#the confuktor

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 23 (Finale)

TW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH!

Maemi paced in front of the cage, the young cat was seething, hatred oozing out of their green eyes, their clawed paws opening and closing as they glared at the caged birds. Dave met their eyes with a glare of his own, even though he was scared. “You know, if it weren't for the orders from the boss, I'd kill every single one of you brutally and painfully.” The sentence was spoken with such malice that a few of the captured owls and penguins shivered. “My aunt and my uncle-” They gripped the bars of the cage tight, “-they died because of you scum!” Even though the purple cat was young and still had traits of a kitten, the birds in the cage aside from Enrique and Dave flinched as they hit the cage with the metal of the rocket launcher that they were wielding with just one arm.

“You still have some time, compadre, you can still give up and retreat. My boss won't pursue you, he only has business with your leader.” Enrique's sharp eyes never failed to gaze at the young feline that found is calm and fearless disposition more than a little grating.

They gave the eagle-owl a glare and their eyes narrowed after the owl reciprocated said glare, “You'll be the first one I kill when I get the opportunity.” The purple cat showed their claws before turning around and leaving the storage hall again. They climbed to the roof the hall and sat down near the edge before they started to cry. The new coat they had received just that day prior now getting stained with tears.

-

The young cat slowly approached their mentor, seething with anger still after the news of Nozomi- and Toshihiro's deaths reached them. They couldn't believe that their dear aunt and her uncle had lost their lives. “They'll pay! I'll make sure that they'll pay for their deaths. I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM!” The young cat yelled gritting their teeth and hissing, their purple fur bristling as they walked over to their strangely calm mentor.

It was obvious by the balled paw of the tall, gray cat that this whole situation was boiling her blood as well, the two mentioned deceased cats had been her best friends. She had to stay calm though, if she let anger lead her now, the Nyakuza would be doomed to fall. “Calm yourself, Maemi, what did I tell you?”

The young cat took a deep, slightly shaky breath, “Always stay calm, no matter how bad the situation.” They tried as hard as they could to control their sadness and anger, as they stood next to their mentor. Maemi fidgeted a bit as they looked out the window, they dreaded to ask the question that was burning on their mind. “W-What...what do we do now? We...We attack them, right?” A look of uncertainty greeted the gaze of the gray feline as she turned to look at her protege.

“...We will prepare our defenses and wait...they will come to us to save their allies. That's when we fight...” She already had a plan to surround the small army of birds that would come to attack them. She would draw them into a battle near the main plaza and have a smaller group attack them from all sides. She knew that they'd send at least a few members to free their allies, which made it perfect to set and ambush. She doubted that the leaders would be the ones to free the captured birds, considering their animosity for her that was more than mutual, they would try to attack her...and she'd bury them in the same building she was in in that very moment. “They will come to us with all they have, so we will prepare for their arrival.”

The smaller cat seemed a bit unhappy about that idea, they would have preferred to attack the birds directly, but their boss' plans usually worked out well, yet...they despised needed to behave like cowards who don't fight back. “Where will I fight? Near the front lines, right?” The small cat was itching to use the rocket launcher granted to them. They would show them, all of them what the Nyakuza are really capable of, that those brainless birds picked the wrong enemies. Their face fell a bit when the gray cat shook her head slowly while turning back to look at them.

“I want you to stop the small force that will no doubt come to save the captured penguins and owls. I know who they'll send for this. The two girls that have been leading the Leowles and the Penguiads in the absence of their leaders...-” Her eyes narrowed and her paws were clenched so much that her own claws dug into them which caused her to bleed, yet the leader of the Nyakuza didn't even seem to notice. “-I want you to crush them, bury them under rubble!”

“Yes, ma'am!” The small cat saluted with a serious expression. The glare of their mentor softened and she went behind her desk and pulled out a new red jacket.

“I've noticed that the old one had become rather small and worn, so I got you a new one.” She gave the new coat to Maemi, who quickly put it on and and smiled. The Empress nodded and waved her hand in a dismissive fashion. “Now go and make me proud!”

“Leave it to me!” They nodded and were about to head out, but stopped when their mentor spoke in a way softer and more vulnerable sounding voice that caught them off guard.

“Be careful out there...”

-

Bow went up to the roof top, needing some fresh air after the long meeting they just had. She looked out at the sunny afternoon and smiled, if she had the time later, maybe she could take the radio outside later and dance and sing a bit...maybe she could ask Hattie to join her, it would get their minds off things at least. The young girl noticed her friend slowly come up to the roof as well, so she waved at Hattie enthusiastically. “Those meetings are so booring, right? I know that they're important, but I find it so hard to concentrate for that long.” She ran over to the other girl that looked a bit more concerned. “Hey, we'll do fine tomorrow! You needn't worry yourself about failing, me and you together can't fail!”

The cheering of the curly-haired girl made Hattie smile for just a moment before it faltered again. “That's...not it. I'm worried about my grandpa, he looked so sad yesterday and he was so...emotional. It's rare that he acts like that. He was really worried about me being hurt, far more than usual.”

The Penguiad girl made a dismissive hand gesture. “Maybe he finally learned to show his emotions more, like my grandpa. Do you think they can get along now? They made the plan together and they're going to confront the Empress.” Bow asked with a hopeful look, liking the idea of them working together because it meant that she and Hattie could maybe stay together after all of this was over.

Hattie was a bit more skeptical, but tried to be optimistic, there could at least be a chance that after all of this mess, they could stick together. Over the course of the past weeks, the penguins and the owls got along better and better each day, by now, they could be send on missions together without much trouble. “Here's hoping, I kinda want to stay friends...I don't want to be your enemy again.-” Hattie looked sad at the thought, “-We've dealt with so much already. I'm gonna talk to my grandpa after we win tomorrow, maybe we can arrange something.”

Bow raised her fist into the air, “That's the spirit! I'm gonna talk to mine too, I'm sure he'll agree to arrange something. The Conductor did save my life before after all, and DJ Grooves saved yours too.” She looks determined, “-They just HAVE to have seen that the other gang leader isn't as bad as they thought!” Bow could see the face of the other girl fall again.

“...But what if-” The curly-haired girl shook her head.

“No 'What ifs'! I'm not going back to being enemies and that's final!” Bow smiled and grabbed the hands of the other girl. “You're my best friend now, I'm not gonna beat up my bestie.” That caused Hattie to laugh and smile.

“Yeah, I'm not gonna go back to trying to stab you either.” Bow then ran down to the stairs quickly, leaving Hattie puzzled as she watched the girl descend down the stairs. Her eyes lit up again when she spotted the other girl come back up with an old radio.

“Let's see if I can get this bad boy to work again. This radio is very old, I think it's even older than me!” She giggled as she fumbled with the settings and frowned a bit when it didn't work, she didn't even notice that Hattie had left and come back.

The Leowle girl opened the back of the radio and produced a battery, giving Bow a rather smug glance. “It can't work if it has no battery.” The other girl only rolled her eyes and when switched it on and quickly found as song she seemed to like. She started to sing along and dance while Hattie clapped.

Bow then grabbed Hattie's arm and danced with her, which caused the other girl's eyes to go wide in shock and surprise. She looked a bit embarrassed, but still joined in on the dancing, getting her mind off the battle they had tomorrow. She pushed a dark thought out of her mind.

What if...they don't make it.

-

It was a cold but clear night, Hattie would have preferred cloudy weather it would make them harder to spot as she and Bow jumped from rooftop to rooftop. “Do you think that Enrique, Dave and the others are okay?” She asked the curly-haired girl who seemed to have been deep in thought herself as she almost lost her footing and tripped as the two jumped from one building to another, both keeping an eye out for patrolling cats.

“I'm sure that they do, Dave may be a bit paranoid and a bit scatterbrained sometimes, but my homie knows what he's doing.” Bow tried to be as optimistic as she could, giving the other a short smile before they could see the storage. “I'm more worried about my grandpa...They're running head first into danger, no matter how you look at it.”

Hattie put a hand on her shoulder as they stopped and looked around for a moment. “They have the Owl Express, that train is heavily armored and my grandpa's pride and joy. They'll be fine.” Hattie assured. They were close now, they could see the storage hall just ahead, all they had to do take care of any guards and make sure that the owls and penguins made it out.

“There you are” Maemi whispered to themselves as they watched the two girls advance toward the storage hall. They quietly trailed them, making sure that neither would have a clue that they were there, waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Said moment came in form of them stopping on a roof to observe their surroundings, surroundings that Maemi knew like the back of their hand, so the young cat had no problem staying out of sight of their mortal enemies. They readied the weapon granted to them by their mentor. They hissed as their eyes narrowed at their unsuspecting targets and they aimed right at the curly-haired girl. “You'll pay. I'll make you pay for killing my family!” The hatred and scorn for the two girls peaked as they fired their rocket.

The Leowle girl froze in shock for a moment when she noticed something red being aimed at Bow like a tiny red dot. A loud whooshing noise was heard a moment later.<hr>

“Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure that it will work.” The penguin slowly boarded the train of his rival, who looked determined and had a deep scowl on his face. For once that scowl was not caused by his rival, instead it was aimed at their mutual enemies.

The yellow bird was grateful that Hattie, due to her quick thinking, at least managed to save his beloved train. Now he could finally put her heavy armor to good use. “You calculate it multiple times over, ye just have ta have faith in me and me lovely train.” The old owl went back to check on the last train cart again. He'd give those cats a nasty surprise, if they think that they can take them down with their superior numbers, they were in for a rough ride...No matter the cost, those cats would PAY! He returned to the front of his train, the penguin held something in his hand that he couldn't make out at first, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a simple USB stick. “What's with that grimy, ol' thing?” He eyed the small item suspiciously.

The DJ held the small piece of technology up like it was a prized possession. “This, darling, is our ticket into that building, and...-” He sighed, “-It has a lot of sentimental value. A friend saved it for me and he...lost his life protecting me.” He looked down at the floor, the pain visible in his eyes.

Normally the yellow owl would have told him that people die in this line of work...but...he doubted that his own owls would even do something like that for him. In the recent weeks his beliefs have been turned and twisted by the penguin's words and vice versa, all the two birds knew was that all of this needed to end. That all all of this brought was pain and suffering.

The penguin looked out the window at the metro, watching the owls and penguins proceed forward to attack the HQ of the cats head on, they didn't have the resources to split the army in two. “If we miss the jump, we'll die horribly-” The DJ's eyes clouded with worry for a moment. “-I calculated it thoroughly, but it can always go wrong.”

The yellow owl chuckled as he started his train, if they timed it right, and he knew how long it would take to get to the central plaza, they would arrive there just a moment before the penguins and owls got into the crossfire of the cats. “Ye worry too much, we just have ta do it.” The yellow bird balled his talons to fists and the ear-like feathers on the tight side of his head started to twitch a bit in his anger. “We ain't gonna lose to those filthy furballs.” The time went by in a silent tension as the two birds traveled to their destination.

The leader of the Penguiads stared out the window on the side of the control room, his flipper tapping a small rhythm against the window sill. He wondered if he made the wrong decision on that fateful night. Sometimes the thought of just leaving it all behind had occurred to him, yet he found that, even if he wanted to, he would have failed the penguins that relied on him,. He could never be as selfish as to abandon them, and as the years passed, the opportunity to leave got smaller and smaller, he found that he was simply in too deep to escape. Leaving the Penguiads to fend for themselves would have ended poorly, he knew that they couldn't function without him. DJ Grooves sighed deeply, he knew why he ended up in this business and he knew why his penguins did what they did, yet...he couldn't help but wonder if there would have been a better solution to the problem of poverty that the penguins were facing. It was what it was, though, he was aware that he couldn't change the past, he made his choice, now he had to stick with it.

The other bird glared out the front window, he wondered if his life would have been better if only he had decided to stay with his family...but at the same time he couldn't just go against the wishes of his deceased father. This life was all he knew, would he even have been able to live like a normal person?...would he even have been a good father? Questions that he would never know the answer to, but questions that now plagued his mind. He had always known the dangers that he was facing, that one careless mistake could cost him dearly, he knew, yet he stayed, he chose to continue the legacy of the Leowles. He was about to slam his fist down on the control panel's edge, but he took a deep breath to calm down. None of this mattered now...not anymore. The past was over and done, all he could do is accept the consequences of his choices.

-

Bow tumbled off the rooftop after Hattie pushed her, the missile their nemesis fired barely missing her head. For a moment she thought that they would plummet to their death now, but Hattie reached the sill of a window after they fell. “Hold on!” Hattie pulled Bow up to stand on the sill, just holding on with one hand for a moment, thanks to her high strength it wasn't a problem. Bow pulled her up just in time as a new projectile made its way toward them. They climbed back onto the roof using the gutter, Hattie almost losing her footing once and dragging down Bow with her when another missile hit just a few feet below her.

They climbed back onto the roof and the barrage of missiles stopped, both Hattie and Bow looked around frantically. “This must be the last cat that was mentioned. Grandpa said that they're the protege of the leader of the Nyakuza.” Bow muttered quietly to Hattie who just nodded and looked at the rooftops of the adjacent buildings. The missiles were fired from around the same level as them, leading her to believe that they must have come from up there...she didn't expect that she'd get get punched in the chin so hard that her jaw felt like it cracked. Hattie stumbled backwards with a yelp and Bow just about stopped the purple cat from slicing Hattie's neck with their claws by intercepting it with her dagger.

Maemi jumped back in response to the dagger's sharp edge getting close to their paws and opted to kick the Penguiad girl in the side. Bow jumped right back up after falling on her side while Hattie had drawn her knife to defend herself. “You...-” The small cat glared between the two girls that were facing them. “- WOU WILL NOT WIN!” Tears, hatred and anger were visible in the green eyes of the Empress' protege as they charged at their greatest enemies, ready to fulfill their mission and kill those that had killed their beloved uncle and aunt. What they didn't expect was that that the two girls would work together flawlessly. While Hattie charged back at the the red jacket-wearing cat and drew their attention to herself, Bow aimed for the young cat's chest...before stopping and cutting the young feline's side instead, which caused them to hiss in pain. Maemi, instead of attacking again decided to retreat and jump down the roof and head toward the storage hall. Bow pulled Hattie back by her arm when her friend thought it best to pursue.

Hattie looked confused at Bow, but understood after looking at her worried expression. “Bow...we can't spare them! They attack our families!” Hattie argued, but kept calm.

“I know...but, we...we were the same, you remember, right? They're hurting, we...we killed their family.” Bow felt a twinge of guilt. The young cat was the same as them, raised by a leader of the gang whom they consider their family. The Penguiads and Leowles had pretty much killed their family, she could only imagine that the eccentric cat that almost dropped her off the roof of the building was like family to that young cat, like Dave, Martin and Marcus were for her. It hurt the curly-haired girl a lot when Martin got imprisoned and Marcus died protecting her grandfather. She could see it in the sad eyes of her best friend that Hattie came to understand her point of view.

“But...what can we do? They will just continue to attack us...that cat won't stop trying to get us killed.-” Hattie thought about it and decided to make for the hall again. When Bow gave her a worried glance, she answered as she landed on an awning. “-We still have to save Enrique and the others, with how unstable that cat is, we don't know if they'll kill our friends and family.” Bow follow after Hattie, hoping that it would all work out somehow.

-

The two birds could see the high tower of the huge mall that was the crown jewel of the whole metro a helicopter was stationed at the top. When he focused his vision, the yellow owl could already see the rows and rows of cats that were about to intercept the advancing of their small army. Rows and rows...that had no idea that he was about to pull of the greatest assault in all of the metro's history! “Ye ready?!” His wings, normally steady and calm when he conducted his train, now shivered and twitched.

His rival tore open the door while they were still gaining speed, the harsh wind blowing in his face like blades made out of air. “Ready!” He had calculated this at least ten times now, and he still wasn't sure if they'd both simply perish, but he had to have faith now, it was the only thing they could come up with that could lead them to victory.

No one could see it, but the yellow owl's face turned from steaming anger into deep melancholy for just a moment while he took a deep breath and waited for the signal of his rival. He ignited the line that would lead to the end of his beloved train with sadness mixed with determination on his face, when he heard the signal of the tall penguin. The small spark made its way to the left wheels of the Owl Express, while its conductor joined the DJ and they jumped out the open door right as the dynamite blew up the wheels, sending the huge vehicle off the rails with a loud screech. The two birds got blown out of the door and crashed through the glass door of 'Sheep mattresses' and into the display of the mattresses that were lined up on the ground floor of the building for customers to view.

The cats tried to run for their lives after they heard the loud screeching noise as the train crashed on its side and scraped on the pavement of the plaza. The following explosion shock the very foundation of the building the two birds were in, as the explosives at the back of the train tore it and most of the cats that were in the plaza to pieces. “You okay, darling?” The penguin shook his head, clearing out the daze and pulling out another set of sunglasses from his pocket, his previous ones got lost and carried away by the wind. The owl stepped out of the shop after wiggling out from under the mattresses that he landed in and looked at the mayhem outside the store. “...Darling?”

The yellow bird was silent for just a moment more looking at the bits and pieces of what was once his pride and joy, now reduced to nothing but rubble. “I'm...fine. Let go, we got a cat ta kill!” The two leaders watch as their penguins and owls engage the enemy cats in battle for a moment, before they use the confusion to make their way to the huge mall, and as expected, it is tightly locked by a metal door. “Do your thing, DJ pe-...Grooves.” The owl readied his knife and stood guard while the DJ worked on opening the security door.

“I'll have this down in a jiffy, won't take too long.” The yellow owl just nodded and remained on guard until he heard a click and they were finally in, ready to bring all of this to an end once and for all.

-

Hattie broke the window into the storage hall unceremoniously, and climbed in...so far it had been strangely quiet...it boded ill, she knew, so the young girl remained on guard. Bow followed closely behind Hattie, her dagger at the ready for whatever was awaiting them in the dark and cold hall. They searched the aisles filled with various weapon ranging from, bats and clubs, and even chain saws, to cans of food and canisters of water. The brown-haired girl even found a collection of comics, if she wasn't on a mission right now and wasn't in the heart of enemy territory, she would have called Bow over to sift through it to see if those cats had anything good. “Hattie, that you, amiga?” The low voice caught her attention and she ran over to where she heard the familiar, rugged voice of Enrique. She found him and the other owls mostly unharmed, a few of the penguins and owls had scratches and cuts, but they looked mostly unharmed.

“Bow, over here!” The penguins immediately lit up at hearing the curly-haired girl's name and Dave got up from sitting on the ground and started to bolt toward them, gripping the bars tightly.

“Bow's here too?!” His question was answered when he noticed movement out of the darkness, and the girl in question made her way out of the shadows of the dark storage space, smiling widely.

“Dave! You're alright, homie, I'm so glad!” Bow had to wipe a few tears out of her eyes and the small penguin started to sob and cry a bit. The other penguins and owls looked relieved to see them as well.

While Bow was busy calming down the more frightened birds, Hattie followed the iron rope that was connected to a winch. The lever was more than a bit difficult to move due to the rust and years of not being in use. She called her friend to help her, not wanting to waste time searching this huge hall for oil or anything of that sort. “Need some help?” Bow stretched her hands out and helped Hattie raise the heavy steel cage the birds were trapped under.

A loud soft whirring noise caught Hattie's attention and made her blood run cold, she had heard that noise once before when that insane cat lady send her mecha cats at her. They let go off the winch and jumped back rapidly as a sharp, shuriken was tossed their way and embedded itself in the rope of the winch, barely missing the girls, it stopped the cage from lowering, however. It didn't take long and they were attacked by flying projectiles from the dark shelves and railings above, while three mecha cats attacked them in melee.

“I'll grind you both to dust! You'll die here! I'll take all you love away from you like you did from me!” The young cat joined the fight against the two girls, firing rockets whenever they had an opportunity. Hattie dodged the sharp, metal claws parrying attacks with her knife while ducking under shurikens that missed her by nothing more than a hair. Bow used one of the shelves for cover, while a mecha cat extended a claw through a small crack in the wooden shelf, if it wasn't for her quick reflexes it would have gotten her eye instead of just leave a bleeding scratch on her cheek.

Feeling that he needed to do something, Dave gathered all his courage, he couldn't let Bow deal with all this alone, his boss would be devastated if anything happened to her...so would he. The small penguin got up and tried to squeeze through the small gap between the cage and the ground after said cage was lifted by the combined effort of Hattie and Bow. He pushed himself through the gap bit by bit, but got stuck a bit around half-way through. The eagle-owl noticed the struggle of his ally and pushed him through. Dave yelped a bit but ran to get some oil, knowing that he couldn't move the winch if Hattie had to call Bow for help. He glanced up at the young cat that was in the process of firing a rocket at Hattie, their eyes cold and focused as the missile was launched. A gasp escaped him when heard Hattie scream out in pain as a shuriken cut her shoulder and a moment later he saw Bow getting hit by shrapnel form a missile that she barely avoided in the chaos. He finally found some frying oil, not the best, but it would do. The winch creaked the moment he tried to move it after pouring the oil on it. The small penguin did even realize that one of the former subordinates of Toshihiro was sneaking up on him as he slowly but surely raised the cage, his flippers aching from the effort. The cat was about to stab Dave when Enrique tackled the murderous feline down and dug his sharp talons deep into their throat. “Lo siento, compadre, can't have you kill my friend.” Dave was shocked for a moment, but calmed down after seeing that the eagle-owl had the situation under control.

“Thanks, dude, you saved my feathers there.” The rest of the owls and penguins spread out to help Bow and Hattie fend off the their attackers.

Bow and Hattie joined back together after the owls and penguins they rescued banded together to fight the ninja- and mecha cats, and instead focused their attention back on Maemi who gritted their teeth and headed for the roof of the hall. They followed them, they needed to stop them, but...could they really do it without needing to end the life of the tormented cat

Hattie drew her knife while Bow hesitated for a moment longer. “Stop this, you've lost already.” Hattie tried to reason with the young cat, but it obviously fell on deaf ears as the moment she finished her sentence, a missile whizzed by her, she noticed that their green eyes were glistening with tears. Both girls knew only too well just how Maemi felt.

Both girls didn't expect that their mutual enemy would start to charge toward them, discarding the rocket launcher now due to it being out of ammo. The cat fought even fiercer than before slicing and slashing at them from unpredictable angles which made it hard to counter their attacks. Even with this clear lack of direction, they put up a good fight, as both of them were stuck just parrying and dodging attacks...”You can't keep this up, please, stop, we know how you feel.” The desperate plea from Bow received an answer in form of a swipe that barely missed her eyes and knocked her glasses away. The retaliation strike from Hattie sliced the red jacket of the purple cat, which caused Maemi to stand down in shock for a moment.

“You...you cut my new jacket...” They sounded to be in disbelief and anguish before the seething hatred took over. “I'LL KILL YOU!” A powerful swipe made Hattie's blade skid over the ground as she yelped in shock before she got pushed down, one of the yellow feathers on her headband fell off as her head hit the ground.. After her vision focused again a moment after the painful contact with the ground dazed her, she could see the sharp claws that prepared to slice her throat and the hatred-filled eyes of the cat, while Bow had readied her dagger and was about to attack the back of the young cat.

All motion stopped when a loud explosion shook the whole district.

-

The mall was already mostly clear of people, considering that it's main gate had been locked that wasn't surprising, the two birds doubted that it even had been open today. The army of cats had made it just as clear as the eerily silent mall. “Never thought I'd see a mall without people.” The tall penguin slowly advanced as he tried to keep his mind off the fear that was slowly rising in him the closer they got to the end. The Conductor, meanwhile, pressed on, the DJ assumed that he had already made peace with his decision. They soon found the stair case that lead to the basement of the big building. “Good luck, darling.” The DJ smiled at the the yellow owl who nodded.

“Don't ye dare fail, I don't know how much time I can get ya.” He knew that the leader of the Nyakuza was highly adept at melee and range combat, his rifle would have been of no use, he'd likely have no time to aim and unlike his previous targets, the Empress was expecting them. The yellow owl hurried up stair while his rival made his way down instead.

The Empress heard a beep as the security system informed her that the door downstairs was now unlocked, she was aware that they were coming for her, she had underestimated them before, but this time they'd face her, and she had been through more than enough battles...and even if she struggled, all she had to do was press one button and this whole building would lock up and blast them to pieces, while she'd escape. She readied her rocket launcher, aiming at the door to give the bird that entered a warm welcome. When the door opened and she spotted yellow feathers, she fired, but it was obvious that the small, yellow bird that entered with a grimace had anticipated that already. The owl drew his knife out the inside pocket of his now tattered and torn jacket. “I expected more from the feared leader of the Nyakuza than a wee rocket.” The owl slowly advanced.

She readied her new and improved rocket launcher which now opened to more launchers at the side after she pressed the button at the bottom. “And I expected more than a puny, old owl as the leader of the Leowles” The three rockets were fired at him and he dodged the first by jumping over it and the second by sliding across the ground, the trajectory of the third was off and missed him completely. With his knife raised high, he attacked the cat that simply jumped out of the way and fired a rocket at him that almost made contact if he hadn't jumped back right then his attack failed. “Where is that penguin friend of yours? I wanted to bury both of you at once.” She glared at him, clearly still just playing with the owl that needed to dodge yet another barrage of rockets.

“Donnae need him ta kill a wee kitty who doesnae know her place!” She only chuckled at his response, still seeming calm, but that comment made her want to rip his vocal cords out personally.

“Quite the big words for one so small,-” She discarded her launcher, strapping it to her back, before she charged at him. “-I wonder how well you talk when your lungs are full of blood!” She got close and attacked the bird with a claw swipe, he could feel the air as the attack barely missed him...but he failed to think about the fact that she had TWO weapons on her at all times. The yellow bird yelped in pain and grit his teeth when the other claw cut his side and caused his suit to rip and yellow feathers to stick to the claw of the cat that just shook them off and went in for another attack that he evaded barely.

The Conductor readied his knife again and was put on the defensive than he had to parry an attack of the cat that used both her claws, he had to jump over a kick aimed at his legs which was supposed to cause him to stumble and make it easy to kill him, yet he used the her failed attempt to swing his sharp talons at her which scratched her leg and caused her to grunt. The wound on his side bled stronger the more he moved, but he ignored the pain, just like he had done many times before.

The eyes of the tall, gray cat narrowed and she hissed, pouncing at the yellow bird like a predator on prey, her claw strike missed him, but she managed to grab his jacket and toss him to the wall with force, the small bird connected with the concrete with his already injured left side which made him scream in pain and blurred his vision for a moment. He got no time to rest though and had to dodge attack after attack. “Come on, Grooves, hurry...” He whispered quietly to himself.

-

It took him a few minutes but he managed to crack the code using the program he had on his USB stick. When the door opened, there was...nothing, at least nothing visible. He rolled his eyes behind his shades, and went back to the panel, which revealed a bunch of lasers strung high and low across the room. It would take too long to try and deactivate it, and he didn't know how long his yellow-feathered rival could last in that fight. He took a deep breath and decided to imitate the way Bow had jumped and dance around the lasers in that jewelry store, and he found that it was a lot harder than Bow made it look. He almost got burned on one or two occasions even though he was a seasoned dancer. “Access denied!” He furrowed his brow when he encountered the difficult code that spread on the display, likely done by that cat he and Hattie fought. It took him an awful amount of time to crack the code, but he managed thanks to the program on the USB stick, even in death, the thoughtfulness of his friend, Marcus, came through for him. He wouldn't fail now, he didn't lose his life for nothing.

He changed one simple thing in the code that would seal the fate of the cat...

His brow furrowed as he ran up the stairs, hoping that his ally had not ended as cat food, a pretty gruesome sight greeted him as soon as he joined up with his former nemesis. The Empress was holding the small owl by his throat, his knife had fallen out of his hand as he writhed and tried desperately to get air back into his lungs. The gray cat was laughing quietly. “Did you think you could-” She was interrupted by the knife that the DJ threw at her arm, it left a bleeding wound and the sudden pain caused her to dropped the Conductor to the ground. The old owl clutched his throat for a moment and took deep, shaky breaths before he got back up and spoke between sharp inhales. “You took...yer sweet time...Grooves.”

“Good things take time, darling.” The gray cat, now even more angry, so much so that her eye twitched, decided to not hold back she attacked the two leaders viciously, but was surprised by how coordinated they attacked. The Conductor's more straightforward but brutal swings were accompanied by DJ Grooves' more cunning, but less effective strikes, which forced the cat back a bit.

The tall cat decided that she had toyed with the birds enough and forced the two back by getting her rocket launcher out and forcing them to keep their distance, lest they'd get blown to pieces. If only they'd know that they'd lost as soon as they'd entered the building. “You fought well, despite knowing that you don't stand a chance, I think I'll end your pitiful struggle here.-” She presses the button she had hidden in her jacket. “-From now on, this metro will be solely run by cats!” Thick steel shutters came down on the doors and windows as soon as the button was pressed, locking them in place. The Empress laughed at them and turned around to use the only open door right behind her that would lead to the roof where the helicopter was positioned for a quick getaway...when she turned, however, she found that it was...blocked as well.

While the cat's tail and ears lowered the smiles on the birds behind her widened as the system informed them that it would be 5 minutes until the six bombs in the basement would explode, five minutes until all of this would find an end.....by ending them.

“End of the line, furball.” The yellow bird put his knife back inside his pocket, taking a deep breath, as he grinned and chuckled.

The penguin dusted off his jacket and put his knife away as well, laughing at the horrified expression as the Empress turned to face them. “You underestimated us, now you'll pay the price. You've killed my penguins, you killed the owls.-” He glared behind his shades. “-I'll never forgive you for that!” His voice was low and full of malice.

“Outplayed...by a bunch of feathers on legs...-” She seemed almost disappointed in herself. “-How could I have lost to hollow-bonded scum!” Her arms started to shake in anger, a slight hint of fear crossed her eyes, as she realized that she was going to die here.

“You did win somethin', alright, a one way trip ta hell!” The yellow bird's laughter was drowned out by an electronic voice reminding them that they had only three minutes left.

The gray cat's eyes narrowed with the realization that the penguin and the owl in the room with her would also die. “How can you call this a victory if you yourselves will perish?” Her voice sounded a bit condescending. “In the end, you'll fall together with me.”

The yellow owl pulled out the polaroid from his pocket for the final time, it got cut a bit as the claws hit his side...a tear replacing his younger self in the photo now. He scoffed and smiled at the bitter irony. He wanted to keep his family safe...but he failed to keep himself safe. “This isn't about winnin' and losin', furball, it's about ending the sufferin'.” The tall cat tilted her head in confusion.

“All three of us caused suffering among the people of the metro, our gang wars tearing it to pieces and scaring the inhabitants. We hurt our allies and the people we love, this life has brought us nothing but pain.”

“Then the two of you were simply too frail for the life of crime. You could have disbanded at any time.” The expression of the tall cat changed to a smug grin.

The sheer lack of understanding amused the yellow bird who held his picture close to his chest. “Then ye understand nothing, you fail to understand that yer puttin' the lives of those that follow ye in jeopardy.-” He scoffed, “-One would think that ye got that when I murrderred that underling of yers on the roof of the museum.” The owl noticed that his words hit home when the fur of the Empress bristled and her claws twitched.

The penguin shook his head, “It only shows that you're a greedy psychopath who fails to not only as a leader, but as a person.” The system informed them that they only had around a minute left.

“You both send literal children to do your biding, your no better than I.” She thought that they'd react with anger and spite, instead they nodded.

“Never claimed ta be better, me wee lassie sufftered because o' what I did ta 'er. I wish that I backed outta this life while I still had the chance-” The ear-like feathers of the yellow bird lowered, “-but I cannae change the past...all I can do is make sure that her future is safer.”

The penguin nodded somberly, “The best we can do is rid the metro of the scum that choked the very life out of all that inhabit it, to make sure that the gang wars stop once and for all.-” He glared back up at the cat,

“-And the easiest way to end this all...is to put an end to us!” Ten, nine, eight...

DJ Grooves shook his head and pulled out his USB stick again... “I'm sorry...Dave, Martin...Marcus...Bowie-” He stifled a sob. ...seven six five...

“Hehe...a fitting end, eh.- “ The Conductor clutched the picture to his chest tightly, tearing up a bit. “...Stay strong Enrique...Hattie...I know you'll handle it.” ...four, three, two...

“..Maemi...” One...

-

The three kids stared as the huge mall collapsed in on itself. Windows shattered and support beams snapped, smoke and fire showing through every crevice as the structure simply crumbled to the ground. The cats, owls and penguins scattered, completely forgetting their previous battle as they ran for their lives, all while the kids stood on the roof wide eyed and in total shock at what was transpiring right in front of their eyes.

“NOOO!!!” The ear piercing shriek of the young, purple cat was what snapped both Hattie and Bow out of their shock. Tears formed in their eyes.

“Grandpa!” Bow yelled out wanting to jump to the rubble to see, if by some miracle, the DJ had survived. She was held back by a crying Hattie who could barely even see from the tears, but she couldn't let her friend hurt herself from the huge drop down the roof. “WHY?!” Bow struggled, but stayed put.

The young cat fell onto the shingles on the roof and cried into their paws, repeating the word 'Empress' over and over, like a mantra, in their anguish.

Dave and Enrique joined them after they fought of the other cats and picked up the two girls, not wanting them to stay there any longer. Dave was crying and had Bow pressed tightly to him as he carried her out, while Enrique carried Hattie down the stairs to leave, hiding his tear the best he could

“Stop..we need to help them.” Bow stopped Dave and pointed at the young cat that was bawling now, shaking and in hysterics.

Enrique looked at Hattie who nodded while wiping tears, and he picked up the young cat. The five left the building and headed home. They found two letters on the desk in the meeting room, both came with some money in them.

Hattie picked up the one that had the Conductor's messy, but strangely legible writing while she sat down on a chair, her tears made it hard to read.

To my dear lassie, Hattie,

I'm likely burning with the condemned in hell by the time you read this. I'm not great with heart-felt emotional stuff, but I try my best to explain why I made this tough decision. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I failed you. I'm sorry that you suffered so much because of me. I sent you into dangerous mission that had a high risk of you dying, that occasionally even resulted in you getting hurt. I was such a goddamn peck neck to you! You deserved someone better, someone loving and caring, not an old, stubborn fool who gave up his own family for his legacy! I used you as a tool to further my own goals, to make sure that the Leowles could continue even after my death without my family being in danger. I WAS A BRAINLESS, MORONIC IDIOT TO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WERE MY FAMILY TOO!!!

I can't apologize enough, and I know that I can't give you your innocence and childhood back, if you hate me now, I can understand that, peck, I'd hate myself too. I hid some money here for you, get some good education, and follow your dreams, you're one smart lassie. I'm proud of you and I was glad that I got to know you.

Your peck neck of a grandfather, Conductor

Bow opened her letter, her tears staining the paper as she read while she stared at the pretty calligraphy of the DJ.

My beloved darling, Bow,

I know that I likely left you devastated, confused and angry. I'm deeply sorry that I didn't tell you what I planned, but...I just couldn't tell you that this mission would result in my own death. I couldn1't let this go on. The penguins suffered because of my leadership, if I wanted them to or not. None of them deserved the pain they got and the same goes for you. I sent you into danger, never quite realizing just how horrible it was what I was doing, even if you performed admirably every time. This is the last time I'll be the cause of pain for you and my penguins, call it cowardly, but it was the only way I saw to end this misery for everyone. My death will cause the Penguiads to disband and no more of them will die because of the gang wars.

I wish I had given you the childhood you deserved, filled with lots of love and care, and all the toys you ever wanted. I loved you like my own granddaughter, Bowie, I hope you know that. I know that I failed you horribly, but I just want you to live a safe and happy life, a life you won't ever find with the Penguiads still around. I left you some money, use it however you please, I'm aware that it isn't much and doesn't make up for the pain I caused you, but I know that you're intelligent and crafty enough to use it wisely. I'm very proud of you and I know that your strong enough to persevere.

Your proud, but foolish grandpa, DJ Grooves

Finally they understood, Hattie and Bow finally understood why they acted so strange the day prior. They felt hopeless, angry, sad and emotionally drained, the same went for Maemi, who was brought to a room in the HQ.

It would take them another few years to understand completely why the two gang leaders decided to give ip their lives, but eventually they both came to one final conclusion.

The life of crime was simply not worth it, it only led to pain and suffering to all tread its dark path.

-

It is finally finished, this long fic finally found its end. I thank you all for reblogging, commenting and reading my works, it means a lot to me. Special thanks to @r3d1ke for giving me the names for Nozomi, Toshihiro and Maemi and their continued support of the story. @nasubeenwithcat for her amazing art and support, @majormeilani for her advice on writing DJ Grooves, and last but not least to @the-confuktor for creating this amazing AU and allowing me to write this story for you.

[nasubeenwithcat]

𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚, 𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙨...𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡!

(emoji requests:⚾️🌃🎥 from discord/Dead Bird Metro AU by @the-confuktor )

For those of you who don't know this AU, a little explanation: he is one of the two bosses of a gang called Talonclaw and is also a movie director. He commits crimes to pay off his debts… and for fun.

[hostess-of-horror]

Ghost Train AU

An A Hat in Time AU where DJ Grooves and the Moon Penguins are the only ones in Dead Bird Studios. They take the place as their film studio despite learning that it was once belonged to an infamous movie director, who died in a messy train accident (in true horror movie fashion).

DJ Grooves and his crew, of course, end up being haunted. Disembodied voices, knifes being thrown from across the sets, the occasional smell of scotch... and the eerie sounds of an invisible train.

After so many occurrences, DJ Grooves decides to investigate and put an end to all of the ruckus. While researching the original owner of Dead Bird Studios, he stumbles upon a strange and secret entrance within the building. DJ Grooves enters inside and discovers an amazing yet terrifying sight:

A disheveled movie set, made to look like the Wild West, and a rusty, broken down train all hidden underground.

Through this discovery, DJ Grooves had opened a mass tomb and awakened the dead.

---

@majormeilani and @the-confuktor , I wanted to tag you on this post because I thought it was an AU you would be interested in.

[kesia-stupid-arts]

He still would Owlbert makes cameo, he is an original character by @the-confuktor

[azumetapraline]

Date: March 12th, 2022.

My friends, @buffmin and @the-confuktor really, really like the ship Wilson x Wortox in Don't Starve Together (we call it "Wiltox"), and since it's partly my fault they made it an actual thing, I thought I would draw it... cause yeah, they do look cute together!

Of course Webber gotta be here; after all, one should know they should never leave their ice cream unattended with a cute little spiderboy around! 😋

🍦 YOU SHOULD JOIN OUR DST DISCORD SERVER... NOW! 🍦

Under the cut: A little Webber doodle I made on March 3rd. I tried a more "crayon" style, and I like the result, even if the drawing was quickly made!

[buffmin]

POV you have hurt the fruit children. (characters by @azumetapraline and @the-confuktor )

[shutxdysdark]

OKAY SO.

I’ve been obsessed with mango and Walter lately..I think they are just so CUTE I ADORE THEM..so..I wanted to draw them..I hope you two don’t mind :’))

It’s also been awhile since I’ve used watercolours so Aaa

Walter is owned by @the-confuktor

And mango is owned by @azumetapraline

(Pls correct me if I got that wrong wHEeZE) I honestly really adore them aaa

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 19

She tapped her claws on the table impatiently, waiting for the other two people that she had ordered back to their new HQ. With the Leowles and Penguiads out of the relevant parts of the Metro, the leader of the Nyakuza found it best to be in the center, it was easier to control all affairs from there.

The young cat next to her mirrored her motions, she really needed to buy her a new coat, they had insisted that they wanted one like hers, and she gladly obliged, however, by now the wine red coat that complimented their rare purple fur nicely, was torn up quite a bit and it was getting bit small now.

The door to the large meeting room opened and a white British Shorthair entered the room, her orange eyes went from the Empress to Maemi, who gave a short nod just like her mentor.

“I'm not too late I presume? I still had to deal with a rather ignorant business partner, which resulted in my departure being a little delayed.” She dusted off her black blazer and gray pencil skirt before sitting down on the chair to the left of the table.

“No, Nozomi, you're just on time, I wager that Toshihiro will keep us waiting.” Empress looked at the time again, it was now 03:02pm, of course the meeting time was exactly at 3.

“Quite. I so loath his tardiness.” Nozomi reached for her tablet typing something in a speed that left Maemi in awe.

It took another ten minutes until the door finally opened a second time and a cat with near pitch black fur entered. Maemi really liked the beautiful dark blue kimono with a wave pattern he wore, it reminded them of a famous painting they had seen in the museum that he was the curator of now.

“My apologies

I could not get here faster

Please, do not mind me”

“You're always incredibly late! Toshihiro, that's exactly the reason why I hate working together with you.” Nozomi's fur bristled at the sincere apology of the male cat that only bowed down deeply to emphasize his regret.

“You wound me my lady

I ran as fast as I could

Inspiration struck”

He answered before he went to sit down. With her closest allies now brought together, the Empress started to talk. “The reason you're all here today should be obvious, given the recent developments between us and the bird gangs.”

Nozomi nodded, not even taking her eyes off the screen, still typing furiously. “You think that they'll try to attack us next, I wager, and I agree, it's only logical for them to try to weaken our moral by killing us.”

Maemi jumped a bit at the thought of either of the three cats in the room with them dying, the little jolt caused Nozomi to stop and look up with a warm smile, “Don't worry yourself, Maemi, I don't plan on dying to those dimwitted cretins.-” The smaller cat relaxed a bit, “-Even should they make it into my office building, they'll find that traversing it won't be easy.” She looked back down with a smirk, starting to type again.

“Pesky little birds

We will destroy them, no doubt

You need not worry”

The assurance and confidence of both of their colleagues was reassuring, so far they had stayed away from fighting them, thinking that the sheer number of the Nyakuza was enough to deter the owls and penguins from attacking them. Maemi would have never thought that a bunch of birds could put up so much of a fight, but the thing that worried them the most was the two human girls that were mentioned over and over again by the cats in their ranks. One supposedly had brown hair tied in a pony tail, a cold and calculated young girl, who kills cats without betting an eye. The other girl had a darker skin tone and curly hair, apparently that one was charismatic and could think quick on her feet.

The Empress slowly rose from her chair and started to walk up to the big window, staring toward the old industrial district. “No doubt will they try to take you out, sooner or later, all I ask is that you'll prepare for combat. I'm not losing our hard earned territory again.”

“Positive. As I said, I'm not planning on losing to them, capturing and running the Leowles' businesses was annoying enough.” Toshihiro only nodded in agreement.

“Good, I want you to return to your businesses, kill any birds that come your way...Maemi-”

“Yes, ma'am!” The young cat saluted and proudly waited for an order.

“-I need you to head to our storage near the edge of the shopping district, no doubt will they try to sabotage us by breaking our weapons and supplies. Greet those birds for me if they show up, will you.”

“Dead or alive, ma'am?” The tall, gray cat thought about it for a moment, before coming to a conclusion.

“Alive would be better, capture them when the opportunity presents itself.” Maemi nodded with a serious expression. They wouldn't fail, those birds would pay for killing so many Nyakuza!

“Dismissed.” At that, the three cats got up and filed back out of the room leaving the tall cat behind, whose eyes narrowed, “Why do you struggle so much against the natural order, cats eat birds, it has always been so, and it will continue to be so.”

-

Dave looked around, almost shaking as they moved around the edge of the Nyakuza territory, it was determined that he and Enrique were to head to the big storage hall. Miraculously, both leaders managed to not kill one another in the meeting the day prior, however, Dave noticed the tension of his boss, and the sheer hatred for the leader of the Leowles.

Enrique, who appeared as calm as ever, was leading him and a group of five owl and five penguins, a small group had an easier time staying undetected, that was something that Hattie explained to them, and the old, yellow bird had nodded in approval. “You have that micro chip that your leader has given you, right, amigo?”

Dave rummaged around in the inside pocket of his jacket and felt the small piece of technology still being where it should be, for a moment he had feared that he had lost it. DJ Grooves had entrusted him with it, telling him that they could open the gate to the storage hall with it. He didn't understand anything he had told him, but it boiled down to 'Put the chip on the card reader, it will to the rest'. The small penguin was proud at being given such an important item, he couldn't mess this up now! “I got it right in my pocket, don't worry.”

They continue on through the alleys until they spot the storage hall. “So far so good.” Enrique observes the guards that have taken position around the big building. He sees around five cats guarding the outside of the hall. The low number wasn't unusual, they still had their claws full with running the former Leowle and Penguiad territory, that and the fact that they lost quite a lot of cats in the assault on their HQ.

Dave peeks around the corner, and gets pulled back by Enrique when one of the cats looked their way. The small eagle-owl starts whispering after motioning for the penguins and owls that were with them to come closer. “We'll attack them from both sides, I'll lure them over here. Dave-” The penguin jolted up in surprise.

“A pincer attack, dude, that's brutal, man. Bow wasn't joking when she had us watch out for you owl when Hattie came walking toward us that day.” The penguin shuddered a bit.

“-I want you and the penguins to go around the building and strike from behind. ¿Comprendes amigo?“

“Yes?” He looked a bit uncertain, kind of understanding what he just asked and kind of not. The penguins followed behind him, drawing their weapons as they walked behind the building from the left side waiting for Enrique to draw the attention to him and the owls. They started to attack as soon as they heard a loud 'How DARE you!' come from the position of the owls. Dave quickly took out one of the cats by stabbing him in the back while Enrique finished off a cat that had tried to slash him with their claws, only for their neck to meet his sharp talon on the way. The other owls and penguins quickly overwhelmed the remaining three. “Take that, fur balls!” One of the penguins cheered and high...oned? His brethren. The owls, meanwhile tried to focus on the front.

Enrique looked around some more, Dave following shortly behind him. “That's a big hall, alright, I wonder how many dangerous weapons they're storing in there.” Dave looked up at the massive, green building, while Enrique walked up to the small panel that required some kind of code. “You think there's more of those fur balls in there?” The penguin moved next to the panel, away from the door, just in case more cats came running out when he put the chip onto the panel and the door opens.

“We'll find out, ready when you are, Dave.” The penguin nodded and waited for the other penguins and owls to be in position before putting the micro chip on the electronic device. A robotic 'Access granted' could be heard. The door slowly opened, Dave gripped his knife tight and looked over at Enrique, whose eyes narrowed.

Nothing happened...absolute silence. The doors were fully open and for a full 10 seconds there was no noise, but the noise of his own breathing in Dave's ears. He watched as Enrique peeked around the corner into the storage hall and followed when he moved from his position and slowly entered, his weapon at the ready.

The hall was dark, hardly any windows made it difficult for the penguins to see. Enrique on the other hand could see nothing out of the ordinary. Some big crates with food, large shelves full of various blunt weapons like bats and golf clubs, even crow bars. He slowly inched forward scanning the whole room, behind him the penguins, Dave and his group of owls followed close behind. He looked between the large shelves moving further and further in.

He was about to get out the dynamite that his boss had entrusted him with, when he heard a loud voice above him. “I've heard that birds like to be free...-” His eyes widen in shock when he heard a loud snapping noise and saw a huge metal cage fall down from the ceiling. Dave yelped when the cage hit the ground with a massive steely thud. “-well, I like mine caged.” A small purple cat in a red jacket jumped down from one of the support beams at the top and landed on the cage gracefully. “I would have preferred to kill you for all my friends YOU killed, but the boss wants you alive for some reason.” They gave the owls and penguins a glare, their green eyes glistening with hatred as they jumped to the ground.

Dave appeared shocked, but snapped himself out of it. “You won't get away with this! DJ Grooves will come and save us!” The penguins behind him rallied together and cheered, showing their refusal to give up. Enrique growled at the young cat, countering their glare with his own. His feathers rising up, as he watched their smirk.

“You're making a big mistake, even should you kill us the rest of the Leowles will avenge our deaths.” Internally Enrique was angry at himself, he should have seen this coming, yet, he realized to late that they were being watched the moment they entered.

Maemi only dusted off their paws before making their exit, the owls and penguins yelling and fighting against the bars of the cage, making them laugh as they left the building. Maemi closed the doors, leaving Dave, Enrique, and the penguins and owls that followed them in near pitch black darkness.

Dave sat down on the ground, hitting his head on a metal bar, that he couldn't see. “We really messed up big time now.” He let out a deep sigh.

“They won't lose, Dave. My boss and yours, Hattie, and Bow will get the job done.” Enrique tried to cheer his new friend up, but he looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

“W-What are they gonna do to us?” Dave asked with a shaky voice, he started to shiver a bit. Still true to his nature, the eagle-owl was oddly calm.

“They'll likely will use us as bait. They want to lure the others into a trap.” Enrique cringed a bit when he noticed that the flightless bird had started to shake even more.

“We really done it now. We...We'll get DJ Grooves and the others killed.” His voice was nothing more than a near broken whisper.

Enrique only laughed a little, “I'd like to see them try! Those four aren't stupid, Dave. They'll notice that something's wrong when we don't come back.” He wanted to say that they could also think that they've been killed, but decided to not tell Dave that, thinking that it would harm the already depressed bird more.

“...What do we do now?” Dave inquired. This darkness felt like it was crushing him.

“We...we wait, compadre, we wait.”

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 21

The loud music of the entertainment district and the bright signs all around them didn't at all seemed to faze the young girl and the leader of the Leowles as they avoided the main roads and Bow, who knew all the side roads liked the back of her hand, navigated through the alleys at top speed. Bow had her disguise on, a fancy green dress and a matching green bow in her hair, she also put some contact lens in to change her eye color from purple to brown.

“So...your wounds still hurt? Will you be alright?-” “Bow gave a concerned glance over to the yellow owl, who was seemingly just polishing his cane. “-Also, how are you going to shoot him without a gun?”

The yellow bird gave her a smirk, “Who said I have no gun with me, lassie. This ain't just a regular ol' cane.”

Bow's eyes seemed to widen a bit and she looked amazed. “That cane is...a rifle?” She could see him nod in her peripheral. “That's so cool!” Bow almost wanted to ask him if she could hold it for a moment, but then realized that they had a job to do. She parked the vehicle far enough away from the museum, but close enough for a quick get-away. “Good luck up there...you really better blow a hole into that guy, or things will go south in the hood really quickly.” Bow turned to the bird who put the cane in his mouth to fly to the top of the rooftops. He spoke a bit weirdly due to the object.

“Don't ye worry, lassie, I ain't gonna miss those flea-riddled peck necks!” He gave her a confident, yet annoyed look for even doubting his ability for a moment. He winced as he took off, his wounds still causing him more pain than the burns caused Grooves.

Bow just fixed her disguise again before moving into the museum, starting phase 2. Bow was astounded at the décor and at how fancy this place actually was. Its exterior was already impressive, but the interior was even more breathtaking, she had never really been in the museum of the entertainment district much, her work simply never really had much to do with it. It had been under their control, sure, but the proprietor never really caused problems, unlike the current owner, who was quite the thorn in their side. The Conductor and DJ Grooves had filled her in on what they were dealing with, some cat called Toshihiro, apparently that cat painted and was the leader of the entertainment district now, that was all they knew. Bow, being the more capable one at acting, was selected for this mission, and her mentor's hacking prowess was needed on the other mission, so it fell to her and the Conductor to find and kill that cat.

Bow walked into the fancy lobby, a huge chandelier caught her attention and she wondered how much it was worth before following the red carpet to the counter to pay for entry. Normally she wouldn't pay, given that the influence that the Penguiads had on the territory would allow her to just walk in after intimidating the employee a bit, now though she was on a stealth mission, and drawing any kind of suspicion could determine whether she lived or died, given that she had no back up inside and all she had was her wit, also it was now controlled by the enemy.

The girl in green walked through the first floor, looking for any suspicious feline that could fit the description of the cat that they mentioned. She had a feeling that this Toshihiro would likely be an eccentric character, considering that decided to make the museum it's main base instead of a bar or a club or something less...conspicuous. She pretended to look at the paintings, and one of them called her attention, it was called 'The Great wave of Kanagawa', Bow found it quite interesting for whatever reason, so she walked over to it.

-

He landed on the roof rather awkwardly almost falling over from the pain for a second. “Peck!” Flying was really tough when quite a few parts of your body ache horribly, due to the bruises and burns he sustained in that prison. He had to wait for a moment for his eyes to stop blurring and when got into position. He could only hope that the Bow lass was alright in there. From where he was, he had a good view of the museums roof top. He picked the cane, that he had dropped a bit earlier due to his awkward landing, up and put a claw into the slot to release the trigger and when pulled up the scope which he didn't need last time. Now he just needed to wait and hope that everything would go according to the plan.

-

“Magnificent, right?

It's one of my favorites.

You have great taste, miss.”

Bow got startled out of her mind as a calm voice behind her leveled itself over the white noise of the other patrons of the museum talking. She whirled around in confusion and found a dark gray cat behind her, giving her a warm smile before walking up next to her and looking at it himself.

“The clothes that I wear,

were inspired by this art

A lovely style, right?”

Bow just stood there for a moment longer, gathering her thoughts and her composure again. “Yes, indeed, good sir, the brush strokes are...phenomenal!” She gestures at the painting with wide eyes, to emphasize her faked awe. She had a feeling that this cat was most certainly the one they were looking for.

“I have to agree!

May I inquire your name, miss?

You're new here, correct?”

Name...Peck! She forgot to think of a fake name. She looked around a bit, out of the corners of her eye, where she spotted a painting called 'Lisa Mona'. “...Lisa-” She looked at another painting and the first thing that she saw was a sunflower in full bloom. “-Blossom, Lisa Blossom, nice to make your acquaintance, sir. Would you show me around? I'm quite interested in the magnificent art exhibited in your museum, kind sir.” Bow bowed down a bit which was reciprocated by the cat.

“I would be honored

The portraits are outstanding!

Believe you me, miss.”

“Of course, sir” Bow followed him as he explained the various paintings and origins of them, feigning to be enticed by them despite the fact that she was actually getting bored. One thing got clearer and clearer though, this cat was very clearly the right one, something about him just rubbed Bow the wrong way. This gray cat had been nothing but kind to her and he carried himself with poise, none of this was giving her wrong vibes, but his eyes, something sinister was behind them. It was like he had seen true horror first hand and was scarred by it, a certain cruelty and menacing glint was also present clearly in his eyes to all those who were paying close attention to him. This was her target, no doubt was that the cat that they had to eliminate at all costs. They were slowly reaching the top floor now.

“I love these pieces

'Starry Night', one of the best.

What do you think, miss?”

“Amazing! Simply fascinating, the composition is breathtaking!” Bow jumped up and down in excitement, still faking to really care. The small smile the gray cat sported from the beginning never wavered. The Penguiad girl took a deep breath when they started to approach the flat roof. If all went well, this cat would not draw breath for much longer.

-

Conductor waited scoping out the roof of the fancy museum, the bright lights made focusing for longer periods of time exhausting on the eyes so he occasionally put his rifle down. It was when he was rubbing his eyes while cursing under his breath that he picked up a noise behind him...and thank peck that he did.

For once the ability to turn his head around 180° really came in handy, it made him see the object that got flung at him at a high speed in the nick of time. The shuriken cut the air right next to his neck, as the yellow bird just about avoided a grim fate and he turned to face his assailants. “Nice trick there, lads, ye almost got me.-” He pulled out his knife now, as his rifle was ill suited for close combat, his face twisted into a terrifying smirk, “-Oh, you'll wish ye got me there.”

The two cats came charging at him while the third cat stealthily sipped away. He noticed, of course, that the cat went away, but decided to focus on the two opponents that came closer. The first one took his blade right to the shoulder as he tried to dodge to get behind him, underestimating the speed of the yellow bird, who avoided the kunai of the other cat by twisting to the side. That was went he noticed something...a liquid on the blade of the eastern knife. “I see, so we're playin' dirty, eh?” It almost seemed like the bird was excited about the fight now, he twisted around the cat, and stabbed the kunai wielding cat down, while he did so, the wounded cat whose shoulder he stabbed, flung another shuriken at him, now from a closer distance. He gritted his beak and hissed when it irritated and cut the worst wound he sustained and he had to fight the urge to want to cover it. With rage he then charged at that cat, who seemed to have expected that attack to do more damage. A moment later that cat also dropped to the roof top lifelessly.

The leader of the Leowles barely had time to breathe then the last cat climbed up onto the roof behind him silently...this time, he didn't notice the cat's attack on time, this time it hit him. He just about reacted enough for the blade to only hit his shoulder, not his neck, where it would have been fatal.

The paralyzing agent on the blade would numb his right wing quickly now, which caused him to drop his knife. Now he was an easy target...so the cat thought at least. What the cat didn't expect was for the yellow owl to spin his head quickly and he was now face to face with the bird...and the aura that the small but menacing bird gave off caused the fur on the cat to bristle. “Think ye got me, eh? I donnae need me knife ta kill ye, laddie.” The cat yelped in pain when the sharp and pointy beak of the owl bit him right in the neck, causing him to bleed to death in seconds. “Anyone else?” The owl asked, spitting the blood of the cat out. He looked around an his smug smile vanished when he looked back to the roof of the museum...”PECK!”

-

“The air in here is so terrible right now, I'm getting a headache. I think some fresh air would do me good. Do you mind accompanying me? Where is no good company around here and I would be delighted if you could tell me more about those glorious paintings.” Bow hoped that it would be enough to get the cat to follow her to the roof and she laughed internally when he agreed to follow her.

Bow stepped out onto the roof of the museum and took a deep breath, this whole situation really tested her ability to stay in character, but she had to say that all was going well so far. Bow avoided drawing attention to the building where she knew the Conductor was waiting for a good opportunity to shoot him. The cat walked out onto the roof.

“Pleasant air out here

The stars are twinkling nicely

Good night for killing”

Bow couldn't react on time when Toshihiro grabbed her by the neck lifting her off the ground. The calm, composed and kind demeanor vanished instantaneously and was replaced by one of murderous intent and cruelty.

“A fool I am not

I know who you really are

Small Penguiad scum!”

Bow tried to free herself but without her weapons she could only try to pry his hands from her, which she only managed to do with moderate success. His grip loosened enough for her to breathe, but not enough to break free of the surprisingly strong grip of the gray cat. Toshihiro slowly took her over to the edge of the roof, a fall from that height would no doubt be the end of her. All the curly-haired girl could see were the horrifying, narrowed eyes and the twisted smirk of the cat, as she struggled to break free.

“Your bird friend is dead

You will now join the deceased

Farewell, little girl.”

-

No...nononono!! He growled as he noticed the event that were unfolding on the roof top. They wouldn't win! As long as he drew breath, they'd never win!

The old bird picked up his rifle with the left hand, it shook quite a bit. Without his right hand to steady it due to his whole right arm being paralyzed, he had no choice but to aim using only his left arm. The yellow owl took a deep breath, looking through the scope, careful now, one wrong move and he'd hit the lassie instead. He breathed out and a loud shot rang out, the cane flung back from the recoil that he had to endure with only his left arm now, it caused him pain, but he'd manage.

.

Bow closed her eyes, preparing for the horrifying feeling of falling to her doom, she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't give this cat the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She fell...a mere meter. She opened her eyes once she realized that she was dropped to the ground and all she saw was a gunshot wound on the gray cat's face, the bullet had hit him right between the eyes. The cat slumped over unceremoniously...Bow needed a few seconds to come back to her senses before she got up and walked over to the cat, dragging his lifeless body over to the vent. Now she needed to be quick, she needed to find that rocket launcher and escape before they could find a trace of something being wrong. She wondered if people heard the gunshot and soon found that most people in the museum started to evacuate the building while screaming...that made looking around easier. The Penguiad girl soon found the room the rocket launchers were store in, but found that they had already been destroyed...likely his own doing, given the card with the wave pattern next to it that read.

How shameful, just vile!

No finesse necessary!

No need for launchers.

There is no fun there

I will win honorably

With lies and my claws!

It appeared that Toshihiro wanted to fight them without even considering the use of those weapons...whether or not his tactics were more honorable is a different story. Not wasting any more time, Bow ran outside and met up with the yellow owl at the car, he looked like he had quite a fight behind him.

“What took you so long to shoot?!” Bow looked him up and down, looking a bit irritated, but when noticed the bleeding wound on his shoulder...and the fact that his whole beak was covered in blood still.

“Sorry, lassie, had a bit of a scuffle up there. I gotta give it to 'em, those fur balls can put up quite a fight-” He laughed a bit loudly, “-but they had no idea what they'd get themselves into when they challenged me! Did you find the missile launchers?”

“Yeah kinda...in a broken state.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “They destroyed them before we even got here.” The owl looked a bit distraught.

“Aye, I guess it's fer the best, would've loved ta blow some o' those rancid flea bags up though.” He shook his head. “...At least yer safe, lassie.” Bow smiled, she knew he cared.

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 18

“What do you want?” The large eye brows of the Penguiad leader furrowed at the unwelcome sight of the other leader.

“Bold of ye ta assume that I'd wanted somethin' from ye. I only came up here ta get some fresh air- “the owl clarified, and turned hostile immediately after, “-which is now ruined due to ye polluting it with yer awful stench.”

“You're one to talk.” The penguin only rolled his eyes and concentrated again, but not without keeping the position and the behavior of the owl in mind, and watching him out of the corner of his eye, just in case he draws his knife and attempts to do the same to him that he did to the young cat. To his surprise, the owl appeared moderately calm, he went to the other side of the roof and seemed to reach for something in his jacket, out of reflex, the penguin felt for his own weapon, once he saw that it was only a partly smoked cigar, he let his flipper drop to his side again.

He must have been standing there for a few minutes now, all that time the yellow bird in his peripheral never once moved, he only glared in one direction, so when the other finally moved a muscle, he returned to reality swiftly, not trusting the owl to keep their truce. He tilted his head just a little to see what that yellow menace had retrieved from his inner pocket, it was a bit small for a sheet of paper, and he noticed that the Conductor's jagged beak turned from his usual scowl into a sad frown. If it would have been any other bird, the DJ would have asked if they were okay, instead he scoffed. What a surprise, who would have thought that the cold-hearted Conductor could be anything other than grumpy or angry.

The Conductor's talons balled to fists and his feathers rose at the noise, his reminiscing interrupted by an insolent noise of mockery. A little flustered, he turned in the direction of the penguin, who turned to face him,“What are ye laughing at, peck neck?! Too much of a coward to tell me to me face?”

“No, Conductor, if I'd have to look at your face, I'd vomit.-” He smirked after seeing the scowl return to the owl's face, “-what's on that picture? Let me guess, it's one of your beloved trains, that's all you really care about after all.”

The amount of people that died because of him, the staggering amount of penguins that died due to his vile actions, it made his flippers shake with rage by just looking at the yellow owl that countered his piercing, angry glare with his own. “Oh please, do ye really think that looking at ye is remotely pleasant, if I looked like ye, I would've stabbed meself a long time ago.-” He spat back, “-Also, mind yer own business, why don't ye just peck off and go back to writin' music or whatever it is that ye waste yer time with.”

“What, and leave the planing to you? I'd rather put my life in hands of a monkey with stage 7 dementia, your plans are reckless and endanger the lives of not only you, but all the owls that accompany you!” Without even realizing it, the penguin had his flipper back in his pocket and tightly wrapped around the handle of his knife, the yellow owl had started to advance toward him, his fist shaking with anger.

“At least I don't shirk away from a fight like a scared hatchling! While I was out there risking me life to get information, ye sat around and did absolutely nothin'!”

“If you consider saving Hattie doing absolutely nothing. What did you do to that girl, Conductor?” The owls feathers rose for a moment at the mention of his granddaughter.

“I swear if ye did somethin' to her, I'll cut ye down where ye stand.” The menacing tone of the owl was followed by him slowly getting out his knife, the penguin noticed that a facial muscle twitched as he did so, if it was from anger or due to his injuries, the DJ couldn't care either way, as he followed suit by reading his own weapon.

“I didn't harm her, you did! How often did you hurt her, Conductor?-” He gritted his beak, narrowing his eyes behind his shades. “-How long did it take you to break the poor girl's spirit?!”

He repeated the line quietly in disbelieve, his mind refusing to understand the insinuation, almost reeling for a moment. His grip on his knife tightened as his feathers rose in his growing anger. Grooves expected his adversary to yell at him in anger, yet when he spoke the owl's voice was a whisper “How dare ye...-” The Conductor started to move, slowly, the penguin, meanwhile, never broke eye contact, he wouldn't back down one step. The aura of malice now coming from the yellow bird didn't unnerve him in the slightest, his hatred for the him only increased the closer his arch nemesis came.

Suddenly the yellow bird started to chuckle, and he shook his head slowly. Even though he was shaking with anger, he spoke in a near calm and level voice, “I should 'ave known that me bad reputation would come back ta haunt me. Ye cannae murder countless and expect people ta think that ye have any kind o' honor...yet this from ye of all, I could return the same question back ta yer.”

“Don't you even dare to put me on the same level as you. I'd NEVER, not in a million year, hurt little Bowie! Look at Hattie, you low-life, no young girl should have a need to be this calculated and willing to kill!”

“Mighty hypocritical, flightless scum, the bow lassie isnae as innocent as you paint her. Just like me Hattie, she has killed, it's what ye have ta do ta survive in this world. If ye cannae understand that even now, this life will teach ye sooner or later.” Both birds were mere steps away from each other now, trembling with anger and just waiting for the other to make a move. The owl stared his rival down, fighting hard against the wrath that threatened to take control over his actions, as much as he loathed him, they needed the help of him and the penguins.

His rival was caught of guard for just a fraction of a second, he spoke the truth, he knew, yet.....by the stars, now that the Conductor said that with that horrible intonation...he'd contemplate that later, now was not the time.

It took all his willpower, all of it to lower his knife and pry his eyes away from the shades that hid the sharp glare of the penguin's so well, but he somehow managed to quickly spin toward the exit and put away his knife, he wouldn't ruin everything that Hattie and the other lassie had worked so hard for. He almost gasped in shock when he noticed that the old polaroid had slipped out of his pocket as he turned toward the stairs quickly.

The small photo swayed left and right in the light breeze as it slowly tumbled to the ground almost right in front of the leader of the Penguiads, who picked it up before the other could, and inspected it. A happy looking family of five, the father of the young birds looked strikingly like the old bird that tore the photo out of his flippers a mere moment later. “I had no idea you had...” The surprise was clearly etched into the face of the DJ who looked at the flustered bird that quickly shoved the old picture back into his pocket.

“And it ain't none of yer business...-they're gone fer good.” His anger trailed to a sad whisper as he turned back around and headed toward the stairs once more.

The penguin's gaze followed the owl as he retreated, but something irked him. Gone? What did he mean by that.....no! No, he couldn't have, could he? Then again he just murdered that young cat in cold blood like it was nothing, who's to say that he wouldn't...do something like that.

His hatred for the bird spiked up again at the thought, “Only you would be so deplorable, you're really as cold-hearted as they say.-” The owl stopped, but didn't turn around. “-That you'd stoop so low as to kill innocent children, your own flesh and blood no less!” The penguin drew his knife again, he wouldn't get away with that, not ever!

“Well, I've tried, Hattie.-” The owl said quietly to himself before he whirled around and drew his knife and clashed blades with the penguin, “-NOW THAT'S IT!” DJ Grooves knew that the owl was hurt badly from his escape, so thinking that he was likely still a bit weak, he put more pressure on his own weapon, that coupled with the other bird being shorter than him pushed the owl down.

“I've been called a lot of things; heartless, cold, unforgiving, bloodthirsty...peck, the insults flung at me by those whose lives I took, I deserve all of them.-” The owl winced as he felt his right wing tremble, the wound he sustained there reopened and started to bleed. “-a criminal, a murrrrderrrerr, a filthy scum, all of these I've been called befer and they were right-” For a moment he thought he had him, that it would be that easy, but then the owl dodged to the side just in time, before he attacked back, “-I'D NEVER HURT EVEN ONE FEATHER OF ME OWN FAMILY!!!”

The attack was sluggish and the DJ had no trouble dodging the swipe that was aimed at his face that followed. “Where are they then if not six feet under?! None of my penguins have ever heard or seen any of them! As much as I respect Bowie's decision, I could NEVER be in the same room as someone so utterly repulsive and vile!” The owl parried the slash from the penguin aimed at his throat after said penguin spun the other way gracefully after evading a stab attack aimed at his heart by the owl. “You're honorless scum with no regard for any life whatsoever, while your pitiable owls bleed and die for you, you never look back.-” The harsh and quick movement from fighting irritated the third-degree burns on DJ Grooves' back, causing him to grit his beak. “-I value every single one of my penguins, we're strong because we stick together, you're all alone.”

“That's exactly why yer the weak one, ye cannae deal with the harshness of this world, peck neck! No matter how hard ye may try, there's always gonna be death, and it will hurt, especially if the person that died was close ta ye-” for a moment the penguin could detect sadness from his enemy, not realizing that the other noticed the same emotion from him, “-I sent 'em away so that they could be safe form all this, that they could be safe from YE!”

With a force that the DJ obviously didn't anticipate the Conductor to still be capable of with his injuries, the owl disarmed his opponent by moving his own weapon up so quickly against the other that it caused the penguin to lose his grip and drop the knife. The DJ was stunned only for a split second, enough time for the yellow bird to attack, yet still enough for the him to dodge swiftly and punch the arm of owl, who let his own weapon drop with a shriek.

“That's rich coming from you! We both know that once this is over, you'll just continue to attack us, continue to harm my penguins, me, and even Bowie! No one is safe from you!” Another punch from the penguin made the Conductor reel backwards, his hat falling off in the process.

“Would you kill me, Conductor?” The voice of the curly-haired girl was brought back to the front of his mind. She had spoken to him so casually and friendly, even that horrible question left her lips without hostility or worry...Like she was aware that he wouldn't...and she was right, he simply wouldn't be able to raise his trusty knife, that had seen so many fall, to end her life.

“As if ye'd stop! Only recently ye ambushed and killed me owls! Don't delude yerself thinkin' yer something better!-” The owl retaliated with a punch of his own, the huge amount of hatred and anger in the eyes of the DJ were now clearly visible as the impact knocked of his shades. “-Just like me, ye killed and robbed countless! Ye ain't a saint neither, yer filthy flippers are coated in blood, just like me talons!”

DJ Grooves wiped the spot on his face there the punch had connected and for a moment he hesitated. It was true that even with him trying his best, both his penguins and no small amount of innocents had lost their lives over the years. The smug smile on his adversary that only widened the more the penguin's eyes shined with realization, caused the DJ to come back to reality.

“Don't you dare compare me to you! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!” The owl just chuckled at his outburst.

“Aye, that's true, laddie. Ye fight like a wee toddler.” Now the penguin truly lost his composure and grabbed the bird by the collar shoving him down to the ground hard, After blinking away the sharp pain on his back the yellow owl barely intercepted another punch that was aimed at his face, using the sharp claws on his other hand to scratch the flipper that he held until his enemy winced in pain and moved his arm away which gave him the chance to get the upper hand, he moved the other bird around, ready to slice open his face.

“STOP!” Both birds flinched at the young voices they heard and looked over to see both Bow and Hattie, terrified of what they did to each other.

“Don't kill him, grandpa! He's...he's not evil.” Hattie tried to appeal to her mentor who reluctantly let go of the penguin, who got up and dusted off his clothes.

“Why are you fighting? I know you two don't see eye to eye, but...please don't kill each other.” Bowie wiped away a few tears, as she picked up her mentor's shades and returned them to him.

“I tried, Bowie, I really did, but-” DJ Grooves glared at the smaller bird, “-he's so frustrating to deal with.” That and the fact that he had a point, his arguments were eerily solid...

Hattie looked at the reopened injury with worry and only calmed down a bit when the old bird assured her that he wasn't seriously hurt and placed a talon on her head gently. He quickly moved down the stairs followed shortly by Hattie, who picked up his hat that threatened to get blown of the roof by the breeze.

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 22

The rain pattered softly again the ground outside, a few small drops hit the window as the wind turned and blew them against it. It almost felt like a rhythm of some kind, one that soothed his racing mind only a little bit. The thoughts wouldn't leave him alone.

'The bow lassie isnae as innocent as you paint her. Just like me Hattie, she has killed, it's what ye have ta do ta survive in this world. If ye cannae understand that even now, this life will teach ye sooner or later.' The words that the Conductor practically spat at him that day wouldn't leave his mind, they continued to swirl around in it, never giving him much time to focus if he was idle.

He clenched his flipper a little as he watched the drops slowly run down the window, he rubbed his eyes after pushing his shades up a bit. What had he done? What had he done to her all those years? The DJ knew that his rival was right, he had always known, yet he had pushed the thought away, but with all of this Nyakuza business happening, and the very real chance that Bow could get harmed badly or even...die, he really came to a terrible realization.

He has been terrible to her! He had forced her into this dangerous and unforgiving world, he robbed her of any chance of leading a normal life! The worst thing was that Bow had no idea! That to her, this was normal now, that this horrible stress and danger were just part of her life...she was a kid, a KID! She should have never been involved into this mess in the first place!

DJ Grooves sighed heavily as his head drooped down a bit. This had all escalated way too much. He knew that his own decisions had led him to this outcome...yet...he couldn't quite believe it, the owl was right, there would always be death for as long as the gang wars continued. There would always be bloodshed and violence...his penguins would bleed and die...Bow would get hurt.....This needed to end, one way or the other.

The tall penguin got torn out of his ominous thoughts by the door opening and Bow entering while yelling “Boom, baby” She struck a pose right after and giggled, before running up to hug him. “You're okay!” She beamed and pushed her face into his chest a bit. Instinctively, he wrapped a flipper around her to hold her.

“You're...not hurt, are you, darling?” There was even more concern audible in his voice than normal. Bow picked up on that.

“It got a bit messy, but...that cat took a nice bullet between the eyes!” She winked and he shivered...It was only now that he noticed, for the first time, that she was speaking about someone dying horribly...like it was just a normal everyday occurrence. Bow sounded as chipper as always, even after something so traumatic.

“I see, darling, I guess that's one less thing to worry about.”.....What had he done to her!

He softly pet her head, he couldn't keep his tears at bay, even with all his willpower. All those years...All those years she had to fight, she had to escape death...and it was his fault...His alone! He could hardly even see Bow through his shades and his thick tears now. The girl looked confused, but just thought that it was due to all the stress and that he needed some comfort, so she just hugged him close. “It's okay, we'll win for sure, the Penguiads will come out on top!”

...The Penguiads...'ye cannae deal with the harshness of this world, peck neck! No matter how hard ye may try, there's always gonna be death, and it will hurt...' Once again the yellow bird's words reached his inner ears. The old owl was right, he couldn't deal with it. All those penguins that believed in him, in his leadership...quite a few died or ended up behind bars, yet their faith never wavered...

He had to do something, he had to!

He cradled the young girl until she fell asleep due to her exhaustion and his warm feathers.

-

Hattie found the owl exhausted, sitting at one of the desks on the first floor of the building, he looked a bit...pained, was he injured? Hattie ran over to him and stopped in front of him, her arrival startled him, which was unusual as hardly anyone could ever sneak up on him, let alone startled him by approaching in plain sight.

“Are you alright?” She looked concerned at him, he only let out a deep, long breath. Conductor looked at the young girl and felt rage surge though him at the new wounds he could see on her, nothing fatal, but...He hated to see her hurt. It was something that somehow only recently surface more after he got separated from the Leowles and thought more about Hattie.

'How often did you hurt her, Conductor?' He winced as the memory of the hatred-filled voice of his rival entered his mind, 'How long did it take you to break the poor girl's spirit?' He shivered which caused Hattie to get closer to him...He was right...That foul penguin was right! He...he had hurt her, all this time he had hurt her! She wasn't some cold, unfeeling monster...WHY DID HE THINK FORCING HER TO BE THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA!!! She was a child, a young girl! Peck!

His hand balled to a fist and shook on the desk, his rage almost caused him to hit the piece of furniture with enough force to either break it or his hand. Hattie noticed the unrest in him and decided to put a hand on his shoulder. “Everything went according to plan, more or less. We managed to kill the cat and DJ Grooves managed to find something, in the blue prints of the HQ of the Nyakuza.-” She smiled. “-But unfortunately, the rocket launchers were already destroyed.”

'...no young girl should have a need to be this calculated and willing to kill!' He looked back at Hattie, who was ready to kill at the drop of a hat...What the peck had he done! He remembered how shocked she had been when she had to kill that traitorous owl, where she was completely unresponsive, now, none of this seemed to face her anymore.

“...Ye got hurt, didn't ye?” Not only by whatever that cat had sent at her or done to her, but by HIM, HE hurt her, he was the cause why she was injured...The cause for ALL the times she got injured! It tore at his heart, he had to fight back his tears.

“It's okay, It's nothing grave, I'm still-” She was interrupted in her sentence when he suddenly pulled her close to himself, she only brought out a meek 'huh?' as she looked at his face with wide eyes. He was silent for a moment, Hattie noticed that he was shaking a bit.

“It's not nothin', lassie...” She wondered why he was so...emotional all of a sudden, but she didn't mind it, she just enjoyed how warm he was for a moment. He looked down at her, his remaining family, and gently started to rub her back. The Leowles girl let out a soft and long sigh of comfort, while her mentor was everything but comfortable. She was his family, he had raised her like one of his own...yet, he sent his real family away, but didn't save poor Hattie! He got so caught up in this gang war, so caught up in winning even should he die, that he forgot that his secret ace in the hole was a mere young child.

“Hattie...I-” He wanted to start to apologize to her even if it could never fix all that he did wrong, but when he looked down, Hattie had fallen asleep hugging him. He sighed deeply and looked outside at the rain.

He needed to find a way out of this, no matter what he had to do to end this, he would!

-

A few tears still rolled down his cheeks as he opened the files that he had found in the office of the female cat he and Hattie had killed. The cafeteria was empty, completely devoid of any of his penguins and not one owl in sight. He supposed that they were all asleep...at least those that weren't captured. He was startled when he heard that his one remaining close friend was captured by the cats. When the news reached them, he noticed that the Conductor's feathers rose in anger and shock, Enrique being captured must have been boiling his blood even more. It was good that Bow and Hattie were asleep at the moment, they really needed to rest for the upcoming days, he had to tell Bow sooner or later, but it could wait at least until she was awake again.

How he wished that it was different, how he wished that none of this ever happened...his rival was certainly right, he was not cut out for this. Speaking of the bird that told him that, the yellow owl looked equally as unfit to lead his gang the moment he entered the cafeteria. He looked strangely pensive, and expression that the tall penguin had never seen on his rival before...then again, seeing anything other than violent anger was already an odd thing to see on him.

DJ Grooves tried to ignore the presence of his currently strangely calm rival, whose face scrunched up in disgust the moment he laid eyes on him...yet he seemed oddly docile as he went to the top shelve to pull out a bottle of scotch. DJ Grooves couldn't help but laugh a little at the fact that the small owl needed to stretches and make himself as long as he could to even reach the top shelve. “Need help, darling?”

The owl flinched as the low-pitched voice reached his ears. He wanted to snap at the penguin, he really wanted to tell him that he should mind his own business and peck off...but he couldn't, he didn't have the energy for an argument...not with all that's been haunting his mind. Instead he growled and answered in a voice that sounded so meek and pained that it shocked himself, “Aye, if ye would.”

Catching his sunglasses that nearly fell to the ground as he jolted after hearing the response from his rival, he got up slowly. He heard that right, right? This...this owl was still the Conductor, right? The same angry owl that usually insulted him and was sarcastic every time he could. The behavior was so estranged to the regular manner the owl behaved that almost instinctively the penguin asked “Are you okay?” He almost wanted to withdraw the question immediately when he remembered just whom he was asking that.

The yellow bird only scoffed, apparently aware of how odd his behavior was. “Do I look okay, lad?” The owl looked closer at the penguin that actually got the bottle down for him. The normal flashiness and the poise with wish the leader of the Penguiads normally carried himself appeared to be gone. He looked downright...defeated...normally that would cause the yellow bird to smile smugly and ridicule him...yet he wasn't in the mood to do so, instead he tilted his head at him. “Could ask ye the same question though, ye look like 30 days o' rain. Nae a bounce in yer step today, ye ain't boostin' morale like that.” The penguin's gave him a quick glare, which turned into a sigh and the same depressed expression he wore all evening immediately after.

“Not now, Conductor, please.” He expected the owl to laugh and to throw another taunt at him, yet all the other did was take a deep breath and walk by him to one of the chairs. He opened his bottle, and wanted to take a swig, but oddly enough, he hesitated. The DJ noticed and looked at the other gang leader confused. “Don't feel like ruining your liver further?” The bottle nearly shattered on the floor as the grip the old bird had on it loosened due to him being startled at the sudden remark. The Conductor glared at his rival, not expecting to find the same solemn expression to still be present on the penguin's face.

Hattie's worried words played in his mind from the day that she requested that he stopped drinking. The memory almost caused him to shed a few tears...but he wouldn't not with his rival being in the same room. He wouldn't give him that satisfaction! Instead he just seemed to stare at the contents of the bottle as he thought about what he should do. His ear-like feathers rose up when he remembered something that Hattie told him earlier. He swallowed the spite and hatred that he normally carried for the tall penguin and spoke in an almost eerily quiet tone. “Hattie mentioned somethin' about blue prints for the Nyakuza HQ...found anythin' useful in there?”

The penguin, who had sat back down stopped typing for a moment and observed the owl with an inquisitive look on his face. “How did you know that we...Hattie told you.” The other bird nodded.

“Aye, she told me before she fell asleep...” The Conductor sighed deeply, tilting the bottle before moving it away from his grasp.

That glassy expression was so weird to see on his rival of all people, but he started to understand now, he finally started to understand that the yellow owl did care about the young girl that he had raised. What he did next would have infuriated his past self, to even think about showing sympathy to what he had considered a monster before. “Listen, Conductor, what...what I said was-” He got interrupted by the other bird raising a wing and shaking his head.

It took a lot of effort for the old owl to jump over his pride and to admit that he had wronged the penguin. “Ye were right, I hurt me lassie...an I didnae even realize that I did...-” He chuckled weakly and shook his head, “-I was such a dumb fool, a bloody idiot!” his angered seemed to flare up as he hit the table with his fist, a pained expression on his face, not from the numbness that the physical aggression had caused, but from the regret that had been festering in him for a while now.

The other leader flinched at the loud noise and showed a mixture of surprise and understanding, he felt much the same. “...I failed little Bowie, too, I was supposed to protect her, but...I turned her into an unfeeling killer.-” His voice broke as tears dripped onto the keyboard of his laptop. “-I robbed her of a normal life...a healthy environment...I-”

The foreign expression of sadness and anguish on DJ Grooves' face, caused his rival to not laugh for once, but to show him a look of genuine sympathy.“-...You were right, darling...there will always be death as long as this goes on. Neither my penguins nor your owls deserve any of this.” The yellow bird's head lowered.

“The owls...I've...I've been terrible ta 'em-” He scoffed, “-No wondered they wanted me gone fer good. All me life I've been told ta lead 'em, ta throw 'em under the bus when needed, ta see them as nothin' but tools fer a job...Ye were right ta call me out on that.”

“Maybe I really am too soft for this, like you said. I...-” He looks at the owl that had moved a bit closer to him, “-No WE have to end this.”

The yellow bird nodded. For once the owl had no snarky remark, and instead he leaned closer to look at the screen of the laptop. “What's the plan?”

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 17

TW: MILD TORTURE!

The eyes of the birds in the lobby focused and grew wide in shock the moment Bow entered the premises, carrying the limb body of a Nyakuza member effortlessly while the yellow owl followed.

The penguins had to lower their shades to do a double take if they were seeing correctly, the owls, meanwhile, decided to ask their leader the question that was burning on the minds of both factions. “What's that cat doing here, sir?”

“This fur ball here will help us get all the information we need to take down that pesky group of flea-ridden peck necks” The yellow bird replied and the penguins all flinched at the swear and glanced at the door to the meeting room, which barged open a moment later.

Bow and the penguin flinched when they saw their boss enter the lobby steaming with rage, the yellow bird merely tilted his head toward the door, upon seeing the rivaling leader, his feathers rose and he clenched his fists. “Of course it would be you, no one else but you would use that abhorrent swear, you filthy yellow sewer rat!”

The head-feathers on the right side of his head twitched and an angry scowl spread on the beak of the Leowle leader, “Ye got a problem with that, ye wimpy, moronic eyes-sore?” The two leaders glared at each other both looked like they'd start to fight even with their grave wounds. Some of the owls and penguins started to tremble in fear at the sheer tension.

Bow was about to try and defuse the situation, when a groan´could be heard followed by a very confused sounding, “Where-Where am I?” After giving the penguin another glare, the yellow owl motioned for Bow to take him to an empty room on the left side of the lobby.

“What are you planning to do with that cat, Conductor?” The DJ followed behind them, knowing exactly what the owl was doing, he couldn't believe that they'd have to resort to such...drastic measures.

The leader of the Leowles didn't even turn around as he replied to the question with a condescending tone, “Unlike ye, I'm getting' things done 'round here! We need more information, and this little bastard here will tell us all we need ta know.-” He ushered Bow into the room and pointed at a chair in the back, “-Put 'im down on that chair over there.”

Bow sat the now struggling cat on the chair, not even minding that his tail got caught under him. He was about to get up to free his tail at least, running away was not an option with his wrists and ankles tied up...not to mention the large amount of foes around him made escaping near impossible. Before he could do so however, the yellow owl pressed him against the back of the chair and tied his upper body to it, leaving him in that awful position.

“Thank ye, lassie, go and get some rest now, things could turn really ugly down here...ye donae need ta see that.” The owl suggested before he focused his attention on the cat. With the hectic and the struggle for survival the past week, Bow was grateful for that she was no longer needed for now, she looked at the penguin before she left the room, waiting for his reply.

He put a flipper on her shoulder. “I handle things from here, darling. Go upstairs and get some sleep, you more than deserve it.” With that, the young girl left and closed the door behind her, leaving a scared cat, an eerily-smiling owl, and an irritated penguin behind.

The cat started to writhe in the binds, trying to wiggle his paws free, but the rope only cut into his wrists more. The cat looked between the penguin and the owl with wide, darting eyes, knowing that the situation he found himself in was quite dire. His fur rose when the owl drew a knife from the inside pocket of his jacket and spun it in his talon skillfully.

“Now to ye, fur ball, I got a couple of questions fer yer and ye better answer them, or else...” The owl moved his knife closer to the cat's face. “First question; How many more of ye flea bags are under yer leader's command?”

“I-I'm not gonna tell you anything, t-the Empress would kill me!” The eyes of the cat were wide and only focused on the sharp, glistening blade.

Grooves only watched in disgust at the owl's methods. He hated such barbaric actions, but it wasn't like he cared much for the cats either, and information was really what they needed. He would have preferred sending someone to scout enemy territory, however, with the Empress now angered, the risk of getting spotted was a lot higher, and their HQ was most likely just brimming with enemies now.

“Wrong answer, laddie.” A harsh scream was heard when the owl stabbed his knife through the back of the paw of the cat. Tears formed in the eyes of the young feline, as he whimpered in pain now. The penguin only turned his head and closed his eyes the moment he noticed the swift motion of his untrustworthy 'ally'. The Conductor pulled his knife out of the wound, and waited for the cat to calm down a bit. “Are ye gonna talk to me now, lad?”

The yellow bird had to strain his ears a bit to catch the murmur of the black feline, “T-There's-There's around 300 of us now.” So they were outnumbered around 4 to 1, the odds were still quite stacked against them then.

“See, that wasn't so hard now, was it? Question 2; How many o' those rocket launchers does she have?” When the cat didn't answer immediately and only sobbed, the owl started to hover the blade over the wrist of his other arm. The dark, low voice of the yellow bird made the cat shiver upon hearing his next words. “This knife here is one o' me favorites, mighty sharp. Talk, or yer paw's gonna fall to the floor, fur ball.”

“No, no please! There is, four of them! The Empress has one and a-and her three most trusted cats have one e-each!” The Conductor nodded and brought his free wing up to his chin.

What neither expected was that the penguin moved closer toward the two with a question of his own. “Question 3; Where are those other three cats deployed?”

“Sure, reap the rewards after I dirtied me hands in gettin' us some intel, while ye sat 'round and did nothin'.” The owl's snarky remark left the penguin completely unfazed as he tilted up the head of the cat, who looked up with big, tear-filled eyes, he flinched the at the sharp gaze of penguin, noticeable even through his shades.

“Nozomi has the first one, s-she runs an office building in former Leowle territory-” The owl's feathers rose and he growled, which caused the cat to stop momentarily, “Featherweight Leggings or something.”

“Know the place, you menace?” The owl was really tempted to drive his knife into a certain someone, that would deserve the pain and suffering far more than this little cat, he had to take a deep breath, the twitching of his right feathers stopped as he did so.

“Sure, I know the place, peck neck-” With satisfaction, he noted that the beak of the DJ contorted into a scowl, which caused the cat to start to panic even more, as he ducked down further and further making himself appear as small as possible. “-That company's called Featherweight Logistics though, they help bigger companies deal with their imports and exports easier.” The owl stepped closer again and showed the bloodied knife to the cat, a signal the feline understood it seemed.

“The second one is kept by T-Toshihiro, I-I heard that he leads the members in the entertainment district.”

“That area is quite big, laddie. Ye value yer paw, don't ye?” The cat looked from the Conductor to Grooves, both of their faces showing nothing but hatred and anger. The tension made him almost choke, his sobbing also didn't help the matter. Once again the blade hovered over his wrist.

“I don't know w-where exactly! A-A.All I know this from a colleague who works under him. I really don't know anything about his whereabouts!” The cat's head jerked to the right as the yellow bird punched him in the face, earning the Leowle leader a quiet 'you disgust me' from his rival.

The poor cat started to whine as blood ran from his nose in small drops. “He-He likes art a lot, he even paints.-” His voice trailed into a strained whisper, “-It's all I know, please, stop.”

“Well, there is a museum close to the center of the district, good chance the cat he means is there, if what he says is true.”

“I-I didn't lie! I-I-I swear!” Their black-furred enemy blurted out, and immediately stopped when both leader's heads snapped back to him.

“Silence, wretch!” Both birds thought about what the cat had told them for a minute, the Conductor had started to pace up and down the small room, throwing his knife into the air a bit before catching it again, while the DJ leaned against the table in the room and tapped his foot to some rhythm no one else could hear.

The by now hyperventilating cat, used the short break to try and calm down a bit, not sure how he was supposed to get out of this predicament, he found no answer.

The silence was broken when the penguin addressed their captive. “Who's the third one?” The cat's head lowered. He really didn't want to tell them about Maemi, the kid was a real boon to the gang and was quite capable. He didn't want to, he really hated to do this, but he was scared...scared of what the leader of the Leowles would do to him.

“Our leader's young protege has it, they...they usually are doing errands for the Empress, but they're at the HQ frequently.” New tears fell to the floor as the cat began to cry again, he felt like he had betrayed his friends.

“I think that's all we can get out of him...What are we going to do with him?” The penguin asked and this time he had no time to turn away from the cruelty of the yellow bird, who plunged the knife into the cat's chest, killing him instantly. The lower beak of the penguin quivered for a moment, before he spoke in an agitated tone “Why did you do that?!”

The owl's cold expression didn't change, as he answered him dryly, “Not that ye'd understand, but I did the lad a favor. If we'd let him go he'd inform the Empress that we're attacking them, either that or they kill him brutally on sight. At least I made it quick and painless, far more mercy than what those fleabags even deserve.” With that the owl left the room and yelled at a few of his owls to clean up the blood and the dead body.

DJ Grooves knew that the owl had a point, even if he hated that he did, but...still all of this was just revolting, he never wanted things to escalate to this extend...and he had honestly never once thought about that those actions could be considered normal. Maybe the owl was right, maybe he really was too weak, but when again, the owl was extremely heartless, he killed without any regret! If he hadn't found the bomb that was placed in his nightclub on time, not only the Penguiads, but also countless innocents would have been killed, while he always made sure to only kill when necessary. At least he had honor, something that the owl sorely lacked.

DJ Grooves left the room with a huff and made his way upstairs, he had a plan to work on. He was glad when he noticed Bow sleeping in one of the sleeping bags laid out on the second floor, some of the others had also gone to sleep. He noted that she had pushed her blanket off, careful as to not wake the others, he went to fix it, the girl sighed in her sleep, and turned to her side. With her now unable to hide her exhaustion by being her lively, energetic self, it was obvious that those past weeks had been really rough on her.

He had to make sure that they survive this, and for that, they had to take out the Empress' most valued henchmen. They may be on the ground, but they were far from defeated!

Absentmindedly he went to the roof, the fresh air might help him think at least. He watched as the sun was starting to set, while he looked at the metro, not properly registering anything, his mind was occupied finding ways to bring an end to this struggle. He whirled around when he noticed someone coming up the stairs.

-

He was really thankful that this old, rundown building at least still had access to running water, otherwise it would have taken him even longer to wash the blood off his yellow feathers. He felt his wounds aching again, but pushed that out of his mind quickly, right now he had to focus, he needed a plan and fast.

Some fresh air might do him good, so he decided to head up to the roof, but first he felt the need to check up on Hattie.

The young girl was still fast asleep when he got to her, but she must have woken up before, as she had discarded her jacket on the nightstand. He was about to turn and leave her to her peaceful slumber, when he noticed something poking out of the inside pocket of her jacket. His heart broke when he looked at that wretched, old polaroid that he just couldn't escape from. Hattie must have save it before the raid of the Nyakuza on their headquarters, knowing that it was important to him.

Looking at her and when back at the smiling owls on the picture made one thing crystal clear for him. Something that he should have realized sooner, something that even his younger self should have known back then...

This needed to end, for her sake it needed to end.

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 20

Hattie was sweating profusely on the driver seat of the Penguiad car. Making sharp turns as she maneuvered her way to the office building of the Featherweight Logistics company.

“Could you try to NOT steer so harshly, just relax a bit.” The tall penguin on the passenger seat was typing furiously into his small laptop. Hattie only managed to give him a brief sharp glare, before she had to focus on not driving on the wrong lane.

“YOU were the one that insisted I drive! I've never driven a car before, only trains!” She stopped to breathe at the side of the road after she figured out how the brakes work, and send the DJ next to her almost flying out the front window due to the harsh brake. He breathed a sigh of annoyance at the sudden stop, but composed himself again, erasing the line that he had written which now solely consisted of 'e's. “So, what exactly are we doing again? After we agreed that Bow is better at handling the other job and my grandpa is needed there to help her, you only told me that I have to sneak into the place.” Hattie leaned back in her seat and took a couple of deep breaths.

“It's an office building, darling. It's likely that this cat, Nozomi, I think her name was, is at the top of the building, the rocket launcher as well. We really neutralize that threat if we find and destroy it alongside her. I'll simply hack into the security system and, voila, you can just waltz up there and threaten her to tell you where the rocket launcher is.” He looked rather confident about this plan. Hattie thought that it was simply due to the fact that only she and him were in harm's way. Well, either way she was ready for anything, if they failed, the Penguiads and the Leowles were done for after all.

“Okay, so, you're hacking into her system now?” She asked after she sped up the car again, and moved back onto the correct lane.

He had the USB stick, that Marcus had given him in his last moments, in his laptop. The program on it was one he had written himself, it has never failed to breach a security system. “Currently not, I'm just writing some addition safety features, just in case this cat is smarter than I thought, one can never be to careful.” He looked over to her and gave her a wink...that she couldn't see due to his sunglasses.

Hattie still didn't quite trust the penguin, but he did save her life, that had to account for something, she had to say that he wasn't the vindictive killer that she had pictured him as, to her it was more like a description of both Bow's and her mentor's portrayal of him. Kind and caring, but a bit...weak minded, like he didn't at all fit into this whole thing. Compared to Conductor, he was a lot...softer, especially to his subordinates, she found.

She stopped the car in alley, and jumped out. “We best walk from here, we don't know if there's cats patrolling the premises.” Hattie whispered quietly to him.

“Good thinking, darling, it's likely that they expect us after there assault on us failed.” Grooves put the updated program on the USB stick and heads out, following Hattie, who knew the area better.

There were only a few cats patrolling the surroundings around the office, with a few sneaky maneuvers, they managed to avoid confronting them entirely. They decided to go to the backdoor, but found that it was guarded by two cats. “You have your knife, right? I saw that you had one when you fought my grandpa.” Hattie drew her own knife out of her pocket.”

“What's the plan, darling?” Cringing at the horrible encounter with the girl's 'grandpa', Grooves nodded and drew his own knife. It was great to see that someone else showed initiative at doing something, normally he made the plan and the penguins would just follow that plan...until something went wrong. Only Bow usually showed that she was capable of clear thought. He loved his penguins like brothers, but...sometimes it was hard to work with them.

“Throw your knife at their throat, if that doesn't kill them, use their confusion to kill them. That way they won't make sound loud enough to alert the other cats in the nearby area.” She rose her knife, ready to throw at the cat on the left of the entrance when he was.

He was once again reminded on just how brutal and deadly the Leowles operated, a girl shouldn't be just stabbing and slashing people without remorse...Was...Was Bow doing the same? Of course she was, how had that never occurred to him until the Conductor of all birds brought it up. With a deep sigh, he quickly went out of hiding and threw his knife at the cat on the right side of the door, hitting the cat's shoulder, the other cat fell to the ground as Hattie's blade hit them in the neck. The remaining feline didn't have the time to even scream as the Leowle girl ran over, retrieved her knife and killed him.

“Your breathing messed up your aim, try to throw after exhaling next time.” He just nodded and followed Hattie to the door. Hattie was a bit impressed and in awe when the door easily opened, allowing them access to the building. The DJ only smiled proudly when she looked back at him. Hattie was not surprised to find no one around, they had decided to head in there after the workday to make sure that no one would be inside.

“So far so good-” Hattie walked along the hallway toward the elevator, “-Maybe things will be easy for once.”

The assumption of the penguin had been right, at the very top of the building a white cat sat in her chair, a rather eerie smirk spread on her face, and her tail flicked around in delight as she was giggling in a sinister fashion to herself after seeing the movements of her enemies on her screen. “You didn't think you could just waltz in here and I'd lay down and beg for my life, did you?” She looks at Hattie from one of the small security cameras that were installed in the walls, the young girl was slowly approaching the elevator. “Surprise, little girl!”

Hattie noticed that something was off just a split second before a couple of holes opened in the wall on the left side of the hallway she was in. If she hadn't been on guard this whole time, the knifes that came out of the holes at a high velocity, would have cut her to pieces.

“Darling, are you alright?” The DJ helped Hattie to her feet.

“Did-Didn't you switch off the security system?!” She readied her weapon, just in case.

“I did, darling, I swear, I...!” He was interrupted by a cold-sounding female voice that came throught the speakers, making him and Hattie look around for the source. He grimaced, he should have known that this wouldn't be easy. “Who's there, show yourself!”

“Did you really think you could just come in here an sabotage my business? You, feathered scum, and that little brat won't leave this building alive!”

They can hear steel shutters on the door they just came through. They were trapped in now.

Hattie looked around for anything that they could use to help them get to the top floor, to reach the cat called Nozomi, but she found nothing. She gritted her teeth, but kept her composure.

Their dire situation turned around a little bit when DJ Grooves found one of the panels that the security system operates with. He managed to hack into it and open the door to a room down the hall, said room had a couple of PCs.

“Jackpot, darling, now we can at least fight back!” He switched one of the PCs on and booted it up, sliding his USB stick into the slot for it. Hattie watched in awe as he typed to her incoherent numbers and letters into the keyboard, and that triggered a dinging noise.

“What was that?-” The Leowle girl headed outside the room to check and found that the elevator door was now open. “-H-How did you do that?” She looked at him with wide eyes and a bright smile before switching back into a more serious mode. “I'll go up there and face her, give me...hacking support.”

“Alright, darling, head up there while I work my magic.” He gave Hattie a wink before going back to counter whatever Nozomi had planned now.

Hattie headed to the elevator and pressed the button to the top floor, lamenting that there weren't any stairs, that would have not put her into such a vulnerable position. Her thoughts were only proven correct when the elevator somehow turned warmer.

Nozomi laughed at their struggle, seemingly unfazed by the counter measure from her bird enemy. “I'll admit, I'm happy that you managed to bypass the code that kept the elevator shut, however...-” The voice over the intercom turned rather sinister once again, the malice dripped form every word she uttered. “-I say we turn it up a notch, literally.” The temperature in the elevator only increased from a standard 18° Celsius (64,5° Fahrenheit) to a worrying 38° Celsius (100° Fahrenheit). Her grin widened when she noticed that the girl was starting to sweat as she opened her jacket and put it off entirely a moment later, leaving her in a purple long-sleeved shirt.

Nozomi noticed that the penguin had once again interfered, this time he'd fail, she'd make sure of it. With a couple of quick button presses on her keyboard, the threat was neutralized. “A commendable effort for a lowly bird, but unfortunately it was thwarted.-” She giggled once again, “-You thought you were smart, didn't you, penguin?” She watched as the brown-haired girl struggled to find a way out of the lift.

Sweat dropped from his forehead onto the keyboard, not due to the heat, the room he was in was perfectly normal, but fear crept up on him like a disease. He could see poor Hattie panting as the temperature in the elevator showed a very critical number now, but, even with the program on his USB-Stick, Nozomi's program was very hard to counter.

Hattie was starting to get dizzy, she noticed a hatch on top of the elevator and jumped as high as she could to reach it, at first failing and stumbling, due to her balance starting to fail her, bur after another attempt she was able to pull the hatch open and climb out of the singeing hot room. She took a few moments to recover before climbing the emergency ladder to the higher floors.

DJ Grooves breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Hattie climb up the ladder through him hacking the cameras. This wasn't it, he knew, but that cat wouldn't beat him, not when they were so close to fighting back, and getting into a better position.

In the meantime, Hattie reached the top floor via the ladder and DJ Grooves managed to open the elevator door to the hallway. A heavy door with multiple steel locks barricaded the way to the office room that had a name plate next to it which simply said. “Nozomi, CEO” Hattie checked if she could find anything she could use to break the locks, but only found a fire extinguisher. No way would that break a steel lock.

“A commendable effort, really, really determined, aren't you?-” They could hear her cold voice again. Hattie gritted her teeth, and looked around in all directions, just waiting for something to pop out and try to kill her. “-Your defiance will come to an end now though. I can assure you.” Malice laced the white cat's voice again and she finished the last code needed to activate her final and strongest weapons. A loud cackle like that of a deranged, psychotic killer, echoed through the speakers as a door in the back of the hallway opened and three robotic cats with glowing, orange eyes sprint toward Hattie. The girl gasped in horror at their terrifying speed and she just managed to dodge a claw strike from the first robot that reached her, another sharp claw barely missed her ear. “Get her! Tear her apart! Show them that no one, NO ONE messes with the Nyakuza!” Nozomi giggled at how well her mecha cats were fighting. Hattie was very seasoned at combat, but even to her those robots were more than a match.

Hattie struggled to fight back, she couldn't do any damage to them not with her knife, not even by picking them up and throwing them with all her force...the alloy they were made of must have been incredibly durable. She had several scratches from their sharp claws, and as time went on, she got slower due to the strain form the heat earlier and the evasive maneuvers she had to perform to not get herself killed. The brown-haired girl grew pale when her back touched a wall and the three metallic cats surrounded her, letting out a screechy meow as they readied their claws to tear her to pieces. She closed her eyes and trembled in fear. She knew that she could easily die in this profession, but now that it seemed likely that she'd meet her end, she couldn't help but shiver and cry.

“I guess this is it, little one. Don't worry, the rest of your gang will follow you so-” Nozomi stopped when sh e saw an error on her screen and a low-pitched chuckle could be hear through the speakers. “What are those ugly robo cats, darling? Those heaps of metal have no style, darling, none at all.” Nozomi rose out of her chair, her fur bristled and her eyes narrowed.

“This isn't over, you think you've won? I have one more trick up my sleeve.” She activates her secret security system...but only receives yet another error.

“I think the last ace has been played, fur ball.” There is disgust and contempt in the DJ words.

The robotic cats cease functioning and Hattie slowly opens her eyes again, still panting and shivering from fear and exhaustion. The elevator dings and the tall penguin steps out of it with a smile on his beak. “I'm sorry that it took so long, Hattie, darling. If she had activated that final security system, the ground on all floor would have an electric current run through it.” Hattie went over to him and smiled.

“Thank you for saving me...DJ Grooves.” She was still shaking a bit, and had a couple of scratches and bruises, some of which bled a bit. He looked at her state with sad eyes, Hattie meanwhile focused on the door again. To their surprise the door opened.

The white, British Shorthair, was looking outside the window, her back turned to them, her hands hanging loosely at her sides. “Outplayed...by a little girl and a penguin...Shameful...How shameful of me.” She spoke in a quiet and steady tone, not at all unpleasant sounding. “Congratulations, you've beaten me, but I can assure you...you have no idea with whom you're dealing with.”

Hattie drew her knife, slowly advancing toward her, the ear of the feline flicked. “That won't be necessary, I'm not long for this world.” Hattie could see a vial on the ground that had the danger symbol for poisonous on it. She still had her guard up. “If you're looking for that rocket launcher, I've destroyed it before you entered. You didn't think that I'd let such a devastating weapon fall into enemy hands, did you?” She giggled, it appeared that the poison was taking effect now, she barely had the strength remaining to stand on her feet.

“You cats won't win this battle, we won't let you do as you please!” Grooves spat at the weaken woman who only chuckled.

“Is that so? Even with my absence the advantage is sill very clearly with my family.-” Her pleasant tone shifts to one of rage and anger. “Toshihiro, Maemi and our esteemed leader will tear you lowly feathered scum asunder, and feed your remains to the rats in the sewers where you crawled out of!” With that she simply collapses and Hattie approaches her to check if the cat was truly dead now. Nozomi had stopped breathing and after noticing that, Hattie checked her pulse...they had won this battle.

While Hattie was busy, DJ Grooves, decided to see if he could gain any new, useful information...and something caught his eye in the hidden blueprints for the Nyakuza's new HQ.

He put all the important files on his USB stick and addressed Hattie as they walked back. “You did really well, darling, I'm sorry that you got hurt.” He looked genuinely sad about that.

“It's okay. We managed to win, that's what counts.” She smiled a large smile again.

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 10

TW: Blood

The picture wouldn't leave his mind, it flashed in front of his inner eye every time he closed his eyes. Why?...Why did this happen? He knew the dangers that the life of crime entailed, but nobody deserved to die like he did. He closed the door to his living quarters with a loud thud.

“Could you maybe not slam the door shut like a lunatic! The little owlets are asleep!” The annoyed voice of his wife echoed through the whole flat, she was already in a bad mood it seemed...That would make it easier to do what he had to do.

“Shut up! I'm tired from work! The wee blighters won't wake jus' because I closed a door too hard!” He knew that they'd wake up, they were quite easy to tear out of their peaceful slumber, he was well aware. This was hard, so unbelievably hard to do, but it was the right thing to do.

“Well, if the door didn't do the job then your incessant screaming will!” She glared at him the moment he entered the living room, her feathers were raised in anger, and her posture made it clear that she was repulsed by his behavior. She looked lovely even like this, and he found it hard to remain angry, he wanted to apologize to her for neglecting her and the kids, he wanted to hold her and caress her cheek. He would have done just that had he not realized something a few days ago, when he was thought a horrible lesson: No one was safe from the enemy.

It was that day that he learned first hand just how gruesome and cruel his work really was. His father had been negotiating with a rival gang for a couple of months, and now the leader of the other gang had agreed to meet on neutral territory, he, of course, had accompanied him to said meeting...only to realize that they were surrounded as the rival gang members ambushed them. They had lost quite a lot of people, he would have been among them, if his old man hadn't thrown himself into the fray to distract them. His father had looked at him with an expression of defeat and anguish, one that he had never seen from the old bird, before he charged at his attackers, his last words still echoed in his mind “They're yers now, lad, lead 'em well.”

How he wished that his agonized screams of pain would leave his mind alone, how he wished he hadn't turned around to see him getting stabbed down by five blades that dug deeper and deeper into the older birds flesh as his assailants ended his life slow and painfully. The images and sounds wouldn't leave him, they still hadn't left him. It made something very clear for him though, he needed to keep his family safe, and the only way to do so was...with them not being around him.

The yellow bird could hear that his kids had woken up in the room next to theirs, and he could see that tears were starting to roll down her cheeks, staining her feathers. His heart hurt seeing her like that, but he needed to stay strong. It didn't matter if they all hate him as long as they were out of harm's way. It didn't matter if he was the villain in their life, as long as they lived a happy life away from the terrors of the metro.

“Look what you have done, Con. Why are you so selfish and horrible?! Don't you care about the kids at all?!” This was the perfect opportunity, but the words he had to say there so terrible, so absolutely horrendous, and so unbelievably cruel, and contradictory to his real feelings..yet he forced them out as convincingly as he could while it felt like he took a dagger to the heart.

“I never wanted 'em in the first place! Couldn't care less 'bout those useless, crying peck necks!” The room fell silent, the female owl started to tremble and sob, as she opened the door to the room the kids were in. This was killing him, he felt like he was killing all the joy in his life, like he was destroying everything he lived for, he wanted to cry, but he couldn't...not now.

“Y-You're a terrible sadistic scumbag, how could I marry someone like you!? I should have seen just what a terrible person you are!” She came back, holding his son and his two daughters in her wings, all four of them crying as she grabbed her bag and tore open and exited their apartment, “I hope you're happy with your miserable existence, go to hell and rot, asshole!” With that she slammed the door shut and the crushing silence was back. He could hear her angrily stomping down the stairs until even that was replaced by nothing but silence.

“I will, me love, I will.”

-

His nightmare stopped as something dripped on his face. The Conductor wiped water drops from his face and sat up with a groan, banishing the nightmare out of his mind. It had been so many years...so many, yet that terrible day never truly left his mind. When he looked around he found that the real world was just as much of a nightmare as the dream that had tormented him, it just went from mentally pain to physical pain He found that the cause for the concentrated pain in his back was a sharp, rusty nail, it had broken through frame of the bed, and almost poked through his thin mattress. It would have stabbed him in the back, but thankfully stopped just before it reached the surface, that didn't really make the pain in his back better whatsoever.

He looked around his small cell in the death ward. The death ward was for those who were either sentenced to death or for those simply to deemed to dangerous to be with other inmates, he was currently in the latter category, at least until he would be properly judged for all his crimes...which meant he was already in the right place. His list of crimes was a long one.

As he sat there in his dingy, small cell, he wondered how Hattie was doing, he prayed that she was alright, that nothing bad had happened to her. The owl was technically almost in pitch black darkness, where he was were no windows, no light to cling to, no escape form the darkness. No hope, only despair... But he wouldn't be the leader of the Leowles if he let all of this crush him.

From a few cells away he could hear quiet whispering, if he concentrated enough and moved close enough to the bars on cell to tune his ear-like feathers to the sound, he could just about make out what they were saying.

“Did ya here the news?”

“Do you mean the gang wars in the metro or the reestablishment of Calcite City?”

“The re-what? No, I meant how the Penguiads got bombed and then got chased out of the entertainment district.” That was like music to his ears, a wicked, smug grin spread on the yellow owl's face.

“Oh that yeah, the Nyakuza rule the whole metro now, considering what happened to the Leowles.”

The grin vanished in an instant and his worry spread in him like a disease, as they mentioned his gang.

“Heard that their leader is stuck 'ere now, they say he's puny-looking old owl thing. No wonder they got destroyed if that's true.” The yellow bird growled and would have liked to yell at them to peck off and that at least he MANAGED to lead a gang while they were useless goons that got captured, and that no one would even want to save. He forced himself to swallow those words though, he needed to know what happened to Hattie.

“Quite a few of the Leowles died, I heard, but rumor has it that some escaped. Doesn't matter though, we're not gonna get out anytime soon...do you know what's for lunch today?”

He hoped that Hattie was one of those that survived, She was a smart girl, surely she had escaped the Nyakuza's clutches. He should have known that the Empress wouldn't waste a second and seize the chance to get rid of both them, and the Penguiads, and after he was the one who did all the work, the Empress would get all the territory...He should have crushed them while he still had the chance, but those penguins had blinded him to the threat she posed.

The owl slammed his fist into the concrete wall of his cell, he stared to the ground below, not even recoiling from the pain. He had really failed now, hadn't he? “PECK!”

“Someone really has some colorful language-” He rose his head as he heard something hitting the bars next to him. The object got pulled back as he looked up, the sight of it would have made him smile, if that wouldn't make it too clear that it was no normal cane. Hattie came through for him! “-got this old piece of junk form the post this morning, was addressed to you. Hope you don't mind if I keep it, not that you can do anything against it anyway.”

From the way he spoke it was clear that the prison guard had no idea what he had in his hands.

“You might wanna get rid of that thing, laddie. It will bring ye nothin' but trouble.” He said as he stared into the eyes of the guard, who only scoffed...he played right into his hand.

“No, I think I'm gonna keep it. Seems more like a lucky charm to me, who would even send something like that to a high security prison, it's almost like the sender didn't know that it would be confiscated immediately.” Maybe she knew, maybe she didn't all that mattered was that he needed to get his cane, it was his ticket to freedom.

He needed to escape, not only would he most likely die if he couldn't find a way out, but he had to help Hattie! He had to help his only...family. He really was awful, wasn't he? He put so much pressure on her, he had wanted her to take over the gang, that was his intention when he adopted her.

The yellow owl slumped onto his mattress, resting his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees. She had been so tiny, he remembered that day like it was yesterday. He had just returned form a his regular check up with his businesses, when he heard the sound of crying from an alley next to the station. He had slowly gone to check what it was with his knife drawn, he couldn't take the chance of somebody ambushing him. The moment he had laid eyes on the tiny baby, rage had overcome him. Who in their right mind would leave a defenseless, vulnerable child just out in the streets?! He wished he would have found that peck neck! He would have given that guy more holes than a swiz cheese!

He smiled when he recalled the little drawings she had given him when she was younger. How attentively she listened whenever he explained something. Why did he do this to her? Hattie didn't deserve all that pain she now had to go through.

“I'll fix it, lassie, just hold on a bit longer.” He whispered to no one as he thought of a plan.

-

It was at lunchtime when he had the opportunity to put his risky plan into action. The yellow owl noticed the prison warden that had his cane, the moment he entered the big cafeteria. On the way he paid close attention to the locked storage room, he needed to find his coat if he didn't want to die a horrible death.

He grabbed his plate of food and went to the table where a muscly, tall eagle peacefully enjoyed the slob that they called food. From the intel he could gather in the short amount of time he had spent captive, he actually had a very short temper and the small prison gang he associated with never shirked away from a fight. A feigned trip and spilled hot carrot soup later, the eagle gave him a death glare...So far so good.

“Ain't ya gonna apologize or do I have to force it out of ya?” the low, ominous voice of the eagle caused those around him to pay attention to him. The Leowle leader needed this guy angry, but given his innate talent of pissing the people around him off, that really shouldn't pose a problem.

The Conductor dropped the plate and only shrugged nonchalantly. “Honestly, lad, I think I ain't got nothin' to apologize fer. I tried ta fix that ugly mug of yers, but it turns out that it just cannae be fixed.” The eagle rose to his full height, easily towering over the yellow owl. A moment later he got what he wanted when the eagle threw a punch at him that he easily evaded. What followed was the whole gang now attacking him. He had narrowly dodged a kick from the flamingo that decided to help his leader, and a moment later a fork whizzed by him, just about missing his wing.

“No wonder all ye scumbags are stuck in here! I'm just surprised this buildin' hasn't collapsed yet with stupidity filling every crevice of it!” He taunted the onlookers, some of which now also charged at him. As he nimbly dodged punches, kicks, and flying cutlery, he noticed the guard with his cane finally approach the scene. That small moment of inattentiveness resulted in him getting hit in the stomach by a kick, which made him grit his beak. Just a bit more, he needed to avoid the hits. He used one of the inmates as a meat-shield, baiting an attack from the huge eagle which easily floored the poor dove that got knocked out cold.

“Cease this nonsense at once! Calm down!” The guards made their way toward them, restraining rioting prisoners. Most of the inmates' attention was drawn away from him, as they now attacked each other after one inmate hurt the other as the riot went on. The guard he was targeting locked eyes with him and smirked.

“You! If I take you out, I'm sure that I'll finally be promoted!” The Conductor once again made sure that the eagle's fury was aimed at him, as he laughed at his failed attempts to hurt him. As the guard drew closer, the Conductor jumped over a table as the eagle prepared to slam one of the wooden chairs on his head, instead of him, the object collided with the cranium of the guard that only paid attention to the movements of the yellow bird.

“Check mate!” He grabbed the cane from the unconscious prison guard and put on of his claws into the thin slit in the middle of the handle, pulling the little switch inside which released a trigger in the fancy carving of the handle.

“What the hell!” That was all the tall eagle could say as a bullet hit him right between the eyes, the stopper of the cane still smoking, the prisoners around suddenly grew pale after realizing that they were looking down the barrel of a rifle. The owl used the following confusion to grab the key chain the guard had on his belt before he started to run toward the storage room. As he reached said room, the loud alarm started blaring, which made him curse under his breath as he fumbled with the keys. He stayed as calm as he could concentrating on his task, which got progressively harder the louder the footsteps of alarmed security guards became. He breathed a huge sigh of relief once the door finally unlocked, a moment later and he would have been a twitching heap on the floor after the stun guns they carried shocked him. It didn't take him long to find his coat. It was insulated quite nicely, it made it heavy, but that was what he needed the most now.

The prison was known to be the best at holding bird prisoners captive, that had one simple reason...a barrier of lasers at the top made sure that the winged inmates wouldn't even consider the idea of flying to escape. Today he'd try the impossible. The Conductor knew that it would be painful, he knew that even with his coat the lasers would still harm him...maybe even kill him, but it was do or die, and peck he wouldn't just give up and die!

Before he exited, he checked the corridors for more people and found that most of them had run to the cafeteria to stop the riot and to find him in the huge crowd, if he hurried they wouldn't find him in time. He ran toward the courtyard and had to waste another two shots at the guards near the entrance, the latter of the two wardens even managed to scrape his face with his shot, but the owl only wiped the away the blood and ran.

Now came the hardest part, he tied the sleeves of his coat together around his chest where he also positioned his cane. The owl made sure that his head was covered by its thick material before he started to fly. He absolutely hated flying, a strange thing considering all birds regularly liked to do it, but he found it rather cumbersome.

He made his way all the way to the dome-like top, just about where the lasers combined, and aimed just above the fence. The velocity from the drop was his safest bet to get through the lasers with the fewest injuries. The owl took one last glance at the buzzing, red streaks of energy that separated him from the outside world before he took a deep breath and dove down.

This was gonna hurt like absolute peck!

And by hell did it hurt! He screamed as the hot lasers made contact with his body and burned through his thin prison clothes, the lasers singed his feathers and burned his skin, his eyes turned blurry as the pain turned to almost unbearable.

Yet he made it through...he thanked everything that was holy that he somehow managed to land in a bush, which cushioned his fall. He just laid there for a few minutes, his whole body aching so bad he felt like he was dying. He yelped when he stepped out onto the ground, and pain shot through his whole body, which made his feathers stand on end. He needed to get to the train station that was all that mattered. He dragged his broken body to the station with all his willpower and was surprised that it was unattended. The guards that normally patrolled the area around there probably were called back to help search for him.

The yellow owl started the train with his mind starting to turn fuzzy, using his last remaining energy, the owl switched in the autopilot before he collapsed right after with the train now well on its way back to the metro.

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 16

TW: MINOR CHARACTER DEATH

“How many did we lose?” It was the very first question from the Leowle girl the moment she entered their HQ again and spotted Enrique, who helped patch up the wounds of one of their comrades.

“Haven't had the time to count all of ours, but so far we lost around 7 owls.” 7, not too great a number, but they hardly had any people to spare as it was, so any loss could potentially spell disaster. The penguin, that had entered the premises right after her, went over to Dave. The penguin saluted his boss, but he only shook his head.

“No need for that, Dave. Tell me...how many Penguiads fell?” Dave looked a bit reluctant to tell him, and shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other.

“...They got three.” The tall penguin nodded, but now was not the time to mourn the dead. The Nyakuza would attack them again, he had no doubt that those attacks would continue.

“I see.-” He looked down for a moment, and pushed his sunglasses back up. Before he turned to Hattie. “-We have to come up with a plan, they won't stop attacking us. It's likely that their loss here will anger the Empress even more, and soon she'll take the fight to us...We have to weaken her group further, or we're done for.” Hattie returned the serious expression of the penguin and gave him a quick nod.

“You should rest a bit...DJ Grooves-” She had no idea how to properly address the penguin, she didn't want to insult him, after all he did save her life, yet, addressing him more formally was a bit...strange, he had earn her respect a bit, sure, but he was still her enemy to some extend. “-you're still injured.” She looked away awkwardly...this whole situation only got so out of control because of the gang war of her gang and the Penguiads, due to this they failed to account for the Nyakuza, due to this both bird factions were in danger of getting wiped out completely.

“You're back! Are you alright, grandpa?” The DJ rolled his eyes in exasperation, but still opened his arms for the curly-haired girl that came barreling down the stairs, overjoyed at his return.

Shrugging off that Bow calling him grandpa always made him fell extremely old, he returned her hug. “Bowie, darling, I'm alright...what happened?” He pointed at a particularly big bruise on her arm that she had sustained in the battle with the deranged cat.

“That's nothing, a small bruise won't stop me...although that battle was pretty close. If it wasn't for the Conductor of all birds, I would have been in big trouble.” The penguin visibly jolted in shock, not believing just who saved his grandkid.

Before the DJ could open his beak to question if he misheard that, Hattie's eyes that were formerly clouded in thought, suddenly opened wide, and with a smile she asked Bow: “He's awake?!” Bow just nodded, returning the smile, infected by the happiness of the other girl.

Grooves looked surprised as the Leowle girl ran past him and Bow and quickly ascended the stairs. The relief and of the girl was so unlike the way he thought she'd react. The Conductor treated all of his owls terribly, it was common knowledge among even the penguins that the owls feared him. Hattie, however, looked genuinely glad to hear that he woke up. There was no way in his mind that he treated her fairly...,maybe she was just used to it and thought that being insulted and mistreated was normal, maybe that was why she acted more calculated and shy than Bow.

“Poor girl.” He let out a sigh and looked to the ground, no kid deserved poor treatment.

“Huh? I told you I'm okay.” Bow did a spin and struck a pose to cheer him up, but his expression didn't change.

“Not you, Bow, Hattie. The girl is probably so used to that foul bird's horrid personality that she thinks it normal.”

Bow shook her head. “I don't think so-” The penguin rose an eyebrow at her, “-she's really defensive when someone speaks bad of that yellow bird, she actually told me that he's nice, and after he saved me today, I kinda understand what she meant.”

“...I hope that you're right for his sake.” Bow's upbeat smile faded as she watched the hatred of the leader of the Penguiads for the yellow bird flare up and his gaze sharpened.

-

Hattie almost tripped and fell as she sprinted up to the first floor of the building. She stopped half way in the room before the Conductor's when she realized something. How would he react to their alliance with the Penguiads? She was sure that he'd throw a tantrum about all of this, but the fact that Bow managed to talk to him and neither ended up dead gave her some hope at least.

She opened the door with some hesitation and was greeted by silence at first. Was he asleep? His ear-like feathers flicked up and the yellow owl rose his head with some effort. Any moment now, any moment he'd start to yell at her for her decisions.

“Is that ye, Hattie?” The owl seemed to have just woken up, he wiped his face with his sleeve. Hattie struggled to keep her tears at bay. She had thought that he wouldn't wake up again, and had fully resigned herself to the idea that she had to take care of the Leowles now.

To her surprise the owl sat up, gritting his beak in pain. “I-It's me...I'm so glad that you're...t-that you're...” She started to cry and turned away so he wouldn't see her tears that rolled down her face without her permission.

“It's alright, Hattie, come here.” The leader of the Leowles spoke in a soft and comforting tone, it had been a long time since she last heard him speak to her like that. When she turned back around, he had his arms outstretched and he was smiling warmly. The brown-haired girl hesitated for a second before she slowly walked over to him. Even though his wounds still ached, he pulled the little girl close to himself.

Hattie's grip on him tightened and he could feel her nails dig into his clothes. “I'm sorry g-grandpa, I-I t-tried my...har-hardest.”

He started to slowly rub her back, trying to calm her down, “I know ye have, lassie, I know. Ye did well.” She really hadn't anticipated that reaction, she thought that he'd get angry and shout at her, “I'm sorry, Hattie, so sorry that I left ye with such a heavy burden ta carry.”

“Y-You're n-not mad, because of the Penguiads?” She asked between sobs, and got a reply in form of him holding her even closer, which caused her to press her head into his shoulder.

“Cannae say that I like our current circumstances, but it beats bein' murdered by those damn fur balls. 'sides, thanks to yer actions, we still have a chance ta bounce back and show 'em that the Leowles aren't ta be messed with.” She was a bit glad that the slight anger in his voice was back, after she hadn't heard anything from him in days. That silence had been so eerie, and she had honestly thought that she'd never even hear him speak again, considering the severity of his injuries.

He continued to calm the young girl and after she had stopped sobbing, and just leaned against him he noticed that she had fallen asleep. His ear-like feathers lowered as he took a closer look and realized just how much Hattie had pushed herself. She had small circles under her eyes and he noted that she appeared to be paler than usual too. He carefully placed her down on the bed and put the blanket over her, before he got up and grabbed his cane, this time using its regular function, as his legs were still feeling like pudding.

When he exited the room, he found some of his owls who looked somewhat glad that he had returned, they gave him polite nods before they continued to carry some nails and what appeared to be a bucket with cement down the stairs, probably to fix the walls to fortify their base against the cold and the wind outside.

He carefully moved downstairs, and found just the man he'd been looking for. “Enrique, good ta see yer still kickin', lad.”

“Glad to have you back, jefe.” The eagle-owl actually showed a small hint of a smile at the sight of his superior.

“Care ta enlighten me 'bout our current situation? I've been out for quite a while after all.” He sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby, and his ear-like feathers flicked in annoyance once he noticed the penguins entering the meeting room.

Unperturbed, Enrique folded his wings and began to explain. “After you got captured, the Nyakuza started a frontal assault on our HQ-” the yellow owl interrupted him.

“Several deserted and got killed in the attack, heard that from some inmates.” The brown owl nodded.

“Hattie had the idea to regroup here, so we could avoid the Nyakuza for a while, that was when we ran right into the Penguiads, who also had to escape from their territory. So far we managed to keep those gatos from killing us by weakening them, but now we've angered their leader. She sent a small army to kill us, thanks to Hattie and that pingüino, we managed to split the army in two and drive them back. That's the current state of affairs, sir.”

“Alright, thank ye.” Enrique saluted the Conductor and went back to his business, leaving the yellow bird to think things over.

No doubt was Hattie already thinking about what to do next, and it was obvious that they had to act fast, they had angered that gray fur ball, and it wouldn't take her long to assemble her cats and start to take the fight over here.....which would result with both, the Leowles and the Penguiads, getting annihilated. They needed more information about their common enemy, someone needed to do some reconnaissance or...

“Hello, Conductor.” Bow greeted him, as she came down the stairs. Just the person he needed. “Are you okay, I don't think you should be up yet.” She gave him a worried glance that he ignored.

“Well, if I did nothing every time I was hurtin', I'd never get anythin' done..-” He got up and looked out the window toward the metro. “-One o' me owl told me 'bout our situation, and from what I could gather we need more information on those purring peck necks.” Bow cringed and looked behind her for her mentor, hoping that he hadn't heard the yellow bird swear.

“Yeah, so far we only know that they outnumber us. What are you planning?”

“We're gonna catch ourselves a small pet cat, lassie, one that will tell us all we need to know.” Seeing the sinister smile that crept onto the beak of the owl, Bow now understood what DJ Grooves meant, his methods were truly...extreme, but it was easier than sneaking into the heart of enemy territory undetected.

“You want us to capture one of those cats and force them to give us information about their internal workings?-” He nodded. “-I'm sure they're on high alert now though, this won't be easy.”

“Well figure somethin' out... Ye know how ta drive on o' those cars, right?”

“Of course, but...you're still badly hurt. I'm sure that Hattie will worry.” Bow frowned.

“Nae, she's sleepin', and this won't take long, we'll be back before anyone even notices that we're gone.”

With a sigh, Bow conceded, “Alright, gimme just a few minutes.”

-

It didn't take the two long to find some suitable targets, they had decided to get to the very edge of former Leowle territory, going near the center or the entertainment district on the other side of the Metro was obviously out of question, the former was too guarded the latter to far away. Bow parked the car nearby. They avoided the main roads, like usual until the owl told Bow to stop after spotting a pair of cats on the road ahead.

“Ye got that bat of yers?” Bow nodded, and jumped out of the car. “I'm gonna lure 'em over here around the corner, and you make sure they see stars as soon as they come 'round.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Bow saluted and hid around the corner, readying her bat. The yellow bird watched the street closely before he stepped out to make sure that those cats were the only ones in ear-shot.

“Hey ye fleabags!-” The cats focused their attention away from their conversation and started to look at who had the audacity to insult them. “-Yes, I mean ye, you smelly, fur ball-spittin', rancid-lookin' peck necks!”

“Isn't that the leader of the Leowles? There is a huge reward on whoever brings him in, dead or alive doesn't matter.” The cats started to slowly break into a run.

“Guess we bring him in dead.” After seeing that they came running, the Conductor hid around the corner and waited for Bow to hit them, which she did as soon as they turned the corner. She hit them so hard that they flipped onto their backsides after the metal made contact with their heads.

“Nice swing, lassie...good thing that bat never made contact with me head, might've straight up killed me.” He mumbled the last part, while Bow stuck her tongue out at the unconscious cats.

“I made sure to only go around half strength, would have been bad if I gave them memory loss...or brain damage.” The owl brought a rope from the trunk of the car and tied up the hands and feet of the one of the felines. He when brandished his knife. After Bow's eyes widened a bit at his action, he explained dryly;

“We only need one o' 'em, and I cannae risk this one telling his boss and givin' the Empress even more of a reason ta kill us all sooner rather than later. They're our enemies, bow lassie, better them than us.” Bow cast her eyes down and nodded. The owl aimed for the cat's heart and plunged his knife into the cat's chest.

With his injuries, the owl struggled a bit to get the cat into the car and was grateful when Bow decided to lend a hand.

The way back was mostly silent until Bow spoke in a small voice, “What...what's gonna happen after we deal with the Nyakuza? We don't have to be enemies, right?” The owl said nothing for a moment.

“We go back ta bein' enemies, lassie, too much has happened fer me ta jus' forgive that moronic leader of yers.” Putting aside the small anger she felt after he insulted DJ Grooves, and the fact that she hated how he told her that so cold and dry, like he wasn't just talking about murdering more of her and his birds, Bow kept her composure.

“Both sides have lost a lot of birds, Conductor...I understand now why my grandpa hates you, you're cold and unforgiving-” The owl next to her clenched his talons, but didn't stop looking out the window. “-but...you are not all bad, Hattie cares for you and you didn't kill me although you could have done so. Why can't we just...bury the hatchet.”

“Ye said it yerself, lassie, yer boss and I are too different from each other, it takes all me willpower ta not strangle that penguin ever time I see 'im...-” The spite and hatred in his voice vanished when he looked over at the young girl, “-I'm sorry, bow lassie, it ain't anything personal.” The next question made his feathers rise up and his breath hitch in his throat.

“Would you kill me, Conductor?”

“.....” His feathers lowered, he hadn't even thought about that, the bow-wearing lass was a Penguiad too, he'd have to...kill her eventually.....

[crescentblossom66]

Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 15

TW: Death of a lot of nameless characters

The small room was awfully quiet, the only thing she heard was the near silent engine noises of the cars on the far away highway. It was so weird, so unbelievably strange to see the normally so spirited bird just lying there. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought him dead, if not for the slow rise and fall of his chest with every breath.

Some of the more first aid-savvy owls had informed her, that his wounds were pretty bad, and that they were not sure if he'd even wake up again, but she believed in him, she believed that he'd regain consciousness. She felt overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility that she had now. The leader of the Penguiads was back, which at least made things easier on Bow and the penguins, but she feared that with the Conductor still down for the count, they might try to attack them or something. She prayed that those fears were unfounded.

Hattie pulled the chair in the room next to his bed and pushed the small box in front of the window, that was used to stop the cold air from getting in too much, to open small crack allowing for more air in the room, thinking that it might do him good. After pulling his blanket up a bit more to make sure he wouldn't freeze, she sat down slowly.

What the DJ told her was still eating away at her, even if Bow said that it would be alright. From the way he spoke, she noticed that the leader of the sun glasses-wearing birds cared a great deal about his penguins, and considers them his friends.

She looked down at the owl and reached for his hand, it was still a bit cold, but warmer than it had been a few days ago, that had to be a good sign, right?

“Please wake up soon, gramps, I need you!” She squeezed his hand a bit, and waited for a reaction, but she didn't receive any. Tears started to form in her eyes, but she wiped them away fast when she heard Bow yell her name frantically. She rushed out to see what the commotion was about and almost collided with Bow when she ran back down the stairs to the lobby.

“We're in great trouble! A huge army of Nyakuza are on their way here!” The penguins and owls in the lobby gasped in shock, one of the owls dropped a crate with canned soup on his foot and yelped while one of the penguins hit the frame of the door on his way to the cafeteria. Hattie's hands started to tremble, and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“How many are there, Bow?”

“Around 200 give or take!” Hattie raked a hand through her hair and walked past the other girl down to the lobby. “I-I thought about what to do on the way back, they're on foot, so maybe we can use the cars-” Bow hated this method herself, but after what the cats had done, she realized that they had to be stopped, no matter the cost. “-We can run them over.” Hattie stopped and turned her head to her.

“There's too many for that to work, it's good plan, but...we'd have a better chance if we split the army.” She tapped her chin and then she had an idea. “We could try to lure them over to one of the warehouses nearby, there was a lot of oil in one of them, if what your note said is true.” Bow nodded and looked at the penguins.

“Alright, the Penguiads and I will-” Hattie shook her head.

“It's easier for the owls and me to go, they can fly out of danger, and, no offense, they're a bit faster.” Bow turned around after someone moved behind her, she hadn't even realized that he had been there.

“What, where's the catch, Leowle? You'd have the risk of them catching you before you can even set it up.” Hattie looked at DJ Grooves, who had dragged himself out of his bed after hearing the commotion.

“We simply have a better chance this way, the more penguins and owls live, the better.” The eyes of the tall bird widened. A Leowle that valued lives?

“Enrique!-” The eagle-owl stepped forward, “-Take around 20 of owls and head over to the warehouse over there, place the oil barrels in a circle, oh, and make sure that you use some oil to function as a trail to ignite later, then wait until I arrive with the rest of the owls. We'll lure them as far in as possible. Have some of the Leowles hide out of sight and close the doors once they're inside, then, we'll light the oil trail. After all that, we break the windows and fly out.” He nodded and was about to leave but stopped and turned to her again.

“Amiga, what about the backdoor?”

“It's normally closed, just like with the front, there is an ID scanner there, so it won't open.” It was very unlikely that the cats would have an ID card for that door, making the front doors the only way to the inside.

DJ Grooves looked over to Bow “Where was an old truck there, right?” The curly-haired girl nodded.

“You don't plan on leaving like this, you're-” Bow looked at him with a worried expression.

“Yeah, boss, you're hurt!” A penguin spoke up as well.

“I know,darlings, but the Leowle girl is right; the more birds survive, the better.” Hattie couldn't believe that the leader of the Penguiads was trying to help her, she'd have to take his word for it, there was no time to keep an eye on him and the cats simultaneously.

“If you really want to help us out this time...DJ Grooves, you should go ahead, too.” He nodded, there was a tiny detail in her plan that she seemed to have overlooked, but if he managed to do what he planned, it wouldn't be a problem.

He nodded with a serious expression before he looked back over to Bow, “Be careful, Bowie.” Bow gave him a wink before she started to work on her plan. Right when she was about to leave, Hattie grabbed her shoulder.

“Please watch out that they don't get inside, I'm worried about-” Hattie looked extremely stressed out, no wonder considering all that was happening, but it was clear what was causing her the most grief.

“Don't worry about the yellow menace, I'll make sure that the leader of the Leowles will be able to yell at his owls again.” She gave Hattie a wink, and the girl responded with a small smile.

“Thanks, Bow.”

-

Bow went up to the roof to wait for their assailants, every once in a while she grew antsy and checked on the penguins behind the building, who were waiting for Bow to give them a signal. From her vantage point she could see Hattie clearly, just waiting for the cats to arrive. Bow prayed that everything would work out, they didn't really have the time to think on some kind off elaborate plan after all, so a lot of things could go awry very quickly.

Hattie stood still glaring at the cats that were slowly becoming visible now, they appeared to be led by a cat in a light brown trench coat that seemingly jumped up and down and ran around with excitement. She trembled a little at the sheer amount of cats, but she stood her ground. When they got close enough for them to still be able to outrun them at least until they reached the warehouse, she decided to show off the most important skill she had learned from her grandfather...how to properly insult someone.

“There you are, you flea-ridden fur bags! About time, well, what can I expect from some slow-as-peck, shoe brushes that traded their brains for catnip!” She could see how quite a few of them hissed and extended their claws. The leader of the cat army seemed unperturbed, though. He seemed to stare their HQ down like it would crumble, if he just stared at it long enough.

The Leowle girl started to run once the leader of the cats gave the signal for the aggravated cats to chase down Hattie.

“Kill them! Don't let them escape! Tear their flesh from their mutilated bodies once you're done!” Hattie cringed as the scratchy, warped, voice of the twitchy cat reached her ears. The owls and her ran, not even looking behind to check how far the angry felines were away.

As expected those cats were persistent, they chased her and the owls down all the way to the warehouse. She could only hope that Enrique and the rest of her gang had managed to set everything up in time. When she entered the old, dysfunctional hall, the angry shouting of the black cats that were right on her heels, started to echo in the large room. It appeared as though everything went according to plan, especially when the lighting in the room got dimmer due to the door behind being closed.

“Fly!” She yelled to the owls, who did as she demanded and started to take to the air. The cats tried to catch the fleeing birds, by jumping as high as they could, but ultimately the biggest damage done was the loss of a couple of tail feathers for some of the Leowle members. Hattie herself jumped over the barrels by running up to them and leaping back and forth between two of them. She hadn't anticipated those barrels being around 2,5 meters (8 feet) in height, however, it only made it harder for the cats to jump over the barrels and reach safety before they burned.

“Light it!” She yelled and a moment later she heard a low whooshing sound as the oil trail behind the barrels caught fire, now she just needed to get out before she'd burn to a crisp as well. The fault in her plan became apparent once she climbed on top of the walkway that lead to the windows...that were they too high up for her to reach. She tried and tried to get a hold of the outer edge of the window, but only caused her hand to bleed on the broken glass shards at the bottom of it. The blue-eyed girl could hear the panic in the voices of the cats who were screaming and crying for help. The noise pollution would have been unbearable, in no small part due to the echoing, Hattie hardly noticed, though. The small girl's face turned white as a sheet, when she laid eyes on the ignited oil containers, the fire had reached the oil barrels now and they started to heat up. She needed to get out NOW!!!

“Access granted.”

She barely heard the feminine, robotic voice, but from her elevated position, she spotted the huge metal door in the back open.

“Hurry up and get over here, darling!” That was undoubtedly the voice of the leader of the Penguiads. For a second she hesitated, not quite trusting the penguin, that doubt left her as soon as it came after she took one more glance at the cats and the barrels. Braking her fall by landing on some cardboard boxes nearby, she sprinted over to the back doors. She performed a dive, after hearing the sizzling of the oil as the metal that contained them gave way and wave of singeing heat spread behind her.

“Come on, get in!” She looked up from the ground and got to her feet, the DJ reached out a flipper to drag her up into the cab of the truck. “Are you alright Le- I mean...Hattie?” He inquired as the brown-haired girl sat down on the passenger seat. The poor girl was panting and looked a tad frightened, yet at least she was unharmed.

She nodded and gave him a quick glance, “Thank you.” It was quiet, nothing but a soft mumble, yet he didn't think that he'd get a positive response at all.

“I'll drive back to our headquarters, seeing that the leader of those cats wasn't with you, I assume that poor Bowie has the displeasure of dealing with that twitchy fur ball.” Out of the corner of his eye he picked up on a subtle nod from the more quiet child. Hattie to him so far always looked like she was calculating something, planning either their next move, or how to get rid of the Penguiads and him once the time came, he still didn't know what to make of her. He didn't know that her worries were for her still unconscious grandfather and Bow, whom she had entrusted with his safety.

-

The green eyes of the leading cat narrowed down at the small girl that looked down at them from the rooftop of the building. She was his target and his alone! About half of his underlings were chasing down the owls and the other annoying little girl, but he had no doubt that they could handle them. The curly-haired brat would rue the day she killed his friend at the theater! He'd gauge her eyes out and stomp them to goo under his feet, when he'd tear her intestines out with one claw while tearing her hair out with the other, her death would bring him salvation!

His boss had told him to be careful and to not underestimate his targets, but said targets were just two little girls, what could they do against a huge cat army?! He noticed that the curly-haired child had gone back inside, and a moment later he could here the raving of car engines nearby.

“Scatter!” He yelled at his subordinates as he took notices of around five cars that came charging at them.

Bow watched as the cats tried to dodge the Penguiad cars, but if the penguins could do one thing exceptionally well, it was driving around aimlessly. She watched as the cars mowed down their enemies for a moment, but wanted to turn her head away from the gruesome sight. All of the Nyakuza struggled to stay alive, all but one. The lanky, twitchy cat dodged the incoming cars nimbly, even from the second floor she could see the determination and hatred with which he looked up at her. Those green eyes showed pure malice and murderous intent, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. The commander of the army almost reached the entrance which they hadn't had the time to barricade.

Maybe he was after her...or maybe?!

She ran down to the lobby drawing her curved dagger out of her jacket as she made her way down the stairs, and just when she reached the bottom, the door burst open and slammed again the wall behind it.

For a moment he just glanced at her before he laughed uncontrollably, it was like he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, yet something about it was deeply unsettling, it varied in pitch constantly, and she was more than happy when he stopped.

Bow took a step back and her hands were shaking when the cat slowly reached for a bloody saber that he had hidden in his trench coat. “Glad you could join us today-”, he gestured around the room with the free paw, as if addressing a huge crowd. “-I told you that I'd bring you the girl's heart on a platter, I'm gonna tear it right out of her chest.-” His eyes and head were twitching as he proclaimed that to the people in attendance that only he was able to see.

Bow started to shiver, out of all the enemies she had to face so far, this one was by far the creepiest, he had obviously lost his mind. Everything in her told her to run away, but she had nowhere to run to, so she had to face this lunatic in combat. She rose her dagger and readied herself for the likely incoming attack of the trench coat-wearing cat.

His smile widened further than it should go, almost reaching the edges of his face, “So you want to make this harder for yourself, I see-” He started to take small steps forward which caused her to take small steps backwards up the stairs. “-Well, cats like pray that fights back, it makes the hunt more satisfying!” His voice turned to downright demonic at the end of his sentence, it almost made her stumble and fall.

She decided to run up the stairs as fighting on them was obviously disadvantageous. With sheer terror on her face, she ran into the little office area where the Leowles normally resided. She shoved one of the office chairs in his way over which he simply jumped. Bow whirled around and just about raised her dagger high enough for it to collide with her saber. Due to her high strength, she managed to shove him back and make his back collide with the office desk behind him.

“So the pray can fight back, good!” He jumped back onto his feet and while Bow tried to think of a way to stop her enemy. He charged at her again and she had some trouble evading the quick and frantic, nearly unpredictable swings of the sharp weapon. The equally as sharp glare felt like it was piercing her soul and made her feel cold. She gasped then she hit a door with her back which, miraculously, she managed to open and close it in time, making the sharp saber embed itself in the wooden door. She locked the door as the cat tried to open it, and when that failed, he tried to pry his saber free to no avail. The noise caught the attention of the other person in the room with her.

Her eyes were wide and she tried to calm her breath to listen for the cats footsteps, but she couldn't hear anything, she sighed in relief, thinking that he had left after it was quiet for a solid minute.

He was gone, surely he'd come back later, but for now this crazy cat was gone. She'd have to warn the others when they got back, being ambushed by him would be a de-

The window to the room that was barricaded by only boxes suddenly broke and the cat tackled her to the ground when he entered “Surprise!” Her dagger skidded across the floor, out of her reach. That demonic cat grasped her throat tightly and in her panic she failed to get a proper grip to try and free herself, the green-eyed feline showed off the long, pointy claws which he waved around near her eyes. “Did you really think that you could win, I really caught you of guard there, eh? Nothing is stealthier than a cat. Now let me see what color your-” He couldn't finish his words as Bow's dagger pierced through his throat and blood started to trickle down on the young girl's face. The pressure on her throat lessened and she gasped in shock at what she saw.

“Nothin' stealthier than a cat, eh, it appears an owl is even stealthier, laddie.” The Conductor had saved her. She was sure that he'd attack her next, due to her being an enemy, but the owl made no attempts to do so. He only sat back down on the bed with a grunt, his face contorted in pain.

“Why? Why did you...?”

“Simply, lassie, I hate those filthy shoe brushes more than I hate ye Penguiads, at the moment at least.-” He chuckled weakly. “-and I ain't in no condition ta fight, but if ye wanted me dead, ye would've already killed me while I was just standin' there.” He took that surprisingly well, she thought that he'd attack her or something, however, he was right, he was in no condition to fight her.

She got up and tried to calm down, “Hattie was right, you aren't such a bad person.” She couldn't really believe what she was saying but he HAD saved her after all.

“Don't get me wrong, lassie, I'd have probably killed ye if I were in better condition.” Bow tried hard to figure out if what he said was true, it was hard to tell from his lack of facial features.

He laid back down and started up at the ceiling. “Now, aren't ye gonna tell the rest of the Penguiads that I'm awake, surely ye plan on makin' a big scene outta me demise, eh?” It now dawned on Bow that he thought that he was captured by her gang...he was definitely lying earlier, then, he could have back attacked the cat after said cat had killed her.

“No, the situation's...very different.” She cringed a bit. His ear-like feathers rose.

“Different in what way, lassie?”

“Yeah...the Penguiads and the Leowles are, uh...” She hesitated, while the bird turned his head over to her, and she gave an uncomfortable chuckle.

“We're currently kinda...allies.”

“WHAT!!!”