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clickerflight · 9 months

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The Lion and the Mouse - Part 1

Masterlist

I remember reading asops fables as a kid and reading the lion and the mouse. I remember being disappointed that they didn't linger on either of the character's capture. Anyways, this one is inspired by all of the hero villain whump I like to read, Lion and the mouse, and I wanted to try my hand at tiny whump.

Content: There's some heavy stuff here. Tiny whumpee, creepy whumper, temporary character death (twice), strangulation, broken neck, reference to past deaths, hoping for permadeath, non sexual nudity, dehumanization. There will be a happy ending at the end of all this.

Let me know if you want to be on the tag list

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Vigil hated taking commissions, but he had to. If he didn’t he’d be moved from a vigilante classification into a Hero classification, and the paperwork and hoops heroes had to deal with were all too annoying for Vigil to get into. Instead, he did the bare minimum of accepting a commission once every three months and got it over with as quickly as possible. Easy jobs. Sneaking in and getting some information the heroes couldn’t get, bagging a criminal with slightly less moral techniques so the heroes could keep their image. That sort of stuff.

Of course, this time, Vigil put off taking a commission until he had to take literally whatever came his way next, and of course it had to be this stupid team for a long term deal.

The team consisted of five heroes, and all of them, from the leader down to the sidekicks, were all pretentious and ‘righteous’. Pompous hypocrites, the lot of them. Vigil wished he had someone he could have taken with him for all of this. He had heard of the kinds of things they did to the villains they were supposed to rehabilitate, and while he was a part of the Eastern Vigilante Union and they’d keep an eye out for him, it still made him very nervous. Florence never came back the same. Vigil heard that he was still camped out in the forest outside the cities where he hoped the heroes wouldn’t find him again. Gave up the whole villain thing, sure, but at what price.

Vigil got his visitor’s badge from the secretary and headed on up. He was wearing some of his suit, unable to convince himself to leave it behind. Which of course got a comment immediately.

“Hey, Vigil. Nice outfit. You do realize today is just a planning meeting, right?” Nautilus said as he caught up with Vigil in the hallway.

Vigil rolled his eyes. Nautilus was one of the heroes he didn’t hate outright, but he was still an arrogant pain in the backside.

“Doesn’t matter,” Vigil replied, sweeping down the hall at a pace that forced Nautilus to rush to catch up.

“Touchy! What’s got your panties in a twist?”

Vigil decided not to respond to that, simply turning to enter the conference room where the leader of the team, Technical, waited for him. There was a young hero sitting next to him, a sidekick or apprentice Vigil didn’t know the name of yet.

“Morning, Vigil,” Technical said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Expecting an attack today?”

Vigil sighed and sat down in the office chair. “I’m dressed down, I'll have you know.”

Nautilus snorted and took another chair. After a minute or two of silence, the others came in.

The heroes all sat down and the briefing began.

It was going to be a long mission. One with lots of stake outs and figuring out who was in charge of a syndicate of people who were trading in illegal goods.

“You should be able to handle it, right Vigil?” Leshy said, looking the vigilante up and down doubtfully.

Vigil sighed heavily. “You’re the one who commissioned me, okay?”

Just imagine the money at the end of this. Long missions means big rewards. Long missions means big rewards.

Vigil repeated that silently in his head every time he got a strange look or snide comment. That was, until he heard something strange behind him.

He turned to find it, ever alert to danger. Behind him was a countertop, and there was a sturdy looking box there with holes along the bottom. Something flesh colored was pressed against the holes, just barely visible.

The others looked where he was watching as well, Technical clearing his throat a little to try and get his attention again. “Don’t mind that.”

The sound came again and Vigil recognized it as a groan, though much higher pitched than he was used to. “What is that?” he asked, turning back to Technical.

“Don’t worry about it,” Technical replied firmly. “Leshy, would you?”

“Yeah,” and with that, Leshy stood up and took the box out of the room.

…………………………………

Vigil didn’t see the box again until after a couple of missions where they hunted down goons and figured out who was their boss and then found those people’s bosses and so on. He was waiting in Leshy’s personal office, working on some paperwork when he noticed something. There was a faint spot on one of the papers on the desk. On a hunch, Vigil looked around and pulled out his light that would make dried bodily fluids shine. Sure enough, there was splatter everywhere. All over the desk, on the walls, on the floor, on every counter.

Vigil stood up, feeling unclean even just standing in the room. He turned and spotted, on top of a cabinet, the box. It glowed in the light and, as he watched, something poked out of the hole. It took him a moment to recognize it for what it was, but after a moment, he realized it was a very small finger.

Vigil didn’t really think. He just left, leaving the unfinished paperwork sitting on Leshy’s desk behind him.

Vigil couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat, he couldn’t understand. All he could think about was that tiny finger, proportioned like an adult’s, poking out through a hole in a box. He felt like he was going to be sick all of the time.

Especially when he saw that box. Apparently everyone except the youngest traded it around like it was some school pet that needed to be watched over on the weekends. Vigil couldn’t stand to look at it when it came out, especially knowing that there was something living in it.

So, like a coward, he ignored it.

……………………..

Kai curled up in the box, leaning his face on his knees. He was getting too big for the box again. He shuddered, feeling his spine brush the side. He wished he could stop growing back. He wanted to stay small. He didn’t care if he would be kept in the box forever, at least he wouldn’t have to die over and over again.

He closed his eyes, keeping his sobs as small as he could. If they heard him, they would know to give him back to Leshy. The hero would ‘cut him down to size.’ He shivered again, his mind pulling up times Leshy had tortured and killed him over and over again like some perverse slideshow.

And to think, he’d thought there’d be a chance of rescue. There had been a new voice around for a while, and Kai was pretty sure it was Vigil. He’d faced off with the vigilante a couple of times when he was free, and he’d seemed a decent enough person.

But when Kai was alone in the office with Vigil, even after he’d miraculously managed to garner the vigilante’s attention, the man had gone very pale and left, taking his light with him. The light that showed every place in the room when he had been killed.

Kai bumped his head against his knees, choking down another sob. He was going to be trapped here however long had been designated, maybe even longer. Leshy had threatened to keep him for as long as the government let him, and Kai had been a nuisance. He wasn’t high enough to warrant special attention, but he wasn’t low enough to get out anytime soon.

And he couldn’t even die here. Well, he did. He died here every few days, but he couldn’t actually properly die. He wished he could.

He was getting bigger. His back was pressed against the wall of the box and he lowered his head. He hoped this wouldn't be another time where he was left to suffocate in his own flesh until he died and got smaller again. He supposed he could make some noise and die a bit quicker but the idea of Leshy holding him down and killing him in some new way he’d concocted was almost too much to bear.

This time he did sob out loud and one of the voices, which he had grown used to ignoring, chirped up. It was one of the sidekicks, he was pretty sure. “Leshy, I think he’d gotten big again.”

The sound of footsteps crossed the room and Kai willed himself smaller, imagining becoming tiny and harmless and not needing to be killed, but just like every time he tried, it didn’t work.

He sobbed again as the top of the box slid open. There was a layer of mesh in between him and the outside world, and Kai had stopped trying to get it open months ago.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Leshy said, sliding the lid closed and then lifting and carrying the box. Kai rocked with every step, trying not to imagine how Leshy would kill him this time. He hoped he’d just break his neck or crush his head. Something quick and easy. Something that wouldn’t last long.

They entered the office and the box was opened. This time, Lesh reached in and grabbed him. Kai was maybe the size of a small cat, and certainly more harmless than one. He’d stopped struggling as that usually only made it last longer.

Leshy sighed, like he was bored with this. Like there were better things he could be doing with his time. Kai sobbed once as he was laid down on a counter, Leshy rummaging in his pocket for a moment before pulling out a rubber band.

Kai sobbed again as Leshy pulled Kai’s hair away from his neck. “No, sir, please, sir. Please, just crush my head, please!”

“Too messy,” Leshy replied, stretching out the band to go down over Kai’s torso to hold his arms to his body, wrapping another too tightly around his ankles to keep Kai from thrashing too much.

“Please, please, no. Snap my neck, then. Please, s-sir, please! I’ll be good! Snap my neck please!”

“Too quick,” Leshy replied and he pulled the last rubber band over Kai’s neck.

Kai sobbed openly as Leshy twisted the band, pinching skin and sending it back over his head. The third twist, though, silenced him as Kai began to suffocate. Leshy stepped back, grabbing his chair to sit and watch with a satisfied smile as Kai silently writhed on the counter, trying to breathe. He could see spots, his throat hurt so much he knew his windpipe was already crushed. The spots grew bigger and an instinctual fear that never went away no matter how many times Kai died rose up inside him causing such desperation that it felt like a physical creature trying to crawl out through his chest, ripping his flesh and mind with terrifying claws, making the world inconceivable and-

Kai awoke. He was curled on his side, under a glass dome. He stared at the distorted world past the glass, shivering anxiously, He could see Leshy at his desk working. Kai swallowed and closed his eyes again, taking slower breaths. The rubber bands weren’t in the dome with him, probably to make sure he didn’t climb out the hole at the top somehow. Kai had tried that in the past and he’d been killed again, squished like a bug under Leshy’s palm. He’d woken up at about the size of a thumbtack. He’d actually tried to kill himself one more time so he could be even smaller than that and Leshy wouldn’t be able to see him that well. Then he could run and hide somewhere until he could find a way out. Leshy had caught him, though and trapped him in a capsule you’d get out of a toy vending machine at the front of a store. He’d even managed to make it into a necklace that the older of the sidekicks paraded around for the day.

“You awake?” Leshy called across the room.

Kai slowly sat up as an answer. His vocal chords were too small to make any noises that sounded like a voice, so he had to move but the effort seemed to take everything from him. In the past when he would wake up he would feel full and hydrated and energetic again, but he hadn’t been fed in…. Well, since he got here, and while he still felt full every time he woke up after dying, he was getting more tired with each pass. He hoped that meant he would eventually die, but something within him warned that this wouldn’t be the case and he would just grow weaker and weaker until he could do nothing to even try and save himself.

Leshy grunted as he got out of his seat and stared down at Kai, who only met his gaze for a moment before looking away, still partially curled up.

“Oh, don’t act like that. It’s not like I haven’t already seen everything,” Leshy said mockingly, laughing when Kai curled up more.

Leshy lifted the dome and grabbed Kai, his hand wrapping around Kai’s whole body save for his feet and head. Kai held very still as Leshy looked down at him with a hum.

“You were supposed to leave us a week from today, but I let them know that you wanted to stay for a bit longer,” Leshy said, a feral grin spreading on his face as he gave Kai a threatening squeeze. Kai’s muscles seized with panic and he closed his eyes, holding his breath, praying that Leshy wouldn’t squeeze harder. He didn’t want to spend the next three days with broken ribs.

“You have another, mmmmm 2 months with us, dear flea.”

His hand relaxed and Kai sucked in a breath that quickly turned into hyperventilation and desperate twitched as he tried to free himself.

“I’ll have to sit down and plan some real fun things to try out. I’m sure I could think of 25 entertaining ways to watch you die, right?”

There was a knock at the door as Kai dissolved into tears and Leshy sighed, putting him back under the dome and calling, “Come in!”

Kai curled up as small as he could, sobbing harder, letting it all out in wails that no one could hear.

At least, he thought no one could hear.

“What’s that buzzing?” Vigil asked.

“Ignore it. Just an insect.”

Kai grabbed at his hair, staring blankly at the counter in front of him. Just an insect, worth nothing but the entertainment value of his death. Just an insect, just an-

There was a large eye staring in at him and then Vigil flinched back. “What is that?” he asked softly, leaning forward to look again.

Kai slowly uncurled and twisted to look up at Vigil, whose mouth was open in shock.

Kai knew Vigil couldn’t hear him, but he mouthed ‘Help me,’ as big as he could.

Vigil stared at him and Leshy sighed. “You remember Kai, right?”

“Kai? Kai Gordon? That’s him?”

“Yeah. Did you ever get the chance to see him become smaller.”

“Can’t say I have,” Vigil said cautiously.

“I’ll show you. It’s cool.”

Kai whimpered in a voice only he could hear, scrambling back as Leshy came over. When the dome was uncovered he lunged to get away but was caught all the same. He struggled hard. He didn’t want to be tiny again. He’d gotten used to the three day starvation periods, he didn’t want to have to go six days again. It was too much!

Leshy pinched Kai’s head and the last thing he heard was a horrified sound from Vigil.

…………………………….

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Vigil screeched. Kai was dead and limp in Leshy’s hand, his head hanging at a very wrong angle. The villain was completely naked and obviously terrified before Vigil had seen the life leave his eyes.

“It’s fine,” Leshy said, rummaging in a drawer and pulling out a capsule. “Watch.”

Kai’s body was shrinking and when it was small enough, Leshy shoved it in the capsule, closed it, and let Kai finish in there.

“He’ll be healed and awake in another minute or two. It’s how we keep him easy to contain,” Leshy said with a shrug. “Better than trying to keep him alive and him finding ways to kill himself so he can go small and escape. We control when and where he becomes small. Easy.”

Vigil didn’t respond. He couldn’t. How were you supposed to respond to that? He glanced at the capsule, rigged with chord and a necklace clasp and Leshy smiled. “Do you want to wear him for the day? He gave you a nasty beating once or twice, didn’t he?”

Vigil had to act quickly. “Oh, yeah, sure. Serve him right, I guess. I was just worried you were going to get in trouble for killing him was all.”

“Yeah. Go ahead, then. Bring him back at the end of the day. He’ll be big enough to go into his box.”

Vigil nodded, carefully picking up the capsule and, with a very sick feeling in his stomach, hanging it around his neck.

“Have fun,” Leshy called, distractedly looking up from his paperwork as Vigil left. If he noticed or cared that Vigil didn’t respond, he didn’t show it.

Part two

@whumpsday I think you wanted to see this

#whump #tiny whumpee #creepy whumper #villain whumpee #hero whumper #temporary character death #strangulation #broken neck #nonsexual nudity #dehumanization #suicidal thoughts #I am throwing Kai through the ringer #and I will not apologize for it

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