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

   "Well, it beats the shit out of waiting for them to catch us." Marcus
said, staring down at my little arsenal.  He was wearing the armored vest.
It bulked him up nicely for such a bean pole.  "But what then?" he asked.
"I mean, is the law going to lay off just because we ice some mobsters?"

   I shook my head.  "No." I replied.  "My thought is that there will be
some proof to exonerate me, and probably you."

   Marcus looked a bit dubious.  "And if not?"

   "At least we got the Mafia off the Chimeras' backs." I shrugged. 
Crystal was trying to put on her own vest.  It was still way too large for
her.  I didn't expect her to see much gun play, anyway, but I wanted her
armored anyway.  Marcus pulled a roll of duct tape out of his pickup and
used it to `tailor' her vest better.  It was far from stylish, but she
could now move without it falling off one shoulder and immobilizing that
arm.  I looked at her, fitting herself with a web belt and sliding one of
the Brownings into a holster.  She looked cute as hell in that getup.  Like
she was playing war.  But when she looked back up and met my eyes, I could
see she wasn't playing.

   Marcus even noted that her eyes were deadly serious, and her face was
absolutely blank.  She strapped on the second holster and slipped the other
Browning into it, across her back.  The guns looked huge when measured
against her small body, but she could handle them, I'd seen her do it
twice. As I watched, she drew out the one on her hip and chambered a round
in one fluid motion.  She reholstered it then drew it again, faster.  In
amazement, Marcus and I stared as she repeated the action over and over. 
Each time she drew the pistol, chambered a round, and flipped the safety
faster than the time before.  Within minutes, her hands were a blur as she
did the entire maneuver, turning the pistol from a safe weapon to ready to
fire, in about half a second.

   I kept my mouth shut, and signaled Marcus to keep quiet.  She shrugged
and nodded to herself in satisfaction, not even paying us any attention. 
She started doing the same thing, with her left hand and the back-holstered
pistol.  Again, within minutes, she was drawing it in a smooth blur.  After
she completed that to her apparent satisfaction, she fiddled with her armor
vest and the pistols a bit.  She moved the pistols against the prominent
seams on the lower edge of the vest, and felt the resistance of the slide
against them and the catching qualities of the sights.  She then did a
slow-motion two-handed draw of both pistols.  She worked the slides by
hanging the sights against the hem of her vest and pushing down a bit. 
When they were moved forward the mechanisms snapped back into place,
chambering a round, she then slipped each safety, one with her thumb the
other with her index finger on that hand, as the safety was on the off side
of the pistol.

   I almost cheered when she started repeating this move.  Her hands were
like independent creatures, each moving of its own accord.  She kept doing
this until she was just as fast with this move as she was with the single
draw.

   "That's awesome, Crystal." Marcus said, finally, snapping her from her
blank-faced state.

   Crystal gave him a wide smile.  "What?" She said.  "I'm just practicing
drawing them." She giggled nervously.

   "Let's check something, angel." I suggested.  I went downstairs and
brought back up a half dozen empty soda cans.  I sat them on top of some
pieces of wood and detritus from around the warehouse.  They formed a rough
line about thirty feet from Crystal.  She watched me with interest, her
eyes following my every move.  I walked back up beside her.  "Shoot those
six cans." I said.

   Crystal drew both guns, firing them, it seemed, before they had cleared
the holsters completely.  Two seconds later, all six cans were down.  We
weren't even sure how many bullets she had fired.  It was, however, a
magnificent imitation of a machine gun.  Each pistol fired independently,
at its own speed, they twitched from side to side and popped up a bit with
each recoil, but she moved them into line for the next shot with almost no
time between them.

   "How many times did you shoot, Crystal?" Marcus asked, eyes wide with
amazement.

   My angel stood there and shrugged, "Seven." She said, then looked a bit
peeved.  "I missed with one." She was sliding both pistols back into their
holsters.

   I was stunned myself, but I hadn't been watching the cans, I was
watching her.  As she fired, her face took on that absolutely blank aspect.
The only thing I saw move were her eyes, and they scared the shit out of
me. They actually moved by themselves, not together, but each selecting and
finding its own target, guiding the matching hand, or maybe the opposite
hand, to fire.  As soon as she was done, they resumed acting normally,
focusing together.

   Marcus was laughing and patting Crystal on the back.  "You kick ass,
girl." He said.

   I shook my head.  "You weren't watching, man." I said, looking at
Marcus. "Angel.  I want you to do that again." I said as I picked up the
fallen and beholed cans.  "Just like you did before." This time, however, I
set three cans a good way to the left of her center, the other three, I set
a good way right of her center.

   He looked at me, curious.  "Why you moving them apart?" He asked.

   "Watch my angel this time." I said.  Then pointed to my eyes.  "Watch
her eyes." We stepped to her side, away from the lines of fire, but still
in front of her.  "Okay, honey, do it again."

   The guns, almost like magic, appeared in her hands, her arms stretched,
locking her elbows, then fired.  The mechanisms pistoned back and forth and
she stopped almost as soon as she had started.  The cans were still
rattling to the floor, and the casings from the first shots finally hit.

   Marcus gaped at Crystal openly.  "Holy fucking shit." He said in a quiet
voice.  His eyes were the size of saucers.

   Crystal grinned at him.  "What?" She said, looking at him like he'd
totally forgotten his pants.  "Why are you looking at me like that?"

   He stammered.  "You...your, your eyes, Crystal, they steer independently
when you're shooting."

   She nodded, "Yeah, so?" She said.  Then she got it.  "Oh." She wheezed.
"That's not normal, is it?" Then she giggled.  "No wonder all the guys in
cop movies always use one gun!" She said, enjoying her moment of epiphany.
She pointed at Marcus and me.  "You can only aim one." Her giggles
transformed into a full belly laugh and she sat on the floor.  Her face red
and her eyes watering.  It was wonderful seeing her laugh.  My human
frailties were a sacrifice I was willing to make to let her have her moment
of fun.  "I don't mean to laugh at you." She said between giggles, finally.
"Its just we Chimeras never talk about our differences, except the
sex-related ones." She shrugged.  "We just assume we're humans with fucked
up urges." She fell into another fit of whimsey and fell onto her side.  I
thought surely she'd start needing for air soon, but Chimeras have
impressive lung reserves, as well, and the laughter lasted a good long
time.

   After a few more minutes, she calmed down enough to sit up again.  She
looked at me with her eyes half-lidded.  "We usually hide most of our
abilities, as you know." She looked around, then back at me.  "Like my
swimming.  I could never compete in swimming, because it isn't fair." It
disturbed me a bit to think she thought of herself as something other than
human, but I suppose that she is.  Something better than human, in my
opinion, but definitely something else.  The giggles finally left her and
she managed to stand up.  A feat made harder by the thirty pound vest she
was encased in.  She pulled the pistols out at a casual rate, and handed
them to me.  "Show me how to clean them.  I heard you're supposed to keep
them very clean."

   I nodded and took the two weapons, almost handling them like they would
bite me.  She slid out of the armor and reclaimed her normal tee shirt,
which had gone with it, evidently partially duct taped to the armor. 
Marcus politely averted his eyes, which Crystal found as a source of
herself blushing.  We all went back downstairs.  "I wonder if that noise
attracted any attention?" I asked as we went down the long staircase.

   "I doubt it, man." Marcus said.  "If no bodies turn up after gunfire in
this neighborhood, people count themselves lucky."

   I nodded to that.  "My thoughts, too, actually." And we entered the
little underground home.

   We all went toward the kitchen, determined to eat lunch.  Crystal
volunteered to cook `her men' some stew, and Marcus and I gladly accepted
the offer.  While she futzed with the cans of potential ingredients and
microwave thawed the stew meat, Marcus leaned close to me and asked, "She
got any other abilities I should know about?"

   I gave him a sly look.  "You should know about, nah." I said.

   Marcus gave me an exasperated look, then grinned.  "You're becoming a
dirty old man, and you're not that old." Crystal was chopping potatoes as
we both looked over at her.  She was oblivious to our conversation,
concentrating on making stew.

   I looked levelly at Marcus.  "To tell the truth, being with her makes me
feel pretty damn old, pretty damn fast."

   "Tell it to another choir." He said, holding up a hand.  "I heard you
two from ten till five am.  I couldn't do that when I was twenty-five." He
sneered at me.

   I gave him a sheepish look.  "Sorry about that." I said, and meant it.
He was still very uncomfortable about Crystal and my relationship, and to
rub his face in it for seven hours was probably a bit much.  "We'll keep it
down next time."

   He chuckled.  "I'm just messing with you, when you two started up, I put
on some music." He grinned devilishly.  "I just made up the five am part."

   I looked at him seriously.  "Look, there is something pretty serious I
need to talk to you about." Marcus straightened his face, making a
reasonable attempt at solemnity.  "Crystal has that `need,' you know?" I
said, not sure how to broach this.  "She may approach you." I said, still
stretching for words.

   "Say no more, man." He said.  "I'll keep my sexy paws off of her."
Marcus held up his hands palm outward to me.  "She's your daughter, man,
and now she's your woman.  That would be, like, double fucked up for me to
let happen."

   I smiled at my good friend.  He wouldn't either, I'm very sure of that.
"No." I shook my head.  "I've come to grips with it, and I wanted to say,
let her do it." I looked over at the `her' in question.  She was blissfully
mincing onions now, tears flowing freely while she whistled some pop tune.
"She needs the stuff." I said.  "I don't know that she'll come after you,
but I want you to not get all hung up about it, if it does."

   He stared at her a long bit.  "I hope not, man." He said absently. 
"Don't get me wrong, she's muy calor, but she's yours, four ways to
Sunday." He turned back to me.  "I've seen the way she looks at you.  She
won't do it."

   I nodded and we let it drop.  Crystal came over.  "My ears are burning."
She said.  "Which of you goobers are talking about me?" She grinned.

   We tried not to, but looked about as guilty as two guys could.  "So, you
WERE talking about me?" She giggled.  "C'mon spill.  I deserve to know what
is said about me."

   I took a moment to gather my thoughts.  "I told Marcus that you may come
to him when the need is upon you." I said.  "I told him that I wouldn't be
upset if it happened."

   She looked at me a second.  "You sure?" She asked me, tilting her head.
"Please be very sure before you say something like that." She looked into
my eyes.  "Don't say it unless you mean it."

   "Well, I do.  I'm not saying rush off and do it right now, you know." I
said, a little exasperated.  "But I know how things work, and how things
`happen.' I didn't want you two either getting all weird around each
other," I locked eyes on Marcus, then Crystal, "or getting guilt-ridden
afterwards, if it did happen."

   Marcus nodded solemnly.  "Okay." He said, leaving it at that.

   Crystal looked into my eyes some more, then at my best friend.  "Okay."
She said.

   I just hoped I hadn't done something stupid.  But I saw her eyes on him
from time to time, and I saw his eyes, too.  They weren't in love or even
infatuated, but they were attracted to one another, somewhat, and very
likely for differing reasons.  But it was there.  I didn't want it to get
in the way over the next few days while we made our final preparations.

   The stew was quite good, and we ate heartily.  Marcus did the dishes,
and I watched a bit of TV.  Crystal was on my laptop emailing her friends.
"Marcie says that they're being watched way too close to do much, but
she'll talk to her dad." Crystal said, looking up from the monitor.  "Sarah
says she'll see what she can do.  Since she moved out so young, she's
really limited on what she can do."

   "Why did she move out?" I asked.

   She looked at me.  "Even with her dad dead, she and her mom couldn't be
in the same house, especially with Mark around, he's becoming a mule, you
know?" She shrugged, "They'd kill each other."

   I hollered over to Marcus, "Dude, we start scanning the rest of those
journals tomorrow, okay?" I said.

   "Sure thing.  I was wondering when you'd be ready to start that back
up." He replied.

   Crystal came over to the couch and curled up in her old position, under
my arm, pressed up to my right side, with her head on my shoulder.  It was
already late, I noticed on my watch.  "Ready for bed, honey?" I asked.

   "Not just yet." She said, picking up the remote.  "I want to watch some
stuff and make my brain a bit numb."

   I got up and nodded.  "Okay, I'll see you when you get there, then." I
said.  I went into the room, knowing what was about to happen.  Crystal
needed almost three men a day, and she had said she took in ten almost
three days ago.  She was going to be hungry soon, and was probably already
nearing that point.  I laid down and picked up a hard-copy of the second
journal and browsed through it, killing time.

   To my amazement, I didn't worry, or fret, or get jealous.  I just read.
What was on those pages bothered me, but not what I knew was transpiring
outside the door.  When I did think about it, I thought to myself, well,
its your best friend and your mate, and they both love you and they
wouldn't be doing it without your permission, and she does need to do it to
someone.  The predator, I added.  The predator needs it.

   The section I was currently reading was information regarding the
abilities that the Chimera were displaying.  Their hand-eye coordination
was uncanny, Kurz noted.  He also noted their ability to shift their eyes
independently of each other and do things with each hand separately.  The
notes indicated that they were ambidextrous, but that they showed a
preference for their right hands, except the one with a crooked finger, she
showed a marked preference for her left, though she was quite proficient at
working around the finger with that hand.  One of the things most commented
upon was their adaptability, Kurz noted.  They seemed to be able to
mentally cope with incredible stress without cracking.  Sure they would
fuss, cry, and even scream, but they wouldn't break down.  They seemed to
not know how to give up struggling.

   Of all the traits he had engineered into them, he said that this
indomitable will was the greatest accomplishment.  The girls were strong
willed, and tough, and he liked that.  I noted as I worked through the
text, he was referring to them more and more often as `his girls.' He had
also stopped using their numbers one through fifty, but calling them by
their given names, so named by the other scientists.  Kurz had tried to
stop them from doing that, but most of his assistants refused to call
little girls by numbers, and said that despite his genius and power, they
would continue to use names.

   Crystal came in about thirty minutes later, and got stuff to take a
shower with.  She kissed me gently on the forehead before leaving.  I
consciously held my breath as she did so.

   Another twenty minutes later, she came in and snuggled up to me after
dropping her towel on the floor.  I put the book down and grabbed hold of
her.  She smelled of lotion, soap, and strawberries.  I kissed her, deeply,
and slowly.  I wondered what she would want me to do tonight.  She kissed
me back and applied pressure with her body to lay me back down.  When I
finally relented and let myself be pushed onto my back, she kissed her way
down my body.  Each kiss was hot, and each was a promise of more.

   As she took me into her mouth, she moaned, I was only half erect at that
point, and she took me to the root.  Slowly she started sliding her soft
lips up and down the sides, leaving what surely was a smoking trail behind
them.  "Crystal," I moaned.  "Your lips, they're so hot."

   She removed them from my organ, and said.  "I can turn them down, if you
want." When she reapplied her lips to my now fully engorged shaft, they
were icy cold.  It shocked me, she had never done that before, and it felt
awesome.  She smiled up at me with her eyes, her mouth forming an oval
under them with my organ sliding in and out.  Suddenly, they were hot
again, then cold.  She began shifting the heat and cold with each stroke.
It was amazing, it was also distracting.  I couldn't come I was so amazed
at the incredible sensations flowing up and down me.  Finally, she settled
on cold and started sucking on me in earnest.  He moans were louder now,
and I knew they were a response to the pre-come I was emitting.  Finally, I
went off, spraying my seed inside her mouth, now stationary to catch it. 
She applied suction purely, sucking with her lungs.  I felt the semen drain
from the tubes it followed.  She got every drop she could from me, then
finally let my half-limp organ go.

   She stayed on her knees there, over me and looked downward, at her own
knees.  "I thank you for the gift, father."

   I bent and kissed her knee, then turned my head to look up into her
eyes, and her smile.  "I gift to you freely, daughter." I kissed the other
knee.  "You honor me with your touch."

   She sat up and smiled at me.  "So, cool or hot?" She asked.

   "Holy crap, angel." I said, quietly.  "You just do whatever you want."

   The predator looked at me, and my spent penis.  "What I want would cause
you serious pain." She said, grinning with shark's teeth.  "So, I'll settle
for a good cuddling." She said, bouncing back to her position by my side.
"Unless something comes up on its own." She whispered into my ear.

   We talked for a little while, pillow talk, as it were.  Small talk
mostly, about her mother, and about Chimeric society, and about each other.
I complemented her endlessly, and she touched me and made quite a few
favorable remarks about me, as well.  I held her until we both fell asleep.

   The morning came on with a start for me.  I felt something warm and soft
on my cock.  My eyes shot open like a pair of spring-loaded trap doors.  I
looked down to see Crystal taking me again in her mouth.  She smiled up at
me with her eyes.  And I heard a chuckle deep in her throat.  She pulled
the stiffening organ from her mouth.

   "This is your wake up call." She said, and started sucking me again.  I
felt the lips, not very hot or cold this morning engulf me.  I just laid
there and enjoyed the sensation, as I had last night.  She was quite the
expert, sliding her head and mouth up and down, and taking me deep into her
mouth, almost completely.  Her breathing was timed opposite her
downstrokes, letting her breath between deep penetrations.  I would have to
rate this a middling type, halfway between practical and fun.  She did do
some quite optional things, like fondling my balls, and rubbing my thighs.
She even tried a little trick of wrapping her long hair around my shaft
with her hand, and stroking with it, using her silky hair as a extra soft
grip.  As I neared my climax, I asked how many ways she knew to do that and
she replied "A few." My orgasm was a great release, though not quite the
massively intense thing I had last night.  She took my seed, and lapped at
my organ until she was quite sure she had gotten it clean, and it was quite
limp, as well.  I could never complain that she left things half done.

   She stood up and then got to her knees beside the bed.  She looked
downward and repeated her ritual.  "I thank you for the gift, father."

   I rolled out of the bed, determined to not let her get me in a position
where I couldn't respond, she was trying me.  I fell onto the floor, my
head at her feet.  I kissed those tiny feet, wet kissed.  I peered up
between her knees at her giggling face.  "I gift to you freely, daughter."
I said, and kissed a foot again.  "And I'm way glad you washed your feet."
I said.  This sent her into a squeal of laughter and she fell on her ass.
The ceremony had lost its dignity for the moment, and we just laughed
together for a bit.

   She sat back up, wiping tears from her eyes.  "You refuse to let one
reply go by, don't you?" She asked, still giggling.

   "Crystal what you do for me when you do that is amazing, and I refuse to
let it go unacknowledged." I said, sitting up myself.  "Somehow, I don't
think I will ever take it for granted.

   I got to my feet, and helped her up off her butt.  We donned robes and
headed into the main area.  Crystal loved breakfast, and today was no
exception.  She had already started a huge pot of oatmeal before she `woke'
me up.  Marcus was already manning his computer, doing some hacker stuff
that I didn't pretend to understand.  He looked up at me coming in then
quickly looked back to his computer.  I would have to speak to him later,
to salve his guilt.  More for Crystal than myself.  He refused to look at
her at all.  This, of course, was what I had been trying to lessen last
night, but obviously with only partial success.  I would talk to him, and
then I would have Crystal talk to him.  If he was going to be around to
help us in our quest, we needed him not guilt-tripping on stuff, and she
had a need that must be met.

   Between Marcus and I, we could provide for her.  I didn't want her going
out in this neighborhood, nor, it was felt, could we risk her being seen by
someone who might want that reward for fingering us to the authorities. 
Our best bet of lying low was to stay completely out of sight as much as
possible, and this helped that cause.  She didn't have to `forage' for
herself this way.

   I spoke quietly to Crystal, over out cinnamon spiced oatmeal.  "You need
to feed from each of us as much as you can for a few days." I said.

   "Such an odious task." She said, smiling.  "I kinda figured I needed to,
and I know that's part of why you told us two that it was okay." She looked
over at Marcus.  "I think he's kinda out of sorts over it, though." She
said, looking concerned.  "You should talk to him again."

   I said.  "I intend to." Then louder, I said.  "Ok, folks, we need to get
those other four journals translated." as I stood up and dropped my bowl
into the sink.

   At the prospect of immersive work, Marcus brightened noticeably.  He
became fully animated and we started working.  We managed to do two that
day by lunch.  Our little team operated smoothly and we veritably flew
through the books.

   When we broke for lunch, Crystal again volunteered to make the food. 
This left me and Marcus at the table, time to talk.

   "Look, Marcus." I said.  "You didn't do anything wrong, don't think you
did." I said.  "If you keep acting like this, you will make Crystal feel
guilty, too, for hurting you."

   He looked at me forlornly.  "Dude, it was one thing for you to give me
permission, but for me to do the deed less than an hour later?" He said. 
"It makes me think I might have just been waiting for that like some dog on
a leash."

   I shook my head.  "No.  You did what was needed of you, my friend." I
looked at Crystal who was studiously ignoring us.  "She needs it." I said.
"If you don't do it, she'll have to go outside and get it." I grinned
lopsidedly.  "Believe it or not, you're doing us a favor."

   He returned the grin.  "I guess it's better than cleaning leaves out of
your gutter, huh?" He said.  Recalling the time, about ten years ago, when
I had broken my leg and the gutters had needed cleaning badly.  They were
threatening to actually fall off the house.  He had risked life and limb to
climb up and clean them for me, while I stood on my crutches, acting as
limp-dicked advisor.

   I nodded.  "Hell of a lot better." I affirmed.  "And only a little more
dangerous to your health." I looked over at the little tornado that was my
daughter and my lover.

   At some point in the conversation, we reverted to crude college boys. 
For a while.  We actually compared notes.  Commenting on her skill and
enthusiasm.  By the end of the short conversation, which would have caused
a nun's ears to burst into flames, we had a sort of `guys' understanding on
the subject.  He gave me one last serious look.  "Man, I have to feel
pretty honored by this, you're trusting me with your most precious thing."
He didn't quite understand when I chuckled at that, but I said that he was
kind to say so, for her sake.

   Crystal came over to the table and asked if we were done talking about
her.  We nodded and said we'd already said pretty much all we could on the
subject, but thanks for asking.  She fed us some chili macaroni and called
us both dirty old men.  She then said that since she had cooked, we could
`cock fight' over the cleaning chores.  Marcus and I paper-rock-scissored
over it, resulting in my cleaning the dishes.  They got back to work on the
journals.

   At some point I took Crystal aside.  "We're guys, we have to act like
it's a bit of a game, angel." I said.

   She patted my arm and said.  "I understand.  Play your silly guy games,
then." She looked at me with more seriousness.  "He does seem able to deal
with it better if its just a `thing,'doesn't he?"

   I nodded.  I looked back at her.  "You're okay, too?"

   She shrugged a little, then said "If you two are okay, I'm okay,
remember, this is just a `thing' for me." Then she looked at me softly. 
"Except for with you." She then turned her eyes toward Marcus.  "I can
compartmentalize the different modes with him, they don't have to overlap."
She raised one eyebrow and eyed me.  "Question is, can he?"

   I chewed my lip.  "I think he can." I replied.  "He's not a pushover, or
a novice." I grinned.  "Besides he's my oldest buddy, he'll have to deal
with it." I gave her a dismissive look.  "We're not about to let some girl
come between us."

   I chuckled.  She smiled too, and punched my arm.  She started walking
back to the work area.  Then flipped me a haughty look.  "I'll come when I
damn well want you to make me.  Before you, after you, or even instead of
you."