Jeez, I hope this doesn't feel rushed...I have the worst feeling iv'e lost my touch when it comes to this story. I don't want to let you guys down.
Semira pinned Rango to the ground again harshly, ignoring the furious rattlesnake for now, who was still thrashing against the handcuffs. "Now, now, little lizard, don't worry. The people of this town are far too scrawny to make a decent meal. So...you should be happy to know that, once I kill you and your comrades, of course, I will just use them as my loyal servants. And who knows? This may prove to be some of the town's more..." She looked around, smirking a bit in a confident and none too impressed manner. "Glorified days."
Rango coughed some of the dust out of his lungs and rose a brow high at her. "Ya know...ya might just wanna hold off on killin' me for a bit."
The large eagle chuckled lowly, her smirk turning to one of amusement. "Oh? And why is that?" She asked curiously, lightly raking a talon across his neck, just tapping over an area where a major artery lay just under his flesh. "Do you actually think you have anything you could use against me? Your pistol will prove as useful as a pellet gun against a freight train, you helpless worm."
The sheriff leaned away from her talon as best as he could, his eyes going from it to her face as he flashed her a half grin. "Maybe so, but whoever said anythin' about a pistol?" He rested his head back and looked upside down behind him.
Narrowing her eyes, Semira looked up and gazed the same direction just in time to see the handcuffs fall limply to the ground, a flash of brown and tan shooting her way. Dropping the chameleon with a screech, she grabbed Jake by the neck as he coiled the rest of his body around her. In an instant, the two were struggling and fighting on the ground, Semira holding Jake's dripping fangs away from her throat as he dodged slashes from her other set of talons. She was surprised, impressed even, by the outlaw's strength, which was only fueled further by his rage and hate towards the eagle queen. Opening his mouth as wide as he could, making his fangs seem even longer than they were, he hissed and snarled sharply, whipping a section of his coils around the ankle of Semira's free set of talons and aiming his gatling gun at her face. It was he who had the upper hand now, and both were quite aware he could kill her at any moment.
Semira blinked up at him, quite surprised he had gotten this far, then glared at him. "It appears I need to work on my aim, considering you are not yet dead since our last encounter."
"Believe me, you won't have the chance to do either." He rumbled, eyes blazing heatedly into her own. "Before I blow yer thick skull to pieces, you will tell me this: What did you do to that girl?"
The eagle rose a brow at him, then smirked with a low chuckle. "Ahh...so that's what this is about. You are not doing this in defense of the town or the sheriff over there at all. You're doing this for dear, little Adina." She barely even blinked when he snarled into her face again, despite the grip she still had on his throat.
"Tell me!" He hissed.
Semira huffed lightly. "She is dead, you fool. Hundreds of miles from this dust bowl of a town. If the fall did not kill her, then it is only a matter of time before she bleeds to death from her wounds. If she hasn't already." She narrowed her eyes, smiling wide in a satisfied manner.
Despite the sharp ache that shot through the rattlesnake's chest, Jake's expression of anger and loathing didn't waver, but seemed to deepen with the new information. Growling lowly, he shoved the end of his gatling gun to the side of her head, and fired without hesitation.
Click!
Jake froze and rose his brows high, looking to his gun quickly and giving it a shake. He tried firing again, then again. Empty. His gun had been cleared of all bullets, as had his ammo belt. He looked back to the queen, eyes widening in realization before beginning with a suspicious tone. "Sheriff..."
Rango turned a slightly paler color and curled his arms up against his chest, toying with his fingers as he began to chuckle nervously. "Uhhh...W-we didn't know what...state of mind you were gonna be in when ya woke up, Jake..."
"Sheriff...!" Jake ground out, his tone seething but also somewhat nervous as he kept his gaze on Semira's. "Where the hell. Are. My. Bullets?"
Paling even further, the chameleon sunk closer to the ground and swallowed hard. "They're, uh...in my office..?"
"Sheriff! You scaly, scatterbrained son-of-a-!"
"I'm sorry!" Rango cried out.
The Golden Eagle's gaze began to darken more and more, and she was soon grinning from ear to ear as she laughed to herself, the grip she had on Jake's neck beginning to tighten. "My, my, my...how the tables have quite delightfully turned." He lifted her head and let out a long eagle scream, summoning for her bat minions and the others to come to her aid. Once her cry subsided, she grinned back at the outlaw in her ruthless grip before screeching loudly and thrusting her head back as a shot sounded through the air. A bullet grazing her cheek, leaving a long, red line across her face as some feathers drifted to the ground. Taken so off guard by the shot, she almost dropped Jake, but was able to throw him against the wall of Doc's building.
Shaking the pain in his bandaged side off with a slight cringe, both he and Rango looked over to see Wounded Bird standing in the doorway, disposing of an empty shotgun shell from his firearm with a clicking sound.
The tall crow looked at them and said in his deep, firm voice, "Go!"
Of course, Rango was off in an instant to get a more useful firearm from the sheriff's station, and though Jake absolutely hated the cowardice to be seen in running away, he knew better than to try taking on the eagle again without some bullets in his gun. With a frustrated snarl, he disappeared around a corner and charged after the sheriff.
"If we get outta this mess, i'ma kill you, boy!" Jake shouted to the small lizard.
Wounded Bird watched them until they both disappeared from sight, looking forward again to just barely catch one of Semira's armored bats shooting towards him, talons drawn. With surprising reflexes, he aimed his shotgun and fired another shot, stopping the bat dead in midair before it fell to the ground, already quite lifeless. He looked from the bat's fresh corpse and up again at the sound of a screech, not even having time to react as another bat slammed into him, knocking them both back into Doc's office. Wounded Bird quickly grabbed the bat by the throat as it snapped its jaws mere centimeters from his beak, barely managing to hold it back as it dug its claws into his sides to hold him still.
Tanana sat up in alarm at the sight before shoving herself off the bed, ignoring any pain she might have felt from her injuries, and dove for the bat with a feral squawk. Considering her being the only other animal in the office at that moment, and her deep care for the crow, she wasn't about to lay on the bed and watch. Digging her sharp talons painfully deep into its side and back, she waited for the bat to release Wounded Bird before flapping her wings and twisting herself, slamming the bat hard into the nearest wall with a yell. She held firm even as the winged brute's skulls bashed against the wall. "This is for Adina!" She threw the bat to the floor again and slashed it across the cheek with a few talons. "For my father!" She then managed to raise herself off the ground with a few hard flaps from her wings, lifting the dazed bat as well. "For everything." She twisted herself again and hurtled the bat across the room like a frisbee. It slammed into the wall and fell to the floor with a hiss, beginning to lift itself by its wings before looking up just as an array of sharp surgical tools fell from a shelf and finished it off for good.
Easing herself to the ground, Tanana grasped onto another bed nearby for support, taking a moment to catch her breath. Wounded Bird gazed at her for a long moment, his gaze akin to what might have been shock before he shook the look away. Scooting over and pulling his crutch to him, he immediately stood and went to her, placing a wing on her shoulder. "Miss Tanana..."
The Grackle took in a few long breaths of air, not looking to him before saying quietly. "Forgive me. I didn't...mean to lose control like that..."
"Nothing to be sorry for." He said calmly, gently sitting her on the bed and taking her cheeks in his wings, brushing the smooth feathers soothingly with his thumbs as he continued to stand where he was. He let his crutch fall to the floor again for the moment, his main focus on her and not his leg as he set it down. He continued with his attempts to calm her, even after she steadied her breathing and glanced up at him.
"Are you hurt?" She asked finally. He shook his head no, and she nodded. Sighing softly through her nose, she lifted a wing and stroked one of his own cheeks. "Good. I couldn't bear the thought."
"You are too kind, Miss Tanana." He said, removing his one wing and placing it over the one she had on his cheek, grasping it and caressing it in his feathers tenderly. "Must go and help the sheriff." He said.
Tanana furrowed her brows slightly in worry. "Theodore...I don't want you getting hurt. Or..." She looked away, not wanting to finish.
He took her beak lightly in his other wing and turned her gaze back onto his own, his expression soft and firm. "Cannot promise anything. But, will try to return to you safe." He said, feeling a slight twinge in his heart at her expression. Kneeling slightly, he brought her closer with his wings and locked his beak with her own, good and hard for a long moment. Though the action surprised her immensely, she hardly hesitated before returning it, wrapping her wings tightly around his neck, not wanting to let him go. She blinked away the sudden sting in her eyes and cleared her throat when he finally pulled away.
He brushed her cheek softly again as he stood once more, picking up his crutch and tucking it under his arm. "Stay low. Stay quiet." He said, locking the front door and checking out the window before heading to the back. He looked outside, listening, observing, and even smelling before glancing back at her with a nod and slipping out silently, shutting and locking the door behind him. Only then did she let a tear or two escape her, silently lifting a wing and turning down the first of the three lanterns in the office.
Jake rumbled and cursed to himself as he quite stiffly loaded his gun, having managed to squeeze himself into the sheriff's station. He sent Rango a harsh glare as the chameleon muttered anxiously to himself while loading a few rifles nearby. Much to his relief, Beans had already been there when he and Jake arrived. She herself seemed to be gearing up for the battle that was soon to come.
"Where's Priscilla and the other children?" Rango asked, catching a box of bullets that the female iguana had tossed to him.
"In the school house with Miss Daisy. Rest of the townsfolk scrambled into the buildin' closest to them when that damn bird's shadow flew across town." Beans replied, loading her own shotgun with more speed and skill than Rango could dish out. "Tanana's daddy is in Willy's."
Rango rose a brow. "Why's he in there?"
"Said there weren't much he could do to help without "ingredients". In layman's terms, I haven't a dadgummed idea." She tossed Rango the loaded weapon before beginning to load another. "Have you even the slightest of our chances of winnin' this fight, Rango?"
"Not a clue. Guess that's for the Heavenly Father to decide." The sheriff said, setting the readied firearm with the others.
Jake scoffed nearby. "You put all yer faith in The Big Guy, sheriff, you can kiss yer ass and this town goodbye." He cocked his gun with a hiss. "It's all up to us now. And when the time comes, it'll be between me an' that cunt of an eagle." He looked to Rango darkly. "Her soul is mine."
"Yeah, well...you can have 'er." Beans replied. "Gonna have our hands full with the bat's and that falcon as it is."
"What about that other eagle?" Rango asked, putting on his hat.
Again, the rattlesnake scoffed. "He won't be a problem. Seemed pretty conflicted with alliances from the start. Either way, however...might as well kill him, too." A growl rose from his throat. "He's just as at fault as the others."
The sound of the back door suddenly opening from nearby made all three reptiles whirl around and point their firearms in that direction. Instantly, Rango calmed at the familiar sight of his deputy standing in the doorway. "Ah, Bird. Thank goodness. Had us worried there for a minute."
The crow nodded once and closed the door behind him. "Eagle and falcon are circling perimeter. Bats unseen, but hidden in town."
Rango sighed, banging his fist on his desk. "Dammit...got us surrounded it seems."
"No shit, sheriff." Jake spat.
"How the hell are we gonna pull this off?" Beans wondered aloud in both worry and frustration.
"Well, firstly we need to deal with all the bats. They're our biggest threat, considerin' Semira seems to have brought a whole damn colony with her." Rango replied.
"Well, we're gonna need a helluva lot of mothballs, then, ain't we, sheriff!" Jake snarled impatiently in a sarcastic tone as he gazed out of a barred window.
Wounded Bird let out a quiet, though obviously vexed grunt as he sent Jake a slight look before suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, whacking the rattlesnake on the head with his crutch. Though the blow didn't particularly hurt the rattlesnake, it had been quite hard. Enraged, the outlaw sent him a glare that would have meant instant death, but given the circumstances, he knew he would have to let it slide for now, much to his growing irritation.
"Arguing pointless. Must think of plan." The crow said, looking to the others. Rango and Beans nodded, but Jake only gave a huffy snort before looking out the window again sourly.
"Bird's right, we can't start arguin' amongst ourselves now." Rango said, beginning to pace a bit. "We need to come up with somethin' both clever and effective. Somethin' that'll give us more than just a fightin' chance."
"I agree, but what can we do?" Beans asked.
Jake paused and narrowed his eyes, which started to follow a figure that had wandered out of a nearby building and onto the street. Growling, he glanced over at the others. "Y'all might wanna pipe down fer a minute and come lookit this." He said.
Glancing at one another, the small group of animals made their way over to the window Jake was at and gazed out, their expression changing drastically at the familiar sight of Waffles nervously walking into the middle of the road, holding a small pistol in his hands.
"Waffles!" Rango yelled above a whisper.
"What is he doin' out there?" Beans asked in alarm.
The answer to their question came not a few seconds later as Waffles forced a slightly braver look and stood a bit taller. "S-S-Semira!" He called out somewhat nervously, voice echoing slightly through the buildings. "I-i'm c-callin' you o-out!" He finished, glancing up at the dark clouds overhead, whipping behind him to watch his hat blow down the street as a sudden breeze lifted it off his head.
Rango and Beans rose their eyebrows in horror at his exclamation, both hardly able to believe what they had just heard.
Jake narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer with a deep growl. "Seems like somebody's already come up with their own little plan..."