Fan Fiction

Callie blinked. “No?”

“I don’t want any investigation!” Manx was practically standing on Callie’s desk now. “That will definitely drive Mr. Young away!”

“How could it? We’ve been in worse situations than this! And, if we don’t do something soon, the city will shut down!”

“I don’t care! We can’t involve the Enforcers in any type of investigation, no matter how trivial.” Manx looked even more nervous. “Is there anything else we can do?”

“Well…” Callie paused as if to contemplate something. “Feral did tell me that there was one account Hard Drive couldn’t get into because he was discovered. We might be able to float the city on that account.”

Manx sighed, and then shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. Do it. I’ll leave it you.”

Callie crossed her arms. “And if we run out of money?”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to figure something out, my dear.” Manx walked toward Callie’s office door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a golf game to attend to.”

This was my father’s car.” Callie growled through her teeth. “It’s got heart. It’s made of good, old-fashioned Megakat steel, and I am not replacing it.”

“There’s a company we work with out of Fursdale which specializes in vintage cars, and they might have parts for this…but they don’t come cheap.” Larry shrugged. “Sorry, Missus Briggs, but as good as this car used to be, now it’s more of a clunker. You’d be better off trading it in…no, scratch that. At this point, it’s only good for scrap.”

Callie fought down the twitch above her eyelid. Taking in a breath to calm herself, she reached one paw up and removed her glasses, then made a deliberate show of cleaning them.

“Well, for as honest as you’re being with me, I think I’ll need to seek out a second opinion.” She set her glasses back on and stared hard at the older, overweight tom.

“Sure. That’s your prerogative.” Larry shrugged. “I’m just saying, as it is, you’ll be lucky to get another 150 miles out of it. You go anywhere else in town, they’ll either laugh you out of the shop or promise you the moon and then rip you off. I’d think seriously about my offer.”

Callie chuffed at that. “My father was an auto mechanic for his entire life. He’d roll over in his grave if I accepted your offer.”

Larry cracked a smile. “Well. Guess you’re out of luck, then. Will you be wanting to drive it out of here then?”

“Of course.”

“Take my advice, drive it right to the salvage yard outside of town.” Larry chuckled. “Hell. You might even be able to convince those two bums out there to take a crack at it.”

Quite frankly, Mr. Clawson, I’m looking to hire out bodyguards for myself while I’m conducting my business in Megakat City. My assistant insisted on a police escort so I naturally thought of Chance. But since you both are no longer with the Enforces and you have the proper background, I would like to hire you.”

“Bodyguards?” Jake repeated. “Do you mind explaining to me, Ms. Furfax, exactly why you would be needing them?”

With a small motion, Tawny had a card in her hand and smoothy handed it to Jake. “Furfax Industries is one of the biggest privately owned technological engineers in the world just short of government owned facilities like Pumadyne. As CEO, that alone makes me a target.

“But my main concern while here is that page three story.”

“The trial?” Jake asked.

Chance’s face darkened with disapproval.

“I’m not allowed to go into the details, but I am going to be a witness at the trial. The Bombays are a very powerful mafia family, both here and in Purrson Heights. I’ve already had several attempts on my life, trying to scare me away from testifying. I won’t sugar coat it, Mr. Clawson, if you take the job, chances are you will be in danger. I have already lost my previous bodyguards to gunshot injuries. No fatalities as of yet, but-”

“But there’s always a first time,” Jake responded.

Blueprints hung on various pegboards next to a work table. Tools were scattered about, piled next to what appeared to be weapons and incomplete modes of transportation. Computers and tablets were online, all of them with even more virtual ideas, some with notes scribbled next to them.

And, the area was big. For all she knew, it stretched across miles beneath the salvage yard.

“All this?” Callie couldn’t stop looking at the endless piles strewn about the underground bunker.

“This is what I’ve been doing for the last six months.” Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “But I’m not even close to finishing. I have all the material I need, but there’s so much left to do.”

Callie’s eyes softened. “All this for…”

“I will get him back.” Jake’s determined expression didn’t falter. “I made you a promise, and I’m keeping it.”

The only sound for a while was the soft hum of the air conditioner above them. Callie then broke the silence after rubbing away at her eyes. “I’m going to help you.”

Jake blinked, making sure he heard right. “I… What?”

“I’m going to help you,” Callie repeated. “You have the material and the know-how, and I have the connections. We’re going to get him back.”

We are the 73% who live marginally tolerable lives compared to the rest of the world,” The Commander pounded his steering wheel with gusto, “We deserve better!”

“I mainly just care about myself, sir.”

“This city deserves a leader who cares about its katizens following the rules! A leader who is tough, but fair. A leader who has a keen sense of justice, and the toughness to carry it out. One who will set up a perimeter first and ask questions later. It needs someone who’s unafraid to do the right thing… toughly!”

“Hey ya’ moron!”

The blare of a car horn was followed by a flurry of expletives, all coming from the Boy Scout carpool directly behind them, “Move your dual-exhaust eco-killer out of the way! We’re calling the Enforcers!”

“Do you hear that, Steele?”

“Yes, quite clearly, Commander.”

“They’re calling for us. This populace is unruly and belligerent, because it’s at the breaking point. It needs *me* to whip it back into shape.”

Burke knelt down and pulled back a ratty-looking rug, revealing what appeared to be a kathole cover or a hatch of some kind. Murray blinked.

“It looks like a hatch.”

“I know,” Burke replied. “What I don’t know is what it’s doin’ in the middle of the floor here in their pad.”

Murray scratched his head under his cap, thinking. He suddenly snapped his fingers. “I know what it is!”

“What?” asked Burke.

“This place used to be a base or something like that back in Mega War II, and it had a big underground bunker and stuff like that,” his brother said. Burke’s eyebrows furrowed under his cap. “I used to ta’ have the skematics of the place from the city hall of records, but I lost ’em.”

“So you’re sayin’ there’s a whole underground complex under our feet that nobody’s been down to in over fifty years?” There was wonderment in Burke’s voice.

“Yup,” said Murray. “And I’ll bet ya two cans of tuna that that’s where those jerks Clawson and Furlong are hidin’!”

He trusts he can lead us that far down the path.

He’s right.

But, I can’t see it.

I can see only the deal. A chance to fly again. A chance to make Feral pay.

It’s now or never.

Again, I look to my friend. “Jake?”

Dark Kat too levels his gaze on Jake. “You do want to get back at the Commander, don’t you?”

He finally admits what’s been brewing inside even him. “Yes,” he says flatly. “I’m in.”

I blink at my partner’s abrupt change of heart… and his tone of voice.

Something’s wrong.

But, I turn to Dark Kat anyway. I blind myself again. I want this. “Alright. You got yourself a deal.”

“Then, a deal it is,” Dark Kat returns, offering me a hand to shake.

The stranger started laughing dismissively. With fear in his eyes, Matthew slowly came out from under his desk.

“Who… who are you? What do you want?” Matthew asked very frightened.

“So, you don’t even remember me. Just as I thought. No matter. It might be even funnier that way. Does the name Hard Drive mean anything to you?”

Matthew gulped. “You mean… that you are…?”

“Yes,” Hard Drive answered proudly. “I am Hard Drive and for your information: I’ve just stole Sally from you and swiped your servers clean. Now it’s all in here.” He pointed with his finger at his coat. “And there is nothing you can do about it.”

“B.. b.. but why? This is code for a… for a game. How could this be of any interest to someone like you?”

“It has, no doubt. You see, this game code of yours is capable of much more than you can obviously imagine. But you will see soon enough. You know I could have stolen the code from outside, but I wanted you to see how it gets stolen and by whom. So now it’s time to say ‘Goodbye’ to Sally.”