The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows (20 page)

Just because they had
google-oogle
rumplings on the menu, did not necessarily make it a bad sign!

She tried to convince him that they had to cater to many tastes. After all, the stands were mostly situated at interplanetary way stations.

It did no good.

SpinDrift—a rather fussbudget of an eater—disagreed.

Kerreth rubbed his ear. Not a fan of insta-food stands either, he urged Lucky to forego the snack. "We don't have time, Red. We need to find this Heiner fellow."

"Slick's right." Spin concurred with his new found ally. "The last thing we want is to keep the Big Gun waiting while we're getting food poisoning at a Happy Rumpling."

"O-o-o-oh, allll right." She threw in the towel reluctantly, kicking up a mound of ice dust with her boot heel. "But on the way back—"

"Sensei Arrows will be with us and there is no telling what mood he will be in." The Floop gave her a pointed look; then comically bobbed his head in the direction of the android.

Spin was right on that point. Her brother had not been happy to see the Masterstroke on his bridge. Wildcat would want some answers.

Make that a
lot
of answers.

She sighed.

Lucky was really not ready to give her android up.

A lump formed in her throat as she watched him stride along beside them. The sun was low on the horizon; it's streaking golden rays illuminated his beautiful, golden mocha hair.

She was going to miss him. She missed him already!

Strange how he had worked his way into her heart so quickly. It was weird, but she liked being around him.

This was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever done. She certainly didn't want to leave him in the hands of that hussy buccaneer!

There was no choice in the matter.

They had to get Wildcat back.

Later, they would find a way to rescue Slick.

Although, she was sure Wildcat would fight her on it. She could hear him now: '
You want me to take on a shipful of maddened Zoltarian pirates to liberate a machine? Have you lost your mind
!'

But in the end he'd do it.

Risk his life and probably the ship as well.

Because she asked it of him. That's the way Wildcat operated.

And that was why she had to do whatever it took to get him back home to the
Sugarbabe
.

"Where are we supposed to meet them?" SpinDrift was not happy trudging through the ice. His wide webbed feet—not liking it at all.

"Um, I think Heiner said to wait outside the park limits, behind the dock-link station. Do you think he meant over there in that circular crater next to the garbage cubes, Slick?"

"Probably. It's fairly secluded; I can't imagine that Big Gun would want it known that he was here conversing with trackers a few days before his permanent coronation."

Lucky's brow furrowed. "So you know about the Day of Ascension?"

"When I heard Big Gun mentioned, I put alpha and beta together."

She looked at him, dumbfounded. "And you got alpha-beta?"

Kerreth grinned. "Yes. You see, he would need the Heart of the Merchandiser back before that day. Without it, he cannot be named true and righteous Poobah of Whatnot."

"So what?"

"No. Whatnot."

Lucky's eyes crossed. "I mean: big deal! They'll just get another corporate suck-up to take his place."

Kerreth disagreed. "Big Gun would be difficult to replace. He's actually one of the best chief operating officers in all of the consortiums. Volauvent has been well taken care because of his brilliant foresight and shrewd acumen."

"Sounds like you admire him."

He smiled mysteriously.

"As long as they pay us with that valuable thingee, that's all we care about—right, Lucky?"

"Sure, Spin." She smiled at her best friend.

"What thingee is that?" Kerreth asked, curious.

"Some precious thing from their people that's supposed to be worth as much as the Heart of the Merchandiser."

"Really." Kerreth smiled to himself. Speaking of the jewel… So far, no sign of those pesky pirates.

His dark golden eyes scanned the horizon.

Those Zoltarian thugs actually wanted him in trade! He had no doubt they
would show up sooner or later. Ironically, he would be worth more to them than a
Masterstroke, should they ever discover what he really was—

Only that wasn't going to happen.

He was not going with those pirates.

He flexed his shoulders, limbering up. He could probably protect Lucky and her friend, but the tracker would be on his own.
Sorry, Wildcat. Some things even I can't fix
.

They trudged over to the spot; their footsteps crunch-grinding into the icy terrain.

When they reached the rim, they slid down the incline into the depression. Two large metal garbage cubes flanked them on either side. The crater was empty.

There was no choice but to wait.

Thankfully, the cubes didn't smell too bad. As long as the wind kept to its current direction, they'd be OK.

After a few minutes one of the Happy Rumpling cooks exited the rear door carrying what looked to be a big pail of slop scraps.

Completely incurious as to why they were standing there, the Tumovatz tossed the bucket of garbage in the air over the cube and trudged back as unconcerned as he came.

Something with a lot of eyes blinked at them from within the cascading muck.

The metal cube suddenly whipped open and vacuumed the goop inside; sealing itself back up almost instantly.

"
Yeow
!" Lucky jumped back a few steps. "What in the hell was
that
?"

"Yesterday's
google-oogle
rumpling," SpinDrift announced rather smugly.

"
Eeeeew
!" Lucky thought she would be sick. "I'm never eating in that place again!"

"We tried to warn you." The Floop tapped his big webbed foot.

Kerreth snickered. "Yes, we did."

They all whipped around as a ragtag group suddenly emerged from behind the other garbage cube. A line of six burly Zoltarian pirates faced them, weapons drawn.

By the look of them, it wasn't hard to guess where they had gotten their kick-ass reputations. Lucky swallowed.

A tall woman walked out from behind the men.

Lucky recognised her from their exchange. Kokol. Their fearless, unscrupulous leader.

Like the rest of them, she seemed utterly brazen.

Lucky couldn't help but admire her. The female pirate was statuesque and really quite beautiful—in a different sort of way. She was sure her brother had specifically sought this woman out. Zoltarians went looking for trouble only when they were sure they could master it.

Wildcat was the kind of trouble no one could master.

Although these guys didn't seem to realize that yet.

Once the captain was satisfied that the scene was secured, she motioned with a flick of her wrist to one of her subordinates.

Her brother was escorted forward flanked by two armed guards. The two accompanying goons did not stop Wildcat from moseying.

"Cat!" Lucky beamed. She tried to run forward to embrace him; a strong hand clasping her wrist held her back.

"Easy," Kerreth murmured. "Be careful."

Lucky nodded, agreeing with his good advice.

For his part, Kerreth observed the infamous tracker up close for the first time.

The man was taller than he expected.

Taller than he was—and he was considered a fairly tall humanoid. Kerreth had once seen a vidholo of Earth and its tribal cultures. He could have sworn he was looking directly into the face of a fearsome warrior chieftain straight out of Earth's past. All the man needed was a tartan and a mace to complete the image!

A chill skittered through Kerreth.

Piercing blue eyes locked onto him and he could tell at once that there would be no fooling this man.

He knew.

Straightaway, he knew.

The tracker was also aware that his sister did not
realize she did not have in her possession a Masterstroke 6000—or any other kind of android, for that matter.

With one searing look, Wildcat conveyed to Kerreth a plethora of meaning. While the tracker might not know exactly why Kerreth was willing to appear to go through with the trade off, he would bet good miadne that Wildcat had already connected the scheme to the missing jewel.

"So this is the legendary 6000." Kokol stepped forward. She placed her hands on her hips as she gave Kerreth the once over. "He's quite realistic, isn't he?"

She was all but licking her chops as she strolled around him, examining him from all angles.

The pirate woman was surprisingly lovely in person. No matter; Kerreth was not interested. A short time ago he might have been tempted—despite that
thing
they did with their teeth. He had never been one to turn down an insane situation that had possibilities.

Surreptitiously, his gaze went to Lucky.

Not going to happen, he realized.

He wasn't leaving this Red. She just didn't know it yet.

For her part, Lucky gritted her teeth not at all liking the interloper who had designs on her personal Masterstroke!

Kokol winked lewdly at Lucky. "He is good bargaining material; I'll give you that."

"I am wounded to the quick," Wildcat drawled.

Kokol snickered. "I don't think he's quite as gorgeous as you, lover. He has, however, a true potential."

Wildcat leaned against one hip and crossed his arms over his chest. "Thanks, darlin', I appreciate the sentiment."

"The advantage, of course," Kokol stood on tiptoe and stared into Kerreth's handsome face, "is that androids are entirely biddable. Something you could never be."

The tracker's eyes clouded over. "Now why would I want to be accommodating?" He intoned softly. "Especially since you seem to be the type who gets her pleasure so easily without it."

"Sometimes I like to be the one on top,
darlin'
." Kokol shot back at him.

Wildcat raised his eyebrows. "Weren't you?"

She snorted. "Figuratively speaking. An android such as this will always do what it is told."

"That is not true." Seeing an opportunity to dissuade the pirate captain, Kerreth jumped into the conversation. "With certain cases we are designed to be completely intractable."

"Really?" She ran her long fingernail down the front of his chest. "Well, that can be fun, too," she whispered.

Kerreth's dislike of the situation showed on his features.

"Enough of this bs, Kokol. Lucky delivered as promised. Are we free to go our separate ways or are we going to continue standing around here freezing our wontons off? I have a dinner date I need to keep; you see, I just
have
to ask my sister how in the hell she got this—this
thing
in the first place." He gave Lucky a searing look.

Lucky stared at her toe.

"Easy, Cat; we are not wholly done yet…" Kokol threw him a steamy glance. "Are we?"

Wildcat watched her silently from under the sweep of his jet-black lashes.

Kokol's lips parted.
He had to be the sexiest man she had ever met
. There was a special command about him that surfaced every now and then; as if he could not hold it back. She found it thrilling—underneath it all Wildcat Arrows was a very dangerous man.

By far, he was the best in her bed. Ever.

She licked her lips at her good fortune at having stopped in that tavern at just the right time. Too bad she couldn't keep him awhile longer.

Lucky rolled her eyes as she watched the exchange between her brother and the female pirate. Kokol was acting awfully sappy for a Zoltarian thug.

Geesh.

Wildcat had even managed to sweet-talk a hardened pirate! Unbelievable. Chalk up another one for Arrows. Go team!!!

Then again, if her brother put in a quarter of the amount of time he did on women towards actual tracking, they'd be as rich as ol' Midas by now. "Great skill set there, bro, " Lucky mouthed, shaking her head.

Wildcat inclined his head, totally unapologetic.

A soft chuckle tickled her earlobe.

Cloud! It was easy to forget he was there; however, one never forgot an encounter with a twilight assassin. Most such encounters were brief and definitely final.

Lucky exhaled. Just knowing that the Auran was nearby made her feel better. She wondered what he made of all this.

Kokol finally responded to Wildcat's comment—but it was not what the Sugarbabe crew wanted to hear.

"As beautiful as he is, I'm afraid he is not enough in exchange for you."

Wildcat nostrils flared in annoyance. "Come on, Kokol; don't be that greedy. You can sell him for a fortune on Brigatine and you know it."

"True. True." She tapped her chin with her index finger. "Still, there is the matter of that interesting bit of miadne…"

"Kokol." Wildcat warned.

"You really don't expect me to go without it, Wildcat." She gestured to her comrades. "We are pirates; we must have that stone. It is not personal; but we'll probably have to kill you all if we don't get it." She shrugged as if to say 'what can I do'.

Wildcat frowned, disappointed in her decision. "I don't think anyone is getting that stone, sweetheart, unless we—"

"He's completely right about that. No one is getting the stone—except me!"

The Zoltarians spun around only to realize that they had been completely surrounded by armed soldiers.

A large, imposing man, stepped forward. His total command and power were evident.

It could only be the celebrated Big Gun.

"Tell your men to drop their weapons, Captain—or we will drop them for them."

Kokol sneered at him in proper Zoltarian snit, but, nonetheless, barked out a command to her people to stand down.

The pirates reluctantly dropped their weapons one by one.

With perfect timing, SpinDrift—who had been blessed silently up until now—weighed in with his usual mixed-up logic. "What do you always say, Sensei Arrows… out of the fire and into the frying pan, eh?"

Wildcat gave him his 'how could someone so idiotic continue to remain alive on my ship' expression.