Hello! Thank you so much for the reviews! And to answer the questions, yes there will be Axel and Lioness pairing, well not that strong… I think. Anyway, just wanted to say sorry in advanced if there are any mistakes in this chapter as well as the previous seeing English isn't my native language. No more
stalling, here you go!
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OLD ENCOUNTERS
Location: A run down bar downtown Landmark
D-Zel and Spydah were about to finish their hundredth game of poker. D-Zel's face was all clenched up as he was about to lose yet again. No matter what he did there was just no way to win against the arachnid! The two were joined by Magness who walked in a lazy fashion while rocking drink in her hand. The girl would have loved to be in a fancier place right now, anywhere would be better than this dump, but seeing she had been causing too much trouble in town lately she was forced to lay as low as possible. Not that it got any lower than this, she thought. Moving closer she noticed one of Spydah's mechanic arms hovering behind her boyfriend's back with a mirror clenched between its forceps. The girl rowed her eyes and sat in D-Zel's lap. Using a small amount of her power she made the mechanic arm jerk and drop the mirror to the ground. Spydah laugh innocently.
"Sorry, just couldn't resist…" he said scratching the back of his head. The biker finally dug his face out from his cards.
"What? What happened?" At this Spydah face palmed and Magness rowed her eyes yet again.
"You are lucky you're cute," she said back at her boyfriend who was still as confused as ever.
"Anyway…." Spydah interrupted, "What do you have?" The biker smirked and threw the cards on the table.
"Hehe, I've got me a flush! What have you got?"
"Loose again! Read'em and weep, biker boy, a full house!"
"The house is about to get even fuller!" someone yelled from the entrance. The trio stood up almost immediately. Magness couldn't believe her eyes.
"Dad! Is that you?" the girl asked unsure.
"Paine?!" Spydah exclaimed jumping backwards from surprise and fear at the same time.
"The one and only!"
"Daddy!" Magness ran and threw herself in her dad's arms. It was odd to see the girl so emotional, even odder was that Paine seemed to be as well. "Dad what are you doing here? How did you bust out?"
"I seem to have made a new friend," Paine answered pointing at the figure still standing at the door.
"Lee?!" Spydah exclaimed yet again but in a higher pitch. "You work with this guy?!"
"We all are working with him. For now that is," Paine said giving Lee a quick look. The other remained indifferent.
"Hey, hey I haven't agreed to anything yet!" the arachnid frowned but a growl from Paine made him change opinions almost immediately. "He, he, just kidding boss."
"We better get going, "Lee said finally and walked out. Paine followed. Magness hesitated a moment but her father was quick to reassure her.
Once outside, Lee led them to a big cargo truck with Li industries logo on which was parked close by.
"Obvious much…" Magness couldn't help but mock.
"Not really. See?" Mr. Lee pointed at the nearby high-road. There were at least three identical trucks in circulation.
"Oh…" the girl let out defeated. Mr. Lee smirked.
Despite that, there was something else odd about the truck. For some reason it looked crocket on one side, like there was something heavy in it. Soon enough it came clear why. A familiar face popped out from the back.
"How long do I have to stay guarding? It's getting stuffy in here!"
"Flesh!" Spydah was the first to shout out.
"You! Why you little!" Flesh jumped out of the truck and swung his weight at the arachnid who used his mechanic arms as a boost himself to avoid getting hit.
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch the temper muscle brains."
"You! How dare you leave me in prison while you busted free!"
"Sorry, you just didn't fit in the plans." Spydah shuggled. "Ha, get it, fit in." Neither Pain nor Lee were impressed. "You guys just don't have a sense of humor."
"Knock it off and get in the damn truck!" Paine growled and pointed his fist at his multi- legged subordinate who shriveled up and obeyed.
"I'm going my own way!" D-Zel said getting in his bike mode, but was stopped by Lee. "Hey, what gives old man?!"
"No! We can't afford to attract attention yet. Get in the back with the others." The biker was about to protest but Magness stepped in and made him cooperate. Finally, Lee and Paine got into the driver and co-driver seat.
"So, now what?" Paine asked.
"For now, we lay low. The shipment is tomorrow morning," Lee answered and drove off into the traffic.
Location: The aquatic center
The five team members walked into the living room tired and grumpy. It had been an exhausting all-day search of the city, but despite their best efforts they found no trace of Lee or Pain.
"Man I am wiped," King was the first to complain dropping his weight on the couch. The rest agreed and followed the gesture. Only Axel remained standing, pacing around the room.
"Guess there's nothing else to do but wait for Lee to show up on his own," Shark said stretching his arms over his head.
"Wait?!" Axel stopped in his tracks. "We can't just wait! Lee has something big up his sleeve. We need to keep looking!"
"But that's what we've been doing all day- ground, air, water and nothing!" Hawk objected.
"That's all the more reason, it's all too quiet!" Axel went back to pacing.
"Ax-man, would you please loosen up, you're beginning to go paranoid!" King said with concern.
"He's right!" Lioness stepped in, "And in any case scenario, at least we don't have to deal with the Mu team."
"Yea, but still…"
"I don't know about you but I'm going to bed," the surfer stood up. "Thanks to King's wake-up call I couldn't get my sleep today!"
"What? 12 hours aren't enough for you?" the big guy joked and the others giggled. The blond scratched the back of his head innocently.
"Fine, but we'll be getting up early tomorrow to finish off where we started," Axel ordered, "How about 6ish?"
"Oh, man…" Shark whined. Everyone laughed.
Later that night: Landmark City mall
Lioness walked out from a department store holding a small leather-covered box. She held it close to her chest and smiled. Walking a few steps away she stopped and opened it gently. It contained a military-type necklace which had something written on one side and a symbol on the other. The girl took it out using the same gentle touch and stared at it closely. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Out of shock she dropped the precious object and jumped forward.
"Calm down, calm down! It's only me!"
"Oh, Hawk, it's you," Lioness said relieved relaxing from her guard position. "What are you doing here so late?"
"I had some stuff to take care of. What are you doing here?" the red head asked on his own when he took a sight of the jewelry on the floor. "Oh, I see." Lioness finally got back to her senses and realized her fall. "Ah, girls and jewelry!" the pilot made a philosophical statement. Lioness growled at the thought of being put under the same category of some common girly girl and quickly snatched the necklace from Hawk.
"What do you know!" she barked and placed the object back into the safety of its box.
"Fine, but isn't that a little too manly for you, just saying."
"Am, well…" the girl mumbled out. "It's not for me, ok!"
"Then who is it for?" Hawk couldn't resist asking.
"….No one…"
"Sure doesn't sound like no one…"
"Shut up! It's non of your damn business! And besides, I'm not even sure he's gonna like it…"
"So, it's a he. Does Lioness have a little boyfriend?" Hawk asked teasingly.
"HEY! Axel is not my boyfriend!" the girl shouted not realizing the slip of the tongue. And then it hit her. "Oh, god…"
"Hahahah!" The pilot couldn't control his laugher as he saw Lionesses face turn three shades of red.
"Well, I was planning to give it to him on his birthday, so until then you'd better not say a thing!" she said waving her fist only mere inches away from Hawk's nose. The other recoiled in fear of his most precious part of the body getting rearranged, and frankly, knowing the girl's temper made the treat all too real.
"Fine, fine, your little secret is safe with me." Lioness breathed relieved. "But…, you're going to have cover for me tomorrow. I've got this really big audition but seeing Axel's so edgy with the whole Pain thing he completely cut me off. I mean I seriously am not giving that guy a single autograph when I get famous!"
"Right…. Anyway, you've got yourself a deal!" The two shook hands and headed home.
Next morning:
As accorded the previous night, the team got up and ready early with no protest. Only Shark did not have the time to do something about his bed hair, but it was nothing his helmet couldn't fix, he thought. After doing the first few individual rounds, King left off to talk to Garret while the others gathered up at the mall for a quick break.
"Found anything?" Axel asked.
"Nah, zilch," Shark replied first and the rest shook their heads as well.
"Well, ok we still have some places to checkout. Garret sent me a list of places Lee might be interested in visiting. Let's see, we have the brand new bio-lab opening today and an abandoned fuel factory. Any takers?"
"AH, me and Hawk are going to take the factory!" Lioness shouted out of nowhere and she and Hawk ran out. Shark and Axel exchanged a look.
"I thought you were never going to make up an excuse!" Hawk complained while getting on his bike.
"Well, you didn't have to kick me so many times you know," the girl complained on her side. "Just don't be too late!"
"Got it!" the red head nodded and both drove off in different directions.
Close to an hour later
Axel and Shark were standing in front of the white building where the town's brand new state-of-the-art bio lab had opened. Shark was lazily moving a can around and by accident kicked it to a man in a white coat standing nearby. The man frowned and the surfer apologized.
"Ah, how long do we have to stay here dude, this place is duller than one of King's jokes," the blond said leaning against his car.
"You're right, I'll call Lioness see how they're doing," Axel said while taping on his alpha con. "Hey, Lioness, there's nothing on our side. How are you and Hawk doing?" Lioness stared at her empty side and faked a smile.
"Everything's calm here. Wait I've got Garret on hold. Hey Garret!"
"Hey, Lioness. I've just got information on a shipment of carismiam down at the docks not far from your location. I don't know much about this material, but it's worth taking a quick eye."
"Ok, I… ur… we're on it!" Lioness ended the connection and took off. By the time she got in a view range of the delivery ship it was obvious something was up. If not, the eight-legged arachnid and the big guy moving boxes around were a dead giveaway.
"You guys might wanna get here," she said to her alpha con. "Lee's down at the docs. Looks like Pain wasn't the only one on Lee's recruit list. I'm going in for a closer look."
"Wait Lioness! Wait for us to get there!" Axel ordered but the girl wasn't listening anymore. He and Shark exchanged a nod and fired up their engines. On the way Axel dilled King. "King, where're you at?"
"Just left it off with Garret a moment ago. Why?"
"Lioness spotted Lee and Pain down at the docks. Meet us there as soon as possible!"
"On my way," King ended the connection and drove off the freeway to avoid traffic. Axel could feel his heart rate rise. He had a bad feeling about this.
Meanwhile, the team's pilot was in a dressing room completely unaware of the whole situation.
To be continued…
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That's the end of that. Thanks for reading. I really hope you like it so far and feel free to tell me what you think of it!
