"We can do this, Eula," she thought as she rushed to her desk to try and collect herself, "We break up with him and eat ice cream for dinner tonight. If B gives you shit for stopping anywhere, throw the ice cream at his head. Totally sensible."

As she sat down, Eula leaned forward and planted her face on the desk in front of the keyboard. Another clerk—a blonde named J—came over, gently patting Eula on the back.

"Long night with the boyfriend or are you just hungover?" She asked, brushing Eula's hair out of her face.

"I wish I was hungover," Eula replied, picking her head up just high enough to put it in her hands. "Means I would've actually had some kind of fun last night."

"Ooh, now that sounds like an absolutely fascinating piece of gossip!" J grinned and pulled herself up onto the desk. "Spill every last detail."

"Calen and I got in a fight last night."

"Oh? Trouble in paradise?"

"Ha! It hasn't exactly been paradise for a while, J, but yeah, we fought."

"What about?"

"Him being too chicken to kidnap me and get it over with. Doesn't matter how many times I offer to finally fuck him if he does, he won't let me off this rock."

"As he should."

"Why is everyone so against me having any modicum of control over my life?"

"Because you can literally wipe planets off the map and I think O is scared you might destroy Earth in retaliation."

"Why would I do that when I could just explode her and take this shadowy organization into my own incapable hands!"

"Now there's a fate worse than death, but I'll make a note of it: prepare for the day E burns down MIB from the inside out."

"And then I will become my boss' boss and we will all break for eternal lunch."

"Of course your power fantasy would be about food." They both giggled, Eula straightening up in her chair.

"Alright, lay it on me. What's the most urgent piece of paperwork that needs to be filled and filed in triplicate?"

"For you? The absolutely riveting arrest records of a merry band of fruit smugglers. You got an appointment with B today?"

"Why didn't anyone warn me that a single parasite would make my life this torturous? And yeah, but it's after lunch, so it shouldn't get in the way."

"Then you're good to go. Also, we have a couple VIPs coming through today, so try to save any drama until they're gone."

"VIPs?"

"Arquilian and Kylothian nobility. One's like... He makes weapons, I think? The other one I only remember because she's apparently a Kylothian diplomat?"

"...That sounds oxymoronic."

"I completely agree, but she's actually got credentials and everything. O figured it'd be a good idea to try and develop some kind of relationship with them."

"I'm sure they'll be totally thrilled to be besties with the organization supporting the civilization that's trying to genocide them."

"Could be a move to attempt peace. That's what I'm thinking anyway. It was the Kylothians who asked for an audience."

"Really?" Eula raised her eyebrows. "Maybe she's actually here looking for weaknesses within our defenses."

"If that's the case, she won't find many."

"Oh, I know. If there were any, I'd be the one exploiting them."

"Please behave, E," J said as she put a hand on Eula's shoulder, "Last thing I can stand to lose right now is my gossip buddy."

Eula drew in a breath to argue, but J shot her a warning look and left. With a huff, Eula knuckled down and got to work. She spent the morning typing her way through form after form, printing, filing, and by the end of the day's first assignment, she'd planted her face pretty firmly in the spot it'd started out in. Her arms sat splayed out on the desk in front of her, her head only rising as she contemplated just going home and finishing the day from the comfort of her pajamas.

"That sounds so nice," she thought as she glared at the computer in front of her, "Maybe I'll do that after I get done with B. I do suppose I can just... Break up via text? Kind of a dick move, but I really have no idea how he's even gonna take it. He's never been violent towards me, but I don't know what he's like outside of that. God, I wish I could get the fuck out of here. It would make every facet of this a million times easier."

Eula lifted her head and leaned it on her arm, staring at the exit as her mind continued to wander towards the escape it always wandered to. She'd thought about it so many times she had an entire fantasy that she would play out on the regular. It happened less when she was at home, but at headquarters, so close to the place where she'd been captive, it was worse. And even now, with work waiting on her, and other operatives all around her, she couldn't help but indulge a little.

As he always did, a man in green blasted through the elevator doors, a woman in orange and a figure in purple behind him. Everyone immediately turned to look at him, but before they could react, he raised his arms. A translucent green blob formed around the entirety of the room and everything trapped within began to float. Some screamed, some scrambled for their out-of-reach weapons, but Eula just watched, smiling even, because she knew what happened next.

The woman in orange walked closer to him, followed by the one in the purple robe. The woman stepped up next to the man in green, cupping her mouth.

"We're looking for E, and I think you damn well know which one," she boomed, a visible shockwave shaking the field the man had her coworkers trapped in. "Y'all best give her up before I get really loud! I'm sure MIB wants its operatives to be able to hear!"

There was a wave of murmuring from the crowd as Eula exploded the field around her, freeing herself. The protests from those nearby faded as she ran, clearing a path around the frozen operatives as she did. Her heart pounded as she flanked the group from their left. The three turned to look at her, the one in purple opening their arms to her.

"E!"

"Eula. What do you want?"

"We'd like to extend you an offer. One I think you know it wouldn't be wise to refuse."

"I'm listening," she said, becoming aware of a small poking at her elbow. She tried her best to ignore it, to escape at least long enough to imagine the typical car chase, but it soon became evident that it wasn't gonna stop. With an inward groan, Eula focused her attention back to reality, just now noticing J standing next to her. "What? I'm listening."

"No you weren't, space cadet," J said, cocking her head towards the end of the room opposite the elevator, "But it doesn't really matter. Come on! The diplomat is here and I wanna go gawk."

"Why am I needed for this?" Eula asked as J grabbed her arm and started walking off with her.

"Are you telling me you're not interested in at least seeing the most contradictory being within the entire universe?"

"I mean, kinda? I don't know, it's getting pretty close to lunch."

"Suck it up. We're gonna go stare at aliens." Eula sighed as J dragged her off to a small swarm that had set in around a pair of tall figures. One was a nine-foot, lithe, almost womanly figure that seemed to glow, though that might've just been the light shining off of her long, blonde hair. She had her hand on the shoulder of the second figure, an impossible six-foot Arquilian wearing only a sheer, violet gown.

Eula pursed her lips at the sight of the latter and questioned why an Arquilian—a species that the giants of barely broke a foot—might make an exosuit of themself. J noticed her expression and giggled.

"Bit of an odd pair, and not at all a typical look for a Kylothian," she said as an agent guided the aliens towards O's office. "But hopefully something good comes of it."

"I mean, would you rather be looking at a writhing mass of vines? If you can shapeshift, why not make yourself pretty." Eula asked as they approached. For a brief second, she locked eyes with the Kylothian, who smiled and waved to her. Eula waved back, the Arquilian taking notice and nodding in her direction.

"Othniel and Sergala are their names," J said after the pair had passed them. "Looked them up a little while ago. It really makes me curious how well O's gonna deal with her."

"What do you mean?"

"Kylothians do this thing where the first syllable of their name indicates what family they're from. So..."

"Serleena."

"Yep. There might be more weight to your looking for weaknesses theory than I thought."

"That is a little scary." Eula smirked up at J and put a hand on her shoulder. "Too bad we'll never find out!"

"Don't tease me!" J laughed and the pair began walking towards their desks. "You have no idea what I would give to be a fly on that wall right now. I can only imagine the drama about to go down in that room! I mean—"

"Sorry to bother you in the middle of your conversation," the newest member of the tech department, S, butt in as he strolled up to the pair, "But I've got a couple diagnostic tests I need to run on your arm, E. Some essentials that B needs for later. Mind if I steal you for a bit?"

"Oh, no, not at all!" Eula forced a laugh, J nodding and heading back to her desk. "So, um, what kind of tests do you need to do."

"Pretty easy stuff. Logging data, trying to figure out why its tracking isn't updating as frequently. Bunch of technical stuff that even I barely understand."

"Okay, so, can we do it here, or do I need to follow you, or..."

"I mean, it's literally something I programmed my phone to be able to do, but looking at the time, I was hoping we could maybe get it done over some lunch."

"Are we allowed to do that?"

"I mean, with it updating your location only every two hours instead of every two minutes... Not like anyone will know. And even if they do, you'll be with another agent, and the place I had in mind is maybe a block away. If anyone gets mad at you for it, tell them to bring their grievances to me."

"Sounds like a plan then."

"For indulging me, it's my treat. Come on." S started towards the elevator, and, while Eula was suspicious about his intentions, she did follow him. She half expected someone to stop her on the way out, or for an alarm to start blaring the moment she stepped into the elevator, but nothing happened. The two of them just walked out onto the sidewalk, S quick to peel off his jacket and carry it. They were silent for a minute or two, both stealing glances back and forth at one another as they trudged onward.

"So," Eula started, "You don't happen to be a mind reader, do you?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Why ask me out to lunch? Especially since it is something that can get us in trouble and it seems to be just the two of us? You do know that I'm spoken for at the moment, right?"

"At the moment?"

"I've got plans to dump him. I'm not sure when, I'm not sure how, but I plan on it. I kinda wanted to do it today, but I'm not sure if that's gonna pan out the way I wanted."

"Good luck with it, but your relationship with Calen or its eventual absence has nothing to do with why I asked you to lunch."

"Then why? Is there an ulterior motive or did I read too far into it?"

"That's all a matter of your perspective."

"What?"

"Do you like living like this, E? Do you like being on such a short leash?"

"I'd kill to cut it and run."

"Why haven't you?"

"Because it's not that easy. I can't hide from a global conspiracy on the globe they operate on. Even then, I don't exactly have the funds or skill to get away from them. They gave me clerical work and restricted my database access for a reason. In the short leash metaphor: they've got me by the collar my lack of opposable thumbs can do nothing about."

"And what if you could? What if someone approached you, and offered to take the collar off while MIB isn't looking?" Eula took a deep breath and looked over at S, him nodding. "I'm serious."

"Okay, who put you up to this? Was it O, B, or Calen?"

"Sergala." Before she could say another word, he held up a hand to silence her. "We might want to sit down where someone else isn't likely to hear us before I tell you the rest."