Chapter 16: Don King and Mean Dogs

"You just going to stand there?  Where is he slim?"

I nodded towards the back room.  Nuff lurched up.  "He's broken."  I bleated out.

"We'll see."

Nuff disappeared through the hallway.    I looked over to the other two.  "What?  You two touch pee pee's now?"

Fishlips responded, "just business," quickly hiding behind another gloss of Chapstick.

"Yeah you think I'm going to get O.J.'d and let this just happen?"

Cyrus quickly responded, "it just did playa'."

Nuff appeared again holding Steel like a giant baby, struggling under the weight.  "What are you two?cheerleaders?  Come help me with him."

"Told you he was broken.  Only I can fix him.  What are you going to do with him?"

"No need slim, remember my engineer?  Turns out he's a rocket scientist too.  Gonna get him purring like a kitten.  Steel's my new prize fighter."

"Are you the Don King of rap now?"

"Only in America baby."

I watched them struggle to get Steel into the backseat and I shut the front door.

I stood there frozen, replaying what just happened.  Then another knock.  Fishlips stepped back inside.  "Um, You got his power cord?"

I fetched it from the back room and threw it at him.

"No hard feelings right man?"  He unsheathed his Chapstick and I slapped it out of his hand.  "Get out."  As he leaned down to pick up his Chapstick, "leave it!  That's mine now!"  Silly thinking back to that now, but felt right at the time.

Fishlips put two hands up, "just business man."  I slammed the door behind him catching the back of his shoe.  Another small win.

I called Danny and he actually picked up.  "Danny where have you been?  They took Steel and I think Natasha  was with them."

"I know."

"What are talking about you know."

"I'm here, open the door."

I opened the door to Danny in head to toe camouflage and covered in leaves and dirt.

Danny rushed past me to the kitchen and started raiding the fridge.  "What did Steel say when they took him?"

"Ducks and bunnies," Danny looked up perplexed, "...never mind.  Where have you been?"

"I've been tailing Natasha, so I had to go in survivalist mode...I had to jump through a few back yards to get here, how long do tetanus shots last?"

"What are you talking about, you're not making sense?"

"Oh right, you have mean dogs out here.  I was two yards away and jumped in the wrong yard.  I was halfway up the fence and the most discontent terrier I've ever come across bit my ass.  He was hanging there and wouldn't let go."

"How'd you get rid of him?"

"Oh right, the bite made me fart.  And believe me after eating all the cans of beans while I was in hiding, made him cry and run away, fucking mutt."

"Jesus, well, look we need a plan to get Steel back, he could be dangerous in the wrong hands...then we're going to dismantle him."

"I know just what to do," Danny responded with unusual clarity.  "Remember the fail safe words?  We can use that to turn him off.  Our best chance is to get him at the big battle tomorrow night."

"I don't really remember the fail safe, do you?"

"I thought you would know."