At that point, with my strength almost gone, I flopped to the ground, although Cat still gripped my wrists, holding them up above my head. Somewhere in the background, I heard a woeful wailing and realized it was me. A moment later, I didn’t even have the energy to give voice to my pain as Cat continued draining me. Apparently, my plan had failed. Completely demoralized and exhausted, I let my head droop as my eyelids fluttered and then closed.
Then, unexpectedly, Cat said, “Stop it.”
She still held my wrists, and I could feel my power continuing to flow into her, but something seemed off.
“Stop it!” she repeated, raising her voice. “Stop it!”
All of a sudden, I felt my arms being yanked back and forth, like the hand levers on an elliptical machine.
“Let go, you stupid girl!” I heard Cat screech. “Let go!”
The tug-of-war with my arms became more violent, then all of a sudden Cat screamed, “No! No! No!”
A moment later, the yanking on my arms ceased, and I felt myself being lowered gently to the ground. Struggling mightily, I opened my eyes and saw Cat standing next to the Construct. I tried to speak, but no words would come out.
Apparently hearing my efforts, Cat glanced at me for a moment.
“It’s okay, Jim,” she said with a smile. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
Unable to hold it together any longer, I passed out.
Chapter 65
I came to in a bed in the League infirmary. Looking around, I was surprised to find that I wasn’t hooked up to anything: no IV drip, no monitor, nothing. That said, there must have been a scanner of some sort in the room, because a few minutes later Mouse came in, carrying his tablet.
“Great – you’re awake,” he said without preamble.
“Hello to you, too,” I responded. “How long have I been here?”
“Twelve hours, give or take. There really didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with you – you just seemed incredibly exhausted – so we figured just tossing you into a bed was enough. Plus that girl we found on the helipad with you–”
“Cat,” I interjected.
“Yeah, Cat. She said to just let you sleep and you’d be good as new.”
“And the word of a teenage girl passes for medical advice these days,” I stated dryly.
“Well, Alpha Prime vouched for her – once he got back from his ocean excursion, that is – so I didn’t feel any need to question it.”
“It’s okay – I’m just yanking your chain,” I admitted. “Where is she now?”
“Cat? I think Alpha Prime took her home.”
“Okay,” I droned, “now the big question: are we still a planet of people or a world of Busuigno?”
Mouse laughed. “We’re still a planet full of greedy, selfish, conceited individuals solely focused on material possessions and monetary gain.”
“So we won,” I surmised, causing my mentor to chuckle again.
“Yeah, the Busuigno are back where they belong.”
As proof, he put his tablet in front of me, showing me an image of myself at present. It was the same washed-out type of pic I’d seen previously, but this time I wasn’t sporting the ugly cowl.
“Score one for the good guys,” I said.
“Yeah,” Mouse concurred, then appeared to grow somber. “So this girl, Cat…”
“She’s a friend,” I stated as he trailed off. “She helped defeat the Busuigno.”
“By draining your powers, as I understand it.”
“Something like that,” I confirmed. “But I’d prefer to keep that part confidential.”
“So is the great Kid Sensation ashamed of being saved by a girl?”
I shook my head. “No, but I think she prefers to avoid the limelight. I just want to respect her wishes.”
“I can understand that,” Mouse declared with a nod. “So, you want to give me a brief rundown of what happened? I mean, I talked to Alpha Prime and Cat, but I’d still like to get your version.”
“Sure,” I said, and then gave him a quick overview of everything that happened up to the point that Cat first siphoned my powers. “Basically, the Busuigno were banking on us doing most of the heavy lifting for them in terms of finding a way to open the Construct. Then they just needed to get me out of the way, and they found a means of doing that with Cat.”
“I still can’t believe how badly I slipped up,” Mouse said. “Occasionally, I get tunnel vision, and I was so focused on fixing my mistake in letting the Busuigno out – so dead set on locking them back up – that I failed to fully consider what else my efforts could be used for. How my work could benefit the enemy.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know that the doomsday components could also be used to open the Construct.”
“That’s just it – I did know,” Mouse contritely confessed. “But in my arrogance, I didn’t think anyone else did…didn’t think anyone else was smart enough to figure it out. And my hubris almost cost us the planet.”
“Well, the good news – as you often say to me – is that it all worked out in the end.”
“Not without some luck.”
“Well, cats are supposed to bring good luck,” I said with a smirk.
“Apparently the Busuigno didn’t know that when they took control of your friend.”
“So it seems,” I agreed. “They basically needed a way to negate my powers, because – with my ability to phase and such – challenging me directly was doomed to fail.”
“Well, they certainly gave it the old college try in terms of getting a work-around.”
“Yeah, but that’s also where they slipped up,” I noted. “The Busuigno controlling Cat made a comment about how they’d handle people who were immune to their control. It suddenly gave me the idea that if Cat could siphon my powers, maybe she could draw on my immunity, too. So the last time the Busuigno in her tried to drain me, I telepathically shouted at Cat to wake up as loud as I could.”
“And apparently, it worked. Cat
