Fem was frozen for a moment, a rare sight indeed, only her face moving in small, erratic twitches. This is my utopia. I built this company from the ashes of its former idiocy. AND I BUILT IT FOR HER. Her lip twitched up into a fierce snarl. "The skum will suffer, and from those ashes they too will rise to their glory." Another violent twitch, this time to smile. It's been so long.... since there were ashes.... She flaxed her metallic wings, their sound one of sharpening knives. But to get good ashes you have to pull out what's left of the branch.... Her snarl returned and deepened before she began to laugh as well, a dark chuckle, with no hint of levity, staring down at her reflection in the quickly burning desk. The old tyrant before her really did have a foolish liking for flammable furniture. Not to mention hard to clean. Getting his blood out of this trash was nearly impossible! Her face rose to meet the shark's grin with her own wild-eyed glare. "I have to say, no one's spread this sort of chaos in my kingdom for quite some time." She stood and passed over the desk, ignoring the heat on her paw-pads. "I am this place you know. Sane? Reasonable? I am what my factory is, and when you go spreading chaos and disorder...." She was in his face with startling speed, especially for one of her apparent age. "I follow suit." Her eyes were nearly blinding bright as she pinned him against the wall opposite her desk, holding a paw to his throat. "I dare say it is a shame, genuinely. Jackson was ever so fond of you. The poor thing was blubbering like a puppy as he told me about your little plan! Oh what would he think of all the nasty lies you told about him?" Her face showed no emotion for his plight, simply look at the shark as if he bored her. She could feel the intense heat on her back, clearly beginning to sear her fur and flesh, but again, she ignored it. She moved slowly, putting her muzzle centimeters from his ear and whispered. "We can both burn here, dearest, but what you fail to realize is that both of us can be put back together, and I'm the one with a say in what goes where." She raised a bladed wing, plunging it deep into the shark's chest and letting it protrude again from the back, her head retreating to look him in the eyes. "You're clever, I'll give you that. We can even put that to good use." She twisted the blade, nearly feeling the inside of his gut on her synthetic nerves. "But I assure you, no one will spread discord in our factory as long as I'm here." With that, she drew the blade out in a quick swipe, and smashed the entire apparatus into the aquatic animal's skull, knocking him instantly unconscious.
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Frost's head shot up to the sight of flickering light through the blinds of fem's office, along with the sound of commotion. She let a terrified squeak escape her muzzle and took off up the stairs and across the scaffolding. Her blue eyes were wild and nearly teary. If something happened to Auntie Fem, what would she do!? Where would she go!? This was the only place she could be free, she could be herself! Andger was starting to understand, but only Fem and the other medics truly got her. Fem gave that too her, Fem let her live! Her paws pounded the metal and she nearly crashes straight into the heavy office door. It was hot, and she could hear the crackling flames now. She whimpered, unsure of what to do, only to have the door be opened for her and find herself face to face with a bloody, startlingly disarrayed Fem. Her back was nearly burned free of fur and bubbled like frying oil, her tail charred down to nearly a fleshy stub. The old female glared down at her, her animatronic eyes seeming to burn as fiercely as the flames that engulfed her office. She dumped the motionless body of a shark at her paws. Staring at it in silence along with the stunned Frost. Her eyes slowly began to soften as she calmed herself before she spoke, raising her eyes to meet Frost's. "Get him to the infirmary. Rebuild and Rewire." Her voice was flat, but the order snapped Frost to attention. "O-of coarse." On any other day this order would have rendered frost an elated mess, a rare and delicate procedure to be sure, but in this moment she found it difficult. "What about you? I always do your-" She was cut off by a burned paw on her shoulder and was surprised to find herself looking up into almost motherly eyes. "Don't worry, I can wait. My burns aren't life-threatening." Fem patted Frost's shoulder lightly before letting it slide off almost drunkenly, portraying her true state of mind. She turned and passed Frost, making her way to the infirmary. "Get some guards and runners to clean this mess up, it shouldn't spread, and I need to send some letters to some investors about a minor setback in correspondence. It was high time I got myself a new office." She called back over her shoulder.
Frost looked off after Fem, her fur bristled uneasily. This was an Auntie Fem she hadn't seen in a long while, not since she first was brought to the factory...... and it both frightened her.... and made her smile.
She quickly scooped the hefty shark up and struggled to carry him on her own back to the infirmary, luckily, she was met half way by a couple of helpful guards who assisted her in the rest of the trip, as well as strapping the beast to a table. She looked at his unconscious form, a bit wary of her usual perky demeanor at a time like this. So instead of a "nose boop" or a playful "cheek peck" she merely touched his face with a smile, a bit somber behind her eyes. "This place is changing, I think, Brusey, and you get to change along with it."
Topic: EverE Industries (Read 14931 times)