(Jenny's POV)
The team and I arrive at Professor Felyne's house about twenty minutes later. But when we land outside her gate, a little doubt creeps into my mind as we stare at the double-fronted detached bungalow.
It looks messy – not to mention kind of… empty. The old tiles on the roof are stained, chipped or missing. One of the windows is cracked while another is boarded over. And as for the front lawn… the lawn is medium-sized and desolate and overgrown, with weeds and grass that badly need to be mowed.
"The house is so run-down," I murmur.
"Er, Rose? Are you sure this is the right place?" Carrie asks.
"I'm positive," she replies. "She has no forwarding address. And all her relatives have either passed away or live aboard."
"What about her friends?" Oscar asks.
Rose shakes her head. "She doesn't have any. She usually keeps to herself."
"Well, this makes our jobs easier," I say. "Right, let's get this over with."
I reach out to open the gate… only for it to hang off from its hinges and fall to the ground. I let out a sigh of annoyance but the team and I go through the gate and walk down the stony path, and we struggle through the weeds and tall grasses that seem to cling onto us, struggling our way to the front door.
I start to knock on the door but, to my surprise, see that it's open a few inches. I peer in through the crack. It's dark inside.
I push the front door open a bit wider. The door squeaks as I push it. I step into the hall. The team follow and Rose shuts the door behind her. We're standing in the small hallway where there are lots of photographs of cats hanging on both sides of the walls – bicolour cats, black cats, calico cats, tabby cats, tortoiseshell cats, and kittens. On their own or in a group, each one framed.
"OK," Carrie says slowly. "It's obvious that we're dealing with a…" She makes a circling motion of her index finger at her head signifying that Professor Felyne has a screw loose.
"What makes you think she's crazy?" Rose asks. "Maybe she likes pictures of cats."
"Whatever."
"Let's, er, let's just see what we can find," I say.
We split up to explore the bungalow. I head to the dining room on my right. One of the windows is boarded up and the curtains to the other is drawn so it's quite dark in the room, but I can still see that it's furnished with a table made of polished wood with six chairs arranged along the sides and ends of the table, and a display cabinet, all very expensive-looking.
I leave the dining room and enter the kitchen opposite. This room is brighter since the sun is pouring in through the window.
My eyes light upon the sink, piled high with dirty, white china dishes and bowls. Then I see bags and bags of dry cat food and an excessive amount of canned cat food and tuna on the counter. I go over to the fridge and open it, and I find that it's filled with cartons of milk and bottles of whipped cream.
"OK – weird," I say, closing the fridge.
Then I quickly walk through the short hallway and into the bedroom, where Rose is. The room has cream-coloured walls and a mid-grey carpet. There's a large wardrobe in one corner next to a small, expensive-looking table and chair and there is a double bed against the opposite wall, covered with the thickest duvet I have ever seen. Then I see the posters on the wall. Hello Kitty. Tom Cat from Tom & Jerry. Sylvester from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Garfield. Even Nyan Cat!
"Still don't think she's crazy?" I ask Rose as she stares.
"Maybe… maybe she's just getting in touch with her inner child," she tries to explain.
"Uh-huh. Let's go and get the others."
Rose and I leave the bedroom to find Oscar in the study nearby. The room is the size of a box, containing a desk with a lamp, a swivel chair, a computer, a bookshelf, a brown couch, and a drawing board. Oscar is searching through the books and paperwork to see what he can find.
"Anything?" Rose asks.
"Nothing," says Oscar, shaking his head. "I hacked into her computer, but Professor Felyne seems to have deleted everything. The only things there are pictures and videos of cats."
"There's nothing in the longue either," says Carrie, coming up to us from behind. "Other than the pictures of cats hanging on the wall, the porcelain figurines of cats and the stone ornaments of cats in the garden…"
"OK, OK!" says Rose, admitting defeat. "It… it may be obvious that Professor Felyne is a little bit obsessed with cats…"
"A little bit? The woman is crazy for cats! She's a crazy cat lady. Her surname is even called feline – except the 'i' is a 'y'. I'm surprised that she's not living in Catford."
"Look, rather than standing here talking about Professor Felyne's fascination about cats, we should head back to HQ and figure out where else she could be," says Oscar.
"Oscar's right," I say. "The sooner we find her, the sooner we can stop her from giving the Grandmaster the file that she stole."
As we walk out of the study and head for the front door, a thought occurs to me.
"Doesn't it seem strange that she loves cats yet I haven't seen one around?" I ask. "I was in the kitchen earlier and there is enough cat food and milk and whipped cream to feed all the cats in this town and the next – but there is no cat flap in the side door by the window, or cat bowls for that matter."
"Maybe she's allergic to them," says Rose.
"Maybe." Though I'm not entirely convinced.
"Hey, guys! Check this out!" Carrie calls.
We take a few steps backwards to see her standing in front of an open cupboard… that has a secret staircase!
"How this you find this place, Carrie?" Oscar asks.
"I saw that the door was slightly open so I went to investigate," she explains. "Then when I found out it was just an ordinary cupboard, I leaned back against the wall, and the floor in the cupboard slid back, revealing the staircase."
Rose goes to the framed photo of a cat and her kittens and removes the picture… to reveal a red control switch in the wall.
"The secret passage must have been used as a bomb shelter during the Second World War," she deduces.
"You don't suppose Professor Felyne's hiding down there, do you?" says Carrie, pointing to the opening in the cupboard floor.
"There's only one way to find out," I say, and walk down the stony staircase. The team follow close behind me. When we reach the bottom of the stairs, we find something that takes us by surprise.
It's a lab! A secret lab – located under Professor Felyne's bungalow. The lab features all the technological pieces, the heart of the laboratory. There's a work station and some computers, and a table with various chemicals and paperwork on it. The room also includes a bookshelf, a desk with a lamp, and some whimsical chairs such as an animal-print ottoman, topped with a fuchsia faux-fur cover, a shoe-shaped chair and a lip-shaped chaise. A large barred cage is at the back of the room. Hanging from the ceiling is a large lamp.
The team follow me into the room. We glance around over every object, every piece of furniture.
"Can you believe this?" says Oscar.
"I think we've found where Professor Felyne's being hiding," I say.
Rose makes her way to the table examining the chemicals in their test tubes and beakers. She looks over at the paperwork. "Guys, look at this," she says.
We hurry over to her.
"What is it?" I ask.
"This is the file that Professor Felyne stole last night," says Rose. "Look – there's the corporate design on the letterhead." She points to the heading at the top of the paper she's holding.
Carrie takes one of the papers to see for herself. "I wonder what Professor Felyne was working on?"
"Something that's gonna change the world – and not in a good way."
"Hey, take a look at this," says Oscar. He shows us a photograph that has been crumpled up. The face is scribbled all over with a pen, but I can still make out the features.
The photograph is of a plain-looking woman in her thirties with healthy looking and slightly freckled skin, and light brown eyes. She has thick reddish-brown hair that reaches to her lower shoulders styled in a low braid and tied with black ribbons. The woman is wearing a white lab coat, a pink blouse and black cerebral round glasses.
"That must be Professor Felyne," I realise.
"She's a bit of a nerdy Plain Jane, isn't she?" says Carrie. "Sorry, sorry!" she hurriedly adds when Rose shoots her a fierce look.
"I wonder why she scribbled her own photograph," I puzzle.
As I speak, we hear something flit across the room behind us.
"What was that?" Oscar asks.
We whirl around but there's no-one there!
"Do you ever get that creepy feeling that we're being watched?" says Carrie.
We hear the something growling.
We freeze.
We hear the click of claws on the floor.
The team and I go into fighting poses, ready to take down whoever it is creeping up on us.
With a mew, the creature springs through the darkness. We glimpse black fur, golden eyes, pointed ears and a long tail.
"Nya," the creature mews.
"A cat!" Rose points out in a whisper. "It's just a cat!"
We relax our bodies and utter a relieved sigh. Only a cat.
"Thank God for that, eh?" I say, shaking my head and raising a hand to my heart.
"Nyaoo!" the cat meows.
"Aw, it's so cute!" says Carrie. She goes over to the cat and crouches down. "Hello, kitty kitty. Aren't you adorable?"
The cat meows in response. Suddenly the cat opens its mouth and releases a pale tan-coloured mist from its mouth at us.
"Hey, what the… h-hell…?" I suddenly feel faint. My legs turn to jelly and begin to buckle. I drop to my knees and fall to the ground with a thud. I hear the others drop to ground with a dull, heavy sound.
As I feel myself drifting off, the last thing I see is a pair of legs stepping out of the shadows. And even though my vision is blurry, I see that the legs look furry – and orange.
That is… so… weird…
xxoOoxx
"Urrrnn…" I come to. Or do I? I don't know whether I'm awake or asleep now. Only that I'm still in Professor Felyne's underground bunker, in the cage, tied to a post that's covered in rough material, and it's itching against my back. "Oh God," I moan, feeling a bit dizzy.
"Mmm…?"
I glance around to see Rose, Oscar and Carrie are awake – though they look a bit woozy. They too are tied to posts.
"Huh…? What's going on?" Rose asks groggily.
"Ah, I see that you're all awake. Nyan," says a voice.
"All right, Professor, where are you? Show yourself!" Oscar shouts.
"Oooh, aren't you a bit touchy?" Professor Felyne says mockingly. "But I do love a man who's feisty and aggressive. You really are the cat's meow." The professor steps out of the shadows, holding the black cat that knocked us out in her arms. "As am I. Nyan."
"Oh, my God," Rose says in shock – we all are. Her appearance – her physical appearance – is distinctly cat-like.
A thick, sleek coat of orange fur with dark orange stripes covers her entire body. She has pointed ears; sharper-than-normal teeth with pronounced upper and lower canines, eyes that have now gone from brown to green are enlarged irises and vertically slit pupils, and claws on her feet and hands instead of nails. Professor Felyne also has a long tail. Her hair is now loose and hanging over her shoulders, and her clothes are tattered. Her light blue shirt has been converted to a customized crop top, showing off her flat stomach and her black trousers are now a pair of tatty shorts. She's also not wearing her glasses. She now looks more attractive and feminine than the plain and timid person that I saw in the photograph.
"Allow me to introduce myself," she says. "The name's Catherine Felyne. My friends call myee Catty. At least they would if I had any friends. And this little fella right here is Mr. Meowington. He's the sweet little guy that knocked you guys out. Isn't he a cutie?" Then she starts to cuddle the cat. "Aren't you a cutie, Mr. Meowington? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. You are, my cute little robot kitty!"
"Prrrr," the cat purrs.
"Carrie, you were right – Professor Felyne is crazy," says Rose.
"A crazy cat lady," Carrie adds.
"You better watch yourself, girlie," says the professor. "My claws and teeth are sufficiently strong to puncture sheet steel. Imagine what it can do to that pretty face of yours."
Carrie flashes the professor an angry scowl.
"So, Professor, how did you become this… this… this?" Oscar asks, not knowing how to finish the sentence.
"It happened two months ago," Professor Felyne reveals. "I was a research scientist at Globodex Research Institute, exploring the possibilities of enhancing humyan capabilities with animal characteristics. I was excited by the potential of my research, but without sufficient funding to continue, I was forced to use myself as a test subject, and transformed myself into a humyan-cat hybrid. I hoped to prove the value of my work, but instead made myself an outcast.
"At first I was insecure over my transformation and resented my outcast status… but then over the weeks, I learned that due to genetic alteration of my DNA, I now possess several cat-like abilities. Of these are enhanced strength, speed, and agility. I also possess highly advanced senses. They are about ten times as keen as an average humyan's, and about five times that of an average cat's. My eyesight extends into the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. I have superhumyan visual acuity. My vertically-slit pupils allow a greater range of vision above and below myee, which allows myee to more easily detect the movements of an opponent. With my highly developed sense of smell, I can selectively sort through various odours so as to follow a quarry's trail. I can detect subtle alterations in the composition of perspiration that reflect mood or emotions, and I'm highly sensitive to pheromones. And my hearing is sufficiently acute as to detect a sound pressure level change from four decibels to six dB at a range of forty feet. You should know that I don't intend on giving this Grandmaster fellow the formula of the transformation."
"So what are you going to do?" Rose asks.
"Simple – I intend to release a toxic cloud, causing all humyans to turn to a cat-hybrid, like myee."
"What?!" we exclaim in disbelief.
"Oh yes, dearies." The professor uses her tail to grasp one of the round-bottom flasks on the table. The liquid in the flask is purple-blue colour. "And here is the serum that will do the job. I call it the Cat Serum. It may not look much, but when I pour the liquid in my specially designed generator, it will release a gaseous cloud that will turn the humyan race into cat cross-species. Nyan nyan!"
"You're not gonna get away with this, Professor!" I say.
"Er, I think you'll find that I am and will. Now if you don't mind, this little kitty's gotta make tracks. But not before I leave you with a little playmate." Professor Felyne picks up a remote control and presses a button. I hear a door opening. I glance around and to my left is not a 'little playmate'… but a large tiger!
"Argh!" the team cry.
"Jesus Christ!" I exclaim, wide-eyed.
"Grrr," growls the tiger.
"I'll leave you to it," Professor Felyne smirks. She turns and heads for the stairs. Then she stops and adds, "Oh, by the way, I didn't have time to feed Snagglepuss today. Enjoy." And with that, Professor Felyne and her robot cat go upstairs and out the house, leaving the team and me with Snagglepuss the tiger.
"Grrr…" Snagglepuss snarls, moving slowly towards us.
"Oh God," Carrie whispers, "how are we going to get out of this one?"
"I… I have no idea," Rose whispers back, absolutely terrified. And I can't blame her. We're all frozen to the spot.
"Well, we better think of something quick," Oscar murmurs. "Because I really, really don't want to be mauled to death by a big, man-eating cat from Bengal."
I gasp. "Oscar, that's it!" I say, forgetting to whisper.
"GWAH!" Snagglepuss roars, making me jump, but I quickly compose myself.
"Guys, you've got to remember that it's just a cat," I say quietly. "And do you know what cats like to play with?"
"I think this one wants to play with my throat!" Carrie hisses.
"No – balls!" I reach to one of the cartridges on my utility belt and pour some of the Mini Bombs that Frank gave to me on the start of the mission. Then I gently toss the Mini Bombs at Snagglepuss' feet.
The tiger stares at the metallic balls for a few moments, and then he starts to fiddle and play with the balls.
"That's it, Snagglepuss," I murmur. "Keep playing with the small, exploding balls."
And that's what Snagglepuss does. He keeps playing with the balls – until one of the balls hits another and they explode with a loud bang.
"GROAR!" the tiger roars loudly.
"I think you've made him mad," says Rose.
And she's not wrong! Snagglepuss has a menacing look in his eyes. And with an angry snarl, the tiger springs towards us – his outstretched claws reaching for us.
"Aaaggghhh!" the team screams – but I'm not ready to die yet! I throw more of the Mini Bombs at Snagglepuss. They explode like firecrackers against the tiger's fur.
"Roar… Ro-aaa-rrr… Rooo-aaaa-rrrr…" Snagglepuss growls lowly. Then the tiger retreats to the cave that it came out from.
Struggling to catch my breath, I gaze at the cave, wondering if the tiger will come out again. My entire body is trembling. The bunker appears to tilt and sway.
A close one.
"Jenny, you did it! You saved us!" Carrie says triumphantly.
"Yeah – for now," Oscar says anxiously. "There's still the matter of getting out of these ropes and out of the cage!"
"Don't worry, I've got it covered." I extrude the Feline Fight Claws from my right glove and I slice through the ropes – carefully without injuring myself. Once I'm free from my bonds, I free the others using the same tactics – again, carefully without slashing them.
After I free them, I quickly head to the door of the cage and slice the chains. Then I burst out through the cage door. The team are right behind me. Oscar tosses to me a large padlock and I use it to lock the cage.
"Oh, my God," Carrie says breathlessly. "That was… that was close."
"Too close," Rose adds.
"Right," I start, "now that we're officially out of danger, we have to stop Professor Felyne from releasing that chemical cloud – that's if she hasn't done it already. Question is where could she be releasing it from?"
"It'll have to be somewhere with a tall structure," says Oscar.
"What about the Shard?" Carrie says. "It's the tallest building in London."
"Then that's where we'll head," I say. "Let's roll."
Rose, Carrie, Oscar and I hurry out of the bunker and out of the house. We activate out jet-propelled accessories and we take off – heading for the Shard.
xxoOoxx
About twenty minutes later we arrive at the Shard. And like Carrie guessed, Professor Felyne is there. We see that she's making final preparations to the generator. Well I say generator, it's a fog machine, basically. Anyway as we approach her, the professor's ears start to swivel. She whirls around. Her eyes widen.
"You!" she cries. "How did you escape Snagglepuss?"
"Like all big cats," says Carrie as we land, "Snagglepuss just needed a bit of taming."
Professor Felyne lets out an angry snarl.
"All right, Professor," I say, pointing at her, "step away from the people-turning-cat-hybrid machine and nobody gets hurt!"
"Never!" she hisses. "In less than ten minutes when I release the gas, I will make all the citizens in London humyan-cat hybrids like myee! Nyan!"
"Fine. Have it your way! Don't say I didn't warn you. Come on, spies, let's take out this cat monster."
We hurtle towards the professor, ready to take her out.
Professor Felyne growls. "I'll teach you to call myee a monster," she exclaims. "Get them, Mr. Meowington!"
"Nyaaaah!" the cat screeches, springing into action and blocking our path. He pulls back his lips and bares his pointy teeth at us. Suddenly, Mr. Meowington's eyes flash yellow. He then fires two yellow beams from his eyes at us.
With a gasp, the team and I activate our jetpacks and jump out of the way of the beams. Mr. Meowington continues to shoot beams from his eyes, while we continue to keep dodging them.
"What is it with everyone trying to shoot us down today?!" I cry as I do a flip to avoid another beam being fired at me.
"How are we going to stop this robo-cat?" Oscar asks after he ducks his head. "I don't think I can keep this up for long!"
"Hey – I think I may have something… whoa!" Carrie assumes a split position while still in the air as a beam goes between her legs. "Jen, do you still have some of the Mini Bombs left?"
"I may have a couple," I say, and then I leap out of the way from another beam.
"OK, follow my lead. Oi, Meowington – is that the best you've got? My grandma can throw better than you – and she's got arthritis!"
"Yeah, come on, robo-cat! Come up here and show us what you've got!" Oscar heckles.
We continue to taunt and jeer at the robot cat with insulting remarks, angering him more and more.
"Don't listen to them, Mr. Meowington," says Professor Felyne. "They're just trying to tick you off!"
But the cat just ignores his mistress' instructions.
"Come on, you pussy," I jeer. "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" I blow a raspberry at the cat.
I think I may have hit a sore spot because as I blew the raspberry, the robot cat utters a shrill angry hiss and starts to wall-jump – using the spires as leverage – towards us.
"Stand back, guys. And get ready, Jen," Carrie instructs.
We do what she says and take a few paces back. I take out the last remaining Mini Bombs and get ready for what Carrie wants me to do. Just then, the cat bounces off the top spire from the building and springs through the air – his outstretched metal claws reaching for Carrie's throat.
"I can't watch!" says Rose, covering her eyes.
I can – Oscar too. We watch as the robot cat is a short distance away from Carrie – and she performs a powerful upward kick, sending the droid flying.
"Now!" Carrie tells me.
I throw the Mini Bombs at Mr. Meowington as soon as it falls to my eye level. As the bombs hit the robot cat, they explode with a boom!
"No! Mr. Meowington!" I hear Professor Felyne scream as flaming debris fall to the streets below.
"Nice going, Jen," says Oscar, coming up to me and Carrie.
"It was all Carrie's idea – you should be thanking her," I tell him.
"It was nothing," she says, earning a pat on the back by me and Oscar.
"I hate to break up this party," Rose interjects, "but we've got a crazy cat lady to stop."
"Then what are we waiting for?" I say. "Let's do this!"
We land at the top of the building again to face Professor Felyne – and she is furious! She's breathing hard. Her tail switching back and forth. She gets on all fours, and makes herself appear more impressive and threatening by raising her fur, arching her back, and turning sideways, preparing to spring.
"You little brats are gonna pay for what you did to my pussy!" she snarls.
I bite the inside of my cheeks to stop myself from laughing. You've got to admit that what Professor Felyne said is quite funny.
I'm not laughing any more when she springs towards us – but we manage to jump out of the way.
Professor Felyne skids to a halt and letting out a furious hiss, she springs again – this time, towards me. Her claws come out and she's ready to take a swipe at me, but I suck in my stomach and arch my back upwards, avoiding her sharp claws. She tries again – this time for the face, but I lean back, narrowing missing the tips.
"Now it's my turn!" I try to swing a punch at her, however she ducks her head and I miss. I swing my fist at her again, but Professor Felyne dodges the punch – again.
"Ergh…!" I launch a flurry of punches which move faster than the eye can see at the professor – but she keeps dodging them.
She's just too fast for me. Damn her catlike agility and reflexes.
I try once again to swing my arm at her, but Professor Felyne blocks my fist with one hand and uses her other hand to grab my throat and lifts me up. I can feel her claws digging into my neck – that's gonna leave some marks. I feel like that I'm going to pass out when the professor finally let's go of me – by tossing me against one of the spires.
"Uhh…" I groan. Even though I'm aching all over and a bit dizzy from almost being choked to death, I manage to get up to see Rose, Oscar and Carrie doing as bad as I was.
They try to throw punches and kicks, but that damned professor keeps dodging or blocking the attacks – all at once! After Professor Felyne knocks the team back, I can see on the teams' faces that they're going to attack at once – but the professor has gotten wind of this. As the team go for her, Professor Felyne flips over into a double-handed handstand, and does a split. She then twirls her upside-down body and attacks, with her legs like helicopter blades, kicking Rose, Oscar and Carrie and knocking them to the ground.
"Arrgh! I've had just about enough of you, Professor!" Carrie shouts, clearly getting frustrated. She gets up and rushes over to the professor and tries to attack her, but Professor Felyne performs an agile flip over Carrie and attacks her from behind by kicking her in the stomach as soon as she spins around. Then she grabs Carrie and tosses her against the spires not far from where I am.
"Carrie!" I exclaim, rushing over to her.
"I'm OK…" she croaks – even though she's not.
I look up to see Rose clash with the professor – and she's bit successful in her attack. She performs a cartwheel kick and uppercuts the professor, knocking her off her feet. Professor Felyne scrambles onto her feet and with an angry hiss; she jumps away from Rose, then kick-jumps from the edge of the roof, launches herself into the air and aims a flying kick at Rose. She then knees Rose in the stomach and performs a spin kick which sends her flying to the spire that I was tossed to.
"I'm coming, Rose!" I say, running over to her. I lift her up and carry her over to Carrie.
After I lay Rose down, I glance up to see Oscar raise his hand, his fist clenching and runs towards Professor Felyne – but she jumps onto him, knocking him to the ground on his back. She then punches him twice, before jumping back up and kicking him in the crotch, sending him sliding across the ground towards me, Rose and Carrie.
"Oh, God! Oscar!" Carrie cries, kneeling beside him.
"Nyaaah, hah-hah-hah-hah!" Professor Felyne laughs. "Face it, you brats can't defeat myee! So you might as well just give up! Hah-hah-hah, haha, ha, hyaah!"
I kneel beside Oscar. "Oscar. Oscar, are you all right?" I ask – stupid question.
"No," he squeaks, clutching himself. "She… she's too fast…"
"Not to mention strong," Carrie adds. "There's no way we can keep up with her. We have to find a way to stop her."
"And quick," I add. "Before she turns everyone in London into cat people."
"There may be a way to stop Professor Felyne," Rose murmurs, staring down at Oscar's hand. I look down, and see that he's wearing the Sonic Devastator Mobile Phone Ring.
"Oh!" I suddenly realize. "You mean the…?"
"Shh! Professor Felyne will hear." Rose says it so quietly that I can barely hear her. "The professor's hearing is greatly enhanced, allowing her to hear a wider range of frequencies than a normal human as well as clearly hear sounds that would be far too faint for a human to detect."
"So exposure to intense, high-frequency sounds will be far more painful for the professor than a normal human," Oscar whispers.
"Exactly."
"Not us, though," Carrie says quietly. "Not when we'll be wearing the… you know."
"Hmm," I say. "OK, spies, let's end this."
I help Rose onto her feet and Carrie helps Oscar to his. We take out our Sound Dampening Headphones from our backpacks and put them on.
"I see that you brats are thirsty for more of my arse-whooping." Professor Felyne smirks. "Any last words before I take you down once and for all?"
"Yes – although my last words are actually numbers," I say. "Six, seven, two."
The professor frowns. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means this!" Oscar presses the 6, 7, and 2 buttons on the phone ring and stretches his arm out horizontally. Then the ring emits supersonic waves, distorting the air.
"Uhh… what is that?" Professor Felyne (faintly) cries, holding her ears in pain. "Uhhh, it's deafening…! Stop it, stop it!"
The ring continues to emit an earsplitting screech. Even though, I'm wearing the Sound Dampening Headphones, I can feel the vibrations of the phone ring rumble like a tumble dryer through me. I turn to the fog machine that Professor Felyne set up shatter and smash into smithereens – along with the liquid formula inside.
I turn back to Oscar and tug his jacket. I signal for him to turn off the Sonic Devastator Mobile Phone Ring.
As Oscar switches off the phone ring, Professor Felyne staggers backwards – towards the edge of the roof!
"Uh-oh…" says Oscar.
"Get her!" Rose tells us.
We run over to the professor to pull her in, but…
"Unnnh…" Professor Felyne moans as she loses consciousness… and falls off the building!
"Oh no!" Carrie cries.
"I've got this!" I take off my Sound Dampening Headphone and I jump off the roof and dive down towards Professor Felyne. While diving, I activate my Rocket Go-Go Boots and I force myself to swoop down at the professor at a fast speed. I keep going until I'm close enough to the professor and I seize her in my arms, catching her 'bride over the threshold' style. After I catch her, I skid to a halt mid-air and I shoot upwards, carrying the professor to the roof.
"Phew!" says Rose when I land. "Thank goodness, you caught Professor Felyne."
"That's the second time you caught someone falling from the sky," says Carrie.
"Just call me Supergirl," I say with a smile.
After we have a good laugh, the team and I take Professor Felyne and the ruined machine down to the bottom of the Shard.
Fifteen minutes later, an MI9 van arrives at our location to take (the still unconscious) Professor Felyne and the machine away. Though the professor is unconscious, the agents place steel restrains on her, get her in the van and drive off.
"Well, other than the disoriented, nauseated and unconscious people within a one mile radius and millions of pounds worth of windows shattered, I'd say it's mission accomplished," I say.
"One of the agents said that the scientists at MI9 will work on an antidote to turn Professor Felyne back into a human again," Rose tells us. "He's also sending some agents to the professor's house to collect and seal away her formula so she or anyone else can't ever use it."
"That's a relief," says Carrie. "Anyway, now that we've saved London once again, how about we get back to St Hope's and par-tay?"
"Yeah… I don't know about you, Carrie, but after the beating I got from Professor Cat Woman, I've decided that I might give the party a miss," says Oscar.
"Me too," says Rose. "I'm too exhausted."
"As am I – not to mention battered and bruised," I agreed. I let out a yawn and stretch. I wince as I'm sore all over. "I wonder what excuse Frank told Aunt Hermione about our absence."
"He could've used the Hologram Projecting Earrings and created holographic versions of us," says Oscar.
"So the holograms are having a better time at the party than we are – and we only lasted five minutes. Oh well, let's get back to school and nurse our injuries."
After we activate our Jetpack Backpacks – and my Rocket Go-Go Boots – we shoot up to the skies and head back to St Hope's.
(Frank's POV)
It's been nearly an hour since I spoke to Jenny and the team. I hope they're all right. Of course they're all right – they're spies after all. Still, I better contact them to make sure. I slip away quietly out of the hall and head for the broom cupboard.
Besides, I'm getting quite bored of standing around while everyone is having a good time. I mean, the party isn't all that bad – Mr. Flatley is inventing a whole new dance style of his own and even Mrs King is lightening up. Maybe it's because Jenny isn't by my side. The holographic version of Jenny is here, but she's not really my Jenny, is she?
Anyway, after I reach the storage cupboard, run my thumbprint on the panel and enter the cupboard, I pull the mop handle and let the lift take me down to HQ. But when the doors roll open and I exit the elevator, I'm startled to see Oscar, Carrie and Rose are in HQ – sitting by the computers, looking a bit exhausted.
Oscar is the first to see me. "Oh, hey, Frank," he says.
Rose and Carrie look up. "Hi," they say.
"Team… you're back," I say, walking up to them.
"Yeah, about fifteen minutes ago," says Rose.
"Sorry we didn't tell you when we got back," says Carrie. "But Professor Felyne gave us a right beating, so we've being relaxing and licking our wounds down here. Don't worry; the professor is in MI9 custody."
"Oh, OK." Then it comes to me. "Um, where's Jenny?"
"I swear to God, there isn't enough concealer in the world to cover up what Professor Crazy Cat Lady did to my neck!"
I spin around. Jenny has just come from the interrogation room and is checking the reflection of her neck in her compact. The sides of her neck are covered with small, white dressing.
"I think I've got all the bruises all covered up," she says. She gets a glimpse at me. "Oh! Hi, there. I didn't hear you come in."
"Jen." I go over to her. I examine her neck. "Does it hurt a lot?"
"Nah – it just stings. Still, I'd rather have this then become some bizarre cat-human hybrid."
At my puzzling look, Rose explains that Professor Felyne was going to turn London into cat people by releasing a chemical cloud after she self-experimented on herself and mutated into a half-human-half-cat hybrid.
"Luckily, we stopped Professor Felyne's plans with the help of the Sonic Devastator Mobile Phone Ring," Oscar finishes.
"Well done, team. Good job," I say.
"So…" Carrie starts, "how's the party while we've been away?"
"Hmmmm," I say thoughtfully. "To be honest, it was quite boring, really."
"Oi," says Jenny, giving me a poke in the arm. "You better not say that to Aunt Hermione. She worked really hard organizing it."
"I mean, it was boring without you."
"It was boring without me? How could it be? You had someone that looked like – or in any case, was me – at the party."
"Yeah… but she's not as remarkable as you."
"Oh." Jenny starts to play with the lapels of my jacket. "Is that so?"
"I know so." I slip my arm around her waist and pull her against me. I lean close, and I'm about to kiss her…
"Ahem!"
I stop. For a moment I forgot that Rose, Oscar and Carrie are still here. Jenny and I turn to find Carrie watching us with a look of glee in her eyes. Rose is sitting with her arms folded and a cocked eyebrow, and Oscar is making mock vomit-noises – but I know he's only teasing.
"We are still here, you know," says Rose.
"Unfortunately," Jenny mutters, pulling away from me. Then she says, "So I take it you're not going back upstairs to the party."
"No," I say.
"And I don't feel like going upstairs to party," says Oscar.
The others murmur in agreement.
"So what are going to do for the next couple of hours?" Rose asks.
We ponder.
"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Carrie says excitedly. "We can have our own little party right here!"
"Hey, that's not a bad idea," says Jenny.
Everyone is keen on the idea.
"Great! I'll get some drinks."
Carrie goes to the lab with get some drinks from the fridge, with the hell of Jenny. They come back a few minutes later, Carrie carrying a tray with fives glasses of Coca-Cola. We each take a glass. After takes her glass, she sets the tray on the workstation.
"To Frank and Jenny: You are two very special people who have the good fortune of having found each other. May you share exquisite happiness together all the day of your lives," says Carrie, raising her glass.
"Aaah!" says Jenny. I wrap my arm around her. She fits snugly under my armpit.
"Hear, hear," says Rose and Oscar. Then we clink our glasses and take a sip of our beverages.
"Hey," says Carrie after sipping her drink, "you wouldn't mind telling us the story about how you proposed, Frank. I've been waiting, like, all day to hear it."
"Sure," I say, and I take a seat by the workstation. Jenny is by my side, leaning on the table. And Carrie sits on the floor. After everyone gets comfortable, I begin to tell the team about my proposal that happened over the weekend.