WAR: Merc: Floating Away 1/1
By Shadowstar
Nic_K used by permission.
Time: After the barfight, before The Three
Moosekateers.

Shadowstar floated on her back, looking up at the
starry night sky and sighed.  Just her luck.  From
past experiences, lakes were just not the place to be
when you had various open wounds.  She brought her
hand up and stared mournfully at the scrapes on her
knuckles from the barfight.  All those lovely lake
germs were probably in her body by now.

Mentally, she shrugged.  There was nothing she could
do about it, not about the freezing-cold temperatures
of the lake.  "Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhCHOO!" she sneezed.
Even more wonderful--the cold was doing a number on
her poor Southern hide.  She sighed again, decided to
make the best of it, and started doing the backstroke
towards the shore.

She got bored after a few minutes, so she started to
sing.

"There was a bold fisherman,
Who sailed out of Pimlico,
To slew the wild codfish,
And bold Macaral!"

Singing and swimming, she made her way closer to the
shore and home.

---------------

Nic_K flew through the skies, enjoying the way the
wind felt on his face as well as the rare night off.
He was almost to Lake Ontario when he heard
it--somebody was singing, and it sounded like it was
coming from the water.

He swooped down to get a better look at the water, and
discovered the Merc that had insulted him earlier in
the night--Shadowstar.  He supposed he should pull her
out of the water; he *did* owe her a favor, but at the
same time, she'd been baiting him.  He shrugged, then
went further down, hovering above her.  "Need a lift?"
he asked, with a charming grin.

Shadow rolled her eyes.  "Oh, noooo," she said. "I'm
just fine here."

"Well, if you're fine," he said, with a bigger grin,
then started to leave.

"Um, Nic_K, please don't go," she said.  "I'm sorry;
it's been a weird week.  I never expected to get into
a fight and end up in Lake Ontario!"

Nic_K scooped the sodden Merc out of the water and
flew off towards Toronto.  "That's a war for you," he
said with a shrug.  "Now, where would you like to go?
The war's almost over, and some of my kind might
decide to party a bit early."

"Um, how about the Merc hangar?" Shadow asked.

"Sure."  They flew in silence for a few minutes,
finally touching down outside the hangar.  Nic_K put
her down carefully, making sure she was standing up
before he let go.

"Thank you, Nic_K." Shadow said.  She stood on her
tiptoes and kissed his cold cheek, and then hurried
inside.

Nic_K watched her go, his hand held over his cheek
where she'd just kissed him, then took off, heading
back to the construction site.

End.