Part 29

Amy and Janet walked through the front door laughing and chatting away with each other. Max walked down the stairs upon hearing their commotion, her dour mood even more pronounced than usual. "Where have you two soldiers been? Don't you have finals you should be studying for?" Amy studied her friend for a moment and decided it would be safe enough to push Max a little. "Max! You seem to be in a fabulous mood! Everything ok?" Max turned towards Amy, steam almost visible from her ears when her thoughts seemed to take a 180. Her anger dissipated and she full on pouted instead. Amy smiled and shook her head. "Max, you are pretty easy to read." The blonde chucked, and Max's pout grew. "What is it? What's up?" The brunette hung her head and sighed. "Well, you see, I…I didn't have a date for Endgame, so I called up…"

Max was abruptly cut off by Mr. P porting in to their living room. Janet jumped in surprised and rolled her eyes at herself. "Mr. P! What are you doing here?" Phipps nodded his acknowledgement to each of the girls, and boomed out a "Lovely to see you ladies! Before I continue with any other pleasantries, I wanted you all to know that we have gotten word that Lucy Diamond may, in fact, be planning on infiltrating Endgame for unknown evil purposes. We must all keep on our toes, girls. Please be sure to attend Endgame fully armed and prepared for anything." Phipps then smiled and looked to each of them. "You four are the best squad this University has ever had the privilege to educate. Enjoy Endgame." With that, he ported back out to wherever he had come from.

Max glanced around at the other girls and smirked. "Hear that, ladies? Best. Squad. Ever." Janet huffed at Max. "Does that mean I can have my stripes?" Max rolled her eyes. Amy spotted her out of the corner of her eye and jabbed her in the side with her elbow. "Damn, Amy! You have the pointiest elbows ever," she groaned while rubbing her obliques. Max focused her attention back to Janet and rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know Janet. You remember the time you tripped and fell onto the Prince of Liechtenstein? You broke his arm in three places."

"That was an acci-"

"And the time you threw up on the Undersecretary of MI6? Or the mission where you fell out of your surveillance swing and hung by your ankle, tangled in the retraction loop, or the time…"

"Enough! You always focus on the bad stuff I've done! What about the top squad caliber stuff I've done? I stopped the Olympic Ski Team from Belarus from being accidentally executed. I've prevented countless people from wearing the wrong sweater for an occasion…or what about…the time I saved your life."

Max sighed and looked at the floor. Dominque couldn't stop a feeling of surprise from raising her eyebrows. Amy whipped her focus from Janet back to the brunette. "Uh, Max? Something you haven't told me?" Max looked exceedingly uncomfortable. "Well, you see, this one time…janetsavedmefromaguywithaguncreepingupbehindme."

"What did you say?" Amy looked at Dom. "Did you catch that?" Dominique took a drag of her almost forgotten cigarette. "Non, I could not make eet out." Max groaned. "Janet took out a guy I didn't see. I mean, I probably would have been able to take him out before anything happened."

The blonde raised one eyebrow at Max. "Max. Just stop. She deserves them, and you know it." The squad leader spent a few seconds grumbling to herself. Max glanced at Janet and straightened herself to her full height. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small, shiny blue pin. "Don't say I never gave you nothing." Janet began lightly hopping in place. "My stripes? Really?" "Really." Max was yanked into a huge bear hug while the subordinate agent squealed in her ear. "Ok, that's enough…that's enough!" Janet released Max from her overzealous grip and stared down at her stripes, beaming smile on her face. Amy bumped shoulders with Janet. "Good job, J."

Max turned to face her team. "Debs, we've had a great four year run. We have one last final tonight, and our pistol and heavy arms qualifications at the range right after. And tomorrow, barring any Lucy Diamond sightings, we partaaaay!"