WHEN we last left out intrepid heroes, Void Cat had saved her stalwart companion Shadow from almost certain death at the hands of the vile criminal, Dr. Snowstorm.

FOILED yet again, Dr. Snowstorm swore revenge on the feline duo, promising to destroy them and everything they stood for; he would not be denied his dream of bringing a new ice-age back to the Earth and watching the cities of man fall.

UNKNOWN to the courageous cats, Dr. Snowstorm’s evil henchman, Chillwave, followed them to their hideout, a secluded cabin in the woods, not far from the Nations Capital, and even now is calculating his move against the pair.

MEANWHILE the pair plans a well-deserved rest from the strains of hero-work. Longing for the bliss and relaxation of a well-earned rest…

“Thank you for savink me, that was not the best place to be. The chill ruffled my luxurious coat, and I was without my muff. It was much colder than any winter I experienced buck in Soviet Russia,” Shadow said to Void Cat, her Russian accent apparent as she preened her fur delicately while gazing into her full-length mirror.

“No problem, sister, how could I possibly be expected to handle the days without you? Besides, I made a promise to your family when I smuggled you out of that dump in Leningrad. I swore to protect you, and that is exactly what I intend to do! I promised your mom, and I’m not gonna let that dame down,” Void Cat smiled as she pulled out her favorite toy with her teeth and paraded it around the living room, intent on blowing off some steam; her silky black fur a perfect contrast to the multicolor strings attached to the toy.

"Vell, thank you again, my friend,” Shadow responded, as she licked her ears between words.

Void Cat winked at her, and grunted in response, her mouth filled with rainbow-colored string.

Suddenly the door opened and in stepped the petite frame of Sifu, the pair’s trusted weapons master and trainer. She carried with her several wooden poles and a pair of swords tucked into her shoulder-slung carrying case. Void Cat came running to her, trilling as she did, mouth full of fabric.

“Hello, girls!” Sifu said, bending down to greet the pair, her silken black hair falling off her shoulders.

“What’s cooking, Sifu?” Void Cat purred as she ran between her legs.

Sifu smiled and picked the black short-hair up, “I read in the newspaper that Dr. Snowstorm was trouble again and that you had to go save your sister?”

“If that mug thinks he can put the bag on my sister and get away with it, he is sorely mistaken. He’d better be careful, or someday he’s the one that will end up on ice,” Void Cat jumped from Sifu’s arms and ran over to Shadow, tackling her to the floor and wrestling until the pair ended up laughing and out of breath.

“He vill never defeat us, vee are too strong and too smart for heem!” Shadow said, then checked her appearance in the mirror once again. Almost twice the size of Void Cat, Shadow merely toyed with her companion. They knew full well that she could break the other in half without much effort. It was this combination of determination and strength that made them the perfect partners in the never-ending struggle against evil.

“Revenge? Is that how I taught you to use the gifts I gave you?” came the strong tone of The Professor, who bounded down the stairs in large steps, skipping runners as he went. “What have I told you girls about using your darker emotions?”

“To use them all the time!” Void Cat yelled, running across the floor and tackling her favorite toy again. In an instant, she was wrapped in a ball of multicolored thread.

“Really?” He asked, his tone even sterner than before.

Shadow slinked slowly behind the mirror, unsure of how to react. Sifu came and sat down on the couch, putting the weapons at her feet. She pulled a sword out and looked at the edge, fussing over the sharpness of the blade and the amount of oil applied to the steel. Without looking at the pair, she spoke into the air. “Revenge will destroy you, and it will make all your actions dubious in the eyes of the public.” Sifu put the sword down and stared at the black feline. “That isn’t how we raised you. You should know better.”

The admonishment instantly hit Void Cat, and she froze in resignation. Of course, she knew better than that, she knew how bad people can fall from grace if they aren’t careful, even if their intentions are good. She recalled from the professor’s history lessons on how fascism nearly overtook Europe twice, and how it threatened to return at any time. Besides she knew she never would give in to her primitive instincts, that would just be wrong.

“I’m sorry, Pops,” Void Cat said, shooting a finger pistol at the professor. “Those mugs are tough though, I have to be equally tough to stop them.”

Shadow coughed as she sat back in front of the mirror, turning her face up, nose in the air.

“Sorry, Sis, We have to be tough.”

“Dat is better, Woid Cat,” Shadow said.

Across the street from the house, behind a pear tree covered in snow and frost, Chillwave stood, looking through a pair of blue binoculars. The pale moon cast yellow light across his blue face. His goggles, similarly tinted blue, hid his eyes from sight. He dropped the binoculars briefly, after hearing a fox scream in the distance, like a woman yelling for help.

“Haha,” he chuckled to himself, “You know the sound that they will make once I exact my revenge on them. They will not be able to defeat me again. My master, Dr. Snowstorm, has given me the tools that I need to stop them. Soon they will yell like the fox at the moon. Soon they will pay.” Chillwave’s body lurched as he laughed silently to himself.

Quickly he stepped across the dirt road as a car passed by. He ducked behind the bushes next to the side of the house, reached into a bag he carried with him, and pulled out a pistol. Stark white, with a single long chamber and a glowing blue sight.

“Once I fire this, they will not be able to escape and will freeze to death in their own hideout. I will finally have defeated them!” Chillwave laughed, almost loud enough to hear.

The front door of the house clicked open, and the professor and Sifu stepped out, prompting Chillwave to drop himself flat onto the snow.

“Okay girls, be good. We will be back after dinner. It’s just down the road and we shouldn’t be long,” she said, waving to the pair through the window as the professor held open the door of their 1986 Chevy Celebrity.

Chillwave looked up from the snow as the car pulled out of the driveway and down the dirt road, kicking up pebbles and dust as it went.

Inside the house, Void Cat and Shadow frolicked, wrestling on the hardwood floor and giving each other faux death neck bites.

Chillwave stepped out from behind the bushes over the crunching snow and held the pistol out in front of him.

“Yes, have fun, for it will be the last fun you ever have.”

His lips snarled and he pressed the “arm” button on his pistol. He started laughing, slowly and quietly, and then more menacingly.

“Ha ha… HA HA… HAH HAH HA!!!”

He fired, blue light shot from the gun and snow instantly fell from the sky. The blot hit the front window with a sickening crack.

Can our brave heroes survive the fiendishly frigid onslaught of frozen evil from the vile Chillwave? Will they be able to stop him and the nefarious plans of Dr. Snowstorm? Will Sifu and the professor enjoy their dinner and come home without indigestion?

Find our next episode: “Getting The Cold Shoulder” in the next exciting installment of the “Adventures of Void Cat and Shadow!”