Advent Of A Gunslinger

The two toms left the confines of their boss’s quarters, and returned to the outside world.

“Letter duty?” Mio commented with a teasing purr. “Now that sounds like puss work if I ever heard it.”

“Shut it, chess-boy,” Gatto hissed in response. “For your information, this mare is easily one of our most important clients. I wouldn’t expect you to know that since you barely negotiate with anyone to begin with.”

Still unmoved by the verbal jabs, Mio simply chuckled. “Mrwow. Insults based on one’s personal interests and a strawman based upon lack of foreknowledge. You wouldn’t know a thing about my personal life because you spend far too much time with vocalized attacks instead of inquiries.”

“...Dammit, what in blue blazes did he just say?” “Yeah uh...ya know what, I’m done talkin’, I got a job to do. Thank you very much!” Gatto would storm off in the direction of the postal service.

Mio sighed to himself, and continued to walk his own way. “That tom has some serious issues. Nevertheless, an objective is an objective…”

The tom with the blue suit continued on his way towards a familiar alley that Gatto had once travelled down. Then, he took the same freight elevator that led to the lower level of the residential complex where Maxine lived. As usual, the various neighbors that lived there continually made noise whether it was from fighting, sexual encounters, or some other act that caused a lot of screams and wails.

As he passed by the other doors, Mio would hiss to himself. “Such foulness. Even among Klugetowners, this is appalling to hear. It’s as if they have no sense of embarrassment if anyone were to hear their nonsense.”

Thankfully, when he arrived at Mynx’s door, things went rather smoothly once he knocked.

“It be open!” she called out from the far side of her home, likely from the workshop.

Mio silently entered, and locked the door behind himself. He walked until he reached the garage where Mynx carried out her work. “Maxine. I’m here on behalf of my associate, Gatto.”

Mynx stopped what she had been doing, and walked around to the front of her desk in the middle of the room. “...Aye? What has happened, sir?”

“This isn’t for me to say, so allow me to cut right to the gist of it,” he put his open paws together, and continued, “Your sister has violated the terms of our deal by abandoning the town. Your life is now forfeit, and you will be executed within the next three days if she doesn’t return.”

Mynx dropped to her knees while she stared at the floor in disbelief. “...She...left? I don’t understand at all…”

“Sadly, my paws are tied,” Mio responded with a sympathetic shrug, “Rules are rul--wha??”

Before he could finish his statement, Mynx had tackled Mio’s legs and almost sent him to the floor. “Please…” she pleaded with a soft sob against his pants, “Please don’t hogtie me up and drag me out there! I’ll do anythin’! I’ll even suck yer cock and let ya feck me! Just let me stay here!”

Mio backed away with a nervous tilt of his head. “...Look. That won’t--there’s no need for that.”

Mynx was confused. Since she was at the mercy of an entire gang of Abyssinians, she had figured that she would have to do a lot of gross tasks just to make it by. And yet this particular tomcat had no intention of doing any of that to her?

“...Aye...Aye don’t get it,” her reply was a slow, confused one, “Ya don’t want to...do anythin’ to me?”

The tom leaned against the wall. “Gatto and the others have instilled a disgusting behavior within you. The expectancy of abuse at the paws of those who have more power than you.” He turned his head to the side, and pushed his glasses up. “Such vile acts are unbecoming of any self-respecting Abyssy.”

“...He really means it, doesn’t he? He’s not like the others? I may as well do what I can while I’m able. Just hope Kora makes it out okay.” Unfortunately, she couldn’t bring herself to try and escape. Mynx knew she would have to suffer the consequences unless her sister could save her. But even then, she hoped her sister valued her own life enough to finally get free of what caused them both pain for so long. “...T-thank you…? B-but won’t ye be ridiculed fer not doin’ that stuff to meh? What’ll they say about ye?”

Mio shook his head, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t need the approval of some lowlifes who get off on the misfortune of others. I hate the way they operate, and refuse to violate my own personal sense of self for their gain.” He turned around, and started to walk into the other room.

“So...why are ye still part of it all?” Mynx asked hesitantly. “Why not just break off and make yer own thing?”

He stopped on a dime, and flicked his tail. Tension filled the room with his paw’s claws digging into the wooden frame of the doorway. After a moment of silence, he turned his head to glance back at her. “As soon as all theoretic angles of my plan line up in place, I intend to tear Klugetown apart, and rebuild it from the ground up.”

Mynx’s ears twitched upon hearing this. “Wait, what do you--?!”

Mio didn’t bother with a response. He simply left the garage, and started to investigate throughout the rest of her home. “I need to confiscate all of the weapons she has so she doesn’t get any ideas. Where to begin…”

Meanwhile...aboard the airship that was floating back towards Cassy’s inn…

Due to his lack of sleep from the night before, Axel had fallen asleep in a corner of the airship. Out like a log, and unaware of anything around him.

“...You think he’s gonna be alright?” Vido glanced over to the snoozing gunslinger.

“I’d say so, yes,” Kora affirmed with a nod, “He’s much tougher than he appears. And I, for one, would like to extend my thanks to you personally. You really saved our hides back there, Vido.”

The griffon sat back in his seat with his claws behind his head in a confident manner. “Ay, chiquita--no sweat for me. And don’t worry. We’ll save your hermana. I know what it’s like to lose someone close to you. Just like our vaquero friend over there asleep--it’s a painful experience that we both know quite well.”

Kora looked over in the direction of the sleeping Axel. “I see...have you two discussed it?”

“No, not at all,” Vido sat up and leaned forward, putting his claws together with his fingers interlocked, “It’s...not something I’m ready to go into detail with quite yet.”

“That’s completely fine,” the she-cat replied, “No need to force yourself to speak on something you’re not ready to yet. I’d just like to know: Is your mother going to be okay with this? Will she...trust me?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“It’s just…” Kora hesitated, and twiddled her paws together, “We Abyssinians don’t tend to travel out that far. We’re not exactly on friendly terms with that side of the world. We barely know the ponies all that well…and the hippogriffs and seaponies certainly don’t trust us. To be honest, I’m surprised Mr. Remington did...”

Vido flew over to her, and put a gentle claw on her shoulder to comfort her. “Mi madre is easily the most accepting woman I know. She was willing to help Remy out when he first arrived. As for the cowboy himself, I’m just as impressed as you are.” He pulled out a map from his pilot’s jacket, and opened it up. He then pointed to the world’s southern hemisphere where Mt. Aris was located. “After that whole incident with the seaponies and the Storm King, I was surprised to find that the seaponies were mostly neutral to the catfolk.”

Kora’s nose twitched curiously. She was impressed at just how much this griffon knew, as she had assumed that they were all extremely poor and had a distasteful, black and white view of the outside world. “Oh? What do you know of such relations, Vido? I-I don’t mean that sarcastically, I’m just really interested…”

“...Huh.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Such a question threw him off because he was usually giving answers in relation to landmarks or other cultures. But about himself? That was a new one entirely. “You wanna know about me specifically, si? Well firstly, my full title is Vido Montaña Magpie, great to meet you.”

The she-cat replied with a smile. “...My name is Katrina Fa Ying--but everyone calls me Kora. It’s nice to meet you as well, young man.”

“Young man? Just how old is she?” “Bueno. Now as far as my history goes, I’ve always loved searching and finding out new things. It’s something mi padre helped me get into. So one day, I’d be able to make a name for myself.”

“Well, it sounds as if you’ve done just that,” Kora replied, “Your mother must be very proud of you.”

“She is. When you meet her, you’ll see what I mean. She has a special stockpile that she carries just for when I need anything. It’ll serve us well.”

Kora looked down with a forlorn, neutral expression on her face. The knowledge that someone else’s mother was a very good person to her child made her look back upon her own life. “...I wonder if I could be that for someone else.”

“You alright, gata?” Vido spoke up whilst he waved his claw in front of her face to check if she was still with him.

The she-cat blinked her eyes, and snapped out of her thoughts. “Oh...y-yes. Sorry. I just need a moment to think about everything…”

Vido went and sat back down at the controls to the ship. “Understood, Kora. We should arrive there within the hour.”