Title: Reversed Images

Author: liz_Z

E-mail: liz_Z@secret-agent.com

Category: Action/Adventure/Alternate universe

Spoilers: Big ones for the Pilot

Season/Sequel info: Umm, I'm not exactly sure what to put here. Takes place during season 1... sort of...

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. But if they were, oh the things I could do!

Notes: I would like to take a moment to thank Invisible_Mom, Invision, and Critter_Keeper, who all helped me in one way or another to make this story possible. Thanks, ladies. Your help was much appreciated.

The night was dark, with a small smattering of clouds lying on the horizon. It was late, and all the people who lived in the neighborhood had gone to bed long ago. Nothing stirred except a stray branch blown by a gust of wind and the dark figure scaling a nearby high rise. He was dressed in black from head to toe, and he scaled the high rise with the speed and skill of an expert. Unless someone was purposely looking for him, they would have missed him completely.

The man finished climbing the wall and pulled himself up onto a small balcony. He slipped inside the house and, after a quick glance around the room, spotted the telltale safe in the wall. He smiled and pulled up his mask. Then he removed the black backpack he had been wearing and pulled out an electric drill. Placing a flashlight in his mouth so he could better see what he was doing, he proceeded to drill into the safe.

Once he finished he placed the drill back inside of his pack and pulled out a small explosive charge. He stuck it in the hole he'd made and set the timer for thirty seconds. Then he activated it and ducked around the corner. However, just before the bomb went off, an old man shuffled into view. He looked at the man in the shadows, a surprised expression on his face. "Hey, you're not the oxygen man!" The man in the shadows whirled around, revealing the face of a very startled Bobby Hobbes.

And then the safe blew.

The old man gasped in surprise and clutched his chest. Then he fell to the ground, in the throes of a heart attack. Bobby began to run for the exit, stepping right over the old man. However, just before he ran out the door, he stopped. He couldn't leave an old man dying on the ground, could he? He glanced at the man, then at the door, and then back at the old man. Finally he made his decision. He swore under his breath, but turned back to the old man, straddled him at the hips, and began to administer CPR.

The old man didn't respond. Bobby's efforts became more frantic. He pounded on the man's chest and yelled in frustration, "Come on you old fart, breath!"

Suddenly the old man came around, gasping for breath. Bobby collapsed on the old man, heaving a great sigh of relief. However, at that moment two security guards charged into the room, guns at the ready. "Freeze!" They yelled, aiming their guns at Bobby's head.

Bobby paled. "I knew I should've stayed in bed today..."

**********

Bobby lay on his prison cot and stared up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the sound of his cellmate's snoring. He frowned as he remembered what the judge had said. He was sentenced to life in prison without hope of parole. Well, that's just lovely, he thought sarcastically to himself. He knew one thing for sure; that was the last time he was going to listen to his conscience, at least when it came down to saving the lives of old men who he was in the process of robbing. Of course, now he wouldn't have to deal with that problem anyway.

Because of a bottleneck at the federal prison, he was being kept at the court's jail overnight. He had noticed almost immediately that the security was a little lax. He sighed. What he would've given for something- a pen, for instance- to pick the lock of his cell with. Unfortunately, he'd been too busy feeling sorry for himself in the courtroom to think of grabbing one.

Just then one of the guards walked up to Bobby's cell and rapped on the bars. "Robert Hobbes?"

Bobby sat up, wondering what was going on. "Yeah, that's me."

"You've got a visitor." With that, the guard unlocked the cell door and motioned for Bobby to come with him. Bobby followed, wondering who his visitor was. The guard led Bobby to a small room that actually seemed more like two rooms, the different sides divided by a wall of what was probably bulletproof glass, although Bobby wasn't sure. There were several chairs in front of the glass, and speakers that would allow people to talk back and forth from opposite sides of the barrier. Bobby sat down in one of the chairs and leaned back, waiting for his visitor to come into the room.

A man with brown hair and thick glasses walked into the room and sat down on the other side of the barrier. Bobby frowned. "Who're you?"

The man looked down at him. "My name is Kevin Fawkes."

"What are you doing here?"

Kevin folded his hands in front of him and assumed a business-like air. "I'm here to make you an offer."

"What sort of offer?" Bobby asked, giving the man a suspicious glare.

"An offer that will get you out of here."

Bobby leaned forward, suddenly very interested in what the man had to say. "I'm listening."

"The people I work for looked into your case and they decided that you got the shaft. They have a little pull with the justice department. It took a little greasing, but they agreed to make you an offer. It's a project, federal funded, kind of under the table. We finished animal testing a month ago and are ready for a volunteer."

Hobbes frowned. "Volunteer. You mean you're offering to make me a lab rat?"

" I mean you might be pardoned if you take the offer."

Hobbes gave Kevin a suspicious look. "What's this project thing about?"

"I can't get into it here. It's safe to say it will involve a little surgery-"

Hobbes stood up and began to back away. "Whoa, hold on a minute there. Did you just say surgery?"

"It's nothing I can't reverse."

"I don't care if you can reverse it or not! We're talking scalpels, and sponges, and those little suction tube thingies..." Hobbes paled a little. He'd never liked hospitals, and he really hated operating rooms. Just the thought of what could happen to him if something went wrong sent shivers up his spine.

Kevin sighed. "Look, I'm not saying it isn't a risk, but it's better than throwing your life away."

Bobby gave Kevin a wary look. "I don't trust anybody. Why should I trust you?"

"Because you don't have any other options."

Hobbes sat back down, thoroughly confused. He'd seen this sort of thing happen in movies and TV shows before, but he'd never thought it really happened. Hmm, he thought, maybe he should go along with this deal. Then again, all the people who did that in the movies usually ended up in a worse situation than they were before. He looked up at Kevin. The guy looked honest enough. To be frank, he looked kind of like Rick Moranis. Of course, that didn't give Bobby any reason to trust him. But the guy was right. Bobby didn't have any other options- except going to prison, of course. And in his opinion, that was definitely not an option.

***********

A nondescript, rusty old van drove down a deserted road. Inside, Bobby scowled at the floor. The van had been driving for nearly two hours, and Bobby was starting to get very bored. He leaned over and tapped Kevin on the shoulder. "Hey, when are we gonna get to wherever it is we're going?"

Kevin looked over at Bobby in annoyance. "We're almost there. Would you be patient?"

Several minutes later the van rolled to a stop. The back of the van opened, and Kevin stepped out. Bobby climbed out after him- and found himself in the middle of nowhere. The only things nearby were a small farmhouse and an old barn and silo. The farmhouse was sagging, and seemed about to fall over, and the barn was desperately in need of a new paint job. The place looked completely abandoned. Bobby sighed. After what he'd seen so far, he hadn't really been expecting much, but this fell far below even his lowest expectations.

A tumbleweed rolled near his foot; he kicked it in frustration, but all that accomplished was to get the stupid thing lodged on his foot. Kevin looked back at him, shaking his head in annoyance. "Mr. Hobbes, let's go!" Bobby pulled the tumbleweed off his shoe and threw it to the ground, crushing it with his feet as he walked off after Kevin. He noticed that several guards were following him. They were probably there to ensure that he didn't escape. He laughed to himself. Escape to where?

He followed Kevin through the door of the barn. Bobby followed, but when he stepped through he was surprised to see that it looked nothing like a barn. The room was filled with computers, various doctors and technicians, and countless security guards. Bobby raised one eyebrow. Apparently these buildings weren't as old and abandoned as he had thought.

Kevin turned to Bobby, a smug grin on his face. "So, what do you think?" he asked, motioning to the room.

Bobby nodded in appreciation. "Nice digs. Looks like something out of a spy movie."

Kevin smiled at Bobby's comment. "Well, I wouldn't quite say that, but we do have a pretty well-kept complex here. And you've hardly seen anything yet. Most of it is underground." He walked over to an elevator and pressed the call button. Bobby started to walk over to him, looking around the room in fascination. He'd always been a big science-fiction buff, and this whole place seemed very interesting. He walked up to Kevin just as the elevator doors opened. Kevin and Bobby stepped inside, and the elevator closed and began its descent.

After the elevator stopped and its doors swung open, Kevin led Bobby down several hallways and through another door. Inside, there was a group of people standing in a line, dressed all in white. Kevin gestured at the line of people. "Let me introduce you to the team. This is Dr. Invision, Optical Physics. This is Dr. Mecholah, Bio Physics. Dr. Joyce, Regal Topography. Dr. Harrell, Genetic Coding. This is Nurse Cotrofeld, Nurse Meyer." Bobby smiled at the two nurses. He'd have to find out more about them. Kevin continued with his briefing. "This is Dr. Rogers in Computer Modeling. This is Dr. Treysum, also Computer Modeling. Dr. Critterkeep, Endocrinology, and Dr. Arnaud de Thiel, Biochemistry." Kevin smiled and said, "He was the youngest graduate of Geneva University."

Bobby looked Arnaud up and down. The guy didn't look like much. He smiled and said sarcastically, "Wow. I'm impressed."

Arnaud glanced condescendingly at Bobby and said, with enough sarcasm in his voice to more than match Bobby, "It's an honor to meet you, Monsieur Hobbes."

Bobby frowned. Kevin, however, seemed unaware of the hostility that was radiating from Bobby. He laughed and said, "Arnaud has more degrees than the rest of us put together. We like to call him our Swiss Doogie Howser."

Arnaud smiled. "It's because they watch too much television. Next week I'll be James Bond."

Bobby smiled nastily. "Oh, that's really funny."

"Well, as I like to say, laughter is a man's only real weapon."

"You make that up?"

Arnaud smiled. "'Fraid so, you like?"

Before Bobby could answer, a voice rang out from the doorway. "Well personally, I think it was a lot funnier a hundred years ago, when Mark Twain said it." Bobby turned around to see a tall, lanky man with brown eyes and hair that had been styled so it stood straight up in the air. He was wearing an old leather jacket and holding a half-eaten apple in one hand. The man walked up to Arnaud, took a big bite out of his apple, and said, "You gonna take credit for Huck Finn too?"

Kevin motioned to the man who had just walked in and said, "And this is-"

Hobbes interrupted. "Special Agent Darien Fawkes, with the FBI."

Darien shook his head. "Formerly with the FBI."

Kevin gave Bobby a confused look. "You two know each other?"

Bobby glared at Darien. "I guess you could say that. He arrested me about six years ago."

Darien gave Bobby a sheepish grin and glanced over at Kevin, who was looking even more confused than before. Darien patted Kevin on the back. "It's a long story."

"I'll have to get you to tell it to me sometime," Kevin mumbled.

Darien looked over at Bobby. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm here, right?"

Bobby nodded. "That's putting it mildly."

"I'm... well, I guess you could say I'm the chief of security at this complex. And I've been specially instructed by my boss to make sure that you don't cause any trouble."

Bobby frowned. "Look, I don't need someone to make sure I stay in line, I can do that by myself."

Darien smiled cheekily at Bobby. "Hey, baby-sitting you isn't exactly my dream job either. I just do as I'm told."

***********

Bobby was sitting on a medical table and trying not to squirm as Arnaud prepared to inject a needle into his arm. It wasn't easy; he really didn't like needles. They always made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Still, he wasn't about to let this Arnaud guy know that right now. He didn't look very happy at the moment.

Arnaud injected the needle into Bobby's arm and grumbled, "Little prick."

Bobby frowned indignantly. "Hey, don't you go making cracks about my height."

Arnaud looked up at Bobby. "Hmm? Oh. Actually, I wasn't talking about you. I was referring to the human beanpole over there." He motioned in the general direction of Darien, who was sitting off in a corner of the room practicing his air guitar and humming softly to himself.

Darien looked up. "Human beanpole, huh?" He stood up and walked over to Arnaud, giving him a nasty smile. "All right, you Swiss-miss little Frenchman, I can trade insults with the best of 'em."

Bobby rolled his eyes. Darien and Arnaud had obviously been around each other long enough to develop a rapport of sorts, but it consisted mostly of throwing insults back and forth at each other until one of them walked out of the room. Bobby couldn't help but wonder why they hated each other so much.

Arnaud picked up another needle and injected it into Bobby's arm hard enough to pull him out of his thoughts and make him hiss in pain. Bobby frowned and glared at Arnaud. "Hey, watch what you're doing, will ya?"

Arnaud ignored Bobby's comment. He started muttering French obscenities aimed in Darien's direction and began prepping another needle, in a much more violent fashion than Bobby thought was necessary.

Bobby tapped Darien on the shoulder. "Hey! Excuse me, but this guy's holding a needle, and he's kind of aiming it at me. I'd like it to end up in my arm instead of my kidneys, so will you stop making him angry and let him stick it where it belongs?"

Darien sighed. "Fine." He stepped back. Arnaud injected the needle into Bobby's arm. Bobby suddenly felt very lightheaded. He was about to ask Arnaud just what was in that last needle, but before he had the chance he passed out, slumping forward. Arnaud caught him before he fell and laid him back down on the table. Darien looked down at Bobby and asked, "Anything else I need to do?"

Arnaud gave Darien a contemptuous sneer. "You have served your purpose. He didn't attempt escape, and he can't now that he's sedated. You may leave."

Darien walked toward the exit, muttering a few choice curses under his breath. Before he walked out the door, however, he glanced worriedly back at Bobby, rubbing the back of his neck absently. He wasn't sure exactly what the poor guy was getting into- Kevin hadn't been able to tell him very much about this project yet, it was all a bunch of need to know crap- but whatever it was, it didn't look like it was going to be pleasant. Darien wasn't looking forward to dealing with Bobby when he woke up.