Cover Image by Deviantartist: xXUnicornXx
This story is based on the short-lived TV series Sheena (2000) starring Gena Lee Nolin and John Allen Nelson (from Baywatch). Sheena was an orphaned girl raised in the jungle by a local African tribe (tragic backstory, for the win!).
Anywhos, she is a protector of the jungle and is very strong, possessing the power of animal transformation (it just gets trippier from here). So long as she is able to maintain eye contact long enough with ANY animal, she can fully transform into them.
What else, you might ask? She sometimes covers herself in dark mud from beautiful blonde hair to toe and puts on these bone claw things (think original Wolverine) and attacks people who bring danger to the jungle. This includes militant groups, poachers, kidnappers, etc. When she is in this form she is very strong and is called "The Darak'na" based on an old myth. The fear of this unknown creature terrifies even the burliest of men before even facing the Darak'na.
[Matthew] Cutter is a local travel/safari guide that is friends with Sheena. Sometimes he unknowingly helps bad guys, but then is always there to help Sheena take them down.
Mendelsohn is his mechanic for the boats, jeeps and planes he uses as well as a partner in his business: Cutter Enterprises.
Kali is the woman who raised Sheena after her parents were killed on an expedition. She is the last[ish] surviving member of a tribe that believed in animal transformation (sound familiar?). She now belongs to a new tribe and is the medicine woman.
President N'Gama is the ruler of the Africa region that they all live in. He is quite rich and often has his wants above his country's needs. Mbato is the leader of his militant group.
I guess that's enough introduction – let's get started!
The blistering heat of the African summer was something that Cutter was still becoming used to.
Matthew Cutter, or Cutter as most call him, was an American still trying to find his place in the world. He was going to go pro with his football career before an injury threw that dream off-track. At least long enough to miss college tryouts. So he decided to go military.
Cutter advanced well in ranks and soon was given his own sniper rifle, spotter and missions. He was one of the best, some would say, but one day changed everything for him.
He was being spotted by a good friend, Tyler Onorati, with a hit waiting inside of a local European marketplace. When the target emerged from the front doors, a large crowd covered the area, with only glimpses of a clear view. Tyler told him that the choice was up to him on whether to take the shot or not. So Cutter decided to go for it once the target had moved further from the crowd.
It happened in an instant. Cutter knew what had happened before the man what fully aware of what happened, before anyone around him were signaled that something was wrong. Matthew Cutter had shot an innocent civilian.
The man was buying flowers for his wife when the mistaken bullet shot through his chest. He stood there stunned as the merchant gawked at the newly splattered blood upon his cart and attire. Cutter watched as the man helplessly collapsed to the ground, the pink pianese still in his hand as a small crowd of people begrudgingly took the time out of their day to see what was the matter.
"Gah!" Cutter hollered out as he sat up in his full size bed, sweat beading on his forehead.
This wasn't the first time that Matthew Cutter had had a nightmare about that day. It was the sort of thing that he was almost glad to have, in a maudlin sort of way. It showed compassion, showed he still had a heart.
Unlike his commander or even Tyler, who both tried to convince him that sometimes you make a mistake in these situations. After the debrief and psychoanalysis therapy, many would go on to another hit. But not Cutter.
He couldn't fathom the hurt in the lives of those who cared for that man. His name was William Tobias Jensen, a newlywed from the state of Louisiana celebrating a long-overdue honeymoon with his bride, Cleo Issacs-Jensen. He knew he could never apologize; it was black ops. No one was to know what truly happened to William Tobias Jensen, no one but those select few.
It bugged him, it tortured him. So he shipped up for Africa and had now been here for two years.
The clock read 4:46 a.m. but what was he to do? He knew that there was no sleeping at that point so he got up from his bed and made his way for the kitchen.
Cutter lived in the back area of his business, Cutter Enterprises, while Mendelsohn rented out a place a couple blocks over in the same village. Blocks, of course, were a lot smaller here but even so, Mendelsohn might as well have lived there.
He arrived at 9:00 a.m. for opening each day and would stay often past his welcome after closing. The fridge was never stocked due to his metabolism and the television was almost always switch to a soap opera during dull hours.
Cutter grabbed the canister of coffee and noticed its light weight. "Mendelsohn, you son of a—," he whispered to himself. He wouldn't mind Mendelsohn as a roommate, so long as the common courtesies were applied.
There was just enough coffee grinds left to make a cup of coffee, something that Cutter felt that was necessary with such an early rising. As he turned to grab a filter, a shadow glided passed the window causing him to drop the canister. "Dammit," he reached for a butcher knife from the kitchenware, "I don't know who you are, unless you're Sheena, but either way you are going to regret that."
Cutter heard footsteps from beyond the kitchen, going into his bedroom. He picked up a strainer that Mendelsohn had left out and used it as a make-shift shield. "Sheena? Is that you?" he whispered, hoping that it was her as she would be the only one that could hear a whisper so quiet. The sounds began to sound like water and Cutter thought of Sheena taking a shower.
In fact, the day he met her was the day he first saw her naked. She had been covered in mud from what he thought then as a rough day. Now he knew who she was, what she was: The Darak'na.
She had shyly asked to borrow his waterfall, as if he owned the damn thing, but he nodded along and allowed her used of the nearby spout. He had been adjusting a log on the fire as she first went over, but as he turned to look at her he realized that she wasn't wearing any clothing underneath all that mud.
Boy, she was a goddess and boy did he wish it was her again in his personal shower; lest it be an intruder that he would have to fight off.
Cutter crouched down and inched towards his room. As he entered the door, he heard the nobs squeal as the shower was cut off. "Please just be Sheena, please," he murmured to himself as he awaited beyond the bathroom door, which was more like a glorified curtain. The fabric rustled and Cutter jumped up hollering before coming to a stop.
"Cutter, what are you doing?" Sheena asked him as she stepped out in a short white towel. Her body still glistened from the fresh layer of water and her blonde locks were soaked to an amber color.
"I thought you might be an intruder," Cutter threw the kitchenware onto his bed, "You know, you could just ask."
"I didn't want to risk someone seeing me come in through the front door. You should understand."
"Oh, I understand alright," Cutter sat down and rubbed his temples, "Why were you dressed in Darak'na-wear anyways?"
"Mbato and his men were planning on receiving a delivery of weapons in the morning."
"Planning on?" Sheena smiled, "No, no no no. Sheena, you can't be out there being the superhero in all situations! You could get hurt."
"So what if I get hurt? It's me, just one, or thousands of people in this region and surrounding ones."
"I know, the politics are strung up but you shouldn't get involved in each ploy," Cutter grabbed an instant coffee pack from his hotel splurge. He always had to take the free soap and goodies along since items in Africa were sometimes scarce. "You going to get dressed?"
"What?" Sheena dropped her towel, "Does this not suit you?" Cutter covered his eyes quickly with part of his body egging him to separate his fingers.
"Sheena, for God's sake, put on your little dress thing. Now." Sheena shrugged her shoulders and pulled her clothes over her head.
Once she was dressed again, she walked up to Cutter and taunted him, "Poor Matthew Cutter doesn't want to see a woman naked. You haven't gone, what was it? That thing that someone was accusing another of on one of Mendelsohn's TV shows?"
"Homosexual?" Cutter replied as he removed his hand from his view, "And no, I have not gone homosexu-al. I just think that a lady needs to have a little respect for herself. You don't seem to understand this whole men and women attraction."
Sheena smirked at him as she grabbed the towel to dry her hair, "Oh, don't I?" she giggled as she made her way to the kitchen.
Cutter sighed and looked in the direction of the woman of his affections, "That woman will be the death of me."
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