Max Chebul had been working at S.H.I.E.L.D for eighteen months now. For six of those months he was assigned as Commander George Washington Bridge's personal secretary. For weeks after the assignment, Max had gone around the building with a confident strut.

Now as he shifted his weight to compensate for the twenty or more folders he was taking up the elevator, he would have given anything to have his old job back in the phone exchange.

He nodded a quick hello to waiting passengers as he disembarked on the third floor. Lucky him, Commander Bridge's office was in the far corner of the floor.

As he walked down the isles, he could see the curious head peering out of cubicles, like some strange plants, trying to find sunlight on an inhospitable world. Max shook his head at the odd thought. Where had that come from? Probably from working in this office too long.

Weird things tended to happen at S.H.I.E.L.D. People were working in their cubicles one week, and the next Monday they were gone as if they hadn't existed. No-one questioned the odd occurrences - at least, not publicly - but at the water cooler, in between discussions of Ally McBeal and N.Y.P.D. Blue, someone would bring up a missing colleague. The older employees had grown used to it and they urged the younger ones to not discuss any of their concerns with their superiors. Occasionally the more courageous worker would. Come Monday his or her cubicle belonged to someone else.

Max grunted as he opened Bridge's office door. Commander Bridge was sitting at his desk, staring out the window at an unknown object. It couldn't be the view, Max thought to himself; there were buildings as far as the eye could see, and that was pretty much it. G.W. swivelled in his chair and motioned for Max to place the pile of folders on his desk, next to yesterday's pile.

"Is that it?" Bridge asked gruffly.

Well, this was better, Max thought to himself. At least the Commander was talking again. Max hadn't heard him say a word in a week that wasn't an insult. Not since the monumental 'Clash of the Titans.' Everyone on the floor had heard Fury yell at Bridge and then the crash against the wall. Then they had seen Bridge storm out of the office with murder in his eyes. Bridge hadn't said a decent word since. Every morning Max would see a note on his desk with a list of files needed from the records. Next to the note would be the pile of folders from yesterday.

"Is that it?" Bridge asked again, a little impatient this time.

Max realized his mind had wandered. "Oh, yes, sir. Those are all the files you requested."

"Alright, you can leave." Max nodded and quickly made a hasty retreat from the office, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against the door and took a deep breath. That was fun, he thought to himself. That was when he noticed a pretty brunette standing next to his desk.

"Excuse me Miss, can I help you?"

She looked up at him with a radiant grin. "Ah'm lookin' for Commander Bridge's office. Have ah come to the right place?"

Max smiled at the southern woman. She was around thirty he guessed but extremely fit for her age. She had dark brown hair that circled her face and piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare into his soul.

"I'm Commander Bridge's secretary. He doesn't wish to be disturbed at the moment. Can I give him a message for you?"

She seemed to be upset for a moment, then collected her thoughts. "Ah'm G.W.'s sister-in-law Janet. Ah desperately need to talk to him. It's very important."

Max sat down at his desk and looked at her in surprise. "Sister-in-law? I wasn't aware the commander had a brother. Um, I'll see if he'll talk to you." Max got up from his desk and opened the door slowly to his superior's office. "Uh, Commander? You have a visitor."

"Whoever it is, tell them to go away," came the reply from the chair.

"Sir, it's your sister in law, and she says it's important that she talk to you."

The chair swivelled and G.W. was glaring at his secretary. "My sister-in-law?"

A gulping sound was heard from Max. "Y-yes Sir. Janet?"

G.W. shot to his feet with a growl. "Of all the stupid, immature jokes!" He yelled, stalking towards the door. Max leapt out of his way with a yelp. As Bridge made his way out of the office to the hallway outside, the entire floor seemed to grow quieter. Bridge spied the brunet leaning against a wall. "Alright, I don't know who you are, but..." He stopped in mid-sentence as the woman looked up and pushed herself from the wall.

"G.W.!" She yelled throwing her arms around the man. "Play along," she whispered in his ear.

Bridge was too shocked to argue. "Janet? What are you doing here?"

'Janet' pulled away and slugged him playfully in the arm. "Why, to see you, darlin'! Is there anywhere we can talk in private?"

"Of course." Bridge kicked himself for not thinking of that instantly. "Right in my office Janet." He guided her inside and looked over his shoulder at Max, who was slinking out of the office. "MAX! Hold all my calls. I don't care if it's the president!" With that he slammed the door.

Max sighed as he sat down at his desk. "Yes sir."

"What kind of a prank was that to pull on me!" Bridge was asking the woman who was removing her wig to reveal the laughing figure of Domino. "You could have warned me!"

"And miss all the fun?" She asked with a wink. "You should have seen your face Bridge! I nearly busted up laughing all over the floor." She threw the wig to a chair and began walking around the office. "Nice spread you've got here." She sat down in his chair and put her feet on the desk. "I could get used to this."

"Don't get too comfortable," he mumbled, moving a stack of papers from the desk that were in danger of falling off.

She sat up in the chair, all laughter removed from her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighed as he sat in one of the chairs across from her. "What are you doing here, Dom?"

"I should think that would be obvious G.W. - I came to see you!"

He wasn't convinced. "How long have you been in town?"

She smiled at him, "I flew in this morning and came right over. It was pretty easy to get up here. I expected some kind of a challenge."

He gave her a tight-lipped smile and stood up, throwing her the wig. "Put that back on. Let's go somewhere and talk. I'm breaking all sorts of rules by not calling security. I don't want Fury coming in and see me harbouring one of the most wanted women in the world right now."

She looked at him with concern. "G.W.? What's going on?"

Another tight-lipped smile came her way. "Later, Dom. Right now, I need lunch. Let's go."

At a McDonalds down the street from S.H.I.E.L.D., Domino and Bridge sat across from each other at a table. Domino was picking at her Quarter Pounder, while Bridge was wolfing down his Big Mac.

"Not exactly what I had in mind when you suggested 'lunch', Bridge. Don't you believe in restaurants?"

"This is a restaurant," he managed to get out between mouthfuls. The truth was, this was the last place on earth anyone from the office would think of looking for him. It gave him a sense of privacy that he needed when he confronted one of his oldest friends.

He leaned back from the table and regarded Domino closely. She had her foundation on rather thick to cover her eye tattoo and give her skin some color. She was wearing a hideous wig to cover her jet-black hair and a simple brown suit that was non-descript. All in all, she was trying to blend in as much as possible. Was it just her nature to do so, or was Domino trying to hide?

"Alright, G.W., you seemed weird in your office. What's bothering you?"

Well, it was time he confronted her. "A bomb was found in the U.N. building last week." He ignored her gasp of surprise and continued on. "It was found and destroyed before anyone was hurt."

"My God," she whispered. She leaned across the table and put her hand on his arm in a way of comfort. "You must be running raged, trying to find whoever was responsible. Do you have any leads?"

He looked at her hand and then up into her eyes. "The bomber was caught on video. We have pictures and know exactly who it is." He leaned across the table and looked pointedly at her. "When did you say you flew into Washington? That plane didn't come from New York city, did it?"

She leaned back and withdrew her arm, her eyes becoming hostile. "What are you implying, George?"

Something made him cautious when she said his full name, but ignoring the instinct, he pulled out the file from his briefcase. "Take a look, Dom, and wipe that innocent stare from your eyes." He threw the file across the table at her. Some of the pictures fell out and her hand began to tremble when she picked them up.

"It's me!" she whispered. She opened the folder and read the report, and noted that G.W.'s findings were mostly of her possible location. Every place X-Force had operated at was listed, except the Xavier Institute. It wasn't listed in any of the 'possible living locations.' San Francisco wasn't listed either. It was listed in 'skirmishes.'

"How could you do this, Domino? I thought I knew you!"

She looked up into Bridge's cold eyes and instantly grew annoyed with the man. "What do you mean, 'you thought you knew me?' You don't know jack, okay? No one knows any more about me than I want them to. Understand?" She threw the folder back at him. "This isn't me, okay? That, you can believe. It isn't me."

He regarded her closely. Maybe his instincts were slipping, he couldn't tell if she was lying. "How do I know that, Dom?"

"Because I told you," was her answer.

He shook his head slowly, "That might have worked in the past, but it doesn't any more. Like you just told me, I only know what you want me to." He stood up from the table. "Leave town, Dom. Otherwise, I'll have to arrest you." He began to walk out of the restaurant when Domino stopped him with two words.

"San Francisco."

Slowly he turned around and regarded the back of her head. "What?"

"X-Force has been operating in San Francisco for the last few months. It isn't any more, but that's where I flew in from."

Bridge came around the table and sat back down. "So when you called me it was from San Francisco?"

"Yes." She looked up at him desperately. "It wasn't me, Bridge. I swear it wasn't."

His heart nearly broke when he looked at her, she was telling the truth. There was no way he could doubt that. "Alright, Dom. I believe you, okay? I believe you... but who could it be? Do you have any enemies?"

She gave him a condescending look. "Think about that question, Bridge. Do I have any enemies? Uh, yea. That narrows the field by nada!"

Bridge grinned as he heard the familiar Domino sarcasm. "Okay, any enemies have shape-shifting powers?"

Domino thought about that for awhile. "Not that I know of. Unless one of my enemies hired a shape-shifter."

That's when inspiration hit Bridge. "What about the shape-shifter who replaced you in X-Force? The one working for Tolliver? What was her name..."

"Copycat!" Domino's voice was cold as she spit out the hateful name. "That witch! If it's her, I swear I'll make sure she can't change her shape ever again!"

Bridge was surprised at the anger Domino was displaying, as her eyes glowed with pure murder. "Okay, Dom, where would we even begin to find her?"

"Canada," she answered quickly. "Last I heard she was in Canada with Kane. To think I was even beginning to like that woman." She mumbled to herself.

"What's her real name, Dom? I only know her first name. I can look her up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, see what I can find. All I can remember is Vanessa-"

"Vanessa Carlisle," Domino whispered. The name sounded like an insult.

G.W. quickly jotted it down on a napkin and put it in his pocket. He grabbed his briefcase and stood back up. "I'll go back to headquarters and look her up in the database, see if we can get a more specific place than 'Canada.' Where are you staying? I'll contact you when I've found something."

Domino snapped back into reality and gave Bridge her charming smile. "I don't think so, Bridge. I'm going with you."

Panic immediately seized him. "Uh, no, Dom, I don't think that's a good idea. If Fury catches you..."

She stood up and grabbed her purse. "He isn't going to catch me. I'm going to be with you the whole time, I promise, no extra investigation or anything like that. I'll be stuck to you like glue."

He rolled his eyes, but didn't argue. At least this way, he'd know where she was in case something bad happened, like another attempted bombing.

Max shot to his feet as Commander Bridge walked past his desk. "Don't let anyone disturb us, Max," he ordered gruffly. Janet gave him a smile then followed Bridge into his office and closed the door.

Max sat back down and grinned, she was pretty. Too bad she was married to Bridge's brother. Oh well, there was always Marjorie, Director Fury's secretary.

Speaking of Fury, the Director came charging down the hall making a beeline for Bridge's office. Max quickly stood up and blocked the door, just as Fury charged in.

"Get out of the way!" Fury barked at the shorter man.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but Commander Bridge has asked that he not be disturbed." Max wasn't about to back down from this man. Fury wasn't his favorite person in the world, and since he had yelled at Bridge in front of the building, Max's esteem of the man had fallen.

Fury was about to argue, but seemed to change his mind. With a last glance at the office door he charged back down the hall. "Have Bridge write up a report on his findings and have it on my desk by the end of the day." Fury yelled over his shoulder.

At that time, Bridge chose to swing open his office door. He was smiling and there was a spring in his step. "Fury!" He yelled down the hall. "I've got a lead, I'm taking a few days off and going to investigate!"

A vein in Fury's head seemed about to pop but then he read a note that Marjorie choose to give him at that time. Suddenly his attention changed and he became a man of business again. "Sure, Bridge. Make sure you file all the necessary paperwork, but make sure you find her." Fury looked up at Bridge again. "A tourist yacht was just destroyed."

Everyone within earshot gasped and then looked away, hoping their surprised expression went unnoticed.

G.W.'s face went blank and his smile faded. "New York?"

"Yep." Fury's expression became desperate. "Fifty people are dead. Find her, Bridge. Find her."

"Yes, Sir." Bridge turned back and walked into his office.

Before he closed the door, Max was able to peek into the office. Janet was sitting in a chair crying. Bridge patted her on the shoulder. "You were with me when it happened. It's not your fault."

She looked up and towards the door, directly into Max's eyes. It wasn't sadness he saw, it was anger. "We'll find her G.W.," she whispered as the door shut.

With a shudder, Max went back to his work but kept shooting hesitant glances towards the closed door.

Fury looked at the woman he had called into his office. It was one of the better field agents, Agent Huntsly. She also doubled as his undercover secretary.

"Marjorie," he began.

"Excuse me, sir," she interrupted. "If you don't mind, it's Agent Huntsly.

"Of course," she had been undercover as his secretary for so long, he tended to forget that she wasn't the giggly airhead she pretended to me. "Agent Huntsly, you know Commander Bridge."

"Yes, sir, he was the man in your office, correct?"

"That's right." Fury leaned back in his desk. "He's taking a leave of absence to go and look for this bomber up in Canada. I want you to follow him."

"Sir?"

"That's right Huntsly. I believe he may have already contacted Domino. I want you to follow Bridge and do what he can't."

"And what would that be sir?"

"Bring in the criminal known as Domino. With excessive force if necessary."

NEXT: Will Domino and G.W. find Copycat? Will Agent Huntsly find Domino? Will we get a trip to Canada?