I am soooo sorry about this super late update. My computer crashed and I lost everything. Here you go and I hope you enjoy!
The Solitary Cat
Metal clanging on metal. Gunshots firing. Bang, bang, bang. There were 2 shapes moving. They were surrounded by blood. The shapes were moving so fast, they were like lightning. Murder and the promise of death were written in both sets of eyes. All this surrounded by flowers exploding in the background. No, they weren't flowers. There was far too much noise in the background for it to be just flowers. No, they were fireworks. These two men were fighting in the midst of fireworks.
"Your eyes! That woman! She's got you! You're under that witch's spell! AHH!" one of the men bellowed.
All the other man could do was scream as he fell. He just kept falling and falling and falling until…
"Adrienne! Wake up! We're almost there," a man's voice called out to his travelling companion. Adrienne flew up in the passenger seat with a jerk, breathing heavily and scattering all the various maps and bounty wanted lists that had recently made its home on her chest.
Adrienne was considered classically pretty or at least that's what her bandmates, Kyle and Miranda, said. She was relatively skinny (but not too skinny, she prefers to think of herself as slender) with pale skin, blue-green eyes, and blonde hair that reaches to her mid back. Her hair is layered and the bottom layer has streaks of blue and pink. Obviously not natural but it's her hair so she can do whatever she wants with it.
Adrienne prefers to think of herself as a rebel aspiring to reach the perfect freedom so she adapted the punk look. Normally sporting the green and black camouflage pants, black shoes, and a black form fitting shirt that reaches her waist. If it was cold she added a jean jacket. Finishing off the look was her elbow length black gloves. The most important part of her wardrobe as they enabled her hands to touch people without having to feel and potentially see their entire life story. She wished it didn't have to be this way but you can't pick who your parents are.
Her partner, Sven, was not quite as classically pretty but he played it off by consistently wearing a suit.
"Whoa, you okay kid?" Sven remarked on how freaked out Adrienne appeared. "That must've been some dream. You've been thrashing about for the past hour. I'm guessing you weren't dreaming about boys like ordinary girls your age are supposed to."
"Just keep driving, Sven. You're supposed to be paying attention to the road, not me. If you keep on hitting these pot holes, we're going to have to spend our current bounty on getting this car fixed…again."
"Hey," Sven retorted, "I don't hit all the potholes."
"No, just the ones that inflict the maximum amount of damage on the car."
"Haven't we already talked about this passenger side driving nonsense. If you're not driving, you don't get to complain."
Adrienne glared at her partner. "I totally can if your driving is hazardous to my health."
Sven gave her a questioning glare. "Pray tell, how is hitting potholes hazardous to your health?"
"It's simple really. You hit the potholes, it causes damage to the car. Since the car is damaged, we now have to pay to get it fixed. In order to pay to get it fixed, we have to take money out of our food budget. When we take money out of our food budget, we're only eating ramen noodles. I'm a pop star, Sven. I have an image to uphold and I can't very well uphold it if I start to get flabby because ramen noodles is the only food going into my body. See, simple math. And it's actually a 2 for 1 because it's hazardous to my image and to my health. Not to mention, we're at a point right now where we can't even afford ramen."
"Don't worry. I promise this job is going to pay." Sven looked at the road and then back to Adrienne. "Seriously, are you okay? That dream didn't look fun."
Adrienne rested her head on the corner of the car. "I'm fine. And oddly enough, the dream was about boys. And please, whatever you do, do not try to give me 'the talk' again. It was traumatizing enough the first time."
"It wasn't that bad."
"Going back to that school would've been a kindness opposed to having that talk. You have no idea how badly I wished I was deaf. The dream wasn't like that anyway. These two guys were fighting. It was hard to make out but what I felt was so much worse than what I saw. I have never felt so much hate before in my life. And that's saying something considering I'm forced to feel the anger and hate of everyone who accidentally makes contact with my skin. Let's hurry up and get to town. This is depressing and I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Sven decided to give Adrienne some alone time. This was the kind of thing he couldn't really help with. Whenever she had these dreams, pushing them to the back of her mind and ignoring them was how she dealt with them. Sven didn't think it was very healthy but he also knows that there's nothing he can say that will help with the things she's forced to feel and see.
Adrienne found herself contemplating the dream. What was that? I've never had an empathic dream with people I don't have the Bond with before. Maybe it really is just a dream. If it really was just a dream, why do I feel like something terrible is about to happen?
Adrienne was looking out at the parade from a back alley. It really was a pretty awesome parade even if the new governor, their bounty, was a total scum bag. A part of her wished she could take part in a parade like this, but as a general rule, large crowds was not something she could handle. She was far more likely to accidentally bump into someone in a large crowd. Unless, of course, if I'm the one performing. I make exceptions for that. I could handle large crowds all day if I was on the stage. Adrienne looked at her partner standing next to her and rolled her eyes. She then proceeded to stomp on his foot.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"Quit monologuing in your head. You are far too old for that nonsense."
A dejected look came across Sven's face. "You really know where to hit a man where it hurts, don't you?"
"What can I say, I learned from the best." Adrienne winked at him. "Let's see if there's any food in this town we can afford."
After a couple hours of searching, the duo eventually found themselves in a quaint little restaurant. The two flipped through their menus still hopeful to find something they can afford.
"Spaghetti plate…club sandwich…pancakes…why is all this food so expensive?" Sven muttered to himself.
Adrienne looked up from her menu. "I got one word for you, Sven. Potholes."
"Yeah, yeah, cheeky brat."
Sven continued to flip through the menu still hopeful to find something they could afford. Adrienne closed her menu, accepting she probably wasn't going to eat until they collected on Lib Tyrant's bounty.
"Welcome to Stan's. What are you having?" A bored voice called out to them.
Sven and Adrienne looked up to see their waitress. Much to Adrienne's chagrin, Sven perked up. Adrienne rolled her eyes. She hated when Sven adopted this happy-go-lucky personality to garner sympathy. It was so pathetic. As Sven started to light his cigarette, Adrienne heard the best comment ever. "There's no smoking in this section."
Adrienne hated Sven's smoking habit. It was where half their bounty money went. If he didn't smoke, they might actually be able to afford this meal. "Well, Sven, it looks like your cigarette is going to have to sit this one out."
A few minutes later, Adrienne found the two of them sitting in a different booth in the back of the restaurant, the booth reaking of smoke. "I seriously cannot believe you made us move tables, Sven. Why don't you just quit? It's a filthy habit anyway."
Sven just ignored her. He wasn't about to have this conversation with her again. "Here's your black coffee," the waitress handed a mug to Sven, "and your ice water," she passed a glass to Adrienne.
"Hang on," Sven handed the waitress money for their order. "It's all yours."
"We usually don't get tippers in here." The waitress smiled gleefully.
"That's exact change," Sven corrected her.
Adrienne rolled her eyes and whispered to Sven, "You know, if you quit smoking, we might actually afford to tip the waitress." Suddenly, both Sven and Adrienne's stomachs growled.
"Sounds to me like the two of you are a bit hungry," the waitress remarked.
"Not at all," Sven smiled.
"Trust me, we eat plenty of potholes," Adrienne grumbled, earning her a dejected glare from Sven.
"We're just on a crash diet." Sven continued.
"Oh, sure. Now you take an interest in my body's image." Adrienne quipped out.
"Where are you guys from anyway?" the waitress inquired.
"Go ahead and take a guess," Sven dared.
"Well, you two certainly don't look like tourists. Not with that suit and her with the camouflage pants and elbow high gloves. What is up with those gloves by the way? You must be burning up with those on." Adrienne just ignored her. "Anyway, I'm guessing you're here to milk a few bucks out of the new governor like all those fools over there."
"Fools, huh," Adrienne quipped.
"Since the election, this town's been overrun with thugs looking for quick cash," the waitress continued.
Sven looked at the group. "They don't really look like a very chivalrous bunch."
"What do you mean, chivalrous?"
"Here we go again," Adrienne muttered to herself.
"I mean polite, respectful and considerate," Sven continued, "Just a nice guy."
The waitress stared at him as if he were joking. "Yeah, you try being a nice guy in this town, you'll be a dead guy before you know it. Take my word, just duck and cover. I mean, we're living in a world where people elect a gangster as their governor."
A scream was suddenly heard from the other side of the restaurant. "Hey!" the waitress threw her tray at the offending thug.
Sven and Adrienne just watched as the scene unfolded before them. Screams and dishes clanging consumed the restaurant until Sven got up and threw small circular candy like objects into the offending thugs' mouths.
"Suck on that candy and calm down, boys. Now, step away from the ladies." The two walked towards Sven. "That's more like it. As a reward, I got a couple of extra pieces of candy for you two." Sven threw a couple more into their mouths. The thugs began to sweat profusely. "They're nanomachines. Now they're inside your body, their first job is to burn your insides to 1000 degree Fahrenheit."
Adrienne appeared in front of them and threw her ice water in their faces. Sven continued, "Just kidding. They're actually jalapeno candy made especially for me. Extra, extra hot."
"Now, listen to me boys." Adrienne walked up to the considerably less threatening thugs. "Would you treat your own mothers the way you treated these women?" When they looked down at their feet, she continued. "I suggest you run along to your mother's homes and clean the entire property as an apology to women everywhere. And when I say suggest, I'm really commanding you. You could choose not to, but I don't think you're going to like what will happen to you." Adrienne smiled to herself as the thugs quickly left.
When she returned back to the table, food had just appeared. "Whoa, Sven, take a look at this spread. Where did it all come from? It looks amazing."
"Don't get too excited. Our grateful waitress opened a line of credit for us as a thank you," Sven remarked.
"So we still have to pay? Man, that totally sucks," Adrienne groaned. "Why do we have to be broke all the time?"
You don't have to be broke all the time." Sven started a speech he'd given several times over. "You are a pop star, as you reminded me earlier with your hazardous health comment. You would have plenty of money if you would just sign with one of those talent agencies."
Adrienne glared at Sven. She hated having this conversation with him. He was forever trying to find ways to get her to quit being a sweeper. "And leave you behind, Sven? You wouldn't survive one day without me watching your back. Besides, if I signed with one of those agencies, I would forever have people telling me what to do, where to go, who to be. No, thank you. I had plenty of that at that school you sent me to. I just want to be free. Oh well. We should get ready to head to the party at Lib Tyrant's mansion. He isn't going to catch himself, you know. And even if he did, we couldn't allow that because then we'd be even more broke than we are now." The two got out of the booth and headed for the party that would completely alter their destiny forever.
Adrienne entered the ballroom and was completely appalled at how luxurious everything was. I guess this is how I would live if I ever signed with one of those agencies. Sven decided it would be better if the two of them showed up separately to not arouse suspicion. Sven arrived fifteen minutes prior in his trademark suit. Adrienne had to make more distinguished changes to her ensemble. She was now wearing a form fitting, flame red cocktail dress with her trademark elbow high gloves. Reluctantly, she was also sporting black high heel shoes which she despised and was going to burn after the party. Geez, I'll never understand why it's unofficially mandatory for women to wear high heels at these functions. If men enjoy them so much, why don't they wear them too? How am I supposed to chase after a bounty in these things. Although, judging from the way Lib Tyrant looks, I doubt he has the capability to run very far or quickly.
Adrienne automatically started scanning the room for possible points of apprehension. She smiled to herself. Before her parents' deaths, she never would've imagined she would have a career as a Sweeper. She never could've imagined she'd even be cut out to survive it. It was as easy as breathing to her, now. I guess if my parents hadn't died, sweeping would never have been a part of my destiny in the first place. Fate is truly fickle.
Adrienne watched as Lib Tyrant went on stage to begin his acceptance speech which no doubt consisted of more lies than truths. Adrienne checked the bodyguard situation and noted that Lib Tyrant must be afraid of something to have so many of them. She scanned the room looking for Sven. When she finally found him, she rolled her eyes.
"Of course, you would be stuffing your face," Adrienne whispered. "Do you have an actual plan of apprehension or are we just winging it?" Suddenly, Adrienne noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned around to the buffet table and saw a little girl staring at her and Sven. "Hey, I think we got a shadow."
Sven looked at the little girl as the girl continued to stare. Both Sven and Adrienne gave her a huge grin which the girl promptly disregarded by looking back towards the stage. "Kids are so rude these days," Adrienne grumbled.
Adrienne couldn't help but feel disgusted when Lib Tyrant announced his marriage plans. How could such a pretty girl marry such a scumbag? She's gonna get hurt in the years to come. Love is strange and apparently stupid.
Adrienne couldn't help but chuckle when she watched the resident drunkard spill his glass's contents all over Sven.
Sven rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go clean myself up. Don't do anything rash while I'm gone, okay?"
Adrienne mockingly put a hand on her chest. "I'm hurt, Sven. Would I really do such a thing?"
"Absolutely. Now, behave." With that, Sven walked out of the ballroom still soaked with wine.
Sven had been gone for about ten minutes when Adrienne felt worry and confusion coming from the Bond. She noticed Lib Tyrant had returned but she also noticed he had fewer bodyguards with him. She narrowed her eyes and walked out of the ballroom to find her partner.
She found Sven staring at the missing bodyguards who clearly had every intention of killing him. Thankfully, they hadn't seen her yet. She put her Sweeper weapon together (2 wood pieces enforced with metal when clicked together created a staff). She snuck up on the men and hit one of them on the head and tripped the other one. Sven then released a smoke bomb that was hidden in his briefcase effectively knocking out the bodyguards.
"And to think you were worried about me doing something rash. Does saving you count as a rash decision? Anyway, something's wrong. You're worried and confused about something. I felt it all the way from the ballroom. What did you see?"
You know, I'll never get used to this psychic bond. We need to get to the ballroom. Lib Tyrant is about to be assassinated," Sven revealed.
"What!? We can't afford to let that happen. I will not allow the food at this scumbags' party to be the last thing I eat for who knows how long."
The two quickly made their way back to the ballroom and immediately started scanning for points of apprehension they may have missed. Adrienne was beyond confused. This doesn't make any sense. How could you possibly assassinate someone in a room with this many people? But Sven saw it. Just like my psychic bonds, Sven's visions are absolute. This is hopeless but I can't let that poor girl watch her fiancé die regardless of how scummy he is.
Suddenly, she felt a chill from a door behind her and a figure in black rushed past her. He was so fast, she barely noticed him. Adrienne immediately started chasing after him. She saw Sven attempt to apprehend the man with the net but caught the drunkard instead. When he got to the stairway leading to the stage, Adrienne saw her chance and grabbed the tail of his coat. The man was barely phased by it. He elbowed her in the sternum which caused her to fall back and hit her head on the wall. The last thing she heard before everything went black was, "I've come to deliver some bad luck" and then BANG!
Adrienne woke up to see Sven staring down at her with worry in his eyes. All she could do was nod to his inquiry about her head. She looked over and saw the pretty girl crying over her scummy fiance's body. I failed. That poor girl is ruined.
"Sven, that man is probably still on the grounds." Adrienne slowly got back up to her feet. "We need to find him. Now."
Sven knew better than to argue to his partner about this. Adrienne was stubborn and lived by a very strict moral code and this man broke a cardinal rule in her code. Sometimes, she was so much like her father, he often wondered if when he died, her father's spirit just chose to reside in his daughter.
They went in search of the mystery man and found him walking away in a heavily wooded area still inside the mansion's grounds.
"Hold it." Sven shouted. "You-You killed him. We were there to capture him alive. There was a reward. He was filth but there was no need to kill him."
"You killed him right in front of his fiancé!" Adrienne exclaimed getting increasingly more upset. "Did that girl deserve to watch her fiancé die? She will have to live with what you did for the rest of her life! You didn't even give him a choice. How could you do such a horrible thing!?" Adrienne finished, breathing hard.
Sven continued, grabbing the man's shoulder, "You think all bad people deserve a bullet through the chest?"
The man didn't flinch, didn't even move. He said one word. "Duck." Both Sven and Adrienne fell to the ground to avoid what looked like a boomerang weapon. The man dodged it easily. As the bodyguard continuously threw the boomerangs, the man continued to dodge them just as easily. Adrienne jumped to the nearest set of bushes. She began preparing herself to watch this man die as well. She was even more surprised when he didn't. The deadly stranger pinned the bodyguard to the tree and walked away.
As Sven and Adrienne made their way back to the car, both equally confused, Adrienne decided to mull over the money situation. "Hey, Sven, you got anything we can pawn." All Sven could muster was a groan.
An hour later, they found a pawn shop and were effectively kicked out after hearing they came face to face with Chronos number XIII aka Black Cat. The man seems to believe we're about to become Black Cat's next victims. As if! Hell will freeze over before I let someone that heartless or that tackily dressed kill me, Adrienne thought to herself.
Soon enough, they found themselves back at the restaurant. As they sat with the food they had no choice to pay for with credit they can't afford, Adrienne muttered one word, "Potholes."
I hoped you liked it. Please let me know what you think.