With Truth~Teller to the keyhole Cassidy whispered as to not let Heath hear her. "I'm still pissed off about the job today."
As the last word left her lips the gun sprang to life, the etching filing with an orange and golden glow before she pulled the trigger. The gun blasted right through the lock and embedded a bullet of pure energy into Heath's floor.
"What the hell's wrong with you ?!" Heath said, bolting up from his bed, hands on his head in a show of shock.
"I'm trying to save our lives! We need to go, now!" She rushed past him and starting gathering what little objects they had from their galivanting.
She came across a large wooden dresser, but besides opening the drawer to gather what laid inside she simply pressed the inventory crystal against the dresser causing it to vanish into it.
Heath ran next to her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Look even if what you're saying is right and someone is outside, why would we leave?"
Cassidy kept her gun summoned and tightly gripped it in her hand as she replied. "There are a lot of them Heath...at least 30, if not more." Her right ear twitched, and flicked. The vibrations of dozens of boots on the ground pulsing through her.
She looked up at him eyes wide and stone cold. "We can't fight whoever is outside the fort." Heath, who'd just now noticed he stood before Cass in nothing but his brief and a shirt began hastily putting on his prior outfit.
Once she'd secured the necessary provisions and items for them she ran back to her room and began getting dressed, making sure to keep her body clear of the window.
She'd caught glimpses of the outside, but to her surprise there wasn't anything she hadn't seen before. The large graystone walls between them and the rest of the valley, the snake, and the large metal gate.
But Cassidy knew what her hearing was telling her, she knew that just outside that gate was an entire group of people, 5-10 auto wagons and 1-2 snakes.
All things considered she thought it really was lucky to have such sharp hearing. Most of the time it only caused her the occasional earache but tonight, tonight it might just save her life.
Once dressed she looked to Heath's room hearing him rummaging around with his pack and sword. She spoke in a loud whisper across the doorway, "do you think you can start the wagon in around 5 minutes?"
Heath popped his head through the doorway and gave a silent nod, still not totally buying the danger they were in. He whispered back, mocking her in a way, "I can get it started but we'll need gas-"
A thunderous explosion sounded from the left of the fort. Cass's ears rang as the loud noise caused her to fall to the ground groaning.
"Cass! you good?" Heath was standing kneeling over her trying to help her up off the floor. She knelt up and swatted away his dotting hand. Standing up to her feet against the wall beside her bed she motioned to Heath to get his sword.
They were getting out of this only one way. She clenched her gun so tight from the pain ringing in her ears her knuckles ran white. "We need to get to the wagon, Heath."
Heath looked through the peephole of their front door to put a face to their assailants. He ground his teeth and let out a hiss. "Damn marshals, tracked us here from town." He unslung his large rectangular buster sword from his back and let the tip of the blade rest on the floor.
Like a murder of crows dozens of the marshals men swept into the fort from the large hole now in its side. Cassidy's snake sprung from its slumber as the men approached it, weapons drawn. The snake recoiled into a spring like shape before launching at the closest man, snapping its large jaws around him. A spray of gunfire erupted into the snakes belly causing it to sink its fangs deeper into the man crushing his chest.
With the snake distracting the dozen marshals Cass and Heath kicked open the door. Both of them took shots at the marshals as Heath stood in the front with his sword in front of them for cover as they ran over to the auto-wagon.
Fire rang out above their heads as they dove behind the ironwood wagon. They both look at each other, panting as the marshals continue fighting the valley snake rampaging on the other side of the fort.
Before the scene goes dead quiet. Cass looks over to her right and sees the snake reel back before finally toppling over. With that the marshals begin marching towards the wagon to claim their prize.
A gruff voice calls out, more a command than a statement. "We know yer behind there, come out with yer hands up nice and easy!" A bead of sweat runs down Cassidy's forehead and she yelled back, "What kind of marshals rush into someone's home like this?" Before the head marshal can reply Heath adds, "What do you pieces of shit want?"
The head marshal walks a bit out in front of his men, his silver slicked back hair in stark contrast with the matte black of his cowboy hat. He takes out a piece of parchment and reads off it aloud.
"We are here to capture, and or kill the individual known as Cassidy Valthane." He stops reading a moment to smirk at the auto-wagon the duo were behind before continuing. "Also known as the hanged woman, for her crimes of multiple counts of scamming, assault, and murder."
"Now if I'm not mistaken that would be you, right? Miss Valthane." He said her name as if it was some sort of taunt, like he knew she hated her last name.
Cassidy spat on the sand, "fuck you!" was all she said in response to the head marshal. He chuckled in a dry weary short of way that rang through her bones.
"Now look," the marshal took his hat off and ran his hand across his hair.
"I'm certain you wouldn't want you big friend to get hurt in all this, if ya just come out and come with us we can all leave this fort alive."
Before Cass could answer Heath grabbed the inventory crystal from her jean pocket and launched over his wagon into the group of marshals causing the sandy floor of the fort's inside to be eaten by the crystal.
This caused a giant quicksand like reaction to occur, the hole at up most of the marshals forces and covered them with sand spilling in from the edge. Burying them alive in a make shift grave. The men cried out as sand filled their lungs.
The head marshal looked at this in horror and shock as he yelled. "Move on them men! but take the girl alive!"
The dozen or so men left began charging the auto-wagon, Cass looked to heath and he nodded. The two of them leapt up over the wagon with Heath in the front using his broadsword as a makeshift shield allowed Cass to charge up a shot in her gun by muttering off some truth about how she wanted to kill all of these marshals.
Upon hearing its master Truth~Teller was spontaneously loaded with a full cylinder from the amount of truth in those hate laced words. This would've amazed Cass if she hadn't been so royally pissed off.
Two marshals to their left fired their guns on them and Heath blocked all 12 shots with the flat of his blade before charging them, leaving Cass behind perched on the auto-wagon giving cover fire.
She fires on the head marshal who catches her bullets into his gloved hand before redirecting them back at her as she ducks. When she raises her head again she sees the head marshal is behind his men and she sets her sights on them, gunning a few of them down as they approach the auto wagon.
Cassidy's perk Crack Shot would always let her be faster shot in a one on one duel, but it didn't apply to situations like this which meant she could only rely on her skills and Heath.
Speaking of Heath he was using his perk Overclock which allows him to speed up his perception temporarily with some minor drawbacks.
He'd already cleaved through two of the attacking men and was moving towards the group of men around the head marshal.
One of them men, a bigger guy than the rest still standing, charged at him. Dual pistols firing on Heath, causing him to stagger back from absorbing the force. As he staggered the man attempted to disarm his and went to deliver a blow with the butt of his pistol.
This proved to be a fatal mistake as Heath reactivated overclock and sliced right through the man's arm at the elbow and then cleaved him in twain as if he was butchering a cow for slaughter.
As he continued plowing into the group of men, disarming some, and cleaving through others Cassidy continued to fire upon them. Using little truths she'd stored up in her mind in times of emergencies that she could call upon on the fly had given her more than enough ammunition.