ADVENTURES OF MAL-LARCI: CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 16: Threats Against Oprah and George Clooney - Part Two ©

The following morning, Bob, Marie and I flew over to the Headquarters in the USA. Our near supersonic speeds got us there more quickly than any air-craft, and we were able to avoid customs and other such tedious time-consuming chores. Bob carried a small back-pack which included a spare set of clothes for himself, but other than that, we arrived armed only with our natural super abilities.

Earlier I had discovered that Marie possessed a super-sense of smell. As we flew, Bob communicated that he had x-ray type vision that could look past any material, including lead, which I said was one-up on the fictional © Superman.


One of Bob's other abilities included a super-hum with which he could stun people or hypnotise them, depending on the frequency at which he hummed. He said it was unpredictable on animals and he had discovered by accident that one particular hum made cows fall in love with him.


I chuckled as I imagined a cow making cow-eyes at him. Then I explained both my super-vision and hearing and my super-claws which were not invulnerable like the fictional character ©Wolverine, but were still very handy on occasion. 


It was important to know what skills we all possessed so that we could work well together as a team. It was just as we were approaching Headquarters in the USA (location classified) that Marie admitted to one other super-skill which she had only ever used once before: spitting out individual spikes.


Hedgehogs do no usually lose their spikes, but when required, Marie had a small cluster of spikes on the back of her head, about eight in total, which she could fire individually with great accuracy. Prior to flying over, the Australian Headquarters had filled the spikes with a sleeping liquid which if fired into a human being could render them unconscious for up to an hour, and a large dog for up to two hours.


For some reason she seemed embarrassed about this ability and looking at the usually serious Marie I wondered if it was because she feel self-conscious about having to use such a strange weapon. It wasn't until much later that I found out the real reason for her discomfort.

After reaching the American office, we were shown through to a conference room in which a goat, two human beings, a hamster and a civet were already present when we arrived. The hamster sat on the edge of the table while the rest sat in various chairs suited to their size and shape.


I knew what a goat and a hamster were but had never encountered a civet before, though I had heard of them. Civets could be found in a number of countries and some were known for their special affinity with coffee and the contribution they had made to perfumes in past decades.


We were introduced to all present (though I can't share their real names here). I'll call the goat, Neville, the hamster, Didi and the civet,  Lily. One of the humans was a woman we'll call Shirley and the man, Abe.

It was the civet Lily that continued to draw my attention. I thought she was absolutely gorgeous and I was instantly smitten. She hadn't even spoken a word and I didn't even know if she was a cat, and there I was experiencing my first crush. If cats could blush, you would have seen the red tinge through my ginger fur!

Didi the hamster spoke first and I drew my gaze away from Lily to her. It was interesting to hear a hamster's voice translated into cat language on my in-built communicator. 


"...and as Co-ordinator of this mission here in the United States, it would seem sensible for both sides to share what we know about the threat to the lives of George Clooney and Oprah. While George is usually known more for his humanitarian projects, he's also mindful that animals too need ambassadors and was encouraged by Oprah to become involved in saving the Scottish wildcat."


Although our Headquarters had already sent our information to the US office, we provided as many details as we could, including our earlier contacts with Katzenjammer.


It was then that Lily spoke and I felt shivers up my spine as she said the words, "I joined the American Headquarters five years ago." She had a slight accent which I loved.


"In my own country Africa, around fifteen years ago there was once a case investigated by our Headquarters that suggested Katzenjammer may have been operating there under a different name. Regrettably we had very little funding to follow the case up, but I do recall an attempt made on one of our larger zoos to blow up the big cats quarters there."


"The bombers efforts were very clumsy and thankfully unsuccessful, though two tigers did need medical treatment. The criminal did not leave a note but simply phoned the zoo management prior to the bombing attempt and demanded they destroy all wild-cats in their facility. I believe the words he used were that 'cats were an abomination against nature.' He gave his name as 'Yeuk' which I believe means to itch." 


Lifting her large, lustrous eyes to our group, Lily added, "We have found no connection between the words Yeuk or Katzenjammer other than they are uncommon words."


"Uncommon," I thought to myself. "She's uncommonly beautiful."


I hoped I wasn't drooling.


"But there seems to be some common methods used in both the bomb-types, as well as his technique and his hatred of cats," Lily finished.


There was some further discussion about the investigations that the US Headquarters had undertaken, but no plan at that stage had been devised.


We decided to take a lunch-break and get to know each other and our abilities a little better before proceeding so that we could more properly develop a plan. I was dying to know what super-powers Lily had.

Link to Chapter 17