Anyway, without further ado, here's part 9. Enjoy.
Luck Be A Lady
by Catherine Linda Michel
Part 9
When I awakened, the next morning, I had a feeling that something was going to happen on this day, that would change all of our lives even further than they already had. I didn't say anything to the others, though. They had enough to think about without me worrying them with these vague "not right" feelings of mine.
Prue seemed chipper and Neri was positively cheerful, unusual for her since she was an avowed "night person". Pickles and Kim seemed all right but Stephanie was morose. She still hadn't adjusted to her female body and was down on herself for "being stupid and answering the wrong ad". We talked for awhile as we decided on our course of action for the day, deciding to make straight for L.A. today, and damn the torpedoes! We did our best to reassure Stephanie that we would do all we could to get her back to being male as soon as we could. My hope was that, using the photo part of the body changer, we would be able to reconstruct Stephanie's male body, IF we could get hold of a picture of Steve. Failing that, I knew that we COULD make Stephanie male again, even if it wasn't her old body. We tried, again, to put me back into the previous, less well endowed female body I had originally been transformed into, but no luck. It seemed that I was "locked out" of that form. I sighed, setting myself mentally for another day as someone's ‘wet dream". Actually, I was getting used to looking, sounding and moving like the sexy redhead I appeared to be. I won't say I was starting to like it, but I WAS getting used to it. We adjourned to our own rooms once again and everyone got dressed and packed, ready to go. Curiously, Kim seemed not to mind being female at all. She laughed and joked as if she was actually starting to LIKE it, moving with a decided feminine sway and being flirtatious with any men we chanced to come across. I wondered to myself about this, but didn't voice my observations to anyone else. It DID make me stop and take stock of my own form, though.
Okay, disregarding the OBVIOUS differences between this sex bomb's body and my own, old form, and looking at it objectively, I suddenly realized that there really weren't THAT many differences! Two arms, two legs, two eyes and ears and all the other mundane things were basically the same. Yes, moving this body WAS different with it's lower center of gravity and the weights pulling on my chest were a bit distracting, to say the least, but I WAS still human!
There WERE obvious differences in the way the world at large treated me as a woman and how I remembered being treated as a male, but these were easily explained and dismissed. Curious how the human animal can adapt to almost anything, given time and a reason to do so.
With that thought, a kind of weight lifted from me and I looked at things in a different light. I knew, for example, that, once we reached our destination I could easily return to my original, male body. I had two backup discs with my form imprinted on them, AND there WAS a photo of me in my wallet! I was actually beginning to look forward to the day when there was a knock on the door.
I crossed to the door and opened it, expecting to see Neri or one of the others, but to my shock there was a man standing there, pointing a gun at me! I know my mouth opened, but no sound emerged. I was absolutely speechless! I began to back up but the man wiggled that gun in my direction and said, "Well, little lady, aren't you going to invite me in? We have your friends all neatly bottled up and waiting for us but I wanted to talk to you and your friend there," and he pointed the gun at Prue, "about the merry chase you've led us on." Prue looked as shocked as I was and she couldn't speak either. For a few more seconds we stayed that way. A frozen tableau, waiting for something to happen. Finally, the man with the gun simply motioned for me to back up which I did, and he followed me into the room, closing the door behind him. I looked back and forth from him to Prue and back again, several times, trying to come up with something, ANYTHING, that might help us get out of this situation but all I managed to do or say was a frightened little squeak of fear.
"Oh, come now!." The man said, as he made himself comfortable on a chair near the door. Surely you must be wondering how we managed to find you and who we are? I mean, you have managed to escape our best efforts to locate you for almost 5 days and, believe me, THAT ain't easy! The best ANYONE has been able to do, in the past was 23 hours! Congratulations, ladies! You've set a record!"
He didn't LOOK like he was really congratulating us, though. There was a sour look on his face and a very sarcastic tone to his voice.
I finally found my voice and I said,
"Look mister, I don't know who you think we are but I don't want any trouble with you or that gun. I have identification in my purse over there on that table. Just let me get it and I'm sure you'll see that you've made a terrible mistake! Please don't hurt us!" I was playing the "frightened female thing" for all I was worth. If I could manage to get to my purse, I might be able to distract him with the identification while I grabbed the gun that was in there. I went toward the purse but he jumped up off the chair and pointed the gun right at me, cocking back the hammer! "Hold it RIGHT there, missy!" He shouted. "One more step and I'll have to shoot you. I don't want to do that but I WILL if you force me to it! You've embarrassed me in front of my team AND my supervisors! If you think I'm dumb enough to let you get your hands on that purse and whatever might be in it, you've got another think coming! Now, just sit down there on that bed, both of you, NOW!" I looked at Prue and she, at me. She looked as scared as I felt and I knew that it wouldn't take much to make this guy shoot both of us. We sat down on the bed.
"Now, ladies, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roland Dakson. I'm what you people call a MAN IN BLACK! In reality, we DO wear other colors but movies and urban legends have hung that title on us. We kind of like it as it makes us a bit more mysterious and considerably more feared. That suits us just fine as it helps us in most situations. When people learn they're dealing with the dreaded "Men In Black" they just give up, most of the time. Saves us a lot of trouble and ammunition."
He paused for a few seconds, seemingly considering how much he was going to tell us, and then continued. "At this moment, my team is "interviewing" your friends" I didn't like the way he said ‘Interviewing!"
"I'm certain that what we learn from them, and from you will advance our knowledge by leaps and bounds! We KNOW that there are aliens about but we've never actually been able to capture any of them. To bag the bunch of you PLUS all the devices you had stashed in your van and in the rooms, well, that's a nice little bonus for us that repays the trouble you've given us, a bit.
Oh, don't worry too much. We're not going to kill any of you. At least we won't if you don't give us any more trouble. What we ARE going to do is get EVERY bit of information you possess! Make no mistake, you WILL tell us EVERYTHING we want to know about you aliens and what you want here on earth!" My mind was going at about warp 9, trying to understand what this guy was saying to us. In desperation, I recognized the mistake he'd made and I was frantically trying to find a way to turn it to our advantage. He thought WE were aliens! He didn't know who we REALLY were! That gave us an edge. A small one, to be sure, but an edge nonetheless. Now, If I could just come up with a way to take advantage of it! Prue looked genuinely frightened and yet, at the same time, really angry! As scared as I was at that point, I found myself watching her, and the expressions that chased each other across her face, as much, or more than I watched this Man In Black person. My pulse was pounding in my ears so loudly that I almost missed what Dakson said next. "Now, ladies. The plan here is for you two to walk out of here in front of me and get into the car I tell you to get into. Once there, you will sit quietly and make no trouble for me or my team members. If you DO.....well, let's just say that you WON'T like the results. I promise that, if you follow my instructions, you won't be harmed and you will be taken to a place of relative safety. It's up to you, ladies. What's it gonna be?"
He stood there, gun trained on us, and a cheesy smile, almost a grimace, on his face. His expectant expression and his demeanor left me no doubts that he WOULD shoot us if he had to. I could also tell that he really didn't want to shoot us. Again, a small edge.
I slowly rose from the bed, keeping my hands in plain sight and making no sudden moves. I didn't wanna get shot for ANY reason, let alone a stupid one like trying to rush him or an attempt to overpower him.
THAT thought gave me a small laugh. ME overpower anyone! In THIS form, the only way _I_ could overpower anyone would have been if they were so overawed by my beauty that they were semi-mesmerized.
Prue rose to her feet a second after I did, also keeping her hands in plain sight. I knew there was no chance of me getting my hands on my purse (MY purse!) or the gun hidden inside it, so I didn't even try. I began to move slowly towards Dakson, keeping my eyes on his eyes and hoping I might find some chance, ANY chance , of getting us out of this.
I didn't get one, though. As Prue and I passed him, he moved a step or two farther away from us, eliminating any chance we might have had of jumping him and getting his gun away from him. We walked out the door, followed by Dakson and, in very short order, were ensconced in the back seat of a nondescript black car. I looked around and, in a couple of other cars I saw, Kim, Pickles, Neri and Stephanie. Neri caught my eye and winked! I thought to myself. "Well, She's sure taking this calmly! I wonder, knowing Neri like I do, if she doesn't have some sort of surprise planned for this bunch of bozos." I nudged Prue and got her to look in Neri's direction. When Prue turned back to look at me, she had a questioning expression on HER face as well. I shrugged, as if to say, ‘I dunno!' and faced front again when I realized that Dakson was getting in the car, accompanied by another guy dressed in much the same way as Dakson was. This new guy got in the passenger side and glanced back at Prue and me. His face lit up and he said, Well, well, WELL! Looks like a clean sweep, R.D. I'll tell you, these aliens sure have got the human look down pat, don't they? This one," and he indicated Prue, " is damn good looking, but THIS one,' and he looked directly at me, "is a damn knockout! Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd be damn near killing myself trying to get a DATE with her, or it, or whatever the hell it is!"
I shuddered when he said that. My mind went on a little vacation right about then, thinking about a DATE, with a MAN? What the hell? As hard as I tried to get my mind back on what was actually happening to us, I couldn't seem to shake the images that were flooding into my mind! Thoughts of me kissing a man, holding a man close to me, surrendering to his wants and needs, giving him pleasure.....WAIT A MINUTE HERE!!!!! I mentally yelled at myself! WHAT the hell are you THINKING about here, BILL? Where did all these images come from? In all the time I'd been more or less stuck in a female form I'd never once even considered the possibility of dating a guy! In truth, it had been Prue I'd been thinking about dating. So where had all those thoughts come from all of a sudden? It was like what that guy had said had been some kind of trigger and, for a few seconds, I had actually considered being on a date with a man. Oh SHIT! THIS couldn't be a good thing! I must have had a panicked look on my face or something because I felt Prue nudging me and, when I turned my head to look at her, she has this really worried look on her face.
"Are you ok, Billie?" She asked me, softly. "Ummm, yeah, Prue. I think so. I just spaced out for a few seconds there, trying to think of a way out of this, or at least I THINK that's what happened.." There was NO way I was gonna tell her what I had really been thinking about in those few seconds. Being stuck in this lovely body was one thing, but ‘going native' wasn't something I had considered nor was it something I wanted! Granted I HAD given some thought to how long I would be wearing this delectable form and the possible ramifications that long term ‘girliness' could mean, but MEN had never entered into my wildest imaginings.....until a minute or so ago. In my concern over what I had been thinking about I hadn't noticed that the car had begun to move. As it pulled slowly out of the parking lot of the motel, I looked behind us and saw that there was another car just like ours, directly behind, followed by our van and yet another identical car. Another strange thought crossed my mind just then. I wondered if these guys had bothered to grab out clothes and stuff from the rooms!
Ye GODS!!! We were in the biggest jackpot of our lives and I was thinking about CLOTHES??? I began to perspire, wondering where these thoughts were coming from and what was causing them. I was so preoccupied by my thoughts that I apparently missed what Dakson was saying because he suddenly yelled at me. "HEY! RED!!! I'm talking to you!"
"What?" I replied, startled by his tone of voice. "I said, you might as well resign yourself to the fact that you have been caught. You WILL answer our questions and you WILL give us all the information you have on your alien race and what you want here on Earth. We have many ways of getting the information we want and some of them are not very pleasant at all. It'll go a lot easier on you and all your ‘friends' if you just co-operate."
I kept my mouth shut. I didn't trust my own temper just then and I was really afraid I'd say something that would get us even further in trouble, although I didn't know how we could possibly BE in further than we were already. Once again, I thought, my ROTTEN luck had risen up and bitten me squarely in my, at the moment, oh so delectable, ass!
Prue hadn't said a word since she had asked me if I was O.K. back when we had first left the motel. I glanced sideways at her and her eyes were closed! I knew she couldn't possibly be sleeping and I wondered what she was doing. Our hands were handcuffed behind us and mine were beginning to ache a bit. Dakson had been just a bit overzealous when he'd put them on me and they were tight.
I glanced out the rear window of the car again and saw that our caravan was intact. Three cars and a van. It must've looked odd to other drivers but I couldn't imagine that anyone would dare to question it very loudly or for very long. The three cars looked, for all the world, like undercover cop cars and anyone seeing our little convoy would probably assume that we were on our way to a police station after a bust or raid of some kind.
I sat there in that back seat, watching the scenery going by for quite awhile. Prue wasn't talking and neither were the two guys in the front. My mind was going in 17 directions at the same time and I was at a total loss about what to do or how to do it when Prue suddenly nudged me.
I turned my head towards her and she jammed her elbow into my side, whispering out of the side of her mouth, "Don't look at me! Just close your eyes and pretend you're dropping off to sleep or something. I've gotten my hands free from the cuffs. A little trick I learned from my Grampa. He used to be a stage magician."
I quickly turned my head to the front and closed my eyes, complying with Prue's demands. I had no idea what she had in mind but I hoped it was gonna be good. Prue didn't say anything more and I was going quietly crazy, waiting for her to say or do something. The car went through an intersection and, as it did, the light turned red. As a space gradually opened between our car and the ones following that had gotten caught at the light, I could feel Prue tense beside me. I felt her hand sneak in behind me and in just a second or two I felt the handcuffs loosen! She stage whispered to me, saying, "Be ready to move when I do. We're only gonna have a few seconds and we have to make the most of them. You take the guy on your side."
Take the guy on my side? What was I gonna DO to him? He was twice my present size and male! Well, maybe I could have scratched at his eyes or something, but I didn't think of that until later. What DID happen was this:
Prue moved so fast I didn't even see her start! Before I knew it, she had her hands around Dakson's head and was tearing at his eyes! I didn't know what I should do but I knew I had to do something! I grabbed hold of the other guy's head, turned it towards me and, well, I ummm, OK, I KISSED HIM!!! I have NO earthly idea where the idea came from to do that but that's what I did. He fought against me for a second or two but then he sort of leaned into the kiss!
By the time he realized that this wasn't something he should be doing with a prisoner, especially one whose partner was attacking his partner, it was too late for him. Prue had gotten hold of Dakson's gun and was quietly telling him to get on his radio and tell the rest of the convoy to pull over and stop.
I took advantage of the other guy's momentary confusion to reach under his coat and remove his gun, which I then pointed at him, saying, "Do what she says, Dakson or, so help me, I'll blow this guy's head off!"
Another thought came to me just then and I cracked the guy in the back of his head with the gun butt. You know those movies where one guy busts another guy in the back of the head and the guy goes unconscious? Well, that doesn't necessarily happen. I had to crack him twice more before he slumped forward. The last hit sounded particularly ugly and I felt sick to my stomach. I hoped I hadn't killed him. Dakson jerked his head towards his partner when he heard the first hit but he didn't do anything stupid or heroic. He just glared at me, picked up his microphone and told the other cars to follow him. Prue told him to find an alley or a parking lot away from the street and he complied. When the whole convoy appeared to be hidden from the street, Prue told Dakson to tell everyone to stay in their vehicles and stay cool. Dakson complied and then put the mike down.
"O.K, little lady, you've got the gun and the drop on me. Don't do anything dumb, or at least, don't do anything dumber than what you've already done, O.K?" Prue played it to the hilt, telling Dakson that if he didn't do exactly what she told him to do, our alien friends would vaporize the whole damn convoy, or something like that. She told him that they were watching us at all times, just in case something like this happened and, as a matter of fact, their scout ship was hovering over the convoy, just waiting for the opportunity to do just that.
She also said that if he instructed the other members of his team to release our friends, she'd contact the ship and tell them to go easy on him and his team. She also said, "We're not afraid to die, so don't get any funny ideas about being a hero. Just open these doors and get our friends released and no harm will come to any of you. As for us, well, if we die, they'll just beam us up and put us in different bodies, so do like I told you!"
Dakson stared at her for a few seconds, appeared to make his mind up and picked up the microphone again. "Ok guys." He said into it. "Here's the play. Let the prisoners out of the cars and, you guys in the van, get out. Leave the keys in it. Anything else, Boss?" He said to Prue, sarcastically. Prue pushed the gun barrel into the back of his neck and said, "Yes, Mr. Smartass! I want all of the stuff that was taken from our rooms and the van, put into the van. Then, I want you and your team to gather together in front of this car. DO it!"
Dakson looked like he was about to do something dumb and Prue pushed harder with the barrel of the gun. She then did something really odd. She pushed on a pin that was on her dress! To my shock, it BEEPED!
She said,
"12 to Double S."
I think I damn near lost it right there and it was only Prue's stern looking face that caused me to reign myself in. I WAS trembling, though! What the hell was all of THIS, now?
"Double S to 12, go ahead." Came a tiny voice, out of that pin!
"This is 12." Murmured Prue, into the pin. "Situation under control for the present. Request quiet backup at this location."
"Understood, 12. Backup is on the way. ETA, your location, three minutes."
"Thanks, double S. 12 out." and with that, Prue looked straight at me, still holding the gun solidly in Dakson's neck.
Billie, I know there's a lot I'm going to have to explain to you about all of this, but for now, just go along with me on all of it, O.K? I promise I'll tell you everything after we're out of this." I don't think I could've spoken right then if I'd had to but I remember nodding at her so vigorously that, for a second I felt like one of those ‘bobblehead' dolls you see in car windows! When I stopped, and after my vision cleared, I watched as Prue got out of the car, motioning to Dakson that he should do the same. He complied, looking somewhat more nervous than he had earlier, and stood there quietly. Prue called out to me, telling me to get out of the car and check on the guy I'd knocked out. I did as she asked and, when I checked the guy's pulse I was relieved to feel it strong and regular. I joined Prue on the other side of the car and waited for her next surprise. Within a few minutes a couple of vans came around the corner and pulled into the parking lot, next to our van. Two men and two women got out, holding weapons and took charge of the MIB team while Neri and the rest joined Prue and me. About a million questions were coming from the lips of our friends but Prue stopped them all with a scowl and a "KNOCK IT OFF!" growl. I'll explain everything when we're safely away from here, O.K? For now, just get in the van, make sure everything is there and wait for me and Billie. They looked at her like they thought she was from Mars or something and, for all _I_ knew, she WAS, but they did as she asked. When Prue's ‘backup' had the MIB team rounded up and in the very cars we had been held prisoner in, one of the men came up to her and said, "What do you want done with them, 12? The standard ‘nobody ever sees them again' deal or did you have something else in mind?"
Prue seemed lost in thought for a minute, then she said, "No, I don't want them harmed. Is there any way we can use the new tech on them and make them forget all about us? Also, you need to check the guy in the front seat of that first car and make sure he isn't damaged beyond repair. Neri? What do you think?"
"Well, Prue, what I think is that I’d love to waste these Man In Black Wannabees, but that probably wouldn’t be the best solution for this problem. Maybe we CAN erase their memories of us, but I don’t think we can come up with enough false memories to fill in for what we’d be taking from them. Have you determined just who they really are yet?"
"Not yet, Neri. I’ve been too busy making sure that everyone is ok. I think this one.." and she pointed the gun at Dakson, "is one of the "others." As for the rest of them, well, they may just be who they say they are. That will have to be determined by our "friends" here." And she indicated the people who had arrived in the two vans.
I was completely nonplussed by all of this and I think my brain went into vapor lock or something. All I could do was swivel my head back and forth between Prue, Neri, and the activity that was going on around us as the "Men In Black" were rounded up by Prue and Neri’s "friends."
There was more conversation between Prue, Neri and their "friends", but to tell the truth, I don’t remember any of it. My mind was not accepting delivery on any of this and was refusing to answer my frantic attempts at communication with it. After a period of time, the "Men In Black" were rounded up and ensconced in the two vans, along with Prue and Neri’s "friends" and we, the original bunch of us, were left alone in that alleyway. I remember Prue telling me to get in the van along with Stephanie, Kim, Pickles and Neri, but I don’t remember much more than that.
Even now, after all the time that’s gone by, I can’t recall anything specific about the events that occurred after the "friends" and their captives left that alley. The next clear though I can remember having is something along the lines of…..PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!
I came to with Prue holding on to one of my arms and Pickles and Kim hanging on to the other. I was trying to fight my way free from………what? I didn’t know. I only knew that I HAD to get free..I HAD to get OUT of this……whatever it was I had bumbled into! I DO remember promising God that if HE got me out of THIS one, I’d never curse my bad luck again. I’d never drink again. Hell, I’d never even think a bad thought again!!! I fought as hard as I could against whatever was holding me down but, weak as this body was, I couldn’t get free Finally I just gave up and stopped fighting.
I was breathing hard and was exhausted. I could hear Prue, Kim, and Pickles breathing hard as well. I opened my eyes, expecting to see……well, I don’t know WHAT I expected to see, but there, with concerned looks on their faces were Prue, Kim, and Pickles.
I glanced nervously around the room I appeared to be in, and it looked like…………the HOTEL ROOM we had stayed in last night! Prue noticed that my eyes were open and I was looking at her and she cried out, "BILLIE!!! BILLIE!!!! Snap out of it!!! You’re ok! You’ve been dreaming and you must have had a terrible nightmare!!! You’ve been screaming and flailing about like a person possessed! Kim, Pickles and I have had all we could DO just to hold you down and keep you from hurting yourself!"
Kim and Pickles were, when I looked at them, nodding their heads in agreement with what Prue was telling me and, after a few minutes I began to come down from the panic attack I had been having.
When I had regained my composure, I began to tell them about what I THOUGHT had happened. "It seemed so REAL!" I told them, beginning to cry, of all things! "There were these Men In Black guys and there were Aliens and we got captured and then Prue and Neri did this Star Trek communicator thing and, and, and…… I KISSED a MAN!!!!! I trailed off into incoherency for a bit, there.
They listened to my tale with concern in their expressions, but, when I trailed off they began to smile and Prue told me again that I had experienced a nightmare, and that none of what I thought had happened, had actually taken place.
Well, it took several minutes for me to finally understand what they were trying to tell me, but it HAD seemed SO real that I STILL had doubts. By the time I had calmed down enough to make sense again, Neri and Stephanie had entered the room. Neri asked, with concern in her voice, "Is Billie ok? The van is all loaded up and we’re ready to go.
Can she travel, do you think or should we lay over here another night? I’d just as soon get on the road, but if Billie isn’t able, well maybe we can just switch motels or something. The longer we stay in one place, the better the chances for those nasty men who are chasing us, of finding us are."
Prue looked back at me and asked, "Well, Billie?
CAN you travel? We really SHOULD hit the road."
I looked back and forth at the concerned faces, knowing that they were right, but feeling like I’d been dragged through a keyhole, backwards, dressed. I managed to tell them that I could travel, but I’d have to sleep in the van because I was WHIPPED!! I was still groggy, but I knew that they were right. We HAD to get moving.
They helped me get up, washed, after a fashion, and dressed. Then they helped me out to the van and got me settled into one of the back seats where I just passed out, I guess. They told me later that Prue and Kim had packed everything up and loaded it into the van, leaving me to sleep off my nightmare. Nightmare my ASS!!! I KNEW something had happened, but I had no proof! One thing I DID know was that I was gonna get to the TRUTH of this and I wasn’t gonna let my feelings for Prue or anyone ELSE get in the way!
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!!
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