Heroes and Villains

3 - Crushed

After our performance, it is time for us girls to go interact with the costumers up close. This is the part I hate the most and the part I always try to avoid doing. Of course, I have to be mindful of Cain’s watchful eyes but Jaden has that covered for me.

I smirk as I watch Jaden serve Cain yet another drink while smiling adoringly at him. It is no secret to me that those two have a thing going on, but it will take the world to end for Cain to admit anything about it.

I sneak my way through the crowd of drunken men as the girls disperse and engage in their own agenda. This is also the time the girls have to seduce and take whatever money or priced possessions these clueless men may have.

What are they gonna do? Tell their wives? Good luck with that.

Besides, the police are bought by the Hamato Industries. Guess who is the son of the current manager? Bingo.

No one can touch Cain or his mischievous doings. Stupid thing is most of these men are regulars, which means they don’t mind they are getting robbed. They just want to see pretty girls dancing and maybe be lucky enough to get laid.

Disgusting.

Music graces the bar as Stella continues dancing on the minor stage, showing off her skills around the pole while multiple men drool around her and offer her large quantities of notes.

She smirks, thinking herself superior to have this kind of power over them. I don’t think she realizes this is only diminishing her as a woman, but oh well.

I jump when out of the blue one of the men slaps my butt while I’m making my way to the bar stand. I clench my fists and put on the most adoring smile I can conjure, turning to face the already drooling bald man.

He is dressed fancy, which tells me he is one of the ones living uptown, like most of the costumers here. They can’t find their fun up there, so they come down here to get it.

I get closer to him, never dropping my adorable act and place an arm around his shoulders while my other arm caresses his chest.

In response to my approach, the man grips my ass as if I am his private property. I try hard to control my raging stomach and lean in to whisper at his ear.

“Hello pretty boy…” I say in my most seductive voice.

The guy trembles in anticipation under my touch and I take advantage of his distraction to reach for the large wallet inside his inner jacket pocket.

I remove it and hand it over to Nora, the older woman who serves as a waiter and, at the same time, as receiver of anything the girls can retrieve from their clueless costumers.

I slowly withdraw from the bald man, my loving smile still in place, and am about to leave when he grabs my arm forcefully.

Now, this isn’t the first time this has happened, and neither will it be the last. I have just the thing for these kinds of costumers.

Gently getting closer to him again as his eyes eat me up, I quickly press my fingers to a specific point at the base of his neck.

The guy falls unconscious almost immediately and I help him lean towards his table to make it look like he has passed out. It’s not uncommon to have drunken men passing out on the bar, especially when they harass me like this.

Now that that is dealt with, I continue my way to the bar stand, smiling genuinely when I see the blonde-haired man sitting on the tall bar stool.

Jack.

I take a moment to look at his back while he sips at his drink. Virgin Marguerita. I’m so proud of him.

Getting closer, I tap on his right shoulder and quickly jump to his left as he looks to his right. I know he is smiling when he reaches out to touch me while still looking to his right.

I let him touch my hair, trying to control the rising redness coming to my cheeks.

“Hmm… I wonder who this messy hair belongs to” He says, still not looking at me.

“It’s not so messy anymore” I say. “Jaden brushed it”

He chuckles as he finally turns around and graces me with his beautiful light blue eyes. I could easily get lost in those if I had the chance.

He smiles at me and disappointingly enough removes his hand from mine and rests it on the bar stand, holding his drink between both hands.

“I liked your performance today” He tells me and I swear I can feel my heart skip a beat.

“Really?” I say, my eyes gleaming. “I winked at you mid-way. Did you notice?”

“I did” He says, smiling while looking down at his drink.

Anyone else would be ok with this response, but not me. He doesn’t need to say anything for me to know there’s something wrong. I sit down on the stool next to his.

“Your dad again?” I ask.

He shakes his head taking another sip from his drink.

“Ricardo” He simply says, referring to his older brother.

“Oh, man” I comment. “What did he say?”

“He said I need to get my head out of the clouds and actually start doing something useful” He tells me, with a regretful look.

“But what you’re doing is useful!” I shout in outrage. “Your drawings are so awesome. I’m sure an editor is going to find you and then your brothers will see how amazing you are”

He smiles, but I know it is just to comfort me.

“My drawings aren’t selling, Mia” He says. “I don’t know. Maybe I should just quit and join my brother like dad wants me to”

“And then what?” I say, standing up. “You’re going to manage the bar with him and hire pretty girls to do the dirty work?”

My rage bubbles in my gut as I look at him. He has come such a long way. I didn’t want him to give up just yet.

You see, Jack is also Cain’s little brother. He and his brothers were adopted by Itsuki Yoshiro. He has always felt pressured to do what they want him to do but he has never felt happy about it and that unhappiness has led him to seek out numbness.

Either through alcohol or through drugs.

“Show me” I tell him, stretching my open palm to him.

He looks confused at me for a moment but I know he realizes exactly what I’m referring to. He sighs and reaches for his backpack, pulling out multiple pieces of paper and placing them on my open hand.

I look at them and smile as I see the amazing comic book drawings. They are about Kitty Girl, our local superhero, who steals from the uptown banks and shares the money through the needing downtown residents.

She is a mutant who looks like a cat and I love the way Jack depicts her in his comics. Every move, every expression and line looks perfect.

“Why wouldn’t these be selling?” I say. “They’re awesome”

He smiles resentfully. “You’re the only one who seems to be thinking that way”

“No” I stubbornly say. “You’re going to submit this to another editor. I’m not letting you give up after coming this far”

He smiles at me in a way that makes my heart melt.

“Thanks, Mia” He says. “I don’t know what I would do without you”

“Just don’t give up, ok?” I say, knowing I am blushing again. “You’ll make it big, you’ll see”

He nods, seemingly more cheerful.

But then comes the witch and washes away the happy bubbling feeling forming in my stomach.

“Jack, dear” Stella’s slimy honey-like voice reaches us. “I didn’t know you would come today”

She approaches us and purposefully places herself in front of me, pushing me away from Jack as she sits on the stool I was in.

“Shouldn’t you be on the pole, Stella?” I ask her.

“It’s your turn” She dismisses me without even looking at me as she touches Jack’s hand.

“I’m not on pole duty today, you are” I tell her, annoyed at her closeness to him.

“Cain said it is” She simply says, smiling sweetly at Jack as if he were another of her costumers. “He’s still mad at you for getting late”

Jack looks worriedly at me, knowing fully well Cain cannot be messed with.

“You should go, Mia” He tells me.

“Yeah, go, Mia” Stella says, chuckling evilly. “Jackie will be just fine with me”

I repress a growl and a hiss as she says this. With one last look at Jack, I mouth a quick goodbye and turn around before I lose control.

I run as fast as I can through the crowd and finally manage to reach the dressing room, closing the door behind me. I would lock it, but there’s no lock.

I shout in anger as my appearance changes. My hair changes color and my eyes do too as I stretch my head back, allowing my small fangs to grow out as well and my ears to twitch out of my hair.

In less than a minute, I am not the same person anymore.

I am a mutant. A cat mutant.

My hair is no longer messy or brown. It is a silky orange cascade of hair going down to my lower back. My cat-like ears are also orange but the thing that distinguishes me the most from my usual self is my eyes.

My eyes are now yellow and the iris is oval, like the ones of a cat. Though, now they are quite round and blackened as I am pissed. I stretch out my claws and repress the urge to claw at the side of the door.

I sigh and slide down the door to sit on the floor. I need to calm down. I can’t be like this.

It’s just so upsetting whenever Stella hovers around Jack like that. She doesn’t care about him. She just cares about the potential inheritance he may get when his dad kicks the bucket. It’s annoying.

It’s even more annoying that I can’t find the guts to step up and finally tell Jack how I feel. I always chicken out at the last minute. I am so scared of what he would think of me if he knew.

What if he doesn’t feel the same? What if he doesn’t want to be friends anymore? What if I find out he hates mutants as much as everyone else…

Jack was the one who found me in the streets when I tried to steal from him. He stopped Cain from hurting me before Jaden even showed up to help me.

I don’t know what Jack and his brother were doing downtown that day, but I will never forget his act of kindness when Jack begged Cain not to let us stay there.

He was the one who convinced Cain to take us in and have us start working at his new bar. I was 15 then.

I think that’s when I first realized I would never find a guy like him. Jack is one of a kind, even with his destructive family.

A scratch at the small window at the corner of the room catches my attention and I slowly get up, already knowing there’s only one person it could be.

I’m sorry, did I say person? I meant cat.

It’s Luki. He has come to give me his nightly report.

I open the window and he looks at me with his same uninterested look.

“Isn’t it a little too early to grow the ears?” He tells me, gracefully jumping down from the window and onto the floor.

I ignore his remark as I am still trying to calm down.

“What did you find out?” I ask him as he sits down and starts washing his face with his front paw.

He doesn’t answer me right away, of course. First, he has to finish his small bath. I cross my arms and tap my foot, patiently waiting for him to finish.

Luki is the one who scours uptown searching for my next targets. Like an actual cat, this task is easier for him. The fact that he is extremely cleverer than an ordinary cat helps.

“There’s going to be a bank robbery tonight in the second district” He finally tells me, sitting up straight and looking at me.

“Great” I say. “I need the distraction”

“What you need is to change back asap” Luki says, his ears perking up. This tells me there’s someone coming towards the dressing room. “I’m out”

Without a second glance, Luki jumps back into the open window and I quickly close it before focusing to turn back to my usual appearance.

Letting out a breath, I pass my hand through my hair and my ears disappear. I turn around just in time to see the door open. It’s Jaden.

“There you are” He says. “You have to go dance quickly before Cain loses his patience with you”

“I’m going, I’m going” I say, walking towards him. “I just needed to fix my hair, that’s all”

This is the lamest excuse ever. Everyone knows I’m not one to fix my hair, but Jaden seems to let this one pass. I guess he realizes I am feeling upset. He must have seen Stella with Jack…

Trying not to think about it, I make my way to the small stage and put on my gracious fake smile.

I start to dance around the pole, pushing down my personality again and I allow the men to drool over me.

It doesn’t really matter right now. Later tonight I will be able to decompress.

With some luck, I’ll even get to beat up my arch-nemesis.

Smiling at the possibility, I continue dancing and ignore the fact that neither Stella nor Jack are at the bar stand anymore.