Baldric and Stephen had just finished interrogating the prisoners, and what they heard wasn’t good. The moment they stepped out of the abandoned house they were using as a jail, Sylvie approached them.

"Baldric, I’m getting a mezzage from Tinkerton-G. I’ll let you talk to him."

"Bal-ic!-You-need- ada-the-vile!" Baldric could hardly make out what was coming out of Sylvie.

"Sylvie, I can barely hear them. What is he saying?"

"Zhey are barely in my frequenzy range. It will clear up when they get clozer." Suddenly, G’s voice rang out so loudly that nearby people heard him as well.

"Baldric! You need to evacuate the village! Now!"

"G? What happened?!"

"Baldric! You have a platoon of heavy-armed men going to that village! They are on their way to kill everyone there! Get them out of there now!"

The people listening around them started to panic.

"G! How long do we have?!"

"They are ahead of me, but just for a little bit! Luna wants you to get the civilians out of there now!"

"Sylvie, how long are they away from us?"

"Vazed on my frequenzy range, eztimate they are an hour away from us."

Baldric cursed.

"Stephen, Sylvie, knock on every door and get everyone ready to evacuate. Get them ready to leave in five minutes."

Baldric ran to Stephens’s house, where Annie, Elizabeth, Willow, Shiny, and Katie were staying. "Everyone needs to go now. All of you are going to head to the landraider and you will hide yourselves there." Baldric urged everyone to leave right away. When they returned to the village, all the villagers were already assembled, some crying in fear.

"Stephen, Annie, Sylvie, Guide everyone towards the landraider and do not stop or look back. The soldiers are on their way here, and I need to set up a diversion so they won’t come and look for all of you."

"You should come with us!" Stephen said and Annie nodded.

"No. If they think that the village is empty, they will scour the area, and the fight will be harder to coral. I’ll stay and keep the fighting here. We can handle them; all I have to do is hold on until reinforcements arrive."

Annie grabbed his arm and shook her head.

"Annie, this is not for debate. I need you and Sylvie to lead everyone out of here. I can hold them off. I’ve been through worse, remember?"

"Overconfidence is a flaw, not a ztrength." Sylvie said to him.

"Duly noted, Just focus on hiding everyone near the landraider. I think I've got an idea of what Luna wants to do, and when they get here, its game over for them. Sylvie leave all your freeze grenades, light grenades, and every spare explosive you have."

Everyone now began to move out of the village, with Annie and Sylvie herding the crowd when Elizabeth ran back to Baldric and gave him a hug.

"Baldric I’m sorry and-"

He quickly stopped Elizabeth and wiped her crying face.

"Don’t apologize, sunny. Hell, I’m proud even! Tell me, what is the most important rule for a bounty hunter?"

"A hunter will always help-"

"-those who seek it." Baldric smiled at her. "You really fit well being a bounty hunter! Don’t worry about me or Luna. We’re professionals, and we can take on these clowns any day. Just stick close to Annie and Sylvie, got it? I need you to keep them safe too. And Elizabeth." Baldric leaned in. "If all else fails, you can use your powers to protect everyone, but use it as a last resort, understand? When there is truly no choice left."

Elizabeth nodded and gave him a quick hug before she, shiny, and Willow joined the crowd leaving the village.

=0o0=

The sun had set when he finished hastily hiding his traps. He was about to start a fire to create a smoke cover when he saw the villagers were all running back.

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"What happened?!" He ran towards Sylvie and Stephen, who were in front of the crowd.

"Baldriz I can senze hostile zoldierz in all directions! Zhey have the entire village surrounded!" Baldric looked at his pocket watch and saw that the main force of soldiers was on their way in fifteen minutes.

"Stephen, is there some place for the people to hide?"

"The village shop has a cellar-"

"Will they fit? Will everyone fit?!"

"It will be incredibly packed-"

"Everyone get down to the cellar of the shop! Now!" Baldric yelled out to the crowd. "Get down inside! Inside!"

Sylvie, Annie, and Baldric ushered everyone down into the cellar. It was incredibly packed by the time the villagers all got in. "You too, Annie, Sunny, down there, come on."

Both of them were taken by Katie and she hugged them close, with Shiny hovering close to them. "Take care of them." She nodded, and Baldric closed the cellar doors. They hid the entrance so it wouldn’t be easily seen, but it cost them precious minutes.

"Sylvie set up some barricades with the carriages. I need to finish the smoke cover." Sylvie left, then Baldric realised that Willow was still outside looking at him. "You want to fight or what?" The cub snorted.

"I know you can understand me, so just make sure you don’t die and don’t kill anyone. Got it?" Willow snorted in agreement.

=0o0=

By the time the slavers arrived, it was already dark and the middle of the village had a bright fire while heavy smoke blanketed the buildings. They set up the gattling guns and cannons and fired into the settlement. Explosions and gunfire rang into the night as the houses were hit with cannon fire and bullets. As soon as they finished, they expected to hear yells of panicked people, but they heard nothing.

The leader of the slavers gave the order for them to move in. Twenty of them on horses made their way into the village. As they got close, they could not see anything as the thick smoke blocked their vision. They did not see that they had stepped over a field covered with flares and light grenades. Once they got close, Baldric aimed for the traps, and blinding light came from underneath them, startling the horses and throwing some of them off while the rest of the slavers were blinded.

Baldric, wearing his monocle attachment, immediately began firing at them with freeze rounds. Meanwhile, Sylvie and Willow came out of the smoke with the centaur armed with a lance, and started striking the slavers down, and Willow eating them and spitting them out high into the air. Blinded and under the cover of smoke, the soldiers could only yell. Within minutes, twenty of them were either frozen or knocked out.

The slavers outside listened as the yells of their allies vanished from the village. Their leader, who rode in the walker, ordered the rest of them to move in. As they moved closer, they began firing into the town. The walker, armed with a flamethrower on one arm, fired a jet of liquid flames into the village. It began to burn down houses and quickly spread.

The smoke still gave them cover, but Baldric saw more horseback riders and automatons than his ammo could handle. Once they got close, he used his light trap again, but the slavers already knew what was coming and shielded their eyes and reared their horses. Baldric then detonated all the freeze grenades around them when they shielded their eyes. It was a chain reaction as one explosion triggered another. The grenades were hung from the walls and hidden in the ground, so each blast attracted a large number of slavers and activated a nearby grenade.

As they panicked he used the chaos to start picking them off. Sylvie came out of the smoke and charged, getting their attention as she ran around hitting slavers off their horses. Baldric granted her cover. Soon they realised what was going on and started firing at him as well.

Outside, the walker kept spraying jets of fire over the village, and some began to hit the roof of the general store. The walker was suddenly blindsided and fell down as Tinkerton-G finally arrived and started stomping down on the walker, firing flares into the sky.

"Sylvie, put out the fire!" Baldric said as he picked up the slavers' carbines and started giving them cover.

Sylvie trampled her way through and started to put out the fire, but it was spreading too fast, and from the cellar, the villagers started to panic and scream.

Half of the slavers were taken out, with Baldric dodging and using the smoke to hide his position and Willow reeking as much havoc as he could, but their efforts were not enough and soon Baldric was cornered. Outside, the slavers' walker had overpowered Tinkerton-G’s and was now ripping his walker apart when an explosion blew off the back of the slavers' walker, causing it to fall down, and Luna rode past them and hurried into the town.

She rode in, firing her rifle, and got the slavers' attention. Baldric used that distraction to counter fire and help Luna take them down. At the same time, Ada took over the nearest automaton and attacked the others. When her current body was destroyed, she assumed control of another until the machines began to kill themselves.

Sylvie opened the cellar door and quickly got everyone outside. Baldric and Luna kept the slavers' attention while the villagers ran out and away from the village. Some slavers saw them, but Luna, atop her strider, rode in and took down the slavers with her staff.

She saw Annie and Elizabeth among the villagers. "Keep going and don’t stop! Sylvie, get them out of here!"

Luna saw Elizabeth helping an old woman run away. Their eyes met for a second, and Luna gave her a nod before she charged back to help Baldric.

Baldric was cornered again when she returned. The slavers did not expect her from behind, and when they turned around, she knocked them down.

"I thought I told you not to do anything stupid while I was gone!" Luna said as her mechanical horse trampled a slaver as she gave Baldric covering fire.

"Didn't I tell you no promises!"

Luna threw him a rifle as she rode out when she heard the sounds of walkers fighting.

Outside the slavers walker had recovered, but so did Tinkerton’s. G ordered his walker to charge head on into the slaver, but it countered and knocked him down with one well-timed swing. He aimed his heavy cannon right at Tinkerton-G’s cockpit when Luna came from behind and threw grenades aimed at the engine on its back.

Once she got close, she leapt off her horse and climbed onto the walker. The damage she caused has exposed the cockpit, which Luna used to grab the slaver inside and throw him out. She then threw grenades and dynamite inside and leapt off right on time as it exploded, finally destroying the walker.

She landed hard on the ground, causing her to roll, but Luna recovered quickly and rushed to the leader of the slavers, who was still trying to stand. He never saw her coming as he was tackled onto the ground and the last thing he saw was a dark figure with ghostly grey eyes hitting him until he blacked out.