Sunday Snippet: Banter and Brawling and Sex, Oh My

December is off to a roaring start. We got some interesting and good family news and I think I'm very close to being finished with my holiday shopping. I might have one or two last-minute things to figure out but that's it.

As noted in my last post, I continued with my Batman: The Animated Series rewatch and started with episode thirty-one and ended with episode forty-seven. I had forgotten a couple of those episodes, in particular "His Silicone Soul" and "Off Balance," which introduced Talia and Ra's Al Ghul.

There were also several of my favorite episodes in this bunch. "Beware the Gray Ghost," "Christmas with the Joker," "Almost Got 'Im," and "Harley and Ivy." Christmas with the Joker is one of my all-time faves and I usually watch it on a yearly basis.

I'm enjoying the rewatch so much, I'm probably going to continue through the end of the year. I have a lot of love for this show.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Banter and Brawling and Sex, Oh My, a probably bonus read from the Top Dog Pilots series.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Max Cutter always goes along for the ride with Maggie Harper. He pretty much has to … she always gets into the most interesting situations and someone has to cover her ass.

And a sneaky peek…

A commotion drew Maggie's attention away from the conversation. A fellow military man, probably a grunt patrolling the mine, got caught in the crosshairs of a two groups of rowdy miners having a major disagreement.

The guy should've known better than to hit a watering hole filled with the people he kept in line all day. But it sucked to be off-duty and not really have any place to go. Cutter had a notion of how important blowing off steam could be—he and Maggie certainly figured out a way during the flight qualifications and readiness training. His lips quirked, but he focused hard to not get too caught up in the memory.

Maggie nudged his arm and shot him a look.

Cutter shook his head. "Oh, no. You don't really wanna get involved in this, do you?" He leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "After the week we just had?"

Maggie shrugged. "How can we not? A dozen to one? Not very good odds, Cutter." She turned her attention back to the ruckus. "The guy needs some help."

Max did a quick scan of the bar. Two crewmen from other ships sat over in the corner and about twenty more miners filled the place. Once he and Maggie got involved, the odds were sure to go from bad to beyond fucked. But … what the hell? The lone guy didn't stand a chance otherwise.

Cutter sighed, dropped his arms, and scooted his chair away from the table.

Maggie grinned. "Knew you'd see it my way."

She got up and spun her chair around, grabbing the backrest and lifting it off the ground. She charged forward and jabbed it into the first beefy guy she came across.

Cutter followed her into the fray, punching the miner in the face and watched him drop like a stone.

Maggie glanced back, a wide smile splitting her face. "Nice one, Cutter." She jerked her head to the left. "Let's even things up a little and take out the giant over there."

She didn't wait for a response. She hefted the chair over her head and brought it crashing down on the shoulders of the second biggest guy in the room. His head whipped back and forth and he turned, cocking his arm, the muscles bunching up under the flesh. Cutter made a flying leap and kicked out, catching the man under the chin with his booted foot. The burly guy went sailing back into the wall and dropped to the floor.

Maggie let out a whooping yell. "Holy shit, Cutter. That was beautiful!" Her laughter rang out and she ducked, a pool stick narrowly missing her head by an inch or two.

This couple is so much fun. I love dropping in to visit with them and work in a little backstory at the same time.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye