Gold Digger the Insertion Files Chapter 11

We seek and we shall find

By Agent Reptile

This is a fanfiction based on Fred Perry's great work Gold Digger. I use characters, concepts, and artifacts from DC, Marvel, 343, Star Wars, Mass Effect, God of War, Masters of the Universe, Mortal Kombat, Darkstalkers, Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Fox Media, ETC. I don't own these characters I use and I am not making a cent on this so don't sue me.

After dealing with Pee-Wee and his minions, and serving up the huge catfish that Brit had been so happy to pull out of the river for us, our group had a moment to sit down and relax a bit as the energy barrier kept any wild animals from intruding on our camp. This did not stop the various wild animals from testing the plasma barrier as the laughing of hyena broke the night air from time to time, till Britanny shifted into full cheetah mode and roared at them to get them to shut up. This did stop the laughing, if only to attract lionesses that chased off the hyena and started roaring at Britanny. She roared back and then shifted back into hybrid form and flipped them the bird.

"What was that all about?" I asked in shock as to Britanny's very rude gesture. Everyone shared my same curiosity as Britanny stuck her tongue out at the cats that had grouped themselves around the defenses of our camp. The complaining cats did continue to try and break through the plasma barrier. One particular pissed off lioness jumped onto the shield only to be shot back several feet in a heap somewhere outside of sight. I just shrugged and enjoyed the meal. While the comics may have made a point of how good Stripe (or Strype or whatever odd spelling he eventually was given in the comics) was as a grill master, Britanny was beyond gifted in cooking in her own right.

"Stupid lionesses think they're so tough." Brit mumbled to herself. She then sat back down near the fire and tore off another chuck of fish meat and dang near inhaled it. The speed with which the food vanished down Brit's gullet as her razor sharp teeth sliced the flesh to tiny bits caused everyone to just stare at her. "What?"

Brit looked at us all with fish bits all over face. Her fur was speckled with catfish and her muscles were still tensed like crazy which made her already powerful frame all the more intimidating. Hey I love Brit with all my heart and think she is the most beautiful lady I have ever met, but she is still a werecat who I barely stand up to her nipples and who's muscles dwarf my own most of the time, and she was pissed.

"You okay dear?" I asked her as I saw Brit was fuming and a pissed off werecat is never a good thing. At least she wasn't a pissed off and hungry werecat which would be a hazard for everyone.

"No." Brit groaned. "Stupid hyenas think they can push me around and then stupid lionesses think they are all that." Britanny slumped down a bit after that and relaxed. "Sorry…look I know that it's stupid to get upset about this, but I am part cheetah and as much I as dang sure brag about my speed, looks, and absolutely wreck it when it comes to body building….as far as big cats go, cheetahs got the short straw big time." Brit downed her drink at this. "Spend all the time chasing, catching, and killing, and have to eat fast because someone bigger and stronger is going to push you off a kill."

I started to rub Brit's shoulders a bit, got her to relax some. Her muscles went from hard as a rock to firm but supple and her silky fur once more hid her killer frame. As I continued to rub, Britanny started to purr.

"It doesn't look like anyone could push you off of anything." Tanya pointed out, only having seen Britanny in her current state and not knowing about her shape-shifting ability.

"What my hybrid form?" Brit smirked as she broke herself out of her slight trance and stood up showing off a bit. "Yea big beautiful, and overly confident me doesn't have to worry about anyone pushing me around….except werewolves maybe. But I ain't been like this all the time, heck half my time I am smaller and scrawnier than you Tammy."

Tanya glared at Brit's mispronunciation of her name, but continued to listen.

"And thing is, I am part cheetah. Deep down in my bones I can feel it, it calls to me somehow….and yea I even can talk to regular cheetahs." Britanny continued as she let her fur down and placed her hands on the ground and stared up at the heavens full of stars. Without the light pollution of bit cities, something that Atlanta has a copious amount of, the heavens were filled with the twinkling lights of millions of celestial orbs. The twinkling lights above was so much like those of the open skies of Montana that it made me a bit homesick.

Would Britanny want to join me in my world? Would she even be open to give a life in the mountains and prairie far from her adoptive family and her home in Georgia? Would such a lady be willing to bind her fate with mine and build a life as the wife of a dinosaur nut as I try to make her life as wonderful as she is due? I would do anything to help Britanny in this quest and whatever gifts I had I would share as I knew there were a lot more terrifying things in the world than dragons, mechanized mystic terrors, and ancient sorcerers who commit mass genocide on their own servants.

I also knew that even with all the problems this universe has, there is a lot of good in this world worth fighting for and people who were doing all in their power to make the world a better place. Moments of peace, calm, and wonder were introspection were needed from time to time. Regardless though, I have managed to hold onto someone worth the effort and wait. And as welcoming and loving as she has been to me, I would be to her. Britanny Diggers, for all the adventures printed about her, all the artwork of her from sweet to down right pornographic, to have held her as flesh and blood and to know her kindness and love…I would do all in my power to make her happy for she now was mine as I was hers.

"You talk with actual felines?" Tanya blinked, having forgotten her meal for a moment.

"Oh yea." Brit explained. "Ever since I was a kid I would talk for hours with the ones at the zoo. Learn their names, when they were expecting kids, how they were getting along."

"And a few had a crush on you, well more like lust." Brianna chimed in as she took a swig of her own drink. That got everyone's attention. "What? Brit releases human and animal pheromones so yea regular cats can tell when she is in the mood for nookie. Didn't say she ever did anything with them."

Britanny groaned a bit as she shook her head. "Heh I may turn into a cheetah, but I like my guys to have two legs and arms." I hug her around her relatively thin waist. I tried to hold her tight as I could, and she just engulfed me in her hug and pressed my head to her side. Did I mention that Brit is a rather big gal?

"And those who think I'm sexy now and in human form mater a whole lot." And yes her human form is so absolutely adorable and huggable that it takes great will not to wrap her up in tight hugs every time I see her that way.

"You've said human form, what are you talking about Brit?" Tanya asked as she continued to politely eat her meal, far more daintily than any of the other females.

"This." Brit said as she dropped two feet in height and about two hundred pounds in weight. "See even smaller than you."

Tanya's eyes nearly bulged out of her head and she was blinking several times a minute.

"Good grief you're tiny." The Kryn finally was able to blurt out. Gina and Brianna chuckled as Britanny stuck out her tongue at Tanya.

"Just means you are easier for me to hug." I said as I put Britanny on my lap and wrapped my arm around her as she placed her head on my shoulder. "And you get to let me wrap you up in cuddles."

"Nice to finally get someone who is willing to do this for me." Brit purred as she hugged me tight and drifted off a bit going into a slight stupor from all the fish she had consumed. I removed my outer shirt and draped it over her shoulders. The unstable molecular clothing was form fitting regardless which form Britanny was in, but as she had lost a lot of mass the chill of the night air caused her to shiver a bit. The added layer of a shirt made her smirk and cozy up to my chest. The petite girl on my lap just drifted off to sleep purring up a storm.

"So how are things in El Dorado?" Tanya asked Gina, while diving into the fish before her. "Has there been any news or mention from my prince about me or what we are doing?" The young sorceress sounded like a young teen thinking of her crush.

"Uh not much." Gina blinked a few times, very unsure as to how to answer. "Most of my time I'm helping to catalogue and analyze your culture as most of the records of your people seem to have been lost after your ancestors crashed landed on Earth millennia ago."

Gina collected her thoughts for only a second before going into one of her famous hyper-detailed archeological discussions

"See when the spaceships that the Kryn and Atlantians were warring in crashed on Earth, most of the structure of your ancestor's craft was buried in the Peruvian jungle. And when I mean buried, I mean completely buried." Gina pulled out her datapad device and started projecting a holographic image of the complex spacecraft structure.

"See also that the shields were able to protect the ship upon impact, thus most of the structure is completely intact. But most of the reactor core is drained and what systems haven't been fried are so under powered that maybe only have enough juice to power a room or a hallway."

"Wait a second, how can you have enough juice to do anything if the reactor core is drained?" Brianna blinked a times trying to get her head around this.

"Well the main power source is depleted, but for some reason each section of the explored craft has power reservoirs which have maintained part of the main reactor's power, but at an extremely limited setting." Gina continued.

"You said the reactor was depleted. How do you know this?" Tanya asked, in overwhelming curiosity to the flickering lightshow in front of her.

"We found the main reactor chamber, but it seems that the core itself was removed to power the city of El Dorado after the ship was being buried into the jungle." Gina pushed a few more buttons as the image changed showing that only the very top of the Kryn's mothership. "And trying to explore the craft is going to be one massive job as this ship seems to have been intended to be some sort of species preservation vessel as well as a battleship."

"Care to flesh that out sis?" Brianna said as she munched on her meal.

"Think of it this way Bri, if the Enterprise Class D was armored like the Space Yamato and about half the size of Manhattan Island then you have an idea of the scale of one of these vessels."

Bri blinked hard at this and then whistled low in amazement. "So how come they didn't explode in atmo or leave a crater like in Maryland or Mexico? How on earth could an object that big and falling from space just plow into a mountain without exploding?"

"I am curious myself." Tanya said as she hung on every word Gina was saying.

"I was wondering that too, but it seems that whoever was in charge dumped most of the remaining power the ship had into their shields and wound up absorbing the heat into the shields as the ship just plowed into the Earth burring the vessel all the way into the mountain. The resulting feedback probably caused the complete reactor failure and caused the ship to blow several systems."

"And I would hazard to guess that after the ship's systems were destroyed that they would have had to take what little they could salvage and start to build a society on this alien world." Brianna said as she watched Gina's projection with wonder.

"Wait if the ancient Kryn were so advanced technologically, why didn't they try to contact their homeworld?" Tanya asked as she looked in awe at a part of her people she had no idea about.

"I could ask the same of the Atlantians, and did." Gina said with a smirk. "Seems that they still had not yet perfected interstellar communication on a small scale and so both sides found themselves trapped on our world for thousands of years."

"And they continued their war till we found them in Peru." Britany started to cry a bit as she thought of ramifications of what she had just been told. Her cat nature meaning that her nap state was not in full sleep mode.

"Yep. Kinda sad when you think of it. Still we have a whole new culture to publish on and a whole new chapter to Earth's history to share with the world." Gina said going into full on archeologist mode.

"This still doesn't explain how both my people and the Atlantians developed powerful affinities for magic." Tanya said as she took in all this history of her people with great interest.

"That I can't tell you." Gina said as she closed the projector for the night. "Sad to say but there are just things we don't know yet. So looks like we have a long-term research opportunity with a pair of alien races with advanced technology and a lost history." She smiled with joy at the idea of getting to do more advanced research into an unknown.

"Well I for one am ready for bed. This kitty has had a long day, and I want to actually get some sleep. Muffin please carry me to our tent." Britanny did that cute little voice women do when they want a guy to do something for them, and I obliged kissing her on the nose. "And try not to hog the sheets."

The available space within Brit's private tent was rather large as my dear love easily could move around in hybrid form if on her knees. For the two of us, there was enough for to move around and snuggle together for the night. This was the first time I had shared a bed with Britanny since she decided to use me as a pillow that night in Dreadwing's cave. It was really the first time I had someone near and dear to me that close physically and emotionally. And for someone like Britanny deciding to be with me, it was as if I was in a paradisal dream.

I know that many may see Britanny's uber sexy hybrid form as her true form, but that is only the form she is most comfortable in. Her human form for all it's small stature, and completely different appearance to her hybrid and animal forms, is just as much her natural state and is not some role she steps into. To love a lycanthrope one must be willing to love her in all her forms, see her as one individual, and want her for who she is as a person…kinda like how you should love anyone really but with someone like Britanny the metaphor is far more literal. And as a gentleman does not tell, I will keep what she and I did together in private.

As the sun rose the next day, and the various noises and sounds of animals far from our tent filled the camp. The dry and hot air was like that of my home in Montana and the buzzing of insects against the tent was beginning to become annoying. I started to wake as the sound became an incessant annoyance. My stirring was greeted by a distance licking sensation that was followed by kissing and purring. In my mind I was only partially aware of the fact there was another human next to me and as I started scratching her head I head more purring.

"Oh hey there cutie…." I said as I sleepily started scratching the silky fuzzy head of someone who was kissing me. "You are such a sweety aren't you." I wasn't fully awake as I stroked the familiar tissue in my fingers. "You are too good to me my little…." As I continue to stroke the female's head I was still very much half-awake only barely functional

"Lilly" As soon as I uttered those words there was a rush of air in the tent and I felt the full force of a massive set of hands press down on me and the sound of a growling predator mixed with the sight of very sharp pointed teeth in my face.

"Who is this Lilly?" The shock to my system brought me to full consciousness and I was shacking like mad. "Well muffin? I'm waiting….." The huge werecat was pissed and the usually tender and affectionate girl was irred and very tense.

"Uh Brit what are you doing?" I asked in shock and confusion. The usual calm and relaxed woman I dearly loved was like I had never seen her before. I am not sure if this is true or not, but the shape-shifting ability of lycans seems to not just have the typical three forms setting, but minorly affects certain aspects of those forms. I say this as Britanny's teeth were even sharper and her muscles looked even bigger than usual.

"Waiting for you to tell me who Lilly is dear, and why you were thinking about her….well?"

"Wait Lilly? Brit what are you getting upset about? You know her." I was kind of in shock at the situation, and had never once actually thought of a woman in my dreams till Britanny showed up in my life.

"And how exactly would I know her?" She hummed tapping her fingers into my shoulder.

"She's my cat." I told her plainly as Britanny's body responder by her shooting straight up and blinking several times while looking at me. I tried to smile as those green within green eyes went wide.

"Oh…right…..uh muffin."

"Yes Brit?" I smiled at her seeing what she was going to do.

"I'm thinking we need to sleep together more." She sighed as she straddled over me and pressed her forehead to mine. "Sorry muffin. I guess that I just wanted to have that special romantic moment and…." Britanny sighed in shame at what she had done and should have known better, but hey

I kissed her nose, followed by her lips and held her head close to mine.

"It is, or was, or we will make…." I tried the whole romantic bit, with mixed results.

"Alex, muffin….you are adorable." Britanny said as she kissed me back. "So beyond not likely needing coffee this morning how are you doing love?"

"Well now that you are happy again I'm doing great." I smiled as big as I could looking at Britanny's stunning body that looked like it wanted to rip out of her tight fitting garment.

"Well love, enjoying the view?" Britanny said as I looked her up and down with a smirk on my lips. "You can do more than watch you know."

I nodded and started to run my hands up her leg and stroke her fur and rub her flesh like you do a kitten. "You know, I do have to make it up to you for all the false starts we have had so why don't you and I stay in and…"

"Hey Brit breakfast is ready." Gina bust into the opening of the tent with a skillet of fried eggs in her hand.

Britanny and my faces went wide as the eldest of the Diggers sisters just invited herself into our room. In almost perfect harmony we started to growl at the interference and I started looking for something to throw at her face.

"Gina!" Britanny and I were once more blocked by the same annoyance as earlier and Britanny didn't take kindly to it. As her muscles tensed around me I could feel squeezed slightly and once more her impressive built was visible even under her fur.

"I'll be back later then….." Gina shivered as she zipped out the open tent door, which is when Brianna poked her head in with an extremely sleepy look on her face.

"What do you want Bri?" Britanny looked her younger sister dead in the eyes and was only slightly less annoyed than she was with Gina.

"Here." Bri hap-handedly tossed us something that Britanny caught. "We'll save you some food for later."

"Bri these are..." Britanny said looking at what she had in her hand.

"Look you want to start making babies I'm not going to stop you, and Alex probably will be a great dad, but if you come back with a bun in the oven then mom and dad are going to go ballistic before you have a chance to explain that you just jumped the gun a bit after Alex proposed to you." Brianna said calmly.

"Uh thanks." Britanny said as Brianna smiled and waved as she left the tent.

"What did she…she didn't." I began to laugh.

"Yep, condoms." Britanny giggled. "Strange that you didn't have any…oh wait never mind. I keep forgetting that a certain someone has been patiently waiting for a very special lady. So stud ready to get busy?"

"Only if the lady loves me as much as I love her." I said stroking her affectionately. "And she is willing as I am."

As a gentleman never tells what happens, we later found ourselves traversing the vast plains of Africa with me in the form of a familiar GMC Topkick pickup truck heading to the first survey spot in our investigation. This time though Britanny wondered if I had an alt-color for Ironhide and so instead of the movie black and blue I was decked out in apple red. Why change now? Heck I just wanted to show off for Brit who loved the look of Sideswipe back in Georgia. As for those in the vehicle, Gina was sitting in the driver's seat, Brit was sitting shotgun with the seat pulled back and trying to stretch a little bit as she purred over my leather seats, and Brianna and Tanya were in the back trying to enjoy the ride. As for Genn? Well the shape shifter was back at base camp holding down the fort…and recovering from his feeding on Brianna last night. So all in all it was a pretty uneventful drive to where Gina thought there would be a good chance to find a werecheetah settlement.

Sadly Gina could not be persuaded to not sing and thus the passengers had to sit through a prolonged series of songs only made slightly better by the fact I tried to drown out her voice with the stereo system.

"Gina please you are giving me a headache." Tanya said as she kept her head out of the open window. "Are all expeditions you go on this…painful." Who knew that sorceresses could get carsick.

"Only when Gina thinks that she's Pat Benatar." Britanny groaned as she tried to out-sing her sister to also drown out the noise.

"Love is a battlefield!" Britanny nearly screamed as she finally caused Gina to stop singing.

"Ouch." Gina groaned. "Okay Brit I know I'm not the best, but that was terrible."

"If y'all could stop trying to assault my audio receivers I would appreciate it." I said as I was following Gina's directions. "And where exactly are we heading?"

"Well we have the general area of the werecheetahs, so what I've been doing is measuring rainfall records for the last few decades and animal migrations to determine where there homes were located before going to Europe and based on that were they may be today." Gina explained as she worked on what looked like her GPS unit, but probably was far more than that. "And based on satellite data I think we are headed in the most likely area for a large congregation of werecats would be based upon the zebra population and migration patterns."

"Find the food, find the water, find the people. Seems simple enough." Brianna said as she got busy with the sunscreen and bug repellent.

"And do you know that they will be willing to accept Britanny and want to meet with us?"

"We have come too far for us to second guess ourselves now." Tanya said as she tried to get some fresh air. "And if worse does come to worse I am sure we can escape if needed."

"Well the view is nice if nothing else." Britanny absentmindedly said as she looked out the window at the various herds of wild beasts. She licked her lips as she saw all the gazelle jumping around as they munched on grass. "And I'm getting hungry."

"Well we are here." Gina said as I pulled to a stop and let the girls get out and remove the equipment from my trunk. "And please be careful. I want to make sure that we can identify and catalog any things we find."

"Always the archeologist huh?" Brianna smirked as she slapped my tailgate shut. "All ready pal."

"Thanks there little darlin'. Now just give me some room to move." As the other members of the group moved out of the way my gears shifted, my feet pulled out, my arms popped out, and my head rose up from under the hood. "Ah feels good to get around and move my legs." I cocked my canons back and forth letting the motors

"Okay now I have a question." Tanya pipped in while trying to get over being car sick. "How, with all the dang forms Alex can take, do you know it is him in one of his alt-modes?" This was asked towards Britanny, while the Kryn sorceress was busy holding her head between her legs and taking a few deep breaths. "How do you people travel in those things?"

"They aren't that bad." Gina said as she started setting up monitoring equipment to survey the area. The familiar tripod and optical scanning device that she had back in England near Dreadwing's cave. "I'll show you my Ginamobile back in Atlanta and how fun vehicles are."

"If it all the same to you I will stick to walking and lightgate transportation." The sorceress said as she let out a series of dry heaves before slowly recovering. "And Britanny answer my question please."

"What? Oh sorry distracted." Britanny said as here ears darted to and fro as she surveyed the area not letting her eyes focus on one particular area for too long. "Alex any reason you aren't coming down to a more huggable size?"

"Shucks ma'am I figured that I you would act as another set of eyes for yea." I said with Ironhide's signature Texan draw.

"Yea but we don't want to scare any of potential werecheetahs by having a giant metal man with cannons that look like they could blow up my home with a single shot." Britanny countered turning her head towards me. "I mean they likely haven't been to a mall before…"

"Oh the horror." Gina groaned.

"Much less giant robots." Britanny growled at her sister. "Don't you dare insult my mall..." She growled under her breath towards Gina. "So you mind becoming someone a bit more….approachable?" Britanny asked me, and she kinda had a good point.

I dropped from Ironhide's massive armored bulk to my usual human self, but figured that being only human out in the middle of the wilderness would be absolutely stupid. I pondered a bit, since the best fit for a human that worked well in the wilds surrounded but hostile animals and only one character came to mind.

I shifted my body again and once living tissue was replaced again with metal, but this time only part of my body changed as my left hand and eye shined in the morning sun. I was decked out in black leather boots, padded biker jacket, and my right hand covered in a fingerless riding glove. My left eye, as I mentioned, was shining and this was because the whole orbit was now a cybernetic augmentation with the pupil of my eye glowing a distinct purple color. My body was also decked out in bandolers and pockets filled with various types of ammunition, bombs, grenades, shurikens, nanite healing injectors, and even a few ten-sided dice. Why you ask? Well because I was Rex Power Colt that's why. I pulled out my Fazertron rifle just in case I needed it and checked the magazine. Yep 180 laser rounds and about 300 more on me. Considering I had maxed out all the upgrades and weapons in the game I figured I was at a point of maximum absurdity equal to Brianna.

"See this is what I am talking about." Tanya said as she pointed towards me. "How is it that you know this guy is still Alex when he appears in so many different forms?" The magically adapt catgirl was slowly getting her bearings again as the carsickness was passing. "And you were some giant shape shifting automation and now you are some cyborg biker with a leather fetish? I have to ask you, what is the connection here?"

"Wow that ride must have made you a bit loopy Tammny." Brit said as she continued to survey the area we were in. Something was bothering her, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "He's my guy so what's got you so upset about how we know each other?"

Britanny smirked as she placed her hand on her hips and flipped her ponytail showing off a bit.

"I'm not butting into your relationship thank you very much." Tanya retorted as she finally was over her illness. "I'm asking because it makes no dang sense."

"Well how do you know your beloved Stripe?" Brit asked looking down at Tanya. Literally as Brit once again towered over everyone rather than in an insulting way.

"If you were trapped in the living death of being a cursed stone beast and the only thing you hold onto that kept you holding onto the last bit of sanity was the voice of your beloved and the hope that one day you will see him again then you know in your heart who he is." Tanya answered with great strength. "And I endured that pain for over 5 years before I and the rest of my people were saved."

Everyone was caught in awe at the words from this overly simplified villain in the comics. She had been our friend for a while now and yet never had she been so open as to her experiences under the thralldom of Gyphon. Even Gina was drawn away from her instruments long enough to listen.

"I wanted to cry but was unable to do so as I was trapped within that crystal shell but my soul burned for the life I was no longer part of. So you wonder how I know him? He is my prince, my love, and was the one thing that made sure I didn't lose my mind through five years of hell." Tanya took a moment to catch her breath. "And now that I finally have him back in my life I trust him enough to leave my home to go globe trotting across multiple continents to help someone who I'm not really friends with find her lost people because I trust him enough this is for the good of my people."

"Sheesh it's okay." Britanny said trying to calm Tanya down using the same tone and motion I saw her try to use on Mesha and Tark back in Dreadwins cave. "No need to try and bite my head off here I. was just asking."

"Sorry. That was uncalled for." Tanya said as she did calm down a bit. "It was a very dark time in my life, in all the lives that Gyphon cursed. So it will always be personal. Now back to my question."

"Which was?" Britanny asked as she went back to twitching her ears from side to side listening to any hint of danger while Gina went back to surveying the area and marking down details in her note book.

"How, with all the alternate forms and species that Alex has at his disposal do you know who Alex is all the time?" Tanya asked, this time with far more composure and a return to her regal dignity.

"Oh that." Britanny smiled as she focused her gaze on Tanya for a second. "See you probably only base your perceptions on sight like my sisters and my mom right?"

Tanya nodded.

"Yea I don't." Britanny smirked. "Now I do have exceptional vision, and can even see in infrared, but my other senses are even sharper. And even if Alex looks completely different there is always the smallest trace of his scent. For example, Alex may look like a cyborg Mad Max but he smells like Alex."

"Ah." Tanya admitted.

"You know this is getting really boring." Brianna said as she sat down on a rock and started tapping her plasma rifle. "Usually we get to blow stuff up and go on exciting adventures where we make a lot of money. But here all we have been doing is standing around talking while Gina does mapping and Britanny does sexy poses for Alex to stare at." Most everyone looked at her when she said this. "What you know it's true."

Britanny then looked at me wondering.

"Hey I got my eye on you." I said as my cybernetic optic focused on Britanny and a little heart popped over her head on my view.

"Anything else you got your eye on dear?" My love smirked at me.

"Just that." I instantly whipped out my rifle and fired one laser shot into the grass next to where Tanya was standing.

"What the hell was that for?" the sorceress yelled at me as she drew upon her magic.

"This." I said as I pulled up a very long black snake from no more than two feet from the Kryn. "Like I said I got my eye on you." I smirked as I held the now very dead viper in my cybernetic hand.

"And what is exactly is that?" Tanya recoiled at the site of the thing limp in my fingers.

"Jinkies isn't that a black mamba?" Gina said, as the sound of gunfire had drawn her attention. The infamy of this particular viper's venom and aggressive nature was known to all except for Tanya.

"No. It's a black belt." I said as I pulled out my knife and cut the head off the snake and buried it. "And maybe lunch."

After that interesting event our group started following Gina again looking for any evidence of werecheetahs. The high sun bore down on all of us and the heat was getting to be a problem again as almost no shade was to be found. Just broad swaths of various heights of grass as far as the horizon spread. The sounds of various predators and prey filled the air, but seemingly not a single hint of human habitation or anything close to it.

"Well gang this should be the spot." Gina said as she dropped her backpack to the ground and started setting up her equipment again.

"And how do you know that?" Brit chided her. "Nothin' but miles and miles of wind blown hay around here."

"Not to belittle your work Gina, but Britanny does seem to have a point." Tanya replied as she started working her magic again. "And while we are in the vicinity of great lycan spiritual impressions, I sadly cannot detect a single living impression beyond Britanny."

"Oh yea of little faith." Gina smuggley said to her sister. "And what are you picking up Alex."

"Not a damn thing." I said, rather bluntly and while absent-mindedly twirling my shotgun. "Nothing but grass for miles."

"And you Brianna?" Gina turned to her other sister and asked.

"Same. I can't see a single thing here, and anything of any size is keeping far away from where we are." The other brains of the outfit said in awe cupping her hands over her eyes and looking far and wide over the expanse.

At this Gina just grinned with insufferable smugness and held her head high with her hands on her hips.

"Well then, that means we are in the right place."

"What?" was the collective response to Gina's seeming asinine comment.

"Yep." Gina walked over to a hill and proceeded to dig into it with a small hand shovel. "And look what I found."

"What exactly did you find?" Tanya asked, as her magic wasn't able to give her any clues as to what was going on.

"Since when do wild animals bury their own?" Gina said as she freed several zebra bones from the mound. "Well since none of you seemed to be able to figure it out, I guess I will just have to explain it."

The renowned intellect of Gina started to show in absolute splendor as she started.

"I had to do a little digging, both literally and though archives, but I found old field reports from a few British Army regiments stationed here during the 1800s around the time of the Boor Wars where a rather impossibly sounding incident at a forward garrison talked about how the men would catch humanoid shapes running impossibly fast in the moonlight and that several of the men said they could swear that they noticed people in the far distance that turned to animals. Does that sound familiar?"

We all knowingly nodded at this.

"So from my super smart sister's work with the werecheetah DNA and Tanya's work with Cerebro, I started making a overlap diagram of most likely areas for any surviving werecheetahs." Gina stopped only to take a moment to breathe. "The last bit I needed was soil samples for where water flow and plant density would be best to supply the massive herds of zebra and antelope needed to sustain the tribe's population."

"So what do all the animals not begin around have to do with this?" Brit asked.

"Well duh Brit." Gina smiled. "If werecheetahs are around here then they would likely be the dominant predators of the territory and other predators would avoid their area."

"Uh huh…what about the food then?" Brit said sticking her thumb over her shoulder looking down at her sister. "Cause I ain't seeing, hearing, or smelling anything I could consider food outside that dried snake Alex skinned for our lunch."

"Well it's hot, so maybe they are out napping." Gina shrugged. "Regardless we are here Brit, so we should be right inside werecheetah territory."

Tanya moved about trying to get a fix with her mystic incantations…all to no avail. "I am sorry Gina but I am unable to find anything living here remotely like Britanny."

I selected search mode and instantly my cyber-eye caused my field to shift to purple and my scanning reticle started moving all over the area zooming in and out multiple magnification setting as I moved about trying to see anything. Failing I returned to normal view and focused on Gina. "Sorry pal but not seeing a thing. I guess everyone's out to lunch."

"Yea sis sorry to say but nothing is coming in right now on motion tracking either. So we may be where they would be, but they aren't here now." Brianna said.

"Well it's a start at least." Gina smiled as she set the coordinates into her GPS unit and pulled out her canteen. "So I say we keep going and find out where all the werecheetahs are."

A few drinks of water all around and we continued on our way, but it didn't matter in what direction we headed there was no sign of any life whatsoever resembling that of werecheetahs. Heck we couldn't find anything resembling life bigger than a housecat.

"I don't get it. They should be here." Gina said as she continued to scratch her head. "The foods here, the water is here, the territory is open like cheetahs need. What is missing that they aren't here? If they died off surely the other big predators would have moved in by now."

"I don't know sis… I don't know." Brianna said, equally dejected.

Britanny was taking it the worst though. Her whole life she had wanted this, to find that she wasn't alone in the world. She held her left hand over her right arm and looked absolutely broken by this. Her usually spunky demeanor and bouncing tail were replaced by depressed sadness as her tail now almost dragged a bit on the ground and her bright green eyes seemed to have changed to dark olive green. I wrapped my human hand over her and held her tight as I could. What was supposed to be a gift to the woman I loved was breaking her heart into pieces.

"Well I'm not giving up." I said as I held Brit to me. "Cybercommandos never give-up." I smile at her. This did make her smile again and she lifted her tail more as she saw the determination in my eyes and will in my heart. "We have a general area, and it's only our first day of searching. So how about we lightgate back to camp and cook this sucker up?"

"If it's all the same to you muffin I'll see if there is any of that catfish left." Britanny smiled.

"What can't deal with eating wild meat?" Tanya joked at my beloved, but in a friendly mood.

"Nope. Snake meat gives me gas." Britanny said causing Tanya to have a mental blue screen for a while Briana and Gina shivered in disgust. As Britanny was smiling though, she suddenly noticed something as her ears pulled back and her tail shot straight up.

"Okay something's up. I can feel it." Britanny said as she moved me aside and took a launching position. I shouldered my rifle and Brianna followed. Tanya still wasn't getting anything, but erred on the side of caution and used a shield spell over the group. Gina stared recording everything and held her pistol close to her chest.

"Hostiles, or somethin' else?" I said as I held the Fazertron's two grips tight. I could only hazard to guess what Britanny felt as I still had nothing and I guessed no one else did either.

"Not sure. Everyone stay here, I'm going to look around." She said. I wanted to go with her, but if I trusted her at all I was going to trust her in this.

"Brit don't hesitate to scream if needed." I said. "We all got your back."

"Thanks muffin." She smiled at me and then zoomed off. I kept my eye focused on her as I saw her run about chasing whatever it was that sent her senses into alert. If it was werecheetahs then I hoped they weren't hostile, but if it was something else then at least I would have….my thoughts were interrupted as Tanya's eyes went wide.

"My word, everyone I have something. It is extremely faint, but it is a life signal like Britanny's." Tanya's face glowed with a smile and she beamed with pride and joy at her accomplishment.

"You sure about this?" Gina said pulling out her binoculars and looked over my shoulder as Britanny continued to search around. Soon everyone was trying to see where Britanny was heading off to.

Before anyone knew what was going on there was a sound of a lot of grass moving around followed by a series of miniature sonicbooms and hypersonic whistles. That could only mean Britanny was in the middle of some action.

"I'm moving ahead." I said as I followed where all the noise was. I wasn't going to mess with Britanny's trust, but I didn't want her going too far ahead without backup.

"But she wanted to…" Gina tried to stop me.

"I'm just making sure she's not heading into a trap." I said as I made my way just a little ahead of where the others were just to not lose site of Brit. In the months since Dreadwing Britanny had not been slacking in her training or her work outs. Dang she was fast as greased lightning and was bounding around like Spider-Man again trying to track…something. I couldn't make it out but it was small, fast, and furry. I stayed back only using the zoom function to watch Brit from a distance and not interfere with her work.

I trusted Brit knew what she was doing, and me getting in the way would only cause trouble. But if anything was tried from the side-lines the I was going to stop it cold.

With grace I could only describe as a dance, Britanny backflipped, rebounded, dodged, ran, and jumped trying to catch whatever it was that she had noticed, and whatever it was had been giving her a run for her money. It was so much shorter than her that Brit was having an almost impossible time being able to grab at it, and it slipped past her narrowly missing being caught at least a dozen times or so. Between the rushing sound of wind from the two objects, the huffing and grumbling of Britanny's breath, and the sounds of that smaller fuzzball I wasn't sure what was going on, but it looked like the other thing was spotted?

With one last lunge Britanny was able to catch whatever it was and held it with little difficulty.

"It's okay it's okay. I won't hurt you." Britanny said in a surprisingly calm and caring voice. "Just stop struggling." What was going on here? I had to find out.

Britanny's super powerful hearing caught me long before I got close and I saw here ears dart about while she held the thing in her arms tight.

"Muffin keep back for a moment. And you don't need the rifle." Britanny had her back to me as she held whatever it was that she chased off after was not going anywhere. "Hey, hey it's okay just calm down we aren't going to hurt you."

"Brit what is it?" I said as Britanny finally had control of the situation.

"It is alright dear. This little one just tried to jump me when I got close to him." Britanny said with a smile and moved around to show everyone.

"A kid?" No wait not a kid. I looked a moment longer than just once to see an outline.

"Yep, and this kiddo is a werecheetah." The green-within-green eyes, the spotted hair, the coat and tail….Britanny wasn't kidding. There before all our eyes to see was a werecheetah boy no more than maybe twelve. "An honest to God werecheetah." Britanny started to cry tears of joy as she hugged the kid that struggled a bit in her arms.

Author's notes:

Okay this was supposed to be out earlier, but I had a lot of work getting my thesis proposal done and a lot of work at my jobs to do which didn't leave that much time for fun writing. I hope that you enjoy and that it was worth the wait.