Unearned ‘Death Speech’

The first tendril strike caused Joe to pause his pained whimpering. He heard gunshots and saw Yelena's forehead get punctured by a bullet only to watch as it healed completely. 

He crawled past the doorway then, just in time to watch the Witch fire tendrils that killed the second and Third Langlot Gang members. 

The dark tendrils still crackled around her body and a feeling of fear caused every hair on Joe's body to stand on end as goosebumps rose on his skin and he gulped a few times, unable to stop fear from creeping in. 

The tendrils eventually fizzled out and Yelena stiffly looked away from the three Gang members and down at the injured Joe. She knelt by his side and her hands shook slightly as she released a wave of green nourishing energy that healed his wounds. 

Yelena helped Joe to his feet once the wounds were all healed and helped him to the bed in the Medical bay,

"You should rest," she said. 

Joe nodded and lay down while staring at her with his eyes bugged and the memory of what he just witnessed fresh in his mind. 

'If she went out right now, this could all be over,' Joe thought but could not bring himself to actually say the words and make the suggestion. 

When Joe was on the bed, Yelena went over to a chair and sat in it. Occasionally she winced at the pain of bullets striking the Mansion but other times, the image in her head was of the three Gang members, smacked against the wall, their bodies limp. Their lives… gone. 

All Yelena could think about was how, with Henry, he never stayed dead. He always came back so it was easy to not think about what she had done. To not think about the life she had taken. That was not the case this time. 

For the first time ever, she had killed someone and she hadn't stopped at one. 

Joe was looking up at the ceiling wondering if Angus was okay outside when he heard sniffles and looked down to see Yelena's hands over her face. He watched as tears dripped from her eyes and she couldn't help but choke up about the lives she had taken and the finality of her attacks. 

'I did that,' Yelena thought over and over in her head, 'I killed them.'

•••

A minute or so after Good ol' Joe ran into the Mansion, followed by the three Langlot Gang members, the others still in the courtyard stood to their feet, all glowing with feelings of accomplishment. 

Feelings that were bound to be short-lived. 

"Now," Doran Langlot said, "We just wait for the Vykers to take care of Angus and we'll take the Mansion and wait for the others…"

A loud whinnying sound interrupted Doran as a black horse charged into the Hadron Mansion courtyard. Its rider had a Repeater in one hand and a revolver in the other. 

Henry pointed the guns in his hands at the first Gang Members he sighted and fired precise shots that had no real chance of missing. 

[Kill-Reward: 7 Exp]

[You have gained Skill Exp]

[Kill-Reward: 7 Exp]

[You have gained Skill Exp]

[You have received a bonus of 200 Exp]

Henry got down from Nyx and his peripheral vision just slightly acknowledged the image of her charging ahead to slam her head into another Gang member and send him slamming headfirst into the Mansion wall. 

The impact broke the Gang member's neck and he slumped to the ground, dead. 

[You have received a bonus of 100 Exp]

"They're back!" Colm said, stating the obvious as the few Langlot Gang members still alive scrambled for covers. 

More horses rode into the Hadron Mansion compound and at the lead was Devon who was glaring down at Henry,

"You just HAD to go on ahead, didn't you?" He said in an annoyed tone of voice as he pointed his shotgun and blew up a Langlot Gang member's head. 

The others pointed their guns as well and within seconds, they gunned down every Langlot Gang member in the courtyard with Colm and Doran the only ones still breathing. 

Colm raised his rifle to shoot in a futile attempt at turning things around but a shot sounded and a bullet struck him in the forehead causing his gun hand to slump before he keeled over to the ground. Dead. 

Triss, her rifle still smoking, turned her gun to Doran next. So did the others. 

Doran eyed the gun muzzles pointed at him like an execution and let out a defiant cackle. 

"Well, shit," he said and let out an even louder laugh as he spread his arms out and yelled,

"Well, what are you waiting for? What, you want to savor it? Rub my—"

*Bang!*

A shot to the side of his head interrupted whatever defiant speech Doran was about to get into and the Dionisio Gang looked from the limp body falling to the ground with a *Thud* to Henry who still had his revolver pointed. 

"What?" Henry asked when their eyes fell on him, "Did you want him to go on and on?"

They said nothing but Henry knew from the looks on their faces that their answer was a unanimous 'Yes'. 

And to be honest, he understood it;

Getting rid of the average Gang banger in a shootout is always nice enough but taking in the defeated look on the face of the last one, especially the Leader, before ending it all with a final shot was even better. 

Henry understood it. He just didn't care for it. He didn't think his encounter with Doran was long and developed enough to warrant a 'Death Speech'. 

*BANG!!!*

The sound of an explosive blow pushed all potential discourse aside as all eyes went over to Angus and his battle against the Vykers. 

It had been a few minutes since Angus' successful kill of one of the five Vykers and the remaining four were making it their mission to ensure that that was simply a fluke that the Gang Leader could not possibly repeat. 

The scaled Vyker charged at Angus first and when the command to stop hit his ears and forced his muscles to lock in place, someone suddenly leaped up from behind him and spun down with a kick that was powered up with a furiously burning flame. 

Angus had to leap back and his eyes widened when the kick struck the ground with such force, it left a small crater behind.

But of course, like the Spellbinder he was, Angus saw an opportunity.

"Kick him!" He commanded. 

The Vyker with the flaming kick was forced to obey and turned his furiously burning leg to the scaled Vyker only to be forced to stop when he was smacked aside by a flaming fist from his comrade. 

The fist thrust out even further to about an inch from Angus' face before blasting a column of fire into his face. 

Angus leaned to the side right then only to see a cloud of darkness appear in the spot he had leaned into. The shadow fizzled out and out came the Shadow Vyker with a sword slicing at Angus' ribs. 

"Stop!" Angus called out. 

The Shadow Vyker froze but in that very second, the scaled Vyker was back with a fist stretched out to slam into Angus' chest. 

Angus raised his hand just in time to intercept the blow to his chest with his palm and as it forced him to slide back a few steps, he saw the two flaming Vykers charging at him. 

"Attack each other," Angus said with a bit of breathlessness. 

He felt the force that allowed him to force his will on others flow out from him so he was puzzled when the two flaming Vykers did not stop and did not turn their attacks on each other. 

Together, they punched at him with blows that struck him with a fiery, explosive force that sent him flying five feet away until he crashed into a wagon and broke it apart. 

It was that explosive forceful blow that called the attention of the others to him and the fight.