Back to the Desert

[Dell Conagher]

Dell and company exited the dusty portal, the heat wafting over them in a wall of blazing fury. The horses seemed unperturbed, but the flying John in particular was buffeted by the rush of heated air.

"Welcome to the hottest place in the Omniverse, partners, aside from the burning Underverse itself that is..." Dell muttered, pulling his hat down.

While Dell and Dave had their eyes shielded from the glare, John and Tairus were not as lucky and were nearly blinded by the drastic change in lighting. The armored knight in particular felt much more immediate discomfort as his golden armor began to heat in the direct sunlight, and the sand was already beginning to seep into the cracks in his platemail.

"Well, we have two choices. We can either follow this road-" Dell motioned to the road that lead off into the dusty plains "-which would take us to the Town with No Name. I did some research and figured out that I passed it on my last trip here, and ended up going in a huge circle."

Dell pointed to another road, leading towards a faintly visible settlement. "That's Carrefore, an oasis town with Empire presence. Thats about all I could find." He said, crossing his arms.

"So, what'll it be? Personally I'd be more interested in heading towards the Town with No Name, as it seems to be more of a magnet for.... interesting people. There might even be something to do." Dell says, looking between his traveling companions.

[Tarius]

Tarius raised his arm, attempting to get some of the sun out of his eyes, yet doing so only caused it to reflect off his armor directly into his helmet. He cursed under his breath, and looked around to see how the others were faring. The one in red pajamas seemed distressed despite trying to hide it with his overly cool demeanor. He was too far in thought to allow the desert heat to affect him in any way. John looked more carefree as he zipped and whizzed throughout the air. Meanwhile, the engineer looked concerned for the safety of the group, yet was determined to keep the group moving forward.

Tarius himself was uncomfortable. The heat and sun were atrocious, but the sand... The sand was the worst. It found its way into every nook and cranny of his armor. The accursed sand even wormed its way into places Tarius didn't even know existed. It was so bad that it almost made him want to take his armor off for a while. Almost. One thing he knew for certain was that he did not like the desert, and it was not a place that he wanted to stay in for a long period of time.

The group seemed fine as nothing had happened for the length of their journey, and it looked as if they could handle themselves for the time being, so Tarius decided that he would head back to the Nexus in hopes of exploring a more interesting, less sand infested verse. Hopping off of his horse to get closer to eye level with the other riders, he addressed the group.

"I am afraid I will be heading back to the Nexus, you all continue on to get farther from Dave's bro. I am not sure if we will meet again, but hopefully we'll be able to. Goodbye friends."

With that, he mounted his horse again and turned it around, travelling until he became merely a speck in the eyes of the now one smaller group.

[Dell Conagher]

The doors to the dusty saloon in A Town With No Name swung wide open and in tromped a dusty, red-clad man wearing a stetson hat pulled low over his unshaven and dirty face. He regarded those around him with scrutiny from beneath his hat and the goggles he wore, the others returning his glances with mixed but otherwise muted reactions, more of the disapproval of an outsider than anything sinister or malicious. He tromped over to the bar and took a seat, conversing with the barkeep for a moment before being passed a drink. He'd been out here for an undetermined amount of time, lost in the sandy wastes.

Now, he just needed a drink. As close to a real drink as he could get in this dusty hole.

[Dell Conagher]

He was just about to take the first drink when a big meaty fist slammed down on the bar top next to him. Dell slowly turned his head to look at the musclehead who'd nearly spilled his drink and looked up... and up... until his goggled visage gazed upon the beady eyes of the gorilla that was right in his personal space.

"Didja park that rusty piece of junk out front?" the gorilla asked, referring to the dune buggy that Dell had been using to explore the wastes. "I might have, son. Why? Does it intimidate you?" the engineer goaded, and it apparently worked as the big man slammed his ham fist back down onto the bar top, which didnt seem to phase any of the other patrons and rattled the glasses on the back shelf.

"You some special kind of dense, boy? I said, get rid of it." The brute growled, his meaty hand resting on the hand-cannon on his hip. "I don't recommend makin me angry, 'boy'. I'll lay you out in front of this whole bar." Dell replied, steel in his voice as he set his still-full glass down on the bartop and stood, less than 2/3rds of the big man's height but just as tough and determined. "Tough lil' guy, huh?"

"I try. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a drink to-" Dell was about to sit down before the big man's fist whistled right over the head of the engie as he ducked, his hat hovering comically in midair before dropping onto his head right before the punch almost knocked it off.

[Dell Conagher]

Ducking the punch was the easy part. An amateur could have seen the blow coming a mile away with even a peripheral glance because of how the big man lacked any subtly whatsoever. He was probably used to pushing little guys around. This one would be a challenge... for both of them.

Dropping low under the punch Dell came up swinging, delivering a nice sucker punch into the tough's gut causing him to suck air and stagger backwards. "Why you little runt. I'll kill you!" The brute was red faced with rage as he lunged for the engineer. Who was holding the barstool he had been sitting on. Dell matador'd the brute's reckless charge and swung the bar stool into the gorilla's path in retaliation. Wood met face and the big man bellow in pain as he staggered back to his feet and wiped blood from his bleeding nose, the old barstool splintering apart into kindling.

"Had enough yet, Mr. Big Shot? Or do we need to do this Texas style?" Dell said calmly, the big brute's revolver in his grip as he took aim, the tough's face marred with splinters and blood from his broken nose.

[Dell Conagher]

Suddenly a bottle whizzed past Dell's head, close enough to clip his hat. He caught it before it could fall off of his head and turned to look. Turns out the gorilla had some friends who were equally large ape-ish brutes.... and they didn't look too happy as they advanced on him. Turning, he winged the large pistol at one of them and kicked over a nearby table before breaking for the door, the smaller man narrowly ducking under a tree branch-sized arm that was grabbing for him and bursting out the swinging doors. He dove into the drivers seat of the buggy he'd left outside and hastily started the engine to the percussive sound of bullets hitting the metal frame, leaving a heavy cloud of dust as he tore out of the dusty town. He swung wide out through the desert and hit the road with a jarring bump as he dropped into the packed ruts, headed back for the gateway to the Nexus.

[Dell Conagher]

Arriving at the gateway, Dell climbed out of the bullet-riddled dune buggy and pulled the toolbox from the rack on the back. Holding out his hand, the dune buggy slowly dissolved and coalesced into a single shiny orb of Omnilium as he extracted it. Summoning his hat, which had been lost in his flight, he placed the stetson back onto his bald head and picked up the red toolbox, heading for the gateway back to the Nexus