Kindling: Daughter

Stockholm syndrome anyone?

Hi there. Happy Friday! And a very merry unbirthday to you all!

My baby girl turns two on Monday, yay! Anyone else here understand the bitter-sweetness and half-sarcasm in that ‘yay’ over there? Let me know, and we can discuss the ins and outs of kids growing up.

On to the story!

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Kindling | Sensory Overstim | The Sketch | Daughter | More —> Coming soon…

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“Lieutenant.” General Morgan addresses the young woman as she enters his office with an entitled air. He clicks his tongue with irritation and says, curtly, “Please close the door.” She complies, rolling her eyes at his formality then matches his professional attitude to ease the atmosphere.

The girl has grown, this daughter of his. She is so often a burden, trying too hard to impress, and embarrassing him instead. She stands at attention before his desk, now, waiting, as is proper. Why? Now, she behaves perfectly, when we are alone and it doesn’t matter. There is no one else here to see it.

Victor sighs, “Cathy, you know I don’t appreciate your informality in public.”

She instantly relaxes, matching her father’s energy and smiles lovingly at him.

“I’m sorry Daddy. I got carried away.”

He shrugs off her apology and sits, getting down to business.

“This idea of yours, to let Jenina use the gym, is troublesome.”

“It’s Elle, Daddy, she doesn’t like Jenina, and I know it is risky, but if you’ll hear me out-”

“Risky isn’t exactly the word I would use, more like insane. We finally have her, now we want to risk letting her escape?”

“She won’t.”

“What if she goes berserk and hurts someone?”

“She won’t.”

The general regards Cathy quizzically. “And how do you know that, my dear? How do you know she isn’t going to bolt at the first opportunity?”

“Daddy, if she were going to do any of those things she would have already. You can’t seriously believe that that little cell could hold her if she really wanted out. Remember what she did to McKeen’s house?” Cathy asks with one raised eyebrow. Victor returns her stare considering the question but doesn’t answer and she continues in a softer tone. “I told you before you let Daniels try to break her that she was feeling guilty for hurting Logan, and I was right. She submitted to torture to absolve herself and when you ‘let’ me rescue her, it opened the door for a relationship, one I’ve been steadily building over the last six months. She sees me as her friend, and I’m going to be the reason she stays in line.”

“I know that this is a long game you’re playing, but she’s been here, almost as long as she was with McKeen, and I don’t see any of the progress I saw there. We still have no means of controlling her, no hold over her, no way to neutralize her abilities. At least McKeen has those boys of his, and his chemistry set. When the Authority finds out about this, and I assure you they will find out, they will want answers, and then it’s not only your job on the line…” Victor trails off, letting the implication hang, and Cathy smiles shyly looking at her boots.

“I know it’s slow going, and I appreciate you keeping having found her under wraps so far. You have to see that we are never going to be able to control her with force. She’s simply too powerful, and McKeen and his sons are total idiots.” Cathy looks at Victor earnestly, with an almost motherly smile, and he can’t help but think how much she looks like his lost love. “Daddy, she’s been hurt. That old saying, ‘Once bitten, twice as shy.’ perfectly sums up this situation. She’s almost ready to trust me, Daddy, I can see it. But we have to give her a little to earn some, and letting her use the gym will increase her confidence and sweeten the pot. It’s worth the risk.” Cathy says almost confidently. “I know what I’m doing, Daddy.”

“I hope so, my dear. I know you’re an excellent psychologist, but you’ve been wrong before.” Victor says with conviction, dreading that he will have to make an example of his daughter when this plan of hers fails.

* * *

Elle is amazing in the sparring ring. Even with his mere human senses, Victor can see the foundations of excellent training in her. She moves with such graceful fluidity that it is sometimes difficult to believe that the men pitting themselves against her are some of the best in the world. They seem slow and clumsy and when she lets them believe that they are actually hitting her, it’s like she is standing still, waiting for the blow to connect.

He had expected her to show off, and put her opponents down quickly, like she did that day in McKeen’s gym but this time, it’s as if she is trying not to discourage them. She does seem to enjoy the time outside the cell. She smiles at everyone who interacts with her. She enthusiastically engages with every sparring opponent.

One day Vistor notices her imposing rules on herself to make the fights more challenging. One time, she only used her left hand. A week later she hopped on one foot. And now, as he stands addressing the other soldiers for their day’s practice, he sees her only making right-hand turns with an opponent who has a weaker left side.

When he allowed that first sparring match, Victor expected to see broken bones and careers ended, but she has been gentle, careful not to inflict any lasting damage. She’s amazing. He thinks to himself, wondering for the umpteenth time how in the world he is going to be able to control her if she goes wrong. Cathy’s plan had better work.

* * *

“I need you to hit me,” Cathy says confidently, looking her father in the eyes so he can see she means it.

Victor wonders if this really is the best way to get through to Elle after all. He has never hit Cathy in her life, it’s never been necessary. Even when she was little, words had never failed to make his point if she stepped out of line. He regards his daughter, musing on how much she reminds him of her mother.

“It was my fault she ran off. It has to be you, Daddy, and it has to be real. Or she’ll see it for the lie it is and that’ll be the end of this assignment.” Cathy gives him an earnest look and sits in the chair so she won’t fall down afterward, sticking out her cheek for him to strike.

Victor wrestles with himself. Since he delivered the initial report to his superiors, to avoid the fallout that would inevitably ensue if the Authority found out that he had kept Elle from them, they have been giving him trouble, demanding progress reports and accountability, applying pressure to show results. The fact that it is to be expected doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, and there’s still the inquest to come on that disaster of a training exercise. Even though it worked out in the end, there were too many participants to keep quiet, he had to be truthful in his report. However, Cathy’s ability to twist the truth to suit her narrative is the stuff of masters.

“‘Calculated risk.’ wasn’t that what you said?” Victor asks his daughter raising his right palm. She indicates affirmative, and he strikes.

Victor curses inwardly as Cathy cradles her cheek. Victor’s report said that it had all been part of the plan. He wrote how Cathy had foreseen the possibility of Elle’s flight and taken sufficient precautions. The rest of the report supported that. It didn’t say anywhere how lucky she was.

If Cathy fails this assignment that’s it for her. Victor reminds himself silently. She’ll be shipped off-world, stationed in some starbase in the middle of nowhere to play psychologist to broken soldiers for the rest of her life.

Victor clears his throat. She won’t fail. I’ll help her however I can. He sniffs and regards his daughter dispassionately, wondering how turning Elle against himself is going to make her more malleable when he sees the large red welt on his daughter’s cheek. She bows, gasping when her hands come away bloody from a split lip.

She grins at him. “Thanks, Daddy,” and rushes off to get the prop for her next operation.

* * *

Victor watches the exchange on the monitor, lamenting the decision to forgo audio surveillance. Cathy said it would give Elle the illusion of privacy. Hmph. What a joke. She hasn’t said a single word in half a year.

Cathy stands by the closed door, the left side of her face towards the camera. Even on the low-resolution monitor, he can see the red and purple finger marks, his fingermarks.

Elle bounds from the edge of her bed to the door and opens it right away. Her joy at seeing Cathy is almost pathetic. She becomes bubbly like an overexcited pup, bouncing around the room in elation. She grins and dances and hops up and down and it takes a minute to calm her before she notices Cathy’s face.

To be fair, Cathy picks her moment carefully for maximum effect, and Elle stops dead and stares. Cathy lets Elle look and her bottom lip quivers a moment. Gosh, the girl is a brilliant actress. Then Cathy sniffles and wipes a tear and shakes her head as if to dismiss Elle’s concern. Cathy says something that looks like, “It’s fine,” and pushes Elle away as she steps back. Then pushes her gift into Elle’s arms, and gets to work.

Cathy talks, and Elle looks sheepish and it all falls into place.

Victor understands. Cathy will use herself as a hostage to keep Elle in line. She’ll say, “Behave now, or they’ll hurt me,” She’ll tell Elle to “Listen or they won’t let me see you.” She’ll demonstrate, "Follow orders or I might die.”

It’s brilliant.

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