《Wanted: Dead or Alive》Chapter 18 - 'Neck Deep'

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[Fall – Blue City]

The bulking bounty hunter named Grovo had been hired by Isiah to track down Jennings and was tailing his target back into the bar. Learning, after eavesdropping, that Jennings had reinforcements arriving in the near future meant that a reduced timer had been applied to the situation. Grovo wandered off by himself.

“This kid is worth a lotta' money, but if his bloodline tainted, the old-bagger probably gonna' be stingy with his givings. I reckon' it's better if I take him into the sheriff's office my damn self. Will give the credit where it's due though, I’ve perked up and feel great, just like he said I would.”

Grovo's hands glowed alternating shades, his left flared a blinding white while his right emitted a haunting purple.

After hours of observing Jennings down drinks while stationed at his stool alone. After the discussion with his pal Ollie closed, an expected opportunity presented itself. As Jennings arose from his seated position and made haste for the back exit, Grovo talked to the two men positioned next to the closest door frame. They shadow Jennings' movement and move toward the back as well a few seconds later.

Jennings fisted the back door open, creating a visible crack on the wooden fixture while skipping side-to-side, dancing to hold in the urine.

“Shoot.” responded Jennings to his own careless action.

He staggered outside and groaned to himself while simultaneously itching his crotch.

“The outhouses never too, too close. Why?!” He stumbled forward with no grace, flailing, he enclosed himself within the one-man booth. He could’ve passed as drunk to an average patron.

The two men accompanying Grovo surround the outhouse with Jennings inside, their boss located just at the door, taking up its entire width with his own stature. He shouted to the preoccupied man within, having the upper hand.

“John Jennings, we have you surrounded. Come on out witcha' hands...and pants up. This is me askin' nicely.”

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His voice was deep, one to match his frame. It sounded smooth, but harsh, like someone who had spent enough time yelling to the public. He followed his statement by removing his pistol from his side, aiming it forward.

Lacking a proper response time, Jennings fired from within the wooden stall and shot a single one of the hired men in the shoulder, sending him to the ground in pain.

Grovo retreated for cover in a restricted fashion because of his huge frame, almost fumbling his gun between his wide fingers. His next shot failed to hit Jennings who had already ravaged his way out the back with a forceful kick. Jennings assessed his surroundings quickly and rushed to the side of the man he had injured with his previous bullet, stabbing him in the midsection while crouching behind him for minimal cover as he noticed Grovo reload.

“Stand still!”

Grovo and his remaining pal were safe for now, breathing heavy while lying behind any substantial item they could crouch behind. Some storage containers worked for the time being. He illuminated the area and temporarily froze both Jennings and the remaining henchman due to the unexpected brightness. When Jennings' vision returned, it was met with a massive fist hurtling toward his face, striking its mark.

The outlaw fell back to the dirt, fully experiencing the force behind that last hit.

“Woo!” yells Grovo wiping off the Jennings' blood from his fist, “You like takin' a beating? -I like dishing it. It's good eatin'!”

Barely able, Jennings wrestles to block an oncoming shadow projectile with an ice shield, which bought him a moment for clear thought.

Grovo smirks in a condescending manner before leaping to Jennings' location in an oversized frog-like manner. Once again he had displayed an action that Jennings was ill-prepared for, which had become too common as of late. Using his massive grip, Grovo latched onto Jennings arm and swung him over-top of himself, sending him thundering into the ground. A devastating burst of air leaves Jennings' core. The other henchman hurried behind Jennings like the hungry predator he was. They hoped to lock down his movement with a hold, but neither couldn't effectively apply it.

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Jennings recognized the sliver of a second he had to capitalize and took advantage, letting out an ice-charged rush, his ice-tipped fingers sliced through the jugular, exposing a torrent of red fluid prepared to gush.

Grovo’s tight hands slipped with the blood of his ally, allowing Jennings to break free and scuttle away into a dust cloud created by the tussle. The victim slouched, concluding rough movements to the floor before rendering motionless, other than a flowing faucet of crimson.

Grovo on the other hand, thought quickly to take a more defensive approach and hunkered down. During the fingertip slice from Jennings, he had evaded a deep laceration.

A new wave of dirt clouds wafted in his direction. Jennings was using the environment as a makeshift smokescreen. Grovo’s mind once again returned to a defensive stance, attempting to shine a light with his Agi for any vision. Even with precautions, the large Agist still was ill-prepared for the next flurry of ice shards launched from within the dust.

Grovo received multiple lacerations from the ice lodged into his skin. The volley created cuts, blood dripped from the massive limb. A mixture of color and chaos, the assailant was so encumbered he took a subconscious knee.

The part time bounty hunter gathered his posture and raised both hands above him before releasing a paralyzing scream accompanied with a shower of dark and light orbs emitting from his combined fists. Before the orbs touched ground or the target and inflicted their assumed damage, Jennings briefly saw a glimpse to end it all.

While Grovo cast his next spell. He reminded himself that he wanted his pursuer to live through the altercation and instead of his first couple choices, he sought to seek shelter behind the former toilet stall nearby. The wooden shards blasted into pieces from a small Agi tornado.

The lights from within the force of Agi pulsated bright and dark. After a short while, the surroundings settled. The Agi source had stopped. Having avoided any harm, Jennings taunted Grovo from the sidelines before making his next move.

“Big man! Little skill.”

He echoed his words into the battlefield they shared, with only one direction of trailed laughter.

Correctly predicting a large chunk of ice being hurled toward him, Grovo turned into the direction of the spell in time to watch it wiz by, off the mark. Not responsive enough to realize it was a decoy and an attempt from Jennings to find himself behind the assailant, knocking him unconscious with a single radiant, ice-covered blow. He had shrouded his pistol in ice and swung it like a blunt weapon.

Jennings collected himself as Grovo lay beneath him. Jennings proceeded to freeze the large man up to his neckline in a solid block of ice, assuring his capture. A crowd had gathered and by now fixed their attention on Jennings as he tied Grovo and his encasing ice block to the back of Poni with a lengthy rope. It took a long, awkward while with no one offering any assistance outta probable fear.

“Just a bounty hunter doing his job, while mine is to keep the peace, so please move on to your day and nights. Thank ya’ folks- yes, thank ya’.”

Poni played up the audience, before hearing the veiled signal to move out.

By the time bystanders from the bar realize it was the lucrative fugitive, horse and ally were already on their way to meet up with Penny and determine their next step on the route to redemption.

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