Anyone who liked to follow the news or even would only glance at the front page of a newspaper occasionally would tell you that Kowalski always looked completely at ease in even the blackest situations. It was the same kind of vaguely amused expression that was on his face as he watched the evidence pile up against him, one on top of another. He didn't even move a muscle as an Officer Smith – or so he claimed was his name, but Kowalski wasn't so sure so had taken to calling him 'Officer X' – described how he'd been there the whole time and had witnessed the murder from start to finish from the edge of the road where his beat ended. It was pretty unlikely somebody's beat was a dirt track in the middle of nowhere.

Next came the ballistics people with what they claimed was the murder weapon. In reality it had been Kowalski's pocket until the arrest when he quietly entrusted Julian to pass it on to Jenkins. Jenkins had received it.

Naturally on this he tried to challenge that wondering why they would do something so easily if he just produced the actual weapon, if tampered with, however when he was oddly enough permitted to examine it he saw the word 'Private' etched into the handle. He glared at Leonard whose eyes were fixed like a statue on anywhere but him. Private was good at making up evidence: he couldn't question the weapon's authenticity without dragging Will into the matter.

The good part was that Rico was going down with him, but oddly enough they'd found a beautiful set of his prints on the knife as well, though he'd never handled it. In fact, he'd seen Van Dorn wipe the handle and blade clean.

Leonard even braved the terror that was Julian and got him to – after thirty minutes of questioning and incoherent replies – to admit that he'd heard Kowalski say that McSlade was becoming a problem. He'd said no such thing, and he hadn't been to the Copacabana until after McSlade was dead but you could get Julian to say anything if he thought it would get him in the papers.

As Kowalski was lead out of the court after the adjournment Barry ran up to him. They whispered a few words between each other and glances were cast in Leonard's direction. Barry nodded crisply and then set off after the turncoat prosecutor. It was child's play to remain out of sight and to put his ear to the keyhole as the man entered his office.

"I can't do it!" Leonard shouted so loud Barry probably could have heard if he were listening from the opposite side of the building, "He's going to come after me! I can feel it!" Make that the other side of the world.

"Just introduce the mission report," the smug, confident drawl of Johnny 'Skipper' – so he called himself – Van Dorn coaxed, "It's practically a signed confession. Hell, we can get him to sign it if you want. We've got his signature on file somewhere?"

"Yes, I think so." The softer voice of the Englishman replied. And this was what he always told Kowalski: the kid's not anywhere as naïve and righteous as you think. The fact he seems like a boy scout only means when he pulls his coup it'll only be more devastating.

"I'm not going to…!" Leonard began to protest, but Commissioner Jones cut him off.

"Leonard," he spoke, "McSlade named you on the list of conspirators."

"Kowalski heard that list," Van Dorn added, "But I didn't think we'd have to remind you of that."

"Look, I'll introduce the evidence and put the Commissioner on the stand," the nervous man replied hurriedly in response to the threat, "We'll just tweak things a little and ask for manslaughter…"

"Murder, Leonard, we want him on murder," Van Dorn countered firmly, "First degree."

"Now I don't think that would be wise…" Leonard tried again.

"I've convinced K'walski your name was a mistake, and he trusts me," Jones cut the man off again, "Don't make me tell him I was the one mistaken."

"Ok!" Leonard snapped, and Barry could see him rubbing his neck uncomfortably through the key hole, "You've got me." Immediately Barry sprang to his nimble feet and raced off to tell Kowalski just who it was planting the evidence, but after searching aimlessly for hours, Jones always moving Kowalski one or two steps ahead of him, Barry found the sun coming up and soon enough it was too late.

Skipper looked through the notes he'd taken on his interview with Maurice who seemed to be the only sane person in the building. It was better than sitting around waiting at Consolidated Amalgamated. Will was always there, staring up at him with his big blue eyes and asking if he'd do target practice with him. He'd offered him board games though Jenkins said they didn't own any, then he offered him just about anything under the sun, but the kid either didn't know it or said it wasn't allowed. The Manfredi kid who turned up was a little more normal but there was something off about the both of them. He'd never understand how Kowalski could do this to a kid.

"Walk me through it, all of it," Skipper had ordered and Maurice had walked him through every detail from when the fight had started, to when Mort had hurriedly shielded Will's young eyes from the sight of his dying father to when Kowalski had appeared on the scene. He'd asked him about that. There was a lot of evidence that should have been there but he couldn't find and he'd been baffled by the lack of proper documentation of an autopsy though one had clearly taken place. Maurice had explained it, though: Kowalski had wanted to make the inspection of the scene himself and had gotten first choice on what evidence he wanted.

"And what about before the accident?" his almost verbatim notes recorded him questioning, "Were there any similar incidents? Did Rico scout out the place before he went after Grant?"

"No, he hadn't been there for weeks," Maurice had replied, "I noticed because he'd originally been the one to pick up their cut. I asked Kowalski, and he said Rico had been put on another assignment. I figured Tony hadn't liked the attention he was paying Lola and ordered him off."

"So you knew Tony Knight was Skipper at the time?" He'd reacted incredulously.

"I was never 100% but it seemed pretty obvious, and even though I knew he meant well I always kept an eye on him because of it," Maurice smiled cannily and Van Dorn wondered just what he was reading in to him, "I suppose you're wondering about how Kowalski fits in to all this." He was spot on, "Ever since the plane crash Kowalski would turn up every once and a while to check on them. At first he said he wanted to make sure Lola was alright after the crash, but it wasn't much of an excuse and when it started to get hard to believe he took over the collections from Rico."

Somehow these details interested Skipper and he was still going over them in his mind. Everyone seemed to agree on what had happened during the actual killing and they agreed on these small facts too though some people's memories seemed to be tweaked with, "I knew there was something wrong with him! I told Lola!" However Maurice seemed to really mean what he'd said and he'd heard it from a couple of other people that he'd watched Tony like he did, not suspiciously, but watched him. There was something about those details that stuck in his mind, though. Maybe there was something else to it, or maybe he was just so fascinated by a man who seemed to have been some kind of dark reflection of himself.

Skipper went to knock on the door of the familiar mansion intending to get some stuff he'd left at Kowalski's place – he had a warrant, it was perfectly fine for him to bug the place, even if he doubted he'd gotten away with it long – and intended to ask Jenkins for his equipment when the door opened suddenly, his knuckles almost knocking on the person who was in such a hurry to rush out the door.

Lola froze, her hand still grasping the child's wrist. It was pretty clear what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" Skipper demanded despite this conclusion. Lola glared at him.

"We both know what your plan is, and I can't take the risk he dies before I get the kid," Lola replied firmly.

"So you're just taking him?"

"Why not?" she replied haughtily

"Do you really think you'll get very far?"

"You'd be surprised what I'm able to do," She replied. Van Dorn rolled his eyes. She reminded him a lot of his Arlene back in Chicago. That was precisely why he'd gotten rid of her, that, and the fact she was spying on him for Rico. Well, he didn't know… but it was obvious.

"Yeah, well you'll be surprised by how many ways I can come up with to get you to put him back," Van Dorn countered, "And you will put him back."

"Miss Chinstrap," The kid interrupted with his big blue eyes looking up at the two of them, "What's going on?"

"Did you here that?" Lola demanded with a quaver of emotion to her voice as her scowl became dominantly heartbroken, "He doesn't even recognize me…" Van Dorn remained unmoved, "Listen to this!" She snapped, and turned to the kid, picking a less powerful scowl and a sweeter tone for his benefit, "Will, would you tell the policeman who I am?"

"He's not police, ma'am, he's FBI, there's a difference," the boy corrected, then answered the question, "You're sir's girlfriend. Manfredi says he just wants your money though, and that you'll have an accident afterwards. I don't see why he can predict you'll have an accident, but he's usually right."

"See?!" Lola pleaded, "Look what he's done to him! How he talks so calmly about…"

"I know, and I don't like it either. It's pretty damn sick in my opinion," Skipper interrupted , "But you aren't going anywhere with that kid."

"'id goes with 'er." Rico interrupted firmly and Van Dorn only just noticed him through the doorway behind Lola. That was what spooked him most about working with the Penguins. It didn't matter if they were just meeting for coffee or something but they'd appear out of nowhere. They'd disappear just as fast afterwards too.

"You don't want that to happen, trust me." Skipper countered but Rico was quite adamant.

"Le' 'er go."

Skipper couldn't let that happen. Still, Lola had stepped aside and Rico now had a clear shot at him. It would take him a fraction of a second to pull something out of the arsenal every inch of him was and he'd taken far better men than Skipper by force. But he couldn't let Lola take the kid.

"Alright, you've got me." Van Dorn spoke, raising his hands in defeat. Rico grinned.

"Just put him with Jenkins, don't hurt him," Lola requested, "By the time he gets loose I'll be long gone," She offered the Rico a slight smile, "thanks for Will…" Rico replied with a meaningful grunt as he beckoned Skipper into the house.

"'Orry." He muttered to Skipper as he removed the colt everyone knew Skipper carried in the inside pocket of his coat and proceeded to tie Skipper's hands expertly behind his back.

Considered unarmed and harmless, he was cast aside by Rico whose attention was more focused on Lola who was ushering her young charge towards a waiting car. She opened the door and Will hopped cheerfully inside and she was about to get in herself.

"G'luck." Rico called after her.

"Same." She replied with a grudging half smile. She seemed to be warming to him, "I suppose it wasn't really your…"

"It was," Rico apologised, "'m never gonna fo'get that or…"

"Hold it right there, doll," Van Dorn ordered, and both Lola and Rico stared at him in surprise. Van Dorn was stood, his hands free, a small pen knife he'd had hidden in his sleeve in one hand and the gun he'd pickpocketed from Rico in the other and aimed directly at Lola, "Lose the coat and the back pack." He ordered and the man disarmed himself. Almost immediately Rico made a grab for Skipper's weapon but instead of fighting to keep it – something he'd only lose because he wasn't going to pretend he could hold himself in a fight with any of the Penguins – threw it out of the window and into a rose bush where it would be impractical to try to retrieve.

Now this was where he was going to have to use that simple psychology his grandfather had given him back when he'd seen his first sheep and it had come after the peanut brittle in his pocket (he was a city kid, sheep looked like aliens to him), or that his teacher had used to explain the gigantic wings/spine things the frilled lizard would hold up.

"I'm guessing you heard about me in Chicago since your little social club's known for its intelligence. You probably heard about that big fight of mine against the Polar Bear at the precinct," The 'Polar Bear' was actually one of those quiet types that like to read a book when he was off shift; one of those nicknames like 'Little John'.

"'eah." Rico replied. He couldn't admit the fact he'd never heard of such a fight unless he wanted to confess his intelligence network was actually substandard.

"Now we can fight it out. Maybe you'll win, most likely I will or we can do a deal." Rico frowned. This wasn't what Skippers were supposed to do when caught between a rock and a hard place, "You're trying to say sorry to Lola for orphaning her kid, and I respect that. But this afternoon when Kowalski's acquitted and my reputation's cleared I'm bringing you in same as Kowalski was, but this time there'll be no safety net or crazy plan. It will just be you, your very unsympathetic story, a history of being in the same place as the scene of a list of murders as long as my arm and a jury.

"Now if the kid stays, you can take the next train to wherever you want and I'll take another one back to Chicago and we'll probably never see each other again. I don't give much of a damn about my reputation since I've already got an offer from Ben Rockgut and he doesn't care either. Or, you can fight it out with me, and I'll bring you in on that lovely murder charge and after Lola's got her kid she'll turn on you and that will be that."

"Wha' if ah win?" Rico questioned, trying to play Van Dorn's intimidation card back at him.

"You win, Lola runs, you run, but you're forgetting I'm not a crazed loner like Officer X. I've got pals better than me and they'll come after you along with Kowalski and all of his people. You think you've had to keep checking behind you when you walk down the street, you have no idea what would happen if you go for another dead Skipper. Remember, I'm the guy who got Kowalski to laugh for the first time after six years. He likes me."

Skipper could see Lola's eyes pleading with Rico, and as the suspense continued, her words. Rico was the only thing standing between her and Van Dorn, and even though Van Dorn knew he'd never raise a hand to a woman, Lola didn't. For his own piece of mind and personal honour Rico needed Lola's approval or at least, decreased apathy. Still, Skipper knew a thing or two about honour, but if you put enough on the line, people like Rico would crack. Sure enough, he did.

"Y' on your own, Lo'a." he finally replied, starting towards the door. Van Dorn smiled as Lola saw no choice but to tell Will they were not going on a field trip today. She shot him one last glare as he took Will's hand and said that they were going to have a scavenger hunt.

"Is Jenkins the objective, sir?" the kid had asked.

"Yeah, well, that's one way to put it." He'd replied awkwardly. The way that kid would speak always put him off.

"I'm hungry, though, if it's not an Alpha priority assignment..."

"I think we should go find Jenkins first." Creepy.

Newspapers across the city, or possibly even the country would be printing extras in a matter of hours. In the seconds after it happened you could see the crowds decrease as reporters observing the case all fought to get to a pay phone first. The whole thing was an outrage or a sensation depending on who you asked and had come entirely out of the blue to everyone. Well, everyone except two people in the courtroom and two people waiting at Grand Central for a train to Chicago.

"Justice is blind," the new commissioner had started his speech as he stood in the witness box, "I've always taken that to heart. And though I, and possibly a lot of people, will wish I'd held my tongue and pretended I hadn't found out about this until it was too late for it to matter, that belief is what's preventing me." Leonard's face had grown white with fear and the judge the audience, the witnesses and the court recorder were all on the edge of their seats hardly believing what he was obviously about to say, "The fingerprints, the mission report and the gun are all planted, tampered with and entirely false. Kowalski was never near there."

Jones had elegantly described how he'd found all this out from a tip and though it pained him to investigate an old friend like Leonard he'd still had to do it. Leonard had screamed and protested that it had been Jones who'd forced him to introduce the false evidence and public sympathy had begun to wane until…

"…You made that beautiful speech about how the same blind justice would be dealt out to me too," Kowalski finished, watching the people charging about the steps like headless chickens from the side street, most likely looking for him. Private had asked him why he didn't just go out and meet them but Kowalski said that by disappearing for a while he could write a half decent statement and make sure it didn't conflict with anyone else's.

"It's just like old times, isn't it," Private commented nostalgically, "You know, where we do completely crazy stuff to save each other's necks. Mostly your crazy ideas too, I've come to recognise them over the years."

"Well, I figured I could do one more for the good guys," Kowalski replied with a grudging smile, "Anyway, since I'm in such an honest mood I'll tell you it wasn't my idea, even though I'll deny that later. I'd just wanted to lay some evidence in your favour about or make Dale disappear off the map but Barry told me we had to fight press with press and to do that we'd have to do something bigger than Dale."

"I do wish you could have told me other than in that envelope," Jones commented, "It seemed a shame to set up Leonard…"

"Oh, I'll get him off. It will teach him not to play with fire."

"But you're right, we had to do something big, and you were in no danger." Private frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just wondering what things are going to be like now," Private mused, "I'm going to have to keep my promise about coming down just as hard on you, and you're going to have to retaliate with something…"

Suddenly Private realised Kowalski was no longer focused on him but staring with an almost comical grin like a love sick puppy into the crowd.

Kowalski watched for a few seconds, but whoever it was had disappeared almost as fast as they'd appeared. He pulled out his clip board and scribbled something on it, tore the page out and handed it to Private, "Give this to Lola," he ordered distractedly before running off into the crowd after whoever he'd seen. The note consisted of two words:

"You lose."

Private would never forget that smile of Kowalski's. Even Lola would grudgingly admit when she came barging into the office fuming about what Kowalski had done that he deserved some happiness, "Maybe she'll talk some sense into him." She added before leaving.

"It's scary, this guy," Kowalski whispered to his friend as they approached the room, "I could have sworn he was you!"

"I look that old?" Skipper countered. The scientist flushed.

"I didn't mean to say, you well, looked old, well, not that he looks old, he's in pretty decent shape and even then he's not like…"

"I'm just messing with you, Kowalski," Skipper laughed, his 'friendly pat on the back' making Kowalski stumble a few steps and readjust his glasses.

"I wish you'd warn me." the victim of the joke muttered.

"Then it would be no fun." Skipper commented before ending the conversation as he opened the door to Buck Rockgut's office.

"So you finally get here, cupcake," Skipper's controller commented sarcastically with that tone of voice he always used, like he was permanently making announcements to a parade ground. The people in the offices next door would often complain to skipper about that, but when Skipper brought the matter up he was given the following message to relay to them: "Go jump in the lake."

It had taken him and Kowalski a couple of weeks after things had calmed down following the whole Penguin fiasco to work out their command issues. Skipper had never known Kowalski felt that being part of the team had made his career stagnate as well as the fact he considered him incompetent. Kowalski had a pretty damn good argument to some people: he was better trained and actually had some decent military experiance. Well, there'd been only one way to put Kowalski in his place: after one day of leaving Kowalski in charge of things so he could complete the highly prestigious PELT course he was begging Skipper to come back after he got the whole team frozen in giant ice blocks. He still called him 'Golden boy', though, but only when he got angry.

He'd never really understood how Kowalski had felt until he met Buck Rockgut. The two had gotten off to a pretty bad start from the beginning after Rockgut been the representative of a competing agency to send Director Jones packing and get himself installed in his place. Still, they'd tried to make a go at a fresh start and the guy had a seriously impressive record. They really weren't so alike in a lot of ways: they'd both been trained for the job since almost the day they were born, they both had stellar success rates and specialized in unusual situations and both of them had gotten to their current jobs so fast because their respective and deceased dads had been involved and both of them hated the fact.

He might be considered young and hot headed – but certainly not naïve which was true of both of them – but he wasn't quite that young and hot headed. When Skipper had come back to the HQ after meeting with the man as the new head of the Department he'd said as much to Kowalski. Kowalski had cracked up laughing and when Skipper asked him to draw up a formal complaint on the matter the scientist had told him he could just change the names on the complaint he'd made six months ago about him. Skipper hadn't ended up sending the letter because the guy did come up with results, but he just wished Rockgut would put his ego to the side and take a little advice from someone who'd been in the game a little longer than him. Kowalski had found this pretty funny too.

"Well I've been up since 0300, I think I deserved a coffee," Skipper replied as he walked in and was shocked to see the person seated calmly there did look a lot like him. Well, strong resemblance.

"Alright," Rockgut switched on a tape record on his desk, "State your name for the record."

"Special Agent Jonathan Van Dorn." the man replied. Rockgut nodded.

"Did you meet a Timothy Jones at a house in Kent in the United Kingdom about two days ago and take off with an airplane registered to the Department?"

"That I did."

"Did you steal that aeroplane?" Rockgut prompted after the interrogatee didn't take the subtle hint. Van Dorn smiled guiltily, flushing slightly.

"That I also did." He answered, then added, "I brought it back though." Rocgut gave him an amused smile that told him all was forgiven. He must have had a pretty good excuse.

"And did you then abduct this Timothy Jones?" immediate Van Dorn's previously genial smile sobered.

"That I didn't. I tried to stop it."

I didn't go into detail but I think I implied that Kowalski spotted Doris in the crowd though he wouldn't actually meet her until she turns up at his office. I also tried to summarize the kind of implied control battle going on in the previous story. Essentially this chapter was just there to tie up all the loose ends before I get into the mystery of who abducted Tim Jones.

For those wondering about some changes I made to Buck Rockgut, he's the same Buck Rockgut in my contemporary humanized stories (She Never Looked Back, Paranoia etc.) so this is him at the very beginning of his career.