Electronic commands made Diana shuffle her feet, duck and dodge, block and strike. She stared at her opponent, a red vintage robot. In fact, she was unable to look anywhere else. She received the command, electronic signals taking control of her spring loaded arm, telling her to punch. And just before her blow struck, lights in the toy store began to turn off. She froze stiffly, her boxing mitt almost grazing her opponents face. But not enough to connect; not enough to send his springy head into the stratosphere.

No! Diana thought. No, no, no! I was so close! Finish the match!

“Hey! You two, get a move on! I need to close.” Grace, the toy store manager and Diana’s former boss, shouted at two employees that had once been Grace’s coworkers.

“Sorry!” They shouted in unison, dropping the remotes that controlled the toy robot and Diana, and headed out for the night. They didn’t think anything of it. To them, Diana was just a toy. They didn’t realize how important finish the match would have been to her.

She could only stand there, her soft shoes firm on the ground, her body trapped in a striking pose. A shadow loomed over her, and a face came into view, staring down at her. Grace’s head was larger than Diana’s whole body, and she smiled.

Cheater! Diana thought. You should have let them finish the match! But it was no use, Grace couldn’t read her thoughts. Even if she could, it would have just earned Diana more derision.

The new Rocky Robot Fight Club line had been a huge hit, with a range of twelve articulate fighters, state of the art remote control systems, and an online leaderboard. Diana had been…obsessed wasn’t a great word, but an accurate one, and had been caught repeatedly playing against the AI during store hours.

It didn’t make much sense to Diana why a woman with literal magic powers would be working as a night manager at a mid-tier toy store, but Grace was, and she was tired of Diana. So, when Diana was caught playing Rocky Robot Fight Club instead of fronting inventory again, Grace turned her into one of the toys; an agile blue cat robot.

There was, gracefully, a way out: If Diana beat all eleven other robots in one day, she would become human again. Of course, Diana had no control if she was used in a fight, who she fought, or literally anything she did in a fight. But if that happened, she would get to go home.

And today had been a busy weekend; Diana had wound up in the ring for hours, sparring and fighting under the control of kids and adults. And she had already beat ten of the required eleven bots. And all she needed now was to deliver this last blow to this last bot and her career as toy robot fighter would come to an end.

But it seemed like Grace had kept track of today’s matches. She moved more fully into view, picking up the opposing remote control.

You bitch! Diana thought. This was a woman who had never taken a single interest in any toy in her life, yet here she was, playing a game just to keep Diana trapped just as she was. The red robot sprang to life, its mechanics whirring and shuffling. And Diana remained totally frozen, helpless, as it cocked its red mitt in a delirious uppercut, snapping Diana’s head back.

An internal voice box went ‘Merow!’ as Diana fell backward, her defeated body locking into a jumping jack pose, unstable and off balance, causing her to fall flat on the yellow mat, where she would stay until reset in the morning.

“Almost, KitKat.” Grace said with a rueful laugh. “Try again tomorrow.”