Chapter Eight
Bobby walked up to the door where Oz said that Darien was being held, gun in hand. "Ok, so what? This is the only entrance? We can't just walk right in, there have to be guards or something."
"There are," Oz stated plainly. "But there's also another way in through the back."
"How would you know about that?" Bobby asked suspiciously.
"I used to come and play down here with Lindsay and some friends when I was younger. We snuck in here that way. So I think I'd know a little more about this than you, ok?"
"Hey, now who's being rude?"
"Stop it, you two," Claire warned them. "Where is this entrance?"
"Come on, I'll show you."
Oz took the lead, and Claire stayed back to chide Bobby.
"Hey, he started it! Did you see the way he talked to me? That was just waiting for a comeback, Keeps, I'm tellin' ya! He's friggin' worse than Eberts, and that's pretty sayin' something." Then he added sourly, "Eberts…"
Claire shook her head and followed Oz, leaving Bobby to go on about Eberts.
They arrived at a small hole in the wall, just big enough to fit through, but it was hidden by grass, and therefore unnoticeable. "This is perfect," she told Oz. "Thank you so much for all your help." When Bobby didn't chime in, she glared at him.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks a lot, Oz." He spoke Oz's name with discontent, like he always did Eberts'. He was obviously not about to warm up to the teen.
"Hey, no way. I'm going with you," he argued.
"Look, Arnaud's a dangerous criminal. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go with us," Claire suggested kindly. "I think you'd be better off staying here."
"No," he stated firmly. "I got you guys this far, you can't make me leave now. You may need my help."
"Even so…" she began, but was cut off by Hobbes.
"She's right, we can handle this ourselves."
"Now that's not what I meant, Bobby, and you know it. Ok. I suppose you might be helpful, and you did help us so far, so you can come. Just be careful," Claire informed him.
Oz nodded respectfully. "Yes ma'am, can do." He grinned, excitement building. They were finally on their way to taking Arnaud down, and he couldn't wait.
Claire went in first, much to the objection of the guys. Oz started the go a couple seconds later, but remembered to give Bobby the finger before he disappeared into the dark tunnel.
~*~*~
Darien fought himself as hard as could for a good couple of minutes, but then he couldn't take it anymore, and felt himself drifting further and further away, only to be replaced by his "inner demon". He cried out, trying to fight harder, grabbing his head to stop the pain, but it was useless. He had advanced into madness. Arnaud was going to help himself, then kill Darien. He was officially screwed.
His already-dark eyes turned blood red, and his face turned from a look of agony, to a look of superiority, despite his situation. He could feel more power surge through his body, more than he normally had, one advantage of QSM. He was no longer afraid of what was going to happen to him and Arnaud. He had every intention of killing Arnaud anyway, so there was no problem there. Plus, he was in the early stages of Quicksilver Madness. Everything was going perfect. And as an added bonus, Hobbes and Claire would no doubt be showing up soon to save the gland, so he would have a shot at them also.
Darien stood up from the floor and straightened his no-longer-aching body. He was almost surprised that he had no cuffs on, but Arnaud never thought too far ahead in the future.
Speaking of the devil, where was de Föhn, anyway? No doubt outside of the room somewhere, observing every move he made. He walked confidently over to the video camera he had found earlier, and pushed his face as close to it as he could without jumping up.
"Hey, buddy, you like what you're seeing? I hope it's all been worth it, because you're gonna die soon anyway. Wouldn't want you to have any regrets, right?" Darien said very sarcastically. Not exactly a last resort.
He wasn't surprised when there was no answer. No one even came in the room. He sighed aloud, bored, and looked for a way out. "Come on, Arnie, I know there's a way out somewhere. It can't be hidden to well, that's not your style…" He searched for an exit, moving over to where Arnaud had left earlier. He couldn't find anything.
Then a voice filled the room. "The door only opens from the outside. I have people opening the door for me, but rest assured they won't open it for you. So have a seat, we'll be done soon enough."
Darien looked up, unable to pin-point where the voice was coming from. "You're just so sure of everything, aren't you?" he yelled at the camera. "How sure are you that the girl you're fucking isn't going to turn on you? I mean, the only reason you're with her is because she's a scientist, right? Only I'm sure she's better than you… Or else she wouldn't be here. She's in this building, I'm sure. I know you too well. Best of luck to you both, but it won't last long enough."
No answer. Good. He had gotten Arnaud into some trouble by pointing out the truth, and no doubt the woman was right next to him. It wouldn't be a pretty sight. But at least he had made a diversion.
Luckily for Darien, Arnaud hadn't checked for weapons. He bent down and pulled a Swiss Army Knife from inside his white sock. The blade pulled easily from the body of the knife, and he jammed it into the padding that covered the wall, near where he assumed the door must be.
He heard it hit metal.
"Bullseye."
Still cutting away at the padding, he released it from the door until he could see nearly the whole thing. Arnaud was right. The door had to be opened from the outside. Good thing Hobbes and Claire were on their way, and he knew they were. They would be able to get him out. Now all he had to do was wait and hope that his diversion worked long enough and that Arnaud didn't get all the information he needed in the meantime.
~*~*~
"Would you hurry up, Hobbes?" Oz rushed the older man from outside of the tunnel. They had made it inside the building, but only Hobbes remained in the tunnel still. "I thought we were in a hurry?"
"Lay off, kid, I'm going as fast as I can," Hobbes replied grumpily. He crawled through the ending of the tunnel and into the building, which, surprisingly, had no guard at this particular entrance. He hoped that Arnaud simply didn't know about the tunnel, and that they weren't walking into a trap. He was betting on the first. Arnaud had to be too occupied with Darien to be looking for secret entrances.
Bobby landed hard on the floor, not expecting the ground to be that far away. He groaned and rubbed his back, then stood up with Claire and Oz. "Alright, let's go find Darien."
It didn't take long to find where Arnaud was keeping Darien. Guards slowly began to become more ample as they got closer to the middle of the building, until they reached one room, which was more guarded than any other room they had encountered so far.
"This must be it," Claire whispered. Then she frowned. "There has to be at least five guards. How can we get past them without alerting Arnaud?"
No one had an answer for that.
"This would be a lot easier if we had Darien to get rid of the guards, but then we wouldn't be in this position if he was here," Bobby noted while thinking of a plan.
Oz looked up at the adults. "I'll be a diversion. You guys sneak in, I'll distract them."
Claire shook her head firmly. "No, it's too dangerous."
Bobby added, "They have guns, in case you haven't noticed."
"I know, but how else are you going to get in?" Oz had them there, and he knew it. "That's what I thought." He stood up and headed towards the guards, who were clumped together in one group.
"I'll go in after Darien, you stay here and cover us, ok?" Bobby asked Claire, handing her his gun by the barrel. He knew what a good shot she was by experience, and trusted her completely.
She took the gun from his hand and agreed. "Hurry up, though. We don't want to give them time, or reason, to call Arnaud, who I'm sure is nearby."
Bobby understood, and hurried toward the metal door. On his way there, he heard Oz making his diversion.
"I realize this place is occupied… now. But I didn't when I came in. I used to come here with friends, I had no idea people would be here. No one ever comes to this place anymore."
A guard tried to stop him. "That's fine, now get out of here, kid."
"So I think that no one comes here because of the ghost. Yeah, when I was younger, my dad told me that this place was haunted. Everyone knows it. Personally, I wouldn't want to guard this place. That is what you're doing, right?"
"Hey, kid, do you understand the word 'leave'?" The guard was getting angry, as were the other four, also gathered around Oz. No one was watching the door.
Oz pretended not to notice. "Yeah, so this ghost killed himself, I guess, and never left this place. Maybe he wants to kill everyone so they don't inhabit his home, or whatever. "He shrugged, giving them a 'clueless teen' look that they completely bought, assuming him to be harmless. Bobby felt some hatred towards the kid dissipate as he made his way to the door, very quietly. He was a good liar, after all.
Oz continued rambling. "So you guys do whatever, I just thought I'd warn you. Hey, you know what? I think I saw that shirt on sale at JC Penny's the other day! If I were you, I'd get a refund. How much did you pay for that, anyway?"
Bobby got to the door, and slowly opened it up. He crept in, trying not to make noise. "Dar? You in here?"
As a response, he felt an icy hand touch his arm. "Shhh.. There's a video camera watching us. If Arnaud is paying attention, he knows you're here. We need to get out of here quickly."
Bobby grimaced, hoping that Arnaud wasn't paying attention to the screen. "Turn me invisible. I don't know how good Oz's distraction is going," he whispered.
"Fine, but we need to find Arnaud and destroy the information he's getting from me. If he gets it, he'll be well again and he'll kill me."
Bobby agreed, noticing that Darien sounded a little weird. "Hey, partner? How long have you been invisible?"
There was a pause. "Not long," Darien lied. If Bobby knew the truth, he wouldn't let him anywhere near Arnaud, and he needed to get to him in order to kill him. "Don't worry, Hobbes, I'm fine. But not for long, so we need to hurry up so we can leave to get counteragent."
Hobbes didn't know whether or not to believe him, but he went along with it any. "Ok, let's go." He felt himself turn invisible. It was a strange, foreign feeling, but he sort of enjoyed it, after he got used to it. He wondered how Darien ever got used to it.
~*~*~
Arnaud watched Dana's long, nimble fingers type angrily away at the keys on the computer keyboard. She stared forward, crystal blue eyes gazing at the computer screen, purposely ignoring Arnaud's presence next to her.
"Listen to me, Dana…"
"No. I should have known this was all some game to you, that you could never actually be in love. But I didn't." Her melodic voice was turning dull in sadness, and resentment. She continued staring ahead, determined to finish this project, but intent not to let Arnaud get to her. Although he already was.
"This is not just some game. Besides, you would take Fawkes' word over mine? He's the prisoner in the first stage of madness. He'd do anything to get out- he hates me." Arnaud prayed that she understood what he was saying and would forgive him. He knew that she would continue working on this to help him, and because she always finished what she started, but he didn't like her mad at him, and he certainly didn't want her to leave him. Even if the whole situation had started out as a game, a ploy to get her to help get information from Fawkes' brain, he had grown fond of her since. He refused to let his nemesis screw things up for him again.
Luckily for Arnaud, she lightened up and even looked over at him. "So you aren't just doing this to get my help?"
Arnaud shook his head firmly. "I really like you, and I enjoy working with you. The fact that you can help me is a bonus." To reassure her, he grinned, and she immediately felt bad for believing that man who Arnaud so intensely disliked.
She hugged him and gave him a quick kiss. "Thanks."
Then she turned back to the computer, and frowned. "Um, I think we might have a slight problem." She tapped a pointed red fingernail against the screen to get Arnaud's attention.
He looked over, and glared at what he saw. Fawkes' room was empty. The cameras were thermal, and pointed out that no one was in the room. The door had been opened, which meant that Fawkes' annoying friends had come to rescue him. And to top all that off, another screen Dana pulled up showed that the wires had been removed so that the computer could no longer monitor Darien's brain.
Arnaud cursed aloud, and looked around. He knew Darien better than he would have liked to admit, which at times seemed to have its advantages. He knew that Darien was in QSM, so he would risk escaping to get revenge on him.
"Darien, I know you're here somewhere." In response he felt a cold fist connect with his jaw, sending him backwards, skidding across the floor.
He rubbed his jaw, and moved it around trying to ease the pain, but nothing worked. So he grabbed out a pair of sunglasses from his inside jacket pocket and placed them on his nose. He saw Darien's body through the thermal glasses, so he felt safe to stand up, and did so.
"You know, if you were smart, you would have just left." Arnaud shrugged. "But you're never really bright when it comes to revenge." He lunged for Darien and once again, they were ensued in a fight. Arnaud seemed to be winning, noting all the bruises and blood on Darien, until he felt a prick in the back of his neck and he fell to the ground.
Darien paused and looked up in surprise from the ground where he had been knocked down to. He saw Claire's smiling face, a syringe in her hand.
"I know you wanted a chance at him again, but you really aren't in the right frame of mind to be making decisions. Besides- he was kicking your ass."
Darien moaned and fell back on the floor in frustration. But Claire felt no remorse. "Look, I know you're in Quicksilver madness, Darien. So I'm just going to ignore you until we get back to your room in town."
Hobbes came up behind Darien and stuck a different syringe in his arm, with a long exhale. "It's about time we ended this case," he muttered to Claire as Oz as he came up behind Darien with a puzzled look on his face.