Unusual Attraction
#3 of Heart Of Iron
Later then usual, sorry about that. Sometimes life gets in the way.
Apologizes said, please enjoy the next chapter, and don't forget to leave feedback!
Heart Of Iron
Chapter 3: Unusual Attraction
Jake and Chance were back at the yard, working on yet another car. It was late into the night, but their thankless job was unending. It required almost all of their free time. They knew that they probably would never pay off the restitution for the damaged enforcer headquarters, but it didn't bother them. As long as they worked here, they would do their best as the SWAT Kats in defending Megakat City. "Chance pass me the nine incher." Jake ordered from underneath the small convertible. The radiator was cracked and had to he replaced, a dirty but relative easy job.
"Sure thing Jake, it's the least I could do considering I can't fit down there." Chance chuckled going through the toolbox and pulling out the asked for wrench, and handing it over.
Jake's paw shot out from under the tiny car and latched onto the gadget before pulling it out of sight. "Yeah yeah whatever." He went back to work under the vehicle, muttering to himself absently.
It would be along time yet before they could get some rest.
Six stayed on the roof of the brick building, watching over that infuriating cat women until whatever police force they had arrived. Even though he revealed himself, he wasn't upset, he had done a good deed. And it may actually be a positive thing, he would be able to get a sense of how they worked, and what opinion they would have of the spartan. So in the future he would know whether or not reveling himself fully would be a smart idea. The night as it turned out, was not a total loss.
He thought back to his brief conversation with her, what a foolish and misguided species. He scoffed internally, 'fair trail', the scum should have perished by his hand. And that is what made Six itch under his MJOLNIR, why did he listen to the women? What was it about that feline that had given her that power? He would need to watch her carefully until he figured it out, the camp will be fine without him for a few days.
A primitive car drove up to the alley, (a petroleum based engine if his augmented ears and nose stood correct), and came to a stop. Out stepped a modestly armed officer (Six noted the exotic looking handgun holstered to the kat's thigh), and another female, both in grey and blue uniforms with a crest on their shoulders and their chests that could only belong to the city's defenders. As the duo approached the women in the alley, the spartan honed his hearing on them, utilizing the MJOLNIR's superior audio enhancing capabilities and his own stellar perception. He wanted to get a feel for this world's police if he was to be staying here for the foreseeable (and most likely permanent) future.
"Are you alright Ms. Briggs?" The other female asked worriedly, gazing at the beaten forms of her attempted attackers. They slowed to a stop when they fully took in the sight before them.
Six studded this smokey hued feline, she had a remarkable fur coloring on her head, black and white locks. The girl had an air about her that reminded him of Kat, a tough but all-around kind spartan. She had been hard on Six when he first joined Nobel, but he didn't mind. He was a replacement after all. He wasn't thrilled with his new role either. When she had died it had saddened and enraged him, that was no death fit for a spartan. Voices brought him out of his nostalgia.
"I'm fine Felina, although I still can't believe why." The now identified women, this...'Briggs' replied tiredly, idly shuffling her paws for warmth as she stood in the frigid winter air.
"What happened here?" Feline asked in amazement as she took in once more the thrashed Kats scattered about like the rest if the trash inside the alley. Her brown eyes finally settling on the crater in front of Callie. She could see the imprint of a titanic fist and a massive pair of boots.
She sighed. "You know Felina, I'm still not sure I could say."
"Perhaps you can try?" The other officer walked back to the car and called in for more backup, they didn't have enough room for all these Kats in their squad car.
Callie tried her best to explain. "I was trapped in this alley by these thugs, and before they could do god knows what to me, a monstrous armored thing fell from the rooftops."
Six was offended, he was not a monster! Why did everyone think that? He looked to his self, (a small amount of blood was splattered on his ebony plate, not to mention his height exceeded seven feet). He scrutinized the broken Kats on the floor down there. Maybe... kinda a little...ok, she had a point he muttered internally.
The questioner looked to the rooftops but couldn't see him in the darkness, his obsidian armor foiling even her piercing feline eyes. "And?...."
"Well....then it spoke." She shivered visibly. "I can still remember its voice when it did, deep and menacing. After it finished, it set upon them like a wolf among sheep, they never had a chance, it was terrifying in its rage." Callie dragged the crimson colored coat closed to her trembling frame, her tail was coiled up into her jacket as she sought to keep herself warm.
"What did it do afterwards?" Felina was beyond curious now ears twitching in excitement, she was absolutely enthralled by Callie's tale.
"...it was about to kill the thugs when I stopped it."
"How?" Felina asked intrigued.
"I told it to." Callie replied lamely.
"And it listened?" The other women deadpanned, finding it hard to believe.
"Yes, surprisingly, and then it vanished into thin air." Callie concluded her story, realizing that it might sound a tiny bit fantastical.
"You know, if I didn't know who you were and saw this," she gestured to the unconscious Kats with clawed digits. "I would've called you crazy. But...I believe you."
Callie exhaled in relief, a puff of chilled breath leaving her lungs and floating into the air. "I thought you would have called me crazy!"
"Believe me Callie I want to, this city had enough problems without adding another." Feline muttered tiredly looking up into the night sky.
Six sighed frustratedly, it seems that he would be labeled as a monster. It was something he was sadly intimately familiar with. For his entire existence he heard the remarks. Even his allies in the UNSC called him such, claiming that spartans had no soul. They were just cybernetic machines following orders. Monsters created to fight other monsters.
They always said that about him, even in normal human hearing range. They wanted him to know what they thought, they made very little effort, if any, to keep their derogatory opinions concealed. They didn't understand him, he was still human, but not the kind they were, his mind functioned on a fundamentally different level in most part due to his background, training, and augmentation. But he knew that no one would ever understand. He was turning away, his proud bearing now noticeably slouched, when he heard the voice of the women he saved.
"I don't think it was a problem!" She blurted out, almost defensively. "After all it saved my life, I think that it was a good...guy...thing." She finished her argument rather lamely.
Six felt a feeling of...he didn't know, gratitude? Verification? Maybe finally some one understood him that was not another spartan. Sure it wasn't much, but it was something. He decided to stay a little longer.
"Good?" Felina asked in bafflement, her ears splayed backwards in wonder. "Seriously?"
"It did stop the muggers!" She pointed out...literally, her paws sweeping to show the Kats on the floor. The other car had arrived, a truck, and several officers were uncaringly dragging them to it. Obviously they didn't care for filth like them, they were not gentle.
"I suppose it did." Felina mumbled thoughtfully.
Six tuned out the rest of the conversation, with a small part still listening for keywords. He waited for the police to wrap up his crime scene, the female officer offered a ride but the Callie women turned it down saying she wanted to walk. There was a small argument but she won in the end, and watched the cars pull away with their prisoners. Then she began to walk once more. Six trailed her on the rooftops. For some strange reason he felt the need to continue to watch over her, protect her.
As he followed, he once more took in the sights. It was now snowing in earnest, mounds forming on the top of his helmet and shoulder pauldrons, the air frosting over his visor slightly. He could also hear something, he paused for a second. There it was again! That music! It instilled in him a sense of...peace, and unrest at the same time, something he had never experienced before. He watched as the kat women practically pranced along the sidewalk, heels clicking merrily on the snowy cement.
She looked so happy...and beautiful (Six shrugged that thought off in puzzlement, but found himself thinking like that once more). Her tawny fur sparkled in the moonlight and her expression was not of someone who had almost been mugged. Her muzzle was spread into a wide grin and her sapphire eyes glowed with delight, a complete reversal from her earlier moments. Her strength was astounding to Six, he had seen such resilience only in his fellow soldiers.
He chased after her until she entered a massive skyscraper. The building had a plaque along the doorway, that read Megakat Tower. Six was forced to go to ground level in order to continue his pursuit. Activating his active camouflage, he entered the structure a few seconds after her. He felt a strange desire to stick close to her, it was...troubling to the spartan.
Callie sighed and walked into the foyer, she took of her carmine jacket and folded it in her paws. As she dusted off the snowy flakes, her ears twitched, detecting a faint hum in the air conditioned air. She connected the noise to the generator underneath her hindpaws in the lower levels of the tower. With the source pinpointed, she entered the elevator and pressed the seventieth floor button, she was eager to get home. She thought she saw a shimmer in the air in front of the elevator before the doors slid closed, but she dismissed it as the heat of the foyer interacting with the freezing air of the outside when she opened the door.
Six watched the elevator close, he memorized the number of her floor and headed to the staircase. It may have been daunting to an unaugmented human, but to a spartan it was a lite warm up. He sprinted up all seventy floors in record time, his boots thumping loudly on the concrete. Later, if one were to notice, there were almost imperceptible indents in the crete. Six opened the door to the floor and stepped out just as the elevator opened. He activated his camo, shrouding himself in its invisibility again.
She entered the hallway and walked down the long corridor humming a melodious tune to herself, unaware that she had listener. Six was taken back by the pleasant sound, it resurfaced vague memories of his family and childhood. He had an intense flashback to when he was younger, sitting in his mothers as she hummed to him so that he would sleep peacefully. Six felt icy chills all over his body, that was the exact same tune his mother had used! He was so preoccupied with the mind blowing galactic absurdity that he almost didn't notice when she stopped at her apartment. He shook himself of the strangeness of the world and focused once more on her.
He watched as she fiddled with something in her carry bag, it was a pair of keys. They jingled as she inserted them into the lock and twisted. Six could hear the inner mechanisms shift and click. She tried to open the stubborn door for a few moments, until finally she succeeded. With a grunt she leveraged the obstinate wooden blockade with her shoulders and walked inside. The last thing he saw was her tail slinking in and the door shutting softly. It locked with a gentle click and the tall armored spartan stood outside her door. What would he do now? He had, as usual, more questions then answers. Six needed to figure it out, and soon, the hallway would not be empty forever.
Callie exhaled a sigh of ease, she was back home....her small crowded home *sigh*. She blundered around in the dark until she flicked the light switch, (receiving minuscule bruises and issuing yelps of pain when she discovered items in the darkness). The lights flickered on, their mellow yellow glow adding a homelier vibe to her lonesome living space.
She laid down her purse and hung up her coat. Leaving her wearing a long sleeve shirt and a skirt, having also removed her heels placing them next to her door. She wiggled her freed manicured clawed toes in contentment, the pointed red dyed nails clacking on the tile flooring of the entryway. Then she stretched lithely, loosening her joints with a undetectable pop. She was happy to be back, the day had been a long one.
Now comfortable, she went in search of food. Meandering in to the kitchen, she sighed when she spotted her abandoned sandwich forlornly laying on its ceramic plate on the small island in the cramped kitchen. It had been all but forgotten in her haste to leave her home. "Looks like its leftovers again." She muttered plopping down on her counter stool and gnawing on her cold meal.
Unbeknownst to her, an unfriendly entity stood across from her building on an adjacent rooftop, with a devious plan. A plan, where she would be the victim. "Is everything in place?" It growled questioningly to its underlings. The small flying minions cowered at the sound of his voice and nodded vigorously. "Excellent, the SWAT Kats will be forced to come to the aid of their informant!"
The massive beastly villain chuckled evilly, soon he would have his retribution for the SWAT Kats meddling, they would no longer be a thorn in his side. "Begin the operation!" He snarled to one of his many lackeys. The unfortunate creature was punted to its compatriots violently by a huge booted foot, scattering them. The little monsters took flight, soaring into the air, to soon be upon their prey.
Callie finished her pathetic excuse for a dinner and headed for her bedroom. She looked out to the city's skyline wistfully. She remembered a time when there was no vast array of evil masterminds. Those days had been great, the workload was much lighter and she had free time. Now, there was never time fore it always seemed that at least one of the many blackguards was up to some city leveling plot.
The only saving grace had been the arrival of the SWAT Kats. She didn't even want to imagine where the city would be now without them. But deep down she was afraid, they were only two against many. It would only be a matter of time before they be overwhelmed by the plenitude of evildoers. It was a dark chain of thought, one that should not be considered.
Callie stopped thinking about that, it would not do any good. The best thing to do would he to get some shut eye. So with her next move planned out she was getting ready for bed. As she was about to change into her nightgown, she saw a flicker of movement in the corner of her vision. Curious, she swiveled her head to the large window in her room. She saw a pack of shadows ascend from a nearby building, heading for the tower. Or perhaps, the best guess, her apartment.
This was bad, the shadows began to take shape in the form of little winged gremlins. She felt a sense of dread permeate her furred body, she knew of whom they served. Acting fast she went to her nightstand. The tiny table held her only help. She picked up the special communicator given to her by the SWAT Kats and plugged in the number with shaking paws.
Jake was just finishing the repairs on the convertible (the radiator had been replaced and the car was functional once more) when the communicator began to buzz in his pocket. "Chance, we might have a situation!" He warned his friend as he wormed his hand into his tight pair of jeans and tried to fish out the device.
"Copy that Jake!" Chance shouted and began to close up the mechanic front of their operations.
With that taken care of, Jake answered the gadget. "SWAT Kats." He said in his undercover voice.
"Oh thank god!" The worried voice of Callie vocalized.
"What's the problem Ms. Briggs?" He asked as he headed for the secret underground hanger connected to their workshop.
"I think that Dark Kat is making a move, I see his nasty little creeplings heading to my apartment!" She cried out, he could hear her panting.
Jake began to pick up his already hurried pace. "Got it, we are heading over right now, well be there as soon as possible!"
"Please hurry!" She mewled and hung up. Jake sprinted and vaulted, ignoring the latter, impacting the ground with a thump and ran to his locker. Chance, or now T-bone, was already suited up and prepping the Turbokat.
"What's the situation?" He asked from the cockpit.
"It looks like Dark Kat is trying to abduct Ms. Briggs." Jake replied angrily as he began to hurriedly adorn his vigilante regalia. The outfits of the SWAT Kats were more then they seemed. The navy blue flight suits were treated, with a special mixture, making then resilient to small caliber weapons and blades. They also reduced blunt blunt force trauma for the wearer and were from fitting so that it would not snag on any protrusions during combat.
The suits also had a black harness that was worn on the chest. It stored ammo for the Glovatrix, and provided additional protection.
The Glovatrix was a miraculous invention, arguably the best Jake ever made. It housed a plethora of tools and mini missiles. It was like a Swiss Army knife on steroids. Just some of the few things it contained were a plasma arc torch, buzz-saw blades, lock picks, and grappling hook. It was the signature ground weapon for them.
As Jake (or Razor), fitted on his Glovatrix T-bone started the Turbokat's powerful engines. He flipped acrobatically into the copilot's chair, landing smoothly, and readied it for battle. "Lest go T-bone." He said determinedly, flicking the button that opened the underground launchpad. With a rumble the camouflaged opening was revealed.
"All right buddy, let's rock 'n' roll!" T-bone whooped in response and gunned the engines. The TurboKat fired out of the hidden hanger like a rocket soaring into the sky. They would arrive at Callie's in a few minutes, they both hoped they would not be too late.
Six was still hovering outside her home, passing back and forth. His armor hummed quietly and his heavy steps thunked as he paced, the electroactive crystalline polymer of his undersuit rippled with agitation. It reacted to the tenseness of its operator. He was currently in a fierce inner struggle with himself trying to decide wether to leave or stay. He was confused, why did he feel the need to stay? What was it that attracted him to her? The poor spartan did not have an answer.
He was turning for the fifteenth time when he heard the sound of breaking glass and a scream, followed by the sound of a scuffle. Well at least he had his answer. He took a spartan's minute to contemplate his next course of action, that translated into roughly zero-point-seven-five-seconds, due to his extremely efficient mental processing power and boosted adrenal glands.
Six hoped that she had not simply dropped something, that would make what he was about to do awkward. He charged through the thick wooden door, shattering it into kindling as his armored weight obliterated the obstacle. The spartan maintained his momentum as he searched around the apartment for its owner. Considering its size it took only seconds to find her.
Six barged into her room to an odd sight. It appeared that a pack of beasts, numbering five, were trying to wrest her from her home and out the destroyed window. She was withering in their grip like a snake trying to escape from the talons restraining her. He was surprise to see her clawed footpaws digging into her mattress preventing them from outright lifting her into the air.
Six took a millisecond to study the attackers, short, stubby, and numerous. They reminded him of grunts...flying grunts. Six hated grunts, wings or no wings. He whipped out his magnum from its mag-locked location, sighted his targets and pulled the trigger mechanically. The gun belched black gun-smoke and steel, shell casings flew from the chamber in rapid succession as the weapon roared.
The 12.7mm x 40mm M225 Semi-Armor Piercing High-Explosive/.50 Magnum Caliber Rounds wizzed through the air, the tips parted the very air they soared through. When they hit their intended targets they absolutely destroyed the small beasts. Their bodies partially disintegrating from the sheer power of the bullets.
Callie fell to her bed unceremoniously covered in green goop, the remains of her attempted kidnappers. She looked to her savior with a stunned expression. "You?" Her tone was curious and yet...grateful. She was rubbing her ears tenderly, having been painfully effected by the loud bangs that originated from the spartan's gun.
Six found himself chuckling, this time it rang pleasantly in her ears. "Yes, me." He walked over to the breach and looked for more enemies, magnum still drawn.
She watched the black armored stranger as it stood in the remains of the window. "How did you get here?"
"Oh, I followed you." It said casually still observing the skyline.
She was taken back by that fact. "Why?" She also noticed that she was covered in a smelly foul dark green substance. She came to realize that it was the ruins of her kidnappers. She groaned in disgust and tried her best to wipe it off.
It turned to her, its ebony opaque visor staring at her. "I...am not quite sure yet." The voice was wry, as if it had already thought on the matter deeply.
"Okay..." She replied slowly. Callie didn't know what to think of this individual. So far she had met it twice, both times arriving to save her when in peril. "I guess I should thank you for this and the other time." Callie rose up from her bed, looking back sadly at its shredded form.
It looked uncomfortable when she said that, and shrugged her thanks off. "Uh...yeah...don't worry about it."
She hesitantly pawed over to the giant. As she neared, she noticed it become increasingly jumpy. "Is something the matter?"
"No." It replied flatly and returned its focus to the window, pointedly trying to distance itself
"Oh...okay." She said somewhat deflated. Her savior wasn't very...charming.
Suddenly it raised its weapon and fired off four more shots into the nightsky. Callie could feel the reverberations in her skull. "Why did you do that?" She hissed cradling her head eyeing it angrily.
"More are coming." It explained. "Many more."
"What do we do now?" She asked her protector mood changed from angry to worried.
"Now, we move to a better location. Your home has been compromised, you need to be relocated." The thing moved away from the hole, still keeping itself between her and the new entryway, and walked to the door. She cautiously followed it.
She was puzzled as to why she did. She didn't even know the thing, and she was going to go with it. Her decision was finalized when she returned her gaze to the broken window and pools of green slime.
Six headed for the stairs, with Callie in tow. As he thudded down the corridor in front of the feline he couldn't help but feel befuddled. Why was he putting so much effort in protecting this native? He should have just left her after dealing with the attackers, now he was jeopardizing all of his plans, for her. He opened the metal door to the stairs. Before he could enter he felt a tug on his bandolier, he turned to see the culprit.
"Why the stairs?" The tan feline asked, standing in the doorway.
"The elevator won't take my weight." He responded before turning back, leaving the dubious feline staring at his back.
He started to stomp down the stairs, Callie went after him, reluctantly. Four flights in he noticed that the women had slowed considerably. "What's the problem?" He grunted, every second wasted was one second their pursers gained on them.
She leaned back onto the wall with a tired exhalation. "I can't keep going like this, not to mention we left my shoes back there." She pointed to her clawed feet, lifting up one and rubbing it in her paws.
Six sighed but wasn't angry, he knew the limitations of non-spartans. He walked over to Callie who watched him approach with apprehension. "What are you doing?" He didn't answer and surprised her when he lifted her up bridal-style, making her mewl in indignation, and began to jog down the stairs at a much more ground consuming pace.
She stared up into the helmeted head of her rescuer, she found herself trying to puzzle out the gender of the individual. She observed the bulky muscle and masculine presence it exuded, not to mention the broad shoulders. It...was definitely a he, she began to blush madly for some reason, her fur blending into a pinkish tan swirl. This went unnoticed by the spartan as he was focused in securing the exfil of his VIP.
The Turbokay did a fly by of Callie's apartment. Razor and T-bone took in the sight of the broken window, and the mutilated remains of a pack of creeplings. "Looks like we're late to the party." T-bone muttered to his friend.
"Maybe, but let's hope that we aren't to late." Razor suddenly formulated an idea. "Hey, T-bone, think you can get me close enough to the window?"
He could hear the grin in his friends voice. "Think I can, I know I can!" The Kat replied confidently and brought the Turbokat up to the precept of the makeshift entrance, wingtips almost clipping the side of the building. The cockpit slid open and Razor climbed on to the wing. "Hey, good luck!" T-bone shouted over the comms as the cockpit sealed.
"Luck, I don't need luck." Razor fired back and leaped into the room. He took only a second to gather himself before he ran out of the room in search of Callie.