"It's fantastic in here, where did you get all this stuff?" She looked around in amazement.
"Well, it's a junkyard, most of the stuff is enforcer issue, I mean our weight room is stuff people just tossed out." Chance smiled and opened a door to a small room with a bench press, weights, and a treadmill. Two LCDs were mounted on the wall.
"Talk about the enforcers setting it all in your lap." She stepped in.
"Yeah no joke" Chance smiled "Well that's the tour ..you've seen it all." He looked down at his feet and messed with the carpet a bit.
"I can't believe this." She turned to him.
"We spend more time down here then we should." Chance laughed.
"Chance joked once about putting a pool down here." Jake walked in and sat down on the bench press.
"I thought that was a great idea!" chance pointed to him. "I would love that in the winter, at least lets get a whirl pool, i mean come on ...the hot water, the bubbles, might relax my muscles."
"Sore back?" She laughed.
"No all the bad guys are just a pain in my neck Lieutenant." Chance turned, and left the room moving over to his locker opening it. He reached inside and fumbled around and pulled something out.
"I told you to call me Felina." She walked out behind him.
"Ok Felina," Chance turned to her and handed her a necklace, with a small red triangular pendant no bigger than a quarter.
"What's this?" She asked taking it.
"I made two." Jake chimed in "They're a way to reach us at any time." He reached to the necklace and turned the pendant. "You just press that and it'll call us, we'll pick up our little red phone on this side, and we'll ask you what's up."
"This is for me?" She blinked.
"We made one for Miss Briggs too." Chance pulled the necklace from her and moved around her and reached around her neck and clasp it, he reached down and pulled her hair out of the band. "There you go, Instant swat kat alarm."
"Thank you." She turned around and sighed "I just can not believe this." She shook her head and took in the sight of it all, the beat up red lockers, the turbokat, and this unending feeling that she should have known this. There was also a feeling that she had known the two all of their lives and she couldn't deny that.
"Yeah it's rough." Chance looked down and shuffled his feet again.
"Rough?" She had an odd look.
"We can't let people get close to us, I mean just confirming to you who we are makes it extremely hard, you are a target now, though I'm sure you'll put up a pretty good Kat fight before someone takes you." Chance was trying to sound concerned.
"I'll be all right." She lay a hand on Chance's arm.
"Hey I wanted to ask you something." Chance stopped and looked into her ear "What's that little M for?"
"Oh that..." She looked down trying to find the words. "My mother, she died, a long time ago, it was hard on me and my Uncle. I had the M tattooed there don't ask why I was a teenager at the time. Her name was Marie. I did it to always remember. She put a mark on my soul being a parent, I put the mark on me so I would never forget."
"Ah." Chance smiled "I like that, it's touching."
"I don't know about you two." Jake piped up. "But I am starving and Litterbin is coming on."
"Oh is it that late?" Felina looked down "I hate this I won't get home in time to watch it."
"You could always stay for pizza, the anchovy kind and just watch it here." Jake offered.
Felina smiled and looked down at her watch "What the hell, I don't have to work tomorrow."
"Awesome." Jake smiled, "I'll call Percy's Pizza."
With that, Jake hit the ladder and headed upstairs to find the yellow phone book and the cordless phone. Which were both hard to find, Chance never put them back where they belonged.
"So," Felina smiled and sat down at Jake's work bench. "How old are you guys?"
"Um, well I'm 28, and Jake's 27."
"Oh you're the older one." Felina smiled
"Yeah but that doesn't make me the smarter one I wish it did." He chuckled. "Come on up to the home front, and I'll get you your keys to your car."
"Is it done?" She asked.
"No, but I hate Litterbin, so you two can watch it, I'm going to go to the garage turn on scardy cat and start to look at that starter motor."
"I thought you said you couldn't get one until Friday?" She looked at him questioningly
"We're behind on a few cars, so I said that to give me time to get caught up, but I'll grab one out of another car in the yard, be like new."
"Like new?" She looked at him questioningly.
"Yeah, someone who drives a model car almost like yours trashed one yesterday on the interstate, I'll grab that one, if it's still working." Chance smiled and turned to his locker. "…I'll be up in just a moment; I need to change out of my flight suit."
"See you in a few." Felina looked up at the ladder and then, started to climb up to the main level.
Chance waited until she was up the ladder to start unbuttoning his suit, there were still things about him he did not want her to see like the large scar across his back that wrapped over his left shoulder and onto his chest. The fur was gone and it wasn't fully healed. He reached for his white t-shirt and pulled it over his head and with a sigh he grabbed his garage overalls.
He honestly did not wish to be working in the garage, but the alternative of David litterbin was less appealing still. Chance donned his grease covered blue overalls, and started to make his way to the stairs before turning back and grabbing his red ball cap which he lovingly placed backwards atop his head. "Can't forget my favorite hat, which would be terrible" He smiled and made his way over to the ladder, reaching to the light switches he smiled. "Good night ladies." He turned off the switch and headed up the ladder.
The entrance to the lair was in a back closet in the garage's office. Jake and Felina were sitting on the couch laughing their tails off. Chance grabbed a red rag out of a bin labeled –Somewhat clean we hope- and headed to the yard to find that car that had come in all wrecked up.
"Oh god I love Litterbin." Jake was laughing so hard. "I think this guy makes more jokes about your uncle than we do."
"I bet your right; my uncle hates him so much." She smiled "My uncle even tried to sue him once for slander."
"Please tell me they dismissed that." Jake smiled.
"Uh …yeah." She was laughing out loud now, they were both loud. Chance could hear them from out in the yard.
The night went on, Litterbin ended, Chance got Felina's car running, and now the three were seated around the plastic table on the roof with a deck of cards and beer.
"I really should go guys!" She laughed and looked at the two. " …I'm going to clean you out, Mr. Furlong!"
"Not a chance in hell, Lieutenant Feral!" Chance set his cards across the table "Two pair!"
"Two pair …nice chance, however …" she smiled
"I don't like this However business." Jake laughed "I fold."
"I have three aces and two kings." She set the cards down in front of Chance's face.
"Oh no!" He smiled "I found my match! Damn girl you took me for it all!" he sighed and handed over a plastic bowl full of Chilies. "Good luck attempting to eat one of those."
She reached in the bowl and pulled one out and smiled. Slowly she lifted it above her head and tilted her head up and bit down on the pepper leaving only the little green stem. She smiled and chewed right through it without a tear. Chance found this rather provocative. He found it a little alluring, but then again he was drunk and wasn't sure what he just saw.
"You know I think I'm a little too drunk to be playing this game." Chance admitted.
"I think I should go." She smiled. Thanks for the great time guys, I'll try to stop by again."
"We'll be here." Chance stood and smiled at her reaching at her neck. "If you need … eh us …you know how to call."
"Yeah Thanks Chance, bye Jake." Chance turned to look at Jake and felt something against his cheek, she'd kissed him, very lightly, but it was a kiss, and he turned to look at her and she was already heading down the stairs to her car.
"Bye Felina!" Jake called after her. Chance stood stock still. Jake laughed at him. "Come on Chance lets get to bed, she was drunk she won't remember she did it in the morning."
"Maybe not …but I sure as hell will." He smiled "Damn! That's one FINE FELINE!"
"Chance go to bed." Jake walked inside and down a few steps and turned into the hall and went into his room. Chance knew he wouldn't sleep immediately the whirr of his computer told him that, he would be talking to her. Her that's all he knew about the mystery she-Kat Jake had been talking too over the internet. He was glad he had a small escape, if only for a little while every night. Chance just wished he could have one too. He passed Jake's door and moved to his room and pushed the door aside moving the dirty clothes aside and unzipped his overalls. He jumped into bed in just his boxers and his t-shirt. With one paw he lifted his hat off his head and hung it on the headboard post. He let the night take him over. He slept with his paw on his right cheek. He was hoping he would wake up and this all would not be a dream.
Suddenly the Klaxon rang out and he lept from bed and ran to the red phone in the hall. The was tired and drunk and tripping "This better be good." He picked up the receiver "This is T-Bone!"
"T-Bone it's Felina…you guys need to head to Megakat hospital…the Deputy Mayors been shot twice." It almost didn't hit him head on. "you guys need to hurry she's asking for you apparently."
"RAZOR!" T-Bone dropped the phone.
