Neko-laus 2 : Toy Tiger

Transmission


Trying to manipulate a Tiger Mage, Rank Eighth was like spearing fish in a bucket. Apparently it wasn’t only King Tigers whims who were catered to from the day they were indoctrinated into the Empire’s Mage division. The skill of infighting between the Mages were little more than name calling and shoving of children. I thought it would escalate with a flare up of magic but it never did. I guess the unauthorized use of magic was the one whim that was not tolerated. Bitch slapping was fine. Energy blast to the chest, a big no-no.

Wendy got me out of my cell and got that damned collar off my neck. The quickness of which it was done told me that the Mage division found me to be pretty damned useful. This big Sergeant type came into the brig. Someone I had never seen before, and never saw again stood behind him.

“Latent Mage IV, Neko-laus you have been recognized as being an integral part of King Tiger Arthur Magnus’s victory on Planet Tresas IV. You have been awarded thirty merits points and according to the articles set out in the criminal exchange charter, the location collar will be removed. Get on your hands and knees, Neko-laus.”

I balked at that. At that moment the military speaker shifted sideways and I saw Mack frantically pointing down to the ground. It was just because he was there that I got down and put myself into a vulnerable position. Gaw…the sergeant threw his leg over my waist and stood over me. If he expected me to carry him if he sat down we were both in for a world of hurt.

“Now, little kitty, I ain’t going to lie to you. This is going hurt worse than anything you felt in a while.” The sergeant pushed my hair up and out of the way then something cold rubbed at the base of my neck. He moved it up higher into my hairline pressing hard into my skull until whatever he was holding went beep, beep. “Don’t move. I have to mark this or all of us are going to go boom when I stick this key in the collar..”

That little word of warning was enough to get me still. A sharp shock ripped through the back of my head. I could feel my arms begin to tremor then shake as the intensity of the shock began to grow. I grit my teeth together but my grunts of pain broke through the enamel barrier. It was as if fireworks started exploding in my head. I could actually see bright explosions of color behind my closed eyes.

“Almost got it.”

There was a metal click that sent the shock from my head all the way down my tailbone. Whatever strength I had flittered away. I slumped forward and handed on someone. My forehead rested in the crook of his neck.

“Please hurry…” That was Mack’s voice. I was laying on Mack. How did that happen?

“Why the hell would his citizen chip be buried so deeply?” The sergeant’s gruff voice seemed to be kilometers behind me.

“He’s still shaking.”

“I’ve marked it. You can set him down and get behind the blast shield.”

“I’m good here.”

“Your funeral if something goes wrong.”

“No, it’ll be everyone funeral if something goes wrong. Neko is the only one who can rein King Tiger in.”

“Which might be why his chip is so deep. Which makes me think how the hell did MI know that our little kitty would be such a big influence on Magnus? Hold him. This is going to hurt worse than the marking.”

Instinctively I tried to struggle. If this was going to be worse that what was already done, I was in for a world of hurt. I had as much strength as the kitten they called me. Mack wrapped his arms around me which meant the collar loaded with deadly explosives that we were trying to take off was right at his neck level.

“Mack…away…”

“Not going anywhere and right now you can’t make me. So don’t take this the wrong way, Nicky but shut up and keep still.” I was more impressed than shocked by his come back.

“Locking the identification marker on the chip site.” It felt like a vise clamped around the back of my head and was trying to crush my skull. I wasn’t ashamed to cry out loud. It was agony.

Ice water began to trickle through my veins. My quivers from before began to change into bone rattling chatter.

“We have green. Permission to key the collar, Sir.”

“Permission granted. On my mark, five, four, three, two…one. Mark.”

It was anticlimactic. The collar just fell of my neck, bounced off of Mack then hit the floor. The sergeant released the lock on the chip and the icy touch disappeared. As soon as the connection was broken I just went completely boneless. Mack kept me upright until the collar was shifted out of the way then he slowly laid me down on the floor.

“I have never seen a chip embedded so high up in my twenty years of service. It has to be fused to the back of the skull.”

“Well that’s Military Intelligence for you. Overkill. Groom, is he conscious?”

Mack’s words were soft but I could hear him clearly. “Neko? Can you hear me?”

This felt just as draining as me using my smudge of magic to flip a switch. “Yeah.”

“While the removal of the location collar is usually more than enough to warrant a Latent’s part in a victory, King Tiger Magnus has forfeit his reward to Neko-laus. This has been entered into the logs and I am to ask you what boon you would like.” The administrative aide spoke quickly.

“Boon?” I was still close to being face down on the floor of my cell.

“It’s like a favor or treasure.” Mack began to stroke my head lightly.

“Mags gave me his treasure?” I was sort of happy.

“Latent?”

I tried to shove myself up off the floor. It was a useless exercise but Mack rolled me over and then propped me up against him. “Anything?”

“Within reason. Obviously we can do nothing about the length of your sentence…”

“I want to talk to the Old Man.”

“Your only desire is to speak with your father?”

I opened my mouth to protest about the old being my father but then just nodded. What the hell. Grim was like my father. I had spent more time with him than I did with my real dad. “I’d like to let him know that I’m all right.”

“Your request has been noted. Groom, do you require assistance in returning your Latent to his quarters?”

“Wait!” There was a loud protest at the cell door. “I thought that Neko-laus was being transferred to my quarters.”

I frowned. What?

“Tiger Wendell, you know that your request has been denied.” The Magistrate snapped his folder closed.

“That was not what was promised…”

“Really Tiger, should you be airing your grievances here?” The Sergeant questioned rather harshly.

I watched as Wendy glanced over at me. His mouth tightened and I could see his teeth clenching together in frustration. “Thank you for reminding me that there is a time and a place for everything.” He turned on his heel and stalked away in a huff.

Maybe he was a little bit more like Mags that I first thought. I could have tried to stand while everyone was still in the room but I just leaned against Mack and let the place clear out. I’d been ass over tea kettle once already with everyone watching, I’d rather keep my public embarrassment down to one performance a day.

“You want to tell me what that last little bit was about?” I rubbed at the newly freed expanse of neck.

“Tiger Mage Grant Wendell is under the impression that you are going to be his Latent.” Mack’s tone was rather neutral which in itself was a tell that he was pissed. I think.

“Really, now.”

“Yes, really now.” Was Mack copping an attitude with me? I do believe he was. “I heard you with Wendell that night when you agreed to betray King Tiger.”

Oh yeah, Mack was pissed. He shoved me off him. My reflexes were a little slow and I slammed shoulder first into the floor.

“I’m sorry, I forgot.” He took a hold of both of my shoulders and dragged me back upright propping me against him.

Damn it. Sonofa…ooww. Now there was agony radiating from my shoulder as well as lingering pulses of cold from the back of my head where the chip was marked. “If you’re going to throw me back on the floor, just get the hell away from me right now.”

“It was that painful?”

Fuck yah it was that painful. Right now I could feel all my digits and extremities but getting them to move how I wanted them to was proving to be a little more difficult than it should be. “I’m going to assume to you didn’t get to the cell to hear the full conversation.”

A guard moved passed the door of the cell. Mack glanced over his shoulder, “Maybe we should take this back to your quarters away from prying ears.”

“You know, it’s probably safer to talk here.”

“Everything is recorded within the brig.”

“The coverage here is less than what’s in Mags’s quarters.”

“What?”

“They put me in an iron cage. Mags is living in an invisible one and honestly, I don’t know if he truly knows he is in it. I think he does but he is just accepting everything they are handing him…”

“So why did…”

“I just told you. Magnus is accepting everything the Empire hands him because that is all he knows. Did you know that the Empire bought him when he was little more than a kid? They have been his guiding hand his whole life.”

“I heard that was a common practice out in the rim worlds about twenty odd years ago. The Citizen’s rights activists put a stop to it.” Mack wrapped an arm around me. “I would love to tell you that it was because they were protesting the treatment of non-citizens but it was more along the lines of safeguarding their own rights and privileges. I guess they didn’t like outlanders getting the same status and rank as them. What bit them on the ass were that the ones the military were buying were ending up with higher status and rank at the end of their career.”

“So I’m just s drop in the bucket.”

“You’ve got your own frickin’ pool, Neko. If word gets out about you, the fact that you were stolen from the streets, made into an experiment by MI, forcibly given a citizen chip then tested as the highest ranking Latent ever in the history of the Mage Division is going to send ripples through the Empire.”

“Over me?”

“Yes, you. Now what the hell is that low level Tiger doing sniffing around you?”

“That low level Tiger got that explosive collar off my neck.”

“That he did.”

“He opened the conversation with saying that since I got for blonds, he was sent to break the synchronization between Mags and me.”

“Who sent him?”

“Never got to that part.”

“So why does he think you’re going to bunk with him?”
“Probably because he wants to break the tats.”

“Tats?”

“The tattoos.”

“Oh, the Mage Marks.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him. “I guess the Mage Division doesn’t want to see it’s latest resource go up in flames when they finish priming their King Tiger for his big finale.”

I was surprised by the bitterness in my voice. “If Wendy does his assignment, the connect between Mage and Latent will be severed or at least weakened enough that after Mags is dead, I’ll be around to power up the next little Mage for the Empire’s machine.”

“It’s hard to break Mage Marks.”

I frowned. “I thought that they were a done deal.”

“Nothing is ever a done deal in magic. Tiger Wendell thinks that my moving in on you that he will get King Tiger Magnus jealous and upset. Getting Magnus upset at the best of times is never a good thing even if Wendell is a Tiger is only 8th ranked. If, and I stress if, King Tiger doesn’t kill him out right there is a slim chance that Magnus could cancel the Mage Marks. It’s sound in theory but the execution of it is very iffy and it might work if King Tiger was the one who etched the Marks.”

“Define upset.”

“Your last mission..” Mack held his fingers about an inch apart. “toned down about this much. On board. Directed at Tiger Wendell. Maybe you too.”

“So the Mage Division has tossed Wendy out to the wolves too.”

“Well the rumor is that Tiger never recovered from his latest injuries. That is one thing the Mage Division prides itself is the health care. However, once a Mage has fallen, they are useless. The Mage Division doesn’t carry useless.”

Those bastards, they did toss one eyed Wendy out to the King Tiger. “Okay I can feel my fingers and I can wiggle my toes. Get me the hell out of this place.”

I had mobility but I was slightly misfiring in the balance and walking. I was stepping too high. If I wasn’t crashing off of Mack, I was bouncing off the wall. Mack let me maneuver on my own but it was taking forever.

“Once again, this is just too painful to watch.” Elway stalked down hall towards us.
“Where the hell have you been?” I groused at him. “How much longer were you just going to watch me make an ass of myself?”

“I waiting for ya to fall on your kester. But, shift change is happening soon so…” I got slung over his shoulder. The back of my head was still numb and cool. It was less than it was back in the cell but I felt like I was along way from normal. I really couldn’t give a shit about how many in the Mage Division saw me ass up over Elway’s shoulder.

We made it to Mags quarters. Once inside Mack gave orders and Elway meekly followed. What the hell, I meekly followed. Showering was still akin to rain but the cleanliness that resulted was a luxury I loved. I grew up grubby in the Wild. The waters out there would most likely kill you before cleaning you. The same was for the Shambles when I first stumbled there. It wasn’t until I secured my crew that I began taking hot baths every day. In the brig, showering was limited to one a week. I felt just gross…and weak.

Elway had settled me on my feet and I immediately listed sideways bouncing off the wall. Mack pushed me up against it until my legs stabilized then he turned on the shower, set the temperature and knelt at my feet.

“What the hell are you doing?” I groused at him.

“Neko, you reek.”

“So, what are YOU doing?”

“I’m your Groomer. I’m going to get you undressed. Help you into the shower and clean you up. I’ve sent Elway off for some food. If I can’t get you out and back to the bed, he is going to help me.”

“When the hell did you get to be this bossy?”

“I have always been this bossy, as you put it. You normally just ignore me and do your own thing. This is how a Groomer is supposed to be.” Mack got me naked quicker than was comfortable with.

I needn’t have worried because I was washed just like a vehicle. Scrub, buff and dried faster that it would have taken me to wash my hair. I drew the line at Mack pulling my underwear up my legs. I can’t be that frickin’ helpless.

“You need a hair cut.”

“I need a lot of things that I ain’t going to get.”

“You’re starting to sound normal.” I was tucked into the big empty bed.

“I don’t feel normal.”

Mack sat on the edge of the bed. “I really would have been surprised if you did. Give me your hand.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Just give me your hand.”

Mack shifted so his back was towards me then pressed my fingertips against the back of his neck. There was a hard lump there. “This is where a citizen ship is normally implanted. Now, this is where yours is.” He pulled my fingertips up almost a hands width apart from his lump to the curve of the back of my skull. It was tucked underneath in the small hallow.

“What the hell?”

“I have never heard of a citizen chip being implanted there. It would have taken a skilled surgeon to do it. I had been listening to central command…”

“Evesdropping more like it, Mackie.” Elway set a tray beside the bed.

“Listening…” Mack glared at the big soldier then turned back towards me. “You are transmitting. That chip is more than just a citizen chip – it’s a monitoring station. The brass is concerned and pissed off that some one is using their latent. From what they can intercept, it’s nothing coherent so it’s not state secrets but it is brain waves.”

Elway screwed up his face. “Military Intelligence. Bah.”

“The brig interfered with it but orders came down the pipe that you were to be returned to active duty immediately.”

“Can’t be too damned active if Mags is out being paraded around.” Oh jees, I sounded like a whiny little kid. Well better that a lovesick harlot.

“Done with me, Mackie?” Elway lumbered to the door.

“Thanks for the help.”

“Nada. Stay away Central Command. A Groomer has no reason to be there and you won’t get any consideration if you get caught. You, be a good kitty. Your claws are in their cubby hole.” Elway gave a slight wave as he exited the door.

“You hungry.” Mack gestured to the tray.

“Only if you want me to barf in bed.” I was still feeling a little off. Finding out that someone was tracking my ever move didn’t help my digestion. “They said something about it being fused with my head?”

“There is no way to retrieve it, Neko.” Mack patted my bared shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“You’re my Latent. It’s my duty to take care of you.”

“Jees, Mack. You’re killing me here. You had never even heard of me when this shit happened. Don’t worry about it. It’s my fucking problem and based on how damn hard everyone is working on it, the only thing you have to do is keep Mother off my ass.”

“I have no sway with Mother.”

“Turn out the lights when you leave Mack.”

“You can call me Mackie.”

“You can call me Nicky.”

“I can’t do that, Neko.”

“Ditto. I’m going to sleep this off. See you in the morning.” The brig was not this comfortable. Then again, it wasn’t supposed to be. The softness of the pillow cradled my head. I don’t even remember closing my eyes.

Dreams…not a thing I look forward to. Normally, I don’t look forward to. Warm heated my back from my neck all the way down passed my ass. That same warmth curled around the side of my hip and up towards my chest. There was a fire burning there. No it was like an ember that had been left in the hearth and now it was blown back to a gentle flame.

“Nicky…” Warm breath swept over my ear and my name wormed its way down through my ear straight to my chest.

“Maggie?” Awareness was wrapped in cotton gauze.

“Sweet, sweet Nicky…”

Wait…

Too wet kisses slipped down my neck moving to my shoulder. Wet? What? I fought my way out of sleeps lingering claws and blinked my hot bottle warmer into focus. There was a metallic sheen to one eye in the dimness of the dark of the bedroom.

“Just relax, Nicky, I’ll make you feel good.”

Damn it! I was naked. Wendy was naked and he had his hand over my tattoo forcing it to flare. I slapped at his arm and broke the connection. The sensual feelings immediately faded until he pressed his palm flat again.

“Don’t fight me.”

“Get off!” I was feeling stronger. I took his wrist and jerked his hand off me holding it up so he couldn’t touch me again.

“This has to…” He grabbed my semi-hard cock.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” I brought my knee up and shoved him hard enough to knock him out of bed. All I saw was blonde hair and an arm disappear over the side of the bed.

Suddenly the room was light up with bright light. “Yes, Tiger Wendell. Explain to me what the hell you think you’re doing in my private quarters with my synchronized Latent?”

Mags! I shoved the covers down to sit up. My eyes drank him in like a plant needing rain after a long drought. Er, maybe not that bad but…holy crap he’s pissed.

Wendy climbed to his feet. His face was pale but there was a flush of pink on his chest and the hard little soldier that had been poking me in the back had retreated.

“While naked.” Mags dropped his bag to the side of the door. “You naked, Nicky?”

“Nope.” My underwear was still on.

“You have two seconds to get the hell out of my quarters, Tiger Wendell.”

“My clothes…”

“Thousand one…thousand.” Wendy bolted for the door. Mags slammed his hand out to the door frame and Wendy had to slide to a halt to keep from running into it. “Don’t think that this is over.”

“My uniform.”

“Anything and everything in this room is mine. I do with it what I wish.”
This was going to get bad if Wendy didn’t get the hell out of here. “Hey, Arty.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“So, if everything in this room is yours, what are you going to do with me?”

“Do you.” Mags turned his attention to me and Wendy buggered off naked down the corridor. Mags turned for a moment then just shook his head.

“Hey, you’re letting all the darkness out.” He stepped clear of the door and the room was back to semi-twilight but he just stood there with slumped shoulders as if the weight of the Empire was settled around him crushing him down. Which, I guess it was. “Mags…”

“Nicky.”

“If you’re wondering if I want to you, I want you to…”

Mags slid into bed beside me with out taking any of his clothes off. He still had his boots on. My body molded perfect to him and the slight burn that Wendy had set off could be called nothing more than a firefly light. His arms tightened and pulled me closer. I brought my hand up and clasped them over his. His head lightly weighed against mine and his nose buried itself in the crook of my neck.

“Nicky…they’re getting ready to kill me.” His voice was barely a whisper but I felt like a knife thrust to the soul. I tried to turn around but his arms tightened more. “Just let me hold you. Let me be weak tonight, Nicky. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“I love you, Nicky.”

Three simple words. Three simple words would have given him so much comfort and I couldn’t say them out loud. Coming to the realization that I had fallen for him was more devastating but why the fuck couldn’t I say it out loud? I was such an ass. He held me tight until sleep took him down. I just lay there feeling his breath dry the tear drops that had fallen on my neck and shoulder. King Tiger, the most feared Mage in the Empire had cried himself to sleep while holding onto his little Neko.

“I love you too, Arthur Magnus.”

Now what the hell were we going to do?

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This is one of these languishing in writers block and then whammo - write it all in three hours.
Hope you like it. Smexiness next chapter.

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drop by and say hi! If there's enough interest - maybe I can add and Neko2 category for Q&A there so as to not offend the AFF gods.