Chapter 27 Titan

The group had woken up, Gabe had everything already packed, along with Red Hercules and his weird bag. 'I still don't understand that bag, or what happened last night.' Everyone thought to themselves. "Well then, we should be on our way young Gabriel." Gabe nodded yes. Mark was upset to see Gabe go, but he knew that it would be better if he did leave. Leroy felt good about Gabe leaving, part of him was happy for Gabe going to train, the other half of him was jealous by what Red Hercules said the night before, that Leroy essentially doesn't have a good reason to want to kill his father. Casity was the most unhappy about him leaving, she hated the idea of leaving Gabe as it went against everything she was told to do with Billy, not to mention she didn't particularly like Mark or Leroy. "Gabriel, I'm going with you!" She said as she began to stomp over to him, only to be stopped by Mark. "I admire this Maiden Gabe, is she your partner?" This made Gabe and Casity blush and feel extremely uncomfortable. "NO!" They both screamed at the same time, only to look at each other uncomfortably, Casity then stopped looking at Gabe as it was uncomfortable for her. "Regardless of her tenacity or affiliation with you, she cannot come." Gabe was confused. "Why not?" Red Hercules explained. "The type of training we are doing requires extreme focus, I cannot allow any distractions for you." Gabe gave him a serious nod. "Alright then guys, I'll see ya when I see ya." Mark and Leroy both waved, Casity on the other hand was still looking away from embarrassment. "Um...bye Gabe...come back soon…" She said very uncomfortably. This surprised Gabe, making him happy that she was finally warming up to speaking more. Gabe and Red Hercules walked into the west together, looking to be going absolutely nowhere. Mark, Leroy, and Casity on the other hand went the opposite way to Red River. "Alright, there's also another reason why I wouldn't let you go Casity." She looked up at Mark with disappointment in her eyes. "So you can warm up to us as teammates," Casity responded. "First off, we're not teammates. Second off, I'm not required to like either of you since my mission is to help Gabe succeed." Leroy looked annoyed with her. "What? You don't like me, fire boy?" Leroy looked at her with disappointment. "No, I don't, I'm only letting you join us and not throwing you in jail because Gabe wanted you to come." Both of them looked at each other with disgust. "Alright, alright, alright I see what's happening. You two don't like each other, right?" They looked away from each other now, ignoring Mark. "Well that's what this bounty hunting mission is for, so we could connect." They still looked like they weren't listening. "Alright, let me use the ultimate trump card. What do you think Gabe would want?" Both of them thought about that, Leroy at the moment was complicated about Gabe with jealousy, but he overall thought he was a great friend. Casity cared about Billy's cause staying alive, even after his arrest. Deep down, however, she did care about Gabe as a person, she even thought he was the best out of the three in the group. As they headed for Red River and didn't talk, Mark tried to think of a way to best connect the two, he then thought of a way. "Hey, so Leroy, you're a boy. Casity, you're a girl." Casity stopped him before he spoke more. "First off, NO! Second off NO! Third off, wait I forgot what I was gonna say, oh I remember it again, NO!" Leroy also had his own opinions. "If I would ever restore the Suden family, let me just say that it wouldn't be with you." That comment shocked both Casity and Mark, it mostly triggered Casity to her boiling point. "YOU SEXIST PIG!!!!!!!!" Casity slammed Leroy's head like a hammer, hurting him badly.

Gabe and Red Hercules were walking through the desert. "So, where are we going?" Gabe asked. "As I said, it is a sacred place that I trained to become the way I am today." That sounded awesome to Gabe, Red Hercules looked as if he was an unrivaled god with that strength. "So, how long does it take to get there?" Red Hercules chuckled. "It takes about 7 months to get there by foot." This made Gabe unhappy. '7 Months?! You've gotta be kidding me!' Red Hercules saw that Gabe was impatient and smiled. "Gabriel, patience is a very hard thing I know. I used to be just like you about it." Gabe asked. "Then what happened?" Red Hercules chuckled and answered. "I learned that patience itself doesn't matter, everything in the world always happens, it's just a matter of time." Gabe thought about that, he decided that he should try to have that mindset. "Alright! Seven months! I'm ready!" Red Hercules smiled. The two continued to journey through the desert of the west, eventually going into a waterfall and into land with grass, flowers, lakes, trees, and beautiful mountains. "WOAH! What is this place?" Red Hercules smiled. "This is the Northern Eastern part of the west, where there is no dessert in sight. It is beautiful." Gabe had never seen so much plant life in his entire life, he proceeded to go ahead of Red Hercules and play in the grass by rolling around in it, drinking from the lake, sniffing the flowers, and just having a good time. "Alright then, we must be on our way young Gabriel." Gabe stopped playing and nodded yes, excited for the trip from then on. Eventually, they made it to a savannah where animals could be seen for miles. "Why is it so empty in the North East?" Red Hercules didn't answer that, his face looked serious after hearing that question. Gabe decided not to ask again and drop it. "It wasn't always like this." He said, which surprised Gabe. "What happened?" That was the part where Red Hercules didn't speak again for a while. 'What could have happened?' Gabe thought to himself.

After passing place after place, biomes that Gabe would never dream of seeing in the desert, they finally made it in 2 days. "We are here." They made it to a massive mountain they stood in front of. "But, I thought you said it would take-" Red Hercules chucked. "You pass the first training exercise." This surprised Gabe. "What?!" Red Hercules explained. "I told you that the training you would be going through would require exact focus, right?" Gabe nodded. "Well, a good tool for focus is patience." Gabe was confused. "At the start of the trip you asked me how long it would take, and I said 7 months when in actuality it takes 2 days, that was to test how patient you were." Gabe understood. "Oh I get it! You said it would take a long time to see how I would react to it!" Red Hercules smiled. "Clever boy you are." He then put on a serious face and pointed to the top of the mountain. "Up there, is a sacred place known as Mount Olympus. It is said that all the world's gods live up there." Gabe remembered reading stories about the Greek religion and its gods. "You mean the gods and stuff are real? I thought that was just a fairy tale." Red Hercules turned to Gabe and smiled. "It's true you can never see them, but their legacy and abilities are without a doubt real." This intrigued Gabe. "How long does it take to get up the mountain?" Red Hercules answered. "Tell me this, are you willing to put up with anything to receive this training?" Gabe nodded. "Very well then, it takes about a day to get to the top." Gabe looked up the mountain with determination in his eyes. 'Alright mountain! It's just you and me! I'm gonna climb it!' Gabe wanted this training more than anything he's wanted. He was ready.

Mark, Leroy, and Casity all eventually made it to Red River, Leroy had a bump on his head from that comment to Casity. "You pack quite a punch for a girl." Casity chuckled. "What do you expect? I lived with one of the most dangerous men in the West. Of course I can definitely pack a punch." Leroy was angered that she hit him without him getting to hit her back. "Alright, enough. We're here to get a bounty and leave. So shut up and let's go." Casity nodded and Leroy looked depressed as usual. Once they got into the bar, Leroy's eyes were caught on the person sitting at the booth, he then went over to sit there while the other 2 found a good wanted poster. "Everything here looks either too expensive, or too little. Like look at this." Mark pulled out a post of somebody with a bounty for 100$. "This is ridiculous." Casity saw it and thought it was also ridiculous. "I'm not going to help you choose since like I said I'm not a bounty hunter, but even I'd say that's terrible for a bounty." Meanwhile, Leroy had been sitting next to a headless man. It had been the bounty hunter known as the headless horseman. He wore a black suit of knight armor, no head or helmet, a sword by his side, and a purple cape. The Horseman had a drink in his hands, he looked as if he was about to drink it, only to stop and turn his body towards Leroy who got nervous. 'How the hell!? I thought this guy was a myth!?' The headless horseman said nothing, he just had his body stare at Leroy. "Um...I just thought it was cool that you don't have a head…" The body said nothing, once again just staring. The Bartender sensed how bad the situation was awkwardly, so he put down a bag of coins. "There's your bounty now get outta here." The Horseman put down his drink, took the bag of coins, got up, and left the bar without looking back. 'That was a weird situation…' Leroy thought to himself. "Yeah, he's a bit of a...strange one." The Bartender said as he took the leftover glass. "How the hell does it even work?" Leroy asked. "How should I know? He never talks whenever he comes in here. Whenever I ask him something, he just has his body stare at me until I do something." Leroy thought that was kind of creepy. "All that aside, we came here for a bounty." The Bartender pointed to the wanted Poster Board. "Go over there then." He then went back to his job, cleaning the booth with a rag. "I'm not looking for those kinds of bounties." The bartender's interest was caught. "I want 2 higher up bounties." The Bartender smiled. "I've got what you want right here." The Bartender looked around the room as if he was checking to see if someone was watching, when it was clear there wasn't, he put a WANTED poster in front of Leroy. The poster was different from others, until the others, this one didn't have a picture of the person with the bounty, just a name, 'Titan'. "What's this?" Leroy asked. "You said you wanted a higher up bounty, and I could see that you also want something interesting." Leroy looked at the bounty, it looked to be impossible with this lack of information, but the reward was insane. "Bounty: 350,000$" Leroy decided to show it to Casity and Mark, but first. "Also, I want another bounty from you. A specific one." The Bartender smiled, Leroy then gestured to whisper it in his ear, which he did. "Yeah, I've got his bounty kid." The bartender handed him a folded up piece of paper. Leroy undid it and read the bounty to himself, it was exactly what he wanted. "Thank you." Leroy got up, leaving a tip of gold as he left. The Bartender watched as he walked away. "Guys I think I found something interesting." The group listened and followed Gabe outside.

"What do you mean you got a blank poster?!" Mark asked, very confused. "I thought it would give us a challenge, all the bounties you guys saw were garbage, this one on the other hand isn't." Mark sighed. "But it still is blank no matter how we put it." Leroy responded. "But, it's blank for a reason." Mark and Casity were confused. "This bounty belongs to the former strongest man in the west, after Red Hercules. Titan." The name sounded familiar to Mark, but he couldn't fully remember. "He was a bounty hunter in the time of Z Force, but he hasn't been seen for a very long time. Nobody even remembers what he looks like." The group wondered if they could even pull off a bounty like this. "I chose it because I believe it could help sharpen our thinking skills, plus if we take down the former strongest man in the world, it could be legendary for us." Mark and Casity thought about it for a bit, but decided it wasn't totally a bad idea. "There are two problems you two will have to risk with this." Mark said to Leroy and Casity. "One, we need to first find this guy. Secondly, if we do find him, then we need to find the former strongest man in the world. According to what Leroy said, he was almost at Red Hercules levels of strength." Casity tried to think about it. "I have an idea." She said. "What if you guys assassinated him once you found his location." Leroy and Mark thought about it. "The bounty doesn't specify dead or alive, so you could always just take him out and bring the body." Mark thought that it could maybe work. "Plus we don't have to fight him in this case, we just have to be at a distance to catch him off guard." Everyone now had some confidence in the plan. "All agreed?" Leroy nodded, leaving Casity alone. "Alright, I'll help you guys. But like I said, I'm not a bounty hunter, and I'm not gonna get involved with fighting unless it involves Gabe getting into any trouble." Mark and Leroy nodded. "Yeah, cuz you probably like him." Leroy teased. This made Casity blush and get uncomfortable. "It's not like that…" They then began to walk out of the West. "Firstly, we need to do the hard part, which is finding him in the first place." Casity said. Leroy looked at the post a little bit to find any clues as to where his whereabouts were. "It says here that the reason the bounty is still active is because there have been many implications that prove that he is in fact alive." Casity was confused. "What do you mean?" Leroy answered. "Basically it says that sometimes, a town noticeably wasn't staying in contact with the government, when the government went to investigate, they found that most of the town's people had already been dead by the time they had arrived. The only survivors had been extremely sick, and all said the same name." Mark asked. "What's that?" Leroy reluctantly answered. "Titan." This triggered Mark, it was all coming back to him. He remembered that time that he and Sam went to the village where everyone died, the strange mixture that poisoned people, and the survivor who said those very same words. "I remember doing something like this years ago." This caught the attention of Leroy. "It was the same case, the sick people, the word Titan, but there was one detail that wasn't in that poster you got. Basically, it was explained that someone came into town who wore a cloak, the man demanded they made a specific substance and everyone in the town would contribute. I could guess that he failed, because by the time we got there, many people were sick and had died, and that cloaked man had been gone." The group began to piece together the clues they had to try and find this person, until it hit Casity. "By any chance do you remember the name of that town that god hit?" Mark tried to think. "Dripsville, I believe." Casity responded. "Leroy, does it say any town names on the poster that have been hit?" Leroy tried to see. "It says the known ones are some places in the Western part of the West." Mark then realized. "Dripsville, the town that got hit was also from the Western part!" It seems that he has hit at least 5 towns in the span of 20 years. "He'll maybe hit a town in the Western part soon, since it's conveniently near the time he usually shows up with his little schedule." Leroy said. "But we need to figure out which." Casity responded with. They all thought, then it hit Casity. "Are there any towns owned by crime bosses in the Western part?" Mark answered. "Yes, there are several." Mark started to realize why she thought of that idea. "Well, are the towns he hit occupied territory?" Mark tried to think of at least one, but he couldn't, because they weren't any. "Oh I get it, he doesn't hit occupied territory because he could risk getting in conflicts with crime bosses." Casity smiled. "How did you know that kid?" Casity answered. "I worked with a crime boss for most of my life, I know this stuff." Leroy hated the fact she was getting attention by Mark, he looked unimpressed. "Ok, so we just need to find a town that isn't occupied and would be an easy target." Casity tried to think. "Normally, crime bosses go after towns that have the poorest money rate, which they steal that information from the government." Mark looked as if he gave up. "Well, we don't have that information." Casity began to suspiciously chuckle. "Something up Casity?" She looked nervous. "I know that information, at least for last month." Leroy and Mark realized she must know it because of Billy. "Alright then, what is it?" Casity revealed the location. "It a town called Alabtown, it's also right next to another town that isn't crime boss territory known as Slabtown. Billy was going to take over this town before his defeat, but now that he isn't in the picture I'd assume that Titan would most likely try hitting there." Mark thought it is plausible. "Do we all agree to go to Alabtown?" They all nodded. "Then it's settled, we're off." The group then walked West to Alabtown, hunting for Titan.

Meanwhile on Mount Olympus

Gabe was shivering so hard, he was currently high up the mountain climbing in a blizzard, eventually Red Hercules passed him with one arm behind his back and as always he had no shirt on. "YOU SHOW OFF!" Red Hercules began to laugh so loud that it echoed through the mountains. 'Jesus, it's gotta be at least a negative 100 out here! How is he not even wearing a shirt!?' Regardless of the temperature, Gabe kept climbing, with Red Hercules watching him the entire time. 'I hope my goal will be fulfilled, Lord Zeus.' Red Hercules thought to himself.