Writing Club Shorts

Two people sat in an interrogation room.

Jace.

The agent was a tall, strapping dark skinned man in full police gear. Well groomed and fit. His hair was buzzed short, and two cybernetic devices sat embedded against either temple.

Hyacinth.

The fugitive was a shorter person, presumably female, at least that’s what the case file said. But they dressed very androgynously, with baggy clothes hiding their lithe frame. Their pale skin was covered in dirt, bruises, and scrapes. Along with older scars that held stories and lessons that refused to heal away and be forgotten.

Their hair was choppy and half shaved. Clearly hacked off haphazardly whenever strands became an annoyance.

Hyacinth huffed and smacked their hand forcefully on the table - as much as they could with cuffs on of course. “We were kings, you know that.” They barked gruffly. “Sharks, top of the food chain.”

“And now you’re a little fish in my hand, being held out of the water, gasping as I decide whether to give you a chance to breathe, or if you’re getting tossed into my net with the rest.” Spoke Jace, calmly and firmly.

This earned him a growl from the other.

“Save it. You’re nothing without that Linkbeast of yours anyways.” He responded with a harsh authority.

“Oh yeah?” Hyacinth mused. Leaning over the table and holding up their cuffed wrists as high as the chains would let them. “C’mon then chief. Take these off and let’s go a few rounds, hmm? You took my beastie but I could beat ya, easy.”

Jace let out a sigh as he tried to keep his composure. He’d been at this interrogation for an hour now. Getting what information he could for his superiors. The fable goes that the Linkbeasts were a product of a disgruntled military scientist. Who tried creating bionic monsters to fight our wars for us. Early testing showed it was a total flub. He got defunded, the whole department shut down.

Instead of complying. He quit, and took his operation underground. Building and perfecting these beasts. Not for war, but for the latest pit fighting craze.

For people who wanted more than just usual fight clubs and street brawls, there were now the linkbeasts. Monsters controlled through cybernetically linking a person’s mind to the creature’s. Adrenaline junkies took to it like moths to flame.

And Hyacinth was one of the best. Lately there hadn’t been a single fault in their run. A clean win streak.

That was until government officials finally caught on and did a raid to shut down the whole thing.

Most of the beasts were dismantled, and their human pilots imprisoned.

Hyacinth, though wasn’t going down without a fight, and was now here striking a deal.

Jace was the mouthpiece, but the real people they had to impress were sitting behind the two-way glass mirror watching the whole thing.

Hyacinth’s suggestion to brawl earned a slight snicker from one of the officials behind the glass. That only Jace could hear through the devices on his temples. This only added to the difficulty of keeping his composure, and his discomfort was evident on his face.

Hyacinth leaned back in their seat with a confident smirk. “Tight leash you got there.”

They looked to the mirror, knowing someone was behind it. “As much as I’d love to keep toying with ya’s. I don’t think chief here’s gonna last much longer. So I’ll cut it simple.

You want this beastie situation under your control, and I just want my beastie, she’s part of me, and we’ve got skills you’d be damned to pass up. So toss me in your military, heck toss my buddies and their beasts if they’re not scrap yet.

I work for ya and keep her. And either I die out in the field with my beastie. Or after years of quality service, ya let us retire in peace. That’s my offer.”

There was silence throughout the room as they waited for some kind of response. The quiet finally broken with the sound of moving fabric as Jace lifted his hand to one of the pieces on his temple. Pressing against it lightly as if he was trying to hear the voice on the other end better.

He sighed, disgruntled, as his boss spoke.

Jace considered everything she’d told him, and came to a single conclusion.

“You’ll be on strict orders. But… you have a deal.”