014 - Black Leather Cats

[JasonPaul]

It was just another night at the Lucky Strike, and the bartender was doing his best handing out beers to the various roustabouts, thugs, and ruffians that were having a drunken party as many of the other patrons were gambling their lives away at the slot machines and poker tables.

They wouldn't be partying too much longer if One Nation had any say in the matter...San Angelo and the rest of Texas were "liberated" from their terrorist government and became a part of the United States only a few days ago. It would only be a matter of time before One Nation turned its eyes towards the largest haven of scum and villainy in the former United States.

Las Vegas.

The bartender quickly noticed a felinefolk woman sitting at the bar in front of him, smoking a cigarette. The woman had long blue hair that ended in a braid, and wore a sleeveless black leather top, with matching hot pants and boots. Her top was embroidered with the crest of the Kendou tribe, and her belt had an unusual buckle that resembled a playing card. The Queen of Spades. Glancing to his right, he noticed another felinefolk woman talking with two men and enjoying their company. This one had a different outfit (a leather top that had short sleeves and a midriff, black leather chaps, and black panties), had red hair, wore glasses, and her belt buckle was the Queen of Hearts, but otherwise she looked like the blue haired woman's twin sister. As with the blue haired woman, she had the crest of Kendou embroidered on her top. It was unusual to see felinefolk here in Las Vegas. But even among felinefolk, these two seemed rather odd, as felinefolk were not known to dress in modern fashion like black leather.

"Vodka?" the blue haired woman asked.

The bartender blinked, as the woman's voice was rather quiet, but quickly composed himself. "Right. Just a second." As the bartender turned towards the drinks, the woman turned back to the crowd, scanning the rest of the bar...

*****

Five minutes earlier...

Japan stayed afloat through vigilance. As soon as the news of a viral outbreak dropped, the Japanese closed all ports faster than you could say Madagascar. It was one of the reasons why Japan had become the most powerful nation in the world, and is now almost twice as populous as it was before the outbreak, as refugees from the United States, Canada, and Australia (none of which were able to close their ports in time) all flocked to the nation.

South Africa stayed afloat through pure luck. The virus apparently hit Europe first, and quickly spread throughout Asia, and moved south to Africa. However, before the virus reached South Africa, the antibody to eliminate the virus was retrieved from TECH by Aekir Cadel, and using Ki technology, it was incorporated into a nanomachine that spread throughout the world even faster than the virus itself. As with Japan, South Africa became a safe haven for refugees, mostly from Australia and New Zealand.

Las Vegas, however, was an anomaly. By some divine prank, Las Vegas had managed to somehow almost completely avoid the virus. No one knew the reason for this.

"I heard that the house bet against viral contagion when Hunt released the virus," the red haired felinefolk said to her sister as she drove a black sedan throughout the streets of Las Vegas. "And no one, not even Hunt, beats the house."

"There is probably a more logical reason than that," the blue haired felinefolk said quietly as she sat in the passenger side. "But in any case, how do you want to go about doing this?"

"Go to a random bar and ask questions until someone talks?" the red haired girl replied. "It hasn't failed us yet. Besides, this guy's supposed to have been really big here. I'm sure we'll get something."

"Very well." At this, the blue haired girl pointed to the Lucky Strike bar and casino. "That looks good enough." She lit a cigarette and took a puff of it, but her sister quickly snatched it from her lips and threw it out the window.

"I told you to quit," she scolded. "And let me do the talking, okay?"

"I'll be fine. You just be ready for back up, just in case."

The redhead sighed as she parked the car. "All right, but I'm telling you it'll turn ugly..."

*****

It didn't take the blue haired felinefolk long to find someone to interrogate, as she saw a lanky middle-aged man drinking by himself and staring into his glass. Once she got her vodka, she walked over to the man and had a seat. His visage lightened up considerably at her presence, and he seemed eager to talk to her. "What's up kitten?" he asked.

The catwoman shrugged off the advance and spoke. "I need someone to help me locate an item of interest in Las Vegas. You know the area well, don't you?"

"Honey I can show you around anywhere you want," the man said with a smile which quickly faded as the woman stared him down.

"I'm not interested in an escort," she said. "But I'll pay real money if you can help me. If not I'll pay for your drink as compensation for taking your time."

"I see," he said, realizing that the woman didn't sit across from him for the purpose of a date. "And what's your name?"

"My name's not important," she said. "But if you want, you can call me Blue." She pointed towards her sister, who by this point practically had the two men eating out of her hand. "And that's my sister. Call her Red."

"Right," the man said. "So what do you need?"

Blue reached into her pocket and produced a small scrap of notebook paper, upon which was written a single word. The man looked at the word and turned pale.

"Mafioso!" Blue winced at the man's outburst, as she had hoped that he wouldn't say the name aloud. Indeed as soon as the name was uttered, a number of patrons glanced in Blue's direction, some in curiosity, some in outright fear. The Mafioso Syndicate went defunct shortly after Mafioso's death (or what was believed to be his death), and although a number of underlings tried to revive it over the years, none proved successful, and most who tried ended up dead sooner or later. Needless to say, the name Mafioso was considered cursed. "No! I want no part of it!"

"But you haven't even heard what I want," Blue said, a bit surprised at the man's sudden refusal.

"It doesn't matter. Not even for big money. I want no part of it!" The man quickly got to his feet, and Blue tried to persuade him to stay, but to no avail. "Stay far away from Mafioso's affairs. You'd do best to heed that warning!"

Blue was left alone. She sighed heavily. Thanks to that man's outburst it would be pointless to ask anyone else here. Not that it mattered that much. There were many places to find information in Las Vegas. In fact, there was one down the road.

Blue left some money for her drink and pulled away from her table when she noticed three men standing to her left. All three of them were bald, and wore dark glasses, spiked collars, and black wifebeaters. She remained seated and looked up at them. "Yes?"

"We don't like your kind around here, little kitty," one of them said in a raspy tone.

Blue closed her eyes and took a sip of her vodka. She held the glass with her left hand, while her right hand, unseen by the three men, removed a large butterfly knife from her boot. She kept it hidden from view for the moment...although she had a feeling these three wanted a piece of her. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "But don't worry, I am housetrained."

"We're not talking about that, bitch," another of the three said. "We get people like you around here all the time, always asking about Mafioso this and Mafioso that. You a reporter? Or some kind of police spy?"

Blue hesitated for a second, then glanced over at her sister, who was not being harassed by anyone. Red just looked at Blue and shrugged her shoulders. Thanks for nothing, Blue thought to herself. "Don't worry," Blue said. "I'm not here for any trouble."

"Damn right," the first man said. "Cause there won't be any trouble." The thug then wrapped his hand around Blue's arm and pulled, and that was all the provocation that Blue needed. Without any warning, she drove the butterfly knife into the man's meaty forearm. He screamed in pain for about a second before Blue then removed the knife and quickly slashed across his throat. The thug collapsed in a heap as the other two quickly took several steps back in surprise.

"Take it outside! Take it outside!" shouted the bartender to no avail. The second thug pulled out a switchblade knife that looked like a toothpick next to Blue's knife. He rushed at her in a swinging motion. Unfortunately for him, he was a nameless thug, and Blue was a trained killer. He never stood a chance, and died before his body even hit the floor. The catwoman quickly turned her attention to the third man, who quickly pulled a Glock from out of nowhere. Seeing the gun, Blue stopped her advance.

"Bad kitty," the man said gloating. "Brining a knife to a gunfight..." Blue watched for a few seconds before a smirk crossed her face. The man thought that strange, but it didn't matter, as the entire bar was shook by the sound of the right side of the man's head exploding in gore. As he was quickly thrown to the floor, Red put away the .50 Beowulf revolver she'd somehow managed to keep hidden underneath her scant clothing.

"Bluzie I told you to let me do the talking," Red said, scolding a bit.

Blue just shook her head. Seeing that no one else wanted to try their luck, Blue went to put away her knife, then quickly turned around after she felt someone tapping her shoulder, knife at the ready. However, this man just put both of his hands up and made no threatening gestures towards her.

"A moment of your time," he said. "I believe I can help you."