Title: Destined to Fall
Author: liz_Z
E-mail: liz_Z@secret-agent.com
Category: Action/Adventure/Alternate Universe
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Reference to 'Father Figure'. Other than that, nothing- for the actual show, anyway. *evil grin*
Season/Sequel info: Prequel to my previous fic, 'Reversed Images'; takes place approximately six years before said fic.
Disclaimer: They're not mine and I'm not making any money off of 'em, so don't sue me. I've barely got two pennies to rub together (although that's mainly due to the fact that I've been rubbing them together for so long that they're starting to get really worn down).
Author's notes: Okay, a couple of really close friends have been begging me for a sequel to 'Reversed Images' for months now (they know who they are). But I figured that, before I explored Bobby's exploits over at the Agency that take place in my alternate universe, I should explore how he and Darien first met in my AU. So, my friends (you know who you are), here's a prequel. The sequels may be coming later. And if they do, there'll be a bunch of 'em. In for a penny, in for a pound, if you know what I mean...
To read 'Reversed Images', go here: http://www.geocities.com/the_padded_cell2001/reversedimages.html
Darien Fawkes was pleased with himself. He'd just managed to worm his way into a very infamous thieving ring. Not that it had been easy; on the contrary, it had been exceedingly difficult. But Darien had managed to get in, and that was why he was so pleased with himself. Having managed this, he was a little closer to his goal, to what would get him out of the lousy undercover job that had been assigned to him nearly a year ago by his boss over at the FBI.
Well, Darien admitted to himself, his assignment hadn't been completely crappy; at least he'd learned how to pick a lock, as well as how to crack just about any kind of security system ever made to date. That was never a bad thing to have under your belt.
He walked toward the building he had been instructed to go to by his new 'boss' earlier over the phone; supposedly, the other members of the ring were going to be meeting there. Darien took a deep breath as he walked up to the door, and then let it out. The moment he walked through this door he could no longer afford to be Darien Fawkes, undercover fed. Instead he would have to be the same person he had been for the past eleven months- Darien Fielding, jewelry thief extraordinaire.
Taking another deep breath in and out, Darien forced his federal agent self to the back of his mind. Then he rang the doorbell and casually leaned against the wall beside it, running a hand haphazardly through his hair. Unbidden, a thought flitted through his mind; one of the few bad things about returning to the FBI would be that he would once again have to assume a regulation haircut. Over the past several months he had discovered that he enjoyed styling his hair so that it stuck straight up in the air. He felt that it gave him a wild, untamed look.
The door to the house opened, bringing Darien's thoughts back to the present. A burly, heavyset man with greasy black hair and sunken gray eyes looked out of the open door, seeming a little puzzled as to why no one was standing before him. Darien pulled away from the wall, stepping up to the man and giving him a cheeky grin. "Hey, I heard you guys were having a party so I figured I'd drop by. Even brought my own party favor," he said, holding up his lock-pick.
The man glared distrustfully at Darien for a moment and then said in a gruff voice, "Come in." He stepped out of the way and Darien walked in the door. The first thing he noticed was that the décor in this house was sadly lacking. It was obvious that this place was not normally lived in or, if it was, that it probably belonged to a very tasteless bachelor.
The man led Darien into a small- and extremely dirty- living room, where a group of three other men were gathered. Darien immediately recognized one of the men as Fabio, the man who had hired him. However, he didn't recognize any of the other people in the room, including the man who had let him into the house.
As Darien entered the room, Fabio stood to his feet. "Ah, our newest member of the team has arrived." He turned to the rest of the men in the room. "Gentlemen, this is Darien Fielding. He's our new resident expert on lock-picking and disabling security systems."
A short balding man who was sitting in a corner of the room cleared his throat and said in a loud tone, "So Fielding, what've you got? How am I supposed to know you're any good?"
Darien's lips curled upward in a grin similar to the one he had given the man who had met him at the door. "You know that job that got pulled over at the Delaney place last month? That was me."
The man who had let Darien into the house earlier snorted derisively. "C'mon man, you've gotta do better than that. I've heard at least three guys claim to be the ones who pulled off that job in the last week alone."
Darien's grin widened. "Yeah, but none of them had the goods to prove it." With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large diamond necklace that had belonged to Mrs. Delaney. He really had stolen the necklace, as well as several other expensive items in the Delaney household; after all, the job had to be as authentic as possible. However, he had later returned everything but the necklace that was currently in his hands, and after tonight that too would be finding its way back to its rightful owner.
The man who had first asked for proof of Darien's skills raised an eyebrow as he surveyed what Darien held in his hands. "Nice." A skinny little man, whose hands twitched nervously as he looked at the necklace, nodded in silent agreement.
Darien placed the necklace back in his pocket. Then he walked over to a nearby chair and sat down, placing his legs on a trash-littered coffee table. "So, now you all know I'm good. But to tell you the truth, I'm not too sure about you. What can you guys do?"
The man who had met Darien at the door spoke first. "I'm Jonathan Becker. You need a safe cracked, that's my specialty."
The balding man leaned forward in his chair, looking over at Darien. "Bobby Hobbes. I scale high-rises, sneak through air-ducts, that sort of thing. I'm also not too bad at picking locks or cracking safes," he said, a wry grin appearing on his face, "but that's not why I was hired."
The final man, whose fingers were still twitching a little every now and then, said, "I'm Neville Crawford. I supply the tools we need for the jobs beforehand, and I help with the actual break-ins."
"He'll also rob you blind if you don't keep an eye on him," Bobby added, giving Darien a pointed look. "He'll pick your pocket fast as lightning."
"Faster," Neville said, giving Bobby a look that seemed to Darien to be a cross between pride at Bobby's compliment and annoyance that his secret had been revealed before he had had a chance to steal the diamond necklace that Darien had tucked away in his pocket.
"What about you?" Darien asked, looking over at Fabio. "What do you do?"
Fabio smiled. "I make sure you all do your jobs correctly, and I arrange the jobs we're going to pull beforehand. And of course I, like most of the others here, have a decent amount of skill at breaking and entering."
"Guess you could say you're the brains of the operation," Darien said, leaning back even farther in his chair.
"I guess you could," Fabio said, giving Darien a slightly pleased look. Then he turned his attention on the whole group. "Now then, the reason I've called you all here is to-" Before he finished his sentence the distinctive sound of a ringing cell phone filled the room. Fabio reached into his pocket and pulled out the object responsible for his interruption and then looked back at the group of men gathered in the living room. "I need to take this call, please excuse me." And, without any other type of explanation, he walked out of the room.
As soon as Fabio walked out of the room Jonathan walked over to Darien, looming over him threateningly. "Look Fielding, the boss may think you're trustworthy, but that doesn't mean I do. I warn you, safes aren't the only thing I've been known to crack," he said in a tone that led Darien to believe that the item he was threatening to crack was Darien's skull.
"Is that a threat?" Darien asked calmly, standing to his feet in what seemed to be a casual manner. However, inwardly he was tensing, ready to defend himself against a possible attack.
"So what if it is?" Becker replied in a dangerous tone.
Bobby stood to his feet, giving Jonathan a pointed look. "Back off, Becker. You don't have any reason to mess with Fielding, he hasn't caused any trouble."
"No, but he looks like it," Jonathan growled.
"So do you," Bobby said pointedly. "Leave the kid alone, he hasn't done anything."
Neville stood up and muttered a quick "Yeah," albeit in a slightly nervous tone. After all, he wasn't a very large man, and Jonathan was obviously someone it would be a good idea to avoid contending with.
Jonathan looked as though he was tempted to try pummeling the lot of them, but before he had the chance to do anything Fabio walked back into the room, pocketing his cell phone as he did so. "Is there a problem?" he asked, looking around the room with what Darien was sure was anything but ignorance. The man probably knew exactly what had been going on here.
Still, Jonathan seemed willing to pretend that nothing had happened. "Just showin' the new guy the ropes," he said, turning around and walking nonchalantly back to his seat.
"Well then," Fabio said, as if nothing had happened, "let's continue, shall we? As I was saying, the reason I have called you all here is not just to introduce everyone. I've called you all here to plan our next job." He turned and walked over to a small backpack that was lying in a corner of the room. Reaching into it, he pulled out a slightly worn-looking set of blueprints. "Now," he said with a smile, "let's get to work."
**********
Several hours later, after the four men had gone over the plan for breaking into the building in question over and over until they had it memorized, Fabio stood to his feet. "Gentlemen, I believe we have our plan. We'll meet tomorrow, at the same time we did today, at Roberto's place. Bring your standard equipment, lock-picks and such; Neville will supply anything extra we might need." Darien was about to ask where 'Roberto's place' was, but before he had the chance Fabio said, "Don't worry Mr. Fielding, you'll be instructed on how to get there tomorrow. Everyone else knows where to meet, I trust?" The others nodded. "Good. Tomorrow it is, then." As if Fabio had given some unspoken signal of dismissal, everyone began to head toward the door.
Darien started to walk toward the door with the others, but as soon as possible he snagged Bobby's arm and pulled him away from the others. "We need to talk," he said quietly.
"Outside," Bobby replied, in a tone that said he'd been expecting this. The two of them walked outside. Once there, Bobby motioned for Darien to follow him over to an old Honda Civic. As soon as they were out of earshot of the others, Hobbes began to speak. "Don't worry about Becker, that's how he treats any new guy. He thinks with his fists, not with his head."
"Actually, that's not what I was going to ask you about," Darien said, although he was grateful for the information. "Fabio said I was your new expert at lock-picking and security systems. What happened to your old one?"
"Well," Bobby said, looking a little uncomfortable, "Becker wasn't joking when he said safes aren't the only thing he cracks. Spencer- that was the old guy's name, Ed Spencer- he tried to rat on us not too long ago. Becker caught him in the act and busted the back of his skull in with a flashlight. Spencer's in a coma, and I hope for his sake he never comes out of it," he finished grimly.
"So I shouldn't worry about this Becker guy, even after he smashed some guy's skull in? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense," Darien said sarcastically.
"As long as you don't give Becker any reason to suspect you, you'll be fine. He'll ease off in about a week," Bobby replied. "Unless you do something that might cause him to get arrested, you should be fine." He leaned closer to Darien. "Trust me when I say, don't do anything that might cause him to get arrested."
Darien smiled. "Hey, I'm in it with you guys, right?" Of course, he wasn't, but he wasn't about to say that. Inwardly he was groaning. When he was finally able to break his cover, which probably wouldn't be for another month or so, he would probably make another enemy in Becker. Of course, he'd probably make enemies of everyone present when the arrest took place, but from what he was hearing Becker would be a definite. He would have to be very sure not to do anything that would break his cover prematurely.
Bobby nodded. "Right." Then he opened his car door and stepped inside. Darien took this to mean that the conversation was over, so he walked over to his own car and got in. He and Bobby drove off in different directions, each to their respective homes and lives, each to relax in their own ways and to prepare for tomorrow.