A/N: I took the liberty of naming Ms. Leon's cat Aurora.
Human Again
Ms. Leon was awoken by a knock at the door of her suite. An urgent double rap. She hopped off her velvet pillow and hurried to the door. Poking her head through the cat-flap, she looked up to find Professor Pike standing in the gloomy hallway.
"Hello, Professor," she said, slinking the rest of the way through the door. "What brings me the honor of this 3 a.m. visit?" She wished her computerized voice could convey the nuances of sarcasm better.
The Professor looked at his watch, startled. "It's three already? I'm so sorry, Tabitha! I could've sworn it was two."
Before Ms. Leon could ask how waking her up at two was better, in any way, than waking her at three, the Professor plowed on. "But I've got it! I really have got it this time!"
"Got what?"
"I've finally figured out how to switch your and Aurora's consciousnesses back into your proper bodies!"
"Oh, have you?" Mrs. Leon, once again, silently cursed the lack of eyebrows that she could raise skeptically.
"I've already taken Aurora out of cryogenic storage. She's sedated, of course. All we have to do now, you see, is…" The Professor set off down the hall, still yammering, and Ms. Leon had no choice but to follow.
xxxxx
Five minutes later, she stood in Pike's lab, regretting her decision. The dangerous looking junk strewn everywhere and ungodly chemical smells were doing nothing to boost her confidence in the Professor's abilities. It didn't help that her former body was lying in the middle of the room.
On a folding table of all things.
Connected to her human body's head by way of a strange helmet, wires, and small strips of gorilla tape was a contraption that looked like a prop from an extremely low-budget Frankenstein fan-film. Overall, the effect was not very reassuring.
Even so, when she jumped onto the table next to her body she couldn't help but feel a spark of hope. "It's been so long, Rory, sweet," she said, affectionately batting a stray lock of blond hair. "If this doesn't kill us, I'll be sure to give you your favorite salmon treat for supper." She noticed that her body was wearing the same black suit she had on the day of the experiment and realized with satisfaction that, providing this worked, she would have a body that hadn't aged at all in the last five years.
"I don't suppose you've tested this Rube Goldberg machine?" Ms. Leon asked.
"Of course I have!" the Professor replied, fiddling with some knobs. "It has worked several times on mice."
"And how on Earth could you tell that the mice switched consciousnesses?"
"Well, before, the one with the brown ear liked his belly scratched, but then—"
"Never mind." Ms. Leon hunkered down on the table. "Let's just get this over with."
"Right-o!" the Professor said, and hooked her up to the machine with a cat-sized helmet. "The sedative should wear off in a quarter hour or so." His finger hovered over a red button.
Of course it was a red button.
He pushed it and everything went black.
xxxxx
Slowly, Ms. Leon managed to open her eyes. The wide-eyed, bespectacled face of Professor Pike hovered above her. "Tabitha! You're awake!" he exclaimed.
Her first thought was, He sounds way too relieved, the deceiving idiot. Then, IT WORKED!
She sat bolt upright, nearly head-butting the Professor in the process, and was immediately hit by a wave of dizziness. She reflexively grabbed the table. Oh, how she loved the way her fingers curled around the edge!
The Professor quickly steadied her. "Take it easy, now."
"I can't believe it!" Her words came out as unpracticed as a toddler's. She had never before noticed how smiling felt so good. She laughed for the first time in five years. Why hadn't she laughed more often as a human? It had to be one of the most wonderful things she'd ever felt.
The Professor's face was stuck between happy and slightly nervous. Ms. Leon knew she wasn't really acting herself, but at that moment she didn't care one jot.
"Your little Aurora handled the switch quite… splendidly," the Professor said, gingerly rubbing a nasty scratch on his arm. "She seemed to be in fine health after it took place… Fine enough to promptly bolt from the room."
"Good," said Ms. Leon. "We'll find her eventually." She stood up and quickly grabbed the table for support. The floor was awfully far away.
"It may take a little bit for you to adapt to bipedal locomotion again," the Professor said, offering her his arm. "Let me help you back to your accommodations."
They were halfway back when Ms. Leon remembered something of great importance. She gasped.
"What's the matter?" the Professor asked worriedly.
"Give me your blackbox," she demanded. He complied and she flipped it open. " HIVEmind, this is Leon. I need a box of chocolates delivered to my suite, NOW!"
xxxxx
Colonel Francisco was at his most cheerful during his 4 a.m. workouts in the tactical cavern. Though that may have had something to do with the fact that no one else was around at that hour.
But that morning was different. Ms. Leon came strolling in, tail held high, and the Colonel set down his dumbbell to greet her.
"Good morning, Tabitha. You're up early today," he greeted in a voice that an optimistic person would describe as almost friendly. "It's funny you're here, 'cause I was just thinking about a new idea for an infiltration exercise and would like your input on…" He trailed off as she trotted past him, without so much as a glance in his direction.
Scowling, he grabbed the dumbbell from the floor. "Well, excuse me."
xxxxx
Otto sat at his desk in stealth and evasion as the class waited for Ms. Leon to arrive. She was, uncharacteristically, a few minutes late. The door opened and he quickly shoved the mini laser gun he'd been working on into his backpack.
But instead of Ms. Leon, it was a petite blonde woman. She walked up to the desk at the front of the room and jumped on top of it.
There was a moment of confused silence before the woman quickly scrambled back off.
"Ahem," she began, face turning slightly pink. "Today we shall be covering the principles of finding blind spots in security…"
A/N: There has been such a woeful lack of HIVE fanfics recently. I challenge all who read this to write a HIVE one-shot, even if it's only a few hundred words. I will review.