Chapter 15

Moi-Moi: Heyyyyy. Sorry this took so long, guys. I normally leave this story on really long pauses between chapters, but not really with cliffhangers like that last one. Whoops? I'll try to get the next update out quicker.

Just a heads up, this chapter has parts of it from the point of view of another character. Don't worry. It's not permanent. Just trying to make things a tiny bit more interesting.

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Aside from the pure rage that was coursing through me, I wasn't sure what I felt now that Kat was standing in front of me. I swallowed thickly before letting a smirk slowly slide onto my face. "Well, well, well… It's been a while. I'm surprised you can still fit into an Immunity uniform. I thought you were too big to slum it with the rest of the white blood cells," I said, using the most charming voice I could muster. I was only slightly surprised at how easy it was to slip back into old ways. This didn't mean that I had forgiven her. Kat was dead to me.

Kat giggled lightly lifting a thigh and sitting on the opposite edge of the table. My hands clenched without my permission. Her eyes lit up in amusement before she smirked. I hated that smirk and that look in her eyes. I barely kept the sneer from my face. "Sorry about the rough housing, Thrax. The boys are very serious about fighting infections," she said and eyed the bruises that had definitely bloomed on my face and the dark stain on my shirt.

One of the officers in the room shifted and clenched at his gun.

I barely held back from rolling my eyes.

"Do I want to know how this went down?" I asked and let my eyes move up and down her body. The other officer tensed. Subtly, I tested my handcuffs again.

Kat crossed her legs and grinned. I couldn't stop my eyes from tracking the movement. She healed up nicely. No sign of injuries. And she made such a fuss over them at the time. She didn't answer, waiting patiently for me to finish my appraisal. I narrowed my eyes in a glare. Kat laughed loudly once before leaning across the table to whisper, "Turns out the Immunity force here in Marcus runs more like the Pneumonia family than most cells realize."

"So, what? You decided to get cozy with Immunity? What use could they have for an infected white blood cell? They got you playing officer and lapdog?" I asked with a chuckle and leaned back in my seat. I lounged as best as I could, the picture of ease and swagger.

Immediately, she bristled at my accusation. "I'm no one's lapdog," she said, spitting the word at me venomously. She held out a hand and smiled. "I just made a case for myself. What can I say? I'm persuasive," Kat said as her hand started to glow bright red. "I'm getting better at this," she said and gave me a wicked grin.

I watched Kat slide off the table and hold out a hand to one of the officers. He pulled a manila folder from the folds of his jacket and rested it in her hand. Kat smiled at him before running a glowing hand along his cheek. I waited for the mess of cytoplasm, but it never came. I could see glowing, red cracks run across the cell's membrane, spreading up his face and down his neck. His entire body went taut as his eyes rolled up into his head. His membrane turned from blue to purple and just like that, she had him ready to get on his knees and roll over like a mutt.

How? How long had she been able to do that? Could I do that? I clenched my fists. "Nice trick," I spat.

Kat grinned. "Isn't it? I find it easier to recruit cells this way. And the best part is," Kat said and gestured to the officer she had infected. I watched as his membrane slowly turned back to its bright blue hue. My eyes widened. He didn't look any different than he had when he walked in… except his eyes were now focused entirely on. Kat's every move.

"And where did you learn how to do that?" I asked.

She smirked at me. "From you, obviously. I'm not as… deadly as you are. I think that helps keep me from making too much of a mess if I use a little restraint."

"Restraint is overrated," I sneered.

She frowned at me and held up the file in her hand. "Of course, you'd think that. Countless foreign bacteria slaughtered, destruction of public and private property, armed robbery, second-degree murder of an innocent citizen of Marcus," Kat said as she walked around the table and read from the file in her hands. "Did I miss anything?"

"You should be thanking me for killing those bacteria. Maybe even reward me with a medal of honor," I said with a chuckle. Kat tossed the file down onto the table and several files and photos spilled out. I whistled lowly at the sight of my handiwork all over the city. "It looks much worse on film than it did in real life," I promise with a wink.

"It's not in there, but you and I both know what you're planning to do to Marcus," Kat said and folded her arms over her chest. Her face smoothed out, losing any of the playfulness or fondness in her eyes that I had come to know. I frowned. "I'm giving you a chance, Thrax."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Get out of town. I don't care where you go. I think you still have thirty-six hours left on your deadline. I'm giving you twenty-four. I'll let you get what assets you need, and I want you out of my body," Kat said in a stern voice.

I sneered. "Your body? What makes you think it'll last longer than twenty-four hours?"

"Your stooges already caused enough problems in the lungs," she said and glanced at her watch. "My men should be dealing with them as we speak."

My entire body tensed. I shot forward, my handcuffs pulling against the chair as I tried to stand. I had to stand at an awkward angle because of the chair, but that didn't stop me from glaring down at her. The two officers cocked their guns and pointed them at me, but I couldn't take my eyes off Kat. She stood with her arms folded and her eyes narrowed at me. "You think I need them? You think you can-"

"Think of this as a last act of mercy, Thrax. Get. Out. Of. My body. If I catch you still here after twenty-four hours, you'll find yourself flowing downstream the next time Marcus takes a piss," she threatened with a sneer.

Red. Every corner of my vision, every inch of my body was blazing. "You ungrateful bitch," I hissed.

She chuckled and stepped back. "Call me a bitch if you want, Thrax. Call me any name you can think of. It doesn't change the fact that I've beaten you at your own game. Marcus is mine. Find some other body to incubate in," she said and slipped her shades down over her eyes.

I already knew that I hated her. That hasn't changed. I was willing to leave her and move on. But not now. She'd pay- her and every infected cell following her. "I saved your membrane and this is how you treat me? I made you! I-"

I heard the sound of the gun before I felt the sting and shock. I could hear the crackling and popping sounds as I fell to the ground. Of course they'd use a taser gun. Kat wouldn't let them try to kill me.

Kat headed to the door as the two officers closed in on me. "Oh please. You didn't make anyone, Thrax. I was always this amazing," she said and smiled.

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Kat had given me twenty-four hours.

I didn't know how long ago she'd said it but just the thought of it still made me want to slice my claw through something. When I'd left the station with more bruises than I'd had when I entered, the officers had thrown a cheap t-shirt at me and a ticket out the bladder that was scheduled for tomorrow evening. They'd removed the material from my hands while at least twenty guns were aimed at me. I don't know how I managed to leave without slaughtering at least a couple of them.

Walking down the street in the t-shirt that read "I ❤️ Marcus" in a large, bold font, I tried to think through my options. I would have to be smart about what I did next. My hand clenched around the ticket in my pocket as the scent of my soiled sweater hit me again.

Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted the patrol car with the two officers that was slowly tailing me. I rolled my eyes and turned back around. They weren't even trying to blend in. The car was creeping along behind me, making every cell stop and stare and every germ duck into an alley.

Leave? Not a chance. I said seventy-two hours and I meant it. If she thought that I would give up now, Kat didn't know me as well as she thought. One way or another, I was getting into the hypothalamus and Marcus was headed to an early grave.

I just had to be smart, clever, and a little creative.

Standing a little taller, I approached a cell standing on the side of the street and stocking the shelves of a newsstand. "You wouldn't happen to have the time would you?" I asked him.

The cell glanced at the watch on his wrist and said, "Yeah. It's 6:47." He looked up and froze at the sight of me. His eyes widened as he tried to back away.

It was probably the solid membrane that had him so freaked- the sign of a virus or germ. I smirked and pulled my shades from my coat. "Much obliged, my man," I said and slipped the shades over my eyes.

"N-no problem."

A little over twenty-six hours left on my deadline. I could make it work.

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"What's he doing now?" I asked into the walkie talkie and tapped my manicured nails on the top of my desk.

"He's still washing that shirt of his, Chief. He's just sitting in the laundromat. He's not really doin' anything," one of the officers I had commanded to tail Thrax said. I sucked my teeth and put the walkie on the desk.

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

Aside from speaking to a cell on the street and borrowing some detergent from another cell in the laundromat, Thrax hadn't done anything. I didn't think he'd go willingly… He'd looked ready to slice me to pieces in that interrogation room. His eyes were almost glowing with how furious he'd been. I could still see his face and feel the heat coming off him when I closed my eyes. I held back a shiver and leaned back in my leather chair.

"You alright, Chief?" a deputy asked as he stuck his head into the doorway of my office. I waved him away and turned to look at the map of Marcus that I had hanging on the wall of my new office. What was he planning?

"Most of the Pneumonia family is gone, Chief. Plus, you've got Mac and Lymph tailing the virus. He's not gonna pull anything," the deputy went on.

I ignored him and got up to get a closer look at the map. Thrax's planning something. I just need to figure out what and get ahead of him. He doesn't have a crew, but that's not gonna stop him from trying to get into the hypothalamus…

"He's just some virus. We handled him before, we can handle him again," the deputy scoffed arrogantly and moved to stand next to me.

I still hadn't managed to get any of my men into the cerebellum hall security. Everything was so restricted up there…

"He was caught off guard and drunk when he was arrested," I pointed out. "We're lucky he wasn't feeling particularly homicidal enough to try to fight his way out of that mess."

"I got a good look at him before he left. I could have taken him if you wanted me to."

I tried not to roll my eyes. While infecting these white blood cells made them the perfect stooges, it also made them act like needy puppies. I'd tinkered with the gene transmission enough times to figure out how Thrax had done it to me. I appreciated how easy it was to control them and spread Thrax's- my genes. All I had to do was infect a few cells and give them the order to pass on the genes to the rest of the Immunity force. Easier than taking candy from a baby. "I'm sure you could have," I said sarcastically. It didn't matter how much sarcasm I used; it'd gone right over his head.

I watched him puff out his chest and grin at me. I pat his head twice. Good boy. Sit. Roll over. Before I could pull away, he took hold of my hand and squeezed it. "Just say the word, Chief," he said and stepped closer to me. Great. Another enthusiastic recruit.

"Just keep an eye on the instructors and new graduates coming out of the academies in the bone marrow. I want them brought over to my side before they get a chance to realize-" I was cut off in the middle of my orders by the deputy suddenly pressing his lips onto mine. My eyes widened in shock.

His eyes closed slowly but I had seen the flash of lust and attraction in them just before. Irritation and disgust welled up in me. I pulled away as if his lips burned (as if heat could hurt me anymore) and my hand swung wide to strike him across the cheek. I could feel the sting on the back of my hand, but the rush of anger didn't go away. Just from the way the temperature in the room rose slightly, I could tell that my anger was getting a little out of hand.

He was bent slightly at the waist, his hand gently pressed against his cheek. His eyes were wide and surprised, but I could see a bit of fear slip in. Good. With a sneer, I gripped him by the throat and pushed him back into the wall.

The heat was spreading- my heat. From my core, down my arm and to my fingertips. I could see his membrane crack and spit as his cytoplasm heated and started to spill. He stared at me with his hands around my wrist and forearm. He didn't try to push me away, but I could see the pleading look in his eyes. I squeezed tighter around his throat.

"Ch-chief?"

It wasn't the deputy in front of me that had spoken. I looked over my shoulder to see a few of the officers peeking into the doorway warily. I could see the other officers had stood from their desks or stopped what they were doing to peer into my office through the blinds. No one made a move for their weapons. But they did look afraid. With a scoff, I let go of the deputy's neck.

He slumped to the floor and coughed a few times, his hands cradling his slowly leaking neck. I sneered down at him and stepped back from where his cytoplasm was creeping towards my shoes. "Don't let that lapse in judgement happen again, deputy. Go home. Clean yourself up," I said and pointed to the door. Like a kicked dog, I watched him scramble to his feet before hobbling out the door. The other officers stood back to let him through and watched him go with wide eyes. When the sound of the station doors slamming closed sounded, they all looked around at each other. I nearly rolled my eyes. "Don't you ladies have jobs to do? Get to work!" I shouted. I watched them all snap to attention as all sound returned to the station.

Restraint.

I folded my arms over my chest and breathed deeply. Restraint. Thrax's genes were… I suppose the appropriate word for them would be contagious. The urge to set something aflame or just infect another cell was constant, like a nagging voice in the back of my mind. Restraint.

'Restraint is overrated.'

I barely held off the shiver that moved down my spine.