These Violent Delights

Chapter 63: Things Are Good. It's Weird.

"I said pink balloons." 

Kylo's voice was menacingly quiet as he stared at the three hundred not-pink balloons drifting atop the ceiling. Without moving his head, he dragged his gaze at the sweating officer. "Where are the pink balloons, Officer Vlak?"

He tugged on his collar and cleared his throat. "Th-they were all out of pink ba-balloons, sir. I th-thought red would be an adequate replacement."

Facing his subordinate, Kylo placed his hands behind his back and cocked his head. "And why would you think that, Officer Vlak?"

"I, uh..." Vlak looked down at the Supreme Leader's chest, blinking rapidly. "I thought red balloons would be better than bringing no ba-balloons, sir." Kylo let the silence stretch between them for a long, tense moment, reducing Vlak into a jittery, shaking mess. "I, I will find pink balloons, sir," he stammered. "Consider it done."

"I already did."

Behind him, Pryde cleared his throat. "Supreme Leader, a word?"

Kylo didn't turn around to meet him, not yet. He took a single step toward Vlak and leaned in, speaking quietly. "You have until three o'clock to get what I asked for. Do not disappoint me."

"Yes, yes, sir," he nodded enthusiastically. "Your request is my pleasure."

Kylo spun around and breezed past Pryde. "What is it, Allegiant General?"

He took quick steps to keep up. "The Resistance, sir. We have confirmed they are leaderless, and after their embarrassment on Exegol, their numbers have dwindled to insignificance."

Kylo nodded to himself as he pushed forward, Stormtroopers diving on either side of him to pay respects. He looked at Pryde as he stepped in sync beside him. "And the traitors that rallied behind Hux?"

"We have neutralized them all, sir. Every last one of them, except for the General himself. Per your request."

"And the internal loyalty conditioning?"

"Completed," Pryde said with satisfaction, a thin smile on his lips. "All ninety-five thousand personnel have passed with flying colors, sir. An uprising won't happen again."

Kylo waved a hand to dismiss Pryde as they turned around a corner. But he continued to walk beside him. He stopped. "I sense your unease, General," Kylo mused, turning to face him. "What is it?"

Pryde lifted his chin, his old, weathered face stuck in a permanent frown. "With all due respect, sir, I think keeping someone as treacherous as General Hux alive and on the Steadfast allows room for complication."

Kylo's lip twitched down. This was something they agreed on. If it were up to the Supreme Leader, he would have tortured Hux into another dimension.

The day after they returned, Kylo met with his knights upon their discharge from the medbay so they could brief him. After Kitten escaped Exegol, they slaughtered the rest of Hux's men, suffering only minor injuries in the process. Then, they loaded the disgraced, unconscious General on the Night Buzzard to bring to their Master, who had every intention of disposing of him in the cruelest way possible.

But Kitten begged to keep the traitor alive. Not out of the good of her heart, no. She wanted to keep him as a pet, to make him do whatever pleased her, such as parading him in public in various outfits to complete tasks for her. This morning, he saw her drag him through the military sector to detail the floors. Seeing as how she dressed him up in a feminine maid's outfit to do it, it was safe to say that humiliating him was her main source of amusement. The only kindness she had shown him was allowing him to keep his cat, Millicent.

Kylo didn't understand the gesture, but she insisted that she owed him since Hux saved Ani from the Finalizer and told the knights to rescue the cats once he came to consciousness on Exegol. Other than that, she made it her newfound calling to make him suffer. But eventually, he assumed Kitten would get bored of her new pet, in which Kylo would take great pleasure in ripping the treacherous First Order General apart.

He nodded at Pryde. "He will be kept on a leash at all times, General Pryde."

Literally.

"As always, I trust your judgment, wise leader." With a slight bow, he dismissed himself and walked away.