Forebearings of Torture
Author's Note: I am terribly sorry for the lack of content for the story in the long time. I'll do what I can to make up for it.
The day following the Chameleon's apprehension, Charlie doesn't arrive at Tuff HQ on time. Kitty and Chief get nervous and worried for what may have happened to him. Dudley remains as calm and relaxed as he always has been as he chews on the chew toy Charlie got for him. As the seconds turn into minutes and the minutes turn into hours, Kitty and Chief's worries accumulates. "This doesn't feel right. Agent Katswell, go check up on Agent Cheetah." Chief says looking at Kitty. Kitty nods her head determined to get to the bottom of what's delaying Charlie. Kitty runs to the parking lot and hops into the tuff mobile and drives through the nearly empty streets of Petropolis toward Charlie's apartment complex.
Once she arrives at the complex, Kitty hops out of the tuff mobile and runs over to the desk. "Pardon me, did Charlie Cheetah leave his room yet?" Kitty says to the receptionist. "Yes, some friends of his picked up him roughly seven hours ago." The receptionist replies nodding her head. "That doesn't sound good, thank you for the information miss." Kitty says getting even more worried. "No problem miss Katswell. Hope he's alright." The receptionist replies as Kitty runs out and back to the tuff mobile. Once Kitty's strapped in, she heads back to tuff HQ. Once Kitty arrives she heads up to Chief's office.
"Any luck finding Agent Cheetah, Agent Katswell?" Chief asks very worried. "No, the receptionist said that his friends came and picked him up several hours ago." Kitty says trying to figure out where Charlie might be. Suddenly all the monitors change to the image of Snaptrap. "Hello pathetic people of Petropolis. I, Verminious Snaptrap, have captured Charlie Cheetah and shall make him perish if the city does not bow down before me." Snaptrap says before stepping off to the side, revealing Charlie tied up hanging over a pit of lava. Charlie struggles, trying to break out of the rope that binds him, but to no avail. "You have one hour to make a decision before your beloved agent perishes." Snaptrap says before laughing. Charlie manages to spit out the rope that is in his mouth. "That's the best you got you lousy rodent. Once I get out of here, I'll make you rue the day you decided to tie me up and hang me over a pit of boiling lava, again." Charlie says moderately angry. "Shut it you, or perish." Snaptrap says throwing a rock at Charlie. The rock hits Charlie's head, knocking him out. Snaptrap laughs before the transmission ends.
"Agents Katswell and Puppy, you two are assigned to free your captured partner." Chief says looking over at Kitty and Dudley. "I'll be joining them." A familiar voice says from the doors to Tuff HQ. Chief, Kitty, Dudley, and the rest of tuff look at the doors and see Katy leaning against one of the door ways in some fighting clothing. "No, this is a job for tuff agents. I know how you feel Katy, but it's too dangerous." Chief says sadly and objectedly. "Listen here, no one messes with my brother without messing with me. I had too much work to do early on during Charlie's time with Tuff, but now is a different story. If you try to stop me, I'll make you regret meeting me, do I make myself clear?" Katy says angrily, an emotion that she rarely if ever shows. "Alright then, Agents Katswell and Puppy, you two shall go with Katy to free Agent Cheetah. Keep each other safe." Chief says defeated by a single person. "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself just fine." Katy says heading over to Dudley and Kitty.
"Let's go then." Kitty says as she and Katy run to the tuff mobile. "Dudley." Kitty calls over to Dudley. "Huh? What? Oh, I'm coming." Dudley says as he runs over to catch up to the girls. Once inside the tuff mobile, the three of them head to Doom's lair, swerving in and out of traffic on their way.
Once they arrive at Doom HQ, Katy instantly jumps out of the tuff mobile before it comes to a full stop and she runs into the lair. Kitty and Dudley get out about a minute after the tuff mobile stop and go after Katy. During their run trying to catch up to Katy, they see both Larry and Ollie knocked out to the sides of the room. When they finally see Katy, she's pinned behind a rock by Francisco and Snaptrap, who are both firing lasers at her. Kitty and Dudley are seen by Francisco and Snaptrap, who both shift their fire to the two tuff agents.
Katy takes advantage of the distraction the two tuff agents are making and grabs Francisco before throwing him into Snaptrap, knocking the two of them out. Kitty works the lever that operates the rope that Charlie is hanging from while Katy closes the hole over the boiling lava. Dudley just chews on a blueberry doggie chew toy. Katy catches Charlie in her arms as Kitty lowers him to the ground. Katy bares her claws and cuts the rope while Kitty and Dudley head over to Charlie to check his condition. Charlie's eyes squeeze shut for a while before opening. He sees Katy, Kitty and Dudley.
"What happened while I was out?" Charlie says looking up at the three of them. "Same thing as usual, we saved you. Katy helped this time." Dudley says joyfully. "Thanks you guys." Charlie says averting his gaze away from the three of them. "Charlie, what's the matter?" Katy says moving over into Charlie's line of sight again. "Nothing's wrong, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." Charlie says shifting his view to not look his sister in the eyes. Katy gets up and turns around, stomping her feet as she faces Kitty and Dudley.
"Okay, what did you two do?" Katy says angrily. "What do you mean?" Kitty says confused. "Whenever Charlie doesn't look at me when he's talking to me means that he's dealing with trust issues. I can read him like a book, even when he doesn't want me to." Katy says still irritated. "Well, yesterday, I did say that his induction into our unit was because of Kitty's feelings for him." Dudley says slightly imitated. "You idiots, that's the source of the problem. He deals with self-worth issues and no matter how highly others thinks of him, one bad thing said regarding him and he doubts his own worth. He..." Katy says before Charlie gets up. "Katy, I'm fine, you don't have to bring that up." Charlie says looking at the ground. "Sorry Charlie, but so that they know not to do that again, I have to bring it up." Katy says turning to face Charlie.
"Katy, that's not necessary." Charlie says dizzy before falling to the ground. "Charlie, you aren't strong enough to move on your own. I'll tell them, then I'll take you back home." Katy says before turning to face Kitty and Dudley. "Charlie had a good couple of close friends before his father made him work for him. As soon as those friends found out, not only did they stop being his friends, they started to insult him and once everyday when they see him, they'd say the world would be better off if he wasn't alive. Charlie may be strong but his emotional state is never going to recover from that." Katy says sadly before taking a breather. "So we have to always compliment him?" Dudley says confused. "No, just don't say anything bad about him directly to him." Katy says before helping Charlie up. "You guys can return back to your headquarters, I'll take Charlie back home so he can rest for tomorrow." Katy says setting Charlie's right arm over her shoulder before walking away.
Kitty, Dudley, Katy, and Charlie head over to the tuff mobile. Kitty drops off Katy and Charlie and Charlie's house before heading back to base. Chief and Keswick stand outside of tuff hq. "How did it go agents?" Chief says smiling. "He's safe, he just needs some time to get himself together." Kitty says looking back at Charlie's apartment a bit depressed. "Alright, as long as he's safe that's all that matters." Chief says smiling. "I'll go drop off Snaptrap at the prison." Kitty says heading back over to the tuff mobile. "Suits me, Agent Puppy, you are free to do what you please, as long as it doesn't damage anything." Chief says smiling before he and Keswick head back into tuff hq.
Kitty hops into the tuff mobile and heads over to the prison. When Kitty arrives at the prison, she hands over an apprehended Snaptrap to the guards. "I will be plotting my revenge." Snaptrap says as the guards escort him inside. The camera follows Snaptrap and the guards into the prison. Snaptrap is escorted past the cafeteria to the warden's office. The camera turns and enters the cafeteria and looks at a table where Madame Catastrophe and Chameleon are talking. The camera maneuvers through the jumble of inmates to a couple of feet away from Madame Catastrophe and Chameleon.
"This better be good Madame Catastrophe, I'm thinking of ways to destroy Agent Charlie Cheetah and Tuff." Chameleon says mildly agitated. "I have an idea that will allow you to do just that. Charlie may be strong mentally and physically, but he's emotionally weak." Madame Catastrophe says annoyed with the way the Chameleon is talking to her. "I see what you're getting at. I am done with my time tomorrow. I can just transform into a girl that Charlie will fall in love with. I'll lure him into a trap and destroy him, then tuff will be a sitting duck." The Chameleon says grinning. "No, that won't work. Charlie's instincts will alert him to you, but we can use that to our advantage. Tuff is willing to trust any new agent until proven not to trust them. Transform into someone to get Kitty's affections, Charlie's instincts will still alert him to you, but the rest of tuff will believe it just to be jealousy, eventually Charlie will be fired from Tuff then it can be destroyed." Madame Catastrophe says with a stern but relatively pleased smile. "Wonderful plan, I'll get right to it once I'm released." Chameleon says laughing a bit. "You better." Madame Catastrophe says before leaving the prison cafeteria.
Back at Charlie's apartment, Charlie looks through the tuff database of prison inmates and their release dates. "So the Chameleon is getting released tomorrow, I have to stay on guard. Just hope that things don't get any worse for me." Charlie says before shutting down the computer and laying down on his bed. Charlie eventually falls asleep.