Chapter Three

Donna peered over the ledge of the brownstone apartment building again. Her and Lia had grown anxious waiting for the others to arrive.

"Any sign of 'em yet?"

Lia shrugged and shook her head.

"I wonder what's taking so long. . ."

Lia said nothing. She wasn't into conversation much, all business, no fun. While Donna was often serious, she could usually lighten up, unlike Lia. In fact, the only reason Donna would sometimes become untalkative was because she got lost in her thoughts easily. The others had labeled her as the 'smart one' and in all honesty she was. She was always figuring things out, tinkering with various devices, usually discarded since she couldn't exactly go in a buy what she wanted, to get them to work. Her interest in machines and how things worked came from necessity as well as personal curiosity. She was the one who had provided electricity to their abandoned attic home as well as heat. It had been relatively easy to figure out how to do since the building still contained all the components necessary to do the wiring, but the process itself had been time consuming and difficult. Her sisters provided little help, so it had basically been a one-man job.

"Hey, guys. . ." Rene interrupted Donna's thoughts, she hadn't even heard her walk up!

"Their coming, right down there." She pointed across the street to two figures approaching.

"Get down!" Lia hissed.

They all did as they were told, peaking over the ledge to watch the couple.

"Where's Mickey?" Lia asked, never taking her eyes off the pair as they proceeded down the street.

"I sent her to follow the guys who took the body." Rene said imperturbably.

"What body? What happened?" Donna asked.

"Shhhh!" Lia turned around long enough to hush them.

"I'll explain later." Rene murmured, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.

Unsatisfied, Donna turned her attention back to the street. The pair was standing outside the building now, talking. Instinctively, their ear's perked up to listen.

"It's our own house, no one else lives here." She was saying.

A single house? Dang! The thing must be huge! I'll bet they have quite a bit of money. Usually brownstone apartments in New York housed several individual dwellings so for one to be a single house, the family was often times very wealthy.

She walked up the steps and unlocked the door, then they disappeared inside.

"Mom, I'm home!" Sandra called as she walked through the door to her brownstone house. "Don't get mad or anything, but they sent me back kinda early." She kicked her shoes off next to the door. "Mom?"

Sandra glanced at the grandfather clock across the entry way. Her mother was always home by 9:30. She walked through all the rooms of the bottom floor, calling for her. When she was sure there was no one downstairs, she searched the second and then the third floor. Deciding that her mother and Steve had probably gone off to dinner or a movie, she plopped down in front of the TV and turned it on.

After two black and white episodes of I Love Lucy on Nick at Night, she heard the front door open. She jumped up and ran to the stair well to look down. Her mother and Steve were talking quietly.

"Mom?" She asked after a moment.

Her mother and Steve looked up suddenly. "Sandra! What are you doing home?" She sounded alarmed.

"Oh, well, don't get mad or anything," Sandra slowly descended the stairs. "but they kicked me out. I didn't do anything!" She added as her mother's face pinched in anger.

Sandra stopped on the last step and waited for her response, but when none came, she glanced at her step-father questioningly. He was looking downwards, still wearing his hat.

"Steve?" She asked, trying to get a better look at him.

He nodded at her mother and then looked up at Sandra.

"Hey, you're not Steve! Mom, who is this?"

"I don't know about him," Came a new voice with a slight Boston accent from behind, "but I think mommy here's a murderer."

All three whirled around to confront the speaker, but saw no one in the shadows of the dark house.

"Show yourself!" The man Sandra thought was her step-father yelled.

A figure slowly stepped forward and was then joined by two others. The outline of three slim women was all that was visible.

"Who are you? How did you get into my house?" Sandra's mother demanded.

"Window." The woman to the left said, jerking her head back towards the kitchen. "Give yourselves up and we'll do what needs to be done, or uh, you could resist and see what happens."

Sandra glanced from her mother to the strange man. Both looked nervous, but only her mother looked liked she was ready to comply.

"Who are you?" The man demanded.

"I think the question is who are you? We know what just went on in that motel." Came the third woman.

"Again, Give yourselves up and no harm will come to you." The first woman said again.

The man started to back up, grasping the door knob. The shadowed figures made no move, but looked ready to pounce at any moment. Suddenly the man laughed sinisterly. "No, you leave and no harm will come to you!"

"That's where you're wrong." The woman on the left said, and all three drew weapons.

From what Sandra could see, the one who had spoken clasped what looked like two, three pronged knives, the woman in the middle held two long swords and the one to the right grasped a long staff or pipe.

Suddenly, the three sprung from the shadows and landed in front of them, only touching the ground for a second before they pounced on the man and Sandra's mother. Sandra gasped and sank back into the stairs, watching her parents being attacked, but helpless to do anything about it.

As she watched, she realized that there was something amiss about the three attackers. They seemed to have tails and large ears, much like a cat, and like a cat, they were fast and agile.

One leapt into the air and delivered a side kick to the man's stomach while the other grabbed him from behind as he collapsed, preventing him to run or move. The third woman swiped Sandra's mother off her feet by striking her in the back of the knees with her staff. The attacker who had kicked the man scooped her mother back up again and held one of her swords to her throat.

It all happened so fast and sudden, Sandra hadn't thought to run or hide. She took her eyes off her mother to look at the man. His captor, which had short red hair and fur which was blotted white and rusty brown, held her unusual weapons to his throat with one hand and twisted his arm backwards with the other, causing him to cringe in pain.

"Now, shall we continue this or are you ready to surrender yourselves?" Said the woman clutching the staff.Sandra's mother whimpered, but her captor only pressed her sword harder against her throat. The man tried to jerk his arm away from the red head, but she only smiled.

"It's no use hon. You might as well give up."

The assailants waited for a reply, but took their silence as a waive. The only woman with her hands free observed the scene. "We need rope."

"I'd get some, but my hands are kinda tied right now." The red-head said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and turned her head towards the stairs, noticing Sandra for the first time.

Sandra stared back at her wide eyed, unable to speak at first. She backed further into the stairs and tried to push herself to her feet.

"Uh. . . guys-"

"Don't touch me! Don't come any closer!" Sandra yelled, now on her feet and slowly climbing backwards up the stairs.

"Sandra!" Her mother called out. "Run!"

She spun around and bolted up the stairwell, fearing that they may try to harm her. She reached the first landing and pushed off the wall to turn up the second set of stairs. She could hear foot steps behind her and coming closer every second.

"Stop!" Her pursuer yelled.

As she raced up to the third floor, she felt her energy draining. She swerved suddenly towards the open door of a bedroom, hoping to make it before the attacker could reach her, but her attempt proved to be in vain. As she turned, the staff was thrust between her legs causing her to stumble and fall. Immediately, the woman lunged on top of her and pinned her down.

Sandra grimaced at the pain shooting up her spine as the creatures knee was thrust into her back. Her hands were pulled behind her and bound with a piece of cloth.

"Ok, I'm gonna let you up now. Don't run." She said as she slowly removed her knee from Sandra's back and pulled her up to her feet.

Sandra tried to get a better look at her captor, but every time she attempted to turn, she was directed forward again. She was lead back downstairs where she saw her mother and the man gagged and tied to chairs with various items from around their house.

"Mom!" She gasped.

"Maybe she needs a gag too." The red head suggested.

Sandra surveyed the entry way where the struggle had occurred. Her mother and the man were tied in antique wood chairs which were never meant to be used. The other two strange assailants stood between Sandra and her mother. For the first time, she noticed they all wore different colored masks and black leotards. They had a thick brown leather belt around their waist which they used to hold their weapons. She also noticed that they each seemed to have their own individual 'markings' or fur patterns.

Just then, a fourth figure appeared in the shadows, seeming apprehensive to approach at first, but upon observing the scene, came forward. When she stepped into the light, she exposed herself as another cat-like creature.

"Guys, we got company." She said. "Who and how many?" The woman with the swords asked, without missing a beat.

"Remember those guys Rene sent me to follow? Well, after they dumped the body, they decided to. . ." She trailed off, looking at each of the captives. "Hey, what happened here?"

"Mickey!" Sandra's captor snapped.

"Oh, sorry. Well anyways, they're coming back here to see if this dude," She nodded at the man tied up in the chair. "needs any help . . . or something."

"How close are they?" The woman who was beginning to signify herself as the head of this bizarre group asked.

"Real close." Mickey answered, drawing a pair of what appeared to be nunchacku, the kinds Sandra had seen on TV, from her belt.

The others mimicked her and stood prepared and waiting for anything. The woman who held Sandra pushed her back into the stairs and joined the others. "How many did you say there were?" She asked.

Mickey laughed. "I didn't say, but it's not like an ambush or anything, there's only two!"

The others rolled their eyes, but kept in position. Sandra could tell that Mickey wasn't as serious as the rest.

She twisted her arms in the cloth restraints around her wrists, trying to worm her hands out. She wasn't sure what she would do if she managed to free her hands, but that wasn't on her mind at the moment. Instead, she was focused on the two burley men who had just entered through the front door and now stood facing the ever-growing crowd in the entryway.

The girls sprang into action. Mickey and the red-head took one man while Sandra's captor and the leader took the other.

The men, as startled as they were, whipped out hand guns, but before they could even get one shot in, they were being attacked from all angles. Sandra's captor rammed her staff into the man's gut, causing him to double over, while the leader pounced at his back and struck him in the head with the hilt of her sword, dropping him to the ground.

At the same instant, Mickey and the red-head were wrestling with the second man, who was forcefully fighting back. Unable to fire his gun, he raised it above his head and brought it down with enough force to impair anything it should come in contact with, in this case, his target was the red-head.

With amazing speed, she lifted one of her pronged weapons and caught the handle of the gun between two of the tines. Before he could yank it out again, she rotated her wrist quickly, ripping the gun from his grasp and throwing it across the room. Sandra saw how easily she could have drove her other weapon into the man's gut, but instead, allowed Mickey to deliver a knock out blow.

Mickey approached from behind, much like the tactics of the others, twirling her two nunchaku in an incredible display of her talent with the weapons. She struck the man on the side of his neck, sending him to the ground to lie beside his companion.

Sandra had stopped struggling with the bondage around her wrist to watch the striking spectacle before her once again. She looked up from the two unconscious men to see her mother staring wide-eyed as well. The four women looked down at their handy work, unscathed and barely out of breath.

"Wh-what are you?" Sandra asked finally, shocked.

The women looked at each other and then back at Sandra.

"Lemme." Mickey stepped forward. "We're uh. . . mutants. I'm Mickey, that's Lia," She indicated the leader. "that's Donna, and that's Rene." She nodded first to Sandra's previous captor and then to the red-head.

"Are you cats?" Sandra felt almost silly asking the question.

"Yep." Mickey smiled proudly.

"Look out, we got genius here!" Rene said caustically. The others shoot her a glance then looked back at Sandra.

"Sorry 'bout all this, we just came for them." Lia nodded to her mother and the empty chair besides her. All five turned to stare at the vacant chair in disbelief.

"Where'd he go?" Mickey asked, a trace of concern in her voice.

Just then, Sandra felt a hand clasp over her mouth and pull her back against a large body which stood in the darkened doorway behind her. A gun was held to her head and cocked. The four cats turned around suddenly at the sound of the gun and a muffled cry.

"Don't move." The man holding Sandra said calmly.

All stood silent for a moment, then Lia spoke up. "Let her go."

"Ah, but you see, I can't do that. Just keep your distance, and no one gets hurt."

"Didn't we just go through this?" Rene said, drawing her weapon once again.

"Don't think I won't fire, because I will. Everyone just back away, that's right, and leave us here."

The four glanced quickly at each other. They didn't know what the man was capable of or what he would do, so they re-sheathed their weapons and stepped back.

"You're only digging your own grave ya know. Let her go and we'll disappear, leaving this whole mess to the police-"

"No! Leave them out!" The man took another step backwards, deeper into the dark room. "Just walk away, and she lives. Forget this ever happened."

They were silent a moment. "Fine, we're gone." Lia held up her empty hands and backed towards the open window. The others looked confused, but followed her anyways.

The man said nothing, only watched them as they crawled one by one out the window. Sandra had started to shake all over, terrified of what he almost did to her. As the last of the four slid out, his grasp around her face slowly released, his sweaty hand leaving the smell of salty moisture on her face.

"Well, I should think it obvious. They killed someone and now they have a hostage. What kinda crime fighters would we be if we didn't bring justice to the community?" Donna laughed.

"Well I'm just saying, we're not suppose to get involved like this."

"Like what?" Lia cut in. "This is what we do. Not really as a choice, remember?"

"Yeah, but like I was saying before, our business is with the Fist." Rene was the last to join the debate.

"I'm not going into that again Rene. We decided before to check it out and do what needs to be done and now that we've found out. . ."

"All right, fine, whatever." Rene crossed her arms, sulking.

"So we're going back? When?" Donna asked.

"We can't go back tonight, they'll expect that, but we can't wait too long. They're liable to relocate or kill the girl."

"So when then? Tomorrow?"

Lia was silent for a moment. "Yeah, tomorrow night. It'll still be risky, but we can't lose track of them."