FOR LOVE OF A PRINCESS
CHAPTER 2: Setting a Reluctant Trap
Her call made, Callie returned to the Mayor's office. Stepping through the doorway, she could see Manx had not left his spot behind the desk and was looking very relieved to see her return. The four visitors hadn't moved either. Their heads were turned to watch her cross the floor and take up her stance again beside the portly Kat. None of them said a thing and it made her skin chill.
"They're on their way but they are definitely not happy about this. You'll most likely have to plead your case with them again. They don't like being backed into a corner like this," she told them bluntly.
Lord Firelain merely nodded his head not deigning to respond to her barb. Inside Callie fumed anew. She hated these visitors sexist attitudes and pitied the females living in their country. To have to deal every day with males like these would drive her to murder.
Her angry thoughts were interrupted by the sound of roaring engines approaching their building. She had the pleasure of watching the four males (and knowing their attitudes toward females, they couldn't be anything else) flinch in reaction. She wondered how they had managed to deal with being in a modern city in the first place since it was obvious they were uncomfortable around it.
Wait! If that was true how had they gotten here? Horses would have caused a commotion and brought the Enforcers down on them, but they had managed to get here and somehow get into city hall without anyone raising the alarm nor the security officers stopping them. So how had they gotten up here without being halted?
She stared at them more intently. What did they look like under those cloaks? Did they have weapons on them? Oh God...did they know magic? No, wait, if they had magic they would have gotten the princess themselves. So not magic, thankfully. So how did they get in? She shook her head mentally. Too many questions and no answers which only made this situation more tension-filled and dangerous. And what was irritating, she would likely never get those answers as they intended to leave with their princess and never return.
She could do nothing about that but what did concern her was what they weren't telling them. Would they leave when they had their princess? Or did they have some other plan in mind. The fact they'd gotten in here with no one seeing them made her concerned about what other types of skills or abilities they had.
That worried her the most and made her realize she needed to warn the SWAT Kats before they walked into this mess. Galvanized by her concerns, she made a beeline for the door to the unhappy surprise of the Mayor. Over her shoulder she tossed, "I'll just go up and escort them here."
Manx didn't dare give away the fact this wasn't normal nor necessary for her to do as those two vigilantes knew the way to his office only too well. Maybe she was going to give the SWAT Kats a heads up? That made sense, he thought. So he tried to relax and wait patiently for her return though he didn't like being alone with these people one bit.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Callie knew her sudden departure would upset the Mayor but it couldn't be helped as she focused on trying to catch the two males before they reached the hallway. She didn't want the strangers to hear what she had to say.
She reached the door to the stairs and flung it open. To her relief, T-Bone with Razor behind him, were just coming down the stairs. She hurriedly closed the door behind her and met them halfway.
The pair eyed her in surprise but didn't get a chance to say anything before Callie blurted out her concerns in a quick rush of words.
Not happy in the first place, this additional news just made Razor feel grimmer and more suspicious about this whole affair.
"Better be extra watchful, buddy." T-Bone nodded, looking just as unhappy as his partner. "Let's get going though, as a delay would look suspicious," Razor decided, urging the lovely she-kat back down the stairs.
"You're right but I thought you should be warned before walking into this blind," Callie said, reaching the door and opening it.
"And we thank you for that. So let's go see these odd visitors of our city," T-Bone murmured, keeping his response quiet as they were walking down the hall now and didn't want to be overheard.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Moment's later, the three walked briskly into the Mayor's office. While Callie returned to Manx's side, the SWAT Kats opted to take a stance halfway between the visitors and the desk, bodies tense and alert.
If his body language was anything to go by, it seemed Lord Firelain was pleased with them. Not that Razor cared what the guy thought. He and T-Bone eyed the strangers with unease. The fact they couldn't see the strangers faces nor their bodies nor if they were armed or not didn't help their state of mind. Neither of them liked not knowing what they faced and there was just some kind of weird vibe they got off the four that made them that much more tense and wary.
If he sensed the pairs tension, the knight didn't show it as he addressed them. "Good meeting, warriors. Allow me to explain your presence here." In brief sentences, Lord Firelain explained their mission and what was expected of the SWAT Kats, repeating much of what Callie had already told them which only meant he wasn't lying about that at least. "Do you understand what's required?"
Razor responded for both of them. "Yeah, Ms. Briggs gave us the run down, but we still don't like being backed into a corner like this. Taking a female against her will isn't something we're willing to do, normally and your reasons still aren't good enough for us."
"No warrior would, good sir, but since you have no choice will you honor your obligation?"
"Yes," Razor ground out.
"Yes," T-Bone echoed, equally angry.
Nodding his head, apparently pleased by their response, Lord Firelain turned to Manx. "Sir, if you please, would you now summon the one we suspect is our missing princess. The name we were given was Ulysses Feral."
"Feral?!" All four Kats blurted in stunned disbelief.
Lord Firelain eyed them warily. He hadn't expected such a shocked reaction. Was the disguise the princess had chosen that high ranking? They had been given the barest amount of information for this mission and he was beginning to be concerned it was seriously lacking in some really important facts. He'd not liked that the trader had only mentioned the position was military and that the princess had many run ins with these odd vigilantes.
However, the lack of sufficient information wasn't new. They'd gone searching with less before but it looked like this time that lack could lead to some major issues getting the princess away from here...if it was the princess, that is. He was beginning to hope it wasn't. He didn't like this modern place with it's noise, pollution, odd machines both on the ground and in the air, and its crowds of people. He wanted gone from here as fast as possible. Glancing into the eyes of his companions, he saw the same concerns and desires.
Hiding his worry, Lord Firelain asked, "I beg your pardon, the trader who gave this information hadn't told us more than our princess was a member of your military. Was that untrue? Is she someone more important than that?"
Mayor Manx was still sputtering in shock so Callie responded to the knight with an answer none of them were pleased to hear.
"Oh, he's important alright...he just happens to be the Chief Enforcer of this city so I hope you're wrong about him being your missing princess," she said, tightly. But in the back of her mind she was beginning to realize there were some definite similarities between Feral and these people even though he didn't have tri-colored eyes but those could be hidden with simple contact lenses. However, she wasn't so sure about his voice and how it could be altered to sound so deep. She shook herself mentally. No, not possible...I refuse to believe it.
"There's no way that arrogant tom is a she-kat," T-Bone's voice broke into her disturbed thoughts.
Lord Firelain ignored the male's posturing. There was no point in debating this until the person under discussion was standing before them. "We will have to see, sir. Mayor Manx if you please?"
Still shaking his head in disbelief, Manx went to his phone. "Of course, anything to get this nonsense over with quickly. I cannot believe he's your hidden princess, but we'll see who's right as soon as I get him here," he said with a huff as he took his seat and put in a call.
"One thing sir, don't tell him why he's being summoned," Lord Firelain warned.
Manx gave him a scathing look. Of course, he knew that, how insulting but he said nothing as he heard his connection answer. "Feral? I need to see you in my office immediately... I don't care what you're involved in, get here now!" He hung up before Feral could argue further. "He'll be here shortly."
"Thank you, sir." Lord Firelain and his fellow knights moved to stand behind the door so they wouldn't be seen immediately.
Razor watched their actions with concern. It was obvious the strangers intended to keep Feral in the dark until the last minute. He could already picture what would happen: Feral would step through the door, spot him and T-Bone and begin to approach with anger clouding his mind which would mean he would miss the danger waiting out of view so his reaction to it would be slow.
The smaller SWAT Kat had no idea what these strangers were capable of but they had been told they couldn't touch the princess which was why he and T-Bone were there. Razor didn't like this at all and he could see by his partner's body language, neither did the tabby but he didn't see what either of them could do about it except be there if Feral needed them and wasn't that a kick in the head.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Feral slammed his phone down then stared at it in fury. What the hell did that fat fool want now? As if I didn't have enough to do already.
Fuming he got up from his seat and glared down at his report piled desk. It was never going to get cleared if he kept getting called away all the time. Today had already started bad with a malfunctioning elevator, minor mishap with a chopper landing that ended up causing some significant damage to a flightline hangar, to the final straw ... a software crash in the mainframe computer.
Stalking down his pedestal steps he crossed the tiled floor for the coat rack near the door. Yanking his coat on, he was buttoning it as he went out the door, pausing by his secretary's desk to tell her where he was going. He steamed down the hall some distance from his office to take the only working elevator down to the lobby.
His officers avoided his angry form as it charged on through the crowds streaming in and out of the huge building, out the heavy door, and down the wide steps to his sedan.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
T-Bone had drifted toward the windows that looked down to the street and watched for Feral's arrival. Razor remained hovering between the door and his partner keeping his eyes on the knights and the door. The knights stood like statues behind the door, their watchful silence made Callie want to run from the room. Manx was seated behind his desk fiddling with his tie, eyes shifting from one person to the next, nervously.
"He's here and he's really pissed," T-Bone suddenly announced before moving to stand with his partner.
Manx twitched violently when the SWAT Kat's voice suddenly broke the uneasy silence. Callie took several deep cleansing breaths to try and relax herself before all hell broke out.
It seemed as if everyone was holding their breath as all eyes turned to the still open door and waited for those distinctive, heavy, footfalls to stalk down the hall and that huge power house to step into the room.