The dangers of the job Pt3
#118 of Exploration
I was only out for half an hour. When I came to I found I was lying next to my car, we hadn't moved, and that Kodey was asleep under the blanket that someone had kindly put on us. We were still a mess of blood and dirt. Silverine was sitting on the ground beside us, and the wolf hybrid looked down as he saw the blanket move as I gingerly tested my legs.
"Afternoon Alduin, you are having quite a day."
"Tell me." I sat up.No one was around, only the Lupogriff.
"How the hell did you survive that blast?" he asked me frankly. I sent the recording of the drag up the ramp, and he smiled.
"Nice, it's an Aerial Atom." he chuckled. I managed a laugh, it was pretty funny.
"Yeah,we caught some serious air."
"And it's the second time today you've saved yourselves from death and mutilation."
"The first time was luck, Silverine."
"Still good driving." the Lupogriff replied."So are you prepared to go home?"
"Depends, is everyone else?"
"All gone, save Draco and Giancarlo.Javid and Simba left their town, it was deserted, Val and company talked with the soldiers while you were out, and collected enough info."
"Well, that's a relief. But I don't really want to stay, Silverine. I've nearly been killed twice today, I wouldn't trust to luck a third time."
"Comment noted." Silverine replied."I'm just staying here until Draco and Giancarlo are ready to leave, and then we're off. All the vehicles except the Atom and the Ferrari are back at base, and Abigail's fixing up solutions to fill in all the dents this heap of junk suffered."
"Silverine, don't make me hit you.That heap of junk saved my life.I am so glad I had nitrous in the car."
"So am I, I was just teasing you." the Lupogriff rubbed a gentle hand on my back.
"Well that's something.What happened to Kodey after I blacked out?"
"Oh, he cried for a while, and then went to sleep. Poor thing, I don't think he enjoyed today at all."
"I wonder what gave you that idea." I said sarcastically.
"But he's in one piece, I have you to thank for that."
"Don't worry, Silverine. It happens all the time among the scouts.I need no reward."
"I know that, Alduin. I just wanted to say thank you."
"Coming from you, that means a lot, Silverine. While I could never be in your position, I feel exactly the same about my friends, never leave one behind."
"I expect no less from you. And yes, while you aren't in my position, I know you'd be a good replacement, for you would be determined to protect everyone of us in that sort of position, doubly so. Don't think I'm retiring, but should I ever take a holiday or need some one to watch the fort while I'm doing something else, can I at least consider you?"
"I don't know how good I'd be, but you may." I nodded.
We sat in silence.
"I did say thank you, didn't I?" Silverine asked, looking at me, and I laughed.
"Just say you want me to fuck you, you pussy."
Silverine broke into raucous laughter. Wild, untameable laughter. Kodey slept on, but the Lupogriff fell backwards on his back, heaving with joy. I burst out laughing myself. The pair of us chuckled, giggled and grinned for about five minutes, before Silverine sat back up, brushing a tear from his eye and holding his ribs.
"Not exactly what I had in mind, but I'd go with it.Just a question."
"If this is about the comment, I'm not saying a word."
"Is there a medal your race has for saving the life of a fellow scout?" he asked.
"There are V.C medals for outstanding bravery, and lesser medals and decorations. Are you thinking of starting one up?"
"That's exactly what I am thinking. Simba, for example.He never asks for rewards, but as a field medic he has rescued so many from the brink. Arachno is another. Then there's those that have done something incredibly brave and/or stupid to save another scout, something I noticed you do well. Draco, I dare say myself, Thomas, Valmeero by blasting that fighter to oblivion. Nothing big, but perhaps just a small golden star, perhaps with silver and gold bars underneath."
"So you get a silver if you save a wounded scout?" I thought on this.
"Yes, and if you do something incredibly heroic, you get a gold. I just realised so many of us have done such. Val stopped the scorpion crushing you, Salbar sacrificed his eyesight for your party, you helped Thomas when he had been impaled with an arrow, Devlin during Dul'Ihanri. So much valour, all unrewarded."
"The reward is to have them with you still."
"That is true, but they deserve more than that. They deserve praise, congratulations. They should, in some way, receive a reward that commemorates what they did. Nothing flamboyant, just perhaps a small star or medal."
"It sounds like a very interesting proposition."I said slowly,"But I'd talk to the others when we get back.
Kodey awoke soon after me."Can we go home?" he looked at Silverine, and the Lupogriff smiled knowingly.
"Soon, Kodey, but not yet. Feeling better?"
"Yes, although I've got to stop being in a passenger in Alduin's car, too many things happen when I am."
I laughed." Tell you what, Kodey, I'll take you for a spin on our test track, there won't be any tanks or planes shooting at us, and you can relax."
"Sounds tempting, except I also want to know how you get up that hill so fast."
"Familiarity breeds knowledge, I know that track dry and wet."
"That is true, Alduin's logged more hours on that track than anyone else except Abigail, but that's because she tests car prototypes."
"Yes, and she's just dying for someone to add ion rockets like the two I carry in my F-22 to the ion drive. I want to see that thing accelerate down the straight."
"Rest assured she is already working on that. She also mentioned before she left that she was working on this Death Race version, whatever you call it."
"Did she specify what she intended to put on the Atom?"
"She was having trouble deciding.She wanted two solinium RPG's, one on either side under the the sides of the car, two MG34 0.27's just behind the radiator intake, firing directly past the side of the cockpit, and as for the very front, she was tossing up between a Vulcan (VLT) 30mm or an 0.308 minigun."
"She's completely serious about turning this car into a war machine, isn't she?"
"Oh hell yeah, she loves the idea. Of course, because she's Abigail, she's also trying to make these as subtle as possible, make sure no one knows that they are there."
"I'd like to know how she intends to hide a Vulcan under the front cover." I laughed at the thought.
"It could be worse,"Silverine reminded,"I took the liberty of hacking onto the internet, and guess what I found?I found the Dreadnought from that movie."
"Oh yes,"I smiled evilly," The Dreadnought. That thing is completely cool."
"But all that weaponry will hurt the speed, wouldn't it?" Kodey asked, and we got Abigail giving us a lecture within seconds.
"Normally it would, Kodey, but with the integrated ion rockets on the side, it will have so much more power it won't make any difference. If anything, it will accelerate faster with the extra power, and because of the way I'm metering out the weight, it shouldn't feel any different for Alduin, so he can still toss it around as though it weighs a feather."
"She worries me, sometimes." I said with a straight face, and the lioness laughed.
"Coming from, Alduin?I feel so nasty right now."
Owch. Kodey sat down on Silverine's legs, and hugged the Lupogriff. Silverine returned it, and they sat there, embraced. I felt slightly embarrassed being next to this moment of privacy, so I did what anyone would have done, and left, car and all, back to the tech planet.
I arrived 37 seconds later in the middle of the pit lane, and Abigail came over. She was holding a towel and a bottle of clear liquid.
"Soak the towel in this fluid, and then wipe over the scratches. The buckles on the front won't be fixed with this, but all the ricochets will be. Just before you do, add a piece of metal the same colour into the mix, so get a piece off the car."
I removed a flaking piece of red paint from the radiator grille side, and tossed it into the liquid. Instantly the entire vial turned a deep red.Both sloping front panel and radiator cover were this red colour, the rest was black and silver. I immediately covered the towel in the red mixture, and began to apply elbow grease to cleaning.
It worked well.The clear liquid hardened in the scratches, and they disappeared.It's like watching someone fix a windscreen, the crack just disappears slowly as the device is placed against it.
Abigail disappeared for about five minutes, and then came back with a fairly juicy looking machine gun.This was the MG34 that the Buick Riviera had in Death Race, and Abby's thirst for pure amusement and ultimate cool suggested she wanted to put two of these things on my Atom. As long as I didn't have to worry about the wiring. She immediately started designing something on a piece of paper, just as my headset blared.
"Alduin, Draco's finished, they're coming back, as are we." Silverine announced, and I waited for a minute before Giancarlo, Draco, Silverine and Kodey landed in a circle around the dragon's Ferrari 430. It was somewhat scratched too, and looked like some one had opened on it with a machine gun.
As Kodey came over to me, Draco confirmed this.
"I got shot at at least four times by various mantises. I'm glad these things are mostly bullet proof." the dragon said, and immediately looked for some of the chemical I had just used.While the front had been pushed in, it had had no effect on the steering or suspension, and Kodey took up the offer to come for a ride. Silverine set up a projector connected to the reindeer's headset, and both me and Kodey got strapped in.
"How many laps do you want me to do?" I asked the reindeer, as I clicked my four point belt and tightened the straps. Kodey did the same.
"Let's just start with two and work from there." he suggested.
I started the engine, and let the pit lane slowly, the calm before the storm. I was going down the pit lane the wrong way, and so came out at the back of the straight.
"O.K., let's go." Kodey braced himself, and he wasn't disappointed. I jerked the steering wheel to the right, and hammered the throttle briefly. The car did a half donut, and then the car accelerated down the main straight. We were both pressed into our seats.
"This thing is primal!" Kodey shouted. The speed went up and up as I crossed the start line, and came hurtling towards the corner. I took the first corner a bit more gently than normal, and then thrashed it up the hill. Soon we were weaving up the hill at an astonishing rate.
"You're trying to kill me!" Kodey shouted, as I slammed the brakes for another hairpin, and the car slid round the hairpin before I floored it again.
"No I'm not!"I laughed,"This is just going hard out!"
Kodey said something I wouldn't repeat on paper, and then covered his eyes with his arms as another hairpin loomed. The brakes came on, and the car stepped out, but I had in all under control, and Kodey looked back at the hairpin.
"I'm impressed! Now stop showing off!"
We almost scraped both sides of a chicane as he spoke.
"I'm very impressed, just stop the car!" the reindeer said even louder, and I took no heed. With a maniacal laugh, the car bounced over a crest on the side of the hill, and slid completely sideways into the next hairpin.
"Silverine, this human is nuts!"
"On the other hand, he hasn't crashed it yet." the Lupogriff said.
"You're only being polite because you're not in the passenger seat!" the reindeer replied. The car came to the top of the hill, and we shot down the other side. Kodey was looking terrified as we danced from corner to corner.
"My NSX never did anything like this!" he shouted.
"Your NSX is a good car, but this isn't really a car, is it?" I shouted back, as the car drifted almost leisurely through a dip.
"Help, help, help, somebody stop this roller coaster!" Kodey shouted.
The car came flying at Aurora, the corner onto the long straight, and it gave me no little satisfaction to hear not only Kodey, but Giancarlo and Silverine exclaim something just before I hit the brakes, all three convinced I couldn't take the corner. But take it I did, and the car swung onto the straight. There the muscles of the car squared up, and it rocketed down the straight with all the subtleness of a jet plane. The second stage kicked in, and Kodey was smiling at the power now the corners had gone.
The car came to the Tester, and Kodey laughed with delight as I hit the brakes firmly, changing down and drifting wildly. Then the last couple of corners, and then the start finish straight. As I got to the line I hammered the anchors again, and came to a very sudden stop. We were held by our harnesses, but I would have knocked myself out on the steering wheel if I hadn't. The reindeer took a deep breath.
"Well, I'm not used to the corners, but that was fun." he smiled.
Silverine vaulted the wall and walked over to us.
"Kodey, are you alive?" he suggested, and all three of us laughed.
"Mostly.But I never felt safer with him driving." the reindeer clapped my shoulder, and I smiled.
"So do you fancy a second lap?" I asked.
"No." the reindeer removed his seatbelt, and got out of the car. He was sure footed, but breathing deeply. I had both excited and terrified the reindeer, a feat I could probably manage with everyone on this except the very strong willed. But I parked the car back in the garage and let Abigail begin the construction of the prototype, the Ariel Atom Supercharged type W.A.R1.
We teleported back to Central, and walked to the food store. Several groups were away, but the place was reasonably full. Two glowers were waiting by Silverine's chair, and the Lupogriff suddenly seemed nervous.Draco had long since got there with everyone but me, Kodey and the Lupogriff, and there was an expectant hush around the food store as everyone waited for either Silverine or the glowers to say something.So I broke the tension.
"Does this mean I've lost my no claims bonus?"
The moment deflated like a balloon. Ryan Lewis was the only one there who lived on Earth, but everyone else understood the principle, and everyone was laughing all of a sudden.There was even the ethereal chuckling of the glowers, they pulsed in merriment.
"We did want to talk about your display of driving, Alduin, but not about car insurance."
"Well that's something, I'd hate to think how much a premium would be on that Atom." I rolled my eyes at the idea, to more amusement.
"But our primary wish was with Silverine.If you will come with us..." they hovered forwards, and Silverine paled, but pride held him in check, and after nodding to us, walked out with the two glowers.
I sat down at the table with everyone else.
"My poor Lupogriff, he does not like the company of the glowers, it seems." Kodey suggested.
"Blinding flash of the obvious." Draco muttered,"They are just so unnerving, all that power that resides in them."
"So would Alduin like to talk through his driving elan?" Alecto voiced.
"Seeing as everyone heard about the tank affair." Alex added," I think it's about time some one told me how he survived both times."
So the projector was set up, and Kodey explained the story, the special stage as he insisted on calling it up the hill, the jets, the run down the hill and the run in with the tanks. Both fronts were no longer there, just the rims of the tyre, all the rubber had been blasted off. As I went down the hill, the rims cut furrows into the bank. My recording showed I looked at nothing else but the slope, my hands locked in position.Then there was the levelling out, and the car skidded into the undergrowth. I had rather neatly aimed between two trees, and got caught in the branches from both.
Then my under water movement to fix Kodey's chest wound, Runo suggested I had been hit with a slow spell, but it was just the effort needed was so much. We skipped through the unconscious bit, and then the event with the mantis creatures. There was a lot of rather immature wolf, and dragon, and feline whistling as Kodey took part in sex with me, and then the drive in to town was greeted with impressed looks as they watched Brendan's R10 vanish up the road.
And everyone saw from Ryan Lewis's camera as he pulled level with me, I turned, and issued a mocking wave, a grin the width of a canal on my face.
"I'm faster than you." Draco commented, reading my expression.
"It is, though nothing's faster than the bike under acceleration." Ryan replied.
"Except another bike." Time Dancer shot.They still hadn't resolved that.
But the real laughter was when the argument sprung up over who had the best car.All those who had been in the argument but Silverine were there, watching as the verbal assault flew back and forth. This was shown from my cam, and I watched everyone as they spoke. Even Deltora was smiling, that took some doing. Alex was laughing, I was too, Draco was trying to hid his mirth with a lot more success than Giancarlo.It was just so funny, all these retorts and insults. Of special note was Kodey and Silverine's note on dictators, this got a whole hearted eruption of laughter and applause.
I noticed Iris nearby, with the young Khamsina.The baby dragon was growing pretty quickly for a child, but was currently asleep. Khamsina had all her teeth, and Iris had given up breast feeding on account of the fact the baby was not as cautious with her teeth as Draco could be. Draco could suckle on Iris if he chose to, but Khamsina bit, and bit hard. So Iris was carrying a bottle around, which was made of a special flexible rubber like compound that could withstand having razor teeth sinking into it.
Then the drama with the plane unfolded, and we followed Kodey's view, he was looking behind at the plane as it came into bomb us into oblivion. Then came my hurried order, and Kodey braced himself for the burst, watching as I hit a red button behind the steering wheel. Both of us were thrown back, and then the second stage kicked in. We hit the ramp, and suddenly all we could see was sky. Kodey's pad paper lifted up into the air as we began to fall back down, in fact everything that wasn't nailed down rose, and then we hit the ground. I noticed a half brick come flying past over the pair of us and land, blackened and cindered, in a small crater.
Kodey was not ashamed of his breakdown, there was no reason to, but there was a great cheer as I rather dramatically passed out, and I blushed.
"Once again, Alduin running until empty of emotion, and then just fainting." Draco clapped my shoulder. Blake quickly checked my pulse, and lay me down on my back, placing a blanket over my unconscious form. As we were still viewing from Kodey's glasses, Blake talked to Silverine for a few minutes, and then vanished. Abigail looked at my car, began fiddling with a device she carried, and vanished. Kodey fell asleep, and the Lupogriff lay him down next to me, and then covered the pair of us.
"I am most impressed." Draco commented,"I thought I had it bad when I got bombed and shot at, but of course I was in a bullet proof shell. You on the other hand...well."
"I wondered why they had walked in dirt streaked, blood streaked and jubilant." Time Dancer said off handedly.Oops, were we still a mess? I shot a glimpse at the reindeer, yes, just his colour meant it wasn't so noticeable. His top half was stained a darker red, and every part of him was covered in dirt (from the crash), or black carbon ash (from the explosion). I looked at him, than at the bits of I could see.
"Right, Kodey, shower." I stood up, and took the reindeer by the arm, leading him outside a little forcefully. Draco came with us, and after a minute of walking me and Kodey burst out laughing.
"We look terrible!" I laughed."Do I, or do I not, look like I've rolled down a muddy hill?"
"You do, although you also look like you've bumped against a rock, your neck still looks awful. What about me?" Kodey asked.
"I hear looking half mauled is all the rage nowadays." I said innocently, and Kodey laughed, jumping onto my back trying to topple me. I laughed and staggered, but stayed upright. Kodey wrapped his feet around my waist and I piggy backed him all the way to our quarters.
"So, rules are simple." I announced as we entered the living room, Draco helpfully opened the door as I was holding the reindeer around the legs to stop him slipping down," Both in the shower, clean one another down, don't miss anything. I just wonder how much soap it's going to need to clean your fur."
"I'm not the only one caked in blood. You checked your T-shirt recently?"
"The cleaning bill's going to be horrendous." I laughed. It was one of my black ones, but it would still take effort to remove the stains of dark red.
Draco held the bathroom door for me, and I set Kodey down on the tiled floor as I set to stripping. Draco stripped Kodey for some strange reason, and then started running a shower.
"So what are you intending to do here?" the reindeer asked Draco.
"Be here, firstly as a chaperon, and secondly because I want to stick by this human, he's almost died too many times today." We laughed at this, and I tested the water for temperature. The water heated up quickly, and while Kodey reacted in the same way most furry mammals do, there is a brief moment of repulsion to the water, I picked him up and stepped under the spray.
Hot water. God I needed it. I could feel the mud and blood slip down my skin, washed away by the litres of reasonably hot water. Kodey let out a great breath as he was struck bodily by the spray. He was going to be more difficult to clean, fur is a nightmare, and as Kodey stepped out from the spray, I lathered my hands with soap, and as he did the same began to soap his back thoroughly.
I was right.It was hard to shift, but I was very firm. Kodey did his front, while I carefully worked his neck, shoulders and back. He sighed audibly as I massaged around his shoulders. The door of the shower was open, Draco was sitting on the floor next to the shower, getting damp from the spray bouncing off me and Kodey.
"Kodey, one question." Draco smiled, and I expected the dragon to have another go at me.
"Fire away." the reindeer replied, as he rubbed his face with vigour. I caressed his antlers, cleaning both of them with the utmost care.
"Why on Central did you sit in his passenger seat? Doesn't his technique scare you?"
Kodey laughed, and I rolled my eyes, although no one saw.
"It does, but when he's thrashing it, Alduin gives you this feeling he's concentrating 100 percent, and it makes you feeling suddenly safe. Sure it's scary, cars should not be driven like that, but Alduin makes it possible. It's a thrill, because it both scares and excites you."
"It's a great shame I cannot fit into the Atom, I'd like to find this out for myself. Have you taken other passengers, Alduin?"
"I took Alecto for a spin, and possessed Casdey, and terrified both of them. Hah, that squirrel insisted I was going to crash any second, and Alecto had to be unfused from the cockpit with some loving care. I teleported him back to my house, and he had to make love with me before he could relax." I laughed, finishing the antlers, and then covering the reindeer's eyes with my hands. He immediately went limp, not struggling.
"Guess who?" I whispered in his ear.
"Alduin, who else?" Kodey smiled, and I spun him around and got onto my knees.
"Alduin, what, I thought I was supposed to do that to you." he seemed somewhat stumped as I began to suck on his unerect cock. Kodey was still mostly submissive, but that was O.K., I didn't mind working on someone who was. He relaxed against the wall of the shower as I began to gently suck on the tip of his cock. Draco turned, and sighed.
"Turn my back for five seconds..." and both reindeer and me laughed. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry, this is just relieving some excess tension after today."I replied, and Kodey slumped down the wall, sitting on the floor of the shower with his legs spread widely. I followed him down, and then continued my gentle suckling.
"And boy do I need it." the reindeer looked at Draco." I tell you, being shot is not something fun."
"Well, granted, Alduin is good at that sort of thing.I think both of you have far too much tension to relieve, but then that's me saying it, not you."
"I wouldn't mind Alduin fucking me a couple of times either. He had to look after me, and did a damned good job of it."
"I thought he was more worried about saving his own life. The fact you were there was just additional." Draco laughed, trying to get me to rise to it, and I did.
"Kodey has never been an additional. Silverine's boyfriend, I like him because he's so darn cute, and tremendously friendly and well disposed. True, I was worried about my own life, but I was equally worried about him." I replied, and began to go up and down Kodey's length. Kodey would not even think of using his hand to make me work him, he was far too submissive for that, he just let me work him.
"Oh, you know that mantis creature you met in the subway? We've moved him from harm's way, so he is safe now."
"That's a relief. Glad someone thought of him, cause after the shootings, I'd clean forgotten." This was ashamedly true, but I did have a point, being bombed can make you forget a hell of a lot. Draco linked into Kodey's feed from the lap, as I sucked Kodey towards ejaculation. The reindeer had a couple of small scars on his upper body from splinters of the explosion, and I told him. Kodey was perfect in looks and behaviour, and I idly wondered whether he would keep them or get Arachno to fix them.
There are advantages for both. Me, I kept the scars, because they stated plainly that I had been from here to hell and back with every single trip, and I was not to be trifled with. People looking on my body would invariably conclude I had guts and not a person to pick on. Kodey on the other hand, liked to keep his furry skin blemish free. It meant he still had the experience, but people didn't know that. People under estimated Kodey, like they did at the Hunt, because he was just so innocent looking.
The reindeer twisted in my grasp, moaning at my expert manipulation of his cock. I will admit at this point that I had taken lessons from Kodey himself on this. He had spent years being abused, and had learned to pleasure more, and quicker. He gave a cry, and let go into me. The warm semen filled my mouth, and I swallowed it all before getting off the reindeer. He waited for me to make an advance for another round, but I shook my head.
"I'm not doing anymore, Kodey. Are you going to Arachno now?"
"Yes." the reindeer nodded, he knew what I was thinking.
I got out of the shower and vigorously dried myself down.
"Send him my love. I think I'm going home." I reached for my clothes and teleporter, putting them all on. Kodey nodded, took some clean clothes from a drawer that fitted him, those glowers thought ahead all the time, and after getting into a very nice white tunic and some sensible trousers, went off to find the spider doctor.
Draco placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Well done, Alduin."
I nodded, looking at the dragon with a half smile. He must have caught the expression.
"You did well, taking care of yourself and Kodey, Alduin. I am always impressed by you. Now, are you going to get some sleep at home?"
"I am." I nodded.
"I will come with you." he took my hand, and we teleported.
Ryan was still on Central, as was Gareth, and Draco helped me put away my gear as I prepared for a long sleep. I got under the covers, and felt Draco lie down and curl up at the end of the bed, his tail twitching on my legs.
"Sleep well, Alduin." he said.
That was nice. He showed in that moment how much he cared for me, he would sleep near me on guard. I suppose that's something to be said for all Centralites, they care for one another so much. Safe in the knowledge that not even a rioting mob would get past Draco, I slept so soundly that I didn't even hear Ryan and Gareth return.