A/N: Hello again! I hope you enjoyed my last chapter and will hopefully like this new one. Many thanks to Ulyferal for her beta work on this. So sit back and enjoy the show. Love, Autumn

Disclaimer: Yes it's all mine * See's lawyers* Just kidding Shadow is only mine...I own nothing else!

(O.X)~(O.x)~(O.X)

Chapter 2

As Shadow was being led through the alley toward Feral's car, she couldn't help but worry about becoming some kind of scientific experiment. Just thinking about it made her shiver with fear.

Feral didn't fail to notice her body shudder in his paw but he didn't slow his firm steps as he pulled her along.

Shadow swallowed and stared at her feet, her breathing shaky while her mind whirled with all the things that could possibly happen to her in this strange place. She looked up suddenly and noticed the sun was going down and soon it would be dark.

How long had she been here already? It really hadn't seemed that long but there was no denying that it was getting late. Her thoughts were jarred by their arrival at Feral's sedan. He opened the back door and urged her to get in while ensuring she wouldn't whack her head as she did so. The door shut firmly behind her as she settled onto the leather seat.

She noticed there were no seatbelts back here nor door handles. A sliding barrier of some hard plastic was between her and the front seat area and the windows had some kind of grill-like reinforcement of metal in the glass...they truly ensured a prisoner couldn't escape. She sighed and tried to relax, stretching her legs a bit and trying to ease the numbness starting to rise in her shoulders from being pinned back. It didn't feel so good having her hands clasped this way either.

Frowning, she really didn't want to continue hurting this way due to her arms positioning so she forced her shackled hands forward under her rump then pulled her legs through her arms, one at a time until her hands were once more in front of her.

Sighing in relief, she raised them over her head and stretched then let them lay in her lap. The car dipped slightly as the huge tom climbed into the driver's seat, started the engine and began to pull out into traffic.

She watched out the window as the city went by. She'd never lived in a large city before so was amazed at the how many of the buildings were so very tall. Surprisingly, this planet looked a lot like any city on her world except for the biped cats walking everywhere. The cars moved more silently than any from home so there wasn't as much noise, which she was just beginning to notice as she sat there. The radio near the tom's arm on the dash, blurbed every once in a while with some report or other just like the cop cars at home.

The drive ended some fifteen minutes later outside an incredibly tall building with gleaming white steps leading up to some really imposing doors. Apparently, this was their destination as the tom got out, closed his door, then opened hers. Her heart was beating a rapid tattoo of fear as he reached in to take her shoulder and halted.

He scowled at her. "How did you do that?" He demanded.

She looked down at her hands and blushed. "It hurt having them behind me," she said rather sullenly.

Sighing in annoyance, he pulled her out then slammed the door behind her.

Tension rose up within her. She could tell he was in a bad mood and in her small town it wasn't unheard of for cops in a foul temper to abuse their prisoners. Since this guy was so much bigger than any cop at home, she was afraid he would hurt her badly.

But despite his ill temper, Feral didn't do anything but tug on her arm then lead her up the broad steps. She looked around and was being stared at in turn by many cats passing by them, many wearing similar uniforms to the big tom.

Looking up she saw a huge sign that said, Enforcer Headquarters'. 'What the heck could that mean?' She wondered.

Feral pushed open one of the huge doors and pulled her along. They crossed a huge lobby filled with cat people coming and going. Over to the left was a high desk behind which sat a cat who dealt with the complaints people brought before him, a line was waiting their turn to speak with him. Elsewhere were other prisoners in handcuffs with officers holding them and other kats dressed in things that normal humans would wear like jeans, slacks, skirts, dresses, suits, etc. were flitting here and there.

She didn't get to see much more because Feral tugged her onto an elevator. When the doors closed, he punched a button which she noted said '10' then the elevator went upward at an alarming speed. Very quickly it slowed then stopped and the doors shooshed open.

They stepped out and began walking down a long corridor with many doors. Lots of people were here too but they were wearing lab coats. The sight of them made Shadow nearly want to bolt but she knew no matter how frightened she was, trying to get away would only get her in more trouble and possibly badly hurt so she continued to allow Feral to lead her down the hall.

However, she couldn't resist asking, with her voice squeaking in fear, "so, where are you taking me?"

Feral gave her a quiet but grim look but didn't answer her. 'How could this tom be her father,' she wondered, feeling so very lost and bewildered. She still thought, in some part of her brain, that this was just a weird nightmare that she would wake from soon.

Suddenly, they halted and she blinked as she stared at the heavy glass door before her. Feral used a card to pass through a card reader and the door slid into itself. It was a lab. She shuddered in terror as he pulled her onward. It was very quiet here, no one was talking as they worked in a variety of small labs they passed heading down a short corridor.

He halted again and opened yet another door. In here, the light was dimmer and along one wall were a line of glass cages. He paused at one of them and opened it with his card again.

Trembling, she held back, dragging her feet as she stared at the stark room he was going to shove her in.

"Oh why did I have to get Alex?" She whimpered softly. "He would have been fine and I wouldn't be here waiting to be treated like a lab rat." She was on the verge of tears and couldn't bring herself to look up at the tom gently pushing her into the cell.

His strength in that gentle push made her realize trying to resist him would be futile. She stood in the center of the cell and heard the door slide shut almost silently behind her.

Feral stood a moment staring at her, some indefinable expression on his face before turning away and leaving her alone.

Slowly she looked around, noticed she was alone and let her shoulders slump. Shadow hugged her body as she saw the cell was very small, the floor seemed to feel soft...maybe it was rubber?
Leaning her back against the glass wall nearest her, she allowed her body to slide to the floor. Whatever it was made of, it was soft. Pulling her knees up to her chest and burying her head in her arms, she began to cry softly. Shuddering and sobbing for more than an hour, sleep finally overcame her exhausted mind and body.

Meanwhile, several scientists studied her over the closed circuit security system and made dozen of notes. They couldn't wait until she woke up so they could watch her reactions to her captivity.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When she woke some four hours later, she just knew there were eyes on her...she could feel them. She looked around to see if she could find the camera but it must be hidden inside the ceiling somehow.

As she woke more completely, her bladder began to insist it needed emptying urgently. She looked around to see if there was some kind of toilet and there in the far left corner she was pleasantly surprised to see not only a toilet but a sink.

She pushed herself to her feet and hurriedly made for the toilet, looking around to see if anyone was watching...she refused to think about the ones probably watching from the camera as she pushed her pants down and quickly used the facility. Done and sighing with relief, she pulled her pants up and went to the small sink to wash her hands.

After they were clean, she realized she was thirsty so took a chance the water would be safe and used her hands to cup water and drink. Feeling a little better, she turned off the faucet and, since there was no where to dry her hands, she used her clothes to wipe her hands off.

Now that she had some rest, she noted through the wall was another room beside her cell and in this one was some computers and other machines as well as some chairs. At the moment it was empty.

Suddenly, she heard voices, some laughing others serious, heading toward her. She moved to the front of her cell and watched the special door at the end of the short hall. Within moments, it slid open and a group of cats entered. Some were smiling while others had grim expressions on their faces. All of them carried some kind of notebook with pens or pencils in hands.

They reached her cell and stared at her. She felt just like a bug under a microscope. Too uncomfortable to just stand there and let them stare, she got up the courage to speak.

"Hi."

Several of the scientist jerked in shocked surprise then began writing frantically on their notepads. When most of them seemed to be through writing she tried again.

"Hello, my name is Shadow Moon Feral." Her heart leaped when one of them finally answered.

"Hello, my name is James. So, you seem to understand our language very well," his voice had a questioning lilt to it.

She gave them a trembling smile. "Well, yes that's because it's the same as my own," she admitted softly.

"Really, that's amazing, so...what are you exactly?" James asked, eagerly.

She eyed him nervously. The male had gray fur with very deep blue eyes and his movements were cat-like (obviously). He didn't seem very threatening.

"Uhm...well we call ourselves humans," she said carefully.

James nodded and wrote more notes down in his notebook, as did the others standing behind him. She got the impression he had a list of questions written down and that was what they were using right now to interrogate her. His next question convinced her she was right.

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

If they were going to ask her questions, she thought it only fair that she be allowed to ask some of her own so before James could speak again she asked, " Uhm, you're not going to experiment on me...are you?"

"No, we've been ordered not to," one of the others behind James answered.

A wave of relief washed over her. "That's good to hear. So where am I? Obviously, I'm not on Earth anymore."

"No, this is not the place you call Earth. Our world is called Katanga," James answered her.

Though she knew she was no longer home, hearing it said so baldly just made it that much more scary as her face paled in shocked dismay.

"Oh..." she said in a small voice. She heard them whispering among themselves while scribbling more notes in their notebooks.

'This is so not my weekend,' she thought bitterly to herself.