Chapter 55: Warrior

She summoned a few of her minions (kind of odd that they weren't going after the kid given her gigantic bounty, but I wasn't complaining), and one of them blindfolded me.

I then felt myself being picked up and carried for a short amount of time, maybe like 2 minutes.

Then when we came to a stop, I felt myself being tied to something, and the blindfold was taken off. It seemed like I was in some control or security room deep in the Metro, and I could see camera footage of all over the Metro. Meanwhile, my arms and legs were tied to the corners of what seemed like an upturned metal bedpost.

But on the cameras... it didn't look good.

I could see the kid running for her life with swarms of cats on her tail, going wherever to try and escape.

"Good," The Empress said, "Now leave us. We have business to discuss."

Her goons nodded and ran out, muttering how they'd be the ones to collect that bounty.

The Empress sat and watched the monitors, then picked up a microphone.

"One million dollars to the cat that brings me our little thief, dead or alive," She stated, "Run if you want, child. You won't get far."

I rolled my eyes.

"Am I just going to sit here all day?" I grumbled.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about you," She hissed, standing up and walking over to me.

"Then what do you want with me anyway?" I asked.

"Well, you were the one doing all the talking, so interrogating you seemed like the better choice," She said, "Now spit it out. Why do you need the Time Pieces anyway?"

I snorted.

"Like I'm going to tell you," I spat.

She held her claws up to my neck.

"Oh, you will," She said threateningly.

I smirked.

"No, I don't think I will," I taunted.

She stepped back with a look of irritation and surprise on her face.

"What?" I asked, "Surprised that I'm not cowering in fear?"

She didn't reply.

"Well, I'll tell you why," I muttered, "You separated me from the one thing in existence I care about. And odds are, I'll never see her again. Now, naturally, that makes me very, VERY angry. And I don't feel fear when I'm angry."

She snickered, and I frowned.

"Well, you clearly don't know me," She growled, then suddenly grabbed my jaw and tilted it upward.

I could feel her claws pressing tight against my neck.

"You will tell me EVERY SINGLE THINGyou know. Both about the child and the Time Pieces. Or I will kill you the slowest way I know how!" She shouted.

I could feel the rage boiling in my veins. Who the HELL does she think she is?!

"Then do it and put me out of my misery!" I yelled.

I felt her freeze, then slowly she backed away.

"That's what I thought," I grumbled.

She grinned evilly.

"Don't get your hopes up," She said, "I have plans for you. And you will wish I killed you."

"Sure, sure," I retorted.

She got up and walked to the entrance.

"Now... I need to pay your little friend a visit," She taunted, "Watch on the cameras. You'll love the surprise I have planned for her."

She walked through the door.

"She's far too smart and fast for you!" I yelled as she closed the door.

I looked around the room.

There was nobody here. Just me and the cameras.

I wondered if I could escape...

I tried my best to wriggle free from the ropes pinning me down, but it didn't work. Unless I completely phased through them...?

I looked around my makeshift prison to see if there was a shadow I could blend into.

Turned out the entire room was cascaded in shadow.

"Oh, you thought you had me," I muttered, "But little did you know, I am one with the shadows."

I closed my eyes and entered the darkness. I didn't stay long, but when I popped out of the darkness, I kicked away the bedpost and stood atop it.

Now I needed to find the kid, so we could get the hell out of here.

I ran out of the room into a hallway, and I saw the two cats that always nabbed our Time Pieces sitting there in front of me.

I heard the intercom turn on.

"Do I need to replace ALL of you?! Can you not catch a CHILD?!" The Empress growled.

"Huh... HEY!" The lanky cat shouted after doing a double take, "You should be tied down"

"Does it look like I care?" I grumbled.

"I knew you two were trouble from the beginning!" They muttered again, then lunged at me.

I expected this and sidestepped, and countered with a swift whack to the back of the head, knocking them to the floor. Strangely, they didn't get back up.

"Wow, weak," I muttered.

I heard running and turned around, barely blocking the smaller cat's baseball bat with my baton as they jumped toward me.

They were knocked backward, and I took this as an opportunity to finally use my whirlwind badge for combat and strike away their baseball bat.

They did a double take, and all it took was another quick strike to knock them unconscious.

"Serves you right," I spat, then continued running into more hallways.

Fortunately, it didn't take me long to find the way out of the mess of hallways, and I found myself at the main station, which was completely empty.

I assumed that all the cats had left to chase the kid.

Except one information cat was still there at their station, happily sitting and doing nothing.

"Uh, hello?" I asked.

The cat turned around to face me.

"Oh, you!" They greeted

"Sorry, but... do I know you?" I questioned

"You two came to me to ask about how to leave this place," The cat said.

"Oh," I responded, "Why aren't you... uh... with the others?"

They shook their head.

"I don't like violence," They answered, "I like to help people, not hurt people. That's why this is my job."

"Makes sense," I muttered.

"Now... I might get in trouble for this, but I kinda like you guys, so I'll help you out," They said, "Remember how I talked about an escape tunnel in the Bluefin Tunnel?"

"Yeah...?" I said.

"Well... it's kept closed most of the time, and opens itself whenever something bad happens. Now, because of all the ruckus going on I'm 100% sure it'll be open now," They explained, "I told the hatted kid about this, so if you want to see her again and escape, get to that tunnel! If you can get there quickly, you'll probably beat both the others and her to it."

I nodded.

"Alright... thanks a lot," I thanked.

"No problem!" They beamed, "Just don't tell anyone!"

"Of course," I said, then bolted for the bluefin tunnel.

I smirked. I warned her that she wouldn't be able to catch her.

I dropped down beneath the train tracks, and saw three cats patrolling the area with baseball bats.

The intercom turned on again.

"The bounty is now TWO million! For EACH of them! Bring me that little brat and spineless coward!" She roared.

Oh, she found out I'd escaped.

The cats turned to me and stared.

"Well, uh, this is awkward," I said, "No point in talking. Let's get this over with."

They all lunged at me in unison, and I countered with a whirlwind strike, knocking them all back.

However, these cats were stronger than the two bozos and just got knocked back.

One pulled out a series of kunais with cat paw insignias on them and began to throw them at me. I jumped over them and planted my foot on their face on the way down, knocking them down to the floor with a hard thud.

"Sorry for the potential skull fracture," I muttered, then jumped toward the wall, dodging another cat's lunge.

I kicked off of the wall, extended my baton, and twisted in the air, smacking them extremely hard in the back of the melon. They were punted to the other side of the room and didn't get back up.

I turned to the last cat, who narrowed their eyes. It was then I noticed that they had no mask, but instead had an eyepatch. I could see a quote written on it:

'Kiwami means extreme.'

They dropped their baseball bat and adopted a martial art pose.

"I see through your cold, tough, exterior. You are soft, Mega-san. Bring out your true fighting spirit!" They shouted.

I raised an eyebrow. What, was this an anime now? And... were they trying to help me or kill me?

Instead of lunging at me right away, we both began walking in circles, having an unannounced staring contest.

Until suddenly, they jumped toward me in a dropkick at lightning speed, which I wasn't expecting and got knocked back right into the wall... painfully. My entire back ached from it. Didn't seem to break anything, though.

I stared in shock at the cat, who stopped and beckoned me to get up.

I quickly did so and adopted a defensive stance. This cat meant business, I'd have to be serious about this.

They flipped over my head. They landed on the wall and tried to pounce at me from above, but I already knew beforehand what they were doing and countered by whipping around and clocking them hard in their left cheek.

They were knocked back, but landed on their feet and skidded back.

"Good, good," They applauded, adopting another pose again, "But, I must warn you, if you cannot beat me, I will not hesitate to kill you. No, you must show me what you're fighting for! What you believe in!"

They grabbed a couple kunai and began to toss them at me rapidly in groups of three. Fortunately, I managed to avoid getting stuck with one and got close enough to land another hit.

The cat was knocked back with a grunt and retaliated with a lightning fast lunge.

I was unable to get my baton up to block in time and just closed my eyes and braced for impact. I felt a searing pain explode upon the middle-right portion of my face... near my right eye.

I was knocked to the ground and opened my eyes, noticing that I could still see clearly in both eyes. I took a deep sigh of relief.

I quickly got up and blocked another lunge attack, knocking them backward and off balance. While they got back on their feet, I tripped them and hit them again twice.

They kicked me away and flipped back onto their feet.

"Yes! Show me what you're made of!" They shouted, unsheathing a freaking katana from a sheath I hadn't noticed earlier across their back.

"Is that really necessary?!"I shouted as I dodged a slash.

The cat jumped around the arena holding the katana, lunging at me several times. I managed to sense a pattern and punished each attack accordingly.

Finally, they then jumped all the way up to the roof and kicked off of it toward me at INSANE speed.

I BARELY avoided getting that katana stuck in my head, but it tore a small hole open right on the seam between the hood and the actual sweater, and I felt a very strong searing pain across the top of my back.

The sweater that the kid had knitted just for me, they just damaged. I didn't even care about the small wound, it'd heal.

I turned around to see that they had gotten their katana stuck in the floor and was desperately trying to pull it out.

I clenched my fists.

Oh, if they wanted to see what I could do, then see what I could do they would.

I backflipped toward the wall, kicked off of it at an upward angle toward the roof, pushed myself off of the roof, then came down extremely fast in a corkscrew and smacked them with my baton, punting them right into the wall hard enough to shake dust loose.

They fell to the floor and didn't move for a few seconds, then got up, and slowly walked to their katana. They managed to wriggle it out of the floor and wield it toward me again.

But they hesitated. Neither of us moved for what seemed like forever.

Then, they sheathed their weapon and bowed.

"I see the strength within you now. You are strong, Mega-san. I bow in respect of you and your strength, one warrior to another," They said, "Accept this as a token of my respect."

They then stepped forward and gave me a copy of their eyepatch, except bigger to be able to fit my large head.

I looked at them. They nodded, bowed again, then threw a smoke screen down. When it cleared, they were gone.

I looked down at the eyepatch, wondering whether to wear it or not.

Sure, why not?

I flipped my hood off and put it on over my right eye, then flipped my hood back on and continued through the tunnel.

That intense fight had wasted a lot of time and my energy, I'd need to be as fast as possible or else I wouldn't ever see the kid again.

A/N: So, as you can see, I decided to incorporate the secret mini-boss into this chapter, and give it a few... extra... details. Cause I realized that having Rush Hour not be actively narrated in this part of the story wouldn't make it very climactic, so what better than a boss fight to make up for that?

Hopefully it turned out as awesomely as I thought it would.