| GCB Fanfics: The Fanfiction Project |
July 22nd, 2003 - ContinuedThe Tournament Bar, "The Hero's Haunt" The room was dark and warm, the lights turned down low. A quartet of fans slowly spun overhead, but the noise they made was drowned out by the low, omnipresent murmur that the bar's patrons caused as they talked amongst themselves. A crimson neon sign proclaiming the name of the bar to be 'The Hero's Haunt' flickered softly above the actual bar area, where a tall, bearded man was hand-drying mugs that had just been washed. At a table in the darkest corner of the room, a small burning light could be seen. Solid Snake, silent as always, was seated, calmly smoking a cigarette as he surveyed the room. The secret agent was absolutely still, the burning cigarette the only clue he was there. He stirred, however, as a well groomed, slightly younger man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt and acid-stained jeans, walked through the door. Snake held up the hand with the cigarette in it in greeting. "Vercetti," he said, simply. "Snake," the gangster replied, nodding. Tommy Vercetti sat down opposite the famous operative. "So, any idea when the rest of 'em are gonna get here?" The older man shook his head. "None. The Chief should be on his way, but it IS the last night here for either Payne or Freeman...probably trying to squeeze in some last-minute practice at the firing range." "What about Duke?" "Last I saw Nukem, he was trying to convince Miss Croft over there to accompany him back to his hotel room..." Snake slightly inclined his head in the direction of Lara Croft, who was sitting at another table, talking with Ryu, looking rather pleased with herself. "As you can see, he was obviously unsuccessful." Laughing softly, Tommy motioned to the waitress, who came over quickly. "Hey, sweet, gimme somethin' hard. I don't care what, as long as it packs a punch." As the blonde girl walked away to fill his order, the Mafia lord slapped her butt, eliciting a squeak from her, however, she ignored it and walked on. "That Duke...he just ain't gonna learn, huh?" Snake chuckled to himself, flicking some ashes into the nearby tray. "You're one to talk. I take it from the large bruise on your cheek that you've propositioned KOS-MOS again?" Feeling the black-and-blue mark, Tommy shrugged. "Hey, I think she's warming up to me." "The only way she'd warm up to you is if you shot her with a flamethrower, Vercetti. She's a robot. Just nuts and bolts, computer software. You can't just seduce her." The Vice City kingpin sat for a moment, thinking. "Ya know what, Snake? You're right...she ain't just another whore. This is gonna take some planning on my part..." Tommy Vercetti trailed off, a look of concentration on his face. Snake shook his head again, exhaling a mouthful of smoke into the air. "Whatever you're planning, leave me out of it." In the next moment, the older man looked up as four more people entered, and weaved through the tables to reach the corner. Extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray, Snake slightly inclined his head in greeting. Catching the strong stench of gunpowder, the secret agent smiled grimly. "How was the firing range?" "I guess we'll find out tomorrow," answered Max Payne, taking a seat next to Snake. The three others--Gordon Freeman, Jack Raiden, and the man only known as Master Chief (sans armor)--all sat around the table. "One of these seats will be empty tomorrow night." There was a slight pause. "Actually," Gordon Freeman answered, pushing his glasses up, "One of the seats is already empty. Where's Duke?" Tommy Vercetti laughed, jerking over his shoulder to Lara Croft. "Dunno, but he tried to put the moves on Angel-Chest there. So he won't be joining us tonight, gentlemen." As he said that, the gangster reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a well-worn deck of cards. Tossing the box onto the table, he opened it, shuffling the playing cards like a casino pro. "I'm dealer tonight, so I thought I'd just bring my own deck, ya know?" Tommy placed the deck in the center of the table. "Who wants to cut?" Snake stood up in response, having lit another cigarette. He cut the deck in two, stacking one half on top of the other. However, before Tommy could take the cards back, Snake reached down to his belt and drew a silenced SOCOM pistol. Without warning, the government operative pressed it to the center of the deck and pulled the trigger. Aside from a muffled flash of light, there was no indication that anything had happened. However, once Snake pulled his gun away, reholstering it, there was a perfectly round hole through the center of each and every card. The bullet had lodged itself in the thick wooden table harmlessly. Sitting back down, the secret agent acted like nothing had happened. "Hey, what was that for, moron?" yelled Vercetti, angrily. "You just ruined the deck!" Some of the nearer patrons turned to watch, but most ignored the crime boss. The brown-haired agent calmly blew smoke into the air. "Making sure you won't cheat, Vercetti." Incensed, Tommy Vercetti stood up, pounding his fist on the table. "Are you calling me a cheater? Nobody--" as he slammed his hand on the table, several cards fell from his sleeve, fluttering down to the ground. His mood going from furious to chagrined in a single second, Vercetti shrugged. "...You can't prove anything. Oh well, nevermind that," the gangster said, trying to change the subject. "Ante up, gentlemen. Five-card stud, aces wild, and the sky's the limit!" The six men each put their money in the center of the table, right by the bullet hole. Vercetti, smirking, began to deal out the cards. "Let's see what you've got tonight, ladies!" ---- On the other side of the bar... Crono sighed to himself, sitting down by himself at one of the empty tables in 'The Hero's Haunt.' He was feeling rather drained, rather alone...he wondered how Marle and Lucca were doing back home. If they had been there today, what would they have said about the way Crono had fought? Marle probably would have given him a hug, Lucca would have said something about the precise weak points of the Dragon Tank that he 'SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.' Tomorrow, Crono knew, he would begin practicing like mad. His next match was up against a cruel, powerful, evil, merciless, and utterly insane jester...if he lost, Crono was well aware that he would be returning to Guardia in pieces. Yet tonight, the normally jovial hero was lonely, and rather quiet--even for him. The waitress noticed, and walked over to him, rubbing her backside. "Hey, love, what can I get you?" Back in Guardia, there was no drinking age. If he wanted to, Crono could order beer, ale, anything alcoholic that he desired. And right now, the red-head wanted nothing more than to relax through one of those particular beverages...however, for some reason, the time-traveling hero could never seem to order anything other than... "...Soda, please." As the waitress went off to fill his order, Crono hit his head once on the table. It had better be STRONG soda... he thought, dismally, to himself. Suddenly from behind him a voice said, "Excuse me." The waitress turned around, "I'll take a....what was it again....oh yes, Single Mold Scotch." Crono turned around to see Magus sitting at the behind him with a grin the size of Truce Canyon slapped on his face. "*******," snapped Crono. Magus started laughing as he returned to this months issue of Dark Magic Magazine. Crono slammed his head on his table again. "What does being 21 have to do with anything?" he asked himself. The waitress was bringing the drinks back to Crono, when Vyse (who has a fake ID), spilled his drink right in front of the waitress. "Ah, gee, damn I'm so clumsy" Vyse said apologetically. "Its alright, handsome." said the waitress, "I'll just go get some paper towels and we'll clean this up. Do you mind if I leave this at your table?" she said beckoning at the tray with Crono and Magus's drinks on it. "Oh, no problem," said Vyse. The watiress left into a different room. Suddenly Dante left the bar and walked over to Vyse's table. "Hey, Vyse," he said, non chalantly pulling an unmarked bottle from his trenchcoat. "What are you doing?" Vyse interrogated. "Let's just say this boring tavern should be interesting really soon." He said pouring the liquid into Crono's soda. "What is that?" Vyse asked pointing at the bottle. "Oh, its basically super vodka, I got the recipe in exchange for a demon's life in Siberia, contains 5% less than a lethal dose of alchohol, no taste, no smell." Vyse just stared at him, as he screwed the lid back onto the bottle and put it back into his trenchcoat. "Well, shows about to start best get a good seat," he said winking at Vyse. Then he got up and walked back over to the bar. The waitress emerged from the back room and began mopping up Vyse's spilled drink. He began to speak, "Uhm....Uh....I don't...I mean...uhm....you really shouldn't....." "Something you wanna tell me, handsome?" the waitress asked he looked over at Dante who started cracking his knuckles in Vyse's general direction. "No, nothing at all." "Alright then," said the waitress smiling back at. She walked over to Crono's table, "Soda for the young stud with the hair, and a scotch for the gentleman with the magazine." Magus chortled with laughter. Crono glared back at Magus, who was completely ignoring him, and then downed his entire soda in one gulp. ---- Magus quietly read his magazine. Sipping on his scotch, he didn't really make quick work of it. He scanned down the top of the Top 500 Dark Magic Spells list, Damn he thought Dark Matter is still under Ultima for #1, its just because anyone can do Ultima and only I can do Dark Matter. the other members of the top 5 were Eternum, Lvl. 3 Death, and Sin Harvest. He turned the page to Dark Summer Fashion page. The cover story, "Staying Cool, while Dressing Dark" was continued here. He began to read it, 'Having trouble keeping up your dark persona in the blazing summer heat. Well your trouble's are over we'll provide you with 5 easy fashion tips, so you can dress dark but stay cool.' He quickly turned the page I don't need advice from prissy boy dark mages in an office building Magus turned the page, it was to a centerfold, he turned the magazine sideways and unfolded it. Magus whistled appreciatively and then read the caption. 'The new Charon X4 Death Scythe. Now featuring a finished ash handle with titanium flex core and synthesized leather grips the Charon X4 feels great to hold and is easy to weild. The blade is an Adamantium-Steel alloy that ways 30% less than the standard Orichalcum blades. Also Charon's patented Hollow body design with copper weights allows you to-' Magus's reading was interrupted by a loud yell from the table in front of him. He slowly lowered his magazine and peered over the top to inspect the comotion. A smile crossed his face as he saw what it was. Crono was on top of the table across from him yelling at the waitress. Slowly Magus closed his magazine, put it down on the table, folded his arms and watched. "YOU CALL THIS RUM, EVEN WATER PACKS A BIGGER PUNCH THAN THIS!!!!" a red cheeked Crono roared. "Um...sir...thats a candle, you can't drink a candle." "YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!!!" yelled Crono throwing the candle onto the floor, "NOW LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO, I SPILLED MY RUM!!!!" Magus started chuckling, he put his hand over his mouth to try and supress his laughter, but he could only do so much. "I GET NO RESPECT AROUND HERE!!!" continued Crono, "EVERYONE'S ALL LIKE.......WE DON'T RESPECT YOU CRONO!!!!!" Snake had left the poker game to investigate the ruckus. "Whats going on here?" Snake asked the waitress. "I don't know, he was perfectly fine one second then the next....well.....he didn't even have any alcohol just a soda." Dante who had been sitting at the bar watching the procession with glee, and supressed laughter, broke down and started pouning his fists on the bar with laughter. Snake glared over at Dante who just winked back at him. Snake then turned to Crono and said, "Alright kid, you've had enough, lets go." "AND ANOTHER THING!!!" yelled Crono completely ignoring Snake, "I RISKED MY NECK SAVING THAT STUCK UP PRINCESS, AND WHAT DO I GET IN EXCHANGE, THROWN IN JAIL, EXECUTED......well not executed, BUT THEY WERE GOING TO!!!!" "Listen, kid I think you should go.....before I lose my patience." Snake said to Crono. "I CAN TAKE YOU, I CAN TAKE ALL OF YOU!!!!" yelled Crono reaching for his katana. Snake shook his head and then kicked the table which flipped out from under Crono. Crono who was far from balanced at the moment fell and hit the wood floor face first. "Come on kid, lets get you back to your room," Snake said picking up the unconcious Crono and bringing him back to his room. "hmmmph...what a ligth weight." Next Entry Back |