Author's Note: Hooray! We've officially hit over 20k words and 8 chapters! Not to boast but that makes this the longest Evil Genius fic on both in word and chapter count (Excluding the 15 chapter Living Hell fic of course.) Thanks so much for all your support! This is far from my most popular fic but It's nice to know that even in a small fandom where I'm the only one posting fics, I still have some dedicated readers. Enjoy the chapter!

Cadel ended up crying himself to sleep.

By the time he awoke once again things hadn't changed much. He was still on the same white mattress in the bed with the metal frame. The walls and floor were still made with concrete and the light bulb hanging from the ceiling was still on.

The only difference between now and earlier was that there was now a bag of chips and a bottle of water on the floor in front of him.

Cadel opened the bag of chips and started to eat. It had been hours, possibly even a few days since he had eaten his last meal and he was starving. As he ate, he pondered his situation.

It turns out sleep and a good cry can do a lot to clear one's head. Cadel's mind felt a lot clearer now than when he first woke up in his little prison. Because of this he was now in the perfect position to review his situation.

So, Prosper was back to life and Trader was back in the picture. Trader had captured Cadel as bait for Saul and Prosper. If Trader's plan went off without a hitch, then both men would come for Cadel which would allow Trader to capture them. What he would do after that was still unknown to Cadel. While he found it unlikely that Trader would torture the two men to death (He couldn't rule the possibility out though. Especially not when Trader was so unstable) he knew that he had some punishment in store for them. Something ugly no doubt.

Well, Cadel wouldn't let that happen. He couldn't. Saul Greeniaus was his father after all. He loved him and he knew he would be lost without him. It was as simple as that.

As for Prosper English, Cadel's feelings for him were a lot more complicated. Prosper had done bad things to him. He had brainwashed and manipulated and lied to him. He had treated him as his own personal possession. He had even killed his mother. But despite all of that, Cadel still couldn't help but harbor a touch of affection for him.

He had been the first person who had really cared about Cadel. The first to really listen and encourage him. The first to give him presents and cheer him on. The first person he had ever loved, and Cadel was sure, despite everything, the first person who had ever loved him.

There was also the fact that Cadel couldn't save Saul without saving Prosper in this scenario.

It was for these reasons that Cadel decided that Trader's plan must never come to fruition. He would have to stop Trader and he was determined to.

The only problem was that Cadel had no idea how to go about that.

First, he would need more information. If Cadel tried to create a plan to defeat Trader now, he was sure it would fail. He didn't have enough data. Cadel would need to learn more about Trader's plan, his operation and of course, Trader himself.

Something that would be hard to do within his jail cell. Oh, to be a fly on the wall. If only Cadel had a discreet way to gather information on Trader.

By now Cadel had finished his chips and water. His hunger hadn't been entirely cured but that was the least of his priorities right now.

Because right now he had some spying to do.

As Cadel sat on the bare mattress his eyes cast about for some way, any way to get a better peek at just where he was being holed up.

The slit in the door was ruled out immediately. He had already learned that it provided very little visibility when it came to studying his surroundings. There was also the complication of the guards which were always posted right in front of his prison and would immediately see him peeking out if he ever did try to spy through there.

No, the door slit was not a viable option.

Unfortunately for Cadel, there weren't many more options available, viable or no. The entire room was pure concrete, save for the mattress, the toilet, and the lightbulb. Out of all these items, the toilet was the most likely to help him out in this situation, though the chances of it doing so were still negligible. After all, he could hardly flush himself down it.

Still, Cadel pushed himself off his mattress and examined it. He flushed the toilet and examined the exposed plumbing, waiting to see if there was any reaction from anyone in one of the other rooms. Cadel knew how, in older houses, flushing the toilet could affect any running water in a shower nearby, mostly by making it warmer. Unfortunately, when Cadel pressed his ears to the adjacent walls, he heard nothing that indicated any sort of disturbance in any nearby showers.

Cadel put his hands on his hips and drew his mouth into a thin line. He was really running out of ideas now.

Maybe if I observe the guards, their behavior will be able to tell me something about this place, Cadel thought. But then he discounted that idea. No, no. How much information will studying a couple of grunts give me? Besides, they'd probably notice me watching them and grow suspicious.

The next idea Cadel considered was fabricating a reason to force Trader to take him out of his cell, even just for a moment. Such an excuse would allow him to get a good, long look at his prison and formulate a plan. But he abandoned that idea as well. Trader was smart enough and knew Cadel well enough that he'd be able to see through this trick. He had obviously been very thorough when it came to his prisoner. He might not fall for it, and if he did, he'd be far too careful to let Cadel out of his cell for long. He'd only get a short glimpse of his circumstances. Not nearly enough data to formulate a good escape plan.

Cadel began to pace the room. He was beginning to panic despite himself. It seemed that there were absolutely no good options. Was he destined to stay in this cell forever!?

That's when he saw it. Way up high in the ceiling, right above the door. An air vent. And quite a large one at that. Immediately Cadel focused all his energies on it. He calculated the height of the vent above the door and the height and width of the vent itself. He considered what the vent was made of and what it would take to remove the cover from the wall. Finally, he considered his on height and weight.

When Cadel had finished with all his calculations, he rubbed his hands together. The ghost of a smile spread over his perfect, heart-shaped face.

Perhaps there was hope after all.

About a half hour later, Cadel had moved the metal bedframe from the back of the concrete cell to the front where it was now propped up against the door and under the vent.

This had proven to be easier said than done. The first complication was the metal frame itself. It was large and heavy which made it extremely hard to move around. Cadel had never been much into sports or fitness. It took him a solid twenty minutes to move the thing across the room and by the time he had succeeded he was sweaty and out of breath.

Propping the frame up against the wall had proved to be flat out dangerous. Cadel knew he wasn't nearly strong enough to be handling something so heavy. More than once he had narrowly avoided being bonked on the head by metal.

And all this had to be done without alerting the guards at the door. Cadel several glances at the slit in the wall but not once did he see a pair of eyes looking back at him. They didn't seem to be watching him closely. Even so, any loud noise he made would be sure to alert them. That's why he had to be as quiet as possible when carrying out his plan. Something that was hard to do when you were scraping metal across concrete.

Still, Cadel had achieved his goal. The bars on the metal bedframe formed a makeshift ladder which he could use to reach the vent high up on the wall. After removing his shoes (he wanted to make as little noise as possible in the vent and shoes against metal were sure to make some sound) and ensuring that the bedframe wouldn't slide out from under him he climbed his improvised ladder very carefully.

The vent was removed without much trouble at all. Just a careful applying of fingernails in the right weak spots. Immediately, Cadel was blasted with a gust of cool air which felt good after his workout with the bedframe. He took a deep breath, and he went in.

Cadel had to squeeze a little to fit so he was a tad uncomfortable, but it was still manageable. The vents were quite cold and dark, but he had been accepting that. There had been a time when he was quite young, before he had met Prosper English, even, when he had been enamored with ventilation systems. He had often traversed the one in the Piggots' home, recording information on the airflows and where each tunnel led.

This was what Cadel did now as he travelled through the vents of Trader Lynch's base of operations. Mentally, he logged every turn he made and every grate in the vent system. He made a list of every room he encountered. A lot of it was uninteresting. Bathrooms and hallways, that sort of thing. He did come across several people in the various rooms but they all seemed to be grunts for they spoke only of mundane things such as sports, the latest movies and what their families were up to.

Cadel was just beginning to worry whether he had wasted his time and energy to crawl through the ventilation system when a voice drifted through the metal tunnels to his ears.

"No this is good! This is exactly what I wanted!"

Cadel's heart skipped a beat. It was Trader Lynch!

Cadel's head swiveled towards the sound. On the tunnel to his left, all the way down was another opening in the ventilation system. A faint, blue light flowed from it, as if the room wasn't being lit by the fluorescent lights that all the rooms in the warehouse seemed to have but a much weaker light source, like a nightlight. Or a computer.

Carefully, Cadel crawled forward, making almost no sound as he did so. It had been the right choice to wear socks, even if it did make his feet a little colder.

When Cadel finally reached the opening, he was given a full view of a concrete room full of computer equipment. Desktops, and laptops and cables were arranged all around the perimeter while up to ten typing chairs and desk seats were scattered around the room.

Also in the room were three figures. They were hard to make out in the dim light, but Cadel was sure one of them was Trader. His figure stood almost a full head among his companions, one of which was standing directly in front of him, probably engaged in conversation, while the other was sitting at one of the many computers.

Bingo! Cadel thought. I've got you now, Trader.

"You don't understand, we need them to come to us," Trader said. Cadel assumed he was talking about his plan for Saul Greeniaus and Prosper English. "They can hardly do that while they're in jail."

"So, the whole point of setting off the alarm in the GenoMe building was to keep them on their toes?" This remark came from one of the other figures in the room. A vague shape standing in front of Trader. Something about their voice nagged at Cadel's subconscious. He felt like he had heard that voice somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where. The voice was flat, with little inflection but he couldn't tell whether it was masculine of feminine.

Who had he known who spoke like that?

"In a way," Trader rejoined. "We'll hardly be able to fool Saul and Prosper if they're not mentally impaired somehow. Stress has a way of messing with one's critical thinking skills. Besides, searching for Cadel is going to be a lot harder for them if they're wanted men."

Wanted!? What did that mean. Was Trader looking to bring the law down on Saul and Prosper? Cadel had to admit, it was a clever plan for dealing with Prosper. But would it really work for the detective? He did work in law enforcement after all.

It occurred to Cadel that Trader was conflating the two men a little too much. If he was only focusing on what they had in common instead of accounting for their great many differences than that oversight could be exploited.

"I'm sorry," the stranger with the flat voice said. "but this plan seems overcomplicated to me. Wouldn't you be worried about them getting caught? They wouldn't be able to come for Cadel if they're in police custody."

"They won't get caught by the police!" Trader urged to his companion. "Saul and Prosper may be insufferable but they're not stupid. They wouldn't let themselves get caught."

"Detective Greeniaus is quite the upstanding citizen. He might turn himself in."

"That's not going to happen!" Trader sighed. "They were right about you. You truly don't know anything about human interaction."

Suddenly a faint clicking sound was heard in the darkness, making Trader jump. "What was that?"

"It was Com," said the flat voice. "He says human interaction is overrated anyway."

Of course! If Com was here that meant the flat voice had to belong to Dot.

Cadel sucked in a breath. So, both Dot and Com were working for Trader Lynch. That had to mean one of two things. Either they also had a grudge against Prosper for getting them into trouble, or they were working on behalf of Prosper as spies in Trader's operation. Both situations seemed equally likely to Cadel. After all, he didn't know that much about Com and Dot. How loyal could they have been to Prosper English? Cadel had no way of knowing.

All he knew was that for now, he would have to monitor them closely. For now, he would have to act on the defensive. Assume that, like Trader, they didn't have his best interests at heart.

Com let out a squeak and Trader looked to him for a translation. "He says he's monitoring the police system right now. He doesn't see any trace of Saul Greeniaus or Prosper English in the criminal records."

"Nothing? Not even any thing that could be an alias?"

Dot turned back to Com who clicked. "Nothing," she said to Trader.

Just then, the door burst open. In walked a figure almost as tall as Trader himself. This one was more, obviously feminine than Dot. Cadel could make out smooth, long hair and a very large bosom.

"Trader Lynch," they said in a soft, breathy voice. "There you are."

"Oh, Niobe," Trader said, sounding somewhat taken aback. "You're back already."

Cadel's jaw dropped. Niobe! What was she doing here?

But even as he asked that question, Cadel already knew the answer. She still wanted revenge on Prosper English for what happened to her sister.

"Did you miss me, baby love?" Niobe asked Trader, her voice low and rumbly.

Ew.

"Of course, I did, Mama."

Oh gross.

"Come and give me some loving, boo thang." Trader and Niobe proceeded to snog. Cadel blushed as he watched the two of them devour each other's lips through his fingers. Cadel noticed that Niobe's eyes were open. Their kiss was completely devoid of love or passion.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Com and Dot exchange a brief glance of annoyance. Cadel was sure they weren't too happy with Niobe's involvement. Dot had once called Niobe a psycho after all. Cadel found it unlikely that either she or Com thought her as much of an asset to their operation.

"What do you need, Pookie?" Trader asked Niobe as he halfheartedly ran his hand through her long, blonde hair.

"I have information on one of your grunts." Niobe said, her voice soft and breathy. "Some of your spies have reason to believe that Saul and Prosper are on his tail. And if they're on his tail, then they're definitely on your tail, Trader poo."

"Really?" Trader said and he turned to Dot. "Dot, I want you to run some checks on the Virus's computer. See where he's been poking around. Use that information to plug in any holes in Doug's history."

Dot nodded and walked, almost robotically to one of the many computers in the room. Of course, Cadel had figured out as soon as the name "Doug" escaped Trader's mouth that Barney and the man who had kidnapped him were the same person, since he had introduced himself as Doug. But if that was the case which name belonged to the real man, and which one was the alias?

Almost as soon as Dot had booted up her computer Com let out another little squeak. Trader and Niobe looked to Dot for a translation.

"He says something's happened in the police system. Saul Greeniaus and Prosper English are officially wanted men."

"Alright!" Trader shouted. Unable to control his shock Cadel let out a loud gasp. The conversation in the computer lit room stopped. Crap! They'd heard him!

Cadel slunk back into the shadows, until he could no longer see Com and Dot and Trader and Niobe through the vent's opening. Eventually they resumed their conversation, but Cadel's mind was reeling far too fast to absorb it.

He tried to think of all the whats and hows of this development. If Saul and Prosper were being hunted down by law enforcement that would certainly complicate Cadel's situation. And how did they come to get so embroiled with law anyway? Usually Prosper was careful enough to avoid detection when breaking the law. And Saul never broke the law period?

Had they been set up by Trader and his goons? Cadel considered the mention of the GenoMe building. Had that been some sort of trap?

All of this reconnaissance and Cadel could only be sure of one thing.

Things were about to get a lot more dangerous for everyone.

Author's Note: Ooh! Dot, Com and Niobe!? Things are certainly heating up for sure! Stay hyped because there are going to be major changes for Saul and Prosper in the next chapter and a new character is going to join the fray! Thank you so much and keep reading!