillow. "Too much hassel staying awake, gonna sleep for a bit.", he said before quickly falling into slumber, snoring loudly.

"Of course," the woman said to Stan, just before he fell asleep.

Nick looked at her apologetically. "He does that a lot. Don't worry about it."

She laughed. "I understand. I had a friend just like him at one time. Come with me. I shall take you to the doctors'." She shifted the girl in her arms and smiled. "I will need to drop off my burden as well."

Nick nodded before dropping down next to Stan and lifting him in his arms easily, despite the difference in size. He then followed the woman through town to the doctors' office where he left Stan in one of the waiting rooms. The woman then led Nick and Kanta to a restaurant and left them there with enough cash to buy four, full meals, should they have needed that much. While he waited for her to return, Nick ordered himself a meal.

(I'm going to be doing a couple hour time skip soon unless there is anything else anyone would like to say.)

(ummm I can't really post for a while until someone manages to wake Stan up, sooooo really I can only post this)

Stan snored noisly as he was slumped over a number of chairs awkwardly, completely unaware of his surroundings, and muttering in his sleep; "Why's the ground gone all lumpy? What a hassel."

(So sorry for the delay. I kept meaning to post...I just didn't. I'll try to do better in the future.)

Six hours later...

Nick was now sitting in the lounge of the home of the woman who had led them to the underground city. He was leaning back in his chair, enjoying the rest. He didn't get much downtime with his job and to him this kind of thing was wonderful. Especially since just a few hours ago Nick had honestly thought he was going to die.

The woman, whose name was Sh'lainn Blaze, had left again to go check on Stan. She would probably be reaching him soon, Nick figured. Despite its impressive appearance and all of the hard work that must have been put into it, the town was not actually all that large. Everything was easily within walking distance, even more so the shops, which were placed at the center. The entire tunnels went back about half a mile, at most, and they didn't branch off to the right or left very much.

Nick's thoughts turned back to Sh'lainn. He hadn't been sure what to expect when she took off her helmet and what he had seen surprised him. She was slight and young, perhaps a couple of years younger than him. Her hair was bleached blond, almost white. She was pretty, he supposed, but not gorgeous. Somehow he thought that made her seem even more attractive.

Nick shook his head. Why was he even thinking about these things? Sh'lainn was a nice girl who had helped them out, but that was all. All that mattered right now to Nick was bounty hunting. Romance could come later when he was ready to settle down like his father before him. Until then he had zero interest in women in general.

Since he had nothing better to do, and didn't want to think too much about Sh'lainn, Nick began looking over the pistols he had been given. They seemed to be in prime working condition, but he couldn't be sure of that until he field tested them. Apparently they had also issued knives to Stan as well. Nick only hoped his friend could still use them.
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Sh'lainn stepped out the room where her friend had been laid to rest and heal. She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes. It had been a long day and so much had happened. First with the appearance of Nick and Stan and now the possibility of the Worthingtons being crushed...it was all so overwhelming.

Sh'lainn went towards Stan was being kept. The doctors had said he would be alright, but she didn't want to intrude upon him if he was asleep or didn't want any visitors.

She came up to his door and knocked gently saying, "Walters Stanley? May I come in?"

Stan was originaly lying on the ground before Sh'lainn came in, but sat up in slight confusion for a moment and replied; "Ummmm okay. Are you here to give me some knives and a pair of shoes?", asking the question in puzzlement, after not being entirely sure where everyone was currently. He then added; "Where is Nick and the sneaky bloke?", as he awkwardly stoop up, trying to stifle a yawn at the same time.

"Sneaky bloke?" Sh'lainn repeated as she came into the room. "Oh. You mean Kanta. Well, I would assume that he is back at my house. That is where I last saw him and Nick." She went over and sat in a chair next to his bed before pointing at a bedside table, which had a drawer on it. "I believe my people left you a few weapons in there while you were still out of it. There should be five knives in there, though Nick told us you usually wear two of them inside your shoes. Unfortunately we do not have anything like that. As for your shoes, they are under your bed." She leaned forward in her chair and clasped her hands in front of her. "I was mainly coming to check up on you for your friends, but is there anything else I can do to help? Any questions you might have?" She laughed lightly. "I can understand if all of this is a bit overwhelming."

Stan merely shrugged as he used one of the knives to carve into the shoes. He then looked up at Sh'lainn and asked slowly, though much more conversationly than usual; "Firstly, have you got a few small bits of metal, a screwdriver, screws, a spring, and some string? and secondly, why hasn't anyone else tried to take out the worthingtons, even if they do 'buy tickets to the marine charity ball', and thirdly, have I met the girl that took us here before? She seems really familiar. And lastly, have you got any bounty posters on the criminals around here?", and then added; "I dont really mind if you answer these or not, it's pretty much a heap of hassel."

Sh'lainn smiled and held up her hands. "Slow down there! I can only answer them one at a time. Okay, first of all, yes. We should have what you asked for. I'll get someone to send you the items when I am finished here. Second, a few Marines have tried to deal with the Worthingtons, but they always get held back by a commanding officer who has been paid off by the Worthingtons, or they are assassinated and blame is put on someone else, or they escape and end up down here. They've tried to escape the island, but the Worthingtons keep a close eye on everything. No one has made it past them yet. Third, that girl who brought you here was me. Or did you mean my friend? Her name is Lindsey. And fourth...bounty posters, right? I'll have those sent along with your supplies."

There was another knock on the door and following the knock came a voice, "Mr. Walters? I have the results on your surgery here." A man stuck his head around the door and smiled at Sh'lainn. "Oh, I didn't know you have a visitor."

Sh'lainn stood up. "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask," she said told Stan. She went to the door and slipped around the man, who came in as she left.

"The doctor says you're in good condition," the man told Walters. "Though he also suggested that you take a few days off to rest before doing anything else."

Stan waved lazily to Sh'lainn as she left him, and turned to listen to the doctor, grinning from what he had just told him. "That's good, I'd rather like a long relaxing time off from work. No hassel, just lying about doing nothing. ", the lanky bounty hunter said to himself cheerfully, before sudden realisation came over him, one which he thought would be quite some hassel. "Hmmmm, that is a problemNick probably won't let me rest, we do have a big job on our hands to do. What a hassel." He then sat there and thought carefully for a few moments before saying to the doctor, "Run down to that girl's house and tell them i'm awake now and i'm supposed to rest for a few days, if it's not too much hassel.", and lying down on the bed to in a comfortable position, and falling asleep.

Stan waved lazily to Sh'lainn as she left him, and turned to listen to the doctor, grinning from what he had just told him. "That's good, I'd rather like a long relaxing time off from work. No hassel, just lying about doing nothing. ", the lanky bounty hunter said to himself cheerfully, before sudden realisation came over him, one which he thought would be quite some hassel. "Hmmmm, that is a problemNick probably won't let me rest, we do have a big job on our hands to do. What a hassel." He then sat there and thought carefully for a few moments before saying to the doctor, "Run down to that girl's house and tell them i'm awake now and i'm supposed to rest for a few days, if it's not too much hassel.", and lying down on the bed to in a comfortable position, and falling asleep.

"I'll send the message along," the man said, before turning away from Stan and leaving the room.
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Ten minutes passed. While Stan slept, Nick was still at Sh'lainn's house, getting ready for the upcoming battles. The guns he had received seemed to be in excellent condition. Now all he had to do was test them in the field. He didn't want to use them in Sh'lainn's house because 1: he didn't have anything to shoot at, and 2: he didn't want to scare the neighbors.

Nick settled back in the chair and closed his eyes, smiling as he did so. He was ready to take a nice long nap. The battles would come soon and he would need his rest.
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Near the entrance to the underground city, the loud sound of breathing could be heard. The breathing sounded only vaguely human. It had more of a bestial quality to it. The creature that was making the sound didn't appear to be entirely human either.

He was a man, though that description seemed to be apply only loosely. He was dressed simply in a loincloth that completely covered his privates and not much else. The rest of him was visible for all to see. His dark hair was long and almost reached his waist. His lips were pulled back, revealing his yellowish teeth in a wide grin. His nails on his hands and feet were long and dirty and looked more like claws than anything else.

Mary, Ren, and Calin stood nearby, looking revolted by the figure hunched in front of them.

"So...um, Hyde...is this the place?" Mary asked, taking a cautious step forward.

"Yes," the man said, his voice deep and husky. Then he giggled, which in contrast to his voice was high pitched and made him sound even more insane, had that been possible. "Hyde found them! Heeheehee...Jekyll couldn't have done that!"

"Um, I have just one question," Calin said. Hyde looked at him and he took an involuntary step back. "I-I mean a question for Mary, sir." Hyde nodded, looking satisfied, and returned his attention to the wall in front of him. "Ma'am, if Mr. Hyde could have found them before now, why haven't we asked him to do it?"

Mary didn't even look annoyed by the question, which was a first for her. "My brother is unpredictable," she said quietly. "And he is more dangerous than either me or our eldest sibling. Even asking him to do this much is risky. He could still go on a rampage and kill us all!"

"Wall in Hyde's way," the lumbering savage grunted as he moved forward. "Hyde will change that."

He pulled back his fist and punched the wall, literally shattering the concrete into thousands of pieces. Hyde let out a howl of victory, which could be heard all the way through the twisting tunnels.

As an immensely loud roar swept through the underground city, shattering windows, making the locals ears bleed, and actually managed to wake Stan up. "Huh, odd, don't remember, seeing any animals around this place." Stan mumbled to himself, as he slipped on his unfinished shoes and stuffed his knives in his pockets, before clumsily embarking to find the hospital exit, before resoning; "Hang on, it would be just some hassel if I just go look for some type of animal that's loud. Forget it, I don't really care." He then curled up in the middle of the hallway, and slept.

Hyde rushed into the tunnels with the others trailing behind him. He was in full bloodlust mode and charged straight into the town. People saw him coming and began scattering, screaming as they did so. Those who were too slow to avoid Hyde or simply froze in shock were lifted up in the man's hands and torn to pieces within seconds. Hyde was having the time of his life. He was laughing as he ripped men, women, and children limb from limb indiscriminately.

Mary, Ren, and Calin were a little bit more careful. They killed only when someone tried to stop them. It wasn't like they wanted to bring the whole town down on their heads. Now the whole town attacking Hyde, that was a different matter. But then, he was too stupid to get hurt. Or at least, that's what they thought.

There were two loud BANGS and Hyde screeched in pain, dropping a man he had been about to tear in half. He turned to Nick standing there holding a pair of smoking pistols.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nick demanded.

"Little man hurt Hyde..." Hyde wheezed. "HYDE KILL HIM!"

He charged Nick who dashed towards the beast-man. Hyde reached out with his arms trying to seize Nick in an embrace that the bounty hunter would not survive. At the last possible second Nick sprang forward and kicked off Hyde's shoulders, flipping behind him. While he was in mid-flip, Nick opened fire pouring four shots from each gun into Hyde's back. Then he landed and spun around to face his opponent who was once again screaming in pain. However, he wasn't slowed down as he turned to face Nick once more.

"What is Hyde made of?" Calin asked Mary.

"My younger brother didn't just become insane when he experimented on himself," Mary replied. "He also increased his own endurance, speed, and strength. He is, for all purposes, little more than an animal. At least, he is when he is like this."

As the sound outside the hospital grew louder, Stan was awoken once more, much to his annoyance. "Can't people stop causing hassel when I try to sleep?", he complained as he got up and walked outside the hospital to see what on earth was causing all the fuss. As he did, he was welcomed with the sight of Nick battling what appeared to be some disfigured monstrosity of a man, with a trio of familiar figures nearby. "Oh, fair enough then.", Stan admited as he attempted to activate his heel flick knives in his shoes, until he realised he had not fitted them in yet. "Right, time to try this then.", he said to himself sheepishly, to which he took of his shoes and placed them in his pockets, and placed a knife in between his toes on each foot, before holding the last three as he usually did. "Right, let's go.", he tried to encourage himself, as he shuffled along on his heels.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ren muttered.

"What?" Calin asked, glancing over to see what she was looking at. He caught sight of Stan and the knives he was carrying in between his toes and he rolled his eyes. "Oh, never mind."

Hyde hadn't noticed Stan yet. He was too focused on this pesky man in front of him, who had just rolled underneath his arm and come up behind him to pour a few more shots into his back. Screaming with insane bloodlust, Hyde swiped again and again at the slippery bounty hunter who jumped, ducked, rolled, and flipped around each attack.

Despite what it may have looked like from the sidelines, Nick knew he was going to lose. This monster man had already proven his strength and endurance during his initial assault on the town and he showed no sign of slowing down. If anything he was becoming even more crazed by the fact that he couldn't catch Nick. Not only that, but Nick was running low on ammo.

As if on cue, Nick's pistols ceased their seemingly unrelenting fire and clicked, indicating they were empty. Nick froze for just a second to glance down at his weapons. In that instant Hyde sunk his fist into Nick's chest and blew him away. One moment he was there, the next he had slammed into a wall about forty feet away. The shock and pain nearly knocked him unconscious. The only reason he remained awake was the knowledge that if he fainted now, there would be no one to defend the town. At least, that is what he thought. Even so, despite his determination, he was too weak to move as Hyde advanced on him to kill him.

Some time ago, while Mary entered the underground city, David, who was covering himself with his hair in order to not be recognisable in case he was seen, entered as well. Apparently, he followed the woman in the strange underground city. Upon seeing the city, he could not believe in his eyes. He would never expect to see a city in a place like that. That was really surprising... At least that was what he thought.

However, upon seeing Hyde running quickly towards a place, he decided to follow him instead. Maybe, it would be a greater idea if he followed him. He seemed to be just as strong as Mary, but David had the feeling that he would overpower him if they battled together. Without losing any time, he started following him for quite a while and in the end he realised where he was going...

Apparently, the monster was moving towards Nick and Stan! Yes! That was right! Stan, the man that David befriended a while ago was there, too. The Bounty Hunter was more than happy to see that his friend was there. However, before he could even say anything to him, he noticed at Nick getting hit from the monster in the chest and fainting... That was incredible... Hyde possessed such strength. The Bounty Hunter would have to go with great tactics in order to win against him...

Without losing any time, because if he did Nick could be killed by Hyde at any time, he decided to show himself. He approached Hyde from behind, while hair was covering his body. If Stan looked at Hyde and behind him, he would notice David... He said "Hmph... Monster... Let my friend's friend go..." as his hair started taking the form they used to take before David prepared himself for a battle, thanks to his Life Return. "Let these two go and face me." he shouted as he prepared for anything... He was determined to take on Hyde.