Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Untold Terror Of The Betas Three ❯ ZZ The Sueric Collection ( One-Shot )

~~The Sueric Collection~~

 

Wiping my brow with the back of a trembling hand, I stepped back, stared at the fruits of my labor and wondered once more, just what made me think that She would listen to me.

 

It was wrong. It was deplorable. It was unnecessary. It was debilitating.

 

Two new cages, and I . . . I had built them both.

 

“No! She doesn't need any more betas!” Greta whined, desperation thick in her hushed whisper. “She has us! What more does She want?”

 

“I know,” I agreed, placating Greta as best I could, patting her hand through the narrow gap between the bars of the impregnable cage.

 

“She's a crazy bitch,” Diana added, voice echoing in the darkness of the basement like the tolling of a funeral bell. “If you tell Her not to do it, She'll do it just for spite.”

 

“If any of us can talk Her out of it, it'd be you, Sarah,” Kim chimed in, hanging onto the bars of her cage and staring longingly at the glowing light of the Circle of Purity that She had taken away. Kim, like the rest of us, was made to suffer, made to live in the land of Hentai. Kim's resolve was steady and sure. It was also slowly fading away.

 

“She does listen to you,” Danielle chimed in, letting the metal pole she used to prod the urns that lined the wall near her cage. She had twisted Danielle, had given her the stick to punish the ones who lives in the urns: Her dearest fans. One of the urns shook, wailed. Danielle's head snapped around to eye the containers as the pole rose again and thwapped the urn soundly. The clank of metal meeting metal silenced the other urn occupants, at lest for the moment. “Knock it off, Rachel, before She hears you.”

 

“I want o-o-o-o-out!” came a piteous wail.

 

“Hush, Frankenballz!” Danielle barked, thwapping another urn. “Stop causing trouble, Khara!”

 

The chime of an Instant Message wrung a whimper from Greta as the girl's eyes widened in fear, in shock. “No, no, not again!” she moaned as she sank down at her desk, as her eyes filled with tears as the computer chimed again. “Mad skillz, mad skillz, mad skillz . . .”

 

“I told you,” Diana growled, gaze narrowing as she carefully inspected her cage for weakness. She'd done this many times, but she never found any means of escape. “She's a crazy bitch.”

 

With a heavy sigh, I resumed my task. Had I really tried to tell Her that She didn't need more betas? Yes, I thought with a grimace as I lowered the mask and grabbed the blowtorch again. Danielle watched jealously as I relit the torch and set to work once more. She'd always had a fascination with fire. For that reason alone, Danielle had volunteered to build the Soul Cages. She had said no. Someone had to keep the Urned Ones in line . . .

 

Greta gasped as the steady chime of the Instant Messages stopped. “She's coming!” she hissed.

 

Moments later, the creaking door so high above---the door that led to the normal life none of us would ever see again---opened. The soft padding footsteps whispered in the dark. I extinguished the blowtorch and waited. We all waited.

 

“Nice, nice,” She commented as she stepped off the stairs and inspected the cages. “It's almost done, isn't it?”

 

Danielle thwapped all the urns. They'd started shaking at the very sound of Her voice.

 

She didn't look at the metal casks that gleamed so brightly on the shelf. No, Her attention was captured with the sturdy cages. She was pleased. I squelched the guilt that riddled me. I'd built these cages. Did that make me as bad as Her?

 

“Oh, Sarah! She'll be here today!” She said, clapping her hands in almost childlike excitement.

 

“She?” I asked weakly, wiping my hands on a greasy old rag towel.

 

“Ohh, she's a rare find! I'm importing an artist! An Uchinanchu Duckie from Hawaii . . . She's going to draw my characters!”

 

I blinked in surprise, wondered what sort of diabolical thing was running rampant in Her deranged mind. I remembered vividly, the first of the sketches . . . This elusive Duckie drew some of Her characters already. Unsuspecting, trusting . . . How could Duckie have known that in Her madness She would hunt her down? She would trap her and bring her here, make her live in a cage like the rest of us?

 

“But what about the second cage?” I asked before I could stop myself. “Why do you need that one?”

 

She waved a hand dismissively, discounting my question as she skittered back toward the stairs. “I hear the UPS man! She's here! She's here!”

 

“An artist?” Greta mumbled, squeezing into the corner of her cage as though she were trying to hide. “But She doesn't need an artist! She doesn't need to trap anyone else! She's mad, I tell you! Completely mad!”

 

“With genius comes madness,” Kim said, a hint of resignation in her tone. “How much of Her insanity did we cause? How much of Her madness is because we perpetuated it?”

 

“She's fucking nuts,” Diana grumbled, prowling around her cage like a panther. A thin stack of papers in one hand, she stopped long enough to circle something with a fine point red ink pen before continuing the circuit in the confines of the cage. “If I've told Her once, I've told Her a hundred times, that should be a semi-colon, damn it!”

 

The door high above smacked open as I stepped into my cage and pulled the bars closed. Wincing as the large wooden crate slipped down the stairs and careened into the wall, I watched in horror as She ran down the stairs behind it. A low, muffled moan drifted from the closed crate, and we fell silent as She winched the top boards loose with a crowbar.

 

Duckie looked quite shaken as she slowly stood up. “Her name is Kristen,” She said to the rest of us.

 

Whether she had been drugged for the trip or because of the impact of her crate with the wall, Kristen---Duckie---simply followed Her to the prepared cage. Her eyes cleared as she stared at the art table that stood in her cell, and she wandered over to inspect it as She closed the door and locked it.

 

I stifled a sigh. Capture complete.

 

My gaze shifted to the still-empty cage. `Why does She need another? What does She think to accomplish?'

 

But She had other things on her mind. Dividing my attention between Duckie, who was already hard at work on a new sketch, and Her, I couldn't help but wonder just what She was doing . . . why She was tapping her cheek as She gazed at the urns.

 

She reached out slowly, grasped one urn and turned away. “Everyone needs a boob fairy, don't they?” She remarked as I struggled to grasp what She was trying to say. “Girls . . . Meet my new beta: Mel!”

 

“But she's in an urn!” Danielle pointed out. “You've already captured her! She was the first one we urned!”

 

“Yeah, but she's amusing,” She commented. “Right, Mel?”

 

I made a face as She shook Mel's urn. “Hey! Don't hurt my Jaki-kins!” Mel called back.

 

Her laughter was enough to make me grind my teeth together. Greta whimpered, as did the occupants of the urns. It was an evil sound. She enjoyed the torment, didn't She?

 

We watched in horrified fascination as She unsealed the urn. Mel stumbled out, blinking in complete disorientation as She shoved Mel into the final cage and slammed the door. “Hmm . . . I suppose you'll have to be the last,” She said with a slight frown, a shake of her head. “I've run out of room in here for more . . . what a pity . . .”

 

The rustle of paper drew Her attention, and She turned as Duckie shoved a sketch through the bars of her new home. “Oh, nice,” She breathed her approval. Duckie smiled happily and skittered off to draw another. “Look, girls!”

 

I blinked at the sketch, awed by Duckie's mad skillz. We passed the picture around the cages. “Color it, Kim?” She coaxed. Kim nodded without a word.

 

“We want to see the pretteh!” Lin proclaimed from the confines of her urn.

 

“Yeah,” Claire agreed. “We've been good!”

 

“I promise I won't lick,” Rose assured Her as she rolled around inside her urn.

 

“Me, either!” CJ promised.

 

“Penis!” Audra hissed to the urn beside her.

 

Michelle erupted in a giggling fit.

 

“I'm always good,” Kaitlin complained.

 

“I'm always good, too,” Lou lied without batting an eye.

 

Marion didn't comment though her eyes twitched at the mention of a picture.

 

“Snerk,” Amber sniggered.

 

She snorted. “No pictures for you!” She announced. The Urned Ones whined in disagreement.

 

“Oh, balls,” Mel muttered as she slowly realized she, too, was trapped in an inescapable cage.

 

“Balls? Oh, right!” She said as she dug a rumpled envelope from her pocket. “Here, Sarah. You did well with the cages. Here you go.”

 

My fingers trembled as I took the nondescript thing. It was already unsealed. She had looked at it. The scrawl on the envelope was addressed to the Mythical Mommy of Yore, and inside were two pictures. My children, happy with their daddy. It made me strangely sad.

 

“Why aren't you all working?” She asked suspiciously.

 

Diana waved the stack of papers in her hand.

 

“I'm answering your email!” Greta squeaked quickly.

 

“Hush!” Danielle grumbled. “I'm beta'ing the lemon chapter you sent down.”

 

“I want to read the lemon!” Mel complained.

 

“You can't `hush' me!” She growled.

 

“I need my Circle of Purity to beta that,” Kim commented.

 

“Lemon?” I echoed, head snapping up as I stuffed the pictures into my pocket.

 

“Shirtless Cain,” Duckie muttered.

 

“Crazy bitch,” Diana laughed.

 

All seemed right in the basement. For the moment, She was satisfied.

 

 

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A/N:

Collection complete … for now … lol!

== == == == == == == == == ==

Yeah. I'm insane. In a completely good way! Dedicated with love to all my betas, and to those whom I call friends.

 

~Sue~