Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 121: I Knew You Were Trouble

After the slight hiccup at Green Lake this morning, Ruby had been called on to stitch up Pawee’s tail and check Arrie over.

With Arrie pronounced good to go, they were now back on track for the evening’s festivities.

The alcohol had started to flow before the sun even went down, so by the time the farewell party officially kicked off at eighteen hundred, some of its participants were already rather merry.

Winter had prepared a beautiful spread of food and another banner; this time it read ’Go Rebels!’, giving the whole event the feel of a post-match bash, rather than the eve of a war.

Alton surveyed the room and shook his head in resignation. It was a feature of the game they were in that his men worked hard and played hard. It was just that the addition of women to the mix was a highly combustible one...

He planned to stay sober, well... mostly, and keep an eye on the proceedings. He would only step in if things got completely out-of-hand; his definition of ’out-of-hand’ was pretty much equal to total mayhem, after past escapades...

Alton settled himself down on the bleachers and surveyed the room.

It was pretty much as expected; Ruby, Magnus, Han, Winter and Brenner chatting and drinking happily together, Niko playing silly buggers showing off to Indy, Opal starting to hang around Niko, which was amping up his ’big man’ antics, Baer pestering Loveday as usual, Arrie staring surreptitiously at Baer while she danced with Lili, Tingting ensconced with Feifei, the two girls in serious discussions with Rutherglen, Lili dirty dancing with the distracted Arrie, the only two girls on the dancefloor, making Kai’s life difficult and driving Cormac to distraction.

Alton foresaw a meltdown on a few fronts before the end of this night...

So, he thought philosophically; business as usual... another day on the ranch...

Delphi arrived late and made a beeline for Feifei and Tingting.

She wore a green dress with a fitted top and a flared skirt, looking fresh and beautiful. ’Badump, badump,’ Alton’s heart sped up.

He felt like a teenager again, it was quite ridiculous what this girl did to him...

He searched across the room for Brenner. Yup. The man was watching Delphi cross the mats. Alton could tell the man was going to be troublesome.

He had tried to keep him off the mission, but it was difficult when Brenner and Opal were so clearly well-trained in all of the skills needed for what was to come.

He was spending an inordinate amount of time pondering on the key to progressing Delphi to some level of commitment.

He was pretty confident she had feelings for him, she just didn’t want to formalise a relationship with him.

He scowled. This ’free will’ process was much harder than the simple rules that surrounded betrothal arrangements.

DJ Arrie had her usual array of boppy dance music pounding, and the alcohol and music encouraged the rest of the group onto the dancefloor where they joined early movers Arrie and Lili.

Alton watched Delphi fondly as she danced with her usual graceful abandon with her girlfriends. It was impossible not to look at a woman that hot, but he appreciated the efforts of his men to avoid staring at her; except for that turkey Brenner, of course, who as usual was trying to inconspicuously dance his way into her orbit.

The man was about as subtle as a sledgehammer...

The girls were all very talented dancers, their gymnastics ability serving them well; the men, not so much...

Han and Magnus could hold their own, and Cormac wasn’t terrible. Unfortunately, Brenner was alright too, Alton had to begrudgingly admit.

The rest of them, no good at all; particularly the large men, Baer, Wolf and Niko, who were graceless and beat deaf.

He admired their efforts, but being a big man himself, it reminded him dancing was a pastime he should try to avoid if he didn’t want to look like a shimmying ox.

Arrie had set up a designated ’stage’ area for the demonstration of the secret preparations that had been underway. She had a microphone ready to go and she jumped on it now.

"Ladies and gents, it’s time for that part of the evening that we’ve all been waiting for, the farewell revue; Girls versus Boys! Boys, we can’t wait to see what you’ve prepared for us, but first up, let’s flip a coin for whose turn it is to perform. General Meyer will provide the impartial judging, even though he’s a boy!"

A man! he thought indignantly.

"The winning team gets carried on a victory lap by the losers! Baer, heads or tails for the boys to go first?"

"Tails of course!" he called, "we love tails!"

The girls all groaned.

Arrie flipped the coin, and it rolled onto the mat, "heads it is! Boys, you can enjoy a few more drinks and each other’s company while we get ready. Take your seats when the lights dim!"

A roar of approval came from the men and Alton shook his head in amusement; this should be interesting...

"I’m going to call it a night, General," smiled Bill Rutherglen. "This is the time of the evening for the young ’uns to let their hair down".

"You’re a smart man, Bill," nodded Alton.

Not too long passed and the lights dimmed to almost pitch black.

The men rushed for the best front row positions on the bleachers, drinks in hand, pushing and shoving each other roughly in the shadows.

They could hear the girls taking their positions on the pitch-dark stage.

Delphi’s voice came over the microphone.

"For your viewing pleasure tonight, we’re going to perform a song by Taylor Swift called ’I Knew You Were Trouble’. Choreography, light show and song selection by Araminta Appleby, costumes by Winter Berry."

The men clapped raucously and catcalled at the stage.

The lights snapped on, lighting up the ten young women, and a great cheer came from their audience.

Alton put his head in his heads and peeped out between his fingers, shaking his head in dismay.

That little Winter had managed to rustle them up the most ridiculously provocative outfits, the little she-devil.

They all wore little black miniskirts that left exactly nothing to the imagination, gold bra tops, which for the more well-endowed girls were really not performing the role of a bra because there was less of their breasts inside the top than out of it...

Their hair was out long and flowing, knee high boots, big gold hoops in their ears.

Alton had a good mind to go up and remove Delphi from the stage.

Was it really appropriate for the men to see one of their generals looking like that!

He pulled at the collar of his dress shirt, which suddenly felt unbearably tight.