Author's note: No actually nudity described, but naughty bits are mentioned.
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"I did not shoot hir personally, and shi did advance on me," the Interpreter answered.
"And you're saying my soughter would just attack you?" Justin questioned, irritated at receiving a report from the Italian government that Jess had been wounded and then only recieve a report upon arrival that shi had been deliberately shot by the Italian army.
"I wouldn't think so, BUT shi was blocking our efforts to protect the people of Italy and ensure that this outbreak is fully contained," Interpreter answered, "The Foxkat Vaccine had failed completely and we had no way of knowing when those affected would burn through the lust phase if at all... as such we needed to take measures to protect the people of Italy from having... having THIS forced on them."
The interpreter then gestured to the dead bodies that practically covered the ground of St. Peter's Square. There was also obvious damage to the stonework that made the ground there, but thankfully the major buildings avoided serious damage, though it was still likely that Italy would have to be paying a lot of money to Papacy to effect any and all repairs. Justin only sighed. Shi didn't like the fact that lethal force had been used in Paris, though given that the soldiers and policemen there had been attacked in those instances, shi did accept it. Based on everything here, though, it had seemed to be that while everything was contained, the Italian military had simply turned it into a shooting gallery.
"If the Foxkat Vaccine worked... or there was some sort of force field technology that could contain them in a non lethal manner and give the good scientists the time to develop an adequate vaccine available," the Interpreter said weakly, "We wouldn't have had to do this... but we couldn't play Russian Roulette with the possibility that they might move beyond the Vatican and infect the rest of Italy and then potentially infect France... You became a Kat willingly, "King" Justin. These people did not and would not give anyone else that choice."
"You will still pay the costs of my soughter's medical treatment," Justin said firmly, "I'm sure Jess had no intention of hurting you. Shooting hir... even if only to wound hir... was NOT the answer. And make no mistake, we will bring this incident up at the next NATO summit with regards to the discipline and planning coordination for the armies of the alliance."
The interpreter nodded and said nothing more. Despite France's sudden and surprising return to a monarchy, which shocked the entire world, given that the Fifth Republic had not shown any dissatisfaction with the government from the people and the fact that none of the old noble families had openly agitated for a return. Not the Bonapartes, not the Bourbons, to which Francine and Alexis were minor members of, nor any other noble family. It had been a complete surprise, but since the new government didn't change France's relations with its allies, the change was tolerated. France was still a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance originally intended to block the Soviet Union and was now beginning to evolve into a peace keeping organization and working to deal threats beyond just tyrannical conquerors. In fact, thanks to Raul, they had used his old connections in the French army, though now mostly through men who had been Raul's subordinates in the French army or contacts in the other NATO member nation's armies, they did gain some additional resources and response teams that could come to their aid.
"Of course," the Interpreter said after a few moments.
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Meanwhile in one of Rome's top hospitals most of the others were waiting in one of the waiting rooms. They had left once Justin had calmed down enough to get Jess to the hospital. X-Rays had shown that the wound was not as serious as originally thought. The bullet had completely shattered hir scapula (shoulder blade) and it would need surgical reconstruction, but thankfully no pieces of the bones had been blown out of Jess's body, which simplified the process of performing the surgery. Nikole had gone to sit outside surgical room in a sort of observation room. The rest sat in a lone waiting room, which attracted some attention from other people that were there. Some looked in a supportive way Sally, as if they wanted to help hir, as shi didn't look emotionally well, but they also looked nervously at Charlie who lay on the floor near Sally and doing the best shi could to look non-threatening. Brent was also there, and was even further away, looking nervously between Sally and Charlie.
"Do you hate me now?" Charlie said nervously, as shi had also caught onto Sally's mood and had been horrified when Jess told hir that being shot wasn't the only problem that Sally and Jess had run into. The fact that the two Scorpkats had tried to rape them had clearly unsettled Sally and the fact that Jess was then wounded in the resulting argument didn't make things better.
"Huh..." Sally began, "No... I..." Shi then tried to look to Charlie and cringed. Shi knew Charlie's personality and knew that Charlie would never hurt hir, but hir mutated form frightened hir. While hir face now looked closer to what shi had looked like when shi was a human male, the overlapping plates and jagged edges frightened hir and reminded hir of the mindless lust that Scorpkats that shi and Jess had run into. That was all shi could see, and it scared hir. All shi wanted was for Charlie to be back to the way shi was before this most recent outbreak with hir rounded muzzle, hir long golden tan furn (with the exception of hir belly), the black spots that shi had had, the soft breasts that shi could caress and which shi had used to suckle Pinke, Fluffy, and Marry when they were infants, and other things that Sally really didn't want to think about at the moment. However, Sally did also realize that this had been forced on hir mate and shi didn't want to make immediate demands for fear of sounding selfish.
"It's because they tried to rape you, isn't it?" Charlie asked, placing a hand out to touch Sally's.
Sally didn't answer but did make a sort of sniffling noise.
"You know I would NEVER do that to you? Right?" Charlie asked.
"I know... but... it's... it's just that they changed you and..." Sally said weakly.
"I know," Charlie said weakly, "regardless of whether or not I have extra hands... this feels rather freakish, even for a Kat. But we'll be going home soon. Maurice and Snowy will turn me back and I'll have only four legs, two arms, a long fuzzy tail, a large firm penis to mount you when you want me to and a tight pussy for you to mount when you want to."
"You would do that?" Sally asked.
"I would do anything to make you happy," Charlie spoke, "and I did not ask to become a Scorpkat and did not want to become a Scorpkat. I was happy as I was."
"And you promise you will go through with that?" Sally asked quickly before shi could catch hirself.
Charlie rubbed Sally's hand softly with hir own, as if Sally's remark didn't matter.
"Of course, I love YOU," Charlie spoke, "It's like I said after I first became a Kat... I only want to please you."
"Thank you," Sally said weakly feeling a bit relieved. At least that proved whatever that scientist had done, hir mate was still there.
"Though... I might ask on waiting on that," came Maurice's voice from where shi was sitting.
"WAIT?!" Sally blurted.
"Sally... the Foxkat Vaccine has failed," Maurice said slowly, "but for some reason, Charlie's venom acted as a new vaccine and didn't kill those few that were only wounded by the army."
"What are you saying?" Sally asked.
"We need Charlie for a new Vaccine... shoot we may even need to continue to up the research into the Dead Vaccine to replace the Justin Vaccine, which hopefully DNA samples from the ones that were killed will help accelerate that project so that way Snowy's and my ideas and misuse of them do not keep being a plague that installs fear," Maurice sighed, knowing hir own voice sounded half desperate, "I can't really blame the Italians for shooting Jess. They were afraid and what they had been told would help them did nothing. We came to help and in the end we really did not help at all..."
"I did catch the scientist, who is waiting to go Janace to stand trail...and since the US finally outlawed capital punishment last year once found guilty we can hold him for a long time," Charlie spoke up.
"Catching him is unimportant if what he did infects the world and creates GLOBAL chaos," Maurice countered, "People won't care and in their fear may make a fear lead decision to block the spread of the virus..."
"Killing the victims to kill the disease," Snowy finished, "Which I think was part of Li Sang's plan all along with regard to whatever fail-safes he had. His lieutenants have simply delayed implementing that plan, and have proven that they've gotten better at things that we didn't think they were capable of..."
"And Alexis and Mikkie even reported that one of them fled to North Korea when the rescued Robbie," Maurice answered, "who is to say they haven't gained official government endorsements or materials to learn and practice there. And that allowed them to do what they did here. We need to find a way to render the virus incapable of infecting anyone and doing so on a global scale. The Dead Vaccine when fully developed will do that to protect humanity's human forms and perhaps whatever they did to Charlie will give us a replacement for the Foxkat Vaccine."
"Couldn't Brent do that?" Sally asked.
"We don't know," Snowy answered, "Venom is generally not intended to cure. Venom is intended to kill... we've found medical treatments that certain types of venom can be used for, but those have been heavily treated beforehand. Most of the ones used for medicine now are blood thinners, but if you were bitten by the snake that produced the venom used... your blood pressure would drop so low that your heart would stop beating and the blood would pool in your extremities... but Charlie's venom did nothing like that, which would mean that Scorpkat venom is specifically engineered to develop as part of the transformation. And that could mean that Brent's would have the same effect, given that we were kidnapped and the scientist decided to to do some "tormenting" that Charlie's venom was specially designed and different from Brent's. We can't know for sure until we do tests..."
Sally didn't like where this was going.
"And considering that these outbreaks have the potential, we must make enough to cover them... or we'll have more incidents where the governments in question execute the ones that are out of control," Maurice said slowly, "We need a new vaccine... and right now Charlie seems to be our best bet at getting the vaccine that will help us... shoot... it might even help with the dead vaccine, which will allow us to help put an end to these outbreaks and allow us to catch and arrest the rest of Li Sang's lieutenants."
Sally sighed.
"It will only be temporary," Maurice answered.
"Can you make a synthetic version of the venom?" Charlie asked.
"If we can figure out exactly how it is engineered, yes," Snowy answered, "it'd be basic bio-chemistry, but it will take time."
"And you're strong, Sally," Maurice answered, "Charlie is still Charlie... you know that shi will never hurt you and hir sither has hir mind back now, which is what we intended to do from the beginning."
Sally only blinked, but said nothing.
"Can you make the sacrifices that will need to make to save the world?" Snowy asked, "At least until we can manufacture a synthetic version of it? Especially if Brent can not help?"
"Brent and I can rent an apartment until then if it makes you uneasy," Charlie offered.
"DON'T LEAVE ME!" Sally roared and leaped onto Charlie's back, hugging hir from behind. Shi cried, and there was some uneasy with Charlie's form as it did remind hir of the attempted rape, but their talk had given hir confirmation that Charlie still loved hir. That Charlie was still Charlie on the inside and that shi did wish to go back to being a Chakat. Shi needed Charlie. Charlie and hir love was what helped hir after the first rape and a shi wished that Charlie could be Reca's father instead of a Jackkat who shi castrated for the attack on hir. Shi could get used to Brent's presence, but shi could not live without Charlie.
"So long as this is temporary, I can," Sally eventually said slowly.
"It will be," Maurice answered, "I can't say how long it will be... but it will be temporary and will only be to put an end to the consequences of Snowy's and my mistakes."
The fact that it would be temporary gave some relief to Sally's heart.
"Sally... could... you... hop off... please... your... body... is constricting the... armor... plates... and... I... can... not... breathe..." Charlie gasped from underneath Sally.
Shi did so.
"Just stay close to me," Sally told hir, "the form... the form does frighten me... but so long as you're you... I can adapt... especially if this is only temporary."
Charlie nodded, "I do hope it is...It would be nice to have a Vaccine named for me... but I want you to be happy."
"That's good to hear," came Jess's voice from the edge of the hallway.
They turned to see Jess and Nikole there. Jess's wounded arm was in a sling, though mostly to secure the arm and insure that shi didn't need to use too much to hold it in place.
"They're done?" Sally stood up.
"Kat bones appear to be denser than human bones," Jess commented, "the bullet splinted the bone... but not as badly as it would have splintered a human scapula. So there were fewer pieces they had to screw together... so the surgery wasn't as big or complicated as it could have been."
"The doctors also don't want hir using the wounded arm for a few days and then only to begin a basic exercise regimen to rebuild hir strength," Nikole reported.
"So I'll be seeing a lot of Ronnie or Mina," Jess chuckled, "And if the drama is done, let's go home. There's a lot of work left to do and bad guys to catch."