Gatherin the Boys

[young_gun_billy]

The door opens out to a New Mexico prairie, sparse with scrub brush and a few twisted Joshua Trees. It's just outside the hideout Billy had been meaning to go into when he walked into Milliways and the door to the bar closes and reveals the crooked wind worn one of the small shanty.

Straightening out his gunbelts Billy gives a nod and smirk to Will and kicks in the door, drawing his guns quickly and pointing them infront of him. "Ya'll are wanted for murder, thievin and doin it with your horse!"

Inside the two men who were playing cards at a slanted table jump up, trying to draw thier weapons and spilling drinks and revealing thier hands in the process.

"Jesus Billy!" Pat Garrett, the tall man with the mustache exlaims. "What the heck are you doin?!"

The clean shaven man across the table from him, Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh holds his gun up a little longer and moves it's aim from Billy to the man standing behind him. "Who's this, Kid?"

Comments

[will_scarlett]

Will follows Billy, his footsteps quiet from long habit and raises his hands when the other man points the gun saying,

"I'm a friend o'Doc's, name's Will."

Then just waits, he's going to help Doc and he needs their good opinion, so Will waits, looking still and dangerous and every inch the outlaw.

[young_gun_billy]

Billy hides a wince. Perhaps he should have explained things better before. Too late for it now.

"Doc?" Dave turns to Billy, the gun finally lowering in exchange for Dave looking surprised and not amused. "That tenderfoot?"

"Watch it Dave." Billy warns, stepping out of the door way and into the hut and heading for an old chest stuck up against a wall.

"Pat, you hear that? And would you listen to that accent?" Dave continues on, looking towards Garrett for support. Pat said nothing, just watched Billy root around in the chest.

[will_scarlett]

Billy should be sorting this out, but Will's not taking any chances on them not getting Doc, so follows in, a fire in his green eyes,

"Aye, Doc, who's goin' to be 'ung 'less somethin's done. Now either ye're goin' to be 'elpin' me an Billy or ye'll be facin' us, yer choice."

[young_gun_billy]

"Well Doc can git hung cus he ain't a part of this gang an neither are you." Dave replies snidely. "Billy, what are you doing bringin this English pretty boy to our hideout?"

Pat ignores the other two, still watching Billy. "What happened with the Governor Billy?"

"Oh, he gave me cake, paid me to shoot some things, then decided he was gonna let'em hang me along with Murphy's boys." Billy just laughs, though Pat looks a little concerned.

"You kill anyone bustin out of there?" He asks.

"Not yet." Billy smirks, finding what he was looking for in the chest and kicking the lid shut while heading over to Will. "Here, put these on."

He hands Will a pair of guns and holsters which draws a reaction from Dave. "Hey now, I don't want him in my gang Billy, I'm tellin you that right now."

Billy turns to Dave and gives a shrug, "Then he won't be in your gang. He'll be in mine. C'mon, we got some lynchin to do." He gives that wild laugh and tosses the other items he pulled from the chest at Dave and Pat, keeping one for himself and handing another over to Will. They're cloth bags.

At the confused looks of the others he picks up a blade that someone had stabbed into the table and uses it on the cloth, cutting a pair of eye holes and slipping the bag over his head. "A little western justice tonight eh, lads?" He laughs from under the mask, affecting an Irish accent.

[will_scarlett]

Will takes the guns, looking at Billy, his temper near the surface as he pushes back his jacket showing his broadsword as he buckles the gun belt on.

He just keeps thinking about Doc facing the gallows and doesn't speak though the look he gives to Dave is dangerous and full of fire as he takes the bag, looking at the holes and fixing them a bit with his own knife,

"Aye, justice.'

[young_gun_billy]

Dave isn't impressed but when he sees Billy leaving and Pat following he gets up quickly, sets eyesholes into his own mask and follows.

"We got a plan for this Billy?" Pat asks as they head around to the horses and start saddling up.

"We get there right after dark we should beat the real mob, an you know they're comin. We skin out and go from there." Billy answers, getting his horse set up and moving to make ready one for Will.

"You think it's really gonna be that easy?" Pat asks, looking sideways from cinching his horse.

"Wouldn't be any fun if it was." Billy grins back.

Dave is the first to mount and he looks down at Will. "You get shot you better keep on your horse English because I sure as shit ain't gonna be turning around to get you."

[will_scarlett]

Mountings done easy enough and Will just bites down a curse or two, not reacting to Dave as he gets settled, crossing himself quickly and looking to Billy,

"Should be goin', Billy, do so 'ate to keep the law waitin'."

[young_gun_billy]

Dave just snorts a laugh at Will and another when he sees the crossing but holds back a moment when the group moves forward and makes the gesture himself. Better safe then sorry right?

"Yeah, they outta be missin me by now so guess I outta check in." Billy smiles and gets his horse going as he and the boys ride into Lincoln to meet with the law there and see about arranging early paroles for a couple of Regulators.

[will_scarlett]

The ride doesn't take long and when they come into Lincoln, Will's glad of the bag to hide his fascination at this new world.

All the buildings seem newly built as if a good wind would shake them down and its hard to miss the man with a star posturing by a bonfire.

Will searches out the pit and sounds of the men, the gallows drawing his eye, he keeps his temper in check, ready and waiting for when he can unleash it.

To the night air, so quietly that no one can hear him, he says, "A Locksley, ye'll na 'ang, Doc."

[scurlock]

"Vigilantes!"

The cry goes up among the men that are in the pit with him, and Doc feels a chill of fear run down his spine. Lynch mob justice was not what a cowboy wanted to see. They'd take you out to the country and tie you up to a tree, leave your body hanging for the Indians to scalp and the buzzards to pick through your bones. At least with a hanging you got a proper burial, with a priest...

...dammit dammit dammit. Billy where are you.

He huddled at the back of the pit and tried to hide his face. Of course, his hair didn't help the situation.

Bob didn't help the situation either.

"Got a couple of his Regulators down in that pit. The indian and the tenderfoot. How'd they be?"

Doc squeezed his eyes shut.

Dammit dammit dammit.

[young_gun_billy]

Peering through masks and by torchlight into the pit it isn't hard to pick out Doc and Chavez.

Pat answers the question, playing the part of impatient lyncher quite well. "Aw shit, they'll have to do. Bring em up."

Doc and Chavez are happily surrendered by the rest of the pit's occupants and set onto horses to ride out with the lynch mob.

It's hard not to laugh out right then but Billy manages to hold it in as he rides between Doc and Chavez.

[will_scarlett]

The whole set up makes Will ache to reach for his sword but he keeps his hands on the reins as he looks at Doc and hears the banter.

They talk about death so easily and just give up two men to strangers, there's no justice here or even law just vengeance.

He keeps riding, his eyes on Doc, wanting to be clear of this town and this place, he never thought he'd find men as low as the Sheriff, but they exist, no torture just no care.

[scurlock]

Doc's trying his best to get out of this.

"Gentlemen? I'm a schoolteacher from the city of New York, and the breed back there, well, he's my guide. And I believe you're about to make an enormous error."

Each step the damn horse takes away from the pit is one step closer to the tree they'll hang him in. Each step takes him farther west. Farther away from the east. From Yen and his son. He barely hears them as they taunt him.

"I swear to you, I never even laid eyes on him. I was a schoolteacher from the city of New York."

He's not above pleading for his life right now.

"I'm a schoolteacher from the city of New York." The high pitched Irish accent teases him as another man rides beside him, and the laugh...he knows that laugh...but it can't be...

[young_gun_billy]

Doc is trying to reason his way out of this. Billy loves that.

Pulling his horse back he comes around to ride along side Doc, "I'm a school teacher from the city of New York." He mocks in his affected accent.

Billy reaches up and pulls off his mask and grins at Doc, "Heya Doc, how's your drawers?"

He hisses laughter at Doc's reaction as behind them someone shouts, "It's the Kid!"

While this is all fun and good Billy figures it's time to beat it, "C'mon, let's skin out."

[will_scarlett]

The mask comes off easily enough and Will gives a grin to Doc as he looks around, making sure they're still safe.

When the man calls after Billy, Will just curses and puts his hand on his sword hilt, ready to ride out or fight.

[scurlock]

Doc stares. First at Billy. Then at Will. Billy...he must've told Will and brought him through the door.

His hands are still cuffed together, but the length of chain between them makes it easy enough to grab the reins.

The torches come down the main drag of the street.

"Sure got a lot of men ridin' with you these days," Doc comments.

[young_gun_billy]

Billy looks up and the smile slips for the first time that night when he sees the large group with masks and torches.

"Them ain't my boys." Billy says to Doc, already drawing his horse back. "It's the real lynch mob."

His first instinct is to draw his gun, instead he turns his horse and cuts back to a hitching post, shouting and waving a torch and startling the two horses tied there enough to get them to pull the post up and run into the approaching mob. The length of wood carried between them smashes into the others approaching and sets the group into chaos.

Then Billy draws and his smile is back as he starts shooting.

[will_scarlett]

Will's first instinct isn't to draw a gun but his sword and the almost two feet of steel glitters dangerously in the torch light as he watches them approach.

After Billy sets the hitching post off, a man ends up heading towards Will, he's cut down in a moment and the horse sent back to the mob.

Then he realizes sword's not the right weapon and he sheathes it in a quick motion, drawing one of his guns and shooting back into the mob.

[scurlock]

Chavez is first to speak. "Aye, chivato," he mutters, before he grabs the reins and turns the horse away from the gunfire and heads for the long side of the street. He's unarmed, and so is Doc.

This poses a problem.

"Hiyah!" Doc kicks the horse in the sides with his bootheels and hangs on, ducking the shots that ring out over his head.

If they can just get out of town, they can get into the hills in the dark, they can get out of here.

Glass shatters behind him and he whirls around, watching. "C'mon Billy! Will! Skin out!"

His voice gets drowned out by the scared scream of horses as the boardwalk catches fire.

[young_gun_billy]

Billy puts his mask back on as he turns a corner. He runs into a pair of the lynch mob looking confused and anxious for a target. "They went over there!" Billy supplies helpfully. When they turn and start riding in the direction he points Billy unholsters his gun and shoots them down, pulling the mask off again and laughing.

Dave is surprised at the sword actually getting some use in this gunfight, and how effective it is. His attention is so drawn that it takes bullets whizzing by his head to get him back into it.

Ducking he turns and fires a shot and tries for another only to find the barrel empty. The bullets coming at him aren't in short supply though. He takes a hit to the shoulder and does the only thing he can think of, he spurs his horse and slams it into the man shooting at him.

The buildings all around are starting to burn and Dave finds himself inside one after that body check on the boardwalk. And still they're shooting at him! Fed up and ready to listen to whoever is shouting to skin out Dave drives forward, crashing through the storefront window and back out onto the street and starts to hightail if after Doc and Chavez.

Billy and Pat follow, holding behind in the blaze long enough to buy them some time to get away. Billy tosses a gunbelt into the fire and Pat throws in a box of shells. As the ammunition starts going off they tear out of there after the rest of the gang.

[will_scarlett]

Will does his best to fire and when he hears Doc yelling and the fire starting curses and turns his horse, preparing to ride out.

When he sees Dave coming through the building, he draws his sword again, slashing down on the man after Dave then gallops beside Billy, his sword still drawn and bloody, not sheathing it till they're in the darkness.

[scurlock]

The shells popping cause the real lynch mob's horses to startle and jump, and Doc just hangs on to the reins as the group of them ride off out of town and into the darkness. They ride until the horses get tired and they're far enough into the brush that they can't be traced, and then, and only then, does Doc relax.

Chavez says nothing as they slow to a walk.

Doc however, has words.

"Dammit, Billy, you had to make that spectacular for the papers, din't you," he teases, but the gratefulness is evident on his face in the pale light from the sliver of a moon in the sky. The stars come out as the flaming town behind them disappears under the horizon as they make their way down a hill.

A smile. "S'good to see you again, Will," Doc says, not betraying anything about Milliways in his voice.

[young_gun_billy]

"Well I figure I owed the papers something after making my own escape so quiet." Billy grins, riding beside Doc.

"Yeah, well I got shot out of all of that so I don't think it's funny. We didn't even gain anything out of it." Dave complains, gingerly fingering the bullet hole in his shirt to try and get a look at the wound underneath.

[will_scarlett]

Dave really reminds Will of some of the bounty hunters he's known in Nottingham, so he just ignores him and smiles at Doc,

"Told ye werena goin' to 'ang, Doc, an ne'er let a friend down, ye know that."

Then looks around at where they are, its so dry and dusty, doesn't feel right to Will, he misses the true green of Sherwood and the trust of good men beside him.

Also he's wondering how Billy and Doc are going to explain him to the other men since he should head back to Milliways soon though he wouldn't mind punching Dave before he leaves.

[scurlock]

The dust kicks up in the darkness and Doc clears his throat, it's dry and he could use a drink and a proper bath, and he'd like to get back to Milliways.

The idea of warm food and a hot bath makes his stomach growl, and he hangs his head and looks at the irons on his wrists.

"Of course you did, chivato," Chavez comments, rolling his eyes. "Where are we headed?"

[young_gun_billy]

"This way seems good don't it?" Billy replies, nodding in the direction they're riding. It's just good sometimes to let the horses amble thier own way and spend time talking with your pals and letting the cool night air take the edge off a gun battle.

With the battle over they're going to be needing a plan soon enough, and Billy has one working out. The trail is going to be hard though and as much as Billy likes the man Will doesn't really belong on it. He's a damn good fighter and all but he's not cowboy. A day's ride through scrub brush and Will's going to have pants full of stickers and a saddle sore rear.

Leaving Doc's side Billy heads over to Will. "Liked the way you cut those guys down back there Will. Not bad in your shooting either. Listen, why dontcha go on a head back now. We'll meet up with you later."

[will_scarlett]

Billy's plan makes Will smile since he doesn't belong out in this land, but his friend is safe at least.

So he shakes Billy's hand and gives Doc a look and nod as he turns off into the scrub,

"Always glad to fight beside ye, Billy. An good to see ye safe, Doc. God go with ye all, till we meet again."

Then gives a quick kick to his horse, riding a little into the darkness until he sees door appear in the night air.

He dismounts, deciding to take the guns with him, so he can return them to Billy, then steps through the door until Milliways.

Hopefully it won't be too long till a door opens for Doc and Billy.