CH - 64

Halcen, Fein, and Shira were waiting patiently down below, until they heard the footsteps coming up behind them. They turned to see a vaguely lit silhouette of a guard. They were hiding behind the fence of the jail, but there was nothing there to shroud them except the darkness. If anyone walked up too close, they would be seen.

Shira began to growl lowly, but Fein hushed her. Any little amount of noise would immediately draw the attention of the guard.

Halcen looked up to the rocks, where Bo and Kazuki were stationed, dispatching the other guards. He couldn't see them or even any outline. He knew they were up there, but didn't know if they could help. This guard had come up out of nowhere, and the snipers were supposed to be facing the opposite direction. All the security was at the front of the jail, where the entrance was. He turned back around and gulped. He readied his knife. If this was gonna be a fight, he'd have to take the guy down as fast as possible. Please don't let him come this way. Don't let him see us. Have him keep on walking.

And the footsteps drew closer. He was there. "Huh?"

And then there was the sound of something tearing through flesh and bone, and his forehead bore a massive hole, and chunks of grey meat blew out the back of his head. He fell to the ground without a sound.

Halcen sighed in relief. "They saw him."

"Now we're down to four," Bo said, returning his sights to the front.

"That was too close," Kazuki said. "We need to finish these guys off now."

They began to track the other two wandering guards until they were out of sight of the guardhouse. "One, two, three."

Click.

Two more bodies fell in the darkness like nothing.

They couldn't get a line on the guards in the guardhouse from where they were, so they picked up their bags and began moving slowly toward the watch tower. They had to climb down from the rocks and walk over the roof of the jail to get there. They were extra careful, but once they got there, they had much more sniping advantage. The dead bodies of their first victims lay strewn about inside. They shrugged it off and ignore the gore, as they had done many times before.

They heard talking. "Where did Melrose go?" one of the guards asked the other one. "He was supposed to be back up here from the rear by now."

"He probably stopped to take a piss," the other one said.

"He's supposed to do that one his time."

"Listen, kid, nobody is gonna try anything here. Alright? So just relax, would you?"

Bo chuckled to himself. "Sorry, guys."

"One, two, three."

Click.

The last of the guards were dispensed.

Kazuki took one final look around, before he gave a whistling sound.

Halcen looked up toward the watch where his allies awaited. He knew they couldn't see him, but he nodded anyway. "Let's go," he whispered to Fein. The three moved quickly, but as softly as they could. The coast was clear, but that didn't mean there still couldn't be surprises. In fact, Halcen was planning on it. There was usually some kind of wrench in his plans, and he had to be ready when it happened again.

When they got to the entrance of the jail, where the gate was, they saw the bodies littered about. There were two inside the checkpoint office where one crossed through the gate. They looked up to see the snipers from the watchtower perch.

Kazuki gave Halcen a thumbs up.

Halcen nodded, then he proceeded through the gate, bringing Fein and Shira with him. They walked up to the door of the jail. It was a thick, heavy metal door. "Are you ready?" Halcen asked.

"As we'll ever be," Fein said, almost in a growl.

Shira growled as well, signaling her own readiness.

"Then let's do this." Halcen pulled the door, slowly, and they took a moment to look inside before stepping in. This was shaping up to be a big job. When he got to Loguetown, all he'd wanted to do was drop off the snipers, find what Shanks was doing here, and leave. Now, they had taken so much extra time and wasted all this effort on these chores to help the Marines that had been hired to kill him. He grumbled in his own head. He knew he had good reasons to do these things, but just wanted to be able to complain, just once. But that was the burden of a captain. He didn't get to complain. He had to keep his shit together, regardless of how that came across to the others.

Inside, they crouched low and stayed quiet to keep from alerting whatever Marines he knew were inside. How many, he couldn't be sure, but he was fairly certain it was less than ten. It was a small jail, for temporary housing until trial and imprisonment.

Straight ahead, was a bundle of desks and tables where they had papers and file bins displayed messily about the area. To the left, there was a small wall that separated the room into two, where they kept the first level offenders in cages. Halcen couldn't see if anybody was in the cages, because it was relatively dark and he was far from them, but he assumed there must have been. But he wasn't here for them. To the right, just inside the door, there was a small room where they kept the personal effects of those they had jailed. And along the right wall was where the guards' barracks was. And to the far right corner was where the stairs went down to the bottom level, where they kept the more serious threats.

Bo's family was going to be on the basement floor, down below. There were to be held for questioning about Bo's pirate activities, and were going to be tried for aiding a pirate. This was the Marine's law. This was their justice. Holding innocents for make believe crimes.

To think they believe a child and a woman can be such a threat. Their bureaucracy knows no limits. Every little thing to make our lives harder. Fuck the Marines.