Chapter 18: Caged

A Chapter by Andrew Akuna

Caged

"I said no!" Xero shouted, nearly pushing Longinus onto the couch behind him.

"Why not?!" the Wolf shouted back. It had been two weeks since the facility incident. For the most part, Longinus was healed, but as a precaution, Xero had forbidden him from leaving the apartment. This was beginning to get complicated as Longinus had begun regaining his strength.

"I'm responsible for your wellbeing until we can get this collar back on you!" Xero screamed back, gesturing to Longinus's collar on his arm. With his fury at the Wolf's stubbornness, it along with the tattoos under his fur had begun to flicker.

"Look, you don't want to be here. Let me get back to work on finding out who's after me and you can go home soon!" Longinus tried.

"You die and your brother will murder me. You're not about to get us both killed."

"How about I kill you now?" Longinus's frustration got the best of him. His eyes flashed blood red and his right paw shot forward at Xero and struck the center of his chest, sending several thousand volts of black electricity through the Panther's body.

Xero fought for his conciousness, but passed out after about ten seconds. He fell to the floor and twitched as bolts of black lightning fired around him. He could hear the Wolf laughing above him. The panther subconsiously poured rage into his struggle to regain conciousness. His eyes snapped open and in the next instant, he had sprang to one knee and tripped Longinus, who was putting on a jacket to head out. He rolled backward to his feet and drew his revolver, aiming it at the Wolf as he tried to get up.

"That assassin lady is still out there. She damn near killed you once. Whats to stop her if you leave here without me and Vladimir to protect you?!" Xero said slowly, trying to remain calm enough to keep from pulling the trigger.

"D****t Xero, I'm an adult! I can do what I want!"

"Not while your life is in my paws!"

Longinus sprang to his feet and made for one of the windows. When he got it open, he was blasted backward by an unnaturally strong gust of frigid wind. Something wrapped around his arms and legs and dragged him back onto the bed near the window he tried to escape through. The Wolf looked to see that vines had exploded from plants he kept in the corners and bound him. He shot Xero a dirty look, then howled loudly, shaking the Panther. This was a mistake, as it only made Xero tighten the grip he had on the Wolf.

A door opened behind Xero. He turned around and was instantly knocked to the floor. He shook his head and spat black blood on the floor. Xero looked up to see Vladimir standing over him with a furious look on his face.

"What the hell was that for?!" Xero exclaimed, checking his jaw.

"I leave my brother in your paws and this is what you do?!"

"He's trying to leave!" Xero shouted. "He's gonna get himself killed!"

Vladimir looked up to Longinus, who remained quiet. "Do what you want, I'm going to sleep." With that, Vladimir walked toward the other room, but stopped at the door. "Mind making this lead to my place?" He asked, pointing lazily to the door.

Xero released one of Longinus's arms from the vines. The Wolf waved a hand at the door and a familiar black light flashed under it from the other side. Before Xero could rebind his arm, Longinus fired a bolt of lightning at him and knocked the Panther out again. The vines released their grip and Longinus made for the window again.

Vladimir snapped his fingers and vines bound him again. "Listen to me." Vladimir said dauntingly. "You are to stay here until Xero says you're okay to leave, do you understand me?"

Longinus gulped and nodded. Vladimir yawned. "You may stay here or come to my place, but you are not to set foot into the city." With that, he made his way through the door to his home.

Xero began to stir. "I' kill you..." he mumbled. "Jus' you wait..." He staggered to his feet and tried to reach toward Longinus, only to fall over again.

The Wolf snickered and wiggled his way out of the vines, then tried the window again. Something was keeping it shut now. He tried to kick it open, but that only hurt him. The glass would not break.

"What the hell?" There was chuckling behind him. He turned around to see Xero on his feet laughing at him. "What is this?!" Longinus demanded, pointing at the window.

"You think I'm that dumb?" the Panther replied. "When I realized Vladimir was approaching and you were trying to escape, I contacted him telepathically. Before you could see him, he modified the glass and the locks to keep you in."

Longinus growled, then tackled Xero. He straddled the Panther and drew back a fist.

"Careful..." Xero said. Longinus punched the face of what he thought was Xero. Just as his fist connected, he let out a loud yelp, feeling a blinding pain in his own face. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was where Xero was, and vice versa. As it appeared, Xero had punched him in the face, but in truth, he had punched himself, Xero had just switched places with him.

Xero chuckled before rolling backward off of the Wolf and onto his paws. "Do not defy me, mutt." he said as he sprang onto his footpaws.

Longinus got up slowly, gently pressing a paw around his muzzle. "I swear I'll make you pay..." he growled.

"Sit down!" Xero commanded, now laughing at Longinus. The Wolf growled and fell backward into the armchair against the wall. Xero stopped laughing and walked over to him. "Look, I get no joy out of this. I wouldn't want someone keeping me stuck in four walls either, but until we're sure you won't get killed, it has to be this way."

There was a pause. Longinus turned to Xero. "Don't talk to me like I'm some child. I'm probably older than you.

Xero sighed. "You're impossible. Let's go to your brother's place."

"You think that'll make me forget that I've, in some twist of fate, become your prisoner?"

"Hmm, there's that, and the fact that I just glimpsed your secret admirer leaping by." Xero replied, nodding toward the window Longinus had tried escaping through. While Longinus was talking, he caught movement outside, then noticed the long white hair and black dress of the assassin that nearly ended Longinus.

Longinus's eyes widened. "You think she saw us?"

"It's possible."