Callie's head was pounding and she swore things were moving on their own when she looked and not because she was moving them with her mind. She could tell the difference, honest!
"Here Ms. Briggs, drink this and it will help ease the magical backlash you're suffering from," Star, the Wotan's head mage said, holding out a steaming mug of something toward her.
Sighing, she took it and sipped it cautiously. It was hot but didn't taste too bad. It was certainly better than the original concoction he'd forced her to drink shortly after her first test. That had been truly foul.
As she tried to regain her equilibrium, Star gave her some bad news. She had thought she would be returning home after the treatment, but it seems things had changed.
"Ms. Briggs, you have tested out as being extremely powerful, magically, than any person we've encountered in a very long time," the old wolf said.
"That's good news, right? So why do you look like you're delivering bad news," she asked, warily.
"In good conscious, Ms. Briggs, I cannot allow someone as powerful and totally untrained as you to go back among your people when any strong emotion could cause your magic to act on its own with possibly catastrophic consequences," he warned, quietly.
She gaped at him. "I'm not going to like what you're about to say, am I?"
He gave her a sad smile. "No, you're not, but you have no choice. You must remain aboard the Wotan where you can be closely monitored as you are trained on how to use your new skills. Only then will you be allowed to go home."
Callie groaned. "And how long will that take?"
"I don't know. It depends on how fast you learn and master your magic. It could take a couple of weeks, a month or two months," he said, honestly, shrugging his broad shoulders.
"But..." and for the next hour she begged and argued to no avail. Star would not be budged.
Sighing in frustration, Callie admitted defeat and went to tell the patiently waiting Abi that she would have to return home alone and to take a message back to Mayor Manx. He was going to be furious and afraid to learn, he was on his own until she was deemed safe to go home.
"I don't like it either, Callie, but they are right. It would be very bad for you to lose control of your magic at home. There are so many things that could make you angry or upset going on right now," Abi said when she was told the news.
"I know...but I'm the one coordinating all that's going on and being gone sets our timetable back. I just hate being behind," the pretty blond moaned.
"I know that very well, however this is just as important and if it make you feel any better, I'll take charge of the project and keep it flowing, though I'm afraid all your other work will indeed be behind but there is nothing for it. I'll keep you abreast of events with regular progress reports sent through Lt. Kam. That help?" Abi offered, quietly. She would do anything to ease the burdens of her lover any way she could.
"But you have plenty of work of your own that will fall behind, I can't ask you to take on mine as well," she objected."
"I have plenty of people working for me that can handle what I need done, don't worry about that. I will do this, so no more arguing," Abi said firmly.
Callie stared at her lover a long moment then leaned froward to give Abi a passionate kiss on her lips in thanks, then sighed as she pulled away. "Thank you. I truly appreciate this, love."
Sighing in regret that she would have to leave her lover, Abi gave the blond she-kat a wane smile. "Well, I best get back then, however, I would like to check on how Razor is doing first."
"Oh, yes...have you heard anything since he was brought in," Callie asked, anxiously.
"Only that he was resting quietly, his broken bones already healed, but his head injury still needed time to heal before he will be allowed out of the induced coma they put him in," Abi informed her.
"Ohhh, poor Razor. God, it was so lucky the Wotan was here. From the number and severity of his injuries, he could have died despite how advanced our medical skills are." Callie shuddered at how close they came to losing one of the SWAT Kats.
"Yes, we were very lucky, so let's go how he's doing now," Abi said, taking her lover's paw and tugging her toward the door.
In the medical bay, Razor was just beginning to wake up. His head felt fuzzy and his eyes wouldn't focus when he finally managed to open them.
He could tell he was laying on a bed and the smells let him know it was a medical room but not the one he'd built in their hangar...no this had the distinct odor of Arcanians so that meant he was aboard the Wotan. Crud, he must have been really hurt for him to be brought up here.
Since he couldn't move yet, he made an effort to try and remember what had happened before he ended up here. He, T-Bone, and Genus had been clearing out Dark Kat's lab when some, still living, creeplings snuck up on him and dragged him high into the air then dropped him.
Normally, he would have somersaulted to land safely but he'd been hit in the head, hard then dropped...not good. He could imagine he'd several broken bones and a head injury, but as he lay here, nothing hurt at all.
'Their pain meds must be really good,' he thought then realized someone was standing near his bed. He blinked and stared up at an impressive looking wolf.
"Hello, Razor. I'm Dr. Tennar. How are you feeling? Any pain, discomfort, headache...?"
"Uh...no actually, I'm feeling pretty good. How long have I been here?"
"Only about twenty-four hours. You were in very bad shape...broken legs, ribs, one arm, and a significant head injury."
Razor gaped at the wolf. "Only one day has passed and I feel this good? What the heck did you do to me?"
Tennar smiled. "Just modern medicine, young Kat. Our healing wands fixed your breaks and a deep healing probe took care of the injuries to your brain. None of that took more than an hour but the brain needed to rest after its trauma so we put you in an induced coma for a little while. You're perfectly healed which is why you're awake now."
"Wow! That's incredible, so I can go?"
"I want to do a few tests then, yes, you can go home," Dr. Tennar said, eyes glinting with humor at the Kat's surprise and anxiousness to be gone. In that, he was the same as all his patients. No one wanted to stay longer than they had to in the medical bay.
Suddenly, the sound of a door whooshing open reached his ears as did two familiar female voices.
A familiar face was soon standing over Razor and smiling down at him. "Razor, you're awake! How do you feel?" Callie asked.
"I'm great thank's to these guys excellent care. Dr. Tennar says I can go home as soon as he runs me through a few tests," he said cheerfully.
"Oh, that's wonderful news," Callie said, relieved and smiling. Abi stood at the foot of the bed beaming in relief.
"Alright, if I may have your attention for a few minutes, Razor," Dr. Tennar interrupted.
"Oh sure, doc."
The doctor began to examine him briskly.
It was amazing to feel no pain at all as Tennar manipulated his limbs, had him do some light stretching movements then did some mental tests to see if he had any residual brain damage but, thankfully, there was none...he felt normal again.
"You are as good as new my young Kat. It was lucky you were brought here so quickly. Except for taking it easy for a couple of days and getting enough food and sleep, you should be able to go back to your rather reckless life once more," Dr. Tennar said.
"Thank you so much. I'm grateful you were here or I wouldn't be," Razor said, sincerely. He got off the table and left the medical bay with Callie and Abi.
"Well, it looks like you'll be accompanying me back home, Razor. At least I won't be making the trip alone," Abi said, warmly.
Razor frowned and glanced over at Callie, a questioning look on his face.
"Unfortunately, I'm required to stay here and train. Apparently, I tested out to be far more powerful, magically, than anyone had guessed which makes me too dangerous to go home without training first," Callie sighed, explaining why she wasn't leaving too.
"Wow, that's incredible and good news for Megakat City after all. Sounds like you just might be able to take out the Pastmaster with one paw behind your back," he said, grinning.
"Yeah, we'll see about that. You two better be going then. Manx is not going to be happy about this at all, Abi, so be prepared."
"I know, don't worry."
Callie walked with her two friends to the shuttle bay, where they met Lt. Kam waiting for them.
"Good to see you well again, Razor," he said, sincerely.
"And its thanks to you that I am. I'm grateful for your quick actions in getting me here," Razor said, humbly.
"All in the line of duty, Razor. Wouldn't want one of our future crew members lost to us."
Razor blushed at that. Though he and T-Bone hadn't made their final decision yet, he had a feeling they would be leaving on this great ship and he was excited about that.
"I'm sorry you won't be going back right now, Callie, but I'm not sad you've proven to be so powerful. Your world is truly blessed to have you as their protector," Kam said, smiling broadly.
"Thank you though, forgive me if I don't feel that way at the moment," Callie sighed,
"That's what makes you such a good leader, Callie, you care about the job and not the glory. I have a bet going that it will take less than a month to get you trained."
"You didn't?" Callie snorted then laughed which was what Kam had intended to ease this moment of angst for her. "Well, we'll just have to see won't we." She turned away and gave Abi one more hug and then gave one, for good luck, to Razor.
"See you both soon, I hope. Razor try not to get yourself injured like that again. I'm not sure I could handle it," Callie warned him.
"Hey, I always do my best to stay healthy, it's just the job tends to make that difficult at times," he said cheekily, grinning.
She just shook her head and waved them off. Kam lead the two to a nearby shuttle that was ready for takeoff. Sighing she left the hangar for her temporary quarters. Tomorrow she would begin her training.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Razor and Abi took their seats in the shuttle and enjoyed the trip back to Aristal. The trip took about twenty minutes but soon they were landing on the Enforcer flight line.
The city had given the Arcanian team a car so they could get around with more ease. Kam would drive Abi to where she wanted to go but Razor opted to have his partner pick him up.
The SWAT Kat was smiling broadly after his call to his joyful partner as he waved goodbye to the pair leaving the flight line.
"If you don't mind Lt. Kam, I should go to city hall and speak with the Mayor. No point in putting this off," Abi sighed, definitely not looking forward to this.
"Certainly, no problem. I don't envy you the chore, though," he said, giving her a commiserating look as they reached the parking garage and got into a jeep.
Abi just snorted. Since she was temporarily taking over for Callie on the 'clean up Megakat City' project, she asked Kam for an update.
"Glad you willing to step in and keep things flowing Dr. Sinian. Well, you already know about Dark Kat's hideout being destroyed, the scorpions have been eradicated and the environmental cleanup team have been notified they can begin cleaning up the toxic lake. My mate has some very important documents to lay on Ms. Briggs when she returns. This I'm afraid she will have to deal with as well as making a decision on putting 'mental leashes' on the Metallikats," he told her.
"Therapy isn't working, huh?" She asked, but was fairly sure of the answer.
Kam gave her a grimace, "no, it most definitely is not but the therapist hired for the job refuses to admit it. On the subject of robots, Professor Hackle is still a bit reluctant but Lt. Donar is staying by his side to encourage and guide him to keep moving forward. There is an effective set of robotic laws that are installed within the positronic brain that will keep them from ever harming a Kat, we just have to help Hackle believe in it and install them. All the other problems your talented archivist has uncovered have been dealt with, the report should be in Ms. Brigg's file. And that's where we are now."
"My goodness, that's a lot accomplished. Perhaps, I won't have that much work to do after all," Abi said in pleased surprise.
"I hope that's true. Well here you are at city hall. Want me to wait for you?" He asked politely as he pulled up to the front entrance.
"I wouldn't want to hold you up, Lieutenant. I know you have your own duties. I might have to be here awhile, anyway, looking over Callie's work after informing the Mayor of her absence. I'll call one of my own assistants to have my car brought over so thank you for the lift and the report," she said, climbing out of the car.
"You are very welcome, doctor. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything or would like to visit Ms. Briggs."
Abi halted before closing the car door, to stare at him in surprise. "You mean I can?"
"Of course, we wouldn't think of depriving you two of comforting and being together. It will certainly help her handle being gone much easier, if she's able to speak to you in person," he said, smiling.
"Oh," she blushed and smiled back. "Thank you, I'll do that." She waved goodbye and closed the door. Nodding at her, he watched her walk up the steps and go inside before leaving to return to Enforcer Headquarters.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Callie didn't want to think just how angry and upset Manx would be by now since she'd been aboard the Wotan more than three weeks. In that time, she had been trained not only to handle her magic but to be able to fight. Her fighting instructor was pleased he wouldn't have to start at the beginning with her as she had taken an excellent self-defense course some years earlier.
Now by her fourth week, she was considered ready both magically and in fighting skills. Today she'd been put through a number of grueling final exam tests. Her teachers were impressed and pleased at her quick learning skills as she picked up spells with an uncanny ease and was unflappable under fire.
"It is fortunate you have already had experience at handling yourself under dangerous situations, Callie. It is why you have learned to fight with magic so easily," Star said, as they went over her final assessment.
"Easily?" she snorted incredulously. I've been beaten, thrown about, and nearly singed all my fur off. I don't remember having so many bruises before. I'm just grateful for those little healing wands of yours or I wouldn't be able to move for weeks after what I've been through.
Star smiled, amused. The she-kat was a joy to teach and very smart. It was a shame she would not be leaving with them. She would have been a formidable warrior in the fight against the Tibican and any other enemies of the galactic community.
"Well, you will be pleased to know that all of us are satisfied with your progress and agree you are now ready to return home."
"Yes!" She cheered. "Where's Lt. Kam? I'm ready to go now." She was anxious to get back to work and her lover though Abi had been allowed to come up and see her over the weeks of training.
"No, he isn't but it won't take him long to return and pick you up," Star said, amused by her unseemly haste to leave.
She sighed, "well let him know I want to leave and I'll go get my things and be waiting in the hangar for him. Thank you for all you've done for us and for me," she said warmly, giving the wolf a hug.
"You were a joy to teach, Callie," Star said sincerely. She flashed him another smile then was gone through the door. Shaking his head, he went to contact Kam.