Punishment

<snip>
It was then that Talon realized that when everyone is attempting to be bad to receive back good karma, they don't want to match wits with those who are better at being bad. Now, Talon felt his fate was in the hands of someone he was sure was not noted for being good. And she had a whip in her hand. Suddenly, the blood stopped flowing down under as his heart rate increased.

"Awwwwww! Booooooo!" shouted the crowd.
</snip>

Cass wrinkled her nose. Talon’s wince-inducingly huge member may well have been the sort of thing popular amongst gay porn connoisseurs, but flaccid, it looked like the last turkey in the shop.

Normally, she’d have been flattered to hear that someone found her attractive; but in Talon’s case, there had been too much creepy physical contact from him today and it was more than a little disconcerting to hear he’d been fantasising about her, while being given a lap dance.

Hooping her hand into the wrist strap, she gave the cat o’ nine tails an experimental swish.

“This is just a toy” she said, coolly, to Claude “It won’t hurt nearly enough”

The crowd whooped at this, while Cass began a slow circuit around Talon, the tails of the cat trailing on the floor behind her as she walked.

“You should be afraid” she said to him. A statement of fact.

“Now, wait a minute” Talon nervously licked his lips “I... I’m sorry - I didn’t mean to. Karma made me do it”

“Bollocks” Cass sneered as she moved around behind him.

“If you ask me, it sounds like he’s gagging for a damn good thrashing” Claude said, innocently.

“You think I should?” Cass raised the whip.

“Do it!” Claude led the wildly enthusiastic crowd.

The cat hissed through the air without warning and cracked across Talon’s arse, eliciting a howl of pain from him and wild cheers from the audience.

“Ooh,” Claude pursed his lips “that’s got to smart” he turned away to motion to one of the dancers, standing nearby “Can we get a ball gag and a butt plug over here?”

“What!?” Talon’s voice took on an edge of panicky hysteria “Wait! - No”

“You’d better not be enjoying this” Cass flayed his arse once more, striping it with stinging red welts.

“Fuck!” Talon screamed and jerked violently in his restraints “No! No more!”

“Oh, I’m sorry” Cass smiled “Karma made me do it”

This was going to stand her in good stead if she still had to tangle with Iris, but she wondered what would she get for permanently scarring him? - Nicer living quarters?

What would happen if she killed him?

Cass raised the whip to lash Talon again, but the sound of breaking glass and a commotion on the other side of the room, near the bar made her pause “What the fuck?”

Bouncers were swarming in from all corners of the club, converging on an angry crowd of shaven-headed thugs, who were all brandishing knives and broken bottles, and chasing after an old guy.

“Crap” Claude hissed as the object of their ire, darted in and out between the tables surrounding the stage, moving more quickly than his age would belie. The thugs crashed through the crowd, after him.

This wasn’t the first time Cass had been in this sort of situation and she knew only too well how nasty things could get and how quickly.

“We need to get Talon down” she said to Claude “He’s going to wind up stabbed if we leave him here”

“Yeah, good luck with that” Claude laughed and, turning on his heel, darted off the stage, making for safety.

“Twat” Cass curled her lip.

“Yeah. Don’t care” Talon snapped, still struggling in his bonds “Get me down from here”

The old man sprang up onto the table nearest the stage. Several fights had broken out in his wake, between angry patrons, the thugs pursuing him and the bouncers. Things were already getting nasty.

“Oi!” one of the group, sat at the table, shouted “Watch it, you wanker!”

Plisken careened across the tabletop, scattering bottles and glasses as he went and leaped up onto the stage.

“Fucking prick!” another man at the table yelled after him, only to be jostled from behind by one of the thugs, pursuing Plisken “Oh fuck off”

He angrily rose from his seat and swung a vicious left hook at another of the gang, knocking him off his feet onto the table behind him.

Things degenerated pretty quickly after that, to the sound of breaking glass and splintering furniture, as the occupants of the other tables enthusiastically involved themselves in the ensuing fracas.

Still holding the whip, Cass stared at the old man, stood breathing heavily, on the stage in front of her “You’re trouble” she said.

“Probably” he gave her a humourless smile and inclined his head “Plisken”

“I might have guessed”

“Come here you old fucker” someone bellowed, away to the side of them “You’re fucking dead”

It was the guy whose face Plisken had smashed into the bar. Blood was running, freely, from his broken nose, down over his lips and chin, giving him a ghastly appearance. Flanking him on either side were several more of his cohorts, each armed with an assortment of weapons.

“I’m going to slit your fucking throat,” the man said, still cocksure and full of himself “and then we’re going to have us some fun with your new friends”

At this, Talon frantically struggled once more, in vain, against in his restraints “Get me down!”


<tag>
How many thugs are there?
How does Talon get down?
Do we fight or run away? - What happens?
Where’s Jade, Jamie and Tanaka?
</tag>