Demented Truth
Author's Note: I'm terribly sorry for the wait
Kitty, Pat, and Dudley meet up before heading to Chief's office. "Agents Panther, Katswell, and Puppy. The Chameleon has stolen several items over night. The three of you are to apprehend him and return the items." Chief says waiting for one particular question. "Where's Charlie and why isn't he joining us?" Kitty says occupying the seat on the right, Pat in the middle chair and Dudley on the left. "I've put agent Cheetah on a vacation as he was making accusations that Agent Panther is really the Chameleon." Chief says frowning as he sends the reply. "He said that he trust me, did I do something wrong?" Pat says surprised from the remarks and leans forward in his seat resting his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands. "He's just jealous Pat, don't take it seriously." Kitty says as he places her left hand on Pat's shoulder. "Thanks Kitty, that means a lot." He says turning and flashing a smile toward Kitty.
All the way in Italy, Charlie walks up to a door and knocks three times. "When does the moonlight surpass the sun?" A voice says from the other sign of the door. "During every night as we shine from the abyss." Charlie replies calmly. No answer comes from the voice on the other side of the door, but it eventually opens up and a group of five guys run out of the room and pull him into the room. "Whoa, calm down you guys. It's nice to see you all again. Tyler, Frank, Lou, Serge, and don't think I forgot about you Vince." He says as he looks at each of the five guys. "What did you expect Charlie? It's been past a year since you raced with us, we thought you had forgotten all about us." Vince says as each of the guys smile at Charlie as he says their names.
"Well, anyways captain, it's nice to have you back." Lou says as he heads over and pats Charlie on the back. "That's true, your sister told us you were heading over so we got the judges to allow you to join us in the finals." Serge says smiling brightly. "That's good to hear. I just hope I haven't lost my edge." Charlie says calmly. "Charlie, if you even dulled your edge, we'd still win, but I'll shake you until your edge is sharp again afterwards." Tyler says laughing some. "Good to hear, anyways, let's get this show on the road." Charlie says as he looks around and sees his boat in the dock still in mint condition. "We've been taking good care of your ride while you were gone." Frank proclaims proudly. "That's wonderful, didn't want to have to make a new one." Charlie replies relieved.
Dudley, Kitty, and Pat arrive at the Chameleon's house in the tuffmobile. "Is it just me or is it concerning that the Chameleon isn't outside firing at us?" Kitty says growing uneasy. "He might just not be there. If he isn't there, we can find spots to ambush him and make this quick." Pat says before getting out of the tuff mobile. "That could be true Pat." Kitty replies calming down a bit as she and Dudley exit the tuffmobile after Pat.
Kitty, Dudley and Pat move throughout the Chameleon's house and arrive at the center of the Chameleon's house. "This doesn't feel right, no traps and no sign of the Chameleon." Kitty says getting uneasy again. "He's probably just out, since we are here, we'll be able to position ourselves for an ambush when he arrives." Pat says rather calmly. "Good thinking Pat, Charlie would make some long and hard to follow plan where multiple things can and do go wrong." Dudley says after sighing relieved. "That's only because of you Dudley. We should start looking for the spots for that ambush." Kitty says annoyed at Dudley first then calmly.
Dudley, Kitty, and Pat look around for hiding spot and Pat finds the lever that drops down the blast resistant glass. "Hey. Kitty, Dudley, I think I've found a lever to where the Chameleon might be." Pat says pointing to the lever. "Nice job Pat, Dudley, get ready with the handcuffs." Kitty says anxious. "Pat, go ahead." Dudley says once he's ready. Pat heads over to the lever and pulls down on it and doesn't get anywhere. He pushes down on it and pushes it down and breaks it. "Oops." Pat says looking at the lever. "It's alright Pat." Kitty says as she waits for the door to open. A giant glass in the shape of a cat's head falls and lands around the two of them.
"What the?! Pat, get us out of here." Kitty says in mild panic. "Pat, don't you mean the Chameleon?" Pat says as he changes back into the Chameleon. "Kitty, your boyfriend's the CHAMELEON!" Dudley announces before freaking out running around inside the glass. "Wait, but that means that Charlie was telling the truth." Kitty says depressed about the idea that not only were her instincts were wrong, but also the fact that she didn't believe Charlie who had been telling the truth on several occasions. "Yes, he had been. I don't know how he found out, but you all didn't believe him, but now it's too late for him to save any of you. Now just have to figure out a way to destroy the two of you." The Chameleon says before pacing around.
Kitty goes up to her wrist-com. "Charlie, it's me, Kitty. Please answer me." Kitty says very disheartened from the turn of events. "What do you want?" A voice says as a voice answers Kitty's call. The voice is not Charlie's but rather his older sister, Katy's. "Hey Katy, can you please get Charlie?" Kitty replies, Katy's appearance not really helping her mood.
"Let me guess, the Chameleon finally revealed himself to being your so called boyfriend Pat?" Katy says unsurprised and remarkably accurate with her 'guess'. "Yeah, but how did you know?" Kitty says surprised by Katy's knowledge into the situation. "Duh, I'm his sister and the one person that he tells everything. As soon as he got put on that forced vacation by your chief he called me and told me what had happened and asked me to pick up his communicator while he's away." Katy says obviously still upset by the turn of events that have occurred to her brother.
"Sorry about all that, can you please tell him I'm sorry?" Kitty says obviously feeling really bad as it is and Katy's talking only making her feeling worse. "I don't see why I should. Charlie may not be the best person in the world, but he has been put through enough already, I don't want to be put at fault for adding another bad memory to Charlie's list." Katy says turning from angry upset to sad upset. "I promise that I'll make it up to him, but me and Dudley need his help right now." Kitty says practically begging for Charlie.
"Fine, hold on. I'll transfer you over to his racing communicator." Katy says before Kitty hears a beep on her communicator.
Back in Italy, Charlie steers through the narrow channels of Venice, Italy in a souped up boat. The boat remained in a near perfect condition despite Charlie keeps bumping into walls of the waterways. "Charlie, what's wrong man?" Vince says to him from across the team's private channel during the race, seriously concerned by all the noise. "I'm fine Vince." Charlie says feigning having a problem. "Man Charlie, I've known you long enough that if you aren't weaving through the waterways, then something is wrong. There's no point in hiding it, just tell me what's the problem." Vince says obviously seeing through Charlie's facade. "Fine, it's just a couple of problems back at work." Charlie says defeated that he is unable to hide what ails him.
"You mean business related or personal like with your girlfriend who is also a coworker?" Vince says as both Charlie and himself don't know that the rest of the guys on Charlie's team are secretly listening in on the conversation. "Both actually. Someone who wants to destroy the place where I work is capable of shifting their shape and form. He's taken on the form of the guy that my ex-girlfriend is currently dating. To be honest, I wasn't entirely suspicious of him myself, but I discovered him while in the restroom after our first mission. I tried to tell both my ex-girlfriend and my boss, both of them just blew off my accusations and claimed that I was just jealous. To be honest, at first I was, but after discovering the truth, I lost that jealousy and trusted Kitty to listen to me. I fear that the Chameleon will be trying something..." He says before growing silent.
"Charlie, I don't have much experience with girls as I never had a girlfriend, you know being in an underground and illegal gondola racing circuit, but you deserve someone better than her." Vince says rather depressed but then rather upset. "I love her regardless of what happens between the two of us, but I am just worried if it's all worth it in the end." He says before he gets a different connection online with his own. "Charlie, she'll discover what she's lost eventually." Lou says butting in. "That's partially what I'm afraid of. Hold on you guys, I got a call from my sis." He says before changing connections. "Yo sis, what's going on?" He talks to Katy. "Charlie, I'm connecting you over to Kitty, just please hear her through." Katy says deeply terrified of how Charlie will take it. "Okay, I'm on my way." Charlie says before changing channels. "Sorry guys, the Chameleon's made his move. Vince, as my right hand man and my closest friend, I'm transferring over the visual positions and uplinking the neural connection from your helmet to my boat's wheel." Charlie says as he waits for the other's replies.
"Go get your girl Charlie." The guys all say together. "Thanks guys, but it won't be that easy." Charlie replies before quickly typing in several keys and his ride effectively is driving on it's own at first glance. Charlie hops out of his boat and jumps onto a wall near him. He climbs on before taking out a second controller and entering in several keys. The Gradine flies overhead and drops a rope ladder. He latches on and presses a key and the ladder retracts, lifting him up into the cockpit. Charlie types in several codes into the central computer for the Gradine and Kitty's face shows up on the monitor. "Hello Kitty." Charlie says solemnly as the Gradine begins his flight. "Charlie, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for not believing you earlier. I hope you aren't mad at me." Kitty answers devastated at seeing the face of the person that she didn't listen to, when he had been right the entire time along with her ex-boyfriend. "I was never mad at you. I was mad at myself for not telling Chief earlier, this might have not happened if I did it." Charlie replies as he leaves the general area of Italy on his way to Petropolis in the USA. Kitty begins a response before she is cut off.
In the Chameleon's lair, Kitty is troubled and upset by the sudden cutoff. "No more talking, you had your chance and you blew it." The Chameleon says smiling victoriously. "Not like you can expect him to get here in time to save you." The Chameleon says heading over to the detonator for the cat bomb. Before he can get to it, the power gets cut for his house. The Chameleon looks around angrily. Dudley is able to hear Charlie and Kitty uses her eyesight to see Charlie sneak around the Chameleon. The Chameleon turns around searching for Charlie and sees him smirking. Before the Chameleon can react, Charlie grabs him by his shoulder, spins the two of them around and slams him into the wall. The Chameleon is disoriented from the spin and the impact. Charlie uses his claws as an alternative lever to lift up the glass.
As the glass gets lifted up Kitty and Dudley wait for it to be high enough that they can run under it. That time arrives and the two of them make a dash to escape. The chameleon shoots his tongue at Charlie, knocking him away from the lever and causing it to fall back down. Dudley and Kitty hit their heads pretty hard along the glass but manage to escape, though now both of them are unconscious. He growls and looks at the Chameleon, his eyes glow orange in the lights of the room. The Chameleon shoots his tongue at Charlie. Charlie grabs his tongue without hesitation and pulls the Chameleon towards his. As the Chameleon flies towards him, Charlie does a flip kick sending the Chameleon into the air. Charlie waits for the Chameleon to come down before grabbing him. Charlie spins and slams Chameleon into a wall again, but this time rushing at him. Shortly after the Chameleon hits the wall, Charlie does a flying kick, sending him back into the wall. As the Chameleon falls down to the ground, Charlie picks him up and glares at him.
"I might be a hero, but if you dare try to pull anything like that again, I'll show you the villain that I could still be. Do I make myself clear?" Charlie says with a glare colder than an iceberg that freezes the Chameleon in his tracks. The Chameleon slowly nods his head.
"Good, now stand still." Charlie says grinning as he slams the Chameleon down to the ground and handcuffs him. Charlie escorts the Chameleon over to the prisoner transport section of the Linerunner. Charlie then heads over and picks up Kitty and Dudley and carries them into the seats of the Linerunner and buckles them in. Charlie checks over everything to make sure nothing else goes wrong. Once everything is up to his level, he hops into the driver's seat and heads to the prison to drop off the Chameleon before his is able to try anything. Next he hands Dudley off to his mother Peg then goes and puts Kitty in her bed before heading to Tuff HQ.
Charlie walks through the mostly empty Tuff HQ building all the way to Chief's office. Charlie notices that the light is still on and breathes a sigh of relief and knocks on the door. "Come in." Chief says unnerved by something.
Chief, albeit slightly angry that he cut his forced vacation short, is happy that Charlie not only stopped the Chameleon, but at the same time without causing too much harm to Kitty and Dudley. "I suppose some apologies are in order. Sorry for not believing you at first Agent Cheetah. You're sister contacted us after the Chameleon made his move." Chief says embarrassed moderately displeased with himself. "Don't sweat it Chief, I was fooled myself at first by his disguise. Anyways, I'm here to drop off the report of the mission. I also have a request." Charlie says setting down the stack of papers showing the events of the mission. "I'll do what I can Agent Cheetah, what is your request?" Chief says having a good idea what the request might be.
"Today's events have put me in a particularly tough spot when it comes to working with Kitty and Dudley. I'd like to request to work by myself for a while. I know that Kitty will not like it, but I need some time to myself and think while still doing what I can to help out." Charlie says rather disheartened by the fact that he has to do this, but he has to do it to put his mind at ease. Chief contemplates the options along with the pros and cons of his options. After a minute of thought, Chief shakes his head agreeing to the request.
"Very well, you are to work on your own tomorrow until you feel you are able to return to work with Agents Katswell and Puppy." Chief says solemnly nodding his head. "Thanks Chief. Anything else you need to talk to me about?" Charlie says calmly on the outside, but on the inside he was in a wreck. "No that is all Agent Cheetah, rest for tomorrow." Chief says unsure of whether or not to sound happy or sad. "I will, you do the same Chief." Charlie says as he stands up and walks away.