Elmond High School

Hank was trying to hide the fact that his legs were still hurting. It was never good for a jock to look weak, especially in small town America. He wasn't worried so much about what his fellow students thought so much as what his coach would say. His coach was never happy with self-inflicted injuries, especially now that Hank was at the top of his game. Coach Henderson saw big things in Hank's future.

He was busy trying to think of how he was going to get out of practice when he saw her. The girl from last night. She was standing at the entrance of the high school surrounded by friends, she was telling a story very animatedly. Her arms, perfectly kissed by the sun, waved about as her face contorted into all sorts of beautiful expressions. He was so entranced by her that he walked, quite literally, right into Coach Henderson.

"Stop dreaming, Hank!" the coach grumped at him good-naturedly. "I'm gonna need your head in the game today."

"Yes, Coach," Hank blushed when he said it. He was glad his coach had no idea Hank had just been planning to get out of the practice game.

Trying his damndest to walk normally, despite his burning legs, Hank waved goodbye to his coach and headed into school. His crush had already disappeared.

"The Birds and the Cat"

Part 2: Cat vs Birds

By T. L. Veselka

Later . . .

Hank had been trying to find out who his crush was all day, though usually when he described her his friends laughed and he blushed. It wasn't until lunch that he finally saw her sparkling smile again. His head was definitely nowhere near the game. It was all wrapped around the girl. Good thing he found her.

It was in the cafeteria of course. She was still surrounded by all her girl friends, Hank hated that. He had no problem talking to a girl but when she was surrounded by the sharp judgmental eyes of her friends, just waiting for him to slip up, he always fulfilled their wishes. Guys never needed to cluster in groups of eight, why did girls?

He got his food, avoiding his friends for once, in hopes that when he was done at least some of the girls would have scattered. No such luck. When he casually walked by her table he noticed two more had joined her. Seriously? How the hell was he supposed to talk to her?

"Hey, Hank!"

Hank sighed. "Hi Don." He really didn't mean to make his voice that monotone. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Don pretended to be casual, Hank saw right through him. "Just wondering what you were up to last night."

"Nothing." Hank didn't allow himself to say much. The less he said the less chance he had of incriminating himself.

"Oh?" Don's voice was oozing false innocence. "Is that why Linda over there keeps telling everyone the hero Hawk robbed her last night? She has to be mistaken, doesn't she?"

"Her name is Linda?"

"You have got to be kidding me right now."

"Thanks, bro."

"You aren't kidding."

Hank approached the table full of girls. At least he had a name now. That was at least something to start with. He approached the gaggle of teenage girls, they all went quiet and stared at him. His stomach dropped.

"Hey," he tried lamely. "You're Linda, right?" Linda looked surprised to find Hank standing before her.

"Sure, now that she is famous you are interested in her," one of Linda's friends sniped with a sneer.

What was that supposed to mean? Hank stood there dumbly, unsure of how to reply to the girl's statement or if he even should. Hank hadn't even noticed that Don had already walked away, rolling his eyes.

"Famous?" Hank finally managed.

"As if you haven't heard that she caught one of those supposed superheroes robbing her last night."

"What?!" Hank was genuinely horrified with the statement.

"What, have you been living under a rock? Everybody knows that the red and white superhero that saved your dad robbed Linda's parents last night."

"That can't be right."

"Face it, Hank, your hero's a villain."

"Leave him alone, Jenny," Linda finally spoke up. "She's right you know, that superhero Hawk broke into my parents safe when I walked in on him. I must have surprised him because he ran off before he took anything."

"He saved my dad's life, he's a hero!"

"Tell that to my parents."

Hank was at a loss, he had no idea what to say. Linda's friend, Jenny, smirked at him mockingly. Defeated and not wanting to seem like a creep Hank silently turned and walked away.

"Wait!" came Linda's voice. Hank turned around. "I've been in a bad mood since last night, I didn't mean to be a jerk. Why don't we talk tomorrow when I'm not as prone to bite your head off?"

Hank smiled, relieved. "Sounds good."

298 Juez St., Elmond

"You're such a jerk, Hank!" Don accused as Hank came limping in from football practice, it had been brutal.

"What are you whining about now?" Hank grouched, he was in no mood for Don's emotions after ninety minutes of pure pain.

"Are you serious right now?" Don was obviously very upset. Hank didn't care.

"God! Just stop your whining and tell me what this is about already!"

Don breathed in deeply through his nose and slowly out his mouth, it was a relaxing technique. It wasn't working.

"Did you seriously stalk some girl today after she caught you, as Hawk, sneaking around in her house?"

"No!" Hank denied. Don just looked at him in disbelief. Now that he had heard it put that way Hank had to admit it did sound pretty creepy.

"Not exactly," the football star tried again.

"Not exactly?"

"If you would have come with me you'd understand!"

"I wasn't invited."

Oh yeah. Hank was getting annoyed at having to answer to his little brother. "What's it to you anyway?"

"She saw Hawk near her safe, she thinks he robbed her."

"So? What do you care?"

"I'm Dove."

"What are you getting at?"

"We're partners!" Don shouted in annoyance. "If you're in trouble, I'm in trouble. If Hawk is a thief, then so am I! Don't they teach teamwork in football?"

Hank was pissed. Don was right. He just glared at his brother for a second before shoving him aside and storming off to his room.

Later . . .

Don was hunched in front of his laptop, typing away at breakneck speed when Hank had finally calmed down enough to go looking for him. Hank hated it when he knew he was completely in the wrong, especially where his annoying bookish younger brother was concerned.

"Hey, Don, " Hank approached as casually as possible. Don didn't say a word, he didn't even look up from his screen. Don only ignored him when he was really furious with him.

"Look, I realize going after the Cat alone was my mistake and so this is all my fault." He paused hoping Don would say something, he didn't. "What I'm trying to say is, this is my fault and I gotta fix it. I'm going after the cat and was hoping you would join me, so I don't make another stupid mistake."

Don stared at him in silence for too long. "That's all I needed to hear." Don paused for a moment. "And by the way, I hate you."

"So, time to suit up?"

Don smiled.

Crowne Estates, Elmond

As agile and strong as the Cat was, he wasn't very bright. The pair of teenage superheroes leaped over the fence of the luxury apartment complex. They didn't care if they were spotted by the security cameras. Somehow they both instinctively knew that the Cat was already there, they could sense him.

"This place is teeming with guards, we better sneak in the back, " Don suggested.

"I've been here, they'll have that covered. We've got to jump up onto a second-floor balcony and sneak in that way."

"What?! Are you crazy?"

"We can do it!"

"But should we?"

"Come on, Don! Security will show up any second!"

"I don't know, " Don began.

"I do!" Hank interrupted. He jumped.

"Dammit!" Dove cursed, a rarity,

Hawk stood at the balcony's edge and waited. He fully expected his brother to chicken out on him. He was surprised when a blue and white clad form appeared at his side.

"I can feel him, " Dove pronounced almost immediately after landing.

"We go up, " Hawk agreed.

"Four flights, " Don pronounced. Hank nodded in agreement. They ran.

They followed their superhuman instincts to apartment 63. It was dark and quiet when they slid through the door. Dove made Hawk promise to replace the doorknob he had destroyed getting them inside.

"Do you think we just missed him?"

Hank knew better than to assume the Cat had left just because they couldn't see or hear him. "He's here."

The pair crept through the dark spacious apartment, never wandering too far from each other. Hank's ears and eyes were on full alert. Years of playing football and basketball had trained his eyes to watch for subtle movements. That's what saved him.

The Cat, in the same outfit as before, came leaping from the shadows, his sharp claws glimmered in the moonlight. Hank had seen the shift in the darkest of shadows a mere split-second before and had already begun to act. He ducked low and stretched upward with one taloned hand. To Hank's surprise, the Cat twisted in mid-air narrowly avoiding serious injury, though there was a satisfying rip as the tips of Hawk's talons tore through the Cat's dark uniform.

The cat still managed to land agilely on his feet, his claws still extended menacingly. Where in the hell was Dove?

"Nicely done, Hawk!" Dove grabbed a nearby guitar and waved it menacingly.

The Cat spun around, obviously surprised by Dove's sudden appearance. "So, you are both here."

"That's right, you aren't getting away so easily this time, " Hawk boasted, a big grin spread across his face.

The Cat was obviously rethinking his strategy. He tried to wiggle away backward but the two young heroes closed in on him like a pincer. The Cat demonstrated where he got his namesake as he leaped backward against the wall only to use the force to propel himself, somersaulting, over their heads.

The boys were nearly as fast as they turned and sprinted after his fleeing midnight form. The burglar sped through the apartment as if intimately familiar with it, but the pair of superheroes weren't far behind him. Trying a new tactic the burglar fled into the kitchen grabbing anything he could get his hands on, apples, knives, and pans, to throw at his pursuers.

Hawk and Dove slapped aside the projectiles as if they were nothing more than popcorn balls. The Cat leaped over the counter and dashed into an adjacent room, a massive living room area. It took them a second but the boys were right back on top of him, faces lit up with built-up frustration.

"No! Stay away!" the Cat almost pleaded. It was such a sudden reversal in attitudes that it caused the heroes to pause. The Cat took advantage and scrambled for the front door.

Hawk roared as he finally tackled the black-clad villain to the entryway floor. The two wrestled frantically with each other, panic clear on the Cat's face. Then Dove jumped in, wrestling one of Cat's arms to the floor.

That's when it happened.

Suddenly the Cat literally shrunk in Hawk's hands. The thief's well-muscled frame shrunk to that of a man that never exercised, his body barely more than skin and bones.

"What have you done?" shrieked the transformed Cat. Hawk was stunned at the sight of the once mighty man now drowning in his oversized garments. "Please, don't do this to me!"

"We didn't do this!" Dove protested.

The man ignored him. "Give them back, please, I am begging you! I can't live like this after being the Cat!"

"Dude, who are you talking to?" Hawk interjected.

"I'll avoid them from now on, I swear! I'll do anything you ask!"

"He's lost it, " Hawk surmised.

Don, though, was watching intently, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"What do you-" Hank began before he was interrupted.

"What's going on in here?" a voice demanded, a flashlight beam falling on Hawk's angry face.

"It's the thief, Hawk!" someone gasped.

"We've got your real thief, right here, " Hawk pronounced angrily, collating the husk of a man that had been known as the Cat.

"Who's that?" more flashlights joined the first.

Elmond High School, the next day

Hank was too tired to care who saw him moping into school like a loser, his head bowed and his gait slowed. Sure, he had cleared his name last night but he had been up until past two A.M. to do it. He had far too many sleepless of late. Practice was going to kill him.

"Hi, Hank," a beautiful voice suddenly broke him from self-pity party.

"Oh, hey, " he didn't know what else to say, Linda was suddenly standing radiantly before him, all smiles.

"Sorry I was such a jerk to you yesterday, " Linda apologized.

"Don't mention it."

"Did you hear? I guess your hero's innocent after all, be caught the real burglar last night."

"I heard."

"Can you believe it was our custodian?"

"No, " Hank was still in a bit if a daze.

"Well, why don't you let me get you an apology coffee?"

Hank smiled. "I'd like that