"RED ALERT. RED ALERT. INTRUDER DETECTED. INTRUDER DETECTED."

Kayo heard the alarm and dropped from the window she was crawling through before charging down the hall she was in. Laser bolts, electric spears and barbed darts fired at her, as she just managed to keep ahead.

So much for a simple spying mission, Kayo thought. Cursing the exceptional security and wishing Brains would hurry up with his heat – masking technology, she rounded a corner and found herself approaching a huge shaft with a narrow, unrailed walkway stretching over a dozen metres to a corridor on the opposite side.

Kayo faltered in her step, wondering if she should try running the other way. Almost immediately, a laser bolt scratched the back of the open vest she was wearing. A spear then ripped away what was left while a dart struck her boot.

Spurred on, Kayo sprinted awkwardly onto the walkway. It shifted under her weight but she kept running. Then, a section of the walkway fell just as she ran over it. Kayo looked down but couldn't see the bottom of the shaft.

Kayo continued as piece after piece fell off behind her. She thought she might be able to outrace it but a whir from above caught her attention as a laser on the ceiling rotated and fired, knocking the entire structure down with Kayo on it.

Kayo took a running leap forward and reached out to grab the door's lower edge.

Another shot from the cannon hit her wrist-comm, spinning her to the right as she slammed into the far side. Kayo grabbed at the edge, but she was left-handed and facing the wrong way. With a desperate scrabble, she slipped and fell. Pulling out her grapple pack, she fired it at the corridor roof.

Finding her mark (her farthest kill was 225 yards, Scott would never find that out), the line went taut and Kayo body-slammed against the side of the shaft. She smashed her helmets face plate and had to discard the entire thing. Aching all over, she let out a sigh of relief before reeling herself in, drawing her gun and destroying the troublesome cannon.

Why me, she thought to herself. This kind of undercover work is Penelope's alley. Kayo paused.Then again, maybe not. But still, she specifically hadn't wanted this mission and Scott had still assigned her regardless.

"The things I do for International Rescue," she muttered to herself, reaching the corridor and retracting the grapple. Not for the first time, she wondered if I.R's goals were worth working for Scott Tracy.

Oh, she didn't mind that he had stopped complaining about her crime-fighting, and God knows the mission was very important. But turning-around-and-teaming-up-with-petty-thieves-because-he-thinks-that-we-need-their-help quite sucked in Kayo's line of thinking. It sucked a lot.

Actually, it was worse than that, because Scott had decided that this crook should make the plans because he had inside information on their target.

The plans that had her in her current predicament.

At least things couldn't get much worse, Kayo thought to herself. LIKE FALLING THROUGH THAT TRAP-DOOR THAT HAD NO RIGHT TO OPEN UP UNDER MY FEET JUST NOW!

Kayo let out a yelp as she fell. It was only a 7-foot drop, but she still brushed the nasty looking 3 1/2 foot spike sticking up out of the floor (Kayo was 5 1/2 foot). Another inch or two forward and... Kayo breathed heavily as she staggered backwards and curled up on the floor for a few seconds.

Then her training kicked back in and she jumped up, chastising herself for losing her grip. She looked around and saw that this place had only one hallway branching off it – with a light glowing at the far end.

Kayo stepped forward, but her way was suddenly barred by row after row of blocks that sprang out from the walls down the entire length of the corridor.

Each block was a meter apart from the rest and was made up of 4 rows of shifting walls, each with an open square in one corner, all rows shifting together in a complex pattern that a person could get through if only they were quick and agile enough.

Kayo rallied herself and charged, jumping and diving, ducking and dodging, twisting and turning, making her way towards whatever was on the other side.

Five minutes later...

Kayo reached the last of the shifting blocks and saw what was on the other side. It was a control room, and standing there hooked up to the controls with his back turned to her, was the person she had been sent to spy on.

The Mechanic.

Kayo waited for the right combination, then dived swiftly and quietly through the hole.

Or tried to, on the last row the wall suddenly changed direction and pinned Kayo to the floor before shutting down, leaving her trapped right behind IR's current archenemy.

"Nice moves," The Mechanic congratulated without turning around. "Though, you shouldn't have allowed your helmet to smack against the shaft wall."

"Thanks for the tip," Kayo smiled, short of breath. "Now, if you would let me up. I would love to show you some more."

"Anything that I didn't teach you?" He taunted.

Kayo blushed, remembering that he had taught her. She really should get around to telling her brothers that she knew who the Mechanic was, at some point.

"Um, no," she admitted embarrassed.

"I thought not," the cyborg rumbled, but he still let her go. Kayo drew herself to full height as The Mechanic continued. "What are you doing here?"

"Project Sentinel?" Kayo probed. The Mechanic roared with laughter.

"Project Sentinel! that's just one of the Hood's projects that I'm reviving," he bragged. "And it's just a short-term terror device, anyway. Not like the others. Oh, Kayo, you wouldn't believe the things the Hood has shut down on his conscience."

The 20-yr old co ops officer frowned. That was certainly a disturbing discovery. She pressed on. "Such as?"

The Mechanic finally turned to her and glared. "You think I'm going to tell you." He adjusted something on his right wrist and a Wasp Mecha dropped down in front of Kayo, swung its saw and cut off her gun belt before tossing it aside.

The Mecha went to electrocute Kayo, but she was quicker, using both hands she grabbed its head and wrenched it off. She then reached over and snapped off the wasps tail (they were surprisingly fragile). Pulling her arm back, she flung it, still buzzing, at the Mechanic.

He jumped out of the way, and the tail hit a Scorpion Mecha that was just climbing down the wall to join them. The robotic arachnid sparked and dropped to the floor, down for the count.

Kayo jumped/dived towards her gun, but it was swept aside at the last second by a Snake Mecha, which then coiled around her outstretched arm. Kayo grabbed one of its heads (the Mechanic's snakes had one head on each side) and tried to shove it off, but the snakes other head came around and bit her on the shoulder.

As Kayo winced in pain, it uploaded an electronic virus into her uniform through its fangs, causing her suits circuitry to flare up and twist about, shredding her uniform to ribbons and sending electrical currents through her body.

Kayo screamed, the pain driving her to her feet. She slammed the drone against the wall and slammed her body into the drone,disabling it. The wicked contraption slipped off her arm and onto the floor.

Kayo turned and saw the Mechanic escaping to his ship, the Magna Prime. Grabbing her gun, she aimed at him and fired.

The Mechanic's head jerked and he crumpled to the ground.

Shocked at how easily it had happened, Kayo raced over to check on him.

The Mechanic pressed a button on his left wrist, and a square of the floor shot up with her on top of it. She was launched onto another square of floor, which tipped under her weight, revealing a vat of burning waste.

Fortunately, one of Kayo's Gecko Gloves still worked, and she used it to grip the floor as it continued tipping. The Mechanic came over, she could now see that it had been a holographic drone.

"Sorry, kid," he apologized, actually sincere, as he pulled out his 'drill' and shot her hand.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Kayo yelled as she slipped down over the edge towards the burning pit below.

From watching the series Kayo appears to be left-handed, which is why I made the comment in here.

Hope you enjoyed.