Thomas and Jacob were exhausted; their Zoids weren't doing much better. They had been running for days now to escape from their assassin pursuer. Their journey started out in New Helic City where they had been attacked by a women assassin in a red Command Wolf. At least that’s how it started then the Republican Army got involved. So they now had another strike against him. At this point he knew he and Jacob needed to get out of Republican territory.

"But first I need to let these guys have a break." Thomas thought to himself, he looked around and noticed a halfway decent looking restaurant. "Hey, Jacob lets take a break here for a while and get something to eat." "Right." Jacob responded the exhaustion in his voice. Saix was relieved to hear they were finally taking a break, she thought here legs were going to give out. Katulu was just as relieved though she would never admit it, she noticed a spot where she and Saix could rest. She pointed it out to the others and they walked over and Thomas and Jacob jumped out.

They walked into the restaurant and ordered. Jacob was excited about getting some decent food and was talking about how good it was going to be. But Thomas wasn't really listening to any of it, he was trying to shake the feeling he was having. It felt like everyone in the place was staring at them, like they had a target on their backs. "Something just isn't right here." He finally started looking around and noticed something on the back wall. He got up leaving Jacob with a puzzled look on his face to go see what it was.

"For the love of monkey turds." Thomas muttered under his breath. What was on the back wall was a wanted poster and reward for him; it had been placed by the Republican army. "A reward of 100,000 gallows for the capture of this mercenary is being offered. Know to pilot an Emperial Lighting Saix. He was last seen fleeing New Helic City with a Gun Sniper in tow. He is considered armed and dangerous." Thomas initially smirked at the poster, he didn't think they would ever offer so much for him. But then he realized this was bad this would be the feeling he was getting, odds are everyone in the place was sizing them up. Instead of showing any concern he calmly walked back to the table and told Jacob what was happening. Jacob managed to stay calm as well. "What are we going to do?" the young boy asked. "We're going to stay calm, eat and then get out of here." Thomas responded in a whisper. So they just sat and waited for their order.

"One hundred thousand Gallos?" R'sil asked suspiciously looking at the wanted poster. "He doesn't look old enough to have to shave but, then again it isn't that high a bounty for a live capture... Hm..." She pulled the poster off of the wall and read the reward bit over again. Shaking her head, she folded it up and slipped it into an inside pocket of her jacket. "Not even a partial reward for killing the guy, but work's been a bit dry recently so I guess it'll have to do."

Pulling her phone off her belt, she keyed the frequency she shared with her zoids and spoke. "Poloth, look for a stock 'Saix and a normal 'sniper in close proximity. It says they fled, so mark damaged pairs as urgent and send the locations you find to my PDA. If you happen to spot someone of his description, about an 80 percent match and up, I want to know immediately. Pierce, sa- nevermind. Just tell me if you find anything." Sliding the PDA/phone back into it's holster she set off towards the bars. She would be asking questions and listening for rumours. If this guy was worthy of a government bounty someone should have heard of him. And if he happens if he happens to die 'on accident' while I'm capturing him I should be able to get a partial anyway... She smirked at the thought. Killing people was so much easier then catching them, especially if they were stupid and resisted.

"The Hunt is on..."

"I just can’t believe my luck lately."Thomas thought to himself, staring at his reflection in the cup of coffee before him."First I nearly get killed by some assassin and now the Republican government has a bounty out on my head." He took a long sip of his coffee and looked at Jacob. The young boy was scarfing down a bowl of noodles like he had never eaten before. Thomas sometimes forgot Jacob was just a kid and that he shouldn't push him so hard, skipping meals wasn't a good idea.

"Well at least for the moment we've escaped the grasp of that assassin. Now all we have to worry about is someone around here seeing me and deciding the want the money on my head."The young mercenary sighed it was just not going to be his month. Plus with Luciana and Zekeo clear on another continent he couldn't call her for help. "Hey Jacob once your done with that we'll head back to Saix and Katulu. "We can sit and take a break next to them. Then we need to get out of dodge as the old saying goes."

Jacob looked up from his noodles long enough to nod and then went back to eating. Thomas couldn't help but laugh, something he hadn't done in a long while. Jacob soon finished wolfing down his food after that the two paid and left the restaurant, trying not to draw attention. The last thing they needed was to be seen by someone and get in a fight right there in the restaurant.

As they walked out Jacob saw something that caught his eye and took off running to have look at it. Leaving Thomas dumbstruck at the restaurant door for several seconds; he couldn’t believe the boy had done something so stupid and noticeable. Though what Thomas did in reply didn't help matters, he went running after Jacob yelling: "Would you get back here! I told you we don't have time for this, we got to get out of here!"

She was sitting near the back of a bar when her phone beeped at her. Picking it up, she looked at the screen and saw an aerial view of her quarry's zoids and the man himself heading towards them. The picture was a bit warped but considering the height that the Ptera flew at, that wasn't surprising. Nodding to herself, she left the bar quietly before jogging down the street towards the area Poloth had shown her.

"Pierce!" She yelled into the microphone. "Have the bird send you the location and meet me there!" Putting the phone back, she unholstered her pistol and broke into a run. With them that close to their zoids there was a high possibility of them boarding and leaving before she got there. Then again, that was why she was a pilot. You always had to be a step ahead of the prey.

Speaking of which, I've got to replace this piece of junk phone soon. I need my hands free... Don't want to where one of those 'scouter' looking things though... With a shake of her head she rounded the corner and caught sight of the man. As he started running, she snapped a shot off at him but the odds of it hitting were low since she didn't really have time to aim. Sliding to a stop in the dirt, she fired three more quick shots at the man's legs. It probably would have been possible to put him down right there if she could afford a torso shot. "Damn live bounties... She said before yelling after the man. "Stop or I will shoot you.

Thomas just could not believe his recent run of luck. Getting attacked and chased by bounty hunters, having a price now put on his head by the military, and now he had to be a babysitter. He had no idea what it was that Jacob had gone running to see but it had better be good as far as Thomas was concerned.

He frankly just wanted to get out of Terrone town as quick as possible. Because he knew the longer they stayed there the better the chance someone would recognize him from his bounty picture. Something he could not afford to have happen at the moment. It was bad enough having that assassin after him he didn't need a bounty hunter on top of it. But as he was running the mercenaries worst fear came to life, somebody was shooting at him.

The first shot went whizzing by Thomas' stomach barely missing him. He nearly stopped in surprise but managed to catch himself and kept running. "If I stop running I am much easier target." He told himself, though when the next three shots came running suddenly didn't seem like such a great idea either. Thomas heard the sound of the gun firing and jumped forward and did mid air flip landing on his hands. Unfortunately bullets move quickly and he was unable to completely avoid them. One of the bullets clipped him in his lower right leg, though not causing serious damage it take off a small chunk of flesh. The second shot only managed to graze his left calf but still stung considerably. The third shot made a through and through in Thomas' left boot barely missing his foot.

Ignoring the pain Thomas pushed off the ground with his hands backwards landing on his feet. Back on his feet he swiftly reached up his sleeve and grabbed out a large knife. Now he was ready to face his attacker who had yelled for Thomas to stop or they would shoot him. "Well I think we have already established your ready to shoot me. Now it’s a matter of what you want with me." Thomas yelled back in response.

Five shots left including the chamber... It would be simple to down him, but lets see if he'll surrender and save himself the pain. Smiling as she saw the blood start to seep into his pants she brought her other hand up to the pistol grip. "Thomas Jenson. My name is R'sil Darrik and I am here on behalf of the Helic Republic Armed Forces. It seems you're worth One Hundred K to them if you're brought in alive."

Cocking the hammer with practiced ease, she sighted on the man's torso. "Now a .45 caliber round will cause a lot of bleeding if it hits you or your friend there. I'd only give you a few minutes before you bled out enough that you passed out... Or the concussive pressure of getting hit in the torso or your head would probably just kill you instantly." She nodded her head briefly towards Jacob. "Now, give me a good reason why I shouldn't just shoot you and drag you back to my paycheck. And I mean a Good reason, not just 'but I'm innocent.' That got old a long time ago."

Thomas' mind shot out dozens of thoughts after his shooter finished speaking. First and foremost that his day just went further down the tubes then he thought possible. Second was that he now had to come up with a plan to get them out of this mess. And his third major thought was about how much his leg stung by that point.

It was several tense moments before Thomas answered the woman’s question. "Well first of all there would be no point in saying I am innocent. I am guilty of what they say but there is really more to the story." Thomas nearly let a smile escape onto his face as the memories of his times in the Republic came rushing back. But he managed to contain himself, smiling didn't seem like a good idea at the moment. "Now as for your question of why you shouldn't shoot me or the runt I am with. You shouldn't shoot us because we're going to come willingly."

Jacob was shocked by Thomas' response he had been expecting a smart remark and then a clever plan. Not an easy surrender to a bounty hunter. Thomas knew the boy would be surprised; knew that Jacob hadn't noticed he had. And what Thomas had just seen was about to change everything, or more specifically who he had just seen.

"Though I wouldn't be happy to see her normally; I am definitely glad she's here now." The person of his thoughts was in fact Asesino; the assassin woman who had been hunting Jacob and him for a while. She was sneaking up quiet as a mouse behind the bounty hunter with a large knife in hand. She stopped just three feet away from the other woman and said: "Sorry but those two are coming with me not you. I would advise just putting the gun down and walking away."