CHAPTER TWO

AGENT K:

"She took that well," J mumbled as I shoved the key into the ignition.

"Well, she didn't have much of a choice."

"What do you mean?"

I looked behind me as I pulled out of her driveway. "What's she going to say? She doesn't believe us? It isn't like we told her anything she didn't suspect already."

"You really plan on hiring her, don't you?" he asked.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have just told her the entire history of our organization. It's not like the movies, J. I can't just flash a light at her and make her forget it all."

"What if she refuses the job?"

"She won't refuse."

"How do you know that?"

"Adventure, excitement, adrenaline. It's all the stuff she writes about. What she'd give her life to have. She's hooked whether she wants to be or not."

We pulled away from the house slowly. "So what happens now?" he asked. "Assuming she hires in. What do you do with her when she signs the paper? You didn't say anything to her about leaving her family to come live at HQ. And she is only thirteen."

"I don't want her to leave her family. I need her in the school."

He looked at me. "Why?"

I sighed, not sure I wanted to tell him this yet. "Oh, no, K, spill it," he shot at me, realizing I knew something he didn't. "What do you know?"

I sighed. He'd find out sooner or later anyway. "Most people who work within MIB believe that our work is to establish contact with other civilizations and study their technology," I explained hesitantly. "And in fact, that is mostly what we base our operations on. But we've recently taken a step up when we were contacted by a race that asked us to protect one of their own."

He turned and stared at me. "Huh? You mean they're actually here? On Earth?"

"Only a few of them," I answered, ignoring his shock. "Very few. Most of them have no interest in Earth. And I think that's why we were chosen to take care of this girl."

"What girl?" he demanded. "Who is she?"

"She's a princess. Her civilization is in war and it doesn't look like they're going to win. They're going to try to smuggle a few key people out and, when this is all over in, oh, I don't know, ten or twenty years? they hope to get these people back together. Re-establish everything, if that makes sense. So they're scattering them all over the galaxy in the hopes that even if some of them are found and killed..."

"Isn't that, like, a little dangerous?" he interrupted.

"For us, yes."

"Then why are we doing it?"

I sighed. "Think about it, J. We've been trying to establish friendly relations with these civilizations since the 1950s. This is a chance to be the good guy."

"And what does that accomplish? Are we setting out a welcome mat for them?"

I stared at the road. "In a way, yes."

He sighed and turned to look out the window. "I'm all for studying their technology, K, you know that. And going to their planets, hey, no problem. But I'm not so crazy about getting in the middle of inter-galactic wars that are being fought by races so much more powerful than we are. And I'm not thrilled about even the so-call 'nice' aliens walking around on Earth."

"Why?" I questioned. I wasn't necessarily disagreeing with him. But I was curious as to his thought process. "Why does it hurt to have allies?"

"I like humans, K, but some of them are a lot like a disease. They steal, rape, kill... And I think every civilization has those people. We deal with it amongst ourselves, but how are we supposed to deal with an alien who does that if they're ten times more powerful than we are?"

"Don't look at it as powerful and weak," I warned.

"And as for having allies," he continued, ignoring me, "if we keep our noses in our own business, why do we need them? You said yourself that nobody really has any interest in Earth. So it's not like we're likely to face a hostile takeover or anything and I don't think..."

"She'll be here in two days," I interrupted.

J stopped talking. For a long time, it was silent. "So you're hiring this girl to be a bodyguard?" he finally asked.

"At first, yes. But she's going to have some firsthand experience in dealing with other cultures just in knowing this girl. That could come in very handy later."

"So you plan to make her full time?"

I nodded, considering the thought. "Eventually."

SARA:

I stepped out the front door into the cool morning air and saw him almost immediately, leaning against the stop sign at the corner with his hands in his pockets. I shut the door behind me and walked over to him. He didn't look thrilled to be standing on the street corner at six in the morning. "Had time to think?" he questioned as I approached.

"Yeah," I answered.

"And do I need to take you to headquarters?"

"That depends."

"On?"

"I've seen the movie..."

He laughed. "The movie was bullshit, Sara. We had nothing to do with it."

"But is any of it true?"

"What? That there's a galaxy on our planet inside of a marble? No, that's a little far-fetched."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, what do you mean?"

I sighed. "I mean the part about leaving everything. Severing all human contact."

"It can be," he answered. "Not what they have in mind for you though."

"What do they have in mind?"

He stared straight ahead, as if he were ignoring me. "I can't tell you specifics until I get some kind of an answer."

"Then my unofficial answer is yes."

"Unofficial?"

"Nothing's official until I sign on the dotted line, is it?" I challenged.

He sighed and turned away. I followed after him, saying nothing. The silence was deafening. "How long have you been with them?" I finally asked.

"A long time," he answered coldly. His voice was monotone, void of emotion.

"Well, it couldn't have been too long," I laughed. "How old are you?"

"I don't know."

I laughed. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Nineteen."

I raised my eyebrows. He looked quite a bit younger than that. Even though he was tall, his face just looked younger. "Do you live... with MIB?" I struggled, looking for something to talk about.

"Yes."

"Ever talk to your family?"

"No."

"Why not?"

He spun around and I nearly ran into him. "Look, kid, let's get one thing straight," he snapped. "I'm not your friend and I don't want to be. It was K's bright idea to hire you and he can deal with you because I don't intend to do it. Ask him all the goddamn questions you want, but I'm just here to escort you to headquarters."

I felt anger and indignation well up inside of me. I didn't know what to say to him. He spun around again and started walking. I stayed, my feet planted. I wasn't about to go crawling after him, cowering. But he kept walking, not looking back. Finally, I turned and walked in the other direction. I'd sooner ride the bus than give him the idea that I was submitting to that.

MAYGAN:

"You okay?" I asked as Sara hid her face in her hands, her elbows on the desk.

"Yeah," she answered. "Just tired."

"Wanna go see a movie after school?"

She sighed. "I really can't."

"Why not?"

"Because, I have some stuff to do."

"You can do all the stuff you want after I move," I reminded her. "I only have a few days left before I'm whisked off to Florida."

She groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know something's up because you have that pissed off look."

She sighed. "I just... got into it with a friend of mine this morning."

"Who?" I asked, surprised. It took a lot to get Sara pissed off. But when she was, watch out.

She shook her head and took her hands down as the tardy bell rang. "You don't know him," she answered.

"Him?" I questioned, suddenly a lot more interested.

"Just an acquaintance," she answered. "Not really even a friend. We just met the other day."

"Is he cute?"

She scowled. "He's a jackass."

"Yeah, but if he's cute enough that can be forgiven."

She turned and looked at me, a smile curling her lips. "You crack me up sometimes, you know that?"

I grinned back at her. "What does he look like?"

She turned away again. "It doesn't matter. He's mean as hell. And I mean that seriously."

"Maybe he was just having a bad day."

"I don't think so," she sighed. "Nor do I care."

"Sara, you have a pass here," the teacher called as she closed the door.

Sara stood up, taking her bag with her and took the pass out of the teacher's hand. Then she disappeared. I didn't see her again for the rest of the day.

AGENT K:

"This," I scolded, "is absolutely ridiculous. And I want both of you to hear me right now. I don't give a damn if you like each other or not. You will get along, you will treat each other professionally, and you will work together as partners or you will die! This..."

They both interrupted at the same time. "I didn't do a damn thing!" Sara shot. I didn't hear what J said. He gave up and let Sara continue. "So I don't understand why the hell you come pullin' me out of class to lecture me in the parking lot!"

"Get used to it," J mumbled under his breath. I shot him a look, but he was staring at the ground and didn't even see it.

"This is not a game. You two are going to deal with stuff more serious, and more dangerous, than anything you ever thought existed. And both of you need to work together and support each other whether you like it or not because this isn't going to be easy." I turned my attention to Sara. "And if you can't handle that, or if you don't want to give me the right to pull you out of class or cancel your plans whenever I damn well please, then you better not sign that contract."

She clenched her jaw and cast her eyes to the ground, but said nothing. "You said 'partners'," J pointed out after a moment of silence.

"Yes, I did."

Sara looked up at me, a look of horror on her face. "And isn't that exactly what I said would happen?" J laughed cynically.

"Isn't what?"

"Didn't I say from the start of all this I didn't care if we took this girl in or not but I didn't want to babysit a..."

"This girl," I snapped, "is going to be an agent equal in rank to you in about two hours so if I were you, I'd bite my tongue."

J turned and started to leave. "Don't you walk away from me," I threatened.

"Fuck you!" he called over his shoulder, flipping me off as he continued.

I watched him go and sighed. I couldn't stop him. And I didn't really want to. He just needed some time to cool off. I turned my attention to Sara. She was staring in shock. "Okay, maybe I missed something here," she mumbled. "But is he always like this?"

I sighed. It wasn't my place to discuss J's personal problems. "Yes, for the most part, he is."

She shook her head in disbelief. "He really doesn't want me to take this job," she thought out loud.

I stared at her, saying nothing. There wasn't a whole lot for me to say, at this point.

"Frankly, I don't think I can work with him as a partner," she informed me. "And if that's what you have in mind, I'd better back out now."

I considered that. She stared back, her gaze not wavering. They hated each other. And if they didn't yet, they would in a few days. But I knew something they didn't. I'd watched both of them long enough to realize that they had a lot more in common than they thought, at least as far as their personalities. They would be good for each other, and I knew it. They thought alike, and for that reason, I had requested that J be partnered with her. She had an advantage over me in that respect.

That wasn't the only reason, of course. I knew it would also force J to step up and come closer to his full potential if he had to take responsibility for another, younger agent. Even if it was unofficial, since partners were supposed to watch out for each other, everyone knew that whoever had the most seniority in any partnership was, ultimately, responsible. Aside from that, pairing him with someone else would free me to train new agents. And we were going to need them if we were going to start allowing other civilizations to make pit stops on our planet.

"Don't base your decision on him," I urged her. "He's always subject to change."

She bit her lip and cast her eyes down. "I need some more time to think about it."

I shook my head. "There is no time, Sara. Make a decision. Now."