HELLCAT

by Michael W. Huard

  After an hour, the sounds finally came to an end. A flushed and sweaty Mahira was first to come out of the room with a huge grin on her face. They both laughed at her messy appearance and prepared to leave the club. “Where’s your man?" Tyne asked her friend.

  Mahira, still straightening her black cat suit, replied, “He is sleeping. Let him be, I worked him hard,” she chuckled. Tyne felt embarrassed. Yes, even cyborgs had such emotions.

  Both women left the crazy playhouse and knew it best not to stick around, given it was such a late hour in such a weird environment. The plan was to get to their roadster and get a good distance in the direction of the next event. But, before the club was even out of sight, a familiar man stepped out from behind a partially broken down building.

  He was a mix of black and Armenian with a dark Mohawk hairstyle. It was the boxer from the fights. Batto. He had with him three other tough looking guys. He grinned at the women. “I bet you two thought you had seen the last of me, huh?” He then drew two familiar daggers from his sides. He looked frustrated. “You cheated. I don’t know where you got such quick and efficient movements, or how you have strength well beyond your size, but you cheated, and to be honest, I hate fucking cheaters.”

  Tyne interjected, “There were no rules other than no guns, and you are mistaken, sir.”

  Batto laughed out loud. “Sir? What kind of shit storm are you yakking out?” The other three men, one with a head the size of a horse, and two others that looked like twins, were now joined by a forth who staggered out from behind a wall. They all started closing in.

  Mahira was still a bit giddy and drunk to a certain extent, and as a result, she found herself giggling some. “I already beat you once today, silly boxer man, go home, we need to leave now.”

  But that was not going to persuade anyone. Batto motioned for his crew to beat the crap out of the blond duo. The people in the vicinity looked over, along with a few who lingered outside the club; some watched, while others just left the area.

  Tyne Gem began crafting the laser guns from the internal mechanisms of both her arms, but it would be a little while before they could be of any use.

  In the meantime, the men began to attack. Batto, clearly the leader of this gang, went right for Mahira. She hadn't even remembered the fact that he liked to throw his knife, alcohol can do that to a person. He whirled a blade at her, and it quickly spun towards her forehead. Just as it was about to penetrate skin, her cyborg friend flashed an arm in front of her pal, and the blade stuck deep into her wrist.

  Batto then sprang forward to attack Mahira with his remaining knife, while the other men went at Tyne. With still no weapons formed as yet, she had to resort to unarmed combat. That was an issue, as all the men had weapons against her. One of the men had a club, another brandished a thick bowie knife, and the twins came at her with one gun between them, which was now pointing at her. Three or four on one did not make for good odds for the average person, but she was not average. None of the sisterhood women were average.

  The others had spent their entire lives training, altering their DNA, and sharpening their minds. With what little time she'd had, Tyne had done the same. But by using brain-enhancing microchips, she learned more knowledge, and knew she had to adapt the use of her human-like body mechanics as well as the rugged metal parts of her makeup.

  It was that she put into action right now. She said, “Okay, guys, if this is what you want, this is what you shall get.” As she dropped her left hand to the ground and cartwheeled her body over on top of the first club-wielding attacker, her right foot slammed into his face and he flew back to the ground.

  The cyborg’s second attacker was one of the twins. He wasted no time in aiming and firing at the cyborg. The bullet hit her squarely in the chest, but she did not fall. He immediately began screaming, “She's not real, this one’s a droid! We got issues here, boys, she’s a tough one!” His speech gave Tyne Gem enough time to go for him. She blitzed forward and punched him several times in the face.

  The bigger of the men, the one with a horse's head, ran at her and grabbed her into a bear-hug.

  Meanwhile, Mahira was still seeing double, so she tried to keep her distance from Batto for as long as possible. The forth man who had been hanging back slightly, now began to circle and flank her, but she paid no attention to him.

  She miscalculated an attack from Batto and got sliced across part of her wrist. That itself served in waking her up some. His next slice was at her throat without any hesitation. This one she was able to parry, and she drove an elbow into the side of his face. Her flanker dove at her lower legs and landed hard into the back of her knees, nailing her solidly and buckling her forward to the ground.

  Tyne’s bear hugger was so big and strong that he lifted her high up and chucked her face first onto the hard ground. He then pulled back and sailed his huge knife at her. Tyne had little time to see it coming, and it landed right in her ass. A normal woman would have been pretty much dead by now.

  Mahira was still under attack, as the flanker man jumped on her back and tried to wrap his arms around her neck to strangle her. She grabbed his right arm and rolled him over her shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground in front of her.

  Batto came at her from the front and punched her in the mouth, sending her reeling back in even more of a daze and landing down in the dirt.

  As the knife wielding Batto came down at her from above, Mahira wrapped her left leg around the inside of Batto’s front leg and hooked her other leg behind his opposite inner thigh. He immediately lost his balance and fell down.

  Just as Mahira was attempting to sit up, her other attacker had recovered and came back at her one again, driving his weight down as if to head butt her.

  The wildcat used his head first trajectory to wrap her arms around his neck in a guillotine choke. She fell back with the impact and locked both her legs around his back, squeezing her strangle hold tighter and tighter until her adversary fell unconscious. His body went limp, just as Batto threw another knife at her. This time she dodged it, but he kept coming and again punched her in the head.

  It sent the semi-intoxicated woman to her back once more, and he leaped on her chest, pinning her to the ground. “You fucking little bitch!" he screamed, preparing to rain hard punches down on her face.

  As luck would have it, her sister’s laser shooters had formed, and each arm was now fully functional.

  Tyne spotted Batto leaning on top of her friend and fired a shot directly into his head. His brains splattered as he collapsed away from Mahira.

  However, Tyne was not able to stop her other attackers from getting close and kicking her heavily in the side.

  She had a ready shooter from her left arm and fired a dead on shot, dropping the smaller of the men. This just left the giant, big-headed dumb-ass looming over her. He smelled like poop Tyne now realized too.

  He was really mad and grabbed her other arm. He twisted it so hard that Tyne felt it snap in various places. Mahira yelled over to him, somewhat tipsy, “Hey, why don't you just stop that? You're hurting her!”

  He looked back and said, “You know what, shut up!”

  Mahira stood and sped over to him and Tyne. “Hey you, I’m talking to you, big turd man! I am not feeling all too well, and I think I am going to throw up on you.”

  That got his attention, and he let go of her sister's arm and came at Mahira instead.

  She tried to kick him in the leg, and it hit but did no good. He shoved her back then reached out and grabbed her by the throat with both hands.

  She ducked under his grip, moved left and kicked him, this time in the back of the knee.

  He turned and grumbled, “Is that all you got?”

  Tyne was readying her arm shooters again, and she screamed out to big head, “Nope, that’s not all she has got, you big turd.” The cyborg then let out a volley of shots into the big man. He stumbled back, still keeping his footing. Tyne then ran at
him. Although she was bruised, battered, and semi-broken, she still has something left. Her body jumped in the air, and she landed a flying knee directly into his face. He fell this time, and she took the chance to shoot him several more times to make sure he would never get back up again.

  Mahira was kneeling and smiling at her sister. “You’re the best, you know?" she grinned to her friend. "Sisters for life.” Tyne Gem was lost for words. Mahira then added, “But, what stinks so bad?”

  The two now made their way back to their roadster, knowing they would need to make some sort of a special stop for repairs on Tyne as soon as possible. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania awaited them. Another death match was coming up.

  Chapter 4

  The women were remotely able to check in with the others back at their Boston headquarters. Their plan to launch a major assault on the Y-Wood Corporation was still in play. Tyne updated them on their travels and the need for her own serious repairs before getting to Pennsylvania.

  Each year the big conglomerate held a festival in Boston where there would be a so-called world championship of death matches. The super weekend would also include meetings for all the rich and wealthy from around the country. And to cap it all off, there would be a finale grand ball party afterwards. Anyone who was well known, the top socialites, would all flock to this ball by invite only.

  Several of the sisters would also be in attendance via their connections with Lomax, an undercover reporter for the Cooperation, alongside his wife, Raegan, the sisterhood’s leader.

  Through all the accumulation of facts, data, and research, and through all the years of preparation, they would get in the Corporation’s main facility and cut the head off the snake. A dark shadow that loomed over a once proud nation. All across old America, small sectors of helping hands operated for their sisterhood, little groups of other women who hoped and believed in the Mystical Slayers' cause.

  The next morning, Mahira and Tyne were able to find a small group of sisterhood servers. The helpers were able to offer some healing and structural repairs to Tyne's leg, wrist, arm, and other parts of her body that were badly damaged. This small shanty located in a coastal hovel was where the sisters would make their stay for now.

  The thought of having her repairs done here was not one Tyne was all that mad about. She had been here a few times before and remembered a certain doctor quite well.

  His name was Xaltus. Each time they had met previously, they had got along very nicely. He was such a handsome and caring man. Mahira wanted to move out again quite quickly, but Tyne suddenly felt the exact opposite.

  It was common to mostly have woman help the sisters whenever they made these kinds of stops, but that was not to say there weren't also some men involved in lending a hand. Everywhere in this divided land people had to be very careful, for Corporation sky ships and Corporation drones were always seeking those that might be disobeying their instructions.

  The major Corporation law issues were: No one shall be armed, no helping or offering of assistance through unauthorized robotics, no unregistered children, and everything else in between. Those not following such laws would pay a heavy price.

  The Y-Wood Corporation was stretched far and wide throughout the former United States. They also had branches outside of the United States and even on planet Mars. The Corporation was pretty much a boy’s club; one for rich egomaniac men. Men who considered women as arm candy, slaves, or servants. The day President Arn Marcou took over his father’s presidency, things had escalated more than not.

  After becoming the self-named President, Marcou devised the largest army of military robots ever to exist anytime in history. He was also responsible for helping to create mega robots, which cost billions of dollars, were highly intelligent, and were pretty much indestructible.

  So the ladies were now grounded for a bit. Mahira, whenever at these hidden pockets of resistance, would help to teach those who were fit and able to learn. She showed all how to be more combative, and she did exactly that over the next few days.

  This afternoon she was teaching in a secret cellar below the cabin they were residing in. She moved about while explaining combat. “Leverage is most crucial when you are smaller than your opponent,” she explained. She went on to demonstrate how to isolate a person's leg or neck while using one's entire body to injure one’s attacker. She then showed them how to throw elbows and knees and explained that as these are the hardest surfaces on the human body, they are therefore the best to strike out with.

  Nowadays, most of these people had very few firearms or a laser guns available. With what they did have, Mahira went over better shooting skills, how to quickly reload, and overall preparation for if they were to come under attack. “The secret to any gun use," she instructed, "is preparation. You need to know the weapon and be able to use it efficiently before you attempt to use one in a real-life altercation.”

  The repairs on the cyborg were going well. Tyne had built in regeneration elements in her system, so the work mostly came down to lots of cosmetic repairs and a good clean up job. However, there were some minor robotic works still needed to get her back up to scratch, but seeing Xaltus again brought Tyne great joy.

  The tall cyborg doctor was calm in his work and charming. He was a brown-eyed, good looking fellow and always seemed to enjoy helping others.

  He made her comfortable for the duration of her repairs, and when all was said and done, Tyne was fixed up pretty well. The two of them got together on the second evening, made small talk, and discussed life. Ex, as she called him, said, “Whenever you come around, I am always excited to have you here. Those beautiful blue eyes of yours get to me.”

  Tyne could not blush, but replied, “Well, whenever I see you, I'm pretty happy too." Ex wasted no time in asking her if there would be a possibility that they could see each other more often. Tyne was taken aback by his quick suggestion, but her insides got all giddy. Tyne smiled but said nothing. They made their way down to the ocean for a walk together, where they spent the evening chatting and enjoying the fresh air.

  “If you’re successful in your sisterhood’s mission, I think the world will be a better place,” Ex told Tyne.

  “It is my hope for that too,” replied Tyne.

  Ex took her hand and added, “Perhaps if the world is then more forgiving, we could see each other more often?”

  Tyne was pleased to hear him say those words again. Her insides felt something she had never felt before. This time she gave in. “I would like that very much,” she spoke, squeezing his hand. Tyne then looked to him very seriously, “My friends will not fail!”

  He smiled at that, and they continued to walk until stopping on a rock outcropping where they sat together. He asked his fellow cyborg, “Do you actually think that two people like us could have a life together?”

  Tyne smiled at him, “I don't know, but maybe we can test such a theory." She then leaned in and kissed him on his equally artificial lips. “How does that feel?” she asked her friend.

  Ex looked her in the eyes and said, “I have to admit that was very pleasurable. Let me try it once more, just to make sure it’s as good as I thought it was.”

  The two kissed again. Remarkably, Tyne now went from thinking she would never fully experience such enjoyment just a few days ago, to now thinking something as special as this moment right here could actually become a reality. Maybe she could feel love after all.

  They spent the rest of the night talking more and holding each other closely. It was a certainty that both of their intelligent brains were scanning all information regarding human mating and what true love really meant.

  When the time came to leave on the next day, Mahira noticed that the pair didn't seem too keen on separation.

  “You okay?" she asked her cyborg sister.

  “Yeah, all better, I feel good,” Tyne replied.

  Mahira nudged her in the arm, “How good do you feel?" she asked with a big grin.

&
nbsp; Tyne gave her sister a smile, "Very good . . . and let’s leave it at that, we need to move out.” Mahira gave her friend a sour puss face.

  The sisters were eventually back on the road and riding swiftly towards Philadelphia. They had thanked their friends for their much needed help, and spoke of great hope for the future. They shared words to inspire the ladies in this coastal hideout to carry on their resistance and keep faith in a new tomorrow.

  At a secluded rest stop, the ladies pulled over and took a break from the bumpy road. Tyne mentioned the fact that they needed to consider a flyer in the future, these long rides made her mechanics jingle about way too much.

  Mahira wasted no time in digging for info, “So what's up with you and Xaltus? I see there's a little bit of something going on. Do you actually like him . . . I mean, really like him?”

  Tyne’s eyes lit up, “I suppose even somebody like me can be happy. Yes, I like him.”

  “It’s just a matter of timing, right? But for now we got a whole heck of a lot to do.” Mahira put her hand over Tyne's face and squeezed her cheeks. “Don’t we always have so much to do,” she sighed. “Can I ask why you like him? What attracts you to him?”

  Tyne explained with a grin, “Well, he’s cool, handsome, smart, a heck of a doctor, and we have so much in common,” she proudly announced. “Oh, and we kissed!”

  “Whoa,” Mahira said, surprised and smirking at her sister. “So is it safe to say your electronics were pretty heated?” joked Mahira.

  Tyne raised a finger at her, “Now that's not funny, just because we don't have human bodies, doesn't mean we can't be close.”

  Mahira pushed her friend's hand out of the way, “I’m just kidding. If Raegan’s plan all works out there will be plenty of time for celebration with your handsome friend.”

  Tyne gave Mahira a smile at those words. She missed Xaltus already.

  Suddenly Tyne looked over her shoulder to her backseat sister. “We need to go back!”