Time: 8:00 PM. A clandestine warehouse in the Bronx.
The air inside smelled of sawdust, animal urine, and fear. This was the headquarters of "The Zookeeper", a notorious black-market dealer of exotic animals—or at least, he used to be.
Solomon stood in the center of the empty room, holding a leather-bound ledger. The beam of his flashlight cut through the darkness, illuminating his cold, expressionless face. Behind him stood Benny (cracking his knuckles), Gara (clutching a crowbar), and Daniel.
Daniel was there to "redeem himself" after yesterday’s beating. He wore a black tactical jacket to look tough, but he was standing a little too close to Benny’s back. He tried to scowl at the empty cages, but his eyes kept darting around nervously.
"Mr. Zookeeper," Solomon’s voice echoed off the cold metal walls. "You owe Skull Cross $200,000. Your payment is 45 days overdue. Penalty interest is compounding."
The Zookeeper, a skinny man with dark circles under his eyes and a nervous tic, wiped sweat from his forehead with a dirty sleeve. "I... I don't have the cash, Mr. Gats! The shipment from Brazil... it died! Virus! All the marmosets, the jaguars... dead! I'm bankrupt!"
Solomon snapped the ledger shut. The sharp CLAP made the man jump. "I do not care about dead monkeys. I care about collateral. Liquidation is mandatory."
"I have one thing!" The Zookeeper cried, backing away behind some rotting crates. "One survivor. A genetic anomaly. I was going to sell it to a weapon lab, but... she is too dangerous to move."
He pointed a trembling finger at a heavy steel cage reinforced with double layers of chain-link mesh in the darkest corner of the room. "Take her. She's worth more than $200,000. If you can survive owning her."
Scene 2: The Mutant (Madam Audit)
Solomon walked toward the cage. He switched his flashlight to maximum brightness.
Visual: Inside the cage coiled a creature that looked like it had crawled out of a nightmare. It was a Rattlesnake, but the size was physically impossible. It was massive—easily 12 to 14kg of dense muscle, coiled up like a dirt bike tire. Her scales were ash-grey, stacked thick like plate armor. Her eyes were a piercing, intelligent yellow. And the most terrifying feature: Protruding from the scales on top of her head was a single, crimson-red Horn. A perfect, grotesque genetic mutation.
Audio: The snake saw the light. She slowly raised her tail. Usually, a rattlesnake makes a dry, hissing buzz like sand. But this monster was different. CLACK... CLACK... CLACK... The sound was deep, heavy, and metallic. It sounded like a machine gun jamming, or two steel pipes banging together. It wasn't an animal warning; it was the mechanical startup sequence of a killing machine.
"The Red-Horned Viper," The Zookeeper whispered, hiding behind a crate. "Female. The females of this mutation are twice as large and three times more aggressive. Her venom is a concentrated neurotoxin. One bite drops a bull elephant in 4 minutes. It dissolves nerve tissue."
Solomon pulled out a pen, calmly taking notes. "Maintenance protocols?"
"You have to extract the fangs," The Zookeeper said quickly. "But be careful. They regrow every 30 days. You have to pull them out periodically like harvesting corn. If you miss a schedule... you die."
Solomon wrote in his notebook:
- Asset Type: Biological Weapon (Female).
- Maintenance: Monthly Fang Extraction.
- Sound Signature: Heavy Metallic.
"S-S-Sir?" Daniel stammered, his face pale as he looked at the beast. "Maybe... maybe we just take his kidney instead? That thing looks... evil. She's looking at me."
Solomon ignored Daniel. He turned to Gara. "Gara. The Kevlar sleeve and the leather guard. Immediately."
Scene 3: The Audit (The Test)
Solomon wrapped his left arm in thick layers of ballistic Kevlar and a heavy cowhide overlay. He looked like a K-9 trainer preparing to wrestle a wolf. With his right hand, he pulled out a stopwatch.
"Open the cage," Solomon commanded.
"Are you crazy?!" The Zookeeper shrieked. "She'll kill us all!" "Open. It." Solomon’s voice was colder than winter.
The Zookeeper's trembling pressed the remote lock. CLICK. The cage door swung open.
The Action: The moment the gap appeared, the snake didn't slither. She launched. WHOOSH. A dark blur flew at Solomon faster than the eye could track.
Solomon raised his armored left arm. THUD! The snake slammed into his arm with the force of a sledgehammer. The fangs pierced the leather, punched through the first layer of Kevlar, and stopped millimeters from Solomon’s skin. The impact was so heavy Solomon had to take a step back to brace himself.
BEEP. Solomon pressed the stopwatch with his right hand.
He looked at the digital display, completely ignoring the 12kg monster currently hanging from his arm, trying to chew through the armor. "0.15 seconds," Solomon announced, his tone flat like he was reading a financial report. "Attack velocity is superior. 0.5 seconds faster than the average draw speed of a Tier 3 soldier. Interception efficiency rating: 400%."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Solomon looked down at his ruined armor, tracing the deep puncture holes. He turned his cold eyes to the trembling Zookeeper.
"This custom Kevlar-cowhide sleeve cost $1,200," Solomon stated. "I am adding the replacement cost to your outstanding balance, plus a 10% equipment testing fee. Have the cash ready next month, or Madam Audit will visit you to collect it."
Scene 4: The Capture & The Ride Home
The Capture: The snake realized her fangs were stuck. She started thrashing wildly. CLACK... CLACK... CLACK... The metallic tail vibrated violently.
"Benny! The tail!" Solomon ordered, struggling to hold the snake’s head.
"No legs!" Benny yelled, sweating profusely. "Boss, it has no legs! Benny hates things with no legs!" Despite his complaints, Benny lunged. His massive hands grabbed the thick, muscular tail. "It's so strong! Like holding a fire hose!" Benny groaned.
"Daniel! Redemption time!" Solomon shouted. "Bring the box!"
Daniel gulped. He looked at the monster, then at Solomon. He remembered the humiliation from yesterday. "Y-Yes Boss!" Daniel grabbed the reinforced glass transport box and ran forward. "Get in there, you devil noodle!"
"Gara! Neck clamp!" Gara moved fast, using steel tongs to clamp just behind the snake’s head. Solomon pried the fangs out of the armor. SNAP. Together, they shoved the thrashing beast into the glass box and locked the lid. BANG! The snake struck the glass, her yellow eyes filled with hate.
The Ride Home: Time: 9:00 PM. Inside the Company SUV.
The atmosphere was suffocating. Solomon sat in the passenger seat, calmly cleaning his glasses. The glass box sat on his lap. Gara drove, knuckles white on the steering wheel, eyes fixed forward, refusing to look right. Benny and Daniel were squeezed into the back seat, pressing themselves against the doors to get as far away from the box as possible.
Inside the box, Madam Audit was striking the glass repeatedly. THUD! THUD! Her eyes were locked on Gara’s ear.
Solomon (Lecturing): "Look at her scale density," Solomon said admiringly. "She is a masterpiece of evolution. No wasted energy. Pure lethality. She will be the perfect Auditor."
Daniel (Internal Monologue): Daniel trembled, staring at the box in the rearview mirror. "Why is my life like this? Yesterday I got beat up by bums, today I'm trapped in a car with a mutant reptile. If that glass breaks... she bites Solomon first... but what if she jumps to the back? Does my contract include Hazard Pay for biological weapons?! If I die, will HR process my life insurance, or will they classify it as a 'workplace accident' to avoid paying my family? I'm too young to die! I haven't even spent my bonus yet!"
Benny (Internal Monologue): Benny, the strongest man in New York, was leaking sweat like a broken pipe. "Benny can punch concrete. Benny can bend steel," he thought, swallowing hard. "But Benny cannot punch poison. Poison is cheating. Muscles useless against juice. Scary lady snake. Benny wants to go home."
Gara (Panicking): "Boss..." Gara squeaked. "She... she keeps looking at my jugular. I swear she's calculating the distance to my neck." "Drive smoother, Gara," Solomon said, tapping the lid. "You are agitating Madam Audit."
"Madam?!" Gara whispered. "Great. Now she has a job title."
Scene 5: The New Office Decor
Time: 10:00 PM. The Exchange HQ - The Oval Suite.
The luxurious office with its mahogany furniture and marble floors now had a horrifying centerpiece. On top of the low file cabinet, under a warm heat lamp, sat the glass tank. Inside, Madam Audit was coiled up, her red horn glowing under the light. She looked like a Queen on her throne.
The Twins entered to file the mission report.
"Master, we have the—KYAAAAA!" Raphaela, the S-Class assassin, let out a high-pitched scream. Reflexively, she leaped onto Solomon’s desk, crouching on top of his paperwork, knocking over a pen holder. "What is that?! It has a horn! Why is it a snake?! Why is she looking at me like she wants to eat me?! Master! Get rid of it!"
Luciela didn't scream, but her face went pale. She immediately drew her knife, stepping between Solomon and the tank. "Master," Luciela said, her voice tight. "This creature is a high-level security threat. She has no loyalty. I suggest I decapitate her, skin her for a belt, and make soup. Snake soup is good for vitality."
Solomon didn't look up from his papers. "Negative. Her name is Madam Audit. She is the new Head of Internal Affairs."
"Madam?!" Raphaela gasped, still crouching on the desk. "You gave the snake a title? Does she outrank us?"
Luciela’s eye twitched behind her glasses. "Master, with all due respect to the Organizational Chart... She is a reptile. She hasn't submitted a resume, she hasn't passed the probationary period, and she doesn't even have hands to type reports. Placing her in Executive Management is highly irregular!"
Solomon tapped the glass with his pen. Tink. Madam Audit looked up, flicked her tongue, and... slowly lowered her head, resting it on her coils.
"She understands leverage," Solomon smiled faintly. "Unlike some employees who jump on the CEO's desk."
Scene 6: The Whispers
Solomon dismissed them. Out in the hallway, the Twins walked away. Raphaela was still shivering, rubbing the goosebumps on her arms.
"He's crazy," Raphaela whispered loudly, indignant. "Master calls her 'Madam'! Did you see how she looked at me? That snake is a bitch! I can tell! It's a female thing! She hates me!"
Luciela stopped. She looked back at the closed office door. She thought about the snake. Then she thought about Solomon—the man who timed a lethal strike with a stopwatch and called a monster "Madam." A shiver ran down her spine. Not fear of the snake, but awe of the Mad King.
She reached out and covered Raphaela’s mouth. "Shhh. Be quiet, you idiot," Luciela whispered, her eyes narrowing into cold slits. "Master likes his new toy. If we complain, he will think we are weak."
She leaned closer to her sister, her voice dropping to a sinister hiss. "We will let her stay. But we must study her. We must figure out how to kill her instantly... just in case she forgets who the real Alpha is."
Raphaela’s eyes went wide. She looked at her sister, then back at the door. She nodded frantically behind Luciela’s hand. Her lips curled into a wild, silent, feral smile—agreeing completely with the murder plot, even though deep down, her heart was still pounding with fear of the red-horned monster.
Inside the office, the metallic rattle echoed softly. Clack... Clack... Solomon turned the page of his book. "Good night, Madam."
End of Chapter 48.
[ OFFICE MEMO: NEW EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENT ]
Madam Audit, the new Head of Internal Affairs at Siren Capital. She doesn't take bribes, she doesn't sleep, and she certainly doesn't like "inefficiency."
The Production Report: > We are still operating under Austerity Mode (3 Chapters/Week). The market sentiment (Follows/Ratings) is moving, but we haven't hit the 25 Followers KPI yet.
Feed the Snake (and Daniel's Therapy Fund): ? ??
Copyright ? 2026 by Gats VII. All rights reserved. This story is officially published only on Royal Road, Scribble Hub, and Patreon. If you are reading this elsewhere, it has been stolen.