"A field tablet. Coulson requested one that wouldn't die the instant it was hit with an attack." Tony grinned. "So you can test it for me."

"I'd ask why Coulson wants it, but his Gallade is always on a tablet, so that's probably why," Maeve said. She looked at him. "You know I'm not usually a field agent, right?"

"I know, but at the moment you're more active than Julie. I've got one for her to test too. I figured you can test the battery and charging stuff, and once Julie's back on duty she can take it and run around with it." Tony shrugged. He had a plan, really.

"Alright," Maeve said. She could put the battery through its paces, at least. "We can do that."

"Good." Tony left her with the tablet. "And now onto the next project until I get the results from this one."

"Which project is that?" Maeve asked, curious. She was about to say something else when Ditto suddenly wasn't on her shoulders anymore. She glanced around, and grinned a bit when she saw a pair of Porygon-Zs looking at each other curiously. "And there goes Ditto. It must not have ever encountered a Porygon-Z before."

Tony blinked at that when he saw the two. "What just happened?" he asked, going over to crouch by the two. "What is this?" He was very tempted to poke them both, and it took him a second to figure out which was his. But only a second or two because he freaking knew Porygon-Z.

"One of them is Ditto," Maeve said. She grinned. "I told you it can turn itself into any pokemon."

"Yea, but you telling me and me seeing it are two very different things." Tony reached over and patted Porygon on the head. "What I don't know is how Ditto does it. And I want to know."

"I'm not sure how it does it, either," Maeve admitted as she gathered up Ditto. The pokemon reverted back to its normal blobby form. "The only technique it ever learns naturally is Transform, but it's something about its genetic makeup that lets it change shape."

Tony's hands actually twitched a little. And now he wanted a genetic sample.

"One day I need to get a genetic sample and see how this works."

At the word 'sample,' Ditto squeaked and did its best to hide itself behind Maeve.

"Maybe not from this one," Maeve said, glancing from Tony to Ditto and back again.

"You know of another one I can get a sample from?" Tony asked. "Besides, all I need is a cheek swab."

Ditto squeaked again and tried to make itself smaller and Maeve sighed.

"Not right now, at least," she said.

"No, not right now. I did say one day." Tony shrugged. He didn't really want to upset the pokemon, after all.

Maeve nodded and picked up Ditto, cuddling the little thing. Ditto trilled a little and snuggled close.

Tony snorted and shook his head. Time to get back to work. Patting Porygon again and letting the pokemon follow him over to the workbench, he started figuring out a translation program.

"So what project is this, again?" Maeve asked as she wandered over. "I don't think I ever got around to asking." Or she might have, she didn't remember. She was still worn out from her assignment.

"Translation," Tony said, bent over his work. "So I can actually understand Gardevoir when she decides to come down here and help."

"That's neat," Maeve said, looking over his shoulder a bit. "She came down to help?"

"While you were still asleep. I had her destroy one of the tablets to see how long it would take." Tony shrugged. "And I can't understand her like you can."

"You tested with Gardevoir?" Maeve asked, thinking. "You may want to re-test later with something with more raw power." She glanced at Ditto, thinking. "A Tyrannitar or a Dragonite or something, maybe..."

Ditto perked up a bit at that and squirmed out of Maeve's arms. It had seen both of those pokemon before, so it could still copy them.

"Sure, might as well, I've got extra." Tony shrugged and set up a tablet over in the same area. "If he feels up to testing."

Ditto quailed a bit at the word 'testing', but didn't refuse. It looked at Maeve, who nodded.

"Tyrannitar," she said to it. Almost immediately, Ditto morphed into a huge, battle-scarred Tyrannitar. It roared a bit, and then looked at Maeve, who looked at Tony. "Ready?"

"Whenever you are," Tony said, moving out of the way to give Ditto room to test and attack the tablet.