"Hey Joey?"
Joey halted in mid-step as he heard JC call for him from his office. He peered in the doorway, "Yeah JC?"
"Could you get the guys prepared to go hunting tonight? I've got to call the Ducks to get the details but they have a new lead for us."
Joey nodded. "Sure thing. Could it wait another hour or two though? They're kinda having a lil' mini celebration out there."
"Celebration?" JC looked over in confusion.
"Yeah, apparently Justin healed his first ducky today. We're kinda pampering him right now." Joey smiled to show how proud he was of the young man.
"He did? That's incredible." JC got up from his desk. "Do you mind if I tag along?"
Joey smiled, glad that JC was taking a personal interest in the guys. "Not at all man!"
Not half an hour later, all of the guys were sitting at the local Hard Rock Cafe for Justin's celebration dinner.
"Come on, guys. You're embarrassing me. It wasn't that big of a deal." Justin blushed bright red as each of the guys continued to congratulate him on his accomplishment.
"You're wrong," JC responded. "It's a very big deal. You saved a duck's life today. There isn't a bigger deal than that."
"Yeah, but it just kinda happened. I mean, any of you guys would've done the same."
"Yup, but we don't have healing superpowers like you, Curly." Chris scooped up some mozzarella sticks and shoved them into his mouth.
During the rest of the dinner the other guys continued to brag about what Justin had done and Justin continued to try to be humble about it. JC did his best to stress how proud he was of what Justin had done and that it did not go unnoticed. Not only did Justin finally feel accepted but the other guys began to notice how much JC really did care about them.
Lance sat back and watched all the male bonding with a smile on his face. If this keeps up pretty soon we'll be having sleepovers. Lance chuckled silently to himself.
***
"Alright, this is the usual drill. Inside are somewhere between 25 and 30 Saurians. Nothing unusual. We've done this several times now so there shouldn't be any screw-ups." Lance noticed the boredom on Chris' face. "I know that it doesn't seem like we're accomplishing much but we are. Every time we do this, Emeral loses more of his army. Please don't become so confident that you get careless." Lance glared at Chris. "We've been pretty lucky so far but as soon as you start getting cocky you start forgetting these are dangerous creatures and they are training for war."
Calista and JC nodded in understanding as Justin started preparing his bow.
"Ok. Let's do this."
They ruptured into the room like a stampede and didn't even waste time with introductions. JC went straight for the owner of the establishment, knocking out lizard after lizard on his way. Chris and Justin found a corner of the room and started their usual dance. Justin aimed and fired as Chris sliced and diced any Saurian that wandered in their direction. Calista fought smoothly whether she was using her saber on not and was readily aware of anyone who attempted to attack her from behind.
Lance withdrew his saber and began taking out any lizard close to him. The fighting had become second nature now and he sometimes found that his mind would drift somewhere else while he continued the fluid motions. Creature after creature advanced on him and he stabbed one after another with a kind of laid-back smoothness that only he could pull off.
From the corner of his eye he stopped the movement of one of the creatures running from the room. Remembering that JC insisted they leave no witnesses, Lance dusted the lizard he was fighting and took off into the outer room. The frightened creature turned in horror when he heard Lance approach from behind.
"Leaving so soon?"
The Saurian snarled at him and prepared a stance for attack. Lance could sense his fear and desperation but they were of no concern to him. "Alright then, fella, you leave me with no choice."
They began circling around the room. Lance held back waiting for him to make a move. When he realized the creature had no desire to make any move that would endanger himself Lance decided to take the offensive instead of the defensive. Moving forward Lance jumped into the arm and spin kicked, hitting the being in the chest.
The force of the kick threw the lizard back into the wall. Wasting no time, Lance rushed forward and sliced the creature in half. "Can't feel sorry for ya." Lance straightened and brushed the dust off his suit.
He turned to go back into the main room when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. I'm being watched. He balanced the saber in his hand and swirled around to meet his assailant.
Lance froze in fear as he saw the beautiful woman standing in front of him.
"You don't look happy to see me." She moved out of the shadows allowing the moonlight to hit her facial features flatteringly.
Lance's heart jumped into his throat and his mind filled up with a million thoughts at once. He didn't know whether to fight, or flee, or talk. All he could do was stand there staring at her in disbelief.
"Cat got your tongue, dear? Surely you can manage at least a hello for me?"
"Nicolette..." After months of thinking about this moment none of the words he had rehearsed came to him.
"Well, at least you remember me. I was beginning to think you had forgotten all about me." She pouted and inched closer to where Lance was standing, saber still in his hand.
"Of course I remember you. I could never forget."
Nicolette smiled widely. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that."
Starting to regain a little of his composure, Lance asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Why following you, silly. It seems the tables are turned since I'm the one who has to hunt you down."
Lance frowned, "How long have you been following me?"
"For while," she replied elusively.
"Does Emeral know what you've been up to?" Lance didn't want to think that Emeral had been keeping tabs on them all this time.
"Sort of. What I chose to tell him anyway."
She moved in closer to him. She could feel his breath. "Have you missed me Lance?"
Lance felt his heart stop. "Of course I have."
The smile on her face seemed to have no end. She took her finger and traced it down the center of his chest. "I like that. I've missed you, ya know? It's just not the same without you around."
"What about Emeral? Aren't you faithful to him now?"
She sighed. "Yes, I suppose so. But he doesn't have our history, does he?"
He could feel himself falling apart, turning into a glob of nothingness. He didn't want to give into her but when he looked at her all he could remember was how much he loved her.
"We can still be together, Lance. All you have to do is let me take care of you. We were meant to be together."
It was so tempting to think about life with her again. Just him and her forever. An image of Emeral popped into his mind and he immediately realized this what not the way it was supposed to be. He lifted his saber until it was level with her heart. "I can't do that, Nik."
Anger creeped into her face. "You're not going to kill me, Lance. We both know you don't have it in you."
"Lance?"
The couple looked over in the doorway to see Chris, Justin, Joey, Calista and JC staring at them in confusion. Nicolette growled at the intrusion. Knowing she was no match for all of them she looked back over at Lance. "Until next time, lover." She grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips. She turned and leaped through the window, shattering glass behind her.
"JC she's getting away!!" Joey went to pursue her as JC held him back.
Lance yelled, "Don't you dare, Joey!"
JC glared at Lance, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"