(OOC: O.O this has potential! Mind if I join?)

The laughter continued outside on the porch of the tavern, people who had been sat there moving to the door to hear more clearly. A couple of figures leaned towards the door, leaning across a tall, thin figure in a long fawn coat and brown leather trilby hat who was leaning with his back against the doorpost of the tavern. As they did so the tall figure hissed, making them jump.

"Yo' in mah space." muttered a cold, calculating voice.

One of them, a big, burly figure, fixed the man with a cold stare. "What did you say, freak?"

The other's head raised slightly, showing two glowing yellow eyes in the shadow of the trilby hat. There was a flash of metal and the customer was grabbed around the throat with crushing force by a powerful metal arm, tipped with long, sharp claws.

"Ah said..." replied the voice, "...get outa mah space!"

The customer nodded quickly, as best he could in the figure's powerful grip, and the coated figure releaced him. This dealt with, the figure dropped his head again and resumed listening to the banter inside the bar, curious about the grey fox's claims...

(OOC: Let me know if anything needs changing^^ Bio in the next few posts.)

OOC: I like the sounds of this, may I join? (=

IC:

Balli, a smokey eyed female fennec fox had been in the middle of a conversation with other furries. Except she was sober and some of them were a bit sloshed and incoherent after their alcoholic beverages.
"Echidnas in Australia huh?" she muttered.
"Yup! Dang nammit! I wanted ta catch the one I saw and keep him all to mayself!" said a great dane with a ridiculous looking cowboy hat. Shortly afterwards, the whole table broke out in laughter.
"Even more so than Balli?" another commented, causing the table to laugh even more.
Balli had had enough. She pushed back her chair and stormed off in a ticked off mood, her face concentrated in a silent snarl at to the peak of her musel. She needed some information, and the locals were being idiotic.
She suddenly stopped when she heard an accent that stood out from the rest of the room. Either the accent intrigued people- or it stuck out like a soar thumb. Either way, Balli turned to look at a Grey fox, Marcus, who felt confident enough to talk away.
"You're a limey!" The coyote unashamedly stated the obvious. "What ahre you doing in Texas?" Marcus chuckled.
"I happen to be recruiting for a business venture I have planned..." The middle-aged fox explained.
"Whaht sorta, 'venture?" the coyote asked, loud enough that the whole room could hear.
"Why," Marcus spoke in all honesty. "I intend to break into the old Fort Knox Gold Reserve, and make myself and anyone brave enough to come with me billionaires."
Balli couldn't help but snigger as well. Still, she found it amusing that this clown stood out from all the rest.
Smirking to herself, she thought, what did she have to lose.
She ran over to the table where Marcus had been sitting, almost shoving the coyote out of the way, but quickly halted and mouthed a 'sorry' through a sheepish grin.
After the coyote scowled and straightened up, Balli smirked and rolled her eyes, before she looked at Marcus.
"I'd be interested in your venture," Balli said, just so that the surrounding people could here rather than the whole room. It was all very well if he wanted to make a fool of himself, but for now she would pass.

Spaz the bat sat on a bar stool and drank his ale, looking at his red eyes and libre piercing when a grey fox started talking about breaking into Fort Knox. At first he thought it ridiculous. Nobody could do that. Not even himself, the amazing thief. He had stolen countless jewels, in the most protected museums and exhibits, but he couldn't even get into Fort Knox.

He then reconsidered. What if this guy knew what he was talking about? He could be a B I L L I O N A R E! Thew word flashed in his mind a few times. Then he realized why he never could do it. He was a lone thief, and it was at the very least, a three man job. He decided.

B I L L I O N A R E

He walked over to the fox with the funnyy acent and looked him in the icy blue eyes. "I heard Fort Knox, gold, break in, and billionare all in the same sentence. If you need a team, I'm in."

OOC: I hope this is okay. I've always wanted my character to be a thief, and this is perfect for me. If you don't like it and think that'd be too easy or like, think I'm trying to be all smart and stuff, I'll change it.

OOC: All your chars are fine, thanks for joining =)

Wraith - is your char an Overlander/human btw? Just so I know what I'm dealing with. =P

IC:

Marcus cocked an eyebrow, looking the pair up and down with his eyes.
"Please, take a seat." the fox spoke, pulling up a couple of chairs either side of him. His two guests sat. "Now, am I to take it that you're actually serious about coming along for the ride and not some local drunks?" Marcus smiled his signature smirk.
"The question is, are you serious? You seem mighty confident about breaking into Fort Knox." The female fennec asked, her tone indicating that she wasn't too sure of Marcus' invitation.
"My name is Marcus Stonewall, you can say that I'm... ...an entrepreneur."
"An entrepreneur? Right..." the fennec spoke disbelievingly. Marcus continued his grin.
"I can sense that you're giving this a great deal of consideration, my dear. And I am absolutely serious. Why, I'm even surprised no one's even bothered to try it before. The original human garrison that was guarding the base is long gone, off to their underground cities. It may be in Kentucky, deep in Overlander territory as you know, but that barbaric lot have never stopped me before."
"If you've really got the ways and means to do this job, where's the dotted line?" The bat grinned, genuinely excited. He introduced himself. "I'm Spaz, and I'm an expert in these sorts of jobs."
"Pleased to meet you, Spaz." Marcus shook hands with the bat. "Consider yourself on-board." Balli looked on, expecting the conversation to end with a grand punchline or Marcus escaping out the door with the bat's wallet. "To business," Marcus began, lowering his voice and ignoring the female for now. "In a couple of minutes, I'm expecting an associate of mine to pop in for a drink, and tell me where he's parked my plane."
"A plane? Really..." Balli sniggered. Spaz listened intently. The grey fox continued.
"I had to avoid being seen by various...individuals, so switching my mode of transport was necessary. Once we've grabbed the plane, we'll take off and fly north to old Missouri and the city-state of St. Louis. Hopefully upon arriving there we can acquire the particular equipment we need, and then we fly east to Kentucky." The grey fox produced a crinkled but authentic looking flight-plan from out of his pilot's jacket.
"Still having second thoughts?" Marcus asked the fennec, who had been sitting listening herself.

Outside the tavern, a young and lithe cat, barely out of his teens, skittered up and barely avoided crashing into the patrons by the door. Behind him, a group of furs moved quietly, wearing long trenchcoats to protect against the cool night. The stranger with the trilby hat noticed these newcomers with curiosity.

This looks interesting...

Doing their best not to arouse attention, the five furs split up and took strategic positions around the tavern's entrance. One, a wolf, approached the doorway by himself, following the young cat. He nudged the tall stranger by the doorway, who scowled at the wolf. The grey-furred canine ignored him, and continued inside.

Balli's response to Marcus had been quickly cut off by the appearance of the grey fox's 'associate.' The cat bounded up, panting. Marcus stood and greeted the teenage pilot.
"She's out at the old airstrip, sir." The cat began. "Not five miles down the road from here. She's all yours."
"Good boy. Were you seen?"
"No sir, I don't think-"
"GET DOWN!" A voice bellowed. People screamed. The cat dropped to the floor, and behind him Marcus saw a wolf producing a sawn-off shotgun from his trenchcoat and aiming it at the fox. Instinctively, Marcus kicked the table over and pulled Spaz and Balli down behind it, just as the wolf fired. Pellets sprayed into the heavy table, but failing to get through the heavy wood construction. Taking cover behind it, Marcus took stock of the situation, thinking quickly.
"We have to get moving. We'll need to find transport and get to that airstrip. We may have to borrow that 18-wheeler. Miss Fennec, if you want to come along, make your decision sharpish, please!"

OOC:Looks good

IC:
Surging up from the table Kaine hit the wolf hard in the jaw with a well aimed punch before making a grab for the weapon. But the wolf recovered surprisingly quicker than expected and swung it round to face him, the belgian shepherd winced as the wolf went to pull the trigger. Suddenly he kicked the legs out from under him and he fell to the floor, firing and narrowly missing his head, deciding to make his exit now before he annoyed even more people, the black dog leapt a table and headed for the door, making a sharp turn left and ducking behind a table as one of the trenchcoated beings near the door pulled out their own weapons. Mentally kicking himself for jumping into a fight he looked around for a means of escape and noted the window, the classic escape route of those without any other means of doing so.
But as he began to make his move a warning shot was fired over his head, pinning him down. Pulling down the table for more protection he plotted his next move, his father always warned him that his rashness would get him killed one day. He'd never believed him until now.
TBC

(OOC: No he's Mobian Good point, I shoulde have mentioned. Sorry.)

IC:

BANG

The Wolf dropped like a stone. Everyone spun round to see the figure that had been stood outside the door, a Magnum in his metal right hand, the shadow from the hat still expertly shading his face.

The Magnum spun on the metal fingers as it went to it's holster, creating small sparks that danced their way to the floor. As he holstered the gun behind his long, fawn coloured coat, the figure turned and moved over to the three figures in the corner.

"Excuse me." came the soft, sinister voice. "Ah couldn't help but overhear your ratha crazy scheme. Ah offer mah services t' assist ya."

Marcus looked up at the figure in suprise. "And you are?"

"Ya cun call meh Snipah, cuz that's what ah am." replied the figure, his glowing yellow eyes burning down from the shadow of the trilby hat. "Ace shahpshootah, an' best dahn snipah in the whole o' America. Ah'm a Mercinary, I'll do any job for ah price, and a billion sounds like ah good price to accept."

Marcus glanced at the other two, unsure of what to say! The others seemed to be eyeing the figure's metal right arm with curiosity.

"Ah sugest we make haste." continued Sniper before they could reply. "There ah more of 'em outside, an' it won't take 'em forever to realaze their friend is dead." He turned, his long coat swinging with the movement, and stepped over to the door. "Ah'll just need some "equipment" from mah home, then ah'll be ready ta fly."

OOC: XD I love how you played out Balli... the smart ass! She was a random character but wow... I really loved those couple of speech lines. Even if it was a short play! ^_~

IC:

Balli gasped, lowering her ears and hyperventilated simualtaneously at the radical turn of events.
It was crazy enough that she chose to speak to this random character with a limey accent, who made promises of making his recruits 'billionaires'. He had introduced himself as Marcus. She knew that much, and she hoped that that statement would be true coming from him at the very least.
Then a bat shows up by the name of 'Spaz'.
And then Marcus claimed that he had a plane, with an associate nearby... and what was the rest of his statement?
She wondered perplexed. She couldn't quite remember the bizarre speech due to being cut short by some berserker wolf that tried firing at Marcus.
"We have to get moving. We'll need to find transport and get to that airstrip. We may have to borrow that 18-wheeler. Miss Fennec, if you want to come along, make your decision sharpish, please!"
"Balli." the Fennec fox answered.
"You what?" Marcus asked confused.
"My name is Balli. And yeah... will be joining you... in this 'conquest'... thing..." she smiled half-heartedly, before blinking as she saw the overlander that had shot the wolf approach them. As he began talking, she lowered her ears, but listened intently nonetheless.
"Ah sugest we make haste." continued Sniper before they could reply. "There ah more of 'em outside, an' it won't take 'em forever to realaze their friend is dead." He turned, his long coat swinging with the movement, and stepped over to the door. "Ah'll just need some "equipment" from mah home, then ah'll be ready ta fly."
"What?!" Balli retorted, making a face as she heard his statement "does this look like the right moment to be packing some stuff?!"
"Wah yes Miss. Fennec. Gots ta get my gear yanno. C'aint do without it," Sniper replied, adjusting his trilby hat.
Balli flitted her eyes between Marcus and Spaz.
"Right. So what are we doing now? Taking a ride in your high-class plane? Or following the LONE ranger?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she namely addressed her question at Marcus.

OOC: I like the sound of this, and am surprised by how fast its been moving! I hope there's no problems with a new fella hopping in

IC:

Five miles away from the small town, a lone figure walked. His footsteps echoed and crunched in the barren land. His keen eyes pierced the distance, and he saw a sign that read Frontier Tavern.

This figure was a human, sometimes called Overlanders now. His body was completely covered in white bandages, with two exceptions: the large, thick, glass goggles over his eyes; and the worn army boots on his feet. A large backpack adorned his back. No hair was visible. It would be hard to believe he were a human, if he hadn't been so tall. He towered up at more than eight feet!

Upon seeing the 18-wheeler pull up to the tavern, he smiled a bit. "Well, well..." he said to himself, not caring that he was talking to himself, "this looks interesting."

"This is a perfect place for me to get food and supplies. I just have to get there."

"Too bad those train robbers had to go and try something so stupid. My ride to Chicago is now a flaming mess because of them. Without my coat, cloak, scarf, and hat, I have almost no supplies. Ah, well, at least I took care of those idiots" A grin entered his face as he thought that.

Thinking it prudent to not waste time, now that he could see the town and all, he began to run.

It would take just a matter of minutes to walk to the tavern now, so the human slowed down. His eyes narrowed as he saw one of five individuals with guns enter the tavern, and then he heard gunfire! "It looks like this is a bad time for me to enter town. I guess I should just take advantage of the distraction and hook myself up with a ride."

His eyes spotted the 18-wheeler nearby, and he sprinted straight for it, keeping the tavern out of the corner of his eye. Upon reaching the vehicle, he found it was locked. With a quirky smile, he reached a long arm into his backpack, and pulled out a few tools. In but a moment, the lock popped open, and he set to work on hijacking it! Of course, he was completely oblivious that soon, several individuals might want this same vehicle for a ride out of here...

(OOC: lol Ben, I mentioned above my character was Mobian, not Overlander^^)

IC:

BANG

One of the figures outside the tavern collapsed. Immeadiately the other three dived behind their car for cover.

Sniper's yellow eyes narrowed as he grinned. "Ah got y'all scared now ha?" Spinning the Magnum on his metal finger once again, he quickly holsterd the gun. "No point in takin' care o' the rest ah ya. You ain't worth the prahce of a bullet." He glanced round at the others as they picked themselves up. "Ah'll be raght back."

With that he quickly slipped out the door. Instantly the air filled with gunfire as the remaining gunmen targeted him, causing most people in the tavern to throw themselves to the floor once again!

Sniper cartwheeled across the porch of the tavern, ducking and diving at suprising speed!He'd dodged a lot of bullets in his time, and now it was almost second nature to him. He grinned as he dissapeared round the side of the tavern. These shooters were even worse aim than most!

Round the side a number of veichles were parked, some burnt out, others old and decrepit, none particularly new-looking. Sniper made for an old motorhome and unlocked the door.

Moving swiftly, with a litheness and suppleness that many Mobians would envy, let alone the big, hulking Overlanders, he quickly moved from cupboard to cupbourd, emptying stacks of ammo into his long coat's capatious pockets. At the biggest cupboard he paused, smiling slightly.

"Come on mah baby." he whispered as he picked the massive sniper rifle out of it's case. "Come to papa." He slung the long rifle over his back and turned, ready to head back to the tavern.

Marcus and the others were by now convinced that the newcomer was dead. Who could have survived a barrage like that?

"What was that in aid of?" muttered Marcus quietly.

"Poor guy. I liked his coat." replied Spaz.

Marcus looked back over at the door. "Anyway, we've still got to figure how WE'RE gonna..."

More gunfire outside, and a moment later the coated and hatted figure slipped into the doorway and turned to face them.

"Mah appologies fo' the delay. Ah'm ready when y'all are." he grinned.

OOC:

Wayfarer ~

Welcome to the MoFo and the Role Player's Guild. I'm not that much of a regular, as others may well testify, but they'll treat you good here =). Thank you for deciding to take part, I was beginning to get a little concerned about numbers...

Bentlee ~

Thanks muchly for the compliment ^_^; All I can say is, I try to do my best, and if I stuff up any of you guys' characters, feel free to berate me. =P

IC:

"Firstly," Marcus said, picking up the shotgun from the fallen wolf, and tossing it to Balli. He fumbled through the wolf's coat quickly and handed Spaz the coat and the handgun hidden inside. "You two'll need this." The two furs nodded slowly. "Let's move. It seems that we're becoming a little too popular..."
The small group, now armed and dangerous, raced swiftly from the chaotic tavern into the night. Standing unguarded amongst all the commotion, the mighty 18-wheeler loomed over the band of mercenaries.
"Does anyone actually know how to drive this thing..?" Balli commented, trailing off as Sniper raised a hand.
"Thah's somebody thah." The marksman spoke quietly. His acute eyes had already made out the tall shape of someone trying to fumble around in the driver's cab. "Ain't now Mobian on Eahth thaht big. Ovahlahndah, ah rahken." The group swiftly took cover beside the vehicle's massive passenger-trailer.
"Have any of you got any combat experience with humans?" Marcus inquired, whilst producing his trusty service revolver from inside his flight jacket.
"Ah've hahd a little," Sniper advised. "Best thahng is is tah tahke 'im out bahfore 'e tahkes y'all out." The other two nodded as well. The whole group, except for Sniper perhaps, was uneasy, as Mobians had always been intimidated by their furless 'cousin's' titanic size.
"Alright," Marcus struggled to make himself heard as the last of the frightened tavern patrons ran off to their various homes and shelters. As silence descended, he spoke. "Sniper, you and Spaz take this side, Balli and I will go round the other side of the cab and try to jump it at once. Don't kill it, I want to know what a human is doing all the way out here - last thing I heard, the last above-ground human cities were Chicago, New York and New Washington...not Texas." The fox looked over his team. Sniper was obviously good at his game -one to watch out for. Spaz also seemed to know what he was doing, as he cocked his weapon. Balli still had an air of mystery about her, and an awful lot of potential. Marcus allowed himself a small, knowing smile as he looked at the fennec, hoping that she failed to spot it in the darkness.
"Let's do this."

Spaz put his finger on the trigger and looked at Sniper. "You ready?" Sniper replied with a nod and waited of the a signal.

He opened the door and held the gun up at the stranger, and pulled him out onto the ground. "Who may ah ahsk, are you? And furthahmore, what ahre ya doin' where ya shouldn't be?"

The two foxes came around the front of the cab and took a view at the scene in front of them. Spaz never let his sght wander, but aimed a comment at the pair. "Sahrry. Ah took tha initiative."

OOC: If you could ertainTwoTailedFox, I'd like you to tke control of my character for a day cause I'm leavin' for about that long. Thanks.

OOC: Well, that was quick!

IC:

"Just cross these two wires, and..."

The engine started, and the human smiled. "There!"

He let his thoughts of triumph distract him from the situation outside, until he found himself out on the ground, several Mobians around him, and at least one of them pointing a gun at him! The southern accent common to this region reached his ears, and it took but a moment for him to translate. Spreading his arms and hands away from his body, showing that he wasn't going to try anything, he released his grip on his screwdriver and wrench. "I am The Wayfarer, but all of you fellahs can call me Way. I was just working on getting a ride out of here, having lost my own. There isn't much time, though! If you want to tag along, that's just fine by me! But we'd better hurry!"

IC:
Kaine noticed the quick departure of the one person he'd wanted to talk to and cursed, throwing caution to the winds he flung himself out the window and landed sfaely on the otherside in the night, if not a little cut from the glass.
He pleted round the building and saw the group around an Overlander on the ground, he looked quickly from the vehicle to the pinned Overlander and then to his tools and put the clues together.
Slowing he came up to them aware that a few turned tolook at him in a defensive position.
"Good your not gone yet. Look, I'd like to volunteer as well. If there's any room left for more," He looked around at the others already a part of the group...
TBC

(OOC: Wayfarer, I thought you were already signed on here! I never noticed your post count! lol good to see you've joined here too pal, welcome to the MoFo^^)

IC:

"Just who said you were comin' with us?" Sniper muttered to the Overlander quietly. "We need the veichle...yo're expendible." He grinned as the Overlander stiffened at his words.

Then another figure stepped up behind them.

"Good your not gone yet. Look, I'd like to volunteer as well. If there's any room left for more,"

Sniper glanced at the newcomer for a moment, then looked back down at the Overlander. Torturing him was much more interesting...

OOC: Thanks, Wraith. I used to be on a lot of boards, but I got out of it for a few years. EliteBoard was actually my fresh start!

Oh, it is okay to shoot him! I'm not telling why, just if it comes to that...

IC:

Way gulped. He wasn't liking the sound of where this was going. But he continued to be bold, speaking as though the positions were reversed. "Now listen here, little one, there ain't time to be messing around! Take me prisoner and deal with me later, if you want, but getting out of here should be the top priority! I'm a good driver, and I'm pretty familiar with the land. I'll drive you wherever you need to go, if you're willing, but we have to hurry!"

Way paused for a moment, then added, "If you'll spare my life, I'll help your group for as long as you want. A pledge of loyalty, if you're willing, will be yours."

OOC: Random 'Welcome to the mofo' from me

IC:

Balli exchanged glances with Marcus at the scenario ahead of them. Balli really hadn't expected Sniper to jump the gun so quickly.... literally.
She then noted how the hijacker as it were, was bidding to drive the group out of here if his life was to be spared. Personally he sounded as if he would stick to his word... but would he turn on them?
He was a tall overlander, with the potential to 'hijack'. He must surely have been armed henceforth.
Balli looked towards the arriving Kaine who spontaneously arrived on the scene.
She was suddenly perplexed as to where she ought to turn her attention to first, before sighing out in frustration.
"Okay just cool it you two!" Balli spoke, stepping between May and Sniper, giving a stern look "this geezer has a point, Sniper. If we keep on hanging around here, pointing guns at one another, we're gonna all get killed by those other psycho shooters before we get a chance to kill each other. So I say we let him 'be' the chouffer, for what it's worth..." Balli paused, before she risked to look at May, but would address her statement to the two anyway.
"Well?"
Before she hung around for an answer, Balli nudged Marcus, and directed his sight towards the newcomer, Kaine. Naturally she would have spoken to him first had she not felt uptight about this deadlock position.

OOC: Sorry for the delay in posting, I had only just found out about a speech I had to write so I had to work on it last night . Everything's fine now though ^_^;

IC:

Seeing the approaching Kaine, Marcus made a snap decision. "Everybody in!" Clambering into the cab, the group was packed in tightly. Marcus grabbed Kaine and hauled him in, as Way revved the vehicle's powerful engine and took off. The Overlander certainly seemed to know how to handle the vehicle, and deftly execute precise turns with the automative juggernaut. He piledrived through the settlement, barging any obstacle out of his way. The group was crushed together by the momentum, but all were willing to get away from Frontier and whoever it was who was after them.
After navigating through the ramshackle town, the 18-wheeler rumbled out onto the narrow dirt road that lead to the airfield. At last, the Mobians managed to collect themselves, as they anticipated their escape. They were, however, unimpressed.
"You have a lot of explaining to do." Balli chided, looking at the grey fox. Spaz nodded.
"You said nothing about being chased by armed goons!" Marcus hesitated before answering.
"I...apologise. I will try to explain as best I can once we're airborne. Right now, we're still in-"
A hail of machine gun fire cut him off, and bullets ricochetted off the metal hide of the enormous truck. Sniper peered out of the side window, and returned fire with his formidable rifle.
"Ah thahnk more ahf our friends ahr ahftah us - thahy've got ahttack buggies following us." Marcus cursed.
"How long until we reach the airfield?" Spaz asked.
"About a couple of minutes, and we'll be there." Way replied, over another ferocious burst of gunfire. "But I don't know how much more we can take of this."

Kaine looked back at the people in the attack buggies out the window, he turned back to the others,
"Could someone lend me a gun? I think I can help here."
He gestured to the roof and the sliding window inserted there.

Way reached a hand into his backpack, and pulled out a pistol with a large barrel, handing it to Kaine. "This is all I have left. I think it shoots lightning, but I don't remember."

Once the gun left his hands, he focused on driving again, picking up a little speed. Deciding to toss out a little banter, he commented, "Miss, I am almost inclined to take offense at being called a geezer. I am most certainly more than twice your age, and though I may have the appearance of a mummy, I'm not yet hundreds or thousands of years old!...I think."

Balli blinked a couple of times, somewhat startled when she heard that random statement coming from Way. She knew he was addressing her. There were no other 'females' as it were and she did keep a mental record of what she did and said.
"Excuse me?" Balli frowned at the floor momentarily, before looking at the back of the driving Way's head "I think I was trying to save your rear-end back there and all you care about is a half-hearted name?"
She was suddenly curious when she noted Way's somewhat educated manner of speech. Admittedly his appearance and actions would not have suggested this. She closed her eyes and smirked, nodding in slight defeat.
"Okay. I'm sorry. 'Way'." she said, noting his earlier statement when they had fist met him "I'll stick that. Peace!"

A pleasant smile formed on Way's face. "Thank you."

Wayfarer realized that the buggies were matching their speed, and that the truck wasn't made to deflect bullets. He placed a hand in the panel beneath the steering wheel he had opened. With a twist and pull, he ripped out a small device. "Got the governor!" He said excitedly!

While he wasn't sure if they knew what a governor was, they did notice that the truck began to pick up speed as he floored it, getting some distance between them and the buggies! He took a moment to rummage in his backpack, and pulled out a neatly-kept rose, with the thorns carefully snipped off. He handed it to Balli, and said, "Here, I'm not angry with you. This is for you, to show my sincerity."

Again turning back to his driving, he focused on the course at hand, avoiding bumps and the like, while his new comrades exchanged gunfire with the buggies. "Hey, if you think you need a hand, let me know!"

The action was fast paced and hectic. So much so, in fact, that it took them a long time to notice...

"Hey where'd Sniper go?" inquired Spaz suddenly. Everyone looked around in shock as they realised that he was no longer in he cab!

"What the...?" muttereed Marcus.

"Hold on..." said Way suddely. "Good grief what's he up to?" The Overlander pointed to one of the truck's wing mirrors, that had been knocked at an angle by the constant gunfire. It now showed the top of the truck's trailer, and sure enough there was Sniper, crawling stealthily along the roof with his rifle in his hand!

"How on earth did he get out the door without us noticing???" asked Bali in shock.

Sniper had got bored of the conversation. He was a loner, and didn't care for others much. They had there uses, but generally he just found them annoying, especially when they began to suck up to each other like Bali and Way were.

He had slipped out of the door, his experience making him a master at stealth, and climbed up onto the roof of the truck. Now he lay at the very end of the long trailer, rifle in hand.

He looked through the scope at the buggies. Three people in each...driver, Machine gunner, and an extra with an AK rifle. Too easy he thought, grinning slightly.

Taking aim, he fired at the machinegunner in one of the buggies, giving him a third eye socket in between the other two. The buggy swerved as the other two looked round in shock. They hadn't seen Sniper move to the trailer either!

Sniper grinned as he re-loaded the gun. Yo' next, pretties.

With a crash, the 18-wheeler ploughed through the thin wire fence that surrounded the small airfield. Behind them, the buggies attempted desperate evasive maneuvers, trying to avoid the lethal crosshairs of Sniper. To their right, more buggies crested the hill that ran adjacent to the runway, seeking to trap the fleeing group.
Marcus' plane sat on the runway, almost as massive as the 18-wheeler. The others could tell that it was Marcus' pride and joy, as his eyes lit up upon seeing it.
"Pull up alongside her, put the truck between them and us." the grey fox suggested, and Way nodded. With a screech so loud that it could have woken half of Texas, Way almost put the Mobians through the cab window as he brought the 18-wheeler to an abrupt stop next to the plane. Without hesitation, the group abandoned the cab and ran across the small stretch of dirt between them and the plane. Marcus looked up at Sniper.
"Disengage! We don't have time for this!"
"Ah ahlmost hahve this one..." Sniper said, even as machine gun fire whizzed dangerously over his head. With a single pull of the trigger, the marksman put another one out of his misery. "Thahre." he spoke, jumping down to join Marcus. "Ah ahlways kill whoever I lay mah sights on." The fox shivered.
"Quickly, let's go!" The two mobians scrabbled to the waiting plane, their heads ducked as another volley of fire pinged off the shining metal of Marcus' ride. In a few seconds that lasted a lifetime, they clambered aboard and shut the access hatch. Way was already in the pilot's seat, starting the two powerful propellers that drove the plane. Spaz and Balli had found the fuselage gun turrets, and had opened up on their pursuers with an almost-insane glee. As the plane started to roll down the runway, Marcus directed Sniper back to the rear gun turret, and he too began to exact his revenge.
The grey fox moved up to the cockpit, patting everyone on the shoulder as he passed. His team had down well, and he was proud of them. He still had to explain a few things, though. He clambered into the cockpit, where Way pumped the throttle up to maximum and Kaine looked over maps in the navigator's seat. Marcus slumped into the co-pilot's seat, just as the mighty aircraft left the ground.

They had done it.

Now, at least, they could talk, without somebody trying to kill them...

IC:
Kaine was now looking over maps, feeling a little useless seeing as all the turrets had been taken by the others. He'd managed to shoot a few people through the window which did surprisingly fire 'lightning'. Now he sighed and looked to Marcus and slightly ashamedly stated a rather irritating fact.
"Ur...I know this is probably not a good time but, I think you may have to navigate, I kinda have trouble ur...reading things up close, well, anything actually, without my um...reading glasses..." He trailed off, fiddling with a lock of his pure black fur.
Looking up again he continued,
"Is there something else I can do, preferrably killing them."
He gestured behind him vaguely in the direction of the attackers below.
"Or I guess I could help with other things too..." The belgium sheperd looked to Marcus again, curious as to what he'd decided.
TBC

Way smiled, in his element as he piloted the plane. His natural talents with machines, and the fact that this was a top-notch vehicle, helped to make this one of the smoothest rides he had ever experienced! Way continued to look forward as he said, "so...where are we heading?"

One of the people behind him replied, "to Fort Knox."

Since he didn't know who they were, he couldn't tell which one it was. Surprise entered his voice. "There? Wow. Okay, now that I know which direction I'm going, I would like an explanation as to what is going on! Granted, I volunteered, but I have no idea what I got myself into! There ain't all that many things that you can do at Fort Knox nowadays..."

"No, there's nothing much you can do now. You did very well to sneak into this mission." the grey fox smiled at Kaine. "And neg, not Fort Knox. We need more equipment - explosives, a large transport, weapons - first, which we'll have to get in Mobian St Louis north of here." Marcus told Way, who nodded. The grey fox elaborated. "Wayfarer - Kaine, like it or loathe it, you're both now a part of our little business trip to Fort Knox. We intend to make a little withdrawal from said gold reserve, and put all that gold to good use. Of course, we're going to have to navigate through Overlander-controlled territory. Hopefully though, you should be able to assist us with that, Way." The human nodded again, and returned to piloting the plane, thinking this over carefully. "Now, to address a few concerns..."
Marcus turned and unhooked a microphone from its fuselage-mounted holster. He put it to his mouth.
"Again, I'd like to apologise for my lack of forthrightness pertaining to this mission. This will be dangerous. I cannot guarantee anyone's safety and wellbeing. Any who have any issue with this can take it up with me, and we can drop you off wherever you may choose." Marcus paused, allowing this to sink in. So far so good.
"It saddens me to say this, but I have reason to believe that the friends we made back in Frontier are former associates of mine... ...from a business trip gone bad. They believed that it was better for their wallets to betray me at the last minute. A problem that I hope not to encounter again." The grey fox fingered his revolver.
"We should be arriving in St Louis in a few hours. Until then, feel free to raid the plane's food store, have a rest, or chat. We're a team now, and we should get to know eachother." The fox returned the microphone and got up. "Keep up the good work you two." Marcus smiled, as he went aft towards the others, who had extracated themselves from the turrets. They were now investigating the food storage compartments and the sleeping bunks of the large aircraft.
Marcus found Spaz and Balli raiding a small fridge full of food, whilst Sniper remained to the rear of the aircraft, lurking somewhere whilst he tended to his beloved rifle. The grey fox sat down with Balli next to a small eating table, as the fennec opened a packet of potato chips.
"Now, Spaz's the thief, Way's the mechanic and pilot, Kaine's the scout, and Sniper's, well, the sniper. So who are you, Balli?" Marcus smiled as he playfully stole a chip from her packet and crunched it in his mouth.

"The pofessional hostahge?" came a mutter from the back of the compartment. Balli looked ready to explode, but before she could Sniper continued: "No offence intended ma'am, but I nevah usually play a game with a woman. They often can't handle al' the strain." He raised his head slightly from the gun in his hand. "But then, maybe you'll prove meh wrong..."

He took a swig from the one thing he had swiped from the stores, a large can of beer, and sat back, chuckling to himself...

Balli was indeed, about to happily to tell Marcus who she was- until she was interrupted by 'as of yet', somewhat irretating 'Sniper' character with one of the most bizarre accents she had ever come across.
"Now just WHAT is your problem?!?" she demanded snappily, turning from her seat to glare at Sniper squarely in the eye "just because you're a boy high on his toy gun doesn't give you the right to act like an overbearing, self-opinionated and bombastic jerk!"
She sat back in her seat and smiled, stoic as to how Sniper would have reacted to that.
"Who said I was to participate in the game? Perhaps I am merely observing..."
At that statement, Marcus looked at Balli in a somewhat curious manner.
"I'm from Saudi Arabia. And I'm a princess," she smirked. Marcus was about to laugh in amusement at the metaphor and say agree with the half-hearted comment, before she continued.
"It's true! Oh well, actually I'd prefer it if you didn't take me seriously, even if it is the truth. That way I won't have to have people be overprotective with me..." she paused, looking out the window momentarily.
"I ran away. I had no life outside my palace. And I wasn't hot on my arranged marriage. So I decided one day to hitch a ride on one the export ships to America..." she smiled "I went in disguise. It was all very exciting actually. As soon as I arrived here, no one suspected a THING! And I was quite happy to blend into the ground of the ordenary folk... though a lot of them are a little too stupid for my liking..." she said, thinking about the drunken great danes back at the Texan pub.
"This all happened about a month ago. And I've never looked back. I've loved the freedom and it has all been rather thrilling... well... except my funds are running out so it's safe to say that that matter is a cause for concern."
She half closed her eyes, before looking at Marcus.
"I'm up for the adventure, pal. But I hope there really is a promising reward at the end of it all. Otherwise it'll get me started on worrying as to whether I was better off without a life, destined for a marriage with an ugly git!"
Balli looked around the plane, and smirked again.
"For what it's worth, so far I'm having fun."

OOC:It's good to be back. Sorry I was away. I missed all the action

"If your weapons you got are as nahce as these beds, Ah gotta see 'em. Ah love guns. Maybe that's whah Ah don't have a girlfriend. Ah love bullets more than them."

Sniper chuckled again, and Balli, venom in her eyes, span round to face him. "And what about you?" she asked pointedly. "You think you could come up with a better story?"

"Well ah'm truly sorry, yo' highness." replied Sniper sarcasticly. "Had ah known ah was adressin' royalty ah would have chosen ma words much mo' carefully."

"Just who are you and where are you from?" asked the Kitsune impatiently. This guy was unbelieveable!

Sniper raised his head, his yellow eyes glowing in the shadow of his hat. "Ah'm a nightmare." he replied in a strainge, almost insane tone. "Ah'm from a little corner o' hell that ah rent from the Devil." He made a few adjustments to his rifle then pointed it at the oppisite wall, peeping into the scope. "Ah have no history, an' no family, save for those ah send back home."

Marcus looked a little annoyed too. "Look, no offence man, but if we're going to be working together we're going to have to get to know each other properly..."

Sniper suddenly stood up and advanced menacingly towards him. "An' what do ya think ah'm doin'?" he hissed. He nodded his head at Bali. "She said her story wuz true, an' mine's just as raht as hers!" His yellow eyes narrowed to thin slits. "You wanna see a nightmare, hm?"

Marcus was speechless for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Before he could form a responce, however, Sniper reached up with his metal hand, grabbing his hat and pulling it of his head.

Everyone gasped in shock, some of them bringing their hands to their mouths as though they felt sick.

The face was, or at least, had once been, feline. Now, though, it was a tangled mess of metal, bone, and burnt, blackened skin. The eyes were mechanical, the bone eye sockets around them clearly visable thanks to the destinct lack of skin. Large metal shutters were above and below the wild, glaring eyes, incredibly crude eyelids, looking more like the shutters on studio lights. He had no nose: where his nose should have been was simply a gaping hole in the skull, surrounded by bits of grafted-on metal and burnt, leathery skin. His mouth was equally skeletal: half covered with the same burnt skin, shriveled and shrunk onto the bone like tar, the other half of his lower jaw had been replaced by metal. His lips were nonexistant, and his teeth, both metal and bone, were visable in his mouth, surrounding a blackened, shrveled tongue. The top of his head was almost comletely devoid of skin, mainly just white bone, with metal patches riveted on in places, possibly to cover holes. On the right hand side of his head, the torn remnants of a pointed, feline ear hung lifelessly, black and shriveled like the rest of the skin.

Sniper grinned-it looked more like some horrific zombie leer than a grin-his teeth clicking together with a loud CRACK.

"Ya'll see what ah mean, fellows?" Slowly he turned and replaced his hat, his grotesque features once again eaten up by shadow. "Ah used to be a White Tiger." he muttered as he returned to his seat and took another swig of his beer. "Now ah'm a living nightmare."

Straingely enough, there seemed to be a note of sadistic happiness in his voice...

Spaz came in with a huge grin on his face. He had two single action army revolvers, holstered up in his belt, and pullets going around the rest of the belt. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a white T-shirt.

He enetered and his grin turned to forwn. He knew something was wrong, and he unholstered his pistol and twirled it around his finger, stopping the gun in shoot position every now and then. When he reached Balli, he cocked an eyebrow and shot a smile. "S'everythang okay miss Balli?"

The Wayfarer sat alone in the front of the plane. He didn't feel a part of the conversation behind him, but he could hear it. Kaine had gone to looking in the stores. Way then remembered the maps that had been looked at, and he reached his right arm back to reach them. His arm stretched out far enough to grab the stack, and then he pulled them forward.

While he knew where they were, and where St. Louis was, he wanted to double-check, and get accustomed to Marcus' gear. He began to glance over the maps, keeping his eyes focused on piloting most of the time. He was perfectly comfortable multi-tasking, but still made every effort to be careful.

He also thought about how the front of the plane was probably a good place for someone who needed a break from the others.

"Aye, what kind of madness have I gotten myself into this time? Raiding Fort Knox? I had hoped to never go back there...and to think, if my timing had been different, I mighta been hunting these guys! ...gee, I hope my rose didn't get crumpled in all that confusion!"

"Lovely, Wraith." Marcus commented. He laid his head back against the fuselage, happy to get a bit of down-time. He casually looked out the passenger window, expecting to see an endless blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds.

The grey fox's eyes widened, before cursing loudly.

"Way! The fuel line's been damaged in that firefight! We're draining fuel!" Marcus dashed to the cockpit to join the Overlander. "How much fuel have we got left?"
"A little under half the tank. I barely noticed the leak, I figured the plane was simply a gas-guzzler." The grey fox grinned slightly.
"Not my baby...Kaine, toss me that map, I don't think we're going to make it to St Louis." The belgian shepherd passed it the Marcus, who began scanning it for any potential landing site. A long, quiet minute elapsed, as the others crowded into the cockpit to see what was happening.
"GOT IT!" The grey fox exclaimed. "We're in the middle of nowhere at the moment - somewhere over Oklahoma, been uninhabited since the Day of Fury - but there's a town with an airfield we can use, here..." The fox pointed it out to Way, who nodded. "The city'll be abandoned, but we can try to scavenge some fuel from somewhere once we get down there. I estimate an ETA of about 10 minutes...Way?"
"I can get her down, so long as the runway's long enough, hell, even if it ain't, I'll get her down." The human smiled.
"We should be prepared," Spaz advised. "I've been here before, on other trips. Real freaky stuff has been going on in these parts for decades, that's no one lives here. There's no telling what we might find down there."

Way focused all of his attention on the task at hand. "Everybody, find something to hold on to!"

Because of the lack of time to prepare, the plane wasn't able to make use of the entire runway, only part of it. As they began to touch down, Way did everything he could to slow the vehicle down. There was a building near the end of the runway, and Way sighed as he saw that there was no way of avoiding it. "err...bump!"

CRASH!!!

Thankfully, the building was made of wood, so it splintered easily, stopping the plane without doing much damage to it. Marcus got up, and looked at the crew. "Everybody okay?"

Words in the positive came from everyone, except at the front of the plane. Marcus glanced over, and saw that Way's seat restraints had busted, and he had gone flying into the window! Thankfully, the glass wasn't cracked, but Way was lying in a crumpled heap, a large gash bleeding badly on his head!

(OOC: lol CTTF, "Lovely Wraith"? I assume you ment Sniper there lol.

IC in a bit. busy now.)

Balli groaned somewhat, as she scrambled out of her seat. For some reason during the crash, she found herself flung somewhat upside down, with her legs dangling at the back of the seat she was in and her head on the seat.
"My head..." she groaned. It was almost as if Sniper's horrific sight had left her unconcious. It didn't... but it took a while for the penny to drop and for her to realise that the plane had, in fact, crashed.
She wasn't too sure how the others were. For now, all she could do was walk across the corridor in a complete total, and utter daze.
When she finally arrived in the pilot's cabinet, she nearly tripped over when she found her foot knock against something.
As she removed her hand away from her head, she was somewhat surprised and shocked to see the unconcious Way, in a heap.
She took a moment to take out the rose he had given her earlier. She had in fact, kept it in a small but neat little bag of hers.
The rose was still in tact. She was grateful to have been given this small token of 'forgiveness' as it were, from him.
She noted a scar across his forehead and suddenly became quite concerned.
Turning around and looking down the corridor of the plane, she frantically glanced at all angles of the plane.
"Is everyone okay?!?" she called out worried.
"We're okay," Spaz answered "but the question is... are YOU okay?"
"No. Way's unconcious," Balli answered "can someone please come over and help him?"

Sniper had braced himself against the wall with his metal arm as the crash unfolded, and so had escaped injury. Now he was stood in the walkway of the passenger compartment, dejectedly looking down at the can of beer in his hand, now empty thanks to falling over in the crash.

"Darn." he muttered ro himself quietly, crushing the can in the vice-like grip of his metal arm. Then he raised his head, his yellow eyes regarding the group in the cabin.

"Ah'm no good as a nurse. Ah think ah'll go check the perimeter."

He lifted his rifle up to his shoulder and moved off towards the plane's outer door.

Kaine had braced himself against the side of the door and had escaped most ahrm apart from the sudden lurch knocking a hard against his leg and trapping it for a while until the craft was steady. Pushing it away he foud that it hadn't done much, but it would hurt a bit, and he might have a bit of a limp.
He heard Balli and went to see what had happened, he looked downa t the still form of Way.
The black dog sighed, scratching his head.
"I know the basics, I'll fix him up." Kaine looked around for any medkits he'd prefer to use something clean and or sterilized, rather than a dirty piece of cloth ripped from some clothing.

OOC: Wraith, I would like to get in contact with you. My e-mail is in my profile. I'm not much for IM, but if there's a time you're in the EliteChat, lemme know and we can schedule something.

IC:

Way found himself in a completely white area. The floor was invisible, yet it was solid. He picked himself up off the floor, and looked around. The only thing he saw besides emptiness was a small, brown round table, with two chairs, one on either side of it. In one chair was Death. In the other chair was an Angel. They were playing poker. The Angel was a beautiful woman, reminding him of someone...a close friend? A sister? His Mother? She smiled at him, while Death stood up, dropping his cards and picking up his Scythe. "You again! Don't you ever get tired of coming here!?"

Way shrugged. "I've been here before? I don't-"

Death stomped over to him, raising his Scythe. "Get back there where you belong! It's not your time!"

As Death swung his Scythe, reality warped around Way, and bright flashes of light filled his vision...

Way began to fade back into consciousness, just as Kaine finished wrapping the wound. "uhh..."

Balli knelt down next to him. "Way, are you okay?"

Way started to get up. "...are you an angel?"

Balli smiled at that. "No, silly, you're not dead yet!"

"Oh." As Way stood up, he lost his balance, and fell back over! "Agh...so dizzy..."

Kaine and Balli helped him lie back down. "You just take it easy there, partner."

"Well, if you insist." Way cast a funny smile at them, then closed his eyes again.

Kaine looked down at the resting Way and decided he was alright now, he'd been worried a few seconds ago but now he seemed to be breathing properly.
Standing up after a few more seconds of checking he went to see what was in the storage room, like food and supplies that could be easily carried and wouldn't rot too easily.

Marcus followed Sniper out, stepping down onto the dusty tarmac of the runway. The sun beat down oppressively - it was unusually hot even for this time of year. The grey fox looked around, as Sniper stood guard. Surrounding the airfield were houses, shops, even cars still sitting in the roads, untouched for forty-one years. A ragged Stars and Stripes flew from a solitary flagpole by the main airfield buildings.
"It's ahwfully quiet." Sniper commented. "Nah birds or ahnimals, nothing."
"I don't like it either. But we have to get fuel for the plane, or else we'll have to get used to this." Marcus cocked his revolver. We should explore the airfield first, hopefully, we'll find something useful." Sniper nodded.
"I'm not losing you again." Marcus said under his breath, which Sniper barely heard. Before he could speak to him again, the grey fox went back up into the plane to check on Way.
"How is he?" Marcus asked, concern in his voice.

Kaine returned in time to hear Marcus's question.
"He'll be fine, he just needs a short rest, then he should be fit for travel, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid like over exert himself.

"If it were up ta me, I'd leave him here."

Balli looked up at Sniper, who was now stood in the outer doorway of the plane, rifle slung over his shoulder. "What?" she asked in shock.

Kane's eyebrows ducked. "How can you say that?" he asked, fixing Sniper with a stare.

The tiger had his silver Magnum in his other hand, and he pointed the barrel at Way's prone figure, using it like a finger. For a moment it looked like he was actually going to shoot him!

Sniper continued, pausing after each word to give them added emphasis: "Ah - don't - trust - them."

Everyone jumped a little when Way began to laugh! "That's not new to me, Sniper. Everyone fears what they don't understand...Overlanders give me those same looks, all the time...heh. But he's right, our top priority as a group is to gather supplies."

Kaine began to object as Way stood up, but by using an arm to steady himself against a chair, he was able to stay up.

"I can guard the plane by myself; the rest of you should go and get the supplies we need. I'll only slow you down at this point...of course, Mr. Marcus, this is your team, so your decision. This is just my suggestion."

"An' refuel an' set off leavin' us here no doubt." retorted Sniper dryly. "It's Ovahlanders that made me what ah am. We can't leave him alone."

Balli just frowned to herself this whole time, suddenly forcing out a bitter laugh.
"Sniper! You can't blame a whole race just because of what an overlander did to you... that's a shallow generalisation!"

Sniper's eyes narrowed. "Ah challenge you to prove me wrong." he drawled. "Ah ain't never met an Ovahlander who ah could trust."

His eyes flicked to Way, and took on their peculiar "grinning" slant. "Yo' cn' rest assured ah got mah eyes on you mister. Consider yo'self warned."

He turned and made to step back down onto the sandy floor outside the plane.

Way kept on laughing to himself. "Even if you don't trust me, know that I am part of your team now. I made a promise I intend to keep, and I trust each and every one of you. Why, if you thought it was a good idea to shoot me now, you'd probably be right, in my eyes."