She frowned. Subtlety would be needed to achieve her goals. But how could they go someplace where nobody would suspect them?
She watched a car go by, smiled, and turned to a fur-and-spandex-clad lieutenant. “Singing boy, could you make phone call, please?”
***
Officer Mike Callahan pulled his squad car over to the side of the street, his eyes taking in every detail. Someone had called about a possible rape going on in one of the alleyways; as his car had been closest, he’d made all haste here.
Problem is, nothing looked to be ‘here’. The street was deathly quiet - too quiet for his liking. He swallowed, ran a hand over the leather of his holster, and looked to his partner. “I don’ like the look o’ this.”
His partner nodded, dark eyes speaking of questions the two shared. Officer Mike would have smiled; Kevin would make a heck of an officer, once he got a few years under his belt. He slowly opened the car door, his eyes searching for even the smallest movement.
When a rustling came from the alley’s trash bin, his heart dropped. Trash bins tended to be good places to drop victims - especially violent crime victims. He nodded silently to his partner, who moved a hand to the dumpster lid, then quickly lifted it up.
He almost growled in frustration. A cat. All this worry over a stupid -
“Nihao, police-man.”
The voice caught him by surprise - just before the claw slashed across his cheek. The pink blur moved and slashed Kevin on the arm, then stood there, smiling.
Kevin, of course, didn’t take this well. He raised his gun to a ready position in a heartbeat. “Freeze! You’re under arrest!”
Mike swallowed. This wasn’t some normal thug; this was one of those cat-people he’d heard about that had done some freaky things on Broadway. Apparently a few had escaped, which meant...
He found himself shivering; beads of sweat popped out on his forehead.
The pink cat-woman batted her eyes and smiled coquettishly. “Oh, you understand! Shan Pu want to go to station!”
Officer Mike found himself leaning against the dumpster. What was this... what was she doing to him? He... he couldn’t... he couldn’t...
“You begin understand now, yes?”
The voices in his head - the urgings from someplace he didn’t know existed - dropped him to his knees. He barely noticed the fur growing on his hands. “I... I’m a cop, dammit! I can’t... I can’t...”
Her jewel eyes stared back fiercely. “Who your mistress?”
He gazed up at her, and knew he couldn’t deny it anymore. She owned him, now... it filled him with peace to know he would be serving her. “You are... Mistress Shan Pu.” He bowed deeply; absently, he noted Kevin doing the same. “What do you wish of us?”
Her smile took a more predatory turn. “You serve Lord Claudius, Shan Pu master. But... you take order from me for now.” She turned her head to the squad car. “Change shape into human. Then we go back to station.”
Officer Mike willed his fur back beneath his skin. Had he looked in the mirror, he would have noticed pointed ears and an iron-grey sheen to his hair. “As you wish. What do you wish for us to do there?”
***
The day officers of NYPD’s 52nd precinct all filed in to the meeting room for a standard tradition: morning roll call. The officers would show up, the captain would brief everyone on recent events and things to watch for, and everyone would go on their way. It was community, a reaffirming of traditions that had lasted over a century.
Captain Lawson looked out at the crowd, and smiled. Today would be a good day, he knew. He absently scratched behind his ear, then coughed once.
“Good morning, everyone. There was an armed robbery over at Roy’s Liquor Store on 32nd street late last night. All evidence points to the same perpetrators as the McDonald’s robbery two weeks ago - caucasian, height 5’7”, weight 230 pounds, wearing a black leather bomber jacket. Investigation is still pending; however, we expect to have this bozo tracked down by the end of the day.
“A gang of hot rodders has taken up racing along 28th street. We’re keeping an eye out in this area; however, they may have switched locations since we’ve upped surveillance. If you see any souped-up Honda Accords, be ready.
“As you may have noticed, we have several new assistants here in the station house. Moreover, Officers Bates, Sebastian, and Andrews are downstairs in the lock-up. They won’t be there long; they need to go through... processing before they can be let out.”
He took a deep breath. It felt good to have so many shining faces beaming back at him. He dug his claws into the wood podium, and gave a feral grin. “Finally... No doubt the events of the past day have all left us with a new perspective. There’s no denying that all of us feel more comfortable in fur, and that working in our present jobs may seem like a contradiction. Just remember that, even though we serve Lord Claudius now, we are still New York’s Finest, and we have a reputation to uphold. Maintain your human forms until you get back to the privacy of the precinct.” He leaned back and twitched an ear. “Don’t worry; by the end of the day, this won’t be the only precinct willing to let the fur fly. Dismissed.”
As the werecats of Precinct 52 filed out of the room, a few more words came from his lips. “Oh... watch out for dogs and for Animal Control!” Despite the words, he couldn’t help but smile. This was a good day indeed...
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(Posted Thu, 03 Apr 2003 22:59)
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