The Six Guns

Chapter Nine: Service With a Smile

The night grew even more late as the first hours of dawn approached. Finn was still sitting on the porch of this run down and abandoned house that he and some other people, including children, have taken shelter in.
"Time to start brewing a plan" Finn says, "because I'm sure you haven't already made one yet"
"Actually" Siran says, "I was thinking that we could move them to Seeira. It would be easier for them to live there since you can become a citizen there and people don't have to know about your personal background. As long as you have money, or can work for someone else, you can live there"
  "Are we really going back to Seeira again?" Alex asks. "We just came back from there. You've gotta stop trying to run back home, you'll only cause more trouble"
  "Is Seeira where you're from?" Zia asks Siran.
  "No, I'm actually from one of the old countries"
  "Which one?" Finn asks.
  "America" Siran replies.
  "That's nuts, isn't that where that Naris Catastrophe started?" Finn asks. "That place must be torn to bits after Naris destroyed and terra-formed most of the planet"
  "Most of it remains" Siran says, "I think... but what was left was a fresh hell"
  "Anyways" Finn interrupts, "how are we going to make it to Seeira? That's too far away from here"
  "If we can get transportation large enough to carry all these people" Siran explains, "we can take all of them easily. How many people are there here?"
  "Eight adults and three children" Finn replies. "Not including myself"
  "How are we gonna find a car big enough for all of them?" Alex asks.
  "If only" Siran begins to say with his hand under his chin, thinking, "there were somewhere around here that had vehicles designed to carry lots of people over long distances... a vehicle large enough to hold EVERYBODY... kinda like, a military cargo truck or something?"
  "Yeah" Finn says, sounding annoyed, "I get it, and there is a place where cargo trucks frequent, but what the hell is wrong with your brain? Thinking about stuff like that. I doubt you even know how to steal stuff like that!"
  "Well" Siran says, in a seemingly playful and sarcastic tone "NO ONE is better at stealing stuff from such dangerous people than I AM"
  "Uh, yeah" Finn says, very condescendingly, "I am!"
  There was a brief pause as Alex, Zia and Siran stared at Finn. Finn looks Siran directly in the eyes before realizing that he just basically volunteered for said dangerous job.
  "Ah, shit!" Finn says.
  "Congrats, fantastic Mr. Thief" Siran says as he pats Finn on the back, "you're our guy! We'll start tomorrow night, as for the morning, introduce us to your friends!"
  "You're an asshole" Finn retorts.
  "Not the first time I've heard that either" Siran says with a smile.

  The crew goes inside to sleep, carefully finding a spot to lay down on without waking anyone up or alarming anyone. When they awaken the next morning, they find three kids, two boys trying to climb on Alex and one little girl playing with Zia. Alex is mad, and possibly woke up too early from the kids, but Zia was enjoying herself. Three of the adults, two women and one man were watching the kids and laughing. They were the parents of these kids, and they seemed relieved to watch their kids have fun. Finn sits next to Siran as Siran begins to sit up and put his sunglasses back on again. Finn hands a cup of water to Siran and then lets out a big sigh.
  "Thanks" Siran says to Finn.
  "It's good to see at least some people enjoying themselves for once" Finn says as he's watching the room liven up as the kids played. "In case you haven't already guessed, these are all the people in this area who have gone homeless. It's hard watching parents, let alone kids, go without a home. That woman on the far right, her name is Alexa. She's a single mother and the girl playing with her"
  "With Zia?" Siran interrupts.
  "Yeah, with Zia, here name is Isabelle" Finn replies. "The older of the two boys is also her son, his name is Johnny"
  "And the other boy?" Siran asks.
  "His name is Jake" Finn replies, "those two over to Alexa's right are his parents, James and Sasha"
  "You seem really attached to them" Siran says. "It's a good thing they have someone who cares so much around them. Aren't you homeless too though?"
  "Yeah" Finn says with his head hanging low. "At first I didn't care about anything. I'd scavenge the streets just to survive then mind my own business, but I couldn't stand watching kids starve to death"
  "So you secretly stowed away in an abandoned house and stole money and food to feed them?" Siran asks.
  "Sounds about right" Finn says. "Why would you want to help anyways?"
  "Well personally" Siran replies, "I couldn't stand watching children die of starvation either. I've been homeless before and I know how much it sucks and how hard it is to live. Besides, with this being an abandoned house, it's only a matter of time before you're forced out of here for renovations, so they can make a new house to sell. However, that's not the only reason. If I can rattle The Ly'Lum enough, there's a chance I can get the right people caught off guard and gain information about the happenings within The Ly'Lum. I've never trusted them, but lately they seem even more shifty. Almost like they've been planning something and are finally making their move. I can't quite yet understand what though. Other than that, they've also began hunting me down even outside of country. So I guess it's also self defense"
  Finn takes a moment to think about everything and then says "so it's personal?"
  "In some ways, yes" Siran says, "however, one of the reasons why I want to build a group to fight back with isn't because I want people to fight for me"
  "Then why do you try to form a group?" Finn asks. "Why not fight them yourself since you're confident in your fighting ability?"
  "Because, more people than myself have a bone to pick with The Ly'Lum. This room is a perfect example of that. I want to give those who have a will to fight, the power and motivation they need to fight back. I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for them. My time as a hero has long since passed"
  "What the hell does that mean?" Finn asks.
  Siran just stands up and walks away towards Zia to talk to the kids for a bit. Zia and Siran entertain the kids happily for a while, as Alex entertains the kids unhappily before yelling at Siran for not helping him escape from "the clingy grasps of the children" and Finn sits against the wall and watches them, thinking to himself.
  Eventually, the day comes to an end as the night draws near, everyone in the house had a smile on their face as they all socialized and had fun to pass the time. Eventually, Siran tells the homeless people that they have a plan to get them out of there, without telling them the actual plan, and that they must go soon to get them a ride. The group, Zia, Alex, Siran and Finn all meet up outside to discuss their plan.
  "So we have to head north-northwest of here" Finn says, "there we will find a warehouse that often has cargo trucks parked in the front. These things will be really hard to hijack due to the computers that the trucks are built with. So if any of you are really good with digital magic and hacking, that'd be really convenient"
  "I don't know any digital magic" Alex says.
  "I know a lot, but not any hacking" Zia says.
  "I'm good with digital magic" Siran says, "but I have no clue how to hack"
  Finn facepalms and says "fantastic, I guess we have to hope for the best"
  The four of them make their way to their destination. It was a large warehouse and it had several trucks parked outside and inside. However, there were also plenty of guards around.
  "How are we supposed to get past all these people and get out with a truck that makes a lot of noise?" Finn asks.
  "Guess you have to flex your sneaking abilities" Siran says to Finn.
  "I can only do so much with magic before I get worn out" Finn says.
  "That's why I give people this" Siran says as he holds out his hand once again, as that blackish smoke pours out from his palm.
  "Is this that power you were talkin' about?" Finn asks. "That power that you give to people? And here I thought you were talking about spiritual power or something obscure like that"
  "I chose my words carefully" Siran says.
  "Guess it's now or never" Finn says and he gives Siran a firm handshake, and the smoke envelopes Finn momentarily before suddenly disappearing. Finn stares at his hand for a short moment before checking his entire body in panic. "I kinda expected something bad to happen" he says.
  "I'm not THAT kind of person" Siran says. "Are you guys ready?"
  "Ready when you are" Alex responds.
  "That's a stupid question, of course I'm ready" Zia replies.
  "Hey!" Siran replies.
  Zia shrugs her shoulders and says "Ask stupid questions; get stupid answers, Siran"
  "I'm good to go" Finn says, not acknowledging the overly playful tone between the rest of them.
  They all silently slip closer to the warehouse. A couple guards walk by in pairs and Finn tries to react as fast as possible. One of the guards sees them in the corner of his eye for a split moment, and when he shines a light towards them, he could not see anything out of the ordinary.
  "You see something?" One guard asks the other.
  "Guess not" the other guard replies.
  As the two guards leave, the four of them seem to reappear out of thin air.
  "Good thinking with that wall" Siran replies.
  "It was close, but somehow easier to cast such a large-scale illusion so quick" Finn says. "Is that the power you gave me?"
  "Yep" Siran replies, "it's a source of magic that replenishes itself, kinda like your natural flow of magic. It won't run out, so you'll have it forever. It basically just increases your capacity to use magic by a lot more. So much more, that depending on the amount of magic you use, you basically have infinite magic capabilities"
  "Well isn't that handy?" Finn says to himself.
  They find a truck right around the corner with no guards around. Finn manages to get the driver's side door open as Siran casted a digital sound barrier to prevent any guards from hearing the alarm. As the alarm goes off, Finn begins to panic.
  "Shit shit shit shit shit!" Finn shouts, "I forgot about the alarms!"
  "Don't worry" Siran says, "I'm blocking the sounds waves from reaching anyone else's ears. They can't hear it right now"
  "Why didn't you tell me that SOONER!?" Finn yells.
  Siran just shrugs and says "I forgot I guess"
  "You guess?" Finn asks. "YOU GUESS!? I outta slug you!"
  Siran sits in the seat of the truck and envelopes his hand in electricity. He touches the console of the truck and the alarms turned off. Next, Finn pops open the compartment below the steering wheel of the truck to expose wires.
  "All you gotta do is hotwire the truck to get it started" Finn says.
  Siran stares at the wires. There were a lot of wires, too many for Siran to even care to count before realizing that it's hopeless for him to try. "Uhh" Siran says, "why don't you try it?"
  "It can't be that hard" Finn says, "you just have to split the red wire and-"
  "All of the wires are red" Siran interrupts.
  "Let me see" Finn says as he looks inside. "Shit! Uh... okay! Try doing your shock thing again to start the truck!"
  Siran just shrugs as he shocks the truck again, only for the alarm to go off again. He shuts the alarms off once more and looks at Finn. Finn begins pounding his fists on the truck, while mumbling to himself. Just then, another two guards came by.
  "We've got company" Alex says as he points his thumb over his shoulder at the two guards. All of them hid under, behind and inside of the truck. Zia sat in the passenger seat as Siran sat in the driver seat, both of them with their heads low so they wouldn't get spotted through the windshield. Alex hid under the tail of the truck, and Finn hid behind. As the guards got closer to the truck, shining a flashlight at the still open door of the truck, Finn snuck around the other side of the truck. One picked up his walkie-talkie and just before he could press a single button to talk, Finn smacked them over the head, knocking both of them out.
  "That was too close!" Finn said as the rest came out of hiding. "What are we gonna do about this truck?"
  Zia points to the ground, next to the unconscious body of one of the guards. "Look, one of them dropped a key" she says.
  "Well, that's awfully convenient" Finn says. "It's our lucky day!"
  Finn takes the key and inserts it into the truck and turns it, but nothing happens. He tries again, and again, and again before getting pissed again and pounding his fists on the steering wheel.
  "Guess it goes to another truck then" Siran says. Siran then turns around to find another truck parked next to this one, and they open the door, this time with the key. They hear it unlock and Finn and Siran look at each other and nod as if proud that it all worked out somehow. Before they board the truck, Siran goes up to the two guards and shock their walkie-talkies. Smoke emits from the walkie-talkies and then Siran casts another digital sound barrier around the other truck.
  "I'm going to have to stay very focused in order to keep this sound barrier up and move the barrier at the same time, so drive steady" Siran says as he sits in the long bed of the truck. They take off without giving off a sound, avoiding the line of sight of any and every guard. As they leave, the two guards wake up. They panic and pick up their walkie-talkies and try to talk but both of their walkie-talkies short circuit and refuse to work. So the other guard pulls a different key and turns on the first truck that they tried to steal, only for that to short circuit too and give off smoke.
  "You gotta be kidding me!" Finn says. The other guard had the right key the WHOLE DAMN TIME!?"
  "It's a good thing we didn't take that truck" Alex says.

  They arrive back at the abandoned house and start getting everyone onto the truck. The kids were asleep and Siran helped carry Isabelle out since her mother could only carry one child at a time, and put her down gently in the bed on the truck, leaning her head against her mother's lap for comfort. Isabelle briefly wakes up, opens her eyes to see Zia and Siran sitting in the back of the truck with everyone else before she says "thanks, Zia and Syr" and she closes her eyes again and goes back to sleep.
  "We don't have much time before they start figuring out where we are" Siran says, "let's get a move on!"
  The truck starts driving off as Zia stares at Isabelle with a smile on her face then looks at Siran and laughs.
  "Ha ha" Zia says, "Syr... I like that name"
  "I think it sounds weird" Siran says quietly.
  "I think it suits your childish nature" Zia replies.