Pop the Clutch

[One week later - Mother Base]

A dull buzzing sound echoed throughout the space of the communal showers, accompanied with a low grinding noise at every pass; an electric razor meeting a scalp. Nel sat still as best she could without twitching, grimacing at every gentle pass of the noisy handheld device as she stared at herself in a dirty mirror. Despite her obvious regret at the present circumstances, it only solidified her growing relationship with Addie, of all people. Like so many other things, she couldn't put it into words, but as far as anyone could surmise, Nel felt safe around the cocky Aussie pilot. Aside from the good Doctor, Addie and Jayce were the only ones she didn't shy away from when faced with physical contact; and it went deeper than that.

Since that fated moment in Nel's room, pouring out her soul as she melted into Addie's warm embrace had left her with a longing. She had never been held like that, and in some ways, she saw Addie as... she didn't know the word for it. From the outside, it was undeniably maternal in nature. So why wouldn't it be Addie that Nel approached, having swiped Bison's electric shaver after she caught him trimming his beard earlier that morning?

She felt the pull against her scalp as the matted mane was shorn clean, hanging heavy at the deep roots until multiple passes were made. This certainly wouldn't ever be the cleanest job Addie had done with someone else's hair, but she was happy to help the girl. She felt the warmth irradiating from Nel's body even as she was still habitually careful to keep at least a foot between them. She shaved with one hand, attempting to work through the fresh peach fuzz with a brush in the other.

After several passes, another impact sounded from a heavy pile of hair falling and hitting the floor. Unlike the usual wispy locks and strands delicately floating down, the remains of Nel's hair resembled something more akin to several heavy serpents of tangled dreadlocks and braids, each of them at one time reaching down almost to her waist. With every pass, Nel felt a literal weight falling from her, finding it easier to hold her head up. And with one final pass, the last vestiges were cut loose. Nel was free from the constant pressure on her scalp pulling back, the tightness in her forehead, and the weight feeling like she was still collared and leashed if she were unlucky enough to find her hair in the wrong person's grip. Even though the sides had always been scalped, she nonetheless felt an unfamiliar chill along the top of her head. It was refreshing to say the least.

And yet, running the brush over the top of Nel's head to sweep any loose trimmings away from her face, a sadness swept over Addie as she recognized the girl's brand staring back. Her heart broke for Nel, wishing the world wasn't like it was, where a fucking child was subjected to such things. The scars over Nel's shoulders and back were more apparent now, some of them from fighting, and some of them simply from a whip or a beating. As much as the girl had been through, that she was warming up to the crew like she was, in and of itself, was a miracle.

Addie chanced placing a gentle hand on Nel's shoulder, unsurprised to see the girl jump slightly at the touch. She was still a work in progress, but she was trying, and she forced herself to lean into the warm touch. The older pilot giggled and took her spot at Nel's side, shifting her hand up to scratch the peach fuzz on her little choomba's head as she said, "Not bad, ay?"

Nel wanted nothing more than to pull away as her nose wrinkled and her cheeks burned, but she had to give Addie credit; for the mess of hair she once had, her fresh buzzcut actually turned out well. Of course, it came with a word of warning as Addie spoke again, "Now, I know ya like tannin' up on the roof, and nobody's tellin' ya not to... but be careful with the fresh scalp, 'kay love? Sunburn's a bitch..."

There a was a moment of silence as Nel stared at Addie's reflection in the mirror, admiring her natural resting smirk and the rosy tint of her freckled cheeks before she nodded. Addie followed up with a light press of her lips to the side of Nel's head before she stepped out of the way, her voice trailing off with a playful laugh, "That's a good lass... now get yourself cleaned up, we got work to do."

Nel stood for several seconds, grazing the tips of her fingers over the top of her head, the prickly sensation lighting up her nerve endings as the corners of her mouth curled. When she was finished fawning over Addie's handiwork, she quickly disrobed, pulling her tank top over her head and kicking loose her cargo pants as she stepped into a shower stall. She'd since learned the error of her ways after her run-in with Jayce two weeks ago. As the warm water poured over her small and muscular frame, the run-off collecting at the tip of her nose and chin, she ran her fingers over her body, up and down, massaging every muscle and every curve as she breathed deeply and slowly, in and out. It was a just quick rinse to wash away any small bits of hair, but she wasn't sure that she'd ever acclimate to... or take for granted... a hot shower, and she sought to enjoy it for all it was worth... if only she had some company...

--

The sounds of heavy breathing echoed through the open space. Sharp in the nose, and sharper out the mouth, the stale smell of perspiration carrying through the weight racks and other equipment. Jayce's body was tense all over, every muscle flexed as she punished herself with a proud smirk on her face and grunted with every repetition. Her chest was parallel to the floor, bent at the waist with her knees relaxed. Her arms were taut, muscles engaged as her bare hands gripped a worn barbell with a few small plates on each side. With every inhale, she pulled the weight up to touch her stomach with the bar, and with every exhale, she controlled the slow descent. Sweat had soaked through her sports bra, the beads resting on her bare skin and causing her tattoos to shine or otherwise shaking loose from the rigid movements.

Jayce counted off silently in her head before one last stunted shout. Veins were pulsing in her forehead as her face flushed. She felt the burn throughout her entire body, Bison's words of encouragement fading into the background. She bided her time for several seconds, keeping her arms flexed as she powered through, raising the weight one last time, pausing, and then lowering it just as slowly. Finally, when the motion was completed, she let her hands loose, the weight falling the few remaining inches to the heavy rubber mats with a muted thud.

She didn't yet stand up straight, letting the sweat pour off of her as she caught her breath with her hands on her knees. As the sounds around her returned to the foreground, she heard Bison applauding her, "Them's great rows, kid... ya did good!"

Her mouth was still agape as she tried to smile and let a chuckle escape. She was proud of herself for a new personal best, but also proud of having made the Big Beefcake proud. He lived and breathed his little corner of the world stacked with racks, benches, bars, and bags, so to earn his praise was an achievement in and of itself... and to make him blush was— wait, why the fuck's he blushin'...?

Jayce was suddenly curious at the flush in her older choom's cheeks, but her confusion was quickly quelled as his eyes cut past her and he gave a subtle nod before turning to... be elsewhere for a while. She carefully turned her head, not wanting to strain her neck, and looked back as she saw Nel standing behind her, staring... staring hard with cheeks bright red. Even though Jayce shared a similar light brown pigment, she never ceased to be amazed just how well the red showed all the same. She blushed herself as she flashed her teeth and called out, "Mornin', peaches..."

The girl's eyes were stuck, her mouth slightly ajar as she stared like a deer in headlights down the long line from Jayce's neck across her toned back to her increasingly hourglass hips. Jayce tried to not feel like she was on display, but even though Nel was shamelessly gawking at her, she couldn't deny she liked the attention. Still, she played hard to get as she finally stood upright, proverbially putting away her tight and toned ass from wandering eyes as she turned and spoke again, "Ya starin' all day, or is we goin' a few rounds...?"

As confident and strong as Jayce looked on the outside, her entire body and brain were screaming at her to knock off the gonk cowgirl act. She didn't see herself anywhere near as charming as her old man, and yet she couldn't help but play the strong type around Nel. In the back of her mind, she knew it was simply because otherwise nothing would ever happen, but the dynamic of taking charge was empowering, and she enjoyed the feeling that she was making strides every day in their interactions.

There was no denying it among anyone present; there was a fondness shared between them, though no words were really ever spoken on the matter. A blind man could see the tension building under the surface, every bat of their eyes at each other carrying something behind it... something feral. Though Jayce would never admit it, in her own way taking a page from her old man's situation with Addie, she had spent more nights than she wanted to... fantasizing; holding Nel in her arms, loving her, taking her like a wild animal... and she swelled and salivated at the thought as the blood flowed anywhere but her brain. As she spent night after night over the last month or more touching herself to the vivid imagery in her mind, she almost felt ashamed at the raw passion and violence of it all. The girl had seen enough of that, undoubtedly deserving something more gentle.

Here and now, seeing Nel with her freshly scalped head almost glowing in the morning sun peeking in from above was enough to drive Jayce to the edge of reason, and she fought to restrain herself as she turned and curled her hands into fists, "So, 'ow 'bout it, peaches...?"

She followed up and reached over for a pair of handheld pads as their eyes met, Nel cracking a devious smile as she moved in... oh shit...

Jayce abandoned the pads altogether, taking a stance as Nel closed in on the rubber mats and brought her hands to the ready. It was an unspoken rule by now that the claws stayed out of sight inside the hangar, and Nel had no issues with that. While she couldn't deny their existence as a part of her... as much as she might want to... she never reveled in having them. Except in situations where her raw instinct and aggression took over, she tried her damndest to forget they were there, hoping everyone else around her would do the same.

These sparring matches were one method to Bison's madness of curtailing the girl's feral nature. She was a proven fighter, albeit wild and undisciplined. Jayce was a quick study and competent pugilist in her own right, having spent her adolescence training under both her old man and the good doctor... and the big beefcake. She was centered, controlled when she needed to be, but just like Nel she suffered from the same youthful imprudence when emotions took over. They were a good match for each other on the mats, able to understand and play off each other at both the physical and mental layers, plus it only strengthened the burgeoning bond between them.

Jayce readied herself as she flashed her teeth and motioned Nel forward, "Let's dance..."

Nel led with a fake jab, trying to throw Jayce off as she moved around the mat, biding her time for an opening to present itself. Jayce wasn't taking the bait, keeping her arms close to her body as she moved in response. Her footwork was clean and studied, juxtaposed against Nel learning how to bounce on the balls of her feet instead of planting her full arches like a tree trying to sew roots in the ground. She was still rigid, but even only a few bouts between them had left her more loose and fluid than when she faced off with Jackson the morning after they brought her back from DaKota's. Like Jayce, she was quick on the uptake, and eager to learn from her mistakes. It was fair to say she was a sore loser on account of simply never knowing any better.

Jayce moved in with a fake jab of her own, but Nel knew better by now, only answering the shot with a quick deflect, their knuckles barely scraping as they stared dead in each other's eyes. There was no tenderness now, or at least it was buried deep down. There was still a cheeky smirk shared between them, but it wouldn't last long.

Nel was growing impatient, her movements more erratic as Jayce simply enjoyed the little dance they had going without a worry in the world. The feral girl finally took her chance and moved in close, leading with another quick jab... easy to predict if not for the sheer speed. Jayce was ready, or so she thought, her own block catching her off guard as Nel followed up with a swift cross to her opponent's stomach. Jayce could tell she'd pulled her punch, but the hit registered all the same, even if little more than a love tap. She took a few steps back to regroup and consider her options, wanting nothing more in that moment than to wipe the shit-eating grin off her choomba's face.

's time for a lesson..., she thought as she let her lead hand drop down to her side, her entire stance shifting to something loose and almost carefree. She rolled her shoulders back and bit her bottom lip with a smile as she settled back in her defensive stance and egged Nel on, "Dare ya to try 'at again..."

Nel's eyes widened just enough before she zeroed in, taking the bait as she moved forward for her next strike. She gave a quick fake step, jerking her whole body to try and signal some type of wild move; it failed, Jayce moving in and negotiating around Nel's loose guard to smack her face and retreat to the side. Nel felt her blood boiling behind her cheeks as she turned to find Jayce laughing and readying for an offensive move.

Like clockwork, Jayce closed the gap and gave several combos of jabs, crosses, and hooks. They were patterned, almost programmed, and it only took Nel a few seconds to catch on... Jayce wasn't fighting her, she was drilling her.

She almost felt insulted at the notion as she instinctively blocked each strike in sequence, over and over, weighing her options before Jayce threw an audible into the mix with a wild uppercut knee. Nel wasn't ready, taking the brunt of the blow against her stomach as she collapsed to her knees to try and find the wind she'd lost. She held her arm across her gut as she fought the rising churn, almost feeling like she'd just stepped off Sheila.

"Don' get comfortable now...", Jayce chided her, adding insult to injury as Nel clenched her jaw. Her eyes narrowed as she forced herself to her feet and readied her stance yet again. She was being toyed with, and she didn't like it. The frustration was written all over her face as she shouted and went on the offensive. Jayce's eyes widened, realizing her mistake as she scrambled to block and counter the onslaught of punches and kicks for the next several minutes.

Shit, the girl's fast...

Every strike between them was called, blocked, and answered, their dance of blows and counters straining their stamina. For as small as Nel was, she was equally adept and agile, moving like a breeze against Jayce's lankier form. The flurry of hands was bad enough, but with Nel's feet and legs in the mix, Jayce had her work cut out for her to keep up. She started to lose her momentum, taking a few body shots in stride. Nel finally gained the upper hand, repaying Jayce's favor with a well-placed knee to her taller opponent's stomach and following up with an elbow between the shoulder blades.

Jayce felt her legs buckle out from underneath, and before she knew what had happened, she was face-down against the mat with a stunted groan as the impact reverberated through her entire body. She flattened her palms against the mat, bracing as she tried to push with a growl. She felt the full weight of Nel's knee in the middle of her back and craned her neck to look up and back, playfully snapping her teeth before her eyes went wide and her blood ran cold...

—SHINK!—

As close as the claws were to Jayce's face, lodged through the rubber mat and embedded in the concrete underneath, she could almost see her own reflection in the scuffed and worn finish. She heard the third middle blade slowly exiting, a light scratch of chrome against chrome. She tried to stay calm with no sudden moves, but her breathing was ragged and uneven as the sheer fear took over. She'd never felt so vulnerable and unprotected in her life, even with the entire crew rushing over in response. She could see Bison standing by in front of them, hands ready and prepared to throw down if needed. Addie and Doc Strong both approached from the rear. Jayce saw Jackson from the corner of her eye, although she'd never seen that look before. He had his revolver unholstered, hammer cocked as he leveled it at Nel's head.

Nel heard the hammer clicking, holding out her free hand as if to signal, wait. She leaned forward and down, her mouth only a few inches from Jayce's ears. She sniffed up inquisitively several times, almost as if she were trying to pick up Jayce's scent... to smell Jayce's fear... between sensuous exhales releasing a warm breath. There was something wholly unhinged and erotic about the entire situation. Finally, after far too long of this demonstration, Nel closed in, her lips grazing Jayce's earlobe as she whispered, "...I win...", and followed up with a rub of her tongue against her felled opponent's cheek.

The claws released and retracted, Nel's hands restoring to their human state. She jumped back and away from Jayce as she quickly stood up and looked to Jackson with a shrug and a smirk. His eyes narrowed as she turned and walked briskly towards the far end of the hangar. No one had any idea where she was going, but they sure as hell weren't going stand in her way at this point. Jackson's cheeks flushed as he eventually smirked to himself, trying not to laugh as he looked at the ground, holstered his revolver, and thought to himself, girl's got one helluva way o' showin' it...

As the tension subsided and everyone else went back to whatever the hell they were doing, Jayce was still frozen, dry cheek against the mat as she lay still and wonder what the fuck had just happened... and why the fuck was she so turned on by it?!

--

[Some time later...]

The day had been unusually cool, or at least not as miserably hot as everyone was used to. The early evening sky was clouded over, the setting sun peeking through the thin spots as rays of light peppered the landscape while a pleasant breeze carried grains of sand covering everything in its path... including a sunbathing Nel. She was stretched out on the hangar roof, loosely adhering to Addie's advice with a small corner of the blanket folded over her freshly scalped head. Since her run-in with Jayce earlier, she'd tried to stay out of everyone's way, knowing none of them understood. A small part of her was actually afraid, despite Jackson's cool demeanor, that he might have a bone to pick after the fact.

As if to prove herself right, she heard low masculine grunts among hollow metal reverberating against heavy steps... someone was climbing the ladder. She didn't yet know who, and so for the few remaining moments she had to herself, she paid the noise no heed.

After a few seconds, the scruff of Jackson's sandy hair poked up over the edge of the roof, a waft of smoke following and trailing up into the open air. He watched for a moment, gauging for a reaction before he asked, "Min' if I join ya...?"

Nel nearly scoffed, stifling her sarcastic reaction to a quiet grumble as she answered indifferently, "It's your house."

"...yeah... yeah it is, ain't it...?", Jackson sighed as he pulled himself up the last few rungs and stood tall on the roof of the building, looking out over the desert as his lit cigarette burned between his lips. He pulled the cigarette away, exhaling smoke from his lungs as he took a careful step forward, "And bein' as much, we got rules, kid..."

Except for the blanket, there was nothing hiding the roll in Nel's eyes as she sat up at the waist, her defined stomach muscles flexing while she propped herself up with both arms and looked at Jackson staring right back at her. He pursed his lips as they locked eyes before he gently chided her and pointed with the cigarette between two fingers, "We had an understandin'... those claws..."

"I know...", Nel looked down as she admonished herself. She didn't want to hear it, but she knew it wasn't much her choice as she looked up again, "I'm sorry..."

Jackson waved his hand as he sighed again, "Ahhh... just layin' down the law... 's my job 's all."

"I-I didn't mean to scare her...", Nel confessed as she looked down between her feet, "I just... I wanted her to understand."

Jackson's head cocked in curiosity as he asked, "Understand what, exactly...?"

Nel brought one hand up in front of her face, the panels articulating and expanding as the claws shot forward with a metal ringing. For as small a person as she was, the entire display had Jackson clenched more than he was comfortable admitting. After a few seconds of the glare reflecting into Nel's eyes, she retracted the claws, her hand restoring itself as her cheeks flushed and she looked out over the ridge in the distance, "I... I like her... and I'm trying to understand what she fights with every day..."

"Mm... talkin' 'bout the showers...?", Jackson asked, to which Nel nodded and continued, "I trust her... and I want her to know that. I just thought... maybe if she felt what I've felt my whole life, even for a couple of seconds..."

"I get it, Nel... I really do...", Jackson interrupted as he chanced taking a seat next to her, "Hell, what you've been through, 's an act of God you're still in one piece."

"We're survivors...", Nel mused, the depth of the words nearly knocking Jackson flat on his back as she kept going with a heavy sigh, "It's what we do... I spent so long... all my life... wishing that each time I was let loose would be the last. I wanted so badly to just die, to be free of it all... and I felt guilty for that, for knowing I'd be leaving my sisters behind."

Jackson took a deep drag with a shrug of his eyebrows, content to keep quiet for once and let the girl speak her piece.

"Finally I had it... the end came for me. Everything I'd ever wanted, I was so close...", she choked on the words, causing to Jackson to chuckle as he cut in, "And then me an' mine came along and fucked it all up... story o' my life."

For the first time since Nel came to them, she genuinely laughed, a smile breaking wide from ear to ear. The spent and smoldering butt dropped from Jackson's mouth as his eyes widened, ashing against his shirt before rolling down the inclined roof. The moment itself was short-lived, Nel looking over to him, and to his chromed left arm as she parroted a question Jayce had asked her a week ago, "...you didn't choose that, did you?"

Jackson looked down at his hand, curling the cybernetic digits into a fist as he looked back out across the expanse, his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed, "No, I did not..."

"I see a darkness in you...", Nel curled her own fist, her eyes almost glowing amid the encroaching twilight, "...something you can't quite control. I see it because I see the same in myself."

"That why you avoid lookin' in the mirror...?", Jackson asked, unsurprised at the shock in Nel's reaction as he smirked with a side eye, "Yeah, I noticed... been keepin' my eye on you."

Nel's face hardened as she propped one leg up, resting her arm against it as she retorted, "I meant it when I said I wasn't a threat to you... or them..."

"Not what I meant, kid...", Jackson dissuaded her from that line of thinking, "Your li'l episode earlier aside, you're in my care now. For however long you're here, 's my charge to look after ya."

Nel didn't really know how to respond to that, and Jackson continued, "Far as I'm concerned, 's long 's you stay in line and pull your weight, you... could... have a home here."

The girl felt a few warm tears forming; her whole body felt warm, as if Addie had wrapped her up from behind and cradled her. She liked this side of Jackson... the human side.

Their few minutes sitting together in silence were cut short by a shrieking sound from below, inside the hangar...

"W-A-A-A-A-AHO-O-O-O-O-O!!!"

Jackson recognized the voice immediately, clambering over to one of the missing panels to see what was going on. Before he could register anything at all about the situation, Nel was gone, having jumped clear from the roof. It was a sixty-foot drop, a heavy impact sounding off as her feet hit the concrete. Jackson waited for the pained screams or snapping of bones, but they never came. He could only assume the girl's leg implants had done their job absorbing the impact. In place of pain and suffering, there was only joy as he turned his attention back to the inside of the hangar.

Jayce was dancing around like a kid at Christmas, her cheers and whoops almost drowning out the sputtering exhaust sounds of the... shit, she did it!

Jackson smiled from ear to ear as he watched the pet project motorcycle spewing exhaust fumes and visible smog... but it was running. After two months of stripping the thing down to its nuts and bolts, Jayce had finally pulled it off. She was practically bouncing off the walls, Bison joining in as they danced and embraced one another like giddy children. Even Nel appeared in the periphery, trying to contain herself amid the celebration. Before she could brace herself or move out of the damage path, Jayce zeroed in, hugging her tight as she kept cheering and jumping for joy.

Nel was jerked every which way in her taller choomba's arms, and although every instinct told her to find a way to free herself immediately, she consciously chose to turn off that little voice in her brain and let herself melt into Jayce's arms as she smiled and closed her eyes.

Up on the roof, Jackson took all of it in with a swell of emotions in his chest. He was proud of his daughter, and he was happy for the strides all the crew were making with the little albatross in their midst.

And yet somehow, it seemed a single holocall could ruin the moment at any given time. Jackson's eyes flashed orange as he grumbled to himself. At least it was a friend calling, and he calmed himself as he answered, "Things boilin' over already? 's only been a week..."

"Can it, old man!", the strong voice of Panam barked from the other end of the call with a laugh before her tone shifted to heartfelt and genuine, "I uh... I still owe you for what you did for us... and I think I may have a way to settle accounts. Easy money."

"Great!", Jackson wasn't convinced at all, "...what's the catch?"

Panam hesitated just long enough before she forced the words, "It's in the City..."

Shit..., Jackson thought to himself, You really know how to sell a job, huh kid...?

--