The Case Of The Missing Cat

The Case Of The Missing Cat: An H.B. Investigations Story

By David Huhn

Note: This story takes place during the events of "Subjugation Of A Hero"

It was a dark time in the city. Green Lantern had been missing for a week and many mysterious crimes were being committed. The police couldn't keep up with all the criminal activity. It is at this time that three people arrived at a vacant building hoping to change things.

"Well, here we are-the new home of H.B. Investigations" said the first person, Matt.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get inside and set up shop" replied Jeff, Matt's brother. Matt unlocked the door with a key and everyone went inside.

"Yeesh-what a dump!" the third person, Maria, said in observation. "You expect us to work here?"

"It won't look so bad once we clean it up a bit" Matt replied. There were some old file cabinets, an old desk, and some old chairs in the office, but otherwise it was filled with debris.

"At least we have a basement here" Jeff said. "I'll go down and see how-yaaahh!" Jeff fell down the stairs and landed with a loud crash below.

"One of these days your Peter Sellers impersonation is going to get you killed" Matt said in disgust. "Here's an idea: Turn on the light next time, dumass!"

"Who you calling a dumass? At least I didn't land on my head!" Jeff yelled back. "Besides, we just got here. We don't have electricity yet."

"Here's a flashlight so you can get back up here" Matt said as he tossed the flashlight down to Jeff.

Idiots, Maria thought to herself. They'll get theirs in the end. Just then a little girl showed up crying.

"Awww...What's got you so upset?" Maria asked the girl.

"My cat's gone missing and no one's been able to find him" the girl said in response.

"What about Green Lantern? Didn't he go look for him?" Matt asked.

"I asked him a week ago and now he's gone missing" the girl replied.

"We'll try to find him for you, sweetie" Jeff answered back.

"Really? You will?" the girl asked.

"Sure" Jeff replied. "Go home and try to take your mind off him for a while until we get back." With that Matt and Jeff left the office and entered a nearby alley.

As Matt and Jeff walked down the alley they were talking about the case when a loud noise distracted them. They ran the rest of the way until they reached the end of the alley and seen what made the noise.

"Whoa, isn't that Green Lantern and the Hurricane fighting each other?" Matt asked Jeff.

"Shouldn't we try to help out somehow?" Jeff asked back.

"We don't have time" Matt replied. "We have a cat to find, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Jeff said. "Let's go into that nearby bar and see if we can't find out anything there." As they entered the bar, unbeknownst to them Green Lantern flew away with the Hurricane in tow.

Once inside Matt and Jeff walked up to the bar where the bartender greeted them. "Two beers" Matt said. "What do you know about a missing cat?"

"A missing cat, you say? Try looking in the abandoned warehouse outside of town. It might be lost in there" the bartender replied. "What was going on out there?"

"Green Lantern and the Hurricane were going at it with each other" Jeff replied back. "What side of town is this warehouse on anyway?"

"It's about a mile west of here" the bartender replied. "You expect to find it there?"

"I hope so-our client really misses her cat" Matt said as he and Jeff finished their beers and started to leave. "Good luck finding that cat out there" the bartender said to them as they left. As Matt and Jeff were walking back to the office where their vehicle was parked, they passed up a newspaper vendor selling copies of the Hypno-Times where they bought a copy.

As Jeff was looking through the paper Matt asked "Is there a picture of the publishers?"

"Nope. Haven't seen one in here yet" Jeff replied.

"I swear, those publishers are such teases you know that?" Matt said in reply.

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Matt and Jeff arrived at the abandoned warehouse a short time later and decided to enter through a nearby window. As they looked around they found the warehouse completely empty except for the office. It shouldn't be too hard to find a cat here, Matt thought to himself. "You'd think we would have seen the cat by now" Jeff said. "Let's search the office. There's a lot of places the cat could be hiding in there" Matt suggested to Jeff.

They started to search the office, clearing out the junk in the process. As they searched they moved the desk and the carpet underneath it when they found a hidden trapdoor. "Where do you think this leads?" Jeff asked as he opened the trapdoor. "Only one way to find out-we have to go down there and see where it leads" Matt replied.

After a relatively long walk they found themselves on a walkway high above a staging area where people were preparing for a massive assault. "My God" Jeff said as he and Matt surveyed the activity down below. "We need to find that cat and report this to the police."

"Forget the police-they'll be calling S.H.I.E.L.D. in on this one" Matt replied. "Look over there. It looks like some kind of control room. Maybe if we get lucky we'll find the cat there."

Matt and Jeff made their way to the control room, keeping to the shadows to avoid detection. When they arrived they went inside and secured the door so others couldn't get in. "I swear Jeff, half of those guys looked like they were robots" Matt said when they secured the door. "That's because they are. That table over there has Doombot parts all over it" Jeff said in response.

"Doombots? That means Dr. Doom is invloved in all this. But what's his plan for this city?" Matt asked. "It can't be anything good whatever it is" Jeff replied. "Look! There's the cat we've been looking for by those monitors. Keep your eyes on the door in case anyone tries to get in while I get the cat."

Matt picked up a metal pole as Jeff went to get the cat. When Jeff got there he saw a data disc next to the cat. He took the disc as well as the cat and started to leave. Whatever Doom's plans are, they have to be on this disc, Jeff thought to himself. Suddenly the door was brokendown by some henchmen only for Matt to attack them as they came in. "Hold them off Matt. I'll use these controls to try to set off some self- destruct mechanism!" Jeff shouted to Matt. Jeff started to hit keys on the keyboard at random hoping something would happen. Eventually something did, as waring lights started flashing as the building shook violently and started to crumble.

"You must have set off the self-destruct for the power generator because this place is starting to fall apart" Matt shouted as Jeff made his way back. "Let's get the hell out of here then" Jeff shouted back. With the cat and data disc in hand, Matt and Jeff eventually made their way back outside and managed to get about 40 yards away before diving onto the ground just before the warehouse exploded. "Property values are going down with this one" Jeff said. "That wasn't very funny" Matt said. "Who's joking?" Jeff retorted.

Later on in the office, after filing a report on the case, they were getting ready to go celebrate at the bar. "What a harrowing case that was. I'm glad we made it out alive" Jeff said to Matt. "True. But seeing that little girl's face made it all worthwhile" Matt replied. "I hope we put a major crimp in Doom's plans. I'd hate to find out what would happen if Doom succeeded" Jeff said. "Hey Maria, you ready to go yet?"

"Just about. I have a few last-minute things to take care of first" Maria replied.

"Okay. Don't take too long-we expect to see you there to celebrate our first successful case. We'll see you later then." Matt said in response as he and Jeff left for the bar to get the party started.

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Epilogue

About an hour later Maria checked some last-minute e-mail and opened an Instant Messenger program and started to type:

DomMaria79: Eve, are you there?
DomEve51: I'm here. Did your boys make it out?
DomMaria79: Yes. They turned the disc over to the police.
DomEve51: Good. The heroes won't know what hit them until it's too late.
DomMaria79: Too bad about our headquarters though.
DomEve51: The three of us still have our slaves. Speaking of which, when will your boys start servicing us as slaves?
DomMaria79: Soon hopefully. I'd hate to kill them, especially with their...attachments.
DomEve51: They'd make such wonderful toys for us to play with, especially when we're riding their...attachments as you say.
DomMaria79: They may prove to be too stubborn for our tastes though.
DomEve51: I'm sure we can deal with that when the time comes. Continue observing them and keep Candice and I informed of their activities. We don't want them too close...yet.
DomMaria79: Understood. Maria out.

END