The Vespidian

Arc 11 Blood Moon

Chapter 15 Interlude: The Box

"Nyaa, it really is gone," said Glitter Kitten looking out over the ruins of the Slums.

Buildings lay as nothing more than piles of rubble, bulldozed and destroyed during the fighting. The once expansive casino was little more than an upraised mound of concrete and metal twisted beyond recognition. The skyline emptied from this once towering jewel of civilization amongst the decrepit ruins. It was all gone. Years and years of struggling and fighting to maintain and protect. All of it undone in a single night.

She hugged her knees, the tall ears flattened as her eyes watered. What was it all for?

"What should we do now?" asked Den Mother, her tall frame casting a deep shadow over the wall behind them.

"Have we found anybody else?" Glitter Kitten asked watching as the animal women were sifting through the stones.

Den Mother shook her head, solemnly, "None that are alive. We found a few bodies. Titus didn't make it."

"Oh, that is a shame. Are you feeling, ok?"

Den Mother sighed, and her attention fell on the much smaller catgirl, "No. But we can't just cry and hide in a corner, now can we?"

Glitter Kitten was silent for a bit, before her voice cracked, "I am tired of all this bad shit always happening to us."

"Well, what choice do we have? We are Subhumans."

"So fucking what? That is no excuse for this bullshit. We try to keep to ourselves, but people always come fucking our stuff up and shitting on the yard. I am sick of it."

"It has always been like that, though, even back when Butch was the leader."

"Nyea, but I am done with this. I am not Butch; I don't got delusions of grandeur that people will accept us. They can kiss my ass for all I care."

"What are we going to do then?" asked Den Mother.

"I don't know what you guys are going to do, but I am done." Said, Glitter Kitten.

"You can't be serious. You are our Alpha."

She hissed, "I never asked for that shit. I just want to be left alone. I am sick of always having to fight and deal with other people's fucking problems. What about my problems?!"

Den Mother hesitated for a moment, "We all have problems GK."

"Yeah, and everybody always drags em to me. I can't do this anymore. I got nineteen kittens to take care of, and as of now we are fucking homeless and scrounging around on the streets. I won't let them live the life I did."

"We can move over to the Three-Headed Dog."

"No. My kittens deserve better than this irradiated hell hole. I will be damned if I let them sleep out here another night."

Den Mother crossed her arms, "What do you plan on doing?"

"I am going to sell myself."

"You can't do that, think of your children."

Her hair raised, "I am thinking of my children! If I accept Vesper's offer, then they get warm beds, a nice roof over their heads, three hot meals a day, and all I have to do is be Vesper's pet and let her fuck me full of eggs."

"You can't be serious."

The cat woman scoffed, "You say that while already being knocked up. You think I can't smell the eggs inside of you?"

Den Mother lowered her ears, "I don't remember it."

"None of us do," Glitter Kitten replied offhandedly, "But that doesn't matter. She already marked a bunch of us; we smell like her. I am more surprised I am not preggers like the rest of you sluts."

"It is just… are you sure about this?"

"Oh, I am. The offer is open for you guys as well. She is looking for hosts for her brood."

"She is just using you."

"Maybe, but that is a chance I am willing to take. What is the alternative? Roll around the Slums like a bunch of flea-bitten fuckin animals?"

"We could ask Boss to help us out."

"Are you stupid? The Boss is pissed at us. Molotov was going to kill every last one of us because we had been compromised. It was Vesper that stuck her neck out for us, so I think that earned her a bit of trust on this. Now, look. If you guys want in, then feel free to join me. If not well congratulations, you are the new leader of the Mad Dogs." Said Glitter Kitten, turning to leave.

"Wait just give us some time to think it over, ok?" pleaded Den Mother.

Glitter Kitten sat, crossing her arms, "You got five minutes."

The werewolf went off gathering up the others. They began to discuss over the rubble. Minutes turned into tens of minutes as Glitter Kitten sat and waited for them to finished their debate. Some were growling and hissing, a few punches were thrown, and a catfight broke out. The result was a significant split. Roughly half left in the direction of the surviving outlying buildings that they stayed in. They didn't trust Vesper and wanted to see how things would play out rather than risking their lives. The rest gathered in front of Glitter Kitten. Den Mother and Thumper were among those that came. Nibbles appears to have led the other group in an attempt to rebuild.

"You sure you guys really want to follow me? I mean, we are going to be at Vesper's mercy, you know that right?" said Glitter Kitten.

Thumper laughed, "It was always fun with her, though."

"Well, you are not wrong there. Alright, let's go see what she has in store for us."

***

The group of animal women gathered out front the large hanger like doors at the front of the Cyber Siren's base. The robust machines guarding it watched them, but did not attack. Even though she had said all of those things, this was still more or less taking a gamble. Did Vesper actually mean what she had said? Glitter Kitten found it hard to trust others, all her life she had been backstabbed or disappointed, why would this be any different?

Still, she felt a nagging, a strange sense of comfort when it came to Vesper. Perhaps it was the pheromones that followed the giant wasp monster like a cloud, or maybe she just couldn't get the memories of getting the best dick of her life out of her head or something else entirely. Ever since they had met, Glitter Kitten had felt a pull, a connection to the strange and often manic wasp. It was something that she herself didn't understand.

She trusted Vesper enough to leave her kittens in her care, so it wasn't too much more of a stretch to put herself in the wasp's care, or instead Neon Nurse's supervision. It had not taken long to figure out who actually owned this place and who ultimately had the final say in things. It was undoubtedly not Vesper. It was Neon Nurse and from what she could tell the cyborg was ok with how things turned out. She wasn't exactly pleased, but she also wasn't against it either.

Speaking of the cyborg nurse, she appeared, more or less answering her front door. Her glowing green eyes surveyed them slowly before they centered in on Glitter Kitten. "What brings you here? Have you already sorted through your problems?"

"We eh… we came to accept Vesper's offer." The cat woman replied, her ears down a little.

Neon Nurse nodded in understanding, "All of you then? Are you sure that you understand what it is that she has asked of you?"

"Just to refresh, what exactly was the deal?" asked Thumper.

"Glitter Kitten will become Vesper's personal pet, as for Thumper and Den Mother, I am unsure if she would want you as pets or as breeders. Though I am pretty sure she said something about Breeding Bitch about Den Mother, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" Replied Neon Nurse.

The dog woman seemed to tremble a little hearing those words, "I am not sure."

"Is that so? It is up to her what she does with you. Were there any other questions?"

"Breeder?" ask Den Mother.

The cold eyes of the mechanical nurse went over them, "Yes, incubators, hosts for her eggs. We are conducting experiments with diverse genetic couplings to see how variant her children will be in terms of powers. Gestating her eggs will be your payment for staying. In return you will be housed deep in my facility, well fed, and protected until the children are delivered, at which point you may leave or choose to be inseminated again. I see she got rather out of hand last night as many of you are already impregnated."

"So we will be safe here? Being pregnant is scary; it slows you down and makes things more difficult." Said, Glitter Kitten.

"Yes, you will be protected. So, are we agreed?" she asked, tilting her head.

A nod came from the cat, "Nyes, I accept."

"I assumed as much," replied Neon Nurse turning as the doors began to open wide.

She led them through the upper warehouse. It was an empty, spacious room more akin to a hanger bay than anything else. Along the floor, there were several rectangular patterns at set intervals. In the middle section was a large cargo elevator that could go up or down. Surrounding it were several more of the quadrupedal war machines that stood guard outside as well. Their glowing optical sensors flared as the ball rotated to look them over.

Neon Nurse pressed the button, and the elevator soon arrived. It was spacious enough that just about all of them could fit in a single load. The Mad Dogs followed her inside, and the doors closed before the compartment shifted. True to her word, it descended deep into the facility, more than twenty floors down. The area looked as most of the rest of the lair did, a monotonous white corridor expanded out with branching rooms to either side.

She motioned to the first door, leading them in, "This is the decontamination room."

Inside was a rather large chamber with thick glass windows. Glitter Kitten stared at it, tilting her head as it seemed familiar to her. She couldn't quite put her paw on it, but then it hit her. It looked like one of the gas chambers at the vet to put the pets down.

"NYAH! What is this about?" Her haired raised as she puffed up.

Neon Nurse turned, looking at her strangely, "What is what about?"

"You, you are trying to put us down like bad animals." She huffed.

The robo nurse rolled her eyes, "Now why would I do that? It just sprays foam and water to clean the individual."

Seeing that the cat was not budging, Neon Nurse entered and turned it on. As she had said water rinsed her off, then a jet of foam spurt out from all sides, before yet another gush of water cleaned away the suds. After a moment, hot air flowed as she raised her arms to let it dry her thoroughly. Finally, the room opened, and she emerged, nice and dry, smelling of lavender.

"See? Nice and clean. Now, remember to hold your breath and wear these goggles to keep the soap out of your eyes." Said Xava handing them eye protection and motioning to the opened chamber.

Glitter Kitten went in first, fastening the goggles and taking a deep breath. As before the warm water shot her from all angles, then suds flowed, covering her, another jet of water rinsed everything off. She stood dripping wet, her fur sticking tightly to her sides as she shook. After a short delay, the hot air gusted out of the vents drying out her soggy hair. Soon it puffed up, making her look like a fluff ball.

She emerged damn near sparkling clean, and the others began to filter in for their cleansing.

"So when do we meet Vesper?" asked Glitter Kitten.

"After you are presentable." Replied Xava.

"Nyea? Presentable?"

"Yes, you are a bunch of mangy stray animals that Vesper decided to pick up. It is only appropriate to make sure you are properly sanitized. Also so long as you stay here, you and the rest of them will bath at minimum once a day."

"Who you calling mangy!?" the irate cat bickered back.

The robo nurse chuckled, "You had fleas and ticks. Now understand that you are no longer some feral street cat, but a pet. As such, I can't just allow you to be a filthy animal wallowing in your own lack of hygiene. Speaking of which, you have worms as well and will need to be medicated."

"Whatda means we got worms!? I knew about the flea and ticks, but worms?" Glitter Kitten cried exasperated, "Nyaa, it is worse than I thought."

"What do you expect when you roll around in radioactive sewage all day? It is a wonder you are not all disease ridden."

"Hey, the sewers came to us. Besides, Slither was much worse."

Neon Nurse smirked, "Slither didn't put up a fuss to being cleaned. In fact, she rather enjoyed being cleaned."

"Nya if that stupid snake can do it I can do it too!"

"Oh, is that so?"

Glitter Kitten puffed out her chest, "Nyea."

"Well then come along so we can work on your oral hygiene."

"Oral hygiene?"

Xava looked at the cat and hurried her along, muttering, "Vesper didn't realize it either until I beat it into her."

The pair departed, walking to the room across from the decontamination chamber. It had a beautiful comfy chair it was so lovely that Glitter Kitten didn't even think twice about sitting in it. Which she soon regretted when the arms and legs locked into place restraining her. She stared up at the electric brush.

"Nyah what is the big-" Neon Nurse cut her off, spraying a tooth gel into her mouth and proceeding to scrub the cat's mouth clean.

She gurgled and squirmed, but was very much at Xava's mercy as she set about getting every nook and cranny during the surprise dental exam. Several needles slid into her gums and after a minute or so Glitter Kitten couldn't feel anything anymore. The Bzzt of drills and an incessant sucking noise filled the air until it was all done. She was released but sat in a daze. Seeing her so vulnerable, Xava slipped another needle into her, causeing the cat to jump start.

"Nyynn Whhhann wasss thhhat ffor?" slured the cat, unable to feel her face.

"That was your worm medication."

She tilted, falling onto the floor, sleeping soundly.

***

She awoke in a dark space. She pawed about trying to figure out what was going on. Glitter Kitten realized after a short delay, that she was in fact in a cardboard box and said box was moving, due to the slight jolts from beneath. She moved about, causing the container to shift.

"Uh, uh, no need for that. Now then just stay calm. I am taking you to Vesper." Said Neon Nurse.

She did as she was told lounging in the box as it wheeled along. They stopped from time to time, but soon enough a door opened, and a familiar voice rose over a raw wet slapping noise, "Hey Xava…"

There was a long pause in all the noise before Vesper said, "What is in the box? Is it for me? Wait a minute, did you stuff Boris in a box again for me?"

The heavy thuds of claws made their way over and something being dragged on the floor scraped the metal. Then the ruffle noise of paper wrap being torn open. The cat quivered in anticipation as the box lid opened up. There was the bone white face gazing down, the questioning look it had quickly turned to one of pure glee. Huge hands quickly reached in scooping out Glitter Kitten and holding her up.

"Glitter Kitten! Who is a pretty kitty?" Said Vesper as her antennae coiled around the cat's face. "Oh, she smells all fresh and clean, and she is so soft and squishy! Xava, you shouldn't have!"

Glitter Kitten felt all warm and fuzzy. Why had she ever doubted this person?

"Does this mean you accept?" asked the overly joyed wasp.

She nodded, "Nyeas."

"My Queeen Don'tsss ignore meee," cried a rather salacious snake coiled around Vesper's abdomen and very much in the middle of getting stuffed like a turkey.

Glitter Kitten looked over her shoulder to Xava, who winked as the door closed. The cat gulped, this wasn’t what she had in mind exactly.