WHEN we last saw our heroes, the FEROCIOUS FELINES had just brought on the help of the dashing LEO, a strange wolf with glowing eyes.

SENSING the urgency to follow Chillwave and his new accomplice, THE PROFESSOR rallies the team to return to their base as quickly as possible.

LITTLE did they know, the team would not leave Clockwork Island as quickly as they had anticipated, or without adding yet another team member.

“Vat are you doing Professor? Vee have just met zis wolf,” Shadow said, walking up to Leo and patting the fur on the side of his neck. It nearly matched her Russian Blue coat.

Leo turned to her and smiled, “Shadow I presume?” he asked.

Shadow stepped back, her tail twitched. “Who told you zat?”

Void Cat purred and walked around the pair, standing next to the professor. Her eyes opened wide, and she smirked mischievously.

“Sifu told me, although she didn’t tell me you were this beautiful,” Leo said, taking Shadow’s paw and kissing it. Her ears flattened and she turned her head away from the wolf, who was nearly her size. “My name is Leo, I am a lupine and an orphan. The Flora took me in when I arrived on this island from a shipwreck years ago, it has been my home ever since, I was content here never wanting new companionship, until now.”

Shadow purred and licked her chops. “I… I… you are wery charmink meester Leo,” she said, then backed away as the professor stepped closer.

"We have to get him off the island as quickly as possible,” he said. “Chillwave’s people move fast when they aren’t being hampered by his ineptitude that is.“

Sifu chuckled at the statement.

“How long has it been since they left the island?” the professor asked, not taking his eyes off Leo, as if he was literally sizing him up for the mission. The collective replied, “Their efforts ended fourteen hours, thirty-one minutes ago.”

“And the location?” the professor asked, looking up to the automatons surrounding them.

"They were at the island of Tofua, then moved west,” the collective said.

The professor threw his glance to the floor, “That’s pretty far from here. I don’t know if we can get there in time for us to catch them, or to be of any consequence other than wasting copious amounts of fuel.”

“Kit?” Sifu asked.

“Yes, we will have to find the fox again and make some kind of connection, or at the very least find a way to track it until we can get to Chillwave’s base,” the professor ruminated aloud. “Of course, we barely have enough space on the plane to take any new people aboard. I’m going to have to ask you to travel light son, any more and we will have to jettison seats,” the professor said to Leo, who promptly bowed.

The hanging plants in the meeting hall swayed in unison, moving against the breeze generated by the constant venting of the volcano's caldera just beneath their feet. Leo fixed his gaze on the floor and held his head motionless. A green glow emanated from his eyes.

“Vhat are you doink?” Shadow asked. When she got no response she waved her hand in front of his face, his attention did not change.

“Vhat?” she repeated, then looked around at her team, they were similarly perplexed. The professor turned to the closest Clockwork automaton. “What is happening with him? Why did he go silent?”

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The automation responded, not in the voice of the collective, but in its own body.

“The lupine is speaking to The Flora,” it said perfunctorily, implying that it had given enough information on the subject.

“The Flora? You mean the plants?” Void Cat asked, then waved her paw in front of Leo. Shadow scoffed at the unnecessary repeat of her effort.

“Fascinating!” the professor said, looking directly into Leo’s motionless eyes.

Within a minute, the wolf started moving again as if it had taken no more than a fleeting moment to communicate with the plants. “Was I out of touch? Forgive me, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“What gives?” Void Cat asked.

Leo looked around nervously, his eyes no longer glowed but Void Cat noticed they looked glassier than she remembered. “The Flora…they speak to me. They don’t really talk though. Communicate is more like it. It’s how my eyes… well, work for lack of a better term.” Leo's eyebrows knitted together as he tried to articulate what was going on in his head.

“Vat are zey telink you?” Shadow asked, her eyes narrowed as she took in the plants still swaying in unison; they made absolutely no noise.

“They told me to be careful… Well, actually they told me to not get killed because they spent a lot of time and effort on me,” Leo explained then chortled softly. Shadow looked aghast. “It’s plant humor, hard to explain. Some of them actually live in my eyes, so it’s more than just a phrase. It’s… complex.”

The professor raised an eyebrow at the last statement. “Symbiosis?” He asked.

“Umm, symbi…” Leo stammered then looked up at the plants. “Yes, they live off the light that reflects into my eyes. Then they turn on the nerves so I can see. Science stuff…” He shrugged his shoulders. The professor laughed.

“I promise you, Leo, I will not get you killed. Well, at least I will try my best.” The professor smiled, with just enough of a delay to make everyone in the room question his sincerity. To break the tension, Void Cat laughed, but she could not even convince herself. “We don’t have much time,” he continued. “We should get moving before the trail goes cold. I have a feeling they will be back on the mainland before long. Our best bet is to hide out in the open, let Chillwave know we are back, and allow him to make an attempt on us. Leo can then infiltrate their organization.” The professor said while he walked around the wolf. He ticked off points with his fingers as he spoke. Sifu stared at him, smiling at this thought process, and his obliviousness to everything else because of it.

“He can sit next to me on zee plane,” Shadow said as she headed, without her sister, to the entrance to the Clockwork’s underground lair. Her step was bouncy, and her tail bobbed with the enthusiasm.

Void Cat winked and Leo and hooked her thumb at her sister. “See, I told you she’d dig ya.”

“Well, thank you all for your hospitality,” the professor began, raising his voice high enough that everyone in the meeting room would hear him without amplification. “It’s always a pleasure being among you. I promise we will take care of young Leo, and we will report to you as often as is possible.” He bowed and stepped back, and was about to turn on his heel when a springing sound crept into the room. Taken aback the professor turned toward the closest automaton, it pointed.

From out of a door, walked a small brass automaton, nearly one half the size of all the others. Its frame was small and round, its legs were long and stubby, and its arms, short and slender, tapered out to delicate fingers. The face, expressionless save for two garnet eyes, was small on the large brass head. A key, very oversized for its body, turned slowly in its back.

“We cannot allow you to leave and continue on this mission without our liaison to accompany you,” the collective voice said, with no discernible speaker. “This unit will accompany you. It is travel-sized and has no talking gears. The others gears need to be wound once a day. It will serve you well, and we will be able to communicate through it.”

The professor stepped up to the small automaton and looked down. “If it doesn’t speak, how am I to communicate with it?”

The garnet eyes flashed in a pattern that he instantly recognized.

“Of course, Morse.”

The automaton bounced at the name. Its arms flapped excitedly.

“That’s your name, isn’t it? I thought none of the Clockwork had names?”

Morse turned its head quizzically and flashed its eyes. The professor’s lips mouthed the words as he translated, “This is the name of your unit… to make it easier for us to speak to you.”

Morse bobbed up and down.

“I guess we are standing up on the way home,” Sifu said under her breath.

The professor bowed, and the team, newly augmented by two, stepped out of the door.

What help will the charming Leo be in their quest to derail the evil Chillwave and this bubbling enemy from their nefarious plans? Can the new clockwork automaton help the Ferocious Felines, or is it just a toy to be played with and left aside? Will the team be able to stand the whole way back to Virginia? Find out on the next thrilling chapter of "The Adventures of Void Cat and Shadow!"