Even When You Want To Be
Part 2
"This is the hotel?" Alyx asked, dismay evident in her voice. "It's a pit."
"And the fat man only sprang for one room," said Hobbes as he walked over with the key and unlocked
the door.
"If there's only one bed, I'm out of here. Deal or no deal," Alyx growled.
"Well, I guess you're staying then," Darien said from inside the room. "Two beds, if you can call
them that." He wasn't all that thrilled with the place either, but it was better than the three of
them sleeping in the van, which is what he and Bobby usually got stuck doing in situations like this.
"Lovely. Can't you just feel the joy emanating from my every pore?" Alyx said sarcastically.
"It's only for one night," Hobbes pointed out, not wanting to have to listen to her bitch all
evening. "We do the job tomorrow and we're on our way home."
"You guys can have the room. I think I'll go not sleep in the van," Alyx commented dryly.
"No can do, kid." Hobbes said turning to face Alyx. "I got orders from the Keeper herself to make
sure you sleep."
"Wonderful. Now I have a baby-sitter." Then she smiled, looking at the undersized beds. "Hope you
two will be comfortable together. I sleep alone." With a flip of her hair she grabbed her backpack
and sauntered into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
"Flip you for the other bed." Darien said to Hobbes.
Hours later Alyx sat up in bed. It had to be around four in the morning. Even with the sleeping
pill Hobbes had insisted she take, she'd only slept four hours. Glaring jealously at the two
unconscious men in the next bed, Alyx sighed. Shifting into a lotus position, she began her
meditation exercises.
She had just begun exercise three when a voice startled her. She opened her eyes to find Darien
sitting in front of her on the bed, a look of concern on his face. "I said, are you okay?" he
repeated.
Alyx shifted, backing away from him. "Fine. Just couldn't sleep. Sorry if I woke you."
Shaking his head, he replied. "You didn't. You're not the only one who has trouble sleeping you
know."
"I stand, or rather sit, corrected," she said looking him over. He looked uncomfortable, to say the
least, and she didn't think it really had anything to do with her. "Nightmares?"
Running his hand through his hair, he said, "Yeah." He moved and joined her sitting with his back
against the headboard of the bed. Alyx debated shoving him off, as she didn't recall inviting him
to join her, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.
"Want to talk about it?" Alyx asked quietly. His discomfort would only irritate her.
"Love to, shame I can never remember what they're about," Darien replied. It was true enough. He
could never really remember specifics, though the overall tone of the dreams usually hung around
for a long time afterwards. That was what was stuck in his head right now. When he'd noticed she
was awake, he'd been hoping she might provide some distraction until it faded enough to let him
sleep. "I just wanted some company, I guess."
Alyx stuck a thumb at Hobbes. "He doesn't count?"
"He's unconscious," Darien said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
Alyx reached out and grabbed his right wrist, checking his monitor. It still read all green.
"I'm fine," he said in a low voice.
Alyx dropped his hand. "Right. Then why are you sitting next to me, and not sleeping peacefully
with your partner over there?"
"Hey, you're my partner too." He looked over at her.
She snorted. "Nah. I'm the fifth wheel neither of you wants. Hell, even the Official isn't entirely
sure what to do with me. This is just some cheesy mission to see what I can do, that's all."
Darien reached over to touch her and she flinched away. "Sorry. Touching can be bad with me."
"Who grabbed who's wrist?" he commented, raising his hand.
"When I touch someone, I have a chance to control what happens. When someone touches me, I
don't." Alyx answered. "It's the one thing I still have very little control over."
Darien thought about that for a few minutes, wondering what she might have picked up from him
during that first meeting of theirs. He remembered that she had known he had a headache and had
known what the Official and Claire were thinking in the viewing room. What else might she have
learned? It made him feel a bit weird to realize that she had been in his head and possibly knew
things that he didn't remember or didn't want anyone else to ever know.
"And now realization has struck, and he wonders exactly what the woman next to him knows," Alyx
said to the darkened room.
"Alyx, I..." She cut him off.
"Go to sleep, Darien." She shifted to lie on her side facing away from him. She didn't need him to
see how much she hurt.
Somehow, he knew that no matter what he said right now it would be the wrong thing. He followed
her advice and lay down, but instead of sleeping he stared at the ceiling for quite a while,
thinking.
Morning light did nothing to improve the look of the room. Alyx finished dressing and stepped out
of the bathroom, only to have Hobbes snap awake and aim his gun at her. She just cocked her head at
him and waited for him to make a decision. Pointing the gun at the ceiling and putting the safety
on, he said. "Next time make some noise, kid."
"Good morning to you too, Bobby," Alyx said sweetly.
A mumbled, "Are you two arguing again?" drifted up from the pillows on what had been Alyx's bed.
Hobbes' eyebrows went up in surprise.
"Not a word, Hobbes. I've been awake for hours. He's been playing chain saw boy," Alyx said.
"Hey, I don't snore," Darien said as he rolled over and sat up.
"Oh, really. Then that noise was some strange communication with your mother ship, I take it." Oh,
yes, she was feeling more than a bit out of sorts this morning.
"Interesting outfit," Darien said, feeling somewhat awed at her choice of apparel.
From head to toe, Alyx was dressed in black. Low heeled black boots led up to tight matte black
pants that sat low on her hips. Her top had a mock turtle neck, but was cut with open shoulders.
Long sleeves joined up with fingerless black gloves. The top covered her rib cage, barely, leaving
bare an expanse of smooth stomach. As impressed as he was by her waistline, he was dismayed to
realize he could count every rib even through the shirt. A black jacket, which she was holding in
one hand, completed the outfit.
"What's wrong with my clothes?" she asked, slightly irritated. Her clothes were one of the few
things she made some changes with. She figured since she had the body, why not show it off a bit?
Besides, she was hoping it would irritate the Official. She might be stuck here, but that didn't
mean she had to make it easy for any of them.
"Nothing at all," Darien said. "I can safely say I'm awake now." He threw off the covers and got
out of bed. As he walked past Alyx, he leaned over and whispered, "And I don't snore."
Alyx just laughed. "I'll be waiting in the van. Don't take forever."
It was at most thirty minutes before the two men exited the hotel room. They appeared to be
arguing. Alyx did her best not to hear, but she knew it was about her. The two of them managed to
end their discussion before entering the van. Hobbes got behind the wheel and started the engine.
"Food first," he said. "Then we check out our target."
"What time is it anyway?" Darien asked, sliding a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.
"Little after eight," Alyx said. "I've been up for four hours. There is the universally ubiquitous
Denny's a few miles up the road."
"Coffee. Caffeine. Anything," Darien groaned. "Mornings are not my best time." Especially when he had
spent half the night with weird dreams and the other half lying awake thinking. It had taken a while
before he'd fallen back to sleep.
Alyx rolled her eyes. "I would never have guessed."
Hobbes pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. Sure enough, just a short distance up the
road was a Denny's. Within minutes they were seated in a booth with coffee before them.
Alyx, much to their surprise, drank hers black and griped that it was weak. When she ordered
nothing for breakfast Hobbes made a comment. "Nervous, huh? Can't say I'm surprised. First job and
all."
"No. Not nervous. Just not a breakfast person. The coffee will do till later," she said. Then she
turned in the seat to stare out the window. She wasn't nervous, but she was confused. Her head
ached from trying to shield out all the other people in the restaurant. Neither Fawkes nor Hobbes
were completely awake and were therefore broadcasting every sleepy thought in their heads. Her eyes
felt raw from a lack of sleep, and she felt a near-desperate need to hit something.
Darien had yet to remove his sunglasses and he kept rubbing the back of his neck as if it ached.
She made up her mind to ask him if he was okay, but she was forestalled by the arrival of their
food. That did it: the scent of fried eggs and bacon sent her stomach spinning. Without comment,
she got up from the table and made her way outside to lean against the van, taking deep breaths to
clear the smell from her head.
'Pattern, you idiot woman, pattern,' she thought to herself. Desperately, she tried to cope with
another bout of hypersensitivity. "Maybe I should have told the Keeper," she moaned. It was
suddenly too damn bright out, everything was too loud, the smells too strong. She closed her eyes
and leaned her head back against the van.
So focused on her own distress, she didn't hear Darien approach until he touched her on the
shoulder and said, "Hey."
Alyx reacted by mentally shoving Darien away hard enough that he landed with a grunt in the bushes
several feet away.
"Gods, I'm sorry," Alyx apologized as she rushed over to him. "Are you hurt? I didn't know it was
you. I didn't mean it."
She helped him to his feet. "Only my pride seems to be hurt." He gauged the distance between the
van and his point of impact. "Good distance," he commented, straight-faced.
Alyx broke out into near hysterical laughter, but it dissolved into sobs that she quickly choked
off. At least tossing him had shocked her back into control of her senses, so she didn't flinch
when his hand came down on her bare shoulder. She looked up at him. "I'm fine." she said, stepping
away and back towards the van.
"Yeah, right," Darien said under his breath as he watched her walk away.
"How come I always end up paying the bill?" Hobbes asked as he came around the side of the van.
Patting his partner on the back, Darien replied, "'Cause you're always the last to leave."
"So the kid's okay. Not going wonky on us or anything?" Hobbes asked as he climbed in and started
the van.
"She's fine," Darien lied. Someone feeling 'fine' didn't react the way she had.
"Good, lets get this job done." Bobby glanced back at Alyx who gave a slight nod. "Here we go,
kiddies. Time for the real fun."
Later that morning, parked a half mile away, on a slight rise overlooking the building that was
their target, Hobbes observed the traffic passing through the main gate with a set of high powered
binoculars. "Lot of traffic. Maybe we should wait till nightfall. Be less crowded then."
"No," Alyx said from where she crouched between the front seats. "Most of the traffic right now is
delivery vehicles. We just join the crowd."
"How do you know that?" Bobby asked dropping the binoculars to his lap.
Giving him an absentminded pat on the shoulder as she returned to the rear of the van Alyx
answered, "Let's just say I have really good eyesight. Besides, at night we'd have to deal with
that fence." She pointed. "They've got quite a few volts running through it."
"Do I want to know?" Hobbes asked.
"Shoot, I can feel the thing from here. They don't have it powered to deter, they have it set on
'fry'. Now, I could probably turn it off, but not without setting off some sort of alarm." She
shrugged. "Be easier to go in now."
Hobbes turned to Darien. "Your opinion, Fawkes?"
"The sooner we're done the better," Darien said. "If the guard doesn't let us by, we can always try
again later."
"Works for me," Hobbes said. "When you're out we'll meet there." He was pointing at a side road
just around a curve in the road from the front gate.
"And Plan 'B'?" Alyx asked.
Both guys turned to look at her. "Plan 'B'?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Let me guess, a plan is a rarity with you guys." She didn't wait
for an answer. She scooted forward between the front seats. She looked at Darien for a moment. "You
bringing your tools?"
He nodded. "Always."
"Good. Bobby, if something goes wrong we'll head across the lawn for the tree line over there."
She pointed to the location. "There's another building on the far side of the trees. We'll meet
there."
"I know I'm going regret asking, but why?" Hobbes was trying to be patient.
"Because if we set off the alarms, I don't want to have to break through the fence anywhere near
the gate and the well armed guard there, okay?" Alyx sounded exasperated. "I thought you guys did
this for a living?"
"Yeah, but we usually try not to think this much," Darien said trying not to laugh.
"Can we do this now, kid?" Hobbes griped, starting the engine of the van. "Make yourselves scarce."
Alyx let the quicksilver flow over her body, trying not to sneeze as it tickled her nose. Her
eyesight went monotone, pretty in its own way, but not as detailed as color. Alyx watched as Darien
performed his own disappearing trick and was pleased to see one of her theories bear out as true.
While they both were quicksilvered, she could still see him, sort of. "Interesting," she said aloud.
Darien turned to look at her. "Hey. I can see you."
"That'll make things easier." Hobbes commented. "Now shut up; they can still hear you."
Hobbes slowed the van, preparing to stop, but the guard just waved him through. "Idiots," he said
under his breath, then. "Let's find quiet corner to let you two out." He drove around the side of
the building and to the rear where a row of loading bays stood; most of them were empty. Parking at
the farthest one on the row he climbed out, intentionally leaving the door open. "Good luck."
Making their way into the building, Darien and Alyx crossed the warehouse area for the elevators on
the far side. All of the offices were located on the upper floors. Darien punched a floor at random
and the car began to move.
Alyx could feel the video feed in the car and scrambled the signal, letting the security people
enjoy a blizzard on their monitors. When the doors opened, they walked out into the carpeted
hallway and Alyx changed her target to the cameras in the hallway.
"We need to find an empty office with a computer hooked into the main system," Alyx whispered.
Darien nodded and waved for her to follow. Down several corridors and around to the back of the
building they found some executive offices. Alyx could sense that several were empty. She kept the
cameras out of commission as they moved, a fairly simple trick by her standards.
Alyx tapped Darien on the shoulder and pointed to a nearby door. Not daring to speak aloud because
of people in the hall, she thought at Darien *It's empty.* She paused, gauging his reaction to
her sudden intrusion in his mind. She'd been as gentle as she could, but for some people even that
wasn't enough. *Sorry, but this way is safer. If you want me to stop I will.*
His eyebrows went up in surprise at hearing her voice in his mind. He could even feel it in an odd
sort of way. Darien shook his head. *It's okay. Just a little weird is all.* He moved to the door
and found it locked. He went to his knees and began to dig out his lock picks by feel, but Alyx
moved his hand aside and grasped the knob. Turning it more with her mind than her hand, she simply
snapped the locking mechanism with a soft pop. Checking the hallway for people, she opened the door
just enough for the two of them to slip in and closed it softly behind them.
Darien just stared at her in amazement for a moment. Where was she when he was a thief, sheesh.
Alyx quickly moved over to the desk and flicked the computer on with her mind. She scanned the room
and disabled the security monitors. Flaking the quicksilver off of just her fingers, she began the
search for the file they needed from the mainframe. After five minutes of searching she mentally
growled. *This is taking too long. I'm going to do it a different way. Watch my back.* Opening her
mind, she entered the computer's data stream. Following the LAN line, she found the mainframe.
Mentally she entered the file name, the computer queried her for an access code. She convinced the
computer to cough it up for her and the computer responded by giving her access. Finding the file,
she scanned it quickly and was appalled at what was there. Illegal biotech weapons. Formulas,
codes, schematics for delivery systems, everything. She scanned nearby files and found similar
stuff including illegal testing done in remotely populated areas. She took it all and uploaded it
to the computer where she had gained access.
Checking her mental time clock she realized it had taken a bit longer than she had planned. The
light link that connected her and Darien so that they could speak was suddenly tinged with pain.
Quickly leaving the computer she returned to herself. *Darien?*
He groaned. *We may have a problem.*
Quickly checking the area outside the room for people, she deemed it reasonably safe. Shedding her
quicksilver she said. "Go ahead, we're safe enough for now."
With a sigh Darien quickly shed his. "Sorry. I didn't expect to have to hold it this long." he
whispered.
Alyx grabbed his arm and slid up his sleeve. There was only a single segment left green. Counting
up the minutes in her head she cursed. This stupid thing had taken too long. Time just didn't have
quite the same meaning when she was in the computer, and her hunting for files had taken up too
much. Way too much. "Damn. Any chance Hobbes has some counteragent hidden in the van?" she asked
at a whisper.
Darien just shook his head. " I just had a booster shot yesterday."
"How long do you have if you don't quicksilver?" She asked, knowing whatever he guessed it was
probably a lot less than that.
"Hours at best. I'll get real cranky long before then," he answered honestly. This was just great.
For the second time in as many weeks he was about to go quicksilver mad in her presence. He wasn't
sure who he felt worse for: himself or her. This wasn't something she should have to deal with.
She turned back to the computer. Quickly she pulled up and activated the building's Internet
connection. Using an old internet address of hers that pre-dated her time with the Agency, she
wrote a quick e-mail and attached the files she had uploaded to it. With a sigh of relief she sent
the mail off into the ether, heading to the Official's e-mail box. She then erased the computer's
records of her actions.
Once again she felt the echo of his pain across her head. "How bad?" she asked, turning to Darien.
He grunted. "Bad enough."
"Fine. You work on keeping it under control and I'll handle the invisibility." She touched his arm
and turned them both invisible. *We've got company.*
The door opened and two maintenance types walked in. "We're there," one said into a radio. "Start
the diagnostic and we'll track down the problem"
Darien and Alyx deftly maneuvered by them and out the door they had conveniently left open. Her
hand still lay lightly on his arm, keeping the quicksilver active. She followed as he led the way
out of the building through the front door.
They had made it about halfway to the gate and freedom when the first alarm went off. With a curse,
Alyx pulled Darien off course and towards the nearest expanse of fence. *Hope you've got wire
cutters in that kit of yours,* she thought at him.
*What are you doing?* His thought came back tinged with irritation.
*Taking a shortcut,* she replied. *Radio Hobbes and tell him to meet us at the secondary
location.* She let go of his arm a ran the last few feet to the fence.
Behind her she heard shouts as the guards discovered Darien's now visible presence. "Hobbes, we've
got a problem," Darien said, breaking radio silence. "Plan B."
Alyx shed the quicksilver from her hands as the first gunshots rang out behind her.
"Get down, Darien!" Alyx shouted, and was thankful to see him react instantly.
"Alyx, don't..." he yelled back when he realized what she was about to do. He would have closed his
eyes, but he couldn't. Couldn't tear his eyes away from what he knew he was going to see.
Her visible hands reached out and grasped the electrified fence. But instead of going up in a pyre
of sparks and flames like he expected, she became completely visible, the quicksilver dust
exploding away from her body. The fence began to spark and snap along its length and he felt
something pass overhead. The security guards were thrown to the ground as if a giant hand had swept
them aside. Further back, car windows exploded into dust. Then the wave hit the building and fried
every piece of electronics in it.
Alyx crowed in laughter at the sheer power coursing through her. It was extraordinary. Everything
glowed with its own internal light, the grass, the cars, the people, the very air sparkled with
life and power. For a moment she knew what it felt like to be a god. Then she let it go. She knew
the dangers of this much power. Wasn't that why she'd gone on strike? Had made the choice to starve
to death instead of using them again? The feeling of power, the freedom of that power, was too
tempting, too dangerous and she wanted no part of it. The majority of the power she hadn't absorbed
to create the energy wave she fed back through the fence, causing the generator that powered it to
explode, effectively shutting it down.
"Your turn," Alyx said, waving Darien over. Yeah, she probably could have shattered the fence, but
she didn't want to. She had already done more today than she ever wanted to do again in her
lifetime. It was just too easy to let the power take over. To give in. She didn't want to turn into
something even more dangerous than she already was.
For a moment Darien just looked at her, rather stunned, not quite sure what he had just witnessed.
Then he got to his feet and ran over to her, digging the wire cutters out of his kit. He quickly
went to work cutting the fence enough to let the two of them squeak through.
He flinched at the whine of a bullet flying past his head. Alyx stepped between Darien and the
armed guards, her hands coming up in front of her at waist level, palms forward at their command to
surrender. "Don't stop," she said to Darien.
The men raised their guns and began to fire at them. Her blood still singing with excess energy
from the fence, Alyx changed the air in front of her until it was the consistency of thick mud. The
bullets slowed and then stopped dead in the air about a foot from her. The guards' astonishment
lasted just long enough for Darien to finish cutting the fence and pull Alyx through behind him.
Taking off a dead run, they crossed the short grass between the fence and a the nearby wooded area.
They were heading for the next building over, where hopefully Hobbes would be waiting in the van.
Behind them, the security personnel went through the fence and continued to chase them, firing
shots as they went. Putting on a burst of speed, Alyx caught up to Darien as they hit the tree
line. Reaching out, she coated him in quicksilver, rendering him invisible just as they made it
under the canopy of the trees. Quickly doing herself as well she fell back slightly; Darien's
height giving him an advantage in the speed department. Darien had just broken out of the far side
of the trees when he heard a yelp and a crash behind him. "Alyx?" he called.
"I'm fine," she lied. "Just tripped."
She held her hand to her side where the bullet had ripped through. It had simply been a lucky shot,
but the damage was done. She leaned against the tree for another moment, hoping like hell the
quicksilver would be enough to keep her insides in until she could actually do something about it.
But god damn did it hurt. Not that pain was anything new to her -- hell, she and pain were old
friends at this point. She ignored the pain, pushed herself away from the tree, and ran. She burst
out of the tree line just as Hobbes pulled up squealing the van's brakes.
Darien threw open the rear door and jumped in just as the quicksilver fell away. Reaching back, he
grabbed for Alyx's now visible hand and pulled her inside, as Hobbes roared away smoking the tires.
She landed with a grunt on top of Darien. As the van's speed steadied, she pushed herself up and
pulled the back door shut. "Well, that was fun I suppose," she quipped.
Darien still lay on the seat, his face screwed up with pain.
"Damn," Alyx swore. "Hobbes, get on your cell and call the Keeper."
"Not again?" Hobbes complained but he did as asked.
While Hobbes talked to the Keeper, Alyx squatted down next to Darien and slid up his right sleeve.
The last one was still green but she knew it wasn't going to be much longer, not even the few hours
he'd been hoping for. Darien opened his eyes. "We're in trouble, aren't we?" he asked.
"Nah," Alyx said with confidence. "We'll make it."
Hobbes spoke from up front. "She's on her way. She'll meet us on the road as we head back. You just
have to hold it together for a while, partner."
"How long?" Darien asked. He had the bad feeling that no matter how little time Hobbes answered
with, it wouldn't be nearly soon enough.
"Don't worry about it. It's handled," Hobbes replied evasively.
"How long?" Darien demanded.
"At least two hours," Hobbes admitted. "The Keeper's got to drive to us and we're a good four hours
away from home."
"Shit," was Darien's enlightened comment.
"You can do it, buddy," Hobbes said with forced cheerfulness.
"Not alone, you can't," Alyx said. "But I can help if you'll let me."
"What do you mean?" Darien said suspiciously. He was getting to that point when even those he liked
and trusted started to become his enemies.
"I can help you with control. I'll do most of the work for you so you don't end up fighting
yourself," Alyx replied. "I'll need to use a stronger link than the one we used inside the
building, but I promise not to poke around in your head. Just numb the pain and help you maintain
control." She paused, looking directly into his now bloodshot eyes, and dropped her voice to a
near whisper. "You know you won't make it on your own."
"All right," he agreed, before he was no longer capable of doing so. "What do I need to do?"
"Start your control routine and relax," she said.
Once Darien had closed his eyes and begun his routine, Alyx zipped open her jacket with a hiss of
pain. Sitting on the floor of the van, she took a good look at her side. The hole wasn't that big,
but it was still bleeding sluggishly . When she'd dropped her quicksilver falling into the van,
she'd also lost the seal it provided over the wound. Concentrating, she used the control she
mastered during her months as a guest of the Agency and quicksilvered her hand. Placing it over
first one side of the wound and then the other, she let the cold seep in and seal the wound, at
least temporarily. If she took it easy till they got back, she should be fine.
Having stabilized her own condition, she turned her attention back to Darien. Adjusting her
breathing, she put herself in to a light trance. This was not going to be anywhere as easy as she
had perhaps suggested; it would be very, very hard to keep her mind separate from his, but knowing
it could be done gave her enough confidence to try. Her teacher, as reluctant as she had been to
have one, had trained her very well. She moved to kneel next to Darien and lay a hand gently on his
warmer-than-normal forehead.
"Ready?" she whispered to him.
"As I'll ever be," he replied in a strained voice.
Alyx didn't hesitate, sliding nto his mind without effort. Having done this once already, she found
it a bit easier to keep herself separate from him this time. It still took her a moment to adjust
to the roiling emotions inside of him. Anger, hate, red rage, desire, lust, and even paranoia
pushed against her intrusion. The first thing she did was block the pain that lanced through his
head, easing the strain on his own control. She then built a wall between him and his violent
emotions. A wall under solely her control. While she couldn't erase the effects that had already
occurred, she could keep his condition from getting any worse, for a while anyway. Pulling her mind
back out of his, she maintained only the light link now necessary to monitor her work.
Alyx removed her hand from his forehead and asked, "Better?"
Darien sat upright, his head no longer aching. He could still feel the rage, but it was a dull
presence, as if it belonged to someone else. "Yeah," he said, sounding surprised. "How long can you
hold this?"
"Long enough," Alyx answered, already feeling a dull ache begin between her eyes. "Long enough."******To be continued...
