(Jenny's POV)
It was the summer of 2008. June, to be exact. I was nineteen years old and I recently finished college. But rather than getting ready for university, I decided to take a gap year, to which my parents didn't mind. And by taking a gap year, I had to look for a job. I spent the first two weeks of my summer holidays filling in application forms, looking through newspapers and calling up people, but there had been no response. So the next best thing was to go out in the world and hand out CVs to shops – and what better place than Oxford Street.
"Mum, Dad! I'm going to Oxford Street to hand out CVs!" I shouted as I came down the stairs.
"OK!" Mum called.
"Be safe!" Dad shouted back.
"Wait, I'm coming, too!" said Livi, coming down the doors after I open the front door.
"You do realise that I'm only going there to hand out CVs, not window shop," I told her.
"Exactly. You're gonna be handing out CVs, while I go window shop."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Liv. Let's go, or we'll miss the bus."
When we got there, Livi and I went our separate ways, agreeing to meet up at the entrance to Debenhams. At the precise moment we agreed, Livi's eyes were following three boys in tight jeans fooling around outside the HMV shop. They disappeared inside – and she dashed off, leaving me for dust. If there's one thing Livi liked better than shopping, it's boys. Lots of them. I just sighed, rolled my eyes and sloped off.
I spent hours and hours and hours trekking up and down the busy shopping street, going into shops and asking them if there were any vacancies. If they said no, I'd hand out a CV and trooped off.
Then after I finished handing out CVs, I spent hours and hours and hours wandering around the same shops I was in, trying on and gazing enviously at any clothes, shoes and accessories that was hanging on a rack or stacked on a shelve, playing the If-I-had-a-million-quid-to-spend game, though I did end up buying a couple of two-for-one T-shirts and some jewellery, and then I spent ages in the HMV store listening to my favourite CDs and humming along to them.
By the time I came out of the shop, it was nearly four o'clock, so I rushed through the crowds to meet up with Livi. But when I walked by an alleyway, I saw something that caught my eye.
I took some steps back and saw a group of boys, reasonably hip guys, forming a loose circle around two children – a ten-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl.
The four boys wore denim and leather, angry-looking T-shirts with names of heavy metal groups emblazoned across the fronts. Their hair was short and spiked, or scraggly, down to their shoulders. A couple of them had diamond studs in one ear. They wore the same amused expression.
"Aw, are you little kiddies lost?" one of them said mockingly. He was tall with a mane of dark hair and smouldering dark eyes and looked hip in his skimpy black top and black jeans.
"If you are, we can help you find your mummy…" said another one, who had tousled dark-blond hair.
"But it's gonna cost ya," said a third, who had a serious skin problem. He took a deep drag from the cigarette between his lips, then tossed it onto the ground and stamped it out beneath the toe of his black boot.
"But-but-but w-w-we don't have any m-money…" the little boy stammered.
"Hey, hey! We know you don't have money. So hand over whatever you've got on yourself so I can sell it for money," said one very Gothic boy with long black hair and chunky silver jewellery.
"Better yet, hand over your sister – let's sale her for money," the dark-haired one said.
"Good idea."
"WAAH! WAAAH!" the small girl cried, gripping her brother's arm who looked scared.
The circle tightened as the boys moved in on them. There was no way I was gonna let those punky little pricks bully those poor kids.
"Hey! Just what do you punks think you're doing?!" I yelled at the boys.
The circle opened wide as the four boys turned to see who was calling out to them.
"What do you want, girlie?"
"Push off – it's nothing to do with you!"
"You're bullying the very kids who are supposed to inherit the 21st century!" I shouted. "Leave those kids alone!"
This seemed to strike some of them funny. They laughed, short, high-pitched laughter.
"And what are you gonna do if we don't?" said the Gothic guy.
"You're gonna get an arse-whooping," I said.
The four boys laughed louder than before.
"Careful, Dave," said the fair guy, "she might give you a makeover!" He ended up getting high fives from his two friends.
Gothic Dave took a few steps from his buddies. "All right, then. Let's do this."
I dumped my shopping by the wall and stepped forward, taking long, confident strides. Then I assumed a fighting stance.
"Gimme your best shot," I said.
Gothic Dave smirked and lunged forward, his fist raised, ready to punch me. I waited until he was close enough, then I blocked and diverted his strike, and then I surprised him by throwing a punch in the solar plexus (the soft tissue between the middle portion of the chest and the abdominal muscles) winding him.
I retreated back into my fighting stance while he got his breath back. His friends shouted encouragement to him. After Gothic Dave resumed normal breathing, he threw a straight punch, but I managed to duck it. Then I threw a hook to his forearm, and followed up with a combination of strikes to his body, crippling and disabling his forearm to discourage his attack. He uses his other hand to throw a punch, but I lifted my elbow and delivered a strike into his lower ribs, causing him a lot of pain.
"Ah, fuck!" he cried.
While he clutched his ribs, I attacked his legs. I delivered a quick and painful kick to the shin with the instep of my foot. In addition, I lifted my knee into his inner leg, disabling him.
His friends stared open-mouthed as they watched Gothic Dave fall to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Right, that's him sorted," I said. "Who's next?"
The three boys looked at each other and nodding in agreement, the dark-haired boy rushed towards me, attempting to strike me, but I easily avoided it. Circling around, the dark-haired boy then rushed towards me, committing himself to strike me with a devastating stiff-arm blow. But I dodge the attack again and smash my knee into his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. Then I raised my right foot upward, and lower it, striking him and knocking him to the ground.
With the dark-haired boy incapacitated, the fair-haired boy ran quickly at me, but I somersaulted over him to evade his attack. The boy skidded to a halt and turned to me, smirking. I frowned; having no idea what that guy was smiling about. I only realised that boy with serious acne had jumped behind me, and wrapped his arms around my chest. I tried to wiggle free, but that only made him tighten his arms around me.
"Lights out for you, sweetheart," said the acne man. I could feel his cigarette breathe on my face.
The fair-haired boy started running towards me again; ready to deliver whatever strike he had planned, while I continued to wiggle myself free. It was only then that I came up with a plan. As fair boy came closer, I pretended that I had stopped struggling, letting the boy with acne think that I had given up. And as he loosened some grip on me, I yanked one of my arms free and smashed my elbow into his face. Shocking him, as well as breaking his nose, I threw him over my shoulder and into the fair boy, knocking him to the ground. The fair boy got up and tried to attack me again, but I delivered a swift, devastating kick to him, seriously harming him.
I stared at the four boys as they lay on the ground, groaning in pain. The fight was over.
"And that's what you get for bullying someone smaller than you," I said.
I turned to the small children who had cowered in the corner of the alley, whimpering and trembling in fear.
"Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you," I reassured them. "I've taken care of the bad men. They're not gonna hurt you."
I held a hand out for them to take. After a minute or so, the little boy stepped forward and laid his small hand into mine. I held his hand and smiled at him, showing him that I'm his friend and I wasn't gonna harm him. The boy smiled back and grasped onto my hand. Then he took his sister's hand and pulled her to her feet.
"Come on. Let's go find your mum," I said to them.
The two children nodded and I led them out of the alley, picking up my shopping along the way. After wandering the street for nearly five minutes, the children and I came across some policemen outside Bond Street station, surrounding a small and timid woman with blonde hair and glasses. She was nearly in tears. I didn't need three guesses to work out who she was.
"Mummy!" the children cried.
The woman looked up to find her children safe and sound.
"Tommy! Kelly!" she cried. The children ran to her and leapt at her, throwing their arms round her neck and she hugged them tighter than tight. They held on to each other as if they could never ever bear to let go. "Thank goodness you two are safe," the woman sniffed, hugging them harder. "You two are OK, though?"
Tommy pulled back. "This lady took real good care of us," he said, pointing at me.
"Yeah," said Kelly. "She beat up some big men who were bullying us."
The woman came up to me and hugged me. "Thank you so much for saving my children – and looking after them. I'm so grateful to you."
"Please. It was nothing," I said, lightly blushing.
The woman opened up her bag and brought her purse. Then she opened that and fished out a twenty pound note.
"Oh, no, I couldn't…" I began.
"Yes, you can. It's the least I can do," said the woman, handing the money to me. Then she gave me another twenty. "My reward to you. Treat yourself."
"Wow. Thanks."
The woman goes back to her children. "Come on, kids. Let's go buy some ice cream."
Tommy and Kelly cheered and walked off with their mum – but not before they waved at me and thanked me for looking after them. I waved back at them and instantly realized that I was late with meeting up with Livi. I completely forgot about her. I ran off in the opposite direction to Debenhams. When I got there, Livi was already waiting for me. And judging by the way she had her hands on her waist and tapped one foot impatiently on the concrete ground, I'd say she was waiting for a while.
"Where were you?" she asked.
"Sorry. I, er, I lost track of time," I told her.
"And here's me thinking that you weren't gonna window shop. Anyway, it's getting late – let's get something to eat."
Livi and I ventured off to McDonald's and afterwards we caught the train home. When we arrived home I thought how powerful I felt kicking those bullies' butts. My reward for years of karate and taekwondo lessons finally paid off. It was just a shame no-one saw me get the better of those jerks.
Boy, was I wrong. Dead wrong.
About a week after the Oxford Street alley fight, I just jetted out of the door of my house to hand out more CVs, when the postman arrived with a thin white envelope addressed to me.
Dear Miss Brownstone,
I hear that you have decided to take a gap year before attending university and are looking for work. I would like to offer you the job of a lifetime. You'll be paid very handsomely for your services. Just come to the address that's written on the back of the letter and we could discuss this further.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Zed
I frowned at the letter. I don't even remember mailing a CV to this Mr. Zed. How did he even know I would be taking a gap year – or looking for work? I looked down at the letter and quoted the three words: "Paid very handsomely." I thought to myself that is a lot of handsome money he could pay me – it could be a hundred quid a week… or a thousand pounds a month! With that kind of money, I could spend six months working for this guy and spend the rest of the six months travelling. I was definitely game. I looked to the back of the letter and my eyes widened when I found out that this Mr. Zed guy lived all the way in Kingston upon Thames. And even though it was in London, it's nearly an hour's away by train. But I decided to brush that aside because I needed the money. So I immediately set off.
I took the bus down to Mile End station and used the Central Line to get to Stratford. Then I used the Jubilee Line and travelled all the way down to Waterloo. Finally, I took the National Rail heading for Shepperton and got off at Kingston station. As soon as I left the station, I hailed a taxi and told the driver the address. When the taxi pulled outside the secured gates of the house, my jaw hit the floor. I couldn't believe that Mr. Zed lived there. This place was awesome!
Two storeys high, the detached house offered itself an impressive Edwardian elegant style throughout, with white shutters and at least a dozen windows. The front lawn was beautifully landscaped and was the size of a football field.
It was not a house – it was a mansion!
I paid the driver and climbed out of the taxi, and I stood outside the gate, still gaping at the house. My mouth soon closed when the gate started sliding open by itself. I looked up to the windows to see who was operating the gate, but I saw no-one. I was reluctant to step forward but I remembered what I was doing it for: the money. Taking a deep breath, I walked up the drive and when I reached the black door, I rang the bell.
But there was no answer.
"Hello?" I called.
No reply.
I rang the doorbell again.
"Hello? It's Jenny Brownstone. I've come about the once-in-a-lifetime job," I called again.
I pounded and put my ear to the door to listen. No footsteps coming down the stairs. No answer from within.
"Bloody typical," I muttered. "This is someone's idea of a joke. Send me a letter about a job and watch me knock at the door you're not gonna answer. This Mr. Zed guy sent me on a wild goose chase. That good-for-nothing, selfish – eh?!"
I didn't finish my sentence because the floor beneath me fell away.
"AAAHHHH!" I screamed as I plummeted down… down down down the dark tunnel. "Ohh!" I cried when I landed on a pile of soft white pillows. "Oooh…" I moaned, rubbing my bum. But I stopped and my mouth fell open when I looked at the place that I landed in.
It was like something out of a James Bond film. It was a secret laboratory that was blue with tiled floors and had a lot of button, gears, radars, scales and gizmos and gadgets on the walls of it, as well as highly advanced equipment and large computer displays.
"Oh… my… God," I murmured. "This is… amazing! This Mr. Zed person has a secret underground base. Way below this incredibly gorgeous –"
I stopped when I heard a noise. It sounded like a door opening.
I quickly stood up and turned to the door in time to see a figure stepping into the laboratory,
I cried out in surprised when I saw who it was.
It was a girl who looked about the same age as me and she was a foot taller. She was slender and willowy and wonderful, with black hair which is parted in the middle, into two buns on either side of her head and dramatic brown eyes under heavy black eyebrows. She wore an Asian-inspired gown of red silk with thigh-high slits on the sides of the skirt, embroidered with flowers and leaves in gold and black, with touches of orange, pink and blue. She had on her feet four-inch black strappy heels, and for jewellery, she wore golden bangle bracelets and red jewel drop earrings.
"Oh, er, hello," I said. "I was wondering if you could help me. You see, I was supposed to meet up with a man called Mr. Zed about a job and it seems that he dropped me in this secret base that's located underneath his beautiful home. I was wondering if you could show me where he is."
The girl said nothing.
"Hello? Didn't you hear what I said? I need you to show me where Mr. Zed is," I said.
No reply.
"Well, erm… OK. Thanks for your time. I'll just let myself out. Bye," I said. But before I could move a muscle to walk, the girl moved quickly towards me. She ran with such speed, that I didn't have time to move or react. Suddenly, she launched herself at me, hitting me with a full-body attack. "Owwwww!" I cried when I crashed myself against the wall. "What the fu…?" There was no time to finish the sentence as the girl ran towards me again. I managed to move out of the way just in time, causing the girl to miss me and hit the wall, leaving a dent.
Do you know what the most amazing thing ever?
The girl didn't cry at all. She didn't even break so much as a fingernail! I stared at her in awe, wondering how she could possibly create an indention in the wall without breaking her knuckles.
"What the hell…? Are you even human?" I said.
The woman didn't answer my question. Instead, she rushed towards me again and tackled me to the ground. She tried to wrap her hands around my neck, but I placed my foot under her pelvis and threw her over my head. I got up, coughing a bit, as does the girl. She ran towards me again, but this time, I turned my back on her and extended a leg backwards, exploiting the turning momentum to strike the woman in the chest with the sole of my foot, making her stumble back a bit before falling.
"Yes!" I cheered.
When the girl got up again, for some reason, she had a smile on her face. A smirk. Then she charged at me again and slammed into me, and as I fell, she grabbed me and threw me to the ground. However, I managed to stagger to my feet just as the girl was walking away and I started to run towards her. Then I jumped into the air, front flipped and kicked the girl down. When the girl got up once more, I launched a flurry of punches and kicks at her, but she either kept blocking or dodging the attacks.
God, this girl is tough, I thought.
When we broke away, I was panting hard, while the girl didn't break a sweat. The girl then got into a fighting stance and beckoned me to her – like she was saying 'come here' – to which I obliged. I ran quickly at her, ready to clash with her again. But when I got near to her, she jumped into the air and kicked me with one of her feet, then flipped around and kicked me with her other foot, knocking me down.
"Uhn…" I groaned as I lay on the floor. I glanced up to the girl who was now standing over me, raising her fist, made ready to deliver the final strike.
I shut my eyes and braced myself when I heard a voice that said, "That's enough, Ling. You are dismissed."
I opened one of my eyes and looked over to catch Ling dropping her fist and relaxing her hand. She stood back and bowed before me and then she turned and left.
"Huh?" I opened my other eye and sat up. "What the heck just happened?"
"That was quite a fight you put up there with Ling," the voice boomed. I stood up and got into a defensive stance, looking around the room to find out where that voice was coming from. "Relax, I'm not gonna bring her out again to fight you. And neither am I – you look like you would chew me up and spit me out."
I relaxed my body but I remained cautious. "Who was that person you sent to attack me?" I asked.
"That was Ling. She's my android. I built her," the voice replied.
"What? You built an android?"
"Yep. She's an accomplished martial artist. A beautiful, graceful and elegant synthetic organism, yet extremely aggressive, ruthless and fiercely competitive. I just recently finished building her and I wanted to try her out on someone."
"So you chose me?!"
"I wanted to test your skills. I wanted to see if you're still that the girl who kicked those bullies' arses in Oxford Street last week."
I opened my mouth to speak but I froze. "How… how did you know about that?"
"It's all over the Internet. Look." The monitor came on to show me in the alleyway with the thugs. I somersaulted over one of them, and then I was grabbed from behind by another boy. I remembered now – I relaxed my body to let the acne man think that I had given up. Then I smashed my elbow into his face and threw him over my shoulder into the fair boy. The fair boy tried to attack me again, but I swiftly defeated him with a side kick to the face.
"Whoa," I murmured.
"A bystander recorded the whole fight on his phone and uploaded it to YouTube," said the voice, switching off the monitor. "You're somewhat a celebrity there, Miss Brownstone."
"Miss Brownstone? How do you know who I am? In fact, who are you? What is this place? Why am I here?"
"Come on, Jenny, surely you must know who I am." I gave a little shrug. "Duh! I'm Mr. Zed!"
"You… you're Mr. Zed?"
"Hey."
"W-where are you? Are you a computer?"
"I wish! No, I'm just a regular person like you. But I wish to remain anonymous – it makes me mysterious and also very cool."
"What is this place?"
"It's my secret underground base. I do my work on all of my inventions here. As you already know, it's located underneath the house of my parents…"
"You're parents?! How old are you?"
"My age does not concern you. Let me explain myself. Don't interrupt."
Even though I couldn't see Mr. Zed, I flashed an angry scowl, but remained silent.
"Anyway, this base serves as a command centre, where I monitor all crisis points in London and around the world," Mr. Zed continued. "The base features state-of-the-art facilities such as a crime lab, various specialized laboratories, mechanized workshops, personal gymnasium and a library. It also has medical facilities as well as various areas used in training exercises. There are two ways to enter the base – one is to pull a book on a bookshelf in my room and it will lift me down in high-speed and another is… well, you already know that one."
"So, why am I here?"
"You're here because I want to recruit you."
"Recruit me for what?"
There was a silence. Then Mr. Zed asked, "What would you say if I wanted to recruit you as a hero?"
"A… A hero? What, you mean like Superman?"
"You could say that, but not like Superman. You'll be a something like a crime-fighter. One who's adventurous like Lara Croft, agile like Catwoman, tough like Chun-Li from Street Fighter and beautiful like Beyoncé."
"I would ask if this was a dream, but I did get a kicking from your robot, so I'd have to ask if you're high."
"OK, one, Ling is not a robot, she's an android. And two, I am 100% serious."
"But why me?"
"For the past few months, I've been looking for someone who's athletic, quick and has a strong sense of justice, as well as protecting the innocent, and you, Miss Brownstone, seem to fit the bill."
"Because of what I did to your robo–, I mean android and those idiotic hoodlums?"
"You've proven to me that you are an exceptional fighter. I mean, who taught you those moves?"
I blushed. "I taught myself since I was seven. Since the days of Jackie Chan films and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I trained myself in various fighting styles and acrobatics such as karate and taekwondo. I also did Tae Bo in college."
"See? You're obviously a highly disciplined, seasoned, and courageous person, which is why I want to recruit you. I can train you to becoming an even more accomplished fighter."
"An even more accomplished fighter, huh? Hmmmm. What's in it for me?"
"Like I said on the letter, you'll be paid very handsomely – for training and any mission that you take on. On top of that, you'll be given high-tech gadgets designed by yours truly, a sleek and very sexy outfit along with mask to disguise your identity and of course two weeks paid holiday and one full weekend off a month."
I stood silent for a moment. "Wo-wow. I mean… wow. This-this-this… this is very tempting work. But how am I supposed to explain this to my folks."
"You won't. This has to a secret kept between us. No-one else must know what you're really doing."
"So, what am I supposed to tell my family? I can't exactly walk through my front door with cuts and bruises can I?"
"You'll tell them that you have volunteered to work aboard. The company who hired you will pay for food, accommodation, medical insurance and any other stuff."
"So, I'll be spending the next twelve months living here? How will you explain this to your parents?"
"You leave the explanations to me. My question to you is do you want this?"
This was a hard choice to make. If I say yes, not only did I have to lie to my family but I wouldn't see them again for twelve months. However, if I say no, then I would how to spend the next twelve months either looking for work or work in some small, stuffy office with some miserly git as my boss.
Decisions, decisions…
"Miss Brownstone? Have you made a decision?" Mr. Zed asked.
After another minute of silence, I smiled. "So when do we get started?"
And so for the next twelve months, I began my training. I studied and trained myself in different styles of fighting, including judo, ninjutsu, aikido, savate, various styles of kung fu, and boxing. I also trained in gymnastics and advanced acrobatics, developing my speed and strength, agility, and endurance, proportionate to a cat. As well as training in martial arts, I became an expertise in small arms and firearms and trained myself to becoming a marksman. Also, during my time at Mr. Zed's, I learnt how to drive – not only with the car, but with the motorbike, jet, helicopter and speedboat. I also learnt several languages while I stay at Mr. Zed's – French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese. The only times I didn't need to train was my birthday, Christmas, Easter and the days where I trained myself into exhaustion and had to rest for a few days. There are days when it wasn't training. There would be times where I would relax, have a swim in Mr. Zed's pool, shop around the town and of course getting a portfolio together for university – I wanted to study illustration and graphic design.
Anyway, after months and months and months of training, Mr. Zed wanted to put my new abilities to the test. I remember that night like it was yesterday. It was an August night, 2009. The stars were out and there was a bright half-moon. And though the night was warm, eddies of cold air rolled off me whilst I stalked the city of London on my Jetpack Backpack, in my new catsuit, mask and cat ears. Suddenly, I received word from Mr. Zed via watch communicator that there was a robbery taking place in Knightsbridge – my very first mission. I flew over to the jewellery store as quickly as I could. But when I got to the shop, the door was wide open and the shop was empty. The display cases had been smashed opened – the jewellery had been swiped.
"Mr. Zed, the robbers have already left – and they've taken the gems," I told him on the communicator.
"Just give me a sec, Jen. I'm trying to see if there's a tracking device attached to any of the jewellery cases," he said. I could hear typing in the background. "Aha! Gotcha. All right, Jen, I've got those little slime bags. They're at Kensington Gardens – by the Physical Energy Statue."
"On it." I activated the Jetpack and flew over to the Gardens.
Once there, I landed in some nearby trees not too far from where the robbers were. There were two of them, dressed head to toe in black, leaning against the plinth of the statue, catching their breath, with two bags filled with the stolen jewellery. I moved swiftly and silently, using the shadows of the trees to conceal myself.
When I got near to them, I said, "If you know what's good for you, you'll return those gems."
"Huh? Who said that? Show yourself!" said the robber with long hair. I stepped out of the shadows. When he saw me, his eyes bugged in astonishment. "Hey! Who the hell are you?"
I smirked at the man. "I'm the Cat – the fiendishly feisty heroine who's about to kick your butts if you two jerks don't return those gems."
The two men stared at me – then busted out laughing.
"What a joke! A fiendishly feisty heroine? You're nothing but a stupid, silly girl," said the burly robber. "There's emphasis on the stupid because your maths is a little off. In case you haven't noticed, there's one of you and two of us."
"I make that Pimm's o'clock. But rather than serving you a glass of fruit cup, you two are gonna get a tall glass of kick-ass," I said, getting into a fighting stance.
"We'll see about that, Little Miss Kitty."
He lunged at me then, but I jumped up and kicked him in the face, and sent him sprawling backwards to the ground. He got again and rushed towards me; however, I grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground, causing him to gasp. He fumbled clumsily at his pocket. I caught a glimmer of light on steel as he tried to slash me with his knife. But I kicked the blade out of the brawny robber's hand and kicked him in the face. He grunted and rolled out of my reach.
I sensed movement. I looked up to see the long-haired robber tackle me to the ground, pinning me under him. While he rested his foreman onto my neck to choke me, I pinned my hand on the ground. Then I put one leg firmly on the ground, pushed off of it, and swung my hips over. With a good amount of pointedness, I was on top of the long-haired robber and socked him. I scrambled onto my feet and rushed over to the bag of gems. But before I could pick them up, I felt an arm wrapping itself round my neck, trying to choke me.
"Looks like your nine lives have just run out," said the long-haired man, wrapping his arm tightly around my neck.
That's what he thought. I brought the ball of my foot forward, as if I just kicked a football, and fast and forcefully, I slammed my foot into the area of his leg between his ankle and mid-leg, breaking his leg.
"Ah, my leg!" he yelled, immediately letting go of me. He grabbed me again, but I wriggled myself free from his grasp and threw him hard against a tree, instantly knocking him out cold.
I heard the bulky robber stirring behind me. He had regained consciousness and staggered to his feet. He was coming at me with the knife, but I swiftly snatched the weapon out of his hand. The movement was so fast; my black-gloved hand was a blur.
The burly robber stared a moment in amazement at his suddenly empty hand. Then, uttering a cry of rage, he rushed at me. I made a quick slash with the knife. The clothes of the man fell apart, leaving him in only his red-and-white Snoopy boxers. The robber looked down at his semi-naked self and screamed a girlish scream, covering his shorts. He looked up at me and with a smirk; I punched him hard across the face. The blow stunned him and he fell back to the ground, rendering him unconscious.
"And that's the end of that," I said to myself, dusting off my hands.
In the distance I heard sirens and saw the flashes of blue lights. The police had arrived. I grabbed the legs of the semi-naked robber and dragged him to the statue. I did the same to his partner. Then I tied them both up with rope. I could hear footsteps and low voices approaching. I quickly took out a small piece of paper and pencil and wrote a note to the police.
To all you Mr. Policemen! I captured the jewellery robbers for you! Love, the Cat. XOXO.
I placed the note next to the robbers and took off. Looking down below, I saw the look on the policemen's faces and heard the exclamations of confusion as they saw the robbers.
"Tee hee," I giggled and I flew off. I landed on the roof of a nearby building and contacted Mr. Zed. "Mr. Zed? The mission was a success. The robbers have been caught."
"Well done, Jen!" he praised. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel good! No, not good – I feel… exhilarated. What a rush! I can still feel the adrenaline course through my veins. This is the most amazing experience I've ever done since I rode the Colossus roller coaster in Thorpe Park. I've never been so thrilled in my life. I can't wait to do more of these missions!"
"Good. Because believe me, Jen, there's plenty more where that came from."
"Then I say bring it on!"
And from that day, the Cat was born.
Whatever the case, you would guarantee that I would be there to solve it. From world domination plans to mass mayhem, I would always be there to combat crime and diffuse humanitarian crises all over London as the mysterious feline heroine, the Cat.