Meanwhile, far away from the idyllic village our brave new pigs find themselves in, a plan begins to come
together. A young woman strides down a sterile hallway, brightly lit and devoid of personality. Almost like
a hospital, but even less personable than that. Her heels click and echo in the emptiness. Her dark hair
tied back tightly, a tight black bodysuit hugging her frame, accentuating every curve. She made her way down
the hallway, homing in on a specific door and opening it up.
Inside, a vast laboratory setup. Cages lined the walls. Empty for the moment, but the things they housed in
the past... well... the serums that were sent out in that box of vials had to be tested on SOMEONE...
"You called for me, sir?" the woman asked as she stopped towards the back of the room, addressing a man in a
white lab coat hunched over a microscope.
"Ah, Lila, yes," the man said as he turned around. White hair, a thin, pinched mustache, thick glasses. "I
take it you've read the report."
"You sent a package out to a healthy prospect, but now someone's intercepted that prospect."
"More or less, that's right. We need you to retrieve her," he nodded his head as he rubbed his palms
together.
"Alright, give me the information I need."
"Fair enough. Two mornings ago, we sent the package to one Mary Swanson. After some testing, records
indicate that she brought a companion in on it and they tested the serums together. Not even half an hour
later do we have this," he produced a security cam photo from the buffet restaurant Mary and Jess had gone to.
"Pigs? Seriously?" Lila asked as she took the photo and examined it.
"I know. Not ideal, but well, we did include it as an option. Either way, the species is irrelevant.
Another half an hour later, there was this," he then produced a photo from the movie theater.
"And now they have a male. They worked fast, huh?"
"To say the least. As of yesterday morning, our intelligence reported Mary and the unknown male being
abducted from his backyard," another photo was produced.
"Shit," Lila muttered as she took the photo. "You... you better give up on this Mary."
"No. She's too valuable. She's got potential that, if we could tap it, could very literally give us the
power needed to spread our influence across several dimensions at once. Giving up on her is not an option."
"But you don't understand! These aren't just run-of-the-mill pig thieves, Doc - this is the Sisterhood of
Circe - some of the most powerful magic users the world has ever seen. Ever. You'll never get an agent
inside their hideaway - not only does nobody know where it actually is, but you can damn well bet that the
Sisters will find any spies and eliminate them immediately. It's suicide."
"Not - necessarily. Not if you go in... the way Mary and the boar did," the doctor grinned.
"You can't - woah, woah. I never agreed to... no. I am not going to be turned into any animal, much less a
pig..."
"Quadruple salary, plus this specialized formula that will, once equilibrium is attained, allow you to alter
your form at will. You go in, you blend in, you find Mary, and once you've attained the ability to choose
your form willingly, you grab her and teleport back here."
"Look, just because I have the power to teleport anywhere I've already been doesn't mean - you say quadruple?"
"Yes."
"Four times the pay."
"Yes."
"You got a deal," she shook his hand, and with the other accepted a small bottle that he handed to her.
"We're expecting great things from you, Agent Lila..."