FIGHTING DARKNESS
Chapter 3: Who am I?
Settling himself, Razor began his tale. "The body I wear was born but died almost immediately after its birth. As its spirit flew back to Bast, I was sent to take its place. Bast had a mission for me in the mortal world but I require a body to do her bidding as I am only energy in my normal form. I and others like me are the Goddess Bast's soldiers. We protect all in the mortal realm from the depredations of the darker beings who reside in our world. Blood and carnage are their food and power sources so fomenting chaos is their way of getting it...whether it be immortal or mortal lives. Though their prey is normally less powerful immortals, mortals are far more easily terrified and can be coerced into spilling blood over almost anything so this makes them much easier prey though it takes many more mortal lives compared to a single immortal to get the same level of power they need."
Fascinated, T-Bone backed up until his legs hit the chair near the door then let his body drop into it heavily as he listened intently.
Feral growled. "Sounds like they're lazy." Thoroughly disgusted by how such fiends feed.
Razor nodded. "Oh yes, very lazy and too often stupid. Luckily those types are merely troublesome and easily managed. It's the more powerful and extremely dangerous ones, like Shezmu, that causes the greatest harm and chaos. As the god of war, his food is derived from every form of carnage beings can inflict on one another. But just like myself, he requires a body. However, without Bast's permission, he has to steal a soul to do his work. Powerful he may be, but even he wouldn't dare cross her by trying to sneak into the mortal world. So, his only option is to reach into your world with a tiny part of himself and steal the soul of a mortal creature. That poor unfortunate becomes his unquestioning puppet. His favorite targets are those in positions of power. Using his puppets he can build a web of lies and deceit that turns people against people, country against country, until he creates the wars and carnage he's after and provides a conduit by which he can feed."
Feral shuddered. "That was what he intended to do to me, right?"
"Yes, you're perfect for his needs," Razor confirmed. "And, I can see why he would be attracted to Megakat City. The omegas cause enough chaos, death, and pain to suit his tastes. However, even he isn't stupid enough to attack an area where there is a guardian. This is what I find confusing. When I ousted him from you, Commander, he seemed genuinely surprised to find me there. Equally disturbing, was the fact I hadn't sensed his presence until he attacked you and that is supposed to be flatly impossible. Something has blocked our abilities to sense one another. I find that very disquieting."
"Disquieting is not a word I would use for the possibility of something or someone far more powerful working behind the scenes here." It was a stab in the dark but Feral had a bad feeling it might prove to be true.
Razor blinked at him in stunned surprise. Anger flashed through him... crud ... how had he missed that possibility? He couldn't believe someone like Feral had come up with such an insightful suspicion. That was not something he'd ever expected from the big tom. It seems he and T-Bone had seriously underestimated the Commander.
"How blind am I!" He exclaimed aloud. "Your guess makes far too much sense, Feral and makes me suspect a power play among the Gods could be forming." He shook his head. "Bast will be furious!"
Feral felt his heart sink and fear rise to choke him. Kat's Alive! As if this Shezmu guy wasn't bad enough, now there's a chance we've become involved in a possible God war! We're so dead! He thought morosely.
"And your suspicion has led me to another one..." Razor added, interrupting Feral's pessimistic train of thought.
"Don't we have enough already?" T-Bone asked bleakly, suddenly feeling helpless before this massive threat.
Razor shot him a sympathetic look but pushed on with his thoughts. "It's possible this mysterious new player is also the one responsible for the appearance of the omegas then used them to entice Shezmu to come and play with them. Shezmu would have been perfect because he can manipulate the omegas by getting into their heads and making them do things they never would on their own...like convincing them to work together, while the instigator remained in the background pulling Shezmu's strings."
"But the omegas did do that and we kicked their tails," T-Bone objected.
"Doesn't matter. Even in failure he gains power and it won't keep him from trying again and the next time he could succeed. While the omegas create havoc for the defenders, he can slip in and take the souls of all the city's leaders. With this new army, he would wage war on all the nearby countries. That much blood, fear, and death would make him damn near invincible and behind it all is this other player gaining power," Razor growled, anger rising in him.
T-Bone felt the blood drain from his face as he easily pictured the horror Razor was painting for them. Glancing over at Feral he could see the big tom was just as pale under that dark fur.
"How do we fight something on this scale?" T-Bone whispered, truly shaken.
"I'm more terrified of the one we think is actually running this show. Who do you think it might be, Razor, and what do they gain doing this?" Feral nervously asked, his face white with fear.
"I have no damn idea!" Razor snapped, jumping to his feet then pacing in angry circles.
That made the fear Feral and T-Bone were feeling escalate. With wary eyes, the two huddled where they sat and watched this powerful creature stalk back and forth in rising anger and frustration. Neither wanted to draw attention to themselves by speaking. At that moment, Razor felt as dangerous as the ones they were discussing.
"I don't like this...I don't like this at all," Razor hissed to himself, flashing fangs.
Feral eyed the tom watchfully. This powerful creature had saved his life but that was dwarfed by the fear that another powerful but evil creature was trying to take over his city while something even more dangerous was possibly planning a war with the Gods themselves. He only knew how to fight criminals not God-like beings. What was the tabby pilot and he to do against such enemies? Depression was trying to choke him when another question suddenly struck him. Despite his fear of the Guardian he dared to ask, "Why us?"
Razor halted his pacing to stare at Feral piercingly, his expression questioning. Though Feral couldn't see the Guardian's eyes, he felt their intensity and felt ice down his spine. It took all his courage to continue speaking. "Why are these enemies focused on us? Oh, I know we're the largest city in the world but, beyond that, what's so fascinating about us that has attracted these things to mess with us?"
A thoughtful look crossed the Guardian's face as he considered the question. After a long pause, he said, "That's the real question, isn't it? If I could find the answer to that I'd have a better idea on the who." Studying Feral as if he was seeing the tom for the first time, he commented, a thoughtful note in his voice, "You surprise me, young one. I've watched you a long time and though I never had any doubts you truly cared about your Enforcers and your duty as protector of this city, your behavior hasn't been that of a well rounded leader. You're hobbled by your hot temper, short-sightedness, narrow point of view, inability to accept things outside your experience, and too hidebound to rules and regulation. However, the past half hour you've shown there's a sharp mind under all that bluster and pride. You have a reason for hiding your intelligence, hmm?"
Heat rushed to Feral's face with anger and embarrassment. The brutal assessment was hurtful and more accurate than he'd liked to admit. However, he had personal reasons for not revealing his true self and he wasn't about to admit what they were even to this intimidating person so he simply glowered and remained silent.
A smile of understanding tugged at Razor's mouth. "Be at ease, Commander. I won't pry and I'm not trying to belittle you. I'm just pleased there's more to you than I had first suspected and in this time of great danger very welcome. Whatever your reasons for hiding your true self, I need you to be more open with me now. Your valuable insights have already proven extremely useful and have certainly exposed things I failed to see. Just because I'm immortal doesn't mean I'm omnipotent. We have our blind sides too and need others to help us see the smaller details we might overlook. Believe me, I'm going to need all the help I can get on this one," Razor admitted, ruefully, trying to lighten the mood. Apparently it worked as Feral unbent enough to offer a tiny smile.
"I'll do my best to keep my mind open to anything suspicious and tell you immediately. I freely admit there are times when I don't take the time to see what's beneath the surface of things as often as I should, the trials of my position, I'm afraid," Feral admitted to T-Bone's utter shock. It meant a lot to receive those words of thanks and encouragement from someone like Razor. It salved his battered pride a bit to hear it.
"No doubt. But I warn you now, it's a bad thing to get tunnel vision when we're surrounded by alligators. Which is why I'm so pissed. I allowed such an opportunistic enemy to slip in without my sensing him or taking in account the reasons for the omegas rather sudden appearance. Though I was preoccupied with chasing that elusive energy trail Bast had sent me to investigate that still was no excuse for failing to take in the larger picture," Razor berated himself.
"Don't beat yourself up. My being overly suspicious is my defense against the many enemies we seemed to attract here. Because of that, I tend to overreact and take a more negative view that looks for trouble under every rock," Feral said, shrugging.
"It's certainly an excellent mind set to have as a military leader and I'm sorry I felt it was a detriment. Right now it's definitely a benefit," the Guardian acknowledged soberly.
Silence fell for a long uncomfortable time before the tabby broke it with a question of his own. "So how can we be of help? These are immortals you're talking about not some omega with delusions of godhood," T-Bone asked then had a sudden thought. "Hey...what was that about trying to find an energy trail?"
"Bast had sensed some kind of anomalous energy signature floating around the city but she was unable to pin it down long enough to identify it as if it knew she was watching, so she sent me to take a closer look. But, I've been no more successful than she, though I've managed to catch an occasional whiff of it so I still have no idea what it is."
"So could that be this other power we're thinking is running the show?" T-Bone jumped on that instantly.
Razor looked annoyed but it was directed at himself. "I can't believe it! First Feral suggests something I should have figured out and now you make me realize that whoever this is most likely is that energy trail I was sent here to find. I could kick myself."
"Well, you did say you couldn't necessarily see the 'forest for the trees'," T-Bone smirked, pleased he had managed to find a way to help. He hated feeling helpless.
"I'm going to have to investigate this more deeply now that I have all these new suspicions to check on thanks to you two. I'll also have to be more on my guard too since my enemies now know I'm in the area. Which means things are going to get real dicey from now on," Razor warned.
"Does that mean this Shezmu guy wasn't scared off?" T-Bone asked anxiously.
Razor shook his head making T-Bone and Feral's hearts sink. "Shezmu doesn't give up that easily. If he's been mucking with the omegas then I have to assume he's been here awhile...maybe as long as this other power. Shezmu plans carefully, taking years to move his pieces into place before he strikes and it's very probable he has and is still, affecting the omegas behavior."
"But maybe not when they first appeared..." Feral suddenly interrupted. "If we look back in my case files, we might see signs of when they may have begun to be manipulated like you think. That would give us a time line..."
"An excellent idea, Commander. As a matter of fact, I can remember two occasions where they behaved out of character...the last being at the Tuna Factory."
"Yes, exactly..." Feral said, excitedly. Here's where he could provide some assistance. As soon as he went to work tomorrow he'd start going over the reports from the moment the omegas appeared. And it didn't hurt that having a goal made the fear more manageable.
"Okay, so the Commander here will see when Shezmu showed up but that doesn't tell us when this other much more powerful and obviously sneakier enemy showed up. How do you plan on finding that out when you haven't been able to all these years?" T-Bone asked, worriedly.
Razor sighed. "Actually, I believe Bast may have that answer. After all, it was she that spotted the odd energy signal. I just have to ask her how long ago that was giving us a starting point. But to do that, I must leave you both for a time. I'm going to have to see some friends of mine and do research through our ancient archives and see what I can find. I'm sorry that means I'll have to leave you two on your own for a short time..."
"Noooo...what if he comes back for me!" Feral cut Razor off, leaping off the bed to pace in terror, forcing Razor to move quickly out of the way, pressing his back to the room's door to avoid being knocked down. The very idea of that thing getting a hold of him again made Feral lose the calm he'd just regained. He would have been appalled to know he was literally wringing his paws in anxious fear.
Stepping forward when Feral began to pass him for the second time, Razor pressed a palm firmly on the tom's chest to halt him then poured calming energy into the panicked tom. "Fear not, I will not abandon thee," he murmured, soothingly.
The sudden feeling of comfort and assurance was like a warm balm spread over his soul and made it easier for Feral to stamp down on his panic and begin to regain control of himself. He took a a shaky breath and sighed in relief. He gave the Guardian a look of gratitude. Razor nodded, giving the tom an encouraging smile as he removed his paw.
Staring into the masked face before him, Feral wished he could see the tom's eyes but immediately nixed that desire when he realized they just might freak him out if he saw them...with everything else, he didn't think he could handle that too. His emotions still all over the place, Feral felt the need to sit down so went to the bed and sat on the edge and tried to relax. In this instance, he cared not what the tabby thought of him and his loss of control but he did glance over at T-Bone and was sort of relieved to see the tom was a bit freaked too so they were even.
Kat's Alive! I don't know how that tom will be able to live with his partner now after finding out all this creepy stuff about him, he mused. I know I wouldn't want to be around him much after this. Taking a deep breathe and letting it go, Feral said aloud, "Okay, I have to trust you will. So while you're off asking questions, what do your partner and I do if things go south while you're away?"
"Not to worry. Though my physical body might be gone, part of my essence will still be here keeping watch, never fear. Now that I've been alerted to the danger, I'll be watching for anything suspicious going on in the city from this moment on. Meanwhile, while Feral does his investigation, you, T-Bone will do a patrol every day and keep eyes and ears peeled for anything more unusual than our omegas." T-Bone nodded earnestly. Razor turned to Feral. "Commander, I need you to keep your mind open to every possibility no matter how outlandish during your research and use your experiences as this city's defender to uncover anything else we might have missed, keeping me in the loop at all times."
Embarrassed but pleased, Feral nodded but Razor's last order reminded him of something..."Exactly how do I contact you? Certainly couldn't use the Enforcer band even though you guys do monitor it. My troops would think I'd lost my mind."
Razor chuckled. "Wouldn't want that to happen. Simply call 'Razor' with your mind and I will hear you. Don't be startled when I respond mind to mind. For your safety, I will be keeping a light contact with your mind at all times...no that doesn't mean I'll be eavesdropping into your private thoughts. It just allows me to insure no one else is hovering near you," he soothed the tom who was about to object. "I can and will be at your side in the blink of an eye if our enemy makes an appearance." Feral and T-Bone eyed him questioningly at that comment. Razor shrugged. "I can teleport but haven't so as not to be discovered. Wouldn't do for me to behave as anything but mortal."
"Okay that's too much like Madkat's abilities for my piece of mind but if it means the difference of becoming a puppet or having a Guardian keeping watch over me, I'll choose a vigilante," Feral said, wincing at how weird that sounded. Kat's Alive but I'm tired! Suddenly a brief flash of the attack flared within him ... No! Don't let that thing get me again!
A paw gently tapped his face, making him jerk back and throw his paws up defensively. He blushed and lowered his arms when he saw it was only Razor, a look of sympathy and concern on his masked face.
"I won't let him get you again, I swear," the Guardian repeated firmly. Feral so wished he could believe him. Razor eyed the tom a moment longer then turned his head toward his friend. "We'd better take off, T-Bone." Before he moved away he looked at the still shaken dark tom. "Get some rest if you can, Commander. No harm will befall you tonight." But he could see the tom didn't believe him. He could hardly blame him.
"I'm not sure I can," the big tom admitted in a small voice, hating how scared he sounded. The idea of sleeping terrified him.
T-Bone winced inwardly. Poor guy...what he went through who could blame him for still being terrified, I certainly don't. I think he was incredibly brave and strong to have survived.
"You want me to send you to sleep?" Razor asked, interrupting his partner's introspection. "And before you refuse, realize lack of sleep will make you easier prey for those that mean you harm. You need to be at the top of your form now more than ever."
"I don't like sleeping pills and..." Feral paused to swallow hard before saying in a shamed voice, "...I'm afraid of you."
Razor expression gentled. "I'd be concerned if you weren't. A Guardian isn't some gentle spirit, we're warriors and you haven't seen how terrifying I can truly be but that side of me is reserved for my enemies which you are most certainly not. So, do you desire my aid?" He waited patiently for Feral to decide.
After a long soul-searching moment, Feral capitulated, nodding without looking up, unable to stare at the Guardian any longer.
"Then lay down and get comfortable," Razor coaxed, waiting for the tom to settle.
Still nervous, Feral got off the bed, pull down the covers then climb in and pulled the covers up. But he couldn't close his eyes and he shivered as he held the bedding tightly in his paws as the Guardian leaned close.
Smiling gently, Razor murmured without touching the tom, "...Sleep..." he commanded, sending a brief burst of energy to force compliance. Feral startled, eyes even wider for only a moment before they closed and his body relaxed utterly, a soft snore escaping moments later.
"What did you do?" T-Bone whispered, awe in his voice.
Razor walked away from the bed and joined his friend. "Just took control long enough to send him off to sleep. I could feel he's been fighting my enemy for days and is at the end of his strength but he is so afraid he won't let go. I'm sorry he went through that and feel guilty for not having felt the attack sooner sparing Feral such a nightmare."
"You didn't know and you did save him," T-Bone quietly reminded the smaller tom, sensing his friend was berating himself and offered what comfort he could. Though he wasn't so certain he knew this person as well as he thought he did, he wasn't about to question their friendship now. "So let's get out of here, finish our patrol, and get some sleep ourselves or will you leave now?" He asked, a bit uncertain about where he came into this current situation.
Razor sighed and gave his friend a tired smile. "I won't leave until we're through for the evening and have returned to the hangar. Don't worry, buddy. You are very important to me so I'll be watching you as well while I'm away," he reassured his long time partner. "Just keep yourself safe, is all I ask. So let's get back to our patrol. I sense no one in the hall so let's hustle while that's still true."
"Handy trick that is...yeah, let's beat feet," T-Bone murmured, relieved. He opened the door but normal caution made him check anyway...empty and quiet greeted his ears and eyes. He slipped out the door and hurried at a run down the carpeted hall, back the way they'd come.
Razor shut the door behind him and ran after his partner. He knew his friend was leery of him now and uncertain of their lives after this point. He couldn't have T-Bone losing confidence in their partnership, friendship, and his place within it so they needed to have a serious discussion soon but that would have to wait until he returned. He grimaced at the thought of bringing this bad news to his Goddess. She was soo not going to be happy.