Ariel finally did agree to talk to Eduardo. As soon as Ariel called Artemis, Artemis made a call to Eduardo to have him call Ariel to arrange a meeting in a very neutral setting.
As soon as he hung up the phone, he called his partners, knowing he was going to need all the help he could get with building his case.
A few days later, three of the most powerful and influential lawyers in MegaKat were sitting around a Conference Table in one of the meeting rooms located at C. C. Enterprises. Each one of them were dressed very casually as not to make Ariel any more nervous about meeting them.
However, since the meeting was going to occur in her building, Callista made sure she was attending. She too was dressed very casually in semi-loose jeans and a blouse.
"Eduardo, please explain why you felt the need to bring in the rest of the Partnership for a defense, which was supposed to have been Adjudicated by now?" Mr. Geffen asked.
Eduardo faced Mr. Geffen who was a slim older tom with short curly black and gray hair, light gray fur, yellowish eyes, and a black nose. He was also one of Eduardo's best friends and partner. "This case is about to take a turn. Si, Miss Hughes' case should have been closed, if it wasn't for Peterson's interference. But, as you will hear from the witness, we will have much bigger fish to prosecute."
"Whoa, wait a minute! Our firm is based on providing the best Defense lawyers in the city! We're not Prosecuting Attorneys! How do you expect us to pull this off?" Mr Fitzgerald asked.
"We weren't always Defense Attorneys, Tom. Before we started this firm, we all worked both sides of the Court Room. We have the experience needed to bring this guy to justice, and we will," Eduardo answered.
There was a knock on the Conference Room door. Callista stood from her seat to answer it. She poked her head out to see T-Bone and Razor, as well as a young she-cat, dressed in a brown skirt, a white shirt, and had her straight jet-black hair done in a long braid which stopped at her shoulders.
"Mrs. Feral, per your request, Razor and I escorted the witness from her home. Her lawyers are right behind us and should be here very soon. Can we sweep the room for bugs, as you requested?" T-Bone asked.
"Certainly," Callista replied with a smile. "I'll wait with her while you two perform the sweep. Mr. Geffen, Mr, Valdez, and Mr. Fitzgerald are already inside."
"Come on, T-Bone. The faster we get the sweep done, the faster we can get this detail over. Caliber is making one of my favorite dishes, and I prefer not to be late," Razor said and pulled T-Bone into the Conference room.
Callista faced the girl, and said, "I'm Callista Feral, the owner of C. C. Enterprises. You can call me Callista, if you want."
"Thank you, Callista," Ariel said. "Mr. Valdez told me I was going to be escorted by a Security Detail. I wasn't expecting two SWAT Kats to show up at my home. My father had a fit, when they knocked at our door."
"We wanted you safe, Ariel. Those two will make sure you get back home, without any issues, I'm quite sure, most of the Squadron are watching over the building as we speak. There is no way, David or any of his cronies can get within fifty yards of this building."
Once Razor was inside the room, he lowered the visor in his helmet and switched on the scanners. He examined every inch and every corner of the room, looking for any un-documented Surveillance device. Not finding any, he reached into his G-Suit and pulled out a small device, no larger than a pack of Playing Cards and set it on the table. As he switched it on, he said, "This thing will seal this room off from any Radio Frequencies. Your mobile devices will be completely useless until you leave the room." He returned to T-Bone, and said, "We'll be standing guard on the other side of the door."
After they exited, Razor went over to Ariel, and said, "All clear. You can enter. If you don't feel something is right, knock on the table, and we'll come right in."
Ariel gave Razor a brief smile then entered the room. She closed the door and heard, "Miss Evans, please take a seat."
She turned around to see three, very casually dressed toms sitting around the table. One was obviously of Latin decent, wearing a Yellow Polo shirt and light tan pants, another who had light gray fur with black and gray curly hair, dressed in a light blue button-down shirt and darker blue pants, and a third who was almost completely bald, light tan fur, dark brown eyes, and had a large gut. He was wearing a pink shirt and dark tan pants. She took her seat at the end of the table and waited for her lawyers to arrive.
Her lawyers arrived a few minutes later. They entered the lobby leading to the Conference room, and were stopped by T-Bone, saying, "Miss Evans is already inside. Do I need to pat you three down, or are you all un-armed?"
"Now listen here, you vigilante! We are lawyers, not Street Thugs! We don't use guns!" One of them stated.
T-Bone scanned the three with his eyes and didn't see anything initially out of place, except for any sense of style. The matching dark blue suits they wore went out of style decades ago. "Alright, head in before I call Weaver and let her laugh at the way you three are dressed."
The three huffed, then entered the conference room.
"Did you have to insult their attire, T-Bone?" Razor asked.
"Our wives wouldn't be caught dead with us, if we were wearing outdated suits like they were,"
After Ariel's lawyers, took their seats, Eduardo started, "Now that we are all here, we can get started." He faced Ariel, and said, "Miss Hughes already gave her testimony to us and the court. We already know what you went through, while behind those walls. I for one am truly sorry, that Law Enforcement didn't perform their duties." He took a pen in his right paw, tapped the tip to a pad of paper, then said, "We need you to verify what Miss Hughes has told us. Please start at the beginning, up to the point where you escaped. Remember, you are not on trial, Miss Evans. You have nothing to be nervous about."
Just before Ariel started her testimony, one of her lawyers took out his phone, laid it on the table, then simultaneously pressed, two of the buttons on the side of the phone.
"I was fifteen when I first saw the inside of those walls," Ariel started. "Almost as soon as I got there, I was led into a Dormitory, housing more girls I assumed were my age. However, quite a few of them turned out to be younger. With the youngest one about twelve. We were instructed to change into the clothing provided, then left alone. I went to my assigned room, where I met three other girls. Each one was as confused as to why they were there, and frightened, not knowing what was going to occur, just as I was. I opened the dresser assigned to me and saw what appeared to be very short skirts, various tights, and minuscule tops. There were also some racy costumes, which I never imagined myself wearing."
Tom put down his pen after scribbling a note in the pad in front of him, and said, "Miss Evans, you didn't explain how you managed to get there. This will be relevant to the case."
Ariel took a few breaths, then answered, "I was on my way home from school with a few friends. It was a nice day, so we decided to walk instead of being driven. After I parted ways with them, I continued walking home. A few blocks later, a black van pulled up on my left and I was pulled into it. I smelled something sweet, then I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in some sort of Infirmary."
Eduardo, Tom, and Mr. Geffen wrote down almost everything Ariel told them to the letter. "Thank you, Miss Evans. Please continue," Tom said.
Ariel continued, by stating, "After I changed into one of the skirts and tops, I along with my roommates were escorted out of our dorm and to what appeared to be the back room of some sort of bar or club. We were told we would be servers for the clientele and eventually, become part of the entertainment. We did as were were instructed. We took drink orders and served them. It wasn't so bad at first. But as the night wore on, the Entertainment started. My eyes almost flew out of my sockets when I saw these girls who were my age if not older, wearing costumes which barely covered their bodies, dancing and gyrating on the stage. That was when some of the cats we were serving, started letting their paws wander. At first, it seemed like an innocent touch on the leg. But eventually, me and the others were groped and pulled into their laps. I was about to slap the tom who was holding me but stopped by another tom, who said, "He is allowed to Manhandle you, as long as you stay clothed. Be a good girl, or things will get bad for you."
The lawyer looked down at his phone and noticed, it wasn't sending signals. He tapped the screen on the screen of the device, in an attempt to get it to work. However, since he didn't know Razor had set up a Cloaking Device that blocked all signals from leaving the room, he didn't know why his phone wasn't working.
Tom happened to look over to the Lawyer playing with his phone sitting on the table. Tom knew of the device Razor had set up, but apparently the other Attorney didn't. "Your phone isn't going to work while this meeting is ongoing, courtesy of Razor," Tom stated.
The lawyer's eyes went wide, knowing he couldn't transmit the meeting to David's Advisories as he was contracted to do. He picked up his phone from the table, stood, and said, "I need to make a call."
His erratic behavior caught the attention of both Legal Teams. "Miss Evans hasn't finished with her statement. Don't you want to hear the rest?" Mr. Geffen asked.
Ariel didn't like the way one of her family's lawyers was acting. She actually felt her safety was threatened. She remembered what Razor had told er to do and wrapped on the table with the back of her right paw.
Razor was listening in on the meeting, when he heard Ariel's call. "That's our cue, buddy."
Both SWAT Kats entered the room and stood on either side of Ariel. Then T-Bone asked, "Are you alright, Miss Evans?"
"I'm ok," she responded. Then said, "That lawyer was trying to record my statement." Pointing to the lawyer who put his phone away.
Razor left Ariel's side and stood in front of the lawyer. "I need to see your phone, now," he said and extended his left paw, palm side up.
"This is an invasion of privacy! I don't have to give you anything!" He shouted at Razor.
T-Bone stood to the left of his partner, then said, "One of the rules for this meeting were, no recordings of anything said in this room. By having your phone out, I'm guessing you have violated that rule. If you have nothing to hide, hand over the device to my partner, as he requested."
The lawyer knew he might be able to take out Razor. But now that T-Bone was with his partner, using brute strength to get out of the mess he was in would result with him in Intensive Care. He took a swing at Razor and connected with his right cheek, then bolted for the door.
Razor fell onto his right knee and rubbed his stinging cheek. While T-Bone knelt beside him, and asked, "You ok, buddy?"
"Just hurt my pride," Razor responded. Then tapped the side of his helmet and said, "Ladies, incoming through the front door."
Both Acrobat and Sure-Shot were stationed outside of Callista's building, waiting for something like this to occur. Just as they heard Razor's message, the front doors of Callista's building few open and the lawyer running down the stairs.
"Target spotted, Razor," Acrobat answered. Both she and Sure-Shot ran from their spots on the sidewalk, approaching the lawyer. But as soon as Acrobat was close enough, she performed a handspring, launching herself into the air, and landing just to the left of the fleeing lawyer. Then, she extended her right leg out, tripping him.
Now it was Sure-Shot's turn. She fell to her knees in front of the lawyer followed by bringing the business end of her short sword right in front of his nose. "Might I suggest you don't move." Followed by, "As graceful as always, love."
Acrobat crossed her right leg over her left at the knee, bowed to Sure-Shot, and said, "Thank you, my dearest."
Sure-Shot blew her a kiss, then focused her gaze on the semi-well-dressed lawyer. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"
The Lawyer's eyes lifted to gaze at Sure-Shot's chest, in her tight uniform, then up to her half-covered face, and answered, "If I knew someone like you was here, I wouldn't be going anywhere."
Sure-Shot blew a stray hair out of her face, then said, "If you knew I was here, chances are you wouldn't be sprinting out of my friend's building."
Razor arrived followed by T-Bone. They both looked down at the lawyer and noticed on the upper part of his neck the beginnings of the same mark on the nurse who tried to kill Pirouette and the bullet Dr. Feldman removed from Pirouette's shoulder. "I know you are connected to the Society, from the mark on your neck. Don't try anything stupid, and you might be able to go home."
"I.. I don't know what you are talking about," the lawyer stammered.
Razor huffed, then said, "Oh really? I've seen that mark before on a nurse and a bullet removed from one of my friend's shoulder. Both are in Enforcer Custody. The nurse already told us who that mark belongs to. From what my wife has told me, she's singing like a canary to keep herself out of prison. I'm only going to ask you my question once, and if you lie to me again, I'll put you in a room, alone with Adonis. He's still quite pissed at your organization for the attempt at his wife's life. He's normally a very nice tom. However, I can't guarantee what he will do, when he finds out he will have a chance to have revenge on one of the members of the Society."
The lawyer remembered that Adonis was the heavily muscled tom of SWAT. Even though Adonis had a reputation of being a very giving and kind cat, being on the wrong side of all those muscles would end very badly for him. "I'll answer your questions," he said.
"Good. Start talking," T-Bone said, then crossed his arms over his chest.
Mark pushed Gregg away from him, then asked, "Why did you kiss me again!?"
Gregg stumbled on his feet until he was able to regain his footing on the carpeting. "You didn't seem to mind, when I kissed you the last time, Mark. If I remember correctly, your lower half responded quite favorably to the kiss," Gregg answered, looking back down at Mark's crotch to see if he had gotten the same reaction. To his disappointment, nothing seemed to have changed.
"You surprised me with that kiss, Gregg," Mark answered. "And no, it was not welcomed."
"That's too bad. I was hoping you might be, Bi-Curious at least," Gregg said, then sat down on the couch to Mark's right.
"Sorry, I'm not. I'm madly in love with Lisa and have been since I first laid eyes on her all those years ago. Although, I have no issues with partnering up with you. As long as you don't cross any lines I set. Is that clear?" Mark asked.
"I can behave, Mark, Gregg said. "Although it's going to be very hard to keep my eyes and paws off of your backside, when you are wearing this uniform."
Mark coughed into his left paw at Gregg's brazenness, then said, "Speaking of my uniform. Why are you wearing it?"
"That's an easy answer. I wanted to know if it was as comfortable, luxurious, and see if I looked hot in it, which I do. Although, I'm going to have to work on my arms and chest to fill it out the way you do, Mark. You look absolutely sinful when you wear it," Gregg answered. However, his last sentence was spoken on a purr.
Mark's eyes flew wide open before he leaped from the couch to put some distance between him and Gregg. "If you pass the muster and get in. Razor will give you the name of the shop we all use to have our uniforms modified," Mark stated and walked towards the door.
Gregg followed him and passed him in the small hall. As he opened the door to the apartment, he let his tail brush across Mark's groin, and said, "Oh I'll pass, then I get to see what I felt, up close and personal again."
Mark moved Gregg out of the way and ran out of the apartment, letting Gregg see his backside in the jeans he was wearing.
"Mmm. The back looks just as scrumptious as the front. I think my life just got a whole lot better," Gregg said and closed the door.
End of Chapter