START OF SIDE-STORY 001
For those who read Recuperation, this comes before that by about a month and a year, timeline wise. In addition, I recently just started watching Wakfu, and am now on season 2. Eva's hair is fucking godlike in season 2, I swear it. Went Beta-less again, so same deal.
(Please note that sign-language uses apostrophes in this story instead of...".)
Also, I just want to say that I don't have a fucking clue as to how cookies are made in factories, so, like all great writers, I'm making shit up. And I don't speak French, so if someone who does can correct me, please do so in a review.
Top-secret base in the middle of nowhere and everywhere...
"So, Fury," I started, sitting next to her. "You know what, I feel uncomfortable calling you that. So I'll just call you by your actual name."
'Okay.' Petunia signed, nodding her head in agreement.
"To get you started off, you're going to need a sheath for your sheathed sword. Now I know that doesn't make sense, but, deal with it. Your job is to uphold justice and destroy evil wherever it grows! You must be unwavering in your cause. There are people in this world who will try to seduce you, sway you from your path. Do not follow. You are your own woman now. And you don't need no man or woman in your life."
'What are you talking about?' Petunia motioned, raising an eyebrow.
"I've supplied you with the necessary materials, medical equipment, and secret hideouts to last you for years. Now, I've selected several low-risk targets for you to tackle in order to get the swing of things." I spun around, gesturing to the board behind us. On it were pictures of stores, corporations, and terrorist organizations. At the top lay a white wolf with three claws across its face. "So, choose wisely."
I handed Petunia a dagger, who in response smirked and threw it at the top target.
"I said choose wisely." I quipped, removing the dagger with a tentacle. I handed her back the dagger, expecting things to change.
'Very well.' Which they didn't. The dagger hit right on the White Fang's symbol.
When I animate this scene, there will be a Metal Gear Rising Revengence reference in the form of a Desperado logo on the board. Just pointing that out.
"Fine, I'll choose for you. And hopefully it'll land on something that won't kill you right out of the gate." I muttered, taking the dagger out and stabbing it into the lower-most picture. Petunia huffed and crossed her arms, rolling her eyes as well. "There. Tweedle's Confectionery Compound."
'Really? You want me to stop a baker?'
"Tweedle has been stealing other recipes for years, and now that he's run most of the other companies out of business, he's raised the prices of confectionaries all across Remnant. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, which you will, is to put Tweedle out of business." I turned to her, giving the bunny-girl a coy smirk.
'What about all the employees?' Petunia motioned, concern evident in her actions.
"I've arranged jobs for them, don't you worry about it." Petunia stopped, glaring at me. "What, it's not like I'm gonna kill them!"
'Fine, what's the plan?'
"I've come up with a two-phase plan; Take a job at Tweedle's and apply a non-lethal toxin to the cookie dough, getting the FDA on his punk ass. And phase two is to disguise yourself as a competitor. Now, he'll try and steal your recipe, which you're going to let him do. But here's the catch; your recipe is the worst-tasting thing in existence. He's going to make it his big hit idea. But since you're going to sabotage the rest of his dough, he'll never be able to recover from this."
'This seems...unlawful.'
"Ehh." I shrugged in response.
'Are you sure this is a good idea?'
"You'll be fiiiine."
'I still don't trust you.'
"I know."
One scene change later...
Petunia walked into Tweedle's Confectionery Compound, wearing a vanilla V-neck tee, a pair of grey business pants, and regular white shoes. Around her neck was a scarf, to hide the scar on her throat and the ribbon wrapped around it as well.
Waltzing up to the counter, she rung the bell and waited. After a few minutes, a girl with black hair and bone-pale skin walked up to the counter, looking at the bunny-girl. Her hair hanged abnormally low over her forehead, almost indistinguishable from her eyebrows. She was wearing a small black beret, a small black shirt that accented her moderate curvature, and a black skirt. She seemed about nineteen, maybe twenty. One could see the slightest hint of her midriff if they looked hard enough, though the girl wouldn't allow that, if Petunia could tell.
"Hello." the girl said in a strong French accent, checking her scroll.
"Hi, I'm Dahlia Rominov. I'd like to apply for a job?" The girl checked it again, frowning.
"I'm sorry, there aren't any available at this time. Could I have your number?"
"So soon? We just met." Dahlia(Petunia) said, pulling one straight out of Ariad's book. The girl blushed a little, a small smile coming to her face.
"My, I haven't even told you my name and you're asking me out-"
"Nuh-uh, you asked me for my number. I didn't ask you anything." Dahlia retorted, leaning against the counter. "But, speaking of names..."
"Claudette. Claudette Arachnye." the girl named Claudette nodded, typing a few things into her scroll.
"Claudette, eh? That's, what, Eastern Vale?"
"South East."
"Ah. Say, if you have a moment, would you check again to just make sure you don't have any jobs available?" Dahlia inquired, looking at the girl with a pair of sad eyes.
"I...suppose."
"Thank you very much."
"Hmm...it appears we do have a job offering. Mixing the dough...Reginold was good at his job, I don't know why he would be...he resigned?" Claudette murmured, surprise evident in her voice.
"What's the matter?" Dahlia asked, leaning over the counter.
"A good friend of mine just resigned...I don't know why."
"Oh, well, I'm sorry."
"It's fine, I'm just...surprised, that's all." Petunia waited, watching the girl go through a mix of emotions. They ranged from anger to sadness, along with a few drops of bitterness.
"Not to be a dick, but since your friend resigned..."
"I suppose you could take his job. Follow me please." Claudette murmured, secretly unhappy with the idea. But she wouldn't tell her that.
"Very well."
From what Petunia could tell after taking a tour with the woman, Claudette was nice with a nack for repairing and building machinery. She was smart too, and had a temper to match. On the downside, Claudette was stubborn as hell, and seemed more at home in a workshop than around people. But Petunia could understand that, for she herself had been somewhat of an introvert, that is, before Ariad showed up. After a few hours on the job, Petunia retreated back to base, gearing up for the night's excursion...
Later that night...
A panel on the ceiling of the factory slid apart, with a lithe form crawling through the opening and landing on the catwalk below without a sound. Petunia ran quickly, vaulting over the railing and landing on the top of a large silo containing cookie mix. The silos ran all the way across the two mile long factory, chock full of cookie dough.
The bunny-girl lifted the port on top of the silo up, pouring a small amount of midnight-blue dust into the mix. She ran over to the panel, rapidly punching in numbers and letters. She smirked. I've still got it.
As soon as she pressed the mix button, the machine roared to life, the sound filling the room. The dust wasn't just designed to induce nonlethal nausea and vomiting, it was also going to completely ruin the mixers. But damn if that sound wasn't loud as fuck. She wished that she was a sound bender, like Ariad. Ariad...
Truth be told, she did miss her. Ariad had been like an older, fucked-up sister to her. And then Petunia just up and left her. Well, not really. Petunia promised herself she'd make it up to her, somehow. Petunia shook her head, clearing her thoughts and moving on with the mission.
On her second to last silo, Petunia stopped what she was doing, hearing a door open.
"Hello?" Claudette's voice rang out, reverberating off the metal silos.
'FUCK.'
Petunia sighed, taking the last few pinches of dust and pouring it in the mix. She jumped onto the railing, looking down at the girl below her. Claudette held a crowbar, her eyes scanning the room. Petunia braced herself, hopping over the railing and landing on the poor girl, knocking her out cold.
'I am sorry, friend.' she signed for no reason other than for practice, standing up and dragging the girl over to an office. After dispatching of the lock, Petunia propped the limp form of Claudette onto a chair, brushing away her hair. She stopped, feeling several bumps on the girl's forehead.
Petunia lifted the hair aside, gasping in surprise. There were two sets of eyes on this girl. Claudette was a spider Faunus. They were rather rare, with the spider Fauna being the second rarest behind the Marathon Fauna, an ancient race of three-winged Old God-type creatures.
It was then that Petunia also was reminded of the spider faunus' other traits. Most notably, poison-filled fangs. How, you may ask? Well, it just so happened that Claudette was playing dead. I like to think Petunia reacted accordingly, that is to say, by knocking Claudette the fuck out.
It's not that hard to do if you just pick them up and slam them into a wall with shapes a few times.
With her mission accomplished, Petunia drove off into the night, warily eyeing the girl in the back seat. Claudette was bound and gagged, and having just recently woken up, was downright pissed at the bunny-girl.
'Sorry.' Petunia signed with one hand, the other focused on the road. All she received was a death-glare. The operative sighed; she had a lot of explaining to do.
Petunia silently led Claudette into the room, sitting her down at a couch. The holding room was somewhat spartan, with only an extremely comfortable couch off in the corner to make a difference. A bed off to the left was neatly made, and a restroom door sat next to a dresser.
Claudette was still angry, yet a few tears had found their way out of her eyes. The bunny-girl brushed them away before removing the gag from Claudette's mouth.
"Who are you?! Why did you kidnap me!" Claudette was understandably mad as all hell. Petunia moved to sign before she was cut off. "Tell me!"
'Would you shut up and let me talk for a second!' Petunia motioned, anger apparent in her signing.
"What? I don't understand you!" Petunia threw up her hands in frustration, walking over to a wall and writing on it with her finger, the wall showing her words electronically.
'I cannot speak. And sorry about binding and gagging you.'
"You think that your apology makes this better?"
'Do I look like I'm stupid?'
"Fuck. Off." Petunia looked at her, before reaching up and removing her mask from her face. She heard a gasp, presumably from Claudette. "D-Dahlia? But you could talk..."
'No. My real name is Petunia Rominov. I wore a ribbon in order to talk to you, yet it...hurts me greatly. I'm part of an anti-terror group called The Four Horsemen. I am the first, known as Fury. You're father is a bad man, Claudette.'
"Pfft, like I'm going to trust you?"
'I don't expect you to. I didn't mean to kidnap you, but no witnesses. And I wasn't just going to kill you. But, every wall starts with a foundation.' Petunia looked back at the spider faunus with a smirk, snapping her fingers. The locks on Claudette's wrists fell away, muffled as they hit the couch. The girl looked down at her wrists skeptically, then back at her captor. 'For now, you'll be confined to this room. My boss' sending down a medic to check you out, and then you can join the family at diner.'
"And...you'll just leave me here, alone?"
'You'll be under surveillance for the first couple days. Then you can join the rest of us.'
"And if I don't want to?"
'Well, we can't necessarily let you leave.'
"So I'm stuck here?"
'No. We could give you a new name, a blank slate...but, your father...'
"What about him?"
'He's ran every other company out of business!'
"What are you talking about?!"
'Your father was on the verge of creating a monopoly. If I hadn't sabotaged the mixers, he would have done it in a week.'
"...What?"
'You didn't know? Where do you think he got all the fundings in order to upgrade? A tree?'
"No...No, I didn't...he was paying off his debts to third-party organizations." Petunia narrowed her eyes, crouching down in front of Claudette.
'Who?'
Dinner...
Petunia had been true to her word, as I had indeed sent the facility's medical officer, Bermuda, to check up on Claudette. After returning, Bermuda had given her a clean bill of health, except for some trauma due to kidnapping, which was expected. I had given Petunia a stern look at that, yet we continued on with our daily schedule, dinner at 9:30. About halfway through, the spider faunus herself shuffled into the end seat, away from Petunia.
Claudette would cast a few glances her way, but said nothing. And that's how we got here...
"How're you enjoying the stew, Claudette?" Bermuda, the medic/doctor/nurse inquired, looking at the spider faunus.
"It's...good. Very good."
"Thank you. It's not often I get to cook a fresh meal." I said, blowing on my bowl of soup.
"Oh, you made this?" The spider faunus took a chunk of meat out, chewing it slowly. I could see she was enjoying herself.
"Well, I had some help from P-Bunny, but yes, I did indeed." I glanced over at Petunia, a smirk on my face. "Sorry for Petunia getting the drop on you."
"It's fine. It didn't hurt that bad." Claudette cleared her throat, shuffling in her seat. "Pardon my inquiries, but why can Petunia not talk?"
The table went silent, with the sixteen others looking at her. Bermuda shook her head sadly while Petunia sat up abruptly, taking her empty bowl and striding out of the room. I snapped my fingers, with the other members turning their attention back to their food, albeit slowly.
"Sorry about that. Petunia doesn't mind people talking about her incident." I stated, sighing and standing up.
"Oh..." Claudette sighed dejectedly, looking off to the side.
"Don't take it too seriously. She does that to everyone." I stopped at the door, looking at the girl. "But I have a feeling that you can get through to her."
"Eh? Why me?"
"Just got myself a feelin'." I muttered, walking into the hallway. "'Eh?' Eh? What am I in, a fucking anime?"
Claudette shifted in her seat, lifting the mass of hair on her forehead aside to look through her other eyes. She let the hair drop, a small smile coming to rest on her face.
"Oi P-bunny! We got problems." I stated upon walking into the debriefing room and tossing a scroll on to the table. Petunia looked up at me, her eyes haggard. The scroll projected multiple images of a building on fire.
'What am I looking at?'
"Tweedle's Confectionery Compound just went up in flames." She stopped dead in her tracks. "And guess who's to blame?"
A single photo stood out from the rest. On the side of the cookie factory was a wolf's head, with three claws running diagonally down.
'Oh no...was anyone-'
"Four dead, and five missing. Among them are Claudette and her father, Twede Arachnye. The rest are high-ranking executives. The dead have yet to be identified. How's Claudette?"
'She's cautious, but smart. And now, she's sleeping in the holding area, room 32B. Why?'
"Because this just went on the air." I gestured to the wall, a flat screen coming out of the wall.
The screen showed a man kneeling, a black hood pulled over his head. A White Fang member stood off to the side, a chainsaw in his hands. A person off-screen pulled the hood off, revealing the person to be Twede himself.
"This is what happens to filthy humans," White Fang member snarled, holding a chainsaw to Twede's throat. Petunia felt her eyes widen as the chainsaw revved up, and looked away. "Who play with things they do not understand."
'Son of a bitch.' Petunia mouthed, grimacing.
"Tell me about it. That broadcast just went continental. Are you going to tell her, or am I?"
'I'll...I'll do it. Monty Oum, could this day get any better?'
"Yes, it could. But I won't let it." I said, sitting down next to her and dragging a hand down my face. "Talk to her, P. She's gonna need it."
'I...I know. How's the lovebirds?'
"Still in denial, well, one of them anyway. The other's just emotionally stunted." Petunia made a try of chuckling, coming out as a strange gasp-choke sound. "You're scary when you do that, you know?"
Petunia gave me a look, followed by an expression of exasperation.
Later that night...
Claudette squirmed slightly as she heard the door open. The approach of feet felt...dreaded, to her. She didn't know why. A person sat down next to her, lightly placing a hand on her cheek. Claudette opened her eyes, looking at Petunia.
The bunny-girl looked sad, uncomfortable even. She wrapped a ribbon around her neck, and soon a voice exited her mouth. Her voice.
"Claudette, I am so, so sorry." Petunia whispered, her voice in pain.
"What-?"
"Your father, he's...he's dead. I'm sorry." Claudette felt her eyes go wide, a sob escaping her lips.
"...no. No, he can't- HE CAN'T BE DEAD! I! NO!" Claudette shuddered and fell apart, sobbing into the sheets. Petunia made a sound, rubbing her back. "He was...He was a good man...How did this happen?"
"The White Fang took him. They publicly executed him." Claudette shook violently, stopping and lying still for a few minutes.
"...Bunch of filthy degenerate scum! I'm to kill them all!" The spider faunus roared in grief, turning to look Petunia in the eyes.
"You don't mean that. You're angry and hurt, but you don't want to kill anybody."
"Yes, I do!"
"No, Claudette. You don't."
"They took my father from me! I'm going to make them pay!"
"You don't want this, girl. The way of revenge can only go so far."
"But...they took him." Claudette's voice was barely there, small and afriad.
"I know." Petunia shifted the ribbon up, showing a deep scar on her neck. "I lost my voice to a White Fang attack. My family, they think I'm dead. My friends, I'm not so sure they're convinced."
"You lost everything to them." Claudette whispered, a tone of realization in her voice.
"I did. And I am going to make them pay by tearing down their entire organization. But I'll need to bide my time. I'm not strong enough."
"Why us?"
"Because we're not just about anti-terrorism. We are here to keep the balance in check. Anyone gets too powerful, we cut them down a peg or two. That's what I tried to do, but then you got in the way and..."
"I'm sorry." Claudette murmured, sitting cross-legged across from her.
"Not your fault, mon amie. I will not let anything happen to you."
"Why do you care about me?"
"I...don't know. It's just-"
"Kiss me." Petunia visibly recoiled, shocked.
"E-Eh?" The bunny girl moved away from the spider faunus, a confused expression on her face. "Your father was just murdered, and you want me to kiss you?"
"I want you to go further than kiss me-"
"Claudette, please. You're irrational-"
"Yes, I am. But I need this, Petunia. You're right, my father is dead! But I need something stable to hold on to. And you're the sturdiest thing I've seen in a while."
"I..." Petunia swallowed, not sure what to say, if at all. "I can't do what you're asking me to."
"Why not?"
"I...and if we do...do this. Then what? We just move on and forget?"
"That comes later. Right now, I need you."
"I...Claudette, you don't-"
"Yes, I do. This...would be your first time, wouldn't it?" Petunia looked away, a blush on her face. Claudette shook her head, reaching over and cupping her cheek. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. My first was a fling. Didn't work out in the end. She was a bit of a bitch too."
Petunia made that weird chuckle thing again, halting as she realized that Claudette had removed the ribbon.
"I...know you're afraid. But I won't hurt you. And to be honest, I thought you were kind of attractive when you walked in. But now... Look at me, Petunia. Please?" Petunia shifted her head slightly, a gasp of surprise coming from her mouth as Claudette leaned in, kissing her.
It didn't feel bad. It felt...good. Not great, not the one and only, but good. The spider faunus, however, wasn't expecting Petunia to become extremely dominant, pushing Claudette on to her back and straddling the poor girl. While the rabbit faunus had never done this before, she at least wanted to look dominant. The former was only partly true, considering Petunia had once walked in on Ariad while she had been watching one of her, ahem, "home movies". She never even thought fingers could move that fast...
Her shirt had bunched up, making Petunia pause. On Claudette's stomach was a pair of red triangles, their tips touching, like that of a Black Widow. Her second pair of eyes were visible, glinting in the darkness.
"I've had it since birth." Claudette explained, looking off to the side and blushing. The rabbit faunus above her leaned closer, sending chills down her spine.
'Je t'aime.' Petunia mouthed, leaning closer with a predatory grin. 'Alors, baise me.'
The morning after...
Petunia woke slowly, sheets covering her naked form at the waist. Claudette lay next to her, fast asleep. The bunny-girl gave a small smile. Claudette had been right, she hadn't hurt her. In fact, she did quite the opposite. And truth be told, it felt damn good. That had been the utmost intense amount of pleasure she had experienced in her whole life. And her hands...
Petunia shuddered in delight at the thought.
Claudette shifted in her sleep, opening her eyes and looking at Petunia. She smiled a warm, affectionate smile, taking Petunia's hand and kissing it on the knuckles. The bunny-girl smiled in return, laying back down and curling up against the spider faunus, brushing her cheek.
"Petunia?" Claudette whispered in a voice only a lover could give.
'Yes?'
"Thank you. I needed it."
'Me too...' Petunia gave pause, a flash of fear in her eyes. 'Are we a thing now?'
"Only if you want us to be." Petunia stopped, taking a deep breath. Did she want this? Did she really? Petunia already knew the answer, but...
'Okay, but first I need you to do something...it's for an old friend.'
A week later...
Ariad stopped as the doorbell rang, a look of puzzlement on her face.
"Who could that be?" Ariad mused aloud, looking at Brafez sitting on the couch and reading. Pandora sat next to him, a look of determination on her face. She shrugged, walking to the door and opening it to see a girl dressed in black and wearing a small black beret. "Yes?"
"Are you Madame Greyhound?" The girl asked in a strong French accent.
"Yes. Why do you ask?" Ariad inquired, suspicion in her voice.
"Mistress Rominov sent me to give you a gift, for your birthday." The girl shifted to the side, revealing a line of trucks stretching down the hill. "A hundred and twenty gallons of triple-chocolate chip double-forbidden desire, including a bonus gift."
"A...bonus?" Ariad asked, awed by the amount of all this was good and holy in the trucks before her. "Eh...um, sure. What is it?"
"This." Claudette stated, standing up on her tippy toes and planting a kiss on the cat-girl's lips. "Au revoir!"
"Ahhh..." Ariad touched her lips, raising an eyebrow. "G-Goodbye! Thanks for the ice cream! Hey, tell P-Bunny I'll come down and visit, okay?"
"I give you my word!" Claudette called back, waving at the cat faunus and climbing on to a helicopter. Shortly after, the helicopter took off, not being shot or blown out of the air, as expected. Ariad watched the chopper go, a slight giggle escaping her lips.
"Ah Petunia, you always did have a thing for spiders..." Ariad chuckled happily, going out to oversee the drop off of her ice cream. Monty knew it wasn't healthy, but quite frankly, Ariad was too happy to give a damn.
END OF PROLOGUE TO SIDE STORY 001
A.n. You know, sometimes characters just appear out of mid-air, and you can't help but think up ways to put them in the story. For better or worse, Claudette's staying.
Speaking of...
About a few weeks later...
'So, I just push this button-' Petunia pointed to the box on her waist, a few smears of dust on it. She wore a tank top and a pair of work jeans, both coated in various colors.
"It should theoretically give you shielding." Claudette explained, holding a wrench over her shoulder, dust smears on her cheeks(that we all know are just there to be wiped away by her love interest). "I mean, there is the very rare possibility that it'll cut you in half, but that's nothing a few hours in stasis shouldn't fix."
'I feel so assured.' Petunia motioned, giving her a small smile.
"Ah bite me. Don't forget about that one time I saved your life from a bunch of deranged mobsters in Vacuo with a bag of pickles and three inches of rope. Now that, that should give you the slightest sense of confidence in my handiwork, if nothing else." The spider faunus hopped onto one of the clear workbenches and closed her eyes, relaxing.
Petunia took a deep breath, pushing the button hesitantly. Almost immediately a white form of energy hovered an inch above her skin. Claudette looked at her from the table, a grin on her face. The bunny-girl removed the device after shutting it off, striding over to the spider faunus and leaning on her elbows, just out of reach from Claudette's lips.
"Oh, here she goes again, playing hard to get. I'm not that lazy!" Claudette grabbed Petunia by the shoulders, flipping her over on to the spider faunus' front. "May I remind you that you've been training me to fight for the past few weeks?"
'Maybe,' Petunia mouthed, leaning up and wiping away the dust smears(fucking told you so). 'But I know of a good workout that'll get both of us excited.'
"Really? You know, sometimes I wonder why you even try. You could just ask me to have sex with you and I would. Monty knows we haven't had some personal time in weeks."
'So is that a yes?' Petunia gave her a small grin, pecking her on the cheek.
"Maybe..." Claudette tipped her beret in the bunny-girl's direction, laughing. Petunia soon joined her(or attempted to, at least), rolling over onto her stomach and just taking in the sight of the girl before her. Claudette was beautiful, skilled in both mechanics and in heart, and could be downright diabolical if she let her.
'I wouldn't have it any other way.' Petunia thought, laying her head against Claudette's chest and smiling. This was the one thing she'd give the world for.
Thank you all once again for reading this fic, and don't forget to leave a review, if at all. Follow if you want, don't if ya don't. Same rules apply to favoriting.