Class of 98


Emma and Regina walked arm in arm into the high school. Regina was dressed beautifully in a vivid thigh-length purple dress, her brown hair quiffed to perfection. She walked in on the arm of a fit blonde, the unnerdy nerd. If you could define a glow-up, Roni Castro had definitely done it. Pictures of the class were blown up and posted all over the room, and Regina hoped they had lost her picture somehow as she walked over to the sign-in table.

Emma, sensing her unease, turned to her pretend girlfriend and said, "You look great."

Regina smiled at her tensely. She didn't care that she looked great; she didn't want to be in the company of these people.

Approaching the sign-in table, one of the perky cheerleaders greeted them. "Welcome, Cougar, class of '98!"

"Hi," Regina said, looking down at the table. "Veronica Castro?"

"Castro?" The giddy woman said, looking down at the list. "Ooh, here."

"Thanks," Regina stated, taking her name tag.

The woman's eyes widened suddenly. "Wait. You're Roni Castro?"

Regina placed the name tag on her hip. "I am if it says I am." She then took Emma's hand and led her away.

Emma sighed and slowed her down. "Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey." When Regina finally turned to look at her, Emma said softly, "No one's gonna mess with you, Regina, okay? I got your back." Regina nodded, reassured, and Emma smiled at the woman she liked a lot. She was trying to scale it back down from love to like so hard. Suddenly, she noticed the picture just beyond Regina, and her eyes widened. "Wow!"

Regina looked behind her. "Oh," Regina said, getting annoyed.

"It's not that bad," Emma stated. "It's not that bad." Emma couldn't stop looking at it. Regina frowned and pulled Emma away from her picture.

WELCOME BACK COUGARS CLASS OF 1998! The banner read as they all walked through the expanse of the gym. Contrary to her experience, Regina got quite a few lingering looks, not only from the boys who used to torment her but also from the girls who saw her with a woman on her arm and thought of the missed opportunity they'd had.

They reached a waitress with champagne flutes walking around. Emma got them both a glass. "Thank you," she said to the waitress as Regina scoped the room. "Remember, the only difference between high school and a high school reunion is that you don't get suspended for being drunk." Emma reminded the brunette as they continued to work the room.

Heather spotted them and waved in their direction, then turned to her group of friends, probably talking about her. Regina bristled at the feeling of this still being so high school. Emma, sensing the tension, turned to Regina and stated, "Want to dance?" She smirked. "Fortunately for you, I was at the top of my game in '98. Oh, a little bit of that." Emma said, doing a little dance with her head. "Come that, oh, and then... and then mirror that, you know, just kind of…" She noticed Regina looking beyond her with an annoyed air, and she frowned. "What? What is it? You okay?"

Then behind her, some jock-like creature showed up her and spoke. "So, my buddies and I checked out the room and picked the best-looking girl here." He said, and Emma got annoyed and moved closer to Regina. "Decided to come introduce myself to the woman I'll be waking up with tomorrow… Dick Duffy."

Emma turned to look at him. "And I'm Emma, Roni's girlfriend, so..."

"That's okay… you can come too..." He paused and took a good look at Regina. "Roni? Wait. Roni Castro?" He looked her over. "Damn! Ten years have been very sweet to you."

"Thank you," Regina bit out a glare just behind the eyes that Emma noticed Dick had not picked up on. Does he know how close he is to dying right now?

"Ten years is a hell of a long time, especially to someone living in an eight by ten cell," He continued. "How is your dad?"

Emma caught the twitch in Regina's left eye and looked at the man who was about to die and had a flash. PAROLED LAS VENTURAS PRISON 4 YEARS: GRAND THEFT AUTO. He also had ties with the Russian mafia. This had to be the guy. "Nachos!" Emma said as soon as she came out of the flash. "Nachos! I smell nachos! That's gonna hit the spot. Let's get some nachos. Bye, Dick." The blonde pulled the angered brunette away. "I think that's him, that's the guy."

"What guy?" Regina asked.

"Duffy. I just flashed on Duffy." Emma answered exasperatedly. "What'd you do? Attend Bad Guy High?"

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked, looking back at the moron, certainly too small-time to be in with any big-time players.

"Well, Duffy has some kind of connection to the Russian mob." Emma answered her, "I'm pretty sure he's the guy that Ratner is supposed to connect with to hand off the super-bomb plans."

Regina nodded, "Makes sense. He's always been a jerk." She stated through gritted teeth. "Okay, you go catch Ratner up, have him set up the meet. I'll tip off the DJ."

"Why? Why the DJ?" Emma asked as she turned to look at the disk jockey. It was Mal who was hyping up the crowd.

Emma approached Mark, tilting her head slightly as if she had something cute to say. She flipped her hair to the side to cover her words and mumbled, "My bosses at Langley have informed me that that's the guy who's been texting you," signaling to Duffy with her chin. She glanced toward Heather, who had yet to notice her next to her husband. Noting Heather's lack of concern, Emma concluded that she couldn't care less about Mark's activities, meaning she wouldn't come after them if he were to leave the party.

"Our target is Dick Duffy?" Mark asked, furrowing his brows. "Of course! The guy who terrorized me in high school is now going to terrorize the entire world with my super-bomb."

"You're gonna be just fine," Emma said with a smirk. "You have my personal guarantee." She winked at him and walked away. The two of them approached Dick together.

"Excuse me, Dick?" Mark stated, and Dick turned to look at him and then at Emma in her little black dress and strappy heels. Standing at his full height, Dick said, "Rattner. You're the last guy I thought I'd be having this conversation with. All right, fine. Meet me outside in five minutes." The two walked away from the operative to make their plan.

Mark leaned forward at the table, looking sad as he stared at his wife. "Never should have stolen the bomb plans. I should have gone right to you guys," he said with real regret. "But they threatened my wife. I wasn't thinking straight. You see, I'm just a guy who likes math, you know, and somehow I got a beautiful girl like that to fall in love with me. I have to pinch myself sometimes. It's like I'm dreaming." Emma looked across the gym and spotted her very own dream, smiling as she walked toward them. "Ah, forget it, Agent Carmichael. I mean, how can I expect a beautiful woman like you to understand?"

"You know what, Mark?" Emma said, allowing her eyes to move to the sweaty little man. "Sometimes the nerd gets the girl."


Regina sauntered outside, where Duffy stood waiting for Rattner. "In the middle of something?" she stated, her eyes fixed on him. She was eager to confront him, relishing the opportunity to give him a taste of his own medicine. Aware of Mal watching, she couldn't help but enjoy the thought of beating him before he could lay a hand on Mark or Emma.

"Got time for you," Dick shot back, eyeing her up and down. "Where's your girlfriend at?"

"Oh, don't worry about her," she said with a sexy smirk. "Can't believe you're that same Roni from high school. You've changed so much."

"Well, I'm still the same girl on the inside," Regina stated softly.

"Bet you miss your daddy," he said, getting closer, his voice attempting a seductive tone. "He's been gone so long. But you know, baby, you can always call me daddy." He reached around and grabbed Regina's ass. Without hesitation, she slapped him across the face, and then delivered a swift kick that knocked him out.

Mal rushed out to them, gun at the ready. "Great. Now we know he's a perv, don't know if he's the perp."

"Yeah, sorry," Regina snarked. "I'm just working out some childhood issues."

They opened the trunk of his car to search for clues. "Knockoff watches, bootleg DVDs," Mal sighed. "He came out here to sell Ratner a dime bag. Guy's small time."

"So if Duffy isn't our guy, then who is?" Regina asked out loud, her mind already racing with worry for Emma and Rattner. She rushed back inside the building, determined to find them and ensure their safety.

Emma and Ratner made their way toward the door, preparing to meet Dick in the parking lot. "I mean, was I born to be a lawwoman? No. I'd say it's more of a calling," Emma said, and Ratner hung on her every word. "I got a bit of the shine." She paused, having a flash of two imposing Russian men by the entrance, associated with gang activity and the Russian mob's forgery operations. "Oh, no," Emma mumbled.

"What's oh, no?" Mark asked, panicking.

"Slight wrinkle in the plan, got to improvise," Emma stated, pushing him to the other side of the room. "Move!" She, on the other hand, ran toward the turntables, realizing that Blaize was outside investigating the wrong mobster. "Welcome! James Buchanan High, Class of '98! Go Cougars!"

Everyone looked up at her, and she finally saw her team coming back into the building. "Uh… Uh, for those of you who remember me, I clearly need no introduction, and for those of you who don't, I'm not up here to talk about myself anyway," Emma said, looking around the room. "No. I'm here to talk to you about some people that will cause you to flash, flashback, that is." She looked meaningfully at her team. "So, maybe with a... with a few hints and a little bit of luck, we can find two special Cougars and throw some love on them." She nodded then reached for the spotlight. "Oh, how about... how about this guy, huh? Michael Adler." Everyone turned to look at him, effectively blinded by the spotlight. "Drooled his way through Spanish class? ¿Se habla español? I know you do, Michael." The room chuckled at her antics, and Emma looked around for the other one, switching her spotlight to Heather Rattner for a few seconds, enough for Regina to realize she was part of the issue. "Hey, she is a part of this," Regina said to Mal.

"You go. I got these two," the older woman said, looking at the new person and paying attention to Emma.

"Oh! Oh! How about, uh…" Emma said, having caught that Regina was after Heather. It was her and Mal with the two bigger thugs. "How about this guy here? Come on, folks." She said with a giggle. "I know you know him. Chippy! Our one and only Chippy Sternin! Remember, all-star pole-vaulter, who was unfortunately sidelined with a horrible case of impetigo?"

Emma and Mal watched as Ratner was pulled away from the crowd. Emma still had them engaged with her impromptu speech. "I was rooting for you, buddy. I thought you were gonna go all-state, but you know what? It wasn't in the cards. Come on, love on those guys really. Just throw some arms around them."


Regina stepped out into the hallway, gun at the ready, calling out, "Heather?"

"Who's drunk? You're drunk," Regina could hear Emma in the background. "All right, fantastic."

She rolled her eyes at the blonde and continued to try to find the ex-cheerleader. "Heather, why'd you do it?"

"Revenge of the Cheerleaders," Heather said, her disembodied voice echoing through the darkened halls. "We marry the geeks because they're the ones with the future. But my husband wasn't ambitious enough. And they were offering a lot of money."

Heather jumped out and kicked at Regina. Regina kicked back and dodged another kick.

"Who do you work for?" Regina stated, dodging another and delivering one of her own. "I can help you."

"I'm self-employed," Heather stated, bouncing in a warrior stance, ready to strike.

Regina, angry at the response, started throwing punches left, right, left, right. Each one was blocked by the smaller blonde woman. "Your name has been at the top of my list of 'People who need a good ass-kicking,'" Regina growled as she dodged another kick and delivered one of her own. Finally, one of Heather's kicks landed, and Regina was knocked back. Then she ran. Regina hissed and was back on her feet, giving chase.

The thugs had Mark in a better-lit hallway. They opened a locker door and placed him inside, exacerbating his teenage trauma. "You have three seconds to tell me about the plans," one of the thugs said, pointing a gun with a silencer toward the locker.

"One, two…Three." But before he could shoot, Mal appeared at the end of the hall and shot at his hand, making the thug drop the weapon. Then she proceeded to beat the guys while Ratner couldn't see. "Agent Charmichael, help!" he screamed.

In the main room, Emma was still talking to the audience. "Before I go, here's a classic from '98," she stated and began to play the music. Then she hauled ass off the stage because she needed to catch up to her team.


Heather and Regina ended up in the locker room, moving slowly. Then, Heather jumped toward Regina and kicked her toward the bank of showers in the middle of the room.

Regina pried a pipe from one of the showers, turned, and tried to fight her off. Heather was holding her own, but eventually, Heather got the better of her and took hold of the pipe, placing it on Regina's throat and squeezing. "You should've been suspicious of me right off," she said, "I mean, why would a girl like me ever fall in love with a dorky nerd like him?"

Regina gasped, took a breath, and drove her head back into Heather's face. "You'd be surprised," she stated.

They went blow for blow until both were on the bathroom floor.

Emma ran toward the mess in the hallway. By then, Mal had disposed of the thugs, leaving them lying on the floor. "Thanks a lot, Mad Dog," Mal stated, "I can always count on you to be in the right place at the right time."

"Wh-wha…" Emma stammered, looking around, and Mark broke out of the locker.

He looked around at the defeated foes on the floor. "I knew you wouldn't let me down, Agent Carmichael."

Emma smiled and walked toward Mal. "Glad I'm not the one who has to tell Ratner about his wife's involvement in all this," Emma said, pulling Mal aside.

"That's why love is for suckers," Mal stated, and Emma agreed.

"Yeah," she said and then paused. "Hey, have you seen Regina anywhere?"

Mal laughed and patted Emma's shoulder. "Sucker," she stated and walked away from them all.

Heather crept down the hall, taunting Regina. "Now, I got to ask," she teased. "How'd you wind up working for the Feds?" She paused, looking around. "I mean, if you had told me in high school that Roni Castro wanted to grow up to be an agent, I would've said, 'Dream, jailbird's daughter, dream.' Guess you didn't follow in daddy's footsteps after all."

This was where Regina got a jump on Heather. Fed up with the constant jabs about her father, Regina kicked, and Heather flew back into the trophy case. Regina wanted her gun back, but the woman still had too much energy left. Heather raised the gun, and Regina let one of her knives fly; it hit the heaviest trophy, causing it to fall on Regina's head.

"Regina, Go Cougars," she said with one final cheer to her frienemy.

She walked back toward the reunion, looking for her team.

"The queen of the class of 1998's ten-year reunion is…" The perky girl from the sign-up table announced as Regina walked back into the party, wet and barefoot. "Veronica Castro!"

Emma and Mal went up on stage after hearing the announcement, wanting to see where Regina had gone.

"Roni? Where are you?" the woman asked, looking around and spotting Roni coming from the back of the room. "There you are! Come on up here, Roni." The girl ran to put the crown on her head. Regina, disheveled and hurting, wet and barefoot, now had a tiara on her head. "See you at the 20th, Roni!"

The next day, Emma came over to Regina's hotel room. She presented her with a burger patty to put on her injured eye. "Isn't that supposed to be a raw steak?" Regina said with a chuckle.

"Not on an Apple store salary, thank you very much," Emma replied with a smirk. "I did, however, scrape together enough cash to get you a cooked one as well. Medium rare with…"

"Extra pickles?" Regina said simultaneously with Emma. They both shared a knowing look.

"Come on, who do you think you're dealing with here?" Emma said with a playful smile.

Regina shrugged, holding the burger patty to her eye. "Well, I never doubted you, Special Agent Emmerson Carmichael."

Emma smiled her charming smile at Regina. "So I guess the big secret about you is that you used to be just a typical high school student. Wish I knew what happened to change that."

Regina's mind flashed back to that day when her father was taken away, reading the note: "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, LOVE YOU, DADDY." She stared at the bands of money she would have to live on while running, remaining as anonymous as ever. Regina heard footsteps, realizing it was too late to hide the money. She picked a nearby knife and tossed it, embedding it into a tree trunk right in front of the person about to catch her.

"Nice toss," Graham stated.

"Who are you?" Regina asked, a myriad of identities flashing through her mind.

"I'm the man who put your father in prison," Graham revealed. "The question is: Who are you? In San Diego, you go by Roni Castro. In Wisconsin, it's Katie O'Connell. In Cleveland, it's Rebecca Franko. The funny thing is when I looked at your birth certificate…"

Regina interrupted him, a mixture of defiance and curiosity in her eyes. "I get your point. What do you want?"

"Your father scammed some pretty dangerous people," Graham explained. "I saved his life by putting him in jail."

"Well, don't expect a thank-you note," Regina snarked, clutching the bands of money close.

"I can save your life, too," Graham proposed. "Your dad trained you pretty well. The CIA can do even better. You like names so much, hmm? What do you think about Regina Mills?" Regina frowned, realizing that was her true name. Graham handed her back the knife, leaving her with a choice to make.


"Regina Mills, hello?" Emma said, observing the spaced-out woman in front of her.

Regina blinked, snapping out of her thinking trance. "Okay, fine," she said with a smirk. "I'll answer one question about my past. You've earned that much."

"Hmm," Emma stated. "No, thanks. I don't need to know more, not about who you were, 'cause as much as you don't think so, I know who you are. A girl I'd like to share a cheeseburger with." Emma said with a smile. "Should I get a knife? I'll get a knife."

"That won't be necessary," Regina said, lifting her leg and effortlessly pulling out a knife.

"That's awesome and a little disturbing," Emma remarked, and they continued to have their lunch as planned. "This is going to get messy... you want a big half or…"