CAT

The sun rose and set twice, before William woke again, to the sun rising for a third time. He came face to face with Kathleen who was stood right over him, staring at his face.

"Whoah," William said, jumping in fright. "What are you doing there?"

"Looking at you. You have been asleep for so long."

"How long?"

"Two whole days. We were starting to get worried."

William looked down at himself and noticed that he was still dressed in his clothes from the other day. He managed to get himself in a sitting position. He couldn't believe he had slept through two whole days. How much had he missed? Had the police discovered anything to explain who killed his parents?

"I need to get up and have a wash," he said.

"I'll go and tell mum you're awake. The police are coming around again today."

Kathleen left the room and William alone. Slowly and carefully, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and planted his feet on the ground. Counting to three in his head, he stood up. There was a moment of dizziness and then he was ready to start walking. William walked over to the wardrobe and opened the door. Inside, he could see a selection of brand new clothes, all his size and buried at the bottom was the box from his dad's workshop. Someone had hidden it in there. William thought about the need for evidence from the crime scene. Maybe Kathleen had hidden it, so it wouldn't be taken away.

Gathering a t-shirt, underwear and trousers, William went to the bathroom, where her proceeded to have a nice hot shower. The water flowed over his body and washed away the dirt and scum that had landed on him two days previously.

He twisted the tap shut and the water cut off, the remnants dripping down the shower head and off of his head. He climbed out of the shower and brought a towel up to dry the water from out of his eyes. Looking in the mirror, was what made him jump next. William saw a reflection that he thought he would never see. The person standing in the mirror opposite him, was not William. Well it was him, but not like he had ever seen. He had muscles that had never been there before. Biceps, triceps and abdominal muscles as clear as day.

William looked down again and found that he was no longer standing on the floor, but had jumped onto the windowsill and was sat there like a cat.

"Oh no, what has happened?" William said out loud. "What have I become?"

William thought back to what had happened in the workshop. The chemicals that had spilled over him. His dad had said the serum worked temporarily, but that was only with a small amount of it. He had had a large bottle poured directly on to him. Was this permanent? He didn't know.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Are you almost done?" Kathleen's voice came through the wood. "Mum has made you some breakfast."

"I'll be out in a few minutes," William replied.

How was he going to explain this sudden growth of muscle? He flexed his arms. Strength coursed through his body, he felt so good. Jumping down from the windowsill, he landed nimbly on his toes, not a sound coming from him. Now that was cool. With incredible speed, much faster than he could have done before, he dried his body, got dressed, gathered up the old clothes and left the bathroom. Dumping them in his new room, he shut the door and proceeded to go downstairs, where the smell of cooking sausages, bacon and egg filled his nostrils. Walking into the kitchen, he saw Aunt Mabel at the hob finishing off the breakfast. She looked up when he came in.

"William my dear, it is so good to see you up. How are you doing?"

Aunt Mabel was married to his dad's brother and had lost her husband a few years ago, from a car accident. William was wondering more how she was doing.

"I am doing ok thanks. I just want to get to the bottom of what happened."

He thought about telling Aunt Mabel about his new body and reactions, but thought against it. If he told her, she would likely tell the police and they would want to run medical tests on him. That was not going to make him feel better. All William wanted to do right now, was eat and eat he did. Aunt Mabel had laid on a feast for him. Having not eaten in two days, he needed those calories and fast. He wolfed down the food (a metaphor which doesn't seem suitable when you consider the animal that William's powers derive from) and sat back content.

"Wow, I have never seen someone eat so quickly," Aunt Mabel said.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. That would be the police.

"I'll get it," Kathleen said from another room.

William heard the door open and voices coming down the hall. Aunt Mabel began to clear the crockery and cutlery away from the table. A moment later, a police officer William didn't recognise walked through the door, followed by another, who was plain clothes. The first spoke.

"Hello again Mrs Grange," he said to Aunt Mabel. He then turned to William and said, "you must be William. I am DC Mack and this is DI Jefferson," he said, introducing his fellow officer.

"What does DC and DI stand for," William asked.

"DC stands for Detective Constable and DI means Detective Inspector," explained DI Jefferson.

"William, what can you tell us about the events of two days ago?" DC Mack asked.

William thought for a moment. How much should he say? What do they want to hear? He began by telling them about what he had done at school and then how his dad had surprised him with one of his latest inventions when he got home. William continued telling them about going to the workshop, but didn't say what his dad had shown him.

"He said there was someone coming around to see one of his inventions," William said.

"Did he say who and which invention?" DC Mack asked.

"No he didn't," lied William. "Mum called from the house to say dad had a visitor and he told me to wait in the workshop. It was a short while after that, I heard two loud bangs and then the workshop was attacked."

"And that is everything you remember?"

"Yes," William confirmed.

DI Jefferson looked carefully at William's face, studying it as though he was trying to see if he was lying.

"You are absolutely certain you didn't know what your father was doing," DI Jefferson asked.

"I never really showed much interest in what dad was up to. So many of his inventions ended in failure. It was just something he did and mum and I had to live with."

"I think we are done for now," DC Mack said. "We'll keep you updated as we make progress in the investigation. Keep yourselves safe now."

With that, the two policemen left, followed by Aunt Mabel, who shut the front door behind them. A moment later she reappeared in the kitchen.

"I don't like that DI Jefferson," she said. "He gives me the creeps."

"I know, he kept looking at me with such suspicion."

"Anyway, I have something to give you." Aunt Mabel reached into her pocket and brought out a memory stick. Handing it over to William she said, "your father told me that if there was anything to happen to him, you should be given this."

Aunt Mabel handed over the memory stick.

"If you need a computer, take my laptop to your room."

William thanked her and took the laptop she had pointed to and went to his room. Shutting the door, he went to the bed and propped himself up, so that his legs were stretched out and his torso was upright. He loaded the laptop up and plugged in the memory stick. A file popped up after a moment and there was one item inside of it. Clicking on the file, a video loaded and there was William's dad.

"William, if you are watching this, then I must be dead. I am so sorry son that you are in this position. I don't know how I have died, but it probably wasn't a natural death. I am making this video to explain what I really do for my job. I am an inventor working for the British government. I am working on a series of top secret projects that I fear others are going to be after. Hopefully by now, I have shown you the new light weight armour I have been working on. Keep this safe, it has many properties I don't want falling into the wrong hands. The box it is stored in, is protected by a hard-light hologram. The lid is designed to recognise the DNA of the person lifting it. This is how the box determines the best way to disguise the contents. Keep yourself safe and be the best person you can. Good luck son."

With that, the video ended and the file suddenly deleted itself. However, it was suddenly replaced by another file. Clicking on it, William found a series of notes his father had made. They contained the chemical formula for the cat serum and instructions on how to make the material the suit is made from. A message suddenly appeared on the screen. It read, 'please place thumb on memory stick'.

William looked down and saw a red glowing light from the top of the memory stick. He put his thumb onto it and the message changed. It now read, 'Thumb print accepted. Please remove the drive.' William complied with the instructions and pulled out the drive. He logged the laptop off and closed it up. Getting up, he put the computer on the bedside table and retrieved the box from the wardrobe.

Lifting the lid, he saw the hologram in place. Reaching down, he pulled out the helmet, boots, gloves, bracelets, rope, backpack and the suit. He lay each piece on the bed and looked at them carefully. He needed to find his parent's killers and he didn't think the police were going to succeed. Something was telling him, that there were other forces at work here. How could he help though?

"William!" Aunt Mabel called up the stairs.

"Yes?!" he called back.

"Myself and Kathleen are going out to the shops. Would you like to come?"

"No thank you," William replied.

"Ok. We'll be as quick as we can."

A moment later, he heard the front door shut. William looked back at the suit. He needed to try this on. He unzipped his trousers and pulled off his t-shirt. Picking the suit up, he found the zipper and unzipped it. It went from armpit to armpit, in a U shape. He pulled the suit on and closed it up. It was skin tight and showed all his muscles, very clearly. It was super comfortable and felt as though he wasn't wearing anything. Next he put on the boots, then the gloves and clicked the bracelets onto his wrists. He carefully wrapped the rope around his waist and noticed at one end, there was a metal cat's claw. The rope was treated with something to keep it in place, as William didn't need to use a knot to stop it from coming loose. Picking up the backpack, he sung it over his back, put his arms through the straps and clipped the round buckle over his chest. As it closed, the buckle glowed green. Lastly, William picked up the helmet. As he did, he noticed a little switch on the inside. Clicking it, two green circles of light appeared over the visor. To William, they looked a lot like cats eyes. He walked over to the mirror and looked at his reflection. On a day to day basis, William wore glasses, which made him look geeky. He now took these off and his vision went blurry.

Putting the helmet on his head, something extraordinary happened. A female voice spoke into the helmet's earpiece.

"Hello William. Welcome to the Grange X13T light weight armour suit. Please wait for calibration."

Seconds later, William's vision suddenly became clear again. The visor of the helmet had adapted to his prescription. The inside of the visor acted as a screen, showing him key information, such as his location and it even showed a list of local WIFI and mobile networks.

"Dad didn't show me these features," William said aloud.

"I was activated by your father's death protocols," the voice said.

William almost jumped again.

"Who are you?"

"I am C.A.T. Computerised Assistant Technology. Your father built me as an AI program. I am here to help."

Suddenly, William felt a sharp pain in his hands. Each of his fingers felt like they were on fire. He lifted them up and watched as the material around them began to stretch, but not rip, as they formed around ten very sharp claws. His dad was right; this material could not be ripped. It was so tight, it moulded around the claws perfectly, keeping them razor sharp.

"What has happened to me?"

"I have run a diagnostic test and it seems your DNA has bonded with chemical C and you have taken on some of the features of a cat. You can now call upon claws like a cat. The molecular structure of your suit, allows the material to spread extremely thin and allow the thing it is covering to maintain many of its properties. Those claws are very sharp."

"I'm not going to turn into a cat, am I?"

"My diagnostics do not come to that conclusion."

As they were talking, there was a loud crash from downstairs.

"What was that?" William asked.

"My sensors detect an intruder," C.A.T said.

"Right, what do I do?"

"Go and take them down."

"What if they have a weapon?"

"You are wearing an indestructible suit," C.A.T pointed out.

"Oh yeah," William replied. "Well here it goes."

Opening the bedroom door, William made his way down the stairs, ready to confront whoever the intruder was.

Next - Exhilaration

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