The Team Unravels

“All we could find was Bone Maiden’s arm,” said Tsuky. “Show them, Borf.”

“Ew, gross!” Exclaimed Sha Wujing. “Don’t show that to us!”

Ignoring him, Borf tossed the arm he was holding into the middle of the floor. It landed with a loud clank.

“It’s made of metal?” asked Sha Wujing.

“Are you sure that’s from Bone Maiden?” asked Philippe?

“Positive,” said Tsuky. “It’s even got residue from Armstrong’s rocket on it.”

Sheriff Mo stepped forward and studied the arm. “Bone Maiden had a robot arm?”

“She’s a shapeshifter, you dingbat,” said Leo. “Why would she need a fake arm?”

Garu stepped forward and picked up the arm and studied the mechanics. He shot a nervous glance over to Hoppiua who nodded in agreement. “This is Ravana technology. That means either Ravana or Trixie has found a way back here.”

Sheriff Mo cocked his rifle and snarled. “You mean those dang things we fought are back?”

“No,” said Garu. “This is different. More sophisticated. We fought their basic squidbots. They weren’t meant to imitate VIMs.”

“They’d better not mess with me,” Mo replied. He stood there with his gun in hand looking around the room menacingly. All was quiet for a while until a soft meowing sound could be heard. Everyone looked around and realized it was coming from Mo. “Uh,” he said nervously. “That’s my phone.”

Leo snickered. “He’s got a kitten meowing for his ringtone. He loves little kitties.”

“No I don’t! It’s just that…”

“You’d better answer that,” said Philippe. “It might be important. We need all the help we can get.”

“Do I have to?” Mo sighed deeply and reluctantly took out a small pink phone covered in kitten stickers. The crowd started giggling as Mo answered the phone.

Leo let out a big guffaw. “Our bad-boy sheriff is obsessed with kittens. He tries to take any cat he comes across home.” Arthur’s eyes grew wide as he stepped back and tried to blend in with the crowd.

“Dammit!” shouted Mo. “It’s that dang auto warranty call everyone’s been getting.”

“You’ve got to do something about that, Philippe,” said Tsuky. “I got one that woke me up in the middle of the night.”

Philippe put his hands on his head. “OK! OK! After we figure out what the hell is going on around here. First things first. If Armstrong blew up a replicant, then maybe he isn’t a killer after all.”

The crowd murmured and whispered amongst themselves before Ao Lie stepped forward. “Do you think she was the only replicant out there?”

“Are there others?” Philippe’s eyes grew wide. “You’re right. She may not have been the only one. In fact, Armstrong said he’s been at his home these last few weeks. And yet, Bone Maiden said that he was following her. Isn’t that right, Sheriff?”

Philippe looked over to Sheriff Mo who was staring straight ahead like a statue. He started to wobble, and then fell face down on the floor with a loud thud. Everyone raced over to see what had happened. Pinki quickly knelt down, formed a pink healing orb, and pushed it gently into Mo’s motionless body. She waited a few minutes as Mo’s wide open eyes still stared blankly outward. She tried again several times before gasping. “I can’t heal him,” she said as she stood up. “Something else is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.”

“Come on! Get up!” Philippe shook Sheriff Mo’s catatonic body. He put his head to Mo’s chest and listened carefully. “He’s breathing normally. At least he’s not dead. What the hell is going on?”

“Can you at least close his eyes,” asked Ao Lie. “It’s really creepy to have him staring like that.”

Philippe pushed Mo’s eyelids shut and stood up. “It was so weird. He seemed fine. He didn’t eat anything to get sick from. He might have been a little embarrassed when he took…” Philippe gasped. “That phone call! Didn’t Diego get tired after he took that call? Can we check to see if he’s ok?”

“I’m doing fine.”

Everyone turned towards the door of the courthouse. Diego was standing there with a smirk on his face. His gigantic sword was in his hand glowing brightly. Instantly, he disappeared and reappeared behind Philippe and swung the sword directly at him.

Philippe felt a violent blow to his side as he was flung to the wall with a sickening thud. He slumped against the wall and tried his best to draw breath. Looking up, he saw that Hoppiua had thrown him out of the way and was turning to fight Diego. But, before he could prepare himself, Diego blinked out and reappeared behind Hoppiua. He swung his sword at Hoppuia’s midsection, sending sparks flying across the room.

“He hit his powerpack,” shouted Garu as he grabbed Diego from behind. Diego spun around and flung Garu into the crowd and sent them into a frenzied panic. Once again, he blinked out. This time he reappeared in front of Philippe, who was too weak to move. Diego held his sword high over his head and smirked. “Time to die, skater boi.”

Philippe tried to speak, but he could barely breathe. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.