The officer does turn because Crowley is chattering away and it is distracting and suspicious.
"Sir, I said step away," he says, and now he turns to try to get Crowley clear from the scene, not quite shoving at him, but definitely looming and holding his hands out as a wall. He's also starting to look suspicious at his involvement. So Crowley's distraction works. There are only three focused on Cato now.
The female officer says, "Cato, we had concerning reports that you were possibly hurt by someone at Cygne's ball. We wanted to bring you in for questioning about it."
"'Reports.' Riiight," Cato says.
He's still not buying it. Either they're lying or have been lied to, but he'd put far more money on lying. But his eyes are on the officer near Crowley. For just a moment, there's a horrible vision of a bleeding hole in Crowley's chest and he doesn't know where it came from. But that might happen. What happens if they try to take him in and Crowley gets in the way? Will they shoot him?
Will he fall away from the ship, his chest blown open - no, that's not -
Will he lay there in a coffin with a hole in his chest as Cato cries over his friend, his friend who'd saved him several times over, who always wanted to be gentle but was willing to join his original crew's fight against something terrible - no, that's not -
The officer shoves at Crowley now.
Will he lay there bleeding in Cato's arms from the holes in his chest, like Gary had? No, that's not -
The gun pointing at Avocato is in his hand. His father is standing there bleeding with a hole to the chest, the gun trembling in Cato's hands -
That's not him, he doesn't know how to fight, he doesn't know how to use a gun, he doesn't know how defend himself with more than rage and desperation, he doesn't know how to defend one of the only people that would've noticed if he was gone.
Who was willing to set the thing that looked like Lord Commander on fire in the space of a heartbeat, because Cato looked scared -
Lord Commander. Not Jack. Jack, but not - not the same Jack -
You can protect him. It'll hurt to let it all in. But you can.
"Cato, we need you to come with us -"
The three focusing on him have their hands near their belts - they're expecting the need for force. They're all in on it.
You need to let it in, says a voice that sounds like him but not him. Yeah, it'll suck, but you're not just someone that has things happen to him. You always fight back. You even made him mad on purpose anytime you got bored, instead of crying in the dark.
It wasn't some dank sub-basement, where he trembled in the dark until his vicious fight to get free, it was multiple dark and terrible prisons...where he told Lord Commander how much he looked like crap and refused to be intimidated.
You have claws. You have teeth. And you haven't used them enough.
You're Ventrexian.
The dam breaks and it all pours in. It makes Cato tear up. This life had been kind of nice in some ways. He remembered having a different, softer childhood, with a father that he realizes now was a mix of Avocato and Gary - the good parts of both. He got to go to school and even had a few friends. He got to listen to Crowley's dad rock records. He got to run around skateboarding and just being a kid. He got to be a public menace with Boba.
He'd been kidnapped for less time, even. Less violence, less cosmic terror, less zombie alternates of his dad. And he'd gotten to even kill his kidnapper - and have him stay dead.
But there was a price, in that he'd forgotten who he was and who he left behind in his world. In that he'd been far more afraid. In that he'd had far less personal power. In that the blood on his hands after defending himself had been far more traumatizing, versus something to just...wash away.
After swaying in place slightly for a moment, he says, "It's Cato."
"What?" says one of the three officers facing him, confused.
"Cah-to - like 'cot'?" Cato corrects. "Not Cay-to like 'fate'."
"Kid, we don't have time for -"
What happens next happens ridiculously fast. He does a flip over a display table of cupcakes and while his landing is a little unsteady, he still manages to kick it over so the tabletop is facing the female officer, Cop 1. Then he kicks it again so fast and hard that most of the cupcakes are still on it as it slams into her legs, knocking her over and leaving her in a pile of baked goods and frosting that have escaped their packaging.
Apparently, he's supposed to be brought in alive, because the next officer, Cop 2, reacts by drawing his TASER and firing, but a quick sidestep causes the barbed prongs to hit Cop 3 in the neck, immediately causing him to go down, twitching, before the Taser Cop goes "shit!" and takes his finger off the trigger.
He drops the TASER and goes for his baton next but the boy punches him in the throat with a, "hey, thanks!" stealing the baton and hitting him in the head with it and knocking him out.
Cop 1, cupcake cop, is almost on her feet again, reaching for her gun now, but Cato sees the entire aisle behind her has cleared out due to seeing some kind of ruckus and police. No risk of hitting someone innocent. It's a brick wall on that far side of the super market, too. Cop 2 is still on his way down, having dropped to his knees first, so Cato steals his sidearm as he goes, shooting the gun out of Cupcake Cop's hand, a trick shot that's only supposed to exist in the movies. She goes down screaming, holding her now maimed hand, but it's definitely a non-fatal injury.
It gives him time to kick a can of soup in the air and roundhouse kick it at her head. He wobbles on the landing but it hits its mark and knocks her out.
The last officer, who'd been confronting Crowley, didn't react quickly enough. He's turned by now, and his hand is at his sidearm, but Cato throws the stolen baton at his head, knocking him unconscious.
Surrounded by ruined baked goods and four unconscious cops, chest heaving as he catches his breath, the gun held down at his side with such comfort it seems like he was born with it in his hand, he looks at his handiwork and says, "Sweeeet. Still got it! Even with my balance totally off."
He looks pleased with himself, like it was totally normal for him to go full Bourne Identity. He looks up at Crowley, "Buuuut we should probably go."
He snags another clip off a fallen cop but doesn't dare ransack more. They need to run for it, like, yesterday. It's not like they can take refuge in the vastness of space to escape him beating the snot out of the po po. He moves towards the entrance to the back.
"They're so lucky I don't know how much they're in on it or I wouldn't have held back."
He's still human, but there's something strange about his body language now. Something that's a mix between cagey and confident, guileless and slinking. He doesn't move like a human anymore, not entirely.
using his cat journal from now on even tho he's human for the expressions lol
"Sir, I said step away," he says, and now he turns to try to get Crowley clear from the scene, not quite shoving at him, but definitely looming and holding his hands out as a wall. He's also starting to look suspicious at his involvement. So Crowley's distraction works. There are only three focused on Cato now.
The female officer says, "Cato, we had concerning reports that you were possibly hurt by someone at Cygne's ball. We wanted to bring you in for questioning about it."
"'Reports.' Riiight," Cato says.
He's still not buying it. Either they're lying or have been lied to, but he'd put far more money on lying. But his eyes are on the officer near Crowley. For just a moment, there's a horrible vision of a bleeding hole in Crowley's chest and he doesn't know where it came from. But that might happen. What happens if they try to take him in and Crowley gets in the way? Will they shoot him?
Will he fall away from the ship, his chest blown open - no, that's not -
Will he lay there in a coffin with a hole in his chest as Cato cries over his friend, his friend who'd saved him several times over, who always wanted to be gentle but was willing to join his original crew's fight against something terrible - no, that's not -
The officer shoves at Crowley now.
Will he lay there bleeding in Cato's arms from the holes in his chest, like Gary had? No, that's not -
The gun pointing at Avocato is in his hand. His father is standing there bleeding with a hole to the chest, the gun trembling in Cato's hands -
That's not him, he doesn't know how to fight, he doesn't know how to use a gun, he doesn't know how defend himself with more than rage and desperation, he doesn't know how to defend one of the only people that would've noticed if he was gone.
Who was willing to set the thing that looked like Lord Commander on fire in the space of a heartbeat, because Cato looked scared -
Lord Commander. Not Jack. Jack, but not - not the same Jack -
You can protect him. It'll hurt to let it all in. But you can.
"Cato, we need you to come with us -"
The three focusing on him have their hands near their belts - they're expecting the need for force. They're all in on it.
You need to let it in, says a voice that sounds like him but not him. Yeah, it'll suck, but you're not just someone that has things happen to him. You always fight back. You even made him mad on purpose anytime you got bored, instead of crying in the dark.
It wasn't some dank sub-basement, where he trembled in the dark until his vicious fight to get free, it was multiple dark and terrible prisons...where he told Lord Commander how much he looked like crap and refused to be intimidated.
You have claws. You have teeth. And you haven't used them enough.
You're Ventrexian.
The dam breaks and it all pours in. It makes Cato tear up. This life had been kind of nice in some ways. He remembered having a different, softer childhood, with a father that he realizes now was a mix of Avocato and Gary - the good parts of both. He got to go to school and even had a few friends. He got to listen to Crowley's dad rock records. He got to run around skateboarding and just being a kid. He got to be a public menace with Boba.
He'd been kidnapped for less time, even. Less violence, less cosmic terror, less zombie alternates of his dad. And he'd gotten to even kill his kidnapper - and have him stay dead.
But there was a price, in that he'd forgotten who he was and who he left behind in his world. In that he'd been far more afraid. In that he'd had far less personal power. In that the blood on his hands after defending himself had been far more traumatizing, versus something to just...wash away.
After swaying in place slightly for a moment, he says, "It's Cato."
"What?" says one of the three officers facing him, confused.
"Cah-to - like 'cot'?" Cato corrects. "Not Cay-to like 'fate'."
"Kid, we don't have time for -"
What happens next happens ridiculously fast. He does a flip over a display table of cupcakes and while his landing is a little unsteady, he still manages to kick it over so the tabletop is facing the female officer, Cop 1. Then he kicks it again so fast and hard that most of the cupcakes are still on it as it slams into her legs, knocking her over and leaving her in a pile of baked goods and frosting that have escaped their packaging.
Apparently, he's supposed to be brought in alive, because the next officer, Cop 2, reacts by drawing his TASER and firing, but a quick sidestep causes the barbed prongs to hit Cop 3 in the neck, immediately causing him to go down, twitching, before the Taser Cop goes "shit!" and takes his finger off the trigger.
He drops the TASER and goes for his baton next but the boy punches him in the throat with a, "hey, thanks!" stealing the baton and hitting him in the head with it and knocking him out.
Cop 1, cupcake cop, is almost on her feet again, reaching for her gun now, but Cato sees the entire aisle behind her has cleared out due to seeing some kind of ruckus and police. No risk of hitting someone innocent. It's a brick wall on that far side of the super market, too. Cop 2 is still on his way down, having dropped to his knees first, so Cato steals his sidearm as he goes, shooting the gun out of Cupcake Cop's hand, a trick shot that's only supposed to exist in the movies. She goes down screaming, holding her now maimed hand, but it's definitely a non-fatal injury.
It gives him time to kick a can of soup in the air and roundhouse kick it at her head. He wobbles on the landing but it hits its mark and knocks her out.
The last officer, who'd been confronting Crowley, didn't react quickly enough. He's turned by now, and his hand is at his sidearm, but Cato throws the stolen baton at his head, knocking him unconscious.
Surrounded by ruined baked goods and four unconscious cops, chest heaving as he catches his breath, the gun held down at his side with such comfort it seems like he was born with it in his hand, he looks at his handiwork and says, "Sweeeet. Still got it! Even with my balance totally off."
He looks pleased with himself, like it was totally normal for him to go full Bourne Identity. He looks up at Crowley, "Buuuut we should probably go."
He snags another clip off a fallen cop but doesn't dare ransack more. They need to run for it, like, yesterday. It's not like they can take refuge in the vastness of space to escape him beating the snot out of the po po. He moves towards the entrance to the back.
"They're so lucky I don't know how much they're in on it or I wouldn't have held back."
He's still human, but there's something strange about his body language now. Something that's a mix between cagey and confident, guileless and slinking. He doesn't move like a human anymore, not entirely.