If You Don't Draw First

The boss of the gang looked at the mangled bodies of two of his henchmen lying on the floor in a pool of blood, he looked up and his yellow eyes fell on the man who still held the steaming shotgun with one arm while his other hand somehow seemed to be enveloped in fire, something that didn’t seem to bother him.

It wasn't the first time he had faced enemies who boasted of being more powerful than him, and perhaps they were, but he wasn't known for being a griffin that was easy to intimidate, so stepping forward and trying to keep his fear under control he walked towards the man, his companions followed him while some more were still trying to break the shield that protected the two unicorns.

"So you think you're a tough guy, isn't it?" The griffin asked him. "Do you think that with murdering two of my boys and with your cheap magic tricks I will desist from getting what I want?"

Booker didn't answered and just placed the shotgun in his back.

"Look at him boys; it seems that the mouse ate his tongue." The boss said sarcastically, all his henchmen began to laugh while surrounding the man.

Kriket looked at the attackers, suddenly she no longer felt so safe. "B-Booker? You have a plan, right?"

Without giving her an answer, the former Pinkerton turned his head to both sides analyzing the situation, his left hand was still on fire and ready to unleash hell, however, the number of enemies to defeat made him realize that he would need a different strategy.

"Kriket." He said drawing her attention. "I need you to get ready; you will need to act fast."

The pegasus looked at him in disbelief. "What are you going to do?"

"Twilight!" Booker yelled at her.

The lavender unicorn turned to look at him, she was very weak and soon the shield would be destroyed.

"Twilight! Listen to me! When I say it, I want you to drop the shield! We just have a chance! Trixie, get ready!"

"Are you crazy?!" Kriket didn't believe what the man was saying. "You're too slow, you can't reach them that fast, in the moment the shield is gone they'll pounce on them."

"Kriket, I want you to fly as fast as possible, you'll have to trust me." It was all he said. The pegasus gulped and nodded.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I assure you, you and your friend will die here and I'll take those two bitches as a trophy." The griffin told him. "I've had enough of this bullshit, finish them boys!" The whole group pounced on Booker and Kriket.

Booker leaned down, his right hand was covered by suction cups just like an octopus and when the griffins were close enough to him, his whole arm stretched into a large tentacle made of water. With a flick of his arm, the tentacle hit the entire group throwing the attackers in all directions; some of them where launched against the walls of the nearby buildings and others fell on the street.

"Now!" Booker shouted.

Kriket opened her wings and rose several meters into the air before diving forward at high speed. Twilight closed her eyes and dropped the spell, the two griffins that were at her side didn't noticed it, they were so surprised by what the man had done that they didn't realized that the mares were now unprotected.

The boss looked around, his henchmen haven't yet recovered from the attack of the creature, some were stirring on the ground and others had stopped moving at all. He looked back at DeWitt and realized that his hands seemed to be shrouded in swirls of a grayish tone, he saw him extend both arms before moving them strongly towards the front. Booker felt like how the wind launched him with brutal force, his body moved so fast that the griffin only saw his shadow almost shapeless disappear in the blink of an eye.

The two griffins that were standing next to Twilight and Trixie had no time to react, in less than a second they were thrown to the ground by a blast of wind while both unicorns felt their bodies be raised without difficulty by a figure almost formless.

Booker finally stopped several meters away from the group of attackers, he was carrying in his arms to Trixie and Twilight, the effect of the vigor gave him enough strength to keep running even after the power had disappeared.

The boss incorporated as soon as he could and saw Booker running away through the alleys of the place. "What are you waiting for?! Catch the bastard!"

He ordered to his gang, many of them took flight and sped off in pursuit of the human and the unicorns, meanwhile, Booker finally let Trixie and Twilight on the floor so they could move faster.

"Where is Kriket?" Twilight asked.

"I do not know, just keep running, they will soon be upon us." Said Booker.

As if it were a bad joke, he looked back and could make out the silhouettes of several griffins in the air quickly approaching towards them. Booker tried to find a way to have a better advantage over the griffins, however, something collided against him, there was an intense pain in his back as the claws and the beak of the gryphon sank in his flesh. He fell to the ground rolling in an attempt to shake him off with no avail.

Trixie pushed the gryphon off Booker, "You'll pay for that." He shouted and tried to pounce on her, but he found himself in front of the muzzle of the shotgun that Twilight was holding with her magic. The unicorn pulled the trigger; the bullets impacted his body shredding skin and bone. After realizing what she has done, Twilight started to tremble; her eyes were filled with tears while looking at the dead body in front of her.

Booker stood up, he took the shotgun and then shook Twilight's body trying to get a reaction from her.

"Twilight, are you ok?" He told her and she nodded. "Alright, c'mon, we need to move."

The unicorn stood up, her legs were shaking but she was able to keep the pace, Trixie looked at her and saw sadness and regret in her face, she was more that sure that what had happened would mark Twilight for life.

"Over here you idiots!"

Kriket's voice came from the end of one of the alleys where the pegasus was floating a few meters above the ground.

"Where the hay were you?" Trixie didn't sound very happy.

"Keep running you stupid mare, I was looking for our ticket out of this place."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight said between gasps.

"I found a way to escape, we need to get to the airfield, it is not far from here, so hurry up and move those fat flanks." Kriket flew on leading her companions. "Hey, DeWitt."

"What do you want?"

"I think this may be useful, I found it lying on one of the warehouses."

Cricket threw him something, to his surprise; it was a sky-hook, something that drew a big smile on his face.

"Stop right there scumbag!"

One of the griffins shouted when he finally caught up with them and brandishing his spear he tried to hit Booker, unfortunately for him, the former Pinkerton moved aside and took the revolver, time seemed to stop for the gryphon who could only see the flash of sun light falling on the gun before it was fired.

"Kriket, take them out of here."

"DeWitt, this is not the time to be a hero." Twilight told him.

"I need to win some time or we will never make it to the airfield, you three need to move on, I'll catch up with you there."

"... Booker..."

Trixie tried to say something, but another gryphon fell between them holding in its talons what appeared to be an electric baton ready to use it against the unicorn. Trixie full of fear closed her eyes expecting to feel pain, but what happened was something more, a cry of pain was heard and something wet fell on her fur. She opened her eyes and felt her stomach writhed, the gryphon was in front of her, but his body was limp, his chest was torn apart with claws of of the sky-hook passing through him, the attack from Booker was made with such force that the blood had spattered over Trixie's body.

"Get out of here, now!" Booker said as he pulled the hook from the dead body.

"You heard the man, let's move." Kriket and Twilight lifted Trixie and kept running.

Booker saw them leave before turning to face the rest of the attackers who approached him, after hanging the hook on his belt, one of his hands was wrapped in flames while the other was transformed into a kind of crow's claw,  he waited for the right moment and released his attack, dozens of crows came out of his hand, the birds were then engulfed in fire and threw themselves against the griffins.

Several of them started to scream in a wrenching way while the birds tore apart their bodies, the lethal combination of the vigors left a large number of the attackers dead over the ground, the less fortunate only ended with serious injuries and with their feathers and meat carbonized, without wasting time, Booker took the rifle and took care of finishing the job with quick and accurate shots,  after that, he strapped the gun to his aching back and run away from there.

Twilight, Trixie and Kriket reached the airfield. After looking around to make sure no one was following them, Kriket flew some meters up in the air until she spotted what she was looking for.

"Listen, we don't have much time." She told them. "This is the plan, the zeppelin is being guarded by two huge thugs, I will distract them and lure them away from the machine."

"Wait, that's your plan? You want to steal an airship? Are you're crazy?" Twilight was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Shut your mouth and pay attention Sparkle, I need you both go up this thing and get it moving."

"But Booker still isn't here." Trixie intervened.

Kriket was about to answer, but without a word she pushed both unicorns until all three were behind several boxes.

"What in tartarus is wrong with you?" Twilight asked but was silenced by Kriket.

The pegasus gave a brief look above the box and confirmed that about ten griffins, including the head of the band, had landed just some meters away from their current position.

"Damn, these guys don't give up." She shook her head trying to think of something. "This only gets more complicated at every minute."

While Kriket didn't believe her luck, Trixie picked up a box of ammunition from the saddlebag of the pegasus.

"What are you doing?" Asked Kriket.

"I'll distract these guys, you and Twilight reach the airship, get rid of the guards and put that thing in the air."

"Trixie, you can't face them all."

"There is no other option Twilight, get ready to run, understood?"

Kriket peered again over the box. "They're approaching."

Twilight closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Okay, let's do it."

Trixie nodded and jumped from behind the box. "Hey feather brains, were you searching for something?"

The unicorn shouted getting their attention before she started running; the whole gang instantly followed her. As they disappeared from sight, Kriket and Twilight sped off towards the end of the courtyard where they could see the silhouette of a large dirigible behind the buildings.

Several griffins tried in vain to reach the unicorn, Trixie's movements were quick and aided by momentary energy fields she was able to repel their attacks. She ran between buildings trying to put distance between her and the attacker while dodging boxes and other passersby, but when turning a corner, her hoof fell into a hole making her stumble, she fell with a thud, the pain in his leg didn't compare to the one that she felt in the right side of her torso, it was difficult for her to breath and her eyes were filled with tears.

"Here she is." The griffin called to his comrades.

Trixie threw the box of bullets on the floor, two henchmen soon joined his companion and the three slowly came towards her. Her horn lit up and a beam of energy came hit the package of bullets which exploded instantly, bullets were fired in all directions, many of them hitting one griffin which fell dead. Trixie tried to stand up, but a heavy claw grabbed her by the hair and put her face to the ground in a painful way.

"Listen, whore" The boss of the gang placed a nullifying ring on her horn. "The game is over, now you will tell me where the other two bitches are or I'll make you regret it."

The gryphon that was holding her by the head quickly lifted her making her cry out in pain. The boss made a movement with his head and another of his henchmen grabbed her by the neck and began to choke her.

"Where are they? Answer me!"

A shot was heard, the gryphon that had Trixie by the neck felt a pang of heat and then something cold streaming down his face until his eyes turned red, a moment later he collapsed to the ground with a smoking hole in his forehead. The other gryphon that was holding Trixie by the mane released her immediately, the boss and the rest of the gang looked at Booker who was holding the rifle in his hands, before they could do something, bullets were fired by the human who started walking towards them giving them no mercy.

One by one they were eliminated, some who managed to lift the flight trying to escape where catched and wrapped by electrified tentacles made of water that ended their life in the blink of an eye. In the end, the alley was covered by dead bodies, only the boss of the gang was still alive after that slaughter, the bullets had just destroyed one wing and part of his leg. He began to crawl on the floor, but he felt an immense pain on his back, Booker had dropped his foot so hard on his body that the gryphon could feel and even hear how several of his vertebrae were shattered.

Booker took him by the throat and lifted him until both stood face to face, the gryphon was terrified, as he looked into the eyes of the man before him, he saw with horror that they were full of hate. Booker's hand exploded in flames, the gryphon began to scream in pain as the fire spread throughout his body, his cries of agony only lasted a few seconds before he was consumed by the flames, throughout this, DeWitt did not even flinch.

When everything ended, Booker made his way towards Trixie, the unicorn was very weak, but she was able to feel how he took her in his arms as he whispered that soon she would be all right, in the end, the pain and fatigue defeated her and she lost consciousness.