AN: After I looked into the situation, I realized that I was so woefully behind on putting out the next Origin ARS volume that I needed to focus on that. So, clean-up on this has stopped for the most part until Origin ARS 6 is out on Amazon. That should be sometime near the end of this week, hopefully.

However, as it has been nearly two weeks since the last update, I'll go ahead and put up another short chapter. I will need to finish cleaning volume 1 of this story, but as you have been waiting for a while, I have decided to put this back on a weekly update schedule. Once during any given week, this will update at least once. So, it could be the beginning of one week and the end of the next between updates at times, but at least you can expect a chapter at some point in any given week.

After this story is published, it will update with a bit more regularity once more. Currently, I update it as single chapters. Would people prefer that, or would you like me to go to a three post per chapter update format? I would update faster that way, but the updates would be smaller. Any thoughts?

I'll do chapter 19 as a 3 part update to show you what I mean. As a reader, you might not have a reference from my other stories. So, this will be 19.1. I am perfectly fine with either full chapters, at a slower drop rate, or the 3 part version, which would mean probably at least 3-5 updates per week, even if it still amounts only to a single chapter and a good chunk of another chapter. The three part chapters would have about 1500-3000 or so words per chapter. So, still as long, or longer, than most chapters that you see in other stories on this site.

Chapter 19.1: Catfight

Scott stared at the cat in his arms. Whether it was because she had spoken, or because of the words that she had spoken, he was uncertain. However, he was thoroughly confused by the situation.

Kitty pushed at him some more then growled a little. "After all the things we've done together, the times we've had!"

Samantha's eyebrows rose upward and she turned to look at Scott. "I didn't know you were that kind of guy."

He glanced at her then shook his head slowly. "Would you believe me if I told you that it's not what you think?"

Kitty hissed and squirmed in him arms. "You lecher! You thief of hearts! How dare you!"

Scott sighed loudly then looked back down at the cat. He scratched her behind one of her ears, and then said, "Forgive me?"

Kitty's eyes closed and she giggled in that cattish way that she had. "Oh, meow."

He turned toward Samantha, while still gently scratching behind Kitty's ear. "Samantha, this is Katherine VI Kittania."

The cat's eyes shot open. "You know my name!"

"Sure, I don't know anything about you, but I found out that much." said Scott.

The cat leaned forward and sniffed at him. "You smell sort of human... but what sort?" She leaned her head to the side the poked his chest with her paw. "What's your deal?"

"You're asking me about my deal?" Scott asked the cat with an incredulous expression on his face. "You're a talking cat who makes red robed mecha pilots run in terror."

"That's nothing. Rrowl." said Kitty. "You're the weird one."

Samantha listened carefully while the other two oddities in the room began to argue back and forth. The topic? Which of them was the more bizarre. Eventually, she had enough of their bickering and said, "You're both weird." She then looked at Kitty. "What's your deal, cat?"

Kitty tilted her head sideways then pushed herself free of Scott's arms. She landed on the floor via a delicate backflip. Afterward, she raised one paw and pointed it at Samantha. "Since when do comfort women speak to their betters in such a manner?"

"Comfort..." Samantha's eyes narrowed. "Did you just call me a—"

"Whore?" Kitty tilted her head to the side. "Of course. What else would someone like him need with a human woman?"

"The hell you did, you bitch!" Samantha rushed in and launched a hard kick toward the snobby cat. Kitty easily lunged out of the way. The blond woman tried to give chase, but her foot suddenly slipped. Her well-toned posterior slammed into the floor with all the grace and delicacy of a drunken elephant in a cramped discount store.

A smug laugh wafted through the air as Kitty took up a position opposite of the fallen woman. "Oh? Did the poor slattern fall and hurt her overdeveloped money maker?"

Samantha made two decidedly dangerous fists then growled angrily at the little monster. She quickly rose to her feet and ran in once more.

Scott watched as the two enraged female fought a decidedly disturbing battle. Samantha moved with an angry sort of grace, but every time that she attacked Kitty, she fell on her ass without the cat so much as touching her. It was the most bizarre thing that he had seen so far, and he had seen a few fairly bizarre things.

The blond bombshell slammed her fists down onto the floor and snarled, "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" asked the cat, her eyes wide in an attempt to feign innocence.

Since the moment had led to a chance to stop the fight, Scott finally spoke up. "Look. I don't like to get between two people disagreeing, but could you two just stop?"

Samantha glared at him. "You heard what that little bitch said to me!"

"Bitch, am I?" asked the cat curiously. Her tail lashed from one side to the other.

Scott got between them physically, before they could start fighting again. "Stop."

"Get out of the way, Scott." said Samantha in a dangerous tone of voice.

"Yes, do let the busty trollop fall on her ass a few more times." said the cat. She then tilted her head to the side and flashed her fangs. "It builds character."

"Why, you!" snarled Samantha. Scott hurled his arms around her and kept her from attacking the cat.

"Get off me!" snapped the blond woman before she started to kick at him. Eventually, she maneuvered him into a position to break his hold and flip him onto his back.

Samantha rushed toward the cat, but the moment she came within striking range her foot hit the head of an unseen nail in the floor. She fell forward rapidly and slammed heavily into the floor.

Kitty hopped up onto a nearby counter and wrapped her tail around her body. "Goodness, how clumsy."

Scott rose up from the floor and sighed. Neither of these crazy females were going to pay him any mind. There was only one option. While they continued to scream and fight, he walked over to what looked to be a supply closet. At least, he hoped it was similar in size to one.

The blond bounty hunter tried throwing a boot at the cat, but to her surprise the expertly thrown shoe went veering wildly off to the side just before it should have hit the mysterious Kitty. Several more shoes and boots were sent the cat's way, but each of them simply missed.

"Oh, what bad luck. Missed every time..." said Kitty. She flashed a fanged cat smile. "Those breasts of yours must be throwing off your aim."

Samantha growled. "Why are you obsessed with my tits? You mention them every chance you get."

"I like milk." said Kitty with a strangely human shrug of her feline shoulders.

Blond eyebrows rose up briefly in confusion, but then they narrowed in annoyance. "You keep testing me..."

"You'll just keep failing if I do, honey." said Kitty in a sassy manner. She then cut one paw through the air in a decisive gesture.

Before Samantha could start her next attack, Scott got between them once more. "So, this is going to stop right now."

"Just get out of the way." said Samantha, annoyed at his interference.

"Yes, Scott. This is between the overdeveloped hussy, and I." said Kitty.

He held up one hand, and in the process he revealed one of the few hand grenades that he had stored and just now retrieved. "This is already armed. I'll drop it if you attack me. I'll drop it if you keep fighting on your own, as well."

"You... You're bluffing. That would kill you, too." said Samantha. He had to be kidding. Who would go so far to stop an argument?

"Try me." said Scott. He waved the grenade up and down. "I have hit points."

Samantha's eyes widened slightly then narrowed once more. The bastard was implying that he could simply shrug off a grenade blast from this range. It was impossible to know whether he was lying or not, if she considered what had happened earlier that day.

"What sort of device is that?" asked Kitty.

Scott glanced at the fluffy cat then said, "A negotiation tool. The one who has it in their hand gets to make others negotiate."

"I see." she said simply. The cat rrowled once then muttered, "Saved his life and he pulls something like this."

"No kidding." said Samantha.

The bounty hunter's eyes never left the grenade, at first. However, slowly both she and Kitty looked to each other. Samantha said, "You saved his life, too?"

"Yes... and this is how he repays—" began the cat.

"Cut the crap. You both saved me, and I saved both of you at least once." snapped Scott. He eyed one and then the other, before he shook the grenade once more. "We should be best fucking friends and shit, but you two assholes are fighting like a couple of screaming children."

Neither spoke for a moment. The realization that each of them had saved Scott, or been saved by Scott, was quite profound.

It was Kitty who spoke first. "I do apologize. I was angry. It was unkind of me to draw attention to your whorishness."

Samantha started to apologize as well, but then stared at the cat. "You little..."

Scott shook the grenade at Samantha then glared at the cat. "Stop calling her that. She's not a whore."

Kitty sighed. "Very well. Despite your outward appearance, I do apologize for thinking that you are a whore."

"That's really the best apology that I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?" asked Samantha with a snort.

The cat lashed her tail back and forth then flicked her ears. There was no need to answer that question.

Scott rubbed the bridge of his nose then shook his head. "Look. Let's start over."

"Agreed." said Kitty in an amiable manner.

Samantha snorted then crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine."

Scott introduced them to each other properly. He then explained how he had met both of them. They chatted freely for quite some time after that. The trio had not become friends by a long shot, but eventually Scott did disarm the hand grenade. It was a start toward mutual understanding, and a potential life lesson. Love can build a bridge. A hand grenade can build a shaky alliance between two angry females.