Battlescars [Malik] {Complete}

It had been a long day and the excitement did nothing but help drain everyone. Fighting for your lives, adrenaline rushing through your veins, and the stress of trying to make a clean get away was a good cocktail to cure insomnia. It was dark by the time they got out of the city and back to the trailer. Lisette's stray had chosen to stay with them and Malik didn't up much of a fuss. He had never seen Lis go out on a limb for anyone but him and Vanessa. It was a different side of her, though he recognized what it was because it was a part of him. Turning Cyd away would have crushed Lis and Malik didn't want to hurt her. He cared about her too much to do such a thing.

Once they were stopped and camped for the night, the three women had taken up their bunks and quickly went to sleep. Malik kept himself busy and pushed the pain of the bullet still lodged in his shoulder to the back of his mind. He wasn't the type to hide an injury. Doing something like that would get them all killed, but he wasn't the type to broadcast weakness. He would lick his wounds when he had time to do so in private. While they bedded down for the night, Malik walked the perimeter to secure it, and then settled down in the cargo hold. The walls were thick enough to keep most noise from passing through them. It would do well enough for him to pull out a bullet.

Sitting on the cold floor beneath one of the wall lamps Malik opened up one of the field medic kits and pulled out a forceps clamp, a mirror, gauze, and some peroxide. After stripping to the waist, Malik hissed as he poured the peroxide over the wound, and it bubbled up into a pinkish foam. It wasn't so much from pain, but the reawakening of the nerves that had been reduced to a dull ache at the back of his mind. Now it had his full attention. Lifting the mirror up over his shoulder he craned his neck as far as he could so that he could get a good look at the wound. The door to his right opened, and he shifted the mirror slightly so he could see who was coming in. It was less effort than turning all the way around, and it was less likely to tip off whoever was coming through the door that he knew who it was. Good training never died.

His nose was too full of the scent of his own blood and peroxide fumes to pick out Lisette's scent, but the slender yet muscular legs and butt, and the ratty t-shirt were a dead giveaway. It was the first of his clothes that she had laid claim to. Being practical, Malik never threw anything away that was still useful, and he literally wore holes into the shirt. He gave it to her the first night she was with them, so that she would have something to wear for the night while her clothes dried. She didn't leave the next morning, and she never gave the shirt back. She wore it to bed every night like some sort of security blanket.

"I've got better war wounds from the actual war. I don't think I'll need to talk about this one." he said with a mild hint of sarcasm in his voice. He wasn't kidding about his war wounds. Lisette had seen the collection of scars he had racked up over the decades. Each one was a story written in his flesh and memory. Malik scooted forward on the floor as Lis stepped over and settled in behind him. His skin was hot to the touch, but her hands were welcomed even if they did bring pain with them. Closeness and contact were always welcomed and craved. Regardless of anything else, it brought comfort and security. "Yeah... the benefit of having such a thick skull..... all the other bones are thick too."

Malik lifted his belt that lay coiled on the floor beside him and put it between his teeth. Biting down on it would lessen the strain on his teeth when he clenched them against the pain. It might have been easier for a field medic to use the surgical tools, but Lis wasn't trained with them, and would cause more tearing with clumsy poking about her. What she was doing was the natural way of coaxing the bullet to the surface. New Breed had tough hides and most wounds were superficial. They dealt with wounds like their feline counterparts, using what nature gave them. While she massaged his damaged muscle and worked the bullet to the surface, Malik breathed through the pain to stay as quiet as possible.

Finally the tinkling of metal on the cargo floor brought a flood of relief through him. He let the belt fall from his mouth and sucked in air. His skin had beaded up with a light sheen of sweat from the ordeal. "You don't need to explain. I didn't send her away did I?" He said quietly and turned to look at her over his shoulder. The understanding look in his eye said what he didn't need to say, 'I didn't send you away either, did I?' Their meeting had been quite different. Malik was on a job that went bad, and Lisette had run right into the hornet's nest being chased by her own bees. She slammed right into him going as fast as she could in her human form, and bounced off like she hit a brick wall. Malik almost shot her because he thought she was one of them. Lucky for her he realized that people were shooting at her instead of him, and he didn't know at the time that she was responsible for the explosions that sent his job into a world of shit.

"That's much better. Thanks." he said standing up from the floor while she was fishing through the med kit looking for the right needle and thread. "Better safe than sorry. I wouldn't want to die of infection, after managing to survive everything that happened today. Moving over to the other wall of the cargo bay Malik pulled a thick roll off of the wall mountings near the ceiling. Deftly he opened the plastic clasps and unfurled the bedroll so that it lay in the middle of the cargo hold floor. Using his good arm, and favoring the injured one he fitted the clean linens to it while Lisette mixed up her antibiotic cocktail. She knew chemistry despite her other impairment, and he learned to trust that knowledge. While she finished up, Malik put a layer of towels down on the bed roll, and then lay down atop them on his stomach. It would be easier for her to stitch him up sitting straddled across his back, instead of kneeling over him while he tried to sit still.

This wasn't his first time at the rodeo. Malik had been shot and sewn up enough over the years to know exactly what to expect, and how to lay so he could be stitched closed. Though his previous surgeons weren't cute brunettes who sat their perfect bottoms right on the small of his back. Feeling the weight of her curves, and the silken skin of her thighs along his flanks made the lack of numbing medication worth it. When he felt her weight shift forward so she could lean over the wound, Malik closed his eyes and sent his mind elsewhere. It was a feat you learned to keep sanity on the battlefield, because it was the only escape you were allowed amid explosions and troop movements. The pain was still there, you just didn't mind it so much, as it was on the edge of your thoughts.

Malik pulled in a long breath when the peroxide filled his wound and started to foam up, and let it out slowly. Once the initial pain started, everything was just added on to it, and easier to endure. The constant sting of the cleansing turned into the sharp piercing of needle, and prolonged pinch of thread being pulled through flesh. Again, and again, and again it tried to invade his thoughts, but Malik was too busy running across the moonlit fields at night. It was the memory of a time following the end of the war, right after he was discharged from the army. The first full moon that he was free, he unleashed the beast inside, and ran until his muscles gave out. No marching orders, no curfew, just him and the whole world.

Lisette's voice joined the moods light and invaded his thoughts because she was always welcomed where he was. "Yeah." he said in agreement. He was very familiar with her way of speaking, and it just seemed to fit naturally with his. Everything just came easy between them, like puzzle pieces fitting together. It was the same way with both of them and Vanessa. They all completed each other in ways that others couldn't. "Heh....", he laughed at her admission to finding Cyd attractive, "I knew you had a thing for blondes. Better not let Nessa find out." He admired how Lis was able to just ignore the walls that Vanessa had built up around herself, when other people had to chip away at them over time. She seemed to do it with everyone, as if she had some special gift.

"Mmmmmm," came a quiet groan when Malik felt her fingers glide across his back, away from the wound, and travel the contours they found. "She's lost." he said quietly. "You had that same look when everything stopped lowing up, and we managed to get out of that mess alive. Vanessa had it too when I found her after the war working as a hired gun for anyone that could afford it. Nowhere to go, no one to tell you what you're supposed to do, and all alone in the world...... I know what that feels like." He didn't need to say it out loud, but that last part was about him and she knew it. He was all alone until she came along and blew the walls off of his isolated prison. She had found him, and saved him from being lost, because he was no longer alone.

Muscled arms shifted slightly to press against her legs, and large hands closed over her bare feet. His touch was deliberate, and kept her from being tickled by it. Strong fingertips pressed into the contoured arches of her small feet, and began to massage the pressure points. It was an unconscious response to her rubbing his back, as much as the rumble that reverberated through the back she now sat upon. Since their species had begun with genetic manipulation of human beings, there were certain minor physiological differences in their human bodies, the most notable of them was the ability to purr. The slow caress of the Cheetah's feet that eased away the tension of her assets was just another aspect of who they were; they shared pleasure mutually.

When he spoke, his deep voice was permeated by the rumble of his purr making him sound even more like a baritone. "We can't force her to stay, even if we want her to. She can't stay if she doesn't fit, even if she wants to." Malik spoke from his heart and fell silent for a moment to actually think about what he said. This was the first time they were in this situation. Malik and Lis just clicked without even realizing it. He and Vanessa had a history that bound them together. Lisette just violated Vanessa continuously, not caring how many guns were pointed at her, until Vanessa gave up, and just accepted it. This was a complete stranger to all of them. "Things just have to run their course and see what happens. Give her time.... After all.... You did kinda kidnap her."

Every time her bottom shifted Malik’s touch became more attentive. Fingers gently worked around the tender spot and eased their way to it so that it released the tension. He knew Lisette well and how she liked to be touched. His body moved without thinking, allowing him to focus on the words she spoke. Malik laughed at her as she refuted the accusation, “I don’t think she’d rather be dead. You just need to give her some time.” There wasn’t much else that Lis could do. The approach that she had adopted with Ness could easily run their newcomer off as quickly as she had joined them.

The real laughter came when she started mocking Vanessa with her bulldozer rendition of a conversation between them. “Hahah OW…. Heh heh. Ahh…… heh.” The sudden movement of his freshly stitched wound caused him a little pain that he wasn’t yet ready for, but it quickly passed. The hard floor was uncomfortable but her slight weight didn’t add any more to it. Feeling her shift on his back and then lift off of him filled him with a momentary sense of loss, but he knew her touch wasn’t gone for long. Instead of pushing himself up with his arms, Malik rolled over on to his side, and then shifted his weight into a sitting position. While he rolled his shoulder slowly to test the bandage that covered the wound, and watched Lisette settle on the mattress that he had lain out.

Following suit, Malik moved on to the much softer surface now that there was no risk of him bleeding all over it. “You do a really good patch job, Lis.” he admitted while he settled down. One large hand took the tiny foot that hovered in the air offered to him. Once again his touch was velvet, and thumbs made use of all his fingers had learned. Malik was quite good at giving massages, and enjoyed watching Lis fall under his spell of touch. It felt good to know what you did was appreciated was others. He simply enjoyed her reactions and fell silent while she spoke. Even though Lis was functionally illiterate, she was extremely intelligent. She often gave him a great deal to think about, as she had now.

He set one foot down, and took up the other while he was lost in quiet thought. Frankenstein was a classic, one of his favorites for obvious reasons. He’d read it to her. Three weeks of nights with her curled against his chest, staring down at the words on the pages while he gave them voice, and the line between man and monster blurred. “ “Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?” Malik spoke absently, reciting the quote from the book that he and Lis knew so well. “That’s the problem, Kitten. They weren’t thinking… they never think. The humans saw what they could do and they did it because they could. ”

Malik set her foot aside and reached out with his large hands to take hold of her hips. A gentle grip and flexing of his arm brought her sliding closer to him so that their legs were intertwined. “It doesn’t matter what they thought or wanted, Kitten.” he said fixing her eyes with his gaze. “They didn’t create US, they only pushed over the first domino. We were born, not made. Even if they told us what to be and do in the beginning, we’re free now, and we didn’t have to kill them for it. We make our own choices now.” His hand reached up now while he looked into her eyes, and fingers pushed into her brunette hair. Tips found their way behind her ear and curled slightly so nails could caress the sensitive skin of her scalp just behind its curve. “We are NOT monsters.”

Malik started to smile with a slick remark that was trademark for his playfully egotistical sense of humor, he was a lion after all, but Lis' pained tone silenced him. You didn't make jokes when your family was hurting. It was obvious that Lis was hurting. She rarely let her pain show. She chose to cover it up and hide it behind a cocky mask that was ready to take on the world. Malik did the only thing he could do, he shut up and listen. Sometimes that made more of a difference than saying the right thing. He understood what she was saying, especially the last part.

"Yeah.... I know what you mean." , he said as he shifted to his right. He leaned his bare back up against the cold wall of the cargo hold. The sharp cold brought the nerves of his skin to life causing goose bumps to bloom along his arms. It also gave a soothing relief by drawing the heat away from his wound and dulling the ache slightly. His large hands scooped up under her small rump, and moved her as he pleased. "We're warriors. Bred, born, and taught to be warriors. That's why combat makes us feel alive." He spoke while he spun Lis around so that she could lay against his chest. She was so much smaller than him and easily played the part of the comfy chair as she sat between his legs.

Fitting together was something that they did well. He gave her a moment to settle in against him before his right hand moved to her right wrist. "You remember the song I taught you right, the 'ABC' one?" he asked her. Malik had been slowly teaching her the building blocks that would eventually lead to Lisette reading on her own, but it took time. Omni had turned her into a living camera. She could memorize almost anything, and assign a meaning to it, but everything, including words, were just images to her. She knew the song by heart and Malik had used flash cards to show her what each letter looked like. He didn't rush the process. He wasn't going anywhere, and he wasn't letting her go, so they had time.

Gently he moved her right hand so that he held it with her index finger extended along his. Slowly he touched their aligned tips to her thigh and traced out the shapes as he named them. "EL, EYE, ES." he said punctuating his strokes. "El, eye, es," he repeated and made the same movements. His voice was soft and patient as he repeated the words a few more times, but soon he was only making the movements, guiding her through them as he spoke. "I'm Malik, and you're Lis. That's who we are and that's all there is to it. Nothing more, nothing less. We're good enough....better than good enough, Kitten."

He took his hand from hers and pulled a black marker from the large pants pocket that was on his thigh. Malik pulled the leg of his pants up to expose a well turned muscular calf. Shifting his legs so that they it lay horizontally in front of her, Malik uncapped the marker, and put it in her right hand. With the greatest of patience and care, he shaped her hand around the marker until she had a comfortable hold on it. Keeping his hand on hers for support, Malik gave her free reign to move as she wished. All she would get from him was some gentle nudges of encouragement to get her moving. He touched the black tip in her hand to his mocha skin, and whispered into her ear "El, Eye, Es", while his hand gave her a little guidance when it was needed but not until. He looked at the tag that now graced his skin and smiled. "That spells 'Lis'..... Now you can write your name on all your stuff."

"I guess you're right." She said, agreeing with the notion that because they were bred for war, it was the time of combat that they really felt right. She rested easily against his chest. As much she loved affection, it was a different sort for each of her comrades. With Mal she was quiet and reserved (most the time) and took whatever he gave. his love was deep and affectionate, the way a cat rubbed their head on a hand. For Ness, it was a little different.

" Yes, I remember. I remember the letter too." She allowed him to show her how to make the letters. She could identify her name by sight, but had no idea how to spell it really. Each letter he traced on her, she recalled in her memory, how they were shaped and how they looked. She nodded her head as if to say she understood. She grinned as he told her she could now write her name on her things. "Ha, That'll annoy Ness. As if there is a need to write our names on things. Everyone knows whose is whose, and if they don't no one cares. Well, that new chick might. "

She bit her bottom lip as silence passed between them before she spoke her next thoughts. [color:45a7=@cbb117] "I miss the feeling of it all though. The sounds, the adrenaline. The feeling of being alive. there is nothing that can replace that. And today, I felt it." Lis was like a junkie trying to chase a high. She could never truly satisfy herself unless something was burning and there was fatal danger lurking. That's just how she was wired. Here, safe against Malik's chest, she was comfortable, but unsettled.

[[Sorry this was short]]

Malik laughed at how Lis immediately thought of how to use her new found ability to get a rise out of someone.  That was one of the many things that made Lis Lis.  He smirked and shifted slightly as she nestled against his chest once more.  He enjoyed the weight of her against his chest.  The feathery locks of her hair brushed against his chest adding to her presence.  The great cat in him stirred at the intimate contact between them, and the rumble deep in his chest began.  It was like leaning up against the fender of a truck with the engine idling, only deeper with a warm organic feel.  Without thinking about it Malik closed his dies and lowered his head to nestle it against the top of hers.  She smelled good.  She always smelled good. 


His lips parted and he began to speak quietly so only her sensitive ears could hear him.    "Bullets flying, things blowing up, the smell of blood in the air, and your life in the line.....  " his voice was already a rumble, but the inhuman purring tool it to a whole new level,    "... there's nothing like it.  It makes my heart race, and my skin tingle.  Everything about the world is sharper.... so much clearer.  I miss being able to let loose.  It's the one thing I miss about the war, not having to hold back.  That's why I got into these mercenary game."


While he spoke to her his hands gave in to instinct and took on a mind of their own.  His thumb started to move along the length of her right arm, tracing a path from where the sleeve of her shirt ended down to her wrist.  One by one tips of fingers joined in until he curled them and ran nails along her flesh.  His other hand pushed its way into her hair.  Finger tips played along the scalp at the edge of her ear, drawing circles with their nails, before adventuring deeper.  He could easily engulf her head in the grip of his large hand, and he used it to throughly massage over her scalp.  Each strand of her hair he played through kicked up more of her unique scent for him to take in.  He inhaled with a hunger for it that was evident in his touch.   "There are some things that can hold us over until the next fight breaks out. "  


Once again he used his size and strenghth to his advantage.   Malik's hand moved from Lis's arm to her hip, and his other slipped from her hair to caress down her neck to her shoulder while he spoke.  The moment the words left his lips, he gracefully spun her around between his legs so that she faced him.  His eyelids were heavy, and passion suffused his gaze.  He bore the crooked grin of the cat who licked the cream on his full lips.   "What's better than riding one high into the next....",   he asked as he leaned in and guided her lips towards his with a finger beneath her chin.   " And no.... I'm never that hurt."  

"Ah, Malik… We can't get those years back. But there are plenty ways to chase the high of it all.

Each touch of his fingers brought goosebumps to the surface of her skin. His hands were strong, but to the pride members, soft as velvet on skin. Fingers ran through her long, messy brunette hair and it brought a purr from her lungs. Her eyes closed, like a cats, as he caressed all the right places. "Oh, I agree. ". She said just as her lips pressed against his own. He spoke once more and drew a smile on her lips with his words. Mailk was tough, and what made pain fade quicker than the chance to have a release.

Her hands came up to place her palms on the strong, dark chest of her lover. He was solid, sculpted, strong and just what Lis wanted. The talk of a fight had gotten to her, driven her mad within herself. She was an animal at heart and there was no stopping that. Her thighs flexed against his body as she rocked herself forward to add pressure to their kiss.

Slowly, her tongue made it's way into his mouth as she savored his flavor. Their moments were few and far between. She was well aware that he shared them with Nessa as well, but it did not bother Lisette. She and Malik had a connection that no human could bar. Soft fingers traced each battle scar upon his chest. Pulling away from him, she purred, "You showed me yours, so I'll show you mine". And with that she lifted her hands above her head, giving Mailk the green light to take this further. Lis was flirty, but not often receptive to sealing the deal.

Tonight, she was both.