The next morning Renee awoke to the smell of breakfast, she turned to look at her bed side table to see the time 6:15 in the morning, and next to the clock she found a stand up tray table with breakfast already on it, there was a couple slices of toast lightly browned, a fried egg sunny side up, a small plate of hash browns, and two glasses, one filled with milk the other orange juice. On the tray was a note, Renee looked at it, it read: 'bon apatite' Warren.
"He made breakfast for me…hmm, that was nice of him," Renee thought to herself, then another thought came to mind, "wait a minute, how the hell did he get into my room without me knowing?"
After she finished breakfast she went downstairs to find Warren lounging in a recliner in the living room, "Well good morning." He said cheerfully, "I hope you found breakfast to your liking?"
"I did, thanks." Renee answered.
"I didn't know if you'd like your fried egg sunny side up or sunny side down, so I went with my best judgment." Warren told her, getting up and going back into the kitchen.
"But how'd you get into my room without waking me up?" Renee asked.
Warren smiled and shook his head saying, "A good magician never reveals his secrets, oh, and speaking of secrets…when were you going to tell me about that mark?"
"What mark?" Renee asked, worried about where this conversation was going.
"That mark on your stomach, what is it, a tattoo, a birthmark that the magazines edited out?" Warren asked her.
"You pervert, you're not supposed to look under there!" She yelled at him, then she took to tray and threw it at him.
Suddenly in one fluid motion Warren dodged the flying tray, Renee saw a black gem amulet hanging around Warren's neck and asked, "What's that?"
Warren looked at where she was pointing and said, "Oh, just a present from a friend of mine…that's all."
"Can I try it on?" Renee asked.
Warren/Htarw felt a sudden rush of terror, "No, no…it has a bit of sentimental value to me, I couldn't really be parted with it."
"Okay, okay…gee, I can take a hint." Renee answered, then turned and asked, "You know, I was thinking…how about you and I go shopping today?"
Warren then looked a little surprised, "You mean today…today today!" he asked, Renee nodded.
Later that morning Warren looked a little nervous walking around the mall, Renee seemed to notice but didn't acknowledge it. "Any minute somebody's going to try and take off this amulet, any minute now someone's going to…and when they do Renee will see who I really am and my plan will be ruined!" Warren thought to himself.
"Warren, are you alright?" Renee asked.
"Yeah, I think I just need to sit down and relax is all." Warren told her.
Warren found a bench and sat down, "I've still got some shopping to do, you just sit right here until you feel okay again and we'll meet in the food court…okay?" Renee asked, Warren gave a thumbs up.
When Renee was out of sight a man in a trench coat and hat showed up, "I was wondering when you would show up." Warren acknowledged.
"Sorry General, but I'd just like to know what the next part of your plan is?" Asked the familiar voice of Sardon.
"It's simple…the next part of my plan is for Htarw and our dear Warren to be at the same place at the same time." Warren told him.
"But you're both Warren and Htarw…how are you going to pull off that trick?" Sardon asked.
"Well that's where you come in my friend, because you're in for a once in a life-time opportunity." Warren/Htarw answered.
"Yeah, and what's that?" Sardon asked.
"For one night, and one night only…you get to parade around as the General of the Cyniclon armies." Warren/Htarw told him.
"Really, I mean I've seen you when someone steals you're armor and tries to pretend to be you, do I also get to wield Requiem?" Sardon asked.
"What do you think, we need to make this look as real as possible…and if you're going to pretend to be me, you need all the bells and whistles." Warren/Htarw answered.
"I can't believe you're letting me do this, but how're you going to get me you're armor and your sword without…well, you know?" Sardon asked.
"Without Renee finding out, come back to my room window this afternoon…I'll quickly hand you the equipment." Warren told him, he then looked at the time and said, "I better get going, and you better make yourself scarce."
Warren and Renee met at the food court as agreed, Warren looked at his watch and said, "Don't you think we should get going to the café, don't want to be late for work."
"The café's closed today…Elliot and Wesley are re-stocking the supplies today." Renee told him, "I thought you knew that?"
"Oh, my bad." Warren said apologetically. "So have you thought about it?" Warren then asked.
"About what?" Renee asked, Warren then gave her a look of 'you're joking right?', "My 'Backdoor out of the café' offer?" he asked in response.
"Oh, that…well…" Renee started to answer, Warren looked at her face and asked, "You're still not so sure it's a such a great idea, huh?"
Renee nodded, Warren then said, "Believe me, I like that café to, it's a job that puts bread on the table…at least, but it doesn't put a large amount of it on the table, how long do you think it'll be before you may have to file a chapter eleven?" Warren asked.
Renee looked down to her left side, Warren/Htarw thought that question may've been pushing it…so he then took a small booklet of paper out and placed it in front of her, "What's this?" Renee asked.
"What's this, oy-vay…are you that far gone, it's a contract…I went to a modeling agency and they said they've seen your past work and think you've still got a chance, they want you to come down and see them with your manager and talk over the deal before you sign."
"You found me a manager, but how—who?" Renee asked, surprised that Warren was able to act so quickly.
"Oh believe me, he jumped at the opportunity…and he drove a pretty hard deal with the agency to get you that contract." Warren told her. "So what do you say now?" Warren asked.
"Give me a few days to think about it, I mean it's great that you went out of your way to do this…but I still need to think about it." She told him.
"I understand, it's a bit much to take in…but here's their card, be free to talk with them when you find the time." Warren told her.
Warren handed her the card and said, "Well I'm tired of sticking around here, how about you and I get back home."
Back at Renee's place Warren made the hand-off to Sardon just as he said he would, "There…you got it?" Warren/Htarw asked.
"It's a bit heavy all together, are you sure this'll work?" Sardon asked with a groan.
"It has to work, it has to." Htarw told him.
"Okay, if you insist." Sardon said.
Warren then closed the window and disappeared into thin air for a second only to reappear with a sketch pad in hand, "Haven't seen this in a long while." He thought to himself, he then felt sort of hungry…and dinner was still an hour and a half away, "Guess a little snack wouldn't hurt." He left the sketch book on the bed and left for the kitchen.
Renee wanted to talk to Warren about the contract again when she noticed he wasn't in his room, that's when she noticed the sketch book. "Hmm…a sketch book, maybe this'll give me more insight into Warren Jackson?" she thought to herself. She picked it up and looked at the cover, then she thought, "No, this is his stuff…I just can't, it'd be like catching him with his pants down!" Renee place it back on the bed and was about to leave when she looked back at it and thought, "Well…maybe just a peek wouldn't hurt?"
Renee sat down on his bed and picked it up and open to cover, her face then took a look of disgust, there were a few photos of a naked girl taped on to the page. Renee thought, "He's a pervert…kick him out now before he makes you do this too!" but then she looked at the photos more closely, a front view, a back view, and two side shots. "Wait…these are sort of like profiling shots, but why would he need her to be nude to do this?" she asked herself, she flipped over the page and got her answer, on the other page was a sketch of the same girl, only this time she was drawn wearing clothes that seemed to hug to the contour of her body, Renee found four sketches total of the girl before she came to another page of profiling shots and another four sketches of another girl.
"Like what you see?" asked a stern voice, Renee looked up and saw Warren looking at her. She closed the book and placed it back down on the bed, Warren picked it up and looked at it, "So what did you think?" he asked.
"Well they're good, you're pretty talented…at first I thought you were a pervert, but when I saw the sketches…I realized—." Renee started, but Warren interrupted and said, "I was just trying to get their figure right."
He then looked at it and said, "I wouldn't ask any girl I'd met to do this until they felt they were comfortable with me being around them and are relationship was sturdy enough to where they'd do this for me with their consent."
"You know sometimes I thought you were a bit of a pervert." Renee told him.
"Well I'm mostly not…but don't be so quick to judge me next time…I just might surprise you." Warren told her. He then said, "It's a clear night…stars are out, and look a half moon, I think I'll go out for a bike ride…I'll probably go out to eat and try to be back before 8." Warren told her.
Renee saw Warren take off on his bike, as soon as he disappeared out of sight Mini-Mew appeared in front of her and said, "METALLOSITE ALERT, METALLOSITE ALERT, THE OTHERS NEED YOUR HELP!"
Renee went through the whole costume change thing and exited via the window and started heading towards the city.
Meanwhile Warren/Htarw was pedaling on his bike looking at his surroundings, "I know this is going to work, sure Sardon may not be fully acclimated to my armor yet…but if this works out as I've envisioned Renee's confidence in me will be improbable to break." He thought to himself. He then saw the flashes of a few explosions and people running away from them, "There we are." he thought.
The creature the Mews had to fight this time was a metallic cobra about 17 stories tall in length, and had pretty much the same electrical attacks as Electrogator had had, Bridgette had deduced that the Infusor Core was somewhere in its head. 'Htarw' was standing next to his new creation watching it pick apart the Mews one by one. Warren watched them from around the corner of a building and looked at 'Htarw' and gave him sort of a wave, then Warren made his move and pedaled out only to stop half way between the street and look at the battle in mid-horror. The metallic cobra shot a lightning bolt out of it's fangs, it struck so close to Warren that he flew off his bike, just in time for Renee to appear and catch him, when she got him to safety Warren opened his eyes and saw her, he looked her over, then his eyes stopped at her mid-section where he saw the marking on her stomach, he looked at her with a puzzled look, "Renee?" he said rather confused.
Warren slowly got up, got back on his bike, looked at Renee for a few seconds, then pedaled off.
Well to cut this short (I'm sorry…but I have to save my creative juices one way or the other), the Mews defeated the Metallosite—the Infusor Core being located in its upper jaw, tucked away between the fangs. 'Htarw' (Sardon) rushed forward to catch the chip, but of course not being fully acclimated to Htarw's armor, he tripped and Zoey made the catch and save.
When Zoey and the others regrouped Renee realized what Warren had just discovered and made the dash for home, hoping to be Warren there. "What's she in a rush for?" Zoey thought to herself, "Doesn't really matter, we got the Metallo Chip back…we can finally get this back to Elliot so he can put this somewhere safe."
Renee finally got back home, she noticed the lights were off in the kitchen, she reached for the light switch. "Hello Renee." Said a voice out of the darkness, Renee turned towards the table to see a faint out-line of Warren sitting at the far end.
Renee was startled at first, "Oh—Warren, you're home…I didn't hear you come in." She told him.
"Oh really, well I came home a little after 7, and you know what I found? You weren't here." Warren pointed out.
"I had a few short errands to run, I'm sorry if I spooked you." Renee told him.
"Oh is that so, eh…well I want to tell you an experience I had while on my ride." Warren said clearing his voice, "While out on my bike ride I had a rare encounter with a metal cobra that seemed to big for science to allow it to exist, and if not to top it off…a bunch of girls and strange little costumes were fighting this thing."
"That does sound interesting…so what do you want for dinner?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
But Warren stuck to his resolve and said, "Then if you think that's interesting, then this next part is going to be the kicker."
Renee then realized he wasn't going to get off this case so easily, Warren continued, "One of these girls managed to save me from serious injury…and do you know what I noticed about this guardian angel with wolf-like ears and a tail, she had a mark on her stomach…the same mark I saw on yours!"
"Warren I don't understa—?" She asked him.
Warren then said as he got up and in the darkness slowly approached her, "Okay…then I'll make my question short and sweet: When were you going to tell me!"
Warren then flicked on the lights and Renee saw from his facial expression that he was…in short, not happy with her.
"Warren…please try to understand—." Renee said to him, but Warren turned around and said, "Did you not think I'd find out sooner or later? Did you not think I'd be able to keep a secret like this? Tell me Renee…no, really…please tell me, because if you can't be honest with me and tell me about something like this…then how do I know that if you say yes to my 'Backdoor' idea that you won't go turn your back on me?"
Renee looked ready to cry, but she put her hand on Warren's shoulder and said, "Warren, it was better if you didn't know…if the Cyniclon had found out about you and me, they'd have probably used you as a bargaining chip against me. Plus you seemed so content with this."
Warren then looked back at her and said, "That's just it…I didn't know about this before, I mean you're risking your neck constantly in a secret war that I didn't know about until just tonight, Miss Roberts—Renee, if anything happened to you…I'd…I-I-I'd." Warren then looked like he was about to cry.
"Warren, I've been doing this for awhile and I've come out intact so far." Renee told him, "But if you don't want me do to this anymore, then for your sake I'll stop."
Warren shook his head, "At that I'd be relieved…but…" he then looked into her eyes and continued, "they're your powers, they're your responsibility…you have to decide how you're going to handle them, because for you to stop using them just because I told you to…that just wouldn't be right."
"You mean you're not mad at me?" Renee asked.
"No not mad…ticked off that you didn't tell me sooner, but not mad." Warren told her. "Now for dinner I sort of made a curry rice dish with a piece of steak, you wouldn't believe the price I had to pay for these, and while we eat you can explain to me about this whole super-hero thing."
Well Renee explained to Warren about the whole being a super-hero, saving the world from aliens…and when she finished she saw Warren had the same look on his face that he'd had tonight when he had discovered her secret.
"And so the other girls," Warren started, "The Mew-Mews" Renee corrected him.
"Yeah, right…Mew Mews, are the only thing standing in the way of these alien Sons-of-a-whores from exterminating us and taking over the planet?" Warren asked.
"The Cyniclons…that's correct." Renee also added.
"And your base of operations—?" Warren started to say, but Renee cut him off, "Is the café, see…you're catching on."
"And the other four girls are the other four waitresses that work there?" Warren asked.
"You hit the nail on the head there Warren." She told him.
Warren the slouched into his chair a bit and in a glum voice said, "Man, and all this time I thought Corina was just a parasitic, self absorbed, tea-drinking free-loader…when in reality she was protecting my ass, this whole worlds' ass…from a 'War of the Worlds' type scenario…now I feel like a real heel for what I did to her."
"Don't think about it Warren, if you're asking me…she had it coming more-so from Zoey than from you for quite awhile." Renee told him.
"Well, just because I know this now doesn't mean I'll go easy on her…I'll get her to haul her weight at the café yet, even if I have to pull out my dirtiest tricks to do it." Warren told her.
"Well, I guess tomorrow we'll have to tell Elliot and Wesley that you know about this." Said Renee.
"Yeah, I guess so." Warren answered.
As they both left for their rooms Warren said, "You know, there is something else I should say now…you looked hot in that little Mew-Mew outfit of yours, besides the ears and tail."
"Gee thanks." Renee said sarcastically.
Later that night Warren/Htarw made mental contact with Sardon, "Well the plan worked, Renee now trusts me a lot more than she did at first, and it's all thanks to my plan."
"Uh, yeah sure…but there's something I should tell you." Sardon answered.
"Let me guess, you lost the Metallo Chip to the girls…well with one door closed another opens, I'll get it back sooner than those fluff squad loons think." Htarw told Sardon.