Tales of the Legendary: The Love Life and Suffering of Leon McNichol

[Matrix Dragon]

***

"Idiot kids," Daley Wong grumbled as he stepped off the entrance teleporter, a laser pointer in his hand.

Nene Romanova looked up from the filing cabinet she was digging through, a curious look on her face. "Where'd you get that?" she asked.

"Some brats were standing on the edge of a Skyway highway, flashing it at cars," he replied, a disgusted look on his face. "Confiscated it and
had a pair of uniforms take them home. I figure that'll have a better first impact then charges," he added with a shrug as Nene sighed at the
stupidity of some people. "So, where's Leon?"

"At his desk," she replied, "chatting to Robin," she added with a snicker.

Daley smirked. "What's her excuse for being here today?" he asked.

"Haven't bothered to ask." Nene paused, looking at the laser pointer in Daleys hand. "Can I borrow that?" she asked.

"Sure... why?" he wondered, handing it over.

Nene closed the filing cabinet and grinned. "Just a little trick that's always fun to pull on catgirls," she said, heading for Leons office.
"You just can't do it often," she noted as Daley followed, curious.

Neither Leon or Robin noticed them approaching, as they were currently involved in the middle of a discussion on a case involving the Sky Raiders. Nene waited
for Leon to turn towards a filing cabinet, then struck, aiming the laser pointer at the table next to Robin.

It took the catgirl a moment to notice it, but the moment it did, she found herself oddly fascinated by the dancing little light. Curious, she batted at it,
then jerked back slightly as Nene had it jump down to the floor. As it moved around slightly, Robin slid off her chair and dropped to all fours, stalking
closer. Nene made the light slowly move across the floor, making the catgirl follow.

Behind Nene, Daley suppressed a snicker, watching as Robin tensed up, preparing to pounce... which was when Leon turned back from the filing cabinet, and Nene
had the laser pointer jump up to the detectives chest.

Leon had about half a second to process the scene, then Robin pounced, launching herself right at him. This was nowhere near enough warning, and the catgirl
ended up tackling him in the center of the chest, his hands coming up to grab her, then he promptly overbalanced and fell to the floor,

In the doorway, Nene and Daley winced at the crash and Leons growl of pain. "Oh my god!" Robin yelped from where she was lying on his chest.
"Are you alright?" she asked nervously.

"Owww... what'd you do that for?" he groaned, looking up at her.

"I'm sorry, there was just this little... bright, shiny thing, and it wouldn't sit still, and I had to catch it..." she mumbled.

"Okay, lesson learned. Never get between you and your catch," Leon joked, his hands still resting on her waist. "At least you didn't pull
out the claws," he noted. "Now that could have been awkward." Robin giggled at that, then they fell silent, neither of them moving from their
oddly comfortable posistion on the floor.

Robins tail waved back and forth as her legs slid along Leons. As Nene and Daley watched, a faint smile grew on her face, before she leaned down even closer.
"Uh, Rob-" Leons voice cut off as the catgirl kissed him gently. After a moment of surprise, Leon began to return the kiss, one of his hands moving
up her back as she began to purr.

Sadly, the moment was broken by the click of a camera phone. Robin broke the kiss and looked up at the door, spotting Nene standing there, phone in one hand,
laser pointer in the other. She froze for a moment, a fierce blush breaking through the dark fur on her face. "... Nene!" she growled, leaping to her
feet.

"Oh, don't stop on my account," Nene grinned, before fleeing, a furious catgirl in pursuit. Daley dodged out of the way and watched them run down
the hall, then walked into the office and stood next to where Leon was lying on the ground, stunned.

"So... finally figured it out?" he asked casually.

"... yeah."

"Good to hear. I was worried she'd have to toss you on the bed before you did."

"Go to hell Daley," Leon said, lacking the usual heat in his voice.

***

[Vyperpunk]

"Nene standing there, phone in one hand, laser pointer in the other" Right there is where I lost it in a fit of giggles. Awesome work!
Seriously... hooked, GIMMY MORE!

[Matrix Dragon]

Well, it had been about three posts since Leon suffered in some way. I was required to make things interesting again

[Sofaspud]

---

"-- so I said to him, 'Listen, pal, I don't -care- which one of you started it, you're both under arrest.'"

"And then?" Robin eyed him amusedly from the couch as Leon rummaged through the fridge. He still lived in a studio apartment, but he'd managed
to furnish it better than it had been when he first arrived.

"And then they both opened fire," Leon replied, shrugging. He emerged from the depths of the fridge with two chilled beers in his hands and kicked
the door shut with his foot. "On me," he added to underscore the point. "Which shouldn't have been a problem, right?" He set the
beers on the counter and began searching the drawers, opening and closing them in rapid succession as he looked for a bottle opener.

"Right...?"

Leon nodded wryly. "Right. Except that brain-dead excuse for a medbot HE-AT saddled me with chose right then to install a software update. 'THIS
UNIT IS ENTERING MAINTENANCE MODE' is all I could get out of him." He frowned and scratched his head with one hand, the other on his hip, as he
surveyed his small kitchen area with a frustrated look on his face. "(Now where the hell did my bottle opener go?)" he muttered.

Robin cleared her throat to get his attention. He looked up. She was grinning at him and waving one extended claw in the air. He blinked and shrugged,
smiling. "That'll work," he said, and carried the bottles out, plopping down on the other end of the couch. Robin opened the bottles easily and
handed one back to him. He nodded his thanks and continued his story.

"So, yeah. Two Council goofballs unloading on me, my backup is downloading a service pack or something like that, and I'm almost out of ammo. Bad
time to be me, I'm thinking. I ducked behind a car to reload." He shrugged helplessly. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Robin eyed him curiously. "And?"

Leon took a long sip off his bottle and stared at the screensaver playing on the big-screen while the DVD player patiently waited for them to fire it up.
"They blew up the car," he said nonchalantly.

Robin choked on her beer and tried not to spray it across the living room. Leon grinned at her and waited until the coughing jag subsided, then marked an
imaginary '1' up in the air. "Score!" he announced. "You're supposed to drink it, not inhale it," he pointed out helpfully.

Robin whacked him on the arm. "You did that on purpose," she declared.

"Well, yeah."

"So what's the movie tonight?" Robin folded her arms and looked at the screen, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. Leon consulted the
DVD cover.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," he read aloud. "Wonder if Kentucky's getting royalties off that..."

Robin picked up the remote and hit 'Play', then scooted over next to Leon. He raised an eyebrow at her. The incident at division HQ earlier
notwithstanding, he was still unsure what exactly she was up to. Or what he was up to, for that matter.

"Can't reach the popcorn from over there," she explained reasonably. "And I'm cold. You're not."

"You're the one with fur..." Leon pointed out.

"Shut up and watch the movie, dummy," she replied, snagging a handful of popcorn and snuggling under Leon's arm.

"Yes, ma'am."

---

When the movie was over they chatted a bit longer before Robin rose and stretched as only a catgirl could. As was becoming almost routine, Leon did his best
not to stare (much), and Robin pretended she didn't notice him doing so. She switched off the TV and turned to face him with a decisive flick of her tail.

"Enough dancing around, McNichol," she stated firmly.

"... what?" he replied.

"You know what," she replied, and reached up. He hadn't noticed before, but she was wearing a tight-fitting top with a zipper closure running
down the front. With a slow, languid gesture, it was unzipped and left to hang open, showing a tantalizing glimpse -- but no details, not yet! -- of her
chest. She leaned forward, placing her hands on his shoulders, her legs brushing the couch and touching the outside of his knees, and brought her lips close
to his ear.

"You've been thinking about it for a while now," she purred -- literally. Leon gulped.

"I, uh--"

"I have too," she said, closing her eyes and brushing her cheek across his, leaning forward even more until he could feel her warm weight on his
chest as she pressed her body close to his. The short skirt she was wearing wasn't in the least restrictive, and slid across his jeans as she moved to
straddle his legs, her knees outside his hips.

He turned his head, opened his mouth to speak, and she kissed him. Hard. Their tongues met and his hands came up to her waist, then slid lower to cup her
hips as she began to moan and cry out his name. He'd been dreaming of that, lately, it was impossible not to with the way she looked and he'd been
trying, dammit, he'd been trying to behave himself, it wasn't easy --

"Leon?"

-- it wasn't easy at all, but he didn't have to worry about it anymore, she'd started it, not him, and --

"Leon!"

-- he snapped awake with a start, staring into Robin's concerned eyes from a distance of perhaps six inches. She was bent over him, gripping his shoulders
firmly, preventing him from lunging to his feet as his body was flooded with adrenaline.

"Geez, Leon, what's the matter?" she inquired with concern in her voice. "You fell asleep..."

"... I, uh..." Leon raised one hand to wipe at his face as Robin released his shoulders and stood. She was dressed as she'd been when she
arrived, in jeans and a t-shirt, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry," he said. "Weird dream."

She raised an eyebrow at him, to which he shrugged. He sure as hell wasn't going to try to explain it to her. Not right now.

... and he wasn't going to be standing up any time soon, either, he noted to himself.

"Well... if you're sure you're okay," she said. Something in her tone made him look up at her sharply -- how much did she know?! -- but her
face held no trace of her thoughts. "It was a good movie. We should watch it again sometime when you're awake," she noted playfully, and Leon
managed a wan grin.

"Yeah... sorry about that," he said. "I ... must've been more tired than I thought."

"C'mon, Leon, one beer and you're out? Pansy."

He scowled at her, but there was no heat to it. "Gimme a break, it was a long day."

"Heh, yeah." She stretched and Leon forced himself to look away -- it was too much to take in the mood he was in. She clapped him playfully on the
shoulder. "Well, it was fun, but I've got to get going. Night hunting is the best hunting." She looked at him and smiled brightly. "Want
to come?"

"... I think I'd better not," he managed after a moment. "Gonna be another long day tomorrow."

"Okay then." Robin bent down and gave him a light peck on the cheek. "See you later, Leon. Sweet dreams."

The door closed behind her twitching tail before he could form a response to that.

---

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Valles]

...don't cats have a sense of smell far superior to the human?
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Matrix Dragon]

Yeah. Why?

[Sofaspud]

I imagine Valles is probably thinking something along the lines of pheremones or whatnot, I dunno.

^_^

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Sweno]

aww, he's never going to stop getting teased is he?

Amusing and fun. More please!
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Matrix Dragon]

***

Leon groaned as he crawled out of bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress for a moment, running a hand through his hair, before standing up and stretching,
working on the pains in his back. "Weird night," he grumbled, scratching at his neck as he went and convinced his coffeemaker to work its magic. He
stood in his studio apartments kitchen area for a moment, thinking back. He couldn't be sure, but...

He remembered Robin coming over, and they'd watched the latest Indiana Jones, he'd started to fall asleep and then Robin made her move. Leon paused as
the Mr. Coffee beeped at him. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure that was just an odd dream he'd had. She hadn't really been wearing that
tight vest and short skirt with nothing underneath, had she? Scowling, Leon sipped at his coffee, ignoring the foul taste of gunk that had been left in the pot
since last night. It had been a very short skirt indeed...

No, he decided. That was clearly a dream brought on by the sheer amount of Bizarre Sexual Tension between them. He put the pot back on the coffeemaker and
grinned slightly. It was a strange situation, but after some consideration, he felt he was getting the hang of Rob being a beautiful catwoman that was clearly
interested in him, and was rapidly losing any inhibitions from her previous life about showing him affection.

And to be honest with himself, he thought as he headed for the bathroom, he seemed to be going along a similar path. He'd been thinking of her as Robin for
some time, and his resistance to any actions with her... well, they were nonexistent now really, more habit then anything else. He wanted her as badly as he
hoped she wanted him.

As he considered this, and the consequences of going down that path, while turning on the shower, Robins voice suddenly popped out of thin air. "Hi
Leon!" His eyes widened and he spun to see Robin leaning in through an open window, a smile on her face. Not for the first time, he noted that catgirls
seemed to have this attitude that any open entrance was perfectly acceptable, even an open window in his bathroom nowhere near the fire escape.

"Dammit, don't sneak up on me like that," he grumbled, before stopping in minor confusion. The friendly smile on Robins face vanished as her jaw
dropped slightly, eyes widening as her ears stood straight up. "What?"

"... wow," she managed. Giving her a confused look, he followed her line of sight and looked down, only to be reminded that not only had he not
bothered with wearing boxers to bed last night, but his morning considerations on the matter of Robin, Robins body and what he'd like to do to said body,
had led to quite a demonstration from his manhood. Managing a strangled yelp, he grabbed for a towel to cover himself, even as Robin snapped back to reality
and pulled herself back out the window with a startled "Nya!"

"Rob, we have doors and doorbells for a reason!" Leon growled.

"Sorry," came the reply. "I was roof-hopping and decided to visit. It was quicker to use the open window."

Leon took a deep breath. "Wait there a minute. Let me get some pants on," he said with a sigh, heading out the bathroom door.

As such, he was looking the other way when Robin leaned back in to take a good look at him again. "Oh yes, I'm straight alright," she murmured to
herself with a soft smile. "Thank you mad science..."

***

[Terrenceknight]

*Cackles* Thats awesome MD, I can't imagine how red Leon's face would be...Truely Mad Science is the -only- science Its good to see Other people
haveing to deal with ...amuseing relationship issues *grin*.

[Sofaspud]

Leon stumbled to a halt, the cheerful whistling on his lips dying out, as he made to enter his office. He closed his eyes and sighed...

... then reached out, took the stuffed plushie catgirl off the top of his monitor, and leaned over the partition into Daley's space.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?" he asked politely, waving the plushie.

Daley pushed his glasses back up on his nose and regarded his coworker steadily. "It's just a little something to brighten up your desk, Leon. The
whole department chipped in for it."

"Of COURSE they did," Leon groaned, returning to his seat. He regarded the plushie and tried to decide what to do with it.

"We had to guess at the stripe pattern," Daley commented idly. "Maybe you can confirm our --"

"CAN IT, Wong," Leon growled, stuffing the catgirl into his desk drawer with a bit more force than was necessary.

"-- or not," Daley finished cheerfully. Muffled laughter came from the other cubicles as Leon slouched a bit lower in his chair.

Fortunately for Leon's mood, the day improved after that. He signed off on a few reports, scrawled his signature to Priss's internship timecard and
noted to himself that she owed him another free concert ticket since this marked the third time in as many weeks that he'd covered for one of her sudden
disappearances -- honestly, he had no idea why she was trying to be secretive about the hero thing, especially in THIS department -- and in general attended to
the daily tasks that HE-AT forced him to do.

Around noon, he looked up to see Robin staring at him over his cube wall.

"Some detective you are," she said playfully. "I've been here for ten minutes."

Leon grinned and leaned back in his chair. "Ten whole minutes, watching me work? Sounds boring."

"It was." Robin came around and entered the cubicle. "What're you working on?"

"Implied warning: the detective had best be working on his paperwork..." HE-AT's voice drifted over the top of the walls.

Leon rolled his eyes even as he bashed out a few last strokes on the keyboard. "On the way to you now, boss lady," he called back, whacking the Send
key.

"Lunch?" Robin inquired brightly, visibly restraining a laugh.

Leon nodded and grabbed his mug. There was no more steam, but it was still warm, and he disliked wasting good brew. "Sounds good here," he replied.
He logged out and grabbed his leather jacket from its hook on the wall, transferring his coffee from one hand to the other as he put it on. "Where do
you want to go today?"

"No way, pal. I picked last time. Your turn."

Leon grimaced. "Hell if I know," he said, opening the drawer to retrieve his badge. The plush catgirl popped out and landed on the floor with a
faint electronic "Mya!"

Robin blinked at the plushie, then at him, then bent and scooped it up. "Do I want to know?" she said amusedly, peering inquisitively at the toy and
squeezing it to elicit another 'mya!'. Leon closed his eyes and hung his head.

"SOME people around here," he said, "seem to find the situation FUNNY." He scowled and shot a glare at Daley.

"Hey!" Robin exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "This is me!"

Leon slumped a bit further. Daley rose up and crossed his arms on top of the cube wall, a grin on his face. Leon tensed, shooting the other man a warning
glance, but Daley ignored it.

"It's adorable!" she continued. Leon blinked. He'd... well, he wasn't sure what reaction he had expected, but if she liked it, who was
he to argue? Robin lifted the plushie's shirt and peeked underneath, then shook her head. "But my stripes are only on my face," she noted.
Leon raised an eyebrow, entirely unsure how to reply to that, and settled for nodding nonchalantly and draining the last of his coffee.

Robin looked at him with a twinkle in her eye. "Would you like to see?"

Daley snickered as Leon coughed and spluttered. Robin deftly dodged the spray of coffee and ducked outside the cubicle, where she squeezed the toy again.

"... I need to change my shirt," Leon muttered when he could breathe once more, ignoring his laughing coworkers and the giggling catgirl as he headed
for his locker.

---

"Dammit," Leon cursed without heat as his cellphone went off. Robin gave him an amused look from the passenger seat. She'd heard the buzzing
start thirty seconds before, but had hoped at some level that he had it on silent and wouldn't notice the call. Ah well.

"McNichol," Leon answered, flipping the phone open with one hand as his other steered the car to the side of the road. Robin's ear twitched.
She could hear the person on the other end clearly.

"Detective McNichol, this is Central," the voice said. Robin frowned to herself. That meant it was coming straight from the main force, not the
Special Investigations division. "We've got a perp down here who has a potential lead on Yarnball. File says you're to be notified
immediately."

Leon flicked an apologetic glance at Robin even as he nodded. "Right. What've you got?"

"He says a shipment's due to arrive in less than an hour. We've got units ready to roll, but the threat index on it means we have to seal off the
whole block, and as soon as we do that they'll bug out. This is more up SI's alley than ours, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks for letting me know, Central." Leon jotted down the address in his notebook as the voice from Central read it off.
Robin felt her tail twitching. Yarnball!

"I'm going with you," she said firmly as Leon hung up, before he could say anything. He grimaced.

"You heard all that, huh?"

Robin nodded.

"Well, I'm not going to be the one to try and stop you," Leon observed. He shrugged helplessly. "Sorry about lunch."

"It's a warehouse, isn't it?" At Leon's puzzled nod, Robin shrugged. "So I'll find a mouse. Let's go!"

---

Like so many of the warehouses in Paragon City, the building could have belonged to any business based on outside appearances alone. Robin slipped out of the
car before it had fully stopped, swinging her feet up to the roof through the open window, then sliding down the windshield to crouch on the hood as Leon
braked to a halt. She eyed the building with narrowed eyes, senses alert for anything.

"It's there," she muttered as Leon killed the engine and climbed out. "I can smell it."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Leon asked, slapping a clip into his multi-rifle and working the bolt. "You coming in, I mean."

"No," Robin admitted honestly. "But I'm not letting you go in there alone, either."

Leon regarded her steadily for a long moment, then grinned. "So... the usual, then?"

Robin nodded, a quick grin flashing across her face.

Leon rolled his shoulders and rotated his neck, then slung his rifle. "See you on the other side, Rob."

"Nice working with you, Detective."

Leon set off towards the main door with an easy, arrogant saunter. Robin watched him go for a moment, smiled privately to herself as her tail twitched, and
pushed off the hood with an effortless leap that carried her to a nearby roof.

'The usual', when she and Leon worked together, was simple: make it up as you go along.

---

Leon adjusted his shades and rapped politely on the door leading into the warehouse. He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and waited.

After a few moments, he knocked again. Still no answer. He sighed.

"Well, I tried to be polite," he said pleasantly. He stepped back from the door, unslung his rifle, and flicked a switch. "Knock, knock,"
he said quietly, and pulled the trigger.

The door detonated in a spray of splinters and metal fragments as the grenade blew it to kindling. Leon waited a few seconds as smoke cleared, then strode
forward through the wreckage. "PPD!" he called out as he stepped over the threshold. "Anybody home?"

Two men were sprawled in painful-looking positions on the floor, groaning and coughing. Leon planted a boot on the back of one of their heads and tapped his
rifle barrel against the other.

"Hey," he said, getting another groan in response. "You guys need to work on your hospitality. You should at least answer when someone
knocks."

"Go to hell," the one under his boot croaked.

"You'd think you guys could come up with something more original than that by now," Leon noted. He dropped an arrest beacon on the un-talkative
one and watched as the mook vanished. "Now then," he said, stepping off the other and crouching, leaving his rifle barrel aimed at the Family
thug's forehead. "Let's talk. Where's the stuff?"

"What're you talking about?" the thug groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard this before. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I must have you mistaken for someone else, yadda yadda yadda."
Leon scowled. "Can we skip that and get right to you telling me what I want to know? You're going to anyway."

"He can't, he don't know nothin'," a new voice said. Leon spun, raising his rifle, and was slammed to the ground by a massive fist. As
he lay there dazed, he heard the voice continue from somewhere very far away. "Pack it up an' move out. Bring da cop."

---

Robin slipped through the rafters of the darkened warehouse, frowning. Something was wrong, more than just the proximity of the Yarnball stash -- which had
her tail twitching. She ignored it.

Voices from the warehouse floor caught her attention. She peeked past an I-beam and her eyes narrowed as her teeth bared themselves in a silent hiss. Leon!

And the damn fool had gone and got himself captured! Two Family thugs were dragging a bound and gagged -- and thoroughly disgruntled-looking -- Leon, his
heels scraping on the floor and murder in his eyes. Five more goons, including one in a well-tailored white suit, swaggered alongside.

Robin straightened and her claws slid out. She swan-dived off the rafters and somersaulted twice on her way down... before landing, heels-first, on one of the
two dragging Leon. The mook crumpled to the floor with a startled yelp and she felt bones break beneath her heels.

"MMmmMMRFF!" Leon howled behind his gag.

"Be right with you," Robin replied, spinning to avoid a wild spray of bullets and lashing out with both sets of claws in a flurry of swipes and
strikes. Another mook howled and fell back, clutching at his shoulder where her claws had penetrated.

"MMmMMFF MFF -MRMF-!" Leon continued. He sounded frustrated. Robin jumped up, landing on the chest of a Family gunner, where she perched for a
moment, bracing herself there by hanging on to his lapels.

"Hi!" she chirped, and kicked off, sending the startled goon flying into a stack of crates as she backflipped to land next to the detective. She
swiped a claw past his mouth, severing the strip holding the gag in place, then ducked as one of the mob tried to tackle her. He sailed overhead and landed
with an explosive grunt on the concrete floor.

"LOOK OUT!" Leon cried. Robin's fur twitched at the same instant, and she tried to dive out of the way.

Too late. A haymaker to her back lit up her spine like a Christmas tree, and she slammed to the ground, her limbs twitching as she tried to focus past the
pain. Slowly she turned her head, just in time to see a boot coming her way.

It hit, and everything went black.

---

Robin woke to a buzzing in her ears, the taste of blood on her lips, and the snide tones of Leon McNichol. All in all not a very pleasant combination, she
thought ruefully, opening her eyes.

"C'mon, you're kidding, right?" Leon was saying. "I mean, 'sleep with the fishes'? How much more cliche can you -- OOF!"

The consigliere stepped back and flexed his fingers while Leon fought to breathe.

"Leave him alone," Robin heard herself growl. The man in the suit turned to face her.

"Kitty's awake at last," he rumbled. Robin glared. "'s about time," he added. "Yer partner here is borin'. He has a
smart mouth but can't back it up."

The metal-walled room they were in rattled and shook, and Robin realized it was the back of a van. She scowled and tested her restraints, but they held firm.

"Nothin' ta say?" The consigliere shrugged. He crossed to where his suit jacket lay draped over a steel barrel and fished through its pockets
for a moment before turning to face Robin again with a smirk on his face and a hero identification card between his fingers. "So yer Knight of the Peach,
huh?"

"That's 'Peace', you ignorant -- OOF!" Leon doubled over again as the consigliere kicked him in the gut.

"Yeah, that's what I said: Peach," the big man said affably. He ignored the wheezing detective and moved closer to Robin. "You used ta be
a guy."

Robin narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing. Her claws slid out behind her back, and she ignored the bursts of pain as she cut her own flesh on them. It
was hard twisting her hands into the right position without giving herself away, but she managed, and began to tease at the ropes wound around her wrists with
the tip of one claw.

"Ya look better this way, gotta tell ya." He shrugged. "I remember ya from back when you was a man. Ya put me and some friends of mine in da
Zig." He leaned closer and grinned. "Not so tough now without that fancy armor ya used ta have, are ya, kitten?"

"Yeah, I remember you too," Robin said, scowling. "You should have -stayed- in the Zig, Eddie."

"Nah, it's Edward now. More respectable-like." Eddie leaned back again and grinned. "Da boss'll wanna see you," he added.
"Just our luck this dumb cop dragged you along, yanno? Been wondering how ya kicked the habit. Not s'posed to be able to do that."

"Leave her alone," Leon ground out, glaring. Eddie glanced at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What's it to ya, pal?" He glanced between them for a moment before a sly smile crept across his craggy features. "Oh, youse got da hots
for the catgirls, izzat it?" He chuckled. "Dat's funny."

"Shut up," Robin heard herself say. Eddie glanced at her, his grin becoming wider.

"And youse got the hots for him too, I bet." He hitched himself up to sit on top of the barrel, laughing. "Oh, this is rich. Big bad Peach
gets 'balled and decides he wants to play with 'em afterwards, and tough cop Leon is goin' for it." At Leon's startled look, Eddie
nodded. "Oh, yeah, we know 'bout ya, Leon. Never knew ya was into guys, though. Mebbe that explains that fru-fru partner of yers, though."

Robin growled, her eyes narrowing to slits.

"Whatcha gonna do, kitty? Hiss at me?" Eddie laughed again. "This is great. Wait until da guys hear about it. Youse gonna be popular,
Peach."

"Robin?" Leon said quietly. "Ignore him, buddy, he's just another idiot who has no clue how fucked he is."

Eddie shook his head. "Man, ya must like gettin' pounded." He hopped down from the barrel.

"Like your love-taps actually hurt," Leon shot back.

"Love tap, huh? Try this on fer size, copper." Eddie braced himself an drove a powerful uppercut into Leon's ribs. Robin heard a distinct
crack as the punch lifted Leon off the floor and drove him back into the wall of the van. The detective choked and coughed, blood flying from his lips. Eddie
smirked.

"Ya like that love-tap, detective? Or should I try another?"

Leon glared silently and Eddie nodded before turning back towards his perch. Robin was surprised to catch a sudden sly grin and wink from Leon as the
man-mountain's back was turned. She didn't know what Leon had in mind, but he was planning something, she was sure.

The ropes parted suddenly, leaving her hands free, and she took a deep breath.

"This'll be nice," Eddie said. "Youse two lovebirds get to be kitties together soon. Mebbe we'll push ya as a team. Two fer the price
of one." He grinned. "Betcha there's good money in it. Lots of folks prolly want a whack at ya, detective."

Robin's eyes widened, horrified for reasons she didn't fully understand, didn't fully have time to understand, and she snarled as she came to her
feet, the ropes falling away like water.

"Shit," Eddie commented plaintively before she bowled him over off his perch, her claws sinking into his dense muscle like knives into taffy.

"You leave him alone," she hissed from inches away, glaring into Eddie's annoyed face.

"Get offa me, Peach," the consigliere rumbled, and flung her away to crash into the ceiling and from there fall to the floor. She rolled with it and
landed on her feet, but the blow still stung and her ears rang from the impact.

"Didja always like the guys, Peach? Izzat it?" Eddie climbed back to his feet and scowled at his chest, where parallel slash marks marred his
otherwise-clean shirt. "Shit. Ya ruined my shirt."

Robin sprang to the attack again. Eddie met her with a deceptively quick lunge that ended with him holding both of her wrists in his meaty hands. Before he
could apply any leverage, she brought her legs up in a double kick that smashed his nose and caused him to bellow in surprise as he let go and fell back.

"That's it, innit?" he said after a moment -- his voice mildly muffled by the hand he had clapped to his bleeding nose. "Ya always liked
the guys, now you just get to act on it. Must be nice for ya, huh?"

"Rob, he's just trying to rile you! Don't let him--" Leon's voice cut off mid-speech as Eddie made a dismissive wave of his hand towards
the bound detective. Robin glanced at Leon and saw him hovering off the ground, the very air around him seeming to boil and bubble as distorted gravity held
him in place. His eyes were bulging slightly as the field slowly crushed the air out of him.

"Let. Him. Go." Robin crouched and readied her claws.

"Nah. I like him better dis way."

"You're going to regret this, Eddie."

"Shut yer yap, Peach. You can't hurt me, and yer partner can't help ya, kitty."

"She's... not... my... partner," Leon managed to croak. Eddie shot him a glance.

"Yeah? Don't matter. The fruit ain't here, either."

"Daley's not his partner either," Robin said, comprehension dawning as Leon shot her a significant look. She relaxed her stance and let her
claws retract.

Eddie looked back and forth between them. "What're ya talking about?" he said finally.

Robin stepped back as the subsonic whine she could just barely hear got closer. Eddie scowled at her. Leon landed on the floor with a thump, gasping for air,
as the gravity field faded out.

"Hold on," Leon croaked, looking at Robin. She nodded and grabbed on to the tie-down rails on the wall.

The whine cut off.

Eddie scowled at Leon, then at Robin, and back at Leon. "Youse two is up to--" was as far as he got before the ceiling caved in. The entire van
skidded as the back end was slammed to the pavement hard enough to raise sparks from the bodywork. The rear tires exploded under the impact and the brakes
screamed as the panicked driver stomped on them.

Eddie was thrown forward, landing face-first on the steel floor as a massive white-and-red armored form landed behind him, driving great robotic feet -through-
the floor to drag on the asphalt below.

"THIS UNIT IS RESPONDING TO AN ALERT BEACON," MACH II boomed in his electronic voice. "RESISTANCE WILL BE MET BY FORCE."

"The -fuck-?" Eddie managed, rolling over and scrambling backwards as the van shuddered to a halt.

"That," Leon said, his voice still raw but with an amused edge to it, "is my partner." He glanced at Robin. "-She- is my
-friend-."

"Screw it," Eddie declared. "I was gonna hit ya with the Yarnball, cop, but ya just ain't worth the hassle."

"Now?" Robin inquired pleasantly from behind Eddie.

"Now," Leon confirmed.

"THIS UNIT--"

"Shut up and -shoot him-!" Leon barked as he tore one hand free of his bindings. MACH II did the robotic equivalent of a shrug and powered up his
weapons array, even as Robin leaped on to Eddie's back and buried her claws repeatedly.

"Yer gonna regret this, Peach," Eddie snarled, flinging himself backwards to smash into the wall. Robin flipped clear just before she would have
been crushed like a bug, kicked off of his face (drawing an outraged howl from Eddie), and landed on Leon as the latter rose to his feet. They collapsed in a
heap beside MACH as the robot pried himself out of the hole in the floor and met Eddie's furious charge.

"Friends, huh?" Robin commented as she began to untangle herself.

"Well, yeah," Leon muttered, obviously trying to ignore the fact that she was pressed against him. The sounds of two behemoths engaging in
fisticuffs erupted, as Eddie and MACH clashed in the center of the ruined van.

"-Just- friends?" she inquired sweetly.

"... can we maybe discuss this later?" Leon managed weakly.

"Point," she admitted, as MACH was flung over their heads to smash through the rear doors of the van and land roughly in the middle of the street.

They scrambled for the newly-made exit as Eddie picked up and flung -- not bothering with his hands -- a stack of barrels in their direction. Robin turned in
midair and caught one that would have taken Leon's head off, plunging her claws through the thin steel and using it as a pivot point to redirect her
trajectory. The barrel sailed off and landed in a bus stop (fortunately empty); she landed on the side of a car feet-first and bounced lightly to the ground.

Leon scrabbled away from the open door and ducked behind another car on the other side of the street. She could hear him cussing under his breath as he
fiddled with something under his jacket. She assumed a fighting stance as the van shook, and caught sight of her claws. They were white.

She sniffed hesitantly and noticed an all-too-familiar scent. Horror washed over her features. "LEON!" she yelled. "Those barrels are full of
Yarnball!"

"... well, -shit-," Leon commented with feeling from his hiding place.

"ThIS U-U-UNiT REQuirEs M-M-MA-MAInteNANcE," MACH announced brokenly as he clambered to his feet. Sparks drifted from some of his joints and his
optic flickered.

"I swear if you abandon me again I'll melt you down for -thumbtacks-," Leon growled, rising to his feet with his multi-rifle in hand. Robin
blinked at it for a moment before realizing it was his old one, pulled from storage by Leon's PPD-issue teleporter.

"Call in backup?" she suggested as Eddie stepped out of the van.

"Why do you think I was trying to get him to hit me?" Leon replied. He grimaced and withdrew a crushed PPD transponder from under his jacket and
dropped it with a clatter to the ground.

"We're here!" cried a new voice. Major Starlight waved cheerfully from above as she skidded -- a neat trick in midair, Robin thought
irrelevantly -- to a halt. Six police cruisers shrieked around the corner, cops piling out, and HE-AT and Detective Wong dropped from the sky to land between
them.

"... aw, hell," Eddie griped.

---

Later that night, after all the ruckus had died down -- after a terrified City Council had been assured that the Yarnball had not escaped into the water supply
or been released as an airborne contaminant -- Leon was sitting on his couch at his home, feeling gingerly at his well-taped ribs and nursing a beer.

Robin watched him quietly from outside the window, perched easily on the railing around his fire escape.

Eddie, for all that he was and always would be an idiot, had scored some personal hits during their brief tussle earlier... and Robin wasn't sure exactly
how she felt about it.

"This sucks," she muttered under her breath, still watching Leon as he stretched and grimaced, the white bandages standing out starkly against his
tanned bare chest.

Yes, she was straight... and she always had been, even when she was a he. Eddie's comments to the contrary aside, she hadn't been interested in guys
-at all- when she was one.

And now, the reverse was true. She wasn't interested in -girls- at all, not that way, not anymore... and while she'd thought she'd come to grips
with that, hearing it used as an insult, however indirectly, left a knot of anger in her gut and a bitter taste in her mouth.

Sighing, she dropped down off the railing and turned to face the city, leaning on the cold iron and staring at nothing in particular. She stayed that way for
a long time, lost in her thoughts, until a faint scrape of metal caught her attention.

"Hey," Leon said quietly, leaning out of his window -- the opening of which had been the source of the noise.

"Hey," Robin replied softly, blinking.

"It's later," Leon observed after a few moments' silence. Robin frowned slightly, puzzled, before his meaning sank in. She nodded slowly,
not speaking. Leon shrugged. "So... want to come in?"

Robin chuckled. "You sure? I can go around and use the door..."

Leon grinned, drawing back inside to clear the way. "Nah, it's okay. I'm dressed this time."

"(Pity)," Robin muttered as she hopped through the window. Leon raised an eyebrow at her, apparently not quite catching it, and she just smiled at
him. They settled on opposite ends of the couch and just looked at each other for a few minutes. Finally, both of them broke the silence at the same time.

"Robin--"

"Leon--"

They broke off. Leon chuckled while Robin shook her head and laughed. "You first," she said.

"Right," Leon replied dubiously. He took a deep breath. "So, uh, here's the thing..." He trailed off, looking suddenly nervous.

"Yes?"

"... hell with it," Leon muttered, and leaned over, grabbing a startled Robin by her shoulders and pulling her closer for a kiss. His mouth met hers
and she lost track of time for a bit.

When it was over, she found herself blinking at him as he sat there fidgeting.

"... um, hi," she managed. In all their previous encounters, she'd been the one initiating things. Having Leon turn the tables like this was...
unexpected.

Unexpected... and intriguing.

She felt her tail begin slow, lazy waves as the memory of the kiss tingled on her lips.

"I'd.. I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry." Leon shook his head. "Not sorry at all."

"You'd better not apologize," Robin said, scooting over to close the gap that had reopened between them.

Leon looked down into her face and smiled. "I've been wanting to do that for a while," he admitted. "Dreamed about it, even."

"So have I," Robin said. Leon blinked. "I just... I was worried." Robin closed her eyes and rested her head on Leon's chest.
"It wasn't that long ago that... well, you know."

Leon's hand started to stroke her back gently as he replied. "Yeah." He cleared his throat. "That crap Eddie was spouting really got to
you, huh?"

Robin shrugged. "A little, yeah."

"Don't let it bug you," Leon said, hugging her. "Eddie's an idiot."

"When did you know?" Leon blinked down at her, puzzled, at her question. She clarified. "That you wanted to kiss me, I mean."

He chuckled. "Oh, that. Um." He scratched at the back of his head with his free hand. "I, uh, probably shouldn't admit this... but I was
REAAAALLY tempted to follow you inside that first night. If it weren't for Mir, I might have."

Robin took a deep breath. "She's not here to stop you tonight."

She felt Leon tense, heard his breath catch in his throat, and wondered for a moment if she'd gone too far.

"Well, of course she's not here," she heard him say agreeably. "This is my apartment."

A smile spread across her face and she closed her eyes. Leon's hand on her back drifted along her spine, becoming a caress rather than just a friendly
touch.

"Smartass," she murmured past the purr forming in her throat.

"Hey, Robin," Leon said, his hands ceasing their movement. She looked up at him. "No matter what, we're still friends, right?"

"Absolutely," she said -- and rose up to give him another kiss. "And I intend to be -very- friendly."

---

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Matrix Dragon]

Yay!!

[Wiregeek]

woo hoo!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Terrenceknight]

Hehehehe Lucky Leon

[Bob Schroeck]

About freakin' time.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Sweno]

Glad to see that all that teasing pays off in the end.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Vyperpunk]

Woooohooo! Finally, dangit... that was starting to hurt to watch.