ALL DISCLAIMERS APPLY

Shalimar found herself locked in a very small room and wearing a track into the floor as she paced back and forth yet again. She huffed as she checked her watch for what felt like the thousandth time in the last 10 minutes. "Let's go guys, we only have 25 more minutes before security switches shifts!"

Rei pulled the cover off the fried door lock panel and connected it to her handheld. "For the love of all that is, Brennan! What the hell did you do to this thing?! I told you to just wait a second. I had the codes and just had to override it!"

The job was supposed to be easy. They were given all the tools they needed by Duval's people. The three new mutants were dressed as computer techs, complete with IDs, and a work order that had matched the one at the security desk when they had checked in on arrival.

According to the paperwork they were there to replace the keypad on the secure vault door. The laptop that was left for them in their hotel suite had all the overrides needed, the codes for the electronic lock box that held the security key blanks they were there to acquire, as well as a program to pull the coding from the company's network needed to activate the keys.

Success of the job was practically handed to them. It was simple, all they had to do was get in and get it done before the next shift when the security manager came in. "But noo BRENNAN had to get all trigger happy just because I was delayed a few minutes by Ted at the security desk. Couldn't wait TWO SECONDS. NO lets just ZAP the keypad. That'll be faster." Rei snarked as she tried to get the door to open.

On the other side of the door Shalimar stopped her pacing and punched Brennan in the shoulder to emphasize Rei's point.

"Ouch! Hey I'm sorry okay. My bad."

"You know I don't actually have the parts to replace this whole thing Brennan. Shal how much time do we have?"

"19 minutes and counting."

Frustrated the redheaded feral growled, threw her tools into the tool bag, and pocketed the handheld. "I can fix the panel wiring and the key pad, but it won't accept the override key for the swipe card. The only one with a key card is Ted at the security desk, who needs approval from his boss to use it."

Brennan took a good look at the locking mechanisms on the door from his end. "So what do we think? Do we call Jesse and see if he can override it from sanctuary?"

Shalimar continued her pacing. "That will take too long … 18 minutes now."

"What if I just blast it open and we hightail it." Brennan suggested, forming a tesla coil in his hand.

Rei considered her options. "No that would draw attention. Hold on I have an idea, just play along. I'll be right back."

Ted turned at the sound of hurried footsteps coming up the stairs. He sat up straighter in his chair as he realized it was the cute red head from the tech crew. The young woman was distracted, looking through a binder frantically as she walked. When she got to the lobby entrance her foot caught on the divider between the tile and the carpet and she jerked forward. She managed to keep her footing, but the papers and the binder slipped from her hands as she caught herself and scattered on the floor around her.

The security officer was on his feet and walking toward her around his desk as she sunk to the floor with a soft cry. She startled and frantically wiped at the tears streaming down her face as he knelt down beside here and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Here let me help you with that."

Rei smiled at him and managed a shuddering thank you as they both began gathering the papers around them. As they stood up with papers and binders back together again, Ted noticed a fresh wave of big crocodile tears start up again. "Anything I can do?" he asked, leaning down to look into her stunning green eyes obscured by her bangs.

She sniffed and scrubbed at the tears on her cheeks once more with her free hand. "No thank you," she started with a shaky voice "there's nothing you can do. I am so fired!"

Pulling the binder to her chest in a tight grip Rei allowed Ted to lead her over to one of the lobby chairs and ease her into it as he sat down in the chair beside it.

The tears started again. "It's my first day as an intern, and I am so already beyond FIRED! I was running the diagnostics and I connected it wrong and the whole thing shorted out. It locked my team lead and his usual partner in and I can't get the door open without the key card, which we don't have, and now I have to call his supervisor, who has to call our boss. I AM SO FIRED! Then, someone has to call your boss to get approval for someone with a key card to unlock the door. It's going to take forever and we aren't going to make it to the rest of our appointments, so we are going to have to cancel them, and lose all those billing hours, and…"

"Whoa, whoa slow down."

His voice and a gentle touch to her knee stopped her desperate rambling. She started hiccupping as she composed herself and looked up at him.

"All you need is someone to open the door for you?"

The red head nodded and took a shuddering breath "Yeah but we have to go through the proper procedure and…"

"Relax, I can open it for you no harm no foul."

Her eyes brightened as a smile illuminated her features. "You can?" she asked optimistically before frowning again. "No, I couldn't ask you to do that! You could get in trouble!"

Standing up, the security officer held out his hand to her. "No worries. Now let's go get that door open so we can get you guys back on schedule today. Shall we?"

With another wide smile Rei took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "My hero."

Having heard the entire exchange through the open comms, Brennan had to practically pick his jaw up off the floor. "She's a criminal mastermind. Where the hell did that come from?"

Shalimar laughed as she gathered their things and zipped up the bag. "Please, he's a guy. A guy that was practically drooling over her from the moment we walked in here. That's practically the easiest play in the book." She tossed Brennan the clipboard and the second tool bag. "Now hurry up we're down to 9 minutes."

The rest of the job was flawless. Once the door was opened, Brennan took the hand held from Rei and let her have it for locking them in. Shal handed her two bags of equipment to take with her back to the van where Brennan told her to go sit while they finished up. Feigning embarrassment, Rei saved one last smile and a quick peck on the cheek for her rescuer, Ted the security officer, as she hurried back out to the van.

Brennan replaced the wiring, the keypad, and snapped the whole thing back into place. Shalimar had a still blushing Ted sign the work order, handed him his copy, and thanked him for his time. With 3 minutes to spare, the trio was on their way.

TBC...

BLM