#monster!cod

Break Down Build Up

You’d never had too many thoughts about how important May was to you. Sure, there were some special days, but it wasn’t that valuable. It was just another month in the year, after all. How could May be of any great importance?

That was what you tended to think up until König came along. Since becoming König’s handler, May had quickly become your least favorite month of the year.

“Sit still!” you grumbled, trying to balance yourself in the middle of König’s great black wing without tugging on his feathers, “you’ve got a couple of pin feathers here that are ready to come in.”

König whined and shuffled uncomfortably. You tried to avoid gripping his feathers as you were jostled side to side.

“You don’t want me tugging on your feathers, do you?” you snapped as you managed to catch your balance again.

“Boring,” König croaked.

“Boring?” you rolled your eyes, “yeah of course it’s boring. It’s not like I’m having a fun time here either.”

“Boring,” König repeated.

The monster rolled you off his wings with a disgruntled caw.

You faceplanted onto the foam floor, rolling into a full somersault before sprawling akimbo on the floor. With a grunt, you managed to scrabble to your feet and gather your bearings. You glared at König, who seemed to be more than happy to take things into his own claws by flipping onto his back and rolling side to side. Today was May fifth. You had a whole month of this. You didn’t know what you were doing with yourself. You thanked the heavens again that your superiors wouldn’t be seeing you floundering with König. You had a couple of months until König was set to be deployed, at least.

As you watched König squirm like a mirthful puppy on the matts, you couldn’t help but wonder again how this was KorTac’s prized war machine. How did they manage to keep him still enough to listen to a command? Better yet, how did they manage to wrangle him into following a command!? You were completely beside yourself by this point. You couldn’t even manage to get König to so much as sit still to be preened.

Your hands fell to your sides as you tried to understand what you were doing wrong. König obliviously wormed across the floor, leaving a trail of white keratin in his wake. You’d have to mop that up when König was finished. Well, considering what sort of diseases he carried you’d have to scrub the gym anyways. It was your responsibility to mitigate the amount of potential contaminants that could be transmitted to other soldiers. You’d signed up for this, quite literally. You still wished you could burn the place down rather than have to try and clean it.

König skittered off to rub against a tall pillar to try and rid himself of the unholy itch that was surely driving him wild.

“If you just let me help…” you muttered under your breath as you strode over to him.

König swatted you away with his tail.

“Excuse me!?” you scoffed as you stumbled back, “did you just push me?”

“Must move,” König cawed, “moving helps.”

You sighed and relented. There wasn’t much you could do, was there? How were you supposed to get something the length of one and a half school busses to sit still? If König wanted to move, there was nothing you could do to get him to rest.

Or… Maybe you could…

Your eyes snapped open as realization dawned on you.

“Hey König?” you called to the big shifter.

König stopped rubbing his back against the pillar to look at you.

“Can you stay right here? I just need to get something from the back.”

König cawed and went back to rubbing his back. Well, if that kept him occupied, so be it.

You left König to his own devices with a little nod. As you rushed down the halls, you just hoped he’d stay put long enough for you to go and grab some puzzles you found from the common room.

When you’d managed to grab a couple and head back to the gym, König was back to wriggling to and fro on his back. You whistled and bounded over to him.

“König!” you held up a couple of puzzles, “I found something for you to do!”

König rolled onto his front to get a better look at you. He glanced between the boxes and cawed. He slithered to your side before letting himself drop flat onto his belly. He lay his head down on the ground and glanced up at you like a moping hound dog.

“Okay, so, how long do you think it’ll take you to finish these puzzles?” you asked as you put the jigsaw puzzles on the ground in front of him.

“Small,” he grumbled, “hard work.”

“So you think at least half an hour?” you asked hopefully.

“Longer,” König huffed, “small.”

You grinned to yourself as König spread out his wings to let you on. It seemed you finally had a way to keep König occupied.

Konig Dump

A Knot Undone Spills Forth Tangled Possibilities

Training with monster König did not go well. In fact, it went so far from well that you’d positively say it was horrible. You swore up and down as he chased you around the gymnasium, only stopping occasionally to loop through the rafters above like a big cat.

“König! Get down from there!” you yelled up overhead.

The monster only crawled around further, looking almost like a bat with how he used the talons on his big feathery wings to maneuver through the beams. His long furry tail trailed through a series of loops along the ceiling behind him.

“König!” you called again, your hazmat suit crinkling as you stomped your foot.

Finally, he snapped his head to look at you.

Even though you were his trainer, looking into the empty sockets of his eyes had chills crawling up your spine. He croaked out a small caw, then turned away to go back to playing with the metal beams in the ceiling.

You watched his massive body twist and turn as it wove amongst the beams above. On one hand, you were truly impressed that he was able to do it without getting stuck, but on the other hand you hadn’t even managed to get his control cage on his back before he had bounced away to do his own thing.

You muttered curses under your breath as you watched him playfully swing by his tail from side to side as he chirped happily.

“I need to clean you!” you whined.

König took a moment to stop swinging. He looked at the rake by your side, then at the massive sponge and bucket on the other. Without another word, he dropped down to the floor with a reverberating thud and scrambled to your side.

“Clean,” his voice sounded like a hoarse death rattle, “Clean!”

You sighed as you held up the rake, “If you stay still I can clean you.”

“Clean!” he parroted again before rolling onto his back and splaying out his tattered black wings, “Clean! Clean!”

You slowly trudged over to his side. You grimly noted that his feathers were rough and patchy and his black fur was tangled in thick knots. Evidently, he hadn’t been able to clean himself properly since his last trainer.

“Okay, so,” you sighed heavily, “you’ve got a lot of matts. I’m gonna need to go grab some scissors, okay?”

König whined and rolled on his back playfully.

“Just stay here,” you warned him before hurrying off to the handler equipment room.

You flicked on the lights and looked around the room haplessly. Evidently, whoever had been here before hadn’t had so much as a thought of consideration as they dumped everything into a mound. All the equipment had been haphazardly thrown around recklessly. To your horror, they’d completely jumbled all the organization of the room. What was normally a neat and tidy room had somehow turned into a muck room since you had gone to train König in the gym. How they’d manage to undo all the careful maintenance you and your cohorts had been practicing for ages was beyond you.

You scrambled to look through the ruins. You came across collars and chains and balls and more as you searched through the piles. You had the horrible feeling that you’d never find the trimmers. How could you when the room was like this? You worried that König would be off in the rafters again if you didn’t manage to find it soon.

Just as you were about to give up hope, you saw a glimmer of steel. You sighed in relief as you pushed a heating blanket aside to find the trimmers buried underneath. How you managed to find them was beyond you, a simple chance of fate, but you took it with both hands and lifted your hope and the trimmers from the pile.

You were used to making a mess by now, but something clattered to the floor when you brought the trimmers to your chest. You screwed your brows together and looked at the ground.

It was just a simple rope puzzle. It lay on the floor, tangled more than usual, but it was obviously meant for some of the more intelligent hybrids. It was just something to keep them busy. Something to keep them occupied.

Something to keep a hybrid like König occupied.

It clicked in your head. You no longer cursed whoever had wrecked the room before you. Instead, you’d bow and pray at their feet if they walked in that moment. Praise the bastard for giving you the answer to all your problems in the form of a simple puzzle.

You scurried out of the room with your new toy as quickly as you could, nearly forgetting the trimmer in your excitement.

When you made your way back to the gym, König was predictably up in the rafters again. 

“Hey!” you yelled as loudly as you could, “hey König!”

You heard a low rumble up from behind you.

You slowly turned and looked up to see König hanging upside down like a bat from the rafters, his head just a few feet above the door. You wondered how long he’d been hanging there, almost like some winged opossum.

“You!” you yelled and held up the trimmers, “come down here so I can clean you!”

König chuffed and crawled up his body to get back into the rafters. You huffed and puffed as he weaseled his way through the beams to get away from you.

“Hey!” you yelled at his retreating form, “wait, get back here!”

“No.”

You ignored the shivers up your spine when he spoke, a natural side effect of the nachtkrappe voice, and charged after him. You crashed across the runway, your hazmat suit crinkling like a paper bag with each and every single one of your movements. You could probably be heard from the other side of the gym at this rate. You shoved the thought aside and pushed forward.

“Hey you ugly mutt, get down here!” you howled as you scrambled after him.

“No!” König croaked back and swung from the rings hung from the ceiling. You couldn’t help but groan. Now that he found the rings there was no way he’d be coming down soon. Not unless…

“I have something for you!” you yelled as loudly as you could. Your lungs burned with the effort as you hung your other tools by your side.

König, to his credit, at least momentarily paused at your suggestion. However the flight rings proved to be too tempting and he was soon winding round and round the red and white plastic again.

“Come on!” you complained loudly, “we can do ringwork later, we need to clean you first!”

That got his attention, at least.

König lunged down directly at you. You squawked loudly as you threw yourself out of the way of his big grey talons. He thankfully didn’t baffle you with his wings and instead curled his long tail around your legs, tripping you in the process.

You pulled yourself to your feet and brushed yourself down. The rubber suit was thankfully durable enough to withstand a bit of wear and tear, but you still checked to make sure it was intact. You’d hate to get sick because of a small tear in the suit. Whatever nachtkrappe’s carried, you didn’t want to catch it.

“Okay, so,” you pulled yourself together, “I have an offer for you.”

“Offer, offer,” König parroted as he tilted his head back and forth, the fluorescent light glinting off his tusks and horns menacingly.

“So,” you held up the trimmers and he hissed, “stop that! Look, if you let me trim some of the matts, I’ll give you something fun.”

“Fun?” König thankfully perked up.

“Fun!” you repeated and held up the rope toy, “this is just a little rope puzzle. You think you can finish it before I finish trimming you?”

König snorted out a plume of putrid smoke, “Ja.”

“Ooo, confident!” you chuckled as stepped closer, “well, let’s see how well you do.”

You tossed him the rope. He struggled to catch it in his front claws on his wings, but he managed to carefully lace it through his fingers and settle on his front.

You flicked the trimmers open and sauntered over to him. You picked up the rake along the way with a smirk.

Finally, you had a way to make him sit still.

Konig Dump

Mischief and Mayhem

So, training didn’t work either. Getting through to König was certainly turning out to be more of a challenge than expected. He was big, tall, stubborn and most of all, mischievous.

It was a trait that hadn’t gone on record, and it was a crying shame it wasn’t because it would’ve helped prepare you for him. He liked to unsettle you. He relished in your discomfort. At the very least, that’s what it seemed like. It didn’t help that he had a penchant for destruction.

You first saw it when he was fiddling with a ring at lunch.

“What’cha got there, König?” you asked as you slid into the seat across from him.

He held examined it for a moment, almost like he didn’t know himself. He held it up with a flick of his wrist, “A ring.”

“Okay I can see that,” you internally sighed, “I was asking why you had it.”

“You said what did I have, not why did I have,” he stared at you blankly, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. In a way, he had a point, but it still unnerved you.

You picked up your knife and fork to tuck into your meatloaf, “Okay, sure, whatever. Still, why do you have it?”

“I found it,” he replied.

“Where?” you felt a tendril of suspicion curling in your gut.

“Not here,” he snorted.

Well, that was helpful.

You were about to ask more when a sobbing sergeant burst into the room.

You immediately snapped your head up to look at the poor man as he ran to a group of men. From the corner of your eye, you saw König tilt his head curiously. He seemed strangely interested in the scene, almost amused. 

Something wasn’t right here. König never looked interested in anybody else.

You walked over to the poor sergeant, practically beside himself with misery. He looked pathetic, and the men around him were quick to glare at you, almost as though you were violating his manhood by approaching him when he was in such a vulnerable state. You took a deep breath. You were a higher rank now, you could do this.

“Um, excuse me,” you shuffled awkwardly, “what’s going on here?”

“Why do you care?” one of the men grunted.

“Can’t you see him crying?” another sighed, “leave a man to grieve in peace.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, did he lose somebody?” you asked nervously.

“Not somebody,” the first man said as he rubbed his friend’s back, “something. He lost his wife’s ring.”

“He’s been searching all day,” the second looked down sadly at his companion.

You glared back at König, who was watching you, completely still.

“I think I might know where it is,” you said slowly.

The man immediately raised his head and blubbered, “Y-you do?”

“Here, follow me,” you instructed and stalked back over to where König sat.

König, for his part, looked the perfect part of innocent where he sat. His hands were tucked under the table in front of him to keep them hidden, most likely still fiddling with the ring. His big round blue eyes, downward tilted as though always sad, looked up at you as you approached with a small squad of men.

“König,” you crossed your arms, “give it back.”

“Give what back?” he asked.

“The ring. I saw you playing with it earlier,” you snapped.

“What ring?” König had the gall to look confused, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ma’am,” a man behind you cut in, “you’re not seriously saying the colonel has anything to do with this, are you?”

You looked back at him irritably, “I’m telling you I saw him with a ring earlier this morning.”

“I’m sorry miss, but I don’t think König took it,” a man with warm sepia skin looked at you sternly, “as his handler, you’ve gotta know that König isn’t that kinda guy.”

“No I’m serious!” you whirled on the group, “I saw him with it just a few minutes ago!” you turned back to König, “alright up on your feet. I’m finding that ring.”

König begrudgingly got to his feet before you. You instructed him to stretch out his arms before you, which he gladly did. He gave the others a knowing look before glancing back down at you as you stuffed your hands into his pockets. All that came out was…

“König what the fuck,” you mumbled as you pulled out the contents of his pocket.

“Men, I think Private Weiss might have what you’re looking for,” he nodded to a gruff looking man sitting at a luncheon table. Beside him sat a shining ring.

“Damn bastard,” the sergeant hissed as he jogged over to the man with the others following hot on his heel.

You watched as the sergeant punched the private square in the temple. Not a moment later, there was a brawl rolling across the floor with chairs being hurled while food flew through the air.

Meanwhile, the man with the highest authority in the room, König, stood by and watched gleefully.

You fisted the handful of König’s pocket contents and pulled König down to your height roughly with a growl, “What the fuck did you do.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” König sighed, “I guess I must have given it back to the wrong person.”

You were fuming, moreso when König chuckled at how bright red your face slowly flushed.

König looked you up and down with an appraising eyes before shifting his weight to one foot, “You look cute when you’re angry.”

“Excuse me!?” your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

König stiffened, his eyes going wide before darting away from you.

“I’m sorry,” his voice was uncharacteristically small.

“I-You know what we can deal with that later. Why did you set me up like that?” you scowled.

“I’m sorry handler but you set yourself up there,” König shrugged, “but look, wasn’t that fun?”

“Fun?” you scoffed, “König you stole a man’s wedding ring. What fucking part of that is fun!?”

“The part where he punched Private Weiss in the face, really,” König replied blithely.

You glanced back behind you to where a few people were finally breaking up the brawl that had sprawled over the floor. When you looked back at König, he was practically glowing with mirth.

“You’re a dick,” you spat.

König faltered briefly before steeling himself again, “So?”

“So?” you squawked, “so? That’s seriously the best you can come up with? I-” you shook your head, “look, I can’t have you doing that again. You can’t be causing fights on base for your own ‘entertainment’ or whatever.”

König sighed. It felt like you were punishing a petulant child rather than a grown soldier. You could hardly believe that this was actually what you were doing. You were hired to be a handler for a man, not a malicious school boy. You were really going to go bald by the end of this contract.

“Seriously,” you said, “don’t go pitting soldiers against each other. You could get dishonorably discharged for that kind of shit.”

“Nobody else has figured it out,” König replied.

“Well I did. So do something else to have fun. Go play video games or whatever,” you instructed him sternly, “if I can figure it out, it’s a wonder somebody else hasn’t.”

“Most people don’t really pay attention to what I do,” König huffed.

You didn’t know quite what to do with that. On one hand, something about the way he said it made you terribly sad. On the other, he still stole a man’s ring to start a fight.

“Look, it doesn’t matter if people don’t know it’s you, what matters is that it’s a shitty thing to do,” you tried to reason with him, “like come on man. We’re not in kindergarten anymore.”

“Nein,” König muttered

“So then act like it.”

König rolled his eyes. You hoped he got the message, but a part of you worried he would just be more secretive next time. Either way, time would tell if he actually listened or not.

For the rest of the day, life on base was unusually calm. There weren’t any fights, nobody lost belongings, nobody discovered anything unfortunate in their room. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful day.

König, on the other hand, was not.

He seemed miserable now. He was constantly under your watch to ensure he didn’t get into any trouble, but it seemed to be bearing down on him. In fact, the constant observation seemed to be putting him on edge.

“König, do you need anything?” you asked for the umpteenth time as he sat doing his paperwork.

He glanced up at you with a bitter glare, but quickly shook his head and went back to his work.

You noted that his leg was bouncing so hard that the water on his desk was shaking. His free hand was constantly clenching into a fist, then relaxing to rub his fingertips together. Then he’d do it again, hiss, fidget, and settle again. You hadn’t seen him sit still once since he sat down.

You couldn’t help but wonder if this was because of you dressing him down so thoroughly that morning. You couldn’t help but think about how ridiculous he was acting if this was all because of that. Any other hybrid you dealt with would take any instructions on the chin and push forward, correcting their behavior to be a better soldier. The way König was sulking was driving you up the wall.

Unfortunately for you, it kept getting worse. As the week went on, König was coming undone at the seams.

He was a wreck under your care, and you were getting worried. König wasn’t acting childishly, you realized. He was acting… Anxious. Why was he so anxious? How was it that this big hulking soldier flinched when spoken to? It was completely bizarre.

Worst of all was the call you got from the higher ups.

“You’re a damn handler,” the man on the line spat, “figure it out! If he keeps going like this, I promise you I’ll personally assign you to the lowest ranking infantryman on base.”

“I’m sorry sir,” you stammered, “I don’t know why he’s been like this!”

“Well, figure it out!”

The line went dead, leaving you holding the heavy landline phone in a limp hand. Dread washed over you at the thought of reassignment. Was König really getting that out of hand?

That night, you went online to your discord group. Somebody had to know what was happening. You sent a message to your fellow handler friends and waited for a response.

“What hybrid type is he?” one user asked.

“Have you read his medical files? Maybe you should read them over again,” another person offered.

You had his file spread out before you, but nothing stood out. Everything seemed normal. The only detail that caught your eyes was a simple black block label under his psychological profile: SEVERE SOCIAL ANXIETY.

It wasn’t much, but at least it helped you understand. Something about what you did caused König’s anxiety to flare up. Was it how you spoke to him? Was it what you said? What had caused the flare up?

You sighed and leaned your head into your hands.

Nothing about this was making sense. König was an enigma of a man. Whenever you tried to talk to him, he’d grunt at you or give you one to two word answers. Somehow, he’d actually regressed under your care. You could scream. How had you fucked up so badly?

You pulled out books on hybrid types, trying to analyze the pages for anything that could explain König’s recent behavior change. Unfortunately for you, nothing came up. Long nights of pouring over old texts and messaging your friends were fruitless. It was a maddening cycle.

You’d get up, join König at breakfast, watch him regress over the course of the day, then come back to your room to read and search for answers that never came. The worst of it was that the longer you floundered, the worse König got.

You joined him in the gym, the only place König seemed to wake up again.

You watched him swing from ring to ring in the gym above you as you watched below. König was like a different man in the gym. All the boredom and anxiety left his system when he was doing something active. As soon as the thought passed your mind, it clicked.

König was bored. Painfully bored.

But if he was bored and without an outlet for his anxiety, what could you provide? Nothing in his notes gave any ideas. All they mentioned were an inordinately high IQ matched with an impressive physique. He was the perfect super soldier. He was honestly somewhat intimidating not based on his size, but rather his sheer capabilities.

You needed to learn more about him, but he kept giving you such short answers that you wanted to strangle him.

When König finally trudged over to you for water, you stopped him from leaving.

“Hey, König, do you have a sec?” you asked, trying to be as gentle as possible.

Despite you efforts, he was rolling his eyes as he turned to you.

“So, um, how’ve you been feeling lately?” you watched him carefully for any expressions.

“Meh,” he grunted.

“Okay but, like, what does that mean?” you could feel your hair turning white on your skull.

König shrugged awkwardly, eyes darting to find an exit opportunity but he was unfortunately trapped with you.

“You looking forward to tonight?” you tried to excite him.

König squinted at you, “What’s happening tonight.”

“We’re training your shifted form, remember?” your frown squirmed on your face.

König’s expression fell into one of horror, “No? Why are we doing that?”

“Because I need to get used to your form, remember?” you awkwardly chuckled, “why, is there a problem?”

König shifted his weight from foot to foot, thinking carefully before he finally said, “Sometimes it’s harder to control impulses when I’m shifted.”

You crossed your arms over your chest and leaned back, “What sort of impulses?”

“Ach…” König hissed as he rose and slumped back, “I… I have impulses. You told me I couldn’t act on them.”

“Wait,” you threw up a hand, “you mean the thing about hurting people?”

“No, it’s…” König wobbled side to side, “I like to be entertained.”

You nodded slowly. You were grateful he was opening up, but something seemed wrong about what he was trying to say. 

You continued onwards, “So what does that mean?”

König sighed and turned. You were about to grumble when you saw him curl a finger, gesturing for you to follow. You obliged, walking over to a bench to sit beside him. He looked so heavy, almost as though the weight of him and his feelings on the bench would make the metal crumple at any moment. You perched delicately beside him, nervous of what was to come.

“When I ‘hurt’ people, it’s fun because I get to… I get to make a game,” he explained, “it’s fun. I set up a scenario, and then I watch it play out. It’s strategy, ja?”

You nodded slowly as you attempted to follow along.

“I just get so bored on basse. There’s nothing to excite me, keep me stimulated,” he explained, “so messing around and setting up dominoes to watch them fall makes me feel… Accomplished. Like I did something. And it’s funny! It’s funny to watch them struggle!”

You leaned forward to put your chin in your fist, a bit blown away but what König was saying. On one hand, it made sense. He was far too intelligent for his own good, so it made sense he’d constantly be searching for stimulation. It also made sense that König would take joy in setting up scenarios and watching them play out. He was a colonel, he was used to playing with people’s minds. 

Of course, that didn’t mean you could let König continue to run rampant on base. He’d been nothing short of a menace, and you’d noticed that most people on base seemed to relax in the past few days. But of course, König’s personal performance had suffered with the ban on pulling practical jokes. And fundamentally, the health and wellbeing of your hybrid was of utmost importance to your career (and your mental sanity), so unfortunately…

You sighed, already regretting what you were about to say.

“Alright, so, if the impulses are hard to control, how about we make a deal?”

König immediately perked up. He swung his clothed head to face you, the first time he’d actively looked at you in ages.

“A deal?” he asked in the politest tone you’d heard since you’d started talking to him.

“What about,” you hissed through your teeth, “we put some caps on these pranks. No more emotional torture, okay?”

König huffed, “What I did wasn’t emotional torture, it was just light ribbing.”

“König.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, “If you really must. I will not make people cry, does that sound good enough?”

You pulled your lips into a line, but you gave him a cautious nod.

“Wunderbar,” he nodded, “then I get to play my games again?”

“Hold on just a sec,” you interrupted quickly, “you gotta put a cap on it. I’m letting you pull one stunt a day, alright?”

König bristled, “One?”

“One.”

König hummed and hawed over it for a moment, then gave in with a sigh, “Alright, one. I can manage with that. It will… It will take the edge off.”

You frowned, “Okay so, your big thing is you like making and solving problems, right?”

König nodded.

“Well…” you thought carefully, “okay, so, tomorrow I’ll get you a book. Today? I guess I’ll just have to deal with whatever you give me, rihgt?”

König nodded solemnly, “I’m afraid you might. I’m sorry about that.”

“So does that mean you’re going to throw me or…”

“I just…” König snorted, “I might be a bit of a handful. Nothing bad, but not easy, you understand?”

You grimaced, “I think so.”

You had the horrible feeling tonight, training with König would be absolutely miserable. The worst part? You knew you were right.

Konig Dump

Headaches Split My Skull, Stop Talking

You stood beside Lieutenant General Haus, the same man who’d given you König’s files earlier. You glanced up at the older man, brushing his moustache with one hand while watching the numbers tick by above. You watched the countdown with him until you hit the desired floor.

You followed Lt-Gen Haus down the pristine hallway to a room with a red door. Stepping through, you were cowed by the man you saw.

Half jotunn was never more apparent. The man was a giant of a man, easily eight feet tall while still crouching. He was big, burly and powerful as he stared deep into your soul.

“Cnl. Leichenberg! So good to see you,” Haus’s voice boomed in the cramped room.

“Lieutenant General Haus,” the man nodded from beneath his massive hood.

“I’m here to introduce you to your new handler today,” the lieutenant general took a seat across from your new charge. He was completely at ease in the giant man’s presence, unlike you. You didn’t even hear your name being said until the general turned to look at you.

“Yes sir?” you asked meekly.

“I was asking if you’re willing to sign,” the general pointed at the paper and pen set out in front of you.

“Of course sir,” you replied, quickly picking up the pen and jotting down your name.

“Cnl. Liechengerg? Will you please sign the contract?” Haus turned the page with the pen expertly.

The man nodded and jotted down his name with an aggressive flick of his massive hand, nearly breaking the fountain pen in the process. The lieutenant general waved the paper twice before tucking it back into his manilla folder with a smile.

“Well, I know that normally you have a rather busy schedule, but both your schedules have been cleared for the next hour,” Haus looked at both of you with his warm blue eyes, “I’m sure you’re both experienced enough, but we still encourage you to take the time to get to know each other a bit better. After all,” he turned to you, “your duties as handler extend beyond your monster’s normal schedule. You are expected to attend to each of Cnl. Liechenberg’s needs. And Cnl. Liechenberg,” he turned to address the giant man, “I know you've heard it before, but it needs to be emphasized that you’re expected to ensure the safety of your handler, both on and off the field. Now,” Haus drummed his fingers on the table, “I’m expecting you to be back for training with Cnl. Liechenberg this evening, but I think we’ve covered all the necessary bases?”

Seeing no disagreements, the lieutenant general dismissed the two of you to leave you to your own devices. You wished he’d stay, as the man terrified you.

You’d never been afraid of a hybrid before, not like this. Normally, if you feared a hybrid it was due to the monstrous form they took during training. You’d never dealt with a hybrid of such a high rank before, and you’d never before cowered in your monster’s presence. Cnl. Liechenberg was a different sort of creature altogether.

“So, um, do you wanna join me for a coffee?” you offered politely.

“I hate coffee,” his voice was pitchy and scratched on your ears.

“Oh, um,” you thought for a moment, “how about lunch? Not at the canteen, but at that little cafe nearby? You know, not the one in the fort but out on the base?”

The man glared down at you with ice-cold blue eyes, a sharp contrast to Lt.-Gen Haus. Without being able to see his face, all you could think about was how the man looked like he wanted to crush you to dust in his palm.

“Okay.”

You found your way to the small cafe. There, you met up with König outside and tried to hold a one-sided conversation before you gave up and followed him inside. As soon as the barista looked up and saw you both, you felt a sudden surge of dread.

“König? What’re you doing here?” the woman leaned against the counter in the empty store.

The man gave no reply. If nothing else, at least he wasn’t singling you out with his cold reception.

Instead of greeting the woman, he stood beneath the counter and looked up.

“I want…” he thumbed at what was probably his chin under that hood, “a mediterranean wrap, a grilled cheese panini, two cups of americano with a side of cream, and a slice of carrot cake.”

The woman sighed, “Do you want the soup with that?”

“Yes.”

“Why do I ask,” you heard the poor woman mutter as Cnl. Liechenberg strode off to sit at his table of choice, leaving you to stand with the barista.

“You deal with him often?” you asked nervously.

The woman flicked her dark ponytail over her shoulder as she faced you, “Who, König? Not really.”

“You sounded like you knew him,” you commented lightly before leaning in close, “look, I’m his new handler. Can you give me any pointers? I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall here.”

“Oh don’t even bother trying with him,” the woman waved a tanned hand at you, “there’s no way you’re getting through with him. He’s just… König.”

You nodded carefully, then gave your order and joined Cnl. Liechenberg at his table.

“So,” you slid into the seat across from him, “Cnl. Liechenberg-”

“König.”

You paused and looked up at the man, “König?”

“Call me König,” a pause, “everyone does.”

“Alright, so, König! You come here often?” you chirped.

The man shook his head curtly.

“Really! The barista seemed to know you, at least,” you chuckled, “must be nice being a regular, right?”

König wasn’t paying you any attention. He was fully absorbed by what the barista was making.

You looked out the window beside you, “Looks like you chose a nice spot here. You can even see the duck pond from here!”

König nodded absentmindedly.

“Do you ever go to look at the ducks?” you asked, “they’re pretty cute. Oh, you know that a few of the ducks had babies, right? If you want, when we’re finished here we can go check it out if we still have time.”

König barely reacted, if at all. Was he even breathing? You’d have to check his file again about that…

“Sometimes I like to go and check on the ducks when I have a chance. I don’t have a lot of time, but it’s a nice break from life on base,” you could hear yourself babbling on listlessly but you couldnt' stop yourself, “there’s usually a bunch of people in the park, but if you go just about an hour before the sunset you can get some time to sit down on a bench and think. I sometimes take a few peas with me if they’re served for dinner, but never bread. You know you’re not supposed to feed ducks bread, right? It’s not good for them! It’s better to give them cut up veggies or something.”

König didn’t say a word. He didn’t even give you so much as a glance to acknowledge you as you went on your spiel. A part of you couldn't’ believe how incredibly rude König was.

“There’s also a pair of swans, if you’re interested…” you trailed off.

Nothing you were saying was getting through to this guy.

“Do you know if our schedules will be synced up?” you asked, “so we can go and see the ducks together.”

König finally reacted by giving you a half hearted shrug.

“Are you sure? With my other hybrids I’ve always been synced, but I dunno if it’s gonna be the same way with you. Was it like that with your other handlers?” you asked.

König gave you a small nod.

“Oh great! So when we get our schedules next we should be synced up! That means we can go to the duck pond together!”

König was less than disinterested.

You sighed and sat back in your chair. It was only day one and you were already tired of trying. It was like he was going out of his way to refuse and and all attempts to communicate. How the hell did any of his handlers talk to him before? You could only imagine how somebody helped him.

“Alright, here you guys go,” the barista came with a tray to set down your plates in front of you. You noted that König’s share of the table was quickly overtaken as his meals spread onto your side of the table. You thanked the barista, noting how König barely even acknowledged her presence.

The way König acted as though he was better than everyone around him set you on edge. By technicalities, you were his superior, and yet he didn’t bother listening to you once. A part of you wanted to pull the rank card, but you’d hate for the relationship to start on such a sour note. Another part of you was furious. No other hybrid you dealt with had ever pushed you this far this quickly. Then again, you’d never dealt with a hybrid of this rank before. It was maddening how he refused any sort of interaction.

“Looks good,” you commented as König picked up his wrap.

König nodded and took a bite. He chewed quietly and set the wrap back down.

You set to work on your own meal, small in comparison to König’s smorgasbord. You picked away at it, antsy with how you’d be dealing with König.

You took a bite and smiled, “I’m glad we came here. I forgot how good the food is here.”

König nodded silently.

You sighed. This would be a long contract, wouldn’t it?

Alternate Universe Stories