Airbus Raiders

((The following picture is the setting and the Airship where this is happening, it is a government ship that is basically the same as a bus only...flying, Airbus for the lack of imagination: This ship goes from Nuvola di Roccia to Batrino City and is currently located above the Eterno Deserto.))


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"Wolf...remind me again why we are sitting here..."

"Well, I believe we bought tickets to Batrino and then entered this quite old and shabby looking Airbus because thou did not wish to pay more for the express airship."

"Yes...I know that part...I wanted to know WHY are we in this situation..."

"..."

"Ok, Kino?"

"It's because you are both idiots...now...could you stop those guys from SHOOTING AT US!?"

The trio composed of Drake Cross, Wolfwood D. Grimstone and Kino Grison were pinned behind a pile of cargo boxes in the deck of the shabby airbus while a group of man kept shooting in their direction, hitting the occasional guard that tried his luck in advancing towards the group of air pirates. Drake had both twins in his hands while Wolfwood already took out his shield and sword. Drake then takes out one of his guns and places it on the ground next to Kino.

"Load up Viper for me. I'm getting sick and tired of th..."

As Drake speaks a bullet penetrates the wooden box and almost hits him, enraged he gets up slamming both of his hands on the box and shouting at the group of shooters.

"Watch it goddammit! That almost hit me fuckers!"

It didn't take long for the shooters to aim at him, being such a big and noisy target as he was but luckily Wolfwood managed to pull him back behind the box before he was turned into Swiss Cheese.

"Arth thou insane? That's the whole point! Hitting thee!"

Wolfwood was not too happy with Drake's reaction, he could have a dead partner right there next to him because of Drake's recklessness but Drake's sudden change in expression surprised him.

"I counted around 10, there should be more bellow deck and in their ship. Ok, 5 semi-automatic rifles...judging by the type they should have around 30 round each...that's huh....150 round overall...the rest have pistols so...eeeeeehhhh reload speed...dammit think, think..."

Drake was doing more then a few calculations in his head, trying to come up with a plan that could at least get them closer to the other or into safety, his main problem was Wolfwood actually because he refused to use a gun this cut their long range offense by around 20%-30%, also Kino was no fighter so he had to come up with a plan that put Kino in safety while still using Wolfwood.

Suddenly a man rushes pass them, running in the direction of the shooters, probably thinking he could get to them in time, but he was gunned down as he passed by Drake and the others, but what caught Drake's attention was the bag of coins the man dropped, his mouth opened wide when the bag hits the ground opening and letting out a couple of gold coins.

Jackpot!

Was the only thing Drake thought as he reached for bag but suddenly the ship starts rocking violently and the bag slides trough the floor quickly falling out the ship, Drake was left in a state of shock and both Wolfwood and Kino noticed the insane smile that started to grow in Drake's lips, his eyes were empty like his mind simply broke, went poof. Drake starts a small and yet quite freaky laugh as he takes out Fury.

"I'ma blow them tha hell I will, yea sir...FUCKERS!"

The man shouts getting up again but the ship found some turbulence once again and he lost his balance falling face first into the ground, where Wolfwood quickly pulled him behind the crate.

"Thou shoul get a grip, calm down, god shall he..."

"Will you PLEASE shut up about God for 5 seconds?"

Drake says with his face still on the ground and Wolfwood sighs.Suddenly the more rapid shooting stops for about a second, a normal person would be able to thing anything important about it but Drake did, he sits back down putting Fury away again and picking up the Twins.

"I got a plan...listen closely..."

drake moves in closer to the other two and starts whispering the plan to them.

But how did this happen exactly and who were these man? I think we need a small Flashback.

[Flashback, Three Hours Before]

The group had just finished a a job in Nuvola di Roccia, it was a Trial that Wolfwood was called for by the Commander personally a few days before, it seemed like a man was suspected of several back robberies over the years but there were no evidence to support the suspicions, thus a Trial was made, a first blood rule was placed on the trial and the owners of the banks contracted Angel Reapers so represent them.
The match itself didn't take long as Wolfwood quickly overpowered the opponent pinning him to the ground with bone crushing power and making a small cut on his hand, ending the match and sending the suspect to many years in prison.
After some shopping, Drake kept bugging Wolfwood about a new gun cleaning equipment while Kino wanted to check out the latest models of mini-airships, the group then headed down to the desert sands as Airships were forbidden to land in Nuvola di Roccia and they had to go all the way down to buy the tickets and enter the Airbus.

The trip was boring as Drake spent most his time cleaning his guns while Kino kept drooling over a mini-airship catalog she got from one of the shops. Suddenly the airship started to shake, at the moment they weren't on deck so it took them a bit to learn what was happening, but when they arrived on deck they saw, Air Raiders had boarded the ship and start firing upon the guards, one thing lead to another and they ended up behind the crate.

[Flashback, End]

"Ok, on the count of 3! 1...2..."

Drake shouts but as he was about to say 3 Wolfwood gets up and jumps over the crate with his shield covering his face and part of his body.

"I said on 3 goddammit!"

"I thought thou meant as thou was saying 3!"

"You two shut up and get on with the plan already!"

It was surprising how both grown man shut up and started moving after a little girl shouted at them.
Drake suddenly gets up behind Wolfwood and, jumps on the crate and immediately steps on Wolfwood's shoulder, jumping in the air and aiming the Twins at their respective targets. Each of the Twins fire 3 times before Drake's feet touch the ground, each bullet hit their target perfectly causing two deaths and four wounded. As he lands on the ground, right between two other gunners he crosses his arms firing once again, taking down two more while shouting Kino's name. the girl was already ready, she picks up Viper which she had been loading and throws it over Wolfwood's head, at the same time Drake aims both guns towards one of the gun man with a rifle and fires both guns hitting the man's hand and opposite shoulder. Drake then quickly drops both guns and moves his right hand to the back of his head while spinning around to face the last raider who was also turning towards Drake. The Renegade Reaper was was too fast for the raider as he catches the gun with his hand and places the end of both barrels right on the guy's forehead.

"Come on, make a move...I dare yah"

But at that moment one of the raiders that Drake had shoot before gets up, aiming his rifle at Drake, yet before he could do a thing Wolfwood's sword swings down cutting the rifle in half along with the man's hand.

After knocking out both of the remaining raiders the group gathers once again.

"Well these guys are done, we better head down and takeout the rest of the crew...I have a feeling there's more then just a few punks..."

Drake explains while loading the Twins, this time with Magic Bullets.

[Hm. Well, this wasn't one of the original characters I had in mind, but he's a funny chap. Let's see what he does...]

It was Percival Cartwright's first day on the job.

So far he wasn't having much fun.

As a new recruit to the "Daring Dirigible Destroyers" (which was something of an inaccurate name given that the group had never actually destroyed a dirigible...) Percy was beginning to find their methods and training program somewhat misrepresented (apparently a common practice for the DDD) when he first spoke to the man who recruited him into the group. Since joining, Percy hadn't seen a "robust array of training seminars" or a "display of perfected and calculated boarding and piracy procedures that will revolutionize the industry." So far all he had seen was a bunch of yelling and shooting. Training had consisted of handing Percy a pistol that he didn't know how to operate and shoving him off the deck of their own airship onto the unsuspecting airbus.

But, maybe he was being too hard on the DDD's methods. After all, what did a young sixteen year-old lad know of the world?
And he had only been recruited twenty minutes ago...

"Oy, Buckles!"

Percy was "Buckles." He had buckles on his shoes, you see. Not very piratey, not like the heavy leather boots that the others in the crew got to wear. He wore shiny black shoes with brass buckles. He had no cool longcoat, just a brown waistcoat, no interesting scars or facial hair, just his too soft and too shimmering brown hair in a ponytail which he had realized looked rather...feminine, as of late.

"Aye sir!" Percy snapped to attention.

"Cut that out Buckles, I ain't the captain...'sides, the captain doesn't like them formalities." Argon Argyle frowned, rubbing a gloved hand on his shiny, shaved head. He was a large man. Not a bright one, but large, which seemed to be the main requirement for becoming the first-mate amongst the DDD. Percy took note of that, wondering if there was way to make himself...larger. "Take the helm."

The lower decks of the Airbus contained the navigational controls. A viewport ahead of them was formed from the bow, letting them view both ground and sky. Not particularly good for combat, but this was a civilian transport. Still, it had a gigantic blindspot that could be taken advantage of if a pirating ship came from above and behind. Percy knew this because that was what they did. Argon Argyle was holding the iron control sticks, motioning with his chin for Percy to take over.

"But sir, I don't know how to fly!"

"Didn't ask if you did, Buckles. Now just hold onto the sticks and don't move a muscle. Once the moorings are held down we can cut the rudder and guide the bus from our ship. So all you gotta do is not, bloody, move. Got it?"

The moment Percy had his hands wrapped around the controls, Argon Argyle slapped him on the back, shuddering Percy's body, which in turn moved the sticks, jarring the ship slightly. Argyle's obsidian eyes narrowed into long, thin daggers, boring through the innocent mahogany gaze of Percival Cartwright. He gulped and felt sweat forming on his brown.

"Oy! Argon! We got a problem! Upper deck raiding party is completely deceased."

"Bloody hell. What happened?"

"Not sure, but we think there might be Champs up there!" The crewman said from the door to the flight control. Argon pounded one leathery fist into the other, letting loose a string of curses. At least, Percy thought they were curses. He didn't recognize some of the words.

"All right then, let's take care of 'em. Stoney, Birdman, stay 'ere with Buckles."

Percival took a deep breath. He had always dreamed of being an airship pilot. And now here he was! Piloting an airship! Maybe the DDD wasn't so bad.
Though he had always imagined piloting would be more moving and less...staying still.

After checking if every surviving passenger was alright the group headed for the stairs leading to the lower sections of the Airbus, since the passages were a bit narrow they decided to let Wolfwood go in front, this way he could shield himself and the others while Drake just fired at the people in front of him. Suddenly when they were passing by some passenger rooms, reserved for the first class members Drake stops in front of an semi-open door.

"Dude...Awesome..."

Drake simply mumbles when he looks inside the room, apparently a woman, who was later discovered to be deaf and so was completely oblivious to what was actually going on, in fact she was changing clothes thus why Drake stopped, his body was in a completely unnatural position, he was leaning back, his back was arched and his head was turned 90º from it's normal position. Wolfwood was completely oblivious to this as the proceeded down the corridor while Kino stopped while staring at Drake, wondering what the hell he was looking at since she couldn't actually see inside the room.
Then Drake's eyes widen as he gets into a normal position, turns around and kicks the door in, pointing his guns towards the inside of the room, he fires and a scream of both a man and a woman was heard. Drake had used a Blue and a Red bullet hitting the man in the face with both, giving him a nasty burn in the face and a strong electrical shock. Drake, as the gentleman that he is quickly puts his arm around the woman's back and pulling her down like she was falling and he was catching her fall while at the same time putting his face next to her's.

"My, these hooligans are quite noisy and barbaric don't you think?"

For this Drake only got a slap on the face before she darted out of the room. As Drake came out not exactly sure of what happened, Kino was laughing her arse out, Drake simply sighed and caught up with Wolfwood.

"Argon! There's only two an..."

One of the DDD crewman shouts before getting hit in the face by a blue bullet, receiving a electrical surge trough his body and passing out. Another crewman quickly rushed to his friends aid but in turn receives a powerful shoulder tackle from the 6'6'' armor wearing Champion, they both crash into the wooden wall of the Airbus which breaks with a sickening sound of bone breaking along with it. it looked like the man was going to be thrown of the Airbus and plunge to his doom but Wolfwood prevented this by quickly stretching his arm out and grabbing the man's wrist, pulling him back in and using the momentum of the pull throwing him towards the other DDD crewman hitting two other members who fall to the ground but remain conscious.

"Well well...what do we have here mah friend..."

Drake says coming out of the corner and putting on his cowboy hat and laughing .

"Wolf...want the big guy? This hall is a bit wider, if i pass trough that guy I can handle the rest..."

"Thou hath become cocky Drake...but very well, I shall take care of that big man. Just make sure thou does no screw this up."

The place was a bit tight to use a sword so Wolfwood had to take care of the big man Argon in a hand to hand fight. Wolfwood opens his arms and charges at the big man who also opens his arms and catches Wolfwood's hands, initiating the test of strength. Meanwhile Drake does something the DDD crewman didn't expect, they were actually thinking that he would come from the side of the hall where the other two weren't occupying but he actually did something else. Drake starts dashing towards Wolfwood and the other man and jumps to the ground face first, sliding on the wooden floor and passing between both man's legs while at the same time shooting the other crew man with Blue, Red and Green bullets to the face.

"Thou shows some remarkable strength even for a man with such stature."

"Yer not to shabby yer'self."

Both man says as both didn't seem to move an inch, yet Wolfwood seemed allot calmer then Argon. The wooden floor under their feet seemed to start cracking due to the force being used by both parties, but due to Argon's size it seemed like he was winning over Wolfwood.

"Yo Wolf...yah done yet with the warm up? These guys weren't worth shit..."

Drake says while kicking one of his downed opponents while aiming one of his guns to the only conscious member who was sitting on the floor shacking in fear and had his head turned to the side.

"What? Warm-up! Yah brat don know what yah tal...what!?"

Argon says but suddenly feels his arms being moved on their own, it was actually Wolfwood's strength that was now controlling the man's arms. Wolfwood makes a semi-circular movement, downward, with the arms making them face up, he then applies a stupidly huge brute strength upwards, literally lifting Argon off his feet.

"Yes...quite remarkable, pity it has to end this quickly..."

Wolfwood says releasing his grip on the man's hands and quickly moving his hands to the back of the man's head as he was falling, at the same time raising his knee, delivering a bone crushing knee to the man's face, breaking his nose and cracking several areas of the skull, Wolfwood wasn't only strong but he was also wearing armor, increasing the impact.

A few minutes later several gunshots and screams on pain could be heard on the other side of the door of the control room. then suddenly something crashes into the wooden door making a hole in it, upon closer look one would see Argon's face, broken and bloody like new painting on the beautifully broken wooden door, then a voice followed.

"Yo, you in there. If you guys give up you won't have to end up like him, if you don't we'll be forced to take you guys out and we don't want that do we Wolf? We Champions are peace loving beings didn't you guys know?"

"..."

"Fine, be that way! Anyways we have a little kid with us and it would be a shame to show...ouch what the hell was that for Kino?"

It was clear that Kino slapped Drake before he could finish his phrase.

If we go in shooting, even with Wolf covering the front they could have more then we could handle...not only that if we damage the controls this whole ship is going down and we're still in the middle of the freakin desert...

Drake knew that he had to carefully plan out his next move depending on the guy's answers, a failure of a plan could either lead to their death or crashing the plain, both were not an option.

Percival Cartwright, as previously discussed, has many, many flaws that make him unsuitable for participation in Airship Piracy. What was not discussed, however is the fact that young Percy is actually quite bright. This is an unknown attribute, but his knack for mechanical engineering and steam-physics is nearly second-nature. In fact, if Percy had been born into a different family in a different trade in a different country he might be one of the world's most prominent up-and-coming young university student.

He also probably would be wearing manlier shoes.

But as it stood it would be up to fate, destiny, and circumstance to show Percival Cartwright the hidden potential locked within him. Standing with the control sticks to an airship in his hands was the beginnings of a thought. A thought that slowly formed, slowly grew...and then was shattered by the words of the champions on the other side of the door. But wait! A new thought blossomed to replace it, this one burning bright, unquenchable by fear.

We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!

"Bloody Hell. Did they get Argon?"

"Seems like."

"Ideas?"

"Just the one."

Chick-chick!

Both Stoney and Birdman (Percy didn't know which was which) leveled off their guns, one in each of their hands, and let the ends roar to life. Unaimed steel ricocheted through the control cabin, the bullets attempting to bore through the bulkheads and kill the champions on the opposing door. They had no worry about an innocent victim on the opposite side of the door: they probably would've killed her themselves, given the chance. Of course, thanks to rum and apathy, the four weapons were not aimed anywhere near the door.

The sound, however, was not directed. A more skilled air-pirate would've been immune, but remember this was only twenty-three minutes into Percy's commission. So, when the guns fired, he panicked. And screamed.

And flailed.

As he did, the control sticks slammed forward, then jammed forward into steering well. The old airbus' nose lurched downward immediately, gravity greedily clutching at the defiant vessel. The sound of straining ropes and cables were rapidly replaced with staccatto pops as they snapped, the pirate vessel releasing its moorings and gaining altitude. The DDD was not a brilliant pirate group, but a group did not survive without having some basic instincts to keep their hearts beating and their lungs breathing. One of their shining skills was knowing when the cut and run.

It took only a few moments for the bow to pierce into the surface of the sand, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Wood splintered, metal twisted, and the balloon atop burst, hot air and helium rushing quietly into the air. Deep within the belly of the vessel, the steam boiler burst and ignited the surrounding wood on fire, stilling the propellers while beginning a slow burn of the entire ship.

Stoney and Birds were now both dead: the first pierced with a metal rod, the second cracked his head against the deck and was now bleeding steadily, the life and color draining from his body.

Percival Cartwirght was knocked out cold.

The crash was intense, so intense in fact that the impact with the added force of the explosions of the steam boiler caused a fair share of the back of the ship to break and land further away from the rest. Everyone in the ship felt the impact of the ship on the sand bellow either they liked it or not, either they were prepared or not the impact sent everyone flying across the room or devision they were in. Outside or inside, who knows where one was safer, the people inside could hit anything and/or be hit by anything while the ones outside would be projected like being on a catapult.

Drake's group was no different then the rest, they were in the halls, the bullets had missed him because Drake took Kino and shielded themselves with the body of Argon while Wolfwood had protection of his own. But when the ship crashed the only thing Drake could do was wrap his arms around Kino and try to protect her with his own body, this was something he did on instinct rather then deciding to do it wit a clear head. The three slammed against the wall, Wolfwood actually breaking through it, right into the room where Percy was reaching the state of unconsciousness and got buried by a pile of wood and metal from the mechanisms in the room. Drake and Kino acted like a pinball game inside the corridor, slamming against walls until the ship finally stopped moving.

It took a few moments for Drake to acknowledge what just happened, what prevented him from fading way was the sharp pain in his left shoulder, it seemed dislocated because of the impacts, he opens his arms looking at Kino, she was knocked out but apart from a few bumps and bruises she looked ok. Drake puts Kino carefully on the ground and looks around, picking up one of his guns that he dropped and putting it back in it's place while taking out Viper, the gun with actual bullets.

"I'm gonna kick the ass of the moron that caused this!"

He shouts as he gets up, the pain in his shoulder increasing significantly but his rage was even bigger, enough to partially ignore the pain. Drake kicks what as left of the door and rushes in with an extremely fast paced walk, he looks around as he enters and sees on of the men impaled, but raises his gun and shoots the obviously dead man in the dead just to make sure, he then aims the gun to the other one that was dying, blood all around him and fires the gun shooting two bullets right into the man's skull, finally ending the man's life.

"Do you see what you did? Huh? Fucker!?"

He shouts as he reaches Percy, hhe stands right on top of him and aims the gun, down right towards his head but before he pulls the trigger he hears a noise behind him.

"DRAAAAAAAAAKEE! Enough!"

Wolfwood lifts up the pile of rubble above him showing immense strength and that his head was bleeding. He takes a step forward and drops the rubble to his side.

"Killing these men will not solve anything!"

He says rushing to Drake who quickly turns around and aims his gun at Wolfwood but as the barrel of his gun points to Wolfwood's head, the Azure Paladin's blade touches Drake's neck. Both simply stand there, looking into each other's eyes for a couple of minutes until they both hear the flames that started reaching their location. Both lower their weapons and Drake starts running to Kino while Wolfwood picks up Percy, the two then rush out trough a broken window, escaping the fire.


Percy was then placed on the sand next to Kino while Drake and Wolfwood started searching for other survivors.

"Drake...how is..."

But Wolfwood didn't have the chance to finish as Drake slammed his shoulder into a piece of the ship, a pop was heard loud and clearly as Drake laughed, hiding the tremendous pain.

"Just Perfect..."

It took around 10 minutes for Wolfwood and Drake to gather the 12 survivors, 5 of them pirates. Percy and Kino who woke up soon after the duo returned were taken to the part that was separated from the ship. Drake takes out Viper once again and aims it at Percy's head.

"Ok...if this guy, or any of the other scumbags, does something I don't like I'm blowing their brains out..."

Meat pies!

Oh beloved meat pies. So many different fillings! Such rich gravy, such succulent vegetables! What wonderfully crisp and flaky dough! He could eat them forever, he could. One pie after the other. And never, never would he grow tired! How could you, with so many possibilities! So many wonderous combinations to be baked and consumed!

Sitting at a table, completely surrounded by meat pies stacked one atop the other, Percival Cartwright had not a care in the world.

"Mmm...meat....pies...."

His eyes flashed open. The noon-day sun blazed overhead, shadowing the form of a gunman, the long barrel of his weapon aligned perfectly with Percy's head.

"...I surrender." It was a simple utterance, and a surprisingly collected one. Within Percival Cartwright was a much smaller but far more honest Percival Cartwright who was at present rushing about his mindscape screaming at the top of his lungs in complete terror that he was about to get shot in the unforgiving desert. This was mostly a nuisance for the third Percival Cartwright who was sitting in the corner of the mindscape, wishing the second would stop screaming so that he could get back to working on Percy's list of life regrets so that he could think about them as he perished.

He opened his mouth. Not to speak but in awe. A shadow slipped over himself and over the gunman, eclipsing the glaring orb above them. It was the airship of the DDD...the props churning merrily along as it drifted almost carelessly over the wreckage. The moorings had been cut or snapped during the crash, and it seemed they were okay!

It also seemed they had no interest in collecting Percy either.

"P-P-Percival Cartwright! But you can call me Percy, sir! I'm at your loyal and humble service!"

Was this considered treason? Or mutiny?
It didn't matter. Percy usually felt that dealing with the gun in front of you was better than the potential gun that might be pointed at you later.