Unwanted But Warranted Publicity
#6 of Heart Of Iron
Heart Of Iron
Chapter 5: Unwanted But Warranted Publicity
Six, after a few minutes of thought, chose to take the rooftop. It had been successful last time, and he felt a little...uneasy, at the idea of going into the unknown depths below, and any spartan worth his salt would trust his gut feeling. And his feeling was one of caution and danger.
With his course laid out, the spartan got ready to leave. That is, until something stalled him, and made him groan soundlessly at the same time. With a chitter, the little rodent scrabbled to hang of his chestplate, swinging back and forth merrily on the hilt of his KA-BAR. Ugh...the squirrel, he had forgotten about the damn pest. It put a serious hamper on his stealth capabilities. Even in active camo he wouldn't be able to sneak past a blind, dead, and mute Kat. The little bastard would somehow still find a way of giving them up.
Yet, for all the trouble it posed, he couldn't motivate himself to get rid of the little guy. The sneaky thing had already found a way of burrowing into his iron hard heart. Six guessed that he was stuck with it now. So, taking the squirrel in mind, he would just have to be even more careful if he wanted to infiltrate the city undetected. With luck, it wouldn't do anything stupid to get them discovered. Yet the spartan wasn't pleased with the chance of that.
But then, he had an idea. Six picked up the hyperactive squirrel, peeling it off his knife, and stuffed it none to gently in a pouch, to placate the fiend he also tossed in the rest of his fruit. There, it couldn't do anything bad from inside, and the fruit should tide it over until he snuck past the Kats in the park. So, praying to the gods that he wouldn't be discovered, he activated his camo and stealthily entered the city of felines.
Jake and Chance were walking in the city. It had been a long day at the garage, and both of them needed to get a bite to eat. With that in mind they headed for Katlina's Diner. It was a personal favorite of theirs, having gone there almost constantly back during their enforcer days. So for the memories they decided to go back, not to mention she had the best burgers in town!
Chance was often reminded of his love for this city when he went through it. The streets were clean and the people were nice. It was rare to find good Kats in a big city. Life in them can and often does make them angry and confrontational. But, something about this place was different. And the SWAT Kats would do their best to keep it that way.
As they strolled along the sidewalk, Chance noticed that Jake was acting withdrawn. Something was in his friend's mind and he aimed to find out. "What's bugging ya buddy?"
"Nothing man, didn't worry about." Jake tried to dismiss his friend's concern, but the Kat wouldn't have any of it.
"Bud...I've known you for a long time, I can feel when something had got you thinking, now tell me the truth." Chance said determinedly as they neared their destination.
Jake sighed. "Well, if you must know, I was thinking about my encounter with Ms. Briggs apparent guardian. You should have seen it Chance! The thing was over seven feet tall, and covered in obsidian armor. It was the first enemy I faced that beat me hands down. If it hadn't been for Ms. Briggs, it would have killed me. It could probably singlehandedly take on the entire enforcer core and come out on top! What is it? Why is it here?" The Kat kept walking, but slowed down as he pondered aloud to his curious friend.
"I can't answer those questions Jake, but I can offer you a piece of advice."
Jake looked to him, hopefully. "Really?"
"You can enjoy some burgers and stop worrying about!" Chance said simply and herded his friend over to the Diner, ignoring the dazed expression on his face, that was not what he was expecting to hear.
Callie woke up from her unfortunately short nap. Her waking eyes were graced with the giant stack of papers she needed to sign. This did not make for a happy kitty. Callie tried to reorient her self to the souls siphoning task, but couldn't do it.
Twenty minutes later she gave up, grabbed her things, and stormed out of the office. Mayor Manx could do the damn paper work later, she wouldn't deal with it right now. Now, she would go to the park and relax, she felt that she deserved it.
Waving goodbye to the friendly secretary outside the office, Callie left the tower and headed to the park. Along the way, she found herself once more thinking of her savior. The strange man had not said much, but impacted her all the same. He had a solemn presence and yet, he watched over her. Even now, she felt as though he was nearby, keeping her safe. A silly notion, one that she entertained. But, little did she know, she was not wrong.
For above her, the spartan stood on a rooftop. He had started to follow her when he spied her out among the crowds.
Finally, he found the girl, it had been a stroke of luck. He had turned to berate the little fuzzy devil that was attempting to open another acorn on his shoulderplate when he spied the feline woman walking down the street to his left. Six shoved the belligerent squirrel back in its container and pursed her.
The woman went to the park, making him groan. He had gone deep into the city and she was going all the way back out. It made his efforts...unnecessary. Throwing aside his pointless grumpiness, Six used his thinking power to figure out the best way to meet up with her without starting a panic.
Maybe the best thing would be to just stride out into the open and act like he was a part of some popularity stunt. That idea wasn't the best, so he would do that only if he had no other option. At least no one had scene him yet, so it could work. But there must be some other way. Waiting around didn't seem like a good one either, the spartan was getting sick of lazing around. Doing nothing was anathema to a spartan, he needed to do something. If he so desired, he could abduct her.
......Huh
That might not go so well now that he thought about it. So the obsidian armored giant sat on the roof of the building behind her, with the little squirrel playing around on his head, and debated to himself heatedly. Six was upset, a spartan should be able to come up with a good plan! All these "plans" so far, if you could even call them that, sucked. Screw it, he would just go down there and talk to her face to face, and to hell with the consequences!
Six stuffed the squirrel into his pouch again and climbed down from the roof. He stood, in the shadows of the alley way, and prepared himself for the worst plan ever conceived by a spartan. He took a deep breath and walked out into the open....or he would have if he hadn't frozen up like a statue. It seemed his body still was an unwilling participant in his goal. It was harder then anything he had ever done before. It was not something spartans did, walking among the public, alien or not. So collecting his courage and with no small part of reluctance, and with grim determination, he forced himself to stomp out of the alley.
At first, as he walked out into the park, no one seemed to notice him. It was strange, almost as if he was invisible. At least, that is until they turned to see him. He considered himself lucky, most of them just froze staring at the armored behemoth striding among them. His enhanced audio sensors picked up the faint whispers of the stunned collective.
"Is it a new enforcer bot?" A male tabby by a fountain asked.
"I don't know, it might be a battle suit." The old greying Kat besides him replied.
"But where is the tail?"
"Probably tucked into the suit."
So far so good, they actually thought he was one of these "enforcer" guys. The plan was actually working! So with new found confidence, he beelined for the Callie woman.
Callie was walking along the cobbled path that wined around the lake. She was having a relaxing day. Although, she found herself craving the company of her stalwart bodyguard. She missed having the guy around. That was strange considering he had only been with her twice. But that didn't matter to the unknowingly lovestruck feline. She just knew that he should be there.
She was brought out of here reverie when she heard people begin to whisper loudly in awe, followed by the thudding of armored boots. Puzzled she looked around to find the reason for all the commotion. When she saw it, her heart did little summersaults of joy and no small part, curiosity. Her monolithic savior was here! And he was walking straight to her. The crowds parted in front of him as he strode along, the Kats looking up to the huge armored figure with awe plastered muzzles.
As he got into range of her, she suddenly found herself running up, tackling him and squeezing his cold armor tightly, he didn't even move backwards when she collided with him. Callie couldn't grasp why, but she wanted to hug him, so she did. It did not occur to her until seconds later that her arms only reached his lower torso, but in the end she didn't care, he was here!
"Uh...hello?" He rumbled awkwardly, shuffling almost imperceptibly. This embrace had come as a surprise to the spartan, he had not anticipated that she would have missed him that much. But, as he stood there in the fuzzy armlock of the feline, he felt content.
She must have realized that not only did they have gawkers, but that it was a little unbecoming of a lady. She collected herself quickly. "I had thought you were gone."
"I had to take care of somethings, but I came back." He replied, surprised at the warmth in his tone. He was acting awfully familiar with her.
"Well, its good to see you here." She said firmly, before turning contemplative. "Why did you come back?"
He wasn't quite sure if he was yet comfortable with explaining his reasons, so he was vague in his response. "I have come to a conclusion about something."
His answer was lacking, but she let it be for now. "Alright, well in any case, I'm glad to see you again."
"Yes uhh...its nice to see you too." He said difficultly, having found it hard to say, but feeling the need to.
She looked behind his considerable bulk and noticed all the staring and prying eyes. "How about we go somewhere more private?"
He looked around, having ignored the people, as they presented no threat. But now that he saw them in full detail, he began to feel uneasy, from all the looks he was garnering. "That...would be best."
"Come with me, I'll get us to a better place." She grabbed his large right gauntlet and started to tug him along to a unknown location. Somewhat surprised at her sudden forceful demand, he obediently walked after her. As he did, he couldn't help but notice all the eyes focused on him. Hopefully this would not blow up in his face.
Jake and Chance were walking out of Katlina's Diner, with content sighs and bulging stomachs. "Kats alive! She sure does make a mean burger." Chance groaned as he headed back to the tow truck. "I think I might be sick."
"She may make good burgers, but if you eat five, you will get sick." Jake said with a laugh. Sometimes his friend couldn't stop himself.
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever." Chance muttered back, he had eaten as much as he wanted and he was happy with that.
They climbed into the now suspiciously crowded cab of the truck and Chance fired up the engine. As his friend started to get them going, Jake exhaled in satisfaction and closed his eyes, focusing on the digestion of his meal. The day had been a good one, and he wanted to get a little sleep before they made it back to the garage. It was not meant to be.
"Uh....Jake?" He heard chance say questioningly.
"Yeah Chance?" He replied making himself more comfortable in his seat.
"This thing you tussled with, what did it look like again?" His friend sounded strange but he paid it no mind.
"It was hard to forget man, seven and a halfish feet tall, armor black as death, and a grim disposition." Jake muttered sleepily.
"It also have a bandolier and nasty looking weapons?"
He opened one eye and looked to Chance curiously. "yeah, but I didn't tell you that part. How did you know?"
"Well, its right outside." Chance replied simply, pointing outside the window.
Jake shot up in his seat and traced the path of his friend's directing paw to see the thing. It was following after Ms. Briggs closely, like a guard dog. It went brazenly through the streets, out in broad daylight in view of everyone in the world. "Oh..."
Unaware of their two plainclothes vigilante observes, Callie and Six continued on to wherever she was taking them. A few minutes later, he found out where it was when the surroundings began to look familiar. They were going to Megakat City Tower. Six found it odd, not having to be sneaky, and just walking in. But it was admittedly better so he didn't let it bother him too much.
Callie headed for the elevator, but stopped when she felt that she was not being followed. Her guardian had stopped a few feet away. "What's wrong?" She asked in confusion, until she remembered. "Oh yeah, no elevator." She muttered to herself.
"Its fine my milady, I can take the stairs." He said politely, surprising her with the new title.
"Well then, I'll go with you!" She said determinedly, eyes flashing brightly.
He was not so sure that she could make it up all those flights, especially putting into account the fact that she couldn't do it only yesterday. But she looked like she wouldn't take no for an answer and so he let her go along.
As he had predicted, she gave out in not to short a time, although he gave her credit. She lasted three times longer then the day before. Not wanting to brook an argument he picked her up again and carried her the rest of the way. He looked down to her and saw a happy smile on her face. The conniving feline had probably planned it!
He was about to exit on the seventieth floor when she stopped him. Apparently, where they were going was on eighty second floor. With a sigh he climbed the remaining twelve levels and arrived at those destination. He let her down to the ground, Callie left first, and he followed afterwards. Six saw that they had gone to a richly designed office. Sitting at a desk in front of the doors was a gaping black female Kat, who eyed the spartan with awe, something he was become familiar with.
"He-he-hey Ca-Callie, who's yo-yo-your fri-friend." She stuttered, looking up to the giant.
"This is my...bodyguard..uh..." She realized that she had never asked for his name, and felt a little bad at that.
"Six ma'am, the name is Six." He said to the Kat at the desk, his pleasantly deep voice calming the jittery woman, although both women took note of the odd name.
"Oh...it is nice to meet you...Six." She said with a winning smile.
"Likewise ma'am." He responded with a gracious tip of the helmet.
With that done, the duo entered the office, Callie taking the chair and Six standing at the side of the desk. She turned to him apologetically. "I'm so sorry that I didn't even know your name, I'm just terrible."
"It doesn't bother me Ms. Briggs." He said dismissively.
"Please, call me Callie, I think you have done enough to earn that right." She demanded.
"Okay...Callie." He said slowly, letting the name flow through his lips. It had a nice ring to it. Before he could continue he felt a scuffle in his pouch, he groaned loudly.
"What's the matter?" she asked worriedly.
Before Six could warn her, the container finally burst open and the head of the squirrel slowly rose up into view. The spartan mentally face palmed, he had forgotten about his traveling companion. He only hoped that nothing would go wrong.
"What...is...that?" Callie asked slowly.
"...a...squirrel." He replied hesitantly.
"You have...a squirrel." She deadpanned.
"I can explain." He said a little to quickly. It scrambled up his body and sat on top of his head. She stared at the two intensively for a few minutes, until she burst into musical laughter, and almost fell out of her office chair.
Six grumbled at the loss of his dignity and muttered angry unintelligible words at the squirrel. But inside he was happy, this was a much better day then it had started out to be.