~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darien checked his watch again. He still had a couple of hours to kill. Casey...Angela looked more
than a little uncomfortable. He'd given her a rough, simplified version of his last year and she
had sat, disbelieving, through most of it.
"Why did you just leave?" he asked suddenly. Literally the day after she had promised to help, he
had gone back to the hospital to meet her for lunch and been told she was gone. That she'd been
transferred elsewhere. Just days later, he had the joy of meeting Claire, his Keeper.
He had felt abandoned. She might have never let him back into her heart because of the mistakes he
had made, the lies he had told, but she had said she'd help him. Even if, ultimately, she had been
unable to help solve the problem, she could have been someone to talk to. Someone who wasn't part
of the Agency, someone who'd care for him as a person and not as the receptacle of one very
expensive gland.
"I...I was forced to. They told me it was for my protection. That Arnaud was not dead and could use
me against you." She looked down at the ground. "They wouldn't even let me call you to say good-bye."
"Case, I didn't know. I had nothing to do with it..." He trailed off, realizing he'd had
everything to do with it. He had gone to her for help and gotten her mixed up in his quickly
imploding life. In return, the life she knew, the one she had enjoyed, had been ripped away. "Damn
it." He got to his feet and began to pace along side the table. "They separated me from
everything. Made sure my only real connections were with the Agency. Made me dependent on them,
above and beyond what I would have been anyway." This just reaffirmed the decision he had made. He
was tired of being manipulated, tired of being a pawn in a game he didn't want to play. "Go home,
Casey."
"I can't do that. My offer still stands. Let me help." She went to him and set a hand on his arm.
He stared at her hand until she withdrew it. "I don't want help any more. I want out."
"Maybe I can do that for you," she said quietly. She knew she was about to overstep her bounds, her
dictate, but she didn't care. It was obvious that Darien was miserable, and she was still a doctor.
And, no matter what he chose to believe, she did still care. About him, and not the gland.
Darien laughed. "Sorry Case, you're good, but even I know this is way out of your league."
She nodded. "You may be right, but we'll never know until we try. I'm willing to. Are you?"
Darien backed away from her. "Why? The Fat Man tell you to use any means to bring me back into
line? Tell you to get the poor boy laid if necessary?" As he watched, Casey blushed bright red. "He
did, didn't he? I always wondered why he chose a young, enigmatic blonde for my Keeper. She was
supposed to keep me in all things."
"Damn it, Darien, does it look like I'm trying to seduce you?" she shouted at him. "Coming here was
not my choice, just as leaving was not my choice." Her voice dropped and she sat back down on the
bench. "I don't give damn about the gland. Let me help *you.*"
"How? What do you think you can do?" Darien sounded defeated. She wasn't going to give up, wasn't
going to stop pushing until she knew everything. That had always been one of the things he'd...he'd
loved about her. If she had just pushed a bit harder back then, things might be very different now.
"I don't know yet. At the very least I can be there for you. I can't pretend to understand what
you've been through, but I'd be willing to help you deal with it." Casey watched him carefully and,
based on his look, she was afraid that anything she could do would be far, far too late to make a
difference.
"Thanks, Casey. But it's too late for anything like that." He turned and looked off into the
distance. "I'm going to leave now. I have things to do." He looked at her, gave her a small smile.
"It was nice seeing you again, Casey." Darien turned and walked away then, leaving Casey to stare
at his retreating back. Not once did he pause or glance back, and that, more than anything else,
scared her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex and Darien were standing down the street from the Harding building, having a bit of a
disagreement. Not that this was anything new, but Alex was finding that, without Hobbes around to
play off of, Fawkes was far more articulate and perceptive than she'd thought him capable of being.
"You do realize that I could be ruining my entire career if I do this?"
"What's more important? Years of unrecognized government service at a back-water Agency that we
both know you really want no part of, or going into the private sector with your son?" Darien
didn't need her turning yellow now. For this to work they needed each other, no matter how much it
hurt.
"Fawkes, it isn't that easy to manipulate me," she snapped.
"Really? Then what are you doing here?" He had no problem with putting her in her place right now.
The worst she could do would be to turn him in, and then he would simply try again at some later
point in time.
Alex closed her eyes and pulled herself together. Her priorities had changed in the last year. Her
pregnancy, her son, had changed her, and as far as she was concerned he could and would always come
first. Somehow she would justify what she was about to do -- and do it she would -- pull whatever
strings were necessary. She had to take this risk if there was the slightest chance she could get
her son back. "Fawkes, you do your job and I'll do mine." She looked at her watch. "We'll meet in
one hour."
Darien nodded and quicksilvered. She knew he was on a severe time limit, so she crossed the street
quickly with him right behind her. Using her key, she entered the building and made her way to her
office. Darien went downstairs to the Keep. His job was to provide the distraction while Alex made
copies of the files. What better way to cause a ruckus than to try and steal the counteragent yet
again? She hadn't explained how she was going to get access, or how she would get the files, but
Alex had assured him that she could and he didn't doubt her.
Darien opened the door to the Keep and waited until it had had shut behind him before allowing the
quicksilver to flake off. He headed straight for the refrigerator where Claire typically kept the
counteragent, and was not surprised to find none there. He then moved over to the file cabinet on
one wall. Once he had ascertained that it was indeed locked, he pulled out his lock picks and
within seconds had the drawer sliding open before him. Picking out a couple files that looked
interesting, he began to thumb through the first and discovered it involved more experiments on
rats. With a look of disgust he closed that one and opened the next. He hadn't rescued 'Darien'
just so she could start torturing a new batch of animals. Like her giant walking, talking lab rat
wasn't enough. He spent a few more minutes glancing through the files, killing the necessary amount
of time.
Leaving the files piled carelessly on one of the tables, he moved over to one to the computers and
turned it on as he had been told to do. When the screen requested a password, he keyed in a word at
random and got the expected 'invalid password' and the option to try again. Apparently after the
'Arnaud-as-Eberts' incident, they had changed the security on the system a bit. Alex knew how to
use it to her advantage, apparently.
He keyed in a second random password and got the 'invalid password' message again, as well as a
warning. One more incorrect entry would result in the system locking him out and cause an alarm to
go off, warning of an illegal attempt at accessing the system. That's what he was trying to do.
Just as he was keying in the final incorrect password, the door to the Keep slid open and Claire
walked into the room.
"Darien," she hissed at him. "What are you doing here?"
He hit enter before turning to her. "What else?" He held up his wrist so that she could see he was
more than half gone already.
Then she noticed the flashing on the computer screen. "Damn it, Darien. Security will be here in a
moment."
"And? You gonna turn me in?" He just looked at her. This was truly a test of which was more
important to Claire: the Agency or Darien Fawkes. "I've found a possible way to get it out with
reasonable safety. Are you going to stop me?"
She spun about from the computer, where she was trying without success to override the shutdown.
"Darien..." She saw his look. At the very least, she realized, he believed it was true.
Whoever he had gone to had convinced him that it could be done. "Just, if you can, let me review
the method before they do it. A second opinion. Please?"
"I'll consider it." He turned away, intending to leave before security arrived.
"Wait." She rushed to one of the other refrigerators and, after unlocking it, pulled out a small
vial, grabbed a clean syringe and handed them to him. "It's not a full dose, but it should gain you
a couple of days."
He took them from her, stunned. "Claire, I..."
"Be careful. Now go. I'll cover as much as I can." She gave him a shove to get him moving and
watched as he quicksilvered, just before the door opened and two agents on security detail entered
with guns drawn.
Having completed his part of the plan, Darien headed out of the building and off into the night as
quickly as possible. Once around the corner from the building, he desilvered and headed to the
meeting place. He had about twenty minutes to wait.
Alex showed just a couple of minutes late with a smile. "I don't know what you did, but the
distraction was perfect." She held out a small case, which he guessed contained all the
information he needed on disks. "I got everything, including the information you recently recovered
from Arnaud."
He took the case from her and held it a bit gingerly in his hand. In some ways, his life was in
those files.
"Some of it might be encrypted, but I doubt that will be a serious problem."
He looked her in the eye, not sure what to say. "Thank you."
She shook her head. "Don't thank me yet. Right now all we have is the files. We both want more."
Darien nodded. "Thank you anyway. I'll contact Stark and arrange a meeting. Do you want me to
contact you with the info?"
"Fawkes, on this occasion I think you could use some back-up." Alex really wasn't trying to
interfere, and she did know that he had outmaneuvered Stark twice before, but there were still too
many risks.
Darien shook his head vehemently. "Too risky." If this was a set-up and Stark was going to do
nothing more than kill him, he wanted no one else there. He wanted out, one way or another, but
there was no way in hell he'd take anyone else with him, willing or not.
"Just to verify the information, no more. If Stark is on the
up-and-up, I'll leave. I don't give a damn about Chrysalis. I just want my son back."
Darien knew she was a good actress, but this was not acting. "All right. I'll have to make Stark
aware of it. I'll set up the meeting someplace public."
She raised and eyebrow, impressed. "Fawkes you might actually make a half-decent agent one day. Are
you sure you want to do this?"
Darien was surprised by the almost-compliment. "Monroe, this was never what I wanted. I may have
been a lousy thief, but it was my choice. Playing secret agent was never one of my dreams as a kid,
and it still isn't." He handed her another one of those business cards. "Call me at ten am and I'll
fill you in."
She watched him turn and walk away as she slid the card into the pocket of her jacket. "Good night,
Darien."
Darien was unlocking the door to his room at the motel when he was once again startled by a female
voice. "Why am I not surprised?" Casey said from just a few feet away.
Darien snarled at her. "Get out of my life. I have no interest in going back to being the Agency's
trained freak." He entered the room and Casey quickly followed, not giving him a choice in the
matter.
"Darien."
"How the hell did you find me?" he snapped at her. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and
pulled out the case and the vial of counteragent. The headache was pounding away. That annoying
knocking in the back of his mind that was his demon, his soulless id waiting to come out and play
those darker games only it found amusing.
She actually laughed. "You brought me here that one weekend,
remember? You said it would be fun to spend a weekend in a cheesy motel." She stepped closer to
him. "I seem to recall we spent pretty much the entire weekend in bed."
Darien closed his eyes. He hadn't realized. He'd thought he'd picked this place at random. "Please
leave, Casey." He didn't need any more reminders of everything he had lost, everything he could
never have again.
"I won't do that," Casey said quietly. When Darien opened his eyes, she couldn't help but see all
the pain in them. He really was as unhappy as he claimed to be. As far as he was concerned, there
was nothing in his life worth even trying to fight for, to live for. Not so long as he was still
plagued by the gland.
"Case, you don't want any part of me," Darien said in a hushed voice. He didn't need to look at his
wrist to know how close he was to Stage Two. He could feel it. Feel that ... that ... thing getting
ready to make itself known. And he knew if he let it continue, didn't do something, that she would
quickly become its focus. All his anger and frustration would get heaped upon her and she might
very well not survive it. "You seem to have forgotten what it does to me. Shall I give you a
reminder?"
He quicksilvered his arm and she backed away, astonished. He realized that she had never actually
seen him do this. That she had only been told about it. The use of quicksilver did have the desired
effect, as the pain in the back of his head reached that explosive, mind-searing point and drove him
to his knees.
She rushed to his side, unsure what to do to help him. It was obvious he was in severe pain. She
had to assume it involved the gland, but beyond that she knew very little. When he finally relaxed
and started to sit up, she didn't move, tried to help him. "What can I do?"
"Do? Oh, I can think of quite a few things you can do," Darien said in a carefully controlled voice
that frightened her. "Most will leave me feeling quite satisfied, but you ... you will probably be
left feeling a great deal of pain. If you're alive at all." Grabbing her by the back of the neck,
he pulled her in close and kissed her. A violent, vicious kiss that she fought against. Her fists
struck at his chest, trying to get him to release her. In the end it took her biting his lip hard
enough to draw blood before he relented and let her go.
She backed away and sat on the floor in shock.
"Are you satisfied now?" Darien was back. The pain in his voice evident. Digging into his other
pocket, he pulled out the syringe, which was thankfully undamaged. Pushing himself to his feet, he
fought against the pain, the urge to go after her. Instead, he slipped the needle through the
stopper of the vial, like he'd seen Claire do a hundred times, and tried to fill the syringe with
the counteragent. He found himself fighting against conflicting urges, and shook in place.
He felt hands over his and watched as Casey removed both items from his shaky grip.
She efficiently filled the syringe and set the empty vial on the table. Darien quickly shed his
jacket and slid up his sleeve. "Into the vein," he instructed, and she did. By the time she
withdrew the needle, the pain was swiftly fading. His anguish, however, was far from gone.
"I'm sorry, Casey, but you had to see for yourself." He moved over to the bed and collapsed onto
it. "That's just the beginning. It gets so much worse from there. I...I...I'm sorry."
She debated only a moment, then walked over to stand in front of him. "I understand now. What can I
do?"
"Leave, damn it. I don't want you or anyone else getting hurt ever again." He shoved her away and
got to his feet. "Why won't anyone understand that? Everyone else thinks they know what's best for
me, what I should do and exactly how I should do it. But not one of them has bothered to ask me.
Just leave." He sounded so lost, so defeated, that she couldn't help but pity him. She mentally
shook herself. Pity was not what he needed. He needed someone to listen to him. To understand,
without ulterior motives. To help
unconditionally, even if it meant the risk of losing him.
"Darien, I meant I will help you get the gland out." Darien didn't even move, and she knew he would
have a hard time believing a word she said. She decided to tell him everything. "The Official called
me here to bring you back. I didn't have much choice. He could bury me and see to it that I never
practice medicine again. I... I'm his last option before having you hunted down." She held her
place, watching him. Hoping for any reaction at all, not just those slumped shoulders and the bowed
head. "He claimed you were just being rebellious and that I could talk you back in. That a friendly
face, who wasn't Agency, could bring you back to your senses. He was wrong."
Darien turned then to look at her. Not quite sure what to believe.
"This isn't some spat, some teenage rebellion on your part. You really want out, don't you?" Casey
asked quietly.
"It's killing me, Case. Who I am is being destroyed, and every time I get another shot or fall into
the madness, I get further away," he answered truthfully. "I may have not been the greatest person
in the world, but ... but.." He wasn't sure how to explain it.
"I won't make you go back, Darien. The Official is wrong." She moved over to him and set one hand
on his arm. "Please, let me help."
Darien nodded, then turned and rested his forehead on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms lightly
about him, giving him what little comfort she could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC....