Kitty Kat

-Tokyo, Japan. 01:22:34-

"Now, let's try this again why don't we? Where is the chip I'm looking for."

The lightning devil said as he held the C.E.O of Minucorp, one of the largest computer manufacturers in the Japan, by the throat. He stared blankly into the man's eyes, eyes that screamed with a primal fear and terror. Air escaped from him in short gasp, his windpipe being blocked by the incredibly strong grip of the lightning meta interrogating him. With a small, sadistic smile, he tightened his grip for a moment, before finally tossing the small man backwards, causing him to fall hard onto his back, gasping and choking for whatever air his recovering throat could suck in. Chuckling as he slowly, meniacally, walked towards the man, he crouched down, allowing the man to very clearly see how much Raikou was enjoying the pain he was causing him. With a snap of his fingers, the meta sent out a large static field, causing any electronics in the room to instantly fry. Probably not the best move, being on the hunt for a small computer chip, but it did it's job well, scaring the other man ever more.

"Now, I've let you breathe, but I can just as easily stop you from doing that forever. Now, the chip, NOW!"

Screaming the last part, Raikou watched in delight as the man spilled everything. The location of the chip, as well as several other big company secrets that could help him out. If Raikou had been playing the stock market, he could have very easily just made himself a small fortune. But, for some reason, he felt that the stocks were about to take a very steep drop in the next couple of hours.


Four hours later, on a flight headed from Tokyo to Detroit, Alex sat with his chair reclined, sipping on an iced tea a lovely young Asian stewardess had brought for him. Private planes were one of the luxuries he got to enjoy, being an Assassin for hire for incredibly wealthy clients. If he saved his money a bit better, instead of blowing it on stupid, frivolous things he broke mere hours later, or sending it back to his parents, he could probably afford a plane like this. But the money mattered little to him. Letting his eyes drift to the small, bleeding pouch in the seat next to him, he chuckled at the clients response when he opened the bag. He had asked for proof of death, and Alex always did deliver. It was sure going to be hard for Minucorp to get aHEAD with it's C.E.O. dead, now wasn't it?

-Detroit, Michigan, United States of America. 14:33:22-

Stepping out of the Taxi in front of his targeted destination, Raikou let out a large sigh. The amount of favors he had to pull to get them a large enough warehouse, and the idiots left the front door unlocked.. Inside of the warehouse he was standing in front of, was a large, European fifteenth century style space ship, home to a few space pirates Alex had help-attacked a little bit ago. He had managed to find them a warehouse big enough to hide this monstrosity, and a crew big enough to do it, and had used up more than a few of the favors he had built up in his long career as an Assassin. Not to mention disposing of the bodies of those who had been involved, to keep their identity a secret. Though, they didn't need to know about that last part.

Attached to the front of the building was a panel with a small red button, which controlled the large mechanical sliding door that allowed entrance to the warehouse. Pushing it, he allowed the door to open a small bit, sneaking himself inside quickly, before pushing the button on the opposing side to quickly close it, before anyone could see the alien vessel. Was he surprised to see that instead of working on the ship, like the two scientist had told him was their utmost priority, he had instead found the lobster and hamster pirates enjoying a television show in what appeared to be two reclining chairs. Grimacing, he wouldn't be surprised to see a very large charge on the card he had allowed them to borrow to buy food and essentials while they were stuck on either.

"I'm not even going to ask. I don't care. What I will ask, is why you aren't fixing the ship! Do you know what I had to do t- never mind. That's not important."

Sighing, Alex tossed them the chip he had stolen, having placed it inside a small metal box for safe keeping, and so the lobsters claws didn't squish the delicate system.

"That should be a suitable replacement for the guidance system, at least until you can get a better one somewhere else. Have you guys seen Kitiara?"

The Lobsterman in his regular wheelchair caught it with one of his small arms, his larger upper claws hanging lazily behind him. The crustacean scientist and rodent engineer looked at the chip for a moment and toss it to their new constructed robot assistant, humanoid in form, to resume their drinking and watching. The robot assistant meanwhile politely thanked Raikou.

“Your assistance is most appreciated. Estimated time to completion of repairs is now 1420 solar cycles.” He waddles off and brings the chip to the work area to be sorted among one of the many makeshift aluminium shelves, illuminated by industrial lighting.

Seeing that he was giving them a funny look, the Hamster engineer scratched his tummy then replied, “Of course we’re fixing the ship... ah... we’re just not in a hurry to.” He then takes another drink of canned malt beer. “Wow, this earth liquor is good. The Captain wasn’t kidding when he said he missed it.”

The Lobster meanwhile was eating a bucket of chicken, wearing a bib while he was at it, making a general mess. He also looked at Raikou. “Kitiara? You mean the girl you knocked out while rescuing? Oh, she went outside, but she’d be back soon.” He made some kind of chittering sound under his breath, while the Hamster laughed with him. They gave him a funny look they did, these two scientists. A funny look, when these two friends of science shared an inside joke between them.

Raikou would likely be unable to sense her, as Cat Kitiara approached him from behind slowly, having entered her magical cat stealth. Once she was in range, she pounced on him from behind, pinning him to the ground, intent of giving him a payback scare, much to the hilarity of her two uncles.

Alex stared at the robot assistance with a mild amount of interest, before turning his attention back to the two animal humanoids in front of him. He sighed apathetically as he listened to their reasoning, they clearly had no idea how hard it was to hide their existence from the outside world, let alone how many people he was killing to get them their parts. Though, if ever confronted by Kitiara about it, he would lie. Hard. He had no idea why, but he wanted her approval . It was a new thing for him to be sure.

"You're drinking skunk piss beer too." Alex commented, gesturing to the liquor in the aliens hands. "I'll bring you some good whiskey of you make some actual process on the damned ship."

As the aliens shared their laugh at Raikous expense, he did his best to hold the urge to find out how delicious space lobster was with a large bucket of melted butter. Letting out a short yawn, he was more than a little surprised by the sudden pressure he felt forcing him down to his knees from his back.

Years of fighting and instincts kicked in, his hands breaking his fall, but Kitiara was damn strong. Laying on his back, he was moments from sending millions of volts traveling through his body, until he heard the laughter of the two animal aliens. Sighing, and placing his forehead on the ground, he raised one hand up to wave at the girl on his back.

"Hey kitty, what's up? Anything new?"

KIT DISAPPOINT

Kitiara bared her fangs against Raikou and growled, but seemed disappointed that he wasn’t frightened in any way. She lazily walks off and heads to the sofa to lounge like an intelligent cat, staring at Raikou for a few more seconds then towards the TV screen.

“Alright, alright... when you put it that way, we’ll uh... make more robots to fix the ship then. After this episode.” The Hamster turned up the volume, and he resumed watching a British show about cars. Building cars, newest cars, old classic cars, painting cars, celebrities driving cars, and how much those cars cost. His attention was quite absorbed by it all, and he seemed to be mumbling about buying one of them. Or three. “Hey, you think this little plastic card can buy us one of those?” He pointed to the latest Ferrari on the screen, which was likely to cost Raikou a fortune.

Kitiara simply growled at the show when a bunch of bikini-clad women were washing cars as a contest. It was an expression of disgust.

“What my associate fails to mention is that our current situation is a bit more complicated than simply leaving. You see, now that the Imperial Judges know we are on earth, they are monitoring the space lanes into this solar system... so long as they know we remain on this wet little rock, we pose no further threat to their operations.” The lobster scientist cared to explain, between slurping off the meat from fried chicken bones in a most creepy alien fashion.

“And not even an Imperial Navy Captain can overrule the Judges. Well... at least one formerly a pirate captain herself. Where is your flame wielding associate by the way, primate? Was he not of your tribe... or whatever social structure you earthers have?” Stepping out of the work place, Captain Ky’leeah greeted Raikou with her usual racial diatribe and stuck up attitude... but seemed at home with these two less than productive minds. She was out of her regal Navy uniform and was now into a tight fitting space spandex pit girl uniform. It was probably quite practical since all the tools she held seemed to melt into it. Her long flowing red hair was tied into a ponytail that still reached her waist, and her eyes had a deep, piercing quality when she spoke to Raikou.

The Space Elf Captain stroked the back of Kitiara’s cat head, talking to her with a familial familiarity. Kitiara purred her approval, before swiftly moving over to the Hamster’s couch and swatting away the remote. “Hey! Crazy feline.” The hamster voiced his objection.

Kitiara changed it to a channel that showed a touristy show about beaches at Lake Michigan, then cat sat on the floor, satisfied. She hissed at the Hamster when he voiced any further protest. “Okay, okay...” he wisely backs off, mumbling about how much a big deal water was to her.

Making his way to the couch, he casually moved his hand on front of the credit card as the hamster man mentioned buying a Ferrari. Normally this wouldn't do anything, but Alex had a bad habit of sending static electricity through objects he passed in front of. This object in particular, had a very finicky magnetic strip on the back that had just been 'fried', for lack of a better word. The shock and confusion on the hamsters face the next time he tried to buy something was now running through the lightning meta's mind, and he was quite enjoying it. Plopping down on the farthest seat from Kitiara on the couch, he turned his body to face the Captain. The least he could do was be polite to her, even if she was a...not very nice person.

"Primate? Well, that's a new one. Usually people just call me an insane psychopathic homicidal maniac. The flame bug is probably back in Chicago I would think, the Knightwatch keeps him pretty busy. Why? Does a certain imperial Navy Captain have a crush on the Canadian idiot?"

Turning back to the two humanoid like alien animal hybrids, he cocked his head to the side and stared at them a moment before talking. Really trying to think about which words he could use, not wanting to make a bad impression with Kitiara, or the Captain.

"Just...watch how you spend that card. This TV alone probably cost half of what I just made."

The hamster engineer took back the money card grudgingly.

“No... no! How could you possibly suggest that?” There was heavy denial in her voice at the suggestion that the high and mighty Elf Captain would be attracted to some primitive teenage earth boy. The two animals present teased her, but were quickly shushed by an slight frown on her stoic face.

The whole group fell into a silence as everyone watched the television screen for a few awkward minutes. Once a commercial came up, the Captain remarked, “Ugh... this thing is as horrible as a Genevader mind prison! Look at yourselves; you’re already beginning to resemble catatonic Genevader mind scrub subjects.”

“You’re not my mum... or Captain...Captain.” Said the Hamster.

The lobster simply laughed. Again, another inside joke.

“Why I ever made you two Ship Scientist and Ship Engineer, I will never remember. Kitiara, dear, that body of water is not very far from here. Why not have the Primate show you the beach? I know you’ve been looking forward to it.” The two alien eggheads grumble and head towards the work area of the warehouse, to build another robot to do the repair work for them.

At the suggestion that she accompany Raikou, Kitiara growled at him. Ky’leeah pats her on the head to calm her down. The Elf Captain looked at Raikou. “You do know how to reach the Lake safely, don’t you primate?” she asked.

"Lake Michigan? Ya, it's a couple hour drive from here. Hell, we're in Detroit. If she wants to see water, Niagara falls is closer than Lake Michigan, just a short trip across the Ambassador bridge, and then across Canada. I've got enough fake passports for a small army, so that shouldn't be a problem."

Turning his head to face the cat girl on the floor, he looks at her apprehensively. Perhaps being in a small metal tube going eighty miles an hour with a girl who literally growled at him a minute ago wasn't such a good idea. Then again, he would get to go to one of the most romantic places on earth with her. The pros outweighing the cons, he stood from the couch, offering his hand to the feline like girl.

"Well, Kitiara, do you wanna go to either one? The choice is yours, really. Or we can sit here and continue to look at pictures of it for the next couple of hours, I literally have no where to be today."

That last part wasn't entirely true, Alex was actually booked to several jobs at the moment, but, he found this crew of people far more interesting than the boring assassinations of VIPs and corporate big wigs. Besides, their corruption continuing for a few more days couldn't hurt anyone. Well, it could, and a few people would probably die, but, that was something Alex was just okay with.

CHAPERONED DATE IT IS

Kitiara cat pawed the remote a few times until a channel showing waterfalls came up. She stared intently at the majestic falling waters, and seemed to enjoy it more, the energetic water. She looked at Raikou, then at Ky’leeah. She cat walked towards the exit towards one of their service vehicles, or Raikou’s own car.

Ky’leeah pressed a button on her suit and it shifted between a backless gown, a bunny outfit, a police uniform, a waitress uniform, until it settled on a casual touristy look. “Well, it seems we are visiting this... Niagara falls. I will come along for now, and ensure Kitiara does not enact some grudge on the way. You would not object, would you?”

Sighing, Raikou shook his head. He had secretly been hoping to go alone with cat girl, but, this was a good second option he supposed. From his back pocket he produced a fab, an electronic key, for a car he had stashed here just in case. Luckily he had the intelligence not to tell the two animal scientist about it, and kept it hidden in the back of the shop, underneath a large tarp to protect him from the peering eyes of those lazy beast.

"Well, I'm probably never going to see this again now that I've shown it off to the two on the chair over there, but, this was is my favorite car."

And it was, being in Detroit, Alex had the opportunity to visit Chevrolet's show room, and subsequently steal a prototype Camaro that was to be released later this year. Red, with two black striped running down the center of the vehicle, it was a two door beauty. Underneath the hood was a modified V10, pumping out nearly four hundred horse power. Zero to sixty in six second was a laughable feat for this car, and it was Raikou's pride and joy. At least, it would be until the scientist got their hands on it.

"Well, while we're taking Kitiara to her first waterfall, why not another first?"

With a lazy flick of his wrist, he tossed the fab to Kitiara, while moving to the passenger seat of the vehicle.

"C'mon, we'll practice in the parking lot for a bit."

Kitiara lets the keys land beside her, ignoring them. She climbs into the backseat and lounges like a cat, her tail swishing in disinterest. She wanted water, not cars. The Captain simply looks at Raikou. “She’ll come around, eventually.” The two eggheads spotted the car and had come over. “Oooh can we come along?” the hamster said enthusiastically, but Ky’leeah scowled at them, causing them to scamper back to their work of sorting out the ship equipment.

Kai picked up the keys and sat in the driver’s seat, taking the opportunity to drive herself. The onboard gps displayed their destination, and before anyone would say anything else, the Captain was driving like a madman. Once they reached the highway, she pushed the car to its top speed of around 250 mph, her inhumanly high reflexes allowing her to perform breakneck manoeuvres that made Kitiara cling onto the back of Raikou's seat out of a genuine fear of death, her soft paw pads around his arms, the tips of her claws slowly coming out... hopefully they won't go any further, as long as Raikou stays still.

"Huh. So this is how I die."

Raikou said surprisingly calm. He had been in lots of life and death situations before, so he wasn't really scared at this point, but that doesn't mean he didn't recognize a bad situation when he was in one. Turning his head to the back seat, Raikou raised an eyebrow wearily at Kitiara. At this point, she seemed more animal than girl, which really brought up the moral dilemma of putting the moves onto her. Shrugging, he reached one hand back towards her, trying to rub her head to calm her down like the captain had done earlier.

"C'mon now Kitiara, it's gonna be okay..though you may wanna put on a seat belt."

He said as he reached towards the girl. Having never owned a cat, Raikou was completely ignorant to how the animals acted when they were terrified, and didn't even think of the off chance that she might lash out. He just wanted to help her out.

They would eventually reach the US-Canadian Border on Grand Island, stopping at Buckhorn State Park. Kai’s driving had cut the hours long journey in half. She exited the car with a satisfied look on her face, and stretched, her exotic features getting a few looks from tourists; that, or that there was a white tiger in the back seat.

Raikou’s assurance at least, relaxed Kitiara from digging her claws deeper into Raikou’s chest as she hid her face in the chair, unable to see the road as they drove.

“Would you please get out of the car now, dear?” Kai asked, looking at her young ward with amusement, seeing as she was still clinging on for dear life to Raikou, paws and claws and all, still trembling.

Putting a hand on Kitiara's arm, Raikou did his best to flash her a small smile, while petting her arm. He had always been good at faking his emotions, at manipulating people to get what he wanted, but this time it felt...different. It felt much less forced than the other times, and he couldn't quite explain what it was that he was feeling right now. Rubbing the fur on her arm softly, he looked  back to her and smiled, this time it was larger, and much less forced

"Hey, we're at the water. It's gonna be okay now, alright? C'mon now, let's go see the falls, alright?"

Raikou offered a hand to her, aiming to lead her from the vehicle and towards the falls. Not at all for the opportunity to hold her hand, Raikou isn't that clever.

GET ON THE BOAT
Once Kitiara had a look around the area, peering at the river, feeling the abundance of water, she slowly calmed down, sneering at her very uptight guardian Elf. The Park’s small pier rang a bell to call for boarding passengers. Not wanting to miss the tour, Kitiara finally relents from Raikou and morphs back into her humanoid form, dressed in her drab brown space Bedouin attire, with an ornate hijab wrapping around her head. Her piercing blue eyes and albino furred face stared back at Raikou with gratitude, and then looking up at her much taller mentor and mother figure Kai.

“Boat, Into it we will go?” She asked, picking up English quickly, not requiring a translator device.

Kai pulled something out of her coat and pinned it onto Kitiara’s dress. “Just a second. You stand out even more than when you were cat. Here.” Kitiara’s form slowly altered then she became a young black woman in jeans, green blouse and a grey fitting jacket. Her hair was in dreadlocks.

“Ky’leeah, you I thank. And you, son of storm.” She crossed her arms over her chest and bowed for their efforts to get her out of the garage. She went ahead and headed for the ferry, with Kai shortly behind, the tall redheaded elf’s slender features drawing attention. Of course, neither of the alien girls had tickets.

Alex sighed, removing his wallet and paying for the two girls and himself to enter the ferry, the old man behind the counter just chuckling softly at the poor man. He couldn't really argue with the cat girls new look though, he certainly wasn't against it, that was for sure. Catching up to the two aliens, he stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the rail.

"My name is Alex, by the way."

He says calmly to Kitiara, before looking out at the water in front of him. Under normal circumstances, the assassin would be thinking of all the ways to utilize the lightning in his body in conjuncture with the water, but at this moment, he was taken back by how beautiful the falls really were. Majestic pillars of water fell and crashed with a simple, yet destructive, force to them. Small rainbows formed from the particles of water that seemed to cascade down from the crash at the end of the falls. All around them, couples of all ages, ethnicity, and culture seemed to be enjoying a good time. The thought of the contrast between them, and Raikou's chaperoned alien date, caused him to chuckle slightly, before shaking his head and laughing.

"I can see why you like the water so much Kitiara, it's really quite beautiful."