"So, what are you guys going to do with me?" Ghost said, tied to a tree in the middle of the camp. "I notice you guys are drinking and partying. Let me loose and I'll show you some true dancing skills. Going to question me? I used to be a boy scout so I've come to like hiking in the woods. Going to sell me? I'm not worth much to the high end bidders. Boss going to come and talk to me? I'll do my best to put on my winning smile. Oh, by the way, do I have anything in my teeth?"

Unfortunately, there are three goons to watch him during the night. Which no one in the camp could quite figure out why this human was so eager to surrender when their weakest thug found him walking about. But that wasn't much to them, something to sell or hold for ransom. Though whoever did the knot to the ropes holding Ghost to the tree was below good enough to keep a dog from running off, let alone keep a human in place. Though Ghost has a reason for being here.

Yes, see, these bandits have been messing with a small village for a few months now. Raiding the convoys that either leave or try to enter the village. So some of the merchants of the village and other locations that sell to the village have paid Ghost to find and deal with these bandits. Deciding to have some fun, he let himself get caught.

"Do you ever shut up?" One of them said, angrily. They weren't allowed to touch him yet. So they can't really do anything to him.

"It's my gift to the world. And before you ask, no refunds, no exchanges, only in store credit. No exceptions."

"I have had about enough of this idiots babbling nonsense." Another said.

"Put ear plugs in. Nothing is stopping you." Ghost replied almost too monotone and emotionless to be healthy.

"....The only good thing that has come out of your mouth, but we have to keep ears sharp....unfortunately."

"At least we are let off in an hour to he can be someone else's problem."

"But I was starting to like you guys." Ghost replied, doing a sad face, which was very faked, but he wasn't trying.

"Too bad." After that a figure came from the woods. Turns out these guys have a boss. Ahuizotl himself shows up, being a full two and half foot taller than Ghost, who is 5'10 (I dare you to do that math). He looks around the camp a little before walking towards where Ghost is being kept.

"I see that you guys are right that you captured a human." He commented staring at Ghost.

"I think I've heard of you before. Ali Dodo? Is that right?" Ghost says, pretending to be confused about the pronunciation of the name. He knew quite well that he said it wrong and the correct way to say it. He just wanted to call him a dodo (Let's be honest that we all do).

He didn't find it funny. "Ahuizotl." He says with a low growl.

"Could have fooled me." Ghost says, nonchalantly. Now Ahuizotl is growling only inches from Ghost's face. He obviously has a short fuse. Ghost however is completely un-phased by all of it.

Not that far observing the whole ordeal is Daring Do. Been there since Ghost just started his his big list of questions. Being smart she isn't going to jump in just yet. Also it would seem that this human knows what he is doing or has done this before since Ahuizotl is not even phasing him.

"Oh I'm sorry is this the part where I scream and cry for mother? I didn't read that far into the script and also my mother died many years ago." Ghost comments again. Pretty chill about the whole thing.

After another growl Ahuizotl speaks again. "Three thousand for the human."

"You and I both know I'm worth less than that." Ghost interjects. Just toying with with everyone he can at this point.

"Deal." The bandit camp leader says and takes the bag of bits.

"Guess I'm going to be going on an adventure. I'll be back real soon boys. Better save a cupcake for me." Ghost says as some of Ahuizotl's henchmen lead Ghost off.

"You're his problem now, and based on his anger, I doubt it." The bandit leader said, looking in the bag of bits he just got.

Daring decided to tail behind and follow. Quite curious on what Ahuizotl could want with a human.

"At last, I can finally unlock the secret chamber of that dreaded temple. And I can silence you at the same time." Ahuizotl commented to Ghost.

"Oh, one of those locks that needs a certain type of blood. Goodie." Ghost says, not very enthused nor upset just yet.

The rest of the adventure was traveled in silence. Daring was still trailing off in the distance. Ghost meanwhile was using a sharp blade that he had hidden at his wrist to cut the rope slowly and silently. The way they did the knot, he could still make it look like he was tied when he really wasn't. Also no one bothered to remove any of his gear. So he is still armed to the teeth. Whoever thought that was a good idea was going to regret it later.

They arrive at the temple. By now Ghost finished with that rope and hid the knife again. No one noticed he had managed to cut the rope. Which was a good thing. That was until they got to this alter looking place near a sealed door. "Oh how lovely." Ghost commented upon seeing it.

Daring Do was not that far behind. Everyone was gathering near the alter so she could get in closer than normal. She now was getting a little concerned about the human. He may be in too deep now. But she, just like all the others, has no idea that Ghost was free and ready to make his move.

"Get on the alter." Ahuizotl commanded. But Ghost just smiled up at him.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you? You can't kill a ghost." With that Ghost released the cut ropes and drew his two swords that he had sheathed on his sides.

"Kill him!" Ahuizotl commanded and moved away as his goons moved in, eager to put this human down. Unknown to them, Ghost is highly skilled in fights.

Ghost was quite calm as he scaled up his adversaries. Of course they out-numbered him by a decent margin, he counted fifteen men starting to gather around him. Several armed with knives and swords. Most were armed with fists and machetes. Ghost maintained his defensive posture. Refusing to get close and keeping them distanced. He noticed there was several poor lighting areas. He loved these.

"Come on boys, let's go play in the dark." Ghost said with a soft smirk before ducking into the dark corner. His dark attire immediately made him become invisible to the goons. As they were using the torches near the center of the room at first.

Shortly after that, one of the goons was grabbed and a very short struggle was heard. All defensive now, the goons went into the unknown section to hunt out the human. But one by one he picked them off. Moving silently he was unheard till he drug off the goons into the darkness. Before they knew it, it was down to two and they were back to back, "Show yourself coward!" One of them screamed.

"As you wish." Ghost said as he appeared into their view. Being only two, he could take them both on at once. As they most likely lacked the disciplined training that Ghost received. Ghost now went onto the offensive, he raised his swords and quickly moved at his last two opponents. They were scared now, he picked off all their comrades without engaging them head on. Who knows what he can do against two head on.

Ghost circled them, sizing them up, estimating their skill level and trying to find a weakness to exploit. One seemed to have a weaker left knee and the other appeared to have bruised abdominal area. Looked like bruised or cracked ribs. Ghost now finding his enemies weakness went into the engagement. His opponents had only machetes so he had reach and more power going for him. As his guess proved, the one avoided putting weight on the knee when he could help it. So Ghost constantly did attack after attack that would require him to put use on that knee. Meanwhile the other goon would try to catch Ghost off guard but Ghost having another sword and great defensive training proved to be quite difficult. Plus not having the same reach as a sword made it hard to get a good attack in, as Ghost always countered with stabs towards the ribs. He could easily dodge, but the point was bring up the pain in the chest by overdoing the movements and reminding the goon that he does have bruised ribs.

Ghost kept this up for at least twenty minutes before they fatigued and he gained the upper hand against them. Though all he did was disarm them and got them on their knees with their hands up. "Tired already, man, need to do more cardio. Surrender now, and this ends here between you and me. I am not a killer, though I will kill if I need too."

"You didn't kill our friends?" The one asked and looked up at Ghost.

"Nope. Just put them in a choke hold till they blacked out." Ghost replied, sheathing one sword and keeping the other out for now.

"We won't try anything as long as you let us live."

"Wise decision. Play nice and I won't have to come back." Ghost turned to see if their boss was around but he had ran off. Daring Do was not paying much attention either where her enemy took off too. As she found herself intrigued by this human who took on thugs single handed and won without a scratch.

Ghost sheathed the other sword and preceded to leave the cave. The goons got up, for a moment they thought about attacking, but decided to not waste the one chance they knew they had at his mercy. Daring ducked into a cutout to not be seen by the human as he left.

After a few minutes later Ghost was near the bandit camp that was currently partying. Being surrounded by hills, they chose the worst place to camp, from a military point of view, no high ground and easy to sneak up on. But time to give them the message Ghost was hired to give. Ghost chucked a few flash grenades into the mist of the party and quickly went to the camp. The grenades went off and he quickly got the lead on the ground with him being all dazed and blinded by the flash. "Told you I was going to be back. Time to leave those villages alone or taking all your bits is the least you will have to worry about me doing." Ghost this time draws a revolver and fires a single shot near the bandit leader's head.

"Yes, yes, we get it. Please don't kill us." He pleaded. He was very scared and fearful sounding. In no time Ghost had robbed him of all his mojo and boss like attitude.

"Good, because I will be watching." Ghost then takes the bits that was used to buy him off of the bandits. One of the guards tried to stop Ghost from leaving but Ghost takes him, flips him over his back and now is on top of the bandit who is on their back. "Next time I won't be gentle." Ghost then punches him once in the gut. Which leaves the guard winded.

The whole time Daring has been watching. Forgetting whatever objective she originally went after as her priority went to solving the mystery of the this human that could fight very well. Who was he? What is his history? What is he doing on this planet? Those were the most prominent of questions she had racing around in her mind. Though her thoughts were broken when she heard "Enjoy the show there?" Come from behind her.

She turned quickly and saw the human standing behind her. She fell onto her back as she was surprised and unprepared to be met by the human in such a manner. "I uh...I was...um..." Daring couldn't believe she was stumbling on her words like some school girl who is talking to her crush for the first time.

Ghost simply smiled and reached out his hand to help her up. "It's okay, I surprise a lot of people. Even when I am not trying to be sneaky." He said a bit softly. He knew he definitely caught her way off guard. But no better way to relieve the tension than a proper introduction. "Name is Ghost. But that is my not my real name, just like yours isn't Daring Do."

This had her completely shell shocked, how did he know she had a cover name? Fair enough he has his own and that is probably why. But she still had to ask, "How did you know?" Ghost grinned and slid one of the novels out of his back pocket. "Very interesting read. But even the most seasoned writers would have some difficulty coming up with the scenarios and outcomes in the detail that this novel was written in (If only I was that good). Plus the name seems to quite fictional, though it does have a ring to it. Just like mine. Rolls off the tongue, sets the stage that I am quite mysterious, quiet and feared. Your cover name inspires boldness and bravery. Also, you look way too much like the author when I did a quick internet search on A.K. Yearling." Ghost was selling that he had her all figured out based on all other little known facts, but he just grinned at the end. How simple it was for him to find the truth.

Daring did accept his hand to sit back up (I didn't forget that bit, don't give me that look), "So you know my real name. What is yours? If I may know." Daring dusted herself just a little and adjusted her hat.

"Brandon McTavish. Last name is not my 'real' name. I changed it to that after..." At this point Ghost's voice just drops out and he kind of just goes blank for a second. "Let's just say I had a very bad day and it changed me into what I am today and we will leave it at that for now." Daring nodded. Her curiosity as both a writer and an adventurer peaked as he obviously had a highly interesting past if made him change names and make him a skilled fighter. Though as she knows as well, there are some things that are not easily discussed nor should be said to random strangers.

Before Daring could put together another sentence, Ghost smiles again and chirps in, "I know what you are about to tell me." Daring looking confused asks "What?"

Ghost now grinning replies, "Welcome to the jungle (you saw this line coming and if you didn't then shame on you)." Daring looks confused but giggles at his bad joke. "Well, I'm going to go back to the village and get some much needed sleep. You are probably going to do the same and then document this encounter for the novel. Which I can already tell what you are going to say about me. Cheesy boy in cape running around in the jungle tried to woo over Daring Do with a bad joke." He changed the tone of his voice to be quite dramatic as he says his intro to her. This only sends Daring into a giggling fit. The delivery more so than the joke itself is what done her in. Ghost in the meantime is just smiling. He couldn't help but be happy that his methods of madness paid off.

After a few minutes Ghost helps her stand up then they both head their separate ways for the night. Though Daring was definitely going to try to meet up with this weird human again (wouldn't be much a story if they didn't now would it?).

Author's Note

Hopefully this is the first story that is more than just a one shot that can finish and put out for you guys. As you know this is the only story that I have listed publicly. I had one that was never finished beyond like two chapters that I just gave up on as it just received too many dislikes. Same for the one shot. Some people liked it, but even I wasn't too impressed with the way it was done.

But if you dislike this one, please do leave feedback so I know what to fix with my writing. Otherwise I may just cry myself to sleep at night thinking no one likes me. That was a bit over the top wasn't it. See you next chapter.