That afternoon came rather early for the Ralph, Aidan, Bill and, after an argument which ultimately led to being ordered to come by his superior, a reluctant Tony as they arrived at the desert. Following doctor's orders, Pam stayed at home, not only to rest some more but to relay calls about how Aidan was. After Tony telling the Hinkleys that the police found a ring mandrel at the crime scene and was mentioned in the paper, they decided to say that if students called that Aidan was grazed by the bullet and had a cut on her leg, but that she was recovering.
Getting out of the car, Bill started barking orders. "All right, Artie, up and at 'em. You've gotta change into the jammies and work out those sore muscles."
Aidan and the others got out of the car and rubbed the sleep out their eyes, having taken a nap along the way. "Come on Bill, take it easy," chided Ralph. "I mean, Aidan's been through hell and back just to get the jammies, not to mention having a nightmare on top of that, the least you can do is let her start practice a few minutes later."
Before Bill could respond, Aidan spoke up. "Thanks Ralph, but I probably had the most sleep out of everyone yesterday. Though I'll admit a lot of it wasn't by my own choice," she said drolly as she shed her streetclothes to reveal the jammies. "I think I'm about ready," she said as confidently as possible, though inside she was praying she didn't get hurt trying this. She still had her doubts about wearing the suit. This wasn't missed by anyone. "So, what's first... flying?"
"Probably the best, as that's the first thing I learned," said Ralph, trying to build up her confidence. After the nightmare, she needed as much as she could get. "It's pretty easy actually, just three steps and jump."
"Maxwell, I think this is going to end up with her falling on her face," said Tony. 'Just like this partnership will.'
Aidan gave a sideways glance at the younger FBI agent, tugged on the suit collar and shook her head. "You know, you have the confidence of a wound down clock on depressants, Tony. Anyway, here I go... I hope." With that she crossed her fingers, took three steps and jumped, giving a scream as she found herself soaring haphazardly into the air.
Though Tony and Bill didn't know about his first flight, Ralph grimaced at how similar - and poor - Aidan's first flight was to his. 'Well, good thing there aren't any billboards here. Last thing she needs is another nightmare.' he mused. "Aidan, you're too tense, loosen your arms a bit. Try to keep your head up and relax as you fly and turn," he shouted. In response, Aidan flipped around sideways when she turned, heading toward the others out of control and at a descent. "Great, it's time for crash landing lesson 101," said Tony, cringing.
The three men scattered, not wanting to be the 10th pin in a game of aerial bowling, but instead of a disastrous crash, Aidan panicked and swung her arms up at the last moment. She ended up landing feet first, only to have them slip out from under her, causing her to slide on her backside about 25 feet in a cloud of sand.
The group rushed over as she slowly stood up and brushed herself off. "You all right, Ade?" asked Ralph.
"Safe," she said a bit dazed from the rough landing, but then smiled. "Well, that ended better than I thought."
"Have to admit, better than my first flight, though you'll need to work on your landings," said Ralph, chuckling and giving her a playful tap on the chin with his fist. "Looks like you took what I said about flying to heart."
"Yeah, learned a thing or two from the best," she said chuckling, copying the same tap on his chin. Ralph's smile suddenly faded as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell forward toward Aidan.
Shocked and worried, Aidan caught Ralph under the arms as he collapsed and walked forward, lowering the unconscious man to the ground to lie on his back. "Ralph, can you hear me," she said as she checked his pulse and gently shook his shoulder. "Why did he pass out? All we were doing was kidding around."
"Great, I better remember to bring some smelling salts to all our training sessions if dis is gonna happen," said Tony, rolling his eyes. Bill glared at the younger agent. "Hey, just planning a possible what-if scenario like ya taught us," Tony said.
Bill shook his head and glanced back at Aidan, who was now waving the cape in Ralph's face. He chuckled softly. "Artie, he'll probably tell ya this when he comes to, but you have to be careful with your strength in the suit. I think ya knocked him out when you gave him that tap on the chin, and that's all it takes."
"Oh, I'm going to get it..." she said, grimacing just as Ralph stirred and opened his eyes. Aidan gently helped sit him up. "You OK Ralph?"
"Think so," he said groggily. "You didn't try flying again and crash into me, did you?"
"Nope," she said sheepishly, making a fist.
Ralph groaned and shook his head as they stood back up. "Well at least you didn't break my hand. Just be careful with the suit's strength next time. Now, what should we try next? I mean, there's invisibility..."
"There's the bulletproof test..." said Bill as he drew his gun.
"Oh no, un uh, no way, NOT today, too soon," she said emphatically, backing far away from Bill, so far that when she hit the car, the suit's strength allowed her to move it back as well. Hearing the noise of the car's wheels sliding in the sand, she stopped, and turned around to face the car. Confused, she put her hands on the edge of the roof of the car and tried pushing it again. When the car tilted and its wheels rose a couple of feet, she gasped and dropped the car. Cringing at the crash it made, she then turned around with an embarrassed smile, realizing that the suit's strength could do more than just knock out people with a tap.
Tony ran over to the car to make sure it still ran, making the other three wonder why he was more interested in the car than anything else. "Tony, I'm no mechanic, but I know enough about cars that they'll still work if they have a dent in the door, and it doesn't have that, not even a scratch. And I didn't drop it far enough to cause any serious damage either," she said annoyed. "But Bill, no bulletproof test, at least right now, huh? I just had a shot 24 hours ago - three of them." Ralph glared at Bill as well, emphasizing her point just in case.
"OK, Artie, I clearly get your point," sighed Bill as he reholstered his gun. "How about telekinesis?"
"Telekinesis, that's the one where you move things or people with your mind, right?" she asked walking back over to Ralph. Tony stayed by the car to make sure she didn't damage it to where it couldn't run.
"Yeah, though I usually had more success with items. All you need to do is clear your mind and concentrate," said Ralph. "Think of something like white paper."
"Telekinesis, huh? That's just a bunch of mumbo jumbo," said Tony as he leaned back against the car, bored.
Aidan concentrated and focused her mind, but her thoughts shifted to the one thing that was bothering her. Just then Tony, who was ignoring the practice then, was thrown to the ground by some invisible force and started tumbling. "Hey, Aidan... what the hell are you doin'?" he yelled as he kept flipping head over heels. "Stop this right now! That's an order!"
Intentionally losing her concentration, she ignored Tony, causing him to stop about two inches from a large patch of cacti. Seeing how close he nearly came to being a pincushion, he got up and growled as he headed back over to the group. "Aidan, you did that on purpose you ..."
Bill put a hand on the younger agent's shoulder. "Tony, cool it. Ya gotta remember Artie's trying to learn how to use the suit and things like this will happen. Believe me, I've had my share of falls when it was the kid," he said, wincing at some of the memories.
"Sorry Tony... I'll remember to not think of you and go for a weapon next time," she said quickly and with a mock innocence, inwardly hoping Tony would start realizing they were a team and this was a part of it. "All right, what next?"
"Invisibility. I think that's the only thing you can't hurt anyone with right now," said Ralph, rubbing his jaw slightly and noting the looks on the two agents' faces. He had an idea Aidan might have used telekinesis on Tony intentionally, so he didn't want her to raise the younger agent's ire to the point of fighting if she did it again.
"OK, since I don't want Pam to get mad at me for putting someone in the hospital," she said, catching on to Ralph's hint. "How do I do that?"
"Just relax your mind and push, like this," he said, bowing his head and clenching his fists.
She did what she was shown, but nothing happened. Frowning, she tried again, but still no use. "Ralph, it's not working," she said.
"Well, try again," he gently encouraged. She tried and very slowly started to fade. "There you go, just keep concentrating," he said.
When she faded out completely, Ralph and Bill smiled. "I did it," she said, only to pop back in visible. "Well, I did..."
Tony chuckled loudly, not able to control his emotions any more. "Well, that'll be useful if we need to have a ghost somewhere," he said with a smirk.
"All right Tony, what's the problem," said Aidan with a slight growl, fed up with his comments. "For someone who's supposed to be teamed up with me, you sure have a crummy attitude about all this."
"Hey, Aidan, I was forced to come here. I work alone, and this whole thing is ridiculous. So far, all you've done in that outfit that's been useful is knock out someone, and even that was an accident. Let's face it, this isn't going to work and I'm going to tell those green guys to go kiss my..."
"VILLACANA," shouted Bill. "You are not going to do that. And trust me, they won't let you. I tried that when Ralph and me first met the ship. All I got was drunk out of my skull. You haven't given it a fair shake yet." Ralph frowned remembering that time, but realized it was how they realized they needed to work together.
"I've given it a try, and it won't work," said Tony.
"Villacana, don't make me order you to give this another chance..."
"Don't need to," Tony said as he headed toward the older agent, fists clenched. He was tired of being out in the desert for something he didn't want to be a part of. There was no way he was going to risk being knocked out, shot, burned up, blown up, tied up in a knot or any thousands of ways to be injured or killed because a dame who wears a set of intergalactic pajamas couldn't get anything right. Bill stood there and just waited, knowing this might be the only way to knock some sense into the younger agent.
When Tony swung at the other agent, Bill also threw a punch. Both were surprised, however, when Aidan stepped in between the two, taking both punches to the jaw. They watched as she fell backward to the ground, dazed but otherwise unhurt.
Ralph hastily pulled her up, not happy she took the risk. "Aidan, why the hell did you do that," he said frowning. "I hate saying this, but you can be knocked out. We don't know why, but the suit doesn't always protect your head. I learned the hard way, especially when I crashed into a train. Wound up forgetting Bill and the suit for a while."
"Sorry, Ralph, I figured the suit would protect me so I stepped in to referee. These are big changes for all of us and..."
"Another reason why this won't work... she's going to butt in when she's not supposed to or welcome to..." Tony started.
"SHUT UP," Aidan yelled, finally having enough. Before Tony could respond back, Aidan walked forward and faced the younger agent. She grabbed his collar and glared at him through steel blue eyes. "Tony, I've tried to be nice, tried to drop hints but after the fight at the Desert Cactus Corral, I think it's time to lay down the law here," she growled. "They made us a team, and while you may not like it, that's the way it is and will be."
Tony tried to say something, but looking into her eyes realized she wasn't going to back down. Aidan released her grip from his collar and put her hands around the belt. Her fingers also touched the buckle, not noticing the design on it briefly glowed a faint blue. "If you think being put in a team is bad, imagine how I feel. Yeah, it's great that I can do these things, but I have to wear this suit to do them. Now, I'll admit I've worn some strange things in my life, but this one takes the cake. I feel like a 5-foot-7 four-year-old."
"Yeah, and you look like it too," said Tony with a smirk, only making Aidan angrier. "They should've chosen something better than longjohns and a cape. Something more fitting a girl."
"Well, what do you think it should be? A bikini?" she said sarcastically. No sooner did she say that there was an brief, but odd glow around her. When it faded, Aidan's eyes widened as she suddenly felt cold, almost as if she was wearing nothing. Aidan looked down and to her surprise and embarrassment, saw what happened. She was wearing a bikini, the top half was red with gray trim with the suit emblem in the middle of the top. The bottom part were boy shorts and were black with red trim, just like the cape. She was wearing red beach shoes with gray trim and strangely, still had the belt around her waist, almost looking like a Bond girl.
Aidan looked back up and noticed all three men were staring at her and her current attire. She felt her face turn as red as the suit was. "Uh, Ralph, did this ever happen to you... and if so, I hope not a bikini."
"No, Aidan it didn't," said Ralph, blushing a bit himself in sympathy. Noticing her deep embarrassment and a slightly mischievous glint in Tony's eye, Ralph put his jacket around her shoulders so she could be a little more covered up. Aidan accepted it gratefully. "I think you've just hit a new suit power. Now, question is, how do we turn it off?"
----------------------------------------------
In an rented office just outside town, a gentleman received a phone call from someone. "Drake Rutile," he said.
"Sir, I just wanted to let you know that our plans are in order," said the other man. "The two who botched the kidnapping attempt have also been threatened with their lives if they snitch about the plan as well."
"Good. Did you get any word on the principal's daughter?"
"She managed to survive, but is pretty banged up," the man said. "Neither she nor the principal should be at the school when we attack."
"Just as well. Now, after you get the stuff we need in place, I want you to finish up scouting the school for any escape route and then return to quarters."
"Understood," said the other man as he hung up the phone.
Rutile hung up the receiver and smiled. "Well, all I need to do now is wait. The judge will be more than willing to trade his decision for his daughter's life."
