"Thank you," said Pam as she received her plate of food. The others were served, but they waited until everyone received their plate. Before she was about to start, Fred looked at his plate. "Wait a second, I didn't order mashed potatoes," he said.
"Oh sorry, Fred, I did. He made a mistake and gave me the wrong plate," Pam said as they switched plates.
As they were eating, Sam received a message to call the office. He excused himself, glancing at a fellow officer to make sure he kept an eye on the two as he made the phone call.
"So, Mrs. Hinkley, what do you think of our chances to bring Sardonyx to justice," asked Fred.
"Well, between your testimony and the information we have, it's going to be difficult for him to win," said Pam. "I'm sorry for your loss, Fred. You must have been very close to your friend."
"Yeah, I was, it's just. …" he was interrupted when he heard a gunshot and a glass near Pam shattered. Pam, Fred and others in the restaurant got under the tables as those undercover drew their guns and looked for the sniper.
Jeff was hidden behind one of the closet doors, the barrel barely peeking out. As he pulled back the hammer to take a second shot, he heard a voice that sent shivers down his spine. "I wouldn't do that again pal, unless you want to take a short trip into the sky."
Jeff turned around, but saw no one. To his shock, a man dressed in a funny red outfit with a cape blinked into existence. He took a shot at the blonde-haired man, who covered his head with his arms and deflected the bullet. Before he could take another shot, the other man grabbed the gun, crushed it in his bare hands and picked Jeff up by the scruff of the collar. Jeff's feet barely touched the ground.
"Hey Ralph, I got him," said Bill. "And, I crushed his gun. That was actually fun."
"Great," said Ralph, entering the closet. He decided to play the FBI agent role full force. "Look here, mister, we're going to make this easy for you. Either you tell us what you were doing firing a gun on the restaurant, or my friend here will take you on a little trip."
"I'm not saying anything, pal, neither to you or your friend in longjohns here," said Jeff.
The man in red growled and picked the man up further, causing Jeff to gently hit his head on a shelf. Jeff's eyes rolled back into his head and he sagged. Bill, surprised, lowered the man to the ground, and gave Ralph a funny look. "What, I didn't do anything to scare him that much. Some henchmen, Sardonyx's men must really be chickens inside."
Ralph, after checking the criminal's pulse and confirming he was all right, sighed. "Bill, you need to watch your strength wearing the suit. You must have knocked him unconscious when you picked him up higher and his head hit the shelf. In the suit, it only takes a tap."
Before Bill could respond, he heard a voice near the door. "Uh, look kid, you're going to have to pretend to be me. I scoped out a couple of my own guys in the crowd, so you'll have to be careful in the way you talk."
"Ralph" turned invisible while the real Ralph gathered his thoughts just as the door opened. He grimaced slightly as he saw Bill's boss, Carlisle join the other man in the room. "Maxwell, what are you doing here?" he asked incrediously.
Ralph prayed that he would be believable as "Bill" but didn't let it show on his face. "Well, uh sir, I was taking a friend to lunch next door when we heard gunfire. I snuck in and saw a gun barrel peek out of the closet. I barged in and wrestled the gun from him, and during the fight, he tripped and knocked himself out."
"You know, I don't know how you do it Maxwell," he said with a slight hint of grumbling. "We didn't tell you about the case because it involves one of your friends, but you still manage to help them out."
"Well, goes to show you how valuable I am," said "Bill" with the best cheesy grin he could muster.
Carlisle didn't say a word about his colleague's reaction. "Right, well, Mrs. Hinkley and the witness are all right, and we're going to take the witness to a safe house and this fellow to the agency for interrogation, so dismissed."
"You go and do that, and I'll clean up here," "Bill" said. After Carlisle and the others left, "Ralph" blinked back into view. He glanced around and found an extra set of waiter's clothing, and put them on. "Why didn't you tell me everything about this case," he asked Ralph.
"Bill, I couldn't go into details because Pam told me not to tell you," said Ralph. "Pam told me it was a big case, but not what it was so I wouldn't worry. But after listening to the news, doing some research and all this, now I've got good reason to."
"No kidding. Well, since the witness is heading back to a safe house, do you think we should tell the Counselor what happened?"
"Well, not here, but we could persuade here to go outside to get some fresh air," said Ralph.
The two left the closet and headed toward where Pam was standing. She had just finished giving her statement about the gunfire to the police, and saw the others. "Bill, Ralph it's so good to see you. How. …" she stopped when "Ralph" pulled away from her. "What's going on?"
Bill just glanced at her and tried his best to sound like "Ralph." "Um Pam, can you come outside for a moment, we've got to talk to you," he said.
"Sure hun, whatever you say. Must be important for you to 'dress up'" she said, looking at Ralph's attire. The three headed out, not knowing how quickly things were going to go from bad to worse.
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"Hey boss, Jeff was captured by an FBI agent," said another of Sardonyx's henchmen.
"What, I thought he wasn't taking chances. Anyway, did complete his mission?"
"Yeah, he did. I saw him put the poison in the mashed potatoes. I helped clean up the table after the gunfight. The plates were pretty much cleared, and the potatoes had been mostly eaten."
"Good. Should only be a few more minutes before he loses consciousness and then, in 12 hours, we will be home free since the lone witness will be dead," said Sardonyx. He was looking forward to that time, because without a witness, the judge will have no choice but to exonerate him, and he could take his "wares" to another country. It was only a matter of time, he mused.
------------------------------------------
As the three headed out onto the outdoor seating, Pam felt a little odd, as thought the ground was uneven. "Must be an aftereffect from the gunfight," she thought dismissively. "Funny, you'd think with all the scenarios Bill's put me through, I'd be used to it by now."
She turned to face her husband and friend. "All right, you two, I think I know how you found out about this shootout, but what's going on? I mean, Ralph, you've never refused one of my kisses."
To her surprise, instead of "Ralph" answering, "Bill" responded. "Well, um, Counselor, Ralph's not himself. In fact, I'm not quite myself either."
Pam's face softened when she heard him stumble over his words. It was unlike Bill to be that hesitant to tell her anything, he was too blunt. "OK, I see there's more to this than the normal holographs bit. Seriously, what's going on?"
"Bill" continued. "Well, this is going to be hard to explain. Earlier today we were trying out a scenario to create static electricity for electric bolts. During the course of events, there was a lightning bolt and a crash landing. …"
"Ralph" picked up, knowing that the real Ralph was just trying to make it easier on Pam. "Look, it's like this, there was an accident and both of us were knocked out. Well, we came to and were fine except for one thing."
Pam was getting slightly annoyed. "What happened? Did the lightning turn you into a magnet again Ralph?"
"Bill" shook his head. "No Pam, it didn't. It did something else to us."
Pam's head swum when she heard "Bill" call her Pam. He normally didn't, even when she married Ralph. "Bill, you never call me that, but Ralph does. …" she looked at the blonde haired man, figuring out the problem. He nodded.
"Well, Counselor, you see, Ralph and me, we switched places," said "Ralph."
Pam looked at the two and tried to say something, but her knees buckled and she swayed. Bill saw her pale and he tried to steady her. "Counselor, are you all right?"'
"Fine, I just got a little. …" Her voice trailed off as she fell over in a faint. "Ralph" caught her in his arms and lowered her to the ground.
"Counselor? Ralph, I think she's fainted. We must have had one too many suit scenarios for her."
Ralph stooped next to Pam and tried to wake her up, but couldn't. He became increasingly concerned when Pam's face felt cold and clammy. "Pam? Pam?" he checked her pulse. "Bill, it's worse than a faint, call an ambulance."