Chapter 13
"You freaking son of a bitch!" Hobbes howled, lunging forward as he watched his friend fall heavily to the ground. Cold fury coursed through him and he abandoned his weapons in favour of the satisfying feel of his hands snaking around the neck of the man who'd taken Darien down with a savage blow to the back of the neck. A well practised and decisive jerk of the man's head elicited a sickening, yet immensely gratifying crunch and Hobbes tossed the dead body aside without a backward glance. He immediately turned his attention to Stark who seemed momentarily stunned by the turn of events, but before Hobbes could push his advantage two more guards appeared and moved to flank their employer.
"Nice try Agent Hobbes," Stark said with a grudging appreciation of the skill he'd just seen demonstrated. "However, I would suggest you stand down now before my associates decide to mete out a little retribution of their own for the death of their friend."
Quickly assessing the options open to him, Hobbes realised he had no chance of taking out all three men and he reluctantly placed his hands behind his head in the universal sign of surrender. One of the guards moved forward to retrieve the weapons and restrain him whilst the other leaned forward to whisper something in Stark's ear. As he listened a look of annoyance flashed across Stark's face before he gave a curt nod and turned his attention back to Hobbes.
"Well Agent Hobbes, it appears movement has been detected around our perimeter," Stark informed him . "You don't think it could be a misguided attempt by your colleagues at the Agency to try and take my compound do you? Because if it is, I'm in no mood for uninvited guests crashing our little reunion party and I'm afraid I would have to take some rather unpleasant measures to prevent any intrusion."
Stark stared down at Darien who lay unconscious at his feet and asked almost petulantly, "What's it going to take to finally see you dead?" He gave an exaggerated sigh of resignation and continued speaking, a smile slowly spreading across his face, "Oh well, postponing the execution until I take care of this little problem has one benefit I suppose – having Darien awake and alert will make it more enjoyable when I finally pull the trigger. Seeing the expression on his face will be priceless!" He stood there relishing the thought for a moment before turning his attention back to the present and barking at the remaining guard, "Lock them up and make sure they don't escape. Inform everyone thermal goggles are mandatory." Then, ignoring Hobbes' murderous glare, Stark turned on his heels and strode purposefully away down the corridor.
The Official's orders to take no action following Darien's capture left Claire and Alex once again sitting impotently in the van watching events silently unfold. The camera in Darien's hat was still functioning and appeared not to have been detected, however the headset had immediately been confiscated and switched off, leaving them without sound. Their sense of foreboding grew to outright alarm when Stark levelled his weapon at Darien's head and Claire was just thinking she would prefer not to see what was coming next, when a pyjama clad figure appeared on the monitor. Her heart leapt - it was Bobby!
Suddenly the screen blurred as the camera fell abruptly to the ground. The image flickered like a guttering flame for a few seconds before stabilising to reveal a dead body, its lifeless eyes wide with surprise. Agonisingly nothing else was visible for what seemed like an age, leaving Alex and Claire to imagine their friends' fate. However, the hat was eventually plucked from Darien's head and discarded, changing the angle of the camera. All at once they had a clear view of Hobbes being marched down the hallway, Darien held securely in his arms and a gun in his back. As the group disappeared around the next corner Alex jumped to her feet.
"I'm not waiting any longer," she announced. "We've got to act now or there won't be any reason to go in there."
"You don't think Darien's already been shot do you?" Claire asked apprehensively, not really certain she wanted to know the answer.
"No," Alex replied decisively. "There's no sign of blood and at that range if Stark had pulled the trigger it would've been all over the place."
Claire let out a breath she didn't even realise she'd been holding and nodded. "What now?"
"All we need is a distraction that keeps them occupied long enough for me to slip through the fence and get to the tunnel," Alex said with more confidence than she felt.
"Yes, but what…." Claire began as she stooped to open the side door of the van to take a look outside. She paused for a moment catching sight of movement along the road approaching the estate. "I think Stark and his men are going to have their hands too full to bother about us in a few minutes," she said, pointing at the speeding black vehicles she'd spotted. From the urgent flurry of activity by the front gates, it was evident the visitors were not expected.
Bobby Hobbes paced restlessly around the small bedroom he and Darien had been unceremoniously dumped in and silently cursed their luck for about the hundredth time. Couldn't they ever get a break? He was just about to turn and head back to the door when he heard a moan from the figure sprawled on the bed. "Fawkes, you back with me kiddo?" he asked anxiously.
"Th-think so," Darien croaked, turning over and struggling to open his eyes. "How long was I out?"
"About ten minutes," Hobbes told him, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. "How're you feeling?"
"I'll be fine once you take pity on me and cut my head off," Darien replied with a groan, his head pounding in tempo with his heartbeat. "You alright?"
"Oh just peachy," Hobbes groused, relaxing a little now Darien was awake. "I'm locked up in a house with the host from hell, a partner who spends more time getting knocked around than a crash test dummy and we're in imminent danger of getting our heads blown off, but other than that everything's fine!" He frowned down at his friend and demanded, "Dammit Fawkes, what was the Keep thinking letting the Official send you in here anyway? You're in no condition to be back in the field!"
"Um, well, Claire didn't really want me to come - I sort of ignored her and then before I knew it, that goon kinda snuck up on me okay?" Darien replied defensively. He looked ruefully over at Hobbes and admitted, "I think she's gonna rip me an new one when we get out of here." He pushed himself up into a sitting position and grimaced as the pounding inside his skull intensified. However, the pained expression soon turned to one of disgust as a thought struck him. "Oh man, you realise I'm never gonna forgive you for this don't you?"
"What, for saving your life again?" Hobbes asked with a confused look.
"No," Darien replied indignantly, "for messing up my rescue!"
"Ahh, is that what I did? Are you sure you haven't got a little brain damage there buddy 'cause the way I remember it you were just about to get spectacularly de-glanded all over the pretty wallpaper," Hobbes pointed out.
"Hey, I was about to swing into action and bring the suckers down hard when you turned up," Darien asserted. "I'm not saying I'm not glad to see you Hobbes, 'cause really, I am, but you've wrecked my whole 'I'm Darien Fawkes, I'm here to rescue you' speech."
"Huh?" Hobbes was seriously beginning to doubt his friend's sanity.
"You know – like the detention block scene in Star Wars with Luke and Princess Leia?"
"We gotta get you a social life buddy and stop you obsessing over late night sci-fi marathons on cable," Hobbes said rolling his eyes. "An' I hate to spoil this little fantasy you've got going but I'm way taller than Carrie Fisher and I ain't wearing a long white dress for you or anyone else!"
"Oh and let's not forget the hair man," Darien added with a smirk. "There's no way you could manage that style!" He emphasised his point by rubbing a hand roughly over the top of his partner's bald patch.
"Laugh it up fur ball!" Hobbes shot back with a mock growl, pulling himself out of reach.
"Nah, Han Solo said that to Chewbacca, not Luke," Darien corrected.
"Yeah? Well you're not standing where I am buddy. I bet Alex had you wearing that stupid woolly hat thing again didn't she?" At a puzzled nod from his friend he continued, "Well, it's done your mop no favours my friend!" The grin on Hobbes' face widened as Darien's hands instinctively flew up to his hair and started sculpting the dishevelled mess into its usual spiky fashion.
"I don't suppose you found a way out of here while I was napping did you?" Darien asked becoming serious again.
"Nope, looks like the door's the only way in or out," Hobbes replied. "How did you get in here any…." He stopped abruptly as a thunderous explosion from above interrupted any further explanation. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, quickly rising to his feet
"The cavalry?" Darien suggested hopefully, allowing himself to be hauled up to join his partner.
"I hate to disillusion you kid, but the Agency doesn't have that kind of firepower," Hobbes assured Darien as another huge detonation had them staggering.
"Well if it's not the good guys, who is it?"
"Very good question," Hobbes replied with a deepening frown.
"I want answers and I want them now gentlemen!" Jared Stark demanded, marching into the security control room a couple of minutes after the house had been rocked by the first explosion. "How did those inept Agency clowns find us?"
Two men who'd been sitting watching the bank of monitors ranged around the front of the room jumped to their feet at his entrance and looked over to their supervisor uncertainly. The supervisor stepped forward and reluctantly addressed Stark, "Unfortunately Agent Fawkes' capture led us to make a regrettable mistake in our initial assessment of the threat." He shook his head and admitted, "It's not the Agency Sir, it's Chrysalis."
"What! Is there anyone on this planet who doesn't know were we are?" Stark roared, leaning forward to get a better look at the surveillance equipment. "Are you sure this time?"
"Yes Sir, absolutely," the supervisor confirmed. "We've seen three semis out there and I recognise the specs. They're the transports used for our…um, their specialist assault teams."
Stark quirked his eyebrow at the man's unintentional slip then asked, "Will our defences hold?"
"I believe so Sir. However, I do think it might be prudent to start evacuating essential personnel immediately."
"Agreed," Stark said with a nod. "You!" He pointed to one of the other men, "Go down to the residential quarters and collect Mrs Stark and my son. I want them at the helipad as soon as possible." Turning back to the supervisor he continued, "Contact Simmons and tell him I expect the helicopter to be ready to fly…."
"No, it can't be!" the supervisor cried, interrupting any further orders. He rushed across to get a better look at one of the monitors across the room and began frantically tapping at a computer keyboard. "The front gates are opening!" he exclaimed. Dramatically all the screens suddenly went blank as the power cut out and ended his attempts to keep everything online. He glanced back at the others and said in a stunned tone, "The defence system has completely shut down."
"Evacuate!" Stark shouted and headed for the door. "Tell anyone you meet to make their way to the Arizona complex, we'll regroup there!" Then, without any further comments to the other men he disappeared out into the hallway.
Darien and Hobbes stared at each other in surprise as the power suddenly cut out and seconds later the door to their room made a barely audible 'click' before silently swinging open. They stood there trying to work out what was happening. Finally Darien asked, "You don't think it's some kind of trick do you? Stark's twisted enough to play stupid mind games with us ya know."
"Yeah, we try and escape and he gets his kicks by hunting us down," Hobbes agreed. "Sick bastard!" He cocked his head to one side and listened. The explosions had stopped, giving way to the muffled sounds of automatic gunfire and panicked shouts. "I dunno though," he continued, "never look a gift horse an' all that…sounds like he's got his hands full to me." He peered out into the hallway to find it empty. "I think we should try for that tunnel you were telling me about kid, alright?"
Before he had a chance to answer, there was a disturbance somewhere close by and raised voices could be heard coming towards their room. Without even thinking, Darien pulled Hobbes back from the door and let the quicksilver flow. They made it to the far wall just as a burst of gunfire erupted and there was a loud thump just outside, signalling the death of one of Stark's men. Unhurried footsteps made their way along the hallway and stopped by the body.
"This is such a waste of resources," a tall redheaded man complained to his companion. "We could re-educate them."
"Not an option," the other man replied dispassionately. "Sharon insists no-one be left alive as a warning to anyone else who'd dare challenge her leadership. I just hope we find Stark and his spawn or there's going to be hell to pay." He gave a cursory glance around the bedroom before closing the door.
As the members of Chrysalis moved away, Darien let out a pained gasp and dropped to his right knee, quicksilver flying in all directions.
"Hey Fawkes, you okay?" Hobbes asked anxiously, bending over his prone partner.
"Oh man, I think I overdid the Saran wrap thing," he moaned, clutching the back of his neck and squeezing his eyes closed. He bit his lip to suppress a scream as another unbearable stab of pain sliced through his head and he toppled to the floor. All too slowly the pain began to recede and he was able to open glazed eyes to look up at his partner. B-Bobbeee, yoooou looook l-liiike an aaangel," Darien slurred. "G-glowing."
"C'mon buddy, we've gotta get outta here now before the bad guys come back," Hobbes urged. God, it never got any easier watching the kid go through these damned attacks and now he was hallucinating! "Do you think you can stand?" Without waiting for a reply he bent down and tried to pull his friend to his feet.
"Nooooo!" Darien shouted with a determined look on his face. He resisted Hobbes' efforts to help and struggled to rise by himself. "We g-gotta g-et J-James now!" Holding onto the wall for support he straightened up and started moving slowly but with purpose out of the room.
"What the hell is wrong with you Fawkes?"
"No time, no time…." Darien muttered to himself as he swayed and staggered along. He never paused and seemed to know where he was going as he unerringly led them through the house.
Hobbes battled to keep up whilst trying his best to cover their progress in case they encountered any hostiles. Everything seemed quiet where they were, with only the occasional muffled sound of sporadic gunfire. It looked like the action had moved outside. He was just turning from another glance behind him when he saw Darien disappear into a room ahead. As he reached the door Darien came staggering back out, his face as pale as death and his eyes full of horror. He collapsed onto his knees he began retching uncontrollably.
Giving Darien a concerned look, he cautiously made his way into the room to be confronted by a hellish scene. Blood covered almost every surface within what was obviously a child's bedroom and bodies littered the floor. Three suited members of Chrysalis lay near the door and over by the bed was the lifeless form of Eleanor Stark. She'd clearly put up a hell of a fight and he soon found the reason for her defiance. Partially hidden beneath her was the blood-soaked and un-naturally still form of a small child.
"Oh God," he breathed. How was he going to tell Alex?
TBC