A/N: Hiya! Meant to actually write this last night, but some stuff happened, and I woke up in my closet. Don't ask. The point is, things didn't go as planned, and this didn't get written until tonight. By the way, UKHoneyB knows where a certain name is from...
Chapter 1
"Remind me again why we're not out there looking for them," Kat said through gritted teeth as she threw another punch towards Rachel's head.
"Because," Rachel replied calmly, "we're too close to the situation." She dodged a high kick. "And, as you may recall, we were on the case for a while until someone had to go ballistic and put her fist through a very expensive piece of tracking equipment."
"I hardly touched it. Anyway, I don't see Jefferson taking himself off the mission."
"That's different," Rachel said slowly.
"Like hell it is."
Deciding to end the conversation at that point, Rachel faked a punch, then went down on the mat and swept her right leg into Kat's ankles, knocking her off her feet.
Kat hit the mat with an "oof", and Rachel got up, offering Kat a hand.
"Max always fell for that one, too."
"Falls."
"Excuse me?"
"You said fell. Past tense. Falls was the word you were looking for," Kat said coldly.
Rachel looked startled. "I meant nothing by it."
Kat glared at her for a second or two, but then her face softened. "I know, sorry. I just-"
"I know."
The two stood there silently, and then Kat took a playful swipe at Rachel's head.
"Go again?"
"Ms. Ryan, I am not Mr. Steel. I require rest between sessions, and I recommend you do the same."
"Fine," Kat scowled. She hated it when Rachel called her 'Ms. Ryan'.
The two left the sparring room and started to turn down the hall leading to the break room, when Kat stopped.
"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, wary of any attempt Kat might make to trick her into some other competition.
"Let's go see how Jefferson's doing."
Rachel raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Come on, we should go see him."
"No, I don't think we should."
"Why not?" Kat whined.
"Do you think he'll really be in that great of a mood, considering circumstances?"
"No, but we should go see him anyway."
"Why?"
"To see if...maybe... I want to help look for Max and Berto, all right?!"
"Jefferson will call us when he need-"
Just then Smith's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Kat Ryan and Rachel Leeds report to my office."
Kat looked at Rachel, an amuse look on her face.
"Probably just wants to ask what happened to the soda machine yesterday," Rachel muttered as the two turned and started walking back the way they had come.
"Hey, the soda machine wasn't my fault, all right?! It ate my money!"
"So that justified pushing it down the stairs?!"
"I can explain that..."
Rachel stopped and turned to Kat, arms folded across her chest. "And that explanation would be...?"
"Bet I can beat you to Jefferson's office!" Kat yelled over her shoulder as she took off at a run.
"No running in the halls!" Rachel yelled back, still standing where Kat had left her. She looked around, but saw nobody else nearby. "Oh, why not," she muttered, and then ran after Kat.
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A few minutes later, Kat and Rachel were sitting in Jefferson Smith's office. (The race had been a tie, even though Rachel said that qualified as a win for her, because Kat got a head start).
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Rachel asked as she and Kat sat down in chairs in front of the desk. Rachel noticed there was another chair in the corner with splintered arm rests. Probably the chair Max sits in when he comes, she smiled despite the situation.
Jefferson followed her gaze to the chair, and rolled his eyes. Clearing his throat, he began. "I've been noticing," he said, looking at Rachel, "that your performance level, Rachel, has dropped since Max and Berto have gone missing. Work has been piling up on your desk, your office is a mess, and you've missed the last three conferences."
Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Jefferson held up a hand and continued.
"Rachel hasn't been doing her work because the two of you have been sparring so often. The reason you two have been sparring so often is that Kat doesn't have a sparring partner at this time. So..." he reached over and pushed a button on his desk. There was a buzzing sound as the door came open, and Kat walked in.
Kat stood up quickly, knocking over her chair, while Jefferson watched, amused, and Rachel looked quickly from Jefferson to Kat to Kat, but remained in her seat.
"WHAT THE-?!"
"Kat?" Jefferson addressed the Kat currently on the verge of hysterics, "this is your new sparring partner."
Kat and Rachel then got another surprise as Rachel walked through the doorway, nodded at Rachel, and took Kat by the wrist, moving her out of the way so the door could close behind them.
"And Rachel?" Jefferson continued, enjoying the looks on Rachel and Kat's faces more than he had enjoyed anything for a while, "Rachel, this is your new office assistant."
"Care to explain what's going on, Mr. Smith?" Rachel asked, not taking her eyes off either of the newcomers.
"They're you're clones." There was another buzz as Dr. Yevshenko opened the door and came into the office. "Mr. Smith and I believed that you two would be better off with partners, and for your current needs, namely sparring and office assistance, your own personalities were ideal."
"Yes, but...cloning?!" Rachel said, shocked.
"Yes and no," Yevshenko answered. "It's a new technology Dr. Martinez and I had been developing. It works on the same theories of cloning, but the process is much quicker, and works by gamma ray..." she stopped, seeing the looks on Kat and Rachel's faces. "In simple terms, yes, they're your clones. Kat, your clone's name is Jet, and Rachel, your clone's name is Eleanor. If there are any problems you may come see me in the lab."
Rachel and Kat stared at their clones, stunned, until Kat broke the ice.
"So, want to go spar?" she said, addressing her clone.
"If you can handle losing," Jet replied.
"As if," Kat said, as they both took off.
Rachel and Eleanor rolled their eyes. "Figures."
