Fernando
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The walk back to the bazaar was relatively quiet, though relative is the key word here. It is loud and chaotic but it was always so. It is only now Fernando notices the distractions as he spreads his senses out for a wider situational awareness. He is only looking for a couple of folding tables, though Hondo has a set that can be used, Fernando’s trying to eliminate interaction with him and Val so they can sort things out on their own without having the pressures of others’ needs on them.
The General Merchandise area had somebody selling tools and camping cooking gear. Fernando walks up to the vendor’s stand and looks around. A senior woman comes out from the store and storage area.
“How can I help you, young man?” She asks.
“I’m in need of a couple folding tables. Nothing big or fancy, about 6ft (2m) open, 3ft (1m) folded up, about 3ft (1m) tall.” Fernando explains.
“Let me see what I have in stock. Please wait right there for me to return.” The woman tells him.
Fernando looks over the other items as he waits. There is not much there that he needs or is interested in but it is good to know to find certain things that might be needed later on. After couple of minutes, the woman returns with an assistant carrying a couple of folded tables. Fernando inspects them, seeing that they are not new but not heavily used easier. They are up to his liking.
“How much for the pair?” Fernando asks.
The woman says, “$20 each, so $40 total.”
Fernando is not happy with the answer but pulls out 4 $10 coins from his pocket, handing it to her. He then nods at her and says “Thank you. I just need a receipt for the purchase.”
He takes the tables and secures them onto the pull cart as the woman writes up a receipt. He takes the receipt and head back to camp with the tables in tow. It takes him a couple of minutes to get back to his camper and begin setting up the tables by the Dub Box. He knocks on the door to get Ruth’s attention.
Ruth comes out a looks over the set up and nods, “This is great.”
“Good, I’m going to get some bread rolls, butter and fruit to complete the meal while the other items are being prepared at the restaurant. I’ll get to those when they are done.” Fernando tells her.
“We will be here setting up.” Ruth says.
Fernando nods before he leaves. He goes back into the bazaar, just blindly walking about and looking what it is there being sold. He looks over the pastries in the food court of the bazaar.
An all too familiar voice yells out “THERE HE IS!”
It is quickly followed by several lawmen in black surrounding him. Fernando shifts his eyes to see these so-called lawmen around him and the troublesome pastry baker walking up to him with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. He points at Fernando.
“That’s the thief who stole from me and beaten me! He also helped that Pink-Haired Fuchsbau Bitch!” The vendor yells out.
Fernando looks at the vendor with a lawman next to him, “What the #$@! are you talking about?” He notices the other lawmen around him closing in on him. He turns to the lawman next to the vendor, “Tell your men to back off before I start dropping them and then you.”
“Boys, git him!” The lawman by the vendor says to the others.
Fernando twists the crystal on his can and presses it, activating Time shift on himself before taking a Marshall Arts stance. He plants his cane on the ground and let it stand on its own. Before the first can grab his arm, he swings his fist to the lawman’s face getting him square on the nose and breaking it. He steps and spins to the one behind him and send his foot to his face, knocking him down before turn to the next one getting close to him who gets a trust to the gut and a knee to the face as he bends over from the force and the pain. A quarter turn to the left was a fourth who stood there in awe as to what was going gets a back handed slap across his face that knocks him out along with a couple of teeth. He grabs the cane with his right and draws his gun with his left, stepping to the lawman by the vendor and knocking out the gun in his hand with a hard whap from his cane, breaking several bones in lawman’s hand, and putting the muzzle of his gun to the lawman’s face.
The smell of urine and shit can be smelled by the nearby noses originating from the vendor next to the lawman. Fernando pulls out his wallet and shows his gold EMT Badge and his silver NYC Auxiliary police badge.
“You do not know how you are messing with, so let me introduce myself. I am the law. I roam the highways rescuing the hurt and innocents and correct the wrongs I see and this place is wrong. This vendor is wrong in accusing me and others in crimes that never happened. I can point to the witnesses here who saw me pay this man the money owed and a bit extra for his time so there was not theft of stolen items. Secondly, that Pink haired Fuchsbau Wessen is my niece, who thanks to this mother #$@!er was kidnapped by De La Cruz, and I am going after him when I find out where he is.” Fernando tells him as he puts away his wallet.
“Yeah Clem, that man paid that asshole some good money!” A vendor from across the path yells.
The lawman looks at his vendor friend for the moment as another lets out “You do not know who you messing with! That’s The Time Walker! Haven’t You Seen the Fight Posters?!! He fought The Lich A Couple Nights Ago And Now He’s Here!”
Fernando slowly puts away his firearm and steps back a step to give room for the lawman to pick up his weapon. The lawman slowly picks up his weapon with his good hand and holsters it with some difficulty.
The lawman finally asks, “What is the Time Walker doin’ in these here parts?”
“First I had to fight the Lich to rescue a kidnapped lady who is a wife to my friend. Second my people are looking for a lost child somewhere on the highway. Third, we’re getting rid of the Lab Towns and putting an end to the Wessen scourge that makes them with the help of General Jastrey. Her and her Army will be rolling in soon in a couple of days. Fourth, we’re looking for the cure to turn the Wessens back into people again. I seen it done, but it is not easy. In fact it is painful. Five) General Jastrey is reconnecting the towns’ railroads so we can trade freely again. That is what I am doing in these here parts.” Fernando explains.
“We got airships here. We do not need a railroad.” The lawman says.
“As far as I travelled airships are good to a point. But you cannot fly to Central Town, you have to go to Slavania and then take a train or truck to Center Town. The same with Small towns and Indian Towns in between here and there, unless you join forces with General Jastrey and build airports to those towns that do not have them.” Fernando tells him.
“And what do we get if we build these airports?” The lawman asks.
“You get to patrol the highways from above to keep the peace. You get free trade with the other towns and access to their facilities. And you get more opportunities for more money in doing this job and catching real criminals, not going after petty bread stealing crap from complaints this ‘Karen’ has to bitch about. I know that in Fight Town there is a $1Millions bounty on the fight manager Ichigo Morino, wouldn’t it be nice to collect on that.” Fernando tells her.
“You said $1Million?” the Lawman asks.
“$1Million – Alive, nothing if she if dead.” Fernando reiterates. He adds, “But you have a problem – my daughter Maria looks exactly like her. Do not think that Ichigo is here in Flight Town because somebody looks like her, for that is my daughter. Ichigo is trapped and hiding in Fight Town. Mess with my daughter, and I will put three into your head to make sure you are dead. Get where I am coming from?”
The Lawman nods. His men start to come out of their unconscious pains. Fernando twists the crystal on his cane and hovers it over the Lawman’s hand, giving it a few days of healing to recover from.
“That will be sore for a week, but at least you can use it. My beef is not with you, it is with this ‘Karen.’” Fernando tells the lawman.
“My name is not Karen! It’s Phil!” The vendor yells back.
“For now on your name is ‘Karen’ for ‘Karen’ is a lying Jezebel who thinks she can get others in trouble with the authority with her lies. And there you are – lying to this man of the badge, and keeper of order and ender of crimes for your personal petty injustice against people like me. What the #$@! I did to you? If he was not here, I would beat you shitless with my cane where you stand.” Fernando tells him.
“Maybe I should let him beat some sense into you.” The lawman says to Karen-Phil.
Fernando then turns to the lawman, “Peace officers work for the community. Not for those who pay for your services. Let’s say, you and your men arrest me. Where is the reward to give you for my arrest coming from? Where is the evidence of my crime? When I see the judge and he sees that this arrest was made because somebody paid you to arrest me as a favor – guess what? You become a criminal – an officer of the peace accepting bribes to do his job done as a favor to another is a crime. You will get arrested. I will be released from jail while you go behind bars. So watch what you do for who you do it for because such actions are illegal and one of your own men can turn on you and arrest you and turn you into a disgrace for a few dollars in reward for a personal favor. You want that? Think about it.”
The lawman nods his head for a moment before looking at Karen-Phil in disgust.
“Now, I came for some food – bread, butter and other things. But...” Fernando counts off the food tables, counting 20 or so vendors. He continues “I’m going to give each vendor here, except for Karen-Phil here, a $100 gold coin, and let’s start celebrating. Change is coming to Flight Town and Change Is Good!”
Fernando then takes a small sack of coins from his jacket pocket, reaches into and slaps a $100 gold coin on each of the counters of the vendors in area. The lawman follows Fernando as he pays off each vendor in the area. Then he turns to the lawman and hands over the sack of coins to him.
“Consider it as payment for keeping the peace, and let the people celebrate. I have to get food for my convoy. But watch yourself around that Karen-Phil. He wants to use you like a tool. You are not a tool. You are just a man doing his job.” Fernando tells him.
The lawman nods as couple of vendors starts to play loud music through their speakers. He then leans to Fernando, “What you know about this Ichigo person?”
“Ichigo Morino was the event manager who set up the fight between the Lich and I, and I won. Many think that the fight was rigged and Fight Town erupted into riots. The Law wants Ichigo to answer whether this fight was rigged or not. Thing is, some others want her dead. General Jastrey, who is bringing back law and order in Fight Town, wants her alive to answer those questions. And there is that $1Million reward for capturing her alive. She is hiding somewhere in Fight Town.”
“How do you know she is hiding in Fight Town?” The lawman asks.
“Ichigo is this tall, looks like a little girl, as many do in Fight Town. She has blonde hair and blue eyes.” Fernando shows her height with his hand. He continues, “But her body guards and driver were captured by a mob and killed, her car burned. She has nowhere to run as she cannot run. Her only means of escape were destroyed, so she hiding somewhere in Fight Town, but where? She needs to be caught alive and kept alive for her being dead does not pay a cent.” Fernando explains.
The lawman puts his hand onto his chin and nods, saying to himself, “A million would go a long away.”
“That it would.” Fernando leads him on. The Lawman looks at him for a second. Fernando throws back, “Look, General Jastrey will be here in a couple days and you can ask her about it. But a couple of days might be too late if somebody else captures her, and maybe even kills her.” He pauses for a second and looks about before telling him, “I have to get some food supplies for my crew. You go do what you want to do – that is on you. But do not cry to me if you miss out on an opportunity that I told you about.”
“Why aren’t you getting some of this action?” The Lawman asks.
“I fought the Lich and won. I already got my winner’s purse from that shit and rescued my friend’s wife too. So I’m going to continue onward with my job of rescuing others and not worry about money for a long time to come. Frankly I am tired, and I rescue those in need and not criminals, and Ichigo Morino being a wanted person is a criminal.” Fernando tells him. He adds, “Now if you excuse me, I have supplies to get.”
Absentmindedly the Lawman let Fernando walk by as he thought about the $1Million reward in capturing Ichigo even though it means leaving Flight Town to get to Fight Town. He also thought about the work that would be needed to do this job though it would be a gamble to get her; the reward seems to outweigh the risk and the gamble. His men get up and gather around their boss.
One of them asks, “Aren’t we going after that ‘criminal’?”
The Lawman looks at him and then the other, “He’s not the criminal, we have been lied to by that vendor. But that is not important; we have to sit down and talk, there is a much bigger job with a huge reward out there that we can do. It is at Fight Town. So get the others together, we got a meeting to hold.”
Fernando gets a few pastries and bread rolls for the meal. He also got some leafy vegetables for a salad to those who want one. As he buys these items, he passes by the Chinese restaurant, the cashier steps outs to meet him.
“Excuse me sir. Your meal is almost done, so you can come in and wait a while and pick it up.” The cashier tells him.
“Thank you. First I’ll go to my camp to drop these off and I’ll return to get the food. Should be back in ten minutes.” Fernando says to him.
“Ten minutes is good. See you then.” The cashier tells him.
Fernando nods before he heads back to the convoy. Looking at his watch, the order of food was done one hour faster than expected. He quickens his pace a bit to get to the camp sooner. At the camp he finds Ruth at the tables he had set up.
“Hey Ruth. Here is the bread and a couple other things, like leafy greens for salad if anyone wants one. I was told the food is done and will be picking it up and bringing it back.” Fernando says as he piles the items to one of the table.
Ruth replies, “OK. I’ll be setting up over here.”
Fernando gives a nod before heading back with the empty pull cart. He hurries slightly to cut his time without looking like he is in a rush. He gets to the Chinese restaurant in a few minutes.
“Hello there, I’m back!” Fernando says loud enough to be heard.
“Hello there!” The cashier says as he signals to Fernando to come to the side of the cash register. Another begins to start packing the food in large bags into the pull cart. Fernando pay the rest of the money owed.
“Let me ask, do you have Egg or Spring Rolls?” Fernando asks as he hands the cashier the remainder of the money owed.
“We do.” The cashier says.
“I need about 100 tomorrow at about 12noon. Can you do that?” Fernando asks.
“I think we can.” The Cashier says as he hands Fernando his receipt.
“Good. How much would that be?” Fernando asks.
“One Spring Roll is dollar, but for 100 I’ll thrown in a bulk discount for you - $75.” The cashier says. But then he adds, “I can sell you a 5 pound bag of raw frozen Egg Rolls for $20, 5 pounds has 50 Egg Rolls in them.”
“I’ll buy a couple bags, make it four. But I will need 100 cooked ones for an important gathering tomorrow. How much for all that?” Fernando explains and asks.
“For all the egg rolls, cooked and frozen, let’s say $140 total. Want to pay now or want to pay then?” The cashier says and asks.
“Sounds good. I’ll pay $100 now and the rest then. Just need a receipt.” Fernando says as he pulls a $100 coin from his pocket. The cashier takes the coin and hands Fernando a receipt.
Fernando then looks over the packages of food before he goes back to the camp. Five minutes later He walks to the table Ruth was setting up by his Dub Box Camper. He begins to put the packages of food on the table.
“It’s OK Mr. Fernando. I’ll take care of it.” Ruth tells him.
Fernando nods before he says, “OK. I need to check with Ichigo and the job I had her doing.”
“OK. I do not think she is done though.” Ruth says.
“Alright. I’ll check on her.” Fernando says before going into his Dub Box. He looks around the back of the Dub Box, seeing Ichigo looking like she is working but she was already done. “You done here?”
“Been finished long ago. Ruth kept trying to ask what was all this about and who is it for. I told her nothing because I do not know.” Ichigo answers.
“Well, that is true. Look. Pile up as many as you can into the empty storage compartment and then pile the rest on the back seat. I’ll be in our camper resting; I do need to talk to you though. Oh, enter through the front driver’s door; it will be unlocked for you.” Fernando explains to her.
“I’ll see you later then...” Ichigo says.
Fernando walks out of the Dub Box and around the tables.
Ruth asks him, “What kind of rice is this?”
“It is Chinese made Vegetable Fried Rice. It should have no meat in it.” Fernando begins. He then points to the other packages, “And there should some packages of Vegetables with Garlic Sauce and others of Beef with Garlic Sauce You need to check out what is what as I did not see how they packed them up.”
“Alright, I’ll check on them and get it sorted out.” Ruth says.
“I’ll be in my camper resting up. Knock if you need me.” Fernando tells her. She just nods before he leaves and enters his camper through the side doors.
Once inside, He strips to just his pants and t-shirt and lied down on the bed. A couple of minutes later Ichigo enters the camper through the driver’s door. She locks it before heading to the rear of the camper. Seeing Fernando resting there; she strips down to just her t-shirt and panties before climbing onto the bed. She lies down on her side next to him.
“You wanted to see me?” Ichigo asks as she puts a hand to his chest.
“First of all, do not panic. Second of all, I ran into a pack of Bounty Hunters looking for Ichigo Morino. But I warned that that my blonde hair purple eyed daughter is not Ichigo Morino, and any idiot thinking that she is and try to kidnap her to collect the reward will have three in the head.” Fernando explains.
“I see.” Ichigo says.
“If and when you go out to town, you will remain at my side at all times and your name is Maria.” Fernando begins. He adds, “We cannot totally hide you, but we can hide you in plain sight and we can fool others to think you are somebody else and not the Notorious Ichigo Morino on the Wanted Posters. But you need to be where I tell you to be. When going out, you are to be at my side. Staying here, you are to be in the Camper or in the Dub Box. Got that?”
Ichigo nods, though a bit nervous at the prospect of what is going on. She gets up slightly and puts her head on his chest and an arm across him.
Fernando continues, “I’ll do what I can to protect you. But we will discuss other options as we need them. For now, just do as I say and you get to live another day.”
“How about us getting together and you doing me lovely?” She asks.
“Right now I need to rest, and like I said, that is going to take a while. So who knows when that will happen if ever.” He explains. He throws in, “Right now I need my rest.”
“Oh...” She says to herself.
Fernando notices her reaction, “Look. However, wherever, whatever we have as a relationship goes, that is on us after we set limits and define what we have as a relationship. I am not going to marry you, at least not in the foreseeable future. And for the time being, we agreed to you being my slave so I own you. But I cannot protect you if you do things out of my control.”
Ichigo just lies there, tying to hold back the tears. She just nods before she says, “I know all that. But I need something, some connection, some way to tell me that I am liked and wanted. That will fill my need as a woman. Something that will fill that empty space within me – something that says I am loved so I can love back. Love you back.”
“Maybe one day I’ll pin you down and #$@! your brains out. But right now I’m tired of dealing with bounty hunters and dealing with a-holes Karens lying to get others in trouble. This place is filled with stupid people, who only care about a freaking gold coin and not the value of one’s life. I need my rest and time to figure out a lot of things.” He tells her.
“OK then... I just hope it is one day soon.” She says to him before she closes her eyes.
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After Chaos (Read 187701 times)
