章 42: Cats

Two days later, just as Alex had expected, they heard a shrill whistle. That in itself was nothing unusual as it was a common way for the children who lived in the streets to communicate.

What made it special was the fact that Alex had never heard this specific code before. On the other hand, that didn't mean that he didn't recognize it. Jake, the old leader had taught it to him and made sure he would never forget it. It was the code meant for a territory leader to call out the leader of another territory.

It was a little before the middle of the day, and they were busy checking out which hideouts had survived the raid and which ones could still be used. They were always making sure that they had a certain number of hiding spots all over their territory.

Considering the direction they could hear the whistle from, it was clear that it was the cats' leader calling for them.

"Oh, that's unexpected. I didn't think that Rebecca would be the first to move. But, it makes sense as well.", Gale commented. After thinking about it again, it could only be the cats that would move before themselves.

The bears didn't have any need to organize a meeting, they always had the confidence to pull through no matter what by working together with adults.

The Slum-Rats didn't have a single leader but were made up of several groups, so they always needed the longest to make decisions.

The foxes' had already taken quite a bit of damage and couldn't afford the disadvantage of being the one to ask for help.

Of course, the guardians had taken the least damage from the raid, so they could afford to wait a little longer before organizing the meeting.

Gale didn't know the exact status of the cats since they were always very secretive about things, but he thought that they shouldn't be to bad off.

"Yes.", Alex approved: "Becky is clever and knows what's best for her girls. She has always been like that."

The guardians had been working in several instances together with the cats in the past. The cats were a slightly unusual group as they were made up mostly of girls and Rebecca, their leader, was a girl as well. Alex knew Rebecca, or Becky as he called her, very well thanks to those instances.

Becky had always been someone who put the safety of her subordinates first, even before her own or the territory. She would always say that the territory could be won back even if you lost it, and it wasn't impossible to do the same with trust. But once a life was lost, it would be lost forever.

Thanks to that mentality, they rarely got into fights with other groups. But that didn't make them any less dangerous. Once there was no other way out, they would use any advantage they could get their hands on, even if they had to play dirty.

"Gale, you come with me. Gardos, you take over here, okay?", Alex commanded.

"'Kay, but are you sure you both are enough?", he confirmed.

"Yes, she can be sly, but Becky isn't stupid."

The boys said their goodbyes and the duo disappeared not long after.

***

"Yo, Becky. It's been a while, hasn't it?", Alex greeted the girl.

"Definitely, but its something to be happy about, isn't it?"

The girl gave him a cheeky grin, showing her fangs. But it couldn't overplay the sharp look in her feline eyes and the tail swaying calmly behind her back.

Although Alex was pretty sure that Alice was the strongest mutant in the city in terms of quantity and quality of enhancements, the girl that was sitting in front of him with crossed legs and looking absolutely relaxed was definitely the mutant with the most physical changes.

When he had met Becky the first time several years ago, Alex had actually been wondering if she had become the leader of the cats only thanks to her mutation. She had light bronze skin and black hair, with light green feline eyes and fangs similar to a cat as well. But the most prominent features were definitely the pair of cat ears on her head and the tail behind her back that would twitch occasionally.

But those weren't just there for decorations, her hearing was even better than Alice' and with the help of her tail, she achieved an incredible sense of balance that made her capable of moving with astounding speed and security without making a single sound. Just like a real cat.

"You came here just like that without fearing it could be a trap? Especially in times like this?", the catgirl asked.

"Its exactly because its times like this that I know that you wouldn't try any tricks. If we overstep the line and don't confront each other with a minimum of respect and trust even in an emergency like at the moment, things would end in chaos, and that's something that no one would profit of. On the other hand, I should be the one asking you that, I am at least not alone."

"Anyway, I think you know why I am here, right?", Becky said, completely ignoring his last sentence.

"You want to ask me to call the other leaders together for a meeting, right?"

"No no, I just wanted to know when the meeting is going to happen."

"Oh? How did you know?", even before he completed his sentence, Alex realized his mistake.

"I was free right now and wanted to ask you guys when you are going to organize the meeting. The day after tomorrow, I would guess? You see, the next days will be rather busy so I have to make sure to set some time aside and to be thoroughly prepared."

Now that he had more or less affirmed that they had already planned to organize the meeting, he had lost his advantage. Now that they knew, the situation had turned from them requesting the meeting, to them just asking for the time and place.

If you wanted to create an Alliance, there would always be one who requests for help and one who gives help. And of course, when you work out the terms of the Alliance, the requester would always be in the disadvantageous position since it was only them who could get their request denied.

It didn't make much difference for Alex and the guardians on the other hand as they could just say that they did it out of a sense of duty. The name 'guardians' had a reason after all and they had already a superior position as they didn't take much damage in the raid.

In the end, Alex didn't take that against her, it didn't damage him in any way and they had a good relationship in the first place. The only thing that annoyed him was that she got him like that once again.

"Haaaahhhh... We plan to inform the other territories tomorrow. So wait here in two days time when the sun stands in the zenith. Someone will come and get you then.", Alex admitted, feeling like he had lost against her once again.

"Thanks, 'till next time!"

Silent like the cat she was, Rebecca disappeared in the distance, jumping from roof to roof.