literature

CatFall - Part 8

Deviation Actions

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Part 8: Lvl. 100 Boss Fight
When I awoke again, I was greeted with a much less welcome sight than Zet: Janoth. Holding the collar remote.
“What do you want?” I muttered, annoyed to have been sleeping when he had come in.
“You’re coming with me,” Janoth said casually, examining the cuticles of his right hand with an air of nonchalance, “For an inquiry.”
I laughed outright at this. “Your superior is out of his mind.”
“Maybe so,” he said evenly. “Put your right arm to the cage bars.”
Folding my legs beneath me, I crossed my arms over my chest. “You actually expect me to do that?”
Janoth grinned vehemently. “Not at all,” he hissed, “Then this wouldn’t be any fun!” He moved his hand suddenly, and I caught a glimpse of the remote in his hand. It was turned all the way to the right.
Shoot.
A blast of pain erupted from the collar as Janoth’s thumb struck the button with vigor. Arching my back and closing my eyes, I instinctively grasped the cage bars for support. As soon as I did so, I felt something fasten around my right wrist. The pain began to ebb, and I opened my eyes to find that part of a handcuff had been locked on my arm. The other half was fastened around a cage bar. Still weak from the shock, I blinked in confusion. Janoth had somehow slipped one end of the handcuffs through the cage bars and cuffed my wrist. But what did he intend to do with one wrist?
My answer came when Janoth unlocked the cage door and yanked it savagely open. My arm was jerked along with it, followed by the rest of me, and I crashed painfully onto the cold lab floor. I struggled to rise, one upper limb held uncomfortably in the air, as Janoth loomed triumphantly over me. “You dirty rat,” I growled at him, shaking as I placed my left hand beneath me, making to stand. Janoth removed the cuff from the cage bar calmly and shoved me back down.
Smirking, he fastened my hands behind me. “At least I’m not a parasite like a certain someone I know,” he said.
“Could have fooled me,” I retorted, furious.
His face reddened, but he merely pulled me roughly to my feet. “Follow me,” he ordered, stepping forward to take the lead. Muttering under my breath, I trailed behind reluctantly.
I know that must have surprised you, but I figured that the only thing I would get out of resistance was another electric shock, and I would end up in the same situation either way. Logically, I chose to skip the shock.
*****
We walked down a long, gray-tiled hallway, past countless identical doors. I didn’t know how Janoth could tell when to stop. But stop he did, at an unremarkable, matching door, knocking quietly. A muffled, gravelly voice called, “Come in.”
Janoth opened the door slowly and motioned for me to enter first, locking the door behind us. I frowned, glancing back at him. The smell of cigarette smoke was thick in the air. The room was very dim, lights off and the sun fighting a losing battle to shine through the heavy curtains. Behind them, a slight breeze told me that the window was open just a sliver, allowing a fraction of the smoke to filter out. My feline night vision kicking in, I turned and looked around, taking in the vast, chaotic sea of paper and books piled before me. “Well,” I commented mildly, “This is one messy vampire lair.”
Janoth, who was attempting to approach a paper-strewn desk, rounded on me. “How dare you-” he began to snarl, but he was cut off by a deep, commanding voice coming from behind the desk.
“Anryc.”
Quickly subdued, Janoth turned back and narrowly missed sending an teetering pile of papers spilling to the floor. “Sorry, sir,” he muttered. I raised my eyebrows. This guy had to be the boss-man, if Janoth was calling him ‘sir’.
“Sam,” I understood this as both a greeting and a summons by the man. Reluctantly, I skirted the piles of books and paper, keeping my balance even with my hands – literally – tied behind my back. “Cuffs off,” Boss-Man said in an irritated tone, motioning for Janoth to remove them. I hadn’t realized how tight the handcuffs had been, but I released a virtually silent breath of relief as the pressure was removed. “I don’t need your personal need for recovery of your so-called pride complicating things. You know as well as I that she would have come whether the handcuffs were loose or tight.” Janoth sulked in silence, while I struggled between amusement and indignation.
I rubbed my sore wrists. “So,” I asked, “Any particular reason for the ‘inquiry’ taking place in this cluttered bloodsucker’s den?”
The man looked at me steadily – I could just make out the glint of his eyes in the dim light – and I watched as he pulled a stub of a cigarette from his lips, placing it on what I assumed was an ashtray, where the embers dimmed slowly. “This would be my office,” he said finally, pulling a package from a drawer and placing something long and thin – a fresh cigarette – in his mouth. There was a scratching sound, and a match pierced the darkness, illuminating Boss-Man’s face. He appeared to be in his mid-40s, and was fairly handsome. Chestnut brown hair was swept back over his forehead in a stylishly unkempt manner – one strand hung loosely above his thick eyebrows – and ended at the nape of his neck in the slightest of curls. Below his thick locks, upon broad shoulders, was a white button-up shirt with a rumpled collar and rolled-up sleeves, which revealed strong, surprisingly muscular arms. His mouth was set in a tight line that gave him an extremely bitter expression – though that may have been more due to the cigarette gripped between his pursed lips, which he was lighting now with such ease that it was clear he had done so many times before.
Above all of this though, it was his eyes that I focused on. At first glance they appeared hazel, but as I looked harder, I realized they were more of an earthy mustard color. In fact, with his piercing gaze, they were almost hawk-like. The cruel, bird-of-prey glint was overlaid, however, by a sort of dull determination. Like he was bored with the world, but the world wasn’t yet bored with him.
Reaching out to light a half-melted candle sitting on his desk, the man held the cigarette between the middle and forefinger of his left hand as he continued. “My name,” he said, shaking his right hand to put out the match as he exhaled smoke, “Is Ceross.” I noted with surprise that his voice was remarkably unchanged by his smoke inhalation, unlike most smokers I had met. And yet, his mannerisms suggested that he wasn’t new to the habit. Weird.
Inspecting the match with an unconcerned glance, he tossed it over his shoulder towards – and missed – the trashcan.
“Er – Ceross…?” I began, gesturing towards the match smoldering gently on the floor.
Ceross waved a hand. “If that was all it took to burn this place down, I would have been turned to ashes long ago.”
Jeeze. At least try to sound a bit bothered by the prospect. I raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Right,” I said. “Well, at least that explains the condition of this room.”
Again, Janoth stepped forward. “Sir, you can’t honestly be intending to put up with this, can you?” he demanded, flinging an arm in my direction. Ceross’s eyes flashed dangerously, but I beat him to replying.
“You wanna go, AJ?” I spat.
Whirling in my direction, Janoth brought the remote out in front of him and pressed the button with cruel force.
I tried to brace myself, but the shock came anyway – just as strong, just as painful. To my frustration, I fell to my knees, despite my efforts to stay upright. The whole exchange had taken less than ten seconds. Fortunately, there was one benefit of bracing myself: I recovered much more quickly this time. Leaping back to my feet, I snarled, “Drop the stupid remote, you coward, and fight like a man!”
Janoth’s face clouded with fury. I had evidently hit a nerve with ‘coward’. Launching himself at me, he drew back his fist, preparing to strike blindly.
I caught his hand easily in mine, grasping his wrist with my free hand. Using his momentum, I swung him over my head, twisting his arm behind him as I did so, and slammed him, facedown, onto the floor. His breath left him with a satisfying whoosh as I bent his arm uncomfortably over his back and planted a boot on his spine. “That was quite possibly the worst attempt you’ve ever made at me, Janoth,” I hissed. “Haven’t you learned by now that it’s dangerous to underestimate me?”
He struggled under my foot, gritting his teeth. “Release me at once, you–”
“Tut-tut, AJ,” I interrupted, smirking. “As you said: Let us not forget who is at the mercy of whom here. That could be–” I paused, pressing my foot down harder and causing him to emit a quiet grunt of pain, “Problematic.”
To my left, Ceross sighed pointedly, glaring at us. He tapped a finger on his desk as though trying to calm himself down. “Enough,” he said finally, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Let Anryc up, Sam,” he commanded.
My lip curling disdainfully, I slowly removed my boot. Janoth stood quietly and crossed to the other corner of the desk, quivering with furious embarrassment. I straightened and glared defiantly at Ceross, daring him to speak.
Ceross ignored me, letting out a breath of smoke. “Anryc,” he said, turning his glare on his underling, “I should hope you don’t normally allow your anger to control you like that. If you strike out of anger, you strike blindly. And, judging by the way Sam was able to brace herself for the shock, I would say you and your subordinates have used that remote a few times too many.” He sucked in another breath from the cigarette. “Obviously, I did not make it clear enough that the high-level shock was to be used in cases of ‘extreme discipline’ only, not ‘whenever she happens to annoy you’. You allow your emotions to show too much.” His gaze flicked to me, smoldering with the remnants of his annoyance, then back to Janoth. “Sam knew exactly what to say to put you over the edge. She was able to both block your attack and retaliate in the same action, though she had just been hit with a shock that has the potential to knock any normal human out. She managed to pin you for a full 25 seconds without so much as breaking a sweat.”
“At least someone appreciates that,” I muttered.
Ceross looked to me with narrowed eyes. “Sam,” he said, “Your reputation as a skilled fighter prevails, but at a price. Your actions, though used in self-defense, were both disruptive and unnecessary. Not to mention foolishly bold whilst you are being kept here.”
“Yeah, well, your actions have been kind of ‘disruptive and unnecessary’ to my life, so how about we just call it even?” I asked, gritting my teeth in annoyance.
“That won’t be possible,” Ceross said. “Now, I will get straight to the point, Sam. We would like to employ you.”
I froze, knitting my brow. “Come again?”
“We could use your assistance. You would be able to access areas and information that, up to this point, has been unavailable to us. Not to mention that it would be worth your while as well,” he said, glancing meaningfully at me.
“What’re you going to pay me in, leopard food?” I asked, blatantly uninterested. Ceross merely stared at me.
“Do not take this lightly, Sam,” he murmured. “When I say it will be ‘worth your while’, I refer to what my organization can do in return for your assistance. Your abilities will be kept an absolute secret. Any other association keeping tabs on you will be eliminated. Your safety, off the job, will be guaranteed. You will have the ability to travel across the world on any whim, to conduct any research you wish, to request any amount of money you have need of.”
Hm. Associations had tabs on me? I needed to check that out.
“All I ask,” Ceross said quietly, “Is for you cooperation. I know as well as you what conditions you have been in before this, when you have had need for money and other means of support. Join us, and you will have all that I have promised, and more.”
Now this was just annoying. ‘Conditions I had been in before’? As though he was doing me a favor. Hah! “So, basically,” I said, scowling at his infuriatingly calm gaze, “You’re trying to bribe me into becoming your spy.”
Ceross said nothing for a moment, drumming his fingers on his desk. “Are you rejecting my offer?” he asked. “Think carefully before you answer.”
“Hm… Yup, you’re being rejected,” I said with hardly a moment’s hesitation. Honestly, they expected me to work for them after they treated me like a lab experiment? And with Janoth, no less!
At my tone, Ceross’s lip curled, eyes bright with anger. Serves you right. “How foolish,” he murmured. “I expected better judgment from you, Sam.” He turned to Janoth. “Take her back to the lab.”
“Yes, sir,” Janoth replied, turning and making to exit the room, tripping over a small pile of books on his way. Rolling my eyes, I turned and wove nimbly through the clutter to the door, glancing back at Ceross when I reached it. He was staring fiercely into the dim candlelight, and seemed to be attempting to make a decision about something.
Finally he blew the candle out, plunging the room into darkness once more.
Longer chapter this time yaay! :) It's been busy around here, but I finally had a chance to upload! I like this chapter 'cos we finally meet a new character. As always, comments are welcomed and appreciated!
Enjoy ;)

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