Coop was pretty shocked when Kat contacted him through the walkie talkie they had stationed in the tree house. He had rushed to the phone expecting to hear some sort of emergency but instead all he heard was Kat's annoyed voice.
"I need you to bring us a different cell phone. The parts in the one you gave us were hardly usable."
"I'm busy," Coop replied impatiently. He could clearly hear Kat scoff from the other end of the line.
"What? Finally found a mate willing to put up with you?" The fact that the walkie talkie made it feel like the rat was chuckling right in his ear made his annoyance spike further.
"No, unfortunately my little sister happened to notice when her two 'pets' disappeared, so now I'm helping her put up missing pet posters. So, thanks for that." He had hoped his sarcasm would get a rise out of the cat, but instead there was a lengthy pause on the other end. The response took so long Coop nearly thought the batteries had finally run out, and when Kat did respond, it was barely even a whisper.
"She's still looking for me?" he said, and if Coop didn't know any better he'd say the rat sounded almost guilty.
"Well, duh." Coop said, rolling his eyes. "Of course she is, you dumb rat. What, did you think you could just pretend to be her pet for a few years and vanish without her noticing?" Honestly, the nerve of this rat.
"I…" There was another long pause on his end as he struggled to come up with a reply. But after a few more seconds, whatever had come over him seemed to banish. "Just get me what I need when you get back."
There was the distinct clatter of plastic against wood as Kat threw the walkie talkie back to the corner of the room where it belonged. Coop figured that was as much of a 'hang up' as he was gonna get, so with another roll of his eyes he grabbed his backpack and went to help Millie with her printer.
(1 hour later) - - -
Coop felt a weird mixture of guilt, worry, and relief as he waited for Millie to come down stairs. It was nearly noon and he was sitting on the couch next to a stack of flyers. He'd tried not to look at them for too long but Millie's 'last minute preparations' were taking longer than expected and his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.
It wasn't that he was scared to look at them or anything. It just felt really weird to see the cats as they used to be, considering that their 'new normal' was a pair of skinny kids with purple hair hiding out in his treehouse.
Plus, just being near the posters gave him an aching sense of guilt. He knows that none of this bullshit was his fault and that the cats shouldn't have been playing pretend pet with his sister to begin with, but knowing where they were while Millie was so torn up about 'losing them' made him feel like the shittiest big brother ever.
There was also the fact that if he had to look at pictures of those little shits he might just burn the stack and buy Millie some hamsters instead. Unfortunately, he knows damn well how that would go down and he promised he'd do his best to be there for her, despite her horrible choice in pets.
So, with a little groan, he looked down to inspect the posters.
The words MISSING PETS were written in bold red at the very top of the page. Underneath it were three photos blown as large as the page would allow while also listing their names, address, and their home number.
Surprisingly, instead of the boiling anger he expected from seeing the photos, all he felt was… well... It was sort of surreal really. The first two photos were just of each cat looking at the camera. And they looked… normal? Or at least as normal as two hairless cats could look. Sure it was still the two little shits he knew but it was weird having to lock his brain on the fact that these small hairless balls of wrinkles were the same two asshoes holled up in his treehouse.
And... was Kat always that small?! Okay, now he just felt embarrassed about how many fights he lost against the guy… It's a good thing the mutant rat has super strength or he'd never be able to live this down.
But, if that wasn't embarrassing enough, there was also the last photo… And honestly, Coop only allowed this one cause it seemed like a fitting punishment for ignoring Millie for so long, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing.
The last photo was one of him, Millie, Dennis, and the cats sitting around Millie's mini tea table sipping from her tiny pink princess teacups. He wasn't even sure when Millie had taken this one, but he was positive she had sneaked a snap from her phone while he had been keeping an eye on the cats. He could tell by the way his head was turned towards them in the picture.
So there they were. Two 15 year old boys, and his little sister, sitting at a tiny pink table, with frilly white table cloth, sipping from tiny pink princess cups with two hairless rats. Worst of all, the photo was practically in HD quality so there was no way his classmates wouldn't recognize him.
Welp, looks like the 'catboy' nickname is making a comeback.
At that moment Millie came bounding down the stairs with her own stack of flyers under her left arm and she quickly wiped her eyes with her right.
"Alright, I'm ready!" She said, a little too excitedly. Her smile was wide but strained, and her eyes were red again. She must have been crying again while Coop was downstairs.
"Yeah, sure." It wasn't till they were both on their bikes that he asked if she's okay. Her smile faltered and her shoulders fell.
"I'm okay, Coop." She said, giving him a tired smile. "It was just hard printing out all these posters. It's just… I wish there was more I could do. I feel so… useless."
Yeah… Coop thought. I know that feeling.
"Is that why you were out in the forest the other night? You were looking for them?"
Millie's bike swerved for a second before she got back on the bike path.
"How'd you know that?!" She whispered urgently.
"I…" Coop said, tensing as he realized he shouldn't know she was out there. "I had followed you the day before. I wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt."
He felt himself tense even more as Millie frowned at him. Her brow was wrinkled like she was thinking something over, and he silently prayed that she bought the lie.
"Wait… You were the one hiding out there!" She said, eyes wide.
"Uh, yeah. I wanted to see what you were up to but I figured you didn't want me to catch you outside. So I hid… Sorry, if I scared you." Coop said, struggling to meet her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was the guilt or if his acting skills were really that bad, but he was really struggling to meet Millie's eyes with that one. Luckily they were coming up on a turn and he had to focus on steering his bike instead of looking at her.
If Millie had any other suspicions she didn't say them because they were coming up on their first stop: the local park.
The park was one of multiple stops they planned on going to for the day. They figured they'd go to the most popular spots in town during lunch hour. Then after they'd handed out or hung up all their flyers, they'd grab lunch and go home.
It was their best chance of getting as many flyers out to as many people as possible, plus Coop figured it would be fast enough that maybe he could finish the day with his dignity intact. There were only a few more days left of their extended break and he'd rather not give his classmates any more ways to make fun of him.
So far the day had actually gone pretty well. They had managed to hang up or hand out almost all of the 50 missing pet flyers Millie had printed. They even ran into Old Lady Munson of all people who said she'd "keep an eye out" for the cats and "won't let Growler chase them off". Coop had let a laugh slip out at that one. The thought of Ms. Munson's yappy little dog doing anything more than annoying the cats was pretty laughable. Unfortunately, the laugh was just loud enough for her to hear and she leveled him with her best 'grumpy grandma glare'.
Coop made sure to herd Millie along with the promise of ice cream after that. He could feel Old Lady Munson's glare on his back until they turned the corner to reach the ice cream shop.
Coop was so busy trying to get away from Ms. Munson that he didn't even notice Lorne and Harvey until he'd run, almost literally, right into them.
The brothers had been turning onto the same bike lane as them when their bikes had nearly slammed right into each other. Coop had just managed to swerve out of the way of Lorne's bike, but not without a handful of the flyers spilling out of his open bag. Lorne was not so lucky as his bike swerved right over a small hole in the street and he was nearly sent over his handle bars from the jolt.
Lorne fell off his bike but landed hard on his side.
"Watch it, dude!" Harvey said as he ran to help his brother off the sidewalk. Lorne let out a groan as he rubbed at his sore side.
"Shit! Sorry guys. I was trying to get away from Old Lady Munson." Coop said, reaching a hand out to help him up. Lorne glared and waved his hand away. Harvey helped him up instead as Coop and Millie awkwardly went about picking up their fallen flyers. Right when they'd thought they'd collected all of them he heard a pair of chuckles to his right.
"Oh man, we knew you were nuts but we didn't know you were having tea parties with your sister's cat." Lorne said, holding up one of the stray flyers. Coop could feel his face heating but tried to act like he didn't hear that.
"Have you guys seen Millie's cats?" Coop said, ignoring their comment.
"They've been gone for nearly two weeks now..." Millie said dejectedly.
"Two weeks, huh?" Harvey said, grabbing the poster. "Sure they weren't eaten?"
To say that was the exact wrong thing to say, would be an understatement.
Millie's face went from horrified, to angry in the span of 3 seconds, and it only took 2 more for her to cross the distance of the bike lane. With a bout of strength unreasonable for a 12 year old girl, she yanked Harvey by the front of his shirt down to her height.
"Apologize" She said through clenched teeth. "Now"
Coop wasn't sure which part of this was more impressive. That Millie was holding a guy three years older than her by his shirt, or that she actually had Harvey scared. The other boy's eyes were blown wide and his face had paled impressively. If not for the situation, Coop would have been laughing his ass off.
It was significantly less funny when Lorne tried to intervene.
"Hey!" Lorne said, grabbing Millie's arm, but Millie was too fast for him and swiftly twisted his wrist around to make him release. Lorne let out a little yell of pain and Coop stepped in between them before his sister could go for a hit.
"Come on Millie, let's go." Coop said, putting both of his hands on her shoulders as he steered her towards their forgotten bikes. They were just reaching the end of the sidewalk when a low aiming kick got Millie in the leg. Coop, already holding her shoulders, gently helped her sit on the ground and turned to look at Harvey who was chuckling to himself.
"Oh hell no" was the last thing to come out of his mouth before he flew across the distance and slammed Harvey against the nearest shop window. He was about to punch the kid in the gut when Lorne grabbed his fist and tried to yank him off of his brother. Coop, not thinking at the time, used the arm Lorne had grabbed to pull him closer and scratch at the boy's arm.
His claws tore right through Lorne's sleeve and left four thin angry red cuts.
Coop barely had time to worry about that though because Harvey took that opportunity to grab him by his middle and tried to shove him to the ground. Coop was just about to slam his fist down on the kid's head when the sound of a bell and a door opening brought their attention to the store they were fighting in front of.
In the doorway of the shop a small black woman in a black and yellow dress stood there looking at them with a mixture of worry and irritation.
"Is there a problem here?" She said, placing her hands on her hips. The woman was no taller than Millie but glared at them like she was ten feet tall. They stood frozen in place for five whole seconds, before slowly separating themselves from each other. Coop quickly stuffed his hands into his pockets and tried to force his fingers to relax, but the adrenaline from their little fight was not making that easy. He could almost feel the graze of his claws against his hip.
"No ma'am." Coop said slowly inching himself back towards Millie. She was standing now and Coop could see a bruise blooming on her lower leg where Harvey's kick had landed.
"No you don't." The woman said as he and Millie went to grab their bikes. "All of you. Here. Now." She pointed to the area in front her and Coop hesitated for just long enough for Millie to tap his shoulder. He looked at her and she pointed just about the woman's head where the shop's security camera was mounted. If they tried to run off they'd just get picked up by the cops later for disturbing the piece.
Coop sighed and together he and Millie rolled their bikes over to the nearest lamp post and wrapped their bike chains around it. With that they moved to stand next to Lorne and Harvey who were already standing in front of the woman, their heads held down to avoid her gaze.
"Good." She said, giving them a satisfied smile. "Babe, could you tell the shop owner it was just some kids. I can watch them until you get back."
It was at that moment that Coop noticed a man standing just inside the shop watching them. He was a tall skinny man with pale skin and large round glasses, but the most noticeable thing about him was that part of his hair stood up in a scythe shape. Coop only had a second to wonder how much hair gel that must take before the guy went deeper into the store. Presumably to speak to the owner.
The woman glanced at Lorne's arm, which was beginning to drip a bit of blood. and let out a little "Oop!" sound. She quickly leaned back into the doorway and yelled: "And bring a first aid kit if they have one!"
"Yes, honeybun!" Was the man's response. The pet name seemed to put a big smile on her face, which quickly turned into a frown when she turned back to look at them.
Coop started to bounce with pent up adrenaline and anxiety as they waited for the man to come back with a first aid kit. When he finally did, the woman immediately went to work cleaning Lorne's wound. After the cuts were cleaned she frowned down at them and mumbled something in another language to herself. She continued to mutter with annoyance as she wrapped his arm for him.
"Now," The man said as his companion reached into her purse to pull out - were those bee shaped stickers? "Your options are to either give me your parents numbers so they can pick you up, or I can call the police and they can pick you up from the station."
"Isn't that a bit extreme?!" Coop said. The idea of their dad having to pick them up from the station made his stomach drop. He was already on thin ice as it is. If their dad got a call from the police station he didn't even know how his dad would punish him. On top of that the idea of disappointing him like that again was the last thing he wanted on his mind.
The man put up three fingers.
"Let's see… You were fighting on private property, disturbing the peace, and... " He said, pointing to the shop window. "You managed to crack the store window. You're lucky we know the owner of this place and they're not out here dealing with you themself."
Coop hadn't even noticed he'd slammed Harvey hard enough for the window to crack. Sure, it wasn't a big one, the crack was maybe 5 inches long, but if he had slammed him any harder than that they could have really gotten hurt.
Shit…
This was actually bad. Sure, he usually got in fights involving Kat and his stupid inventions but this time he was 15 and it was on camera. It may be small in comparison to Kat's ray gun burns or weather machines, but he could really get in trouble here. They might have let him slide back when he was a kid but there was no way they were gonna let him off the hook now.
He looked to his left for Millie's reaction and saw that she was biting her lip with worry. Her hands were bunched into her dress and she was looking down at the ground.
Coop gently squeezed her shoulder and handed the man one of the fliers from his bag.
"That's our home number. You can use it to call our dad."
"Alright then." The other two grudgingly gave the man their parent's numbers as well.
While they waited for the man to call their parents he noticed the woman placing a little bee shaped sticker with the words "Bee better soon!" on Lorne's bandage.
"It bled a lot at first but it's not very deep so you'll be just fine" She gave him a gentle smile and pointed a finger in Lorne's face. "But no more fighting! Your opponent was smaller than you but never underestimate!"
Lorne rolled his eyes and glared at Coop.
"Nice manicure, catboy. You get them sharpened to match your cat?"
Coop sneered at Lorne over the woman's shoulder as she came to check him and Millie for injuries.
"Are either of you hurt?" She said, looking them over. The question seemed to be more of a formality than anything since she grabbed some bruise cream from the first aid kit and handed it over to Millie. She watched Millie rub the cream onto her bruised leg and nodded her head approvingly. With that done, she also handed Millie a bee sticker. This time it said "Bee-autiful!"
"So," She said. "Any injuries I don't see?"
They both shook their heads and she nodded at them before heading back to her companion who was still on the phone with one of their parents. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the man had moved a good distance away, his new hearing made it so he could clearly tell that it was their dad on the phone.
The man put his hand to the phone, said something in the strange language the woman had been mumbling earlier, and handed her the flyer where their number was written. She looked dubiously at the pictures of them and the cats before turning it over to see where Lorne and Harvey had written their parents' numbers on the back.
While they all waited for their parents to pick them up the man and woman made them explain everything that had happened between them before and during the fight. None of them tried to lie about what happened. Whether it was because Lorne and Harvey had also noticed the camera, or if they honestly didn't care about any sort of punishment they'd receive, was anyone's guess.
They had barely finished telling their side of the story when their dad pulled up in front of the shop with a very stern look on his face. Honestly, they were lucky it had taken him this long. Their dad's shop was only a few minutes away from here.
Oh, the joys of living in a small town.