"Do you think he's really changed his mind?" Flake asked to Alexis as they waited patiently at St. Petersberg's airport for the plane that would be carrying Danna and Mikkie.
"Not really," Alexis answered, knowing that Flake was referring to Russia's political leadership, "he might tolerate our presence, but toleration is not support... and given Danna "snapping" at that Russian officer, his toleration might end up being an idea to use Kats as a "weapon" which may not be entirely good for Kats either."
Flake sighed and shrugged, "I suppose it's better than the way things are at present."
Alexis nodded as a Russian transport helicopter came into view. It came in and landed on the tarmac not to far away from them. The sound of its engine also attracted Demon and Angel's attention and they came up to look toward the helicopter. After a few moments, Danna and Mikkie made their way out of the helicopter, but they weren't alone. Danna had what looked like a sort of harness on hir taur back to which a set of poles were held. Mikkie was holding the other end of it, and in it was a rather furry body. Alexis could see a banded tale, sort of like a Raccoon's, but the coloring was different. It was creamish-tan fur with reddish brown bands.
"They found a Kat!" Demon pointed.
"Yes," Alexis nodded, "and shi's hurt..."
The four of them slowly began to approach where Danna and Mikkie were carrying this Kat. As they came closer, they found that the Kat they had was based on the Red Panda, the small tree animal that had evolved to look a little bit like Raccoons in North America, but had their own differences as well. Shi did not look well. Hir fur looked discolored as though hir skin and body underneath hir fur had been beaten and bruised.
"What's going on? Who is this?" Alexis asked.
"Shi was tied up in the facility in the Urals," Danna answered, "Looked pretty badly beat up..."
"And the facility?" Flake asked.
"Stripped bare, nothing was there... other than Ronnie, here," Danna answered, "the Russians blew it up just as we left."
"Ronnie?" Alexis looked closer to the Kat that Danna and Mikkie rescued.
"Believe it or not, I think she's Maurice's brother," Mikkie commented, "Well... sither now, but you know what I mean."
"What was shi doing in the Urals?" Alexis asked.
"Whoever had been running the lab I think had hir there as a prisoner," Danna looked back over hir shoulder to Ronnie, who was presently sedated to keep hir comfortable.
"We'd best get hir back to Janace," Flake commented.
They didn't know about what Talia and Midnight had found in Fee City, but they did feel that they did need to get Ronnie back home. Alexis and Flake then walked alongside Danna while Angel and Demon walked beside Mikkie. As they did so, Alexis' phone rang. Shi quickly dug into hir purse and pulled it out. It turned out to be hir mother.
"Alexis! Are you okay?" came Francine's voice over the phone.
"Yes," Alexis answered, "We had to help Danna and Mikkie with some things in Russia, but we're on our way back to Janace now. You and Justin and your little darlings must be there by now..."
"Actually that's why I'm calling," Francine answered, "We haven't been able to leave yet. Justin and I had agreed to come and visit you all for a while before they're ready for the formal coronation but our obstetrician doesn't want us to leave Paris unless shi can be there to make sure that our pregnancies remain healthy..."
"Snowy, Maurice, and Jess have been very good with treating Kat pregnancies," Alexis answered, "They've treated each other, they've treated Charlie and Sally with their pregnancies, they'll be treating me and Flake with ours, they'll be treating Danna and Mikkie with theirs... they would have treated Sammy and Gloria, but they swelled up with their eggs so quickly that they didn't get the chance to..."
"I'm sure they could treat us quite well, but our obstetrician is quite firm in hir belief," Francine answered, "We're trying to get things set up so that shi can come along or at least convince hir that we won't be going without medical care for our pregnancies, but that'll take time and you may have to wait awhile before we can come and visit Janace."
"Okay then," Alexis spoke, "We'll see you then."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In Janace, meanwhile, Maurice and Snowy relaxed quietly in their home. Mina had taken Snowflake to bed while Snowy and Maurice watched the late evening news and Maurice contented hirself to having Alpha and Centuri suckle from hir. Having them made hir feel happy. Shi loved Snowflake, but being a mother seemed to fill a hole that Maurice had felt spiritually since shi became a Kat. The only thing that made hir nervous had been the reports from Fee City.
"We need to find him," Maurice said to Snowy as the two of them lay on their bed, Snowy's tail wrapped around Maurice's.
"Ronnie?" Snowy asked back, "Are you really sure you want to do that?"
"He may have been the spy and he may have been jealous," Maurice answered, "but he was NEVER evil. I get the feeling that Li Sang had to have tricked him in some way..."
"Maybe, but Li Sang isn't saying anything," Snowy answered, "In fact he practically taunted Jess when shi went to figure out what he did."
"That's why we need to find Ronnie," Maurice answered, "Sang's capitalized our mistakes and our misguided idea to end war and spread love and used it to rob people and cause chaos. We have no way of trusting anything he says... and that's why we need Ronnie. He can then tell us how he found what he found and exactly what he found. That might allow us to figure out how much has really been changed..."
"I doubt anything has been changed," Snowy answered, "the scientists from the Miami lab knew our formula and knew how to duplicate it... but I've talked with them... there is NOTHING in them that would give an indication that they could do anything like what they've done without our formula already in had..."
"Not that smart?" Maurice wondered.
"Not smart enough to create it," Snowy answered, "The Virus, the new serum, everything we've done is heavily dependent on knowledge of genetics and bio-chemistry. Li Sang's scientists seem to only be chemists."
"We'll still need Ronnie to know for sure," Maurice answered.
As shi finished speaking, their doorbell rang. The sound alerted Alpha and Centuri, who both gave a questioning little "mew" before returning to suckling. It also got the attention of the others.
"What's going on?" came Snowflake's voice from down the hall.
Maurice and Snowy then heard four feet rushing along the floor. They then watched as Snowflake ran past their door, soon followed by Mina who was holding Snowflake's night-shirt.
"Come back! You need to get ready for bed!" Mina called after the six year old Chakat.
"I suppose we should investigate," Snowy sighed.
Maurice nodded and the two of them got out of their bed. Alpha and Centuri were set in their crib and Maurice put on hir shirt. They ultimately caught up with them where Mina was struggling to get Snowflake's night-shirt on hir while the little Chakat was trying to look out the door.
"I wanna see!" Snowflake whined.
"You don't know who it is, and you aren't dressed," Mina answered and continued to pull the nightshirt on.
Once it was on, Snowy moved to open the door. To hir surprise it was Alexis and Flake. They were apparently back.
"Cousin Flake!" Snowflake cheered and rushed forward, and very nearly leaped into Flake's arms.
"Hey, Snowflake," Flake said softly but was unable to continue as she looked into the room, "... Mother!?"
"Kelsey!?" Mina spoke.
The snow white Chakat who was younger then Snowy looked to hir mother.
"Yeah... this is what I became in the Paris Outbreak," Flake spoke, "And I go by Flake now."
"To me you'll always be Kelsey," Mina answered and moved forward and then hugged her soughter, "It's good to see you."
"You know each other?" Snowflake asked from Flake's feet, "Mina is mommy's sister."
"Yes, I know that," Flake smiled, "Mina is MY mother."
Mina then felt Flake purr against her as they hugged.
"And it's good to see you too, mom," Flake answered, "Sorry Alexis and I couldn't come visit earlier."
"It's okay, maybe with some quiet we can catch up tomorrow, I'll be here for a few days, at least," Mina answered.
Flake nodded.
"What brings you here so late?" Maurice asked.
"Something we found in Russia," Alexis said slowly, "Something we thought you should know."
Maurice raised an eyebrow.
"We believe we found your brother," Alexis began.
"In Russia? You found him? How is he?" Maurice asked quickly.
"No... shi is not okay," Flake spoke, "Danna and Mikkie found hir in a lab in the Urals. Shi had been restrained and looked like shi had been beat up."
"Shi..." Maurice said slowly as shi thought, "Sang's followers turned Ronnie into a Kat?"
"Yes," Alexis nodded, "based on a Red Panda... you could call hir a Redkat now."
"Danna and Mikkie have taken hir to the clinic to let hir rest and let some of the UN doctors look after hir," Flake added, "But we thought we should let you know."
"Thank you, Alexis," Maurice said slowly, "Thank you, Flake."