Superhuman

by Volcanic Lily

"'With this,' he breathed almost inaudibly, staring at the glass in his hands, 'I can stop the Vespers. Save everybody. Save Amy.' He nodded. 'For Amy.' And without another word, he took a sip." But superhuman power comes at a high price...

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize for this in advance, since it's my first real attempt at drama without some level of humor mixed in. As you'll soon realize, I'm not the best at it.

Anyway, this is pretty much a one-shot (my second-longest one-shot ever, only surpassed by "Cloudy With a Chance of Major Disaster") dealing with WHY DAN DOES NOT NEED TO LOSE HIS AMAZING SENSE OF HUMOR AND TAKE THE MASTER SERUM!

He had assembled all of the ingredients a week ago, but he had done nothing with them yet. He hadn't mixed them together, though his mind recalled the recipe with perfection; hadn't poured it all into his favorite glass, though his hands yearned to; hadn't swallowed the concoction, though his tongue often wondered what it tasted like.

He was hesitant. True, he felt it was the only way to defeat the Vespers. But something had been holding him back.

That something was his sister. The way she talked about the serum- it was as if it was something dark, something evil. In Dan's mind, it was something bright and hopeful. But still, for Amy's sake, he refrained.

For Amy's sake. Amy. His sister. Now, she was in grave danger. Literally. At risk of being put in a grave far too soon… if Dan didn't do something.

Amy had been so confident that the plan was going to work. He could still remember flawlessly, as if there was a video imbedded into his brain, the last time he had seen her- just that morning, at dawn, but it seemed now like a year had passed.

His sister had been dressed in black, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her hopeful face. She stood by the vehicle, arms crossed, looking nothing but self-assured. But as Dan approached her, he could see it in her eyes: fear.

He knew the others were watching from the window, but he didn't care. The anxiety in Amy's green eyes made him feel scared, as well, and he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

He had tried to make his voice casual, but it was noticeably thin. "Are you sure about this, Amy?" he asked. "We could send somebody else. What about Hamilton? He's strong. Or Sinead- she could hack the computer systems, probably better than you can."

She broke out of his embrace and held him an arms-length away, her gloved hands resting firmly on his shoulders. Her eyes held fear, yes, but also fire. The determination was also there in her tone. She made a resolute silhouette against the rising sun.

"Dan, Hamilton and Sinead are needed for a different part of the plan. And don't worry about me. Ian's plan is good. It's going to work. By afternoon, I'll be back here with you. And I'll have the hostages with me."

Her voice remained calm, but nevertheless, he noticed tears faintly glimmering in the corners of her eyes. Confident about the plan or not, she was still nervous. A spurt of worry darted through Dan.

Amy leaned down and gave her brother a light kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Dan." Normally, he would have cried out in protest, but he merely hugged her again, reluctant to let go.

But at last, he had to. She pulled away and flung open the door to the sleek black car. "Wish me luck," she told him.

His laugh came out weak and insincere. "Try not to die," he said teasingly.

She didn't smile. "I will." And then, she slammed the door and sped away, clutching the steering wheel hard enough that her hands turned white. Or had she already been that pale?

He added as an afterthought only as she slipped out of sight, "Love you, too, Amy."

Now, he bolted the locks on his door and pulled the ingredients out of his backpack, some more from deep within his cluttered closet. He swallowed down the knot in his throat, baseball-sized and growing ever larger.

Mace, lily, copper… Why'd you have to do it, Amy?

Myrrh, honey, pepper… Why did you have to go?

Zinc, lead, rosemary… Couldn't someone else have gone instead?

Aloe, silver, barley… Why did you have to get captured and make the Vespers even madder?

Silk, iron solute, amber…

Amber. Amber like Ian Kabra's eyes, wide and shocked when they got the news. Guilty. It had been his fault. Dan could still remember, very clearly, drilling that fact into his head.

He turned on Ian, the rage that had been building up in his chest now exploding in his upraised voice. "This is all your fault, Kabra! All your stupid fault! Your plan wasn't good enough!"

Ian's face was clearly remorseful, full of shame. His voice was low and oddly void of superiority: "I know that…."

He hardly heard. "Your plan messed up! You didn't think it over well enough! Aren't you supposed to be a Lucian, with all their strategy skills? How could you make such an awful plan that got Amy kidnapped?"

"Believe me… I know." His eyes didn't quite meet Dan's; he was embarrassed. He had to be, to be admitting his mistakes. "I was a bit rushed. I wanted to get the hostages back as soon as possible, get my sister back…."

Dan saw the guilt in his eyes; Ian already knew how badly he had screwed up. Yet he didn't lighten up in the least. The anger just kept rushing out. The furious words just kept coming, lashing out like whips. He wanted them to hurt.

"You wanted to save your sister, huh? So tell me: why are both our sisters in even huger trouble now? You didn't think that over before, now, did you?"

He was right up in Ian's face, screaming at him. His face felt flushed with rage, and his hands were balled up into tight fists. He was so upset that he felt like actually using them.

Sinead and Evan rushed forward to pull him back. "Dan," said Sinead soothingly, "Yelling at him isn't going to help Amy."

And Evan put in, "Just calm down."

Then, Dan turned on him. "Calm down? You helped Ian with the plan! Why didn't you think things through better? Amy's your girlfriend! How could you just let her get caught like that?"

The hurt in Evan's eyes was even more apparent. "Dan… I didn't want her to…" His voice broke, and he couldn't even finish.

Clamping a hand down on his shoulder, Sinead whispered firmly, "Come on, Dan," and steered him away from Ian and Evan. Her eyes were moist.

Water was the next ingredient Dan needed. Water- like tears. He found his own eyes wet, but he blinked the unwanted moisture away and added correct amount of water to the concoction.

He was equally careful with the next ingredients- magnesium, mint, clover- measuring everything carefully into the bowl. If Amy were here, he thought somberly, she might have laughed. He could hear her voice in his mind now: "Wow, Dan, I don't think you've ever been so careful with anything in your life."

But another voice in his head drowned hers out. It sounded like his own, only deeper, angrier, more bitter. "Well, I have to, don't I? To save your stupid butt. I have to get everything just right."

Tap, tap. Dan's head swiveled around at the soft knock at the door, his pulse accelerating. "What?" he called out.

The voice belonged to Sinead. "Dan, you've been in here for almost two hours. Are you all right?"

"Fine," he muttered.

She sounded concerned. "Can I come in?"

His eyes darted around the room: the ingredients, the measuring cups, the bowl containing the unfinished master serum…. There was no way that he could hide it all from her.

"No," he called out. "Go away! I want to be left alone!"

"Oh. All right… Bye." The sound of footsteps, fading away, growing distant.

He scowled. He didn't like the note of pity that had been present in her voice. She felt sorry for him. Like he was just a poor, helpless little boy who couldn't do a thing to help his kidnapped sister.

Helpless. His eyebrows furrowed. He wouldn't be helpless for much longer.

The words of Amy's frantic message were still imprinted on his brain. He could remember the moment as they viewed every letter.

The text message came to Dan's cell phone, and he glanced at it, a wave of dread crashing over him in a rush. Text talk. Amy never used text talk. And there were so many misspellings….

"Captred by vsprs. typng this w my feet. droppd phone but vsprs dont kno i have it. big trouble theyre rly mad, dan. sry. luv u."

It took him a moment to even sort it out, the spelling and grammar were so terrible. Then, swallowing hard, he quickly hooked up his phone to the projector. "Everybody," he shouted, "You have to look at this!"

The words appeared on the screen, their size now reflecting their magnitude. Everyone in the comm. center- Sinead, Hamilton, Jonah, Ian, Evan, and Mr. McIntyre- raised their heads to read them. There were audible gasps.

Evan was the first to actually get out anything comprehensible: "Oh, no. Ames…"

"The Vespers got her?" Sinead said moments after.

And William McIntyre only murmured, "This is bad…."

As for Dan himself, his eyes were stinging. His nose was burning, the way it always did when he felt like crying but didn't want anyone to see. He felt as if there was a huge weight grinding down into his chest, like there was an enormous rubber band constricting his lungs so that he couldn't breath, like the world was crashing down around him. Like he was about to go into shock; he knew how that felt.

Ian's voice broke into his thought. "She typed that with her feet?"

"Apparently," said Sinead.

Dan's tone was blatantly irritated. "Yeah, she can text with her feet and drive with her knees and probably tie cherry stems in knots with her tongue, too. Whatever. The point is, what are we going to do to save her?"

Silence fell on the room once again. It was only midmorning, but it felt as dark and bleak as midnight.

He shook off these thoughts. Only one more ingredient left. Blood. Dan pursed his lips as reached for the syringe- he hated needles. But this was life or death, and every second wasted was another breath, another heartbeat lost for the hostages. For Amy.

He jabbed the needle into the crook of his arm, wincing at the burst of pain. He drew out the required amount of blood, then pulled the syringe out. He didn't even bother to bandage his arm.

Without shuddering, he squirted the crimson liquid into the bowl. Then, he took out one of Nellie's old mixing spoons and began to stir the mixture.

Nellie. As he stirred, the memory of seeing his beloved, wild-haired au pair shot in the shoulder played for what had to be the billionth time in his mind. It made him stir faster, so fast that the concoction almost spilled over the sides of the bowl.

The Vespers had been willing to do that even then, when they were only irritated. But now, they were furious….

He finished stirring and stared at the contents of the bowl for a moment. He reached for his favorite glass and poured some of the brew in. It looked a bit like a smoothie, only… less smooth. And kind of gross.

He realized that his hands were shaking slightly as he lifted it to his lips. He could hear Amy's voice again in his mind: "Dan, don't. Don't be stupid. Taking the master serum- that's crazy! You have no idea what it could do to you!"

And the other, almost-Dan voice: "I know what it'll do. It'll make me stronger and faster and smarter and altogether capable of taking out the Vespers. Without it, all the hostages are going to die today, but with it…"

"Dan, no."

"You'll be superhuman, Dan…."

Superhuman- he liked the way the word sounded in his mind. Superhuman. Invincible. Unstoppable.

With the serum in his system, he would have all the strengths of the branches combined: the bravery and brawn of a Tomas, the brains of an Ekaterina, the creativity of a Janus, and the strategic genius of a Lucian. All inside of Dan.

"With this," he breathed almost inaudibly, staring at the glass in his hands, "I can stop the Vespers. Save everybody. Save Amy." He nodded. "For Amy." And without another word, he took a sip.

It was disgusting. It tasted like broccoli and cough medicine and sweaty gym socks and puke, all stuffed into a blender. The sudden compulsion to vomit nearly overcame him, but he forced the serum down.

Instantly, he felt it: a sudden rush, like the time he had guzzled down four energy drinks before Nellie had caught him. And that was all from a single sip of the serum.

Quickly, he gulped down the rest of the glass, hardly tasting the nastiness anymore. All he could feel was the raw energy surging like lightning through his veins, the new power, the incredible knowledge bursting into his brain at an almost overwhelming rate. There was no word he could find to describe it except, "Whoa."

His eyes landed on the bowl. There was still more of the serum inside. Without even bothering to pour it into the drinking glass, he lifted it up to his mouth and chugged it down.

More power. More amazing strength, both of mind and body. He could feel it entering his muscles, entering his mind. Suddenly, he knew so much. Most of all, he knew what he was now capable of.

It took his newly enhanced brain mere milliseconds to begin forming a plan. Ian's hadn't been awful; he just didn't have the full Lucian serum in him, so it hadn't been flawless. Dan's new revision of the plan was flawless, he knew. And so, it would work.

Hurriedly, he concealed the empty bowl, glass, and what remained of the serum ingredients. Then, he looked for a route of escape; surely, the others weren't going to allow him to go on this rescue mission.

Dan never would have considered the window before. It was on the third floor, and a leap from that would have resulted in broken arms and legs at the very least. But before, he hadn't had the strength and courage of a Tomas.

Slipping neatly out the window and sliding smoothly down the drainpipe, Dan reached the ground without a single injury. He laughed softly to himself- if Amy could see him now, she'd be in awe.

Next, he shut off all of the outside cameras to avoid detection, then set about procuring a car. Fiske's car, long left unused, sat in the driveway, unguarded. There were no keys, but Dan was quick to figure out how to hotwire the vehicle, and within a minute, he was off.

At only thirteen, he had no idea how to drive a car. But he had heard Nellie giving Amy lessons when she first got her driver's permit the past year, and of course, he remembered them perfectly. And with his heightened reaction time- which already hadn't been too bad due to hours spent playing Mario Kart Wii- he had no problems.

There was a mask in the glove compartment of the vehicle; he found it at a red light and slipped it on. It looked like a human face, but not his own: good to conceal his identity.

At the next red light, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the comm. center. He was far enough away now, he figured. Hamilton's voice answered. "Dan? What're you doing calling us? I though you were in your room."

His answer was brisk and casual, though his head felt light. "I'm en route to the Vesper base to help Amy and the hostages. I need you to follow Ian's plan, do what you were supposed to do this morning."

"What?" exclaimed Hamilton, his deep voice unusually high. "You're doing what? Dan…"

"Just do it. I need you to just follow the plan," he said and hung up. The light turned green; he continued on.

Of course, he had already memorized the map to the Vespers' headquarters; Amy had had it on her nightstand for the past week, ever since the information was uncovered. With a combination of his new Janus and Lucian skills, along with a bit of Ekat hacking in regards to passwords and shutting off more cameras, Dan was easily able to sneak inside the base undetected.

The "dungeon" was, naturally, underground, and there, he knew, the hostages must have been kept. There were a pair of Vesper guards keeping watch beside the door, but Dan quickly disposed of those. He left them lying on the ground, bleeding, without a second look.

Before also replacing the camera feed for the hostages' prison with a prerecorded reel, he took a moment to peer at the seven figures on the screen. Reagan Holt was pacing restlessly across the length of the room, while Uncle Fiske and Alistair Oh sat talking in hushed voices. Nellie sat on the opposite side of the room, her shoulder crudely bandaged, speaking less quietly to young Phoenix Wizard. Ted Starling sat nearby, as did Natalie Kabra, who was slumped against the wall (her posture surprisingly imperfect), asleep. No Amy.

Dan's eyes remained on Fiske's and Nellie's faces the longest. A surge of longing hit him like a punch in the gut that took all of the air from his lungs; he wanted to see them in person at last. After glancing around for more guards, he decided it was time to move.

For increased safety- the main doors were too obvious- he lowered himself down the dumbwaiter. Once upon a time, he might have laughed at the name- "dumb waiter," haha- but now, he was only aware of the ringing sound in his ears.

Energy still coursed rapidly through him, its rate almost alarming. The power was almost overwhelming, leaving Dan's head reeling. The dumbwaiter came to a stop.

The second Reagan Holt saw a human form emerging from the dumbwaiter, she launched herself at him, not bothering to investigate his identity. With reflexes that still surprised him, Dan blocked her every blow with ease. In seconds, he pinned her arms behind her back to stop her attacks.

That got everyone's attention. Fiske, Alastair, Nellie, and Phoenix stared at him in shock. Natalie woke up with a start and looked, too, and even Ted turned his head in the direction of the sound.

"What do you want now, you stinking Vesper?" Reagan growled, still struggling to free her arms from Dan's strong grip. "Haven't you already tortured us enough?"

"Easy," he said. "I'm not here to hurt you. It's me: Dan."

"Dan?" said Nellie, her tired features suddenly becoming even more alert.

Natalie scoffed. "No way."

Whether she was scoffing because he didn't look like Dan or because she thought that wimpy little Dan Cahill could never manage to infiltrate the Vesper base and find them, Dan was mildly offended. "I am!" he said. "Fiske, see? Recognize your face mask?"

Fiske stared at it, recognition slowly dawning on his face. "Dan?"

Hoping that Reagan would not pummel him when released, Dan let go. She didn't, and he raised his hands to remove the mask from his face. It clung to his skin due to sweat, but he peeled it off, to gasps.

"Dan! It really is you!" exclaimed Nellie, loudest of all the voices suddenly crying out. She sprung to her feet and moved, with surprising speed considering her injury, to meet him, unhurt arm outspread for a hug.

Dan had to remind himself to be careful with her as he embraced her. "Nellie," he breathed, burying his face in her shirt even though it honestly didn't smell so great, "Am I glad to see you…." Hugging her, he felt weak, like a small boy again.

"Same here, kiddo," she said, her voice oddly teary.

The others also greeted him. He waited impatiently for them to do this, but the second it was over, he burst out, "Where's Amy?"

Fiske looked around in confusion. "Amy? Did she come with you?"

"She came to try and help you this morning," he explained, "But they caught her. I assumed she'd be down here, too."

"What?" Nellie exclaimed.

"We haven't seen her," Reagan said.

"This is bad," said Fiske. "If the Vespers captured her trying to free us…" He trailed off with a gulp.

Dan nodded. "I know. I'll help her. But first…" He pointed at the dumbwaiter. "Go up that way. Then, when you exit out into the hallway, take a left, go up the stairs, then follow the hall until you reach the exit door. There should be a car there waiting to take you back."

They were silent, absorbing this information. Nellie said, "You're going to try and help Amy all by yourself? No way. Let us come with you."

"No thanks," said Dan. "You would…" He winced slightly, the words making his stomach churn from the harshness with which they came out. "You'd just slow me down."

Reagan looked at him incredulously. "Slow you down? I'm a Tomas! I don't slow people down."

Quirking an eyebrow, he executed a series of swift backflips, landing easily back on his feet with a feeling of pride. "I don't know; I'm pretty fast."

Reagan gasped, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly in a stunning imitation of a goldfish.

"But you would surely need my hacking skills," said Alistair.

Dan pretended to blow dust off his fingertips, then pantomimed typing on a keyboard. "How do you think I got through the doors in the first place, Uncle Alistair?"

Alistair stepped back, his dark eyes wide. But Natalie cleared her throat and said, "You're still going to need some kind of strategy, though. Don't tell me you also have that."

In a turn of events that pleased him greatly, it was Dan who smirked at a Kabra for a change. "Oh, but I do," he said.

Natalie scowled and looked away. However, Nellie stepped forward, fixing him with a dubious look. "Dan," she said slowly, "You don't know how to hack. You aren't an expert strategist. And since when can you do backflips like that?"

He shrugged, his smirk softening into a grin. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

Fiske came up beside Nellie. His features were calm and void of obvious suspicion to the untrained eye, but Dan picked up on it nonetheless.

"But you aren't a magician, Dan," said his great-uncle. "How…?"

Dan's stomach let out an audible gurgle. He clutched it with one hand, and he saw realization reach Fiske's eyes again. But Dan's face was not at all apologetic; it was cold and hard like rock.

"I did what I had to do," he said, crossing his arms firmly. "Now, leave. I don't have any time to waste in saving Amy."

"Dan, you didn't," Fiske said mournfully.

Nellie looked from one Cahill to the other curiously. "Didn't do what?" she asked. Then, Fiske gave her a look, and her own face twisted, almost as if with pain. "Oh, Dan," she moaned, "No…"

"I had to!" he insisted. "What's the problem? It's made me superhuman- strong and smart- and now, I can beat the Vespers! Great, right?"

"No," said Fiske.

And as he said that, Dan was abruptly aware of the energy still coursing inside him. It was overwhelming. Its power had turned bitter, and now, it felt as if it was beginning to eat away at him from the inside out. He sucked in a breath of musty air.

No. This is the master serum. It's supposed to make me awesome, unbeatable- it's not supposed to kill me!

Fiske saw as the awareness dawned in him. "We told you, no one should ever take the serum."

Behind him, some of the others gasped. "The serum? Gideon Cahill's serum?"

The dizzy rush struck Dan with a force that nearly bowled him over, but that didn't keep him from crying, "But you never told me what it would do!"

Tears pricked Nellie's eyes. She didn't answer. Neither did Fiske.

But deep down, Dan wondered if he might have already known what the serum would do to him. He had hesitated to use it; his subconscious had known. And yet, that voice in his head had told him to do it anyway.

He looked gravely at the hostages. "Just do what I told you- go up the dumbwaiter, take a left, up the stairs, and follow the hallway to the door. Hamilton and the others should be there to pick you up. I'll go after Amy."

Now, a teardrop rolled down Nellie's pale cheek. "Kiddo…"

His entire being felt cold with resolve. He had to go. He only had a limited amount of time. "I have to go."

He pulled himself back up the dumbwaiter. It was much more difficult this time, and he wasn't sure whether it was because of gravity, dread, weakness from the serum's side effects, or a lethal combination of the three.

But he pressed on. He suspected that his sister was being held in the Vesper's version of the comm. center- he wasn't sure how, but it felt right, logical, and oddly enough, he trusted the instincts given to him by this serum that was slowly leeching away his life- and he made his way in that direction, shutting off numerous more cameras and dispatching several more guards along the way.

And soon, there is was: the Vesper comm. center. Three guards stood at the door, but Dan was able to deal with them before they could even react. He took guns from two of them, cocked them both, and placed one in each hand, ready to fire. Then, he kicked open the door.

There were surprisingly few Vespers inside: only five. And bound to a far wall was his sister, her eyes growing as wide as saucers- flying saucers- when she saw him.

Even from across the room, his sharpened vision picked up on the bruises and cuts adorning Amy's body. Her hair had all but come loose from its ponytail, and there were several tears in her clothing. He felt a stab of sorrow- if only they had come up with a better plan in the first place, none of this would have happened.

Dan pointed the guns at two of his foes. He thought of saying something epic and threatening such as, "Let the girl go, or I'll blast you to bloody smithereens." But the Vespers were already reaching for weapons of their own, and the serum was pulsing through him, propelling him to attack.

Bang! Bang! Two shots right to two of the Vespers' hearts. They sunk to the ground, where pools of their own blood were already beginning to form. It gave Dan an odd sort of satisfaction.

The remaining Vespers were already aiming their own weapons at him, and Amy choked out, "Dan, watch out!"

Little did she know. He was already ready. As the guns fired at him, he swiftly dropped to the ground, and the triad of bullets sailed harmlessly over his head. As he leapt again to his feet, he cocked the gun and fired again. Two more dropped like flies.

The last Vesper, glancing down at his fallen comrades, dropped his gun to the floor and held up his hands in surrender. But Dan, setting his jaw, cocked his weapon again and neatly dispatched the man with a bullet to the chest.

Adrenaline had mixed with the serum in his veins as he fought, but now that all five of the enemies were gone, it slowly faded away, leaving only the burning substance that ate at his insides more and more with every second. Now breathing heavily, Dan stepped over the bodies and over to Amy.

Shock was plain on her face, as well as a bit of horror. "Dan…" She started to say something, assumedly about the Vespers, about him gunning down the one who had surrendered, then stopped. Instead, she said, "How did you do that? Your speed, your aim…"

He took a deep breath, but still, the tightness in his chest persisted. There was no need to dance around the subject; he was just going to tell her the truth.

"Amy," he sighed, "I took the serum."

"What?" she cried. For a moment, there was hope inside her that he was only joking, but that soon vanished away as she replayed the last minute's events in her mind. Fear struck her like a slap in the face. "Dan! The serum is dangerous! How could you…?"

"I know, I know. I heard it from Fiske and Nellie. It's…" Honesty, he told himself, against the Lucian urge to deceive. "It feels like it's eating me, Amy."

He untied her, and she rose to her feet, standing inches taller than him but suddenly looking so small. She stared intently at his face, into his eyes. "Is there anything they can do to…?" she began.

Dan cut her off. "No."

She chewed lightly on her lower lip before forcing herself to ask, "Do you think it's going to k-k-k…?

He already knew what she was unable to say without stammering. "Yeah."

She inhaled sharply, and one hand shot to her heart. The other fell on Dan's shoulder. She didn't say anything aloud, but her eyes said, No, you're wrong. There has to be something….

No, his replied, more grave than she had ever seen them.

Amy made herself swallow. "Come on, we need to get out of here. More Vespers are going to come, and…"

Yet again, he didn't even allow her to finish. "I know. Here, we'll go back the way we came."

She started toward the door, but before she could exit, her younger brother slung her over his shoulder with surprising strength, offering as an explanation, "This way's quicker." Then, he raced off.

Amy marveled at the power in his sprint, in the way he was able to easily carry her. That had to be the result of the serum. But if it gave him such strength, she couldn't understand: how could it be killing him at the very same time?

It was simple to identify the path Dan had taken to get here- just follow the trail of carnage left behind. She could hardly believe her brother had done all of this damage to these highly trained Vesper guards. It scared her, and a shudder cascaded down her spine.

Dan picked up on it even as he ran. "It's okay," he said, panting slightly. Even then, she knew it wasn't.

Soon, he had to set her down. "You're getting heavier as we speak," he said with a humorless smile. In all honesty, she knew he was growing tired, that the serum was beginning to affect him more and more. It scared her, but she tried not to show it.

But it was hard not to as Dan's steps grew slower, his breathing grew noticeably harder. His face was contorted with pain, but he wasn't crying out. Tears sprung to Amy's eyes- he was trying not to worry her.

They were already close enough to see the exit door, and Dan said, "Fiske's car is still out there. We'll get away in that."

She didn't answer. She just watched him limp toward the door. Without speaking, she turned to him, wrapped her arms around him, and lifted him up. It wasn't as easy for her to pick him up as it had been for him to do so to her earlier, but she could still carry him.

"What are you doing?" he protested.

"You carried me before," she said simply and trudged toward the door.

Dan didn't argue any further, which was a testament to how exhausted he truly was. That only served to further concern her; typically, he would have complained a bit more, and he would never wrap his arms around her neck and rest his head on her shoulder like this. How much serum had he taken? His body, so light in her arms, surely couldn't handle much.

Amy shoved open the door with her shoulder and stepped outside. Several more bodies littered the ground, and she stopped, staring slack-jawed at them.

"Okay," murmured Dan over her shoulder, "I didn't do that."

Two figures sat inside Fiske's car. At first, Amy considered reaching for one of the Vesper guns still jammed inside Dan's pockets; then, she made out their faces: Sinead and Ian. As she approached, they stepped out of the car.

"We deviated slightly from the plan," Ian called out. "Sinead didn't want to just leave you here."

Sinead rolled her eyes started to come back with a clever riposte, then stopped upon getting a closer look at Dan. "Is he all right?" she said.

"I'm fine," Dan said weakly through the fabric of Amy's shirt, and his sister didn't say anything to the contrary. She was hesitant to speak the words- as if, by not saying anything, it might somehow take the problem far away, remove the poison from his system.

Sinead opened up the back door of Fiske's vehicle and helped Amy and Dan inside. "Thanks," said Amy as she assisted her brother with his seatbelt. "For waiting on us, too."

Sinead said with a grin, "Well, apparently, it was all my idea."

Ian called back from the driver's seat, "All right, I felt sort of bad, too."

"It was his poor planning that made everything go wrong, after all," Sinead jibed.

Ian scowled at her as she slipped into the front passenger seat. "Evan helped with the plan, too."

"Whatever."

But Sinead's previous words were still playing, a broken record in Amy's mind: "…Made everything go wrong. …Everything go wrong. …Everything go wrong…"

She glanced over at her brother. Dan's head lolled against the glass of the tinted window. His breathing sounded shallower than before; she couldn't tell if he was even conscious any longer.

Tears pricked in her eyes, blurring her vision as the vehicle sped away from the Vesper headquarters. She put a hand on top of Dan's- it felt too cold.

She cursed his photographic memory. Why did he have to recall the serum so perfectly? And the failed plan. Why did she have to get kidnapped so that he was driven to recreate it? And the Clue Hunt itself. Why did it have to change him so that he would even consider taking something so dangerous? If not for that, he would still be all right.

Because he wasn't going to be all right. She could feel the pulse in his wrist; it was slowing down. This time she did let out an audible sob, causing Sinead to turn around in her seat and Ian to ask with his eyes fixed on the path ahead, "What's wrong?"

Everything. Everything is wrong.

Author's Note: Wow... I technically just killed off Dan. :'( WHY?

...Oh, yeah. Because now, if Dan ever reads fanfiction, he'll realize why he doesn't need to turn to the dark side or drink the serum! ...Okay, forgive me. I'm not feeling my best today, so that A/N just made no sense. XD Fail.

~Lily