Kane's Villa

March 21

4:34 AM

Gordon stood in the middle of his room, staring longingly toward his bed. He knew that if he lay down, he'd never get around to taking a shower, though, and he was grimy enough that a shower was non-negotiable.

Sadly, no matter how much hot water and soap he used, he could never wash away the nagging guilt that had begun to constantly sit in the back of his mind.

So far, after he'd stolen the tiny cloaking devices, he'd committed three other robberies. For his second act of crime, he had stolen a sheaf of papers full of incriminating information concerning some associate of Kane's. Gordon wasn't clear whether Kane wanted the papers to protect his fellow criminal or to use them as blackmail.

A few days later, Gordon had successfully disabled the security system of a mansion and stolen a valuable coin collection. He'd nearly been caught when a yippy little dog had started barking at him. Afterward, Kane had advised him to always research whether there were any pets before robbing a private residence – or at least, always keep dog treats in one of the pouches on his belt.

Gordon and Kane had just gotten back from their latest expedition. They had flown to Philadelphia in Kane's helijet, taking advantage of a huge fire in part of the city to rob a museum.

"Disasters can be highly advantageous for criminals," Kane had told him. "People are so focused on the big problem that they forget to watch for other things going on around them. Police forces are stretched thin and take longer to respond to alarms. Occasionally the disaster will even do some of the work for us, knocking out the power or breaking through vault walls, for example."

Gordon wondered whether the arrival of International Rescue on a scene exacerbated the crime problem – their ships were rather attention-grabbing, after all, and they often utilized a large number of police officers for crowd and traffic control.

He added the thought to a mental list of things to discuss with his family when he returned home eventually. The list seemed to be getting longer every day; he was still getting used to the idea that he couldn't just wander into one of his brothers' rooms for a chat, or call John up, or ask his father to go for a stroll on the beach with him.

His eyes were drifting shut; he shook himself out of his thoughts and headed for the shower. As he took off his watch, the date caught his attention, and he grimaced – had it really only been two weeks since he'd agreed to train under Kane? It felt more like it had been a year.

Kane's Villa

March 21

12:02 PM

Kane watched from a video camera as Gordon began to prepare himself some scrambled eggs. Seeing his young apprentice's mechanical movements, Kane frowned. Gordon wasn't settling into his new role as quickly as Kane would have liked. After two weeks, he had hoped that his apprentice would be beginning to relax and to appreciate the challenge of his training.

What was more, he had thought that Gordon would actually begin to enjoy himself.

All he had told Gordon about why he had chosen him was true – out of all of his brothers, Gordon seemed to be the most resilient, the most qualified, the most determined.

But there was one thing that Kane hadn't told Gordon – something that had actually been the deciding factor for him in selecting Gordon as his apprentice. Kane had to admit to himself that he hadn't even fully identified the concept until after he had begun training Gordon.

Unfortunately, it was a trait that had all but disappeared in his young apprentice over the past two weeks, and it was all the more noticeable because of its absence.

The trait? An almost overwhelming sense of life, of vitality, of energy…and of fun. Kane had observed it multiple times before he had taken Gordon as he had watched the aquanaut interacting with his family. But since Gordon had come to train under him, Kane had only caught brief flashes of that energy – and the occurrences seemed to be getting less frequent.

It was as if the darkness of the villa – and of Kane himself – had begun to suck the light out of Gordon Tracy, and if he was entirely honest with himself, Kane wasn't sure he liked the change.

Kane's Villa

March 21

12:59 PM

As they were walking down the hallway after lunch, Gordon noticed Kane glancing at him with an odd expression on his face. After a moment, the man spoke, his tone strangely hesitant. "Gordon," he began, then stopped.

Curious, Gordon prompted, "Yeah?"

Kane frowned ferociously, and it seemed as though he was forcing the words out when he asked, "Do you think that you will ever be…er, happy here?"

For a second, just the fact that Kane was even capable of saying the word "happy" had Gordon floored, but then the question itself sank in, and suddenly white-hot anger flooded Gordon's vision. Before he knew what he was doing, he had Kane backed against the wall and was shouting into his face. "Happy?" he cried. "Happy? What did you do, fail Basic Humanity 101? Of course I'm never gonna be happy here – you've taken away everyone and everything that I care about, you're holding me prisoner by threatening my family, and you're making me live a life that goes entirely against my sense of morality! What kind of stupid question is that?"

And for one brief moment, something entirely foreign flashed through Kane's eyes – was that…sadness? – before they went back to glowing with their normal imperious light, and the criminal's face darkened with anger.

Gordon suspected that sparring would not be much fun that day...but it felt kind of nice to have spoken his mind for once.