Cross

'This day was supposed to go off without a hitch.' thought Rain Maker. He dug through his pockets frantically as he looked for bits. He found another two and dropped them into the hand that was before him. When he did, he was tapped on the side of the head with an icy cold revolver by the man who he just gave the coins to.

"Is that all you got?" said the outlaw in a drawl. One could plainly see he was an outlaw on the count that the pudgy man with the six gun was wearing a bandana around his face and had his pockets full of stolen valuables. The smell and the stains on the man also suggested as much.

"That's it, I'm afraid." said Rain Maker in his thick Manehatten accent. "It's all the gold that I got on me."

The outlaw gave a grunt. "Alright." he said as he went on to his next victim while stashing the coins.
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"Hurry up, damn it!" a revolver was cocked back in May Flower's face. She dug through her purse in a blaze to find any more gold to give the horrid wretch before her. She started to hyperventilate from all the stress. She finally found a bit or two along with some earrings that she had stashed in an interior pocket. She quickly deposited the treasures into the hand before her.

"Thank you." he said as he aimed his pistol at the man across from her and shot him in the heart. The music of terror filled the murderer's ears and he reveled in every last note.

"Why would you do that?!" called the other fat thief.

"Because!" he said. "I didn't want that bullet in my gun anymore." From under the yellow bandana came a loud cackle. "Finish up in here, Blue." the murderer commanded. "I'm going to the other car." He turned away from the crying woman and the dead man and went on his way.

When the door closed a heavy silence filled the room. The fat marauder scratched his head with his gun. "No one was supposed to die." he thought to himself. The blue bandana clad outlaw shrugged and went on with collecting. As he was putting a silver pocket watch into his coat, he caught a glimpse of something out the window. What he saw made his blood run cold and his hands shake. "Uh, uh, uh . . ." he stammered. "Oh shit. He's here." he was about to bolt after his friend, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a muzzle in his face. He whimpered loudly as the piece's owner cackled loudly.
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The murderer from before was in full pleasure. Not only did he have the equivalent of one thousand bits in his bag, but he was about to also get some good, old fashion felacio. The woman he held a gun to was crying softly as not to draw too much attention to herself than what was already being put on her.

"Hurry up, you whore!" the putrid man said. The woman choked a bit but had no choice but to comply. She slowly undid the buttons to the fly. She was working on the belt after, but was stopped when two shots rang out from the previous car. "Huh?'' the robber flinched. The yellow masked thief recoiled when the door at the back of the car flew open.

The fat robber with the blue bandana came bolting through the open portal. "We got company!" he cried as stumbled inside. His six gun was clutched so tightly in his hand that his knuckles turned white.

"What kind of company?" the other thief questioned. "Lawmen? Peekers?"

The panting fat man leaned on one knee as he pointed to the window. When the other outlaw looked out the glass, the same feeling that was felt by the pudgier thief was now felt by both men. Outside, running tirelessly alongside the train at gaining speed, was a riderless Tartarus Hell Steed. "Cross." said the yellow masked outlaw. "That's his horse, but where is he?" The sound of a hammer clicking to full cock next to his head was all the answer he needed. The outlaw turned his head to find that a man a head taller than him wearing all black was aiming a Remington at his head. "Son of a bitch." he blew.

"HEY!" the bounty hunter said taking obvious offense to the statement. "My mother was a whore, not a bitch." He pulled the trigger and the train robber's head exploded as the .45 caliber bullet tore into it. "So, you shut your mouth!" The woman that was being forced to give the outlaw oral pleasure was still kneeling there in astonishment. The shooter looked down at the woman and raised his eyebrow. "What are you still doing down there? Get back in your seat." He holstered his gun and walked out the front door of the train car.
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In the train car ahead, the four outlaws that were collecting valuables were halted by the sound of gun fire. First they heard two shots, then another. Then a riderless horse rode by that could only be owned by only one man. All four stood in the doorway in anticipation. Their guns were already drawn, cocked, and aimed. All they needed was just that one man to burst through the door and then drop their hammers. Half a minute went by. Then a full minute. Still, after two minutes though, no one came through that door.

"Where the hell is he?" one dared to speak up. The others where in similar agreement on the subject. Where was the man in black? Then, one of the outlaws noticed something. "Hey, boys. We ain't movin' nowheres." The other robbers looked outside and found that the statement was true. One of the outlaws took it upon himself to open the door to the back and saw a large metal pin sitting on the wood outside the door and the rest of the train was hauling ass away from them. "Son of a fucking BITCH!" he exclaimed. "YOU COCKSUCKER!" the shouts were directed towards Cross, but something else was directed towards the outlaw. He turned to his right to find a whole company of solar army troops were pointing their rifles at the man. "Uh, Lance?" said one of the outlaws. "I KNOW, DAMN IT!" he shouted back in frustration. "I KNOW!"

"Well." said the company commander. "This seems rather embarrassing for you."
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Cross looked back to the car he had left behind. The train was supposed to stop for the troops to get on, but because of the train robbery, that seemed like a pipe dream. So, the bounty hunter did the next best thing by giving every one of them a good pay day. The Rainbow Gang had a substantial bounty on their heads. So, giving up six out of the fourteen, not counting the leader, was of little consequence. Especially when it came to honest troops.

Cross climbed on top of the tail baggage car and hopped from roof to roof like a jack rabbit over the next ones. When he made it to the first car, and stopped dead in his tracks. He heard commotion from inside the car and sure enough, when he peaked down in there from a hole in the ceiling, he found some men rustling through the cases and chests for valuables. Whatever they found, they put into their sacks. One of them was rummaging through a lady's bag and had found a large bra. The only thing a man like him thought it could be was a hat. So naturally, he promptly replaced his brimmed Stetson with it.

Cross retreated to the top of the car again to come up with a plan. Only one came to mind, but with six people in the car, he thought that going through with his plan would be risky. "Oh well." he said to himself as he shrugged. Cross flipped himself off of the roof and onto the platform outside the door. When his feet touched the ground, the bounty hunter exploded upwards, drew both of his Remington pistols from their holsters, and kicked in the door. The outlaws with color coated bandanas didn't have enough time to draw their pistols before the bounty hunter started shooting. The first two men were dead before they hit the ground when they received ventilation for their overheated heads. The other two would take the next two or so seconds to die because they got their hearts pumped full of lead. The other two were delivered to their makers when their guts fell out of them when Cross shot them both two times each in their stomachs. The bounty hunter smiled at his handy work. The inward sweep was his favorite method of dispatching his enemies. However, if the opponents were fast enough, they would find time to shoot back. This time, like many others, left Cross unscathed.

Cross reloaded his Remington revolvers with lightning speed and efficiency. Being at this for a while mixed with practice almost made his hands blinding when he was reloading. He had to hurry up though, this train was on its way into Canterlot station, and if these thieves got there before he was able to bag them all, he would have a whole fiasco on his hands. The bounty hunter hopped back up top. He ran at first, but went into a dead sprint when he saw the spires of the royal castle grow ever larger. He would end up missing a couple bandits, but that was of little concern compared to letting the biggest pay day of them all getting away. Cross' feet skipped over the metal roofing with as light a touch as a squirrel.

It was right ahead of him! The engine was right there. Just skip past the coal car, and . . . When Cross' feet touched the contents within the coal car, the hammer of the gun pointing at him dropped and sent a bullet flying past the bounty hunter's head. Cross bent himself out of the way, but in doing so, he threw off his own balance and ended up rolling off the edge of the car when the train hit a bump. He caught the lip with one hand before he fell onto the tracks and died. Cross hoisted himself up but quickly set himself back down when another bullet almost took his hat. The bounty hunter hung there for a second and tried to figure out what he could do. However, that second was too long of a time to think. Cross already had lead flying too close to his digits. It was then that he looked over his shoulder and saw his horse was trailing the side of the train. The magic around the steed seemed to still be strong, so instead of sitting there and hoping to the gods that his fingers don't get blown off, he shimmied over to the edge of the car and threw himself onto the back of the equine. The charging steed didn't seem to notice the extra weight and kept up its speed. Cross threw a leg over and settled himself in the saddle.

"Come on, Hell Fire!" the bounty hunter cried. "Giddy up!" He kicked the demon horse in the flanks to get the beast to run faster. The beast picked up enough of its stride to get Cross right along side of the engine car.

Cross bent left a bit to dodge another bullet fired from the same gun from before. In the conductor's cab was none other than the leader of the Rainbow Gang himself. Light Spectrum. His matted and long hair was a cascade of hues. Even under his hat, his strands mixed with one another to make colors that no one had ever seen before. Spectrum cocked back the hammer on is Colt Single Action Army and let fly another round. It nearly caught Cross in the shoulder, but with Cross being lucky, the bounty hunter was able to dodge the bullet by hugging his body against the horse. Cross weaved in and out from the train, but found it hard to keep himself out of the line of fire. Light Spectrum, being the pegasus-born man he was, had incredible speed. From the draw, to the aim, he was as fast as they come. Cross knew that by going up against him, he would have to contend with such speed, and at this point in time, it was twelve times a pain in the ass to deal with. The train didn't seem to be slowing down, and Canterlot was closing fast. It seems time was not on Cross' side. Dodging another bullet, the bounty hunter decided that shooting back would be a good start to buy himself some time and put his formulating plan into action. So, the bounty hunter drew one of his revolvers and fired. One of his bullets got close enough to Light Spectrum to make the outlaw flinch. The second round left Cross' gun before the former blinked. Then a third round and a fourth followed. Two more after that burst from the muzzle of the pistol as the outlaw took cover behind the metal plating of the conductor's cab. Cross didn't wait to draw his other Remington and fire another barrage of lead at the gang leader.

The covered outlaw counted the shots that were just barely hitting the metal rim above his hat. When he heard six, he popped back up. Only to find that his sights were empty. The horse and rider were gone.

"Now where did you go, Cross" the raspy, pack-a-day voice of Light Spectrum whispered. His question didn't go long unanswered. The cocking of a revolver resonated over the sound of the steam engine and the clacking of railroad tracks. The gang leader uncocked and lowered his gun slowly. "There you are." he said without turning around and submitting a smile of gross, yellow teeth.

Cross had pulled the old make-the-enemy-turn-away-long-enough-to-get-behind-them trick. The bounty hunter gave a throaty chuckle. "I was wondering if this plan was going work."

"It seems it did." Light Spectrum holstered his gun and turned to face Cross with a smile. A devious look that the bounty hunter. "Unfortunately," he said. "it means nothing."

Cross raised an eyebrow. "What do ya mean?"

"Even if you kill me," Spectrum explained. "you won't be able to stop this train. I broke off the break and this whole thing is going to go off the cliff because, let's face it, nothing can go at forty miles per hour and make that turn before it tumbles over and falls off the mountain. You and I can both walk away safely. But everyone else . . ."

"Was that Plan B?" Cross asked with a load of skepticism. "Was that what you were going to do if you got caught?"

"Oh, heavens no!" the gang leader exclaimed. "I was just going to do this anyway." He let out a chilling giggle. "I just wanted to let you know." Light Spectrum knew full well that Cross would get out alive, but that didn't mean that the passengers would. The knowledge that he let innocent people die while he escaped or took off after his target was not the bounty hunter's style.

Cross narrowed his eyes. "That would work if you were facing off against someone of lesser caliber." Cross snuck a smile across his lips. "Unfortunately for you, that's not the case." He took out his other revolver from under his armpit and shot one of the brass pipes while still looking at his prey. White clouds shot from the tubes in between both of them.

"What was that supposed to do?" Light Spectrum asked without even flinching as the steam whistled out.

"It seems you don't know much about these trains." Cross said while his lips curled more. The gang leader felt the train start to slowly decrease in speed. It's heavy, metal frame kept the inertia, but with how slow it was going to go and with the steady incline on the way, the train would make a complete and gentle stop in Canterlot station. "These locomotives got a flaw in 'em. If you break just one pipe, then the whole thing shuts down. Kind of a sucky design flaw, but at least it's good if the brake takes a shit on ya."

The pegasus-born man growled in frustration as he saw the end of the suspiciously empty station slowly creep by and hear the last breaths of the engine die as the train came to rest. The steam between the two men finally died down. Cross had two handguns pointed at the outlaw and both were screaming for the hammers to drop. Unfortunately for the outlaw, Cross would not end his life so easily. Bringing him in and have him tried for his crimes would humiliate the living hell out of Light Spectrum. He always said that he would never be caught, and now Nowhere would finally have some peace and quiet instead of listening to his incessant rambling and snide remarks.

Although taking him in was the plan, it was wishful thinking when a stone cold reality came back to bite him. Cross turned his head slightly to find that a pair of bandana clad men were pointing their guns at him.

"It seems that you, Mister Cross, are not the calculating man that we thought you were." Light Spectrum chided. "One would have thought that you would have tried to stay away from this place." the gang leader sauntered over to the bounty hunter and took both his guns from his hands. "I mean, with you being what you are and all."

"How much do ya think that we would get for bringing in a man like Cross?" one of the other outlaws said.

"Nothing." a voice stated from the criminals' flank. When the trio of bandits turned their heads to see where the voice had come from, they were met with the sight of a platoon of trapdoor rifles pointed at them.

Light Spectrum made a quick move and dashed behind Cross and used the changeling as a human shield. The other two outlaws put their hands up high. From the side of the ranks stepped a private. "Come on out of there, criminal!" Crimson Blaze said.

"Why don't you come and make me?" the gang leader laughed. The outlaw put both guns barrels in Cross' back.

"Oh, I'll make you, alright." Blaze said. He whistled loudly. "HELL FIRE! ATTACK!"

The Hell steed burst from the other side of the tracks and whinnied loudly as it rammed Light Spectrum out from the cab and onto the cold tile of the boarding platform. The outlaw still had both pistols in his hands, but before he could begin to move his arms to level them for a shot, Crimson Blaze's gun was already aiming at his head. The Colt Single Action Army revolver was already cocked and ready to send the outlaw to the makers. The prone villain didn't have a prayer.

Cross said a command to his horse and the beast seemed to disappear into a cloud of smoke. What was left was a small onyx figurine. He scooped up the little thing and stepped down and took both of his weapons back from the rogue. He replaced them in their respective holsters with a twirl or two. The bounty hunter turned to the young man as a smile spread across his face. "Nice to see you again, Fire Crotch." The nickname derived from Crimson Blaze's fiery, red head of hair.

"It's good to see you too, Cross." Blaze didn't take his eyes off of the bounty target. The other outlaws were already being taking care of. One of the soldiers cried out that they had found the other gang members. "So, who do we have here?" Crimson asked.

"Rainbow Gang." Cross answered. "And this here is the leader, Light Spectrum."

"Light Spectrum." Private blaze repeated. "Wanted for nine counts of murder, eighteen counts of theft, and one count of assault and battery of a woman. Tck. Tck. Tck. I would have thought that you would have had a better plan than stopping in Canterlot Station."

"He was actually going to have the rain run off the tracks at the bend up yonder." Cross clarified.

"Oh!" Crimson Blaze said with a raised eyebrow. "Now I guess we can add 'attempted to commit mass murder' to the list."

Light Spectrum gave a low growl in rage. This was humiliating! He had never been caught by anyone, and to be brought in by an aging bounty hunter and a lowly private was like taking a sledge hammer to the groin of his pride.

"Hands behind your back, Spectrum." the private barked. Through gritted teeth and reluctant cooperation, the gang leader complied. A pair of soldiers came and snapped heavy metal rings around the outlaw's wrists. Two other soldiers hoisted him up and dragged him over to a wagon where the rest of his cohorts, living and dead, sat.

"More are coming." Cross said. "I left them other motherfuckers in the care of a company of soldier heading along the tracks."

"I know." Crimson Blaze said. "We got a telegram from the 73rd's company commander and we already have a transport picking everyone up."

"Did they happen to see me?" Cross asked with a chuckle.

"They didn't say anything about it." Blaze smiled. "So, my guess is no."

"AW!" the bounty hunter whined. "I wanted them to see me the flip I did off the roof!"

Crimson Blaze just shook his head and internally chuckled. He looked at Cross and couldn't help but be reminded of all the good, and trouble, the man was. Though the man was more than capable of taking care of himself, he still needed help from time to time. Even in the situation that had transpired, Cross would have found a way out, but it didn't hurt to accept a helping hand from one of his friends to speed up the process.

The private was smacked out of his reminiscing when a trio of guards came up to him and Cross. "What do you want us to do with . . . him, sir?" All three of them were ready to make a firing line and cut the man down where he stood.

"Nothing." Crimson Blaze said for the second time that day. "Cross here is in my care. Until he leaves, that is."

"Are you sure?" one soldier asked. "You do realize he is a . . .?"

"I know full well what Cross is." the private explained. "Then again, any idiot in this city knows exactly what he is. However, I have the privilege of knowing WHO he is. Cross won't cause any trouble while he's here. So long as no one gives him Vodka."

"What happens if we give him Tequila?" one soldier dared to ask.

"That's exactly what happens." Crimson Blaze cryptically answered. "Listen, you boys stay here and make sure that the next train of soldiers that comes through gets off here safe. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." the trio said in unison. They wasted no time in taking their positions at points along the platform. Watching vigilantly for the next train to come by.
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Cross hopped up onto a waiting horse and got comfortable in the saddle. He wanted to bring back Hell Fire, but Crimson Blaze insisted upon letting the beast rest. Cross' duster draped over the horse's grey back almost like a blanket. It was understandable considering that the bounty hunter was an inch over six feet tall and the long coat almost went past his ankles. Crimson Blaze rode next to the changeling on his own blazing, white steed in front of the wagon carrying the Rainbow Gang.

"So, Fire Crotch." Cross spoke up. "How is life treating you?"

"As good as one could be treated by the heartless banshee." Crimson Blaze retorted.

The bounty hunter chuckled at the sarcasm. "So, how is it that a private can order around other privates? It doesn't seem to make sense."

"First off, I'm a Private First Class, so I do outrank them." Blaze explained. "Secondly, because I am actually in the Royal Guard, and not the regular Army, that also increases my standing."

"So, rank and position make you more influential among the military." Cross elaborated.

"That is correct." Blaze confirmed.

"Something tells me something." Cross said.

"Explain." Blaze said.

"Something tells me that you aren't just collecting me because you wanted to say hello."

Crimson Blaze was silent for a moment, and then he spoke. "There is a . . . job opening, and I may have made it apparent that you may be a worthy candidate to fill the slot."

"Well shit." Cross chirped. "I'll help ya." Cross' enthusiasm was genuine. Sure, he may be a little tired from the whole train robbery, but he never had too little energy to help out his friend.

"Good." the private said. "I just hope you don't mind working for royalty again. I know that business with the Zebra Kingdom didn't go over very well for you."

"Aw, shit. I'll get over it." Cross blinked when a thought raced through his head. "Does the people we're gonna meet have sawmill gravy mix?"

Crimson Blaze belly laughed aloud. "Do you really think that I would have forgotten your favorite topping you love to make?"

"I guess not." Cross cackled as he pulled on his hat. The bounty hunter noticed a lot of whispers coming from the people in the street. One of the women he saw dropped her bags in shock when she saw the mounted man. He kept his gaze forward as he said. "A lot of people don't seem to appreciate someone like me coming into town."

"They're just going to have to get used to it. Sure, you may be an abnormality, but that doesn't mean that gives the right for people to stare." Crimson Blaze shot more at the crowd than Cross.

"I don't blame 'em." Cross said. "Not every day you see someone like me anyhow. I mean who else can do this." Cross pulled on the rains to make the horse turn sharp into a spin. The beast circled around, but was still able to move forward at pace. "That's right! Fuck ya'll and ya'll's rules!" Cross cackled until he finally stopped spinning because the horse fell over in a dizzy haze. The bounty hunter ended up hitting his head against the cobblestone and getting knocked out.

Crimson Blaze just chuckled and moved around to help him. 'This is probably going to end up being more interesting than I can handle.' He thought to himself.