Chapter Five
The dust on the TV set was beginning to annoying Sandra. She had an unbelievable urge to just stand up and brush it off, but she was too tense . . . or at least that's what she was guessing. Ever sense Mickey had brought her to their attic home, because that's what it was after all, she had felt uncomfortable. She perched on the edge of an old sofa, sitting very still. What was she suppose to do?
"Hey, are you hungry?" Mickey asked, sticking her head out of the doorway which lead to the kitchen.
"No, thanks." Sandra shook her head, still looking straight forward.
Mickey shrugged and walked into the room, holding a bag of Cheetos. She flopped down beside Sandra and turned on the TV. She flipped through a few channels before stopping on news. Sandra was thankful for the distraction and watched with more interest then she ever had before. Mickey munched noisily on the Cheetos, commenting about the commercials and the newscasters.
Just then, Rene slid down the latter against the wall that lead up to the roof. She glanced at Sandra, but made no comment.
"Mickey, help us get Lia down the latter. She's banged up pretty bad."
Mickey jumped up, spilling the Cheetos on the ground, and followed Rene back up the latter.
Sandra stood as well, confused. She watched as Mickey climbed down the latter, holding Lia's bottom half, followed by Donna who supported her head. They carried her back into the bedroom and laid her down on a bed. Sandra lingered in the doorway, watching them try to rouse Lia out of unconsciousness.
"Outa the way!" Rene pushed Sandra aside and marched through the door. She was followed by what looked to be a five foot tall lizard.
Sandra watched as the lizard-like creature bandaged Lia and cared for her wounds. The others watched as well, helping in any way they could. Finally, all but the reptilian creature emerged from the room. Sandra stepped out of the way and waited for someone to explain.
"So what're we suppose to do with the girl?" Donna nodded towards Sandra, taking a seat at a table in the kitchen.
"Sandra." Mickey said, sitting down as well.
"What?" Donna asked.
"Her name, it's Sandra. I guess we need to go over introductions again." Mickey laughed.
"No, it's ok. I think I remember. What happened? Is she gonna be all right?" Sandra asked, starting to feel more relaxed.
"Master Kutter says she'll be fine with rest. Nothing to worry about." Mickey leaned back in her chair, teetering back and forth.
"Master Kutter? Is that the uh . . ." Sandra jerked her thumb back towards the bedroom, unsure of what exactly he was.
"The lizard, yeah." Mickey smiled. "He's our sensei, our father."
"Father?" Sandra raised her eyebrows skeptically.
"I guess we oughta tell her." Mickey glanced at Donna, then back to Sandra.
"Oh yes, what would a proper introduction be without the origin of the mysterious cat people?" Rene emerged from the refrigerator, pulling out a jar of pickles, whose origin was questionable as well. She leaned against a cabinet and begin munching on them, watching her sisters and Sandra closely.
Mickey ignored Rene's remark. "All right, to make it simple, there were these four kittens in some alleyway who managed to stumble into some ooze-"
"Mutagen. Ya know, stuff that makes you mutate?" Donna interrupted, sounding very scientific.
"Well anyways," Mickey continued, rolling her eyes. "these kittens mutated and turned into us." She smiled and motioned to the others.
Sandra was silent for a moment, trying to take everything in. All of this sounded like some sorta sci-fi thing on tv! But how else could four walking, talking, cat women be explained?
"Ok, so what about . . . uh . . . Kutter?" She asked after a moment.
"He was exposed to it at the same time." Donna said.
"Oh, all right." Sandra nodded. "But . . dint' you say he was you're father or something?"
"All right, this is where it gets kinda complicated. Ya see, along time ago in a land far, far away-"
"About 40 years ago in Japan." Donna translated again.
"There was this guy named Hamato Yoshi. He was a trained Japanese samurai and all that good stuff. Well, he had a sorta . . . clash with this other samurai named Oroku Saki who eventually got him banished or whatever, so Oshi came to the US. Now from here on it's kinda clouded, but from what Master Kutter remembers, he worked in the docks and had a pet lizard. So somehow either he, or his pet lizard, came in contact with the ooze, depending on how the stuff works."
"We don't really know for sure, but it either totally rearranges the molecular formula and genetic makeup of whatever life form it comes in contact with in some unexplainable way, or it does the same thing depending on what creature that life form last touched." Donna attempted to explain again.
"Ok . . ." Sandra said, totally bewildered.
Rene crunched noisily on the pickles, ignoring what was being said. The smell had started to drift towards the table, making Sandra cringe.
"Dude, Rene, open a window!" Mickey said, obviously thinking the same thing.
"What?" Rene said with her mouth full, shrugging innocently. She pulled another pickle out of the jar and walked into the living room, clicking on the tv and sitting down in front of it.
Mickey rolled her eyes and continued. "So anyways, either he mutated into his uh . . . present form because the last thing he touch was his pet lizard, or because he was the lizard."
"But what about you guys? I thought you were . . . cats to start out with." Sandra was beginning to have difficulty understanding their story.
"Well, the last thing we would have touched would have been Master Kutter, supposing he had been human, but if not, then we would have just mutated to a more human-like form." Donna said.
Sandra nodded. She still wasn't quite sure what they meant, but was already feeling stupid, so she didn't ask anything more.
"So one day he found these kittens and gathered them up. Then he noticed that he, as well as the kittens, started to change. So he teaches us all ninjutsu so we can avenge him, which is an entirely different story." Mickey finished with a smile.
"Hey guys, I think ya better come check this out . . ." Rene called from the couch.
Donna and Mickey joined her in front of the tv, followed by Sandra. There was a picture of a man and an woman being led out of a brownstone apartment, reporters swarming all around.
"Oh God, that's my mom and that other guy!"
"No kidding!" Mickey leaned forward and turned up the volume.
"This couples Brooklyn home was the site of a mass murder and kidnaping this evening." The reporter was saying. "It appears that 15 year-old Sandra Jopal-" Sandra's picture flashed onto the screen. "was kidnaped during a large battle-like fight down stairs which left three men dead, four others unconscious and several injured."
"There were more then that . . ." Rene muttered, a wicked smiled spreading across her face.
"The cause of this clash is still unknown, but when the owners of the house were questioned, this is what they had to say."
"We were upstairs, on the third floor, when we heard the first gun shot." The man was saying, Sandra's mother standing beside him, looking as if she had been crying. "We called the police immediately and went to check on Sandra, but she was already gone."
"Mr. and Mrs. Jopal are being taken in for further questioning now. Of course, we'll have more as the story unfolds." The reporter said, and the screen blinked to a man at a desk.
"Tank you Jennifer. If you have any information on the whereabouts Sandra Jopal, please call-"
"She called that guy Mr. Jopal!" Sandra said, alarmed.
"Yeah, I know, that's what's weird, 'cause he's not you step-dad." Donna noted.
"And also, the police are looking for her now, so we gotta be careful." Mickey said.
"So why don't we just take her to the police or something?" Rene asked, finishing off the jar of pickles.
"Because she was a hostage smart one! Plus, they don't know what's happening." Donna pointed out.
"Well, maybe they'll find out after they question them Donna." Rene quipped back, as if stating the obvious.
"Ok Rene, think! If this guy lied and said he was Sandra's step-dad, and her mom played along with it, then why would they tell the truth and say they killed that other guy?"
"Hey, now that you mention it, didn't that other guy and this 'Mr. Jopal' look a lot alike?" Mickey said, paying more attention to the tv then anything else.
Rene and Donna stopped arguing and exchanged glances.
"Oh, geeze. So ya think she killed the real Mr. Jopal?" Donna scratched her head.
"What?" Sandra screeched, panicked. She couldn't believe what they were saying! First, they accuse her mother of being a murderer, and now they say she killed her own husband!
All three turned and looked at her, startled, then averted their eyes.
"Sandra . . . the other night Mickey and Rene saw your mom and who we think might have been your step-dad in this hotel and . . . well . . ." Donna was hesitant to say anymore.
"And what? Are you saying my mom killed her own husband?" Sandra was becoming hysterical.
"If the shoe fits." Rene said, then smiled sweetly.
Sandra stared at Rene for a moment them looked back at the others.
Just then, Kutter walked out of the bedroom, supporting himself with a cane. He wore a sort of robe, what Sandra guessed to be a kimono. He looked very old, but also, very wise.
"How is she? Has she woken up yet?" Mickey asked, sitting up.
"Yes, but she is resting now. Her injuries are only minor, they will heel soon." He stopped and looked Sandra over. "Who is out guest?"
"That's Sandra. She's the girl we told you about." Donna said, relieved to change the subject.
Kutter nodded in her direction, his eyes warm an kind. "I am truly sorry for your loss."
Sandra studied him for a moment, confused. She glanced at Donna for an explanation, but she looked as if everything was normal. How could he have known? Something in the way he said it told Sandra that the others had in fact been right.
Kutter smiled and disappeared into what Sandra guessed to be another bedroom.
"How did he . . ." Sandra asked when he had closed the door.
"Master Kutter knows many things." Donna said, returning to the television.
Sandra slowly lowered herself into the arm chair, trying to absorb all that was happening. Her mother killed Steve? The image of her mother holding a bloody knife flashed into her mind, but she shook it away quickly. What was she suppose to do? What was she suppose to think?
"Hey, are you all right?" Mickey asked, noticing the distant stare to Sandra's eyes.
She shook her head in disbelief. "I just don't understand . . . Why would she do something like that? How could she? "
The sisters were silent. Lia would have know what to say right now, but the others were at a loss for words.
"So what happens now?" She asked, breaking the silence.
"Well, we probably need to get you somewhere safe, and then do what has to be done." Donna said, she wasn't good with emotions, so she stuck to logic, which made sense.
"You mean take her to the police?" Sandra spoke, but was having a hard time understanding what was being said.
"Well . . . yeah. Same with that other guy." Mickey said, wondering exactly what the plan was . . . if there is one.
"What'd he do?" Sandra asked quietly, staring at the floor.
"Took you as a hostage! I'm sure we'll find more reasons later, why else would they do all this?" Donna was quite proud of herself for devising a plan. Usually, that job was left up to Lia.
Sandra nodded her head slowly. She didn't much like the idea of her mother in jail, but what could she do? "Maybe we don't have to turn my mom in. I mean, I'm sure it was an accident or something . . . right?"
Mickey glanced at Rene, who was listening to what was being said, but not caring. "It could have been. She uh . . ." Mickey waited for someone to stop her, but when no one did, she went ahead and said it. "She drugged him. I think it was only to calm him down though, because she got panicked when he died."
"Drugged?" Sandra could feel a knot forming in her throat.
"Yeah, in his Vodka." Mickey said, proud of her knowledge, but her smile faded when Donna shot her a warning glance.
Sandra squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, not wanting to hear anymore. How could all this be happening? Stuff like this didn't happen to decent families, or at least, that's what she wished.
"Right, well, sorry and all that, but the night is young!" Rene said jokingly. Sandra noted it to be the first time she'd seen her act so. "I'm outa here."
"Where ya goin'?" Mickey asked, an eager look to her face.
"Since when do you care?" Rene shoot back, already half way up the latter.
Mickey looked taken aback at first, then she smiled and shrugged. "I don't. Plus, you're probably just goin' where you go all the time."
Rene stopped climbing and glared across the room at Mickey. "What's that suppose to mean?"
Mickey laughed innocently. "Nutin'"
Rene rolled her eyes and slid through the opening to the roof, closing the 'trap door' behind her.
"Ya know, one day she's gonna kill you for teasing her like that." Donna said, now taking control of the remote.
Mickey laughed in reply. "I'm gonna go check on Lia, be right back."
Had Sandra been more in-tune to what was going on, she would have asked what they were talking about, but tonight, she felt light headed, as if everything was just a dream.
She reached the intersection of 108th and Amsterdam through the back alleyways, but now she had to make a dangerous jump across several streets, which were usually fairly busy. She tiptoed to the corner of a building and peered over the edge. A homeless woman pushing a shopping cart full of bulging black plastic bags made her way down the street, stopping every so often to search through a dumpster. Her back was turned, so Rene pulled the brim of her hat over her face, jammed her hands in the pockets of her trench coat, and hurried across without receiving a second glance.
Small of a triumph as it was, Rene breathed a sigh of relief upon reaching the other side of the street. Only 3 more blocks to go, then she was on the homestretch.
As she progressed down the sidewalk, she noticed a group of teenagers huddled around a storefront. She slowed her pace, deciding weather to pass or stick around and see what happens. She ducked into the shadows of the building and watched the group patiently.
One of the guys peered into the stores' window and pointed to an object while talking to the others.
They must not be very professional, or else they wouldn't waste so much time standing around. Hell, if they were professional, there would only be one or two 'em! She thought, preparing to jump up as soon as she was sure they were going to try something.
The young man peering into the store window said something, and was handed a glass cutter. He placed the tool on the glass and traced a circle, very slowly.
Rene jumped up from her hiding spot and swiftly made her way towards them. Not a single member of the group heard her approach, so they jumped when she spoke.
"I hope you guys aren't trying anything illegal, 'cause if ya are, well . . ." Rene pulled one sai partially from her belt for them all to see.
The group stared at the woman in the trench coat, a baseball cap pulled low over face.
One of the guys whipped a gun out from under his jacket and pointed directly at her.
"Back off bitch, this ain't yo gig." He said with his teeth clenched. When the woman didn't move, he breathed heavily from his nostrils, causing them to flare out in anger. "Don't make me blow you're fuckin' head off!"
Without warning, the woman leapt into the air and kicked the gun out of his hand. He stumbled back a few paces, startled, then barked a command to the rest of the group who immediately moved towards her, ready to attack.
Rene landed in a crouch, pulling out her sai, and bounced back up to her full height before they could even touch her. She spun the sai around in her hand with an expertise that comes from a lifetime of practice, stopping them with the hilts facing out. She struck the first guy straight in the mouth, spilling blood and several teeth to the ground.
She spun around to meet the next of the teenagers. He came at her with a pipe, but she easily intercepted it between the tines of her sai and taking advantage of his awkward position, she kneed him in the crotch. He shrunk to the ground as another man stepped up to fill his place.
Catching a glimpse of another teenager about to lunge at her from behind, Rene simply slashed a deep wound in the guys exposed arm and leapt into the air, spinning her leg around just at the right moment to meet her attacker in the face. He staggered backwards and would have regained his balance had it not been for Rene sweeping his feet out from under him. He landed head first on the pavement, knocking him unconscious.
As Rene began to stand, she felt a painful blow to her mid-back with someone's knee. She cringed in pain, but stood and whipped around to meet the assailant. She brought her elbow around and met him in the face, but the blow was only enough wrench his head to the side.
He turned back to her with a vicious snarl, but Rene wiped the look off his face when she nailed him in the nose with the hilt of her sai.
The man yelped in pain and cupped his bleeding nose in his hands. Rene took no pity and chopped at him with her hand in just the right spot to knock him unconscious along with the other two men.
Chest heaving and back throbbing, she spun around to defend against the next to approach, but she only turned in time to see three of the teenaged boys running down the sidewalk at a very rapid pace. She watched them for a moment, regaining her breath, then observed her handy work.
Well, another day another dollar . . . wait, that's right, we don't get paid for getting our ass kicked wile protecting the wonderful citizens of New York! She thought, annoyed.