[fic] London Calling
Title: 'London Calling'
Characters: Cassie Riddle, Saul Garamond. Castiel is mentioned a couple of times. :x
Notes: King Rat shows up in Chicago, and Saul has to get rid of him, reluctantly letting Cassie help. Warnings of gore, fighting and sweeearing. :x
Word Count: 2584
Prompt: ... erm. A dream I had, actually. And me and Morph talking about it. xD
King Rat was in Chicago.
Saul was one of the first to know. The rats had begun to bring messages. ‘Boss! Boss! Someone else is here. Says he’s new Boss…’ and Saul didn’t even have to guess. Somewhere in the city’s sewers, his biological father was roaming and he knew that he’d already picked up his scent.
Then the journal entries began to appear on the network. Public, the rage-fulled scrawls almost ripped the paper upon which King Rat wrote: I KNOW YOU’RE HERE RATLING. THIS ISN’T OVER.
‘It’s who I think it is, isn’t it?’ came the private note soon after.
Saul left the sewers briefly after that; he needed to come up with a plan. Cassie was the only one he told about King Rat, and being one of the few people left in Chicago he knew he could trust, went for…. advice? Help? Comfort?
He didn’t even know.
The two were in Cassie’s room in an uneasy silence. Cassie was watching her friend pace back and forth with a grave look. Saul was weighing up his options, there weren’t many, well, there weren’t even a couple. He had to get rid of King Rat; his friends were in danger with him around. He knew the twisted bastard was screaming for his blood and Saul knew he would do everything he could to get at him.
Cassie was the first to break the silence, “What ever you choose to do, I’m fine with that,”
She didn’t know everything about Saul, or about King Rat. There were just some things that even friends kept private. And this was a part of Saul’s world that knowing little, was enough.
What she did know was that King Rat was bad news. And that he had to be stopped.
She wondered what Iris would suggest, what would she think of? And then, swallowing the sadness with pursed lips, spoke again.
“I could ask Castiel,” she said, “He could… he could help,”
“No,” was Saul’s curt reply. “I’m not having any one else dragged into this shit. I have to deal with this,”
“Then let me help you,”
Saul stopped pacing and turned to his friend with a look of strong disapproval. “No fucking way, Cassie,”
“I can help you,” she tried again, “I won’t let you go into this alone. What’s even the point in having these stupid powers of mine, if I can’t even help save my friends?!”
“He’ll hurt you,” Saul argued, “He will do any fucking thing imaginable to you in order to get to me. He’s a fucking sick bastard, Cass. He’d even kill you, he won’t stop. He’s fucking pissed because I ruined everything for him. He wanted his Kingdom and I destroyed it. He’ll destroy anything I care about in revenge,”
Cassie gave him a hard stare. She was scared of death, but she feared the deaths of people she cared about more. Out of the friends she had in Chicago, only a few she considered her family. And Saul was one of those. She had lost too many people she had loved. And this was the chance. This was the time she could stand up and say 'no'.
He could tell what she was thinking with that look and shook his head. “No, Cassie,”
“Saul, listen to me!” Cassie snapped, slamming her hand down on her desk. “I’m helping whether you like it or not. I tried to help Iris, but it was too late. I’m not making that same mistake again. I’ll fight if I have too, but I won’t bloody lose you too,”
The mention of Iris made Saul cringe. He looked down.
“Cassie--” Saul began.
“Don’t you bloody dare say ‘No’,” she interrupted with a grave stare, “Don’t you dare.”
Saul was silent for a while; the tenseness of Cassie left him more uncomfortable. He didn’t want her to get involved. He knew what King Rat was capable of. Cassie didn’t. But she was stubborn, adamant she was going to help him. He didn’t know how and he wasn’t entirely sure if she knew how either.
“There’s no way I’m gonna convince you to not do this, is there?” he asked finally.
“No chance,”
“Fuck’s sake,”
---------------------------------------
Saul had sent the rats with a message, trying to draw King Rat into a part of Chicago’s sewers that he knew best and knew he could get Cassie to safely. He didn’t like the fact she was coming with him down there. He’d always made sure she never had to, warding her off any time she’d offered. But he couldn’t stop her this time.
He stood at the bottom of a ladder, carefully watching her follow. He didn’t like this at all.
“I don’t know what you plan on doing,” he uttered.
“I have an idea,”
“Just… leave the fighting to me… alright?” he said in a strained voice.
“I’m going to distract him,” Cassie told him as she reached the bottom and looked about, “I’ll give you that so you can…” she trailed off. “Yeah,”
“Don’t let him see you,” he told her.
Cassie nodded, she understood. She pursed her lips for a moment; she tried not to look nervous. Reaching for him, she pulled him into a hug.
“Be careful, for God’s sake, Saul,” she told him.
Saul said nothing for a few moments, simply hugging her back. And then with a nod, “You too. I mean it. And stay behind me,”
Pulling away, she offered him a small, encouraging smile and disappeared out of view.
He led the way through several tunnels, not moving too quickly in case he Cassie would lose sight of him. He could feel her powers seeping around him, her own darkness mixing with the one he was familiar with so she could see. ‘I can’t take it all away and replace it with my own, but if it’s just a little, then I can see too,’ - It did seem comforting, but he could not shake off the tense feeling in his stomach.
The narrow tunnels soon fell away and opened up into larger ones. In the gloom came quiet squeaks, the rats had begun to follow. Every so often, Saul would hiss orders at them - but wouldn’t tell Cassie what he was saying. If I don’t win, get her back to the surface. Don’t let him get her.
Finally, climbing out a tunnel and into a much larger room, Saul stopped. He could smell King Rat close by, waiting.
“Where the fuck are you, you delusional fucking bastard?” he growled. “I haven’t got all day,”
“Cocky little fucker,” came the reply.
King Rat slipped out the shadows, his face screwed up with anger. Cassie swallowed hard and began to move, Saul doing his best to ignore her. ‘For fuck’s sake, be careful Cass.’ he thought.
King Rat stared at Saul for a long time arrogantly. And then he paused, sniffing the air. He could sense a new scent in the room. Something that wasn’t Saul. His eyes narrowed.
“Who else is here, sonnyboy? Eh?” King Rat spat, cocking his head to the side.
Saul remained silent, not looking anywhere but King Rat’s eyes. He knew if he looked anywhere else and he’d give Cassie away. Unlike King Rat, he was accustomed to her kind of shadow power. He could feel her there, slowly moving about the room.
“Pianos,” King Rat hissed, “And tea, sugary and that. And clean. Who’ve you got hiding?”
Cassie crept around, her footsteps not making a single sound as she hid in her own shadows. Finding her way across the room until she was stood directly behind King Rat, she raised her arms.
Her hands tensed tightly as she concentrated. She thinks, remembering certain feelings that would help her. She remembers Kaden, she remembers the hatred, the disgust, the feeling as her fist hit his jaw. She took the anger as she crafted, imagining all the strange, terrifying creatures that the Rift had spat out and created something new, something just as terrifying.
Spindly arms burst out of the gloom in the space between King Rat and Saul, clawed hands reaching out and grabbing downwards. Slowly but surely, strange and monstrous beasts dragged themselves out of the floor like corpses from a grave. Dog-like heads silently snarled and began to snap at the air, shadowy saliva flying.
Even Saul has to falter; what the fucking hell, Cass? He’s never seen anything like it. He had no idea Cassie could do something like this
“What the fuck is this?” King Rat was fuming now, but Saul could hear the uncertainty, almost fear in his voice.
“The shadows are mine!” he screamed, jabbing a thumb at his chest, “Mine you little fucker! I’m the one who lives in the dark, been around longer than you could dream of, sonnyboy. Who the fuck do you think you are, eh?!”
“They’re not yours,” Cassie said suddenly in the lowest, darkest voice she could muster. “They’re mine,”
King Rat spun round, teeth bared.
Saul took his chance, Cassie had distracted him and he knew he had to act before King Rat worked out she was there. He leapt forward and tackled him to the floor, his rage flooding into his fists as he began to tear at King Rat. Anger was one of the things Saul knew best and there was no end to it.
Cassie moved back, she could only watch. King Rat was fighting back, hissing and shrieking loudly. He kicked at Saul, and knocked him back. He fell back against a row of pipes, knocking most of them loose with a spray of water. King Rat threw himself at him, raising his fists and bringing them down in fast, furious swipes, tearing at Saul’s skin.
Saul spat, his own fists flying. But every punch he threw was rewarded with another smack to the head or swipe at his chest. He felt heavy, clothes thick with his blood.
Cassie moved fast, she couldn’t watch anymore. She had to help. She scrambled across the room, there was no way she could hit him with her fists. Ducking away from the screams and fury of the fight, she fell against the broken piping and pulled with all her might. After what seemed like an age, a length came away. She’d been told not to fight, but as she turned her head…
Saul wasn’t moving. He’d been knocked him out.
Before King Rat could land another swipe, Cassie was running silently towards him.
“Get the fuck off him!” Cassie screamed fiercely, swinging the metal piping, aiming for King Rat’s head.
But faster than she could blink, King Rat ducked and she only managed to smack his shoulder with a dull thump. In an easy sweeping motion, he’d moved off Saul and grabbed the piping. He swung Cassie round like a rag doll, and she was floored, the breath forced out her lungs. She flashed back into view, losing any concentration she had on staying invisible.
“So that’s who you are!”
Pinning her down, he sniffed briefly, still trying to work out just what she was. Human. But then, where does the darkness, the shadows come from? He was intrigued but wary. He didn’t like this. The darkness was his.
Cassie gagged- the stench of the sewers and grime and whatever on earth that was was stronger, more acrid in his state of rage. She began to thrash, wildly kicking and fighting with any part of her free to move.
“What the fuck are you, eh? Eh!?” King Rat hissed, baring his teeth. “Think you can strut around? Owning the shadows like some queen bitch of the darkness? Think you can pull one over on me? I don’t fucking think so, I’m King Rat!”
“You’re a fucking weirdo!” Cassie shouted back and then shrieked as he pressed his weight down on her chest. She found it hard to breathe. ‘Saul, get up! Get up, please!’
“Ain’t wanting nothing like you around. No way,” King Rat growled and pounced forward, his teeth going for the neck.
At the last second, Cassie managed to slide away to the side. King Rat’s teeth missed her throat and instead sunk hard into her shoulder. She gave out a scream of pain, a high trilling sound that woke Saul back into consciousness.
He looked up to see King Rat on top her and his stomach dropped. For a fleeting moment, he thought about his mother and it sent him in a fury. Blood dripping from his chest and mouth, he rose to his feet and leapt.
Tackling him with a furious shriek, the two fell in a pile and began to tear at one another. Saul had the upper hand this time, biting and scratching every inch of King Rat he could find.
“You don’t ever fucking touch her,” he hissed through a mouthful of blood.
Cassie was stunned for a few moments, trying to get her breath back and deal with the pain. Rolling onto her unhurt side, she blinked into the gloom. Putting her powers into force again, she gasped at a Rift beginning to form. ‘That’s it.’
“Saul, the Rift,” she uttered, unsure if she was heard over the sounds of the fight. She tried to pull herself up to sit, and shouted this time, “The Rift!”
Saul looked up briefly and with a grunt, threw one final swipe and shoved as hard as he could.
King Rat tumbled back, but as soon as he’d touched the Rift, there was a cracking sound, a wet crushing noise and within a second - King Rat was not seen again. Instead, a blast of gory gunge shot out, soaking both Saul and Cassie.
The Rift closed a few moments later, leaving the two alone in the dark.
There was a long silence. No one spoke a word. The city buzzed above them, the rats quietly squeaking cautiously all around and the sound of dripping here and there. Saul was panting, still on edge, part of him in shock. Cassie stared at where the Rift had been and then down at the smoothie blend of blood, skin, bones and organs that had once been King Rat which now coated her. The stench was sickening.
She didn’t know that would happen.
Turning her head away, she promptly vomited.
Saul turned, crouching down beside her. He gently pulled at the torn fabric of her jacket and cringed at the bite.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be sorry,” Cassie was quick to reply.
“Fuck.. you weren’t supposed to get hurt…”
Cassie shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Alright?”
“No-“
“Just shut up a minute - for fuck’s sake!”
Saul paused, staring at her for a few moments. He was exhausted, panting heavily. It wasn’t quite setting in. The smell of King Rat’s churned up body was suffocating and yet part of him couldn’t quite believe that it that… he was dead.
Cassie swallowed hard, ignoring the sting of the bite and warily eyeing up the slash wounds on his chest. With a clean part of her jacket sleeve, she wiped at the dribble of blood from his mouth. ‘Jesus Christ.’
“Saul.. we should get out of here,” Cassie said finally, “Please. You’re hurt. I’ll ask Cas to heal you, okay? But we should leave. Another Rift might appear.” The last sentence added quickly.
He was silent for a long time. And then, taking a long breath nodded.
“Alright.”