by John Zakour
“Can’t it wait until I get back home?” I asked.
“Nope, I’m banking on your help!” Tammy insisted.
OMG! This was about a bank. I shot to my feet. “Dex, Dex’s family, this was lovely. Thank you so much for the ice cream, but I have to go!” I told them. I gave them a little bow.
As Tammy hurried me away, I heard Dex’s mom say, “She’s a nice girl, but a little odd.”
“I like her a lot!” Dex’s dad said.
I couldn't hear if Dex said anything because Tammy rushed me out the door and into her car. I saw my force field belt on the seat. This had to be serious.
“I couldn’t bring the body enhancing armor because Grandpa and Computer are tinkering with it,” Tammy said. “They want to make it less itchy. The force field belt will have to do.”
Polly popped up from the back seat. “Took you long enough to get here!”
“Sorry,” I said without really knowing why I’d apologized. I frowned. “Why are you here?”
“Trust me! You’re going to need me!” Polly replied.
Tammy started the car and pulled out fast.
“Nanny Handy’s gang hit again just a short while ago!” Tammy exclaimed. “Silver Falls Bank stays open on weekends. Three men did the job, and they were in and out fast. Luckily your drone idea worked. We tracked them to a log cabin in the forest outside of town.”
“Great, then let’s send the police after them!” I suggested.
“Yeah, not a hot idea,” Polly said. “Actually it’s a tremendously bad idea.”
“Ah, why?” I asked.
“Because Android you decided she wanted to help you. She’s on the way now to take out Nanny Handy and her six goons all by herself.”
“You, me and the bird have to stop her and then them,” Tammy said.
“Ah, okay,” I replied.
“Your belt was modified by Computer and Grandpa,” Tammy added.
“How so?” I asked.
“Remember the stealth technology I used when we had to slip me past security to see Dex’s grandpa?”
I nodded.
“That technology has been added to your belt!” Tammy explained.
“Cool, I thought that would be possible. But I couldn’t figure out how to get around the power drain that would create. My body only generates so much energy,” I said. “How’d Grandpa do it?”
“Oh, he didn’t,” Tammy said. “When you use the belt, you’ve got 2 to 4 minutes of power, and that’s it.”
“Then we’re doomed,” Polly said.
We drove along in silence after that. And by the time we reached the cabin, it had begun to grow dark.
Tammy turned off the car headlights and stopped the car.
“We need to do this fast!” Tammy said. “Of course, the first thing we have to do is stop Android you!”
Tammy opened the door. She pointed to Maya 2, leaping from tree to tree. “You gotta talk her down. Literally, but quietly,” she told me.
I looked at Polly. “Make yourself useful! Fly up and tell her I want to see her!”
Polly scoffed. “Do you think I’m a messenger pigeon?”
“Just do it!”
“Fine!” Polly said, then flapped his way up to the tree. He stopped in front of Android me. He said something. He flew back down to us. “She said she just wants to help keep you safe by beating up all the bad guys.”
“Tell her it’s not helping if the whole world figures out she’s an Android, and I have a secret lab…”
“Right!” Polly said. He flew back up to the tree and said his piece.
Android Maya dropped down from the tree. She lowered her head as she walked over to me. “I’m sorry. I only want to help. Why can’t I help?” she asked.
I put my hand on her shoulder. “Because if the world ever learned you were an Android, then they’d discover my lab. Grandpa doesn’t want that. None of us do. You can help by calling the police, once we take care of the baddies. Okay?”
Android Maya nodded. “Sure. I do have built-in Wi-Fi and cellular. I am really useful.”
“Yes, you are,” I assured her. “You helped me improve at soccer. We won our game 2-0!”
“That’s great!” Maya 2 said. “All I want is to be helpful. I’m built to help! It’s what I do!”
I nodded and grinned. “Sometimes the best way to help is to standby. I remember when I took a first aid course. They said…look before you do anything. Don’t make yourself a victim! I know it’s not the same thing here. But the idea is the same; we need to be careful.”
“I get it!” she said. She pointed to the log cabin. “Go! Stop em! I will do what I am supposed to do. I will help in my way…”
“Thanks!” I told her. “We all have our roles to play in life!”
She nodded. “My role is to stay out of the way. I now understand that…” She moved into the woods out of sight.
“I sent the bird to scout the building,” Tammy said. “That’s the nice thing about having a talking bird on our side.”
Polly returned and landed on my shoulder. “The place has two doors. One in the front and one at the back that I believe leads to some sort of cellar.”
“Let’s go!” Tammy said, pointing towards the cabin.
Chapter XIII
As we sneaked towards the cabin using the trees as cover, Tammy told us the plan. “I’m going to go in through the front door!” she said boldly. She pulled a bunch of darts out from her pocket. “I have these sleep darts. I can probably put a few of the bad guys down before they know what has hit them.”
“You think that’s such a good idea?” I asked. “I know you’re like a super ninja girl, but if you smash down the front door, they’ll be onto you pretty quickly.”
Tammy pointed to her shoe. “Well, my shoes are coated with a chemical, and when mixed with my foot sweat, it produces a sleeping gas!”
“Still, I’m not sure that banging down the front door is a good idea. We know they have guns…they’ll all be aimed towards you!” I warned her.
Tammy looked at Polly. “As I said, for once it’s nice to have a flying talking bird on our side. He’s going to fly over the house and bang on the rear door. That should distract them!”
“Do I have to?” Polly asked.
“Do you want me to pluck out all your feathers?” Tammy asked him.
“No, the ladies love feathers,” Polly said.
“Then, yes, yes you do!” Tammy said.
“Got it!” Polly said, flying up and over the house.
We crept into position. “Okay, what do I do?” I asked Tammy.
“When I kick down the door, they’ll turn to me. You then activate the invisibility shield and go inside.”
“Then what?”
“You look around, figure out what you need to do, then do it!” she told me.
Yeah, sometimes the best plan is to plan for anything and then react the best way you can. I took a deep breath. Breathing is always good. The brain does best when it has oxygen.
“Caw, caw…” Polly called from the other side of the house.
Tammy and I stood at opposite sides of the front door. Tammy looked at me and nodded. I gave her a thumbs up.
“Caw, caw!” she called out, sounding a lot like a parrot.
We heard a BAM, BAM, BAM sound coming from the other side of the house.
Leaning against the door, Tammy and I could hear a commotion inside the cabin. Tammy smiled. She loved this! “Go time!” she said. She kicked down the door and rolled into the room.
Activating my invisibility shield and cloak, I paused for a second, then entered the room. Taking it all in quickly, I saw Nanny Handy and six guys all concentrating on Tammy, rolling away from the door. Tammy stopped rolling and jumped to her feet. A bunch of the guys had their guns pulled out.
“Freeze, kid!” Nanny shouted. “Or I’ll have my men shoot you! I don’t want to hurt you, but I don’t want to lose my money either!” she added.
“Our money!” one of the men said.
“Yeah, yeah, that,” Nanny said.
Surveying the situation, I saw that three of Nanny’s men had sleeping darts in their shoulders. Yet, they didn’t look the least bit sleepy. Looking closer, I noticed they wore some sort of body armor. The sleeping darts couldn’t pierce the armor.
The men focused their laser sights on Tammy. She stopped and raised her arms.
Nanny smiled. She was a short lady and wore her bluish-white hair done up in a beehive bun just like in her photo.
“Well, if it isn’t the wonder kid, Tammy Payne,” Nanny Handy said. “Looks like the whiz kid bit off more than she could chew by coming after us, boys!”
“Yeah!” a big guy with red hair laughed.
“What do we do with her?” a tall bald man with a long nose asked.
Nanny rubbed her hands together. “Boys, our bank robbing days are over for now!”
“What, why?” a short round man scoffed. “We’ve got the drop on her!” “Because, by capturing Tammy Payne, we have something much more valuable than the cash in a small town bank vault. This girl is a top secret agent. They’ll pay us dearly for her.”
Tammy shook her head. “Forget it, Nanny. The people I work for won’t give you a dime for me!”
Nanny started itching her little chin. “Wait, why is a top agent like Tammy Payne in this town? She must be protecting something very valuable.”
Tammy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “If I was, why would I be here kicking your behind right now?” Tammy demanded. “Like, right now!” she repeated.
I figured out that was a hint or a prompt from Tammy. She wanted me to do something. I needed to spring into action and soon. I didn’t have much time left before I became visible and out of power. Sadly, I didn’t know what to do.
“Men…set your special weapons on stun! Let’s put this young lady to sleep!” Granny ordered.
“Who do you want to stun her?” one of the men asked.
“All of you!” Nanny ordered. “It’ll be impossible for her to avoid all of you!”
That was the key! I had to time this right! If I jumped in front of Tammy when they shot at her, and then activated my force field, it would block their stun shots and force the shots back at the shooters. They had armor on so they might not get stunned, but they’d still feel the impact which would give Tammy and I a chance to put the shooters away!
“On your mark!” Nanny said, raising her hand.
I rushed to a spot in the room between the shooters and Tammy.
“Get set!” Nanny ordered. Dropping her arm, she shouted, “Fire!”
I didn’t have time to think. I pressed the button on my force field belt, pushing the force field outward. I heard the shots from the weapons. I saw the six men all stagger backward as their shots were pushed back at them.
“What the?” they all said.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Tammy kicked off her left shoe. It hit one of the men right in the chin. He caught a whiff of the shoe. His knees buckled. He smiled as he dropped to the floor, asleep. Tammy flicked the right shoe at another man. Hitting him in the chest, the man caught the shoe as a reflex. The man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. He fell backward.
“What the?” one of the other guys said.
“Her sneakers are coated with sleeping gas!” Nanny shouted. “Hold your breath, men! Don't smell her shoes!”
Tammy cartwheeled toward Nanny and her men. They aimed and fired at her, but she zigged and zagged across the room, making herself hard to hit.
I knew that I had to do something. These guys were pretty lousy shots, but sooner rather than later they could get lucky and hit Tammy.
Moving forward, I targeted the closest man to me. He was the tall man with a big nose. I stomped on his foot, and he screamed in pain. He pulled up the foot that I’d stomped on, holding it as he hopped around the cabin.
“What happened, Jack?” Nanny asked him.
Hopping on one foot, he moaned, “No id…”
Before he could finish, I hit him with an elbow to his gut. He bent over in more pain. I slammed my elbow down on his back, sending him crashing to the floor. I quickly did the same thing to two other men.
“What the heck?” the last man standing, a short redheaded guy said to Nanny Handy.
“She must have a partner with some sort of stealth device!” Nanny said.
Tammy somersaulted into the redheaded man. Placing her feet around his head, she flipped him to the ground. He hit with a painful thud.
Nanny picked up a walking stick, flashed forward, and took a fighting stance. “Come on, kid, let’s see what you’ve got!” she said, taunting Tammy.
Tammy leaped to her feet. She took a fighting stance. “Let’s rock, old lady!”
Tammy extended her foot and wiggled her toes under Nanny’s nose. Nanny’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. She dropped back a few steps, staggering.
Tammy lowered her foot. “Ha!” she said.
Nanny dropped to the ground. Tammy moved forward, smiling. Nanny spun around from the ground, kicking Tammy’s legs out from under her. Nanny leaped up and came crashing down onto Tammy’s stomach.
“Oh! You have good abs!” Nanny said. “Still they aren’t going to help you now.” Pulling back her fist, she prepared to clobber Tammy. “I’m guessing your partner is pretty close to running out of energy for the cloaking device. Then I’ll take her out too!”
I moved towards Nanny.
She shot her hand out. The hand hit me in the gut, knocking me backward.
“Ha! Whoever you are! I might not be able to see you, but I can hear you!” Nanny laughed. She formed her hand into a claw. “First though, I’ll put you out with the claw of doom!” she cackled. “Man, I will get so rich from the money for you and your partner!”
“Attacckkkk!!” Polly screamed in a super high pitched tone, flapping his wings and flying frantically towards Nanny! Polly flew right into Nanny’s face, whacking her left and right with his wings.
Nanny slapped her hands wildly at Polly. Polly darted in and out, avoiding her slaps with ease.
“I’m going to get you, you, crazy bird, and skin you!” Nanny screeched at Polly.
Polly dove at Nanny. Nanny caught him. “Ha! Got you!”
“FFFFFRRRR AAAA ERRRTTTT!” The high-pitched sound filled the air.
“Gross! You’re a gross, gross bird!!! You farted!!” Nanny Handy shouted.
Taking advantage of Nanny being off balance, I lunged at her. I felt a tingle, and I knew I was visible again. But I’d been training with Tammy, Tina, and the other me. I could handle this — I karate chopped Nanny on the side of the neck with my hand. Much to her surprise and mine, she dropped forward away from Tammy. Tammy sprang to her feet, rolled on top of Nanny and pinned her arms together. She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Nanny’s hands behind her back.
“Our friends are on the way,” Polly said. “They should be here in a minute.”
Tammy looked at me. “Go to the car. Hide in the back, and be nice and quiet.”
Running out of the cabin, I heard a chopper in the air around us. Reaching the car, I saw two large black choppers land in the clearing around the cabin. Sitting in the car, I watched several people in black roll Nanny and her men out of the cabin towards the choppers.
The helicopters took off almost as quickly as they had appeared. Those guys and gals didn’t mess around. I was impressed.
Tammy and Polly came back to the car. They smiled. Tammy opened the door and sat down. “You did it, girl!” she told me. “You put Nanny down with Maya power!” she told me.
I grinned happily. “Yes, all the training really worked!”
Polly waved his wings. “Of course, you two would have both been beaten down by Nanny if it wasn’t for this bird. I mean, I hate to crow and brag…”
“You do?” Tammy asked.
Polly shook his head. “Nah, I guess not. But man, that
was a lot of fun. I like getting into the action. Did you see how I dodged her best shots? Then I distracted her with a fart! Ha, I’m so epic!!”
“Admit it, Polly, that was simply a nervous fart. You did not plan that!” Tammy said.
“Well, no I did not!” Polly admitted. “But I didn’t try to hold it in either. I should get credit for that.”
“You want credit for farting?” I asked.
Polly nodded. “Yes, yes I do!”
“Let’s just get back to the lab!” Tammy said.
“Agreed!” I agreed. “I want to talk to Android Me. I think she felt bad that she couldn’t help!”
“She’s a machine, she doesn’t think, she computes!” Polly said.
“Yes, well, whatever…I still need to talk to her. Even if she’s a machine, I’d hate to hurt her feelings.”
Chapter XIV
When we returned to the lab, I was surprised and very happy to see Tina there.
“Our parents decided our grounding should be over!” Tina said with a smile. “Luckily, they’re soccer fans! That was the clincher that changed their minds. Plus, we didn’t do anything wrong by stopping a bank robbery!”
Hugging Tina, I told her, “Great point! But parents tend to panic easily!” I joked.
Grandpa, Diana, Crash, K9, and Marko came over to us. “You guys did great in the soccer game and with capturing the bad guys!” Grandpa said.
Diana smiled. “We won’t have to worry about any more bank robberies. That's how I helped convince your parents to end your grounding!”
Grandpa’s hologram smiled at Diana. “Isn’t she wonderful!”
Looking around the lab, I didn’t see Maya 2. “Where’s Android me?” I asked.
Everybody turned and looked around.
“She was just here a little while ago!” K9 said.
“She left!” Computer said. “Don’t worry, Maya. I’ve modified her face, so she doesn’t look like you. She agreed it would be best that way.”
“I don’t know if that makes me worry less!” I said. “Computer, what have I told you about doing things without my permission?”
