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Chapter Note: This is the final official chapter and it's a whopper at 10.8k words. Sorry, but I guess I could have split it in half and posted the first half a few weeks sooner. :( I would mark this complete, but there is the Epilogue to publish. It is done, edited and ready to publish, but I will give this chapter a few days to sink in before I post it.

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.

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After closing the door, he leaned his back against the brick wall beside the door, hugged his arms against his chest and gently banged his head against the wall a few times in frustration. “What in the hell is wrong with me!?!?  I don’t have any freaking hormones or any other crazy mind altering female chemical running through my body. Why did I notice how the businessman looked and why did the sight of Hector’s chest fluster me so much? Am I gay, now?” 

“Ha! I’ve seen his chest before and I never once thought I might be gay.”  Greg muttered under his breath as he pushed away from the wall and mulled it over as he walked the ten feet to his room. “Nothing’s changed and I didn’t feel the slightest urge to doing anything about it.  Right?”

Greg paused at his door and mentally reviewed some of his favorite actresses followed by some of his favorite actors. Yes, the men looked good, but none of them had that spark of attraction like the actresses provided him.

He started to find his fear ridiculous and he felt slightly ashamed for thinking of being gay as a bad thing.  Feeling appropriately self-chastised, he quietly opened the door to his and Michelle’s room.  Even though he tried not to wake her, she woke anyway. Her sleepy, pleased smile made Greg’s knees feel a little shaky. 

As he softly closed the door behind him, Greg smiled as he considered how ironic his worry might be because if he couldn’t change back, everyone else would think he was a lesbian.

Michelle propped herself up on her elbows, causing the covers to fall and reveal her delightfully perfect breasts. “Hey there, umm, what are you smiling about?”

Greg absently licked his lips as he forced himself to look up and at her eyes. “Oh, nothing serious, just thinking how beautiful you are and how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

“I see...” Michelle dubiously nodded before she sat up with a smirk, causing the bedding to fall to her hips. “Well, I have to admit, you do look rather stunning in that sun dress.”

He grinned, happily enjoying the show Michelle was giving him before he glanced down at his dress.. “Oh, this old thing?” He twirled for her. “It was just something I had laying around.”

“Come over here you saucy little tart and gimme a kiss!” Michelle giggled.

The kiss lasted a little longer than he intended and turned into some heavy petting because before he realized it, Hector knocked on the door.  “Hold on, be right there!” Greg yelled as he disentangled himself from Michelle while she covered herself with the sheets.

Greg refreshed his sundress to remove any wrinkles before he opened the door a crack.

Hector politely kept his eyes on Greg’s face instead of trying to look past him and into the room. “Hey, you two ready to get some lunch?”

“Oh crap, I umm, kinda forgot...” Greg mumbled apologetically as Michelle snickered.

Hector chuckled and took a step back from the door. “I bet. Meet you two there?”

“Sure?” Greg hesitantly replied and glanced back at Michelle.

She nodded. “Five minutes?”

“Sounds good, I’ll get us a table.” Hector smiled as he turned away.

As soon as Greg closed the door, Michelle jumped out of the bed and raced into the bathroom. Once she was done in the bathroom, she returned and frowned at her neatly folded, previous day’s clothes with distaste before sighing and reluctantly dressing herself. Next, she turned her attention to the mirror and fixed her hair as best she could using only her fingers.. “Grrrr, I need to find a rubber band...”

Fortunately the front desk had plenty and the woman manning the desk was happy to give her one.

Greg and Michelle joined Hector just in time for Hector to receive his monster order of food. After figuring out how to slide his way into the booth without flashing everyone, Greg ordered a coffee to sip on and pretend to drink. Michelle ordered her lunch and both Hector and Greg smiled when she ordered the fish entree.

Michelle glanced questioningly both of them. “What can I say? I like fish...”

Greg spotted his businessman and gave him a friendly wave. The man returned it and motioned for his server to bring him his check.  He paid his bill and stood to leave. As he passed by their table, he smiled at Greg. “Have a good day miss, and sorry about bumping into you earlier.”

The man was gone before Greg could form a coherent reply, but Michelle giggled and pretended to be upset with him. “Sadie! You little two-timing hussy! I can’t let you out of my sight for a minute without you trying to seduce some sugar daddy!”

Hector choked on his food and grabbed his glass of water to help get the food down.  Greg decided to play the game instead of getting embarrassed. He made a show of flipping his hair back over his shoulder and glancing down at his chest. “Hey, if ya got it, flaunt it. Right?”

“I’ve created a monster…” Michelle muttered with a grin as she speared another bite of her fish.

The only other surprise the trio received was when it was time to pay the bill. The unknown businessman had paid for Greg’s coffee. The trio went over the plan, but Michelle wasn’t too pleased with her proposed role in it. It took some convincing, but in the end, she reluctantly agreed with the idea she should stay out of sight.

She didn’t go down easily though, and her revenge consisted on dragging them all to the nearest mall so she could get a bikini and hang out at the hotel’s pool while she waited. When the “boys” tried to disagree, Michelle also brought up the fact that her only outfits were either her Catwoman costume or her current, recycled clothes and that wasn’t good enough. 

Greg bowed to the inevitable and offered to give her a ride to the mall, but Michelle insisted they take a cab so ‘Sadie’ could try on a few bikinis and maybe find herself a few additional outfits at the same time. He tried to tell her he didn’t need anything and he didn’t want to waste any money on clothes he wouldn’t be able to wear in a few hours, but Michelle pointed out that the money they had was free and gave him the ‘pretty please’ treatment. Who can resist that kind of pressure?

Greg found the bikinis to be extremely skimpy, revealing, and embarrassing, but he couldn’t exactly complain or back out with Michelle trying on bikinis with him. He thought she looked hot, but he also thought that Hector enjoyed the bikini try outs a tad too much. He tried to tell her he didn’t actually need to buy the bikini because he had scanned it and could reproduce it at will, but she insisted that he buy at least one physical set of real clothes to wear.

Greg didn’t think a bikini counted as “real clothes”, but what did he know? Besides, it made Michelle happy and that was all that mattered to him right now.  She even got him to reluctantly admit that wearing a bikini wasn’t all that bad. It helped that he found himself utterly hot.

After the bikini purchases, Michelle quickly grabbed a few spare outfits that could work with the single pair of shoes she bought while pointing out clothes that she thought might look good on Sadie.  Following her advice, Greg scanned a few mannequins and copied the clothing patterns so he wouldn’t have to wear the summer dress again. 

On the way to the registers, Michelle snagged a travel hair and makeup kit while Hector casually pulled a pair of swim trunks in his size off the rack. Greg felt a little put out that Hector didn’t even need to try them on to see if they fit. Yep, men had it easy and he would be very glad when he could turn back to himself.

They paid for the stuff with cash and Greg was shocked at how much so little fabric cost. “Damn, women’s clothes are expensive,” He muttered on the way out of the store.  He did enjoy the fact that Hector got stuck carrying the bags instead of him.

Of course, Michelle insisted on having Sadie keep her company at the pool and that meant wearing his new bikini. Greg groaned with frustration when Hector graciously volunteered to guard the girls. Right, “guard”, as in admire the girls as they pranced around in their skimpy bikinis.  Not that Greg performed any prancing, but the water did feel kind of nice and he very much enjoyed the sight of Michelle in her bikini.  He couldn’t really swim, but he could pretend to float and sort of swim using his grav compensators to keep from plunging to the bottom of the pool.

Michelle had absolutely zero hang ups about expressing her love of Sadie by holding her hand and kissing her whenever the urge struck.  Greg very much enjoyed it and he also enjoyed the shocked expression and sharp intake of breath from an older and stereotypically conservative woman who witnessed a pleasantly scorching kiss Michelle layed on his lips.

They returned to their rooms around 4pm and after spending the last four hours in-fem, being addressed as and responding to ma’am, miss or Sadie while wearing extremely revealing, feminine clothes; Greg had a hard time thinking of himself as a male. He caught himself referring to men simply as “men”, but women were “other women”. It was a slight distinction, but it was also very telling to him. He wasn’t Greg anymore and despite his optimism about finding the MAU, he was forced to admit he might not ever be Greg again.  Right now he was Sadie and to everyone else, Sadie was a woman. It simply felt easier and less stressful to think of himself as a woman.

With her decision made, Sadie stripped out of her bikini and playfully joined Michelle in the shower. No lame ‘I might rust’ excuse this time. Sadie enjoyed washing Michelle’s hair almost as much as Michelle liked having her hair washed. Once the pair of them had finished ‘helping’ each other get clean, Sadie simply exited the shower and her skin and hair purged all the excess water molecules, her hair styled itself and she activated one of her new and more conservative summer skirt outfits.

“Damn it Sadie! I hate you...” Michelle grumbled as she grabbed a towel and began to dry her body.

Sadie turned back to Michelle with a pleased smirk on her face. “Hey, you could try turning yourself into a robot if you want to.”

Michelle responded by pulling her close in an attempt to get Sadie’s clothes wet while giving her a steamy kiss. Sadie felt her power plant fluctuate and her knees wobble.  She quickly sat on the toilet to keep herself from falling down. “Wow, that was...” She dreamily looked up at a victorious Michelle.

“You’re different...” Michelle sat on the edge of the tub and intently studied Sadie’s face. “In the shower and now, you seem more relaxed.”

Sadie blinked with surprise as Michelle forced her to realize how close, even without being physically linked, the pair of them really were. “Yeah, It might sound kinda silly, but I just decided to be Sadie. Even if it is only for another hour or two. I kinda freaked myself out when I went to talk to Hector earlier because as soon as I stepped out of the door, that business man in the restaurant asked to buy me lunch...”

Michelle started to growl possessively.

Sadie grabbed her hands and pulled Michelle closer. “No, no, no...it wasn’t exactly like that. I was so freaked out about wearing a dress that we ran into each other because I wasn’t paying attention to where i was going. He was just being nice, but I noticed how distinguished and handsome he looked. I didn’t really think much about it until I saw Hector without his shirt and caught myself thinking about how strong he looked. I mean, I always knew he was handsome and felt slightly jealous of him. He’s an attractive man, right?”

Michelle nodded with agreement. “Yeah...”

“Well, it confused me, a lot, because I thought I might be gay, but after our time at the mall and the pool today, I figured out I was only feeling confused and self-conscious because I had never had another guy look at me like they thought I was sexually attractive.”

Michelle gasped and sat back. “Oh my god, the bikini! I’m sorry. I never-”

Sadie laughed and gave Michelle a hug to reassure her. “It’s okay. Yeah, it was very weird, at first, but I discovered something.” She leaned back with a smirk and waited for Michelle to ask the question.

“What?” Michelle impatiently studied Sadie’s eyes.

“I kinda liked the attention.” Sadie looked down at the floor, hunched her shoulders with shame and lightly blushed before looking back to Michelle with renewed confidence. “I’ve never felt more powerful or been dressed more provocatively. It was fun making a slight adjustment to my top and watching all the guys squirm.” Sadie giggled as Michelle gasped with shock.

“Sadie! You little minx! I wondered what you were doing, but I never thought you would do something like that on purpose.” Michelle grinned and briefly hugged Sadie. “I’m so proud of you.” She sniffed and pretended to wipe away a tear. “My little girl, they grow up so fast!”

The both dissolved into giggles. “Michelle...you’re so evil. Anyway,” Michelle straightened back up as Sadie’s voice turned serious again. “Thinking of myself as Greg was only making me feel worse and more desperate to get out of this trap, but being what I am isn’t really a trap and I shouldn’t have thought of it like that.” Sadie stood and gestured toward her body. “This is an opportunity and as long as I have you, I’m sure everything will be okay.  I know you love me and “we” will work it out.”

Michelle gasped and her eyes instantly filled with tears as her emotions overcame her. “Oh, Sadie...”

Sadie felt lubricant leaking from her eyes. She stood and gently pulled Michelle up to her body, hugging her tightly. Due to her three inch heels, plus her extra two inches of height, Michelle ended up resting her cheek on Sadie’s shoulder as she softly cried for a minute before she whispered in Sadie’s ear. “I love you and only you, Sadie slash Gregory Williamson and don’t you ‘ever’ forget it. No matter what. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” Sadie fervently whispered in return.

{“Sadie Prime! Sadie Prime! I found it!”} Wheelie’s transmission caught her by surprise, causing her power plant soar with excitement as a window from Wheelie’s camera overlaid her vision.

“Wheelie found it and he’s showing me a live feed right now!” Sadie’s eyes glistened with excitement as she watched the container soar past the camera.

What a second. Soar? {“Wheelie, why is the container in the air?”}

“Can I see?” Michelle asked.

Without skipping a beat, Sadie’s left eye and the skin around it melted away to reveal a red glowing robot eye and metal skin. A holographic image complete with live audio from Wheelie’s camera flickered into existence in the empty air in front of Michelle allowing her to both see and hear what was going on.

{“Well Sadie Prime, it...”} The camera zoomed out and revealed the container being lifted by a large crane. {“It appears that it might be about to be loaded into...”} The camera shifted to focus past the crane and in the direction the container was traveling in. {“That large container ship over there.”}

“Sadie Prime?” Michelle silently mouthed the question.

Sadie shrugged her shoulders and whispered. “Beats me.”

She returned her attention back to Wheelie. {“Crap...Is there any way you can disable the crane before it gets loaded?”}

The view from Wheelie’s camera panned around the yard in an attempt to spot a way to reach the crane and shut it down.  {“I don’t think so boss. Not without being spotted and even then, by the time I reached the crane’s control cabin and took care of its meatbag operator, the container would already be on the ship.”}

{“Shit, okay, thanks Wheelie. You did well. Try to keep an eye on it and if possible, avoid detection. You might end up being our best and only shot to recover the MAU.”}

{“No problemo Sadie Prime! Like flies on a dog, I’m on it!”} Wheelie enthusiastically replied causing Sadie to smile in spite of her concern.

Sadie laughed. {“Thanks Wheelie. You’re the best and it’s fleas.”}

{“Fleas? Oh yeah, okay. What are those and just what in the Allspark is a dog anyway?”}  Wheelie grumbled with confusion.

{“Never mind. I’ll explain it to you later. I’m going to get Hector and we will probably have to bring the Agents in on this.”}

{“Agents? We got to bring the human government in this?  Is that safe, boss?”} Wheelie asked incredulously.

Sadie sighed with impatience, but Wheelie needed to know the facts. {“Agent L and Agent P showed up after you and our MAU was stolen. They didn’t give us much choice and despite the fact that they are Agents from an agency that doesn’t exist, they did seem helpful. I would be happy to blast the crap out of that ship to recover our MAU, but that would expose us to a LOT more people and that would not be good, right?”}

{“Yeah, I guess, boss, but you just say the word and bam! I’m on it. Ain’t no primitive meatbag going to hassle my boss and live to tell about it! Capeesh?”}

{“Thanks Wheelie, but just stay low for now. I gotta get Hector and call the Agents. Lemme know if something changes.”}  Sadie gave Michelle a quick kiss before walking over and knocking on Hector’s door.

“Sadie, what’s up?” Hector opened his door and his eyes flared with surprise. “Holy shit! What happened to your eye?” He quickly motioned her into his room.

Sadie reached up, touched her eye and realized she had forgotten about it. She corrected that mistake. “Wheelie found it, but it’s being loaded onto a ship.”

“Okay...Agents?” Hector’s Snake Eyes costume materialized on his body.

Sadie sighed heavily and sat at the foot of Hector’s bed.  “I guess so, but I’m not looking forward to hearing what they’ll have to say.”

“Me either bud, but if you wanna break into the ship and steal it back, just say the word.” Hector crossed his arms and stood, ready to leap into action.

Sadie slowly shook her head. “No, that’s too risky and I wouldn’t want either of us to have to deal with the shit storm that would cause. I’m not that desperate to change back.”

Hector shrugged his shoulders. “De nada, it’s not a problem for me either way. You’re my friend and you’d do the same for me.”

Sadie felt tears falling down her cheeks as she stood and hugged her friend. Initially, Hector tensed up from surprise, but he quickly relaxed and returned her hug. “Thanks Hector.” She sniffed. “I think I’m going native here, but I really don’t know what I would have done without you and Michelle. No matter what happens, you’ll always be my best friend and if this is permanent, is it okay if I think of you as my bigger brother?” She looked up at his masked face.

His mask melted away and he leaned down and kissed her affectionately on her forehead before giving her a final squeeze and letting her go. “Come on mi hermana, let’s go back to your room so Michelle knows what’s going on and I’ll deal with the Agents.”

The two of them returned to Michelle’s room and Hector called Agent L.  He refused to let the Agent threaten him and reminded him that he didn’t have to call him at all. “If you want to know where it is, you’re going to have to lose the attitude.”

A hushed conversation between the two agents occurred before Agent L returned and in a much calmer voice he asked. “Is the device in your possession?”

Hector grimaced. “No, but we know where it is and we could extract it, but doing so would probably draw more attention than either of us want right now.”

Agent L exhaled with frustration. “Okay, what ‘do you’ want?”

“Nothing too extreme. You all did claim you only wanted to help, right?” Hector knew he had Agent L backed into a corner by his own words.

“Yes...” Agent L reluctantly agreed.

Hector nodded with satisfaction. “Okay then, all we want is access to the device as soon as you have recovered it so we can attempt to return Greg to his own body before the time limit expires.”

Agent L paused for a few seconds. “And, if it doesn’t work?”

Hector turned to Michelle and Sadie. They anxiously held each other and as one, they both nodded their acceptance of whatever happens. “Well, then it doesn’t work and we all go our own way.  You all keep the device and if we or you ever find a working unit, we both agree to attempt to help each other out.”

“I’m not authorized to make that kind of agreement, but I can tell you that there are individuals who are in worse situations than your friend.” Agent L’s voice shook. “Trust me, much worse, but I’ll do what I can, okay?”

“We.” Hector nodded, stressing the fact that Sadie and he were a team. “Understand and will meet you at the Harry Bridges Memorial Park in 15 minutes.”

“Got it.” Agent L hung up his phone.

Hector sighed as he considered the options. “Well, do we call a cab or do we risk it and ride?”

Sadie mulled it over. “I say, we ride. That way, if you need back up, I can break out the big guns a little easier, but if not, I’ll just stay out of sight and out of mind.”  She turned to Michelle. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a good idea...” Michelle paused. “But I still wish I was going with you.”

Sadie almost changed her mind about the plan, but it was too risky and she was their ace in the hole if something went wrong. “I know. Me too, but we already went over this…”

Michelle sighed. “I know, but I’m worried about you…” She glanced to Hector. “Both of you. Stay safe, please?”

“We will.” Sadie and Hector said in stereo.

“Okay now...” Hector cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders to relieve some tension. “First, we will need to show Agent L what the container looks like, maybe give them some evidence they can use to get a warrant to search the ship.”

“No problem, I can upload the pictures and the video to your phone, or I can email both of them the stuff right now.”

“Let’s wait on the email, but go ahead and transfer them to my phone, just in case.” Hector handed Sadie his phone. 

She touched the USB port with her fingertip and it turned a pale, milky white as it transformed and snaked its way into the port.  A few seconds later, her fingertip returned to normal and she handed the phone back to Hector. “All done, you can pull them up in your photo album and mail them from there, if you need to.”  She paused, lost in thought before she sighed with frustration. “You know, I think I’m going to miss being able to do that...”

Hector nodded with agreement as his Snake Eyes costume returned to look like his normal street clothes. “Yeah, this is all kinda cool when you stop to think about it, but we should get  going now.”

Sadie gave Michelle a lingering kiss before she crouched down, centered herself facing the door and activated her transformation into Hector’s motorcycle.  Once complete, Hector opened the door and verified that the coast was clear before Arcee rolled herself out of the room and into the parking lot. 

“Okay, call me a pig because I don’t care what ya think, but watching a hot chick turn into an equally hot motorcycle is pretty damn cool.” Hector affectionately patted Arcee’s gas tank before pulling his helmet on and climbing aboard.

“Oink, Oink and yeah, umm, thanks, I think...” Arcee muttered.

Michelle reached out and gave Hector a hug, followed by a quick kiss on Arcee’s windshield. “You two be careful and remember I love you.”

“Ha! As if and I love you too!” Arcee’s voice emanated from the instrument console as the pair slowly pulled away.

Hector nervously scanned the park as he and Arcee pulled into the parking lot.  It only took the two of them a little over five minutes to reach the park from their hotel and neither had much to say to the other during the ride. Since she let him have full control the entire way, he could tell Arcee was a little worried about the meeting and the possible outcome because as the minutes ticked away on the device’s possible timer, it was hard not to feel the pressure.

“It looks like we beat them here...” Hector glanced around as he removed his helmet and dismounted Arcee.  He spotted a black Yaris approaching. “Well, by a little bit.”

“Great, I guess I will have to remain in motorcycle mode for now.” Arcee muttered with frustration.

Hector patted her tank affectionately. “Hey, don’t worry. I got yer back, or tank or something...” He chuckled as she made raspberry sounds. “Since we have Wheelie inside, I’ll just tell them you’re keeping an eye on the container, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan...” Arcee sighed as her instrument cluster illumination faded to black.

Hector casually leaned against Arcee as the Agent’s vehicle came to a stop and both of the agents exited their tiny compact car.  He struggled to keep the smirk off his face. 

Agent L marched around the front of his vehicle as he pulled out his sidearm and held it aimed at Hector as he approached. “You’ve a lot of fucking nerve Mister Vasquez! I know it was you and your friend at the warehouse. The local authorities are just going to love busting your ass for that stunt. Now, where in the fuck is the device and where is your friend, ‘Miss’ Williamson?” He snidely emphasized Greg’s new gender while Agent P hung back and slowly shook her head, implying that she thought her boss was going overboard.

The classic good cop/bad cop routine and Hector was not impressed. His time in the sand had inoculated him against panicking at the sight of having emotional people aim their weapons at him and his Wolverine enhancements helped reduce the anxiety even further. While getting shot would probably hurt like a son of a bitch, it wouldn’t be fatal. “She’s around and we don’t have it.  So, why don’t ya drop the Keystone cops routine and I’ll tell you where it’s at and why we didn’t just go get it ourselves.”

Agent P glanced over at Agent L and nodded at him before turning back to Hector. “You’ve enhanced yourself, haven’t you?” She asked.

Hector nodded and grinned at her. “Yep, Wolverine...”  He didn’t see much of a reason to hide it anymore and maybe if he owned up to the major change, they would leave him alone and not ask about his built-in ninja costume

[Snickt!]

Hector popped out his right hand claws with a grimace. “Son of a...” He muttered as he held his claws up for the agents to see for a few seconds before retracting them with a hiss of pain.  He shook his hand a few times. “That hurts, but I heal pretty damn fast.”  He looked expectantly back to Agent L and as he slowly lowered weapon.

“You didn’t use those on the perps at the warehouse.” Agent L studied Hector suspiciously as he  cautiously holstered his firearm.

Hector smiled and tightly shook his head from side to side. Agent L might be a dick, but he was smart and Hector needed to refocus their attention on what was important. “Nope, didn’t need to, but we have bigger fish to fry if you wanna get that device back.”  He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and held it up for the two agents to view.

Curious, both of the agents closed in and studied the picture before Hector moved to the next picture that showed the container being loaded onto the ship.  “Sadie took this 30 minutes ago and is keeping an eye on it now.  This is the container...” He zoomed on to the numbers on the side. “That was loaded at the warehouse and listed on their laptop. We debated breaking into the ship, but we didn’t wanna get into a fight and hurt innocent people.” He shrugged apologetically “Well, probably innocent, unlike the warehouse. So, we decided you all might have better luck by flashing your badges, getting a warrant, or something.”

Agent L glanced over at his partner. “What do you think?”

“Hmmm, a warrant would be the safest, but we...” Agent P glanced meaningfully at Hector. “Might not have the time.  Using the pictures, I can file for a warrant while we try the ‘soft’ approach.” She shrugged her shoulders.  “It might work...”

“Damn it!” Agent L sighed with frustration as he mulled over his options. “You.” He pointed at Hector. “Get in, call your friend and tell her to stay out of trouble.”

Hector started to move towards their tiny car. “Umm, will we all fit in this thing?”

Agent L growled with frustration as he opened the driver’s door. “Just get in...and call her, damn it.”

 “Sure.” Hector smirked as he studied the tiny back seat. Knowing that Sadie was parked right next to him and had heard everything, he pulled out his phone and pretended to call her. “Sadie, yeah, we’re going in. Sit tight, okay?”  He nodded his head as if listening to her reply. “Good. Yeah, I’ll let you know.” He put away his phone and folded himself into the tiny back seat behind Agent P. 

Agent P turned around in her seat to face Hector. “Phone, so I can extract the pictures for the warrant.”

Hector didn’t think he had much choice and he complied with her request, but he felt reluctant to simply hand over his phone. Who knew what else Agent P would extract from his phone in the process? 

Like Hector, the guard at the gate wasn’t sure what to make of the tiny sub-compact car and federal agent dichotomy. The Feds always drive big SUVs or full size sedans. As a result, he spent an extra minute verifying the agent’s badges and pissing Agent L off even more in the process. Hector found it very amusing to watch Agent L visibly restrain his temper with the guard.

“Not one word, Mr. Vasquez...” Agent L muttered after the guard let them through the gate. 

Hector held up his hands in mock surrender while Agent P glanced out of her window to hide her amusement from her partner.

A pair of security vehicles intercepted them a few hundred meters past the gate and after a polite and respectful exchange, Agent L was escorted to the suspect ship.  Shortly before they arrived, Agent P returned Hector’s phone. “Thanks, priority warrant applied for and I expect a reply within 30 minutes, but we will need to involve local law enforcement if we are forced to serve it.”

Hector accompanied the two agents onto the docked cargo ship while the harbor security guards remained behind.  They were met by a middle aged man wearing what appeared to be a well worn Captain’s uniform.

“‘ello gents an’ ladies. I’m Captain Hollingsworth, what can I do for ya?” The man respectfully nodded to Agent L as he spoke in a thick Australian or New Zealand accent.

Agent L displayed his badge. “Hi, Captain Hollingsworth. I’m Agent L of the FBI and my partner here is Agent P.” He glanced to her as she flashed her badge. “We have reason to believe that some stolen goods have been accidentally loaded onto your ship and we would like to take a quick peek to confirm that possibility-”

Cpt Hollingsworth’s face was filled with skepticism as he impatiently interrupted Agent L. “Whoa there Agent, umm L?  I dinno wha’ kin’a thing yer trying to pull on me here, but all these...” He gestured expansively to all the containers loaded on his ship. “Are empties and I won’t allow some foreign law officers getting all stickybeak and poking their noses in places they don’t belong!”

Agent L surprised Hector by not blowing up in the Captain’s face, but it was Agent P who responded. “We completely understand your concerns sir.” She paused and smiled graciously at him. “We have already filed a warrant and expect to receive court approval within the hour, but we would prefer to handle this with as little disruption as possible to you and your crew. Our intel is fairly specific, but if you force us to wait for the warrant, it could take days before all the legal stuff is finalized and your ship would be allowed to depart.”  She applied the pressure as his resistance started to crumble.

“Ah’ damnit!” Captain Hollingsworth took his cap off and pulled back his thinning hair with frustration. “That would cost me a bikkie, but if what yer claiming is a fair dinkum then I reckon it might’en not be too much of a problem if ya took a look around, but we ‘ave more than a few thousand containers here. Do ya have any idea of about what time yer thinking this container might have been loaded?”

Agent P smiled at the Captain’s change in attitude and glanced back to Hector. “It was around 1630 hours, right?”

Sadie didn’t know what to think when Hector rode away with the Agents.  On one hand, it was annoying as hell not being with them, but on the other hand it was better the government didn’t know about her extreme changes.  She felt even more conflicted about what to when they got the MAU back.  She was afraid she wouldn’t want to change back to her old, boring self. It was pretty damn cool being a robot motorcycle.  The female part, she wasn’t all that fond of, but everything else was actually kind of cool.

“No! I’m changing back and that is the end of it!” Sadie berated herself for even considering the possibility.  No matter how much Michelle supported her with whatever happened, she deserved to have Greg and a family, not some robot chick.

{“Sadie Prime! Sadie Prime!”} Wheelie’s panicked transmission broke her train of thought.

Sadie felt her virtual stomach drop with alarm, but she forced herself to remain calm because it might only be Wheelie over reacting to something or a rat scared him. {“Sadie here, what’s up Wheelie?”}

{“We have company...”} Wheelie transmitted a live video feed from inside the ship.  It showed their container, but there were four men wearing all black clothes that resembled a ninja costume, but with solid body armor strategically placed and full faced helmets instead of the famed ninja mask.  Okay, so they weren’t ninjas, but their outfit sort of made her think of ninjas when she first saw them.

Sadie sighed as she considered the feed imagery. “How did the Japanese ninja become synonymous with sneaky?”

Using Wheelie’s eyes, she studied the men a little closer. Their helmets fully enclosed their heads and gave no hints to their identities. Unlike a motorcycle helmet, their face shield looked completely opaque with no way for the men to see out. However; they must be able to see out since they didn’t appear to be running blind. High tech helmets aside, what concerned Sadie the most was the fact that they were using what appeared to be a light saber to cut a hole in the side of their container. 

She also caught the flash of a holstered weapon on each of their hips. {“Wheelie, zoom in on their weapons...”}

Wheelie complied and as the details of their weapons came into focus, Sadie activated her rider hologram and began to pull out of her parking space. The weapons looked more like sci-fi blasters or laser pistols than standard projectile based firearms and if they were really using a light saber to cut into the container, then Hector and the Agents were in trouble, big trouble. She tried to call Hector, but his phone was still set to not accept calls to avoid being traced. 

As she impatiently waited for a car to pass before she pulled out onto the road leading to the shipping yard, she noticed all of the men breaking into the container go into high alert as the sounds of people walking noisily down steel grated stairs echoed in the hold.  It had to be Hector and the Agents.  As the man using the light saber disappeared inside the container, the remaining three drew their pistols and Sadie recognized them instantly as a copy of Han Solo’s blaster from Star Wars.

“Fuck!” Sadie screamed with frustration as her desperately accelerated out of the parking lot. Her rear tire to left a long, smoking black streak behind while her front wheel hovered almost a foot off the ground as she shot toward the shipping yard’s front gate. 

{“Wheelie, I’m not going to make it in time...”} Sadie realized that there might be a way for her to take a more direct route and with that thought, she jumped into the air and initiated the transformation into her untested jet form.

The transformation finished just as she began to fall back down to earth. Sadie instinctively punched her thrusters to full power while pulling her nose up.  She shot straight up in a ballistic trajectory while rapidly spinning in a barrel roll as she struggled to figure out how to use her wings and regain control.

“Hollllly shiiiiit!” Sadie hit 5,000 feet before she realized what was happening.  She immediately stopped max thrust. “Shit! I need to get down...” As she began to slow and stall, she rolled, facing her back toward the ship to orientate herself.  Assured that she was heading in the right direction, she lightly tapped her thrusters to begin what she hoped was a rapid, yet controlled descent to the ship. 

Wheelie wisely kept himself out of sight while maintaining his surveillance on the scene in the cargo hold. She tried not to be distracted as the unknown men began to open fire with their weapons on Hector and the Agents.  {“Holy f’ing shit boss, ya better get down here fast. These clowns are blowing the crap outta shit down here!”}

Their weapons were definitely blasters and not regular handguns. Fortunately, Hector and the Agents weren’t giving the shooters much to aim at, but that didn’t stop the idiots from trying. Instead, all they did was make a lot of noise and punched very large holes in the sides of the flimsy shipping containers that Hector and the Agents were taking cover behind. 

Agent L managed to return fire and hit one of the men, but his shot bounced off the man’s armor without leaving a mark.  A volley of blaster shots forced Agent L back behind cover, barely missing him as Agent P helped pull him back.

As Sadie made her final approach, two of the unknown men began to stride confidently toward Hector and the Agent’s positions as they fired their blasters to keep them pinned down. Hector waited until the last second before he used his enhanced strength and reflexes to jump out from behind his container. Both men jerked and reflexively tried to shoot him, but he moved too fast for them. With his claws extended, he flipped in mid-air, and used his feet to launch himself off the side of container opposite of his previous position.

The attacker closest to Hector started to turn and bring his weapon to bear on Hector, but Hector’s right hand claws punched into and ripped through the man’s right shoulder like it was tissue paper, causing the man to scream and drop his blaster.  Now, Hector was behind the second man and Hector used his right hand claws to punch into the second man’s abdomen. 

Again, Hector’s claws punched through the man’s armor as if it wasn’t there, emerging from his back covered in blood.  The second man’s blaster fired once into the floor before Hector savagely pulled his claws up and out of the man, disemboweling him.

Hector’s target screamed with agony, but before he could finish off his first target, a blaster bolt slammed into the middle of his back, knocking him to his knees and leaving a smoking hole the size of a grapefruit that exposed his metal spine where it impacted. 

Sadie flared out just above the cargo hold, cut her thrusters and initiated her transformation back into robot mode.  As she dropped, feet first into the hold, Hector tried to turn to face the man who shot him in the back.  He was rewarded with another hit in his left shoulder, causing him to fall onto his right side. She felt like she was moving in slow motion as she fell toward the deck below. Once more, Hector tried to stand, but the man fired another blaster bolt into his body. 

Sadie landed between the man and Hector. The man fired at her and hit her square in her chest, the force of the blaster bolt rocked her back a few inches, but her armor held, leaving behind a smoking mark on her chest.  She brought her massive arm cannon to bear on the man and armed it while praying that it would actually work. Unfortunately, it took too long to cycle and the man, plus his partner who had cut through their container to retrieve the MAU, made a run for it.

Sadie was torn between chasing after the men with the MAU and helping her friend.  She prayed his healing was good enough to keep him alive. She turned back to her friend and was relieved to see him struggling to rise while cursing up a storm as  Agent L and Agent P cautiously poked their heads from behind cover. 

Sadie watched, amazed and relieved as his massive wounds closed up and started healing before her eyes. “Hector! Are you okay?”

“Hell no, Arcee, that fucking shit hurt...” Hector rose to his feet, staggered and leaned his back against a shipping container as he contemplated the two men he attacked.

One of the men was still alive, but before they could attempt to render aid and interrogate him, the body of one who was alive stiffened as both men’s suits began to glow, white hot.  They had to turn away and shield their eyes as their attacker’s bodies were entirely consumed in only a few seconds, leaving behind only a body sized scorch mark on the steel deck to betray their existence. Even their blasters were consumed by the flames.

“Son of a bitch!” Hector punched the wall of a container, leaving a large dent in its side.

“Where did the MAU go?” Agent L asked, reminding the pair of their reason for being here. 

Sadie turned back to where she last saw the other two men. “Crap...” She muttered.  {“Wheelie, please tell me you know where the MAU went...”}

{“Sure do Sadie Prime!”} Wheelie’s camera showed the two men jumping onto a boat piloted by another black garbed man.

“Crap, they’re getting away!” Sadie glanced around, looking for the best way to exit the ship’s cavernous hold.  She looked up and figured she could switch back to jet mode and fly out.  With that thought, she initiated her transformation.

“Take me with you!” Agent P knocked on her cockpit canopy, seemingly unphased by what she witnessed.

Sadie sighed as she realized her secret was definitely out now.  She popped open her canopy. “Fine, but don’t complain if you get sick. I only have a few seconds of flight time under my belt.” She warned Agent P as she climbed into her cockpit.

As Agent P buckled herself into the seat, Sadie smoothly lifted them both straight up and out of the ship’s hold using her anti-grav.  As soon as she cleared the top of the hold, she kicked in her thrusters and shot after the fleeing speed boat with their MAU.

“Whoa...sorry.” Sadie wobbled back and forth a few times as she struggled with her new wings and tail. Flying was a lot harder than it looked like on TV, but she had a slight advantage due to her ability to feel her wings, the air flow over them and respond instantly to the feedback.

With her new plane and pilot jitters quickly fading, it wasn’t hard to spot the bad guys boat. For starters, it was the only military styled, twin engine, inflatable boat amidst the usual fiberglass recreational pleasure craft and it was the only one with three black clad dudes wearing solid black helmets on a south west heading exiting the harbor area at max speed.  From their current heading, it appeared like they were aiming for open sea.

“Where in the hell do they think they are going?” Agent P asked.

“Beats me, but they’re heading into deeper water.” Sadie looked ahead and spotted Santa Catalina Island ahead, but with the current course, it looked like they would miss the island or land on the northernmost tip. “Or, maybe they have a secret base on Catalina Island?”

Not that they needed it, but the final confirmation came when the men fired their blasters at the pair as they flew past.  “Shit! I don’t think we can ask them to simply pull over, do you?” Sadie asked.

Agent P chuckled as Sadie performed evasive maneuvers, dodging the blaster bolts from the craft below. “Probably not, but I assume you have some sort of weapon on you. Maybe we can disable their boat by shooting their engines?”

“We?” Sadie asked, amused that Agent P included herself.

“Well, okay, you...but try not to sink their boat, okay?” Agent P grinned as they circled back around to approach the boat from the stern.

“Yeah, that would be bad...” Sadie decided to try her smaller twin cannons, hoping they would fire faster than her main cannon and do enough damage to disable the boat without sinking it in the process.

The men in the boat saw her coming and once again, tried to shoot her down, but she was able to dodge their fire. As soon as her crosshairs lined up on the stern of the boat, she fired.  A stream of rapid fire bolts of energy shot out of her wings.  Not used to firing at a moving target while also moving, she missed the boat completely, but she certainly pissed off the men in the boat since they redoubled their efforts to shoot her down.

Sadie dodged the hail of blaster bolts as she circled back around to make another run. “I’ll try it again. Now that I kinda see how it works, I might be able to hit the boat this time. I hope...”

“Good luck!” Agent P encouraged her.

This time, Sadie came in from a shallower angle and walked her fire toward the stern of the boat, but at the last second, the boat’s pilot skewed the craft and dodged her fire.

“Son of a bitch!” Sadie yelled with frustration as the boat continued on its merry way. “I’m really beginning to dislike these assholes...” She muttered as she considered her options.  “The hell with this, I’m going for the big gun...” She armed her main cannon and waited for it to cycle. It seemed to take forever, but in reality, it only took two seconds and she was very curious to find out what it would do since the relatively slow cycle time prevented her from using it against the bad guys in the hold.  “Main cannon armed and ready to fire, but I have no idea what it will do...” She warned Agent P as she circled back around and began her third attack run from only 10 feet off the water and directly astern of the boat.

With her main cannon centered just below her nose instead of on her wings like her smaller cannons, the main cannon seemed a little easier to aim.  The pilot of the boat swerved back and forth in an attempt to foil her aim, but she remained locked on to his tail and all his swerving spoiled his buddy’s aim, making her job even easier.  “Here goes...” She whispered as she gave the command to fire her cannon.

[Boom!]

The entire boat blew into a million tiny pieces as the energy of her main cannon impacted the stern of the boat, lifting the stern into the air and causing the boat to break in half, practically disintegrating the fragile craft as it exploded into flame before tumbling back into the water.

“Holy shit!” Sadie flew over the burning wreckage with stunned amazement. 

Agent P looked down and twisted back in her seat to view the smoking wreckage as they left it behind. “Oh, that’s not good...”

Sadie turned back and slowed to a crawl as she hovered over the wreckage, praying that the MAU wasn’t destroyed in the blast.  “Umm, I’m going to guess that the device is probably on its way to the bottom of the ocean now...”

“Probably...” Agent P sighed with regret. “I’m sorry Sadie, but this looks like the end of the road.”

“Maybe...” Sadie lowered herself until her belly was only a few feet away from the surface with her nose facing the wreckage. “ Is the device still inside the wreckage floating on the surface?”

Agent P studied the wreckage and slowly shook her head with regret. “Umm, it doesn’t look like there aren’t any pieces big enough still floating with the MAU...”

“Well, I guess we'll just have to try something else then.” Sadie cut her anti-grav, dropping them both into the ocean.

“Sadie!” Agent P banged her hand against the cockpit window in an attempt to escape the now half submerged plane. “What are you doing!?!?”

“Trying something.  You should be okay since I planned on this flight mode having space capability in case I wanted to try flying to the moon or something...”  Sadie attempted to reassure Agent P as she used her thrusters and elevator flaps to force herself under the water as if she was flying through the air.

“I hope you're right!” Agent P reflexively inhaled and held her breath as water rushed over the canopy.

Amazingly, her idea worked as she overcame her slightly positive buoyancy caused by the sealed cockpit and effectively “flew” through the water using the brute force of her thrusters. As she pushed herself deeper, Sadie maintained a high alert on the cabin integrity. The air pressure inside the sealed cockpit remained constant and no water was leaking into the interior of the cabin. Even better, all of her systems were 100% in the green. 

She could feel the cool water against her skin, but it didn’t seem to be bothering her at all. As an added bonus, she discovered that she had an atmospheric system that generated breathable air for her flesh and bone occupant.

Sadie was distracted from her observations when a pair of lights flared into life off her right wingtip and about 20 feet below.  She dipped her wing to get a better view and they both watched as two of the men they had been chasing burst into flame, causing the water near their bodies to boil furiously for a few seconds before the flames were extinguished.

“Well, someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure their people couldn’t talk or be identified...” Agent P muttered softly as she began to relax a little more.

“Yes, yes they did, but where is the third-” Sadie stopped as another light flared into existence approximately 15 feet below the surface, causing them both to look up as they watched the third man’s body consume itself.

Sadie sighed. “Okay, that answers that, but where is the MAU or did I destroy with my shot?” 

Agent P shook her head, no. “While highly effective at blowing up a boat, I doubt you damaged the device. Our scientists have tried everything they can think of and they’ve never been able to even scratch those pesky little boxes of mischief.”

“Oh, well, I guess that’s sort of good news...” Sadie flew a lazy circle around the slowly sinking wreckage in the hopes that the MAU didn’t sink to the bottom already because if it did, she wasn’t sure if they could find it. The ocean was at least a thousand feet deep here and she wasn’t sure if she could ‘fly’ that deep without the water pressure crushing her air tight cockpit like an egg.

She steadily pushed herself deeper and felt the water pressing tighter and tighter against her skin, causing her to slow to a stop when she passed 300 feet and the previously green hull pressure indicator turned yellow. “Crap! I think this is as deep as we can go since I don’t think you would want me to risk having the cockpit spring a leak, right?”

Agent P looked deeper into the gloom and licked her lips nervously as she considered her predicament. “No, not really...”

Not wanting to risk Agent P’s life, Sadie reluctantly cut her thrust and allowed herself toslowly rise back toward the surface as she considered her options.

She could eject Agent P on the surface and try searching the bottom in robot mode like the Decepticons did when they rescued Megatron, but doing so would risk Agent P drowning miles from shore.  She could fly back, drop Agent P off and return. That idea could work, but as the light filtered down from above, she spotted two large boats circling above like hungry sharks looking for food. Well, or two rescue boats looking for survivors.

She halted their ascent at 75 feet and began heading away from the area, out toward open sea where she could hopefully surface without being spotted.

“What’s up? Where are we going?” Agent P asked.

“Look up, and umm, to your two o’clock...” Sadie briefly angled her nose up to give Agent P a better view.

Agent P studied the bottoms of the circling ships for a few seconds. “They look to be about the right size for a Coast Guard cutter, but they could be the Navy too. It’s hard to say since I’ve never actually seen them from this side before.” She giggled briefly before continuing. “I’m going to assume you plan on surfacing someplace where they can’t spot you?”

Sadie sighed. “Yeah, that’s the plan now. I was going to try dropping you off at shore and returning to search the bottom, but with those guys here, I kinda doubt that will work.”

“How deep is it here and could you survive down there?” Agent P asked.

“I dunno on both counts, but I’m a female alien robot now and maybe forever; what do I have to lose?” Sadie sighed with defeat.

“Hey, don’t sound so down because you have to admit that this...” Agent P gestured to her surroundings. “Is pretty damn cool.”

Sadie knew Agent P was right, but she didn’t trust the government to not over react or not get greedy. “Yeah, it is, but I’d rather be myself and not have to worry about how many pieces the government will try to break me into in an attempt to see how I work.”

Agent P nodded with agreement. “True, but it’s not our mission to inform the other branches of the government about your existence.” She paused for a second before taking a stern expression and pointing to Sadie’s instrument panel as if she was pointing her physical body. “Provided, that you are not a national security threat or a danger to society.”

“Come on, you can’t tell me that as soon as you are safely ashore, a squad or two of Section 7 soldiers, or something similar, will try to capture me!”

“Umm, not that I’m aware of. We only go after the ones we believe to be a threat to humanity or to themselves.”  Agent P paused for a few seconds and laughed. “But, there is no Section 7, so you’re safe on that front!”

“Awesome! Why don’t I feel relieved?” Sadie asked, her voice full of disbelief.

Agent P shrugged noncommittally. “Dunno, but are you a danger?”

Sadie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I just blew up a friggen boat and killed three people with an super alien death ray! What do you think?”

“I think your actions were justified and if I didn’t, I would’ve tried to stop you, and that’s what will be my report.” Agent P’s no nonsense reply gave Sadie hope.

Sadie mulled over Agent P’s statement for a few seconds. “Do you really think that I might be able to have a normal life, well, mostly normal and not be chased all over the planet by secret agents?”

Agent P focused her gaze on Sadie’s flight gauges as if she was trying to look her in the eye. “What happens to you heavily depends on what else goes into my final report and whether or not I think we can trust you. We are pretty good at keeping secrets. The rest is up to you, but you haven’t exactly been forthcoming in the changes department, have you?”

“Weelll, maybe not entirely…” Sadie hedged as she considered how much she could tell, yet still keep a few secrets. After a few more seconds of internal debate, she decided that she had nothing to lose now and as a result, she began to spill her guts to the female Secret Agent. Out of concern for Hector, she left out his adventure with Natalie, but she came clean with her about Michelle, mostly. She left out the Na’vi link part, but other than those minor omissions, she told her everything.

Agent P proved to be an attentive and supportive listener, and somehow, Sadie felt her spirits rising as she unburdened her soul. Maybe that confession thing the church had wasn’t such a bad idea.

Thirty minutes and five miles out to sea later, the two of them rose from the ocean well away from the main shipping lanes and with the sun setting behind them, they winged their way back to shore at a more sedate 150 mph and at an altitude between eight and ten thousand feet like a normal private plane. Sadie worried the entire way that they would be intercepted by a bunch of fighter jets with orders to shoot her down, but nothing happened.

The sun had set only 10 minutes ago when Sadie silently set down on the grass in a dark spot next to a conveniently burned out light pole in the same park they had met the Agents before starting their adventure on the cargo ship. She popped her canopy and Agent P quickly unbuckled and scrambled out of the snug cockpit.

Agent P glanced around for a few seconds to make sure no one was watching. “Clear.” She tapped Sadie’s fuselage once.

With her signal, Sadie initiated her Pretender bot mode transformation.  She felt herself compressing and the tension felt almost unbearable after spending so many hours in what now felt like her natural form. She ended up crouched down on her feet with her arms extended as if she was pretending to be an airplane.

“Simply amazing...” Agent P softly whispered, her eyes wide with wonder as she reached down and lent Sadie a hand to help her stand.

Sadie nodded with agreement. “Yeah, I have to admit, it’s pretty cool, but now I feel like I’m trying to shove 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound bag.” She grimaced with discomfort before hugging her arms to her chest as she looked around the park as if expecting to find herself surrounded by hordes of Special Forces soldiers.

She was surprised when Agent P smiled affectionately at her and gave her a brief hug before pointing out two figures walking toward them.  It was Agent L and Hector.  Sadie never felt so happy to see Hector in her life. “Hector!” She gasped with excitement and ran toward him.

He smiled and held out his arms and before she realized what she was doing, Sadie found herself wrapped up in a powerful hug and extremely surprised by their uncharacteristic public displays of affection with each other. She tensed when she realized what they had done, but by then the damage to the “dude code” was already done. Since, she was now stuck; the code probably didn’t apply any longer.  She sighed with confusing mixture of frustration and acceptance.

“Sorry...” Hector let her go with a slight blush clouding his features.

Sadie glanced up at him with a mischievous smirk and playfully punched him in his shoulder. “De nada, mi hermanito.”

“Little brother? Moi?” Hector’s laughter warmed Sadie’s helium fueled heart.

Agent L and Agent P entered Agent K’s office with Agent L chivalrously holding the door for his partner to allow her to precede him. Without a word, he carefully set the custom aluminum equipment case on her desk next to a plain manila folder arranged perfectly in the center of her immaculate desk as if her desk was her own private zen garden.

In spite of his care, the metal case still made a solid thunk sound as he released the handle.  He winced apologetically to his boss before gingerly flipping it down to rest facing Agent K, displaying to her that both of the security keys required to open it were already inserted into the locks.

Agent K leaned back in her executive chair and contemplated the object resting on her desk for a few seconds before speaking. “You confirmed it to be inactive?”

Both of the agents confirmed her statement posed as a question with a quick nod.

“Any problems with the ship’s crew and our cover story?”

Agent L shook his head once and stole a quick glance at his partner standing beside him. “No ma’am. Agent P took over the ROV operation during the recovery portion and our diver packaged the device before any crew member could obtain a visual.”

Agent K’s eyebrows raised with speculation. “I see, and based on your report,” She briefly glanced down at the manila folder. “You both recommend taking no containment actions against Mr. Vasquez or Ms. Williamson?”

Agent L sharply nodded once with acknowledgement. “Yes, ma’am. We both believe Mr. Vasquez’s modification to be stable and easily concealed.  His military service record and actions to date are stellar.”

“I see...and Ms. Williamson?”

Agent P and Agent L briefly hesitated before replying, with Agent P taking the lead. “She is a rather unique case ma’am, but as I stated in my report, I believe we can trust her to not call attention to herself and perhaps even be an asset in the future.”

Agent K stood and carefully picked up the still unopened report folder and the case. “I will take both of these to the vault. Excellent work, you two and I agree with your assessments regarding Mr. Vasquez and his friend, Ms. Williamson. Agent C & D are pursuing a few disturbing rumors in Asia right now and depending on what they uncover, I may have another mission for you both very soon.”

The Agents looked to each other with concern because if it was something big enough to worry Agent K with her two best agents on the case; what could they do to make things better? They nervously smiled at their boss. “Yes ma’am. We’re both looking forward to it.”