Author's Note: There is one teeny, tiny inconsistency in this part. It's not major, it has nothing to do with the timeline of The Invisible Man, but it is wrong nonetheless. It's simply... the movie Darien and Megan go to see wasn't released until 1991. I simply rearranged it... after all, this is a world where a man can turn invisible. Why not earlier release dates for movies?


Chapter 3



The old man, who refused to give his real name, paced the length of the padded room and nervously checked his watch as he waited for someone to arrive to question him. On the other side of the glass, The Official and Hobbes stood, watching him pace. "Any clue on this guys agency, Hobbes?"

"Sorry, sir. I'm thinking he may be a free agent."

The Official grumbled, "Well that would make it hard to trace him, wouldn't it."

"Yes, sir."

The door opened and Eberts stumbled in, trying to hold several papers in place while holding three different files. He stopped behind the Official and said, "I ran this man's photo through several intelligence agencies; they know him as 'Le An'."

Hobbes frowned. "LeAnn? Like LeAnn Rymes?"

"No, Le An," Eberts repeated, enunciating this time. "It's French. It means The Ass."

Hobbes and the Official both turned. "This guy's nom de plume," Bobby asked, "is the Ass?!"

"Yes... He claimed all the good ones were taken. He's a master assassin. Wanted in more than seven political murders over the past decade."

The Official smiled. "That means another fat reward..."

"Maybe we'll actually see some of this one..."

"Be quiet, Hobbes. Get in there and find out what you can from this guy." As Hobbes walked toward the door, the Official asked, "Any word from Fawkes?"

"Nada, Chief."

He walked out and then into the padded room. The An looked up and smirked. "American agent." His voice was devoid of any accent. With all of the make-up gone, he looked like any other non-descript man on the street. Hobbes sat in the sole chair and crossed his arms.

"Who hired you?"

"He is between The Caterpillar and the Butterfly."

Hobbes frowned. "I don't know who they are... What government do they work for?"

"The same one I do."

"Which is?"

"I will not divulge. I will only say that my employer is between the Butterfly and the Cater-pillar. You will get no more information out of me."

Hobbes sighed and stood up, walking towards the door. He pulled it open, the turned to Le An. "Oh, and by the way, how's Allianora doing?"

The assassin looked up, surprised.

"You guys, uh... do work for the same Agency right? Chrysalis?"

"How did you--"

"Have a nice stay at Chez Hobbes." He winked and walked out.

The Official and Eberts met him in the hall. The Official said, "How the hell did you pull that off?"

"It was easy, chief. Between the caterpillar and the butterfly is the larvae state. During the larvae state, the caterpillar is encased in - what? - chrysalis. Bingo." He walked off and, as he passed, Eberts, muttered, "Can't believe you didn't pick up on that one... EBERTS..." He walked down the hall, chuckling to himself.

---

Leila stopped and grabbed ahold of Megan's arm for support. "Wait! Wait!"

Darien and Megan stopped, turning. Leila was out of breath, holding her side. "I can't run any more... Let me catch my breath."

Darien nervously watched the street, looking for any suspicious characters. Too bad Hobbes wasn't here... He mentally kicked himself for not noticing the old man in the cafe, but as Hobbes always reminded him, he was the rookie. Megan knelt next to Leila and looked back at Darien. "What's that thing on your arm?"

Darien looked down and saw that she had seen the tattoo. It had four spaces to go before he went mad. "Uh, a tattoo I got when I was drunk."

"Why's part of it red and part of it green?"

"I... I don't know. I think I got it at Christmas."

Leila stood and said, "Okay, we can go now." They began running... only to be cut off at the corner by a black sedan. The back door opened and a large man stepped out, brandishing a large gun. "Hello, Ms. Bach."

"Darien? What's going on," the model asked.

"A very big dude with a very big gun just stepped out of a car." He momentarily thought about quicksilvering, but he didn't have time to warn Megan. Knowing her she'd scream and being invisible wouldn't do them any good. Besides, he'd never quicksilvered three people at once; he was sure it would take more than four spaces....

The man motioned at the car and said, "Get it, Leila." The driver had gotten out and walked around behind the car, opening the trunk. The gunman grabbed Darien by the arm and said, "In the trunk, hair-boy."

"Hair-boy?"

The man shoved Darien towards the driver and grabbed Megan. "Her too."

The driver shoved Darien violently into the trunk, then picked Megan up like a rag doll and put her in too. He slammed the trunk lid.

In the darkness, Darien shifted and tried to arrange himself so he wasn't directly underneath Megan. Unfortunately, the trunk was very small and his movement caused a tire iron to jab him painfully in the spine. He yelped and said, "Damn..."

"Darien? Are... we going to die?"

He suddenly realized that she was trembling against him. "No... No, Megan. Hobbes will get us out of this."

"He's that good?"

Darien smiled. "He's the Hawk."

Megan laughed.

~~~~~~
1989
~~~~~~

Darien stood outside of the theater, nervously looking at the movie poster. Bruce Willis was hanging from a rope, smiling goofily at the camera. Megan wrapped her arm around Darien's neck. "Whatsa matter, Dar-Bear? Don't like Bruce Willis?"

"Nah, he's okay. It's just... A cat burglar?"

"What's wrong with a cat burglar?"

"Seems kind of boring."

"Trust me, it won't be boring." She dragged him over to the box office and said, "Two for 'Hudson Hawk', please."

---

On the sceen, Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello rolled down the hallway, scooting along quietly. Darien sighed and checked his watch. "How much longer does this movie last?"

Megan chuckled. "Oh, about an hour and a half... Buck up, little soldier."

On screen, Willis began singing, "Would you like to swing on a star... carry moonbeams home in a jar..."

Darien rolled his eyes. "There's a reason nobody bought his CD... And whoever heard of a cat burglar singing while he's robbing a place?"

"He's not that bad. Besides, what are you? An expert on cat burglary?"

"I might be."

---


Darien leaned forward, popping another kernel of popcorn into his mouth. Megan smirked. "Like the movie, huh?"

"Shhhh..."

At the moment, Bruce Willis was having a little heart-to-heart with Andie MacDowell in her hotel room after she discovered he had robbed the Vatican. He looked out the window and solemnly said, "I'm just some guy who's good at swiping stuff. Who knew that would lead to this?"

Darien raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty good quote."

"You like quotes, do ya?"

"Orson Welles said 'Now we sit through Shakespeare just to recognize the quotations'. They're kind of a hobby for me."

A man behind them hissed, "Shush!"

Megan smiled and returned her attention to the movie.

---

Darien leaned against the doorframe of Megan's house and said, "That was fun... we should do it again sometime."

"Sure," she smiled. "I'd like that. You know... I have a friend who would be perfect for you... Her name is Amy and..."

"Whoa, whoa... What do you mean? I thought you and me--"

"You and me were what? A couple?"

"Well... call me stupid... but yeah."

"Darien, you're a really sweet guy and I like you a lot. But as a friend. We're just not right for each other. You understand, right?"

"No. No, I don't think I do. So what was this? This movie we just saw?"

"That was payback for what I did. Geez, Darien... If I thought you thought this was a date, I would've never agreed."

Darien sighed, running a hand through his long hair. "It's no problem, Megan. Look, I'll see you at school tomorrow." He headed down the sidewalk.

"Darien! Darien, wait..."

"No, it's okay. Really. I'm fine."

He opened the door to his car and drove off, not looking back.

~~~~~~
Present Day
~~~~~~

Darien and Megan bumped heads as the car went over train tracks and turned a corner. In the dim light, he could see a smile on her face. "What could you possibly be smiling about now of all times?"

"Championship game... You remember that?"

"I tried to block it out."

She chuckled. "You got a nice tush."

"Well, thanks. Can we talk about something besides my ass, please?"

The car came to a stop and they heard footsteps on gravel. "They're leaving us here?"

The car started and Darien said, "Nope... Something tells me they've got plans for us." He began to wriggle around, working his arm around so he could reach behind himself.

Megan chuckled, "I do believe you're getting fresh with me, Agent Fawkes."

"No... just trying to... get ahold of..." He pulled his arm back, displaying his prize. The tire iron that had jabbed him earlier. "If you could kindly shift your weight to my right..." She moved partially off him and he slid out from under her. Holding the tire iron with both hands, he made a small jab against the lock of the trunk.

No luck.

He hit the lock several more times. After a minute or so of trying, the lock snapped and the trunk lid lifted slightly. He pushed up on it and daylight streamed into the small space. The car was speeding down a dirt road, leaving a large plume of smoke in it's wake. Darien grabbed Megan's hand and said, "We're going to have to jump."

"Jump? Out of the car? Are you crazy?!"

"Sometimes... On three. One. Two..."

They jumped. Darien his the ground first and pulled his arm in, pulling Megan against him and holding her tightly. He hoped he would take the majority of the impacts. They rolled several feet, bouncing down the road. When they finally came to a stop, Darien stumbled to his feet and looked at the sedan. It had stopped.

He watched as the driver threw his door open and stepped out with a very big gun. Darien grabbed Megan's hand and ran for the side of the road. As they ran, he said, "I'm about to do something very weird and the best thing for you to do is stay completely quiet until the man with the gun is gone. Got me?"

Without waiting for her response, Darien slid down the embankment. When he hit the bottom, he coated himself and Megan with quicksilver.

They sat quietly at the bottom of the incline... waiting. The driver of the sedan appeared, running right by them and into the desert. Once he was past, Darien stood and pulled Megan with him back to the sedan. He slammed the trunk lid down as he passed and flaked the quicksilver off, jumping into the car. Megan sat in the passenger seat and her quicksilver flaked as well. "What the hell..."

"I'll explain later." He threw the car into gear and hit the gas, turning a tight U and heading back the way they'd come. In the rear view, they could see the driver running back to the road. Darien exhaled and looked at his tattoo. One space left... Claire hated it when he cut it close...

"Um... How well can you keep a secret, Megan?"