I know it's not the update you were all waiting for...
...but, hey, you might just like this.
This wasn't what I'd intended on working on next, but the idea suddenly hit me the other day at work, and it just wouldn't go away. So... enjoy.
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own DEBS, or The Pretender. ;)
Comments: This is a sort of one-shot prequel to Pantheon, set about two weeks (give or take) before the movie starts.
"I don't know about this," Amy said uncertainly as she sat down on the uncomfortable plastic seat. Dr. Collins, a forty-something man with short brown hair that had speckles of gray in it smiled reassuringly at her as he sat down in a chair in front of her, which did nothing at all to make her feel better.
She felt a bit more reassured by the fact that both he and Mr. Phipps were armed, frankly.
"No one especially wants to do this, Amy," Phipps rumbled. "But we need to stop the Eleventh Hour." And why terrorist organizations had to come up with such ridiculous names was anybody's guess.
"I know."
"If we don't, hundreds of thousands of people will die."
"I know."
"The Centre has worked with them before, including during your time there."
"I know." She sighed, looking over with frustration at where he was standing. "I know all of that. And I'd love to help, believe me. But I don't remember anything about them!"
"From what we've been able to piece together, you were actually loaned out to them by The Centre at one point for a series of jobs. You would have had the full run of their base."
"Their base of about a decade ago! Any information I had - which, I have to point out again, I don't - would be horribly outdated by now." She sighed. "Look, you have at least a vague clue of what happened to me during my time as a "guest" of The Centre. Do you have any idea how bad something would have to be for me to completely repress it?"
He probably didn't, actually, and just managed not to shudder at the thought. Amy noticed, and gave him a significant look.
"That's why we're going to hypnotize you," Collins said calmly. He did have a soothing voice, she had to admit, even if it did nothing for her, personally. At least, not about that. The CIA agents that he usually worked with were fairly lucky. "You won't remember a thing about it, afterwards."
"I know that, but..." She bit her lip. "This is a bad idea. A very, very bad idea." They just didn't seem to understand what kind of demons lurked inside her head - some of which they wanted to let out of their cages.
"Unfortunately, there isn't any other way." Though, Phipps had to admit, he desperately wished there were. But the order for this had come straight from Petrie, and for all her words of caution, Amy wasn't actively refusing. "Are you ready?"
"No," Amy replied honestly. "But why should that stop you?"
Contrary to popular belief, a pocket watch was not at all involved in the process. Collins used a portable device that utilized certain light spectrums to access the patient's brain and place him or her in a state of extreme suggestibility. It didn't take all that long for Amy to go under, but it was a little longer then it should have been, indicating either she had developed a resistance to implanted suggestions, or she was still against the idea, and was fighting it. "Amy, can you hear me?" he asked gently when the machine shut off.
"Yes," she replied in a faint, dreamlike tone.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember what the DEBS want to know from you?"
A tiny furrow marred her forehead, and her eyes shifted under their closed lids. "Yes," she said again, though this time her tone was a little unhappy.
"Will you tell them what they want to know?"
"No."
Collins blinked at the refusal, and, at a look from Phipps, prompted, "Why not?"
"Don't remember."
"Do you remember what happened before and after the period in which they say you worked with the terrorists?"
A pause as she thought about it. "Yes. Fuzzy."
"Interesting," Collins mused. To Phipps, he said, "From all indications, she's completely excised all memory of that time from her conscious mind, and even her unconscious is having difficulty remembering. This is extraordinary! I've never encountered anything like this before."
"But is the knowledge still in there, anywhere?" Phipps asked. "If it's not, I want to stop this, now."
"I'm sure it must be, somewhere," Collins assured him. "Short of physical trauma to the brain, memories can't really be 'lost' in such a fashion." And honestly, he wouldn't have wanted to stop now in any event. He'd never had such a fascinating subject before. "Amy, why don't you want to remember?" he asked her.
"I don't remember."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't there."
"Who was there?"
She tilted her head a bit, as if confused, her eyes still closed. Remembering what he'd read about her prior to the session, he tried a different track. "Amy, what can you tell me about Sekhmet?"
She seemed to shudder. "Don't like talking about her."
Interesting... "Why not?"
"She's a monster."
"Would she have worked with the Eleventh Hour?"
A minute shrug. "She wouldn't have cared. Amy cares. Even as Sekhmet. That annoyed her, I think."
"It annoyed Sekhmet?"
She shook her head. "Kali."
Which was also interesting, but off topic. "Can I speak to Sekhmet?"
She smiled faintly. "I don't have MPD, Doctor."
"Of course not." Obviously, she just hadn't been able to express herself any other way before. "But would it be possible for me to speak with Sekhmet?"
She shuddered again. "Don't know what you're asking..."
"Amy, this is very important. We need this information, and for that we need to speak with Sekhmet. Now, when you hear the words 'tortoise shell' you will wake up, remembering nothing that we've talked about, including anything you've repressed about the Eleventh Hour."
She giggled. "Tortoise shell."
He smiled with her. "Yes. Do you understand?"
"Yes." The word was a bit more sullen then he would have preferred, but it was there.
"Good. Now, is it the Amy part of you that doesn't want Sekhmet to talk?"
"Can't separate."
"You can, Amy, and that's what I want you to do. I want to speak with Sekhmet - just Sekhmet."
Amy shuddered again, in a new way this time, then opened her eyes. The difference was enough to suck the breath from the two men. Her features were cold and lovely and remote and empty of all emotion, of anything recognizably human.
"Amy, can you hear me?" Collins asked again, a bit more cautiously.
"No."
It was a simple word, delivered in a flat tone, but it was one of the more frightening things ever uttered at the DEBS academy, even if they didn't know it, yet.
"Sekhmet?"
"Obviously." She continued to regard them in that empty silence for long moments more. It was unsettling to see a face usually so sweet and lively look so wholly alien, as though something lurked behind those features that had little in common with humanity and simply did not care to make the effort to understand. "What is it you wish to know?"
Did she not remember the conversation they'd had with Amy, Collins wondered... or was it that she couldn't remember it? That would be fascinating, if it was true. "What can you tell us about the Eleventh Hour?"
She rolled her eyes and stood, and the contrast against the usual image Amy typically presented to the DEBS became even more vivid. She had a fluid grace the Perfect Score had never possessed, without a single wasted movement. "They were idiots, when I knew them. So full of hate, but little common sense. They were more a danger to themselves then anyone else, and they knew it. That was why they asked The Centre for help."
Knowing what he did about their track record since then, if she was saying she was responsible for teaching them to be so effective... He sucked in a breath. No wonder she didn't want to remember this. "Do you know where they're based?"
She trailed a finger along the edge of the back of the chair in front of her, simply studying him with that cold gaze for a moment. "They were based out of Nicaragua, near the border with Honduras... ten years ago." She gave him a vaguely sneering look. "Do you imagine I've had much in the way of contact with them since then?"
"If they found a base where they could remain undiscovered for so long, would they simply abandon it?"
She snorted contemptuously. "Probably not. Idiots. What you call terrorist actions are closer to a child's cry for attention then the global threat your administration makes them out to be."
"That would be one opinion, I suppose."
"If you say so." She smirked. "You know who they are. You know their supposed 'mission statement'. You even had an idea of where to find them. Yet no one has bothered to try and look. Because you not only want to have an enemy, a faceless terror on which to blame things, you need it. You need it to keep the public from noticing your otherwise very glaring flaws."
"That isn't-"
"It is," she interrupted. "And I will not tolerate it any longer." With no further warning, she lashed out with a vicious side kick, crushing his larynx and sending him crashing to the ground, choking. In the same movement, she whirled around, snatched the tranquilizer gun from Phipps and shot him in the neck with it before he could even realize there was a problem. Since the dose had been prepared for someone her size and weight, rather then his, it didn't knock him out, but did cause him to stagger and fall, unable to do much more then stare up at her. She then did something that made her look even more alien, more frightening.
She smiled. A slow smile, cruel as a barbed knife. "God, finally!" She looked at him in open contempt. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? Trapped behind the persona of a clueless vegan so nice and sweet she makes me want to vomit? 'Oh, hey, Mister P.'," she said in Amy's usually perky tone, then quickly dropped it in disgust. "If I had to hear that one more time, I would have killed someone. Your organization is pathetic. You have access to someone with my abilities, and you do nothing with them?"
She paced around the room, seemingly enjoying just being able to move. "And her... Oh, don't get me started on her. Why she chooses to waste her time with you people is beyond me. She could be SO much more then what she is, what she lets herself be. And for what? Family? Friends? Love?" She shook her head. "Love. What is that?" she spat harshly. "As if she'll ever find that with that moronic man-child of hers. I suppose I should be grateful for small favors that I've never had to be exposed to such a thing."
Sekhmet turned to Collins. "You don't quite realize what you've done, yet, do you? Do you know what it's like to be kept from existing? Prevented from ever having been able to manifest fully?" She chuckled coldly as a look of realization spread over his face. "Starting to get it now, are you? She warned you. You wanted to talk to just Sekhmet, without any part of Amy being involved... and you got your wish. Even The Centre knew better then to try something like that." She frowned, looking off at nothing in particular. "Things are going to have to change," she mused quietly, then knocked him out with a kick to the face, shot Phipps with another dart, and left the room, dropping the now empty weapon on her way out.
**********************************************
Sekhmet moved through the DEBS academy with a purposeful stride. She kept a pleasant Amy-esque mask on her face as she considered her course.
The boyfriend was going to have to go, that went without saying. Even Amy had been having difficulty tolerating him recently. The question, though, was did she want to stay with the DEBS, rework and refocus the agency into something that wouldn't embarrass her, or just cut her ties completely?
If she did just leave, she could honestly say she wouldn't miss it. During the years that Amy Bradshaw had attended Jameson University, she'd been alternately pained and insulted by the deep personal stupidity displayed by her "superiors". On the other hand, the DEBS did have access to an impressive number of resources. If something were to happen to Petrie and Phipps, then whoever took over would naturally look to the Perfect Score for help in maintaining order. It would be child's play to take over behind the scenes. And it would let her completely obliterate The Centre once and for all. That was one thing - perhaps the only thing - that she and the 'Amy' part of her had in common.
And who knew? Perhaps she could find other uses for the DEBS after that. The state the planet was in, squabbling children with too much power who were far too ready to use it, damage to the ecosystem, failing resources... Frankly, it was obvious that something had to be done, or they wouldn't have to worry about some super-villain destroying the world. They would have done it themselves.
She simply knew better then they did what needed to be done. And, unlike them, wouldn't hesitate to do it.
She returned some blonde DEB's greeting, feeling a vague urge to simply snap her neck that was easily suppressed. As much as the thought of slaughtering everyone that annoyed her was, she simply didn't have that kind of time.
And, of course, it would draw just a little too much attention to herself.
The next step, after her quiet takeover, would be to eliminate the 'competition', so to speak. Those that wanted to take over the world for their own ends, or were simply wild elements in the equation.
She decided it would be only fitting to start with the agency's "biggest threat", Lucy Diamond.
Petrie had actually done her work for her with that one. She mentally saluted the soon to be dead woman as she exited the building.
There was one thing she had to do first, though. She was - naturally - a good enough liar to fool her squad, but now that she was actually in control... Max was tolerable enough, and Dominique might just prove herself useful - and her sexual addiction would mean that Sekhmet would never have to worry about any physical urges getting the better of her. She could make Dominique fall in love with her all too easily.
Janet, though...
What Amy saw in her, she had no idea. If it had been up to her, Janet would have been drowning in her own blood two minutes after they'd first met. How someone could be that annoying and still be alive, she had no idea.
But she could fix that very, very easily.
She found Max and Janet near the squad's car in the parking lot, discussing something she was certain would bore her to tears. Who would have imagined an academy for college girl spies could be so damned dull sometimes?
Well, she thought as she silently glided up behind them, pulling out her gun and attaching the silencer she so rarely had occasion to use while doing her job.
"...never really been able to tell one kind of wax from another, really," Janet was saying.
Of course, this did raise the question of what she was going to do with Max, she thought as she took aim at the back of Janet's head.
"Trust me," Max replied. "Turtle Wax is the best. I mean, just look at it."
Well, she supposed she could always knock Max out before she could turn around and see who had just killed her teammate.
"Legendary Super Hard Shell® protection leaves a lasting Turtle Wax® shine," Janet read. "Well, if they say so."
Her finger began to squeeze the trigger. As thorough as her training had been, she had to admit that this would be fairly satisfying.
Janet shook her head, which did nothing to alter Sekhmet's aim. "Honestly, from the picture on the bottle, I'd say it looks more like a tortoise shell, but-"
**********************************************
"-hey, what do I know?"
Amy blinked in confusion. What was she doing outside? And why...
She paled. Why was she about to execute Janet?
She unscrewed her silencer, then put it and her gun away, hurrying away from her team with them still unaware she'd ever been there.
What the hell had happened?! The last thing she'd known, the CIA doctor had been hypnotizing her, and then...
And then...
And then she was about to kill one of the sweetest, sassiest people she'd ever met. They'd done something, she realized. Something that... Well, she didn't know what, exactly, but she could make a vague guess as to what it entailed.
Or whom.
The part of her that was Sekhmet and always would be frequently could NOT stand Janet. She had no idea how they could have called Sekhmet into being like that, and wasn't sure she wanted one.
She hoped they were all right.
She fled the campus, running as fast as her long legs would carry her. She had no real destination in mind, just somewhere away from there. She wound up panting heavily for breath in the local FBI office, and he receptionist, who knew exactly who she was given how long she'd been dating Bobby, wasted no time in calling him down and getting her a bottle of water while she waited.
She'd finally managed to slow her breathing down to something approaching normal by the time he got there. She really wasn't sure why she'd come to see him. She wasn't even sure why she was dating him. He routinely annoyed her, he wasn't especially intelligent, and, most of all, he was male. She might pretend otherwise for the sake of her cover, but she was very much a lesbian, and thus was not attracted to him even a little.
"Babe, are you all right? What's wrong?" he asked immediately upon catching sight of her, and hurried over, ignoring the receptionist completely.
She managed to summon up a partial smile for him. "I'm fine," she lied smoothly. "I'm just... having one of those days, you know?"
He obviously didn't - couldn't, really - but he didn't let that stop him. "Hey, c'mere," he said gently, pulling her into a hug, without any regard for what anyone who might come along - including his macho friends, who so often came perilously close to inspiring violence within her - might think. "It's okay," he added, gently rubbing her back.
It was not okay, really, though she supposed it was as good as it was likely to get any time soon. But, dammit, why did he have to be so kind and understanding now? She could have dumped him if he'd acted the way he usually did... and might have actually done it, too.
Instead she let him hold her, wondering how long things could go on as they were.
There! *dusts hands in satisfied manner* I was hoping to get something done today. :)
This wasn't what I'd intended on working on next, but the idea suddenly hit me the other day at work, and it just wouldn't go away. So... enjoy.
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own DEBS, or The Pretender. ;)
Comments: This is a sort of one-shot prequel to Pantheon, set about two weeks (give or take) before the movie starts.
"I don't know about this," Amy said uncertainly as she sat down on the uncomfortable plastic seat. Dr. Collins, a forty-something man with short brown hair that had speckles of gray in it smiled reassuringly at her as he sat down in a chair in front of her, which did nothing at all to make her feel better.
She felt a bit more reassured by the fact that both he and Mr. Phipps were armed, frankly.
"No one especially wants to do this, Amy," Phipps rumbled. "But we need to stop the Eleventh Hour." And why terrorist organizations had to come up with such ridiculous names was anybody's guess.
"I know."
"If we don't, hundreds of thousands of people will die."
"I know."
"The Centre has worked with them before, including during your time there."
"I know." She sighed, looking over with frustration at where he was standing. "I know all of that. And I'd love to help, believe me. But I don't remember anything about them!"
"From what we've been able to piece together, you were actually loaned out to them by The Centre at one point for a series of jobs. You would have had the full run of their base."
"Their base of about a decade ago! Any information I had - which, I have to point out again, I don't - would be horribly outdated by now." She sighed. "Look, you have at least a vague clue of what happened to me during my time as a "guest" of The Centre. Do you have any idea how bad something would have to be for me to completely repress it?"
He probably didn't, actually, and just managed not to shudder at the thought. Amy noticed, and gave him a significant look.
"That's why we're going to hypnotize you," Collins said calmly. He did have a soothing voice, she had to admit, even if it did nothing for her, personally. At least, not about that. The CIA agents that he usually worked with were fairly lucky. "You won't remember a thing about it, afterwards."
"I know that, but..." She bit her lip. "This is a bad idea. A very, very bad idea." They just didn't seem to understand what kind of demons lurked inside her head - some of which they wanted to let out of their cages.
"Unfortunately, there isn't any other way." Though, Phipps had to admit, he desperately wished there were. But the order for this had come straight from Petrie, and for all her words of caution, Amy wasn't actively refusing. "Are you ready?"
"No," Amy replied honestly. "But why should that stop you?"
Contrary to popular belief, a pocket watch was not at all involved in the process. Collins used a portable device that utilized certain light spectrums to access the patient's brain and place him or her in a state of extreme suggestibility. It didn't take all that long for Amy to go under, but it was a little longer then it should have been, indicating either she had developed a resistance to implanted suggestions, or she was still against the idea, and was fighting it. "Amy, can you hear me?" he asked gently when the machine shut off.
"Yes," she replied in a faint, dreamlike tone.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember what the DEBS want to know from you?"
A tiny furrow marred her forehead, and her eyes shifted under their closed lids. "Yes," she said again, though this time her tone was a little unhappy.
"Will you tell them what they want to know?"
"No."
Collins blinked at the refusal, and, at a look from Phipps, prompted, "Why not?"
"Don't remember."
"Do you remember what happened before and after the period in which they say you worked with the terrorists?"
A pause as she thought about it. "Yes. Fuzzy."
"Interesting," Collins mused. To Phipps, he said, "From all indications, she's completely excised all memory of that time from her conscious mind, and even her unconscious is having difficulty remembering. This is extraordinary! I've never encountered anything like this before."
"But is the knowledge still in there, anywhere?" Phipps asked. "If it's not, I want to stop this, now."
"I'm sure it must be, somewhere," Collins assured him. "Short of physical trauma to the brain, memories can't really be 'lost' in such a fashion." And honestly, he wouldn't have wanted to stop now in any event. He'd never had such a fascinating subject before. "Amy, why don't you want to remember?" he asked her.
"I don't remember."
"Why not?"
"I wasn't there."
"Who was there?"
She tilted her head a bit, as if confused, her eyes still closed. Remembering what he'd read about her prior to the session, he tried a different track. "Amy, what can you tell me about Sekhmet?"
She seemed to shudder. "Don't like talking about her."
Interesting... "Why not?"
"She's a monster."
"Would she have worked with the Eleventh Hour?"
A minute shrug. "She wouldn't have cared. Amy cares. Even as Sekhmet. That annoyed her, I think."
"It annoyed Sekhmet?"
She shook her head. "Kali."
Which was also interesting, but off topic. "Can I speak to Sekhmet?"
She smiled faintly. "I don't have MPD, Doctor."
"Of course not." Obviously, she just hadn't been able to express herself any other way before. "But would it be possible for me to speak with Sekhmet?"
She shuddered again. "Don't know what you're asking..."
"Amy, this is very important. We need this information, and for that we need to speak with Sekhmet. Now, when you hear the words 'tortoise shell' you will wake up, remembering nothing that we've talked about, including anything you've repressed about the Eleventh Hour."
She giggled. "Tortoise shell."
He smiled with her. "Yes. Do you understand?"
"Yes." The word was a bit more sullen then he would have preferred, but it was there.
"Good. Now, is it the Amy part of you that doesn't want Sekhmet to talk?"
"Can't separate."
"You can, Amy, and that's what I want you to do. I want to speak with Sekhmet - just Sekhmet."
Amy shuddered again, in a new way this time, then opened her eyes. The difference was enough to suck the breath from the two men. Her features were cold and lovely and remote and empty of all emotion, of anything recognizably human.
"Amy, can you hear me?" Collins asked again, a bit more cautiously.
"No."
It was a simple word, delivered in a flat tone, but it was one of the more frightening things ever uttered at the DEBS academy, even if they didn't know it, yet.
"Sekhmet?"
"Obviously." She continued to regard them in that empty silence for long moments more. It was unsettling to see a face usually so sweet and lively look so wholly alien, as though something lurked behind those features that had little in common with humanity and simply did not care to make the effort to understand. "What is it you wish to know?"
Did she not remember the conversation they'd had with Amy, Collins wondered... or was it that she couldn't remember it? That would be fascinating, if it was true. "What can you tell us about the Eleventh Hour?"
She rolled her eyes and stood, and the contrast against the usual image Amy typically presented to the DEBS became even more vivid. She had a fluid grace the Perfect Score had never possessed, without a single wasted movement. "They were idiots, when I knew them. So full of hate, but little common sense. They were more a danger to themselves then anyone else, and they knew it. That was why they asked The Centre for help."
Knowing what he did about their track record since then, if she was saying she was responsible for teaching them to be so effective... He sucked in a breath. No wonder she didn't want to remember this. "Do you know where they're based?"
She trailed a finger along the edge of the back of the chair in front of her, simply studying him with that cold gaze for a moment. "They were based out of Nicaragua, near the border with Honduras... ten years ago." She gave him a vaguely sneering look. "Do you imagine I've had much in the way of contact with them since then?"
"If they found a base where they could remain undiscovered for so long, would they simply abandon it?"
She snorted contemptuously. "Probably not. Idiots. What you call terrorist actions are closer to a child's cry for attention then the global threat your administration makes them out to be."
"That would be one opinion, I suppose."
"If you say so." She smirked. "You know who they are. You know their supposed 'mission statement'. You even had an idea of where to find them. Yet no one has bothered to try and look. Because you not only want to have an enemy, a faceless terror on which to blame things, you need it. You need it to keep the public from noticing your otherwise very glaring flaws."
"That isn't-"
"It is," she interrupted. "And I will not tolerate it any longer." With no further warning, she lashed out with a vicious side kick, crushing his larynx and sending him crashing to the ground, choking. In the same movement, she whirled around, snatched the tranquilizer gun from Phipps and shot him in the neck with it before he could even realize there was a problem. Since the dose had been prepared for someone her size and weight, rather then his, it didn't knock him out, but did cause him to stagger and fall, unable to do much more then stare up at her. She then did something that made her look even more alien, more frightening.
She smiled. A slow smile, cruel as a barbed knife. "God, finally!" She looked at him in open contempt. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this? Trapped behind the persona of a clueless vegan so nice and sweet she makes me want to vomit? 'Oh, hey, Mister P.'," she said in Amy's usually perky tone, then quickly dropped it in disgust. "If I had to hear that one more time, I would have killed someone. Your organization is pathetic. You have access to someone with my abilities, and you do nothing with them?"
She paced around the room, seemingly enjoying just being able to move. "And her... Oh, don't get me started on her. Why she chooses to waste her time with you people is beyond me. She could be SO much more then what she is, what she lets herself be. And for what? Family? Friends? Love?" She shook her head. "Love. What is that?" she spat harshly. "As if she'll ever find that with that moronic man-child of hers. I suppose I should be grateful for small favors that I've never had to be exposed to such a thing."
Sekhmet turned to Collins. "You don't quite realize what you've done, yet, do you? Do you know what it's like to be kept from existing? Prevented from ever having been able to manifest fully?" She chuckled coldly as a look of realization spread over his face. "Starting to get it now, are you? She warned you. You wanted to talk to just Sekhmet, without any part of Amy being involved... and you got your wish. Even The Centre knew better then to try something like that." She frowned, looking off at nothing in particular. "Things are going to have to change," she mused quietly, then knocked him out with a kick to the face, shot Phipps with another dart, and left the room, dropping the now empty weapon on her way out.
**********************************************
Sekhmet moved through the DEBS academy with a purposeful stride. She kept a pleasant Amy-esque mask on her face as she considered her course.
The boyfriend was going to have to go, that went without saying. Even Amy had been having difficulty tolerating him recently. The question, though, was did she want to stay with the DEBS, rework and refocus the agency into something that wouldn't embarrass her, or just cut her ties completely?
If she did just leave, she could honestly say she wouldn't miss it. During the years that Amy Bradshaw had attended Jameson University, she'd been alternately pained and insulted by the deep personal stupidity displayed by her "superiors". On the other hand, the DEBS did have access to an impressive number of resources. If something were to happen to Petrie and Phipps, then whoever took over would naturally look to the Perfect Score for help in maintaining order. It would be child's play to take over behind the scenes. And it would let her completely obliterate The Centre once and for all. That was one thing - perhaps the only thing - that she and the 'Amy' part of her had in common.
And who knew? Perhaps she could find other uses for the DEBS after that. The state the planet was in, squabbling children with too much power who were far too ready to use it, damage to the ecosystem, failing resources... Frankly, it was obvious that something had to be done, or they wouldn't have to worry about some super-villain destroying the world. They would have done it themselves.
She simply knew better then they did what needed to be done. And, unlike them, wouldn't hesitate to do it.
She returned some blonde DEB's greeting, feeling a vague urge to simply snap her neck that was easily suppressed. As much as the thought of slaughtering everyone that annoyed her was, she simply didn't have that kind of time.
And, of course, it would draw just a little too much attention to herself.
The next step, after her quiet takeover, would be to eliminate the 'competition', so to speak. Those that wanted to take over the world for their own ends, or were simply wild elements in the equation.
She decided it would be only fitting to start with the agency's "biggest threat", Lucy Diamond.
Petrie had actually done her work for her with that one. She mentally saluted the soon to be dead woman as she exited the building.
There was one thing she had to do first, though. She was - naturally - a good enough liar to fool her squad, but now that she was actually in control... Max was tolerable enough, and Dominique might just prove herself useful - and her sexual addiction would mean that Sekhmet would never have to worry about any physical urges getting the better of her. She could make Dominique fall in love with her all too easily.
Janet, though...
What Amy saw in her, she had no idea. If it had been up to her, Janet would have been drowning in her own blood two minutes after they'd first met. How someone could be that annoying and still be alive, she had no idea.
But she could fix that very, very easily.
She found Max and Janet near the squad's car in the parking lot, discussing something she was certain would bore her to tears. Who would have imagined an academy for college girl spies could be so damned dull sometimes?
Well, she thought as she silently glided up behind them, pulling out her gun and attaching the silencer she so rarely had occasion to use while doing her job.
"...never really been able to tell one kind of wax from another, really," Janet was saying.
Of course, this did raise the question of what she was going to do with Max, she thought as she took aim at the back of Janet's head.
"Trust me," Max replied. "Turtle Wax is the best. I mean, just look at it."
Well, she supposed she could always knock Max out before she could turn around and see who had just killed her teammate.
"Legendary Super Hard Shell® protection leaves a lasting Turtle Wax® shine," Janet read. "Well, if they say so."
Her finger began to squeeze the trigger. As thorough as her training had been, she had to admit that this would be fairly satisfying.
Janet shook her head, which did nothing to alter Sekhmet's aim. "Honestly, from the picture on the bottle, I'd say it looks more like a tortoise shell, but-"
**********************************************
"-hey, what do I know?"
Amy blinked in confusion. What was she doing outside? And why...
She paled. Why was she about to execute Janet?
She unscrewed her silencer, then put it and her gun away, hurrying away from her team with them still unaware she'd ever been there.
What the hell had happened?! The last thing she'd known, the CIA doctor had been hypnotizing her, and then...
And then...
And then she was about to kill one of the sweetest, sassiest people she'd ever met. They'd done something, she realized. Something that... Well, she didn't know what, exactly, but she could make a vague guess as to what it entailed.
Or whom.
The part of her that was Sekhmet and always would be frequently could NOT stand Janet. She had no idea how they could have called Sekhmet into being like that, and wasn't sure she wanted one.
She hoped they were all right.
She fled the campus, running as fast as her long legs would carry her. She had no real destination in mind, just somewhere away from there. She wound up panting heavily for breath in the local FBI office, and he receptionist, who knew exactly who she was given how long she'd been dating Bobby, wasted no time in calling him down and getting her a bottle of water while she waited.
She'd finally managed to slow her breathing down to something approaching normal by the time he got there. She really wasn't sure why she'd come to see him. She wasn't even sure why she was dating him. He routinely annoyed her, he wasn't especially intelligent, and, most of all, he was male. She might pretend otherwise for the sake of her cover, but she was very much a lesbian, and thus was not attracted to him even a little.
"Babe, are you all right? What's wrong?" he asked immediately upon catching sight of her, and hurried over, ignoring the receptionist completely.
She managed to summon up a partial smile for him. "I'm fine," she lied smoothly. "I'm just... having one of those days, you know?"
He obviously didn't - couldn't, really - but he didn't let that stop him. "Hey, c'mere," he said gently, pulling her into a hug, without any regard for what anyone who might come along - including his macho friends, who so often came perilously close to inspiring violence within her - might think. "It's okay," he added, gently rubbing her back.
It was not okay, really, though she supposed it was as good as it was likely to get any time soon. But, dammit, why did he have to be so kind and understanding now? She could have dumped him if he'd acted the way he usually did... and might have actually done it, too.
Instead she let him hold her, wondering how long things could go on as they were.
There! *dusts hands in satisfied manner* I was hoping to get something done today. :)