“Bringing the radio?” my father asked me. I shivered in the cold, but the parka was helping. I couldn’t wait until winter was over and we got a mission in a warmer climate.

“Yes, in case Mousethief gets any information. Better to act quickly,” I told my father while we waited near the factory on top of a warehouse roof. “Also, you know when his birthday is? I was thinking of getting him a gift.” I hoped this kind of question wouldn’t attract attention. Mousethief was my good friend and I wanted to show my appreciation for him.

“Don’t really know. I never dug into his records. You would have to look for them in the Organization. Someone is bound to know if you are interested. Or I could ask him,” my father said.

“It was just a passing thought. Don’t worry about. I will figure it out myself and improve my investigation skills. Also need to find out what present he would like,” I replied.

“Money, I would say,” my father replied.

“No hobbies?” I asked.

“Not that I know of. He is always away doing something when I am relaxing. He is a private mouse,” my father explained. I nodded at this. What was he doing with all that time? Then I realized the obvious answer. He was killing creatures to get EXP.

Kill a couple of criminals and no one would care. It wouldn’t be investigated and he could have the Nine Tail Syndicate cover things up since he appeared to be good friends with their high ranking members. My father being here allowed him to do his own thing. I couldn’t follow him around or team up with him directly.

He was able to get much more free time. He was quite clever. Layers and layers of deception, that I was slowly peeling away to find out what Mousethief was really up to and his real personality. The radio let out a beep. I quickly adjusted several knobs.

‘Seven. Two. Eight. Alpha. Location ‘C’.’

“Confirmed,” I replied and then shut it off.

“Leaving?” my father asked. I nodded at this and put the radio on my back.

“Yes, location ‘C’. That is only a short distance away. We can run it,” I replied.

“It will draw attention,” my father said.

“That is fine. I suspect if we fight Apostates, there will be a lot of attention regardless,” I replied and he nodded at that.

“Correct,” he said.

“Really testing me?” I challenged him as I tightened up the radio on my back.

“Just keeping you light on your paws. Ready?” my father asked.

“Yes, let’s go,” I replied. We set off. Leaping off the building, I landed and flipped twice to bleed my momentum. My father took a less dramatic descent and used his claws on the side of the building to slow his descent a bit before kicking off the wall and landing next to me.

I grinned at him, and he grinned back. We raced to the rendezvous point. The few creatures walking about, quickly moved away from us. Some of them even screamed and I rolled my eyes at that. Just as we reached the location, Mousethief pulled up with the smell of burning rubber in the air. He rolled down the window.

“There is a house they are based out of. Five-minute drive away,” he said as I was getting the radio off and tossing it in the back of the car. My father and I got in. He used the sunroof to get in the back while I used the passenger door. Making sure to buckle up, Mousethief floored it.

“Any idea on opposition?” I asked him as Mousethief weaved the car in and out of traffic and through intersections without slowing down in the slightest, going Mousethief speeds. They were slightly above ludicrous, but it hadn’t quite reached the speed of sound.

“No idea. But they are rapidly moving out. Got word from a contact. I expect a car battle,” Mousethief said and my father groaned at that.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yes, I might be able to catch up, but it will be hard.” Mousethief then hit a patch of ice, the car spun around in a circle and then the tires caught traction once more. My heart felt like it would explode out of chest at that as my danger sense spiked as well.

“Any idea on how many Apostates?” I asked while trying not to think how Mousethief was the craziest creature to ever drive. Even if he had skills from Mes this was frankly getting ridiculous.

“At least two, maybe up to five.” I winced at that number.

“It will be hard to pin Bastet down, if we do get there, I will hold her off from escaping while you deal with the Apostates,” my father said.

“Alright. I will be quick. Don’t worry about me no matter what happens. Just don’t die,” I told my father.

“Trust me I won’t. She is just tricky, is all,” he replied.

“Up ahead!” Mousethief called out as the snow began to pick up. I saw a truck pulling out onto the nearby highway. Mousethief gunned the engine and accelerated after them.

A creature wearing the cloak of an Apostate leaned out the right passenger side of the vehicle with a hand gun. Mousethief swerved the car to the left side of the road. I heard the sound of gunfire. The snow was getting worse.

That was when the back of the truck opened up. An older female cat was standing there with a grin. “Bastet,” my father said. “Get closer!”

“Too dangerous!” Mousethief said. Another Apostate handed something to Bastet who looked at it and fiddled something on the device. “Hang on this is going to get rough!” he shouted. That wasn’t a good thing if he was shouting.

Bastet chucked the device. Mousethief jerked the wheel hard to side. The car spun and I gripped the paneling, digging in my claws so I wouldn’t be yanked against the seatbelt. There was an explosion the car swung around. The windows on the side of car shattered, but it was still functional.

I quickly opened up the glove box. Mousethief had a gun in there like usual. I checked it, only six shots. I would have to make them count. The snow and wind was picking up. I couldn’t aim properly through the cracked windshield. I didn’t dare take off my seat belt as the car swerved to the side as another bomb exploded.

The Apostates began to fire at the car, but their aim was terrible and Mousethief was weaving across the highway like a mad creature. “Hang on! I am going to get ahead of them. It is going to be rough!” he shouted over the sound of explosions.

He floored the accelerator and the car rapidly sped up. I felt for sure we were going to fly off the road as he went all the way to the left and then quickly turned back right. The truck tried to block us by moving back and forth, but it was too slow.

We went partially off the road as Mousethief just managed to pull ahead. Gun fire was impacting our vehicle. I jerked my head forward once, when my danger sense warned me. My father was ducked down in the back.

Mousethief pulled in front of the truck. I unclipped my seat belt. “Head down!” I shouted out. And rapidly pulled the trigger six times. Whatever creature was driving was hit. The truck turned hard, then flipped, rolling, and then there was a massive explosion. Mousethief spun our car around. He pulled up at the crash site.

My father quickly exited out of the sunroof and I followed him, leaving the spent gun behind. “Tracks,” he said and pointed them out leading off the highway into a frozen forest. It was afternoon, which meant we would have to track the Apostates down in the night and the cold. That wasn’t a good combination.

Still, we couldn’t let them escape and their paw prints were visible. I counted four creatures. “Let’s go,” I said, and my father nodded. “I got point.”

“Alright. I will hang back,” he said. He knew I was the better fighter. While he had more experience, my reactions were quicker. I was glad he didn’t argue. He was probably thinking I would focus on the tracks while he would look out for an ambush using his greater experience.

Rushing away from the highway we went into the frozen forest. After five minutes, the tracks split up. I frowned at this. They each were only a minute or so old. There were tracks from two cats. “Which ones are Bastet’s?” I asked my father.

“These ones, I think. Hard to say,” he replied.

“We follow them together. She is the greatest threat and the main target,” I said, and he nodded at that. Setting off again, we followed the tracks, as quickly as possible. Bastet had incredible endurance. My father had told me about it but seeing her keep ahead of us was honestly impressive.

After an hour, we were deep in the wilderness, but the tracks kept going. I thought I had caught sight of her in the distance, but we weren’t closing the distance. She could run, but she wasn’t getting away. Also, we were getting further from Mousethief, which would hopefully mean more EXP for me and less for him.

As the wind picked up, I felt a chill through my parka. The terrain got steeper and rockier. The trees got shorter. I saw Bastet ahead in the swirling snows. My father was breathing a bit heavily, but he was keeping up.

We came to a large rocky plateau and Bastet stopped, looking at both of us. “Chasing little old me all the way up here in the dark and the snow?” she asked. I noted she wasn’t breathing heavily.

“Yes. You are going to die High Apostate Bastet,” I told her.

“And you think you can kill me when your father can’t?” she asked.

“Yes. But how did you know about us on the train? I will trade you one question for an answer to that.”

“Oooh, how daring. How bold. I like your gall. Tell me, is the Covenant Church mobilizing for war?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation. My father gave me a look but didn’t say anything.

“No hesitation. I like that. This could be fun. Well we learned from a letter sent through one of our spies. No smell, no idea who sent it. You have trouble in paradise cat.”

“Mittens, but you can call me Murder Mittens,” I said glaring at her as I raised my paws and extended my claws.

“Going right to violence? But we were having such a good conversation,” Bastet said as I slowly advanced on her. My father moved to my left to flank her. The snow whirled around us in the darkness. Our eyes glinted in the darkness.

“Before you get all hot and bothered, it is pointless,” Bastet said with casual confidence. “To me!” A massive owl suddenly appeared behind her, gripping her by her shoulders. I raced forward and leapt as the owl began to ascend with Bastet in its talons.

My claws barely missed her hindpaws. I landed on the icy stone. I heard her laughing as she disappeared into the snowstorm. “Dammit!” I cursed. There was no chance of catching her now.

***-***

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