#silver: chapter

Somewhere the sound of a metal door echoes down to her. She feels her heart skip a beat as she freezes, straining her ears trying to figure out what's going on. The steady tread of multiple feet quickly follows and Iris feels her body jump into overdrive. She leaps to her feet, almost falling on her face from how numb her legs are. She shakes them out, trying to wake them up and wincing at the feeling of pins stabbing into her. The group continues approaching and Iris is forced to push away the wild thought popping into her head that the corridor they're walking down is stretching longer and longer, exacerbating her anxiety. Iris forces herself to stop worrying at the inside of her cheek with her teeth. Taking a deep, steadying breath in she steps forward until she's to to steel in front of the brig door, her chin tilted up and arms crossed. A group of three people come into her view. There are two guards, rifles resting comfortably in their hands as they stand with their eyes resting just above Iris' head. At the fore of the group is an unarmed woman, her black hair pulled back into two neat braids. She stares at Iris with intense, deep brown eyes and Iris has to force herself to hold her position, resisting the urge to shrink back further into the brig. “What the fuck do you want?” Iris spits out, inflecting more confidence and vitriol into her voice than she feels. She squares her shoulders and meets the woman gaze for gaze. She will not be cowed. “That’s pretty aggressive for someone locked behind bars don’t you think, Iris?” asks the woman, her voice surprisingly husky. “I’m not sure how much worse my situation could get. It’s hard to be scared.” Iris watches as one of the woman’s eyebrows arches regally. She shifts slightly from foot to foot. She may not be scared but she can’t help but feel uncomfortable under such intense scrutiny. It feels like there’s a hole being burned through her very soul. “You know my name, it seems only fair I know yours,” she says, desperately trying to disperse even a little bit of the lingering tension. “I’m Cat.” There’s a note of amusement threading it’s way through her words. “Pleased to meet you, Cat. Now, would you mind explaining to me how the hell I got here exactly?” “I made you see what you wanted to see. The rest of it was easy.” Cat smiles at Iris. Although smile probably isn’t the right word for what she did. Rather, she snarls at Iris, baring her teeth. Iris is unable to stop herself from flinching backwards as Cat reveals her many sharply pointed teeth to her. She relaxes as understanding washes over her. “You’re a Siren,” says Iris, her voice barely more than a breathless whisper. Cat returns her features to their previous impassivity, hiding her many fangs. This time, however, there’s the hint of an added little smirk at the corner of her mouth. “So you’re the one who trapped me.” “Oh, look how smart you are,” says Cat, her smirk becoming more prominent. “You know, that’s not very nice.” Iris rests her hands on her hips. “It’s not my fault you humans are easily fooled.” “I’m not completely human you know.” “You’re human enough, apparently,” shrugs Cat. Iris rolls her eyes. “Now, let me guess what’s going to happen next.” “I’d love to here your thoughts on this.” “You’re going to offer me up as a sacrifice to your precious Lord Zerich in return for his favor.” Iris didn’t plan on making it sound so petulant, but Cat’s obvious amusement at her antics chafes at her ego. “I certainly wouldn’t call him my ‘precious Lord Zerich’,” says Cat, mimicking Iris’ tone. “I also wouldn’t say I’m offering you up as a sacrifice-” “You lured me for the sole purpose of handing me over to Zerich,” Iris snaps, interrupting her and desperate to wipe that smug look off her face. “And I’m sure you’re not naive enough to think he has any feelings other than ill will for me. So what else would you call this?” Cat regards her for several long, increasingly uncomfortable minutes. Iris shifts her focus to the guards behind her in a bid to dispel some of the tension. There’s a man and a woman, both of similar height. Their faces are hidden behind masks and their gray uniforms cover them completely from head-to-toe so the only thing she can tell is that they’re humanoids of some sort. They stand so perfectly still they may as well be statues, if Iris didn’t know better she’d even think they were AI’s, she quickly grows bored. “Sometimes, Iris, things aren’t always what they seem.” “What is that even supposed to mean?” asked Iris, growing increasingly more exacerbated with the situation. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll figure it out when you need to. For now, I guess it’s time to deliver you to Lord Zerich.”