Heroes and Villains

8 - Wise Monkey

“What do you mean, this place is going to get destroyed?” I ask, not understanding what is going on or what just happened to her.

She is still shaking and doesn’t tell me anything more. Jensen steps up, kindly asking the surrounding mutants to back away.

“We need to take her to Gideon” He tells me. “We can’t stay here”

He is right, of course. The middle of the mutant lair is no place for us to deal with Yumi’s sudden breakdown. We need to take her to a more secluded place.

Getting up, I help the shaking Yumi up to her feet and drag her along with us to get to Gideon’s room. The mutants’ curious looks follow us all the way there.

As soon as we reach the vine adorned door, Gideon steps out as if he already knows we are arriving.

“Bring her inside” He tells us with his old voice. “Lay her down on the bed”

We do so, helping the still shaking Yumi to the makeshift bed in the corner of the room. The entire room is covered in plants, the brick walls being barely visible.

Gideon approaches us and places the palm of his furry hand against Yumi’s forehead as she turns her attention to him.

Gideon is one of the first mutants, one of the few humans who were in Chicago at the moment the meteor crashed and lived to tell the story. Due to this, his blood is not diluted at all and his appearance is so much more disformed than the other mutants.

He looks like a humanoid monkey, a bearded tamarin monkey. His kind looking brown eyes survey Yumi as she slowly manages to calm down. He strokes his long white beard, thoughtfully as I admire his shiny black fur covering the entirety of his body.

“What did you see?” He calmly asks Yumi and I am about to interject but Yumi talks first.

“You have seen it too?” She asks him, sitting up in bed. “How?”

Gideon watches her attentively before answering. “I think the question you are looking for is how you are able to see it”

“I don’t follow” Yumi says, looking confused.

“I am one of the first mutants; One of the few who survived the radiation” Gideon explains. “One of the things no one knows about us mutants is that not only did the radiation change our appearance drastically, it also gave us strange powers none of us knew how to control”

“You’ve never told us that, Gideon” Jensen says, looking dejected.

“There are some things better left unknown, my child” Gideon says, still looking at Yumi.

She stands up, no longer shaking and seemingly in control of herself again.

“Are you telling me I might have been in contact with the meteor’s radiation?” Yumi asks Gideon.

“I don’t know what originated you to have these abilities of yours, but it is a question you definitely should ask yourself” Gideon says.

“What if there’s no answer for that question?” Yumi insists.

“There is always an answer” Gideon says, placing a hand on Yumi’s shoulder. “You just need to search for it”

“Wait a second” Jensen starts. “You mean what she just said is true? The lair is going to get destroyed?”

“I am afraid so, my child” Gideon confirms and Jensen’s face drops. “I have known this for some time, but the visions are unclear as to when it is going to happen”

“There has to be something we can do” I start, not wanting to believe this situation is inevitable.

“The future is a feeble thing” Gideon tells me, turning to me. “One cannot change it without paying a price”

“There might be a way” Yumi says and everyone looks at her.

“How?” Jensen says, desperate to have a solution to save his home. “How can we stop this?”

Yumi turns to me. “You” She simply says.

“Me?” I ask, confused.

“You are different from anyone else I have ever encountered in my life” Yumi says. “Unlike others, I can’t predict your next moves as easily. They are fogged and distorted”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means you have the power to change your future” Gideon explains. “And with that power, you might be able to change our future as well”

“I feel like that’s a bit too much pressure to put on me” I tell them. “How do I even have that power in the first place?”

“That is a good question indeed, my dear child” Gideon says, stroking his beard again.

Why can’t this old man just answer my question? Is that too much to ask?

“Either way, if the lair is going to get attacked, it’s certainly going to be the Hamato Industries doing” I say.

“They wouldn’t do that” Yumi contests.

“How do you know?” Jensen says, spitting on the floor. “They are fowl, all of them. They don’t care if we rot down here. We could all burn to hell if it were up to them”

“It might as well be…” Gideon comments and Jensen looks upset.

“Not on my watch” Jensen says and I look at him, knowing what he means by this.

“Jensen, no” I start.

“It is too much of a risk” Gideon adds.

“What?” Yumi questions. “What is he talking about?”

“Jensen likes to think we can just invade the Hamato Industries and destroy the problem at the core” I explain. “But he’s being delusional. There’s no way we could do that without being slaughtered”

Jensen still isn’t listening to reason. “I’m not going to wait around until they attack us. I’m bringing the fight to them”

“Jensen!” I shout, going after him as he storms out of the room. “You need to calm down!”

I grab his arm to stop him from going further into the lair and drawing attention to himself.

“We can’t just storm into the place without thinking” I say. “If we’re going to do this, we’ll need a plan first. We need to scout the area, find out what their defenses are… We need…”

“Does that mean you’ll help us?” Jensen asks me, his voice transpiring hope.

I hesitate to answer. In truth, I didn’t even think about any of this before starting to come up with a plan to help them. I know Jensen is right. If the lair is truly going to be destroyed, we need to act first and bring the fight to them before it is too late, but…

Am I really ready to abandon my human self and live as the mutant I really am?

It’s a question that has been plaguing me for many years now and I never really knew how to answer it. I know I am Kitty Girl, I know I have been helping the mutant community in any way I can… But I like being a human too. I love to dance. I love to sing. I love to be able to feel normal for a change.

Does that make me selfish?

No other mutant can change the way I do. If I wanted, I could just turn human and stay that way for the rest of my life. Forget I was ever a mutant.

I feel so divided…

“Let’s do it like this” I say, trying to sound confident when I’m really not. “I’ll investigate the Hamato facilities on my own. It will be easier that way. I’ll collect whatever intel I can. Give me five days”

“Five days?” Jensen asks. “Alright”

That was easy. The hard part will be to keep the promise I just made.

“Mia?” Yumi’s voice calls me and I turn around, wanting to slap her.

I look wide eyed at her and she realizes her mistake.

“Mia?” Jensen questions.

“She meant Nyan” I try to disguise. None of the mutants here know I am human too and the name Mia is directly associated with my human persona. “Like Nyan Nyan~”

I raise hand to the side of my head, making a cute face and pawning my hand like a cat does when they’re happy.

Jensen chuckles and smiles. “Never change, Kat” He says, calling me by the name the mutants have dubbed me with. “I’ll be waiting for news”

He leaves me and Yumi alone while Gideon remains secluded in his room. He barely comes out of his personal wild forest these days.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here” I mumble, not really wanting her to hear it.

But she does and looks quite dejected at it.

“Even so, I thank you for bringing me with you” She tells me. “I would never have known… How things really are”

“Now that you know, are you willing to go against your family?” I ask her.

Like me, she also hesitates. She too is divided.

“Let’s head back” I tell her. “Felix will be coming back with the others soon and they’ll have to close the gate for the day”

Yumi nods and follows me out of the lair, avoiding the looks of all the mutants. I know they are curious to know who the stranger is, but I feel like I’ve had my dose of people interaction for a day.

Once outside, I take Yumi to the staircase leading Uptown.

“I take it you can avoid the guards on your own?” I ask her and she nods.

“Mia…” She starts again. “I heard what you said to Jensen. Do you really want to investigate the Hamato facilities?”

“It doesn’t hurt to try” I say. “We need to know if they are planning something. If we know when they are going to act, it might give us a head start”

“Then, let me help” She tells me and I look surprised at her.

“You’ve decided?” I ask.

“I am not about to let all those innocent people die if I can do something to stop it” She says. “They deserve justice just as everyone else”

I smile at this.

“Spoken like a true hero” I say.

She smiles back. “My invitation to my home still stands though” She says. “We could plan our next steps there”

“I’ll think about it” I say. “Right now, I need my nap time”

“What is your phone number?” She asks me. “I’ll need to contact you”

“I don’t have a phone” I simply answer and she looks at me, mouth wide open. “What? I live downtown. We can’t afford things like that”

“How do you contact each other, then?” She asks.

I chuckle at her spoiled innocence. “You see the future, right? You’ll see me coming to you. Don’t worry”

She doesn’t look too certain about this, but I don’t waste any more time on this. Using my rope, I launch it to one of the pipes nearby and pull the hook down, wrecking the water pipe and launching water everywhere, which in turn causes a major racket and draws the attention of the guards.

“That’s our cue” I say.

Not having any more time for questions, she runs upstairs and hides when the guards walk right past her.

I hide and watch the guards as they look confused at the broken pipe. Pleased at my mischief, I casually walk back to my small apartment building, turning into human along the way as the sun shines on the darkened streets.