Alexander ‘Crow’ Kingston

“Alex! Alex, wake up.” The voice and rough shaking of his shoulder yanked the raven maned stallion from his deep slumber, where he was busy getting lost within his dreams. His icy blue eyes cracked open and peered up at the tall, shadowy stallion looming over his bed which was partially illuminated due to the dim light of a campfire outside pouring in through the opened tent. He slowly sat up, a tired groan of exhaustion leaving him as he did so. Alex would lift a hoof to rub the tiredness from his eyes before dropping it to focus on the stallion, Draven, within his room. The leader of the Wild Card gang, and the very stallion that acted like a fatherly figure towards Alex growing up after he escaped his early years of slavery. He taught him everything he knew. How to kill, especially, so not a goddamn soul could ever hurt him again and get away unscathed. “What the hell is going on?” Alex croaked, watching the light brown furred stallion trot towards the entrance of the tent, where he stopped to peer back towards Alex, a determined and eager twinkle within his honey coloured eyes. Alex knew that look right away. “Artemis found something nice for us, Alex. I’ll explain everything, but I’d love to have you watching our back. It’s an in and out job, so pack lightly.” Without another word, Draven swiftly left, which lit a fire under Alex. Clearly, this was important. Why else would he wake him in the middle of the night and seem to be in such a damn hurry? With a little sigh, Alex quickly rubbed his face once more before sliding from his bed and moving over to the table nearby, where his gear lay waiting for him, ready to go. His trusty revolver, rifle, sawed off, and knife along with various other little tools and gear such as smaller knives for throwing purposes and dynamite. Beside all that gear, was his hat, bandana and poncho. A black cowboy hat with some wear and tear and a thin chain wrapped around it, which had the skull of a Crow mounted to the front. Every time he saw that skull it reminded him of the funny story of how he got it. It was years back when Alex was still young and Draven was teaching him to shoot. Draven insisted they took it slow to teach him proper, but Alex grew tired of shooting motionless targets, so in a fit of annoyance he lifted his revolver and shot a Crow right outta the sky. From that day, Draven gave him his signature nickname ‘Crow’, and Alex took it upon himself to mount the skull to his hat! First things first, he wrapped his bullet lined belt around his waist then holstered his revolver and knife on his right hip. He tucked away a throwing knife within his boot, just in case, then tossed on his poncho. It was a dark brown in colour and was torn in numerous spots. Definitely getting old. Lastly came his hat, which he picked up and placed on top of his head before he proceeded outside. He was quickly greeted by the cold night air, which urged him to step towards the campfire and soak up some of the warmth radiating from it. He glanced around camp slowly, which was quite quiet and empty now, as most of the family had tucked into bed for some shut eye, so long as it wasn’t their job to stay on watch. Standing by the fire was Draven and Artemis. Artemis was a lithe built mare with snow white fur and a golden coloured mane. Roughly average in height, with forest green eyes. Alex was completely head over heels for her and practically was since the day he found her. The feelings were mutual on her head, but this wasn’t the type of life where you could settle down and have a family. Not when they had law and other gangs chasing them down like no tomorrow. Maybe one day. “Artemis caught trail of some howlers in a nearby town.” “That right? What were those pricks up to?” Alex questioned, his interest gained. He shifted his icy blue eyes from Draven to Artemis as she began to speak. “Found a group of them while I was scoping out a place to rob. Tailed them to a bar, and it turns out they were there to celebrate. Mentioned intercepting cargo of payroll and weaponry heading into a city for the law. High risk, high reward. Seemed they got out alright.” Alex and Draven exchanged looks, just for a moment before they focused back onto the mare. “They got it holed up somewhere just East of the city. They didn’t want to risk the possible heat of bringing it to their camp, so that’s where they’re keeping it for now. Thinking if we go right now we can get in and out without making any noise.” This sounded promising as hell. They sneak in, cut a few throats and take the loot for themselves! Draven nodded, looking at the two before he asked. “Just the three of us will go. Ready to go now, Alex?” The raven maned stallion nodded, then beckoned for Artemis to take point as he fished out a cigarette and match from his belt. He struck the match on his boot to ignite it, then held it up to the cigarette dangling from his mouth to ignite its tip, causing a thin trail of smoke to begin flowing from it. “I can do now. Let’s get evil.” The three travelled together for an hour or so, creating quite the distance between them and camp. They moved fast and hard to get there as fast as they could so they could use the night advantage for an ambush. By the time they got to where they needed to be, it was roughly three in the morning. The three stood along a tree line, concealed within bushes and behind thick bodies of trees. Ahead of them was a extremely small camp, with only two or so tents set up and a small fire in the middle. Not big enough to get any attention, but enough to warm you up and cook some food. In the far back sat a small wagon, filled with numerous boxes. Money, guns... Just what they needed! Alex eyed up the camp, which was currently being guarded by two ponies. They sat around by the fire, their heads on swivels as they peered around at the darkness that swallowed them up like a never ending void. Crouching down, Alex reached back and drew his knife from its sheathe, glancing over towards Draven and Artemis as he lifted up his bandana to conceal his face. “I’ll take one of these muppets.” He spoke in a hushed whisper, and Draven nodded his head, drawing his own knife. “I’m with you. Artemis, you sneak around to that carriage and make sure what we need is in there. Alex and I will clean up the camp.” With the plan set, the three spread out. Artemis took a longer route around the camp and towards the back to avoid detection, while Alex and Draven flanked on either side to close in on the two huddled around the campfire. They moved like snakes in the grass, or reapers through wheat. They moved swiftly and silently, and by the time the two by the campfire realized they were there, it was far too late. Alex clasped a hoof over the stallions mouth and plunged his blade into his throat, causing blood to flow freely from the wound and down across his chest. The stallions eyes shot open wide as she struggled, trying to pull away but it was no use. With a firm twist, then pull, the stallion had gone completely limp. Alex gently laid the body down across the ground as it bled out, then glanced over to Draven. He gave him a nod, then pointed towards a tent before proceeding towards it. Alex crept towards the tent, extending a hoof to reach out and ever so slowly peel it open. Inside was a curled up stallion, snoring away, completely clueless as to what was happening, and what was about to happen. Alex loomed over the stallion, his bloodied knife in hoof. He pounced down onto the clueless pony and pinned him down, all while his blade slid into his body. A blade wasn’t like a bullet. A bullet could miss, but with a knife one could tear into the things that make a pony dead, and that’s what Alex did. The moment he felt the struggle beneath him stop he’d yank his blade free and slip out of the tent. Draven was just exiting from the second one himself, and each of them gave each other a nod of respect. They focused their attention onto Artemis and the wagon before they began to trot over. Alex felt a rush of excitement wash over him, something he always got when they finished a job successfully. “Just had to slit some sleeping bastards throats and we make it out with all this.” He grinned beneath his bandana, climbing up onto the wagon to peek at the goods contained within the now opened boxes. Mhm... Money, guns. It was all there! The three exchanged excited looks, little shred triumphant laughs leaving them, when a voice bellowed out from the woods. “Police! Step away from the wagon, and put your hooves in the air!” Peering over his shoulder, Alex could see the shadowy figures approaching from the tree line, all illuminated from the lanterns hanging from their hips. He did his best to count as many as he could, but they seemed to just keeping coming. Light after light, flickering into view as they approached, their shadowy bodies standing strong with their rifles raised and pointed right at them. “Shit!” He’d hiss, quickly glancing between the two before he slowly climbed down from the wagon as he surveyed the scene ahead of them. Outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded. The three of them began to move from the wagon, their eyes focused on the approaching wave of law, all while occasionally glancing at each other to form some type of plan of action. “You two... Get lost. I can buy you some time, draw them away. Get what you can.” Alex whispered, but both Draven and Artemis were quick to argue, refusing the idea of turning their back on Alex and leaving him to fend for himself. “We’re no good to anyone if we’re all captured and hung!” Alex whispered again, this time firmer, to really get his point across. He had a point. If they all got captured, the word might not spread to the rest of the gang and they’d be hung. Draven would slowly nod his head, giving Artemis a nudge. “You go. Get what you can and get the hell back home. Tell the others. We’ll be okay. This is an order, Artemis.” Artemis stared daggers up at the two, her green eyes filled with desperation. She didn’t want to leave these two, but... They were right. It was either this, or they all suffer the same fate. Draven would slowly look towards Alex as Artemis began to back away. The law was coming closer, leaving the cover of the tree line to arrest them. “Ready, old friend?” Draven would whisper, with Alex nodding while never taking his eyes off the approaching threat. “I’m ready.” The moment he said this the two drew their revolvers from their hips with lightning speed, and fan fired a barrage of bullets towards the crowd of law. Right away they all leapt to the ground or behind trees to find some form of cover. Alex, Draven and Artemis crouched down and leapt under the wagon, squirming beneath it and crawling to the other side to use it as cover. That’s when all hell was let loose. The law returned fire, raining bullet after bullet upon them with their rifles and revolvers. The wagon was being torn apart, with shards of wood being sent flying everywhere as bullets embedded themselves within it. Artemis began to grab everything she could from the wagon, focusing mostly on money since she’d be able to carry more of it. While she scrambled through the supplies, keeping her head low to avoid catching a bullet, the others returned fire. “Really fucking glad I packed light!” Alex snarled, firing numerous precise shots before ducking right back down to avoid getting blown away himself. “Please focus on the sons of bitches trying to kill us, Crow!” Draven hissed back as the two ducked down to reload, only to look after when they heard Artemis call out. “Heads up, boys!” Artemis tossed a lever action rifle to them both, along with a small box of ammo that tipped over and sent bullets scattering across the ground. They each reached over and began to frantically load the rifles before they got ready to return fire. “Artemis, you get what you can and get moving! Go on my mark and we’ll cover you!... Get ready to give them hell, Crow.” Draven waited for a pause between the gunfire, then stood up, his rifle aimed towards the advancing law. Alex followed his lead, popping up on the other side of the wagon to blast right back. “Move!” Draven barked at Artemis, who began to scramble away from the wagon and towards the trees as the two stallions fires right back. “Go, Artemis! Vamos! Come and get us, you filthy pigs!” Alex yelled out towards them, repeatedly slamming the lever of the rifle forward between the shots he took. The firefight raged on, and the returning of fire from the two forced the law to dive for cover, mostly in the forms of trees. Spotting two police going for a flank, Alex opened fire, downing one with a precise shot to the torso before the other skid to a halt and shot back. The bullet snapped through the air and struck Alex right in the shoulder, causing him to recoil back and stagger to the ground. “Fuck!” He drew his revolver from the ground and shot back at the bastard who hit him, but his bullet landed true and struck him dead centre in the head, causing a glorious red mist to spray out the back of it. On the opposite side, towards Draven, another was going to get an angle on him. With quick thinking and a sleight of hoof, Alex cocked the hammer of his revolver back before letting a bullet fly, just in time to cover Draven. Seeing the ponies body drop gave Alex the signal to get the hell outta dodge. He rolled back behind cover and pressed his back against the torn up wagon, looking over to Draven who stared down at him with wide eyes as he began to climb to his hooves. “I’m good, just-. Hey, what the hell are you doing?!” Draven hurled the rifle to the side, along with his revolver. He reached down and grabbed Alex’s weapons before tossing them aside too, before he held up his hooves above the wagon and yelled out. “Stop! Stop! We surrender!” Right then and there, the gunfire finally ceased and there was... Silence. Just for a moment, as a second later ordered were being barked out, commanding to surround and flank the two pinned down. They did just that, and in a few more seconds the two were staring down numerous rifle and revolver barrels. Draven held up his hooves, and after a moment Alex reluctantly did the same. The guards surrounding them were shouting out orders, barking at them to get on the ground. They were each smacked hard across the face with the stock of a rifle before being shoved down to the ground and cuffed. Alex stared over at Draven, who was bleeding heavily from his nose as he stared right back at the raven maned stallion, who had a nasty gash just above his eye from the rifle stock busting him wide open. They were both bleeding like stuck pigs, but it definitely beat death! “Wasn’t about to watch you die. Not like this. Artemis made it, and she’ll make sure we do too...” Alex huffed and looked away, straining his neck to get a better view of the law surrounding them, all while blood began to trickle down half his face. He spat out angrily towards them, teeth grit. “How many of you did I get, huh?!” After a firefight like that, the last thing they wanted to deal with was Alex’s mouth. The final thing Alex saw was one of them rapidly approaching before raising his rifle and thrusting the solid wooden stock down towards his face, giving him one last, hard hit to the face.