Emily sat on the edge of the bed. Her feet were cold.
She let out a long, silent sigh, and laid out on her side, carefully
pulling the blanket over her so as not to appropriate any of
Gabrielle’s real estate. She was a perfect angel, silent, unmoving.
Warm.
Emily squirmed, turning, facing Gabrielle. She reached out beneath
the covers, fingertips dancing delicately, carefully above the skin
of her back. Closer, and closer they got, and Emily’s breath
quickened. Millimeters away, she stopped, and a spurt of air burst
out her mouth through clenched teeth. Emily paused and tried to pace
herself. She took the time to take in a full breath of air. She
closed her eyes and opened them back into the opaque shadows.
Gabrielle’s spine traced the horizon of Emily’s world.
Emily sucked in a breath, slowly this time. Steadily. And as she
exhaled, she allowed her hand to magnetize to Gabrielle’s skin.
Spread out, gentle, she rubbed across Gabrielle’s side, letting
Gabrielle’s warmth seep into her.
Emily wanted to hug her close, pull her in, and never let go. She
wanted to embrace her, to give her a gift commensurate with
everything Emily had received from her. Even now, just touching her
made Emily feel as though she were taking something that did not
belong to her.
A low moan grumbled through Gabrielle’s body, the noise locking
Emily’s touch in place. Emily waited, counting the beats of her
heart, until:
“Your hands… cold.”
Emily at first barely understood, then suddenly she whipped up from
her position, throwing the blanket off. She looked at her hands with
concern. “Are they?”
“Mm… mm-hmm…” Gabrielle remained a mere lumpy mound beneath
the blankets.
“S-sorry…” Emily tried rubbing her palms together rapidly,
breathing on them.
“It’s fine…” At last, Gabrielle squirmed from her cocoon, her
fuzzy head popping out of the blanket like a groundhog. “How long
have you been up?”
“A few minutes,” Emily lied.
“Good,” said Gabrielle. “Are you going on patrol?”
“No,” Emily said truthfully.
“Great! You’ve been so hard to get ahold of lately. I was
thinking we could visit the museum finally head downtown together.
Get some Thai food for dinner, maybe visit the botanical – ”
Buzzzzz…
A corny chime warbled through the night’s gelatinous silence. Emily
jittered, then reached underneath herself, searching for her phone.
"Oh, I think..." Gabrielle started, driving her hand
underneath her disproportionately large pillow. She pulled it out,
this time holding Emily’s phone. “It’s for you,” she said,
smiling sadly as she handed the phone to Emily.
Emily took it, dreading what she hoped she wouldn’t see. Until her
fears were realized.
A single text. From C:
Things brewing. Need you on standby.
Emily dialed, and the other line picked up not long after. “Chief,
I –”
“Imperia, I’m–”
The Commissioner's voice was abruptly silenced.
“Commissioner? Chief?!” Emily yelled into the phone, then
realized: the red blinking light at the top. Her battery was dead.
She’d forgotten to put it on the charger the night before.
Emily scrounged around for her charging cord and came up short. She
glanced pleadingly at Gabrielle. “I’m… I’ll be right back.”
Gabrielle nodded, thankful her weary eyes couldn’t betray her
emotions in the early morning midlight.
Emily bounded to her feet and was immediately stricken by an urge to
sit down. Each step felt as though the scaffolding which made up the
tightly wound muscles of her thighs threatened to collapse, her
soreness only exacerbated by the eagerness with which she’d
approached performing her heroic duties this past several weeks.
Emily shivered, then took one patient step after another, careful to
avoid wobbling, as she made her way to the basement door.
Emily’s hand gripped the doorknob, stopping to catch her breath.
She planted her phone in her pocket, and a wry smile came to her as
she turned the handle.
Click.
She left herself behind.
That shy, unsure girl.
And crossed the threshold once more.
Catherine had no real clue how long she had been sitting there, in
silence. But when the single bulb that lit the room activated, she
felt a burning sensation as her retinas were violated. It was only
after she covered her face with her arms did the primal fear of
Imperia return. Sure enough, as she glared up, there she stood, a
queen surveying her kingdom. She took slow, measured steps down the
stairway, as if trying to drive into Catherine how much she intended
to relish what she was about to do with her.
“S-stop…!” Catherine began pre-emptively as she made one
leisurely step after another toward the desk. She reached out a hand,
subconsciously guarding Penny as the silent villain sat on her butt,
not comprehending the change in the world state. “Imperia, Imperia
please! I don’t know why you’re doing this… but I…”
Catherine’s spiel paused as Imperia took a few steps past her, and
the table entirely. As Catherine watched, she noticed that though
Imperia’s gait was slow, it was anything but leisurely. She
appeared to be trudging with difficulty.
Imperia was aiming for one of the many cabinets and shelves that
lined the perimeter of the room. This one was a small latch-box
constructed of a dark-brown material. Propping herself against the
wall, Imperia grabbed the capsule with one hand, just a bit too
small. The box slipped and slid out of her grasp, bouncing with
a decidedly non-metallic rubbery rebound.
Catherine watched in morbid fascination as Imperia swore, reaching
down with great discomfort to pick it up again. She ferried the box
back to Catherine’s table, making space by moving the figurines one
by one behind the monitor. Catherine braced herself as the massive
cubic shape was deposited on the tabletop. Catherine stared at it, at
least the size of a garden-shed to one at her scale. Imperia murmured
swears under her breath as she fiddled with the latch until the
hinged top popped open.
As it unlocked, a warm, yellow light leaked out and coated Imperia’s
face as she smiled lovingly, sinisterly. Catherine’s confusion
would grow until Imperia reached her hand into the box and winced.
“Ouch!” Imperia exclaimed, then steeled herself. She
clutched something and pulled it out into the air proper, where
Catherine could finally see for herself what was inside.
Shortfuse.
“I told you to keep your hands off me! Stay away from me!
Get off! Get off!!” Shortfuse dangled between Imperia’s
fingernails, held from the scruff of her costume. The dirty-blonde
electromancer was still wearing her flashy skin-tight suit emblazoned
with her lightning-bolt emblem. If Catherine recalled correctly, the
suit was a restraining device designed to limit and control the
outburst of her powers, while focusing them in a direction of her
choosing. With each flail, yellow-white electrical energy would blast
out, dissipating only a few meters from its origin.
Once a street-level criminal, content to steal from ATM machines for
quick cash, Shortfuse soon set her sights on amassing more and more
power, seeking to siphon the energy from the entirety of Aster City’s
electrical grid. It was an explosive battle, and by her own
admission, one of the most life-threatening Imperia had ever managed
to endure. When the dust cleared, Shortfuse was gone. Nobody had any
idea where she’d went.
“You know I’ve been letting you off easy?” Imperia said,
slumping into her rolling chair with a rapturous exhale. “Ahhhhh,
that’s better,” she murmured. She cast a short glance down at
Catherine and Penny, each of them paralyzed in fear as Imperia now
towered above them again.
Fortunately, she seemed to have other concerns at the moment. Imperia
reached for the toolbox with her free hand, careful to keep the
screaming Shortfuse out of the range of her face as she rummaged.
“You know why? Honestly… you’re kind of a bitch. Not worth the
time it took to wrangle you in.”
“Say that to my face! Grow me back and let’s have a
rematch!” Shortfuse unleashed a short-range burst of energy out in
a sphere as her anger mounted, enough to make the hairs on Imperia’s
arm stand on end. But at her size, there was simply nothing she could
do to truly harm her.
“Right. No thanks. Anyway…” Imperia clutched something, pulling
it out. A… cell-phone charger? Catherine watched as the wiry device
was unfurled. The tip certainly looked like a cell-phone charger, and
the other end would’ve appeared to be an adaptor at first glance,
but upon her second, Catherine noticed something was off. Then with a
bit of a surprise, she noticed it wasn’t an adapter at all. It was
a tiny motor, suitable for RC cars. And connected to it was…
something else.
Catherine looked at Shortfuse, hanging up there helplessly, putting
two and two together. And her heart dropped. It couldn’t be,
thought Catherine.
Could it?
Shortfuse was about to find out. Imperia placed the wire device a few
paces from where Catherine stood. Then she clutched the villain’s
chest between her thumb and forefinger.
“Now, I could’ve just stomped you out of existence, right? You
are aware of that, right? That your continued existence is by my
fiat?”
Shortfuse chagrined, and she only redoubled her protests. “I
couldn’t give less of a shit what kind of car you drive! If you
even think about putting me in your boot or your bra or your
panties or whatever, I swear to God I will make your heart stop
faster than you can blink!”
“I’m well aware, Shorty.” And Imperia clutched the rubbery
fabric that composed the rear of Shortfuse’s suit. With a
well-timed slice of her trimmed nails, she managed to break open a
hole in the minuscule outfit. The tension of the latex was
compromised, leaving her posterior and genitalia exposed.
“What are you doing?! And don’t call me that!” Shortfuse
groaned, twisting her legs together. “I-If you really want me
pissing on your floor, be my guest. Just know it’s on you!”
Imperia simply smiled, further probing her crotch and opening the gap
in clothing between her legs. “S-stop it!” Shortfuse pleaded.
“Seriously, can you chill the hell out?”
Imperia then reached for the motor end of the wire. There, laying
only a few feet away from where Catherine stood, she was able to see
firsthand precisely what that object was. A slim object that
protruded into a knob at the end. Coated in silicone. As a certified
loner who had yet to form a real romantic relationship with any
humans, Catherine was embarrassingly familiar with that shape.
Imperia carefully maneuvered the item between her fingertips,
manipulating Shortfuse into position. From where she hung, Shortfuse
had a wide-open view of Imperia’s massive, grinning face.
“W-what are you going to –”
Shortfuse squealed as Imperia rammed the dildo into her vagina, from
below. She lost her breath, catching it again to say something but
was cut off as the motor’s circuit was completed, sending the
vibrating rod into action ramming it repeatedly into Shortfuse’s
cervix and back. Her word became a jumbled mess as liquid began to
spew and leak out of her snatch, dribbling down her legs as they
kicked and curled, while Imperia used her other hand to insert the
charging piece into her phone’s port. A muted “ding” sounded,
indicating the charger was working as intended.
Catherine put her hand to her mouth, cursing herself for being right.
Even Penny’s eyes widened at the sight of the invasive procedure.
“I knew I could find a use for you, Shorty!” She laid Shortfuse
gingerly on the ground, where the mortified villain finally laid eyes
on her new sister in captivity. But they were unable to work on
salutations as a ferocious orgasm shuddered through Shortfuse’s
body, sending a potent jolt of electricity into the ambient
surroundings.
“Good Lord, it’s at 20 percent already…” Imperia peered at
the phone-screen, amazed. “It’s working better than I ever
would’ve thought…! Do you know how lucky you are?” she said,
glaring down at Shortfuse’s drooling frame as it twitched and
spasmed. “If this didn’t work, I was just going to stomp you
outright! I only hope you’re content with this compromise.”
Shortfuse shook her head, twisted her neck, banged her chin against
the table, curled her back, twisted her arms. Her body was no longer
her own. Even the slightest attempt to try to remove the rotating
dildo was interrupted by a spasm of pain or pleasure or both, cruelly
wrenching any semblance of volition from Shortfuse’s nerves.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the two of you, mind
you,” Imperia said, turning her cruel, terrifying gaze onto
Catherine and Penny.
Like a Pavlovian response, Penny shot up, gaze down, but attentive
enough to respond. Catherine glanced at her, surprised, then forced
herself to look up at the colossus that was Imperia standing above
them.
“I hope our quality time yesterday was instructive in what happens
when you shirk your responsibilities.”
Penny nodded emphatically.
Imperia made a funny face, then she jerked a thumb at Penny. “Do
what you do. C’mon, chop chop.”
On command, Penny focused, twisting her face in effort. Catherine
backed away from Penny’s naked body as the outer layer of her skin
rippled like a pool of disturbed water. The pain she wore became more
pronounced, the ripples more and more turbulent… then they stopped.
Nothing had happened. Penny doubled over and heaved.
Imperia rested her elbow on the table and leaned down, boring two
holes into Penny with her eyes. At this, Penny redoubled her efforts.
Catherine watched as Penny’s fists curled tight, her legs buckled
even as they locked in position. She began to wheeze out an
excruciating, haggard groan that seemed to skip every other
quarter-second. The ripples on her body were stronger now, such that
Catherine could almost see the ghostly form of the duplication that
she threatened to make as the cycle of mitosis was nearly complete.
Until…
Penny collapsed.
She fell in a heap, and Catherine yelped, dashing to her side. A
faint bit of clear slime dripped out the side of her left nostril,
but Catherine could tell she was still alive.
“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand. Are you disobeying my
orders again?” Imperia put on a sarcastically confused tone.
“Did you not learn the lesson I taught you last time? Do you
even want to hold onto all your limbs?”
Catherine ground her teeth together, getting in a protective stance
as she shook Penny. She whispered. “C’mon, c’mon. Wake up…!”
Penny shook her head slightly, side to side. This was the extent of
her muscle ability.
“Well… if you can’t even do the one thing I brought you along
for, I really don’t have a reason to keep you around.” And her
hand came in, a prowling UFO. Catherine had no idea what to do, but
simply remained where she stood, hunching atop Penny’s limp body.
Imperia’s fingers stopped.
“You know, if you’re worried about your chances, it is not a very
good idea to make a bad impression on your first day. Now get out of
the way.”
Catherine’s heart raced. She let go of Penny, only because she
could feel the heat that threatened to burst through her fingertips.
A nervous reaction, utterly unhelpful in this scenario, against
something of that size. She bit her lip, turning her head a quarter
of the way toward Imperia. Still trapped in her peripheral vision,
Imperia was rendered as more of an unknowable blob of untold
proportions. Somehow, that was still less scary than looking her in
the eye. “She can’t do it. She’s tired.”
“I decide when she’s tired. Here, c’mon sweetie, step
aside.” Imperia snapped her fingers then curled them around
Catherine’s elbow. It was a shock being gripped by something so
huge, and Catherine batted her fingers away out of instinct.
“Ow, God!” Imperia hissed, looking at the tiny red spot on
her thumb. Catherine was mortified, hunching even closer to Penny as
she looked at her flaming red hands.
Imperia sucked on her finger for a few moments before returning her
attention to Catherine. “You stupid fucking fire ant. I
took pity on your sorry ass out there, you know that? You worthless,
subhuman speck?!”
Then her finger came in with renewed force, jamming Catherine down on
top of Penny’s stirring body. Imperia’s pointer finger was buried
in Catherine’s chest, restricting her movement and airflow. Caldera
tried batting it away with her burning hands. Imperia grit her teeth
but was steeled for this. Nothing but a few red marks; Imperia’s
skin was too thick for Catherine to do real damage at her size.
But this didn’t stop Catherine from fighting. She punched and
kicked, screaming and shouting all the while, as Imperia remained
with her cheek resting in her palm, having to fight the urge to yawn.
She waited as Caldera’s movements became slower, her blows less
focused, her shouts less shrill, until all that was left was a
chirpy, hiccupy sobbing.
“H-h-how could you be so… evil?”
Imperia’s sleepy eyes shot open. She lifted her head up and turned
her gaze down to Catherine with a slow, robotic movement. Its dead
seriousness stunned Catherine silent, and beneath her, even Penny was
forced to shrink away from its dreadful energy.
“Evil? What would you know about evil? What would a two-bit street
rat like you know about the meaning of evil?”
Imperia started to press her finger even harder into Catherine’s
chest. Her heart worked overtime, and her lungs were struggling to
get even a spoonful of air with each breath as Catherine winced.
“I have met truly evil people. Eldritch demons. Psychotic crime
lords. Cyborg commandos. I have seen what they’ve done. The people
they’ve hurt, maimed, killed. I’ve seen firsthand what evil
is.”
With each passing breath, Catherine’s body was using up more oxygen
than it was letting in. She tried to squirm free, but Imperia’s
finger only tightened its pressure, a deterrent from her moving. Her
fingers, once burning hot fleshy pads, had been cut off from their
fuel source.
“And you know what? I did something about it. I do my part
to rid this world of evil. Every day, I go out and fight. Put
my life on the line for a better world. And you know what I
get in return?” Imperia chuckled dryly. “A shitty apartment. A
police commissioner that works me to the bone. Having to ransack
couch cushions for rent money.”
Catherine was beginning to hiccup now. Her body was rejecting the
situation it was currently in, and with each moment its choice of
protest became more drastic.
“But what about you, huh? Or any of you scumbag ‘villains’? You
were blessed with power. Unimaginable power! And yet… you decided
to abuse others and harm our way of life? How many innocents do you
think you wiped out in that bank heist of yours?”
Catherine was unable to answer on account of her vision being filled
by multiple blotted dark spots. Her ears were beginning to ring. Her
skin felt scratchy and tingly, and her limbs spasmed on their own.
“That’s what I thought. You don’t get to tell me what’s evil.
So if I decide to have a little fun at the expense of you subhuman
pieces of lowlife garbage… well, you’ll just have to deal. I
already paid my dues, so I think I more than deserve this.
M’kay?”
Imperia let go of her finger, and like a spring Catherine punched up
into a fetal ball, sucking in as much life-giving oxygen as she could
manage. Once her brain received the air it had been so desperately
pleading for, she was finally able to take in and process the
enormity of Imperia’s spiel.
“You’re not here to chat, network, or protest. You don’t
deserve the right to complain. You don’t deserve to live.
None of you. And when reach into my heart to show you mercy… you
have the nerve to call me… evil.” Imperia glanced at
Shortfuse, currently flopping on the table in a puddle of her own
urine and vaginal ejaculate. “How dare you?”
Emily crouched, taking great pains to keep her face neutral, brutally
business-like. Her massive eyes surveyed Catherine’s every nook.
Her teeth shone. “Want to live? Wake up every morning and
ask yourself, ‘What can I do with my life that’ll make Imperia
choose not to reduce me to a stain today?’ If I give a pass
to anyone who can’t abide by that simple dictum… what sort of
precedent would I be setting?
Catherine slid off Penny’s body, defeated and morally crushed. The
screams of everyone she killed were repeating in her mind over and
over again. She could only hope that they’d stop once her ears
stopped ringing.
“There we go… good girl,” said Imperia. She lifted Penny’s
arm and let it flop to the ground. “Now you. Stand up for me.”
As Penny was getting to her feet, zombified expression burning with
ghostly fear as Imperia prepared her punishment, Catherine wondered
something.
“What do… you need her for?” Catherine asked.
“So chatty…” Imperia waited for a moment. When Catherine didn’t
respond, Imperia sighed. “Well, ‘Caldera’, I am incredibly sore
and like most days, nights, evenings, I am dying for a foot
rub.” Imperia stretched her arms up high, and from her small
stature Catherine could hear the pops and crackle of her joints.
“Polymaiden here so graciously agreed to be my masseuse for these
occasions, something I agreed to because she is very
non-flammable, non-toxic, and will not try to
electrocute me.”
Catherine’s own gears were turning as she listened to Imperia’s
speech. “And you need two… One… for each foot.” Catherine was
almost disgusted by herself for agreeing to Imperia’s premise with
such a matter-of-fact complacency.
“Bingo,” Imperia clapped her hands. “Someone just won a gold
star.”
Catherine took another look at Shortfuse, still not having moved from
her spot, but had finally run out of steam for her continued grunts.
Her body simply vibrated and twitched, silently humping the air.
If Catherine wanted to make herself useful…
“What if… I…” Catherine had to physically force herself to
complete the sentence. “R-rubbed your feet?”
Imperia’s eyebrows furrowed, and she tapped her fingers on the
table, each motion causing Catherine to jolt.
“Catherine… Catherine!”
Catherine managed to mask her surprise as merely another nervous jump
from Imperia’s idiosyncratic finger tapping. She had completely
forgotten that Penny was right next to her, considering Penny had by
some metrics more than doubled her syllable count since the past 24
hours.
“Catherine, what are you doing…?!”
Catherine responded out the corner of her mouth. “I’m trying
to protect you…!”
“You’ll get us killed if your fire –”
“You know what?” Imperia’s voice blasted their conversation
apart. “That’s not a bad idea! The two of you can tag team it.
But try to use your pretty little candle powers to hurt me in
any way…”
Imperia leaned forward, her massive pale freckled face only inches
away from Catherine’s.
“And I will kill you all.”
And Imperia rolled away from the desk, reclining the back of the seat
as she pulled one long, muscled leg upward. Its heel landed on the
table-top with a BUMP, followed quickly by the other foot.
Catherine stared up at the foot. From her size, it looked less like a
foot, and more like a giant, pulsating cliff face, the toes wiggling
dexterously. Even at proportional sizes, the foot was unexpectedly
long. If she tried hard enough, Catherine could trace the ridges
formed in the sole from the pattern of her footprint. She had only
recently gotten up from bed so thankfully there was only the
semblance of an odor drifting of the sole; if she trained her mind,
it might’ve even felt pleasant to Catherine. In another life.
Catherine turned to her right, where Penny was already standing up.
She gulped, glancing at Catherine with fear in her eyes as she took a
walk toward Imperia’s left foot.
Catherine remembered the vision of Penny’s clone pasted on the sole
of Imperia’s foot from the previous night, and she shuddered. She
had no idea how many versions of Penny may have met their end at the
hands (or, well, feet) of Imperia, or if any other down-on-their-luck
villains had been snuffed out so unceremoniously.
Catherine raised her hands up to Imperia’s sole, slowly,
cautiously, and realized there was a burning light reflected from her
fingers on the wall of skin.
Not now… not now, not now! Catherine looked at
her hands. They were flaming red. She looked at the foot, then turned
to Penny, who was already deep in the ritual of kneading her hands on
the bottom of Imperia’s sole. Catherine looked over her shoulder
and considered running, realizing Imperia technically couldn’t see
her at this range. But that would mean leaving Penny behind, even if
she could get away. Something that was less and less likely as
–
“Just breathe. Take a breath and let it out. On the exhale…
do what you need to do. Calm down, and focus.”
Catherine at first couldn’t tell where that voice came from, only
realizing it was Imperia when she noticed the shadow of her eyes
peaking from above her monumental toes. She sounded… auspiciously
reasonable.
“Do it. Don’t leave me waiting.”
Catherine returned to attention, looking at her hands. They were
still fiery red.
Just breathe… Just breathe…
Catherine inhaled.
One.
She exhaled.
Two.
As the carbon dioxide left her body, she noticed a dimming.
Was it working?
She tried again. She inhaled, and exhaled. There was no doubt; her
hands ignited in cycles. When she breathed in, they flared up.
Breathing out? They dimmed. If she could lock her mindstate in the
dimming, she could control it.
Breathe in.
Her hands flamed.
Out.
Catherine closed her eyes and placed her hand on the sole of
Imperia’s foot.
“Oh ho, that’s warm… But keep going.” Imperia’s
omnipresent voice scared the daylights out of her, but Imperia’s
assent was a blessing. Her hands weren’t ignited, but their warmth
from the previous seconds was retained. Bracing her legs, Catherine
began to dig into the sole of Imperia’s feet, careful to avoid
clenching too much. She remained cool and focused, kneading along the
interior arch of the heroine’s dominating peds. They were smooth
and dry, and Catherine couldn’t help but enjoy the sensation of
battling against their dough-like mass. In any other situation, this
might’ve even been fun or desirable.
“You’re getting hot. Breathing is just a focusing
maneuver. If you can’t focus and control yourself, it’s
useless.” Imperia chastised.
Catherine bristled and realized she couldn’t let her mind wander.
Focus, that’s what Imperia said. She needed to latch on to that
feeling of serenity when she breathed out and hold onto it for the
duration of the massage. Her fingers curled together, knuckles
guarding against the fire of her palms as she tried to restrain her
own mind. In, out. In… out.
She continued.
“Oh yeah…” Imperia mused, her feet twirling as she got ever
more relaxed in her chair. “That’s it… right there.”
Catherine could hear her, and realized she was not yet focused
enough. She retreated deeper into her place of peace and invested the
entirety of her mental RAM into this massage. No powers, no
captivity, not even the violently gyrating form of Shortfuse a
moment’s walk away.
Nothing but her and a colossal wall of dough that she had to knead.
And she would do the best she could.
“Stop.”
Catherine kept going. Penny stopped and looked over at her friend.
“Catherine,” she whispered. “Cath!”
Now Catherine stopped. Her slow mind reformed the pieces of her
reality. She left her dream state. She was back in this gray, dull,
terrifying world.
“I have to say, that wasn’t bad for a first outing.” Imperia
removed her feet from the worktable. Catherine could almost detect a
genuine smile on her face. “In fact, I may just say… good job.”
Somehow, even though Catherine was in the most horrifying situation
of her life, taken prisoner by a demented size-shifter with a twisted
sense of morality, only one accidental slight away from being turned
into a living cell phone charger… Hearing her hero give her such
earnest praise, even over something as degrading as a foot rub… It
made Catherine’s heart melt. She couldn’t form her words in
response, which wasn’t a problem to Imperia as she turned her
attention back to Shortfuse and the phone to which she was combined.
It vibrated, and a cheesy song travelled through the table and into
Catherine’s bones.
“Oh, right,” said Imperia. “I’ve gotta take this. We’ll
talk more, you two. Maybe make you two partners. I bet you’d like
that huh, Poly…”
And she unplugged her phone from the charger, standing and trotting
up the stairs.
Catherine fell to her knees, clutching her stomach.
Penny saw this, and she tried to run to Catherine but tripped and
slid along the rough table. “Agh, shit!” Penny grunted and
punched the ground. Then, still fatigued and unbalanced, she crawled
the last few meters on all fours. She took Catherine’s shoulder.
“Hey, hey! Are you okay?”
Catherine shook out of Penny’s grip and swayed. Left, right, front,
and then she fell backward, reaching to the sky. Her smoldering
fingertips burned into the air, before Catherine sighed. And they
were extinguished.
Catherine turned her head to the side. Only a short distance away,
Shortfuse remained, hooked up to her infernal sex machine. She was
whimpering like a rabbit, her nails scratching the table vigorously
as her hips continued to disobey her, the electric pulses in her body
redirected into the cord, spurting out through the end of the
charging tip.
Imperia… thought Catherine.
Who are you, truly?