Wild Coyote

The dinner they were sitting in was rather musky. The air was damp and heavy even with the door wide open. The two men were sitting at a table by the window. Their clothes were dusty and their faces covered in sweat and sand. A woman in her late 40s dressed in a sun-faded waitress outfit walked up to them towel and notebook in hand. She stood by their table, legs wide, spat on the table, wiping the spit with her towel across the whole table. Making a choking sound she addressed the men.
- So, what'chall be havin' tday?
One of the men pushed his glasses further up his nose and calmly answered.
- I'd like a coffee. Black. With two sugars. Thank you. What about you Strong?
The large man on the other side of the table was visibly more disgruntled. He mumbled under his breath.
- A black coffee and a large serving of legs and bacon.
- Don't forget to say please!
The slender man winked at Strong. The waitress slowly wrote everything down and went back into the kitchen.
- Do you think the boss will kill us?
- Not if we can get that guy back.
Strong grumbled.
- He's long gone by now.
- The gas in his ATW should be trough by now. And he's in the middle of a desert. I don't think he's getting anywhere.
- I guess you're right.
The slender man sighed.
- When have I ever been wrong?
They sat in silence for a while. The wind was tossing sand around on the other side of the window. Their order arrived slowly already with a check. The woman placed the food and drink on their table and extended her palm towards them, staring at them whilst chewing gum. Both men stared at her for a moment and the slender man pulled out a 10$ bill and placed it in her hand.
- Keep the change.
The woman turned her back to them and left. The coffee was horrible. The slender man left untouched and waited for the larger of the two to first fish his meal.
- mmnch.. Uhh, what's our plan of action?
- Simple. We'all get a car and go down the road. He'll turn up eventually. Dead hopefully.
The large man finished his meal, drank his whole cup of streaming coffee in one swing and got up.
- There's no time to waist!
He rushed out, breaking the door as he did and the slender man slowly followed him, dropping a five dollar bill by the broken door.

Boarding pass

The shock had already more or less passed. The room was still and a clock could be heard ticking in the distance. Ace was sitting on the old, worn-down couch between Barry and Annie. He was staring at the white cube on the scratched dark wood table. 

- You mean to tell me that this thing came from me, that my blood looks like that? ... How did that happen?
- My guess is that it happened during the selection. But at what point exactly? No idea. It could be because of your drive.
- It's not like this for both of you is it?
Ace's voice trembled slightly, he felt alien.
- I'm afraid not.
Annie took a small, shiny scalpel and made a cut on her palm. A tiny stream of blood trickled from her hand to the floor. She gave Ace a wry smile.
- All of us aren't capable of taking as big of a beating as you.
She gently put the tiny, blood-covered blade on the table next to Ace's sword. Ace slowly stood up and stepped over the table.
- What does this mean? I mean, am I immortal?
He looked into her deep eyes.
- Ha, ha. Immortal? No. Far from it. Yes, you can, as we already know, soak up a lot of damage. But you can still die. If you push it too far.
She let out a short sigh and licked the wound on her palm. Looking into Ace's eyes with a cheeky smile she added.
- At least, that's what I think.

Ace shifted his weight
- Is there anyone who could know more?
- Mmmm..
Grinning, Annie slowly removed her lips from her hand.
- Yes, I think that there are two brothers, researchers, who might know more. Bookworms those two.
Ace's eyes brightened in excitement.
- Where can I find them?
- I think they own a book shop at the further end of the city. Quite lovely. They have a study on the second floor. I've spent a few nights there.
Ace shifted his stance again and after taking a breath asked.
- "Spent a few nights there"?
- Uhh, yeah. Research.
Barry had got up and walked up behind Ace. He placed his hand on Ace's shoulder.
- Maybe we should get moving? Don't you want to figure out what this means for you?
Annie moved herself closer to the table and reached for the Ace's blade.
- Let me infuse this..
She slid her fingers along the long weapon, leaving a blue radiance around it. Then she placed her slender finger on the white block of solution and with a flick of her fingers made them collide. The light was so bright it made Ace cringe. When he was finally able to look at it it was white. Annie had merged both objects making Ace's sword turn into solution.
- Try reaching for it and thinking of holding it real hard.
She smiled at Ace. Ace put his hand forward and stretched his fingers towards it. Nothing happened. Ace just stood there cringing and making faces. He let his arms fall to his sides and let out a deep breath.
- Screw this.
And with those words the blade lashed towards Ace like the tentacles of an octopus, wrapping around his fingers and finally forming itself back in his palm. Everyone stood with open mouths.
- W..w.. Wow. That's amazing!
Ace slashed at air, getting a feel for the upgraded weapon.
- What else can it do?
Annie put a finger to her lips and thought for a bit.
- You might be able to store it in yourself..
-WHAT?!
Ace's shout filled the room and made Annie fall back in her seat.
- W..well I think that would be possible..
- Would the brothers know more?
- Possibly. You can ask then when you're there.
Ace turned to Barry.
- We must go. Now.
Annie looked at them both and added nonchalantly.
- You'll be taking the train into town.

We are golden

He was taken out the back into an alleyway where a black sedan with tinted windows had been parked for the,. An enormous man opened the backseat door and motioned Drew inside. Drew's hands were now free so getting inside wasn't an ordeal. They probably figured he wouldn't attempt anything with that giant around. And, for the time being, they were right. Attempting anything now seemed insane. The inside of the car was quite spacious. There were blue neon lights lined around the edges of the car's interior. The passenger-side front seat was pushed back as far as possible, making the configuration of the seats quite odd. The human-tank took that front passenger seat with the loud-mouthed rat-boy sitting next to Drew in the back. They were missing a driver. They sat in silence. Rat-boy was toying with his diamond pin and didn't seem to mind the wait. However the man in the front was growing more anxious by the minute. Just at the point where it looked like he would begin to rip the car apart using nothing but his enormous hands, the driver-side door opened and a slender man with thick rimmed glasses and well groomed, dark hair got in and tuned the key in the ignition, making the car let out a soft purr.
- Calm down, Strong. There is no rush.
"Strong" let out a deep grunt.
- The Boss-
- The Boss won't mind. Really. He's quite busy at the moment. She looked like a catch, the Boss will be in a good mood for quite some time, boys!
He said it with absolute carelessness, like the man next to him wasn't at all a threat, smirking at the tank's grumpy expression.
- It's high time we tried for a promotion.
He laughed a and floored the gas pedal, launching the car into the crowded street.

After driving for about an hour the car slowly came to a halt. The sound of churning gravel had had a kind of numbing effect on Drew. It took him a moment to register that they were no longer on the dirt road and were instead in the middle of a private airfield. He could see rows of jets on the runway and a few ATW's to the side by an empty hangar. The men started getting out of the car. The slender one laid back against the car, slowly lit a cigarette and began moving towards one of the jets while the rat-boy stretched himself and looked around in an appalled manner. Obviously, sun was not his element. The car door opened and Drew was pulled out of the car violently, falling to the ground.. The tank had seemed large while Drew was on his legs, but lying beneath him, when he could easily curb-stomp Drew out of existence, made him look humongous. Drew slowly got back up to his feet. The sun had come up a good 20 minutes ago and was now slightly burning his eyes.
- We're going to take a ride.
The man's voice was deep and hoarse, yet his speech was perfectly clear. Somehow it made Drew's skin crawl.
- Start moving.
The man showed Drew towards the jets.
- Oh shit... Not that again.
He had just went trough one 'rough' flight and another one was definitely not on his agenda.
He started walking forward, taking note of his surroundings. The rat was rather close, a taser loosely strapped to his side. That could very well be his way out of this situation. The tank being a few steps behind and not paying direct attention to him,  Drew took a few steps and then lunged shoulder first into the rat-boy's throat, knocking him down. Drew quickly pulled out the taser and, without hesitation  discharged it into the man's temple. He was out cold. Rolling off of his limp body Drew rushed to the closest ATW. To his relief, the keys were in the ignition. This place was probably secure enough, or far enough from civilization  for them to leave everything unattended.
- GET THAT MOTHERFUCKER!
The sound was horrible. It reminded Drew of a train rushing right at him. The tank had sounded scary before but this fierce shout that left his (or possibly - its) foam covered mouth made all the color drain from Drew's face. The veins on the tank's forehead were pulsing red as he ran, to Drew's surprise, not towards him but to a hangar in the back. The slender man had appeared from the jet and was running towards Drew, trying to get his gun out of its holster and nearly tripping. Drew turned the key and, as the ATW came to life, steered away from the man running at him. Rushing to an open gate, leading to the desert, he looked back to see the large man slowly walking out of the hangar. It took him a second to recognize the large, shining object in the tanks's hands. That was the biggest minigun Drew had ever seen. A quiet "fuck" slipped from his lips as the gun began to warm up with a sharp buzz. Then it began firing.

RRRRRRRRATATATATATATATATATATATA!!

The gun was heavy and the fact that it spit out god-knows-how-many bullets per minute didn't help, making it too much for even the tank to fully control as it sprayed a hail of bullets across the run way. The slender man yelled out as the bullets swept forward, destroying the remaining ATWs and ripping the rat-boy to pieces. The stream of bullets was now quickly moving towards Drew. Cursing, Drew pushed the gas pedal as far as it would go,dashing towards the dust filled desert.