Ok, I'm getting some feedback! Woohoo! Now, to address it:

Akili-Chan: I'm glad you like my writing, it means a lot.

UKHoneyB: Thanks to you too. I can't email you, so I will reply here. I will try not to rush into the action, I wanted to make sure my readers didn't get bored, and I guess I over did it. Thank you soooo much for the real name of Berto's dog, and yes, he has had quite a few of them. I will learn to use grammar check, and you will not have to worry about Abigail becoming too Berto-ish.

Chapter 4 (Two weeks after chapter 3)

Max, Berto, Abigail, and Jefferson Smith found themselves once again in the briefing room, only this time, Abigail was one of the team, and they were all waiting for Kat to arrive. The new member of Team Steel now fit perfectly, having settled her differences with Kat. Though the oldest agent of the team was still a little suspicious of the youngest, Kat was friendly towards the new girl, and the two had even gone out to dinner the night before. Though a little put off by Kat's failure to call and say she would be coming in late, or not at all, no one was really worried. Kat had been injured a month ago, and at least two or three times a month, she would decide not to come in.
The subject of the morning's meeting was Abigail. Jefferson was about to announce that she was now officially a permanent member of Team Steel. He began to speak.
"Abigail, I've been observing your progress over the last few weeks, and I've decided that..." the man stopped as a buzzing sound started coming from his left pocket. Puzzled, he reached into the pocket and pulled out his beeper. The number was Rachel's office line. "I'm sorry," Smith apologized to the group, "I just have to see what this is." He went into the hallway, closing the door behind him, and started to dial Rachel's number on his cell phone.
"What'd you think's going on?" Max wondered, "Dad doesn't usually use his cell phone inside the building."
"Who knows, in our line of work, could be anything," was Berto's reply, accompanied by a shrug.
Abigail remained silent, gazing intently at the ceiling. Berto noticed that now-familiar odd look of hers.
A few minutes after he had stepped out, Smith reentered the room, with a grim look on his face.
"Dad, what's wrong?" Max asked, standing up.
"Team Steel, we have a situation. Follow me."

The situation was worse than any of them were expecting. Upon reaching Rachel's office, they heard a familiar drawling voice.
"Dread," Max snarled.
Everyone knew the villain was not really in the office, but the voice alone was enough to make everyone uneasy. When they walked in, they saw an image of Dread's face, frozen on a large projection screen.
"This is a message I received five minutes ago," started a British- accented woman's voice to the right of the doorway. Rachel was sitting at her desk, across from the screen, holding what looked like a remote control in her hand. The look on her face matched Smith's.
"You three better sit down for this," Smith told his surrogate son and two partners. The three did what they were told, but hesitantly. They all wanted to know what was going on, and why both Rachel and Jefferson were acting so weird. Rachel pressed a button on the remote control and Dread's face began to speak in a calm voice.
"Hello, all my friends at N'Tek," Dread began, "long time no see. Now, since I know none of you, Mr. Steel especially, is very fond of small talk, I think I'll get right to the point. I have recently become interested in the oil business. Today I am planning to travel to the Middle East and take over a few businesses. I tell you this because I will have to deal with a few of the owners of these businesses in a slightly unethical fashion. I do not want N'Tek interfering with these plans. To assure I will be left to pursue my new interest unbothered, I have taken out a little insurance policy. She will be safe unless my efforts are interrupted, or there is any attempt to retrieve her. Don't worry, Mr. Steel, your partner is safe with me."
With that, the man's face froze on the screen, having reached the end of its message. Rachel pressed another button the remote control, and the screen went black.
"That," she said, "is our situation."

Five minutes later, Max was in Shadow, heading towards Dread's base, or at least where he was pretty sure Dread's base was. Berto had confirmed that the building was where the broadcast had come from. They both knew it was too easy. They both knew it was a trap. They both knew that Max was going to go anyway. The younger agent had just finished checking Max's levels, when Abigail entered the room, the robotic dog not far behind her. Abigail stood next to Berto, and the dog jumped onto his lap. Berto took his eyes off the screen for a second to look down at the dog. Surprised, he turned to face Abigail, who was not next to him anymore, but at the far corner of the lab.
"Did you teach him..." The tech's voice trailed off as he saw what Abigail was holding. The remote control. The girl smiled at Berto.
"Bye bye," she said, and pressed the self-destruct button.

Hearing a loud boom, Max winced.
"Bro, are you okay?" he asked, worriedly. There was no reply. "BRO!" Max called again, this time someone answered, but not the usual accented voice he was used to hearing.
"Max, it's all right, it's me."
"Abby? Where's Berto?"
"Berto was called down to Smith's office."
"During a mission?"
"Yeah, something was malfunctioning in maximum security, he had to go fix it," she lied.
Max thought her reply a bit odd, but he pushed it side for now. He decided that Berto probably hadn't given Abby the real story about what had happened, for one reason or another. Max wasn't worried. He had no reason not to trust her.

At the same time Max left for Dread's base, Rachel Leeds had taken off for Kat's apartment to look around. She didn't expect to find anything that would help her, but she decided nothing could be lost by looking. Upon arriving at her destination, Rachel found that the door to the apartment was locked. She frowned. Was it probable that whoever had taken Kat had locked the door behind them? No, but who's to say she actually made it home. Maybe she was abducted somewhere else. Knowing the younger agent would understand, Rachel used a small laser to melt the lock, disabling it. She had to use her shoulder to open the door, but it worked on the first try. She paused, listening for sounds of activity...and heard an odd noise coming from the bathroom.
"Who's there?" she called.
"Rachel?" a weak voice came from the bathroom.
"Kat?!" Rachel was shocked.
"Hold on, I'll be right out."
Rachel grabbed for a chair and sat down, shocked. A few seconds later Kat emerged from the bathroom, looking pale.
"Kat, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I woke up and haven't been able to stop puking since. I have a strong stomach, that burger must've been bad..." she stopped at the look on Rachel's face. "What? What's wrong?"
"You went out to dinner with Abigail last night, didn't you?"

Max arrived at the base with some help from Abigail.
"You must be really good at reading that GPS map." Max said, "You're directions are even better then some of Berto's."
"I'm a quick learner," the girl replied. "Now, you should probably put Shadow in stealth mode to hide it, just in case."
"Exactly what I was thinking," Max said as he pushed a white button to his left. Looking down, he noticed nothing had changed. "Hey, why isn't Stealth working?"

"Oh, Berto and I did some alterations before. Stealth is now the red button, on your right."
"Why'd you change the buttons around, everything was working fine." Max pressed the red button. He heard a high whirring sound, and knew he was in trouble. Then, he blacked out.
"That's why."

That one might have been a little predictable, I don't know. Tell me what you think.