A cold wind blew over the fully water soaked flat meadow near Petropolis. The rain stopped but the cold wind drove a front of new dark clouds full of whatever they wanted to drop down to the city. Agent Young stepped on the grass and watched the sun that was about to set. The red sunlight from one side and the coming darkness from the other created a beautiful scenery.
"Beautiful isn´t it?" sighed Young as he saw the spectacle that the nature offered to him.
"What do you mean?" asked Rick who tramped to him while the ground under his feet made a squelching sound.
"The light and the darkness. Can´t you see it boy?"
Rick still haven´t any idea what agent Young was talking about. He was just glad that this Dudley look-a-like stopped being an asshole towards him. He even apologized for his behavior what was more than what Rick usually got when he was treated like that.
He was used to get pushed around but that somebody is nice to him was a different experience. Of these experiences you could get used to.
"No, Sir." Meant Rick confused.
"Isn´t that a symbol of the fight in this world? The eternal struggle good against evil. Light against shadow. That´s what the world is about." Young sounded a bit melancholic. Rick now looked at him fully confused. "Sir, can I asked you a question?" asked the recruit gathering all his courage.
"Sure kid."
"Did you smoke something?" Rick already closed his eyes waiting that Young would scream him down but what he received instead was roaring laughter.
"Ha! You seem to have humor, I like that! But no I´m clean. Just a bit thoughtful, nothing more."
"Oh okay, I was a bit worried."
"No need to worry." Young looked at his watch. "They are a bit late… hm… Usually they are never late."
"Yeah, that´s also something I wanted to ask. Why am I here?" There was a good reason to ask that. Agent Young came two hours earlier to him and said he needed his help about some kind of emergency. Rick should have asked that earlier, he maybe should have also asked why he wanted him and not Kitty to help him but Rick wanted to show him that he was a good agent. He wanted to proof himself to him.
"You´ll see kid. And if they are not late you´ll see that in 5… 4…" Young eyed his watched again and counted down the last seconds. "…2…1…" He looked up from the clock and eyed the sky expectant.
"Hm…" he commented the lack of event in front of him. "Well, I think they are really la…" his last word was drowned by the sound of something hitting the ground.
It sounded like the noise that Rick´s shoes made as he walked over the ground but it was much louder.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Rick who was so surprised that he stumbled and fell into the wet grass.
"Hm…" meant Young unimpressed. "Nevertheless, they are too late." He walked to the cuboid mud covered thing that just fall out of the clouds. He removed the mud on the upper side of this object with his hand. The thing seemed to be a green box.
Young began to grin, his order arrived finally. He looked over his shoulder and watched how Rick rose from the mud. Cursing he tramped over the grass to him and eyed the object.
"Uhm… what is that?"
"Just a box my friend, an order from my NSA friends with that we´ll kill off this pest called Scratch." Giggled Young mischievously.
"Okaaay… and what now?"
"Easy, get this box out of the mud and load it into the car."
"What?" Rick sounded like he would begin to cry immediately.
"Come on hurry up." Young clapped his hands in a way in that he wanted to emphasize the word hurry. "If you do it fast I maybe tell you what is in that box."
Young sat without saying any other word on the passenger seat of the car and turned the volume of the radio so high that starting an argue with him was impossible for Rick. Not that he wanted that. But he was pretty pissed in this moment. He thought Young would take him with on a dangerous and exciting mission but everything he had to do was loading cargo.
"Why is it always me who has to carry stuff around? I am a goddamn T.U.F.F. agent! I should be on the hunt for I don´t know Birdbrain or something. But no. I have to load a muddy box into a goddamn car. Story of my life." Inevitably Rick thought about all this times in his life where he was the doormat for anyone around him.
He always thought when he´ll be a T.U.F.F. agent the things would change, he thought the people would respect him, he thought that he would finally get treated like the valuable person he was but… he was wrong. The people still used him as their doormat. Sometimes he asked himself if he maybe made it too easy for the people around him to use him. Maybe he was just too friendly.
"I should really think about changing that… maybe agent Young can help me. He knows how to be an asshole" he panted as he hauled the box that was heavier than it looked like into the trunk of the car. He wiped away some drops of sweat that formed on his forehead with a tissue he always had with him and sat on the driver´s seat.
"You´re done?" asked Young turning the volume down.
"Yep…" Rick contorted his face. His shoulder began to hurt. "…ow."
"Oh yeah, your shoulder… I forgot about that." It was strange to see agent Young caring about him also it made him feel a bit awkward so he tried to play the strong man. "No, it´s okay. Don´t worry."
"Okay then, bring us to T.U.F.F."
"Uhm, Sir… the T.U.F.F. building is closed now. Nobody is there." meant Rick as he started the engine.
"I know kid. But that´s okay. We´ll need some privacy to build the surprise together."
"Can you tell me what it is now?" Rick seemed curious and agent Young didn´t want to keep him on tenterhooks any longer so he grinned widely and began with a little story.
"2004 bought the Uzbek intelligence service blueprints from a Chinese dissident who stole them from a Russian ex-KGB agent who had these plans from his French friend which he killed for them. Anyway, after a big eavesdropping operation on the Uzbek intelligence service we were able to get these plans."
"Wait, what? Who stole what from whom? And who developed it?" It was hard for Rick to concentrate on the traffic and Young´s confusing story.
"Isn´t that obvious who developed it? Afghan scientists who were kept imprisoned by a Swedish criminal. Come on boy, think." Young said that in a way in which everybody had to feel like an idiot who didn´t understand that.
"Anyway, back to the blueprints. We were really puzzled as we first held this blue paper in our hands. What was printed on them looked like a sniper rifle but the magazine had enough ammo to take down a little army without problems. It took us time until we understood that we were dealing with a new type of gun. Imagine a rapid-fire weapon with the precision of one of the best sniper rifles that you can trade for blood diamonds."
"That doesn´t sound bad." Admitted Rick who now understood what was in the box. But he still wondered why it was so heavy.
"You´re right. This gun will help us to take down Scratch if he dares to show his head somewhere again… Hey, I got an idea!" Young leaned for in his seat and looked excited at Rick. "When we build it together. We could test it on the shooting range. What do you think?"
"We?" Rick thought that Young meant that he would fire while he was standing beside him watching.
"Yeah of course! You can also be the first!"
"Say no more!" shouted Rick happily. "I´m in!"
"Great!" meant Young as the car stopped. Rick wanted to get out and drag the box into the elevator but Young stopped him. "No, don´t forget your shoulder. I´ll do it. But you can go to the lab and switch the lights on there. So we can start putting the gun together right away."
"Thanks Sir!" with the happiness of a child on the morning of its birthday Rick rushed up the stairs to Keswick´s lab and entered it so fast that he almost overlooked that the lights were already on. Luckily Rick was able to stop otherwise he had run directly into the chief and Keswick who had a serious conversation there.
"Watch your step boy." Growled the chief angry at him.
"Oh, I´m sorry. It´s just me and agent Young will need the lab so he sent me to turn all the lights on."
"What an important m..m..mission" mocked Keswick angry like the chief.
"Oh uhm oh… Should I…"
"No, we were done here. The lab is all yours." Meant the chief and hopped towards the door. One last time he turned around and nodded into Keswick´s direction. "Please, do me that favor."
"I would have done that c..c..chief even if you hadn´t asked for that. It was my intention anyway."
The chief left and Keswick turned with his eyebrow raised high towards Rick. "So what do you want in my l..l..lab?"
"I and agent Young will build a weapon together which he had stolen from Uzbek Afghans which were forced to develop it by a Swedish ex-KBG." He beamed as he told the story.
"Uhm… have fun…" confused handed Keswick Rick the keys to the lab and walked away with the words. "Lock the door when you leave."
Keswick walked the stairs down to the garage and got into the little whatever what he called car. He built it himself and was really proud of it even if it looked like radiator with wheels.
He indicated left and turned into the Marble street. A lot of things rushed in his mind right now whereas Rick and Young using his lab was the smallest thing. What really bothered him was that Kitty hadn´t responded to any phone call within the last 24 hours. Also the chief was worried and both of them expected the worst.
Keswick´s foot pressed the gas deeper as he began to imagine what could have happened. He didn´t want to find her again with her wrist covered and blood. With those empty eyes that were staring into the nothing. It filled him with fear every time he remembered it but now in a moment this could happen again it was pure panic what he felt.
He hoped that he would be there in time. He hoped that he could safe her. All rationality faded from his thoughts. All these voices that said: What if she is just not at home? What if her phone was just not working? He let the fear control him even if he knew that fear was a really bad advisor.
With squeaking tires he stopped his 'car' in the middle of the sidewalk of Kitty´s apartment and rushed to the door. Even if it was locked Keswick didn´t think about ringing the bell. Without hesitating he pulled out the replacement key Kitty once gave him as she was off for a trip to France with Eric.
The intended use of this key was to give Keswick access to her apartment to water the plants or to order the letters Kitty got every day. Most of the letters were from guys she brought to prison which vowed vengeance, some of them were from her sister and the rest the usual stuff like bills.
Coughing he reached Kitty´s apartment after he hauled himself over 60 stairs up. Again he used the key and gained entrance to the wide apartment Kitty called home. The first thing in his mind was the bathroom. He knew that most suicides liked to cut their wrist while they were lying in warm water.
And even if he knew that Kitty tried it the last time on her couch this was somehow his first aim.
He burst the door to the bathroom open and found an empty dark room. No whit of the tension in him released. He ran to her bedroom and hoped that he would either find her sleeping there or reading a book.
But he got disappointed, this room was also empty. The nervousness in him increased as he opened the door to the living room. This room was finally one that was lighted and also not empty. Kitty sat there with her legs pulled to her body staring on a grey stain on the white wall.
"Thank god!" exclaimed Keswick as all the fear faded from his body his body in one releasing moment that almost made his legs gave way.
"Hey Keswick." Sighed Kitty without averting her gaze from the stain. "What´s up" her voice had this apathetic consonance.
"What´s up?! We´ve tried to c..c..call you since yesterday and you just didn´t pick up the damn phone!"
"I´m sorry" she sighed. Keswick did the same and sat down next to her on the couch. After some silence he raised his voice."The whole thing is w..w..wearing you down, right?"
Kitty just nodded.
"Kitty, you can´t go on like that. You s..s..should better concentrate on something instead of sitting here grieving about Dudley."
"And what?"
Keswick had not to think about that long. He knew what would bring her back to action. Well, it wasn´t good from a psychological point of view but letting her sit her was also bad.
"We know who killed him. We could take him to prison."
That was the first time Kitty moved. And Keswick could see this spark in her eyes again. And even more, it looked like this spark ignited a whole fire.
"Who?" she hissed with hate.
"Well, you haven´t heard it because you left the lab before so…"
"Say the name." she came now real close to Keswick. "Just the name…"
"Uhm… Scratch."
"Somebody said my name?" a voice called from the bathroom. Then a flushing sound came from the same direction and Scratch stepped into the living room cleaning his hands with a wet tissue. "Salve, amici… Oh, Your basin is broken."
"SCRATCH!" shouted Kitty and was about to get her gun which was in her jacket which lay on a couch nearby but Scratch had his already out. "I wouldn´t recommend that, Miss Katswell. For your own sake." Widely grinning he turned to Keswick. "Ah Mr. Keswick. Pleasure to meet you again. I feel like I almost see you every day."
"YOU!" Keswick pointed angry with his index finger at Scratch. "YOU HARD DRIVE KILLER! DROP Y..Y..YOUR GUN AND FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL MAN!" he looked like he would start to rip of his shirt to start wrestling with Scratch.
"Maybe another day, Mr. Keswick." He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and threw them towards Keswick. "You know the procedure, I think?"
Keswick cursed loudly and chained himself on the next radiator. Now Scratched focused back on Kitty who gave him just that look full of hate.
"Miss Katswell? Why so angry? Is it because I hid in your house? Don´t panic I just came here a few seconds ago through the window. I´m still pretty good in climbing…"
"You know exactly why, psychopathic mass murderer!"
"Oh…" said Scratch surprised. "Mass murderer…? I am no mass murderer. Well, I murdered people with mass but I don´t think that counts."
"TELL THAT SOMEONE ELSE SCRATCH!" she screamed at him.
"No the person I´ll tell is you." Scratch pulled the trigger of his Taser and the two electrodes hit Kitty´s forehead. 10,000 Volt struck through her body and let her twitch like a fish without water. A moment later she lost her conscious.
Scratch face showed no emotion as he lifted her up after watching her twitching for a while.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HER?! L..L..LEAVE HER ALONE!" Keswick tried to get loose from the radiator but like the last time he was in this situation it was useless to struggle. He had to watch how Scratch carried Kitty´s unconsciousness body through the door of her apartment. Again he felt this fear again. He could only imagine what this sick bastard would do with her.
-So here we just saw the 'What are you doing in my apartment'. A plan with three steps. Step1: Get into the apartment. Step2: Suprise the victim. Step3: ...do whatever you want...-
