Complete darkness and silence... except for the engine turning over. Some feeling was returning to Kashi’s body, she could feel other objects pressed against her, all manner of junk. Far too dark to see what they were as she could feel the vehicle gliding away, further and further from safety.
Panic was rising in the neko’s mind, she was trapped, and restrained. She wanted out! She took in a breath and calmed herself: At least her eyes were adjusting to the darkness. Thankfully they hadn’t gagged her.
Kashi had recovered enough to squirm around. There was a tool box of some sort. Rattling next to her was an empty bottle and she felt the soft touch of what must have been some old rags that stunk of grease. The neko flipped over on her stomach and felt something metal near the trunk. Her eyes were still adjusting, so it was hard to discern but it seemed to be a part of the vehicle.
Banging her head against the ceiling and contorting her muscles in ways her body didn’t like, Kashikoi angled herself so her tape bound wrists would catch on the small bit of metal.
Over and over she worked the tape as the car bumped along until finally - *SNAP!* - she pulled her hands free.
“Yes! Much better!” Kashi said to herself as she seized the empty bottle. The courier kept it tight in her grasp as she kicked at the trunk.
The trunk somehow popped open and a rush of cool air hit her face. The vehicle swerved as the driver tried to get to the side of the road - already, other vehicles were honking and swerving around. The driver behind them - a family of bear-ears - had a look of shock and horror as they watched her.
“I really should think things through better,” Kashi groaned.
The bear family swerved around, clipping the rear view mirror of the car Kashi was in, and off to the side and into the guard rails of one of the city’s light bridges: careening in a shower of sparks.
Gradually, the vehicle came to a stop on the busy road. Kashikoi leapt out as the large bear man who had tricked her before jumped from the shotgun position.
“I knew you’d be too much trouble!” He shouted bearing down on the neko as he reached for something in his coat.
“Nyahhhh!” Kashi yelled as she charged him with the bottle. The vessel shattered against his skull and elicited a cry of pain. The bear-man clutched his head. Kashi didn’t let up as she jammed the broken bottle into his right shoulder.
“Gahh!” The large man growled as his blaster came free. Kashi struck at his wrist as he pulled the trigger and blasted a floating billboard, before the gun fell away. Her lightning quick attack had allowed her to do much in a short time, but it had not come without cost.
Another car drove by, barely missing them - tires squealing in panic.
A massive fist crashed against her torso, doubling her over and sending her reeling into the spies’ car. Not bothering to try and retrieve his firearm, the bearman closed in and squeezed Kashi’s throat with his hands. Intent on throttling her there and then.
Kashikoi gagged as she could see her vision blacking out on the edges. The bear’s arms were like steel bars keeping her pinned down to the asphalt. In desperation she aimed her claws at his face, but the man shifted his head to keep his eyes safe. That’s when her right arm moved down and felt the bottle still wedged in his shoulder.
“What are you doing back there, Bern?” Tyla yelled from the driver’s side. “Kill her already! She’s not worth it!”
Growling, she tore the bottle free with a bit of blood and muscle. The man howled in pain, his grip slacking. Kashi struck upwards with the broken bottle and the man flinched away and released her. Kashikoi coughed, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Stumbling forward she lashed out with a front kick to the bear man’s knee, the man grunted, his muscles not able to protect from a shin attack. Growling he staggered back when there was a loud “Bwaaaah!”
The man managed to look surprised before the freight hauler ran into him. It barely changed in its trajectory: one of the automated drivers.
“Oh - oh- no. Anyways.” Kashi said as she turned her attention to the car.
“Bern?! BERN! Slag.”
The engine was starting up, but Kashi wasn’t having it as she scooped up Bern’s pistol and fired at the repulsars beneath the vehicle. Sparks flew and the car managed to move a few feet before coming to a grinding halt. More vehicles screamed past, wanting to avoid the inter-city dialogue that was probably taking place. Down the road were some explosions and crashes as desperate cars tried to escape.
Kashi ran for the driver’s side, gun leveled before she dropped down as a few shots from her own stolen gun went over her head. Kashi returned fire before the blaster fizzled out - Must’ve only been good for a few shots.
Tyla kicked her door open and aimed for Kashi a sneer on her face as more cars careened by.
“Hiyaahh!” Kashi shouted as she kicked the gun from Tyla’s hand.
The rat-ear girl jumped out of the driver’s seat. She had pulled her trusty knife free and slashed. A line of darker red was cut into Kashi’s red shirt right below the black heart of her shirt as she stumbled backwards.
“Owww!” Kashi shouted, feeling the sting of the knife.
*HOOOOOOoooooonnnkkkk...* A gigantic gust of wind pulling the two females.
Tyla grinned as she pressed her attack: her wrist flicked here and there driving the neko back, driving towards the fast lane.
A thrust from Tyla and Kashi grabbed her wrist, but before she could capitalize the spy hit her right where she had been cut. Kashi screamed in agony. Tyla bore her to the ground, knife raised.
Kashi brought her arm up and caught the knife hand as she managed to get her other hand free and yank on Tyla’s hair and roll. The two rolled end over end - each vying for control, each turning into true animals: feral screams escaping from their maws.
The two could roll no more as they ended up against the guard rail. Kashi managed to get some leverage and brought her head hard against Tyla’s jaw. The woman grunted in pain as Kashi managed to roll her onto her back and pin her in place.
“It’s over!” Kashi sneered before delivering a right hook too Tyla’s jaw. The ratgirl’s eyes rolled back into her head from the blow and Kashi stood up triumphant.
The wail of sirens filled the air as the housetroopers were finally responding to the chaos of the roadways.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Now to get my parcel back,” Kashi said, hands on her hips.
Tyla wasn’t going anywhere soon, and she had an address. It was a long way to where she’d left her bike.
“Ah, why the heck not?” Kashi shrugged.
She’d find that parcel herself. The neko gunned the engine and hurtled down the light bridge zipping over the many crashed vehicles as stranded travelers shook fists at her as she zoomed by.
“Sorry!” she called out, even though the wind rushing past was too loud for her to be heard. “This is, like, super important! Like, life and death, potentially.”
As Kashikoi drove - zooming around confused business traffic - her comm device was beeping. Answering she once again saw her contact from the palace.
“Kashikoi! What is going on? Why have you been ducking my calls? Are you still chasing the package thieves?”
Kashi only gave him the address before hanging up, despite his protests.
“Wait, did I just call in backup? I think I just called in backup!” Kashi exclaimed.
She took a few turns before realizing she’d driven a cycle for far too long: the car felt sluggish and bulky to her in comparison. After what felt like an eternity, she reached the address: a small house on the lower levels.
The neko waited for a moment before stepping out of the car: no one seemed to be home. The dwelling looked dingy on the outside. The windows were barred with no lights within. Not bothering to shut the door of her stolen vehicle, Kashi pulled her recovered omni gun. Looking down she realized she hadn’t stopped the bleeding yet.
It was curious how something so important could be ignored for so long... Taking the phial around her neck, Kashi spilled the contents on the cut. She winced as the liquid cleaned and sealed her wound.
With a blink she made her way to the rear of the house, hugging the wall. Her intuition proved fruitful as she found there was indeed a rear door. Kashi flicked her tail as she pondered her next move. Moving quietly, she chunked an empty can against the door and then ducked back around the corner and flattened herself.
The door flew open and a human with a plasma shotgun stood outside his door.
“Damn kids!” he shouted.
Kashi noted the plasma shotgun: definitely not a friendly resident. The man cursed as he ventured further out. When his back was to her Kashikoi scuttled towards the open door, her gun was in her hand ready to bring up in an instant. She quickly darted into the house as the human continued searching the yard.
A press of the button on her omnigun and it soon morphed into a carbine. Kashi plodded down the hall slowly. Her eyes lit up as she saw the parcel sitting on a table in the kitchen. The loud shut of the door behind alerted Kashi that the man had returned.
Kashi spun and leveled her weapon.
“Slagging hell!? Who are you?” the man questioned as he started to bring the plasma shotgun up.
“Drop it, spy!” Kashi shouted.
The man’s face changed at that, a flash of fear before he started to bring the gun up anyway despite Kashi’s warning. Kashi was quicker on the trigger though. A flash of light, and a shriek and her bolt of energy seared straight through the man's left shoulder.
He cried out as he fell, discharging his shotgun into the wall in a spray of sparks and smoke.
“What was that?” a female voice from upstairs.
“Lorenz?!” a male voice.
“Oh man, it’s on now.” Kashi sighed.
Kashi grabbed the parcel and was relieved to find it was not a trap like the last one before she overturned the table and hit behind it. It wasn’t the best cover, but it would have to do.
A large horse-eared girl came into view with a blaster pistol. She and Kashi both fired, neither scoring a hit as smoke and sparks flew from the walls they hit instead. The horsegirl ducked back around the wall as the male - a rabbit-eared man - also came into view and opened up with his own blaster pistol. Kashi ducked and flattened herself to the floor as the two Talons kept up a withering fire, their bolts burning through the table.
Kashi returned fire through the very holes that her attackers had created, there was a loud scream and the scent of burned flesh.
“Got ‘im!” Kashi said to herself.
There were no shots being fired at Kashi so the crazed neko stood up and kept firing her carbine.
“Yaaaaaaahhhhhh!” Kashi shrieked as she kept firing and moving forward, her ears were flat and her tail lashed the air.
There was no sign of the horse eared girl. Pausing her mad onslaught, Kashi hefted her carbine up and kept it at the ready as she moved deeper into the house. Something was burning from all the blaster fire: smoke was thick in the air, and Kashikoi’s eyes watered.
The courier checked the corners as she moved in. Deeper in, she went to a leisure room area where holvision was playing some action animation show, full of bright flashing lights. Long dark shadows from the electronic lights in the dim room stretched towards her.
Something moved in the side of the room as Kashi brought her carbine up only for a hand to push the barrel down as the horsegirl appeared, thrusting a pistol towards Kashi’s face.
The neko struck out with her hand catching the wrist of her opponent's gun hand and sending the gun clattering to the floor. A retaliatory punch to Kashi’s jaw sent her staggering back, her carbine ripped from her grasp and clattering to the floor.
Kashikoi took a ready stance as her opponent closed in. The horsegirl was definitely more muscular than Kashikoi, and moved in with a left hook full of confidence.
The scrappy catgirl caught the blow on her forearm and snapped a kick to the shin of her foe. The blow landed and the woman grit her teeth in pain and jabbed Kashikoi in the torso.
“Ooof!” Kashi grunted as she took the blow. Two more followed and the neko was wheezing. She still had fight in her though: stepping into her foe, Kashikoi deflected the jab and slugged her enemy in the ribs with her left fist, and then delivered a chop for the throat of the spy.
The woman gagged and stumbled, clutching her throat, when Kashi - “Hiyaaah!” - delivered a roundhouse kick to the horsegirl and sent her back into the wall.
After a few seconds recovering, the woman - now enraged - charged the neko, head forward. Kashikoi sidestepped and kicked behind the shins. The agent fell to her knees and Kashikoi took the opportunity to slam her palms against the sensitive ears of her opponent.
There was a loud shriek as the spy’s eardrums exploded, and she spun around with a brutal backhand that sent Kashikoi reeling, blood erupting in her mouth.
“Ahh!” Kashi shouted, feeling her busted lip as she rose from the floor.
The neko snapped a kick only to find her leg grabbed. The equine woman pivoted her hips and sent Kashi into a recliner that flipped over with her in it. Kashikoi tumbled out of the chair and onto the floor with a wheeze.
Scrambling back - her hands closed around her carbine - Kashi lifted the weapon up as the spy was on her. With a smirk the equine girl redirected the barrel of the gun away from her with a quick motion.
Kashikoi smirked back as she pressed the button, her carbine once again morphed into a pistol and she fired. The woman had a stunned look on her face as she collapsed with a hole in her chest.
Kashi sank to the floor on her back with a sigh of relief. Just then, the doors were kicked in as housetroopers stormed into the house.
“Oh, hey guys. You’re waaaay late.” Kashikoi greeted them nonchalantly.
Hours later and Kashikoi stood in the throne room, just her, the baron, and the parcel. Kashi’s tail twitched back and forth as the baron’s dark eyes went from her to the package: in the few times she’d been present there, it was the emptiest Kashi had ever seen the room.
The baron spoke, his voice like stones grating against one another. “I sometimes wonder if you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
Kashikoi cringed and waited for him to continue.
“But... I doubt any other courier would have been able to do what you have done. No other courier would have caused so much… chaos either.”
“Well boss man, I….”
“I am still speaking!” The baron growled.
“Sorries,” Kashi squeaked.
The baron rubbed his temples. “Thanks to you, I have this parcel from the digsite in my possession. We also cracked a spy ring, with one being in custody at the moment.”
“One?” Kashi asked.
“The human at the house.”
Kashi’s ears drooped, “You mean Tyla got away?!”
The baron tilted his fat head and squinted. “I suppose so.” There was then a drawn-out sigh from the nobleman. “I suppose you want to know what’s in this parcel.”
“Oooh!” She said, jumping and clapping her hands. “Can I know, can I?”
“I suppose you’ve earned something with the great lengths you’ve gone through to recover this parcel. But be warned, if you speak of this, you will be thrown in the dungeons.”
“I won’t tell anybody,” Kashi said, suddenly standing to attention.
“See that you don’t.” the baron growled as he opened the parcel. “Ahh.”
The ruler of the city lifted a seemingly ordinary piece of a mosaic.
“Exquisite: a piece of the ancients’ art.”
Kashikoi squinted and could make out what looked like a cityscape, a gleaming city on the surface among green rolling hills. A far cry from how the surface was now.
“An art piece? But why would Talon want that?” Kashikoi asked.
“They didn’t know what was inside it,” he responded, letting the dutiful courier into courtly matters. “They thought it was a weapon or lost technology from the ancients, but this only holds value to me and a select circle of people. Now be gone,” he said, pointing at the large doors that she had entered through, “until you are needed again.”
Kashi nodded and ran out, happy to put this issue to rest. She went to her small little home and drank some tea laced with catnip with some chocolate on the side.