Sorry, 'Val', but the crack Earth forces can't be fooled that easily! They're after Vash the Stampede, known for having spiked-up hair and a bright red coat. If the waiter at the restaurant Vash the Stampede was hiding in decided to run, well then clearly he's an accomplice and should be taken into custody as well, but their target is the man still running down the street, that coat a banner for anyone with eyes.
The crackle of the taser sets Vash's teeth on edge, and between that and the thud of a body hitting the ground, he knows, even without turning around, what's happened to Val. Vash cuts a hard right into a nearby alleyway, scrambling up the side of the stone block building as fast as his limbs will carry him. If this was a small town -- if this was just Octovern, and the local police! -- he'd let them take Val in, and bust the man out of jail that night. But those are the uniforms of the Earth forces, and there's no way of knowing where they'll take Vash the Stampede's accomplice... especially not if they look at all closely and realize who 'Val' really is. No, once he disappears behind closed doors, it'll take a lot more than love and peace to break him back out. He'll have to be freed here, in the street, before they can take him into custody.
From the top of the building, Vash peers over the edge, wincing at the sight of Val, bloodied and pinned down, surrounded by feds. What to do, what to do? There's a lot of police down there, with more pouring out from the downtown a couple blocks back and headed in their direction. Any second now, they were going to see the scars, his eyes, the prosthetic arm, and then the secret would be out. He had to act quickly!
Now. Make a distraction, so Val can run? He'd need a good head start, given the amount of blood on the ground down there, and given the events of the last couple months, Vash can't imagine that the cops would be eager to step away from even the associate of such a famous wanted man. Blind them, with a dust cloud, or smoke? Sure, if he had any way to create either of those! The next time he stocks up on ammo, he promises himself, he'll add smoke bombs to the list. Could he lift Val out of there? Vash looks around, but there's nothing to swing on. The buildings are close enough together that he could probably make the jump from one to the other, with a bit of a head start, but there's no laundry lines or power cables or anything to throw down to the man for him to climb up. Could he use the bullets Knives told him about, the black hole ones, and knock the ground out from under the Earth forces? Too risky when they're gathered this closely together -- he'd end up taking off their feet, too, and that's not an option.
What if he surrendered? ...Oh, he doesn't like that idea one bit, but it might work. So long as the feds still don't know that Val is also Vash the Stampede, they might be willing to let a no-name waiter go free in exchange for the destruction-free capture of the Humanoid Typhoon. No, but there has to be another option! What if... ? Maybe if he... ?
Crap.
"Hello down there!" He stands up, waving to the feds just long enough to let them see him, then ducks back down. A shout goes up from the feds, echoed all the way down the line, and crap crap crap there's a lot of them down there! Not as bad as that time he and Wolfwood rescued Lina from the fake Vash the Stampede, but getting closer and closer to that number all the time. Calling over the edge of the wall, head safety out of gunfire range, he continues: "I think you've got the wrong guy! How about you let him go, and I'll come down?"
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The crackle of the taser sets Vash's teeth on edge, and between that and the thud of a body hitting the ground, he knows, even without turning around, what's happened to Val. Vash cuts a hard right into a nearby alleyway, scrambling up the side of the stone block building as fast as his limbs will carry him. If this was a small town -- if this was just Octovern, and the local police! -- he'd let them take Val in, and bust the man out of jail that night. But those are the uniforms of the Earth forces, and there's no way of knowing where they'll take Vash the Stampede's accomplice... especially not if they look at all closely and realize who 'Val' really is. No, once he disappears behind closed doors, it'll take a lot more than love and peace to break him back out. He'll have to be freed here, in the street, before they can take him into custody.
From the top of the building, Vash peers over the edge, wincing at the sight of Val, bloodied and pinned down, surrounded by feds. What to do, what to do? There's a lot of police down there, with more pouring out from the downtown a couple blocks back and headed in their direction. Any second now, they were going to see the scars, his eyes, the prosthetic arm, and then the secret would be out. He had to act quickly!
Now. Make a distraction, so Val can run? He'd need a good head start, given the amount of blood on the ground down there, and given the events of the last couple months, Vash can't imagine that the cops would be eager to step away from even the associate of such a famous wanted man. Blind them, with a dust cloud, or smoke? Sure, if he had any way to create either of those! The next time he stocks up on ammo, he promises himself, he'll add smoke bombs to the list. Could he lift Val out of there? Vash looks around, but there's nothing to swing on. The buildings are close enough together that he could probably make the jump from one to the other, with a bit of a head start, but there's no laundry lines or power cables or anything to throw down to the man for him to climb up. Could he use the bullets Knives told him about, the black hole ones, and knock the ground out from under the Earth forces? Too risky when they're gathered this closely together -- he'd end up taking off their feet, too, and that's not an option.
What if he surrendered? ...Oh, he doesn't like that idea one bit, but it might work. So long as the feds still don't know that Val is also Vash the Stampede, they might be willing to let a no-name waiter go free in exchange for the destruction-free capture of the Humanoid Typhoon. No, but there has to be another option! What if... ? Maybe if he... ?
Crap.
"Hello down there!" He stands up, waving to the feds just long enough to let them see him, then ducks back down. A shout goes up from the feds, echoed all the way down the line, and crap crap crap there's a lot of them down there! Not as bad as that time he and Wolfwood rescued Lina from the fake Vash the Stampede, but getting closer and closer to that number all the time. Calling over the edge of the wall, head safety out of gunfire range, he continues: "I think you've got the wrong guy! How about you let him go, and I'll come down?"