Is anybody here an invisible cat whisperer?

I've been casing out the Novelty Factory, hanging out around the fence at night. There's a cleaning crew that goes in at midnight every night. I followed them back to their office, and they left their garage door open. I was able to borrow 5 uniforms they left out for us, neatly folded. I mean, we won't want to keep them, right?

So, say that we all showed up around 1am one night. My old friend @Singleton671 says her boyfriend can drive us in his haunted muscle car. He drops us off down the street, and we, in our uniforms, go to the gate and tell them we're extra cleaning crew that got called in. I've got some sigils drawn on paper we can show the guard that are sure to "blow his mind" if you know what I mean. I'm sure he's so far gone on the Raffa that some simple palindromes and some miswiring diagrams will disable him easily.

That's when the mind reader comes in, because we'll need to figure out where the lab is.

I'm sure I can continue to work with their security as we make our way, but once we're in the lab, what next? We find cages? Full of invisible cats? And some pulsating portal? We want to close the portal, as @Cassa N. Dra suggests. But what about the cats?

Have you thought about herding invisible cats?

Are we going to try and get them to all climb back through the hole or whatever back to where they came from? Or get them all to follow us out of the factory, like we were the pied pipers of invisible cats? Or just let them scamper through the Novelty Factory and fend for themselves, invisibly?

That's why we need an Invisible Cat Whisperer - somebody who can talk to the cats and get them all to go where they should.

Is there somebody that's right for that job? I know a few students who have gotten close to the cats - @Hannah Lalonde, and @Jade maybe, and @Lucia Spectre seems to know about cats AND invisibility. And of course @Vicky Suzuki is actually studying it. There are probably more too.

Oh, and "portal closer" would be another good skill to have. But if we just break all their machines and smash stuff, maybe that will do it? We can play it by ear.

If we can just get an Invisible Cat Whisperer, we'll be good to go. Any takers?

Dearest @Anton LaFlame,
I was immediately notified of your mention of me by the buzzing sensation in my right temple! Yes, it is true that I am close to many of the visible cats AND one or two invisible ones, but my true specialty is horticulture, as you're probably well aware!
But I have an idea.
Invisible cats are just cats, except they're invisible, no? So here's my plan: I can grow some invisible catnip to draw the invisible cats to you! It's almost foolproof! I've got some invisible catnip seeds in my dorm. Room 1025, in the Bromley Dorm. I hope I can help you in your noble feline quest!
Your friend,
Jade St. Sinclair

A note left by Lucia Spectre:

@Antoine LaFlame, you can see me? No one else seems to be able to see me. Or hear me, for that matter. Maybe you've been reading my notes. Anyway, I guess I could help. There's nothing else better to do, and the cats just won't stop whispering!
@Jade, you have a good plan. The cats really love your invisible catnip! Not sure if you've noticed, but they've been observing you to see if you've grown any more. I think they're starting to become literate...

I wonder though, if I go through the invisible cats' portal, is there a chance I might become visible again?

*Lucia

Another note hastily written in embarrassment left by Lucia Spectre:

Oh no! I'm sorry! I seem to have spelt your name wrong in my previous note, @Anton LaFlame! I'm so dreadfully sorry!

*Lucia

Then it's settled. This Friday night. @Singleton671 and her boyfriend Jerome and I will pick you up at 11 o'clock at the loading docks behind the library. You'll know his car because it's haunted - green smoke oozes out the back, and it kind of screeches, with the wailing of a thousand lost souls.

I'll have the cleaning company uniforms, which just zip up over our clothes. Coveralls. I've been wearing mine around my apartment all week. They're real comfortable, actually. I've been tempted to start wearing them around town, except the big Creester's Cleaning Services logo on the back would be trouble if I ran into Creester. Especially if he noticed some of his coveralls are missing. Maybe Psyhigh should make some with the Psyhigh logo on the back and make it the new school uniform?

@Lucia Spectre, it's your job to drop by @Jade's and pick up the invisible catnip.

Then, that night, @Cassa N. Dra (for the mind reading), and @Lucia Spectre (for the cat wrangling), and me, armed with the invisible catnip, will waltz right in to the Novelty Factory and free us some invisible cats.

@Lucia Spectre, I have no idea what would happen if you walked through that portal. Maybe the people on the other side could see you. Maybe not. But, after the cats are safe and we start smashing the equipment, the goal is to seal it up tight - hopefully forever. Do you feel like taking your chances on the other side - permanently? People have done crazier stuff...

Anyway, see you Friday. And don't forget the invisible catnip.

I am so sorry about @Lucia Spectre. This is all my fault. I was irresponsible for planning it, recruiting for it, and executing it. I take full responsibility. No one else would have been involved if I had not convinced them.

Getting in to the Novelty Factory went exactly as planned. Jerome dropped us off and we went through the main gate without a hitch. "You don't need to see our identification" kind of stuff. Those drugged out Raffa zombies couldn't tell the difference between a 'droid and a human anyway. But our luck didn't hold.

@Cassa N. Dra got the layout from the minds of the guards and we found the lab we needed easy. The doors to the lab must have been shielded because while she didn't read anybody inside. But it was full of them. The Novelty Scientists. And they were right in the middle of something big.

We weren't expecting that. But @Cassa N. Dra was fantastic, and just started cleaning out their trash cans like it was no big deal. We were disguised as the Cleaning Crew, after all. The Novelty Scientists wanted us out of there, but we played it cool (that is, dumb) and went about our business, while the scientists just got distracted.

It's then that I noticed the racks of cages, and the mewling, and the litter box odor. Invisible cats filled the cages around the room.

Against a wall - the portal. A big metal ring with a pulsing blue light inside. Novelty Technicians were busy pushing buttons. And at a table before the portal, a Novelty Scientist was attaching electrodes to what could only have been an invisible cat.

That's when @Lucia Spectre started up. It wasn't part of the plan - we didn't really have a plan for this. But Lucia must have been so upset, she started wrecking the place. Being invisible herself, the Novelty Scientists were very confused as their machinery started crashing, falling over...

While they were distracted, Cassie and I started opening the cages. We couldn't see the cats, so it was unclear if they were escaping or hiding in their cages.

That's something we had planned for. Lucia had @Jade's catnip, and with her Invisible Cat Whispering prowess was supposed to lead the cats away. Either through the portal or back home with us.

But that's when everything broke down.

The scientists got wise and flipped a switch. Suddenly the room went purple, with some kind of crazy uber-UV spectrum rays, and what had been invisible we could suddenly see. Cats - cats of all kinds, crazy zigzag stripes you never see on Earth cats, cats with crazy tufts of fur on their ears and tails, cats with multiple jaw sets like on Alien - and @Lucia Spectre, who I'd never seen before.

I can only hope I see her again.

As the scientists attacked, she leaped through the portal. In the chaos of the herd of wild invisible cats on the loose, stacks of cages fell, and scientists screamed as rampaging, vengeful interdimensional alien cats leaped on their faces and backs. In the melee, the controls for the portal were crushed, and with a flash of light and burst of smoke, the portal was closed.

With Lucia on the other side.

At that, @Cassa N. Dra grabbed me and we scrambled for the door. Some cats might have made it through the portal, but there were plenty that fled with us into the hall. Out of the crazy purple lights they were invisible again, so we have no idea where they went. All we do know is they're out of their cages now.

Cassie and I made it back to Jerome's car, took her back to campus, and dropped me back at my squat. I'm writing this from my kitchen table, my own invisible kittens in my lap and underfoot, wishing I'd never asked @Lucia Spectre to join this stupid scheme, and wondering if I'll ever see her again.

I've only ever seen her once.

It didn't go well at all, but at least the invisible cats are probably in a safer place. @Lucia Spectre's disappeared into the portal... Hopefully she's doing alright. Maybe we can find a dimensional traveler to find her... Wonder if there're any students here with that ability.

I went back to the Factory. There's still people there, though not as many as before. Most of the scientists have gone back their secret lair or whatnot. I went to the lab, and I took a phial of liquid that emitted a bluish glow. There weren't any other interesting things to salvage, so I left. No one noticed me.

Edmond doesn't like the contents of the phial. He hissed and refused to stay in my room, so I hid it somewhere to make him feel better. I wonder what the liquid is, if it makes my invisible cat so uncomfortable...

-C-