The claws of the cat

Prelude

A single strip light buzzed and flickered overhead, highlighting the grim near silence that filled the night.
It was 01:23 and, in an aircraft hanger somewhere in England, a man and a woman stared at each other over a long grey steel table. Their reflections caught in its surface, twisting and mottling them as if they were beneath a shallow body of water, like drowned souls staring up motionlessly from the depths.
The woman spoke first.

"Well?"

She asked, her voice cold and crisp as fallen snow. She focused her ice cold gaze on the man, her eyes glittering savagely, her posture was impeccable, as if her spine had been replaced by a metal rod, casting a sharp contrast to her slumping companion. She wore a shining black dress of the highest couture, perfectly sculpted around her body and a intricate diamond collar sparkling in the off white glow of the singular light, it's rippling reflection stretching from her to the man.
He looked at her and smiled.
His greyish skin on his unshaven  jaw creasing around his mouth. The effect of this expression was not one of friendliness but more a grimace that seemed to be designed to show off more of his unnaturally white teeth than anything, giving an impression of an angry dog more than a display of happiness. But he still did not speak.

"Why did you bring me here?"

The woman asked coldly, clearly unimpressed by the lack of answers she was receiving.
The man straighted up and shook his overgrown matted brown hair out of eyes that were as dull and grey as pebbles on a beach. Finally he spoke,

"You have taken something from me and I want it back."

His accent was nearly implacable, american, but certain words slurred together in a kind of growl...

The woman rolled her eyes.

"I am afraid I can't do that."She replied,

"You see, the 'something' I 'took' from you is a living being who escaped your establishment after being held there against his will for three years, forgive me if I believed I was performing an act of kindness by giving him a job and a place to remain safe from the wrath of your organization..."

The man raised a gnarled hand cutting her off mid sentence.

"Please, spare me the sentiment, we both know you're no better than me..."

He paused, thinking, and lowered his hand, placing it on the table, his fingers drumming an impatient rhythm on the hard metal surface...

"Or have you forgotten her, Ada?"

"How dare you!"

She had stood up, shaking, her eyes seemed to burn with a fiery fury as she stared him down.

"You may never use my name, you may never treat me as if I am your friend."

Her voice was low and dangerously glacial.
But the man stared back unafraid, looking almost amused. He seemed to laugh as he leaned across the table towards her.

"I hardly think what you tell me matters now, my dear."

He slowly leant back, still chuckling, pushing his chair away from the table, he stood up, adjusting his suit, it's brown checkered material matted by dirt, dust and darkish red stains congealing around the cuffs. He waved his left hand slightly as he backed away, smiling, his white teeth bared like that of a wolf.

"Goodbye Ada."

Ada inhaled deeply, her black hair rustling in a sudden cool breeze, as if a door had been opened and a strange look came over her eyes as she drew in a long breath.

"This is low, Renfield, so very low, did you really think this would work?"

No reply came. The man was gone.

Replaced by his presence was a sudden rush of movement from the darkened corners of the hangar. Out of it's wide empty depths, shapes formed moving into the pool of off white light where the woman sat.

Three thick set figures shuffled slowly closer, seemly cautious of the single woman sitting alone. Covered by thick dark clothing, all humanity hidden by balaclavas, they looked menacing, prowling towards her like a pack of wild dogs.
Ada stood up slowly stretching like a cat waking up from sleeping and turned to face her attackers with a slight pity,

"I can't believe he thought this would work, this is, what, the third time he's tried to assassinate me?"

No replies came from the approaching men.
Ada raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side, to an onlooker, it was obvious she was trying to antagonise them, urging them on.

"I could smell you the moment you walked in..."
She paused, placing a hand on her hip. She slowly turned her head, cold eyes glittering as she stared round at all of them.
" ...it's almost as if he wants you poor bastards dead."

With a savage cry the nearest man rushed forward, hands held out like claws in front of him, Ada stepped to the side as he barrelled past, appearing unfazed by his attack.
She loosened the rope-like belt around her waist and in one motion, pulled it away from her. The whip span out, stretching through the air, like a fishing line, wrapping around the man's neck. There was a sharp crack. His body hit the floor with a muffled thump.
Silence followed.

The remaining attackers attempted to back away, one even started to raise his hands. Ada did not appear to notice, her eyes seemed to smoulder with a barely contained fury but her face was blankly cold. They didn't stand a chance.

Outside a security guard was beginning to fall asleep, his half empty coffee cup precariously close falling out of his hand. He was beginning to snore when a sudden jarring beep sounded, and an alert notification flashed across the grimy computer monitor.
"Huh?"
He stared blearily at the screen, as a message flashed up,
-MOTION DETECTED IN HANGER 22b-
He got up grumbling, brushing crumbs off his crumpled uniform and shuffled out the door. His breath created mist in the morning air as, shivering slightly, he made his way across the deserted air base, past blank faced hangers and rusted planes. 22b was the last on the left, the massive metal door hung slightly open.
Weird... He thought, digging a freezing hand out his coat pocket to shut it. As he did, a dark shape streaked out of the shadowy depths past his legs. Jumping, he looked over his shoulder to see what it was, a lithe black cat stared back coldly.
They held each other's gaze for a second, before the cat with a twitch of it's whip-like tail, sped off, melting into the shadowy night. He decided to check inside, just in case, he didn't want to find out they had some kind of 'feline infestation' on their hands...
"Hello, are there anymore of you cats in the..."
He stopped mid sentence at the sight that lay before him.

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Hi, sorry if this was waaaaaay too long, hopefully the other parts won't be as bad. By the way, well done if you reached the end :) - as a quick message, as this was a prelude segment, the main protagonist hasn't been introduced yet, just to clear up any confusion. And thank you for reading the first part of my book, please stay tuned if you want to read more....
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