Things Can't Get Any Worse

Part 7 by Aron and Amanda

Fatail was about to pull the trigger on her blaster when someone
opened the door and walked in. It was Agent Delia.


"I swear, if we don't chill on doing so much paperwork, we'll run
out of trees on this planet!" she complained. "…Get five minutes to
celebrate the capture of Alpha and we're back to deforesting Earth…"
she continued. R and Fatail both watched speechless as she came in
lugging paperwork. The human looked up and saw Fatail standing over
Zed's desk. A blaster in one hand, a data disc in the other. Delia's
eyes narrowed and she knew the alien was up to no good.


"Del!" yelled R. He was ignored by his human partner. Del dropped
the paperwork and glared at Fatail.


"Hold it RIGHT there!" she yelled. Fatail pulled the blaster from
R's path and aimed it at the human. Things happened fast. Agent Delia
nearly dove over Zed's desk to tackle Fatail, but before she could
even get close enough to grab the weapon from the alien's grasp,
Fatail fired. Agent Delia was thrown back by the weapon's blast. She
hit the floor with a sickening thud. Fatail held her blaster up,
blew the smoke away from the energy discharge chamber and smiled. She
morphed back to her original form and held the shining data disc up.
She casually headed for the open door, walking around Zed's desk. In
a moment's flicker, Fatail had left the room and made her way into
the hallway of aliens and agents, and prepared to make her
departure. She was getting away scott free. Agent R had frozen right
then and there and didn't know what to make of the scene before him.
He was in shock. Immediately thereafter, his senses started coming
back and he looked down at the floor to seen his partner laying
there… bleeding. He yelped as he fell to his knees and tried to
assess the damage. No one was around.


"HELP! SOMEONE! ANYONE!" yelled R. No one heard him. They were all
busy celebrating Agent Gee and the capture of Alpha. R spent a split
second cursing Agent Gee for not being there to protect his partner.
He took the human for granted and now she was on the floor…
dying. "NO…. no no no…." thought R at the word `dying' in his head.
R tried to pick her up but she was really hurt. "Del? Can you hear
me?" he asked her. She opened her eyes and looked around. They were
still in Zed's office.


"R…" she began.


"Yes??" he questioned eagerly.


"Do NOT let me bleed on the carpet!" she yelled at him. "This is
ZED'S OFFICE and I will not be responsible for making….. ANOTHER
MESS of it!" she continued.


"WHAT!?" he asked. "I think this is a LITTLE more explainable than
SHARKS!" he yelled. Delia began to cough. "HANG ON!" said R. He
pulled his communicator from his jacket. He tried to contact
someone. No one answered. R didn't hear his partner's complaints.


"I'm going to get yelled at for this… I know it…" said Delia. "And
I can kiss the perfect cream-colored carpeting in here goodbye…."


"NOOOOO…. You wont…." Began R. He became frustrated with the
communicators. "ZEELTOR!" yelled R to himself. "Zeeltor can fix
this! I am SURE OF IT!" he continued. Delia's eyes opened wide.


"No way!" she said. "He's crazy!" she added. R ignored her as
Zeeltor answered the communicator.


"Zeeltor! It's--- we have a problem with---" he began.


"GOOOOOOOD day agent R." said Zeeltor cheerily.


"Get up here to Zed's office now! She's dying!" yelled R. Zeeltor
was marginally puzzled but he closed the connection and immediately
headed to Zed's office.


Zeeltor walked in and found Agent R kneeling over Agent Delia. R
leaned back and Zeeltor saw the human had been hit with a blaster.
"We'll have to move quickly." he said as the other agents filtered in.

"What happened?" demanded Zed. R looked up.


"Zed! It's Fatail---- she was a shapeshifting criminal and she's
stolen some information…" he began. Zed opened his communicator.


"Seal off Headquarters immediately!" yelled Zed. R held his partner
in his arms as Agent Gee entered the office in a rush, followed by
Kay.


"Good thing you're here..." said Zed. Kay stepped forward to get the
latest information from Zed. Zed spoke, looking past even his best
agent... Agent Kay, for someone to take care of the criminal. Kay
stepped back and folded his arms as he heard the head of the MIB talk
to the latest rookie as if he were seasoned with thirty years of
service. Granted, the kid HAD captured Alpha... it didn't set right
with Kay. "We have a shapeshifter in the building. It was the alien
that claimed she knew R. She has vital information on disc and it HAS
to be recovered---" said Zed.


"Yes, Sir...." said Agent Gee. "I'll stop her." he added as he looked
down at Agent Delia. Agent R looked up and snapped at the
human. "Back off and make some room... You couldn't even be there to
watch your partner's back!" he yelled. Agent Gee had frozen at the
sight of blood. He became light-headed and passed out on the floor.
All the others looked over at the almighty brave agent. Kay coughed
obviously. Zed looked at his agent. The one who had been there
practically from the start. Kay.


"Kay... go get her." he said. Kay nodded and pulled his sidearm out
of his jacket and swiftly headed out the door. R saw the black form
vanish and turned back as he heard something. It was Del.

"R," she said faintly, "come closer." R knelt down closer over the
pale figure in his arms, "Closer," she insisted.


"I'm here." he whispered, "What is it Del?" he asked. Some of the
other agents had quieted down. Jay hung his head at seeing the look
on R's face as soon as he had walked in.


"R, I-I don't know how to tell you this but..." Delia searched for
just the right words. R's heart stopped. Was he going to hear what
he had hoped to hear from the moment he had laid eyes on her? Did she
really, honestly love him? He listened closely to her.


"Yes?" he asked. She stumbled to speak, but finally got it out.


"The anchovies...they're not from Earth!" she said. Her eyes fell
closed.


"Del? DEL?!" he begged. He looked up to Zeeltor in desperation. The
alien activated a scanner.


"Agent R...." he said quietly. "Your partner has lost an excessive
amount of blood..." he began. He took the human's wrist. "I'm sorry
but... she's passed." he finished. R shook his head.


"No...." he said. He looked up to see Zeeltor had too hung his
head. "NO--- it can't be!" he continued. "No... No..."


"R..." said Zeeltor. R held his partner and noticed she was totally
limp now. He looked up at the ceiling... looking almost past the
ceiling as if there was anything to see. He grew loud now.


"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he yelled.

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