Chapter 1
It all started one evening when Enforcers Sergeant Arnold Thompson was on his way home after a long day of work. Thompson looked forward to coming home until he spotted a kat working a tire belonging to his car on the other side of the road. Doing what any good samaritan would do, Thompson stopped the car, picked up his flashlight, and walked toward the kat so he can help him.
The kat working on his car was named Mario Katpulet. Mario was dressed well for a hot summer day. Mario wore sandals, a light grey coat, gray pants, and a shirt that one would wear if they were on vacation in a tropical island.
"This has to be bullshit," Mario muttered as he was working on his car. Mario was impatient which made him both reckless and impulsive. Mario suddenly turned to the light that was shining on him which led to him having to cover his eyes. The light came from the flashlight that Thompson had on him.
"Sorry," Thompson said, moving his flashlight away from Mario.
"No problem," Mario muttered under his breath.
"My name is Sergeant Arnold Thompson," Thompson said, reaching into his pocket. Thompson then pulled out his Enforcers identification. "I'm with the Enforcers."
Mario gulped and then he stood up. Mario did the best he could to muster a smile on his face. "Is there anything that I can help you with, Sergeant?" he asked.
Thompson smiled politely. "I'm only here to help you out with that tire." Thompson then noticed that Mario had accent. "That's a nice accent, where do you come from?"
"I am from Rome," Mario said, hoping that Thompson would forget about helping him by steering the conversation to something else. "I come from Rome, it is in Italy."
"I know where Rome is," Thompson said, putting his flashlight away and then walking toward the trunk of the car. Thompson put his paws on it. "Now let's see if you have another tire in here."
"No!" Mario cried out in fear.
But it was too late, Thompson had already opened the trunk and found the body of a dead female she-kat that Mario had killed.
Thompson immediately backed away from the body in fear and before he could pull out his gun, Mario shot Thompson in the head with a weapon he had on him.
"Shit!" Mario cried. Mario immediately dragged Thompson's lifeless body in the bushes so it wouldn't be discovered. Afterwards, Mario pulled out his hanker chip and began wiping his pawprints clean from the steering wheel so he wouldn't be identified.
Mario immediately rushed over to Thompson's car and saw that the key was still in the ignition system.
"Excellent," Mario said to himself, now he could get away and dispose the body afterwards. Mario then went into Thompson's car, closed the door, and then got away as fast he could. Soon everyone would be after him for killing an enforcer. There was no way anyone would be let him be off that easy. He had to get out of MegaKat City as soon as possible. This Enforcers sergeant showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mario Katpulet would always serve as the consigliere of the Valestra Crime Family, an organization that operated in foreign countries such as Amerikat. A consigliere is someone who serves as a chief advisor in the Italian mafia.
Later in the evening, Chance Furlong and his best friend Jake Clawson were on their way back to the garage in their tow truck. They were just at Chance's old neighborhood buying the latest issue of Kat Commandos. As he was driving, Chance turned to see that Jake was reading the issue that he purchased with his own money.
"Hey!" Chance said in annoyance. "Who said you could read it first?"
"You rather let me drive?" Jake asked.
"No way," Chance said, shaking his head and going back to keeping his eyes on the road. Chance then took a deep breath and began to do some thinking. Chance always did like driving since it made him feel powerful as well as in control because that was familiar to how he would never allow anyone to pilot the TurboKat. With a deep breath, Chance turned his head over to Jake. "Okay you can read it. But just don't bend the pages."
Chance then spotted Mario's car parked on the other side of the road. "Jake look," he said, stopping the tow truck and then pointing at Mario's car.
Jake then stopped reading the Kat Kommandos comic book. "Someone might need our help," he declared as he put the comic book down. Jake then left the tow truck. "Come on," he said, walking over to Mario's car.
"I'm right behind you," Chance said, opening the door of the tow truck and then coming out.
Jake then looked down and noticed some tire tracks on the road. "Whoa," Jake said, looking down at them. "Looks like somebody was here and then left in a hurry."
"Yeah," Chance said, walking over to see why the trunk of Mario's car was open. Chance then went over for an inspection and then gasped at what he just say.
"Kat's alive!" Chance cried. Chance then looked around to see that Jake was standing by the bushes. "Jake, somebody got killed. It was a female she-kat."
"I think that we may have stumbled upon something big," Jake said.
"Why are you over there?" Chance asked.
"Because I think I saw something in there," Jake said, looking down at the foot that was sticking out of the bushes. Jake then began to cut through the bushes and made another startling discovery. It was Sergeant Thompson's body that he found.
"Kat's alive!" Chance said, rushing over to Jake's side to view the body. Chance recognized the body from his and Jake's old days in the Enforcers. "That's Sergeant Thompson! He's dead!"
"That's it," Jake said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing the emergency number. "I'm calling the Enforcers."
Meanwhile at the grocery store, Peter the owner was beginning to close up until Mario passed by him in Thompson's car. Mario then stopped the car after parking it and rushed over to Pete.
Peter was the very definition of a flaneur, someone who quietly observed their surroundings. Pete could see that Mario was nervous because of his face that was sweating. This made Pete decide to ask the obvious: "Mario, is everything alright?"
"No," Mario said. "I killed someone, an enforcer and soon Feral will be after me. I need to speak with the Boss."
Pete then allowed Mario to come in and handed him the store phone so he can use. Mario began pressing the numbers on the phone and held the speaker to his ear. He motioned for Pete to leave so Pete could give him his privacy.
At a living room inside an enormous mansion in Rome, Raphael Valestra was sitting on a chair reading a book while wearing his pyjamas. Raphael did always like to read before going to sleep. The phone and Raphael immediately picked it up.
"Hello?" Raphael said in an English accent. Despite the fact that Raphael is Italian, he still has an English accent. When Raphael was a kitten, he had very violent outburst. One time as a kitten, Raphael had no luck in properly playing a violin during his music lessons which led to him having to smash an empty bottle of milk on his teacher's face, which killed him. Raphael's father, who was the rich Cardinal Spada, sent his son to a boarding school located in London, England. That was how Raphael got his English accent. Raphael loved his father very much which was why he legally changed his last name to Valestra in order to avoid damaging Cardinal Spada's reputation. The government of Italy allowed this so they can make sure that no one would connect Raphael to his father since Cardinal Spada was a well respected man.
"Raphael," Mario said. "It's me. Mario."
"Mario," Raphael said, feeling overjoyed. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice again."
"I need your help," Mario said, getting nervous. "I have killed an Enforcer who showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Soon Feral will be after me. I've cleaned the evidence away, but I can't take that chance. You have to help me."
"Where are you now?" Raphael, asked alarmed at this situation.
"I'm with Pete at his store," Mario said.
Raphael began to think about what could be done to help Mario. Raphael could tell that Mario was really paranoid. Fear was what kept Raphael alive when he was rising through the ranks in the mafia. Raphael also would think about the future all the time as well which led to him having to plan every move in advance. Even though Mario claimed to have wiped all of the evidence off that could implicate him, Raphael still couldn't take that chance and allow Feral to get his paws on him.
Raphael immediately formulated a plan in his head and decided to address the idea over the phone: "I'll be coming over to MegaKat City tomorrow night. Get to two hundred and two Winchester street. There is a barn located in that area. There will be an aircraft waiting for you. Be there at night and bring Pete with you."
"Alright thank-you," Mario said. "I'll be there. I better get packing."
With that, Mario and Raphael hung up on each other after saying their goodbyes.
