Project Trouble X Three

Dedicated to the best people I know, oddball, PenumbraMINE, N.Y.O.B. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Recap

I sat up, not realizing I had laid down, and gasped. Martim was leaning over me, his open palm held up as if he was going to slap me. I knew he was only trying to get me to snap out of the vision but I still glared at him.

Martim put his hand down, a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry, Cat, I was worried you were lost. You’ve been out for forty-minutes. You were twitching as if you were fighting or lining up moves. I was scared I was going to lose you again.”

I put my hand on his jaw. “You did pull me out of the vision by your words. I was following along with the vision by moving to each person and copying their moves, including the twins.”

“What?” He asked, his eyes wide on mine as I nodded my head. “You’re awesome, Cat. I didn’t think to go through the moves everyone made that day.”

I chuckled, the sound cutting off when I heard the monkey’s go bat-shit crazy.

Cats POV

I knew whoever was coming was still a ways away. I put my finger on Martim’s lips and touched my ear. I noticed when Martim heard the same I did. He grabbed my hand and pushed open a slot in the floor and signed for me to quiet and to get to the lower section of the passageway. I nodded and slid down as quietly as possible, hooking my body in the straps as soon as I made it around the corner.

I listened attentively to what was happening. I didn’t want to miss anything they were saying or what was going on. I knew my mom had great hearing and had trained me to use mine in the same way she did. I was going to put those skills to the test.

I saw a bag hanging on the wall and rooted through it to see what my dad had put in it. In one hand I held a comms unit and the other one held a hand-held camera where I could see into the room. I could see Martim setting at the table, a cup of something in his hand. He didn’t seem to be drinking the stuff but I could tell by his face he was up to something.

“Hey, Tomas, you up there?” An idiot shouted from below.

I touched a button on the screen that showed me two places at once. I could see the ugly man down below as he waited on ‘Tomas’. I wanted to study this man and see if I recognized him from the battle. Huh? Oh, he must not be one of the people who didn’t make it to the battle because of a death in his family.

His.

“Tomas, don’t make me come up there,” the man threatened.

“Or what?” Martim asked the fool. “What? Are you going to come up here?”

“Maybe, maybe not-”

“-you know happens to fools, don’t you. You can only come up here with an invitation, so come up, if you dare.”

“No, uh, I’ll pass.” The man crossed his arms over his chest, trying to make himself look bigger than he was. “Have you come across the idiots sent to get one of the girls? I was hoping they would be closer by now.”

“Why would I know where they are? I don’t keep track of those idiots,” Martim asked with annoyance in his voice. “I was enjoying my first vacation in years. I only have a few more days until I have to be back and I was drinking. So, explain to me why I’m being disturbed because you can’t keep your guys in check?”

“We just wanted to know if you saw them, but I can tell you haven’t. Uh, bye,” the bumbling idiot said as he hurried away. I wanted to laugh at the fools but I knew I needed to stay quiet for a while. I didn’t know if there would be a revolving door of fools showing up, so I stayed still and watched my mate. I was wondering if he knew he was being stared at but I didn’t expect him to wink at me.

I flushed, feeling as if I was ten times the fool for staring at him and then blushing. I must have been. He couldn’t see me or could he? I looked around me, finally noticing the camera to the side of me. I flushed ten times worse than I had been. I was going to get him back one day. Right now I couldn’t think of anything to do to get him back. He had me flustered and he wasn’t even in front of me.

“Yes, please,” my jaguar said, a purr in her voice. I shook my head at her horny self and tuned her out, for now.

“I will get you back for this soon,” I told Martim via our comms unit, causing him to break out into a huge grin that fell off his face quickly. I heard him click the mic three times letting me know we had three tangos coming at us. I could only hope it wasn’t the three I had put out of commission.

“Hey, Tomas, have you seen the guys we send to get the bitch?” I was surprised he didn’t react but I knew he had a part to play.

“Nope,” Martim staggered around the porch. “I was sitting out her drinking, not babysitting,” Martim slurred believably.

“Okay,” the guys walked off, talking loudly about Tomas being drunk and how they could take him out, being the third. I was beyond speech at the thought but I knew they would be gone in minutes.

I watched as Martim swung through the trees as if he was Tarzan, landing on top of the guy who insulted him. He still staggered around but now he was laughing and not the jackasses. One said jackass swung at Martim but Martim wasn’t where had swung, instead Martim had shifted position to the back of said jackass. Martim took one shot at his kidneys, using the flat of his fingers, and had the jackass on his ass crying.

I noticed the camera followed Martim, as if they followed only his heat signature - which was fucking cool. It must have been one of the inventions I had helped with last year. My dad was trying to figure out how to assign different heat signatures to each person and came to me. I looked at what he had and told him to give me a week. I had brought him different colored bands, one band per each person or group of people. It was the only way I could think of helping and I noticed it had worked easily.

I came out of my musings and looked at the screen, noticing two were down and the third was begging on his knees. He didn’t want anything, he didn’t want Tomas’s job or position that he was happy being a peon. I almost laughed at his words. He was so frightened that he didn’t care if he was begging or making a fool out of himself, he just wanted to go his own way.

“Go, then.” Martim pointed toward the West. “But, do not expect any mercy from me, you won’t get it.” The man stood up quickly and nodded his head, running away as fast as he could go.

Martim turned back and walked over to the two guys. “As for you two...There is no mercy.” Martim threw a blade into each of their chests, killing them instantly.

I could tell he was sad about killing the two men, but I knew he needed to show a strong front of his ‘men’ or be questioned about being soft. “It’s okay, mate, I understand why you had to do what you did.” I saw gulp and nod his head. I knew he was worried I was going to see him differently than before But, I knew he had to act a certain way. Most importantly he had to show a ruthless side he wasn’t comfortable with. It only made a better person in my eyes.

I saw two more guys coming around some trees, talking about what they were going to be doing to me when I made it to the compound. “Don’t, “ was all I said as I saw the anger flash on his face.

He took a deep breath and stood in the guy’s path. “Am I invited to join too?”

I watched the men stiffen and stop in their tracks. “You want to join? I would have thought you were tired of the women after that one scratched you,” one of the guys asked. I knew there was more to the story than Martim wanted them to know. I didn’t believe a word the men were saying, knowing Martim had scratched himself. I don’t know how I was so sure but I was.

“I can handle a little wild cat,” Martim said but I could tell he meant me. I flushed again as my jaguar started yipping in excitement. I rolled my eyes at her, knowing full well she would be testing to see if Martim was worthy of us. I was made to watch a lengthy and uncomfortable video on jaguars mating rituals. I wasn’t sure who they used for the jaguar porn but I never wanted to see it again.

“But, now you are imagining our mate as one of the jaguars, right?"

A/N: See no cliffhanger. I do try to be nice every once in a while.