UP AND AWAY CHAPTER 2: BETRAYED Author: Harmony Morris "What are ya smiling about, Nick?!" asked Cory. Nick's evil grin vanished and he answered with a mysterious voice. "Oh, just something I came to think of." "Well, get your butt outta here and help us pack up the equipment." "Are they here already????" "No, but we might as well pack it up while we are waiting." "Ok, come on." One and a half-hours later, a van entered the salvage yard and a small Kat jumped out. "Hiya, Juste, you are early. Where are the others?" Cory asked. "Checking out the club. You know - where the first gig is." They started to load the van. With the help of the two mechanics, it went fast. "OK, call me the second the van is fixed. We need it to get our gear. Did you get my cell phone number? Well, great. See ya, bye," Harm said to the short mechanic named Jake. She jumped in to the driver seat and took off the second everyone had shut their doors. "They were cute," Harm said with a big grin. "They are just mechanics." Nick had a disgusted look on his face. With a distant look in her eyes Harm said, "Should that matter and... Well, actually, I think that they are Enforcers." "Why??!" "Can't they just be ex-Enforcers?" Goldie cut in. "Nope, they are working undercover." "What makes you think that?" asked Cory. "I could recognize the symptoms," she said with a grin. Early the next morning Cory opened his eyes, scratched his head, stretched, and smelled the air. "Ahh, eggs, bacon, and pizza..... PIZZA?!" He looked at the clock and exhaled. "No, I am not late! It's only 6:30. Well, early bird...." He got dressed and threw a pillow at his brother, who was sleeping in a bed across the room in the apartment they had rented. "Hmm, just five more minutes more, bro." "Nope, rise and shine," Cory said as he ripped Kit's quilt off and threw it on the floor. "Crud!" Kit said and threw back the pillow at Cory. "Come on, get dressed and wake the others. I am going to get some breakfast" When Cory entered the little kitchen, he saw Harm eating a big slice of a family Pizza. "I don't understand how you can eat that at breakfast and still not get fat!" "High metabolism, that's why! Are you jealous, bro," she said with a large smile and took a big bite of the pizza slice. "Why are you two up so early? Usually you are always late, Harm," Cory said with a huge grin. "Me and Harm are going to search for my Dad's friend today. Do you want to tag along?" "No, Kit, Vickie, Juste and me are going to have a look at the city and pack up the rest of the gear." "Do you now what Nick is going to do?" Goldie asked and blushed. "Guard my sister, of course," Cory answered with a smile. "You know that I don't need protection," Harm said. "It's what I get paid for, so that's what I'm going to do," Nick said as he entered the room. KNOCK KNOCK! Somebody knocked on the door and Harm rushed to open it. A boy in the hotel's red uniform stood outside. "Miss Morris?" "Yes?!" "There are two huge packing-cases for you outside the hotel entrance." "YES!! Do you know if there are any garages I can rent around here?" "No, but maybe Donald knows - I'll go an' get him," the young boy said and disappeared. When Harm, Goldie, and Nick had rented a garage, they started to pack up their equipment. "Ah finally, do you know how uncomfortable it is traveling in tourist class?!" Vortex said and made a sound that was supposed to be a giggle. "We missed you too," Harm said with a grin. "Come on - change to street mode. We are going to look for my Dad's pal!" Goldie said "Wait a sec, my sensors detect a failure in the main computer system," Blaze said and his color and shape changed. "We will check it when we get back. Come on, or we will never get on our way," an impatient Goldie said. "OK, let's ride! On with the helmets, guys - we are going to rock," Vortex said and started his engines. The engines of the two motorcycles roared when they raced back to the center of MegaKat City. "The coms aren't working - can you connect me to Goldie through your ComLink, Vortex?" Harm asked. "Vortex says that Harm want's to talk to ya', Gold." "Ok, put her through." "Here she is." "Where are we going first??" "To the Enforcers HQ. I talked to my Dad last night and the last thing he heard from his friend was that he was a Commander. Maybe he still is." When they reached the HQ, they jumped off the motorcycles and Nick and Goldie went in. "Harm, wait! We have to talk to you!!" "Ok, what's up??" "We think that there might be a bug in the central system of our main computer!!?" "Well, we can't do anything about that now. We have to fix it when we get back..!" "Yeah, but how did it get there and what if it is fast......," Blaze whispered "We can figure that out later, bye!" "I'm sorry, but I can't give out that information." "Ok, can you tell me when he gets back???" "I don't know. Do you want to leave him a message??" "Yeah, give him this phone number and tell him to call!!" "Ok, bye." The young kat and she-kat were about to leave, when a middle-aged she-kat with golden hair like the young one bumped into them. She excused herself and walked up to the receptionist. She had a hard and cold look in her face. *She must be somebody on a high position* the receptionist thought. "I want to talk to Commander Ulysses Feral - it's urgent." "And, you are??" "I'm team leader Gabriella McKlaw from the S.U.C.O (Sentinels UnderCover Operations) and I have an urgent, strictly confidential message for him from head commander MiKal McKlaw of the Sentinels." She showed the receptionist a badge and put it back in her pocket. "He is at PumaDyne." "Ok, thanks." The middle-aged she-kat walked out through the entrance and towards Vortex and Blaze where Goldie and Nick were waiting for her. Her face got smoother, the wrinkles around her eyes disappeared, her skin got darker, and her hair color changed into brown. "You didn't have to do that - she was going to leave him a message!" "Well, I just thought it was fun. She fell for it, didn't she?" Harm said and gave back the badge to Goldie. "You were just lucky. What if she had looked closer on the badge? Then, she would have seen that it said Lt. Gabriella McKlaw, S.S.T (Sentinels Swat Team)." "Well, now we know where he is and we don't have to wait on him to call us. Come on, let's ride." They parked Vortex and Blaze outside the fence and sneaked up to the entrance, past the guards. When they opened the door and stepped in, they came face to face with a huge gun. "Up with your paws and lay down beside those two over there." They did as the guy said. Harm saw two kats and one she-Kat with guns. A small fat kat with glasses and a toupee, a she-kat with a pink dress, *I could puke* and a big guy in a uniform *That must be commander Feral* were tied up and sitting on chairs. Five other Kats were sitting on the floor tied up. She also saw a reporter and a cameraman. *Great, more fun* One of the baddies was talking to the reporter and the cameraman. She didn't hear what they were saying but from the looks of the reporter, it wasn't something funny. *They probably want her to say something she doesn't want to say to the public * Harm thought. She was right. Several minutes later, the baddies had "convinced" the reporter to talk to the public. "This is Ann Gora for Kats Eye News. Myself, the mayor, deputy mayor and Commander Feral are being held at PumaDyne as hostages. The criminals call themselves The CombKat Gang. If the SWAT Kats don't come here in one hour, without guns or backup to surrender to them, they will kill us." The baddies cut the transmission and started to applaud. Harm gave Goldie a look and Goldie started to shout, "HELP HELP HELP!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!" She started to roll around. The baddies rushed to her and didn't notice that Harm sneaked away behind a counter. Some minutes later, Goldie stopped screaming and a little girl, with several sizes too big clothes, walked up to the leader. "Excuse me, mister, but could you help me to the toilet. I can't find my mum," she said and started to cry. "Sharena, help the kid to the toilet," the leader said to the girl baddie. After a few minutes, Sharena came back from the toilet. "Where is the kid??" "I locked her in the ladies room - it's better that way," she answered. When the baddies were occupied with discussing among themselves, a shadow locked the door to the ladies room. Inside, on the floor, the real Sharena was just trying to sit up straight. She was tied up and had a nasty bump on her head. She didn't see a thing, she only heard a deep, horrible voice. "Hey, girl, somebody has just taken your place. If you want to take it back, you have to make a deal with me," the voice said. And, an evil smile twisted the invisible face. "Hey, where is Nick?" Goldie whispered to 'Sharena' To be continued............