"I can't believe you kept this," Cat remarked. Her belongings were already packed, so she'd been the first one ready, and now stood by the apartment's front door waiting for the rest of them to catch up. With two fingers, she traced the edge of a framed picture hanging beside the doorway that showed her and Amy arm-in-arm, wearing their graduation caps and gowns. "Look at our hair!"

"Yeah, well, I can't believe you're so ungodly cheerful after less than six hours of sleep in somebody else's bed," Syd grumbled. She squinted blearily at the time on her phone. "Fuuuck me, the sun isn't even up yet. Why did I book our flight so fucking early?"

"It's a cute picture. What's the matter with our hair?" Amy asked with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, nothing, love, nothing. It's only... well..."

"The two of you look like you just got back from a Britney Spears concert, if you know what I'm saying."

"No, Syd, I have no idea what that's supposed to mean." She turned to Ryan. "Do you know what they're talking about?"

Silently, Syd mouthed the word "hopeless" to Cat behind Amy's back. Cat covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Hey, don't ask me," Ryan said, dropping a bundle of folded shirts to raise his hands defensively. "I'm pretty sure that being a guy makes me physically incapable of understanding this stuff. Besides, all of my fashion knowledge is five years out of date, remember?"

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart." Cat draped a comforting arm over Amy's shoulders. "When we get back, I'll take you shopping. I'm sure we can find you some outfits that would be... a little more flattering, hm?"

"You're giving Amy a makeover?" Syd asked. "Oh, that's going to be hilarious. Count me in!"

Baffled, Amy looked down at herself.

"Is there something wrong with the clothes I'm wearing now?"

"No, no, of course not! They're very... practical. Very you."

"You look frumpy," Syd commented as she passed by, speaking much more bluntly.

"F-frumpy!?"

"Done," Ryan announced, closing the lid on the borrowed suitcase that now held the sum total of his worldly possessions within.

Which is pretty strange, now that I think about it, he mused. How many people can say they can fit all their belongings into one little suitcase?

Not that I've got any room to complain... heh, a few weeks ago, I didn't even have a single scrap of clothing that I could call my own. Compared to a Zorvax holding cell, this is living in the lap of luxury.

"How close are we to being ready?" he called out.

"I'll be finished in a few minutes," Amy replied, her expression remaining a bit disgruntled even after the change of subject. "Unlike some people. Did anybody think to bring sunscreen?"

"Maybe I don't need to take clothes." Sprawled out on the sofa, Syd was groggily nursing an energy drink, some gimmick brand that came in a fluorescent-orange can with flames on the label. It didn't appear to Ryan that she'd even started packing yet. "I can just buy some when we get there." She yawned loudly, took another sip, then yawned again. "Or steal them. Yeah, that'll probably work."

"Oh, quit complaining, Syd. You're being ridiculous. It's a five-hour direct flight, and you can go back to sleep once we're on the plane –"

"Nuh-uh, no way. I already decided that Ryan and I are going to spend that time watching the new reboot of Spicy Wolf together."

"Spicy Wolf?" Amy repeated doubtfully, then scowled. "You're pulling my leg. There's no way that's a real show."

"Wanna bet?" Syd challenged. "Remember, you still owe me from that time you thought I made up Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt just to mess with you..."

"It shouldn't have been real!" Amy said with a groan. "I swear, there's something wrong with you..." She paused, scratching her head. "...dweebs? Is that the right word?"

"It's weebs, hon," Cat informed her. "But you were close."

"Whatever."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, but it's a big freaking deal if I accidentally call your pet gorilla a monkey –"

"He's not my pet! It's illegal to keep gorillas as pets!"

With the ease of frequent practice, Ryan tuned the two women out while they fell into yet another round of bickering.

Turning to Cat, he asked, "Were they always like this?"

"Oh, no, dear. They used to be so much worse."

He snorted at her resigned tone.

"I can only imagine. When do you think we need to get on the road?"

"Afraid I can't help you with that, darling," she replied. "Someone insisted on taking the battery out of my phone, then zipped it up in a plastic bag and wrapped the whole thing in aluminum foil."

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"Aluminum foil? Really?"

"Um, yeah, otherwise the three-letter agencies can find it even when it's turned off," Syd said, matter-of-factly. "Duh."

Ryan and Cat shared a glance.

Seeing their incomprehension, she added, "It makes a Faraday cage. Didn't you guys pay attention in science class?"

"It's been a while, but I don't remember getting any lessons on using cookware to hide your cell phone from the government. Did your school have those, Cat?"

"The airport is twenty minutes away," Amy said, speaking up before she could respond. "Our flight starts boarding at seven, but we'll also have to find parking when we get there, and with how long it takes to get through security nowadays..." She did some mental math. "Let's say that we should leave sometime in the next thirty minutes or so, to be safe?"

"Great. That'll give us enough time to make a quick stopover at the warehouse first."

"The warehouse where you three were practicing yesterday while I was at work? Why?"

"It's on the way," he pointed out, "and it's a convenient place for you ladies to transform, without needing to worry about anyone walking in on us."

"But why now? Ryan, are you expecting trouble?"

"Nothing like that... it's so that Cat can give me one last shot of Accelerate Recovery before we leave. Another round and I'll be as good as new by the time we touch down in Spokane, I think." Belatedly, he asked, "Uh, that is, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all. In fact," she continued, looking meaningfully at Syd, "I think we might even be able to squeeze in some sparring, if we leave soon enough."

"Sounds like you're just looking for an excuse to put your grabby old lady hands all over my nubile, sexy young body again," Syd accused. "Aren't you worried what people will think?"

"...old lady hands?"

"You're pushing a third of a century old, Cat," Syd smugly informed her. "That's totally ancient."

"Sydney –"

"No need to fret," Cat said to Amy, halting the imminent lecture with a light touch on the arm. She turned slowly to face Syd with a dangerous glint in her eye. "She can apologize for it later, when I have her in an armbar."

"Eeep!" Syd squeaked in fright, then ducked behind Ryan. "Cat's threatening to molest me! Help! Save me, Ry!"

"You were kind of asking for it," he told her, ruffling her hair apologetically. "I don't think I'm going to be able to bail you out of this one."

"Traitor!"

***

Since they'd arrived early and were traveling light, they made it through security without issue, reaching their departure gate with time to spare. For Ryan, Amy and Cat, boarding the plane before all the other passengers was a novel experience, while Syd took it in stride.

Not for the first time, he found himself idly wondering about her background.

She'll talk to me about it when she's ready, he told himself.

An overly-solicitous flight attendant led them to their seats in the first class section... which, Ryan noted, was conspicuously empty apart from the four of them. He had to tell the woman three times that they really, honestly didn't need anything before she finally took the hint and left the group to get settled in on their own.

Once she was gone, he turned to give Syd a disbelieving look.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Booking the whole cabin wasn't all that much more expensive. And this way we can make plans and talk about stuff without having to worry about anyone else listening in!"

"...did you forget about the part where we're trying to keep a low profile?"

"Psh, this is no big deal," she said with a flippant wave of her hand. "Buying out the whole first class section is something that people do all the time." Dropping into a window seat, she patted the cushion beside her. "C'mon, hurry up. We've got to get started if we want to finish up the first season before we get there."

***

As soon as he sat down, his self-proclaimed girlfriend had planted herself firmly in his lap and announced that they were now, officially, on their very first date.

She'd barely made it to the scene with the apples before passing out.

Smiling fondly down at the charming little brat, who was now snoring cutely into his chest, he turned the video off. With the hand that wasn't trapped underneath her, he brushed her hair back so that he could slip her half of the headphone set they were sharing out of her ear.

Maybe they'd be able to finish watching the rest of it on their second date.

He didn't feel tired, even though he'd hardly gotten more sleep last night than Syd. Staring out the window, his eyes followed the clouds that were rushing past below as he contemplated the battles to come.

We've made it this far by being unpredictable, he told himself. A Zorvax officer would have surrendered right away, or gone off to hide somewhere. For them, it's all about maximizing the odds and minimizing risk. They don't understand the way humans think at all, and they don't have any interest in learning.

It's an advantage.

But is it going to be enough?

At the end of the day, they were just four people, trying to stand up against the combined might of an interstellar empire. The resources of a dozen star systems. Warships that could travel across the galaxy. Legions of Enforcers, led by ambitious Forward-Commanders with all the same training as he'd been given.

It made for a daunting prospect. Adding in their own government as another potential adversary didn't help matters.

What was it that Amy said? He glanced over to the next row, where she and Cat had fallen asleep as well, their shoulders leaning against one another and heads together. Keep chipping away at the problem until something comes loose.

It was excellent advice. A big problem was just a collection of little problems, after all... and little problems could be solved.

Locating a command terminal so that he could disable the transponders of his team's Changers would be a good first step. Once he'd done that, then they could start acting, rather than constantly reacting to the enemy's moves. But it was only a first step.

We have to get our hands on more Mark-II Changers, he decided. That's going to be our number-one priority. Then we can think about expanding the team, finding some more people that we can trust to use them. Bringing Cat on board was a stroke of luck, but we can't depend on random chance to keep throwing suitable candidates into our path. Sooner or later, we'll need to have a serious talk about recruiting.

After that... maybe we can consider making plans to go on the offensive. Take the fight to the Zorvax for a change.

Kick them off the planet for good.

Closing his eyes, Ryan leaned back against the headrest and, with an effort, stilled his racing thoughts.

Well, those are problems that we're going to be dealing with in the future.

He pulled Syd tighter against himself.

Right now I'm going to focus on trying to enjoy this quiet moment.

After all, who can say when the next one will be?