The Canyon Shootout

Job Details:

Sign-Up Page 21, Post Number 518

-Mysterious Canyon, early afternoon-

Wearing a tan outfit and the tan balaclava that covered her face and hair with sunglasses plus a tan hydration pack to carry water, Diana strode into the outskirts of Mysterious Canyon on a mission. She had been hired by a merchant's guild called the Capital Crocus Merchant's Association based out of Capital Crocus to wipe out a bandit gang that used the canyon as a base of activities, activities that hurt their bottom line. The gang in question was called the High Plains Marauders. They had been ambushing and destroying merchant caravans traveling though the region and the Association wanted the Marauders stopped at any cost.

Diana's mission was a simple one. She was was not to bother taking prisoners. She was to hunt down and kill as many gang members as she could find. The Association clearly preferred there to be no bandit survivors, but if the Marauders were forced to flee for their lives with greatly reduced membership, the merchants would be satisfied with that outcome as well.

Diana walked until she reached the mouth of the canyon and paused at the entrance when she spotted something dark drifting from within the walls. The blonde saw plumes of black smoke rising from deeper inside and reached a grim conclusion. Another caravan must been attacked and destroyed long before she had set out for this location. She walked cautiously into the rocky canyon and passed by the cave with the underground aquifer, then carefully made her way over to the smoking ruins of a caravan that had been wiped out by the Marauders.

The scene was a grim one indeed. The bodies of both horses that had drawn the wagons and the Association employees who had manned the wagons all showed multiple bullet wounds, mostly to the torso. The company's employees all wore tan shirts and tan pants with a brass CCMA badge on their shirts indicating who they worked for. A few Association employees had bullet holes to the back of the head, strongly suggesting that they had been executed after surrendering to the outlaws.

However, not all of the Association employees died without a fight. Three of the wagons had discarded firearms like bolt-action rifles, pump-action shotguns, and semiautomatic rifles lying next to them and shell casings that gleamed in the midday sun. Fifteen bodies she presumed to be bandits were dressed in ponchos and wore black shits with black pants and brown leather chaps. Their bodies all faced the third and fourth wagons, which had both been brought together in an attempt to throw together a line of defense.

The bodies of both merchant and outlaw had been out in the sun so long that they were beginning to putrefy and produce the unmistakable odor associated with death. The company's wagons had also been looted before being burned, but there was no sign of what merchandise the company had tried to carry through here before the attack. It was none of her business. Her business was wiping out the Marauders or chasing them out of Mysterious Canyon for good.

Diana turned around to look behind her and spotted four men in ponchos over black shirts and black pants emerging from the cave where she had hunted the beast for the hunting aficionado months ago. One of them wore a brown ten-gallon hat and they were all armed with semi-automatic rifles. Considering the fact they emerged from the cave, it stood to reason that the cave was one of their refuges. It was easy for the blonde to understand why they chose such a visible hiding place... there was an underground spring with easily accessible and safe drinking water there.

Diana brought out her Suppressed Assault Rifle and dropped to one knee, aiming carefully at the man with the hat. She was not going to let them get the first shot. She would wipe them out before they could raise their weapons. The blonde remained still and let them get a bit closer before firing. She wanted them as far away from their cave as possible before she dropped the hammer on them.

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Diana waited in silence as the quartet of bandits drew closer. She flipped the fire selector switch to fully automatic and aimed at the man with the hat since he had an air of authority. Shooting him first would throw the others into turmoil and make her life easier. However, she had to make sure to keep them from reaching the shelter of the cave or they could alert others and bring a lot of trouble down on her, trouble she was not ready for. Diana aimed carefully and waited just a few seconds more, then opened fire.

She hit the hat-wearing man with five rounds to the chest and he fell backwards onto the sand, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Diana then shot the man to his left and brought him down with five shots to the chest. He fell over onto his left side and lay motionless, but his remaining colleagues were far from idle. One of them aimed his rifle at her and fired twice while the other did not bother fighting and immediately spun and bolted for the shelter of the cave. The first shot whizzed by her right shoulder and the second shot sped past her head.

Diana focused on the running man, quickly flipped the selector switch, and fired a Three-Round Burst that hit him in the back and sent him sprawling to the dirt halfway to his destination. The last man standing continued to fire wildly at Diana. She turned her weapon to him and aimed at his chest, then fired and watched him throw his rifle into the air and fall face-first onto the dirt.

While she had stopped them from retreating to the cave, the echo of the man's rifle fire would sound the alarm and draw more Marauders to her location. Even a good markswoman like her would not last long out in the open. The cave was the best option for cover since it provided both physical protection from gunfire and plenty of shadows to hide in. Diana spared a few moments to watch for enemy reinforcements, then sprinted for the cave as fast as she could go.

Diana ran past the dead men and spared a fleeting glance at the dead bandit who had made a break for the cave. She could not help but to feel the irony of her situation... moments earlier she had shot someone trying to take refuge in the cave and now she was the one trying to make it to the rocky shelter. To further add to the irony, gunshots rang out behind her and hit the sand near her feet. She heard the thunder of hooves behind her and heard the yelling of insults.

Diana ducked into the cave as a rifle bullet ricocheted off the cave's mouth. She spun around and aimed her weapon at a horsemen who was chasing her and fired a Three-Round Burst at his head. The rounds missed their target, but the panicked rider fell from his horse and landed a short distance from the mage. He rose to one knee and fumbled for the revolver in the holster on his left hip, but Diana shot first and hit him in the chest with three rounds, killing the man.

More rifle rounds churned up rock fragments around the blonde, so Diana fired a few more shots just to make them put their heads down, then retreated into the relative safety of the cool, dark cave. She was sure that they would pursue her, so she switched to her Suppressed Submachine Gun since its shorter length would make it easier to use in close quarters. It was the perfect weapon for this situation since it had more power and reach than her handgun and was not quite as long as her assault rifle.

-Inside the cave-

Once she had brought out a suitable weapon, she switched to night vision mode to see in the darkness that filled the cave. Diana already had an advantage over the bandits because she had gotten into the cave first and could fight the upcoming battle on her own terms. She slowly proceeded deeper into the cave and looked for signs that she was not the only being who thought that taking shelter in the cave was a good idea.

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-Inside the cave-

Keeping her Submachine Gun in a ready position, Diana slowly and carefully advanced through the cave, barely keeping ahead of the men who were hunting her down. A few of them had entered the cave and were hunting for her. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for them, their lack of discipline made it easier to track them because they were talking at normal volume and making so much noise that only a deaf person could miss them. They had entered the cave under the mistaken impression that she was a cornered animal. They were wrong.

Diana advanced until she reached a branch in the path marked by hanging stalagmites, then got onto the right path and took a knee, aiming her weapon at the point she had anticipated them coming from. The blonde was shrouded in shadow and had night vision active, which gave her two immense advantages over the "hunters" that almost canceled out their advantage in numbers. She patiently waited for them and was going to repeat the strategy of waiting until they were too far in to retreat to safety before gunning them all down. The Marauders soon obliged her.

"Damn, where did that person go?" A man asked. Diana saw something burning in the man' hand and concluded that they were equipped with torches to help them see in the darkness. That unanticipated development partially negated the advantage of hiding in shadow, but she had still seen them before they could see her, so the initiative was still hers.

"Where do ya think, stupid? IN HERE!" Another man shouted at the first. There were at least two men in the caves searching for her and she could see their outlines with her night vision, but the blonde did not yet open fire. She wanted to see (or hear) how many more of them were inside before springing her trap. Diana would get only one chance at an ambush, so she had better make it count.

"And it's our job to bring their head to the boss!" A third man chimed in. The sound of a weapon being loaded could be heard.

"And yes, he literally wants the head. As in we cut the head off the body and take it with us. He wants it brought to him by sundown!" A fourth man added before the first could even ask the question. Diana now knew that they would kill her if they caught her, so that did not give her any incentive to spare them. She waited with bated breath until all four men ambled in a single-file formation towards her, then carefully aimed her weapon and opened fire on the head of the first man to approach her position.

The first went down instantly with a Three-Round Burst to the head. She immediately flipped the selector switch to fully automatic and aimed at the next man, who had his weapon pointed in her general direction. Flames erupted from the muzzle of the opposing weapon as he fired from the hip, hoping to wound or kill his adversary before he could be taken down. Diana aimed at his chest and fired an automatic burst; he fell forward after taking six bullets to the chest.

"Damn it! We don't stand a chanc-" The third man bellowed before his warning was cut short by four bullets to the head. He wordlessly fell forward and the fourth man panicked. He did not bother to fire his weapon; he turned around and fled the cavern before Diana could even aim at him. She did not wait for him to bring backup... she stood up and turned to run, leaving only a trail of dead men whose faces stared at her from the torchlight from their fallen torches.

-Deeper in the cave, at the underground pool-

Diana had reached the pool of water she had cornered and killed the shadow beast for the mysterious client several months back. She spotted a small group of desert animals with a canine appearance, pointy ears, and bushy tails held straight out. They were all clustered around the sparkling underground pool and drinking from the only water source available for miles. They were most likely foxes, but she did not have much time to determine what breed they were. She heard the voices of the men close by and looked for a place to hide.

Diana picked the darkest corner she could find and dropped to one knee, then aimed at the entrance to the pool.

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Within moments of going to one knee the foxes stopped drinking and fled as if they knew what was about to happen. Their flight would most likely give her position away to the Marauders, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. All Diana could do was wait for the next group of men to find her and shoot it out with them until they were all dead or she was killed. She spotted weak yellow-orange torchlight from the passage and listened to the excited talk of the men as they approached.

"See them foxes run out real fast? That person's gotta be in here somewhere!" A man said to his companions. Diana could hear the sound of weapons being loaded and spurs jingling as boots thumped along the ground. She did not know how many men she would be facing, but she knew it would be more than a four-man team this time.

"Yeah. They've gotta be in here somewhere. I'm thinkin' they're at the underground pool!" A second man gave his opinion on their quarry's location.

"I think you're right, Darren. Where else would them foxes come from?" A third man chimed in. Diana discerned that there were at least three men coming in after her, but chances were high that there were more both inside the cave and more men waiting outside. The torchlight drew closer and the mage steadied her aim on the only way in or out.

Diana waited silently for the men to show themselves. She did not have long to wait because seven men armed with shotguns and revolvers sauntered by her position. Diana was not sure if that was all of them, but she had to act because one of them held a torch that was shining directly on her. His revolver gleamed in the torchlight as he swept the area with both torch and pistol.

"What the-?" The torch-bearer asked before Diana permanently silenced him with a Three-Round Burst to the head. His body had not even hit the ground before his remaining partners immediately turned to face the source of the gunshots and began firing their weapons, thus beginning the shootout between the Hidden Blades member and the Marauders. Diana ignored the rounds whizzing by her and brought down a shotgun-wielding man with a five-round burst to the chest.

Diana put priority on eliminating the enemies wielding shotguns because even a glancing hit at close range could ruin her day, to say nothing of her body. She lowered her head to avoid a revolver bullet to the face and fired back, making the offender take cover behind the rocky entrance to the pool. One overzealous man rushed at her with revolver held out and firing at her without really aiming. Diana stopped him with a Three-Round Burst to the chest and in his final moments he flung his torch in her direction, exposing her to the four gunmen who were still alive when it clattered to her left.

"THERE THEY ARE! LET 'EM HAVE IT!" The leader of the group, a man in a hat and wielding a double-barreled shotgun, shouted. The quartet opened up with everything they had; revolvers and shotguns fired in alternating patterns to make sure that she did not have an opening to return fire. Diana quickly scrambled from the right corner of the room to the left to get away from the volume of gunfire directed at her, but the move did her little good. Emboldened by her retreat, two of the men entered the room and swept around to the right while the other two moved in and took up positions where she had been when the fight started.

Diana flicked the selector switch to fully automatic and gunned down the two men heading for her, but the two who had taken up positions on the other side of the room were still a threat. To make matters worse, she could hear shouting coming from deeper inside the cave. More Marauders were on their way to join the fighting. Diana continued to dodge for her life and return fire the best she could as the men drew closer.

Then something unexpected happened. She heard shots fired from the tunnel leading to the pool and screaming. The two gunmen turned from her and faced the entrance to the pool. A man armed with just a torch ran straight in without bothering to check the corner of the room. He had almost got to his friends before a roar sounded and the back of his head spurted blood on the rocky wall.

In stepped another man holding a revolver in one hand and a torch in the other. The two Marauders ignored Diana and turned their weapons towards the man, who quickly dispatched them with a pistol shot to the head of each man. The mage was completely confounded by what was going on. Who was her unexpected rescuer?

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Unwilling to completely trust the stranger who had just saved her life, Diana focused her weapon on the man who had just dispatched the three Marauders who had her cornered. The man swept his torch and spotted Diana's Suppressed Submachine Gun aimed in his direction. His revolver was quickly leveled at her head and she was staring down its barrel as fast as she could blink.

"Look, stranger. I don't know who you are, but hear them out. I'm not their friend. I killed ten of them just to get in here." The man said to her to try and defuse the tension that was filling the room and threatened to explode into another gunfight. Diana hesitated for a moment but did not lower her weapon. What if he was a Shadow Collective gunman sent to win her trust and then shoot her in the back of the head when she let her guard down? Diana was not willing to trust him just yet.

The man suddenly lowered his weapon and put it back in its holster on his right hip. Diana reciprocated by lowering her weapon and dispelling it. The tension in the room went away along with her weapon.

"Let's get outta here, stranger. There's gonna be more of them coming along and we don't wanna be standing around when they get here." He suggested. Setting aside her concerns, Diana approached the stranger and took him up on his suggestion. The man looked surprised that she could still see him despite wearing sunglasses in a dark cavern.

"You're wearing sunglasses in a place like this? You mages are mighty strange..." He commented before leading Diana past the bodies and out of the cave. Diana saw that the man's claim was true. In addition to the five men she had killed in the shootout before his arrival, she walked past seven additional bodies clogging the passage.

-Outside the cave, in Mysterious Canyon-

"Looks like we're in the clear, but not for long. They'll be back and they'll bring plenty of friends for the party." Diana's rescuer said to her, tossing aside the torch since they were now in daylight. Three bodies lay outside the cave entrance with gunshot wounds to the chest and head. There were the other three men that the stranger claimed to have fought through to get to her. Diana looked at the man and got a better look at her rescuer.

He was a man with black hair that reached down past his ears and a black beard that looked like it was growing back in after having been shaved. His mustache was also black and had a part on the right side that looked like a scar he had gotten in a fight. He wore a dark vest and dark pants with a tan long-sleeved button-up shirt and a black ten-gallon hat on his head. On his hip was a holster; slung across his right shoulder was a bandolier with rifle ammunition and slung across his left shoulder was a brown leather satchel.

"I'm Ben." The man introduced himself by extending a gloved hand to her.

"I am... Diana." Diana introduced herself to him, shaking his hand. Ben looked surprised that he was not dealing with a man, but with a woman.

"I never thought that you were a woman. You look just like a man in that outfit of yours." Ben replied candidly. Diana did not take offense because the outfit disguising her feminine features was intentional. She had a feeling that women could expect exceptionally poor treatment at the hands of the Marauders.

"I take it you have a score to settle with the High Plains Marauders?" Ben asked her.

"In a manner of speaking, I do. I have been hired to eliminate as many of them as possible, if not eliminate them entirely." Diana admitted to the man.

"Lemme guess... the Capital Crocus Merchant's Association hired you to do this?" Ben asked.

"Yes." Diana answered laconically.

"I used to work for them about thirty years ago. I rode with them as a caravan guard and saw a lot of places across Earthland. I've been to Holy Castle, to Seven, to Midi, and a lotta places I forgot the name of. I never woulda gotten to travel if I didn't join them." Ben explained to her how he knew about the company. So far Ben seemed to be legitimate and not a Shadow Collective member trying to gain her confidence. She would take a chance on the gunslinger and see what he could do in a fight.

Ben's Appearance:

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"I used to ride the trails with the Association until I met a woman in Peace Village. We kinda took a liking to each other and we got married, then five years later I had a son. Five more years after that I had a daughter. Things were going pretty good for someone who grew up without parents in the middle of nowhere and who didn't really get to go to school much 'cause I had to work whatever jobs I could get just to be able to eat each day." Ben told a bit more of his story to Diana. Diana listened with interest. Ben looked rough and was rough around the edges, but he seemed like a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. He was someone who Diana would want as a friend if her hands were not so stained with blood and she were not so concerned with betrayal.

"Then money got tight and I couldn't get a job anywhere else, so I rejoined the Association and kept riding the trails. Money flowed back in and my children could go to school wearing good clothes instead of worn-out rags and they had food on the table. Three months after I started riding with the company again I got some real bad news." Ben said to Diana.

"What happened?" The mage asked. Ben hesitated for a moment, then looked her in the eyes.

"Peace Village got attacked. A lot of people got killed. My family was killed. My house was burned down with them in it." Ben told her simply and to-the-point. Diana felt a measure of regret for even asking him the question. Now she was putting him through the loss all over again. An awkward silence prevailed until Ben spoke up and asked her a question.

"What's your story, Diana?" Ben asked her.

"I was born into a well-off family of bankers in Bellum. Life was pretty good... I went to the best schools, wore the best clothes, and ran in high social circles. Everything was good until I turned eleven. I got into an argument with my parents about something petty and our relationship changed for the worse. Then they were poisoned by drinking poisoned wine at a party when I was eighteen. I survived because I was busy elsewhere and did not get to drink any of the wine." Diana told Ben a shortened and sanitized version of her life story from birth until she turned eleven. She made certain to omit the part where she was forced to kill people for her parents after she turned eleven. It was Ben's turn to look a little upset for asking a question... he awkwardly kicked at the dirt with the toe of his boot and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, Diana. I'm sorry I asked." Ben said to her with complete honesty.

"It is OK, Ben. If anything I owe you an apology. I should not have asked about your family." Diana apologized to Ben. This was one of the first times in her life that she apologized for something and meant it. Whenever she apologized for a transgression she did so only to keep her cover as a polite and run-of-the-mill Guildless mage. People who went around being rude because they could tended to accumulate a lot of enemies, enemies who could hurt them in ways big and small.

"It's probably too soon to ask, but I can't help but to ask this. What was it like to have money?" Ben asked her candidly. Diana had to take a moment to think over the question because she had never really thought about what it meant because she had been born into wealth and took it for granted. How could she explain it to him without sounding entitled?

"It was... it was something I took for granted. Anything I wanted was mine for the asking. Food, clothes, pets, lacrima-powered cars... all I had to do was ask and I could have it." Diana explained to the self-made man standing beside her. Being in his presence and hearing him talk made her realize how much she really did not have either as a child or now. She did not have a family to care for and who cared for her. The only one in her family who honestly cared for her was her oldest sister Lucia, and Lucia had to keep any concern hidden from her parents because Diana was not to be consider a person, only a Winchester family asset. Ben listened to the brief explanation and then replied.

"Ya know, you're not bad for a rich person. I've met plenty of 'em who treated me like trash 'cause I was an orphan who didn't go to school much." Ben said to her. Diana did not take offense to his comment because she found herself liking him despite herself. He then faced forward and drew his revolver.

"Well, story time's over. Looks like we've got company." Ben told her. Diana brought out her Suppressed Assault Rifle and looked towards the canyon. Over fifteen men on horseback were riding towards the pair with weapons drawn and violence on their minds.

"You ready?" Ben asked.

"Ready." Diana replied.

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Ben brought out his revolver and Diana brought out her Suppressed Assault Rifle for this confrontation, where ease of use did not matter as much as range. Silent Hunter was a good weapon for ranged conflicts, but when facing down large crowds of enemies the combination of rate of fire and range the assault rifle possessed was hard to beat. The pair looked for any available cover to take from the Marauders, who had already started to fire at them. Ben took a two-handed aiming grip with his revolver, aimed carefully, and fired once, knocking a charging enemy out of his saddle with a chest wound. The wounded man clutched his semi-automatic rifle and tried to get up to aim, but Diana finished him with a single shot to the head while he was sitting up... now there were only fourteen to deal with.

Ben and Diana hurried to take cover behind the nearest wagon in the canyon, but they were soon deterred by a flurry of bullets that hit the sand in front of them. Diana took aim at an enemy and shot him with a Three-Round Burst that hit him in the chest and dropped him to the ground. Ben grabbed her arm and started pulling her back towards the cave while aiming his weapon and firing three shots, knocking another man out of the saddle. Ben's target lay motionless while Diana's target climbed up and took a knee to aim at them, but the cowboy stopped him with a final shot to the head.

"C'mon! We can't stay out here or we'll get chewed up by all those guns!" Ben said to Diana. Diana agreed and switched her weapon to fully automatic fire before holding her weapon in one hand and running after Ben while holding down the trigger. The twelve horsemen pulled back in the face of Diana's automatic weapon, giving them just enough time to sprint past the cave and duck behind the wall facing the Marauders.

Ben opened the cylinder of his revolver, dumped out the empty shell casings, and pushed new rounds into the holes until all six were filled. Diana had never used a firearm that used old-fashioned solid ammunition before and had certainly never used an old revolver. The only revolvers she had seen were modern versions that could use speed-loaders and were built with rods that pushed out the empty shells for quicker reloads.

Diana put away her assault rifle and brought out Silent Hunter, then took a knee as rounds TWANGed off the rocky wall that was providing them with precious shelter. She aimed the semi-automatic sniper rifle at a Marauder armed with a scoped bolt-action rifle and settled the crosshairs on his chest. She then squeezed the trigger and fired a Full Metal Jacket round that punched through the enemy marksman's chest. He froze in place before slowly slumping in the saddle and falling off to the left, flinging the rifle onto the sand.

Diana looked for any more enemies equipped with scoped weapons and spotted the lens flare of a black-clad man perched on top of the canyon wall facing the cave. Diana instinctively retreated and alerted Ben to the new threat.

"There is an enemy marksman facing our position." Diana calmly warned Ben, who closed the cylinder and pulled back the hammer with his right thumb. He stepped back into the cave just as a rifle shot hit the ground where his feet had been moments before.

"That was close. Thanks for the warning!" Ben thanked Diana. The mage went prone to try and get an angle on the shooter on top of the canyon wall. She spotted the lens flare and aimed for the black shirt, but the man spotted her first and she saw the muzzle flash. The round hit the dirt just an inch to the left of her head and kicked up a small amount of dust. She could see her adversary frantically working the bolt of his rifle to chamber another round when she aimed and fired at his chest.

The Full Metal Jacket round punched through and he pitched forward, falling off of his precarious perch and screaming all the way down until he hit the ground.

"Damn. You've got ice water in your veins or somethin'. You must have done this kinda thing before." Ben complimented her on her marksmanship and bravery under fire.

"You could say that." Diana replied calmly.

"...You a bounty hunter or somethin'?" Ben asked her.

"From time to time." Diana replied calmly, looking through the scope for any more targets of opportunity. In a manner of speaking, the cowboy was right. She hunted people for money, but her quarry did not live to tell of their encounter with her because she did not barge in guns blazing. She patiently waited for the right opportunity to strike and took it when it presented itself, then made her escape before she could get caught. It was not a flashy approach and she was not a household name with a catchy moniker granted by the media, but her simple and subtle methods kept her alive and free.

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Diana had neutralized the enemy marksmen, but they were not out of the woods yet because a dozen enemies were still out there and if the sniper duel with the man on top of the canyon was any indication, the Marauders were funneling more men into the fight. They wanted Ben and Diana dead and they were willing to throw as many men at them as it took to do it. The mage and the cowboy were not going to lie down and die without a fight.

"Well Diana, I don't know what we're going to do from here. There's just too many of 'em to shoot our way out and they've got horses. If we ran outta here they'd run us down long before we reached the nearest town. Hell, we wouldn't even make it past the canyon entrance." Ben gave a grim summary of their situation. Diana saw a horseman riding a short distance away in front of the cave and firing his revolver at the two people trapped within; she took aim at his head and fired once, hitting him in between the eyes and sending him falling backwards onto the dirt.

"We cannot stay here either. I do not know if there is another way out of this cave... or a way that they could use to get in and attack from behind." Diana replied to Ben's summary. He ducked as another bullet TWANGed off the cave mouth and Diana began to look for the shooter.

"I don't know if there's a back way either, but we just can't run outside the cave because they're waitin' on us. They want us to go runnin' out and that's when they'll fill us full of lead." Ben said to her in the hope that she could come up with a way to get them out of this situation. Diana was trying to think of a way out, but she was only drawing blanks. She did not know the Mysterious Canyon area very well and she knew even less about the cave system they were currently using for shelter. The blonde did not know what to do.

Diana took a shot at a Marauder riding up to them with shotgun roaring and only knocked the hat off of his head. Ben fired his revolver and succeeded where Diana had failed by hitting the enemy in the head. The horseman fell from the saddle and rolled to a stop after his momentum had carried him two-and-a-half revolutions on the ground: he ended up staring at the sky when he stopped rolling and came to a halt on his back.

"Well, looks like we're stuck here." Ben commented dryly.

"It would seem so." Diana commented just as dryly before she was rudely interrupted by a shotgun-wielding Marauder attempting to rush her. Ben raised his revolver and fired twice, hitting him in the chest and dropping him within arm's reach of the blonde. Diana quickly got up and retreated further into the cave to avoid being taken by surprise again.

"They're gettin' mighty bold. I think they got more men to throw at us." Ben opined. Diana saw another man run by the entrance and take cover on the right side. A pistol poked around the corner and fired at them. Ben dropped to the ground and Diana held her position, keeping her crosshairs on the entrance. Two men rushed in with pistols and Diana brought them down with four rapid shots to the chest each.

"Hey, I think I hear a noise behind us!" Ben warned Diana. Diana rose to a knee and dispelled Silent Hunter, bringing out her Submachine Gun and turning around. Diana activated her natural night vision mode and spotted four men walking in single file as green humanoid shapes.

"I see them. Four enemies." Diana quickly reported. She raised the SMG to her shoulder and took careful aim, waiting for them to get a bit closer. When they were two arm lengths away Diana opened fire in fully automatic mode. She killed the first man almost instantly with five shots to the chest and riddled the second with seven rounds before he fell backwards onto the third man, setting him up for five shots to the head. Diana moved three steps forward and shot the last man nine times in the chest before he could turn to run.

"They are down." Diana reported. She kept a watch for any more enemies trying to maneuver behind them and spotted two more slowly slinking towards them with shotguns in their hands. Diana quietly moved up and took aim, then killed both of them with a sustained automatic burst that riddled them with bullets.

"Two more are down." Diana amended her previous report. The cave's passages were lined with bodies from both the earlier fighting and those from the current skirmish. Just how many men did the Marauders have?

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"From the front!" Ben yelled a warning and fired his weapon three times. By the time Diana spun around another dead Marauder decorated the cave floor thanks to Ben's good aim. She watched the front as Ben hurriedly reloaded his revolver. She heard the cylinder open and the tinkle of empty shell casings being dropped onto the hard floor and listened to new rounds being loaded. Another enemy waded forward only to be shot down by Diana, who fired a Three-Round Burst that struck the enemy in the head and made him fall forward onto the body of a colleague and form a small pile of corpses.

"How many people do they have?" Ben asked incredulously.

"I have no idea." Diana replied as she spun around and spotted a man running at her from behind. She had enough time to turn around and hit him in the chest with an automatic burst of ten rounds. He staggered three steps forward and fell to the ground just an arm's length away from the blonde, who was surprised that the enemy had gotten so close to her before being detected.

"I'm reloaded." Ben whispered into her ear. The pair needed to find a way out before they were overrun. But where could they go? The Marauders had the front covered by an unknown number of men and they evidently had manpower to spare because they could send infiltrators through an unknown back door. Diana spotted another two-man team and shot them down with a prolonged automatic burst.

Diana waited in tense silence for more enemies to appear. She was getting tired of waiting, but rushing out now would only get them killed. They had to wait just a bit longer, but they had to be careful not to wait too long lest they miss an opportunity to turn the battle around.

"I'm gettin' tired of just waitin' here." Ben whispered to her. He then fired twice and a yell sounded as another Marauder left the land of the living.

"What do you propose we do?" Diana asked him while watching the back.

"I say we go out and give 'em a fight. They might not expect us to come out shootin'." Ben suggested. Diana did not like the sound of that because going on the attack would put them out in the open with no cover. However, holing up in the underground pool would not help them either because doing so would leave them with no way out.

"Do you think that is a good idea?" Diana inquired. She spotted a three-man team creeping up and dealt with them with another prolonged automatic burst.

"It beats sittin' here waitin' to be overrun." Ben answered. Diana had to admit that he had a point. Sometimes doing something unexpected could change the momentum of a fight, possibly even turn a losing battle into one that could be won. Such a risky plan ran against Diana's cautious approach, but the unknown was preferable to slow and certain death. She dispelled her SMG and brought out her Suppressed Assault Rifle.

"OK." Diana voiced her agreement with Ben's plan. Ben's eyes briefly showed surprise, but then he smiled.

"Let's do this. I'll take the lead since it was my idea." Ben said. He opened the cylinder and quickly reloaded his pistol. He then looted nearby Marauder bodies for revolver ammo and came up with a heaping handful of rounds he dumped into his satchel. He quickly moved them to a smaller pouch for easier access, then got in front of her.

"On my mark." Ben said to her. This was it. The mage and the cowboy were either going to go out in a blaze of glory or they were going to catch the Marauders off guard and turn the fight around.

[Word Count: 647]
[Total Word Count: 6,999/7,000]

Diana waited in tense silence for the signal to go. Ben tightened his grip on his weapon and tapped his left boot on the ground three times. Diana took one last breath. It was the calm before the storm.

"GO!" Ben shouted. Ben set off charging with his revolver held out and burst through the cave entrance, then spun around and shot a startled Marauder hiding near the entrance in the head before he could raise his weapon. Diana burst through and killed the second man with a point-blank burst of fire, then turned her weapon on a horseman galloping towards her and killed him with five shots to the head.

"SHIT! THEY'RE OUT HERE! THEY'RE OUT-" A hat-wearing Marauder sounded the alarm before a round from Ben's revolver punched through his skull and silenced him. Ben fired at two more approaching horsemen and unseated them with one shot to the head each. Ben holstered his revolver and picked up a discarded bolt-action rifle that was still fully loaded with five rounds.

Diana shot down a fourth horsemen with six rounds to the chest and he lurched forward and tumbled from the horse. Nine enemies were remaining outside.

Ben fired his newly acquired rifle once and brought down a man charging out of the cave they had left behind. Diana fired six rounds and hit a rider charging at Ben with revolver aimed at her partner's head. The man fell off the horse in front of Ben and the cowboy aimed his rifle down and fired a headshot that kicked up a puff of blood.

The Marauder horsemen, not expecting their cornered prey to actually come out and fight, were wheeling their mounts around to retreat and reorganize, but Ben would not let them. He killed three of the seven with the three rounds left in the rifle, then threw the empty weapon aside and brought out his pistol. Diana killed two more of them with her own rifle and watched the last two ride away from the fighting.

"They're coming out of the cave!" Ben yelled. He fired towards the cavern and killed a man wading over the bodies piled up outside the entrance. Diana turned and fired at two men trying to come out. She killed one of them and the other man wisely retreated inside the cave before he joined the growing pile of dead Marauders littering the canyon floor.

"Hell, we just might make it through this!" Ben commented.

"I would not celebrate just yet." Diana answered, pointing towards the north of the canyon. There the two horsemen who had survived Ben and Diana's breakout attempt had rallied more men and had come back with two dozen horsemen. They were riding hard towards the brave but outnumbered pair.

"Damn." Ben hissed when he saw them. He scrounged for rifle ammunition and found two short magazines with five rounds each on the body of a dead enemy. He picked up the same rifle he had discarded earlier and reloaded it. He ran for cover to the nearest wagon in the ill-fated convoy. He then looked at Diana, who had hustled to join him.

"Well, looks like this is it. We gave 'em Hell, but it wasn't good enough. It's been real good to know you." He said to her dryly. Diana took a breath and prepared to fight to the end. This was not how she imagined her career ending, but at least she was going out on her own terms.

"Same here." Diana said laconically. Ben had stuck by her side since they had met and he had helped her get this far. She had always thought that she was going to die alone, but she had Ben with her and that was all she could ask for. The thunder of hooves grew closer to them by the moment.

"Well, you ready to do this?" He asked. Marauder bullets were embedding themselves in the burned wooden wagon. There was no delaying the inevitable.

"Yes." Diana replied. Ben counted to three on his left hand and the pair sprung up firing. The front rank of horsemen was completely wiped out by gunfire, but it was not by their hand. Ben turned to face the canyon entrance and saw a large army of five dozen horsemen thunder in with rifles blazing.

"It's the Association!" Ben shouted. Diana watched as the enemies faltered and wheeled their mounts around to retreat. Marauder after Marauder fell from their saddles until only eight of them were left. They attempted to run for it but were unceremoniously killed by the Association riders who had a score to settle with the bandits. The Association riders wheeled around and charged towards a small group of six Marauders clustered outside the cave for a last stand.

The Marauders only got off four shots before they were wiped out by the weight of gunfire. Three Marauders exited the cave and threw down their weapons in surrender. Ben and Diana were relieved. It was over.

-Six hours later-

The sun was going down as two dozen dismounted Association men swept through the cave and captured five more bandits, who they were leading out of the cave at gunpoint. Ben and Diana watched the Association men pile up the dead Marauders in a large pile in the center of the canyon floor and counted their blessings. They had managed to survive what should have been their last stand.

"I'm glad that's over." Ben commented.

"Me too." An exhausted Diana said laconically. She was too tired to walk back to town and Ben had not brought a horse. How would they get out of here?

"Say, you two need a lift?" A tan-clad rider with a red handkerchief around his neck asked them.

"Yeah, partner. Me and my friend here could use a ride." Ben answered for the both of them.
Two more tan-clad riders soon trotted up and let the pair climb onto the back of their horses.

"The bosses are gonna be happy about this result. Real happy. Now we can ride through here without losin' any more wagons." The first Association rider said to them as they rode out of the canyon and towards the nearest town. Diana had completed another job and had possibly even made a friend in the coarse but friendly cowboy. She would have to find Ben again some day and meet the cowboy under more peaceful circumstances. For now she had a lot of things to think about, things she had seldom thought about before.

[Word Count: 1,110]
[Total Word Count: 8,109/7,000]