The next day, the cats gathered around Gio's monitor as he flew his makeshift drone over the forest. They all got an amazing view of the tops of the trees as the camera passed over them. They also saw the river flowing through the forest as well as the uneven ground of the mountains. Gio lead the pack through the forest while Luke constantly looked over his shoulder and Lori stayed behind with Vinny and August who were trailing in the back.
"Vinny, can you describe the cats to me? I want to know what they look like," August said as they walked.
Vinny looked at her, then at the others. Lori nodded and he touched his chin as he thought for a moment, "Tony's much younger than the others, but he's also a grey Scottish fold, munchkin kitten with blue eyes, so he's even smaller than normal. Luke is an orange tabby with emerald eyes, Gio is a black Bombay with golden eyes and Lori is a Turkish Angora with one green eye and one blue eye."
August: "Whoa, how do you know so much about animals?"
Vinny rubbed the back of his neck, shyly. "I wanted to be a vet when I was younger. I liked animals, so I wanted to help them, but I never thought I would in this way," he gestured to the two cats in front as Gio stopped Luke in his tracks.
"I think I see something," Gio said as he zoomed in on a spot near the top of the mountains. As the cats looked closer, they could tell it was a mutant, very similar to themselves.
"Are they a cat too?" Lori pushed Luke and Gio aside as she looked at the monitor.
Gio grabbed the monitor back from her, "It looks like it. We have to be careful approaching them though. We don't want them running off like last time,"
"Let me approach them," Luke said, "I'm a master at stealth,"
Gio rolled his eyes, but watched from a distance as Luke climbed a tree and from there, he could see the mutant sitting serenely on top of one of the smaller hills.
"I see them," Luke told them below, "hand me the net launcher,"
Gio tossed the gun like device upwards and Luke caught it with ease. It was a large, black device with a weighted net packed inside. Luke looked through the scope, towards the target in sight and fired.
"Did you get them?" Gio called up.
"Looks like it," Luke climbed down and handed the now empty machine to Gio who put it back in his pack.
As they approached, they could see the creature struggling to get out. It had black fur like Gio's on half its face and orange fur on the other side. Their face was split down the middle as if they were cut in half and each part of their fur was speckled with bits of black and orange. It froze at the sight of them, but then as they got closer, the creature shrank, attempting to get as far away as they could.
Gio: "Someone should do something to calm it down,"
Lori flashed her most confident smile, "Let's put the prettiest face forward, shall we? Hey, there little guy, we're here to help you," The mutant clawed inches from her face, causing Lori to reel back. "Did you see that? It almost took my eye out!"
"Let me try," August said as she moved forward. Vinny reached out to stop her, but she was too quick. "Whoa, there," she kneeled and the creature glanced at her with caution. She held a hand out and instead of clawing at her, they sniffed her hand. She touched the side of their face and they instantly calmed down as she ran her fingers down the side of their face.
"It's like her superpower is befriending wild animals," Lori elbowed Gio and he glared at her.
"You're not such a bad mutant after all, are you?" August cooed as she pet them. The creature began to purr.
"Ok, that's enough." Gio said, rather abruptly. "Let's talk to them to see what they know about the A.M.,"
Luke leaned down, next to August, so that he was eye level with the creature. They stared back with teal colored eyes. "What do you know about the A.M.?" He asked, but the creature simply tilted their head as if they didn't understand.
"He asked if you know anything about the A.M.!" Vinny shouted. The creature looked even more confused.
Luke pushed him aside, "Do you... speak English?" The creature nodded. "So you understand what I'm saying?" again, the creature nodded.
"We're not here to hurt you, we just wanna know if you've had any encounters with scary humans?" August asked. The creature sat back and began moving their hands in a stranger manner.
"What are they doing?" Gio asked.
"I don't know, but I don't think they can speak." Luke glanced at his watch. "Let's take them back to the hideout and see what Talon thinks,"
Gio pulled the net off of them and the creature stood. They were about the same height as Luke.
"Do you have a name?" Lori asked, but the creature shook their head as if to say no.
"I'm sure our mom could find a good name for you, she came up with all of our names," Luke told them. "I'm Luke, this is my brother and sister, Gio and Lori and these are our friends August and Vinny," The creature seemed to smile and wave shyly.
"Stay close to me," Gio told them as they began walking towards their hideout.
~
"Mom, we're back and we have a guest!" Lori called out as she and the others entered the hideout.
"A new friend?" Tony piped up and ran towards the door. The creature shrank at the commotion. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just get so excited. Hi, I'm Tony!" He held out a hand and the creature gently shook it.
Talon approached cautiously. "They seem tame,"
Lori: "Oh, trust me, they were absolutely feral when we first met, but August used her superpower to calm them down,"
August blushed, "It's not a superpower, I just really like animals and animals tend to really like me,"
"Do you have a name?" Talon asked and the creature shook their head. "Hmm, are you comfortable with me naming you? I've named all of my children after great renaissance artists, but perhaps I should name you something else. Where were you born?"
The creature moved their hands rapidly and Talon blinked. "Alright, then, your name is Jasper,"
"Wait a minute, you know how to understand him?" Luke stared at her in shock.
Talon: "I'm afraid I'm a little rusty, but I know a bit of sign language,"
Gio: "Sign language? How many secrets are you keeping from us?"
Talon: "Not many. I didn't tell you about the sign language, because it was just a hobby in high school and since I no longer have hands, I cannot exactly communicate using it anymore,"
"Does that mean he's deaf or mute?" Luke looked at Jasper and he signed something.
"Deaf? What's deaf?" Tony asked.
"It means he can't hear," Lori explained.
"But we were able to communicate fairly easy with him," Gio said, confused.
Jasper turned to Talon and gestured to his mouth.
Talon: "He said that he can read lips fairly easily, but he says he's only partially deaf meaning he's hard of hearing and he's mute, due to never using his voice,"
"Welcome to the family, Jasper!" Tony cheered and hugged him. Jasper looked a little confused, but he returned the hug. Once he let go, Jasper signed something and they all looked to Talon for a translation.
"He says he cannot stay in one place for too long, because some people are after him," she explained.
"That must be the A.M.!" Luke exclaimed and turned to Jasper, "You have to stay with us, for your own protection! We've dealt with the A.M. before and you don't want to get involved with them,"
Jasper looked as if he had eaten something bitter and then he signed.
Talon: "He doesn't want to put you in danger,"
Gio: "You're in more danger out there than you are in here, with us. We can protect you,"
Jasper seemed to hesitate and when he signed, Talon spoke as she translated, "he says, ok, but he won't stay for long. Just until the threat of the A.M. is gone,"
"That could be awhile, for all we know," Lori told him, "but we assure you that you're safe here,"
Jasper smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes and Tony led him to an empty room that he could sleep in.
Lori: "One mutant down, only... a thousand more to go?"
Gio: "We have no idea how many mutants there are in New York, but let's keep our eyes and ears open for any new information,"
Luke: "For now, let's get some rest,"
