Zela realized how complacent she'd gotten in the cells after one night. Perhaps it was the fact that it was away from her father, or that it was because she, for some reason, felt safe with Marcetheus. But as she sat down in her cell and curled up in her corner, Zelaphelia was reminded that in the end, she was in the Warehouse, and that it was a cell she was being kept in, and she was still a prisoner of the Hidden Paw…
~^..^~
The faint aura of sunlight crossed over the cells through the slight opening that performed as a window. It was the only portal that was built to level between the underground and the open air. Really, it was a hole dug up a few inches through the ground and barred to support the small part of the building on the solid dirt. It gave Marceth the smallest taste of light for the past few weeks since his job had started. The tortoiseshell's eyes blinked as the sun came over his face. He took in a deep breath and immediately sat up in his chair. As he guarded the cells, Marceth began sleeping while sitting, which gave him an aching soreness that lasted for days. Normally the pain traveled up through his shoulders to his lower back. It only seemed to get worse every time he slept in irregular places. The habit was growing fiercer as his breaks and days-off grew shorter.
Fortunately, he'd be able to sleep in a bed in a day or so and let Jezabella take care of the prisoner. She decided to be chivalrous, which became the most decency shown to him these past few weeks…excluding his conversation with Zelaphelia. Marceth watched her sleep inside the cell. The aphotic realm of shadows that overcame the prison made him wish the sunlight touched her. He wasn't sure why, but she was always very lacked in energy when she was around him, but that wasn't what confused him at all. She was actually quite different from how he pictured his first real prisoner to guard. First off, she was a female; secondly she was a mystical cat; and thirdly, she had the ability to shock him. He never expected that. The Jellicles, to him, were cold, untrustworthy, careless, and cruel.
The tortoiseshell sighed to himself. Maybe he had been wrong? But Macavity always said that this statement was true. He'd proven it, and Jeza did more than vouch for him. Marcetheus blinked as the faint sunlight stretched out over the cells. He could visibly make out an outline of his prisoner's fur. Marceth stood up and strode to the barring of the cell. He lowered his voice, which was slightly raspy. "Um… Zelaphelia?" he called barely above a whisper.
He saw the golden-red queen stir very subtly before her eyelids opened to reveal a groggy violet color with small traces of gold in her stare, "What?" she asked in a harsh tone. Marceth frowned, noting never to wake her up if this was her mood.
He quickly let go of the bars and backed away, "I… was checking if you were awake, Miss." He replied formally, "I'll be back… with food."
"Good…" she mumbled, lowering her head back to the ground.
Marcetheus sighed again and unlocked the door from inside. He wasn't too panicked that she would try to escape. Actually, that had confused him. She basically boasted the fact that she had the power to leave, so why didn't she? Perhaps Macavity was keeping her here with something? The tortoiseshell tom sighed again as he swiftly shut the door again and used the keys he had to lock the door again. He rushed up the dark steps that were dimly lit by the open door. As he looked over the main level once reaching the top step, he saw Benthelo, napping on his guard duty. Marceth rolled his eyes. He now saw why the black tom wasn't put into a guarding position. "BEN!" he screeched roughly into his ear.
Benthelo suddenly shot up and practically screamed. The tortoiseshell couldn't help but smirk at the assassin's reaction. "Morning, sunshine." He greeted.
The black tom suddenly glared as he stood up. He was probably a few inches taller than Marceth, but it didn't bother the tortoiseshell at all. Benthelo glared down, "Screaming into someone's ear? Mature."
Marceth raised an eyebrow, "Mocking me in front of a prisoner? Even more mature. Is that how you get your kicks? Demeaning everyone else?" The tortoiseshell quietly hung his ring of keys up by a nail. He saw Benthelo briefly eying them, but didn't think anything of it.
The black tom shrugged, "Not my fault that poor queen got stuck with the most pathetic tom to guard her."
Marcetheus rolled his eyes, deciding not to respond. He walked off into the opening and out through the main entrance to kill some birds outside the Warehouse. What he hadn't noticed was that as soon as he had gone, Ben had grabbed his keys and ran down the steps that lead into the cells…
~^..^~
Zela stared around in the corner of her cell, feeling sore and very bored. The pain of training made her feel sorry for henchcats. She thought she survived all that hard labor because she was a mystic, but it was even harder than she expected. Why she couldn't elude her father was becoming clear to her. He was a mastermind in every sense of the word; murder, torture, heist, manipulation, hypnotism, and above all trickery. The guilt of not expecting him to make an attack on her was gnawing at the back of her mind. All of the dispiriting work and negative treatment was his way of trying to break her. But she couldn't give up yet. Zela knew if rescue never came, then she probably would give in, but for now, she had to stay stronger than even her father. She also had to remember to not trust anyone in the Warehouse that easily, especially her guard, who she knew she was getting too close to.
Suddenly, a creak from the cell doors edged through her ears. Zelaphelia's attention turned slightly to the door, believing that Marceth had come with breakfast, , but to her surprise and disdain, it was the henchcat from upstairs with the keys. She raised an eyebrow. "Why are you down here?" she asked gruffly.
The black tom smirked at her, taking the ring of keys in hand and putting them in the lock of her cell. Zela's head perked up flinchingly in both confusion and anxiety. He noticed this, "You're awfully jumpy." He commented smoothly, letting the bar door open.
"What do you want...?" she asked sharply. The gold-red queen stood up and moved to the other side of the cell.
"Simply here to say hello to you...Zela, isn't it?" He crooned, walking in slowly, "I feel sorry that no one keeps you company. I bet that idiot, Marceth, doesn't even speak to you properly. He's stiff like that…" The black tom's dull tone gently purred into her ears, but anything he said felt like a nail scratched over a chalkboard to her.
The gold-red queen backed away a step as he came closer to her. She would have been much braver if it weren't for that fact that she couldn't use magic to protect herself, nor could she harm the henchcat. Ben took a few steps closer as Zela backed into the corner. She wasn't sure why she wasn't fighting or doing something to defend herself. The door was wide open and she could easily run, but the question if Macavity would punish her for it with Teazer and Mungo hung on her mind. The black tom smirked, "You haven't been touched before by a tom, have you? Not in the right way…"
Zela ruthlessly spat at his feet and gave him a glare. "Go. Away." She growled lowly.
Ben didn't react through his facial expression. Instead, he roughly slammed his forearm on her collarbone and pressed her against the wall. "Why would I do that?" he asked, suddenly smirking, "That wouldn't be much fun… And besides, you're a very pretty queen, even if you are… you know, grimy and all cut-up from the boss." He gave slight shrug and a lustful grin.
The gold-red queen squirmed, escaping his grasp. She headed for the other side of the cell, but she was quickly stopped when the black tom caught her, yanking on her wrist. Zela was knocked back by his grip, and ran into his chest. She would have dashed off again if he hadn't wrapped both his arms around her. His muscles tightly tensed around her body, and the only thing Zela could do was writhe around. Ben pushed her to the ground and landed on top of her.
I'm stronger than this! She screamed to herself, He's just a henchcat! Don't let him hurt you! But she knew that this order was not going to save her. The tom had pinned both her paws by the time she convinced herself that she needed to fight back. The gold-red queen squirmed around, but it did nothing but cause more pain. The black tom bent down and begun whispering in her ear, "I'm going to show you what a real tom does with a queen like you." He chuckled darkly, "You need it, seeing how tightly wound the boss has you wrapped around his claw…"
Zela tried squirming again, kicking the air, but wasn't getting anywhere. He forced her down harder into the ground pressing the side of his face by her ear, "Don't squirm around, it'll only hurt if you do. But trust me, I'm helping. You need to loosen up and get used to it here as quickly as possible… You ain't going anywhere…"
The gold-red female shuddered has he roughly kissed the side of her face, and looked about ready to force himself into her. Zela couldn't help but twist as he sat on top of her, needing some way of escape. She stared around and avoided the henchcat's soulless gaze, looking for anything she could grab or use. But before she did anything, a sudden voice shouted into her cell, "BENTHELO, GET THE HELL OFF HER!"
Zela was barely able to turn her head to find her guard crash into her den. He didn't hesitate to pounce on the black tom sitting on her, and she didn't hesitate to stand up and back away from them in a corner of the cell. The gold-red queen witnessed them wrestle, Ben having the upper paw for a short time before Marcetheus suddenly grew in strength and pinned his opponent to the ground. "You idiot!" he growled at Benthelo's face, "You DO NOT touch any of my prisoners!" Marceth rashly gripped the black tom's head fur and slammed his skull on the ground, "If you ever do anything like that again…" he continued, "…I'll kill you."
The tortoiseshell tom immediately stood, dragging the henchcat up with him, "Now get out of the cells before I kick your ass out of here myself!" He strode over to the door of the Zela's cell and pushed Benthelo out.
The black tom's fur was ruffled and his eyes were harsh and bellicose when directed towards Marceth, but as his gaze turned to Zela, he lightly smirked before swiftly turning around, leaving the cell doors open. Marcetheus quickly rushed to where the henchcat exited and slammed the entrance, quickly locking it with the keys he'd taken out of Zela's cell lock. He turned again in a pivot turn and shut the door of the cell.
Zela stared at him with a bit of a dazed look. She barely realized what happened until he was standing in front of her with a pacing breath and shocked eyes, "I'm sorry…" he breathed.
The gold-red queen gulped, mostly in some feeling of embarrassment and crudeness. "Yeah, you should be. Why the hell did you do that?"
He gave her a look of confusion. Zela actually wasn't sure what she was doing, but she knew that she should have been able to rescue herself without his help. The only way she really wanted to react was to lash out on Marcetheus. He stepped forward by the bars, "Uh, I was saving you from being raped by a mad henchcat, that's why I did it!"
"I didn't need your help." She stated simply in response, glaring at him and standing up to meet him by the bars. He was glaring at her, but she couldn't have cared less.
The tortoiseshell tom scoffed, "You're one ungrateful queen. Do the Jellicles raise you to be spoiled, arrogant, little brats? Or did you want to get sexually assaulted?"
She rolled her eyes, "No they don't, and I would have been fine…" she grumbled, realizing that he was right and she needed to admit it. She looked away from him, but then glanced back, "Thanks anyway, though…" she said quietly.
He sighed and backed away from the bars, "You're kind of a pain; you know that?"
Zela nodded, looking into his golden eyes, "Sorry about that…" she explained, sitting back down.
Marcetheus stared at her for a few moments before sitting back down. He was unusually calm, but the only thing he made as his reaction was a solitary nod of forgiveness. Zelaphelia slightly grinned as she crawled over to her corner. The tortoiseshell was interesting to her now. "Oh yeah…" he murmured, standing back up. The gold-red female looked up. He quickly slid a dead bird into her cell that he had dropped near his seat, "I brought you breakfast…"
~^..^~
The day had gone by in the Warehouse normally, and Macavity had been watching his daughter's progression while training with Jezabella. She was languid in the work that was given to her; emotionless and lacking in motivation. But for some reason, no matter what job Jeza gave her, the gold-red female was indefatigable. He never saw a queen look so strong in his Warehouse. Jezabella had been drilling her with labor work, and sometimes making her fight henchcats, which she didn't seem to have a problem with doing. She still wasn't allowed to use magic, but even without it, Zela was progressing in regular training. It may have only been a couple of days now, but Macavity knew that he needed to begin showing her his secrets. It wasn't like she was going anywhere.
The Hidden Paw ordered Jezabella to send Zelaphelia to his den after all of her daily training had been worn through. It was near sunset at the time, and Macavity waited with himself in the middle of his room, pacing impatiently. There was an almost irresistible urge to try and fight her himself, simply to see how she was improving physically, but he was able to push that feeling away, for now. What he wanted to show her that evening would prove whether she would be able to stand working here and keep hold of her sanity. The importance of the topic grew in the ginger tom's mind with every minute that passed by.
Suddenly, the door was opened, and a small queen precariously walked in with a frown lining the corners of her mouth. Macavity huffed once as she entered into the room. "It's about damn time." He muttered to her. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?"
Zela narrowed her eyes at him, but stayed silent. Macavity huffed again. "The correct answer to that question is 'No, Father.'"
She nodded solemnly. Macavity scowled. He knew how much she hated him and denied the fact that she was his kin, but she would have to realize it someday soon, in order for her to be broken-in. "Say it." He ordered.
The gold-red queen's lips curled back in hesitance. Finally she looked at her paws, mumbling the phrase to him; "No, Father…" He grinned, knowing that the words were torturous to his daughter, but it simply made him all the more amused.
"Good, now you know what I plan to teach you, correct?"
She glared at her paws. "Yes."
"Yes, what?" he growled.
Her glare intensified. "Yes, Father."
Macavity grinned again, though he couldn't help but have a taste of remembrance, feeling as though he had heard Barnabas say 'Yes Sir.' In the exact same tone she used.
"Better." He said, though he wished slightly that her words were more in reverence. Maybe someday they would be, but for now, he would be able to stand her cold words. "You will follow me." The ginger tom walked past his daughter to the door of his den and quietly walked down the halls of his Warehouse.
The cobwebs spun over in the corners of each archway they passed. Shadows overwhelmed the torchlight's dim glow and kept the foyer plunged in darkness. He grinned evilly, passing through the cavities of his Warehouse with some dyspeptical look in his bright, yellow eyes, yet still kept a steady look of amusement wrapped around the edge of his lips. As they walked down to a dead end in the Warehouse, Macavity looked back at his dispassionate daughter. Her violet and golden eyes were flourished in dull color and edged in the reflecting light of torches. She looked dead inside almost, but there was still a small shine of awareness; a small shine that waltzed through her eyes like the last will of hope. The ginger tom decided quickly that he needed to erase what was left of that shine. She may have thought that the Jellicles would be at her rescue sometime soon, and in time, that would be how her dauntless hope would perish. He sighed, opening the door and stopping to wait for her to come along beside of him. The ginger tom smirked as he heard her gasp.
Inside the room was a chemical lab. Different colored liquids were bubbling under Bunsen burners. Beakers sat next to test tubes with different lengths of a black liquid in them. There were several empty laboratory glasses and a carefully lit contraption that was moving a dark poison around into a vial, drop by drop. Macavity glanced back at his daughter, seeing her mouth go agape. It made his evil smirk grow. "Welcome to my current work, Zelaphelia." He said. The ginger tom went in as he grabbed a vial filled with the swishy black liquid, displaying it for her. "Beautiful isn't it?"
Zela had a look of shock over her. He grinned at her speechlessness as he set the vial back with its set. "My own concoction. Took me years to develop it, long before you came along…"
The gold-red queen walked in further to look at it. Macavity was almost proud from her genuine curiosity. She stared at the vials. "What is it?" she asked quietly.
His grin increased. "I'm glad you asked." He picked up a small beaker of the black liquid, swishing it around. "It's a mixture of carefully measured poisons. I used up years of my lifetime to drive it to perfection... You could call it my own unique brand of toxin. I hear your little tribe calls it the insanity."
Zela just stared at it curiously. She stepped closer, examining the vials with her eyes. She looked entranced, in a way, which made Macavity think that perhaps she was taking an interest in his work. He knew by her frigid, icy grimace and pale face that she couldn't stand being near him, but he would take advantage of the situation anyhow. The golden-red female tilted her head to the side, glancing at her father before turning her attention back to his chemistry. "… How does it work?" she asked flatly.
Macavity wasn't worried about revealing information to her. She couldn't leave anyway, and he would make sure she wouldn't either. "The toxin is brought into the blood stream, either through the veins or if it is consumed. It takes less than an hour for the compound to move up into the brain. Once it's settled there, it begins poisoning brain cells, and sending currents through the body to give it a false feeling of excruciating pain." He grinned before continuing: "By that time, it begins moving its way around the body, into the muscle tissue, vital organs, working mostly in the nervous system.
The brain is kept thinking that the body is more sick than poisoned, thus giving my little experiment the camouflage as a virus. It reproduces after taking over white blood cells by budding, so really it cannot pass through the system. In fact, it can only get worse. The nerves get torn down, the brain is literally dying, and a sickness is only increasing in side-effects that cannot be healed by regular treatments alone. In only a few months, the poison would completely take over the body, and eventually kill the subject in question." The ginger tom turned to look at a shocked face. He grinned, raising an eyebrow. "Is that clear to you?" he asked.
The gold-red queen subtly, yet visibly nodded. She still looked bewildered and horrified at all he had explained to her, which made Macavity feel better, now that he was about to show her his first few experiments with the toxin. "Tell me, Zela, do you notice the lack o f henchcats around my Warehouse lately?" he asked.
She didn't say anything. He decided to let that question slide. If she was anything like him, she wouldn't notice cats so inferior to her. "Follow me." He told her. Before leaving the room, the ginger tom snatched a syringe filled with the poison and another mixture on the next counter. It was a clear liquid in a corked test tube. He looked back at Zelaphelia to see that she was close. Macavity was satisfied to see that she was close to him, curiously staring at what he held in his paws. As the ginger tom walked back down the halls, walking around another corner, near another dead end, he glanced back at his daughter with a mischievous smirk. "There's something else I think you should know about my creation…" he said. Zela stared at him distrustfully. Without warning, the ginger tom jabbed the needle of the syringe into her arm.
The gold-red queen leaped back, yelping in surprise and pain. He injected half of the poison into her veins, and then took the needle back. Her blood oozed off the end of the needle, as well as the hole in her skin. Zela stared at the puncture wound, and then looked back at him with large eyes and an open mouth. Macavity could have sworn he saw fear glimmer past her facial expressions. "What the hell did you do to me?" she screamed at him.
Macavity rolled his eyes, not particularly enjoying her screams of terror. "I ejected the poison into you." The gold-red queen looked back at her arm, holding the tiny wound. He let out a breathy sigh. "Merely to show you that nothing is going to happen to you."
At that, Zela looked frustrated and confused. "What?"
"Look;" the ginger tom stuck the needle into his own skin and ejected the rest of the poison. Her expression turned even more shocked and disgusted. He dropped the empty syringe to the ground showed his arm to her. "You see, Zela. The unfortunate part about my beautiful work is its fatal flaw. The magic that consists in it is canceled out by mystic blood. Cats with magic have a more adapted immune system, which makes it impossible for the poison to take over. As soon as it goes in, it's immediately dissolves and eventually passes through the body."
Zela stared at her father with a look of sheer relief, but still with shock tangled in her reaction. "That's why it didn't work on Misto…" she mumbled.
"Precisely, and since there are a small number of mystics in your tribe, it was far too easy to avoid your little tuxedo friend to find this out. I like it better that way, actually. It gives me a chance to capture any mystics in your tribe…"
"So… that's what you're planning. A murder rampage in the tribe. You're going to kill them all off with this toxin of yours, and then capture whoever survives. You're planning the extinction of the Jellicles."
He gave her a chuckle. "Smart queen…" he said in a less than surprised tone. "Very intelligent conclusion. Obviously that comes from my genes. But of course, I have one more thing to show you. I needed to experiment with the poison… tamper with it to make sure that it was ready. However, there was only one way to do that, and it was to find subjects that were not mystics."
Macavity looked toward the door in the dead-end they stood in. It was bolted down, locked, and the only thing way to see into the room behind it was a small window covered by glass."Would you like to see?" he asked, offering her the door…
~^..^~
Zela suspiciously glared at her father. She wasn't sure what game he was playing, but she would cooperate for the Jellicles' sake. All he had exposed to her was shocking and amazing, leaving her in a bitter awe. Before thinking about it more thoroughly, the gold-red queen edged towards the door and looked through the window. She peered into a dark room. It looked like nothing at first, until she squinted and looked closer. Then her eyes widened as she let out a gasp.
Henchcats. Dozens of henchcats, wriggling on the floor, coughing up their own blood, staggering over the walls, and screaming their heads off. Their eyes were pierced in weakness. All looked unwell and unrestrained. A few were flying around the room with their unkempt fur, appearing to be psychotic. The most unpleasant view was of the dead cats with their bodies torn up. A mixture of black and red blood was spilled on the floor as the bones of the corpses stuck out. The flesh was rotted, and yet the starved, infected henchcat still edged towards them, ripping off pieces of fat and meat to subside their hunger. A dead queen lied in the corner with two black kittens crawling over to her, nudging her body pleadingly. They let out faint mewls of sadness, wondering why their mother was not moving, or why she couldn't feed them. Pretty soon, they were pushed away by the insane henchcats that were hungry. Obviously the henchcats had been driven to be carnivorous. She shook her head in disbelief. Zela was horrified of the sights. Holding back an urge to vomit, she turned around and stared at the floor. No words could come out to describe to her father about how sadistic and malicious he truly was. The horror and pain that ran through her mind overtook her feelings completely.
Zelaphelia heard Macavity chuckling at her reaction. She glared at the floor, being sure to suppress her tears of sympathy and heartache. "Are you shameless, you repugnant monster?" she choked out.
He didn't respond to her comment. "You should look back in there. In the back right corner. I think there's someone there you'd like to see."
Zelaphelia looked at him. His statement was bizarre and horrid, but she knew he wouldn't say that without having reason behind it. Tentatively, she looked back inside, avoiding the other henchcats, and directed her attention to the back right corner. She gasped again, eyeing the one cat she hadn't seen at all in the Warehouse upon her return. "Griddlebone…" A white queen was lying in the corner. Her pure-white fur was dulled, the ends edged in a yellow color. Her pupils were dilated, and she was staring out into space without blinking.
"She got too curious about my work." The ginger stated coldly from behind, "I merely demonstrated what she wanted to know."
Zela turned at him with a growl. "You're a bastard." She hissed.
Macavity chuckled. "I am for not letting her out of there sooner. That room is under quarantine, and I wouldn't like to be the sap having to interact with those suffering henchcats." He held up the clear liquid in the test tube. "Get this to her without being ripped apart, you can save her."
The gold-red queen stared at it, quickly making the presumption that it was the cure. She quickly grabbed it from his claws, and looked at his expression. It was completely neutral, and unreadable. With a gulp, Zela turned back to the door, which had already been unlocked, probably because of Macavity's powers. With a deep breath, the gold-red queen jumped inside. She shut the door behind her, looking around at the eyes that quickly turned to her. Zela hid the vial behind her back.
They were all staring at her with a hostile look. Some low growls came out of the toms. The queens were backed away in a corner, having a terrified look in their eyes, as if she were a demon coming to torture them. Zela moved away from the unfortunate henchcats, knowing that there was nothing she could do for them. She only carried a small test tube of the presumed antidote of this poison. It wouldn't be enough to save any of them. Zelaphelia ran to the other side of the room, ignoring the toms that were pacing near her with curious eyes. All of the cats seemed to be mute around her. They didn't dare speak, which she didn't mind at all. The gold-red queen spotted the Persian queen and rushed over to her side. She already looked like she was dead, and yet her chest still heaved deep breaths. Zela quickly shook her. "Griddle…? Please speak to me…"
The Persian queen said nothing.
Zela wasn't sure if it was the effects of the sanity that drove Griddlebone to this state. She wondered briefly how long it was that she had been infected. The golden-red female let out a sigh, deciding she would ask questions later. Instead, she uncorked the test tube. A putrid odor instantly filled the air. Zelaphelia's nose wrinkled in distaste, but she could already hear the growls of the henchcats behind her growing stronger. Ignoring them, Zela tilted Griddlebone's head up, and forced the concoction down her throat as gently as she could.
She waited a few seconds, throwing the test tube at the other side of the room, which had the other henchcats immediately running for it. She wondered if Macavity tortured them with the cure once in awhile. Zela waited a few seconds, praying that a reaction would come through the Persian queen. Suddenly, Griddlebone let out a gasping breath, almost immediately sitting up. Zela let out a sigh of relief, touching her friend's shoulder. "Griddlebone, let's get you out of here…"
~^..^~
A/N: I'm sorry for the delay. I was having some trouble writing this chapter. It's actually been bugging me about how graphic I've made this fic. I'm going to consider changing the rating if it gets much worse than this chapter was. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Please review, and I'll update asap! :)