Insert standard disclaimer here: The one that reminds everyone that this is a work of fiction. No one is real and any resemblance to someone who is real is purely coincidence, honest. This is also a Fan Fiction set in the Whateley Story Universe. No Canon characters were permanently harmed in the making of this story. I hope. :)

Note: As I warned you all, this one came a bit faster. Thanks for my beta readers and resident SEAL expert for their feedback and patience. And last, but not least, djkauf for his magical editing.

** Chapter 37 **

I should use this stuff more often and now that those pesky emotions are done. It is mission time and following the KISS principle, my mission is to:

a) Eliminate enemy targets.
b) Evade detection and escape to Whateley Academy.

>Mission parameters accepted...
>Assessing Enemy Target threat ratings...
>Not enough data...
>
>Termination of Unknown Targets Authorized.
>Assigning enemy target priority...

The label for the target in the front yard changes to ‘Alpha’, while the label for ‘Delta 4’ changes to ‘Beta’ and ‘Echo One’ changes to ‘Charlie’.

>Primary Mission Success Factor=57.4%
>Agent Survival Factor=22.5%
>Secondary Mission Success Factor=88.2%...Pending Primary Mission Completion.

The odds for my primary mission aren’t all that great, but at least, the secondary odds are better.  Well, if I can survive the primary mission.

Well, I do know one thing. I need something to wear that is a bit stealthier than a green silk camisole top thing, but I don’t really have anything like my VR Selena vampire butt-kicking outfit or Whisper’s GEO outfit either.  The knife is a bit too shiny too.  My Selena outfit would be good, but I need something to camouflage my face, too.  Okay, I need my GEO Whisper outfit and with that in mind, I concentrate and cast my self-illusion spell.  I feel the magic ripple across my skin, almost like a caress. It feels good and it did not seem all that hard to cast this time.  Maybe all the forced practice I did this evening helped?

I don’t feel any different, but when I look down at myself I am dressed in Whisper’s black silk rogue ninja style outfit. I catch my reflection in the glass door of the microwave and my face is concealed by Whisper’s rogue mask.  That should help me blend into the night a little easier and the blade of the chef knife is now flat black too.

I don’t have a sheath to hold the knife, so I just switch it to my off hand and reverse the grip on it so that the back of the blade rests against my forearm, nice and snug.  I don’t want to have an accident with the sharp knife.

>Updating Mission Factors...
>Primary Mission Success Factor=69.8%
>Agent Survival Factor=31.9%

That update makes me smile a little as I slink through the hall and pass Mr. Stile’s office door.  He is still stuck in the council meeting. I hope that he doesn’t notice that I didn’t bring him his glass of water for a long time.  I would not want him to come looking for me, check outside and accidentally walk right into the line of fire.  There is no telling what these bozos would do to Mr. Stiles.

My egress point is from a window on the side of the house. As I touch the window, I detect the circuit of an active alarm system. I tell it to ignore this window’s sensor for an hour.  That should give me plenty of time to get my primary mission done and reach a safe distance from the house before the house alarms start going off.  With the knife, I carefully and slowly cut the bottom part of the screen window. I don’t want to make any noise that might alert Mr. Stiles or the targets outside.  

They probably have night vision goggles and maybe even thermographic scopes. I am not sure, but I think that invisibility covers thermographic too. So, with that in mind, I cast my invisibility spell before I exit the window. Based on my last attempt to use invisibility, I don’t expect it to last very long, but it should last long enough for me to sneak up on the first target.

I am going to need every trick in the book and watching Uncle Jim play GEO reminded me that Whisper was a rogue before she learned some Illusionist tricks.  With that in mind, I briefly debate trying to activate or use Whisper’s rogue powers to hide in the shadows and move undetected through shadows. I am able to visualize the icon for those abilities and the icons are similar to my illusionist spell icons, but not, they feel, if that is the right way to think of them, dark. Not evil dark, but light versus dark, which kind of makes sense, since hiding in shadows is the absence of light.

Hmmm, were  Whisper’s high level rogue abilities really magical darkness spells?  I am going to need to spend some time researching that little, umm, ‘feature’, but not tonight. I know that invisibility works, mostly.  Additionally, I have not thought to try the rogue stuff yet and I don’t know how those spells would work against people with night vision and IR/Thermographic vision.

Careful to not make any noise, I slide out of the window and drop down to  lie on my belly facing the front of the house.  It is only 41 degrees Fahrenheit out here, but I don’t notice the cold as I lie on top of the mulch that covers the ground between a gap in the low bushes and the side of the house.  Except for a hazy and ghostly outline of myself, I can see right through me. I hope that no one else can see that outline.

I add the thermographic spectrum to my vision and notice that the ground beneath me is starting to change color. If they are using thermographic scopes, I need to keep moving or they will spot me by my body heat soaking into the ground.  A small part of me marvels at how my thermographic view of the world reminds me of the movie, Predator. Except, I don’t have the triangle targeting bracket or dreadlocks, but other than that, it doesn’t matter who these jerks are; I am the Predator this time and they aren’t Arnie.

I suppress that tiny bit of emotion as I low-crawl over to the front corner of the house and look for my target. Emotions like that will only get in the way and slow me down.  With that reminder, I quickly spot my first target 94 meters away, hiding in the shrubs near the road and next to the start of the driveway.  Mr. and Mrs. Stiles have a really big yard.

My target is lying on his belly, facing towards me and it is his face that makes him super easy to spot. With thermographic, his face is glowing like a light bulb.  If it was not for that, he would have been pretty hard to spot because his body is not so easy. His clothing is somehow breaking up his heat signature very well.

“What is that other lump next to him?”

Oops! Correction, there are two targets and even with the thermographic, it is harder to spot the second target than I expected.  Briefly, I filter out the thermographic and with just low-light and normal vision; even though I know where to look, they are both practically invisible to me. They are camouflaged very well.  They must be wearing those ghillie suit outfits that I have seen on TV.

Both of the targets are lying on their bellies and have what appear to some sort of rifle at the ready. One of the targets is facing toward me and the house, while the other target is facing away. I guess that they are watching each other’s back.  I am no expert, but that seems very smart of them. Much smarter than I would give the MCO or the H1 credit for. Could they be one of those CIA black-ops assassin teams like they show in the movies?

Maybe I watch too much TV?

My invisibility seems to be working, because during the entire 10.347 seconds that it takes me to do all this thinking and with my head partially exposed, the target facing the house does not appear to spot me. He also doesn’t appear to be actively  using night vision or thermographic. Just his eyes, but he does have a large electronic scope of some sort mounted on his rifle.

Time to move and really test my invisibility spell on these guys.  I step out and casually stroll across the lawn. I am right out in the wide open. No cover and no concealment what so ever, but Target One just doesn’t even twitch in my direction.  I am totally relying on Murphy Law’s of Combat #5, “If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.”, but I also aware of #12, “If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.”  I hope that Target One isn’t just pretending to not see me.

Needless to say, I am feeling pretty cocky when I close the distance to 20 meters, but I decide that I should probably alter my stride so that my feet don’t make noise on the grass.  Well, less noise anyway. Oh, what about Whisper’s ‘Move Silently’ ability?  Nope, not a spell.  That icon is just an icon with a picture of some bare feet on it versus a spell pattern.  

Crap!  

Oh, wait. I remember watching some hunting show about how to walk silently while hunting deer. No time like the present and having your life on the line to learn a new skill!  No pressure there, at all! I mean, all it would take is for the guy to shoot me, is to spin 45 degrees to his left and start firing. With that  firmly in my mind, I pay very close attention  not only to him, but also his weapon and where it is pointed. It’s not an M4A1 like the Army dudes had back in New Mexico.  What is it?

>Searching...Match Found.
>Mk 12 Mod 1 SPR
>Modifications: Nightforce 2.5-10x24 NXS scope
>Effective Range: 550 Meters

Oh, that’s good to know. I guess.  His eyes pass over me and I freeze, but he doesn’t appear to see me.  I am so glad that I am using the STIMS right now because I am pretty sure that I would be totally flipping out right now if it weren’t for that stuff.  I very slowly creep to within 5 meters of him and still no reaction from him or his buddy lying next to him. My knife is ready and I am pretty sure that I will be able to surprise the first target, but my second target; not so much. Who uses that kind of wicked looking weapon?

>United States Naval Special Warfare Command
>U.S. Army 75th Ranger Regiment

That bit of data causes me to freeze again.

>Updating Mission Factors...
>Primary Mission Success Factor=36.5%
>Agent Survival Factor=12.6%

Oh, that is not good.  Now what in the hell do I do?

{“Delta One, this is Eagle Two. IR shows an open window on east side lower level.  Do you detect any hostiles?”}

>Alert! Additional Enemies detected!

Really!?  Like, Duh!

A little red dot lights up on my map 400 meters away and 10 meters above ground level, but I can’t tell exactly where because that part of my map is all black; just like the back yard.  Eagle Two must be a sniper team.

>Updating Mission Factors...
>Primary Mission Success Factor=24.2%
>Agent Survival Factor=6.8%

{“Negative Eagle Two. Delta One, Over.”}

{“Delta six, Delta seven.  Check east side of residence.”}

{“Delta Six, this is Echo One. Be advised. Secondary ETA in fife mike. Please confirm area is secure ASAP.”}

{“Roger Echo One, Delta Six, Over.”}

Another team?  Frack!

>Updating Mission Factors...
>Primary Mission Success Factor=14.1%
>Agent Survival Factor=3.8%

Who in the hell are they?  I can’t detect any CAC ID cards on these guys or anything else, other than their equipment that I could use to identify them.

{“Echo One, this is Delta Seven.  Window is open six inches. Screen has been cut. Possible forced entry.”}

{“Shit! All teams, this is Alpha One. Force entry. Weapons hot. Deadly force authorized. Secure Principal.”}

Before I know what is happening, the two guys that I just snuck so close to, jump up and run toward the house.  Their weapons are constantly at the ready as they search for targets.  They make it 50 meters across the lawn before it hits me. Alpha One sounds like Mr. Smith, I mean Captain Howards.

>Analyzing Voice...
>Voice Match for Captain Kurtis B. Howards = 98.762%

What is he doing here and what is a “Principal”?  If Mrs. Stiles is a “Secondary”, does “Principal” mean me, or Mr. Stiles?  Damn it! I should have tried to, umm, neutralize, the two dudes that were lying down next to me when I had the chance.  I can’t let them kill Mr. and Mrs. Stiles. Maybe if I just told them I was outside, they would change their minds about killing them and just be happy with killing me instead?

{“I’m not in there, Captain Howards. Please don’t hurt Mr. and Mrs. Stiles.”}

{“Whisper? What are you doing on this net? How did you...never mind. Where are you?”} Captain Howards asks.

{“I’m not going to make it that easy on you all to kill me.”} I say as I grip my knife tighter.  Delta One and his partner skid to a stop, drop to a knee and face away from each other so that they can scan more ground in their attempt to find me.  I grin at their confusion and lack of success.  Time to pull a Han Solo and ignore the odds my little C3PO is giving me.

{“Whisper, what are you talking about?”} Captain Howards asks, sounding confused for some reason.  His voice stress gauge is creeping into the upper yellows now.  Good.

{“Aren’t you all here to, umm, how would you say it? Umm, neutralize me?”} I ask somewhat snidely as I stalk toward the two SEALs that have spread out a few meters from each other as they attempt to find me. Good.  I can take out one, and then use his body to help block the aim of the other while I ‘appropriate’ the first guy’s weapon.

>Updating Mission Factors...
>Primary Mission Success Factor=26.1%
>Agent Survival Factor=3.8%

I told you to not tell me the odds!  Oh, hey, at least my system thinks that I am now more likely to take out these two guys here.


{“What?!? Fuck no...”} Captain Howards sounds very confused now and his gauge bounces into the red. {“All units, stand down! Report!”}

The two guys that I am sneaking up on quickly drop a knee, glance back at each other and after a slight hesitation, I watch as they set their weapons on safe.

{“Delta One, Standing down.”} Starts it with Delta Eight finishing the reports.
{“Eagle One and Eagle Two, Standing Down.”}

I pause in my advance on the guy that I now know to be “Delta One” based on his call sign.  I guess I can pause for a few seconds. {“Whisper, Standing down...for now.”}

{“Look, Whisper. I am sorry that I didn’t think to knock on the door and introduce ourselves sooner, but we needed to secure the area first.  I was planning on formally introducing ourselves in the AM.”}

Now it is my turn to feel confused. {“Explain.”} I say as a little bit of hope sneaks past the STIMS.

{“Look, my SEAL team is here to watch over not only you, but also Mr. and Mrs. Stiles.  We are here to keep you all safe until that damn CIA team is found.”}

Now, I am not sure what to believe.  I want to trust him and since he was with Mr. Reilly and my mom, am pretty sure that I can trust him.  My mom would have known or felt something if Captain Howards was planning on killing me, right?

{“Can you provide verification via Mr. Reilly or my mother?”} I ask.

{“Sure, but it might take a few.”}

I try not to play elevator music in my head, but some sneaks in before I can stop it.  

{“Bree? Captain Howards says that you wanted to talk to me.  Is something wrong?”} My mom anxiously asks exactly 12.37 seconds later.  She sounds like she is on her cell phone instead of in the room or wherever Captain Howards is located.

{“Mom?”}

>Analyzing Voice...
>Voice Match for Jennifer Peters = 99.671%

I know that!  

Sorry, umm, me. I just didn’t expect it and my invisibility spell decides that I have been ignoring it long enough.  It drops, leaving me out in the open and totally exposed.  

“Holy shit!” Delta Two yells as he jumps back half a meter while he simultaneously brings the barrel of his weapon up to aim it at me.

{“Yes?”} My mom asks.

Instead of replying to my mom’s question, I react to Delta Two. Time seems to slow to a crawl for me as I spring forward to close the gap between us.  If I can get inside his firing zone, I can take him down before he can shoot me.  I slam a block against the barrel with my right forearm.

[CLACK!]

The sound of my arm hitting the hand guard that that partially covers the barrel is really loud to me, but the force of my block knocks his rifle partially out of his hands.  More importantly, it knocks his rifle away from me as I step inside his guard and onto his leading foot to try and keep him from taking a step backwards.

I slam my left elbow into his ribcage, but the force of my blow is blunted by his body armor. Since I am holding the knife against my left forearm, my elbow strike also manages to leave a deep gash in his armor, exposing a metal plate. I manage to hit him hard enough to make him grunt and even with my massive 120 lbs holding his foot down, he still manages to take a step back.

He surprises me by just letting go of his rifle and bringing his right elbow around to try and hit me in the side of my head.  I dodge his elbow by continuing my forward motion and slamming my right elbow into the center of his chest.  Once again, his body armor blunts the force of my blow, but I still manage to knock him onto his butt.   

“Yamete!”

I am so conditioned to reacting to Sensei Rogers yelling that Japanese word to stop our sparring matches, that I pause, take a step back and drop into a guard stance.

“God damnit, Spencer!  Wolfman told ya to stand down!” Delta One says with a disgusted growl.

I look up and see Delta One standing four meters away with his rifle sort of pointed in my general direction; like he is ready to use it if I do something dumb. Spencer, or Delta Two, is looking both slightly ashamed and surprised by his current situation.

“Sorry, ma’am.” He says as he cautiously gets back on his feet, retrieves his rifle and settles his gear back into place. “Fuck me...” He mutters under his breath when he notices the gash across the left side of his armor..

{“Bree!  What’s wrong? What’s happening?”} My mom says, anxiously over the radio.

I calmly acknowledge Delta One by nodding my head and taking another step back.

>Alert!

My mini-map shows two flashing red dots from off to my right and slightly behind me.  I look over my shoulder and spot the team that was sent to check out the window that like a noob, I foolishly left open.

{“Sorry Alpha One, Delta Two just had a bit of a lesson here.”} Delta One says.

{“Sorry Mom. My invisibility dropped at the wrong time and I inadvertently surprised Delta Two. I was forced to engage him to prevent harm to myself.”} I say.

{“Inadvertently?  Bree, are you using that STIMS stuff again?”} My mom asks.

{“Affirmative.”} I say.

{“Brianna Nicole Peters! Off! Right now young lady, do you understand me?”}

{“Yes Mom, but I am unable to comply with your order at the moment.”}

{“What?!? I thought I told you to not use that stuff? Now, turn it off right this instant!”}

{“Sorry Mom, but the current engagement has not been resolved and the tactical risk assessment is too high due to the momentary weakness caused during system purging.”}

{“Bree, please. They really are there to help you. The boss of the CIA agents has been taken care of, but they are still looking for the agents that took you. We all agreed that, umm, covertly placing a SEAL team there to watch over you and the Stiles to keep you safe would be the best course of action.”}

I want to believe my mom. It doesn’t sound like she is being fed anything and that she believes in what she is saying.  Besides, what could it hurt? My odds were never that great to begin with.  {“Okay.”}

>Suspending Combat Stim Production...

My knees buckle and I lose control of my Whisper illusion as I drop to the ground.  The knife slips from my fingers and drops into the grass. I feel so weak and drained. “Oh god, that stuff sucks...” I say, softly to myself, but Delta One and Delta Two are close enough to overhear me.  Delta Two takes a cautious step forward before he recalls his lesson and halts with a nervous glance back to Delta One.

“Ma’am, do you need any help?” Delta Two softly asks.

Now that I am not all drugged up and ignoring everything, I reflexively hug myself and start to violently shiver from the cold. I look up to Delta Two, with the intention of telling him that I am fine, but the barely above freezing, 41 degrees Fahrenheit, hits me hard and my teeth begin to chatter uncontrollably.  Delta Two overcomes his caution, steps forward, pulls me to my feet and in one smooth motion puts me over his shoulders and into a fireman’s carry.

“H-h-h-ey!” I stammer out as I am ungraciously carried by Delta Two.  

{“Alpha One, this is Delta One. We need to get the Principal back inside the residence ASAP.”}

{“Roger Delta One. Return Principal to residence, then resume mission as planned.”}

Delta Two heads toward the front door.

{“Umm, Delta Two?”} I ask using the radio.  As violently as my teeth are chattering, I doubt that I can actually speak that clearly. {“Maybe I should go back in via the window?  I am not sure how Uncle Jim would react to all, umm, this.”}

{“Delta One, be advised.  ETA of Secondary is now two minutes. Alpha One, Over.”}

Delta Two responds by running around to the side of the house, like my weight means nothing to him.  We are flanked by Delta One and the other two SEAL dudes.  Reaching the still open window, Delta Two gently lowers me back to my feet while Delta One pulls the cut screen aside.  I reach up and grab  hold of the window sill, but I am shivering so much that it is a struggle to pull myself up and back into the warm house.  

Delta Two surprises me by wrapping his left arm around my upper thighs and smoothly lifting me up.  That proves to be all I need to get my upper body into the house and shimmy the rest of me through the window.  I drop to the floor with a thump that is muffled by the carpet and I just lay on my back for a few seconds as the blessed warmth hits me.  The window slides down as someone lowers it from the outside.  

{“Alpha One, Principal is secure. Resuming operation. Delta One, Over.”}

Still shivering, I roll over, carefully stand back up and look out the window. I catch a glimpse of movement, but nothing else.  I snug the window down, lock it and tell the alarm system to pay attention to this window again.  Satisfied that everything is working, I start to turn back to return to the kitchen for Uncle Jim’s glass of water when I hear a single light tap on the window.  I look back out and my, I mean, Uncle Jim’s chef knife is lying on the window sill.

Crap! I forgot all about that.

I quickly disarm the alarm and retrieve the knife.  “Thanks.” I whisper out the window as I softly reclose it, and then re-arm the alarm, again.  Still shivering, I wrap my arms across my chest, careful to not stab myself with the knife’s exposed blade and sneak past Uncle Jim’s office and into the kitchen.  He is still playing and it looks like he isn’t even aware that I haven’t returned with his glass of water yet.  Well, it has only been five minutes since I went all Whisper and tried to get myself killed, but I guess Uncle Jim might still be thirsty.

I slip the knife back into the knife block where I found it. Then, I grab a fresh glass for Uncle Jim, add some ice...

Brrrr...

...Fill his glass and enter his office.  “Here ya go Uncle Jim. Sorry it took so long. I, umm, got distracted by the size of your house.” I say as I hand him his glass.

With a very brief glance away from the action on his screen, Uncle Jim takes the offered glass from my hand. “Thanks, Chloe.” He says as he takes a quick sip before he sets it down and returns to playing, totally ignoring me.

I don’t feel at all offended by Uncle Jim basically ignoring me. I am actually lucky that he is playing, because if not, he might have noticed my own little adventure.  Besides, I recognize the dungeon that he is currently in and it is not an easy one.  Additionally, he is filling the main tank role, so he is a bit busy. One bad pull and he could wipe the entire group.  

Now that my hands are free, once again, I wrap my arms around my chest in an attempt to warm myself back up.  It doesn’t work, so I sneak out of his office and rush over to sit back in front of the fireplace.

“Ahhhh...” I say as the fire’s warmth starts to soak into my back. I shiver once more before regaining control.  Then, I turn to face the fire and warm my hands.  My fingers are freezing and the warmth feels heavenly.  I don’t want to ever move. Maybe I can sleep in front of the fireplace tonight.

{“Alpha One, this is Delta One.  Secondary’s vehicle spotted.”}

That announcement jolts me to my feet.  I am not sure what I should do. What would Aunt Julie expect me to be doing right now?  Watching TV?  Probably, but I can’t really sit on the couch due to the fabric.  

Grrrr.

I intercept the garage door signal and I assume that Aunt Julie is now in the drive, about to pull into the garage.  Maybe she will need help carrying stuff?  Reluctantly, I step away from the warmth of the fireplace, rush to the door that leads to the garage and open it just as she begins to pull her SUV into the garage.  The cold air rushing into the house from the open garage door hits me like a hammer and I instantly start to shiver again.

I can’t help myself from smiling when Aunt Julie spots me and happily returns my smile. She also gives me a quick wave as she cautiously inches her SUV forward and into the garage.  Satisfied that she has her SUV properly parked, she turns off the motor and pushes a button her visor.  That sends out the garage door signal again and I find myself anxiously watching as the door slowly closes behind her SUV. I almost expect one of the SEAL teams to try and sneak in while the door is closing, but no one does.  I wouldn’t blame them if they did though. It is cold outside!

Aunt Julie exits her SUV, opens the door to the back seat and that is when I spot a lot of expensive looking name-brand bags.  “Umm, Aunt Julie, do you need any help carrying those into the house?” I ask.

Aunt Julie looks up and frowns at me. “Chloe! You’re shaking like a leaf!  Get back inside where it is warm. I can get these.”

“I-i-it’s o-kay. I want to help.” I say as my teeth begin to chatter again.  I don’t think that I am doing such a good job with the cold.  I would like to think that it is only because I am a girl, but I don’t think that I would be doing any better if I was still a boy.  Then again, if that were the case, I wouldn’t be here and I would for sure be wearing something warmer than a flimsy silk top that exposes my upper torso, shoulders and arms to the cold.  

You know, something practical, like a long sleeved t-shirt with kick ass picture of Wolverine or Spiderman on it. Oh heck, who am I trying to kid here? I would be wearing my geek-tastic D&D t-shirt with the picture of some half-dressed warrior chick attacking a dragon or my GEO Rogue t-shirt with the picture of the bad ass looking rogue dude on it.

Aunt Julie shakes her head as she grapples with all the bags. “No, no, no!  Get inside before you catch a cold! I’ve got them!”

I don’t need to be told twice, well, okay I do, but Aunt Julie still needs someone to hold the door for her and that was my job.   Unfortunately, I fail at containing my shivers as she rushes through the door with her hands full of bags.

“Thanks!”  Aunt Julie peeks around from the bags that are partially blocking her vision. “Chloe!  You’re shaking to death!  What did I tell you?  Get in the living room and sit down in front of the fire while I dig out the new sweater that I found for you.”

“Y-y-yes, ma’am.” I manage to say just before I scramble ahead of her and race to my now preferred spot directly in front of the fireplace.  

“Jim!  I’m home!” Aunt Julie yells towards Uncle Jim’s office.

“Okaay!” Uncle Jim yells back. He sounds somewhat distracted.

Aunt Julie just looks at me with a pleased smile. “Well, from the sound of his acknowledgement, I’d say we have at least another hour before he is done in there.  Plenty of time for me to show you around the house and have you try on these clothes, but first, something warm for you.  You are still shivering like crazy there!”

The fire does feel rather good. “I am doing much better now, but I am only staying for a few days. You didn’t need to get all that.” I say as I gesture towards all the bags.

“Nonsense. I didn’t get that much and it was actually kind of fun shopping for you.”  Aunt Julie says as she roots through a large bag, pulls out a dark purple sweater. “Here, try this eggplant sweater on. It is made of cashmere, but it was on sale and I couldn’t pass it up.”

Eggplant?  I thought that was a vegetable.  Weird name for a color aside, it is soft and even better, it has a zipper in the front that allows me to zip it all the way up.  While I am getting my shivering under control in front of the cozy fireplace, Aunt Julie pulls out more clothes than I expected.  I thought she just said ‘essentials’?  I can understand why she got me half dozen new panties, but why did she have to buy me more two more pairs of jeans, six tops, three bras, one of them one of those demi things she mentioned earlier and a new pair of boots?  Oh yeah, and a pair of some black shoes that she calls ‘pumps’.

Oh crap!

I try not to scream when Aunt Julie pulls a dress out of one of the bags.  “Now, I got you this cute little skirt, but you don’t have to wear it; if you don’t want to.” Aunt Julie says as she holds it up for me to briefly inspect before she puts it back in the bag.

I know that my mom got me one, but when your mom buys you something it does not carry the same expectations as when a friend or someone whose house you are staying at to hide from the MCO and the CIA buys you something. When she showed it to me, I could see from the look in her eyes that she will be very disappointed if I don’t at least try it on.

“Okay, let me show you your room and we can put these away. I am going to guess that your Uncle didn’t show you the house before he started playing ‘that’ game, right?” Aunt Julie asks as she stands and grabs a few of the bags.  

I nod my head to her question as I grab the rest of the bags and follow her up the stairs. She leads me into a very large room with a queen size bed.  The room has large windows that look out over the front yard and a vaulted ceiling. It looks bigger than my parents’ room and it has its own bathroom. “Umm, isn’t this your room?” I ask.

Aunt Julie laughs and looks back at me as she closes the window shades. “Oh no, our room is down the hall.  This is just our guest bedroom. We have one more if you don’t like this one.”

{“Alpha One, Secondary just closed the shades to the second story guest room.”}

{“Umm, yes Alpha One, that’s my room.”}

“Oh no!  This one is way nice. It’s just so big. I thought, well...” I say, blushing from embarrassment.

“That’s okay, Chloe. I know that it is a little large, but when your Uncle Jim and I had this house built for us, we made sure that it was big enough for a family.”

“A family?  Did your kids already move out?” I ask because if I had a room like this, I would never want to leave home.

Aunt Julie giggles at me as she begins unpacking and organizing all the clothes on the top of the bed. “Oh, no, Chloe. We haven’t had any children, yet.  We have both just been too busy, but I am thinking that we might need to change that situation soon. We aren’t getting any younger.”

Now, I am really embarrassed. “Oh.” I say as I realize that I sort of just called Aunt Julie old.

“Here!  Try this skirt on for me, please?” Aunt Julie asks as she digs out the small black dress thing as retribution for me accidentally calling her old.

Now that I am better prepared for the shock, I notice that it has small purple flowers scattered all over it. She also pulls out some black leggings out of the same bag.  Then, after a second of deliberation, she chooses a black camisole and a matching pair of black panties.  

“Try it with these.  You can change in the bathroom.” Aunt Julie says with a glance toward the cavernous looking bathroom.

Why do the panties need to match everything? Who is going to see them when they are buried under two to three layers of fabric?  Why do I even care when there are now much bigger fish to fry?  Because, how can I say no to the dress, I mean skirt, without sounding like a complete and ungrateful b, i, t, c, h?  Anyway, what is the difference between a dress and a skirt?

>Searching....
>No definitions found...

What? How could I not know or have heard what the difference between a dress and a skirt is at some point in my life?  I mean, I know that I never needed to know, but I am sure my mom, sister or some random TV show would have said that a dress is “this”, while a skirt is “that”. Maybe that is just one of those things that real girls are just born knowing the answer to?  Is there a difference? Am I freaking out over this a little too much?

“Ummm...Okkay.” I say as I take the offered items and walk into the bathroom. I know that I have worn more girlie stuff in my VR dressing room, but that was just me. It wasn’t real and my Chloe illusion totally doesn’t count either.  This is for real.

The bathroom momentarily distracts me from my mini freak out. It is huge!  It has a separate bathtub and shower area and the bathtub is one of those giant spa tub things with jets and everything.  The only downside is that it is made of plastic, but I am not a huge bath fan anyway.  I prefer showers and the shower is a wonder. It not only has jets on the top, but also on the side too!  Yes, there is a toilet and a sink in there too. The toilet, well, it is a toilet, but the sink is nice. It is one of those standing bowl things that make it look like someone stuck a big mixing bowl on top of a counter, then a faucet leading into it and called it a sink.

I sigh and wistfully look at the pure girl clothes in my arms. I am still not sure what the correct technical term is, but Aunt Julie called it a skirt, so skirt it is. The skirt thing is black with a tiny purple flower pattern and flowers on clothes are a 100% pure all girl thing.  No guy would ever knowingly wear an article of clothing with a flower on it. Unless, said flower was kicking some other flower’s butt.

*sigh*

I guess I should just get it over with.  I strip down to just my bra, then slide the new panties on, followed by the leggings. They feel weird because I am not used to having pants that hug my legs so tightly. Well, except for my Selene outfit, but that is leather and not real.

“Do you need any help in there Chloe?” Aunt Julie asks through the door.

“Nope, I’m almost done.” I say as I quickly step into and slide the skirt up. I am glad that there is a label in the back, because without a zipper, I would have no clue which side was which. I look at myself in the mirror and I can’t help it. I look good, but I think that I need to put the cami on too. I realize that the cami has a built in bra when I try to put it on.  So, I quickly remove my bra, then slide the cami on and tuck it under the skirt.

My god, I am doomed. I can’t stop myself. I smile when I look at my reflection in the mirror. I just look so damn pretty and that alien thought is, unsettling.  I cautiously open the door, poke my head out, then with Aunt Julie’s encouragement; I step out from behind the door.

Aunt Julie’s smile is all I need to see to know how utterly and completely doomed that I am now because I feel pleased that she likes how I look in it.  “Oh my. It looks even better than I expected on you. Here, try it with the boots.” She says as she steps over to the closet, pulls out the new pair of boots and hands them too me.

She already has everything put away and hung my new clothes up.  Did she talk to my mom or something? Is putting clothes away and hanging things up in the closet a girl thing?  I try the boots on and Aunt Julie has me walk around the room a bit. I can’t help myself; I pretend to model the outfit for her and strike some poses.

“Wow, Chloe. Just wow.  That skirt just looks so cute on you.”

Okay, so this is definitely a skirt. “Umm, thanks.  I do kinda like it.” I say as I look down at myself. I suddenly realize that I might sound ungrateful to her. “I mean, I do like it. Way more than I thought I would.”  

I look up at Aunt Julie and she has that look in her eyes.  The look that tells me that she is very happy and trying not to cry.  

My eyes suddenly tear up and I start to cry.

Damn it!  Don’t tell me that I need to use the STIMS when trying on clothes.

Aunt Julie stands and pulls me into a hug. “Shhh, it’s okay. I was so worried that you wouldn’t like it, but when I saw you wearing it and even happy, I just couldn’t help it.”  She says with a slight sniffle.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just never worn a dress, umm, skirt, before. Well, not for real anyway, I didn’t expect to like it and umm, that kind of freaks me out a little.”

Aunt Julie steps back a little and studies my face with a concerned expression. “I would say that I understand, but medically speaking, I still find it hard to believe that you were ever a boy.  You just don’t look like you were ever a boy...”

I don’t know how to handle her assessment and I guess that I pout a little too.  

A wry smile lights her face. “...but you do act and speak like a boy at times. Well, more than can be explained by you just being a tomboy.  I have never treated a girl your age who was so self-conscious, unfamiliar and unsure about her own body.”

“Oh.” I say realizing that my fear of losing my male mojo is making me stand out more.

“So, I have cleared as much of my schedule as I could for the next few days in order to spend more time with you. I can’t just leave you home alone all day for the week, can I?” Aunt Julie asks rhetorically.

I am not really alone.  There is an entire team of SEALS camped out on her lawn. “Umm, well...” I say as I hesitate over whether or not I should let her know.

Aunt Julie shakes her head no thinking that I am going to ask her to let me stay home alone. “Nope, I feel guilty enough about having to go for a couple of hours tomorrow and leave you here, but I will do what I can to help you adapt and I promise to try and be too pushy either.”

“Umm, okay Aunt Julie, but you really don’t need to worry about leaving me here alone. I am sure that I will be safe here.” I say.

Aunt Julie laughs at me.  “Oh, Chloe! If even half of what you told me is true, I am not sure if it will be possible for the rest of this week to go off without something going wrong.  I mean, I think your luck...” She says by adding air quotes as she says ‘luck’. “...has rubbed off on me already.”

Now I am worried. “What?” I ask as I take a step back and look around for hidden enemies.

She smirks at my response. “I might have had someone try to mug me as I was leaving the mall tonight, but two military guys scared him off instead. So, I am not really sure, but it was a tiny adventure for me.”

“You did!?  Oh my god. I am so sorry, Aunt Julie. I didn’t mean for you be in danger too!”

{“Alpha One, did you know that, umm, Mrs. Stiles was almost mugged at the mall tonight?”}

{“Yes Whisper, I do and the would be mugger is being spoken to about the error of his ways even as we speak.”}

{“Oh, umm, so it was ‘just’ a mugger and not...umm, you know?”} I ask.

{“Yes, it was ‘just’ a mugger as you say it.”}  Captain Howards says with amusement in his voice.

{“Oh, okay. Umm, should I tell Mrs. Stiles or wait until tomorrow for you to tell her about the extra security?”}

{“Unless fit hits the shan tonight, how about you let me explain it to them in the AM?”}

{“Oh, okay. Sorry, umm, sir. I didn’t mean to cause you all so much trouble.  Is Delta Two okay?”}

I start to worry when he doesn’t reply right away.

{“Umm, sorry Whisper.”} Captain Howards says with a note of amusement in his voice. {“Yes, he is okay, but I am sure that he is not going to be happy with his remedial training exercises tomorrow.”}

Aunt Julie is shaking me trying to get my attention. “Chloe!  It’s okay. I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

{“Oops, sorry. Gotta go! Umm, Whisper, Over.”}

“Sorry Aunt Julie, I was just, umm, thinking.” I say.

“Well, you scared me there with that spaced out expression.  You looked like you were a million miles away. Anyway, I am going to go relax in the Jacuzzi for a bit.  Do you want to join me?” She asks with a grin that seems to hint at something.

No, not really.  There is no way that I want to be seen parading around in my underwear or even worse, nothing.  “Umm, I would, but I don’t have a suit.” I say instead.

Aunt Julie’s grin turns into a pleased smile for some reason.  “Well then young lady, you are just in luck then!” She says as the butterflies in my stomach start flapping like crazy. She reaches into the one bag that is left on the bed and pulls out a tiny, to me, dark green two piece bikini that looks suspiciously like it will fit me.

“Ta da! I found this Tahiti green two piece and I just had to get it for you.” Aunt Julie says as she wiggles its hanger back and forth triumphantly.  

Eggplant and now Tahiti green?  What is it with women and colors?  I would have just called it dark green and been done with it. Who comes up with these names?

I think that Aunt Julie sees the horror in my eyes as I frantically try to come up with another reason. “It’s 100% cotton too. I tried to find a one piece for you, but it’s not really the season for swimwear and this is all they had in a fabric that would work for you.” Aunt Julie says.

Dang it.  Aunt Julie is worse than my mom and I am trapped now.  “Umm, okay, thanks?” I say hesitantly as I gingerly accept the flimsy bits of fabric.

Aunt Julie’s eyes are sparkling with mischief as she smiles at me with victory. “Great! Now, go get changed while I hop into my suit. Then, I will come and fetch ya before we head down stairs, okay?”

“Umm, okay.” I say, feeling defeated and out maneuvered as I examine the suit with confusion as she leaves my room.

There are no bands or straps to be adjusted; Just strings that need to be tied. Now what do I do?
 

**

“Fuck me to tears!” Ken Fovel muttered under his breath as he rapidly walked away from the mall. He only had a ten spot to his name and that rich bitch looked like she would have been worth at least $100 bucks and probably more.  Bitches like her could be carrying as much as $500 in cash, plus the good platinum and sometimes,  the titanium cards.  His fence would give him $50 easy for one of those cards.

If only those two jarheads hadn’t interrupted him. He briefly considered pulling his piece on them to scare them away, but they didn’t look easily frightened and he didn’t want to take the chance that he would have to off them.  Getting nicked for robbery was nothing compared to murder.

“Hey buddy, ya got a light?” He heard a man ask from his right.

As he turned to tell the asshole to fuck off, he sensed a presence behind him, but before he could even react; the lights went out.

He came too when he felt himself being lowered onto the ground.  His head hurt like a son of a bitch. He felt right away that his hands and feet were bound.  That really scared the crap out of him.  Whoever clocked him, they knew what they were doing. He heard the sound of surf nearby and smelled the fresh salt water in the air, but he kept his eyes closed and pretended to still be unconscious. Not that keeping his eyes closed really mattered right now. He felt a blindfold wrapped over his eyes.

“What do you think we should do with him now?”

“I dunno.  His ID checked out, he’s just a petty crook with no convictions, but he probably saw us so we should weigh him down and just dump his body in the ocean.”

“Well, he did graduate from high school and he had a 3.4 GPA, so he’s not a complete waste...”

“Hmmm, I dunno. I still think it would be easier if we just dumped him.  Much cleaner that way.”

“Shhh, he’s coming around...”

Ken groaned a little to help sell his waking up a little better. “Whoa, where am I? What happened?”

“Crap, he’s awake.”

“Who are you? What do you want? I have a ten! You can have it! I didn’t see nuthing! Honest!”

“We know that. Now shut up while we figure out what to do with your body.”

“Well, we could just let him go...”

Ken felt the cold barrel of a gun touch the back of his head and he felt a little bit of pee leak out before he regained control of himself. “Please! Dear god! I didn’t see anything and I won’t tell!”

“I dunno...”

“Well, remember how many hours it took you to clean your weapon the last time you used that monster suppressor?”

“Hmm, yeah, that did suck and that asshole took three shots, but I guess I didn’t really need to blow his knees out first.”

“Nope, but your weapon was still a mess to clean and I had to listen to you complain about it for days afterwards.”

“You might be right, but this punk did have a weapon on him. He might do something stupid later, then how would I feel knowing that I could have stopped him now?”

“True...”

“I never used it!  Honest!  I’ve never shot anyone and I promise that if you let me go, I will throw the damn thing away!”

One of the men chuckled.  “Don’t worry punk.  I already did that for you and I probably saved your life.  That thing was trash and it might have even blown up in your hand if you had tried to fire it.”

“I swear! I’ll turn myself in or something!  Just let me live!”

“Hmmm, what do you think, Coop?”

“Okay punk. Here’s the deal.  There is a military recruitment center five miles down the road from here.  Show up there first thing in the morning, pass the tests and maybe I will forget about you.”

“Oh my god!  I’ll do it! I promise!  Thank you! Oh my god!”

“Don’t forget. We know who you are and we will find you.”

“Oh fuck! Oh my god! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“We are leaving now, but don’t try to slip your bonds or take off the blindfold until you can’t hear our car. I’ll be watching you with some high powers and if start trying to escape before I can’t see you, we will turn around and finish the job.  Understand?”

Ken felt a little more pee run down his leg, but he didn’t care. He had a chance and fuck if he was going to mess this up.  He had messed up a lot of things in his short life, but this was one thing that he wouldn’t fuck up.  “Yes!  Oh my god! Thank you!” He yelled with relief as he heard the sound of a v8 engine rumble to life and accelerate rapidly away, spraying some gravel and sand on him in the process, but he didn’t care. He was still alive and damned if he was going to fuck up a second chance.  He waited a full five minutes before he started to even try removing the blindfold, followed by the duct tape that held his feet and wrists together. It took about 15 minutes to get the sticky duct tape off; he was wrapped up pretty good, but he got it done. He found his wallet, still with the ten inside of it, lying on the ground next to him.  Amazed that they didn’t take his wallet, he pocketed it and quickly began walking in the indicated direction.
 

**

MCO Special Agent Lainer set his fourth cup of coffee down before he yawned and tiredly rubbed his eyes in frustration.  It was 2 AM and his team of four agents had just wasted the last three hours watching and rewatching every single individual camera feed to no avail.  The damn mutie wasn’t in any of them and he was so sure that she was.

Why else would the FBI have taken the tapes in the first place?

“Fuck!  The damn bitch has got to be in here! Why can’t we spot her?  She couldn’t have dodged every fucking camera.” Agent Lainer said.

“Sorry boss, but she’s just not here. Maybe we missed a tape?” Agent Harris asked.

Agent Lainer sighed and leaned back in his chair. “No, we didn’t miss a tape. The mall’s security chief assured me that we have everything the feds have and with as much footage as we do have, I am inclined to believe him.”

“What now then?”  Agent Harris said with a yawn.

“Let’s pack it up and get some sleep. Maybe something will jump out at us tomorrow morning.”  Agent Lainer said as he held back a yawn of his own.  He watched, lost in thought as his team shut down their workstations and left the MCO Field Office.

After fifteen minutes of struggling to keep his eyes open, Special Agent Lainer slammed his fist down on his desk with frustration and stood up to leave.  “Fuck, oh well. Maybe tomorrow...” He said.

For some reason, “...she’s just not here...” kept running through his sleep deprived mind during his 15 minute commute to his apartment.  He didn’t think much of it as he stumbled into his room and fell asleep on the top of his bed still in his clothes.
 

**

Woo Hoo! I manage to sleep for a massive two hours tonight!  It is only 0130 hours and I am going to guess that I have at least four hours before anyone else is up.  Aunt Julie said that Uncle Jim normally leaves the house at 7 AM, but since she didn’t need to go into work this morning; she was looking forward to sleeping in until at least 8 AM.  

The bed is awesome, my new cotton flannel PJ’s are cozy and I can only dream of being able to sleep in until 8 AM now.  8AM used to be early for me when it wasn’t a school night.  I want to sleep some more, but I can’t. I am wide awake. So, I give up after tossing and turning for five minutes, sit up and push together the pillows to lean against while I do what I always do now.

I enter my VR living room and after a moment of thought, I decide that I need more rooms in my VR house. In addition to the shooting range, I also need a Jacuzzi and pool room.  Once I got over the fear of being seen in a tiny bikini, the Jacuzzi with Aunt Julie was actually very relaxing and even fun.  

I did learn one thing that gives me some hope for my shattered male mojo. For being old, Aunt Julie is still pretty hot. I am pretty sure that if John and I had seen her in at the pool, we would have been totally checking her out. I think that was part of my initial reluctance to join her in the Jacuzzi.  

Uncle Jim joined us after 15 minutes and I felt so relaxed and safe that I never even considered jumping out.  Heck, I even allowed myself to be seen out of the water as I sat on the edge to cool off.

With Uncle Jim there, Aunt Julie informed us that she had called her sister, Karen, and got her on board with my Chloe identity. Uncle Jim was surprised that she would feel the need to take that step, but after Aunt Julie chided him on his lack of witness protection skills, he grudgingly admitted that he should have thought of that too. Especially, after I told him about the MCO dudes and how I was also pretending to be his niece with both the MCO and his police buddies.

He was a little worried about the fact that my identity could be blown out of the water if anyone actually performed even a simple records search on his ‘niece’, but he didn’t think that the risk of that was very large. I was only going to be with them for a day or two and that probably wasn’t long enough for anyone to even suspect that I wasn’t who I claimed to be.

For my Jacuzzi room, I decide to make it an outdoor Jacuzzi that is attached to a massive swimming pool that has a water slide.  Also, since I don’t need to worry about chlorine or even salt water, I add a coral reef with some clown fish just to keep it entertaining.

As I switch my clothes over to my new bikini, I decide that it will be nighttime, a full moon and a pleasant 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Shivering slightly from the cool night air, I slip into my new Jacuzzi, activate the jets, close my eyes and relax. The warm water and powerful gets against my back and legs feels so heavenly.  It almost feels like someone is giving me a massage.

“Ahhh, that feels so so good.” I say with a contented sigh.

“Oh good. Do I get a turn now?” A sexy female voice breathes into my ear.

“Ahhh!” I jump at least 10 feet straight up before I land with a splash back in the Jacuzzi.  As I surface and hastily try to clear the water from my face, I hear an evil giggle that can only be one person.  “Sara!  That wasn’t funny!” I yell as I turn to face the sound of her evil giggles.

“Oh, yeah it was and I really must say, that suit looks hot on you!  Ta-zow!” Sara says, not sounding a bit sorry for scaring the crap out of me. She is trying to look all sweet and innocent, but failing miserably with the cute little devil horns and string bikini that isn’t hiding a thing on her body.

“What!?  You scare the crap out of me and that’s what you have to tell me?” I ask feeling a little upset with her still, but she does look pretty hot. Wait a minute!  She is not going to distract me so easily!  I cross my arms over my chest and give her my best, “I’m mad at you expression.”

“What?  I thought you knew I was here when I was giving you a massage and I must say cousin, you have really nice legs!” Sara says not at all sounding sorry.

Wait, what did she just call me?  “Umm, what?”

“I said, you. have. really. nice. legs.” Sara says with a smirk.

Now, I know for sure that she is messing with me. “No, not that. Cousin?” I ask as her statement causes me to self-consciously check my own legs out.  Hmm, they are kind of nice.

“Well, of course!  Nikki is my sister and since her Queen-ness adopted you and Nikki made you her cousin, that makes you my cousin too.” Sara says, then she giggles and bounces up and down like an excited little school girl.

Umm, that distracts me, a little.

“I can’t wait until your new Unkie Gothmog hears about this.  He is going to be so excited to meet you!” Sara gushes.  

“My what?” I ask. She is really confusing me now. Does she have ADHD or something?

“Your Unkie, Gothmog, my dad. Hello, is my suit distracting you that much?” Sara asks as she puts her hands on her hips in mock indignation which forces her breasts to strain against the flimsy fabric of her non-bikini.

I can’t help it. I start laughing. “Sara!  You’re impossible!” I say as I pull her toward me and give her a hug while steadfastly ignoring the feeling of her lithe body against mine.  I mean, she is my cousin now and that would just be weird, right?

Sara returns my hug and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before she steps back and sinks under the bubbling water.  “So, I understand that you’ve been a busy little beaver with the H1 and now the MCO?” She says, a little uncertain about the MCO.

“Well, yeah, there was the H1, but it wasn’t the MCO, well, not at first. It was the CIA.  Someone sent a team to kidnap me and maybe have me checked out by some mad scientist or something.” I say as Sara’s eyes widen with shock before they settle down into something that kind of scares me.

“Can you give me a description of these CIA agents?” Sara asks with all traces of ADHD gone.

“Well, yes, and I have their CAC ID card info too, why?” I ask, suddenly feeling a little nervous to be standing so close to Sara.  

Little black shadowy tentacles are starting to swirl around her body.  “Give me their info, please.”

I tell her the names of all four of the agents.  “Oh yeah, and Captain Howards let it slip that the CIA dude that started all this was being ‘taken care of’, but they are still looking for the agents.  That is why I am hiding out at Uncle Jim and Aunt Julie’s house right now.”

“Uncle Jim?” Sara asks as the shadowy things start to recede.

“Oh yeah, he’s Lord Vincint. I watched him play for a little bit tonight. Are you Marala?” I ask. Now I feel like I have ADHD.  I kinda miss the fun, sexy and mess-with-me Sara.

“Lord Vincint, huh?  Yes, I play Marala.” Sara smiles apologetically at me. “Sorry, I’ll be right back. I need to talk to a, umm, friend.” Sara says just before she fades out, leaving me feeling cold in spite of the fact that I am standing hip deep in a bubbling hot Jacuzzi.

Sara’s abrupt departure leaves me with mixed feelings.  In the span of two minutes, she has made me almost poop my pants, umm, bikini, laugh, love her and finally fear her.  Why did she want to know their info? I know that Sara is a demon or something, but what can she find out about them that Mr. Reilly can’t?