"-'s waking up"

Blood pounded in her ears as her eyes opened themselves, staring into a pair of hazel eyes.

"Can you hear me miss?" the man asked, his hands on my shoulders.

"...yeah..." she croaked, her throat dryer than the Saharah.

"Good, that's good, try to stay with me, I've got a few visitors for you" he said, standing.

The man and the nurse went to the door, he opened it, and both of them stepped into the hall- the nurse left, presumably to check on other patients.

"Chief Quimby? Inspector?" he said, talking to someone out of sight "She's awake"

'What do the police want with me?' she wondered, still drifting out of sleep.

Her limbs felt stiff, she worked them as her joints pop, and winced as they did so. She felt odd, like something was off...the hospital gown she was wearing felt fine...what was it? What was different? She continued to ponder this as the doctor and two other men entered the room, one dressed in a black police uniform complete with a hat, and the other in a trench coat and hat. The police officer's uniform was decorated with badges and other promotionary-type things. She was too tired to take a guess as to what they all were or meant.

"Miss? Do you know where you are?" the police officer asked, stepping closer to the bed with the 'inspector'.

"Hospital" she croaked again, her throat still dry.

"Well, yes, you're in the hospital...but do you know which city you're in? Do you remember anything at all?"

She struggled to remember, delving into her mind to find anything remotely helpful. She found nothing.

"No...sorry..."

"That's alright, everything should come back eventually" he said.

"What happened?" she asked, rubbing some crud out of her eyes.

The chief suddenly became very nervous, and lifted his hat to scratch his scalp.

"Why don't we go through that when you make a full recovery? Give you some time to recuperate and everything..."

'Recover from what?' she wondered.

"Come along, Gadget" the chief said, taking the inspector by the arm "Let's leave her be for now"

"Wowsers, I don't even get to meet her?" the inspector inquired, being led out the door.

Her head fell back on the pillow, exhausted, as she found her eyes slipping closed. She nodded off for the night, falling into a deep sleep.


"I just don't know what to do about her, Gadget..." Quimby sighed, slapping his hat onto his desk.

"About who, Chief?" Gadget asked, standing before Quimby "That waitress that works at the diner down the block? I've been watching her closely, and-"

"No, not the waitress Gadget- the girl in the hospital"

"Oh...what about her?"

"Her case, Gadget" Quimby sighed "I went over with this with you the other day"

"Oh yes, now I remember" Gadget said, removing a notepad from his coat.

Quimby rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair, scratching his head.

"Gadget, this is serious- the damage to her body was extensive, and well, she's..."

"She's what, Chief?"

"She's...like you...Gadget"

"She is? Wowsers, I didn't get the chance to talk to her, but-"

"Not like that, Gadget! Heaven knows what we'd do with another one of you..."
He muttered that last part under his breath.

"No, she's bionic"

"Wowsers! How did you pull that off?"

"Keep it down!" Quimby said harshly "The mayor wanted to add to the Gadget Program, and left me to decide who was chosen"

"But why her, Chief? She looks about Penny's age"

"I don't quite know myself..." he shook his head "...but with time, she can become an officer if she wants"

"Gee, but what if she doesn't?"

"I don't really want to think about it, Gadget..."


She stared up at the ceiling boredly, her brown hair spread messily across the pillow. Since awaking, she had quickly wished for something to do, or something to happen. Her mind however, was turning over in her head, desperately trying to piece itself together. She kept wondering who she was, or where she came from- did she have any family? Why couldn't she remember anything past the meeting with the police chief and the inspector?
The door to her room opened, and the inspector from the day before and a girl entered.

"Hello!" the inspector greeted "Thought you could use some company"

'Well, at least it's something...' she thought.

"I'm Inspector Gadget, and this is my niece, Penny"

"Hi" 'Penny' said, reaching out.

She and Penny shook, finding herself smiling a bit.

"Hi" she replied, the feeling of cotton stuffed into her mouth still not gone.

"How are you feeling?" the inspector asked, setting a bouquet of flowers he didn't have a minute ago into a vase on the bedside table.

"Fine" she said "...stiff..."

He nodded, as if he understood.

'What kind of a name is 'Gadget' anyway?' she wondered silently.

She quickly found out, however, as one of the inspector's gloved hands extended towards the edge of the bed- between the glove and the sleeve of the trench coat was what looked like a metal tube. She threw the blanket over her head as she shrieked, amazed and terrified at the same time.

"Ah, says here you'll be able to go in just a few hours" she heard the inspector say.

"Uncle Gadget? I think you scared her" Penny said.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry about that- er, what's your name?"

"I-I- don't know" she said, risking a peek over the blanket.

"Oh...well we'll have to sort that out, won't we?" he said, setting the clipboard back on the end of the bed.

"W-we?" she asked shakily.

"Of course! You've got a classic case of amnesia, until you can get your memory back, the Chief decided to release you into our custody"

She glanced between the inspector and Penny, unsure of how the living arrangement would work between the three of them.

"Um...uh...sure...I guess..."

A/N: Let me know what you think :)