[SEQUEL TO GUN FOR HIRE]
Chapter 17: The Butler Way
The warning we love - general naughtiness as usual

Gat playfully warred with mirror time as the two donned their outfits in the bathroom, and he leaned over to bop his mouth against the side of her head, watching her expression in the mirror. She rolled her eyes, and that wasn't enough to sate his mischievous tendencies - so he pretended to make gnawing sounds as he 'ate' her hair. It brought out smiles and chuckles, and she shoved him before her fingers twisted in his dress shirt, pulling him back for a passionate kiss.

"Careful, Angel," Gat broke the kiss and trailed them across her freckled cheekbone, nipping her earlobe as his hands tried to find a way in with the dress in the way. "You're already havin' trouble standing, and those eggheads are gonna dissect ya if y'walk funny."

"Careful, Devil," Piper swatted his hand out of her dress when it rolled up her hip, and she laughed when he starting 'eating' her neck next. A gasp was slammed out her lungs when she hit the wall, contending with him for dominance as their hands explored and tongues battled. "They're going to dissect how messy our clothes are before I even get to walk funny." She ducked out from underneath his arms and he twisted to face her, and a flame was stoked in the pits of his belly when her hand rested on his chest, playing with the buttons of his shirt. Then she pushed him against the wall with a sly smile before she turned back to the mirror to fix her dress.

Gat conformed to her back, both of them watching the other through the mirror. He languidly kissed her neck, never taking his gaze off of her. The wildfire spread from his fingers to his toes, and he tried to stay focused by counting inside his head as they stalled for time. Her arm slid up and over her shoulder to wrap behind his neck, and her little smirk - almost as if she was daring and taunting someone other than him - made his job that much harder, and he let her know when he closed his eyes to murmur in safety.

"Remind me to never play games with you, 'cause yer a force to be reckoned with when y'play to win."

"I just want them to get a taste of their own medicine."

"Exactly. Medicine tastes like shite, luv."

"One more minute," she reminded, and it was so easy to hear the smirk in her voice. "And they should be bored out of their minds for watching the same old routine."

"Mm. Routine. I like the sound of that." Gat opened his eyes and continued to watch her through the mirror, burning underneath his suit as he studied how her dress hung to her frame. "Been seein' you outta clothes so much lately, it's almost just as big of a turn on to see you in them."

Piper snorted with laughter. "Whoa, there, charmer. Slow down before your compliments blow me away by how sweet they are." She glanced down almost with uncertainty, running her hands down the form-fitting dress as she smiled, though halfheartedly. He frowned when she took on a more dismissive tone. "It's just a dress, nothing special."

"What? You're gorgeous, luv." He quickly caught on that she didn't believe it when she thoroughly expressed it with her usual sarcastic roll of her eyes. He brought out the big guns as he embraced her in a tight bear hug until their cheeks pressed together, wringing another chaste chuckle from her as he exaggeratedly kissed her cheek. "You're so gorgeous you're makin' th'dress feel special."

It took a moment, a moment Piper seemed to try to suppress as her gaze fell from his, and her cheek warmed against him. Why she seemed embarrassed was beyond him, but then her lips tugged in a sweet smile, and it told him everything he needed to know even when her mouth opened with something else. "One more minute before we go..."

"I can work fast, luv, but not that fast. Y'know I like to take my time with you; one minute for one inch of skin." He made a show of his hands wandering - innocently at first, up and down her hips. She turned to face him and he still kept his gaze on the mirror, partly due to their charade, and the other part largely due to his curiosity. Her hair swung gracefully, almost reaching her shoulder blades. His free hand trailed up to bury in the tresses of it, watching how her back arched every time he leaned down to suckle and kiss what he'd learned were the more sensitive parts of her neck.

There were a few hickies that he was sure she'd seen in the mirror. He didn't know how to broach the topic of how she felt about going out in public with them; it wasn't particularly hard to guess that she'd likely feel mortified, and so wisely kept the question to himself so as not to stress her out.

Gat made a show of unzipping her dress ever so slowly, and he shuddered when she rose on her toes, teeth grazing the shell of his ear. "Close your eyes," she husked, "we don't have much time left. Whoever's escorting us will be here in twenty minutes..." A beat. Then the truth came out. "And I'm too sore to make this one real."

"To the bedroom, then. We can pretend to use my bowtie as a blindfold."

"Good thinking. Let's go." She grabbed his hand and dragged him with a sense of urgency, and he wished it was real for her to take the lead as fiercely in bed as she did in life. At least she was rapidly building confidence with every round they had made real rather than an act for the cameras, so that they could mask their conversations without the Institute getting too nosy. That wish of his had grown exponentially when she circled him and shoved him hard enough to make him fall on the bed, and she straddled his lap as she handily pulled his bowtie right off, swinging it just in front of his eyes with that bloody damn smirk again.

As soon as he took the bowtie and tied it around his eyes, his heart cried outrage when her weight slipped right off as if there was no hesitance whatsoever. His arms flopped on the bed and he tried to will himself to relax as he listened to her pace about in the apartment, murmuring what sounded like a list to prepare herself.

"Can I hide my notepad in your pants, Garrett?"

"How are y'gonna sneak notes in them? They'll get suspicious if they see you draggin' me off every five minutes."

"With all the 'proof' we've been giving them, are you sure they'll get suspicious?"

"Well, maybe whoever's watchin' the cameras nah, but I don't think everyone at the party is just gonna magically know what we're like. They'll talk."

"So let them. I don't have any other place to hide them, anyways. My dress doesn't have pockets."

"How 'bout in between your tits?"

Silence fell, and he knew he was in fatal danger when she sucked in a sharp inhale. He laughed nervously at her deadpan tone. "Really, Garrett?"

"What? Just spittin' ideas. I dunno if they gave you your shite back, but they gave me my guns back. No bullets. Should be able to find a holster for the thigh though, and can hide the notepad in there."

"See? Why didn't you start with that? It sounded like it came to you a lot easier."

"Still think tits would be a more badass place to hide them."

"Of course you do," Piper groaned, and he could almost feel her rolling her eyes. "Men... You always make things so sexual."

"I'm the yin to yer yang." He grinned cheekily when there was another sharp inhale. "Y'know I love pushin' your buttons."

"I do," she sighed in resignation. "I know that all~ too well. Anyways, where's your bag with your guns?"

"Should be in the kitchen if nobody came in here and touched my shite. You'll find it no problem, promise."

"Uh... Alright..."

God, just the way she sounded so afraid already was the icing on the cake, and Gat grinned devilishly as his brain raced with all sorts of reactions, and none disappointed. He really hoped she would react and not try to suppress it, depriving him of his entertainment as she sometimes did. She definitely did not fail to delight him when it sounded as if she hit something, followed be a quiet: "ow."

Within seconds, a gasp followed, and then an amusing yell. "What the heck is this?! It's like a gun graveyard here!" More ow's, and he slapped a hand over his mouth as he tried to stop himself from laughing when he caught her slewing curses about him under her breath. "What are you even doing with all this crap in here, Garrett?"

"Well, remember that time looooong ago when we went out drinking at the Dugout for the first time?"

Silence, and then a hesitant: "yeah... And?"

"Remember how we couldn't remember a single bloody thing the next morning?"

"Just get to the point already!" Uh huh. She did remember, didn't she? She sounded flustered already anyways.

"Remember how we went lookin' for your clothes 'cause y'stripped and stole my clothes since you wanted to see me naked?"

"That is not what happened." The deadpan tone was too much, and he could hear her returning to the living room. Soon enough he felt a presence loom over him.

"Why else would ya stash your shite in my bag and dump it in a lake? Y'wanted an excuse to see me naked all night long."

"We were both drunk! Who knows what the heck we were thinking." The bed dipped and his blindfold was lifted enough for him to get a peek of her warning look.

Gat grinned away, but he didn't press his luck any further. "Well, it's been that long since I was supposed to clean my guns, and didn't. Prolly too late now, but better late than never. Plus it helps keep my mind offa the shite here and passes the time." He reached up and tugged the blindfold back down after making a show with his free hand of it slipping under her dress again, and she immediately sat back on his lap, reminded of their game of charades. She plucked his dress shirt out from his slacks and ran her hands underneath, fingers spreading over his stomach.

There was something about the way she touched him that seemed... Thoughtful, almost. Her wistful tone brought it home. "It's crazy how fast time flies... Some days it still feels like yesterday since we've met." A beat. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss those days."

"We can go back to 'the honest way' after all of this."

Piper sucked in a breath. Her hands slithered out, much to his dismay, but then weight gradually settled down until she fully laid on him, hair brushing under his chin. Moist lips snuck between his collar and pressed a chaste kiss to the base of his throat. "I think we have 'a long way' to go before all of that. And what about your debts?"

"Don't gotta pay no more. Institute cleaned up the whole company - not a single survivor, they said. Didn't even bother kidnapping them to do whatever they fuckin' do, and they coulda done it easily if they wanted to beef up their own military. Wouldn't be hard to make robots outta those arseholes." He wrapped his arms around her when she tensed. "Dunno if I believe th'Institute yet, but goes to show we're up against some serious firepower. If it was that easy to take out the trash, I'd've done it myself over time and pick off one a week or somethin'. Some'uv those arseholes were shootin' since the day they were fuckin' born, luv, even the gunners didn't want to do no business with them. Dunno how they lost."

"Quantity over quality, likely. Can't mass produce mercenaries the way you can with synths."

"Hm... Good thinkin'. People fatigue, robots don't. Send in the armada, sustained assault over night when most of 'em are just waking up."

"We can always investigate if we ever return to the surface. There's bound to be evidence like metal pieces or something; I doubt the Institute didn't suffer casualties, but..." Piper played with his collar, unbuttoning his shirt, drawing idle shapes on his chest. "What do they have to gain for it? You're right to wonder on why they eliminated the company and not take anybody to at least bolster their own forces, otherwise they've just lost resources and time to manufacture those synths. They could just be saying they didn't take anybody though, and they also could just be saying they eliminated the... What company was this, anyways?"

"Dunno if there's a name, but they were led by a guy named Drake. All I know is that they splintered off from the Talon Mercenary group; the Gunners ain't got nothin' on those sons of bitches. From the few dealings I've had, Drake was fucked in the head - y'could tell he was big on buffout." Gat sniggered, a lopsided smirk. "Didn't mean th'joke but now I do. But Gunners... Yeah they'll take on any job as long as the price was right, but we still had structure to reign in the loose cannons and punish 'em if they did anything that would hurt the Gunners' reputation and discourage people from hiring us."

"Like what?"

"Well, s'blunt, but nobody likes hirin' rapists and shite like that. We ain't torture or nothin' like that like raiders. We treat our prisoners well." A beat. He wasn't sure if he was right to joke about it now, for he felt something was off and didn't want to risk taking off the blindfold if they were to pretend they were having a little fun. He choked down the joke about her experiencing it for herself, and stayed on point. "From the stories I heard, anything goes in the Talons, even among themselves. Most times they'd take it out on the women in any village they'd roll by though, and... Well... Y'prolly already know. We had a contract, and that didn't stop them or make 'em care 'cause they even tried a few times with my sis."

Piper sucked in a sharp breath. "They weren't actually... Successful... Right?"

"Nah." A wolfish smirk tugged his lips, chest puffing with pride. "The ones that knew better stayed away, and the ones that didn't had their balls blown off by her shotgun."

Nothing was said for a time, and he didn't press it. He wasn't sure how to broach the subject after Piper's... Near-experience herself... Gat wound her tighter in the embrace to try and squeeze the tension out of her. He was numb to it all himself, and the dark prospect didn't seem to faze his sister anymore either. It shouldn't have been that way. This world was beyond fucked up that it was, that it was even considered a usual occurrence and that every woman's nightmare was likely to happen at least once in her life.

No way was that ever going to happen to Rose, not if he could help it.

"Your sister sounds lovely," Piper murmured, though the slight jest in her tone was overshadowed by the quiet sorrow. "And strong. I can't imagine what it's like..."

"Sure ya can. You're strong too. You both are, and you're both smart, and you both take no shite from nobody. You'd both get along, wish I could introduce ya to each other already, but I'm not allowed to see 'em anymore 'cause the shitwit Director thinks I'm too 'unstable' and unsafe. But, oh, sure, let's stick me in with you, no worries. Blows my mind how they think I'll just gobble this shite up."

"Well, they did want to keep tabs on me initially because he said he was concerned about my safety, so they still have to be here."

"What, like more than my eyes? Well if there are more cameras, then they prolly think we're into some real kinky shite if we keep pretendin' to have sex, then stop."

"I think we have worse problems than that, Garrett," Piper chuckled, then sighed dejectedly. The warmth and pressure dispersed as the weight of her hands dug into his chest a little more, and then she disappeared completely. "C'mon, whoever's escorting us should be here soon, so let's wait by the door. I've the holster strapped and my notepads hiding in there."

"Shouldn't we pretend to finish as I take off my blindfold, Angel?" Gat couldn't help but smirk at the sound of her sharp breath, and then the faintest touch roved over his groin.

"What do you have in mind this time?"

"Well... I mean..." Would it be too much to ask for? Too forward? Too embarrassing for her, and selfish for him? He'd be a liar if he said he hadn't wished to feel her mouth on him, even if it was just her tongue teasing the tip of his cock. His throat tightened when his zipper was tugged down, and the words suffocated as his body burned. King Arthur immediately twitched to life and stood at attention, and his breath shuddered out of him when gentle and cold fingers - cold in contrast to the wildfire she'd set ablaze on his skin - freed his girth from the strain of his briefs.

Hot breaths skirted over and his fingers gnarled the sheets in anticipation. It was easily one of the top hardest things to force out of his mouth when he whispered: "you don't have to if you don't want to, luv."

But please, for the love of god - if there was a god, please want to someday if not today.

"It's only fair, you did it for me." Piper hummed, though there was a blatant meek tinge to her words despite the confidence of her hands. Well, they'd gotten more experience.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean-"

"I want to, Garrett."

Jesus. There was a god.

Heaven felt like it was an inch away, judging from how much warmer the breaths were, and he could feel the pressure of her exhaling. He struggled not to buck his pelvis when she experimentally licked up along his shaft, and he slewed cusses under his breath when that was the end of that, and cool air clung to the moisture on his skin. He was just about ready to fall apart if he had to wait a minute longer; and he had to, for far longer than a minute.

Beeps alerted them along with the telltale hissing of a door, and Piper panicked, squeaking in mortification at the sound of metal footsteps. "Don't come in here!"

Just kidding. No god, still.

"Voice detected. Scanning." A robotic voice chimed out into the living room, and Gat could almost hear Piper's heart breaking as the footsteps clanked towards the bedroom, and the monotone words echoed hollowly. "Ms. Wright and Mr. Butler identified." How did they identify him? He was still laying on the bed, wearing the blindfold.

He had to know.

"Did you just scan and identify me by my fucking cock?" Gat grimaced when a pointy heel carefully pressed down on his foot as a warning, and he grumbled. "Message received, luv."

"Good evening," the synth greeted. "This unit is here to escort you to the Institute's 29th annual Christmas party. Is this satisfactory?"

Gat thumbed his blindfold up in a mixture of despair and vengeance, glaring at the synth in the bedroom without remorse. Yeah. This thing was going to be taken apart tonight, and Gat was going to use those parts for his guns. That was a nice little revenge fantasy. He didn't even care that King Arthur was still out in the open, silently begging for more affection, and Piper threw an icy glare over her shoulder when he made no move to hide himself. She dragged the corner of the sheets up and threw it over his groin. His head flopped back in misery. "No, it's not satisfactory. Fuck sake... I wonder if this is how disappointed women feel when they pretend to have an orgasm."

"Garrett... Don't you dare..."

Oh. He dared. It may have not been smart, and it may have lost the impactful appeal it used to have, but it was still worth it.

"Seems like that ain't the truth you'll be finding out any time soon luv, now is it?"

He laughed when Piper kicked him in the shin.

x - x - x

This dress was more uncomfortable than the party itself. Piper faked laughter left and right as she chatted up with scientists, who's idea of a joke was something about science. Well, it wasn't really anything less than she expected, but it was doubly hard to keep elbowing the brooding man beside her so that he faked a laugh with her.

Every part of it came out as a blatantly sarcastic sneer.

Dim lights provided the perfect atmosphere to operate, and she was beyond relieved that the Institute actually knew what alcohol was. It was absolutely unnerving to see gen-1 synths walking around everywhere though, balancing platters of wine and champagne glasses; there were even bowties on the synths.

Everything was picture-perfect, everyone was happy. The festive decorations and jazzy music almost made her forget what she was really here for - because it was Christmas, and it was the first holiday she'd get to spend with Garrett, and... The first holiday she'd miss with Nat. At that, Piper shut off. Her questions bore no creativity or insight, simply chatting up scientists in what fields they were in and what inspired them to get into it. It was nothing noteworthy to risk detection and try to find a spot to hide in while she jotted down all her notes and quotes.

Plants, real live green plants kept tempting her curiosity, along with the gorillas behind the massive glass pane. She'd wander aimlessly often, her mind unable to hold down a single train of thought. There was still so much to process and take in. It wasn't until Garrett's fingers intertwined with hers, squeezing hard enough provoke pain, that snapped her out of it. She shot him an indignant look, only to be met by an annoyed one. "What're you doin' luv? Yer just lollygaggin' around here. Quit havin' a pissin' contest with 'em and poke 'em with what y'actually wanna ask."

"I'm working on it."

"You've been workin' on it for the past hour, and we dunno how long this party is gonna last. Work faster."

"You could help me, you know. You standing behind me and glaring at whoever I'm talking to is not helping them feel comfortable with me. They'll never open up."

"The heck y'want me to do? Offer 'em a strip tease?"

Piper's head lulled back as a frustrated groan tore from her throat. "Could you please stop making everything about sex? I know it's your favorite joke, but it's losing it's charm."

Silence. She suspiciously looked at him, wary as to why he was just staring at her. Then he smiled. "That's a shocker. I never thought it was charmin' to you in the first place."

"Ugh, you're impossible! It's like it'd kill you to take anything seriously!" Piper ripped away from his hand and marched off, taking two glasses off from a synth that passed her by. She chugged down the wine and didn't care of the bulging eyes other scientists gave her; it wasn't long before she caught little chuckles and gasps about her, but she didn't care. She came here on a mission and instead it seemed Garrett had one of his own: to make her lose her sanity. She grabbed yet another glass and sulked in the corner as she leaned against the glass pane, watching over the surprisingly thick crowd of scientists mingle with each other.

They all seemed so... Normal. They all enjoyed to drink and eat and gossip just like anybody in the Dugout or the Taphouse did. Those that got shamelessly drunk did silly things and said stupid things and joked about confusing things, and it all just seemed human. It wasn't anything like the picture she painted in her mind; and from her brief conversations, and observations, she came to the conclusion that what she was experiencing wasn't orchestrated - no matter how dearly she wished to believe it was.

Is this why she was invited to this event? She wagered Shaun had a hand in this, to go so far as to invite both her and Garrett so that they could see this for themselves.

Something caught her eye, and she noticed a familiar woman stride across the room. Piper pushed off from the wall, squinting, disbelieving when the woman's head turned to and fro as she glanced about the room herself. There was no mistaking Sarah, who looked as out of place and uncomfortable as ever as she insistently tugged at her dress. The poor soldier probably felt naked wearing that compared to a uniform and a suit of power armor.

Piper caught Garrett approaching her from the corner of her eye, and immediately moved to get lost in the crowd and get away from him before he irritated her again. She had a humble amount of liquor in her, and she couldn't afford to be distracted anymore herself. If she couldn't find out anything about the Institute, then the least she could do was find out if Sarah and Luki were okay.

"Sarah!" She yelled as she waved her arm, and the flowing blonde hair whipped over as ice-blue eyes honed in on Piper. For some reason, there was... Something flashing by Sarah's face that unsettled Piper, but she couldn't put her finger on it. A moment of sorrow tinged her before it was swept away with a forced smile.

"Good evening, Ms. Wright," Sarah greeted stiffly. "I didn't think I'd see you here."

"Yeah, they invited me and Garre - Gat to this party." Piper thumbed over her shoulder, but she didn't look behind her to see if she could spot him. "I ditched him when he pissed me off, though. Thank god I found you." She leaned in close, perhaps a tad bit too close, according to the soldier that immediately wedged a respectable amount of distance between them. Piper couldn't exactly shout her 'nefarious' intentions of what she wanted to accomplish here though, and glanced around to see if there was a corner they could stow away in for at least a semi-private conversation.

"I can't say the same," Sarah stated bluntly, and that definitely dampened Piper's spirits. She arched her brow at the soldier and frowned, but shook her head and sighed.

"Forget it. Where's Luki? Are you two okay? The Institute hasn't been torturing you or anything like that, have they?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Piper rolled her eyes. How they were supposed to be considered 'mutually beneficial allies' with this kind of attitude was past the hope of comprehending. "It may come as a surprise to you, but I actually care about people and their wellbeing, you know. Plus... I want to find the truth about this place. I figured it'd be easier if we, you know, work together, rather than butt heads about it. Wouldn't the Brotherhood want to snuff out the Institute too?"

"You seem awfully quick to assume where our allegiance lies. How do I know you're not just another copy the Institute sent to trick me?"

"This again?" Piper whined, actually praying for Garrett to show up so that he could at least vouch for her if nobody would believe her; but what reason did Sarah have to believe if he was human too? And, speaking of, what reason did Piper believe the soldier was 'real'? She caught Garrett's gaze as he weaved in between the bodies, and waved her arm for him to spot her. She knew she was in for it when anger ignited in his eyes, and decided to defuse it by pretending she didn't see it as she turned back to Sarah.

"Look, I'm gonna do my own thing regardless. The Institute's full of smart people, so I doubt they'd be dumb enough to 'create' a synth that was going to expose them for what they really are. You can join me if you want, I don't really care. I just thought it'd be better if we collaborated and swapped the information we've got."

"There you are," Garrett growled by her ear. She turned to him and beamed a sweet smile in hopes it would be enough to appease and calm him down.

It didn't, but at least Sarah came to the rescue with her laser focus.

"How do you even plan to expose them when you're wasting time here? This party is as much of a show for us as it is for all of these people here, tricking them that all is right with the world. We have to look in the places where the Institute doesn't want anyone to be. There is no way they can convince this many people to lie - all these scientists genuinely believe in what they do."

"Yeah, I gathered that much..." Piper glanced around the room as she observed the others, whom didn't even seem interested to spy on her or anything of that sort. She looked up at the ceiling, but she couldn't spot anything that might be a camera. Her gaze tethered to Garrett's for a moment, and she followed his line of glare, which led straight to Sarah - whom shared the same look.

Why was there friction between these two?

Sarah inched closer to Piper, surprisingly leaning into her ear to murmur. "I found a room that's restricted to access, but we need a distraction so nobody sees us sneaking in there."

"Um... We? So are we working together then or not?"

"For now. Hustle, civilian, we don't have any time to hold hands and giggle. Any ideas for a distraction? Can you cause one for me so I can slip in there?"

"What? If you're going, so am I." Piper crossed her arms and stood her ground even when the soldier snapped back with an icy stare. Piper shrugged. "I'm not budging. I guarantee you that there is nobody that wants to find the truth out more than me. If you want in on that room, then I'm following you whether we get a distraction or not."

"You'd sooner be an idiot and expose us just because-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Garrett interjected, still keeping his gaze everywhere but on them. "Quit circle jerkin' each other. It's not even hot."

Piper shot him a withering look that vowed pure agony for this later.

"I'll give ya yer bloody distraction." He took off his bowtie and unbuttoned his shirt, shoving the bowtie in Piper's hands as he gently pushed her by her shoulders. "Go."

"Garrett, what are you going to do?" A jolt of anxiety surged through Piper when he ignored her, and she rushed to tug on his arm, knowing he looked away because he couldn't meet her gaze if they wanted to keep up their act. "What are you going to do?" She urged, concern building a lump in her throat. She shrugged off Sarah's hand when it tried to pull her away by her shoulder. "Don't get hurt, you hear me? I better see you again later."

"Course y'will, luv, I won't do anything stupid. I'm gonna show 'em what a real party looks like, and have fun the Butler way. They're about to get the offer of a lifetime." He beamed a charming grin and leaned down to steal a quick kiss on the lips. He slipped out of his jacket and put it around her shoulders, then slithered away towards the 'dance' floor where drunk scientists swayed and giggled with their wine spilling out their glasses. "Oi, it's time to get freaky in here, everybody! Fuck the mistletoes and grab a partner, give 'em a show like this!"

The Butler Way. The offer of a lifetime.

Why did she have the most ominous fucking feeling about this?

"C'mon," Sarah hissed, dragging Piper by the elbow when she couldn't tear her eyes away. "We've got to go or we'll be screwed after the initial shock wears off and people start looking around." They kept eyes on him as they crept away, and Piper's jaw slackened when Garrett stripped his shirt and swung it around above his head, yipping and...

Yodeling.

For once, even the soldier stopped to watch, and her disciplined stoic expression was shattered by shock. "Ms. Wright... Is he actually...?"

"He is..." Piper lamented in despair when the shirt was abandoned, and soon pants were swinging about in the air. "He's actually fucking stripping. I am going to KILL him."

What happened to not doing anything stupid?!

"At least we don't have to worry about the shock wearing off," Sarah mumbled as if she was caught in some sort of trance. It better be one of disbelief.

Piper's murderous look was enough to remind the soldier of their mission.