JP - Back in MegaCorp

A few minutes later, the door would open and an amber eyed man would gently escort Bella into the room - no muzzle or leash. “I apologize for their rude behavior.” He said with a false smile.

Bronte stared. “What-what happened?”

“Those men merely…made a mess.” He answered and let Bella curl up on one of the two beds in the room. “I am Thrane and you are going to stay here for the foreseeable future, understand, Bronte?” He looked over his sharpened nails, expression bored. “Keep Bella in good shape. She’s going to be part of a special program…”

“Special program?” Bronte touched the heavy collar on his neck. “Can I just wear my own collar?”

“No,” Thrane said monotonously. “You don’t need the details on the program, but you will have a roommate soon enough.”

Bronte sighed. “I’m a meta but I never did anything! I always kept my powers repressed with a custom collar.”

“Yet the moment you took it off to listen to Bella, I found you,” Thrane smirked.

“That was the first time I turned off the collar since I changed the batteries. I could tell she was in distress but she couldn’t speak. I only did it to understand her… The meta abusing that girl is a meta that needs to be captured. Not me or her.” Bronte said.

“All metas need to be captured.” Thrane snapped suddenly, his face becoming something almost demonic as he glared at Bronte. “You’re all filthy and disgusting!”

“I shower daily!” Bronte cringed.

“That’s not how I meant, you worthless meta…” Thrane growled before turning and leaving, slamming the door shut.

Bella had moved to hide under Bronte’s bed, whimpering and shaking.

Bronte sighed. “We’re the harmless ones.” He said as he knelt by his bed to look at Bella.

Bella let out a bark in agreement and moved further under the bed, trying to hide the best she could with her injured leg.

“Hiding under the bed will do no good.” Bronte said. “If they want you they’ll just drag you out and get angry that you tried to hide.”

Bella barked in protest, tail thumping against the bed and floor. She scooted a little closer and only poked her head out, staring up at Bronte with apologetic eyes. This was all her fault and she felt horrible about it. What no one knew was that her dog collar had a very powerful tracker in the tag that held her name.

Bronte looked at Bella and sighed. “I wish they’d just leave us alone.”

Bella blinked and reached out toward his hand, holding it like a child. There had to be some way she could cheer him up, even if just a little.

“I wish I had a book, a deck of cards, or something.” Bronte said, looking around the room from where he sat.

There were a few novels sitting on the desk with a deck of cards that were missing about three of the cards.

Bronte looked at the books. “Each is a second book of a different trilogy…” He started sorting through the cards and clumped when he saw that the deck was missing three. “What the hell…”

It was obviously a way to annoy and disappoint him, but Bella didn't seem bothered in the slightest. She finally crawled from under the bed and found a ball she was bouncing around the room slowly. She hated her broken leg…

Bronte tried playing Solitaire, knowing he could never win.

While he played the card game, Bella’s ball went flying across the room and smacked into the cards. She barked an apology, but was soon after the ball again.

Later, a guard would walk in and stare at the duo. “Huh? He wasn’t lying…they really did find you thanks to Bella’s collar.” He said as he closed the door and set down two trays of food for them.

Bronte looked at Bella’s collar, realizing it was for more than just dehumanizing the dog girl. His shoulders slumped and he stared at the food without appetite.

The guard was the one that had been there and helped Haven and Gelf, so he felt bad for them. “I’ll do what I can to make things a bit more tolerable for you both.” He said to Bronte and kneeled down to pet Bella. The dog girl’s tail wagged with pure joy as she nuzzled into the petting and barked.

“I think they did their best to make it uncomfortable for me…” Bronte sighed. “Even the deck is missing cards.”

“Most of the guards here are assholes.” The man said and set a bag down for Bronte. “I got what I could that you were missing.”