Trust Machines
Double Or Nothing
by JMD
(featuring concepts by dkfenger)

"Well, shit," Tina hissed under her breath as she turned to look over her shoulder.  She had been enjoying a quiet Sunday evening with her best friend, but a casual glance into the mirror behind the bar had spoiled everything.

The blonde sitting across from her looked up to see what had caused her friend's exclamation.  Seeing Tina's boss checking out the room from the door, she smiled and held her hand out to Tina.  "Pay up, Bee-itch."

Tina narrowed her eyes at the grinning woman, but reached down for her purse by her chair.  Reaching in, she pulled out a twenty and slapped it into the outstretched hand.  "You know, Amy," she said, returning her purse to the floor.  "You don't have to gloat like that."

"Of course, I do," her best friend countered, slipping the bill into her top.  "How else will I ever teach you not to get your hopes up?  I told you, Sweetie.  Janice doesn't lose."

"She's lost before," Tina pointed out, watching as the bane of her existence crossed the room to the bar.

"Yes," Amy agreed, stirring her drink.  "But not for a very long time.  And never to a mousy little nerd like the one she left here with Friday."

Tina fumed for a second as her boss sat down next to Dirk Martino at the bar.  "I could beat her," she stated.

"Ooh," her friend oozed between sips.  "Looking to go from panty liner to tampon, are we?"

Tina frowned at her, which just got her a smile in return.  Amy knew that she didn't like to be reminded about the one time she'd made the mistake of getting into a Venn machine with Janice.  It was her first day at the TV station, and Janice had seemed nice.  It wasn't until she'd spent most of the day squeezed inside her new boss's skintight jeans that anyone bothered to tell her about Janice's cruel tendencies.

"Well," Tina protested, "I have to do something.  I didn't take this job just to be an intern.  I was supposed to be her on-air substitute whenever she wasn't able to do the forecast."

"Not gonna happen," Amy told her matter-of-factly.  "Face it.  Other than her looks, Janice isn't really qualified to be a weather person."

"My point exactly!" Tina cut in.

"Therefore," Amy went on, ignoring the interruption, "she's never going to give anyone a chance to show her up.  But go ahead and challenge her. Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll turn you into something she'll wear on the air."

"Not likely," Tina admitted, flopping back in her chair.  "Nothing that would show anyway."

"Now she's getting it."

Tina sat back forward.  "Why are you being so mean?" she asked, pointing a finger.  "You're my best friend.  You're supposed to support me."

"And have."  Amy gave her friend a wink.  "On two occasions, literally."  When she saw that her humor wasn't working, she sat her drink down.  "Look, Tee.  As long as I've known you, you've wanted to be a weather person.  All the way back to grade school.  That's not going to happen here.  You're going to have to go to another station."

Tina huffed in frustration.  "Don't you think I've tried that?  They're all looking for someone with on-air experience."

"No intern positions?"

"Sure," her friend answered.  "All I need is a recommendation from my current employer," she added with a pointed expression.

"Oh."

"Yeah."  She flopped back again.  "So, as you can see, I'm thoroughly screwed."

Amy's eyes brightened.  "Or should be," she commented.  

Tina eyed her friend suspiciously.  "Beg pardon?"

In reply, Amy pointed behind her friend toward the entrance.  "Hunk alert."

With a curious expression, Tina turned.  Coming through the door was what she had to admit was a nice looking guy.  He stopped in the entry and began to scan the bar.  With a smile, Tina shook her head before she turned back to her friend.  "No thanks," she said picking up her own drink.  "Not really my type.  Besides, I already have a boyfriend.  Remember?"

"Maybe," her friend nodded.  "But I don't see him around right now, do you?"

Tina just shook her head and sighed.

"Well, if you don't want him..."  Amy stopped, her face falling.  "Oh, too late."  At Tina's curious look, she pointed.  "Looks like he's interested in someone else."

Tina followed the finger and saw the man moving quickly across the bar.  Her eyes shot open when it became obvious where he was heading.  "You've got to be fucking kidding me," she spat out, barely able to keep it at a whisper.

Amy went back to her drink.  "Yup," she said with a slight smile.  "Janice wins again."

Tina took a second to stick her tongue out at her friend -- which only increased the size of Amy's smile -- before turning back to watch the man approach Janice.  It was obvious that he wanted to talk to her, but he'd stopped a few feet behind her and just stood there.  Janice, meanwhile, seemed oblivious to his presence, continuing to talk to that idiot sportscaster from the station, Martino.  Tina knew better than that, however.  She had seen Janice notice him in the mirror behind the bar.  So, the bitch had to be purposefully ignoring him for some reason.

For his part, the guy gave her almost a minute before his patience gave out.  He finally reached forward to tap her on the shoulder.  But before he made contact, Janice abruptly spun around on her barstool, causing him to draw his hand back quickly.

"Yes, Grant," Janice said, loud enough for everyone to hear.  "What can I do for you?"

The guy -- Grant? -- answered her, but Tina couldn't make out what he said.

Apparently that wasn't good enough for Janice either.  "I'm sorry," she told him, cupping her hand to her ear.  "I didn't quite get that."

Grant sighed heavily, before speaking again, louder this time.  "I said I want her back."

"Her?" Janice asked, making a show of her obviously fake confusion.  A moment later, her face brightened.  "Oh, you mean your wife.  The one who came in here and challenged me a couple of nights ago."

Tina saw Grant take a second before answering.  "Yeah.  Her."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to say no," Janice replied casually.  Grant started to protest, but she cut him off.  "Now, Grant.  I thought you knew how this worked.  After all, aren't you some kind of Venn expert or something?"

"Venn cosmetologist," he corrected her.

"Well, then you should understand that she lost our duel..."

"Your second duel," he corrected again.

Tina turned to Amy and mouthed the word "second" to her.  Amy responded with a nod.  "She lost," Tina pointed out.  

Amy shrugged.  "Once," she admitted, before adding, "And then she didn't."

Tina gave her friend the evil eye before turning back to the standoff at the bar

"Whatever," Janice said in frustration.  "The fact remains, she lost.  And now, she's mine."  As she said it, she gave her bosom a quick pat.  "You'll just have to wait until her time is up before you get her back."  She started to turn her back on him.

"I'm not letting you keep her for a month," Grant insisted.

"Hey!" Janice snapped, spinning back to him.  "If she wasn't willing to risk being mine for a month, she shouldn't have suggested it.  But she did, didn't she?  And then, she lost.  You hear that?  Lost!  For the next month, she's mine!  Mine!"  She paused to let it sink in.  "Now, go away.  You're not getting her back.  If you need company in bed for the next few weeks, there's a sex shop around the corner.  I'm sure you'll find something there to do the job."

Turning away again, she made it clear that she was done arguing.  With the entertainment over, the bar crowd went back to their individual conversations, leaving Grant to his defeat.

"Ouch," Amy commented softly.  "Harsh."

Tina silently agreed with a slight nod, though she didn't take her eyes off the scene at the bar.  Grant continued to stare at Janice's dismissive back, his fists slowly opening and closing.  He looked like he was seconds away from snatching the woman from her seat and beating her senseless.

As he took a step forward, Tina began to lift herself out of her chair.  Like it or not, she couldn't just let him attack her boss.  "I can't believe I'm doing this," she told herself with a heavy sigh.

"Tee?" Amy asked with a confused expression.  "What..."

"Janice!"

In an instant, the entire bar was plunged back into silence.  Tina stopped in mid-lift, watching as her boss slowly turned back to face the angry man.  "What now?" she asked, apparently unworried.

"I challenge you," Grant snarled, making sure his voice carried.

For the first time, Janice looked concerned.  "What?"

"You heard me," Grant said.

"The entire place heard you," Amy commented, as Tina slowly sank back to her seat.

"I challenge you," Grant announced again.  "To a Quick Draw duel.  Right now."

"And why should I accept?" she asked.  She slowly glanced around, obviously aware of the attention focused on her.

"Why wouldn't you?" Grant smiled back.  "You're not afraid, are you?"

Janice didn't answer right away.  But Tina knew her boss better than anyone and she could see it.  Janice may not have been afraid, but she was concerned.

"Of course, I'm not afraid," Janice denied with a shake of her head.  "It's just...  What's in it for me?"

Grant smiled and held his hands out.  "Me, of course," he told her.  Before Janice could commented, he went on.  "You said it yourself.  My wife is yours for the next month.  Why not go for the set?"

"Double or nothing," commented Dirk Martino from beside her with a grin.

"Shut up, Dirk," Janice shot, hitting the sportscaster in the ribs with her elbow.  To Grant, she said, "You actually want to join Jane here?"  Again, she patted her chest.

"No," Grant admitted.  "I want Jane out of there.  But since you've made it clear you're not just going to give her to me..."

"So, if you win..."

"If I win," Grant continued for her with a sly grin, "you won't need her anymore."  He let that sink in for a moment.  "So, what's it going to be?  Accept the challenge?  Or admit defeat and give her to me right now?  I'm good either way."

Janice just stared back at him for a second.  "You're talking about us doing this for a month, right?  Just like me and Jane did?"

Grant glanced at Dirk before nodding.  "Like he said.  Double or nothing."

"He's got her," Tina whispered, unable to take her eyes off the exchange.  "There's no way she can back out of this now."

"Well?" Grant prompted again.

"Well," Janice replied slowly, "I'm not..."  She bite her lip for a second.  "I mean...  Well, I do have a weather forecast to do tomorrow evening, you know?"

"Funny," Grant commented.  "That didn't seem to bother you when Jane suggested a month a couple of hours ago."

"Yeah, well..."

"Come on, Janice," he cut her off.  "You honestly expect me to believe that your station doesn't have a back up ready in case you were unable to do the weather some time?"

Instantly, Tina found herself eye to eye with her boss.  "Aw, shit," the girl said under her breath.  Would she do it?  Would Janice actually give up her prize to keep Tina from doing the weather in her place?

"Never mind," Grant said before Janice could answer.  "I'll make you a deal."

Janice looked at him suspiciously.  "I'm listening."

"Pick a second," he told her.

Janice looked genuinely surprised.  "A second?"

"I just want my wife back, Janice," Grant explained.  "After I've got her, I don't really care about you anymore.  So, bring someone along who can get you back to normal when I leave."

"If you leave, you mean," Janice said automatically.

Grant's frustration was obvious.  "Fine," he relented.  "If I leave."

Janice gave it some thought.  "Okay," she nodded.  "You're on."

"Good," Grant told her.  "Pick your second."

Janice glanced over to the sportscaster beside her.  Dirk gave her a predatory leer in response.  "No," she said.  "I don't think so."  She turned to again look at her intern.  "Tina!"

"No!" Tina shouted back, this time making it to her feet.  "Janice, I don't want no part of this."

"Double negative, Sweetie," Amy corrected her, smiling into her drink.

Tina had a second to glare down at her before Janice slid off her barstool and headed her way.  "Too bad," her boss told her, closing the distance.  "Because if you want to keep your job, you'll make sure that I'm able to do mine."  She leaned in for emphasis.  "Got it?"

Tina sighed in defeat.  "Got it."

"Good.  Let's go."  Janice turned and headed for the door.  "Coming, Grant?" she called over her shoulder without turning to look.  Across the room, the man followed her out the door.

Tina turned back to her friend.  "Come on," she ordered.

"Oh, no," Amy shook her head.  "This has nothing to do with me."

Tina leaned onto the table.  "Listen to me," she said.  "Remember that thing I agreed to do later?"  Amy just nodded.  "Well, if you still want me to do it, you'll get that dainty little ass of yours out of that chair and back me up."  It was her turn to pause.  "Got it?"

Amy just looked up at her with a sour expression.  "You've been working for Janice too long."

Tina sighed.  "Tell me about it," she agreed, reaching for her purse on the floor.  "Now, let's go."

As they came out of the building, they saw that Janice and Grant were already halfway across the mall parking lot where the bar was located.  As they rushed to catch up, Tina turned to her friend.  "So, what do you think?" she asked.  "A bra?"

"You mean the wife?"

Tina nodded in reply.  

"No way," Amy answered.  "That's WAY too normal for Janice."

"So what?"

"I'm guessing that she's Janice's boobs."

Tina stopped in her tracks.  "Is that even possible?"

"I have no idea," Amy shrugged without stopping to wait on her friend.  "But you've got to admit.  If anyone can find a way to do it..."  She glanced back over her shoulder with a crooked grin.

Tina had to agree she had a point as she rushed to catch up.  At the mall, Amy opened the door and held it for her.  Tina considered not going in, but after a second realized she didn't really have a choice.  So, with another sigh, she walked into the mall.

The Venn Machine was located in a small alcove just inside the door.  Grant was in the process of setting it up as they got there.  As the doors appeared, he stepped back.  "Ready?" he asked.

"Not quite," Janice told him.  She turned to her employee, who was standing as far away from the machine as the little alcove would allow.  "After all," she added, crossing the short distance, "we don't want your wife getting away just yet, do we?"  Making sure that Grant couldn't see, she reached into the front of her shirt and rooted around before she drawing it back out.  "Here," she said, holding the hand out to Tina.  "Hold onto her for me."

Cautiously, Tina held out her own hand.  Carefully, Janice dropped something into it.  Drawing it back, Tina looked down. In her palm, she held a single hand rolled cigarette.  In shock, she looked back up at her boss.  "Is she...?" she asked in a whisper.  Janice just winked at her before turning back to the Venn.  Tina quickly hid her hand in the pocket of her coat.

"I didn't see.  Is she what?" Amy asked, but Tina just shook her head in response.

"Okay," Janice called out as she got back to the Venn.  Grant just gestured to one side of the machine.  With a bow, Janice climbed into one side, her door disappearing.  Without a word, he climbed in the other.  A second later, his door also disappeared.

"And they're off," Amy said.  

Tina turned to see that her friend had pulled out her phone.  Leaning to get a better look, she saw that Amy had the stopwatch feature running.  "What are you doing?"

"Timing them," her friend answered.

"Why?"

Amy shrugged.  "I've always done it."

"Oh?" Tina asked.  "Did you time mine?"

Amy smiled.  "One minute, two point four-three seconds."

"Really?" Tina asked with a surprised expression.  "It seemed quicker than that."  

"It was," Amy confirmed.  "I was including the forty-eight seconds it took for the doors to reappear after you lost.  It actually only took her about fourteen seconds to turn you into a panty shield."

Tina opened her mouth to say something, but Amy's crooked smile stopped her.  She knew that her friend was just trying to get her going, and she refused to give her the satisfaction.  So, she just turned back to wait for the current contest to be over.

She didn't have to wait long.  The doors reappeared almost as soon as she turned back.  A second later, Grant emerged from his side of the machine.  Unlike most winners in Quick Draw contests, however, he didn't go to the other door to claim his prize.  Instead, he made a beeline for Tina.

"Holy crap!" Amy breathed from beside her.  "Forty-nine, point six-three seconds."  She held the phone out for Tina to see.  "He got her in less than two seconds."

Tina ignored the held out phone, focusing instead on the man that had closed the distance between them and was standing in front of her.  Amy turned her attention to Grant, as well.  "Dude!" she said, admiration in her tone, "That was the fastest Quick Draw I've ever seen."  She held up her fist for him to bump, but the man ignored her altogether.  

Looking Tina directly in the eyes, Grant simply held out his hand.  With a single swallow, she drew the man's transformed wife from her pocket and dropped her into his opened palm.  With a downward glance, he took in the cigarette that was his wife.  He looked back up at the woman before him with questioning eyes.  Tina just shrugged in reply.  

Amy made sure that she was able to see what Janice had done this time.  Seeing the cigarette in the man's hand, she got a crooked smile on her face.  "So, you going to smoke her or what?"

Tina grimaced, as Grant cut his eyes sharply to the girl -- who was smart enough to look away -- before slipping his wife into the pocket of his coat.

"You're not going to turn her back?" Tina asked in surprise.

"Of course I am," Grant scolded her.  A second later, his stern expression softened.  "Just not here."  

At Tina's curious look, he nodded his head over her shoulder.  Tina turned to see what he was trying to tell her.  She was surprised to see a crowd of about twenty people filling the open mall area near the opening of the alcove.  She recognized several people from the station.  "Where did they come from?" she asked.

"Apparently," Grant commented, "they wanted to see if I could actually win or not."

"Apparently," Tina agreed.

"I can't help but notice," Amy added with more than a little sarcasm, "that they all made sure they had room for a quick escape in case you didn't."

Tina and Grant shared a smile at the comment.  Then, Grant cocked his head over his shoulder.  "She's all yours," he told Tina.  "Do whatever you want with her."  With a quick nod to Amy, he moved around the two of them and headed for the exit.  The crowd parted long enough for him to get past.  

"He is SO going to smoke her," Amy said with a grin.  Her friend just rolled her eyes in response.

The crowd continued to watch after him until he was out of sight.  Then, as a group, they turned back and stared at the open door in Janice's side of the Venn.  After a few seconds, their eyes turned to Tina, who just stared back at them.

"What?"

"They're waiting for you to go see what Janice is," Amy commented.

"I know what they're waiting for," Tina answered.  "Why am I always the one that has to deal with Janice's messes?"

"Because nobody's better at it than you are."

Tina turned to her friend, who was smiling at her.  This time, however, there was no teasing in the smile.  After a moment, she smiled back at her best friend.  "Yeah," she admitted to herself, "I guess I am."  She sighed, and turned back to the Venn.  "Oh, well.  Might as well get this over with."

Slowly, she approached the open door of the machine.  She felt a momentary surge of panic as she saw what appeared to be an unchanged Janice facing the window between the two sides of the booth.  But when she realized that her boss was completely motionless, she relaxed and stepped inside for a closer look.

And smiled.

Janice had been reduced to a cardboard cutout of herself, complete with a crosspiece in back to keep her from falling over.  She stood up straight with her right hand raised.  The index finger of the hand was extended, most likely to pick a selection from the display before her.  Her lips were slightly parted as if she was just about to say something.  Tina knew from her own duel, that Janice liked to taunt her opponents.  Obviously, she didn't get the chance this time.  From the lack of surprise showing on her face, Tina figured that the woman hadn't even had time to realize she had lost.

Tina wondered if Janice was looking back at her.  She'd heard that, even as inanimate objects, some Venn changes still allowed people to see and even hear to some degree.  Janice still had eyes, so she supposed it was possible.  She waved her hand in front of the woman's face, then felt silly for doing so.  Of course, the eyes didn't register the action.  Janice was completely frozen.

And would be for a month, Tina thought with a smile.

She stood back and took another look at the woman.  As she did, she realized something else.  With her raised hand and pointed finger, Janice looked just like she did when she was doing one of her weather forecasts.  Even her slightly parted lips gave the impression that she was about to give out some important information about cold fronts or high pressure systems.  Stand her in front of her weather maps, and, except for the jeans and jacket, Janice would look right at home.

For a moment, she considered doing just that.  After all, Janice had ordered her to make sure she'd be able to DO her job.  She never specified HOW.  But Janice had also made it clear that if Tina didn't get her back to normal, she'd be out of a job.  And without a recommendation from the bitch, she could forget getting another any time soon.

Still...

Tina continued to look at her flattened boss, going over her options.  As Amy had pointed out back at the bar, it was pretty obvious that she was never going to get anywhere working for Janice.  So, maybe it was time for a little risk taking.  With a nod, she made up her mind.

"Amy!" Tina called out.

"What?"

Tina jumped as the question came from directly behind her.  "Don't do that!" she shouted turning to find the girl standing just outside the door of the Venn.

"Sorry," Amy told her.  "When you didn't come back out I got worried."

Tina nodded, getting her heartbeat back under control.  "Okay," she said.  "You're forgiven."

"Yay," Amy said with her trademark sarcasm.  "So, what did you want?"

"What I want," Tina said, holding out her hand, "is my twenty back."

"Oh?"  She looked past her friend, seeing Janice for the first time.  "Oh."  She turned back to her friend, placing her hand protectively over her exposed cleavage.  "No way.  Our bet was whether or not she lost her duel with the nerd.  Not to her husband."

Tina considered that.  "Fair enough," she said, dropping her hand.  "Okay.  New bet, then."

"Listening."

Tina turned and picked up her cardboard boss, looking directly into Janice's unblinking eyes.  "I bet you that I get to do the weather tomorrow night AND get to keep my job afterwards."

Amy huffed at her.  "Oh, yeah?  And how do you plan to pull that one off?"

"Not sure yet," Tina admitted.  "But I'll figure something out."  She turned to look over her shoulder.  "So...  Bet?"

'"That depends," her friend answered.  "What are the terms?"

Tina smiled at her.  "What else?" she said, turning Janice and slipping her under her arm.  "Double or nothing."