Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.

I'm stepping up the posting rate because I promised someone a story and I can't settle to it until I've put this one to bed.

Shadow Puppets

Chapter 21

Stephanie had hoped that it would feel more satisfying. The first one had been, a little. The garbage disposal had swallowed the Hershey bar with a mechanical snarl that mirrored the way she felt inside and she'd felt a little curl of satisfaction at the destruction.

But it hadn't lasted past the third bar. She'd fed it candy bars, doughnuts and cake and all she felt was empty.

"Babe."

She looked up, and Ranger was there watching her.

"What are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Nothing."

He cast a deliberate eye over the candy piled next to her on the counter.

She followed his gaze. "So?"

"Why are you putting candy down the garbage disposal?"

"I'd have thought you'd approve."

"Cut the crap, Steph. What's going on?"

"I thought it would make me feel better."

"Because you can't eat them."

"It was an idea."

"And do you feel better?"

"No." She leaned over and fed a Snickers bar into the disposal anyway, leaning over to watch its demise. The blades sliced and ground it to sticky pulp in a whirl of steel.

"Steph."

The edge in his voice dragged her attention back to him and she realized that her face was a few inches from the blades.

He reached up and dragged her off the counter by her ankle to land in a heap on the floor. He picked her up and held her by the shoulders. "You have to stop this, Steph."

"Stop what? I can't do anything to stop. I just hide in this apartment and wait for someone to save me. And this time you can't do it because you need saving too. If we even can be saved. Sitting here waiting for things to happen doesn't work for me. I'm helpless and it's driving me nuts."

Ranger gave her a searching look and the way he held her changed. The grip on her shoulders eased but at the same time his stance became predatory. "You know, this doesn't have to be the end of the world. There are still ways you could relieve tension."

"Like what? All my usual methods are out. Hell, if I tried to use my shower massager, Ella would have to put me in the tumble drier afterwards."

"Yeah, but there's still one of the three F's left." He leaned in close, his eyes fixed on hers, his voice a whisper. "Can't feed, can't fuck. So, the question is, what can you do?"

She stared at him.

He moved in even closer, until she expected sparks of static to crackle across the gap between the layers of felt and breathed one word in her ear. "Fight."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Think about it. We're made of felt. We can't get hurt, as long as we avoid fire and blades."

"We still feel pain."

"It's no fun without the prospect of pain. No rush."

"You're sick."

"I warned you about that a long time ago. Too late to run now. So, what do you say?" He grinned. "Do you want to try to hurt me?"

She moaned and slumped over, and he leaned over her with sudden concern.

"Steph?"

She waited until he was hovering over her and brought her head up hard, smashing it into his face. It should have shattered his nose, but instead it just threw his felt body up and away to land on the floor with a soft thump.

"Let's do it."

"Good move," he said as he sat up. "Can you take it too?"

"I'm ready to find out."

"Remember you said that." He sprang to his feet and charged at her.

"Shit!" she yelped, and bolted for the door.

He was on her before she got halfway there. He picked her up in a parody of a bridegroom's lift and threw her against the wall. She hit it and slid down it to the ground, breathing hard out of habit rather than need.

He waited in the middle of the room watching her. "Peace?"

She nodded and he joined her on the floor.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"How do you feel now?"

"Alive. Exhilarated. And turned on as hell."

"De aquí no hay retorno cariño mío. Bienvenida a la oscuridad."

*Welcome to the dark side, my love. No turning back now.*

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Want to stop now?"

"Never. Hit me."

He picked her up by the neck and threw her across the room.

* * *

"Hey Bobby," Hal called from the monitors, "we have activity at the Anderson's warehouse, camera nine. I think it's just a cat though. Can you activate the other camera and check that side for me?"

"Sure." Bobby walked over and called up the image of a door on another monitor.

Something moved at the corner of his vision and he spun to watch open mouthed as a brawling mass of puppet limbs rolled through the doorway and into the control room. As he looked on, the tangle separated itself into Ranger and Stephanie.

Stephanie backed up and moved behind a chair as Ranger stalked her.

"Give in?" he said as he cornered her by the filing cabinets.

"Hell no." She crouched down slightly and hurled herself forward to try to barrel through the gap, past his outstretched hand.

He lunged and grabbed her hair as she passed, yanking her back and throwing her against the filing cabinet with a soft thump. He held her there by the throat and pressed his body against hers, pinning her against the metal. "How about now?"

She writhed against him in a sinuous movement and murmured, "Never," before bringing a knee up sharply between his legs and shoving him up and away from her.

She raced past his prone body and back out through the doorway.

A second later Ranger got up laughing and said, "Oh, you're paying for that one," before following her.

Bobby stared at the doorway for a long moment. "What the fuck was that?" he said to the empty air.

"The closest they can get to it, I'm guessing," Hal said behind him.

"But I didn't say that," he added hastily as Bobby swung around to stare at him instead. "It's none of my business."

Bobby continued to stare at him.

"Can we just look for this damn cat?" Hal asked desperately.

"Cat. Yeah." Bobby shook his head and turned back to the screens. "Let's look for this damned cat."

* * *

Stephanie sat on the parapet and dangled her legs over the street far below, this time with Ranger sitting next to her doing the same. They watched the people far below, going about their lives unaware of their existence.

"I guess I finally know why I can't quit my job," she said.

"Why?"

"This. The challenge. The fear. Even the pain. Living on the edge is addictive."

"It's what we are underneath all the layers of civilization. Most people never find out what they are."

"What are we?"

"At the core, primal. Animals. Feed, fight, fuck. Survive."

"You're crazy."

"But you're not thinking about falling off the building any more, are you?"

"No."