#orangebanshee

"Why did she refuse my offer?" he asks no one in particular. The host of constructs around him look to each other, but don't answer. "Why? Why? Why? Why? WHY?

"And why didn't any of you ratch snatchers alert me she was here?"

He throws a plate at the head of a construct. It shatters on the spectral orange being's face and they cower, holding their head.

"Maybe I should lower the dome...Maybe..."

"Is all well, Lord Larfleeze?" Sayd floats in the doorway.

Sound Dancer hisses with her chorus of voices and scurries to Larfleeze's side. He swats her away and stomps up to Sayd, snout twisted in an enraged snarl.

"No, nothing is well, slave!" he growls, "How dare you ask me such a stupid question?"

"My apologies, I did not mean to offend. May I inquire about what has you so upset, M'Lord?"

"Jade is out there, in the city," he pulls at his fur, "My poor, precious Jade is out there with those filthy apes and she won't leave!"

"Jade?" Sayd raised a hairless brow. "Who is this Jade?"

"She's my...my..." The word is there, balancing on the tip of his tongue. He's said it before, when Jade was cursed and vulnerable. He knows he can say it. He only needs to try. "My...my..." He wails, "She's mine."

"Yours? In what way?"

"What does it matter? She's mine and I need to go save her." He goes for the battery. "The dome is going down."

"What?" Sayd's pitch hits a high note. "Lord Larfleeze, you cannot be serious. Why would you want to do such a thing?"

"Jade said the only way she's leaving is if I let everyone else go, so, I am. Forget the city. She's the one of the only things worth having on this planet, anyway." The screens flicker and everything orange gutters. The effect lasts for a split second, not even that, but he sees it, he feels it. For that brief moment in time, the hunger is gone.

"What was that?" Sayd asks, eyes wide.

"I..." Larfleeze is at a loss. What was that? "I don't know."

"I know what it was," Slowly, Sayd slithers in close and places a small blue hand on Larfleeze's shoulder. "You're tried, M'Lord. While your power is great, you have been expending a good deal of it. Perhaps a short nap will..."

"I don't want sleep, I want my..." Another flicker. He casts a questioning glance at the screens around him. "I want..." And then he spots a familiar face. Charles Xavier, which one, Larfleeze is unsure, but it's sure as ratching hell him. Larfleeze would recognize those blue blue eyes anywhere. "Charles...?"

"Charles?" Sayd's tiny nose wrinkles. "First a 'Jade' and now a 'Charles'. Lord Larfleeze, what have you been doing while I have been away?"

"Nothing. I've been doing nothing and I--"

Great Glomulus, did he just catch a glimpse of a pink dress and light brown hair? Is the Lady here as well?

Green light and tights. Jordan?

"How many of them did Glomulus bring?" Larfleeze asks.

Sayd leans to the side to peek at what Larfleeze is watching. Her expression sours.

"My Lord, I truly do think it would be best for you to sleep," she says, "You are obviously exhausted."

His hands are on her throat as soon as the last syllable leaves her mouth. "Do not tell me what to do!" he shouts, "I am your master, your lord. You are but a slave, a bootlicking lackey, an over talkative chair! I give the orders here, not you! No one gives orders to Agent Orange!"

"Then...then--" A pained wheeze, "--why are you taking orders from a human girl?"

"What?" The grip slips.

"You said your Jade--" Could there be any more contempt in her voice as she speaks that name? "--will only leave if you release the city?" Blue fingers wrap around his wrists. "Now excuse me if I am being presumptuous, Lord Larfleeze, but that means she gave you an order, correct?"

"I guess."

She peels his hands from her throat. "An order that you are about to follow through?"

Larfleeze scratches at the scruff of his neck.

"As I thought," Sayd sneers down at Larfleeze. "The great Lord Larfleeze is taking orders from lowly human. I said you were not in the condition to make decisions and this only proves it."

"How dare you make such a claim? I am in full control of myself! I am in complete and total control!"

"Then prove it. Show to the world that the Great and Powerful Agent Orange does not take kindly to demands from anyone, especially from pitiful human girls trying to take what is rightfully his."

The orange light ignites, "Yes. Mine." He turns, heading towards his nest. "The dome stays. I'm getting some sleep."

"And what of the girl?"

Larfleeze halts, "Let her die with the rest of the beggars."