With Deacon and Lee causing quite a commotion in town, Dwayne was able to sneak his way to the inns that the recruits were staying in and gather them all into one place. While they were all aware of the excitement happening just outside, and that Deacon was involved, they were oblivious to the details. Even with the strength of Deacon and Lee combined, the two would have no chance successfully sieging the fort alone, and Dwayne knew this. Their lives and the lives of the Buffalo Soldiers all depended on this moment. With all of them gathered in an empty saloon, Dwayne began his speech.
"Listen," Dwayne began. "This is going to sound crazy, but Fort Tuskegee has been overrun with outlaws."
"Huh?" the recruits all said in confusion.
"Think about it. You guys were supposed to integrate into the Buffalo Soldiers, but we haven't seen any of them, except to be hanged by these random Rangers who appeared out of nowhere?"
"Okay Dwayne." one of them interrupted. This recruit being a taller man with bright red hair, who Dwayne remembered getting roughed up by the bandana gang, and he still had the cuts and bruises on his face to prove it. "Yes it's strange that the Buffalo Soldiers are being hanged, but it's a leap to say that the Rangers we've seen around here are outlaws."
"Oh yeah?" Dwayne said skeptically, as he pulled out a bloodstained bandana from his pocket and spread it out on a table.
Without saying another word, he unholstered his revolver and shot the bandana. The bullet ricocheted off the table, making the recruits duck for cover before smashing into a glass mirror.
"Look, not a single hole." Dwayne announced as he showed the unscathed bandana off like he just did a magic trick. "I took that off a Ranger, who's entire squad tried to kill me."
The recruits all passed around the bandana to see for themselves.
"The same people that tried to kill us all on the train are now here trying to kill off the Buffalo Soldiers." Dwayne looked somberly at the recruits. "Deacon stuck his neck out to stop them in the train, and now he's sticking his neck out again, to save the Buffalo Soldiers. We can't let him do this alone."
"What are we supposed to do?"
"We are Rangers!" Dwayne said as he slammed his fist onto the table, the noise catching everyone's attention. "The Buffalo Soldiers are our brothers in arms. Y'all were going to be joined with them to be a singular unit, are y'all really about to let them down?" Dwayne wasn't sure where this fire or passion was coming from, but he knew he had to lean into it if he was going to convince these recruits to take action. Sure enough, his speech seemed to be moving the hearts and minds of the recruits. The irony of his actions were not lost on Dwayne. He started his career in the Rangers just trying to get a paycheck, but now here he is, rallying recruits to fight for a cause. Doing the work of a captain, or major, without the actual rank. The one thing Dwayne knew was that after this was all over, and he survives this ordeal, he's going to demand a promotion.
"Alright, even if we wanted to, how could we help? We don't have any weapons, we haven't been assigned any kind of arms yet."
"I have a plan, Follow me." Dwayne said as he confidently marched out of the saloon. "All of you."
Dwayne led the recruits through the town, now wrecked and in disarray thanks to Deacon and Lee. He led them to the gun store located on the main street, "Riley's Refurbished Rifles". He went to get the door, but it was locked shut, likely due to the owners fleeing during the assault.
"Now what?" One of the recruits complained.
Dwayne just said nothing as he took his revolver and smashed the handle against the main glass window, clearing all the glass to make a sizeable entrance.
"Get yourselves armed." Dwayne said, not dwelling on the legality of his actions. Deacon didn't take any time to think about that, to Dwayne, Deacon just acted. And that's what he was trying to do now.
Now Dwayne and the recruits weren't the only ones readying themselves for a battle to come. News of Deacon and Lee's rebellion quickly reached its way back to the base so that by the time our pair had reached the entrance, it was already locked down.
Lee didn't exactly have a plan in mind, but she was very knowledgeable of Fort Tuskegee's layout. They just had to get passed the main wall which was made of thick vertical logs, or they could go through the front gate which was made of less thick wood, but, thanks to the commotion they've caused, was now guarded by a squad of armed would-be Rangers, and a certain bandana covered man, leading them. The two didn't have any time to hide their approach as the many guards spotted them and trained their rifles at them as the two got closer.
"Well, I have to admit. I'm impressed you've made it this far." Bandanawicz taunted as he walked to the front of his platoon with arms outstretched. "Looks like the reputation of the Buffalo Soldiers wasn't all just BS propaganda."
"Tch, son of a bitch has us pinned." Lee said as she ducked for cover behind a nearby house. They were both still a ways away from the gate with no way to approach without getting riddled with bullets.
Deacon didn't seem too phased, as he casually walked out of the cover to confront his enemies.
"Deacon, what are you doing?" Lee snapped, trying to pull him back into cover, to no avail.
"So you must be that guy, uh..." Deacon stumbled on his words as if he was trying to remember the name. "Mario…. Bananasplitz?"
"Its Marlo Bandanawicz you dimwit!" He yelled before taking a deep breath and composing himself. "And you must be the cowboy who took down my men. Funny, you don't look like much."
"That is funny. I was gonna say the same about you." Deacon snapped back.
"You seem too dumb to understand the deep shit you are in, so let me explain it to you." Bandanawicz started as he walked back and forth. "I have the power of a Tye-serpent. And while bandanas don't sound like that strong a power, I can assure you that I have trained this power through so much violence and killing that I have made my bandanas as tough as steel." As he said that, he conjured up a bandana whip in his hands and slashed at a nearby tree. The bandanas sliced through the trunk cleanly and toppled it to the ground. Leaving a clean cut stump in its wake.
"Whoa." Deacon said as he took a step back.
"Seeing this, are you sure you want to keep going? I mean it's not like any of this was your business anyway, you could still walk away with your life if you just stop right now."
Lee would be lying if she said the demonstration of Bandanawicz's power didn't intimidate her. His destructive capabilities with just bandanas were terrifying, and with the bulletproof bandanas covering him, he was a colorful walking tank. Lee looked over at Deacon, who didn't seem to be at all phased.
"No can do banana-man." Deacon replied confidently. "I started this, so I have to see this through, to the end."
"Bahahaha! How noble!" Bandanawicz hollered with a maniacal laugh. "You can write it on your tombstone!"
With those words, Bandanawicz whipped his bandana tendril at Deacon with the same force he used to cut the tree in half. Deacon met it halfway in the air with his own lasso that he quickly tossed to intercept it. The bandana and the lasso loop collided into each other and quickly tangled together tightly.
Both Deacon and Bandanawicz pulled back on their ropes, engaging in a powerful tug of war. Lee and the other Rangers could only train their guns and watch as the two pulled against each other with all their might.
"Give it up cowboy!" Bandanawicz yelled as he managed to gain some ground in the tug of war. "Tye-snake bites make their users automatically stronger than the average person. All your little feats of strength mean nothing to me."
He wasn't kidding either. Deacon could feel his feet sliding forward on the ground as he inched closer and closer towards Bandanawicz. "I don't know what losing this tug of war means, but I don't want to find out." Deacon said with a strained voice as he planted his feet hard into the ground to stop his movement. Then with a mighty turn, he pulled his rope as hard as he can, completely yanking Bandanawicz off his feet and sending him flying into Deacon's fist.
Bandanawicz shot out a web of bandanas from his four limbs that all wrapped around Deacon before the two collided into each other and began wrestling on the ground. They kicked up a large dust cloud in their tussle that obscured the view of the Rangers who were gearing to shoot Deacon at any moment.
"Careful, you could hit the boss!" one of them scolded.
"But isn't he bulletproof?"
"So, he still wouldn't like getting shot." they argued.
"Uh Deac… you good?" Lee asked, as she was unable to tell what was going on between all the bandanas and dust that was flying from the ground.
"Don't worry!" Deacon called out with a strain in his voice. "I've wrangled tougher than him."
As the two wrestled, Deacon was able to get on top and restrain any limbs or bandanas that flew at him, throwing some punches to soften Bandanawicz's guard. Before long, Deacon had Bandanawicz completely hogtied with his own bandanas and his cowboy rope.
"Boss!" His men cried as they raised their rifles.
Deacon quickly raised their boss over him like a human shield, stopping them from firing.
"That's dirty!" They yelled in frustration.
"Let's go." Deacon signaled to Lee. "You get behind me."
Lee smirked as she followed his lead. Crouching behind him as he sprinted toward the armed Rangers, still hesitating to fire at their boss. Lee took advantage of the hesitation and started aiming for heads. She dropped two of them instantly and caused the rest to open fire in a panic, riddling the human shield with bullets. With this overpowered combo, Lee and Deacon were able to clear the front gate of any Rangers, but the gate itself was still locked shut.
"Leave this to me!" Deacon yelled as he rushed forward with Bandanawicz in front of him.
"Huh? What are you gonna do?" Bandanawicz groaned, still recovering from the many bullets he had to take.
Deacon slammed his human shield into the gate, causing it to shake violently as the imposters inside began to panic. Moss himself, who had heard the commotion from behind the gate, readied himself as the gate continued to be pounded on heavily, until the wooden bar keeping it closed snapped in half. Deacon charged into the fort triumphantly with Lee right behind him, before being met with at least a dozen more rifles, all trained at them.
"Drop him." Moss ordered, forcing Deacon to drop his bloodied battering ram onto the ground.
Lee took cover behind Deacon, and trained her rifle at Moss. She hadn't really expected to live this long, so she was at a loss at what to do next. "So what's the plan, Deacon?"
"Huh? I thought you were the one with the plan?" Deacon said, confused.
"No, I was following your lead this entire time." Lee snapped back.
"Hah! This is rich!" Moss started snickering, making his men laugh along nervously. "You did all that work to escape hell, just to come walking back into the belly of the beast? You roughheads really are a piece of work."
"Well. I don't plan on dying today." Deacon said as he took the conductor's hat off his head and threw it into the sky. "So let's do this."
Lee began scanning her environment for her next move. Twelve soldiers, then there was Moss who was strong in his own right. If Deacon distracted Moss, maybe she could take the other twelve out. Or should she just focus on saving her men and have them assist afterwards? Could she make it to them before getting gunned down herself? How does she know Deacon could even take Moss in the first place? Lee soon realized that there were too many variables to this encounter and it looked impossible to come out on top.
Before anyone could make a move, the unmistakable rhythm of the traitor's beat began to echo throughout the fort. Followed by the thumping of marching that got closer and closer to the base. As everyone glanced out of the broken gate, they could see Dwayne and his recruits uniformly marching on beat with the drum. The group poured into the Fort unopposed and they all trained their rifles at Major Moss and his would-be Rangers. Lee and Deacon both let out a huge sigh of relief.