Chapter 15
She could hear the roar of the waterfall in the distance. Finally! Batgirl had begun to wonder if she had lost her direction. She hadn't seen sign of anyone since last night. In one sense this was comforting, given her experience with the island inhabitants so far. But it meant she was still alone, having spent two nights on the island with no sign of rescue.
The forest opened up suddenly. Before her was a massive waterfall, at least 250 feet high, foaming into a massive pool. To the right, she could see a pathway that led up the cliffs. Hmm…man made, apparently this was well traveled. She'd better watch her back.
After a brief scan the area, she concluded it was safe to take a moment to stop. She was incredibly sweaty, and the prospect of a bath was too good to turn down. Securing her equipment to a bush, she removed her outfit, and dipped herself into the cool water. She sighed deeply; it was like putting on new skin.
Selina held her nose to the air; eyes closed trying to catch some familiar scent. After a sniffing several times, she sighed and said, "I can't catch any scent of either of them, how about you?" Tygrus turned to her, "I do not smell them. I can still recall the Batman's scent, and I'd catch a human female scent immediately. All the guards are men."
"Yeah, and their smell is all over." Paul interjected, with his nose pressed to the ground. Looking up, he said "They must run a patrol through here. This is their territory." He stood up and said nonchalantly, "Guess we gotta turn around now. Maybe we can try further south tomorrow."
Tygrus didn't respond. His head was looking straight up. Catwoman arced her head slightly with a curious look on her face. "Tygrus?" He finally looked to them and said, "Paul, please return home. Me and Selina will search a bit more here."
"Are you sure?" Paul asked, confused.
"Yes, we will be fine." Tygrus responded.
Paul shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself. You two watch yourselves, I'll be entertaining the miss. I'm sure she'll be glad not to have to play third wheel to those two doctors anymore." With a quick turn, he cut into the forest, his black furred body disappearing into brush like a shadow.
Selina stepped up to Tygrus, still befuddled. Then she smiled, "Tygrus…you wouldn't be just trying to get us alone are you?" she said, sounding slightly like an offended parent.
Tygrus did not change his expression, but continued to look up into the trees again. "Selina, do you smell anything in the trees?"
Selina turned her nose upwards, breathing in deeply. After a moment, she said, "Yes, it smells almost like…gas on the tree leaves…wait, could that be…" In a second, she had climbed onto a tree branch, 18 feet in the air. She shouted down, "Yes…there's the scent of fuel and debris in the branches. This is the trail the bat plane left as it crashed. I think I can follow it to the crash site!"
"Let us do so then. But be careful. We are in their domain now. If they have found this plane first, they may be guarding it."
Selina nodded. Tygrus joined her in the trees. They were thick, the branches powerful enough to hold even Tygrus' massive frame like it was nothing. They moved across the jungle, springing from branch to branch, high above the forest floor, following the trail of gas and dust. It hung heavily in the air, so clearly to her nose that it was almost visible. She wasn't sure what good finding the plane might do. Batman and Batgirl would have ejected and been far from the plane's landing site. Assuming Batman and Batgirl did eject safely, otherwise…well perhaps the plane would still have a functional radio or other supplies. Heck, maybe he put a tracking beacon for himself that could be accessed from the plane. Regardless, right now it was their only lead.
Not sure how long a trip they had, Selina decided to ask Tygrus a question that had been eating away at her for a long time. "Tygrus, could I ask you a question?"
"Certainly Selina," he said, perched deftly on a thick, vine coated tree branch.
Selina continued, "Why me? Dorian made you, if you'll excuse me, from scratch, why hadn't he made others if he wanted a mate for you, why did he not make one when he made you? Why wait and turn me into a cat?"
It was a personal question; one Tygrus couldn't be expected to answer or even know the answer to. But Tygrus became very quiet for a moment, then look to the side, apparently at nothing for several seconds. Just as Selina began to retract her question he replied, "I am not the only experiment. I am the only one that survived."
Selina saw something in his eyes that told her this was not a pleasant memory. "I'm sorry Tygrus, just forget that I-"
"No," he interrupted as he lept to another branch, "I will explain, but let us keep moving."
They resumed following their path, soaring from tree to tree across the intersecting branches of the jungle canopy. Tygrus continued, "According to father, there were 20 of us. Only five lasted more than a year. I can recall having two brothers and two sisters when I was young. At least I thought of them as brothers and sisters. However, all but one of them died before I was eight years of age. Something was wrong with them, they were 'imperfect' my father said."
Tygrus continued, "The one who survived was a female. Her name was Panthera. She was black as night, with sky blue eyes." He seemed to become slightly wistful. "We were not blood related of course. She was not created to be a sister, but a mate. I did not understand what father meant at first when he told me this, but as we grew, I…saw her differently. And she I." He smiled. "I loved her, I loved father for creating her, for creating us both. She was perfect to me." His smile slowly dropped, and he became stoic again. "But...she was not perfect…"
Suddenly, they both stopped. They could see ahead a small clearing, where several trees had been leveled. Through them, they could see the bat-plane. Or what was left of it. It had been wrecked in the crash, but the real damage had clearly been done deliberately. Whole parts ripped off, wings, bits of the cockpit. And there was little doubt as to the responsible party. A group of three men with visors and blowtorches cut apart the plane as they watched. They were guarded by a group of fifteen guards. Too many even for the both of them.
"Those are not the same guns from before…" said Tygrus quizzically.
"They are assault rifles, they kill," Selina said in a hushed voice, "we must be careful. Perhaps we should go back…"
Tygrus turned suddenly, holding his hand up to signal Selina to be still and silent. He turned, slowly, the look on her face told him she had sensed it as well, a large patrol of guards had come while they watched, and set up a wide barrier around the general area, unwittingly creating a circle around them along with the plane.
They were surrounded.
