The Battle Of Who Could Care Less – 21

She could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat. Its rhythmic pounding in her chest grew louder until it was thundering in her ears as the brunette stared up at the man she had known since she was a child. He had given her the first blanket she had owned as an infant – a blue one with a crescent moon on it because he believed that gender aesthetic stereotyping was merely an attempt to suppress society's aversion to gender conversion – and used to dance with her to Waltzing Matilda.

And now, he was looking directly at Robert and Jason and he knew exactly who they were.

Elizabeth gulped and took a step back, but his grip on her hand turned vice-like, anchoring her to him. Jason's eyes darkened and he instantly moved toward her, but Robert's arm stretched out in front of him held him back, as did the icy glare in Dr. Oscar MacDougal's hard gray eyes.

"Close the door."

Jason didn't move, and the older professor looked at him pointedly.

"Close the door, Morgan." His voice was terse, each word clipped, and the older man made it quite clear that he was not to be disobeyed. Jason eyed Robert, who was still studying the man carefully, and only shut the door when the detective nodded.

He and Elizabeth exchanged anxious glances as the two older men continued to size each other up. Whatever was going on – it was not good. Her hand remained trapped in his, but the hold was looser now that Dr. MacDougal was focusing singularly on Robert and had abandoned the mobster.

Jason watched the professor's grey eyes twinkle as the corner of his mouth twitched, and he looked over to see if Robert had any idea of what was going on. But the agent's brows were furrowed and he appeared lost in thought as he carefully studied the older man, wondering why on earth he thought he looked familiar.

Finally, MacDougal spoke in a voice so soft that it was like the rustling of leaves in the tree outside his office window. "Pegasus."

Robert's pale blue eyes narrowed at the use of his classified code name, and Jason could tell the man was at a complete and total loss for words. But as he continued to study the man, noting his strong build, lean frame, and shifty eyes…

The detective broke out in a rare ear-to-ear grin. "Gray Brother."

Elizabeth looked up at Dr. MacDougal, confused, and found that he was grinning back at Robert as well. "It's good to see you again, Robert."

"We thought you had passed on thirty years ago," the agent exclaimed, shaking his old friend's hand firmly and clapping him on the back. "We saw the warehouse explode – saw the Egyptian guards uncover your remains…or fragments of your remains, anyway." He took a step back, studying the old man again with a pleased glimmer in his eyes. "You look…different. Good."

"Yes, well, I needed to have some work done after the incident to assure that I wouldn't be found," the professor replied, giving an answer to Robert's earlier confusion over how familiar his eyes were, but nothing else. He had clearly had a nose job and other parts of his face had been redone as well, but it was the eyes that remained unchanged and familiar.

"So, what happened?" Robert asked, focusing on his old friend and temporarily forgetting the confused younger couple in the room. "Who did you in? What was the reason-"

"My position had put me in a grave deal of danger, not to mention jeopardized a good number of the agency's covert operations," he replied quickly. "To ensure the safety of both, the agency came to me and plotted out my apparent demise. After the warehouse exploded, I underwent cosmetic surgery to alter my appearance and was set up in England with an assumed identity."

"Amazing," Robert murmured, pacing around the small office. "You're still with the Bureau?"

"Oh, assuredly," the older man replied, puffing out his chest. "Only my services are intensely classified now to ensure that the past does not repeat itself."

"Naturally. I can imagine that you've got-"

"Woah, woah, woah." Elizabeth stepped in between the two men, her arms crossed defensively over her chest as she stared down each of them. "I'm sorry to cut the reunion short, but can one of you please explain this to me before my head explodes? Dr. Wilde, you know this man?"

"Know him?" The professor grinned at the detective. "Lizzie Love, I had been with the agency for years before they brought in a cocky young buck named Robert Scorpio. I even accompanied him on the hunt for the Aztec treasure. By the way, how is Sean these days? Do you hear from him?"

"Ah, Donnelly," Robert grinned at the mention of his best friend, the former head of the WSB who had turned out to be the mastermind after the Aztec treasure in the first place, leading to a six-year long rift between the two of them. "Yes, yes. He's doing well."

"Last I heard, reports said he was shot by your friend Luke Spencer."

The detective shrugged off the mild accusation in Oscar's voice. "Yes, but he recovered well. Still with Tiffany, you know. They have a boy – got to be about fifteen or so now. They both managed to disappear, and I think it's for the best. This life is not conducive to family."

"Yes, and who better to know that than us?" Oscar remarked sagely. He glanced at Elizabeth, who was still glowering up at him, and quickly remembered the point of their conversation. "Oh, yes, Lizzie, we both worked together for the World Security Bureau in the past."

"So you're an agent?" she got out, wobbling back a step. "You've been an agent for…"

"Oh, since I was about twenty, Love," he replied, nodding proudly. "To this day, I hold the record for youngest agent ever hired."

Robert was nodding along. "Elizabeth, the man before you is none other than Faolan Beathan Adair – known to us in the organization as Grey Brother." He smirked at his old friend, shaking his head. "And now the wolf has become the deer, eh?"

The professor laughed, offering an explanation when he saw the confused look on Elizabeth's face. "The name Faolan means wolf, dear heart, while Oscar carries the connotation of a deer. I was given the code name of Grey Brother by the Bureau because of the character's role as the intermediary between two worlds – the civilized and the natural – in Kipling's book."

"He's an art scholar," Robert clarified, pointing affectionately at the old man. "Not to mention one of the most brilliant minds in cryptography on the planet. We used to seek his services all the time – any mission, you name it, we'd bring back the artifact and let him work his magic. He made sense of things that we didn't even think to notice, and is responsible for some of the greatest victories the Bureau holds to this day."

"Come now, Robert," Oscar scoffed. "It wasn't all that much. You're doing fine without me these days, aren't you?"

Elizabeth's dark brows furrowed. "But I thought you said you were still with the Bureau."

"Darling, my position is a classified and restricted one. In the past, my fame as a cryptographer preceded me and I became easily identifiable among the less savory characters of the world."

"It was mostly our fault," Robert admitted. "In hindsight, we used him for everything and left him open to attack. He was made an easy target."

"And because of that, I was putting the missions at risk as well," Oscar agreed. "So the Bureau decided the best way to keep me on for my talents would be to fake my death and resurrect me as a secret contact far removed from the battleground. So now I work here, I teach my students, and occasionally I receive packages by courier which I take to a lab facility professedly own by the institution but under private lease by the Bureau. Within a few days, I send the package back and resume my work."

"Does anyone know about this?" She was wringing her hands, just like she always did when she was particularly anxious. "I mean…Dad, Mom…?"

"No, Elizabeth, not a soul outside of select members of the Bureau," Oscar informed her quietly. "And that's how it must stay, Love. Do you understand?" She nodded mutely, and Oscar once again glanced at his old friend. "And now it appears to be my turn to ask questions – Lizzie Love, how on earth did you fall in with these two characters?"

The brunette bit her lip, still wringing her fingers as she looked helplessly at Robert. "Honestly…I couldn't tell you."

The detective chuckled at the puzzled look on her face and clapped a hand down on the professor's shoulder. "Faolan, you'll be surprised to know that I met your little friend in the town of Calvillo in Aguascalientes."

The old man's gray eyes widened. "Buenaventura's stronghold? What on earth were you doing there, Lizzie?"

"I remember something about jellybeans," she murmured, reaching for one of the antique leather armchairs that sat near his desk. "I need to sit down."

Jason inched closer to her as Robert resumed the conversation until he was stationed protectively next to Elizabeth who was still muttering to herself about secret agents and bunkers and those goddamn jellybeans.

"A contact of mine was murdered trying to infiltrate Buenaventura's villa," the detective began, leaning casually against a large bookshelf that loomed in the corner. "He died trying to recover an artifact, and I went down there to investigate the situation. I knew I'd need assistance so I called in Luke Spencer and his boy, Lucky."

Oscar shook his head, exasperated. "Why must you always do that, Robert? You know our file on Spencer is twice as big as the one on Morgan and his friend Corinthos. And yet you insist on bringing that man into every-"

"Luke is shady, but he's got a great mind for these capers," Robert disagreed. "He brought Elizabeth down with him to Calvillo and we were housed by members of the Libertad party. Elizabeth here went undercover into the Don's house to search for the unknown artifact that my contact had been seeking."

"Elizabeth? Is this true?"

She looked blankly back into his intense gray eyes. "…Yeah."

Robert quickly intervened, noticing the horrified look that crossed his old friend's face. "Not to worry, Faolan – she was wonderful. She retrieved the artifact in about a week and we hightailed it out of town and came straight here. And now we need your help."

The professor's white brows furrowed as he slipped his thumbs through his belt loops. "Yes, of course, I'm more than happy to assist in any way I can. But, Robert-"

"So all those times that Dad invited you to come stay with us in Colorado," Elizabeth interjected, her own brows pinched together as she thought back over all the years she had known him. "You always said no because…"

"Because it's dangerous for me to leave the country, Love," he answered gently. "Also, there's no telling when the Bureau needs my assistance, and a deferral of even a day or two is the difference between life and death."

Elizabeth nodded, lapsing back into silence as Jason looked down at her, concerned, and the professor once again turned to Robert.

"Now, what is it that I am looking at, Robert?"

The detective reached into his side pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief. Unwrapping it, he revealed the large ruby set in silver and carefully watched as the art scholar studied it. "This is her. Ain't she something?"

A long moment passed before he could say anything. "This was found in Buenaventura's collection?"

Robert nodded. "Yes."

"Strange," he murmured, fingering the chain and the ornate silver work. "This doesn't appear to be a Mexican design…"

"Well…I haven't exactly told you the whole of it," the younger agent admitted, scratching the back of his head. "The necklace doesn't belong to Buenaventura himself, per se."

"Ah," Oscar mused, stroking his white beard. "So who does it belong to, per se?"

"Helena Cassidine," Elizabeth replied simply, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back in the leather chair. The initial shock was beginning to wear off and she had to remember why they had come here in the first place. "She had at least one of her own men on the inside looking for the artifact, but I got it first."

"Helena," the professor cursed, shaking his head. "She's at it again, is she? Tell me, Robert, does she know you have this?"

The detective exchanged glances with Elizabeth. "To the best of our knowledge, no. We have two days left before the party strikes against Buenaventura – Agent Devane is stationed down there to assist with the coup. In two days, however…she'll know."

"You'll want to get in touch with Bunbury in Paris – he's the one who's been tracking Helena for the past twenty years," Oscar informed him, taking the handkerchief and the necklace. He moved toward his desk, followed closely by Robert and Jason. "He'll be able to provide some assistance as well."

"I've got Pentagruel meeting up with us here in a few days," Robert added, taking up an armchair next to Elizabeth as Oscar carefully situated the necklace on his desk. "You know of him, correct?"

The professor nodded absently. "Yes, yes, promising young man. This is very interesting, Robert. Especially…this."

Elizabeth watched as he ran his finger over the beveled script on the back of the silver plate. "Do you know what it is?"

"Offhand? No." He looked up at the three of them, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I'll need some time to decipher it. It looks vaguely similar to an ancient dialect of Greek specific to the region situated directly between the Tigris and the Euphrates…and yet, it's completely different. I'll have to work on this."

His serious gray eyes met the detective's solemn blue ones. "It was good of you to bring me this, Robert. I'll do the best I can."

"We have faith in you, Faolan," he replied quietly, rubbing his palms absently over his knees. "And we'll need all the help we can get trying to figure out what Hell's Bells is up to this time."

"If she's trying to freeze the world again, you're all set," the professor joked. "You've still got your notes saved from the last time she did that?"

Robert grinned and shook his head. "That's the thing about the old girl – she never wears the same international crisis twice."

Oscar nodded, his attention once again turning to the necklace. "I'd like to have a cast made of this, if at all possible. Robert?"

"That sounds fine."

"Good – you'll accompany me to the lab, won't you? I'll set it and it'll be ready soon. Then you can take the necklace and secure it – I really don't desire for any one of my sniveling freshmen to come in during office hours and spy it."

Robert answered with a chuckle, nodding. "Yes, that's fine. We'll do that now. Elizabeth, Jason – there's no need for the two of you to stay. Go out, have some breakfast together and get some rest. I'll be back as soon as we're done."

The brunette nodded and rose from the armchair, stretching out her legs. "Okay, that's fine. I'm starving anyway. You wanna go, Jason?"

"Elizabeth-" Oscar – or Faolan, rather, she supposed – glanced warily at Jason before turning toward the young woman. "Lizzie Love, it was wonderful to see you again. I apologize if all this took you by surprise. I never imagined-"

She surprised him by smiling and waving it off. "It's fine, Dr. Wilde, really. Honestly…it's all kind of funny. I mean, what are the odds that I would meet a secret agent, and what are the odds that I would introduce that agent to another undercover agent? It's really…wow."

He watched her laugh, chuckling himself, and gently took her hand. Elizabeth allowed the old man to pull him to her and hugged him back gently. "I'm glad you've got a sense of humor about you, Love. And you remember – you don't tell your father about my double life, and I won't tell him that you're cavorting with warlords and mobsters and inviting the wrath of a scorned Queen. It'll be our secret, Lizzie Love."

"Our secret," she agreed with a smile, rising on her toes to peck his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Count on it, Love," he replied with a nod. "Hopefully, I'll have some information for you all by then. Robert, shall we?"

"We shall," the detective nodded, motioning Jason to open the door. "Thank you again for your help, Faolan, and I apologize for dropping in on you like this. I don't mean to exploit your skill like before-"

"You couldn't have known, Robert," the professor reminded him with a smirk. "Funny how fate manages to lead two people right back to each other, doesn't it?"

The detective smiled to himself, thinking of how incredibly lucky he was to have the chance to reunite with his old colleague as he watched Jason boldly take Elizabeth's hand and lead her out of the office. "Downright hilarious, Faolan."