Chapter Three - 17th June, 2003:
There was a reason Max announced the building as that of N-Tek: it was very different from the N-Tek Rachel had last seen. Instead of it being a simple, three-storey building with an odd bulge in the architectural 'antenna' (being, of course, the transphasic regenerator) and the real spy stuff being underground, it was now a cluster of buildings, each about two stories high. The main building was still there, but it had been elevated to five stories, and as such the transphasic regenerator had been effectively swallowed by the topmost floor.
Rachel said nothing to this, simply getting out of the car before it had completely stopped moving and effectively stormed into the building, expecting to be challenged by no one and recognized by everyone. After all, she did have a (very brief) relationship with the boss' son.
"I'm leaving N-Tek. I don't know how long for, or even if will be permanent, but I don't want you to tell Josh, understood?"
As she predicted, Rachel was unchallenged as she strolled through N-Tek's corridors, having only minor problems with the slightly updated security systems. This, fortunately, was rectified by one of the junior agents recognizing Rachel and allowing her through using his own biometric data.
Wandering through the hallways for a good five minutes, she eventually found what she had been looking for: Team Steel's op room. The door opening automatically, Rachel smiled slightly at the sight before her. Berto was sitting at the console, nothing new there, and was completely engrossed in a game of circular chess with the computer on the largest monitor in the room.
"What am I supposed to tell him then?"
"Things never change much here, do they?" she said after a few minutes, making Berto jump in surprised. "Junior agents are still letting anyone through biometrically-locked doors, and you're still obsessed with beating that computer."
"Rachel, what are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be in –"
"Russia? I came back. I've got some information which Jeff needs to know, and I didn't think it was safe to send it through the usual channels of communication. Russia's security agency has more holes than Swiss cheese, and is more corrupt and hypocritical than the BNP. British political party," she added at Berto's look of mild confusion.
"What everyone else is telling him: I'm on a mission in Russia to capture Psycho."
"What do you need to tell him? I'm sure I could relay the information to you. Other than that, there's no need for you to be here. Why don't you go home, get some rest –"
"If you're trying to unsuccessfully tell me to give the information to you and go home so I won't meet Max, it won't work. I've already met him."
Berto looked at Rachel. "How, when? He didn't finish his mission until a few hours ago…" he trailed off as comprehension dawned. "You met him at the airport, didn't you?"
"I can't do that."
Rachel nodded.
"Intentionally or on purpose?"
"On purpose. It wasn't that hard, get one of my colleagues in Russia to hack into the security systems here and find the mission schedules for one Max Steel, aka Josh McGrath." Rachel smirked. "You really need to upgrade the security here, Berto. It only took us about ten minutes to get in. But then, considering the ease in which a junior agent let me in this section of N-Tek, that's not really a surprise."
Berto frowned. "When we knew about Dragonelle, we informed all of our agents not to let anyone into secure sections, even if they looked exactly like themselves and especially if they didn't have the clearance for that room."
"Sounds like your agents need re-educating."
"Why not?"
Berto nodded. "Yes, sounds like it. They've been getting a bit lax about security here, seeing as no one but Psycho has ever managed to break in. Even then he was doing it on inside information."
Rachel bit her lip at this, knowing that the information she needed to tell Smith included this intrusion into N-Tek. She turned around, ready to make her way out of the ops room, when Berto verbally stopped her.
"How was Max? Meeting you, I mean."
"Surprised, very surprised," Rachel said, turning back around and folding her arms across her chest. "Which reminds me, why was he in 'Max' mode in a supposedly safe, secure aeroplane? Surely he would have changed back into Josh before boarding the plane."
"I'd be lying to my best friend."
"Well…" Berto began, looking down at the ground and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in slight embarrassment. "It was a mission about a year ago, a mission against two new terrorists known as Pyro and Cryo."
"The Greek for fire and ice," Rachel mused, looking up when she felt Berto's eyes on her.
"I'm surprised you know what they mean, Max didn't."
"Pyromania and cryogenics, basically the attraction to fire and the freezing of a body in ice," Rachel said, slightly embarrassed. "How I know isn't important to the story anyway, why did these two cause Max's probes to malfunction?"
"I'm not entirely sure of it myself, but I have a suspicion that when he was fighting Pyro, the extreme heat caused by her attacks somehow fried the circuitry in the max probes, leaving them unable to change Max back into Josh."
Rachel thought from a minute before speaking. "But, if the circuitry was damaged enough to prevent Max from being able to turn back into Josh, what about his other abilities? Enhanced sight, enhanced hearing, turbo and stealth mode?"
"It's not lying. Well, not completely. I will be in Russia, but I'm not chasing after Psycho."
Berto shook his head. "It's all completely gone. We're working on trying to reconstruct the probes inside his body, but so far it hasn't been working. The only solution we've found is to destroy all the probes in his body and then, effectively, 're-infect' him with working probes, which should give him back his usual powers, plus enable him to change back into Josh once more."
"Have you told Max this?"
"No."
A/N: Blackrose, Akili, remember what I said about this only being four parts? It seems to have gained a mind of its own now, so I have no idea how long it's gonna end up being.