To make up for the previous short chapter. ;)

Thanks for reviewing and making this a favorite story. There are a few new subscribers that have joined lately. Welcome.

I do listen to reviewers and add/change/remove with thier feedback in mind. Feel free to be critical. Its how we all get better.

Releasing this slightly early to make sure that it goes out.

Now- on with the story.

A rare quiet moment was interrupted suddenly by the annoying buzzing of Artie's Farnsworth. The senior agent jumped and let out a short scream as the buzzing was transmitted into strong vibrations behind his ear. Claudia scampered up in reaction to his distress and dove for his Farnsworth when she saw her boss grabbing at his ear and pulling the Audio Box from his shirt. She quickly opened the device to stop the buzzing. Claudia looked at Artie rubbing his sore ear. He waved her off while mumbling out "Fine. Fine."

"Artie?" Pete's voice queried.

"Yeah. Pete. Hey what's up?" Claudia answered after raising the Farnsworth to eye level allowing Pete to see her.

"Claudia. Hey. Artie there?"

"Yeah he's right here."

"We got eyes on our guy."

"Nice!" Claudia handed the Farnsworth over to her boss and flopped back into her seat.

"Yeah. What's up?" Artie squinted into the tiny screen and concentrated on Pete's lips.

"Hey. We used the spectrometer, well Myka tried to," Pete turned slightly to smirk at his partner while Myka rolled her eyes. She interrupted, "We can ID him Artie. Can you see him?" Pete turned the Farnsworth to show an empty store front. From off the screen Myka's voice said, "Can Claudia record the image somehow?"

Artie grunted in annoyance. He understood most of what was said, but when they turned the picture, he had no chance of understanding without reading their lips. He rubbed his brow as an automatic response to his tension before he turned to Claudia with a pleading look in his eyes.

The techie got up and took the Farnsworth from him. She laid a hand on her boss's shoulder while he looked up at her, suddenly reliant on her for information. Claudia peered into the black and white screen. "Hold on Myka" she said. "Artie, they're using the durational spectrometer to see the assassin guy, but I can't see anything on the Farnsworth."

The senior agent was shaking his graying curls before she finished her sentence. "It's a spectral image, reproduced from residual energy, you can't transmit that. Its—its not physical, uh- the phasing gets off…"

The red head frowned in thought a moment before her face cleared into surprise. "Ok, like scanning something too many times?"

Artie tilted his head as he considered her comparison. "Um… yeah. Uh. Sort of." He looked at her with confusion but admiration at her ability to grasp elusive concepts quickly.

"Ok Pete, Myka, you guys have the only eyes on this guy" She said.

Pete's voice came through the device. "What—you guys can't see this?"

"Nope. Its something like taking too many pages out of a flip book. Beyond the capability of the Farnsworth." Artie opened his mouth to correct her phrasing, but changed his mind and settled on glaring at the girl.

The image twirled around as Pete turned the Farnsworth back on himself. He took a breath. "Ok. We'll get this guy now that we know what he looks like." Myka rejoined him on the tiny screen. "Hey, everything ok over there?" The two agents peered into the little screen. "Where's Artie?"

Claudia was never good at lying when she liked the person. "Oh Artie got himself shot at while breaking up a bank robbery and—"

"Claudia!"

"WHAT?" Myka nearly screamed into the Farnsworth.

Pete exclaimed "A bank robbery!"

"Is he ok? He was shot?"

"What? No, no!" Claudia tried to calm their concerned clutter of communication.

"CLAUDIA!" Artie hollered at her stopping the conversation. He could feel short, different pitched vibrations that he assumed meant that Pete and Myka were upset and speaking quickly. He got up and took the Farnsworth from her. "I'm fine!" Myka had pushed her way in front of her partner and they were both wearing looks of concern. "Listen. You'll hear all about it after you get back! I'm fine!" He stopped them from both talking over each other.

"STOP! I am fine. Everything is fine!" He took a deep breath to help calm everyone down. "You got a look at the assassin?"

Myka backed up enough to exchange a worried look with Pete.

"Well?" Artie forced.

Pete was the first to answer. "Yeah. We got the specto gun on him."

Artie flinched at his slang. "Durational spectrometer."

"Yeah that, so we got a good look at the guy."

"Good!" their boss was pleased. "Ok, now that you know where he was, get some info on the guy and call me. We'll ID him."

Myka forced her way forward again. "Artie, is everything… are you ok over there? I mean if this guy doesn't make a move, maybe we should…"

"NO!" Artie yelled but then sighed and composed himself. He forced his voice to be lower and calmer. "Listen to me. This is as close as anyone has ever come to stopping this assassin. This International Political Assassin using an Artifact!" he stressed each word. "We are going to stop this guy and it's going to happen now." Artie threw a steely gaze at his agents until he was convinced of their resolve. "Find him. Get me an ID." He flipped the steel case closed ending the call.

Artie sat down at his desk taking a moment. He took a deep breath then said, "Claudia Donovan, there are reasons why I do or do not do things!" He turned his chair to look at her.

"You want me to lie to them?" she huffed. "They're only worried about you Artie!"

"They are on a case! A dangerous case! They don't need to know about, about this!" he motioned to the box in his pocket. "When they get back you can fill them in on every little detail to your heart's content but until then, case work only!" He stared at the girl until she gritted her teeth and huffed in acceptance. He pressed her. "Understood?"

"Yes sir." She said with as much attitude as she could muster.