Neko-laus 2 : Toy Tiger

I'm alive and kicking, if only just barely. Here is the next installment. Once I threw the muse choking sucker called "24 hour two week long Olympic coverage" that was riding my back off and shocked the monkey while trying to remember that I am forever young, I gathered up my little bit of respect, dailed over my suspicious mind to something a little more like walking on sunshine, this story just flowed. So here we go...as usual, read, review and enjoy.



I don’t know how the hell I could get into so much trouble while being in a drug induced coma. Now that I could walk a straight line without hurling everywhere, I had been *commanded* to start training with the rest of the Latents in this division. I also had been *legislated* to eat with the Latents. I wouldn’t have minded being told to room with the Latents but from what I was able to pick up, was that option brought forward by the brass and it was denied by both the Handlers and the Grooms.

Now, that is something I find insulting. Mages gets Handlers. Latents get Grooms. I wondered why the hell didn’t the other Latents make a stink about it…then I met them. I reported for training about the third day out of medical, and the Doctors finally cleared me. It was only the fact that Maggie had his hand on my neck that the white lab coats were able to do their follow up testing. I was declared cured if underweight and my ration portions were changed to make up for it. Then I was given a chit. Maggie snagged that before I got a real good chance to look at it. It was in that strange language so I couldn’t have read it anyway.

“Are you taking care of that?”

“My Latent.”

“Imprint here then, King Tiger.” I watched as Maggie pressed his hand to a clipboard type thing. The lab coats nodded, packed up their things and scurried the hell away from me. I waited until the door to the quarters slid shut.

“That my bill?”

“Bill?”

“You don’t get nothing for free. They fixed me up. Even a back alley medic wants something.”

“I’ll handle it.”

“I’m not asking you to handle it.”

“I know you are not asking me to handle it.”

“It’s my health.”

“You’re my responsibility.”

“Since when am I your responsibility?

“Since I forced you to synchronize with me and Sergeant Pepper kicked my face in.”

“Oh, yeah. Grim did that.”

“Just let it go.”

“You don’t own me, Toy Tiger.”

“The word ownership has never crossed my mind. Damn, I think I liked you better when you were hiding in the closet.”

“Then maybe you should have left back on my backwater world.”

“I have never called Xeres a backwater world. From what I saw of it, it’s a beautiful place. I wouldn’t mind making it home world for the both of us.” Maggie paused and took a cleansing breath. “Can’t you meet me halfway?”

Halfway to what? Wait, Xeres? “I’m not here because I want to be.”

“I didn’t turn you into MI, Nicky. I didn’t even know about you until they entered your information into the system.”

“Then you couldn’t get your ass here fast enough.”

“Go to training.”

I blinked. Maggie wasn’t someone to back down from a fight. “What?”

“Go to Latent training and you’ll see why the hell I couldn’t get my ass here fast enough to save your sorry self from permanent stasis.” With that Maggie headed out the door. If he could have slammed it behind him, it would have made a more dramatic exit as it was it just swished.

So just because I knew it would piss his neat-freakishness off, I messed up the bed room. I threw pillows into corners. I yanked the covers to the floor and half pulled the mattress off. I would have pulled it all the way off but I almost fell over from a head rush. I needed solid food.

I pulled on black pants and a black tank then I added my personal friends. I didn’t go anywhere unarmed. If I was armed I probably wouldn’t have woken up in hell. I also wouldn’t be standing upright. Damn it. I didn’t want to owe King Ass anything. As I understood it, regular meals, clothing and weapons were covered by the military but as a ‘civilian volunteer’ I didn’t get pay. Unless Maggie wanted me to kill something or someone, or commit a robbery, the only other currency I had was my body. I’d be making payments the same way I had to Grim. I knew for a fact that Maggie wouldn’t settle for a weekly payment schedule.

I finished strapping on my forearm sheaths then slipped into my harness that held my longer blades across my back. I had more blades and armor but this was probably overkill as it was. I flipped a tie around my hair and pulled it back but my bangs still hung over my eyes. Maggie didn’t like it but just like everything else I wore, it served a purpose. My bangs were a weapon. My gaze was always straight forward and even after all these years I couldn’t mask my emotions so my hair did it for me.

King Ass told me that I didn’t need my blades on my all the time here on the ship. We were safe. I honestly believed he was going to tell me that he could protect me but he stopped that before it was breathed to life. Magically he could take me, but a punch to the skull was faster. Grim showed me that one. I might not be a null but magic took time and preparation. So I really couldn’t put faith in the Mage division the way Maggie did. Besides, the Mage division was a military siege engine and he was fireball. I was the fuel. I didn’t need to step onto an actual battlefield to figure that out. The division was scared of their King Tiger and with good cause. Ultimate power ultimately explodes on everyone.

Crap. Did he take his meds when I was strapped down to the table in the medical wing? That just pissed me off more. I was tethered to him magically by his synchronization and these damned tattoos. Now I was going to be tied to him physically through payment. Well as the powers that be want to break us up physically for a while, that was fine by me. I had to check out this Latent gig anyways.

All Latents were housed on a different floor except for me - back to the King Ass gets what King Ass wants syndrome. They wanted me to eat with them, fine by me. The lift doors slid back revealing a corridor of pale greys and whites. I frowned then stuck my hand out to prevent the lift from closing. The Mage floor was black. The Medical floor was blindingly white. Was everything color coded?

I stepped out onto the floor and the tiles lit up under my feet. I reacted like a backwater hick and jumped about three feet sideways. The tiles lit up again this time I was ready for it.

A computer’s version of a feminine voice rang out from the speakers in the ceiling. “Good morning, Neko-laus.” I’m going to stick a knife in him somewhere.

“Good morning, Neko-laus.” I started walking forward a little disconcerted than the floor lit up under my weight.

“Good morning, Neko-laus.” Will you shut up!

“Good morning, Neko-laus.”

“If you don’t answer the greeter it will just keep repeating it until you do.” I turned to the speaker. He was the blandest looking man I have ever met. He wasn’t blonde, yet he wasn’t a brunette. He was slightly taller than me but didn’t seem to be overly muscular. He was wearing pale grey and white uniform.

“Good morning, Neko-laus.”

“Good morning...computer.” I felt like an idiot talking to a machine.

“Records indicate that you require sustenance. Please follow the glowing squares to the mess hall, Neko-laus.”

The floor tiles lit up every other one showing a path I should take to the kitchen.

“Records indicate...” The voice started up again.

“OKAY!”

“You can just speak in a normal tone.”

“What makes you think this isn’t my normal tone?”

“It could be. I understand that the black level is having a hell of a good laugh over Magnus get screamed at.” There was no malice in the man’s tone but there was a wide smile on his face. It was genuine his teeth showed. Wow, they were really white. I ran my tongue over my front teeth. They were clean.

“I’m Mackenize Wallace, Neko-laus.”

“It’s Nicky.”

“I don’t have enough rank to survive if Magnus catches me calling you by your real name. How about Neko?”

“You’re a Latent?”

“Heavens no. I’m a Groomer.”

I stopped in my tracks. Magnus. He called King Ass, Magnus twice without using that title that everyone loved to throw around. “Whose Groomer?”

“Yours. Magnus did say you caught on quick.”

“Really. That’s nice to know.” I was going to stick a blade right through the meat of his calf, King Ass.

The lighted floor lead us to the mess hall that was empty. The computer and I had gotten off on the wrong foot and every mechanical tone it uttered was making me less and less cooperative. “Neko-laus, your meal plan has been uploaded. Medical conditions will be strictly adhered to. You will not leave this area until you have cleaned your plate.”

“Don’t take the computer personally, Neko. This is the way it speaks to the rest of the Latents.”

I didn’t like that any more than before. I’d learned to listen to my instincts growing up. Danger didn’t always where a scary face and that made it more perilous than outright intent. “And if I decide I want to leave before my plate is cleaned?”

“You don’t want to do that.” Wallace shook his head.

“You going to stop me?”

“I don’t doubt that you could stab me quicker than I could call for help. As soon as you stepped on this floor, you have been identified as a Latent and Mother is going to take care of you.”

Mother?

The table glowed white and the hair on my arms stood on end then there was a plate of food, a glass of something and a cup that smelled like java at the spot in front of me. I scrambled backwards knocking the seat over as moved away from the table.

The mechanical voice sounded again. “Neko-laus, you will sit down.”

“Mother, override the table protocol.”

“Understood Groomer Wallace.”

“Magnus told me that you are a native of Xeres and that you grew up beyond the gates. Have you ever seen a delivery system?” Wallace stayed at the table and made a show of picking a strip of meat off the plate that had appeared. I watched warily as he popped it in his mouth. He chewed it and swallowed.

He started talking when he realized that I wasn’t going to. “This is the flagship of the fleet. Everything here is the best of the best. Food is prepared in another area of the ship and transported here.”

“I felt the energy.”

An eye brow arched as he regarded me. “Then that shows that you are very sensitive, Neko. Come. Sit. It is regular food.”

“I’m not some skittish animal you have to coddle.” I snarled back at him.

“I never said you were. Do you mind if I eat with you? I personally never like to eat alone.”

The aroma hit my nostrils and went straight to my stomach. GGGRRROOOOWWWLLLLL. I spread my hand over my gut.

“Mother. Same portion for me as well.”

I fully expected the table to glow again and have another heaping plate of food sitting there. I looked at Wallace through my bangs and found him leaning forward pilfering another piece of meat from my plate.

GRRRROOOOOOOO

“I can be just as stubborn as you, Neko. I’ve put up with Magnus for five years. What does that tell you about me?”

“That I should pity you.”

Wallace broke out into a real laugh. “Just meeting you gives me the reason behind Magnus change in behaviour. You call him on everything and that’s transferring to us regular folk.”

I frowned as I picked my chair up and set it back beside the table. I wasn’t going to pretend I wasn’t hungry. My own body was betraying me. “Well, you are responsible for your actions.”

“That is something new.”

“Every child knows that.”

Wallace shook his head and wiped at his eyes with the backs of his fingers. “Maybe on Xeres they do. The Empire tends to do things a little differently.”

I couldn’t identify anything on my plate clearly but it smelled good. I started nibbling on the meat strips that Wallace hadn’t devoured yet. It was good. I began shovelling the food into my mouth. Chewing only as much as necessary to swallow it so I wouldn’t choke. In the safety of Grim’s headquarters, he had insisted that we eat together. To me, food is fuel to keep the body going. Eat. Go. In that order. Growing up meals were never leisurely. You never knew if it was going to be your last bite. Grim made sure that when we shared meals, which he did with all his lieutenants, I didn’t embarrass myself. Private lessons and a heavy stick forced some dining etiquette into me. There had been some days I left the dining table with broken fingers. I sat upright and forced my left hand down under the table. My knuckles popped from the pressure I had on my fork. I had to force my hand to release the tight hold.

“Someone taught you to do things a little differently.”

Now that I had felt it once, I saw the change in the power grid on the table. “Incoming.”

The table began to glow and I watch fascinated as the table ran the full color spectrum before exploding into the brilliant white. Blinking I brought the table back into focus and I found another plate with matching glass and cup beside mine but now there was a small plate full of the meat slices Wallace had eaten.

“Neko-laus, your meal plan has been uploaded. Medical conditions will be strictly adhered to. You will not leave this area until you have cleaned your plate.”

I looked up in the ceiling searching for that disembodied voice but found nothing. “Neko-laus, your meal...”

“Yes, I get it.” I groused and tucked back into eating at a very slow and deliberate pace.

Grim Reaper was a talker. He talked through everything he did. I thought it was annoying that I had to eat with him at a snails pace and he nattered on about anything and everything. Business was never discussed at the table. That was a rule. It ruined the appetite. When I was flat on my back making my instalment payment, he chattered like a bird in a bush. That used to annoy the hell out of me. I really couldn’t complain though because he had talent and half the time I was out of my gourd once I had gotten used to being on the receiving end. I broke that line of thought off. I was trying to believe that King Ass was just in a constant rut all the time but I was starting to think that these damned tattoos were more connected than just being buttons of completion. I get a little spike of desire and zoom, there comes Maggie with that golden hair and eyes the color of...I killed that line of thought. Just eat.

Wallace was quiet. He ate quickly which meant I could pick up the place a bit. Finally I moved over to my plate of meat and he sipped at his java.

“You remember I told you that this is the flagship of the Empire. Only the best of the best get assigned here. Magnus is one of eight active King Tigers. He is the oldest and has the most combat experience. Newmarket, his handler has been with him for those seven years. I’ve been with him for five.”

“You a null too?”

]Wallace straightened and looked at me contemplatively. “Where did you hear that term?”

“Know your enemy.”

“I’m not your enemy, Neko. A Handler’s duty is to keep his mage in check. A Groomer’s duty is to take care of the latent and keep him from harm.”

“Don’t need your help.”

“I can see that. Not a null, well, sort of. Only a true null can be a Handler. A Groomer has some ability. We Groomers can draw off excess energy. Unlike Latents, we cannot store it.”

“You keep Latents weak?”

“No, not weak. We keep the Latents calm. You are the only Latent belonging to a King Tiger here.”

I let the belonging comment slide. “Say what you mean, Groomer.”

“Wallace. I’d prefer Mack.”

I grunted at him.

“So be it. Magnus told me that you know about his last Latent.”

I reached for the java and inhaled the aroma. It was stronger and smelled a little bitter compared to the stuff I got used to drinking at Grim’s. It was a little strong but I liked it.

“Neko?”

I glanced over at Mack. “He killed the last five. If he did to them what he did to me it’s no wonder. He dropped me to my knees quicker than I was ready for.”

Mack looked alarmed. “King Tiger already took you into battle?”

“It wasn’t a battle it was a negotiation.”

“Mages aren’t sent in for negotiations. King Tigers definitely don’t.”

“All I know is that Magnus was supposed do a firestorm.”

“Shit, then why the hell didn’t he?”

I finished the coffee and set the empty cup down. The table began to power up. It seemed unbelievably slow now that I knew what to expect. Mack did a little involuntary twitch as the table began to glow. He set his cup on the table as everything began to break apart in small degrees. I think it was leaving just as quickly as it arrived but my ebb and flow was back under my control and I could see the whole thing. Kind of cool. Darryl would….oh yeah…that fucker sold me out.

“Neko?” There was a snap of fingers beside my ear. I turned my head and caught Mack’s hand. He looked shocked that I actually had caught him.

“Don’t do that again.”

“Where were you right now?”

“What are you talking about? I’m standing right here.”

“Physically you were here but up here…” Mack brushed my bangs away from my face. He stilled as the tip of my dagger dug into the underside of his jaw.
“Don’t touch me.”

He raised his hands slowly.

“Neko-laus, you are in volition of section five. You have five seconds to…”

I pulled the blade back from Mack’s throat and slipped it back into its sheath.

“That’s a good Neko-laus.” The computer’s voice was calm and condescending at the same time. I shook my head so my hair fell back over my eyes.

“Nicky.” I looked at Mack. There was a slight prick on blood on his jaw. “Why didn’t Magnus call a firestorm when he was ordered to?”

“I told him not to.”

The expression on Mack’s face was if I walked up to him and suddenly pointed out that the sky was green not blue. Was this because of King Ass and his air of entitlement?

“Training is in session, Neko-laus, please follow the white tiles to the recreation center.” Four squares lit up on the floor leading back out to the corridor.

“You ‘told’ him.”

“He never struck me as someone who would listen to me just asking.”

“Training is in session, Neko-laus…”

“I heard you.”

“Anyone tell you that you have anger issues?”

“Considering I’m here against my will, I think I’m entitled to my anger.”

“Neko-laus…”

“I’m moving. I’m moving.”

Mack fell into step beside me. I caught him looking at me sideways out the corner of his eye. I stopped. “What?”
“I’ve collected five of my charges off the battlefield. Magnus walked away but his Latents didn’t. I don’t think I’m going to have to do that with you.”

I snorted. Damned straight. I wasn’t dying out here in this cold space or on a foreign world. We, Maggie and I might be wearing magical tattoos, but I wasn’t dying for him and I wasn’t dying with him. I’m not that much of a fucking romantic.

“Neko-laus, follow the…”

“SHUT UP!”

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I have no title but there will be more...my boys are talking to me once again!