Exhilaration

Quietly and carefully, William got to the bottom of the stairs and rounded the bannister and began to creep down the hallway. His newfound catlike abilities, allowed him to move gingerly through the house and very lightly on his feet, so they made no sound as he brought them down to the ground.

As he neared the dining room, he could hear the draws being yanked out of their holes and items being flung everywhere, as the intruder ransacked the place. Nerves began to make their way through William's body, but he wasn't going to be a scaredy cat now. He needed to confront the person who had broken in and show them who was boss.

With one nimble leap, he went from the hallway into the dining room and landed softly, to face the burglar who had their back to him. William coughed to get their attention. The figure whirled around, whatever they were holding crashing down to the ground in shock.

"Who are you?" they asked, their voice stammering a little, "and what are you wearing?"

William hadn't thought about what he could call himself. He couldn't just give over his real name, that would be stupid. What could he call himself?

Then, the idea came to him.

"I am Billy the Cat," he said, trying to have confidence fill his voice. "Who are you and what are you doing in this house?"

"I live here. It is my house," the burglar tried to lie.

"No it isn't, I saw you breaking in," William also lied.

Ok he hadn't seen them break in, but he had heard it. However, he wasn't going to reveal that information.

"I think you should leave," he said to the intruder.

"And how are you going to make me do that?"

The burglar quickly reached into his jacket pocket and bought out a sharp knife and pointed it at William.

"If you come anywhere near me, I will use this on you."

"It won't work," William said. "I can't be hurt by knives."

"Oh yeah, do you want to bet?"

The burglar lunged forward and hoping he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life, William stayed put. The knife came flying at him, attached to the attacker's arm and instead of going right into his stomach like it should have, it bounced right off.

"Oh I should have said," C.A.T said in the helmet. "The material only takes the shape of an object from one side. If you come at it from the outside, then it acts like a kevlar vest. It becomes solid, a little like a non-newtonian fluid does when it is hit."

"Useful information," William muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" the bemused burglar asked, as he looked at his knife, which was now bent at a funny angle.

"I wasn't talking to you," William said. "Have you finished trying to cut me open?"

Without waiting for a reply, William brought up his right hand and the intruder watched with amazement as the claws began to grow from William's fingertips. With one quick slash, he knocked the intruder out cold.

Exhilaration filled William's body. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had just brought down a robber and with superpowers. He had grown up loving the Spider-Man and Superman comics, but never thought that one day, he would be just like them.

Now he only had one problem. How was he going to explain this to Aunt Mabel and the police?

"C.A.T, please call 999 and alert them to the break in. I am going to have to put on my best acting skills."

"Calling 999," C.A.T said.

William quickly grabbed some rope from by the back door and tied the intruder's wrists together. He then ran back upstairs and began to pull off the various components of his suit. He was now Billy the Cat, crime fighting hero of Burnham. He could use this persona to learn the truth about his parent's murder and bring the perpetrators to justice.

He dressed back into his 'civilian' clothes and crept back down the stairs. Now he needed to see how good those drama lessons where at school. Could he easily play the frightened teenager, who had heard a break in happen and then seen a helmeted figure, wearing a skin-tight suit, come to his rescue? He didn't have long to wait and find out.

---

William soon heard a car pull up the drive to the house. Aunt Mabel and Kathleen were back. Keys rattled in the door and the pair of them came into the hallway, carrying several bags of shopping, some food and others held items to replace William's lost possessions. Aunt Mabel spotted William's worried face.

"William, are you alright?" she asked, concern filling her face.

"Aunt Mabel, we have had a break in," William said, trying to put the right level of fear into his voice.

"What!?" Aunt Mabel cried. "How? Where? Who?"

William explained his cover story and as he was finishing, the sound of sirens filled the air and the bright flash of blue lights began to stream through the front windows. There was a sharp knock on the door. Opening it, revealed DC Mack standing there.

"We had a call to say that there had been a break in at this address," he said, very matter of factly

"Through here officer," William said, leading them all through to the kitchen.

When they walked in, DC Mack let out an annoyed sigh of recognition.

"Greasy fingers McDougal," he said. "You have finally been caught in the act." He bent down and hauled McDougal to his feet. "McDougal I am arresting you for the suspicion of burglary. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?"

"Yes," McDougal said very reluctantly. "Where is that strange person dressed in the spandex? Why isn't he here to see me get arrested?"

"All in good time," DC Mack said. "Take him to the station."

DC Mack handed McDougal over to one of his juniors, as he turned to face William.

"Explain everything to me."

William once again found himself lying to the police, giving out his cover story. When he came to the part about his alter ego defeating McDougal, DC Mack snorted with laughter.

"You mean what Greasy fingers said is true? There was a man dressed in spandex? Where is he?"

"I don't know," William lied. "He ran off."

"Does he have a name?"

"He called himself, Billy the Cat."

"So now we have a vigilante on our hands," DC Mack said. "Great just what we need, a have a go hero. If ever you see this guy again, get in contact with us. He could be a real menace."

"But he stopped the robbery, he protected me," William protested.

"He may have done that this time, but we don't know about the next time."

William got the feeling that that was the end of the conversation, there would be no more arguing. DC Mack completed his police report and gave the necessary details to Aunt Mabel and then called the local window installers, to see about replacing the broken pane in the kitchen window.

---

About half an hour later, the new window was being installed and the police were on their way. A short time after that, the window was replaced and the three of them were left on their own.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Aunt Mabel asked William for what must have been the millionth time.

"I'm fine thanks," he replied.

Aunt Mabel nodded and left him alone with Kathleen, as they sat in the living room, having a cup of tea.

"So you actually saw this guy dressed in spandex?" she asked him. "That must have been so weird."

"It was a little weird, but he was so cool, the way he stopped the guy. I had no idea what to do and I don't know how the guy even knew we had been broken into."

"Well at least he was there. We have a superhero in the village. That is so exciting, I hope I get to meet him one day. Was he handsome?"

William cringed slightly. Was his cousin about to have a crush on him?

"I don't know, I could only see half of his face. The rest was covered by the mask."

"Well I hope he comes back soon," Kathleen said. "Though, not under the same circumstances."

"Maybe you will meet him one day," William said, a slight knowing smile filling his face.

They sat together for a while talking about various things, trying to avoid getting sad and remembering the brutal images from the previous few days. However, that was not going to be totally possible. There were funeral plans to be made and then a funeral to take place. The police still needed to conduct their investigation and give the three of them regular updates.

---

It was a few hours later when Aunt Mabel walked into the room and announced that they had to make some funeral arrangements, something William had hoped it would be years before he had to consider burying his parents.

They poured over various details and eventually decided on what they were going to do. A simple private service and both parents would be cremated. This would save on various costs and they could be scattered in the wood, just outside the village. All they needed now, was for the police to release the bodies.

"That was not very pleasant," William said to Kathleen as Aunt Mabel left the room, with all of their decisions to be passed onto the funeral directors. "I hope I never have to do that again."

"No, I just can't get my head around having to make decisions like this."

Then a mobile phone started ringing. It was William's. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Pressing the screen to answer it, he brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello William," a familiar voice said. "I hope I am not disturbing you."

The voice belonged to C.A.T.

"I am receiving an alert from the police radio network of a suspected burglary at the school. Would you like to go and apprehend the criminal?"

William thought for a moment. Earlier, he had felt such exhilaration when he halted the thief at the house. He had tasted something amazing and now he wanted more. If he was going to find those responsible for his parent's death, then he needed the practice. What better way to train himself up.

"Yes, I'll be there soon," he replied.

With that, he hung up the call and looked over to see Kathleen giving him an inquisitive look.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"It was a friend from school," William said, as he got up to his feet. "They want to catch up with me after what has happened."

The lies kept coming and it was slightly scaring him how easily they were now coming out.

"I'll be back later. Don't wait up," William joked.

He ran up to his room and pulled out a backpack that he found in the wardrobe. He quickly stuffed his Billy the Cat outfit into it and zipped it back up. Swinging it over his back, he quick pace walked out of the room and back downstairs. With a brief explanation to Aunt Mabel, he was soon allowed out and was on his way. Aunt Mabel thought it would be good for him to get out of the house and go to see a friend. How little she knew of his real motivations.

---

The school was only a few minutes away from Aunt Mabel's house, but with William's newfound abilities, this time reduced significantly. He was never into sports and didn't like to join in the PE lessons, often finding himself reluctantly put into goal for football, or slam tackled in a game of Rugby. He watched the other boys in the changing room as they put on their various bits of kit and thought of them as such show offs. If you need to be putting pads on to protect your shins, mouth guards to protect your teeth and other bits of protective kit on, then you shouldn't be doing it. Saying that, William was about to go in to school to stop a burglary, wearing a helmet and a skin-tight suit. He had often seen his classmates put on those Under Armour tops and shorts on for PE and thought that there was no way he would wear lycra. What a different person he had become now.

He soon arrived at the school and was faced with his next dilemma. It was surrounded by police cars, with no apparent way in. Now this was where William's geekiness came into play. He often would walk around the perimeter of the school during his break and lunch periods. He had noticed several key weaknesses in the school's security, but had kept them to himself. He thought quickly and concluded that the police would only be around the areas that they thought were the most likely place for the thief to run out of. So, William went the other side of the school. Sure enough, there was no one there and by happy coincidence, there was a little outbuilding that he could slip behind and become Billy the Cat.

Slipping out of his clothes, he pulled on his suit and then the helmet.

"Welcome back William," C.A.T said.

William suddenly had a thought. She had welcomed him by his real name. What if someone else put the helmet on? Would they be able to find out his identity?

"C.A.T, can someone else discover my identity of they were to put you on or hack into you?"

"My systems are protected with several layers of firewalls and encryption. I was designed to only work with the profile that was opened on my system first. I can only be controlled and operated by you. Do not fear, I will protect your identity."

"Good to know."

"Are you ready to go and apprehend the intruder?"

"Absolutely."

With that, William snuck out from behind the outbuilding and headed across the concrete, to the main school building.

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