Chapter 7, Seize
Eager to begin their lessons, Garth couldn't help but wake up as the sun started to rise the next morning. Only other one up was Liz, who was making a brew called Conic, though many called it Oil, due to it's black-brown appearance. It smelled rich and deep, with a little bitterness, almost akin to dark chocolate mixed with a nutty aroma.
"Mmmm, that smells great." Garth said as he sat on a chair and put his arms on the counter. "Didn't know there was any Oil around."
"I had it," Liz snickered, "I lifted it from a café not too far away."
Garth shook his head a bit, "Quite the thief huh?"
"You know it, so, you're the musician eh? Was this vocal-group your idea?"
"Kinda, I always liked playing, though the idea of a group was Clint's. Sounds like yer gonna stick around."
She shrugged as she poured herself a cup, "I ain't got anything better; besides, this place is more comfortable than the street. Plus, this idea sounds fun if we can pull it off."
"How'd ya get hooked up with us?"
His question made her chuckle a bit as she sipped her drink. "Ran into your friends yesterday the one nicknamed Gaze has a bit of a crush." She said the last part with a touch of sarcasm, due to how obvious it was.
"How ya feel? I mean, obviously yer still here."
She shrugged again, "Eh, he's cute, might be possible. Heard you have a girl to?"
Garth blushed a bit, "Well, sorta, we got split in the orphanage and I'm trying to find her, just have no clue where to start."
Liz's expression softened a bit, "Sorry kid, that's rough, hope you can find her."
A rough grunt and yawn rang out as Tucker woke. His somewhat scrawny frame stretched as he yawned and looked around. "Someone brewing some Oil?"
"Want some?" Liz offered as she reached for a cup.
"That would be great kid, whatcha doing up so early eh?"
"Always kind of a morning person, besides, really wanted some good Oil." She handed him his cup of the brew, "Garth here is really eager to start lessons, and I'm kinda excited myself."
Tucker smirked a bit as he sipped the drink, "Get back to me when we're done," He raised his cup, "Thanks for the Oil." He downed the rest of his drink before burping lightly and putting a light in his mouth and striking it. "How about you wake your pals kid," He said looking at Garth. "Then we'll get a quick bite and start your first lesson."
"Speaking of a bite," Liz stated as she pulled out some packages of muffins. "Figured we could all use something for breakfast." She tossed one to Garth as he got up.
Garth thanked her as he tore the package open and took a bite. He had eaten half of the sweet as he approached the living room in which the others slept. He grinned lightly and shook his head as Gaze lay belly-down on the back of the couch; some drool drizzled from the corner of his mouth. Garth marveled at the positions Gaze was able to sleep in and wondered how he managed to get into them. He lightly shook his shoulder, "Heyo, time to get up!"
Gaze snorted and wiped his chin off and stretched reluctantly as Garth repeated the process with Clint and Scrapper.
About five minutes later, the three other teenage kits stumbled into the kitchen and dug into the muffins Liz had lifted.
Getting some food in their stomachs, Tucker ushered them into the living room and sat down on a stool in the middle. He had the four teen boys sit around him, while Liz leaned against the wall and watched.
"Now, we have to build-up and strengthen your voices and respiratory systems. Do these at least once a day and we will do them before any singing lesson. Here's one example and you all have probably done it at some point," so saying, Tucker closed him mouth. It was evident by the position of his chin that his teeth were open and his throat moved a bit as he hummed. As he hummed, his pitch started off low and progressively went higher, before he brought it back down. "Keep your teeth apart and close your lips is the key, it allows the sound to resonate... Now, each of you do the same thing." He motioned to them to begin and they started the drill.
A cacophony of hums in various pitches rang out as the four mimicked the drill.
"Each time, try to make it longer and exercise your voice. You'll find that you'll go a bit longer each time and your stamina will increase as well. Each of you, do it five times... go."
Catenary nodded as Kipper agreed to his terms. "Smart choice... would you please stay for a bit more actually?"
"Thought you wanted me to go?"
The older lombax shrugged as he poured another glass of wine. "I'm very prone to changing my mind, might be my only weakness... so, sit down. Also, don't talk unless I expressly say to, that is very important. You speak out of turn when my guest arrives, there will be dire consequences for both of us, got it?"
"Fine, when are they..." He looked up as a beautiful lombax female approached.
She wore a deep blue evening dress with white accents that complimented her rich, gold fur and black stripes. Her ice-blue eyes shimmered like diamonds in the relaxing light of the restaurant. A bigger lombax in high-end clothing followed behind her, he looked around and scanned the room as they approached the table. They saw quite a few, high-ranking lombaxes sitting around. Some were Guards, some were businessmen and women, and there were even two Chiefs present.
"Ah Ms. Prism, a pleasure," Catenary smiled and took her hand before giving her gloved hand a light kiss.
"Professor Catenary, quite the charmer I see."
"I try; being polite makes business so much easier. I must say, fine choice this place; please sit down."
The lady eyed Kipper as she took a seat opposite Catenary, "Who's your friend? Would say he's your bodyguard but he isn't is he?"
"No, he's just an associate of mine of no consequence." He sipped his wine a bit, "Mmm... may I get you a drink before we get into business?" He waved a waiter over.
Ms. Prism looked up, "I'll have the Raxue Sev with fruit."
"Yes ma'am, that'll be right out." He put his pad away and headed back towards the bar.
Once the waiter was out of earshot, Catenary took on a bored expression as he leaned back a bit. "So, did you get what I need?"
"I did, though there's a change of plans." She said with a slightly coy tone.
Despite her obvious, antagonizing manner, Catenary held little expression or any physical response, outside of his bored demeanor. "Which is?" His tone of voice sounded slightly annoyed and impatient in a condescending way before he sipped his wine again and her drink arrived.
While no amateur, and not one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, Ms. Prism subconsciously gave a micro-expression of frustration at his hastening as she grasped her drink in her hand. "Double the pay, think of it as insurance that your item gets to you, and in one piece. Would be unfortunate if it wound up in the wrong hands." She sipped the strong alcohol and studied him, waiting for a response.
Downing the last of his wine and setting the glass on the table, the Professor looked up. Kipper, for a reason that shot from the base of his instinct, felt unnerved by how calm Catenary was and how hard it was to figure out what he was thinking. But what happened next, drove that nervous tension deeper as Catenary began to chuckle and rubbed his face.
"What's so funny?" Prism asked with a raised brow.
"I was just..." He started laughing lightly and quickly composed himself. "I'm sorry... really, was just expecting... more..." He held his hand up and waved his fingers and a red dot appeared on the chest of Prism's bodyguard.
The guard looked down and his expression hardened but he didn't panic or otherwise move.
Prism's expression also turned hard and focused, "You kill him..."
"That's not all of it," Catenary cut her off and leaned forward. "Tell, me, how was the drink? Your favorite is Raxue Sev with Fruit, how'd it taste with botulinum toxin?"
In a second, Prism's hard face dissipated.
"Oh, before we go any further, might need some privacy." He snapped his fingers thrice and the room fell silent. Waiters stopped walking, people stopped talking mid-sentence; then, without a word, they all began to quietly file out of the room. It took a few seconds, and as they moved, Catenary simply sat there with a very slight smirk that was both condescending, yet very intimidating. Kipper could only watch in amazement as others of rank and file cleared the room upon command.
Only one person remained, he was a fit lombax in his mid-thirties, and he had a horizontal scar on his cheek that cut into his dark blue fur. It was clear to Kipper, that he was Catenary's guard.
Dropping her strong composure, fear was evident on Prism's face as her lips and tongue began to feel numb. This made her instinctively touched her face.
"Feeling numb already? Oh don't worry my dear, you have a few hours. Send your friend here to get what you promised, and then we'll talk about antitoxin." He looked up at the bodyguard, "Now, would you go please fetch the item?"
The guard gave a sideways-glance to Prism, who nodded lightly.
Kipper, who had learned early-on how to keep his cool, only had the slightest expression of being awestruck/afraid. Inwardly, he was extremely impressed with Catenary and this display with Prism, whom he had heard of, only cemented his resolve to follow the professor.
The tour over, the kits and their parents started to exit the facility. Some looked tired, some looked glad to be done with it, some looked to be a combination of the two, and others seemed as if they wanted nothing more than to go back in.
Seth and Alistair looked to be in the combination of tired/bored category, while Kaden and Weiss were in the later.
"When's the next tour?" Weiss asked her dad giddily.
He chuckled at her eagerness, "Not for a while, but maybe I can take you in one day."
She giggled and was beaming, "Thanks dad!"
"Well," Seth started before yawning and stretching, "I hope we go to a Guard's post next time."
"That would be great!" Alistair chimed in, "Maybe we could see some Guards go through some combat drills!"
Before the four kids could continue, their parents called for them, indicating it was time to leave.
It was then that Weiss got an idea and tugged on her dad's arm. "Hey dad, can Kaden, Seth and Alistair spend the night?"
Her dad thought for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I don't see any harm in it, besides, I know their parents pretty well. I'll just have to make sure it's okay with your mother."
She smiled and hugged her adopted dad's waist. "Thanks dad!" She quickly scurried over to Kaden and the brothers and invited them over.
Garth gasped and rubbed his neck, his throat was a bit sore from all of the drills Tucker made them do. The feeling was mutual among his three friends; who all were either, rubbing their necks or getting drinks of water to soothe their aching vocal chords.
Clint's voice was a bit raspy, "Didn't know usin' yer voice could wear ya out this much." He coughed a bit and cleared his throat.
"Right?" Scrapper concurred as he sipped a glass of water. "Didn't know there were such things as singin' drills."
Unlike his friends, Garth had a light understanding of the drills. As such, he wasn't as sore. Still, he didn't expect it to be quite that hard, but he was just glad that they were practicing. It felt natural to him, despite the ache, he felt accomplished and for once, he felt like everything was right. "Yer voice is like any other instrument," He explained to his friends, "Gotta use it and tune it, and the more we use em, the better and easier it'll be."
Tucker nodded in agreement, "As well, the more you learn, the more difficult the songs and drills become... speaking of songs, you guys have any?"
Gaze, Clint, and Scrapper all looked at Garth.
"Uh, well... I have a few and some ideas... though don't think they're all that good." The kid responded sheepishly.
"Don't be shy kid, show us what ya got," Tucker responded as he sat down on the couch and offered Garth his Outlier.
Garth gulped nervously and quickly made sure it was in tune before he started.
A high roller even when the chips are down
To win her over, I'd seen the tables turn around
She's ten the hard way; I can feel it in my bones
She'll be makin' my day and not another night alone
Til it's time for a windfall and not a single minute too soon
I've been too long overdue, now I'm gonna shoot the moon
I'd bet it all on a good run of bad luck
Seven come eleven and she could be mine
Luck be a lady, and I'm gonna find love comin' on the bottom line
For a kid, Garth managed to pull off some impressive strumming between the chorus and verse.
I've been to the table, and I've lost it all before
I'm willin' and able, always comin' back for more
Squeezin' out a thin dime 'til there's no one hanging on my arm
I've gambled on a third time, a fool will tell you it's a charm
If I'm bettin' on a loser, I'm gonna have a devil to pay
But it's the only game I know to play, it doesn't matter anyway
I'd bet it all on a good run of bad luck
Seven come eleven and she could be mine
Luck be a lady, and I'm gonna find love comin' on the bottom line
I'd bet it all on a good run of bad luck
Seven come eleven and she could be mine
Luck be a lady, and I'm gonna find love comin' on the bottom line
Garth looked up as he strummed the last few notes; he knew he has missed a few notes, and it was far from a great performance.
Yet, Tucker nodded in approval, "A bit rough, but with some polish, it could be great..." He was interrupted by a loud knocking on the front door.
"Hello! Endesi Delivery! Your takeout is here!" A voice came from the other side.
Everyone looked at each other curiously, all except for Tucker who suddenly went stone-faced. "Kids, go back into the backroom..."
"Wha..." Clint started before Tucker grabbed his custom-made Outlier and pushed a button on its side. An energy pistol slid out from a hidden compartment and he grabbed it.
"Go... now!"
Before they could move, a loud crash came from the front door being broken down and some large lombaxes ran in. They all had black, metal masks that obscured their faces, other than that, they all wore street clothes. They were armed with stun batons and pistols as they charged Tucker and the kids.
Tucker opened fire on them, hitting two right off.
The kits all got wide eyes.
Scrapper scrambled for his gauntlet while the rest searched for their pistols.
One of the attackers managed to duck a shot and tackled Tucker, allowing others to get past and they ran at the kids with their stun batons. He kicked away the thug's pistol as he tried to draw it on him and he two began to brawl.
Garth reached where he put his small plasma pistol just as he felt someone grab him around the waist. He yelped as he was grabbed and got hold of his gun at the same time. Without thinking, he jammed the gun into the side of his grabber and pulled the trigger three times. His grabber yelled and dropped the stun baton in his other hand before slumping over.
Not having time to get his pistol, Clint instead charged the assailant closest to him, throwing an elbow at his torso as he rammed him and the thug yelped in surprise. He grabbed onto the attacker's hand at the wrist to keep his stun baton away and tried to disarm him of it as the assailant started to sling him around.
The big, lombax teen found his gauntlet and put it on. He yelled as he spun and threw a punch with it at one of the intruders. It struck him right above the chin and left a decent dent in his mask and the thug fell onto his back. Another one charged Scrapper and started trying to hit him with a baton, which Scrapper tried to parry with his gauntlet.
Gaze yelled for Liz to run and tried to help open a window to escape from, but was struck in the back by one of the masked intruders. He yelled and collapsed, groaning as he did. Liz yelled as the attacker started to pick up Gaze and she leapt on him, trying to claw and kick at him making him flail and struggle to get her off of him.
Both Garth and Clint saw Gaze get hit and collapse and something within Clint snapped as a feral rage presented itself on the teen's face as a thug grabbed him from behind. The attacker tried to bring down a baton into his chest but Clint caught that arm and sank his teeth into the thug's forearm, making him scream.
Garth yelled in anger as well and fired his pistol more furiously. However, he quickly ran out of ammo and tried to take one head on. A sharp pain in his stomach ran through his body and things went blurry before going dark.
Enraged yells came from Liz as the assailant she was attacking grabbed her by the arm and slung her off of him. She yelped as she was slung back-first into the wall and groaned. The blow was hard and she coughed a bit, gasping for breath as the thug resumed picking up Gaze. He hoisted the unconscious teen to his shoulder and ran out, followed by the one that carried Garth.
Tucker had the assailant he was brawling on top of him and started to get wailed upon. He yelped as his face started to get bloody as he frantically searched for something and saw something shiny from his peripheral vision. He quickly managed to grab a pistol that had fallen and blew a hole in the chest of intruder he had been brawling. The intruder yelped before being kicked over by Tucker, who scrambled to his feet. He did so just in time as a knee rammed his head and he gasped as everything went blurry and he groaned as the blow heavily stunned him.
Scrapper yelled as a plasma round hit his leg and he fell, holding his wound. The next thing he saw was an energy baton hitting him in the head.
The thug who was bitten by Clint, was now on the ground and a bloody mess as Clint had claimed a baton and had bashed him pretty well. The furious teen had blood all over his face as slammed the baton into the closest assailant.
Recognizing the threat this now-feral kit posed, the last three attackers charged him at once.
Roars of ferocity and rage rang out as Clint was quickly overwhelmed and struck multiple times with batons and subdued. He groaned lightly as he was lifted and carried away, and the remaining attackers ran.
Tucker groaned as he just started to regain his senses and shakily stood up.
The young lombax gangster stood in the lobby with the prestigious professor. The business he had done with Ms. Prism concluded, Catenary lit an old-looking pipe and puffed from it.
"What did she give you?" Kipper asked with a slightly bold tone.
The professor gave a sideways glance, "A list, a very important one."
"What about them? My crew? They're going to be taken tomorrow." His voice was a hushed tone.
He sighed, "It's an unfortunate move that is necessary, need to draw out a certain monster and I happen to know what he likes..." A bitterness and subdued anger tinted his last few words and he gave another sideways look. His eyes weren't confident, happy, or cold as he had been earlier. Now, Kipper just saw an intensity he hadn't seen in even the worst of the Cevians.
What Catenary said did the opposite of reassure Kipper, it instead made his stomach turn in unease.
"I'll be in touch kid, do as I say, and you'll do fine." The silver-furred professor waved as he went his way. "Have a good night Kipper Lemma."
The young lombax sighed and walked the opposite way. The sinking feeling in his stomach grew worse as he felt helpless to stop what would happen. Needing some comfort, he pulled out his comm and called his mother to talk.
Everything was covered in a haze, or looked to be, according to Garth as he opened his eyes. Everything he heard sounded distorted, as if he were listening through a wall or door. He felt completely disoriented, not knowing how he wound up wherever he was. Even the fight felt like a vague, distant memory.
With each passing second though, everything was clearing up and he realized, with horror, the situation.
It was dark, but there were a few beams of light; just enough for him to see. Regaining his senses, the first thing he could discern was not sight. He smelled metal, cold metal, soured sweat, and the putrid smell akin to vomit. He gagged and tried to cover his nose, but he could not move. Blinking a bit and his vision came into focus. He gulped nervously as he looked around.
He, Clint, and Gaze had their hands bound behind their backs and their feet were tied as well. Each of them had a gag in their mouths and Clint had a muzzle on top of that. They were in some kind of transport, lying in the storage section and he whimpered in fear.
Hey guys, whatcha think?
Life's been crazy, especially in regards to work and such. That and was rather anxious to get this chapter done right.
I'm curious, what do you think of Garth, Clint, and Catenary?
So any thoughts, criticisms and such would be great! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message.
Stay tuned for more!