Chapter Four; Is Love So Blind? Nikkitrina Feral Four Weeks Later **************************************************** "Reactor Online, Sensors Online, Weapons Online, All Systems Nominal." Nikki pointed her Mech towards the rendezvous point. Today's Mission; go one on one against each other competitor, gaining points along the way. The kat with the most wins, and least losses, gets the Commander's Chair. The last weeks had been spent battling against drone Mechs in an attempt to let each pilot choose which Mech suited them best. By the time the four weeks was up, everyone had a Mech which they felt the most comfortable in. Nikki chose the Marauder, Felina chose the Linebacker, Mat chose the Dire Wolf, and Kris chose the Mauler. Nikki finally made it to the Nav Point, and waited, submerged in a hot water spring to hide her heat signature(the signature detected by the radar), for a visual to appear on the radar. This battle was really going to count, and she used all of her senses and skills to remain as alert as possible, and find weaknesses and openings. The Mech that carelessly skimmed the horizon in front of Nikki was a Dire Wolf. 'Your going down Mat,' she whispered to the screen. She waited for the Dire Wolf to get within range. Slowly she scooted her Mech into a shallower part of the cloudy spring, till her primary weapon, mounted on the head of her Mech was emerged enough to work. She had to be careful no to over do her heat, though shutting down would be no major setback, unless she was discovered. She aimed for the cockpit, hoping she would damage it enough to set off the auto eject. A volley of SRM's flew out of the water and hit the cockpit of the Dire Wolf with deadly accuracy. After the first missile hit the reinforced fiberglass of the windshield Nikki spotted a little dot fly out of the top of the Mech. 'Gotchya,' she sniggered triumphantly, slowly emerging her Mech from its murky, hot hiding place. **************************************************** Nikki reached the next Nav Point before the other Mech did. She hoped that she was going against Felina, because her Mech didn't have jump jets, but Nikki's did. She spotted the high plateau. It was shaped like a large wedge, with the slope being steep enough to prevent climbing, but stick out enough, that the Mech on top of the plateau would be able to fire upon any enemies in range, below. Luckily, the eastern side of the shelf had a series of platforms, just the right size for Nikki's Mech, and just the right height for her jets to reach. Nikki stopped her Mech right next to the first platform. She hit her jets, and flew upwards at about 20kph. Just as the jets were about to run out, Nikki landed on the platform, and waited for them to recharge. Nikki did basically the same thing for the next four steps. On the fifth time, when she should land on the plateau, she stopped just short of the edge. Quickly, about three seconds into the recharge, she hit the jets again, and went up for five seconds. 'Just keep it up, you'll make it,' she reassured herself. Again she waited three seconds, and went up five seconds. Ten times she did this pattern, and finally, she made it up onto the plateau. The whole trip took seven minutes. 'Won't this all be a waist if Kris shows up instead of Felina. He might not notice that he 'can' get up here on the last step though, unless his jets are stronger than mine.' Luckily, Felina's Linebacker was the one that showed up on screen. Felina approached the plateau's foot, confused by the heat sig she was getting from on top of it. Suddenly, lasers showered Felina's Mech, and she backed off quickly. Looking up, Felina spotted the outline of Nikki's Marauder, perched defiantly on the edge of the cliff. 'How'd you get up there you little bitty?' Felina cursed as the Mech disappeared further back on the plateau. Suddenly, the missile lock sirens started to blare. Nikki got a lock with her LRM 20's and aimed as far over Felina's head as the lock would allow. Nikki fired, and the missiles flew in an arch pattern, hitting the back of Felina's Mech, turning a torso red, and blowing off an arm. As soon as the shock from that volley faded, another hit, and Felina was forced to eject. 'Two down, one to go,' Nikki smiled inwardly. She flew her Mech off of the plateau, and headed for the final Nav point, her Mech in perfect condition. **************************************************** Nikki cautiously crept towards the heat sig registering on her radar. It was Kris. The last Nav point was centered on an open plain, which meant Nikki couldn't use the terrain to her advantage. The circle method would have to do. "Hey, Nikki," the radio suddenly crackled, making Nikki jump. "What do you want? Or are you stalling?" she hissed at Kris. "I just wanna know if you're above a friendly little bet?" "Depends," she told him, flipping on the radio screen. "If I win, you have to come over to my apartment tonight, if you win, I go to your apartment. Basically, winner gets host rights," he grinned over the visual screen. Nikki laughed quietly, "Deal. We're having pasta for dinner, do you like meat sauce, or alfreado?" "We? You live with someone?" he asked, a little surprised. "Yea. With Felina. We share the Commander's old penthouse," she explained. "Oh, I see. Well, let's get fighting." The radio went silent, and the screen went blank. Nikki suddenly slammed on her jets, rocketing upwards, and narrowly missing a volley of lasers. She hit the ground running, and turned her torso, getting in the circle position. Nikki got a lock on one of Kris's legs, and group fired all of her weapons. A few missed, but in the end, his leg and center torso were yellow. Nikki switched her HUD to wire frame, to prevent the enemy from temporarily disappearing against the darkening horizon. Nikki fired all of her lasers at once at the Mech's leg. It stayed yellow. What happened next was a fortunate accident for Nikki. Kris forgot that he was still in group fire, and hit the main weapons button twice in a row. The resulting heat was more than his already overheated Mech could take. Nikki watched as internal ammo explosions tore the arms off of the shutdown Mech. Suddenly, the legs began to crumble, and Kris was forced to eject. Had Kris been more careful, and not forgotten the group fire, he would have easily beat Nikki, but accidents have a funny way of twisting fate around. Nikki, still going full speed in a circle, just stared in astonishment, then, having grasped her bearings, headed for the check off point. **************************************************** Nikki got to the check off point just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. Nikki suited down, and went into the office to pick up her score paper. She scanned it quickly. Name: Beat: Was Beaten By: Nikkitrina : Crat, Feral, Faska: ______ Faska, Kris: Crat, Feral: Nikkitrina Feral, Felina: Crat: Faska, Nikkitrina Crat, Mathew: _____: Faska, Feral, Nikkitrina Final Ranks: Nikkitrina: Commander Faska: Lieutenant Commander Feral: First Lieutenant Crat: Second Lieutenant Having re-read what she already knew, Nikki met Felina at the curb, waiting for a taxi. "Like your rank?" Nikki asked the yawning she-kat. "I woulda' blown you sleazy little head off if we were on open terrain." "But we weren't, and a good MechWarrior uses the terrain to his, or her, advantage," Nikki smiled at Felina. Felina couldn't help but smile back. "Well, MechCommander. After taking care of all that bull shit behind us, you're getting a week's worth of vacation. How do you feel?" she asked sarcastically, pretending to hold a microphone in front of Nikki's face. Nikki batted the paw away, "hungry, and sleepy. That reminds me. Whatever we have for supper, we need to make for three. Kris is supposed to be coming over. Part of a bet," Nikki yawned the last part. Finally, a taxi pulled over. The two she-kats climbed in, and the cab headed away from the Mech Base. **************************************************** When Nikki and Felina reached the lobby of their apartment, a confused tom-kat met them at the elevator. "The lady over there," Kris pointed over at the desk, as he ran towards them, "She told me you two lived on the top floor. But the elevator only takes me to the one right below it!" he then pointed accusingly at the elevator. Felina couldn't help but laugh as she pulled out her elevator key. "Calm down Kris. You need a special key to reach our floor. Security reasons, remember it used to belong to the Commander." "Still does," he corrected her, nodding towards Nikki. He took her paw and kissed it. She slapped him, a little more than gently. He grinned at her as he backed off, but kept hold of her paw. Felina walked towards the elevator, and Nikki followed with Kris bringing up the rear. They entered the elevator together, and Felina took them to the penthouse floor. When they entered the apartment, Felina and Nikki headed directly for the couch, where they promptly flopped down. Kris sat next to Nikki and scooted as close to her as possible, still maintaining a grip on her paw. "Clingy aren't you?" Nikki commented. Kris grinned widely. "Welcome to the Penthouse Restaurant," Felina suddenly started, "On today's menu is the house special, Fend For Yourself. Enjoy." Felina stood up, stretched and headed for the hall. "What are you having?" Nikki asked the retreating she-kat. "A shower. I'll just get up at four AM to make breakfast, to make up for not eating," Felina finished explaining and sauntered the rest of the way to the bathroom. "I want food," Kris told Nikki, and grinned again. Nikki rolled her eyes at the tom-kat, still 'clinging' to her. "How about soup. Minestrone sound good?" Nikki asked him. Kris nodded, and Nikki led him to the kitchen. **************************************************** "Minestrone's good," Kris commented to his empty bowl, "Mmmm s'very good." Nikki giggled at him. Kris got up from the bar counter and put his bowl and spoon in the dishwasher. "Need any help with the rest?" he asked, heading for the messy stove. "You can rinse out the pot and put it in the washer too," she suggested. "Right," Kris answered, picking up the pot. Nikki got up and put her dishes in the washer, and helped clean the stove. When the kitchen was done, Nikki turned out the lights, and headed back to the living room, Kris on her heels. "When do you usually go to bed?" Kris asked, trying to strike up a conversation. Nikki shrugged, "Around nine, nine thirty, something like that. Depends on when I need to get up." Kris twiddled his thumbs. "Why'd ya ask?" Nikki wondered. Kris kept twiddling his thumbs, "Well, it's almost nine thirty, and I was just talkin', you know..." he trailed off, his thumbs still moving. He suddenly opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again on second thoughts. "What!?" Nikki asked, "Say it, say it or else." Kris whispered something under his breath, and his cheeks got reddish. Nikki leaned over like she was trying to hear better. Kris mumbled again. "Speek up sonny, I caa't heaa you!" Nikki did her little-old- she-kat impression. Kris laughed a bit. "Uh... how big...big...uh..." he rubbed the back of his head, "is...your...uh...b-b..." Nikki gave him a funny look, "Don't you mean 'are your'.." "No no!" Kris interrupted, "Bed, how big is it?" "Oh, it's a bit bigger than a twin size, why was that so hard?" she looked at him funny, again. "Is that like a 'two' kat size?" he asked, and he started to twiddle his thumbs again. "I guess, again, why?" "Like a,uh...you...n'...me, 'two' kat size?" he turned red again. "Oh! I get it! You wanna spend the night!" Nikki grinned triumphantly, "You should have just asked me! You can stop with the thumb thing now." Kris looked at his paws, and rapidly put them to his sides. "Better. You ready for bed, or do you want to stay up a bit longer? We are off tomorrow, so we'll be able to sleep in," Nikki explained. "Whatever you want, whenever your ready," he grinned. "I'll go change," Nikki left the room before Kris even thought over what she had said. "Heh, yea, go change... Change!? Already?" he leapt off of the couch and knocked on the first closed door he came to. Nikki answered, "Just a sec!" Kris waited patiently. Nikki opened the door a few minutes later and let Kris in. "You can change now if you want," the nothing but a T-shirt wearing she-kat smiled. "Uh, huh. Boxers," he dumbly replied. Nikki went around the room turning out the lights for her various pets. She then turned her fan on, and the bed-side lamp off. By now Kris had stripped down to his boxers, and was climbing into the bed. Nikki crawled over him and laid on the side of the bed next to the wall. "This is my honorary spot," she explained, "You hafta sleep on the outside." "That's fine with me, your honor," he joked. Nikki grabbed him and tickled his tummy. Kris laughed till it hurt, then suddenly Nikki stopped and snuggled up to him. Kris smiled, and wrapped his arms around her. She immediately started purring. Kris wished he could join her, but when males' voices change, their ability to purr disappears. He thought that was true for females too, but obviously not for Nikki. He held her a bit tighter and soon they both fell asleep. **************************************************** "Uhh..." Nikki moaned as the sunlight streaming through the blinds caught her in the eye. She felt a gentile paw on her back try to console her. It pulled the blanket up closer to her head to shield the sun. "Morning lovely," she heard Kris coo. She smiled and nuzzled under his chin. Kris ran his fingers through her hair and she began to purr again. "Nikki," he got her attention, "I..I love you." Nikki froze. The more she thought about what he said, the harder it was to respond. That was the first time in her life anyone had ever told her that they loved her. She took a deep breath, and searched her heart. It suddenly became easy. "I love you too," she responded. She got as close to him as she could and buried her nose in his neck fur. Felina peeked in the room, "Remember when I said I'd get up at four am to make breakfast? Well yours is getting cold, so you'd better hurry." With that she left. Nikki wiggled around a bit, and suddenly rolled out of bed. She landed on her feet and quickly pulled a pair of shorts on. She tossed Kris his clothes, and headed towards the bathroom looking for a headband. She found one, pushed her hair back, and headed for the kitchen, Kris following her. "Bout time," Felina commented, "You might have to zap it a few times anyway." Nikki grabbed her plate and placed it in the microwave. When her food finished, Kris did like wise. They ate quickly, and cleaned the kitchen. "Hey Felina," Nikki began, "What does it take to become an Enforcer? I don't want to be 'just' a MechWarrior." "You have to start as a trainee. Anyone can sign up, you don't even need an Enforcer Academy Education. Most people go to the academy 'after' they get on the force. Going before helps a bit though." Nikki nodded. "Finish your one week 'vacation' first, "Felina warned, "You'll need the rest, especially if your instructor is a dick." Nikki giggled, then pulled on Kris' sleeve, "Come on lovey, let's watch some TV." **************************************************** ****************************************************