ONE:
Protecting someone you love is a difficult task. Especially for someone so young. Most teens think that they can handle the task easily. But to Catrina 'Cat' Baker,it was a responsibility as a job to keep her little brother, Jake,safe and happy.
Since they no longer had any parents,it was up to Cat to take up the leader-ship role. It had only been five years prior to the day a major house fire took the lives of their parents, leaving Cat and Jake orphans with no other relatives to care for them.
So it was up to Cat, now fifteen, to provide food,shelter,and protection to ten-year old Jake. And to herself.
But Cat took the leadership role to do bad deeds, despite Jake's pleads. For five years they have robbed,broken into facilities,and snuck into hotels. They have got caught quite a lot, but they always managed to escape trouble, only to continue doing what they do.
There was another secret Cat and Jake had that they recently discovered only three weeks ago.
Cat was mainly a hard-core tomboy who had a bad attitude and punk-rock style. The memory of losing her parents and upholding the responsibility of caring for her little brother makes her try and alienate herself from people. Her bad attitude and aggressiveness matched the alien half of her perfectly. Her alien self was a deadly, vicious Vulpimancer who had large, sharp teeth and claws, and a back full of needle-sharp quills in which she can project at high speeds in any direction.
Jake was the opposite of his hot-headed big sister. He was the voice of reason in most of Cat's schemes. He usually liked to think things out before rushing head-on into action. He was a well-behaved ten-year old, which was a rare site indeed. His alien form was a Galvanic Mechomorph. When using this form, Jake is able to merge with any mechanical or electrical device and either upgrade it to a newly advanced piece of technology or use it to hack bank security systems like Cat makes him do. Jake could also fire positronic energy beams from his single, round eye,allowing for long-range attacks that, in Cat's words,allowed for a perfect getaway.
And right now,the siblings were getting ready to carry out yet another of Cat's schemes.
"Cat....you promised that the last robbery was gonna be the final one!" Jake whined as he followed his sister to the front gates of the San Francisco Mint.
"Come on, Jake. You know as well as I do that we need this money in order to keep a living! You don't want to starve, do you?" Cat asked him as she cautiously watched the guards patrolling the inside perimeter. It was nearing midnight, so security was pretty tight.
"No....but...." Jake stopped. He knew Cat would carry this whole robbery out by herself, if given the chance.
Though he knew she could take care of herself, he also knew that tough security also meant a lot of weapons that could do a lot of damage. And he didn't want his sister to be hurt, or even killed. That's why he chose to go along with her,like he was now,despite the danger.
"Okay,Jake. You know the drill. You disable the security systems while I get inside and gather the goods. And knock out a few guards if I have to."
Jake sighed and began to focus on his alien half.
Slowly, black, liquid metal spread across his face,neck,arms,back,and legs.
His eyes merged into one and became circular. His mouth vanished as his chin melted into his neck. Jake's arms grew wider,flatter,and longer as his legs became thicker and shorter. Finally, as he increased in height, bright green circuits etched across his body.
"Okay, I'm ready, Cat." he sighed.
"Great. Do your thing,little bro!"
Jake nodded and suddenly and stealthily slipped through the gate and entered the inside security box.
"Okay! You're good to go!" Jake said, returning back to Cat after two minutes.
"Great! Thanks Jake!" Cat was about to climb over the wall when she felt a large, gentle hand alight upon her shoulder.
Cat looked up at her little brother. Though his eye actually looked emotionless, she could clearly see that he was very worried, like he always was when she prepared to go solo. But this time, Jake was even more worried.
"Cat.....please be extra careful!" he pleaded. "This robbery is more dangerous and more risky than the others."
Cat smiled. "Don't worry about me,kiddo." she hugged him tightly. He returned it with even more love. "I promise you that I'll be okay. So, don't worry. Now, wait here for me." she then winked at him. "I'll be out in twenty-minutes."
Jake chuckled. "That's what you said all those other times. But it always took you longer than you say it will."
"You know me too well." Cat gave her brother one last, loving hug before he helped her climb to the top of the wall for her to sneak in.
He watched closely as she dodged and scurried past the guards and slipped through a ground vent before disappearing from site.
"Please be careful, big sister." he said quietly, feeling in his gut that things were gonna go wrong.