1 Once upon a time in Gehenna

"So... you want to hear another story huh?"

"Don't worry, I know you're tired of hearing the same old bedtime story over and over again, but that's your bad luck because I'm not promising anything new hahaha."

"The same house rules, a goal, a Vault, and a group of idiots. But this time I'm going to tell the story of an unlucky man who should never have existed, a scourge, an unacknowledged womanizer, deadly on the trigger. Supposedly straight from hell, but that's just the details."

"What's important here is that this man changed the course of history, the immovable destiny was taken away from him, even if just for a little while. Others may call him crazy, but I call him a real vault hunter, The story begins with him, and not least... me."

_____

In a saloon, a group of drunken revelers is enjoying themselves, As much as their frowny and mean faces can be, the atmosphere is cheerful and pleasant, and some dancing girls are entertaining the group to the rhythm of the music played by the experienced pianist.

Suddenly, a man entered through the double doors of the saloon. He looked young, with spiky blond hair and dressed in a large tattered red coat.

His relaxed posture stride gave the impression of someone harmless, but the two wicked lead spitters on the man's waist would say the opposite, especially the one on the right, as his appearance was very robust and large.

Looking around he saw that the place was cared for, as far as possible of course, since it was a place where bandits gathered to drink, gamble, and fight. He was thirsty and hungry after traveling through the desert and needed a place to rest. Ignored the hostile looks he received from the other customers and walked to the counter, where a fat, sweaty man was serving drinks.

"What will you have?" The man asked, without much sympathy.

"A glass of mil-" a raspy voice comes out of Kid.

"I've said it many times, nobody sells milk in a saloon Kid, Luckily for you, I have some juices in stock" Sighing, the saloon owner interrupts.

"So, son... I want a very cold juice, a sandwich, and some travel supplies." Placing a few dollars on the counter.

"Travel supplies?" Repeated the man, surprised. "You're leaving?"

"Although that is none of your business, Bob..." Said Kid. "Yes, I am leaving."

"I-I understand," said Bob. "That is a good idea, Gehenna has become a very hectic place with the arrival of the Company, and as if that wasn't enough, that gang of bandits, Devil Riders, or something like that, suddenly appeared."

"Yep, I want to take a break, go far away from *cof *cof." The blond can't complete his sentence and is interrupted by a coughing fit, a little blood splashing on his hand.

"Sick as ever?" Bob asks but receives only silence in response.

Bob took the money and went to get the order. the unknown man sat down on a stool and looked around.

The saloon was full of people with bad faces, armed to the teeth. He saw some familiar faces, but not in a good way. They were criminals wanted by the law, some with high rewards for their heads. the unknown man knew this because he was a bounty hunter in his spare time and a thief when the need spoke louder. He had already captured or killed many such bandits, making a lot of money in the process.

But he had also made many enemies. And some of them were there, in the same room with him. And they recognized him.

"Hey, are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Said one of them, a thin, slender man. "Isn't that Kid over there?"

"Kid The Peacemaker?" Said another, a fat, bald man with a skull tattoo on his neck. He pulls out a wanted poster, the person in front of him is the same as the one on the poster, and it is impossible not to recognize. "Fuck! It's da 777,000 dollars man, Kid?"

"Yes, that's him, I will never forget that gun." said the first one, his body visibly shaking. "It was too big to be called a revolver. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too long. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron. That thing killed my brother, the bullet broke my brother in half!"

"Yes! He also kills my cousin." Said the second one.

"And my boss." Said a third.

"And my dog!" Said another with tears in his eyes.

Soon, the conversation spread throughout the salon and everyone was aware of Kid's presence. The noise died down and a tense silence settled in. Everyone looked at Kid with hatred and fear.

Kid realized something was wrong and turned around to see what was happening. He saw dozens of eyes fixed on him, but his face said something like 'Let me at least eat first'.

He took his orange juice and the sandwich Bob had brought him and started to eat. He pretended that he didn't mind the stares he was getting and that he just wanted to satisfy his hunger.

But not everyone believed that he was who he claimed to be.

"Is this a joke?" Said one of them, a tall, muscular man in a leather jacket. "Is that brat Kid? The Peacemaker? The legendary brat who dodges bullets? My balls!"

"Bah! Of course, this is Kid, It's been over 80 years but I'll never forget his face, he ended up fighting a girl at O.K Corral. " An old man shouts from the back. "Shit, I still remember how that woman made everything she touched rot! There were rumors that he ended up dying that day, his soul wandering around Gehenna."

"A soul?" Asked a tall, muscular man with a scar over his eye, Many other men stood up when he said this, evidently these were his henchmen. "Let's see if the boy here is a soul, one bullet should be enough for us to know"

"Hey, you!" Yelled the head of the bandits, the tall, muscular man with a scar over his eye. "Do you know what you've gotten yourself into? Do you know who I am?"

Kid didn't answer. He knew that the boss was one of the most wanted criminals in the region and that he had no mercy on anyone. Swallowing his sandwich and turning the entire glass of orange juice in his mouth Kid stood up from the bench and turned around.

Only to find the head of the goons pulling his revolver from his waistband and trying to aim it at Kid's head. The blonde smiled coldly, reacted faster, and drew his weapon, Jakob's revolver.

The man's eyes widen at the sight of a giant revolver pointing at him and his courage deflates like a balloon.

Kid then pulls the trigger but then-

*Click… *click *click *click *click *click

Nothing happened, he squeezed five more times and then he realized. His gun was unloaded! so he tried to use his spare generic revolver, but it was also unloaded.

Kid's face could not be better described as a °0°.

The man seeing the scene burst into laughter and pulled the trigger of his gun. A loud bang echoed through the hall and a bullet rattled out of the barrel of the revolver, right into Kid's head.

*Bang!

"Kyaaaaa!!!" The dancers start screaming in horror at the scene, and one of them closes her eyes, not wanting to see a dead body on the floor.

But Kid did not die.

With a slight glint in his eyes, he tilted his head a little to the left and the bullet grazed his ear but missed him. He took the chance and threw his empty spare generic gun in the man's face, making him squirm.

Seeing their boss attacking, the bandits approached him with steel pipes and knives in their hands. They tried to grab him and immobilize him, but he defended himself as best he could. He punched, kicked, and elbowed the thugs, trying to make his way to the door.

Then the whole saloon fell into great confusion and screaming, Kid amid the confusion had an idea, he took off his red coat and quickly changed coats with one of the goons, without anyone noticing. He put a big cowboy hat on his head to cover his face and walked away from the bandits.

The other bandits saw the bandit with the red Kid coat and thought it was him. They began to attack him mercilessly.

"Get him!" ordered the boss, pointing at the bandit with the red coat.

"Wait! It's me bos-" The bandit must not have time to finish his sentence when he was buried by the sweaty bodies of several bandits on top of him.

Kid took advantage of the distraction and picked up the body of a fainted bandit on the ground. He held the body in front of him, as if it were a puppet, and walked toward the double door.

"Hey, you!" Yelled the chief again, watching Kid walk away. "Who are you? What are you doing with this guy?"

Kid was startled. He tried to imitate the voice of the bandit he had knocked out.

"I-I'm one of your men, Boss. I was taking this guy out. He said he wanted to take a shit."

The boss frowned. He did not recognize the voice of this henchman of his and he could not see his face because of the hat covering his face.

"Understood, Have a great day." The man said, but then he raised his gun and pointed it at Kid. "Wait a minute, you little shit, you think you can fool me!!!"

Kid realized that he had been exposed. He looked at the double door and saw that he was right next to it. He decided to take a chance.

He smiled and released the thug's body on the floor. He ran towards the double door, hoping to escape.

"Bunch of good-for-nothings he's going to escape! Shoot him!" Ordered the boss, furious.

All the bandits drew their guns and shot Kid. The bullets fly through the air, but then Kid's eyes begin to glow with the night sky, your heart starts racing, causing your blood to circulate through your veins furiously, and your skin tone takes on a reddish appearance.

*Zoooooom

Suddenly, the world begins to turn blue-green!

1…

The blonde sees the thugs shooting at him, the bullets fly into his body, but suddenly the bullets start to slow down until they almost stop, but the bullets don't fall as expected, but hang in the air.

2…

Calculated the trajectory of the bullets and tilted his body to the right, then to the left, bending over at times and at others just tilting his head when a bullet passed close to his ear.

3…

His movements were short and strangely slow, it seemed that he was also being influenced, albeit slightly, by the slowness of his surroundings, but his movements were so efficient that it didn't matter, even though it meant that the bullets passed dangerously close to his body.

4…

Ignoring the feeling of your lungs burning from breathing in large amounts of oxygen, but Kid returns to his starting position, time slowly resumes, causing the residual images that had appeared because of his burst of speed to begin to disappear.

*Zzzzzzz!

The sound of bullets whizzing past Kid explodes in his ears, he feels deaf for a moment, a Tinnitus sound persisting in his ears, making him unaware of what the bandits were shouting. He laughs, his assailants were busy trying to reload their guns to stop Kid from kicking in the double doors and making his way outside.

"Yippee-ki-iy-ay!" He shouted and spat red saliva onto the floor, his nose also had a trail of blood, although he was not hit by any shots. 

He hears the bandits cursing and yelling after him, but he doesn't care. Fortunately, nobody shot him with a shotgun or he would be in trouble.