“C'mon Felina,” said Melinda. “End this now. I know you're better than this, and so did The Master from our dojo days. You're a fighter, just like me.”
Gatti hissed. “Do not bring him into this. I'm a soldier now.” She walked away.
“Felina!”
Zap! Another warning blast slammed into the ground, leaving another burned mark.
Just as Gatti left, something released around Melinda's hands and ankles. The bonds were loose, but she made sure to keep her hands and legs together while staying still. The last thing she wanted was for the Orc to get an easy headshot on her. She felt a slight crackle, and a tiny hand touched her own.
“It's me, Adam,” whispered a voice.
Melinda slowly rolled onto her back, keeping the restraints hidden. She didn't feel a Voltfae crushed on her back, which was a very good sign. She could only hope Adam kept himself hidden somehow. She kept quiet for a couple minutes more, until Vadas walked past her.
"How did you do that?" Melinda whispered.
"You mean the cuffs? I went in and modded them. They gave me the circuit designs," Adam whispered.
"Heck..."
"Chloe said she's going to come here in less than five minutes. But I haven't found the bombs, and she needs a distraction. I don't know what to do."
Melinda let it sink in and smiled in a way that exuded youth again.
"Leave that to me, Sparky." Melinda eyed the recruits. "You go get the recruits loose and tell 'em to wait for my signal. How fast can you be?”
“The fastest, I hope.”
“Keep saying that in your head and don't stop, ‘cause I bet there's a bomb trigger out there. I just don't know who has it. We need you at your fastest.”
“Great.” Adam scurried across and got in behind the rock man.
Felina had her hands on her hips and sniffed the air. She slowly made her way towards the big rock guy and reached for her ray pistol.
"Hey Felina, he's outta your league and too much man for you," Melinda called out. Everyone's attention turned to Melinda and then to Gatti, who wore a glare. Vadas armed his ray pistol again, but this time Felina held out her hand.
“Stand down,” said Gatti.
"Sir, can't I just end her already?" he asked.
“She's just trying to provoke us, and that's an order, Ensign.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ya know, I was serious about that offer earlier, Ensign. But you just trapped me in a corner and my instincts took over.”
The recruit with the name “Thomas" on his uniform approached. "What was the offer?"
"I just want outta here. So, I tried to make a cash deal for my freedom. Better keep him, he'd rather stay loyal than to be seen as a traitor, which is kinda ironic if y'all ask me."
Wats walked up and joined Thomas, Vadas, and Gatti. “I make sure my team is taken care of first. I do what I can.” Wats folded his arms and nodded at the ensign in approval.
Thomas grinned. "How much did you offer him exactly?"
"He didn't even bother to hear me out. I was willing to use my entire department's budget. Why? Are you interested in making a deal, Recruit?"
"I might be open to making one."
Vadas raised an eyebrow. “We're expecting Seventy-five million to be split among us and that's still not enough for you?”
"I guess he has a big student loan to pay off," said Melinda.
Thomas laughed. "Everyone's got a price. So, I heard you wounded the orc scout on your own."
"Like I said, he trapped me in a corner. What was I supposed to do?"
A spike shot out from Thomas's hand, and Melinda rolled in time to dodge. Thomas smirked. "You also have better reflexes than the average Puman."
Melinda sat up. "Yeowlll. You ain't no recruit."
"No. But your reputation precedes you."
Melinda glanced down to her lap where her hands were, fully exposed and separated. The wrist restraints that had been on her were now on the floor next to her. She gulped and shrugged. "Maybe, I got superpowers or somethin'?"
"You don't." Wats' hands sparkled as the rest of his team pulled out their pistols, all aimed at Melinda.
Melinda raised her hands in surrender. "All right, all right, ya got me. I picked at the locks and got myself free. Guess I'm not as stealthy as I thought I was."
"That's impossible. They're electronically controlled," said Vadas.
"Put her in another pair of restraints and do not let her out of your sight," ordered Gatti.
Ensign Zava and Cadet Merisa entered the cafeteria. Zava's antennas moved while Merisa sniffed.
"It's that smell, it's here," said Zava.
Gatti sniffed and turned to Melinda. “You had something to do with this too?”
“Don't look at me,” said Melinda. “Cologne ain't my style.”
While they spoke among each other, Melinda too took a whiff of the air and by now the scent of soap had filled the room. In truth, most people would only smell it when they were very close, but, to Melinda, it lingered like someone had sprayed too much air freshener. That meant Adam had gotten through the entire room.
"... it makes sense, since it was an old computer," continued Vadas.
"But that doesn't explain how the smell got down here. It couldn't be a gas leak, could it?" asked Wats.
"No, then we all would have been blown up by now," said Gatti.
"This smell is nice. Like bath soap," said Merisa.
"It's Soap Prince," said Melinda.
The Vixxin's ears perked, and she took another couple whiffs of the air. "Yeah, it is," Merisa agreed.
"You should get it for your boy, Cadet. You know what they say about Soap Prince, right?" said Melinda.
"Oh yeah, 'God save the Suds.'"
"Hello?" a new voice spoke. "I'm here with a delivery?"
Someone stood in the walkway from the lobby and had a large sack on her back.
"Welcome!” said Zurach, “Drop the money in the center and don't try anything. We got bombs set up in random places and especially near hostages." He pulled a remote from his holster and placed his finger on a trigger.
The short, chubby, green-skinned delivery woman walked and weaved by the recruits. When she reached Melinda, she stopped and made eye contact with her.
Melinda never imagined the return of her superhero partner to begin in disguise. She resisted a proud grin as Chloe's eyes gleamed in the light under her delivery cap. It must have been difficult for her to stay this calm and keep those storms of emotions all bottled up.
"Ms. Dealbreaker, you're here, and you're okay," said Chloe.
By using her hero's name, Melinda had a hunch what Chloe was going for and her heart fluttered. "I'm glad you're here," said Melinda.
"Ms. Dealbreaker?" said Gatti. "That's not your name."
"It's a name my favorite mail lady calls me every time I have to make a big order. She's the one that ends up delivering the goods, even if she screws up once in a while. But I still love her for what she does, regardless."
Melinda winked at Chloe. Chloe winced and smiled softly, then continued her walk until she reached the center of the cafeteria. She set the bag down and took a few steps back. Wats' group approached and Thomas reached in first. He pulled out a chocolate-covered donut with sprinkles on top. He reached in again and pulled out another donut. He opened up the bag.
"They're donuts. All of them are donuts!"
"Where's our money?" growled Wats.
"I said to your ensign earlier that I was gonna bring Big Money and I intend to keep my word," Melinda said. "So, let me tell ya about a team that's been reunited today, The Market Maidens."
Melinda stood up and took off her jacket, revealing her sleeveless V-neck shirt, then struck a pose. "Ms. Dealbreaker at your service, kicking ass, breaking bones, and saving the day by selling you great deals. Then, when it comes time to make big waves in the market, you can always count on..."
Melinda took a few steps away from Chloe, and this time she coul
d see her teeth grinding and her entire body trembling. Chloe grunted and her jacket filled up, her mailroom jeans stretched taut and as her once short stature shot up past Melinda's shoulder and continued rising. The mail uniform Chloe wore split and exploded into tatters, yielding to a rising mass of green that loomed over everyone. The destruction of her uniform revealed the same brown one-piece professional dress that stretched to keep her still rising body covered. Her shoulders slammed and cracked the twenty-foot-tall ceiling, sending rubble raining down to the ground. She took two room-shaking steps and roared, "BIG MS. MONEY!"
Chapter 9
The scene played out in Melinda's eyes the same way as the "Delivery of the Big Money" plan. Chloe's foot rose up and as Melinda jumped out of the way, it slammed down, launching everyone off their feet and left a big crater in the center of the cafeteria. She leaned forward as her body slowed its ascent and brushed aside strands of brown hair to look down at Melinda.
"I'm so sorry I froze like that. I'm an idiot, I'm so sorry." Chloe's voice boomed.
"Hey, don't sweat it right now, Ms. Money," Melinda replied. "We got a job to do. See that guy over there?" Melinda pointed at Wats. "He's their leader. Take him out first while I unlock some more help."
"Zurach, blow it up!" shouted Wats.
Before Ensign Zurach pressed the bomb trigger, a bolt of lightning struck and knocked it out of his hand. He picked it up and pushed the trigger. Nothing happened.
"It's not working," said Zurach.
Sparks leaked out of the remote, then shot through his body. The electrified form of Adam emerged and hovered as Zurach slumped to the floor. Adam landed next to Melinda, panting.
"I love the way you work, Adam," said Melinda.
“I think I'm about done for today,” said Adam, panting.
Chloe nodded in agreement. "Can you get back to Gramm?"
Adam nodded and tensed, shifting back to his electrical form, and zapped out.
Chloe shifted herself toward Wats and lunged. Wats took the hit head on and tried to push back, but she leaned in and pushed with her legs to take him off his feet. Just like how Chill-Kuik Man made his crashing entrance in those commercials. Everyone had a firsthand look at Chloe's rendition as the bricks of the wall exploded out into the field, letting more sunlight in through the giant hole.
Every face on Wats' squad expressed disbelief at the sight of a giant Chloe shoving their leader through the wall.
"Now, recruits!" Melinda shouted.
At that moment, all the security recruits got to their feet and pounced on their captors. That was when something latched onto her waist, a vine which pulled her close to Thomas.
"You're wrecking my work, lady," he said.
"That's Ms. Dealbreaker to you, whoever you are. Who do ya really work for?"
Melinda reached behind with a claw to cut through the vine, which was rough and spiky.
"I can't reveal all of my trade secrets. But, you may call me, Rose."
Melinda arched an eyebrow, but then a realization hit. She jerked away and kicked at Rose. The vine broke just before long spikes poked out from it. Melinda crouched on her back paws and hands, her ears tilted back at the sight of what that guy just did.
"Yeeowwl..."
"If you have to know, the group I'm with has a standing payout for any of you heroes that I bag dead or alive. Getting your head would make things about even."
"We restarted our team just a few minutes ago and we're already wanted? Ka-ching!"
Melinda leaped to the side as spikes pinged off the tiles behind her. She dove in between the massive legs of the Rock Giant as he fought against Zava. More of Rose's spikes bounced off their skins with pinging sounds. Melinda kept herself low, using both her arms and legs to rush inside the food service area, and then leaped behind the coffee counter. The counter had legs with brown sparkles of rust at its base but were embedded in the ground with a metallic sheet covering the front; good for hanging things and even better as a barrier.
Melinda scanned across the floor and wall side-to-side, looking around for something she could use as a weapon. She reached back and squeezed the table leg. The metal didn't budge one bit against her grip.
Dang it. If she had her deal-belt, she could loosen one of those metal sheets with a screwdriver.
A cacophony of pings rang as the spikes bounced off the metal sheet and left pimple-sized bumps from the impacts. She sat up and got on her hands and knees with her tail prodding behind, when she noticed the coffee apparatus on her right. The hoses ran from the machine, twisted across the ground and ran into the coffee bean hubs. A couple sniffs picked up notes of dark roast, peppermint, maple, and some other herbs she couldn't put her claw on, probably Rose himself. She arched her back before padding toward the coffee machine. The room jerked, knocking down dishes and cups from the counters. Melinda had waited a long time for her heroic partner to fight with her plus-size powers again and really wanted to get outside to see how she did before it was all over. Vines wrapped around the tops, snapped tight, and pulled. The metallic legs did not move or bend an inch. The joints connected to the tabletop, however, groaned and bent. Melinda scampered off as it snapped apart before spikes bounced off the wall. Melinda managed to make it behind the coffee apparatus in time and crouched down on her paws and hands.
She took another look around and found kitchen stations where the meals were made. Another counter stood along the wall and toward the exit were a fridge, a couple of deep fryers; probably used to cook those yummy doughnuts. Ovens lined the walls. She sniffed once, twice, and crept a bit closer to the back, where there was more heat. The operating lights on both the oven and the deep fryers were still lit and looked ready to cook up meals. At this point, she only had to ask herself one question:
Baked or fried?
"My patience is wearing thin Ms. Dealbreaker," said Rose. "If you surrender now, I'll bring you back alive and then you'll be interrogated and possibly tortured instead of me just killing you."
She figured it was more trouble to try to stuff him in the oven, so she crawled to the deep fryers in the back. They too looked like they were made back in the day; just metal, no computerized displays, and more importantly, knobs that set the temperature. So, she did what any non-high-powered superhero would do in a helpless situation: she turned them up past eleven and snapped off the knob. She needed those deep fryers to be as hot as they could get. More spikes pinged off the wall just above, which made Melinda crouch and scamper back behind the coffee apparatus.
"Ms. Dealbreaker, you were a gorgeous adversary and it would be a shame to fill your body with holes like… what did they call it? That Earth-style cheese with those holes?"
Melinda rolled her eyes. "It's called Swiss cheese, Loverboy. Don't you drink wine?"
"I love my wine. I have been planning a wine trip up to Winslow Grove. That was until you and that gruesome giant ruined this job. Taking you in is the only way that I can make up for the losses so I can take the trip during peak season."
"Personally, I'm more of a coffee girl."
Melinda pulled away the curtain covering the back of the machine. The middle of the hot water tank was connected to tubes that ran to the grinder and coffee bean cylinders. She fumbled around them and grabbed a group of wires. Pulling on them brought the code control box from the front. Once in her grasp, she pushed buttons.
"Zero-one. Ol' reliable. Go with nine-extra-large, black."
The coffee grinder whirred, and the machine sucked in the powder and started brewing.
"A coffee break? It won't save your lukewarm deal," Rose taunted as vines wrapped around the stands of the machine.
"Ha ha, nice pun," said Melinda, placing her paws on the machine. She pushed her legs out, and the entire machine jerked and tilted forward. It crashed, spilling hot water all over the floor, and made Rose jump back to avoid the steaming liquids. Melinda now had only one more thing left to take care of. The deep fryers smoked, and flames danced on their su
rfaces. She ran toward the back and pulled open the fridge door and rummaged among eggs, meat, and other prepared meals, but what she needed was water.
Vines wrapped around the door and pulled it back, snapping it off its hinges.
Melinda raised her arms. "Ok, ok, you got me."
Rose frowned and stopped his advance, glancing at the fire on top of the fryers. "Another trick?"
"No trick.” At the back, she spotted a carton of milk and grabbed it. “Just thirsty." She opened up the carton and took a long swig, posed to her side with her chest up, standing with one leg in front of the other with her tail up.
Rose tilted his head up and down, pausing for a moment to admire. That moment was all the time she needed. She pulled the milk from her lips, eyed the grease flames and tossed the half-full carton towards them. She dove as a massive fireball erupted and engulfed Rose's face, and he squealed while the fireball spread across the kitchen. Melinda shoved the emergency exit door open and lunged outside, dodging a blast of fire. It took a moment for her to push herself up and stand, admiring her own handiwork as the bells of the fire alarm sounded.
“Ms. Dealbreaker looking so fine, still makes all the men stop on a dime, or something like that. Still a bit rusty on my catchphrases.”
Melinda stumbled as Chloe slammed her fist on the ground, missing Wats who jumped away. Melinda charged as fast as she could and stood next to Chloe, growling.
"Ms. Dealbreaker, you had me worried," said Chloe.
"Nah, just a bit hot, Ms. Money. Man, how I love hearing our hero names again." Melinda reached and ran a hand through her hair. "So, you haven't squashed this guy yet?"
Wats turned to Melinda. His hands bunched up, he formed balls of electricity and fired. Melinda leaped to the side. Wats followed with his fist pulled back. Melinda landed and tried to jump again, but Wats sent his fist into the ground, sending Melinda flying back. Chloe ran and caught Melinda with her outstretched hand.
"Mrrrowl…. dang it!" Melinda growled.
Chloe shook her head. "I can't get too big yet," she whispered. "They're still evacuating and rescuing hostages. The recruits are taking care of the others with reinforcements on the way." Chloe swiped at Wats but he jumped away.
Powered Personnel: The Big Startup Page 13