The door opened with a creak, and in came Carl.

“He’s going to practice his new techniques on you,” he told Minnie cheerfully, wheeling her bed out of the room, which proved to be a large shipping container.

“No— wait!” her dad said. “Take me instead— I don’t know what she’s done, but as his arch-enemy, aren’t I the one he’ll want to torture?”

“No,” Carl responded bluntly, and fell over.

“Ouch,” said a female voice. “Your legs are hard.”

Minnie blinked at the girl who’d emerged from behind the door. She had a small but sturdy frame and almond-shaped grey eyes. She was rubbing her shin.

“What is he made of?” she asked.

“Metal,” Minnie replied. Carl stood up again. “He has an off-switch, on the hump.”

“What hump?” Carl asked.

The girl flipped the switch, and he sagged slightly,settling into a frozen, hunched position. One eyelid fluttered sporadically, then both eyes shut.

“That looks painful,” the girl said to Minnie, and unchained her toes. Then she unchained the rest of her. She moved to unchain her father, as well, but Minnie stopped her.

“Leave him,” Minnie said.

The girl fixed her with a look of stern incredulity. Then she tipped her head, as if listening, and her face cleared. “Look,” she said, “Maybe he’s changed.”

Minnie pulled back, heart stinging. She slipped out the door, then turned invisible. She hovered by it. She watched the girl help her father out of the shipping container. The girl froze. Minnie could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

“So, you’re not German,” Minnie said to the girl.

The girl looked in her direction. Stared in her direction, actually. “Neither are you.” Her eyes were fixed exactly where Minnie was standing. Minnie moved, and the girl’s gaze followed. It was almost like…

“Can you see me?” Minnie asked. “Who are you?”

“Not exactly. I’m…” The girl paused, considering. “I’m the Ninja, who are you?”

Rori was utterly stunned by the revelation of Minneapolis’ powers, and by the echoey memories that tinged her mind. She’d assumed that Minneapolis couldn’t have powers, but that was wrong. The thought was bitter as baking soda. Then she recalled that it had been just an assumption, so she banished the thought to focus on the task at hand.

The name “Ninja” was something her co-workers called her when she wasn’t looking. It was probably because of her martial arts training and her tendency to wear black.

“I’m the Looking Glass,” the girl spoke from mid-air. When she’d been visible, she’d had pale blonde hair and deep-set blue eyes. They had purple, bruise-like circles underneath them.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“What brought you out here to Europe?” Rori asked, as if they weren’t in an evil lair.

“Oh, you know, a few bird droppings here, a few stolen robot parts there. He steals with hyper intelligent birds, you know. I think my dad made them.”

Her dad. They had similar psyches. Sort of purplish ones. Their noses were similar, too. He’d been, according to ‘The Looking Glass’s’ thoughts, a terrible father.

“Seems like we both came for the same reason,” Rori observed, “and it looks like we found the perpetrator.”

“Yeah,” Glass replied. “Pretty sick.” She grabbed the Owl by the back of the neck, slamming his head down on the table. He groaned, flapping his arms weakly.

Her dad cleared his throat. “Well, it’s been nice seeing you. We should catch up sometime.” He turned to leave.

“No you don’t—” Glass exclaimed. “It hasn’t escaped my notice that you’ve been doing illegal genetic experimentation.”

“On birds,” he said. “Nobody cares.”

“I care,” she advanced on him dangerously.

He ignored her scowl, enveloping her in a hug. “I missed you, too,” he said, purposefully misinterpreting her approach.

“All right, that’s enough,” Rori said. She handcuffed both men to a counter.

Glass’s father sighed, perhaps accepting it as something he deserved. The Owl, however, became conscious in a loud squawking fashion.

“I’m going to call a friend from the CIA,” Rori told Glass. “I don’t really have jurisdiction here.”

Glass wrinkled her nose. “I think I’ll be leaving, then.”

Suddenly, the sound of whooshing wings filled the air. A large murder of crows came swooping in the window, and headed straight for them. Glass pulled a short, fat stick from her back pocket. She gave it a flick, and it extended about a foot.

She grinned. “Looks like it’s going to get rough.”

Rori took a step back, getting into a fighting position.

Glass’s dad whistled a five note melody, and the birds calmed. Glass and Rori looked at him in astonishment.

“What?” he said. “They’re my birds, after all. He just stole them.”

Minnie frowned. It was typical of her dad to take all the action out of a moment. But she thought she should thank him. She wouldn’t though.

Ninja took in her mixed emotions as if she could hear them aloud. Minnie frowned at that, too

“This guy set up a pyramid scheme of robot building.” Ninja told her. “Each robot is programmed to build seven more robots, then to intermingle with the population. If we don’t stop it, they’ll take over the world in about ten generations.”

“So we’ve got time.” Minnie said.

“Not if a generation is only as long as it takes to make seven robots. As efficient as robots are, that wouldn’t be long at all.”

“Hmmph,” Minnie said, still grumpy that she couldn’t beat up birds. “Then we’ll just have to thwart him, then. There has to be a way to control them— probably in this very facility. I mean, did you see all those traps? This is probably the HQ.” She squinted at Ninja. “How did you get through all those traps, anyways?”

“I’m a ninja.”

Minnie grinned. She liked this girl’s attitude.

Walking around, she looked for anything that looked like a robot controller. “This is all Greek to me. I hack, but I’m no hardware fiend,” she said. “You?”

Ninja hesitated. “It looks like I need to call up my Batman wannabe.”

“I like Batman,” Minnie said, looking hopeful.