~The Observation~

The following day, the she-kat watched the two tomkats going about their job while staying inside the car. She pretty much guessed that the guys owned the jet and would take it out every once in a while to do who knows what in the city, she was having a pretty boring time just waiting for them to leave so she can eat. "Ugh, so bored. Do these guys ever take a break."

She noticed the smaller tomkat was walking around the yard while he looked for some replacement parts for an engine that was being worked on in the garage, stopped and started moving towards the fence to notice a torn sleeve on the wire and climbed up getting it and jumped down. "Well, this explains how he got in." He said to himself, seeing some gray hairs inside the sleeve and put it in his pocket to examine later. She grumbled a bit, then hid when she saw him walking towards the car and opened the hood. "Let's see if I can find anything useful in this old beat up car." He leaned into the engine, the she-kat watched a bit when he wasn't looking. She was kind of having fun just watching him without having to worry about being noticed. "Perfect." He grabbed something and shut the hood, she hid again and he walked right past her without noticing her but noticed the poncho draped on the seat.

"Crap." She whispered to herself, getting as far underneath the back seat as she could as he opened the passenger door and took the poncho out.

"Looks like a match." He compared the torn sleeve to the poncho, confirming it and looked at the car. The poncho was warm, meaning it was being used as a blanket to cover up at night. "If you're in here, come out now." He warned as he put his paw on the floorboard and she gasped shivering and trying to keep herself as small as possible, he started leaning down to look underneath the seat when.

"Hey Jake, let's head in for a break Scaredy Kat's on." The bigger tomkat called out to him, the one called Jake lifted his head and got out of the car. Shutting the door, holding the poncho and walked over. "Where'd you get that?" He asked, noticing his smaller companion carrying a poncho.

"From that car over there, it looks to be his hideout," Jake explained, nodding towards it.

"We'll take care of it later, I'm not missing Scaredy Kat." The bigger tomkat shrugged, going inside the garage with him and watched Scaredy Kat until a news bulletin started flashing across the screen.

"That was way too close." She pulled herself out from under the seat, leaving the car. "I gotta get my poncho back." She snuck over to the garage, peeking in to see them sitting on the couch and saw her poncho on the chair right next to them. "Dammit." She cursed under her breath, hiding and listening to the news.

"This is Ann Gora for Kat's Eye News on location at the Postskratch residence in the town of Purrsia, it has been twenty-four hours since the disappearance of Bella Postskratch after her parents sadly passed away yesterday. Last known location was at her residence where an explosion obliterated her home prior to her mother's passing as you can see behind me, with no sign of a body police are hoping the she-kat is still alive. If you see her please notify police, there is currently a large reward for her safety." Ann said as Bella's picture came up on the screen. "This has been Ann Gora for Kat's Eye News." Jake turned down the tv a bit as Scaredy Kat came back on.

'Someone put out a reward?' She thought to herself, she didn't have any other family in Purrsia and her closest relatives lived in another country. Although they did have international news it wouldn't have gotten to them right away, and she didn't have many friends due to her father's work position. Every few years he would get a job offer in another state that would pay him a better salary, so they would end up moving often which ended her up where she was today.

"The poor she-kat loses her parents and they put out a reward for her? That just doesn't seem right Chance." Jake said, looking at him.

"No it doesn't, but what are we supposed to do exactly?" Chance shrugged, getting up to stretch then thought about something. "Wait, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jake looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "It's a stretch, but do you think that she-kat was able to escape the explosion and made her way here?"

She gasped, getting up. "Only one way to find out," Jake said, leaving the garage with Chance and she hid out of their sight sighing relief when they didn't see her. Jake examined the car seeing grooves in the back seat. "She was definitely here." The she-kat ran into the garage and grabbed her poncho and left as quick as she could. Hiding behind a junk pile, the two split up and started searching the yard. "Come on out, we're not gonna hurt you!" He called out, walking in the opposite direction of her position.

"I doubt that very much." She whispered, peeking around the pile finding the exit just beyond the garage. But was it worth it? Can she risk being seen in the city? She could not, she had to get out the way she came and be quick about it. She circled a junk pile, dodging Jake while keeping an eye on him but didn't see Chance anywhere. "Wait, where's that big guy?" She watched Jake as she moved around another pile, bumping into Chance's chest and looked up at him flattening her ears.

She gasped backing up looking terrified, Chance didn't move as to not want to frighten her any more than she already was. "It's alright, I won't hurt you."

She backed up into a junk pile, looking at him as tears ran down her cheeks. "Stay away, please."

"Chance, did you find her?" Jake called out and Chance looked at him, giving her the opportunity to run away and when he looked back she was gone.

Chance looked around curiously, then looked at Jake as he walked over. "I did. She had the most terrified look on her face, Jake."

Jake couldn't help but feel bad for her, running away from home after losing both parents really took a toll on her. He perked his right ear up, hearing crying and followed with Chance to the source of the sound and she was sobbing inside the broken down car. Jake looked at Chance, then slowly approached the car. He gently knocked on the door, she sniffled looking at him. "Can I come in?"

She wiped her eyes, looking away. She didn't exactly have anywhere else to go, so she just sat in her seat. "It's a free country."

Jake slowly opened the door, sitting inside as Chance stood outside watching. "This seat's comfy, I can understand why you chose this car as a hiding place." He was trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working and he looked down thinking of another topic. "So, what's your name?"

"You saw it on the news report." She was a little snippy, wiping her nose with the inside of her shirt. "And don't think you're going to get me to tell you anything, I am not someone that wants to be called in the middle of the night just to be interviewed about my dying father and the last thing I want to talk about is my mom that got so depressed she ended her life!" She started sobbing again, the night of her father's attack, different news stations would constantly call and invade their privacy trying to get the latest scoop on his condition. "She couldn't take the calls and constant harassment from the news..."

Jake reached over, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Chance looked up to see some dark clouds, hearing thunder and rain started to fall. "Come on, Jake. Let's get out of the rain."

Jake looked at her as she sniffled wiping her eyes, removing his hand and left the vehicle shutting the door to give her some space. He started walking back to the garage with Chance, a few seconds later they heard a car door open and shut, some footsteps behind them and she ran over holding the end of Jake's left sleeve in her right hand and walked next to him. Although she still didn't really trust them, it was the first time she was ever able to vent since the incident. She sat on the couch in the office part of the garage as Jake brought her down a bag of tuna chips, Chance sat in the computer chair across from her. "It's not much, but I'm sure you're hungry." She looked at the chips warily, looking at Jake. "It's alright, they're safe to eat." He took a chip and ate it. "See?"

She slowly took the bag, taking a small bite of a chip. "Thank you, but why are you-."

"You needed our help. And besides, if we wanted to turn you in, we could have easily done it by now and you wouldn't have noticed." Chance interrupted, knowing what she was gonna ask. "Now we want to ask you something, have you been to any strange places lately?" He didn't wanna ask her out front or he would blow their cover.

She ate the chips, looking at Chance. "If you're talking about that basement hangar under here, then yes."

"In that case, you're gonna be working with us," Jake said, giving her a wrench. "Do you know how to fix cars?"

She took the wrench, holding it and was confused. "Well, my dad taught me a few things about-. Wait, what?"

"We can't have you staying here for free." Chance told her. "And we can't have you telling anyone about our hangar, neither."

"But first thing's first, my name is Jake Clawson and this is my associate Chance Furlong." Jake introduced himself and Chance, who gave a mock salute.

"Bella Postskratch." She said, even though they already knew. She was pretty much stuck in a salvage yard with two mechanics since she didn't exactly have a home to go back to, this was gonna be tough.

Let me know what you guys think, there will be plenty more to come!~