Mao Mao's Sisters

Searching

It barely took Tanya two days to reach the Low-Key Bar. She stepped into the bar, the doors swinging on squeaky hinges, announcing the arrival of the pub's namesake.

"Guess who's back, bitches!" Tanya crowed. If the doors hadn't caused heads to turn, her call did. Ruffians and scoundrels eyed her as she waltzed to the bar with a pep in her step. Hopping into a bar stool, she leaned over the bar, seeing if the owner was trying to fix the sink again. "Biggs! Where are ya?"

The panda was nowhere in sight. Must in the back making food. She wasn't in a hurry, so Tanya decided it was best to get comfy. Well, as comfy as you could get sitting at a bar full of splinters. Out of the corner of her eye, a silky furred weasel took the stool next to her.

"I never thought you'd return," she said, her voice was shrill and high pitched, almost grating. "The shamed Bounty Hunter hobbles back.

"Veronica," Tanya finally acknowledged the English accented weasel. "How nice of you to greet me home."

Veronica was... well... nobody could really nail down what Veronica was. She always seemed to list from one thing to the next, as sporadic and unpredictable as her emotions. Some days she would take down big name criminals, and others she would try to overthrow kingdoms. She's the origin of the term "wild card".

"Word's been buzzing about it has," she said, craning her head to look into Tanya's eyes when she didn't move to look at her. "Supposedly, the great Tanya has gone softy wofty."

"Is that what they say?" Tanya said, bored already with this conversation. 'Such a cliche,' Tanya thought. 'Next Veronica will talk about how I fell from being amazing and is something less now.

"Indeed it has, there were a numbah of witnesses who confirmed it," Veronica continued. "You used to be somebody, and now you're getting your assed wiped by some no name from off the street!"

'Called it,' Tanya thought to herself. "I may be a little soft, but I'm still tough enough to break your nose."

Veronica barked a laugh. "Can you back it u-", Veronica's head slammed into the table, Tanya gripping her by the fur.

"What's that?" Tanya's voice hardened, became cold. "You seem to have your mouth full of wood." Tanya pulled Veronica off the bar top, bringing her elbow to give her mouth a violent kiss. Veronica twirled before hitting the ground, a few teeth fell from her mouth, sent clattering over the floorboards. Tanya waited to see if Veronica would get up, when it came apparent Veronica was out for the count, she whirled on the other clients of the bar. "Anyone else got something to say?" No one spoke. "I didn't think so."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't threaten my customers, Keyes." Biggs exited from the kitchen door, a couple of steaming plate balanced on his palms.

"Biggs!" Tanya threw her arms out to either side. "How've you been?" Biggs didn't seem as pleased as he usually did to see her. Setting down the plates at a table, he turned on her, his massive stature dwarfing hers.

"My office. Now." He mumbled to her.

Biggs' bar wasn't just a bar, it also acted as go between for people who wanted something, and the people who got it for them. For Tanya, it was high ranking officials who wanted criminals behind bars, and she would put them there. He crunched numbers in his office, and made underhanded deals with shifty characters.

Setting down in his chair, the furniture and floorboards creaked under his weight.

"Did you put on a few pounds since I've been gone?" Tanya snarked.

"Cut the shit, Tanya," Biggs barked shutting down her sarcasm. "What did you do to get involved with Dusk?" Biggs glared at the tanuki sitting on the other side of the desk. However, Tanya didn't shift under his gaze, relaxed as she usually was.