14: Do not Make a Super-Cat Angry

Curtis, having done what he had wanted to do at the hospital, made his way back to the Mansion, stopping only to blast one of the Mine-Laying Cycles on his way back. "I can't believe it," he was muttering to himself. "Here I am, standing around and stalling, but for what? Each second that I loiter is an extra second that Chaos Kitten has to his own advantage!"

Reaching the Mansion, he hurriedly pushed open the front door and headed right for the Command Center, where he could finally plot out some strategy. The entire building was empty, devoid of everyone from veteran to newcomer. He entered the Center and finally set to work. "Mu 2," he growled to the computer, claws flying over the keyboard, "Any updates on the battle outside?"

"Same thing for past number of hours," muttered M2. "Chaos is slowly starting to push his way towards the Palace. Carlos Cosmos and 5 of his wingmen are attacking the outer defenses on the Eggs. Teasy and the Rad-Cats left not long ago, along with the other half of Cosmos Squadron, to comb out the lice in the United States known as the Cheese Mafia."

"Wait a second," Curtis said, his claws coming to a quick stop. "Teasy went to the United States? I was going to have him take out some of those Siege Tanks."

"Specifically, Manhattan, sir," said Mu 2. "I forwarded a call from the Sundance Kid to Teasy about 30 minutes ago. The New York Pizza Cats were going to raid the office of Chester Korbi, a member of the Cheese Mafia. They requested backup specifically from the main branch of the Super-Cats' Infinite Defense."

"That is correct, sir," said Mu 2, his voice a bit quieter. "The Tennessee branch is out of action. All 113 Super-Cats stationed there have been captured, injured, or both."

Curtis slammed his fist against a console. Somehow, that action must have made the emergency light right above Mu 2's monitor blink. Pushing it, he triggered a new line of responses from Mu 2. The calico listened to each one, his eyes widening with shock.

"The Pizza Cat parlor has been damaged. An outer wall collapsed on top of Speedy, Polly, Guido, and Good Bird, injuring them to the extent that they wouldn't be able to fight. On top of that, I have just received an emergency report originating a mile southwest of the Palace."

Curtis shook his head, trying to clear out what he was hearing. This couldn't be happening! "Alright, then. What is it?"

"The leader of this revolution, Chaos Kitten, has tracked down and captured Violet. He stole her sword first, which activated the alarm. He then caused a leftover support from a toppled building to collapse on top of her. With her knocked out, he only had to pick her up and carry her away. He cannot morph the sword into anything, due to its special properties, but---"

"Mu 2, shut yourself off," Curtis snapped. "Before you do, though, get a message through to Aldonza. I need her at the Pizza Cat parlor, pronto!"

Leaping out of the Command Center, he slashed open a gaping hole in his bedroom window and leaped to the ground below. "All right now, Chaos Kitten," he yelled, "this time you've done it!"

And that was the last any onlookers saw of him as he raced his way into lightspeed.

Spinning her way through a series of airborne manuevers, Aldonza dodged the fire that the Land-Air Bombers could throw at her, hoping to keep them from firing on the helpless. Using the lasers from her eyes, she was able to disable the weaponry on one of the Bombers; but even SHE couldn't keep this up forever....

A buzzing noise threw her out of her rhythm and sent her spinning as one of the Bomber's blasts nearly made impact. Checking the source of the buzzing noise, Aldonza decided to try a different approach.

As the 8 Bombers that had been sent to take her down closed in, she started flying in circles around them. As the guns swiveled to keep her in their sights, she steadily increased her speed, initiating a Cyclone attack. Eventually, it had gotten to the point where she had to break Mach 3; but it was enough to cause a whirlpool of wind to knock the Bombers out of control, sending them crashing into the ground.

Stopping her mid-air spin, she landed on the roof of a nearby building. Hurriedly, she yanked at her right sleeve, getting it down to the point where she could see her watch. She tapped a small button. "Yes, who is this?"

"Aldonza, this is Mu 2. Grand Admiral Wildcat wants you to rendezvous with him at the Pizza Cats' parlor. The SPC have been gravely injured, and Wildcat thinks that your skills could come in handy...."

Mu 2 never got to say anymore. Deactivating the transmission, Aldonza pulled her sleeve back up, leaped to the ground and took off running down a back alley, one of the few left that hadn't been scorched.

Mu 2 listened to the static coming from the transmission, then closed the link. "Well!" it said aloud. "Everyone's been really rude recently!"

Curtis finished dragging the portions of the wall off to one side. The 4 SPC that he had just rescued looked badly beaten and battered. He paced for a few seconds, then sat down on top of one of the broken pieces of parlor wall. "Come on, Aldonza, where are you?"

"All right, all right," shouted someone. Curtis looked up and saw Aldonza running towards him. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

The fox came to a quick stop next to the SPC. "You want me to get them back up to speed?" she asked.

"It's the most obvious thing in Little Tokyo," snarled Curtis. "We'll need their help to stop Chaos Kitten. What else do you want to do today?"

"Ok, then," Aldonza said, wringing her wrist in preparation. "Just stay back; we can't have your metabolism overloading at this critical junction."

Curtis stepped a few meters out of way as Aldonza knelt and placed one arm on Speedy's shoulder. A white glow, resonating out of nowhere, seemed to spark into existence around her and the Pizza Cat below her, slowly repairing whatever injuries Speedy had sustained. Aldonza shut her eyes in concentration, her tail shaking as she struggled to control this operation....

And then the glow abruptly disappeared, and her eyes shot open as an ultra-sharp pain lanced through her paw and wrist. "Ow!" She looked down at Speedy; to her surprise, the Pizza Cat was fully conscious.

As evidenced by the death grip on Aldonza's paw, which was sending spasms up and down the female fox's arm. "You can let go, now," she said, forced through gritted jaws. "I'd like to be able to keep my hand for the rest of my life."

"That must've been done reflexively," Aldonza said, rubbing her wrist. "That's the best reason I can think of for that."

"Aldonza, you haven't used those healing abilities ever since Zapana got hurt in that spaceship explosion 4 years ago," Curtis reminded her. "In that period of time, you had lost control over most of the strengths of the business, and had forgotten how quick your patient's reflexes would be once they fully recovered."

"Yeah, that could be it," she snarled. "Back off, you two. I still have 3 more to go."

The Cat joined Curtis, and the two of them walked away. "Do you remember what happened?" the calico inquired. "At least, up to the point of blacking out?"

"The 4 of us had gone on in to drag the last of the supplies over the Palace," Speedy replied. "Did you know that?"

"We heard this voice telling us that we wouldn't live long. I told him to show himself, but he just laughed and then sent the wall down on us. I don't remember anything from that point onward until Aldonza brought me back from the brink."

"That's not even the half of it," Speedy groaned. "Our armor's at the Palace, Chaos Kitten is making his way towards the place, and his army's practically unstoppable."

"We have to stop him," Curtis insisted, holding his fists in front of him. "As in----"

He turned his head at a muffled sound. Curtis didn't hear anything else, so he leaned a bit closer to the source and cupped an ear with his paw.

"That doesn't sound good," Speedy said, shaking his head. He started running towards the noise, while Curtis hissed under his breath and scampered after him.

It didn't look good when they arrived back at the parlor. A fully awake Polly had one hand around Aldonza's throat, cutting off circulation. "C-currtiisss...hel-l-lllppp...." She was trying to get Polly's hands off her, but she wasn't very successful.

Curtis dashed forward and pried Polly's hand loose from Aldonza's neck. The fox fell backwards, one hand against her lungs, gasping for air. "Man, that was....some....dynamic reflexes!"

Polly looked down at her hands, and then at her teammates. Speedy, Guido, and GB were all fully awake. "Oops. Sorry about that."

"Yeah....no problem," Aldonza wheezed. "Now, how about stopping Chaos Kitten and his cousin? Anytime?"

A buzzing noise sounded from Curtis's direction. He pulled out Shape-Shifter and tapped the button on the handle. "Grand Admiral Wildcat, come in," he snapped.

"We're ready to go get him, Wildcat," a smooth voice purred. The sounds of aerial combat could be heard over the speaker. "We've just been waiting for your signal."

The calico's fur fluffed up. "You never had to wait for my signal," he shouted. "GET A MOVE ON AND TAKE OUT THE REACTORS ON THOSE EGGS!"

Carlos's voice remained unperturbed at Curtis's rage. "Affirmative, Curtis. Oh, and there's something that I need you to be aware of. We just did an electronic scan on a 300-foot radius, centered on your current position. There's a gigantic robot hiding approximately 145 feet and 6 inches east away from you, and it's armed to the teeth. Not to mention, piloted by a pair of organic cats."

Curtis's fur slowly came to rest. "Thanks for the heads-up, Carlos. Now, get busy. Wildcat, out." He tapped the button again, then put the sword away.

"Well, genius?" Guido's snide voice blurted out. "What's our plan of action, or are you the wrong Wildcat to speak to?"

Curtis ignored the sarcasm hidden inside that voice. He lowered his voice drastically. "You four are going to have to go to the Palace without me. Get your armor and weapons, and get ready to fight. Get your way back here as soon as possible. I'll try to hold off that robot as long as possible. Chaos Kitten and Felonia are both in there."

"If you wanted genius, you should've talked to the Professor," Aldonza shot back. Curtis snickered a little at the comparison to Little Tokyo's most brilliant mind.

Speedy looked at his teammates, and, one by one, received confirmation. "Come on, people. Let's hit it!" He, Polly, and Guido, in unison, hit the accelerators on their hover-shoes, and GB took to the air, following them to the Palace.


	14: Do Not make a Super-Cat Angry 14: Do not make a Super-Cat angry Curtis, having done what he had wanted to do at the hospital, made his way back to the Mansion, stopping only to blast one of the Mine-Laying Cycles on his way back. "I can't believe it," he was muttering to himself. "Here I am, standing around and stalling, but for what? Each second that I loiter is an extra second that Chaos Kitten has to his own advantage!" Reaching the Mansion, he hurriedly pushed open the front door and headed right for the Command Center, where he could finally plot out some strategy. The entire building was empty, devoid of everyone from veteran to newcomer. He entered the Center and finally set to work. "Mu 2," he growled to the computer, claws flying over the keyboard, "Any updates on the battle outside?" "Same thing for past number of hours," muttered M2. "Chaos is slowly starting to push his way towards the Palace. Carlos Cosmos and 5 of his wingmen are attacking the outer defenses on the Eggs. Teasy and the Rad-Cats left not long ago, along with the other half of Cosmos Squadron, to comb out the lice in the United States known as the Cheese Mafia." "Wait a second," Curtis said, his claws coming to a quick stop. "Teasy went to the United States? I was going to have him take out some of those Siege Tanks." "Specifically, Manhattan, sir," said Mu 2. "I forwarded a call from the Sundance Kid to Teasy about 30 minutes ago. The New York Pizza Cats were going to raid the office of Chester Korbi, a member of the Cheese Mafia. They requested backup specifically from the main branch of the Super-Cats' Infinite Defense." "What, they couldn't ask the backup branch down in the South?" Curtis snarled. "That is correct, sir," said Mu 2, his voice a bit quieter. "The Tennessee branch is out of action. All 113 Super-Cats stationed there have been captured, injured, or both." Curtis slammed his fist against a console. Somehow, that action must have made the emergency light right above Mu 2's monitor blink. Pushing it, he triggered a new line of responses from Mu 2. The calico listened to each one, his eyes widening with shock. "The Pizza Cat parlor has been damaged. An outer wall collapsed on top of Speedy, Polly, Guido, and Good Bird, injuring them to the extent that they wouldn't be able to fight. On top of that, I have just received an emergency report originating a mile southwest of the Palace." Curtis shook his head, trying to clear out what he was hearing. This couldn't be happening! "Alright, then. What is it?" "The leader of this revolution, Chaos Kitten, has tracked down and captured Violet. He stole her sword first, which activated the alarm. He then caused a leftover support from a toppled building to collapse on top of her. With her knocked out, he only had to pick her up and carry her away. He cannot morph the sword into anything, due to its special properties, but---" Recognition descended like a thunderclap. "NO!" "Curtis, calm dow----" "Mu 2, shut yourself off," Curtis snapped. "Before you do, though, get a message through to Aldonza. I need her at the Pizza Cat parlor, pronto!" Leaping out of the Command Center, he slashed open a gaping hole in his bedroom window and leaped to the ground below. "All right now, Chaos Kitten," he yelled, "this time you've done it!" And that was the last any onlookers saw of him as he raced his way into lightspeed. ---------- Spinning her way through a series of airborne manuevers, Aldonza dodged the fire that the Land-Air Bombers could throw at her, hoping to keep them from firing on the helpless. Using the lasers from her eyes, she was able to disable the weaponry on one of the Bombers; but even SHE couldn't keep this up forever.... A buzzing noise threw her out of her rhythm and sent her spinning as one of the Bomber's blasts nearly made impact. Checking the source of the buzzing noise, Aldonza decided to try a different approach. As the 8 Bombers that had been sent to take her down closed in, she started flying in circles around them. As the guns swiveled to keep her in their sights, she steadily increased her speed, initiating a Cyclone attack. Eventually, it had gotten to the point where she had to break Mach 3; but it was enough to cause a whirlpool of wind to knock the Bombers out of control, sending them crashing into the ground. Stopping her mid-air spin, she landed on the roof of a nearby building. Hurriedly, she yanked at her right sleeve, getting it down to the point where she could see her watch. She tapped a small button. "Yes, who is this?" "Aldonza, this is Mu 2. Grand Admiral Wildcat wants you to rendezvous with him at the Pizza Cats' parlor. The SPC have been gravely injured, and Wildcat thinks that your skills could come in handy...." Mu 2 never got to say anymore. Deactivating the transmission, Aldonza pulled her sleeve back up, leaped to the ground and took off running down a back alley, one of the few left that hadn't been scorched. -------------------- Mu 2 listened to the static coming from the transmission, then closed the link. "Well!" it said aloud. "Everyone's been really rude recently!" The supercomputer shut off, and the Mansion was once more empty. ----------------- Curtis finished dragging the portions of the wall off to one side. The 4 SPC that he had just rescued looked badly beaten and battered. He paced for a few seconds, then sat down on top of one of the broken pieces of parlor wall. "Come on, Aldonza, where are you?" "All right, all right," shouted someone. Curtis looked up and saw Aldonza running towards him. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" The fox came to a quick stop next to the SPC. "You want me to get them back up to speed?" she asked. "It's the most obvious thing in Little Tokyo," snarled Curtis. "We'll need their help to stop Chaos Kitten. What else do you want to do today?" "Ok, then," Aldonza said, wringing her wrist in preparation. "Just stay back; we can't have your metabolism overloading at this critical junction." Curtis stepped a few meters out of way as Aldonza knelt and placed one arm on Speedy's shoulder. A white glow, resonating out of nowhere, seemed to spark into existence around her and the Pizza Cat below her, slowly repairing whatever injuries Speedy had sustained. Aldonza shut her eyes in concentration, her tail shaking as she struggled to control this operation.... And then the glow abruptly disappeared, and her eyes shot open as an ultra-sharp pain lanced through her paw and wrist. "Ow!" She looked down at Speedy; to her surprise, the Pizza Cat was fully conscious. As evidenced by the death grip on Aldonza's paw, which was sending spasms up and down the female fox's arm. "You can let go, now," she said, forced through gritted jaws. "I'd like to be able to keep my hand for the rest of my life." Speedy relaxed his grip, then let go. "How'd that happen?" "That must've been done reflexively," Aldonza said, rubbing her wrist. "That's the best reason I can think of for that." "Aldonza, you haven't used those healing abilities ever since Zapana got hurt in that spaceship explosion 4 years ago," Curtis reminded her. "In that period of time, you had lost control over most of the strengths of the business, and had forgotten how quick your patient's reflexes would be once they fully recovered." "Yeah, that could be it," she snarled. "Back off, you two. I still have 3 more to go." The Cat joined Curtis, and the two of them walked away. "Do you remember what happened?" the calico inquired. "At least, up to the point of blacking out?" "The 4 of us had gone on in to drag the last of the supplies over the Palace," Speedy replied. "Did you know that?" "Yeah, Vi told me about it," Curtis said. "Anything else?" "We heard this voice telling us that we wouldn't live long. I told him to show himself, but he just laughed and then sent the wall down on us. I don't remember anything from that point onward until Aldonza brought me back from the brink." "THAT has to HURT," Curtis said, wincing at the thought. "That's not even the half of it," Speedy groaned. "Our armor's at the Palace, Chaos Kitten is making his way towards the place, and his army's practically unstoppable." "We have to stop him," Curtis insisted, holding his fists in front of him. "As in----" He turned his head at a muffled sound. Curtis didn't hear anything else, so he leaned a bit closer to the source and cupped an ear with his paw. "C-currrtis----" And then the voice was cut off. "That doesn't sound good," Speedy said, shaking his head. He started running towards the noise, while Curtis hissed under his breath and scampered after him. It didn't look good when they arrived back at the parlor. A fully awake Polly had one hand around Aldonza's throat, cutting off circulation. "C-currtiisss...hel-l-lllppp...." She was trying to get Polly's hands off her, but she wasn't very successful. Curtis dashed forward and pried Polly's hand loose from Aldonza's neck. The fox fell backwards, one hand against her lungs, gasping for air. "Man, that was....some....dynamic reflexes!" Polly looked down at her hands, and then at her teammates. Speedy, Guido, and GB were all fully awake. "Oops. Sorry about that." "Yeah....no problem," Aldonza wheezed. "Now, how about stopping Chaos Kitten and his cousin? Anytime?" A buzzing noise sounded from Curtis's direction. He pulled out Shape-Shifter and tapped the button on the handle. "Grand Admiral Wildcat, come in," he snapped. "We're ready to go get him, Wildcat," a smooth voice purred. The sounds of aerial combat could be heard over the speaker. "We've just been waiting for your signal." The calico's fur fluffed up. "You never had to wait for my signal," he shouted. "GET A MOVE ON AND TAKE OUT THE REACTORS ON THOSE EGGS!" Carlos's voice remained unperturbed at Curtis's rage. "Affirmative, Curtis. Oh, and there's something that I need you to be aware of. We just did an electronic scan on a 300-foot radius, centered on your current position. There's a gigantic robot hiding approximately 145 feet and 6 inches east away from you, and it's armed to the teeth. Not to mention, piloted by a pair of organic cats." Curtis's fur slowly came to rest. "Thanks for the heads-up, Carlos. Now, get busy. Wildcat, out." He tapped the button again, then put the sword away. "Well, genius?" Guido's snide voice blurted out. "What's our plan of action, or are you the wrong Wildcat to speak to?" Curtis ignored the sarcasm hidden inside that voice. He lowered his voice drastically. "You four are going to have to go to the Palace without me. Get your armor and weapons, and get ready to fight. Get your way back here as soon as possible. I'll try to hold off that robot as long as possible. Chaos Kitten and Felonia are both in there." "Not exactly genius," GB murmured. "If you wanted genius, you should've talked to the Professor," Aldonza shot back. Curtis snickered a little at the comparison to Little Tokyo's most brilliant mind. Speedy looked at his teammates, and, one by one, received confirmation. "Come on, people. Let's hit it!" He, Polly, and Guido, in unison, hit the accelerators on their hover-shoes, and GB took to the air, following them to the Palace.