As far as anyone could remember, The Halfway Point had always been there. It was an oddity in the area- an establishment between towns- but its mythical status outweighed its poor location. The fact that people would go out of their way to visit proved that, as the bar routinely filled house even on the slowest of nights. But Ryuko Matoi was not aware of the legend, nor would she have been particularly concerned by it. She held up her gloved hand and halted the group, turning back to her two companions.

"Now, Adam, Ruby… I need you two to behave in there. We don't want to make a scene. We're here for one thing, and I don't want you guys fudging this up."

Ruby placed one hand on her hip and thrust the other forward into the most dramatic thumbs-up possible. Ryuko rested her forehead against her palms. When she suddenly showed up in the middle of nowhere, her first priority was to find some teammates. Ryuko wasn't concerned about herself- she was positive that she could handle whatever showed up. She was concerned about what might happen to everybody else. Ryuko and Senketsu both agreed that they had become pretty attached to their little group, although it wasn't really all that little anymore. However, there were a few things they agreed upon, and that would be that Ruby and Adam were a little too kooky for their own good. So it was much to Ryuko's chagrin that she realized that she was not alone in the middle of nowhere, but rather accompanied by the aforementioned kooks. She endeavored to put up with them until she could find someone else to share their burden with, and had set off toward the only visible landmark nearby- the saloon which they now stood in front of.

"Do not worry, Ryuko," assured Adam. "We will not let you down."

"You had better not," she growled under her breath, pushing her way through the swinging café doors. The saloon was packed, just like the legend that Ryuko was oblivious to foretold. Grizzled old men traded curse-laden tales of "watering holes" and "rustlers", while a wiry man plucked away at grey-brown keys on an out-of-tune piano. Smoke from a multitude of pipes and cigars hung uneasily in the air, as if to inform them that the slightest little movement could make all of this blow away like some ethereal wisp.

Ryuko spotted an empty table and waved her companions in its direction. She then made a beeline for the bar and plopped herself into a seat, propping herself up with one elbow as she had always seen the guys in the movies do it. The bartender, a balding man with big shoulders and spectacles, did not seem very impressed.

"Can I get you something?" he grunted.

"Whiskey sour," she replied coolly. "Hold the whiskey."

The bartender gave her a quizzical look but turned to his bottles to begin preparing the drink anyways. The man seated on Ryuko's right set his glass down loudly, which caused the girl to notice who he was. Behind a wall of muscle and tight vest, pale yellow eyes peered down at her playfully.

"Sol… Badguy…" whispered Ryuko, feeling her breaths become a little more difficult.

"Easy, there, Iron Maiden. Don't go freaking out. I'm just here for a drink."

Ryuko regarded him warily, then shifted her gaze elsewhere.

"You're not still doing that psychoanalysis thing, are you?"

"Apparently, nobody uses Freud anymore," he sighed.

"Yeah, and isn't that job for psychiatrists, not psychologists?"

"Are you telling me I had the name wrong, too? Aw, man."

Ryuko got up the nerve to look back at him. She wasn't afraid of the man. She was afraid that somehow, just looking at him might some of that anger she had sealed so deep inside to boil up. Not that it was his fault, but just remembering him felt uneasily close to a trigger. She didn't want to be the one to botch this, that was Ruby and Adam's job, right?

"You're not half the things you said you were, are you? You're not a scientist, or a bounty hunter, or a-"

"No, no, I am. I was what they called a hypothetical biologist. I tried picking up psycholo- sorry, psychiatry 'cause I figured I had, you know, some ethos going. But honestly there ain't much intersection between those fields."

"Sure, sure. Whatever," she groaned, using her thumb and middle finger to massage her temples. The bartender pushed a short glass underneath her nose, and she took it gratefully.

"A whiskey sour, hold the whiskey," muttered Sol. "That'd be-"

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"Lemon juice."

"I see. So what are you doing out here? Where's the rest of your team?"

"Well, Ruby and Adam have a table back over that way," she said, pointing with her thumb while finishing off her non-whiskey sour. "But that's it for the moment. We were actually all together, but we ran into trouble, and now… well, who knows? Maybe it's just us. I figured somebody here would be able to tell us how to get to the nearest town."

"Honestly, I showed up right around here and have been drowning my cares ever since. I couldn't tell you how to get there, or how to get to the door."

"You seem like a pretty sober drunk to me."

"Drunk? I never said I was drunk," he grinned. "Say, that reminds me, that I've got to warn you."

Ryuko halted her attempt to remove the last few drops of juice from her glass. "Warn me?"

"Yeah. There's this odd guy, by the name of Son Goku… you're strong, kid, and word gets around. He's heard and he wants a fight."

"Well, you can tell him the fight can wait. I've got more important things to do."

"I would, but this guy's Son Goku. He's probably one of the strongest-"

"Well, I'm Ryuko Matoi!" she shouted, slamming her glass into the counter for emphasis. "He can get his fight, with me, whenever I damn well please."

"All right, but I don't know if he'll agree with your reasoning," said Sol, sliding his glass aside with the back of his hand. He was about to ask Ryuko if she had dealt with any more traumatic transmogrification events lately, when he noticed the semi-automatic pistol that had its barrel resting on the back of her head. The weapon's owner, a man in a dirty vest and bandolier, scowled at the man who demanded that others call him Fred. He then returned his attention to his target.

"Pardon me, miss," he grunted. "But I believe you just said you were Ryuko Matoi, is that correct?"

"Y-yes," she whispered.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're aware or not, but there's quite the hefty bounty on your head, and I intend to collect."

"Dead… or alive?"

"Either, so be polite and this might not go too badly for you." She managed to get a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye. He clearly hadn't shaven in a while, but his short beard was broken up by a pair of white-pink, puffy scars on his right cheek.

"Okay, okay," she whimpered, raising her hands above her head. "But… you wouldn't want to bring in the rest of my gang, too, would you?"

"Do they have bounties on their heads, too?"

"You tell me," she replied. "Ruby, Adam, come over here for the nice man with the gun."

"GAAAH!" squealed the huntress, hopping over the tables in her path as she sprinted to Ryuko's side. "Ryuko! What's going on?! What are you doing?!"

"I believe she is turning herself in," said Adam, attempting to delicately squeeze himself between tables.

"Look at that… they sure do have bounties on 'em, too," smiled the man with the gun.

"Seriously though, what are you doing?!" gasped Ruby, before the man drew a second Mauser and aimed it her way.

"If y'all value your brains where they're at, I suggest you shut up."

"Just… trust me," whispered Ryuko. The man nudged her back toward the door with his weapon, with Ruby and Adam following compliantly. They were marched out the door to a horse hitched at a post. The man produced a rope from one of the saddle-bags and began tying Ryuko's limbs together. She knew that, at any moment, she could break free of the restraints, and slice the man in half before he could ever manage to land a shot- not that it would do anything to her- but she remained passive as he tossed her hog-tied onto the back of the horse.

Ruby found her way to Ryuko's head, which currently dangled unceremoniously off the side of the horse. Her lower lip was curled over and tears were starting to escape her eyes.

"Hey, calm down. I've got a plan."

"I'll give you another warning before I start shooting," growled the bounty hunter.

"Sure thing, mister-" Ryuko paused. "Uh, what's your name, anyway?"

"Marston," he huffed.

"I'm sure it'll be a pleasure working with you, Mr. Marston."

The man did not respond, but the horse replied by smacking her face with its tail.