As guards shackled Agent Maine, Niadra turned her attention to the blue humanoid.

"Many thanks, stranger." She said as she bowed. "If you had not intervened, Maine would have probably had my head."

As if the compliment was unspoken, the man asked. "Will you be my friend?"

Niadra was taken aback. Was this a ruse? A clever scheme to get her guard down? It seemed like a possible problem... but he had no weapon, his voice carried that unbroken, everything is right in the world, innocence... and... he reminded her too much of Kalus if he had been injected with steroids and dressed in blue armor.

After a nudge from Chrysalis, whose eye's saw this as an opportunity for gaining a new ally, Niadra cleared her throat and asked. "What is your name?"

He snapped a swift salute. "Captain Micheal J. Caboose, at your service! You can call me Caboose!"

Niadra stifled a laugh. "Caboose... I like that name."

Author's Note

TA-DA!!! The adorkable idiotic genius who builds WMDs behind everybody's backs is in the book!