Advent Of A Gunslinger

With a defeated sigh, Typh let go of her weapon and held her hands up. “...Dammit. You’re better than the rumors say.”

“Shut it,” he glanced over to the deer who still held Monocrow in their magical freeze grip. “Let him go or she dies right here and now.”

What Axel couldn’t see was Typh’s facial expressions. She glared at one of the deer, and subtly shifted her eyes towards one of the barrels located on the deck.

Seemingly cooperating with Axel’s request, the deer released their magical hold on Monocrow, causing the osprey to fall flat on his face. “Oof!” He slowly rose to his feet, and looked around to make sure nothing had happened in the few seconds that he had been released.

Nothing. The deer seemed to have allowed him to go free without any sort of struggle whatsoever.

But Axel knew better than this. “Walk,” he commanded the eagle woman, keeping the gun aimed at her head the entire time. His intent was to make an exchange and leave as quickly as possible.

With no other option, Typh stepped down from the bow and onto the deck where the deer and Monocrow were. “Clearly I’ve been bested here. I suppose you win this time,” she muttered, attempting to flatter the gunslinger, “Not bad at all.”

And still, the gunslinger was stalwart and refused to back down. “Save it, missy. I ain’t interested.” His cold eyes focused hard on the deer that were standing on the deck. He knew that his enemy couldn’t be trusted for their word, and he needed to be ready for absolutely anything.

Soon enough, Monocrow would be on Axel’s side of the ship which prompted a complaint from Tpyh.

“Well? He’s yours now, you filthy cowboy. Let me go!”

“Alright…” Axel took another look to his left…

And acted.

With a quick shove, he pushed the eagle woman in the direction of the leftmost deer. Why? Axel had already predicted that that one was going to use its magic to push a barrel into them. Instead, that barrel was pushed directly into the eagle instead.

“Oof!” she screamed, “You buffoon! Get them!”

But it was far too late.

Monocrow had leapt into the air and fired off a few shots from his flintlock to ward them off as he made his escape. “Let’s go, Axel--wait--dammit!” he paused mid-sentence as he glanced back at Celaeno’s ship. “We got a problem!”

Axel had been busy dodging a flurry of bullets fired off by both the eagle captain and her deer crew’s weapons via their magic. “What?! What kinda problem?!”

“...Her ship is freakin’ swarmed with ‘em!” the osprey shouted as he took shelter behind the wooden mast in the middle of the eagle’s ship.

“Git yer ass outta here, boy! Help yer cap’n!” Axel called out from behind a stationary metal cannon on wheels that was starting to fray and fall apart from the bullet damage it had suffered.

“Tch! My lucky fuckin’ day!” With no other option, Crow had to risk the flight back to Celaeno’s ship in order to make it safely. So he spread his wings and leapt high into the air where they couldn’t see him. Then, he tucked his wings in and glided downwards at a 45-degree angle until he reached his captain’s main deck…

Which left Axel by himself on Typh’s deck. “Dammit. My ammo’s almost out. Gotta make these next ones count.” Since he had only twelve shots left, he knew he needed to be smart as he navigated his way through this mess of a gunfight.

And Typh knew she had the advantage, going as far as gloating about it. “Awk! Well now. Looks like the big bad Remington is a candy-ass little pansy! Guess he ain’t airworthy after all. Why do you even got wings, boy?”

While her taunts were annoying, the gunslinger didn’t allow himself to fall victim to reactive rage. Whatever happened to him at this point was unimportant, so long as everyone else on Celaeno’s ship was safe. “Think this through…”

PWANG!

Soon enough, the cannon was blown to bits, leavin Axel’s position completely exposed. He used the small dust cloud created by the debris to his advantage so that he could retaliate without being seen for a short period of time.

Within milliseconds of the cannon’s destruction, Axel flew straight into the crowd of deer, and dove into them, sliding upon his back while aiming his guns upwards--so fast that they couldn’t react to him in time. With each deer he slid past, he fired off one shot from each revolver directly into their hides which forced each deer to cry out in pain as they fell over, limp and bleeding against the deck of the ship.

Axel slid until he reached the opposite end of the deck, and realized that he was completely empty. But he had nailed all of his targets.

All but one.

“Not bad…” Typh turned, and aimed her gun directly at his face. “But I can smell those empty cylinders from a mile away. You’re helplessly impotent right now aren’t you, ya scurvy dog?” she said with a sadistic, toothy grin.

It was true. Axel was completely out of bullets by this point, so he had no choice but to holster his weapons. But he gave her no verbal response.

“And to think that you were able to get accurate shots off on each and every one of my crew members without a single miss!” she recounted his actions with a hysteric squawk as she glanced at her injured, but breathing deer crewmates, “Awk! What a riot! Now do you see why I’m going through all of this trouble? With weapons like that, we can rule land and the air. Don’t you see?!”

Axel walked up to her, staring the eagle woman dead in her twitching, unchanging eyes. Once he was at an arm’s reach away, he spoke, “The gun don’t make the man. Man makes the gun.”

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?”

The hippogriff took off his mask and turned his head to spit directly onto the deck of her ship. “It means you don’t know shit from shinola,” he commented before slipping it back on.

Typh’s patience was being tested and she couldn’t stand it. With a quick flick of her wrist, she grabbed him by the neck in the fierce grip of her claw. “Listen, you selfish worm of a man. You’re going to cooperate with me whether you like it or not. I’m the one with control over this situation. Not you.”

“Eeek!” he squawked, wings spreading involuntarily upon being grabbed. Despite this, he wasn’t at all intimidated by her words. In fact, he was more confident than ever. “...Hm...think you might wanna rethink putin’ hands on me.”

The eagle woman pushed him up against the hard wood that led to the upper deck with a hard thump! “Oh really?” she asked, still flashing her unstable smile, “Why’s that?”

CRASH!

All of a sudden, a massive shadow blocked out the sun, casting itself over both Typh and Axel. The gunslinger already knew the origin of the shadow, and had a confident grin beneath his mask.

“That’s why,” he said, tilting his head towards something--or someone--behind her.

Typh turned her head, and as soon as she laid eyes on what was behind her, her pupils shrank and her claw immediately released Axel’s neck from its grip, dropping the gunslinger to the deck’s floor.

And just who was standing there?

“Gimme back mah brother, ya side-windin’ toe-tappin’ hoe.”

It was Roseanne. The minotaur stood there with a powerful gaze that shot down into the eagle’s soul.

Which in turn, left the eagle captain a nervous, sweating, sputtering mess as she tried to back away. “H-how are...how did you...?”