She reminded me of one of those pretzels you saw on Earth. Her body was contorted on the chair, and she was cradling a glass of beer, staring at it like it was gonna give her the meaning of life. Her fingers were idly tapping on the wooden table, and she seemed to be considering whether or not the beer was worth the price. I wouldn't have noticed her, except for the lightning symbol on her shirt. Her black jacket, hanging open, nearly covered the symbol, but your eyes couldn't help but notice it, and her.
My eyes moved swiftly to the watch on my hand. I couldn't stay here for too long, as the Meravian had a knack of catching up to people who didn't pay him. This little bar was a great place to lay low, but staying here for too long would be bad, if only for my liver.
"Time's not gonna move any faster if you keep staring at that watch" muttered the woman. Her eyes were still at the drink.
"Are you talking about me?" I asked. My whiskers trembled with annoyance. This arrogance was typical of one of those Earth people.
"Nah. I was talking about the non-existent other cat-person in the room, looking at their watch like they're afraid it'll be stolen. Definitely not you," said the woman.
Yep, this had to be a Terran.
"You don't seem to be doing anything better with your time. You've been staring at that drink for at least 20 quilovs now. And, for the record, I am not a cat person, I am a-"
She raised up her hand, and said "I could care less. And, for the record, this beer tastes like crap, so I've been trying not to drink it. "
She paused, and then shrugged. In one swift motioned, she gulped the glass down.
"On the other hand, never waste a good drink," said the woman.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from outside. At first, I thought it was a thunderstorm, until blue light began to shine in from the windows. I had to cover my eyes, and my only thought was "Please don't be them, please don't be them".
"Gar'ku, is it you after all this time?" a silky, and very familiar, voice came from outside.
Next thing I knew, five men with very large guns came in. They were all like scruffy creatures who had been hired from a local jailcell, with tatoos and gnawed-off whiskers to prove it. There was Blo, the half-lizard, half-human technician, Mort, the extremely strong niece of Meravian, and Juj. No one knew exactly what Juj was, but it looked like a giant shadow. Behind them was the Meravian, a man so insufferable he made up a name for himself.
"Good to see you again. I was beginning to miss you" said the Miravian. He was eating a bit of catnip, and his eyes stared straight into mine. Then his eyes darted to behind me, and looked at the human girl.
"Listen, human. You need to get out of here, now. He doesn't like to have witnesses. Get out of this place, and never come back," I said. The stupid girl didn't seem to realize how much danger she was in,. If anything, she looked annoyed.
"Now, now, there's no reason to fuss. The little girl can just stay here, and as long as she doesn't promise to say anything, I won't ruin her night," said the Meravian. His smirk scared me half-to-death. I remembered that he had given the same "deal" to my sister.
"You're gonna regret calling me little girl," said the woman.
"Watch your mouth, Terran", snarled one of his soldiers. She raised a gun in the woman's direction, but the Miravian waved it away.
I decided to use this opportunity to slink away. I saw an exit in the back-door, and I edged my feet close to that door.
"Oh, my dear! I didn't mean to insult you, honestly. What would your name be, miss?" asked the Meravian quietly.
"Carol," said the woman.
"What a nice name," said the Meravian. His eyes moved to where I was.
At that point, I decided to run. My feet was soon pounding the pavement of the icy streets of Ferico, and I ran for dear life. Th air was biting my fur off, but I didn't care. If I stopped, my fur would be the last of my problems.
I heard a loud ripping sound, and suddenly my entire body stopped listening to my commands mid-walk. My body tumbled over from the force, and soon I was tasting snow. The butt of heavy gun was knocked into my face, and a heavy pain spread through my head.
"Did you really think that you could escape? My, my, stupidity runs through the family," mutterred the Meravian. He licked his lips, and gestured for his mercenaries to take me.
"You'll pay for this, you slimy pretentious bastard" I said, mostly because that was all I caould do. That earned another knock on my head.
"By whom? The police? Who do you think loaned me this lovely equipment?" said the Meravian.
"Hey, boss", said one of the soldiers. "The girl's still watching."
She was standing in the snow. I couldn't see her eyes in the dark snow, but I could see her stance. It was like a soldier readying for a fight, and her hands were in fists. If I squinted, I thought I could see a smirk on her face, like she was getting ready to enjoy something.
"Let the guy go," she said.
"Why do you care? Are you one of those good Samaritan types?" said the Meravian.
"Nope. Just didn't like all the commotion," said Carol.
"Okay, then we'll kill him quietly," said Mort, laughing.
Carol grinned as well, but I wasn't sure if she was humored by the same thing.
I tried to wiggle away, but Juj made me stop with one turn of its head.
"I'm sorry, dear. But I'm gonna have to call your night out short," said the Meravian. He gestured at Mort, who grinned and ran towards the girl, claws first. I closed my eyes, not looking forward to seeing a poor stupid Terran get cut to shreds.
I heard a loud impact, and a loud yowl. Then, an even louder impact on the ground. I opened my eyes, and Mort was flat on her back. Carol was walking toward us, with a disturbing smile on her face.
"Boss, what the hell..are you sure she's not enhanced?" said Blo. For once, even the Meravian seemed speechless. I even thought I saw the slight hint of fear.
"Gentlemen, stop gawking and deal with her," said the Meravian quietly.
Blo fired up his arm bands, and charged at Carol. She simply held up her arm to block. Now, Blo's armor is supposed to be able to generate 10,000 poundss of force. I think he inflates those numbers, but he definitely has taken down men twice his size with his armor.
But when Blo slammed into Carol, the impact shaking the ground, the girl didn't immediately get crushed. She was holding her own. Carol's feet dug into the ground, and she grunted loudly as she held back Blo.
"Not bad," she said, grinning. Then she punched Blo, knocking him backwards. He fell down, yelling out a sound of shock.
Blo tried to get up, but Carol jumped on him, and began batterring him with blows. Her face was covered in a manic grimace, and I could hear the sounds of the armor breaking apart. Just when I was beginning to fear for his life, she picked him up, and threw him at the Merovian's feet.
I suddenly noticed that I couldn't see Juj. Where was it?
The ground around Carol's feet began to darken, and wisps of dark smoke began to rise up. Carol looked down, and Juj's hands creeped out of the ground, grabbing her jacket.
"Get off!" said Carol, as Juj began to twist it's shadow form around her, and pull her down into wherever it pulled its victims.
"Can't punch your way out this one. You're gonna pay for messing up my face," snarled Mort, her claws outstretched as she slinked towards Carol.
"Make it quick", said the Meravian. He was definitely looking worried now.
Carol was getting dragged down, and her attempts to battle her way out were completely useless. Then, she stopped struggling, and closed her eyes.
Light, obscured by Juj's shadow, began to undulate from her hands, and a loud hum began to crackle through the air. Carol began to grin again, despite the fact that Mort's claws were inches from her face.
"Um, Mort, be careful," said Blo, still lying on the floor.
"Oh please. She's tied up now, not much she can do, even with her strength," said Mort.
A bolt of energy hit Mort's face from Carol's hands. With a roar, Carol lifted off the ground, away from Juj's shadow trap, and promptly blasted Juj with what looked like high-beam flashlights. Juj let out an unholy noise that sounded like ten shrieks of pain at once, and dissipated.
Carol looked down on the Meravian and me, her blue eyes glinting in the sparks of light FLOWING from her hands. Her black jacket flapped in the breeze, like a cloak. She pointed at the Meravian, a manic stare in her eyes.
"You know, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot-," started the Meravian.
She cut him off, and said "Shut up. You see your little band of toy soldiers on the floor? Run, before I decide to get creative."
"Er, of course," said the Meravian, who clicked a panel on his wrist, and promptly teleported himself, along with his henchmen, to somewhere else. Good riddance.
Carol landed on the ground, and walked towards me. I felt myself inching away from her involuntarily.
She broke out into a grin (a happy grin, not the crazed look she had while she was fighting earlier), and said "Playing the boogeymen's always fun. You okay?"
"Yeah. I need to get out of here. Um, thanks. I thought you just a normal Terran", I said.
"I am, on good days. Anyway, no problem. Not the first time I had to get someone out of a scrap," said Carol. She held out her hand, and pulled me up.
"So, who exactly are you?" I asked.
"Told you. I'm Carol. Anyway, got to go. Gettin' hungry now, so I'm gonna go get a bite to eat," she said. I couldn't tell whether her nonchalance at having just fought three extremely dangerous soldiers was humility, or boasting.
"Those men will hunt you down, you know," I said.
She looked back at me, her mouth curving into that manic grin.
"Sounds fun. Tell them to look for Captain Marvel," she said.
With that, the girl with the lightning bolt shirt flew off into the night.
Now I had to figure out another place to get a drink.