Episode Twenty-One

Jamie's Heart—Damned If You Do

"Battlefield set up,"

"Four fours."

Bit glanced under his cup, noting the values of his own six dice. He looked furtively between Brad's unexpressive face and Jamie's confused one. "Six fours."

Both men looked to Jamie, and he looked back in bewilderment. "Er…two?"

Immediately Brad's palm slapped himself in the forehead and Bit burst into laughter. "At this rate you'll have no money come morning."

"I don't understand this gambling game!" Jamie grouched.

Brad splayed his hand across the living room table, gesturing between the downturned cups. "It's a very simple game, kid. Just guess how many fours we've rolled." Jamie grumbled some more about 'seedy underworlds.' "You can do it, even Bit figured it out."

"I take colossal offense to that."

Brad blinked airily, ignoring him, and unveiled his dice. "Hand over the money, blondie."

Bit folded over in defeat, collapsing onto the blue couch. Just as Brad was stuffing the dollar bills into his pocket Jamie asked, "Does it matter how many I have?"

Before the mercenary could be caught in the act of swindling, he distracted everyone by smiling brightly at Leena as she walked into the room to grab the jeep keys from a hook on the wall. "You're certainly bedecked, Leena."

Jamie looked up from the probability calculations he was making on a napkin, catching sight of her evening dress. "Harry isn't going to be able to form complete sentences, right Bit?"

"You like it?" She twirled innocently, and then all three of them looked expectantly at the blonde warrior, who gaped back with a blank expression on his face. No, not because a trope like 'her stunning beauty rendered him incapable of speech', oh no. He wasn't lucky enough when it came to women for it to be that simple. You see, unfortunately, his brain had suddenly clouded over with that lancing pain of repressed memories coming to light.

One day, long ago, he had swept into the communal bathroom and swung open the shower door like the king of the world. At this point, his brain had internalized three specific experiences with the extreme clarity that usually came with traumatic cases.

The first was the utmost horror and embarrassment Leena's face had become—an image that left him feeling guilty to this day. The second was her arm circling around her breasts in a moment of modesty, and the third was her fist connecting with the side of his jaw. Everything was slightly hazy after that. See? Traumatic.

"I think that your dress is completely inappropriate." He brushed past Brad, Jamie, and Leena and stalked into the hallway, presenting them all with his indignant back as a secondary response.

I mean really, who dressed themselves in a cloth the color of their nipples? It was like walking around stark naked.

—

Arriving at the Champ base, red hair a bit windblown, did not commence in its usual fashion. Instead, Sebastian picked Leena up bridal style in his robotic arms, and whirred them both to a candlelight dinner under the stars. Harry was beaming proudly next to an oaken table that must have taken much heaving to bring all the way out here. She hobbled to her seat—heels had been a bad idea for this sand.

When she was situated, Harry sat as well, clapping his hands to galvanize Benjamin who had been hiding nearby with platters.

"I hope you're hungry, my dear," Harry said.

"I'm always ready for Benjamin's cooking."

"Mary helped," the robot replied demurely. In light of this fact, Leena spent thirty seconds weighing the possibilities for poison.

It turned out that the food was not tainted, and the two talked amiably for a time, trading stories of recent exploits. In light of everything that was happening recently, she had decided to at least give Harry her undivided attention for the evening. She had resolutely told herself that it was time they both start acting like adults. So, during it all, Leena couldn't help but wonder if she could imagine this convivial arrangement as a constant in her future. The food was good, after all. Harry's haircut was still on the terrible side though.

However, just when she was about to label this as a good date, Harry sprung his parents on her. "Father called yesterday. He'll be away for quite awhile, setting up new trade agreements. I would love if I could introduce you to Mother."

"Oh?" Leena stuffed as much food in her mouth to avoid responding.

"If I can get her to approve, then there will be no further obstacles to our engagement!"

Leena noticed her mouth was dry and that she was out of water. Who's crazy idea was it to act like a grownup again? She pointed Sebastian frantically at her glass. "Desert air, so dry!" She laughed a little manically. Sebastian refilled and she gulped.

"What do you say, Leena? Yes or no?"

Yes or no? Yes or no!? "Why, look at the hour!" Leena pointed heavenward, pretending to have the ability to read the stars like a clock. "Past my curfew! Got to run!"

Leena stood and wobbled, poked a few holes in the ground with her heels, then muttered blast it all! and slipped them off. She barely garbled out a ladylike farewell and managed an unneeded curtsey before booking it cross-desert towards the jeep.

"Was it something I said?" Harry asked.

"Probably something she ate," Benjamin replied, poking at Leena's leftovers. "Next time, leave the cooking to me!"

"Darn, and I was hungry too." Bit materialized from the darkness, hands in his pockets and looking innocent.

"What are you doing here!?"

Bit shrugged. "Doc said it was past Leena's curfew." The Liger rumbled in the distance, growling in a way to lend truth to his story.

"When did he become such a fan of Cinderella?"

"I'll have to check his diary."

Harry pouted a little dejectedly at his candlelight setup. "We didn't even get to dessert. I baked a cake, and the ring was inside it! I admit it was an accident but…" Harry glanced to his side, where Bit stood a little surprised, and heaved a sigh of resignation. Reaching into his coat, the man-destined-to-be-king pulled out a folded note, handing it off to the blonde warrior. "Could you give this to her?"

Bit responded with a mock salute. "You can count on me!" Stuffing the letter into his pocket, he bounded off towards the Liger who was playfully leaping after small animals. "Get back here, you big cat!"

When the last critter ran away into its hidey-hole, the Liger finally stilled and allowed Bit to catch up. Panting, the warrior placed his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. "Since when…are you…a five-year-old kid! Ooh, shiny."

True to his nature, Bit allowed himself to be easily distracted and dove after a few abandoned parts littering the area. The Liger's growl of annoyance did not perturb him, and so the great Zoid flopped down to place its head on its paws.

"Look at this! Do you know what this is?" Bit shouted excitedly, leaping from piece to piece of junk. The Liger gave one last grumble, but Bit continued on his merry way. In the hubbub, the letter eventually weaseled its way from his pocket, but he hardly noticed. "Would this fit in your cockpit?"

In reply the Liger grasped his pilot by the back of his jacket, and carried him from its jaws the long way back to the base. Hanging like a kitten was a wholly unfair punishment in Bit's opinion, and he had many words with the Liger Zero about it during his trek. Unfortunately for Harry's feelings however, his words were forever lost in that unmarked patch of Zoidian desert. Whatever feelings he expressed, and whatever future may have resulted, went unsung. Poor Harry.

"Sebastian, could you run a bath for me? And Benjamin, the bath salts please. There's some sand in places there shouldn't be!"

. . .

Dr. Laon was walking briskly down a white-tiled corridor while a group of young adults tap-tapped after him in their high-heels and loafers. He walked so fast, in fact, that some might have argued that he was trying to escape them.

"Dr. Laon!" An orange haired intern grabbed him by the arm while clenching a stich in her side. "Aren't we passing the lab the Commissioner told you to show us?"

"How remiss of me," Dr. Laon grumbled, snatching his arm from the young woman. "I have a point to make before I let you rampaging bulls into my lab, however. Who here knows what a carburetor is?"

A cricket answered somewhere above the ceiling panels, but none of the students did.

"How can any of you expect to engineer Zoids if you don't know how the oldest of cars work?! Zoids are complex mechanical beings; they are extremely intricate. Everything meshes, everything must balance—!" Laon lost his breath while he raged, so he sagged against the locked door in defeat.

A young man raised his hand from the back of the group. "But I'm an electrical engineer."

"I think I'm dying."

"Aha, Dr. Laon, there you are!" The Commissioner exited a meeting room, other members of the council spilling out from behind him. He used his authority to pass the students off to another cohort, then gestured Dr. Laon to follow him. "You look like you could use a drink."

"I could use two."

"Then you can join me for tea."

Foiled again! Dr. Laon groused internally, following the old man to his glass office where a delicate china tea set awaited them. The Commissioner offered him a biscuit and Dr. Laon refused.

"I'd offer a cookie because we share that sweet tooth, however my old blood sugar can't make par these days." The Commissioner poured them each a cup, then ruminated while he sipped. "How goes Zworks? Have you finished upgrading the Laser Cannons?"

"Not quite yet," Dr. Laon responded. Through one of the glass walls of the elevated office, Laon could see the wide expanse of desert beyond the complex. He could even see the three Laser Cannons mounted like small forts on the roof of the ZBC's crescent-shaped headquarters. As they stood now, the lasers could decimate anything within the Crescent's walls.

"I need the upgrade by next week, Laon. The Ultrasaurus will be planetside for three days during maintenance, and I need the firepower."

"About that…" Laon cleared his throat. "How about we bring the Ultrasaurus in a few days later? The moon base could begin repairs…" Laon adjusted his collar nervously as the old man gave him a death glare. "Or not…"

. . .

It was late, and Jamie had spent one too many hours in front of the simulator that night. He stretched and yawned as he walked through the sleeping quarters towards his bedroom, dreaming happily of a soft pillow and warm blankets. After all, the base was a veritable ice cube at night.

However, an unfortunate character quirk of Jamie's was his compassion—unfortunate because Zoid warriors could smell weakness. So, when Jamie overheard Bit muttering to himself, and when he lingered in the blonde's doorway instead of weighing the cons and leaving Bit to his own devices, Bit's uncanny luck reared its head. Jamie sneezed.

The blonde warrior didn't mind the stalking in the least, instead swiveling around quickly in his chair with a smile on his face that spelled trouble. "What rhymes with orange?"

With his fingers pinched around his nostrils Jamie replied, "Nothing."

Bit cursed lightly, tapping a ballpoint pen thoughtfully on his chin, staring off into space. "I'm starting to think poetry was not the right course of action."

"Is that what you're doing over there?!"

"Is it that surprising?"

"Bit, you take the Poe right out of Poem."

Bit chuckled, glancing to and fro in a play on innocence. "Could you put the Poe back in?"

"Oh, great," Jamie said self-deprecatingly. There goes my sleep. He walked over and snatched the letter from Bit's desk. "Let me see what you've written before you scar some poor girl for life—ack!" His eyes bugged out of his face. "It's to Leena!"

"Quiet! Don't let her know I lost the first one!"

"LEENA!?" Jamie patted his heart spastically, muttering in a jumble of words. "What…since when?...How?"

"Earlier tonight," Bit replied off-handedly, running a hand through his blonde hair sheepishly. Jamie had finally settled on silent shock—sitting unblinkingly with his jaw hanging open. "So could you do me this huge favor, Jamie? Please? If you don't, my head will get bulldozed and the Liger Zero will end up a garden decoration in some fancy estate!"

This train of thought might have confused Jamie more, but his neural processes were currently under repair. In the meantime, while he rebooted, Bit gushed his thanks profusely and ushered Jamie out of his bedroom. The aviator didn't come around until quite some time later, when he found himself standing within his own room, still clutching Leena's love-letter in his hand.

There was the option of ignoring this, putting the letter down, and forgetting this ever happened. Instead, however, he walked numbly to his desk and sat heavily in a black swivel chair. Bit's first few lines were a scrambled mess—what sort of love letter had marginal notes? In light of this fact, Jamie used a pencil, intending to go back over his final draft in pen.

Starting the letter would have been the hardest part. The first step always gave Jamie the most trouble—just look how long it took him to break the sound barrier! And it would have taken even longer for him to admit he had a tiny crush on the Blitz Team's sole female. It was a serendipitous (or inauspicious, depending on how you looked at it) turn of events that landed Bit's letter on his desk. Now, at least, he had a chance to verbalize what teased him subconsciously—even if his hand was forced into elegiac script.

Bit's prompting was surprisingly enough for never-spoken words to form suddenly in his mind and spill through his pencil. He wrote, erased, edited, re-wrote, pondered, and before long the clock was frowning at him and the words were swimming across the page before his eyes. Even through his drunken exhaustion, he knew the letter was refined to his best ability—the words were perfect.

Then the compassionate soul in him signed Bit's name, because after all, he couldn't stab his friend in the back, now could he? But even as he switched off the desk lamp—just to rest his eyes—Jamie wondered at how she would react to him opening his feelings to her…him Jamie—the young boy who she treated like a kid-brother and was still shorter than her for Zi's sake. In his semi-alert state he decided that it might not be too embarrassing if she found out; he had to grow up and put himself out there sometime didn't he? The last nub of his eraser deleted Bit's name.

But now…how should he sign it? 'Your admirer?'…or 'Your friend, Jamie?'…or…snore.

Precisely four hours later, Bit waltzed into Jamie's room clear-eyed and cheery. "Nice puddle of drool," he teased. Jamie snorted a little, blearily noticing his steadily brightening room. When Bit waved, Jamie groaned and put his head back into his arms, falling immediately back to sleep.

Shrugging, Bit weaseled the love note from underneath the young boy's leaden form, and then slipped away. To read or not to read was certainly the question, and as Bit trotted towards Leena's room, the letter burned a hole in his pocket. By the time he'd knocked on her door curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he'd whipped out the paper, poring over the words with growing wonder.

"Just a minute!"

Leena finished slipping her pink tank-top over her head, then kicked her towel into a corner. I wonder who couldn't possibly wait until breakfast? She yanked a few knots out of her damp hair and straightened her skirt one last time before finally allowing her door to slide open. "You rang?"

In her doorway stood Bit Cloud, holding a note to his face and blushing a deep red. When she quirked an eyebrow, he wordlessly handed her the paper and walked away. Well, that was odd.

She returned to her bed, her door automatically re-locking itself. She was no stranger to Harry's love letters, but this was an odd one—not scented, on colored paper, or holding creepy hand-drawn pictures of her—I mean, really! He was getting lazy.

"Leena," Dearest and dear and wondrous and lovely had all been crossed out from where they stood in favor of her name. In parenthesis nearby the author had scrawled "Maybe something in a different language." It seemed a little strange for Harry so she read on, intrigued. "There is no introduction good enough, or perhaps you have no good introduction (heh heh), or maybe my mind's too scrambled for me to say something that makes sense. I—" And here many words were crossed out again, she spotted 'like' and 'adore' in the jumble. "I care for you. A lot. Too much."

And after here the handwriting straightened up and started to smile at her neatly in clean rows. Kind of strange. She was possibly dealing with a schizophrenic here.

"I like you so much that sugar tastes sour and salt tastes sweet and the color of violets and roses don't matter because you don't like flowers much. I'm crazy about you. I'd slay a windmill for you. Ten even. I'd lose for you. I've driven myself crazy. Enough so that I can't even look your father straight in the eye without seeing you. You drive me crazy. Endlessly. Ceaselessly. When you brush past me. When you yawn. When you laugh and pound the table. When you poke me, when you yell. Especially when you get that excited look in your eyes during battle. When your face pops up on the vid-screen and sweat has curled the short hairs on the base of your neck and your eyes are bright and your wings are bobbing up and down with the movement of your Zoid, I could just die. I could smack into a rock wall and die because I'd be so oblivious.

"Do me a favor and don't laugh after reading this. Don't walk by me and laugh or, even worse, ignore me. You don't know how evil you can be when you do. And please, please, don't smile. I don't know just how crazy I'd go."

Her heart was pounding. Her face was burning. Who had written this? Certainly it wasn't Harry. It wasn't like him at all.

There were grooves at the bottom of the letter. There had been a name there. Strangely nervous, she searched through drawers for a sharpened pencil and placed the letter facedown. Lightly, she rubbed the lead over the grooves until an inverted name was visible. Her stomach somersaulted, and she finally understood the phrase 'heart in your throat.' What was going on?

She remembered Bit standing at her door, reading and blushing. His blonde hair had been tousled in the way that made her want to run her fingers through it. He had looked embarrassed. He had also looked surprised. It didn't make sense.

. . .

Within his lab, Dr. Laon typed furiously at his computer. The Commissioner was not happy with his lead engineer playing coy games, and was sending in someone this afternoon to go over his files. It wouldn't take someone with Laon's intellect to realize that wholly different things had been going on in this lab. That meant that Laon only had a few hours left to finish up this last program, and then delete anything too wild.

While coding within the Laser Cannon's software, someone interrupted him in the middle of his 'for' loop. Words leapt across the page, quickly being underlined in red as the software alerted him to the fact that these sentences were not following mathematical rules. Laon glanced furtively around himself before responding.

Laon: Thank you for the coordinates, Lady.

Fuma: And why exactly do you need them?

Laon: Commissioner is on my track, might have to make a run for it this afternoon.

Fuma: Have you completed manufacturing my override bug? I want to be able to turn those Laser Cannons onto the ZBC and wipe those self-righteous smirks off their faces.

Laon: Not quite yet.

As Fuma continued to speak to him in code, Laon glanced around at his lab. It was littered with Ultrasaurus armor blueprints, half-finished drones for Fuma, and modular replicas of the Laser Cannon's focusing nozzles. He was gong to need to shred those blueprints.

Fuma: You need to tell me now if I need to order anything for those drones. This last week isn't getting any longer.

Laon: I have everything I need.

As he responded, he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea about batteries. He quickly dismissed Lady Fuma as politely as he could. So much to do, so little time!

. . .

Jamie wrung his hands and swiveled on the spot, retracing the line he was pacing. Upon waking this morning and finding himself sans love note and with no idea where it might be and if he had signed it or not had left Jamie anxious. His first inclination had been to lock himself away in the simulation room, but that floor was too small for his nervous energy. Instead he had retreated to his second favorite hiding spot—the catwalk near his Raynos on the upper levels of the hangar.

He had chalked up the entire gushing of emotions to his alter ego; in the light of day, he completely regretted all of his words and absolutely had to get that letter back! He vaguely remembered Bit, but how could he face his friend knowing he'd betrayed him? Brad or Doc might have noticed he was late for breakfast and taken the letter as they'd checked on him. Leena also had no concept of boundaries, and could have found the letter herself. Oh, this was too embarrassing. How was he going to find out what happened without tipping his hand?

"Oh, Jamie, you're here." Leena's head popped up over the ladder, and her light-colored eyes darted back and forth reluctantly. Jamie's heart sank. "I was going to try out your brooding place."

"I'm starting to think this isn't a very good hiding spot."

Leena chuckled. "No, everyone can see you." She climbed the rest of the way onto the platform, and then bundled herself up on the metal flooring, pulling her knees up to her chest.

When she didn't bring up a need for a 'talk,' Jamie began to feel more emboldened. Maybe he could slip out of this situation without being teased mercilessly for the rest of his life. "So…" he commenced, clearing his throat, "anything interesting happen today?"

She turned questioning eyes on him, however they weren't completely ignorant.

"Anything out of the ordinary? For instance, maybe saw something on the news or," he gulped, "read something?"

Those eyes narrowed, and she stared at him long and hard. He started to sweat a little. "Are you trying to refer to anything in particular?"

Jamie's nervousness progressed into breathless laughs. "No, of course not! Have you seen Bit around?"

"Should I have?" Her features deepened into a scowl, and Jamie edged away, recognizing that she was steadily growing angrier but not knowing how to prevent it. He was forced to resort to nodding along when she leapt into a small rant about the famous Bit Cloud and how they just barely knew each other—they were only teammates after all—and why should she know where he is? She wasn't his keeper!

He breathed out carefully only after she stormed back down the access ladder, cringing when Brad walked in and inadvertently needled her farther. "Harry called. He asked me to take a message, but I couldn't find a ten-foot scroll."

"Thanks, Brad!" Leena responded sarcastically, fuming, before stalking the rest of the way out of the hangar and into the hallways of the base.

She was in a good seethe. She well aware of how easy it was to get her furious, and she had thought her temper flare-ups were getting better, but the boys had done a fantastic job regressing her. What, did they think a few woolly comments under the guise of friendship would let loose all of her vulnerable emotions?

Leena was not stupid. But she felt like she was being played, and that incensed her. Bit's name had obviously been erased from the bottom of the so-called heartfelt letter but the blonde had handed it to her with little more than a sheepish grin.

With that and Jamie's remark in mind, she searched through Bit's usual spots before finding him in the common room. She landed with a huff across the couches from the warrior, crossing her arms and trying to figure out his game. Unfortunately he didn't seem to be aware of one other than the sports scores running underneath the news-anchor's speech.

He had seemed to have some sort of idea of its contents, yet was currently utterly uncaring of her response. Not ignoring her, just Did. Not. Care.

Who had done it then? Who was laughing at her expense? Wasn't it enough that they teased her about Harry—coloring her thoughts when she tried to figure out what she really felt about him? Wasn't the perfect little understanding Brad and Naomi had enough of an insult to her love life?

And here was Bit, at the center of it all and too stupid to realize it. Self-centered, idiotic, cocky, immature, childish Bit. After receiving her fake love letter he should have opened, read, and then burned it. Not opened, read, gave to her, then not given a fuck. Did he not care about her emotions at all? Was he so base that he would cross a line with her without a second glance?

"—with this missing man. He was last heard—"

"Hey I know that face!" Bit cried suddenly, swiveling around to find the remote to raise the volume. "He's the shotgun—"

"I. Do not care. Bit." She stalked over to him and changed the channel. He could see her irritation, but was more interested in the newscast.

"I need to see that!" He said, narrowing his eyes at her. Seeing that she wasn't going to retrieve the remote she'd stuffed into the cushion seats, he reached across her. She immediately punched him in the arm. "Stay out of my space!"

"Helic, Leena!"

And this was the scene Brad chose to enter the room on: the two of them in a minimally entangled sprawl on the couches with the history channel blaring behind them. The mercenary, of course, found it monstrously amusing.

"Oh you think its funny, do you?" She hissed, fixing Brad with the meanest glare she could muster. "Let's harass Leena! Sexually or emotionally, who cares?!" The anger in her boiled. She was frustrated at being the butt of some anonymous joke that was prodding into the more secret parts of her heart. She didn't know who was behind it, but at this point it might as well have been them all, the dicks. She was going to turn this on them.

So she shut her eyes mid death-ray and moaned: lewdly and quite audibly. She might have even arched her back for effect.

Opening her eyes to assess the damage, she noticed that Bit had frozen, hovering over her like a cliff, and was staring wide-eyed somewhere over her shoulder. Brad was heard stumbling as he hastened out of the room, trying to forget what he'd just witnessed.

"Pricks." She said, glowering. Now who's laughing? No one.

Needless to say, both mostly ignored her at lunch.

. . .

"Oh, Stevie pumpkin-pie honey-bunches!"

"What, Laon!?" answered a flustered Dr. Toros. He wiped his sweaty brow, as he'd just ran up a ladder to answer the call in the control room, preventing the rest of the base from hearing any more pet-names sprout from Dr. Laon's mouth.

"I happened to be flying over this stretch of desert, and noticed your bright blue blot of a Hover Cargo. How are things?"

"Good as usual. You?"

"Could be better. I want to apologize. Don't take it too seriously, though."

"Oh?" Dr. Toros replied excitedly. "Does this mean you've turned over a new leaf? Are your colors changing? Is it autumn?"

But before Dr. Laon could answer, a frazzled ZBC employee, oddly holding a pen below his mouth like a microphone, interrupted the conversation. "Attention, all warriors within the Prozen Desert! A dangerous fugitive is in your airspace, flying a stolen Blitz Hornet! Avoid at all costs! Repeat, avoid at all costs!"

"Laon," Dr. Toros said angrily, growing red in the face, "what Zoid is it that you are flying at this moment!?"

Dr. Laon's eyes widened comically. "Don't believe everything you hear on television!" He severed the connection.

"Jamie—" Dr. Toros radioed out over the base, and was quickly answered by said warrior.

"On it, Doc!"

Jamie left the intercom within the hangar, and jogged back towards his Raynos. Bit had already mobilized the Liger Zero, and was beginning his merge with the Fire Phoenix. These sorts of things always took him a bit of time, and thus Jamie beat him into the sky.

He spotted the black and yellow hornet speeding away, and it took him a good dose of speed to catch up. The hornet was fast, and it wasn't a Zoid he was overwhelmingly familiar with. It had small wings and an extremely large tail section housing a lethal looking dart. Hesitantly, Jamie lined up a shot and fired.

With a blur of motion, the Blitz Hornet moved left and up, dodging like a bug, and not like a bird as Jamie was used to. "What incredible maneuverability!" Jamie barely had time to shout before a poison dart struck his Raynos in the back.

For a moment the Raynos shook with electricity, and, paralyzed, it dropped a few feet before regaining power.

"Bit, no point in coming out here. Your clunker is not going to be able to hit this hornet."

"I was planning on squishing it," Bit replied as the Phoenix Liger roared and flew into view. Quick as a whistle, the Blitz Hornet struck again, this time blasting a dart into the Liger's right shoulder. There was a buzz of electricity and Bit glanced to and fro confusedly. "What was that supposed to do?"

Jamie groaned. The luck of this guy! "It should have paralyzed you. The Phoenix Liger must be too large for it to work."

"Convenient." Bit grinned, activating the Liger's weapons system. "Let's take this bug out of the sky! Strike Laser Claw!"

He accelerated and dove, missing the Blitz Hornet entirely as the bug zig and zagged swiftly. Bit dove after it repeatedly, unfortunately making the Liger look like a large cat pawing at dust motes. "Well, this is embarrassing."

Jamie agreed. "I think it's time for a carpet-bomb. Back up!" The Phoenix Liger banked away, and Jamie let loose a barrage of missiles. The hornet avoided the shots, but the explosions buffeted the enemy Zoid. "Now's your chance!"

"Way ahead of you!" Bit had already launched himself towards the disoriented Zoid, claws glowing and at the ready. "Strike—" Blam!

A laser pulse hit the Liger square in the side and sent Bit tumbling. The Blitz Hornet recovered and sped away towards a floating fortress descending from the cloud cover. Fuma's Hammerhead's massive jaw creaked open, and Laon escaped within the ship.

Suddenly, the Blitz Team's enemy was no longer a joke, and Bit upside down within his Ultimate X when Jamie's Raynos was at subsonic speeds could not be taken lightly. The status quo had changed.

No time for new battle tactics. Jamie thought to move, but the telescoping feature on his cockpit locked onto a new Zoid emerging from the Hammerhead's dorsal fin. It was a shadowy, black creature, as tall as the Hover Cargo, and a frightening sight to behold. Before Jamie could get a good look, its face blew up with light, distorting his screen, and a huge beam shot towards the Liger.

Bit's skill kicked in, and he threw the Liger's weight to the side just in time. The crackling energy passed within feet of his Zoid, so close that Bit felt the static electricity warm across his skin. Then, his bones were rattling and he had to work furiously to cease the Liger's tumbling."They've got a charged particle cannon!?" Bit exclaimed, the Phoenix Liger trembling like a weakened tin can.

"She must have repaired the Genosaurs."

"We have to stop it."

"No, we need to get out of here," Jamie responded fearfully. "We can't fight the Hammerhead, Fuma's aerial Zoids, and that beast!"

"I'd rather fight it now, when it still needs that power cable to function, then wait for her to attack us on her terms." Bit pointed out a wire attached to the dark Zoid like an umbilical chord. "We cut that, and we can take out this Zoid easily."

Jamie gulped. "Alright, we'll go at it from two different directions." Jamie banked left, Bit took right, and both fliers sped towards the Hammerhead.

As Bit got closer, he noticed more details. The make partly reminded him of the Berserk Fury, but it was much larger, as if Fuma was looking to create Godzilla. A row of spines led from its crown to the tip of its tail, and they glowed red hot as steam from the particle cannon shot from their tips. It roared, tilted left to look at Bit, then turned towards Jamie, charging up a new shot.

"No!" Bit shouted, just as the Charged Particle Cannon released its second beam. For a moment the Raynos was obscured, and then Bit saw it spiraling wildly off into the sky. Jamie had avoided it, but barely.

It gave him just enough time to close the distance between himself and the Hammerhead, and, by Zoid Eve, Fuma had a monster on her hands. The Liger was a kitten compared to it. Who was he kidding, thinking he could fight this thing? It was like fighting an Ultrasaurus.

He dove, avoiding his imminent attack on the creature, his surrender obvious as he escaped into safety underneath the Hammerhead. Bit could hardly believe he was running away from a battle, but he'd have to be insane to put his and Jamie's lives into such palpable danger. He spied the green Raynos struggling in the sky below him, and flew towards it. Behind him, the Hammerhead was turning, and the creature was folding back within the Hammerhead's dorsal fin. He could feel its eyes on him, and a chill went down his spine.

"Jamie?" Bit placed a steadying claw on the Raynos, and watched as the younger pilot shook his head to orient himself, his grey eyes going in and out of focus. "I was faced with fight or flight, and I chose flight."

Jamie's eyes flashed, and his face darkened. The Wild Eagle answered him. "Coward."

. . .

The moons were getting high, but Bit couldn't stop thinking about the Zoid he'd seen in today's battle. He knew he'd see it again, but there was no telling when Fuma would decide to strike next. Could he really defeat that gargantuan thing? Even with the help of the others?

"What do you think, Liger?"

His Zoid responded with a soft growl. It wasn't a confident roar, but it wasn't a 'no' either. The Liger Zero, at least, was certain they'd find a way. That idea, and the knowledge that the Liger always had his back, allowed him to finally release the worry from his mind. "You're right, partner."

"Bit, we need to talk."

Leena strode purposefully into the hangar with all of the righteous anger her body could carry. The blonde warrior half-turned from the Liger Zero's bolt check, wrench in hand. "About what?"

"Something important, so I need you to stop giving the Liger googly eyes and focus on me." He reacted too slowly for Leena's liking, and her last few steps included yanking him through a half-circle and pulling the wrench from his hands.

"What did I do?"

Bit had that nervous look in his eyes, like he was about to dash in fear of her fist. Her heart clenched as a wave of anxiety overtook her, and she noticed the palm wrapped around the metal wrench was clammy. No time to be a baby, Leena. She was just going to come right out and say it. She set the wrench down to hide her gulp, then faced him with a glare and crossed arms. "What am I to you?"

Bit was never good at hiding his emotions, and now the nerves had obviously dissipated in lieu of confusion. He tilted his head. "I don't understand what you're asking me."

Leena sighed explosively. "We're supposed to be friends, but lately you've been giving me mixed signals. Sometimes you flirt with me, and the next minute you're snickering behind your hand with Brad about Harry and I!"

"Flirting?"

"You put your hand on my leg, or touch my hair," she said glumly, running her hands over her arms—a small hug to counter the embarrassment. "Yesterday you were telling me Brad's new secret and your tongue was practically in my ear!"

Bit's cheeks reddened. "I think I was just trying to make you blush."

"That's what I'm talking about! Don't you know there's a boundary—there are supposed to be boundaries! I don't know where they are anymore!" She frowned and turned away from him. His green eyes were wide with shock, and she couldn't look at them. "You're hurting me when you mix me up. How do you not see that? I'm so fed up with you. In fact, I don't even want to talk to you, why am I here?" She turned on her heel and quickly walked away.

"Just stay away from me from now on!" There were a few seconds where she thought he might actually let her get away, but then she heard feet hitting the floor behind her.

Bit trapped her as she left, almost slamming his hands onto the wall on either side of her head. "Stop. You can't surprise me with all of this and just leave."

He was angry, she could tell. Leena stared back defiantly, feeling the thrill of fear increase her heartbeat.

"Where is this coming from?"

"From the part of me that knows you only care about yourself and the Liger. I, and everyone else, are just background to you."

He tensed. "I care about this team. You know I care about you. That is obviously not your reason."

"You don't know me," she said, breaking their gaze and staring resolutely at the leg of her Gunsniper.

"Don't I?" He waited, but received not a breath. "I don't know where the line for us is either. Recently, it feels like I've never known." Still only dead, silent air filled the hangar; even the Zoids falling into numbness for fear of a creak. "Oh." He looked up at her, where the fluorescent lights illuminated the angle of her face and the delicate stretch of her neck. He watched her gulp. "This is about Jamie's letter isn't it?"

She closed her eyes, feeling sick. Jamie.

"I didn't know who it was from." She replied hoarsely. "Even though your name was signed I knew you hadn't wrote it. That hurt for some reason. It hurt a lot." She breathed her last words inaudibly. She had overblown the situation, and now she was at an even greater loss than before. The edginess inside continued to rub her raw.

His anger was collapsing around her. His arms sagged and he rested his head against the wall. "What do you want from me?"

"A decision." His eyes could probably travel the length of their bodies, but hers stayed closed—the darkness a false comfort.

He pressed closer and she shivered, the tension she had held within her body the entire exchange, even the whole day, bending her resolve. Then he kissed her, on her neck, featherlight. His hand trailed up her side; caressing her so softly she could have forgotten if she hadn't burned for every slide of his fingers. She was trembling, she knew.

Leena hung onto his arm that still pressed into the wall and kept her captive, her nails digging craters. She was breathing unsteadily. He knew because he could feel her chest against his and the quivering of her throat near his nose and mouth.

She whimpered, giving in to something in herself. "Sometimes when you touch me," she whispered, "I want you to."

"Sometimes I can't help wanting to," he growled, his words the brush of lips on her skin.

Her breath hitched when he lingered under her top; the pads of his fingers rough and sensual against her. She hated this feeling. Her heart beat low and between her hips, and she was angry, so frustrated with everyone. Confusion was there—strong—and apprehension. The lust. He spoke onto her again. "You know this is all wrong."

She nodded.

"I'm sorry for not being good with words." He halted as he noticed how well his thumbs would fit in the dimples on her back. "I don't want to be forced into this by anyone else either." She let go of him unsteadily and tried to push his wandering hand away. His immediate reaction was to press deeper into her, which elicited a sharp whimper in the form of his name. Leena was begging him.

For what he almost lost the capacity to comprehend. He wanted to taste that moan and damn the consequences. But he grit his teeth and rode out the welling desire. He found her eyes. "I'm not thinking straight." Bit shifted, leaning a shoulder against the wall and giving her passage to escape. She took a few steps away and it reduced the clamoring in their veins. He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what we're doing."

She nodded repeatedly, trying to reinterpret everything. "I think I misread the entire situation." Her fingers went to the hem of her skirt, twisting it self-consciously. "We're clear now, right? No more of this." Leena looked up at him and he eventually mumbled back, agreeing.

She turned and withdrew the rest of the way to the hangar door, and even as she did Bit was climbing into the Liger's cockpit.

"I should go talk to Jamie."

He nodded. "I guess I'll see you at breakfast."

"Yeah, I guess." The cockpit's glass closed and she shut the hangar door behind her—swearing that she had heard him hit something.

. . .

Next time on Zoids:

"The drum is beating and time steadily marches forwards. The Era must end. Everything, and everyone, have been building inexorably upwards—the tears and the smiles and the battles and the fights. The relationships and the pain and their wins and their losses. Let's just hope that when it breaks, we all don't fall down. Next time on Zoids: The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings. Otherwise known as the calm before the storm. Are you ready?"

Disclaimer: I do not own NC0. I own the heck out of literally "writing in code."

Had a mini-party for myself when I came up with the "writing in code" pun. My favorite part, definitely. I don't care if you've seen it somewhere before; I'm trademarking it at this very moment. :P

Also, Bit's an idiot. I feel like ranting about their relationship right now, but I have a feeling not everyone wants to hear about it. But I should at least discuss the "wreck-tangle." And in case anyone didn't catch it...this plotline is based on the canon fact that Oscar wrote Laon's love letter for Ms. Toros but accidentally signed Dr. Toros' name. I really feel that if Bit/Leena were to ever happen in this show, they would have used this reference.

Firstly, Harry. As I've said before, if this were canon, it would likely be a Harry/Leena coupling. However, I chose to progress Harry and Leena into different levels of maturity. Technically, they would probably still make a good match, but Leena is currently preoccupied.

Secondly, Jamie. Don't feel bad for him. Jamie is awesome, and Leena isn't good enough for him. He's just crushing on her because he's just hitting that age, and she's always been around, and he knows her well. Jamie is the kind of guy that wants to know someone really well before he begins a relationship. Jamie will one day find a great girlfriend, just not in this fic.

Finally, Bit. He and Leena care about each other in a friendly way, but they're also physically attracted to one another so feelings are getting crossed. I think Bit likes to win, and Leena never lets him win, so subconsciously she's this ultimate challenge to him, and he's attracted to that. Then Leena is attracted to the roguish hero in him. But they also drive each other nuts. They just have a weird dynamic.

I'm a crazy person who thinks about this a little too much. But because of this, I'm super interested in what y'all have to say, if you even care at all lol. You might be more interested in Fuma's mysterious god-Zoid, and in that case…

Have no fear! I PROMISED no god-Zoids, and there will not be a god-Zoid. But Fuma wants a god-Zoid, so it's going to sound like a god-Zoid. Just trust me, and I promise you'll understand all of my plans in the finale.

And, my goodness, the finale is practically upon us! The next episode is looking to be so long. And how did you like that blurb? I thought it set up a great amount of tension.

Reviews: Randomcat, the Guardian Force will be seen once more, and I think Red Bull will be a great POV for that mini-segment. I actually had three OC's this chapter. The orange-haired intern was the same lady Brad asked Jamie to rate during the college chapter. Then, the shotgun 'missing man' referenced in the newscast is the dude that joined Fuma on the darkside. Thirdly, the Commissioner who Bit met briefly during the Pillbug episode from the very beginning of the story also made a reappearance. Not extremely useful information to the reader, but amusing for me.

Cryostylz, yeah, I'm an aerospace engineer :) Oh government and their ridiculously expensive B2 bomber. The Shadowfox was probably just as large of an investment :P I like that idea! John Doe, glad you're liking the B/L scenes, I have a total blast writing them! So hopefully you thoroughly enjoyed this chapter, which is practically devoted to them!

TheDragooner, I feel like I missed out drastically by not having Naomi fight for herself—having a back-to-back thing again, just like in the original Desert Gang episode. Maybe I can redeem that for the finale. After all, Naomi and Brad haven't fought as a team yet in this entire season. It should happen at least once. I love that Jamie's growing on you! He surprises me a lot too—he's always finding ways to not be left out of the story. He had a little more unplanned character progression here, too. Phoenix Liger was airborne, and acting ridiculous this chapter! XD I just can't get the idea that missing a Strike Laser Claw, especially midair, would look so awkward. Bit and Leena would definitely not go to a movie together, mostly because Bit hates movies. He thinks they're super boring. Did I surprise you with what I did with their fledgling romance?

I feel like laughing evilly now. If you're overly concerned about Bit and Leena and Harry, no worries, I'm not through with them yet. In fact, you'll see how every character is doing next episode.

Until next time my wonderful, wonderful reviewers :)