Danae Tophat 6

This, I believe, is my favourite part of the story. Enjoy.

6

Steps echoed down the empty hall. A guard stopped at one of the doors that lined the corridor. He pressed a few buttons and the door slid open, the guard entered the cell and kicked the sleeping prisoner.

“You! Brex! Get up, you’re needed.”

Tophat sat up.

“Get a move on, I don’t have all day. There’s business to be dealt with.” The guard grabbed Tophat’s arm and dragged him out of the cell. They walked down the hall and to a small, dark room several floors above the containment chambers. The guard shoved Tophat into a chair, then stalked out of the room.

“Hello, Brex.” A viciously beautiful voice came from behind the chair. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Tophat felt the hair all over his body stand up at the iciness of her words.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“No one of consequence… yet.” A gurgling laugh, menacing and girlish echoed around the room, making Tophat’s head spin. The laughter died down, but was still in the voice. “You see, you know things, and I want to know them too. This could be very easy if you would cooperate.”

“Never.”

The girl stepped in front of Tophat. She was clad all in white, only half of her face showed, and she stuck her lower lip out in a mocking pout.

“Oh really now,” the pout turned into a malicious smirk. “Toppie.”

Tophat’s body tensed.

“Ooh.” The girl mocked on, “You don’t like that do you?” the pout crossed her mouth again, making it almost adorable. “Well,” the grin was back. “I’m sure you’ll like this even less.” She laughed again, her head back, her shoulders heaving. She stopped after a moment, then, still chuckling a bit, she walked over to a wall and pressed a button. A rectangular patch of the wall lit up with a pale yellow-white light. The girl looked at Tophat, and in the dim light he caught the golden glint of her eyes.

“Now… Maybe you will understand who, exactly, I am.”

A slideshow of pictures began to flash across the screen; the first was of a girl, about eight years old standing over the bodies of two dead adults. She had light brown hair trailing down the back of her white tunic. She turned and smiled. The first thing Tophat noticed were her eyes. They were golden yellow, the same shade as in ancient photographs of cats he had seen. The pictures flashed in quick succession, most of them showing violent deaths of people Tophat knew to be members of the Underground.

The girl stood next to the chair he was in, chuckling, until one picture flashed onto the screen. Two children, about ten years old, were led in front of the same girl, clad in white, they were led away. The next picture was of their small, dead bodies, horribly burned. The girl threw her head back and laughed again. Long and loud, she laughed.

Tophat was filled with horror, his stomach had clenched at the picture, and her laughing was almost too much for him to bear. He struggled to keep his face emotionless.

The pictures continued to flash, and the girl slipped behind him, she silently moved a machine behind him so that it was pointing at his head. She pressed a button on it and a tiny beam of bright blue light shot into the back of Tophat’s head. He felt a razor sharp line of pain drill through his skull and into his brain, then, after a moment he felt nothing.

The next picture on the screen was of Danae. She was in a dark cell alone, on her knees praying.

“Ohh.” The girl moaned piteously, “she is a very, very naughty little girl. She’ll have to be punished, Toppie. And you’re just the one to do it. I am High General Cassandra Martinet. Welcome… to the Regime.”