Splitting at the Seams (RadioApple)

Part 19

(I'm so sorry for the wait!! I got a job and moved house and I have been BUSY but here it is!!)

Husk felt his mouth go totally dry. Nothing could stop his vision from tunneling, his hands from shaking, his heart fluttering like a trapped butterfly in his chest. This was the absolute worst-case scenario. Unless he got really lucky right now, this was game over. Just like that. "Shit," he rasped out.

Through the multitude of high-quality screens Vox's gloating smile widened, array of sharklike teeth on full display. It distinctly reminded Husk of his boss' own slasher smile, and he was suddenly thankful that unlike his boss, these weren't splattered with unknown viscera. It wasn't a comfort that extended very far. Vox may not be a cannibal, but there was a great number of things he was capable of, many arguably worse.

"Ohhhhhh buddy, 'shit' is right!" came the television overlord's crowing voice, pitched higher than usual. Whether it was due to rage or pleasure was indecipherable. "Unbelievable, isn't it? It's hard to believe that you thought your little 'plan'-" and here Vox made exaggerated finger quotes, "-Would work! Seriously, a henchman of the radio demon thinks he can slip and slide into our property unnoticed? In full view of our security cameras?!"

"I've gotten pretty far, haven't I?" Husk pointed out, spine completely rigid. His hands were sweating so badly the radio he still held was threatening to slip from them. "Your 'security' is crap, the staff here are bumbling horny idiots who couldn't see in front of their own nose if they tried. It wasn't tough to get this far." It was likely unwise to antagonize the other man, but Husk saw nothing he could do regardless. Vox moved through channels and cables with the same speed and ease that Alastor went through shadows and radio signals, so nothing could stop him from simply appearing in the surveillance room and zapping Husk into a pile of ash with a million volts. Grovelling would get him nowhere, even if antagonism was certainly no better. All he could do for now was stall and keep talking.

Vox's smile twitched at the edge, eyes narrowing as he leant further toward the monitor screens. "You won't catch me laying my heart out to defend them. But seriously, level with me. What are you doing? You come out here, miles from the safe territory of your little hotel, to... what? Rescue some whore from his job? Jeez, what do you even see in him? You know there's a dozen of him on the street right outside, yeah?"

Indignant fury coursed through Husk like wildfire, and though Vox's tone was surprisingly neutral and even tinged with a genuine interest, all Husk could see and hear was the way everyone treated Angel Dust. Like he didn't matter. Like his life was forfeit to the pleasures of others. That it was inconceivable that anyone could care for him beyond the service he provided apon payment. It had wormed its way into the spider's own mindset, and Husk would be damned before he let any more of it slide, even - no, especially - if it were the last words he would get to say.

"Listen here you oversized CRT, that kid is worth more than a hundred of you." The feline snarled, the hand that wasn't cradling the radio beginning to show his claws extending. "I don't know what kind of sick thrills you lot get out of doing what you do to him, beating him down, breaking him, and I don't care. Take out your inferiority complex elsewhere. What I'm willing to do for him is more than yours would ever do for you, so why don't you focus on that instead of continuing to hurt someone you've already ruined?"

Vox's brows rose, smirk faltering. "You don't know anything."

"Yeah?" Husk hissed, trying to take the chance to glance about the room for a way to flee. The door was nearby, but not near enough to dart through. "We've all seen your posts on social media, you don't exactly hide your interpersonal problems from the rest of us." There were good odds that he could outspeed Vox if he went for it and used his wings, but the stupid oversized hoodie was covering them and removing it would slow him down significantly to do, not to mention the narrow walls, all within a building layout Vox would be intimately familiar with. "I guess I understand why the idea of going all-out for someone is foreign to you when you spend most of your free time taping your face back together after Valentino's done smashing it in." vitriol oozed from his every word.