Two weeks after the incident in Kitty´s apartment, the situation has calmed down. Kitty and Dudley thought after a very successful Cinema visit and an also quite pleasant next morning that they should waste no more time. Kitty had a big empty apartment and Dudley needed to get out of his mother´s house.

Mainly because his mother has got more overprotective, however that was even possible. It made Dudley paranoid how she snooped around. He also had the suspicion that his mother chipped him. He sometimes heard these electrical discharging sounds and when he walked through a metal detector it always beeped the hell out of him.

The releasing moment when he stepped over threshold of Kitty´s and now also his apartment he would never forget. He balanced a brown cardboard box with his guitar in it on his right arm which was also the one that was left. "Don´t dare playing this thing in here. My landlord will kill me." Ordered Kitty as she saw it. Dudley answered this just by giving her the 'are you kidding me' look and raising his left arm.

The arm. That was a tiresome issue. It was really hard to get used to have just one useable arm. Ordinary things like driving a car, climbing up a ladder or just tying up shoelace became significantly harder. Dudley thought that he would have to get used to it but then Keswick walked up to him and presented him a possible, but for Dudley strange solution.

"Dudley, I need your DNA!"
"Uhm… Why?" asked Dudley confused because Keswick came out of nothing with that question.
"Well, Science! I thought a bit about your s..s..situation and saw an opportunity to give you your arm back. We will use some adult stem cells from the chameleon´s tail.

But before you f..f..freak out, everybody has adult stem cells for example in the bone marrow. I won´t s..s..slaughter an embryo just because of your arm. Anyway, adult stem c..c..cells are less controllable but when I take some out of the chameleon´s tail, which can grow again, and c..c..combine these cells with some out of your arm it could be possible that I can grow you a new arm.

In the lab first of course but when it reached it full size we can t..t..transplant it. Luckily the Chameleon was so nice to donate some cells… okay I stole them as he slept. But, what do you think?!"
Of course Dudley agreed with that idea. And he also saw his little new arm in a giant incubator.

It had the size of a hotdog yet but it grew fast. Soon Dudley would be in this hospital again, in the same operation room where a surgeon will try to attach his arm on him again. That was maybe the first surgery Dudley was looking forward to.

Kitty had to take the responsibility for Birdbrains death and the T.U.F.F. supreme command still hadn´t finished its investigations. But by seeing the psychological circumstance she was in that time she will maybe be seen as certifiable.

However her promotion to the new chief receded into the distance. So Dudley was forced to clean up somebody else´s mess after one of these finance meetings. Snaptrap was gone since these two weeks. He maybe had to calm down and went on vacation or something, no one knew.

The strange Doctor, Amid Savors, disappeared the day Dudley woke up from his coma. Dudley searched for him but as he asked around in the hospital they assured him that there was never a doctor called Savors. The whole thing was strange and Dudley couldn´t stop thinking about it.
But on this day, two weeks after the incident, something else was on his mind and on Kitty´s too.

"Does my tie knot really fit?" Dudley asked Kitty jittery after they got out of the car. Both of them where well dressed. Dudley in a black suit -with pants!- and Kitty in a black dress.
"Yes, it does." Confirmed Kitty with slight nervousness in her tone. "Let´s go now the view point is not far away from here."

Both got wordless on their way over a small brown steed well-trodden path that lead to the view point ocean´s breath which was called like that because of the winds that blew back and forth. It really felt like the ocean would breathe directly into your face up there on the cliff.

"Kitty, you know that you don´t have to be here. I mean you paid for the whole thing. No one would forces you to be there and I think that they would actually be happy if you don´t come." Dudley tried to persuade her to go. He already could imagine how the whole event will be like. A lot of angry eyes looking at Kitty.

"That is no question of willing or not willing. It´s just something I have to do. If not for him at least for myself."
A few more steps over a little brow and they were there. And like Dudley had prophesied it a lot of angry eyes were pinned on Kitty. It was like their eyes were heat-seeking and she was the only heat source in the surrounding area.

But of course it is extremely unusually that the killer comes to the funeral of its victim. Madam Catastrophe and Doctor Rabies finally stepped out of the crowed and built themselves up in front of them. "You really valiant, I have to admit." Catastrophe said propped on a stick which was decorated with flamboyant carvings. "And I really give you credit that you pay the whole thing here but I´m still angry about the thing with my knee."

"Yes, me too. You better enjoy this little ceasefire today. Tomorrow we are enemies again." Added Rabies.
"I thought you two wanted to retire."
"Oh, we´ll do later. But for you Katswell we renew our working contract." With these words the two turned around and walked back into the crowed.

The next one who stepped in front of Dudley and Kitty was the Chameleon. Unlike Catastrophe and Rabies he eyed Dudley angry. "I hope you know that my ass still hurts…" The chameleon briefly gazed around confused by his own words.

"I hope you know how wrong that sounded?" retorted Dudley while a questioning glare of Kitty was torturing him.
"Yes. And I hope you know that I just mean the cells from my tail that your friend Keswick stole as I slept peacefully?"

"Yes."
"Then I think this issue is resolved." With an awkward feeling the Chameleon turned around and yield for Snaptrap who also wanted to talk to them.
"Thanks. Kitty, Dudley. I just want to say thanks for sparing my life. We all know that I had deserved to die." His voice sounded tired but somehow thankful and happy.

"No one deserves that. But just do me one favor. Next time when you destroy a building make sure that nobody is in it… Unless you want to kill the person." Replied Dudley and patted Snaptrap´s shoulder. "Now let´s just not talk about this again. It was my fault and also your fault.

Let´s rather go to the buffet over there." The three began to move but before they reached the table which was laid with plenty of food Dudley turned around and stopped Kitty. "I think there is someone you should talk to." He pointed at Zippy who stood on a small clay pot and watched how surf whipped against the rocks.

Kitty stepped beside her and joined watching. A long time they said nothing until Zippy raised her voice.
"He was misunderstood, you know?"
"Hm?"

"Birdbrain. He never wanted to be a criminal master mind. At least that´s what he told me once. The only thing he wanted was to fly. He had a goal, like you."
"But his goal was a dream and my goal was just revenge." Meant Kitty.

"Yeah… Strange isn´t it? Shouldn´t it be you who is hunting behind dreams and Birdbrain, the alleged bad guy, the one who has the lower motive? … The world isn´t just black and white." Zippy gazed with a slight smile towards the sun which just touched the surface of the ocean.

"Zippy, why are you so calm? Why are you not…"
"More like you?" completed Zippy. "Trying to have my revenge no matter what it cost? Well, look where the revenge brought us. Someone died. I don´t want that someone dies again. But also because I would be afraid.

Afraid of what happens afterwards. Violence always breeds more violence. And what would happen to me? Vengeance is always just a way to fill an emptiness in yourself. If you fulfilled it you´re left with nothing."

"But don´t you feel anything if you see me? Do you really let go all your anger."
"Yep. I´m free. Just if you freed yourself from everything you can be free to do everything."
"I can´t even imagine that." Admitted Kitty amazed.

"Maybe I can because I´m the better person." Zippy grinned at Kitty widely. "Now please excuse me, there´s something left for me to do." She grabbed the clay pot with her claws and raised herself high up into the air. A few meters from the cliff away but not too far away that nobody could hear her she began with her speech.

"Friends and guest. I´m as well happy as sad that we had to come together on this day. Sad because of the obvious. We all lost someone who was at least someone we knew. And for others of course more than just that. But I´m also happy to see so many people here who really care about early decease of Birdbrain. So, let us not mourn the loss of Birdbrain let us instead commemorate the life Birdbrain had."

Zippy opened the pot and paused until the wind turned and blew towards the ocean. "His greatest dream was to fly. I know that this isn´t the same, but it´s close to it." She scattered the ash into the wind which immediately carried it away. It looked like the rests of Birdbrain were blown into the sun.

In a strange way this was for all watchers as well reassuring as touching. It left a good feeling.
Dudley laid his hand on Kitty´s shoulder and said. "A really beautiful funeral. If I die first please take care that mine is going to be as neat as this one."

"Please don´t say that!"
"Why? We all have to die. Life is just the time which we spent between birth and death. So… do you have a better idea how to spend this time?"
"I have." Kitty pulled Dudley towards him and kissed him.

-The End-

-Well, that´s all for the moment. I know the story was a bit shorter than the last ones but I had really fun to write it. Thanks to lunar silver again for the idea.-