Cat’s Cradle(teaser) – Furtual Horizons

The creature in black stared over the edge of the building. The servos in his head ran over time, monitoring the wind speed, humidity, elevation and current temperature among other things. Once the final calculations had finished, his white and black tail twitched and the pistons in his legs launched him off the building.

His ears flicked and rotated back, the wind whipping at their edges while he plummeted towards the ground. A digital display over his face flashed various measurements: Velocity, elevation, heart rate. A schematic of the building sprang up and began ticking off the floors as he dove past them. 344, 342, 340, 337, 334, 331. The numbers plummeted with his descent.

His arms stayed at his side, cutting through the wind. 319, 312, 305, 298. A warning sprung up on the display. The dark figure responded, "Tether," firing off two cable attachments from his hips. Silver lengths spiraled forward at a blistering speed and jammed into the concrete side of the building. His tail twitched in anticipation of the ripple of inertia traveling back up the cable. The falling creature twisted his body as the shockwave came to the end, converting the whip crack into a cresent dive towards the building’s face. 282, 275, 274, 272. The display lit up and locked onto the floor. As he approached the vertex of his arc, he contorted his body, disengaged the cables, and spun towards the black glass pane.

With a whip of his arms, he detached the two vibro-katanas from his thighs. A flick of his digits and purple electricity crackled and lit up the edges of the blades. He cut a hole into the window using a swift slash of his weapons and smashed through the newly created opening. With a tumble and a roll, the figure in black came to rest down on one knee in the middle of the corridor.

BWEEP BWEEP BWEEP!

The building alarm began to blast through the hallways and a male voice echoed over the loudspeaker system. "What do we have here? A rat looking for a piece of cheese? He should know this place is just a mouse trap.”

The figure rose from the floor and walked further down the corridor, long, striped tail flicking behind him.

"Oh not a rat but a cat; one who's come to play.” The voice chuckled. “Well if it's a game he wishes for, I have some fun ones. Let's begin with an easy one: The floor is lava."

The building alarm went silent, only to be replaced by a humming noise that began whining louder from underneath.

The tiger tail twitched and the ninja took off sprinting. "Traction,” he muttered under his breath. Spikes jutted out from his boots and began digging into the floor. Pushing off his with left foot, he launched himself at the side of the corridor. A burst of sparks escaped from his sole as his right boot dug into the wall, metal on metal, and the tiger began running parallel to the floor. The pistons in his legs whirred with the extra force of each step, shoes puncturing deep into the panels as he continued his run, the glow of his blades streaking behind him. Below him, the floor grew bright and crackled. Bolts of electricity arced off the steel plating surface, reaching up at the feline but were out of range to strike the sideways sprinting tiger.

"A simple solution to a simple problem." The voice of the tiger’s opponent fizzled back to life with a scoff. "Time for something with a bit more challenge. How are you with dodge-ball, ninja cat?"

As the tiger continued his trek down the long hallway, two mini missile launchers lowered from the end ceiling. The first launcher unloaded its payload and from beneath his mask the tiger growled as his HUD display lit up. A string of missiles spun down the hallway, spiraling towards the figure in black. Nearing their approach, the tiger angled his run, pushing off the wall and stretching his leg up again, this time attaching to the roof. The screech of scratching metal clashed against the rumbling sound of the missiles, echoing throughout the metallic corridor. Arching and rolling his body as he ran, the missiles slid past his sleek form. His visual interface tracked each one as they rocketed around him, flying away and exploding behind him. A few more strides and the cat ran down the opposite wall, the first barrage unable to touch him.

The first launcher empty, the second now took its turn sending another group of rumbling rockets down the hallway. His blades still in hand, the ninja dug them into the electrified floor for balance as he cartwheeled across the hallway to the opposite wall. The pursuing projectiles zipped past the gaps in his limbs, his legs sweeping past the smokes trails left by their propulsion units.

His boots slammed into the wall panels with another splash of sparks and he continued his dash. A few straggler rockets skittered towards him. With a swipe of his blades, he smacked one aside and brought the edge down on another. The explosions erupted behind him but he only felt the heat on his tail as he escaped their reach. Nearing the end of the hallway, the two missile launchers lowered with a freshly renewed payload. With a skip and a jump, the ninja leapt from the wall, his frame tucked in as he flew over the electrified floor. As the tiger passed under the launchers, his blades flashed a cross-x pattern in the air. The spikes on his boots retracted and he skidded to a halt, safely away from the dangers in the corridor, the missile bays crashing to the floor behind him.