Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile, at Maxine’s home…

Mio had gotten the information he needed from his falcon informant. Next, he needed to prepare the she-cat for the hostage situation that his boss had described. “Joyous. How to approach this…”

He knocked on the door of the garage, and entered. “Ahem...Maxine, I’m afraid to sat that it’s time to go.”

“...Aye,” she replied as she dropped her tools, “I getcha.” She then stood upright.

Mio would put her hands behind her back and tie some rope around her wrists. “Note that I have no intention of causing you any harm. It would completely violate the terms that I have in place.”

“...Mind tellin’ meh what those are?” she asked.

The tom would pull her along, and continue. “I may as well. Our boss wants me to trade you in return for Remington’s safety. It’s as simple as that. You and your sister will be able to leave here and won’t have to ever come back.”

“...Hrm…” “Can I really trust him? Will this all be over soon? Granted, he did have multiple chances to do as he pleased with me...and yet he chose not to. Whatever the case, I’mma play along fer now.” Mynx agreed, albeit hesitantly. “...Alright. Not like I have a choice ‘er anythin’.”

“This will all be over soon,” Mio said as they went up the elevator, “...Very soon.”

In the desert at the oasis...

Once Tony put the rest of his supplies away, he and Axel started to return to Klugetown.

“Well this was a fun one, Remy-boy,” he said, “Hope we can have plenty more days like this in the future. And maybe when Stella comes by and visits, we can all enjoy ourselves together--” he caught himself as he realized such an offer may have overstepped an emotional boundary. Here he was, treating this hippogriff like a son-in-law when they had only known each other for a little while. The knowledge that Axel was so close to his real parents before they were taken from him only served to make the minotaur feel guilty mere seconds after stating it. “...If ya want, that is,” he said with a more regrettable tone, “I won’t force ya.”

Interestingly enough, Axel’s response wasn’t as cold as it usually was. “...That’d be mighty fine. I’ll be sure to take you up on that. Where do ya live, sir?”

Tony was floored, and nearly stumbled over his words when the hippogriff replied amicably. Neither of them realized it, but it was a mutually beneficial relationship. An older minotaur whose child was rarely around and a hippogriff who lacked any sort of family whatsoever. It’d take some work, but they really did get along well as if they were father and son-in-law.

“Oh, uh--ahem. Not very far from the saloon, Remy. I got my own house so Stella won’t hafta worry about no trashy neighbors.”

That got a rare, small snicker out of Axel. “Ha. That’s a good’un. I’ll make sure I stop by sometime again. And who knows? If I get lucky, I’ll meet yer daughter too.”

“That’s the spirit, my boy!” Tony brought Axel in for a close hug with his left arm since he carried his fishing equipment in his right. “You’ll grow up to be a damn good man someday.”

Axel lost some air, but didn’t exactly refuse the embrace. “...I hope so, Tony. I hope so.”

They left the secret location, and Axel would bid Tony goodbye as the minotaur left for home.

“See ya around, son.”

“I intend to, partner,” Axel replied as he flew back towards the entrance of Klugetown.

Once the minotaur was completely out of sight, that’s when he heard someone shout his name from over a town-wide intercom.

“AXEL REMINGTON! I’M CALLIN’ YOU OUT! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO APPROACH THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKETPLACE ALONE IF YOU WANT THE INFORMATION YOU SEEK!”

“...” Axel balled his left claw into a fist, and looked around. There was no one nearby which meant that the one behind the voice had to be near the middle of the town’s open air bazaars. There wasn’t much time, so he knew he would have to rush back and get his gear…

Until a griffon landed next to him about two minutes later. “I’ve got your back, compadre. We heard the voice and came’a runnin’.” Vido took off a satchel which contained all of Axel’s weapons and gear, and offered it to the hippogriff.

Kora had stopped on a dime nearby, and sniffed the air. Then, she looked at Axel. “...Maxine. She’s near. We will stay out of sight and on command if you need our help.” In a single bound, Kora leapt onto one of the nearby stands and climbed ahead.

Before Axel could say anything, Vido had also taken to the air. “We’re with you, señor. No matter what.”

The gunslinger once again had all of his weapons, leather armor, hat, and mask in place once more. Since his two ‘companions’ had already taken off, he was in no position to refute them. Not like he wanted to, anyway. “I really hope this don’t get worse.”

Meanwhile, within Klugetown’s square…

Mio had placed the megaphone down on a nearby empty table. He approached Mynx whom he had bound by her arms. “Remember what I said. This is just a formality.” He tapped his index paw-finger upon his forehead. “If it were up to me, I’d have set you free a long time ago.”

“I get ye,” Mynx replied, “I just want ya to know that ya don’t hafta listen to ‘em. You can make yer own way through life.”

“I wish…” the tom hissed under his breath, “But I don’t have the luxury of that choice…”

“...Rats. What a shame. Thought I could understand him.” Mynx couldn’t help but wonder what weighed upon Mio’s soul. Just why was he so cordial with her compared to Gatto? Was it a manipulation tactic or was he annoyed with how his colleagues treated hostages. What he said earlier also rang through her mind… “Tear Klugetown apart, and rebuild it from the ground up. I wonder…”

In a matter of moments, Axel approached the two in the middle of the town square.

“...Let ‘er go, cat-guy,” he demanded with his claw twitching towards his weapon.

Mio took a step forward. “I fully intend to do so. After a small equivalent exchange,” he pinched his thumb and index finger to add emphasis, then pointed at Axel. “You. Give yourself up, and I’ll let her go. Simple as that.”

Mynx hung her head down, unsure of what to make of the situation.

Axel had to weigh his options. He knew that, to the left, his abyssinian friend was on the prowl. Kora had kept a low profile and managed to hide within the confines of an abandoned building that overlooked the square down below. To his right, Vido was high in the air. Likely ready to cause mayhem if necessary.

“This be the pussycat hipster with the card tricks. I don’t see no gun on him, but who knows what he could pull from outta them whiskers on his face?”

Truly a wild card. Mio’s presence was a threat despite the fact that he lacked any sort of visible weaponry. Axel wagered that this tom had to be a magician in his spare time if his tricks were that good. The question was: Just how to approach this?

A tumbleweed bounced aimlessly through the square between both sides. The gunslinger was prepared to draw at a moment’s notice. His eyes steeled with a single bead of sweat that ran down the side of his face. His mask concealed his sense of unease and slight sense of fear for Mynx’s safety. Would it be better to give in and guarantee her passage? Or would it make more sense to fight head-on and eliminate Mio off the face of the planet?

Amidst the deafening silence, Mio would speak up at last. “Well?” he asked, as he re-adjusted the red rim of his glasses, “Have you come to a decision?”

Axel was about to reply. “I…”

But then, his ear flicked and he could smell a sense of dread that came from a nearby window just a few meters away.

“...!”

With a flick of his wrist, he drew his right revolver, and aimed it at the window of the shop.

But before he could get a shot off…

BANG!

A body hit the dirt with a loud thud. However, both Axel and Mio were still standing…

Mynx had been shot clear as day in the chest, and fell to the ground.

Within the mere nanoseconds of that shot being fired off, Axel returned fire with six bullets right into the window of the nearby shop.

Right after that, Kora let out a shrill caterwaul. “NOOOOOO!! MAXIIIIINE!” Stealth was completely off the table. The she-cat barreled down the side of the nearby wall, and ran up to her sister to hold her body in her arms. “S-stay with me! Come on! I’m here!”

Mynx coughed a few times. The bullet didn’t kill her right away, but it still caused enough damage to where she could barely move or speak. “...K….Kat…”

Mio meanwhile, had been set off by this. Everything had been carefully planned out, and then all went to shit in the blink of an eye. He stormed up to the shop, and shouted into the broken window. “What in the--come out, whoever you are! This was my job and my business that I was conducting! How dare you--?!”

A few seconds later, a familiar tomcat would exit, and take off his shades ever so casually. “Well...that takes care of that, doesn’t it?”

Much to the surprise of Axel, Mio’s anger was fierce. The blue-suited tom grabbed his fellow gangster by his suit and shoved him against the sole, intact front window of the empty shop. “What in the turkey-lovin’ fuck was that about?!” he hissed as he slammed Gatto against the glass, “That was supposed to be a simple hostage exchange, but you had to go and mess everything up, you pussy-livered, litter box huffing psycho!”

“Ouch! Hey, hey! Lay off, man!” Gatto tried to reason with Mio as best he could. There was a rather nervous, apprehensive smile on his face. The last person he would have expected to get angry with him was the guy who did card tricks in his spare time. But he did his best to hid his nerves with a malicious purr. “We don’t need no gyatdamn soft-ass circus clown runnin’ this area!”

“Oh?!” Mio had then forced Gatto against the glass with a chokehold. “So you sought to sabotage me by killing a hostage against protocol?! That’s rich--and low, even for someone of your status. This is exactly what’s wrong with this wretched place!”

“Suck it up,” Gatto taunted his associate with a newfound smirk, “This was your job. You should’ve planned it out better.”

“HOI!” Axel shouted with both guns aimed at the two. “Stick ‘em up, gents…”

As the two argued, both Kora and Mynx shared in the latter’s final moments together.

Mynx weakly reached a hand up to her sister’s cheek. “...Never...let anyone...tell ya whatcha can’t do…”

“N-no...d-don’t go! P-please…” Kora sobbed with her hand on her sister’s chest to try and keep the bleeding to a minimum. “W-we can...I-I can…”

“...I knew this...day...would come…” Mynx muttered in between coughs as her breaths got quieter and quieter. “I...love ya...Kora...always…”

Kora’s sobs fell silent as Mynx’s head went limp against her body. She was dead. All sense of life had fled the she-cat’s system, which left the abyssinian in emotional shambles…

...That is, until she turned her attention to the tom that shot her. “...”

“...”