Gold Digger the Insertion files chapter 9: Life is a great adventure
Gold Digger belongs to Fred Perry
All various characters I use belong to their respective companies (Marvel, DC, Disney, Warner Bros., Bioware, Bungie, 343 industries, Sony, etc.) I am doing this for fun and don't get a dime for this so please just enjoy. Also, this is a fanfiction which I attempt to respect the original universe characters but events from the comics will not be exactly the same as in this story.
It had been a few weeks since the events of Atlantis where Armegeddon was defeated and the artifacts of the Kryn were returned to their people in Peru. The clean-up of the wreckage, the mourning of the lost lives, and proceeding attempts to create a formal peace had been the Kyrn and Atlantians were moving along, if at different rates. While both of the ruling families had been more than willing to work together, and the mass populous of both cities had been ecstatic at the death of the old Atlantean ruling class and the passing of the tyrant Gyphon, both people had several long-lasting problems between their cultures and within their cultures. And where does that leave the Gold Digger crew? Gina and Penny trying to outdo each other in the peace offering bit while I had more important work in Georgia.
Very early morning, as in zero dark thirty with absolutely no one else awake I started my day as I usually did by hitting the deck of the guest room within the Digger's mansion and doing hundreds of push-ups. I may not have the endurance or strength of Britanny nor the martial arts ability of any practitioners in the house, but I was going to be danged if I didn't try to keep in shape as I went back to myself right after shifting from my alternate forms. While this may not be a problem for say Prince Adam of Eternia, Bruce Banner, or Billy Baston, I am not a comic character and so I actually do have to do something to burn off what I eat and drink.
The plus side to this was that my effort was rewarded by a super sexy musclely lycanthrope gal who liked to tease me and I wasn't about to give that up. My knuckles may crack, my arms ache, and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, but I did this every morning right after waking up and every night right before bed and wasn't about to give up.
"Meow." The other reason I work up so early was due to another furry female I loved dearly wanting attention and anyone who has had a cat knows that they will demand attention and when they want cuddles, they want cuddles. My orange tiger-striped fuzz-ball was rolling around on the ground and batting at my hand to get me to rub her tummy.
"You are a spoiled kitty aren't you?" I said as I vigorously rubbed her silky fur and scratched her behind her ears. Her purrs soon vibrated through my hands as she relished the attention. After a while I did stop because I had a special set plan for today, one which I dared not waste any more time before starting.
"Okay Lily, I need to get going." I said while placing my kitty on the bed and carefully making my way out of the room without alerting anyone else I was awake. To insure this was happening I drew upon another one of the characters I could become and was dressed head to toe in black with a visor across my eyes and a sword strapped to my back. "Sneaking ninja feet time." I thought to myself as I made my way to the kitchen to implement my plans.
The Diggers household kitchen was a rather large one, but not disproportionate to the rest of the house. The fridge, pantry, and walk-in freezer (which was stocked to the ceiling with fresh tuna meat for some reason and each one tagged with a date, time, and location of capture with Britanny's signature) all blended into the decor without seeming out of place. It was only in here that I was able to open the can of tuna in my hand (as I did not want to use any of Britanny's stock without asking her). Sealed behind the huge doors and in an air-tight insulated structure I popped out a double-sized can of chucky Charlie and slowly worked the can opener across the top.
Uncertain as to how finite Cheetah's hearing was, I moved the mechanism slowly so that the metal against metal sound was soft and muffled by the mechanisms of the cooler. The plan seemed to be working as there was no great rush to the door of the freezer nor massive amount of footfalls heard outside. I quickly slapped a removeable plastic top on the can. I then left the freezer spinning the covered on the tip of my finger. Now for the next item on the schedule.
A quick perusal of the cabinets was all I needed to find. A few mixing bowls, a few measuring cups, a wooden spoon, sugar, flour, and all the other items and ingredients I was going to use to quickly make my plans work before anyone woke up. I was a blur of motion as I was rushing from bowl to bowl measuring flour, salt, baking soda, pre-mix, and water as I darted between my various positions on the countertop. I had to be both fast and silent if my plans were to work and if a single member of the household was woken by what I was doing then the entire operation would have being foiled. Thankfully it seemed that I was in the clear as I turned on the oven and put dough on the pan. As the cookies began to bake I was left with the most critical part of the mission, the opening of the can. Or rather the removal of the scent protecting top from the can without being pounced by two tuna addicts.
I had to be extra sneaky doing this as the slightest noise of any can opening would instantly cause two exceptionally fast catgirls to rush into the room and wreck the place in an attempt to gain the prized fish meat. Seriously it was like crack to them. As I carefully made my way towards the meat locker once more, I heard the very faint ever so subtle sound of a foot moving across the carpeted floor down the hall.
I swiftly head up in the ceiling as I saw the matriarch of the household getting her morning coffee. Julia seemed completely unaware of me as I made myself as still as possible and slowed my breath as I carefully kept myself out of her line of sight and not even make a soft thud as I moved about the room. Strangely Julia didn't even move her head as she had started her brew going.
As to why I seemed to bother with this game, well I wasn't about to be undone in my plans and so far Julia hadn't acted in any way with all of the obvious cooking implements and oven going….I could only hazard to guess with her slower movement and general disinterest in everything around her outside of her morning coffee. Except I would occasionally, while sliding in the background that she would tilt her head slightly, or that her eyes would move under their lids towards my general direction. I smirked under my mask. She was toying with me, so I (in turn) would toy with her.
Knowing that she was looking for a reason to expose me…I decided to test her too. I was able to swap what cookies were baking, cooling, and able to measure the dough out for each of the next set, but only just under the wire as I had to be both fast and absolutely silent. How I was able to do so without making noise as the oven opened is beyond me, but somehow I was able to do it. I guess that someone had meticulously cleaned the hinges of the oven often.
It was not easy to be so quiet and so fast while keeping out of Julia's range of perception (her father was an Arms Master in his own right and the head of the Jade Realm Ninja Clan) but either she was toying with me by not noticing, or I was really that good at not getting noticed. It was about 20 minutes of (pardon the expression) cat and mouse before I had completed part one of this game, but part two was going to be the most difficult aspect of my plan even without Julia's presence. While the smell of fresh-baked cookies may not have an instant effect on certain members of the household, but I knew that the smell of fresh tuna wafting through the air would draw two very hungry catgirls right to me and run the risk of being tackled. But I started this mess so I was going to end it as well.
I carefully ducked under the island of the kitchen and made my way towards the stove again to add the special ingredient to the bisquick mix. The only issue I had was to be able to pop the plastic off the top of the can without Julia noticing my movements. Sadly cell-phones had not yet become wide-spread so just calling the house and having her go to the phone wouldn't work. What I did instead was toss a small squeaky ball toy across the floor. The sound making object bounced across the hallway and Julia's head turned as soon as the squeak happened.
"Oh Lily you want to play?" The imposing red head asked as she looked around and left the room. "I guess your daddy is busy right now, so let's see if you want to have some fun." Julia's sarcasm was overwhelming as she made her way out of the kitchen.
I smirked knowing that she knew I was in the room, but that neither one of us acknowledged that they knew about out little stealth game. Well played Julia, but I had something far more important to do that continue to out ninja eachother. So back to cooking I swiftly mixed the tuna into a mixture of bisquick and water and started to pan fry some pancakes. I was considering waffles, but that would have left tuna remains in the waffle maker. I hadn't let up on my speed as I was doing about three things at once still and constantly worried that I was going to be tackled by an over-affectionate werecat for what I was doing. Strange that the smell had not yet already alerted my beloved and spoiled the surprise.
Suffice to say my shock was extreme as I finished about 5 tuna pancakes and a batch of chocolate chip cookies and no sign of Britanny anywhere. This was exceedingly odd as Britanny was never known for self-control and the faintest scent of tuna should have had her running down the halls willing to plow-over any and all in her way to claim it. I cautiously took advantage of the situation and set a plate for her with pancakes, maple syrup, cookies, and a big glass of milk. The moment I completed my task I felt I heard the slighted, most faint, footfalls coming into the room. I dropped behind the island again and waited to see who it was who now was in the kitchen with me.
"Huh. Funny I could have sworn I heard someone." Mesha's voice resonated a bit as she looked around the room. I was able to hear where her feet were shifting and figured that I would just make my leave and avoid her potentially ruining my surprise for my girlfriend. I waited till the elf moved her head and slid past her, silently grabbed the dishes and a tray for having breakfast in bed, and quietly made my way down the hall and towards my girl's bedroom. I was just thankful that no one else decided to show up between me and her door….or at least I thought no one was there until I tried to knock on it and found that I couldn't actually touch the door to Britanny's room. I ran my fingers over the wood and the knob and found that a barrier had been placed in front of the entrance and a few inches beyond making it impossible to access her room.
"So I see that you have found my shield spell I put in front of Britanny's room." In an instant Dr. Diggers appeared behind me. No walking up to me just instant apparatation. I was at first in shock as to his sudden arrival, but just stared him in the eyes as he smirked at me.
With pipe in hand and his smirk turning to an honest grin, the aura mage searched me once over and then looked at the door. "I have to say Julia was very impressed by your act back there in the kitchen. She knew you were there but didn't at any time actually figure out where exactly you were. Not something many could do I would say." Theo inhaled on his favorite tobacco brand a bit before going on. "But we both figured out what you were up to and decided to test you a bit. First of coarse was testing your ninja skills, which you passed quite well, but the second was why didn't Britanny smell what you were up to by now."
It then hit me, Britanny's room was blocked preventing any of the smells from the kitchen from getting to her room. By now the whole house was likely filled with the odor of cookies, tuna, and milk so Britanny's acute sense of smell would have surely have noticed by now and would have already ruined the surprise.
"My you are sharp." Theo smiled. "And yes I am reading your mind before you ask."
At this point I was worried where Theo was going with this and if I was the victim of a practical joke or if something else was going on….then I realized that Theo was reading my mind and he chuckled again.
"Actually Julia and I both realized what you were trying to do and thought it was exceedingly sweet of you, so we figured we would help. However I did want to see into your heart and your intent with my little girl, and as I read your aura I am glad to see that you were doing this to make Britanny happy and not setting her up for a fall. Now I'll let you get on with what you were doing, but remember this is my house and I will be watching."
Theo turned off the field around Britanny's door at this and I turned back to my normal self. I attempted to knock on the door to let a certain predatory female know I was there as to not rouse her potential ire….only to find that the door was instantly thrown open and there was Britanny in all 7' of werecheetah glory in a sleep shirt and shorts staring me dead in the eyes with those green within green orbs. I was unable to move or even to speak as I saw her dart between me, the plate in my hand, the food before her, and looking me in the eyes. After what felt like an eternity she broke the silence by kissing me on the lips.
"My muffin is so sweet." Britanny nearly squealed as her tail was up in the air and her face bright as the sun. She then yanked me into her room, slammed the door shut, and proceeded to lay on the bed and allow me to carefully treat her as if she was some sort of Roman Imperial noblewoman lounging on a classic long chair. She was being a perhaps spoiled kitty, but had draped her shirt open such that her breast bounced free from time to time and she deliberately let crumbs fall between her cleavage. I dare not insult the lady I hold dear by going to further details, but suffice to say she gave as well as she received...which was only slightly interrupted by a vague threat that was yelled outside the door by a somewhat miffed though more pacified patriarch of the Diggers household.
"You do know I'm still standing out here right?" Dr. Diggers yelled through the doorway, which may Britanny blush wish embarrassment as she hung her head in her hands.
"He was standing right there when I flung open the door wasn't he?" She whispered to me as we were swallowing the crumbs from one of the pancakes we had eaten together.
"Yep." I answered smiling at her and kissing her forehead.
"And you better not even think about getting her pregnant or all of my goodwill won't save you from being sent to the undead realm." Dr. Diggers yelled on.
"Yea so what? How many fathers other threaten to put their future son-in-laws through hell for hurting their daughters?" I yell back at him in jest.
Britanny's fur couldn't contain the absolute redness her whole body was now covered in and she rolled over onto her stomach as she started to cover he mouth with both hands to contain her laughter as she kicked her legs back and forth while her tail happily twitched all over.
"Well I suppose you are right." Theo chuckled from the other side of the door. "So play nice kids or I may have to make good on that threat." He then walked away and Britanny was laughing her head off as I locked the door to make sure we were not interrupted any further.
"Would you really do that for me muffin…go through the undead realm for me?" She smiled as she propped her head on her hand and looked me up and down.
"You are worth everything that place could hold for me my love." I kissed her on the lips.
"And if you did get me pregnant?" She joked in an aloof manner. "What would you do then huh?"
I wrapped her in my arms, rubbed her forehead to mine and kissed her on the lips.
"I would only get that intimate with you if you were willing to be mine as I would be yours, so any child or children we may have would be because we love eachother to the point of willing to put rings on our fingers and say 'I do'." I told her with absolute honesty. "So there is no way I would knock you up or do anything that would disgrace you my lady."
"Oh muffin." She smiled at me as she tackled me and covered me in kisses as I did her. "You say the sweetest things, and I am so happy that you mean them." Her tail was held so high that it could be mistaken for a lightning rod. I started rubbing her back vigorously and massaging her powerful muscles. I added stroking her tail and kissing her up and down her ears and back. "Oh keep going babe that feels so good."
I moved the plate back in front of Britanny's face as she started to scarf up more of her breakfast and purring up a storm. "Babe could you do me a favor?" She asked swallowing a tuna-filled pancake.
"Sure dear, what can I do for you?" I ask scratching behind her ears.
"My brush is on my nightstand. Could you please get my back?" She added by removing her shirt and tossed it to the floor. I found said brush and proceeded to rub her down the length of her back grooming her properly. "It's almost impossible for me to get back there so it may be a little bit build up." She apologized.
"Just more time to be close to the one I love." I kiss back of her ears as I proceeded to pick up all the loose fuzz from her coat and was rewarded with her tickling the back of my ears with her tail. I tried to stop myself from giggling, much to her amusement.
"You are so fun to tease." Britanny smirked as she closed her eyes, propped her head on her pillow, and proceeded to purr up a storm being groomed. "And dong such a great job." The spotted werecat was in Heaven as she continued to relish every moment she was under my attentions. "I could spend all day like this." She smiled as her content vibrations were almost shaking the whole bed.
"It would be my pleasure to do so my dear." I continued as I kissed her back where I had removed the shed fur her coat had trapped.
"Oh you doll." Britanny flexed her muscles as she hugged her pillow tight to almost bursting it as she loved the attention. "I have to think of something extra special to thank you."
"I look forward to it my dear." I continue to brush her luscious coat. Even more silky than Lily's and soft as down, the lengths of the hair shifted from short to long depending upon their place on her body and was why her super-toned body could be seen through being covered in fuzz. In some places it actually looked like her coat was molded over her muscular frame.
"So Alex what other plans do you have for today?" Britanny asked me as she finished her meal and I was about done with her brushing. "Because any more bed time and I may just not be able to keep myself from going all the way and have you scratch a certain itch."
"Well there is one thing I was hoping to start preparing for, but I wanted to ask you about it before I started." I answered her honestly as she rolled onto her back and looked me in the eyes.
"And what would that be muffin?" She replied as she had draped her sheet over her chest without thinking.
"Remember how I promised to try and help you find more werecheetahs?" I reminded her as I hugged her close.
"Yes…" Britanny's muscles tensed up like crazy and her eyes widened with a child-like hope upon them.
"I am a man of my word and wanted to see if we could try and.." I did not have time to move before 307 lbs of womanly werecat awesomeness grabbed me, held me tight, and just about crushed the wind out of me as she started crying happy tears on my shoulder.
"Oh muffin thank you so much." Britanny sobbed as my shirt started to stain and Britanny started to love on me. "Thank you thank you thank you…." She continued.
"I am happy to do it Cheets." I said as I tried to not pass out from being hugged to tightly. "I need to breve though so please…"
"Oh right. Sorry about that." Cheetah released me and I quickly got my breath back. "So where do we start? Make that cerebro thing and try to find them as Xavier?"
"Well no." I answer. "See you are the only werecheetah I know about and if I focus too much of Cerebro's power on any one individual the strain could be…well not fatal in your case but exceedingly painful."
"So what are we going to do then?" Britanny asked as she looked like she was deep in thought.
"Well I figured that Jetta would know where your people were buried after….well we both know what, and that their bodies may have enough genetic material left when comparing your DNA to make some sort of werecheetah filter to use to explore the savanna of Africa."
Britanny thought about this for a bit and then calmly replied. "Alex I know you didn't mean anything rude by what you said, but you do know that you are talking about my people, the remains of my biological family I will never get to know, as if they are some sort of science experiment Gina would do right?"
"Oh no no sorry that is not it at all." I had no idea how to reply to Britanny at this point, as I didn't think at all about how she would react to this. "I'm sorry if I upset you at all, but without something to go on we can't go looking for any living werecheetahs."
"Yea I know, just…it feels wrong to disturb them after so long." I hugged Brit as she ran her fingers through the sheet of the bed. "And no manner what you have to say I absolutely am not going to be happy about this."
"Maybe you could use this time to let them know that you are doing alright and you have had a great life. I won't do this unless you feel right about it and never considered not showing them the respect they were due, even making sure their graves were remembered with dignity."
"Promise me? You promise me you only want to do this to try and find more of my people and then immediately let them rest?" She sternly asked me.
"On my solemn honor my love. I only do this to find more werecheetahs and shall show your people the respect in life and death that will let them rest in peace." I held up my right hand as I said this with as genuine a tone in my voice as possible.
"Are you always this poetic?" She bopped me in the nose for a moment. "Or am I just your muse?" She then rubbed the spot she had teasingly hit with her own nose.
"You are a lot of things to me Brit, all of them good and all of them I value with all my heart."
"Well Alex I can safely say one thing after this." Britanny said as she stood up, threw a shirt on and stretched a bit.
"And what is that?" I couldn't help but stare as I asked her.
"In the course of about two months you have gone from acquaintance to fiancé material, and dang it I don't know how you did it." I smiled at her in a half daze with no idea what to do. She looked over her shoulder and blew me a kiss. "See you after I shower muffin."
I smiled as I grabbed the plate and cup and exited Britanny's room. I also decided to strip her sheets with all the crumbs she had on there and dumped them in the cloths bin. I nearly jumped back as the bin sucked the sheets down some sort of pneumatic tube.
"Thank you for using the Gold Digger tech autolaundry system. Your sheets will be ready in…TWO HOURS EIGHT MINUTES…have a pleasant day." I blinked a few times before walking out the door wondering what in the world that was about.
"Oh there you are. I was wondering what had happened to you." Brianna said as she was munching on her breakfast. The youngest of the Diggers family having a knowing smile on her face as she looked me over. "So you and Brit finally do the horizontal mambo already?"
"Bri that is not something which I feel I should be talking about." I recoiled for a moment.
"Take it easy pal." Brianna smiled at me and waved me off indicating that she was not intending to upset me. "I just overheard something about pregnancy so I just wanted to rile you up a bit to see if I was going to be an aunt soon or if Daddy was just busting your balls a bit." Brianna smiled back at me as I relaxed somewhat. "But if you are so uptight about it I guess that it was just to get under your skin."
"Sorry if I upset you Bri, but what Brit and I have is special and I absolutely don't want to…."
"Dude, chill." The tall lycanthropoid said as she got up and slapped me on the back. "Britanny adores you, if that wasn't clear already. And I figure that whatever you are doing is right as she has never acted this way with anyone before."
"Really?" I said in awe.
"Yea you don't the half of it buddy. See she usually goes for the pretty boy kind of guys with killer bods, but she is terrible at picking personalities. That is till you showed up and changed her whole outlook on what a relationship is. I mean I have the same tastes too but you…you bring out something in her she may not have known was there because never has she waited for something to be right."
"I'll take that as a great compliment Bri." I smile as I got something of my own to drink and sat down at the table. "So what are your plans for the day?"
"The usual. Making Genn go through a serious workout, try to figure out how to make thermal clips easier to mass produce, and after that watch some cartoons for inspiration on my next battle armor." Brianna answered as she smiled.
"Careful now or you'll wind up with a bun in the oven before Britanny." I joke at her, making her chuckle.
"Oh maybe one day, but nope Genn and I know where we stand on that. Besides he promised me to be firing blanks as a guy as they don't make condoms that can last for as long as I can." Brianna in her usual exceedingly open manner with regards to sex had said this with a completely straight face with no small amount of pride.
"Well always think with the head on your shoulders before the one between your legs." I shot back at her. She giggled at that.
"Oh you are too fun sometimes Alex." Brianna smiled brightly. "So tell me what are your plans for the day?"
"Well Britanny and I are going to try and find any surviving werecheetahs left on this planet." I said as I tried to collect my thoughts on the matter and be as articulate as possible.
"Wow….just wow.." Brianna blinked. "You really are going to try this?"
"Britanny asked me as a friend months ago and only now do we have time…and I want to make her happy so I have to try." I said as I enjoyed my friend's company. Brianna smiled back at me as she enjoyed her breakfast.
"Alex you have got to have the biggest heart of any man I have ever met, or at least human I have met." The catgirl in front of me. "I'm sort of jealous to be honest of what you and Brit have, but kind of happy as well." She went back to enjoying her meal for a moment.
"Because you love your sister and want her to be happy?" I ask wondering what Brianna was getting at.
"Duh, but mostly because now I don't have to compete with her for the few really hunky guys anymore." I chuckled as I had to nod my head. Yep that was Brianna. Big heart, big brains, and big sex drive.
"A toast to your future success then." I said as I raised my glass to the blonde beauty before me and smirked at my business partner.
"And one to you and Cheets have a long life with lots of nookie." Not having a glass at hand Brianna tapped mine with her cereal bowl.
"Cheers." I smiled back at Bri.
"Cheers." The lovely lycathropoid smiled back at me. "Just wondering but are you and Brit going to need help on this one? I know it's a very personal quest but Gina being busy I at least should offer to help."
"Sure sounds good to me." Britanny said walking into the room prepped and ready to go on our trip. Dressed from head to toe in tight fitting garments from her pants to her jacket Brit looked like she was ready to conquer the world…or at least every mall within an 4 state area. While unstable molecular fabric such as Mr. Fantastic wears has many excellent benefits and meant that Brit wouldn't trip over her garments going to human form or rip them like the Hulk going to hybrid anymore, at least for her everyday wear, it still tightly clung to her body leaving the traces of her super toned muscles. About the only part this was very clear was her legs as Brit was wearing some sort of leather jacket over her shirt which obscured her powerful arms. Brought a lot of attention to her chest though as she couldn't zip up the front around her rather…well developed mammaries…which she giggled as I caught myself staring her up and down.
"Like what you see muffin?" She asked as she lowered her head to me slowly so that her cleavage was right in my face before her big beautiful eyes. I had only one moment to react and decided that kissing her was the best course of action….she then giggled like a school girl with her index finger over her mouth trying to hid her smile.
"Always dear." I said as she raised her upper body again and arched her back while running her hands through her pony tail.
"You two need to get a room already." Brianna joked as she gulped down the last of her breakfast. "You could cut the sexual tension you both have with a knife it is so thick." Brianna got up and headed off to prepare for the trip.
Britanny then hugged me and started rubbing her chin up and down my neck.
"You feeling okay dear?" I say as I rubbed her behind her ears.
"Just making sure to mark my territory muffin." Britanny said as she held me close. "I know she won't try anything, but Brianna was putting out pheromones like she was in heat and I want her to stay clear of my man." She continued to rub me with her chin and purred as she did so.
I rubbed her behind her ears and kissed her face. I started rubbing my chin and neck with hers. "You are such an absolute doll my dear." I told Britanny as she hugged me tight. "So how do I go about marking you as mine?"
"Doing a pretty good job right now getting me covered in your scent, and breakfast was amazing, so constant reminders of who I belong to…."
I slabbed her butt.
"Yep there we go." She smirked.
"You think that Gina will be awake by now?" I ask Brit as I finish my meal.
"Knowing her as well as I do…she's probably awake wracking her brain over some sort of new study or being a busy-body in a foreign culture." Brit answered. "Why are you asking?"
"Just wanted to let her know we are taking the Blackbird globe-hopping so she doesn't report it stolen." Brit pulled out something akin to a flip-phone, but was really one of Gina's specialized communicators.
"Yea I see it now. 'yes officers I'd like to report a missing vehicle. Well it's a super stealth craft that can turn invisible, fly faster than a rocket, and is invisible to radar….no I am not making a prank call….'" Brit joked as the device made the dial tone noise trying to connect to Gina's own unit. "Oh hi sis we….yes I know what time it is….yes you geek I know you are doing 'important cultural and scientific research'…look you hormonal uber nerd I am just letting you know Alex and I will be taking the Blackbird to look for more werecheetahs.."
I carefully tried to listen in on the conversation, but found that I was unable to do so as Britanny's excellent hearing meant she kept the broadcast volume low. I decided that I should just get a refill, wait out the conversation, and then let Britanny fill me in later.
"YES he is going to do that….well I figured he could fly it…well no I don't know if he personally has a pilot's license but as one of the guys he turns into built the darn thing I figured at least he could fly it…."
This went on for a few minutes as I just enjoyed my drink. Brit was rubbing her forehead dealing with her sister while at the point of yelling louder and louder.
"Yes I know my credit card bill for last month needs to be paid, why do you think I have been saving my part of Dreadwing's gold? Look you try keeping a wardrobe when you rip every shirt and pants you have like tissue paper….I am thinking clearly and Alex offered to help me with this and you are busy….wait what….look fine whatever send her over. I don't know why you want to but fine whatever…"
Britanny hung up the communicator and just about slammed it on the table.
"What was that all about?" I ask seeing my girl irate at her sister.
"Gina said that some chick named Tammy or something is joining us from El Dorado." Britanny sighed. "Apparently she is some sort of uber important royal or something and Stripe thinks that she can help or Gina insisted she help…I don't know we were yelling a lot of confusion."
As Britanny finished what she was saying she sat down and shook her head a moment. "Sorry muffin just Gina and I…there is a lot between us and she…."
"She wanted to be part of this and didn't want to come out and say it, while you wanted her to be happy or you doing this even if she is busy and that she trusts you to do this even if she isn't a part of it." I completed Cheetah's thoughts. This got me what my old man would call a "snake-under-a-rock" look from her.
"I'm a big brother okay all siblings do this to each other. Just means you two are family." While this was meant to pacify Brit….it didn't quite work as hoped.
"Alex dear….you are lucky I love you so much." Brit said as she looked me dead in the eyes and looked like she was caught between wanting to kiss me and wanting to smack my nose…not so much as to hurt me but more like an annoyed kitty booping you with its paw.
The focus changed when the boom-tube like light gate flashed open in the living room.
"Hello?" A female voice sounded from where the bright burst had come from and both Britanny and I went to investigate who it was that had arrived.
"Uh hi. I'm Brit, and this is Alex…and you're….Tammy right?" The individual in question was about half a head shorter than myself with a coat of dark fur with patches of white on her chin and a streak of white on the top of her head. Her garment was what looked like a two piece bikini, but of a luxurious color and texture which meant it was far from a standard swim suit. The clasps were made of solid gold (nor surprising with how much the city relied upon the metal for construction) and her stance was one which seemed…I would say refined as it reminded me of the elites of El Dorado and how they presented themselves.
"It's Tanya actually. Tanya Rey." Oh nuts. One of the biggest villains of Gold Digger was right here in the house, invited into the house, and was someone that was asked to somehow be a help to us….okay scratch that Alex you should know better by now.
Tanya did a lot of bad things in the comics, but you aren't in the comics and there is no reason to think that she will be like the comic character…okay maybe jealously loyal to Stripe but that isn't a bad thing when Britanny is your girl and so Stripe isn't a consideration.
"Oh yea sorry. There was a lot of…yelling at the time, mainly with my sister. And I…" Brit tried to apologize.
"You need not worry." Tanya stopped Brit. "I do owe you a great debt for freeing myself and my people as well as reuniting me with my beloved Stripe." At this point her eyes went wide and she clutched her hands as she did the whole anime girl gushing thing.
"Wait a second Stripe is taken?" Brit blinked for a second while scratching her head.
"And what of it?" Tanya glared at Britanny.
"Nothing. You go girl." Britanny smiled at the shorter girl while giving her a thumbs up. "He never mentioned that he was. Still we didn't have a chance to get to ask him about himself that much while trying to free El Dorado and save Atlantis so hey congrats."
"Why uh thank you." The Kyrn said smiling. This was supposed to be Stripe and Brit's great rival and the villain who kept coming back again and again in the comics? She was gushing over the guy like in the comics….well no reason to make an enemy where there isn't one. "But regardless my beloved asked me to assist in your quest. And if I may, what is your interest in the prince?" Tanya's voice was smug, and perhaps a bit rude, but who knows maybe it just is the way Kyrn are around other races as I had only Stripe to go on as an example of his people.
"Uh as a friend." Brit quipped back. "See this guy?" Cheetah stated while pulling me close and pointing to me while I was held slightly above the ground. "This is my guy and I don't need another one."
The Kyrn sorceress looked me up and down and had a perplexed look upon her face.
"This is the man who held his own against Gyphon, defeated the being known as Armeggedon, made peace with the werewolves, and supposedly defeated an ancient dragon by his hand?" Tanya asked in shock seeing me.
"Hey Brit did a lot too.." I pointed out, which got me hugged tightly and kissed on my head.
"I see…ah well yes…I see. He seems very hairless to me." Okay rude. "I thought humans had hair on their heads. Is this something that is common with your species?" She directed this towards me as Britanny realized she was still keeping me off of the floor so she placed me down but kept hugging me.
"No it's not. In fact it isn't considered a desirable trait to have depending on age." I said answering as best I could without getting upset.
"Curious. I have come across near El Dorado…but then again I have only seen one other human in person before today." She continued. "So how may I be of service to you today?"
"Well Britanny and I were going to start looking for any other remaining werecheetahs starting today and I think that was what set Gina off." I reply scratching the back of my head.
"More werecheetahs?" Tanya asked perplexed at the idea.
Britanny decided to answer. "Yea see my dad found me as a baby after the rest of my people were slaughtered…it's not something that I want to go into details about…"
"I shall not press you then." The young lady was very tactful in what one may consider a stereotype of a noblewoman. "And you did aid my beloved in freeing our people and reuniting me with my love so I shall be of assistance in your cause."
"Thanks. So you have breakfast yet? I know it's very early where you just came from so you care for something to eat?" While this may have just extended the talk time and gotten in the way of going to find werecheetahs, even Britanny had to admit that as early as it was for us that Peru was likely even earlier and very few successful missions started with members of the team needing a full meal.
"Why yes that would be nice. Thank you." To say she was a fish out of water was an understatement as it was if the idea of being welcomed to someone's table was unknown.
A few moments later said sorceress was gushing over a hot plate of pancakes and maple syrup while barely able to contain herself.
"What is this most delicious food before me?" Tanya asked as her face was covered in bit her meal.
"What pancakes?" Brit questioned the other young lady with us.
"Incredible. Not in all of El Dorado is such a delicacy available to even the most opulent of establishments." Tanya whipped the crumbs from her lips with her napkin. "Truly your people and culture are of great standing to have such wondrous dishes, and to share them with a guest you have never met? I am in debt to your generosity."
I was still wondering just how different this kyrn was from her comic version. Nowhere was there a display of jealousy or spite and instead she, while again perhaps uptight, was still an exceedingly polite and respectful guest who was doing everything in her power to be to be gracious.
"Hey no problem." Britanny said as she downed a glass a milk. "Honestly we didn't have a start time to this quest anyway, and I am a late riser anyway."
"I'm not even sure exactly we were going to be going anyway, just a general idea." I point out.
"I may be able to help you with that." Tanya said as she cleaned off her lips. "Do you happen to have any idea where your people may be laid to rest?" She said while looking at Britanny.
"Someplace in Ireland I think." Britanny scratched her head at this. "Sadly Daddy had to make a quick burial to cover everyone magically and get me out to save my life so even he has said he doesn't know exactly where to look."
"That is a start then. The remaining magic your father used as well as the level of magical blood spilled would leave an impression I could track given enough proximity."
"How close would you have to be?" I ask looking the sorceress in the eyes.
"Within about 50 miles to start to get some range and direction." She said. "Perhaps closer if the land is filled with a history of violence and magic."
"With Ireland that will be a lot of interference then. Well this at least gives us a place to start." I say as Britanny nodded with a smile.
"I take it we should be starting soon then?" the royal catgirl said wrapping up her dish and stood up as if ready to leave. "Were do we start?"
"Well you are going to get some warmer cloths while I prep the Blackbird and get the gear we need ready." I said as I shifted to one of the best pilots the Blackbird has ever had and stood up. Red quartz visor, tight blue costume with yellow gloves and boots, and a thicker head of brown hair now appeared over me and a red "X" almost where my heart is. If anyone was going to be able to pilot the Blackbird and lead this team, it pretty much had to be Scott Summers.
"Impressive." Britanny said giving me a once-over.
"Hey is everyone ready already?" Bri asked as she walked into the room, a completely drained Genn who looked like he (male form) had just had the life sucked out of him by about a thousand mosquitoes being dragged behind her. At that three of us at the table stared in awe. "What we had time for a quickie."
"I'll get the Blackbird ready. Brit I figure you can help Tanya with getting the clothes she needs, and Bri…maybe you can try to get Genn to some level of coherence."
It took about twenty minutes to finally get everyone ready and buckled up in the jet.
"If I may ask Alex, why are we taking this aircraft rather than just taking the light gate to this Ireland?" Tanya asked as she preened a bit on the jacket and pants she had borrowed from Brit's closet. Not a perfect size but better than catching a cold from the damp low temperatures.
"Well we have no idea where to start looking, and we need to be able to collect samples and study them carefully so the Blackbird happens to be the only way to do this." I answer opening the covered door to the hanger bay. Above the basketball court and tennis courts folded down and retraced allowing the opening needed for us to take off.
"Here we go." I say with a smile as I gunned the engines and activated the VTOL settings. The dual arch reactors powered the lift instantly and shot us up to the surface of the Digger's mansion in less than a second. While the inertia dampeners work great during flight, the take-off period is one point where they can't work too well. We swiftly climbed in altitude and soon we had made it clear of Georgia.
After we were finished with our assent I activated the inertia dampeners and everyone was free to move about the cabin. The Kyrn sorceress was in awe of the insides of the craft as she walked up and down the cabin and marveled at the engineering and equipment around her.
"This aircraft is amazing." Tanya said before returning to her chair.
"Why thank you." Brianna said a she stretched her legs and got to work on her chosen battle armor at the built-in work bench that I had used to demonstrate the Colonial Marine Corps. M42-A2 pulse rifle to Stripe not too long ago. The skin-tight green garment that Brianna was working on had a series of Mass Effect attachment points and Halo style armor sections. While Brianna did prefer hovering cannons and skin suits in the comics by the time I was brought back to the start of the Gold Digger series, the super genius seemed to focus a greater amount of her time on armor plating at this point. What wasn't quite clear was the purpose of the raised bolt-like attachments in the non-armored sections, but hey Brianna probably had a good reason for doing what she was doing.
The flight was mostly quiet and uneventful, but I kept looking towards Brit who went from taking a nap to twitching to tapping her feet on the front console of the Blackbird. Eventually I had to shift my focus from flying to also seeing how the lady I love was doing.
"You okay dear?" I asked Britanny as I patted her shoulder and rubbed her back a bit.
"Yea, I guess I have a little bit of the jitters." She smiled back at me. "I know this needs to be done, but these bodies may be all I have of the biological family that I missed out on in my life…." I hug her. Don't offer any advice, or say anything really, I just hugged her tight as the autopilot kept up on course. She reciprocated the hug and seemed to feel better.
"Hey something on the dashboard is blinking…." Genn said as the shapeshifter seemed to be recovering finally from his time with Brianna.
"Huh?" Both Brit and I bolted back to seem what the trouble was. Thankfully it was just a signal telling us we had an incoming communication.
"Now who is this?" I asked aloud as I sat back down in the pilot's seat and turned on the com unit.
"There you are. Finally…seriously this is why I wanted you to wait for me Cheets. This may be the biggest mission that this family goes through and you don't invite me?" Yep Gina wanted to yell at us again. "And on top of that I find you left your GoldDigger communicator on the dinner table at home?"
"Whoops…" Britanny hid her face in her hands remembering that she had be so angry at Gina that indeed the device was back in Georgia.
"Gina I think that Ms. Britanny feels bad enough as is. May I please have a moment to talk?" Stripe said on the other end of the radio device.
"Sure whatever." Gina said as she allowed Stripe to take over the conversation.
"Greetings all. I trust that you arrived safe and sounds Tanya?"
"I did my prince, thank you so much for your concern for me." Again with the wide-eyed anime girl with a crush thing going on.
"Of course. I care for all of our people." Stripe replied. While not offensive it did seem as if he was just trying to be polite rather than reciprocate her affections. "And Tanya I am sorry I was not able to adequately explain the reasons I decided to have you help our friends with this quest. Not only do I believe you are one of the few who has the mystic skills that such a quest requires, but if there are any more werecheetahs left alive I wish for you to extend and olive branch of sorts to them as a representative of the Kyrn people."
"Why my prince I am flattered. But should we not at first formalize our engagement soon as per our customs?" Ah that big part of her backstory…well no skin off my nose. The momentary pause in any incoming communications got everyone's attention though as there was nothing from Stripe for almost a whole minute.
"Tanya….this mission that you are on is of vital importance and we as a people will need to gain new allies in the new world we find ourselves in as we continue to make peace and attempt to perhaps connect more with the outside world. It is important that you focus on being the best representative for our people to other cultures and any future children of the Kyrn on this planet deserve to have a more secure future than what we had when we wared with the Atlantians." Stripe said firmly, and in a tone that was unused by him before.
"I think I understand I prince." Tanya said as she looked a little dejected, but kept her composure
"Thank you. And I do this as I would trust no one else to be able to do this. Please do understand and you have the whole of El Dorado backing you."
"I shall do my best my prince, and I look forward to showing the benefits of a werecheetah/Kyrn partnership to them."
"I put my full faith and trust in your abilities Tanya. I wish you the best of luck in your search." The com unit died then as everyone was left wondering just what in the world had happened.
"That could have gone better." Brianna pointed out as she took a moment from working on her project.
"Indeed. I did not realize how stressed my beloved was. I hope that the stress is not getting to him."
"Well some good news soon will ease his stress level." I said taking back control of the jet. "Picking up anything so far?"
"At this distance? The best my skills can do is detect that the land is filled with magic." The kyrn said as she moved her hands in a similar way that Mesha and Dr. Diggers does when they summon an aura spell.
"Yea it's not called the Magic Isle for nothing." Britanny said as she lowered the back of her chair and stretched out her legs as she set her feet up on the dashboard. "With all the leprechauns running around everywhere that is…"
"Ah yea. Hey Alex did you know that Britanny as a cub had a nasty reputation with leprechauns?" Brianna joked as she finished working on her armor.
"Bri he doesn't need to hear this." Britanny whined a bit in embarrassment with her hands in her face.
"But it is so cute." Brianna countered as she finished what she was doing with her armor. "And daddy was so upset while mom thought that Brit was clearing rabbits out of the yard before Cheets carried the guy in her mouth to the back porch."
"BRI! Cheetah said as she buried her face further into her hands and lowered her head to her lap.
"But it's adorable Cheets." Brianna said as she stripped down to a skin-suite and put on at armor she was working on. Taking a moment to look herself over Brianna loaded up on Mass Effect weapons, a nasty looking plasma cannon, and a couple of peebows.
"I think you are awesome no matter what Cheets." I said kissing her forehead.
"Muffin come on it's embarrassing." Britanny said trying to hide her head in her hands, but she was now smiling so I knew that she was feeling better about it.
"If it makes you feel better I'll tell you about my more embarrassing moments when we are alone."
"I had no idea your missions were so much fun." Tanya said as she cattily enjoyed herself. Britanny almost growled at the supposed insult to her pride.
Thankfully the landing was less…quarrelsome as the Blackbird landed in a woodland clearing the stealth effect was in great working order and we found ourselves in a clearing similar to the one in which Britanny and Gina had with their excavation of the Time Raft.
"Alright people remember where we parked." I joked as we left the Blackbird and walked down the loading ramp.
"Why would you need to remember where we.." Tayana asked as she exited the craft and saw that the outside of the Blackbird was invisible. "Never mind."
"Yep cloaking device." Brianna bragged now decked out in her Mass Effect/Halo/Gold Digger hybrid armor. "One of my better works if I may say so."
"So any idea where to start?" Britanny asked as she stretched her back and legs, which was an extremely impressive event as my beloved's muscles were not only powerful, but inhumanly flexable. The fight with Tark and Mesha in Dreadwing's den had shown some of Britanny's honed and skilled physical prowess, but I had never realized that she was also almost as flexable as Mr. Fantastic when she dipped her upper body down between her legs. "It's good to get the kinks out after a nap." She said looking at me in a sultry and somewhat smug expression.
"I think that you instead just increased the amount of kinks in my system right now." I couldn't help by stare as she blew a kiss at me.
"Are they always like this?" Tanya asked Brianna.
"They have been getting more and more like that since Britanny essentially gave Alex the confirmation that she saw him as her boyfriend." Brianna answered. "But yea the two seemed to just click even back when they first met."
"So Tanya are you getting any readings now that we are on the ground?" Genn asked in his male form carrying a backpack filled with equipment ranging from shovels and pickaxes, to GPS units, to a selection of sample containers which we needed to safely transport any genetic samples of werecheetahs back to the Blackbird for testing.
"This ground has been stained by the blood of men, elves, lycans, leprechauns, and more for thousands of years." The kyrn said as she used her magics to scan the area. "I will need time to sort through the stains and impressions."
"I thought you said you were the head sorceress of El Dorado. How much time are we talking here?" Britanny asked, her lack of patients coming through too well.
"I would not expect someone as talented in magic as a common housecat to understand the detailed intricacies needed for such a complex incantation. Oh but isn't your father one of the finest aura mages alive? I thought he would have at least taught you something of his craft." Tanya bit back rather cattily causing Brit to want to deck her.
"Okay you two that's enough." I said looking both of them sternly. "Tanya we need to find the resting place of Brit's people and you are one of the few who may be able to do it so we will wait till you find something. And Brit we aren't in a huge rush so why don't we enjoy our time here. This isn't like our mission with Gina to Peru, this is supposed to be about you and finding an extension of your family. I think we can give Tayna the benefit of the doubt she is doing the best she can."
"Fine." Cheetah said. "I'll let Tayny do whatever it is she is doing while I get a base camp going." The lycan love of my life then proceeded to get tents, cooking equipment, and a portable TV and miniarc reactor which she turned to an episode of Flintstones. I just smiled.
"She did that on purpose didn't she?" Tayana asked me as she once again attempted to focus on finding a fix on any werecheetahs remains.
"Yea but don't try to get back at her for it." I said. "Never come between a werecheetah and their favorite stone age family."
"Well I do have a lead finally…but it is very faint and very old."
"Hey it's a lead, so let's get moving." Brianna said as she pointed out her arm with a big smile and her legs very reminiscent of Capt. Morgan.
"It's actually coming from that way." The kyrn said in frustration as she pointed about 45° from where Brianna was pointing.
"Well then let's get going." Brianna's positivity didn't shift for a second and she just adjusted her aim and dragged Genn off in the area which she was being pointed towards.
"Hey Brit we have a lead you want to…." Before I could finish what I was saying said werecheetah had appeared in front of me ready to go trekking.
"Ready muffin." At this Tanya started walking us into the forest where she kept her eyes shifted between the orb in her hand and ahead of her so that she didn't walk right into a tree.
"These woods are old." Genn noted as he felt the trees along the way.
"Very old from what I am feeling." Tanya said as she moved her hands from side to side as the orb seemed to change color. "And the signal seems to be getting a lot of interference."
"What do you mean interference?" I asked as I looked at the glowing thing in her hand.
"Look I am doing the best I can here, but the latent magic which fills this land makes isolating the spiritual and mystic impressions nearly impossible." The tone was harsh, filled with frustration as she was trying her best and confronted with something never before dealt with. "I am the mostly highly skilled of mystic artists of the Kyrn on this planet so give me a break okay."
This was the first time I had actually seen her get mad and yea she did look like she was trying with all her might to find the answer we asked her for. It was easy to forget that she was still a young woman about the same age as Britanny and had been out of practice being trapped as a stone golem for at least 5 years. Not to mention she did have the whole mission given to her by her beloved she wasn't going to fail him in, so
"Okay. You got it." I told her.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"You obviously have been trying hard in an unfamiliar environment and you're right you are making it up as we all go along." I told her. "So why don't we take a moment to sit down, you try to familiarize yourself with the land a bit more, get something to drink, and we will try again when you are able to figure out how to filter out what we are looking for."
I passed her a bottled water and let her sit down while I sat down next to Britanny.
"You doing okay dear?" I hugged Brit and she smiled.
"Yea. Just don't like being surrounded by all these trees." Britanny said, a little bit ansy. "I guess my cheetah nature just never will get used to being so…confined."
"I say a bit of the area you live Cheetah and I saw it was filled with lush trees and forests. How is it that you do not feel comfortable here?" Tayna asked as her hands glowed with aura while she seemed to be reading the glow they emitted.
"Yea but there are streets and open sky and roads which means that I'm not having to worry about roots and other trip hazards while I am running around. And yes, I climb trees regularly and have been known to nap on a good summer days up in one, but I can't stand trying to get around all these branches because I am always having to both duck my head and watch my feet." Brit replied back.
"I see." Tanya said as she seemed to accept the answer. "Good news I have at least filtered some of the interference and I am getting a lead similar to your mystic energies Brit."
"Great so we can get moving again?" Bri said jumping to her feet.
"Indeed." Tanya said as she smiled and we once more got moving deeper into the forest but something didn't feel quite right.
"Are you sure you are leading us towards werecheetahs?" Brianna said as she activated some sort of plasma screen visor held in place by a pair of ear-pieces.
"I said that they were similar to Britanny." Tanya corrected aggressively. "As she is the only lycanthrope I have ever met I considered that a lead."
"Okay Bri what are you seeing?" I ask her as she shouldered her harrier rifle. "A group of very big, very furry, and very much alive bodies about 30 feet ahead of us."
"30 feet, and thankfully upwind." Britanny said as she dropped to her feet and tensed up instantly. "I think we should slowly walk away and find another path now." Britanny tried to whisper this, which Genn didn't get at all.
"I don't understand, aren't we supposed to make connections with potential new friends?" It was at this point that the shape-shifter stepped on a dried branch causing it to snap.
"Oh shi…" Genn said as Brianna's eye shot wide.
"Crap." Brit said as she look absolutely terrified.
"Quick catch that werecat." One of the group said and finally we saw who it was we had stumbled upon: Werewolves.
"Hey what the…" Britanny asked as she tried to dodge and evade the oncoming horde of lycanthropes, but as she was unable to get any real speed in the heavily forested terrane she had to rely upon her impressive agility to avoid capture, and try to run up a tree or two.
"Okay what they heck? I thought that Jetta ended the feud." Brianna said as she switched out her rifle for a taser pistol.
"I have no idea, but no one is laying a hand on Brit without her consent." I said pressing my hand to the side of my visor (having not bothered to shift out of Cyclops since we started this trek). As one male werewolf about hand his hand on Britanny I pressed the release switch and instantly a brilliant beam of crimson burst forth and slammed into the guy's side sending him crashing through the trees.
"Leave my lady alone." I said looking at the confused mass of weres that turned to face me. My hand constantly on the release button ready to press it again if needed. This didn't go over very well as they split their forces between Britanny and myself. "Ah hell…"
In rapid succession I pressed again and again on the side of the visor and sent werewolf after werewolf sprawling through the trees, sometimes knocking them down, other times they went flying through the branches.
"This is not going well at all." Tayna said as she shifted her hands to form a barrier spell like Mesha back in Dreadwing's cave.
"Got any offensive spells in your arsenal?" Brianna asked as she fired a series of tasers which stunned at least two werewolves and maybe a third.
"None that would be of help sadly. My skills are more in intelligence gathering and…"
Before she could finish a rather large werewolf lunged at the barrier, only to run right through and crash into a tree. Before he could respond the aggressor found a taser bolt in his backside.
"Deception." Tayna smirked seeing that her plan had worked.
"Allow me to help." Genn said as he in bulked up form ran at another werewolf and attempted to wrestle the lycan down. "Why are you attacking us? Jetta made peace with Britanny?"
"We are not attacking her, we only were attempting to prevent her from going into shock at the sight of so many werewolves. Werecheetahs are known to go into hyperventilation and uncontrollably attack when cornered and I could not risk her hurting us or us hurting her by accident."
"Then why rush at her as you did?" Genn asked more as he and the werewolf male found themselves unable to best the other.
"Sadly we too have instincts and often communicate pack instructions non-verbally. We are a high-context society so the idea of not understanding intention is often one we consider." I was busy trying to not get overwhelmed and keep an eye on Britanny's backside.
"Then could you please call off the attack as neither one of us want this fight?" Genn argued rationally, while trying to perform a full nelson on the werewolf.
"That depends." The werewolf said as he was not agreeing with Genn's course of action in their bout. "My people who are downed, are they dead or are they knocked out?"
"I am only using stun bolts pal." Brianna said knocking another werewolf to the ground. "They'll be fine after the bolt is removed."
"Then perhaps a peaceful resolution is possible." The lycan smiled…unfortunately for me I was unable to dodge fast enough as I found myself blind-sided by two werewolves at once and my arms pinned behind me.
"Not so dangerous now that you can't use your weapon on us are you?" A female werewolf walked up with a smirk on her lips. She then tried to remove the visor from my face.
"No wait stop…" I closed my eyes fast before the ruby quartz lenses no longer blocked my beams.
"What am I so unattractive you don't want to look at me?" She asked in disgust. "Or is it that can't stand to see yourself beaten by a woman?"
"I'm warning you right now lady. You need to put that back on for your safety, not mine." I tried to explain but hearing Britanny finally getting captured really wasn't putting me in a good mood.
"My safety?" She growled. "I have taken your beam weapon from you and you are concerned about my safety? Look at me when I am talking to you."
"Well, if you insist." I opened my eyes wide and saw that smug expression melt instantly, as well as part of her face, as her and everyone in my line of sight suddenly was shot back, some catching fire, and a good chunk of the forest exploded as my optic blasts no longer were held back. I quickly closed my eyes after that and took a heavy breath. See what most people forget about Cyclops's optic blasts is that without the visor to hold back the intensity and heat that the built-up solar radiation Scott shoots out of his eyes he can blow up a mountain just by looking at it. Thankfully I only unleashed that power for a few seconds and so while one other werewolf tried to put me in a headlock, I didn't have to worry about causing a forest fire.
"Perhaps it is time to put an end to this senseless combat." The male from earlier said as I felt him put my visor back on my face. "Men release him."
Thankfully I was able to open my eyes again without destroying everything and saw that the guy doing all the commanding was about six inches shorter than Thabian had been, a big younger in appearance, and greyer in coat. While almost as large as the Alpha of the Werewolves husband, he was also a tad slimmer and only dressed in a simple loan cloth.
"But he took out Mall and who knows how many others." The one currently head locking me said.
"He incapacitated them perhaps, but only did so after we ran at him and he feared for the safety of his woman. Until then none of them provoked us." The werewolves holding me relented and I found myself free again. "And as you all can see none of us are permanently harmed and already are healing."
"Where is that bastard? I will…" The female from a moment ago just about ran at me, but found herself stopped when the werewolf Genn was fighting stood in her way.
"You will do nothing." He male retorted. "He warned you to stop and you provoked him into defending himself. Consider it lucking that his beams do not cause us permanent harm and only wounded your pride. Otherwise you would be dead right now."
"Fine."
"Good, now I apologize for not making our intentions clear when you stumbled upon us, and am sorry for the duress we caused you."
"Well I can accept your apology to what happened to me, but where is Brit?" I asked forcefully, my point clearly being made.
"She is unharmed, though we did have to subdue her for a moment." The male said as he ushered a rather ashamed and frightened Britanny to my side. "And I am sorry to you as well Ms. Britanny. While peace between our peoples is known, our instincts have been formed over thousands of years and hard to overcome. None of us here mean any of you any harm."
"It's okay I guess, just don't like feeling like a helpless pussycat having to run up a tree." I tried to sooth her a bit while Brit had her tail wrapped around her legs.
"Again, I apologize. My name is Sanders and I am Jetta's younger brother. I run things here in Ireland while my sister and brother-in-law guard Eden and keep the future of our people safe." The bigger guy offered his hand in friendship and I shifted back to my normal self and accepted it.
"My name is Alex. I figure that you know of Britanny and faced Genn, but this is Brianna Britanny's younger sister and Tayna the head sorceress of the Kyrn of El Dorado here to help us on our mission."
"A sorceress?" I heard someone say quietly in the back.
"Perhaps she could help save our people…." Another said.
"I am happy to meet all of you, and I feel I owe you an extra thank you for saving the life of my nephew." Sanders said to me. "Jetta speaks well of you and how she continues to be thankful for her son's life. That we all here are thankful for. Please tell me though, why are you in Ireland?"
"Actually we were looking for the remnants of werecheetahs in an attempt to have some clue as to what to look for when looking this world over for them." Tanya pipped up. "I only detected you as your magical signature is very similar to that of Britanny."
"Well that is ironic isn't it." Sanders said smiling at the far shorter woman, who blushed at this. I wasn't sure why she was blushing, but hey so long as Tanya didn't use her skills against me and Brit her love life was hers to do with as she wished.
"Having never met any other lycans before, you can understand my mistake."
"That would be fair, please come with us we will assist you in your search." Sanders said as Brianna was pulling stun darts out of werewolves who quickly got to their feet afterwards.
It wasn't a long trip to the gravesite, though only Sanders joined us to that end as it was considered taboo for most others to set foot near the graves of the werecheetahs.
"Britanny this is the resting place of your people, and land that is considered sacred if you will to my people." Sanders said with a heavy heart. "I am so very sorry for what we did, and hope you understand that we, werewolves, are not monsters."
Britanny looked at Sanders, and then at the ground before her. "I don't think you are a monster, any more than I am Sanders." My love then kneeled down in front of the markers and placed her hand on them. "I just wish I could talk with them at least once and hope they understand why we are doing this."
"I think that they will." Sanders said as he kept this distance out of reverence. "Take as much time as you need."
Britanny smiled a bit at that, and looked at the graves with tear in her eyes.
"Hi, I'm Britanny, Britanny Diggers…I guess you probably knew that." She said while she cleared off her eyes. "I'm sorry that I don't remember any of you, I was a baby when my dad…Dr. Diggers found me and saved me." Brit continued. "He and mom, that being Julia Diggers, did great by me I think. I had a home, a great sister to call my own growing up, was loved…had another great sister not too long ago, she's here too by the way."
Britanny was chocking a bit as she went on. "I've had great friends too, Danny was always a great pal and she is now a real super-hero. I got to grow up free and have followed my dreams. Got to save the world a few times, face down some pretty nasty badguys, made friends around the world, got a lot going for me, even found myself a great guy. He's here too by the way, not who I ever thought I would love but none of us probably thought life would be the way it is."
I waved hello and smiled when Britanny mentioned me, it seemed to mean a lot to her that I did.
"Now I know you've been resting here for years, and hopefully in peace, so what we need to do to try to find more werecheetahs isn't meant to disturb your sleep just don't know what else to do." Brit continued. "I mean we are digging you up for a moment and we don't even know your names, or even if we were related."
I laid my hand on her shoulder and she hugged me back.
"So I hope that you won't be upset in when doing what we are doing and that you will understand." Britanny placed her hand on the soil of the grave and dug up the first clod of dirt with her bare hands. "Okay, I think we can do this."
Now I couldn't be sure or not, but as Brit looked up for a moment I could have sworn that she and I both saw a faint spectral image of a female who was very skinny, about the size of Tanya, but covered in yellow fur and spots with two dark lines in front of her eyes. I am sure that Britanny saw her too as the figure seemed to smile at us and Britanny and my lady relaxed feeling more comfortable and at peace than she was at the start of this quest.
The grim, though necessary process of removing the dirt over the bodies I shall spare you, but I will tell that at least two different specimens of werecheetah from the site had enough genetic material in the form of preserved molars needed for out purposes. Afterwards Britanny and I both reinterred the bodies, thanked both of them for the help, said a little prayer of peace, and left the site in as original state as we could.
That evening the werewolves were most hospitable of guests and no hard feelings were had for our misunderstanding. But we did have to go the next day, and Sanders tagged along to say goodbye to someone.
"I am sorry to have to see you go Tayna, but I consider it an honor to have met you."
"The pleasure was mine Sanders, and I hope that I will again be able to see you. My mission to my prince still takes precedence, but afterwards I would be honored to stop by." The two bowed to eachother and as the sorceress of the Kyrn walked up the loading ramp of the Blackbird she was blushing as much as Brit does when I do something sweet to her.
"So you think you're going to get lucky with that Sanders guy Tanny?" Brit asked, again never getting her name right.
"Tanya okay Tanya, and it was very pleasant to make his acquaintance." The kyrn female smiled thinking back on her very pleasant, but brief, time where she was the center of attention for once in a very long time I would guess.
"What about Stripe then? I thought you were engaged?" Bri smirked.
"As he is the prince of our people he and I have an arranged marriage unless either party finds another they truly love before their twenty first birthday." She explained. "If he is so head-set on not acknowledge said marriage then perhaps someone who does show interest may be the better option for both of us."
"Okay people we ready to go?" I asked taking the helm again as the loading ram lifted with all crew aboard and the gene sequencer running.
"All crew accounted for and buckled up." Genn replied going into neutral form.
"Then next stop is the savanna of Africa." The Blackbird's mighty engines again roared to life as we took off into the upper atmosphere approaching hypersonic speed and cruising altitude. The figure of Sanders waving us on getting smaller and smaller all the while.
To be continued.
Author's notes. First and foremost, I know that Tanya is absolutely a villain at the start of Gold Digger, but going over the pocket manga again she comes off as a one-trick pony where Fred needed a villain for the story. Also Tanya was trapped as a stone golem for how many years waiting for her love to rescue her trapped in a living hell only to have him show up in love with someone else who overshadows you in literally every way? While I agree that she did a whole lot of wrong, I don't see her in the same way that I do say the Shredder or Megatron. So no I don't see her being like she is in the comics any more than anyone else in this fanfic, and I will try to have something about why Stripe acted the way he did in the next chapter or so as I have a very good reason for him doing what he did. Please leave a review, some suggestions, and ideas you like for my story and I will try to work on them when I have a chance and hope to have a new chapter to continue this one in another two months or so. I know this has more fluff than usual, but hey Gold Digger isn't all action either.
Okay I edited a few things, and as it is Mother's Day I had to at a little bit more to the story. If you know she is then you know why.
