Secondary Profile

By Avillion

"Avillion? Wake up Avillion," a deep, familiar voice sounded.

"Leave me alone, I'm tired," she replied without really waking.

"Come on sweetheart, time to get up..." he answered, shaking her gently.

At the sudden, unexpected contact Avillion bolted awake, looking around and registering everything at once. She was in her Section quarters. Jack was there. And it was FREEZING!

"What's going on? What are you doing here?" She asked quickly as she rubbed her arms.

Jack pulled her back against him and wrapped his arms around her, warming her instantly.

"Better?" He queried.

"Mmm-hmm," came her reply. "But why are you here?"

"I just returned from a mission and was on my way back to CLHQ to see you when I was intercepted by Michael. He said that no one can leave Section right now, but not to worry because you were already here. I came straight here after that."

"No one can leave Section? What's that about?"

"We're all on close quarters standby. There's some situation in the Middle East that is about to go critical, and they want all of the best here so that we're prepared," he replied casually.

"Ok, that should just about do it then. One last question...why is it so dang cold?" Avillion asked, shivering for effect. A pleased smile spread across her face when Jack's arms reflexively tightened around her.

"With the massive heat wave it seems as though the temperature regulator is not working. It's freezing in here, but in most places it's hotter than anything." he replied.

"Well, now that I've been briefed, I suppose I should set out to find everyone and see what's going on," Avillion said, then reached up to give him a quick kiss as she headed out of the room to get dressed.

*****

Avillion emerged from her quarters and headed for comm, thinking that would be the best place to start.

"Hey Jason, what's goin' on?" she asked.

"Not much darlin'. It's too hot for much of anything TO be going on," he answered.

"So where is everybody?"

"Now that is highly classified Intel. I don't know if I should tell you...but you might be able to persuade me," he replied, leaning back casually in his chair and giving her the once over.

Avillion leaned forward, "Well, I am a highly trained operative, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get the necessary intel," she said, leaning ever closer to the overly-confident Jason.

"Now that's the kind of answer I like to hear!" he stated enthusiastically. Unfortunately his enthusiasm overcame his judgement, and thus he was not paying close enough attention to see Avillion's hand dart out and impact his chest, providing the necessary leverage to tip his chair over entirely and dump him unceremoniously on the floor.

"Hey! What happened to being a highly trained operative, to doing 'whatever it takes?'" Jason whined.

Tiring of the game, Avillion pulled out her gun, "I AM a highly trained operative. You, however, *clearly* are not," she answered, indicating his position on the floor. "Now, tell me what I want to know, or you can kiss your sorry butt goodbye."

"Try corridor J, section 27." he answered, righting himself and climbing back into his chair.

"The basement?" Avillion asked, surprised at the reply.

"Yep, the basement. I don't suppose I know why either." he answered. As Avillion began to walk away he called after her "And if you would like someone to escort you, I'd be more than happy. Those corridors get awfully dark!" She didn't look back.

*****

As she entered the darkened...slightly cooler...corridor, Avillion heard voices she recognized. As she came closer she saw Rita, Sherry and North. Noticing the serious expressions on their faces and the hushed tones they were using, Avillion deduced that this was most likely a Mommy Meeting. Deciding it was best not to intrude ,she quickly turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

As she was running she came across Curlly, Brenna, Nabiki and Dragonlady sitting around. "Hi ladies, whatcha up to?" Avillion asked.

"Hey Avi. Not much, but it's slightly cooler down here...and there's no Ops around," answered Nabiki.

"Excellent point," Avillion replied, taking a seat on the floor with them. "So what do you think we should do? We need something to take our minds off of this heat!"

"Definitely. Let's see... oh I know! How about Truth or Dare?" asked Brenna. Seeing the skeptical looks on her friend's faces she continued, "I know it's a bit juvenile, but I bet it would be lots of fun!"

"All right, I'm game. Your idea, you pick first Bren," said Nabiki.

"Ok, hmmmm.... Dragonlady, Truth or Dare?"

"Need you ask? Dare, of course!"

"Ok, I dare you to...oh my! I know! I dare you to put roundup in Madeline's orchid spray bottle!" Brenna said, excited by her own inspiration.

Dragonlady smiled, and with an evil glint in her eye silently stood up and walked away. The others were left to ponder what had happened, wondering if she would actually do it--feeling relatively certain that indeed she would--and curious as to what would happen if she were caught. After about 20 minutes had passed Dragonlady returned, tape in hand.

"What's that?" inquired Avillion.

"*That* is a surveillance tape of me putting the roundup in the bottle. And Jason has agreed not to mention anything later when we hook into the live feed from Madeline's office," she answered. The girls burst into fits of laughter, agreeing to meet in Brenna's room later to watch the 'evidence.'

"So I guess that makes it my turn, huh? Let me think...uh-oh, look at the time! I have a meeting with the mommies' 5 minutes ago. I'll talk to you ladies later. Avillion you can take my turn!" Dragonlady called over her shoulder.

"Ok, my turn," said Avillion. "All right Curlly, truth or dare?"

"Ummmmm...I dunno...truth or dare, truth...or...dare, truthordare...I guess I'll take truth."

"All right, I dare you to use straightener on your hair for two weeks."

"Glory!" Curlly exclaimed as she protectively grabbed her ponytail, "I will NOT straighten my hair! Truth!"

"That's not the way the game works," Avillion laughed.

"It is now. C'mon Avi, I thought we were friends! Pleeeeeeeeaaaaase let me do a truth instead? I'll let you have some of my cheesecake..." Curlly begged.

"Oh all right, since I'm such a nice person I'll let you change. BUT there's a condition. You have to let us hook you up to a lie detector for this one. I want to be absolutely certain that you're telling the truth."

"Fine, anything...just don't make me do THAT to my hair!"

"All right, let's go. I'm sure Walter will set up a modified polygraph for us."

*****

Curlly sat nervously as they hooked up the wires to her. She knew that she had nothing to hide, that this was all for fun...but it was still a bit nerve wracking.

"All right Curlly, we'll start with a few simple questions in order to establish a base line. As you know this modified machine will buzz if you tell a lie and ding when you tell the truth, so make sure you answer truthfully. Ready?" Avillion queried.

"Sure am."

BUZZZZZZ!

Avillion raised her eyebrows at Curlly, but chose to ignore the sound.

"OK, what is your name?"

"Curlly." DING!

"How old are you?"

"I'm 20 years old." Ding!

"When is your birthday?"

"May 18th." Ding!

"What is your favorite movie?"

"Oh my, do I have to choose?" BUZZZZZZ! "All right, probably The Princess Bride, Ever After, or Dirty Dancing," Curlly answered.

Ding!

"What is your favorite snack food OTHER than cheesecake?"

"Berry blend peanut butter with apples!" Curlly responded enthusiastically.

Ding!

"What is your favorite kind of music?" Avillion asked, a wicked smile on her face.

"Alternative." BUZZZZZZ!

"It is too! Alternative!" BUZZZZZZZZZZ!

"Ok ok, classical?" BUZZZZZZZZZ!

"Rock!" BUZZZZZZ! "Pop!" BUZZZZZZZ! "R & B!" BUZZZZZZ! "Jazz!" BUZZZZZ!

"Oh all right! I admit it! Ever since you guys made me that CD my favorite kind of music has been... COUNTRY!!" Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Oh man, I didn't even know that myself! What am I going to do?" Curlly wailed.

"It's ok Curlly, you'll learn to accept this side of yourself. It's better to have it out in the open," Avillion responded, giving her friend a comforting hug as she led her from the room.

As they entered the hallway they saw the three mommies coming their way. "What on earth happened?" questioned North.

"Oh my, that's quite a long story, but I promise to give you a full debrief later," answered Avillion.

"Speaking of debriefing, or briefing as the case may be, we have a mission ladies," said Sherry.

"Really? Has the Middle East gone critical already?" asked Nabiki.

"Nope, we're talking about a completely different kind of mission. Specifically the type that involves getting over this heat!" answered North.

"You see girls, since we're all here, and our men are all here, we thought it might be fun to have a 'battle of the sexes.' Also known as a water-fight," explained Rita.

"The guys have already been briefed. We expect you ladies to retrieve the appropriate gear and meet back here in half an hour to strategize. The battle will commence in one hour. Dismissed," stated North.

"Oh my," thought Avillion, "this is going to be fun."

*****

Exactly one half-hour later Avillion was back in the bowels of Section, waiting to begin the briefing. She couldn't help but laugh at how much Section had become her life. How many people needed to have a briefing or come up with a profile in order to have a simple water fight? Then again, how many people had water fights against highly trained anti-terrorist operatives?

"All right ladies, our objective is simple--eliminate the enemy. In this case we are all familiar with our opposition, which will make things easier. Unfortunately they are also familiar with us, and of a much higher caliber than the terrorists that we are accustomed to facing. We need to be swift and decisive, any hesitation will lead to our downfall. As you all know any operative found with more than 75% of their body wet will be considered out of play. Enjoy."

*****

North and Operations (whom she had convinced to play by telling him it was a training simulation) were both disqualified early in the game, and quickly disappeared to "towel off" together. Rita and Sherry had teamed up, hitting Michael simultaneously with so many water balloons that even the super spy couldn't dodge them. Unfortunately unbeknownst to them Davenport and Mentz had come in behind them and soaked each with a bucket full of water, effectively disqualifying them.

They continued in full battle mode, both sides determined to wipe out the enemy.

And so it happened that 3 hours--and about 30 gallons of water--later Avillion found herself one of only 5 operatives still in play. She was crouched in one of the many forgotten passages of Section One, waiting for her unsuspecting prey and praying that Nabiki would arrive soon. As it happened, her prayers were answered.

Nabiki ran down the hall, shooting behind her sporadically and managing to dodge the streams of water directed at her. Just as she passed Avillion a large water balloon hit her square in the back, effectively finishing her.

"Now!" Nabiki yelled as she hit the floor. Avillion sprang into action, hurling water balloons and buckets of water with one hand while shooting her water gun with the other. She watched in satisfaction as the two male operatives fell to the ground, the water dripping off of their now soaked forms.

"Ha! Looks like we won! As if there was ever any doubt as to who...hey wait a minute, where's Jack?" Avillion questioned.

"Right here," a familiar voice answered. She turned around just in time to see him hurl 3 large water balloons at her...at least 87% damage. The men had won.

*****

After everyone had cleaned (and dried) up, there was a group debriefing session. The men sat on one side of the table with self-congratulatory grins on their faces while the women sat on the other, clearly upset about their loss.

"Well, I suppose we must concede," said North evenly. "Not many operatives have the skill or the training necessary to defeat the women of CLHQ. Congratulations on a job well done."

The usual polite interchanges took place, and as the operative rose to leave the men noticed that their ladies were still feeling depressed about losing.

"I've got an idea," said Xavier. "How about a night on the town? Our treat."

"Yeah, good food, good music, some dancing...help take your minds off of tonight," chimed in Sinjn.

"I don't know..." began a seemingly wary Brenna.

"Please?" Jack asked, moving to address Avillion. "Let us make this up to you."

"Well, I suppose a night out could be fun. I'm game if everyone else is," answered Avillion. They all agreed slowly, one by one.

"Wonderful. We'll pick you up in two hours. Come on men, let's go make the arrangements," said Sinjn as they filed out of the room. The drop in testosterone levels was practically palpable.

A moment later Dragonlady peered out the door, giving the thumbs up sign to indicate that the men were well and truly gone.

"Well, we certainly ought to do THAT more often!" said Rita.

"Definitely!" exclaimed Brenna. "A little bit of victory goes a long way...they get to feel masculine, and we get a night out!"

"It was a brilliant secondary profile, I must say. I vote from now on we let them win at everything!" proclaimed Avillion.

"Wait ladies, there's a problem," said Curlly.

"Oh, what's that?" asked North.

"How am I supposed to find an outfit and get ready in two hours?"

THE END

This story ©copyright Avillion, 2000