(Frank's POV)
It's been six weeks since Jenny broke up with me on prom night after finding out I work for MI9. A whole summer. During that time, I've tried calling her, texting her, e-mailing her, even writing letters to her explaining myself, but there's been no response. She's kept true to her word: she never wants to speak to me again. I even went over to Mrs King's house, where she's been staying – I make sure that Mrs King is out first – but Richie, her uncle, tells me that Jenny has gone on vacation. She's staying with a friend in Ireland, but doesn't have an address. But I know what he's really saying: "She doesn't wanna see you." That's OK – I can take a hint. Let's face it, I messed up. I should've told her earlier. Now I just have to accept the fact that our relationship is over. I'll have to forget about her. Move on. She's not worth another thought.
But I can't forget about her. I care about her. I love her. Rose, Oscar and Carrie have been supportive. They've been visiting me after their summer training sessions – comforting me, bringing me food, taking me out of the house every now and again. But no matter how much they try and cheer me up, I'm always, constantly thinking about Jen. I think about her all the time. She's the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see at night. I'm even thinking about her right now as I'm sitting outside the office of the Head of MI9.
I received a phone call last night telling me to attend an emergency meeting with the Head. I didn't want to go, but when the person who picks you up honks their horn at nine in the morning to wake you up, you have no choice but to go.
So here I am, along with Rose, Oscar and Carrie, waiting patiently to see the Head. While we wait, I take out my phone and open up one of the pictures I took with it. It's a selfie photo of me and Jenny – she's sitting on my lap, kissing my cheek while flashing a peace sign to the camera. I sigh at the picture as it reminds me of happier times.
"That's a cute picture," says Carrie, who's leaned over to see the photo. "When was that taken?"
"It was back in July," I reply. "It was taken a week before… you know."
The week before she found out I work for the government.
I let out another sigh. God, I miss her.
I miss her so much.
"Don't worry, Frank. I'm sure she'll come through," says Oscar, putting a hand on my shoulder. "She'll be coming back next week anyway – school term starts again then. She would've calm down by now."
"And once you and she have a talk, you two will be together again. You two were meant to be together," says Rose.
I nod in agreement. Rose is right – Jen and I were meant for each other. We're soulmates. I'm not planning on giving up on her or our relationship. I'll find a way for us to be together again.
"You may enter the Head's office," the voice of the young female secretary tells me and the team.
The four of us enter the office, where the Head is sitting at her desk. Stark is also there, too, standing by the desk, looking annoyingly smug.
"Good morning, agents," the Head begins. "I apologize for calling you in on your final day of your summer training, but it appears we have a crisis on our hands. On Wednesday night, there was a break-in at the headquarters of Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest, where their databases were hacked into and accounts of every customer of those banks have been emptied."
"You mean there's no money in those accounts?" Carrie asks.
"Precisely. At the same, there has been a rash number of bank robberies committed. Cash drawers have been emptied and safety deposit boxes, thought to hold property worth millions, have been cleaned out."
"Do we know who's behind the robberies and the hacking?" Rose asks.
"Ooh, can I say it, Ma'am? Can I? Can I?" Stark says in an excited manner – like a child waking up on Christmas morning asking if he could open his presents.
The Head frowns and sighs, but waves him on.
"The person that's behind these horribly, awful, atrocious crimes is none other than your friendly neighbourhood nuisance… the Cat," says Stark.
No-one speaks for a moment.
Then, "What?!" we exclaim.
"Are you serious?" Rose asks. "Is this some kind of joke?"
Stark shakes his head. "Nope – this is no joke. We are 100% serious."
"But, but… this is the Cat we're talking about," says Carrie. "She's a crime fighter – she's one of the good guys. Why would she do something like this?"
"More importantly, do we even know it's her?" says Oscar. "For all we know, someone might be setting her up!"
"Have a look at this." The Head uses the remote on her desk to open up the cabinet behind that reveal a sixty inch TV monitor. "This was at the NatWest headquarters in Bishopsgate."
The screen comes on showing footage of the chairman's office of NatWest. The team and I can't believe our eyes as we see a tall and slender dark-skinned woman, wearing a slinky black catsuit teamed with a mask and cat ears enter the office and heads for the computer, gaining information of people's accounts.
"This is unbelievable," I say.
"And this is the Cat less than twenty-four hours later at the bank vault of HSBC in Westminster," says the Head.
CCTV footage of a bank vault door appears on the screen. The Cat approaches the door and takes out a pistol-like weapon and aims it at the door. She pulls the trigger and a beam of light emits from the weapon and hits the door, evaporating it entirely.
"No way!" Rose gasps. "Bank vault doors are made of steel-reinforced concrete and are forty-two inches thick – it would've taken months to break into the vault. The Cat did it in a matter of seconds!"
The Head fast-forwards the tape to where the Cat comes out of the vault with a sack of valuable possessions – even having the temerity of wearing some of the valuables on her. As she walks past the security camera, she winks at it and blows a kiss at it and leaves the vault.
"I… I can't believe the Cat would do this," Carrie says, completely stunned. "We all thought she was a hero – no matter how bad she made MI9 look. Now… now she's a criminal?"
"But why would she do this?" Oscar asks.
"That is why I called you in," says the Head. "Our sources believe that the Cat's next target will take place at the Bank of England. The Bank has the UK's largest gold vault, which holds around 4,600 tonnes of gold reserves and has a current market value of £156 billion."
"Whoa!" the team gasps.
"Exactly. Your mission is simply this: apprehend the Cat. I have arranged a SWAT team to assist you with the guarding of the reserves, but your main task is to capture the Cat."
"And just to make sure that the job gets done, I will be heading this mission," Stark smirks.
The Head rolls her eyes. "There's a car waiting for you outside to take you to the Bank," she says. "Good luck, agents and stay alert – you know how crafty the Cat can be."
The Head goes back to her paperwork, while the rest of us leave her office.
"I knew it," says Stark as soon as the door shuts. "I always knew that the Cat was a good-for-nothing, unhinged vigilante – and I was right! Now that we've seen her with her hand in the cookie jar, we get to capture her and rip that stupid mask off her face! This is gonna be the best day ever!"
Stark happily walks – and skips! – down the corridor, while the team and I stare after him in bewilderment.
"To see Stark smug happy is one thing…" says Carrie. "But to see him happy happy… that's just creepy."
Oscar and I murmur in agreement, but Rose stands quiet.
"Rose? What's wrong?" I ask.
"Don't you think it's a bit weird?" she says.
"About what?"
"The Cat. She's been on the scene since 2009 and suddenly – suddenly – she becomes a criminal just like that?" Rose snaps her fingers at the last word. She shakes her head. "I don't think the Cat would do something like this. Also, how did she manage to hack into the bank's database and commit robberies at the same time?"
I open my mouth to speak, but I stop when I can't think of an answer and realise that Rose is right.
"Exactly," she says. "Like Oscar said, someone must be setting her up."
"But by who?" he asks. "It could be anyone."
"I'll know when I download footage of all the robberies into my Spy-Pod and take a closer look at them."
"Come on, people! What are you waiting for?" Stark calls from the end of the corridor.
"If the Cat is being set up, I hate to be the person who has to tell Stark," says Carrie. "Because it's certainly not gonna be me."
The team and I set off down the corridor and out of the building, where a black luxury sedan is waiting. Stark slides into the front passenger seat while the rest of us squeeze into the back. The driver starts the car up with a smooth purr and heads the car to the Bank of England.
(Jenny's POV)
I come out of the boarding gate of Gatwick airport, carrying with me a large purple canvas bag. Dropping the bag, I allow myself a long, luxurious stretch.
"It's good to be back," I sigh, picking up my bag, which appears to weigh as much as I do and follow the signs to the baggage pickup. I walk past a large window. The grey morning haze is lifting, and the hot, white sun comes burning through.
I let out a sigh. Typical British weather – one minute it's cold and grey, the next it's warmth and sunshine.
I go down the escalator and follow the signs down another endless corridor. I arrive at the baggage pickup, stopping in front of the baggage conveyor belt and dropping my bag to the floor. Two small yellow cases are going round and around, looking very lonesome on the long, winding belt. Then more suitcases begin to magically appear on the conveyor belt.
After a few minutes, a large purple suitcase appears on the conveyor belt. I drag the case off the belt and, along with my bag; I lug the belongings out of the airport, where it's sunny and hazy.
"Miss Brownstone?"
I look up to a well-groomed man with the darkest of brown hair, standing in front of a full-size black luxury car. He's dressed in a clean and crisply pressed black suit, matching tie, with black leather gloves and freshly polished matching footwear, and sunglasses.
"Jenny," I say.
"Right." He smiles. I can't see his eyes. "Zeke sent me to pick you up. I'm Victor."
I nod.
"These yours?" he says, pointing at the bags. I nod again and he takes my luggage, and loads them in the trunk. Afterwards, he holds the back seat door for me. I nod "thank you" to him and pop inside. Victor slides into the driver's seat, starts the car up and we pull out.
As Victor heads the car down the M23 to London, there's a beeping sound. It's not my communicator as it's with Zeke and my phone is switched off. Suddenly, the window in the partition winds up. Then Zeke's holographic face appears on the glass.
"Dia dhuit! Welcome back, Jen!" he beams. "How was the beautiful land of luck, lakes, and blarney?"
"Fabulous. It's was absolutely breath-taking. Laura says hi," I say. "So, this Victor guy I've got as a driver – is he… good?"
"Victor Bishop is a reformed criminal, having spent time in prison for being a cat burglar and safecracker. But I rescued him from a life of crime when I recently employed him as my chauffeur and handyman. He's also is a skilled martial artist. But you don't have to worry about him – he's as good as gold. He won't say anything about you."
"Ah. Good."
"I take it you know why I called you back."
I nod. "Someone is dragging my crime-fighter ego through the mud."
"The person impersonating the Cat has been robbing banks all over London. The person did it in the space of forty-eight hours!"
"Well, it's obvious that we're looking at cloning or holograms. There's no way anyone could rob banks like that in that time."
"My sources tell me that the impostor will be robbing the Bank of England. The vault, hidden beneath London, contains 4,600 tons of gold bars, worth an incredible £156 billion."
I give a low whistle. "Impressive. Looks like we've still got a few quid in the bank then, no matter how cash-strapped Britain is. Gadgets?"
"Under the driver's seat you'll find a briefcase that contains the equipment for your mission: your communicator, the Jetpack Backpack and the Super Sticky Bubble Gum. I've also made a modification on your catsuit. The gloves on your catsuit contain six retractable tungsten claws – that's three claws on each hand. I call it the Feline Fight Gloves."
"Awesome." I reach under the driver's seat and pull out the black briefcase. I place it on the seat next to me and open the case, revealing the gadgets that were mentioned. "Thanks, Z."
Zeke nods, but I can see on his face that he's nervous. Uncomfortable. And I know why.
"Listen, Jen…" he starts.
"Zeke, I'm fine. You're sweet, but I'm fine. Really. You don't have to worry about me," I say.
"Well, if you're sure…"
"Yes, I'm sure. All I have to do is stop the masquerading SOB and capture them without being captured myself by a certain ex-boyfriend who works for a certain government organization."
"OK. Just… be careful, yeah?"
"I will," I nod.
The hologram disappears and the window in the partition winds down, showing the road in front of me and the back of Victor's head.
"Everything all right, Jen?" he asks.
No. "Yeah. Everything's fine, Victor." I lean my head against the window and look at the bleary cars on the opposite lane.
Here's me thinking I could forget about Frank and his web of lies, only for me to come face-to-face with him again, as well as Rose, Oscar and Carrie, and the rest of MI9 to stop this little bitch of an impersonator from making the Cat look like the bad guy and stopping them from committing the biggest robbery of all time.
I let out a sigh. I think maybe when I'm done with this mission; I'll have to turn in my cat ears and gadgets. It seems that being the Cat has not only bought in initial conflicts with the police and MI9, but also complications between me and Frank. It's too risky for me to stay in London when I've got someone I like – or thought I liked – working for an organization that wants my head on a silver platter. It's far too risky.
So this will be my final mission. After that, the Cat is no more.
(Frank's POV)
I look at my watch for about the millionth time. It's been over three hours since the team and I, Stark and the SWAT team have been waiting for the Cat – or the impostor – at the vault door of the Bank of England. Everyone is doing something to keep themselves busy with the exception of Stark, who's super psyche that after all these years, he's finally gonna capture the Cat – not knowing that he's gonna catch a fraud.
"Man, this is super boring," Carrie grumbles. "The things we do to save the country."
"Or in any case, an ally," I say. "You've got to remember that there's someone who impersonating the Cat, making her look like the bad guy. We've got to stop this person before they brand the Cat a criminal and everyone will turn against her."
"Frank's right," says Oscar. "Annoying as the Cat might be when it comes to solving our cases, the least we can do is help her out and save her reputation."
Carrie sighs. "Fine. But what if 'the Cat' doesn't come here?"
"Believe me – they'll come here."
"Yes! I've done it!" says Rose coming up to us. "I've gone through every CCTV footage of the bank hackings and robberies, and I've got something that proves that the Cat is innocent. Take a look at this."
Oscar, Carrie and I gather around Rose as she shows us footage on her Spy-Pod.
"This was taken at the Barclays headquarters in Canary Wharf," she says. We watch as 'the Cat' breaks into the chairman's office of Barclays, sits at the computer and starts typing. "Now look at this. This was taken at the Lloyds headquarters in Gresham Street." Footage of the chairman's office of Lloyds appears on the screen as 'the Cat' enters the office and heads for the computer. "Did you notice anything strange about the footage?" Rose asks.
I shrug – as do Oscar and Carrie.
"The time and date of the Barclays hacking," says Rose, pointing to the corner screen of her Spy-Pod. "The time is 1:42 in the morning, 28/08/13. Now look at time and date of the Lloyds hacking." Rose switch the footage back to the vault and my eyes go wide.
"The time and date is exactly the same!" I say.
"Exactly!" says Rose.
"You mean someone impersonating the Cat hacked into four different bank databases at the same time?" Carrie says.
Rose nods. "The same goes to the robberies. Also take a look at what the impersonator is wearing."
This time, Oscar, Carrie and I look closely at 'the Cat' as she walks towards the computer. Rose pauses the footage and zooms in to the belt buckle. "Look."
Then we see it.
A small, blurred black-and-white photo of a skull-shaped belt buckle.
"SKUL!" I say. "So that's who's behind the robberies."
"The Grandmaster hired one of his agents to dress up as the Cat to commit the crimes, making us believe that it was the real Cat that did it," says Oscar.
"Right," says Rose.
"But how can this SKUL agent commit the robberies simultaneously?" Carrie asks.
There's a sound coming from the elevator at the end of the corridor that makes everyone stop and look up.
"Looks like we're about to find out," I say.
"OK, everyone, this is it," says Stark. "Men, take your positions."
The SWAT team approach the elevator doors, their guns pointing at it, while me, the team and Stark go into a defensive posture.
"Finally, after all these years of grabbing the credit of our cases and making MI9 look bad, we finally get to capture that menace of a crime-fighter, the Cat!" says Stark.
"Actually, sir, there's something you should know…" Rose starts, but the ding from the elevator stops her.
We wait in bated breath as the door opens. When the door is fully open, I can see disappoint on everyone's faces, including Stark's, as we see the elevator empty. One of the SWAT team enters the elevator with caution, inspecting the ceiling to see if the impostor Cat is holding herself there, but he shakes his head.
"Well, this was a goddamn waste of time!" Stark growls. "All this waiting around and she doesn't show up?!"
"I told you the impostor wouldn't show up," says Carrie.
"Impostor? What impostor?"
"Uh-oh, looks like the cat is out of the bag," says a voice.
Everyone in the room turns to find the fake Cat standing in front of the now evaporated vault door, wearing headphones.
"Hi," she says, waving at us. But before anyone can do anything, 'the Cat' holds up a boombox stereo and presses play, emitting an overwhelming deafening noise that makes everyone, including me, fall to the floor, writhing in agony…
And as I lose consciousness… the last thing I see… is the Cat pressing a button on her belt and… another Cat appears out of thin air… and then I feel nothing, falling into the deep, smothering darkness.
xxoOoxx
"Uhh…" I groan as I wake up. My head is absolutely pounding. I want to massage my temples, but something is restraining my hands from doing so. I look down to find my upper body and my feet tied up with rope. "Damn…" I mumble.
As I blink my eyes to regain focus, I hear moaning. I look up to find Rose, Carrie, Oscar and some of the SWAT officers coming to – they're tied up, too. I hear groaning. I turn to my left to find Stark and the rest of the SWAT officers tied up, but coming around.
"Oh God, my head is splitting," Stark grumbles.
"I feel nauseated," Rose moans in discomfort.
"I don't feel so good," Oscar murmurs.
"Me neither," says Carrie. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Well, that's the after-effect of the Sonic Scream Boombox for y'all," says a voice.
"Hey! Who said that?" says Stark. "Show yourself!"
The person giggles. Everyone looks around the room to find out where the sound is coming from. Then, from the dark corner of the room, someone steps out – the Cat! Or the fake one, that is. We should have known that this girl wasn't the Cat. For starters, the real Cat has black wavy hair and brown eyes. This fake Cat has brown frizzy hair and olive green eyes.
The fake Cat holds up the stereo. "Awesome gadget isn't it?" she says, admiring it. "It can create tight-focus low-frequency sonic blasts that can shatter every window in a building or render a person unconscious. How neat is that?"
"All right, Cat, you've got five seconds to untie us right now or you're gonna regret it!" Stark snarls.
'The Cat' stares at Stark for a moment – and then bursts out laughing.
"Oh, my God! You really still think that I'm the Cat!" she exclaims, wiping her streaming eyes. "Ahahaha!"
Stark blinks. "You mean… you're not her?"
"No, sir," I say. "She's a SKUL agent dressed up as the Cat."
"Bingo! Give this man a coconut!" says the fake Cat. "Yes, I am the SKUL agent wreaking havoc on the Cat's reputation by stealing all the money, valuables and gold bars of London."
"You're a SKUL agent?" Stark repeats.
"Duh! I just said, didn't I? Or did you not notice the skull belt buckle I'm wearing." 'The Cat' points to the buckle. "But rather than calling me SKUL agent or worse the Cat, please call me Esmé."
"So, Esmé, why have you being robbing banks dressed as the Cat?" Oscar asks.
"Well GM – that's the Grandmaster to you – was getting very pissy by the fact that the Cat was always, always, always foiling his plans, so he came up with a brilliant, super-scorchin' idea of getting me to dress up as that feline menace and rob banks. And if the people of this great city were to see the Cat as a criminal, they would turn against her and thus, the Cat would skip town, leaving us – SKUL – to pursue any evil schemes."
"Er, sorry to burst your bubble, but you seem to forget that you've got the police and us – MI9 – to deal with," says Carrie.
"Not when I'm wearing this." Esmé reaches for her belt buckle and presses the red button. Suddenly, a holographic Esmé appears.
"Whoa!" says the team.
"That explains why the robberies happened at the same time – you've got a belt that can produce holograms!" says Rose.
"I give you the Holographic Belt Buckle," Esmé announces. "And like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin. I can produce as many holograms as I want. The scientists and technicians down at SKUL created the buckle for the holograms to move freely without restrictions and have direct physical contact with objects and people without disrupting the holographic projection. They also respond to my every command. Watch – oh, Holographic Esmé? Be a dear and help the others in the bank vault?"
Holographic Esmé nods in response and enters the vault.
"Thanks babe!" the real Esmé calls, waving at the hologram. "Those holograms are doing a grand job with stealing the gold bars. Hey, did you know that each bar weighs around 13kg, or two stone, and is worth around £350,000?"
"Man, you are one weird, eccentric woman," says Carrie.
"Thanks. I got that from my mother. She has schizophrenia, but she's good people."
"How are you gonna get the gold bars out of the Bank of England, anyway? You can hardly waltz out of the front door with £156 billion worth of gold bars."
"Oh, that's easy-peasy. You might have heard of the story of a sewer worker who found his way into the vaults through an old drain that he was replacing. In 1836, he wrote to the Bank's Directors to alert them, before backing up his claim by meeting them in the vaults. His honesty was rewarded with a gift of £800 from the Bank."
"You mean there's a sewer that runs immediately under the bullion vault?" Oscar asks.
"If you move a few of the floorboards there is. I mean duh! How else did I manage to break into the vaults? Right now, there are SKUL agents under the vault receiving the gold bars as we speak."
"But if you take the gold, you'll destroy Britain's economy!" I say.
"Per-lease! As if the economy isn't knackered already!" There's a ringing sound. Esmé pulls out her phone. "Excuse me, darlings, I just gotta take this call… Hey GM! Everything's going according to plan. We'll get the gold to you within the next two hours. Caught some MI9 agents, too – what should I do with them? OK. OK. Uh-huh. OK! Well, see you soon, GM. Ciao!" Esmé hangs up and lets out a sigh. "Well, I better dispose you guys."
"What?!" we say.
"Sorry, gang – Grandmaster's orders. What he says goes. But don't worry; I've got the perfect painless weapon for this." She draws out her pistol-like weapon from the holster strapped to her thigh. "Say hello to my little friend – the directed-energy weapon or raygun as many people call it. This gun, when activated, can emit a powerful beam that can melt or evaporate hard materials, say like… a bank vault door."
Everyone turns to what should be a door, but instead there's a large hole in the wall.
"Let's show you folks a prime example of what this baby can do," says Esmé. "But what should I test it on? Oh, I know! Let's try the tranquilizer rifles that I – I say I, I mean the holograms – confiscated off the SWAT officers. I'll just let my assistant get them." Esmé presses the button of her belt buckle and another hologram appears. "Holographic Esmé, please be a darling and fetch those rifles on the far end of the room."
Holographic Esmé obeys. She collects the rifles and places them by the real Esmé's foot.
"Cheers, me dears," says the real Esmé. "Now go into the vault and help the others, there's a love."
Holographic Esmé nods and enters the vault.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, be amazed and feast your eyes on this!" Esmé takes a few steps back, and pointing the raygun at the rifles, she pulls the trigger. A very bright beam of light emits from the raygun and hits the rifles, vaporizing it entirely. Afterwards, Esmé twirls the gun around her trigger finger and blows the smoke away that's coming out from the barrel. "Awesome weapon, isn't it?"
"Jesus Christ, we're going to die," Stark whimpers. "My God, we're gonna die!" He starts crying, snivelling and snorting like a baby.
"Chief Stark, get ahold of yourself!" I hiss.
He goes on crying noisily.
"Crikey, this guy is annoying, isn't he?" says Esmé. "Well, I know who's going first!"
She points the raygun at Stark as tears drip down his face and his nose goes runny. I scoot away from Stark, not wanting the lethal rays to get me – even though it will get me when Esmé is done with Stark.
"Time to say goodni-ight," Esmé says in a singsong voice.
Just as she's about to pull the trigger, I feel a quick breeze brush past me – as well as Esmé.
"What the hell was that?" says Esmé, frowning. Then without warning, the raygun slices apart exposing the wires inside. The same goes with the Sonic Scream Boombox. "Hey, what the hell?!" she exclaims, dropping the items.
I feel the same breeze go past me again. Suddenly, I feel the ropes around by body and feet come apart. The same goes to Rose, Oscar, Carrie, Stark and the SWAT officers.
"Hey, I'm free," I say, standing up. As does the others.
"What the flippin' heck?!" says Esmé, outraged. "Who's doing this? Show yourself!"
"I'll be glad to!" says a voice. "Deactivate cloaking device!"
Then right before my eyes, at the door of the vault, the person's body becomes visible. My eyes widen as I see who it is – the Cat! The real Cat. She does look quite cute as everyone has been saying. She also reminds me of someone – I'm not quite sure who though.
"Yo," she says.
I notice the claws going back into the gloves. So that's how she freed us from the ropes.
"The Cat!" Esmé exclaims. "What are you doing here? How the hell did you get here?!"
"I don't suppose you've heard the story about the man who got into the gold vaults by way of the sewers in 1836, have you?"
"But there are SKUL agents crawling under the sewers! How did you get past them?"
"By using the Super Sticky Bubble Gum." The Cat brings out the packets of gum and waves it around. "Those SKUL agents are now living, breathing strawberry-flavoured bubble gum statues."
"Grrr…!" But then a smile spreads across Esmé's face. "You may have taken out the SKUL agents and my weapons, but let's see how you'll cope with my holograms." She goes to her belt buckle and continuously presses the red button on the buckle, producing forty holographic versions of herself. "Holographic Esmés, hear my command. Take out your enemies – MI9 and the Cat." The holograms walk slowly towards us. "And with the other Holographic Esmés in the vault, you don't stand a chance!" Esmé inserts two fingers in her mouth and lets out a loud whistle. "Holographic Esmés in the vault, hear my command! Stop what you're doing and join your fellow sisters to take down MI9 and the Cat!"
The holograms from the vault obey and walk slowly towards us.
"Well, I love to stay and fight along with my sisters, but I've got gold to deliver," says Esmé, heading for the vault. "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!"
Esmé disappears into the vault, leaving the rest of us to fend off the holograms.
"Come on, guys, these are holograms," says the Cat. "They can't touch us because our bodies will pass right through them."
"Actually, they can touch us," says Rose. "The scientists and technicians down at SKUL created the Holographic Belt Buckle to give the holograms a hologramatic equivalent of a physical body and the ability to interact directly with the world."
"Meaning they can touch anything without disrupting their holographic projection," I add.
"Meaning they're gonna tear us limb from limb!" Stark cries. "We're surrounded – there's no way out. We're completely trapped! What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"
I roll my eyes. I can only imagine everyone else is doing the same.
"OK, I've got something!" says the Cat. "We'll use the Super Sticky Bubble Gum on the holograms, but the Gum is only enough for five people, meaning everyone else will have to fight off the holograms."
"The SWAT team can fight off the holograms as they're the strongest," I say. "My team and I will take the gum."
"Er, hello! What about me?" Stark exclaims.
I sigh. "Fine – Stark, too."
"You sure about that? What if he starts PMSing again?" the Cat jokes.
"Oh, will you just give me the damn Gum?!" Stark snaps.
"All right! Don't get your knickers in a twist!"
I have to stifle a laugh as the Cat holds out five sticks of the Bubble Gum for us to take.
"Go one at a time with the Bubble Gum," she says. "If you all go at the same time, you'll be stuck together alongside the holograms and I'm not gonna be here to pull you off them."
"Where are you off to?" Oscar asks.
"Doing what I always do best – catching the bad guy and saving the day… and my rep. OK, here I go!"
I watch in amazement as the Cat moves swiftly, cartwheeling past the holograms and somersaulting over their heads until she safely enters the vault to find the secret entrance to the sewers and stop Esmé.
"All right, let's do this," I say.
The SWAT officers start fighting off the Holographic Esmés from the vault, while the rest of us unwrap the Gum from its packet, pop it in our mouth and start chewing.
"Who wants to go first?" I ask.
"I will," Carrie offers. She starts to blow a bubble with the Bubble Gum. She blows slowly and evenly to make the large bubble. She keeps on blowing until the bubble bursts and the gooey residue inside the bubble sprays some of the holograms, gluing them together, making it difficult for them to move. "Wow, it worked!"
"Nice going, Carrie. Who's next?"
Oscar goes next, and then Rose, Stark and finally me, blowing large bubbles with the Gum for them to burst and cover the holograms in the pink, sticky substance, but it's not enough to get the rest of them as they continue to shuffle towards us.
"Looks like we'll have to take them out the old-fashioned way," says Carrie as she gets into her defensive posture. The rest do the same. "Let's go!"
We tussle with the holograms in hand-to-hand combat – showering them with punches, kicks and strikes, but these holograms are tougher than we thought. Every time we knock them down, they just get back up again. It's impossible to take them out.
"This is hopeless!" says Rose, kicking one of the holograms in the stomach. "We're never gonna stop these holographic freaks!"
"We gotta keep trying!" says Oscar, punching another hologram in the face.
But it no use. The holograms have backed us into a corner. There's just too many of them.
"They've got us completely surrounded," I say. "We're trapped."
"Oh, my God, this is it," says Carrie, gripping my arm. "They're gonna tear us apart."
Rose and Oscar grasp onto me tightly and I do the same to them, closing my eyes and waiting for the holograms to do their worse. I can hear Stark mutter a prayer to himself that if he survives this, he'll be a totally different person, a nice person, the kind that'll go to church every Sunday. My only wish is to see Jenny one more time and tell her that I'm sorry. But that's not gonna happen, is it? Not when I've got holographic SKUL zombies coming to shred me and my team to pieces.
I can feel one of the holograms grab my neck, ready to choke me, when I hear a hissing sound. I open one of eyes to see the hologram staring back at me with dead eyes. It doesn't seem like its moving – the same goes to the others.
"Whoa," I whisper, opening my other eye.
"What? What's happened?" Rose asks.
"Look."
Rose opens her eyes and lets out a gasp.
"Unbelievable. They… they've stopped moving," she says.
"Huh?" The others open their eyes and stare at the holograms as they stand still like statues and the fizzling sound fills the air. Suddenly, the holograms start to twitch and convulse.
"What's happening?" Oscar asks.
But no-one answers him. We all continue to watch the holograms move convulsively until they start to fall, only for them to fade away before they can hit the floor. Even the holograms that we covered with the Super Sticky Bubble Gum are gone, making the Gum splatter to the ground.
For a moment no-one says anything.
"S-she saved us," Carrie says after a long silence. "The Cat – she saved us!"
Everyone starts to whoop and cheer and hug each other.
"She must've destroyed the Holographic Belt Buckle," I deduce.
"This is the second time she saved our butts!" says Carrie. "We owe her big time."
"I wonder what she's done with Esmé," says Oscar.
"We better go down the sewers and find out," says Rose. "At the same time, we better make sure that the gold reserves are accounted for."
"The SWAT officers can check for the gold," says Stark. "You lot see to that SKUL agent and bring her in – the Cat, too."
"What?!" the team exclaim at once.
"Chief Stark, in case you haven't noticed, but the Cat just saved your life!" Oscar protests.
"She may have saved my life, but she's still a vigilante, isn't she? Undertaking law enforcement without legal authority is considered illegal – something she must be arrested for," he says.
"But, sir –" Rose starts.
"Now heed my orders, agents – bring in the Cat. No ifs, ands or buts. Got it?"
The team gloomily nod. "Yes, sir."
"London, see to it that they do their job," says Stark. "I'll stay up here and call for a clean-up crew."
"Yes, Chief Stark," I reply. "Let's go, team."
Stark gets onto the phone while the rest of us enter the vault to find the entrance to the underground sewer. We eventually find the entrance near the back of the vault, where there's a massive hole in the floor. The SWAT team go down the hole first, the team and I follow down after them.
After we climb down the ladder, where little flecks of rust embed themselves in my palms, we find ourselves in a dimly-lit cellar. The room smells damp and is covered in spiders' webs and dust… and sacks of gold bullion.
"Wow," says Rose, going to one of the sacks. "There must be millions and millions of pounds worth of gold bars in these sacks!"
"Guys, take a look at this!" Carrie calls.
Rose, Oscar and I rush out of the cellar, covering our noses as we know how noxious and filthy a sewer can smell. But when we come across a footbridge, the smell is not as bad as we thought. The flowing water under the footbridge combined with the process of decomposition of human waste leaves the sewers smelling more like a barnyard than like a toilet.
I take a few steps for and look around. The sewer tunnelled out in two directions. There are pavements on both sides of the filthy, slimy river, with guard rails along the edges so no-one falls in.
"What did you want to show us, Carrie?" I ask.
"Look!" Carrie points to the walls of the sewer, where glued to the wall are several SKUL agents, covered in Super Sticky Bubble Gum. "Poor SKUL agents – they didn't stand a chance against the Cat," she says.
Rose gives Carrie a funny look. "You do realise that they tried to rob the Bank of England," she tells Carrie.
"Never mind about them, we have to find Esmé and the Cat and bring them in," I say.
"Question is which way they went," says Oscar.
"We'll have to split up – we have a better chance of finding them that way," Rose suggests.
"Good idea. Rose – you and Carrie take the north. Oscar and I will take south. We'll meet back here in half an hour if we can't find Esmé or the Cat," I say.
We head down the steps. And as Rose and Carrie head up the tunnel, Oscar and I head down.
The air is cool and damp as Oscar and I walk side by side along the pavement of the tunnel. I look at my surroundings. Given its age, the tunnel is badly damaged, bricks are either loose or have fallen out and water is jetting from every crack and hole. It's like one of those water themed rides at the amusement park, except this water definitely isn't child friendly. The tunnel is cobbled together with multi-coloured bricks, altered and tampered with over the years. Dates and names are scrawled into the mortar and there are ladders and chambers that lead to other sewers, high level reliefs and basements that are probably long since abandoned.
We're about half a mile away from the footbridge when we come across two sacks full of gold bars.
"Looks like we're heading the right way," says Oscar, opening the sack a little wider.
Then we hear a faint cry.
"WAAAA!"
Oscar and I freeze.
"You heard it too?" I ask.
Oscar nods.
"WAAAH!"
"Come on, let's go," I say.
We take off, running at full speed down the twists and turns of the tunnel. Two minutes later, Oscar and I skid to a halt and we see it. A few feet away from us, we see Esmé – glued to the ceiling of the tunnel, covered in an extremely sticky pink blob – the Super Sticky Bubble Gum.
"WAAA! What is this gunk you attacked me with!? Ew, it's disgusting and gross! Waah, it's in my hair and clothes! Waaa, you're such a meanie, Cat! I hate you, Cat! You hear me – I hate yo-o-ou! WAAAAA…!" Esmé tearfully cries.
The Cat is standing on the opposite side of the pea green river, with her hands on her hips and a grin of victory on her face. But the grin disappears from the Cat's face when she spots us and takes off.
"Call the girls and the SWAT team – tell them to get over here ASAP," I instruct Oscar. "I'll go after the Cat."
I take off again and chase after the Cat. I run and run and run after her, but the Cat is quite the runner – she's really fast, but I don't stop, I force my legs to move. One running step, then another. On and on and on, down the tunnels. I'm gasping for breath. My side aches from running. But I keep going. I keep running until I reach the end of the tunnel, where the two separate paths meet, and I find myself at the weir of the sewer. I spot the Cat is attempting to escape via ladder to the streets above.
"Hold it… hold it right there, Cat," I manage to choke out.
She freezes on the spot, and then she climbs down the ladder. I stumble towards her, breathing so hard, my legs like jelly, my chest feeling ready to burst.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll let me go," says the Cat.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," I say. "As much as we appreciate you saving us and stopping the SKUL agent, you're still a criminal. Taking law enforcement into your own hands is illegal, and for that I'll have to take you in. We can either do this the easy way… or the hard way."
"I don't want to fight you."
"So you're gonna surrender?"
The Cat stays quiet.
"Right, you asked for it," I say, getting into a fighting stance. "I'm gonna have to take you by force."
I lunge at the Cat, but she's too quick for me and sidesteps out of the way. I try to hit her with a straight jab but she blocks the punch and pushes it away. I try throwing a right hook but she knocks my hand to the left. The same with the left hook – she knocks my hand to the right. I go for the jab again, but once again she blocks the punch and throws me over her shoulder.
"Give it up," says the Cat. "There's no way you could beat me, so it'll be better if you let me go."
"Never," I say, getting up and dusting myself off. "I have orders to take you in and that's exactly what I'm gonna do." I throw in some of my best kicks and punches, switching my attacks as much as possible, but she always blocks them. And that's all she's doing – she keeps blocking my attacks rather than fighting back. Why, Cat? Why?
I'm just about ready to give up after she avoids my low sweeping kick, when I hear someone call my name.
"Frank!"
I realise that it's Rose's voice I hear echoing through the tunnels.
Then I hear Carrie's. "Hold on, Frank – we're coming!"
I turn back to the Cat, who's taken her eye off the ball because of Rose and Carrie. I take this opportunity to cut a quick spin and lash out with a sharp kick across the Cat's face, knocking her mask off.
When the Cat snaps her head back at me, I freeze. I mean my entire body goes deathly still. I feel a shiver race across my body as I stare at the person who has been helping MI9 for all these years.
I thought I knew it all.
I was wrong.
"Jenny?" I say in disbelief.
The Cat is my girlfriend.
She stares back at me, her eyes filled with angst and sorrow.
I can't believe that all this time, the Cat was someone close to me. Someone... I love.
Jenny moves towards me, her eyes still staring into mine. I'm still frozen to the spot, confused and in shock that my girlfriend is the crime-fighter that MI9 has been trying to catch for years.
She stops in front of me, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Frank."
The last thing I remember is Jenny punching me with great force across the jawline, knocking me out.
xxoOoxx
"Frank? Frank!"
"Hm…?" I moan. I slowly open my eyes to find Rose and Carrie staring down at me.
"Hey there, sleepyhead," Carrie grins.
"What – ow," I wince. My jaw hurts like hell. "What… what happened?"
"We found you lying unconscious," says Rose. She looks at her watch. "You were out for at least five minutes."
"That must've being one hell of a punch you took from the Cat," says Carrie.
My mind races. Then my eyes widen as I remember the moment before I was knocked out that I found out that the Cat… is Jenny.
I immediately sit up. "The Cat? Where is she?" I ask.
"She was gone before we got here," says Carrie.
"We've got to go after her – now!" I start to stand up, only for Rose to restrain me.
"Hey, take it easy, Frank," she says softly. "You've got to remember, you were just knocked unconsci–"
"No, you don't understand – we have to find Jenny!"
"Jenny?" says Carrie.
"Jenny?" says Rose. "What has she got to do with this?"
I take a deep breath and I say it. "Jenny… is the Cat."