We made it to the spot where our group hid stuff for us with little to no incident, and I bit back a sigh of relief and relaxed just a little.

Timothy looked at me and grinned, and I scowled and narrowed my eyes when I noticed him looking at a grin.

"What?" I asked, feeling a bit defensive, while I went over to the boxes and started to look for one that had my name on it. "What do you want?"

Timothy shook his head, still amused. "You amaze me sometimes," he said, and I paused, looked at him, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"How?"

He smiled and shook his head before he cleared his throat. "You just do, Joy," he said softly.

I rolled my eyes and scowled before I turned my attention back to the boxes and found one that had my name on it. "Very funny," I said coldly. I grabbed one of the boxes and opened it, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw that there was something that would take the tracker out of my arm. "I just don't want to be this short any longer."

"Or young?" Timothy asked and raised an eyebrow, amused. He walked over to me, looking and feeling confident.

Again, I rolled my eyes but didn't respond while I sat down and started to set it up so that it would work.

"Come on, Joy, are you sure that you don't want to stay this short for longer?" he teased while he sat down beside me. He started to reach out to pat my head with a stupid smirk on his face.

I ducked my head under his hand and moved one arm back and closed my hand into a fist, and he instantly pulled his arm back with a laugh. "Touch my head, and you will die a very painful death," I said, baring my teeth.

Timothy bit back a snicker, placed his hand down and back into his lap. "Are you going to need help?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged and pressed my lips into a thin line, annoyed. "Probably," I replied while I finished setting up the tool. "Go ahead and try to find a box with your name. It might or might not have the same so you can do it on your own. I'll let you know if I need help with mine."

"No, you won't," Timmy said, and I rolled my eyes and scowled because he was right; I wouldn't ask for help. He held out his hand for me to put my tracker remover tool in it. "Here," he said. "Let me help you get it out so that you can change yourself back into your normal form. Is your skin still soft?"

I nodded in confirmation and handed it to him. "Here," I said, and he nodded and took it. "Just make sure that it hasn't moved before you stab me with that stupid thing." I narrowed my eyes and bared my teeth in warning.

Timmy snorted and bit back a smirk. "I know," he teased. "Don't worry. I'll make sure that I don't stab you too hard so that you won't be "forced" to stab me harder." He smiled and winked playfully.

Oh brother...

I held back an eye roll and looked away from him while I held out my arm. My whole body was tense while I waited for him to take out the chip and silently prayed that he wouldn't take too long and get it over with so that I could have my arm back.

Timothy bit back a small chuckle before he gently grabbed my arm and moved it until he could put the tracker remover tool against the spot where the tracker had been placed.

Silently, he pressed the button to see it had been moved and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the tracker didn't. "It hasn't moved, Joy," he said before he looked at me with wide eyes.

"Then take it out," I replied with a small snap in my voice. "Why are you taking so long? Why did you have to tell me that it hasn't moved and just remove it, period?"

"Temper, temper," Timothy teased while he narrowed his eyes playfully, and I hissed in a small warning while I narrowed my eyes. "I know, I know, I am going to remove it on the count of three."

"T-"

"One," he said, interrupting me and calibrating the tool until it was set to remove the tracker without any damage to my body except for a small pinprick the size of a needle.

"W-"

"Two," he said while he nodded when it went ding, letting us know that it was set and ready to be used.

"I sw-"

"Three!" he exclaimed and pressed the button again.

There was a sharp sting of pain in my arm, and Timothy grabbed my hand tighter to make sure that I didn't pull away. "There you go," he said when it went bing, and the chip was removed from my arm, and he took it away from my arm. "How was that?" He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head while he studied me with a small smile on his face.

I bit back a small sigh of relief while I opened my eyes. "Are you ready?" I asked and raised an eyebrow, and he nodded in confirmation. "Hand it over." I held out my hand, and he handed the tracker remover to me.

"Would you like my arm, too?" Timothy teased while he handed me his arm. He grinned, and I rolled my eyes and scowled. "Now, now," he tsked before he chuckled and shook his head. "Make it quick so that you can shift back into your actual form."

I rolled my eyes again and held his arm before I placed the tracker remover over the chip. "Ready?" I asked and raised an eyebrow while I looked at him.

Timothy nodded in confirmation. "I am," he confirmed. He raised an eyebrow while he smiled amused. "Are you going to give me a-"

"No," I said, interrupting him before I clicked the trigger to start the machine.

Timothy bit his lip and tried to jerk his arm away from me, but I grabbed it tighter so that he couldn't. "Shit, Joy," he said, and I bit back a small satisfied smirk. "Damn it, Joy. Why didn't you warn me that it was going to happen?"

"Because you didn't need to know," I replied, and he scoffed and rolled his eyes but wasn't surprised. I kept my eyes on the tracker remover tool, waiting for it to go bing and let me know that the chip had been removed.

Finally, the machine went bing, and I removed the tracker remover tool from his arm.

"There," I said and handed the machine back to him. "It's out."

"Good," he said and took it from me. "Now, go ahead and shift back into your true form, even though you look too cute like this." He patted my head, and I scowled and narrowed my eyes while I swatted his hand away from my head.

"Stop," I warned. "Why do you keep wanting to pat my head?"

"Because you look cute," he replied. He cleared his throat and grew serious. "Do you need me to turn around?" he asked and raised an eyebrow while he gave me the side eye. "You won't be naked when you become your normal self, will you?"

I shook my head no. "I won't be naked," I replied, and he bit back a sigh of relief. "Briggs made sure that I had something that would be able to transform with me."

He nodded and shifted on his feet. "Go ahead and transform back into your older form." He paused and cleared his throat again while he looked this way and that before he looked at me. "I'm... going to turn around, anyway, even though you won't be naked..." He did what he said he would do and turned around, and I rolled my eyes and scowled.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before I transformed back into my regular human form. My whole body grew warm, and my limbs started to lengthen and expand until I was my natural height.

"Are you done?" Timothy asked. "Or how long does it take?"

"I am done," I said and opened my eyes when I stopped changing back to my normal form. My voice was deeper and more feminine, and I looked around to see that everything was smaller than it had been when I was a child.

Timothy turned around and looked at me, giving me a small soft smile, and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him, feeling slightly defensive.

"What?" I asked, my voice hard and cold. "What is it?"

Timothy's eyes grew wide, and his cheeks turned red. "Hmm?" he asked. "What is what?" He cocked his head and studied me, and his cheeks turned a bit redder. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes and scowled while I narrowed my eyes and scowled. "What's with the soft smile?" I asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh. It's nothing," he said and cleared his throat while he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Come on. We should get going. Do you know if there are any weapons in here that we can use?" he asked and changed the subject while he raised an eyebrow, and I held back an eye roll while I scowled.

"Of course there is," I said and stuffed the tracker remover into my belt. "Why do you think we are here and not somewhere else?"

Timothy shrugged. "Don't know," he replied, and I bit back a small sigh while I shook my head. "Do you think that we can get a group out here now?" he asked, changing the subject. "I think it might be time we rescue these children, especially since my position has been compromised already?"

I pursed my lips and opened the screen to look to see that Briggs was able to send people out toward us and that we should start getting people out of the building. "They've sent people," I said and messaged Briggs to let him know that I was able to get Timothy, and we were able to get the trackers out of our arms.

"Good," Timothy said and nodded. He cleared his throat while he grew serious and raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean we should start kicking some alien's ass?" he asked.

I nodded in confirmation and went to look at the other totes in the room to find some weapons. I gestured for him to get some and started to pick up some of mine.

"Lets."