DR: Okay in these next three chapters we are going into some very dark places. Harry's going right off the deep end here (if he hasn't already), and we're going to touch on an (unfortunately) common problem of today... Alcohol Abuse. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Zeke: And we have our first Bit/Leena moment!

DR: That too (grins)

Chapter 18: Changed minds

When Bit rejoined his team in the Hover Cargo, he was given a hero's welcome. Tears of joy were on many of the faces gathered, and even the usually stoic Brad cracked a smile. Leon and Doc patted him on the back, Vega was almost bouncing off the ceiling with excitement, and both Naomi and Sarah were ecstatic in a muted, feminine way.

But the greatest surprise was when Leena charged across the room to grip him in a bear hug.

"You did it Bit! YOU WON!" She screamed out in joy. "When you got boxed in like that, we all thought…" she couldn't continue.

"Hey, don't… sweat it!" Bit managed to say, struggling to draw breath with Leena gripping him so tightly. She loosened her grip slightly, looking into his eyes.

"Oh Bit…" she whispered gently, before pulling his head forward for a kiss.

Bit was so stunned, he could barely think, let alone move! All he could think about was how her lips felt on his, how her well curved female body fitted so snugly against him. He had thought realising that he had won had produced a high, but this feeling completely blew it out of the water! He retained enough sense of mind to wrap his own arms round her, while his ears went deaf to the world outside.

Not that there was much to hear. Jamie was staring, his jaw hanging. Scenes of Leena charging after Bit with any number of blunt, metal objects in her hands and a look of pure rage on her face ran though his mind. How could there be such a turn around like this?

Steve Toros looked on with a mixture of joy and grief. Joy that at last his darling little girl – though she would never have liked such a description of herself – had finally found her man. But there was the grief that always came from a father who was about to lose his daughter. At least they'd remain with him. As long as there was a Blitz team, neither were going anywhere.

Brad and Naomi sat together, arms round each other. They felt joy that someone else had finally found the happy place they had. Naomi had been secretly worried about Leena for some time. The girl really needed a calm centre in her life. Now while Bit's lifestyle was anything but calm, if this meant what she thought it meant, then the two of them could help balance the other.

Brad simply wondered if Bit would last to the honeymoon. He'd seen it all, their entire past, and he wasn't romantic enough as to start expecting any long-term relationships. Leena was a volatile one; he hoped Bit had fireproof underwear. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the main communication screen flicker on, but he paid it no mind.

Vega was grinning and flushing. He knew that there were a lot of young girls out there who would be devastated by this news. But he now saw how well those two fitted together; he doubted that Leena – or Bit, for that matter – would ever find someone better.

Sarah sighed. She'd seen the mutual attraction the instant she had watched them interact. The way they bickered like little kids, teased each other, it was so clearly a cover for deeper feeling to her that she was amazed others couldn't see it.

Leon glanced at her. "You okay?"

"Just glad they finally stopped bickering and brought their true feelings out from under the covers."

He grinned. "No kidding. I liked him almost the second I laid eyes on him. And after all this time, I know he's the one for my little sister." He turned to face the couple, still locked mouth-to-mouth. "Though I had hoped that this had happened a long time ago."

Slowly the pair separated to breath. As Bit looked into her eyes, he saw disbelief enter them, then a mixture of shock and horror. 'Oh oh…'

Leena quickly composed herself, despite feeling that her blood was singing and her heart was dancing the waltz. "That was for the victory. And this…" She narrowed her eyes as Bit grinned, though he kept a wary look in his eyes.

Smiling sweetly, she slapped him across the face. His head snapped round while the others winced at the blow. A large red handprint began to form.

"…Is for the comment about my aim at the start!" She thundered, a taste of the angry side of her personality showing. Turning on her heel, she stormed out. Bit could only look at the others with a mixture of shock, pain and puzzlement.

"What… did she mean that throwaway remark to Harry about his aim?" He asked, massaging his jaw.

Leon slowly nodded. Sarah sighed again, while Jamie dropped his head into his hands.

"Damn."

X-X-X-X-X-X

Mary Champ slowly picked her way towards Harry. Not that the battle was over, she and his two robot assistants could move in and reclaim the damaged zoid. Or rather sweep it's constitute parts up.

Her wonderful Snowflake had torn Harry's poor zoid to pieces! She had to get it away from Bit. His terrible personality was rubbing off on it!

Moving up to the zoids head, she saw that the cockpit was open. Looking round, she quickly spotted her brother. He was sitting on a rock, his back to his zoid, staring at the spot where the Liger Zero had stood when he had it trapped.

Mary sighed. She knew he wasn't going to take this well. In fact he never took loss to Bit Cloud well. Harry's servants had not elaborated, but it seemed every time he lost he retreated into his cabin – and refused to come out for at least a day.

Slowly she walked up behind him. "You okay Harry sweetie?"

He didn't respond, so she slowly reached a hand out to his shoulder…

"Don't touch me!" He growled so threateningly she jumped back.

"Harry?" she stammered. He had never spoken like that to her before.

"I had him…" He half muttered, half growled. "I had him in the palm of my hand, no possible way he could have escaped! And he still slipped though my grasp!" He violently kicked a stone away.

"Harry, brooding never solved anything…" she began.

"On the contrary, 'big' sister," Harry finally turned to face her, and she found herself taking another involuntary step back. He had a really black look on his face, one that even their father on his worse day wouldn't wear.

"Brooding solves almost anything." He roughly pushed past her as he walked towards the Whale King. He paused before the fallen zoid.

"Stupid bloody thing!" He screamed before kicking it hard. Mary ran over, worried that he might have broken his foot doing that, but he moved off without limping or showing any sigh of pain.

"Leave it!" He yelled to his servants. Both looked up.

"Sir?" Asked Benjamin.

"Leave the useless heap of junk!" He stalked off. Mary quickly moved across to the robots.

"Continue gathering it up." She whispered. "I'll try to talk some sense into Harry…"

"Good luck." Sebastian called, his tone clearly showing that he severely doubted that she would have any success.

Up in the Whale King, Harry called up the mail the computer informed him was in. As expected, it was a notice to him to transfer the prize money to the Blitz team account. 'Best get this over with… before I get plastered…' he thought. He flicked the main communication screen over and hailed the Blitz's Hover Cargo. Such an antiqued rust bucket! And so small! No team worth its salt should use one of…

His thoughts came to a sudden halt as he saw what was being displayed before him. In addition to the Blitz team he already knew, there were four more people there. Leon he knew from previous encounters, and the woman sitting besides Brad had to be Naomi. The Blitz clearly had the Fluegel team round.

The other two he knew only from news reports. 'Vega AND Sarah Obscura, with the Blitz Team!' Had the great Blitz team fallen so low as to start recruiting from the remains of the Backdraft? How could they trust Sarah Obscura, after all she had done to the ZBC!

All this came secondary however to the sight that occupied them all however. Leena was KISSING Bit! And they had their arms round each other! Harry felt his blood boil over, but he couldn't say anything. He was rooted to the spot. He knew Leena felt nothing for Bit, didn't he?

They were soul mates, and no one came between them!

Harry staggered away, desperate for the only thing that helped…

X-X-X-X-X-X

Mary stepped though into the control room, just in time to hear Bit's question over the still active comm.

"What… did she mean that throwaway remark to Harry about his aim?"

Mary quickly rushed over to the console.

"Damn." Bit's voice filtered through.

"Hello?" She called though. The Blitz Team jumped at her voice. "Did anyone see Harry?"

"Harry?" Bit asked in confusion. Why was there a bright red handprint on his face? "Not since the battle. Why?"

"Well, I just found the comm open between us." She replied. Her tone carried her worry. "But he's not here…"

"Oh shit." Brad breathed. At the looks from the other pilots, his face became apologetic. "I noticed the comm screen light up, but I didn't realise that a connection was made."

"When was this?" Leon asked urgently.

Brad waved his hand at Bit. "They were in the middle of…" He flushed red. So did most of the Blitz.

"Oh shit indeed." Leon breathed.

"What? What happened?" Mary asked, as she noticed that Leena was not amongst the gathered pilots.

"Bit and Leena, were…" Leon stammered.

"Celebrating his victory." Doc put in diplomatically. Mary gasped.

"And Harry must have…" She couldn't finish. Leon nodded slowly. 'Oh no…' She thought.

"Listen, I'll get your prize money transferred. I suggest you get away from here." She rushed her speech. "Harry's not… himself."

"Right." Leon answered. "We'll be off. Don't take too long about that transfer please."

"I'll see to it tonight." She reassured him.

"Okay. Good luck with Harry." Leon signed off.

Mary quickly shot up and raced for the cabins. Somehow she knew she was going to need all the luck she could get.

X-X-X-X-X-X

As she stormed off deeper into the Hover Cargo, Leena felt tears run down her face, but made no effort to stop them. 'Why did I do that?' She asked herself. 'Why?'

She threw herself onto her cot, burying her head in her pillow. She was frustrated. She hated being frustrated. She was frustrated at her anger, which always reared up at the worst possible moment, and she could never control. Usually she could work that anger out by hitting whatever it was that angered her. Except this time she couldn't since she was angry at herself.

And she was also embarrassed. Kissing Bit in front of everyone! That was the worst possible thing she could have done! She hated him, didn't she? He stole her cookies, joked about her aim, and kept on barging in when it was her turn to use the bathroom!

And yet, when she had kissed him, it had been like a thousand fireworks going off at once! She had never felt so, warm, before in her life! She had begun to burn with a heat that she had never experienced before! Worse, she didn't want it to stop! She had wanted to stay in his arms for all eternity!

When she had looked into his eyes when they parted, she had seen that he was blown away by the kiss too. She had felt so safe and secure in his arms that she didn't care that he teased her or…

And then she had remembered his comment to Harry. Then she had remembered the fact that the others were watching. At that point, Leena had wished for a hole to appear in the deck and swallow her whole. So she had reacted the only way she knew. She struck out at the one who fired her blood in so many ways she couldn't name them all! The feelings he created in her… they were confusing and contradictory! So she had fled, her face burning with shame.

'How does he do it?' She asked herself again. 'Why does he make me feel the way I do?'

In her grief, Leena never noticed the subtle shifting as the Hover Cargo turned and raced away from the Kampala Crater.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Mary Champ rapped on Harry's cabin door. "Harry, will you please open up!" She yelled.

She had finally tracked him down to his cabin. Unfortunately, he had locked the door, from the inside. So far, he had proved unresponsive to her pleas to open the door.

"Harry, will you open the door?" Silence. "Don't make me come in there after you…"

Faintly, she heard Harry's reply. "Just you try it…"

"Fine!" Mary thundered. She quickly tapped in her own override code. The door quickly slid open. "All right Harry Champ," She began as she strode through into his cabin. "You should know better than to…" She trailed off as she took in the scene.

Harry sat on the end of the cot, his shirt off and lying on the bed, discarded. His bare chest rippled with barely controlled tension, and his free hand gripped the sheets so tightly that she was surprised that he hadn't drawn blood yet. His face wore that same black look from before.

But what was worse was the item in his right hand. A small glass, filled with a pale amber liquid. An open bottle containing more sat on the small table besides him. It had a crude label plastered on it.

"Where did you…" she raised a hand to point a trembling finger at the whiskey bottle. "…Get that?"

Harry's face broke into a cruel grin. "Where do you think sis? Dad's onboard supply, but only the good stuff…" He threw the contents of his glass back in one go before grabbing the bottle and pouring himself another shot.

"You mean… Nicholas's Whiskey?" She whispered.

"And once again, Mary Champ scores the 'Bloody Obvious' Prize!" Harry raised his glass in mock salute.

"Harry…" Mary was truly worried now: their ancestor Nicholas's whiskey was a controlled substance around the globe. It had an alcohol rating of almost ninety percent proof, and it seemed that something in the distillation process caused male brains to revert to more primitive instincts. Certainly people who drank Nicholas Champ's Whiskey tended to become more violent… much more. "…How much have you had already?"

Harry made a show of looking at the level of whiskey in the bottle. "'Bout half of this bottle." He slurred. He knocked back the drink he was holding. "Plus the first…"

"YOU'VE DRUNK OVER A FULL BOTTLE OF THAT WHISKEY?" Mary screeched in fright.

"Yea…" Harry slurred again, frowning. He got up and walked drunkenly over to her. He stood before her, swaying slightly.

"Sis?"

"Yes?" she whispered.

She never saw it coming. One second she was standing before him, the next she was falling to the fall. Pain blossomed in her cheek.

"DON"T YOU EVER RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME AGAIN!" Harry screamed.

She could only look up from the floor, tears running down her face, at the monster that had been her younger brother.

Irvine: (gulp) I don't want to be anywhere near him now...

Zeke: Me neither! (hides under table)

DR: Now you see why I don't drink...

Shadow: So what now?

DR: Find out next time... oh, and just in case you haven't realised yet, Harry has gone insane.