“Yes, is that you, Ozma?” Mayor Margo’s voice came from behind the wall. “Knock once if you are.”
It was a dumb question, but Ozzie decided to humour him anyway. He knocked once.
“Are you alright? Is there something wrong?”
Ozzie knocked twice, telling him nothing’s wrong.
“Do you need my company?”
Ozzie knocked once.
“I’ll be right over, sweetheart.”
In 5 seconds flat, Mayor Margo was in Ozzie’s room. Ozzie was sitting on the bed waiting for him, and made Kiaran stay under the bed and be quiet beforehand.
“Have you considered my offer?” Mayor Margo asked as he sat beside Ozzie, moving closer to him.
Ozzie just gave him an uncertain smile.
“Is that a yes or no, sweetheart?”
Ozzie leaned forward a little, puckering his lips suggestively.
“I take that as a yes then.”
Ozzie waited until Mayor Margo closed his eyes and was almost an inch away from his face before he took out secretly a capsule hidden within the hem of his headdress and whispered just enough for the mayor to hear.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh? What?”
While the mayor was caught unaware, Ozzie quickly slipped the capsule into his puckered mouth and held him down by the mouth with both his hands, forcing him to swallow it. Mayor Margo’s eyes widened in bewilderment as Ozzie put his full weight onto his hands, keeping him down on the bed and had one of his knees holding down one of the mayor’s thighs. Ozzie could see his pupil dilated in disbelief as he saw the ‘she-T4 cell’ he thought was mute whispering “I’m sorry” over and over again to him, forcing him to bite down and swallow the capsule. Foam started forming around his mouth as the capsule’s deadly poison took effect. After much struggling, Mayor Margo soon went limp, the capsule he was force-fed with finally done its job. Ozzie made sure that he was no longer breathing before he coaxed Kiaran out from under the bed and took the keys and pass card the mayor kept religiously in his breast pocket.
He knocked out the guards (thanks to his immunity training) in front of the door of his room they were guarding and skulked his way through the mansion, taking down people in stealth mode as he went. He went down to the basement of the mansion that connected directly into the mayor’s office, retracing his steps as he remembered when he was taken away from Bubba. As soon as he got there, he waited until the mayor’s aide clocked out for dinner before going to the main computer system. With what little knowledge he had about computers and the mayor’s pass card to access the mainframe, he managed to open all doors of the maximum security prison to let Bubba out and, watching for the blinking of the tracking device tagged on Bubba by the guards when they were put in the maximum security prison on the map of the brain and also the monitor screen of the security camera feed, he timed the walkways well to lock and unlock the area for Bubba’s easy getaway from the authorities’ pursuit.
Once he saw Bubba made it out of the brain centre, Ozzie quickly made a dash to the hypothalamus chamber based on a printout he made on the map. Using the pass card, he entered the chamber, knocked out the professors present (apologizing at the same time) and walked towards the barrier that contained the rotating chromosome with the hypothalamus DNA in it. Looking at his own dimly glowing hand, he remembered what Thrax told him when he was helping him with his getup the other day…
--:--
FLASHBACK BEGINS…
“Why am I doing this again?” Ozzie couldn’t help asking as Thrax picked up the hairbrush and started combing.“Because, baby, you are the best in the undercover business,” Thrax replied. “I must admit, baby, you almost had me fooled there the first time I saw you in The Zit. The fact that you managed to enter the room and listen in throughout my whole plan without anyone knowing or suspecting who you are proves that you’ve got what it takes, that you are an expert in this. Of course, if your mouth hadn’t run out on you, you might just succeed in ratting me out.”
“I can’t help it if my words blow off my cover,” Ozzie pouted.
“That’s why I want you to stay quiet when you’re doing this. Let Bubba do all the talking and keep your mouth shut. You dig, baby?”
“I dig. I dig real deep.”
Thrax was almost done with his hair when he smirked and asked, “You were really good when I told you to wear this dress. Not even a peep from you at all. Did you really enjoy your punishment I give you?”
Ozzie pouted again, not wanting to answer that question. Thrax chuckled at Ozzie’s reaction and took the cell’s chin, turning him to face him.
“I’m sure you’re just dying to know why I want you in this getup.”
Ozzie shifted his gaze downwards and nodded.
“Well, while Klepta’s being a glory-hog rounding people up for me, I did my own research. Turns out our Mayor of Gregory Metropolis is a sucker for dressed-up girls. Girls in costumes, in special dresses, in flamboyant fancy clothes, etc…these are the girls that turn him on. In fact, he even announced it publicly during interviews that if he were to choose a bride, he’d want someone dressed in his favourite gothic-lolita outfit. Turned off a lot of suitors that way that he claimed he’d marry anyone that stepped in with a frilly dress. All of Klepta’s people are hard-ass who have no elegance whatsoever, and as much as I loathe it, you are the only person I could think of to fit for the position.”
“Do I look like a girl to you?” Ozzie asked, trying not to sound too annoyed lest it offended Thrax and got himself another punishment.
“Once I’m done with you, you would,” Thrax said. He fished out a whitish capsule from his trench-coat’s inner pocket and waved it in front of Ozzie, “See this? It’s your time to shine, baby. I want you, once you managed to infiltrate into the brain, to feed this to the mayor and once he’s down, you get to take the hypothalamus DNA for me.”
Ozzie widened his eyes in shock. He didn’t need to be a genius to know what was inside the capsule.
“You…You want me to kill him?! I-I-I can’t do that!”
“Whatever he’s gonna do to you later, you might wanna do it. Besides, you got no choice. This is the only way we can get out of this.”
“I…I don’t know…” Ozzie hesitated, knowing from Thrax’s tone that he meant business, but still not exactly at ease with the idea of killing somebody. True, he had killed a few germs in his line of work, but it was his duty. Killing innocent people wasn’t exactly in his immunity training.
“Just treat it like you’re getting rid of a criminal. Do we have to go through this again?”
Ozzie knew exactly what that meant. He shook his head.
“Good boy,” Thrax smiled, then slipped the capsule into the hem of his headdress. “Just close your eyes and get it over with. It’ll get easier every time.”
“But how am I gonna get the DNA? I’m not exactly a virus like you. I might probably get my hand fried if I try to reach out to get it.”
“True, you’re not, but you’re not exactly a pure cell either. You’re partially infected, remember? That viral DNA I gave you does more than just glow, you know. Just stick your hand in and go with the flow. I guarantee you you’ll be alright. Now stay still. I’m gonna help you get rid of that goatie of yours…”
FLASHBACK ENDS…
--:--
“Here goes nothing.”
Closing his eyes, he stuck his hand in. Surprisingly, he passed through the barrier as if it was nothing. In fact, the only thing he felt as his hand inched closer and closer towards the chromosome was like sticking his hand into a freezer. It didn’t hurt as bad as he thought, and his hand was not burning or peeling or anything, but it did feel like he just stuck himself into a bucket of ice and was getting a sort of minor frostbite. He waited until the chromosome rotated in the right angle before he, imitating Thrax, plucked out the familiar hypothalamus DNA from it. As he pulled out with the DNA in his hand, the chromosome started to move out of alignment and he could hear the familiar beeping of the monitor as the temperature started climbing upwards.
“Woah,” Ozzie breathed, almost amazed at his own feat. “Didn’t think I could actually do this…”
His musings were cut short by a sudden push from behind, sending him sprawled over the floor and making him drop the DNA. Kiaran barked at the perpetrator but yelped in pain as it sounded like it was being hit. Ozzie turned to see in shock that it was Mayor Margo, alive and kicking on him, looking at him with vengeance in his eyes.
“You bitch! You sneaky little bitch!”
“Wha…How…? I saw you…”
“Dead?” Mayor Margo finished his words. “Yeah, you did. For a good 10 seconds, as a matter of fact. But I didn’t get to this built without special training, you know. I was in the army barracks before I became Mayor. I was trained in the most rigorous exercise program ever, and that included getting myself immune to all poisons fed through me. It was a tough job being forced to drink glasses upon glasses of stuff that would kill an average cell in seconds, but I was forced to be one with poison, to handle the deadly effects and play possum before forcing my body to assimilate and recover from it. That stupid little capsule wasn’t enough to kill me, sweetheart, and I’m going to show you how strong I can really be!”
“But I’m a he-cell!” Ozzie shouted as he struggled with him. “I’m not some prissy little she-cell who has a thing for frilly dresses! I’m a guy, for Frank’s sake!”
“You think I didn’t know?!” the mayor bellowed as he slapped Ozzie on both cheeks. “You think I don’t see through you that you’re a guy? What kind of mayor do you think I am? Do you think I care what gender you are?! You turned me on, and that’s enough for me! But you…you betrayed me! You tried to kill me! After all I promised you, you still tried to kill me!”
“I said I was sorry!”
“Sorry ain’t good enough for me! I’m gonna make you sorry you were even born!”
Before he knew it, Mayor Margo started pulling up his skirt and had his hand on the waistband of his underwear, ready to peel it down. Ozzie screamed and struggled, trying to push him away. He sucker-punched his face a few times and had succeeded in getting away, only to be grabbed and pulled back to the floor again, having those body-building hands roam all over his body and lips touching his membrane everywhere. Kiaran tried to get back to its feet and pulled at the mayor’s pants but it was kicked away almost immediately. When Mayor Margo literally tore the underwear off and pinned his clenched hands down to the counter that had all the dozens of thermometers stuck on the gel-like pockets, he knew he was done for.
No…No…No, no, NO!!! Ozzie screamed inwardly. Not again!!! Not that…!! Please, not that…!!!
Suddenly, he heard a loud gurgling sound. He opened his tear-filled eyes and saw a familiar glowing claw pierced through Mayor Margo’s chest. The venom traveled quickly throughout the mayor’s body and immediately he became a melting pile of red goo on the floor, screaming and writhing in his gurgling voice as he went, revealing his savior standing behind him as he flicked the goo off his claws distastefully.
“Sorry I’m late, baby.”
Ozzie couldn’t control himself. He quickly got up and flung himself onto Thrax’s chest, crying and bawling his heart out. He had never felt so relieved to see Thrax ever in his life, and in this circumstance, he was almost glad that the virus showed up just in time. He felt Thrax’s arms wrap around him and hushed him, stroking his back tenderly.
“Shh, shh, shh, it’s over, baby. It’s over.”
“He…He tried to…He tried to…” Ozzie sobbed, unable to finish his words. Thrax hushed him again.
“I know, baby. I’m sorry I’m late.”
Kiaran whined, hobbling towards the Master-Slave duo, retrieving the hypothalamus DNA Ozzie dropped. Thrax smirked and took the DNA from its mouth before patting the puppy.
“Good boy. Guess you made yourself useful after all.”
“Did I miss anything?”
Thrax scowled at Klepta’s unceremonious appearance. The younger virus saw Ozzie’s tear-stained face and rushed to him quickly.
“Oh my Greg, doll! Did that grubby mayor do anything to you? Did he hurt you in anyway?”
“Not helping, runt,” Thrax growled as he shoved him away from Ozzie while slipping in the DNA into his chain. “He’s lucky I got here before he had the chance to do anything. I would’ve enjoyed torturing him if we weren’t running out of time.”
“Well, we’re gonna run late if we don’t get outta here,” Klepta said. “The feds are onto us, and we can only hold them back so much.”
“Right,” Thrax nodded, then turned to Ozzie, “Pick up the mutt, baby. We’re springing outta here.”
Ozzie nodded and picked Kiaran up before Thrax carried him bridal style to Klepta’s car which was parked just outside the brain centre entrance. There, many of the workers and guards were either knocked out or taken down by the group of germs and bacteria-s and by Thrax’s and Klepta’s killer claw. A car chase ensued, but they managed to ditch the dispensable lackeys and made their way to one of the sweat glands near the armpit where the mole was situated. They hopped into one of the droplets of the salty sweat that was starting to leak out of Gregory, held their breaths and waited for the sweat to trickle out and get absorbed by the shirt sleeve. Moments later, they found themselves being discarded out with the shirt and looked to see Gregory unconscious on the floor of a bar being surrounded by his friends, one of them trying to call the ambulance while another tried to fan him to cool down his temperature. They could only assume that their heist happened while he was out having happy hour with his friends.
“Got a whole load of people here,” Klepta said. “Gonna get into any of them?”
“No,” Thrax growled as if his brother had just said something ridiculous. “I’ve made it into the medical books now. Anyone in contact with the body I killed will automatically be sent to quarantine. We’re gonna have to split this joint.”
“There’s a stray cat over there,” Ozzie pointed at the said stray cat who was lounging around outside the window of the bar.
“Baby, that’s just what we needed,” Thrax grinned and pecked at the cell’s forehead.
With the help of the crowd in the bar, they leapt from one set of clothes to another, picking up momentum until they were high enough for Thrax to spread his trench-coat and glide around the air. Klepta, on the other hand, relied on his agility and springing step and soon, both of them made their way out of the bar, through the window and onto the cat’s fur before camping out on one of the cat’s pores of its skin.
--:--
“Baby, baby, wake up. Wake up, baby.”
Ozzie snapped his eyes opened, tears fell freely out of them. He just had the most awful dream of seeing Finn, Mayor Margo and all the germs and bacteria-s he had met throughout their journey gathered around them, lust strewn all over their face as they started tearing every fabric that was on Ozzie’s body, with Thrax watching them do their thing and laughing maniacally, not doing anything to save him. At the sight of Klepta and Thrax looking down at him as soon as he woke up, he instinctively cowered away, screaming for them to leave him alone.
“Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me!! Don’t touch me!!!”
“Shh, shh, baby,” Thrax wrapped his arms around the struggling cell, trying to calm him down. “It’s just a nightmare, baby. It’s just a nightmare.”
“Look what you’ve done to our doll, you wimp!” Klepta scolded. “I told you it was a bad idea having him involved in this!”
“Shut the fuck up, runt! I told you I know what I’m doing! I just didn’t expect…”
“That Mayor Margo would try to do him in, innit? That the mayor tried to make a whore outta him, innit? It’s all your friggin’ fault he’s like this!”
Ozzie’s bawls stopped their bickering. The older virus went back to try and console him, with Kiaran whining and rubbing its head against him to comfort him. Thrax rocked him back to sleep again as he whispered “It’s OK, I’m here” over and over again to Ozzie’s ear. As soon as Ozzie eased down and started snoring slightly again, Thrax made Kiaran lie down in Ozzie’s arms before the two viruses made their way towards the cat’s tail for a breather.
“This is friggin’ ridiculous, man,” Klepta sighed. “This feels like Trisha all over again…”
“Don’t you fucking bring that bitch up again!” Thrax snapped. “This has nothing to do with Trisha and you know it!”
“Isn’t it? When was the last time you made Trisha smile? When was the last time you actually let Trisha feel happy about your relationship with her? All she could think of was how dangerous it was to love you, and always wake up with nightmares of her being prosecuted and seeing you being killed by the feds, and we had to ease her fears just like what we’re doing with our doll right now! Haven’t you caused enough trouble already?!”
“Stop calling my baby our doll! He’s not your pet, he’s mine! Stop talking as if he belongs to you!”
“Get it into your thick skull, Thrax, that if he were to stay with you, he’s gonna be family, which means he’s my family as well, so I get to choose what to fucking call him! You’re still the spoilt brat, aren’t you? Big Mama’s little boy, always wanting everything for yourself…”
“You think I’m that selfish?!” Thrax growled as he grabbed his brother’s collar. “You think I always get what I want?! You have no idea what I have been through with Big Mama! You have no fucking idea! Don’t try talking to me like you know who I really am!”
“I would if you just tell me!” Klepta growled back, struggling to pry the elder virus’ hand away. “Big Mama had always loved you more than everyone else! She always treated our other moms like shit, including us when we were kids! You have no fucking idea what we have to go through to win her approval!”
“Oh, really now? Is that why she’s always whipping me and beating me black and blue in private, saying that it’s to toughen his boy up, to be as strong as his old man? Is that why she killed every younger sibling I had and made it look like an accident, just so that no one will surpass me and take over my place as the greatest virus next to his old man? She made me watch as she suffocated little Tiara with a pillow, made me watch as she drowned little Thaka in the bathtub, made me watch as she slit little Tkokhol bit by bit until he died by just the pain alone. I cared for each and every one of my little baby siblings and she just killed them like they were nothing to her, even though she was the one to carry them to term and gave birth to them! She made go through the toughest training, making pain my most routine practice to assimilate, to cope, to live with and be a part of me. You all had it way easy, runt! The way she treated you paled in comparison with how she treated me, so don’t try to justify yourself with me, because you have no FUCKING idea!”
Klepta widened his eyes, seeing this side of his elder brother for the first time. And to think Thrax’s mother, the matriarch of the sisterhood in their father’s harem, always slapping him and calling him, his siblings and his mother a pebble in a shoe, a growth that shouldn’t be there, and all the other things she did to their other mothers and half-siblings were the worst.
“Is that why you do these things to our doll?” Klepta probed again. “To make yourself feel a little bit of power? To make you feel like you have never lost Trisha? For all I can see, you’re treating our doll like a Trisha-substitute…”
He knew he had went too far when Thrax sucker-punched him to the ground. Both the brother brawled and fought for dominance, forcing either of them to keel and surrender. As Thrax landed blow after blow on Klepta, he roared like he never roared before.
“Jones is NOT Trisha! I never treated Jones like Trisha! Jones is nothing like Trisha! He’s better than her! He’s the only person who actually noticed me where no one else from any other city would or could have! He was the only one to know I exist, to know that I was there, and for the first time, figured me ALL OUT! He was the only one I fought with head to head with and was the only one who ever gave a damn about me! He tolerated me, endured me, obeyed me, and yet continued to defy me at the same time! He was the only person that made me real, that made me believe that there is such thing as humanity, passion and love! He made me finally care about something in my WHOLE FUCKING LIFE! Don’t you fucking DARE to compare him with Trisha!!”
“So that means you love him, don’t cha!” Klepta shouted back, his face looking glad that he finally broke his brother and made him say it. “Big Mama’s little boy finally capable of falling in love with somebody!”
“Yes, yes, YES!! I love him!!! Is that what you want to hear?! I love him more than I thought I loved Trisha!!! I FUCKING LOVE HIM!!! Satisfied?!”
Klepta stopped fighting back, smiling and holding his hands up in surrender. Thrax let out a frustrated growl and landed a last punch on his nose before tearing himself away from him.
“Don’t you fucking dare repeat this in front of my baby, or I swear…”
“Fine, fine, I’ll keep your little stupid secret. Though I can guarantee you it’s gonna leak sooner or later.”
Klepta glanced knowingly at Ozzie who quickly closed his eyes shut. Thrax was none the wiser, assuming the cell was too deep in sleep to hear them arguing.
If only he knew Ozzie had heard every word.
--:--
“You sure you can’t stay for a while?” Ozzie asked.
“Nah, cats ain’t my thing, doll. I prefer having dogs spreading me around rather than the felines. ‘Sides, I might get lucky scoring with someone as cute as you in my next body. Maybe the next time we meet, I’d get a doll of my own.”
“Yeah, whatever, runt,” Thrax growled. “Get going already. Your stench is killing us.”
“So, doll, whaddaya say? Gave my words any thought?” Klepta asked Ozzie, completely ignoring his ranting brother.
“What thought? What did he say to you, baby?”
Ozzie looked at Klepta for a while, hesitating a little, then took Thrax’s arm, not looking directly at him. Klepta smiled knowingly.
“Alright, doll. I get the point. You take care of Kiaran for me now. I wanna see it big and strong like its Mama the next time we meet.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Thrax warned. “Get outta here.”
“Adios, doll,” Klepta saluted before leaping off from the cat’s tail. “See ya soon, wimp!”
And just like that, Klepta disappeared out of sight. Thrax, after making sure the runt of his brother had finally gone, grabbed Ozzie by the waist, giving the cell a demanding look.
“What did he mean about giving his words a thought?”
“N…Nothing…” Ozzie blushed, holding Kiaran tight as if he was wishing the little puppy could save him from this predicament. Thrax noticed the puppy and touched his lips on the cell’s ear.
“I’m still gonna get something out of this, ain’t I, for letting you keep that mutt?”
Ozzie blushed even harder, remembering the deal they made at The Mole Blitz in exchange for allowing him to have a pet.
“Y-Y-Yes, Master…”
“Well, we’re gonna get started now, aren’t we?”
So saying, the familiar leash was tied around Ozzie’s collar and he was dragged into the cat’s body through the cat’s ear, leading him to his inevitable fate.
No comments:
Post a Comment