Chapter 24: Helping Jawara in the Labyrinth

"Events before Jawara saw Dorothy in the Shadow Hole"

Antoinette goes to visit the doppelgängers of her siblings Britney and Alexander, who were returning from where Michael Tyndale had secretly summoned them to give them resources in case they didn't have enough in the coffers, Ariche decided to give words of encouragement to the members of LUCERNAGA, along with Margaret. Antoinette meets alone with Britney and Alexander.

_ What a code they use! Excellent for when they meet an alien (referring to when Britney detected with her AI created by her, the moment they detected Fiorella and Kesil Blake's ship falling on Earth, and she in turn, communicated it to her brother)

_ If I'm honest with you, Antoinette, it's a basic code! - said Britney (laughs)

_ I know, among undercover agents there must always be some - said Antoinette

_ I've been thinking a lot about what you've told Alexander and me about Earth 02 and our doppelgängers, although science is such a broad field, it's impressive to see how not all of us have our doppelgängers in the Multiverse. You, for example, your double is not here.

_ In fact, Britney, it's possible that he's not anywhere else in the Multiverse.

_ And that discourages you? - Alexander asked her

_ A little, but I prefer to concentrate on what really matters

_ And what is that? - said Alexander

_ To bring out the truth in the middle of silence, and to show that when you look at something well, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Moment of silence

_ Here... Dad has not been with us for a long time now, but it is sad what you tell me about what happened to Dad's double and what our doppelgängers had to live through - said Alexander.

_ Yes! Starting with the fact that you did not grow up with our parents, and neither did Amani, who is not here at the Base of the Multiverse either.

_ It has not been easy at all - said Antoinette - but I have learned to be grateful, although it is not easy for me to be so later, it is very easy to concentrate on what others have and not be able to see with your own eyes what you have, it is something very complex! You may be looking at what others have while there are other people who are envious of what you have.

_ There is a lot of truth in what you say, I would have liked to have the privilege of you existing here at the Multiverse Base, and the four of us would have been together. But with that reasoning and teaching that you gave us, I now see something: we did not have you here, but we now have the opportunity to have you even if you are not exactly from this universe.

_ For me you are my blood sister- said Alexander- it does not matter that you are not from this Earth or if you want there are no more doubles of you in the Multiverse, you will always be my sister, my blood sister, my carnal sister- Alexander takes her by the hand but she hugs him, the three of them hugging together, then Michael arrives.

_ Hey, Antoinette! I really appreciate your discretion and your collaboration

_ You are welcome

_ We need you, Antoinette, you too Alexander, please come with me.

Michael gathers FIREFLY, there is a warning of a megatsunami that will reach Hong Kong and it is the only place where they can save more people.

_ Listen! We have a tsunami warning - said Michael - The Fire Cat will tell us the data regarding the situation.

Antoinette addresses the FIREFLY audience

_ I am not a seismologist, but what I can say as an astronomer is that there is an alignment in the other planets of the Solar System that is causing havoc in the space molecules that although they may seem small, they have created volcanic eruptions that reach parts of the Earth that seismologists cannot predict, the cataclysm goes beyond what is happening in outer space, in the future, we will know, now not. What I can tell you is that a Megatsunami will hit Hong Kong, and if I say Hong Kong, I mean by doing the math it's the only place we can get to before Jawara Malenfant and save more than the estimated 50% of what Jawara could save. 6 of The Fighting Cats will go to help, 3 of the Sentinel Legion, and 4 of FIREFLY, counting Tyndale and Nuoumair. From The Fighting Cats we are your servant and Leader of The Fighting Cats, The Cat of Fire, Iris Hauer, The Cat of Ice, Gretel McMahon, well, she already asked me to know her by her married name just as we know Iris by her married name, Gretel O'Connell, The Cat of Air, Ginger Adlestein, The Cat of Water, Kiara McMahon, The Cat of Earth and I also present to you Beatrice Turner, known as The Cat of Stone

_ You've heard The Cat of Fire! - said Michael - from here from LUCIÉRNAGA we will go Alexander Newman, Margaret Townsend, Ariche Noumair and myself. And here we present the 3 Sentinels that will go with us.

Jonathan McMahon is the one who gives entrance to the Sentinels that will go to help.

_ You know me as Sky Panther, my name, Jonathan McMahon, and the

Sentinels that will go will be: Diana Tanhauser, "The Speedster", Jackeline Tomlinson, "The Mermaid" and myself. I will drive the plane where we will save people

Jonathan, Antoinette, Michael and the others go to Hong Kong, they do it with the FIREFLY ship.

_ I can pilot it by myself- said Jonathan

_ I have been told that you are a prodigy for piloting planes, we have our control tower, but it is invisible, because I will be the one who will guide you. This ship is designed to be invisible to human sight, but the same for alien sight.

_ Wow! And then starting with the hard battle we had with Armin Blake and the Warshapians

_ What will be the purpose of the felines in the rescue mission? - said Diana

_ They are going to evade Galaxy Blake- said Tyndale

_ Why evade her? Although she has hidden her identity here on Earth with Malenfant and the others, she has shown willingness to save humans.

_ I see that you do not agree with many things, Tanhauser, but I will tell you why - said McMahon - if we let Blake help us this time, his father will know where the current base of the Sentinel Legion is, the base of The Fighting Cats and FIREFLY, and we will be in imminent danger.

_ But he already saw us

_ Not where our bases are, and if we die now, which will happen if Armin Blake finds out what I told you, we will not be able to save Earth or anything in the future.

FIREFLY's ship goes straight to Hong Kong, the tsunami is 2000 m high, they transport Alexander and Margaret to Earth, who in the native language of the place, alerts people and tries to take them to a place giving them instructions and keeping calm, Margaret helps to get as many people out of their houses as she can, The Fighting Cats go out in a ship that belongs to Antoinette seeing if the Fast Sea Car appears there.

_ Antoinette, Antoinette, Antoinette! - Gretel called her over and over

_ Yes?

_ Any sign?

_ No, not yet

_ Our ship is visible- said Iris- What will we do if...

_ We should not worry about what is not a fact- said Antoinette- we will achieve it, girls, wait! It's the Fast Sea Car

_ I wonder if Armin Blake told him about the fight we had with the Warshapians, because if he did- said Iris- I have a feeling that that will make Blake come here to Earth.

_ Our AI, Tamar, will tell us.

_ Tamar, in the Fast Sea Car ship, how many passengers are there!

_ A single passenger, alien with the appearance of a woman of 23 human years

_ What is your pseudonym, Tamar?

_ Dorothy Webber

_ Can you detect if other aliens are approaching?

_ Affirmative, Agent Newman, the most powerful alien that exists is approaching Earth, estimated time: 10 minutes, 35 seconds,

_ Prepare the missiles! - ordered Antoinette- in the first 5 minutes we will make Dorothy follow us, and in the other 5 and 35 seconds, we will confront Armin Blake before he reaches Earth.

The Fast-Cat Ship (The Fighting Cats ship) approaches the Fast Sea Car and greets Dorothy

_ They greet me! Who are you? Pretty ship! And shaped like a kitten?

_ My name is Antoinette Newman, I know your name is Dorothy Webber, an innovative automotive engineer who is giving Jawara Malenfant a run for her money, or so you claim to be, even telling you that they already call you mystery girl! You are an alien and your name is not Dorothy.

Dorothy is stunned and breathless upon hearing that from Antoinette, no one was supposed to know!

_ Who the hell told you that?

_ Calm down! No one you've told your secret to, it seems to me that there is someone, who doesn't know that you are an alien in the full sense of the word, but was an eyewitness to the fantastic things that your creation does, something beyond what humans have been able to create except for Malenfant! But she wasn't either. We found out and we knew!

_ Doppelgänger! You bring with you the doppelgänger of Iris Patterson

_ Of course, silly! - said Iris - we already know that the Warshapians detect doppelgängers immediately.

_ It seems strange to me that you haven't said it since we greeted you, why don't we play wolf? 🎵We will play in the forest, while the wolf is not here, because if the wolf appears, he will eat us all, wolf are you there?🎵- said Gretel (just like her father, Jonathan wanted to make Armin angry with the same song, now Gretel wants to annoy her daughter with the same irony)

_ Make us purr, if you can! - said Kiara

The Fast-Cat Ship flies at high speed and Dorothy follows it

On Earth, The Speedster and The Mermaid went down to help more people, the tsunami was already ravaging Hong Kong.

_ You know what to do- said Diana

Diana runs at her powerful speed, reaching very high places where the sea will not be able to cover while FIREFLY's ship arrives.

_ Hey! Get up here! A ship is coming and will save you, but you must get up here where I am, now!

Many people left their physical belongings behind and went up to where the

The Fast-Cat Ship, called The Speedster, The Mermaid, on the other hand, began swimming at a speed of 150 km/h, holding her breath for up to 6 hours, avoiding all the debris, trees, houses, buildings and more while swimming to get as many people out of the water as she can and bring them to the surface, these being the first ones that the FIREFLY ship could rescue with a ray of attraction.

The Fast-Cat Ship reaches outer space, there was a minute left for Armin to be face to face with them, while, in that minute, they talk with Dorothy.

_ What are you looking for on Earth? - asked Antoinette.

_ I am the one who should ask you the questions! - exclaimed Dorothy - Who are you and how do you know that I am an alien? Or were you joking?

_ No! I know that you are an alien, by the way, I thought that your father had already told you about me! And speaking of your race, your race is Warshapian, the most powerful race of all alien races, in fact, here with me, we bring one of yours.

_ Hello Galaxy! - Ginger said to Dorothy.

_ Don't say you're one of mine, Ginger, you know better than anyone that you're now an Outlander-Alien

_ Are you telling me this in front of humans?

_ It's not a shame for us that humans know about the Outlander-aliens, after all, they are detestable beings!

_ It was a pleasure to have chatted, but we must go, Stone Cat! Do your thing!

_ Yes ma'am! - Beatrice Turner implements several of her "balls of yarn" in one of the missiles, then, they shoot them towards Dorothy's ship, the missiles instead of exploding, were powerful rocks that greatly weakened the functions of the Fast Sea Car, leaving it immobile, Armin Blake makes an appearance.

_ Make us purr, if you can! - Kiara said to Armin and the Fast-Cat Ship flies away quickly, but Armin Blake decides not to follow them and helps Dorothy repair her ship, later, he manages to locate them and goes to meet them.

The Fast-Cat Ship flies at high speed, but an even larger and more powerful ship shoots at them, taking them out of warp speed, causing serious damage to the ship, the ship notifies that there are destroyed functions and others that are severely damaged. Which prevents it from moving forward for the moment. Antoinette gives instructions to check the ship, Gretel tries to reactivate Warp while Beatrice tries to fix the damaged parts of the ship as best as possible. Antoinette contacts the control tower

_ Samantha, we are in space, there are seriously damaged functions, we await your instructions

_ This is control tower, you must leave! Because otherwise.....- (signal cuts off)- Hello?

_ Control tower! I can't hear you.

_ Antoinette! They greet us! - said Gretel

_ Answer!

Armin appears on screen

_ Admiral Armin Blake, long time no see! Tell me, what can I help you with? Oh, by the way, tell your sister that when she says "you heard the feline" she remembers that in The Fighting Cats we are not only women, there are also men on the team.

_ Stop fooling around and say your name!

_ Well, I'll remind you: my name is Antoinette Patterson, but you can call me: The Fire Cat.

_ From what I see, you are human and you have not taken the conversion, but it is logical that you know it, that is a fact! In addition, you fought against me and my people alongside humans who have already taken it, how did you know the conversion? Because I already knew that you gave it to them, who are they?

_ Wow! You also like formalities like me, I like that! Meow!

_ I'm not going to repeat the questions twice! Either you answer me or I'll annihilate you and your people in your ship! Because from what I see with the scanner, you have an outlander-alien as a member.

_ Like father, like son! If your daughter mentioned that term in front of us, it's logical that you don't feel ashamed to say it because for you the outlander-aliens are a real disgrace according to your jurisdiction, as we are, the human race.

_ Shut your mouth!

_ She has a name! And her alien race is still the same, in fact, it's from your same race, she's a Warshapian!

Suddenly, Antoinette notices that she is being teleported to the ship where Armin is.

_ I can't interfere with his signal! - said Gretel

_ You stay in charge! - Antoinette disappears from the Fast-Cat Ship

_ I have to go! - said Ginger.

_ You're crazy! He'll kill you! - exclaimed Iris- We'll all go!

_ No! If we do, he'll kill us all, we're not ready to face him yet, I'll go! I'll make sure she survives.

_ I'll teleport you - said Kiara- Take it! The Fire Cat's weapon.

_ Okay, energize!

Seconds before Ginger entered Armin's ship, Antoinette is face to face with him.

_ "You judge me for being autistic, but you should know that you are one too, because you say you're in my world when the real world is your world, that's why I propose to you, to be part-time autistics."

Armin, furious at hearing her, launches his first attack, but she agilely dodges it, takes out some "balls of yarn" and throws them at him,

but Armin protected himself with the powerful bubble-shaped shield, it was impossible for the fireballs to penetrate it, Antoinette was a high-performance hand-to-hand combatant, but even Armin's powerful strategy left her at a disadvantage and also because she had more weapons, Ginger manages to get there and throws her weapon at him, who is about to take it, shoots at him with everything, but again she can't penetrate Armin's shield.

_ What about you, outsider! Aren't you going to fight? - Armin said to Ginger challenging her.

_ I don't fight with those of my race! - Ginger said firmly.

Other Warshapians arrive where Armin, Antoinette and Ginger are, unanimously they tell her shamelessly: you are not one of us!

Two Warshapians with their faces covered arrive and fight against the Warshapians who had already cornered Ginger and Antoinette, they take them, run away and teleport to another ship.

_ Release me cockroaches from a red-hot frying pan! - said Antoinette hitting them while they were in the new ship, who release them and talk.

_ Is this how you thank those who helped you, human? - said a female voice, it was a Warshapian, she uncovers her face and there is a certain resemblance of the alien with Fiorella, the other Warshapian did the same, leaving Ginger shocked.

_ Uncle Archie! - exclaimed Ginger - Aunt Erin! What are you doing here? Don't you know that if they discover you doing this, the ones who will be annihilated will be you? Wait! Uncle? How is it possible that you are here? - Ginger no longer knew what to say and was stuck with the questions.

_ Nice to see you, niece! - said Archie - nice to meet you, human, my name is Archibald, you can call me Archie.

_ Nice to meet you, Warshapian alien - said Antoinette - call me an American human, because my nationality is American. (It seemed a bit sarcastic, but Antoinette was being literal). And you are...?

_ Erin, I am Archie's wife, my sister was Fiorella Blake

_ So... Admiral Blake is your brother-in-law?

_ That's right, the reason why there is no problem in us interfering without them realizing it, is because of the death of my sister and my niece Kesil, although we continue working in INFINITY, we have "isolated" ourselves from the admiral since then.

_ Man, you went to war! You died! Wh...how?

_ I just came back and reported that he was alive.

_ What war are you talking about? - asked Antoinette, while Ginger feels guilty for having asked that in front of her.

_ I'll tell you later, Antoinette, you know, in due time everything that needs to be known, is discovered, although we are in the star labyrinth.

_ Don't worry - said Antoinette - you don't have to give me explanations, I only know that Ginger is a warshapian or well, I think they call her an outlander-alien here - said Antoinette hiding a truth that she knows about Ginger, although she doesn't know anything about that war that Ginger mentioned - by the way, thank you very much for the help.

_ It's nothing - said the alien couple unanimously.

_ And I'm very sorry for your loss (I tell them or I don't tell them about Kesil), Mrs. Erin, I'm very sorry about your sister and your niece.

_ I appreciate it, I see that your name is Antoinette - said Erin.

_ They've lost a bit of formality! - said Antoinette with a little laugh - Yes, that's right, Antoinette Patterson, but you can also call me Fire Cat.

_ What a name! Cats are terrestrial animals, right? - asked Archie

_ Um, yes, they are terrestrial animals, but don't go saying like your sister-in-law about "the feline" as I heard there: "the leader of the felines"!

_ Wait, what? - said Archie surprised

_ No, nothing

_ Antoinette - Ginger whispers to her - even though you are autistic and that gave you gifts of being literal, besides, you are very cerebral, with a very broad vocabulary, broad technicality, you love knowledge, and then you also have your sense of humor, although that is characteristic of you, so a Warshapian cannot understand the autistic condition, although we have many of your gifts. Please, be more polite.

_ Calm down, I'm trying to communicate with yours, you know that your uncle's doppelgänger is autistic too, and his niece is Asperger, we better go. Thank you very much, it was a pleasure meeting you.

_ Wait! - said Archie - do you know my sister-in-law's brother?

_ To his doppelgänger, well, thank you, thank you really, bye bye.

Suddenly, they were teleported, it was the Fast-Cat Ship.

_ Hey! Thank you, how kind! - said Antoinette

_ I felt my heart stop! - said Iris - I can't believe that Warshapians saved their lives!

_ It was my uncle- said Ginger-

_ Mission accomplished!- said Kiara- Michael Tyndale notified us that they saved many, as many as they expected regarding the residents of Hong Kong, we helped Jawara, now, we must return.

_ Do you think Dorothy has detected it?- asked Beatrice

_ They said no- said Gretel, now she is on her way to the hole of shadows, well let's go.

When they leave, Ginger talks to Antoinette.

_ Antoinette, I know you like not to hide that you are autistic, from what you have told me about my uncle's double, he doesn't hide his autism either, as well as a cousin you told me about, if I'm honest, she doesn't exist here in the Multiverse Base. But you have to understand that the real world doesn't work like that, and I'm not saying this because I'm an alien, I think you know that, and if I'm telling you this it's as a friend and you know that I love you very much.

_ I know Ginger, I know, but they tell me that the real world doesn't work like that, the question I want to ask them is: what is the real world? How am I going to understand it without anyone to teach me? I constantly struggle to adapt to the world, but sometimes it seems that those efforts are taken as if they weren't, look at this! It's wonderful! The Multiverse Base has given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge in an extraordinary way, not only with theory, but also with practice and I feel very happy with that.

_ I'll tell you something, Ginger- said Iris- there are leaders who take time to realize they are, there are others who are convinced that they are but there are still virtues that they must develop to be great leaders, there are others who already are, but not yet in that there are more that they must develop to be so authentically. Just speaking basically. And logically, Antoinette is a born leader and is forging and polishing her virtues to be a powerful leader, here as Jawara does, Michael Tyndale does, even, although I don't like him at all, Armin Blake.