“Y’know, the dame has a point.” Crash suggested to Nero, “If she does get bumped off, it’ll be a lot easier to get rid of her stuff if we just sell the ship to the nearest dumpsite, and make some money doing it too.” Nero glanced at him silently, Crash holding his hands up to appear blameless, “Hey, just sayin’. We have to consider these things. Better than wasting a room on a temporary spot filler.”<br/><br/>Nero continued the negotiations, “I think that’s perfectly applicable. Then we can use the spare room for any situations we might find that require free space. After all, your ship is already custom designed to your likings. We wouldn’t want to change that. Our crew is very welcoming of any culture.”<br/><br/>“Except religious nutjobs and political ambition fuckwads, like the Legion.” Crash added, rolling his own variety of tobacco and special spices into a paper to fashion a homemade cigarette. He twisted the ends off and slipped the stick into his lips, drawing out a metallic tinder box, a relic of old cultures long ago. Clicking the lighter and covering the end with his hands, he lit the stick and inhaled lightly, the acrid smoke seeping from his nostrils on the exhale.<br/><br/>A group of rather ruffian types entered the cantina. The leader of the bunch wore a ragged set of crude armor accessorized with spikes and chains. His face was hidden behind a crude helmet with air filters on the jaw, similar to a gas mask. He had the appeal of a scavenger bandit, making himself most menacing with pieces of junk from a garbage pile, but his weaponry spoke otherwise. Each of his men carried common gangster laser rifles and pistols. Some were even brandishing blunt objects like pipes, custom made maces and knives. To make matters interesting, they were all glaring at Dirk Mansteele.<br/><br/>Crash looked up and spotted the crew eyeing their captain, subtly nudging Nero with his elbow but remaining quiet for the first time. The First Mate slowly lifted his eyes from the contract and looked in the mirror across from his seat near the bar with a quick glance. Even though sensing the vibe of the room, Nero seemingly ignored the threat and smiled at Megan, “Now, I’ve looked over your application, done some digging around, but oddly I haven’t found much on you. While I’m sure the Captain doesn’t mind the quiet type who keep low profiles, but I have to verify that you are in fact capable of talking the talk and walking the walk, so to speak. It does the crew no good if I hire someone who proves to be just another mercenary type with no actual combat experience.”<br/><br/>“DIRK MANSTEELE!!”<br/><br/>(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/3d/a2/82/3da2826afb30c4a97f365f03e4fcc04d.jpg)<br/><br/>The Captain paused from his storytelling and looked over the gathered audience’s shoulders to the gang leader who had shouted his name. The man blinked, his nose twitching above his thick moustache.<br/><br/>“I always knew you would come looking for me, you heroic piece of<em>chumba fodder</em>!” The masked male growled through a nasty and vile voice modifier. His gloved hands balling up into fists. The rest of his goons were tapping their weapons in their hands as if readying to give a ruthless beatdown.<br/>Nero closed his eyes and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms in silence. Crash smirked and lay his hand over his belt buckle casually. The Captain was more than capable of handling situations like this.<br/><br/>Dirk stared at the gangster silently for a long awkward moment. Finally he lifted a hand and pointed at the thug, “Hey~….<em>you</em>. Yes. Yes I have come for…<em>you</em>. Mister.<em>Mister man</em>. The guy who now stands before me<em>who I most definitely know</em>. That’s<em> you</em>. Of all the people on this station, it just had to be…<em>you</em>.”<br/><br/>The thug snarled, “Yes! It is<em>me</em>! You thought you could fool me by keeping a low profile and sneaking around on my turf!<em>Ha</em>! Your reputation has led me right to you. Heh heh heh…well I’m afraid your trap has failed,<em>Captain Mansteele</em>! You’ve walked right into a<em>trap</em>yourself!!” He motioned his arms, and about nearly every mercenary in the bar rose up from their seats and switched on their weapons, all facing at the celebrity.<br/><br/>Dirk glanced around quietly and placed his hands to his hips like a regular superman of sorts, “Well…you’ve certainly been busy…<em>you</em>…dastardly fiend. I can see that you’ve gone to great lengths to turn the tide on my…secret plan to catch you...<em>mister</em>.” He gave a warning point with his finger at the many goons around the bar, “Now see here. I’ll only warn you all once. I’ll be merciful to any man who chooses to walk away right now. But if you throw your lot in with…<em>that guy</em>…well then be prepared to share a cell with…<em>him</em>.” He nodded emphatically to reinforce his threat.<br/><br/>The thug leader now paused and straightened, his voice sounding a bit hesitant as he asked, “…You…You do<em>know</em>who I am right?”<br/><br/>Dirk frowned as if the man had no business to even ask that question in the first place, “<em>What</em>?! Of course I do!<em>You’re</em>…the most fiendish and dastardly…cutthroat gang leader around here,<em>that’s who</em>!”<br/><br/>“My<em> name</em>!<em>My name you fool</em>!<em>What’s my name</em>?!” The bandit shouted, kicking over a table with frustration, drawing a long knife from his belt as his anger increased.<br/><br/>“Your<em>name</em>? But of course I know your<em>name</em>!” Dirk retorted, swallowing down a lump in his throat and shifting his weight back and forth on his feet, looking around the bar at everyone, “Your name is…<em>so sickening</em>, I won’t lower my good standards to your level to say it! You won’t get any such satisfaction from me<em>Mister</em>…<em>man</em>.”<br/><br/>“IT’S RAZORWIRE!!” The thug shouted, throwing his arms up in the air wildly.<br/><br/>“Razorwire! I was just about to say that when you interrupted me so rudely!” Dirk proclaimed, his confidence restored with a grin, “If only you hadn’t interrupted me I would have said that you are the nasty crimelord<em>Razorwire</em>! Oh man you would have been called that from the get go, but your manners just make me so sick I couldn’t stand to call you by your name…which is<em>Razorwire</em>! Which for full disclosure, I knew the whole time. Just want to make sure everyone here understands...that I always knew. Because it was part of my plan.”<br/><br/>“Enough of this! I know you came here to catch me for my bounty! Don’t think you can fool Razorwire and his gang, the Red Brood Skulls!” Razorwire shouted, taking a step forward with menace, “Now we’ve got you and this will be the last the galaxy ever hears of the famed<em>Dirk Mansteele</em>! Your head will go on my wall as a trophy!”<br/><br/>“Yes, well you and your Brood have overlooked something very important,<em> Mister Razorwire</em>!” Dirk shouted back, pointing at the floor, “You’ve fallen for my secret<em> secret </em>double trap! Boy, did you walk right into it, let me tell you!”<br/><br/>Razorwire dropped his arms, his voice stunned, “A…secret…<em>secret</em>…double trap? What are you-“<br/><br/>“Now you listen, this is your<em> last </em>warning, you can walk away right now! You do not want to face the wrath of<em>Captain Dirk Mansteele</em>!” Dirk warned, inhaling deeply so his thick muscular build would seemingly bulk up and appear more intense. He even gave his best glare from under his long and thick eyebrows to add effect.<br/>Razorwire and his crew exchanged glances before staring at the famous hero. The crime boss turned and threw his knife directly at Dirk’s face. In one smooth motion two shots were fired. Crash had rose up from his chair and deflected the knife with a well time shot from his own pistol, and the second had gone into Razorwire’s kneecap. While the leader fell to the floor in pain clutching his bleeding knee, everyone in the room exchanged looks.<br/><br/>Crash grinned, his eyes shimmering, “Yeah, that’s right fuckers, I shot first. Dispute that you fuckin’ nerds.”<br/><br/>“KILL THEM ALL!!” Razorwire screamed with rage.<br/><br/>All at once everyone was turning and opening fire. Nero smoothly kicked the nearest column and shoved himself off, sliding across the floor and drawing out a set of small machine laser guns. His rounds ripped through the numbers, dropping foe after foe. When his seat stopped, he spun out of it with a swirl of his long cloak, engaging the foes in hand to hand combat with a form of swift rare form of martial arts.<br/><br/>Crash grappled with an attacker with one hand, twisting its arm and kicking its feet out from beneath, booting it in the face to knock it unconscious while simultaneously keeping a gunfight going with the Skulls who were kicking up tables and perching behind them. Crash then heard a woman’s high pitched screech of fear rip through the bar, but when he turned, he could only curse as he realized it belonged to his captain who was jumping behind the bar for cover.<br/><br/>Razor’s men were firing wildly, aiming for anyone they could, innocents included. A few had turned and took aim at Megan, pulling their triggers and letting a volley of laser bullets fly in her direction.<br/>