HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Chapter 3: Discovered!
"No! They can't have found me! I was soo careful and it's been so long!" She wailed in her mind in fear and anger.
She'd been in her other form when she caught the magical aura of another magic user. The other hadn't seen her, for which she was grateful. Her cover and her strong magical skills, succeeded in preventing the searcher from piercing her disguise.
Her heart was hammering with fear as she pretended nothing was wrong and continued her job. The area was a mess and she was having to direct the cleanup. She couldn't leave yet. She could feel the others eyes on her but since she was a prominent person, that was to be expected. But it made her even more paranoid.
It was with relief, that she wrapped up the business and left for her office. Sitting at her desk, she couldn't concentrate on her report. Her mind was consumed with the sight of the hunter.
'Goddess! How did they find me?' She wondered frantically. 'I've been so careful and my leader did such a good job of getting me away...so how did they come to be here?' Her mind went back to that terrible moment when she'd witnessed the brutal slaying of her mentor. He had been the leader of the Green Way Sect. They were a peaceful group, believing in living with nature and its creatures. They were especially well known for their healing arts.
The Sect was sought after for that talent alone. They had scrupulously avoided conflict, preferring to be neutral. Unfortunately the Red Force Sect wanted them as their own personal servants, to serve them and no one else as they made a bid to take over all the sects and be the ultimate rulers of the magical world. The other sects rose up in arms and a nasty war was begun that was still going on when she had fled after her leader's death. Very few of her sect survived when their hidden home had been invaded and those that had, were taken to serve the Red Force. She had been extremely fortunate to have escaped. Her dying leader had used his skills to hide her form, allowing her to slip through the Red Forces minions and flee to the mortal world.
She'd been safe here for over twenty years and now they had come here. Despite the size of Megakat City, she had never encountered more than a tiny handful of refugees hiding here. She had a forlorn hope it was one of them the Red Force sought but she truly doubted it. She was simply too valuable both as a healer and a powerful mage in her own right to not be their target.
Despite her formidable abilities, she was no match for their forces. She hated the idea of running again. It was quite possible the Red Forces had been searching for her everywhere and had finally arrived here. The odds of that being true were very good so that running wouldn't spare her. She didn't know what she was going to do now.
Elsewhere in the city...
"You are sure she is supposed to be here?" A huge figure demanded of a hunched form kneeling before him.
"Yes, my lord! The seer says she had picked up Aurora's aura here in this city. But it is vast and will take some time to find her. She has hidden herself well." He reported uneasily, uncertain how his leader would take the news.
"Hmmm, yes she was one of that fool Nemixor's best disciples. Well then, get on with the search. Have a sensitive posted with each squad of hunters. I want her found!" He commanded.
"Yes sir!" The second in command said quickly, getting to his feet and leaving.
In the shadows beside the Red Force leader, a small hunched figure glided forward.
"She will prove to be an excellent mate, my lord!" The figure's voice spoke barely above a whisper.
"So you say. I still don't like the idea of one of those sickening love and peace creatures sharing my bed." The leader growled irritably.
"I understand my lord but my information says Aurora is a fiery female, not meek like those pathetic things we are using as healers." He reassured his leader. "And her powers merged with yours will increase yours exponentially upon mating and produce exceptionally powerful younglings."
"She had better be and that is the only reason I'm wasting my time on this wild goose chase!" The leader snarled then left his audience chamber. He had other work to do.
Megakat Military Salvage Yard...
"Look out below, buddy," Chance shouted down at his partner as he sent a piece of equipment he'd salvaged down the ladder.
"I'm ready!" Jake shouted up. Chance released the piece and Jake deftly caught it. "Got it! Come on down and let's hook it up!" He called back up.
"Roger!" Chance called back. He made sure he'd closed the garage door before descending the ladder. Once at the bottom he strolled over to the Turbokat where Jake had the undercarriage opened and parts strewn below his feet. He was already fitting the new part inside.
Chance came up to him and gave him a paw. He held it while Jake began screwing it into place.
"You were out late, buddy. Have a good time?" Jake asked as he worked.
"Yeah, got lucky. Found me a real honey of a fem. She was hot in bed." Chance said reminiscing about his night with the beautiful gold-eyed she-kat.
"Heh, going to see her again?" Jake asked.
"It was a one night stand. Didn't trade names or phone numbers. I got the feeling that's the way she wanted it. But I gotta tell ya, I wouldn't mind running into her again." He sighed.
"Seems she made a real impression on you." Jake said chuckling.
Chance blushed, "Yeah, well...if you'd seen her you might feel the same."
"Oh yeah, sure." Jake snorted as he finished up. "There it's in. Let's get all this closed back up and take it out for a test run."
"Cool! Can't wait to get in the sky. I'm getting antsy." Chance said with enthusiasm.
His partner laughed, "You're never happy unless you're in the air."
"You got that right!" The tabby tom said simply.
Less than an hour later they were soaring over their favorite desert course.
"She's handling well, buddy." T-Bone said with a grin of enjoyment as he put his precious jet through her paces.
"Yeah everything seems to be running smoothly. Take another spin through the course then head home." Razor said in agreement.
"Roger!"
More than an hour later, they were preparing to enter their hangar when a frantic call reached their ears over the enforcer channel.
"All units respond! Dr. Viper has been seen at the Megakat Agricultural Station!" The dispatcher announced.
"The Agri Station! What the heck would he want there?" T-Bone said aloud as he pulled the jet around and took off for the eastern part of the city.
"I read they were experimenting with a new hybrid growth formula to increase crops." Razor said helpfully.
"Wonderful! And Snakepuss has decided he'd like to have it!" T-Bone growled as he came up to the scene.
"Sounds like it!" Razor snorted.
The enforcers were already on the scene and mixing it up with Viper's plant army and, as usual, coming out on the short end of the stick in the encounter. Sighing in resignation, Razor fired some helpful shredder missiles to chop up the more pernicious vines and sent a higher potency scrambler missile down the throat of a plant monster with a huge maw that was eating an enforcer tank. That cleared the area for the enforcers to be able to enter the building.
Feral might have been annoyed at their appearance but couldn't argue with the results of their interference as he led the charge into the small facility. He'd have been even more upset if he'd known Viper had already left the building through a back entrance before he'd been able to block all the exits.
"Oh!oh! Dr. Viper's trying to escape, T-Bone." Razor warned as he caught sight of the lizard Kat hightailing it through a field of tall corn. "We're going to have to go down there and try to snatch him. We can't risk destroying that crop. It's far too valuable in feeding the poor." Razor told his partner seriously.
"Great! I don't like the idea chasing that nut around a corn field on foot, Razor!" T-Bone complained.
"I know but there's really no choice. He appears to be heading toward where the swamp starts at the edge of the fields. I don't think he'll veer off too much. Set us down at the area he should be coming out, T-Bone." Razor ordered.
"Roger!" T-Bone acknowledged unhappily.
He landed at the far side of the field and on the most solid of ground he could find. He and Razor jumped from the cockpit and headed to where they had seen signs of Viper's passing.
T-Bone looked back at the jet uneasily. He didn't like the idea that he was so close to the swamp and was afraid the jet might sink into the uncertain ground.
"Don't worry T-Bone, I checked and the ground where you parked the Turbokat is safe." Razor said divining his partner's thoughts.
He had to trust his partner's surety and focused his attention on finding the mutant Kat quickly. They were in for a rude surprise. Viper plowed through the field and came out not more than a few feet where the SWAT Kats were waiting.
The mutant Kat hissed at them in anger then made a loud, strange call. An answering screech came from behind them. They whirled and found a great big walking mushroom charging up from behind the jet and heading for them.
Viper laughed maniacally as he ran away from them holding the precious notes he'd stolen.
Wasting no time, Razor and T-Bone fired their glovatrix's at the charging plant. Their concussive charges made it dodge but not halt its headlong flight. Razor managed to splat a tarpedo into his strange 'face'. That finally slowed it down while they raced after Viper.
They managed to catch him at the edge of the swamp but he whipped around and slapped his tail at Razor sending him flying into the trees to the right. He tried the same trick on T-Bone but the tabby managed to grab it and swing the lizard Kat into a tree. Viper was down but not out when behind T-Bone the mushroom monster, having removed its tar mask, was racing to Viper's rescue.
He tried a electrified net missile. It draped over the monster perfectly and it screamed in pain but still managed to swipe an arm at T-Bone and send him flying to join his partner.
As the SWAT Kats struggled to gain their feet and get back into the fray something strange happened. A glowing light struck the mushroom monster and made it shrivel up. Viper screamed in anger but didn't know who to attack. Not wanting to be caught he turned for the swamp but his headlong flight was halted by something sticky that hit him and sent him flat to the ground, gluing him there.
The SWAT Kats, still in the trees, were stunned. They stayed where they were and looked around warily. Someone else was here. After staying still for long minutes and the only sound was Viper's growls and hisses, they heard movement to the right of them.
"Excellent work! Couldn't have that cretin run into our warding circle. Idiot creatures, this world seems full of them." A voice hissed in annoyance.
"Yes, you're right about that. I'll be glad when we can quit this place and return home. I like it here not at all." Another voice said gloomily.
"We'll not go home until we find her. The lord is in a fine fury that we haven't succeeded in finding that little Green Way Sect witch by now. She is far more skilled than any of her kind." The first voice said bitterly.
"It does not help that she is capable of taking another form, even a male's. She's managed to hide her magical signature so well that we've been chasing our tail's for months in this godforsaken mortal world." The second grumbled angrily.
"No complaint of ours will change the fact that we must find her. Now finish your scrying and see if we get lucky this time." The first grunted impatiently.
"Yeah, yeah, just hold on." The second answered distractedly. Then there was silence for long minutes.
The SWAT Kats slipped very carefully toward the voices. Through a patch of thick weeds, they spotted the pair. They were two strong looking Kats wearing strange clothes with red cloaks over their shoulders. One of them was kneeling within a circle they had drawn with chalk on the ground and seemed to be trying to see into a bowl of silvery liquid. Outside the circle the second Kat was fingering a huge stave that was as long as the Kat. It had strange markings carved all along its length.
There was a sudden flash of light and the Kat in the circle cursed and backed away from the bowl. The Kat waiting outside the circle cursed as well.
"No good! She's well and truly managed to hide herself!" The Kat in the circle said in disgust as he broke the circle with his foot. He began to collect the things in the circle and pouring the liquid, which looked like plain water now, onto the ground.
The other Kat continued to curse under his breath. When the area was cleaned up the two stood together then suddenly vanished into thin air.
"Crud!" T-Bone blurted in shock.
"Oh this is so not what we needed! The omegas were bad enough but now we've got magic users in our city searching for someone." Razor spat angrily, fear lacing his voice.