Hello peoples! I'm Thalia ([email protected]), a relatively new author to the world of ff.net!
Disclaimers apply: We all know what I DO NOT own...(basically anything that you have heard of)
Now, without further ado, Prologue!
* * *
In a dim alleyway on the seedier side of San Francisco, a lone female stood in wait. She was a rather stunning blonde
with a slender but toned physique, dark brown eyes, with an almost child-like innocence in her dainty nose and slightly pouty
lips that belied the jaded, sharp intelligence in her gaze. Dressed in a scandalously low-cut beaded blue crop top that truly left
little to the imagination, a short black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, and shiny black patent leather stilettoes, and sporting a
mermaid tattoo on her tanned, flat belly, it was quite obvious that she was a hooker. She carried a small black patent leather
handbag in one slender, ladylike hand, which had a wide silver bracelet, studded with blue and white and black crystals around
the wrist.
Soon, a black limo with darkened windows, looking very out of place in the tough neighborhood, approached the alley,
and the blonde sauntered up to the vehicle confidently. The window rolled down halfway, then, after she'd had a brief discussion
with the limo occupant, the driver got out, and opened the door for her. The blonde gracefully stepped in, and shut the door
behind her.
Inside the limo sat a leering, muscular man, in his early 30's, with wild flame-red hair and a sadistic smirk. The blonde
gave him a innocent but naughty smile, and purred, "Darling, I love that hair...is the rest of you as delicious?"
The red-haired man gave an appreciative look at the generous amount of cleavage revealed by her top, and said, with a
predatory gleam in his eyes, "What's your name, sugar?"
"Amanda...at your service..."The blonde said in a smoldering voice, "And what should I call you, darling?"
"Call me Rob." The man smirked. "What do you have in that handbag?"
The blonde opened up the bag to reveal a carton of cigarettes, a lighter, a box of condoms, and a tube of red lipstick.
Satisfied that she had nothing dangerous on her, the man called Rob gestured that she could shut her bag.
~ ~ ~
Soon, the limo pulled up at a gleaming building with tinted glass windows, a very expensive hotel. Rob and the blonde
prostitute Amanda took the elevator up to the penthouse floor, and headed for the man's room. Amanda followed closely behind
Rob, her eyes wide, quickly taking in the details around her..the lush carpeting, the just-right-lighting, the wooden doors with the
numbers in gilt script embossed on them, the security camera following her every step. She fiddled with her bracelet, then
entered Rob's room.
Rob shrugged off his jacket, then went to the bathroom. Amanda looked about the place, and slowly put on lipstick.
When Rob came back from the bathroom, he saw the blonde already lying on his bed, her mane of hair fanning around her on the
pillowcase, a sultry smile on her glossy red lips. He pounced upon her, and pulled her into a kiss, tongue coming out to lick her
sensuous lips.
Immediately, he doubled over in pain, breathing labored, hives breaking out upon his fair skin. The blonde, all of her
sex-kitten-seductiveness replaced by a sharp, cold smile, watched him coolly as he shook like a leaf, sweat pouring down his
brow.
"You BITCH! What did you do to me?" He tried to slap her, but howled in pain when she, with a fluid movement, twisted
his arm behind him, a sickening crack audible as the wrist was broken.
"Oh, my dear Robert Dunn, I know so much about you. I know that you're also known as Rubeus...you're the assassin
who killed Judge Hilton. I know that you're the mystery bomber who blew up the summer house of Senator Riordan, and that
you're working for Dominic Dark, the millionaire who is actually the terrorist known as Demando, and heads the infamous crime
organization known as Black Moon. I know that you're 33 years old, prefer blondes, used to be in the military, and...that you
have deadly allergic reactions with penicillin." The blonde laughed coldly, pressing her fingers to her lips, then to his skin again,
where angry red hives started to appear almost instantaneously.
"W-who are you?" Rubeus, hacking terribly, managed to wheeze out.
"Now, now, I can't tell you that, that's information that will cost you your life..." She pouted prettily, then smiled a chilling
smile. "But maybe, you want to be put out of your misery anyway..." She bent down, and whispered a word into his ear. His eyes
widened in horror, then, with a quick jerk of her two hands, rolled back, unseeing, as she snapped his neck.
The woman rolled off the bed, took one last look at the dead man, and extracted a red condom and her lighter. She flicked
on the lighter and held the package up to the flame. Instead of burning, the flame simply melted the "condom" inside into a thin,
translucent liquid. "Ah, the joys of science." She sprinkled the liquid over Rubeus' body: it would remove all traces of her DNA,
fingerprints, etc. from his body. Then, she took out her cigarette box, flipping it open to show that it was actually a cell phone. She
dialed, and then spoke into it.
"Agent Mercury reporting. Target dispatched. Coming out in 30."
The woman then went to the bathroom. She tugged on her blonde hair, and the wig fell away to reveal a short navy blue
coiffure. Brown contacts were removed to show a pair of sharp, clear sapphire eyes. She took out another condom, a green one,
and once again held it up to the flame of her lighter. Then, she lathered the liquid over her skin, and wiped it off. The tan and the
tattoo disappeared to reveal milky white, unblemished skin. Finally, she removed the mirror over the sink to reveal a secret cubby
hole. She extracted a neatly folded navy blue pinstripe blazer and business skirt, a black leather briefcase and a pair of tortoise
shell sunglasses. Quickly, the woman changed out of her hooker getup into the other clothing, put her disguise materials into the
briefcase, and walked back out. She efficiently scanned the room, putting Rubeus' palm pilot, cell phone, documents and laptop
into her briefcase as well, then walked out. She tapped once more on the crystals on her computer-bracelet, and the security
camera in the hall was shut down for 5 minutes. Enough time for her to go down the elevator, out the building, and into the waiting
black Porsche parked outside.
~ ~ ~
Three days later, Amy Anderson reported for work at an office building in L.A. She walked confidently into the office of
Luna Felis, her boss and friend.
Amy Anderson, aka Agent Mercury, was one of a quartette beautiful, brilliant young women of 26 working for Luna Felis.
Along with Mina Angell, Raye Warrington, and Lita Woods, she was an elite agent, who had undergone training that made Navy
SEAL training look like play as well as an incredible education (each woman specializing in something particular: Amy had a phD
in Biochemistry from Harvard and one in Computer Engineering from MIT. Mina was fluent in four languages, English, French,
Spanish, and German, with a phD in psychology from Berkeley. Raye had a master's in Women's Studies from Vassar and a phD
in Nuclear Physics from Yale, and Lita had a phD in Ecology from Stanford and another in Electrical Engineering from Cal-Tech).
They had worked on numerous highly dangerous missions dealing with high-profile criminals.
Luna, a statuesque woman with luscious waves of blue-black hair and an almost catlike beauty, dressed impeccably in a
black business suit and pale yellow blouse, looked up from the newspaper she had been reading. "Hey Ames, it looks like you've
made the news again." She handed the paper to Amy. The headlines screamed: "Elusive Bomber-Assassin found killed in Hotel
Room"
"Well, I can't say that I particularly enjoyed every aspect of that particular assignment, but oh well. Another one down. So,
what's my next assignment?"
"Here." Luna handed Amy a manila folder. "You've heard of Terrelunia Inc., have you not?"
"Yes, big biomedical research corporation."
"Yes. A husband and wife, Darien and Serena White, are, respectively, the Marketing Manager and Research Director for
this corporation. However, Demando is after the two of them. He has a personal vendetta against the two of them: went to high
school with Serena and Darien White, and Serena White, then Serena Argent, dumped him for Darien White. That, added to the
fact that Terrelunia Inc. is a large, powerful, rival corporation, well..."
"Yes, yes..." Amy leafed through the papers in the folder, and processed this information. "And how do I come into play
here?"
"Well, this assignment is going to be a bit more complicated than your usual assignments, because both Serena and
Darien White are targets. So, there will be two people, one to protect each of them."
"Oh, so which one of the girls will I be working with?"
"That's the thing. You won't be working with any of them. For one thing, they're all busy. Mina's dealing with that Beryl
case, Raye with the racist bomber, and Lita's chasing after that drug ring. For another, you will need to partner up with a guy."
"Okay...continue." Amy said, her eyes wary.
"You will be a research assistant to Serena White, to protect her at work. Since it's a biomedical corporation, I think that's
right up your alley. Also, you will be the 'wife' of a visiting 'college friend' of her husband's, to protect her at home. Therefore, you
will be working with a guy who will protect Darien White, and also masquerade as your husband."
"I..see...please tell me that the guy is at least reasonably smart and competent."
"Well, he's got an MBA from Princeton and a degree in International Trade from Brown. So he shouldn't be that bad. He's
one of Art's boys. He's on vacation now, but he will be back tomorrow and you will be able to meet him."
'Art' was Artemis Cato, Luna's partner-of-sorts who was in charge of a group of men somewhat similar to Luna's girls. Amy
had met two of them before, through Mina and Raye, who had both been cooperating with them on cases. Agent Venus (Mina) and
Agent Kunzite (named Kevin Knighton) had worked on a prostitution ring case. The Madame, Estrellita Noir, was another of Demando's
agents, known as Esmeraude, a simpering, heartless bitch who looked and acted like the Southern Belle from Hell. After cracking
the case together, Mina had decided to give up her habit of having whirlwind romances and she and Kevin had started dating. Kevin
was almost totally opposite of Mina. Stoical, serious, and reserved, Kevin was at first baffled by the cheery, vivacious Mina, but
they learnt to get along, and worked very well together, their complementary personalities balancing each other out. Agent Mars
(Raye) and Agent Jadeite (named James Byrne) had cracked the case against a bomber-hacker agent of Demando's, Stephan
Black, a brilliant but ruthless man known as Saffir. That venture had had a rocky start: both Raye and James had rather explosive
tempers, but in the face of danger, they both fearlessly saved each other's lives, and that was the beginning of a beautiful, if volatile
relationship. Amy got along well enough with both Kevin and James, but since Luna had not mentioned either, she was probably
going to work with one of the other guys. Which was just as well, since she certainly did not want to masquerade around as the
wife of one of her friends' boyfriends.
"All right then. I accept."
"Excellent! The Whites have sent a private plane. Pack your usual, and you can arrive at their mansion in time for dinner.
Good hunting, Amy!"
~ ~ ~
At the same time that Luna was informing Amy of her assignment, the ringing of a cell phone woke Zack Waterhouse from
his slumber. Growling, the young man rubbed, then opened his green eyes, and grabbed the offending cell phone. "Who is it? This
better be good!" He snarled irritably into the phone, one hand raking through the tangles in his longish dark blond hair.
"Good morning Zack! How are you on this fine day?" The said 28-year-old Zack could almost HEAR Art's smug, cat-that-
ate-the-canary expression.
"I WAS fine til you called, I was having a wonderful dream about a fine woman with long legs and.."
"Okay, okay, I get the point, and I truly do not want to hear the disgusting details. I just wanted to inform you that your
next assignment has come in. Wanna know about it?"
"Sure, just make it quick okay?"
"Glad to. You remember Dominic Dark --- Demando?"
"Of course, our favorite little rich lunatic. What about him? Has he found yet another unfortunate but similarly rich schmuck
to pester?"
"In fact, he has. Have you ever heard of Terrelunia, Inc.?"
"Of course. Do you even need to ask?" Zack, ever the financially savvy one, kept tabs on every major corporation on the
market, and read Fortune 500 like a Bible.
"Well, Demando seems to have a personal vendetta against Darien and Serena White.."
"Marketing Manager and Research Director..."
"Very good, Zack, I'm impressed. For someone with your particular...lifestyle, you actually keep decent tabs on some
things. Anyways, his personal vendetta involves a somewhat messy love situation...suffice it to say that Serena White is a very
attractive woman, but did not go for him. Add to that the fact that both Darien and Serena White are rich as Croesus..and you have
the situation at hand. Both of them are targets. You will be working in conjunction with another agent, and the two of you will each
protect one of them."
"Okay, who will I be working with? Please don't tell me that I will be working with Nick...last time I did, he bored me to
death with his astro swot." Nicholas Steller, aka Agent Nephrite, was another of Art's agents. With a phD in Astronomy from
Columbia and a Master's in Mathematics from Dartmouth, Nick was their "Resident Space Cadet", as James termed him. Zack
was actually friends with Nick, like with the other guys, but their distinctly different educational backgrounds made for a lot of
good-natured bickering between them.
Zack himself was the businessman of the group. With his outgoing personality as well as his shrewd business sense he
knew exactly how to make disgusting amounts of money very quickly and easily. James Byrne, agent Jadeite, a larger-than-life
character with three master's degrees, in Philosophy, Linguistics and Computer Science from UCLA, was great fun when he was
not getting pissed about something or another..or, lately, making out with that raven-haired babe, one of Luna's girls, Mars, he
believed she was. Kevin Knighton, the serious one, had a phD in Physics from Duke and one in Forensic Science from Johns
Hopkins. Somewhat introverted, he was nevertheless a dependable friend. And lately, under the spell of the charming blonde girl
Venus, another one of Luna's lovelies, he was seen to crack smiles more frequently than before.
"No, it will be one of Luna's girls. She will be working with and protecting Serena White at work, as you will be working
with and protecting Darien White. At home, you two will go as husband and wife. You will be masquerading as Darien White's
friend from college, which should not be too hard since his alma mater is also Princeton."
"Cool. Is she hot?"
Art snorted exasperatedly, "Zack, is that all you think of? But you know that all of Luna's girls are selected for their beauty
as well as their intelligence."
"Yeah, yeah. Do you know what she looks like?" Zack, ever the lady-killer, persisted.
Art sighed. "Let me think...Luna said she was sending Agent Mercury. Mercury..Mercury...she's about 5'5", short blue
hair, big blue eyes, pale skin, quite pretty. There, satisfied??"
"Hmm...any pictures of her? Tell Luna to send a picture of her to me through e-mail."
"Fine, fine...just for heaven's sake don't spend the entire mission staring at her legs, okay?" Artemis rolled his eyes, then
forwarded the email that he had just gotten from Luna to Zack's account. "There, it's sent. Goggle all you want now, I expect you to
be all business by tomorrow. When you get here, a private plane will take you to the Whites' mansion."
"All right then." Zack opened up his laptop and logged online. He opened the email and saw a picture of a prim-looking girl
with huge, luminous blue eyes on a delicate little face. She wore a white sleeveless blouse, a pale blue skirt and a calm, serious
expression. A pair of glasses rested on top of her cerulean hair. "She's cute, I suppose, but for the love of God, she looks like a
librarian!"
Art sighed. "You should reserve your judgments for later, Zack. You may be in for the surprise of your life." he smirked,
"She just might be the one to tame you."
Zack laughed, "Hotter chicks than her have failed. Dream on, Art. Now, may I PLEASE go back to sleep?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you tomorrow." Art hung up and Zack turned off the phone. 'Tame me, that little girl? When pigs fly...'
Little did he know that porcine animals did indeed have every intention of sprouting wings and lifting off...
* * *
There! The Prologue is finished! PLEASE, review!!
~Thalia
Disclaimers apply: We all know what I DO NOT own...(basically anything that you have heard of)
Now, without further ado, Prologue!
* * *
In a dim alleyway on the seedier side of San Francisco, a lone female stood in wait. She was a rather stunning blonde
with a slender but toned physique, dark brown eyes, with an almost child-like innocence in her dainty nose and slightly pouty
lips that belied the jaded, sharp intelligence in her gaze. Dressed in a scandalously low-cut beaded blue crop top that truly left
little to the imagination, a short black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, and shiny black patent leather stilettoes, and sporting a
mermaid tattoo on her tanned, flat belly, it was quite obvious that she was a hooker. She carried a small black patent leather
handbag in one slender, ladylike hand, which had a wide silver bracelet, studded with blue and white and black crystals around
the wrist.
Soon, a black limo with darkened windows, looking very out of place in the tough neighborhood, approached the alley,
and the blonde sauntered up to the vehicle confidently. The window rolled down halfway, then, after she'd had a brief discussion
with the limo occupant, the driver got out, and opened the door for her. The blonde gracefully stepped in, and shut the door
behind her.
Inside the limo sat a leering, muscular man, in his early 30's, with wild flame-red hair and a sadistic smirk. The blonde
gave him a innocent but naughty smile, and purred, "Darling, I love that hair...is the rest of you as delicious?"
The red-haired man gave an appreciative look at the generous amount of cleavage revealed by her top, and said, with a
predatory gleam in his eyes, "What's your name, sugar?"
"Amanda...at your service..."The blonde said in a smoldering voice, "And what should I call you, darling?"
"Call me Rob." The man smirked. "What do you have in that handbag?"
The blonde opened up the bag to reveal a carton of cigarettes, a lighter, a box of condoms, and a tube of red lipstick.
Satisfied that she had nothing dangerous on her, the man called Rob gestured that she could shut her bag.
~ ~ ~
Soon, the limo pulled up at a gleaming building with tinted glass windows, a very expensive hotel. Rob and the blonde
prostitute Amanda took the elevator up to the penthouse floor, and headed for the man's room. Amanda followed closely behind
Rob, her eyes wide, quickly taking in the details around her..the lush carpeting, the just-right-lighting, the wooden doors with the
numbers in gilt script embossed on them, the security camera following her every step. She fiddled with her bracelet, then
entered Rob's room.
Rob shrugged off his jacket, then went to the bathroom. Amanda looked about the place, and slowly put on lipstick.
When Rob came back from the bathroom, he saw the blonde already lying on his bed, her mane of hair fanning around her on the
pillowcase, a sultry smile on her glossy red lips. He pounced upon her, and pulled her into a kiss, tongue coming out to lick her
sensuous lips.
Immediately, he doubled over in pain, breathing labored, hives breaking out upon his fair skin. The blonde, all of her
sex-kitten-seductiveness replaced by a sharp, cold smile, watched him coolly as he shook like a leaf, sweat pouring down his
brow.
"You BITCH! What did you do to me?" He tried to slap her, but howled in pain when she, with a fluid movement, twisted
his arm behind him, a sickening crack audible as the wrist was broken.
"Oh, my dear Robert Dunn, I know so much about you. I know that you're also known as Rubeus...you're the assassin
who killed Judge Hilton. I know that you're the mystery bomber who blew up the summer house of Senator Riordan, and that
you're working for Dominic Dark, the millionaire who is actually the terrorist known as Demando, and heads the infamous crime
organization known as Black Moon. I know that you're 33 years old, prefer blondes, used to be in the military, and...that you
have deadly allergic reactions with penicillin." The blonde laughed coldly, pressing her fingers to her lips, then to his skin again,
where angry red hives started to appear almost instantaneously.
"W-who are you?" Rubeus, hacking terribly, managed to wheeze out.
"Now, now, I can't tell you that, that's information that will cost you your life..." She pouted prettily, then smiled a chilling
smile. "But maybe, you want to be put out of your misery anyway..." She bent down, and whispered a word into his ear. His eyes
widened in horror, then, with a quick jerk of her two hands, rolled back, unseeing, as she snapped his neck.
The woman rolled off the bed, took one last look at the dead man, and extracted a red condom and her lighter. She flicked
on the lighter and held the package up to the flame. Instead of burning, the flame simply melted the "condom" inside into a thin,
translucent liquid. "Ah, the joys of science." She sprinkled the liquid over Rubeus' body: it would remove all traces of her DNA,
fingerprints, etc. from his body. Then, she took out her cigarette box, flipping it open to show that it was actually a cell phone. She
dialed, and then spoke into it.
"Agent Mercury reporting. Target dispatched. Coming out in 30."
The woman then went to the bathroom. She tugged on her blonde hair, and the wig fell away to reveal a short navy blue
coiffure. Brown contacts were removed to show a pair of sharp, clear sapphire eyes. She took out another condom, a green one,
and once again held it up to the flame of her lighter. Then, she lathered the liquid over her skin, and wiped it off. The tan and the
tattoo disappeared to reveal milky white, unblemished skin. Finally, she removed the mirror over the sink to reveal a secret cubby
hole. She extracted a neatly folded navy blue pinstripe blazer and business skirt, a black leather briefcase and a pair of tortoise
shell sunglasses. Quickly, the woman changed out of her hooker getup into the other clothing, put her disguise materials into the
briefcase, and walked back out. She efficiently scanned the room, putting Rubeus' palm pilot, cell phone, documents and laptop
into her briefcase as well, then walked out. She tapped once more on the crystals on her computer-bracelet, and the security
camera in the hall was shut down for 5 minutes. Enough time for her to go down the elevator, out the building, and into the waiting
black Porsche parked outside.
~ ~ ~
Three days later, Amy Anderson reported for work at an office building in L.A. She walked confidently into the office of
Luna Felis, her boss and friend.
Amy Anderson, aka Agent Mercury, was one of a quartette beautiful, brilliant young women of 26 working for Luna Felis.
Along with Mina Angell, Raye Warrington, and Lita Woods, she was an elite agent, who had undergone training that made Navy
SEAL training look like play as well as an incredible education (each woman specializing in something particular: Amy had a phD
in Biochemistry from Harvard and one in Computer Engineering from MIT. Mina was fluent in four languages, English, French,
Spanish, and German, with a phD in psychology from Berkeley. Raye had a master's in Women's Studies from Vassar and a phD
in Nuclear Physics from Yale, and Lita had a phD in Ecology from Stanford and another in Electrical Engineering from Cal-Tech).
They had worked on numerous highly dangerous missions dealing with high-profile criminals.
Luna, a statuesque woman with luscious waves of blue-black hair and an almost catlike beauty, dressed impeccably in a
black business suit and pale yellow blouse, looked up from the newspaper she had been reading. "Hey Ames, it looks like you've
made the news again." She handed the paper to Amy. The headlines screamed: "Elusive Bomber-Assassin found killed in Hotel
Room"
"Well, I can't say that I particularly enjoyed every aspect of that particular assignment, but oh well. Another one down. So,
what's my next assignment?"
"Here." Luna handed Amy a manila folder. "You've heard of Terrelunia Inc., have you not?"
"Yes, big biomedical research corporation."
"Yes. A husband and wife, Darien and Serena White, are, respectively, the Marketing Manager and Research Director for
this corporation. However, Demando is after the two of them. He has a personal vendetta against the two of them: went to high
school with Serena and Darien White, and Serena White, then Serena Argent, dumped him for Darien White. That, added to the
fact that Terrelunia Inc. is a large, powerful, rival corporation, well..."
"Yes, yes..." Amy leafed through the papers in the folder, and processed this information. "And how do I come into play
here?"
"Well, this assignment is going to be a bit more complicated than your usual assignments, because both Serena and
Darien White are targets. So, there will be two people, one to protect each of them."
"Oh, so which one of the girls will I be working with?"
"That's the thing. You won't be working with any of them. For one thing, they're all busy. Mina's dealing with that Beryl
case, Raye with the racist bomber, and Lita's chasing after that drug ring. For another, you will need to partner up with a guy."
"Okay...continue." Amy said, her eyes wary.
"You will be a research assistant to Serena White, to protect her at work. Since it's a biomedical corporation, I think that's
right up your alley. Also, you will be the 'wife' of a visiting 'college friend' of her husband's, to protect her at home. Therefore, you
will be working with a guy who will protect Darien White, and also masquerade as your husband."
"I..see...please tell me that the guy is at least reasonably smart and competent."
"Well, he's got an MBA from Princeton and a degree in International Trade from Brown. So he shouldn't be that bad. He's
one of Art's boys. He's on vacation now, but he will be back tomorrow and you will be able to meet him."
'Art' was Artemis Cato, Luna's partner-of-sorts who was in charge of a group of men somewhat similar to Luna's girls. Amy
had met two of them before, through Mina and Raye, who had both been cooperating with them on cases. Agent Venus (Mina) and
Agent Kunzite (named Kevin Knighton) had worked on a prostitution ring case. The Madame, Estrellita Noir, was another of Demando's
agents, known as Esmeraude, a simpering, heartless bitch who looked and acted like the Southern Belle from Hell. After cracking
the case together, Mina had decided to give up her habit of having whirlwind romances and she and Kevin had started dating. Kevin
was almost totally opposite of Mina. Stoical, serious, and reserved, Kevin was at first baffled by the cheery, vivacious Mina, but
they learnt to get along, and worked very well together, their complementary personalities balancing each other out. Agent Mars
(Raye) and Agent Jadeite (named James Byrne) had cracked the case against a bomber-hacker agent of Demando's, Stephan
Black, a brilliant but ruthless man known as Saffir. That venture had had a rocky start: both Raye and James had rather explosive
tempers, but in the face of danger, they both fearlessly saved each other's lives, and that was the beginning of a beautiful, if volatile
relationship. Amy got along well enough with both Kevin and James, but since Luna had not mentioned either, she was probably
going to work with one of the other guys. Which was just as well, since she certainly did not want to masquerade around as the
wife of one of her friends' boyfriends.
"All right then. I accept."
"Excellent! The Whites have sent a private plane. Pack your usual, and you can arrive at their mansion in time for dinner.
Good hunting, Amy!"
~ ~ ~
At the same time that Luna was informing Amy of her assignment, the ringing of a cell phone woke Zack Waterhouse from
his slumber. Growling, the young man rubbed, then opened his green eyes, and grabbed the offending cell phone. "Who is it? This
better be good!" He snarled irritably into the phone, one hand raking through the tangles in his longish dark blond hair.
"Good morning Zack! How are you on this fine day?" The said 28-year-old Zack could almost HEAR Art's smug, cat-that-
ate-the-canary expression.
"I WAS fine til you called, I was having a wonderful dream about a fine woman with long legs and.."
"Okay, okay, I get the point, and I truly do not want to hear the disgusting details. I just wanted to inform you that your
next assignment has come in. Wanna know about it?"
"Sure, just make it quick okay?"
"Glad to. You remember Dominic Dark --- Demando?"
"Of course, our favorite little rich lunatic. What about him? Has he found yet another unfortunate but similarly rich schmuck
to pester?"
"In fact, he has. Have you ever heard of Terrelunia, Inc.?"
"Of course. Do you even need to ask?" Zack, ever the financially savvy one, kept tabs on every major corporation on the
market, and read Fortune 500 like a Bible.
"Well, Demando seems to have a personal vendetta against Darien and Serena White.."
"Marketing Manager and Research Director..."
"Very good, Zack, I'm impressed. For someone with your particular...lifestyle, you actually keep decent tabs on some
things. Anyways, his personal vendetta involves a somewhat messy love situation...suffice it to say that Serena White is a very
attractive woman, but did not go for him. Add to that the fact that both Darien and Serena White are rich as Croesus..and you have
the situation at hand. Both of them are targets. You will be working in conjunction with another agent, and the two of you will each
protect one of them."
"Okay, who will I be working with? Please don't tell me that I will be working with Nick...last time I did, he bored me to
death with his astro swot." Nicholas Steller, aka Agent Nephrite, was another of Art's agents. With a phD in Astronomy from
Columbia and a Master's in Mathematics from Dartmouth, Nick was their "Resident Space Cadet", as James termed him. Zack
was actually friends with Nick, like with the other guys, but their distinctly different educational backgrounds made for a lot of
good-natured bickering between them.
Zack himself was the businessman of the group. With his outgoing personality as well as his shrewd business sense he
knew exactly how to make disgusting amounts of money very quickly and easily. James Byrne, agent Jadeite, a larger-than-life
character with three master's degrees, in Philosophy, Linguistics and Computer Science from UCLA, was great fun when he was
not getting pissed about something or another..or, lately, making out with that raven-haired babe, one of Luna's girls, Mars, he
believed she was. Kevin Knighton, the serious one, had a phD in Physics from Duke and one in Forensic Science from Johns
Hopkins. Somewhat introverted, he was nevertheless a dependable friend. And lately, under the spell of the charming blonde girl
Venus, another one of Luna's lovelies, he was seen to crack smiles more frequently than before.
"No, it will be one of Luna's girls. She will be working with and protecting Serena White at work, as you will be working
with and protecting Darien White. At home, you two will go as husband and wife. You will be masquerading as Darien White's
friend from college, which should not be too hard since his alma mater is also Princeton."
"Cool. Is she hot?"
Art snorted exasperatedly, "Zack, is that all you think of? But you know that all of Luna's girls are selected for their beauty
as well as their intelligence."
"Yeah, yeah. Do you know what she looks like?" Zack, ever the lady-killer, persisted.
Art sighed. "Let me think...Luna said she was sending Agent Mercury. Mercury..Mercury...she's about 5'5", short blue
hair, big blue eyes, pale skin, quite pretty. There, satisfied??"
"Hmm...any pictures of her? Tell Luna to send a picture of her to me through e-mail."
"Fine, fine...just for heaven's sake don't spend the entire mission staring at her legs, okay?" Artemis rolled his eyes, then
forwarded the email that he had just gotten from Luna to Zack's account. "There, it's sent. Goggle all you want now, I expect you to
be all business by tomorrow. When you get here, a private plane will take you to the Whites' mansion."
"All right then." Zack opened up his laptop and logged online. He opened the email and saw a picture of a prim-looking girl
with huge, luminous blue eyes on a delicate little face. She wore a white sleeveless blouse, a pale blue skirt and a calm, serious
expression. A pair of glasses rested on top of her cerulean hair. "She's cute, I suppose, but for the love of God, she looks like a
librarian!"
Art sighed. "You should reserve your judgments for later, Zack. You may be in for the surprise of your life." he smirked,
"She just might be the one to tame you."
Zack laughed, "Hotter chicks than her have failed. Dream on, Art. Now, may I PLEASE go back to sleep?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you tomorrow." Art hung up and Zack turned off the phone. 'Tame me, that little girl? When pigs fly...'
Little did he know that porcine animals did indeed have every intention of sprouting wings and lifting off...
* * *
There! The Prologue is finished! PLEASE, review!!
~Thalia