To Lyger 0: Answers are definitely needed right now.


One Week Earlier

"And you are certain that this is everything you can tell us?"

Antoine groaned, rubbing his forehead to push back the headache that had been building there for most of the day. "For the last time, Cocteau, yes! I've told you everything I know! Unless you want to know about that bully who stole my lunch money in collège…"

"That… won't be necessary," answered Agent Cocteau, a thin man with light brown hair, a thin white scar running down his cheek. Pursing his lips, he examined Antoine suspiciously. "Unless that bully happens to go by the name Lynchpin now, that is."

"Not to my knowledge…"

Leaning against the wall between the dining area and the tiny kitchenette, her arms folded and eyes narrowed, Adine scoffed. "You tell him everything, but you didn't tell me…"

"Did I have a choice?" Antoine demanded, glaring up at her irritably.

"Did you have a choice?" she repeated, her eyes flashing. She leaned forward away from the wall and threw her hands into the air, letting out a hysterical laugh. "I don't know; maybe you could have just stayed at that school! Maybe you could have applied for another legitimate job! Or, I don't know, maybe you could have not gotten in bed with a group of criminals!"

"Don't you think I tried applying for a legitimate job!?" he retorted, rising to his feet, his fists clenched at his sides. "I tried! I was blacklisted! After I was indicted, even without a conviction, no one would hire me! How was I supposed to provide for us – provide for our daughter – with that crappy teaching job? At least the Lynchpin paid well. And he gave me the opportunity to do what I love."

Adine's mouth set in a thin line. Leaning in close with her eyes narrowed, she gritted his teeth. "Oh? And what did it cost you?"

Antoine reeled back in shock and turned to look around the tiny apartment building they had been assigned, just outside of Paris in one of the eastern communes. Less than half the size of their previous apartment, with only a single bedroom and a small living room area attached to the kitchenette, it was by far the smallest apartment they had ever lived in – even smaller than their first studio. There was hardly enough space in here, even just for the two of them to live comfortably, let alone Bridgette, if she ever came to visit while they were here. But since they had been forced to leave behind almost everything in their previous apartment when they left, there was actually almost enough space for everything they had been able to bring. Two duffel bags were in the living room, waiting to be unpacked. Two small boxes of their possessions sat in one corner of the living room: one box with a few of Bri's awards and projects from school, and another holding a handful of their decorations and trinkets that had been on the mantle. Everything else they had left behind – electronics, books, movies, most of their clothing… Antoine swallowed. Almost their entire life they had abandoned – almost five decades of building.

When he and Gaston had decided to surrender, he hadn't expected the President's office to go to such… extremes.

But with the length of the Lynchpin's reach, how could they not exercise caution, even if it was only temporary? That was why they had not contacted Mayor Bourgeois or the Paris Police directly. Even if they could trust the Mayor – and given that he was a politician, that was not an easy answer, despite who his daughter was. But even if they could trust him, they could not trust the people around him, or the Paris Police. The Lynchpin still had informants within the Paris Police; Antoine couldn't know who all of them were. If they were going to protect their families, they had to go bigger than just the Mayor of Paris.

Without moving from his seat, Agent Cocteau cleared his throat. "Ma'am, with your husband's information and expertise, we may be able to take down one of the most dangerous criminals in all of France," he told Adine, raising an eyebrow. "That is not something to ignore."

Adine pursed her lips, her arms folded, and glared at Agent Cocteau. "Yes, yes. How wonderful that is for the people of Paris: ending a threat for which my husband is partially responsible."

"The Lynchpin has done far more harm than I could possibly be responsible for!" Antoine protested, his eyes wide. "The Lynchpin is an absolute monster! We will all be safer without him around!"

"And meanwhile," Adine continued heatedly, speaking over Antoine, "we're hiding here in this dump of an apartment because that criminal that you were working for could try to murder us!"

"I don't like it any more than you do," he told her earnestly. "I wish we could have done this without having to go into hiding. But this is only for a little longer," he assured her, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "One, maybe two months at the most. Once the trial is over, we can return home."

"Well…" Agent Cocteau grimaced. "Not exactly."

Antoine cocked his head, his brows furrowed in confusion. "'Not exactly'," he repeated, blinking. "What's that supposed to mean? The trial will take longer?"

Agent Cocteau's mouth set in a thin line. "There will be no trial. Not yet, anyways."

Antoine started. "What happened to yesterday's raid? I thought that was supposed to end the Lynchpin for good."

Agent Cocteau eyed him carefully. "That is actually what I came to talk to you about," he replied, his face setting into a mask and betraying no emotions. "Did you tell anyone about the raid plan?"

Antoine's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "No…"

"And your partner?"

"No – of course neither of us would have told anyone. Who would we tell? Why would we tell? We both agreed to leave – to try to do things differently. We both want to end the Lynchpin and go straight."

"And you are certain no one else could have found out from you?"

"No!" Antoine let out a breath. "Absolutely not. When we committed to this, we agreed: the only people we would talk to – apart from you people – were our wives, once they were under your protection. Neither of us said a single word to anyone else about our decision to leave the Lynchpin – not until it happened. They might have had their suspicions, of course, once we left the Lynchpin's service, but that is all they would have been: suspicions." He frowned. "Why are you asking all these questions? What does any of this have to do with the raid?"

Agent Cocteau's mouth set in a thin line. "When the Superhero Liaison Department carried out the raid, they did not find anything."

Antoine's eyes narrowed, and he pursed his lips. "Nothing."

Agent Cocteau shook his head. "Nothing – or at least no evidence that could be linked directly back to the Lynchpin. According to their report, there were a handful of people there to protect the facility – a couple of the Dark Acolytes, along with a few others. The police suspect that they were nothing but sacrificial pawns – apart from the Dark Acolytes, none of them had been with the Lynchpin more than a day, and none of them even knew what they were guarding."

"Did they find anything?"

"Most of the building had been entirely scrubbed, apart from a single room. In the rest of the building, they discovered a few pieces of evidence, but hardly anything usable. A hair sample here, a partially-wiped hard drive there. Everywhere, except your lab." Agent Cocteau frowned. "The fingerprints they recovered from your lab will be shown to tie back to two criminals who died five years ago. Other than that, they found nothing directly usable beyond this." He pulled out an evidence bag holding a single picture and placed it on the table. "Do you recognize these people?"

Antoine leaned forward and examined the picture carefully. "I don't recognize the woman," he began slowly. "But I do recognize the man. That looks like Tyran-X… Claude something, I think. He was killed by the Tarasque."

"This… Claude… is dead?"

"That is what I said, yes."

Agent Cocteau nodded slowly, humming. "Then the only evidence they have is of a dead man…" He furrowed his brows in thought. "I see. Thank you for the information."

Antoine cocked his head to one side. "But if they scrubbed the facility so thoroughly, then…" he gasped. "They knew you were coming!" Looking across the room at Agent Cocteau, his eyes widened in terror. "They know we turned! They'll come after us! They'll–"

Agent Cocteau waved his hand dismissively. "You are fine," he assured him. "Your family and your partner's family are both safe in our protective custody. As long as you don't contact anyone from your old life, you will be fine – at least until we get the Lynchpin behind bars. Then you will be moved into more fitting accommodations. And in the meantime, we will begin preparations for your new position. My associates already have a facility prepared for your use; we will provide whatever resources you require for your work. We do in fact have a couple possible missions in mind for you and your partner to complete for us in the meantime…"

"Yes; I am sure that your facilities will be fine. I will send you the list of materials once I have a chance to look over the suit we brought with us" Antoine released a relieved breath. "But first, where do you have Bridgette? I would like to speak with her first."

Agent Cocteau stared at him in confusion. "Who?"

Adine blinked, her lips parting slightly. "Our daughter – she's in London for school."

"I don't–I haven't–" Agent Cocteau looked back and forth between them, his eyebrows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Antoine's jaw dropped, his eyes bugging out. "Wait, you mean she doesn't know!? You aren't keeping her safe!? What if he goes after her to get to me?"

"My baby!" Adine swayed slightly on her feet.

"Our daughter is in danger, and you people are doing nothing to protect her?" demanded Antoine. "When we came to you, that was the deal! You would protect our families, in exchange for our information and cooperation. We have held up our end of the deal! How could you–"

Shaking herself, Adine turned a heated glare on Antoine. "Don't turn this on them!" she seethed. "You put her in danger the moment you went to work for that man! If something happens to her…"

"Nothing will happen to her, because Agent Cocteau and his men will keep her safe, right?" Antoine's eyes narrowed in challenge.

"Look," retorted Agent Cocteau, "we will do our best to protect you and your families, but our jurisdiction only applies in France. England is a different beast all together. We don't have authorization to operate there. We can inform the local police there, but…"

"But there is no way for us to know if the Lynchpin has people in Scotland Yard the way he does in the Paris Police," Antoine finished bitterly. He gritted his teeth. "Then what are you going to do about it?"

"There is very little we can do." Agent Cocteau let out a low groan and shook his head helplessly. "If she's out of the country, I'm sure she'll be fine."

Antoine frowned, his brows knit together in concentration. Bridgette could protect herself – that much, at least, was certain. She could absolutely look out for herself if any danger came her way. And, having spoken with him in Angola, he trusted that her partner would do everything he could to keep her safe. Maybe she would be fine… but Antoine would never forgive himself if she got hurt because of his actions.

He had to do something to keep her safe.