"The thing stagnates Keswick. And I don´t like that!" Jessica sighed with accusing tone of voice. She had folded her arms and was sitting in the big armchair behind her desk in her office.
"Well, it´s not my fault that Scratch sank into oblivion and just left a m..m..messed up hotel room." Thundered Keswick and hit is fist on the table. Surprised winced Jessica back and almost fell over with her chair, she wasn´t used to see such emotional outbursts from Keswick. He was more the quiet shy guy who is actually pretty cool when you know him better.

"Keswick, settle down!" she ordered calm but emphatically and wondered immediately after saying that how weird those words sound out of her mouth. "What´s wrong with you? Since we´ve been in that hotel room you´re acting… god you´re acting like me!"
"I´m acting odd? You don´t s..s..say" replied the scientist snippy. "You figured it out yourself or did s..s..someone help you?"

Jessica ignored skillfully Keswick´s provocations. She had learnt over the few days she was chief that she sometimes had to ignore things that people say. It was hard for her because that meant fighting against a part of her personality but if that meant that would bring her one step closer to her dream she would accept this aggression control training. Also Keswick was for Jessica a pretty likable person, so it wasn´t too hard ignoring that.

"I haven´t said that you´re acting odd, I said you´re acting like me. And I know that I have my reasons when I act like you do it now. So explain yourself!"
Keswick walked around in front of the desk for a while, quarrelling with himself, before he sat down on the chair. "Okay…" he meant taking a deep breath. "I can´t get the p..p..picture of the hotel room out of my head."

"Ah! That´s all? I mean, okay the crime scene looked like it was out of a splatter film but it was I think two days ago also it wasn´t your first crime scene, was it? Just deal with it, okay?"
"It´s not just the crime scene." Made Keswick clear. "More factors convene here."
"Aha… and which one?" probed Jessica.

"Okay…" said Keswick again and stroked with his hands through his face. "But I have to go b..b..back a bit to explain that."
"We have no clues so we have time." Meant Jessica and leant back in her armchair.
"It´s been more than 15 years ago that I got to know agent P..P..Puppy. I remember him as a dim but friendly p..p..person. He was someone who had never inflicted damage on someone who didn´t h..h..harm him before. I can even remember our first encounter, how he s..s..smiled in this open way. I had never believed it that he could hurt someone… than he left the c..c..city. He left us and Kitty back here… and hurt us. I was angry but I thought all that time 'He had problems like we all, his reaction was rash. He didn´t do that intentionally.' Then we figured out that he is Scratch and h..h..heard of all these terrible things he did. My anger about him grew even more but still a part of me was unable to b..b..believe all he did..."

"So the crime scene we saw was finally the proof for you." interrupted Jessica Keswick with her thesis.
"I´d rather say hard e..e..evidence but yes." Confirmed Keswick who stood up from the chair again and walked the two steps to the desk. "Now I can see the monster that a p..p..part from me never wanted to see." He laid both of his hands on the table and leaned closer towards Jessica, so close that she could smell his coffee-breath.

With finality in his eyes he whispered to her in an eerie way. "And I know that this m..m..monster has to be killed… by all means."
"Yeah sure…" Jessica pushed his head with her index finger away from her. "Do whatever you want but do it AFTER we arrested him. When you get between me and my promotion, believe me, I´ll do the same to you what you want to do to Puppy."

"Whatever…" said Keswick and added almost disparagingly "Chief."
"So, Keswick" replied imitating his tone of voice. "Any ideas how to get him?"
"Actually, no. No activities of this bastard… at least no activities we k..k..know from. So no starting point for any investigations."

"Then, what are you still doing here? Get me something!" With a simple gesture which she repeated a few times she shooed Keswick out of the room.
As he slammed the door shut she was finally alone again. She would have never admitted it but sometimes the little guy could be quite creepy. Especially when he did things like what he just did.

But it wasn´t just him, this whole T.U.F.F. branch here in Petropolis was, you can´t say it another way, fucked up. There was this nerd, then the crazy squirrel that was -even for someone who was used to madness- mad, the other agent that had nothing else to do over the whole day than do swivel chair races, and this penetrant other squirrel that always jar on her nerves… Rick was his name.

Although… Yesterday his behavior changed somehow. He seemed abstracted and stopped run after her in the office. Not that she didn´t appreciate this change but it was nevertheless noteworthy.
A long gaze at her watch told Jessica that it was time for a break. She opened the upper drawer of the desk and got a pack of jelly beans out of it.

Before she opened the back and started to sort the jelly beans, like she always did, she put an underlay on the table, in this case the today´s newspaper.
"I hope that there are more of the yellow ones this time." She mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the colorful pile in front of her. The newspaper underlay had, as it turned out, a key advantage.

While she was doing the moronic work of sorting she was able to read the newspaper headlines. It took it´s time of course before the main pile was so divided that she could read the first headline. 'Family reunion after 30 years.' It was an article about a family that was separated during the Rwanda Genocide but found each other again.

A touching story, at least that´s what Jessica believed after skimming the text, but not so interesting. Jessica wasn´t a friend of hearing family stories of others, her own family history was enough.
As time went by more and more headlines became visible. 'World´s longest sandwich eaten!', '97 Wolfs found hidden in a cave after earthquake.', 'Police chief killed by explosion'.
Jessica stopped for a second and took a closer look on one of the headlines.

"Police chief killed? Why wasn´t I informed about that." Fast she read through the text. It seemed that the boiler in the house of the police chief, Adrian Robson, exploded because of a broken overpressure valve. A tragic accident that was at least the tone of the article. But something about this left a bad aftertaste for Jessica. It was like she had already heard the name of the police chief.

But where? She thought a bit about the name and the penny dropped as she threw the last few yellow jelly beans in her mouth. She hadn´t heard that name but she read it. Namely in the file Kitty hid in the locked drawer of her desk. Fast she took out the file and opened it on the side where she once read Robson´s name. And she also found it there together with some other names under the underlined word 'conspirators'.

These four people were somehow connected to Scratch, otherwise they wouldn´t be in this file. But were they enemies or allies? Assuming that they were allies would mean one threat less for Jessica and would probably lead her to him. But the people on this list were bigwigs, she couldn´t just arrest them and interrogate them. Besides that Scratch didn´t seem to be the guy who was buddy-buddy with authorities.

So assuming the second alternative combined with the suspected accidental death of one of the conspirators just led to one conclusion.
"Dammit" cursed Jessica gritting her teeth. "He fucked with us!"
"He became quite good at that." It was like the voice came out of nothing and the cheetah looked up completely startled about the fact that someone suddenly was in her office.

That something like that could happen was a kick in the teeth for every spy. Someone is better than you and also managed it to get close to you without you recognizing it. It was a shame. And to make matters worse, especially her embarrassment, Kitty Katswell was the owner of this voice.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" she shouted to hide her feelings under the pretext of anger.
"What do you think? I canceled my vacation to help you out."
"Completely unnecessary!" snorted Jessica with a bit more countenance. "We don´t need your help."
"But it seems that you already took advantage of my help." With a slightly grin Kitty pointed on the file in front of Jessica. "I should really hide this thing somewhere else… Anyway, get out of this chair. That´s now my seat again."

"Oh, I doubt that. Don´t forget what you signed before you went on your little trip. I´m in charge for all of this for two weeks. Whether you return or not." With these words she leaned a bit calmer back in the chair.

But Kitty just shrugged. "So what? As I said I´m here to help."
"And help with what?"
"Scratch."
"Well, actually, you can´t help with that." Explained Jessica baldly. "Those are my private investigations. Nothing that concerns you. But I think we will find a bit paperwork of which you could take care of."

"Jessica." Sighed Kitty rolling her eyes, what made Jessica grin mischievously. Generally, seeing Kitty being annoyed or angry, amused her. "Let´s put our cards on the table. I want to catch him, you want to catch him. Let´s work together."

"And why do you want to catch him?" Jessica knew of course why, but she wanted to keep her hanging on a bit.
"That´s private." Meant the cat frostily.
"Well, like my investigations. You have to be a bit more accommodating."
"No. That´s just about me and him. So, you accept?"

"Hmm… see, I´d really like to know what exactly happened between you and Scratch." Jessica leaned even more back in the chair. She also put her feet on the table just to enjoy what would come next. "I mean what if you can´t be objective in this case because of … I don´t know… the aftermaths of an old relationship." With delight she watched how her little hint had an impact on Kitty.

Jessica observed how her frenemy froze at first, understanding what she meant, then read the short moment of pure disbelieve that was written on her face like a good book and, at the end, warmed herself at the fire that flared up in Kitty´s eyes.
"From where do you… Keswick" she hissed furiously.

"Yep. The little guy was very talkative." Jessica giggled and wiped a little tear of laughter out of the corner of her eye. "You don´t really have a knack with men, have you?"
"Shut it." Ordered Kitty with her eyes shut tight. It seemed that she tried to settle her thoughts by cutting herself off from the outside world. Jessica could leave her a second to do that so that both could continue and maybe have a constructive dialogue. But she didn´t want to. Instead, she rather beat the bee hive with a sledgehammer.

"I mean what have you done to Scratch or Dudley or whatever that he left you? I heard he was a nice guy until he was together with you."
"Jessica, shut it." Repeated Kitty but this time her posture was less defensive. On the contrary, she already literally showed her claws.

"Oh I know, it was your dancing! If I remember correctly, your dance style looks like jelly during an earthquake…"
Suddenly and without another warning Kitty jumped over the table in an attempt to add a few scars to Jessica´s face.

Unfortunately for Kitty, the cheetah already expected something like that and dodged her attack just by pushing herself in her swivel chair aside, what left the cat no other choice than braking her flight by colliding with the wall. The noise of Kitty´s wall collision was quickly drowned by Jessica´s laughter. "Ha! Thanks for that Kitty! You just made my day."

Dizzy but still angry and with a big lump on her head Kitty stood up from the ground again. "Jessica, I swear, I´ll kill you if you don´t shut up now." Her threat had a serious tone and Jessica knew at that point that she should stop now. She somehow had the feeling that otherwise Kitty would carry out her threat.

That would be untypically for her but also this little fit of anger was actually very untypical for her. At least untypical for the Kitty, Jessica remembered from back in the academy. Maybe Jessica had to rethink her impression of her. Quite many years passed and in front of her stood a new Kitty. A Kitty that would raise her fist and destroys the obstacles life throws in her way instead of trying to jump over them. A quite pleasant Kitty.

"Okay okay." Meant Jessica with slowly fading laughter. "I think I had enough fun for today. Calm down, I´ll shut up. I want your help."
"And you think that this offer is still on the table."
"As you said, you want to get him and I want to get him. I think that hasn´t changed."
Kitty didn´t answer, she kept silent and folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Ah, come on. Don´t be like that." Jessica stood up and laid her arm on Kitty´s shoulder. "Cheer up!"
"Why should I?" asked Kitty while she removed Jessica´s arm from her shoulder.
"Because I already have an idea how to get Scratch."
"And how?"
"Easy. We´ll bring you into his organization."

"You can put that idea right out of your mind." Replied Kitty immediately. "First, Scratch would smell the rat immediately when I would come to him and say something like 'I made up my mind, I want to help'. Second, he wants to keep me out of his business. Or in his words, he wants to protect me. And third I also don´t want to become part of his club. We have to catch him in another way."

"Then tell me how." Said Jessica exasperated. "The only clues we have are based on speculations and this file of you. I thought you wanted to help!"
"I want to help!" protested Kitty.
"Then be helpful!"

"Okay" sighed Kitty giving in. "Then tell me how you want to get me into his team. And don´t forget, he does not want me to be part of it."
"Yeah but you said he wants to protect you, right? That makes the whole thing much easier. We just pretend that you got fired from T.U.F.F.. I´ll blacklist you."
"Ah I see!" meant Kitty understanding. "I´m on the blacklist. So no protection from T.U.F.F. anymore."

"Right." Confirmed Jessica. "Then we also spread some rumors that a few of your enemies heard of that and want to settle some old scores."
"Good idea. That would mean if he really tries to protect me he has to be around me. And because I´m not a T.U.F.F. agent anymore…"

"…he will make you the offer to be part of his team." Jessica finished the sentence from Kitty and then added "What do you think?"
"It could work." Admitted Kitty pensively. "But I think the crucial factor will be if we are lucky or not. I don´t really like the idea but if you´re right… then this is the only opportunity that we have."
"Then start right now." Even though that was just a fake Jessica enjoyed her next sentence. "Get out of my office you´re fired!"

But the emotionless answer that Kitty let out with the 'I don´t give a damn' tone of voice destroyed the nice illusion fast. "Oh no, how could you after all this time I worked here bla bla bla…" she yawned as she walked out of the office.

"Spoilsport" growled Jessica and cleared the newspaper from her table away. For a short moment she thought what she would do first now, doing some phone calls to spread the rumor about Kitty´s dismissal or calling the supreme command to register an undercover operation. Maybe she would skip the second thing. That would be a very easy way to get rid of Kitty. Jessica liked the idea.

But if Kitty got wind of that, and she would guarantee get wind of that, Jessica would under guarantee feel Kitty´s wrath. And, as already mentioned, she didn´t want to feel that. She rather liked to use this wrath against her enemies, like Scratch. Jessica was kind of looking forward seeing Scratch go through hell, soon.

Even if she didn´t want to swap with him right now because he was just telling his team what happened in New York. And he didn´t spare them the details. He rolled out everything, what made especially Parva´s face blush as he came to the part with Nicole. Seneca on the other hand listened to the whole talk silently, in his usual calm manner.

But as Scratch sat exhausted down on the bed of the little motel room the three shared as a temporary commando center -temporary because they used standard protocol when it comes to commando centers again- the quiet lion stood up and said "Tja… musste ja so kommen. Ich war wohl zu blind es sofort zu erkennen. Ich bin raus."

"What?" Parva asked confused as he heard him falling into his mother tongue again.
"What I want to say is, I´m out." Growled the lion.
"What?!" repeated the girl but now more shocked than confused. "You want to leave?!"

"Yes." Confirmed Seneca and used his deep voice to emphasize that.
"Why?!"
"Can´t you see it girl?!" he suddenly yelled. "He just traded his whole empire for the life of a woman he know from his past. When it comes to a decision between us or her she will always win. And I think he would throw us to the wolves if he has to. Or am I mistaken Dudley Puppy?"

Scratch just looked to the ground in a way Parva had never seen it, guilty.
"I… I´m sorry." he sighed in a desperate way.
"Oh great your sorry. Idiot" shouted Seneca and kicked at full power against one of the bedposts.
"Okay, Seneca, stay cool." Parva tried to intervene. "I mean he loves her, what would have you done if it was for example a family member of you?"

"That´s exactly the problem! Their relationship is over! He has to cut the cord! But no, he wants to eat the cake and have it! That´s impossible! Just leave it! You promised me, Scratch!"
"I can´t." admitted Scratch standing up from the bed. "I would like to but I can´t!"
"You don´t want!" meant Seneca with hushed voice and stepped closer to his boss. "You just don´t want. You´ve done worse. I was there back then in Paraguay. I´ve seen the towns burn. You killed because of less. And now you want to tell me that you can´t sacrifice this one cat for our mission?"

"Yes." Replied the dog slowly but with firm voice, like he wanted to make his words particularly understandable for Seneca.
"Well then… that means my decision is certain. Our cooperation ends now." Seneca spun on his heels and tramped to the door. Angrily he closed it tightly behind him and left his former team just the echo of the lock which clicked into place.

"Did that just really happen?" asked Parva completely confused.
"I´m afraid, yes." Scratch flopped down onto the bed and closed his eyes. "I´m sure you also want to leave now."

"Actually… no." meant Parva what was kind of surprising for Scratch. He thought that she would join Seneca again. "I can understand why you did what you did. Even if it´s bad for the mission it makes you more likable... But there´s one thing I still don´t understand."
"And what?"

"How did Richard managed it to get the information about your true identity?"
"I have only one explanation for that. The hacker I hired for deleting the stuff from the servers must have made a backup and sold that to Richard… Don´t worry, I already took care of this person. But who knows to how many people this guy has already sold the backup." Scratch sat up in the bed and stroked over his bald head. "Oh… and I found a place for the little boy to live."

"Well then… what´s next?" Parva asked after a longer break which was filled with silence.
"We continue with the plan… but we will probably need another team member… But I think we´ll find someone. This city is full of professional criminals."

"Does that mean I have to continue dating this Rick?" Parva didn´t ask that in the way of a teenager that had to do a unwanted chore, she sounded more like she wanted to hear a 'yes' from him.
"Of course." Said Scratch who could see the smile she wanted to suppress. "But don´t fall in love with him… you just saw how this can end."