“Five hundred thousand dollars!”

I smirked as gasps filled the room. I had been standing in the back quietly for most of the showing, being sure to make myself seem less interesting, but now all eyes turned to look at me. Slowly straightening up from my spot leaning against the wall, I walked out of the darkened end of the room and into the lit area. A noticed a few eyes widen upon recognizing who I was, a few others seemed confused. Reactions I was expecting.

“Is that Alexander Gaskarth?” Someone whispered, and suddenly everyone was mumbling, looking at each other and then me.

“Alexander Gaskarth?” The feline announcer called, looking at me as I walked closer, dead center of the entire room. “What are you doing here?”
“I'm just here to buy back what's mine.” I shrugged.

There was a bit more whispers and mumbling before finally someone stood up, and of course it was the imbecile I just out bid.

I always hated this kid, every since high school. We were close to the same age, him being a year younger than me. His family wasn't exactly known for being honest, well-rounded businessmen. Their companies barely get by, mere skeletons of what one of his great great something grandfathers built back when hybrids were first becoming first class citizens. He was never all that bright, and always smelled like drugs and like a drowned rat. Which was funny, considering he was a feline, probably played with his food too much as a kid. Must be said to be part of the one line of Tigers, a breed usually seen as regal, that is so piss poor in genetics.

“What the hell does that even mean?” Ashton asked, glaring at me. “You don't belong here, Gaskarth.”
“Oh screw off, Ashton.” I said, rolling my eyes and looking at him. “I can do whatever I want.”
“Yeah? Well, may I just remind you, and everyone in this room for that matter, that you're the reason we are all currently in this musky basement? What happened to being the poster boy for the liberation of humans?”

The crowd murmured quietly, many of them nodding in agreement to his statement.

“That was years ago.” I said, frowning. “At least I know how to work for something and turn things into my favor. How's your daddy's company going? Still being run by your younger brother and not you?”

Ashton frown, shoving his way through the crowd. I nearly laughed as he got into my face, his own looking like some five year old who just got told the word 'no' for the first time.

“Look here, boy.” He said, “Don't you dare think you can just walk in here and act like you own the place.”
“Don't I though?” I asked, smiling brightly. Ashton just stared at me, not saying a word. “Oh, you don't know? I own this station.” I laughed. “I own the fucking law, why do you think I could change it? I let you sickos have your fun here, this has only been established in the last few months, yes? I knew about it the second it started and I didn't give a shit.” I stepped closer to him, and whispered quietly into his ear. “I also happen to own a large investigation agency and if you don't sit the fuck down and shut your mouth this second, I think I'll be sending an email to them about your lovely home and what sort of situation it's in.”

Leaning away, I noted how pale he looked before he slowly backed off and went back to wherever his seat was. Looking around the room, I set my hands on my hips and glared in a random direction.

“Anyone else got a problem?” I asked, receiving silence as an answer. “Good. Now, this auction is closed for the night. I'll be collecting my purchase and I suggest you all go home. Sound great?”

The announcer quickly ended everything, and people began to shuffle out or head towards side stage, probably picking up their purchases. I chose to walk right up to the stage, where the guards were holding up him. I saw them drug him, but damn, he was really out of it now. Barely able to stand, let alone walk probably. Sighing in annoyance, I looked at the two guards and quickly barked out a command for them to bring him to a chair in the seats. I had papers to sign and documents to take home. Might as well save dragging him out of here until after this was done.

This may not have been my original plan, certainly wasn't going to spend actual money on him, but the little fuck just had to piss me off when I went to pick him up. I thought getting caught and beaten by the police would be enough. Hell, I thought there was small possibility of the alarms in the house being enough to scare him into just staying put.

Hopefully this put him in the mindset that he was never, ever, going to be free again.

Once I was sat down and finishing up paperwork, still pissy that now I had the documents I needed to officially have Jack be my property because I paid half a million bucks for them instead of the standard hundred dollars. That was going to put a dent in my funds.

At least now I'm in charge of these underground operations too. So, I'm getting a cut back and more. I thought, signing the last thing and getting up to drop them off with the gal who was collecting them as people left the room.

Once back in the main room, I saw that there was only one guard next to Jack now. Walking up, I gave a wave of my hand, shooing him off. The kid was still doped up, its not like I couldn't handle dragging him to my car myself. The guard nodded, mumbling a farewell before leaving us alone. I watched him walk away for a moment before looking back towards the barely awake human before me.

“Well, might as well get you out of here.” I mumbled, grabbing his bicep and dragging him to a standing position. I was slightly annoyed with how useless he was at the moment, considering I was planning on punishing him still.

Before we even left the room, however, he mumbled something.

“What?” I asked, not really expecting a real answer but Jack sort of rolled his head to the side in order to look at me and managed to garble some reply.

“Why.. would you...?”

“Why would I...” I responded back, trying to make sure I got the question right. “Buy you back?”
“Mmm,” It sounded like a positive noise back, so I decided to answer.
“I wasn't bout to hand you over to some lunatic.”

Jack made something that sounded like a snort, and I swear he smiled for a second before suddenly all his weight was being shifted away from me.

Fucking idiot passed out.

Struggling to pull him back up, I ended up just carrying him the rest of the way and dumping him in the backseat of my car. The ride ended up being uneventful.

So now, here I was, playing with the collar while sitting in a chair across the sofa. Where I had set the boy down and waited. It's been a couple hours, nearing the afternoon now, and I may have had a few glasses of wine. Growing inpatient with how long this was, I looked to the floor where I had a few things laying around. I wanted to do this a bit more dramatically, but really, what would be the point?

I knew a way to wake him up. Twirling the partly metal ring in one hand and reaching for a pair of cuffs, I decided to put my plan into action.

Notes

Alex, the man with a plan, and some issues.