Metamorphosis

Chapter 22: Make Like A Baby

Eyes fluttering shut, Leroy tried to sit upright in their seats in the Australian meeting room. He had barely been able to sleep on the plane, and in the hotel room, he was wide awake. While Adam slept, he stayed up on his laptop playing games until they were told to get ready to head to the Australian SHIELD headquarters.

Beside him, Dian was tapping his index finger on the table as their informant spoke. 

"The Vasili Gem will be on display at the Annual Sydney Gala," said Agent Jacks in a thick Australian accent. Leroy had to strain his ears to understand what she was saying. She had thin blonde hair and winged eyeliner around her brown eyes. "We were unable to get the gem from the couple who have it in their possession, so we'll have to go to... certain measures to get it."

Leroy's eyes stayed open this time. "Wait, we have to go to a gala?" 

A gala? He didn't know anything about galas. Or dances. Or anything like that, really. He was much more of a book nerd than a street-wise person. If this was really the next mission, then he would be in some trouble.

She nodded. "Not all of you exactly..." 

Leroy's heart leaped with hope and was immediately crushed by the next few words. 

"But... Yup. It's not really the best circumstances for a mission of this extreme caution and emergency, but it will be the only time the gem will be in the public eye. Your job, since you're the agents on this mission, will be to infiltrate the gala, get the gem, and get out of there. We want you in and out in less than an hour, if possible." 

Jacks turned around and grabbed a large stack of manila folders filled with papers. There didn't appear to be that many papers inside, but looks can be deceiving.

She shoved one folder of papers at each of the agents. "Here are each of your personal information packets. They contain your cover name, your backstory, and your job during the mission. The gala is in two days, so tomorrow, you will be going to fittings for your outfits."

Saige nearly choked on her glass of water. "Outfits? Why?"

Jacks smirked at her. "It's a gala. You can't go in your regular clothing. It's a very formal event. Anyway, after the fitting, we are going to leave the rest of that day and until three o'clock on Friday. After that, you must prepare yourselves for the mission."

Nova nodded. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of..." She scanned through her own package and shook her head. "No. Nothing else. If something comes up, we'll contact you immediately."

Mira smiled at Agent Jacks. "Thank you very much."

Leroy blinked. It was so not what he expected. He thought, hey, I bet it will be in a museum or somewhere that will be easy to get it back from. But nope. It just had to be a freaking gala.

What was he supposed to do? Galas were fancy. Leroy was not.

As soon as the agent left, Mira squealed. "A gala! A real gala! I've never been to one before! Oh, this is so exciting!"

Nyle put his hand on her arm. "Chill. It's just a gala. And it's for a mission. You wouldn't even be able to really enjoy it. Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing at a gala? Having a good time?"

"Yeah, I guess," she replied, frowning. "But still. We get to dress up and go undercover!"

Adam smirked. "I've never seen this girly side of you before, Mira."

She narrowed her eyes. "Hey. I'm sure you have, you just haven't paid any attention to it." Her smile returned. "So, who is going to the gala and who isn't? She said that not all of us are actually going to be attending the gala."

Nova's hand shot up. "I call dibs on a spot that is not in the gala."

"Me too," Leroy said quickly, glad he could secure himself a spot that was not anywhere near the inside of that place. 

Mira sighed. "How about who does want to go in? I mean, I do for sure."

"I'll go," Phoenix said, looking at her information package. "My 'character' seems like she would go to a gala."

Adam nodded. "Same. I guess I'll go as well."

Feeling a smirk crawl up onto his face, Leroy looked down at his own package to hide his forming smile. Ever since he had finally gotten over the whole Kat-Phoenix thing, he had been totally supportive of his best friend's love interest. Especially since he knew that Adam was totally crazy about her.

He felt an elbow jab into his side. "Ow!"

Adam glared at him and Leroy smirked, knowing exactly why he had jabbed him. He nearly stuck his tongue out, but Freya gave him the look and he refrained.

"I'll go too," Nyle said, sighing. 

"Are you sure?" Saige asked slowly. "If you say yes, you can't back out of it."

He laughed. "Well, I can't let Mira go in without a dance partner," he teased. 

Leroy noticed Mira's cheeks turn slightly pink.

In a few more minutes they had decided who would be going on the mission in the gala and who would be out of the gala.

Parker sighed. "You know, I'm kind of getting annoyed at how difficult this all is. I mean, couldn't we just, like, use Freya's or Nova's super speed and just go snatch it? Wouldn't that be faster?"

Dian shook his head. "No. We need to be discrete. We don't want to make a scene. That would definitely make a scene. This is the best way to do it..." he grumbled. 

Laughing, Mira clapped her hands together. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Phoenix nodded. "This could definitely be more fun than any of us have had in a while."

"Yeah. We've barely had any downtime," Mira continued. 

"Guys. We have to keep in mind that this is a mission. Not down time. So," Adam said, stopping them, "we all know what we're doing?"

They nodded. 

"Good. So, let's make like a cow and mooove out!" Dian grinned.

Leroy stopped. "Dude. Did you literally just say that?"

Dian's face pinked. "I could have said let's make like a tree and leaf. Or I could have said let's make like a baby and head ou--"

"Nope!" exclaimed Nova. "No need for that. Let's just go." She gave him a pointed look. "No more puns."

He made a face at her, but shut up and pushed his chair back. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." As they were leaving, Leroy heard him make one last remark. "It's not like any of you understand my genius anyway."

He just managed to hold back a giggle.

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Dear readers,

Haha. Funny puns.

Comment your favourite puns below. I love puns. Almost as much as Chat Noir. 

I also love references. ;)

-flygirl1