06:
Kitten Got Claws
The feline female stared directly in front of her, her lips curling up in a cruel smile as she lurched forward her slender body following the quick motion in an elegant twist.
The way the bitter cold night air tangled in her vibrant hair sent a rush through her just as the ground came into view, with a singular action, her hands which contained protruding claws grasped onto an elongated ledge which ceased her decent to death.
A squeal of delight fell past her painted lips as she used her upper body strength to pull herself up and found herself stably perched upon the concrete ledge. It was all far too easy for her, an easy catch.
The window which was locked, was simple to break, she knew for a fact no one was in but the door would take far too long to unlock. With a horrendous crack, the once pristine glass shattered beneath the force of her dark, diamond sharp claws, instantly allowing her access without much hassle.
Clarissa quickly slid in with ease, a wide, mouth splitting triumphant grin upon her face now, as she rushed to every surface and grabbed the shiniest and most expensive looking valuables she could possibly find... There were just so much that she found her hands clenching as her bag was filled, clenching to keep the last items in her palms, clenching so they would not fall to the ground.
However, in her naivety she had not noticed a looming figure in the door frame, a pale male staring at her frantic actions as she continued to ransack the apartment in glee.
The feline was about to leave, giving up and placing what did not fit in her bag back onto the table beside her. With her feet slamming against the ground as she bolted to the broken window she was quickly distracted by a masculine voice behind her, that sent the hair on the back of her neck on edge... Standing directly upwards.
"Well, i was going to turn this lovely place upside down but i guess we are beat, Mick." The stranger dressed in a bright shade of blue and pearly white finally stood out from the shadows, a smirk upon his thinned lips. He had his hair cut into a white and gray speckled buzz-cut and a wicked smirk upon his face; the stranger had a sharp jaw with cold crystal ice eyes that peered directly into her soul with unreasonable judgment.
"Yeah, boss. Girl got what we want." What she guessed was Mick, joined next to the handsome man in blue, clear irritation upon his face as spoke about her. "Maybe we should beat it out of her, then do a grab 'n' go."
Mick was a larger man, dressed in what appeared to be a destroyed fireman get up which sported a white shirt that was beyond filthy; red suspenders held up a pair of over sized trousers that were scattered and littered with countless rips. In addition, a large brown coat drowned his bulking figure with its mud covered and burnt appearance. Mick was a bald man with two piercing eyes that reminded her of a pigeon.
Clarissa in such an unfeminine way (not that she really cared) let out a shrill hiss that vibrated through her entire mouth, her small protruding fangs placed upon her tongue as the noise was passed from her and into the open room. The bag was securely around her neck, her hands clutching at its strap so it was pressed directly against her side as her little foot was placed forward.
Like a stray cat, she stalked forward, her eyes trained as she watched the two men stare back at her in confusion.
"I'd like to see the pair of you try." A demented grin grew as she spoke.
"Oh we have a fighter here." Buzz-cut jested as he took once more, calculated step into the apartment with an empty sack hauled over his broad shoulder. "Maybe teaching this kitty a lesson is in fact the better idea, Mick. Little kitten turns up on the street, battered a bruised and then whatever happens here tonight isn't their main focus anymore."
Clarissa let out another hiss as her frame crouched down slightly, ready to attack if they decided to provoke her any further. The two men once again stared at her as her fangs elongated even more becoming more beast like than a kitten's, they looked as if they belonged to a lion as they descended past her lips.
"Like i said, sugar." She spat. "I'd like to see the pair of you try." And with a quick smirk, she pushed her legs upwards from the ground so she sailed backwards in a stunning back flip, which landed her on the window-sill.
"Sorry but i can't stay here all night, the 'kitty' has jewels to pawn." And into the night she went as the two rushed at her, neither quick enough to catch her.
The inside of the run down building was a hallowed out, rusted warehouse that by that point was inhabited by every, and any type of destructive weapon a person with an evil agenda were able to snatch at.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people from different ethnical backgrounds swarmed the place in hopes of gaining their name out through world domination. The thought created a bad feeling inside Clarissa's stomach which would in no way settle down.
"I don't feel good 'bout this." She quietly commented as her elongated heels clicked obnoxiously loud against the slick with water, concrete floor. Attempting to keep her balance as the group patrolled their way to the front seemed rather impossible as she wobbled here and there.
She had to be elegant and not draw attention, face planting seemed like a rather large way to gain of attention.
"You probably caught something when you locked lips with that criminal." Whispered an angered Leonard in a short, snippy tone. Judging her previous actions, appearing not to care about the fact that her previous actions were the very reason they had been allowed inside.
"Oh, Leonard is jealous... Do you wish that the lips I had kissed were yours?" She snickered and mocked as she pushed in front of him to join Sara, who too had a look of amusement upon her lips.
"Maybe you've missed them." She continued to tease him.
"Not that I don't love your lovers spats, because I clearly do, but why don't I get to play terrorist?" Questioned Jax through their ear located coms, sounding somewhat displeased that he did not get to join them on their suicide party.
"This is just a kidnapping-"
"There is no need for your nuclear fireworks. Also, Lovers spat, sugar you couldn't be anymore wrong if you tried. Lenny only loves himself." Clarissa finished for Leonard who glared at her interruption.
The man of cold stared at her with an uninterpretable look, his eyes hooded as he tucked his chin downwards making him seem somewhat... Upset.
"Savage will be one of the buyers, once we get eyes on him, hang back, we'll boost him when this is all over." Leonard returned to his commanding voice, informing the group of the plan so they were all up to speed.
Clarissa would never admit to it but the way he ordered the plan, the way he controlled the group sent desirable shivers and tingles up her spine.
They seemed to absorb their surroundings in through their eyes, for what felt like hours but the man of the hour that they were so desperate to find, well he was in no where in sight which only emphasized the feeling of dread inside Clarissa's gut. The feline's once smiling face had sunken into a frown as her eyes flew from side to side in search of the black haired beast.
"Any sign of him?" Carter questioned.
"No."
They came to a standstill in front of what appeared to be a large stage. The two male criminals had halted in front of their little group clearly frustrated.
"He's not here boss." Mick stated a-matter-of-fact-ly, clearly annoyed.
"Lets get kitten, professor and the blonde and move out."
"If I could have you're attention." A voice rang out as Clarissa finally came to a halt beside Mick.
"Thank you all for coming, I promise it will be well worth your time." The skinny male called out as a stranger forced his way onto the stage, a grin upon his lips as he turned to face his audience, pride clear upon his facial features as he stood with a stance of pride and arrogance.
"I'm guessing that's savage." Whispered the feline to the group. "I mean, he looks like a complete dick..."
"I'm guessing we were wrong about savage." Stein retorted, his voice low with concern laced heavily into his words.
"He's not one of the buyers."
"He's the seller."
"This is a variable yield, operation nuclear war head." Stated Savage proudly as the weapon was wheeled out to be shown, and was carefully placed in the center of the stage.
"Capable of producing a blast equivalent to one mega-tone of TNT." With that the man of the hour stepped aside, letting the information sink in a little bit and allowing the suspense to reach a peak of concern.
"Well, nice knowing you." Stated a bored Clarissa who rolled her eyes, only earning a disgruntled nudge in return.
"Shall we begin our bidding at $100 million?"
A gun beside them was fired into the air, startling the group as the bullet sailed upwards. Clearly this was their way of bidding, showing brute force.
"100 million, do i hear 105?"
Another bullet was fired from a man dressed in off white, head to toe just in this pure color seemingly unfit for the area he was in. The male had a white/blond buzz-cut and scowl upon his face, possibly annoyed that he needed to fight for what he wanted.
"110?"
Bang.
"115?"
Bang.
By that point the auction man huddled away towards his boss, quickly muttering something into the raven man's ear. This made Clarissa uncomfortable because over the loud yells from the audience her cat like hearing was unable to pinpoint what they were actually saying, she found herself straining at his words up until the viscous man that was Vandal stared directly back at her.
"It seems we have found ourselves some unwanted attention, we need to bid. Fire your gun up in the air." Stein muttered to his comrades trying to not draw anymore unwanted attention towards them.
"Guys think this through, don't be rash, we don't have this much mon-" Clarissa however was ignored as Mick threw his right arm into the air, and without thinking let out a loud, sailing bullet into the open room.
"Thats 125"
"Um, Whats happening?" Sara inquired next to the strawberry blond, confusion upon her face.
"Its whats not happening that is the concern."
Clarissa turned from left to right, scanning the array of criminals that had formed into what like a horde, yet not a single person were firing the guns as the man continued to shout out numbers. No-one seemingly wanted to pay more than $120 million, meaning the payment fell to them.
"No one else is bidding." Snart grunted, his long, slender fingers intertwined with one another in front of him.
"Congratulations professor, you just bought yourself a nuclear weapon." Joked Mick which in turn forced Clarissa to bite back a laugh that was threatening to leave her, she had warned them but once again they chose to ignore her comments.
Always listen to a womans advice.
The blond in white stormed towards their direction, a forced smile placed upon his thin lips as he sauntered forwards and stopped right in front of their little group. "Well, well, well." His snake like voice pipped in, dragging their attention to the mystery man.
"We seem to have a new player, you seem a bit academic, how did you get in here?" Questioned the male, clearly not fully believing them and doubting their reason to be in such a grunge like place.
"How did you get in here and who are you?" The stranger continued to question, placing himself right in front of Stein in a threatening manner.
"Just of a few seconds ago, i'm in nuclear power." The professor snipped back cleverly.
"Don't be bitter, Sugar, you lost the bid. There will be more." Clarissa stated as she faked the most realistic smile she could possibly create. The feline tried to hide her annoyance, the stranger was getting on her last nerve and the comments she was withholding were threatening to push themselves out of her.
"Oh bitter is not how i feel presently, miss. I am concerned seeing as i do not know you or your organization and i know everyone." The man stepped closer, becoming more of an issue as the minutes passed.
Outstretching his large, masculine hand, Mick placed a good distance between the professor and the man in white. His hand was upon the blond's chest in a warning manner before he told him to "back off".
"Watch your tone." Stated the stranger, his head twitching in an inhuman way that sent chills throughout Clarissa's body.
It was going to get ugly.
"Is there some sort of problem here?" The man himself, Vandal Savage snapped as he came into view, striding towards them until he had placed himself between the man in white and Mick who was staring down at him, this had became uncomfortably dangerous.
"Yeah." Mick muttered, returning his attention to the blond. "The master race here is starting to bug me."
"We are just going to get our nuclear war head and be on our way." Snart stated, pulling Mick away from the heat as he tried to defuse the situation.
"Not without paying." Stated the auction man from the stage, dragging everyones attention to their little group.
"Well this is going horribly wrong." Sighed Clarissa. "Listen, we are just here to get what is ours, you'll get paid okay just let us see it up close. We need to see if it works or not, because i don't feel like wasting a 120 million dollars."
"Like my partner has stated. Once we've validated that the war head is operational, personally i find it highly unlikely that you were able to accumulate enough efficient material in this era to fashion a workable nuclear device." Stein continued on for the female, whose eyes widened at his words.
"This era?" Vandal grinned, pointing out his slip up.
"Figure of speech, the old man is full of them." Clarissa defended, trying to stop the situation from blowing up in their faces like it was seemingly heading.
The monster of a man abruptly turned from the group, taking large strides towards the stage as he pushed himself upwards and in front of the growing group of terrorist. Savage, who looked increasingly annoyed, stood before the people like he had the power to control every single one of them, and then opened his mouth.
"Change of plans." He shouted out.
"Guys, we need to leave... Like right now." Clarissa snapped beneath her breath, trying to gain their attention, but was ignored due to everyones attention directly glued onto Vandal Savage.
"I will provide a 25% discount to the organization that brings me the heads of these men."
"HEY! I AM A FEMALE." Clarissa shouted in annoyance as she stepped forward to punch something but found herself stuck as Mick's arms wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her back from doing something stupid.
"Can i burn some stuff now." Mick grunted to Snart, clearly had been waiting for the moment to pull out his gun all day.
The strawberry blond female had calmed ever so slightly, which caused the bulk of a male's arms to be removed, freeing her.
"I wish you would." Retorted Snart, and with that a line of fire was expelled from the tip of the brutes gun boiling the skin off of an oncoming terrorist and by this point, the hawk couple had jumped into action together, ready to fight.
"Oh this is going to be fun." Squealed Clarissa as her claws elongated and she found herself jumping into action by slamming the diamond like cutters into the eyes of her attacker, the blood splattered onto her fingers as an almighty roar of pain escaped his lips. Pulling her claws cleanly from his sockets, she kicked him in the gut sending his sailing backwards into a gathering of metal barrels, before she leaped onto the next guy.
Wrapping her thin legs around his throat, she violently scratched at anything she could find before Clarissa propelled her body forward sending them both down but with a flip, she landed safely on her feet while the male found himself sliding into the wall, hitting his head and knocking him out completely.
A knife sailed her way causing her to duck and throw her own, embedding itself into the womans throat. The female spluttered as streams of blood left with the knife she had pulled free from her neck, with a single look, she fell down dead.
"Clary behind you-" Sara shouted in utmost urgency as Clarissa felt the tip of a knife come into contact with her shoulder.
Before the feline could react, she noticed the blue blaze of Snart's gun envelope around her attacker, submerging him into a layer of ice before sending him to the ground in pain.
"I didn't require your help, Elsa." Clarissa snapped as she pulled her gun free from the holster strapped to her side, firing a few rounds at those coming towards her, instantly landing between their eyes, killing them without hesitation.
"Didn't say you did, Kitten." The male teased, heading back into the action before she could respond.
The battle seemed to drag on as bullet after bullet was fired from her ebony and silver pistol, right up until the minute their was no bullets left. In a screech of rage, she threw the gun to her side and bounded on all fours like an actual animal.
Something inside her had snapped, it felt like a wire had unraveled within, like a cage had be opened... A feeling of freedom that she had became drunk upon... Intoxicated by such a feeling.
Suddenly, sections of black as midnight silky fur grew from her pale skin as she found herself slicing the throat of an incoming terrorist, killing him painfully. Her teeth grew longer than she thought possible, almost passing her chin in grotesque slobbered teeth and her eyes had changed dramatically as the pupils became slits and glazed over.
Kill after kill, it was driving her further off of a metaphoric edge, becoming more beast than human.
"Clary?" Leonard shouted from behind her as he watched her continuously punch at the dead body beneath her, until the terrorist's face had caved beneath her fists and blood had splattered her skin. The female, lost in her own violence did not hear his voice and continued her onslaught.
In a panic, Snart grabbed onto her shoulders and forcefully pulled her back, away from the body.
"Kitten?" He asked quietly and calmly.
Clarissa's head snapped towards him in anger as a loud, booming hiss fell from the tip of her tongue and into the air above. The cat within her had taken over, causing the majority of her skin to be coated with a layer of fur; her eyes were now blazing a bright green while the slit pupils felt like dark, deep pools into her soul; Clarissa's mouth had been taken over by the large canines that fell out of her mouth and whiskers had protruded from the side of her face.
She was in no way a cute little kitten, she was a beast of a monster.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" She hastily, aggressively yelled in an attempt to scare Leonard away, for him to turn the other way and run far away from her in such a demonic form. In truth, she surprisingly just did not want to hurt him, she did not want him to come to this belief of her being a monster.
A monster... What had she become?
Instead, the man of cold crouched down to her level trying not to scare her away, trying not to move too quickly that she would bolt away in fear. Once fully at her level it came to be that his handsome face was only centimeters away from hers, so close that she could feel his minty breath upon her face.
So close... That she enjoyed it.
"Come back okay, come back to me." Leonard whispered as his somewhat rough hand gently caressed her small face in a slow, soothing manner which caused her face to instinctively press against his large, open palm. A slight quiet purr left her as he placed his beloved gun down and cupped both of her warm cheeks into his hands, using his thumbs to brush against her.
"Come back." He whispered, begging her in a way to return to her previous state, to fight against that which possessed her.
Due to this, she had calmed and with a blink of her eyes, the slit like pupils rounded once more and the illuminating evergreen calmed back down to her naturally forest hazel. The peculiarly black fur retracted backwards under her skin, causing Clarissa to wince in Snart's hands, and lastly her canines shrank back into their original size.
"Leonard?" She coughed, her eyes wide as she stared into his icy blues. "What happened?"
The battle still raged on around them, Sara had tried her best to deflect any attacks from the two on the ground, knowing full well that something had gone horribly wrong for Clarissa to allow Leonard to be so close to her... To let his hands touch her face in such a loving manner, to even talk to him without so much as an insult.
With each slam of her metal conjoined pole, an enemy tumbled to the ground, she had not even broken a sweat as she defeated those who rushed at her, the idiots who thought they could take her down despite all of those she had already defeated so easily. Those of the team around her joined in protecting the two who seemed so vulnerable, they knew better than to ask, so they kept quiet.
Stein rushed forwards, trying to remove himself from danger and find the second half of fire storm amongst the chaos around them. Unfortunately, he found himself within the arms of the enemy who grasped at his clothes, pulling him closer in a threatening manner.
"Now would be a good time." The elder man choked out to what appeared to be no-one as his body was pulled upwards off of the ground.
"Yeah, to kill you." Snapped the bald man whose fists clenched around material, his grip becoming tight and overbearing.
"I wasn't talking to you." Stein angrily continued to choke out as a little creature flew out of his front pocket and appeared to have socker punched the enemy in the jaw, sending him flying backwards through the open door.
Ray finally had joined the fight, jumping from one enemy to the next and taking them out with such ease due to the fact they could not see their opponent. The millionaire used this to his advantage as he zoomed around wildly.
The atom grew in size quickly in a blaze of blue and red as his metal fist came forward and punched with all his might at the dressed up man before him, sending his body into crates behind them.
Leonard grabbed hold of Clarissa who had found herself stuck within what could be considered a daze, her body instantly slumped into his side as her eyes had become hooded. The female shook vigorously within his arms and it appeared that Snart was the only reason why she was standing. Firing his gun off at those who tried to attack them, he found it difficult to hold her up while he held them off.
"Come on Kitten, you have to work with me here." He pleaded as her legs once again gave out causing him to reposition his arm around her once more, to try to secure her into a comfortable position and fight their way out.
A line of fire shot out next to them as Mick came into view, trying his best to defend them as Clarissa groggily lent her head on Snart's shoulder, completely out of it.
"Is she okay?" Mick concernedly asked. "Whats going on with her?"
"I don't know." Leonard grunted as he set off another blast. "Hey, hey, stay awake okay. We'll be out of here in no time." The man of cold promised the girl in his arms who was finding it hard to stay in the realm of consciousness.
"W-whats happening t-to m-me." Clarissa struggled to say.
The hawk couple flew onto the stage, landing with little issue as they paced towards Savage who was staring down at the scene before him with unimaginable joy, as the grin on his face seemed to only widen in size as he noticed to two in front of him. The raven haired man turned towards his opponents, appearing to be unaffected by their entrance, as if he had been waiting... counting on their arrival.
"Savage." Carter snapped out as his wings coiled up and fluttered into his back.
"Prince Khufu." Acknowledged Savage as he threw what looked like a small dagger towards Carter who had already acted upon the attack as he slammed his weapon into its side, sending the little blade far away from them all.
"And your better half."
"This ends here and now, Savage, you're coming with us." Kendra snapped through her perfect teeth, as hatred brew within her slim body.
"I doubt you can apprehend me and stop a nuclear explosion." Savage yelled as he slammed his fist down onto a button on the nuclear war head that began to count down from two minutes.
While the two hawks timidly stared down at the ticking time bomb in complete and utter worry, Vandal had without hesitation bolted from the scene leaving them with the guards that had appeared behind them, who were ready to attack.
Jax inelegantly rushed in as fast as his two legs could carry him from the open doors, his breathing scattered as he unevenly panted. The scene before him horrified him as he rushed to Steins side who too had been out of the action. The two, who could create a blaze that was fire storm, stared at one another before the younger of the two decided to voice his opinion.
"Well, you screwed that up pretty good."
"I had it handled."
"I like how you actually believe that." The younger of the two rolled his eyes before they slapped their palms together in a explosion of red and white, forming a single embodiment of the two clad in yellow and crimson before shooting upwards into the air above.
"Um, we have a nuclear bomb here." Sara commented, a single eyebrow raised as she stood over the bomb completely clueless to what she was meant to do. She almost jumped when Ray came into view in his minuscule suit and flew into the war head to try to disarm it, only to cut down the time to thirty seconds instead of two minutes.
"Ray what did you do!?" Exclaimed Sara as she noticed the numbers drastically change.
The "Genius" flew out as quickly as he could, slamming his head onto the ceiling as he returned to his normal size, panting audibly as both of his metal coated arms were presented outstretched.
"I didn't do anything. It must have a fail safe." He shouted over the noise of the fight.
"Professor, Jax, we need you." The assassin stated urgently into the hidden ear com before quite randomly rushing off, leaving a scared Ray alone next to the ticking bomb.
Firestorm soon came into view in a swarm of fire as the bomb was lifted off of the ground, pulled up into the air by the conjoined body of Stein and Jax before disappearing with the two. The guards came into view, rage induced shouts leaving them as they attacked, only to be defeated by Ray and Sara who punched and kicked them off of the stage.
However, what Ray did not see was a section of his suit had been chipped away by one of the attackers poles, and had directly landed onto the floor beneath him.