Legends Don't Die Easy- Part III
Puss walked down a deserted street in Barcelona. A candlelight flickered in a bakery, the only light that was visible. The door of this bakery was open, and so with no other option, Puss walked inside silently.
The bakery smelled wonderful. Fresh baked bread, cookies and cakes reminded Puss of his friend in Mexico, Américo, a baker who would frequently send over cakes and bread to him when times were tough, which was often. Puss noticed that a fire was in the fireplace but it was cold as winter. A man in his forties, the baker, Juan, was sleeping in an uncomfortable wooden chair covering up with a not so warm blanket, but it was better than nothing. Ignoring him, the feline jumped on the windowsill.
A lemon cake that was on sale was in the window, along with an assortment of sugar cookies. Puss however, was focused on the candle. He removed his feathered hat and curled up next to the lone flame, thinking that sleep was needed before he began looking for the warehouse.
Puss closed his eyes and dreamed about his amour from a different time and place. A time when the world made sense, when Puss wasn't a sword for hire, when he wasn't anything but a cat in a small town in Spain who minded his own business. When he had a life worth living. I'm sorry, he thought, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have let him do that to you. Take you away from me. I would love to say that I could be there with you, but I can't. I'm nowhere near you. I should've been me... Puss sighed and shivered as he thought about the one person who got him into the business that he was in now. That business was helping the innocent, finding oppressors and dealing with them in his own original way. The person who started him this path of infinite vendetta was Kitty. His girlfriend. Puss whispered softly. "The reason you're dead is because of me."
A rapping sound on the window. Puss looked up and saw an owl hovering in the air. "Are you the one they call Puss?" The owl asked.
Puss nodded, "And you are you exactly?"
"I'm one of Tilden's associates." The owl replied, "Don't go to the warehouse, it's been secured, right now you are to come with me to Paris."
"Paris?" Puss asked. "Why would I go to Paris?"
"She's alive Puss." The owl said. Puss looked at this bird and quickly left the bakery.
Walking outside, Puss noticed that the owl was unnaturally large, his wingspan must've been twice the size of a normal Great Horned Owl, which was this bird's species. "What do you call yourself bird?" Puss asked.
"Hyperion," the owl said, "it's Greek."
Puss nodded, familiar with the name in stories that he had heard once before, "Are you Greek?"
"I'm Russian actually." Hyperion replied, "Now, let's go, we have little time to talk and even less time to get to your girlfriend."
"Speaking of which," Puss said, "how do you know of her?"
Hyperion smiled, "Let's just say we have a mutual friend."
"Oh really, who's that Senor Wavell?" Puss asked.
"No, even better, General William Anicetus." The owl answered. Puss shook his head and sighed, "Then I'm sorry, but I believe you're going to have to die." He pulled his sword and dug it into the bird's neck.
"Whoa, what's going on here!" The owl cried, a bit confused.
"Are you working for him?" Puss asked.
"Anicetus, of course I am, why, is that a problem?"
Puss nodded and moved his sword down to where the owl's heart would be. "That is a very serious problem Senor Hyperion."
"Why is that?" The owl asked.
"Because that son of a bitch killed my family, my friends, and my countrymen. You think I'm fighting this because a rodent gave me a piece of information? I'm fighting this war because of that lunatic. Tilden I have heard of, and I swore to help him, that I will do, but your superior must be taken down by this steel blade." He punctured Hyperion's chest, ever so slowly, "And if you're going to get in my way of that, then you're going to have to perish. You and all of your associates."
"Even if one of them is Kitty?" Hyperion asked. Puss stopped his blade from continuing, as soon as these words hit his eardrums his heart sank a bit. He sheathed his sword. "So," the owl said, "what do you say?"
"Take me to Paris Senor Hyperion," Puss said, "I have a few scores to settle."