Item seven on Calley’s list of things to do (below leaning to fight, growing a spine, and a few other items): test a theory. He never was a fan of doing things in order.

And that is why there was a ginger-and-cream striped tabby hunting mice in the vehicle bay of the Mondragon Labs complex. It was, for the record, a very long walk from the middle of downtown New York to the Labs. Fortunately, he’d gotten a ride from Frank. Because Frank was awesome. And when the video footage from his collar showed him not moving for about a half-hour, and young children beginning to poke at the not-moving him with sticks, Frank had come to pick him up. That was really really realllllly nice of Frank. Calley was definitely getting that man a Christmas present.

In any case, here was a fact of Calley’s mutation: when he first took a form, it was always interesting. If by “interesting” you mean “sucks horribly”, then yeah. Yeah, it’s interesting.

He never quite knew how to walk when he took a new form. Or, generally, move. He usually figured out how to breathe really quickly, but blinking... could take a few minutes. Being able to shift out of the form could take hours. He’d had a lot of luck with forms, lately, so he’d forgotten about that. Apparently this tabby form wasn’t about to let him leave so soon. Eh, at least he’d figured out walking, and there weren’t any little children in the Mondragon Labs vehicle bay.

And he’d tested his theory! The answer was ‘yes’. Yes, he could indeed copy more than one form from the same species. Witness the beautiful ginger-and-cream tom. Witness the smooth (somewhat disjoint) grace of its predatory movements, witness it leaping on (and entirely intending to miss) its target. Witness the simple fact that Calley was a cat, but not and little white cat with black spots here and there. He was an average-sized cat with the softest ginger-and-cream fur one could ever expect to find on a relatively scrawny stray.

It was a good theory to test, and a very nice result. It lead to another question, though: what did that little click-shift-clumple noise their brain had given mean? They were used to a click with new forms. A click-shift-clumple was a little odd. And their cat forms felt like a wad of fuzz in the back of their mind. Calley sorta wanted to pick at it. But he was receiving clear signs from his mind that he wasn’t ready to shift at all yet, much less poke at fuzz balls of shifter knowledge in their mind.

...So until then: it was time for him to bring some mousey death into this world, one ill-coordinated leap at a time. Oh, new forms. They were so charming.

---

((ooc: In this thread, writing in this color is by Abyss. The posts were deleted; I’ve reposted them with his permission.))

Abyss had other things to be doing, but there were other voices insisting that he attempted something he thought was a rather bad Idea, but what the hell, he had a theory to test, today seemed like a theory testing day. so He made his way to what he thought would lead outside, outside toward nature, to attempt to catch a squirrel or a bird or any animal slow enough or naive enough to let him catch it. maybe he could catch a stray.... a dog no he hated how dogs barked all the time. he neared a dead end and the only way left was through it or back, he tried the door nob and it had been unlocked he opened the door and surprised a couple of mechanics. both of them seemed like they had been slacking and were reeling for something to look busy about and then they recognized him as one of the outsiders. "sir do you have permission to be in here?" the man asked respectful but authoritatively.

"I was actually looking for an exit and this being where I ended up. Where is the closest exit from here?" Abyss replied he was glad they weren't disrespectful he wasn't in a giving mood.

Calley thought he smelled--yes, there was a faint whiff of--something awesome and red. Slinking under cars and twining between motorcycle wheels, he voyaged bravely across the great expanse of the vehicle bay, to a place with voices. Mechanics. Oh, mechanics. Calley didn't particularly wish to acquaint himself with mechanics. But there, talking to them, was someone with a monkey tail.

Baby blue cat eyes shone out from under a nearby jeep, staring intently at Abyss from about fifteen feet away. A ginger and cream stripped tail twitched slowly back and forth, with a cat's usual unreadability.

---

" well, the closest exit would be over there, if you don't have permission to be in here though I am going to have to ask you to leave immediately, but I can't let you leave that way if you weren't supposed to be here in the first place. the next closest exit is back down this hall and you take a right another right a left and then..."

Abyss' forehead wrinkled with a bit of anger and the mechanic amended quickly.

" that is I am not supposed to let you go through there, but I guess we could let it slide this once....Sir."

" That sounds preferable, though I would need to come back in that way as well. as I don't know what other entrance I could come in." Abyss replied less than nicely. The big man abruptly made way toward the exit across the room. He looked at the collection of vehicles housed here, making note of license plates and makes of the vehicles, they might remember some of the numbers between the seven of them. His tail swished lazily along behind him unbeknown to him that it currently held the attention of a blue eyed cat.

...Tail.

It was all too much for Calley. The red furry swishing shape of supreme awesome moving tailitude... it... it... it was an amazing...

...Tail.

He knew he shouldn't. The guy liked cats, but he might not take it so nicely if four feet full of claws landed on his...

...Tail.

Calley crouched low over his front paws. His rear raised delicately into the air, and moved sinuously back and forth. His whiskers fanned forward. His eyes resembled nothing more than intently focused high beams. He knew he shouldn't, but then again... the big red guy was moving towards his location... walking directly in front of his location... moving away from his location...

ATTACK!

...Sometimes, a ginger and cream cat just can't help himself.

---

Abyss jumped " whhaaaat the ......." Abyss spun around as he tail wrapped up whatever had been sicked on his tail, those mechanic bastards. He then eased his grip, as he just shocked the cat, right back and didn't want to break it. He took the cat and brought up in front of him.

<I guess it was meant to be a cat guys.>

He looked at the cat weather it struggled or not it wasn't going anywhere. he slowly moved his palm to the top of the cats head and then put his finger in between its ears and ran it down to between its eyes and repeated the process. it unusually worked pretty easily. "

A mechanic ran toward him with a cartoonishly large wrench in hand and then stopped as Abyss' head turned toward him.

"What are you planing on doing with that?" abyss asked the man.


" I was making sure you were alright we have a rodent problem here and... well thats a cat."

" I found it, or rather it found me. if it isn't yours I'm going to keep it."

"Its not mine, though if you want to bring him back by to clear up some of those rodents we'd be happy to see him back."

Abyss nodded slightly. " I will think about it." he then continued on outside the door. At least he now knew they wouldn't lock him out, or try anyway.

He at down leaning against the building still holding the cat in his tail. "its not your lucky day cat." he looked at the little thing wondering if he wanted to do this. "if you survive this, I will give you a name." Abyss shook his head as he opened the void and flung the little feline into the abyss and into his mind.

Oww oww oww squeezing oww-!

I could always take over for you—

Screw-you-Slate oww—

But then he was not being crushed and being petted all at the same time, so everything was happy again. Calley set up a rumbling purr, quite happy to let the big red guy pet him. And not crush him. And he’d pounced the monkey tail. That’s right—he’d lived to tell about trespassing onto the awesomeness. And now he was being held by it. He was literally wrapped in awesome. He relaxed happily, and turned half-lidded eyes to watch the mechanic talk. Huh. Apparently, making the acquaintance of the mechanics would be on his to-do list in the future. They seemed well capable of appreciating the majesty and predatory adeptness of a Felis domesticus. And rats tasted good. Like small, intelligent, oddly stringy cow-pig-hens.

Calley was still purring like a little thundercloud as Abyss carried him outside. In fact, he was purring right up until Abyss started talking to him.

"its not your lucky day cat."

...It’s not?

"if you survive this, I will give you a name."

Wait, what?

Abyss shook his head. Then the world went dark.

Okay, Slate, whatever you just did—haha, funny timing. Now fix it.

I will thank you not to blame me for things which clearly have external causes. This is the fault of your big red obsession.

I am not obsessed with—

If I hear the words “awesome” and “tail” strung together one more time, I may break something.

You did not just go there. You know what, if you keep being a jerk face, then maybe I’ll just start singing.

Spare me your mental singing voice. May I direct your attention to the fact that your oversized hulk impersonator has clearly affected our senses in some manner?

Abyss wouldn’t hurt us! He’s cool.

I quote: “If you survive this...” Please, note the delicate emphasis deserved by “if”.

You suck worse than he does. I’m still betting you did something.

In total disregard of current evidence and present reality, I might note. Typical.

That’s it. I’m singing. ‘We must blend into the choir, sing ecstatic with the whole,
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul,
And to this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run.’

...That is the middle of the song.

Bugs you, doesn’t it? ‘We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past...’

Slate and the clutter continued to bicker, quite blissfully ignorant that they were no longer alone together.

---

Odd the cat stopped purring as if it understood him when he said that it was not its lucky day. It almost looked as if the cat wanted to know why.

Abyss was about to settle into a meditative state and readied himself for meowing, possibly meowing that would be forever stuck in his head. He didn't like that prospect. but the prospect of what just happened in his head was more surprising, the cat had two minds that spoke English. He just threw a mutant into his mind, one with significant mental problem, much like he had. He listened, all of the clones listened for a few minutes. What they found was odd. An argument a cat was having with its self about Abyss. They listened to the chatter and as they did they realized who it was that was before them. Calley and…..serious Calley? Slate? Odd.

“You are not a Cat…you in fact are a mutant….a mutant that is supposed to only turn into tigers and you have a second personality which explains a little bit. You were supposed to be a cat.” Abyss stated mentally

“Looks like we all got what we wanted an animal and a person.” Mercury added sarcastically. “We are voices and we are not simply second personalities Abyss, you should be careful with your assumptions here, after all you did think he…they were a cat and they are not.”

“I am thinking this was a bad idea, I hope they are not stuck here forever.” Mars put in helpfully.

“I don’t think that will be the case, we will find out soon, but first you have some explaining to do Calley and Slate is it?” Jupiter wanted to integrate them in his own mind while they were captive.

The bickering stopped with the first non-clutter voice to be raised. Well... that was odd. That was really distinctly most definitely odd, and there was no need to come to a consensus on that.

“...a mutant that is supposed to only turn into tigers....”

Oops.

...Indeed.

“I am thinking this was a bad idea, I hope they are not stuck here forever.”

Wait, run that by me again?

“I don’t think that will be the case, we will find out soon, but first you have some explaining to do Calley and Slate is it?”

Calley was huddling into the rest of the clutter, as per usual when adversity reared its head, so Slate stepped forward. Or... not. It was quite odd; within their own mind, it felt as if there was a physical difference when they changed dominance. Here... there was nothing. Slate instinctively attempted to position himself back-to-back with the clutter, but found that any sense of spatial relations was lacking. He much preferred the inside of their own cramped mind to this... area.

“Indeed,” he answered, finding no difference between thought and verbalization. “We tend to refer to myself as Slate. I do not believe I have made any of your... acquaintances.” He tried to get a feel for where the other voices came from, as he would try to get a feel for the clutter’s voice within their own head: he failed, and was reminded yet again that this was, most distinctly, not their head. “If I may ask, what is this space?” As to the issue of explaining themselves: he blatantly ignored it.

---

"You are in my mind. I don't know how much I like telling you this as you might just filter it all back to you boss. but you are in the void and in my mind. you were supposed to be a cat or a random animal, we wanted to find out what would happen if another was put in here, we wanted to see if another life could survive coming into the void and then being returned to the earth in working order. First we were going to see if it could come out alive and then we were going to try it on a friend. that is if the animal came out alive. well if this works I have found somewhere that hunter can't hear."
Abyss rattled on a bit on tilt as to the news that he was wrong about Calley.

"so , we can't trust you then? you are the leak of information,that disappoints me, we liked you and even kept your secret from our sister, from our family, because I didn't want you hurt and you turn around and lie to me and spill forth any secret you carry." Jupiter took over " and you used Issie? that is unforgivable."

" I want some sort of explanation from you too, and you had better be able to convince me why I shouldn't smash you if you do survive the trip back." Abyss returned.

The other clones seemed to be holding back listening to this drama. they had all learned to stay quiet during conversations to keep some semblance of a conversation together.

Calley and the clutter regrouped themselves enough to stop huddling. “Hey, hey, hey! Hold up! No one said anything about me not being trustworthy.”

Slate snorted. “Indeed, he is precisely as trustworthy as he always has been."

“And I wasn’t using Issie! She’s fun to hang out with. I was only using her when I was a cat.”

“Note,” Slate helpfully narrated, for the sake of his suddenly expanded audience, “the complete lack of understanding: he really does not see the contradiction in his own words.”

“...Slate, you’re really not helping.”

“I highly doubt I am hurting.”

“What? You think you could do better?”

“Observe.” Slate swept forward once more. If this was their own mind, he would have felt as if he had bowed dramatically. “Indeed, Abyss and my mental counterparts, Calley is the horrible little spy you seek. He has gathered up your knowledge and spilled it out before Hunter—”

“I really can’t see how this is helping, Slate.”

“—like a pile of gems. We happen to know just about everything about the Order, Dorian King, your dear sister’s recent promotion to leader of the—what do you like to call it, Calley? The ‘Future Leaders of Tomorrow Club’?”

“I reaaaaally can’t see how this is helping, Slate.”

“Bear with me. Indeed, Abyss and relations, Calley has lied to you at every turn, and attempted to use every conversation he has ever had with you to gain additional information. He has taken quite some pride in every little scrap he has gleaned, as well.”

...Calley quietly began to huddle in the clutter again.

“Naturally, I do not mind telling you any of this. Naturally, I expect you to either harm us severely or kill us over this information.” Slate spoke quite rationally, with only a hint of the bitterness he was drowning the rest of their mind in. “In fact, please do. I cannot speak for the clutter but I, for one, would prefer death to having you spread the information you have just learned: that we can shift to cat, and that we are Hunter’s spy in any form we take. No doubt,” he concluded, “whatever you would do to us will be far more simplistic than what Antonescu will do. I do not mind pain; but it would be quite dull to experience nothing but pain until our drawn-out death finally comes to us. Antonescu is nothing if not melodramatic about these things, as we have seen.”

Calley sprang forward, and attempted to shove Slate to the back of their mind to shut him up. That would have worked much better if there was anywhere to shove him. As it was, he finished quite tonelessly:

“After all, we live only because we are useful to that man. That is our contract.”

Calley murred, and tucked himself back into the clutter. He liked Abyss. He really hadn’t wanted the man to know how truly pathetic he was.

---

If Abyss was in his physical state he would have been huffing and puffing flexing his fists and attempting to calm down. Here he only fumed mentally. He waited til this slate was done to give him what he wanted that was until he realized what had happened.

“I….I don’t understand. You gave him the information, you were proud of it you relished in it and he threatens your life? You are loyal to someone who you believe can cause you more pain then us? I assure you Slate that I could." Abyss was interrupted by Mercury.

"I understand, Hunter threatens their lives and does so to an extent that it is constant. Enough to control. I remember someone that wanted to hold you on a leash like that Abyss."

"he tortures you?" abyss asked in a deadly tone. " It makes sense if he does, it all adds up quite a bit and helps in a way I don't think you intended. how does he keep you coming back?"

Calley had had enough of this conversation. He was done. Gone. Nu-uh. He wasn't listening, and Slate couldn't make him. This was just too stupid and too shameful and too pathetic. Not even he was allowed to sink this low.

Slate, however, seemed to have no problem with it.

"Tortures us? Yes, that is certainly one way to describe throwing us against walls for questioning orders,"

"Slate, shut up."

"Ripping our tail from our body for being honest,"

"Shut up!"

"and using us as a test subject for a torture machine. You see what I mean about melodramatic? You will be interested to know, no doubt, that we were put through that particular joy because we chose to tell you what we knew about Hunter's powers. It occurred the same night he promised you we would not receive punishment."

"Shut up shut up shut up!"

“I have very little doubt that it is the occurrence which left us mentally fractured enough for myself to gain dominance, very soon afterwards. As to how he keeps us coming back? Come now, Abyss. You once told us we are not stupid. I presume the same can be said of yourselves. Hunter--” Something jarred in their mind, forcing him to change what he said. What he had meant to say was, apparently, something too close to the sacred realm of 'Hunter's Business', and was something that had not been made blatantly obvious by recent events. "--has his methods."

Calley hissed. In this place, after all, he was as free to use the voice of a cat as he was to use the voice of a human. It was a drawn-out noise, low-throated, that succeeded in a very important thing: getting Slate to shut his mouth.

“Pfft,” Slate replied simply, so as to not seem as if he had been startled into silence.

---

“I know what being tortured is, I know it intimately, I spent ten years being beaten, tazored, half drowned daily, starved, tested on, forced to fight death matches with other innocent little mutants. I lived and killed them all, they were no different from me, forced into a bad situation, but if they lost they were free of that place. I could list the ways for hours, the types and flavors of pain. Do not be ashamed of being taken advantage of, vengeance is liberating. Eventually I submitted to his will and obeyed, but it was only a matter of time, I snapped and made him pay. Hunter will pay for it and be held accountable for his deeds and his lies. He will be held accountable for his actions. If you would like we can find him now and you can be witness to what will be made of him.”

Abyss rose to his feet and walked through the door of the vehicle bay, last he saw Hunter was in the meeting. He would start there. Abyss stomped through the hall, passing through the door not waiting to listen to whatever it was they had said to him.

“Calm down Abyss, think clearly you are on his ground he has a lot of people here.” Pluto urged caution.

“I’ll be damned if I care.”

It took both Calley and Slate a long time to realize the imminence meant by Abyss’ words. The voices of Abyss’ other selves sent the point home for them.

In their own mind—or outside of this place—Calley would have been in cat form, with his back arched and his fur lining his spine in jagged spikes. His ears would have been laid back and his jaws open. But this was not their own mind, and he was filled with a sudden sense of claustrophobia. He needed to bite something. He needed to use his claws the way they were intended. He needed out.

“No!” He hissed, and Slate stated it quite emphatically with him: “No.”

“Like Hell I’m going to ‘witness’ what you do to him!”

“He is our goal.”

“He is our problem.”

“He is our prey.”

“And he is damn well ours to kill. You lay a hand on him, and I swear I’m going to tear my way out of here and take half of your skull with me.” He meant it. They meant it. They had not been through all of this to watch someone else do what was clearly their job.

---

Abyss halted completely and stood in the hall way a storm held back. he rocked back and forth a bit to calm himself.

A breath escaped abyss' lips and allowed him to maintain sanity he very nearly was back in the labs of his childhood. he blinked he breathed even as he listened to the extra extra voices in his head.

he stood still longer his thoughts were simply red, murder anger rage, nine voices of vengeance in his mind. He slowly turned around and went back through the door of the vehicle bay.

" I told you it could only be the once, you are going to get me fired." The mechanic almost stood in the way of the big red mutant but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"shut up or die." Abyss replied in a tone that begged him to say something else.

He then proceeded out the door once more out and around back to where they had originally been outside.


" I understand and will pry myself from doing what should be done now." he set in a meditative posture. " now that I am sure that you are capable of it, bide your time and wait and you will find yourself avenged. I am afraid I have made an enemy of you and an ally once more. Calley, Slate, I find your stubborn resolve much to akin to my own to not respect your desire. if you need anything you must but let me know, I care not about the petty secrets and I will hold our own petty secrets close." Abyss finally stopped his bantering thoughts once more.

"so that brings us to what? finding out if the exit works as well as the entrance." with a laugh Saturn " you were still just supposed to be a cat and I have never seen him let something like your spying slide."

" oh it isn't sliding but will be paid out when he has his vengeance." Mercury replied.

Calley and Slate simply nodded at Abyss’ words—and then, realizing that the man’s mind, or this area, or whatever this was, didn’t work the same way as they were used to (and hence, the man couldn’t see them), Calley replied: “Thank you, Abyss. Really. We think... we’ve got it covered. It’s going to take awhile, but we’ve got it covered.” Once they left this place they couldn’t come to him for help, and they knew it: outside of here, they didn’t even allow themselves to think about their goal. It wasn’t a way to avoid the issue. It was a way to avoid telepaths knowing about it. They were taking no chances until the day they felt Hunter’s throat between their teeth. If the man suspected, it was all over. “Thank you,” Slate added politely, “as well, for keeping our secrets.”

"so that brings us to what? finding out if the exit works as well as the entrance." One of the voices laughed. " you were still just supposed to be a cat and I have never seen him let something like your spying slide."

" oh it isn't sliding but will be paid out when he has his vengeance." Another replied. They were all so distinct, like Slate and himself, and like every little whisper and hiccup of the clutter.

Calley shifted easily from vengeance to curiosity. “Before you let us out—can we get introductions, quick? I’ve been wanting to meet all of you.” He felt that some qualifications needed to get added to that: “I promise that nothing I learn here will get told to Hunter. If he doesn’t know I know, then he can’t make me tell.”

“If I may ask,” Slate spoke up, “How does it feel to have your own bodies?”

---

"well Jupiter is the angry one who stomps around and abyss tends to call on if he wants someone hurt bad in new fun ways. Saturn is kind of shy and reserved, has a bit of a temper when pressed, but has had a bit of bad luck as of late."

"that is enough about me. move on." Saturn announced half depressed half threating.

"moving on, Mercury is our resident daredevil and adrenaline addict, he also knows quite a bit about explosives. in reality if one of us knows it we all do, but he enjoys them more. Venus is the only one that bothers chasing tail, if you will. the rest of us are more independent..... venus, Mercury,Saturn,Jupiter....Mars, Mars seems to be a bit more of a thinker. he enjoys studying and all that nonsense. Leaving me Pluto, I am what you would call the talker, diplomat if you will, and you know Abyss. oh and by the way it wasn't that we disliked you before it was that we had to remain neutral of you in case Abyss was wrong and you had to be, well, eliminated."Pluto finished.

" I don't mean to be so negative, but if the exit happens to go the wrong way, then we will get up right now and do what you stopped us from earlier." Mars added.

"Shut up, Mars. The having the own body thing, it is like freedom and privacy and living on your own with out pesky neighbors with there loud music and awful singing." Jupiter tagged on.

" did, I mention Jupiter was a useless drunk at times?" Pluto picked back up.

" I see they are comfortable around you guys now that the seriousness has slowed."

"if this works don't be surprised if I swipe you for a chat again sometime. oh, also,when you can come clean with Isabel,do so." Abyss reclaimed his mind that was becoming a school ground again. " when I open the void, you go toward the light. Thats how they explain it to me any how.
cheesy? yes. helpful? I hope so. oh and if you need to give him information go for it, I will assume hunter knows everything about me from here on out. my story will be that I found a cat and wanted to test a theory when I did, I got static, for your part you can try to relate what is to be in this nothingness. so if there is nothing further we need to discuss for now. go toward the light. toward the light"

Calley went toward the light, toward the light. But not before making an attempt at memorizing what made all of the Abysses different. He liked them, especially now that they were talking to him. “Bye! It was nice talking to you all, except for the stupid emotional parts.” He glanced at Slate, or did their equivalent of it. Even though their sense of each other was starting to improve in this place—after all, they were the same mind—they were still blind enough to each other’s presence that Slate could pretend not to notice. “If this goes wrong,” Calley added, “please, by all means, hand Hunter his own ass with love. And chatting again would be fun!”

Towards the light, towards the light.

Very soon, there was a medium-sized ginger and cream stripped cat standing at Abyss’ feet, blinking slightly in the daylight. Not that their eyes weren’t already adjusted to the brightest—it’s just that they felt like they shouldn’t be, after that little stretch of near-sensory depravation. The cat sat down, and looked up at Abyss with the usual subtle whisker-fanning and tip-of-tail twitching that could mean anything. Then it began to groom, making good use of the tried-and-true method of licking the back of a paw and rubbing it behind his ears. Calley would have purred, but that wouldn’t have fit with the story Abyss had just given him: purring was a clear sign of being content. Grooming, as Hunter well knew, was one of his obsessive-compulsive cat habits, and one that generally occurred after he’d undergone a fur-ruffling experience. If he’d just been locked up in a sightless tasteless smell-less touch-less place with certainly no one but himselves as company, then he’d be ruffled, not content.

Slate, meanwhile, was thinking over Jupiter’s words. "The having the own body thing, it is like freedom and privacy and living on your own with out pesky neighbors with there loud music and awful singing."

...It sounded quite nice. Particularly the part about being rid of the awful singing.

Calley, he said simply, I do not particularly like you.

Back at you, focus-freak.[/i]

---

Abyss stood and stared at the cat knowing it was Calley and slate and not showing the slightest sign of it. "well you survived cat, not helpful but you survived and for that you get a name. Hmmm." He looked down at the cat with the lit up blues. "Sinatra. Yup you are Sinatra." he opened up the door to the vehicle bay once more. " I hear they have a rat problem in here cat. I was mean to them and if you want to spare those rats a death by very large wrench, then by all means have fun.' He spoke in hat annoying cutesy voice that you speak down to animals in. He smirked on the inside, he bet that Calley hated that. he knew he would. after the "cat" went in or stayed out Abyss and company carried on to other things. he would have to make sure to contain his rage around hunter. " good bye, Sinatra."

...Sinatra.

Calley restrained a purr. When the door was opened for him, he did not even glance at it. Instead, he licked at his back for a moment longer, and then proceeded to stand up and stroll through it as if he'd had clear expectations that the man would hold it for him. He would have to report to Hunter later, no doubt, and explain the sudden lapse in his video feed. Not a problem. Until then, dinning on rats did indeed sound splendid.

Sinatra.

It was the first time he'd been given a decent cat name. His reasons for liking the big red guy--guys--continued to pile up. And it felt good to have someone else knowing about that thing-they-weren't-thinking-about. What was information if it wasn't shared, after all?