Chapter 27: Rolling Thunder.
"Left side! Left Side!" Shey yelled as she saw the car coming around for another pass a second before her left side mirror was shattered into a million sparkling bits by a bullet.
Picasso turned in the turret top, he was holding his smartgun and using a rather unique mounting system developed by Tank for a situation just like this, it allowed him to move his smartgun from his hip and mount it on his shoulder instead, it made it rather awkward to use but he could use it.
The car had been reinforced with an outer cage made of steel piping welded on the exterior of the car, metal plates had been mounted to the cage to make a kind of makeshift armor, the bodies that Queen Bee had seen were undead that had been chained to the exterior of the vehicle, though whether or not they were alive when chained up was a matter of debate.
Picasso opened up on them and his smartgun roared as it fired rapid fire bursts of plasma at the car, the tracking system on the gun made adjustments based on the users field of view so it meant that it's hit ratio was incredible, the bursts were five rounds at a time to conserve ammo as, when fired on full auto, this thing could burn through its supply in an obscene amount of time.
the high yield plasma burned right through the makeshift armor like it was paper, but then again, the plasma projectiles it fired were a couple of thousand degrees C, the passenger, who appeared to be a young human woman with a rather cliche but still rather obvious purple mowhawk haircut, got cut to shreds, two passengers in the back tried to lean out to fire but their makeshift armor made it difficult for them to easily move in and out, Picasso noticed this.
Instead of trying to hit the shooters as they weaved around trying to evade his fire he focused on the driver instead, and after a few close calls that punched holes through the bonnet, he scored a bullseye as the bullets being fired at him repeatedly bounced and sparked off the metal all around him, including his armor, but Spirit armor is rated to to stop just about any projectile fired at it, now, don't take that as it's indestructible, it's not, but it is bloody hard stuff.
The driver jerked as rounds drilled through him and he swerved the car, side swiping an abandoned vehicle and cutting one of the two men hanging out of the rear windows clean in half, sending the top half of his body screaming through a bouncing cart wheel down the road before he slammed into a random group of wandering dead, scattering them like bowling pins, the one that didn't fall seemed to have had the wind knocked out of them.
The second shooter didn't fair much better because the car swerved and turned through a full ninety degrees before ploughing straight through a shop window and exploding inside, sending a huge blue fire ball roaring out of the front of the shop as one of the plasma batteries ruptured and sparked off.
"WHOOOO! Yeah! Did you fucking see that!? Picasso, you're the fucking bomb!" Shey yelled energetically from the driver seat as she swerved between abandoned vehicles, they were driving in an erratic pattern, heading nowhere near to her camp till they were clear of pursuit.
"Thanks, and you're not too shabby behind the wheel either, but let's not start sucking each others dicks just yet, we got two more of the fuckers coming in hot," Picasso called down from the turret.
Zachee winced as she heard Shey bark a laugh at Picasso's colorful language, "No dicks here, honey human, and god, I hope that's not your thing, but after this is over buy me a drink and I just might show you that not all my scales were as white as snow!" Shey called back playfully as she weaved back and forth, causing Zachee to fight back nausea from both her comment and from the motion sickness she was rapidly developing from all the bouncing around.
From above and behind her, she heard Picasso bark a laugh of his own, "You Draconis sure ain't shy, are you!?" he yelled as he swiveled, trying to get a bead on the next vehicle moving up on them, which appeared to be a black van with a pair of undead humans chained to the front.
"By my people's standards, I'm positively a fucking wall flower!" she yelled back, both Zachee and Picasso both balked.
"God help any guy she takes a liking to," Picasso said under his breath as he lined up on the van, that's when he saw it, "RPG!" he bellowed, letting fly a series of snap shots towards the guy hanging out of the open slide door with the rocket launcher.
A puff of grey smoke indicated that man pulled the trigger a second before one of the rounds fired by Picasso found its mark and sent the man sprawling out of the van and face first into a post as the rocket roared past them, missing them by inches but unfortunately not the abandoned car just ahead of them to the right side that Shey was just swerving around.
The blast rocked the vehicle and sent the parked vehicle spinning right into their flank with a screech of twisting metal, "Fuck!" Shey yelled as she fought with the wheel, trying to keep them from spinning out from the brutal side swipe and the left side of the vehicle rebounded off the wall of one of the buildings and they were shook about as they were peppered with shrapnel, but, by some utter miracle, she managed to keep them on the road, despite the heavy damage to the side of the van.
"Fuck you!" Picasso roared, firing at the metal shielded windscreen of the van, trying to aim for a driver he couldn't see but aiming for a slot cut into the metal for them to see out of, it worked because, as glowing burning holes peppered the front the van, it suddenly swerved right and slammed into the very same now burning car that they'd hit with the rocket.
That only left the last vehicle, this one was the worst of the lot as this one appeared to have a heavy machine gun mounted on the top which, with a now clear line of sight, opened up on them, punching holes through the armor left and right, it might be an older weapon that they were using, but it didn't make it any less deadly.
"Holy shit!" Zachee exclaimed, ducking right down in her seat as the heavy rounds began punching holes through the van like Swiss cheese, one glanced off the armor that Shey was wearing, jolting her in her seat and causing her to swerve as the force of it jarred her, luckily the metal covering the van had slowed down the round considerably so it didn't go through and stopped in her back plate as it went through her seat, though it still felt like someone kicked her in the back, and she was damn luck it missed her wings.
"Ahhh, fuckers got me! Picasso, hurry up and kill those mother fuckers!" Shey yelled, her voice pained.
"I'm trying! Fuckers are weaving about like a fucking pin ball, are you wounded?" Picasso yelled back, firing at the weaving car behind them that was considerably more agile than they were.
Shey groaned and tried feeling about while still steering, "N-No, the armour caught it, hurts like a bitch though!" Shey yelled back as another salvo of rounds peppered the side of the van as Shey turned a hard right, two rounds clipped Picasso in the midriff and, while he felt the impact, his armor did its job beautifully, deflecting the projectiles and dispersing the impact force as much as possible throughout the shell to protect the wearer.
"Mother fuckers! Eat shit and fucking die!' Picasso yelled as he got a clear shot on the car as it turned the corner behind them, now, while he didn't get the driver, he did get the gunner and he saw the man's head snap backwards as a lucky strike found his forehead and burned a hole clean through his skull and the soft, squishy, albeit small mass beyond.
"Gunner's down! just hold it steady!" he called down.
"Easier said than done!" Shey yelled as they ploughed head on right through a horde of undead, sending undead bodies bouncing off them in all directions and covering everything in foul black and brown blood, seeing a rather confused looking undead Felenis girl sail past his head, Picasso had an idea.
Unlike the others, this car didn't have a metal plate covering its windscreen, so rather than trying to zero in on the driver, he hit the windshield with a full burst, trying to keep the area narrow so rather than just burn through the glass the larger hole caused it to shatter inwards, showering the driver and passengers inside with glass, it also had the rather fortunate side effect of distracting the driver just long enough for him to not avoid the group of undead directly ahead of them and instead ploughing right through them.
Now, it scattered the majority of them, but, just as Picasso hoped, two of them were punched directly upwards, now, normally they would have slid right up and over the vehicle, bouncing down onto the road harmlessly, but, lacking a windshield, the two undead were instead forced head first right into the driver and front seat passengers laps and, by the way they began swerving wildly, they were not pleased to see them.
The vehicle slammed right into a light post so hard that it nearly cut it clean in two and, judging by the screams coming from inside that carried well over the ambient noise, at least one of them survived the crash, but not the aftermath, "And we're clear," Picasso called down into the cab.
"Thank fuck for that! Any more hits and we'd have been driving around in a mobile salt shaker," Shey called back.
"Well, that was intense," Zachee said, peeking her head up out of the footwell.
"Just another day in the beautiful city of New Britannia," Picasso said, double checking that they were clear before dropping down through the turret, then he saw something that made him sigh out loud, "Ahh, for fuck sake," he moaned.
"What?" Shey asked, sounding concerned.
"We lost some of the equipment, some of it got shot to fuck," he said, looking at the hole filled cases.
"Shit, well, better that than us," Shey said, and, for once, Zachee agreed.
"Fuck, let's just get there and we can do a proper stock take, how far?" Picasso called.
"Not far now, I'll get us there as quick as I can, but I got to make sure we lose these undead fuckers as well," Shey said, and Picasso nodded then he opened his comms.
"Picasso to Queen Bee, have engaged hostiles, three tango vehicles down, survivors unlikely but not impossible, please monitor and advise if you see anything coming our way, enroute to second survivor camp now, Picasso out," he said.
"Roger that Picasso, I saw the whole shit show from up here, good work, stay safe, ok? Queen Bee out," she said, and Picasso looked at his hands which, despite his insides bouncing around like a super ball, were utterly rock steady.
"Second survivor camp? You mean there's more than one that isn't the fucking West Side Boys?" Shey called back, having overheard him speaking.
"Yeah, my comrades are there right now, well, some of them, they're securing the place," Picasso said.
"Oh fuck, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that, I was beginning to think we were the only ones at our camp, thank god," Shey said.
"Actually, according to the report I got earlier, it was run by six of your former comrades from the SWAT unit," Picasso said.
Shey's head snapped around and she looked utterly amazed, "Really!? Oh, thank the great tree! I tell you what, pretty boy, you just keep brightening my life like this and I'm just going to have to marry your pretty ass!" Shey said, shooting a sly smile at Zachee, who clenched her teeth.
Picasso snorted a laugh, "Heh, sorry, I prefer my reptile girls unable to fly, kinda negates the whole swooping down on me and carrying me off somewhere and molesting me," he said, laughing the whole time, Zachee now gave her a smug smile.
"I'll have you know, I only molest the willing, and one night being molested by me and you'd be begging for more, but, just out of curiosity, you do like reptile girls then?" she said, and Picasso laughed a bit more nervously now, but he didn't want to lie to her.
'Yeah, yeah I do," he said, and Shey smiled again.
"Good, then I still have a chance," she said, and Picasso looked at the back of her head curiously.
"To do what exactly?" he asked.
"To change your mind on the whole no flying reptile girl thing," she said, turning and looking right into his eyes and winking, making him balk and blush slightly under his helmet, but she still noticed.
"Ha! I made him blush! Oh, human guys are sooooo cute when they do that! Don't you think so, Zachee?" she said, which instantly made Zachee glance back at him and catch his eyes, she had a kinda apologetic look in her eyes.
"Yeah, I guess so, some of them anyway," she said, keeping her eyes locked on Picasso's, trying hard to send her meaning through her eyes to him, he smiled softly, just what the hell was he getting himself into here?
The rest of the trip was made up of Picasso rearming his smartgun and listening to Shey and Zachee talk about their memories of their homes, he could't believe how they could be so incredibly similar and so utterly different at the same time, considering that they were essentially the same species, he could see what Zachee had meant when she had said that Draconis were more aggressive, she was certainly not shy to speak her mind, she'd stated twice during the conversation that she ccouldn't wait to see what he looked like without his helmet on to see how handsome he truly was, speaking as if he wasn't sat right behind her in full ear shot of everything she was saying, and he could almost hear Zachee wincing, which, he had to admit, was pretty cute, the thought of her actually getting embaressed for him was a very sweet one.
"Hey, we're here!" Shey called back to Picasso, and he sat up and hoisted his weapon up before looking between the seats.
"What is that?" he asked, looking at the large building surrounded by a high wall topped with sharp looking fencing.
"Shipping facility, handles interstellar freight, or at least it did, we've managed to convert quite a few of the shipping containers into a whole host of things like living space and since there are all sorts of things in them from food to furniture, we've managed to make the place pretty comfortable, only thing we couldn't find were medical supplies as they're shipped off and on world by specialists," Shey said, sounding kinda proud.
"So, how come your team left you locked in that freezer anyhow?" Picasso and Zachee saw Shey twitch in annoyance.
"They must have lost me, I kinda, errr, wandered off from the group and found these freezers and decided to take a look in one, see if there was any good stuff we could use, before I knew it, door swung shut behind me and, yeah, I found out just how sound proof those freezers are," she said bitterly.
Then, without another word, she got out and they both heard her call out and there was an answering call behind the wall and, just as she climbed back in, the large metaled gate rolled open and she drove the rather battered and battle worn van inside.
Driving around the side of the building, Picasso found himself amazed at what he saw, just like Shey had said, they had created a kind of makeshift little town out of red shipping containers and there was everything from children running around playing to men and women hanging washing out on lines strung between the containers.
They all stepped out of the van and two men and a woman came running from between the containers, all three were human, one of the men looked to be about forty and pretty solidly built with greying black hair and a very square face, in Picasso's estimation he was ex-military.
The other two looked to be in their early twenties and, judging by the way they were holding hands, they were obviously a couple, the male was pretty wiry with curly blonde hair and pale white skin, the female looked to be of Japanese descent with short cut jet black hair.
"Shey! You're alive!" the elder man said in utter astonishment and, to Picasso, what sounded like embaressment.
"Yeah, no thanks to you fuckers! I spent a day and half locked in a damn freezer till these two came along and let me out," Shey said angrily, looking at all three of them.
"W-W-We thought you were dead, you just disappeared, we searched everywhere for you, but we couldn't stay there," the young woman said in a deeply embaressed sounding voice.
Shey growled and glared at them, then she just huffed and looked away, "Yeah, well, what's done is done, but it turns out it was for the better anyway, good news is the rescue team is here, bad news is we can't get out till they shut down the anti air system," Shey said, and all three of them glanced first at Zachee and then onto Picasso which given that he was wearing full armor and carrying a fully primed smartgun made him the likely candidate for being the team member.
"Rescue team! Seriously!? We're being rescued?" the young man exclaimed, his face brightening right up and his eyes sparkling.
"My name is Corporal Picasso of Spirit team six, we're a spec op team pod dropped into the city in order to figure out what happened here and to locate and secure survivors for rescue and, before you ask, no, I'm not the only one, other members of my team are spread out throughout the city carrying out the same mission, this is Dr. Zachee Twisthorn, she's helping us with trying to stop this thing, or at least figure it out," Picasso said.
"Oh, thank god! Oh, thank you god!" the elder man said, holding his hand up to his face, looking so incredibly happy, others began to gather around to see the strange van in their midst and the new comers, no sooner had they heard the words rescue and team there were out pourings of joy and purest happiness.
Picasso could see that Shey hadn't been joking about the size of her group, there were about thirty to forty civilians of a variety of ages here and two heavily pregnant women, one a Felenis and the other a human, they were set up in a make shift but rather well set up medical bay made from three containers that had been outfitted with beds, moving them would not be such a great idea.
"Picasso to Queen Bee, have located second survivor camp, count thirty to forty civilians plus two heavily pregnant females, please tag this position for pick up as I wouldn't advise moving this camp until pick up is ready, over," Picasso said.
"Roger that, Picasso, message received, but we have a problem, camp one is under attack by hostile faction, they require immediate back up, do you copy?" Queen Bee said through his comms, and Picasso stiffened.
"Roger that, what's their status?" he asked.
"They're holding but they're under heavy assault and all the noise is attracting some very unwanted attention, even if they survive the assault they will be trapped and cut off," Queen Bee said.
Picasso was already moving back towards the van, Shey was turning to watch him and her face instantly went from happy to worried, "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Camp one is under attack, my people are at risk, and so are the other civilians, I have to get there to back them up, so I'm sorry but I'll be heading out, but I'll be back," he said.
Shey checked her weapon and moved up and grabbed his arm, "I'm coming with you, but that thing will be too slow," she said.
"I can't..." he began, but she held up her hand to silence him.
"I'd be dead if you hadn't pulled my spectacular tail out of that freezer, so I owe you, and if it's true what you say about there being a SWAT team there, then they're my people too, so I'm going," she said.
"And me, I owe you all as well, and I may be a virologist, but I'm still a doctor, you guys are my friends, and I'll be damned if I hide again," Zachee said, stepping up and grabbing his other arm.
Picasso glanced from one determined reptilian girl to the other and then sighed in resignation, he knew better than to try arguing with a determined Scalathor, they were more stubborn than a Yautja with a hangover, "Alright, thank you, both of you, but we need to mount up and move right now," he said, and Shey grinned darkly.
"Got something that might help, was kinda keeping it for, umm, a special occasion, this works," she said, and, with that, she dragged him and Zachee off after calling a quick explanation to her people.
She lead them to a big black container and once she'd taken the locks off Picasso smiled broadly, "Oh, it would be a real fucking shame to let this go to waste, I'm driving," he said, and Shey grabbed his arm.
"Not so fast, handsome, I need you riding shotgun, or rather smartgun, so I'm behind the wheel," she said, Zachee looked amazed at what was in the container.
"I didn't even know that they made four seater convertibles of these," she said, and Shey grinned smugly.
"Picasso to Spike, do you copy, over, Come in, Spike, what is your status?" Picasso said into his comms, a hard edge creeping into his voice, Zachee watched him closely and she could see the concern cracking through his professional exterior, he was an incredibly good man whose love and loyalty for his friends shone through his exterior like sunshine below his beautiful skin.
"Roger that, Picasso, I hear you and, damn, am I glad to hear your voice, but I'm a little busy right now, those fucking yahoos from the West Side boys are attacking the safe house, they bit off a bit more than they could chew though, I don't believe they expected us to be here, but they sure as hell know were here now after Tank turned two cars full of em inside out with that gun of his, but they must have been expecting to take this place today and they're throwing a world of pain down on us, we've got at least six civilians wounded and Ice is doing what she can for them, she, Missy, and Paul turned up at the same bloody time and we were just able to get them inside before the bullets started flying, right now we got them pinned down as they're too worried about getting too close because of Tank's heavy fire, but he can't keep them back forever, so they're pinned and so are we, over," Spike said.
"Ok, roger that, Spike, tell the guys to get ready and tell the civilians to pack up and be ready to move out, we have a secure beta site with more civilians, we just need a way to move you people when we route these bastards, over," Picasso said.
"Now that we can do, there's a couple of trucks here for product moving, they should be easily big enough to get everyone on board as well as to move our casualties, over," Spike said.
"Good, roger that, the beta site has a makeshift medical facility that's pretty well stocked thanks to their efforts, should make Ice's life easier, ok, here's the plan," Picasso said, and he began to explain what they were going to do, he knew both Tank, Moodstone, and Ice would be listening as well so he wouldn't need to repeat it.
The Bugatti's motor roared throatily as they, under Shey's exceptional expertise, shot around the corner onto a scene of utter carnage, the two cars that Tank's mini gun had shredded were burning in the middle of the road, kicking up thick clouds of black smoke that would be seen for miles, the large group of West Side boys foot soldiers were in cover behind a variety of vehicles dotted all over from the one and only entrance to the factory facility that held the team and the civilians, and shots were being traded back and forth.
Following the plan based on what both Spike and Queen Bee had described, Picasso had directed Shey and she'd driven accordingly, "Surprise motherfuckers!" Picasso yelled as they screamed around the corner behind the attacking West Side boys and he began firing burst after burst of fire at them as Shey drove at high speed past them, Zachee had also joined in, firing out of the back seat at the gang bangers, forcing them to abandon their cover positions as they were now hit from behind where they had no protection.
But as they ran yelling from their positions they came under immediate and brutally effective fire from the defenders up in the factory's windows and on the wall, Tank's mini gun the most obvious of them all as it cut a bright blue line across the vehicles they were using for cover, slicing through the exposed men and women like a demonic sewing machine stitching the world together.
It was obvious that the West Side boys had brought enough people to secure the place but they hadn't planned on being attacked by heavily armed and well trained special forces, a series of well placed headshots on various members of the gang as they stood up and turned to try and shoot at the car bearing down on them indicated that both Moodstone and Spike were in position as well, and the pair wasted no time pressing the advantage.
Picasso's smartgun was in its element here, the weapon specialized in tracking and hitting fast moving targets, which made it ideal for engaging with moving targets from either a static or moving platform, so with him currently stood up in the front passenger seat of the Bugatti firing over the windscreen and there for drawing return fire onto him and his armor rather than the very much less armored Shey, or the utterly un-armored Zachee, the gun was invaluable.
The attackers went from having a numerical superiority to less than ten men in a matter of seconds under this barrage, the survivors did the only viable thing they could do, they scattered, two of them managed to escape in vehicles, the others on foot into the alleyways, after they were sure they were clear, Shey brought them around to the gates, which were already rolling open, Tank was the first out with his gun barrels still spinning, followed by Moodstone, who went right and Spike who went left.
"Clear!" Tank yelled, and both Spike and Moodstone echoed it.
"Nice ride there, laddie, some serious curves on that beastie," Tank said, looking at the Bugatti, Picasso opened his mouth to answer but Shey got there first.
"Why thank you very much, nice to see a man who aprpreciates them, Picasso here is a little blind to them, but I'm working on that," she said, grinning while popping up over the windscreen and, even inside her helmet, Picasso saw Moodstone's mouth drop open.
"A Draconis! Here? You never said there was a Draconis with you!" Moodstone exclaimed, looking from Shey to Picasso and back again.
"Well, the topic never really came up, and right now isn't exactly the best time to discuss it, we have a massive horde descending in on us right now, so we gotta go, like five minutes ago," Picasso said.
"Another Scalathor? Wow, you really do like us scaly ladies don't ya, Picasso?" Shey said playfully.
Moodstone growled, "That one's mine, and he's going to stay that way," She snarled, pointing at a rather confused looking Tank who was glancing between the two and was obviously surprised by her wings.
"Wow, a whole team of reptile lovers! Like these guys already! What about him? Is he free?" Shey asked, laughing, and she was obviously loving riling up Moodstone as she pointed at Spike, who looked utterly stunned, but Moodstone just smiled then silently pointed to her right, and Shey turned just in time to see T'Kell de-cloak less than a foot away and she was forced to look up at her.
"That male is mine, and only mine, lay a single claw on him and I will remove your tail and feed it to you, one scale at a time, understand?" she said in a quiet and supremely menacing voice.
Shey's eyes turned into dinner plates and she nodded silently, Zachee was grinning like an idiot in the back seat, "Shey, Spirits, Spirits, Shey, oh, and also T'Kell of the Yautja Halkrath," she said, and from the front she felt her heart warm as she heard Picasso giggling like a schoolgirl in heavy armor at Shey being put in her place.
"Enough fun and games, we gotta move out!" Picasso said, and suddenly another voice yelled out.
"Shey!? Oh my great cat, Shey you're alive!" the voice yelled, and they all turned to see Xia running out of the factory gates and over to the car.
"You know this tail lifter?" T'Kell snarled, and Xia flew into Shey's arms and the pair hugged tightly.
"Oh ignore her, T'Kell, she doesn't mean it, she's just a playful tease, she'd never lay a hand on a claimed male, she might be a mega flirt, but she's not stupid, and anyone with half a brain cell knows trying to steal a Yautja's male is akin to setting you're own privates on fire before rubbing it into a vat of salt before feeding yourself feet first into a wood chipper, because that's what they'd do you any how, especially a hard won human male of a member of the Halkrath Core, in fact, I don't think a death that painful exists yet, does it?" she said and Spike laughed as he stepped up next to T'Kell and placed her big hand in both of his.
"Yeah, because no one is that stupid to try it," he said, and T'Kell purred and clicked approvingly, leaning down to bump her mask against his helmet.
"Sorry if I offended, I was only playing, honest, it's a Draconis thing," Shey said, surprising Picasso, Moodstone, and Zachee with the respect in her tone and her voice.
T'Kell nodded approvingly, "Then I will forgive you, this time," she said, taking Spike with her, she headed off in the direction of the trucks.
"Ok, follow us, we'll get you to the camp," Picasso said, and both Tank and Moodstone nodded and then began to move towards the second truck before Moodstone stopped and looked at Picasso.
"You want to ride with us? Might be safer in our vehicle, less hands on your thighs," she said, and Shey grinned next to him, which he saw in the mirror.
"As long as they're blue, I'm good," he said, and in the back, both he and Moodstone saw Zachee's face light up, Shey frowned, but kept on smiling.
"We'll see," she said, and Moodstone shook her head and ran over to the now moving truck.
"Wow, she's a touchy one, isn't she?" Shey said, grinning as they drove with the trucks in convoy behind them.
"T'Kell or Moodstone?" he asked.
"Both of them," She said, and Picasso laughed.
"T'Kell is Yautja, and a member of the Halkrath Core, what do you expect, and Moodstone is the nicest person you could ever know, she would do anything for anyone and would die a thousand painful deaths for her friends, she also happens to be one of my oldest friends, so I would think wisely before you insult her in front of any member of my team, especially me, or Tank, because, as gentle as that man is, he gets real unhappy real fast if you insult his mate, and you do not want to find out the hard way what that man can do, Moodstone herself only gets unhappy if you insult or touch her man, she loves Tank with every single cell of her body, and if you were to be stupid enough to try for him, well, let's just say if you've heard stories of the Yautja of old skinning people alive, well, that's nothing compared to what she would do to you," he said, and Shey laughed out loud.
"Wow, all so sensitive! Relax, pretty boy, I'm not gonna make a play for either Spike or Tank, I have rules and standards you know, and they both include claimed males both being strictly off limits, I'm just being playful is all, I don't mean any harm, I'd never actually make a play for any male I know is off limits, I can still tease them though, can't I? Sometimes it's just fun to get a rise out of people, lets you know you're still alive," she said, and Picasso shook his head in disbelief.
"Not such a smart idea when those people you're trying to get a rise out of are heavily armed special forces," he said, and she laughed again.
"What's life without a little danger?" she said playfully.
"And armed gang bangers and legions of undead aren't enough danger for you, you have to tease claimed males in front of their mates?" he said, and she laughed again.
"You make it sound bad when you say it like that, but it's only little fun, like I said, I have rules regarding claimed males," she said, and he nodded.
"Well that's good to know," he said, and she smiled at him and winked.
"Those rules don't apply to ravishingly handsome reptile loving unclaimed human males though," she said, and he sighed heavily though, interestingly, he actually heard Zachee grinding her teeth behind him.
"Wow, quite a set up you get here," Xia said as her entire group were being given a tour and were being set up in their new digs in the shipping containers, furniture was being handed out and only moments after their arrival, the new comers were being treated like old friends and family.
Now they had the best part of a hundred survivors in one place and supplies were going to start becoming an issue real fast, but they were hoping that they would be off world before that happened, only moments after arriving, Ice had Chem and their wounded transfered to their medical bay and had promptly taken over the entire operation, drafting Zachee in to help her out while she made sure everything was ok, Shey, although Picasso could see she was trying to keep him in sight, had been lured away by Xia and her old comrades from the NBPD.
"Well, ummm, she's interesting, isn't she?" Spike said, coming up next to Picasso as he watched the white scaled Draconis hugging and jumping about happily as she was reunited with her comrades.
"that's one way of putting it, fucking full on would be another one," he said, and Spike laughed out loud.
"You don't even want to know the kinda things T'Kell was grumbling about her the entire way over here, she really doesn't like other females flirting with me," he said, grinning broadly, obviously proud that he now had someone who actually cared about him in that way.
Picasso chuckled to himself, "I don't think she's the only one, if Moodstone gets any closer to Tank he's going to be wearing her as a belt," he said, and Spike laughed.
"Yeah, you're friend has had quite the effect on the girls in our group, hasn't she? I don't think I've ever seen Moodstone's guarding instinct kick in quite so strong before, but then I've never seen a Draconis up close before either," he said.
Picasso nodded, "I'll give her that, she really is something," he said, and Spike nodded.
"Pretty too, definitely not to my taste, I like my girls big, strong, and with, you know, mandibles, tell you what, you've never been truly kissed till you've been kissed by a healthy Yautja girl, the way they grip you with their mandibles and hold your head in place is just so...primal, it's incredible, T'Kell is incredible," Spike said, looking dreamy and happy, Picasso noticed a shimmer directly behind Spike and he silently smiled.
"So Spike, what else do you like about T'Kell, don't spare me the details man, your first girlfriend and she's your life mate, go on, do tell," he said, and Spike beamed from ear to ear as he looked at him, happy that he seemed genuinely interested.
"Where to start man, how do you sum up a woman like that? Well, I adore her strength, I mean, those muscles, just, wow, then I love the fact that I have to look up to her reminds me just how lucky I am that someone like me has caught her eyes, she has amazing eyes, and I should know, I remade one of them for her, such a bright burning passion in them and such incredible intelligence, it's like you can see her trying to calculate your every move to be a step ahead of you, mark of a true huntress, and I guess she can't shut it off, but boy, I love it, her skin is utterly incredible and I can't get enough of touching it, like a cross between scales and skin, and its texture is sublime and then there's her ass, oh boy, every time she bends over I have to spend the next twenty minutes being real glad of my armor and waling with a stiff leg...she's behind me isn't she?" Spike said, finally noticing that Picasso kept glancing over his shoulder and Picasso grinned.
"I am, my glorious male, and it warms my heart to know that you relish me so," T'Kell said, growling as she decloaked next to him and, without a second's hesitation, turned him and wrapped him in her arms, making use of the fact that he was without his helmet to kiss him as soon as her mask was removed.
"I'll leave you two have some privacy for a moment, I'm going to go catch up with Zachee," he said, and T'Kell purred in response as she stroked the sides of Spike's face with her mandibles before locking him in an even tighter kiss, pulling his hands to her ass.
Using his stealth skills, Picasso slipped out of their new HQ and sneaked past Shey, who was still catching up with her friends, and into the medical bay where he found Ice and Zachee hard at work, with all the help they'd set the virology lab and portable power supplies in no time, but Zachee was working with Ice now as payment, both looking after the wounded and the pregnant women, neither of them had noticed his approach yet, but he could hear them talking so he just listened in.
"...I don't know what to do, Ice, she's just so much more of a woman than I am, I mean, look at her, those snow white scales, that long and luscious tail, that long, graceful neck, two horns, I mean, two horns! And then there's those wings, how the hell is a regular old Scalathor like me supposed to compete with that? Why would he look at me when he could look at her, and she sure as hell wants to keep him looking at her," Zachee said, her voice filled with both anger and frustration.
Ice chuckled softly, "What's so funny?" Zachee snapped, looking at her, and Ice grinned at her.
"Oh, Zachee, Picasso might be a block head when it comes to a woman's heart sometimes, but he's not a fool, he's not the type to get distracted by a new shiny thing, that's what Shey is, all blow, no go, I've ony known her five minutes and even I can see that, she's an aggressive flirt, but she is deeply insecure in herself, I can't imagine anything more of a turn off for Picasso, the man is sophisticated and intelligent, which is how he wants his ideal woman to be, I should know, me and him have had this conversation over a few bottles of wine more than once," she said, and Zachee looked surprised.
"You mean you and he..." she began, and her voice trailed off and Ice looked at her curiously before catching her meaning.
"Slept together? Goodness, no, he's not my type, don't get me wrong, he's a truly wonderful guy and he's as hot as white boys come, but he's got a fragile heart, boy's been hurt more than once, and it shows, hell, if I was going to pick anyone on the team it would be Reaper, he's my type, but, despite my best efforts, I never could crack that shell, now I know why, he likes his girls not of the human variety, though, to be fair, we all knew it was going to happen with him and Inferno some day, but a little part of me did hold out a little hope that maybe, just maybe, the aliens wouldn't take a treasure like him from us, too much to ask for, I guess, but hey, everyone has their tastes," Ice said with a genuine note of sadness in her voice.
"Do you resent them?" Zachee asked, and Ice laughed.
"God no! Can't blame those girls for looking at him like that, can you? He's hot as fuck and he had this whole man of mystery and pain thing going on, the type that says no matter what you do to me you can't break me, that's what I liked about him, so no, I don't resent them, jealous of them, hell yes, from the noises I heard those three making the other night who the hell wouldn't be?" she said with a grin, and Zachee flushed a little before swishing her tail and nodding.
"All I'm saying is don't be worried about Picasso running off on you, you know, I'm pretty sure he's caught on to the way you feel, and he hasn't rejected you, has he?" Ice said.
"Well, no, but he hasn't rejected her either," Zachee said quietly, and Ice placed a hand on her shoulder.
"How do you feel about him, Zachee, no more half and half, say it loud and proud, I want to hear you say it," Ice said, and the young Scalathor balked but then took a deep breath.
"I-I-I love him, no man has ever made me feel like he has, it's like he unlocked my every instinct just by being there, every time I look at him I just want to dive on him, pin him down and wind my horn into his hair so he can't escape my kiss, every single scale on my body aches for his touch and my lips yearn to know the feel of his as my tongue yearns to know the flavor of his mouth, I want to wake up in his arms listening to his heart beat after falling asleep, listening to it like a lullaby, I-I-I've never felt like this about anyone, not once, he's set my heart and soul on fire, but I don't want to be that pushy Scalathor girl who can't control herself and frightens him off, I just don't know what to do," Zachee said in a wail.
Ice beamed broadly, "Maybe not, but now I bet he does, ain't that right, sneak?" Ice said, looking over Zachee's shoulder and the young Scalathor turned around with a confused look on her face which got even more confused when, out of the shadows, Picasso stepped forwards and took her scaly face in his hands and, without saying a word, pressed his warm soft human lips to her, locking her in a kiss right there in the centre of the med bay and as one, both pregnant women and all six of the wounded civilians laid on their beds all said "Awwww" as one.
When he released, Zachee searched his face with wondering eyes, "I feel the exact same, my little sugar tail, I've never met anyone like you, you're so smart and radiant that just being in you're presence feels like I'm the reptilian one basking in the sun's warm glow, yes, it's like Ice has said, I am fragile and I have been hurt, but for you I'm willing to take the risk of being hurt again, because I think you are so much more than worth it" he said softly.
Zachee's instincts suddenly went into a full on rampage and she sized his face and plunged her tongue into his mouth, she got her answer, his mouth was sweeter than the sweetest honey she'd ever tasted, "A-A-Are you sure? I don't want you to feel pressured or anything I..." she began, and he placed a finger on her scaly lips.
"Just two questions and then I'll answer that, one, did you mean it when you said you loved me?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Yes," she said, he nodded.
"Question two, do you want me?" he asked, and she couldn't help but look him up and down and then nodded.
"Yes," she said, and he smiled.
"Then take what's offered freely to you, because if you want me, as of this moment right now, you got yourself a human, just do me a favor, be gentle with me," he said softly, and she threw her arms around his neck and clung on like she would never let go, and personally, Picasso hoped she never would, and he actually felt her start crying in his arms, but he knew this was happiness because he actually felt tears rolling down his cheeks too, and it was right then that his comms sparked up, "Queen Bee to all call signs, be advised, you may have trouble heading your way," she said, and Picasso's heart sank.