Finally!" Zoe exclaimed when X finally picked up the line. "What
took you so long? And where in the world are you? Those poor humans
need help! Your cousin's having the worms do as much as they can,
but still, those poor things need that treatment fast!"
"Where am I? I'm trying to dodge around what looks like every
criminal the MIB's ever arrested!" X moaned as he swerved, taking
the SUV up onto the sidewalk and making Frank whimper alarmingly as
he somehow dodged another alien on the rampage. "How much further?"
he demanded from the dog.
"Another four blocks and then take a left." Frank said. "Hey,
what's going on?" He hopped back onto the seat from where he had
slid onto the floorboard, and leaned against the dash so he could
look at the communicator.
"Mom, please tell me that something else hasn't happened." X
demanded. If something happened to Elle, he would never forgive
himself. "Did the Fmecks..."
"No, no. Those little worms figured out how to handle them.
They're all locked up, waiting for you to do whatever you do with
criminals like that." Zoe told him. "The humans are getting worse,
though." She looked around, and edged into the kitchen as soon as
she saw that Zara had Aileen back in the living room. "Son, your
cousin's doing all she can, and those little worms are trying their
hardest, but if those humans don't get help fast... I'm afraid Agent
Kay doesn't seem to be doing that well." Zoe looked towards the
living room again before continuing. "I don't think he has much
longer if things keep going the way that they are."
"What?" X couldn't believe this. Kay was the most feared human in
the universe, and now his mother was saying that he might be on his
deathbed thanks to a poisoned birthday cake? And he wasn't even on a
bed. X closed his eyes for a minute, and considered banging his head
on the steering wheel in frustration before stomping down on the
gas. "Give me ten minutes. Surely Zara can figure a way to keep him
alive for ten minutes!"
"Don't you think your cousin's trying everything she can? She's
already had those little worms give him a couple of different drugs
to try to help." Zoe said.
"She had the worms do what?" Oh, now X was regretting leaving Elle
back at headquarters big time. So what if it would have caused her a
lot of pain? He was sure that she would take that over the worms
handing out medicine. "She didn't let them give anything to Elle,
did she? Because I like my ears, thank you very much." And if Elle
found out the worms had been playing doctor with her, he knew that
she would have his ears for sure.
"Oh, they did just fine." Zoe said. "Sweet little things. They've
been very brave about all of this. And don't think I haven't
noticed, Son, the attention that you've been paying to that little
human of yours. Is there something that you ought to tell me?"
"No, there's nothing at all." X said as he stomped on the brakes.
There was an alien that he was positive he had seen on a wanted sign
somewhere standing in the middle of the road, blocking all traffic.
Zed was going to have a heart attack. "Close your eyes." X demanded
after a moment. Elle had said he was supposed to fire a warning shot
before shooting something, but she never said what he was supposed to
do if he was going to run something down. "And if anyone asks, I
only grazed him." He hit the red button on the SUV, and it shot
forward at top speed, sending the alien flying as X sped by and
swerved in the direction that Frank had indicated. "Now what?"
"Just go straight. You can't miss it." Frank said. "Kay's really
that sick?" The pug's eyes went big as what he was hearing sunk in.
If Kay was sick enough that someone was risking letting the worms
give him drugs, then it had to be bad. Or was it? They did let
Zealtor had out medicine, after all, and Frank wasn't sure that that
alien wasn't actually an escapee from a mental institution somewhere.
"Don't even mention Zealtor. We're getting some sane medical help
for them." X grumbled before Frank could say a word. "Mom, how bad
is it?"
"I don't know. I'm not the one with the medical training, but Zara
seems very worried." Zoe told him.
Zara was worried. X wondered if his best suit was clean. He would
probably need it for the funeral. He didn't think he had ever
actually seen his cousin worried before, and she had been in plenty
of situations that should worry her. "Mom..."
"She's doing everything she can. I'm sure that she'll be able to
work out something. You just get there as fast as you can." Zoe
ordered him. "And for goodness sakes, don't get lost!"
"I wasn't lost! It's crazy out here!" X yelled as his mother cut
off the communication. Oh, just wonderful. "Hold onto your fur." X
ordered Frank as he swerved and cut off another bus. "I think I'm
going to have to go a little faster than this."
"There is something faster than this?" Frank moaned, and then he
let out a whine, and covered his eyes with his paws as X stomped down
on the gas. "Why did I bother asking?"
"That son of mine says that he'll be there in ten minutes." Zoe
said as she came back in. "How are those poor little things?"
"Stable, or as close to it as we're going to get without some sort
of treatment." Zara told her as she looked up from the latest
readings the worms had taken of Kay. The poor human's heart rhythm
was still nowhere near where she would like it, but at least it was
stable. She would take a lousy, halfway stable rhythm over one that
was a step away from cardiac arrest any day. And if her cousin
really could get there in ten minutes... "Hey, worms, can a couple
of you start emptying those punch bowls? As soon as X gets there,
we're going to have to start getting that stuff mixed up."
"Sure."
"They need the ice cream too, right?"
"Any particular flavor?"
"Probably something plain. Do you have something like that?"
"Vanilla's as plain as it gets. Are you sure that they wouldn't
like the coffee flavor better?" The agents were really sick, so the
worms were more than willing to share the good stuff for a change.
"Let's go with plain for now. I'm sure those poor things would
enjoy something tastier later, when they can appreciate it. And what
about those cups they were using for the punch? Do you have plenty
of those?"
"We can find more. There are lots down in storage."
"Good. Get those, and get the bowls ready. And hopefully X will be
there soon, so we can get this fixed."
"Ten minutes?" Aileen asked as she looked up from the
communicator. Did Kay have ten minutes? Even though Zara hadn't
said anything, she knew that he was in bad shape.
"Ten minutes I can do no problem." Zara reassured her. And if X
actually managed ten minutes, even if the poor human went into
cardiac arrest, he would still likely have a good chance. It was
afterwards that she was concerned about. "There aren't any other
doctors around besides the ones that work for the MIB?" She could
walk the worms and her cousin through dispensing basic medicine, but
optimally, they needed to get the worst humans, and especially Kay,
onto some sort of drip to provide continuous medicine. "What about a
dentist that likes a challenge?"
"I don't know, but I don't think so." Aileen said after a moment's
thought. "How bad?"
"Ten minutes. It's fixable. This is fixable. It would just be a
bit easier if there was someone there who had a bit more training.
What about a human?" The ones who were the sickest were the humans,
not the aliens so far. Surely a human with medical training would be
able to at least manage getting a line in and drugs running for those
poor things.
"Someone from outside the MIB?" Aileen said. "Zed would never
allow..."
"He might not have a choice. But hopefully they'll react fast to
that mixture if my cousin actually manages to get there to give it to
them, and we won't have to worry about that." Zara told her.
"Worms, make sure you have some water boiling too. We're probably
going to need it to make more tea." She reached out, and gently
patted Aileen's shoulder. "Don't worry. We're going to fix this."
"After a moment, she nodded. They had to fix this. "Kay?" She
whispered as she turned back to the communicator. He looked so sick,
sweat covering his face, and one cheek twitching oddly. "I'm here.
I'm right here, and X is going to be back in just a few minutes with
something to make you feel better. You just have to hang on a few
more minutes and we'll have this fixed, I promise." She took a deep
breath, trying to steady herself as she felt the panic washing over
her again. Kay couldn't hear that, not now. After a moment, she
spoke again, forcing herself to sound calm. "Everything's all
right. The other agents are fine, and in a few minutes, you're going
to feel a lot better, I promise you. I just want you to rest right
now, and when you wake up, I'll be there with you. I love you.
You're going to be just fine."