BornFreeTime -- a Whatelely Academy Fan Fic by Rose_2

One minute you're a happy pair of siblings, the next your mommy is dead and you are in a strange land living with a new mommy and even stranger creatures. Experience a day at Whateley Academy throught the eyes of a pair of adventuring time-displaced smilodon cubs and their equally strange new mommy.

Born Free Time

This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it’s fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out either Sapphire’s Place,

(http://www.sapphireplace.com/stories/whateley.html) or the Big Closet (http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/taxonomy/term/117).”

This story comes courtesy of Rose_2. She has generously offered it for use in my Timeout Fan Fic. I think this qualifies her as the President of the George and Gracie fan club. We have tosssed this back and forth for some time and it’s been fun. It’s been interesting for me to look at my Joanie through a different pair of eyes, the two smilodons. Rose _2 gets the credit for most of this piece.

As always, your constructive criticism and advice helps us improve as writers and to make our stories better. This is an exercise in the joys of creativity and in appreciation of the wonderful Whateley Universe. Any violations of copyright, trade mark or use of real people or incidents are purely for purposes of humor or parody and done solely for the free enjoyment of the reading public. All rights reserved in perpetuity, Rose_2 and John from Wauwatosa WI, 2006-2007.

Adult content advisory: this story may situations and topics unsuitable for young minds or your sanity. Some content is of an adult sexual nature, so be warned. Okay, there is no such content in this story. I’m such a tease.

Born Free Time
By Rose_2 with assistance by John from Wauwatosa
GEBPRized by Janet Nolan and apprentice.

Rose_2 and my special thanks to the talented authors Bek D. Corbin AKA Chaka, Dr Bender AKA Sara Waite, Heather O Malley AKA Miyet, Warren Wheeler AKA Samantha Everheart/Hive and all those who created Whateley Academy.

* * * *

Mid morning at the Whateley Academy campus
Thursday April 26, 2007

Two young men entered Poe Hall through the door to the kitchen at the back of the house. Rampage and Blue Streak walked through the Poe kitchen and into the front hall and quietly started climbing the stairs.

“Blue Streak, are you sure this is a good Idea?” asked Rampage. “Now that we’re out of that podunk jail, we should get out of town.”

“Of course, first we get revenge against that bitch and it will all point to that fool Peeper,” laughed Blue Streak. “Then we get to New York and hook up with a big time syndicate and we got it made.”

The diabolic duo made their way to the linen closet that was converted to be the room for Joan Brown, student, substitute teacher, auxiliary security officer, pop idol, etc. Sometimes, Joanie wasn’t sure how many hats she wore.

As Rampage bent down to prep the digital still and moving picture cameras, Blue Streak bent to pick the lock on the door and stayed just like that. Standing around the corner, Mrs. Horton and Chief Delarose were also standing perfectly still as Joanie AKA Timeout froze time in the hallway.

Joanie walked up to the two criminals, who weeks earlier had tried to beat her to death, and last night escaped from the local county lock-up. Whateley Security had immediately gone on full alert awaiting their likely return. Fubar, the staff psychic expert, had alerted security of their approach. When they had crossed the woods onto the campus, they were then covertly tracked until they broke into Poe Hall and trapped themselves.
Joanie attached electronic four point restraint cuffs to the wrists and ankles of the two. She let normal time resume for the pair.

“What the hell, you again, bitch?” shouted Rampage, who tried using his brick strength to break free. Blue Streak tried escaping in the confusion. But his speedster ability was useless as the electronic restraints tangled his limbs.

“You two, resisting arrest again? Sorry, but,” Joanie said and gave him what appeared to be a swift kick between the legs with a steel toed boot. She pulled her kick at the last possible moment and never touched him. She just lightly brushed his pants, making no contact with his manhood. Rampage's mind did the rest as it reacted to prevent his imminent castration. He involuntarily tried to cover himself. A stunned Blue Streak was an open target and she did remember what they had tried to do to her. An equally well faked kick resulted in both Rampage and Blue Streak doubled over in imagined pain and struggling to maintain their balance due to the restrictions of the four-point restraints.

~~I so wanted to kick them for real, but it felt too much like a cheap shot... but then they had tried to kill me. Damn it, that’s right. They tried to kill me! I ought too ...~~ She thought.

“Consider yourselves lucky I don’t have any wire and a lineman’s pliers on me. If you thought the virtual boot hurt ...” ~ ~There, I’ve twisted-the-knife* sufficiently. I feel so much better now. Virtual revenge is nearly as good as the real thing, and much less messy. ~ ~ Joanie had them so mentally off balance, they had not yet realized they were not hurt.

“What did I do that was so bad you two had to try and kill me? Are your egos that fragile you can’t stand that a weak little girl defeated you in a fair contest? If you had used your brains in that endurance run, you could have beaten me easily. The smart move would have been to run close behind me, enjoying the view, then sprint past me at the very end. Remember, it’s blondes who are supposed to be bimbos, not boys,” she said and giggled. Then, Joanie got serious. “ I’m sorry about the boot to the, you know, but you did try to escape,” Joanie said and released the rest of her time stop. Rampage and Bluestreak just stared at Joanie, furious at being made fools of again.

Time resumed its forward movement when Joanie stood next to the Chief and Mrs. Horton. Rampage fell forward and Blue Streak went face first into the door, both spewing a string of curses at each other and Joanie when they saw her.

“What was that, Joanie?” asked the Chief.

“My knee-strike needs work; I think I’m aiming too high,” she said, pouting apologetically and giggling softly. Her emotions were mixed, she hated violence and felt bad about hurting the boys, but she felt satisfaction in making them pay. They had resisted arrest after all, but she still felt guilty.

Mrs. Horton in true form scolded both for their bad language. Two additional security officers moved the two criminals down to a waiting armored car painted in Whatley Security colors to transport them back to the county facility. Now Whatley personnel would be back up for the county officers, at the reluctant request of the correction facility.

Chief Delarose extended his right arm gentlemanly towards Mrs. Horton, “If you will come with me we can take your statement and put this matter behind us.” As they walked off Joanie reminded herself that the Chief was a class act.

~~Always the gentleman, the Chief, and what a great ass. Save that for the next call to Eric, Joanie. Eighteen is only four years away, hang on, Girl. You’ve waited 49 years, what’s four more?~~

* * * *

Ignored at the time, two rambunctious smilodon cubs were playfully pouncing on each other. George sprang from his perch on the remains of a couch that the cubs considered their own and just missed Gracie as she rolled away. George’s flight was stopped as he collided with the no longer locked door which vibrated open!

The two cubs while weighing 18 and 20 lbs each still had the thoughts of the kittens that they were treated as. So with inquisitive minds and rooms to explore, George and Gracie were on....

Born Free Time

Gracie is closest, so she boldly walks through the door while George is shaking off the collision with the door. She smells people and “the new Mommy. Why didn’t she come and play with us? I would really love a scratch on the back of my neck,” thinks Gracie as she rubs against the door jam. “The new mommy looks odd compared to the old mommy, but she scratches nice.”

“They went this way,” thinks George as he runs toward the stairs.

“Boys,” thinks Gracie as she climbs up on the window sill to look out. She saw the gentle grassy hills some squirrels and robins, but no mammoths like the old mommy told her about. “Hey, wait for me,” she merowed and chased after George.

George stopped and turned at the sound of Gracie’s merow and the two cubs tumbled down the stairs together. The cubs came to a stop tumbling into the doorway of the kitchen. George's sensitive nose picked up a smell from the trash can.

“Oh, that smells good.”

The senior girls had had a pizza party last night and the trash can was over flowing with pizza boxes. George pushed over the trash can to find a feast–five boxes with stale, cold pizza and a pile of anchovies that had been pulled off the pizza. The cubs devoured these delicacies. Gracie suddenly growled, or tried to when George went for the last of the fishy stuff and startled George who tumbled backwards through the back door.

It seems security had forgotten to secure this door. But the alarm did go off, scaring the cubs and alerting security that a security door to the building had been opened. With Mrs. Horton on her way to security with the chief, there was no one in the building to silence the alarm or to answer the repeated calls the security officer on watch duty made to Poe Hall. Pursuant to department policy a security officer was dispatched to investigate the alarm.

George and Gracie did not know what caused the noise, but were scared and ran across the field behind Poe Hall. George and Gracie stopped running after their sprint across the field lead them to a side entrance of Kane Hall. The two cubs lay panting on the sidewalk.

“You were so scared, running like that,” Gracie teased.

“Oh, and you weren’t right beside me, trying to keep up,” George snarled.

Once the cubs caught their breath, they started looking and sniffing around when George spotted a squirrel.

“Gracie, look, I’m gonna catch that squirrel,” said George.

“He heard you, now you’ll never catch him,” responded Gracie.

“Wanna bet?” and the two cubs were off chasing after the squirrel as it disappeared over a small hill.

The cubs found themselves at a outdoor test range where two teams of freshmen gadgeteers were competing. One team had built a small tank that could burrow underground for short distances. The other team was defending against the tank with twin laser cannons mounted on a scale model fortress like the one in the movie Starship Troopers. The field the size of a basketball court was littered with piles of concrete rubble to simulate battlefield conditions. The two teams were sitting in separate control rooms watching simple targeting monitors, not video screens.

“ATTENTION, ATTENTION. RANGE B IS ACTIVE, RANGE B IS ACTIVE. DO NOT ENTER,”

sounded from the loud speakers, not that it meant anything to George and Gracie as they crawled under an undermined section of a metal stockade fence chasing a gray squirrel. Luck and skill were with the squirrel who doubled back and scurried up and over the fence.

At this time the tank had began burrowing into the ground. George saw the tank and said “There it goes, lets get that squirrel,” and George was off like a shot chasing after the little tank.

George reached his quarry just as the tank had managed to dig itself under the surface of the field. The students had made their project light weight and maneuverable, but they had not contemplated a determined Smilodon in their design. To George and Gracie, the progeny of successful mastodon predators, a RC tank was great sport.

“You wont get away from me,” was George’s thought as his teeth griped the rear of the tank and pulled it free of its freshly dug tunnel.

“Silly boy, he didn’t catch a squirrel,” was Gracie’s comment, but as that thought was made, the twin lasers at the fortress fired at the tank AND George.

George yipped and ran for the safety of a big hunk of concrete as the poorly aimed shot singed the fur of his right ear.

“You can’t hurt my brother like that ,” Gracie hissed as she charged the fortress. Leaping from rock pile to rock pile, she was faster than the targeting computer could track.

The tank, not to be left out, fired at the fortress narrowly missing Gracie, who while not its target had almost reached the fortress. George, seeing this, growled–well tried to–“Nobody attacks my sister but me,” as he pounced on the tank with all of his 20 pounds landing with one paw on top of the gun barrel.

As the little tank shifted position to fire again, George lost his balance and fell off of the tank.

Gracie had reached the fortress and with her front paws swatted both miniature cannons turning the guns toward each other. At that moment all three weapons were fired, or at least the students tried to fire them. Both of the fortress laser cannons fried each other as the tank’s gun backfired as the barrel had bent under the weight of George's pounce.

The two cubs ran back to the hole under the fence as the twin explosions shutdown the testing range. The only witness of the event was an unmanned digital camcorder set up for classroom critique

* * * *.

“Officer O’Fallon to base, I have entered Poe and found the back door open, also the kitchen looks like some raccoons got into the trash. I’ll do a sweep of the premises and secure the back door O’Fallon out.”

As O’Fallon walked through the building, he saw all the doors were closed and locked except for one of the linen closets which had a bulletin-board attached to its door. He closed and locked that particular door and continued on with his search of the building, thinking it was unimportant.

* * * *

Again the cubs found themselves laying in the sun on the cool ground, panting to catch their breath, this time in a field of wildflowers. As George lay sprawled on his back soaking in the morning sun, Gracie was watching a multi colored butterfly land on the petals of a flower. She crouched down in her stalking posture, creeping closer to the flower when the butterfly suddenly took wing. Gracie happily danced in the flowers, reaching her fore paws up after the butterfly. Not to be left out, George joined in the dance with his sister. The cubs danced and jumped in the flowers as more and more butterflies rose up to fill the air.

The butterflies seemed to be leading the cubs over to the King annex where Joanie and Mr. King were discussing the music selection for The Sabers' rehearsal. Mr. King was explaining the snack he was preparing.

“Now, for a proper peanut butter and banana sandwich you have to use a cast iron skillet. It is just not possible to create this sandwich using a microwave oven,” authoritatively stated the caped teacher as he placed the sandwich on a plate to cool. “Not like that sandwich they tried to pass off at Crystal Hall.”

Joanie was trying to hide her giggle at how seriously he took the preparations by holding her fingers to her lips as if in thought and nodding politely.

~~Ghod, he takes being Elvis seriously, you don’t suppose he really is? I was a man, stranger things are possible, aren’t they?~~ she thought.

Joanie struggled to keep from laughing. Just then the sound of a commotion in the hallway drew them out of the room. Two girls were yelling obscenities at each other over who had the right to date a particular boy. Next came a masculine yell of “cat fight.” Mr. King paused on his way out the door only to turn off the hotplate under the skillet. Joanie was already on her way towards the shouts. The office door closing behind them caused the cooking smells to momentarily surge out of an open window.

The window in the room had to be open while Mr. King was using the hotplate. So as the butterflies lead the cubs across the field, Gracie caught the scent of cooking coming from the open window. The puff of hot peanut butter and banana scent was just too enticing. With two bounds and a leap Gracie caught the window ledge with her forepaws. A little clawing with her rear paws and she was in the room and on the counter under the window. Right behind Gracie was George who joined into the search to find something to eat.

Gracie pounced on the sandwich and George dug into the jar of peanut butter. This made a great snack for the cubs; unfortunately they did not know how to open the refrigerator to get to the cold milk to help wash it down. So George and Gracie decided to eat and run towards the forest where their senses told them there was a river flowing.

The cold river water was very refreshing after eating the sticky peanut butter. Soon after drinking his fill, George started walking out onto a fallen tree trunk that stretched over the river. Looking down into the water he saw fish, more specifically trout. Lots and lots of trout schooling together under the fallen tree trunk. George licked his lips thinking of eating fish, but tasted more peanut butter still in his fur around his mouth.

Gracie climbed up on some heavy roots of the overturned tree after she saw George looking at the water hungrily.

“Fish! Gracie, look at all the fish,” said George.

Gracie purred as she extended her claws, baby claws that they were, and raised her paw to swipe at the fish.

At that moment George slipped on the wet tree trunk, falling into the cold water scattering the fish in all directions.

Gracie swung her paw at the fish, missing wildly and causing her to tumble into the water, too.

The cubs, now wet, did not give up trying to catch the fish. Their splashing around chased the fish towards the bank. The lion cubs emerged from the cold stream looking like soaked house cats, but proudly holding a trout in their mouths.

“Mua phyh hii buggr,” George mumbled proudly with a mouth full of thrashing fish which translated into, “My fish is bigger.”

Gracie laughed openly at her brother. “In your dreams,” declared Gracie after spitting out her fish as she went to work opening up her fish like it was a sofa.

After eating the cubs version of trout sushi, they both lay down together in a nearby meadow to rest and dry, and soon were deep into a little cat nap.

* * * *

While George and Gracie were sleeping the day away, Joanie was at security answering LOTS of questions. Mr. King, Mrs. Horton, Ms. Hartford and The Erector–the last being the instructor of the Freshman Gadgeteer class that was using Range B that morning–all had questions for her.

Mrs. Horton: “Joanie the kitchen is a filthy mess.”

Mr. King: “My peanut butter-n-naner sandwiches and supplies are gone.”

~~He is clearly ‘all shook up,’~~ Joanie thought and giggled silently. She was trying not to get too upset at her impromptu and confusing interrogation.

The Erector: “My students worked hard on this test”

Joanie looked bewildered; she had expected to help process two empaths for fighting in the hall. Instead, she got called into Chief Delarose’s office and was feeling ambushed. The Chief was letting everyone have their say, though Joanie was tempted to use her power to interrupt the chaos into which the room was descending. Ms. Hartford was standing quietly in the corner, farthest from Mrs. Horton, with a sinister looking smile on her lips. Joanie was about to use her power to get some peace when Ms. Hartford spoke.

“Chief Delarose, would it not be prudent to capture these felines first before more damage is done?”

“Yes, yes of course,” he said as he keyed his intercom, “Jones, broadcast to all units: Be on the lookout for Timeouts two, um, lion cubs, traveling together or alone.” Feeling the absurdity of the situation the Chief added, “they are unarmed, but considered destructive, though Not Dangerous. Apprehend without violence,” he added with a sigh.

Joanie gave the Chief a big smile and a confused Ms. Hartford a hug.

All available security personnel whether on foot, in vehicles or wearing flying packs joined in the search for the cubs. Also, the Peacekeepers were called out to help in the search for the cubs. Stan and Morrie were sent down into the tunnels in case the cubs had gone underground. Joanie first went to Siegel Hall to get The Sabers to aid in the search.

Outside Whitman Hall, two security officers, either one of which looked like they could bench press a Buick, were walking along the shrubbery calling for the cubs.

“Here George, here Gracie,” called William Keerock.

“No, no, Will, you’re being too forceful. You’re trying to catch a cat, not a dog,” Lenard Vulcaine corrected. “Logically, you need to be more subtle”.

“Subtle hell, give me a clear shot with my Tazer and I’ll have those cats,” William said quick drawing his Tazer.

As the weapon cleared leather, Miyet sprang from behind a bush snatching it from Officer Keerocks hand.

“In the name of Bast and as a provisional member of The St. Louis Six I can not allow you to harm a cat in that manner,” stated the cat girl “What is your badge number? 1701, I’m going to have to report this to your superiors and PETA...

Miyet proceeded to give Officer Keerock a piece of her mind about his lack of respect for the animals of Whateley and the cat world in particular.

Officer Vulcaine held back all emotion while watching Miyet give his partner a good dressing down. He activated the personal micro camcorder to save this event to share with others.

* * * *

The maximum effort security put forth reminded some of the staff of the time in 2001 when Ms. Hartford had ordered Miki caught. ~~We all know how well that worked, maybe Miki has seen the cubs?~~ wondered Mr. Miyagi, the head groundskeeper

* * * *

Chief Delarose was monitoring the progress, or lack there of, in the operation to capture the cubs, when he received a call from operations. “Go ahead, Morrie,” the Chief called into the radio.

“Aye, Captain. At least the wee beasties haven’t got into the machinery,” answered Morrie in a baaad imitation of a Scottish accent.

“Morrie, why are you trying to sound like an episode from Star Trek?” asked the Chief wearily.

“Because Stan and I flipped a coin and I won,” stated Morrie proudly.

* * * *

While everyone was searching for George and Gracie, the cubs were taking a leisurely stroll through the woods. Their senses seemed to be called by a chorus of voices. As they traveled deeper into the forest the plants seemed to bend out of the way to lead them on into the forest. They walked up to a small grove of trees that once they stepped inside, magically became so much bigger than was physically possible. In the middle of the woods were a waterfall and a sparkling pool. Next to the pool was a great oak tree, a tree so old it seemed to have the knowledge of the ages. The cubs lay down next to the tree as though they were destined to be in this place.

* * * *

Later in the day when the cubs exited the woods, they were a little more energized but, calmer in appearance. Their day had been one grand adventure and a successful one so far. In their delight, they forgot about the dangers they had faced. They forgot about the tall two-legged creatures with the long stone tipped sticks that had killed their old mother. They forgot having been cold, hungry and terrified when another two-legged creature came and grabbed them - their new mommy. New Mommy was a two-legged creature, but a good mother to them. They accepted her as an honorary smilodon. Being but cubs, the day’s excitement and the time in the grove had pushed the bad memories to the back of their minds. This was understandable as was their frequent hunger. They had a lot of growing up to do.

George and Gracie were sniffing for something to eat after their big day of exploring the area around Whateley Academy.

On the loading dock behind Schuster Hall beneath Crystal Hall sat an empty cage that had contained a billy goat that had been Sara Waite’s breakfast. There was no longer even the scent of goat left in the cage. However, there were some bits of egg, sausage, grits and scrapple, also some yankee pot-roast, mo go gi pan and broccoli with cheese sauce which had fallen into the cage when it sat next to the trash cans. George, thinking with his stomach, went right up to the cage and crawled through the opening to get at the tasty snack that awaited him. As he stepped in, he tripped the latch causing the door to lock behind him.

“Hey, what’s happening,” called George as the lock slammed shut. He made a few cub growls as he shook the cage trying to figure out how to get out of his predicament.

Gracie bounded up onto the loading dock. “Silly, what are you doing in there?” asked Gracie.

Some more growls that turned to whines and finally George pouted, “Please get help and get me out of here.”

“I’ll go and find The Mommy,” Gracie said and ran down the side of the building.

* * * *

Two members of Team Kimba were already in The Crystal Hall waiting on line for their dinner.

“I’m hungry enough to eat a horse,” Sara commented, famished after the workout she had been through.

“Well, if Mr. Ed comes walking up to the table you can take your meal to go,” Toni replied. Toni had selected teriyaki chicken breast, baby peas and wild rice. Sara was given lion cub in a cage.

The cafeteria staff was used to the bizarre nutritional requirements of some students and staff. This evening’s meal started out smoothly and serenely. The calm, if you can call a cafeteria full of teenagers calm, was about to be broken by two unexpected problems. First the morning shift had failed to remove the shipping tag when setting an empty cage out for pickup. The second problem was that the cafeteria dockworker had not been informed the delivery truck was delayed. These two minor problems became a big one because the cafeteria staff was short handed. The harried worker who retrieved the cage from the loading dock saw, “For Sara Waite,” but missed seeing the rest of the tag which read, “breakfast entré, one goat, male.”, because it was smeared with scrambled eggs. It was not his fault as this was not his usual duty. He was just a student busboy. Once placed on the conveyor belt, no one checked the label again the machinery read the bar code on the old label and routed the cage to Sara Waite.

Pinky happened to be walking by the Team Kimba table at the right time when she saw Sara extending a tentacle into the cage at her feet. Now most people would look away when Sara was eating, the sight while common was still very disturbing. But, Pinky for some reason did not turn away. Pinky instead turned and looked right into the cage and recognized George staring back in confusion and fear.

“Nooooooo!” screamed Pinky as she leaped at Sara.

The tentacles retracted back into Sara’s hand as Pinky’s body landed on the cage shielding George from harm.

Toni helped Sara back to her feet from where she had fallen backwards when she was startled by Pinky. Sara was visibly shaken when she realized that this was not some ill creature destined to be destroyed, but George.

Toni was looking around for The Don or some other Alpha expecting it to be one of their half baked evil plans.

Pinky was fighting with the hasp on George’s cage, frantic to get her kitty friend out of his trap.

Brittney Spears–AKA Cheryl to most everyone else on campus–the cashier was on the phone to security, “That’s right a lion cub in the cafeteria, could you send Officer Joanie Brown; tell her Brittney Spears said for her to come to Crystal Hall immediately, her friend Pinky is in a situation and is protecting what looks like a lion cub.

* * * *
Gracie was running around to the front of Schuster Hall when she spotted Officer Samantha Everheart coming out of the building. Sam saw the big kitten and reached down to catch her.

Meanwhile Gracie was trying her best to communicate with the human while avoiding the hands grabbing for her.

“HELP!! My brother is trapped, please come help, PLEASE!!!”

While Sam was still trying to catch the cub HIVE broke in. *Everheart Unit, I have analyzed the feline’s vocalization and have come up with a possible match from the broadcast you watched last night. It is similar to that canine breed collie announcing that, “Timmy had fallen down the well.”*

Sam was slowly crouching down to appear less threatening to Gracie and said, “I wish I knew what you wanted little one, but I don’t speak cat.”

*It may be possible to communicate on a crude basis. It should be possible to ask it to lead us to the problem.*

“You mean we ask the Smilodon, 'Show me?'”

*Precisely.*

“Ok. Well, do it.”

Suddenly Sam found herself making several oddly catlike sounds and scrunching her face in a very strange manner.

“What did you do to me?” she thought to HIVE.

*A visual message to reinforce the vocalization, more precisely, feline body language,* Sam thought she heard the stored VR copy/simulation of HIVE’s creator giggle. Sam and HIVE were slowly merging into a single consciousness. Their internal dialogs were nearly instantaneous or even subconscious, but sometimes the mischievous spirit of HIVEs creator came out to play. Fortunately as in life, Sam’s and the late Doctor’s personalities complemented each other.

Gracie turned and ran for the loading dock where she had left George, thinking, “I hope she follows me, I could barely understand her.”

* * * *

When they reached the loading dock, George and the cage were gone.

Sam arrived and found Gracie sniffing around at the boxes and barrels stacked on the platform making mewing noises.

“That better not be cat laughter I hear,” warned Sam, but whether to Gracie or Hive you could not tell.

Gracie caught a scent and crawled through a door that a conveyor belt traveled through.
Just then, a truck with the sign Critter Catchers pulled up and two men unloaded a cage containing four large chickens.

“Officer did you see a cage around here? The kitchen staff is supposed to leave the empties right here,” asked the truck driver.

Sam snatched her radio off her belt quickly calling, “Base, tell all units the lions are in Crystal Hall. Repeat the lions are in Crystal Hall!”, and pushed through the door next to the loading dock. Once inside, there was an elevator and stair leading upstairs. Sam climbed the stairs three at a time with an ease that was impressive even for Whateley residents.

* * * *

Chief Delarose had been on his way to Crystal Hall since Cheryl had called for Joanie and entered the dining area as the sound of crashing dishes came from the kitchen.

Gracie leaped through the pass through window from the kitchen landing in a large dish of spaghetti on the serving line. With a single jump she cleared the Plexiglas sneeze guard and ran between the tables looking for George. Sam did not need HIVE’s help to track Gracie with the marinara sauce trail she was leaving.

Gracie leaped onto a table to look around for George and jumped off of the table and right into Ms. Carson’s arms smearing spaghetti sauce down the front of her cream colored suit. She managed to hold onto Gracie as Pinky walked up to her holding George. As Ms. Carson stood there Chief Delarose and Joanie arrived and both cubs meowed for their Mommy.

“Chief Delarose, I want these two animals securely leashed and then assemble everyone involved outside my office in fifteen minutes,” stated Ms. Carson in a extremely calm voice that left no one relaxed. She then left for her private restroom to try to clean the mess made of her suit.

* * * *

After Ms. Carson returned from the restroom now wearing jeans and a Whateley Academy sweat shirt. Ms. Carson waited until everyone was assembled in her office before she started. “This entire campus has been disrupted today and I want to get to the bottom of it. I will ask questions and I expect answers. When we are done, then you may ask your own questions,” stated Ms. Carson, it wasn’t necessary for her to ask if everyone understood.

“First, Chief Delarose how did the cubs get loose?”

“We never checked Joanie’s room or the kitchen’s back door after apprehending the escapees” confessed Chief Delarose.

“Mrs. Horton, was any real damage done to the cottage's kitchen”

“No a good scrubbing is all it should take to put things to right again. Also those ladies knew they were to take out the trash after their party and not leave it in the kitchen. They know food waste attracts animals,” admitted Mrs. Horton.

“Mr.Oshman, would you please play the tape? Mr, Oshman? Bernie, I am not going to call you The Erector, it’s not a dignified codeword - too easy to misconstrue... I don’t want to hear any snickering... Mr. Oshman, play the tape.”

Everyone turned to look at the aerial photo of the campus behind Ms. Carson’s desk as it became a flat screen TV. The picture was showing Range B from above and the left as the tank started across the field using the cover of the rubble. Suddenly, a squirrel appeared on the fence and right behind it came the cubs. George then attacked the tank and Gracie defended her brother from the fortress when it fired and missed at him. The explosions were the end of the movie.

“I guess if the fence had been in proper repair the cats wouldn’t have gotten in,” was The Erector’s reply.

“And aren’t your student’s supposed to walk the perimeter before a test?” questioned Ms. Carson.

“Yes, we were lax in our responsibilities,” he admitted.

“Mr. King, any destruction in your office?”

“No just a great sandwich gone to waste,” he complained.

“Ms. Hartford, were there any injuries from the fight between students in Crystal Hall?”

“No injuries, no fights, either. Ms. Conner simply stopped Ms. Waite from consuming the male lion.” Everyone grimaced at the word 'consume' as they all knew how Sara consumed her food. “But no altercation occurred,” Ms. Hartford reported.

“Well then, I rule that if Miss Brown is willing to make restitution, then no disciplinary action will be taken. Any questions? Good.”

Ms. Hartford cleared her throat, “Chief Delarose, you have a student waiting for you in your office with a complaint against an officer. Also, you may need to contact ‘The St Louis Six’ and PETA may be calling you.” She seemed almost to smile when she finished. Chief Delarose seemed less enthused with the news.

* * * *

Joanie was sitting out in the administration cubicles with Pinky, Sara Waite, Toni Chandler and two lion cubs trying to act all innocent, “George must really be affectionate, the way he is licking his sister,” Sara commented.

“It’s not affection, he likes that spaghetti sauce she’s dunked in,” laughed Toni
Both cubs were now wearing their harnesses and held securely by leashes.

“I need to get you two out to the farm. You’re too big to stay in my dorm room anymore. You're nomadic hunters of the sub-arctic grasslands, you need room to roam, but with the explosion we won’t be moving for awhile. Sorry, little ones,” Joanie said to her wayward cubs.

The door to Ms. Carson's office opened, letting everyone file out of the impromptu meeting. Ms. Hartford asked the girls to come in to the office. Once everyone sat down Ms. Carson spoke, “Miss Waite, Miss Chandler, you both did not have to stay. We had your statements already.”

“We are here to show support for Pinky, uhm, Miss Conners,” declared Sara.

“She was just protecting George,” added Toni.

“Well Pinky is also free to go, I just need to speak with Ms. Brown and, no, you're not in trouble either, Joanie,” Ms. Carson said warmly. “Not much trouble,” she added with a laugh. “We are sure that no rules were broken, but your furry friends did cause a lot of trouble. You need to clean the kitchen back at Poe and pay for the items on this list to replace what George and Gracie destroyed.”

Joanie glanced at the list seeing various electronic parts, peanut butter and such. The last item was a cream suit with a suggestion to order it through “Rogers Fabric Boutique” for one Ms. Elizabeth Carson. Joanie winced when she read that last item.

“I want to know,” asked Sara delicately, “I know George was not meant to be my dinner so what happened?”

“Oh, the truck had a flat tire. Your chicken dinner is waiting upstairs,” answered Ms. Carson

* * * *

After returning to Poe Cottage, Joanie changed into her running clothes and headed down to the kitchen to clean up the mess left by her kitties. Once there, she found Mrs. Horton holding off The Sabers, who had come to clean the kitchen for Joanie. “Ms. Brown knew she was responsible for those animals when she brought them here,” stated Mrs. Horton sternly. “It is her responsibility to clean the Kitchen.”

“Mrs. Horton is right; George and Gracie’s mess is my mess to clean up. And I guess I am a Big Girl,” Joanie said wiggling her breasts.

“Just when you were making such a good example,” Mrs. Horton said disappointedly.

To be continued?