CHAPTER 7: T-bone: My free will
A/n: Chapter 7 being T-bones POV. Nothing much else to say.
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I don't know how it happened.
That I got my mind back, that is.
It all happened so sudden. I know I had been out hunting...and that I had returned to Vipers lair, gnawing on a fish I had caught. Unlike so many other fish, this one had not been mutated like alot of them are. When I finished eating, I went to sleep...
And when I woke up, I remembered who I was.
Viper somehow did not seem surprised. He laughed at me and bathed in his triumph. I was a SWAT Kat in a monsters body, he told me. And I would remain like that until he had worked out his plans for me. What kind of plans I wanted to ask? But even though he could tell I was aware of myself...there was no need to tell him of my ability to speak.
I always make sure to practise when Viper isn't there to hear me. I guess that, talking to myself, or trying to comfort the kats in the other nearby cages, keeps me from going completely insane. Along with speaking, it helps that I remember my past. The past week, I have thought out enough of my memories to publish 6 or 7 books about my life. I inwardly smirk as I can just see the title.
"My life: The memories of a mutant SWAT Kat."
Feral would have a hoot.
I hear a slight moaning and turn my head, seeing that Felina is waking up. She'll be slightly weak, but hopefully she'll recover. And her mind will be stable.
The other victims of Vipers "healing" have not been that lucky. He has tricked them into his lab, injected the anti-mutagens into them, and then locked them in a cage as soon as their transformation was over and done with.
Unfortunately, their minds have been too fragile to handle the pressure of the transformation, or it has just been far too late. For some kats, the instinct of the beast has been only so lightly skin-deep, that the effect of the mutation has only made it far too strong to quiet down once more, while others have just...broken. Maybe some day, like myself, they will find themselves...
Until then, who knows?
Felina moans once more as she turns over, rubbing her eyes with one hand before opening them. They widen as she sees her surroundings and she sits up with a gasp, then curses when her head impacts with the upperpart of the cage. Sure Viper has made the cages wide enough for plantimals. But not necessarily high enough.
"Felina..?"
She looks up and her eyes widen more, seeing me. I turn my head away as she is with no clothes at all. She has by instinct reached for a blaster that isn't there, and when realising why, she goes all crimson, and covers herself up as much as she can.
"It's alright, Felina. I'm not that kinda kat yaknow.." I utter. She blinks in shock and realization, before trying to say something...instead, she coughs alittle, grasping at her throat.
"Easy on it." I tell her softly. "It's probably been a while since you last used your voice"
Slowly, she manages to find her tongue and looks at me as if I am the first living thing she meets in an alien-world, and she has to be cautious around.
"T-bone...?" I only nod alittle, before shuffling around in my cage, then laying down.
"Kats..." I hear Felina utter. I say nothing. I'm just glad she didn't start screaming at me or something.
We both fall silent as we hear a sound. A furious shrieking and buzzing sound. Felina looks unnerved, but I keep my cool. I know what it is that lets out that sound.
Dr. Harley Street. The Ci-Kat-A.
I don't know how Viper found him, but one day he had him in his grasp, dragging him behind with his tail. It was while I was out of my mind...I remember I attacked the Ci-Kat-A as it tried to attack Viper when he released. Even with my mutated mind, I knew how to keep it in a grasp so that it was unable to bite me. I was even strongly tempted to rip out its throat with my claws, but Viper quited me down, and instead he had me drag it to a room where I threw the creature in. Before it could attack us, Vipers plant-wall "melted" down across the entrance, and the Ci-Kat-A is now trapped in that room until Viper says otherwise.
I explain all this to Felina the best I can, and for a moment she stares at me as if I'm crazy. Then she curls up and closes her eyes. I can tell she is still tired from the mutation and I leave her be.
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The next time I wake up, it's morning. The light shines as much as it can through the many vines covering what used to be the large windows of the skycraper of MegaKat Tower. I think this used to be one of the main meeting- rooms, but Viper "redecorated" things, by tearing away the upper levels with his powerful plant-creatures. And with alittle extra katalysts and a few extra plants, he managed to recreate his tree...I have never really been there, one could only guess what his former lair looked like. But I can imagine something very Frankenstein-ish.
Felina is asleep in the neighbouring cage. I hope she hasn't tried to speak with Viper in hearing-range. It would only make things worse for any of us. Viper is up to something. But I just don't know what! He could be planning anything. Extending his territories, capturing what few survivors that may be around, or something third. The thought of it makes me uncomfortable.
Kats, I have always hated feeling helpless. That has always been the main switch in a fight for me. If things get too out of hand, and I know I must of all things not loose control. That's how I always managed to survive...to make the Turbokat fly again whenever we where in a tight situation, or forced to rebuild it from scrap.
I remember when I was in the Enforcer Military Training-camp. It was to help us get prepared for our first years as Enforcers. To toughen us up, to make us stronger, faster and smarter.
Had it not been for Jake, I would have broken down after 5 seconds.
Our trainer was a real bastard. A large, burly tabby, with splotches like a leopard, a tattoo with the number '666' on his arm and a toothpick in his mouth. Always dressed like he was in bootcamp and not in a military facility. But he was there nonetheless. He roared like a storm at us about what challenges we would face, what skills we would be tested in, and how our sanity would be scratched up like a worn yarnball.
But Jake was there, right beside me. He has always been there, ever since we first met in college. Once the trainer gazed in another direction, Jake mouthed to me 'we can do this! We'll nail the guy by his own tail!'. And I promised myself I would never let him down. Not him, not anyone, and espeacially not myself...
Slowly, I stretch out my enormous body as much as I can in the small space of the cage, yawning until I feel like my jaws are gonna be yawned apart. A growling stomach tells me I should go and find something edible, but that is kind of hard when you're trapped in a cage. Growling with frustration, I claw at the bars who withstand my assault. I would pace around if I had room to do so.
Seriously, you really can't work out your frustration by spinning 80 times around yourself like a dog chasing its tail. Believe me, I've tried!
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A/N: Eheh, sorry about that last bit. I got in a dorky mood. Next chapter will be Felina's POV
