#craftlocked

i.

Summer didn’t remember how long they were put in this box for, it didn’t matter, they lost count days, possibly months ago. They were getting mad- they were over feeling sad, wanting to die. No. 

They wanted out. Now.

They could hear the cachophy outside, Caz was planning something, the constant muttering to herself, the explosions, the cursing, whatever she was planning, Summer assumed the date was getting closer. They scratched claws at the inside of the box, testing Caz’s mood for the day, as they have been for weeks (?) now. Caz kicked the wall, 

“Shut up.” 

She quickly walked away, the sound of an elevator ding and door slamming following right behind. Summer let out a familiar noise, one they’ve been letting out for a while. A thick deep growl, except this one was different.  This one sounded layered and old. A growl heard from the belly of an ancient beast, one never heard from in millenia. The growl has voices in very pitch, every animal- it was an animalistic, sick growl. 

They weren’t mad anymore, they felt an emotion so powerful, growing like a tumor, needing to be released and taken out. 

They weren’t mad. 

They were furious. 

So angry, so enraged, so sick and tired of Caz’s shit.  The box began shaking, thin red cracks climbing up the walls, all the dull orange wounds that criss-crossed Summer’s face began to crack with red, letting out a soft red glow. Summer nails grew sharp, each talon digging into the surface under them. They snarled and the walls began to groan, whatever the box was made of snapping and cracking. 

If Summer could see their face, there would be one thing off. 

Bright, angry, glowing red eyes. 

Summer’s cage broke, metal and wood splintering and snapping as they screamed, the growling grew louder. The wood circled their head like a halo, glowing red and pointed outward, like thorns on a rose. The metal encircle their fists, sharp shrapnel whipping around like blades. They snarled and barrelled right for the elevator door. 

The few moments of silence were a far cry from having your old lab assistant come barrelling through the wall, and getting a fistful of metal. Caz was kicking back Summer, her massive, interlocked dagger of a tail whipped through the air, swinging for any hit on Summer, who popped in and out of wherever and buried their fist into Caz’s face, cutting up her nose and barely missing her eyes, her glasses taking the blow. Things would vibrate and burst everytime Summer came barreling into the lab, sending chemicals everywhere, turning the lab into a messy war zone. 

Summer’s hair was matted and long, constantly getting into their eyes as the swung punch after punch at Caz. They growled, and landed on the floor, sending chemicals flying into their hair. Some portions of the blue and white mess seared clean off, leaving crude bangs behind, other parts going orange, matching the ill-placed scars on their neck and face. Summer snarled, spitting in Cazwell’s face,

“Asshole! You locked me in a fucking box!”

They went to slash at Caz, only for them to miss. Instead, three glass beakers followed their arms arch, bashing into the back of Caz’s head. Caz growled, eyes glitching orange momentarily. Caz felt the back of her head. Blood. She bared fangs, and swung the mechanical tail, getting at Summer’s ear, taking out a small portion of cartilage. Summer bit their tongue in pain, more overcome with anger than anything else. 

Summer screamed, the scream bouncing off walls, layered with millions of voices, millions of animals. It was a roar, a battle cry, so loud and so powerful, Caz swore she would go deaf. Everything not secured to a solid surface rose into the air, swirling around Summer like a vortex of pure rage. Caz laughed, 

“Since when can you do dark magic, huh?” “Since you locked me in a box, Cazari.”

Summer bared fangs, the vents flaring wide as they grabbed Caz by the lapels, they swung around with surprising strength and flung her into a floating desk. Summer was floating off the ground now, red cracks breaking from their eyes, they growled, and lunged at Caz again, scratching at her face, blood now coating their nails. 

Caz swung low, cutting at Summer’s shins. Her hands were coated blue from her own blood,  the tail dripping with Summer’s blood and chemicals, causing the blade to almost be glowing. Caz snarled, her eyes glitching between brown and neon orange. Her face began to glitch out, bit of it going orange and up, something primal took over Caz, her hair going wild and out, like a cat. Her voice cracked, going between a furious snarl and something older, 

“Stand down.” 

Summer’s feathers that ended their tail stood up, sharp and thorn-like. They swung the tail with unbridled fury, sending Caz into a chest of drawers. Caz spat blood and lunged at Summer, the mechanical tail arched perfectly in the air. Both exchanged blows over and over, no real balance to their squabble. 

Caz was sick and tired, Summer wouldn’t stop throwing blows, wouldn’t stop yelling, screaming. They were getting in the way. 

And Caz hated it.

Caz returned blows, she hit Summer as hard as they hit her, possibly even harder. Caz was working and Summer kept asking too much, doing too much. They were too much. Something in Caz broke, she screamed- it wasn’t angry, it wasn’t rage, it wasn’t distress, it was almost sad- and screamed, the room glitching in and out as the scream got louder. The room’s lights flickered bright orange before, going dark, plunging the room into darkness. The only thing giving off light were the tail and spilled chemicals. 

    Cazwell herself wasn’t too far away. The cat-eared scientist grumbled under her breath as she dug through a chest to find wherever Summer had stashed her tools; as helpful as they were, they could at least use signs to label things that weren’t completely incoherent. 

    She half-turned to ask Summer what they’d done to her poor, poor storage, but paused as something caught her eye. Standing out against her assistant’s blue fur was a yellow ear piercing. She’d seen it before, of course, but for some reason her eyes were drawn to it now.

    Moving quietly, she sneaked up behind Summer. Now that she was closer to them, she could see a set of numbers printed on the yellow plastic. 351? Curiosity got the better of her. Not bothering to alert Summer to her presence, Cazwell reached out and flicked the tag. “So, what is this?”

    “GAH!” Summer jumped, dropping the block they were carrying. They whirled around to glare at her; Cazwell gave them her best innocent look as Summer raised a hand to cover the tag from sight. “It’s—” They hesitated. The annoyance drained out of their tone as they glanced away, suddenly unable to meet her eyes. “...it’s… It’s my ID tag.”

    Cazwell gave them a look of confused concern. Summer fidgeted, nervous, then took her silence as a reason to continue. “Like… as in, uh.” They clenched their fists and closed their eyes. “As in I’m… maybe an escaped genetic experiment? Or something?”

    Cazwell tilted her head, baffled. “How are you maybe an experiment?” Summer fluffed up in response.

    “I— I’m— I am one,” they confessed. “It’s… Look, it’s fine, it’s— I mean, I guess it’s kind of weird, but it’s… just a thing about me?” They curled their tail around themself and started running their fingers through the feathers on the end. “Like, it’s not bad or anything, I just kinda… uh. Well.”

    Summer stood still as Cazwell examined their tag again. “Huh,” she said. “Well. Okay!” As Summer watched, confused, Cazwell stepped back and looked them over. “I thought you were just an alien or something.”

    “I might be?” Summer shrugged. “I’m a chimaera— like, uh, just a bunch of bits put together at this point.” They started ticking off their fingers. “I’m part genet, part crow, part cat probably?, part velociraptor—”

    (“Part what?” Cazwell interrupted. Summer ignored her.)

    “--part red panda I think?, maybe part banded linsang too but it’s kinda hard to tell, uh…” They rubbed at the two V-shaped vents on the end of their snout where their nose should be. “--part alien, yeah. This is definitely an alien genetics thing.” Summer brightened. “I’m mostly genet, though! With… with linsang markings, maybe. And feathers. And human-shaped.”

    Cazwell pulled out her phone, opened Google, and typed in some search terms. Summer waited as she pulled up an image and squinted at it. “You do not look like a genet.”