Chapter 8 - A Bird in a Kat's Trap

A light breeze blew against my face. The cool air felt refreshing on that hot, sticky night. But that heat was very convenient for me. There had been a blackout. No electricity could be accessed in any building. My target that night was the organization itself. This was about a year after I became Ally Kat. I rarely ever had a chance to get into the organization. They always kept it tight shut. Besides, the head of theirs was a genius who knew how to keep even me out. Their one mistake was that they relied on electricity too much. Tonight was going to be a cinch getting in and out of there.

~*~AK~*~

“Go! Go! Go! Don't let her get away!” Blake and the rest of the Elite Under Team chased a woman down the street. She was a renegade spell-caster who now used her magic abilities to steal simple items. Nothing big, but apparently she was wanted by Ally Kat, and Blake wanted to get her first, and keep her this time.

“Pepper, cut her off at the front! Linton, Jack, take the sides! This time, for sure.” They had attempted to catch her five times before, and failed. Most of the time, it wasn't even with the help of Ally Kat. The girl simply didn't want to get caught, unlike most criminals. The girl's magic abilities were immense, so it was difficult to get close to her without getting hurt. Pepper used her own magic to start to overtake the spell-caster and come back at her from the other side, but the girl put up a barrier right where Pepper was about to run, and Blake thought for a moment that Pepper would smash herself right into it. But then something amazing happened. Pepper jumped and flipped just the same way that Ally Kat had flipped off of Blake's table last week. Evading the barrier, Pepper continued in front, and finally, she stopped and they managed to surround her.

“Put your hands in the air. Don't even think about using magic,” Blake called to the girl. The spell-caster just took a deep, irritated breath and sighed. Then she closed her eyes and put her hands in the air, very calmly. Almost too calmly. Blake watched as she continued a steady breathing. All was quiet as everyone just stood and watched the spell-caster, wondering what in the world she was planning. Everyone looked to Blake for a command, but he just shook is head. The spell-caster continued to ignore them. Slowly, Blake approached her cautiously, handcuff's in hand. He was about to reach out for her hand which she held up, when the sound of a bell rang through the air. In the split second of distraction, the girl used magic to form a wind storm which knocked everyone off their feet. Before anyone could get up again, the girl hopped onto a truck driving by.

“Pepper, go after her,” Blake commanded.

Pepper looked at him, surprised. “You're letting me go alone?”

“At the moment, I would much rather catch that girl than worry about who you really are. Now get going!”

“Yes, Sir!” Pepper took off after the spell-caster, but in ten minutes, she was back. “I lost her.”

“You lost her?”

“She took off in one of those new airships.”

“She had an airship?”

“But naturally you don't believe her story, do you boss?” Linton cut in. “She could have easily caught her, but she let her get away, because she's actually Ally Kat.”

“No. It would be much too dangerous for Ally Kat herself to be in the organization. But she could easily have a friend here. That's what we're looking for. Besides, that bell sound didn't come from Pepper,” Blake objected. Linton scowled and then walked away.

“Looks like we're going to have to call in one of our own airships if she has one. This could be messy if we have to take to the skies. We still don't have any fully trained officers who can fly those things yet,” Jack mentioned.

“Jack, do you think you could fly one if you had to?” Blake asked.

“Give me two weeks.”

“Too long. And you're scared of heights too. I need someone already accustomed to flying.” Then Blake raised his voice and called to the whole team, “Alright, regroup back at the office. We'll need to think something out.”

After returning, Blake went down to the training quarters of the building. There he found a tall man with goggles rolled up onto the top of his head, hidden by his blond, spiky hair. “Hey, Ven!” he called.

The boy turned and gave a bright toothy smile at seeing Blake's appearance. “Mr. Sharpe!”

“How are things going here?” Blake asked, casually putting his hands in his pockets.

“Not so well, Sir. The airships have begun to malfunction. We lost two of our pilots during test flights. We don't know why they're acting this way though,” the young boy replied.

“I don't suppose there could be any chance of actually using one on an assignment?”

The boy laughed. “Not unless you're assignment is to get yourself killed.” They both started to walk along the hall which eventually turned into a giant room with a collection of flying vehicles.

Gazing at the different machines, Blake asked, “What about a regular jet? Would one of those be able to fly as fast as an airship?”

“Well, Sir, it depends on the pilot,” Ven replied.

“How about you?”

Ven halted. He didn't turn to look at Blake, but just asked, “Me, Sir?”

“You grew up in a jet, didn't you? Your father was a pilot too.”

“Sir, I'm sure you know why I never fly. I just work on the airplanes.”

“Ven, I'm sorry about your father. But we really need to catch this person. The only one who has a chance of making a jet catch up with an airship is you. We need you.”

Ven leaned on his arm on a column that stood close to him and responded, “I'm sorry, Mr. Sharpe. I can't help you.”

Blake shrugged. “Suit yourself. But remember this. Your father loved flying. He really wanted to see you fly yourself. If you really want to bring honor to your father, you'll follow the path he wanted you to.” Then Blake returned back down the hall. Perhaps that last bit was a little uncalled for, but he really wanted that boy to get over his fear of flying. And he also needed a really good pilot. He wondered why none of the airships were working. He figured it was just some bug they hadn't gotten out yet. Blake returned to his office where everyone was waiting. Just before he opened the door, however, a gofer came up and hailed him and told him he was wanted in his boss' office.

“Blake. I have something I would like you to see,” the man spoke when Blake walked in. He was standing next to a tv screen with a remote control in his hand. Blake approached his boss and gazed at the screen and saw a paused picture of the door to the airships where he had just come from. “This is a video of what happened last night. We didn't want any of the workers to get frightened, as most of them are just simple men, so we haven't told them of it yet. But here, watch this.” Blake's boss pressed play on the remote and the video started.

What Blake saw was shocking, to say the least. At first, everything went black. But he soon realized that it was dark brown hair covering up the screen, for an upside-down face appeared. The bells in her hair and her blue and green eyes told him it was Ally Kat. How she was balanced on top of the video camera, he had no idea. She smiled and waved, then leaped off onto the ground. Then she took up her gun and winked at the camera, just like in the picture they all had been given. Blasting off the lock on the door with her revolver, Ally Kat ran into the room. Here Blake's boss began fast-forwarding and stopped as tons of security guards came rushing into view and entered the room. Ally Kat came out with her hands on her head. Then she gave a sneer at the camera and knocked the gun out of the guard's hand behind her. Everyone fired, but she jumped and shot all the weapons out of the security's hands. When everyone but Ally Kat was unarmed, she took her own gun back from the security guard who had taken it from her, replaced it with a note, smiled and waved at the camera once more, and ran off.

“This is the note that girl gave the guard.” Blake's boss handed him a slip of paper. Unfolding it he read, “Birds ought to be kept out of reach of cats.”

“As you can see, we aren't dealing with just any person. She's no amateur, that girl has been trained professionally.”

“I know. I realized that when I met her. She's not just trained in fighting. She's got brains too.”

“You met her? When did you meet her? Why didn't you tell me?”

“She came to my apartment one night and talked. She said that she was going to get her hands on the head of the organization and tear him limb from limb.”

“Why didn't you say this earlier?”

“You know me. I always have to see things from a distance so I'm able to remember it clearly. I wanted to make sure I had all the facts straight before I mentioned anything.”

“Well then, go on, what happened?” So Blake relayed the whole story, from when Alameda found the note to the moment Blake realized there really was no bomb. “You're right. It's like we're dealing with a whole new species. We've already got too many as it is. Your informant... has she got anything new on Ally Kat?”

Alameda. He had completely forgotten that she was still helping him to gather information on Ally Kat. He resolved to go see her after work.

“Look, Blake, you look tired. Why don't you go on home, you've already been working over hours for the past week now anyway. Your crew needs a break too.”

Blake smiled. “Thanks, boss. I'll do that.” Blake told his teammates to go home and he began his drive home himself. Half way back, however, his car suddenly began to slow down, and when he looked, Blake saw that the gas tank showed empty. “That's funny. I was sure it was only half empty when I left the office,” he thought to himself. He pulled over and stepped out to have a look under the hood. As he was tinkering with it, he suddenly heard a trigger click behind him and paused.

“Don't make any sudden movements.”