Chapter Twelve

Hoagie's POV

I slowly walked up to the robotic tiger, clutching my spanner and digging around in my pockets for a screwdriver. I must admit, this mission kept getting more ridiculous by the minute. First, mutant giant rats with laser eyes, now robotic tigers!

"Good kitty." I whispered, sneaking to its hind legs. I grabbed its leg and grinned. "Alright. Let's see what we got."

I took out my screwdriver and tried to unscrew a bolt, but its tail kept swishing towards me, trying to stop me from touching it. "Fanny, I need you to distract the tiger!"

Her mouth opened wide. "Are you nuts?"

"It's the only way I can shut down this robot."

"Well what do you expect me to do? Dance around like an idiot?"

"Actually…" I scratched my chin. "That could work."

She groaned. "I can't believe I'm doing this." She mumbled into her hand. Then she did the one thing I'd never think I'd see her do. "Hey tiger look at me! Look at me!"

She was waving her arms around and kicking her legs. The tiger seemed interested in her, ahem, little dance. "Look at me! I feel like an idiot!"

I tried to contain my stifled laughter. Oh if I only I brought my video camera! "You're doing great Numbuh 86! Just keep doing what you're doing and I'll be able to shut down this robot in no time!"

"Just hurry it up Gilligan!"

Trying not to look at the ridiculous dancing Fanny, I unscrewed the bolts and took off the cover. Inside there were wires, blue, red, yellow and green. "Hmmm which one shuts down this robot?" I asked myself. I studied the wires carefully. "None of these shut down the robot completely! They only control the hind leg!" I called out to Fanny.

"Well where do you think the shut down button is?" She called back, still doing her ridiculous dance that the tiger seemed so captivated by.

"Well… If these wires only control the right hind leg, then the wires on the left control the left leg. Same probably goes for the front legs… so the shut down button must be in its head."
"WHAAAAAT!" She screamed. This startled the tiger, and it roared right before it snared its teeth at Numbuh 86.
"Uh… nice tiger…" She whimpered. The tiger was approaching Fanny very stealth-like, as she backed away.
"Numbuh 86!" I yelled after her.
Fanny was whimpering as she backed away from the tiger. She tripped and fell on her bottom. "86!" I continued to yell.
She started using her legs to push herself backwards until her back was against a wall. The tiger crawled towards Fanny. She buried her face in her hands and she started whimpering like a little dog. "FANNY!" I yelled.
I threw my spanner and the tiger turned around. "Leave her alone!" The tiger growled and started to run towards me. "Hoagie!" Fanny called out. Wait; was there a sense of concern in her voice?
I searched around my pockets for some weapons but there were none. Oh why did Numbuh 86 have to lose her gun? The tiger was approaching me fast. It leapt to pounce on me and I took this opportunity to do a totally cool somersault underneath it.
I got up and started running towards Fanny. "Come on!" I say, as I grab her hand and pulled her up. We started running and the tiger gave chase.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" She asked surprisingly.
"Numbuh 5-T taught me that move." I replied. "She is the best at stealth!"
We were tiring out and the tiger was close approaching. I looked up and saw a bar. "Okay… on the count of three, we're gonna jump up there." I pointed to the bar and Numbuh 86 nodded in agreement. "1… 2… 3!"
We leapt high and grabbed on to the bar. We lifted our legs up as the tiger ran underneath us. It looked around in confusion, looking for us. I looked at Fanny beside me, and she looked back with the most worried face I have ever seen. It made the lump in my throat bigger, and my heart started beating faster. Right then and there I knew what was up.
I was in love.
Sure I had many crushed in the past, Numbuh 10, Cree and even one time Numbuh 5, but they were only crushes. This feels much deeper than a crush. "Fanny…?" I whispered.
"What?" She whispered back.
And right then and there I did the craziest thing ever.
I jumped onto the tigers back.