Series: Is it Love? Title: Only three who believe you David Noble Dnoble49@hotmail.com Callie helped Celine find an apartment while she received her house insurance. Celine found a job as an Enforcer warehouse manager. "I'm sorry to hear about your business and your home, Ms. Anderson." Callie said. "Thanks for all your help," Celine said and headed out of Callie's office. "And, if there's anything I can do, please let me know." "Thanks." Celine wanted to know how to notify T-Bone, but Callie insisted that it was to remain confidential. Meanwhile, Feral looked at the names of his new prisoners. Celine was one of them and he went into Callie's office, knocking first. "Who is it?" she asked. "It's Commander Feral, Miss. Briggs!" Feral answered loudly. He entered and shoved the list of names to her face. "Why the hell did you hire her without letting me know?" he asked crossly. "Come on, Commander. She was robbed out of her business and those murderers burned her home. T-Bone asked me to help her out, so I did." Callie spoke in defensive tones. Feral believed Celine might play him false and give away the information. "I'll make the decisions on who works on Enforcer grounds, if you please. I want Celine taken to court this weekend!" "Now Feral, you're being ludicrous! You don't have a single piece of evidence against her." "Let the court decide that!" Callie looked at Feral with warning in her eyes. "Leave Celine, alone! You may be commander, but Manx is your higher authority and so am I! Don't you dare lay one finger on her! Do I make myself clear?" "Very well, Miss. Briggs," Feral said and stormed out. Callie wanted to protect Celine from Feral's suspicions as much as T-Bone did. Celine loved working at the warehouse on her chosen shifts. Both Callie and T-Bone told her, "You shouldn't be working on the outskirts of Megakat City." All that mattered to her was that she felt safe as long as she was away from those villains. ********* During that afternoon, the Metallikats drove their shuttle to the warehouse. "I'm surprised that you've started to drive properly!" Molly told Mac. "Get off my case!" he shouted to her. A group of guards confronted them at the front. "Stop, Metallikats! Where are you two going?" "Inside! Move!" Mac yelled and grabbed one of the guards, throwing him over. Molly shot the rest of the Enforcers away. Then, they burst in and found Hard Drive and Diego packing up the stock. "Hey, what the hell is this? This is our steal, yours' is at the database!" Molly shouted, pointing her bazooka arm at them. Hard Drive sent off bolts of wattage at Molly and Mac, which knocked them both out. "I'm sorry, Metallikats. This is our bootie now!" he sneered. Feral and Felina came in and caught the two villains in the act. The Metallikats started to get up and shot at Feral and the two villains. Felina used a water bazooka, which shorted them out. "Good work, Felina. Hard Drive and Diego, I don't know how you renegades managed to escape, but this will be your last!" Feral shouted. Hard Drive laughed. "Your words are as dead as a slit cable!" he said and aimed one of the magnums at Feral and shot him in the chest. "Uncle!" Felina cried. Feral tried to use the strength he still had, despite the piercing wound. Diego kicked the gun out of his paw. "Let's go, Diego! We got all the weaponry we need to trade out of the city. Too bad Celine isn't here to help us," Hard Drive said as he and Diego disappeared through a socket. Felina ran over to her uncle and helped him up. "I was right about Celine being in cahoots with these thieves!" Feral growled. Felina called her brother on her cell-phone to find Hard Drive and Diego. ********* Roland and T-Bone went after the thieves, who were now flying a jet. Razor prepared his drill-bit missiles for lock-on of the wings. "These mad-kats just don't know when to quit!" he said. "Yeah. That Spanish kat is the tricky one! Better get them now, sureshot!" T-Bone shouted. "Roger!" The missiles bored holes in the wings and the jet started to plummet. "Got them!" Razor shouted in triumph. "Nice job, Razor," Roland said. "Hard Drive, we're going down!" Diego said. "That's ok, I'll just use my extra exhaust engines," he said. "Give them a shock. That should hold them until we're out of sight." Diego released 40'000 watts from the cannon. The canopy was almost hit and the lasers nearly touched the Turbokat's stabilizers. Razor regained his calmness after the surprise drained out his nerves. "That Diego certainly has a problem. I'm going to our cement cannon." Cement balls burst out and hit the craft. They were unable to prevail against the blasting exhausts, but they were able to cover the jet windows, thus blinding their vision. "Shoot, I can't see! We need to eject!" As the jet crashed into a parked truck, Roland caught the descending villains in a net. "Got you guys!" he said. Diego growled. "You spoiled Enforcer brat!" he shouted. Roland gave him the middle finger. "Here's my salute to you," he said. T-Bone gave a thumbs up as Roland delivered them to the waiting Enforcers. "Good work, Roland. Ah oh! Razor look!" T-Bone saw Burke and Murray walked to the blown up truck. Murray threw down his hat. "Hey!! What in the freaking hell happened here?!!" he screamed. Burke looked up at the Turbokat and saw a sheepish Razor waving. "Sorry, guys," he announced on his intercom. "Looks like we're dead kats when we get back." "It's ok, Razor. It serves them right anyway," T-Bone said. Roland frowned. "T-Bone, it's not the right thing to cause a damage and leave!" he said in a sharp manner. T-Bone sighed. "Oh alright. We'll do something about it," he answered. "Razor, when we get back we're gonna have to fix up another truck for those dipsticks, buddy." "Great, beautiful!" Razor grumbled. "What I sometimes hate about being a hero is that I'm never paid!" "Neither am I. Just deal with it, partner," T-Bone added. ********* Later that evening, Felina came over to Celine's apartment. She opened the door and Felina arrested her. "What? I didn't do anything!" she cried. "I believe my uncle was right about you giving Enforcer weapons data to other organizations! You are granted one call and tomorrow you're going to court!" Celine called Callie and told her what happened. "Callie, please come to headquarters immediately! Feral's arresting me and taking me to court. I need your help, please! I wish T-Bone were there too," she sobbed. "Don't worry, Celine. We'll help you out of this!" Callie quickly got out of bed and got dressed. She called the SKs and T-Bone answered it. "Yes, Miss Briggs?" "T-Bone, Celine has been arrested and charged with giving away Enforcer secrets. She needs you as a witness for her tomorrow at ten. Please!" T-Bone's eyes squinted. "Ah crud! You bet I'll there! I'll give Celine so much support, it will make Feral's head spin! Thanks!" He hung up and Razor walked over to his buddy. "What happened, pal?" he asked. "Razor, I'm going to need you to watch the hangar here with Phurranha. I've got a case with Feral about Celine to handle!" T-Bone said, squeezing his paws. Razor pushed them down. "Easy pal. Don't get unleashed at Feral or you'll be the next one with the case." T-Bone calmed back down. "I'm sorry, Razor. It's just that I really like Celine. I don't want to see her hurt." Razor smiled and put his left paw on T-Bone's shoulder. "I think she's really into you too. She really trusts you when she's in trouble," he said. T-Bone nodded. Then, he changed into Chance and went to bed. ********* The next morning, Callie, T-Bone, and Roland were there at the courtroom, waiting for the jury to take their place. Jennifer came too to testify. Callie went over to Celine. "Don't worry, hon. You'll get out of this case even if only three believe you," she said. Celine nodded. "I'm sure. This judge is a she-kat," Celine added. She felt that female authorities were more just and less obstinate than tom judges. Judge Carolyn took her place and hammered for the court to sit down. "Court is in session. Feral may state the case with Celine, recently hired for Enforcer arms warehouse," she said. Feral stood up. "Yes, your honor. Celine has been working with the black market scum for about one year. She claims to have no intent of giving away Enforcer secrets, but thieves are good liars." Feral explained, casting an evil look at Celine. T-Bone growled. "With all due respect, Feral, what proof do you have " T- Bone began. Carolyn took her gavel and hammered. "Order, please! I am judge and I will ask the questions." T-Bone sat back down and winked at Celine. "Now, Celine, do you have any witnesses to support your defense." "I have, your honor. Callie, Feral's nephew Roland, and T-Bone, believe my statement about innocence." Carolyn called for the witnesses to come up. "Alright, one of you may say your piece and swear by God that you are telling the truth!" The three witnesses all said, "I do!" T-Bone went first. "Your honor, that black-market was once a furniture warehouse owned by Celine. The thugs threatened and assaulted her out of her business. I, T- Bone, speak the truth." "Is there any other defense for this she-kat?" Carolyn asked. Callie stood up. "I hired her because they burned down her house and her business was ruined. I was doing my job as deputy mayor to help those in need." Callie said. Carolyn looked at Celine's trembling face and wanted to ask for more proof of her innocence before she would announce her guilty. It was something Feral was sitting at the edge of his seat to hear. "Does the third witness have anything to say?" the judge asked. "Yes, your honor. I was with T-Bone as we saw the burning house. These pictures of Celine's house and her picture should prove if she's innocent." Roland took the portrait from T-Bone and handed it over to the judge. "Thank you, Lieutenant Roland." Feral sprung up from his seat. "Your honor, they are wasting your time!" he shouted. Carolyn silenced him with the gavel. "Commander Feral, I have three witnesses with proof of this young she-kat's innocence and you've given me just words of accusation against her!" T-Bone looked at Feral and grinned. Feral crossed his arms. "Are there any others who would accuse Celine of giving out Enforcer secrets?" The Enforcers remained silent. Carolyn waited for any other response than Feral's. Still there was no response. "Alright, are there any who wish to support her innocence?" Jennifer raised her hand. Carolyn looked at the pictures and noticed Jennifer's hand raised. "Let her go! I saw T-Bone rescue her." Finally the judge looked down at Celine's tear filled face and was convinced that she was not a spy. "Celine appears to be innocent and the pictures tell me so. I hereby pronounce Celine not guilty! Court dismissed!" The three witnesses cheered and T-Bone gave Celine an embrace around the neck. She kissed him on the cheek. Jennifer came to T-Bone. "T-Bone, I wish you two the best together," she said with half a smile. "Remember that you're still my friend, so don't say good bye." He pointed his finger to her. She nodded with understanding. Feral walked up to the judge. "Surely, your honor there must be some kind of misunderstanding " Feral tried to go on, but Carolyn put up her paw to stop Feral's mouth. "And next time you have another accusation about Celine, I advise you to be sure you have more than just bad judgement!" Feral showed his bottom teeth at the judge at Celine and stormed out. "I can't believe my nephew is going against me too! He has too much of my damn brother in him!" he thought. Jennifer watched the two lovers leave and let her eyes drop to the floor. She thought that renouncing love might soften her pain. "I'll never fall in love again!" she said to herself in a hushed tone. Then, she saw Celine turn to her and smile in gratitude. Jennifer returned the gesture. "Life goes on. Maybe another kat will come across my path," she thought. ********* T-Bone took Celine for a ride in the Turbokat and landed at a grassy cliff not far from Megakat City. Then he took her by the hand. "Celine, there's something I've been wanting to tell you." "Good, because there's something I want to tell you. I want to give you more than my thanks. I feel like you've been needing me." T-Bone listened eagerly as she went on. "When I was beaten down, you helped me up. When I lost everything, you helped me regain. When I was alone, you comforted me. Could I love you forever and still be happy with only you?" Celine asked. T-Bone picked her up in style. He had a hint of what she was asking. "I was thinking the same thing. Here's what I wanted to say; I love you, Celine. I'm sorry I have nothing to offer you, but myself." Celine was content with just his love. She felt that the years of being mistreated by tom kats were being paid off by this one tom kat, who loved her. As the sun started setting, she and T-Bone intimately embraced. THE END