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Description
(Swearing, anthros, blah, you know. Don't like it, be gone.)

~~~~~
The next afternoon…
~~~~~

The sounds of skateboard wheels on concrete resounded through the quiet street as Zinnick took his preferred method of city transportation to the fur salon he often visited. After receiving a coupon for a free appointment due to his frequent patronage, Zinnick had of course decided to go today. Especially since the coupon expired tomorrow. Someone at the post office wasn’t doing very well at their job, evidently.
Zinnick skid to a stop in front of the salon, stepping inside to the waiting room.
The mint green wallpaper of the waiting room was always a calming sight for the cat as he sat himself down in one of the comfy chairs. A mother and daughter penguin sat in two of the other chairs, them being the only others in the waiting room at the time. The salon was divided into two halves, each with their own door. One was a barber shop, frequented primarily by male customers, and the other half was where the fur and hair stylists worked.
For now, the red light over the door meant the stylists were busy with someone, so it looked as if Zinnick had to wait a bit.
He let his eyes wander about the room as he waited, letting himself sink down into the chair as he lazily pawed at a magazine, moving it closer to himself before picking it up to read.
But as he began to read, the door out to the street opened, the bell above it jingling to signal the arrival of another customer. Zinnick half glanced up before glancing back down to his magazine… then slowly glanced up again before freezing.
A german shepherd policeman in full uniform had walked in, nodding to the two penguins as he took a seat in the waiting room. Right next to Zinnick.
The cat continued to read, trying to keep his cool.

”Ok, calm down. It’s not like he’d be able to recognize you or anything. You wear a mask on the job. A… tiny little mask that just covers your eyes… but there’s not much for him to go off of here. I hope.”
Zinnick remained rigid , staring at the magazine while also watching the cop out of the corner of his eyes. Little did the german shepherd know, he was next to one of the most notorious cat burglars (no pun intended) in Blumberg. A pickpocket, burglar, and robber, Zinnick had made quite a name for himself. And the german shepherd HAD seen a wanted poster for this specific cat before. It wouldn’t take much to dredge up the memory of it…

“Afternoon.” The cop said to Zinnick.
So tense was the cat, he flinched and his head snapped over to look right at the dog.

“Afternoon.” Zinnick answered, swallowing as he made eye contact. He didn’t know what to do now! If he looked away, then maybe the cop would grow suspicious. But holding eye contact like this was going to certainly arouse suspicion. But Zinnick was frozen, being this close to a law enforcement officer.
The cop was indeed beginning to grow suspicious. This cat seemed rather finicky. Most anthros were that way around law enforcement officials, but… he was an anthro? Surely this cat didn’t think he was going to give him a hard time?

“Mister… Zinnick?” A voice suddenly called.

Zinnick, more than eager to direct his attention away from the police officer, looked towards the voice. Standing in the open doorway to the stylist’s half of the salon, the light now green, was a pangolin he had never seen before. Zinnick had been here plenty of times to keep his fur looking nice, and he’d come to know the two stylists who worked their well. Maybe they’d hired someone new.

“Yeah, that’s me.” The cat piped up, standing.

“Sorry for the wait. We were just cleaning up a mess back there. We’re ready for you now.” The pangolin said.

“Um, excuse me… but we’ve been waiting here for almost twenty minutes now.” The mother penguin spoke up.

“He scheduled an appointment with us, ma’am.” The pangolin said gruffly, walking back into the stylist room.

The mother rose from her seat with a huff, leading her daughter out of the salon. Zinnick stood from his own seat, making to get away from the cop as quickly as possible.

“Excuse me.”

Zinnick froze upon hearing the cop’s voice, the claws on his left paw extending as he stood rigid, eyes glancing towards the door to make sure he had a clean getaway.

“Is this yours?”

Zinnick turned around to see the cop with…
Zinnick’s wallet.

“Oh, yeah, that’s mine.” He chuckled sheepishly, accepting it. Must have fallen out of his pocket while he’d been sitting.
“Thank you.”

“No problem.” He smiled before picking up a newspaper from the table in the waiting area, beginning to thumb through it as he whistled.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Zinnick opened the door to the stylist room before stepping inside.
Despite how everything looked as it should, Zinnick felt… off. Or rather something about the room felt off. The pangolin from earlier was the only one present, fussing with something over by the sink.
“Sooooo… where’s Margaret and Beatrice?” Zinnick asked, referring to his usual stylists.

“On vacation.” The pangolin responded gruffly.
“What’ll it be today?”

“Well, I got this coupon for a free appointment. I think I’ll put it towards a nice fur dye to my head fur. A hot pink maybe.” Zinnick smiled, though only halfheartedly. Something was off here…

“Sit in the chair.” The pangolin grunted, nodding towards one of the three chairs available.

Zinnick walked over, his tail frizzing up a bit as he passed the pangolin before sitting down.

“Skateboarding around in broad daylight, huh? Not all that conspicuous, are you?”

Zinnick jumped in his chair, fur standing on end as he snapped around to the sound of this new voice. He hadn’t seen anyone else in here.
But standing there behind him, leaning against a wall, was a tan colored shark with blonde hair, sharpening an old-fashioned barber’s razor.

“Uh… I think that belongs next door…” Zinnick said, all his muscles tensed as he looked over the shark. Unlike the pangolin, who was dressed pretty casually, this shark was wearing what Zinnick could only describe as combat gear. And she was very unnerving with her sinister smirk and deep, predatory eyes. Zinnick had a hard time looking away, afraid he’d find the razor in her hands being drawn across his throat if he did.

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist. I’m a sucker for a sharp blade.” The shark chuckled, striding casually behind Zinnick.
“So, pink dye, huh? Yeah, that’d work on you. Get on it, Qi.”

“You didn’t say I actually had to do anything.” The pangolin, her name revealed to be Qi, snapped.

“And our little cat friend didn’t come in here expecting us. Seems everyone’s day is getting shit on, so you might as well get on it. I know you have some experience with fur dye. You worked with mommy at that…”

“Fuck off!” Qi shouted, begrudgingly beginning to get the fur dye ready.

Zinnick sat in the chair, wondering just what the heck was going on. The shark’s comment about him not being that inconspicuous made him wonder if she knew about what he did for a living.

“Sooooo… who are you two ladies?” Zinnick asked, trying to sound calm and casual. But his body language betrayed him.

“Us? Just a couple of gals looking to bring a nice housecat into the family.” The shark winked.
“My name’s Purgatori.”

Zinnick snickered a little.

“Something funny?” Purgatori asked, her tone sounding less amused.

“No, no!” Zinnick yelped.

Purgatori regarded him like she might a kitchen mistake, walking over as she twirled the razor in her hand. Zinnick watched her with his blue eyes, unable to keep the worry out of them. He’d heard rumors of the slave trade run by the naga crime syndicate in Blumberg. People walking into seemingly innocent businesses, soon nabbed, trussed up tight, and thrown in the back of ordinary looking trucks to be sent to warehouses to have their appearance altered before being advertised on a deep website for interested clients. The lucky slaves were bought by those living in their country of origin. The unlucky found themselves shipped overseas. These two women… saying they were looking to adopt a housecat…
Qi spun Zin’s chair around, tilting his head back into the dye.
“Hold it there.” She said in a low grumble, stepping aside. Zinnick held his head there, unable to see Qi or Purgatori.

“You… said something about adoption?” Zinnick asked as he lay there in the chair.

“Just a little wordplay.” Purgatori waved off, observing the razor in her hand while Qi just stood aside, arms crossed.
“You’ve been busy since you came here. Running from a rich heiress and her bodyguards, but you didn’t waste any time getting right to work. Robbed the safe at the Queen’s Summit Resort, right? Cameras didn’t even see you. Well, the ones intact anyways. Papers said the police found a crossbow bolt fired clean through one of the cameras.” Purgatori recounted.

“Heh… yeah.” Zinnick smiled fondly.

“What sort of crossbow are you packing, kid?” Qi asked, curious. She hadn’t known of Zinnick’s past works. Or that Zinnick wasn’t in fact a thief for hire.

“It’s just a small thing I… borrowed from someone.” Zinnick said sheepishly.
“It’s nothing special.”

Qi raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. This cat couldn’t be any more than 21, and here he was, a master thief.

“And what about your last big heist?” Purgatori continued.
“Got yourself into the slave trade. Got bought by Bianca Stavroula, and spent almost three weeks as her slave before you routed all her money to a bank in Switzerland and robbed her private vault for good measure.”

Zinnick blinked, sitting up a bit.
“… how did you know about that?” He asked.
“That… wasn’t in the news.”

Purgatori smirked devilishly.
“When you’ve been in the shady businesses of contract killing, kidnapping, and spying as long as I have, you pick up a few contacts after a while.”

“Helps that you fuck most of them…” Qi rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, it does. You’re one of em.” Purgatori laughed, earning a deep blush from Qi.
“But tell me, how did you get out of the building after you robbed the vault? Bianca has her own private skyscraper for God’s sake. And you were up on one of the highest floors.”

“I… had a glider waiting on the roof for me.” Zinnick said.
“I just flew down onto another building, and got away.”

“A glider, huh?” Purgatori tutted, walking closer to Zinnick as she held the razor tightly in her grip.
“A glider put there by your contact and partner for the job… am I right?”

Zinnick froze upon hearing this. She knew about his contact. Did she also know about what he did?

“See… it would have been pretty hard getting all the way to Bianca when you were at the mercy of the unforgiving naga run slave trade, wouldn’t it? No, you needed someone to make sure you got to where you needed to go.”

Zinnick nodded. He knew where this was going, and he was ready to spring out of his chair and run to the door.

“And that someone wanted half your earnings from the job for their service. But you didn’t want to share, did you? Oh no, you left him tied up and stripped nude, hanging upside down in his own hideout.”

“… allegedly.” Zinnick shrugged with a sheepish grin.
“The guy was pretty kinky. He probably did it himself.”
Zinnick wasn’t sure what happened. Purgatori had just been casually striding around him. Recounting Zinnick’s greatest adventure to date back to him. But in a single instant, she had the razor pressed against Zinnick’s throat, her red eyes glowering down at him.

“That guy also put a price on your head.” Purgatori grinned.
“Quite a hefty one too. He probably figures he’ll be able to get back what you took from him once you’re dead.”

Zinnick was frozen. Here he was without his gear, and no means of defense with a knife at his neck from a very unnerving shark. He could go into a situation he expected trouble to arise in no sweat. But he’d come here for a free fur care session! He hadn’t been expecting this!

“But what a waste that would be.” Purgatori said.
“Now, I’ve got a job that’ll put talents like yours to good use. That’s why Qi and I are here. Sent you that fake as fuck coupon to draw you out of that little hideaway of yours. All we need is someone to sneak into a warehouse, break all their precious little security computers, and open the door for my crew and I.”

Zinnick weighed his options for a few seconds.
“… do I really have a choice here?”

The press of the razor into his furred neck answered that.

“Alright, alright. I’ll help.” Zinnick sighed in defeat
“What’s in the warehouse? And what’s my cut?”

“That’s more like it.” Purgatori grinned, pulling away.
“The warehouse doesn’t have anything you’d like. Lots of weapons and tech my crew and I are gonna grab and sell on the black market. You’ll get a portion of whatever we make.”

That sounded… remarkably fair to Zinnick.
“You aren’t going to kill me when it’s over and try to cash in on my bounty, are you?” He asked skeptically.

“That wombat’s bounty on you is pocket change to what we’re expecting from this job.” Purgatori said.
“Hell, you help us pull this off, I’ll kill that wombat for you.”

“That… won’t be necessary.” Zinnick said.
“What if after I’m done here, I just run away?”

Purgatori chuckled.
“Kid… there is not one fucking square foot of land on this entire goddamned planet you could hide on where I wouldn’t be able to find you.”

Zinnick looked into the shark’s eyes… and knew she was serious. A simple heist job? And with backup no less? It sounded like a nice, low risk job to him.
“Alright,” Zinnick finally decided with a sigh.
“I’m in. I’ll help.”

Purgatori nodded in approval, drawing the knife away from Zinnick’s throat.
“Smart kid.” She appraised.
“Now, you just wait here. That dye’ll be done in a few minutes, then you can just walk on out of here. Get your gear together, and meet us down at the shut down Elvin art gallery. We’re set up there.”

Zinnick nodded, keeping his head leaned back into the dye while Purgatori motioned for Qi to follow her out the backdoor. The pangolin pushed herself off the wall she was leaned against, following Purgatori out the backdoor into the alleyway between the salon and the bagel café behind it on the other street.

“THAT’S our weasel!?” Qi exclaimed.
“He’s a fucking kid!”

“I wouldn’t talk, short stuff.” Purgatori smirked, patting Qi on the top of her head, her cheeks puffing up in anger at the jab at her height.
“Besides, he’s gotten into tighter places before. We give him one of your incendiary charges, and he blows a room up. Simple as shit.”
Purgatori strode over to the car she and Qi had arrived in, opening up the trunk.
Lying bound, gagged, and nude save their underwear were the two stylists Purgatori and Qi had taken care of, the two looking fearfully up at the shark.
“Speaking of getting into tighter places…” She chuckled darkly, her finger teasingly poking just below the petite mouse stylist’s waist.
“Let’s get these two back to the hideout. They’ll make a good pastime until tonight.”

Description
(Swearing, anthros, blah, you know. Don't like it, be gone.)

~~~~~
The next afternoon…
~~~~~

The sounds of skateboard wheels on concrete resounded through the quiet street as Zinnick took his preferred method of city transportation to the fur salon he often visited. After receiving a coupon for a free appointment due to his frequent patronage, Zinnick had of course decided to go today. Especially since the coupon expired tomorrow. Someone at the post office wasn’t doing very well at their job, evidently.
Zinnick skid to a stop in front of the salon, stepping inside to the waiting room.
The mint green wallpaper of the waiting room was always a calming sight for the cat as he sat himself down in one of the comfy chairs. A mother and daughter penguin sat in two of the other chairs, them being the only others in the waiting room at the time. The salon was divided into two halves, each with their own door. One was a barber shop, frequented primarily by male customers, and the other half was where the fur and hair stylists worked.
For now, the red light over the door meant the stylists were busy with someone, so it looked as if Zinnick had to wait a bit.
He let his eyes wander about the room as he waited, letting himself sink down into the chair as he lazily pawed at a magazine, moving it closer to himself before picking it up to read.
But as he began to read, the door out to the street opened, the bell above it jingling to signal the arrival of another customer. Zinnick half glanced up before glancing back down to his magazine… then slowly glanced up again before freezing.
A german shepherd policeman in full uniform had walked in, nodding to the two penguins as he took a seat in the waiting room. Right next to Zinnick.
The cat continued to read, trying to keep his cool.

”Ok, calm down. It’s not like he’d be able to recognize you or anything. You wear a mask on the job. A… tiny little mask that just covers your eyes… but there’s not much for him to go off of here. I hope.”
Zinnick remained rigid , staring at the magazine while also watching the cop out of the corner of his eyes. Little did the german shepherd know, he was next to one of the most notorious cat burglars (no pun intended) in Blumberg. A pickpocket, burglar, and robber, Zinnick had made quite a name for himself. And the german shepherd HAD seen a wanted poster for this specific cat before. It wouldn’t take much to dredge up the memory of it…

“Afternoon.” The cop said to Zinnick.
So tense was the cat, he flinched and his head snapped over to look right at the dog.

“Afternoon.” Zinnick answered, swallowing as he made eye contact. He didn’t know what to do now! If he looked away, then maybe the cop would grow suspicious. But holding eye contact like this was going to certainly arouse suspicion. But Zinnick was frozen, being this close to a law enforcement officer.
The cop was indeed beginning to grow suspicious. This cat seemed rather finicky. Most anthros were that way around law enforcement officials, but… he was an anthro? Surely this cat didn’t think he was going to give him a hard time?

“Mister… Zinnick?” A voice suddenly called.

Zinnick, more than eager to direct his attention away from the police officer, looked towards the voice. Standing in the open doorway to the stylist’s half of the salon, the light now green, was a pangolin he had never seen before. Zinnick had been here plenty of times to keep his fur looking nice, and he’d come to know the two stylists who worked their well. Maybe they’d hired someone new.

“Yeah, that’s me.” The cat piped up, standing.

“Sorry for the wait. We were just cleaning up a mess back there. We’re ready for you now.” The pangolin said.

“Um, excuse me… but we’ve been waiting here for almost twenty minutes now.” The mother penguin spoke up.

“He scheduled an appointment with us, ma’am.” The pangolin said gruffly, walking back into the stylist room.

The mother rose from her seat with a huff, leading her daughter out of the salon. Zinnick stood from his own seat, making to get away from the cop as quickly as possible.

“Excuse me.”

Zinnick froze upon hearing the cop’s voice, the claws on his left paw extending as he stood rigid, eyes glancing towards the door to make sure he had a clean getaway.

“Is this yours?”

Zinnick turned around to see the cop with…
Zinnick’s wallet.

“Oh, yeah, that’s mine.” He chuckled sheepishly, accepting it. Must have fallen out of his pocket while he’d been sitting.
“Thank you.”

“No problem.” He smiled before picking up a newspaper from the table in the waiting area, beginning to thumb through it as he whistled.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Zinnick opened the door to the stylist room before stepping inside.
Despite how everything looked as it should, Zinnick felt… off. Or rather something about the room felt off. The pangolin from earlier was the only one present, fussing with something over by the sink.
“Sooooo… where’s Margaret and Beatrice?” Zinnick asked, referring to his usual stylists.

“On vacation.” The pangolin responded gruffly.
“What’ll it be today?”

“Well, I got this coupon for a free appointment. I think I’ll put it towards a nice fur dye to my head fur. A hot pink maybe.” Zinnick smiled, though only halfheartedly. Something was off here…

“Sit in the chair.” The pangolin grunted, nodding towards one of the three chairs available.

Zinnick walked over, his tail frizzing up a bit as he passed the pangolin before sitting down.

“Skateboarding around in broad daylight, huh? Not all that conspicuous, are you?”

Zinnick jumped in his chair, fur standing on end as he snapped around to the sound of this new voice. He hadn’t seen anyone else in here.
But standing there behind him, leaning against a wall, was a tan colored shark with blonde hair, sharpening an old-fashioned barber’s razor.

“Uh… I think that belongs next door…” Zinnick said, all his muscles tensed as he looked over the shark. Unlike the pangolin, who was dressed pretty casually, this shark was wearing what Zinnick could only describe as combat gear. And she was very unnerving with her sinister smirk and deep, predatory eyes. Zinnick had a hard time looking away, afraid he’d find the razor in her hands being drawn across his throat if he did.

“Sorry. Couldn’t resist. I’m a sucker for a sharp blade.” The shark chuckled, striding casually behind Zinnick.
“So, pink dye, huh? Yeah, that’d work on you. Get on it, Qi.”

“You didn’t say I actually had to do anything.” The pangolin, her name revealed to be Qi, snapped.

“And our little cat friend didn’t come in here expecting us. Seems everyone’s day is getting shit on, so you might as well get on it. I know you have some experience with fur dye. You worked with mommy at that…”

“Fuck off!” Qi shouted, begrudgingly beginning to get the fur dye ready.

Zinnick sat in the chair, wondering just what the heck was going on. The shark’s comment about him not being that inconspicuous made him wonder if she knew about what he did for a living.

“Sooooo… who are you two ladies?” Zinnick asked, trying to sound calm and casual. But his body language betrayed him.

“Us? Just a couple of gals looking to bring a nice housecat into the family.” The shark winked.
“My name’s Purgatori.”

Zinnick snickered a little.

“Something funny?” Purgatori asked, her tone sounding less amused.

“No, no!” Zinnick yelped.

Purgatori regarded him like she might a kitchen mistake, walking over as she twirled the razor in her hand. Zinnick watched her with his blue eyes, unable to keep the worry out of them. He’d heard rumors of the slave trade run by the naga crime syndicate in Blumberg. People walking into seemingly innocent businesses, soon nabbed, trussed up tight, and thrown in the back of ordinary looking trucks to be sent to warehouses to have their appearance altered before being advertised on a deep website for interested clients. The lucky slaves were bought by those living in their country of origin. The unlucky found themselves shipped overseas. These two women… saying they were looking to adopt a housecat…
Qi spun Zin’s chair around, tilting his head back into the dye.
“Hold it there.” She said in a low grumble, stepping aside. Zinnick held his head there, unable to see Qi or Purgatori.

“You… said something about adoption?” Zinnick asked as he lay there in the chair.

“Just a little wordplay.” Purgatori waved off, observing the razor in her hand while Qi just stood aside, arms crossed.
“You’ve been busy since you came here. Running from a rich heiress and her bodyguards, but you didn’t waste any time getting right to work. Robbed the safe at the Queen’s Summit Resort, right? Cameras didn’t even see you. Well, the ones intact anyways. Papers said the police found a crossbow bolt fired clean through one of the cameras.” Purgatori recounted.

“Heh… yeah.” Zinnick smiled fondly.

“What sort of crossbow are you packing, kid?” Qi asked, curious. She hadn’t known of Zinnick’s past works. Or that Zinnick wasn’t in fact a thief for hire.

“It’s just a small thing I… borrowed from someone.” Zinnick said sheepishly.
“It’s nothing special.”

Qi raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. This cat couldn’t be any more than 21, and here he was, a master thief.

“And what about your last big heist?” Purgatori continued.
“Got yourself into the slave trade. Got bought by Bianca Stavroula, and spent almost three weeks as her slave before you routed all her money to a bank in Switzerland and robbed her private vault for good measure.”

Zinnick blinked, sitting up a bit.
“… how did you know about that?” He asked.
“That… wasn’t in the news.”

Purgatori smirked devilishly.
“When you’ve been in the shady businesses of contract killing, kidnapping, and spying as long as I have, you pick up a few contacts after a while.”

“Helps that you fuck most of them…” Qi rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, it does. You’re one of em.” Purgatori laughed, earning a deep blush from Qi.
“But tell me, how did you get out of the building after you robbed the vault? Bianca has her own private skyscraper for God’s sake. And you were up on one of the highest floors.”

“I… had a glider waiting on the roof for me.” Zinnick said.
“I just flew down onto another building, and got away.”

“A glider, huh?” Purgatori tutted, walking closer to Zinnick as she held the razor tightly in her grip.
“A glider put there by your contact and partner for the job… am I right?”

Zinnick froze upon hearing this. She knew about his contact. Did she also know about what he did?

“See… it would have been pretty hard getting all the way to Bianca when you were at the mercy of the unforgiving naga run slave trade, wouldn’t it? No, you needed someone to make sure you got to where you needed to go.”

Zinnick nodded. He knew where this was going, and he was ready to spring out of his chair and run to the door.

“And that someone wanted half your earnings from the job for their service. But you didn’t want to share, did you? Oh no, you left him tied up and stripped nude, hanging upside down in his own hideout.”

“… allegedly.” Zinnick shrugged with a sheepish grin.
“The guy was pretty kinky. He probably did it himself.”
Zinnick wasn’t sure what happened. Purgatori had just been casually striding around him. Recounting Zinnick’s greatest adventure to date back to him. But in a single instant, she had the razor pressed against Zinnick’s throat, her red eyes glowering down at him.

“That guy also put a price on your head.” Purgatori grinned.
“Quite a hefty one too. He probably figures he’ll be able to get back what you took from him once you’re dead.”

Zinnick was frozen. Here he was without his gear, and no means of defense with a knife at his neck from a very unnerving shark. He could go into a situation he expected trouble to arise in no sweat. But he’d come here for a free fur care session! He hadn’t been expecting this!

“But what a waste that would be.” Purgatori said.
“Now, I’ve got a job that’ll put talents like yours to good use. That’s why Qi and I are here. Sent you that fake as fuck coupon to draw you out of that little hideaway of yours. All we need is someone to sneak into a warehouse, break all their precious little security computers, and open the door for my crew and I.”

Zinnick weighed his options for a few seconds.
“… do I really have a choice here?”

The press of the razor into his furred neck answered that.

“Alright, alright. I’ll help.” Zinnick sighed in defeat
“What’s in the warehouse? And what’s my cut?”

“That’s more like it.” Purgatori grinned, pulling away.
“The warehouse doesn’t have anything you’d like. Lots of weapons and tech my crew and I are gonna grab and sell on the black market. You’ll get a portion of whatever we make.”

That sounded… remarkably fair to Zinnick.
“You aren’t going to kill me when it’s over and try to cash in on my bounty, are you?” He asked skeptically.

“That wombat’s bounty on you is pocket change to what we’re expecting from this job.” Purgatori said.
“Hell, you help us pull this off, I’ll kill that wombat for you.”

“That… won’t be necessary.” Zinnick said.
“What if after I’m done here, I just run away?”

Purgatori chuckled.
“Kid… there is not one fucking square foot of land on this entire goddamned planet you could hide on where I wouldn’t be able to find you.”

Zinnick looked into the shark’s eyes… and knew she was serious. A simple heist job? And with backup no less? It sounded like a nice, low risk job to him.
“Alright,” Zinnick finally decided with a sigh.
“I’m in. I’ll help.”

Purgatori nodded in approval, drawing the knife away from Zinnick’s throat.
“Smart kid.” She appraised.
“Now, you just wait here. That dye’ll be done in a few minutes, then you can just walk on out of here. Get your gear together, and meet us down at the shut down Elvin art gallery. We’re set up there.”

Zinnick nodded, keeping his head leaned back into the dye while Purgatori motioned for Qi to follow her out the backdoor. The pangolin pushed herself off the wall she was leaned against, following Purgatori out the backdoor into the alleyway between the salon and the bagel café behind it on the other street.

“THAT’S our weasel!?” Qi exclaimed.
“He’s a fucking kid!”

“I wouldn’t talk, short stuff.” Purgatori smirked, patting Qi on the top of her head, her cheeks puffing up in anger at the jab at her height.
“Besides, he’s gotten into tighter places before. We give him one of your incendiary charges, and he blows a room up. Simple as shit.”
Purgatori strode over to the car she and Qi had arrived in, opening up the trunk.
Lying bound, gagged, and nude save their underwear were the two stylists Purgatori and Qi had taken care of, the two looking fearfully up at the shark.
“Speaking of getting into tighter places…” She chuckled darkly, her finger teasingly poking just below the petite mouse stylist’s waist.
“Let’s get these two back to the hideout. They’ll make a good pastime until tonight.”