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It was close to midday when Gadget poked her head out from under the console of the Rangerwing to see that the fog was finally beginning to burn off. Having rolled in from the bay in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after she had woken up, the heavy mist had completely enveloped the park. So incredibly thick the fog had proven to be, even the view of the tree nearest to their own had been blocked off. Having stepped outside once during that time to get a breath of fresh air, she'd refrained from doing so again. Only a few moments time in the dense moisture and she was nearly soaked to the skin under her fur in a little over a minute, creating a chill in her body that lingered there. Changing into a spare set of coveralls and drying her hair, she continued her work in silence. Pausing from her repairs and tinkerings only to grab a clean rag every now and then, she'd worked through the night and the morning, the sometimes visible swirling tendrils of vapor outside and her thoughts as her only company. She was not able to sleep much that night, though as to why, she really didn't know. Nothing was troubling her and no disturbing dreams had brought her back to wakefulness. So to have woken after only two hours of blissful sleep and not being able to slip back into unconsciousness was an event that was more than just a little frustrating to her. She'd awakened shortly after 12:30, and after a long bout of tossing and turning, she finally sighed in resignation and made her way to her workshop. <Might as well get some things done if I'm staying awake anyway,> she thought to herself, a bit grumpily at her plight. As it turned out, she was able to get quite a *number* of "somethings" done during that time, getting a good deal ahead of herself in her own long list of projects, which at least had alleviated her frustration. Inventing and tinkering always helped to cure a bad mood, she normally found. A curious thought kept tickling in the back of her mind though, as to when some form of fatigue would begin to settle in. After all, with yesterday having involved a very long, wild and frantically-paced case which left them all exhausted, she thought without a doubt that upon going to bed, she would sleep like a baby mouseling. Still not feeling anything akin to drowsiness or muddleheadedness that would insinuate dreamland's calling her to visit, she checked her final adjustments to the Rangerwing's control panel and stood up in the cockpit. Withdrawing the heavily oil stained and grime smeared rag from her back pocket and cleaning off what she could of her hands upon it, she descended from the Rangerwing. Leaving the adjoining hangar and entering her workshop, grabbing a fresh rag from a nearby box while tossing the used one into a "laundry" pile in the corner, she made her way to her worktable. There, leaning upon the table, she paused to look over a set of blueprints anchored there before her. The schematics were for a new helicopter that she was due to build. Having taken on the project as a pro bono commission for the S.A.M.A.R.I.T.A.N.S.,* they had turned to her as this was a vehicle that they had need of immediately. Being renowned as she was throughout the entire bay area for the most reliable, as well as the quickest made inventions, it was really little wonder why. In addition though, even though she was glad to help out the "Sams" as the work they did was so commendable in her view, this project was a special treat. As this was due to be a completely new helicopter design she had come up with for their specific needs of rescue and treatment of medical emergencies, she was eager to get started on it. New invention ideas normally had her *itching* to get her hands dirty on them. However, as the hull of the craft still needed to be forged and shaped, there was nothing else she could do at the moment. She'd already obtained all the other necessary parts, and wasn't due to meet with some of the other "Sams'" until tomorrow. It was then when she and Monterey were to help two of their strongest members bring the needed metal to a nearby blast furnace to forge it, with which the construction would then begin in earnest. Losing herself in the beauty of the design she had created for a moment, dwelling upon how many animal lives would be saved by this new vehicle, Gadget thrilled to a warm feeling of pride as well as a shiver of excitement as well, tingled through her fur. Checking back her anticipation then, lest it distract her from the other projects she still wanted to get done, she reached over to gently roll up the plans for the helicopter. Placing them to one side of the worktable, another sheet of architect's paper was exposed underneath. This sheet however, was completely blank. Taking a small, whittled down golf course pencil in hand, and nibbling upon the tip of it thoughtfully for a few seconds, she began to jot down a few numbers upon the paper, from some quick calculations she had just done in her mind. This set of plans was destined to be for an additional double sized room, due to be cut out of the interior of the tree in another few days or so. As Tammy was now spending more and more of her time with the Rescue Rangers, helping them out on cases, it looked as though they might soon be bringing in a new member full time. Beyond that though, as she herself had her workshop, she felt it only fair that Foxglove as well should have someplace where she could practice her craft as well. For this, the room would double, on one side as a bedroom to the young bat and teenage squirrel, were Tammy to move in with them, and upon the other as a workshop in which Foxglove would have sufficient room to practice her magic. Enough space was needed as well in the plans to accommodate all her books, potions and other tools, Gadget reminded herself, jotting it down on the plans. As Foxglove had already been living with Tammy and her family in Chinatown for the past number of months, having them room together would not present any sort of unforseen problem that she could guess. She was all too happy to share her room with Foxglove as she was doing now, but with all of the various items that she used in her witchcraft, the room was more than a bit cluttered and unwieldy. An addition such as this would certainly help matters. <Now to take a few measurements and-*huh?*> Gadget began, beginning to turn toward where she kept her tape measure, before abruptly stopping in her tracks. Upon the other side of the work table, as she had not bound it, a portion of the blueprint for the "Sams'" new helicopter had unrolled as she had been looking down, revealing a curious sight. "Golly," she stated to herself as she picked the plans up in her hands to study them closer. "I don't remember drawing *this* in here." Situated within the schematics for the motor for the chopper, a new detail had been added, one that she had somehow overlooked upon glancing over the plans moments before. The addition was not significant, it was simply an oval of sorts, forming something similar to two elongated parenthesis that had been connected at each end. <That's because I *didn't* draw this in here,> she realized with certainty. <Chip probably did it, but golly, I wonder why?> As Chip often worked alongside her, helping her in the workshop, even more so than Zipper did, he was the most logical choice. Even so though, he had never altered any of her blueprints in anyway unless he asked her about it beforehand or if she was dictating the change for him to make. He always respected her place as head of technical matters in the team and was always respectful of the fact that this was *her* workshop. So for him to make an alteration on one of her blueprints was a bit out of character for him. Moreover though, the alteration didn't make any sense. The change was just a simple outline, with no notes to explain it, or arrows to associate it to anything else. From its shape, it didn't appear to be anything that she could recognize that would be functional to the engine in any way. It almost looked like some sort of doodle. Yet to her mind, it didn't seem to have been some absentminded drawing on someone's part, or an accident caused by a slip of the pen. The shape looked too precisely drawn for it to be that, she realized, frowning slightly as she continued to stare at the lines. <Oh well,> she shrugged slightly to herself as she glanced back to where her eraser lay on a nearby table. "I'll just erase it for now and be sure to ask Chip and the others about it," she told herself, making a mental note to herself to do just that. Reaching over toward where the eraser lay on upon a shelf behind her, she took it in hand and turned back toward the blueprint. Leaning over the table, the eraser poised in her hand toward the altered section of the plans, her eyes abruptly widened in surprise. Starting slightly, she blinked hard once, and then once again, staring hard as a shocked look instantly appeared on her face. The marks were gone. "Huh?!" she exclaimed, immediately dropping the eraser to pick the blueprints up in her hands. Her eyes narrowing, she scanned carefully now over the entire area of the engine, and then over the rest of the helicopter itself. Still though, the mark she had seen a moment before was nowhere to be found. <I *know* I didn't imagine it...did I?> she wondered. Carefully, she reached out a hand to touch the area where she thought the alteration had been, rubbing a finger over the section, and neither felt nor saw anything to show how the marks had disappeared. Rubbing her eyes and looking in disbelief at the now blank area once more, she looked up at a watch that was hanging on the wall of her workshop. <Golly. Maybe I *have* been at this a little long,> she mused, her mind thinking back to Monterey's warning of a short while ago that she might need a break after having been working for so long already. As she had been buried within the cables and wires of the Rangerwing at the time though, she had absentmindedly said that she would, while only half realizing that she had said it though. She realized that the phantom drawing could have been caused due to lack of sleep, and yet, even with all her work, she *still* didn't feel tired enough to go to bed. <Well then,> she thought to herself with a shrug, a thoughtful look crossing her face, <maybe I can *make* myself that tired,> With this, opening the door to her workshop, she headed off toward her bedroom, making a quick change into a pair of shorts and a tee shirt before making her way down to the exercise room. Although much of what she did in her workshop could be considered a workout in itself with the amount physical activity she exerted during her projects, in a way, she never found her inventing or tinkering to be draining in any way. She simply had too much fun doing it and was too immersed in it for it to be tiring to her. On the other side of the coin though, although exercising was fun sometimes, especially with her friends, she *knew* it to be hard work to keep in shape, and never failed to feel something of a drain on her energy afterwards. <It's really all in the mind I guess,> she grinned to herself, believing that this was just the thing she needed to help her get to sleep. After a comprehensive bout of rigorous stretching, she set up the record player that functioned as their treadmill to a comfortable speed. Tuning the radio to some music, she positioned herself upon the record before pulling the switch beside her which started the turntable moving. Getting into a good rhythm, she let the music play over her ears, humming slightly in tune to the tempo as she let her gaze drift out the window. Outside, the fog was still continuing to burn off, and in its wake, what looked to be a blustery, but sunny day was beginning to take shape. Listening to the howl of the wind as it wove its way along across the outside of the tree, watching as birds swooped, soared, and sometime struggled against the onrushing gale, she wondered how well the new chopper would hold up in strong winds like this. She hoped that a similarly blustery day would come along soon upon her completing the craft, so that she could field test it under those conditions before giving it over to the "Sams". The last thing in the world she wanted was for one of her inventions to hurt any one of her friends, or an innocent bystander, due to a mistake on her part. Making a mental note in her mind to make a mark upon the blueprints to test the machine under high winds, she turned her attention back toward the toggle switch for the speed. Curling her tail down and alongside her to wrap around it, she was about to pull it to increase the speed, when she abruptly swung her gaze back to the record beneath her feet. Drawing in a slight gasp of surprise, she looked to find what she thought she had spotted from the corner of her eye. The *same type* of mark that she had seemingly seen upon the blueprints in her workshop, now appeared to be etched ever so lightly into the vinyl of the record beneath her. Even more though, now there were two of them, side by side. Reacting slightly to this discovery, Gadget reflexively jerked her tail upward, sending the the turntable into a higher rpm setting. Watching wide eyed for a moment as the two faint markings disappeared at certain points in the revolution, the lights in the room shining upon certain parts of the record to swallow them, she was caught unawares at the sudden change in velocity. "Whup! *Whoa!!*" she cried as she lost her footing at the sudden new speed. Stumbling and falling upon the record, she was whipped to the floor a short distance away in a slingshot effect. Righting herself, and grateful that she had not been thrown into any of the other pieces of heavy equipment in the room, Gadget quickly sprinted back toward the record player to shut the power off. Mounting the turntable once again, she looked around upon the vinyl for the marks she had seen. Slowly turning the record, she made certain that every portion was visible to her and had cleared the streaks of light which lay upon it. Yet, as before, the strange markings had yet again vanished. <I *know* I saw it!> Gadget swore to herself, even attempting to recreate the same conditions upon which she had seen the markings through running upon the record, only to hop off a moment later and shut the power down again. Kneeling worriedly upon the surface of the player, Gadget could only stare in disbelief at the record's surface for a few moments before she picked her gaze up, a thoughtful expression on her face. <Low blood sugar?> she wondered, shaking her head in bewilderment, shrugging as her incredibly brilliant mind was at a rare loss to explain what was going on. As she knew she wasn't terribly hungry, not enough to start hallucinating, this explanation was more than a bit unlikely, but at the moment, she could come up with nothing better. She could only guess. She had gone without sleep for longer than this during her time as a Rescue Ranger, and never before had she started seeing things. As she knew she didn't feel ill in anyway to account for this oddity either, the fact that she had not eaten in almost fifteen hours was the only conclusion that came to mind. Remaining in her tee shirt and shorts as she made her way to the kitchen, her furrowed brow clearly communicating her continued pondering of the situation, she prepared a small meal for herself. Heating a cup of the leftover soup that had been left in the refrigerator, as well as a steaming cup of hot chocolate for later, she snagged a small hunk of cheese from a secret compartment in the new refrigerator she had made. A compartment in which she, Chip, Dale, Zipper and Foxglove kept a tiny private stash, safe from Monterey's reflexive and uncontrolled eating of it. Her repast in hand, she headed toward the living room. Hitting the power for the television, Gadget quickly flipped her way through the channels, wondering what the science channel had on at the moment. Flicking past a certain channel though, she hurriedly backtracked to it a moment later, as a memory clicked in her mind about the scene which had flashed before her eyes, making her recall just what the scene was from. <Not every day that *this* comes on,> she thought, smiling contentedly to herself as she settled back comfortably on the couch, curling her tail upon her leg as the science channel was swept from her mind for the moment. <Glad I caught it so close to the beginning.> The movie on the screen was an old one, from the black and white era when most of the movies made then, were made with a charm that was noticeably absent to her in many of the movies put out in the last few decades. She remembered first seeing the film on television with her father, many years ago when she was but a young girl. With a very romantic atmosphere to it, along with well defined characters and a strong story around which it revolved, the tale had made a very vivid impression upon her. So much so that she had committed every moment of it to her memory. An impressive feat admittedly, as she had only seen it twice. The second time she had seen it had been a few months after her father had died. Though she had continually felt like crying upon watching it that second time, and *had* quite violently in a few places, remembering her viewing it the first time with him, the movie had nonetheless comforted her in a way. The film allowed her to capture in a way, one of the many fond moments she had spent with him. One thing beyond her father that she centered upon with this movie though, was the romance between the main characters within it. Even at that young age in which she had first seen it, she had been enraptured by the love story presented to her, sweeping her away with fairy tale visions of meeting someone whom she would fall in love with so happily as the characters in the movie had done. Even at that young age, she hadn't been much of one for love stories, but this movie had proved to be an exception somehow. Though she had barely thought that much about that childhood memory upon her second viewing of it, if at all, due to her still recovering from her loss, this time was noticeably different. It was as it had been the first time. And more. At a time in her life when she was quite happy and content, living a life filled with meaning as a Rescue Ranger that made her feel quite satisfied and proud, watching the story unfold, she could barely keep from giggling aloud with a contentedly giddy joy. Smiling brightly, her mind and heart immediately connected with the child she had been in her past, recalling these memories to realize a wish fulfilled. As she had envisioned so happily, she *had* fallen deeply love with someone as completely as the two lead characters in the movie, making her life as close to complete as she wouldn't have imagined possible. <I wish Chip were here to watch this *with* me,> she thought to herself, her heart going out in yearning for her teammate as she took a quick glance at the door from the corner of her eye. <Hope he and the others get back from the market soon.> For many more minutes, now having stretched herself out and snuggled in upon the couch, Gadget continued to watch the movie in silence, giving the screen her full attention as she slowly sipped the soup from her mug. Absently stroking the fur upon her leg with the motion from her tail, her ears cocked themselves over every now and then. Swiveling, she listened as well to the occasionally strong gusts of wind which sometimes blew with a haunting and hollow sound around the oak tree. <I wonder if they're having any trouble with that wind out there?> she wondered, taking another glance toward the outside, through the windows around each side of the front door. Turning back toward the screen once more, she grinned widely once again, seeing as one of her favorite parts of the movie was rapidly approaching. Leaning forward slightly with an eager anticipation, a sudden, curious look washed over her face a moment later, replacing the smile that had lit up her eager face. She blinked once, and then squinted towards the screen. <Gosh,...I guess you see something new in a movie every time you watch it,> she shrugged to herself mentally, <I sure don't remember about *that* from the last two times I saw this.> Within a crowded tavern and eatery, the camera was focused upon a number of tables occupied by dining couples. Seated at one of these tables, as the camera began to move in upon them at the scene's opening, sat the leading man and lady. Sitting fairly close to one another, the pair were seen laughing at some unheard joke as their voices were still indistinguishable from the chatter within the noisy room. This though, was not what had drawn Gadget's attention. What had, was a small movement in black. The camera had just begun to move through the crowd and towards the couple, singling them out from among the other patrons. It was here when something caught her eye. Along the shadows which played upon a staircase, situated along the wall, a number of feet in back of the couple, something now moved. Descending two of the stairs slowly to emerge inconspicuously into view within the scene, a cat's head and front paws now appeared. Stopping for a moment, it turned its head toward the camera, its hind quarters still hidden by the ceiling of the room, as it looked out upon the people within the restaurant. Then without further ado, it turned back to speed down the remaining steps, its presence barely visible within the shadows. Rounding the edge of the staircase in a blur, it was instantly lost from view behind the edge of the nearest table. <Huh. I guess I was too fixed upon the characters last time to notice,> she mused with a small grin, quirking an eyebrow at the sudden cameo. Focusing upon the two main characters once more as their voices could now be heard, the same smile of anticipation spread across her face again, waiting for the scene to take place, as a few moments passed in the movie. Then she froze. Abruptly and with no warning at all, the same cat from a moment before had reappeared.Gracefully leaping up onto the table, it stood on four paws between the two main characters,freezing in place as well as it stared directly at the camera. *At Gadget.* The characters in the movie seemed unaware of its presence at all, continuing on with their conversation. "Oh,..my...go-" she whispered in shock, the fur on her body standing on end with a tingle.Further deviating from the movie, she sat spellbound as the camera now began to move in. Centering upon the black and white cat, the main characters were cut off from view as the television now closed in upon a close up of the feline, its face filling the entire screen. For a moment, time seemed to stop as the two continued to stare at one another with widened eyes, neither one of them blinking while Gadget could only form one line of thought within her terrified mind. <Th-Those eyes...> she trembled slightly, her mouth agape as she sat rooted to the spot, viewing the two familiar, black, elongated ovals, gleaming in the lights within the restaurant. <*That's* what I was seeing..! This...> The picture sharply dissolved to static as she opened her mouth to speak. "What..do..?" the words hung upon her parched tongue, unable to come out even if she had wanted to whisper them. Bounding from the couch, the mug of broth still curled reflexively in one hand, her other hand streaked forward instinctively to hit the button for the power, fear overtaking her mind. Her hand never made it though, as the power to the television was suddenly cut before she could perform the deed, changing the picture upon the screen from snow to pitch black. Drawing herself up short, Gadget curled her hand back upon her chest, staring at the screen as she backed up a few steps. Whirling about, her gaze then shot nervously around the room from floor to ceiling, and every point in between. Glancing back toward the television screen every few seconds, she seemed to try to take in everything there was around her. Nothing. <Where..?> she asked herself, unable to form a more complete thought. Trembling, she slowly turned around to face the television screen once more, before hesitantly sitting down upon the couch. Her eyes once more darting around her to various points about the room, she finally focused them upon the television screen, unable to free her mind from its near petrified state. A few moments passed before she acknowledged the warmth upon her hand to look down and realize that she was still holding her mug full of soup, watching as the steam swirled through her fingers. As the whipping wind howled even louder against the tree and front door, her ears swung reflexively over toward the sound. As they did, another chill ran through her fur and down her spine that was even colder than the one the fog had left in her last night. Slowly reaching her other trembling hand down to wrap itself around the mug, she slowly raised it to her lips, intuitively seeking to banish some of the chill with a wave of warmth from the broth. Steadying her hands to keep them from shaking as she kept her eyes glued to the television screen, she took in a small mouthful of the soup, barely tasting it as she let it wash over her tongue, gulping it down. Feeling the sensation of warmth fill her stomach and begin to spread through her as the soup made its way down, she smiled slightly, albeit nervously, and glanced down at the liquid as if to give thanks to it as she prepared to take another sip. Looking down, she found a wavering image of the cat's face staring back up at her, filling the borders of the mug. "KLK!" Crashing to the floor, the mug shattered into tiny fragments as Gadget tossed it away, a strangled, incomprehensible cry catching in her throat. Skittering back only to be stopped by the corner of the couch, Gadget gripped the backrest and seat cushions of the armrest to either side of her tightly. Her claws threatened to burst the inflatable rubberized material that made it up as she dug them in without thinking, a palpable terror once again clouding over her mind. Trembling even more violently, her body flushed with the blood coursing rapidly through it from her pounding heart. As she looked on, feeling her breath catch in her throat in a shallow gasp, the steam from the dispersed and evaporating liquid rapidly changed. From a dancing cloud of ever changing patterns, the swirling matter folded around and quickly reshaped itself into another image of the wide eyed cat, its haunting visage locking its gaze with hers once again as it rose from the floor as it began to float over toward her. It was then that the front door opened. "Crikeys! This is some kinda *wind* we got going, here!" Monterey's voice uttered as he stumbled through the door. Whirling toward the sound of her friend's voice, Gadget found whatever spell or state of mind that had been holding her fast now broken as she flung herself around the edge of the couch toward him, the scream that had caught in her throat before, now tearing forth with a chilling sound. Barreling into the burly Australian as he moved from the door's edge down the steps, the fog swirling around him, Gadget nearly knocked him over with her charge as she twisted him around. Frantically pointing behind her toward the area of the couch, she held tight to his trenchcoat lapels, staring wildly into his eyes. "M-M-Monty! Over -t-the-!!" she croaked in an almost hoarse sounding voice, unable to finish the sentence. "Gadget! What-?!" He turned to look in the direction that she had turned him toward, and was so insistently pointing. Nothing. "Gadget luv, what is it?!" he exclaimed worriedly, turning his head back toward her as Chip, Foxglove, Dale and Zipper rushed in to crowd around her in concern, excitedly asking, more or less the same question. Turning her own gaze back toward the area between the couch and the television, only to find the misty image of the feline now gone, Gadget could only gape at the sight in disbelief and astonishment for a moment. Releasing Monterey's trenchcoat, she hesitantly moved over to the back of the couch, the other Rangers watching her as she placed her hands gently upon it, leaning over it to look where she had last seen the apparition. All that greeted her sight was that of an *unbroken* mug, sitting upon a now dry wooden floor, as a gentle plume of steam arose from the liquid she could see within it. Letting out something akin to a small, hysterically choked off sob at the sight, she raced around the couch to look into the mug, finding only the vegetable soup she had been drinking before as she picked it up in her paws to stare for many moments into its depths. "Gadget?" Lifting her head up at the sound, she found Chip now leaning upon the back of the couch, looking at her with concern and confusion, while Dale, Foxglove, Monterey and Zipper stood close behind him, the same expressions on their faces as well. Closing her eyes for a moment to let out a shuddering breath, trying her best to return her breathing to a normal pace, a single tear of fright and frustration trickled down the fur on her cheek before she slowly moved herself forward. Starting to move past her assembled teammates, she smiled thankfully at a sensation, opening her eyes to look at Chip. One of his paws he'd placed over hers, which were still curled upon the mug, the other draped gently upon her back. Leading him toward the open doorway, Gadget stopped at the foot of the domino staircase. The feeling of the wind and the cool dampness of the fog rushing through the doorway onto her, the sensation helped to comfort and to steady her as well. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Chip asked in a low, soft tone, trying not to sound overly anxious, though his worried expression clearly communicated that emotion to a high degree. "I-..I'm okay." Gadget nodded assuredly, her breathing coming much easier now. "Then what happened?" Chip asked, gently urging her. Taking a deep breath, realizing that her other teammates were now standing behind her, waiting for an answer to that same question, she took a moment more to calm down before she turned around,...and let out a another terrified scream of fright once again. Standing directly behind her friends, towering over them as it sat upon the floor with its head touching the ceiling, and filling up nearly the entire space from the back of the couch to the door of the kitchen, sat the black and white cat once again. Falling back against the domino steps as she cried out, Gadget could only point with a shaky hand a split second later, pointing upward toward the silent feline as its wide eyed and unrelenting gaze locked onto hers once more. During that same split second as she watched her teammates begin to whirl around toward what lay behind them, though, a hand that was not Chip's suddenly placed itself on her shoulder as a voice called out her name. "Gadget! What's wrong?!" Tammy's voice asked urgently as she leaned in to place her head next to Gadget's, looking at her with concern. Startled by her friend's sudden, unexpected contact, Gadget whirled her head around behind her to meet Tammy's gaze, barely recognizing the young squirrel in her frightened state, before she whirled her head back in the next split second to find...*nothing.* Foxglove, Dale, Zipper, Monterey and Chip as well who now crouched beside her, were standing there, looking toward the empty air beyond the doorway which led to the other areas of the treehouse. Looking all around at the area before them, she watched as Foxglove, Dale, Zipper and Monterey then looked questioningly at one another, their gazes clearly communicating their curiosity if either of them saw something different. Taking the initiative to bound toward the open doorway before them then, Monterey swiftly looked in through the doorway, first to the left and then to the right before poking his head back out. Taking an extra step to look over toward the area of the television and the couch in case he had missed something, he turned his perplexed and concerned gaze back toward Gadget with a shrug. Raising his hands in the same gesture, he shook his head, looking directly at her. "What luv? There's nothing here." "No....." Groaning this singular word in exasperation and near despair as she stared agape at this same sight for many moments, Gadget could only let out another slight sob as she clapped a hand over her eyes, trying desperately to collect her thoughts. Removing the hand from over her eyes as she felt Chip place his paws upon her once more, one over her own hands as one brushed over her hair, trying to calm her down, she looked up after a few moments to lock her eyes onto Foxglove. Setting down what was left of the mug of soup upon the steps as she got up, trying to ignore for the moment, the broth that had spilled upon her as she had fallen back, she walked up with a tired determination toward her friend. "Foxy,...*I need your help.*" she asked with a weary note in her shuddering voice, still trying to calm down her breathing again as she looked directly into the young bat's eyes. Nodding her understanding, though confusion still played heavily upon her face along with the comfort she tried to convey, Foxglove placed a soft, leathery wing around her back and motioned her towards the doorway, leading her back towards the room she shared with Gadget. * * * "And then just as you were turning around, it disappeared again." Gadget finished with a sigh, having finally settled down enough to tell her story, with a little help from one of Foxglove's potions that had helped to calm her as well. "Any idea of what's going on?" she asked with a shrug and a confused shake of her head, a hopeful look in her blue eyes as she looked up at the young witch. "Am I hallucinating, or is this thing really out there?" she finished, waving her paw out to indicate the room they were in and the entire treehouse. "We-elll," Foxglove began thoughtfully pursing a finger over her lips as she looked Gadget over from head to toe. "I have a few ideas, but I need to check a few things out first before I say anything...for which you guys are going to have to wait outside," she stated in a professional manner, looking over toward her teammates that had gathered in a group within the bedroom. Nodding their understanding as Foxglove placed a small stethoscope around her neck, beginning to take out a few medical instruments as well, Chip, Tammy, Monterey, Dale and Zipper filed out of the room, each of them sporting a curious look of wonderment at the story they had just heard. "*Zowie,* Monty!" Dale exclaimed with excitement as he left the room. You don't think this could be that the ghost of the Canterville Cat that we never saw in England, do ya?"+ "I doubt it mate, if this *is* a real ghost we're dealing with here," Monterey answered with a shake of his head, "The Canterville Cat was a right ugly *monster* of a feline, but what Gadget here, described..-" the rest of Monterey's reply was muffled though, as Foxglove shut the door behind them before turning toward where Gadget sat upon the bed... * * * "Well, Foxy?" Gadget asked anxiously some time later as Foxglove finished performing her last test upon her, the bat having checked her aura for the possibility of some sort of illness as well as some type of curse. Having remained silent throughout the examination so as not to break her concentration, her teammate had tested her first with the more well known medical tools, and then with the various medicinal methods of magic at her command. Now, having posed the question that had waited on the tip of her tongue throughout the entire time, she watched as her friend sighed lightly, packing the last of her tools away. "To tell you the truth, Gadget,..." Foxglove began, a hesitant look upon her face as she turned toward her,"...I'm really not sure. You don't seem to be sick in any way that would cause a hallucination, that much I *do* know. The rest of it though, is kinda debatable. You said you hadn't eaten or slept in quite some time," Foxy began, touching one of the digits on her right paw with one of her left, counting off the evidence on each side, "two hours really *isn't* enough, not after all that happened yesterday, and you hadn't eaten for quite some time either. You went to bed right after we got back, not even wanting a snack." "I wasn't hungry," Gadget replied simply, shaking her head, "my body just wanted to sleep...or at least I *thought* it did." she frowned slightly. "I know," Foxglove smiled in understanding, "but then you got involved in your workshop, and forgot about your hunger and your lack of sleep again. This could be your problem right off, a drastic imbalance in the body can normally make any animal see things th-" "But...!" Gadget began to protest in frustration, standing up slightly from the bed." "Shh. I know," Foxglove replied softly, smiling gently and placing her wing gently on Gadget's knee for a moment as she sat on the floor beneath her, leaning an elbow on the mattress. "you said you didn't *feel* that drained, and you've gone for longer periods of time without eating or sleeping, but each case is different. Sometimes we can feel pretty much normal when the body starts playing with perceptions. Think about it. As Rescue Rangers, we often have to push past fatigue, especially *you* with all you do involving machines, in and out of the workshop, so you might feel used to it, but like I said, each case is different with an imbalance. The last time you did that, were you involved in a day long, frantic chase?" Blinking, Gadget could only frown thoughtfully at that as the point sunk in, quirking an eyebrow as she thought back upon the last time she had let her energy reserves burn so low. "No, I guess not." she shrugged, conceding to the point. "Right." Foxglove nodded. "Now its also very possible that it *was* a ghost and not just some phantasm you saw, but considering that it was popping up at pretty much every opportunity before, I don't know why you haven't seen it even *once* during the entire time we've been in here. Also, I've never heard of a ghost doing what you said it did, with bringing that mug back together but...I'm no expert on ghosts either. Not yet at least." she shrugged with a small smile. "Another possibility is that this is all some kind of sophisticated hologram of some sort that someone's been projecting into the treehouse, somehow, making you think you've been seeing this cat. A drug of some kind that might have gotten into your system somehow from our last visit to Nimnul's lab is a forth, something you might have accidentally inhaled there. A post hypnotic suggestion is still *another* possibility as well, but we haven't had any cases involving that since that city wide mass hypnosis case we tackled a short while back, and no *animals* were affected. Only humans, so I don't know how you would have gotten the idea put into your head." "Ivana?" Gadget suggested worriedly, "She could have put the idea in my head somehow when she kidnaped me and the others two months ago. She does have cause to hate me more than the others," she shivered at the suggestion. "And she's good with technology for the possibility of a hologram, you're right. It's a distinct possibility, but so are the others. Like I said, its kinda debatable." Foxglove shrugged. "So how do we find out which one it is?" Gadget asked with uncertainty. "Well with this, luckily, we can check out more than one possibility at once," Foxglove stated, rising to her feet as she tried to convey an assuring look to her teammate, "to try to find out. The best way *I* can think of, not to fall for a hologram unless you know something better, is to close your eyes, and that's just what I want you to do for right now." she stated, resting her wings on her friend's shoulders. "Lie down and try to get some sleep for right now if you can. I'll be checking out the other possibilities." "Well, okay," Gadget returned hesitantly, not wanting to be left out of the investigation, but not resisting Foxglove's grasp as her teammate gently laid her back on the bed. "but how?" "Well right after I check out the blood sample I took from you under the microscope in your workshop," Foxglove began, nodding toward the bag near the door which contained the small vial, as well as some of her other instruments, "if nothing turns up there that I can find that would cause you to see things, I'm going to check out the living room. Since that's where you saw the cat most noticeably, I'll try checking the mug you left there and the television for any residual spectral energy I can pick up if this is a ghost. While that's going on, I'll ask Chip to run your blood sample over to the "Sams", just in case. They've got a lot more equipment, being in an animal hospital, to find any sort of drug that might be there, as well as a lot more knowledge of what to look for. Some of those guys have been studying medicine a lot longer than me." she smiled humbly. "Need anything before I get started?" Foxglove asked, looking at her curiously as she made her way to the door. "No thanks," Gadget smiled up at her, folding her hands comfortably upon her stomach. "I'll be okay,..I guess." she added, a slightly worried look in her eyes about all the possibilities as to what might be going on. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out quickly," Foxglove returned with an assuring note in her voice, giving a confident smile over to her teammate as she opened the door and began to close it behind her, "If you see that cat again in any way in the room, even one of its eyes like before, call out." "Don't worry, *I will.*" Gadget chuckled nervously in return, smiling back at her friend. Hearing as the door shut behind Foxglove with a click, Gadget sighed deeply after a moment, going over all the possibilities in her mind that Foxy had mentioned, knowing that she probably would have felt better being involved in the investigation herself. At least it would help to take her mind off of worrying somewhat, but still, she couldn't deny the fact that what Foxglove had said made sense. Maybe it *was* something so simple as a lack of sleep and food. <I hope so,> she thought to herself. Taking one last, quick look around the room and spotting no sign of anything resembling the eyes or the face of the cat that had appeared almost without respite just a half hour or so ago, Gadget closed her eyes and tried to relax. Outside, the sound of the howling wind still whipped closely around the tree. Listening to the sound as it stirred her memory, for many minutes Gadget tried to fill her mind with other thoughts, *any thoughts,* trying to keep at bay the one that now kept playing at the edge of her mind, the one that she didn't want to see, that of the black and white cat....*staring at her.* It quickly began to shape up as a battle of her will against her mind's eye as her brow began to furrow slightly in concentration, as the picture of the cat or at least parts of the feline, began to weave their way into her thoughts. A complex mathematical equation suddenly sported one of its elongated pupils in the parenthesis, the angle of a part upon a machine would shift into the triangular shape of the cat's nose or ears before its face began to be seen as well. Even a memory of her father was not a safe haven as his waving flight scarf, wrapped loosely about his neck, would suddenly turn black in color with a touch of white upon the side of it, looking like the cat's tail. Hoping that sleep would overtake her soon, as least from the increasingly rapid mental exercise that she was performing, Gadget sighed through gritted teeth and continued to shift her thoughts from item to item hoping the infiltration of the feline's image would stop soon. Her hopes proved to be unrewarded though, as many more minutes later, she pounded a curled fist heavily upon her mattress in frustration. <It's no use,> Gadget thought in frustration, shaking her head. The image of the cat would just not let her be. <I'll just have to deal with it, and hopefully get to sleep with it anyway,> she finally conceded. Relaxing her mind as best as she could, trying to control the fear she had felt as the same emotion played slightly upon her stomach, she thought back to her encounter with the cat's image in the living room, when it had appeared on the television screen. Focusing upon that instance, she let the image of the staring cat fill her mind, it's haunting gaze looking out at her as it had before. Locking its gaze onto hers, the black and white cat- -Was now waiting for her outside the treehouse. Gadget's eyes snapped open as she lay stock still upon the bed for a number of moments, staring up at the ceiling, even her breathing having stopped. She didn't know how she knew this almost oracle like announcement, the thought having suddenly sprung into her head, but there was no denying it's truth. She knew it was as factual as any scientific principal that she had ever learned. The cat was out there, *waiting* for her. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Gadget looked over hesitantly toward the door. Letting out a shuddering breath of nervousness, blinking a few times at the door, she rose to her feet and made her way over to it. Placing her hand upon the knob, she let it rest there for a number of moments before she finally turned it open to walk through into the hallway. "Monty? Zipper?" she called out, halting in her tracks abruptly to stare out towards the other end of the hallway. "Monterey! Zipper!" she then yelled out, sprinting forward toward them. At the other end of the hallway, seeming to have just emerged from Monterey's room, her two teammates now stood. Like statues it seemed. Suspended in midair, his wings normally blurred from the rapidness of their motion in flight, Zipper's delicate wings now appeared as still as the rest of his body, positioned just off of Monterey's left shoulder as the fly looked over at him. Monterey in turn, was caught in midstep, his head turned over toward Zipper as his mouth stood partially open, as though poised to speak. Not even their eyes moved she observed, as she waved a paw before Monterey's and then Zipper's stilled vision. "Guys..?" she uttered in a slightly timid, awestruck voice, standing back for a moment before placing a hand gently upon Monterey's. His fur wasn't cold, in fact, it seemed a little warmer than usual, indicating from what she could tell, that he was still alive, but almost frozen in place somehow. Placing her head against his chest, she could hear the thump of his heartbeat,...though only after nearly fifteen seconds had passed, the singular sound drawing itself out for many moments in a dull, slurred tone. Almost as if his heart rate and metabolism had been slowed down to almost nothing. *How..?* she thought to herself in astonishment before turning her head over toward the direction of the front door, where her instincts were now pointing her. <Out there,> she thought to herself, knowing, <whatever's going on, I think the answers are waiting for me outside.> Pausing for only a moment more to look over Monterey and Zipper with another worried glance, she made her way down toward the living room. Arriving there, she found Tammy, Dale and Foxglove in the same state as Monterey and Zipper. Standing near the young bat, the pair held some magical talismans in assistance as Foxglove stood before the television screen, the mug the cat had appeared in standing near her as well. As she watched, patterns of alternating light and dark flickered and flashed upon the screen at intervals, with no clear picture coming through to her eyes that she could see. Looking around about the room, she could not see Chip anywhere nearby. <He must've left for the "Sam's" medical center already,> she surmised, looking toward the window to the right of the front door, in the direction of the veterinary hospital. <Golly!...Is the whole *world* like this?> she wondered with a light shiver, as her head turned toward the front door. <Only one way to find out, and if it is like this, why. I have to confront whatever this thing is,...and I'm going to have to do it alone,> she thought, drawing in another deep breath as she slowly ascended up the domino steps, placing her hand upon the knob of the front door. Opening it, and looking out, Gadget slowly stepped through the doorway, staring wide eyed about her in horror and awe at the view that awaited her, looking into an *entire world* frozen in time. As Zipper had been, birds were similarly caught in mid flight, their flapping wings halted as they stood suspended in the air. Other animals in the park around her as well as any humans that she could see, stood similarly halted in their actions. Strikingly, even the natural world seemed affected, as her eyes spotted a singular leaf caught in mid air from its fall from one of the nearby trees. Caught between life and death. For a number of moments, she could only stand fixated by the sight of everything around her before she was finally able to shake herself free, a new realization now overtaking her as her mind put all the facts together. <It's me...?> she thought, <Somehow, I've been phased out of time itself? I'm moving too fast to realize any significant motion....but how in the world...?> with this, she turned to hesitantly move toward the edge of the platform, a frightened look clearly readable in her eyes as she cast her gaze over the edge of the platform toward the ground. Here at the base of the tree, as she knew it would be, the black and white cat sat, looking up at her with those same shinning, slitted eyes. As silent as before, it stood waiting for her, as though *it* knew *she* would be coming. Mostly black, with only a small patch of white upon its chest region as well as its paws and the side of its tail, it wore no clothes like Fat Cat or any of the other felines that he associated with. It simply looked like an ordinary, everyday cat that one could find in any part of the city, save for the softly radiant aura about it. "Why did you do this to me?!!" Gadget cried out toward it, finding her voice to finally vent her pent up frustration and anger, having had enough of whatever game this thing was playing. "Why are you haunting me?!! What do you-...you.." At this Gadget stopped herself, the last word falling off her tongue in something akin to a tone of realization as she let her gaze settle upon the eyes of the feline before her. This time, as she looked into the slitted eyes of the black and white cat, she now noticed something. Her mind flashing back, she realized that what she now saw before her in the cat's wide eyed stare had been there all along upon each time that she had encountered this specter. It hadn't been as obvious as it was now, but it had been there indeed. It had been her irrational fear upon each occurance though, that had made her miss all those times what was now communicated to her in that very same stare, with a quiet and calm sense of urgency behind the look as well. A statement. It said simply,..."*Help.*" |