Hellbound

Eventually the armed zombiequins worked their way close enough that Hellbound could hear their weapons bite into the others. He suffered numerous blows, kicks and sometimes even bites to push back against the mob. It was worth it, however. The group that'd been animated in the hardware department was taking out the others much more quickly than he could by himself. Though one particularly nasty blow for a knee had managed to split his lip, he at least shattered the limb in return. Granted his skin might have broken with the blow but his teeth were made of sterner material. Smoke curled up around his mouth and a dribble of burning blood fell to the floor. The zombiequins took note of this and seemed to almost redouble their efforts in glee. It was eerie listening to them being cut down, one by one, without so much as a scream. The animated creatures were voiceless. They didn't even moan like he'd expect from a proper zombie flick. They just rattled their plastic feet against the marble floor and rustled the living wire which drove their actions. "Go ahead, you pricks." Hellbound hissed under the onslaught. "Cut each other to piece... whoa!" His oath had been interrupted by the roar of a chainsaw as it carved its way through a zombiequin right in front of his face.

"Right..." Hellbound continued. It was time to start fighting smarter, not harder. There were a lot of things trying to kill him, apparently, but only one of him. That was fine. He enjoyed facing hard odds, but this was a little silly. It did, however, give him an advantage if he were willing to work with it. Having this many zombiequins coming towards him at once, using no tactics and only trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, meant he could get them tripping over each other. The only thing the monsters wanted to do was attack. They didn't try to close off escape routes, take hostages or do anything other than come in wave after wave at the hero. He could move a hell of a lot faster than they could, which gave him the liberty of choosing when and where each melee happened. Plus they all simply moved in straight lines, so the ones emerging from the hardware department with weapons were only on one side. Those coming in all other directions were unarmed, which made them potential weapons for Hellbound himself to use. First he dashed towards the approaching fashion victims and began seizing one after another. Either by the clothing that they'd been so calmly displaying earlier in the day, by the shoulders, arms or any other body part that he could reach and hurling them in the direction of the Sears. Granted, foregoing both attack and defense in those maneuvers meant he took some punishment, but the zombiequins had already proven themselves unable to cause him serious harm. For the most part, and damage they did was gone by the time he was tossing the next one into the position he wanted. Like shifting cords of firewood... make that angry firewood... Hellbound managed to place a living wall of animated plastic between himself and the ones actually armed and dangerous. Once there were enough in place, though they each rose and began advancing on him again immediately upon being moved, he roared a challenge of his own and charged. Arms spread wide, he swept as many as he could into his reach and began pushing back on them. The unarmed ones, positioned by his prior actions in front of the armed variety, found themselves trapped between the driving force of an angry Hellbound and the mindless attacks of their fellow zombiequins. Chainsaws roared, axes swung, shovels clanged and the whole scene became like a shark-filled feeding frenzy. Not really knowing or caring who they were dismembering, the armed combatants began to cut down their fellows in their attempt to get at Hellbound.

With the cat now gone, Hellbound was in a much better position to open up the attack. These creatures, whatever they were and whatever was controlling them, had called down more aggression than they were likely able to handle. Sure there were a lot of them, he was clearly outnumbered by several factors, but even when he was holding back they hadn't been able to do much. Cracking his knuckles and shrugging out the last of the minor injuries he'd suffered so far, Hellbound waited for the zombiequins to approach. He'd heard the term 'fashion victim' before, but this was about as literal as the term became. The well dressed, animated mannequins were about to become a massive pile of scrap once he fully cut loose. "C'mon, ya' slow moving jerkwads." He encouraged the encroaching horde. "You want me to bleed? Let's see if you have what it takes to make that happen." As the creatures crawled their way out of the store, some coming through a shattered window front while others crowded out of the main entrance, Hellbound heard an ominous buzz-buzzing noise coming from across the mall. Looking in that direction he saw that it wasn't just the clothing store that'd been affected by whatever power was at work. Apparently Sears had proven vulnerable as well and a number of zombiequins were coming at him from there as well. Leading the way was one wire-wrapped baddie and the chainsaw he'd just fired into life. "Aw... frag..." Hellbound repeated himself.

Hellbound was twisting to his left again, having to reverse his momentum after discarding the latest casualty. A zombiequin was waiting with hands reaching out to grasp the hero. Suddenly, its head exploded in a wave of plastic shrapnel. A split second later, the sound of a firearm discharging could be heard. Glancing in the direction of the sound revealed a mall cop standing just outside of the store, gun held unsteadily in his hands and a look of shock on his face. The shot had caught its target cleanly and removed the thing's head, but that didn't stop the monster. Paying no attention whatsoever to the security guard, it still tried to get Hellbound in a death grip. "Frag off." Hellbound muttered, batting its arms aside. It looked like he had help, now, not that it would do him much good. Well... maybe it wouldn't give Hellbound much aid, but there was a critter present that actually could benefit from the intrusion. Tucking the carrier against his stomach again to protect its contents, he ran through the horde. Plastic hands grasped at him, tried to strike him and slow his charge, tripping up his legs and doing everything in their power to bring him down. Hellbound was determined, though. Once he'd set his focus on getting to where the stunned and frightened guard was, nothing could stop him. Fake fingers broke against his arms and legs, plastic bodies were knocked aside and the hero made like a champion runningback dodging tackles and delivering punishment through a strong, straight arm. The cat carrier was held like a football, close in and covered by as much of his moving body as possible. Though there was a moment or two where Hellbound thought he might not actually make it, eventually he escaped the slow moving monsters and slid to a stop by the mall cop's side. "Take her!" He growled at the man, shoving the carrier in his direction. "Get out of here and get her to safety, right? You lose her... you let anything bad happen to her... I'm gonna hunt you down and feed you your own family, you got that?" It was a harsh thing to say, Hellbound knew, but his adrenaline was flowing and there was an unaccustomed sense of fear in that the kitten might be harmed. The guard nodded dumbly, took one last look at the approaching zombiequins and then ran for safety with the cat carrier clutched in his arms.

Hellbound remained bent from his action of smashing the creature as one more came in from his left. Not having time to smoothly change grips on the carrier, he simply tucked Tigho against his stomach and curled around her, protectively. Fists more powerful than he'd have expected from the clumsy monsters came down on his back. Bruises formed along his spine, but those faded almost as quickly as they appeared. "Knock it OFF!" He shouted at the attacker, delivering a rising uppercut with his right that didn't just impact with the zombiequin, but rather tore a ragged channel through its entire torso. Plastic, wire and metal framework ripped about as his fist drove its way up through the thing's body. Hellbound extended his fingers towards the end of his attacking arc and stabbed a few digits straight through its rigid chin. Using that as a grip, he once more rolled a foe over his hip and used it to smash another aside. One quick, jerking reversal had the zombiequin flailing like a broken doll when he threw it to the side. This was getting tricky, he realized. The monsters were getting closer and closer, cutting off the amount of room he had to move within and also forcing him to react faster with each attack. That made it difficult to keep from jarring the cardboard carrier and bounce Tigho around, though he worked hard to protect the innocent life. So far he seemed to be doing a good job. The box was still in one piece and he'd yet felt and severe impact of the cat slamming against the side of the carrier. But if he didn't figure out a solution soon, then there was no way he'd be able to fight effectively without injuring her.

Unfortunately, the thrust kick left Hellbound in a vulnerable position as he had to lean backwards in order to properly deliver the attack. One of the zombiequins took advantage of this momentary weakness and grabbed him from behind. Now it was a plastic arm wrapping around Hellbound's neck, trying to pull him down and cut off his air at the same time. "Bleeeeed for meeee..." The zombiequin whispered into his ear. "@#c& you." Was Hellbound's reply, though the spoken challenge only confused him further. Reaching back, the hero dug his fingers into the zombiequin's plastic skull, which exploded as he made a fist. Exposed beneath the artificial head has a metal support rod that allowed him to get a good grip on the creature. One quick heave had the thing flipping up and over Hellbound's shoulder, ripping its arm from the socket while it tried to maintain its stranglehold. The monster was swung downward towards the floor where it shattered upon impact, one more of the attackers out of commission.

Hellbound had to maintain his rotating motion to catch the next victim. His hand wrapped around the back of a zombiequin's neck, gripping it by the living wire that bound its animated, plastic body. The feeling of artificial life inside of industrial cable managed to creep the hero out, but that hardly slowed him down. The monster's head was hauled downward towards the floor, but Hellbound's rising knee intercepted it long before then. A shattering blow drove cracks through its torso but failed to stop it completely. Before it was able to react, however, he snapped that same leg out in a kick that drove it back and out of range. A wired hand then swept in from his right side and he nimbly slid Tigho into his left grip even as he ducked the clumsy blow. Rising from the partial crouch, Hellbound reversed the passing motion of his right arm and crushed the creature's skull with a upward blow delivered by his elbow. Really, the monster didn't seem to mind missing its head. After all, it was only an animated mannequin, so why would that slow it down? A driving, forward thrust from Hellbound's left leg was a little more devestating, however, as the centered impact wrecked its internal supports and another monster flew back into the horde.

hellbound gripped the remaining mass of wire in his teeth and ripped the strands away from his hand. This was spat across the store before it could wrap itself around his head, leaving him to face the approaching horde without a ranged attack. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, in fact it was his preferred method of mixing things up, but Tigho's presence made combat far trickier than he enjoyed. Still, she was kept in a protected position at his back while his left hand raised in defense. Hellbound kept himself moving in tight circles so as to not let any of the zombiequins sneak up on his flank. Even if it meant taking punishment himself, he wasn't about to let anything happen to the cat that'd just came into his life. As the first creature stepped into his guard and threw a clumsy punch, Hellbound snapped his wrist forward to catch the blow and twist, viciously. The zombiequin was flipped over onto its back only to receive an instant punt which sent it skidding along the floor. The damage to it was minimal, but at least it was no longer able to threaten either Hellbuond or Tigho as it bowled over two of its bretheren. The next combatant was moving in on Hellbound's rear, but he continued the momentum of his kick and brought that foot up and around, turning so as to bring it crashing down on the zombiequin's shoulder. Plastic and wire again shattered, the crushing blow driving itself through the relatively cheap construction of what was once simply a display dummy.

Relentless and unafraid, the 'zombiequins' continued their ungainly advance. Whatever unholy force was animating them, clearly it wasn't the most agile antagonist in the universe. The creatures moved with a halting, jerky gait that made them easy targets for Hellbound's retaliation. One after another was smashed aside by his improvised weapon as it plowed through the air in a circle. Though he was surrounded, nothing was managing to come any closer than the commandeered unit allowed. Each time one of the attackers came within range, it was struck and sent flying in multiple pieces. Shredded remains of the building's wiring held some of them together upon landing, but none of them were in any shape to resume their aggressions. That action couldn't last forever, though. Each time Hellbound took out one of his opponents, the impact did a little more damage to his own mannequin remains. In time, this was shattered as well and he was left holding nothing but a squirming mass of wire in one hand and a cat carrier in the other.

The girl wasted neither time nor words in getting away. Even as more of the newly formed constructs moved in on Hellbound's position, she was on the move. This time without her heels tipping her up. It was only after she was too far away that he thought of handing over Tigho. She could have taken the cat to safety along with her own derriere, but now it was too late. Hellbound would have to continue the fight while attempting to keep her safe. The wires bunching up around him weren't much to worry about. After they'd ensnared the mannequin, they'd detached themselves from the building. With no access to the mall's electircal system there wasn't any concern about getting fried, and he certainly wasn't soft enough to take injuries from common conduit. Hellbound straightened his legs out sharply, snapping the entanglement with relative ease. There were a lot of wires gathered around him, true, but he was strong enough to pratically ignore their impedance. Once free of the wiring he shifted Tigho back over to his right hand and grasped a collection of cord. With a mighty heave of his shoulders, Hellbound then began to swing the dummy around by its own animating wires. He wasn't sure what was going on or who was responsible, but he knew how to take care of it. With the cat carrier once more in a protected position he spun the makeshift mace until it reached a weapon-worthy speed. There was a good five feet of cable running from his hand to the shattered mannequin and this described an arc of destruction for anything that approached.

All well here, just waiting for things to start rolling once more.

Yeah, that's right. The uber-badass... the main man... Freedom City's number one super guy bought himself a cat. Any of you Hellions got a problem with that? If ya' do, then ya' usually know where to find me. Come on down, we'll talk about it in person.

The store cleared out quickly. As already noted, the citizens of Freedom City had strong survival instincts. They knew when to get the heck out of the way, preferably before the crap hit the fan. Bad things were about to go down in the clothing department and nobody without superpowers or extraordinary training wanted to be involved. That was good news for Hellbound. Crowd control wasn't something he had much experience with at this point in his career. Trying to calmly clear out the store was likely to go badly for him if left to his own devices. But as luck would have it, by the time the mannequins were fully wrapped and ready to go by whatever force was at work here, most of the civilians were long gone. A few stragglers were still in harm's way, however. One in particular was too close to an animated antagonist and she wasn't looking too quick in the escape plan. Her heals, naturally enough, had betrayed the slim brunette and she fell directly in the path of an oncoming monstrosity. Hellbound swore softly, a sound lost in the general chaos of fleeing shoppers, and sprang into action. He dashed between the rows of clothes and leaped agilely to a sturdy set of shelves. Lucky for him, the rack had been over engineered and capable of taking his fast moving mass. One booted foot landed on a steel shelf as he changed direction sharply and took off into the air. Tigho's carrier was shifted to his left hand in mid-leap, the action being performed with care as to not jar her needlessly, and he drew both legs underneath himself. Like a misbegotten missile, he sailed easily over the head of the fallen girl and slammed into his target. Two bent knees impacted the mannequin solidly and he crushed it's upper torso beneath his prodigious weight. The plastic dummy shattered with him kneeling on top of it, trapping the collection of metal, wire and faux humanity. Tigho had been held high and out of harm's way, though he was still concerned about the action being too rough and smoothly moved her box so as to absorb as much impact as possible. "Get the frag outta here..." He growled at the nameless, clumsy girl. This was not the place for some ingenue to get in the way of him saving the day. His new kitten was already doing a good job of that on her own. As he warned the brunette to run, though, the wiring of the crushed mannequin came to life once more and began slithering its way up his bent legs and towards his torso.

Apparently it was a good thing Hellbound ended up not shopping for clothes after all. Across the marbled mall from his position was one of those uber-trendy outlets which seemed to change its mind on what was 'hip' every other day. That's where the screaming was coming from and he doubted that it was because they suddenly cancled the afternoon sale. Not sure as to what he should do with Tigho, Hellbound began making his careful way towards the store. Though at a point or two he had to swim up the stream of fleeing consumers, his inhumanly solid body kept both himself and the cat from being swept away on a tide of frightened humanity. Looking past the rushing bodies, he could see what had disturbed them so. It was certainly a strange sight, maybe not one to cause quite this much panic, but the citizens of Freedom City had learned long ago when supervillainy was about. A hard, evolved instinct for when to cut and run was bred into most of the long-term denizens of the city. Things like what he was now seeing undoubtedly counted as one of those times. All manner of cabling, wiring and cord was reaching its way out of the store's walls and across the aisles of displayed merchandise. Like strange, multicolored tentacles, the wires reached over clothing and accessory both to reach the various mannequins scattered around the place. As each one was encountered, the questing cables latched onto them, wrapped them as if making an attempt to mummify and then arcing with electricity. One by one, as the individual pieces of work completed itself, each psuedo-human sales display open artificial eyes and turned baleful glares towards Hellbound. "Aw... frag...." Was all he could thnk of to say.

"So what's your problem..." Hellbound began to ask of the kitten, even though he knew it was deaf. For that matter, even if it could have heard his voice it wasn't like the thing might actually answer. However, behind him there most certainly was a reply. Though not a direct response to his query, it formed the answer nonetheless. A set of terrified screams erupted that he was beginning to become familiar with. One of the hazards of working as a superhero was that you quite often encountered people at their most terrified. Being greeted by 'fellow' human beings in such a manner so often tended to give one a less-than-stellar opinion of the species. For creatures who supposedly found solid positioning at the top of the food chain, we certainly spent a great deal of time absolutely terrified. Hellbound grimaced at the kitten in wonderment. For a creature supposedly deaf, she certainly had a good sense of when bad things were about to happen. He turned, then, and looked towards the cause of the commotion. Subconsciously, he moved the cardboard carrier behind himself so that he would stand between Tigho and any danger.

Some time later, Hellbound was walking out with a cardboard box filled with cat and a wallet significantly lightened of cash. He hadn't honestly expected it to be so expensive to simply adopt an abandoned animal like that, but there were simply costs upon costs that needed to be dealt with. Vet bills from the initial health inspection, vaccinations, spaying and an RFID implant had all added up to far more than the hero had been wanting spend. On top of that were the essentials of cat ownship such as a litterbox, food, toys and things to claw at which weren't considered expensive furniture. There hadn't been much choice in the matter, however. Once the two had encountered each other then there was no going back. Hellbound was ending up with Tigho no matter how much his wardrobe had to suffer. Indeed, not only did the adoption drain him of enough cash that he couldn't honestly upgrade his clothes as needed, but also there was the need to get her home. The box she was carried in had holes and plenty of room, sure, but who wanted to spend an hour in a box while some shmuck wandered around the Old Navy store? Lifting the carrier, Hellbound tapped at its side and peered in at his new roommate. One perfect green eye and one misshapen blue orb stared back. Stephanie had explained that the genetic flaws Tigho had expressed meant she couldn't be shown or used for further breeding (a good thing, considering her source), and so the kitten had been put up for adoption. Small, toneless cries could be heard from the box periodically as Tigho wondered both where she was and where she was going. Not being able to hear her own voice, the animal apparently had developed a meow as unique as she was, herself. Though it wasn't until Hellbound noticed a lingering silence from the box that the warm, happy feeling within dropped. Another check inside the box showed her holding still, huddling in a corner and staring fixedly outward. It almost looked like she was attempting to become invisible, though Hellbound had no idea what may have set her off again.

"You know?" Stephanie said, with as much wonder towards herself as the situation. "I could. Not that you look anything like a cat person, the two of you just sort of go together." Hellbound considered what she'd just said and weighed the possibilities. Normally he'd assume she was just trying to make a sale, but that didn't seem to be the case this time. For one, the staffer did seem to care for her animals and wouldn't match any of them with a person capable of mistreatment. For another... well, for some damn reason he received nothing but a warm fuzzy feeling from the cat as it continued to maintain its clumsy position on his shoulder. That's not something he was accustomed to having in his life. In fact, it wasn't even something he was aware was missing in his life until just now. But with no doubt about it, there was something unique about Tigho. Though Hellbound tried to picture himself walking out of here without her, it was simply impossible. The poor man was hooked. "Okay." He finally had to admit. "So how does this whole adoption thing run?"

"Yeah..." Hellbound continued uncomfrotably. This whole 'kitten' thing was just acting the wrecking ball with his badass vibe. "The thing is, I'm not really what you'd call a cat person. I mean, really. Look at me. Could you see me coming home to take care of a kitten?" By now, Tigho had managed to climb up onto Hellbound's shoulder. Her balance wasn't perfect so she had a little trouble maintaining a solid perch, but a few tugs on his unkempt hair prevented her from tumbling off. Stephanie had to admit that when he first came in, she was only trying to be polite. There really hadn't been any plan to let this scruffy ruffian walk out of here with one of her animals, but there was just something fetching about their newly forming relationship. Tigho, certainly, had no problems with the man. But then again, Tigho never really had problems with anyone. There was a slight chance that her judgement alone wasn't a valid gauge. Watching how carefully Hellbound went about accepting the cat's presence so as to not hurt her, the staffer had started to change her mind. There was a stranglely unexpected symbiosis that'd sprung up immediately when the pair met. Indeed, even before Hellbound had entered the A.R.L., watching Tigho through plate glass, he'd been drawn to the cat.

By the way (for those actually reading this thread), Tigho is based on a real cat. All aspects are taken from life -- including the breeder that produced her. I've had a lot of pets in my time, but the day I had to put her down was probably the roughest pet-related tragedy of my life. Too much inbreeding led to a damn short lifespan. Happiest f'ing cat I've ever seen, though, right up to the end.

For someone who's blood could start forest fires and send most animals running in fear, Hellbound certainly failed in spooking Tigho. Despite his 'tough guy' exterior and even his fiercest 'back off' glare, she wasn't in the least bit intimidated. Even the startled reaction she'd had earlier was gone. Granted, that seemed to be caused by something witnessed over his shoulder, but whatever it'd been the thing was now gone. Tigho was happily purring and padding both front feet against his chest as she gazed upward. There was something odd about the way she alternated between left and right legs, almost as if her sense of rhythm were off. Rather than the even, balanced way that cats had of pawing things to display ownership, this one managed a happy, clumsy way of dancing instead. Hellbound kept her supported with one hand as she stamped against him, though he himself was held absolutely rigid. The kitten just seemed so small and delicate, as if one false move on his part would snap her in half. Given his inhuman strength, that was entirely likely. Still, something about her just seemed to radiate absolute joy. There was a common aspect missing in her personality, something that most other animals just carried as a background thing. It was the lack of fear, he supposed. Where another kitten might be spooked by the loud noises and strange people that moved through the shop, she was absolutely oblivious. Apparently there was an advantage to not being able to hear, at least for a pet. Where sudden sounds and quick movements might intimidate others, Tigho had no concept of ever encountering such discomfort.

"Deaf?" Hellbound asked. He didn't know that much about cats to begin with, let alone ones with hearing problems. "So... like what kind of special needs does a deaf cat have?" Stephanie listed out some of the problems that a hearing impaired animal might run into. Primarily, there wasn't any way for the cat to know when something was sneaking up on her, so she was easy pickings for predators. That meant the cat should never be allowed to go outside otherwise it could be caught and killed by stray ferals. That was good advice for any cat, however. Some people held the belief that such animals were only happy if allowed to roam freely and get into trouble. But that only led to infections from wounds gained by fighting or other sorts of trouble. Granted, farm cats were a different story as they were part of pest control, but any example of the species living within city limits were better off staying inside. Aside from that, there just wasn't much to hold the cat back. Normally they never came when called anyway, so what was the point in Tigho not being able to hear her name? She would learn to keep a close eye on her food dish over time and eventually grow into an established schedule of fresh meals being provided. As the staffer spoke and gave Hellbound some information, Tigho began fighting her way out of Stephanie's grip and over to the previously super-macho superhero.

You'll have to go a long, long way to convince me that Freedom City cops are anything more than pencil-pushing, paperwork administrators. All they ever seem good for is babysitting bad guys, filling out forms and writing down names after all the action is over and done with. But at least I've started working with them, sort of. I mean, I've introduced myself outside of that skating rink mess and shown how much damage I can do. I guess they were pretty happy about getting Tony B. on some real charges. 'Just too bad he wasn't the one that pull the gun on me.

"Unfortunately," Stephanie continued, "It took a fair amount of inbreeding to produce the proper results. That breeder already had a pretty bad reputation for just that reason, and this really isn't helping her cause." The white cat made a playful attempt at climbing onto her shoulder, but gave up as its attention span quickly shifted to other things. Hellbound was examined in detail followed by nearly every other moving object in the room. "White cats already tend to have problems with both hearing and vision, so you can imagine that the inbreeding didn't help. Tigho, here, is completely deaf. We're pretty sure she can't hear at all." So the kitten finally had a name, though Hellbound wasn't sure what Tigho was supposed to mean or where it came from. For some reason, however, the strange name seemed to fit. She actually looked a bit like a 'Tigho', whatever that might be. "Blue eyes don't help, either. Put them both together and you're almost assured to have some health issues. Russian Blues are supposed to have green eyes, but Tigho came out half-and-half for some reason. "Weird thing is, she seems to be able to see just fine. I mean, you can tell that she has to be able to look at something to know about it and that hasn't slowed her down one bit." Stephanie held the cat up just above shoulder height and, indeed, Tigho swept the room with her gaze continuously. It gave her the air of a creature that held boundless curiosity and tried to satisfy it non-stop.

Kinda sad... Hellbound's activities have been reduced to him buying a cat since all of his other threads have dried out. I'll have to schedule a fight for him soon.

The staffer looked towards the front window and considered the animals on display. "You mean the Russian Blue?" She asked. "It's a she, actually, and probably the sweetest kitten we've had in years." A confused look crossed Hellbound's face as he tried to correct her. He was referring to the white one, though he hadn't actually noticed if there were any blue cats cavorting about the store. "No, the white one is a Russian Blue." Stephanie smiled. "See, a local breeder has been trying to establish a white color variant of the breed even though T.I.C.A.'s not been very open to the idea. I don't think C.F.A. has even been introduced to them, either, and there's good reason... hold on, let me go get her out." A lot of what Stephanie had just stated went over Hellbound's head. He didn't know squat about associations, cat breeders or cat breeds. All he knew is that there was something special about the one that'd caught his attention. In a few seconds, the staffer was back with the proper animal. The white kitten was looking up at her with curiosity, though her feline gaze would occasionally sweep the room.