Advent Of A Gunslinger

The Mechanic.

The Abyssinian led Axel down the alleyway which then led to a flight of stairs that would take them underground and into a stony hallway that led to other homes boarded up by poorly welded doors. On the way to their destination, they would pass by those doorways that would have lots of...diverse noises behind them.

“So you go and hop on his dick instead of trying to talk things out?!” a male voice screamed from behind a door, “The fuck kinda girlfriend are you?!”

A female voice would scream right back. “You’re no better! You’re always chatting with those other hoes down the street!”

Behind another door…

“Where’d you put my shit?! I need that to pay back the boss!”

“You should’ve said something, dumbass. My friends and I smoked that shit last week.”

This was followed by the sound of something hitting the wall. “You what?! You motherfucker! You owe me for that!”

And behind another door, all bets were off. What sounded like visceral melee combat took place along with the sound of various items that crashed, broke, and shattered. There was an overlap of reptilian hissing and squeals of a swine.

Axel wasn’t fazed by this, however. He kept his sights set forward, and continued to follow the cat lady.

She decided to break the silence between them with a few words. “Apologies for all the noisy neighbors. Everybody here likes to muck about in their own eccentric ways.”

“I can see that,” Axel replied, “But where are ya takin’ me?”

“To me home, see. Just gotta take the elevator.” She pointed to the very end of the hall where a cargo elevator was located. The metal cage of it was just as rusted as the other metal that Axel had come across thus far.

“Yeech,” he mumbled, “Feel like I’mma get tetanus from just bein’ ‘round these parts.”

The she-cat laughed off his concern. “Oh don’tcha fret about that, syr. Klugetown has been disease free fer the last hundred years’er so.”

That didn’t quite put him at ease, though. It was at times like this where he was grateful that he was covered fully in armor from claw to hoof.

The two of them took the cargo elevator down deeper into the underground ‘building’ of sorts. The whole time, Axel was still extremely wary of the she-cat and prepared himself for any number of sticky situations.

“Didn’t catch yur name, mister. Mind tellin’ me who ya are? It’ll make things a touch less awkward.”

Axel didn’t want to take that chance quite yet. It was entirely plausible that he had garnered infamy for his bounty work, so he settled on an alias for the time being. “Remy,” he replied, “Just Remy.”

“Remy, eh? Quite the regal, name indeed. You can call me Mynx, yeah?”

Soon enough, the elevator came to a stop and the two would exit at the same time, into another stony hall with doors all around that led into various homes. There wasn’t as much noise down here compared to up top, except for some distant moans and huffs.

Mynx let out an awkward cough. “Ahem. Once again, sorry ‘bout the noise. Neighbors gonna sex each other up six ways to Sunday regardless of whatcha tell ‘em.” She would take him to one of the doors, and open it. “Welcome to me home and place of work.”

Inside, was a fairly normal-looking apartment complex. A living room, hardwood floors, a kitchen--everything one would expect to have in a regular house. A stark contrast to harsh conditions that plagued the rest of Klugetown and its residents.

“...Hrm,” Axel took a look around, “Not what I was expecting. Wait a second, this is also your place of work? Where do you conduct your business?”

“Aye, follow me, ya buff,” she led him through her home and to her garage. There, he would find loads and loads of metal plating stacked neatly into piles all over the room. In the middle of it, lied her work table which contained small piles of what looked to be items such as toys and pipes.

Axel stepped into her workshop, and commented on what he saw. “Well now. You must be a skilled welder. My pa used to do woodwork for a time.”

“Oh yeah? I tried it meself once. Couldn’t deal with fookin’ splinters up in my tail and such.”

“So you’d rather deal with heavy metal?” he questioned.

Mynx flopped down in the chair behind her desk, and prop her legs upon it, “Aye, lad. I can pump me some iron. But wood is another thing entirely.” She took off her gloves, and went on. “So, I understand you need to get to Abyssinia, yeh? Mind tellin’ me why exactly?”

He hesitated to give the details. “...It’s a family matter.”

Unfortunately for him, Mynx refused to accept this answer. “Sorry, mate. I ain’t just about to let anyone head there. Especially someone that looks like he’s ‘bout ready to fire on all cylinders. Can ya at least gimme a few nuggets of info?”

Naturally, his appearance did give off the impression of a man on a mission. Whether he liked it or not, Mynx’s concern was warranted. From her perspective, some crazed gunslinger wanted to go shoot up her hometown--at least, that was the absolute worst-case scenario that Axel could think of.

“Sonuva gun. Can’t blame her, though. It’s a valid concern to have.”

With his options, and time limited, Axel chose to indulge the she-cat a bit more. “Alright. I’ll tell ya what I can. Long story short…”

In a concise, controlled manner, he’d go on to explain why he was out there. However, he chose his words carefully and left out specific details such as his family name.

“...I’m on a mission to find and kill those black cat bastards with yellow eyes.”

“Black fur...yellow eyes,” Mynx muttered and scratched her left ear as she thought about it. Once she came to the realization, she sat upright, and grit her teeth. “Oh no...yur dealing with quite possibly the worst possible group of Abyssinians.” Her facial expression dropped to a more fearful one. “You...you shouldn’t mess with them, Remy. I naydn’t recommend it.”

Was he really going to be lectured yet again about not being prepared for this? Axel wasn’t about to stand for it. He shot her a stern glare. “You don’t need to hit me with that nonsense, lil’ missy. I already know how that pussy gang operates.”

Oddly enough, that wasn’t Mynx’s point. She stood up from her desk, and walked around to meet the hippogriff at eye level with an anxious look on her face. “No, it’s not that, it’s--!”

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!

Before Mynx could explain herself, there would be a knock at her front door. “Maxine. I know you’re home. I need to speak with you.”

The she-cat’s ears twitched, and her tail stood up on end. Her pupils shrank, and her heart practically skipped a beat. “...! O-One sec, yeh?” She turned to Axel and spoke in a rushed, anxious whisper. “Go hide! Now!”

Normally, he wasn’t keen on running from danger. But given that his presence could inadvertently jeopardize her safety, he did as she said. Axel dove, and hid in the locker that was near one of the piles of metal. After which, Mynx would lock the door into place with a combination lock that only she knew the code to. This was done to make sure it didn’t fly open by accident.

Then, she would return to her desk, and start writing something down on paper with her glasses on. This was done in an attempt to look as natural as possible. “It’s open.”

The front door to her apartment would open, and close a few seconds later. After several footsteps, another Abyssinian would enter the garage. However, unlike most of the Abyssinians known to the average Equestrian, this one was dressed rather nicely in a black suit and dress pants that looked like they had just been pressed, a white stetson hat on his head, and a pair of shades with solid gold accented around the edges of the lenses around his eyes.

There were a few small bars in the metal supply locker that allowed Axel to peek through to see the room. What really tipped him off though, was the fact that this tomcat matched up perfectly with one of the many he encountered when he was younger. Jet black fur, yellow eyes, knife-like claws.

“...Could that be? He looks just like…”

“Leave my wife out of this!”

“Let me go, please!!”

Indeed. The general facial structure of this tom matched the particular one that forcefully removed his mother from their home. The main, and obvious difference was that the tom had aged over the course of the last twenty years, which would put him in his late thirties at minimum.

“I could put a bullet between his eyes right now...however, he may be my ticket there. Decisions…”

The Abyssinian male was tall, and had a broad muscle structure befitting that of a bodybuilder. Much different than the more rugged appearance he had all those years ago. He spoke with a deep, imposing voice that demanded attention.

“Maxine,” he addressed the lady cat, “It’s good to see you here. How has everything been?”

“Oh...you know…” Mynx hesitated to answer, and almost stumbled over her words, “F-fine, Mr. Gatto.”

The tom removed his glasses, and properly folded the temples into place so that he could put them in his pocket. “Hmhm...come now, we’re all friends here. Just Gatto is fine on its own.”

“Oh, okay, G-Gatto, sir.” Mynx shivered in her seat, much less confident now than she was before. “Anyway...all of my things are in place. I just need to fill a few more orders, and I’ll have the weapons you need by next week.”

“Weapons?” Axel thought to himself. “I wonder what exactly she’s making for this bozo.”

“Hmm...that isn’t going to work for me,” Gatto replied with a shake of his head, “Our boss has an important fight to oversee. We need the best materials we can find.”

Axel had to hold back his shock to keep a low profile. “Wait a minute, there’s someone above him? Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t shoot first…”

Sadly, this conflicted with Mynx’s plans. As a commission-based professional, she got paid with every individual weapon that was purchased that contained her materials. However, she had other orders to fill in the meantime, and wanted to get paid for those ones first.

“S-sir,” she sputtered with a shaky mewl, “I uh...would like to request a delay on that. With my other jobs stacked between there, I need the money from those just to get through the week. Today is, wot,” she took a quick glance at the calendar on her wall nearby, “Tuesday, yeah? Can ye at least give me ‘til Friday fer it? ...Please?”

The tomcat put his hand-paws together, and tapped his index-fingertips against each other. He was weighing his options…

And with that, came a deafening silence. The tension increased further and further, until finally, Gatto would answer.

“Stand up, Maxine. Walk around to the front of your desk, please.”

Once again, her tail along with her fur stood up on end. But she sat back in a slump momentarily right before she gave in to the demand, and rose from her seat. She walked around to the front of her desk, and stood in front of the well-dressed tom.

“...Yes, sir?”