Running the West (Discontinued)

Billy waved to excuse himself. "Sorry sheriff. Miss Gemini doesn't look Ike any girl we've seen round these parts. "No need to worry yourself with these pests, I'll take a couple of guys to get them acquainted with moving targets." Gemini, still blushing, refused Jack's offer. "I am quite tired, please, you boys go and shoot those bothersome canines."

Billy walked out and grabbed a rifle he left against the wall. With two of Black's men lurking, that was amateurish of him. He cocked it and waited for two others, new recruits to arrive like he asked them to.

He nods to her. "You have a good night, Miss." He says with a wink before closing the door and walking to the outside of the station to get the recruits he asked for.

Jack grabs two recruits from outside and walks with them to the armory, watching them grab weapons before walking with them to Billy. "Lets go." He says while walking out of the station. He turns to Billy as they walk. "Where did you last see the rascals?" He asks.

"Also, recruits, names?" He asks.

"James." One replies, sort of a smaller man who holds a colt revolver in his right hand, he stands at 5'5 and has a bit of long black hair hidden under a cowboy hat. He wears a plaid shirt and jeans.

The other one is a large man. "Ryan." He says while shouldering his rifle. This one stands at 6'2 and has a stubbly beard on his face and a set of light blue eyes. This one was a good shot, he had been observed at the range and Jack saw him as a potential candidate for the mission he would send someone out on tomorrow, which is why he grabbed him to hunt the coyotes, to see if he really was up to the task of shooting actual targets.

Billy nodded at the men, holding his repeater rifle. "Right then, last I saw them they were out back. Whine the general store. Looked like maybe a dozen of them. "They are annoying, but they are still wild animals. Don't let them too close. Usually killing a few of them drives the others away."

The general store wasn't very far, so the men wouldn't need horses really, unless they wanted to cover more ground. As they approached, it wasn't hard to tell that they were close. The eerie whimpering cry done by coyote's (similar to how hyenas "chuckle") which assured them there was at least a handful just a click behind the store and into the edge of the town. Billy tried to spot them quietly as he got prone. "Three of em... eatin a chicken or two from one of the farms most likely..."

Jack nods to Billy as they walk. "Fuck, they have farms out by the General store, don't they?" He asks while biting the inside of his cheek, the governor would probably give him an earful for any loss of livestock the coyotes managed to achieve. The group walks until Billy goes prone and spots the coyotes, Jack crouches next to him and motions for Ryan to lay down next to Billy, considering he had the other rifle.

"I'd say that's about one hundred meters." He mutters to Billy, grabbing his revolver and holding it steady. "I've got the one on the left, Billy you shoot the one eating the chicken and Ryan gets the one remaining." He says while looking at them, waiting for them to agree before aiming down his sights to ready his shot. "On my mark.. Now." He says while firing, the coyote he shoots whines and falls, a large chunk of its shoulder taken out. Ryan fires and hits his mark, the coyote doesn't even jave a chance, falling with its brains splattered behind it.

Billy nodded and cocked his rifle, taking aim and firing when he was told to. Clipping the coyote's rear leg and leaving it whimpering. Billy stood up and dashed towards them. There were more, they scurried after the gunshots and some of the town seemed worried, but it was all town work for their benefit. Billy ran up to his coyote and drawing a thick knife he carried, ended the creature's pain as quickly as possible. "Are we wanting coyote pelts? Could probably sell'em. I know how to skin em if you care to have them."

The chicken was quite dead. And there were at least two more which hand been mangled, and crushed eggs everywhere. A coyote ran over and snatched a hare which was minding its own business. That was probably good news. Rabbits were terrible news for farmers.

Billy watched it, but couldn't draw quickly enough, deciding to let it run. "There should be one or two more somewhere. They tend to stick together till things get tough."

Jack nods to Billy. "Grab the bodies, we'll get some pelts and sell'em, maybe that'll add to our funding a little." He says with a laugh, hinting at the fact that the governor refused to offer them any sort of raise to get more men into their little band of misfits that was developing.

He watches as the coyote grabs the rabbit and runs off, shrugging with with little care, that was one less creature that would harm the farms around the area. "Right, let's go find ourselves some more coyotes." He says while motioning for the group to follow him, walking out towards the other farms, where some chickens were screaming as if trying to get help. They come upon another small group, which Jack and Ryan make short work of.

"How many more do you think will send'em packing?" Jack asks while blowing the smoke rising from the barrel of his revolver.

Billy ran over to the corpses and began to tie them to the rest. "I think this will do it honestly... there maybe a few left, but tonight, they ain't pestering anyone." He took his loot and started making his way back. "We done saved the farmers a lot of money. This may seem like a small insignificant thing, but they'll remember us. When their crops grow in abundance." He tipped his hat at the gentlemen. "Good night folks. Sorry about Miss Gemini."

Jack looks to him and nods. "Yeah they'd better remember, I'm about to suggest next time they buy their own damn guns." He says with a laugh while tipping his hat. "Im gonna head to bed, Miss Gemini and I were just about to part for the night Billy, you didn't interrupt nothin'." He says before walking back to the office with his hands in his pockets. He walks inside and moves to his own room, walking inside and collapsing on to his bed, closing his eyes to get some sleep as they would have a very busy morning ahead of them.

Jack's morning wouldn't be what he expected. He'd wake up to the sounds of bickering. It sounded like Ellie of course.

"This is a sheriff's office here... you guys can't just enter in here!" Ellie was already triggered and ready to fire on Erron's men, who had the audacity to enter their site of operations.

"Easy, easy... We just want to check to see if your boss has made up his mind..." Diego said, trying to smile his way out of Ellie's fit, a dark stubble staining his tanned skin.

"You heard the girl... Step out of our here'home... and the sheriff'll talk to you later on..." Lance stepped out, annoyed and of course Jessica right next to him. Mysterious as it was, the two of them were rarely away from each other. Jessica just smiled at the men widely, definitely bringing on the scare factor as she didn't seem hesitant to shoot anything or anyone.

"I said back... I'm not scared of you two assholes..." Ellie said before she noticed Lance come out to back her up. She felt some relief as these men were intimidating her, even if they weren't being rude. Working for Erron Black made you as guilty as he was.

Kudo frowned as Diego raised his hands in comical surrender. "Fine... fine... but your man's running out of time... And I'm tired of being in this cute little town... Not enough shooting around here..." Diego answered, heading towards the door.

Lance just watched him retreat back, his fingers tapping his belt as his peacemaker was only a wrist flip away.

Jack wakes when he hears bickering, catching the words through the thin walls of the station, his ear practically pressed to the door as he gets dressed and prepared himself for the long day ahead of him. He grabs his revolver from his nightstand and slips it into his holster, dressed in his usual hat, flannel shirt, jeans and boots.

When the two men leave he steps out cautiously, eyeing the small group at the front. "Thanks for driving'em off, I owe y'all one." He says with a nod. "Im going to wake Miss Gemini and see if my man wants to do this mission." He says while walking over to the guest room, knocking loudly. "Rise n'shine!" He called before walking out the back towards where he knew Ryan was staying.

He brings the man into the station with everyone else. "We need your help, but not here." Jack explains to the man, who nods. "We need you to spy on Black for us, it's not an easy task and you would be risking your life day in and day out, but if you do it and you're successful? You would be the reason of our victory." He explains, Ryan nods.

"I accept." He simply says, he didn't have a wife or family to leave behind anyway.

"You'll leave when Black's men find out we're not cooperating." He says before shooing him off, allowing him to go to the armory to prepare himself. "Anybody who feels like sending him off with a proper goodbye can do so, he's gonna need all the support he can get." Jack says while walking into the kitchen area and making himself some black coffee.

Ryan walks into the armory and takes a lever action rifle, beginning to load it, his large muscular frame taking up some room within the small area, and the rifle seemed a little small for his tastes, so he replaces it with a larger variant. He would make it seem like he was pissed with the Sheriff and the town, and that he stole a weapon to take up arms against it, as he wanted to make it seem like he thinks the idea of the town fighting Black was crazy and he didn't want to die with them.

Gemini joined Jack and his people throughout the short briefing. The young man seemed fearless which was good, but he really had no reason to do this job. As a matter of fact, his single life would be better under Black's orders. Gemini investigated him carefully before watching him leave to prepare. After Jack went to get his coffee, most of the others went their own way, save for Gemini and Ellie. Ellie gave the redhead a head to toe look that wasn't particularly kind as Gemini rolled her eyes and faced Jack. "I don't trust the man you're sending out. Seemed too... comfortable." Her eyes coated Jack's apparel quickly, the simple style fitting the man well. Ellie had to nod, "Sending him too well armed will be his death."

Jack looks back at the both of them and nods as they share their opinions. "I trust him." He says with a shrug. "If he wants to actually give up and join Black that would be leaving his home town to die, I doubt anyone with a sensible mind would do that.. But you're right, Ellie go let him know that he should only be taking a revolver." He says to her before turning to Gemini. "He won't betray us.. I hope." He says. "I can't trust anybody I send out there, because the only people I trust are the ones that Black knows would never betray us, and he knows them of course, which would be their deaths to send them into his clutches." He explains.

Gemini sighed and nodded her head. "You have much to learn about running a town. We are subject to prices. Show us something we desire and we can lose sight of our real goals. Hopefully Black doesn't have something that this boy wants."

Ellie was irate that she was sent as a messenger girl, she was the center of attention until Gemini popped up. She took a deep breath and headed out to where Ryan should be. He wasn't a bad looking guy, but Ellie was not about to try any funny business. "Hey, you're going to be our informant for Erron Black, ain't you?"

Jack nods. "I just try not to be pessimistic." He says with a laugh. "Hell if I didn't have the Governor in the way, we'd have the National Guard over here by now." He says with a shrug while watching her. "If he loves his town enough he won't pull anything, but if he does its one more advantage Black will have over us... It's a necessary risk." He says.

Ryan was busy in the armory, he was looking at the weapons available to him, he had decided ahead of time that a simple revolver might just do him justice, so he was loading the Colt Revolver on the table in the center of the armory, and grabbing some extra ammo. He hears a woman's voice and turns his head to see Ellie approaching. "Yeah, that's me." He says, giving her a slight wave before slipping his pistol into his holster. "What's up?" He asks.

"The sheriff sent me to make sure you don't stock up too loud." She spotted the rifle he has originally taken laying wayside. "If you are too loaded up, it's a warning sign for black. Grab a revolver..." She noticed that he had, "...and perhaps a knife." She pointed at their collection of knives, plenty to choose from. "Ryan, right?" She said with a serious tone. "I don't know why you hopped into this or what you expect, but if you dare turn your back on this town..." Ellie only got closer, her eyes sharp and rather wide. "I'll put a bullet in your brain." She smiled at him, patting his shoulder. "Don't get discovered. We are short staffed as is." Sometimes it was hard to tell if she was a human or some sort of wild feline.

Ryan nods to her and grabs a small steel knife that looked appealing to him, tucking it into its holster before strapping it to his belt, it would certainly be a last resort weapon. "Yeah I figured taking too many weapons might be a bad idea." He says with a shrug while leaning back against the table, eyeing her as she approached him. When she makes her threat a simple grin spreads across his face. "Don't sorry I don't intend to, my family's name will not go down with criminals and thieves." He says to her, nodding as she pats his shoulder. "I hope to survive, I just hope to not be discovered.. I'll try my very best, that's what this town deserves." He says.

Ellie backed away from him as she had clearly invaded his personal space, and her threat didn't seem to bother him much at all, which annoyed her. In fact, he smiled at her, maybe he didntnknow who she was. Taking a few steps back, Ellie tipped her hat and exited quickly, no longer wanting to spend any time with the young brave.

Ryan watches her go, she was intimidating but he couldn't show fear right before his big task, he walks out of the armory and then outside of the sheriff's station, finding Black'smen outside of the Governor's house. He looks to them before speaking. "The Sheriff made the stupid decision of not going with y'all.. I can't stay here and die with them, can you take me with you?" He asks them, trying to keep a neutral expression on his face as he looks to the two.

Diego frowned at him. "Fuck off, anyone who joins the Brotherhood joins the same way." Kudo gripped his rifle. "You'll have to go to Maribelle and find out. We aren't about to spill details to some traitorous little rat."

Diego pushed Kudo's chest lightly. "You really want in the brotherhood?" That annoying smile the knife weilder held was the embodiment of trickery. "Do you?"

Ryan furrows his eyebrows together before nodding. "Can you take me to her?" He asks. "Seriously, I want out of this shit town." He says while crossing his arms, watching the two seemingly hostile men. "I'd be willing to do anything." He pleads, it seriously seemed like he wanted in. "Call me traitorous if you will, but if you take me to Maribelle I'll be the most dedicated soldier you've got." He says.

He watches as Diego pushes his counterpart, trying not to smirk as he sees the sight of them, he manages to keep it down while standing ready, wondering if they would actually take him to this Maribelle lady or not.

The two men started laughing loudly. "Learn your geography you moron!" Yelled Diego, "Look at a goddamn map!" Maribelle was the third town, where Jack had met Justine and where the Brotherhood primarily operated from. Cold Stone was where Lance was born, and where Billy went to find Gemini. They stood in Whitewater, Kenslay's old territory. "Get lost before we tell your big daddy that he's got a shitty traitor in his ranks..."

Ryan shrugs. "Okay fine, go and tell him, maybe all of us will get shot for it." He says while watching them. "I heard the blue-haired one say if you stepped foot in there again you'd both be dead and gone within a moment... But I'm just a dirty traitor, what do I know about the defensive capabilities of this town?" He asks with a shrug, acting disinterested now that they were being assholes about it.

"Whay... hoh! Come back here kid..." Diego laughed, "Stop being such a horse pussy about things. How about this... you do us a job... a quick one... and we'll take you to Maribelle ourselves. That sound good to you pumpkin?" Kudo kept shaking his head, "No wonder Whitewater is in the dumps. Erron's gonna have a real easy time taking this town if your pappy doesn't cooperate..."

Ryan raises his eyebrows and turns, laughing as he is called back. "Okay." He says while crossing his arms, listening to the man. "Alright, what's the mission, then?" He asks. "The Sheriff ain't cooperating, I already told you." He says with a laugh, shaking his head as if in disbelief, he was a pretty good actor to say the least.

"You saw the red-head that came from Cold Stone, right?" Diego smirked, she got a pretty white horse with dark hair. Must be at the stables. Go shoot it. If you get caught we got nothing to do with it, if anyone tells the sheriff you're on your own. How about it? It's the only horse like that in town..."