Wolfwood

[Bean Bandit]

The driver looked thoughtful. "Well, the fare is 200 double dollars, but since we found you at roughly the halfway point, I'll charge you 100."

[Ginnezumusha]

"Ok."

Ginn took out his money, and counted up to 100 before handing it to the driver.

[Bean Bandit]

Unfortunately, The sum total of Wolfwood's on hand cash was $$95...

[Ginnezumusha]

"Uhhh... well shit.  Maybe I could preform a service for the rest of the cash?  I know, hows about a confessional!  Confess your sins, totally discreet, to a certified priest!"

[Bean Bandit]

The driver sweatdropped, and adjusted his sunglasses. "No, this'll do fine," he said nervously, pocketing the proffered cash.

"But thanks for the offer..." he added, hurrying away.

As the driver mover the the front of the bus,  a loud cry of pain could be heard from outside the bus...

[Ginnezumusha]

Ginn's interest is piqued, and he moves to see if the two girls were putting the hurt on Vash yet.

[Bean Bandit]

As Wolfwood moved outside, he could see that the girls had not, in fact, injured Vash. Yet. They were standing, along with many other passengers, in a large huddle roughly a hundred yards from the bus.

His only othe clue as to what was going on was that there was a pair of feet sticking out of the huddle, hinting at a person in the center, laying in a prone position...

[Ginnezumusha]

Damn.  Ah well, might as go investigate.

Ginn walked up and poked his way through the crowd to where the body was.

[Bean Bandit]

"...none of the passengers were anywhere around." Said the dark haired woman as Wolfwood approached. "Maybe bandits?"

Vash looked down at the man, who Wolfwood could now clearly see, and stared hard at the wound on his shoulder.

"No mortal did this..." he commented cryptically.

The brown haired girl started. "Eh???"

[Ginnezumusha]

Ginn observed the body carefully.

[Bean Bandit]

The body, a tanned, weatherbeaten man, with an oddly pompadour-like hairstyle, was beginning to stir.

He seemed largely intact physically...and came fully awake, gasping and sweating in pain. However, the shoulder of the man's coat was torn away, exposing the skin underneath...and a dark, extremely painful-looking burn, covering almost the entirety of his shoulder....

[Ginnezumusha]

"Hey, who just discovered this, anyways?  Was he one of our passengers?"

[Bean Bandit]

The short, darkhaired woman in the cloak frowned.

"Yes, but it was a group of three. They claim they came over when they saw him collapse, thinking it was sunstroke..." She pointed to the burning desert sun overhead.

"But there's no way to confirm or deny...."

A large group of the passengers came back with a backboard, and loaded the injured man onto it, and began carrying him back to the bus...

[Ginnezumusha]

Hmmm... what an odd type of attack... I guess I can't do anything except observe for now.

Ginn started to move for the bus, but first decided to question the three.

"Who were the passengers to first come across the man?"

[Bean Bandit]

The dark haired woman opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of something large bursting out from under a nearby sand dune.

The robot was large and ungainly, looking very much like an upside-down snail shell supported on spider's legs.

An odd looking head protruded from the top of the shell, swiveled in the direction of the people...and froze.

Small appendaged on the legs fanned out with an audible click, and the robot rose slightly....and seemed to slide along the sand, racing straight for the group.

All around Wolfwood and his companions, people started to scream in suprise....