Kitty stretched her yawn almost into the infinite as she waited for the coffee machine to spit out the black fuel she would need to keep going for a few more hours. Tiredness was the fiercest enemy she had to fight the last few days as the 18 to 20-hour workdays more and more took a toll on her.
There was a time before she had stepped over the magic 25-year mark when pulling several all-nighters was a piece of cake for her. Probably a deception concocted by her own mind, after all this was the biggest workload she had ever put onto her, even a younger body wouldn't just be able to suffer through that without tiring.
As the machine hummed monotonously her eyes closed for a moment too long and she saw Dudley lying with her in bed smiling warmly at her and whispering. 'Wake up cutie.'
And she woke up, with a start, and looked behind her. She knew these words weren't coming out of her mind and the actual perpetrator of these noises stood behind her and grinned from bunny ear to bunny ear.
"Stop it!" Kitty said frostily as Jack just giggled.
"Oh why, Kitty? You look so cute when you wake up."
"I said it once and I say it again, Jack, behave professional or I'll report you to Hobbs."
Jack laughed even more and then shrugged. "Whatever partner."
Kitty gritted her teeth and took her mug from the coffee machine. Jack had been teamed up with her. The idea was that, after the basic training, they would go together to, what Hobbs called, anomalies and try to contain them. Kitty was still trying to wrap her head around the material she was studying over and over again for the last months.
The things that weren't marked as confidential were quite astounding. She read about anomalies that shifted gravity in a whole town to a point where it ended up in some kind of dimensional pocket. The report she had read talked about leaving the village on one side just to reenter on the other side of it. Another anomaly had, lacking another term, regressed the citizens of a small autonomously living community in the Californian woods.
The agents examining the scene found creatures that had semblance with the habitants but were completely savaged and partly feral. The file then wrote that the scene was cleared, and Kitty had a certain imaginative image about what had been done there. She still shivered thinking about that.
These people were bystanders, they weren't asked to be moved several rungs down the evolutional ladder. The D.E.U.P. seemed to be anything but squeamish when it came to containing these anomalies. The more files she worked through the more doubts she had if it was really worth it to act in this way simply to keep the eyes of the public off the peculiar phenomenon.
Kitty took a few sips from her coffee, then a few more and then put the cup back under the machine to refill. Her stomach growled angrily and the sour acid that she tasted for a moment was a duly noted warning to maybe slow the drinking speed down. But at least the fog in her brain started clearing and her thoughts became organized again.
What was the time? She looked at her smartphone. It was almost 1am. What was Hobbs thinking to schedule a meeting at that time?
She was about to put her phone away again when she realized something, there was something missing. She checked her messages and couldn't find Dudley's regular text. He usually texted her around that time that he would go to bed and wished her a good night wherever she was right now.
Kitty's heart sank as she thought about him. She wasn't really paying attention to him lately, but she also knew that any longer conversation would either end in a talk she couldn't be bothered to have right now or a fight about the weird secrets he kept. She knew keeping her distance only worsened everything, but she was so preoccupied with work. She simply couldn't bear any distractions.
However, not getting a message after months of always getting one at almost the same time worried her. Her fingers swiped over the display typing a message for him 'Hey Dudley, I will be home soon, just one last meeting. I miss you.'
Her thumb hovered over the send button, just an inch away from sending, as her courage failed her. This message after not even answering his text for months? She deleted the text and put her phone back into her pocket. She needed a distraction right now or she would start to cry. Luckily Hobbs also joined them at the coffee machine, gently pushing Kitty's full mug to the side and filling his own.
"Excellent, you two are here on time." Hobbs nodded over the background noise of the coffee maker. Kitty swallowed down the comment on her tongue. She never had been not on time. Jack was the one who felt too fancy to be punctual.
You two will follow me right now to the conference room, we deal with the rest there." Hobbs added. The machine was barely done as Hobbs grabbed his mug and marched out of the room. Kitty did the same and followed him into the conference room.
It was a quite large windowless room. The grey wall panels were like the furniture, serviceable for the room's purpose with a touch of elegance. The big projector on the ceiling projected a yet black image on the room's only white wall. Kitty grabbed a chair on the table across the general and Jack seated himself next to her.
Of course, he would do that, Kitty would have thought that if that thought hadn't been thought by her a dozen times today only. She was tired of his clownish advances. She had told him that she was in a relationship, she had told him that she didn't want to change that she had even told him that she wouldn't start something with him even if he was the last man on earth.
But he wouldn't stop and Kitty was close to just telling the General about it no matter how it would look. Because otherwise, she would slice off one of Jack's ears, to make him understand.
"Agent Katswell, Agent Rabbit." Hobbs started in a formal tone. "You might be agents in training, but our current staff situation demands drastic measures, which is why I hereby declare you proper field agents."
"Nice." Jack grinned and leaned back into the chair.
"General, thank you and please be assured…" Kitty started but was cut short by Hobbs.
"As much as I like hearing your words of gratitude, time is running." The general grabbed the presenter and held it up ready to push the only button on this remote. "The things you see now will be top secret. We will go over the mission details, talk about the target, and then I will explain how we proceed. Is that clear?" Hobbs's stiff words were answered by the nodding of the two agents.
"Very well." The general pushed the button. The first slide appeared which was a screenshot from a CCTV camera that had been hanging in the blown-up lab. Kitty remembered the look of the room, but this time it was filmed from another angle. And less grainy. She could now see the almost hairless monkeylike creature that, at the moment in which the picture was taken, just shifted through the containment field.
"A few months ago, we could establish a first contact with a creature which called himself 'the Advisor'. The creature was unwilling to cooperate with us and please excuse my words, in general, a giant piece of shit."
"Well, figures, after all, who would call himself the Advisor." Jack commented and a smile flashed on Hobbs's face for a second.
"I agree, Agent Rabbit, but back to the point. The creature continued killing our entire security personnel before fleeing without a trace. The D.E.U.P. has categorized the Advisor as a level 5 threat. Which means the Advisor and his plans are a threat to the entire planet."
Kitty looked surprised at Hobbs, she had never read in any files of a level 5 threat.
Not even the organism found underneath an old brewery that had been luring people into its lair and eating them had been a 5, that thing was a 3. Actually, she thought the scale ended at 4.
Hobbs changed the slide, it was a map of the city with a few red dots strewn across it in seemingly random locations.
"We were able to build a device capable of detecting the energy traces the advisor creates when, for lack of a better word, teleporting. Even though these devices were small we were able, through a lot of manpower, to detect some places where the energy readings consistently appear. Quiet honesty, it was sheer luck more than anything. These readings are all over the city, we have caught four places now. There will be a dossier for you to read giving you more detail on that. We are quite confident that these readings are right, although our field agents weren't able to get visual confirmation of any form. But they found out something else and that's where especially you, Ms. Katswell, are an essential key player."
"I?" She asked surprised. Kitty couldn't imagine what key skill she had that the others in the team didn't.
"I am getting ahead of myself, let me explain first. Our field agent couldn't make contact with the Advisor, but they found a person who always appeared shortly after or before the energy readings. We are suspecting this person to be a collaborator working on whatever the Advisor is scheming. The main suspect in this is…" Hobbs again changed the slide and Kitty's eyes widened in terror as the projector illuminated a picture of Dudley on the wall. "…Agent Dudley Donald Puppy. A T.U.F.F. agent and Ms. Katswell's ex-partner and, if I am informed correctly, current life companion."
"Ha! That doofus? Seriously?!" Jack started laughing loudly, he even found that so amusing he always fell off his chair. Kitty next to him was shaken to her very core. Dudley? Her Dudley? Working for some kind of alien entity doing probably things that threaten the planet. She could hardly believe that, after all, Dudley wasn't the guy to use for big complex plans.
He was more a man for the most practical approach. Everybody she knew would agree with her on that. Why was an alien lifeform as powerful as this Advisor use Dudley for such a stealthy task? Was there something she was missing?
And then it clicked, and everything suddenly made sense. The times he was suddenly gone and reappeared, his weird innuendos that no one understood, the Sullivan thing, the whole time travel thing she never really believed, it all made sense now if the advisor was added to the equation.
Dudley was on missions, probably all the time, doing horrendous things for this Advisor creature.
"You maybe see now, Ms. Katswell, why you are important for this mission," Hobbs said while Kitty kept staring at Dudley's picture. It seemed relatively new and he looked kind of awful on it if she was honest.
It was a candid shot taken of him and the angry and sullen look on his face was completed by the dark circles under his eyes that had swapped the white with a slight red shade. Kitty never felt threatened by Dudley in any way but the guy in this picture wasn't a person she would pick to mess with.
"Now for real, General, I had my run-ins with Puppy but this guy, he's hardly more capable than a sack of cement. Is this creature controlling him or maybe threatening him or something." Jack objected and for the first time, Kitty was thankful for him opening his mouth.
Of course! Dudley was maybe controlled or blackmailed by that thing. He would never go and betray all of them just like that. Kitty felt a little bit of relief in her numb body and enough strength again to agree with Jack's words by nodding.
"That is entirely possible, after all, we do not know the full scope of abilities the Advisor has so we... hold on…" Hobbs pressed a finger on his ear and listened attentively to something. "Ready already? Then give us the live feed."
The screen went black for a moment and then suddenly, and to Kitty's dismay, a video stream of her living room appeared on the wall.
"What is going on here? Why is there a camera in my living room?!" Kitty enquired and, confused and angry, tried staring Hobbs down. Being a man used to being stared at and worse, the General ignored the gaze and explained.
"We put a camera into your home Ms. Katswell, I promise it is just that one. We hope to catch agent Puppy red-handed by this, even though I am pretty sure that he is not so stupid to invite the creature into his own home. But better safe than sorry."
"General Hobbs you never discussed this with me or asked for permission…"
"Ms. Katswell, I expect my personnel to be willing to help with the case in any way." The bunny's stern face drilled into Kitty. "Time is of the essence here, I am sure you will be able to handle a camera in your living room."
Kitty was inhaling deeply to give Hobbs a piece of her mind as the camera's audio kicked in. Someone was unlocking the door of the apartment. Keenly the three of them instantly turned to the projection. As the door swung open Dudley entered the room, but he wasn't alone. If Kitty wasn't standing already she would have jumped from her chair now.
Katty was aiding Dudley into the room, his right arm over her shoulder. Huffing she put him onto the couch and then looked at her phone.
"Kerry is calling, hold on a minute." Katty left the room, closing the door again leaving Dudley alone in the room. The dog chuckled and moaned at the same time as he leaned back on the couch giving Kitty a good chance to look at his face.
She gasped seeing the black eye and the blood from several cuts in his face. He looked even worse than in Hobbs' photo.
"Dudley, what happened…" Kitty asked confused.
"I guess someone was annoyed with him." Jack sneered to which the General just replied by clearing his throat.
The room's door opened and Katty entered again. She walked to the couch and flopped down next to the dog.
"Kerry said you cracked Rabies' skull…. Several times."
"I hope he gets well soon." Dudley replied oddly sarcastic for him.
"That isn't funny," Katty replied angrily. "He's in an artificial coma!"
"He started it… Don't blame me for defending myself."
"I know…" Katty sighed and shook her head. "You just overdid yourself there."
"I… do know that…"
The two sat in silence for a few heartbeats before Dudley said. "Is Kerry angry?"
"Well, she isn't happy but is partially blaming Rabies."
Dudley chortled a little. "Yeah, she has a soft spot for me."
"She rather wants you inside her soft spot." Katty replied and couldn't stop herself from grinning a little.
"WHAT?!" Kitty exclaimed bewilderedly as Jack next to her wolf-whistled.
"Two of the sisters, what do you think Kitty, is he trying for the trifecta?"
"Shut up, Jack!" Kitty hissed angrily at him.
The General austerely called them back to reason. "Quiet, you two, we might miss key details."
The three had missed a part of the conversation, the subject had changed.
"You don't have to work tomorrow, do you?" Katty asked as she was eyeing his wounds.
"In the evening, yes. I'm on night shift the next days." Dudley started to yawn which turned into a pain-stricken moan halfway. "The… ow, dammit my nose… you criminals were quite calm the last few nights so it's a nice way to do the paperwork that was cast aside."
"I can't imagine you doing paperwork." Katty laughed.
"Me neither… Gosh, I even got myself reading glasses recently." He pointed at a pair of glasses with square-shaped lenses and a thick frame. Katty immediately grabbed the specs and handed them to him.
"I need to see that with my own eyes." She laughed. Moaning Dudley leaned forward and put the glasses on. Kitty watched the scene and the confusion and shock inside her grew even greater. She had no idea that he had glasses now, let alone that he was doing paperwork. Why would the chief let him do paperwork anyway?
Back then the agreement was that Kitty filed all reports for the two of them, so they didn't have to deal with Dudley's creative style of writing. Was there no one to do this for him anymore?
Dudley, meanwhile, with the glasses on struck some poses that looked like him pretending to read in a way a stock photo model would do them. Katty's smile grew wider and she said. "You look like a beaten-up librarian."
"Not the worst compliment I ever received, I'll take it." Dudley put the glasses back on the table and then mirrored Katty's wide smile for a moment before the corners of his mouth promptly slumped down towards his chin.
"What's wr… The similarity?" Katty quickly concluded.
"It's just weird, you know? For a moment I think you are her and then I remind myself and…" He groaned. "This is so annoying."
"I can imagine that." She sighed and stood up. "I'll better leave you alone then, you'll be alright?"
"I'm… uhm… let's call it stable." He forced a smile upon his lips and Katty patted his shoulder.
"You'll be alright, and if not, you got my number." Katty smiled and was about to leave as Dudley said.
"One last thing… could you maybe help me keep Kerry away from me for a few days?"
"Why so? Fear of getting weak?" Katty giggled leaning in the doorframe.
"No, but I guess she will try to visit soon and I am not in the mood for advances right now."
"You could just tell he-"
"I did," Dudley quickly said. "But she just says 'okay' and tries again. In a way, I can understand her but… I don't feel very amicable lately."
"Okay got you." Katty laughed and waved goodbye before pulling the door back to its lock. Dudley leaned back sighing into the couch.
"Darkness deliver me…" He chuckled before he, after just a few seconds, started snoring loudly.
"I think we've seen enough." Hobbs turned the projector off and huffed annoyedly. "I hoped he would maybe tell something giving us more insight…"
"Kitty looks like she gained some." Jack's voice was filled with all the amusement Kitty was lacking. She was staring at the wall now hoping this was just a nightmare she would wake up from.
"Is that so?" The General eyed Kitty and because of Jack's remark she now actually had to justify herself.
"I… I mean a lot of things make sense now. This Sullivan thing, the time travel I never really believed, his frequent sudden absence, these weird remarks about the things he did…"
"I will stop you right there, agent." Hobbs raised his hand. "You can explain that to me later, for now, it is time to get to the mission details." He stood up and placed himself at the end of the oval desk, almost like he was pretending to speak to a full plenum. "The plan is simple, we will follow Mr. Puppy to his place of meeting and catch him there together with the advisor. Ms. Katswell will be the key element here, she already has the target's trust, and she just needs to place a tracker on him. Then he will bring us there."
"Question, General." Jack raised his hand nonchalantly. "Following the mutt does not sound like a challenge, but how are we supposed to capture this super-monster?"
"Good question, Agent." Hobbs praised. "We have recently discovered a device that gives us the ability to form space in an unheard-of way, we are sure that we can capture the being by using the device on it, capturing it in a pocket dimension."
"Sounds like sci-fi."
"The three of us will go to the lab and get a presentation. I hope this will clear any doubts." Hobbs looked at Jack nodded and then his gaze turned to Kitty. "Ms. Katswell, you are suspiciously quiet."
"General, this… I think I can be considered biased in this case I…" Kitty started stammering, Dudley may have done some utterly stupid or dangerous things helping a monster, but she wasn't willing to betray him like that.
"Ms. Katswell." Hobbs walked around the table to her. "I know that this isn't an easy thing to do, but this is the quickest approach. You know where to place the tracker so that he or someone at T.U.F.F. won't find it. I wouldn't ask you for this if it hadn't had the utmost importance."
"But he's my boyfriend General Hobbs, that kind of trust-breaking is…" She swallowed. "We are on not-so-good terms right now anyway, exactly because of these lies… I…"
"Ms. Katswell." Hobbs knelt down so he and the sitting Kitty were at eye level. "You know what this thing has done and what it is capable of, do you think it wouldn't do it to him given the chance."
"I don't know I mean, maybe but…"
"All the more reason to free him of his grip. I mean do you know what was left from the people who tried to defend themselves from him?" Hobbs made a pause to exhale and then continued with a quivering voice. "Nothing but ash. We didn't have traces of bodies to bury. Do you want Mr. Puppy to end like that?"
"No of course not I…"
"Ms. Katswell," Hobbs's voice now sounded like the one of a priest fearful of god. "If we don't stop this thing or at least its plans we will maybe all end like that very soon. Do you want that for your future, for your future with Mr. Puppy? Ending up as ash?"
"No… of course not." Kitty sighed and buried her face in her hands.
"Good, very good." The General panted taken by his own words. "Then please, help me, help you, help us all, and schedule a date with Mr. Puppy. The day after tomorrow should be fine for that. You will then give us the details on how and where we can find you and we will be there to protect you two in case the advisor tries something smart, okay?"
Kitty simply nodded which made the General get back on his feet and say "Okay then, Mr. Rabbit, you follow me to the lab. Agent Katswell, you will start your preparations and meet us down there in 30 minutes, understood?"
The agents nodded again and soon the big room was empty except for Kitty who had her phone lying on the table in front of her staring at it. The next thing she needed to do was maybe the hardest thing she had done in a while. She knew a text would break all the trust he had in her when things went wrong, or even if they went right.
On the other side, she of course knew that he had lied all the time but in the context of things, he probably just tried to keep her out of this and safe. It still made her angry but now a lot less than before, also, what was this thing doing to him so that he would hold his tongue? It had to stop, this supernatural entity had to let him go and if Dudley couldn't free himself, she would do so.
Kitty started typing, at first some lines but then the text got longer. And even longer as she added more and more things. She apologized for her late absence, she said she needed to see him and wanted to do so as fast as possible. She said that she loved him, even if she wasn't behaving like that lately.
None of what she wrote was a lie, it came from her heart, and she felt ashamed that she needed an order from her superior and a mission to finally send this text. Before hitting send, she felt a little afraid of what the answer to all that would be. But a grim resolve finally moved her thumb down. She would free him no matter the costs.