The Robin Hood Gang 2: Service from Spain

Maitea

Suddenly there is a loud bang from the forest area. I come downstairs to hear Riley cursing, and Bree atempting to calm her down without much sucsess. Bree looks up at me, her eyes pleading.

I take out my last peice of 'riged' choclate, as I put it. I offered a peice to Riley. She looked a bit confused. I took a bite, being immune to the drug I put in it. She does also. Suddenly, she colapses on the floor.

"How much did you put in?" Bree asked, startled.

"She'll only be out a couple hours, enough to calm her down." I say.

"Until she figures out she's been drugged."

"Nope, it erases some memory too. She won't know a thing. But she''l probably remember the bang and what happened before that."

"Your brave kid, I gotta hand it to you." Bree said.

Ace comes down the stairs, "You drugged Riley?"

"Yeah, can I ask you a favor? When she wakes up and wants to kill me, could you ask her not to?" I said.

"I'll try.." Ace said. Me an Bree bring Riley to her room. Just then James and Max burst in the door.

"What was the bang?" I ask.

"I gone and blew up Max's car." Reg said with a smirk.

I look sympathetically at Max, then turned to Reg, "That wasn't very nice, you know."

"Hey, that thing was a heap o' trash anyway."

Riley

I drift slowly into conciousness. I hear people talking.

"How much exactly did you put in?" Bree asked.

"Uh, not enough to kill her, I hope. She's still breathing, right?" Maitea said.

Someone puts there hand on my heart, "Yeah, she's breathing. But her hearts slow." Ace commented.

I mumble something unineligable.

"She's waking up." Bree said hopefully. I open my eyes. My vision swims a little, than I sit up. I am in my room on my bed.

"What on earth happened...." I start to ask. Then the memories alll flood back. Maitea takes a step back.

"Don't kill me." She says.

"You.." I hiss through my teeth, "you drugged me you little insignifigant...." I stand up, and put my hands out to steady myself. I can't belive she actually drugged me. Ace stepped infront of Maitea protectively.

"Move aside." I say to him. He swallows, then looks from me to Maitea.

Reg Carter

I hear grumbling from upstairs in Riles' room. I burst in and see what all the fuss is about. And then amuse myself with the sight of a half-conscious Riley angrily trying to regain her balance.

"Riles. You okay?" I ask.

"Maitea drugged me, let me at her!" she yelled.

I turn to Maitea and scowl at her. I helped Riley gain her balance and made her sit down on the bed until she was calm. I waited momentarily before getting up and standing up to Maitea.

"Look 'ere," I begin, her face looks smug but sympathetic.

"What?" She asks, confidently.

"We're a gang here and the last thing we want is fallin' out and drugging each other. We should build this on respect. I know I ain't one to talk, but hey. We're survivin' and thats all that matters to me. Soon as you start druggin' people... this experience is going to get hairy. Don't make me try and teach you a lesson like I did Max."

She nodded, but not because she was scared -- but because she agreed.

I simply left the room without another word to go to mine and Bree's bedroom. I needed some peace. I'd talked far too much for one day and was taking on too much responsibility. I couldn't see how Riles coped with it all and I'd never lost respect for her. I took a swig of my flask of whiskey and then laid back on the bed in silence.

At this point Bree came in.

Max

Reg was an asshole. I was an asshole too, but at least I didn't bug others with it. Whenever my temper got the better of me, I cleaned up after myself. And now Reg is acting like some baby sitter. He was still above me in the food chain, though, so I guess I didn't really have much of a choice to disagree.

I had to get the gun back. Since I killed Joan, it was the only thing I had to remember her. Our music wasn't on any radio station anymore, me and the other member of the band were the only members left, and I didn't think that the last member was any better than Eric.

I turned on the MP3 player and grabbed a flashlight. The inscription was face up when Reg threw it, and it was in bright white. The light from the flashlight was bound to reflect it easily. I'd go out, take a search for it, and try and keep it where Reg wouldn't find it.

As I walked out the door, I looked outside. It'd gotten dark out. During the day, Reg hated me, Maitea hated Riley, I hated Reg, and Riley hated Maitea. It'd been one hell of a first day.

Couldn't wait for the second. May've been a nightmare, but it was still the most exciting thing that'd happened in a while.

As I closed the door, I felt someone grab my shoulder. Just great. Who was it this time? If it was Reg again, I swear to god I would run him over with his own 4x4.

Bree

I walk into to find Reg in the bedroom. I hadn't expected to find him here, but...

"She drugged Riley because I asked her to." I said.

"What?" He was in total shock.

"I could tell Riley was about to loose it, swearing and shouting and threating. I asked her to give her a sleep and calming drug."

"Does Riley know this?"

"I am going to tell her later."

"Afraid she'll kill you now?"

"Absolutely."

"I wouldn't let her." Reg said, coming to sit beside me.

"You've never seen Riley really mad. It's like living hell broke loose."

Maitea

I put my hand on Max's shoulder. "Calm down." I tell him.

"Why should I?" He asks defiently.

"Because if you don't I won't help you find your gun." I say.

"Fine, don't. Wait, how do you know about that?"

"I know everything that goes on around here. Please, just listen for a second."

"No." He says. I roll my eyes and knock him to the ground by jumping off a pillar.

"Okay, now I will make you listen. I heard Riley talking earlier. She's going to put you under house arrest if you do anything rash. I suggest you stay here a while. I will get your gun." I say, he fingers the back of his head. He nodds reluctantly. I go out to my car and drive to where I know the graveyard is.

I didn't hate Riley, yet. I didn't really hate anyone. I had just done that because Bree had kind of asked me to. I hoped Riley could find it in her heart to forgive me.

Reg Carter

I sat there and comforted Bree for a minute. She turned to me and gave me a kiss. At that point the feelings filled up, the rememberance of my sister -- dead in cold blood -- the shooting of my Uncle Freddy... nothing compensated it. Now I had to put up with these amateurs. They think they've seen it all because their tough or they've shot a good 50 people. That doesn't take nerve or strength. Strength is to run. Run and hide for years. From your own blood. Strength is to kill your parents... for all the evil they'd done. Strength is to find and seek out the guy who made it all happen. Strength was the will to survive.

I cursed and Bree broke the kiss off. I walked out of the room angrily and put a hand up to Bree. She knew it'd be best I was left alone. My past wasn't gone. Despite killing Uncle Fred. This whole babysitting job over Max didn't help either. The guy was annoying. He had a lot to learn, but then again, I had a feeling of responsibility to teach him; because if I ever had to go... he'd take my place. He'd keep Riles and Bree alive.

I got outside and lit a cigarette. At this point I just glanced to the right to see Max re-enter the house and Maitea run off into the woods.

"Bloody typical," I muttered.

Bree

Reg cursed and broke off the kiss, then he got up and left. What did I do wrong? I looked at his face when he left. It was similar to what a man would have when burning at the stake. Did he not love me anymore? What had I done?

Riley

I hear muffled sobbs coming from Bree's room. I go in to find slow tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What happened?" I asked her. She quickly repeated the events to me.

"He just got up and left. His face looked like..like he was in agony. I don't know what I did." She said.

"Probably just his past coming back. It does that sometimes, and he'll act real strange for a while after he gets a strong memory." I say.

"But his face, the way he looked at me, it wasn't right."

"Reg isn't exactly a 'right' sort of person." I say, and give her a quick hug. I remember how it had felt when Jack started ignoring me, it had hurt a hell of a lot more than she could imagine.

I leave the room. I go to find Ace. I am going to have him and Maitea come with me tomorow. We were going to pay a little visit to the Redwall Mansion.

Maitea

I run to about the location Reg would have thrown the gun. I figured Reg and Max would have fought near the graveyard and with Reg's strength...

It doesn't tke me long to find it, but it was a bit further away than I though. I pictured how absolutely strong he must be, and shivered. The thought of every fighting him just plain scared me. I suddenly developed a healthy level of respect for him.

I looked at the group lik a big puzzle. Riley was the peice that had a hard time fitting with the rest of the peices, and Reg was the glue that held the pieces together. Hmm, an what was I? Just a little, insignifigant peice.

I drive back to the house and toss the gun to Max. He takes it gratefully. I notice Reg isn't around. That's good, for now. Ace comes up to me.

"You, me, and Riley are going to steal from some rich people tomorow." He says.

"Ah, who, might I ask?" I asked.

"Someplace called Redwall Mansion. Riley didn't mention the people."

"Does she ever?"

"Probably not, unless there someone to be afraid of."

"Want to practice fighting?" I ask.

Ace

I perched on one of the fluffy armchairs in the living room, playing chess with myself, humming an old song I wondered if anyone still knew the words to. I know I didn't. Not all of them.

And then Riley had come to me. "You and me, and Maitea, are going to the Redwall Mansion tomorrow. Be ready."

I'd nodded. "Of course."

After I saw her leave the room, I managed to corner my white king. "Checkmate, Ace," I said to myself. And then I got up to find Maitea. She was headed back down the hall from where Max was, and I stopped her, tapping her lightly on the arm to let her know I wanted to talk. "Hey, did Riley find you?"

"No," she replied.

I nodded in understanding and then filled her in on all the details that I knew. I vaguely wondered what it would entail, but I supposed I'd find that out the next day. I hoped that I could prove myself useful in this new gang, because if I had to start running again, I would probably just run home. And then it would all start again. The memories were bad enough without having to relive them.

"Want to practice fighting?" she asked me, breaking my train of thought. Good. I didn't need to be thinking about that anymore.

I smirked. "Why not? But I suppose we should go outside, so that when you break my neck...you don't mess up the doilies on the end tables."

The hallway filled with the sound of her laughter, and as we started outside, I realized that somehow, I don't know when, I'd made a friend. That one person you can laugh with makes everything worthwhile.

"You know," I said, "with Riley...I think you did the right thing. She probably would have ended up with a panic attack or high blood pressure or something. It can happen when you're very...emotional. But, don't beat yourself up. Somehow we'll get this all worked out."

Riley

I had a map of the house I was commiting to memory. Thank god for Marcello, who had gottten me the map in the first place. I sigh and walk to my window. Much to my surprise Maitea and Ace are fighting. Practicing, I think, I go out to meet them.

I come out just as Maitea pins Ace to the ground.

"Hey guys, practicing?" I say casually.

"Yup," Ace answers.

"How about a two on one?" I ask.

They extange glances. "Who against who?" Maitea asks.

"How about-let's see- me and Ace against you? You are the best fighter, after all." I say. They both nodd. me and Ace start next to each other. Maiteagets into a crouch an positions to ataack.

"Go." I say. Maitea is good, very good, but I see as she struggles to keep us both off. Eventually, ace gets his hands around her neck while I grab her wrists.

"Okay, you two against me now." I say. this would be a quick fight, and I knew it, but i needed practice. Ever since I lost to Maitea, my confidence had been a bit shaken.

Max

I went up into my room and put the gun in my dresser, under a few shirts. Maitea was right; I was bound to only get in more trouble from my temper. I wasn't going to be able to chill out, but I was going to have to keep it contained. I had one thing that usually could do that.

I looked into my second suitcase and pulled out the little amp. I plugged it in and made sure the volume was decently low. Then I went to my guitar case and pulled out the scrapyard guitar. I made it out of scrap metal when I first joined the gang. I had a massive collection before I joined, but I couldn't get back to my house after I killed Joan. My collection was gone, and I was stuck with just this hunk of scrap. It played fine, but it still wasn't my favorite thing to play.

I lied down on my bed and kept the guitar on my stomach, and began to play. I only played guitar, but when I played a song, other instruments came into my head. I knew how every bit of the song I was playing was meant to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adV8-_hgL4g

And then came along something I didn't expect. I glanced at the door and saw Reg poking his head through.

"You know I can see you, right?", I asked him. He walked on in. He was pissed off as usual, but he still seemed...calm.

"That's not too bad", he said.

"Thanks"

"You're welcome. Now give me the gun"

Figures that he saw. Did he know it was Maitea that got it? Who knows. Maitea was kind, I didn't want her to get caught or get into the trouble I was in. I didn't have much to gain from holding it from him. I walked up to my dresser and pulled it out, and threw it to him.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?", I asked. He stayed silent. I chose to take that as a yes, so I continued by asking him, "What turned you into such an asshole?"

Maitea

After play-fighting Riley and Ace, and loosing, I go to Bree. As I go to knock on her door I hear stifled sobs coming from inside her room. Fabulous.

"Bree, are you okay?" I ask, going in.

"Do I sound okay?" A shakey voice answered. I go to sit beside her on the bed.

"Bree, what happened?"

"Reg is just, I mean, the look he gave me..." Then she goes to explain what happened.

"So your worried because someone who obviously has some problems with his past stood up suddenly in an emotional situation and calmly left the room with a face that showed he was upset?" I say, trying to show her how stupid she is being.

"I guess. But when you put it that way..." Then there is a loud bang in the room next to me.

I walk over. Max is on the floor, bleeding. Reg has a huge smirk on his face.

"You have got to be kidding me. Reg, leave!" I say. He makes a face, then leaves. I quickly gab a piece of wood and snap it in half, then half-break another one. I hear Riley come in. I quickly make up something.

"And that," I say towards Max, "is how you break a piece of wood with your head." I quickly rubbed my forehead for effect.

"Yeah, well, excuse me.." Max mumbles. Riley throws her hands up and walks out. She totally bought it.

"Next time, your on your own." I whisper to Max, then pat him on the head.

Ace

It seemed that something was going on. Never having been one for drama, I retired to my room and debated flopping down on the bed. But no. I was sticky with sweat, and was probably covered in grass and dirt from the practice. So I picked out some comfortable jeans and a T-shirt before heading to the shower.

Later on, I heard an almighty "BANG!" and I emerged from my room, dressed but still towel-drying my hair. "What is going on?" I asked, moving in the direction of the noise. I saw Riley storming out of Max's room, murmuring something under her breath.

Peering in, I saw Maitea holding a few pieces of wood in either hand, and Max looking up at her from the floor, bleeding. "What, did you, like, bludgeon him or something?" I asked, completely confused.

"No," they both answered.

I took the towel off my head and held it by my side as my other hand went to rest on my hip. "Quit making so much noise, then. Everyone's going to think you're, like, trying to kill each other...you know?" I'd certainly thought that.

Reg Carter

I left the room and walked back into where Bree was. She was still a little upset but more silent now. More in thought. I sat next to her and gave her a long hug. She looks to me with tears in her eyes and asks, "What's wrong, Reg?"

"Just the past, Bree," I say calmly and reassuringly. "Just the past..."

She breaks a little smile and kisses me on the cheek. "You got me all worked up" she says with a sprite of relief.

"I'm sorry, Bree, you just-" I said to her.

"What?" She asked, "C'mon you can tell me."

"Was just thinkin' about my sister, that's all. Uncle Freddy wasn't the only one who should've been killed... All these names... All these horrors in my head. It's like I'm creating a mental hitlist. It's driving me mental."

Bree runs her hand through my hair and grabs my neck to pull me into a long kiss. She suddenly pauses midstream and says strongly, "You ain't breakin' off this one." I smile back at her and kissed her in return.

* * *

The next day I'd noticed that people were getting ready for something. I looked over to Riles in confusion. She gave me a reassuring nod and I knew what she meant. She needed to get to know the new members -- which meant she had a job planned. This meant I'd have time with that cheeky little Max. This should be fun.

I walked upstairs and found him lying asleep in bed with a towel wrapped around a slightly bad injury. I wake him up and his face turns to fierce anger. I comfort him by restraining him and telling him to shut up. He sees no point in struggling and listens.

Out of my pocket I pull out his gun and put it on top of his dresser.

"You're quite 'andy with that thing," I sneered. "Perhaps use it when it's needed next time, eh?"

"So I can have it?" He asks.

"Yeah, but don't you dare go blowin' some poor sucker's brains out!" I yelled, "Least of all mine. Got that?"

He mumbled a "yes" and sat up.

"So you were askin' me what made me such an asshole, weren't you?"

"Reg-- I din't mean nothin' by it--" he started. I knew he did.

I smiled at him and laughed a little. "Shut-up," I grunted. "Y'wanna hear why I am what I am now? FIne."

I sat next to him and told him of my past. Of the running and that rainy night when I'd stormed Uncle Freddy's villa and shot him and his wife. I told him the day I'd killed my parents, right through to the day I'd met Riles in Mexico. Then I told him of how I was put on the run again after my friend paid me out and how I'd eventually got back with Riles in North America.

He registered and listened. Some people might've even said he took it all in. Hell, I didn't know. But one thing was for sure, the kid had worked up a mutual respect for me now.