Gun Dealings (Closed RP)

The very tense moment of silence from outside the tavern was abruptly interrupted by a series of gunshots and cries of pain. If Elly or Krutis were to look outside they would find only Graves left standing, the barrel of his pistol smoking still aimed in the direction of the three bounty hunters, who had most certainly lost to the former champion in the gunfight, sprawled across the ground in front of him. Grunting in disappointment Graves made a motion to turn around before stopping short, movement from one of the men catching his eye. It seemed one of them was still left alive.

"Yer' gunna look awful silly with that gun stickin'out of your ass..." Graves said menacingly through gritted teeth at the man, seeing that he was reaching his way towards the gun he had dropped when he was shot. The man stared up at the Outlaw, frozen with indecision before slowly inching away from his weapon. "Now I suggest you crawl back into whatever hole you came from n' tell yer' employer real nicely fer' me that if he don't take that bounty down he'll be grittin' his teeth to bite the sights off this six-gun, understand? Now get!" Graves told the man who nodded frantically in response, holding the gunshot at his leg after getting up to limp away.

After he watched the man limp off into the distance Graves went to the corpses of his two partners and quickly patted them down, taking any and all money they had on them. After briefly inspecting the weapons they had it was painfully obvious they were in such poor condition that they would be useless to him so he tossed them away and made his way back into the tavern. Unfortunately for Graves he would find a bit more than just the cold drink he had left on the bar counter to meet him upon reentering.

Elly was standing there, hands up in surrender to the 'bartender' Krutis who was reaching for what Graves figured was probably a gun. Raising his own he pointed it directly at Krutis knowing she was nowhere near stupid enough to do anything that'd risk her life. He only had two bullets left, but at this range there was no way he'd miss, so he boldly sauntered back to his seat and finished his drink before breaking the awkward silence. "You best be reachin' fer' another bottle of liquor down there or a bullet's gonna find a nice warm home in that skull o' yer's" he said threateningly, with a scowl set on his face as he stared her down.

Elly replayed events in her mind, trying to figure out exactly what she had done to warrant having a gun drawn on her.   By the time Krutis spoke up and said she wouldn't shoot, she still could not think of a single thing she'd done to provoke such drastic measures. Clearly not a pinnacle of mental stability, it seemed safer to assume that the woman could change her mind at any moment.  

Just as the thought came to mind, a single gunshot tore through the air.

Cold terror sped through her veins and Elly’s eyes went wide in shock.  The sound rang in her ears and drained the color from her face as surely as if the hundred pounds of crazy behind the bar had shot her. 

Two more shots rang out and then a fourth.

Krutis hadn't moved. The sound had come from outside.  Elly exhaled slowly but found no relief in it.   Moments passed like hours in the tense silence that followed until the quiet was broken by the heavy thump of  Malcom Graves’s boots on the bar room floor.  He spoke from behind her and even though she couldn't quite make out the words, the threat in his voice was unmistakable.  

Just when she had thought the worst of him, the Outlaw had come through.   There was a dull thump as Krutis dropped the weapon.  She seemed to reply but her voice remained background noise, drowned out by the thump of Elly’s heart as it hammered out its panicked rhythm inside her chest.

'Move'  Instinct and the singular thought propelled her backward on unsteady legs but she could not take her eyes off Krutis until she found herself standing behind Graves.  Safety, Elly's hand shook as she set it on the Outlaw’s back and whispered her thanks.

Krutis jumped as Graves made his demand and was about to say something when the next thing she felt was herself being tossed over the counter, bumping her knees on the edge and right down onto the floor. Her body twitched as though her head had been jabbed from behind and as she stared back at graves with a rather ghostly stare as her face flushed clean of all color, it was as if she was dying from some sort of brain hemorrhage. A very unfortunate turn of events placed a stray nail directly beneath Krutis' head which had penetrated her skull just deep enough for a quick yet painful death.

[RIP Krutis 3CLE-24CLE]

Graves paused mentally as he noticed Krutis pale and slump over on the floor in front of him. He stood there bewildered at what had just happened. Had she just died right in front of him? As much as it didn't make sense that was th only conclusion Graves could come to. "Cold as a tire wagon" Graves muttered to himself verbalizing his suspicion. After Elly walked over to check the pulse his guess was confirmed. From what exactly the Outlaw couldn't put his finger on, but for all he knew it could have been anything as he had no intention of inspecting the corpse to figure it out. Having a penchant for gallows humor the Outlaw couldn't help but find the irony if she had just died of fear for her life amusing, which made him have to force back a chuckle and grin.

Graves grunted in agreement to Elly's suggestion to leaving and began to go for the door. Putting his hands in his pockets out of habit to reach for something to smoke he instead found the coin necklace he had grabbed up from the bar before reminding him of what he had intended to do before...whatever just happened took place. "Here, dead ain't got no use fer' worldly possessions. And Elly? Sorry fer' draggin' you into this mess..." Graves said as he handed Elly back her memento.

Graves shrugged at Elly's apology not finding her outburst earlier that big of a deal, if anything he probably deserved it. Looking one last time at the corpse of the woman on the floor Graves sighed in exasperation, what a mess this turned out to be. Two bodies outside rotting in the heat of the midday sun and one on the floor in front of him and Elly. And there was a possibility there were others foolish enough to come after him, and there'd be plenty of people in the way that'd be caught in the crossfire - that's a given. Checkign the ammo in his pistol one last time Graves scowled and tossed it aside, the two rounds left wouldn't do him any good, he needed a real gun, and soon. When Elly spoke again it broke Graves away from his thoughts.

"Relax Elly, water under the bridge" Graves told her as she clumsily tried to explain things. It amazed him a bit how she could be so caught up on her completely understandable outburst before when there was a bunch of dead bodies lying around. 'Least I hope it is...' Graves thought to himself. She was right, however, after what she had helped him do her future in Piltover wasn't looking to bright. "Well fer' starter's gettin' outta here would be a good start. With the dead girl n' two bounty hunter's who's heads wouldn'ta made a drinkin' cup fer' a damn poro rottin' outside sittin' around here ain't exactly too bright" he said plainly.

"I reckon' you can think o' somethin' after that, I'd put money that yer' smarter than I am. If ya' need help with somethin' just ask around n' find me. I ain't leavin' Zaun fer' a while till I get some things straightened out, I owe ya' atleast that much after Piltover." he told her, ruffling her curly hair a bit as he handed her the keys to the car they had stolen from her brother before made to leave. He wasn't going to need it and could get around just fine without it like he had in the past.