Heroes and Villains

18 - Robot Attack!

Michelle

I feel beat. I feel torn. I feel horrible.

I did manage to get Luki to warn everyone about my current condition but that doesn’t make me feel any better about it. I need to find a way to get out of here.

Maybe I can manage to sneak out after tonight’s show. It can’t be that hard. All I have to do is pretend to give a private session to one of the costumers, knock him out cold and run away.

Cain will never know any better; I think… As a trained ninja, that guy seems to have a sixth sense or something.

He eyes me attentively as he and Jaden coordinate today’s practice. We don’t usually practice every day, but since we are going to perform a new song, we need to get our moves straight.

This song is one of my favorites and I was the one who came up with the choreography, so this practice will be a piece of cake.

“Alright, girls” Jaden starts, being the one who will show the other girls the new dance moves. “We start with the basics. Just hold the baton in front of you and move it around while your body moves to the sound of the music”

He turns the music on, pushing the button on the stereo, and Toni Basil’s ‘Hey Mickey’ resounds in our new dance studio, which is one of our favorite addictions at the new bar. We had to practice outside in the old one and guys from all over would come to drool at us for free.

Jaden starts dancing to the sound of the music, demonstrating the dance moves I showed him the other day. I smile as I watch him dance, remembering the times where we used to dance together back when we were still living on the streets.

He was the one who taught me how to dance and to enjoy the little things in life, like music. He was also the one who always encouraged me to sing and told me I had a beautiful voice. He is the big brother I never had and I couldn’t be more thankful to have him in my life.

Turning my eyes from him, I end up looking at Cain, who is standing in the corner of the room, his back laying against the wall and his arms crossed, showing off his bulging muscles.

All that is the usual look Cain has, but this time, he has a smile on his face. A genuine smile as he watches Jaden dance for the girls. If I had any doubt before, that doubt has just gone out the window. Cain and Jaden DEFINITELY have something going on.

“Did you get all that?” Jaden asks us, and it brings me back to reality.

“I can’t believe Mia was the one who came up with that” Stella comments, ever the snotty one.

“What’s the problem, Stella?” I ask. “Is it too hard for you?”

She scoffs at me. “It’s too much of a complicated set for a simple-minded person like you to come up with”

“So, it IS too hard for you” I say, smiling at my inspired come back.

She gets angry at me and is about to say something else when Cain’s powerful voice interrupts.

“Are you going to start training or what?” He says. “I ain’t got all day to look at you”

This shuts Stella up and everyone gets in position to dance to the new song. I wing my baton and throw it in the air to show off and tick Stella off a little more. I chuckle when I see her fume my way.

The music starts again and as always, I put on my stripper persona and start dancing to the new moves, winging it at the first try. It’s not just a compliment when Cain says I’m his best performer.

We are supposed to use cheerleader outfits while performing this song. Some of us will have batons while others will have pom-poms. I know the costumers will go crazy when they see us dressed like high schoolers. They have some strange fetishes.

I sing as we dance, already knowing the lyrics by heart. Usually, we train the dancing and then the singing part but I’m having so much fun with this routine, I figure I can do both at the same time.

Jaden smiles at me as he watches me dance, moving to stand next to Cain. I pretend not to notice when their arms touch ever so slightly.

Our dancing routine is interrupted when the ground suddenly shakes violently. The girls scream and shout in fear but the structure of the building seems to hold up.

What was that? An earthquake? It’s not very common around here…

“s**t!” Cain suddenly shouts, surprising all of us when he runs out.

Jaden is quick to follow behind him but not before shouting back at us.

“The practice is canceled! Go to your rooms and stay there!” We hear him shout as he runs out the door following Cain.

“What is going on?” Avery asks, looking scared.

The girls shout in fear again as the ground shakes one more time.

“We should go to our rooms like Jaden said” Hazel says, managing to remain level-headed.

“What if the ceiling collapses?!” Julia shouts, panicking.

“Girls, we should head to our rooms and get under our beds” Nora says, wiser as she is older.

The girls don’t contest this suggestion when another shake sends them howling in panic. They rush to the rooms but I stay behind as I am starting to think this is too weird to be a simple earthquake.

Since when do earthquakes happen so often?

I let the panicking girls run down the corridors towards our rooms and take the chance to turn to Kitty Girl. My cat ears can hear better than my human ever could.

Focusing, I manage to hear a distinct sound. It’s not an earthquake. It’s explosions.

Explosions…

“Oh no!” I shout, suddenly realizing what is going on. “The lair!”

Not wasting any more time, I jump out of the nearby window and run as if my life depends on it. It’s all happening just like Yumi said it would. The lair is going to get destroyed. I thought we still had more time…

I run as fast as I can and easily pass the entrance to downtown mostly because there are no guards there. I have no idea what they are thinking, but I am not about to hang around to figure it out.

I need to stop whoever is responsible for these explosions. I don’t have time to wonder why the passage to downtown is completely unprotected. I just hope everyone is alright…

Finally reaching downtown, I have to stop to take a breath and take in the chaos around me. They are not just attacking the lair. They are attacking the entire downtown.

Everywhere, I see explosives going off. Everywhere, I see people run around in panic. Everywhere, I hear screams of horror and pain.

What is going on?

I don’t have time to think about it as I am suddenly attacked. Moving fast, I manage to dodge the laser gunshot, but it was close.

I guess I wasn’t wrong. These guys have to be from Hamato Industries. Only they have this kind of firepower.

Hissing, I attack the guy who dared shoot at me and rip his chest open, getting entirely surprised by what I see.

Wires?

Robots! These guys are freaking robots!

“Heads up, kitty!” A familiar voice shouts and I only have enough time to duck before a robot head comes flying my way.

I turn around ready to attack but am surprised to see Monkey Paw fighting off the coming robots while graciously avoiding their laser guns.

He seems to be having fun, tearing their heads out of their bodies as if they are mere toys.

“Are you gonna join the fight or are you just gonna stand there looking all cute?” He asks me with a smirk while tearing yet another robot head.

“Since when do I fight next to you?” I say, but start fighting the robots regardless.

“There’s a first time for everything, kitty” He says, acting smug. “Just like that kiss of ours”

I kick his head just before I claw the chest out of another robot.

“Just shut up and fight, you delusional monkey” I say and continue slashing at the robots.

I have to hurry and get to the lair but I can’t get there safely with these robot guys tailing me. I have to get rid of them if I want to save the mutants.

Through every punch and every s***h, I still wonder what is going on. After all, if these robots belong to the Hamato Industries and Monkey Paw also works for them, why are they fighting each other?

And why did Hamato Industries suddenly want to destroy the whole of downtown?

There’s something very wrong happening here.