"Well Mister Othello, you mind letting me go? Something tells me the one that got away is going to be back with friends." The Dynamite Princess said squirming in her restraints. Othello pondered on her words. He probably could have gunned all four down but he had a habit of letting one go as a warning to the rest. The thought of them returning was usually unheard of but if she was who they claimed she was, the chances of them letting her go so easily, were rather narrow.
"If it comes to that, I'll deal with them." Othello said simply. He placed money on the bar for his drink and the Inn keep grabbed his hand.
"Had I known who you are I'd have never let you in here." His voice was cold and laced with animosity.
"The war is over old man, leave it in the past." Othello's hand was already at his hip.
"Then why are you still here? Thought you were all 'decommissioned' after the war? Blood wielders, nothing but killing machines with skin." Othello snatched his hand free and the Inn keep went quiet. He let out a breath then slowly placed the shotgun down.
"Count your blessings sir, I'm the last one of my kind." Othello sighed concealing his guns once more.
"Ha, you wish." The princess chimed in. "You may not be the worse, but you are definitely not the last of your kind." Othello gave her side eye glance, thought of a response but chose not to. It was what she said on his way out that stopped his feet and captured his interest.
"He has a hand of steel!" she cried out in desperation. There were many augments and cyborgs in the world today and many with augmented hands, but only one with eyes like his own. Othello turned around at the mention of it.
"What do you know about the blood wielder with the hand of steel?" He asked calmly but there seemed to finally be a small spark of emotion in his words. Princess raised a brow and gave a smirk.
"Chains first, and I'll tell you everything I know on the road."
"You're not coming with me."
"Oh I am, because you need me if you plan to find him." The two stared each other down for a moment.
"I'll let you go, you tell me what you know, then we go our separate ways. Otherwise, I'll just turn you in in the next town." She hesitated for a moment then with a smile she replied.
"Deal. His name is Mitus. He and his gang run an Outpost to the west and they're searching for something." She stopped and nodded at her constraints. Othello showed his first real emotion with an eyeroll of annoyance. He drew his pistol and with two shots the chains fell. The Inn Keep now had his shotgun up again and Princess had her eyes closed.
"You bastard what if you woulda hit me!?"
"And miss out on the rest of your fascinating story, I wouldn't do this tavern such disservice." Othello smirked. She stood and stumbled a bit. She flexed her hands and stretched a bit then picked up a bag off one of the corpses.
"This belongs to me pig!" she hissed kicking the body. "Okay, ready to go."
"I told you you're not coming." He insisted as he slung his back into its holster. The look on her face said otherwise.
"There's an awful lot of Outpost out there, you plan on checking every single one?" Othello thought about it for a moment, even considered putting her back in the chains, but finally he gave in.
"Alright, and which Outpost am I looking for?" he had to ask, but he could already tell the answer when her face lit up through the bloodstains.
"Well what a coincidence, I just happen to be going that way! Why don't we travel together and when I see it I'll point you to it?" She said smugly wrapping her arm around his. He shook her off.
"And my reason for trusting you would be?"
He asked and she answered. With a twitch of her ears she swept his leg and pulled him to the ground as shots rained into the tavern. The Inn keeper cried out from behind, possibly hit, or just from the condition of his establishment, but it was quickly drowned out from the immense gunfire.
"The words you're looking for are, 'thank you'," she said with a grin. Othello ignored her, grabbed his hat and took cover.
"Don't you need to reload?" Princess asked as she watched him draw his guns.
"No, but they do."
That was the moment he was waiting for, and after a few seconds the hell fire ended.
"If ya still in one piece Blood wielder, come out with girl or the next time will be the last time." A familiar voice shouted. Othello stood up and kicked out what was left of the door.
"On that we can agree."
Ten mutants of all sorts stared him down as he stepped out. Two shots in front, split into four individual rounds and tore into the lead mutant sending a ripple of fear and hesitation through the rest. A left turn put three more furry mutants in his sights. They dropped their guns and charged with claws out. Three more shots rang and exploded into shrapnel on impact with their targets. They landed in a heap at his feet as he turned his attention to the roof. The escapee from earlier looked down with fear venting from his scaled skin. He went for a gun but Othello caught him with a bullet in his shoulder that left his arm on the roof. With a howl of agony, he flew off again only to have his wings clipped from two rounds sending him plummeting into another mutant atop the roof. In all the crossfire, the last four were able to reload the main tool of their destruction, a mobile minigun turret.
"Send that freak to hell!" One shouted. The machine hummed to life as projectile shot into it from the tavern window. Its high-pitched whine left little time for them to react and in a bright flash the air was filled with machine and mutant parts alike. Othello looked over his shoulder at Princess leaning against the tavern entrance. She gave him a smile and a wave which he replied to with a tip of the hat. A few lights were starting to come on in homes over all the commotion and Othello took that as a sign it was time to leave.
"Should probably go before anyone else shows up, mutant or not." She said as she casually strolled over to him.
"How many of those are you carrying?"
She patted her bag on her hip and winked at him.
"Enough for our trip west,"
Othello still winced at the thought. He took to his horse and started out of town he leaned back into his usual resting position only to find Princess's lap where his head would lay.
"What do you think you're doing?" He grumbled.
"You'd be surprised how far I can jump, and since I don't have a vehicle or horse or wings of my own I just hopped on." She said simply right before she was pushed off.
"Think I'll be more surprised by how far you can walk." He gave his horse and a kick and took off with an irritated Princess running and shouting after him.
***
The sun stabbed the sky as it rose in from the east bleeding through the clouds. The Inn keeper of the decimated tavern woke up on the floor gripping his arm. He'd taken a shot straight through it and another grazed across his face. He managed to sit himself up against the wall, sunlight painting his face with spots of light through the bullet holes in the building. He shook his head and pulled himself to his feet with a little help from the bar and poured himself a drink.
"I must say it looks like you had quite the evening." A man that had been sitting at the bar said as rose. One look at the man, his pale skin old fashion blue uniform with matching hat sent a shiver down the Inn Keepers spine. Yet, it was the cold gaze of his gold and black eyes staring into his soul that froze him with fear where he stood. He felt no pain, just an unbearable urge to run for his life.
"Hope you don't mind Mister Inn Keeper but I helped myself to one of your refreshing, beverages. A bit early for an open bar but what the hell." He twirled a glass in hand of steel and color fled from the Inn Keeps face.
"Mitus," the Inn Keeper whispered. A name he would regret remembering as it triggered a change in demeanor in the man. He crushed the glass in his hand and looked wide-eyed at the old man.
"Now good sir you have me at a disadvantage. Here I am preparing to introduce myself and you already know my name! Small world or what?" Mitus stood up and looked around the room then turned back to the Inn Keeper.
"You know I just can't quite process it at the moment, can you tell me again how it was you- no, whom it was that told you my name?"
The Inn Keep was quiet, standing shakily in a cold sweat. Mitus walked over to the bar casually and leaned in so close to the Inn keeper he could whisper in his ear.
"Where is she?" He asked calmly but the venom is voice struck every nerve in the frail man.
"I-I don't know. She was here and there was this man. Lawman looking for you." Mitus hushed him with a steel finger on the lips. His right hand drumming his fingers on the bar.
"I don't worry about the law my friend, out here, I am the law. She has something of mine and I really need it back, otherwise I might just,"
His sentence ended in an echoing gunshot. A shot that came through his finger with the flex of his thumb that splattered the Inn keepers' skull across the back of the bar. Despite the early morning commotion, the Outpost remained silent. The five individuals outside the bar saw to it that they all never saw the full sunrise. A mutant knelt in the center of the semi-circle of the Mitus gang to face their leader as he strolled nonchalantly over to them.
"She was here apparently, she got herself some help. Enough fire power to kill off all of my dear acolytes." He said swinging his arms around at all the corpses flung around town.
"It was just one guy boss! I-I didn't get a good look at him since Sut landed on me but he," A bullet cut him off mid-explanation. Mitus stroked his Goatee and pondered the possibilities.
"Well I'll be damned, things just got a little bit more interesting." He smirked. "Roland, what's our status?"
"Whole towns been merked sir, not a soul left alive. Last tracks found on the ground were headed west, but it wasn't a car I can tell you that much." She finished. He patted his right-hand woman on the shoulder and looked around at the rest.
"Alright boys let's do it by the books. Burn this place to ground and let's head west, our destiny awaits!"