Khuzo, mercanary
The Guild Cliffside HeadQuarters
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"Well, I managed to fix your leg. It turns out that whatever hit you there moved a once completely harmles piece of a spear out of place and it caused you a significant amount of continous pain, but that shouldn't be a problem anymore. But there's some other problems."
"Such as?"
"Well, further examination revealed that your body contained various other...problems..."
"Such as?"
"Well, not so much as problems with your body, per se, but let's just say that your body also harbored several other..."objects"..."
"Such AS?"
"Well, for starters, there's the swordtip in your abdomen, the poison dart lodged underneath the skin of your neck, your left leg had a considerable amount of well...what appears to be metallic shrapnel, possibly from an explosive, there's an arrowhead stuck in your right foot, and your forehead had a piece of rock lodged deep underneath the skin. Also, I found three shark's teeth in your right arm, a broken key in your left arm, your left hand had a cactus needle stuck in it, and to top it off, there was part of what looks like a knife handle or part of a knife stuck IN your head. Actually in it. All the way underneath the skin. Completely covered by your body."
"Is that all?"
"Yes that should about-wait. Did you just ask if that was ALL?"
"Yeah, I always figured there was more in there."
"And none of this ever bothered you at all? You never felt any pain from any of this? No deterrence, physically?"
"No, why should I?"
"...I...I never...I never want to know what it is that you do, or why you do it, is that clear?"
She was standing, dumbfounded, directly next to a metallic tin that contained all of these things. The weapon bits and shark's teeth were covered completely in blood.
Khuzo got up and looked down in it. He picked out the cactus needle and stared at it.
"Hmph, I always wondered where my lucky needle went. I had it in my hand one day and it was gone."
"Please, no more. Also, your team has been assembled and your boat is ready."
"Oh, thank you."
Khuzo walked out of the office and closed the door behind him. When it closed, he saw the nurse shaking her head. She was picking up the metal tin, and then disappeared from view. He looked up and saw an old friend standing infront of him.
It was the legendary Scarecrow Jack. He was tall, and hidden behind a full set of leather armor with some chainmail joints. Over it was a large, brown, shapeless cloak that went over the entire upper half of his body. His head was entirely covered by a helmet that Scarecrow had built himself. He held out his hand silently to shake Khuzo's.
Scarecrow was a genius. A nonbender, like Khuzo, but a genius who had learned to turn one art of Khuzo's into something completely different. Scarecrow was so intelligent it was scary. He had built artillery equipment Khuzo would have never dreamed of. Small, compact bomb launcers that could a lot of damage very quickly. A master of the bomb, was Scarecrow Jack. He hardly ever spoke either, and noone, other than Khuzo, knew his real name. Scarecrow Jack was just a stagename.
"Hey Scarecrow, how's it goin'?" Khuzo asked as he shook his hand. Scarecrow only nodded, even in the presence of his best friend. On his back was a large, metallic, ornate tube like device that was shaped like a crossbow, with the drawstrings sticking out of it. But the top was covered, so the ammunition, whatever it was, couldn't be seen. Or touched. It had a unique handle as well. A collapsable, portable cannon was disassembled on his wasit and back, and there were several grenades on him as well, and a sword was also apparent, attached to his belt. A forth unique object was on his back, but it had a hook sticking out the end.
Scarecrow stepped aside, and a very, very attractive girl roughly Khuzo's age stepped forward. She was wearing a fitting chinese dress, and looked like she was a wealthy upperclass woman, not a bounty hunter for The Guild. She was shorter than him, roughly by eight inches, and didn't smell like the back end of an ape. Then again, she hadn't just climbed down the cliffside. She had taken the easier way that involved water and fancy boat rides. She stepped up to Khuzo, and smiled slyly.
"Khuzo...when was the last time we saw each other?" asked the girl.
"Two years ago, possibly today, I think. Well, at least on friendly terms, Rain."
"Yes, Ba Sing Se was a lot of fun, wasn't it?" she replied. Rain was no push over. Her name was true to her waterbending fighting style, something that could send shivers down even Khuzo's spine.
"As fun as being choked to near death," he replied sarcastically. She smiled and stepped back, but winked at him. Khuzo's face was concealed largely by his still pulled over cloak, but he smiled back at her, but it wasn't a flirtatious smile, it wasn't a friendly one either.
It was the kind of smile you gave to someone when you basically wanted to say, without words, "I'm gonna kill you as soon as we're not surrounded by other people". She gave him a similar smile and stepped back for one last man to come in. This man was considerably larger than either Khuzo or Scarecrow, and looked far more menacing. He had a considerably darker skin tone than Khuzo, who often appeared lighter than most people despite his constant exposure to the sun and extreme elements, and was much, much taller. He was well built, not overweight, and carried a massive, intimidating sword on his back. He had a scowl on his face and he looked down at Khuzo.
"We're here to do something. Well, let's do something."
"And how are you, Davin?
"I'm feelin' good, first time I have since Ba Sing Se. I'm still singing over what you did to me, Khuzo," Davin said in a more cheerful tone that the girl. He almost seemed to be fond of these events.
"It was a good challenge, you're a real tough one, Davin."
Davin's sword was but one of many weapons he used. He wore a large cloak, like Khuzo, but with different weapons. On his waist was a sling, a long chain with a sharp pommel was on his chest, and a very large machete was also on his waist. On his back were also two large shields, almost as big as Rain. He stepped aside to let other people pass by and hear Khuzo's briefing.
"After the storm is over, we'll be heading back to a small group of mine, and then laying seige to a large Fire Nation facility afterwards. It's located on a large island and is a very old temple. As with very old temples, RAIN, you should know BY NOW THAT THERE ARE TRAPS, UNLIKE LAST TIME," he said in a loud, angered tone. She smiled innocently.
"Why, Khuzo, you should've ducked. It's not my fault that arrow went where it did."
"It still hurts to sit down sometimes, Rain. It still hurts to sit down."
"Hey, at least it was back there, and not upfront."
"You wouldn't have a head if it had hit me upfront."
She smiled innocently again and then stopped talking.
"Now, as customary, anyone not in our group you can kill at your own leisure. Anything valuable that you find is yours to personally do as you wish with. We have one objective, and that is to assault and kill everyone on the island. No one escapes, and no one not in our group gets to live and tell about what happened on that day. They all die. We clear?"
"Crystal," Davin said.
"You got it," Rain said.
Scarecrow nodded.
Rain looked over at him.
"Scarecrow Jack, huh? I never saw you at Ba Sing Se. I heard you left the competition in "shambles". What can you do?" she asked. Scarecrow pulled the crossbow off his back. He pulled out a small canister from underneath his cloak. He pointed to the barrel, and then to the round. Scarecrow then showed the action of loading it into the back breech of the tube, and it became clear it could only hold one canister before needing another to be loaded, just like the crossbows it had been modeled after, and then put the canister away. He then raised his hand and made a "boom" motion with it.
She raised her eyebrows curiously.
"Well, I'll have to see that in action, up close, to get the full jist of it, won't I?" she asked.
He only nodded, and then put the crossbow away.
"It looks to me like he said it was a bomb launcher. I wonder how far they go."
"I don't know...but we'll have to see, won't we? Don't you also have a "pet", Scarecrow?"
Scarecrow nodded again, but remained otherwise motionless and completely silent.
Khuzo patted him on the shoulder.
"She can be pretty annoying, but don't underestimate her," he said.
He only nodded.
Outside, the storms passed over violently.
--
No, what Scarecrow has is NOT a gun, I know that that's forbidden. It's actually a combination of an ordinary crossbow and the first chinese artillery cannons(One of which he was also carrying as a collapsable version). The first chinese cannons were carried by a single man who wore them over the shoulder. This was almost 800 years ago.
Edited on 08/09/2008 8:15pm
