It was a bit of a cold night as a breeze blew through a silent town. The moon was glowing a pale white glow in the equally dark navy blue sky, dotted with hundreds of tiny stars. Though that wasn't what made this night so breathtaking in any way possible.
Leaning against a building was a man who looked about between his mid-20s and early-30s, clad in strange red and brown armor, complete with a cowboy hat over his dark blond hair and some kind of mask over his face, showing only his forehead and dark blue eyes. That man happened to be Erron Black, a former Earthrealmer and Outworld's top mercenary with the gift of delivering death to his enemies.
A few months had passed since Shinnok's invasion and the gunslinger was on a mission, given by his employer, Kotal Kahn, to find a key place in Earthrealm to attack but the one, he was in, was a different Earthrealm that was unknown to Outworld, which resembled an old western town, kinda like the ones seen in cowboy films and novels.
After loading his two revolvers, Erron walked past and noticed a seedy saloon bar, The Rusty Spittoon, the place where many boozers of the town gather, and decided to enter, the sounds of the customers' laughter got louder and louder. For some reason, the bar seemed a bit familiar to him.
'I missed this.' He mentally sighed, upon entering the saloon.
In amongst the smoky atmosphere were the patrons sitting at tables, some of them drinking and laughing amongst themselves, some gambling and playing cards and some of them were drinking at the bar. Some were also smoking cigarettes and some had passed out from the amount of alcohol, they drank. On one side of the room, a pianist was playing an upbeat ragtime tune on the piano to which a fat man was dancing. At some point, a drunken patron made some very inappropriate gesture to a saloon waitress, who, in return, struck him across the face with the back of her hand, knocking him off his seat.
Erron paid no mind to them, as he made his way to an empty table, the patrons didn't dare to look at him, for, in return he would exchange a murderous glare.
Eventually, the fat man's number came to a close as he did a big finish, but all he got was the customers starting to boo at him and hurl all levels of verbal abuse.
"Get off the stage, you bum!" shouted one of the patrons
Erron hardly pitied the poor fellow as the loser ran as fast as he could off the stage to avoid being struck by any of the knives, bottles, darts, bullets and other weapons thrown in his direction.
"What's your pleasure, sir?" asked a barmaid, who had a large frame and a blonde hairstyle and very busty.
"I'll have your finest booze..." The gunslinger answered. "And make it snappy. I'm in a hurry."
"Coming right up." The barmaid nodded, before heading up to the bar.
After the barmaid left, the pianist began to play music as the next act came on, consisting of two boys on a unicycle, sitting on each other's shoulders. The act however didn't last very long as the booing and verbal abuse started again and more weapons were being thrown towards the stage. The pianist abruptly stopped the music in the process with a look of panic on his face as the curtains closed.
"Only one thing for this." The pianist muttered as an idea formed in his mind as he began to play a smooth poignant melody on the piano. The patrons were ready for the next loser on stage but the curtain opened to reveal the next performer that made them put their weapons down.
It was a girl who looked like she was between her mid-20s and early-30s, with long brunette hair and chocolate brown eyes, wearing a red and black corset with red stripes, black and red frills and red bows, a matching skirt that was black and lined with red lace and a large red bow, light scarlet and black vertical striped stockings, completed with a red and black leg garter secretly holding a holster and pistol and a red rose ornament in her hair.
And her name was Thalia Rosethorn, the star singer and saloon girl of The Rusty Spittoon.
"Is this your last resort or something?" muttered Erron under his breath as the barmaid arrived with his drink.
"The finest booze as promised. It's on the house." The barmaid remarked as the whole saloon became silent as the pianist began to play a western jazz tune and Thalia began to sing.
"You left me sad and lonely
Why did you leave me lonely
For here's a heart that's only
For nobody but you
I'm burning like a flame dear
Oh I'll never be the same dear
I'll always place the blame dear
On nobody but you"
Erron somehow paid little attention to the singer as he picked up the beer mug from the table and started drinking it while the patrons enjoyed the performance.
"Not bad..." He murmured as the music got upbeat.
"Yes, you
You're driving me crazy
What did I do?
What did I do?"
As Thalia sang those last two lines, the patrons got close to the stage and started grabbing at her, causing her to squeal but managed to dodge them, as she was quick and continued to sing despite the wolf whistling from many customers.
"My tears for you
Make everything hazy
Clouding the skies of blue
How true were the friends who were near me to cheer me
Believe me they knew
That you were the kind who would hurt me, desert me
When I needed you
Yes you
You're driving me crazy
What did I do to you?"
Halfway through the performance, Erron narrowed his eyes as the drunks were trying to get to Thalia.
"Why do the idiots have to kill my good time?" He muttered, glaring.
Without warning, he got out one of his revolvers and shot down a patron, the bullet ricocheting all over the place. The pianist stopped the music upon hearing the shot ring out.
"Not another bar brawl!" He shrieked in panic like a girl as he hid inside his piano to take cover. Thalia swiftly dove to one side of the stage, unholstering her pistol from her garter while the bartender took cover behind the bar, followed by the horrified barmaid until every patron in the bar was now dead and bleeding from the inflicted wounds, the bar floorboards stained with their blood as every body laid in a patch of red.
Thalia stayed in her usual hiding spot as she heard the gunslinger's voice. "Bullseye."
She peeked as Erron sheathed his revolver before turning to leave the bar, satisfied to see every patron inside is dead.
"Is it over, boss?" The pianist asked meekly as he peeked from his hiding place.
"Yep, it's over." The bartender nodded.
But it wasn't over yet as Erron turned back to the bartender and threw a sand grenade into her mouth before shooting it with his revolver, causing sand to spurt everywhere from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears and leaving her body twitching.
Thalia watched in horror as Erron finally left the bar.
'I better steer clear of him. Don't wanna get a sand grenade too.'
Several hours had passed since what happened at The Rusty Spittoon as Erron sat by a table near a window in a local hotel, across from the saloon, shrugging off the feeling of being featured on the wanted posters stuck on the buildings as he continued carving out different names on each and every one of his bullets.
He knew the sooner the mission was done, the sooner he'd get his payment.
YOU ARE READING
Of Guns and Roses
Action"You wouldn't think about shooting a saloon girl like me, would you?" "But it'd feel so right." Thalia Rosethorn was born to an Edenian prince and an Earthrealm woman but was taken to an unknown part of Earthrealm where she had a low paying job as a...
