(Completed)
A cowboy finds himself thrown into a new world, one with powers and monsters unlike any he's seen before. The monsters he meets are more dangerous than any he's met before, and the powers he discovers exceed that of a human's. With his t...
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Chapter 3 - Old West Paradox
1886, New Orleans, Bronte Manor - Day 3
Lancaster POV:
Tracking down Angelo proved to be more complicated than I initially expected. I swear, he’s like a rat in this maze of a mansion. Looking down another hallway and seeing no one, I ran to the end of the hallway just in time to see the Italian walk up to a closet, look around, and go into the closet.
The hell? Why is he hiding in there? Does he know I’m following him? He has to, he’s figured out his guards haven’t come back. Whatever, this makes my job easier.
I rush up to the closet he’s in, and tear open the doors. He’s not there.
Impossible. I just watched him enter it. Maybe it’s a false backing.
I was right. I pushed on the back of the wardrobe and sure enough, the wall falls out, and reveals a stairway leading up. Well, I’ve been on enough missions to know that this wouldn’t end very well.
I crept up the stairs, careful not to make a sound, for that might be enough to alert someone of my presence. Making it to the end of the stairwell, I look ahead of me to see the Bronte himself opening a new door, this one being white. I walk up to it and it slides open using a sensor. How do I know it’s a sensor? One of my clients was a scientist, and he was working on a project that involved sensors. It’s strange though, this isn’t like the one he was working on. It’s more...specialized. Either way, it opened, leading me into an industrial laboratory that’s equally as technological as the door. I see a big room closed off by glass, and I see Bronte operating some sort of system.
Yukon: “Bronte! I have questions, and I know you have answers. Don’t make me take them from you.”
Angelo turns around, alarmed at the least, frantically drawing his weapon, a semi-automatic Mauser pistol. Unfortunately for him, I’m much quicker, as I pull out the pistol I had hoped not to use just yet.
Yukon: “I highly recommend you drop the gun, especially since it’s not even loaded.”
Bronte looks at his gun, mortified at the fact that his pistol is indeed not loaded. What’s more, it still has the safety on. He puts down the gun.
Angelo: “My friend, surely there is another way to go about this. Here, let me propose an idea. You walk out of this lab, forget what you saw in here, and my people will not hunt you down.”
Yukon: “Unfortunately for you, ‘my friend’, my job is to not leave without my questions answered. And I intend to carry out this job.”
He looks down for a moment, before looking back up. His hands have been behind his back, and what follows will always be one of my biggest mistakes as a gunslinger.
Angelo: “I see. So then, you have chosen your fate. I shall silence you myself."
Bronte then reveals that he has loaded the Mauser -safety off, mind you- and proceeds to open fire towards me. I barely have time to throw myself behind an operating table, to give me cover. Sadly, that cover that had shielded me for a solid two seconds was ripped apart by the flurry of bullets flying through. And as luck would have it, one hit my shoulder, allowing me to scream out in pain.
Not how I expected this mission to go. I expected bad, not horrible.
When I figure he’s reloading, I burst out from behind my table to fire back, only to hit him in the calf. Well, as luck would have it, he has enough time to get behind a wall where I can’t hit him. I can still see what he was doing, however. He typed something into a typewriter hybrid of sorts, then hit a big red button. Once he did that, something happened in the big room encased in glass. Something is forming inside that room. It’s a big swirling oval, and whatever it is, it’s enough for Bronte, seeing that he was limping as best he could to reach it. I ran up to the glass, pistol-whipping it, and watching it shatter. I take a couple of shots at the oval, but nothing happened. It’s like it absorbs the bullets. As I stare at the oval in shock, I hear the Italian yell something as he walks into the oval.
Angelo: “Arrivederci, you damn nuisance!”
There goes my pay.
Once I say that, another turn of events occurs. The oval shrinks, then disappears, and a dozen guards come out of the door I entered, guns in hand. They must’ve heard the shots.
Yukon: “Oh, for f-”
They waste no time in firing at me. I’m behind the same wall the rat was when he summoned that..portal? Was that a portal? I read about those once in the paper, I didn’t think they were real. To be fair, the scientist was insane.
Wait, that portal device might be my ticket out of here, considering I can’t fight all of these men. Now, how did Angelo get this thing started again? Oh yeah, the button.
I quickly slam the red button, hoping to see that oval portal appear again. I don’t and in a last-ditch effort, I pull out my shotgun and shoot the system, hoping that might do something. At least the guards can’t use it.
Yukon: “I doubt any of y’all know how to use this stuff anyway, but you never know.”
And now Bronte wont be able to get back, so I killed two birds with one stone. But as I say that, I feel something underneath me, and I look down to see that a portal has opened up underneath me. I look at the guards once more before smiling and falling through, expecting to be safe on the other side of the interdimensional road.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more wrong in my entire damn life.
The story sure took a turn, didn't it? I'll bet none of you expected that ending! Well, even if you did, I hope you enjoyed the journey to the end, and I'm hoping you read the next chapters with anticipation!
