“You’ll be sent in at midnight,” Hunter explained, “So as to reduce the risk of you running into anyone. As for camera disabling, the backpack has a device built into it that will disable all cameras within one hundred meters of it.”

Rising from the chair Hunter headed towards one of the canteen exits, a different one from the one that Calley entered by. It was clear that Calley was expected to follow as Hunter kept talking, “Dr Ingram as already uploaded a name for your monkey form, along with a different tag and collar design, this time there will be no bell as it’ll incorporate itself into your tag, much like the necklace is when you are human.”

“The name of you as a monkey is ‘Captain Banana Hammock’,” Hunter said without a hint of amusement. He’d spotted the names that James was using for Calley’s various animal forms, but rather than bother about it he simply let the doctor continue with his game.

“As with the mansion mission you will be dropped off three blocks from the sanctuary. From there you will make your way to the sanctuary as a monkey, infiltrate, place the package and withdraw without alerting anyone or leaving any traces of your presence. Do you understand?”

They were now in the maze of corridors that was Mondragon labs. Hunter had designed this place himself, and knew it inside out. However, to someone unacquainted with the facility they would struggle to know where they were, or even if they at ground level, one of the upper floors or a sub level. Hunter liked to keep guest disoriented, gave him the psychological edge.

“You’ll be sent in at midnight,” Hunter explained, “So as to reduce the risk of you running into anyone. As for camera disabling, the backpack has a device built into it that will disable all cameras within one hundred meters of it.”

A built-in jammer, huh? Calley discovered a new-found respect for the backpack. Then he remembered it was a miniature backpack Doc Jimmy had made for a monkey. His respect vanished as quickly as it had come. There was something wrong with the good doctor. Something very wrong.

He followed the Scary Boss Man as the guy started to walk. And though the urge was strong, he managed not to slam his head into a hallway wall when he heard his newest name. Captain Banana Hammock. He would be Captain Banana Hammock. He made a note to himself to buy some of his namesake fruit and leave it to rot in the ventilation ducts of Doc Jimmy’s lab.

“As with the mansion mission you will be dropped off three blocks from the sanctuary. From there you will make your way to the sanctuary as a monkey, infiltrate, place the package and withdraw without alerting anyone or leaving any traces of your presence. Do you understand?”

He slung the pillow over his back, and nodded. “Completely, Sir.” Calley didn’t even bother to remember the layout of the building as they passed through hallway after déjà vu looking hallway. If he ever needed to get out of this place, and fast, he was probably already the janitor’s problem. Any other time, he could just ask directions. There were certainly no shortage of guards around. “Hey, Sir. What’s the cover for this building? I mean, what does everyone think it is?” From what he’d seen, there was more than enough here to put Hunter on the watch list of every government organization in the country. There had to be a cover story to go with this place. He trailed after Hunter, amusing himself by trying to lock the face of everyone they came across into his memory.

Hunter was pleased that Calley understood. He should easily be able to complete this mission, just like the last one. “As far as the outside world knows this is a research and development facility for experimental medicine,” Hunter explained to Calley, figuring that he might as well know the cover.

“The justification for the guards is that some of the prototypes could be exceptionally dangerous in the wrong hands, hence the heavy security presence. So far no government inspect has found fault with the place, “ largely due to the fact that he mesmerised all that came in through the door into thinking that they had had the tour as opposed to actually giving them one.

Reaching the vehicle bay he looked around for Calley’s transport. The place was huge, bigger than an aircraft hanger, and had transportation of all kinds. However, an attack helicopter would not be necessary for Calley’s insertion, a blacked out jeep would suffice.

“There,” he said pointing to a jeep with a trio of large well armed men around it, “That’s is your transport. Those men are Nicholas Williams, Frank Newton and Charles Triggs. They will be your close support team. If you get into trouble they can provide a diversion to allow you to escape.”

After the resounding success at the mansion Hunter had decided that Calley could be offered a chance at escape from capture. “If you fail to escape the bomb will be detonated. Unless you have any further questions you’re about to head out, and leave the pillow behind.”

Calley looked at his support team with a boyish grin. Here it was: the thing he’d been waiting for since the moment he first heard about a limo driver name Maximillian. From out of payroll had appeared, like a timid mouse from its hole, a Charles. Without ado Calley strode over to the man, and stopped in front of him. Still grinning, he looked up at the guy and stated simply: “You’re my favorite.” Not that Frank Newton wasn’t a half-stereotypical name in its own right. Frankly, Calley had no choice but to give the guy an apple as a present on every mission, from here on out. And Nicholas Williams—really, where did one even begin to appreciate a name like Nicholas Williams? It could be reversed, if you chopped off a letter—William Nicholas. You could call him Nickie, or Willie, or Nickie-Willie; you could even call him Nichwillamlas Ois, if you were brave. But Charles... he’d been waiting for Charles.

He tried not to let Hunter’s continued explanation ruin his good mood. Why did he always do that? He’d say something cool, like “Charles”, or “If you get into trouble they can provide a diversion to allow you to escape”, and then he’d go and keep talking; “If you fail to escape the bomb will be detonated.” Doc Jimmy was in the same habit, Calley recalled, rubbing at the back of the good doctor’s necklace. He wondered who had picked up the habit from whom.

And leave the pillow? Calley turned back to Hunter, hugging his fluffy white stolen item to his chest and giving the first rebellious look he’d ever used with the man. “Can’t I just keep it in the car? It’s not like I’m going to try and drag it after me into the Sanctuary. Sir.”

He liked the pillow.

Hunter sighed as Calley gawked on happily at the men who’d been allocated to support him. They had been picked due to their exceptional ability to cause maximum damage in minimal time. Also they were somewhat more relaxed than most soldiers, which work with Calley seemed to require.

Then Calley questioned an order. The only time you were allowed to question an order was if you could provide a better strategic alternative. Calley’s suggestion did not qualify.

Hunter’s hand shot out and grabbed the boys face, effortlessly lifting him off the ground by his head. “I said leave it behind,” said Hunter in a calm and level tone. He’d put Calley down once he dropped the pillow.

Calley liked the pillow. He didn't particularly like being airborne, though. And unfortunately, Hunter was giving him that same look that had made his brain shut down back at the man's apartment.

Much like before, Calley shifted to cat. He dropped out of the man's hand, hitting the ground on top of the pillow. It didn't take another look at the Scary Boss Man to make him realize that hadn't been a good move, and probably wasn't one that would be interpreted as cooperation.

Calley did what any sane cat would do: he raced under the jeep, making sure he was out of reach from all sides. He crouched down in a little furball of poofed hair and glowing blue eyes, and curled his tail around himself.

...This was not going to end well. This was not going to end well. Oh crap, there was no way this was going to end well.

Hunter just lost his grip as Calley shifted. He snapped his fingers try to keep hold, missing the cats face by mere inches. Glaring furiously at the jeep he stepped up to the edge and gripped the underside with both hands.

With a grunt of effort he flipped the jeep over exposing Calley. Darting forward he seized Calley by the tail and hoisted him into the air, holding him upside down. “Change back,” he said calmly, “Right now.”

He guessed that the cat transformation was a stress induced accident, and as such would forgive it if he turned back to a human in the next five seconds. If not Calley’s mission would be delayed as Hunter handed out some ‘discipline’.

And there was that super-strength the man had mentioned earlier. Yep. Super speed, too. Well. Wasn't that peachy.

Calley hung upside down in the air by his tail, contemplating just how peachy it all was. “Change back,” the man ordered calmly, “Right now.”

Calley did, landing in an untidy heap on the floor as his tail disappeared. He didn't bother standing up. He had a sinking feeling that the Scary Boss Man might, err, assist him with that shortly. "Sorry, Sir." He muttered.

Hunter turned away from Calley and looked at a nearby Jeep. “That is your transport,” he said, as if he hadn’t just flipped over the previous transport and hauled Calley up into the air by his now none existent tail.

“You’d best get going,” he said without looking at the naked boy sprawled on the floor behind him, “You’re working on a schedule this time, no time to dawdle.” The sooner that he met with the Order leaders the better he wanted to see if they could be of any use.

Calley looked at his new transport. He looked at his old transport. He looked at the three men of his support team and the pillow on the ground. He did not look at the Scary Boss Man. He also did not dawdle on silly things like getting to his feet: he skittered over to his pile of clothes, tucked them under an arm, and skittered to the pillow. He really didn’t want to skitter to the pillow. “Sorry, Sir, I just,” he motioned erratically with his hands at the fluffy white source of threats and pain. “I kinda tucked them in, and… I’ll just… get them out…” He snatched the mini-backpack and the CD out of the pillowcase, and then let go of the thing like it was burning him. He wasted no time in seating himself in the back of the jeep; only then did he hurriedly scramble into his clothes. Hunter’s clothes, actually. He really had to get some of his own. But now was not the time to raise that subject.

“Shall we go?” He asked his three escorts with an alarming level of brightness.

Note to self: Hunter didn’t like pillows. Calley wondered why. Bad childhood experience, maybe? His mind did not make the connection between the order he’d questioned and what had followed. What he’d said seemed harmless enough to him, after all: it was just a pillow. He started picturing what sort of childhood experience a little Hunter could have had to make him hate pillows to the point of violence. This lead to mental images of a young Scary Boss Man. That was just… scary.

((ooc: *innocent look* Shall I go start a thread at the Sanc, then, Scary Boss Man, Sir?))

Hunter watched as the three muscle men climbed into the jeep and drove off towards the Sanctuary. He stared out after them for a while before he turned back into the labs and left the vehicle bay.

Calley was a good spy, but he still needed to learn that when Hunter said jump he asks how high. Once he had gotten that figured out then his life would become a lot easier. In the vehicle bay a repair team made there way over to the jeep and set about righting and fixing it.

(OOC: Head off to the Sanctuary and remember, I’ll be watching)

((ooc: Continued in "Curious Captain's Grand Night Out".))

(OOC: Continued from Guest Room - Iris/Rayne)

Not long after Iris fell asleep, Crystal again appeared in the room. She just wanted to be sure Iris would be occupied for a while. Not that the girl was likely to be ready to train for the rest of the evening. Even if she was, Crystal had altered the phone’s display to read that the phone was dead. Considering the cellphone was still lying on the floor where Iris had thrown it, Crystal was confident that Iris would think she’d broken the phone.

And that would leave Crystal time enough to finish her project. Her visible image vanished from sight, while her cybernetic presence made yet another trip into cyberspace.

She found her way back to Mondragon Labs quickly, having marked her last ‘unsuspicious’ stopping point. From there she cloaked her programming and entered the Labs computers. The same security was in place, but she had a much easier time getting past the initial firewalls, since she knew what to expect now. She still couldn’t figure out why someplace that claimed such a basic mission statement would need so much security. Apparently Mr. Antonescu had a paranoia problem as well. That, and a rather large bankroll.

It wasn’t until several hours later, when she had fought her way past twelve firewalls, that she sensed something wasn’t right. The last two firewalls had the exact same layout, and the one before her was shaping out the same as well. There were not even any subtle changes.

It was a trap.

She didn’t even bother trying to back out. She knew that doing so would most likely get her programming permanently scrambled, if not deleted completely. Yes, she had a back up of herself that would activate if the original was ever deleted. But the AI hologram was developing an un-computer program-type sense of self preservation, and a fondness for her current existence.

She uncloaked herself, waiting to see what kind of trap she’d fallen into, and using the time to examine its structure and complexity.

Chris spotted the AI coming before it hit the first wall. He watched its progress with amusement as he built a trap around it. By the time the AI had figured the trap out it was too late, he had it.

Containing it he scrambled it long enough to transfer it to an incredibly secure folder on a memory stick. Removing the memory stick he inserted it into another computer, one with no links to any other computer.

He gave the AI access to an avatar similar to the holographic one it had used that it could display and speak on through the screen and speakers while prepping what he liked to think of as his program torture kit.

It had been made by him especially for the AI. As the AI couldn’t feel pain he would have to threaten its existence. The fact that it had not tried to run and get itself deleted in the process showed it to have, on some level, self preservation programming.

Hunter entered the room as Chris readied the last of the programs. “It’s all set up for you boss,” he indicated a chair opposite the monitor. There was a camera and microphone so the AI could see and hear him.

Crystal was not happy. Oddly enough, however, the reason she wasn't had nothing to do with her being effectively stuck with nowhere to go. She was unhappy because her creep of a captor hadn't even given her the option to project her image. She was stuck as a flat, emotionless, pixellated scribble with a hollow voice. She was considering deleting herself rather than continue to be undignified, in her mind.

She fumed in irritation for several long minutes.

“It’s all set up for you boss.”

She looked out; at least she could do that much.

"Um, hello?" Even through the speakers she pulled off the 'valley girl' imitation. "Could you at least leave a program some shred of dignity here? I'm a hologram, not a file folder."