Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Crystal - by Deacon Blues

   Thirteen - Switch and Bait

   The afternoon went smoothly.  After lunch Crystal went upstairs to the
warehouse to practice a new way of drawing her pistols she had thought of.
A little while later, Marcus went up `to check on her.' He came back down
about twenty minutes later and reported her new drawing technique to be
amazing.  I guess he needed the cover to make himself feel better, so I
didn't bring it up again.  Crystal came down a bit later, complaining that
she may have strained something, and rotating her left arm.  I took her to
our room and massaged the arm.

   As I began to rub the shoulder in question, Crystal twisted in my grasp
and bit my thigh, just below my shorts.  She grinned up playfully and
licked her lips.  Her eyes actually sparkled as she did this, and I
couldn't refuse her.  I laid back against the headboard, and she took over.
Opening my fly and withdrawing my hardening pole.  She nibbled on it a bit
with her teeth and lips, then began to kiss it all over, sending little
sparks up my spine.  Finally she raised up nearly to my head and dropped
her face toward my upturned organ.  At the last moment, she opened her
mouth and extended her neck.  Her face burrowed into my pelvis the next
second, I was buried completely in her mouth for the first time.  She
pulled up a bit and declared "I thought I `could' deep throat you.  But it
hurts a bit, you're too thick." She stroked my shaft as she spoke, smiling
up at me.  She started giving me a very slow and sensual blowjob.  Her warm
lips sliding over my moistened skin and her tongue moving side to side over
the head when she was at the top of her strokes.  Her hands were hot to the
touch, and one massaged my scrotum, while the other was out of sight
between her legs.  She began moaning, and I knew she was masturbating as
she sucked me.

   She would glance up to me from time to time to check her progress, and
would slow or speed up depending on where she wanted me.  I heard her moans
become more pronounced as I got close.  I chuckled to myself, she's wanting
us to have an orgasm at the same time, how sweet.  I finally arrived at
that destination, and a moment later, I heard her squeak in the back of her
throat and felt teeth on my shaft as she tensed up.  Her entire body locked
up, including her muscles in her neck and mouth.  I felt a series of small
tremors run through her then she could move again.  However, she had made a
mess, or rather, I had.  When her mouth and throat locked up, come had run
out of it and all over her chin and my cock.  She lapped at the sperm on my
rod first, then used her fingers to gather up the stray semen on her chin
and lip.  She sucked the fingers greedily, then relaxed.

   She laid back and said.  "Now, that's the stuff." She looked at me,
"Two-fer-one." she declared.  Her shorts were wet with her juices, she had
rubbed herself through the denim.  She shed them and the even more drenched
panties beneath, and found herself a short skirt to put on.  She left off
panties, and told me she was out of clean ones.  I hadn't considered that,
eventually, we would need to do laundry.

   We went back into the living area and Marcus quipped.  "Everything work
out okay?"

   Crystal grinned like a wolf.  "Yep, everything came out fine." She said,
giving me a lascivious look.  We went back to helping Marcus compile and
get the journal's translated.

   At about five, she sat at the laptop to check her mail.  "Holy crap."
She said.  "Marcie and Sarah are on their way here."

   I snapped to attentiveness.  "What?  How?" I said.

   "She says they managed to slip out last night and are coming to
Birmingham." Crystal shrugged.

   I looked over at Marcus, he had the same dubious look on his face.  We
had told Crystal she could share Birmingham with them, figuring it was big
enough that the mob couldn't peg us too easily with just the city, if they
got hold of it.  I walked over to the laptop and looked over her shoulder.
It did, indeed, say just that.  "Huh." I commented, sagely.

   Crystal grew excited.  "They're going to help us!" She cheered.

   "Not so fast, honey." I said, putting a restraining hand on her
shoulder. "I'm afraid it smells like a trap to me."

   "Yeah." Marcus confirmed.  "How they getting here?"

   Crystal read the email.  "They're coming in at eleven at the train
station." Marcie, her dad, and Sarah.

   What should we do?  I questioned myself.  It's really stinking like a
trap, but we can't let our one chance at assistance slip away, either.

   "We've got to risk the trap to get them." I said.  "If it's not a trap,
we'll have some allies with us.  If it is, we have to beat it."

   We sat around the table, making our plans.  Marcus would find a rooftop
near to the train station, which was fairly nearby, still in the shady part
of town, though a step above the warehouse's neighborhood.  He would sit up
there with the hunting rifle, and one of the three headsets we now had. 
Crystal and I would go to the front of the train station, but not in.  We
would be wearing the vests under bulky sweatshirts.  We would also both be
armed.  We were hoping that the combination surprises of a sniper and
Crystal being armed would throw the advantage to us.  However, we didn't
have any idea of how many there would be, or what their disposition would
be.

   At ten-thirty, we were two blocks away, in the Jeep.  Marcus crackled
over the headset that he was in position, and tagged us with a laser to
show us his position.  From his vantage point, he would have a good field
of fire, except for the actual entry area to the station, which had a large
overhanging porch.  We quietly waited for them to come out of the train
depot.  At two after eleven, they emerged, along with a small crowd of
people.  Several cars departed from the front, leaving us plenty of
parking. But where were the mobsters?

   Marcus' voice crackled in my ear.  "I see one." he said.  "Guy in the
blue tee shirt, he's packing." I looked for the man in question, and indeed
the rather unpleasant-looking chap in the blue tee was looking a bit too
alert and had a rather pronounced lump in the back of his a bit too tight
pants.  As I watched him, he made eye contact with another man, who nodded.
That man was shorter and clad in a business suit.  His bushy mustache hid
most of his mouth.  He was wearing a suit jacket which could conceal a gun
easily.

   "Marcus, he's got a buddy, see him, gray suit?" I said into my vox.

   "Yeah, I see him." he said back.  "There must be more, they know they
are likely to be facing at least two of us."

   I returned with.  "Well, if there are more, they're better at being
inconspicuous." I said.  "This is what we got for now." I started the
Jeep's engine.  "I'm going in."

   I pulled out into traffic and headed toward the train station.  Marcie,
Sarah, and Marcie's father, Lance, were on the curb with small bags by
their feet.  They looked way too nervous.  As I pulled up, I told Crystal.
"You stay in here, and if anything starts hap..." I heard her door slam and
Crystal was running round the nose of the Jeep and toward the trio. 
"Shit." I said.  What the hell was she doing?  "Marcus, she's moving." I
said into the vox.

   I heard Crystal's squeal of delight through my vox in return, she ran
toward the two other girls, who both looked confused and were trying to act
happy to see her.  She ran toward them with arms outstretched, intent on a
monster hug for one or both.  The two men we had seen started moving toward
the knot of people, surreptitiously then with more speed.  A couple of
other guys, who had been loitering and talking over a map dropped the map
and started heading toward the three girls and one unfortunate man.

   Crystal reached the two girls and crushed them into a bear hug that
would leave ribs aching.  I opened my door, and started to step out.  The
look on Lance's face was ashen, and I saw a million apologies in them.  The
four men started moving faster, and I heard the squeal of a car's tires
behind me.  Marcus said "Two in the car!" Into my ear.  I saw a gun emerge
from suit-man's jacket as he drew it forth.  The vox crackled "It's on!"
Marcus said excitedly.

   There was a loud crack from off in the distance and more tire squeals. I
risked a look over my shoulder and saw the car that was headed for us
careening across the road, its driver slumped over the wheel.  Indeed, it
was on, and Marcus drew first blood.

   The men in the train station's patio dropped all pretense of casualness
and weapons were appearing among all of them.  I reached into the small of
my own back for my Browning...it wasn't there!  Upon clutching empty space,
all hell broke loose.  A woman screamed "Sniper!" And people started diving
for cover.  The man in the suit pointed his revolver at my head and started
to speak.  "I got you, you son of..." He never finished the traditional
epitaph.  His head exploded into flying fragments of brains, blood, and
bone.  I looked back to Crystal, and she had a gun out but she hadn't fired
the shot.  Sarah had.  All three girls were now standing in a rough
triangle with Lance in the middle.  I heard other shots ring out, and
Marcie shot both men who had been reading the map, both in the head. 
Crystal shot the man in the tee-shirt in the shoulder, then again in the
chest, then again as he fell forward, in the head.  A man emerged from the
black Lincoln across the street, bringing an Uzi to bear, again aiming at
me.  Interesting, the only man here without a gun, and everyone wants to
kill me.  The Jeep blocked the girls' view of him.  He pulled the priming
bolt and started drawing a bead on me.  Then his right arm fell off.  A
half second later, the sharp crack of a hunting rifle was heard.  The Uzi
clattered onto the roof of the Lincoln as the man clutched at the stump
just below his elbow.  He started to turn to run, and was nearly
decapitated by a bullet through his neck.  I looked around me for other men
inexplicably running toward the firefight, but there were no more.  If
there were more mobsters, their sense of self-preservation must be fully
engaged at this point.

   A couple dozen people were cowering in the corners of the alcove, and
behind trash cans, and pillars.  They watched the girls with horror on
their faces.  The girls, for their parts, were totally unreadable, their
faces were masks of utter blankness.  As soon as things dropped down to the
level of simple panic, they reanimated.  All three girls hustled Lance into
the back seat of the Jeep and Crystal pushed me back into the driver's
seat, crawling over me to get into her seat.

   The people around the entrance started to stand up, sensing that the
shooting was over.  Marcus fired two more shots into the pavement near my
Jeep, sending them all back into cover.  "Keeping them from getting too
good a look at you, though it's probably too late." He explained into my
vox.  "I'll meet you back at the warehouse."

   "You bet." I said.  The tires screeched on the Jeep as we tore out of
there.  I left the lights off for a ways, so that my plates wouldn't be
illuminated, but then turned them on and slowed to a safe and sane speed.

   Ten minutes later, we were in the warehouse.  Crystal hugging Marcie and
Sarah for real this time.  Marcie handed me my pistol.  "Sorry," She said,
"it wasn't my idea." She looked very apologetic.

   "Don't sweat it." I said.  "Probably more useful in your hands than
mine."

   A still-stunned Lance emerged from the Cherokee.  "What.  What the hell
was that?" He asked.

   I gave him a lopsided smile, my heart was still beating like a tom-tom
in my chest.  "That, my friend, was a rescue." I replied.  "Amateur style."

   He smiled weakly.  Then looked at Marcie.  "Honey, where did you learn
to fire a gun?" He asked her.  "I've never had a gun."

   Marcie shrugged.  "Just knew." She said.  "I guess it's a talent." The
three giggled together and started yammering at each other, all three
talking at one time, and apparently hearing one another.

   The pickup pulled into the warehouse a few minutes later, Marcus looked
like shit.  He was sweating profusely and shaking.  I helped him out of the
truck.  "You okay man?" I asked him.

   "Uh.  Fuck no!" He exclaimed as an answer.  "I just killed two people."
He looked at me, "I've never even hurt no one before, except a few punches
and shit."

   "I hear you, my friend." I consoled him.  Putting my arm over his
shoulders.  "You did the right thing."

   Marcus nodded.  "Unless those were cops." He said.

   Marcie laughed at that.  "Those weren't cops, mister." She said in a
high pitched voice.  "They were goons."

   Sarah piped in with, "And we kicked their asses!" All three girls
cheered at that, screeching like banshees.  All us guys were a bit taken
aback by this sudden display of exuberance.

   Lance muttered near Marcus and I.  "I'm glad they're on our side." Both
of us nodded in affirmation.

   After a few more minutes of congratulations, thanks, apologies, and
calming down, we all went downstairs.  Tonight was likely to be a long one.

   It was.  We no sooner had everyone in the living area when my laptop
chirped with email for Crystal.  Crystal opened it and it said plainly.

   "We were going to cut you a deal.  Now you and your daughter-fucking
father are dead!" The return address was Marcie's email account.

   Crystal pounded out a reply, "You done failed once, you sack of shit,
good luck trying again.  Bullets are cheap." And sent it before I could
stop her.  I decided that it didn't matter much at this point.  They knew
we would fight back now, and would be alert for us.

   Marcus sat at his computer and soothed his nerves in doing what he loved
most.  He started digging on the net.

   Lance was sitting on the couch, talking earnestly with Marcie.  Their
conversation was quiet, but quite intense.  I wondered what they were
talking about.  Probably their options at this point.

   Crystal stood back up and brought Sarah over to me.  Sarah said "Mom and
I are sorry for keeping stuff from you, Mr.  Hammond." She said sheepishly.

   "I understand why you did it, Sarah.  It's okay." I said, pouring
sincerity and forgiveness into my voice.

   She accepted that and hugged me.  "I missed you." She said.

   "Sorry about your father, sweetie." I said into her hair.  "He didn't
deserve what he got."

   She sniffed.  "Yeah, but now I've gotten some revenge." She smiled
wanly. "Plus you capped the one who killed him."

   I pointed at my daughter.  "It was her, she shot him." I smiled.  "And
it was a pretty shot, too, almost a hundred yards."

   She blinked at me, but smiled.  "Cool.  Thanks Crystal." She said to my
angel.  Crystal and I retired to the kitchen to make a midnight snack for
everyone, sandwiches.  Amazingly, everyone had a good apetite, and we had
to make a second batch.  Much beer was consumed, and no one really worried
about who did the consuming.  Though we did discover that another Chimera
ability was apparently to belch like a longshoreman.  We generally had a
very good little impromptu party, considering we had all been in our first
serious firefight.  Come to think of it, it hadn't been that serious, for
us, the bad guys didn't even get off a shot.  Somehow, I didn't think that
it would go that well next time.

   Some talk was begun about sleeping arrangements.  Marcus insisted that
the `couples' should get the private rooms.  Marcus would sleep on part of
the couch, and Sarah could sleep on the other arm of the `L'-shaped couch.
I looked at him curiously.

   "Don't worry, man, I won't mess with her." He said, puffing with pride.

   I raised one eyebrow.  "Wasn't you I was worried about being the
aggressor, man." I said, tilting my head slightly Sarah's direction. 
Marcus followed the gesture and caught Sarah staring at him.  Her eyes were
blue, but just a feral as Crystal's green ones.  When she realized he was
looking at her, she blinked and looked away, blushing, and smiling
prettily.

   "Aw, shit." He said.  His face a mask of mock horror.  Sarah wasn't a
unattractive girl.  She was slightly shorter than Crystal, and somewhat
heavier built, but most of that was curves.  Her hair was platinum blonde,
and her eyes were, as noted, brilliant blue.  Her skin, while fair, wasn't
as light at Marcie's.  She shared most of the same build as the other two,
but with noticeably larger breasts and wider hips.  Now, when comparing
Chimeric build versus human build, that is to say that she was still pretty
damn slender, just compared to her sisters, she was curvy.  His face took
on a bit more of a serious worried look.  "What are we going to do
about...you know?" He said.

   "Dunno, man." I replied.  I winked to him, "though I plan on giving
Crystal some tonight.  Might wanna be the nice guy and help poor Sarah
out."

   He grinned goofily.  "You know me, always willing to help." He said,
holding up his palms.  "I should go talk to her, though, ya know?"

   I nodded, and Marcus moved away as Crystal approached.  I saw the
predator, I wanted the predator tonight, so I was glad to see it.  Her slim
hips swayed and her step was light and silent.  Her eyes locked onto mine
and I couldn't tear away from them.  I was a deer in headlights. 
"Daaaadyyyy." She said, drawing it out.  "I think its time you tucked me in
for the night." She stumbled on the edge of the little rug I was standing
on, then giggled.  "I'm a little drunk." Crystal explained, to be sure I
didn't miss it.

   I grinned at her, trying to give her the predator right back.  "I was
hoping you'd say that, angel." I said, hooking her slim waist with my arm.
"Yeah, bed sounds good." I leaned down to her.  "I have need." I said.  She
giggled and looked up at me.  "Oh?" She stopped walking, apparently she
wasn't capable of both locomotion and speech at the same time.  "What do
you need?  I bet Marcus or Lance could help you out." She started giggling
heavily, and would have fallen over, if not for my steadying hand.

   "Nope, I need what you got." I said, grabbing her ass.  She jumped a
little and took my hand.  The predator stalked across the living room and
through the door, towing me by my hand.  "Come, you stud.  I need
servicing."

   She kicked the door shut behind her, and I walked in a couple of steps.
She looked at me like a small bit of meat.  "You are going to be so royally
fucked tonight." She said, head low and eyes cast upward.  She ran toward
me headlong, daring me to not catch her.  I snatched her up as she ran, and
flipped her horizontal and dropped her on the bed, legs still pumping.  She
bounced once, then laid still...very still.  I laughed.  Crystal was passed
out cold.  Her soft snoring was just the right sound to lull me off to
sleep beside her, after I took off her clothes and tucked her in.

   I thought for a while before nodding off.  My goodness, what a day.  We
had taken on the Mafia, and won, this time.  Those girls were amazing.  I
congratulated that bastard Kurz for his amazing work.  "You thought you
failed." I said to myself.  "But you succeeded more amazingly than you ever
knew." I stroked the hair of the marvel that laid beside me.  She was so
beautiful, and she was mine.  My heart fluttered thinking about that.

   My life had changed immensely over the last week, and I wasn't sure I
didn't like it this way.  We had excitement, adventure, daring do, and
heroics.  It was more fun than not, actually, and I wondered why more
people didn't do it.  I was glad I was doing it.  With that thought, I
drifted off to sleep.