Props to Stealthy Cannoneer for helping out with this chapter.
Chapter 11: A little encounter with the Stealth
The musket was aimed, it was loaded, and finally, it was ready. Ivan knew the consequences of the shot, and he had planned for it beforehand.
’Fire…’
With a quick squeeze of the trigger, the musket’s barrel practically exploded, sending the ball flying through the air at untold speeds.
BOOOOM!
The barrel exploded with much greater force than Ivan had expected, but it was still far away from the man he was trying to catch. However, when it exploded, it blocked the exit with a bunch of smoldering rock, making it impossible to cross.
The rough tri-corned scout almost went from a full sprint to stopping in his tracks. He then turned right around and headed in the direction in which he came.
’Perfect.’ Ivan thought. Now he’d eventually have nowhere to go.
Ivan threw the musket to the ground, (which since it wasn’t loaded only made it something heavy to carry) and dashed off towards his only knowledge of Reynard.
Aside from the many mine carts, musket piles, and random wood planks that were being pushed down, it was surprising that the scout hadn’t tried to attack him directly. Of course it’s difficult to face an enemy when they’re pointing a gun straight at you.
Ivan followed the scout down a long, winding pathway. No wonder Ivan was able to catch up to him, because if he’d been chasing him on the same path, there’d be no way he’d get to him. Even though it seemed that Ivan was lagging far behind, it wouldn’t matter once they reached a dead end.
And that was right ahead of them.
Finally they reached the dead end, now it was impossible for him to escape in the same way he did before.
“Nowhere to go?” Ivan said, walking smugly towards the scout. “Tell you what, how about you follow me and we can end this nicely.”
The scout turned around to face Ivan. “I see no way in which this can end nicely.” He said, reaching inside his coat.
Ivan reached into his coat as well and took out the knife he’d recently used for making it look like he got into a fight, but now he realized this wasn’t the case.
“Ah, another fine duelist I see.” The man said. “So, who sent you? There’s no way someone like you belongs in the navy.” He said, taking out a knife as well.
“I’ll be the one to ask questions here.” Ivan said, nearing closer and closer. “Firstly, who sent you?”
“The one you’re searching for.”
“Marcus?”
“No, Reynard.”
Ivan almost face palmed himself, but with a knife in his hand, he thought it would be best not to. “That’s, well, they’re the same person.”
The scout laughed and returned to his fighting stance. “Trust me, if he had any codenames, I’d know about ‘em.”
“That’s… not what I meant.”
“Are you going to fight me or not?”
“Whatever.” Ivan said as he lunged towards the scout with built up frustration.
His attack was dodged seemingly easily by the scout which sidestepped out of the way and pushed him onto the ground.
“Surely that wasn’t your best.” He said as he took out another knife from his coat.
Ivan turned around just in time to dodge a knife headed straight for his leg. He got up to his feet and neared closer to his target.
“Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now.” The man said, narrowly dodging another swipe from Ivan. “Where did you learn to fight? The butchery?” He said, dodging another one of Ivan’s wild attacks.
At this time, the man Ivan was fighting was growing a bit tired of the lack of finesse, so he decided to try attacking himself. He took out a bunch of small knives and threw them all at once; most of them missed Ivan, except for the one that caught the edge of his arm. Now that Ivan was stunned, the man continued to use a flurry of swipes, cuts and quick stabs. A few of them, much to Ivan’s dismay, were able to break through his sporadic dodging, and before long, Ivan saw a sight that he hated to see. His own blood.
Ivan looked up just in time to see another barrage of fury coming his way. This time he was much more careful in dodging the attacks.
“You honestly have no idea on how these things work do you?” The scout said. “Here’s a hint, you’re supposed to- WHOA!”
The man was cut off by Ivan’s similarly placed barrage of fury.
“That was a little better than I expected, but maybe you try a little bit harder.” The scout said as he grabbed Ivan’s hand and unexpectedly threw him down like he was some sort of ninja. “Now then, how about we ditch the knives, and fight hand to hand?” He said, throwing his knife into the ditch.
Ivan rolled his eyes and as the fair fighter he is, tossed his own knife into the gaping hole in which the scout had just recently roped past.
“You REALLY don’t know how to do this, do you.” The scout said as he pulled out another knife.
’Fine, if he decides he can do that, I guess I need my own advantage as well.’
This little fight had gone too far, now Ivan would go further than before. He ran towards the scout, kicked the knife out of his hand, and before he could react, threw one of the knives at his gut.
A searing pain shot through the scout as the knife grazed across his body. At least it didn’t get… stuck.
Ivan knew that now was the time to end this. He took out the flintlock that Jack had given him, and restrained the scout to the point where he was unable to reach for his own weapon. However the scout kicked Ivan off of him before he was completely secured.
Now on the ground, Ivan picked up the flintlock and headed towards his target.
“Now then, let’s see how you do no…” The man said before he was cut off by a gun pointed directly in front of him. “Hey, that’s cheating.” He said, putting his hands up.
“Now then, will you decide to follow me now?” Ivan asked.
“Do I still have to answer your questions?”
“What? Of course you do pirate!”
“Was that an insult?”
“Just walk towards the shipment house!” Ivan said, beginning his long walk back to Jack.
~~~~~~~~~~
Howard trudged onward through the rainy streets of Padres Del Fuego. His mission was clear: Find any sign of Reynard or his affiliates.
“I should start here.” He said, walking into a weapons shop.
“And what can I get for you?” Asked the old man at the counter.
“Ammo, and lots of it.”
“Ah, quite the adventurer I see.”
“Not really, just hunting someone down.”
The old man walked over to a small box at the edge of the store. “I keep these for the special customers.” He said as he opened the box, revealing some tightly packed stun shots.
“That’ll have to do.” Howards said, exchanging the desired amount of money for the shots. “Thank you, I’ll be off now.”
“And another thing.” The man said, keeping Howard from opening the door. “Could I interest you in some triple barreled pistols?”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Now where did you say you found him?” Jack asked.
“He ran up to me while I was… pretending to dig. I’m sure he has information. He knew about Reynard and everything.” Ivan answered.
“Good, that’s a start.” Jack said. “At least we know now where to begin.” He said, walking towards the interrogation rooms. “I’ll go in there and see what I can… extract.”
“You go in there? But what about me?” Ivan asked.
“You stay here, I’m an experienced interrogator.” He said walking towards the door.
“Well, good luck I guess. He’s a sly one.”
“I know.” Jack said as he opened the door. Inside the quiet empty room lied the stealthy scout sitting neatly on the table. Literally ON the table.
“Hey, get off there!” Jack yelled.
“Why?”
“Because… Ugh!” Jack screamed in frustration.
“That’s not really an answer.”
“How about this then: If you don’t sit on the chair right now I’m going to give you a nightmare to remember.” Jack said, already infuriated.
The man pushed himself off the table and onto the chair in front of him. “Alright Jack.”
“Wha- how do you know my name?”
“Or should I call you, Captain Jack Henson?” The man asked.
“I think please, no, mercy would be suitable.”
“Ok then please no mercy,” The man said folding his hands. “What will it be today? The usual?”
“Listen! Just answer my questions, and my name won’t have any significant meaning in this conversation.” He said, pounding on the table.
“Fine, fine. But I don’t think Jack Henson sounds very meaningful anyways.”
“SHUT UP!” Jack screamed, sending a silence throughout the room. “Now, what’s your name?”
“Stealthy.”
“I know you are, but what’s your name?”
“Stealthy. Just Stealthy’s fine.
“O…k… Stealthy. What business do you have with the man Marcus Reynard?”
“So that is his first name.”
“What? No! Yes, I mean…”
“Maybe?”
“Just… UH!!!!!” Jack yelled as he stormed out the door.
“What’s going on?” Ivan asked.
“You handle him, he’s impossible.” Jack said, running off presumably somewhere quiet so he could go cry.
’Alright, I guess that leaves it up to me.’ Ivan said as he headed towards the door.
The door creaked open slowly, and Ivan walked into the room. But to his surprise, there was nobody there. Panicking, he turned around only to find a nice foot to the face, sending him crashing into the table. Before he could leap forward however, a loud ‘PHHSST’ entered the room as an explosion of smoke covered the entire room.
“HEY!” Ivan yelled as he tried to find his way to the door. Eventually, once he reached it, he ran down the hall, only to find everyone acting completely normal.
‘What on earth is going on?’
Now that whoever he was trying to find had escaped, it seemed hopeless. That is, until his eyes reached a piece of paper lying on the floor.
‘Come to Ratskellar, on Padres Del Fuego. Come alone, and come prepared.
-M. R.
~~~~~~~~~~
Need Moar cawmentz.