(Untitled)

[bring_a_sponge]

 
Picture this:

The Man in Charge. Master of All He Surveys. The Chief. The Boss. The Big Man.

Agent Zed.

In his office at the heart of MiB HQ.

A good day. Quiet. Productive. The kind of day a man expects he'll be able to look back on with tremendous satisfaction.

Well, half a day, anyway....

Comments

[nita_callahan]

Knock-knock-knock.

Nita is dressed as professionally as she knows how, smiling (albeit nervously), and precisely on time.

(She may, in fact, have stood at the bottom of the stairs watching seconds count down on her watch so that she'd be knocking exactly on time, and not a minute late or early.)

[bring_a_sponge]

"Come in!" Zed barks. Just like K said he probably would.

[nita_callahan]

Mmyep. Pretty much.

Here we go! She straightens her blouse and opens the door.

"Afternoon, sir. I'm Nita Callahan -- we have an appointment?"

[bring_a_sponge]

Zed grunts, but nods too. "Ms. Callahan. Grab a seat. Be with you in a second."

Zed mashes a button on his desk and growls, "L! Your team find the Krylian ambassador's head yet? His body is driving me nuts. Keeps making these goddamn gestures, and I can't tell if they mean he's threatening to file an intergalactic lawsuit or if he's making some kind of crack about my mother."

"Oh, uhh, sorry, Chief," replies a feminine voice from a box on Zed's desk. "No luck yet."

Zed rolls his eyes. "Well, get on it! Or I'll send the body down there so it can waggle it's appendages at you! Zed out."

Zed eyes Nita and shakes his head.

"Specially sanctioned by MiB Special Services....."

[bring_a_sponge]

There's a new row of lockers down in that special room in MIB Headquarters. They seem exactly like all the others, save the small panels on the front of each door which bear a very unusual set of letters: α, β, and γ.

Waiting.

Waiting for the crack future.

[3rdtimelucky]

It's here that Goldy rejoins the tour group, bearing a number of steaming mugs on a tray. Thanks to the odor-resistant qualities of her Suit and her hair, and the industrial strength exhaust fan in the break room, it would take a very sensitive nose to detect that she was recently smoking. However, her amused smirk gives away the fact that she's been doing something illicit.

"Okay, I'm here," she announces, handing K a strong black coffee.

"You can quit reeling off the boring trivia now, and get to the important stuff."

Nita gets her tea with two sugars and Jen gets a cappuccino with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Finally, she gives Zed his drink: a low fat caramel macchiato with whipped cream. That smirk of hers isn't going anywhere.

"I thought you liked it black, but Gleeble said this was your favorite," she explains.

[k_in_black]

"It's all important stuff," Zed grumbles, glaring at the low-fatness of his cup.

"Thank you, Darlin'," K smiles. "And this," he continues, turning back to Nita, "Is the locker room...."

[gammagammahey]

Jen is standing in front of their new lockers, holding a sleek black duffel bag. In fact, she's in the middle of unzipping that duffel bag and extracting her laptop to test the antimatter personal laptop lock.

"Thank you, Agent Beta." Jen's been using code names long enough that it sounds vibrant, sincere, and quite smooth. Awkward? Not when you've been calling people "Wonder Man" and "Captain Ultra" with a straight face for the past ten years.

"This is the first test of the benefits package. If the java isn't good, I may resign, Agents K and Zed respectively. Stated for the public record."

Fortunately, the cappuccino is more than passable when she sips it. Goldy gets an appreciative one-armed hug in thanks.

"You remembered the cinnamon! Thank you, sweetie."

The scent of caramel wafts through the air, wanton and absurdly out of place when juxtaposed with Zed.

Jen eyes Zed's cup. Speculatively.