Story: Nine Lives (chapter 7)

Authors: MadPanda

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Chapter 7

Title: Chapter 6: A Lot of Problems

[Author's notes: While Capt. Armbrister gets another threat from Cortez, Annette and Naya play a game of "cat and mouse" with the Control Squad...a game that could prove costly.]

Disclaimer: Again...kids, don\'t try this at home.  You\'ll see why later.  You\'ve been warned.  Read on, citizens!

Ikimashou!

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Chapter 6: A Lot of Problems

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Jenna sat in the back seat of her father\'s SUV, trying to figure out how long it would be before \'something came up\' with him. It was something of a ritual with them: she and her sister would meet him for an outing or lunch or whatever, only to have \'something come up\' at the last minute. She never liked the idea of coming in second to anyone, much less a faceless company that no one\'s ever heard of.

Conversely, Jane never seemed to mind. She knew her father had a job of some importance, so whatever time she spent with him was treasured. Rather than count the minutes until he had to run off on some mission or meeting, she spent the time cracking jokes or keeping him up to speed with how she and her sister were doing in and out of school. If there was a hard part for Jane, it was holding up both ends of the twins\' conversation with their father. She understood Jenna\'s point, but she didn\'t want there to be a space between them that could later be a chasm.

As the vehicle pulled into the driveway, Capt. Armbrister\'s cell phone buzzed. He interrupted Jane\'s latest tale of Jenna\'s acting prowess, and glanced at the text message:

“Capture imminent. Spend time with your family...for now. Cortez”

The burly man blanched for a moment, then regained his composure. He shoved the phone back into his pocket, then urged Jane to continue her story.

“So, where are you off to now, Dad?” Jenna drawled from behind him.

“If you must know,” the captain said with a smile, “we\'re off to the living room. Your mother and I have something to tell you both.”

The remark caught Jenna by surprise. “This should be good.” She undid her seatbelt and joined her sister in following their father into the house.

- - - - -

Naya led the way back to the service elevator, Mike and Annette pulling up behind her. “Okay, so we\'re back here. Now what?”

Mike thought for a moment. “We can\'t go back down. I had planned to use the window-washing scaffold to get us down, but we didn\'t have time to get it to the roof.”

Annette prayed to any god she could think of that the plan didn\'t work. “That\'s one fear I won\'t have to face, thank you very much!”

“Still, we have to get out of here before they get--” Naya\'s thought was cut off by a rush of people in black suits running to the editor\'s office. “Scratch that—we have to go right now!” The service elevator arrived, and the trio piled into it, closing the door before anyone noticed they were there. Mike inserted a key into a lock and turned it, revealing a series of buttons. Mike pressed the button marked “13”.

“Why not the top floor?” Naya asked.

“Cause I have a backup plan already in place...in case of fire.” The door opened to a near-empty floor. Some stray boxes and desks littered the space. “After the whole September 11th thing, all new buildings were supposed to be designed with easy-access exits for anyone trapped on high floors. This building was retrofitted with a \'fire tower\' that isn\'t in the original plans. That, and we renumbered the floors so that, like most buildings, we don\'t have a thirteenth floor, even though we do. So even if they manage to seal off every floor, they won\'t find this place!”

“Wouldn\'t it have been more convenient to come in this way?” Annette mused.

“Too bad it\'s \'exit only\', otherwise it would have been great.” The elevator reached the bottom floor, and instead of the regular doors opening, the back wall slid up instead, revealing the street.

Annette grinned widely. “Now that\'s convenient!”

“What would have been more convenient was Mike parking his truck here instead of the loading bay.” She looked up the block and saw one of the guards turn to make his way toward them. “Don\'t look now, but we got company!”

“I\'ll deal with him...just get yourselves outta here...and lose the overalls.” Mike turned and walked towards the guard, not waiting for a word of protest from either of the women.

Annette asked with a pout, “Yeah, but...we are we supposed to go?”

Naya took a quick scan of the area. “There!” She pointed to a municipal parking lot, then took Annette by the hand and walked briskly in that direction.

Mike did his best to stall the guard, pulling out all manner of identification. Unfortunately, the sharp-eyed man spotted two overall-clad people trying to leave the scene.

“They wouldn\'t happen to be working with you, are they?” the guard asked. “And if they are, why are they leaving in such a hurry?”

“Migrant workers,” Mike joked, trying to buy as much time as he could. “I tried telling them you guys weren\'t immigration, but you know how they are...skittish folks, I tell ya!”

The man pushed Mike aside. “Hey! You two!! Get back here!” As he began to pursue the women, Mike caught him from behind and punched him in the jaw. The guard simply turned, scowled at a very surprised Mike, and returned the punch, sending Mike spinning down to the ground. He then ran off to chase Naya and Annette.

“The things I do for friendship,” Mike mumbled before he lost consciousness.

Annette was having trouble keeping up with the more athletic Naya. “Keep going,” she said between gasps, “they\'re gonna catch me sooner or later. I\'ll just slow you down.”

“Maybe you should\'ve taken off the boots before you started running,” Naya cracked as she ran past Annette and toward the guard, who had already called for backup. She took a leap and caught him flush in the face with her boot. She took a minute to admire her handiwork, then took his stun gun. “These might come in handy!” She then ran back to the edge of the parking lot, where a barefoot Annette was waiting.

“You\'re right, those things are heavy...whoa! Is that a stun gun?”

“Want me to test it on you?” Naya fired up the charge just for show.

“We don\'t have time for that now,” Annette said as she broke into a run.

Naya turned to see more security guards running in their direction. “Maybe later...experimenting will surely be fun!” She stashed the stun gun and the radio in her pocket and followed Annette. The two women ran up to the main entrance ramp, where they scrunched down to avoid the guard before entering the lot. The man in the booth noticed them, but the sound of the oncoming guards got his attention. When he turned around again, the women were already out of his view.

One of the men waited until his colleagues had caught up with him. “Surround the place! You three, come with me!” Those four ran into the lot, while the others scattered around the perimeter.

“Now what\'ll we do?” Annette whispered. The two women had hidden behind a car in a dark corner of the lot. “You could change back into a cat and run away...”

“I\'m not leaving you here...I\'ll think of something.” She scanned the parking lot and noticed there was a door not far from where they hid. “Let\'s use that...anywhere has to be better than waiting here!” The two women stayed low as they duck-walked their way to the door. When she felt no one was looking, Naya opened the door and let Annette in first, then she followed, slowly closing the door.

Annette summed up her displeasure in five words. “It was better out there.” Naya had led them straight into a bathroom that was in serious need of cleaning. “You couldn\'t pick a stairway or broom closet or somehting?”

“How was I supposed to know? The door wasn\'t exactly marked \'Bathroom from Hell\', was it?” A thought crossed the white-haired woman\'s mind. “Would you mind taking off your overalls? I need to take a really good look at your body.”

“Are you serious?” the reporter whispered as loud as she could. “You can\'t possibly think of something like that now!”

“You\'re the one with those thoughts running in your head! Honestly, Annette, I\'m beginning to wonder if you\'re in heat.” She pointed to the air duct in the ceiling. “I just wanted to gauge whether or not you could fit inside there.”

The blonde examined the vent, then checked her hips. “It might be a tight fit, but I think I can make it. What about...oh, nevermind.” Naya had already shed her overalls and boots. Even in Annette\'s oversized clothes, the other woman slim body would easily fit into the duct. “Damn feline metabolism,” Annette cursed under her breath.

Once both women were out of their overalls, Naya stood under the duct and locked her hands together, waiting to give Annette a boost.

“Shouldn\'t you go first? After all, it\'s dark up there, and you have better eyes than I do for that.”

“Good point,” Naya remarked. “Besides, I\'m lighter than you, so you can boost me up first...then I can pull you up.”

“But wait...how are we going to open it.”

“Don\'t worry...it\'s already open. See? No screws!”

Annette suddenly felt a nauseous feeling coming on. “Please, Naya, if you find a camcorder up there, please don\'t tell me about it, okay?” She locked her hands and waited for her companion.

“Agreed. That\'s past disgusting.” She put one foot in Annette\'s hands and the other on the woman\'s shoulder, steadying herself while she slid the vent open. Sure enough, there was a camera trained toward the toilet. “Just a minute longer...” She took the stun gun and fried the camcorder with it. “Problem solved...now lift!” Annette did, and Naya slid through the hole with ease. She was grateful that the air conditioner took the smoke away from them. “Okay, now your turn.”

Annette lifted her arms up and waited for Naya to pull her up. “Ready when you a—ahh!!” She didn\'t expect to be completely yanked off of the floor. Unfortunately, her rear end didn\'t make the trip through the vent as planned. “I\'m stuck!!”

“Oh? Hmmm...what should we do now?” Naya\'s visible eye took on a gleam Annette hadn\'t seen. “I guess we have to resort to drastic measures.”

“I hope you\'re not thinking what I think you\'re thinking, Naya...please don\'t think that!”

“Well, it makes perfect sense when you think about it,” Naya said with an almost sadistically gleeful tone. “We need to have your muscles contract so I can pull you out. There\'s one sure-fire way to get that done...”

Annette had to concede to logic on this one, though that didn\'t mean she had to like it. “It won\'t hurt much, will it?”

“Nah...just a little tingle. Nothing more. I have it on the lowest possible setting.” Naya tried to be as reassuring as possible while still teasing the poor reporter. “Here we go...one, two--”

“Wait! Wait!!!” Annette panted, held her breath, then let out a long exhale. “Okay, I had to make sure I didn\'t scream. Okay, go ahea—NNNNNNNNNGGHHHH!!”

“That oughta do it!” Naya dropped the stun gun and grabbed the clenched Annette before she slid back into the bathroom. She then placed the cover back over the hole. “And another hypothesis becomes theory!”

If Annette wasn\'t still stunned, she was sure she\'d beat the feline woman within an inch of each and every one of her lives.

- - - - -

The sound of Annette collapsing in the duct caught the attention of one of the guards. He wasn\'t sure where he heard it, but he knew it was a loud metallic thud. Looking around, he noticed the bathroom door and went to check it. Just as his hand reached the handle, his radio went off.

“Come in, 5!”

“Five here,” the guard replied. “Checking the bathroom...thought I heard a sound coming from there.” He opened the door and found the overalls Annette and Naya left behind. He saw the vent and panicked. “They\'re in the duct! Repeat—they\'re in the duct! Check the vents!”

- - - - -

Naya heard the guards cries come through the radio, just as she was dragging a still-dazed Annette as quietly as she could through the ducts. She hoped she could get to the outside vent before the guards did.

“Leave me,” the reporter slurred.

“I already told you, no...and I\'m sorry about your condition. Didn\'t know the gun was set that high.”

“Riiiight...” The sounds of people running around roused Annette further. “Naya, please...leave me. Change and run away. They want you...they don\'t care that much for me.”

Naya was resolute. “I said no.” She thought about the path she took to the spot they were at now, then came up with an idea. “We\'re going back.”

“What?”

“We\'re going back to the bathroom. They\'re expecting us to escape...they\'re won\'t expect us to come back the way we came. We\'ll play it out, and see how it goes. If we go straight out, we\'re sure to be caught.”

“That\'s why I said go on by yourself...you have a better chance as a cat than dragging me along!”

Naya pulled out the stun gun. “Don\'t make me have to use this on you again. Just shut up. Can you move?”

Annette flexed her fingers and toes, then moved her arms and legs as much as the duct would allow her without banging into any of the aluminum walls. “Yeah I\'m okay...let\'s go.”

“Wait...I have to go ahead of you,” Naya said. “I know the way, remember?” She climbed over Annette as gingerly as she could, then led the other woman back to the bathroom. “You\'re staring at my butt, aren\'t you?”

“I would, but it\'s too dark...wait, did I say that out loud?”

- - - - -

One of the guards ran up to the leader of the group. “Everyone\'s in position, sir!”

“Good work!” The man turned to the main guard of the parking lot. “Are you sure there are no other ducts in this place?”

“Unless they can climb straight up, no,” the man answered. “There\'s a main duct that goes to the roof, but there\'s a fan up there...and it\'s three stories straight up. I don\'t even think a cat would try doing that.”

“Funny you mention that...thanks.” The leader of the guard unit waited for someone to call out that the women were on the way out, but that call never came. “What the hell?”

“Maybe they got stuck in there...there are spots that are tight.”

If the unit leader thought that was a joke, he wasn\'t laughing. “I\'ve had enough of this! Tear it down! I want every piece of that duct in the lot as soon as possible!”

The parking lot attendant\'s eyes grew as wide as tire rims. “Are you insane?? Do you know how much damage that\'ll cause? Not to mention I\'ll have to close the lot altogether...and let\'s not even get into the possibility of asbestos...”

“Shut the hell up! I don\'t wanna hear another word from you!” The unit leader waved for one of his men to take the attendant away. “Keep him quiet while we look for those two, got it?”

“Yes, sir!”

As the guards rushed back into the lot, Naya and Annette were already out of the duct and hiding under a car, looking for an opportunity to leave.

“We can\'t exactly go out the front door...what are we gonna do?”

Naya reached for the stun gun again. “Don\'t worry...I have a plan.”

Annette looked at the menacing weapon. “That\'s joke\'s starting to get old, y\'know.”

“I\'m not gonna use it on you this time—later, maybe—but not this time! Just watch.” She rolled out from under the car and under another one. She kept this up until she got near a guard who was going back to his van for tools. Without a word, Naya stuck the nodes of the stun gun to the guard\'s ankle, making sure to strike the area just in front of the ankle bone. That spot houses a large bundle of nerves and joints and when the charge went through, it completely incapacitated him, sending him crashing to the ground in a twitching heap. “That worked out better than I expected!” she said to herself. She gathered the keys to the van, then rolled her way back to a surprised Annette.

“Keys! You got keys! How did you do that?”

“I\'ll tell you later. Now, let\'s just get out of here!” The two women rolled their way back to the van, where the guard still lay unconscious. “Hmmm...I forgot something very important.” Annette looked at the other woman for a second, then her jaw dropped.

“You can\'t drive?”

“I\'m a cat! What do I know about driving?”

Annette snatched the keys, opened the door and shooed Naya to the passenger side. “So much for those two degrees.” She quietly closed the door and started the engine.

“I thought you said you didn\'t drive?”

“Right, I said I didn\'t drive...I didn\'t say I don\'t know how to drive!” Annette started the van slowly, and headed to the exit.

The problem with a large vehicle is that it\'s pretty difficult for it not to be noticed. Thankfully, with all the banging going on from the dismantling of the air ducts, Annette did her best to ease the van out of the lot. She would have succeeded, too, if it wasn\'t for that meddling caution bar.

“Hold on!” Suddenly the reporter pushed the accelerator down hard while turning the wheel, sending the van crashing through the barrier and skidding into the street. She righted the vehicle and took off down the street.

“Hey! Where are go—oh crap!!” The unit leader nearly had a heart attack as the car narrowly missed him as it bolted out of the lot. “After them! AFTER THEM!!”

“YEEEAAAAAH!!!!” Annette was in all her glory, streaking down the streets with no regard for traffic rules. “We\'re free! FREE!! I was so scared! I didn\'t think we\'d ever get out of there!”

“I told you we would leave together, didn\'t I?” Naya\'s voice was calm, but her eyes—yes, the one behind the bang as well—went wide with excitement. It was fun for her to see Annette like this. “When the adrenaline rush subsides, you might want to pay attention to the road before we hit something or kill someone!”

Annette didn\'t hear a word. She was drunk on speed, avoiding both pedestrians and cars passing on cross streets by sheer luck. The reporter was also happy that she could do something for a change; no, she had no special abilities or enhanced skills, but right now she had power—and that power set them free.

For a little while, anyway.

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End of Chapter 6

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[End notes:

Hmmm...what did that last line mean, huh? Huh??  Find out in the next chapter! (evil villain laugh)!  Anyway, I hope you're having as much fun reading this as I had writing it...actually more on your part, as it was hard to write without an outline in such a short time.  Let me know how I'm doing!

Until next time..."So long, and thanks for all the fish!"

]

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