Chapter One

“Talking”

‘Thoughts’

Author note: This is set in an alternate world where Feral is female and not the Chief Enforcer and the SWAT Kats don’t exist. I just wanted to try something completely new, hope you all like it. Ulyferal did the beta work. Thanks you so much, Ulyferal

In the huge megalopolis known as Megakat City there stands an impressive twin tower building known as Enforcer Headquarters. It is the city’s military police force that deals with the large problems the local police force can’t handle. Within this edifice is the best crime lab in the country, possessing cutting edge technology that helps them solve the strange and weird kinds of crime that plague this city.

It never closes, running two twelve hour shifts rather than three normal eight hour shifts as a civilian CSI would do. Long hours are the hallmark of the scientists that man the Enforcer CSI labs. First shift is led by Una Feral. A tall dark brown furred she-kat with short black hair that only reaches her collar, golden eyes and a trim, well built frame. Her team respect her for her extensive knowledge, her strict moral code, and the fact she can hold her own in a fight from years of martial arts training. Besides being crime scene investigators, her team had their own specialties.

Her second in command, Tyler Adams, was a black furred tuxedo tom, with white chest fur that went up in a pattern to his muzzle as well as on the tips of his fingers, tail, and ears. He was a top notch crime scene investigator. His sharp hazel eyes could spot blood spatter when it was too faint for others.

The rest of her team are civilians consisting of Kayla Curtis, DNA technician. A Siamese kat with light brown fur, light brown hair and blue eyes. She was just beginning her second year.

Adrian Eads, an excellent materials and element analyst tech, fresh out of college and new to the job, he was in the process of going through on-the-job training. He was a blue point Persian with copper eyes.

And, finally, Lillian Petersen, a computer specialist. She was quite fetching with strawberry blond hair, peach colored fur with white patterns on her ears and tail. Her gentle brown eyes twinkled with good humor most of the time.

Rounding out the crew was the forensic pathologist, Dr. Dorian Blair, a crusty old tom who stood only five feet five inches, grey furred with black striping on arms face and legs with green eyes that missed nothing. He admired Una Feral and, though he was sharp tongued with others, he was friendly with her. This was an advantage to her when she needed information fast on any murder or unattended death.

Today was a fairly common one, the team was investigating a double homicide case. One of the deceased had been an enforcer. Dr. Blair had already been and gone with the bodies and Una and her crew were now collecting evidence.

The crime scene was at a two story house with a large pool in the back yard and a balcony that looked over it with a two car garage.

Adrian and Tyler were on the first floor going over the area with Lillian in the backyard checking the pool where one of the victims had been found.

Una and Kayla were going over the master bedroom on the second floor where the other victim had been found. Kayla was in the bathroom collecting evidence. It looked like the killer had used it to clean up. Una was studying the blood stained bedding. The victim had apparently been under cover when she’d been killed. Using big bags, Una stripped the bed of its sheets and was sealing each one in a bag, when she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye.

At first she ignored it since it could have been the curtain moving in the breeze of the slightly open sliding glass doors. But when the movement repeated a little more obviously, she straighten and looked more closely at the curtains partly covering the door.

Frowning, she went around the bed and moved toward the door. Pushing aside the curtain, she opened the sliding glass door the rest of the way and stepped out onto the balcony. It was a nicely laid out with two comfortable chairs and a view of the pool. She placed her paws on the railing and looked around but could only see Lillian below processing the pool.

While she stood outside, frowning in confusion, inside Kayla had just finished the bathroom and had reentered the bedroom. She noticed the balcony door was open and saw Una standing outside. She was about to walk toward her boss when she froze. Waves of heat rose from the floor just behind Una. As she watched the waves began to form a ghostly image.

Before she could react, the gradually darkening image solidified only enough for her to make out a pair of arms reaching forward and making a hard pushing gesture.

“Una.....look out!” Kayla shouted, racing forward. But it was too late, the image had pushed Una over the balcony then vanished.

Una felt something raise her fur warning her, but before she could turn around, she felt something push her over the railing. She screamed but managed to snatch out an arm to grab the bottom of the railing. Her body hung in the air by one arm and she struggled to reach with her other one to secure her hold.

Below and above shouts of fear and dismay came from Lillian and Kayla. Before getting to the balcony, Kayla shouted for help.

“Tyler, Adrian!”

Lillian ran up to be underneath the helpless female, though she didn’t know what she could do to stop her from falling while above Kayla had reached the balcony and dropped to her knees trying to reach through the bars to help Una keep her grip until the others could arrive.

The running of feet coming up the stairs told Kayla the two toms were on their way. Tyler and Adrian saw the open balcony door and Kayla on her knees. They raced to her side and were horrified to see their boss hanging in the air.

Quickly, Tyler stepped over the railing, knelt down and wrapped one arm around a bar then reached with his other arm to for Una. She grabbed hold of Tyler with one arm and used him to climb back upward. Adrian and Kayla quickly grabbed the clothes on her back and yanked her up. Tyler grunted from Una’s weight climbing up his body but he held onto the bars of the balcony until she was safe then climbed back over himself.

As they stood catching their breath and checking to make sure Una was alright, they heard pounding footsteps and Lillian’s white face appeared.

“Gods! Una are you alright?” She gasped worriedly.

“What happened?” Tyler asked at nearly the same time.

“Yes, I’m okay, Lillian and I don’t know, Tyler. I thought I saw a movement of someone on the balcony but when I got there, it was empty. I was looking around when I felt a presence behind me and that’s when I felt something push me hard over the railing.” Una said, still a bit shaky.

“I saw something too, Una. I saw the vague shape of someone behind you but before I could yell, it had pushed you over then disappeared.” Kayla said angry at herself for not being able to act sooner.

Una could see Kayla was blaming herself. “You couldn’t have done anything differently, Kayla. So stop feeling guilty. Now tell us exactly what you saw.” She ordered.

“Well, I saw heat waves coming from the floor just behind you. Gradually it started to take shape but it never got very clear except for the arms which shoved you.” Kayla reported.

“Weird! And you say you felt a presence behind you, boss?” Tyler asked.

“Yes, my fur was rising and I felt goosebumps.” Una shivered at the memory.

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.” Tyler said with a shrug, a doubtful look on his face.

Una could only sigh as she saw the doubt in some of their eyes. “Well, whatever it was its gone and I doubt it will happen again. Is everyone finished?”

“No ma’am.” Tyler said and the others shook theirs.

“Well then get back to work.” Una ordered. Lillian and Adrian nodded and returned downstairs.

Kayla hung back and eyed her superior in concern.

“I’m alright, Kayla. Go on and take the evidence down to the truck if you’re finished, I’ll be right along in a moment.” Una reassured her.

Kayla nodded reluctantly, then collected the evidence bags and went back downstairs leaving Una and Tyler alone.

“Una…”

“I’m okay, Tyler. Don’t worry so much about it.” Una said bluntly, putting an end to the subject.

Tyler didn’t say anything more and left Una alone. Sighing, Una could still feel her heart pounding in her chest from the fright. She looked around the room again and stared at the now closed balcony doors.

‘What happened back there?’ She wondered uneasily, but shoved it away. She couldn’t worry about that now when she had a job to finish.

Unknown to Una the figure that Kayla had seen was standing just outside the balcony doors. It’s eyes were narrowed in anger at his failure.

Once the crime scene had been processed the team headed back to Enforcer Headquarters. There the team went to work in the lab processing the evidence. In one of the larger labs, Tyler and Una were studying the bloody sheets they’d hung. Tyler was making comments on the spray pattern as Una took notes.

A light knock was heard on the lab door then opened to reveal Una’s niece, Felina Feral.

Lt. Felina Feral was nearly as tall as her aunt with the same colored fur but her ebony hair had a unique white streak in it. She had brown eyes which had a worried look in them as she looked over at her aunt. Felina was the first female enforcer in history which was a proud fact for her aunt.

“Hey, Felina. What brings you down here?” Tyler asked, giving her a roguish smile.

“Hi, Tyler. Just need to have a word in private with my aunt. Won’t take but a moment.” She said, eyeing her aunt questioningly.

“Sure, I can take a minute. Let’s go into my office.” Una said easily.

Una passed the clipboard she’d been taking notes on to Tyler then led the way out of the lab toward her office down a hallway from the labs. She opened the door and gestured Felina in.

Felina did a quick scan of the office as she always did when she came down here. Bookshelves lined two of the walls filled with a variety of genres from graphic novels to fiction and non-fiction. Another more fancy bookcase had sketch books and photo albums that her aunt had done when she was in high school and college.

Tucked in a corner was a large desk, one side held a computer the other personal bric-a- brac plus a plant whose leaves were growing down the front of the desk. Near the door was a little kitchen area with mini-microwave and hot pot with a mini-fridge below the counter.

Finished with her quick perusal she looked at her aunt who was looking back at her, arms crossed over her chest, head cocked to one side.

“So, what can I do for you, Felina?” She asked, a bit impatiently.

“I heard what happened and was worried.”

Una sighed, “Well, as you can see, I’m alright.” She said lightly.

Felina sucked in a breath at that. “Alright? Alright? Auntie, you nearly fell over a balcony. And what’s worse, you and your team didn’t see anyone do it. Now you’re shrugging it off as if it were nothing. Something had to have happened.”

Una could only sigh and shrug during Felina little tirade. She appreciated how much her niece cared about her but sometimes, Felina went a little over board with her protectiveness. Her niece didn’t think her aunt could defend herself since she hadn’t received military training even though Una had argued, her martial arts training was sufficient protection. She just waited until her niece was finished without making a comment.

Felina threw her paws in the air in frustration and flopped down in the chair her aunt had for visitors in front of the desk. Her aunt just gave a soft chuckle and took her seat behind the desk. Felina glared at her.

It’s not funny, auntie.” Felina said stiffly.

“No, of course not. But really, there’s nothing to say and everything is alright. The likelihood of that occurring again is nearly zero. So stop worrying.” Una said with a shrug.

“I hope so. But I want to speak to Kayla and ask her more about what she thought she saw.” Felina insisted.

Una shook her head in annoyance, “Do what you think is necessary, Felina. But I’m telling you, you’re just wasting your time.”

Felina snorted. “It’s my time to waste.”

“Just so you don’t interfere with Kayla’s work.” Una warned.

“I won’t. But before I speak with her, I want to hear exactly what happened from you.” Felina insisted.
Una rolled her eyes but knew Felina would not back down so she described as best she could what she’d felt just before she’d been pushed over the balcony.

“I saw something just out of the corner of my eye on the balcony but when I went to check I found nothing but as I was falling I caught sight of what looked like heat waves shimmering in the air just behind where I’d been standing. I thought I was seeing things but Kayla says she saw the same thing only she had time to see just a bit more, an image of a body and arms reaching for me then it vanished.”

Felina frowned at this, “What do you think it was?”

Una shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s nothing I’ve ever come across either in the field or books. But you never really know with this city.”

Felina nodded knowing her aunt was speaking of all the crazy and strange things that kept occurring in Megakat City. From the super villains wanting to take over the city to aliens trying to steal their planets water.

“But why you?” Felina asked

“I have no idea. It could be a one time thing for all we know.” Una said, giving another shrug.

‘I hope so’ Felina through grimly before speaking again. “Still, I’ll speak to Kayla then I need to get back to the flight line. My flight captain wants to teach us a few new tricks.”

Una nodded and gave a small “uh huh” in response to that comment. Felina got up and left, no annoyed by her aunt’s lack of interest in knowing the pilots much less who Felina’s captain was. Una just didn’t come in contact with the flight wing of the enforcers. She mainly dealt with the ground crew who she saw more of in her job as CSI.

Felina sought out Kayla and spoke with her for some minutes but she got nothing new. Sighing in annoyance and shoving the problem aside, she went back to work.

Una returned to the lab and finished up her work with Tyler then went to her office to do other paperwork. Quitting time came and Una was putting away her files. Once she had secured her paper work in a locked drawer of her desk, she left her office, locking the door and made her way to the elevator. She pressed the button for the parking garage below the building.

Soon she was on her way home. She didn’t live too far from work and was soon pulling into her apartments parking garage. As she passed through the lobby, she called a greeting to the security guard and to other apartment dwellers she knew before punching the button for her floor.

As she waited for a car, Una began to feel uneasy. It felt like someone was watching her but when she glanced over her shoulder there was no one around. The guard had returned to his little cubicle off the lobby. As she stepped into the elevator when it arrived, she couldn’t shrug off the feeling which followed her from the elevator, down the hall, and into her apartment.

As she entered her apartment, she tried to shrug off the odd sensation of being watched. She took off her jean coat and tossed it on to her couch then made for her kitchen. Making a light dinner and washing it down with a glass of milk, she placed her dishes in the sink then headed for her bedroom.

After a quick shower, she put on a fresh pair of underwear and a long buttoned night shirt. She went back to her living room where she flicked on the TV but ignored it and picked up a book she had placed on the coffee table last night.

She settled down on the couch to read. Several hours later she fell asleep with her book resting on her chest.

While she slept, a ghostly form appeared looming over her body. It reached out with both paws and wrapped them around her neck.

It began to tighten its grip and Una gasped awake, struggling to breath. Above her was a strange tom whose paws were strangulating her. She shoved frantically and managed enough air to scream. That apparently was enough to make the stranger let go because Una couldn’t touch him at all despite her having felt his paws.

She scrambled off the couch and stumbled some distance away. Heaving for breath and rubbing her neck, she studied the tom.

The tom had a scowl of anger on his face. His form wasn’t that good since she could see right through him which freaked her out. What she could see was sandy colored fur with chocolate stripes on his arms, a mop of blond hair with cold green eyes.

What riveted her attention was the tom had a huge blood stain on his chest made by something sharp, he wore an Enforcer pilot’s uniform with a high rank on it. He looked to be about four years younger than her.

“You’re a g-g-ghost! Who are you?! What do you want with me?” Una stuttered in terror, keeping her distance from the frightening image.

“As if you didn’t know. You’re responsible for me being one!” The tom snarled furiously.

Una blinked in confusion. “What? But I don’t know you.......I’ve never met you before in my life........What are you talking about?”

“What’s a matter? Don’t you remember? After all you did this to me!” The tom yelled

Una’s eyes widened at the tom’s words, “What?! No! I couldn’t have!”

“Yes, you did! You killed me, Una! And I’m here to do the same to you!” He roared, then lunged for her.

Una froze staring at the apparition leaping for her, unable to move at all.