Hobbes' Revenge
Hobbes still hadn't forgotten what Fawkes had done to him on his first date with his girl, Nicole. And now he had come up with proper punishment for that prank.
He grinned, and rubbed his hands together.
Today was the day, and it was going to be good. And it had better be good.
Hobbes had used every connection he had, every favor he was owed, and begged
the Official for some favors, all just to play a prank on Fawkes.
Oh, well. It would be too good to care.
"Hey, I'm leaving now. I got some stuff
to do," Hobbes said to no one in particular.
Fawkes snickered. "Got another date
with Nicole?"
Hobbes restrained himself from throwing
Claire's computer at Fawkes' head. "Just remember the plan…" he mumbled to
himself. "He's going to get it soon enough." Now he spoke aloud. "No, Fawkes,
no date. I just have to go."
Fawkes looked confused at Hobbes'
peaceful answer. "Okay, whatever," Fawkes shrugged.
Hobbes dashed out of the building,
still smiling at Fawkes' obvious confusion.
Fawkes left the lab whistling. He
ambled down the street enjoying the day. He had decided to walk to his
apartment, since the weather was too nice to ignore.
He turned around to look at a maple
that had blazed into fall glory. A man was standing there, staring at Fawkes,
but he immediately disappeared into the trees when Darien turned around.
Fawkes frowned. That was weird. Almost
like the person had been following him.
Oh, well, he thought, shrugging.
Must have been a coincidence.
He started walking again, hoping that no one was
following him. He wouldn't admit it for the world, but he had a fear of being
kidnapped for the gland. After all, there were plenty of people who were after
the gland.
He walked faster, as if in a hurry, then suddenly
turned around. The bushes rustled again, but there was no wind to blow them.
Fawkes figured that it wasn't likely
that two incidents were coincidences. So, the only other possibility was that
there was someone following him.
Right now he almost wished Hobbes were with him. Almost.
He wanted Hobbes' protection, but not his sarcasm.
Darien walked toward a building, and
turned the corner so he go invisible. He looked behind him and turned the
corner, making sure no one was following him. Looking forwards again, he saw
another man about tow inches away from him.
The man looked horrified, then started
running away.
Darien's jaw about dropped to the
ground. This was freaky. What did these people want? Who did they work for? And
why did they keep running away, instead of clubbing him or shooting him? Not
that he wanted them to attack him.
From across the street, Hobbes
snickered. Fawkes' expression was priceless. Worth every bit of the trouble he
had gone to.
He watched as Fawkes looked around for
anymore people, then bolted into the building he was standing next to.
Hobbes picked up his radio. "He's
inside the building. I want you all in there now."
He watched as everyone filed into the
building, then he went in himself. He listened to the radio reports. None of
them could find Fawkes.
"Sir, the man seems to have
disappeared."
You're more right than you know, Hobbes
thought. "Just keep looking. I'm sure he'll turn up."
There shouldn't be a problem with Fawkes' invisibility for long. Hobbes had specifically timed his plan to be when Fawkes was near quicksilver madness. If the kid had any common sense, he wouldn't stay invisible for long.
Fawkes went in a room, checked the whole thing for any of those agents, then reappeared. He pushed his sleeve up and checked his meter. Crap. Not enough to stay invisible. He would have to content himself with his skills of hiding.
He crept out of the room and into the corridor. Another hallway came off the one he was in. Tiptoeing toward it, he looked in it. Two agents were prowling the hallway as silent as he.
Fawkes threw himself against the wall, and winced at the sound. He launched off the wall and ran down the hall as softly as possible, even though he knew the agents knew he was here. Just his luck to go into a building with a maze of corridors all crawling with agents.
He picked a doorway ahead of him, and threw himself into it. Leaving the light off, he shut the door and locked it.
He heard something creak behind him and turned the light on. Whipping around, he came face to face with an agent.
"Aw crap," he muttered. He threw the door open and shot out of the room. Was there no refuge?
Hobbes poked his head out of the room he was in just in time to see Fawkes explode out of another room. He waited until Fawkes was out of earshot, then sat down, howling with laughter. This was even better then he expected!
"Okay, close in on him," he radioed out to the agents.
All of the agents began relaying to each other where Fawkes was last seen. They decided where he was most likely to show up, and all went toward the position.
Darien ran down the corridor, gasping for air. He stopped running. Agents or no, he had to breathe. Then he heard the sound he had been dreading. The click of several guns. He looked up and found himself surrounded by agents.
"Aw crap!"
Hobbes pushed the agents aside, and saw the stricken look on Fawkes' face. The kid was really shaken up. Perfect.
As Fawkes noticed Hobbes, his expression changed to one of disgust.
"You?!"
Hobbes nodded to the agents. 'It's okay. You can go now. I've got it under control."
The agents nodded and slowly filed out of the building. Fawkes waited until they were all gone to explode at Hobbes.
"What was all that for? What did I do to you?"
Hobbes leaned coolly against the wall. "That's exactly what I asked you before."
Darien gave Hobbes a strange
look, and was about to bite off a sharp reply, when realization set in. Oh
yeah, he thought, the Nicole thing.
Hobbes watched Fawkes' face change, and he knew that the kid understood. He extended his hand. "Are we even now? Can we call it quits?"
Fawkes hesitated, then shook Hobbes'hand, his other hand behind his back. "It's a deal. No more pranks." He paused for a moment, then said, "Did you really get all of those people just to pull a prank on me?"
"Ah, they were rookies."
"I'm honored, Hobbes, that you would go to all that trouble."
"Don't be. C'mon."
They walked down the hall, and Hobbes didn't even notice that Fawkes' hand had stayed behind his back, out of sight the whole time…