The Princess Files
by Bobbie Cabot
(based on a story idea by Erin Halfelven)

Agent Dan Shelton didn’t think the girl with her wiggly fingers could do him any serious harm after he was rude to her on the subway. As an operative of the Department of Special Investigations, he didn’t believe in magic. At least, not professionally.
But something is happening to him…. And his partner, Wolf Belker, is no help at all. Especially after the powers above hand down their new assignment. Tracking down a series of missing princesses. One of whom Dan is starting to resemble….
“Don’t Say Impossible,” says Wolf, reminding them both of the agency’s motto.

 
Author's note: The use of the twelve existing monarchies of Europe in this story was for the purpose of verisimilitude. Furthermore, any additions/changes to facts connected to them were for the purposes of storytelling: no insult or disrespect is intended. Also, the Department of Special Investigations is a fictitious department of the FBI, and the Sovereign State of Caledonia is a fictitious country, and facts or details relating to them are pure fiction. Similarly, the changes in the details of Prince Philip III's and Mr. Thomas Fisher's histories were for the purposes of the story - no insult or disrespect is intended. In addition, the splash graphics used are collages made with publicly-accessible pictures of Lily James, Rachael Taylor and Lance Gross: No copyright infringement is intended.

 
 
Prologue: Dan and the DSX

Special Agent Dan Shelton, one of the newest agents of the Department of Special Investigations, was running late. It was just a few days since he returned from an extended vacation, and he was still getting used to normal office hours again. Since it was a Saturday, he planned to sleep in, but the Admiral asked everyone to report. On top of this, he found his car with a flat. So he had not choice but to take the train.

So he sprinted for the nearby Foggy Bottom Metro Station, taking the next Orange Line that stopped at Federal Triangle. From there, he would jog the two or so blocks to the FBI Building.

He was a farily tall man, about six-two, and though he was also fairly young at twenty-four, his dark hair was already starting to thin. So he kept it trimmed in a crewcut, which actually went well with his square-jawed good looks. He was also into physical fitness, and this showed in his buff physique.

His vacation was a mandated vacation, actually: not even two months on the job and on his first case, he was shot point blank, center mass, and if not for his vest, he would have died. As it was, he broke his sternum and several ribs, and had to be air-evacced because of a punctured lung courtesy of a broken rib, and a possible damaged heart (thankfully, it wasn't). In any case, he was ordered to take a couple of month's leave to recover.

Because of this, his partner and supervisor, Senior Agent In-Charge Wolf Belker, had to borrow an agent to help him work their case, and Agent Rachel Tailor, also a new agent to the department (though not as new as Dan) was reassigned and acted as Dan's temporary substitute.

The pair was eventually able to close what should have been Dan's first case, which shaped up to be one of the toughest cases the department had ever taken - a case which their non-DSX FBI associates had actually given up on.

But, as Wolf and the other senior DSX agents often say, "don't say impossible." After all, the agency's motto, a quote from Henry Ford, was "thinking always ahead, thinking always of trying to do more, brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible."

Needless to say, Wolf and Rachel cracked the case. Much to Dan's chagrin.

- - - - -

The Department of Special Investigations, or "DSX," was a special department of the FBI, specifically created to handle cases that civilians might have called "X-Files" (the reference to the TV show being more than obvious) - marginalized, unsolved cases which involved supposedly paranormal or supernatural phenomena. The FBI had no choice since its portfolio of unsolved cases was growing, and these "X-Files" were a big chunk of this portfolio, and the Bureau was starting to get a reputation within the intelligence and enforcement communities. If the FBI didn't do something right away, its reputation would be permanently damaged, and it might result in budget cuts and a reduction in manpower.

The DSX was actually just the Director's way of putting aside these weird cases without being accused of not working them. Originally, the plan was to let these cases gestate in the DSX, and they would eventually be classified as unsolved cold cases. After giving the DSX a "reasonable" amount of time to work these cases, of course.

But the new department's head, retired Admiral James Greer, refused to make the DSX just a token FBI unit that was meant to be a dumping ground for unwanted cases, and a way for the Director to put him out to pasture.

So, first off, because he wasn't allowed to staff his new department with any experienced agents, the Admiral instead "borrowed" some select senior agents to act as leads, and tapped them for three months at a time before "returning" them. He also got the best of the new recruits. And in as short as two years, the DSX developed the best agents in the whole Bureau, with some senior agents asking to be permanently assigned to the new department.

Secondly, the Admiral (as DSX's big boss was now fondly called by his people) insisted, in fact required, that all their cases be treated as serious cases - and woe to the agents who made fun of DSX cases. Also, the Admiral didn't believe in the paranormal, so he insisted that they work their cases with the point of view that that there was always some rational or logical way to explain the... "unusual" cases that they were assigned. Plus, he required everyone to refrain from making references to, or having anything on their desks that referenced, the old nineties TV show, The X-Files - everyone else in the Bureau were already referring to his agents as either Scully or Mulder, and his contemporaries were already calling him "the cigarette smoking man" despite the fact that he only occasionally smoked a pipe, so he didn't need his own people to add to this.

Finally, he fostered and encouraged innovation and out-of-the-box thinking, which was what made DSX as successful as it was in its short five years of existence - in fact it was this essential quality of its agents that gave DSX a 100% batting average since its inception, and its reputation grew, and it became an important and respected unit of the Bureau instead of an object of ridicule and mockery. The X-Files jokes slowly faded into occasional and humorous jibes instead of constant mockery. And, instead of the Admiral being the sacrificial lamb that he was meant to be, and put out to pasture after five years or so, he was now being thought of as the Bureau's next director.

Almost all of DSX's cases have turned out to be non-paranormal and non-supernatural - supposedly alien abduction cases turned out to be cases of regular, run-of-the-mill abductions, or just cases involving deluded victims; cases of supernatural possession were usually just unbalanced people; unexplained arson cases turned out to be totally explainable; and so on, and so on. And the still-remaining unexplained 3% were still kept open, and were still being worked on until the clock runs out (though there was no real timetable, DSX imposed on itself a five-year limit on their non-moving cases before they'd be officially declared unsolved or classified it as a "cold case"). Because of this, so far, DSX didn't have any "unsolved" cases or cold cases, even though everyone knew that this was just a matter of time.

Because of the department's excellent work, its image had changed for the better, and was now continuously being tapped by the rest of the agency, as well as other intelligence and enforcement agencies. Even foreign governments and agencies occasionally tapped them. So now, though the bulk of DSX's cases were still "X-Files" type of cases, it was accumulating more and more important high-profile cases.

Also, the policies and methodologies pioneered by DSX were slowly being adopted by the rest of the Bureau, and the Admiral now has carte blanche to pick his agents from anywhere. Because of this, many FBI agents were even asking to be transferred to DSX.

All this made Dan an ideal recruit for the DSX - he didn't believe in UFOs, extraterrestrials, cryptids, magic, the supernatural, the paranormal and similar things, yet his imagination, analytical skills and ability to think out of the box was undisputed. This led the Academy training supervisor to forward his academy personnel file to the DSX.

And in his first week as a new recruit at the DSX, he made such a good impression that he was immediately assigned to a case, and was put to work under the DSX's best operative - Senior Agent In-Charge Wolf Belker. But then, there was that disastrous day when he was shot and taken out. And with Rachel stealing his thunder, he now felt that he had his work cut out for him to re-acquire his reputation: to say that he had to prove himself all over again was an understatement, at least in his mind.

He prayed that this new whatever-it-was would be his way back in.

 
Chapter 1: The Little Girl

It was a Saturday so the train wasn't as crowded as normal, even considering post-COVID social distancing rules: there were less than twenty people in the car that he boarded. He didn't even have to hunt for a seat. Despite this, there was still a COVID Officer keeping people in-line and maintaining social distancing (the officer wore a red cap, differentiating him from other Transit Authority security people).

As Dan got comfortable, a little girl skipped into the train. She was very precocious, and started accosting the passengers in a friendly way, but the COVID officer gestured at her. The girl stuck her tongue out at the officer, but she complied.

The doors closed and the train started to move. Dan felt relieved, and prayed he wouldn't be late.

He took out his smartphone and surfed through his messages and emails. He checked out the one he got early this morning again. It was just one line, and it said "to all DSX agents: emergency meeting this morning at nine." That itself was ominous already, but the fact that it came from the Admiral himself made it unprecedented.

He felt someone tugging on his pants leg, and he looked up from his phone.

"Hello, mister," the girl who had just got in said. She wasn't accompanied by anyone, so that was worrisome.

"Go away, little girl," he said. "Where are your parents?"

The girl frowned. "Just for that, I'm definitely picking you." She crossed her arms and turned away. "Meanie."

He instantly felt regret at his rudeness. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Are you alone?"

"I'm okay," she said. She opened her hand revealing little confections wrapped in gold paper. "Candy?" she offered.

Dan shook his head. "Thank you, sweetie, but it's too early for me."

"Well, it's your loss. More for me." She grinned, unwrapped one of them and popped the candy in her mouth.

She wasn't wearing a mask but he was, so he didn't feel too worried. It would have been okay if the girl was vaccinated but she wasn't wearing a red Vaccinated ID. But a lot of kids forget to wear them. Still, if she wasn't vaccinated, it could be problematic. In the States, it wasn't okay to point out if someone wasn't wearing a mask - such things usually devolved into arguments and, in the worst cases, it turned into punching or shooting matches - which was a little stupid, but that's how Americans were. But he was wearing his mask, so he thought he was safe. Everyone else on the train was wearing masks, too, so he left it to the COVID officer to take care of the girl.

The girl was actually pretty cute, and the powder-blue princess dress she was wearing went well with her bright-blond curls, patent leather shoes and hair ribbons. It was a little over-the-top, though, like she was dressed for some kind of fancy costume party. Dan worried that some weirdo might kidnap the girl or something. This was DC, after all. But he caught the eye of the COVID officer and pointed at the girl. The officer nodded and got on his walkie-talkie, almost undoubtedly alerting someone to the situation with the girl, and someone will undoubtedly be at the next train stop to take charge of the unaccompanied child, and to take everyone's contact details and conduct a spray-down.

"All right," he said politely to the girl, "but remember social distancing, honey - six feet, right?"

"Okay," she pouted, and stepped back, popping another piece of candy in her mouth. She looked him up and down, studying him. "You look a little sad," she said. "Are you sad?"

He smiled at the question. She couldn't see his smile, of course, but he couldn't help it. "No, I'm not sad," he said in a friendly way. "I'm just... pre-occupied, I guess."

"Preeky-pied?" she giggled.

Dan laughed. "Pre-occupied," he corrected. "That means I'm thinking of something else. It's about work."

"You shouldn't be preeky-pied. It's not good for you. It takes away the magic."

"Thank you sweetie. Magic?"

"Magic! There's magic everywhere! You just have to open up to it!"

Dan had to smile some more.

"You have a pretty smile," the girl said. "You should do it more. Makes you pretty."

Dan laughed again. How could she even see him smiling behind his mask? "I'm hardly pretty," he said

"You are! You are! But..." She looked him up and down. "I see what you mean. You need a makeover, and I have just the thing." she started waving wiggling fingers at him and gesturing like Scarlett Witch from the movies.

"What are you doing?" he said. "Are you a magician or some kind of witch?"

"No! I'm fae." She continued making her magical gestures.

"Fae?"

"You don't know what fae are?" After she finished, she ate another piece of candy.

Dan shrugged. "Sorry." He knew a bit about it since he was a fan of The Lord of the Rings, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

"Well, google it when you can," she said. After a few more gestures, she nodded to herself with satisfaction. "There! By this time tomorrow, you'll be as pretty as a princess, and you can smile all you like!"

Dan laughed in delight at the littler girl's imagination, and the little girl laughed with him.

They chatted a bit more until his stop was called. Dan was fairly impressed by the little girl, because she seemed to have an adult kind of sensibility about her, but with a little girl's flighty demeanor. She was bright, for sure, and seemed to be very aware of the events of the day, but couched it in a child's point of view.

"This is my stop," he said, and started to stand up. "I guess it's goodbye, for now. But I'm glad to have met you. My name's Daniel. What's yours?"

"I am called Titania," she said. "Thank you for chatting with me, and I'm sorry for picking you. But it's your fault for being a meanie. Still - I'm very pleased to meet you, your highness."

This was usually the awkward part of the conversation when one would usually reach out to shake someone's hand or something, but present-day practices precluded it, especially after the COVID pandemic of a few years ago. But he was saved that because the little girl curtseyed instead. He smiled again and gave her a little bow in return.

Per the new normal, he fell in line to leave the train with several feet separating him from the others. He turned back to the girl to see if she was all right, or if she was getting off in Federal Triangle as well, but the girl had vanished. As the line moved forward, he looked around but he couldn't find her. He eventually gave up when he stepped out of the train's doors.

He was right - the COVID officer reported the girl. So he submitted to a spray-down with disinfectant, handed the officer conducting the spray-down his FBI business card for contact tracing purposes if needed, and rushed down and out of the station, with his feelings substantially lightened by his encounter with the quirky little girl. He was a little befuddled by her calling him "your highness," but he was sure she was just playing around.

Almost running all the way, he got to the J. Edgar Hoover Building with fifteen minutes to spare, and went through the Pennsylvania Avenue main entrance.

As he went through the security turnstile, and was lightly misted by the disinfectant sprayer, he was waved to the security desk.

"Hey, Dan," the security officer behind the desk, said.

He walked up to the desk. "Hey, Laurie. What's up?"

"They just sent down your Vaccination ID," she said, and handed over the red Vaccination Certification ID, with his picture, name and date of vaccination. Before six months from that date, he'd need to get re-evaluated and possibly be vaccinated again, and be issued a replacement ID. But for now, he was safe to be around for at least six months.

"Thanks, Laurie." He pinned the ID on his front left jacket pocket, put the lanyard with his FBI ID around his neck, and took off his mask.

He gave Laurie a smile and continued on to the fifth floor offices of the DSX.

 
Chapter 2: Missing Princesses

When he got to his cubicle after washing his hands, most everyone had already gone to the meeting. The cubicle beside him was also empty. It was currently assigned to Rachel Tailor, his erstwhile replacement. No doubt she was already at the meeting, as was his boss, Senior Agent Wolf Belker.

Logically, it would be conducted in the main lobby of the department, which would allow for the maximum number of people to attend, even with social distancing. Three other conference rooms with videoconferencing had also been commandeered to manage any spillover.

He was worried that there wouldn't be any more room in the lobby, but he decided to check it out nevertheless.

He found Rachel and Agent Belker near the front where the podium was set up. Not too many people were there in front, though, as most preferred to stay back. Dan was relieved because that meant he could join his boss.

He hurried over and stood approximately six feet to the right of Agent Belker, and Belker acknowledged him with a small nod.

"Glad you could make it, Danny," he said with a little bit of friendly sarcasm.

"Sorry, Boss," Dan said. "My car had a flat tire. Had to take the train."

"Not a problem," Belker said.

Aside from being the department's most senior and experienced agent, Wolf Belker also bore a strong resemblance to the actor Idris Elba, and was quite popular among the female agents. He wasn't averse to capitalizing on this resemblance in his personal relationships, but while on the job, he was extremely professional - something his peers and his superiors appreciated.

After a minute or so, Admiral James Greer stepped up to the podium.

"I'm sorry to ask you all to come in on a Saturday, everyone, but we have a situation," he said without preamble.

"At this point in time, the twelve remaining monarchies in Europe, not counting the Vatican, of course, have females as the heirs apparent to their thrones. That is not too important a distinction in today's society, of course, except for the fact that this is the first time in history that all of the monarchs in Europe will eventually be queens and princesses instead of kings and princes.

"However, in the past two months, six of these twelve monarchies lost their royal families' heirs apparent, and the remaining six have expressed worries that their princesses will be next.

"Reports say that the abduction of the six princesses were done by what looked like elves..."

Amused murmuring greeted this unprecedented statement. Yet another "X-File."

"Settle down," the Admiral said, and, as soon as it got quiet again, he continued.

"The abductors seemed to be groups of people that were, ummm, dressed and made up to look like refugees from a production of The Lord of the Rings. Using... 'unconventional' techniques - two security teams were taken out with bows and arrows; another two were taken out at sword and knife point; and the latest two were taken out in firefights with crossbows - basically advanced weapons and hand-to-hand combat techniques versus medieval-type weaponry and ninja-style techniques.

"Of course, there's no proof that the abductors were, ummm, 'elves,' except for sketchy descriptions of eyewitnesses who didn't really get a good look, but the way they took out the security teams gives credence to the eyewitness descriptions."

At that point, copies of the case file was handed out to everyone, which included sketches based on descriptions of the eyewitnesses, and indistinct CCTV footage. And, as best as Dan could see from the pictures, these were indeed people dressed as "elves" - the kind from the movies - and there were a couple of pictures that showed the abductors had pointed elf ears.

Dan whistled quietly. The abductors did, indeed, look as the Admiral described. "Yep," he agreed, "the Lord of the Rings."

"Nevertheless," the Admiral continued, "because of this, the families, through Interpol, have requested us to assist in recovering their princesses, and those families that haven't yet been attacked have likewise requested protection of their princesses. The President and the Bureau's Director have agreed to put us on it. So this is our case now."

The Admiral took a piece of paper from his pocket and read from it.

"Agent Trevalyan," he called, and one of the senior agents from the back moved forward.

"Yes, Admiral?" Senior Agent Alec Trevalyan was one of the department's best people, at the same level as Belker.

"Alec," the Admiral said, "you will be in charge of investigating and following up on the missing princesses, with the goal of rescuing or recovering them. Get a team together, and report to me later this afternoon with a preliminary plan."

The Admiral again referred to his little list.

"Agent Belker," he said.

"Admiral," Belker replied.

"Wolf, you will be in charge of putting together six security teams and a plan to protect the six remaining princesses. You and Alec both report to me, along with your teams this afternoon. As for everyone else, be aware that agents Trevalyan and Belker will be given whatever manpower and resources that they will need, and everyone is ordered to cooperate."

He looked at his piece of paper again.

"Here at HQ, Senior Agent McCoy will be in charge of the case, to coordinate research and resource allocation. Until further notice, everyone will be reporting to Josie. Any cases you are handling will be secondary to any assignments Agent McCoy will be assigning you. Any resources offered or inquiries relating to the case coming from the Bureau or from other security agencies will also be coursed through her without exception.

"Remember, people, this particular case is the highest priority for the DSX and the Bureau. All right, then. Dismissed."

Dan looked at his supervisor, Agent Belker. "So. What do we do, Boss?"

Belker gestured to Rachel. "Agent Tailor," he said, "gather all materials from our current case, make a summary report, submit it to the supervising agent and have it reassigned." He turned to Dan. "Agent Shelton, you and I will study this," he waved the thick folder they received, "and talk it over. Once Rachel is done with her chore, she'll join us and the tree of us will come up with a plan of attack. We need to do it quickly because we'll need to report to the Admiral before the end of the day."

Dan nodded, and the three of them walked back to their cubicles.

As they were walking back, several agents came up to them volunteering their help. Belker nodded and thanked them.

As they got back to their cubicles, Belker waved and and addressed the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I can ask for your attention: Rachel, Dan and I will be studying the case that was handed us. However, I ask that you study it as well. Around noon, we're going to convene in Conference Room One to discuss it. Feel free to join us - let's try to maximize the room, but we'll also be using teleconferencing to allow anyone who wants to join the meeting can do so electronically.

"Alec and Josie will be joining us, as well, so that they can discuss their plans and requirements, too. We are all counting on your help. Again, thanks."

And everyone hunkered down to work.

- - - - -

Agent Belker's team was a little unusual in that there were three in their group, whereas, with the others, they were usually in pairs. But Belker thought that should actually be to their advantage. In fact, if he was thinking of getting other teams of three for all the protection details he'll be deploying.

As they worked, Belker was very impressed with Dan, as usual - he showed a talent for absorbing facts and data, and was able to concatenate much of the information they were given into their compact, cohesive essentials, giving Belker a clear picture of the situation.

Furthermore, Dan was able to connect what was possible with what was needed. Belker found Dan's work more than adequate - in fact, Dan did most of the work, allowing Belker and Rachel to do all the other administrative things that needed to be done.

For one, they needed to establish what kind of people they had on tap, so Belker was looking at personnel profiles, and what kinds of cases they were working on - though he knew they could get any resource they needed, Belker had to weigh that against any current cases people were working on, limiting the agents he could requisition to those who weren't working cases at the moment, or those that could transfer their cases to others.

So he left Rachel and Dan to work on the plan while he had a discussion with the supervising agent. He also had a meeting with Agent Trevalyan and Agent Josie McCoy, and they agreed that Belker had the priority in selecting people.

Belker returned to his team with a list of all the DSX agents that they could get at the moment, but Josie McCoy said that more people can be assigned later. Rachel and Dan got into a heavy discussion as to what kind of deployment they would be doing: Rachel was all for a standard kind of deployment for a protection detail while Dan was recommending a blended kind of deployment, using the royal families' existing security staff. Rachel said that they didn't know what kind of people the families had, or if they can be trusted - after all, what if the previous abductions were inside jobs?

Belker agreed with that, so Dan paused.

"I guess we need to have information on what security personnel and resources they have." Dan said. "I was going to find out about that anyway, so I might as well go and check on that now."

Belker nodded. "Go for it." He noted Danny's slightly gaunt look. "Are you feeling all right, Dan?"

Dan looked back at him a little quizzically. "I feel fine, Boss. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Belker replied. "Probably my imagination," he thought.

After Dan left to talk to someone about the royal families, Belker turned to Rachel.

"What else do we have pending?" he asked.

"Ben, Agent Travanyan's partner, passed by and gave me a list of Alec's manpower requirements. Ben said Alec needs six senior agents and twelve regular ones. Ben said Agent Travanyan's giving us dibs, but he and Alec should be part of the complement that we'll be fielding."

Belker nodded. "Yes, Alec told me the same thing." He handed her the list of people he got, plus their profiles. "Josie said these are all the people that can be spared at the moment. Pick out the people he can have, but reserve us the best from that list."

And Rachel got busy.

 
Chapter 3: The Elbereth Family

"Hello, everyone," Wolf Belker said, beginning the meeting. "I'm going to give the floor to Dan to give everyone an overview of the situation, and our conclusions. Feel free to contribute your own ideas and conclusions. Dan?"

Dan nodded and stepped up.

"At this point in time," Dan began, "there are thirteen monarchies in Europe, these being: the Principality of Andorra, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Sovereign State of Caledonia, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Principality of Monaco, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Vatican. But let's not count the Vatican for obvious reasons - though technically a 'monarchy,' the Vatican doesn't exactly fit the profile.

"So, these twelve remaining monarchies in Europe have, as their heirs apparent to their thrones, females. As the Admiral said, this is the first time in history for that to happen.

The principalities of Andorra and Liechtenstein used to be the exceptions here, since Liechtenstein's rule of succession specified a patrilineal primogeniture, meaning only male heirs could ascend the throne, while Andorra was dually ruled by the president of France and the Bishop of Urgell, (Urgell being a a Roman Catholic diocese of the Vatican).

"But thirty years ago, with the birth of Princess Vivienne, Liechtenstein changed its rules of succession via royal decree and an act of parliament, changing it to an absolute primogeniture. This meant that males or females could now ascend the throne, making Princess Vivienne the current heir apparent to the royal throne of Liechtenstein.

"And, in the following year, France and the Vatican, because of a petition from the powerful Elbereth family of Catalonia, severed their monarchic ties in Andorra, devolving their monarchic powers to the Andorran government. There were rumors that this involved many large clandestine... 'donations' to the Vatican and the French government, plus the fact that Andorra was in grave financial difficulty at the time. In any case, after they did, a few years later, through a series of parliamentary acts, the Andorran government, through a referendum, adapted a new constitution patterned after Liechtenstein's, established a new royal family, declaring the titular head of the Elbereth family as crown princess. Normally, such a seismic change in a country's government would be big news, but since the citizens weren't really complaining, it just passed under the radar.

"The Elbereth clan was actually the savior for the country, as they rescued Andorra from financial ruin, plus the new ruling family never emptied the government's coffers, and actually infused them with new capital. Furthermore, the Elbereth family relocated its lucrative electronics and arms manufacturing centers to Andorra, upping the country's GDP enormously. This made the people very grateful to their new queen and royal family.

"Normally, this would be a good thing, and it was. However, several years ago, through another referendum sponsored by their new queen, the ability of the people to end the reign of the current monarch was removed, essentially making their constitutional monarchy into an absolute monarchy.

"A few years later, Liechtenstein and five other monarchies enacted similar amendments, in effect transforming their monarchies to something analogous to absolute monarchies as well, just like Andorra. The other countries, however, remained constitutional monarchies, with the exception of Caldonia, of course. Still, there are similar proposals being considered in those countries.

"It must be noted that it was Liechtenstein and these five countries who've had their royal heirs abducted. As for the remaining ones that still have constitutional monarchies, their royal heirs haven't been abducted. Yet. The exception is Caledonia, of course, which has always been under the absolute rule of the Wallace royal clan, and Andorra, of course.

"It is therefore our assumption that Princess Lily from the Sovereign State of Caledonia is the next one to be targeted, and we will be deploying a protection detail for the princess. However, we cannot discount the possibility that the other heirs apparent will be targeted as well. We therefore intend to deploy similar protection details there, too."

Dan nodded to Wolf, and Wolf gestured to Senior Agent Alec Travanyan to continue. Alec stepped up to the podium.

"As to the motivation for these abductions," Alec continued, "the most obvious theory is that the princesses were abducted for the purpose of ransoming them. However, the selection of these six particular royals and not the others, plus the... unusual abductors and the manner of their abductions imply another reason. Not to mention that the families have not been contacted. Nevertheless we are going to work with the royal families if this turns out to be the case."

He indicated the table in front of him, which was covered with several pieces recognizable as swords, knives and bows and arrows, but there were other small items that weren't recognizable.

"These items were recovered from the abduction scenes," Alec said. He gestured at smaller items on the table. "These," Alec said, " are also weapons patterned after medieval-era weapons, but let me concentrate on the more recognizable ones."

He held up a long sword and a shorter sword-like knife.

"Our technicians say that these are modern versions of a medieval longsword and a medieval quillon dagger. They are designed to be like genuine longswords and quillons in both function and appearance but using modern high-tech materials such as high-quality carbon-boron steel laminated with layers of molybdenum and nickel alloys, with grips and hilts using non-slip materials. With enough force, they can cut through light steel, much less bulletproof vests: with these advanced materials, they can cut most anything."

He then picked up a large bow and a couple of arrows.

"This is a high-tech version of a longbow, using technology from compound bows and competition bows. Note the cams at the ends of the bow, and the twice-looped cables in place of a bow string. Note also the unusual arrows, which have pliable laminated shafts, aerodynamic polymer fletching and ultra-sharp weighted arrowheads. Interpol says, by using the high-tech bow, these arrows can be launched at speeds approaching seven hundred miles per hour instead of the two hundred that compound bows are able to.

"Furthermore, note this small detachable ring near the fletching. Interpol says an archer would use these rings to hold the arrows on the thumb of one's bow-grip hand like rings, allowing the archer to fire arrows continuously, using his drawstring hand to pick up each arrow and then notching and firing them. As the arrow leaves the string, the ring would detach."

He then picked up what was recognizably a crossbow, also featuring cams at the ends of the bows, and with three or four bow strings instead of one. It also sported a kind of box or clip underneath the foregrip.

"This one is obviously a crossbow," Alec said, "but it's actually more like a gattling-gun crossbow, or maybe a machine-gun crossbow. This clip," (he pointed at the box under the foregrip) "is actually a magazine that contains up to three hundred arrows and a high-powered motor that allows the bowstring to be pulled back automatically. Interpol tested it, and it can continuously fire up to three bolts a second, at velocities approaching seven hundred miles an hour, courtesy of a bow made of different metals laminated on top of each other, just like the longbow."

Alec put it down.

"It's incredible, actually. But here's the thing." He pointed to the side of the clip. "Something here has obviously been filed off, but a faint imprint of a serial number remains, as well as a faint imprint of a manufacturer's mark shaped like a crescent moon. Note this."

He flashed a picture of some company logo, and it was shaped like a crescent moon.

"This is the logo of the Elbereth Munitions Company, owned by the new royal family of Andorra."

There was a reaction from everyone attending the meeting.

"This company is well-known for making advanced weapons that use high-tech, advanced metals, and it dovetails with the kinds of materials used for these weapons." He gestured at the swords and other weapons.

"Because of this, it is our working theory that the new 'royal family' of Andorra engineered these abductions. This is supported by the fact that their heir apparent, Princess Aubree, was not abducted.

"There are many theories for these abductions, but our favorite theory is that the Andorrans are holding these royals as hostage to get their countries to, perhaps, enact legislation favoring Andorra, or something similar. But we'd be open to any other ideas you might have.

"Given all of this, we will be deploying six investigative teams, mine included, to gather more information, and to try and establish who the abductors really were. Interpol is continuing investigations to get more proof that Andorra is really behind this. If we, or Interpol are able to confirm this, we will launch a rescue operation.

"Anyway, our six teams wil be separate from the six that Agent Belker will be deploying as protection details for the six remaning princesses."

Alec returned the discussion to Wolf.

"So, to repeat - Alec and I are intending to deploy twelve teams," Wolf said, "six teams of three agents each to the countries that have had their princesses abducted, plus my six teams, which will be five agents each, to work with the royal families' security staffs as security details. I will be deploying my own team to Caledonia, whereas Senior Agents Leiter and Wade, plus three other agents will be deployed to the United Kingdom, since it is our theory that Princess Lily of Caledonia is the next one to be targeted, and because we have a lot of interests in the UK, and it is to our interest to protect them. Senior Agent Smith's team will be deployed to Andorra, and they will have double-duty researching their royal family to help prove or disprove our theory. Three other teams will be deployed to the rest."

Wolf paused. "Questions?"

The meeting continued on, but no new insights were uncovered.

Later on, Wolf, Dan and Rachel, along with Josie, Alec and his partner Ben, met with the Admiral. As they discussed things, they established the particulars of their plans and requirements. The Admiral agreed with their conclusions and congratulated Alec, Josie and Wolf, but Wolf pointed out that it was mostly Dan's analysis.

The Admiral nodded. "Good work, Dan," he said and nodded to the young agent. "All right, then. What is it you need?"

Wolf nodded to Rachel.

"Sir," Rachel said, "to start, we'll need three three-agent teams, nine two-agent teams, and three new recruits for the protection detail. We'll also need six two-agent teams plus six new recruits for the investigative teams." She passed on a list of the specific people they were requisitioning. "We checked with Agent McCoy and the supervising agent, and these are the best people we can use. We're expecting we'll need more people later, and Agent McCoy will be helping with that." Josie nodded agreement.

The Admiral nodded. "Good. Logistics?"

Alec took up the question. "Sir, we'll need six normal vehicles, which we can probably rent at the location themselves, and normal communication and sidearms for the investigation team members. As for the protection details, they would like to get two riot-protection sedans for five of the teams, and only one for the UK team, plus two sets of standard protection detail packages and one riot kit for each agent."

"This will cost," the Admiral mused. Alec shrugged.

"All right. Give your lists to dispatch and to Jane outside. When will you be leaving then?"

"We hope, tonight, sir."

"All right. I'll make sure the quartermaster's office will have all your equipment and vehicles ready. I'll give the royal families notice that you will probably be arriving by tomorrow, and Josie will be on standby here in case you, Alec or any of your people will need support from here. The CIA has been put on notice to provide you support on-site, but they will not deploy unless and until you contact them."

"Yes, sir."

"All right. Godspeed, then."

With that, they adjourned the meeting and went home to start packing. Since Dan took the train going to the office, Rachel offered him a ride, which he gladly accepted.

 
Chapter 4: Not Looking Too Well

As Rachel drove Dan to his apartment near George Washington, she complimented him on his good work. Although he detected a bit of an undertone, he appreciated her making the effort to establish some kind of rapprochement. After all, it wasn't her fault that he was shot nor was it her fault being assigned to Agent Belker, and he should stop blaming her for what happened.

A few minutes into their trip, Rachel commented that Dan wasn't looking good, and asked if he was just getting over something.

Dan shook his head. "I feel fine. I guess I'm just not sleeping too well lately." He flipped down the visor on his side of the car, and looked at his face. Rachel was right - he was looking a little peaked, with his cheeks looking a little gaunt. Also, he noted that his hair was a little over-long. It didn't look like that this early this morning - his hair was now covering his ears, but it was like it was a trendy cut instead of looking like it needed a little trim.

"Well," Rachel said, "if you aren't feeling fine, you better tell Belker right away."

Dan crossed his fingers that he wasn't coming down with something. He couldn't afford that at the moment.

"I will," he said, and got out. "Thanks for the ride, Rache."

"Don't mention it. See you later tonight."

As Dan watched Rachel drive off, he shifted from foot to foot. Though he wasn't feeling bad, there was indeed something wrong, like his balance was a little off. Also, he felt his biceps - it was like it was flabbier than normal, like his muscles were a little loose instead of tight. He walked towards his apartment building praying that he didn't catch anything, and if he did, hopefully it wasn't something like COVID.

He looked at his watch and noted that it was near five already. Typical international FBI jump flights were usually at eleven, and he knew that they'll be taking off from Reagan. That gave him a lot of time. He, however, noted that his shirt sleeve was a little over-long, because he had to pull back his sleeve to see his watch. That's worrying.

He stepped into the elevator and rode it up to his apartment. The funny thing was, the other people in the elevator didn't recognize him.

In the elevator, there were markings on the floor where one needed to stand to maintain social distancing, which limited the number of passengers in the elevator to five at a time. The other four in the elevator should have recognized him as they were people that he saw regularly, but they didn't. He shrugged that off - maybe they were a little preoccupied, or as little Titania said, "preaky-pied." That made him giggle, and it made the others look at him funny. He wondered why he giggled.

He stepped out of the elevator and headed for his apartment.

After stepping into his apartment, he wiped the bottoms of his shoes on a piece of sponge soaked in a disinfectant solution inside a little tray.

It was almost instinctive now - he went straight to the bathroom and washed his hands.

As he was singing Happy Birthday twice and washing his hands in the WHO-approved way, he looked into the mirror and noted the slightly gaunt look of his face. He wasn't looking sickly, actually - he actually looked fine, but he just looked a lot thinner in the face than he usually did. He didn't look square-jawed anymore. He now had a rounder, more soft and delicate face.

After he was done with washing his hands, he then took off all his clothes and, instead of hanging them in his "isolation cabinet" (which was actually just the closet in the spare room), he washed the clothes directly in the little portable washer he kept in the guest room's bath.

As his clothes sloshed around in the little washer, he looked at his nude image in the closet's mirror, he noticed that he was indeed getting gaunt - not in a bad way: just thinner. He was, in fact, thinner than he ever was, and was looking closer to his pre-college days. He was losing all the muscles he worked so hard to get. And... he noticed he was also getting shorter, and that he had almost no body hair anymore.

But... first things first - he took a thorough shower.

After he was done with the shower, he looked at himself again. And he looked totally different. As he toweled himself dry, he noted that he was even more thin, and a lot shorter: instead of his normal six-two and 215 pounds, he looked more like five-ten, and 170 max, and his hair was now almost touching his shoulders.

It was accelerating.

He went to the little bathroom scale in the corner to confirm, and noted that he was now 160 pounds. He then got a pencil, stood against the bathroom door's jamb and scratched a line to mark his height. He got a ruler and found out he was now five foot-ten instead of six-two.

"Ohmigod," he thought. "What's happening to me?"

Fighting the rising panic, he took several deep breaths. "First things first," he repeated to himself again. He called his favorite Chinese takeout place and placed his usual order. He then took out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but when he put them on, they were, of course, very loose on him.

"Dammit!" he cursed, and went to the bathroom mirror again. But when he looked at himself there, the clothes fit fine this time. It's like they shrunk to fit him. Fearing that he was hallucinating, he went back to the doorjamb and checked - yes, he was still the same height, and when he went to the bathroom scale, he was now 155 pounds. It was still going down.

"Whatthehell..." he mumbled. Is this the effect of some kind of new virus? But he hasn't been moving around for weeks, so that can't be it. But then he's been to the office six times now, including today, so he traced his steps in his mind for the past six days. He couldn't recall anything unusual except for his encounter with the girl this morning...

"By this time tomorrow, you'll be as pretty as a princess, and you can smile all you like!" she had said.

"That must be it!" he thought. "But... how can that be it?" The girl gestured and he changed. How's that possible? He wanted to find the girl but, in the back of his mind, he instinctively knew he wouldn't find her.

His doorbell rang, and he went to the door.

"Who is it?" he called.

"It's Kenny," the guy outside called. "I got a delivery for Danny. Is he in?"

"Oh, no!" Danny thought. "Has my voice changed, too?"

He gritted his teeth and opened the door.

"Hey, Kenny," he said nonchalantly. "How much is it this time?"

"Oh, it's you, Dan! I thought it was someone else! Eleven twenty-five, dude," Kenny said. He was wearing a mask and gloves, as required for food delivery people. "You're sounding a little different though. Are you getting a cold? Hope it's not COVID."

Danny scrambled for an answer. "No, I'm fine," he said - that was all he could think to say. He got out his wallet and got out fifteen dollars. Per the new normal, Kenny left Dan's order on the floor, and Dan left the money on top of the box. Kenny picked up the money using gloves, and put it in a plastic envelope. Normally, they preferred a cashless transaction but Dan forgot to specify that.

"Thanks, man," Kenny said. "Guess I'll see you later."

Danny nodded, and didn't reply anymore. When Kenny walked away, Danny took the box and shut the door.

"Ohmigod," he said. Kenny didn't notice anything wrong or different. Was that part of what the little girl did? That no one would notice his changes?

As he ate his takeout dinner, he thought some more. There must be something he could do to find out what was happening to him. So he decided to go to the office, and to Medical.

After finishing his dinner, he put the leftovers in the fridge, packed a jump bag as he normally would, with several changes of clothes and various essentials, a suit bag with his office suits, and another suit bag with his two tuxedos (he only had the two) and some dress shirts, and got dressed. But as he put on his office suit, he noticed it was extremely loose on him, like he was wearing someone else's clothes. But he ignored it and continued dressing normally.

After he finished putting on all of his now-ridiculously baggy clothes, including the very loose shoes, he straightened up. And as he did, he felt the clothes adjust. Now they fit just like they were meant for him in this size. He went to the mirror and he was right.

He got his wallet, watch, keys and other essentials, including his his new, red Vaccinated ID, but, before he pinned it on, he noted that the picture had changed - it was now his current face.

"Oh, no..."

He took out his FBI ID from his wallet, and checked. The picture there was exactly like his face now, except he had a crewcut instead of the shoulder-length hair that he was currently sporting. It also said he was 150 pounds, and was five-nine.

He sat heavily on the living room couch, and tried not to panic. Given what was happening with his ID cards, he knew it wasn't some kind of virus. It was something else. He didn't think going to Medical would help anymore.

But then, he had to do something - they had a mission.

He picked up his phone and called Belker.

"Yes, Dan," Belker said.

"Sir, I have a problem," Dan replied. "Can I come over?"

"Are you feeling all right, Dan? You don't sound like your usual."

"Ah, yes, sir. That's what I need to talk to you about."

"All right, but the airport taxi is coming by at ten, so you better be here before then."

"Yes, sir, I'll be there right away."

 
Chapter 5: Superstitions

Dan was able to get an Uber right away, and he was in front of his supervisor's house in less than twenty minutes.

Knocking on the door, he took a deep breath and waited.

Wolf answered his knock, and after noticing the changes to Dan, he just stood there, coffee cup in his hand.

"You can't be Dan," he said.

"I'm afraid it is," Dan replied, and handed Wolf his FBI ID.

Wolf studied his ID for a long time

"It says here you're five-eight. But I remember you being as tall as me."

Dan nodded. "Yes. Twenty minutes ago, it used to say I was five-nine. and a few hours ago, it used to say I was six-two."

Wolf waved him inside, and as they sat, Dan told him everything, from the moment he woke up today up to now.

Wolf listened, and occasionally asked a question, but he mostly listened.

When Dan finished, Wolf thought it over.

"The little girl you met on the train," Wolf said, "you said her name was Titania?"

"Yes, sir. And she said she was Fae."

"Hmmm. In Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' Titania was supposed to be the queen of the fairies."

Dan nodded.

Wolf typed on his phone briefly. "And according to Google, in the original Greek, it mean's 'the great one.'"

Dan nodded again.

"Well, you can make many assumptions based on the name, but it doesn't bring us closer to any conclusions."

Dan sighed. "Yeah..."

"Has anyone noticed your change?"

"Well, Rachel noted I was looking a little peaked earlier today. Other than that..."

Wolf sighed, and made a decision.

"Okay. Here's what we'll do. We'll continue with the mission and try and ignore what's happened. So long as no one twigs, we behave as if everything's normal, unless you get too short or something, that you won't be able to do your job. After this case, we can work on figuring this out."

"Shouldn't we tell the Admiral?"

"If we do, the Admiral will shut down the entire operation, or at the very least take us out of it, and the princesses will be on their own."

"But..."

"Dan, I know what you're saying, but I have a feeling that what happened to you is connected to the case, and that we're going to be needed somewhere down the road."

"That's a hell of an intuitive leap, Boss..."

Wolf sighed. "I know. Let me tell you a story. When I was like five or six, my best friend Jack and I met a girl while we were playing in the neighborhood park - a little blonde girl in pigtails and a powder-blue party dress. The three of us got to talking and playing on the swings and slides. She had a little bag of candy - small pieces of chocolate, each covered with gold paper - and we shared it the whole time we were playing. She told Jack he was pretty and it was a shame that he was a boy - not that she didn't like boys, but just because he was too pretty to be a boy. So she made these gestures, like this." And he demoed the gestures, complete with wiggling fingers.

"Just like what Titania did," Dan whispered.

Wolf nodded. "Yeah, I thought so" he said. "She also said that by the following day, which was a Sunday, Jack can be as pretty as he wants to be."

"Just like what Titania told me..."

Wolf nodded again. "She thanked us for playing with her, saying she hated being ignored, said goodbye, and that was the last we saw of her. I think our girl and your girl are the same entity.

"Anyway, the following Sunday, I saw Jack and his family coming back from Church, and he had long hair and was wearing a dress."

"You mean..."

Wolf nodded. "After a little show and tell in their bathroom, little Jack showed me he didn't have his, ummm, pee-pee anymore. He said he was nervous about what would happen when his folks found out but, earlier, when his mom helped him get dressed for church, it was like, to his mom and everyone else he knew, Jack had always been a girl - that his family only knew him as a girl. He and I were the only exception.

"We couldn't talk much more because they had to leave again, this time for the hospital. Jack had some medical condition, and he had to get weekly treatments or something. Anyway, in school the following Monday, he told me that the doctors said he, or rather, she, was cured. So her being changed to a girl also cured her, apparently. I never did find out what was wrong with Jackie, but later, during our sophomore year, I asked her folks about it and they told me it was really bad, that she would have eventually died. But for some reason, she was completely cured of it, whatever it was, spontaneously.

"So, I think that little blonde girl did what she did to save Jack. And Jack, as Jackie, enjoyed her life as a girl. In fact, one of the highlights of her life as a little girl was the time when she met the president and Queen Elizabeth. She likes to talk about that a lot. That was sometime May of 1991.

"When Jackie met her, the queen was so taken with her that she delayed her itinerary for a day so that she could visit our little community park, with Jackie as her unofficial escort. That visit generated so much publicity that they were able to generate enough funds to increase the park size to twice its size, and establish a community daycare center on the park grounds. Today, it's the largest and best run in the country, and Jackie is running it now.

"Anyway, it was just Jack and I that knew he used to be a boy, and from then on, I knew her to be Jackie, and when we grew up, it was like she had always been Jackie.

"She's still my friend. She has a family now, but we still meet on Christmas and other holidays when I go home to visit my folks - she still lives in the same old neighborhood in order to run the day care center. And when we do meet up, like I said, it's like Jackie had always been Jackie. I sometimes bring it up from time to time, but it's like Jackie was embarrassed to talk about it. And besides, it was so long ago that it didn't feel real anymore - more like something we thought up as a kind of goof. But she seems healthy and happy now, and I think that's the important thing."

"The little girl," Dan said, "did she say her name was Titania as well?"

Wolf shook his head. "No, she didn't tell us her name."

"But you're telling me that it was the same girl, and that what happened to Jack was meant to be?"

"Maybe."

"And you're saying I'm going to change into a girl?"

"If I had to bet, that's the way to go. Look at you now."

"But, Boss, I don't want to be a girl..."

Wolf shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I have a gut feeling that everything will work out in the end, that we'll need it on this mission, and that you'll be fine."

"That's a hell of a story, Boss. And what would the Admiral think of it?"

"Well, nothing's impossible," and they both laughed.

"We're not telling anyone," Wolf said. "We'll just go with the flow. Just like with Jackie. Listen - the other people Rachel assigned to us - I take it you haven't met them yet?"

"No - we haven't met yet."

"Okay. Then that means the only problem is Rachel."

"Yes, sir."

"Right, I'll tackle that as it unfolds. Right now, the airport taxi's here."

In less than twenty minutes, they were at Reagan, and the airport taxi dropped them off by a row of military C-17 Globemaster cargo planes parked near the edge of the airport tarmac. These were modified such that one half of their cargo capacity was converted to tankage, allowing these planes to double its range to about 12,000 miles without needing to refuel.

Wolf waved to the other DSX agents busy at their own planes, checked the tail numbers and pointed to the one that was assigned to them. They climbed the open ramp and found two luxury sedans strapped down inside, plus several pallets full of equipment, with half a dozen soldiers strapping them down. There were several jump couches and two people were sitting there already. They stood and approached them.

"Senior Agent Belker?" the taller man said, hand outstretched. "I'm Charles Carmichael. You can call me Charlie." They shook hands. "This is Agent Sarah Walker," he said, introducing the other agent with him.

"Agent Walker," Belker said and shook hands as well. "This is Agent Dan...nie Shelton. Agent Shelton is the ground field agent in charge. Listen to Agent Shelton, and follow orders. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Has Agent Tailor arrived yet?"

"Yes, sir," Walker replied. "She was checking the cargo and the arrangements for when we land at Caledonia."

"Good. I suppose she's in the cockpit?"

"Yes, sir."

"I need to talk to her. Have you been briefed on our assignment?"

"Ummm, no, sir, though we got our briefing files via email."

Wolf pointed at Dan. "I'll leave Agent Shelton here to brief you." He borrowed Dan's ID, nodded to them and walked to the front of the plane. Dan thought he knew what his boss would be talking with Rachel about.

Wolf knocked on the door of the cockpit cabin. "Good evening, captain, officers. Apologies, but I need to borrow Agent Tailor for a bit." He gestured, and Rachel followed him out of the cockpit.

"What's up, Boss?" Rachel asked.

He first ascertained that Rachel remembered Dan as he was before. After that, he brought up the new situation. "There's a problem, Rachel," Wolf said, and told her what was happening with Dan.

Wolf showed her Dan's ID, and, like him, it's what convinced her. "That's unbelievable, Boss."

"I know. I can hardly believe it myself. But, you know, nothing is impossible."

The both of them laughed at that. "What a time to quote the company line..." Rachel said.

"Well, it's true in this case. We'll find out later if it really is and figure it out later."

"So... How does he look?"

"He looks much like himself, except thinner and shorter. And longer hair. He actually looks like a female version of himself now."

"So he's turning into a girl?"

"I don't know. but if I have to, I think that's the way to bet."

"Talk about an X-File... So what do we do?"

"I suppose we treat him as a her. For now. And keep it from the two newbies. We'll figure it out after our case."

"All right," she sighed. "Danny, a girl. Too bad..."

Wolf grinned. "You like Danny, huh?"

"Ummm..."

He gave her a friendly sock on the shoulder. "No problem, Rachel. Your secret's safe with me."

"I am sure I don't know what you mean," she said, and smiled.

"Sure, sure..."

They went back to the cockpit and Rachel finished her briefing with the captain, while Wolf made some small-talk with the rest of the crew.

When they got back to the jump couches, Rachel nodded to Dan like nothing was wrong. Rachel did notice, though, that Dan, or rather "Dannie," looked really cute, like a young, brunette Lilly Rush from the old TV show, Cold Case. Though the mannish suit she was wearing was like a man's suit, it was cut especially close and fit, and it made her look very efficient yet feminine. She especially liked how Dannie was keeping her hair - it was loose and cut just above the shoulder, just like hers, though Rachel had a straight pixie cut while Dannie kept hers loose and blowsey with subtle curls. Rachel thought she might do something similar next time.

She nodded to Dan and took her seat. Dan smiled back nervously.

"Buckle up," she said. "We'll be taking off in a few minutes." She turned to the two newbies. "So you guys up to speed?"

"Yes, ma'am," the girl, Sarah, said. "Agent Shelton briefed us on the operation."

"So it's to be a protection detail?" Carmichael asked.

"Yes, a high-profile one. But we need to look like the royal security detail. Walker, can you get on that?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Walker said, and brought out her laptop.

Dan turned to Rachel. "So, I take it Belker..."

"Yes," Rachel said, and casually winked at her.

"And you're okay with...?"

Rachel shrugged. "I guess, but we'll see how it goes."

"Okay..."

Wolf came over sat down beside Rachel.

"Okay," he said, "strap yourselves down. we're about to take off."

And, as if on cue, the plane's engines started to whine as they spooled up.

 
Chapter 6: The Flight Out

The fifteen-hour trip to Caledonia was unremarkable, and most of them tried to get some sleep. In the "morning," after they had an early brunch of ready-to-eat military food rations, or MREs (they picked Menu numbers 8, 10 and 17), Wolf, Rachel and Dan moved to the rear of the plane to talk privately.

"Wow, Dan," Rachel said. "I can't believe it."

"Me neither, Rache," Dan replied. "It's not something I would have wished for."

"You look like a girl now. But are you a girl? I mean..." Rachel gestured at his crotch.

"I went to the head earlier, and, yes, as far as my plumbing goes, I'm a girl now."

Rachel looked at him with wide eyes. "Wow... You don't seem that broken up about it."

Dan shrugged. "I think I'm in denial or something. I think I'll have a breakdown or whatever after the mission. Also, I checked - I'm five-seven now, and I weigh 126 pounds."

"How did you..."

"Agent Walker had a little sewing kit - I borrowed a measuring tape. And there's an industrial scale near the loading ramp."

"But what does it really mean? I mean, why?"

"Well," Dan said, "I couldn't sleep, so I went online earlier and l tried to look up any references to something similar to what I am going through, and what Agent Belker's friend went through..."

"Agent Belker's friend... ?"

Dan realized he made a snafu, and to cover it up, he reached for his laptop. He had been researching his own background, both on the net and with his personal files in the Bureau, and it seemed that, per his school, medical and work records, he had always been a girl. He also realized that, in his head, there were also a lot of memories to support this, along with his old memories of being Daniel. It was like the world had been altered such that Daniel had always been Danielle.

But he put this aside for now, and concentrated on the thing at hand.

"Well," Dan said, "I did some research and here's what I found."

From all of what he, or rather, what she, could find, there seemed to be stories, mostly in the American East Coast, every thirty or so years, where a little blond girl in blue would show up and switch the gender of some random person, but always ultimately to that person's or the people's benefit, sometimes to cure that person of disease, or to help that person with something that needed to be done, to stop other "tricksters" like her bent on harming people, or sometimes to allow that person to get revenge from his or her tormentors.

These stories would come out every thirty or so years - the last time was in the 1990s. Previous to that was the 1960s and then the thirties, and all the way back to the 1810s. Before that, though, Dan found it hard to find any more stories. Though there were scattered stories from France, Germany and other places in Europe.

But the most common traits of these stories were that, (1) the little girl was always a little blonde wearing a light blue dress, (2) the girl liked candy, (3) the person affected would, in some way, interact with someone royal in some major way, and (4) the girl doesn't like to be ignored.

Looking for the origins of this... trickster girl in myths and folklore, Dan was able to unearth legends associated to this.

In the reign of King Philip and Queen Anna of Spain, there were rumors that an "una niña pequeña en azul," or "a little child in blue," turned their third child - their first daughter, Philippa - into Philip III during her infancy, which was fortunate, since their other four children died young, and this allowed Philip III to ascend to the throne of Spain in 1599 without any complications - a girl can only ascend the throne of Spain only if she didn't have brothers. It was from that time on that the... entity, or whatever it was, acquired its present guise of a candy-loving little blonde girl in blue.

The following year, in 1600, bookshop owner Thomas Fisher published William Shakespeare's play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," based on the author's manuscripts. It was rumored that it was only possible because a little girl named Titania - the same name as the name of the queen of the fairies from the play - gave him "a small bag of gold dust" to cover the cost of publication. Even so, the devious Mr. Fisher published it in the cheaper quatro format, allowing him to pocket the difference. After its publication, though, Mr. Fisher disappeared and his daughter or young wife, Tamsin Fisher, took over his bookshop business in Fleet Street. Rumor was that Tamsin bore a remarkable resemblance to Thomas.

Previous to that, Dan's research connected their mystery trickster to: Wisekejdak the Trickster of Native American folklore; the trickster-entity Elegua from ancient Nigerian legend, and; further back, to the greek legend of the Goddess Eris.

In both Cree and Algonquin folklore, Wisakedjak shows up as a troublemaker. He was supposed to be responsible for conjuring a great flood that wiped out the world after the Creator built it, and then used magic to rebuild the current world. He was well known as a deceiver and a shapeshifter, but, unlike many trickster gods, Wisakedjak often pulled his pranks to benefit mankind rather than to harm them. Fans of Neil Gaiman's work will recognize his fictionalized version of Wisakedjak as Whiskey Jack, which was Gaiman's anglicized version of his name.

According to West African legend, one of the Orishas, Elegua (sometimes spelled Eleggua), was a trickster known for opening the crossroads for practitioners of Santeria. He would prevent trouble and danger from entering the home of those who have made him offerings, and according to legend, Elegua really liked offerings of candy. While Elegua is often seen as an old man, another incarnation of his was that of a young child.

As for Eris, according to Greek legend, as sort of a revenge for being ignored and not invited to the the wedding of Thetis and Pelias (the parents of Achilles), she tossed a golden apple - the Apple of Discord - into the crowd, saying it was for the most beautiful of the goddesses. Athena, Aphrodite and Hera fought over the apple, and Zeus, trying to keep the peace, chose Paris, a prince of Troy, to select the winner. Because Aphrodite bribed him with Helen, Paris picked Aphrodite.

"Wow, Dannie," Rachel said, "that was quick and thorough work."

Wolf nodded. "Good work, Dannie," he said. "Please email what you researched to Rachel and I, and we can talk about it some more later. But let's change topics - Charlie and Sarah are coming over."

"Agent Belker?" Sarah said. "The captain said we're about to land."

"Right, Sarah. Everyone to their seats and buckle up."

"Sir?" Charlie said, "is there anything we should know?"

Wolf clapped him on he shoulder. "Sorry about that, Charlie," Wolf said. "We were finishing up some remaining paperwork from our last case."

When they landed, in their heads it was like two PM, but in Caledonia, it was seven PM, so they never even saw the sun.

Caledonia had a 100% vaccination rate, so they weren't worried about COVID. At least, in Caledonia, social distancing and so forth weren't a concern, so they opened the cargo plane's ramp without worries.

Under the direction of soldiers from the Arm Rioghail Caledonia, or the Royal Caledonian Army, the marines that accompanied Wolf and his team unstrapped and unloaded the cars and their equipment. Sir Alfred, the Maighstir an Teaghlaich, or the Master of the Household at the palace, greeted them personally. He was the head of the staff running the Palace. He looked like a very formal butler except for the fact he wore kilts instead of pants.

"In behalf of the royal family," Alfred said warmly in a thick Scottish brogue, "welcome to Stait Uachdarach Caledonia, or the Sovereign State of Caledonia," and shook Wolf's hand.

"Thank you," Wolf said simply. "I'm Senior Agent In-Charge Wolf Belker. These are Special Agents Sarah Walker, Rachel Tailor, Charles Carmichael and Danielle Shelton." Alfred shook their hands.

Sir Alfred smiled at Rachel and Sarah, and, more particularly, at Dan. "Have we met before, Miss Danielle?" he asked Dan. "You look quite familiar."

"I don't think so, sir," Dan said. "This is my first visit to Caledonia."

Alfred nodded. "Perhaps I was mistaken," he said. He turned to the others. "The king is so pleased that you are all here. He is beside himself with worry for Princess Lily, and your presence will ease the concern of My Lord and the Royal Family.

"I'm sorry but it is evening already, so there is not much that we can do tonight. So we will show you to your quarters that you may rest, as well as arrange for late supper. Tomorrow, you can have a ’chiad bhracaist with the staff and meet them. Afterwards, you will be introduced to His Highness and the Royal Family, as well as the Prime Minister, the head of Royal Security and the Interpol contingent that arrived earlier. From there, you can make whatever arrangements you deem are needed." He had a very noticeable Scots accent, but he was very understandable. It was Dan's impression that his accent was just an affectation: per Dan's research, everyone in Caledonia spoke regular English, and only spoke Gaellic occasionally. Rumor was that the Caledonians actually use their accent deliberately as a badge of pride, and perhaps to be less understood by the visitors when it suited them.

Alfred nodded to the two cars they bought. "I see you brought you own vehicles. We would have provided you with vehicles."

"Actually," Wolf said, "these are armored: we brought them for use by the Princess and the royal family. For the duration of the emergency, we are lending you one of these vehicles, with the other one for use by our team, and as a backup for the other in case the first one gets damaged."

"We already have armored vehicles for the Royal Family."

Wolf nodded to Dan.

"Sir," Dan said to Alfred, "it is our understanding that Caledonia's royal vehicles, at least the ones that are armored, have a ballistic rating of B6 on the EN 1063 and EN 1522 classification scales, or maybe even lower. B6 indicates they are able to sustain damage from weapons up to point 308 caliber. Our two sedans have an EN 1063 ballistic rating and EN 1522 glass armor rating above B7, or, more specifically, they're rated at VPAM 14, allowing them to ward off sustained fire up to 14.5 caliber weapons, which include armor-piercing shells. They also have anti-blow-out tires, independent internet and radio communications, armored undersides to protect against land mines, and are hermetically sealed, with an independent air supply good for thirty minutes. No offense but they're better than what you have. They're diesel powered, however, and have a weight of more than six tons apiece, so we'll need to know what roads are safe to take. Also, we will have to insist that one of us drives them as it requires special training to drive these vehicles."

Alfred looked at Dan in astonishment. "Well... Not only is the lady quite beautiful," he finally said, "but she is quite knowledgeable, as well. Your point is well taken. Thank you, Agent Shelton." Alfred bowed and kissed Dan's hand.

Dan looked at him unbelievingly, but caught her expression before Alfred noticed, shifting it to a neutral kind of expression. "Thank you, sir," she replied.

Rachel and Wolf looked at each other with slightly amused grins.

"I will bring it up with Toby tonight. I take it we can select which one we can use?"

"Yes, sir. I would suggest this one, since it's patterned after the Rolls Royce Phantom limousine. It's bigger and more luxurious. If you want a car that's a little more understated, this one is patterned after the Bentley Mulsanne."

"I think you're right - the first one is an excellent choice. I will recommend it, but the choice will have to be His Majesty's or the princess's."

"Of course, sir."

A large flatbed truck parked nearby and their marines loaded all their equipment on the truck before going back into the plane. Charlie and Sarah drove the two cars down the ramp and followed the truck. Wolf and Rachel rode with Charlie in the larger sedan while Sarah and Dan followed in the smaller one.

As they pulled out of the parking area, their marines closed the cargo plane's ramp, and with a roar of its engines, their plane turned around and taxied down to the runway.

 
Chapter 7: Princess Lily

"So," Sarah said, as she drove, "that guy, the butler - he seems to have the hots for you." She giggled and gave Dan a little nudge with her right elbow (Caledonia cars drove on the left side of their streets, so the driver and the steering wheel were on the right side, just like most European countries. The cars that they brought were, likewise, right-hand drives).

"Cut it out, Agent Walker," Dan said.

Sarah felt she overstepped her bounds, and was being overly familiar. "Sorry, Agent Felton," Sarah said.

Dan felt immediate regret. She put an apologetic hand over Sarah's.

"Sorry for being testy, Sarah," she said. "I guess having a client coming on to me took me by surprise."

Sarah breathed a small sigh of relief. "It's all right," Sarah replied. "But I can't say I'm surprised. I imagine that this sort of thing happens a lot to a hottie like you."

Dan was a little bit taken aback by that. "I'm hardly a hottie, Sarah."

"I beg to differ," Sarah said. "With that slim, sexy bod of yours, you probably have to beat them off with a stick or something. What are you? Maybe five-seven or eight, and maybe one hundred-thirty pounds? What's your secret, by the way?"

"I got no secret," Dan answered. "I guess I'm just normally like this."

"Some girls have all the luck," Sarah sighed.

Dan was getting a sense of what Sarah was getting at. "Well, it's not all luck. I had to work hard to get where I am, and after being shot, I'm almost back to square one."

"Hardly square one. All of us back in Academy heard about your reputation from Ms DiLaquardia in Academy Placement, and we all know about Agent Belker's opinion about you. Despite your being put out of action for a couple of months, Agent Belker didn't replace you."

"I don't think so - Rachel was transferred to Agent Belker to replace me."

Sarah sighed. "If that were true, then why are you still here? We took a look at the deployment table, and it listed you and Rachel as a regular part of Belker's team."

"I didn't even think of that..."

"In fact," Sarah interrupted, "it was one of Charlie's and my proudest moments to be assigned to the DSX, and then to be assigned to Agent Belker's team with you... if our batch mates could see us now."

"Well," Dan said, and cleared her throat, "if I can give you some advice about Agent Belker?"

"I'm all ears, Dannie."

"Agent Belker is a total professional, and he doesn't take things personally, so you can be frank with him. He is also open to giving everyone a fair shake. All you really need to do is to do your best. Even if you're not at the top of your class, so long you do your best, that's all that Agent Belker wants."

"Right. Look at Agent Tailor." (Rachel was not exactly at the top of her batch's ranking.)

Dan lightly socked her in the arm.

"Don't. Agent Tailor's a good agent. Also, Agent Belker, and me, for that matter, believe in team. Rachel is a good agent, and has done everything to earn Agent Belker's and my loyalty and trust. And even if she hasn't, she is still part of the team. If Agent Belker, or the Admiral, heard you say that, you will be out on your ass so quick, you'll think you had whiplash."

That made Sarah quiet.

"I apologize, Dannie."

"S'all right. I used to be like that. At least now you know. Okay? Still friends?"

Sarah looked at Dan's hand. Instead of shaking her hand, Sarah pulled Dan over and gave her a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

"Still friends," Sarah said. "Thank you, Dannie."

Dan sighed and smiled. "That's a relief."

They drove on in companionable silence.

"So," Sarah said. "What do you think about Agent. Belker? What a fox, huh? A total Idris Elba."

And they both broke out in laughter.

- - - - -

They arrived at their assigned quarters in a few minutes. It was a large house within the palace grounds separate from the rest of the buildings. It was as large as two shipping containers put side-by-side, with an awning-covered area in front more than large enough for their two cars.

After they parked under the awning, a platoon of waiting Caledonian army soldiers came out and helped unload the flatbed.

Wolf took charge of directing the soldiers while Dan, Charlie and Sarah helped to unload. Wolf also made some requests and the platoon sergeant made some changes.

In less than twenty minutes, they had all of their stuff put away inside. Several stewards came over and set up several places in one of the empty tables, but before they had dinner, they decided to report in. Dan and Rachel performed a thorough sweep for bugs, and as soon as they were done, Wolf put his laptop on an empty table, arranged his people in front of the videocam so that they'd all fit into the screen: Wolf had himself and Charlie sitting down by the table while the three... "girls" stood behind them: Sarah behind Charlie, Dan behind Wolf, and being the tallest among the three, Rachel stood between them. Dan felt a bit awkward, remembering that she used to be the tallest, which was less than two days ago.

When Wolf was satisfied, he dialed up the FBI system, and as soon as they established a secure and scrambled tunnel, they were logged on.

"FBI SVTC system," the operator said, as per protocol when establishing a connection from a certain location for the first time. After this first call, they would be able to connect to the FBI anytime they want without any operator.

"Please state your name, division or department, and the party you wish to contact," the operator said.

"Senior Agent In-Charge Wolf Belker, Department of Special Investigations. We wish to contact our department head, Admiral James Greer."

After a few moments, they were looking at Greer's face from inside his office.

"Good afternoon, Wolf," Greer said. "Everybody here?"

"Yes, sir. May I introduce Agent Charles Carmichael and Agent Sarah Walker. They're new to my team."

"Of course. Welcome Agents Carmichael and Walker." The two nodded. "And hello, Rachel and Dannie. Glad to see you again."

"Thank you, sir," Rachel said.

"You're being quiet Dannie. That's a little unusual."

Dan was surprised at that. "Sorry, sir."

"Did you do something to your hair?"

Dan's hand automatically flicked to her hair. "It's longer than my usual, sir, but it's still within regulations."

"Quite so, quite so. Apologies for even mentioning it." The Admiral was famous for being solicitous and personal, but was savvy enough not to cross the border beyond appropriate and to harassment. Very old school. "Proceed with your update, Wolf."

Wolf proceeded to brief him on everything that happened, minus Dan's changes, of course. Wolf finished in less than five minutes. There wasn't much to tell, after all.

"Thank you, Wolf. I'll expect daily emailed reports, but feel free to contact me via SVTC right away for any major developments."

"Thanks, Admiral. Signing off, then."

- - - - -

The quarters that were provided were actually meant for billeting soldiers, so it basically had one large area meant to fit twenty bunkbeds, but the beds were cleared out, giving the team a large area, plus two bedrooms at the farther end. The soldiers replaced the beds with several long tables, folding chairs, a large, round dining table and a large fridge in the corner. Other than that, the area was empty.

Wolf had their crates of supplies put in a corner, while boxes of equipment were put in another. They set up their electronics and communication equipment on the table in the middle, and left the other tables clear.

The building did have two utilitarian bathrooms inside each of two bedrooms. Charlie and Sarah naturally assumed that the smaller room would be used by Charlie and Wolf while the larger one would be used by the three girls. Wolf, Rachel and Dan looked at each other. After a moment, Dan shrugged and brought his personal things into the girls' room, so Wolf and Rachel just followed suit.

They picked out their beds, took out the extra ones and put them outside the rooms. Dan was a little slow so he ended up with the bed near the bathroom. Oh, well.

After finishing dinner and assigning duty shifts, they all went to bed. They used the bathroom in shifts, allowing the boss and Rachel first crack.

Inside their bedroom, as Rachel had her shower, Sarah started to unpack. Following her lead, Dan started unpacking as well.

As Dan unpacked, she noted that her clothes had transformed to female equivalents of her old guy ones. This... whatever it was that happened to her... at least, it didn't leave her with men's stuff. Even her shaving kit became a cute, feminine toiletry bag. She didn't bother to check what was inside it for now.

She gingerly picked up her new bras and put them in the cabinet drawer she claimed for herself. She also noted that her plain jockeys were replaced with a selection of plain cotton-spandex hipsters and bikini panties, plus a couple of thongs. Thongs?

As for his suit bag, instead of containing his two formal suits, shoes and dress shirts, it contained two fabulous formal dresses, appropriate lingerie and two formal heels - one of them was a pair of fairly high pumps while the other was a pair of three-inch stilettos. For missions like this, agents were required to bring formal attire just in case they had to protect their charges during formal events, like balls and parties, which might happen given they were going to be hobnobbing with royals. But looking at the heels, Dan's blood went cold. "Ohmigod," she thought, "what am I gonna do?"

"Wow, Dannie," Sarah said. Dan jumped a little bit - she didn't notice Sarah stepped up beside him. "Those are fabulous dresses. Darn, and I only brought one..." She reached out and felt the red-orange one. "Fabulous pattern and material. The color will go well with your reddish-blonde hair." ("Reddish blonde?" Dan asked himself. "Oh, no, I'm still changing!") "But," Sarah continued, " you can't wear a bra with this one." she gestured at the cut on the front - it reached all the way from the neck down to the waist. "Do you think this is, ummm, appropriate?"

Dan wracked her brain. "I know," she said, thinking rapidly. "I guess I was in a rush and just grabbed things."

"Well," Sarah said, "at least you brought two. That LBD will work, too. C'mon, let's hang these up." She picked up the risque one and walked to the one closet in the room. Dan picked up the other one, the... LBD, and followed her.

Sarah already had her stuff hanging on the left side, including her dark-blue formal, so she put Dan's red-orange dress in the middle. Dan followed and hung up her LBD beside it. After a couple more trips, they also had her dress shirts and work suits hanging there, leaving the right side free for Rachel's stuff.

Dan sighed. "Thanks, Sarah." It wasn't difficult hanging her stuff, but Dan appreciated Sarah normalizing something which wasn't normal for her.

"Sure thing. Oh! Rachel's done with the shower - my turn!" She grabbed her bathroom kit and towel, and rushed to the bathroom.

Rachel came over in her towel, casually rubbing her hair.

Dan looked up at the semi-naked girl, gulped and smiled at her nervously.

"Hey, Dannie," she said. She got her stuff out of her bag and proceeded to hang her stuff as well.

"Hey..."

"So..." Rachel grinned at Dan mischievously, "you and Sarah are getting friendly, I see."

Dan shrugged.

After Rachel was done hanging her stuff, she went to her bed, grabbed some underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. When she was about to take off her towel to put on her underwear, she hesitated.

"Ummm, Dannie," Rachel said, "are you okay with me changing...?"

"Totally fine, Rache," Dan said. "I'll just turn my back."

"Okay." Rachel said, and changed into her clothes rapidly. "Okay, Dannie, I'm decent now."

Dan turned and looked Rachel up and down. Rachel noticed and struck a pose. "So, what's the verdict?" she giggled.

"Looking good, Agent Tailor," Dan grinned.

"Thanks, Dannie," Rachel replied and slid under the covers. "Listen... I'm sorry for what's happened to you. It's so weird. Do you think that little girl really is Titania, the queen of the fairies?"

Dan shrugged. "I don't believe in the supernatural and that sort of thing, but I can't think of a rational or logical explanation for it. Eventually, I'm sure we'll solve it, but for now, we should just ride the thing. I think the bigger issue for me is having to manage the gender change."

Rachel looked at her with with sympathy. "I'm sorry, Danny. I don't know how I could cope if I were in your place."

"Thanks, Rache. Truth is, I'm compartmentalizing it in my head - just not thinking about it and just getting on with the job is helping me cope. So when someone refers to me in the feminine, I just bleep over it. I don't know how long I can keep it up, though."

"About that... is it confirmed?"

"Yeah," Dan sighed, and handed Rachel her ID. "And like I said, I went to the bathroom earlier."

Rachel looked at the details of the ID, and noted the "F." "Did you know you're five-seven now, and weigh one hundred twenty-six pounds?"

"Five-seven?" Dan exclaimed, and grabbed the ID back. She looked at the details. "And I'm blonde now..."

"Actually, it's more like reddish blonde, and it's up to your shoulderblades now. How come you didn't notice?"

Dan sighed. "I've been avoiding looking at myself in the mirror."

"Speaking of not noticing, the Admiral and the two newbies didn't notice you're continuing to change..."

"Agent Belker thinks only a handful of people will notice my change, and everyone else will see me the way I am as if I've always been this way. I think you and Belker would be the only ones to know."

"And the changing continuing?"

Dan shrugged.

"How does Agent Belker know this?"

"Sorry, Rache - I don't know if I can tell you. It's not for me to tell. But you can ask him."

Rachel reached for her toiletry bag and brought out out a flat, curving hairclip and a couple of elastic hair bands. "Here, use these." She threw them at Dan. "Your hair's getting pretty long. Any longer and it won't be regulation anymore."

Dan took it and tried clipping her hair back with the clip. Rachel demoed how.

"You know," Rachel said while Dan experimentally tried clipping her hair and putting it in a ponytail using the elastic, "I thought you didn't like me."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I was afraid you were replacing me..."

"Well, yeah, I thought so, too. But it's not like I had a choice - I was assigned. But Agent Belker told me that he wanted you back. He doesn't say it but he thinks very highly of you."

"Thanks, but... what about you?"

"After my first case, Belker asked the bosses to retain me, so I guess we're partners for real now." Rachel raised her hand and they did a long-distance High Five as they sat on their beds, and giggled. "So I plan to be around for the duration. You okay with that?"

Dan nodded. She was troubled by the giggle - she was worried about these little overt signs of femininity she'd been showing, but she'd been trying to ignore them and concentrate, instead, on the mission. They continued chatting, and Dan felt relieved - Rachel was friendly and didn't seem to be carrying any grudge or whatever.

Sarah came out of the bathroom. "Your turn, Dannie," she said while rubbing her hair.

Dan hurriedly picked up her towel, her former shaving kit (which had mysteriously changed into a toiletry bag), and looked through her overnighter. She grabbed a tanktop and a pair of sweatpants, and hurried to the bathroom - that way, she wouldn't need to look at another girl in a towel.

Sarah giggled. "Wow. Dannie really needed to go to the bathroom."

- - - - -

Dan closed the door and sighed in relief. She didn't need to see another half-dressed girl: it made her nervous. Now, though, she had to take a shower - another thing she was dreading.

She took off her clothes and hung them up. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the mirror and gasped.

She looked gorgeous, if she said so herself: she had an elegant air about her, a magnetic oval-shaped face with accentuated cheekbones and very sensual lips giving her a kind of elfin smile, hazel eyes and a slim figure but with an even slimmer waist giving her a spectacular hourglass figure despite being so svelte. She didn't have much up top as, say, Rachel, but she had more than enough to make people notice. She had a bright idea and checked the clothes she just hung up: looking at the labels, apparently, she was a size 4 and had a 32B bra, a size 9 shoe and a 24-inch waist. She didn't know much about women's sizes but that sounded spectacular to her.

She sighed, turned away from her reflection and started her shower.

Dan tried not to linger as she took her shower. In fact, she rushed through most of her shower with her eyes closed, but she couldn't help notice that her skin felt smoother and softer, and the hair on her head felt thicker and more... luxurious. Still, she rushed through her shower and finished in five minutes. Feeling how thick and long her new hair was, she stopped and decided to use conditioner. She got out the extra bottle she found in her kit, which turned out to be conditioner, applied it and and rinsed.

Eventually, she finished, dried herself quickly and tugged on her plain white tank, bikini panties and sweatpants. She didn't want to step out in a towel.

She took down her stuff and stepped out rubbing her hair vigorously: with her crewcut, it was easy to dry her hair - it used to take a minute to dry and comb out her hair. But what she had now seemed to take more time.

"Dannie?" Rachel said, "some girl from the Palace staff left a supply of laundry bags. Here you go." She threw Dan three net bags - one had a tag that said "wash and fold," another with "wash and press" and another with "dry-clean."

"The girl said it's important to Sir Alfred that everyone be at their best when they were around the Royal Family," Rachel said. "She also said to let Sir Alfred know if we need anything in terms of clothes and toiletries."

"Oh..." Dan said. But she followed the girls' example and filled all three bags with the stuff she had worn even if she only put one or two pieces inside each.

Rachel took all of their bags and went to the "laundry pickup bin" near the main doors.

"They're very strict here," Dan commented.

Sarah shrugged as she brushed her hair. "It's convenient, at least. Royal laundry service, can you believe it," she giggled. Seeing what Sarah was doing, Dan rummaged through her toiletries, found a brush and copied Sarah's example. And, actually, the act of brushing out her hair was soothing, and it also helped to dry it out.

"Feeling cold?" Sarah commented.

"Huh?"

Sarah gestured at Dan's shirt and Dan looked down. She noticed her nipples were showing through her shirt and she turned red in embarrassment.

"Ummm, a little bit," Dan said. She covered herself with her blanket and continued brushing her hair.

Sarah giggled. "No need to be embarrassed, Dan."

"What?" Rachel asked when she came back. "Who's embarrassed."

"Dannie's headlights were showing," Sarah giggled.

"Ahhh..." Rachel commented, noting Dan's blush. She went to the thermostat and turned up the heat a bit.

"So..." Rachel said as she also got under the covers, too, "what's the plan for tomorrow?"

Dan briefed them: Charlie will driving the primary car for the princess, and Dan riding shotgun. In the backup car, Sarah would be the one driving, with Belker riding shotgun and Rachel manning comms. The ones in the backup will spell the others. This could change, of course.

After their first day, though, they'll have to go by ear, but they'll definitely have to institute shifts. She also made sure that they would all be wearing the Type Seven vests (specially made to be more resistant to sharp or edged weapons), and they would load both cars' cargo compartments with a complete set of protection detail ordnance and equipment.

Also, this would only work if a substantial load of the security responsibilities could be offloaded to the royal family's security forces, so she asked if Rachel could help with evaluating them.

Briefing them didn't take much time but the other two girls insisted on chatting, too - nothing special, just talking about a lot of little, inconsequential things - but it was a bit of a novelty with Dan so she listened intently. And though she tried to keep quiet and just listen, Sarah kept trying to bring her into the conversation. Dan chimed in as best she could. Surprisingly, she seemed to have the necessary memories to dip into to chat back, and she realized that it was essentially just her old experiences but transposed to versions more fit for a "Dannie" instead of a "Dan." In twenty minutes, she was chatting as much as the others.

Rachel looked at Dan in amazement - though she had heard of some of Dan's stories before, she realized she didn't know much about "him," but the few details she heard from Dan before that "Dannie" talked about now were skillfully re-imagined to have been from "Dannie" instead of what she knew, and the stories and details she hadn't heard about before hung together so well with the... altered stuff just made all of them feel so real. But then... Rachel had a thought that maybe Dan's memories had also been altered. She needed to talk with Dan about that, but later.

Dan insisted on lights out after a while, though, even though it only felt like four in the afternoon to them, but they finally fell asleep - with the five-hour time difference, they'll need it.

- - - - -

Rachel's and Dan's alarm went off at the same time.

"Dammit!" Rachel mumbled and turned off her alarm. Dan followed suit.

"What time is it?" Sarah said.

"Four AM, local time," Dan said. In their heads, though, it was just eleven PM, and they all had less than four hours of sleep. They all got up and got ready for the day.

In Academy, Dan had to get dressed in front of people so she wasn't too squeamish about it, and didn't act at all pervy with his female classmates during the few times that he had to get dressed with them (the Academy maintained separate bathrooms and changing rooms for men and women, but sometimes situations couldn't be helped), even though he did get a bit of a thrill when he did - nothing pervy: just the kind of thing guys felt when around scantily clad women.

As "Dannie," she was expecting that this would change and the nervousness would disappear, but after last night, she knew this wouldn't happen, and she still had the same sort of thrill as she got dressed with her new team mates. But she thought who could blame her - after all, Rachel and Sarah were hotties. Still, she acted... "gentlemanly," but at the same time tried not to be... stand-offish and still be friendly and casual about it: the last thing she needed was for Sarah to be suspicious about her behavior.

Dan looked through the suits she brought. They were his old guy suits that had mutated into equivalent female versions, as did each piece of clothing she brought. Using her poor woman's fashion sense, she picked the best-looking one, as well as black thigh-high trouser socks, a crisp white dress shirt and some underwear. But the dress shirt turned out not to be a normal dress shirt. From the edge of her vision, she saw Sarah had picked a similar shirt, so she would take cues from Sarah when putting hers on.

Looking at her new clothes, Dan thought about it - if her clothes were from from her old guy clothes, she had to wonder where the bras came from. And then she noticed her ties were missing, so that could mean that's where the bras came from. That could be a good theory. In any case, she didn't have time to worry about that anymore so she just grabbed one of the t-shirt bras. She badly wanted to go to the bathroom to change but the others didn't, so she just followed their example and just changed the way they did.

Following Sarah and Rachel's examples, Dan sat on the edge of her bed, took off her shirt, and slipped on her bra (she did it quickly). It had no clasp so she slid it on like she would a t-shirt and adjusted her breasts in the cups until she felt comfortable. When she was about to slip on her dress shirt, however, she took a few moments to look it over. She would find out later it was what's called a long-sleeve button-up bodysuit - it was like a long-sleeve dress shirt with the bottom attached to something like a pair of bikini panties but with snaps at the crotch.

Looking at Sarah, who had something similar, she aped how she put it on: first, she unsnapped the crotch and dropped it over herself, adjusted it so it fit around her shoulders and torso more comfortably, and stood up a bit, reaching underneath her crotch and pulling the dangling tail part forward. She then clicked the snaps closed, and, suddenly, she had underwear. Straightening up, she felt how the bodysuit fit so closely, but it had enough stretch and give to make it comfortable despite the close fit.

She also realized that she didn't need to tuck the shirt into her pants, and that the panties she got weren't necessary anymore. The final step was buttoning it up like she would a normal shirt. The shirt, though, buttoned left over right, but she adjusted. She then put on the socks, the material of which felt more like nylon pantyhose to her and that they went up past her knees.

After which, she slid on the pants. They felt like a cross between jeggings and slacks, but they looked formal enough, and was more comfortable than any suit pants she has ever worn despite it being close-fitting. Nice. She got the shoes she wore last night, using handfuls of toilet paper to clean and shine them a little bit. She noticed that the shoes had undergone some more changes. They were now what she would learn are Chelsea ankle boots with a two-inch heel. Whether they went with her high-tailored suit, she didn't know, but her other pair was in her bag, and she didn't want to have to go dig them up.

No laces for this one, and she just slipped them on. As a final touch, she slipped her watch on, which had morphed into a fancy women's Bulova. She noted that the leather strap was replaced with a sturdy nylon strap, just like what she did with her old TAG Heuer (it was what many field agents who wore watches with leather straps did). The watch face seemed a little small to her, but it looked good on her narrower wrist.

Her shoulder holster had also morphed, and was now a belt-holster. She clipped it to her belt. Hmmm... Shouldn't be a big change, Dan thought, and did some experimental holster-draws. Although with slight differences, she thought she won't have trouble with it.

"Looking hot, Dannie," Sarah giggled watching her practicing drawing her gun - "lethally hot."

"Thanks, Sarah... I guess."

"Also - fancy suit. Do you mind?"

Dan didn't understand, but nodded nevertheless. Sarah reached over, pulled Dan's coat collar down and peaked at the label of her suit.

"Alexander McQueen!" Sarah exclaimed. "No wonder."

"This was actually a gift from my folks after I finished training at the Academy. A sort of graduation gift. I couldn't afford it on my own. Most of my other stuff are from J. Crew and Target." Which was true, actually. The suit she had picked was the morphed version of one of four that she thought of as Dan's "fancy" office suits, which were graduation gifts from his dad. His dad bought them for him so that he could make a good impression on his boss. It seems they morphed into equally-fancy women's versions.

- - - - -

Rachel noticed her two new partners. Seems they were getting along well. She decided to help that a little bit. "Hey, Dannie," Rachel said, "come here." When Dan came up to her, Rachel spritzed her with something.

"Hey!" Dan said.

"Just some perfume," Rachel giggled. "Looking professional doesn't preclude smelling good." Dan gave her a small frown of irritation.

"That smells nice," Sarah said. "Can I have some of that?" Rachel spritzed her as well.

"Guys," Belker called from the door. Rachel opened it. "Ah, good. You're all ready. We need help loading the cars."

The three hurriedly finished getting ready and helped load their equipment in the cars. While they were, Belker finished setting up their surveillance equipment in their quarters. No audible alarms, of course, but there will be a constant surveillance recording. If anyone broke in, they'll know.

As they were getting into the cars, someone on a motorcycle drove up.

"Good morning, agents," the man said with a slight Scots accent. "I was sent by Sir Alfred, the Master of the Household. You are invited to a ’chiad bhracaist and during which you can meet most of the royal household staff."

"A ’chiad bhracaist?" Rachel asked.

"Apologies - that means 'first breakfast' - that's breakfast for the royal household staff, staggered in shifts, which starts at five AM, and roughly ends at around seven AM."

"Are there a lot of things scheduled for the Princess today?" Belker asked.

"Indeed, yes, sir. Today and tomorrow is her scheduled royal tour of the realm."

"Tour of the realm?" Dan asked.

The man looked at her in a funny way, thinking she looked familiar, but whatever it was, he shrugged it off. "Yes, miss," he replied to Dan. "Princess Lily is to visit ten of the realm's major cities. All the members of the Royal Family are required to do so at this time of the year. For this year, it is the Princess' turn. If it turns out she is unable to complete the tour by tomorrow, there might be a third day. After which, it will be the Royal Jubilee."

"Whoa. What?" They weren't briefed on this. Dan was thinking that this will make things it a little tough, being on the road for two days straight, maybe three. This'll mean she'll need to do some juggling and the five of them will need to do some creative manpower shifting. But, definitely, some of them will be sleeping in the cars. And if it turns out that the royal family's security staff was acceptable, then this might work. But if not...

"What is the Royal Jubilee?" Charlie asked.

"That is the national celebration of the day Caledonia declared itself free and independent. It's roughly similar to your Fourth of July, and it's full of parades, royal balls and royal ceremonies, and, of course, fireworks and parties." The man grinned.

The five looked at each other. This was one big, glaring detail that was not covered in the material they were provided. "Oh, no..." Dan moaned. Heads will roll back in HQ.

- - - - -

The team followed their messenger on his motorcycle, and they were soon at the Luchairt Caledonia, but everyone just called it "The Palace."

They couldn't see it well in the early morning gloom, but they could see enough that they confirmed its close resemblance to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, which was largely the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disneyland - the castle was famed for it, and had thousands of tourists going through the castle every year.

They drove over the castle's main drawbridge and parked in the closest empty space in the staff parking at the back lot.

Their guide led them through a small, secluded heavy door, and they proceeded into what looked like a dining hall. They were brought to the main table at the far end and saw Sir Alfred eating with some of the staff.

Sir Alfred noticed them and stood. "Ah! Our guests from the FBI. Good morning, Agents Belker and Carmichael." He reached out and shook hands. "Agents Walker and Tailor," he gallantly kissed their hands, and turned to Dan. "And, of course, bonnie Agent Shelton. Good mornin' tae ye, Ms Danielle." As he was about to kiss her hand, he stopped in shock. "Guid god!" he exclaimed. "Toby!" he waved to someone, and Toby came over.

"What is it, Sir Alfred," Toby said. Alfred pointed at Dan. Toby turned. "Guid god!" Toby echoed. The commotion grabbed everyone's attention, and soon the entire dining hall had turned to look at them.

Dan didn't understand, and stood still. She was actually afraid to move. In her head, she feared Titania did something worse than just change her gender.

The murmuring was rising. "I cannae believe I dinna notice it last night!" Sir Alfred said.

"What!" Dan said in full panic now. "What is it!"

"Lassie," Toby said to her, "dinnae ye ken wha ye keek lik'?"

"What does that mean!"

"Toby is asking, don't you know who you look like," one of the others at the table translated for her.

"No!" Dan said, "I don't know! Who do I look like!"

"Mah dear," Toby said, "ye keek lik' th' princess."

Based on what Toby said before, Dan understood that one. "The princess?" she said, "I look like the princess? What princess?"

Alfred snapped a finger and someone rushed out of the dining hall. He was back in less than a minute, carrying a gilt-framed picture that was hanging out in the hall outside, and handed it to Alfred, and Alfred handed it to Dan.

Dan looked at it. It was a picture of a gorgeous girl with long, bright-blonde hair. She had a magnetic oval-shaped face with accentuated cheekbones and very sensual lips giving her a kind of elfin smile, hazel eyes and a slim figure. But with an even slimmer waist, it gave her a spectacular hourglass figure despite being so svelte. It was put to spectacular effect by her powder-blue ball gown that clearly had a built-in corset. She didn't have much up top as other girls but she had more than enough to make people notice, especially because of her tiny waist. In other words, except for the longer, bright hair, she looked like Dan, or rather, she looked like the new Dan, aka Dannie.

On the bottom of the frame, it said "Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Lily of Caledonia."

 
Chapter 8: The Princess In Person

After the initial commotion had died down, Sir Alfred told everyone to go back to their meals and had Wolf's team sit down with him to have a some breakfast.

Naturally, Alfred assumed that Dan was picked for this duty because of her close resemblance to the princess, and Alfred wanted to know what the plan was.

Wolf, nor the others had ever seen the princess before - outside of the country, no one had ever really seen any of the royal family, except for the king and queen during state visits and other global events. Yet another hole in the Bureau's research. Wolf had to chalk it up to the hurried nature of the mission planning, and the fact Caledonia was one of the least known, and least-noteworthy countries in the world, insofar is its impact to the global community was concerned.

But with its recent growing visibility and influence given its rising affluence from the uranium and oil deposits that they were just now exploiting, Caledonia was becoming an up-and-coming power in its part of the world, and it was only time before Princess Lily and the other royals would become familiar faces on the global stage.

To Dan, Wolf and Rachel, it never occurred to them that Titania, the little-girl queen of the fairies, would turn Dan into a clone of the Caledonian princess. There must be some kind of purpose behind it. They needed to talk about it. But not now.

At the moment, the five were being introduced to the castle staff, and since they didn't have much time to really do anything more than have a short hi-and-hello to the people that passed by their table, Alfred promised detailed records for each staff-member. Realistically, though, with over a thousand staffers, this was an impossible job. Wolf intended to pass on the information to Josie and the people in HQ for review.

Wolf had to address Dan's looking like a double of the princess, so he told Alfred Dan would double for Her Royal Highness during those times the team deems are too dangerous for her, but other than that, Dan would just be another agent, trusting in the judicious use of sunglasses and a hairclip to avoid comparisons with the princess. Alfred looked at Dan, wondering if sunglasses would be sufficient to hide her similarity to Princess Lily. In the end, Alfred shrugged and left it to the professionals.

After the hi-and-hello, with maps in hand, Alfred toured them through the entire palace, although they didn't really get to go into the royal apartments. They also got to meet the six-person Interpol team that was assigned to the same case. Wolf was briefed about them. Lieutenant Alex Hansen, their lead agent, was prepared to cooperate with Wolf's team, allowing Wolf to take the lead. So they had a quick powwow, and Dan redesigned her shift schedules to accommodate an eleven-man team instead of their original five-man team.

The Interpol team was also fairly well equipped, and had their own vehicle, this time a specially-outfitted Fiat Strada. For the princess's royal tour, Dan added three more of their agents to their shift - one to drive their van and two to be deployed to the princess's royal detail, with the other three, plus Belker and Tailor to act as the second shift. They would most probably make different arrangements for after the tour, and during the Jubilee celebrations, but they could plan that later.

Wolf and Alex concurred wth Dan's plan and informed Alfred. After a quick brief-debrief, their security arrangements were set. They then went for their meeting with the Royal Family.

- - - - -

The eleven - Wolf and his team of four plus Lieutenant Alex Hansen and his five Interpol agents, were introduced to the Royal Family, the Prime Minister, the head of Royal Security and some other VIPs.

It was a small family, actually: there was King Alfonse and his wife, Queen Beatrix, of course; the two youngest - three-year-old Prince Leon, and his older sister, eleven-year-old Princess Clementine; the queen's sister, Lady Althea, and her brother, Lord William; and, of course, Crown Princess Lily.

The royals politely greeted and welcomed them, but their attention was all on Dan. They quizzed Dan mercilessly, but did it as politely as they could. Dan tried to answer as directly and thoroughly as she could, and wasn't worried that her being a former man would come out. After all, everything about her now, even her past, showed that she had always been a girl.

Wolf added some details, saying that his team was selected for this duty simply because Dan had an uncanny resemblance to the princess.

"Uncanny is hardly the word I'd use," King Alfonse said as he stared at her. "Did she undergo any plastic surgery to get this level of... accuracy?"

"Dannie?" Wolf asked.

"Ummm, no, your highness," Dan said. "I have never had any cosmetic surgery. I... did not do anything to be like this."

"Would you consent to a cheek swab and a blood sample, Agent?" Damian Sparrow, the head of Royal Security, asked.

"Excuse me, Mr. Sparrow," Wolf said. "Why?"

"The chance of meeting your doppelganger must be one in a million. So that means, if Agent Shelton wasn't surgically altered, it's more likely she is the princess's twin, or at least related. So..."

"One in a trillion," the second child, Princess Clementine, said.

Everyone paused. No one wanted to ask her as she was royal - people waited for her to speak first, or to be invited to speak, except if one was a royal, as well.

"What did you say, my love?" the queen asked.

"The biologist Teghan Lucas, from the University of Adelaide in Australia," Princess Clementine said, "and her team examined 4,000 different faces from the US Anthropometric Survey database. According to them, the chance of meeting your doppelganger is one in a trillion."

Wolf cleared his throat. "How do you know that, your highness?" he asked.

The princess brought out her smartphone. "I googled it," she said.

"I would not have guessed that," Wolf said into the silence.

- - - - -

Wolf and Alex's teams would later learn that Pricess Clementine was very much into the internet. But after some dicey situations a few years ago when her IP address was traced back to her, and her entire surfing history became public knowledge, she was provided a couple of VPN-protected accounts, and a specially prepared laptop and smartphone that could only read/upload but not write/download. If she wanted to reply or to comment, or even just to like someone's post, she could only do it via the family account, which is vetted and heavily screened.

That incident was actually the reason the Caledonian royal family didn't have a big internet footprint - the family deliberately tried to fly below the radar. No wonder very little was known about them.

There were other things that they would find out about the Royal Family in the course of the mission, and their actions during the mission would solidify American-Caledonian relations for decades to come. But that was all to come later. For now, they had to get through this mission.

Dan agreed to the blood sample and cheek swab, but to make it easy for them, Wolf asked the FBI to email Dan's DNA profile and blood work details.

Mr. Sparrow thanked them and did comparisons, and, no, Dan was not some long-lost royal daughter or relative, although the white blood cell typing showed that the two could be organ donors for each other. Further, Sparrow noted some small physical differences, such as a slight difference in the bridge of their noses, a slight difference to the color of their eyes, the shape of the ears and, of course, the hair. But these were slight differences that would be missed without a detailed side-by-side examination of the two.

In any case, they started the royal day a little delayed. But they did. The entire family got dressed in their best finery, and Damian and his people started the integration of Wolf's and Alex's teams into the royal entourage.

After a short ceremony on the castle's main balcony, where the king made a speech to commemorate the day, Princess Lily waved to the people and started her Tour of the Realm.

As predicted, Princess Lily picked the Rolls Royce Phantom as her car. She had also selected Dan as her personal security person, temporarily replacing her personal bodyguard (who was temporarily detailed to Princess Clementine and Prince Leon).

So, inside the Phantom was the princess, her body-man and secretary Howard, and Dan. In the front, separated by a bulletproof glass partition, Charlie was the driver, and Sarah sat in front with him to ride shotgun.

The rest of their team rode in their cars, with the Bentley immediately in front of the Phantom, and the Fiat immediately behind. The rest of the entourage followed. On either side of the cars were the Caledonian Royal Guard in royal livery riding horses, also in royal livery.

"So," Princess Lily said to Howard in a voice uncannily similar to Dan's, but with a noticeable Scots brogue, "how long before we get to the first city?"

"About an hour, your highness," Howard said. Howard was a small, neat man that had a fastidious air about him. If one had to, one would say Howard felt like an accountant.

"Darn. And I'm getting hungry, too."

Dan wondered, if she was feeling hungry, why doesn't she eat?

"I believe there are some snacks in the mini fridge, if you'd like a snack, your highness," Dan said, and opened the fridge.

"Thank you agent," the princess said, "but I'd rather not."

"These tours usually involve the princess having a snack or something with the people," Howard said. "So the princess tries not to fill up with food if she can."

"Ahhh."

The princess shrugged. "'Tis a small sacrifice for the privilege of being their princess."

"You don't seem to be too happy about being a princess, your highness," Dan commented.

"Oh, I am, I am. I guess I'm just worried that I might not be worthy of the privilege." She sighed. "My family essentially has the power of life and death over these people, deciding what is proper or not, what is legal or not, who is right or wrong. But, except for an accident of birth, I am no better than any other person. So I have to prove I'm worthy. We call them our people, but more than that, I am their princess. I must be worthy of that privilege."

Dan looked at the princess, impressed.

The princess looked through the large bulletproof windows that Charlie had unpolarized so people could see inside. She smiled and waved to the people who lined the street, and they cheered.

Now, Dan understood why she and Howard had to sit on the opposite seat, leaving the princess sitting alone. It wasn't in deference to her being a royal, but it was to allow the people unrestricted view of her as they plied the parade route. And that was also why Howard turned on the cabin light, and that was also why the soldiers on horseback had kept the passenger doors clear - so people could see her better. Wolf and Alex weren't too happy with that arrangement, as it made the car less secure, but they acceded. Dan understood now.

The princess switched sides and waved through the opposite window.

"Tell me, Agent Shelton," the princess said as she waved, "what made you agree to have plastic surgery. It seems to me that was a large sacrifice for this assignment."

"Ummm, no, your highness," Dan replied, "I didn't have any surgery. I'm just like this."

The princess looked at her. "I'm sensing something more that you're not saying. But I won't pry."

Dan sighed in relief. "Thank you, your highness."

"So you were selected for this mission for your resemblance to me?"

"Ummm..."

"You can be frank. It'll just be between us. Don't you agree, Howard?"

"Of course, your highness," her body man replied. "We will not tell anyone else."

She looked at Dan in expectation.

"Well," Dan said, "to be frank, we actually didn't know what you or the rest of the royal family looked like. So this resemblance between the two of us wasn't a factor in my selection - it was purely accidental..."

Howard and the princess looked at her in incredulity. "But Agent Belker said..."

Dan shrugged. "Sir Alfred made an assumption, and Agent Belker thought it... indelicate to contradict him."

The princess broke out laughing heartily. Howard was struggling to control himself, too.

From then on, the atmosphere in the car was more congenial, and the princess was more open and at ease, but because of the nature of her job, Dan couldn't as open but she was more at ease.

As they made their way through the throngs of Caledonian well-wishers, with the princess waving, they got to know each other more. The princess told her about life as a royal, and Dan told her a little bit about he life as an agent. Dan predicated her stories, though, with the fact that she was less than six months in the Bureau. But it was more the princess talking than her, so it was fine.

Dan got the distinct impression that Princess Lily was a little lonely, and was glad to be able to talk to someone like her. Dan supposed the princess had a very sheltered life, and welcomed the opportunity to talk.

After a while, though, Dan got the impression that the princess was interested in her in... a romantic kind of way: the princess was touching her frequently, mostly in a casual way - like patting her arm or things like that - but she thought it was a little too frequently, and a little more intimately than a casual chat would warrant.

Dan supposed her looking like the princess's double gave the princess a bit of a narcissistic attraction for Dan, so Dan understood it a bit. Besides, Dan found herself attracted to the princess, as well.

Before three in the afternoon, they had gone to two cities already, and by that time, she was familiar with the routine: they'd stop a few blocks away from where the princess would be making a speech, which would be the city square or a park, and the princess will walk through the crowd to the square, shaking hands and and kissing babies, and then she'd make a rousing, patriotic speech. Afterwards, she'd go through some town display or fair, and she'd give out awards or sample some of the local cuisine on display (after one of her people tried them out first, of course), and then they'd continue on.

And they didn't expect much change from this routine, though the next "city" was more rustic than the first two.

When their car stopped, someone knocked on the car roof. "All right, your highness," Howard said. "We're here."

The princess wagged her eyebrows at Dan. "It's showtime," she said.

Dan nodded. "We're ready," Dan said into her wrist, put on her sunglasses and pushed the button to unlock the cabin.

Sarah opened the door and Dan stepped out, followed by Howard, who handed out the princess.

The princess stepped out, smiling and waving to the crowd. The crowd roared.

With Sarah, Dan and their fellow agents flanking her, the princess waded in and started shaking hands. After a few minutes, they were well into the crowd, and Dan and the agents were hard-pressed to keep the crowd back.

Suddenly, a couple of hands shot out of the throng and grabbed the princess by her right arm. She screamed.

Being the one nearest th princess, Dan pulled her gun out and, using its butt, she slammed it on the intruders' hands. With screams of pain, they let go, allowing Dan to pull the princess away. Someone wielding a big knife stabbed at Dan, but Dan's vest stopped the blade and made it slide to the side.

Dan used her gun and fired into the man wielding the knife. The man fell, and Dan grabbed the knife.

The crowd screamed at the gunshots, and they scattered, leaving the princess, Dan and her fellow agents standing with over a dozen people wearing elf costumes with bows and arrows.

With a rebel yell, one of the costumed attackers brought out a sword and swung it down. Dan, using the knife she picked up, parried the sword and caught the blade in her knife's guard. Using all her strength, she barely managed to push the sword-wielding man away, and fired her gun into him.

Someone else brought out a crossbow and fired a bolt into Dan. The bolt had such power behind it that Dan was thrown backward.

"Dannie!" the princess cried and ran to Dan's side. By then, the others had their guns out and fired into the costumed attackers. The attackers brought out more bows and crossbows and started firing back. The agents dove for cover and fired from their positions. This made the attackers turn and flee.

As they were running away, Dan, who wasn't dead, struggled to a sitting position. Grabbing at a fallen sword, she lifted it over her head and threw it like a javelin. The sword flew through the air and embedded itself into the back of one of the fleeing attackers.

Wolf and Alex ran up to them.

The first thing they did was to ascertain if the princess was all right. Clearly not shot or injured, Alex grabbed the princess and ran her back to the armored car while Wolf kneeled to check Dan.

"You okay, kid?" Wolf asked

Dan nodded. "Are they gone?"

"Yes. Mr. Sparrow has the military chasing them now."

"Oh, good," Dan sighed, and fainted.

 
Chapter 9: Break from the Parade

The Royal Tour was postponed for a while, but the people understood the reason and didn't complain. The local news covered the attack, as as did international outlets like CNN. Details of the attack were all over, and the people were grateful to the Interpol and the DSX agents on the ground. They were especially grateful to Dan, and she was celebrated as a hero by the people.

At the moment, though, the hero was in the Palace infirmary having a full physical, and it turned out she was totally fine, except for some spectacular bruises on her lower chest and torso. The Type Seven vest provided excellent protection, and saved her life. In fact, though the royal family doctor recommended a few days' rest, no one gainsaid Dan when she said she wanted to get back on duty.

Interpol and DSX sent over several more agents, with the CIA and other security agencies offering their own resources. But the king and, especially, the princess, declined the extra help except those coming from Interpol and DSX.

After Dan got out of the royal infirmary, the princess asked to meet her.

Dan knocked on the door to the princess' bedchamber. Her lady-in-waiting opened the door and ushered Dan in.

Dan saw the princess with the king, queen, and her younger siblings. Seeing Dan come in, everyone bade the princess goodbye. Dan bowed and waited for the royal family to step out of the room.

After the door closed, the princess rushed to her and gave her a hug.

"Ummm, thank you, your highness," Dan said, taken aback, wincing as the princess squeezed her.

The princess pulled back when she saw Dan's expression. "Oh! Sorry. Are you all right?"

"Just a few bruises, your highness," Dan said. "But I'm fine."

"Will you stop calling me that?" the princess said. "I think we're past that. Why don't you call me Lily?"

"Ummm, I don't think I'd feel comfortable calling you Lily."

The princess shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Dan was right about the princess liking her, but Danhad clearly underestimated the depth of the princess's feelings for her.

"What may I do for you?" Dan asked.

The princess dragged her to a couch and they sat.

"You are truly all right?" the princess asked.

"Yes. Just a few bruises, like I said."

"I don't know how you escaped being skewered. You're like Supergirl."

"It was the vest I was wearing. If I wasn't wearing it, I'd probably be dead."

The princess pshawed that. "So what happens to the Royal Tour now?"

"Well, the ones that attacked us have escaped capture. We think they'll try again. And if you resume your tour, they will definitely try again."

The princess stood up, angry, and paced up and down.

"Princess?"

"No," she said. "I will not be scared off by a bunch of thugs. The tour will resume, starting tomorrow."

"But..."

"No. No one can intimidate Caledonians. The tour will resume."

"What will the king say?"

The princess shrugged. "He will not be happy," she said, "but he will not stop me - it's my decision to make, and I have made up my mind."

"Princess, can we at least wait for reinforcements?"

"When will your DSX associates arrive?"

"They're en route at the moment, and will be arriving later tonight."

"Good. Brief them or whatever needs to be done, but we will resume the tour tomorrow." She looked at Dan. "Do not try to change my mind, dearest. I have decided."

"All right. Then I need to meet with Agent Belker." She stood up.

"Do what you have to do, my dearest," the princess said, came over and gave her a small kiss. "I will see you later."

- - - - -

Wolf, Alex and the entire team were in their quarters.

"The princess wants the tour to continue?" Wolf asked. "What did the king say about that?"

Dan shrugged. "I don't know," she said, "but the princess is definite, and she said the king will not stop her."

"You are confident of that, Agent Shelton?" Alex asked.

"Yes, sir," Dan signed.

Alex looked at Wolf. "I believe her," Alex said to Wolf. "So what do we do?"

So they started making plans.

In the morning, they met with Sir Alfred and Mr. Sparrow. They knew about their princess' intentions, and they made a call to Wolf. Now, they were synching up their plans with Wolf and his agents. With ten more DSX agents and ten more Interpol agents, they now had enough people for a full security-protection detail. They deployed twenty people for the on-the-ground shift, with ten in reserve to replace the them in staggered shifts.

The deployment was now different, with ten sent ahead to secure the area where the princess will speak, and ten in the vehicles. The royal guard would maintain their role as guards en route, with the DSX/Interpol team to take over upon arrival at the city. As for Dan herself, she would be detached from the regular team, and would accompany the princess twenty-four/seven.

Dan didn't mind much, but she worried that her suits wouldn't last. She felt stupid bringing something so petty, but Sir Alfred said her laundry would be processed immediately, and would provide her with more wardrobe selections later if needed.

The DSX had sent over new bulletproof protection, this time with what looked like cotton-nylon pajama jumpsuits or... onesies. The difference was that, though the torso provided protection just like their Type Seven vests, there was also protective armor on the upper and lower arms as well as on the thighs and calves. They were light and close-fitting so they could fit under their street clothes, just like the vests, but with the equivalent of rebraces, vambraces, cuisses and greaves from a medieval suit of armor.

They were also provided collapsible police batons as well as tactical knives in case they had to go toe-to-toe with sword-wielding attackers.

Wolf also made sure their Interpol partners were similarly equipped, and gave them their own armored jumpsuits, plus the same batons and knives.

When Dan put on her protective... onesie, she found it light and close-fitting enough that it didn't show she was wearing one underneath her clothes. And it was only slightly warm but not enough to be uncomfortable.

She got her stuff and, with the help of the royal valets, had them brought up to the suite beside the princess's bedchamber. This suite was meant for the princess's lady-in-waiting, but it seems that the princess didn't want that. She wanted Dan to share her room with her. Well...

Dan walked into the princess's royal bedchamber, and found a collapsible partition was set up to give Dan her own area. The partition, though, wasn't really a wall, but was at least adequate enough for privacy.

The king and the queen had words to say about that, not to mention Sir Alfred and the royal protocol office, but the princess was adamant. And if it weren't for the danger posed by the attackers, they wouldn't have agreed to it. As it was, they said having a professional security agent in such close proximity to the princess was actually a good thing.

The princess got ready, and Dan stayed in her side of the room as the princess prepared.

"I'm all set," the princess called, and Dan came around the partition.

"Your highness..." Dan began, but words failed her. "You're so beautiful..."

The princess giggled and primped for Dan. "Thank you, dear," the princess said. "You're beautiful, too."

They stepped out of the room and continued down to the forecourt hand in hand, where the entire royal entourage was waiting.

Like yesterday, the princess, Howard and Dan stepped into the Phantom, and they started the day...

This time, the tour went without a hitch, and, in fact, they finished five cities, with the last two on the list reserved for the following day. As expected, there was about an hour of driving in between each city, and Dan and the princess got to know each other more. Dan knew she had to maintain a level of detachment to people she had to help or protect, but she was finding it harder and harder to do that with the princess.

In any case, the day ended well, and they returned to the palace without incident. Dan left the princess with the royal family, with security tripled, and went to the team debriefing.

The team had nothing out of the ordinary to report, but as they were meeting, someone called Dan on her phone.

She looked at the number: it was Mr. Sparrow.

"Yes, sir, this is Agent Shelton. Yes, sir... Yes, sir. Is the information confirmed? ... Yes, sir... Right away." She shut off her phone and turned to Wolf.

"Boss," Dan said, "Caledonian police reported a convoy of three large vans was caught speeding on the highway, and are travelling from the north-east towards the direction of the palace."

"How do they know they're traveling to the palace?"

"They fired on the police with crossbows and longbows..."

"Oh."

"I have to get back, sir. I've been... summoned by the princess."

Wolf shooed her away. "Go already," he said. Dan hurried back to the Palace while Wolf and Alex got their people organized.

Dan got to the princess's bedchamber, but it was empty. "Princess!" Dan called, but she wasn't in the room. She rushed out and hurried to the royal sit-room. On the way, she bumped into Mr. Sparrow.

"I can't find the princess!" she said.

"Neither can we," he said.

"How about CCTV cameras?"

"No trace, but there are three areas where surveillance has failed."

"Where?"

"At the sit-room, the forecourt and the main balcony. We're actually getting the cameras reactivated in a minute."

"Okay, send people to the sit-room and the forecourt. I'll go to the main balcony."

Sparrow nodded and brought out his radio. Dan ran for the main balcony.

Arriving there, he saw two "elves" carrying the princess by her legs and shoulders bound and gagged.

Dan brought out her sidearm."FBI!" she called. "Put down the princess and put your hands above your heads!"

They did put down the princess but they didn't put up their hands. Instead, they brought out crossbows and fired at her.

Dan dived behind a low balcony wall and fired over it. Several bolts flying over the wall made Dan stop.

After a lull he snuck a peek, and saw the invaders start to pick up the princess. Dan leapt over the wall and rushed them as she fired. The two about to pick her up went down. Dan tried lifting the princess but she found she didn't have her old upper body strength.

"Sorry, princess," she apologized, and dragged the princess by her armpits instead.

They heard some people scrambling up the wall, so Dan tried to drag the princess behind the low wall where she was a moment ago, but she didn't make it - "elves" came up from the wall and brought out swords.

Dan pulled up her gun again and fired. She got two more, but she eventually ran out of bullets. The remaining invaders came out and walked slowly towards them. Dan knew they didn't have crossbows because they would have fired them already, so she stood up and brought out her police baton.

Holding it like a sword, she ran to the enemy yelling. She parried the first slash, the sword blade bouncing off her baton with a clang, And punched the "elf" in the face, knocking him cold.

Pain radiated from her fist to her shoulder, but she couldn't let it stop her. Another one attacked her and she parried his blade as well. Dan used her baton to hit the man on the side of the head and he fell down.

The others moved back a bit and Dan stooped to grab one of the fallen swords. As she was picking it up, one of them slashed downwards with his sword.

Not thinking, she brought her arm up and the sword hit her armored forearm. The "elf" was surprised that his sword didn't cut her arm off, but Dan, taking advantage of his surprise, thrust her sword into the man's torso. The man fell backward dead.

The other two started hacking at Dan, but she was fully protected by her suit. Unless they make a lucky slash at her elbows or joints, or directly at her head, Dan would be okay.

From behind her, someone yelled.

"FBI!" Rachel said, and the remaining "elves" looked up.

Taking that opportunity, Rachel, Sarah, Charlie and the other FBI agents fired and got the remaining elves, one of them falling off the balcony and into the forecourt below.

Dan ran to the princess, and Rachel followed. "Are you and the princess okay?" Rachel asked.

Dan nodded. She gently took off the princess's gag and worked on the knots tying her hands. Her FBI team mates went around the balcony and ascertained there were no other people there, and went back to Dan and the princess.

By the time they got got back to the two, Dan and the princess were in a major lip lock.

Sarah giggled. "Oh, Dannie..." she sighed.

 
Epilogue: Reluctant Princess

Three days later, Caledonia's Royal Jubilee started.

The situation between Dan and the princess was all over Caledonia by then. Because, from the moment Dan got to the main balcony, Sir Alfred's staff were able to turn the deactivated CCTV cameras back on, and every second of Dan's battle with the "elves" was recorded, and subsequently leaked to the local media, including their clinch at the end.

Normally, such a thing would have been met with universal condemnation, but the fact Dan almost single-handedly repelled the attack and rescued their beloved princess changed that. Plus her braveness, prowess and apparent invulnerability impressed the citizens immensely. The fact that she was wearing body armor underneath her clothes leaked did not diminish her reputation in the least.

Also, the people were in full approval of the two's relationship. And though the king and queen didn't need to accede to popular opinion, they still had to consider it. The king couldn't openly approve of the relationship, of course, so he took the easy way out and let it be known that it was the choice of the princess.

As for the "attack of the elves" (as it was being called), information unearthed by the CIA and Interpol revealed that two of the slain attackers were actually retainers of the Elbereth Family of Andorra, and had undergone plastic surgery to give them pointed ears. The ones captured alive were part of the supposed Andorran royal family, and told the authorities all they knew. Unfortunately, they knew little. But they did know about the kidnapped princesses, and that they were to kidnap Princess Lily as well.

This was incontrovertible proof that the attacks were indeed engineered by Andorra. So the DSX team assigned to Andorra pulled out right away, and a rescue operation is being mounted by a combined EU-UN force. But for now, they were exhausting all other options to force Andorra to give up the six princesses they kidnapped.

The precise reasons behind the kidnappings were still unknown, as well as the reason for the unusual... manner of the kidnapping (although Crown Princess Aubree of Andorra, as well as her mother, had a reputation for being a little loopy). But it was just a matter of time before that would be discovered, too. Per CIA intel, Andorra was actually in a panic now, but they still didn't want to admit they kidnapped the princesses. Still, no one was worried that the Andorrans would kill the kidnapped royals, as it was to Andorra's best interest to keep them alive.

DSX, in cooperation with Interpol and other American and European security agencies, were working with each other to create a rescue plan. They were expecting everyone from the original team assigned to Caledonia to join, but it wasn't going to happen anytime soon - at best, it would be in a month, and only if the present avenues being explored didn't work.

That was good, because Princess Lily had invited Dan to stay for a visit, and Dan's boss approved Dan's request for leave straight away. Additionally, the Admiral, DSX's big boss, even extended the leave for an extra two weeks at full pay.

Wolf, Alex, Charlie, Sarah and Rachel all requested leaves as well, but they were only granted a week instead of the month that was approved for Dan. But least that was enough for them to be able to attend the Royal Jubillee and see the beautiful sights of Caledonia.

As for Dan and Princess Lily...

To make their twin-thing even stronger, the princess cut her hair as short as Dan's, and had it colored to the same shade as Dan's. And with that, the two did indeed looked like twins.

They were at the beginnings of falling in love, but only time would tell will tell if it will last.

- - - - -

It was one of the best Royal Jubilees ever, especially after the events of the so-called "Elf Invasion." But after midnight, the country-wide party had started to wind down.

As a final hurrah of the Jubilee, after midnight, hundreds of rockets were fired into the sky. That particular year's fireworks display was considered the best in years, and everyone couldn't help but be awed by the incredible light show.

Dan and Princess Lily walked the palace grounds hand in hand, and would take frequent breaks to make out. They did try to do so when no one was around, but it wasn't like they were trying to hide it, nor hide from the paparazzi. And the entire country was excited about the budding romance between their princess and the superhero secret agent, even though a few traditional Caledonians were against it. So any "compromising" pictures the paparazzi would take were hardly compromising anymore.

Dan and the princess walked by the Palace fountains and ooohed and ahhhed at the beautiful fireworks in the clear Caledonian night sky, and would nod and say hello to the citizens that would come up to them. There was royal security newly assigned to specifically protect to the princess (the FBI and Interpol agents had been pulled out after Dan got the "elves"): even though the risk of the "elves" coming back was minor, a large security contingent was assigned to protect the princess, but now their duties included protecting Dan as well. But being royal security staff, they were good at being inconspicuous, so Dan and the princess didn't mind.

About Titania - although Dan only had her own situation, and the situation of Agent Belker's friend Jackie as a personal basis, the research she did into Titania, as hurried as it was, did unearth one common thing, aside from the gender change: that, after their gender change, all of Titania's victims interacted with royalty in some important way, and the victims' gender change was necessary for those interactions, with the results of those interactions being good things - like Jackie's world-class day care center, and Dan's rescuing Princess Lily (and helping in the recovery of the other kidnapped princesses). Just like the dozen or so stories that she found on the net. That made her think that Titania was some kind of... guardian angel for the royals. But Dan needed to do more research: the stories she found were all sketchy - she needed to flesh them out more.

Early on, Rachel and Agent Belker promised they'd help her solve the mystery of her little fairy queen girl after their case was over. It wasn't completely over, though, but their part of it was. Unless they volunteered to be part of the rescue operation. So Dan knew they could start mystery solving soon.

But Dan's career as a field agent might actually be over now, because all the news coverage meant she couldn't be anonymous anymore. And since she didn't want to be stuck with desk duty, she thought that she might have to resign. Still only time would tell. She told the princess that she might have to resign, but if she did, the princess said Dan was welcome to stay and be her personal security guard, and the two of them giggled.

In the coming weeks and months, when Dan was over to visit, the siblings - Leon, Clementine and Lily - would collaborate with each other and make Dan take over for Lily during boring formal events while the three would do something they couldn't together before because of Lily's royal duties. Dan didn't like it, and joked that it was some kind of royal conspiracy, but the three loved her for it. Talk about being a reluctant princess. But at least Dan was getting lots of practice being Lily, and after a while, she was able to do it almost effortlessly, with none of the Caledonians being aware of anything. She did it because she loved her princess, and because the princess loved her, too.

In the fullness of time, the king and the queen, and, especially, Lily's young siblings, would come to love her, too, and the king and queen, as the entire country, would get used to the idea that the next royal couple might be a queen and a queen consort. If so, Lily's heir would have to be the offspring of her brother and sister, but Lily didn't mind that, and the royal rules of succession allowed for it.

But only time would tell what their future would be.

(Should this be continued? Please comment.)

 

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