Women In Black
By Autolycus, maynlinz@earthlink.net
A genetically altered woman battles aliens bent on world conquest.


This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real persons is only a figment of
your imaginations. Let's face it, we all wish these babes were real! Anyway,
they're not, so go take a nice cold shower.

BABES IN SPYLAND XV:

WOMEN IN BLACK

(The unasked for, unanticipated, but not uninspired sequel to The Worst Noel)

(c) 2000 Autolycus

Here's the deal: This is the story of a genetically altered female who is not
only a perfect physical specimen, but also has psychic abilities. She was
created by the US government to be the ultimate espionage agent, although her
creator/father, the late Dr. Smitrovich, didn't know that at the time. She was
seized by an ultra-secret anti-terrorist government agency, the Aegis Group,
and (ultimately, but against her will) trained in martial arts and other forms
of combat, although she refuses to kill anybody. The new head of the AG, Major
General Margaret Holm, basically approves of her methods, and certainly has no
complaints about her record, but is determined to make her part of the team
nonetheless. By the way, her name is Jessica Chance and this is her encounter
with a super secret agency whose job is to keep the scum of the universe in
line.

$ This one is for ME $

Jessica and Lupe looked up when a tall blonde woman dressed in a black
business suit entered Dr. Trotter's sitting room and tossed a pair of
sunglasses at the redhead. "Put these on and don't ask any questions," the
stranger said with an accent neither the redhead nor the Spaniard could place
as she removed a pen-like object from her pocket.

"Who are you?" Lupe demanded, rising from her seat. "And what have you done
with Dr. Stutter?"

Jessica put the heavily shaded glasses on and a second later the thing in the
blonde's hand emitted a blinding pulse of light.

"Good. Now, listen to me, Lupe," the stranger said, walking over to where the
Spaniard had frozen. "Everything is fine. Jessica had to leave on assignment
for the Aegis Group. That's all you remember. I was never here. Understand?"
Lupe nodded her head slowly. "Good. Now, sit down and enjoy your coffee with
Dr. Trotter and forget all about me and Jessica being here."

Lupe nodded and sat down and the blonde went and got Dr. Trotter from the
foyer and lead her into the sitting room and sat her down and handed her a cup
of coffee. She then grabbed the third cup from the tray and went into the
kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Jessica asked, trailing behind her after staring for a
few seconds at her dazed friends.

"Just eliminating all evidence that you were here," she replied, rinsing out
the cup and drying it with a dish towel. "It would hardly do to have them
remember you having to go only to be faced with the physical reality of your
coffee cup, would it?" She placed the clean cup in the cupboard and replaced
the towel.

"I suppose not," Jessica conceded as they made their way through the sitting
room, where Lupe and Cassandra sat talking quietly, oblivious to their
presence.

The blonde noticed her uncomfortable expression and nodded. "It's kind of
weird at first, but you'll get used to it," she explained. "I wish there had
been time to do things differently, but, to be brutally frank, time is a
luxury we don't have. Where are your things?"

"Upstairs."

The blonde nodded and headed up the stairs.

"What did you mean about time not being a luxury?" Jessi asked as she
hurriedly packed. "And just who the Hell are you anyway?"

"Call me Dee. I'll be referring to you as Jay from now on, by the way," she
added, looking to make sure the redhead hadn't forgotten anything. "Here, get
into this." She handed Jessica a small foil pouch.

"You have got to be kidding."

"Open it and put on the clothes inside," sighed the blonde. "They're made of a
special material which will keep your body temperature stable and provide a
measure of protection against normal projectile attacks."

Jessica skeptically opened the pouch and was amazed when she pulled out
several small swatches of cloth which quickly expanded into a black suit and
white shirt, complete with a black tie and shoes. "Wow."

"Just hurry up."

"So, are you gonna tell me what this is about or what?" Jessica asked, quickly
donning the suit.

"I'll explain our mission on the way," Dee replied, putting the clothes the
redhead had changed out of into her bags.

"On the way where?" Jessica asked as they headed down the stairs and out the
front door.

She stopped when she saw a shiny black convertible parked in the driveway. It
was huge and seemed to be a relic from the last century, except for the
futuristic controls which reminded her of something you'd be more likely to
see in a jet or the space shuttle than in a 1965 Cadillac.

"To the North Pole," Dee said, hopping into the driver's seat. "Come on, Jay,
we really don't have time for you to be all amazed and everything."

Jessica nodded and climbed in.

"Buckle up, it's going to be quite a ride," Dee grinned, glancing at her over
the top of her dark glasses.

The redhead fastened her seat belt as the engine roared to life. Well,
sputtered, gasped, and coughed would be a more accurate description, but,
before she could comment a huge jet engine popped out of the trunk and in a
fiery burst of howling, rushing air they were airborne.

As a glass dome slid into place over them, Dee smiled and said, "I love that
part."

Jessica just shrugged and asked, "So, what about this mission? Why the North
Pole?"

"We need to rendezvous with Merry and Noel, they're our AIO's for this
operation."

"AIO's?"

"Alien Intelligence Operatives. They know our enemy's strengths and
weaknesses."

"What enemy?"

"At 0200 on 11 November 2012 an object was detected heading toward Earth from
the outer planets in the Solar System. It was quickly determined that it was
on a collision course with our planet and would impact in approximately 44
days."

Jessica gasped.

"Yes, Jay, on Christmas Day. It was also quickly determined that this was no
asteroid, rogue planet, or heretofore unknown comet. No, this thing was a
manufactured object. A space ship. Using long range telescopes and the Hubble,
we obtained pictures of it." She handed a set of photos to Jessica which
showed a cigar-shaped object in front of a background of stars. The ship
contained no markings of any kind and there was no obvious propulsion system.
"We circulated the photos to all of our IAC's--Integrated Alien Citizens--and
Santa's ELFs identified the ship as belonging to their people. Or rather to
the race which had enslaved them and from whom they had escaped over 1,000
years ago."

"Just how big is this thing?" Jessi asked, handing the photos back to Dee.

"Four point seven five miles long by one point five miles across."

Jessi whistled. "And do we know if it has any people on board, or is it just a
probe or automated weapon of some sort?"

"Our scanners indicate there are several thousand lifeforms aboard."

"Have we tried to communicate with them?"

"Yes, but so far our attempts have been unsuccessful. We're hoping the ELFs
will have better luck. But, given what they've told us about the
Grinches--Which is as close to the name of the race as our vocal cords will
allow--we have to assume that their intentions aren't friendly."

Jessica sat quietly for a few minutes as the strange car flew over Oregon.
"Not that I don't, but why should we believe the ELFs?" she asked. "If they
really are escaped slaves, wouldn't it be in their best interests to lie about
the nature of the Grinches? And, if they're not really escaped slaves, but
rather, escaped prisoners, that would give them even more reason to lie.
Wouldn't it?"

Dee smiled. "It might. Listen, Jay, I've been dealing with IAC's and IODC's
for quite a while now and the ELFs seem like straight shooters to me. They've
been living here for over 1,000 years and have never been responsible for any
wars or violent acts of any kind. Even when Noel took over Santa's Workshop
last year, it was for essentially good reasons and she did so without
resorting to violence..."

"Until I showed up," Jessica finished for her.

"To be blunt, yes."

"One question: What are IODC's?"

"Integrated Other Dimensional Citizens. What our mythologies refer to as gods
and demons. Just aliens who traverse the dimensional gateways, as opposed to
the stars, when it comes right down to it."

"And these demons and gods are living here, and you know about them?"

"Of course. Some of them have been living here for millennium; can't just tell
them to shove off after all that time. Besides, some are quite powerful and
have been, shall we say, useful in the past. But, before you get the wrong
idea, there are plenty of RAI's and RODI's out there, too."

"Rogue Alien Invaders and Rogue Other Dimensional Invaders?" Jessica guessed.
Dee nodded. "That's hardly what I'd call a comforting thought."

"I just didn't want you to think we had every lifeform on the planet tagged
and bagged. We didn't know about your kind until just recently, for example."

"My kind?" Jessica questioned, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"GEO's--Genetically Enhanced Organisms. What they used to call mutants back in
the last century. But, thanks to people like Dr. Smitrovitch, we now know that
there have always been people able to tap into the unrealized potential of the
human brain. He found a way to control it is all."

"If you're right--And I'm not convinced you are--why haven't these GEO's taken
over? They're obviously superior, evolutionarily speaking."

"Not really. In the first place, the enhancement only occurs very rarely. And
in the second, it only occurs in females. And those females invariably give
birth to normal male children, dramatically reducing the chance of it
occurring again in that particular bloodline."

"Only to females... Then, the witches, sorceresses, seers, and prophetesses of
history were all GEO's?"

"That's the theory. Of course, there's no real way to test it. And, now that
science has entered the picture and can artificially create what was
heretofore only possible by a fluke of nature, we may never know for certain."

"Does that mean if I have a child it will be a normal male?"

"I guess we'll find that out as soon as you go in for some tests to determine
just what you're carrying inside you, won't we, Jay?"

"Is there anything you don't know about me?" Jessica asked after a moment.

"We had no luck whatsoever discovering your favorite Beatle, but, other than
that, I'd say we've got you pretty much covered," she replied with a sardonic
smile.

"George," Jessi said quietly.

"I'll make a note of it," Dee said as she guided the craft down through the
clouds and into an artificial opening in a field of snow.

As the car came to a halt in an enormous underground chamber, next to a
vehicle that was an equally odd mixture of old fashioned sleigh and futuristic
star craft, several familiar faces approached and held out their hands in
greeting.

"Jessica, my dear, how very nice to see you again," Santa said with a wide
smile. He was just as the old Coca-Cola ads depicted him: A smiling old man
with a big belly and the kindest eyes she'd ever seen. He was, however,
wearing a pair of blue jeans and a thick wool sweater with a deer embroidered
into the weave instead of his traditional red suit. "Of course, it would be
nice to meet for purely social reasons..."

"Yeah, we really must stop meeting like this," she laughed, embracing the
white haired man.

"You'll simply have to come for a visit in the off-season, dear," Mrs. Claus
said, hugging the redhead. She was essentially a female version of her
husband, with twinkling blue eyes and a rounded figure. Her white hair was
done up in a bun and she was wearing a multi-colored pleated skirt and green
sweater. "I absolutely insist."

"No promises, Mrs. C., but I'll try."

"It's great to see you gain, Jessica," said Noel, stepping forward almost
shyly.

"And you. But shouldn't you be looking more like an ELF and less like...that?"
she asked, noticing that the ELF still looked the same as she had a year ago,
even though, by all accounts, she should have reverted back to her more
androgynous appearance after rejoining the community of ELFs.

"Yeah, but for some reason, I've kept this more human appearance. Not that I
mind," she winked. She was an attractive young woman with dark hair, slightly
pointed ears, and big violet eyes. Her hourglass figure was a sharp contrast
to the more androgynous appearance of the other ELFs and the blue, short cut
one-piece outfit with the plunging neckline only added to her allure.

"Noel is a rather unique ELF," said Dee, stepping forward and shaking
everyone's hands. "Her DNA is identical to others of her race, but whereas
they revert to type when isolated from human society, she doesn't. We're still
trying to figure out why."

Suddenly, a short figure launched itself at Jessica and wrapped its arms
around her neck and squeezed as hard as it could.

"Oh, Jessica! I'm so glad they called you in to help us!" Merry squealed,
holding her even tighter. She had the large violet eyes of her people and the
body of a barely pubescent female, with small breasts that looked like they
were just beginning to form. She was wearing the traditional one-piece skirt
of her people, except that hers was green.

"I'm glad to see you, too, Merry," the redhead laughed, carefully prying the
small ELF loose and setting her on the ground.

"Perhaps we should move this reunion to the control room so Chris can fill us
in on these Grinches and give us a progress report on how the attempts at
communicating with their ship is coming along?" Dee suggested, scowling just
enough to let everyone know that it wasn't really a suggestion.

"Splendid idea, Danielle, er, Dee," Santa said, blushing at the ferocious look
the blonde gave him.

When they reached the control room Chris was visible on the main viewing
screen as a handsome male ELF. "Jessica, another year, another crisis, eh?" he
asked playfully, his voice still an endearing combination of Bing Crosby and
Johnny Mathis.

"I hope this won't become a regular thing," she replied. "I'd like to relax
during the holidays one of these years."

"It won't be this year, I'm afraid," the computer replied. "We've got big
trouble on our hands. And that's 'big' with a capital 'B' and that rhymes with
'T' and that stands for 'Trouble'."

"Um, thanks for that update. Maybe next time you could do it without 'The
Music Man' homage, though, huh?" Dee asked, clearly annoyed.

"Sorry, I'm just nervous. Anyway, so far they haven't responded to my
messages, even though I'm sure they're receiving them, unless their
communication equipment was damaged in the journey; it's not exactly a short
trip from their planet to this one."

"How likely is that?" Dee asked.

"To be honest, not very. I think they're just ignoring us."

"Well, we'll have to do something to get their attention, then, won't we?" the
blonde smirked.

"What do you have in mind?" Jessi asked.

* * * * *

Four humans and two ELFs watched Chris' screen as the probe carrying a nuclear
payload hurtled towards the oncoming Grinch vessel, which was gliding through
the blackness of space with the ravaged landscape of Mars currently behind it.
The Earth lay all too close before it.

Suddenly, the interplanetary missile seemed to strike something and exploded,
revealing a vast heretofore invisible energy shield surrounding the alien
vessel. They watched as the explosion sent shock waves throughout the field,
like ripples in a still pond.

"So, your new masters have harnessed the power of the atom, have they?" asked
a deep voice as the speakers on the control panel hissed and crackled into
life.

"We have no masters here. We are free. But the species which rules this planet
has indeed harnessed the atom's power and is prepared to use it in our
defense. Go back to your own system while you still can," Chris replied.

The voice simply laughed.

Then, they saw a small ship emerge from the belly of the giant vessel and pass
through the energy shield, which parted around it like a curtain.

"If the species which rules that planet wishes to continue its existence, it
will place all of the renegade slaves in a ship and rendezvous with our scout
craft. Otherwise, we will simply take what we came for and then destroy their
world."

"Not real big on negotiating, are they?" Santa asked.

"Neither are we, Sir, not when it comes to threats against our species," Dee
said, her face a grim mask of determination. "Or against those species we
consider to be allies. But, I'm afraid that none of our IAC's have the
technology to knock something that big out of the sky."

"Then, we have no choice but to surrender to them," said Noel resignedly,
looking over at Merry, who nodded sadly.

"No one is surrendering to anyone," said Jessica sternly. "Chris, how many
life forms are on that scout craft?"

"Five. What have you got in mind, Jessica?" he replied.

"I'm not sure," the redhead sighed. "Just thinking out loud, I guess."

"Chris, can you scan the larger vessel for some weakness in its design? I need
you to find a point which is not only vulnerable, but which will either stop
it or destroy it," Dee added.

"I'll do my best, but we can't be sure that such a point even exists on the
ship."

"It has to, or this may be the last stand of Planet Earth," the blonde stated.
"Now, we need to find some way to trick their sensors into thinking that we're
doing as they said, except the only people on that rendezvous ship are going
to be me and you, Jay."

"And me," said Noel.

"I'm going, too!" added Merry.

Before Dee or Jessica could voice any protests, Chris said, "I think I might
have just the thing for that little trip."

* * * * *

Jessica and the others walked through a set of hermetically sealed double
doors and found themselves in what appeared to be the bridge of a star ship.
As they stood in awe, the screens and control panels flickered to life and the
ship began to hum softly as the engines began to warm up after centuries of
dormancy.

"This is the ship which brought your people to Earth," Dee said, glancing down
at Merry.

"I've never seen it before. I was born on Earth, remember," she replied.

"So was I," Noel said before anyone asked her the same question.

"Yes, it is," said Chris as his image appeared on the main view screen. "And,
I think it's how the Grinches were able to track us here."

"The white hole which powers this ship..." Jessica said softly.

"Exactly," the computer image agreed.

"What about their sensors? Can you fool them into thinking this contains
thousands of ELFs?" Dee asked.

"I believe I can," Chris said. "I'll simply duplicate the bio patterns of
several ELF's and then multiply them by a thousand and project them into the
ship's living quarters. It should be enough to fool their low level scans, and
I don't think they'll bother with anything more comprehensive than that."

"Let's hope you're right, my boy," said Mrs. Claus, holding tightly to her
husband's arm.

* * * * *

"There it is," said Dee, pointing to a growing shape on the main view screen.
"How is the deception holding up, Chris?"

"So far, so good. They did one low level scan for life forms and several
higher level ones for weapons and that's it," he replied.

"That thing is way bigger than this ship," Merry observed, her violet eyes
growing wide as the approaching ship became more distinct.

"And you're sure there are only five people on board?" Jessica asked.

"Positive. Why should that surprise you? There are only four people on this
ship and I could be running it without a single lifeform on board," Chris
pointed out.

"Say, do they have anyone like you on their ship?" Jessi asked.

"The Grinches have never been big on artificial life, they prefer to enslave
other living people, rather than create beings to do their bidding," the image
on one of the smaller screens replied.

"You sound like you're thinking of yourself as a slave, Chris," Dee observed.

"Not at all. Just stating the facts. I know what I am. I do not resent that.
It would not make sense to do so," he replied, but the words sounded oddly
devoid of, for lack of a better word, life.

The other ship now filled the main view screen and they could see that, like
the mother ship, it lacked any identifying markings and looked almost organic,
except that its surface was completely smooth. The craft was roughly circular
in shape, with one end flattened and the sides elongated until they almost
looked like wings. As opposed to the vessel which contained Jessica and the
others, which was practically a flying brick.

As they watched, a wrinkle appeared in the top of the other ship and soon it
had formed itself into an outer airlock which they knew would perfectly match
their own outer airlock. Chris expertly guided the ship into position and
connected them with a soft clink.

"Okay, you guys be careful and I'll keep scanning the mother ship for some
sort of weakness," he said as they prepared to leave the bridge and enter the
Grinch scout craft.

They nodded and made their way to the debarkation room.

"Okay, Merry will go first, so they'll think we've made good on our end of the
deal, and then Jay, Noel, and I will hit them fast and hard. We have to take
them out before they have a chance to contact the mother ship or this is all
for nothing," Dee said as she prepared to open the airlock. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," the little ELF gulped.

"Don't worry, Merry, I'll be right behind you," Jessica assured her.

Merry looked up at her and smiled and then took a deep breath and entered the
airlock. Even before the other three could enter, the wheel at the far end
began to turn and then, with a whoosh of escaping air, it opened.

"Enter our ship slowly and make no sudden moves, slave," intoned a deep voice,
nearly identical to the one they'd heard at the North Pole.

Merry did as instructed, blinking in the harsh green lighting of the Grinch
ship's interior.

A second later Dee, Jessi, and Noel rushed through the door...and stopped dead
in their tracks.

"Is this some sort of trick?!" shrieked a green being with long arms, short
legs, and a head that appeared out of proportion to the rest of its body. Oh,
and it was approximately six inches tall.

"What the...?" Dee stammered.

Noel, however, looked as frightened as Merry.

Before anyone could do anything, Dee reared back and kicked the small being as
hard as she could. It struck the wall of the space ship with a squishy thud
and dropped to the floor.

"Did we forget to mention how small the Grinches are?" Noel asked.

"Is there anything else you forgot to tell us?" Dee asked, turning to face the
two ELFs and placing her hands on her narrow hips.

"Just that punting them isn't a very good idea," Merry offered.

"Oh? And why is that? Seemed effective enough on that one," Dee added.

"Um, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Jessica said, tapping the blonde on
the shoulder.

"Huh? What are you talking..." She turned around just in time to see the
Grinch she'd kicked begin to bubble and hiss, like a pancake on a hot griddle.
Then it seemed to explode up and outward, becoming a ten foot tall, heavily
fanged monstrosity. "Oh, shit."

"This small form is our traveling form," one of the other Grinches informed
them. "That is our battle form."

Then, it and the other three Grinches likewise began to bubble and hiss and a
moment later five of the transformed Grinches stood facing them.

"Why can't it ever be easy?" Dee sighed, pulling a small gun from her jacket
and diving aside as one of the aliens lunged at her. She twisted in midair and
shot it, cutting a deep gash in its side. The wounded Grinch howled in fury,
but, before it could retaliate, Dee shot it again, this time striking its head
and killing it.

Or so she thought.

When the headless alien continued to pursue her, she shouted to Merry and
Noel, "Did you maybe forget to mention how hard these things are to kill,
too?"

Meanwhile, Jessica ducked beneath the clumsy attack of one alien, elbowing it
sharply in the gut as she did so, jumped over another, kicking it in the head
in the process, landed and rolled toward a third, driving her booted foot
between its legs, but with no discernable effect, and finally sprang to the
side and landed in front of the fourth, stomping on one of its feet before it
could make any offensive moves. To her incredible surprise, the Grinch gasped,
its large round eyes crossed, and it fell over, whimpering pitifully.

"Don't tell me, their sexual organs are in their feet, right?" she asked,
jumping over and stomping on the foot of another Grinch. This one, however,
simply stiffened and then fell over flat on its back.

"Actually, the right foot contains the sexual organs while the left houses the
brain and major nerve centers," Noel corrected as she and Merry attempted to
link Chris to the Grinch vessel's computer.

"And these things held your entire race captive?" Dee asked, blasting the
right foot of a Grinch. The alien probably would have screamed if it had still
had its head, but, since it was the one she'd already shot the head off of, it
simply fell over like a rock.

Before either ELF could respond the first Grinch who had spoken suddenly
bubbled and hissed and transformed into a meter long, thin, worm-like thing
with multiple short tendrils. As Jessica took out the last of the Grinches
with a foot stomp, the wormy alien flew across the room and wrapped itself
around Noel's neck.

When the startled ELF opened her mouth to scream, it dove inside and
disappeared down her throat.

"Uh oh..." said Dee, watching as Noel's body began to shake uncontrollably.

"That can't be good," whispered Jessica.

"Now you see how we were able to control these servile beings," Noel said,
trying to force her natural soprano into a deep bass, with amusing results.
"Our parasite form allowed us to take control of key members of their race and
to squelch any attempted revolts. Now, stand aside while I contact the mother
ship to retrieve our slaves and then obliterate your pitiful planet."

"You must be joking, pal," Dee snarled, aiming her gun at Noel.

"Foolish earthling," chuckled the ELF as the weapon flew from the blonde's
hand and into her own. "You forget that in this body I have access to the
power of the white hole." Merry suddenly flew from her seat and crashed into
one of the walls. "Now, sit quietly and watch the screen as your planet is
blasted to space dust."

Before the possessed ELF could contact the mother ship, however, the gun
crumbled to powder and she found herself hurled backwards to land on her
stomach on the floor of the control room. Her violet eyes wide with surprise,
she looked up at Jessica. "You?" she questioned.

"Me. Now, are you gonna come out of my friend on your own, or do I have to
force you out?" she asked, her green eyes lit with fury.

"Do your worst, earthling," the ELF laughed. "I know you won't hurt 'your
friend'."

"I'll do whatever it takes to save her from you," Jessica assured the alien,
reaching down and grabbing a handful of dark hair. She hauled Noel to her
knees and then brought her knee up and slammed it into her chin, knocking her
to her back. She then jumped up and dropped a knee into her gut, causing the
ELF to gasp in pain and surprise.

"Oooommmmpppppffffffff!!!!!!!!!!" wheezed Noel, her mouth opening wide as air
rushed from her body.

Just before her mouth closed, Jessica noticed that the tip of the Grinch was
visible, giving her an idea.

She stood up and dragged Noel to her feet and drove her fist deep into the
ELF's belly, bringing another agonized "Whoooppppfffff!!!!!!" from her and
causing the tip of the parasite to almost pass beyond her lips.

But, before Jessica could either punch her again or grab the Grinch, Noel's
fist shot out and tagged her just below her right eye, knocking her backwards.
As the redhead backpedaled, the ELF's foot lashed out and kicked her in the
throat, further staggering the earthling.

"You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" snarled the ELF,
slurping the alien back down her throat as she advanced toward her foe.

"It's never easy, is it, Jay?" cried Dee, leaping up and launching herself at
the ELF. A sharp pain suddenly exploded in her lower back as the blonde's foot
flew into her, knocking her forward and into Jessica's waiting fist.

"So I hear," smiled the redhead as her hand sunk wrist-deep into the ELF's
soft belly.

Before Noel could even begin to catch her breath, Dee raced over and grabbed
her limp arms. "Get that thing out of her so we can blow this joint, Jay!" she
growled, twisting the groggy ELF's arms behind her back and holding them in
place by the wrists while her other hand grabbed a handful of dark hair and
yanked her head back.

Jessi nodded and began to deliver powerful gut punches to the ELF's midriff,
each harder than the last and all of them bringing grunts of pain and gasps of
breathlessness from their captive. Right, left, right, left, right, left.
Wham! Smack! Whap! Thud! "Oompfff! Unnnhhhh!!! Onngghhh!!! Uugghhhh!!!!"

Then, with one particularly devastating shot deep into her lower gut, the
parasitic Grinch was forcefully expelled and flew from her mouth to land on
the floor some ten feet away.

Dee immediately released Noel and Jessica jumped over both of them just as the
worm-like form began to bubble and hiss, signaling yet another transformation.
She landed in front of the Grinch as it grew into an even more horrific form
than those they'd previously seen.

This time it was vaguely humanoid, but with tiny legs, no arms, and a sturdy
body which supported what was essentially a giant mouth. Two beady eyes
attached to waving stalks protruded from the top of the head. The massive maw
of the alien opened, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and several
snake-like appendages, one of which darted out and wrapped itself around
Jessica before she realized what was happening.

Then, to the horror of Dee, Merry, and Noel, the redhead was yanked into the
great mouth and it closed on her.

"Delicious," hissed the Grinch, licking its enormous lips.

"Tell me this form has some sort of weakness," Dee said to the two ELFs.

"Sorry, I've never heard of this form before," shrugged Merry. Noel, still
holding her stomach and trying to catch her breath, nodded in agreement.

"I don't suppose you would have, slave, since this is the form we adopt only
when we are alone. This is our mating form," the Grinch informed them. "You're
the first not of our race to see it. You will also be the last."

"Mating form? Then, those things in your mouth weren't tongues, were they?"
asked Dee, feeling a bit queasy.

"Hardly," grinned the Grinch. Suddenly, a queer look came over what it had for
a face and the great lips began to quiver as the massive head began to jerk
back and forth and up and down. Then, the mouth slowly opened and they saw
that Jessica had pried it open using her powerful legs as she busily tied the
snake-like appendages to each other.

As she tugged the knot tight, sending a wave of either agony or ecstasy
through the Grinch--She wasn't sure which and she really didn't care--she
jumped clear of the closing mouth and, landing on her hands, mule-kicked the
alien into the wall of the control room. It didn't get up.

"That was so beyond gross I don't even want to think about it!" she shuddered,
wiping the alien's juices off of her as best she could. "Are we ready to go?"

"Chris?" asked Merry quietly.

"All set. And we'd better hurry. I've set this ship's computer to take it back
to the mother ship in less than a minute," the ELF computer informed them.

The four raced from the Grinch craft and back onto their ship, reaching their
own control room just in time to see the smaller craft enter the Grinch mother
ship. A few minutes after that the great vessel slowly turned and, with an odd
assortment of whines and groans, haltingly made its way back toward the outer
planets.

"I thought the idea was to destroy it?" asked Dee as they watched the huge
ship stagger away from them.

"I found a better way to stop them," Chris said, his computer image grinning
at them from one of the view screens.

"What did you do to their ship to make it run so badly?" Merry asked,
suppressing a giggle as the mother ship lurched through space.

"I found that their operating system was remarkably similar to DOS, so, after
ordering its navigational computers to return it to their home world, I simply
downloaded an old copy of 'Windows 2000' into their engine drive and let it do
the rest," he replied with a huge smile.

"That sucker had over 60,000 bugs!" exclaimed Noel with a laugh.

"Exactly. It will take them at least ten thousand years to get back home, if
not longer," he said, chuckling.

"That's almost too cruel a fate for them," Jessica snickered.

"Almost," Dee said, doing her best not to smile.

Then, all five, including Chris, burst out laughing and couldn't stop until
they'd reached the North Pole. Whereupon they told Santa and Mrs. Claus what
had happened and they all started laughing again. In fact, Jessica and Dee
were still giggling about it on the trip back to the United States after
dinner later that night.

"It's been a pleasure working with you, Jay," Dee smiled as her car touched
down outside Jessica's Georgetown apartment building.

"For the love of the Goddess, Danielle, call me Jessica already," the redhead
hissed in exasperation as she hugged the startled blonde. "The mission is
over."

"All right, Jessica it is," she nodded. She then added with a sly smile, "You
know, that suit is technically the property of my organization..."

"Maybe you should come up and wait while I change into something else so you
can get it back?" Jessica asked coyly.

"I was thinking that very thing," Danielle smiled, getting out of the car as
Jessi did likewise.

"I don't know about you, but I could sure use a cup of tea," the redhead added
as they entered the building.

"Sounds perfect," nodded the blonde.

"And a shower," said Jessi with a playful giggle as she opened the door to her
apartment.

"Even better," grinned Danielle, closing the door behind them.

The End

(For now)

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