SKIES
(an alternate Recon50 universe)
Rough Draft
Note to Cara: The human names were Linnea's idea! I'll put their Antz names next to them.
Every living thing scattered when they felt the vibrations of the roaring jets approaching. The very air seemed to rip apart as the F15Cs shot like cannonballs over the Saylor Creek Training Range, their target ordinances set up like highway construction cones. Only these were scattered in a pre-set pattern throughout the canyon, and were made of flammable white phosphorous.
Airman Larry Foreman, codename "Blue", a 20 year old kid just out of the Air Force Academy, flew behind the others. He was humming along with some rock music he wasn't supposed to have on and trying to read his JDITS system at the same time. "Another one bites the dust hey-hey!..." he mimicked, firing a shot at a decoy as he made a low pass along the canyon wall..."another one bites the dust!"
First Lieutenant Jason Luke, codename "Speede" got on his radio. "Blue, we're turning around to make another pass..." Irritation rose in his voice as he heard Queen tinnily in the background..."Dammit, turn that music off or I'll turn it off for you!!!"
Larry gave a mock salute, because he knew his superior couldn't see it. "Yes, Sir." he said, a little too levelly. "Blue out." He held the mike up to his hand and flipped it off.
"Hey, you boys behave back there, or I'll have to backhand ya." came a female voice over all their radios. The voice belonged to 22 year old Lieutenant Cara Micheals, codename "Seejay", who felt too often that she was denmother to a bunch of boyscouts. She led the pack out of the canyon to swing around for their last pass. Seargent Noel Hogan, codename "Delta" just chuckled. Jason growled under his breath. Larry rolled his eyes.
They destroyed all the targets, with Jason getting the most hits, and headed back toward Mountain Home AFB. More specifically, to Joe's Club, which was outside the base in town.
Even in their civilian clothes, they stuck out in the crowd of predominately young local hick and jock regulars. Jason's lodgepole but powerful panther-like 6'5" form dominated the doorway as they entered, his dark features surveying the scene with their usual intensity. He found his usual seat at the bar and plopped down. Cara, Larry and Noel found their seats around him and watched the dancing crowd for awhile. An earth-shattering burp told them Robert "Topper" Weed was in his usual place, also.
Larry waved to him. "Hey, Tops!" he called out. Robert leaned on the bar and gave him a pickled smile.
Jason saw them and gave a growl of disgust. The bartender's voice interrupted his morbid thoughts. "What'll ya have? The usual?"
Jason just lifted his hand, which was all the bartender needed to know. "Comin' right up..." he scurried to get the Red Dog. He heard Robert's voice waver down the bar.
"One bourbon, one scotch and one beer."
Jason rolled his eyes.
By the end of the night, which was 3:30 AM, Cara found herself the desginated driver once again. She had to roll down the windows for the air to take away the stench of the alcohol and let it flow out like swamp gas. Robert and Jason were snoring. Larry was singing "Rock You Like a Hurricane" playing air guitar and drums, off in his own little world. Noel and Cara sat in the front seat, trying to shut them out and desperate to get back to the Recon 50 hangar of the 366th Wing at Mountain Home AFB, 40 miles away. Cara popped an Aerosmith tape in and turned it on full blast, knowing the two sleeping pilots in the back were too far gone to wake up.
"All riiiiiight!" Larry shouted, "Aerosmith ROCKS!!!" Cara and Delta laughed and they all started singing along.
They had to stop at the Logistics dorm to drop off Robert...literally. Then it took two of them to carry Speede to their mutual dorm at Building 2308, the Fighter Squadron.
Cara collapsed on her bunk, feeling she'd done more work hauling these drunken idiots than thousands of flight hours. Still, she couldn't live without them. They were her buds. She and Noel put in their earplugs to block out Jason's lawnmower-like snoring and went to sleep themselves. Just another day at the training range.
(Okay, this is the first part. Cherry hasn't made her entrance yet, and I'm sure there's a lot more I could do with this. You're welcome to change it or add to it if you want.)
2
The winding forms of the girls from Flight W010 slithered through the brush like snakes with their M16s. They skirted the hills around the Scorpion's Nest, the base camp of the 737th training group they'd been sent to after marksmanship training.Eighteen year old Clarissa "Cherry" Porter cursed herself for getting three bullseyes in a row, only to shoot the target next to her instead of her own. A beetle the size of a VW ran over her hand, and she stifled a scream. This was not the time to be squeamish. She was petite and slender, but her 5'4" body packed more punch than a cat on the prowl. She was the first to see one of the instructors probing the perirameter of THEIR area. She gave the signal she and her group had rehearsed and they all scattered to surround him with their M16s poised. Meanwhile, Cherry jumped up and got on her radio. "Northeast sector secure." she announced to the base camp. "Dispatch two medics from the hospital crew. We've got one airman down."
Of course, it wasn't a real injury, but the female airman made a good show of it, holding her arm and rolling around on the ground, calling for help. Cherry flashed her a quick smile and ran to "treat" her for shock. "Ok, just lie still." she tried to order in a serious voice. "Help is on the way." She whipped out a bandage from her pack and wrapped it loosly around the girl's arm. But just then, a real threat emerged - a big hungry black bear that had apparently been drawn by not-so-well-disposed-of leftover food. Cherry didn't have time to scream before the monster roared and stood up on his hind legs. In a flash, she fired her M16 three times, in the bear's chest area. The other girls who stood several feet away guarding the "prisoner" were so shocked they just stood and stared as the bear dropped at Cherry's feet. She stood in shock for so long that they wondered if SHE should be treated. She forced herself not to shake, to turn and get back on the radio. "Base, this is Cherry. Make that two medics and a Fish and Game Warden. I just shot a bear." She said it much more calmly than she felt.
As they started scattering back toward the Scorpion's Nest base camp, Sargent Smith congratulated Cherry with a smile and a quick nod. "Good job, Airman." he said quickly, which meant a lot, coming from him.
"Thank you, Sir." Cherry replied with a slight smile. She was still shaken, but trying to hide it and force herself to keep moving. Two medics carried the "injured" on a stretcher, two others carried the bear.
When they arrived at the camp, cheers went up from all the groups who had assembled after returning from their own locations in the woods. The instructors disappeared back into the main tent and prepared the noon chow. Cherry heard Smith joke about changing the menu's main course to bear meat, and a roar of laughter went up from inside. "Forget Alamo's Revenge." he said. "Try Smokey's Revenge!" Cherry snickered along with her team and said, "Well, who wants to help me skin this thing?"
The bear was picked up by the Fish and Game warden, and Flight W010 had their planned field rations. As they sat down to eat, Airman Lance "Peepers" Goodman leaned over and said to Cherry, "I would have liked the bear meat, myself. This stuff sucks."
Cherry snickered, halfway agreeing with him. She'd run into the little pipsqueak here and there, and he always made her laugh. He reminded her of the blonde kid in Sixteen Candles. He was short, skinny, and full of energy. And he always seemed to have a joke that fit the moment. His eyes were big and light green, too, hence his nickname. Peepers could see like a cat in the dark. Cherry had noticed on field excersises that he always seemed to be the first one to point things out. Nobody needed a telescope when Peepers was around. Once while bungee jumping, he'd even caught a fish between his teeth he could see it so good from a distance.
"Are ya gonna eat that?" he teased Cherry as she stirred some dry, grainy mashed potatoes around with her collapible fork.
She gave him a mock dirty look and he backed away, emitting his Mugsy-like laugh.
The head instructor then pranced into the room and announced. "A heavy armored force is approaching. Everybody move out! Move, move move!"
Everybody scattered to line up for the 5.8 mile road march back to the Lackland dorms. "Warrior Week" was over.
3
(Four years later, Taif AFB, Saudi Arabia)
Clarissa flew her F-15E nervously, the last in formation of the 4402nd Fighter Squadron. They had been ordered to bomb a Sudanese secret base camp that had been discovered by their Reconnaisance group, so she - and her teammates - had every right to be nervous. The last place you wanted to be in this country was on the ground. The air, also, was dangerous if the terrorists had their own jets, most of which were obtained illegally.
The fly-over bombing scene in Starwars went through her mind as they made this well-planned pass over the camp, thankful they were undetectable by radar. The order finally came through the mike.
"NOW!"
Clarissa punched the button on her panel, dropping a bomb along with the lazers firing from her teammates. Then they hauled ass outta there, but Clarissa had been hit. With no time to inform the others, she ejected, knowing they would bring help later. She had a location device surgically attached to her inner ear should she be captured. At least, if she got in trouble or lost, the good guys would find her before anything too bad happened...at least she hoped.
But there was no time to worry about that now. Clarissa woke up battered, bruised - and in a strange place. She'd crashed in the desert, but she was now in a huge tent with even stranger people. A deep gutteral and mocking male voice spoke to her.
"I think I should tell you why I won't just kill you." he said in perfect English, leaning over her. When Clarissa's eyes focused, she saw a brutally handsome Islamic man. He looked to be about in his mid 40s, dressed in the tribal black of the Darfur province. She, also, had been dressed as the other women in his harem, and immediately knew her fate. She guessed it before he said his next words.
"I am Haythem, and you are now my 'guest'. I usually do not offer such generosity to American spies and murderers, so be grateful you are in my care. However, if you fail to comply with my wishes, I will kill you." he said simply, with a disarming smile. Clarissa, however, was not so disarmed. Fighting back the urge to tell him what she really thought of him, she just said,
"What is it you wish?" she smirked, flinching under the pain of her still present bruises.
He leaned uncomfortably close. "To keep me happy." he said sultrily, and grabbed her roughly. That was too much. Clarissa cursed herself for not knowing better.
"Then I'll die!" she said, jumping to her feet and whipping out a knife before forgetting it wasn't there. He laughed at her.
"We have taken your weapons, little one. And everything else you need to hinder us. So I suggest you get comfortable."
Clarissa answered with a kick to his chest, and sent him flying backwards. "I need no weapons." she said low and dangerous. "You underestimate me."
With a growl, Haytham leaped up to pin Clarissa down. "Guards!" he yelled in his own language. "Contain this woman!"
Before she could act, she was tied down. Disgusted, the leader of the group stalked out of the tent, throwing back a warning as he did. "Perhaps next time you'll be more cooperative."
Outside, Clarissa's belongings had been strewn out in another tent, her weapons confiscated and her communication equipment destroyed. The harem women picked through it with the men of the camp like greedy children looking at new toys.
Najeeba, the head wife, smiled sinisterly as she picked up Clarissa's dagger. "Can't I just slash the white devil a little?" she asked Haytham, turning it over.
Haythem mock reprimanded her. "No, no, my lady, only as a last resort. We will need her in one piece for her stay here." He whisked the knife away and tucked it into his belt. "I will be keeping this, my dear." he added, kissing her hair.
The team of Recon 50 surrounded the terrorist base camp, having honed in on Cherry's tracking device. Since Haythem and his men didn't expect anyone to find her, her tent was left unguarded, and they snuck in. When the flap flipped back, Cherry sat straight up with a gasp of suprize and relief.
"Shhh!" Seargent Delta put a finger to his lips. "We're gonna get you outta here, but be quiet!"
Cherry rose and shuffled out the tent with them into the darkness. She noticed the only female in the group was also a Lieutenant, so she directed her next question at her.
"Where are we going?"
Cara smiled. "You've been reassigned to our unit in Idaho, but for now we have to concentrate on getting back to our ride outta here."
"What's the name of this unit?"
"R-50, ma'am. And you may call me Lieutenant Cara."
Cherry realized it was her casual and congenial way of ordering her to address her by her title and not just "hey, you". Blue snickered.
"Or just Sir."
Cara shot him a warning look. Cherry looked over at him. Damn, he was cute! She caught him glancing at her with an impish grin, his deep aquamarine eyes almost sparkling black in the semi dark. This Delta didn't look bad, either. Then there was this tall guy...she was afraid to ask what HIS name was. Killer, maybe? Another medium height guy with really pale skin and haunting blue eyes walked with them. He had a pleasant, congenial face, though not as handsome as Delta and Blue. Cara reminded Cherry of Sigorney Weaver. Tomboyish, though not unfeminine. She didn't question why she was being reassigned. She was just glad to be getting out of there.
They approached a rise where a young Sudanese man on their side had been guarding the four wheelers. Obviously, they couldn't have torn into the rebel camp on these, so they'd left them far enough away not to be found quickly, but near enough to return to quickly.
"Thanks, Sufiy." Cara told him, and he bowed his head before ripping off on his own four wheeler. Before riding off, Cara introduced Cherry to the guys.
"This is Sr. Airman Topper." she gestured to the pale guy who looked to be in his late 30s. "This is 1st Leiutenant Speede." The tall, athletic guy smirked, which was the most of a smile she would get out of him. "This is Seargent Delta." The handsome pilot smiled formally, with a trace of nervousness. "And this is Airman Blue." the short, slender but athletic pilot mock bowed, a mischievious grin on his sharp face.
"At your service, m'lady." Cherry stifled a giggle.
"You'll learn their real names soon enough. Some of them get used more than others." She shot a look at Blue, who feigned whistling and looking around. Cara rolled her eyes. "Let's go."
She revved up her 4 wheeler, and Blue told Cherry to sit behind him, since they couldn't bring an extra. Feeling awkward, but relieved to be getting out of there, she obliged. Blue looked all too happy to be the driver. But Cherry couldn't stop staring at Delta.
Cherry'd forgotten how homesick she'd been until she settled into her apartment at the outskirts of Mountain Home AFB. The most fun she'd had back in Saudi Arabia was sandracing in homemade dunebuggies and motorcycles. Now, she had the mountains only a few miles away, her hometown in the other direction, and the mall in Twin Falls. God bless America, she thought.
She was only half awake when she heard a fist slamming into a series of rude knocks at her door. What the hell? she cursed, the shock shooting through her entire nervous system and forcing her awake. "WHAT???" she yelled, not caring if God Himself stood on the other side.
"That's no way to address a Lieutenant, Private!" a growling voice warned from the other side. She recognized Speede's voice and cringed.
Still sitting on her bed half dressed, she said. "Come in, Sir." trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
The door burst open and Speede made his huffing entrance. "What do you think this is, Private, a getaway resort? You're late for drill practice." He picked up her uniform from the floor and threw it at her. "Get dressed and report to the weapons training facility. I'll be waiting." he finished in a fair snarl before stalking out the door.
Cherry mock saluted. "Yes, Lieutenant Cujo!" she hissed as she rushed into her clothes. "This IS my apartment, ya know, dammit..." thus muttering and huffing, she joined Speede at the facility within ten minutes. The tall Lieutenant was already hard at work practicing, or rather showing off, his skill at the bullseye with a pistol.
After firing several predictably perfect rounds, he tossed the smoking gun to Cherry. "Your turn, Private." he said with an equally as jerky toss of his head. "Let's see what you can do."
Cherry had a fleeting morbid thought of what she would like to do, but settled for a discreet smirk instead and turned around to face the new setup. To her embarassment, the gun had run out of rounds.
"Well don't just stand there, Private! Load your weapon!" Speede said just a little too quickly.
Her face flushing in anger, Cherry walked over to the railing with extreme self control and retrieved the box of bullets. She was so mad she fumbled loading the gun. Speede rolled his eyes and leaned down over her so that his face was in hers.
"Hurry up, Private, the enemy is firing!" he said in a low, dangerous, and patience strained voice.
"This isn't exactly a Pez candy dispenser!" Cherry hissed back, finally popping the last bullet in. "Sir!" she added before turning around to blast a round at the head of the ringed body sillouette target. Speede watched her with crossed arms, hiding a pleased smile at her skill as she blew one hole inside itself ten times. Finally, the gun clicked. She turned to face Speede, blew on the gun, and handed it back to him. "Anything else you wanted to teach me?" she said innocently. Speede smirked.
"I'll see you at the karate face off tonight, Private." he reminded her. "And believe me, when I'm through with you, there won't be anything LEFT to teach."
Cherry hrumphed, trying not to show her nervousness.
Lieutenant Cara approached them from Cherry's side. "Give the girl a break, Lieutenant, and that's an order." she warned Speede half congenially.
"That's what I intend to do." the 1st Lieutenant said smiling. "Sir." he saluted Cara, and grunted at Cherry before leaving.
"What's his problem?" Cherry thumbed toward his disappearing form.
Cara sighed. "Don't take it personally. He's like that with all new recruits whether he likes them or not. And he's even worse with us, but it comes out more as whining." she winked. Cherry laughed. "Don't tell 'im I said that, though, or he'll have BOTH our hides."
Cherry knew she was going to like her new leader.
"You have some new orders, too, Private." Cara added, smiling. "Seargent Delta wants you on his Intelligence Support Squad team, and I think you more than qualify. I got clearence from Colonel Cutter last night so you're to report to Delta at 1400 hours today."
Cherry dipped her face down so that she couldn't see the furious blush that came over it at the mention of Delta's name and muttered, "Yes, Sir."
Cara smiled and added, "And one word of warning...he has a girlfriend." She winked and walked off, leaving a very embarassed and disappointed Cherry.
A shadowy figure sat high above in a forgotten corner of the indoor training range, watching the scene between Cherry, Speede and Cara, his deep brown eyes glittering. At the mention of Delta, a small snarl escaped his lips.
Cherry didn't know why she was so nervous. She was confident of her knowledge and skill, yet as she approached the small classroom, her heart beat wildly as though she were going to be the teacher instead of Delta. She slid into a seat in the back where she'd draw the least attention, and sat staring at the symetrically handsome Seargent as he cleared his throat.
That and the fact that he was the Colonel's nephew made him all the more attractive.
"Thank you for your promptness, everyone." he started somewhat nervously, looking down at a notebook momentarily. He then did a quick rollcall. Cherry was staring at him but daydreaming at the same time, so when he got to her name, all he got was a blank stare.
"Private Cherry." he said more slowly, while all the heads whipped around to her blushing face as she snapped out of her stupor.
"Present, Sir." she stammered, looking down immediately. A smile twitched at the corner of Delta's mouth, but he continued.
"Very well, not that we've gotten past the formalities, let's get on to the interesting stuff."
He proceeded to map out their jobs. While he rambled on about covert operations and retreiving enemy secrets, Cherry was busy doodling a picture of Delta in her notebook posing semi nude with the words 'Noel Hogan and Clarissa Porter' captioned at the bottom.
At the end of the class, Cherry shuffled reluctantly out with the rest of the group, but left her notebook behind on her desk. As she approached the door, Delta announced, "Who's notebook is this?" He saw the picture Cherry drew, and blushed all colors of the rainbow as he closed it's cover nervously. "Private Porter!" he said in a shocked voice that had more sternness than he'd intended. Cherry wheeled around, saw the notebook, and practically died.
Almost shaking, her red face now white, she took it from him. Delta leaned just a tad closer and said, "We are studying spy missions, not human reproduction."
"Yes Sir!" Cherry piped, and ran out of the room.
Delta watched her go,and couldn't help but smile.
Another one of Cherry's hobbies was the Thunderbirds, a very serious hobby indeed. Although not a requirement, it honed her ariel and combat skills, something almost everyone admired her for. Everyone except Private Blue, who had just joined. Cherry had recovered from the beating Speede had dished out in the karate tournament last week and now felt strong enough to do some stunts. The show was next week, and after a couple hours of practicing, Cherry returned exhausted to her apartment...
...only to find it completely toilet papered. She was too tired to scream, she was too tired to cry, she was too tired to laugh, all three of which she felt like doing upon this discovery. Instead, she just stood in the middle of her living room and stared with an open mouth. Then a snicker from another room spurred her into action. She grabbed a gun off a plant stand and aimed it in the voice's direction.
"Whoever you are, get out of my apartment!" she yelled, her heart pounding a million miles an hour.
A familiar voice sounded from her bedroom. "You shouldn't leave the door unlocked, Cherry." it said with a mischievious smile in it. "You never know who might wander in."
She rushed into her room to find Blue literally perched up on the head of her bed. The gun fell to her side, but she didn't let go of it.
"Blue!!!" she gasped, her mouth falling open again at this weird sight. "Why did you do this?"
She had to claw her way through a maze of tp crisscrossing like a spiderweb over her door, some of it clinging to her as she cautiously approached him. Blue snickered so hard she thought he was going to fall to the floor with laughter.
"It's not funny! You know what the sentence is for breaking and entering? And that's NOT including what I'll do to you first!"
Blue hopped off his squatting perch and held up his hands in defense. "Hey, at least my way of saying hi isn't tearing up your arm!" he reminded her of Speede's brutal attack in a fit of rage toward the last of the contest, which had almost killed her.
"That's no excuse, Blue." Cherry protested, annoyed and glad to see him for some reason. "If you help me clean up this mess, MAYBE I'll let you live." She added, and couldn't help but smile. "But do it again, and I won't."
"Point well taken." Blue said with a smirk, hiding his nervousness. "Heh-heh..." He scooped up a pile of tp like a giant snowball and carried it out to the living room, dumping it into the kitchen trash can. "You know, Cherry, you're my competition in the Thunderbirds now, and I have to compensate in some way or another, don't I?"
"Hah! So THAT'S what all of this is about! You just can't handle being beaten by a girl!"
Blue tossed his handsome head and looked indignant. "Now Cherry, that's not it at all!
I have to teach you a lesson that the Thunderbirds is no place for a girl."
She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Then thank God you're not the commander." she smirled, throwing him another wad of tp. He caught it skillfully and snorted.
"And you can finish cleaning up this mess in the other rooms, too. I'm gonna keep you locked in here till you're done." she added.
"All's fair in love and war, my lady." he said with mock elegance, bowing with an armful of tp that looked like a bouquet of flowers.
"That's right." Cherry said. "Now I'm going to take a shower, but I have supersonic hearing, so don't even think about leaving until you're done cleaning up this mess!"
She loped off down the hall and slammed the door. A sly smile crossed Blue's face as he watched her go. "Don't worry. I wouldn't miss it for the world." he said, his devious mind working again.
He stuffed the rest of the tp in the trash, but saved half a roll, which he tucked into his black trenchcoat's inner pocket.
Cherry emerged from the bathroom into a clean apartment. Blue stood innocently at the door and gestured grandly. "Your palace is clean, Your Majesty." he teased in all seriousness.
"Okay, good enough." Cherry smirked. "Now get lost."
"Exit stage left!" Blue said, and scampered off, slamming the door behind him. Cherry immediately locked it behind him.
Meanwhile, Blue had not left, but climbed up to her roof without a sound and started tping around the eves. While Cherry went into the bathroom and dropped her towel, Blue had found a peephole into the bathroom through the fan vent in the ceiling. He hung from the eves like a bat and stared in at her until Cherry turned the fan on to get rid of the mist on the mirrors. The resulting humming blast scared Blue off his perch and made him lose his balance. With a curse and muffled yell, he fell to the ground, abandoning his escapade as he ran off the property to make mischeif somewhere else.
When Cherry emerged from her apartment and saw the new "decorating job" Blue had done to the outside of her house, she fumed. "That does it, little man! This is war!" Her mind started whirring.
Cherry joined Recon 50 that night at Joe's Club, dressed in a pair of tight black leather pants and a gothic corset with matching leather black jacket. Her long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders and she wore makeup that dramatized her light green/blue eyes. Almost all heads turned as her high heeled boots clicked authoratatively against the linoleum floor. Even Speede stared momentarily before returning to gulp down the rest of his Red Dog. Delta, dancing with his Lieutenant Colonel girlfriend Tamia, missed a step and stepped on her toes, which brought a growl from her. When she saw Cherry prowl through the bar to find a seat next to the group, she scowled before turning back to flirt gregariously with her boyfriend. Blue sat mesmerized until Cherry caught his eye, then turned the dumbfounded look into his usual smirk as she sat down next to him.
"Is it always this dead in here?" she noted, looking around at the haze, the sparsely populated room, the whiny country music which grated on her ears that couples danced to like automatons. "Jeez, we need to go to one of the Southern California or New York clubs. Now there's some action!"
Lieutenant Cara smiled and rolled her eyes. She was dressed casually in jeans and an REM tshirt and no makeup, but still she looked pretty somehow. "Speede'll take care of the music part." she said slyly. "Just watch."
With a growl, the monsterous pilot shoved his barstool back and stalked from the room into the sound studio to yell at the mixers. Pretty soon, hard rock blasted out and everybody cheered except the handful of country enthusiasts who walked out.
"Allright!" Cherry shouted, throwing her arms in the air. Blue lept up on the counter and started dancing around, cheering and mouthing the lyrics to Def Leopard's "Long Live Rock n Roll". Topper popped out of his drunken stupor long enough to join him, and pretty soon, Blue was standing up on his shoulders like a little gargoyle grinning down at everybody.
"Look Ma, no hands!" he giggled, balancing on his feet and wavering. Cherry laughed hard, looking up at them. Cara smirked, Speede rolled his eyes, and Delta shot them a panicked look from out on the dance floor.
"Hey, guys! Off the counter or those will be the last beers you'll ever see in this joint again." the bartender warned. Never had Blue and Topper moved so fast. The very thought of being deprived of beer was like a death sentence to them. They immediately plopped down. Blue lost his balance however, and Cherry ended up catching him.
"We've got to stop meeting like this!" Blue smiled up at her, drawing some amused looks from around them. Cherry dropped him like a hot potato.
"Yeah, starting now!" she teased, laughing as he fell on his butt beside his stool. Blue grabbed her stool leg and shook it till she, too toppled over beside him. Cherry was laughing so hard she couldn't stop. "Dammit, Blue!" she managed to spurt out between giggles, not convincingly at all.
"All I wanted was you to dance with me." he said innocently, blinking his huge eyes at her.
"After what you did? Are you kidding?" Cherry put her hands on her hips. "You'll have to drag me out there bodily, then. And I don't think you're strong enough to do it." she challenged, stepping away from him. With a warning look, Blue chased after her. Cherry ran, laughing, and tripped over a seam in the floor with her high heels. Blue grabbed her foot while she struggled to get away, cracking up. By this time, Blue was cracking up too, and was losing his own coordination. He lost his grip, and Cherry went flying into Delta and Tamia.
"Hi!" she lifted her head to look at Delta, then scrambled up. Even his girlfriend had to laugh.
Blue came up behind Cherry and grabbed her, lifting her off the floor and making her kick her legs. "That's just our way of saying 'may we cut in?'" he winked at Delta, who looked embarassed and amused. Cherry's heels dug into Blue's legs as she kicked, and he had to grab her heels to keep them from doing any further damage higher up. Her kicking made him let go of her, and she jumped down to face him. With a sly look, Blue took both her hands and placed them on his shoulders. "I think this is the way civilized people dance." he said warmly as she blushed, then laughed.
"Since when were either one of us civilized?" Cherry teased, feeling both aroused and slightly uncomfortable in this intimate position. A slow song started and Cherry stood there feeling very embarassed. "I'm even worse at slow dancing." she said, her eyes darting away from Blue's now more serious look. Cherry swayed slightly with him, taking her hands off his shoulders to hold hands with him in a more comfortable position. "You have a confession to make." she told him.
Blue looked all innocence. "Me? About what?"
"You know about what!" Cherry smiled. "When I want my house redecorated, I'll call a professional."
Blue snickered, looking relieved for some reason. He stared at her until she looked away. It was obvious. This guy was crazy about her, and she was starting to feel the same way about him. She resisted an urge to reach up and stroke his equisite well chiseled face, his long red blonde hair. He almost looked otherwordly with these features plus his pale skin and stunning aquamarine eyes. She loved his multiple earrings he wore in one ear, and his ears even looked pointed. Maybe he WAS a halfbreed of human and something else. She also liked the fact that she didn't have to look up at him to see him. They were almost the same height, he just slightly taller. At the end of the song, Blue dipped her backwards, making her back pop and her arms flail. "Ow!" she yelled before he helped her back up. "Next time, let's do a fast dance."
Blue snickered, holding back a comment he'd wanted to make, and twirled her around before leaving the dance floor.
At the end of that long night, Blue returned to his bunk alone. Now that his guard was down, his thoughts whirled with Cherry. Her sense of humor, her intelligence, her strength, her sweetness when she let her guard down, her hair, her face, her walk, her body...
He felt an erection growing as he reached the door, glad it was dark and his other roommates were'nt around. With a soft growl of arousal, he flopped down on his bed to fantasize about her...
...and discovered he was laying in something sticky.
"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, jumping off the bed. He had to pry the blanket off and switched on the light. Now it was his turn to be shocked as he saw what Cherry had done to his bed. She'd smeared honey all over everything, and even grafittied the wall. The letters said, "Sweet guys deserve a sweet treat."
"Oh, you're gonna get it, girl." he determined with a grin before flashing out the door to her apartment, where he knew she'd be at this time of the night.
Cherry heard a knock at her door, which startled her awake. She was wearing nothing but a sheer pink long silk nightgown from Victoria's Secret. She grabbed it's matching pale pink silk robe and opened the door, expecting the worst. There was no one there. While she looked this way and that for intruders, Blue hopped down off the roof and hung upside down, holding a fake knife to her throat. Cherry gasped and panicked. Her hands flashed out to grab Blue's hands, and he spoke.
"So I'm really that sweet, eh?"
Cherry pressed her thumbs into his palm to release the knife, then grabbed it swiftly before registering Blue's voice - and the fakeness of the knife.
"You little creep!" she yelled and dropped the knife to try to grab him before he ran off. But Blue was too fast and scrambled to the other side of the roof. Then he rolled down under the eve and turned on the porch light on so that Cherry was standing under a spotlight.
"The neighbors are gonna see!" she hissed stepping out of the light. "I'll find you..." She ran around to where she thought Blue had gone, with her back to him, but then he jumped down and grabbed her, making both of them fall to the ground.
Blue was laughing, and pretty soon Cherry was too. "Blue let me go!" she shrieked, rolling around. "All's fair in love and war, remember?"
"Ah, but revenge is so...sweet." he reminded her.
"Hey, I was thinking about using grasshoppers!" she threatened.
"Thanks for the idea." Blue answered. "You know, that was pretty clever, and I don't admit that to just anybody." He had her pinned by her shoulders, looking down at her in the semi darkness. Cherry suddenly felt very nervous and aroused.
"Oh, I just had to show you you'd met your match." she said softly, looking up at him. She'd stopped struggling.
"I'm more than a match for you when it comes to pranks." Blue smirked, leaning closer. "That first time I went easy on ya. You were lucky." He pulled his face close enough so that their noses were touching, then leaned back, smiling.
"Let me up, Blue." Cherry ordered him. He obliged. He was hard again, and had to hide it from her for the time being. "Here, let's settle this with a drink." she invited, not knowing why or caring. Blue's eyes went wide momentarily, then he smirked again.
"Why of course, my lady." he said, following her in. Cherry poured them each a root beer, a little to Blue's disappointment.
"Sorry, I don't drink." she apologized. She handed one to Blue, who gulped down half of it.
"When I drink at the table of my enemies, I don't complain." he said suavely, earning a snicker from Cherry.
"Consider this a temporary truce, then." Cherry said, smiling at him. Then she looked at him seriously. "I have to admit it Blue, I think you're cute."
He blushed, the first time she'd seen him do so. "Touche, my dear." he responded with that lovable smirk. Cherry drank from her own can, but some missed her mouth and poured down the front of her nightgown. "Oh shit! Excuse me..."
She started to get up, but Blue grabbed her hand to prevent her from leaving. "Allow me..." he said mischieviously, pulling a Kleenex out of a box and wiping her down. Cherry blushed with embarassment. He tossed it over his shoulder and put one hand on the other side of Cherry on the couch. Before she could react, he was kissing her with a gentle but urgent passion. She put her arms around him and took him in further, pressing against him. When he pulled back the look on both their faces was one of suprize and extreme arousal.
"I didn't know you felt that way about me, Blue." Cherry breathed in a soft, astonished voice, her arms still around him.
"I've been more observant than you think, Cherry." he answered huskily, still smiling slightly. "I wanted to tell you but you showed more interest in the Seargent, so I stayed back."
"Oh, I wouldn't mess with somebody else's boyfriend." Cherry admitted. "And I have to admit, at first I thought you just a cute little pain in the ass. I still do, but the cute part is stronger."
Blue snickered. "I figured that." Cherry held his hand and got up. Blue followed, a sly smile on his face. "Let me guess where we're going..." he murmured as she led him into the bedroom.
(an alternate Recon50 universe)
Rough Draft
Note to Cara: The human names were Linnea's idea! I'll put their Antz names next to them.
Every living thing scattered when they felt the vibrations of the roaring jets approaching. The very air seemed to rip apart as the F15Cs shot like cannonballs over the Saylor Creek Training Range, their target ordinances set up like highway construction cones. Only these were scattered in a pre-set pattern throughout the canyon, and were made of flammable white phosphorous.
Airman Larry Foreman, codename "Blue", a 20 year old kid just out of the Air Force Academy, flew behind the others. He was humming along with some rock music he wasn't supposed to have on and trying to read his JDITS system at the same time. "Another one bites the dust hey-hey!..." he mimicked, firing a shot at a decoy as he made a low pass along the canyon wall..."another one bites the dust!"
First Lieutenant Jason Luke, codename "Speede" got on his radio. "Blue, we're turning around to make another pass..." Irritation rose in his voice as he heard Queen tinnily in the background..."Dammit, turn that music off or I'll turn it off for you!!!"
Larry gave a mock salute, because he knew his superior couldn't see it. "Yes, Sir." he said, a little too levelly. "Blue out." He held the mike up to his hand and flipped it off.
"Hey, you boys behave back there, or I'll have to backhand ya." came a female voice over all their radios. The voice belonged to 22 year old Lieutenant Cara Micheals, codename "Seejay", who felt too often that she was denmother to a bunch of boyscouts. She led the pack out of the canyon to swing around for their last pass. Seargent Noel Hogan, codename "Delta" just chuckled. Jason growled under his breath. Larry rolled his eyes.
They destroyed all the targets, with Jason getting the most hits, and headed back toward Mountain Home AFB. More specifically, to Joe's Club, which was outside the base in town.
Even in their civilian clothes, they stuck out in the crowd of predominately young local hick and jock regulars. Jason's lodgepole but powerful panther-like 6'5" form dominated the doorway as they entered, his dark features surveying the scene with their usual intensity. He found his usual seat at the bar and plopped down. Cara, Larry and Noel found their seats around him and watched the dancing crowd for awhile. An earth-shattering burp told them Robert "Topper" Weed was in his usual place, also.
Larry waved to him. "Hey, Tops!" he called out. Robert leaned on the bar and gave him a pickled smile.
Jason saw them and gave a growl of disgust. The bartender's voice interrupted his morbid thoughts. "What'll ya have? The usual?"
Jason just lifted his hand, which was all the bartender needed to know. "Comin' right up..." he scurried to get the Red Dog. He heard Robert's voice waver down the bar.
"One bourbon, one scotch and one beer."
Jason rolled his eyes.
By the end of the night, which was 3:30 AM, Cara found herself the desginated driver once again. She had to roll down the windows for the air to take away the stench of the alcohol and let it flow out like swamp gas. Robert and Jason were snoring. Larry was singing "Rock You Like a Hurricane" playing air guitar and drums, off in his own little world. Noel and Cara sat in the front seat, trying to shut them out and desperate to get back to the Recon 50 hangar of the 366th Wing at Mountain Home AFB, 40 miles away. Cara popped an Aerosmith tape in and turned it on full blast, knowing the two sleeping pilots in the back were too far gone to wake up.
"All riiiiiight!" Larry shouted, "Aerosmith ROCKS!!!" Cara and Delta laughed and they all started singing along.
They had to stop at the Logistics dorm to drop off Robert...literally. Then it took two of them to carry Speede to their mutual dorm at Building 2308, the Fighter Squadron.
Cara collapsed on her bunk, feeling she'd done more work hauling these drunken idiots than thousands of flight hours. Still, she couldn't live without them. They were her buds. She and Noel put in their earplugs to block out Jason's lawnmower-like snoring and went to sleep themselves. Just another day at the training range.
(Okay, this is the first part. Cherry hasn't made her entrance yet, and I'm sure there's a lot more I could do with this. You're welcome to change it or add to it if you want.)
2
The winding forms of the girls from Flight W010 slithered through the brush like snakes with their M16s. They skirted the hills around the Scorpion's Nest, the base camp of the 737th training group they'd been sent to after marksmanship training.Eighteen year old Clarissa "Cherry" Porter cursed herself for getting three bullseyes in a row, only to shoot the target next to her instead of her own. A beetle the size of a VW ran over her hand, and she stifled a scream. This was not the time to be squeamish. She was petite and slender, but her 5'4" body packed more punch than a cat on the prowl. She was the first to see one of the instructors probing the perirameter of THEIR area. She gave the signal she and her group had rehearsed and they all scattered to surround him with their M16s poised. Meanwhile, Cherry jumped up and got on her radio. "Northeast sector secure." she announced to the base camp. "Dispatch two medics from the hospital crew. We've got one airman down."
Of course, it wasn't a real injury, but the female airman made a good show of it, holding her arm and rolling around on the ground, calling for help. Cherry flashed her a quick smile and ran to "treat" her for shock. "Ok, just lie still." she tried to order in a serious voice. "Help is on the way." She whipped out a bandage from her pack and wrapped it loosly around the girl's arm. But just then, a real threat emerged - a big hungry black bear that had apparently been drawn by not-so-well-disposed-of leftover food. Cherry didn't have time to scream before the monster roared and stood up on his hind legs. In a flash, she fired her M16 three times, in the bear's chest area. The other girls who stood several feet away guarding the "prisoner" were so shocked they just stood and stared as the bear dropped at Cherry's feet. She stood in shock for so long that they wondered if SHE should be treated. She forced herself not to shake, to turn and get back on the radio. "Base, this is Cherry. Make that two medics and a Fish and Game Warden. I just shot a bear." She said it much more calmly than she felt.
As they started scattering back toward the Scorpion's Nest base camp, Sargent Smith congratulated Cherry with a smile and a quick nod. "Good job, Airman." he said quickly, which meant a lot, coming from him.
"Thank you, Sir." Cherry replied with a slight smile. She was still shaken, but trying to hide it and force herself to keep moving. Two medics carried the "injured" on a stretcher, two others carried the bear.
When they arrived at the camp, cheers went up from all the groups who had assembled after returning from their own locations in the woods. The instructors disappeared back into the main tent and prepared the noon chow. Cherry heard Smith joke about changing the menu's main course to bear meat, and a roar of laughter went up from inside. "Forget Alamo's Revenge." he said. "Try Smokey's Revenge!" Cherry snickered along with her team and said, "Well, who wants to help me skin this thing?"
The bear was picked up by the Fish and Game warden, and Flight W010 had their planned field rations. As they sat down to eat, Airman Lance "Peepers" Goodman leaned over and said to Cherry, "I would have liked the bear meat, myself. This stuff sucks."
Cherry snickered, halfway agreeing with him. She'd run into the little pipsqueak here and there, and he always made her laugh. He reminded her of the blonde kid in Sixteen Candles. He was short, skinny, and full of energy. And he always seemed to have a joke that fit the moment. His eyes were big and light green, too, hence his nickname. Peepers could see like a cat in the dark. Cherry had noticed on field excersises that he always seemed to be the first one to point things out. Nobody needed a telescope when Peepers was around. Once while bungee jumping, he'd even caught a fish between his teeth he could see it so good from a distance.
"Are ya gonna eat that?" he teased Cherry as she stirred some dry, grainy mashed potatoes around with her collapible fork.
She gave him a mock dirty look and he backed away, emitting his Mugsy-like laugh.
The head instructor then pranced into the room and announced. "A heavy armored force is approaching. Everybody move out! Move, move move!"
Everybody scattered to line up for the 5.8 mile road march back to the Lackland dorms. "Warrior Week" was over.
3
(Four years later, Taif AFB, Saudi Arabia)
Clarissa flew her F-15E nervously, the last in formation of the 4402nd Fighter Squadron. They had been ordered to bomb a Sudanese secret base camp that had been discovered by their Reconnaisance group, so she - and her teammates - had every right to be nervous. The last place you wanted to be in this country was on the ground. The air, also, was dangerous if the terrorists had their own jets, most of which were obtained illegally.
The fly-over bombing scene in Starwars went through her mind as they made this well-planned pass over the camp, thankful they were undetectable by radar. The order finally came through the mike.
"NOW!"
Clarissa punched the button on her panel, dropping a bomb along with the lazers firing from her teammates. Then they hauled ass outta there, but Clarissa had been hit. With no time to inform the others, she ejected, knowing they would bring help later. She had a location device surgically attached to her inner ear should she be captured. At least, if she got in trouble or lost, the good guys would find her before anything too bad happened...at least she hoped.
But there was no time to worry about that now. Clarissa woke up battered, bruised - and in a strange place. She'd crashed in the desert, but she was now in a huge tent with even stranger people. A deep gutteral and mocking male voice spoke to her.
"I think I should tell you why I won't just kill you." he said in perfect English, leaning over her. When Clarissa's eyes focused, she saw a brutally handsome Islamic man. He looked to be about in his mid 40s, dressed in the tribal black of the Darfur province. She, also, had been dressed as the other women in his harem, and immediately knew her fate. She guessed it before he said his next words.
"I am Haythem, and you are now my 'guest'. I usually do not offer such generosity to American spies and murderers, so be grateful you are in my care. However, if you fail to comply with my wishes, I will kill you." he said simply, with a disarming smile. Clarissa, however, was not so disarmed. Fighting back the urge to tell him what she really thought of him, she just said,
"What is it you wish?" she smirked, flinching under the pain of her still present bruises.
He leaned uncomfortably close. "To keep me happy." he said sultrily, and grabbed her roughly. That was too much. Clarissa cursed herself for not knowing better.
"Then I'll die!" she said, jumping to her feet and whipping out a knife before forgetting it wasn't there. He laughed at her.
"We have taken your weapons, little one. And everything else you need to hinder us. So I suggest you get comfortable."
Clarissa answered with a kick to his chest, and sent him flying backwards. "I need no weapons." she said low and dangerous. "You underestimate me."
With a growl, Haytham leaped up to pin Clarissa down. "Guards!" he yelled in his own language. "Contain this woman!"
Before she could act, she was tied down. Disgusted, the leader of the group stalked out of the tent, throwing back a warning as he did. "Perhaps next time you'll be more cooperative."
Outside, Clarissa's belongings had been strewn out in another tent, her weapons confiscated and her communication equipment destroyed. The harem women picked through it with the men of the camp like greedy children looking at new toys.
Najeeba, the head wife, smiled sinisterly as she picked up Clarissa's dagger. "Can't I just slash the white devil a little?" she asked Haytham, turning it over.
Haythem mock reprimanded her. "No, no, my lady, only as a last resort. We will need her in one piece for her stay here." He whisked the knife away and tucked it into his belt. "I will be keeping this, my dear." he added, kissing her hair.
The team of Recon 50 surrounded the terrorist base camp, having honed in on Cherry's tracking device. Since Haythem and his men didn't expect anyone to find her, her tent was left unguarded, and they snuck in. When the flap flipped back, Cherry sat straight up with a gasp of suprize and relief.
"Shhh!" Seargent Delta put a finger to his lips. "We're gonna get you outta here, but be quiet!"
Cherry rose and shuffled out the tent with them into the darkness. She noticed the only female in the group was also a Lieutenant, so she directed her next question at her.
"Where are we going?"
Cara smiled. "You've been reassigned to our unit in Idaho, but for now we have to concentrate on getting back to our ride outta here."
"What's the name of this unit?"
"R-50, ma'am. And you may call me Lieutenant Cara."
Cherry realized it was her casual and congenial way of ordering her to address her by her title and not just "hey, you". Blue snickered.
"Or just Sir."
Cara shot him a warning look. Cherry looked over at him. Damn, he was cute! She caught him glancing at her with an impish grin, his deep aquamarine eyes almost sparkling black in the semi dark. This Delta didn't look bad, either. Then there was this tall guy...she was afraid to ask what HIS name was. Killer, maybe? Another medium height guy with really pale skin and haunting blue eyes walked with them. He had a pleasant, congenial face, though not as handsome as Delta and Blue. Cara reminded Cherry of Sigorney Weaver. Tomboyish, though not unfeminine. She didn't question why she was being reassigned. She was just glad to be getting out of there.
They approached a rise where a young Sudanese man on their side had been guarding the four wheelers. Obviously, they couldn't have torn into the rebel camp on these, so they'd left them far enough away not to be found quickly, but near enough to return to quickly.
"Thanks, Sufiy." Cara told him, and he bowed his head before ripping off on his own four wheeler. Before riding off, Cara introduced Cherry to the guys.
"This is Sr. Airman Topper." she gestured to the pale guy who looked to be in his late 30s. "This is 1st Leiutenant Speede." The tall, athletic guy smirked, which was the most of a smile she would get out of him. "This is Seargent Delta." The handsome pilot smiled formally, with a trace of nervousness. "And this is Airman Blue." the short, slender but athletic pilot mock bowed, a mischievious grin on his sharp face.
"At your service, m'lady." Cherry stifled a giggle.
"You'll learn their real names soon enough. Some of them get used more than others." She shot a look at Blue, who feigned whistling and looking around. Cara rolled her eyes. "Let's go."
She revved up her 4 wheeler, and Blue told Cherry to sit behind him, since they couldn't bring an extra. Feeling awkward, but relieved to be getting out of there, she obliged. Blue looked all too happy to be the driver. But Cherry couldn't stop staring at Delta.
Cherry'd forgotten how homesick she'd been until she settled into her apartment at the outskirts of Mountain Home AFB. The most fun she'd had back in Saudi Arabia was sandracing in homemade dunebuggies and motorcycles. Now, she had the mountains only a few miles away, her hometown in the other direction, and the mall in Twin Falls. God bless America, she thought.
She was only half awake when she heard a fist slamming into a series of rude knocks at her door. What the hell? she cursed, the shock shooting through her entire nervous system and forcing her awake. "WHAT???" she yelled, not caring if God Himself stood on the other side.
"That's no way to address a Lieutenant, Private!" a growling voice warned from the other side. She recognized Speede's voice and cringed.
Still sitting on her bed half dressed, she said. "Come in, Sir." trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
The door burst open and Speede made his huffing entrance. "What do you think this is, Private, a getaway resort? You're late for drill practice." He picked up her uniform from the floor and threw it at her. "Get dressed and report to the weapons training facility. I'll be waiting." he finished in a fair snarl before stalking out the door.
Cherry mock saluted. "Yes, Lieutenant Cujo!" she hissed as she rushed into her clothes. "This IS my apartment, ya know, dammit..." thus muttering and huffing, she joined Speede at the facility within ten minutes. The tall Lieutenant was already hard at work practicing, or rather showing off, his skill at the bullseye with a pistol.
After firing several predictably perfect rounds, he tossed the smoking gun to Cherry. "Your turn, Private." he said with an equally as jerky toss of his head. "Let's see what you can do."
Cherry had a fleeting morbid thought of what she would like to do, but settled for a discreet smirk instead and turned around to face the new setup. To her embarassment, the gun had run out of rounds.
"Well don't just stand there, Private! Load your weapon!" Speede said just a little too quickly.
Her face flushing in anger, Cherry walked over to the railing with extreme self control and retrieved the box of bullets. She was so mad she fumbled loading the gun. Speede rolled his eyes and leaned down over her so that his face was in hers.
"Hurry up, Private, the enemy is firing!" he said in a low, dangerous, and patience strained voice.
"This isn't exactly a Pez candy dispenser!" Cherry hissed back, finally popping the last bullet in. "Sir!" she added before turning around to blast a round at the head of the ringed body sillouette target. Speede watched her with crossed arms, hiding a pleased smile at her skill as she blew one hole inside itself ten times. Finally, the gun clicked. She turned to face Speede, blew on the gun, and handed it back to him. "Anything else you wanted to teach me?" she said innocently. Speede smirked.
"I'll see you at the karate face off tonight, Private." he reminded her. "And believe me, when I'm through with you, there won't be anything LEFT to teach."
Cherry hrumphed, trying not to show her nervousness.
Lieutenant Cara approached them from Cherry's side. "Give the girl a break, Lieutenant, and that's an order." she warned Speede half congenially.
"That's what I intend to do." the 1st Lieutenant said smiling. "Sir." he saluted Cara, and grunted at Cherry before leaving.
"What's his problem?" Cherry thumbed toward his disappearing form.
Cara sighed. "Don't take it personally. He's like that with all new recruits whether he likes them or not. And he's even worse with us, but it comes out more as whining." she winked. Cherry laughed. "Don't tell 'im I said that, though, or he'll have BOTH our hides."
Cherry knew she was going to like her new leader.
"You have some new orders, too, Private." Cara added, smiling. "Seargent Delta wants you on his Intelligence Support Squad team, and I think you more than qualify. I got clearence from Colonel Cutter last night so you're to report to Delta at 1400 hours today."
Cherry dipped her face down so that she couldn't see the furious blush that came over it at the mention of Delta's name and muttered, "Yes, Sir."
Cara smiled and added, "And one word of warning...he has a girlfriend." She winked and walked off, leaving a very embarassed and disappointed Cherry.
A shadowy figure sat high above in a forgotten corner of the indoor training range, watching the scene between Cherry, Speede and Cara, his deep brown eyes glittering. At the mention of Delta, a small snarl escaped his lips.
Cherry didn't know why she was so nervous. She was confident of her knowledge and skill, yet as she approached the small classroom, her heart beat wildly as though she were going to be the teacher instead of Delta. She slid into a seat in the back where she'd draw the least attention, and sat staring at the symetrically handsome Seargent as he cleared his throat.
That and the fact that he was the Colonel's nephew made him all the more attractive.
"Thank you for your promptness, everyone." he started somewhat nervously, looking down at a notebook momentarily. He then did a quick rollcall. Cherry was staring at him but daydreaming at the same time, so when he got to her name, all he got was a blank stare.
"Private Cherry." he said more slowly, while all the heads whipped around to her blushing face as she snapped out of her stupor.
"Present, Sir." she stammered, looking down immediately. A smile twitched at the corner of Delta's mouth, but he continued.
"Very well, not that we've gotten past the formalities, let's get on to the interesting stuff."
He proceeded to map out their jobs. While he rambled on about covert operations and retreiving enemy secrets, Cherry was busy doodling a picture of Delta in her notebook posing semi nude with the words 'Noel Hogan and Clarissa Porter' captioned at the bottom.
At the end of the class, Cherry shuffled reluctantly out with the rest of the group, but left her notebook behind on her desk. As she approached the door, Delta announced, "Who's notebook is this?" He saw the picture Cherry drew, and blushed all colors of the rainbow as he closed it's cover nervously. "Private Porter!" he said in a shocked voice that had more sternness than he'd intended. Cherry wheeled around, saw the notebook, and practically died.
Almost shaking, her red face now white, she took it from him. Delta leaned just a tad closer and said, "We are studying spy missions, not human reproduction."
"Yes Sir!" Cherry piped, and ran out of the room.
Delta watched her go,and couldn't help but smile.
Another one of Cherry's hobbies was the Thunderbirds, a very serious hobby indeed. Although not a requirement, it honed her ariel and combat skills, something almost everyone admired her for. Everyone except Private Blue, who had just joined. Cherry had recovered from the beating Speede had dished out in the karate tournament last week and now felt strong enough to do some stunts. The show was next week, and after a couple hours of practicing, Cherry returned exhausted to her apartment...
...only to find it completely toilet papered. She was too tired to scream, she was too tired to cry, she was too tired to laugh, all three of which she felt like doing upon this discovery. Instead, she just stood in the middle of her living room and stared with an open mouth. Then a snicker from another room spurred her into action. She grabbed a gun off a plant stand and aimed it in the voice's direction.
"Whoever you are, get out of my apartment!" she yelled, her heart pounding a million miles an hour.
A familiar voice sounded from her bedroom. "You shouldn't leave the door unlocked, Cherry." it said with a mischievious smile in it. "You never know who might wander in."
She rushed into her room to find Blue literally perched up on the head of her bed. The gun fell to her side, but she didn't let go of it.
"Blue!!!" she gasped, her mouth falling open again at this weird sight. "Why did you do this?"
She had to claw her way through a maze of tp crisscrossing like a spiderweb over her door, some of it clinging to her as she cautiously approached him. Blue snickered so hard she thought he was going to fall to the floor with laughter.
"It's not funny! You know what the sentence is for breaking and entering? And that's NOT including what I'll do to you first!"
Blue hopped off his squatting perch and held up his hands in defense. "Hey, at least my way of saying hi isn't tearing up your arm!" he reminded her of Speede's brutal attack in a fit of rage toward the last of the contest, which had almost killed her.
"That's no excuse, Blue." Cherry protested, annoyed and glad to see him for some reason. "If you help me clean up this mess, MAYBE I'll let you live." She added, and couldn't help but smile. "But do it again, and I won't."
"Point well taken." Blue said with a smirk, hiding his nervousness. "Heh-heh..." He scooped up a pile of tp like a giant snowball and carried it out to the living room, dumping it into the kitchen trash can. "You know, Cherry, you're my competition in the Thunderbirds now, and I have to compensate in some way or another, don't I?"
"Hah! So THAT'S what all of this is about! You just can't handle being beaten by a girl!"
Blue tossed his handsome head and looked indignant. "Now Cherry, that's not it at all!
I have to teach you a lesson that the Thunderbirds is no place for a girl."
She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Then thank God you're not the commander." she smirled, throwing him another wad of tp. He caught it skillfully and snorted.
"And you can finish cleaning up this mess in the other rooms, too. I'm gonna keep you locked in here till you're done." she added.
"All's fair in love and war, my lady." he said with mock elegance, bowing with an armful of tp that looked like a bouquet of flowers.
"That's right." Cherry said. "Now I'm going to take a shower, but I have supersonic hearing, so don't even think about leaving until you're done cleaning up this mess!"
She loped off down the hall and slammed the door. A sly smile crossed Blue's face as he watched her go. "Don't worry. I wouldn't miss it for the world." he said, his devious mind working again.
He stuffed the rest of the tp in the trash, but saved half a roll, which he tucked into his black trenchcoat's inner pocket.
Cherry emerged from the bathroom into a clean apartment. Blue stood innocently at the door and gestured grandly. "Your palace is clean, Your Majesty." he teased in all seriousness.
"Okay, good enough." Cherry smirked. "Now get lost."
"Exit stage left!" Blue said, and scampered off, slamming the door behind him. Cherry immediately locked it behind him.
Meanwhile, Blue had not left, but climbed up to her roof without a sound and started tping around the eves. While Cherry went into the bathroom and dropped her towel, Blue had found a peephole into the bathroom through the fan vent in the ceiling. He hung from the eves like a bat and stared in at her until Cherry turned the fan on to get rid of the mist on the mirrors. The resulting humming blast scared Blue off his perch and made him lose his balance. With a curse and muffled yell, he fell to the ground, abandoning his escapade as he ran off the property to make mischeif somewhere else.
When Cherry emerged from her apartment and saw the new "decorating job" Blue had done to the outside of her house, she fumed. "That does it, little man! This is war!" Her mind started whirring.
Cherry joined Recon 50 that night at Joe's Club, dressed in a pair of tight black leather pants and a gothic corset with matching leather black jacket. Her long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders and she wore makeup that dramatized her light green/blue eyes. Almost all heads turned as her high heeled boots clicked authoratatively against the linoleum floor. Even Speede stared momentarily before returning to gulp down the rest of his Red Dog. Delta, dancing with his Lieutenant Colonel girlfriend Tamia, missed a step and stepped on her toes, which brought a growl from her. When she saw Cherry prowl through the bar to find a seat next to the group, she scowled before turning back to flirt gregariously with her boyfriend. Blue sat mesmerized until Cherry caught his eye, then turned the dumbfounded look into his usual smirk as she sat down next to him.
"Is it always this dead in here?" she noted, looking around at the haze, the sparsely populated room, the whiny country music which grated on her ears that couples danced to like automatons. "Jeez, we need to go to one of the Southern California or New York clubs. Now there's some action!"
Lieutenant Cara smiled and rolled her eyes. She was dressed casually in jeans and an REM tshirt and no makeup, but still she looked pretty somehow. "Speede'll take care of the music part." she said slyly. "Just watch."
With a growl, the monsterous pilot shoved his barstool back and stalked from the room into the sound studio to yell at the mixers. Pretty soon, hard rock blasted out and everybody cheered except the handful of country enthusiasts who walked out.
"Allright!" Cherry shouted, throwing her arms in the air. Blue lept up on the counter and started dancing around, cheering and mouthing the lyrics to Def Leopard's "Long Live Rock n Roll". Topper popped out of his drunken stupor long enough to join him, and pretty soon, Blue was standing up on his shoulders like a little gargoyle grinning down at everybody.
"Look Ma, no hands!" he giggled, balancing on his feet and wavering. Cherry laughed hard, looking up at them. Cara smirked, Speede rolled his eyes, and Delta shot them a panicked look from out on the dance floor.
"Hey, guys! Off the counter or those will be the last beers you'll ever see in this joint again." the bartender warned. Never had Blue and Topper moved so fast. The very thought of being deprived of beer was like a death sentence to them. They immediately plopped down. Blue lost his balance however, and Cherry ended up catching him.
"We've got to stop meeting like this!" Blue smiled up at her, drawing some amused looks from around them. Cherry dropped him like a hot potato.
"Yeah, starting now!" she teased, laughing as he fell on his butt beside his stool. Blue grabbed her stool leg and shook it till she, too toppled over beside him. Cherry was laughing so hard she couldn't stop. "Dammit, Blue!" she managed to spurt out between giggles, not convincingly at all.
"All I wanted was you to dance with me." he said innocently, blinking his huge eyes at her.
"After what you did? Are you kidding?" Cherry put her hands on her hips. "You'll have to drag me out there bodily, then. And I don't think you're strong enough to do it." she challenged, stepping away from him. With a warning look, Blue chased after her. Cherry ran, laughing, and tripped over a seam in the floor with her high heels. Blue grabbed her foot while she struggled to get away, cracking up. By this time, Blue was cracking up too, and was losing his own coordination. He lost his grip, and Cherry went flying into Delta and Tamia.
"Hi!" she lifted her head to look at Delta, then scrambled up. Even his girlfriend had to laugh.
Blue came up behind Cherry and grabbed her, lifting her off the floor and making her kick her legs. "That's just our way of saying 'may we cut in?'" he winked at Delta, who looked embarassed and amused. Cherry's heels dug into Blue's legs as she kicked, and he had to grab her heels to keep them from doing any further damage higher up. Her kicking made him let go of her, and she jumped down to face him. With a sly look, Blue took both her hands and placed them on his shoulders. "I think this is the way civilized people dance." he said warmly as she blushed, then laughed.
"Since when were either one of us civilized?" Cherry teased, feeling both aroused and slightly uncomfortable in this intimate position. A slow song started and Cherry stood there feeling very embarassed. "I'm even worse at slow dancing." she said, her eyes darting away from Blue's now more serious look. Cherry swayed slightly with him, taking her hands off his shoulders to hold hands with him in a more comfortable position. "You have a confession to make." she told him.
Blue looked all innocence. "Me? About what?"
"You know about what!" Cherry smiled. "When I want my house redecorated, I'll call a professional."
Blue snickered, looking relieved for some reason. He stared at her until she looked away. It was obvious. This guy was crazy about her, and she was starting to feel the same way about him. She resisted an urge to reach up and stroke his equisite well chiseled face, his long red blonde hair. He almost looked otherwordly with these features plus his pale skin and stunning aquamarine eyes. She loved his multiple earrings he wore in one ear, and his ears even looked pointed. Maybe he WAS a halfbreed of human and something else. She also liked the fact that she didn't have to look up at him to see him. They were almost the same height, he just slightly taller. At the end of the song, Blue dipped her backwards, making her back pop and her arms flail. "Ow!" she yelled before he helped her back up. "Next time, let's do a fast dance."
Blue snickered, holding back a comment he'd wanted to make, and twirled her around before leaving the dance floor.
At the end of that long night, Blue returned to his bunk alone. Now that his guard was down, his thoughts whirled with Cherry. Her sense of humor, her intelligence, her strength, her sweetness when she let her guard down, her hair, her face, her walk, her body...
He felt an erection growing as he reached the door, glad it was dark and his other roommates were'nt around. With a soft growl of arousal, he flopped down on his bed to fantasize about her...
...and discovered he was laying in something sticky.
"Oh, shit!" he exclaimed, jumping off the bed. He had to pry the blanket off and switched on the light. Now it was his turn to be shocked as he saw what Cherry had done to his bed. She'd smeared honey all over everything, and even grafittied the wall. The letters said, "Sweet guys deserve a sweet treat."
"Oh, you're gonna get it, girl." he determined with a grin before flashing out the door to her apartment, where he knew she'd be at this time of the night.
Cherry heard a knock at her door, which startled her awake. She was wearing nothing but a sheer pink long silk nightgown from Victoria's Secret. She grabbed it's matching pale pink silk robe and opened the door, expecting the worst. There was no one there. While she looked this way and that for intruders, Blue hopped down off the roof and hung upside down, holding a fake knife to her throat. Cherry gasped and panicked. Her hands flashed out to grab Blue's hands, and he spoke.
"So I'm really that sweet, eh?"
Cherry pressed her thumbs into his palm to release the knife, then grabbed it swiftly before registering Blue's voice - and the fakeness of the knife.
"You little creep!" she yelled and dropped the knife to try to grab him before he ran off. But Blue was too fast and scrambled to the other side of the roof. Then he rolled down under the eve and turned on the porch light on so that Cherry was standing under a spotlight.
"The neighbors are gonna see!" she hissed stepping out of the light. "I'll find you..." She ran around to where she thought Blue had gone, with her back to him, but then he jumped down and grabbed her, making both of them fall to the ground.
Blue was laughing, and pretty soon Cherry was too. "Blue let me go!" she shrieked, rolling around. "All's fair in love and war, remember?"
"Ah, but revenge is so...sweet." he reminded her.
"Hey, I was thinking about using grasshoppers!" she threatened.
"Thanks for the idea." Blue answered. "You know, that was pretty clever, and I don't admit that to just anybody." He had her pinned by her shoulders, looking down at her in the semi darkness. Cherry suddenly felt very nervous and aroused.
"Oh, I just had to show you you'd met your match." she said softly, looking up at him. She'd stopped struggling.
"I'm more than a match for you when it comes to pranks." Blue smirked, leaning closer. "That first time I went easy on ya. You were lucky." He pulled his face close enough so that their noses were touching, then leaned back, smiling.
"Let me up, Blue." Cherry ordered him. He obliged. He was hard again, and had to hide it from her for the time being. "Here, let's settle this with a drink." she invited, not knowing why or caring. Blue's eyes went wide momentarily, then he smirked again.
"Why of course, my lady." he said, following her in. Cherry poured them each a root beer, a little to Blue's disappointment.
"Sorry, I don't drink." she apologized. She handed one to Blue, who gulped down half of it.
"When I drink at the table of my enemies, I don't complain." he said suavely, earning a snicker from Cherry.
"Consider this a temporary truce, then." Cherry said, smiling at him. Then she looked at him seriously. "I have to admit it Blue, I think you're cute."
He blushed, the first time she'd seen him do so. "Touche, my dear." he responded with that lovable smirk. Cherry drank from her own can, but some missed her mouth and poured down the front of her nightgown. "Oh shit! Excuse me..."
She started to get up, but Blue grabbed her hand to prevent her from leaving. "Allow me..." he said mischieviously, pulling a Kleenex out of a box and wiping her down. Cherry blushed with embarassment. He tossed it over his shoulder and put one hand on the other side of Cherry on the couch. Before she could react, he was kissing her with a gentle but urgent passion. She put her arms around him and took him in further, pressing against him. When he pulled back the look on both their faces was one of suprize and extreme arousal.
"I didn't know you felt that way about me, Blue." Cherry breathed in a soft, astonished voice, her arms still around him.
"I've been more observant than you think, Cherry." he answered huskily, still smiling slightly. "I wanted to tell you but you showed more interest in the Seargent, so I stayed back."
"Oh, I wouldn't mess with somebody else's boyfriend." Cherry admitted. "And I have to admit, at first I thought you just a cute little pain in the ass. I still do, but the cute part is stronger."
Blue snickered. "I figured that." Cherry held his hand and got up. Blue followed, a sly smile on his face. "Let me guess where we're going..." he murmured as she led him into the bedroom.