Fox(girl)ificated 2 - Ch.4 - An (Emotional) Confession (Patreon)

** content warning: brief mention of death, past trauma **

"How are you feeling now cutie?" the gorgeous catgirl asked me. "Better?"

Hearing her call me 'cutie' got my cheeks burning again, and rather than answer right away I distracted myself by draining the last of my glass. It was peach juice with a shot of vodka, and I already had a bit of a buzz going from the alcohol. It helped settle my nerves though, after that run-in with MaR-AID and one of the city's top capes.

I finally nodded as I set my empty glass down, "Yeah. A little."

"Thank you," I added as I gave her a grateful look. "I mean that. Thank you for everything. You didn't have to do any of this, but I really appreciate it."

Luna gave me a compassionate smile, "Of course I did. You looked like you were having a panic attack or something, I couldn't just walk away and leave you like that."

Then she lowered her voice slightly and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I hesitated, then finally shrugged. My voice slipped into a dull monotone as relayed what happened just before we ran into each other on the sidewalk.

"I was following up on that business card you gave me," I explained. "I was meeting with Doctor Fawkes, doing the free consultation thing. We only got a few minutes into it though, when some guys from MaR-AID raided the place. They all started shouting at each other, the asshole from MaR-AID was barking orders and stuff while the doctor and her secretary were yelling at him and the uniform to get out. Then I..."

My voice trailed off for a moment as I suppressed a little shudder. I decided not to mention why that triggered the flashback and panic attack. Instead I skipped to the next part, "The next thing I knew Fiery Femme Fatale was there. She whisked me out of the building and dumped me in the parking lot, before charging back inside."

I slowly shook my head and sighed, "Whatever Doctor Fawkes was up to, it's probably over and done with now. She'll end up rotting in an metahuman-proof prison cell somewhere. And that GAMA ray of hers will either be destroyed and any knowledge of it buried deep, or if it really does what she claimed then those MaR-AID assholes will keep it to themselves."

The catgirl opened her mouth to respond but held off as our waiter returned at that moment with lunch. The two of us were sitting at a little table in a corner of a typical chain 'roadhouse restaurant'. It was Luna's idea. In fact she all but insisted on buying me lunch, after we bumped into each other around the corner from Doctor Fawkes' clinic.

We both stayed quiet as our waiter set Luna's salad down before her, then he placed my sandwich in front of me. Finally he gestured at my empty glass and asked, "Can I get you another drink sir?"

I may have flinched slightly at being sirred, and Luna's ears drooped as she gave me a sad look. Then I nodded and mumbled, "Yes please."

The waiter took the empty glass with him as he headed off again, while my shoulders slumped.

"If the GAMA ray was for real then that was as close as I'll ever get to being the real me," I sighed quietly. "And now it's gone."

Luna gave me another compassionate look as she replied, "I wouldn't count Rachel out just yet. She's a very clever fox, and I know she'd have been prepared for a visit from MaR-AID. It was pretty much inevitable, after she went public with her clinic last week."

"They had an A-rank cape with them," I reminded her in a dejected tone. "Fiery Femme Fatale was there to back up the assholes from MaR-AID. Doesn't matter how smart the good doctor is, she's not going to stand up against that kind of power."

The catgirl's ears flicked and she almost seemed to be fighting back a smile. She tilted her head to one side and asked, "What makes you so sure Femme was there to act as back-up for MaR-AID? If the rumours are true about her then she may well have turned up at the clinic to help Rachel out instead. In fact if all those stories are for real then there's at least a dozen heroes who'd rush to defend Doctor Fawkes at a moment's notice."

I found myself staring at the beautiful catgirl, and my eyebrows slowly crept up as her words sank in. I was positive the rumours about Femme were true, and in that case Luna was probably right. If Doctor Fawkes helped Fiery Femme Fatale transition then odds were the super-heroine would be indebted to the small foxgirl. Would that be enough to get her to turn against MaR-AID though? That's the part I wasn't so sure of.

Our waiter returned with my drink during that little pause in the conversation. I thanked him and had another sip, then Luna and I finally started on our lunch. She'd ordered a caesar salad topped with some grilled shrimps, while I had a breaded chicken sandwich with some tangy BBQ sauce.

The food was pretty standard, like it was ok but nothing special. On the other hand my appetite wasn't so great as I ended up thinking once more about how my one big chance to be myself was almost certainly gone forever. And how MaR-AID completely ruined my life. Again.

"Is the food ok Kit?" Luna suddenly asked. "You don't look like you're enjoying it."

I sighed and shrugged, "It's fine. It's not the food, it's... I was just thinking again about how I probably missed my chance with Doctor Fawkes."

The catgirl's ears drooped, "I know things might seem bad right now cutie, but try and have a little faith, ok? Like I said, Rachel would have had plans, she'd have been ready to deal with this sort of situation. Maybe you won't get your wish today, but please don't lose hope. Alright? Your turn will come, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks," I mumbled as my cheeks warmed up again.

My emotions were all over the place, between the fading fear, the depression, and the way Luna kept calling me cute. I forced myself to take another bite of my lunch, then as I munched on that another thought occurred to me. I washed down the chicken with a gulp of my vodka and peach juice before looking over at the gorgeous catgirl again.

"How'd you find out about Doctor Fawkes? Going by those rumours, it seemed like she was only helping capes. So how'd a barista get in on that?" I asked her.

"Oh," her cheeks took on a pink tone as her ears drooped a little. She had a sip of her water then finally gave me an embarrassed look as she explained, "I got lucky I guess? Before Rachel opened her clinic to the public she was operating on a strict word-of-mouth basis. Like 'friend of a friend' sort of thing? And um, as luck would have it, I happened to know someone else she helped."

After a slight hesitation she elaborated, "Obviously I can't name names, and I can't go into too many details. All I can say is, I knew a superhero who benefited from Rachel's GAMA ray. I asked what happened or how they did it, they introduced me to the good doctor, and presto. I got my wish."

"You're friends with a cape?" I asked nervously as I gave her a worried look. Then I quietly cursed myself, as I realized how suspicious that must have seemed.

The beautiful catgirl definitely noticed my reaction, but she did a better job of controlling her expression. She slowly shook her head then clarified in a soft gentle voice, "That's not what I said, Kit. All I can tell you is I knew someone who used to be a cape. They're retired now."

I nodded slowly, but I still felt anxious again. And I couldn't help wondering if this was yet another trap, if maybe Luna was working with MaR-AID after all.

She watched me for another couple seconds then asked quietly, "Why are you so scared of them? Is it superheroes that frighten you Kit? Or metas in general?"

"Or is it MaR-AID that bothers you so much?" she added as she tilted her head to one side again, the way cats do when they're curious.

Part of me was convinced the gorgeous catgirl was just fishing for information, trying to get me to incriminate myself somehow. But mostly I found myself wanting to trust her. It was more than just being infatuated with her looks. She'd been nice to me right from the moment I first laid eyes on her in the cafe, and she seemed genuinely worried for me now. She didn't have to take time out of her day to take care of me, and she certainly didn't have to buy me lunch.

So I finally told her something I hadn't spoken aloud in at least a decade. I leaned closer and half-whispered, "A cape killed my parents."

Luna's eyes widened as her ears folded back. It seemed to take her a second or two to digest that information. Then she shook her head, "You know that can't be right. I know there's rumours, I know some people don't like superheroes and like to blame them for all sorts of things. And granted there's been one or two incidents where heroes have taken the blame for something a villain has done..."

By that point I was actually fighting to keep from visibly sparking right there at the table. Those were the sorts of lies I'd been told all my life, the type of thing people said to keep me quiet or put me in my place. I managed to hold back my power, but Luna obviously saw the emotions reflected in my expression.

Her ears remained folded back as she apologized, "I'm sorry Kit, I didn't mean to upset you. Do you... Maybe you could tell me what happened? Why do you think a hero would do something like that?"

"It's ok if you don't want to talk about it though," she added quickly.

I took a deep breath then picked up my glass and drained the rest of my second drink, then sighed as I set the empty cup back down. And with my voice still just above a whisper I told her the condensed version of my tragic past.

"It happened when I was eight years old," I stated quietly. "And the reason I know a cape killed my parents because is I was there. I was with them, I saw it happen. Through some fluke of luck I survived, but my mom and dad died. My dad was a farmer, we lived near a small town about a hundred miles west of the city. It was a Saturday, and we were in town doing our weekly shopping. We stopped for ice cream afterwards, it was like a regular treat. Then we got in the car and set off for home. That's when it happened."

After a pause for breath, and to steady myself, I continued. "A couple D-rank villains robbed the local bank, then took off in a getaway car. Our local cape was a guy named Silver Bullet, a C-rank speedster with some meta-enhanced strength. He mistook our car for the villain's, and he knocked us off the road and crashed us into a utility pole. Power lines fell on the car. Between the crash and the high-voltage wires... By the time it was safe for paramedics to access the car my parents were already gone."

"Silver Bullet didn't even stick around to help," I stated as my voice and expression both grew harder. "As soon as he realized he had the wrong car he took off. He killed my parents and ruined my life. Then when I told the police what happened MaR-AID stepped in and covered it up. They had me shipped off to an orphanage here in the city, forced me to spend a year in therapy, while everyone kept telling me over and over their cape was innocent. I don't even know what happened to my parent's farm or our home, I never saw the place again."

I sighed again as I finished my tale, "They blamed it on my dad. They said he panicked when Silver Bullet ran past our car, that dad lost control and crashed into the utility pole. But that's not what happened. It was their so-called hero. He killed my parents, and they covered it up."

My voice was wavering and my hands were shaking by the time I finally went quiet. I had to blink a few times to clear my vision too, and that's when I finally saw just how sad Luna looked.

The catgirl's ears drooped down to either side and her wide eyes almost looked like they were pooling with tears. Despite that I still expected her to tell me I remembered it wrong. I was just an eight year old kid at the time, I'd have been scared, traumatized by the crash. After all, that's what everyone else said. That's what all MaR-AID's stooges told me, over and over again.

Instead Luna reached out and took one of my hands in hers. Her voice was soft and compassionate as she said, "Oh Kit I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how awful that must have been for you."

"You don't really believe me though," I sniffed. "Do you?"

"Of course I believe you," she insisted as she gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

My vision blurred again as her words sank in. I couldn't remember any one ever saying that before, and hearing that validation hit me right in the heart. I did my best to keep my emotions in check, but it was a losing battle.

In the end the best I could manage was to sniff again then quietly say, "Thank you."

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Camille, who commissioned it! **