Follow the Breadcrumbs Part 4
By Carol M.
Summary: Arnaud spoils the fun
Spoilers: Most of the back nine
Rating: This part is rated R. Fawkesy is going to need a few stitches after this. I'll make it up to you Darien, I promise.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just play with em.
Darien was pushed roughly into the cabin by the bald man. His eyes immediately searched the room for Claire.
"Darien," she shouted as she saw him pushed into the cabin.
"Claire," he said with some relief. She looked okay to him. He started to walk towards her but was stopped by Jake and Frankie. They held him tightly so he could not move.
Arnaud walked to his computer and sat down, inserting the disk. "This better be the real thing Fawkes," he said.
"Oh it is, pal," said Darien. He looked at Arnaud sharply. "So I see your still using that latex stuff. Why didn't you pick out a better face?" Darien said with a smirk.
Arnaud smiled. "Oh Fawkes, I do love your humor," he said as he pulled up the quicksilver files.
He got out of his chair and walked to Darien. "You know Fawkes, sometimes I really regret having killed your brother. There are so many questions that I would like to ask him about the gland." Arnaud paused and smiled at Darien. " It's been almost a year since I killed him, hasn't it?" Arnaud said wickedly.
Darien felt rage go through him. He elbowed Jake in the stomach and pulled out of Frankie's grip. He flew towards Arnaud and started to choke him with his hands. He could Claire screaming "No!" in the background, but he couldn't stop himself. This son of a bitch had hurt a lot of people that he loved. He had to pay.
Darien squeezed Arnaud's throat as hard as he could, hoping to crack his neck. His grip loosened when he was hit sharply in the side from behind. Jake picked him off of Arnaud and pushed him hard towards the wall. As he tried to recover, Frankie grabbed him roughly by the arm. Darien grimaced. He could feel his shoulder starting to pop out of place.
"Darien, please stop it," cried Claire from her position in the chair. Tears starting streaming down her face.
Frankie got a better grip on Darien and was joined by Jake on the other side. The bald man stepped up and started punching Darien in the stomach. Darien tried to curl up to protect himself, but Frankie and Jake were holding him too tight. Punch after punch landed on Darien's ribs and stomach. He coughed, trying to catch his breath.
Arnaud, who had been recovering on the floor, slowly got up. He walked over to the bald man and stopped him from hitting Darien again. "It's my turn, Michael," he said with a sick smile.
Michael backed away. Arnaud punched Darien in the stomach with all of his strength. Darien moaned loudly, not able to stop the sound from escaping his lips. "You bastard, I'm going to kill you!" Darien shouted weakly. He tried to escape from Jake and Frankie, but their grip was too tight and he was getting weak.
"You know Fawkes, I seem to recall you beating me up two or three times before. I'm just returning the favor," Arnaud said. He punched Darien twice in the face. Darien's head drooped, but Arnaud dragged it back up by pulling Darien's hair.
"Now, now Fawkes, I thought you would be stronger then this." He looked over at Claire. "You're woman is watching."
"Stop it!" Claire screamed. She tried to get out of the chair, but the ropes were too tight. Michael went over to guard her in case she got out of the ropes.
Arnaud walked over to the desk and pulled something out from under it. A baseball bat. Aw crap, thought Darien. Arnaud walked back over to Darien.
"You know, you once told me that I should just knock you out with a baseball bat, but knocking you out wouldn't be much fun because I wouldn't get to see you suffer," said Arnaud.
Claire struggled wildly to get out of the chair, but Michael stepped over to her and held her down.
Arnaud started swinging the bat in the air. "What's that American saying? Hey batter, batter swing?" he said as he hit Darien in the stomach with the baseball bat.
Darien immediately doubled over, groaning. He felt something crack. Jake and Frankie pulled him upright. "Let's try that again, shall we?" Arnaud said. He took the bat and hit Darien with an even greater force. Darien screamed, unable to hide the pain anymore.
"Once more," Arnaud said. He took the bat and swung it with all of his might, hitting Darien right in his rib cage. The sound of bone cracking filled the room. Darien felt like his entire midsection was on fire. He felt a warm substance trickling down his side. He looked down and realized that Arnaud had hit his cut, opening it back up.
Arnaud put the bat down. "That's enough for now," he said to Frankie and Jake.
Frankie and Jake dragged Darien towards Claire and roughly threw him to the floor. Darien rolled over, moaning in pain, tears stinging his eyes. He clutched his middle with his arms, hugging himself, wishing the pain would go away.
Claire sat in her chair sobbing. She saw Darien writhing on the floor. She couldn't stand to see him in this much pain. She looked at Arnaud. "Untie me, please, let me go to him," she begged.
Arnaud nodded. He knew she wouldn't try anything with Fawkes injured. "Untie her," he said to Michael.
Michael loosened the ropes and Claire jumped out of her chair, running to Darien. She kneeled down next to him. She looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "Oh Darien," she said softly. He looked up at her and tried to smile. "Hey Keep, just thought I'd pop in and say hi," he muttered softly.
He suddenly looked up at her with panic. "I'm going to be sick" he said urgently. She quickly helped him to turn over and supported him. Darien threw up on the floor, the strain ripping his midsection apart. He groaned loudly in pain. When he was done, she gently rolled him onto his back, wiping the sweat from his face. She started to stroke his forehead softly, trying to comfort him. "It's going to be okay, Darien, you're going to be okay," she whispered soothingly into his ear.
He reached up slowly and stroked her face. "Thanks, Claire," he whispered.
Claire stopped stroking his forehead and moved down towards his waist. She lifted his shirt up to survey the damage. His entire stomach and chest was covered in bruises. She started to feel his ribs, to see if they were broken or cracked. She pushed against one, eliciting a loud moan out of Darien. "Sorry, Darien," she said with sympathy. She continued her probing and found that he had two broken ribs and one that was cracked. She noticed the blood-soaked bandage on his side. She looked up towards him. "What happened?" she asked him.
Darien tried to sound chipper, but failed miserably. "Knife got in my way," he said with a slight smile.
Claire pulled off the bandage. "Do you dress this yourself?" she asked. Darien nodded. "She rolled up his shirt and pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding. "You did a good job," she said with a slight smile.
Darien started to cough violently. Claire tried to support him as best she could so he wouldn't hurt himself further. The coughs produced a huge wave of pain in Darien. His eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out into oblivion, escaping the pain.
Bobby sat at a computer at the CIA branch in amazement. "So it's true, they really do watch our every move," he said. Damn, he wasn't so paranoid after all. "This is just like Enemy of the State," he said.
Alex nodded. She sat at the computer, searching through the tapes of the traffic cameras from around town. So far, they had seen Darien's car on Ninth Ave. and they had tracked him onto the highway. From there he had pulled off on an exit and after that they had lost him.
"They could be anywhere," said Bobby with disappointment.
Alex sat tapping her long fingernails on the desk. She came up with an idea. "What about property records? Look for buildings and houses owned in the area by Arnaud or any of his associates," she said.
Bobby nodded. "It's worth a try," he said with hope.
Alex started typing away on the computer.
Eberts stepped into the Official's office, unbelieving of the situation. He had been working on his computer when he noticed that the computer log said all the quicksilver files had downloaded.
"Sir, we have a problem," said Eberts as he sat down in one of the chair's near the Official's desk.
"What is it, Eberts?" asked the Official in an annoyed tone.
Eberts shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Ah, sir, someone has downloaded the quicksilver files. I noticed it when I was working on the computer this afternoon," he said hesitantly.
The Official looked at him with concern. "Who?" he asked angrily.
"I don't know sir, maybe it was…"
"Shut up, Eberts," said the Official as he picked up a phone.
"Yeah, has anyone been down in the Keep today?" he said into the phone.
The Official listened. "Uh huh, uh huh, okay, get on it," The Official said as he slammed down the phone.
Eberts looked at him with anticipation. "Fawkes. The guard said Fawkes was in the Keep and then Hobbes joined him. Fawkes left the Keep shortly after that without Hobbes. They said that when Bobby exited the building later he was with Alex Monroe and that he had some kind of bandage on his head that wasn't there before," The Official said gruffly.
"Sir, I don't think that Darien would…"
"He did. And Claire's missing and they can't get a hold of Alex or Bobby. Something is going on here. If Fawkes did take those files, then he's finished," the Official said as he picked up the phone again.
Eberts sat in his chair, worried about his co-workers.
Darien awoke with a small groan. He could feel someone softly stroking his battered midsection. He looked down and saw Claire tenderly rubbing his stomach. Somehow her touch seemed to ease his pain a little.
She looked up at Darien. When she saw that he was awake, she smiled. "You're back," she said.
Darien looked around the room. Arnaud was looking at the quicksilver files, while his goons sat at the table, watching him and Claire closely.
Darien looked at Claire. He suddenly remembered his tattoo. He looked down, five segments left. He was still safe. "Claire," he whispered. Claire scooted towards him and leaned down towards his mouth so she could hear him. "I got counteragent in my car. I didn't bring it with because I figured Arnaud would destroy it. But if something happens, I do have it with me," he whispered.
Claire nodded in relief. She had checked his tattoo and saw the five segments. They were still safe, but she felt safer knowing that there was some counteragent in case they needed it. She gently started to stroke his hair again. Darien closed his eyes and tried to relax. It was kind of hard though because every breath he took felt like someone was stabbing him with a knife.
Arnaud stood up dramatically from his computer. He walked towards Claire and Darien. Claire put her arms around Darien to protect him from further damage from Arnaud. Arnaud smiled when he saw her do this. "How sweet. I see that your relationship has gone a little farther then doctor and patient," he said. Claire blushed slightly at the remark.
Arnaud leaned down and looked at Fawkes. "Ah Fawkes, you were a good little boy. All the information I need to turn myself into my normal, visible self," he said.
Arnaud looked at Frankie, Jake and Michael. "Tie her back up," he said. "We're leaving.
Frankie, Jake and Michael got out of their chairs and walked towards Darien and Claire. Darien grabbed tightly on to Claire and struggled to get up. "No, your not touching her," he yelled.
The three men pulled a struggling Claire off of Darien. They dragged her back to the chair. Darien felt a surge of energy course through him. He shot up and went after Arnaud. He swiped at his face with his hand and pulled the latex off his face, leaving Arnaud standing there with no head. Arnaud reacted by quicksilvering the rest of his body.
Darien followed suit, going completely invisible. He was going to kill him. He dove onto to him and took him down to the ground. In the process, he smashed his sore ribs. He moaned softly. "Be careful there Fawkes," said Arnaud as he got up.
This made Darien even madder. He chased Arnaud and pushed them both into the table, smashing it to pieces. He got on top of Arnaud and started to choke him again. Arnaud kicked up and caught Darien in his groin. Darien howled in pain and rolled off of Arnaud.
Claire, Jake, Frankie and Michael listened to the fight they could not see. "Darien, don't use too much quicksilver," she said.
Darien could not hear her. He was in a haze of pain; afraid he might pass out again. He took a deep breath and willed himself to get up. He could see Arnaud walking to the computer and taking out the disk, putting it in his pocket. That bastard wasn't getting those files without a fight. He dove towards Arnaud and knocked him on the ground. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the disk. He then started to punch Arnaud in the face. "You fucking bastard. You killed my brother. You give me the flu and you kidnap the one woman who means something to me," he shouted as he continued to wail on him.
Claire blushed once again. Michael walked over to the computer to try and "find" Arnaud and Darien. He tripped over Darien, causing Darien to get pushed back a little. Arnaud took the opportunity to slide away. He stood up quickly and pulled Michael's gun out of the jacket. "Goodbye Fawkes, I hope this hurts like hell," said Arnaud as he pulled the trigger.
Claire screamed when she heard the gunshot.
Darien quickly tried to move, but felt the sudden lancing pain of a bullet enter into his stomach. He fell to the floor gasping for breath. The quicksilver flaked off of him.
Arnaud reached into Fawkes' jacket pocket and took the disk out. He walked over to where his face had been ripped off and picked it up. "Let's get out of here, shall we?" he said to his henchmen.
Arnaud looked at Claire. She couldn't see him, but she felt his eyes on her. "You have fun Keepie, Fawkes will take awhile to die from that gunshot wound. It looks like he also might need a little shot," Arnaud said evilly.
Claire started sobbing.
Arnaud, Frankie, Jake and Michael gathered their belongings and exited out the cabin.
TBC
