Scarred Steel Segment

She opened the door, a small smile hinted at the corner of her mouth and a pair of rolled up socks in one hand. The smile however seemed to slide away as she recognized who was standing before her.
         “Oh, da- Ian… Hello there.” She said rather uncomfortably.
         Ian seemed completely oblivious to her discomfort. He smiled warmly at her appearance and spoke in a clearly cheery voice. “Miki, great! I was worried you weren’t going to be here. I haven’t seen you all day! May I come in?”
         Still looking uneasy, Kat opened the door a little wider and allowed him admittance into the small apartment, closing the door softly behind him. “What… what brings you down here?” She asked, seemingly trying to keep normal tones as she went back to the basket of laundry on the bed she had been folding moments before.
         “Oh, need I a reason to come by and see my favorite little girl?” Ian asked cheerfully, flashing her a winning smile, which Kat returned only weakly. A short sort of awkward silence fell between the two as Kat continued folding laundry, every now and then shooting covert looks towards the man still standing near the door. Then Ian spoke again. “You know, I never expected this of you Miki.”
         Kat froze, right in the process of picking up one of Kayle’s T-shirts. “Wh-why would you say that?” She asked, shooting Ian a bit more of a fearful glance.
         Ian smiled and walked over to the opposite side of the bed, taking a seat and looking into the half-empty basket (all the while Kat watching him cautiously as if ready to bolt). “I never expected you the type to settle down so easily.” He told her.
         Whatever Kat thought he was going to say, she seemed relieved by what he actually had. “Oh, that. Well you know, people, they change,” she said stressing the last word carefully.
         Ian chuckled softly. “Isn’t that the truth. Tell me, how much longer will this mystery husband of yours be away on business?”
         Unconsciously, Kat bit her lower lip before speaking. “He should be back in a few days.”
         Ian nodded and the two fell back into silence. No one spoke until Kat had finished the basket and was piling the folded cloths back inside to be put away. “So what’s this mystery man of yours like? You don’t seem to talk about him all that much.”
         At this, Kat truly seemed to be stalling for time. “He’s… in politics… was raised in the country… we, uh, met right before the end of the war.”          
         “And where does he hail from?”
         Kat literally dropped the basket at this. “I-he-I mean- Why would you ask that?” She looked at Ian in an almost frightened way, completely ignoring the basket of clothes now.
         Ian was looking at her with a little concern, obviously not understanding the touchy subject he had just embarked upon. “I… was only curious honey. Is there something wrong with where he was born?”
         Kat stared at him for a few moments more before attempting to stoop down to retrieve the basket and the clothes again. With her rather large belly however, the feat was rather complicated. “It, it doesn’t matter where he’s from, now does it?” she asked rather quietly.
         Ian stood and walked over to help Kat out, still eyeing her in a concerned manner. “No, I suppose it doesn’t matter, no…” Kat allowed him to pick up the clothes and the basket for her, and accepted it as he handed it to her with a polite ‘thank you’ before turning almost immediately to the dresser, balancing the basket on top as she began to separate things into their proper drawer.
         The silence between them that followed was this time broken by Kat. “I… was there any certain reason you came down to see me?”          
         Ian was watching Kat’s back intently, seeming almost curious of her. “Is it so wrong of me to want to come visit with the daughter I haven’t seen in years?”
         “I suppose not.” Kat responded tensely.
         Ian’s eyes seemed to narrow slightly. “Have I done something to wrong you, Kat? You of all people I was most looking forward to seeing after all that time away, and yet you seem to be the least happy to see me.”
         Kat’s hand shook as she closed the last drawer and moved to take the basket in the bathroom instead. “There – what could you have possibly done to me?”
         “I don’t know, dear. But why have you treated me so coldly since I came back?”
         Kat turned and looked at him from the bathroom door-way for a moment as if she were tottering on the edge of saying something, but then she shook her head. “It’s nothing d-dad. Just don’t worry about it. I think I’m just in a bad mood with Kayle gone.”
         There were only three people in the world who could accurately tell when Kat is lying: her brother, her husband, and her father. Ian knew instantly that what she had just said was completely false, but he nodded all the same, and Kat turned and disappeared into the bathroom, placing the towels in their respective cupboards.
         Ian stood listening to her and watching the doorway for a few moments thoughtfully, and then his eyes began to wander about the room. It wasn’t particularly large, but it wasn’t cramped either. The main room consisted of the double bed pressed against the wall in the middle of the room opposite the door, a desk to the right of the door (from where Ian was standing) with a computer and a bunch of papers, and a dresser on the left-hand wall. On the main room there were two other’s that branched off of it: one was the bathroom that Kat now occupied, and the other, Ian could only assume, was to be the nursery.
         There were quite a few pictures along the walls. Some of them were of people Ian recognized, such as Tila, Ti, Cini and such, while others Ian was quite sure he had never seen before. Then there were pictures of all sorts of landscapes of places Kat must have visited in her lifetime, though he noticed a surprising lack of water-scapes. Along with the pictures Kat had mounted some knick-knacks on shelves from her travels. Odd assortments of shells and bottles and rocks and such. No where did he see anything that would be considered remotely expensive except maybe the computer, and that fact made him smile slightly. It seemed that there were some things about a person that just never changed.
         For no particular reason, Ian’s eyes wandered to the bedside table closest to him. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary about it, as on it sat a lamp, some fiction book that he assumed must be Kat’s, an alarm clock and–
         Kat, while putting the clothes away, had been listening quite intently to any sudden noises in the main room. She moved slowly and carefully, seeming completely uneasy. She tried a few times to take deep breaths, knowing that she was surely acting foolish, but she was unable to shake that feeling. When she had finished with the towels she just stood there for a few moments trying to regain her self composure, before re-entering the room.
         Ian was standing on the opposite end of the room from her now, holding a picture frame that Kat could easily recognize, and looking at it intently. If Kat had gained any courage at all, it was lost completely at this. She stood next to the bathroom doorway watching Ian carefully, her heart pounding, still clutching fast to the now-empty laundry basket.
         “Who… is this?” Ian finally asked, his voice with a odd tone to it that Kat didn’t like in the least. But she seemed to be gaining at least some of her composure as the threat of a fight seemed to emerge.
         “That would be Kayle.”
         Ian nodded slowly, still gazing intently at the photo. “I had assumed that all this secrecy you had over your husband had been founded by an illegitimate relationship that you didn’t want to tell me about. But, now I suppose I understand why you were so stand-offish about it, eh?”
         Kat didn’t respond, and remained rooted to the spot. His tone didn’t give anything away, and Kat still had an ominous feeling.
         Finally, after a long tense moment, Ian looked up at her and smiled. “He looks charming, dear.”
         Kat found that she must have been holding her breath, as she let it out with relief from her father’s words. “Thank you. I’m sure the two of you will really like one another.”
         As relieved as she was, Kat still failed to let down her guard. She made her way slowly around to the other side of the bed, setting (or rather dropping, as she didn’t want to lean over) the basket where it was usually kept next to the bureau. “And I should assume that this child is his?”
         Kat was a little surprised by this question. Her father’s tone seemed almost disappointed about the prospect. She turned, ready to tell him off and defend herself, but she hadn’t even got turned all the way around when he caught her hard with a blow across her temple that threw stars in her eyes and made her stumble backwards, colliding painfully with the dresser. She was too shocked to even so much as cry out as she slid the length of the thing to the floor and on her knees, feeling the world swimming about her. It wasn’t the first time Kat had been near passing out, and she was doing her best to fight it, but even as she did she knew it was futile. And with that throbbing pain in her skull and more terror than she had ever felt in her life, the world faded into total darkness…

         When consciousness began to swim back to Kat, the first thing she registered was Ian talking in the background. He was speaking at a tone that she just couldn’t quite catch, and at first she thought that was because of the blow to her head tampering with her hearing, but as things became clearer, she realized he was muttering. What was more, there was an annoying roar of noise that was doing nothing to help her pounding headache.
         Kat really wasn’t all that certain as to what was going on. She knew that she was in a lot of danger, she knew that her head hurt, and she knew that she was certainly not in her apartment anymore. For one thing, there was that annoying noise in the background - she knew it was familiar, but couldn’t place it, and then there was the floor beneath her, which seemed to be made out of concrete or some substance like it. Where in the worlds was she that there would be concrete?
         With a great amount of effort Kat managed to force her eyes open, bracing herself to prepare for the onslaught of light. But when she got them opened she thought for a moment she had actually gone blind, until she blinked again and the room swam into focus. It was dark, and even with her good eyesight Kat could barely make out what the room was like. She realized however, with mild surprise, that she was in the main generator room. She had only ever been inside of it once, but she knew easily from the forest of square machines with their vents and tiny demonic glowing lights that that was where she was. And no wonder the sound was familiar – the generator room was right below where Kat’s old room on the ship was. Even with the false concrete walls and floor to act as a sound barrier, the noise from all those machines could be heard day and night through her floor. She had had a hell of a time adjusting to the apartment and its silence after her and Kayle had gotten married.
         But still, why in the worlds was she in the main generator room?
         Very slowly, Kat moved, trying to test and see how well her motor functions were working, and trying to spot where Ian was, as she could still hear his muttering in the distance. She spotted him a good seven feet away from her. He was crouched down low with his back to her looking as if he were fiddling with something out of sight. The fact that he had his back to her would have been good news of escape, had it not been for the fact that he was right beside the door. But Kat knew it would do her no good to stay put, so ignoring her head, she managed to push herself up on her elbows.
         “What do you want with me, Ian?” She asked, loud enough to be heard over the machinery, but still weaker than she had really intended.
         The effect got through none-the-less, as Ian jumped and turned on the spot, hiding whatever it was he had behind him smoothly. “Oh why look, sleeping beauty has finally woken up.” He said in a devilishly smooth and dark voice. Kat felt a shiver run through her, as that was both a totally unfamiliar tone to hear her father utter, and an all too familiar tone that she had heard in the past from someone else.
         But she knew better than to show any trace of her fear now. “Yes, it’s amazing what a good sleep inducer being concussed is. Now what the hell do you want with me?”
         Ian smiled in yet another totally uncharacteristic yet familiar way that seemed more like he was baring his teeth than anything else. “My, my, it seems you are still a crabby one when you wake up. It’s amazing how some things just never change.”
         “And sad how much they do.”
         Ian continued to smile in that sinister way, and Kat realized for the first time that whatever she was doing here was all apart of some plan of his. And from the hints she was getting from his behavior, he was going to push her right into line by subtle manipulation. Now she really was in serious danger.
         Ian stood up smoothly and brushed himself off in a regal gesture. Then, with his hands behind his back made his way over towards where Kat still half lay on the ground. As he approached, Kat’s fingers tensed into a defensive positioning, ready to use her claws at any given notice. Unfortunately, however, Ian stopped just outside of her reach, gazing down at her with a demeaning sort of expression written on his features. They both stayed like that for a long moment, staring fixedly at one-another’s face (as neither one could actually see the other’s eyes in this corner) waiting for a strike to come. Finally, when none did, Ian spoke.
         “I’m surprised at you, Kat. Out of all my children, you were certainly the one I had the highest hopes for. But, perhaps, you’re mother was right about you…”
         All hopes of not playing into his hands seemed to jump out the window at this, as Kat let out a snarl not unlike a lion. Though Kat couldn’t see it, Ian smirked. “Oh that’s right, you never much got along with your mother, now did you? I always found that so funny, really, because the two of you were just so, much, alike.”
         Kat was breathing harder than normal, still trying to keep her cool, keeping in mind that she wasn’t going to be at the top of her game with the pregnancy involved. But Ian knew he was getting to her.
         “Cina, on the other hand, now she is a daughter I can certainly say I’m proud of. Just look at the woman she’s grown into: she’s pretty, she’s smart, successful… and, well, she managed to go past the age of twenty without getting herself knocked up like a petty who-agh!”
         He managed to cross the line, and as most people know, when you cross the line of a hormonal woman, they can defy the laws of natural order. Kat had managed to swing out her claws so savagely that – even with her stomach – she made contact with Ian’s shin before he could react, leaving a hearty gash in both his pants and flesh. He took a few more (limping) steps back from her, cursing while he went. Now it was Kat’s turn to sneer.
         “That however, is a talent neither Mother nor Cina could ever match me at. And I’m twenty-one, you bastard.”
         In retrospect Kat may have actually realized the stupidity of her action and mouth, but at the time she considered it entirely necessary. However, Ian certainly wasn’t pleased.
         “You little witch!” he snarled, attempting to hit her across the face again, but missing by several inches as Kat pulled back out of the way. “You married a heathen and you became a heathen. Now you carry some bastard heathen spawn. You don’t deserve the life I gave you!”
         Then he lunged down again and, before Kat managed to move out of the way, snagged her by the front of her shirt and yanked her bodily from the ground before slamming her into the wall behind her, hard. All Kat could do was let out a shocked sort of gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. Later, she would thank every power vested in life that she had collided with her shoulders more than anything else, or the pregnancy could have gone even more wrong.
         “Nasty little failure…” Ian continued to snarl, now pinning her to the wall by her throat. “Either denounce that husband and the unnatural spawn within you, or be killed along with them.”          
         Though she was still having a terrible time breathing, Kat managed a response. “Ha, so either I give everything up that I – urgh – love by acting like - like a coward to spare my own life or I die honorably – ugh – along with them.” She managed a smile still. “I die with them.”
         Ian looked furious. “Do you even realize what they’ve done to us?!” He snarled. “They killed your mother and tried to kill me! They took your sister as a slave and brainwashed her into a weapon – no, a freak - for their own sick gain. And you defend them? How can you honor your sister’s memory that way? Your own flesh and blood! You make me sick!”
         He tightened his grip on her throat and Kat fought to breathe. So instead, she acted.
         Taking her left hand, she reached up and took a tight hold on the arm he was using to pin her, driving her claws deep into his arm and refusing to retract them. Ian reached with his free hand to pry her claws away, apparently attempting to break her fingers in the process, but naturally found that he couldn’t so much as make her flinch. Kat twisted ever slightly and he released her throat immediately. Kat slid a few inches sideways down the wall so that she was leaning against one of the machines. She was in a corner now, with a vertical pipe about six inches in diameter between her and Ian. She had instantly retracted her claws upon his release and now altered her effort into attempting to get her breathing back.
         After what felt like a long time of gasping, Kat finally spoke again. “You don’t know then, do you?”
         Ian was standing a few feet away from her, apparently wary of approaching again. “Know what?” He growled. “What more could you possibly disappoint me with in one day?”
         Kat looked at him, still using the machine and wall as support, feeling sore all over. “Nia wasn’t the only one taken to the Institute.” She reached out far enough to touch the pipe and clicked the nails in her left hand against it, making that metal-on-metal tinking noise. “She’s not the only ‘freak’.”
         The silence that followed was a thick one. It seemed that Kat had managed to surprise Ian this time. “I – you – liar!” He growled quietly. But Kat merely shook her head.
         “No, pop. I spent two years in that hell-hole. The only difference between us was that I had the will and ability to escape. The same couldn’t be said for your darling Nia.”
         “Liar!” Ian said again, taking a step back as if Kat had suddenly contracted a deadly and contagious disease. “She was brainwashed, taken in the attack. I – she – liar!” His voice seemed to go higher. He was angry now, and confused. He continued to back away, shaking his head and muttering. Kat saw her chance and took it.
         Ignoring the continual pain, she shoved herself away from the wall and moved as quickly as her body would allow in the direction of the door. Ian seemed too busy with his melt-down to notice her. She thought for one heart-raising moment that she was actually going to get away, but just as she managed to touch the knob on the door, her high-spirited thoughts were shattered.
         For a second she really didn’t understand what had happened. Her right shoulder suddenly seemed to explode with pain that made her literally cry out. The force of the blow knocked her forward and she tipped into the door, dragging her claws along its length with an earsplitting screech.
         There were tears of complete and utter pain in her eyes. It was more excruciating than anything she could ever remember in all her years of war. And before she could even begin to recover from it, Ian had already caught up with her again, dragging her backwards by her hair to the place she was originally, slamming her this time against the pipe.
         Her shoulder and chest in the right side seemed to be on fire and she was unable to even think clearly. Off in the distance she could still hear Ian muttering dark things to her, but she couldn’t care less. She could feel him manipulating her arms and tying something behind her back as if it were someone else’s body. Once more she felt that pressing shadow forcing itself on her vision, but this time she didn’t even bother to fight it.
         
         When she woke for the second time it was to an all new kind of pain. Her head was still throbbing stubbornly, amplified by her earlier strike to the door, her back was sore from being slammed around and so were her arms, but nothing was so intense as the pain in her right shoulder. It felt like someone had driven a stake of fire through her chest, and she could barely breathe for the pain it caused to inhale. She couldn’t remember ever crying, but her cheeks now had that chapped feeling of tears.
         She was sitting on her knees with her arms bound behind her back to the pipe with her mouth gagged. If she were able to move for the binds she wasn’t sure, for she didn’t dare to even try.
         Suddenly there was a movement off to her left, and the memory of all that had happened came flooding back. As Ian walked back into her line of vision Kat felt her heart rate quicken with terror.
         Apparently aware that she was now awake again, Ian chuckled. “I have to admit, dear. You do surprise me. Even in your current situation you still refuse to be reasonable. Things would have gone so much easier if you would just have listened to me in the first place.”
While Kat snorted at him in her head, she made no movement or sound in response.
“You were always such a difficult child, but you’ve really outdone yourself in my absence, dear. I really must take drastic actions to rectify that.”