Chapter Note: The pipeline material for this story is almost used up. We will be switching to a 'just in time' inventory system here soon. Meaning, longer delays between chapters. Sorry, but I will try not to end a chapter on too big of a cliffhanger. Maybe a step-hanger. The next part of Jade Skirt is going through my final proof read/edit and might see the light of day in less than a week.

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

Hector arrived home to the sight of two squad cars parked outside his house. The officers were talking to Mrs. Hollingsworth and his front door was still open.  He parked his bike on the driveway and after showing the officers his license to prove that he lived there, they accompanied him into his house to take stock of the damage.  Their new HDTV, Blu-ray player, Stereo, DVD and CD collection were all gone.  All of Greg’s computers were missing, but worst of all, there was no MAU on his bed. He checked under the bed, but nothing.  Hector’s room was mostly untouched, but his comic book collection was missing, the bastards!

Missing from the garage was his generator, but Greg’s MAU thing was still present. He still wasn’t sure what it did, but it was a good thing Greg made it look so broken down. They had to find the MAU before the cops did. Wheelie was also missing and that also worried him. What if the thieves discovered he was a robot? In the movie, Wheelie had a radio. Maybe Greg could talk to him and find out where he was?

It only took him 15 minutes to file the police report with a list of the things he noticed missing. The officers gave him a number to call if he discovered anything else missing, but they didn’t sound very hopeful. They told him there had been a rash of robberies in the area, but they had all been non-violent and they had no leads to follow. Hector interpreted the “non-violent” to mean, low priority.

As the two officers were leaving, a black Toyota Yaris pulled into the driveway. Except for the car, the man and woman who got out screamed Men in Black. They even wore black suits. The man had the clean-shaven, no-nonsense look that screamed ‘I’m a fed hardass’, but he thought the woman was kind of pretty, although her suit did nothing for her figure. That thought made Hector shiver because he somehow knew that if her suit jacket only had a little more structure; it would really show off her figure.  He had watched one episode of “What Not to Wear” three years ago with an ex-girlfriend and now he remembered that he learned something about women’s fashions?  The machine was evil.

Hector sent a quick text to Greg’s cell phone and he hoped he could get it while in robot form.

>Feds here

The two agents or whatever they were walked up to his front door as he put his phone back into his pocket. “Are you Hector Vasquez?”

“Yes, but who are you?”

They reached into their breast pockets and showed him badges that claimed they worked for the FBI. They looked real to him. Maybe their robbery actually was a federal case now? 

“I’m Agent L and this is Agent P.” The male agent said as he gestured to the female agent with the poorly cut suit jacket.

Hector didn’t like the sound of that. No one identifies themselves using only letters. “That’s it for names? How do I know those badges aren’t fakes?”

The man ignored his question. “We have a few questions to ask regarding a web search you or someone in this residence made regarding a possible alien device.” He handed Hector an official looking letter.

He scanned the legal sounding document and realized it was a National Security Letter. It gave the agents carte blanche to do whatever they wanted and worst of all, he couldn’t tell anyone, not even his mother. Due to the oath he swore to defend the Constitution from enemies, both foreign and domestic, the NSL kind of pissed him off.

Hector handed the letter back to the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Agent L glared at Hector. “Sir, we can do this the hard way or the easy way, your choice. The hard way is, I make a call and tell the Department of Homeland Security that we have evidence of a possible terrorist cell making bombs here.  You don’t want that, do you?”

Hector wanted to punch the man in his face for threatening him like that. He didn’t spend four years serving his country, fighting for freedom in some other country and getting his ass shot at by insurgents to come home to this kind of Gestapo shit, but short of killing them both, what could he do?  Killing the pair would only make things worse and in spite of how he felt, he wasn’t a cold blooded killer.

Agent P glanced worriedly at Agent L and touched his arm to interrupt him. “Look, Sergeant Vasquez. We have your service record and we know you were in the Army. We don’t like resorting to threats, but this is bigger than just ‘National Security’ and I think we both know it, right?” She smiled encouragingly.

Reluctantly, Hector nodded as some of the tension began to leave his body.

Agent P continued. “So, why don’t we try the easy way? You invite us inside where we can talk about what you know or don’t know. If nothing, we leave and all is good. If you have the device, hand it over and again, we leave and all is good. We were never here and you never saw this device.”

Hector sighed with defeat as he let the two agents enter his house. “It’s not here.”

“What?” Agent L turned back.

“It’s not here anymore. Our house was broken into. That’s why the police were here when you pulled up. Someone robbed our house.”

“Our house?” Agent P asked.

With the agents here, he doubted Greg would be able to change into his Pretender form and he would probably send Michelle in his place. “Yes, me and my girlfriend, Michelle. She’s on her way here now.”  With that warning, Hector heard Greg and Michelle pull up and the garage door begin to open.  He led the agents into the living room. “She’ll be inside in a few, but can I get you two something to drink while we wait?”

“No thanks, we’re fine.” Agent L said as he surveyed the remains of the living room.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I get a beer, then. It’s been a rough night.” Hector grabbed a beer from the fridge and wondered what was taking Michelle so long to come into the house. He was a little worried that Michelle would give it away, but she seemed pretty sharp. Thus, he felt a little surprised when Greg, as Scarlett walked into the house instead of Michelle.

“Umm, Michelle.” He gestured toward the living room. “This is Agent L and the lady is Agent P.”

Greg looked at Hector with confusion. “Say what?”

“I know, strange names, but they know about the MAU, honey.” Hector said as he reached to give Greg a hug.

Instead of allowing himself to be hugged, Greg panicked and ran to his room. “Oh my god! Where is it? I have to get out of my costume!”

Hector stared helplessly after him as the female agent followed Greg into his room.  So much for keeping his change a secret.  10 or so seconds later he heard Greg wail. “It’s gone! What am I going to do? I can’t go to work like this!”

Agent L walked over. “I take it, she isn’t really Michelle, your girlfriend?” He didn’t seem terribly surprised.

“No, _she’s_ Greg, my room-mate.” Hector numbly sat down on the couch and wondered where Michelle was. She must be hiding out in the garage. We understood why Greg would want to protect her from all this, but her jeep was parked out front. How would they explain that and what was taking Greg so long in his room with the female agent?

“Umm, do you mind if I bring my bike in? I wouldn’t want to have it get stolen.” Hector stood and placed his untouched beer on the coffee table.

“Sure, do you need a hand?” Agent L asked.

“I can get it, but thanks.” Hector made his way to the garage with Agent L following him. He couldn’t very well ask the dude to not follow him. It would be suspicious. He hoped Michelle was good at hiding.

Hector didn’t spot her when he entered the garage. He guessed she was hiding in Greg’s car. The agent kept him in sight the entire time and poked around the garage. He didn’t spot Michelle either and Hector really wondered where she was hiding because she was good.  He felt something tap him on his shoulder and turned around. Nothing and the agent was looking out of the garage, toward Michelle’s jeep.  He looked up and there was Michelle. She was crouched down in the rafters. Her imaged wavered and she disappeared right before his eyes.

“Whose Jeep is that?” Agent L asked.

Hector really didn’t like that guy. Was the damn guy telepathic or something? “Oh, that’s Michelle’s. Greg’s girlfriend’s Jeep. She needed a ride to the airport and didn’t want to pay for parking.” Hector prayed Michelle had a way to tell Greg what he just told Agent L because if not, their story would fall apart faster than a trailer park in a tornado. 

Greg felt a little ashamed to admit it, but when Hector called him Michelle and then said the MAU was missing, he panicked. With the female cop or agent on his heels, he entered his room and began a desperate search for the MAU.  It wasn’t on his bed and his room looked pretty ransacked.  At a loss for what to do, he opened up the Bluetooth link with Michelle. {“Michelle! It’s not here!”}

{“Relax honey...we can get through this together, I love you, remember?”} Michelle’s calm and soothing voice came over his internal comm unit.

Greg activated his calming breath subroutine and the familiarity of the human reaction helped him relax. {“Thanks. I would be so lost without you...”}

Agent P, the female agent, leaned casually against the doorframe. “Any luck?”

“No, everything is gone.” He pointed to his now very messed up bed. “It was right here when I left, but not anymore. I checked everywhere.  I’m so screwed.”

Agent P nodded sympathetically. “I wouldn’t say you’re ‘screwed’, but I think that after a few months, you might not feel so bad.”

Greg snorted with disbelief. “Is this the part where you explain to me that the other half of the population is female and they get along just fine? You will just adapt and maybe even come to enjoy being a woman?”

{“Hey! Be nice...”} Michelle hissed.

Agent P was about to reply, but Greg beat her. “Sorry, I know, or maybe I think, you’re trying to help me here, but I’m just not ready for all this.” He gestured to his body. “It’s a little overwhelming, you know?”

“Do you mind if I lend you a hand and help you search?” Agent P asked.

Greg sat down on his bed, careful to keep his weight compensators going. It would not be good to break his bed right now. “Go ahead, but you’ll only find some of my old and dirty socks, or something.”

“What’s this?” She held up his Black Widow costume.

“Umm, well...” Greg’s blush subroutine fired.

Agent P struggled not to smile, but her eyes betrayed her. “Do you mind if I keep this?” Greg shook his head no. “Thanks, it will help our materials researchers.  I would ask for your current costume, but it would leave you without clothes and this one here.” She placed his costume into a black evidence bag. “Should suffice.”

{“Did she find your Black Widow costume? If so, she probably just wants it for herself!”} Michelle giggled softly.

{“Shhh, meanie...”} Greg stopped his smile subroutine before it could start.

After she sealed up the bag, Agent P turned back to Greg. “So, Greg, I know my partner can be a bit, gruff at times, but we’re only trying to help.”

{“Gruff? Ha! The dude sounds like a jerk!”} Michelle laughed.

“Yeah...” Greg nodded and looked away to hide his amusement at Michelle’s assessment of Agent L. He heard the garage door opening.

{“Uh oh, Hector and some other dude are here now. It looks like Hector is getting his bike.”} Michelle calmly noted.

{“You’re hiding, right?”}

{“Duh...”} Michelle giggled. {“Of course silly. I just hope this chameleon thing works as well as it looks like it is.”}

{“Yeah, me too...”} Greg muttered.

{“Oh, Hector told him I parked my jeep here so you could give me a ride to the airport.”}

{“Good, thanks. I hope it works because I don’t want them knowing about you. I don’t trust these guys because there is no such thing as, ‘Hi, we’re from the government and we’re here to help you.’”}

As Greg and Michelle plotted, Agent P took his office chair, opened her briefcase, extracted a laptop and set it on his desk.  Greg noticed it had a cellular network card plugged into it and after she opened it, a login screen with FBI emblazoned in the middle of a blue background appeared.  She typed in a hidden login ID and password, and then placed her badge on the side, next to a small USB dongle and a screen with “Witness Protection” popped up.

Agent P spun around to face him. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “I realize it might be rather sudden and it doesn’t seem real, yet, but, just in case, we should get started on a new identity for you.”

Michelle whistled appreciatively. {“Wow, she works fast...”}

“Umm, okay, but are you sure it’s needed? I mean, what if the police find our stuff?” Greg wanted to say, ‘we find our stuff’, because he hadn’t given up and he knew he couldn’t really count on the police to find it.  Even if they did find it, the government would take it and never let him use it to turn himself back to normal.

Agent P spun back around to face her laptop. “Well, if they find it and we can change you back, then nothing is needed, but this can take a week or two and it’s best to start ASAP.”

Agent P had to be lying about changing him back. “Oh, okay. I guess.” Greg said.

Agent P entered some information on the screen. Stuff like hair color, eye color, height, she paused. “5’ 11”, 150 pounds, honest.” Greg clarified because he knew women habitually lied about their weight and, since his anti-grav was compensating, he knew exactly how much he weighed down to as many decimal places he cared to check.

Agent P smiled at his qualification of his weight. “Now for the next question women hate, age?”

Greg hesitated. “I was 27-”

{“Grandpa.”} Michelle whispered.

Greg managed to force-stop a laugh from escaping, but not before a smirk subroutine managed to execute itself. {“Shush, you young whippersnapper!”}

“Well, I dunno. How old do I look, 24?” Greg glanced down at himself, but he hadn’t really studied his new face. So, he didn’t know what to even guess.

“Hmmm, 24 could work, but you look like you might be a little younger. How old was the actress when she made that movie?” At Greg’s blank expression, Agent P spun back around and fired up her browser.  “Wow, she was 19 in 2009.” She shrugged. “Oh well, 24 will work. It will just make other women jealous of your youthful looks.”

{“Hey! No fair, now you’re going to be a year younger than me!”} Michelle pretended to pout.

Agent P spun back and studied Greg thoughtfully. “The final tough question. So, what do you want for a name? Any ideas?”

{“Scarlett is nice. Oh! How about Amber or even better, Michelle?”} Michelle was not helping, but her positive attitude and knowing she supported him helped make Greg feel better.

“Uuhhgg...” Greg drew a blank.

“What’s your mom’s name?” Agent P gently asked.

“Kim, Kimberly.”

“That’s nice, how about Kimberly for a middle name?” Agent L typed it into the middle name line and followed that with Williamson for the last name. “You do want to keep your last name, right?”

“Yes.” Greg still didn’t know about what to use for his first name, but he knew he didn’t want Scarlett.  He liked the name, but he didn’t want the reminder. Arcee’s holographic rider name sounded good to him.  “Sadie? Will Sadie work?”

“Sure! Nice name and not very common these days either.” She entered it into the first name line, then clicked on an “Information” icon that popped up next to the name. “Sadie Kimberly Williamson,” She pointed to the screen with some of the meanings behind the name. “But you could go with Sarah. Sadie was used as a nickname for Sarah.”

“No thanks, Sadie is good. Sarah would make me feel too much like I was in the Terminator. I’d be worried to answer my door.” Greg smiled at his joke as Agent P shook her head with confusion. 

Thankfully Michelle softly snickered. {“You’re such a geek, but so loveable!”}

“Okay, education?” Agent P glanced back over her shoulder.

“University of San Diego, Bachelor of Accountancy, can you do that too?”

“Yep, but we will need to make you a recent graduate since it will be too hard to fake your prior work experience, okay?”  Agent P keyed everything into the system and had him smile for the camera. His new face appeared and with some graphics magic, a plain background replaced his messy bedroom walls. Finally, she performed a few clicks on additional screens for Drivers License, Social Security, Passport and hit submit. 
 

{“Damn...wish I had that in HR. Would make things sooo much easier.”} Michelle wistfully muttered.

She closed her laptop and spun back around to face him. “That should do it Sadie, but it will take between one and two weeks before your new identification arrives. Any questions?”

Greg tried not to flinch when she used his ‘temporary’ new name, but the subroutine fired before he realized it. He knew she was only trying to help him and she was doing an excellent job, but his only complaint is that Agent P assumed he was stuck.  “No, none that I can think of...umm, thanks.”

“No problem. Let’s go join the boys, shall we?” Agent P smiled warmly as she stood and gestured toward the door.

With his bike parked, Hector closed the garage door and re-entered the house with Agent L on his heels and snooping into everything.  Greg and Agent P were back in the living room and Greg seemed to be under control, but he did look a little anxious and tense until he spotted Hector. The way he looked at him made him want to rush to his side and tell him everything would be okay. Even though he knew Greg was really a robot and not a woman, his female body still triggered all his protective instincts.

With the two of them back in the same room, Agent L sat down and aggressively leaned forward to address Hector and Greg together. “Now, we need to know what kind of changes you two made to yourselves and we will also take care of providing Greg here with a new ID and back-”

Agent P interrupted Agent L. “Already done. She picked Sadie as her name.”

“Well, okay then. Good job.” He shook his head with wonder before he got back on track. “Now, Greg, sorry, Sadie.  It appears you turned yourself into a copy of Scarlett from G.I. Joe. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Greg looked up and nodded.

Agent L scratched his head as he pondered over Greg’s reply. “Sorry, it’s been awhile since I was a kid, ‘Go Joe!’” He grinned. “But, did Scarlett have any superhuman powers?”

 “Not that I know of, but she was a crack shot with a crossbow. Why?” Greg pointed to the holstered crossbow pistol resting on his right hip and Hector wondered if it actually worked.

“We just need to know if you’re a possible danger to society, but it appears you might have gotten lucky.” Greg snorted with disbelief at that statement. “Yes, lucky that you only turned yourself into a woman. You would not believe, or maybe you would, what some people have turned themselves into and gotten stuck as. In addition to you and your roommate here, was anyone else involved in this incident?”

“No, sir.” Greg softly answered, his eyes looking close to tears and Hector found himself impressed by how realistic his Decepticon body was at simulating a person.  He knew the emotions Greg had were real, but he didn’t expect his body to be able to produce tears to match.

“Not even your girlfriend? Rachel was her name, right?” Agent L asked, as if he had heard the name wrong when Hector told him it.

Greg looked up. “No, sir, it’s Michelle.”
 

“Oh yeah, sorry.” Agent L impatiently waved away his apology. “She left her Jeep here so you two could fix it for her?”

“No, sir. She had a flight to catch and it’s cheaper to park it here, why?” Greg asked, pretending to not understand why the agent would think that.

Hector kept his poker face in place while inside he breathed a huge sigh of relief.  Either the two of them had been friends long enough to share brains or it looked like Michelle was somehow able to clue Greg in on the alibi.

Agent L appeared to realize he was being obvious with his cross-examination questions. “Okay, just checking because we need to know how much cleanup will be needed. If she has been turned into some fantasy creature, alien or something else, we need to know.”

Greg nodded his head with agreement. “No sir, she hasn’t and I never had the chance to show her the machine. I was going to do that when she flew back in on Sunday.”

Agent L turned his attention to Hector. “Now, did you make any changes to yourself?”

Hector wasn’t sure which way to go here.  Sure, he looked normal and short of putting him into an x-ray machine, nothing unusual would show, but who wouldn’t use the machine to change something about themselves?  If he said, nothing, there was zero chance of the dick believing him. Conversely, if he told him he made himself into Wolverine, what would happen to him? Would he end up in some medical lab being experimented upon by a bunch of mad scientists? “Umm, well, I...”  Hector blushed as he thought about his change into Jennifer.

Agent L and Agent P exchanged knowing glances.

“I sorta tried, umm, you know...” Hector glanced at Greg and felt like a jerk for wussing out. If they didn’t get that machine back, Greg was going to be stuck like that while he had it easy.

“I see...” Agent L smugly grinned at Hector. “Well, you two are very lucky you didn’t have better imaginations or more time to experiment.”

“Yes, sir.” Both Greg and Hector replied together.

“Okay, so for the record, when was, as near to the minute you can recall, the first time you used the device?” Agent L asked.

Greg and Hector looked at each other, but Greg went first. “Umm, I think it was around 7pm, Wednesday night.”

Hector jumped in. “Probably closer to 1910 or so, sir. I remember heading out the garage to work on my bike a few minutes past 7pm and spotting the MAU.”

Agent L raised an eyebrow at Hector’s identification of the machine as wrote the time and date down on a notebook. “Excellent, and other than the first time you tried to use it, did you receive any strange alien text after that?”

Greg shook his head slowly back and forth. “No? Not that I recall, why?”

Agent L sat down and sighed heavily. “What I am about to tell you is considered beyond Top Secret, not even the President knows, but we believe the first string of text is a demo license notice of some sort. Unfortunately, we can’t be sure because our scientists have never been able to decipher or translate what it says.  After approximately 72 hours, the machine will provide a second notice or warning and finally, within 24 hours of receiving that notice, the machine will stop working, permanently.”

Somehow, Greg turned white as a sheet. “No way! I thought it was an alien scouting device. Are you trying to tell me it really is some alien toy?!?”

Agent L and P exchanged glances with Agent P jumping in and attempting to provide Greg some comfort. “Sorry, but we can’t really say one way or the other. An alien scouting device is a good theory, but no one knows for sure. However; what we do know for sure is that every unit found thus far shuts down after approximately 96 hours of use.”

Agent L turned to his partner. “Well, Agent P, is there anything else you need or want to cover with, Sadie,” Greg flinched at that reminder. “While I get Mr. Vasquez to show me around, just to make sure we didn’t overlook something.”

“Yes, I believe we do have a few additional details we can iron out while the boys get all dirty.” Agent P smirked as she reached into her bag for her laptop.

Hector got a little worried when Agent L retrieved a FLIR thermo-imaging camera from his rental car. He spent, or wasted, the next 30 minutes on pins and needles following Agent L around the house as he ran the camera over every square inch in an attempt to spot any hidden compartments. They should be out there trying to find the MAU right now, but Hector learned two things during that time. One, the insulation around their windows sucked and two, Michelle’s suit was incredibly good at keeping her hidden. He also learned that Greg appeared like a normal human under the FLIR too. Yes, Agent L “accidentally” ran his camera over the two of them.

“Well, relatively speaking, I’d have to say the pair of you are lucky.” Agent L extracted a very non-descript card from his wallet. “Here is my card.” He handed it to Hector and as he gave it a quick once over, he was surprised to find it lacked any identity data. It simply had Agent L’s initial, an email address and a phone number, nothing else.

Agent P gave her card to Greg. “Sadie,” He or she flinched a little less this time with the use of her temporary new name. “I should have your ID packet ready for you by Friday. Lemme know what you wanna do about your parents. We can be there if you elect to notify them of your change, or, handle the missing persons case if you elect to go that route.”

Hearing Greg being referred to as Sadie kind of confused Hector, but it was the ‘missing persons’ reference that really put everything into perspective for Hector. He could understand Agent P’s reasoning behind getting Greg a female name right away and using it, but if they failed to find the MAU, Greg could lose everything. His family, his job and maybe even his just found girlfriend slash life mate.  They had to find the MAU. Failure was not an option.

“Thanks, umm, Agent P, but I still have some thinking to do.” Greg nodded his head as he gratefully accepted her card.

As soon as he heard the Agent’s car pull out of their driveway, Greg stood and faced Hector. “Any ideas?”

Hector motioned for him to be quiet, pointed to his ears and mouthed. “Bugs?”

{“Wait a sec, Michelle. Checking for bugs...”} Greg sent.

{“Gotcha, but none out here. Well, none that I can see anyway. Not sure if you included some bug detector or not.”} Michelle chuckled. {“I mean, you included everything else and have I mentioned recently how much I love my tail?”}

Greg was forced to smile by Michelle’s upbeat attitude.  She made his fusion plant spike a few thousand kilowatts.  {“He he, thanks Michelle. I have told you how much I love you?”}

{“Not within the last 10 minutes, but you can make that oversight up to me when you two get done checking for bugs, so hurry up and less chit chat!”} Michelle giggled mischievously.

While Hector checked under the coffee table or anywhere the two agents had sat or stood, Greg ran a frequency scan.  Except for his friend’s own devices and cellphones, he didn’t spot anything. “I got nothing, you?”

Hector checked a few more spots. “Nada, maybe they didn’t leave any pests?”

{“Okay Michelle, all clear!”}

Michelle, still in her full Catwoman suit ran into the living room and jumped on Greg, forcing him to fall back into the couch as she sat on top of him and kissed him deeply and passionately on the lips. Even without their link and with Hector in the room still, he felt his body responding in surprising ways.  Before he could contemplate what it might mean, she broke their kiss and stared wonderfully into his eyes.  “Wow, I never thought I would enjoy kissing another girl so much, but I can’t help it. It’s like that Katy Perry song!” She giggled before staring at Greg with a dreamy expression. “I know you’re inside and it makes me feel all gooey inside just looking at you.  And your lips, they still taste like yummy strawberries!”

Greg felt surprised by everything she just said. “Really?”

“Yep! How did manage that trick? I love strawberries.” Michelle kissed him again. “Yep, definitely strawberries.”

Greg was more worried about the fact he looked like a girl right now. The taste of his lips seemed a little low on the issues list. “I, I dunno, but you don’t mind me?” Greg glanced down at his chest.

“Well, I...” She studied his face for a second before glancing down at the rest of his body. She absently licked her lips as her tail gently wrapped itself around his leg. “I guess not. I feel myself feeling just as attracted to you now as I did before.” She gently kissed and nibbled his lips once again.

Hector cleared his throat. “Okay you two. As much as I like watching a little girl on girl action, now is not the time.”

Michelle laughed and stood, helping Greg back to his feet. “Sorry...” Greg’s blush subroutine fired again “So, what now?” Greg glanced around the messy living room. “Where’s Wheelie? Maybe he could show us some pictures of what they looked like or what they said?”

Hector sighed with frustration. “They took him, too.”

“Oh?” Greg activated his comm suite and scanned for other Decepticons.  He picked up Wheelie right away. Nothing else either, which somehow made him feel relieved.

{“Wheelie, where are you?”} He sent using Autobot code.

{“Boss?!?! Is that you? I thought I was a goner for sure when those jerks came and grabbed me. When are you going to come get me?”}

Greg groaned with frustration. {“As soon as you can tell me where you are...”}

{“Oh, oh yeah! Sure boss, lemme activate my tracking signal.”}

A set of coordinates appeared in Greg’s memory. He wanted to try connecting to the internet and using Google maps to plot the location, but the bastards even stole their wireless routers. So, Greg walked over to the wall and as he touched the co-ax cable their equipment had been plugged into, his fingers twisted and like a squid’s tentacles, wrapped themselves around the cable.  Data began to flow into his systems as he instinctively and effortlessly hacked into their cable company's network to access the internet.

He plugged in the coordinates and turned back to face Hector and Michelle.  His left eye morphed into a robotic lens and a holographic image of the map appeared in the air.  Wheelie was in a large warehouse complex in Long Beach. Exactly 71.3 miles, in a straight line from their current location or 86.5 miles via the most direct route. It would take them over an hour to get there, depending on how many traffic laws they broke in the process.

Reluctantly, he disconnected from the internet. It seemed so bright and shiny from his side. He felt like a kid in a candy store and he wanted to explore it, but he had more important things to worry about. “I could try flying there, but I would only have room for one if it worked...”

Hector frowned. “Yeah, and you would probably have a bunch of F-16’s chasing you in no time.  We should stay together.”

Greg was surprised by Hector’s statement.  He expected him to agree to go with him and it made him feel a little ashamed to realize he was trying to exclude Michelle. “Sorry, Michelle, I didn’t mean...”

Michelle laughed and hugged him. “Oh, it’s okay dear. You’ve only been a girl for a few hours. It will take a few more before you start thinking right.”  She gave Greg another kiss before turning back to face Hector. “So, what’s your plan?”

Hector stared at the pair for a second before he snapped out of it. “Okay, well, this is probably going to hurt you more than me, good buddy, but Michelle and I need to look like you and I are riding my bike.”

It took a few nanoseconds for Greg to figure out what Hector meant. He shook his head slowly from side to side. “Oh no, no way, you’re not going to ride me...”

Once they were back in their vehicle, Agent P turned to Agent L. “So, what do you think?”

“They’re not being entirely honest, but I don’t blame them.” Agent L sighed as he started their car. “The device was stolen, that much is true.  Since they activated it only 72 hours ago, we still have an active event on our hands.  That device is in this state, somewhere and we need to find it.”

Agent P nodded her head and pursed her lips as she thought about Agent L’s assessment. “Yes, so, what now?”

Agent L backed their vehicle out of their suspect’s driveway. “Now, we wait. I expect our two friends to go hunting for the MAU.  Mr. Vasquez’s military service record indicated he was not one to shy away from danger.  We follow the pair and see what they can find while also keeping an eye on the local police to see if they have any leads on this robbery. Find their stuff and we find the MAU.”