Taming The Beasts, Part 1
Lady Cassandra stands on the balcony of Athena’s grand estate, her eyes glittering with excitement as she surveys the scene below. Her body-hugging rubber dress clings to her every curve, gleaming in the dim light, its dark sheen reflecting the raw power she embodies. A cigarette dangles between her gloved fingers, smoke curling upwards in lazy spirals, the faint smell of burning tobacco mixing with the cool air. Her lips curl into a smile, a cruel and knowing grin, as she glances over at Athena, her partner in darkness.
Beside her, Athena, ever the genius behind the state’s most twisted innovations, adjusts the hand-held control device in her palm. She is calm, her face as composed as ever, her cold eyes calculating every detail of the unfolding experiment. Athena is the embodiment of intellect and cruelty combined, a woman who sees the world as a laboratory, its inhabitants mere test subjects for her warped curiosities. Today’s experiment is no different—a group of vicious, starved chimpanzees are being released into the courtyard below, where a collection of ragged men and women stand, trembling, eyes wide with terror. The humans are nothing more than bait.
“This should be quite entertaining, Cassandra,” Athena says, her voice soft and dispassionate, as if discussing the weather rather than the lives of those beneath them. “The chimps have been… difficult. They’ve developed a hatred for all humans, males and females alike. But I think with the adjustments I’ve made, we’ll begin to see results.”
Lady Cassandra’s grin widens. “Oh, I do hope so,” she purrs, taking a long drag from her cigarette. Her excitement is palpable, her eyes gleaming with sadistic anticipation. The thrill of what’s to come courses through her like fire in her veins. “But even if we don’t get the results you want, I daresay we’ll still have fun. It’s always amusing to watch them suffer, isn’t it?”
Below, the chimps are about to be released. Their savage eyes glint with hunger and rage, their muscles tense from months of starvation and abuse. Athena’s plan is to weaponize these creatures for feral hunts, teaching them to attack only males, so that the women who lead the hunts remain unharmed. But as of now, the chimps are indiscriminate in their violence, their hatred extending to all humans. Athena’s solution: implants buried deep within the chimpanzees’ bodies, controlled remotely by the devices in their hands. A simple press of a button can send searing pain through the chimps, forcing them to obey—or at least, that’s the theory.
The moment is electric with tension. The ragged humans below—the men and women who have been reduced to nothing more than test subjects—stand helpless, shivering in fear. They are worthless, expendable. Athena and Cassandra do not see them as individuals, merely tools for their amusement. The chimps are released, and the experiment begins.
The chimps leap from their cages with terrifying speed, their wild eyes fixed on the group below. The humans scream, scattering in all directions, but there is nowhere to run. Cassandra’s pulse quickens, and she presses the control device in her hand, sending an excruciating shock through one of the chimps as it lunges toward a young woman. The creature shrieks in agony, veering away from the female at the last second. Athena smiles, satisfied.
“See? It works,” she says, her voice calm. But there is a glint in her eyes—an almost predatory satisfaction as she watches the chaos unfold below. “Mostly.”
Cassandra lets out a soft, wicked laugh. “Mostly,” she echoes, her thumb teasing the button of her device. She watches as one of the chimps moves toward a female, its teeth bared. She lets it get close, close enough for the woman to feel the hot breath of the beast on her skin, before sending another wave of agony through the creature’s body. The chimp howls, its limbs convulsing as it writhes on the ground. The woman stumbles backward, her face white with terror, but there is no relief—there is always another chimp, another wave of horror waiting for her.
The two women laugh, their voices ringing out over the courtyard, a stark contrast to the screams of their victims. There is no empathy in their laughter—only the joy of power, the thrill of cruelty. Cassandra takes another drag of her cigarette, savoring the moment.
“It’s quite the show,” she muses, her eyes narrowing as one of the chimps hesitates, confused by the electric shocks coursing through its body. It begins to retreat, but before it can get far, Athena presses her button, and the chimp’s body convulses violently before collapsing to the ground. Athena smiles, cold and cruel, her thumb still resting lightly on the control.
“It is, isn’t it?” Athena replies, her voice devoid of any warmth. “Though we can afford a few casualties among the women, I think. Just to ensure the chimps understand the distinction.”
Cassandra’s smile widens. She watches as one of the female test subjects—her face gaunt, her rags clinging to her emaciated frame—scrambles to escape, but it’s too late. A chimp, driven by fury, latches onto her, tearing into her flesh with savage ferocity. For a brief moment, Cassandra’s finger hovers over the control, but she doesn’t press it. Instead, she leans forward, her eyes gleaming with sadistic delight.
“Let’s see how long she lasts,” Cassandra murmurs, her voice thick with amusement.
The woman’s screams pierce the air as the chimp rips her apart, but neither Cassandra nor Athena flinch. This is nothing more than entertainment to them. The lives of these humans are as insignificant as insects beneath their boots. To feel the power coursing through their hands, to control both beast and man with the slightest press of a button—it’s exhilarating.
“Perhaps we’ll need to fine-tune the implants,” Athena says idly, as though she were discussing a minor technical glitch in her research. She presses her device again, and another chimp jerks back from a woman it had been approaching, screeching in pain. “But overall, I’m pleased with the results.”
Lady Cassandra exhales slowly, the tip of her cigarette glowing in the dimming light as she watches the courtyard below. The experiment has gone splendidly. The chimps, savage and brutal, have torn apart all the men in a glorious display of carnage, just as Athena had promised. A few of the women had met the same fate, their screams filling the air, all for Cassandra’s personal amusement. To her, it made no difference whether it was a man or a woman writhing in pain; their suffering was fuel to her dark delight. Life, in all its forms, was merely an expendable resource for her pleasure.
Six women still remain, huddling together in the far corner of the courtyard, their faces etched with terror. The chimps, bloodied and crazed, pace around them, snarling, eager for more. Cassandra’s eyes are alight with sadistic joy, every ounce of her being savoring the terror of the survivors below. She takes another drag from her cigarette, smirking as she watches one of the chimps lunge toward a cowering woman.
Then, unexpectedly, Athena presses the master kill switch on her handheld device. Cassandra’s expression falters, her brow furrowing in confusion. A moment later, all of the chimps collapse to the ground, their bodies convulsing violently, their shrieks of agony cutting through the air. Within seconds, they are all dead; twisted, lifeless forms scattered across the blood-soaked courtyard.
“What…?” Cassandra mutters, flicking her cigarette over the balcony, her excitement ebbing slightly as disappointment sets in. “Why did you end it so soon?” Her voice is laced with annoyance, her gaze shifting to her friend, uncertain why Athena would spoil the fun so abruptly.
Athena merely smiles, a secretive, knowing glint in her eyes. “Oh, Electra,” she says smoothly, using the nickname she had coined for Cassandra during their earlier experiments with electricity. “I have something even better in store for us.”
Before Cassandra can ask what Athena means, the heavy iron gate on the far side of the courtyard creaks open. A deep, rumbling growl fills the air, causing the remaining women to freeze in fear. Out of the shadows saunters a monstrous, eighteen-foot Nile crocodile, its massive, armored body lumbering forward with terrifying grace. The scales along its back shimmer in the dying light, a grotesque vision of raw, primal power.
Cassandra’s eyes widen in awe. “Oh, Athena…” she breathes, her disappointment vanishing in an instant, replaced with a wicked grin. “This is… magnificent.”
She lights herself another cigarette, to help savour the moment.
Athena nods, her expression one of calm satisfaction. “Just for fun,” she says with a smirk, “I’ve implanted dozens of pain inducers all over its body. I thought you’d appreciate something a little more… unpredictable.”
As the crocodile nears the terrified women, its massive jaws snapping with bone-crushing force, Cassandra feels a shiver of delight run down her spine. She and Athena press the buttons on their devices simultaneously, expecting the beast to convulse in agony as the chimps had. But to their surprise; and immense amusement; the crocodile seems utterly unaffected. It ignores the pain inducers entirely, its focus fixed solely on the humans before it.
The women scream as the crocodile lunges, its jaws clamping down on one of them with brutal precision. Blood sprays across the courtyard as the creature drags its victim into the center, thrashing its enormous body in a vicious display of power. The remaining survivors scatter, scrambling in every direction, but there is no escape. The beast is relentless, unstoppable, its movements slow but devastating.
Athena and Cassandra burst into laughter, their cruel, mirthful cackles echoing over the carnage below. Cassandra’s sides ache from how hard she’s laughing, tears of pure amusement glistening in her eyes.
“Well, well!” she gasps between laughs. “It seems our dear friend here is immune to a little shock therapy!”
Athena nods, her own laughter a low, melodic sound. “Indeed,” she says, her voice laced with satisfaction. “It seems I’ll have to work a little harder to break this one. But that only makes it more interesting, don’t you think?”
Cassandra watches in pure ecstasy as the crocodile continues its rampage, ripping into another helpless woman. The survivors’ screams have become desperate, shrill wails of terror that only heighten the pleasure for both women. Blood pools beneath the beast as it savages its prey, tossing one body aside like a rag doll before moving on to the next. There is no urgency in its movements; it knows it is the apex predator, and it toys with its victims, just as the ladies toy with all life.
The devices in Cassandra and Athena’s hands lie useless, the buttons now a meaningless accessory to the display of raw carnage below. But that only makes the moment more delicious. They watch as the women fall one by one, the screams growing weaker, the blood more abundant. It’s a symphony of destruction, and they are the conductors, presiding over the grand finale with laughter and indifference.
“Should we intervene?” Cassandra asks mockingly, her lips curling into a cruel smile as one of the women attempts to climb the wall, her hands slipping in the blood-slicked surface.
Athena shakes her head, still chuckling. “No need. Let the beast have its fun. We can always get more test subjects, after all.”
The two women share a knowing glance, a silent bond of cruelty and superiority that words cannot convey. In this moment, they are goddesses, looking down upon the chaos they have unleashed, unconcerned with the lives that are being snuffed out before them. To them, these humans are nothing; less than nothing. They exist only to serve as entertainment, disposable in every sense.
As the last of the women is dragged beneath the crocodile’s jaws, her body twisted and broken, Cassandra leans back against the railing, letting out a contented sigh. “I must say, Athena, you’ve truly outdone yourself. This… this is the kind of amusement I live for.”
Athena smiles, pleased with herself. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. And I suppose now I’ll have a new challenge; breaking that beast will be no small feat. But I’m confident I’ll find a way.”
Cassandra’s eyes gleam with excitement at the thought. “I look forward to watching,” she says, her voice low, seductive with the thrill of power. She flicks her last cigarette butt into the courtyard, where it lands in a pool of blood, the final trace of her amusement.
Together, they stand, side by side, their laughter fading into the evening air as the last echoes of the screams die away. The courtyard is a mess of blood, bodies, and the hulking figure of the Nile crocodile, now satiated and resting amid the carnage it has wrought.
For Athena and Cassandra, this is the pinnacle of entertainment; absolute control, absolute power, and the absolute destruction of those beneath them. And as they look out over the bloodied remains of their playthings, they know that this is only the beginning. There will always be more experiments, more suffering, and more fun. For them, life is nothing but a game, and they are the only players that matter.