"This sucks." Boxter groaned.

He and Wackerman sat in their police cruiser, parked at the side of the road. It was well after dark. Boxter sat with the one hand on the steering wheel, the other arm out the window, supporting his jaw with his knuckles as he stared listlessly ahead at the dimly lit street.

Wackerman glanced at him sidelong and his eyes narrowed in the faint glow of the vehicle's interior lighting. "Which part, exactly?" he asked, a growl creeping into his voice. "Night shift? Or doing nothing on night shift? Of just the fact there ain't no good coffee shops open?" He waved his half finished paper cup of barely palatable black ink.

"All of it."

"Well, maybe you should've thought of that before you insulted Johannson's cat photo," Wackerman huffed.

Boxter leaned across and gave his partner a half hearted punch in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Yeah, well you shouldn't have laughed, huh?"

"What do you have against cats anyway…"

"Shh!" Boxter sat up, pulling himself out of the slouch.

Down the street, a very distinct vehicle pulled out of a side street and rumbled past them, its beefy engine grumbling at the low speed. Bright pink.

"Oh great, it's SheCow," Boxter groaned.

Wackerman raised an eyebrow. "She's being awfully well behaved."

Boxter huffed. But his partner was right. The Shehicle was barely travelling above thirty. No screeching tyres and burnt rubber, no squeal of its over taxed engine. "She's kidding herself if she thinks she can be stealthy in that thing. I can hear the engine from here."

"Yeah, our police cruisers don't make anywhere near that much noise."

Boxter glanced at his partner. "Hey, yeah… if we turn off our lights, she's not gonna see us, and she sure as hell won't hear us over that engine." He snorted. "If she was a guy I'd say she was compensating for something."

"Let's do it," Wackerman said. "She keeps travelling at that speed it's not like we're gonna lose her."

Boxter put the vehicle in gear and pulled out after the Shehicle, making sure he didn't push the engine too hard. His hands tightened on the wheel. "Alright, let's see what you're up to missy."

They trundled along behind the Shehicle for some twenty minutes before it arrived at its destination. Down darkened back alleys and sidestreets. The Shehicle barely picked up speed, or suddenly bolt. SheZow was completely unaware she had a tail.

The Shehicle led them to Megadale's docks, where it eventually came to a stop outside an abandoned warehouse.

SheZow stepped out of her vehicle. She folded her arms and glared back in though the open door. "You happy, Sheila? I was nice and quiet - didn't make myself all visible for any villains to follow. Like they'd even care."

Wackerman let out a short laugh. "Oh, this really is our lucky day…"

"Shush." Boxter snapped.

They'd parked in an alleyway that opened out into the lot in front of the warehouse. Barely forty feet from the idling Shehicle. They could hear SheZow, and though her vehicle was quite loud, Boxter didn't want to risk them being heard by her.

Her computer replied back from inside the pink car, though they couldn't make out what she said.

"Yeah, yeah…" SheZow huffed.

"Her voice is doing that thing again," said Wackerman. This time, he kept the volume low.

"What thing?"

"You know how sometimes she kind of sounds like a dude?"

Boxter shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Maybe a twelve year old dude. Maybe her voice is just awful and she makes it all high pitched? I don't know. Not like it usually sounds much better."

The passenger door to the Shehicle swung open and then slammed heavily. "This better be the place, dude. I'm tired."

"Now her sidekick's calling her a dude?" Wackerman cringed. Then he shrugged. "Might just be non gender specific dude - my sister used to let me call her dude…"

Boxter didn't hear him. He sat up straight in his seat. "Oh God."

"What?"

"That's Maz! My son's best friend…" Boxter let out groan and slumped back in his seat, a hand to his face. "What are you doing, you stupid kid?"

"Oh…" Wackerman looked out the windshield and winced. "What are we going to do? Arrest him?"

Boxter huffed. "Come on, Wackerman. I can't arrest Maz. He's twelve. And for what? Being an idiot and hanging out with SheZow? At…" he glanced at his watch. "… two am."

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe you should let his parents know?"

"Like that would do any good. His parents are fricken useless!" Boxter snapped.

"Did you hear something, Maz?" SheZow asked. Her fists tensed and she looked around warily.

Maz shook his head. "Nup."

Boxter scowled and lowered his voice. "I mean, he practically lives at our house. And now he's hanging around with SheZow? What's wrong with him, he got a crush on her or something? Bloody cougar."

"Ya think?" Wackerman looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Cause if they start making out or something I'm not just going to sit here…"

"Yeah, I know. If she's that stupid I'm getting out of this car and taking a swing at her. I don't care if she's got superpowers. I mean, it's Maz…." He let out a huff. "Let's just see what they do. Pretty sure that's not why they're here."

"Well, I'll just go check out the warehouse," said SheZow. Still, her voice sounded funny. It was echoing off the building walls, and the vast expanse of the bitumen lot. Maybe that was all it was. "Maybe we'll be lucky. And this is where Coldfinger took all that stuff from the ice cream factory."

"And we can go home to our respective beds," Maz finished for her.

"Respective beds. Well that's something…" Wackerman said.

"Just don't. He's a kid."

"Sorry."

SheZow took off, zipping super-fast into the abandoned warehouse.

Maz leaned back on the Shehicle and yawned.

Boxter was ropable. His hands tensed on the steering wheel. "What is a twelve year old kid doing out in the middle of the night anyway?" Seriously? Didn't Maz know how dangerous it was? Stupid, stupid kid. Not that it was his fault. "I mean, don't ya think his parents would wonder where he was? What's wrong with them? You wouldn't catch my kids out at night! And if they did, I think I'd bloody well notice."

"Think if we turn on the sirens it'd scare him enough?"

Boxter snorted. "That'd teach him." Then he shook his head. "No forget it. I'll figure out what to do about Maz later. Maybe Guy'll know if something's going on with him. Right now, we need to sit tight - see if SheZow does anything that'll give her away."

"Like what?" Wackerman snorted. "We'll hardly be able to arrest her. She'd kick our butts."

SheZow came zipping back from her exploration of the warehouse, skidding to a halt.

Maz took his weight off the car. "Find anything?"

"Nada."

Maz groaned. "See? This was a waste of time, Guy! I want to go home to bed. We've got an exam in the morning - you know that."

Boxter tensed. "Wha… what? Did he just call him…"

"Yeah, I heard it too, buddy." Wackerman swallowed and glanced across at his partner. "Well… er… hey… I guess if Maz is with her. I mean…"

"No," Boxter growled. No. His knuckles went white on the steering wheel and his vision blurred. "Maybe it's… like you said… non gender specific 'guy'…"

"That only works for 'dude'. Listen, man, I…"

"My son is not SheZow!" Boxter barked. Then he remembered where they were and his gaze shot up.

Miraculously neither Maz nor… SheZow… had heard him.

"Pft," SheZow waved a hand dismissively. "I'll just copy off Kelly. Perks of having a genius twin."

Boxter squeezed his eyes shut, let out a grunt and hung his head. No. He had to be wrong. Must be some other kid with a genius twin. Named Kelly.

"Yeah, well I'm tired," Maz huffed.

"Yeah, I know." SheZow's shoulders slumped. "And my boots are killing me. I've been running around random warehouses for hours. Coldfinger isn't here. He isn't anywhere."

"So change back. Not like anyone's around here to see anyway," said Maz with a shrug.

Boxter looked up, couldn't stop himself staring out the windshield.

SheZow nodded. "Yeah." He flung out a fist, without any thought for the fact his father was sitting only feet away, desperately willing him not to. "She-yeah."

The transformation fell away. His son was standing there in his cargoes and hoody. His eyes rolled up into his head and he let out a sigh. "Ah. Oh yeah. Much better."

It really didn't help that it was the mirror image of the face Droosha made when she slipped off her bra for the evening. Boxter moaned. Dropped his gaze down to the floor of the car and gripped the wheel for dear life.

Outside the cruiser, the Shehicle let out a beefy roar, then a squeal of tyres. The sound of its engine faded slowly into the night, still carried faintly on the still air. It was pretty damn loud.

Boxter couldn't will himself to look up, not until the sound of his partner's voice roused him.

"Shit, man. You okay?"

Boxter lifted his head and swallowed. He could taste the foul, burnt coffee he'd consumed barely hours ago in the back of his throat. "I… no…" He put a hand to his mouth and bailed out of the cruiser. His stomach was churning. He got to the rear fender and leaned on it, breathing heavily. It took a couple seconds. The feeling of nausea passed. At least enough that he didn't fear he was going to be sick.

"Hey…" Wackerman came around the side of the car. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Boxter snapped, lifting his head.

"You've gone like… white…" Wackerman looked at him and winced. Held a hand out a few inches from his shoulder, like he wasn't quite sure if he should touch him.

Boxter straightened up. "My son's SheZow."

"Yeah, I saw. You know… it's not that bad though…"

Boxter just stared at him. "And just how do you figure that, Wackerman?"

"Well…" Wackerman huffed and his shoulders slumped. "Okay, I don't know."

"He's running around in the middle of the night as… as bloody SheCow!" He pounded a fist on the boot of the car. "What the hell is he thinking?"

"He's twelve. He probably isn't."

Boxter groaned again and hung his head. "And we were just sitting there talking about… him and Maz…"

Wackerman looked at his feet. "Sorry."

"You're not the one who wanted to take a swing at 'her'…" Boxter swallowed hard. Again he could taste bile in his throat.

"Hey, you didn't know."

"Yeah? Well now I do. He's been lying to me. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

"So what are you going to do? You gonna confront him?"

"I… I want him to tell me himself. He owes me that at least."

Wackerman sighed. "Hamdon, you had to stalk him to the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, to find out. What makes you think he'll just tell you? He's obviously been keeping it secret for a reason."

"I'll make him tell me," Boxter straightened. His eyes narrowed. He pushed his weight off of the car, headed to the driver's side door. "You reckon we can beat the Shehicle back to my house? He does have to drop off Maz."

Wackerman was eying him warily. "Maybe… you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Positive." Boxter barely waited for his partner to shut the door before he stomped a foot to the floor and tore off towards home.

A/n: Yes, I know. I'm writing yet another version of how Boxter finds out his son his SheZow. But it's just so damn fun. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think!