---

As I looked around I noticed that everyone seemed a lot happier, now that there was more space and even some privacy. Jordan seemed particularly happy to have a small sailing boat all to herself. I was surprised to find Kim on a dingy old fishing boat chatting with Clarice in French!

"How many languages do you know?!" I exclaimed.

Kim glanced at me and smiled, "I was an interpreter. I'm fluent in seven languages, and can get by in a few others. French is one of my favorites."

"Oui, she speaks excellent French, and with almost no accent at all. It is almost like being back home." Clarice said happily.

They started speaking again in French and I left them to it. Jessica and Mike had both found themselves somewhere to sleep, so that accounted for everyone. I let Paul know I was going and flew back into town.

On the way I remembered the tapes I retrieved from the house I found Lek and Muay in. I berated myself for not taking the VCR as well, we had no way to watch them! I wasn't sure if we could plug it into the plane for power or not, even if we had the VCR, but I decided to go back to that house and see if it was still there.

I was surprised to find no one guarding the house. Maybe that guy moved somewhere else? I thought. I did a quick flyby to see if there were any guards around back, but I still didn't see anything. I circled back around to the front and landed. As before, the door was unlocked. Inside I found that just about everything of value had been stripped from the room. Each room was the same, including the one where I'd found the tapes. It was when I was examining that room that I noticed the smell.

The smell was not pleasant, and it was coming from the room I found the girls in. I cautiously pushed the door open and looked inside. The man who had abused the girls was still lying there on the cushions, but he was covered in flies. The cushions and part of the wall were stained with blood. I guess he wasn't too high up, after all. Or someone decided this was a good time to give themselves a promotion by taking out their boss. I thought.

I quickly left the house, the smell was making me nauseous. I felt nothing for the dead man, he had it coming several times over in my book.

Once out of the house I took to the air and began searching the area. It was getting late in the day and many people were just finishing their work day. I noticed an awful lot of men were making their way into one particular club. No mutants were going in, only normal looking men, mostly young. Mutants and women seemed to go well out of their way to avoid it. Looking at the pattern of movement around the building gave me a bad feeling, so I decided to take a closer look.

I landed on the roof. Much to my surprise, there were two guards at a door that must lead down into the club. They began yelling angrily at me in Thai. I decided I didn't want to fight with them without knowing what was going on, so I jumped off the roof to the alley behind the building. I heard the door on the roof open and more yelling, and suspected someone would be coming looking for me soon.

Sure enough, just as I was about to open it the alley door flew open, knocking me back. Several men stormed out with various blunt weapons in hand. A man with a rusted pipe took a swing at me, but I caught it and tore it out of his hand. A wild melee ensued, with the men hitting each other as much as I did! Since they weren't using guns I was able to take my time and just knock them out. Once they were all out I dragged one that had fallen in the door out of the way and stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

Inside I was immediately assaulted by all kinds of noises and smells. I was in a short hallway that ended in another door. If it's this bad in here, how bad must it be on the other side of that door? I wondered. I braced myself and opened it. As I feared, the noise level rose dramatically. The room was a very large one, and poorly lit for the most part. The bulk of the room was one big open area filled with men. They were shouting and staring up at a lighted stage area.

I turned to look at the stage and gasped. There were several mutants up on the stage, all of them naked. They had spiked collars on with chains attached to them. The other end of those chains were held by mostly naked men who held whips in their other hand. They were forcing them to...well, do lots of things they obviously didn't want to! I was disgusted at the men on the stage, and the men in the crowd, as well. A growl rose up in my throat and a red haze began to fill my vision again.

Screams startled me out of it as men began to notice me and try to run away. A few didn't move quickly enough, and small arcs of electricity arced out from my body to theirs without me willing them to! I've got to get control before I hurt those mutants! I thought. I managed to fight back the haze and get the electrical arcs to stop. I was still pissed off, but I wasn't going to lose control, I hoped.

There was a balcony area above with wealthier patrons sitting in booths watching the show. Several men moved out from the shadows and started firing at me. I couldn't do anything about the mutants with bullets whizzing around me, so I jumped up on the balcony and started smashing my way through the gunmen. I moved as fast as I could and knocked them all out quickly. Most of them didn't have automatic weapons, thankfully. As it was I took a few glancing hits, but no more than that.

I collected all the weapons and ammunition I could find and carried it down to the stage. The...animals...on the stage hadn't even stopped what they were doing during all the fighting. Unlike with the men in the alley and the gunmen, I showed those filth no mercy. Once they were all bleeding on the ground I started cutting off collars.

There were six mutants, four women and two men. They all had very noticeable animal traits. They were traumatized and badly beaten, but I managed to coax them into movement. One of the women seemed a little more aware than the others, so I asked her to carry some of the weapons. I wasn't about to leave those lying around to be used against me later.

I wish I had a cell phone to call Paul or Melissa with. I thought as I guided the mutants out of the club. There was no way I could carry them all back at once; and there was no way I'd leave any of them alone here while I carried them back two at a time. That left walking, and slowly.

One of the men was nearly comatose, I finally just threw him over my shoulder and carried him after the third time he kept going straight when we turned a corner. Two of the women wouldn't stop crying, but they were following along pretty well. The woman who was helping me carry the weapons also helped keep the others together. They were all Thai and none of them seemed to speak English. Fortunately escape needs no explanation, especially from a place like that!

We walked for hours before we finally made it back to the pier. I didn't dare fly up to get my bearings, so we made several wrong turns. And even the woman who was helping me with the others was badly beaten and unable to move very quickly. Finally, I spotted Tina and Mike guarding the entrance to the pier. "Go get Kim, we're going to need a translator!" I yelled out. Tina ran back to find Kim, while Mike ran over to help me with the mutants.

"What happened Cat?!" he asked after hefting two of them over his shoulders. They were too sore and tired to protest and hung there limply.

"I found them in a club. You don't want to know what was going on there." I replied tiredly. The trip wasn't so strenuous for me physically, but it was extremely tense. I was surprised no one from the club had found us.

Mike took a look at the woman carrying the guns and nodded. "Okay, lets take them to that big boat over there. There are some mattresses that are in halfway decent shape in there. They can move their beds somewhere else later if they want." he said.

Nodding, I led the other mutants to the boat Mike suggested. It was a large fishing boat that probably had a crew of a couple of dozen or more when it was in use. Kim, Tina, Paul, and Jessica met us there. Paul and Tina picked up the other mutants and we carried them all into the boat and laid them down on the most intact (and cleanest) mattresses we found.

"What the hell happened to these people?!" Jessica exclaimed when Paul brought in a kerosene lamp and lit it so she could see their injuries.

"You don't want to know." was my tired response. Paul looked worriedly at me and set the lantern down next to Jessica.

"You okay Kitty Kat?" he asked worriedly, moving over to wrap an arm around me.

I gratefully leaned into his embrace and wrapped both arms and a wing around him. "I'm okay. I almost lost it when I found them, though. If the crowd hadn't started screaming when my electrical powers got out of control, I probably would have killed everybody there." I replied sadly.

"That bad, huh?" he asked after giving me a proper hug.

"Yeah." I said. We stood there silently while Jessica went to work cleaning and bandaging wounds. Being mutants, their wounds would probably heal up quickly. But a little TLC would speed things up a little. Jessica kept up a constant stream of curses under her breath the entire time.

"Come on, you don't need to stay here for this." Paul said, tugging me towards the door. I didn't resist and let him lead me all the way back to the boat where we'd set up our nest. We found Lek and Muay sleeping soundly curled up in one corner. They took up a surprisingly small area. They looked cute with their tails wrapped around each other.

"Cute little things, aren't they?" Paul said with a smile.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"You ever think about having kids someday? I imagine it must be a weird thought for you, seeing as how it would work a bit differently for you than you could have ever expected." Paul asked.

I chuckled at his understatement. "Yeah, a bit different! I...don't know. Like you said, it's weird. I think I might be up for it someday, though." I said thoughtfully. I surprised myself with my response, but looking down at the two girls curled up in our nest I knew it was true. But I needed to take care of a few things before I could think about that. And it was still a little strange.

Paul smiled widely and picked me up. He grunted a little, I'm not exactly light! I'm quite slim, but dense. And the wings and tail probably didn't help any, either. But he managed to carry me over to the nest and set me down without it looking like it was too hard. He laid down next to me, on the opposite side from the girls, and I snuggled into his arm. It wasn't long before I was asleep.

---

"Cat! Cat, calm down!" I dimly heard Paul yelling at me. I looked around wildly, but all I saw was our little nest in the boat, and Paul's worried face.

"It was just a dream?" I said as the fog slowly lifted from my mind. I'd been dreaming about that club... No, better not to think about that.

"Are you with me Cat?" Paul asked more quietly, seeing that I was more aware now.

I nodded weakly, "Yeah. I guess I was having a nightmare." I looked around again to reassure me that I was back at the boat, and then looked more closely at Paul. His shirt had four parallel tears in it and was stained with blood. His neck was also scratched pretty deeply. "Did...I do that?!"

"Shh, it's alright. I heal pretty quick, remember?" Paul said, pulling me to him. I sank into his embrace and started sobbing. I'd nearly killed him once before, and now I'd attacked him in my sleep!

"Maybe I should sleep alone." I said into his shoulder.

"No way! You think I'm giving up my cuddly little Kitty Kat because of a few scratches? You're stuck with me." Paul said fiercely.

"But I hurt you...again! I could kill you next time." I protested.

Paul shook his head without letting me go. "No you won't. You have more control than you think." he said.

It took him a while to reassure me, and I was still a little unsure, when I remembered the girls. "Where're Lek and Muay? I didn't hurt them, did I?!" I exclaimed. I looked around wildly, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"They're fine, they had already gotten up and gone out to get something to eat when you started thrashing around. Relax." Paul replied patiently.

"Hey, are you two okay down there?" Tina called out from the top of the stairs. "I heard Cat screaming."

"She's fine; she just had a nightmare about that club." Paul replied.

"Okay, do you need anything?" she asked.

"No, thanks Tina. We're okay." Paul said.

"Okay, I'll see you later." Tina said.

"Are you sure it's safe for you and the girls to sleep with me?" I asked worriedly.

Paul nodded and pulled back so he could look me in the eye, "I'm sure. You were moaning and moving around before they woke. You only got violent after they left. But if you're not convinced, we can go ask them."

I was reluctant since I didn't want Lek and Muay to be afraid of me, but followed him out. Carl had made a makeshift kitchen out of the cargo area of his plane and a few of the others were getting something to eat as we walked up. "Have Lek and Muay been here already?" Paul asked.

"Yes, they're eating over there with Melissa." Carl replied, pointing over to the boat Melissa had claimed as her own. She and the girls were there eating and talking.

"Hey Cat, how are you feeling this morning?" Melissa asked with a note of worry in her voice.

"Okay, I guess." I said.

"She had a nightmare and now she's worried she might hurt Lek or Muay in her sleep." Paul said, pointing out the cuts on his chest.

Muay's eyes got wide upon seeing the cuts and she turned to me, "You cut? Why?"

Paul answered too quickly for me to get a word in, "It was an accident. She was having a nightmare about the club where she found those people last night. That's why she was thrashing around so much when you two got up."

"Oh." Muay said, and turned to talk to Lek in Thai. Lek looked worried for a moment and said something to Muay. She turned back to Cat and said, "We trust Cat. Stay with you?"

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Muay nodded, "We sure." Then she surprised me by coming up and hugging me. Lek was a little less enthusiastic, but Muay managed to goad her into hugging me, as well.

"Why don't you two go back to your meal, now?" Paul suggested. They nodded and rejoined Melissa while he guided me away. "You okay Cat?" he asked once we were halfway back to our own nest.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said while wiping my eyes.

"They got to you, didn't they?" he asked with some amusement.

"You didn't see how I found them. To see them now..." I said, choking up again.

Paul wrapped his arms around me and held me until I'd calmed again. "I understand. They've been through hell, but they're coming around nicely. And the trust they're showing you is a big thing. I'm surprised they can trust anybody after what they've been through." he said.

When I pulled away I noticed his eyes were moist, too. "Have they gotten to you, as well?" I asked with a smile.

"Maybe a little..." he said, holding his thumb and forefinger apart by a hair's breadth.

We started walking again. "What are we going to do with them? Not just Lek and Muay, but all of them? So many of them don't speak English, and there's nobody at the island to translate. I don't think Kim will want to go back yet, she's determined to help us here." I asked after a long, comfortable silence.

"I don't think we need to decide that just yet. We have lots of room right now. Hopefully we'll come across some others who can translate and send them with the first group once we've gotten a few more people here. I think Carl is right, that we should try to make them all feel safe. Keeping our numbers up will help with that, I think." Paul replied.

I nodded, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I guess I'd better get something to eat and head back into the city."

"Nobody would blame you if you took a day off, you know. Last night was pretty extreme, from what I gather." he said worriedly.

I thought about it, but finally shook my head, "No, I think I need to get back out there. Besides, now that I know what that club is about, I want to shut it down for good."

"Is that safe? They're bound to beef up security after last night." he said.

"Probably. But that will be tonight, when the club is open. I doubt they'll be expecting an attack during the day. And I'll bring Melissa with me this time." I said.

Paul nodded thoughtfully, "Okay, I guess that should be safer. But you both need to be careful. We've been pretty loud since we got here. There's bound to be increases in security in all their operations soon, if they're not in place already."

"We will. Will you let Melissa know my plans? I'm going to go find something to eat." I said. Paul nodded, so I pulled his head down and gave him a long, toe curling kiss. "See you later!" I called out as I took to the air. I giggled as I looked back and saw him standing there, frozen in place for several seconds before he turned to wave to me.

Hunting didn't take long, and I had a sizable amount of meat left over for Carl to cook up. After dropping that off, he still looked a little green when I did that, I headed over to Melissa's boat. She was still talking to Lek and Muay when I arrived, but she was finishing strapping on one of her blades and looked to be ready for action.

"Hi Cat, I'm almost ready. Do you think we'll find any more mutants in that place?" she said as she finished strapping on her blade. Then she picked up an M16 and put her arm through the strap. At my look she shrugged, "Just because I like blades doesn't mean I won't use a gun if I have to."

Muay, and Lek in particular, looked a little uneasy at all the weapons Melissa was carrying on her. To their credit, though, they didn't shy away from her. Why they'd attached themselves to her I didn't know, but I was glad there was someone else here they felt comfortable with.

"You careful, khun mae?" Muay said, looking worriedly at me. Lek look worried, too.

"Don't worry, Cat's tough, and I'll watch out for her." Melissa said with a curious grin.

"I'll be careful girls. We'll see you later, okay?" I said. They nodded somberly and we headed down to the pier. The boat Melissa had picked was a little crowded to take off from.

"What's with the grin?" I asked her as it showed no signs of fading. At my question her grin only got wider.

"You don't know what khun mae means, do you?" she asked.

"No, why would I?" I said.

"Kim overheard them earlier and said that mae is Thai for mother." Melissa said, grinning even wider, if that was possible, at my shocked expression. By then we were clear of the larger ships and she took to the air, her laughter floating back to me. I took off after her, but it was impossible to hold much of a conversation while flying.

Do they really think of me as a mother? I wondered during the short flight. It was a sobering thought, but also a surprisingly pleasant one.

I led the way to the club and landed on the roof. The guards were back, but Melissa and I made short work of them. This time we went in through the roof door. This led down to the second level of the club, where the wealthier patrons had been last night. There were also some offices where I found a VCR and pointed it out to Melissa, "We're going to need that. Let's get it and set it aside to take with us when we leave."

Melissa nodded and started unplugging it. Once it was disconnected she wrapped the cords around it and set it on a table in the customer area, along with a small television. "Do we have a way of powering these?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I guess we should keep our eyes open for a generator."

With that we continued looking through the club. We were surprised to find there was nobody there beyond the two guards. The area where the crowd had been was empty, as was the stage. But it was as we were examining the stage that we found another door hidden behind some curtains. "Maybe this is where they brought the 'entertainment' in from?" Melissa suggested. She looked grim, having seen the many blood stains on the stage.

"Probably." I agreed. Melissa didn't bother with the handle, she drew her sword and kicked the door in. I followed her in and looked around in surprise. Almost immediately beyond the door was a room full of cages made of steel bars. Each cage had at least one mutant in it.

"Why would they leave all of them here without guards?" Melissa muttered.

I had a bad feeling about this situation and opened up my senses. "They didn't. It's a trap. I hear and smell many men approaching. Start opening cages and I'll guard the door." I said, turning to put action to words. The door was a wreck, but I picked it up and pushed it back into its frame. There wasn't anything else around to use to brace it, though, so I knew it would come down soon.

The sound of metal striking metal temporarily distracted me and I glanced over my shoulder to see Melissa had cut off the lock on the first cage. "Won't that trash your sword?" I asked as I turned back to the door.

"Probably." Melissa grunted as she swung at another lock. "But it's worth it."

By this time the smell of the men was much stronger and I knew it was only a matter of seconds until they came bursting in. Glancing to the side at all the metal cages made me realize that using electricity would be dangerous, at best. Great, I've got to stick with hand to hand. I hope they don't have many guns. I thought.

"Here, take this." Melissa said, holding out her M16 to me.

"I've never fired one of these." I said, hesitantly taking it from her, along with a couple of clips she'd had stuck into her belt.

Melissa shrugged and turned back to her work, "Neither have I. But it's pretty simple. Just point and shoot. The recoil shouldn't be an issue for you, so you might even manage some decent accuracy."

By this point there were several starved, beaten, broken mutants wandering timidly out of their cages. Some stayed put, which would make it a pain to get them all out.

Just then the door was kicked in and a large man burst in. He wasn't armed, oddly enough. He grinned when he saw me standing there, but lost the grin when he saw me aim the M16 at him. I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. "It's not working!" I called out, getting ready to fight without it.

"Safety!" Melissa called back.

Oh, yeah. Should have thought of that. I looked for the safety, but the man charged forward before I could find it. I dropped the gun and braced myself. He seemed surprised when I stopped him dead in his tracks. But then, he was obviously a mutant himself, considering the amount of force he was exerting. "There's always somebody stronger." I said as I picked him up and flung him back through the doorway.

"Not always." Melissa pointed out.

"Someone will show up eventually." I replied, picking up the M16. I found the safety and switched it off and turned back to the door. The mutant saw what I was doing and dove aside to reveal several men with automatic weapons crouched and ready to fire. "Look out!" I called out as I brought my weapon to bear and pulled the trigger.

---

To Be Continued…