TRIGUN MAXIMUM

Volume 1

Yasuhiro Nightow

Translation by: Shadowslash

-165-

#6

the past.

there's blood everywhere, splattered liberally across the ground and soaking into the blanket covering most of a small body, two slim, death-pale legs all that's visible・/P>

Mourner 1- Unbelievable...

Mourner 2- Don't tell me it's happened again?!

Mourner 3- But they're only distantly related to the Fris family. There was no reason for her to be involved...

black-clad men and women mill about, shocked and grieving. one elderly lady sits listlessly in a chair by a window, staring blankly out at nothing for hours on end. Baldy shuffles up behind her, plate of food held in his hand.

Baldy- Dear, please, you need to eat...

he never gets a response.

the present.

Wolfwood- Ya hear about that sort of thing wa~~aay too often. Even guys who normally balk at a fight will grab for a gun if someone kills their kin---

-166-

#6 TSUMI (sin)

"HE KILLED MY DAUGHTER!!"

-167-

the words hang in the still air, heavy with accusation and challenge. Vash stands frozen, Colt poised calmly, but inside him a war is brewing. outside the ship federal troops stay ready, but all they hear is the silence...

ConFed 1- ・he ship痴 interior has gone quiet, sir.

Head Fed- Alright. Prepare to storm it.

the crowd, of course, only hears its own muttering. there's something Big going on, so they sure as all heck aren't going to miss it. Brad stands near the edge, his height giving him, and Sensei perched on his shoulder, an unobstructed view.

Brad- I wonder if he's dead・ It was a stupid stunt from the start, Sensei.

Sensei- Oh, he's quite alright. At least, he should be.

-168-

Sensei- If you're worried, take a better look into your own heart. Remember, incompetents never learn the most effective way of solving problems, no matter how many years they try.

reclining leisurely on a nearby barrel, an apparently unconcerned Wolfwood watches on, lighting up a cigarette.

Wolfwood- Time after time they keep upping the stakes, and every time they regret the results. Likely be the case here, too・ End up singing with the angels after this one, and everything I told ya will be moot. Hn. Looks like my luck痴 going to be tested, too. So what痴 it gonna be, Tongari?

good question. debate rages behind Vash's eyes, Longshot wavering, and dipping. on one side stands Rem, smiling gently. "No one has the right to take another's life."

-169-

the Colt dips further・

and on the other stands Knives, smirking down from a height. "Wanna save one? Then the other's gonna die."

・and further, until it hangs uselessly by his side. the hostage screams.

Baldy-・ This won't take long. When I'm done, you can turn me in to the Feds or the sheriff or whoever, I don't care.

Wussy Hostage- NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

-170-

seeing his savior giving up, the hostage resorts to a time-honored way of saving one's own skin: begging and groveling for all he's worth.

Wussy Hostage- Please, I don't wanna die! Forgive me! I beg you, please! Please, oh God, don't do it! Ple~~ase!

Baldy- QUIET! Begging for your lousy hide? My daughter did too, didn't she? Remember!? Aileen was a MESS. Not only was she violated who knows how many times, but she was shot in dozens of places that took a long time to kill her! You and your buddies kept having your fun while she was slowly dying!

Baldy's gone beyond rage, now, and his hostage knows it. a puddle spreads from the seat of the tied man's spants and he's lying in his own vomit, shaking and cowering.

Wussy Hostage- ohgodohgodohgodIdon'twannadiesomebodysavemepleaseohgodnoIdon'twannadiegod

pleasedon'tdoitIdon'twannadiepleasenopleaseohgodpleaseNONOOOOOOOO!!!

-171-

the hammer clicks back, a deceptively soft sound, and the hostage screams, gibbering wordlessly. Vash grits his teeth, internal war still roiling. what right does he have to interfere? killing is wrong. but the guy is a sick and cowardly lump of useless meat, why should his life be saved? killing is wrong. but if anyone were to have the right to kill, this old man... outside and unaware, everyone stands waiting...Brad, Sensei, Wolfwood, all wondering just how the dice will fall...

-172-173-

Vash leaps.

-174-

Vash- DON'T!!

he crashes into the old man, both hands wrapping around the barrel of the gun and shoving its muzzle to the floor.

Baldy- HEY! Damn it, butt out! Let go! Leggo!! What the hell do you know?!

he looses an elbow, slamming it into the side of Vash's face again and again.

Baldy- Don't you dare judge me by your opinion of justice! You don't have any idea what kind of anguish I'm in!

-175-

Baldy- Let GO!!!

but Vash doesn't. even though the left side of his face is mashed to an unrecognizable welter of bruises and blood runs freely from his nose, the one eye not swollen shut still stares at the old man in quiet determination.

the fight on which his life hangs gone quiet, the bound hostage starts to whimper. I don't envy his family the psychiatrist's bills this guy's gonna have...

Wussy Hostage- wa~~~~ah・aaaa~~~aah・ hel... plea..*hic*・elp me・save me~~~・apa・ paa~~~ pa~~~~...

...son, that was the wrong thing to say.

-176-

Baldy's undoubtedly seeing only in shades of red now, his hostage's plea for parental help bringing up painful memories of what his daughter must have done, and the sheer gall of the bastard to do the same triggers a white-hot rage. getting strength from that anger he hauls the gun around despite Vash hanging onto it, and aims it squarely at the cringing lump's tear-streaked face...

speaking of the colors red and white, the setting sun is likely doing pretty things with them, time passing and happenings on the outside of the hijacked steamer far less tension-wracked than the inside. federal troops scurry this way and that, clearing debris and hauling litters draped with injured hijackers.

Head Fed- Progress report!

ConFed- Sir! The operation commenced at 16:04 and successfully completed its objective, encountering absolutely no resistance.

-177-

ConFed- Presently, a detailed casualty count is under way. Also, 13 hijackers have been taken into custody, as well as one additional person...

Vash. one half of his face swollen well out of proportion and drying blood dribbling to his chin, he walks calmly past the surprised whispers of the still-not-dispersed crowd.

-178-

and behind him: Baldy. decidedly less dignified, or perhaps simply less tired, the old man stumbles along, tears blinding him. the crowd's whispers intensify as one last person is assisted out of the steamer by two troops. traumatized within an inch of his life, but still having that life, the hostage totters out.

Crowd- Hey, isn't that・

Crowd- The Polo kid.... He's alive?

Vash- //thinking// In the end, he just couldn't kill a man in cold blood. His daughter's death goes unavenged. Call him weak, but...that "weakness", it saved both him and me.

-179-

Vash- //thinking// Yet...

legs wobbling, Vash starts to collapse, two nearby troops catching him before he can fall too far.

Vash- ah, sor...sorry, sorry.

ConFed- You okay?

obviously not, but there isn't much you can do, is there? elsewhere, in the crowd, watching...

Brad- I don't get it. At all. What was the point of all that? It makes no sense whatsoever to me, Sensei.

-180-

Sensei- It was to prevent this disaster from leaving behind any corpses.

Brad- I get that part, but... Why suffer through all that risk and danger when it leaves him so drop-dead exhausted?

Sensei- Let me put it this way; what if I had gotten caught in there?

Brad- ?

Sensei- Would you come save me?

Brad- .....of course I would. We're kin.

Sensei- Exactly that. But to Vash the Stampede・his concept of who is "kin" is ridiculously broad.

-181-

Sensei- It must be a source of incredible pain, for one so long-lived. Shall we go?

Brad- Huh? What, we're just going to leave him?

Sensei- We've fulfilled our duties here. It's alright, he'll muddle out a solution for himself.

Brad-......

now very thoroughly confused, Brad stares after the departing Sensei.

...and Time moves on, as it is wont to do, dusk deepening into full dark. the town settles down, a night of peace settling softly around them...

-182-

KABOOOO~~~~~~OOOOM!!!

...or so they could hope. sorry, no dice this time. Vash the Stampede is in town, after all.

ConFed 1- huh.. what the...

ConFed 2- What the hell is it this time?

ConFed 3- An explosion?!

ConFed 4- At Gate 7! All the witnesses are bailing!

...which is probably a very smart idea. streamers of smoke part long enough to show the whirring wheels of a motorcycle...

-183-

...and the missile-end of the Cross Punisher opens yet another door for the Angelina II and one extremely peeved Wolfwood. federal troops go flying every which way.

Wolfwood- YO!! WE'RE LEAVIN・TONGARI!! Good Lord, what I do for you, ya blockhead.

-184-

Wolfwood- ...GAH!

a nearby pile of rubble sprouts one bony leg of aforementioned blockhead.

Wolfwood- Don't get buried, dimwit!

said leg is grabbed, and the rest of a sleeping Vash is unceremoniously hauled out.

Vash- ya~~wn. Gee, another really flashy rescue.

Wolfwood- Shut it! This is all your fault, since you had to go and be such a Goodie Two Shoes. Oh yeah. Hey, Mister!

somewhat dazed, but fortunately un-buried, Baldy looks up.

Wolfwood- You don't need to be here any more, right? Bet you've got family waiting for you outside of town. Get on.

-185-

Vash- Wolfwood, you really are a nic-- *murph*!

talk to the hand, hon. real up close and personal.

Wolfwood- MORON! Don't get me wrong here. I still think you're looking at the world through rosy glasses. Keep pushing your luck like that, and one of these days it ain't gonna work. There's gonna come a day when you'll have to choose. One day, for sure.

-186-

far elsewhere, well into the trackless depths of the desert, the Mousy man in black sits, looking through a set of binoculars at who knows what. without a word, Lurawd walks up behind him. the other man turns to him, the large white suitcase beside him falling open.

-187-

and Lurawd simply... falls apart. a puppet, his pieces un-pop and break down without any visible assistance, floating through the air to stack themselves neatly in the suitcase at the feet of the Mousy man. or perhaps I should call him The Puppetmaster.

Puppetmaster- DiSCoVeRY. thE fIgUrE MoVeS. SKiLL CoNFiRMS thOUght. mAkE FouNDaTioNS ReSouND And reach conclusions from the resulting waves.

the speech travels through space to a polite looking little doll, who finishes the last of the sentence far less brokenly than did the man.

-188-

it sketches a bow to the figure which hangs suspended in something that looks like a cross between an iron maiden and a coffin, only his face visible...

Puppet- There can be no mistake. Vash the Stampede has resurfaced, Master Legato.

#6 tsumi/END

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