by Simon Archer
Gabe screamed out in pain and fell to one knee. I was about to charge him when the damn blue light lit up behind him again, so I stayed where I was. It had been his dominant arm that snapped, and I didn’t anticipate he would be too quick to become a lefty. I heard a sharp metal scratching from over-head, and Gabe and I both looked up. The ceiling rack, brandishing thirty or so rotating whips, was lowering over our heads.
I backed away, rolling my whip as fast as I could and tucking it into my right hand. I let half back out again and grabbed it with my left. Keeping my arm straight, I started to rotate it until the tail pulled itself up off the ground and was circling in a sideways ‘U.’ The muscles in my left arm started to burn, but I had to wait just a couple seconds longer.
The whips descended at a steady pace. Gabe looked panic stricken and was on his knees. I backed to the edge across from him so that we were diagonal from each other, still spinning my whip. I moved it out in front of me as the rack got lower and lower. When I estimated the descending whips were about twelve feet from the Platform, I threw the spinning tail of my whip up with my left arm with as much force as I could muster. It went shooting upwards and immediately started tangling with the rack whips. In only a second, my whip was tangled so completely that there was no way to get it out.
And that was exactly what I wanted.
I grabbed the remainder of my whip that was hanging out of the rack and backed up. I held on with both hands as I ran forward and dropped my weight out from under me until I was swinging by my whip. I hurled towards Gabe, who was too stunned to move. I put my feet out in front of me, and they connected with his neck. Gabe flew over the searing-hot edge of the Platform. I heard his screams all the way down to the pit of needles below as I swung over his falling body and back.
When I was over the Platform again, the rack whips stopped their descent. I dropped onto my feet just as the panel I was over stopped vibrating. I could hear the edges retracting as well.
The crowd was on their feet, and the cheers erupted. The sudden increase in noise drove home the fact that I had just beaten my opponent. I rolled my shoulders back, stood up tall, and put my hands up. I closed my eyes and let the energy from the stadium course through me. When I opened them, the announcer was running out onto the Platform.
“CLAAAAAARK!” the announcer yelled into his microphone when he reached me. He dropped to his knees and put his hands together in mock worship of my victory. When he stood back up, he reached up and grabbed my left hand. We turned in a slow circle giving the entire crowd a chance to celebrate with me before I went to the medical room.
When the announcer let go and my arm fell, pain started to bleed through the adrenaline. The cut muscles in my legs started to spasm, and I knew they’d give out on me soon. I stumbled sideways, and the announcer caught me. He threw my arm over his shoulder and started walking me down the Platform. We’d only taken a few steps when Kennedi and Ellie came running up to me. They pushed the announcer aside, and each threw one of my arms over their shoulders.
My legs stopped working, and the girls held my entire body weight as they carried me to the med room.
31
The medical room nurse was finishing up the last of the stitches on my forearm while Ellie and Kennedi hovered nearby. Charlie, Leah, Theo, and Bev walked in and surrounded my bed.
Charlie smiled down at me and said, “Well, hell, you don’t look any worse for the wear.”
Leah popped him on the arm and started laughing. She turned to me, “how are you feeling?”
“I’m good. This nice lady here,” I nodded my head towards my nurse, “has me shot up with so much lidocaine that I couldn’t feel any of this if I wanted to.”
“Good,” Bev chimed in.
Theo took a step forward and leaned over so he could see my face better. “What took you so long to send that oaf over the edge? I was almost getting bored waiting,” he said, unable to stifle his laughter.
My nurse tied her last suture and started cleaning up her supplies.
“Am I clear to get the fuck out of here?” I asked her.
Her response was a quick nod as she continued working.
I sat up slowly. I felt two hands on my back, steadying me. They belonged to Kennedi and Ellie. I looked around the room and took in the faces surrounding me. Not a single one of them had to be there, yet there they all were. I felt that familiar wave of gratitude swell in my chest.
“Where do we head from here?” I asked, directing my question to Theo.
“We ditch the clown suits standing outside and go wherever you’d like,” he said.
I glanced at the closed door. “Why do we have to ditch them? Have they been permanently assigned to escort me around or something?” I asked, chuckling.
Charlie followed my gaze to the door. “They are here to take you to the Omnicorp skybox to meet with them,” he filled me in, referring to Alan Graves and Henry Blackwell.
“That is one meeting I won’t be taking,” I said as I turned and let my legs dangle over the bed. It was time to send a message to Omnicorp, I thought.
I stood up slowly, testing to make sure the muscles in my legs were going to work. Everyone backed up against the walls to let Kennedi and Ellie through to help me. They each took hold of an arm.
“I’m alright,” I said, seeing the worry on both of their faces. I looked at Leah and asked, “Do you think you can get Thing One and Thing Two outside to abandon their post?” Leah may have been small, but her presence was nothing short of commanding. I saw a mischievous smile slowly form.
“I thought you’d never ask,” she said and headed out the door.
By the time I was dressed, Leah had cleared the path for us to leave without hassle about going to a meeting. I don’t know how she did it, but the suits were nowhere to be seen when we exited the room and headed straight for the elevator.
Once inside the elevator, I turned to Ellie and Kennedi. “Did you girls have a good time in the skybox?” I asked.
Ellie’s face lit up. “I had the best time!” she exclaimed. “Leah was kind enough to bring Cora so I could learn some cooking basics. We made no-bake lemon bars, and three different kinds of hors d'oeuvres,” she finished, nearly bursting with excitement.
I couldn’t help but smile. Out of all the things a cat girl has the ability to do, Ellie had fallen in love with cooking.
I turned to Kennedi. “And you?” I asked.
Kennedi’s eyes darted from Charlie to Leah before she quietly said, “I didn’t go to the skybox.” She reached out and took ahold of Leah’s hand and said to her, “I haven’t had a chance to apologize for not showing up yet. I really am sorry. After your generous invitation and all…” she trailed off. Her eyes searched Leah’s face for her next emotion. Leah just smiled at her.
“You don’t have a single thing to apologize for, Kennedi,” Leah told her. “I completely understand. Besides, you showed that crowd something today too. You showed them that cat girls aren’t just waitresses.”
I looked from Kennedi to Leah and back. “Where were you?” I asked Kennedi.
“You didn’t see her?” Bev asked, sounding like she was addressing a total idiot. “She never left the end of the Platform.”
The ‘ding’ of the elevator door interrupted our conversation, so I reached out and grabbed Kennedi’s hand as we exited. I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You amaze me. Thank you.” She stared into my eyes for a short moment and then winked at me.
The thumping of several massive bass speakers greeted us as we entered the upper level. The after-party was in full swing. Everything was red, just as we’d all suspected it would end up being. The stage was in the back, left corner again. On it were a troop of five dancers performing acrobatics while throwing knives to each other. On either side of the stage and several places throughout the room, fabric dancers hung from the ceiling. They were twisting and rolling and flipping inside bright red panels of material.
I turned around a
nd addressed my group. “You guys feel like rubbing it in Omnicorp’s face that a party is more important than their bullshit bellowing in some skybox?” I asked them.
“Hell yeah,” Charlie piped up. “Are you sure you are up to it, though?”
“I’m good for a while, at least,” I answered.
I looked over to Theo and Bev. Theo smiled and said, “We definitely want to celebrate with you, but this just isn’t our scene. We’ll head back to the house, and we can all plan on breakfast together in the morning.”
“I appreciate you being here, both of you,” I said to Theo. I shook his hand and gave Bev a careful hug as Charlie put his hand in the air and snapped his fingers a couple of times. The next instant, Kevin, the Lindys’ driver, appeared.
“Please escort Mr. and Mrs. Cavanaugh home, Kevin,” Charlie instructed, patting Kevin on the back.
The four of us that remained watched Kevin lead Theo and Bev out of the warehouse.
I looked at Charlie and said, “That Kevin kid seems groom-worthy.”
Leah looked at her husband and then over to me. “He certainly is. He’s got a long way to go before he gets off driver-duty, but I have no doubt he will work his way up in our organization,” she said.
Charlie was nodding in agreement and looking out over the crowded room at the same time. “I see a table near the stage,” he said, and we started heading that way.
I made it three steps forward before someone shouted my name. “Clark! Look! It’s Clark!” The entire room turned and looked at me. It was only a split second before people started to crowd around me, showering me with praise for the match I’d just won.
It took ten minutes to reach the table Charlie had picked out. The five of us sat down, and a cat girl showed up immediately to take our drink orders. I watched as she kept her head tilted down and avoided eye contact. She left and returned with our drinks in under two minutes.
“Thank you,” Leah said to the cat girl. The girl looked stunned. She replied, “You’re welcome,” and departed as quickly as possible.
“That is what is so frustrating!” Leah growled. “That poor girl looked like she’d never been thanked for a single thing since she was built. She couldn’t even lift her head up.”
Charlie reached across the table and put his hand on top of Leah’s to calm her. It was clear that her passion was deep for the humane treatment of cat girls.
Leah shook her head and redirected her focus to the stage. The dancers were throwing knives straight up in the air to each other and catching them in their teeth. They were all wearing flowing red garments that created a fluid look to their show. The fabric dancers hanging at each side of the stage were flipping and rolling in tempo with the music that was thumping out of the nearby speakers.
Kennedi leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I have an idea that may make Leah feel better,” she said.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I’ll need to borrow Ellie here in a few minutes, but I think you’ll like it,” she replied. She waited for permission to commence with her plan, so I nodded in agreement. I saw her lean the other way and whisper in Ellie’s ear. Ellie nodded her head, and they both went back to watching the stage.
A steady stream of people was stopping by the table. Most of them knew Charlie and Leah and were fine with using their acquaintance to meet me. They reminded me of the self-absorbed suits and dresses that attended the Omnicorp party, where I’d met Charlie. There was one gentleman. However, that actually seemed to be a friend of Charlie.
“Clark, I’d like you to meet Abraham Gunther,” Charlie said.
“Please, call me Abe. It’s a pleasure to meet a friend of Charlie’s,” he said as he reached out his hand and shook mine firmly.
“Nice to meet you as well,” I replied. “How do you two know each other?”
Both men laughed, and Charlie looked over at me. “We dated each other’s wives before either of us were married,” he told me.
“Amazing how those things work out, isn’t it?” I said, rhetorically.
“Where is Gretchen?” Charlie asked Abe.
Abe glanced around the room and back and said, “she’s around here somewhere.”
Leah leaned in and said, “be sure to send her over. It’s been forever since we’ve seen each other.”
“Sure thing, Leah,” Abe replied before turning to me. “How is it that you managed to have the two most stunning and dynamic cat girls here, escorting you everywhere you go?”
“I don’t treat them like slaves,” I said before considering whether it would sound accusatory or not.
“Well, whatever you are doing or not doing, you’ve created some envy amongst some of my colleagues,” Abe said back to me in good humor.
Abe and Charlie exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Abe was gone. I saw that Leah had still not completely recovered from her upset about our waiter. I turned to Kennedi.
“Whatever you are going to do, I think now would be great,” I told her. She looked at Ellie, and Ellie nodded.
Kennedi and Ellie stood up and walked to opposite sides of the stage and disappeared behind it. I had no idea what their plan was, but I wanted to make them stand out.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Charlie and Leah. I stood up and walked to the front edge of the stage. One of the dancers stopped and came over to me. A few moments later, the dancers had stopped their performance and moved to the edges of the stage. I climbed the side stairs and was handed a microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?” I spoke into the microphone. “I would like to thank you all for attending the show tonight. Your support fuels my success, and I appreciate that. Now, I’d like to give something back to you! Please direct your attention to the stage!”
I climbed off the stage and returned to our table. Charlie and Leah both looked puzzled.
“What are you doing?” Leah asked.
“I’m not doing anything,” I responded. “They are,” I pointed to the ceiling above the stage.
Kennedi and Ellie were standing on the top of the back of the stage. They were holding on to ceiling rafters. When the room quieted, the music started up again, and the bass was once again vibrating the floor. The two of them looked at each other, then looked straight ahead. Both jumped at the same time. They flew forward through the air. The entire room gasped before they watched the girls reach out and grab the fabric hanging from the ceiling.
The women who were already using the panels for their performance both flipped upside down at the same time and held themselves vertical. Kennedi and Ellie slid down their panels, took hold of one of each dancer’s ankles. The dancers twisted and released themselves from the fabric, and Kennedi and Ellie slid further down, lowering them to the stage. Once they were the only ones on their panels, Kennedi and Ellie started their show.
Every person in attendance stopped what they were doing to watch. The girls twisted and flipped and climbed. They wrapped themselves over and over and then let go and rolled down the panels at break-neck speed only to catch themselves by wrapping the panel around one leg at the bottom.
Their agility and physical superiority were on full display for their spectators. The speed with which they performed was triple what the original dancers’ were. However, the biggest buzz in the crowd was about how both were smiling and genuinely seemed to be having fun. It seemed as though no one had seen that before from a cat girl.
By the time Ellie and Kennedi finished their performance, people had already started coming back over to the table. The questions flowed.
“How did you get them to do that?” and “What options did you choose when you built them to make them be like that?” were among them.
I decided now would be the perfect time to exit. I didn’t want to answer the questions. If anything, I wanted everyone in that room to go home wondering what was different about my cat girls.
I got Charlie’s attention and leaned over to him.
“Do you mind getting out of here now?” I asked.
“Not at all. Let’s go,” he answered.
Ten minutes later, the five of us were in Charlie and Leah’s limo, headed home.
Leah was beaming. “That was the most beautiful fabric dancing I’ve ever seen, ladies,” she said to Kennedi and Ellie.
“Thank you,” they said in unison.
Leah turned to me. “What made you ask them to put on that little show?” she asked me.
“I didn’t ask them,” I responded. “They wanted to cheer you up.”
Leah was shocked and speechless as she looked from Kennedi to Ellie. “Thank you both so much!” she finally got out.
“You’re most welcome,” Kennedi told her.
Leah turned to Charlie and said, “If only Macy could be like them!”
That was the cue I’d been hoping for. I turned to Charlie and said, “It may be possible for Macy.”
Both Charlie and Leah leaned forward in their seats, waiting for further explanation.
“I don’t have the details for you yet, but they should be available in about two days’ time. Will you be in town still?” I asked them.
“Yes, we’ll still be here,” Charlie said.
“Great. If you have time in your schedule, we’d love to have you two over for dinner night-after-next. Bev’s cooking is superb, and we’ll have something to show you by then,” I said and sat back, waiting for their reply.
“That sounds perfect,” Leah said without even looking at Charlie, and the date was set.
32
Theo and Bev’s house was dark when we pulled up. After the Lindys left, Kennedi, Ellie, and I made our way to the loft. The extra effort I’d put in to stay at the after-party had drained me more than I’d realized. I laid down on the bed, exhausted. Kennedi and Ellie were both sitting on their knees, waiting for me to fall asleep so they could lick my wounds. Although I once found the practice disturbing, I was very fond of fast healing, so it no longer bothered me.