Chapter 10

Dr. Amy Hall was not a pretty looking woman, Agent Cain Du decided as he followed her through the maze of tunnel-like hallways. God almighty, he wouldn't touch her if it were pitch black and she had a bag over her head.

"We can keep your hostages in here."

Ugh. Make that two bags. And a mouth-gag... her voice was extreeeeeemely annoying. Was this really the person that had been busted splicing DNA? She seemed dimwitted for a genius.

She pushed her thick glasses farther up her nose, turning to him. Her brown eyes were muddy and squinted a little bit at the corners, making the roundness of her cheeks seem that much larger. "Is that acceptable, sugar?"

"This room should work, ma'am."

"When will you bring them?"

"There's one person who we'll be able to bring for a sample tomorrow. The rest will be available this weekend. What about security?"

"Aw, don't worry about that! I've got top of the line infrared laser systems rigged all over this mountain! It's impossible to get in without being detected anywhere but the main pathway."

"Good. I'll leave a few guards here with you just in case."

"Great!" She batted her eyelashes at him, and he realizes she had freckles and brown spots even on her eyelids. "Now how about a drink?"

"Still on duty," Agent Du muttered.

"Aw, you're no fun." She brushed past him and practically bounced down the hallway, something that was probably made easy by her short stature and rotund figure. Her neck-length black hair swayed about and bounced with her, and her poorly-cut bangs ended up sticking up in the breeze she left in her wake.

"I'm so going to get Dr. Director for this," he muttered under his breath. He followed her up crudely-cut steps into what he assumed was the main cavern. This place was well lit and surprisingly warm. There were large machines which she explained were for isolating the actual DNA, and several computers which she showed him were to isolate the genetic codes Global Justice had requested. She showed him her inventory of solutions, and instruments she would use for the extraction of the DNA. She baked cookies in one of her machines, offering him one. He declined, internally disgusted. She shrugged and ate one, and then continued her explanation of what her process would be.

When he left, relieved, he went straight to headquarters, sitting at his desk and working as fast as he could.

He told Dr. Director everything, including his impression that the woman might be a genius, but she was also a complete nutcase and could be a liability.

She tapped her chin with her index finger, considering. "It's a risk we'll have to take," she finally said.

"I thought you would say that. I'm going to have Cam stay with her until we have the subject, along with several of others just in case."

"Do you believe there is a threat?"

"There has been no indication that WWEE knows what we are planning."

"There usually isn't," she answered dryly. "But we are prepared in any case."

Cain Du shrugged. "That isn't my department. It is just what I have been informed. Everything is included in the report I've prepared."

"Thank you, Agent Du."

"I will prepare everything and we will report back tomorrow."

~23~

Anne was late. She cursed her stupid car as its engine failed to turn over the first time, and then the second. Finally, it sputtered to life. The battery was giving out on her... or the alternator... or something. Hell if she knew. She just knew she was late, and it was the damn thing's fault. Oh, and she didn't sleep very well either, so—

A tap on her window startled her. When she glanced to her left, she was tempted, severely tempted, to scream and panic. Instead, her first reaction was a disgruntled one. Goddamn stupid Murphy's law! I swear...

The man in the window had a mask and a gun, which was pointed at her head. When she looked to the right, two more men were standing at both passenger-side doors. She prepared to hand over her belongings and be done with it, but instead, the man motioned her to unlock the door.

She froze. The panic that she'd forced away earlier was coming back tenfold. "W-What?! What the fuck?!" she stuttered, her voice just shy of a shriek.

"Unlock. The. Fucking. Door."

With trembling fingers, she pressed the lock button on her door, and the two men on the other side climbed in. he moved to the seat directly behind hers, pressing the gun to the back of her neck. "Drive. If I see you try anything stupid, I'm going to shoot you."

She read somewhere that her best option like this was to try to crash the car, but she wasn't brave enough for something like that. She was angry though. Madder than she'd ever been in her life. She would total her vehicle... but at the right moment. The second the fucker behind her took the gun away, she'd drive into the nearest pole or barricade. None of the men were wearing seat belts, and she prayed they'd continue to forget. She took the man's directions as carefully as she could, careful not to draw attention to herself. She did make sure to leave a paper trail of sorts. When she spied a speed trap, she sped through it, satisfied with the flashbulb that captured her license plate. If there was a yellow light, she did her best to time it so she rushed through after it was red but before the other light turned green. By the time they reached the location, she was sure she'd left a detailed map of her route. The police would find it one way or the other.

The second the man pulled his gun away, Anne rammed her foot into the gas and closed her eyes. The metallic crunch and splintering of glass was so loud, she thought her car had exploded and that they were all going to die. The airbag slammed into her face and her eyes burned as she felt her nose break. The men were unconscious, one of them lying on the hood of her car after having flown through the already-splintered windshield. It was over in a second, almost before it started. She jumped out of her seat and turned to run, but there were already people waiting for her. They had rifles trained on her. One of them lowered his weapon and checked the people in the car. He announced the death of the man on the hood, but they quickly called into somewhere to help the others that were still alive. Then they grabbed her arms and propelled her into a waiting truck.

~23~

One of the men had been a smoker. Before putting her in the back of the truck, someone pushed her, making her stumble into the man putting the handcuffs on her. They were either confident enough or stupid enough to cuff her hands in front of her. She took the moment of confusion to reach in and search his pocket, searching for a key or something to get the damn handcuffs off. Instead she found a lighter.

The truck was for some sort of cleaning service. She'd searched through it absently, then decided to use something flammable in conjunction with the lighter. If she could spray on of them and light him up, they'd be too busy trying to put him out to notice her escape.

Am I really considering burning someone alive? She felt herself startle at the thought. Chills raced up her arms and down her back, making her tremble. She gritted her teeth. Damn right she'd light the asshole up. He'd look like New Years in Times Square for all she cared. She was going to defend herself to the death. She took the smallest bottle she could find, filled it with some chemical with red labels that said 'EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE' and 'WARNING: AVOID CONTACT WITH SKIN AND EYES' and tucked it into her pocket.

She felt herself changing, becoming bold... becoming brave. She'd never been brave in her life. She did exactly what she was expected to do. She became a doctor per her parents expectations. She pushed herself until she became one of the top neurobiological researchers in the country. She loved helping people. But she took no unnecessary risks when the lives of others were at stake. She would never have done that.

But this was different. This was her life that was at stake. And she did not know what these people planned to do with it. She was not going to let someone repossess her future ever again.

The truck rumbled to a stop and she made sure her crude weapons were safely hidden. They pulled her out of the truck, propelling her through a massive cave entrance. She fought to keep from rolling her eyes. This was something out of a bad action movie from the eighties.

The main cave entrance was fairly big, but empty. She was shoved along until they reached a dark passage way that led to stairs, and she thought about when she would execute her plan. It would be better to spray them both with cleaner and light them both. They'd be desperate to put out the fire, and she'd get right by them. Hopefully they didn't get injured too severely, but really, she didn't care.

They forced her down some stairs, even though she wasn't resisting anymore. She was waiting, biding her time. They reached a plain door, attached to the stone walls of the deep cavern. They'd descended about forty feet into the cave, she realized. She wondered how fast she'd be able to run.

Outside the door, a lady was waiting. She was short and stumpy, extremely thick in the middle, and clearly not very hygienic. The woman was smiling excitedly, almost like a child about to unwrap a Christmas present. "Hello honey," she said, her voice high, shrill, and annoying. "I promise this will be done in a jiffy... for today, anyway."

She approached Anne with some type of swab, and a blood-drawing kit. "Now hold still," she said.

Anne pulled back, equally afraid and furious. "Are you kidding?! Who are you? What do you want with my blood?!"

"I'm helping out my sugar booger," she said brightly, reaching out to touch one of the men's face. He jerked away, and even though the ski-mask covered most of his face, Anne could tell the man looked horrified. "He asked me to take some samples from you, honey."

"Samples?! What for?" She thought for a moment. Who on earth would want a blood sample from her? Why would they want it was a better question. She wasn't going to let anybody take any blood samples from her. Fuck all of these people.

As if sensing her determination, two of the masked people moved forward and pushed her into a chair, holding her down and forcibly stretching her arm out so the blood could be drawn.

The woman made a happy sound and practically skipped out the door.

She moved on instinct. First she grabbed the needle from the tray and jammed it as hard as she could into the first man's neck. In the next moment, she'd sprayed her tiny bottle of cleaner, plus some of the alcohol the fat lady had to swab her with—that was lucky—and dumped it all over the other two. She threw the lighter at them and didn't stick around to watch them as she slipped past them and ran.

Goddammit, was it left or right? She frantically searched her memory and then decided to turn left, running headlong into someone who instantly clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting her scream short. She launched her foot into his shin, causing him to grunt. She drove her elbow into his side, but it didn't have the same effect.

"Fuck," the voice hissed. "You're feisty, aren't you? Calm down for fuck sakes. Don't scream. I'm not going to hurt you, Dr. Credible. I'm going to get you out of here. Don't make a sound or we're all toast, got it?"

She nodded, and he released her mouth. "Who are you?" she asked immediately. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm somebody who's interested in them not getting anything from you, I'm sure you'd agree. Now quit the yapping and let's get the fuck out of here."He took her arm as somebody else muttered, "Affirmative" and then kept moving in the opposite direction she'd been running.

They reached a large cavern, where the woman was bemoaning her down computers. There was laboratory equipment that made Dr. Credible's mouth water. Who was funding this woman?

She vaguely registered someone talking over the radio, but she was more distracted by the sound of ticking. "What is that?"

"A bomb, Doctor." The man's grin in the dark was roguish. "Let's move, folks."

They moved out of the cave an down the mountain, practically running. Someone snickered. "You catching a nice breeze there, Silver?"

"Shut up," the man hissed. His grip was steady on her arm, and she had to kick her shoes off to keep up with him. He was having a conversation over his radio, and his voice was low and even, like he wasn't even breaking a sweat. He didn't sound as emotionless with whoever he was talking to on the radio.

The ground shook with the explosion of the bomb the man left behind, but they kept running. She stumbled, and that was the only point where his grip on her arm tightened.

Suddenly, he froze in his tracks. "Everybody stop," he said flatly. He looks around, and then down. "Step back. Now." He cursed.

The next moments were a blur. She was shoved into the arms of a muscular man who promptly tossed her over his shoulder and ran. There was a hail of bullets, darkness, and shouting, and then there was silence.

~23~

"I'll see you soon, Copper." The words drill into her mind like a jack hammer. "I'll see you soon."

She growled as she set up the cloaking device for the plane.

"You're doing great, Copper."

"Fuck you, Ron," she growled.

"Kim?"

"What?" She snapped. It was Wade, talking in her intercom which she hadn't taken off.

"Were you able to contact Ron?"

"No."

There was a sigh. "I'm sure he's fine."

"You can't track him?"

"I've been trying."

"I'll have to find him myself then."

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"I'm mad enough to kill him when I find him," she snapped. "But I won't leave him out there to die in their hands. He doesn't deserve that."

Wade sighed. "Ron will be okay. This was his hometown after all. They aren't going to find him, and I have no idea how you plan to find him, but he'll probably make it back to the plane before you do, and it'll be my neck if he finds out you took off. So I vote no."

"And I vote that since I'm here and you're not, yours doesn't count. He can be mad all he wants but if it were any of us, he'd come looking too. Give me... four hours."

"You're going to search all of Middleton in four hours?"

"Four hours to check in. If they're looking for anyone it'll be by radio signal. I'm going to have to go dark too." She sighed. "So if I haven't checked in with you in four hours, have the pilot take off without us so any information or technology on there isn't compromised."

"Will he be alright?"

"He's armed, and he knows what to do."

"Okay then. Good luck."

~23~

Anne strapped herself into her seat and waited. Nobody really said anything to her; they just told her to get on the plane and stay out of the way. She asked about her job, and her house, and everything else, but she had the distinct impression that she wouldn't be back in Middleton, maybe ever.

Part of her was glad.

Everyone on the plane seemed tense and stressed. Their low murmurings were about the 'boss' and 'Copper'... no one called anyone by their names. It was probably for some safety reason. Everyone was also armed. They were taking turns guarding the plane and the pilot, who was also armed. There was also one person sitting next to her with a gun.

"When are we taking off?" she asked quietly.

"When the Copper and Silver get back," was the answer.

"Who are Copper and Silver?"

The man gave her a slightly exasperated look, but that only made her mad. "Look you think you've had a bad day? I overslept, burnt my coffee, am pretty sure I left my stove on, got kidnapped by people I don't even know, and then had to run through the forest without shoes until all hell broke loose. Now I'm on a plane going somewhere I don't know with more people I don't know, and I think I deserve a goddamn fucking explanation!" by the end, she sounded a little bit hysterical, but she didn't care.

He sighed. "The boss has your explanation. I'm not supposed to tell you anything until your safety can be guaranteed, and that won't happen until he is back and we're out of this airspace."

Anne slumped into her seat again to wait.

~23~

"What do you mean, you had him? Why didn't you shoot the bastard?"

"We had set up a trap, ma'am. We had him surrounded with snipers positioned with orders to kill."

"Then what the hell happened?!"

"He vanished."

Dr. Director rubbed her temples, her exasperation clear on her face. "That's it? He simply vanished?"

"Ma'am, he's slipped away from us in Middleton more than once before."

She gave a frustrated sigh. "Naturally. Any survivors of the explosion?"

"None reported, Ma'am."

"Cain Du and his brother? Dr. Hall?"

"Neither has been recovered. We are still digging but the explosion they set off makes the miners in Chile seem like they were having a party. We can't guarantee any survivors, or even remains, Ma'am."

She growled. "And all of Dr. Hall's research is ash and smithereens now as well, I presume."

"I'll say yes to keep your expectations low. We still haven't recovered enough of anything to say that WWEE caused it. But there could not have been that kind of damage without an explosive, in my opinion."

"Of course not." She sighed again, this time in defeat. "Okay. Plan B. You'll have our forensics team scan every inch of the area where you set that trap. If you come up with so much as a speck of dust with blood on it, you send it back to our lab immediately. I'm willing to bet that someone in that team left DNA somewhere. I'll even play the lottery if it's him or Dr. Credible."

"More like win the powerball, Ma'am. But we'll scour the area at once."

"Good. Bring Agent Will Du here. Also, there are no bank transfers without my approval."

"Yes, Ma'am."

~23~

Will Du stared at the Director blankly. "I'm not sure I follow, Ma'am."

Dr. Director sighed heavily. She swallowed. Giving this news was more difficult than expected. "I'm sorry."

Will gritted his teeth. His eyes burned but he said nothing and he didn't move.

"Will... you've been my right hand in this. You and your brothers have been my most trusted agents. I can't do this without you. I... I wish there was more we could have done."

He nodded.

"They'll both be given full honors. You don't have to worry about a thing."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"No, Will. Thank you."

"No need. Just... make him pay. Make them all pay."

Betty Director nodded. "We will."

Will Du took his leave, surely to be in private. She gave him the next two weeks off, but she wouldn't make him come back. She was sure he'd be back and work twice as hard if not more, both for revenge and to bury his grief. But if he didn't, she understood. She was furious that WWEE had made her organization look like inept, bumbling fools. Her men were dying, and that rat bastard was getting away again.

~23~

"Wade. Come in."

"Thank God." Wade's sigh of relief was so heavy it brought tears to her eyes, but she blinked them away and made herself listen. "What's going on?"

"Still nothing. I'm in the city, I had to find a way to disguise myself. I'm even trying to disguise my voice so don't make me talk too much."

"Copy that. When you find Silver tell him I'm going gold-digging again. They're on alert so it will be tricky."

"Okay."

"Good luck, Kim. I'll be waiting for you in another four hours."

"I'll try to have good news by then." She turned the radio off and took the battery out again, carefully putting them away. She ducked into the alley way and sighed. The sun was out now and she would have to be very careful that no cameras saw her face. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she didn't want to put Ron in danger by giving herself away over something something stupid.

What on earth was she going to do to find him? She was hiding in an alley surrounded by trash that smelled like rotten meat and no solid plan on how to—wait. She looked around. This was that... that place Ron had always talked about. Bueno Nacho. How on earth had she ended up here? This had to be the most obvious hiding spot...

Still. He had to know that her memory was perfect, and that she'd remember the name of this place. Would he have left something here? She decided she was going to find out. Carefully picking her way over a week's worth of fast food garbage, she reached the back of the alley and looked around.

"There was once when this girl I liked, Bonnie was her name I guess... she was a total bitch, but she was the 'it' girl of Middleton High and every guy wanted her. I mean I did too—hell, she had fantastic boobs, and she had pretty eyes or whatever—"

"Seriously? Fantastic boobs but pretty eyes 'or whatever' I mean, come on."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "What? She did. They were like... greenish-blue? Or was it brown? But she had the worst fake tan though. She was practically glowing. She's going to wrinkle up like a prune the second she hits thirty."

Kim rolled her eyes. "You're so..."

"Charming, I know. I get that a lot. I was less of an asshole in high school, I promise. Anyway, it was Valentine's Day or whatever, and I decided to be cheesy and stick a rose in her locker and whatever else. She actually said yes when I asked her out. So... she was my girlfriend for like... one week."

"Why one week?"

"She told me she had a surprise for me at my favorite restaurant, Bueno Nacho. She was all 'I can't wait for you to see it Ronnie!' and high pitched giggling—that shit is so annoying now. Seriously, I don't know why girls think it's cute. I don't even know how I put up with it unless I know I'm going to... never mind." Even drunk he knew better than to talk about getting laid with Kim again. That was always going to be a minefield. Too bad he was too drunk to keep the next part from leaving his brain."I'm so glad your laughter is nothing like that."

"It's not?"

"No. It's fucking adorable—I mean—shit." His eyes popped open comically, and he coughed a little bit. He took a big gulp of his drink and swallowed, willing his face to flush from drunkenness and not letting slip that he thought her laugh was cute. "Anyway..."

Kim couldn't help but laugh, her own flush rising in her cheeks. "Right. Thanks, I think."

Ron winked at her. "You're welcome. Well..." he took another swig of his drink. "She pretended she lost something... an earring, I think she said. So naturally, I went digging for it. In the thrash. In the dumpster. Everywhere. Next thing I know, surprise! Her Instagram pictures are all over the school starring yours truly digging through garbage, with the caption 'Loser can't afford his lunch' and things a lot worse than that."

She frowned. "Aww Ron. That's... that's awful. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "I shook it off. People stopped laughing about it after a couple weeks. And then, you know. The next semester my life went to hell, and now I'm here."

"I'm glad you're here," she said softly.

He smiled over at her and set his vodka on the table. "Yeah, me too."

She still thought about that. Something told her that aside from his family whom he still loved dearly, he'd been alone most of his life. In that sense, she understood him very well. She'd be more patient with him and his distance. After all, she was alone too until she met him.

"Until he saved me," she reminded herself. "I'm going to find him if it kills me."

She stopped short when she noticed something in the corner, half covered in garbage. It was a manhole cover, but it was not covering a hole. It was also spray-painted shiny, metallic silver. She could still taste the paint in the air in the back of her throat when she inhaled. There was a note stuck underneath the round metal.

She smiled.

~23~

He'd been careless. He was going to be kicking himself for a while for letting them get that close to him. They were poised to kill. Everyone scattered on his order but he didn't know if anyone had been hurt trying to escape, or if they'd all made it okay. He didn't figure anybody had died, but he was too busy making sure he could get away and making sure the plane was safe... making sure she was safe.

He didn't want to turn his radio on in fear that the signal could be intercepted or that someone would hear him. He was going to sit here until dark and then see what he could do next. Oh, but dark was such a long time away... it was only nine thirty in the morning. He didn't really know what to do until then. He could try to visit his parents, but... well, they were watching the Middleton Memorial Gardens, he was sure of it. God, he'd never even sent flowers there before. To be honest, he didn't even know if they were actually in there. He'd had to run. He didn't know that they were there. They could be plot number 8674 in the potter's field for all he knew. He never got to say goodbye to them. He had to run away.

God how he hated the running and the hiding. He wanted it to end. He decided to ditch his radio altogether. He'd stolen clothes and changed, getting something inconspicuous and plain and some other basics to keep himself sane, like a toothbrush and a snack. He'd wandered into Bueno Nacho with his head down at four in the morning, his hoodie pulled low over his face. The guy working the counter was his old friend, and Ron knew he would help. Tiu, his name was. Tiu had met Shego last time they'd been in town, retrieving Dr. Doable, and together they'd doctored security cameras to help make sure they were unidentifiable.

"Hey. Breakfast naco please."

The guy did a good job of keeping his face neutral as he rung up the order, hiding his shock. "On me. Wait in the management office."

"Thanks."

"Are you okay?"

Ron nodded. "Laying low. Mind your cameras and computers."

"One hour."

"Good." Ron proceeded around the corner toward where the bathrooms were, but instead of pushing open on of those doors, he moved through the third doorway and into the area near the kitchen, ducking through to the steps on the right where the break room and management office were. It was only a half-flight of steps, and then the lockers, vending machines, and a few chairs and two folding tables came into view. The door that read "management" was on the far side. Then he sat down and waited.

A few minutes later, Tiu walked in and smiled at him. "One breakfast naco with chips and salsa on the side, and nachos with cheese on the side to go. Two bottles of water, and one supersized Dr. Pepper. Two hundred bucks cash, an ID and a prepaid phone. How hot are you?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "If GJ were a flame thrower, all of Tri-City would be burning."

"Lovely. I'm going to stay up here and fuck with the cameras."

"Have somebody wipe this place down when I'm gone."

"With bleach," Tiu said with a smirk. "You're not the only shady guy I've been ready for. This town has changed a lot."

"Yeah?" He wasn't sure if 'shady' was a compliment or not, but he decided to take it as one.

"Upperton has it's rich folks and their... habits. Lowerton has the people that feed those habits. Middleton is... well, in the middle."

"Gotcha."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. Someone's probably going to come through looking for me, a friendly. I need to make sure they can find me and they need to stay under the radar too."

"What do you want to do?"

"They don't know this town like I do. They'll find a hiding place somewhere. They'll probably do better with a ride, too."

"Okay." Tiu didn't seem fazed by the request. He'd probably had to call limos for rich judges with crack problems or something. Who knew? Although he'd been born here and raised here, this this place might as well have been on a different planet.

Middleton was not his home anymore.

hey guys. sorry for the forever long for the update. I hope this was worth the wait.

cheers!

~temporary insanity