There is a New Villainess in Town

© 2011 by: Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Ten

Three weeks of popping up around town had ended up in the feline meeting seven super heros. Speedster was her favorite result but the Bruce Lee wanna-be had forced her to nearly break half the bones in his body before he admitted that she just might be better than him. It was the new strength and reaction speed that had given her the edge as before her change, Kato as the man had named himself, probably would have wiped the floor with her. Still he would heal in time and laying there in Central Park helpless while watching as his enemy call 911 was humiliating enough. Her performing professional first aid on him was almost more than he could stand.

“Villains don’t care about their enemies” he had gasped as she gave him the morphine. It wouldn’t last long on this super, but long enough that she could stop the worst of the bleeding.

“Who said I was a villain” the feline asked as she tied another compression bandage in place. “I am simply your superior and when the invasion is started I’ll be sent to the next planet on their list. You really have to carry a better first aid kit, mine isn’t up to this” she complained as she tore a strip from her own torn blouse. “I am here to test your defenses, then after I make my report the invasion comes. Your good Kato, better than anyone else I’ve faced on this planet but your not good enough because you depend on the strength of your attack. And as any martial artist worth his salt knows, that is suicide.”

“My Sensei tells me much the same” Kato admitted. “Now I understand, next time, next time I will defeat you cat.”

“My name isn’t cat” she explained. “It is Fluffball. Captain Fluffball. Ah, here come your rescuers, must run, Bye-bye.”

‘So there really is a Captain Fluffball’ Kato thought as he watched her run off. She wouldn’t be a match for speedster in the speed category, but there wasn’t a normal human who could keep up with her and hadn’t she already defeated Speedster?’ “We really have to have a conference, now” he decided, gritting his teeth against the pain (his body having processed most of the morphine already.) He healed fast, but even he would take at least two weeks to heal from the beating he had just experienced. Plus he seriously needed to talk to his Sensei again.

The next night Fluffball changed her MO. She broke into a jewelry store, calmly taking everything she could in the average five minute response time. As she left, she set off another of her white clouds, it was a calm night, so the first two police cars that arrived drove right into it then slammed into the building, their drivers asleep. The next car was smarter and though the driver stopped outside the cloud after reporting in he foolishly put on a gas mask and managed ten steps into the cloud before joining the first two. By the time the fourth car arrived they knew better, simply waiting as the cloud slowly drifted away. One advantage, at least in the policemen’s eyes was that the first news reporters to arrive were as dumb as the first two police cars.

In the least her change of MO threw the Heros off balance, they had been waiting for her next appearance, having planned to simply overwhelm her. Instead she stole nearly two million dollars worth of high class jewelry right under their noses. It was an embarrassing event, made even more so when the next morning Graffiti was found on the City Hall’s main doors.

“FluffBall RulZs” it said in highly stylized letters, a style was already known to the Police Graffiti Squad but that young man was living in New Jersey now. Certainly he hadn’t traveled all the way to New York just to violate his probation had he? They would have to send a investigator over to check. What it did do was anger Night. City Hall was in her patrol area, those letters had not been there on her last pass at five AM.

Fluffball though lay naked on her bed, playing with the jewelry that she had stolen. She could really use the metals and some of the stones might work as replacements if she damaged her gear. Overall though it had been her first foray into theft since her capture and she really missed the thrill of stealing, along with the sparkle of diamonds, rubies and other gems. Painting that Graffiti on the doors had just been a dig at Night. She had seen the style as she wandered the city, though the most recent was at least a year old. It was a fun style and easy to reproduce, plus she had that half full spray can of pink paint she’d found on the way home.

As time had passed she had started running out of certain supplies, food mainly but certain equipment required exotic materials to work. Things like propane for example. That would wait until tomorrow, for even with her enhanced strength dragging large propane bottles through those two access corridors was going to be a royal pain and she wasn’t stupid enough to hire strong backs to do the job for her. One look at this place and her secret would be out. But... Fluffball sat up, jewelry cascading off her body, what if she hired muscle to deliver them to a secure location. One she could get into without being seen yet accessible to her hirelings.

She knew by the street conversations she listened too with her bugs that her caring for that man who had first attacked her had gotten around. Plus the apparent fact that she wouldn’t kill. She might be able to bank on that but first to find a place to hide those tanks. She could even trade out the empties for full, ten or twenty fifty gallon tanks would last her fabricator a year or more. Walking over to the terminal in her home, she pulled up the Wi-Fi list. Yes, BELKON was still insecure, so was GAMERZ RULZ and half a dozen more her fourth floor very expensive antenna could pick up. Selecting BELKON she started searching for the proper location. It had to be within half a mile and it had to be Hero securable. They would get in eventually, but hopefully not before she got the last tank out.