Alliance

by dariengirl

Darien allies with the Invisible Man B-board members

Alliance

Darien walked into the lab, only to be greeted by silence. He didn't hear Claire's typing, Hobbes' sarcastic comments, or the Official roaring at Eberts upstairs. It was dead silent in the Agency.

"Hobbes? Claire?" He was about to call out for the Official, but decided against it. Might as well enjoy his absence.

"Hobbes, if this is a joke…"

"Darien?" He heard Claire's voice. She came out from the back of the lab. "Oh, I was hoping you'd come!"

"Where is everybody?"

"That's what I was going to ask you. So you don't know either?" Darien shook his head. "Well, they're just gone. When I got here, I was calling for them like you were, and they never answered."

"There's a reason for that." Someone stepped from the shadows, holding a gun. Darien couldn't see who the gunman was, but at the moment, he didn't care. His main goal was to get out of the line of fire.

"Run, Claire!" They both launched themselves out the door, the shooter firing after them.

They skidded out onto the street, and started running again. Darien didn't care where he went, as long as it was away from the gun.

He suddenly stopped, and Claire arrested herself in the middle of a step. Darien wordlessly pointed in front of them to a man. They looked behind themselves, and there was another one.

"Aw, crap," he uttered, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly a hand came out of the store next to them and yanked them inside.

"Sit down," said their rescuer. "I noticed you were in a bit of trouble."

They both nodded.

"You wouldn't happen to be Darien Fawkes, would you?" the woman said, pointing to Darien.

"Why do you want to know?"

She smiled. "I was sure you were. And this must be Claire."

Claire just bit her lip and looked at the woman.

"Well, I guess you already know that no one's home in the Agency."

"What…how did you…?" Darien looked confused.

"I've got a car in back. Come with me, and I'll take you to some people who can help you."

Darien and Claire exchanged glances, then looked outside. The two men were still out there, and didn't look too happy about it.

"We'll go. Doesn't look like we have a choice," Darien answered.

"You'll be glad you did. Come this way."

She led them through the shop and out the back door, to a car waiting for them. They got in and drove off.

After turning on an endless maze of roads, they got to a building. The woman led them down two flights of stairs, to a door which she unlocked.

They entered a room bustling with activity. People were running all over the place, carrying files and working on computers.

"What is this place?" Darien asked. He was really confused now.

"Well, you could say we're like the FBI for hire."

Darien looked at her funny and nodded, "Go on."

"We heard about your brother's project, and we wanted to be involved in it. He hired us to keep track of you, and to help you when you really needed it. Like now.

"Those little things that have saved you were never coincidences. They were our handiwork.

"Perhaps you'd like to meet some of them, and get to know us all better. I'm R2."

"R2?" Darien repeated.

"Well, that's not my real name, but we go by code name around here. It's safer for you to only know- and use- our code names."

She walked to a desk where another girl sat at a computer. "This is Nebula, our computer expert."

"Hey! It's nice to finally meet you," Nebula said to Darien. Turning to the Keeper, she said, "And you too. Hope we can help you." Nebula turned back to her computer, and started typing again.

"And over here," R2 directed our attention to a woman standing by her, "is Helena. She doesn't really have a title, but she does it all. She's our Auntie Helena."

Helena smiled at them. "We'll do everything we can to help you."

R2 turned from talking with another of her agents. "Hels, would you take Darien and Claire around to meet some of the others?"

Helena nodded. "Sure! I'd be glad to."

She took the lead, and took them to another desk, where another girl was sitting, working on a computer and pulling files out of a file cabinet.

"This is Darien girl, DG for short, who's our archivist." Leaning over to Darien, Helena whispered, "She got her code name from you."

DG must have heard, because she turned to Helena, obviously embarrassed, and exclaimed, "Hels!"

Helena hastened to make amends, though still grinning. "There're a lot of others too. Over is Fawkes Fox, and…there're a lot of others. Practically all of them…"

Darien felt his face heat up, and he couldn't stop grinning. He nudged Claire. "See, some people do appreciate me."

Claire just rolled her eyes.

Helena was walking ahead of them, and they ran to catch up. "This is Ivy. She's known for her comic relief."

Ivy grinned at Darien and Claire. "Yes, my imagination is just a little overactive."

Helena snorted. "A little?"

"But," she continued, wheeling, "you need to talk to R2. She's the one in charge. NekoSama!" she called. A woman came over to us. "Take them to R2."

"Sure, Hels!" Turning to Darien and Claire, she said, "Come right this way." While they followed her, she talked to them. "So I hear the Agency's disappeared? Or at least the people in it?"

"Yes," answered Darien.

"Oh, that's too bad. But we'll be able to help you, I know we will."

Neko opened a door, and a black cat ran out. She picked up the cat and petted it. "Hey Chibi," she crooned to the cat. She pointed toward the door. "R2's in there."

Darien and Claire walked in just as R2 was finishing her talk with someone else. "So, Cassia, I want you to look for that, would you?"

Cassia nodded. "Got it."

As Cassia made her way out the door, R2 turned to the two standing near the door. "Sit down! So, I guess you're wondering what we can do for you."

Darien nodded.

"Well, if you noticed, we have a lot of people here. And all of them can do something different. So, we should be able to pull something off, like getting Hobbes back or solving your problem with the gun-crazy guy. Or both.

"Whatever the case, we're going to need you to do it. And you're going to have to trust us to get you out of some sticky situations." R2 paused for a moment, waiting for an answer.

Claire leaned and whispered something to Darien. He listened, then nodded.

"Okay, we'll do anything we can to help."

R2 looked pleased. "Good! So we can get started." Looking out the door, she hailed one of the people passing by, "Fawkes Fox! Come here!"

The woman dutifully came over, glancing at Darien and looking shy.

"Could you get me KatrynSedai and Oboe Crazy?"

"Right away, R2."

They waited in silence for these two, until the door popped open, revealing two women.

"Hi!" they said to Darien and Claire. Turning to R2, they said, "We're here. Whatcha need?"

"Darien, Claire, meet KatrynSedai and Oboe Crazy. They're my thinkers."

The two women laughed.

"Okay, ladies, any suggestions on how we can find out who the shooter was?"

"Um…did we get footage or a picture of him? Even a vague one?" said Katryn.

"Nope…sorry."

Oboe Crazy gave her suggestion. 'Then how about we get both of you to combine what you saw of the shooter, and come up with a rough image?"

All three women looked at Darien and Claire. "It's fine with me," Darien answered.

"Me too," echoed Claire.

"Okay…where are our artists?"

"I'll get them." Katryn went out the door and returned with two girls, and then she and Oboe Crazy left.

"Okay, Sage and Liz, I need you to come up with a picture of someone from their descriptions." R2 pointed to Darien and Claire.

Sage and Liz looked doubtful. They exchanged glances, then Sage spoke up. "Um, well, we'll try. But we can't guarantee good –or reliable- results."

"We can always try animating your description on the computer," Liz said, looking thoughtful.

Darien and Claire gave their descriptions as best they could. After they were done, Sage and Liz looked skeptically at the sketches, then at each other.

"Well…did the gunman remind you of anyone?" Sage asked as a final resort.

Darien looked thoughtful. "Really, he reminded me of the Swiss Miss…I mean, Arnaud. Something about the voice, and the stance of the first shooter."
"Yeah, come to think of it, the gunman was strongly reminiscent of Arnaud, especially in voice," Claire echoed.

"Well," Liz spoke up, "maybe it is Arnaud. This is the sketch that I got." She held up her sketch, and so did Sage. "I'm not sure about the rest of the face," Liz continued, "but the eyes look sort of like Arnaud's, from the way they described them."

Sage nodded. "That's probably who it is."

R2 stood up. "Thank you, ladies."

Sage and Liz were almost out the door, when R2 called them back. "Oh, could you get me Gina and Kimpire?"

The two nodded, and were gone in the swirling mass of activity outside.

A man and woman entered the room.

"Whatcha need, R2?" the woman asked.

"Gina, Kimpire, was there any activity around Arnaud's place that you noticed? Like he was preparing for something?"

Gina thought, but Kimpire spoke up. "I think it could be possible. There were a lot of people going in and out recently."

"Gina?"

"Yeah, it's not only possible, but very likely, I think. Not that we have any definite information on this, though."

A woman dressed in green poked her head in through the door. "Sage and Liz said you might need my expertise."

R2 waved her in. "Cleya, we think that there might be something up that has to do with Arnaud. Now, I know you've studied him…for more reasons than one…" Cleya blushed, and R2 went on. "So you might be able to compare this instance with others and give us your thoughts."

Cleya nodded. "Sure, I can probably do that. Arnaud has a distinctive style."

"Go with Gina and Kimpire, and take a look at the info they've got."

The three left, and R2 turned Darien and Claire. "So Arnaud finally turned up again. How long has it been since you last saw him?"

"Not long enough," Darien said, remembering their last meeting.

"Well, I'm sure that this time we can floor him. And get the Official and Bobby back. Most likely Arnaud has them too."

Just then Cleya came back in. "It looks to me like Arnaud is –was- planning something. If you're going to do something, time is a major part of it. There's no telling when the consequences of what Arnaud did catches up with us."

R2 smiled. "The consequences already did, I think," she said, pointing to Darien.

Cleya smiled, then left. R2 began speaking again.

"We're going to need a plan," she reflected. Darien waited for more, but there was no more.

"Do you already have a plan?" he prompted.

R2 shook her head. "Actually, I was hoping that you would help us come up with something."

Darien and Claire both looked doubtful. Darien's mind was practically empty, having been blown away by meeting a steady flow of people whose life work was he.

Claire spoke up, looking worried. "Um, R2, mate…Darien might need some counteragent soon. And I don't think I'll be able to get back into my lab anytime soon. Is there anyway that we could…somehow keep Darien sane?"

R2 laughed. "Don't underestimate us, Claire."

Claire just answered with a blank look, having no idea what R2 meant.

R2 went out of the room and came back with a woman in a tie-dyed lab coat. "This is Lady Eowen. She's in charge of the counteragent."

Claire was too professional to do a wide-eyed double take, but something about the way she blinked had the same effect.

"I thought we were the only ones who had…"

"Kevin thought it was prudent for us to always have some on hand…just in case."

Darien pushed up his sleeve and checked the meter. "Still have a little while. Not that long, though."

Lady Eowen spoke up. "Shall I go get it ready?"

R2 looked at Darien and Claire, and they answered in unison. "Yeah, might as well."

They watched as she went out the door, reading Shakespeare's Macbeth. Even though she wasn't looking where she was going, she didn't bump into anyone. Well, almost.

"Ow! Eowen!" They could hear the cry even through the closed door.

"Sorry, ShelBel," came the mumbled reply of a Lady Eowen lost in a book.

R2 chuckled. "She's a nut. But, then…we all are."

Darien started back on the plan, "So, about this plan…"

"Adelheide!" R2 called to a woman.

"Yes?"

"I need you to take your team to the center of the building." Adel rushed away, calling various names and women running after her.

R2 stopped another woman. "Tabu, take your team and surround the outside of the building, but make sure they're all out of sight." She turned to Darien. "Take your place in the center. Claire, go over there with LoganLover." R2 caught Darien's worried look. "Don't worry. I have my two best defense teams protecting you." She pointed the direction Claire had gone. "I'll be with Claire and LoganLover. Just do exactly what we planned, and you'll be okay." She hurried off, leaving Darien alone in the center of the empty building. The building, which had just minutes ago echoed with the footsteps of fifty or so of R2's agents, was now deathly silent.

Darien heard the silent purring of a motor. His adrenaline rose, and he started to disappear. He forced himself to stay visible, even though everything inside him was screaming at him to disappear.

But he couldn't disappear. Not unless he wanted the plan to fall apart.

He waited, tense, for someone to come in. When they didn't, he looked for R2. He saw Helena, and as softly possible, he hissed, "What now?"

"I' sending the Alpha team. Do you think you could QS them and yourself?"

"How many?"

She held up her finger. Six. Not including himself. It might be a strain, but it should work.

He nodded, and she motioned for him to come over to where she was. She began using a microphone she had to call the Alpha team.

"Rackles, IMGirl, Minidrag, KitKat, SciFi Chica, and Darien Girl, come to my position as softly as possible."

They came and Hels began speaking. "All right, Darien is going to QS all of you and you and he are going to go see what Arnaud's up to. Or if that's even him or his thugs out there."

They all looked excited. "We're going to be quicksilvered?! All right!"

Helena hushed them and went on. "I trust you all to do whatever it takes." She stepped back and nodded to Darien, who quicksilvered them all one by one, then QS'd himself.

They walked outside silently, looking around for Arnaud. They saw him with a group of his thugs, talking in low tones. Darien crept forward, trying to hear.

"I want you to scope this place out. It's hidden enough to stash them in it. Try to fortify it. I'll be waiting."

Darien had no doubt that the "them" Arnaud spoke of was the Official and Hobbes. But were they here?

He eased around Arnaud and peered in the car. Nope. Empty.

Darien went over to IMGirl. "Stay here and watch Arnaud. Don't let him leave without letting us know. We'll take care of the people inside," he whispered to her.

She nodded, and he began going back in, hoping the others would too.

Once inside, he began moving toward one of the men, but he accidentally kicked something over. The man swung around, and one of his flying arms hit Darien. He fell, and sat up, rubbing his head.

Rackles apparently thought Darien was hurt, because she turned on the man. Even though all he could see of her was an outline, Darien could tell she was mad.

"Crap!" he muttered. If she…

She did. She jumped up on his back and began pounding him. The man shouted, and all of the other men perked up. They saw their friend crying out in pain, and immediately knew what had happened. Arnaud must have prepared them for it, because they all strapped on goggles.

Darien knew that now, using quicksilver would be a waste, so he reappeared. Taking their cue from him, so did the rest.

Throngs of women agents appeared out of the shadows, and began their attack.

Darien attempted to help Magical, one of the agents. He pulled the big man off of Magical, and she turned around to help him. But the man reached around Darien, and held his neck in a lock that if moved, could break Darien's neck.

"Don't come near!" the man snarled at Magical. She backed off, pleading with her eyes for Darien to understand. He nodded, or at least tried to.

Suddenly he heard a voice behind him. "Drop him," the voice said threateningly.

The man did drop him, literally. Darien peeled himself off the floor and craned his neck to see his rescuer.

A woman was holding a knife to the man's neck. "Hold still," she ordered.

"Invisible Mom!" someone called to her.

The woman didn't turn around, but answered anyways. "What, Pensive?"

"We got all of them, except for this one."

Another woman raced up. "I'll help you bring him, Pensive."

Pensive glanced at the woman. "Thanks LoganLover."

LoganLover and Pensive led the man away and Invisible Mom turned to Darien. "Are you okay?" When Darien nodded, she went on, "I'm Invisible Mom."

"Do you know where the Keeper is?" Darien blurted. He was worried about what might have happened to her in the confusion.

"Yeah." Gesturing to another woman, she said, "AkaiHato can take you to her. I've got to see about this cut." She held her thumb up, which was bleeding. "But I'll be okay. See ya!" she waved to Darien, and walked off.

"I'm AkaiHato. I'll take you to the Keeper." She began walking, asking if he was all right.

A girl came toward them. "AkaiHato! We need to go see if Arnaud is out there. IMGirl hasn't come back."

Just then, a girl ran in. "He's leaving!" she yelled.

"She's not out there anymore, quicksilvermad." They both turned and ran out, and Darien, having nothing better to do, followed them.

They piled into a car and followed Arnaud. Darien turned around and saw two cars also in pursuit.

AkaiHato was driving madly, pushing 100 mph in an effort to catch up with Arnaud, who had gotten a head-start. AkaiHato cut some corners close, but it was obvious she knew what she was doing. She was in control, and from her set face, Darien could tell that she was deep in concentration.

They caught up to Arnaud, and slowed down to keep from passing him.

quicksilvermad took a gun and leaned out the window. She aimed at the tires of Arnaud's car and shot. The bullet harmlessly glanced off the road.

"Crap!" she yelled. Darien smiled when he heard it. These people really paid attention to what he said. And her name, quicksilvermad, was funny. If only they knew just what qsm was like…

quicksilvermad took aim again and was about to shoot when a shot rang out. On the side of the road was Fawkes Fox, gun in hand. In front of the, Arnaud's tire deflated, making it easy for quicksilvermad to take out the other back tire.

The car stopped, and women converged on the car. There was no one in the car, just a huge tarantula. quicksilvermad screamed, and Darien felt his flesh crawl.

They turned around and saw someone disappear around the corner. Five women rushed at him and pulled him down. It wasn't Arnaud.

"Where is he?" demanded R2, who had just run up.

The man smirked. "Like I'd tell you."

"Oh, I bet you'll talk soon enough."

"Oh yeah?" And with one lightning motion, he swept his gun up and shot himself.

Everyone was startled, and they all just stood there, staring at him.

"What happened? Is someone hurt?" Darien heard Claire's voice behind him, and he turned around.

"No, no one's hurt," he said, concealing the wave of relief that washed over him at seeing that she was all right.

"Good." She heaved a sigh. "I thought maybe…" she left her thought unspoken, and let Darien finish it how he liked.

"Okay, people!" R2 clapped her hands for attention. "Let's clear out and re-group at base!" She caught the arm of Cassia. "Cassia, get Darien and Claire to base ASAP. I need them."

"C'mon." Cassia led them to a car, and they got in.

Once they got back to headquarters, Darien jumped out along with the rest.

"You need to go talk to R2. I guess you already know how to get to her office?" asked Cassia.

Darien nodded and started off. Claire started to follow him, but someone called her.

"Wait up!" A man ran to catch up with them. "I'm Geonn. Lady Eowen and I" he pointed behind himself to the woman in the tie-dyed labcoat, still reading…"we were wondering if we could speak to you about your…ahem…needles." Geonn looked at Darien with a twinkle in his eye, and Darien grinned.

"And your labcoats! They're too drab!" yelled Lady Eowen from across the room. She pointed to her own colorful coat. "You need one like mine."

Claire glanced at Darien. "D'ya think you'll need me, mate?"

Darien shrugged.
"Okay, I'm gone. See ya!" She began walking away with Geonn. Darien overheard Geonn say, "Claire, I don't mean to be rude, but why the heck do you use such huge needles?"

Darien laughed. He'd like to know that too.

He entered R2's office, but she wasn't there. He looked around outside, when her smiling face appeared at the door.

"Oh, you beat me here!" She stepped into the office, and sat down. "All right. Care to entertain me with your ideas again?"

He cocked his head. "You first."

R2 lifted an eyebrow. "I was afraid you'd say that. I'm as blank as…"

"A newly-washed blackboard," Darien finished for her.

R2 shrugged. "Not quite what I was going to say, but it'll work."

"Well, I have one idea."

"Say on."

"You have a team of computer experts, right?"

She nodded. "Headed by Nebula."
"Well, they could deactivate his security system. Then, I go in and look for the fat man and Hobbes."

"Good plan, but one loophole. One or more of Arnaud's thugs is bound to see you…or bump into you, as the case may be."

Darien's face fell. "I didn't think of that."

"Obviously. But I did. I could have one of my best defense teams create a diversion, and get most of them out of there. You could just avoid the ones that are left, and get the…" she snorted, "fat man and Hobbes. I could have a team waiting for you to get you three out of there quickly. Whatcha think?"

Darien thought for a moment. "Okay, let's do it."

They were at Arnaud's place, putting the plan into action.

Darien swallowed. He had to get in there, free the Official and Hobbes, and get out, all as quickly and silently as possible. He wasn't sure if he could do it.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Helena.

"Here, put this in your ear," she said, handing him a speaker.

"Thanks…Auntie Hels."

She laughed. "You're welcome. We'll use it to notify you of anything that you need to know."

He nodded.

"Okay, then we're set. Wait for my or R2's okay, then go."

He walked silently into the shadows next to the wall, and waited. Then, all at once, he heard gunshots, and the security camera went dead. People started running past him, most likely to take care of the uprising Adelheide was creating.

Hels yelled, "Now!" and he leapt for the door, and dashed in. He pressed close to the wall in shadow. He edged around the corner and looked for anyone. It was clear, so he ran down the hallway.

R2's voice came into his ear. "Darien! Left wing, second hallway, fifth door."

"Left wing…" he was running the right direction then. He looked in front of him and saw four hallways, and stopped.

"Second from which direction?" he wondered. He looked in one and found two of Arnaud's cronies.

"Okay, I'll try the other one first." It was clear in that hallway, so he went in and tried the fifth door on both sides. Nope. Nothing. How would he get rid of the two thugs in the other hallway? He could slip by one invisible, but two?

He whistled softly outside the hallway. Nothing happened. He searched his pockets. A couple of coins came to his hand and he got an idea. He threw, hoping for a loud sound. The coins hit the wall and clattered to the floor. Darien qs'd and watched as one of the men left the hallway.

He slipped in and quietly opened the door on the right. Wrong one. He tiptoed over and opened the other. Hobbes and the Official were tied up in the coner. Darien closed the door, and reappeared.

Hobbes grunted at him, probably wanting to be untied.

"Who's the man!" Darien crowed while untying them. When he was almost done, Nebula called him.

"Darien! You've got about a minute! We can't hold it up any longer!"

"We only have a minute, you guys," he reported to Hobbes and the Official.

"Yeah? A minute til what?" Hobbes asked, rubbing his wrists.

"Til the place comes down on us."

"Well, let's jet then!" Hobbes vaulted out the door.

"Wait! There's…" Darien get a chance to finish his sentence.

"Hey! You're supposed to be in there!"

"So much for a minute…" Darien went outside to help Hobbes. They kicked the guy's butt down the hall, then started running, the Official right behind the duo.

Darien skidded to a stop, holding Hobbes back, as he saw several thugs in front of them.

"Yeah, Fawkes, I see them. They're behind us too. What now, Mr. Rescuer?"

Not taking the time to answer, Darien jumped down the middle of the hallway, which opened up to another floor.

He landed with a bone-jarring crack, Hobbes yelling at him.

"You expect me to do that too?! And the fat man? Nah uh, Fawkes, get your butt back up here!"

Darien ignored him and limped to a nearby door. "Tabu!" he yelled.

Tabu's team of twenty came pouring through the doors. Several of them lifted tranquilizer guns and shot down the thugs.

Hobbes and the Official came down the stairs and Tabu stuffed them all in a van and took off.

"You idiot! You could have gotten killed cause you stayed up there!" Darien yelled at Hobbes.

Hobbes just smiled. "Me, an idiot? I took the stairs, you're the one who broke his leg jumping."

Darien grimaced at the wave of pain that he finally felt, now that his adrenaline was down.

"That's enough!" barked the Official.

The two agents looked at the Official with disgust, then started arguing again.

Darien tried out his crutches. Hobbes was right, he had broken his leg. But it would be okay soon.

"Hey Fawkes! You never told me who these crazy people are!"

"Yeah, well, it's a long story."