Hello everyone! Here's another chapter of Drawing the Short Straw
At the wharf, Felina and Razor exchange charged banter over fishburgers. Will Razor be able to keep ahead of Felina's game? Or has Felina met her match?
Author's notes: Thanks for the reviews! And welcome pani zagloba! Glad everyone is enjoying this story.
Spotlight on Felina: Whenever I write Felina, I tend to soften her up just a tad. But only when she's out of uniform. As Doc stated in the previous chapter, she likes to have her fun, but it's usually discrete. Razor happened to catch her at the right time. And the only other she-kat that knows about it is Callie.
I like showing the Felina can be just as feminine as Callie, but in her own way. She definitely has her own style.
Thanks always to Ulyferal for being my beta.
Thanks for reading!
-AkaneKitty
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Drawing the Short Straw
The Waiting Game
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Sitting on a picnic table, Felina nibbled at her fishburger, watching with interest as Razor made some adjustments to the Cyclotron.
After arriving at the wharf, Felina guided Razor to an out of the way spot where he could continue to work on his bike and not be seen by nosy kats. In the meantime, Felina headed over to Rico's stand and placed an order, glad that the usual crowd wasn't around. She'd hate to have to explain where she was heading to all by herself.
It was surprising.
Felina was used to every type of tom and she-kat. She knew what buttons to push, what tantalized them, and what would have them eating out of her paw. But Razor was different.
Not only did he have an answer for all her flirtations, but he also put her on the defensive, making her blush. No tom had done that in some time.
The wizzo was proving to be quite unlike what she had expected...and it was an unusual turn on. So on the way to the wharf, she spooned into him a lot more than a normal passenger would, but all she got in response was him saying she felt soft.
Smartass!
Crossing her legs, she watched as Razor meticulously went over his bike, made notes in a notepad he had found, and ate his burger whenever he came up for air.
She could just see the wheels turning in his head. Gunny, a new nickname she found herself calling him, was proving to be a most interesting kat.
Too bad he was a SWAT Kat, else...
"French fry."
"Huh?"
Razor, who looked like he was taking another break, stood up and pointed to his mouth. "French fry, please."
"You have paws."
"I don't want grease getting on my gloves. Those French fries are swimming in it."
Smirking, Felina retrieved a few French fries from a sack and popped them into Razor's mouth. "Don't have many she-kats feeding you, Gunny?"
"Not many that dress like you do, lieutenant."
Felina's smile turned seductive. "You like what you see?"
Razor picked up his milkshake from the table and deliberately took a sip before answering. "I love what I see. I'd be dead not to."
"Really."
"Besides," Razor put down his milkshake and returned to his bike. "It's just too bad you're the Commander's niece."
Certain Felina was thrown off her game again, Razor began fiddling with his bike. What a she-kat! Knowing what kind of game she was playing, he just hoped he could keep one-step ahead of her.
Not that he minded if he was caught. Felina was quite unlike what he first thought of her. She said she thought she could eat him alive, that may be true, but it didn't mean they couldn't have some fun first.
Messing with a control panel, Razor smiled. On the way to the wharf, Felina had spooned into him rather cozily. She felt soft (which he'd mentioned when they got to the wharf) and smelled nice. Was it perfume or soap? He couldn't place it. All he knew was it wasn't cordite and gun oil. He was digging this feminine side of Felina, and it didn't hurt she had a mind and body to match.
Pressing a button, a panel on the Cyclotron slid back to reveal his armaments. It contained all of what he would need in a night: backup ammo for his glovatrix, spare ammo for his mounted turret system, and a broken down sniper rifle, complete with spare ammo.
He hadn't developed a need for the sniper rifle yet, but who knew when T-Bone would drop him off somewhere and he would have to take a shot? Better to be prepared than be sorry.
"Nice rifle."
Razor looked up to see Felina standing over him, looking into the Cyclotron's depths with interest.
"You think so?"
"Of course." Felina looked down at him and smiled. "May I see it?"
"Let me see yours and you have a deal."
"...Is this a thinly veiled attempt to see my leg?"
"Actually, I would like to see your tail, but I'll settle for your leg." Razor smirked at her. "They are very nice."
A bit vexed the SWAT Kat managed to keep ahead of her, Felina slid her sidearm from its holster as Razor retrieved his sniper rifle. Handing Razor her gun butt first, Felina eagerly took procession of the rifle.
"Hey...Isn't this a Pumadyne prototype?" Razor gave Felina's gun a quick once over. "I remember they were trying to get into the small arms market."
"It was. They gave it to me for testing in the field." Felina replied. "It's a bit smaller than my regular sidearm, but it's powerful enough. I use it as my second gun and now as my non-duty gun."
"I see."
"...and it's small enough to fit under a fur tight dress...as you could tell."
"Obviously." Razor looked down the gun's sights. "Nice balance."
"So is this." Felina was careful not to mess with the rifle's sights. Razor had probably fine-tuned it to his liking. "Have I told you that I like toms who know how to use their piece?"
"I thought you went for pilots."
"Pilots tend to be too full of themselves. You should know, right?"
Razor laughed and handed Felina her gun. "True. But you're a pilot, Felina."
"Helicopter pilot mainly. I fly and shoot. I just tend to like guns more."
Razor stood up and leaned against his bike. "So what are you saying?"
Felina leaned in closer to him. "Just like you said it's too bad I'm my uncle's niece and too bad you're a SWAT Kat."
"I'm sure something as simple as that hasn't stopped you before, lieutenant."
"...and I'm still sure that I can eat you alive."
"You know, a lot of she-kats seem to think that." Razor nonchalantly, crossed his arms. "But I tend to change their minds in the end."
"Is that so?"
Smiling, Felina handed Razor his sniper rifle, allowing her claws to touch his. It was a very soft touch...gunners always needed deft touches, but hers was quite unexpected and sent tingles up Razor's spine.
Felina continued to smile. "I might just have to find out for myself, gunny."
"Oh, really?"
Felina's smile morphed into a smirk as she ran a claw along the barrel of Razor's sniper rifle.
"...but not tonight."
Giving him one last glance, she turned and walked back to the picnic table. As Felina resumed eating her meal, Razor could only shake his head, turning back to the Cyclotron while he began breaking down his sniper rifle.
Almost caught.
Razor found himself smiling at the thought.
Too bad...for her.
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Elsewhere...
Doc's paws flew over the keyboard at an amazing clip.
It was a skill born out necessity. With the amount of data that poured into the observation posts, speed was a valuable skill to have.
Pulling up Monitor's Four data on a screen, Doc chuckled to himself. The grey tom knew that The Boss would like the pretty Lieutenant. He always had a thing for she-kats that knew how to take care of themselves.
Perhaps it was because his sister was in fragile health. Who could really say?
But now it was time to focus on the task at paw.
The Boss' orders were simple: Kill the SWAT Kat and leave the Lieutenant unharmed.
Killing the SWAT Kat wasn't going to a problem. Doc had faith in the Monitor's lethality. He'd designed and programmed them himself. But keeping the Lieutenant unharmed...
Pushing a button on the keyboard, Doc pulled up Monitor Four's numerous protocols. Due to quirks in programming, protocols tended to override each other. Self-preservation protocols overrode kill orders if a protected subject dared to attack it. It was a stubborn bug he was chasing down.
If the Lieutenant tried to help the SWAT Kat, there might be some unfortunate "splash" damage.
Frowning, Doc pulled up the program that would bring all of Monitor Four's lethal abilities online. His claw hovered above the keyboard. He sincerely hoped that if any splash damage occurred, it wouldn't be enough to upset The Boss' sister. Because if she were to get upset...
Shuddering, and willing the Lieutenant to keep her distance, Doc pressed the button.