Ch. 7 When are we getting out of here?

[Janxi]

"Seems like three-on-one's good enough fer yew guys, but three-on-two's two much. Who's hidin' behind a squad?" She said softly to Gordon, while awarding him with a few punk-knot noogies before releasing him with a shove.

Like Tori, she began grooming once the MP's arrived. "Yeah, what our ex-ec-ya-tive OFFICER and our corpsman said. We're all done. Y'all come back now, y'hear? Be careful!"

Her tail moved much the same as Tori's toward Tank, and she kept her eyes locked on his.

[Takota]

Takota moves between Shep and the one he was fighting with just to be sure nothing else is gonna happen. When the MPs get there he remains quiet letting the others do the talking. It is not that he does not have anything to say but he knows the situation needs to diffuse and the things he is thinking about saying would not help matters.

Making sure Tank is ushered in the right direction after Janxi pushes him away. "It appears your friend needs some help. You might want to give him some assistance." he suggests as he gives Tank a slight push in the right direction.

[Tori]

"Sorry, y'all. Guess I shoulda shared a lil' better." Tori finally broke her gaze from Gordon, and looked back at the gathered shagcats and Shep. "Y'all's retard strength coulda left 'em a bit more than juss sore. Fixin' TMJ wif retard strength might be overkillin things.

"We done here? We got some rememberin' to do."

[Janxi]

"Lil cat? Yew took them two down on yer own. Iffen me and Tacky stepped in, they'd juss fuss 'bout thuggin wif tha retard strength. Instead, our lil one threw a double housin'! They gon talk 'bout don't go messin wif no cats an their people unless they got tha whole squad, and even then, make sure ya sneak up real good. An hell, I think even iffen they brought tha whole squad, yew'd still stand tall..."

Janxi was in awe of her partner. She knew Tori was well trained, but not that well. She gave the little cat two licks between the ears. "You done good, T-Bone! Now yer right too. We gotta have a proper wake for Sneaker and Fangs..." Her tail swished. "An' a drink to Jeanne-Claudia Goddamn tha Fishin' Cat!"

[Tori]

"Aw, I saw my duty an' did it!" Tori said as she began to purr. "We look after our own, you know that Janx. 'Sides, that one dude? Glass jaw. The other guy fights like a pogue. Shep held his own on that Tank guy."

She broke the embrace and began walking to the Class VI store. "Yer right bout that, Janx. We're drinkin to Sneaker and Fangs."

[dakota]

"Enough." The lead MP demanded, raising his voice. "You," he pointed at Shep," keep your cats away from them."

Shep nodded," Yessir."

The MP turned to Tank Gordon," And you do the same with your gorillas. I catch either of you looking at each other the wrong way and I'll through the pair of you in the hole, you read me?"

Tank nodded, helping his squadmate to his feet before they started off the other way. The MPs held ground as the two squads seperated.

Shep collected his gear and nodded his appreciation," You three shouldn't have gotten involved, but thanks." He looked ahead and saw Sam and Lt. Norrin approaching, with Sam's brother in tow. " and now I'm about to catch hell. You three go grab your drink, I'll talk to the bosslady."

[Tori]

Tori was already walking off, but acknowledged the MP with a wave.

"We ain't leavin' our XO to face a three-on-one. We got yer six, an' we know you got ours, hooya?"

Tori shot Sam a nod when she saw the officers approach. Being on a FOB meant no attention or salutes. "Ain't yer fault no how. Don't admit to nuffin. We're headin' out for beverages. See ya back at the squad bay."

She headed off to the class VI store. Along the way she looked to the other two felines. "Awrite, we'd better use tha buddy system. Nobody on the team travels wifout one of us, prefer-ably two. We got them dogs to worry about and now Shep's gots personal problems with that Gordon creep." She refused to call him Tank because he didn't deserve it in her book.

"Tha same goes fer the three of us, and especially Sam and Shep. Any funny stuff, strike hard and fast, and leave them incapacitated."

A Class VI store's main role was the post liquor store. It also offered "luxury goods" like smokes, dip, candy, snacks, hygiene items and small electronics.

She walked into the Class VI store, got a bottle of bourbon, a bottle of "Scotch," though flavored like Scotch, it was hardly made in Scotland anymore, and a 24 of beer. She also loaded up with a roll of "Catenhagan" catnip as cats were growing more and more common, and several packets of jerked beef, turkey and chicken, ranging from pocket-sized to party size. Lastly, and rather oddly, she gets a box of tampons, super absorbent, plastic applicator, unscented.

"This here's party supplies, and a few things for me. Y'all get anything ya want while we're here, cuz we could get orders any time now." She paid from her meager savings and waited for her feline confederates to get what they needed.

[Janxi]

"Oohrah, Tori."

Janxi continued by licking her paws, looking bored and flanking Tori. "Yeah, we best not be goin' off on our own. We done pissed off half this FOB, and shown up the rest. I reckon the rest wanna take us down a peg.

"I mean ya did right knockin' the clyde out, Tori, but shit, you get housed by a midget shagcat, you gotta spend yer life gittin revenge." Janxi walked into the store, grabbed Tak, and gave him four nuzzles in a row, followed by a nose lick. Then she was disinterested again. Janxi grabbed two rolls of nip, several bags of jerky, and a case of cat milk.

"This ain't over by a longshot. Buddies keep us awl safe. Especially that Shep. This is personal fer him."


"Good tribute, T-bone. Fer them each, one bourbon? One scotch, an' one beer?"

[Takota]

Following the others to the store Takota stays quiet as he goes through the events of the day thus far. There seems to be a lot of animosity toward the squad he has been assigned to. Not that it bothers him as long as he can get out to do what he was trained to do.

"Almost got into it with the dogboys earlier and Shep fighting with some moron all within a couple of hours. Maybe someone should set up some kind of competition or something so the squads can have at each other without getting into a fight. A paintball game or something like that." he says just before getting assaulted by nuzzles and a nose-lick. The leopard retaliates by ruffling Janxi's ears and then combing the claws of one hand through the fur between her ears and down the back of her neck. Like her though he stops suddenly like it is some kind of game and then starts to load up on a few bags of jerky as if nothing has happened.

Glancing through the items in the store Takota shows disinterest in the liquor. He never was fond of the stuff having only found a couple of drinks that he actually liked. The rest, despite others telling him it was so great, tasted like crap to him. Now if he finds any ginger ale, especially raspberry ginger ale, Takota would buy out whatever stock the store had. Other than that he just grabs a couple of sweet snacks to go with the jerky he picked up.

[Tori]

Tori looks at Tak buying sweets and tilts her head. Maybe his human genes allowed him to enjoy some sweets. She was all cat, however, as far as tastebuds went and couldn't taste sweet to save her life. It tasted vaguely like soap. Hot foods on the other hand, were more of her sort of candy. It was an odd genetic combination. From housecats to tigers, some just thought heat was the best. She was glad Janxi was on that same page with her.

"Yew cain't go rubbin a cat tha wrong way or ya get scratched, Tacky. I'm through taking it off know it all leg humpers, and I ain't lettin mah XO take a beatin. We're tha baddest of the bad and made stronger, faster and meaner than humans, and smarter and quicker than dogs. We're tha alphas on the food chain, and if you ain't family, yer in tha way at best, and prey at the worst. We'd lick 'em at paintball, juss like we licked 'em in a scrap, cuz we're juss made better. Three of the best weapons man ever made is what we are. Three scalpels in a butcher's drawer of cleavers.

"As fer knockin' that scallywag out? When his jaw heals up, he kin see me for round two."

[Takota]

"I'm just sayin' that if we beat the living crap out of them in a competition it -MIGHT- make 'em think twice before trying anything for real. Not that I mind forcefully showing others their place in the scheme of things when push comes to shove." Takota explains.

His thoughts on the sweets has nothing to do with how the things taste. Takota, like his non-evolved cousins, is a carnivore at heart and just supplements his diet with some other things at times. It is always good to have a bit of sugar every so often.

[Janxi]

"I think we done beat the crap out of 'em lit-rally, and it's only gon provoke 'em to try harder, Tacky." She leaned into his scratches before they split off, and purred. To anything other than a panthera, it sounded like growling. Any big cat knew she was deeply enjoying it. Splitting off was the only thing she could do to avoid engaging in public nudity and even worse. Takota found her spot.

Instead, she consoled herself with a plug of catnip, one of the last in her can. "Naw, T's right. Yew wanna be the best, ya gotta beat the best. An' that's us. Whether it's paintball, a bar brawl, or a mission, they know who we are know, an' wanna knock us off. Me, mahself? I ain't loosin' to no monkeyface er no crotch-sniffer, an' ex-specially not to no rodent. I got yer back, Tacky. I got Tori's, and moss of all, Sam's and then Shep's. We save his lame ass every next turn, but he treats us right. That's good 'nuff for me."

She grabbed an extra roll of catnip and tossed it to Tak. "Yew'll be wantin' this. If that nip did anything fer ya, you'll want another in about two hours."

[Tori]

"She's right. We beat'em in paintball, they get BB guns. We house 'em there, they go to darts, then knives then shotguns then lasers. Bess juss pound 'em once or twice, leave 'em achin, and they'll steer clear."

She rounded up the stuff and looked at the other cats. "Y'all ready or ya wanna test that campin' cot fer killcat dur-bility?"

[Takota]

"Well I didn't get to beat up on anyone." Takota says mock-pouting about his lack of participation in the recent fun. Then in a more serious tone, "I just haven't had to worry about this kind animosity toward others on the same team since my training days. I'll be more than willing to put a few people in their place if it comes down to it though."

Taking one last look around to see if there is anything that he just can't do without Takota makes his purchase and is ready to head out.

[Janxi]

"Plenty more where they came from, Tacky!" She nuzzled under his chin and looked back at him. "Welcome to the front line. Humans treat everyone like shit. Dogs are next and look down on cats. Cats, we keep our own company, as yew know. Them dogs at chow was juss askin fer trouble... IF they push, we'da shoved. That mess with Shep? That was personal. An' some lower rankin' punks attack our chain of command, we stand up fer our own.

"Careful puttin people in their place, it's still tha Coalition an' all, but someone gets outa line too far, I don't pay no mind bout givin them some correction.

"Hell naw Fleabag, that's fer after we get Tacky drunk! I'm ready to move out!" She said to her short partner.