Vespidian Arc 5, The Pussycat and I
Chapter 1 Interlude: Nibbles
Ann was a short girl, who steered clear of trouble. She had been the last to be picked during events at school and most of the time nobody even noticed her. Her quiet, mousy life came to an abrupt end during one summer break. She had been visiting her best friend that she had not seen in years, her name was Hanna. Hanna lived in Downtown Bronson and while they were out having fun Ann made the mistake of checking a rustling in a back alley. She unfortunately was bitten by a radioactive gerbil. The beast lunged out of a pile of trash and sunk its teeth into her leg. Ann did not think too much about it, other than that it hurt like hell at the time. They cleaned out the wound, poured hydrogen peroxide in it. The bubbly mess was dried and then wrapped up.
She had not seen Hanna in a long time, so some stupid animal bite was not going to stop her from having fun. They spent the rest of the day shopping and watching movies at the theater. WALL-E had just come out and they were not going to miss that. All the while the pain in her leg grew worse. By that night she was sweating bullets and her front teeth had started to grow. When Hanna's parents saw what was happening they drove her south and dumped her by the fringe of the bad side of town, fearing that she would infect them. She was forced to flee through the streets. The more she transformed the harsher people became until she was herded into the Slums.
The Slums were a terrifying place where beasts ran wild. Her new ears heard every sound nearby. Ann had been told the rumors of course, but not actually living in Bronson there was no way to know until now exactly how bad it was. She found a nice sheltered place, an old auto repair shop that was boarded up. She burrowed under the back door with her new claws, then filled in the hole so that other things could not get in so easily. Her body was transforming and over the course of the next two days she developed into something no longer human. She had a sleek coat of brown and white fur, large rounded ears, black rodent like eyes, a stumpy tail that wiggled and whiskers around her scrunched up nose. Her hands were pawed with thick claws that could grow and regress. Her taloned feet curved allowing her to scamper about on all fours just as easily as standing on two legs.
She had become buck toothed and an insatiable need to gnaw on things took hold. Her teeth were sharper than diamonds, which meant nothing in her den was safe from her nibbling. She ripped cars apart and chewed through desks. The result was a nest that she curled up into and slept. She hid from the locals for three days until hunger got the better of her. A certain cat had found her trail while she meandered the streets searching for something to eat. She was stalked for three hours and only realized it towards the end. The pattering of feet followed her and soon she was running for her life. The deadly game of cat and mouse had begun.
Her rodent instincts warned her of the danger and she bolted. The stalking hunter pursued and she did not know where to go. At one point she ran in circles around an overgrown park. Glimpses of her predator made her squeal. She fled through buildings and twice hunkered down, hoping that she lost them. It was during the second time she cowered below a table that she saw exactly who or a better word would be what had been chasing her. She had known that there were other animal people, but she never expected to see a cat girl. She was a feral, ragged looking thing, scrawny, hungry and wild eyed. She smelled the air and relished in Ann's scent following it with drool slipping from the side of her parted mouth. The beast closed in and attacked sinking her teeth into Ann's hand.
They wrestled across the floor howls and screams echoing. Blood sprayed as the cat raked her claws into Ann's side. The cat tried to get a hold of the back of her neck, biting and snarling. It was trying to kill and eat her. Something deep and primal awoke in Ann and she tore into the aggressor. She sunk those deadly teeth into the cat's chest the iron taste of blood gushed out. Her claws scrabbled against flesh, ripping and shredding. She started gnawing her way up, until she latched onto the neck. The cat gurgled and writhed when her neck snapped. Foam puffed out of her mouth and her low yawls quieted. Ann fled, leaving that terrible creature to die.
She limped back to her lair and licked her wounds. The hunger had not abated. Though she did not know it yet her little skirmish had caught the eye of the most deadly of predators in the slums. Ann ventured out once more looking for food. She had hardly made it ten feet from her tunnel when something slammed down atop her. She was pinned and there was another cat girl. This one was different that the other in many ways. She had short tabby hair with glitter and sparkles rubbed in, slowly they flaked out. Her huge eyes held a dominate and prideful gaze. She licked her lips as she smelled Ann. The tail swished as she continued to hold her prey down. Ann tried to resist, but this creature was far stronger than her. She trembled in terror then something she was not expecting happened. She spoke.
“Nyahaha. I was wondering what little Meowsy had moved in,” her rough tongue licked the back of Ann's neck. “Not bad at all nyah.”
“You speak?” she cried in joy.
“Poor little Meowsy you are on my turf, which means you have to pay me Nyah.”
“Don't eat me. Please! I don't mean to trespass, but I have no where else to go,” she trembled.
“No where to go Nyah?” asked the cat, letting her hands roam through the soft fur on Ann's back. “You have not been one of us for very long?”
“No, only about a week.”
“I am Glitter Kitten,” she purred in Anne's ear, “and I run this place, Nyah. If you want to live you will obey me. Simple Nyaes?”
“What do you want from me?” quivered Ann.
“You will be my pet Nyah.”
“Pet?”
The wide grin across Glitter Kitten's face unsettled Ann. She kept licking at the blood stains cleaning them from her brown and white fur, “Yes I feel bad for you, Nyah. Besides I want you in my gang.”
“Gang?”
“I saw what you did to that cat, impurressssive,” she purred.
“You are not mad?”
“A Meowsy killed a cat. You are stronger than you think, usually your kind are preyed upon quickly here. It is unfortunately the way things go. Now choose, be my pet or be my food.”
Ann grabbed a metal bar from nearby and felt Glitter Kitten tense on her back, ready to attack. She started nibbling nervously. This caught the cat's attention, seeing the teeth work through metal like it was butter. Her hands began petting Ann's head, cooing and meowing lowly. It was gentle and soothing.
“I will be your pet... what are you going to make me do?” Ann was in tears dreading what terrible things were yet to come. What happened next left her speechless. Glitter Kitten shifted her weight and plopped her bottom down right on Ann's face. A short spray of urine made her writhe in resistance, gagging and squirming. She stood and grinned down.
“Now they will know you are mine. I marked you. Nyah as of now not a soul in my Slums will dare harm you, unless I tell them to of course. But I won't tell them to unless you give me a reason to Nibbles.”
“Nibbles?”
“Yes every pet needs a name and since you love to nibble on things I chose it.”
“My name is Ann.”
“That was your human name, Nyah. We are certainly not human any more. Nibbles is your name now. It will grow on you. Or would you prefer to be called Meowsy?”
“Nibbles is fine,” she shuddered.
“Don't be scared, nyah. I won't hurt you. You are one of us now and we look out for one another. Sometimes though we need to be reminded of our place, Nyahaha. Sometimes I need to crack some skulls or break some bones to keep order down here. It is a jungle after all. Especially the ferals.”
Nibble's stomach growled and she cringed. Glitter Kitten pet her gently, patiently, “Hungry?” Nibbles nodded and Glitter Kitten smiled, “Come along we have lots of food. What do you eat? Meat, grass, carrots?”
“You will actually feed me?” asked Nibbles, hoping it to be true.
“Yes. Think of it as a family.”
“Family? I thought I was your pet?”
“Is the pet not a part of the family? Don't worry about a thing. My little Nibbles.”
Nibbles would never forget this day, the day that she found her place in the world. A world that shunned her for being different.
~~~
Present day.
The light glared in through the blinds. A low rumbling purr resounded through the room. There was an exhausted looking young woman. Her short furred body was sprawled out across a bed that would make a queen jealous. This woman was no normal person, she was Glitter Kitten. Her tall ears rotated as her long curly tail flicked through the air. She yawned and stretched, arching her bottom in the air. Glitter Kitten rolled and the horde of her children descended, nipping at her and suckling. They were soft and fluffy, most looked like they had just come out of a dryer. She growled and several ran away, but the bravest latched on. It was something along the lines of sorting out the weak, they still got fed of course though they had to wait. She groaned rubbing her face, not even trying to fight them anymore. Her eyes closed then opened. She glared over at the door and the figure who had snuck in.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Nyah? Nibbles. This had better be good,” she rubbed her temples slowly. The low purring and insatiable smacking of the kittens filling the air. “I got a hang over, Nyah that could kill a moose.”
Despite how she might look she was not someone to cross and unfortunately for little Nibbles she was going to be very, very mad about what she had to say, “The guy got away.”
Glitter Kitten took a long moment making a pained look, she said in a low growling voice that rose to a yell and sent all of her kittens fleeing into the next room. “What the fuck do you mean he got away Nyah?!”
“He got rescued by some hero!” quivered Nibbles not wanting to incur the wrath of her savior. She had though and Glitter Kitten pounced. She grabbed the weregerbil by the neck, slammed her into the wall and bent her over a knee. The clawed hands spanked her ass and did not stop until it was raw and bloody. Nibbles cried and squealed like she was dying.
“I told you!” howled Glitter Kitten. “I told you to torture him until he told us where he stashed all those drugs! Damn it, Nibbles if I had known you would fuck this up I would have done it myself! I don't like to hurt you, but you make me when you fail like this.”
Nibbles wailed, “I'm sorry! Glitter Kitten forgive me. He did not go far, he is in the hospital in Downtown by the Fire Station.”
“How do you know?” she hissed.
“I followed Medavac.”
“So it was Medavac?”
Nibbles panted holding up a news paper. “No, there was Fire Chief and some new hero called Mecha Fairy.”
“Mecha who?” said Glitter Kitten, snatching the paper away and looking it over. She scowled reading over the articles. She tapped her finger irritably and took a deep breath. A slow smile spread across her face and she pet Nibbles. Her voice sounded as though she were spoiling an animal, “I am sorry, Nibbles. I did not mean to hurt you. I was just angry. You did very good. Yes, Nibbles did good. Whose a good, Nibbles? Your a good, Nibbles. Yes you are.”
She smiled wiggling her little tail, but then Glitter Kitten slapped her. “Rather I should say this Mecha Fairy did good. She saved your ass! What the fuck is this? It happened almost a week ago. Why the hell did you not tell me sooner!?”
She warily gnawed at her fingers, “I was scared... What do you mean?”
Glitter Kitten rubbed Nibble's head and made sure to go against the grain of the hair. It was uncomfortable to say the least. “Had John C. Richard died we would never know where the drugs are hidden, at the least not in time. Never the less I will send people out to look.”
“Why are the drugs so important?”
The hand on her head clenched to the point that it was painful and the claws were almost drawing blood. “He stole twenty million dollars worth of cocaine. That cocaine is for a drug deal with the Angels of Hell. We need the money, they need the drugs and we sure as hell are not going to let them go over to someone else. This is the biggest single drug deal we have ever done. If we fuck this up the Boss won't let us in on the Gig! Do you even understand what will happen if the Boss gets pissed at us?!”
“Why do we need the money and who the hell is this boss guy anyway. It is not like you to follow orders.” asked Nibbles and Glitter Kitten rubbed her face to keep calm. She replied, “We need it to buy food. Our reserves are running low. Make sense now Nyah? We don't talk about the Boss, you know that. Rules, the rules gotta be followed or we are all dead.”
Nibbles nodded and she was stroked under the chin and the hand started petting her. “Now then.” smiled Glitter Kitten though there was no joy in it. It was the coldest, most evil expression Nibbles had ever seen on her owner before. All the hair stood up on her body. “The deal is in three days. Which means you have two days to either get John back here or obtain the location of the stash. If you do not, then I will take care of this personally. I will not be happy if I have to deal with this myself. Now then just so that it sinks in, let me say it nice an’ slow nyah. Drugs equal money, which means food. No drugs, no money, then no food. No food, my kittens go hungry. My kittens go hungry, I get angry. I get angry, I will raid the city and if I do that I will kill anybody that gets in my way. If I have to get involved, well my little Nibbles you can expect very bad things to happen to you. You remember what happened last time you fucked up this badly?”
She nodded in terror, “I won't fail you.”
“I know you won't. But if you do, Nyahaha, the Kittens are waiting for their chew toy.”
Nibbles shuddered. The oldest of the kittens were already the same size as her and stronger, at the least in raw power she could fight them off with her teeth, but that would enrage Glitter Kitten and that would make things worse. Glitter Kitten's progeny often chased her and made her life hell, it did not matter that she was a weregerbil they went for the nipples every time. They loved milk and did not seem to realize that Nibbles had an empty well, so any attempts to get the creamy fluid was not rewarded. It did not stop them though. They were biters and usually drew blood. Nibbles would become their play thing should she fail. It was a grim prospect to be at the mercy of nineteen veracious felines that wanted milk and she had none to give. The image of a piranha feeding frenzy came to mind.
Nibbles cried inwardly, she would not let that happen to her again. They nearly ripped her nipples off last time. She was ready to go when Glitter Kitten spoke up again, “This might be too much for you alone. Take Den Mother with you. Do this as quietly as possible. Just snatch him and get the hell back here. If you do it right I will reward you Nyah. If you fuck up I will beat the both of you an inch from death.”
She nodded and walked out down the hallway to the stairs. Nibbles was small enough that the other non-humans scared the living day lights out of her. It also did not help that she was a prey animal compared to most of the other inhabitants of the Slums. It was so bad even the bunnies picked on her. Wearily she descended the steps into the upper floor of the Sparkle Kat Cafe. Below was a mass of furry bodies passed out after a long night of partying. Nibbles always steered clear of the drinking and drug use that took place here. Her eyes scanned over the room for the massive shape that she knew was Den Mother. Usually she would be somewhere in the middle of it all, however she was off to the side drinking at the bar. It was only eight in the morning this was not going to end well.
Den Mother joined the gang before Nibbles, in fact she had been a police officer during the battles to reclaim the slums. Her canine unit, a large German Shepard by the name of Duke, had been heavily irradiated and turned on its master. He mauled her before being put down, but the damage had been done. During that time it was a very strict policy to kill any infected. They had been trying to purge the slums of irradiated animals and were-people. She had to flee from her former comrades or be gunned down. Glitter Kitten found her and dragged her in. After her full change took hold her place in the gang was decided after vicious battles for dominance. The result was only Glitter Kitten and Thumper being able to beat her into submission. Now she was loyal to a fault and used as a watch dog for the young or muscle if they needed to teach somebody a lesson. She was a nice person... when she was sober, the problem was she was an alcoholic. When she was drunk she was over protective of the dancers. It drove away a lot of patrons, usually with broken bones.
Things had calmed down in regards to the kill on sight policy of Bronson in the last three years. Now they did as they did before and herded any mutants into the Slums. There was still a lot of prejudice though and brutality was common for the so called Subhumans. They were scorned and treated like animals. There were even some rich people who paid to have the denizens kidnapped and trained for sick fetishes. To be a demi human was bleak. They could only band together to fend off those that would harm them. Nibbles had a feeling that if something happened to Glitter Kitten there would be anarchy and things would end badly for everyone. The other subhuman gangs might make a move if the Mad Dogs were knocked down a peg. These fears were unfounded though, Glitter Kitten was the alpha predator of the Slums and nothing ever seemed to phase her for very long.
Nibbles made her way down the stairs. The hanging cages for dancers were empty and the stages with stripper poles sat unused except for the random sleeping bodies curled up together. The speakers buzzed lowly, somebody had forgotten to turn them off last night. At the least they were not playing music. The poor jukebox had seen better days. Most of the lights were burnt out and the glass was cracked. Just last night Nibbles had heard What's New Pussycat seven times in a row followed by a brief respite of It's Not Unusual, but it did not last long. Unfortunately it was Glitter Kitten's favorite song and she played it almost every time she took to the stage. She was rather into it last night, even dragged a guy up on the stage and mounted him in front of everyone. Needless to say that was a show, the guy would be bow legged for a week.
Most nights there were more police in here than much else. Supposedly they were here to keep an eye on things, but everyone knew they just wanted lap dances, to get drunk, partake in the drug trade or indulge in some pussycat time. In fact some heroes were known to sneak down here for some walks on the wilder side. A few of them even had tabs they were in here so frequently, Medavac was a rather regular customer. All were welcome so long as they had money and did not try anything funny. It was rather lucrative to let them in. Not only did they spend money, but they blabbed about the rest of city after a few drinks or a little coaxing from a kitten or two promising a happy ending. It was rather funny how corrupt things were.
The bar had the only human that could stomach this place for long periods of time, most needed a few days to recover. The man was well built and he needed to be to survive in this environment, let alone thrive. His name was Titus and he was the bar tender. He was a Super, it was not anything crazy, he was simply immune to radiation and as a result was uninfectable, not that some of the girls had not tried. He was their supply chain and went into Bronson's market district to procure the things that were needed with the gang's money. Den Mother had something of a sweet spot for the man and Nibbles had unfortunately walked in on them in the throes of passion, to put it nicely, a few times. They could go for hours so it was hard to find a good time to interrupt.
“Nibbles,” said Titus cleaning a glass so that it was as shiny as his dark skinned head. “You got Kitten mad again?”
“What did you do this time?” asked Den Mother, peering at her. Luckily it looked as though she had just started drinking and was not hammered yet. The shaggy dark brown fur was matted with sweat and her snout spread, showing off her sharp teeth. Her large breasts always caught Nibbles eyes, she was a little jealous, she was flat as a board after all. The towering werewolf pat her lap and she reluctantly crawled up the leg to sit in it.
“You have to help me, Den Mother,” said Nibbles, rubbing all over her larger counterpart to get her scent ingrained. It was a form of showing submission and it always worked against Den Mother.
“Now, now just calm down and tell me what happened.”
“Glitter Kitten wants us to capture that guy that escaped,” she replied shiftily.
There was a pause and Den Mother was thinking it over. She was not dumb, but she was certainly not the sharpest brick in the shed. Sometimes it was hard just to think due to her raging hormones, especially around the lunar cycles. Granted it was like that for just about all of them, “Isn't that the guy we caught a week ago? We still don't know where the shipment is? Nibbles what the fuck! You had one job, make him talk.”
“He tricked me,” she said as the huge clawed hand held her still. Nibbles shrieked. “I know where he is though so it should not be hard to get him.”
“Why did you not just gnaw his arms and legs off? It is good torture and he can't very well run away after that,” sighed Den Mother.
“That would have killed him. Why did I have to torture him anyway? Everyone knows I don't like to hurt people.”
“If you want to amputate people you have to tie a tourniquet around the limb above where you plan on cutting, so that they don't bleed out. Make sure it is nice and tight to cut blood flow. You do it slowly and painfully most will spill their guts after the first leg or even half way through. It shows that you mean business,” her vulpine grin made Nibbles shudder.
“So you are going to help?”
“Of course. You know where he is?” Den Mother pet the gerbil girl.
“Yes. We should go before Glitter Kitten gets mad.”
“Titus we will finish this when I get back.”
He put the bottle back and waved, “Try not to cause too much trouble out there.”
“Sounds like it is just a smash and grab, we will be back before happy hour starts.”