Kitty woke up lying on her back, wrapped in a warm blanket feeling like she was weightlessly levitating over the bed. It was pure bliss she felt, the worries of the last weeks were gone and she expected Dudley to soon cuddle up on her to wake her with some kisses.
After all, the time he had before work called for him needed to be spent in a worthwhile way. As Kitty's brain slowly woke up more and more she started to lay out a rough plan for the day. First a shower, maybe together, no, definitely together. Then, grabbing something to eat somewhere.
The closest restaurant to them was a small Indian restaurant called 'Namaste', maybe not the first choice for breakfast but they could have something interesting on the menu. Then back to the apartment 'to watch a movie'.
Kitty giggled at the thought, the last time the two spent the whole day in bed was one year ago at their first anniversary. They actually planned a lot more for the day but passion grabbed them and threw them into their bed. Good memories.
Kitty opened her eyes, Dudley should have started kissing her minutes ago, was he still asleep? She turned over to his side just to find it empty. Kitty turned startled to the other side of the bed and got up. That wasn't good, and what was even worse was her cell phone which was ringing.
It wasn't Jack's number on the display. She cautiously picked up the phone, not holding it too close to her ear. A wise choice as the ear drum ripening voice of General Hobbs boomed through the speaker.
"AGENT KATSWELL! WHERE IS PUPPY?!"
"I don't know I just…"
"He left one hour ago and YOU WEREN'T ANSWERING ANY CALLS!" Furious was a word too weak to describe the emotion Hobbs tried to drill into her brain.
"I was…" Kitty just now saw the little sticky note on her bedside table. Written on it, in Dudley's usually hieroglyphic handwriting were the words: 'Mom called, need to go there, will be back asap'.
Kitty exhaled in relief. "General, I have a clue where he is, I am on it."
"I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A GODDAMN CLUE!" He meant and added in a voice that left no ambiguity that he was serious. "Katswell, if you compromise this mission, I swear I will personally take care that you will never wear a badge again, am I clear?"
"Yes, General," Kitty replied and then hung up. A text message popped up before she could lay her phone back down. It was from Jack.
'Things went sour, Hobbs even saw the video. Sorry for that. By the way, nice performance. You got a lot kinkier.'
Kitty wondered for a moment what he meant before the blood rushed into her face driven by pure unadulterated embarrassment. The living room camera. Kitty frantically tried to remember what the two of them had done in the living room, maybe the damage wasn't that great. But the longer she remembered the more positions she remembered until she stopped her mental rewatch with a long-stretched moan. "Fuuuuuuuuck."
She gathered some fresh clothes, put them on, and then left the apartment while explicitly looking away from the camera as she crossed the living room with hanging shoulders.
The first thing she did was call him. Often the simple approach bore fruit. This time however the garden was withered. Just his mailbox was taking the call. Kitty sighed and quickly did some math.
Dudley had left for his mother's house, almost half an hour away from here. If she hurried, she would be there in about 20 minutes, 15 even if she ignored safety. She could gain on him and with a bit of luck he was still with his mom.
Kitty, most surprising to herself, made it in under 15 by imitating the driving style Dudley had used for so long. Feeling shaky and glad that he wasn't driving like that anymore she rang Mrs. Puppy's doorbell. It wasn't Dudley opening her, much to her dismay, but instead, a dog that had a familiar appearance to him. He was a bit taller than Dudley and his nose was not as big, all in all an attractive man if the swollen black eye weren't there which he cooled with a pack of frozen peas.
"Uhm, yes?" The dog asked and Kitty saw into an eye that must have looked as confused as hers.
"Sorry… I am searching for…" She couldn't finish her sentence as the loud voice of Peg announced her way before she came into view.
"Ah, I know that voice!" She said happily and almost pushed the other dog to the side. "Mitzy! How are you? We haven't seen for so long!" Peg smiled from ear to ear as she pulled Kitty inside the house and ultimately onto the living room couch.
"It's Kitty." Kitty corrected as she was pushed into the cushions.
"Of course, it is, why do I always forget?" Peg shook her head and then looked to Stan who gave his mother a confused look. "Oh, you two haven't met yet! This is Stanley, Dudley's bigger brother."
Kitty gazed dumbfounded at the dog who returned that with a friendly smile.
"I'm Stan… I guess he didn't often talk about me, huh?"
"He… never mentioned he had a brother… I think…" Kitty slowly said as her thoughts crawled through her brain. A brother, there was a time, a few years ago where he might have mentioned something but that could have also been a cousin. Still, she had sworn a few minutes ago that Dudley was an only child.
"Oh… yeah that sounds like him." Stan meant and sat down on the old armchair. "We are estranged, some would say."
"Stan had some problems in his past," Peg said cautiously. "But that's water under the bridge now."
"Yes, and no reason to be so aggressive," Stan mumbled pressing the peas tighter on his eye, hissing in the process.
"Wait… this is a lot right now," Kitty said trying to get her crawling brain back on its feet. She needed to assess the situation first. "Now, not only did Dudley never tell me about you, but you are also telling me that you got that black eye from him?"
"They had a little fight." Peg sighed defeatedly. "Stan has this business idea, and he wants to rent some more office space."
"I need just a couple of thousands to get things off the ground." The dog said nonchalantly.
"That's why I will take on a mortgage on the house and help him out." Peg enthusiastically beamed at her son.
"Yeah, but old grumps didn't like that." Stan huffed and looked towards the door like he expected Dudley to break through it and give his other eye the same treatment. Kitty looked confused at Stan, calling Dudley a grump was a description she hadn't heard anyone else use.
"Now hush, he's just worried." Peg soothingly laid her hand on Stan's shoulder.
"I'm his brother, he should support me."
"Um… Peg mind if I speak to you in the kitchen for a moment?" Kitty asked already standing up.
"Of course, sweetheart." She nodded and both of them walked out of earshot of Stan.
"Peg, I don't know what was going on here exactly, and right now I am somewhere between shock and anger because of this brother thing…"
"The two were fighting before he even knew you," Peg's voice again tried to conciliate. "Please don't be offended."
"It just… Hits a sore spot, but that's not what I want to say." Kitty took a deep breath. "Peg, Dudley told me a while ago that you are struggling with your bills, are you sure that a mortgage is a good idea?"
Peg just smiled and waved Kitty's concerns away. "I will buy a little cheaper for a while, it will be okay. Also, someone got to help Stan."
Kitty knew that something was afoot, or at least that she wasn't getting the whole story. But forcing the details out of Peg would be something she neither had time nor energy for so instead she just sighed and said "Okay, Peg, I hope you do the right thing."
"I know I do." The dog smiled and was about to leave back into the living room when Kitty asked her the question on her mind.
"By the way, I am searching for Dudley. I reckon he isn't here anymore?"
"No, I… asked him to leave. The second time this week, can you imagine?" Peg shook her head in a manner that only a disappointed mother could.
"Any idea where he could be?" She asked.
"Sorry, sweety, no clue" Peg shrugged.
"It's okay…" Kitty tried not to imagine what a dull future awaited her if she couldn't find him soon. She quickly said goodbye to Peg and Stan and left for her car where she, once again, tried calling Dudley.
Still, the mailbox was the only reply she got, and her frustration rose. Where the hell could he be? At work maybe? Kitty dialed the chief's number, but just got his secretary Tammy on the line. The bunny sounded annoyed to hear her and quickly denied that Agent Puppy was there before hanging up without proper dismissal.
"Rude." Kitty said angrily and also hung up. The reality finally sunk in, she needed help to find him. But reporting to Hobbs would have been the end of her career. And asking Jack would have been equally helpful. If he still was the sewer rat she remembered, he would be too preoccupied watching the little candid porn of her again and again probably with some of the similarly morally dubious people on their team.
Kitty felt nauseous at the thought. The only ally that was somewhat capable was Keswick. He and Dudley had always been close, maybe he knew something. She dialed the number for the T.U.F.F. lab and was greeted by a tired but friendly familiar stuttering.
"T.U.F.F. lab, this is Keswick s..s..speaking."
"Keswick, Kitty here." She kept the introductory short. "Keswick, I need your help."
"Kitty, great to hear from you, is everything alright at your n..n..new job?" Keswick enquired happily.
"I'm doing okay, look I'm in a hurry."
"Me too." The scientist eagerly cut into her sentence. "All my antennas are functional and I am seeing the whole energetic s..s..spectrum with a resolution you wouldn't believe! I can detect what we thought would be n..n..noise…"
"Keswick, please." Kitty sighed desperately. "I need to know where Dudley is."
"Dudley? I haven't seen him all day… I think his shift hasn't s..s..started yet."
Keswick's words felt like another blow to Kitty. What else could she do? Keswick meanwhile used the chance to keep talking. It almost seemed like he was glad that someone finally listened to him and didn't interrupt him with things he considered minute.
"… the energy was odd, like back then in the high energy research f..f..facility. But the thing is, it isn't noise, Kitty. It is a distinct peak, granted the f..f..frequncy shifts depending on where it appears but it is all over the city. Not at once of course, but u..u..undeniably in all over the city."
Something in Keswick's words made Kitty's ears twitch. At first, she had been drowning in her thoughts and the fear of calling Hobbs, but now something else was on her mind.
"All over the city you say? …Keswick, in what places have you detected this energy?"
"Oh well, these were a lot, especially during the last months. Let's see, there were peeks in the second avenue, east street, canal-road…" Keswick kept listing places and Kitty's jaw dropped lower with every new place mentioned. The four places that Hobbs mentioned in the dossier about the advisor were on his list and a lot more. If Kitty was right Keswick had, by himself, built something the D.E.U.P. would wish for: A device to detect the Advisor from afar.
"Keswick, this is important." Kitty stopped him in his enumeration. "Is there such an event happening right now?"
"Hold on." Keswick put down the phone and returned soon after. "No, not right n..n..now."
"Can you call me back as soon as there is and then tell me where?"
"Of course, I can but… do you want to i..i..investigate that? Are you really s..s..sure about that? An old c..c..colleague warned me not to."
"Please just do it, I'll explain later." Knowing full well how rude it was, Kitty hung up and dialed Hobbs' number. The General didn't let her wait and immediately took the call.
"Yes." He said in a jagged military tone.
"General, I lost track, but I found something better!" Kitty meant excitedly.
"I am listening agent Katswell but this better be good."
"An old colleague of mine, Keswick, has built a device that is able to locate the energy readings we are searching. He can do it over the air without leaving the building."
"Say that again." The General sounded genuinely surprised and for Kitty, this was the sound of her redeeming herself.
"He will call me when the next spike appears, so you better ready the troops, Sir."
"We will be on standby as soon as you call. Hobbs out." The General unceremoniously hung up and Kitty had a contemplative smile on her face. After this rollercoaster of a morning, things were looking up again.
What was left to do now? It seemed like she needed to play the waiting game, and she decided to do so from home. The HQ wasn't the place where she wanted to be right now. Again, the image of Jack showing around the clip disgusted her.
Arriving in her apartment the first thing she did was remove the camera in her living room. After last night, she had every right to do so in her opinion. Finishing a rather violent cable separation process, she just wanted drink a coffee at the kitchen table and wait for Keswick's call, but the doorbell made her change this plan.
Kitty opened the door to see her older sister looking at her in surprise. "Oh Kitty, I didn't know you were here."
The knowledge Kitty had from the spy camera gave this sentence about ten times more subtext than Kerry might have wished for. Still, Kitty swallowed her suspicion and invited her sister in. They sat down at the kitchen table. After a while of awkward silence, Kerry was the one who sighed. "Kitty I, to be honest, I am here to talk to Dudley."
"I bet you are…" Kitty mumbled while gritting her teeth.
Kerry didn't get that, she was taking deep breaths like preparing to jump from a cliff into unknown waters. "I need to tell it to you, Kitty, you deserve to know… I… I think I have some feelings for Dudley. I tried to talk it away, tried to hide it but I can't anymore."
Even though Kitty had expected that she felt like being slapped in the face. Kerry was suddenly into Dudley? Well, the two were never on bad terms but it wasn't like that.
"You are what?" the younger sibling pressed through her gritted teeth.
"Yes I… I mean I still also have feelings for Rabbies but... the things he did for us and…" She sighed and then added. "And then there was the kiss…"
"The WHAT?!" Kitty thundered and Kerry almost fell off her chair. "You two did WHAT?! If I get my hands on this dirty short mutt I will…"
"It was me, Kitty, he wasn't trying anything." Kerry meant jumping to his defense. "It's just… he's Sw…"
"He's what?!" Kitty lunged over the table and grabbed her sister by the collar. "HE'S WHAT?!"
"No, I can't tell you that. I promise."
"I am so sick of these MOTHERFUCKING SECRETS." Kitty roared and started shaking her sister. "YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW AND THEN I WILL GET HIM AND HE WILL SPIT IT OUT! EVERYTHING!"
"Kitty you're hurting me!" Kerry pleaded while she was shaking like a plate of jello. There was only one sound that could have calmed down Kitty at that moment and, luckily for Kerry, Kitty's phone made it. Kitty let go of her sister who dropped down on the floor like a sack of cement and at almost lightspeed grabbed her phone.
"Yes?" She asked and in the fastest manner possible to him, Keswick read the address to her.
"185 Providence B..B..Boulevard." He said and received as a thank you the immediate hang-up tone. Kitty knew everything needed to happen fast now. She rushed out of her apartment leaving back a startled Kerry and called Hobbs on her way to the car. As she arrived at Providence Boulevard, the D.E.U.P. had a whole crowd of agents there already scanning the place. General Hobbs stood on the sidewalk looking at the old house.
"What a dump." He commented on the ruin as Kitty stepped to him. "Ms. Katswell, I got to say, I was close to letting you go but, you made it." He pointed at a group of agents holding clunky devices similar to the ones Keswick used back then. "The agents get the readings we want. Also, Mr. Puppy's car parks a few streets away from here."
"Well… what now?" Kitty peered into the house. Nothing special seemed to be in there. The run-down building seemed calm.
"This…" Hobbs took a cylindric device out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Will grant us entry."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Can't you feel it's vibration? It resonates with whatever is in there! It's a thing capable of creating and breaking these dimensional pockets. And it vibrates the closer it is to this hut. Can't you hear it yearn to be closer? Are you blind, can't you see the obvious?!" Hobbs's eyes grew wider as he manically started at the device.
Kitty just stared at him as she held the shaking object in her hand. "Okay but, who goes in?"
"Well, you already have the device." The stare combined with the smile he put on his lips sent shivers down Kitty's spine.
"I? But…"
"We are positive that Puppy wouldn't let the creature hurt you if he has any say in that anyway. So, you are the smartest choice for the job."
"General Hobbs, I am not sure if I am the most…"
"Listen to me Ms. Katswell, don't kill this operation by not complying, I promise you if you do that there is more than a promotion in for you!" Hobbs's whole face still emitted the excitement of an insane man and Kitty didn't know if she was safer out here or inside that house.
"F..Fine." She said, gripped tighter around the device, and walked the small gravel path, which was seamed by dried grass, towards the front door, if it could be called that. The actual door was just hanging on one hinge and Kitty got inside the building without even touching it.
As she stood in the small hallway which was plundered of all its former furniture the device stopped vibrating and started glowing.
"General, it… it has started to glow!" she called out loudly and before an answer could reach her ears the room started to extend into all directions seeming to grow to an infinite size. Kitty watched in horror how reality bent underneath her fingers before it ripped apart sending her into a nothingness, which she could not even fathom. Void, the essence of nothingness, devoid of anything, swallowed her down. She fell, towards nothing from nothing.
Kitty had closed her eyes, it was a reflex, her brain tried to protect itself from a thing she could barely process. She tried to keep them shut as she felt the gravity tug on her body more and more accelerating her beyond any terminal velocity. And while her fall continued the eerie silence all around her added a nuance of horror to everything.
"Ah, I see our guest has arrived." A voice distant but close at the same time broke through the silence and through her closed eyes Kitty could see a smile. White teeth on a dark background. It was time for their first encounter
-Hey there new year new chapter :P Well, things are heating up here, Kitty and Sam are about to meet. Anyway, next chapter a little sooner I hope, but don't worry, it'll come. As always, tell me what you think in the comments and stay tuned!-