Advent Of A Gunslinger

And that’s when Kora had just about had enough.

SLICE!

In a blur of black, she slashed at Gatto’s throat, and jumped at the nurse, tackling her to the cold floor. It was a struggle, and the nurse would try to throw her off her back, but it was no use. Kora had already grabbed another syringe, and injected the nurse’s neck with it. Within seconds, the nurse she-cat’s eyes would forcibly shut.

Surprised by this, Axel stumbled over his words in an attempt to describe what just happened. “...Hot dayum. You. Wait, why are ya helpin’ me?”

Kora swiped the keys that led to the chains on Axel’s body, and would set the hippogriff free. “I couldn’t stand that. I had no frackin’ idea that this is what the rest of my kind does to ponies. It’s disgusting.”

Once free, Axel rubbed the wrists of his claws. “Yeah, you could say that again. This...all of this here is disturbin’ as all get out. I just...wanna wipe these cat-bastards from existence...and all’a their jobbers. All of ‘em.”

Kora did her best to console him. “...Okay, partner. I’m with ya.”

He paused, and turned his head to look away from her. “...Stay yer behind outta this, missy. I know yer sister’s life is forfeit if--”

The she-cat would cut him off with a hiss. “Hhh! Enough! She wouldn’t want me to just sit back and let someone git their nuts busted open while worrying about her. That’s the coward’s fallacy. Besides...you came all the way out here to avenge your family which made me realize--I should be able to make my own choices as well.”

“Even so...while I’m grateful for the assist, I can’t afford to…” Axel stopped in the middle of the room, and looked around at the cages. Sad, broken ponies with no way to escape. And here he was, stranded without his head. “...Genuinely up shit creek without no paddle.”

Kora must have realized this also, and decided to bring it up. “...Listen, Mr. Remington. I know where they’ve more than likely taken your weapons. We can get everything back.”

“...Ya do?” The offer caused his heart to beat with a sense of guilt. First she saved him against the will of her superiors, and now she wanted to help him find his weapons? Truly, it was an overwhelming sensation. “...Ain’t nobody offered me help like this without a reason.”

She wasn’t in the mood to debate. “Listen, I’m going to help ya because I want to. How ya react to that is entirely up to you, friend.”

Axel also came to the same conclusion. The more time they wasted with idle chatter, the worse things would get. “...Lead the way, little lady.”

Kora beckoned him to follow her up a flight of stairs. Gatto was nowhere to be seen, but there was a trail of blood that led up those stairs. “Confound it! I didn’t hit his major artery close enough. But we can use that to our advantage.”

“Follow the trail to our varmint, yeah?” Axel pointed up, and hovered over the blood trail. “Let’s git a move on, then.”

The two went up the stairs, and found themselves in what appeared to be a hospital setting with loads of white walls in all directions.

“Just gotta make a right,” Kora commanded with a whisper, “This way.”

“I hear ya. Though I wonder who the varmint that played that card trick was…”

“That had to be Mio,” she replied, “Resident card-carrier. He often laces sharpened playing cards with poisons and other toxins to distract and subdue his opponents.”

Axel gave an impressed sort of scoff. That was something he had never heard of before. “Well now. Here I thought cards were just fer playin’.”

Kora’s tail flicked, and she re-adjusted her glasses. “Shhh…” Her little nose quivered and twitched as she picked up the scent of blood once more. “He must have found a way to stop the bleeding, but I can still smell something as clear as day.” She shut her eyes, and sniffed a bit more. “...gunpowder. Familiar to the bullets you fired at me during our sparrin’ sesh. This way.”

The two traveled deeper into the hospital with Axel following Kora who followed the scent of his weapons and gear. It wasn’t long before they found themselves at a set of double doors that led into a laboratory.

“Your weapons and getup lie beyond this door.” Kora would sniff once more. “Mm-hm...two individuals. We can take them both if we’re fast enough. You ready?”

Axel flexed his claws. “As a buffalo in a china shop.”

With a silent, mental countdown, Kora would approach the doors and knock upon them.

Thump-thump-thump.

Then she immediately crouched down to avoid being seen through either glass window of the door. As expected, someone would approach, and eventually open it…

Which led right to Kora’s attack.

She tackled the first Abyssinian doctor to the ground, and quickly pinned her. This allowed Axel to infiltrate the room, and tackle the other doctor--another she-cat with yellow fur, a light blue labcoat and red hair. He held her in a chokehold, but didn’t seek to kill her. Though, when she tried to bite into his arm, he increased the amount of force he applied so that she couldn’t sink her fangs into his flesh.

A quick glance to his left, and he found his weapons and gear upon an examination table.

“MEW! Pleasedon’tkillmeeeeeow!” the she-cat doctor wailed from within his grip.

Axel shoved her against a nearby wall, and quickly retrieved his gear. Within seconds, he was back into his gunslinger motif. Hat, gloves, guns, mask and all. “Ya’ll were runnin’ tests on my weapons, eh?”

The Abyssinian backed into the corner of the room. “T-that’s all I was told! We just study items that come to us! Honest!”

Kora would poke her head into the room. “She’s right. They appear to be nothing more than analysts. The doctor I tackled has no intention of causin’ us any harm.”

Since they had nothing to do with what he was after, Axel saw no point in wasting bullets on them. “Git outta here while ya can. And start runnin’ to Panthera. Don’t stop until ya get away from these salt-lickin’ sociopaths. Comprend?”

The she-cat he had threatened quickly got up and ran out of the room. “O-okay! C-c’mon, Leona!” She grabbed ahold of her fellow she-cat co-worker, and ran off ahead of them.

“Smart thinking,” Kora commended Axel’s suggestion, “Panthera is a very safe place where they won’t be at risk of any gang activity.”

The gunslinger dusted off his weapons and made sure he had everything he needed including his bullets. “I ain’t had no idea. Just figured the capital would be a good suggestion.” He paused for a moment, and stared at the black cat. “...Thank ya for the help. Wouldn’t have made it here without ya.”

“Shucks, friend,” she purred with a smile on her face, “It’s only natural to assist someone who’s in a bind. Though, to be frank, I said I was serious: I fully intend to work with you from here on. I cannot, in good faith, work with freaks who subject ponies or any other creature to forced removal of their body parts. My sister would absolutely flog me for putting myself above others.”

“Such a plumb crazy cat lady. And yet, I gotta respect her chops. Hella fine way of thinkin’ she’s got goin’. But at the same time, I know her sis is gonna be on the choppin’ block next. And after what I saw...hell naw. I can’t let her sis end up like mine and my brothers.”

Axel had broken eye contact, and looked down towards the floor as the thoughts raced around in his mind. “Hrm…”

“What’s wrong, cowboy?” Kora asked with a concerned tone.

At last, he came to a decision, but first he needed to ask a question. “...Mynx. She your older sister, yeah?”

“By about two years, yes. Why?”

That just about sealed the deal for him. “I’mma help ya. Gon’ make sure the same ol’ shit that happened to my sis don’t happen to yours.”

Kora was taken aback by this. Her tail and fur both stood up on end, and stumbled over her words. “W-wha? I...are you sure?”

“Did I stutter?” Axel asked rhetorically. “Now hurry up. We need ta--”

WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP!

A loud siren went off that pierced their eardrums. A red light would blink and flash to indicate something was amiss within the confines of the hospital.

The two had to cover their ears for a second, but Kora sniffed and would pick up the scent of more Abyssinians that were headed for their direction. “We gotta go, Remy! Now!”

“Ain’t gotta tell me twice!”

The two ran out of the room and into the hall as fast as they could. A few seconds past before they could see what appeared to be a small Abyssinian army after them.

Led by none other than a wounded Gatto who had a bandage on his neck.

“RERRRR!” he mewled with a lustful vengeance as he scampered on all fours like a feral cat. A few more of his gang members did the same and were gaining momentum on the pair.

Kora had also taken to a quadrupedal sprint, while Axel flew straight through the air as fast as he could.

With a flick of his wrist, he retrieved his left revolver and rotated in mid-air to fire off a few rounds.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

“HHHH!”

The result was a few scattered catfolk, and he was skilled enough to have actually landed a few hits. One was struck directly in the chest, and another was hit right through his neck. Both of them took a tumble and were long gone. The rest managed to completely avoid the gunfire with little effort--especially Gatto himself who looked to be more agile than even Kora!

“For all the crap he talks, he sure can back it up,” Axel thought.

Just then, Kora would speak up. “Remy! I see an emergency exit ahead!”

Axel noticed this, and picked up the pace. He flapped his wings hard enough to generate force to propel him further and further until finally…

CRASH!

The two burst through the doors, but were met with an extremely unpleasant sight.

“RAWR!” Kora’s fur frizzled up as she stared at the giant chasm before her. The emergency exit of the building led to a massive orange canyon. The other side of it was easily a mile away and the drop was easily hundreds of feet if not more.

Axel wasn’t fazed by this since he could fly, but his sense of direction was thrown off entirely thanks to the drastically unfamiliar territory he was in. But in the meantime, he quickly realized that Gatto and the rest of his crew were still on their way.

“Jump!” he shouted to Kora, “I gotcha!”

The she-cat wasted no time, and quickly leapt up to the hippogriff who caught her paw in his claw. “Meeeewhew…” she breathed out, “Thank you, Remy.”

“Git on my back--now,” he commanded her as he watched Gatto and his crew pour out of the emergency exit’s doors to the balcony.

The tom stared up at them both with his usual smug expression. He reached into his jacket, and pulled out a revolver of his own. One that had a reversed image of the Remington family’s ‘R’ insignia on the handle. “I’ll be sure to give Maxine your regards…”

“No...that can’t be…”

With Kora upon his back, they both were locked in a standoff as the gunslinger aimed his weapons at the dreaded gangster.

But then...something happened.

Something gigantic started to block out the sun. It caught everyone’s attention, and forced them all into silence as they heard propellers and steam...