The older an object is, the more power it gains.
- The First Law of Lionel.
As the four stared out the four, wondering who the mysterious flying horsemen was, they were soon met with a new, far more threatening problem! It was gradual at first, but the plane started to tilt, and then that tilt shifted from a slight dip to a terrifying drop towards the ground at terrifying speeds, as if the pilot had gone mad!
Banjo whipped around as the jet dived towards the ground, and despite the tipping over of everything in the plane, fought against gravity, shooting towards the cockpit with some struggle and swinging open the door. "What the fuck are you doing?"
As he walked over to the pilot's seat, he firmly grabbed the man by the shoulder, and clenched it...only to find that his shoulder was coated in blood. As he took another step forward, he found that the entire lower torso of the man had been completely imploded, his legs containing several holes from which leaked blood. There was a gaping hole in his chest, and his hands were spread out, with his palms wide open, with his eyes resting on each palm. Casting a glance upwards, Pan noticed that the man's eye sockets were hollow.
Banjo took a step backwards, wiping the blood off on the roof of the plan, and turned, noticing his comrades were already watching from the door , and had seen the man's horridly mutilated corpses.
"What the fuck is going on? Is there another one of those Villegas guys on the plane?" Malincha took a step back, searching the jet with her eyes.
"That's impossible. There's no one on the jet but us." Pan's eyes seemed to dilate, like a cat, about to pounce on its prey "It's that cowboy floating in the air doing it, I can feel it!"
"There's no other conclusion. As soon as that man showed up, the plane started to dive, and the pilot was murdered at the same time. We're dealing with someone who has some sort of mysterious powers allowing them to deal attacks from large distances." Shen concurred.
"That's stupid, if that's true, why doesn't he just kill us like he did with the pilot instead of doing this with the plane?" Malincha scratched her head, and Banjo lifted his ducked head.
"To get us to surrender. But that means we have an advantage: he can't kill us." He reached for his tie, and loosened it up, turning to Pan. "Pan."
Pan saluted, smiling mischievously at Banjo, and then turned to the window, pulling back his hand and shattering it, leaping out so quickly he seemed like a blur. Slicing through the air, he seemed to bounce off the air itself as if it was solid, flying towards the man with ease.
Up closer, Pan could see that the mysterious Gaucho had short, black hair, black eyes, and a determined gaze. The man pulled off the red handkerchief tied to his neck as Pan got closer and closer, and whipped it in the air, and the horse, which was not a real horse, but a statue of a horse made of metal, neighed.
The other three watched from the windows of the Jet as Pan got closer to the Gaucho, yet as soon as he reached striking distance, completely stopped. If it was as if Pan's entire body had frozen up, and he plummeted towards the ground at terrifying speeds, seemingly lost all control of his own body.
"KID!" Malincha shouted out, watching as Pan plummeted down and down, until he couldn't even be seen. Malincha, and even Shen, whipped around towards Banjo expectantly, who was staring at the floor, trying to piece together an invisible puzzle.
"The ki-" Shen started.
"Is fine. Pan can survive a fall from a height like that, and if he couldn't, Gaucho-man wouldn't risk letting him fall like that. We need to focus on defeating him."
"And how the fuck would we do that?" Malincha's eyes then shifted to Shen, as she realized that Banjo was staring at Shen intently, as if he was expecting him to do something.
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"What?" Shen asked. "If you think by chance, I might also be possessed by a demon, then you're wrong. There's nothing I can do about this situation." Shen tried to turn but found himself being pulled in by Banjo's sharp gaze. The two stood, staring at each other as if communicating telepathically or something, not uttering a single world.
"Everyone here is giving it their all so we can reach the Labyrinth but you. I think it's time you proved how determined you are, and show us your trump card, Shen." Banjo said, much to Shen's annoyance.
"I said that there's nothing I can do. Even if I did have some sort of trump card, it would be of no use against that crazy cowboy." The two continued to glare at each other intently, but Malincha, frustrated, took a step forward and grabbed the both of them by their shoulders.
"ENOUGH, will all of these shady, secretive mind games! I love a good scheme, but right now we should be doing everything we can to deal with that man, instead of talking about god knows what." Malincha tightened her grasp on their shoulders before letting go, and just like that, the tension seemed to dissolve.
Shen took in a deep breath. "Right."
"I think we have a good minute before we reach the ground! He probably has a trap or something waiting for us, to ensnare us, since he can't kill us. " Malincha stared out the window, at the rapidly approaching ground.
"Maybe...we should kill ourselves, so he doesn't get the reward money?" Banjo joked, and Shen reached into the pocket of his seat, pulling out a black book. On the cover was an owl, carrying an apple. He flipped open the book and stared at the Gaucho-man.
"Malincha, Banjo, I'm going to need you to keep the guy still." Shen said after a few moments of silence, and Banjo smiled slightly, and Malincha spun her handgun on her finger, before grasping it firmly.
"Gotcha." Malincha walked over to the broken window, narrowing her eyes at the man, and then grabbed onto the frame, swinging herself onto the top of the jet, Banjo following suit. The two pointed their firearms at the Gaucho-man, who continued to ride through the air towards the falling jet briskly.
"Gotta admit, it's kinda hard trying to aim at a flying man, while on the roof of a flying plane!" Banjo and Malincha, barely keeping their balance, began to fire bullet after bullet at the man rapidly, and as the bullets shot through the air, they seemed to slow down as they approached the man.
By the time they had reached the man, they had lost all of their speed, simply floating besides the man in the air. The man, who was now still, raised the hand holding his handkerchief in the air slowly, and then whipped it, and the bullets turned around, and sped towards the two, wildly approaching them at twice the speed they were originally shot.
One bullet shot through Banjo's right shoulder, while two bullets shot into Malincha's right shoulder and left knee. The two stumbled, nearly losing balance and flying off the roof of the airplane.
While they struggled for balance on the roof, Shen flipped through the book he held in his hand. Although they had been badly hurt in the process, they had managed to keep the Gaucho man from moving. And the pages on Shen's book started to move, the pages flipping themselves one after the other at rapid speeds, until a specific page was reached.
Shen scanned the page, and then shut the book closed, yet kept it in his grasp. Taking a deep breath, he dived through the broken window, grasped the frame, and swung himself onto the roof of the plane, besides his injured allies.
"Malincha, Banjo, I've found out what the secret behind his technique is!" He shouted over the raging wind to the two, Banjo grasping his injuries, his face contorted in pain, and Malincha held on to her knee. "I'm sorry, but I'll need you both to keep on fighting for this work!" The jet was now rapidly approaching the ground, and there was likely only half a minute left. Shen shakily walked over to the two and turned his back to the Gaucho-man who rid towards them peacefully, murmuring to them softly.
After he finished, he stepped away, and Malincha let out a groan, while Banjo grits his teeth, and then, crouching his legs, tried to remember the feeling he had experienced while fighting Pan. He didn't completely understand it, the strange, supernatural power which had flown through him during the fight with the devil, but he needed it now, more than ever.
Taking a deep breath, he sprung from the roof of the airplane towards the Gaucho-man, who whipped his handkerchief into the air once again, and Banjo froze up, unable to move, and fell through the air towards the ground. The man seemed slightly confused, wondering what exactly was the reason for this fruitless attempt?
As Malincha watched Banjo fall, she leaped into the air towards the man, her hair blowing in the wind wildly, and pulled back her fist as she shortened the distance in between them..and as the Gaucho man whipped his handkerchief......
Nothing happened.
The Gaucho Man's eyes widened in surprise, and Malincha pulled her fist forward, gutting the man in the stomach, her punch fueled by irritation, confusion, fear, and pain, knocking the man right off of his horse!
As the man flew off his horse into the air, his eyes wide with surprise, Shen leapt off the plane into the air. He didn't have the same physical ability as Malincha or Banjo, meaning that ordinarily he wouldn't have gotten far.
But with Malincha in the air, acting as a platform, as he fell downwards, he landed on Malincha's back, and then shot himself off of her back, towards the man, pointing his open book at the man.
On the cover of the book, a slit formed right where the owl's head was, and from the slit formed a mouth. Right on cue, Shen, and Malincha and Banjo (while falling) covered their ears.
The mouth opened up.
It started to chant the terrible secrets and legends written in its pages, the terrible words spilling from the book's mouth like syrup, flowing into the Gaucho Man's ears, and overloading his senses. The sheer load of information spiraling from the book's mouth into the man's brain in a matter of seconds completely overwhelmed the man's brain, and it felt like time had slowed down to a snail's pace. Secrets no human should ever know suddenly became known to the man.
The man who stalks behind you when you walk home at night.
The reason why only children can see ghosts.
The destruction and extermination of an eighth continent, and it's inhabitants.
These horrible secrets overloaded the man's mind, and not only did the man know them, but he could see them as well. He could see the darkest wars, battles, and struggles of mankind play out in his own head like a terrible nightmare, except he couldn't wake up.
The man, completely unable to move, plummeted downwards, and Shen closed the book, and then grabbed the man by the collar before he could fall any further, standing on the floating metal horse.
"Cooperate with us, and I might remove what you just saw from your mind."
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