Private Merengue peeked quietly out her bedroom door to be sure the
house was all asleep. Her biomom and sis still thought she was gone on the
weekends on social calls, and would have been very surprised to see the
state-of-the-art computer terminal in her closet. Through it she could
connect with MINERVA, Blanca Mountain's mainframe, in real time without
having to actually be at the base.
       She had made some unpleasant discoveries at school that day. Waller
Public High school was, in her opinion, one of the most decidedly Not Bad(tm)
schools she had ever encountered. The few Bad(tm) things about it remained
pretty much in the background...school lunches, advisory, those stange
posters that exhorted "Eat Healthy!" and "Study Hard!", and most of all the
dreaded Smithers Monster, triple-honors coordinator and, Merengue was certain,
sponge queen extraordinaire. But lately Ms. Smithers had been seen daily
wandering the halls with a fiendish, foolish grin on her face...the lunches
grew much Worse(tm); Heart Healthy Turkey Product every day!...posters
appeared advertising a Happy Dino Skating Party just under a week in the
future...and the less cynical among the student body looked just a bit more
glassy-eyed then usual. It was just little things, but already the dour
building had taken on a sinister air. Most importantly, a large section of
the basement (or the Grotto as it was euphemized) had been cordoned off for
"construction." Something very, very Bad was brewing down there.
      Merengue was hoping to find some more information...Was this a local
problem? Or were the spongies whipping up something both Nasty and Big,
seemingly on their own initiative?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       After about ten minutes, she hit paydirt. There had been an
announcement sent out to all personnel that read in part "...B'harniian
forces assembling mass spongification array...destroy elements and search for
transmitter coordinates..." This must be what was making Smithers so smug.
Waller had been chosen to house a component of some hideous device that was
intended to spongify millions.
       Somewhere in Merengue's gut, a fire burned. They were using *her* alma
mater, citadel of cynicism, fostering place of the finest FC's in the Windy
City, to be part of a hideous sponge machine. Smithers, and whoever her sponge
cohorts were, were NOT getting away with this.
      Meanwhile, she was going to have to break into the Grotto...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	It was Friday afternoon... school had just ended. The security
guards were
shooing the students off-campus as usual, and by three-forty-five, all would
be quiet on the set. Merengue wasn't going to wait that long.
After checking to make sure there was no one else in sight, she stole down the
stairs and into the Grotto. There, at the far north end of the hallway, was
the mysterious 'construction' zone. It was actually just a couple of plywood
walls, some bright yellow "CAUTION" tape, and some signs saying "Authorized
personnel only." Somehow they'd rigged a door between the strips of paneling.
It had a card swipe, and Merengue had no idea how she was going to open it.
She could always teleport to the other side, but she didn't like the idea of
shifting into a space where there was supposed to be a solid wall. Maybe-
	"Excuse me," came a voice from behind her, "What are you looking for?"
	It was one of the uniformed service techs that could be seen
swarming in and
out that door during the work week. Luck was with her, it appeared. "Oh,
nothing," she said, doing her best Dot impression and broadcasting some light
jazz on a very thin line to the sponge.
	The jazz had the desired effect; he wobbled a bit and looked uncertain.
	"What's in there?" she said, pointing adorably and turning up the
music a bit.
"It looks sooo fun."
	"Um," he said, "um, um... I can't tell you, I think."
	"Why not?"
	"Because Mr. Smithers said it was supposed to be a secret..."
	"A secret? I'm real good at keeping them. If you could just let me
in for just
a minute?"
	"No..."
	"Why?"
	There appeared in his thoughts for an instant the words 'nasty
Jihaddi.'
Merengue wiped them out before the sponge could put his apprehension into
words, and smiled real big. "Are you sure? You couldn't let me peek in reeeal
quick?"
	"Um..." he said, not realizing that she wasn't about to let him say
no again,
"um..."
	He shrugged and reached for his card. Why not, he thought, she
doen't seem too dangerous.
	He swiped his card through. The door beeped cheerily and swung
open. With the cutest grin she could muster, Merengue followed the minion
through the door.
Just as it swung closed, footsteps sounded in the hall. She hoped fervently
that it was some late-departing student, and gave her guide a little mental
nudge. They had almost reached a turn in the cooridor when the door swung
open. It was Smithers.
	Merengue and the sponge tech both panicked at the same instant. He
grabbed her arm. She teleported home, sponge in tow.

(=}
--Ren
Private 3rd Merengue, VR-3