[Archived Short Story] Mr. Pawdles

Dear Diary,

The world ended! And not in one of those fun, everyone gets super powers sort of ways. Well, some things did get super powers, but not me, which makes it super double unfair! Even Tim next door managed to gain the ability to fly.

Not that I want the ability to fly! I’d have to wear something super uncool or the creepy guy down at the bus stop would probably try filming up my skirt. My dad called me to ask though the surprise there was that he could in the first place. Apparently despite all the space stuff getting frizzed enough people managed to gain literal float a feather with some funny words magic like my little brother was always going on about until that author became a nasty curmudgeon who wasn’t cool with people like him not matching their birth certificates or some such nonsense.

Yeah, so they put a couple mages on a rocket and they used some repair spells to get it all working again. Anyway, all that to say my dad called me, which he didn’t have to because I’ve been living on my own for years now and I’m not a little girl, and he wasn’t surprised because powers seemed to be a literal one in a thousand shot. The biggest problem with that being that counted for all the animals above a certain complexity or some other science gobbledygook. That all still makes me mad though and I still have to show up to work at the coffee shop in a few because we aren’t unionized yet and even the literal end of the world isn’t going to have them closed.

All that aside, good news! Mr. Pawdles is still just as fluffy! I’ve seen what some pets ended up becoming and while super neat, I don’t want a scaled cat. If I wanted something with scales, I would hit up big bro for one of his lizards. I have nothing against them, but cats are so my speed!

-_-_-

The cat named Mr. Pawdles watched as the human female finished writing in her diary and returned to petting him. Not too long ago he wouldn’t have really understood why she would stop brushing and petting him and even now he would rather she didn’t, but knowledge and understanding comes at the price of realizing you don’t always get your way.

Like that boy Tim next door. The idiot had tried to use his mastery of flight to sneak a peek on his human. Before? At most, he would have hissed at the fool, but now he understands the complex matter behind such an act. An act which he sufficiently punished.

In an almost ironic twist, Mr. Pawdles actually understood the new world better than his supposed owner at this point. While she blithely set aside the danger this change represented, he knew what lurked out in the dark. Stuff just waiting to ruin his day by making her unable to continue taking care of him. Sure, he was more than capable of doing it himself now, but it just didn’t hit the same.

So with a sigh, he walks through the door just after his human left and follows behind her as she heads to work. A place that really should have stayed closed as the world was only now realizing just how bad the animal threat was. After all, she hadn’t even walked a block before a stray dog that seemed to have developed some form of laser eye power tried to attack her.

Mr. Pawdles blocked said attack and crushed the foul beast into a fine paste.

Then there was that sleazy man she had written about, except his power was much less dangerous, though just as nasty. For some reason, some higher power or fate decided to grant him the classic “x-ray” vision. The fun kind and not the “see their bones” kind. Though despite his patient wait for Mr. Pawdles human to show up, would find it hard to take a peek. After all, the power still needed him to actually have eyes to work.

After that, the bus ride was thankfully uneventful. There was a mouse who had gained both magic and sapience. Well, it could have also been a human who gained magic and got turned into a mouse. Kind of hard to tell now, but he was just riding the bus like all the others. In fact, in a way he was doing so in a more legitimate fashion as Mr. Pawdles had chosen to feel the wind in his fur and so rode on top of the bus.

As for work? Maybe if the coffee shop had been near a bank or jewelry store things might have been more exciting, but what self respecting “super villain” was going to knock over a coffee shop for the big debut? Though Mr. Pawdles did take some time to warn a couple of local spiders to not mess with his human. They both swore they weren’t going after humans as the rats were better targets, so he let them go on their way.

Not that a variety of powered didn’t show up at the shop. Not everyone could hide their powers and while flaming hair is cool. Once you realize that was only a visual effect, it gets old fast. Though a superhero did stop by. Well, the guy called himself a superhero and had somehow gotten ahold of some very tight fitting cosplay gear. No one called him out on that, though a certain cat did do a quick check and snickered a bit when he found the guy’s only super power was the ability to turn really buff looking and the “suit” was so tight because his original size was quite scrawny.

Once work finished, Mr. Pawdles human did get quite upset, but that had nothing to do with any actual problem. Rather, she found out that the “one in a thousand” thing wasn’t quite accurate anymore as more and more people were gaining powers. Sure, the powers were only getting weaker and weaker like that “superhero”, but she hadn’t gotten anything yet.

Mr. Pawdles could only shake his head and thank whatever higher power passed her over. She was a sweet enough gal, but exactly the type to let any such thing go to her head. Much better, she focuses on brushing and petting him. Though he did make an exception if said higher power decided to grant her a power based on being better at those tasks.

The trip home on the bus was accompanied by the same mouse from the morning. Though at some point said mouse must have stopped by a toy store or some such as he had acquired a nice business suit. This was enough to draw a certain lady’s attention, but the look of scorn the mouse gave her when she went to pet him made her back off.

There was a slight hiccup and Mr. Pawdles had to admit to his mistake. The bus wasn’t able to let his human off at the usual stop because believe it or not, someone had discovered an old man unconscious from pain who happened to be missing his eyes. Oops.

Anyway, this meant she was let off a bit further away than usual and Mr. Pawdles had to roll his eyes before gently bapping a couple fools. Was every bus stop in the area required to have some creep hanging out by it? This time, though, there wasn’t any permanent damage so if the other stop wasn’t up and running tomorrow his human wouldn’t have to go even farther afield.

-_-_-

Dear Diary,

Last night Mr. Pawdles was loud! He was running all over the house and causing trouble. It made his fur all mussed up and I had to spend a bunch of time brushing it out this morning. Not that I was mad at him or anything. At least he doesn’t caterwaul.

Oh, and like, every bank ever had an attempted robbery yesterday? Not literally, of course, but the news sure made it feel like it. Way too many people reading comics I guess. Then again, more of them than not failed for the exact same reason. Now, if I had powers I might find it in me to do some good deeds, but seriously? Being a superhero and stopping a bank robbery? A little much.

Also, apparently the ocean is now a bit of a no go? I guess it makes sense as there are more than a few fish in the sea as I always told my little brother. Though in this case it isn’t dating advice. There was a really cool movie floating around of a right of out of myth kraken attacking one of those giant container ships. Superheroes also managed to make it in time to save everything.

Well, I say superheroes. They feel more like super mercenaries seeing as they were getting paid for it. Though I guess we’re going to see more than a few like that in the coming days.

-_-_-

Mr. Pawdles had really enjoyed his victory brushing. Sure, he was a little annoyed that she didn’t realize he was defending her, but on the other hand there was less threat of the pettings being stopped if she didn’t know. Though he knew what was going to happen tonight.

With this being a modern city, there were more than a few rats running around and that meant more than a few super rats now causing trouble. One of those ended up being of the swarm variety and had sent more than a few scouting rats to test him out.

Mr. Pawdles was not happy with their attempts and would be removing such a variable from the equation. In fact, he was planning to cull all the super powered vermin from the city. Well, maybe not all of them? The mouse from yesterday was nice enough and those spiders seemed to genuinely be targeting the rats. He could only sigh when he realized that once again understanding made things so much harder.

Before the change, he would have just killed any rat or mouse that entered the house. Now Mr. Pawdles had to worry about whether they were sapient and then if they were friendly. It would be so much easier if he could just massacre them all, something he had more than enough power to do.

Though his musings were cut short by his worst nightmare. His human let off a now familiar burst of energy. She had gained a power and from the feeling of things; it wasn’t some harmless ability to improve her petting skills.

No, somehow she gained what the general world was now calling “The classic”. A mixture of speed, toughness, strength, and reflexes. In other words, the prime setup for superheroing. Tough enough to take a shot from a handgun, able to dodge the shot if they see the person getting ready to fire, and capable of lifting a car to throw at said gunman. Maybe not a big car, mind you, but it’s the thought that counts.

Suffice it to say, Mr. Pawdles’ human was more than a little excited to gain superpowers and vowed to fight crime as well as the general stuff about power and responsibility. Mr. Pawdles might have believed it more if she wasn’t already wondering about how best to use her phone to catch her good side when stopping a bank robbery.

Mr. Pawdles could only sigh and get ready for some extra heavy work as it seemed keeping her in one piece was going to be a lot harder now. Still, as far as he was concerned the extra effort was worth it. Besides, in regular life, it also made her a whole lot safer in this new world. After all, this was only the beginning and if what he could sense from all around the world, things were going to get worse before they got better.