Chapter 5- We Could Use a Little Cheer
Aphrodite cartwheeled in front of the stands once again, and once again a huge male ovation rocked the stadium.
"You're all too kind!" She sweetly waved to all of them. She glanced back at the kidnapped women to take in their looks of contempt. She drank it all in as delicious jealousy of all she had that they didn't. "Let's hear it for me!" She flailed out pom-poms with a vigorous routine. "All your praise and love for me, you all adore Aphrodite! All you girls can plainly see, this is my big victory! V- I- C- T- O- R- Y! Why? Because you like me! You really like me!"
"Wow! And here I thought you didn't know how to spell." A voice from above commended.
Aphrodite looked up at the aerial entrance into the stadium. The roar of jet packs above her head drowned out the men's protests of not being able to hear their idol. The bunny and coyote landed center field and faced her sternly. Aphrodite scrunched up her nose and frowned deathly at the pair, especially Lexi for her previous remark.
"You again? Lexi, was it?" She glanced at Tech. "And you brought the nerd with you too?"
"I prefer the term, 'Genius'." He corrected.
"How cute." She falsely grinned, "He thinks he's special. Guess you couldn't find any other date to bring, huh Lexi?"
Lexi ignored the comment and kept a serious glare.
"Why did you kidnap these women?"
"Why? To rub it in their faces of course. It's all about popularity. What's the point of having it if you can't flaunt it? She who has the most boy-toys wins."
Lexi's glare kept connected with Aphrodite's gaze.
"So you're nothing but a walking ego."
"Actually-it's-more-like-a-walking-Id-but-that's-if-you're-getting-into-Freud-here-in-that-case…"
"Quiet, bird." The diva snapped. Rev clasped a hand over his beak to keep from further blathering.
Lexi got right in Aphrodite's face.
"We're giving you one last chance to give up and let these people go."
"And how are you going to stop me?" Aphrodite posed in a thinking posture. "Hmm, I have all these men doing everything I command. And all you have is Poindexter. Did you really think the two of your could take them all out?" She waved her arm to indicate the masses of men watching from the bleachers. Lexi's silence remained with her glare. Aphrodite smiled. "That's what I thought. And you came all this way too." She sneered and placed her forefinger and thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead. "Loser."
Lexi did not loose her composure.
"Oh, I have a name for you too. But calling you that would be an insult to Tech's mom."
It took a moment for Aphrodite to understand the insult, but once she did her face turned red with hatred.
"You…" She stammered, her words clogged with raged. "You do NOT call ME that!"
"Uh, Technically she didn't." Duck shrugged. Aphrodite whipped around with daggers in her eyes. She glared him right in the face, seething, an inch from his beak.
"Shut up! You only back ME up! Not her!" She hissed.
"Yes'um." He squeaked meekly.
She turned back and continued her death gaze upon Lexi, who looked back now with a hint of smug.
"Gee, you get this twisted out of shape if someone calls you a name, I'd hate to see what happens if I were to actually hit you." Lexi mused.
Aphrodite steamed in her skin.
"You won't live long enough to try! Sic her boys!"
The waves of men cascaded form the stands towards the center of the field. Lexi stood her ground. The circle of rabid Aphrodite enthusiasts closed in on her rapidly. Each man chomping at the bit to avenge his insulted mistress.
"Man, and I thought soccer fans made bad crowds."
Lexi's acrobatics spared her a blow from a very large impact of men rushing at her on her left. A high leap saved her from someone cleaver enough to have carried a plank of wood down to the field with them. Her super-powered teammates competed with the normal citizenship for pummeling position, but she had the sheer mass of men to supermen in her favor blocking their path. In fact Slam managed to take out a large chunk of these opponents for her in his attempts to get to her. Lexi did her best to avoid the thrusts, punches, and blows all whilst keeping a close eye on Aphrodite. The villainess was doing exactly what Lexi had been expecting; sitting there on the bleachers, watching the whole ordeal with a gleefully sadistic grin on he face. So intensely focused on the spectacle of Lexi's punishment she had failed to even recall that Tech had been there to start with. Which was fine by him as he snuck up behind her.
He steadied his hands, watching for the right moment to grab Aphrodite's scarf. It would be a simple procedure, grab and tug. Or rather, grab, tug, and then run like all Hades. His hand was only an inch away. Half-an inch. A micrometer…
"Come on! It can't be that difficult! She's one rabbit!" Aphrodite suddenly lurched forward to chastise her minions. The unexpected shift caused Tech to grab her ponytail by mistake.
Her shrill cry of pain tore the men's attentions away from Lexi and toward the now terrified coyote faced with the red-hot anger of the infuriated beauty.
"Uh, heheh," He fingered the blond locks in his hand nervously. "It's silky soft." He complemented clumsily.
She pulled the strands from his hand furiously and dealt him a death glare that chilled him down his spine.
"No one. Touches. My. Hair. EVER!!!"
Lexi found herself suddenly ignored by the angry masses. Now focusing their attentions solely on Tech, the riot shifted location to behind the bleachers. Tech quickly drew his gel-blaster and made a floundering attempt to defend himself against the amassing hoard. Seeing their plan crumbling to pieces instantly, Lexi leapt to Tech's side to give him a hand against the overwhelming crowd.
"Got a plan B?" He hesitantly asked.
"Survive." She instinctively answered.
Among the dust and debris kicked up from the chaos, Aphrodite couldn't care less. Instead she was busily examining each and every strand of her precious tresses.
"That mongrel had better not have given me split ends." She huffed.
"Your hair is perfect Aphrodite." Milo crooned, trying to reassure her.
"It is NOT perfect!" She threw her fists down. "Nothing is perfect!" Those Loonatics are ruining everything!" She pointed at the battlefield where Lexi and Tech were doing their best to avoid a particularly nasty pummeling. "They're getting all the attention! It should be all about ME!!!"
Her glare only soured when the cheers from the female portion of the crowd were all loud, joyous and directed at the two mammals opposing her power. She snarled and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"We are LEAVING!!"
The heads of a hundred men turned in her direction.
"Yes, Aphrodite!"
"To where ever you want, Aphrodite!"
"We love you, Aphrodite!"
Abandoning their attack, the mindless followers trailed after Aphrodite as she huffed her way out of the stadium. Seeing their only chance at getting a sample of the pheromone stomping away, Tech and Lexi decided they had to follow. They only got a few feet however, when Duck, Rev, Ace and Slam got in their way.
"Just where do you think you're going?" Duck asked.
Catching this from over her shoulder, Aphrodite smiled.
"Good job boys. Keep them from following us. I want some private time before tonight's big event. This time everything is going to go how I want it to." She paused, thinking something over. "And make sure my lady friends don't bail on us. You're too kind."
Slam nodded with an enthusiastic pant, his tongue wagging out.
"Ladies come! Yeah!" He slobbered, spinning his way over to the bleachers where the captive women were currently trying to climb out of the seating area. The women screamed as the ground beneath them jolted, jerked, and was suddenly lifted from the ground above a massive purple whirlwind. The crowd of women lurched left and right as Slam carried the section of seating roughly towards the exit. The two women who were attempting to climb out of the stands at the inopportune time were now dangling for their lives with at least 30 feet between them and the astro-turf.
The innocents' safety taking priority over catching Aphrodite, Tech and Lexi turned their backs to their teammates, activated their jetpacks, and rushed to the scene. Aphrodite watched from the corner of her eye as she passed the exit threshold.
"Come boys." She ordered with a smile. She didn't care a bit for what happened to the fools who tried to escape, as long as enough were left to gloat to. With her words the remaining Loonatics flocked to her side with the exception of Ace, who distractedly watched on as Tech and Lexi navigated the purple tornado's fierce winds to get to the damsels in distress.
"Help me! Help!" One of the women cried. Her friends desperately trying to pull her back into the bleachers. Slam's sudden movement to follow Aphrodite's departure caused the danglers and those holding on to them to tumble out of the stands and plummet. At their screams, Ace jolted forward towards them but suddenly stopped in his tracks at the sound of,
"Acey, let's go." Aphrodite's sing-songy voice caught his ears. There was a moment of hesitation before he turned around and joined the capitulated crowd.
Lexi swooped down and caught the first falling woman.
"Gotcha!"
Tech managed to catch the next woman in his arms. Her friend however seized him around his neck from behind, stopping her fall, but choking him most awkwardly. The last woman too, grasped onto Tech, nearly pulling down his pants as she tightly hugged his waist.
"Is this what it's like to be popular?" he gasped, his wheeze drowned out by their worried shrieks.
On the other side of the field, the crashing sound of Slam smashing through the stadium wall turned their heads. He was making his escape, the last of Aphrodite's love slaves to leave. Tech and Lexi looked to each other, then to the women they had saved, and decided they had better make sure these ladies weren't hurt before pursuing the despotic diva further.
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"Well, we can call that one a total disaster." Lexi whined, playing with the jar of cotton balls she found in the nurses office.
Tech listened silently. More concerned with cleaning the wound of one of the ladies who had cut her leg falling out of the bleachers.
"It's not so bad." He finally spoke.
"Not so bad? We got trashed by her man handlers." She stood with disgust.
He looked up at the bunny, some confusion on his features, now visible that he had taken off his protective rebreather.
"Huh? Oh no, I was talking about Miss Kerry's laceration." He pointed to the red gash across the woman's leg. "It'll heal without the need for stitches. What happened outside however? Yes, that was a total failure." He lowered his head and ears dejectedly.
Lexi let out a frustrated groan.
"If only we could have gotten that scarf. I should have come up with a better plan."
"Don't be so hard on yourself." The coyote consoled, standing up to face her. "It almost worked."
Lexi couldn't look him in the eyes. Here she was, superhero, temporary leader, and her best idea was foiled by some stereotype blond bimbo. It just didn't feel fair.
"Yeah, almost." She tightened her fists. Glancing to the other side of the room, she noted the women they had rescued. Tech had resumed bandaging the injured leg of his patient while her companions watched the Anthros inquisitively. Lexi reflected on what had happened only twenty minutes ago and felt guilty for showing weakness in front of the women who had seen her as their hero. She swallowed and steadied her resolve. "But we can't let her get away with this. This time people really could have gotten hurt. She doesn't care what happens as long as she gets what she wants."
"Yeah, Venus was always like that." One of the women interjected.
Lexi turned her head to the group, her interest renewed.
"Wait, you know her?"
"We all went to high school with her." The one identified as Kerry explained. " And she was a major snob back then too."
"All the women she had kidnapped, were they all from the your graduating class?" Tech asked, his mind gears turning.
"Well, most of them." Another one of the ladies said. "Some of them were juniors and a couple graduated a year before we did."
Lexi peered about the room. In the far back of the office a dusty bookshelf was piled with digital yearbooks. The nurse must have kept them for nostalgia. Lexi had one of the ladies pick out the right one, it was dated sixteen years prior. She pressed the button activating the holographic display of teenagers posing for school spirit photos, club activities, sporting events, and other school glorifying moments. As she was flipping through the glowing pages Lexi noticed that Venus Brittany, the girl who would become Aphrodite, was in the majority of them.
"Little Miss Popular." She muttered.
"I'll say." The tallest woman quipped. "She was in practically every club in school. You couldn't avoid her."
"Drama club, cheerleader, pep squad, glee club…" Lexi's nose twitched as the tally racked up.
"I don't see Chess club." Tech noted while reading over her shoulder.
"I don't think she considered mental sport a valued asset, Tech." Lexi answered.
As she browsed the photos Lexi spotted several where Venus was standing next to a young man with an oddly familiar face.
"Milo Thorne?" She gaped with surprise. He hardly looked like the desk jockey she had seen on the news. He was buff, muscular; his dark hair was longer, shaggy, like he had never known the word "comb." A letter jacket was wrapped around his broad shoulders with the school's team mascot embroidered on the breast pocket.
"He was a hottie…"
"He was the quarterback." Kerry said, pointing to the team roster.
"Explains the throwing arm." Lexi mused. She looked again at the photos of him and Venus. In one her arms were draped over him in a loving pose. The two of them were smiling at the camera. If the saying "the high school years are the best years of your life" were ever true, this photo would have been proof.
"He and Venus were dating that year." Kerry continued. "They were even voted King and Queen of both Homecoming and Prom."
"But they didn't last?" Tech inquired.
"No way," Stated the third woman with certainty. "After they graduated she wanted to be a super model and he decided to go to law school. From what I heard they broke up sometime after that. They didn't even speak to each other at the ten-year reunion. Let's just say, her modeling career didn't take off and she wasn't doing to well for herself."
"So life after high school didn't go according to plan." Tech rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Now it all makes sense!" Lexi clasped her hands together as a flash of inspiration struck through her mind. "The shopping, the men, the kidnapping and bringing everyone here. Tech, she isn't trying to take over the city. She's trying to relive her glory days."
"Which means she's going to try and recreate another moment from her past." Tech concluded.
Lexi turned off the holobook and thought about what this meant. Aphrodite was looking for a good time. She remembered that during the escape the diva had mentioned an event coming tonight. They had already seen a reenactment of homecoming on the football field, so what was left?
"What event would a spotlight hogging, self centered, attention seeker want to relive that would top her Homecoming?"
The answer was quite obvious and it came to Tech and Lexi simultaneously.
"The Prom!"
[To be continued