Omake: The Cat Who Was Dragged in from the Cold
For all of the upsides to living in Doofania, they were met with inevitable downsides.The confused architecture made navigating the city novel for tourists, but overstimulating for locals. Food was readily available, but that food was an eccentric blend of German cuisine and pressed bugs. The robotic police force existed to serve the public good, but Normbots had depths of personality rivalled only by polished planks of wood.
Another double-edged sword of lesser note was the abnormally large population of cats. Inquinator, in his campaign to smear the city with garbage, gave vermin such as non-cricket insects and rodents ample reason to propagate. Inquinator wanted a plague to keep the Doofanians busy, and food was plentily available. This period of prosperity for the rats and bugs lasted until the cats became aware of it, at which pointed they moved in themselves.
The Inquinator brought the trash, the trash brought the vermin, and of course, the rats brought the cats. It seemed like a very simple throughline of events to follow, but after organized crime had been thoroughly trampled by Norm Prime and the private army of Doofenshmirtz, no one expected the cats to be the ones funnelling narcotics into the city. With the humans busying themselves elsewhere and being slow to legislate the growth and distribution of Nepeta cataria, disorganized clusters of catnip catios blossomed up overnight. Anything above that would arouse notice and bring the hounds down on all of them.
One such place was the Cradle, a decrepit apartment pagoda lying on the fringes of the violent altercation between the trash titan and Norm. Collateral damage tilted the tower to one side, causing damage that rendered it unsuitable for human habitation. Old couches and chairs became scratching posts as the new tenants partook in pipes and packets of their preferred vice without any owners to cut off their intake. The Cradle was a place every Tom and Molly could enjoy when they needed to unwind, assuming they could keep a secret.
"Meow," one feline says to the other as he curled up into a ball in a hanging basket. All dogs went to heaven, sure, but this was a cat's paradise."Meow meow meow meow meow?"
His question was answered by the door to the catio being kicked open.
Several cats leap out of their perches and baskets in surprise, but others were too relaxed and sedated to worry about whether they were being raided by Animal Control or not.
The perpetrator walked in. He was not a Normbot with Animal Control, but rather a malformed Sphinx covered in hairless, lilac skin. He had sharpened teeth and a pair of black orbs for eyes, which he used to glare at the reclining felines in such a way that unnerved even the most maladjusted, mangy mog in the Cradle. These scaredy cats found another direction to stare in so as not to bother the frightening newcomer.
As ugly and intimidating as the Sphinx was, at least some of their fear had to do with the struggling garbage bag he dragged into the catio. It was an extra-strength container, but not soundproof.
"Mrow!" the bag whined as it was dragged over a bump on the wood tile floor. The bump decided to stay quiet, content where he was resting and not wanting to cause a stir that would earn the Sphinx's attention.
"Miaow miaow miaow," the Sphinx demanded as he hauled his bag towards the owner's office. His accent was unusual, off-putting, and difficult to trace. They all assumed he was an agent of the Catva and didn't want to pry.
He reached the hinged flap in the wall that was guarded by two big, imposing cats. They looked fearsome and untamed, one alley cat and one fully non-domesticated. The tougher of the two was definitely an ocelot, one of several that became legbreakers in the feline underworld when their original habitats were destroyed.
The wiry ocelot stopped the Sphinx at the kitty door, one paw extended.
"Meow meow meow?" He chastised, pointing at a trio of prohibition signs along the far wall.
The first was a picture of a German shepherd. "Meow meow." The second was a human man and woman. "Meow meow meow." The third was a black bag with lines coming from it. "Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow!"
The Sphinx glanced at the signs for a moment, before dismissing them with a shrug. Rules were for other cats.
"Miaow miaow miaow," he said with a tinge of annoyance. "Miaow miaow miaow."
The ocelot scoffed, his tail flickering in anger at the arrogance of this little upstart. "Meow meow?"
The Sphinx grinned, revealing two rows of fine razors in his mouth. He popped open his grey claws and, with the lone swipe of one paw, turned the ocelot into a bobtail.
"Meow! Meow wow wow ow ow!"
He snickered as the ocelot and every other cat in the room showed him their bellies. Even the ones that were still intoxicated, since it looked fun and they didn't want to miss out on the party.
"Miaow miaow miaow."
He cleared his throat and continued onward, taking his garbage bag into the head office of the cat mafia and dumping it on to the first table he could find. A dark yellow tabby with green eyes poured on to the desk of the regional boss, who had been pawing at an executive mouse clicker with his attendants present before being interrupted.
"Meow meow meow!?" the don asked. He was a fat tortiseshell with an eye missing, incredulous and angry at a cat he didn't recognize being let out of the bag in his office. Said cat was severely beaten and was guaranteed to leave stains on the wood. "Meow meow!?"
The Sphinx shook his head and let out an annoyed growl. He applied a brown fedora to the battered tabby's crown, making the victim's identity clear.
The boss and his cronies gasped. "Meow meow meow meow?!" they exclaimed in shock.
"…Miaow," he replied flatly. "Miaow miaow moaow?"
"Meow meow!" the don answered with a smile. Nervously nodding along with the Sphinx's request, he send one mook to find the case and the other two to drag the OWCA agent into a cell while they figured out what to do with him next.
Calvin, or Agent Kitten as he was also known, had been sticking his whiskers where they didn't belong. The don appreciated anyone taking Calvin down a peg, but he didn't expect the new hairless abomination in town to be the one to do it.
The white longhair that managed the don's affairs returned to the office in a hurry. She put a black suitcase down for the Sphinx to see and exanine.
"Meow meow, meow," she said.
"Miaow miaow."
She hastily opened it. Inside the case was everything they agreed upon last time: Unrestricted access to the premium dumpsters, forged adoption papers that would stand up to intense scrutiny, detailed maps of the Doofanian sewer systems, and no questions asked about why.
"M-Meow meow meow meow?" the boss asked, hoping their business was over.
The Sphinx looked over the papers, then nodded. "Miaow."
The don wiped his brow. "Me-ow. Meow meow meow meow."
The Sphinx moved to leave, but then he turned around, scratching his chin as a wide smile stretched across his face.
"Miaow miaow miaow…?"
The don gulped. "M-Meow meow meow?"
"Miaow miaow!" the Sphinx exclaimed as he extended a paw into Agent Kitty's cell.
Having swiping what he needed to complete his ensemble, the Sphinx cat made his leave of the Cradle, all the richer from the acquisition of his ill-gotten gains.
The arrangements he made with the cat mafia gauranteed he had his pick from the litter created by the city. The fake owners would form plausible deniability. Tunnel access led to sensitive infarstructure.
Truth be told, there was only one thing he really needed from the whole affair. With Agent Kitty out of the way, OWCA would need to start training a replacement. They were currently undertaking internal reforms and restructuring, the most important part of which included hiring new blood.
Thankfully, the hat he liberated from his predecessor fit like a charm.