As the late evening sun slowly set in Megakat City, lights came on in homes and restaurants, but a few came on in offices. One such light was the office of the Deputy Mayor, Calico “Callie” Briggs.
The blonde Kat sighed as once again she was working far past normal hours, and would be working for a few hours yet. Mayor Manx had lent his support to a new development on the north side, a huge new suburban development. Many middle to upper class homes, featuring a new golf course (naturally) and therefore, he wanted all the documentation ready yesterday. Rather than dealing with the shortage of affordable housing the city had, or the fact all the municipal janitors were on strike until Monday! Nope, high priority was wasting two hundred acres of land on a fenced off set of holes and bunkers!
So naturally, she was slogging her way through that in hopes of maybe getting something productive done the next morning. The blueprints and plans for the development were open on her computer, city hall's databases completely digital thanks to the fact that at least there were Kats in the lower floors doing more work. And for that she was thankful, because while she might well have been the only non-guard in the building right now, it at least meant that she didn't literally do everything.
But still, this was especially galling to her right now, the Mayor's support hinging entirely on the golf course, it seemed.
“And it's not like we don't already have seventeen courses in the city already... eighteen if you count the fact the Mayor's office is practically a putting green unto itself,” She muttered as she looked over the plans.
With a groan, she stood from her desk, and went over to her coffee maker, bushy tail swishing in frustration, as she surrendered to needing another cup to at least last another hour. However, a knock at the door interrupted her efforts, and she looked away from the brewing machine.
It opened, and she gasped as a young female Kat in a security guard uniform was led in by a masked Kat, a strange gun-like device in their paw. They seemed thin, slightly taller than the Guard, but wore dark blue cargo pants and a black jacket, meaning that very little on them was identifiable. Even their eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.
“S-Sorry Deputy Mayor, she demanded to see you...” The Guard stammered, before being forced to her knees when the 'gun' was shoved into her back.
The Masked Kat chuckled, standing back with her 'gun' in hand, a raygun looking contraption with a green glowing tip, as the terrified Kat before her raised her paws, her thin tail limp and white fur on end even as her yellow eyes darted below her short black hair.
“Yes, I would have phoned for an appointment but I doubt you'd agree to what I need. You see, I hear there's a nice juicy database here in city hall with lots of blueprints. Including for banks and that sort of place. I want access... Or you get this.”
Before Callie could even respond, the masked Kat fired the odd device into the back of the poor Guard's head, and there was a flash of green. Callie's scream of shock was echoed by a scream of pain and fear as the guard froze in place, and then a strange crackling sound emitted. Even as the guard gurgled out the last few notes of her cry, her white fur and brown hair began to change... turning into a dark dull grey. Her wide terrified amber eyes went blank, turning into the same slate-like stone as the rest of her body, for the unfortunate young Kat had been transformed into stone, only the moments of life seen before and her unaffected blue shirt and black pants of her uniform to show she had ever been anything but the screaming statue kneeling there now.
“You didn't need to do that!” Callie eventually managed to say after her shock and surprise lessened.
“Pfft, like you really care, I bet you didn't even know her name...” The Masked Kat taunted.
Callie looked down, and then noted a hole torn in the stone Kat's blue shirt, where her namebadge had been torn off. The Masked Kat had planned ahead....
“...No, I didn't know her, but she didn't deserve that! Besides, now for all I know you'll just kill me too if I give you what you want!”
The Masked Kat tilted her head, and seemed to be looking behind Callie.
“You have a good point. But what I want is already open on your computer, isn't it?”
Callie looked behind her and noticed with horror that the monitor was reflected in her window, the blueprints of the development open. And as the Masked Kat had guessed, it was exactly what she wanted.
“Well, yes! If you'd given me a minute I could have let you know that, instead you're going to be wanted on two counts of murder!”
“Oh, really? Well, it's not murder in her case. You see, this can be reversed, in theory. Some kind of suspended animation thing, stole it from... ah, you don't need to know. However, that's as long as you only get hit once. Two hits makes you start crumbling a little. I don't know what three does yet. Maybe I should find out with her?”
“No, wait!” She gasped, reaching out towards the Masked Kat as she aimed the petrification ray at the Guard again.
The Masked Kat flinched and instead shot Callie, who gave out another scream... as her body too transformed. Her long legs became the same slate grey as the guard, her seafoam eyes becoming empty grey globes behind her glasses as her flowing blonde locks turned dull and rigid. The last echoes of her scream came from the cave her mouth became as the crackling ended, and Callie Briggs was a statue, the pink of her business dress clashing with the dull grey of her petrified body.
“...Well, fine. I was gonna 'ransom' you anyway with a cure I don't have, but I wanted to march you down to the main entrance. Put you right on display with a nice note. Guess you're stuck here now, especially since you just put on a lot of weight” Masked Kat sighed, and walked past the two statues to get her main objective.
Callie and the Guard stood silently as the database was downloaded and copied, the criminal gaining full access to everything she wanted. She also took the time to print her 'ransom' note on Callie's own printer.
“I sell some of these off, I'll make a fortune, and some other schmucks can rob the banks,” She chuckled, then noticed the steaming cup of coffee sitting below the maker.
Walking over beside the stone Deputy Mayor, the Masked Kat grabbed the cup, lifting her mask slightly as she took a sip of the stolen brew.
“Not bad. Thanks for the coffee and the blueprints, Deputy Mayor! Oh, and letting me borrow your printer. Ink's so expensive these days at home....”
She picked up the paper 'ransom' note claiming a demand for a few hundred thousand dollars to save the two statues, sticking the sheet into the paw of the petrified guard, using her claws like a memo spike. And with that the criminal left, door closing behind her, her two petrified victims helpless, rigid, and mute as she left. With no janitors to come around, it would take many hours before other security guards looking for their missing colleague eventually worked their way along to the Deputy Mayor's office.