Here comes the Troubleshooter!
Part 3: The Secret Origin of the Troubleshooter.

It feels like my life is about to go through a replay, and it wasnt all that much fun the first time. Last time I started to write down how I became what I am now, and got as far as me and Carl working for a company called Pitchriver in the MIddle East. And as I type this, I’m in a private plane headed back to the middle east with Carl at my side.

The reason why I stopped where I did was Carl came into the room, and decided I needed some.... relaxation after my last couple of days.

A couple of hours of his tender care later, I was VERY relaxed....

This morning I got into a slightly modified version my Troubleshooter outfit, and over it I put on a blouse and skirt set that would have looked quite appropriate for most offices. I put my wig into a more professional style, packed most of the weapons into a briefcase, and had this laptop in a case as well.

Now we are onboard the private plane of our client, trying to ignore the history between Carl and I and this company, and I finally have time to finish telling about how I got changed. As I said before, it started with this crazy lady showing up at Pitchriver with the offer of helping the company create its very own Superior. She claimed her name was Dr. Felis, and somehow convinced the company bigwigs that she was serious enough that they decided to give it a shot, and picked me as the person they wanted to elevate to superhero status.

Apparently, you couldn’t just summon a god anywhere. It had to be a place where the god was worshiped, that is, a temple. So she and I and a group of soldiers headed for an ancient city in Egypt where the god was worshiped.

It wasnt until we arrived that she corrected my idea of “a god” and instead admitted we were after a goddess.

I shrugged. What difference could it make?

We went into the ruin of a town, and she began directing us until we go to an old building, and said the temple was under it. Apparently, the desert had blown in enough to cover over the entrance, so the soldiers had to work for a couple of hours to expose it, and then we went in.

What happened next was not fun. You may remember in the first Indiana Jones movie, the place with all the booby traps?
Well, this temple had real ones, and it cost us three good men setting them off.

So it was with a smaller and much more pissed off crew that we got to the main area of the temple, and for the first time I caught a look at this goddess we were trying to get to do us a favor.

I thought, “Okay so she looked like a cross between a cat and a woman, so what?”

Dr. Felis set things up. while I felt ridiculous standing right in front of the dias. Then she began to chant in what sounded like Egyptian, trying to get the goddess’ attention.

Unfortunately, she succeeded, and the goddess was less than pleased ...

I didn’t understand all of the exchange, but the goddess said something about us not bringing the proper gifts, of bringing men of war to her temple, and something that sounded like punishment that would be taken.

And then she looked at me.

“You have skills, talents, potential. And yet you waste them in selfishness. When you learn better, you may serve.”

After I heard that, I passed out.

The next thing I knew, Carl was standing over me, and I looked like I did a couple of days ago - part man, part woman, and part cat. And even though a couple of days later I looked more human, I was a mess, spending most of my time curled up in a ball and crying.

Needless to say, the powers that be were less than pleased with that result, not to mention the fact that the soldiers who had gone with us were now a bunch of alley cats, and sent me back to the states.

Carl quit to look after me, taking me to the place he had inherited from his folks, and for a while, it was touch and go if I would live or choose to die.

Then, by chance, we were watching a re-run channel, and there was an old show on called “The equalizer.” It was about a former secret agent who now used his talents to help ordinary people, and I turned to Carl and said “I ... I want to do that.”

And that’s how the Troubleshooter started.

And it looks like I finished this story just in time, because we are about to land in the Middle East for the first time since we quit Pitchriver.

I’m so looking forward to it.

Not.