Chapter 5 How About a Little Tank and Spank

           Gamer voccab:

slow on the heals -  slow at casting healing spells

pvp -  player vrs. player, its when you fight another player

grind -  to fight monsters for experience points

tank and spank -  battle strategy where the tank protects while the other players attack the bad guy/monster with as much damange as possible.

***************************

             Maggie Kent was definitely the oddest woman Brian had met in his entire life. At first she appeared to be one of those shy nerdy girls that came apart at the first sign of confrontation but after being around her, he could tell that didn't quite fit her. Ever since stopping by her house, he had been trying to figure her out however it was resulting impossible.

            At the diner she gave him only vague answers that irritated the hell out of him and she knew it. He swore for a moment by the expression on her face she was going to give him a piece of her mind, which was exactly what he wanted but instead she went back to the staring match she as having with her plate.

            When they arrived at the house while he listed the rules he could see her face expressed her irritation but she simply nodded. So he decided to put her to the test. He had flat out lied, he had never been in this town before so there was no reason to use the lover's retreat excuse. He expected her to giggle, blush, or something similar that most women would do but instead she snorted then she hid half her face behind her hands. Strangely she gave him a look like he was crazy and she wasn't pleased with the idea.

            Yet again instead of stepping up and saying what she thought she simply mumbled an apology then disappeared into the room she was to sleep in for the rest of the evening till she was snuck to the kitchen then snuck back to the room with food but he was too busy on the phone with Steve to talk to her about it. Later when he was walking to his own room he swore he heard her talking to someone but when he stood outside her door he didn't hear anything.

            This morning he had gotten up with the plan of doing some weight training but he found Maggie already in the gym, surprising him once again. He confronted her about calling someone. Her alarmed expression screamed guilty as she shook her head instead of actually saying anything and beat a path out of the room and into the bathroom.

            Irritated he waited outside the bathroom. She squeaked again when she opened the door. He was starting to see why Chase called her a mouse. "Hello again," he told her with a smile using a bit of his charm. "I know I heard voices from your room and I want to remind you of rule number two. Do not make any contact with anyone without my permission," he told her pointedly. For the hundredth time, she surprised him by crossing her arms and glaring at him.

            "I'm-m n-n-not a c-c-child," Maggie snapped at him. Finally, he cheered silently. He finally got a reaction out of her.

            "I can see that," Brian replied suggestively, his smiled growing. He was guilty of checking her out while she was running on the treadmill. She actually did have a nice body, not really too curvy but still nice. "But Maggie, you don't seem to understand what situation you're in," he added seriously. She looked absolutely ready to have a fit at that and blurted out a mess of syllables and sounds. He finally was getting past that impassive wall she hid behind. "Want to try that again," he teased and once more she spouted off jumbled up gibberish.

            Brian smiled, enjoying himself maybe more than he should. He watched as she curiously took a deep breath and spouted off something called prout's law then took another deep breath before giving him a challenging look. "I k-k-k-know j-j-just f-f-fine m-m-my s-s-s-situation T-t-tank," she told him heatedly. Tank? Did she seriously just call him a tank? What exactly was that supposed to mean? He wondered the image of a camouflage painted tank came into mind then wondered if that was supposed to be some kind of insult in the nerd world.

            "You just called me a tank?" He asked with a little laugh as he saw her shocked expression."Why did you just call me a tank," he insisted his smile growing as he saw looking horribly embarrassed, this time she even got a little pink. She clamped her lips tightly till they were a thin line and shook her head. "You really are...one of a kind," he admitted with a laugh and she ran from the bathroom and holed up in her room.

            Brian just stood there for a moment still smiling. Strangely he found her oddness kind of cute and interesting. It had been a long time since he found a woman interesting. He was going to have to learn more about who Maggie Kent was, Brian decided as he went back to the gym to do the work out that had originally brought him to the gym.

            After his exercise and a shower, Brian sat down on the couch and pulled out his phone. He had become ever more curious as to what Maggie meant when she called him a tank. It didn't bother him that she would insult him but it bothered him that he didn't know what exactly she was insulting him on. He was just about to google "tank" when his phone started to ring. "Brian Hunter," he answered.

            "Hey Brian, its Steve, I just wanted let you know what's going on. Chase has managed to bribe the judge to accept bail so as one hour ago Chase is on the streets again," his lieutenant began and Brian swore. He should have expected something like this; Chase loved to throw his money around to solve his problems. "Yeah my thoughts exactly and that sleaze of a lawyer that he has is trying to stall the court date too, so we continue without a court date. How are things there with the witness?" Steve asked.

            "So far so good, it's been interesting," Brian started and he could hear his friend laugh. "Who is the D.A. on the case," he asked.

            "Marcus Flint," Steve replied and Brian sighed a sigh of relief. Marcus was a shark and was about the only other person that wanted to see Chase rotting in jail as much as he did.

            "Good, express to him the importance of getting a court date as soon as possible! With Chase out of jail he is going to do anything he can to find Maggie," Brian stated. Steve agreed with him.

            Brian didn't see Maggie till the evening when she made a bee line to the kitchen. He quietly got up from the couch, leaving the television on and quietly entering the kitchen. She had her back turned to him and was preparing a sandwich. "Whatchya doin," he asked when he was right behind her. She shrieked and jumped nearly three feet sending the jar of peanut butter through the air. He caught it easily and laughed as Maggie glared at him. She mumbled something then ripped the jar out of his hand. Oh so she does have a feisty side, he thought laughing.

            "So are you going to tell me what you meant by calling me a tank," he asked her.

            "N-no," she answered.

            "Why not," he asked back. He heard her sigh as she finished her sandwich and attempted to move past him but he moved in front of her. She squeaked again and backed up quickly. "Why don't you eat in the kitchen?" Brian asked seeing if he could get her to react again.

            "B-b-because I d-don't w-want t-to," she replied with a shrug then tried to leave the kitchen but he shot out his arm on the kitchen island blocking her path. He expected her to push away his arm or something but she backed up and glanced at his arm as if it was something disgusting. He eyed her with curiosity. "W-will y-you m-move, r-respect m-my p-personal s-space," Maggie demanded right back at him.

            "Your personal space, just how big is this personal space of yours," Brian asked taking a step forward.

            "W-what?" Maggie asked as she took a step back and he took another step towards her.

            "Just as I said, how big is this space of yours so I know when I am respecting your space or not," he replied with a teasing tone.

            Looking more than a little nervous she took another back and hit the counter. Brian took another big step and trapped her between him in the counter. "How am I now, am I invading your little bubble now," he teased. She crossed her arms against her chest as if she didn't want to touch or graze any part of him.

            "Y-y-y-yes, p-p-please b-back of-f-f," she stuttered and after a moment of hesitation Brian backed up with a evil smile. "Ewe, ewe, ewe," Maggie said with a disgusted expression and grabbed the sandwich she made.

            Brian gawked at her as she dashed to her room. "Ewe? She didn't seriously say ewe," he asked to no one in particular, no woman had ever, ever said ewe about being close to him. In fact he'd go so far as to say the women that got close up and personal with him loved it. Still staring at the kitchen door way he shook his head, Maggie Kent really was one of a kind.

            Maggie stayed holed up into her room for the last couple of days, avoiding Brian as if he was the plague. It made him feel kind of bad; maybe he was being too juvenile with her. He debated if he should apologize or not for pushing her buttons, even if it was a lot of fun. On his phone he was searching the internet for what she might mean by calling him a tank.

            Apparently a tank was someone freakishly tall, strong, or broad built. He was taller, stronger, and broader than Maggie but he didn't think that was what she meant. He also saw a lot of video games used the word tank for a type of bodyguard. He discarded that idea too, it didn't seem like an insult at all. Plus only dorky teens with no life, and middle age losers that still live with their mother played those types of games. Clearly Maggie didn't fall into any of those categories.

            The sound of his phone ringing woke him. He shook his head slightly turning off the television and sitting up on the couch. Seeing it was Steve, he hoped his boss had good news.

            "Hey Steve, please tell me you have a court date," Brian pleaded.

            "Sorry Brian no date yet, that lawyer Chase has seems to be an expert in finding reasons for delays. I got bad news, good news and really bad news, which do you want to hear first," Steve asked and Brian cringed.

            "Give me the bad news first," he replied.

            "The ballistic evidence has been misplaced and lost, the only person that could and was willing to connect Chase to Hannah Hall has gone missing," Steve explained and Brian groaned in frustration.

            "Damn it...okay so what's the other two," Brian said.

            "Well the good is we caught our mole," Steve started and Brian nodded even though he was on the phone, which was good news. "The really bad news is that they still found the uncover who was acting as Ms. Kent...we found her body at an old warehouse," Steve finished and Brian cringed shaking his head. "That's not all, Chase figured out your not in San Francisco and that you most likely have the witness. There is a hefty bounty on both your heads," Steve explained and Brian cursed again.

            "Well at least that will be difficult if not nearly impossible since no one knows where we are," Brian replied.

            "I suggest you go one step farther and shut off your phone, turning it on only when you expect a call," Steve offered and Brian quickly agreed then hung up turning off his phone. He rubbed his sleepy face thinking over the conversation he just had with Steve when he heard Maggie call for help.

            Grabbing his gun, Brian ran to her room. The door was locked so he kicked it open and charged it ready to deal with any threat. Maggie jumped looking at him startled then he could hear her swallow as she looked at the gun. "What the fu-" Brian started looking at the computer that wasn't there before, she packed a damn computer?

            "Styrene! Wake up I'm getting gang banged here by the lich knights," a female voice called over the speakers and Maggie tore her eyes from him and back to the computer screen.

            "Sorry L.L. I'm coming," Maggie replied through a microphone. He just gawked at her unable to form a rational thought as he watched her...play a game. "Come on L.L. now I am getting gang banged, get those boney pricks off of me," Maggie snapped. Did she just say gang banged and where did her stutter go?

            "Maggie what the hell is going on," he demanded putting away his gun.

            "Stuff...now go away," she shot at him and he opened his mouth but had no idea what to say. "MageDude use your..." Maggie started to order to someone when Brian interumpted her.

            "Did you forget what I said about rule number two," Brian told her starting to feel pissed that she was brushing him off.

            "Whoa Styrene is that a man I hear," the female voice jumped in. "No wonder she's slow on the heals. She has her own hot little session of pvp going on," the woman teased and Maggie gasped looking at the screen horrified.

            "No, no,no," she replied quickly still ignoring Brian.

            "Awe baby you're stepping out on me, after all the times I opened lockboxes for you and didn't even ask for tips," some guy complained.

            "I am not stepping out on you T.K. you know you're my favorite rogue," Maggie told him with a flirty tone confusing Brian even more than he thought possible.

            "I am not having any session of pvp going on, hot or otherwise L.L, he's....it's....he sorta like my tank right now," Maggie told them.

            "That sounds hot to me, and he's sounds drop dead sexy too! I would definitely let him grind with me and then go for a little tank and spank," the woman said. Brian resisted the urge to smile as he wondered what the hell they were talking about and if and if it really was as dirty as the woman made it sound like.

            Maggie glared at Brian looking very pissed off. "Thank you, now look what you've done," she snapped at him.

            "Me, I thought I told you not to contact any one!" He snapped back.

            "This isn't exactly contacting people, they don't know my name, face, or anything about me! We are just guildies and now thanks to you, they think I am getting it on while I should be raiding," She growled at him, her stutter was nowhere to be seen. Brian would have burst out laughing at her saying "getting it on" if he just wasn't so stupefied but what had just happened.