Cat & Mouse

Something's Off

The girls were currently taking a break. All three were panting and just laid out like starfish on the floor. When Roxy's wrist device began beeping she groaned as she sat up and looked at it. She gasped and quickly answered. She was greeted by the smiling faces of Marissa, Eli and Alec. "How's come you hookers haven't talked to us once since you've left? Too busy making human-alien babies?" Marissa joked. "Ohh yeah. Trying very hard every single night." Roxy responded with a wink. "Ewwwww." Marissa teased. Nadia and Claire smiled as they waved excitedly. Marissa waved back. "Wait a minute now hold up." She pulled out a magnifying glass holding it to her eye leaning closer to the camera. "You bitches look hot! Look at those extra juicy peaches! What on earth... Or I guess in space? have you been doing!?" She exclaimed. The girls grinned. "They're training us! When we get good enough they even have custom made masks and suits for us!" Nadia said in excitement. The trio still on Earth jaw dropped. "Well damn. Good for you guys." Alec spoke now. "And your alien boyfriend? Still alive and well?" Eli asked. The girls grinned. "Alien boyfriends actually." Roxy said and she turned the camera to the three Yautja. "Boyfriends? Nadia, you have a harem with all three of them!?" Marissa shrieked. The Yautja covered where their ears should be. Roxy started to laugh. "She's still only Blaze's biggest fangirl. It's me and Archer who are together now too." Roxy said as she twirled a strand of her hair and blushed. Claire bit her lip and raised her hand. The group looked at her. "Umm... Blade and I too kind of." She whispered and the whole group screamed. The yautja males covered their ears again as they growled. "WHAT!? Since when!" Even Nadia and Roxy were clueless. Claire poked her fingers. "A while ago he admitted it." She said softly. The group was shook. "But anyways what about you guys?" She changed the subject. Eli was the one to get shy now. "Alec and I are officially engaged." He said and again the girls all screamed. The Yautja growled again holding their ears tighter. "We wanted to invite you guys to the wedding if we can. You can bring them too if they want to come. Just please ask them to not kill our guests." Eli said nervously. The three girls couldn't help but giggle and then anxiously nodded. "We'll be there!" They said in unison. The other three smiled. "Perfect. We'll send the invites then. We'll let you guys get back to your lessons too." Alec said and the girls nodded. They said their good-byes and hung up. The girls then went back to training with the Yautja. At the end of the session the girls decided to ask about the wedding. "Eli and Alec are getting married. We are invited and going, did you all want to come?" Roxy asked. The three males whipped their heads in unison causing the females to jump. "No." Archer said flatly. "You could've just said that why the scary head whipping thing?" Roxy said. "I mean no, I'm not going. But neither are you." Archer said just as flatly and Roxy raised a brow. "Excuse me?" She challenged. Nadia glanced at Blaze and Blaze clearly was on the same side as his brother. Blade remained unreadable. "You heard me the first two times." Archer replied. "I heard you. I was just giving you the chance to change your answer. Who are you to go around telling me what I can and can't do? So we are together and fucking and now you think controlling me is the right thing here?" Roxy snapped. Archer growled lowly. "Don't you growl at me. I'm no submissive little bitch. You aren't in charge of me, I'm in charge of myself. If I say I'm going to the wedding then it means I am going to the wedding. It is no choice of yours it's a fact." She challenged again. Archer only growled more. Roxy just flipped him off and walked out of the training center. Nadia glanced at Blaze, and then followed after Roxy, and she was then followed by Claire. The males just looked at each other.

Roxy didn't go to Archer the rest of the day. Nadia of course stayed with her best friend. The pair had decided to spend the night with Claire. "That big bastard! Who does that ungrateful asshole think he is? Telling me what I can and can't do like that, and then getting pissed off. Talk about controlling and toxic! I'm even older than he is! If anyone is bossing anyone around here it should be me telling him what to do." Roxy raged. Nadia and Claire just listened to her rant. Nadia already knew her best friend was a defiant, and free spirit. She didn't like feeling caged or being told what to do. Five words or less was all it took to set her off. Telling her no never really ended well. Nadia just pat her back as she continued her rant. "So what if he's some giant lizard? I could take him! I could easily bring him to his knees and sit on his face!" She said as she punched a pillow in frustration. She huffed and looked at Claire. "Why didn't you tell us sooner about you and Blade? And what did you mean by sort of?" She asked after she calmed down, or perhaps she changed the subject to calm down. Claire sighed. "He has said it without truly saying it. Since he doesn't talk and all. I know he's the one that saved me from that sex trafficking too... But be that as it may, and as sweet he is... I just don't know." She admitted. "So he likes you, but you don't like him?" Nadia questioned. "I do... I'd be stupid not to... But I don't know if he knows what love is. He said he did I guess. But do they really? We've cuddled and all but it feels off..." She continued. "Like he isn't sure or he is having doubts or something." Nadia and Roxy stared off in thought. "He saved you right? So then he knows what you went through. Maybe the uncertainty he has is because he doesn't know what you can handle and what will scare you." Nadia said and Roxy nodded. "OK. But he is already terrifying and unpredictable. He's not like Archer and Blaze you guys. I tried to touch his face before and he pulled it away and stared me down like he was warning me. I thought I was taming some kind of wild animal and about to lose a hand!" She exclaimed. Nadia and Roxy remained silent. "Besides that... He's not even human. Even without that little event he's still scary. Just look at them for goodness sakes." Claire tried to reason. Roxy shook her head. "Claire-bear. Stop obsessing over societal norms. Focus on how he makes you feel, not what others might think, or how he looks, and not his inability to speak... How does he make you feel?" Roxy questioned. Claire bit her lip. "He's adorable and innocent. He's protective and sweet. He lights up a room when he sees me. He makes me feel safe and secure. He makes me feel appreciated and he makes me gifts all the time. He makes me happy and smile all the time. He makes me feel like I'm the only person in the world, like I am his world... Like I am loved." Claire replied and then paused. She glanced at Nadia and Roxy. They smiled. "You said he's adorable. You also said you feel loved." Nadia said and she smiled brighter. Claire smiled at them. "So he can be intimidating, and hard to read, and he can't talk to you. But otherwise he sounds perfect. He can't really help those things, Claire. Are his actions enough to either level the field, or give him more pros than cons?" Roxy asked. Claire blushed and she nodded. "Then make sure he knows Claire. If he is anything like my Blaze, he is only holding himself back for you. Once he knows that you're okay and you accept him, you won't have any reasons to doubt and neither will he." Nadia added and Roxy nodded. Claire smiled softly as she nodded too. "I will. Thanks, you guys." She said and they all hugged each other.

The next morning the girls showed up for training, but the three males were nowhere in sight. They all looked at each other. "Did they get deployed again?" Nadia questioned. Claire and Roxy shrugged. Nadia started to sniffle. "He didn't say goodbye." She said sadly. Roxy rubbed her back. The door to the training center opened and the girls turned expecting to see the trio. They couldn't hide their disappointment when it was actually şoc that entered. He merely gestured for them to follow so they did. "Where's Zgură, Seară, or Gheaţă?" Nadia questioned. şoc didn't answer. Roxy huffed. He ended up guiding them to the engineers in the laboratory. Once again they all had to go through the decontamination device. The engineers presented each female with her very own bio-mask and they all smiled wide. The girls had decided on couples masks. The Yautja had tried to explain to them that masks were to make them unique. However, they all just wanted a smaller more feminine mask to match their mates. That's what they got, and they couldn't be happier about it. After they got their masks, the Engineers gave the girls a brief tutorial on how to use them. şoc then guided them all to Noian, and then left. Noian looked at the human females. "You've done well. Today you have an assignment. There are a few parts to it. We will be sending you to this planet." He said as the view screen pulled up an image of a planet. "Here there are 10 targets. Consider it a game and the challenges are levels if you will. There is level 1, small and simple at first, all the way up to 5. It will get increasingly harder. Level 1 is more of an agility and obstacle course. Level 5 will be what you may consider a boss. If you manage to defeat the boss there is a reward." He said simply. The girls nodded. "Sorry to interrupt but..." Roxy began and he cut her off. "Your mates and Seară have their own missions and have already departed for them." He said matter of factly and Roxy nodded.

He gave them each the metal cuffs the Yautja wore.

"There is a map. You will also be able to see heat signatures as we do. You will each have the combi-stick, the net, and the blades." He tapped his right gauntlet. Claire raised her hand, and Noian looked at her giving her a nod to go ahead. "I'm a lefty..." She said softly. "Seară is aware. He informed us. Your items are catered to this." Noian stated and Claire smiled slightly as she nodded. "You may choose to go alone, or as a unit. But be warned these targets are not specifically trained and assigned to one of you. So you very well may get all of them. As you are learning still, we recommend you stay together. Of course a small number of us will be on this planet with you on standby. You do have the option to request their aid. To be activated by pushing the red button and it will send a distress signal. You each have one. Be aware that requesting aid will mean you fail this task however. So unless it's absolutely essential do not." He informed and again they nodded. After that Noian dismissed them, and once the ship landed they all exited.