Drummond, Papetoon
Terry's Road House was just like any bar in Drummond, or any bar on Papetoon for that matter. The clientele at this particular hour consisted mainly of old timers with nothing better to do and people who had just gotten off of work.
One of the latter set of individuals sat at the bar, nursing a glass of beer and bobbing his head to the alt rock song playing on the bar's sound system. He was a brown and white furred primate with cyan eyes. Clothing wise, he was clad in the dark blue jumpsuit of a factory worker. Complete with a name tag that read Darren.
Darren Van Zant; That was his name. Or at least, it was what he had made a conscious effort to think of as his name since that narrow escape from Venom in the closing days of the Lylat War.
The First Lylat War, as some of the star system's more pessimistic denizens had taken to calling it ever since the news had first broke that the Venomian Remnant was now under the leadership of Marshal Kalman Koates, a man long thought to be dead.
"Say, Darren." the black bear manning the bar said, bringing the primate out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, Terry." Darren responded before taking a swig of beer.
Terry leaned in closer, and in a low tone, stated, "You've been coming in here a long time. I know for a fact that you're not the social type. But them three fellas that just came in look like they know you."
Darren glanced over his shoulder and took note of the three men who were standing at the bar's entrance. The trio consisted of a Rottweiler, a Polar Bear, and a Salamander. They all had their gazes fixed on him.
Turning around, Darren downed the rest of his drink and set the glass on the bar. From there, he fished out some credit chips, more than the price of the beer, and pushed them towards Terry.
"Terry." Darren asked, "Is there a back door to this place?"
After making the credits disappear behind the bar, Terry replied, "Yeah, in the back."
"Thanks." Darren said as he stood from his seat and walked away from the bar.
A quick glance over his shoulder told the primate that the trio of assassins, for what else could they be, were spreading out across the floor.
Darren kept moving, and once he was away from the noise of the barroom, took out a commlink. The primate quickly scrolled through his contacts until he reached the bottom.
All he knew about this person was that he was only supposed to call them if his life was in danger. Mom and Dad had been very clear on that, right up to their dying days.
After a few seconds, a distorted voice said, "Yes?"
"I'm in trouble." Darren whispered, "There's three guys trying to kill me."
"Get yourself out of there, I'm on my way." the other person replied before cutting the line.
From there, the primate went up to the pub's back door and slipped out into an alleyway. He then dragged a crate over in front of the door, hoping to at least slow down his pursuers.
"I knew you'd try that." a gruff voice called out.
Darren went rigid and then spun around to face the source. A muscular figure was stepping out of the shadows, a blaster trained on the primate's chest.
Raising his hands, Darren stammered, "This ain't Kew, buddy. Someone's going to hear that."
With a grunt, the figure screwed a silencer onto his blaster. Stepping into the light revealed him to be a reptile with iguana and crocodilian features.
Darren knew him to be Eugene Clegg, the so-called Axeman of Titania.
The Iguana-Crocodile hybrid's gaze flicked to the primate's name tag.
"Hmh." Clegg mused, "I wonder what those yokels would think if they found out who you really are, Dash Bowman?"
The ape tensed at the mention of his birth name.
"You've got the wrong man." he said in a desperate tone.
"I doubt that." Clegg replied.
Suddenly, a voice called out, "Dash, get down!"
Dash threw himself to the ground as the rapid screechs of an automatic weapon filled the alleyway. Clegg also took cover, diving behind a dumpster.
"Dash, move!" the stranger called out.
Picking himself up, Dash ran towards the alley entrance in a low sprint. He was able to catch a glimpse of his savior and see that he was an Armadillo of some sort.
"Holy shit!" the ape thought, "It's Nikos!"
Dash felt the armadillo grab him by the collar and pull him out of the way of Clegg's return fire.
The duo ran towards a nearby hovercar, where Dash clambered into the passenger's seat while Nikos grabbed the driver's seat, carefully setting his Papetoonian Junstrom laser rifle on the backseat.
"Nikos…" Dash began.
"Not now, Dash. Keep your head down." the Southern Long Nosed Armadillo curtly replied.
Dash obeyed and lowered his head down while Nikos gunned the engine and got them away from the bar.
Outside, Eugene Clegg charged out of the alley and spotted the vehicle speeding away. The lizard was soon joined by his three compatriots.
"Yob tvoyu mat!" the polar bear swore, "They got away!"
"Indeed, Alexei." Clegg muttered.
"What do we do now, Boss?" asked the Rottweiler.
Hearing the sounds of sirens, Clegg put his blaster back in it's shoulder holster and covered it with his jacket.
"Now, Pete." the hybrid explained, "We go back to the safehouse and call Marshal Koates."
As the group began walking away from the scene, the salamander stated, "Koates will not be pleased that we didn't kill Bowman."
Shaking his head, Clegg replied, "Leave that to me, Carlo."
Elsewhere
As the adrenaline from the chase wore off, Dash became aware that they were on a backroad.
Turning to the armadillo in the driver's seat, Dash asked, "Okay, Nikos. What the hell is going on here?"
Nikos gave the primate a brief glance.
"I'll explain when we get home. But first, we need to ditch this vehicle."
"Ditch?" Dash mused before putting the pieces together.
"You stole this!?" the ape exclaimed in disbelief.
"The sheriff had this in his impoundment lot. It was going to the wrecking yard anyway." Nikos replied.
"Oh, so that makes it all better." Dash snarked.
After a few more minutes of driving, Nikos pulled onto the shoulder and popped the trunk. Getting out, him and Dash walked to the back of the car.
Within the trunk, Dash saw a second Junstrom rifle and a folded set of clothes that were similar to what Nikos was wearing.
Now that he was able to get a good look, Dash saw that they were Venomian forest fatigues, albeit with the patches removed.
"Put those on, and leave your old clothes in the car." Nikos ordered as he retrieved his rifle from the backseat.
"Guess I ended up putting the uniform on after all." Dash mumbled as he started unzipping his jumpsuit.
After changing into the uniform and setting his jumpsuit in the trunk, Dash picked up the rifle. He checked the charge level and made sure that the fire selector was set to Safe before slinging it across his back.
"You ready?" Nikos asked as he rolled up a newspaper and stuffed it into the gas tank.
"Yeah." Dash replied as he watched the armadillo light the paper on fire.
From there, the two of them walked into the bush, Dash briefly flinching as he heard the hovercar explode.
They walked through the woods for the better part of three and a half hours before coming to a clearing with a log cabin in the middle.
The duo entered and set their rifles in a gun rack. An exhausted Dash collapsed into an armchair while Nikos headed for the kitchen.
Massaging his temples, the primate murmured, "This can't be happening."
"I'm afraid it is, Dash. All of it."
Glancing back up at his rescuer, Dash noticed that Nikos was holding a bottle of beer towards him.
"Thanks." he said as he accepted the beverage and twisted off the cap.
Nikos allowed himself a small chuckle as Dash entered a coughing fit.
"Home brew is an acquired taste, Dash. It really is."
"I'll say." the ape replied.
Once his coughing fit ended, Dash fixed his gaze on Nikos' hazel eyes and asked, "Alright Nikos, what the hell is going on?"
Nikos took a pull on his beer before replying, "I'm keeping a promise I made to your parents a long time ago. Protecting you, with my life if need be."
"I see." Dash said and took a swig from his beer.
"So." the primate continued, "What now?"
The armadillo tilted his head at his young charge.
"Now, we establish the ground rules."
Nikos set his drink on a table by his armchair and began ticking off points with his thumb and fingers.
"Rule number one; You are never more than a few feet away from me, and that's nonnegotiable. Rule number two; We can never go back to Drummond. There's too much chance of someone recognizing you. Rule number three; If anyone asks, you're my ward."
"Well that last one's easy. I don't even have to lie." Dash snarked.
The two of them shared a laugh, unaware of the danger that was to come to Papetoon.
Elsewhere
Within his gang's safehouse, Eugene Clegg sat on a ratty looking couch and stared at a holoprojector. He was soon greeted with the image of a Nine Banded Armadillo wearing the dark grey uniform of the Venomian Imperial Army.
Perhaps the most distinguishing feature was the fact that the right side of the Venomian officer's face was crisscrossed with blue scars and the fact that his eye, aside from the pupil, was entirely orange.
Both signs that he had been attacked by an Aparoid.
"Yes."
"Marshal Koates." Clegg replied, "I'm afraid that Bowman has escaped. He had help from your old pal, Nalchik."
Koates' eyes went wide with surprise before his features reverted to a dour expression.
"Find them, Clegg." the Venomian leader ordered while crossing his arms.
"And bring me their heads."