Chapter 6
Szayel laughed, watching Stephanie launch herself onto the top of the dresser, curling up and falling to sleep. This will certainly be very interesting… Ah Stephanie, no experiment of mine ever escapes… they always end up right where they started—on my lab table.
Stretching, Nyan-chan blinked and looked around; Ulquiorra was already gone. She looked at the clock. She didn't have any knowledge of clocks, and she didn't know how to read one, but it must have had something to do with the position of the black marks. Her boys were always gone when it was at this position. They should be back in twenty changes. She hopped down and jumped onto the bed, observing the room around her; nothing ever changed. She was always bored when they were both gone. Jumping off the bed and pacing, she wondered where Ulquiorra-sama had put the piece of string-prey. She heard the door open, and her ears perked up, they were home early! She trotted to the door and paused, her fur prickling up. This scent was wrong. This wasn't Ulquiorra or Grimmjow. This scent was somehow familiar… It took her a second to place it. Szayel-sama! The white uniform of the fraccion was all she saw before there was utter darkness. Kicking around inside the bag she was in, she clawed, trying to get out, trying to escape, she needed to get out of here. Franticly scratching to no avail, Nyan-chan quickly grew tired. She stopped struggling, saving energy for when she would need it. She glared at the darkness.
Mere minutes later, Nyan-chan was gracelessly dumped from the sack onto a cool, metal table. The prickling sensation returned and she spun around. Fear filled her when a pair of glasses, glinting evilly in the light, and a manic smile emerged from the darkness. Her ears were pinned flat to her head, every hair standing on end, and she hissed. She backed to the opposite side of the table. There were fraccion surrounding her. She could feel the evil intentions coming from Szayel-sama. No, he didn't deserve that title. He was only Szayel. She was no longer Stephanie; she was Nyan-chan. She chose Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. Eyes shifting, looking for escape, she found an opening and leapt. Scratching the face of a shorter fraccion, she ran for the door, only to find it closed before she got there. Szayel looked down, eyes hidden by the glare of his glasses, and he showed his teeth in an almost-sneer. He was making fun of her fear, making fun of her pain. She ran to the other side of the room. No good; she was cornered. She crouched there, back to wall, and hissed, challenging anyone who tried to grab her. Szayel muttered a simple word, which launched a portly fraccion into action. "Gas."
Grimmjow followed Ulquiorra down the halls to the Quatra's quarters. Grimmjow nearly bumped into Ulquiorra, who had stopped suddenly. All of Grimmjow's happy feelings at seeing Nyan-chan again flew away instantly when he saw the open door. He ran inside looking around, "Ulquiorra! You left the door open?" He looked in her favorite spots, frantically searching.
Ulquiorra stood there, shaking slightly. "Grimmjow," he said softly. He repeated himself, at a normal level. Grimmjow kept looking, not hearing that Ulquiorra was calling him. Ulquiorra drew a shaky breath, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. "Grimmjow!" he almost yelled.
Grimmjow spun around, "What the hell is it, Ulquiorra! I'm trying to look for my cat!"
"Can you please stop for a second. Feel this reiatsu, there was someone here."
Grimmjow paused. "Huh?"
"It's Szayel's."
Grimmjow's eyes grew fierce and he stormed through the doors. "If he did some sort of experiment on her, or hurt her in any way I'm gonna—"
"Calm down."
"No way in hell I'm calming down." Grimmjow pushed past Ulquiorra, heading towards Szayel's lab.
"Grimmjow…" Ulquiorra whispered, worriedly. He was as concerned about Nyan-chan's safety, too, but something wasn't right. Nobody should have known that there was a cat in this room. Plus, Ulquiorra was sure he had closed the door, he always made sure to check it when he left. He closed his eyes and sighed, starting to walk after Grimmjow. This is not going to turn out well.
Nyan-chan blinked. She could feel the cold metal beneath her, and she tried to get up only to discover that she had been strapped down. Her head hurt. She didn't even remember hitting it. She had lost consciousness before she had even begun to fall. Nyan-chan took in what was around her. She was completely alone, for the moment. A door opened behind her, she couldn't see who came in, and they kept their emotions under tight reins, she couldn't sense a thing. She heard the cold tap of the person's shoes hitting the tiles. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. They echoed in the small room. Everything about this place was cold. The person finally rounded the table, she could smell him before she could see him. Szayel. She began to squirm. A sense of sick satisfaction washed over her and she shivered, struggling harder. She had to get out. He was going to kill her, but first he was going to do terrible things, she could feel it.
Szayel pulled out a syringe, "Well, Stephanie, seeing as you were only slightly a failure and you were a very bad kitty for running away from me like that, which is a derivative of your personality flaws, I'll just have to reset you. And to punish you, I'll let you witness the entire thing. You see this syringe here?" He tapped it, forcing any and all air bubbles to the top, then squeezing them out, "well, it's full of a paralytic. It'll only take away your movement so you don't hurt yourself unnecessarily." With a slightly sadistic smile set upon his face, Szayel descended upon Nyan-chan. "When you wake up, you'll be a perfect Stephanie." Nyan-chan struggled harder. She had to get away from that needle, she could not under any circumstances let this happen. Resetting would make her a doll, a mere shell with facts and instincts, but no memories or free will. She would follow a perfect "Szayel-sama," and be "perfect" herself. She would have no knowledge of what she went through outside, no love and respect for Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, nothing. She didn't want that to happen. She didn't.
Szayel grabbed the scruff of Stephanie's neck, holding it for the injection. A prick. A squeeze. Nyan-chan could feel the cold liquid running beneath her skin, soaking in, spreading. It was so cold it burned. She yowled in frustration at the top of her lungs before her vocal cords were seized and she could make no more noise. Her paws stopped moving, only twitching involuntarily at the pain that still held her body. She couldn't move an inch. She could blink and breathe, that was all that was allowed. She wondered, was this what it was going to be like after she was reset? Simply blinking, breathing, going around doing her tasks like "Stephanie," unfeeling, unthinking? She couldn't stand it, but there was nothing she could do now. She was trapped by her own body.
Grimmjow burst into the lab belligerently, yelling "Szayel!" at the top of his lungs. He looked around, seeing no sign of the man. He had to be here around somewhere. That's when he heard it. A terrible noise, coming from somewhere in the back; it tugged at his heart. Nyan-chan! He followed the noise, easily deflecting the fraccion who were trying to stop him. He had to find her. He ran through every door, only slowing slightly. He only ended up back in the room he had come from. He hadn't even turned any corners! Szayel was messing with him. Growling, Grimmjow stopped. He broke the door in front of him, then walked through. He continued, always taking the in-tact doors.
Ulquiorra walked calmly into the lab. He saw the broken door, shaking his head at the destructive nature of Grimmjow, but also praising the ingenuity. Szayel's lab was like a maze, and it could be changed around at will. It could not, however, regenerate without someone physically repairing it. Ulquiorra stepped past each broken door. Grimmjow would undoubtedly reach Szayel first, but Ulquiorra would be there in time to stop the Sexta from killing him. Ulquiorra was just as pissed off at Szayel, but he didn't let it control him.
Grimmjow made it. He broke down the final door, right as a scalpel was hovering over his precious Nyan-chan's head. She was strapped to a table, unmoving, eyes full of fear. Grimmjow glared at Grimmjow, storming over to him, rage in his blue eyes. Szayel put down the scalpel. "Now Grimmjow, let me explain something to you. This is—" He was cut off when Grimmjow's fist made contact with Szayel's nose, a satisfying crunch of cartilage could be heard echoing throughout the room. As Grimmjow readied himself for another strike, this time with Pantera, Ulquiorra stepped through the rubble of the broken door.
"Grimmjow," he said quickly in the sternest tone Ulquiorra had ever used with the man, especially recently. Grimmjow froze, then sheathed his sword, glaring daggers at Szayel, who was holding his face, blood dripping through his fingers and down his arm.
Grimmjow turned to the table, quickly untying the restraints and freeing Nyan-chan. In the meantime, Szayel had moved to a table and placed something over his nose. A second later the bleeding stopped, and the cartilage reformed. He stood a safe distance away from Grimmjow before continuing. "As I was saying, this is Stephanie. I created her about a year ago, for the purposes of surveillance. She was flawed. She escaped, and somehow you two picked her up. I'm simply reclaiming my experiment and fixing her."
Ulquiorra didn't know when he had done it, but he had Murciélago unsheathed and pointed at Szayel's throat. "I don't care what she was originally for. We will be taking her, as you have already deemed her a 'failure,' I doubt you will have any problems with that, Octava." Szayel cut his losses and shook his head. He valued his life much more than a single failed experiment. He narrowed his eyes, however, at the obvious pull of rank.
Grimmjow cut in as Ulquiorra sheathed Murciélago. "What the hell did you do to her, bastard?" Szayel adjusted his glasses, replying matter-of-factly, "It is only a paralytic to keep her from moving while I repaired her. It should wear off in about an hour." Grimmjow picked Nyan-chan up gingerly, and carried her towards the broken doors. He shot bitterly over his shoulder, "Hey Ulquiorra, think you could punch him again more me?" Ulquiorra turned and walked away from Szayel, "Sorry, Grimmjow, but I'm not controlled by rage like you are." Grimmjow almost chuckled bitterly, he really did want to cut Szayel to shreds for this, the bastard needed to pay for almost hurting his precious Nyan-chan. But at that moment, as he walked through the last door into the hallways, he was just glad that she was alright.
A/N: So I had no clue what was going to happen after I finished the fifth chapter… Then I was talking to my friend on Skype, and I was like "SZAYEL'S GONNA BE MEAN. I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT I KNOW HE IS." And I was talking to her and then all of a sudden I was like "OH GOD." And she was like "WHAT?" And I was like "I KNOW HAPPENS NEXT." Don't you love my "and _ was like" descriptions? I know you do, it's why you love me 3 BUT YEAH. SZAYEL'S A BASTARD. I HATE HIM. D: (And then she was like "You're a frackin' dork" and I was like "I know…" But she writes too, so she knows what it's about :D )
Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I feel sorry for Nyan-chan. And I haven't even written anything yet. So far I'm right after Ulquiorra's thinking about how it doesn't feel right. And then my friend sent me a link to an article that Justin Bieber allegedly got this chick pregnant. And then I was telling my roommate (who doesn't care, apparently) about how I want to buy Mistress Penelopye's book. But it's like $16 and I would have to buy it online. I would need to use the credit card, and then my mom would be like "oh what's this" and I would have to explain, and I don't know how she would feel about it. ANYWAYS. This has nothing to do with my fic :D
Okay, so I didn't do mean terrible things to Nyan-chan, thank goodness, but I promise the fic won't end here! This didn't really go in any sort of direction that I had thought it would, and I don't know if it still qualifies as Romance/Humor as it was classified as at the beginning… What the hell is it now? I don't even know. Yeah, even I want more romance in here, so I guess I'll get to that in the next chapter… IT'S NOT OVER YET PEOPLE, I PROMISE!