Chapter Note: In light of BCTS's problems and because I had some extra time on my hands, I thought I would post chapter 7 a tad early. I figure that I have earned all the comments I am going to get from the previous chapter. So, no sense in leaving my readers hanging. Don't shoot me at the end of this chapter. :) I have noticed a strange, or not so strange, reaction to this story. It appears that folks just don't care for MAU stories. I have been receiving only about 50% of the page views for this series as I received for my other stories. Comments have been far less also. It could just be related to the site problems. However; of the folks who are reading it, the Kudos have been 50% greater. I guess the folks who like MAU stories are more likely to give kudos. Meh, I'm liking my story, but I'm kinda biased. :-P

Thanks Note: Again, thanks goes out to Elrod for his most excellent MAU universe and all MAU mistakes/transgressions are totally my fault. I am trying to keep this story as close to the MAU rules as possible, but I am afraid I may end up bending a few. Thanks also go out Beyogi, Landing and Grover for their sometimes real-time feedback and suggestions. Last but not least, djkauf for his magical editing.

“Finally!” Agent L thought triumphantly to himself. He was going on what could turn out to be a real active event. After months of chasing ghosts and doing what amounted to busy work after that damn Sci-Fi convention that he somehow botched. He saw all the reports. How in the hell could he have not noticed that all the nerd costumes were a little too realistic?  It made him feel like an idiot to have been so close, yet never even realizing it until it was too late. Too late meaning, when his boss, Agent K, read a local newspaper report on the event and saw the pictures of the nerd costumes.  There was a person who looked like Yoda and he never suspected a thing? What kind of an investigator was he?

His partner, Agent P wasn’t hard to look at either. She stood 5’ 8”, her dark brown hair was styled in what he liked to call a short and sassy style that really made her slender neck and delicate jaw stand out.  She was, in Agent L’s expert opinion, a babe.  She was also pretty damn competent in the dojo too. His back still hurt after she tossed him around like a dog’s play toy.  He had an excuse though. She was fresh out of training, while he hadn’t had the time to work out since he got out of the training program one year ago. He was rusty, that was all.

The pair had just pulled from their rented SUV, their single, small carry-on bag along with a laptop bag each when the pilot of their private jet approached them with a grim expression.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for you two, but our jet was just dead lined due to a cracked fan blade. Next plane won’t be available until 0500 hours tomorrow.” He said with a sigh.

Agent P looked to her superior officer for guidance. “Sir, should we try and find a commercial flight?”

Agent L hated flying commercial.  The extra paperwork was such a hassle due to the TSA, but he hated not having his weapon on him even more.  He hadn’t found a MAU yet, but chasing alien devices was dangerous work and the folks who knew anything about them were a very suspicious group of people.

He sighed with frustration because all the evidence pointed to an active event and he would hate to arrive late and miss it.  “I guess we can check, but I suspect most of the commercial flights have already left.”

They hadn’t.  There was one flight from DC to California. It left at 0120 hours and after an eight hour flight, they would have an additional six hour drive to look forward too. Six hours, if there was no traffic. That was a good joke. California is renowned for its traffic jams.

After talking it over with Agent P, they decided to book it because it would still get them to the target and Agent K couldn’t say they didn’t try hard enough if they missed it. Besides, what if the Agency couldn’t get another jet for them tomorrow morning?

Hector wasn’t sure how long Natalie held him in her arms as she softly stroked his hair, but eventually he felt a degree of control returning, followed by embarrassment. He gasped and gently pushed himself away from Natalie. “Oh my god!” He sniffed and found it almost comical by the fact his nose was on the verge of running. “I’m so, so sorry Natalie! I don’t know what came over me. It was like everything hit me at once. You’re being so nice to me and I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

Natalie giggled at him. “Hey, it’s okay, girlfriend. That’s what friends are for. So,” She took a step back. “How’s my dress look?”

Hector thought it, no, she looked stunning in it. He was able to use the need to wipe his eyes to cover what felt like a blush to him. “You look fabulous, but you could wear a burlap sack and get the same effect.” Hector grinned mischievously as he came up with an idea. “Hey! That could save your parents some money on clothes.”

“Ha! That’s a good one, but, umm, no thanks.” Natalie looked critically at herself in the full length mirror. “Green is not my color. I think black, but for that I need to change my hair color.” She reached up and surprised Hector by pulling off her red hair.

She was wearing a wig and her head was covered with only scattered patches of shortly cut blonde hair. “Natalie! What happened to your hair?” Hector realized he was probably being rude and hurting his friend’s feelings. He held his head with shame. “I’m sorry. Umm, I can go now.” He almost felt like crying again. What in the hell was wrong with him? Could the damn hormones really be to blame for women’s mood swings?

“Don’t ya dare. I’m sorry I surprised you, but I’m not ashamed. I refuse to be, but one day, I will have my hair back. I know I will, and this...” Natalie gestured to her head. “Will only be a memory and a reminder of what  I can and will accomplish.”

“Umm, what’s wrong? It’s not cancer, I hope.” Hector found himself almost pleading with her to tell him she didn’t have cancer.

Natalie sighed as she sat down heavily at the foot of her bed. “Yes, four months ago, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer.” She pointed to the scar on her belly and pulled her panties down so Hector could see the full scar. Her eyes began to tear up as she continued. “I had a total abdominal hysterectomy which included the removal of both of my ovaries and fallopian tubes. They put me on chemo-”

Hector couldn’t take it anymore. He sat down next to Natalie, reached over and pulled her tightly against his body.  He felt her body pressing against his breasts and it was a little uncomfortable at first, but he adjusted his chest until they found a way to conform without pinching.

Now it was Natalie’s turn to cry and Hector found himself softly crying along with her as he gently rocked her back and forth in his arms.  He wondered if the machine could fix her, but it was probably too soon to bring that up right now.  They both barely knew each other and he knew what he would say if some strange woman tried to tell him she had the cure for cancer in her garage.

After about five minutes, Natalie sighed and pushed herself away from Hector.  She looked up at Hector and even with her bald head, Hector still thought she was a beautiful woman. He longed to kiss her and tell her everything would be okay.  He noticed a brief look of confusion flash across her face as she licked her lips as if her mouth was dry.

“Oh, hey, are you thirsty? Want me to get you some water?” Hector hastily stood and attempted to leave Natalie’s room in anticipation of her request.

Natalie stopped him by grabbing his arm. “No, I’m fine now. Umm, thanks.” She stood and looked down at herself before looked back up at Hector. “I think we both need to touch up our makeup now. Your mascara is running and I’m sure mine is a mess too.”

The beginnings of a smile formed on her face before he eyes flared with surprise and dismay. Natalie stood and inspected Hector’s top. “Oh my god, Jenna! I stained your top now too.”

Hector looked down and noticed small black splotches on what little fabric he had to cover his breasts. “Crap...” He muttered as Natalie raced into her closet.

She turned back and motioned for him to enter. “Come here. I’ve got the top that goes with your skirt.”  She pulled down a satiny black v-neck top with racer back straps. The thing looked like it would cover even less of his chest, if that was possible, but it would cover all of his stomach and back while leaving his shoulders bare.

“Okay, pull off your top. Let’s see how this looks.” Natalie excitedly motioned for Hector to hurry up.

Hector now had a problem. He didn’t know how to take off his top. It was sleeved and had a twist or something in the front, but he didn’t know if there were buttons or a zipper in the back or if he was just supposed to lift it over his head like a t-shirt.  Feeling a little embarrassed and self-conscious about feeling embarrassed he turned away from Natalie and began tugging at his top, trying to lift it up without ripping his breasts off in the process.

“Oh, here, lemme help ya with the buttons.” Natalie reached over and began unbuttoning his top, causing it to practically fall off his chest.  He caught it and shyly turned back to face her. Hector discovered he was not wearing a bra. Somehow, the top performed double duty as a bra and now he was worried about the other top. His breasts weren’t huge, but they weren’t small either.  He didn’t know a lot, but after listening to countless girlfriends complain about their breasts flopping around if they didn’t wear a bra; he knew he would need something to keep his under control.

She handed him the top. “Here, this should work. It has some built in support for the girls and I must say, I am a little jealous of ya.”

Hector felt himself blushing from her complement. “What, oh, umm, yours are nice too.” He glanced meaningfully at her chest as he worked to pull the strange contraption down and over his chest.  The strap arrangement was very confusing, but he got it figured out, mostly.  His breasts felt a little too free though. Where was that built in support Natalie mentioned?

Natalie giggled at him as she spun. “Hey, once you’re done pulling that on, can ya unzip me?”

He felt some additional fabric or something pooled under his breasts. It felt like he had some additional adjustments to do to get the top to fit properly.  He held off on that and unzipped Natalie instead. Again, she stepped out of her dress without a care in the world. Hector didn’t see what she had to be jealous about.  He rather liked her pert breasts. As a self professed connoisseur of women’s breasts, he decided they had to be a full B-cup versus his C-cup, but they were still nothing to sneeze at.

While she hunted for another dress, he got his new top figured out and it wasn’t too bad. Not as well fitted as his MAU created top, but as long as he didn’t try running, it should work.

“Here, try these...” Natalie gingerly held out a pair of black stiletto heeled boot things with an open toe.

Hector wasn’t sure if he should accept them. One, the long pointy heel looked huge compared to his shoes and two, Natalie seemed reluctant to part with them.  They were just shoes and he doubted he had any foot fungus to spread to her.  Except for the red sole, they looked normal to him.  “Umm, okay, are you sure?”

Natalie’s eyes misted over as she nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. If they fit, but I will want those back, please.”

“Oh, sure. Wouldn’t dream of keeping these!” Hector giggled at the thought of him actually owning a pair of women’s shoes.  He slipped them on his feet and after a moment’s trepidation, surprised himself by standing without any wobbling.  Yep, these were at least an inch taller than his original heels.  They didn’t feel that bad. Actually, they felt surprisingly comfy.  “Oh, these are nice, Natalie.”

His remark caused Natalie to glance up from fitting herself into her latest dress. She whistled at him, making him blush. “Oh yeah, you are definitely going to knock the guys dead with those legs!”

He glanced self-consciously down at his exceptionally skimpy outfit and shifted his weight from foot to foot in an attempt to somehow cause his skirt to show less skin.  It didn’t work and when he glanced back up at Natalie, he was surprised to discover her frozen, her mouth halfway open like she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure what to say.

“Natalie? Are you okay?” Hector started walking toward her, worried that she might be getting sick or something from her cancer thing.

His movement snapped her out of whatever it was that caused her to freeze up. “Oh yeah, just peachy!” She grinned and winked at him, causing Hector to stop just outside the entry to Natalie’s giant closet.  She spun around and glanced over her shoulder at him. “Hey, can ya zip me up again?”

Once Hector had the back of Natalie’s dress zipped up, she reached over and grabbed her long brunette wig and carefully snugged it into place on her head.  Finished, she reached down and grabbed a pair of black open toe heels with some ankle straps, slipped them on her feet and finished that off by standing, hands on her hips, a smirk on her lips with one hip cocked to the side in a provocative pose. “Ta da! How do I look?”

Hector thought she looked stunning, but like he told her earlier, he thought she would look stunning in anything. The black and white, fake leather, form fitting, animal print mini dress made him want to kiss Natalie all over her neck. He was at a momentary loss of words.

Natalie frowned. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“No, no, no! It’s awesome, no, you’re awesome!” Hector felt his eyes starting to sting as they filled with tears, damn estrogen poisoning!  Being a woman sucked. He had to turn away and run, as best he could in the heels, into the bathroom to get some tissues for his eyes.  He did not want to take a chance and ruin another outfit with his makeup dripping all over it.

As he was dabbing his eyes with a tissue, Natalie stood by the door and leaned up against it with a pleased grin. “That good, huh?”

Hector had to laugh. “Yeah...so, umm, now what? I mean, after I blow my nose. God, this sucks...” He finished with a mutter as he reached for some more tissues.

“What sucks?” Natalie entered the bathroom and checked her face out in the mirror.

“Oh, just all the crying I have been doing. I’m so sorry. You must think I am a total basket case or something...” Hector paused to blow his nose and even that somehow sounded feminine and thus, not as gross as it should have.

Natalie stood by his side and gave him a quick, supportive hug. “No, you’re great. I haven’t laughed, cried and nearly peed my panties like this in months now.  So, thanks...”  She gave him another hug and at first it looked like she was going to kiss him on his lips, but instead her mouth went past her lips at the last second and she kissed him on the cheek, just like two girlfriends who are friends would do.

Hector wasn’t sure what to say in response to her words.  On one hand, he felt great that he was able to somehow make her feel better and on the other hand, he felt like a total prick for being a fake woman and as a result, a fake friend. “Oh, umm, no problem. Glad I could help...”

Natalie studied his face for a few seconds, just long enough for Hector to begin to feel self-conscious again. “What?”

“Would you mind if I did your makeup for you?” Natalie hesitantly asked as if she expected Hector to refuse when he actually felt extremely relieved by her offer.  He had zero idea how to do or even fix his makeup.  He figured he might be able to touch up his lips on his own, because how hard could it be. It’s like using lip balm, right?

“No, that would be great because I have no idea what to do with this outfit. It’s not normally something I would wear.”

Natalie giggled happily. “Great! Lemme get my kit!” She left the bathroom and returned with a pro-sized fisherman's tackle box and set it on the countertop. And to Hector’s growing astonishment, when she opened it, out came trays and trays of cosmetics.  Brushes, pencils, pots of this and pots of that. Weird clamps that looked like they were designed to rip out a person’s eyelashes. Heck, she even had a pencil sharpener in the thing, but that was the only item in her toolbox that he knew how to identify.

“Nice, huh?” Natalie asked, but Hector could only nod with agreement. “I got all this crap to help hide the effects of my chemo, but it sure comes in handy for a time like this!”

Natalie motioned for him to turn and face her as she started pulling out different brushes and colors.  First, she wiped his face down with some sort of makeup removal pad, then once satisfied with that, she became a precision blur of cosmetics. Brush this stuff on, close your eyes, open your eyes, wider, and close them again. Open your mouth, close your mouth, purse your lips, use this napkin to blot them, etc...

“Aannnd, done!” Natalie spun him around to face the mirror. “So, whatcha think?”

The woman, the other woman, in the mirror and not Natalie looked, in Hector’s opinion, extremely fuckable with her wide eyed, deer caught in the headlights expression. His eyes were drawn to her lips by the deep, rich shade of red that made them pop and beg to be kissed while she had done something to his eyes to make them look like they were actually on fire and smouldering.  “Umm, wow. I, umm, never knew I could look like this. I mean, this good. You’re amazing...”

Natalie grinned happily at him. “Great! Now, I need to do mine. You wanna wait in here so we can talk? It should only take a few minutes.”

Hector could only nod his acceptance because he didn’t know how he could leave the bathroom without making Natalie upset or slightly disappointed with him for some reason he couldn’t quite nail down.  “Umm, sure...” He checked his face out in the mirror again. “This really is incredible Natalie...”  He whispered as he started to feel a light pressure building against his bladder.  “I think I have to pee.” He glanced over at her, hoping she would get the hint and give him a few minutes.

“Oh, go ahead. I’ll be right here. Lemme know if you need me to get you a panty liner or something stronger if you’re having your period. I have a bunch in the drawer here.” Natalie pointedly glanced down to the drawer closest to the toilet.

His mind skipped right over and refused to even register her tampon offer, but Hector wasn’t sure what to do now.  Now, he knew he had to pee, but he didn’t know how long he could hold it either.  If he was still in possession of his usual equipment, it wouldn’t be a problem, but now, he wasn’t so sure. “Okay...” He hesitantly said as he lifted the seat and the lid on the toilet before he remembered he needed to sit down, like a girl.

A soft sigh escaped his lips as he spun around and tried to decide if he needed to drop his skirt or just his panties before he could sit.  He decided to try just dropping his panties because it seemed like it would be faster to just pull his skirt up as he sat down instead of unzipping it and having it fall to the floor, possibly getting it dirty.

Once he was safely sitting down on the seat, he noticed that he had his legs slightly open and just enough to keep his panties trapped around his knees. He glanced over at Natalie, but she was brushing some sort of powder on her face and not paying an ounce of attention to him.

He felt a little flustered and confused when the image of his own sexy panties trapped by his own smooth legs made him recall how turned on he felt by the sight of a woman caught posed with her panties half on and half off in one of his old nudie magazines. The first person perspective of this was very disconcerting.

Damn it! He had bigger things to worry about. He needed to figure out how to pee.  What muscles did he need to use to let it go? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t ever sat and peed in the toilet before, but it was usually only during the other event. You know, the one everyone has to sit for. It was weird not having to hold down his penis and aim it down through the seat or have it touching the unsanitary and usually pee stained lip of the bowl.  Nothing down there swinging in the breeze, getting in the way of things and nothing for him to hold down while he peed to keep from making a mess. As a result, he felt at a loss for what to do with his hands in this situation so he simply leaned slightly forward and rested his elbows on his exposed thighs.

That posture seemed to do the trick for him because it allowed him to find the muscle and release his urine and wow, what a change. The stuff gushed out of his body in half the time it normally took, but in the process, the gush made him feel like a drippy mess down there, so gross.  Instead of his usual three to four squares of TP, he took enough to make an oven-mitt to protect his hands. It was a very enlightening sensation because now he felt exactly why women had to wipe. Until this second, he used to think it was just because they liked wasting toilet paper, but now, oh yeah, he needed to wipe.

He wasn’t sure how to wipe, but he knew he didn’t want to see his own pee on the paper. So, he decided to just push it down, between his thighs, pat a few times and let go. Hopefully, without his fingers ever really touching the female parts between his legs.  That seemed to do the trick. He felt less messy anyway.

Mission complete, he stood, pulled up his panties, resnugging them against; his mind skipped a beat before he could think of the word and apply it to himself, his female genitals and pulled the tiny strip of cloth of his panties up and into the crack of his ass to make sure they wouldn’t go anywhere.  Except for the initial feeling of having a string between his cheeks, the thong actually felt very comfortable. With his panties settled, he quickly pushed his skirt back down. Even though the simple act of peeing was very different as a woman, he still felt the same general feeling of contentment from having a freshly emptied bladder. He flushed the toilet and Natalie automatically moved over enough to allow him access to the sink.

It only took Natalie another five minutes to finish her makeup and wow, she looked absolutely stunning. Hector even tried to tell her that he thought she looked way better than he did, but that only seemed to make her think he was just saying it to make her feel better.  He felt unpleasantly reminded about Natalie’s cancer when she downed a handful of various capsules before leaving her apartment.

“This will give me about 4 hours before I start to feel like total crap, but oh well. I’m glad you’re coming, because I also can’t drink any alcohol and I have to be very careful about taking other drugs. I can’t even take ibuprofen if I have a headache without needing to worry about some possible interaction with my chemo drugs. So, if you wanna drink, feel free!”

Her statement surprised Hector. “What about your drink at the club?”

“Oh, that was a virgin daiquiri and part of my act, ya know, like fur shure and totally, remember?” Natalie giggled.

Once they stepped outside, the cool night air against the exposed skin of his legs and shoulders, coupled with the very open feeling between his legs and the bouncy feeling coming from his chest made him feel somewhat naughty and vulnerable at the same time. The feel of his skirt occasionally brushing lightly against the smooth skin of his legs and nothing else was an eye  opener for him. It made him feel like he wasn’t wearing anything from the waist down. Additionally, the skirt made it a bit of a challenge to climb into his truck without flashing everyone in the neighborhood, but he thought he managed to be successful.  The heels really made him feel tall, but once again, it took him a few minutes before he was able to work the pedals of his truck without embarrassing himself.

Once they arrived at the party, Hector felt very intimidated by the size of the estate of the dude who was hosting the event. After their names were checked off by a tuxedo suited security guard at the front gate, he next had to deal with the surprised smirks of the valets when they spotted his truck. It was very out of place amongst all the Porsches, Audis, Mercedes and even the rare Lamborghini or two.

Hector felt an odd sense of satisfaction when he witnessed the valet’s smirks get replaced with open lust when he opened his door and caught the valet staring at his legs as he carefully spun around to prevent flashing the dude.  Momentarily stunned by the near sight of having a hot woman so nearly flash her panties at him, the valet paused for a second before he sprang forward and slobbered all over himself in his effort to assist ‘poor’ Hector down from the cab of his truck.

“Thanks.” Hector was careful to support most of his weight using the door. The poor valet might throw his back out if he tried to take all of Hector’s weight. Once safely on the ground, Hector smiled at the valet as he handed the man his keys. He started to walk away, but turned back when he remembered that he forgot to give the dude a tip.  He dug in his purse for a $5, but the valet stopped him. “It’s no problem ma’am, but thanks. Mr. Stevens asked us to not accept any tips for doing our job.”

That surprised Hector because he thought valets always worked for minimum wage and earned the bulk of their money with the tips.  Until he looked down and was reminding of the facts prominently displayed on his chest, he didn’t understand why the man would refuse to take it. Oh well, it was his loss.  “Oh, okay, are you sure? I mean, it’s kinda embarrassing with all these...” Hector blushed self-consciously as he gestured to the exotic cars parked in the perfectly landscaped driveway.

The valet chuckled at Hector. “Oh, it is not a problem ma’am. It is actually refreshing to have a normal person car here. Would you mind if I parked it over there, nice and close for you when you have to leave?”

By this time, Natalie had walked around to find out what was taking Hector so long. “Jenna, are you flirting with the handsome valet, because if you are, I approve.” She held onto Hector’s arm and warmly laughed in a way that didn’t feel insulting or rude, but it did cause the valet to turn a bright shade of red as he blushed.

“Umm, sorry ma’am. Umm, I’ll just park it right now...” He muttered as he quickly turned away in an effort to hide the growing bulge in his pants.  Natalie didn’t seem to notice the poor valet’s discomfort, but Hector did and could empathize with the man.  He didn’t know what he could do or say that would make the guy feel better and he never got the chance because Natalie pulled him away.

“Come on ya big flirt!  Party time!” She giggled in his ear.

As Natalie and Hector walked arm in arm into the party, Hector felt slightly upset by all the attention Natalie was getting from all the guys.  Not because they weren’t paying attention to him, but because they only seemed to be using Natalie as an excuse to talk to him.

Natalie seemed eat it up and find the situation incredibly amusing. “This is so awesome Jenna!  You’re a veritable stud magnet and I feel like a little girl in a candy store. Uh, he’s cute; can we go talk to those guys?” Natalie didn’t wait for Hector’s agreement before she dragged him over to her target guys.

Thankfully, the drinks were free and Gina, Natalie’s actress friend showed up and rescued Hector.  Gina wasted no time making Hector feel embarrassed and self conscious by her praise of his beauty. It got even worse when Natalie showed Gina the video of him singing in the truck. “Wow! Jenna, that’s incredible! I have to introduce you to Hector!”

Hector found it highly ironic that Mr. Stevens first name was the same as his. Mr. Stevens, aka “Hector” turned out to be a surprisingly normal looking guy.  Hector expected him to be dressed in some smoking jacket and sporting a bad comb over or an 80’s hairstyle. Instead, Hector, as he insisted on being addressed, was wearing simple, everyday jeans with a casual knit sweater over a t-shirt.  Hector was forced to admit that he was actually kind of handsome, for a dude.

He felt himself blushing a lot as Hector asked him tons of questions in a what appeared to be a genuine effort to get to know him versus get into his panties. It didn’t hurt that Hector, the director, made action movies and Hector, as Jenna, loved action movies. Jenna soon found herself alone with Hector as both Gina and Natalie found excuses to leave the pair who were deeply engrossed in how to attract more female viewers to action movies. Jenna pointed out that Sigourney Weaver was awarded a ‘Mom of the Year Award’ for her role in “Aliens” and she kicked ass.  Women liked women who kicked ass, but in a protector role.

Michael, the well muscled and fourth degree black belt star of Mr. Steven’s newest film, scoffed at that idea. “Come on Jenna, you should know better. You might know some martial arts, but women like those sappy tissue soaking movies like ‘The Notebook’!”

Hector found himself not liking how ‘Michael’ not ‘Mike, was dismissing what he was saying. “Michael, even the most macho of men, like you, know better than to get between a mamma bear and her cubs, right?” Jenna asked, hiding her smirk by taking a sip from whatever sugary concoction the last dude gave her.

“Ha!” Mr. Stevens slapped Michael on his back and winked at Jenna. “She got ya there Mike!”

Hector was about to continue with his idea on how Mr. Stevens might make an action film that would attract more female viewers when he was interrupted.

“Jenna!” Gina ran over and grabbed Hector’s arm. He could see the near panic in her eyes.

“Oh shit! Natalie?” Hector stood and desperately looked around the crowd in a desperate effort spot her.  “Where is she?”

Hector followed Gina until they reached the dance floor and spotted a clearing near one of the tables.  He pushed his way through the crowd, much to the surprise of some of the men who appeared to outweigh him by a 100 lbs or more.

He spotted Natalie lying on the floor looking pale and disorientated. He knew she wasn’t drunk since she couldn’t drink alcohol. He rushed to her side. “Natalie! What’s wrong?!”

“Heeey, girlfriend. Did I ever tell ya that you have the most amazing lips? Whoa, I don’t feel so good.” Natalie’s eyes were heavily dilated and she had trouble focusing on anything specific.

“Smatalie, come on, tell me what’s wrong?” Hector pleaded desperately as he felt his eyes beginning to mist up.  He looked over to the nearest table and spotted a pair of guys looking a little extra nervous about something.  A strawberry daiquiri sat on the table in the place that looked like Natalie could have been sitting at.

“Nuphings wrong, I jus’ feel a little sle-sleepy. Hey, could you tuck me in and give me a bedtime kiss?”

“Hand me that drink!” He growled at the dudes standing next to the table.  The closest dude, reached for the glass, but knocked it off the table instead, causing the glass and its contents to explode on the floor.  The guy didn’t look at all apologetic and in Hector’s opinion, he even looked happy about destroying the drink.  That could only mean one thing.  Natalie had been drugged by the asshole and he just destroyed the evidence.

Hector surprised the guy by springing up, grabbing the dude by his shirt and slamming him on the ground as if he was a little child.  “You motherfucker! What in the fuck did you put in her drink?!?””

The guy was still too stunned to speak, let alone breathe as he struggled to regain his wind. Slamming the asshole on the floor caused his two buddies to spring into action in an attempt to defend him from the crazy chick.  Hector wasted no time; one or more of these fucks drugged Natalie and they were going to pay for it.

While still wearing 4 inch heels, Hector jumped up to meet the closest guy by pumping his knees into the guys chest and immediately following those strikes with a left and a right elbow to the side of the guy’s head.  Hector wanted them down and down fast. He did not have time to mess with these clowns while Natalie was still in trouble.  The lights went out in his opponent’s eyes and as soon as his feet touched the ground, Hector spun and delivered a vicious side kick to the next attacker’s stomach, instantly stopping the man in mid-lunge and causing him to fall to the floor on his knees gasping for air and holding his stomach.

By this time, asshole number one was beginning to catch his breath and Hector wasted no time jumping on him and pinning him to the ground with his body. He didn’t give a fuck if the asshole could see right up his skirt.  “Which pocket are the fucking pills in asshole?!?”

The man seemed surprised by the fact that a woman was easily holding him down. “I, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about you crazy bitch!”

While holding the man down with his hand pressed firmly against the man’s throat, Hector quickly frisked his pockets.  He found the man’s wallet and after flipping it open two condoms and a small plastic bag that contained five tiny unmarked white pills fell out.  “What the fuck are these?!?”

The man struggled to work out an excuse, but Hector was distracted when Gina yelling Natalie’s name. He glanced over at the prone Natalie. She was going into convulsions.  Hector grabbed the baggie, stuffing it into his top with one hand while he took a quick look at the man’s driver’s license before he stood up, leaned over, grabbed the asshole by his collar and lifted him partially off the floor as he bent over and stared directly in the man’s eyes.  “She better not fucking die, Jason Carlson, because if she does, there isn’t a single place on this planet that will be safe for you. I will hunt you down and I will end your fucking miserable excuse for a life!  Do you fucking understand me you fucking little cocksucker?!?” Hector didn’t wait for the asshole to answer him. He saw the fear deep in the man’s eyes.

Hector let go of the man’s collar and stood, contemptuously dismissing the man he just threatened to kill while ignoring everyone’s astonished stares as he returned to Natalie’s side.  He immediately worried about her biting or choking on her own tongue, but without anything to force into her mouth to prevent her from injuring herself, Hector gently, yet forcefully opened her mouth and placed the edge of his hand in her mouth for her to bite down on.  He was rewarded with pain as she started to convulse again and reflexively bit down on his hand, hard.  He grimaced and swallowed the pain because, while it hurt, he knew he would heal and there was no way Natalie could actually bite through his hand.

“I gotta get her to the hospital...” He muttered as he looked around the room and weighed his options.  The closest hospital was 15 minutes away. His house was a little closer. The hospital was the obvious solution. He had the pills, the doctors could do some CSI thing on them and work out a fix for Natalie while the machine, well, he wasn’t sure.  If they called an ambulance, it would take them at least 10 minutes to get here, depending on where the ambulance was staged and how busy they were tonight.  Decision made, he pulled her off the floor and held her his arms as if she was a little child.  He ran for the door and yelled for the valet to get his keys.

The valet jumped to assist Hector and helped him get Natalie into the cab of his truck.  Hector wasted no time racing away from the mansion and towards the hospital as fast as he could safely go. He didn’t want to get into an accident because even if the crash didn’t kill Natalie, the delay would.  He made it about halfway to the hospital when Natalie vomited all over herself and the seat.  Hector slammed on his brakes and used his arm to help prevent Natalie from slamming into the dash as her head lolled around dangerously as he brought his pickup to a halt on the side of the road.

She wasn’t breathing.  Thankful for his smaller sized female body, Hector moved to Natalie’s side and stuck his finger in her mouth to clear her airway.  He was immediately rewarded with a cough from Natalie that expelled a mass of vomit and sprayed it onto Hector’s face and chest, but he didn’t care.  Natalie was breathing again and that was all the mattered.

“Fuck! I don’t know if she is going to make it...” Hector grabbed his purse, pulled out his cell phone screamed, “Call Greg!”  Amazingly, his girl themed cell phone did just what he asked.

Greg was pleased as punch, whatever that meant.  He chuckled as he completed the testing of his Super Spider Suit v2.0, or was it v3.0?  He wasn’t sure, but it was, in his opinion, one kick ass suit.  He wasn’t able to actually test the bullet proof feature because who really likes to shoot themselves? Well, aside from super depressed people.

The knife protection, that seemed to work, but he was unwilling to try stabbing himself with all his strength to confirm.  The environmental controls worked like a charm.  He was able to hold a frozen steak in his hand without feeling a bit of a chill and he could hold his hand over a hot burner for a few seconds before it started to get warm. No, he wasn’t fireproof, but the environment did provide some protection.  The low-light and thermographic in his goggles worked awesome while the auto-wear part was nice. Just nice, not great. The suit could be worn under his clothes in a standby mode disguised as a t-shirt and with a thought, activated to cover his entire body, but he still had to remove his clothes.

Maybe v3.5 will have that feature because it sure would be a handy way to keep his secret identity secret because it has got to be hard to change clothes without someone seeing you these days.  Clark Kent would be screwed now that phone booths don’t exist any longer.

Self-repair features, he couldn’t test because he didn’t want to make some weapon that might blow up the house just to put a hole in the suit. A light saber might be kind of cool though.

The absolute cat’s meow, in his opinion, were the built-in web shooters with their programmable web life duration.  Those, we was able to test and he used them to swing from rafter to rafter in the garage with ease.  No, the rafters weren’t as cool as skyscrapers, but it proved his concept without him needing to worry about going splat.

There was another thing he wanted to add for v3.6. An emergency parachute mode that would activate if he fell.  He was having a grand time climbing upside down on the ceiling, attaching a web line and dropping himself headfirst like a spider when he spotted the clock and discovered it was already 12pm.

“Crap! I have to work tomorrow...” Greg dropped down to the floor and activated his suit’s storage mode causing the fabric to appear to melt as it flowed into his chest, forming what appeared to be a simple, form fitting white t-shirt with a matching tighty-whitey men’s brief.

“Note for v3.7, add a built in clock and alarm to the goggles...” Greg muttered as retrieved his phone from the garage. “and Bluetooth.”  Satisfied with his design plans and yawning furiously, he hid the MAU before heading to bed.

The ringing of his phone roused him from an excellent dream that starred Michelle. “Fuck...this better not be a wrong number...” He muttered as he checked his clock, 2am, as he grabbed his phone off the nightstand.

The caller ID displayed “Jennifer Vasquez”. That woke him up. “Shit! I hope she’s okay...” The idea that Hector was a ‘she’ brought a smile to his face as he stabbed the answer button on the fourth ring.

“Greg! Oh my god! Please!” Greg heard both the near panicked, hysterical tone in her voice and the sound of Hector’s truck engine in the background. He must be speeding, a lot right now and adding that to both the time and the sound of her voice, something must be very, very bad. If Hector was in emergency mode, shit must have really hit the fan. “It’s Natalie, she’s dying. You gotta get the thing ready! Be there in five minutes!”

Damn, that sounded serious. “Shit! Okay, I’m-”  Greg heard his line go dead. “Damn it! She hung up...” He wanted to ask for more details, but he decided now was not the time. She was obviously driving at a high rate of speed and talking on a cell phone while driving normally was dangerous enough.

Instead of wasting time throwing on his pants, he activated his suit while he scrambled to the laundry room to retrieve the MAU. He kept the mask off, but he could get it deployed in less than a second if he needed it. Like, if he had to hold off the police to give Hector some time or something.  MAU in hand, he set it on the garage floor and activated it.  Just after it finished deploying, he heard the sound of Hector’s truck squealing to a stop in the driveway.  Greg raced into the living room and opened the front door, in time to let Hector, as Jennifer, carrying a woman with barf on her clothes, hair and face into the house. Her lips looked a little on the blue side and he hoped that didn’t mean she was dead. Even with all that, he could tell the woman was very pretty and it was obvious that Hector cared about her a great deal.

“She stopped breathing when I got here! Hurry! We got to get her in the damn thing! I am going to fucking kill the asshole that did this to her!” Jennifer yelled with tears streaming down her face.

If she had just stopped breathing, that meant they had less than five minutes to get her revived before possible brain damage occurred. Greg didn’t bother wasting time trying to close their front door. Instead, he jumped past Jennifer and opened the door leading into the garage.

While still holding the stranger in her arms, Jennifer slapped her hand on the paw print. “Come on, Come on you piece of shit. Work!”

Nothing happened. “Maybe you need to be a little calmer? Try taking a deep breath first...”

“Damn it Greg! I don’t have time for this shit!” Jennifer turned to glare at Greg, before turning back to the machine.  “Sorry...” She visible shuddered as she used every ounce of her self-control to bring her emotions under control.  Greg sighed with relief when an image of a beautiful redheaded woman appeared on the display.  The woman’s image shimmered a couple of times as it grew more refined before Jennifer removed her hand. “Good enough...”

Greg touched the purplish outer crystal to get the machine’s doorway to appear. “Thanks.” Jennifer said as she carefully placed the woman into the machine.  “Fuck! How can I get her to activate the machine if she’s unconscious?!?!”

Greg didn’t have an answer for her not one that he thought would work anyway. “Umm, maybe you could hold her arm up and over the activator crystal thing, then let go and jump out before her hand can hit it?”

Jennifer appeared to think about it for all of two nanoseconds. “Fuck it!” She jumped into the machine and desperately hugged the other woman in her in her arms before turning to face Greg. “Thanks, bud. Hope this works...” She said as she held the other woman’s hand, causing them to touch the crystal together.