The Conspiracy in Limbo

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I used to bring them out to play with much more often.

Author's Note: I don't know about all of you, but I disliked the way that Season 8 of Bones ended. It seemed contrary to everything that we've learned about the Squints to not find a way to go at Pelant with all of their brain power melded together and beat him at his mind games. So here is my attempt, where Limbo is like their own secret Justice League headquarters.

"You're sure that Limbo has been swept for bugs." Booth narrowed his gaze at Hodgins as they stood in the unidentified bone storage area. If this plan of theirs didn't work, then he wasn't sure how they were going to get the upper hand with Pelant.

"Technology free zone." Hodgins was dead serious. It had been a point of contention years before when Gormagon was alive and using Zach to make dentures from unidentified victims' teeth. But in spite of that, no security cameras were ever installed, and as recently as this morning, Angela had done a covert sweep of the space for any electronic devices. It had become the only place where it appeared that the team could be free to discuss Pelant without worry that someone had found a way to listen in.

Booth was especially nervous about the security of the space. Pelant had pulled a proverbial trump card threatening to kill innocent people if Booth didn't break off the engagement from Bones. He'd done it, but he also knew that he had broken her heart and he didn't think he could live with that. He had to let her know what was going on, risky he knew considering her poor acting skills, but to take down Pelant, they all had to be in on this and this was the only safe place to talk about it. He'd had to set a few things in motion, something he thought was going to take a while, but thankfully had been sped up by him being ambushed and pulled down into this very room by Angela the day before. She had clued Hodgins in and now here they were about to set their Hail Mary into motion.

Hodgins nodded. "I'll go get Dr. B. and the others." He turned on his heels and walked purposefully out of the room.

Booth paced, his fingers worrying the edges of the poker chip he carried with him. He had given up gambling, but this was one he had to take. No one was going to keep him from having a life with Bones, and if Pelant had to die to make that happen, he was mostly okay with that. He'd only been pacing a few minutes when Bones descended into Limbo. He felt his heart catch in his throat, afraid that she would turn around and walk right back out before he had a chance to explain himself. Things between them had been tense and unsettled these last three days. Three of the longest days of his life.

"Booth, what are you doing here?" Brennan quirked an eyebrow. She hadn't expected him at the lab today, and certainly not down here. Based on a conversation she'd just had with Hodgins she had expected to find one of the new squinterns who was supposedly working on identifying remains and had found something needing her immediate expertise.

"We need to talk." His heart skipped a beat as he looked into her eyes.

"You said that a few nights ago." She couldn't mask the hurt in her tone no matter what she'd told him before. She loved Booth and she wanted to marry him. His rejection of her had stung more than she could have imagined.

"Pelant." He took a deep breath as she gave him a quizzical look and continued. "He called me. He said if I didn't break off our engagement he would kill innocent people. He actually described people who were at the park near us the other day. I don't know how he's doing it, but he's watching us all the time. He said if I told you, he would know. But I can't live with myself without you knowing the truth. We've got to find a way to take him down, but we can't do it unless we work together. He's trying to keep us apart…"

A flicker of recognition of the guilt that Booth would bear if he knew his cosmic balance sheet wouldn't balance when he had control to make it otherwise flashed in her eyes. The edges of her mouth curled into a conspiratorial smile. "So we'll be engaged to be engaged until we take the bastard down."

An embrace from Bones had never felt so good as he felt her melt into him. Her lips softened against his and the tension that had been as thick as a brick wall between them dissipated. At least until the sound of someone else coming into the room pulled them apart.

"I take it you two have resolved things and I'll no longer have to kill Booth for breaking your heart." Angela had an amused smirk on her face, glad that a horribly executed diversionary tactic for Pelant benefit had been circumvented. She could only imagine how long this would have gone on if she hadn't confronted Booth.

"Hey, now, let's save any killing you have in you for Pelant." Hodgins was a little too excited about helping with this master plan of taking the evil master mind down. He'd had his opportunity to kill and he hadn't taken it, precisely because he didn't want to become like the man, but there were moments that he'd regretted taking the higher road.

"We're crime solvers, not crime planners." Sweets interjected. He wasn't one hundred percent sure of what was going on, but he had a feeling they were going to need him to keep them out of trouble.

"No one is killing anyone." Booth put on his best federal agent face in spite of the fact that until Pelant was dead they really weren't going to be free of him treating them like they were some kind of damned lab experiment. They key was to take him out in a way that was technically legal so they he wouldn't be able to disappear under some assumed identity only to resurface and cause greater hell for them all.

Cam wasn't buying it. "With all due respect, Seeley, that's exactly what's going to have to happen." She deflected the four stares in her direction. "Not that anyone here would be doing that."

"Now that we're clear about not committing murder." Booth rolled his eyes.

"…of a murderous bastard who deserves whatever the universe has in store for him." Hodgins interjected.

Booth incinerated his words with one look. "We're not here for a revenge fueled murder plot. We're here because all of us together have to be smarter than he is. And if we all put our heads together, we should be able to neutralize him for good." He looked around the room at the faces of the people he trusted most in the world and he could tell that they were all in for good or bad and with his hands on his hips he addressed them. "What do we have in our bag of tricks to take him down once and for all?"