"NO...I just...need to think."
"We don't have time to think!" Biff ran toward the mysterious men in blue. They ignored him as they carried Yuki's brother and parents into the McMillan mansion.
"Biff!" Jon was watching his classmate from a distance. The football star bounced against ... nothing? Was Jon seeing things? It was hard to see at night.
Biff fell to the ground, then got up and tried to attack the workmen again with the same result.
Jon was moved by how Biff was willing to fight for strangers. Biff had been a jerk, but now he was a hero. Now Jon felt like a jerk for standing by while the Meshidas were going to end up like Sarah and Zoe. Not that he minded his new sister, but still ...
Jon sprinted toward Biff. "I'm coming -" He collided into an invisible cushion that hurled him backwards.
Biff stumbled toward Jon. "Like I said, we need a game plan. Had to try one more time anyway. This invisible thing ... it wasn't there when I tried to stop them from getting Wesley. It's like this bigger operation is more important. Needs more protection."
"Against us." Jon was on his feet again. "Not that we can do anything. They - whoever they are - can do anything they want to us."
"I know."
"I believe you, Biff." Jon was impressed. Biff wasn't as dumb as he seemed. He might not have gotten the best grades, but in a crisis like this, he was doing pretty well. Better than me, thought Jon. At least I tried, however late.
"If we can't stop them," said Biff, "maybe we can do something to their truck. All the blue guys might be in the house."
"Unmanned." Jon looked at the truck. "Unprotected." Biff really could be sharp when the stakes were high enough.
Biff started walking toward the truck. "We might be able to find stuff in it. Like where my brother is."
Jon followed the tall athlete. "Like a list?"
"Yeah, maybe." Biff walked up a ramp leading to the open rear end of the truck. "Only way to find out is -" Biff blacked out upon stepping into the cargo area.
"Biff!" Jon was paralyzed by the sight of Biff's body lying motionless on the floor of the truck.
He didn't see the men in blue emerge from the McMillan house to pounce on him from behind.
Biff woke up on a bed in a cheerleader's bedroom. He'd been to similar rooms before, but he couldn't remember this one despite having been on this very bed many times with Sarah. Sunlight shone directly into his eyes as birds tweeted outside.
"Biff!" A girl was calling him. He didn't recognize her voice, but he liked it.
A teenager was standing over him. Her hair was brown with blonde highlights and her eyes were blue, yet she looked vaguely Asian. "It's me."
Biff stared at her. "Who's ... 'me'?"
"Jackie. Why are you looking at me like that, Biff?"
"Do I know you? Do we have classes together?" Biff couldn't imagine being in a class with such a babe and not noticing her.
"We have more than classes together," replied Jackie. She touched him with one hand and the bed with the other. "We've spent so much time ... here."
"What?" Biff wondered if Jackie was the stolen girlfriend Jon had been talking about. Did they - whoever they were - return her back to him? No, Jon called his stolen girlfriend something other than Jackie. Sierra? Had Jackie taken Sierra or whoever's place?
Biff had barely glimpsed Yuki in the dark and didn't even know she was Asian. And he still had no memory of Sarah. All he knew about Sarah besides a garbled version of her name was that she was his girlfriend before the men in blue stole her from him. Jackie looked as if she was transitioning from one race to another. Biff wondered if "Sierra" was an Asian turning White or the other way around. Either way, she was hot.
Biff would normally have been aroused. But he was just terrified.
And he was being watched. A camera in Jackie McMillan's room was recording the entire "reunion" of two people who had never met before, despite Jackie's memories of being Biff's girlfriend.
"He's partially resistant," said one voice.
"Yes," said another voice. "We successfully erased his memory of Sarah McMillan, but he doesn't remember Jackie McMillan. Look at how he blanks out when she mentions his sister Zoe. He still insists he has a brother named Wesley. I hypothesize his mind can only take a certain amount of reprogramming."
"Whereas Jon Madison was completely resistant to reprogramming. Until now ..."
Biff recognized a young male voice. "How is he?"
"He doesn't remember me," answered Jackie.
"What about me?" A teenage boy approached Biff who was still on Sarah's - now Jackie's - bed. He resembled Jackie. Same brown hair with blond highlights. Same blue eyes. Similar faces, though his lacked any Asian features. He looked right at Biff. "Your teammate."
No way, thought Biff. The guy didn't have a build for football, though he looked sturdier than ...
"Jon!?"
"Yeah?"
"He knows your name!" exclaimed Jackie. "He didn't know mine ..."
Biff pointed at Jackie. "You ... you look like her now."
"I've always looked like my twin sister, Biff."
" 'Twin'? Madison, you're no twin."
Now it was Jon's turn to be confused. "Who's Madison? Some girl?"
"No, that's your last name."
Jon turned toward Jackie. "Now I kinda know how you feel." He looked at Biff again. "We're McMillans."
"Is that the name you mentioned to me last night?" asked Biff. "You said my girlfriend was Sierra McSomething."
Jackie gasped. "Who the hell is Sierra?"
"Are you screwing around with someone else behind Jackie's back?" asked Jon. "Some girl we never heard of from out of town? I should kick you outta here right now for breaking my sister's heart!"
"I don't even know this Sierra," said Biff. "You're the one who mentioned her!"
"Jon, have you been keeping that bitch secret from me?" asked Jackie.
"I don't know what the hell he's talking about, Jackie!"
"My new technique works," said one voice. "Jon has no memory of last night. No true memory, to be precise."
"On the other hand," said the second voice, "your technique failed with Biff. Even his body has failed to McMillanize. Or conform to any other physical template. Our early success at deleting his memory of Sarah made us underestimate him. Should we keep him at the McMillans' for further observation?"
