Meanwhile, the others had begun their move into seeing what was going on in Paris. There was much that needed to be found out, and after a hurried breakfast, Jess rounded up hir mate, Maurice, and the friends they had made since arriving in France. While they originally wanted Alexis, Flake, Danna, and Mikkie to remain at the chateau and help with those being brought there to get them away from the outbreak, the report they had received from the French colonel was had made had changed the situation.
"I don't like this... I asked them NOT to take lethal force," Jess grumbled, still finding it hard to believe that the Kats in Paris were being violent, after all, the outbreak in Fee City had been largely peaceful and once the lust either burned itself out or was vaccinated by the new Foxkats it stopped. That same pattern had solved many of the smaller outbreaks in America created by actions taken by Chakat Industries before the outbreak in Fee City.
"They're responding to the aggressive actions they've seen," Maurice answered, "and I did get a look and some of their records and reports... their policemen and soldiers have been violently attacked... not simply rushed by a lustful Kat looking either for a mate or looking to mate."
The continued walking quietly as they began to head into the city again. The sounds that carried to them were a strange mix of sounds. There were the thump of boots as uniformed soldiers ran along the outer edge of the area they'd quarantined. They were all wearing gas masks and some had tranquilizer rifles along with their standard equipment. The soldiers gave slightly puzzled looks but nothing to stop their movement into the quarantined area. After all, the seven of them were already Kats, and thus couldn't be turned into Kats, and had all been vaccinated against the lust and infectious parts of the Chakat Virus. If a lust filled one came after them, they could solve that problem, and if a violent one came up... Jess knew their mission was to try games of bluff and try to find out the plan or what had started the outbreak in Paris.
Listening in, Alexis, noticed some sense of unease in Maurice's voice. Shi also heard it in Snowy's voice from time to time when shi listened in on the originator's of the Chakat Virus discussed the actions of the Paris Kats.
"You make it sound like something like that wasn't supposed to happen," Mikkie commented, showing that shi had picked up on it too.
"It wasn't," Maurice answered, "Snowy and I had designed the Chakat Virus to be a peaceful change that would end war and hatred..."
"Through a zombie plague," Danna quipped.
"A zombie plague would turn people into undead creatures that would burn themselves out into nothing," Maurice said firmly, "The Chakat Virus would merely turn people into Chakats and open their hearts up to love... there would be no more wars... no more STDs... no more hatred... and no one would be seriously hurt..."
Maurice then sighed and looked down, knowing that Nikole and Jess were giving hir a firm look.
"But Snowy and I did make the mistake of failing to realize how quickly all the Chakats would burn through the lust phase of the virus," Maurice sighed, "and we rushed too much and failed to simply advertise it and allow people to make the choice to become Chakats... we turned it from a cure INTO a virus by forcing it on people."
The yowls of mating Chakats soon began to replace the sounds of boots pounding the pavement.
"But as we designed the Virus, the Chakats would only want to spread the virus through love or lust," Maurice sighed, "biting, clawing, or perhaps spitting, would also work... but a Chakat's drive that would lead to someone being bitten or clawed would be from a Chakat trying to get a grip on someone to mate with that person..."
"And what would lead a Chakat to spit on someone?" Flake wondered.
"The Chakat doing the spitting would likely only be a child who's contracted the virus," Maurice answered nervously, "The virus wouldn't age them into adults or make them capable of feeling lust... but it would inspire them to play with someone they come across... spitting might be the solution if whoever they approach flees from them... but the virus would urge a immature Chakat to play wrestle, lick, and cuddle like a kitten with a non-Chakat. Or at least that was the intention."
There was a brief gasp from Alexis, Flake, Danna, and Mikkie as they hadn't thought about the possibility of children being infected and spreading the infection, but then the circumstances that surrounded their own transformations got away from that. They did recover after a few moments and continued on, partially due to thoughts that went through the back of their minds as they went. Despite hir desire not to become a Kat when shi had been chased by a lust filled Danna, Alexis found hirself strangely open the idea of more people becoming Chakats or Kats of some kind, but she did want it to be a matter of choice. It was strange, but Alexis knew that hir previous normal was unreachable, and if people had a choice of becoming Kats, that would remove the problems of the way it had spread in Fee City and in places in America and now in Paris.
"But whoever has brought the Chakat Virus here has somehow made them aggressive or at least potentially so," Maurice finished, "Which means, in some cases either the lust phase has been removed or replaced... or the guys we're dealing with have figured out some way of keeping their minds clear... and are using what was supposed to be a tool for peace into an instrument of war."
Maurice's voice sounded highly irritated by that. It was like shi felt betrayed by someone spying on their project and guilt ridden over the fact that they had so easily allowed their idea to be taken into something that would become a path to a new utopia into something that would frighten others and lead to the present conflict. Maurice was correct that the French Army was responding in a way that would indicate that they were responding to what they felt to be aggressive.
"Which is why we're here now," Jess answered, "We go in and find out what's going on for sure. I don't fully believe that they're all attacking in such a violent manner... but since we've had so many things happen so fast, we don't really know what's gone on..."
"And if we dart a few, they can spread the vaccine around and thus stop the outbreak," Nikole added.
"Only among those who are merely lust filled," Maurice answered, "since the virus has also been altered to be airborne... we have no idea about how many humans are actually infected and haven't transformed yet."
Danna and Mikkie looked to each other shuddered, remembering back to their own transformation. They hadn't been clawed or raped by a Chakat. In fact when they had been on their way to Alexis and then Kelsey's apartment, they hadn't even seen a Chakat. Danna then looked over her shoulder back to the large bushy skunk tail behind hir at the end of hir taur half and remembered the sudden feeling of it growing behind her, destroying hir underwear and pushing hir outerwear down a little before then rapidly becoming a Skunkat and infecting Alexis with her own spray. The only thing that had been odd before that was getting a strange box in the mail. Something in it smelled weird and made "her" sneeze in Mikkie's direction. That had to be when Danna and Mikkie were infected and the transformation didn't hit them until they reached their friend's apartment. The fact that there might be others only waiting to transform and not knowing it made them all nervous.
"If it's only the lust filled ones, that'll be easy," Alexis spoke up, "We can dart them, like you guys darted us to make sure we weren't all lust filled Kats mindlessly mating and spreading the virus... and if need be... we can mate with them and give them the vaccine that way if we half to. But if there is some Kat out there in control and being violent... shi needs to be caught and arrested before shi can come up with a new plan..."
"If this person is even a Kat," Jess commented.
That brought all eyes on the Foxkat. As a collective sort of "huh?"
"The guards at the Chateau were all wearing gas masks, so to prevent them from breathing it in and many of the soldiers are wearing gas masks," Jess answered, "they know it can be breathed in and are taking steps to avoid that."
"Yes... but if whoever unleashed this unleashed this or was involved in Fee City... that person would have to be a Kat," Maurice spoke, "either thanks to Snowy and myself... or due to the fact that that person would fall victim to the virus when it was first released here."
"Yes... but the basic instinct of any Kat is to love and spread it," Jess answered, "We all saw that in Fee City... people that had only been casual friends or even perfect strangers became mates or at least "friends with benefits." I've even felt those instincts to be with those I love and make them happy in any way I could."
Nikole moved up to Jess and purred.
"And you've all felt those instincts as well... Alexis and Flake... you've already pledged yourselves to become mates, where you into each other romantically before becoming Kats?" Jess asked.
"No," Alexis and Flake both said.
"And that is my point," Jess answered, "we're all driven to love...once vaccinated a Kat has hir mind again, but is still driven to love."
Mikkie looked to Danna, hoping that Danna would accept hir as a mate, but the time wasn't right at the moment to get hir to say "yes."
"If their truly are acts of violence being done by Chakats... they have to have their minds back and they have to have some incentive to go out and attack the police or the army," Jess continued, "The only reason I can think of would be some political drive or some political statement that is using the Virus as a sort of cover... and the only way such a political goal could be pushed... would be by someone's who's only wish is to spread and feel love."
That only raised more question as they then came across a small park on the northern part of Paris. It had a fair amount of open grass with shade trees planted in patterns to make it comfortable. Toward the center of the park was a small set of swings and other pieces of playground equipment. Swinging there were two Chakats, one looking like a Clouded Leopard and the other like a Mountain Lion Chakat. Both, however, looked like they were between the ages of five and ten. Their arms clung to the chains for the swing while their taur bodies balanced and gripped the seat of the swing. Sitting near them were an adult Skunkat and Kat based off of a squirrel, a Squirkat. They, however, all seemed to be under control and so they decided to move forward.
"Hello," Nikole called as they trotted forward, "Hello are you okay?"
The younger Kats didn't stop their swinging, but the adults did look to them. The Squirkat noticed that dart guns that Nikole, Maurice, Mikkie, and Flake were carrying and looked at them suspiciously.
"Vous êtes plus de ali-babas?" the Squirkat asked.
Jess looked to the Kats in their group that knew French.
"Shi wants to know if we are ali-babas," Alexis answered.
"Ali-babas?" Nikole asked.
"Sounds like some derogatory term for Arabs or something like that," Maurice commented, "Shi doesn't like them, that much is clear by the tone in hir voice."
"France does have a fairly large population of people who have moved here from France's former African and Middle Eastern colonies... and that has lead to various times of strife over their culture clashing with French culture," Alexis commented, "and these clashes have been violent."
"Tell them that we're with the government trying to contain the outbreak and figure out who has started the outbreak," Jess instructed.
Alexis nodded and did so. Alexis also gave the two adult Kats their names and that Maurice, Jess, and Nikole were Americans. She did not tell them, however, that Maurice was one of the two founders of the Chakat Virus.
"Pouvez-vous nous guérir?" the Skunkat asked.
"Non, nous pouvons vous vacciner et assurez-vous que vous ne pouvez pas propager le virus, mais on ne peut pas être modifié pour revenir. Nous sommes désolé pour cela," Alexis spoke in response without translating what had been asked. Alexis did know the answer to that question.
The two adults moved to the kittens, whom the American Chakats assumed were their children. The Skunkat and Squirkat both hugged the kittens firmly and almost made a sound like they were crying. The kittens barely noticed, but did hope out of the swings and hugged the two adults back. Jess could hear them beginning to purr, as if that would make the adults feel better. Eventually the Squirkat came forward, though nervously.
"Nous prendrons la vaccination," the Squirkat spoke.
After Alexis gave the translation, Jess pulled a small plastic case from her purse. Ryles was still at the chateau, just in case they ran into anything violence. Within it were the syringes with the vaccine that would work with the Kat's lust issues and the spread of the virus. The kittens didn't like the shots, and clung to the adults, but things went calmly.
"Let them know that now with the vaccine in their system, they can spread the vaccine as well, though it would mean they would mean they would need to have sex with those who are not vaccinated or use the same methods that might have resulted in their transformation," Jess said to Alexis, "they do not HAVE to, but any help would be appreciated."
The two adults looked to each other after Alexis translated what Jess instructed.
"Je ne vais pas trahir mon ami et ... et mon compagnon maintenant. Je suis désolé," the Skunkat answered.
"They won't be spreading the vaccine," Alexis spoke.
"Can they tell us about these "ali-babas?" Did they start the virus? Who do they serve?" Maurice asked.
Ils sont violents et de parler de révolution. Ils ont fait le tour et peu d'entre nous ont remarqué eux aussi beaucoup ... car nous étions trop occupés à être ... sexuellement actifs. Ils sonnent comme si Maures." the Squirkat answered.
"Moors?" Nikole asked after Alexis translated.
"They're the predominant native ethnic group in Algeria," Danna answered.
"It still doesn't say who has created this particular outbreak," Maurice grumbled, "all we know is that we have a violent group talking about revolution."
It was Jess who seemed to take things the hardest, as it did confirm that there were violent Chakats out there. It made hir nervous, as the tranquilizer dart wouldn't work on a Chakat that had made a political decision to be aggressive. Shi was, however, still certain that whoever had started things here was still human.
"We'll need to find wherever their lab is... if it is in Paris," Jess commented.
"Do we know that?" Nikole asked.
"Even if the lab is elsewhere, they have to be in the area to control their actions," Jess answered, "cellphones might help them... but that would depend on their signals. If their signal is blocked, they'd lose control if they aren't in northern Paris."
Alexis then asked the two adult Kats if they knew of any sort of HQ for those that were violent. The answer was a "no." Jess sighed and thanked them for their help and also advised that they make their way outside the quarantine zone and let the army know that they'd been vaccinated. Shi then reached into hir purse and pulled hir cellphone out. She'd call General Heroud back at the chateau to see if they'd noticed any odd cellphone conversations. The general may have some resentment of the American Kats for their role in the Fee City outbreak and thus some responsibility for the new outbreak in Paris, but he had generally did work with them to try and contain the virus. Humans that had come into the checkpoints but were only waiting to transform had been vaccinated and wouldn't be spreading the virus further. Humans that hadn't contracted the virus were being moved out. Hopefully they'd have some help...
But Jess soon found that her attempt to call the chateau were in vain. Just as had happened in Fee City, her signal looked as though it was being blocked or interfered with.