Out of Time Part 1
By Carol M.
See prologue for disclaimers and stuff.
Note: Well…crap, I've got nothing to say for once. On with the story…
Claire whistled as she walked through the hallway to the Keep. It had been a week since she had last seen Darien and Bobby, and they were both due back to work that day. She was eager to here all about their vacations. She was a little surprised that Darien hadn't come by to visit her at all during the past week, but she figured that maybe he needed some time to himself. Claire just hoped that the vacation had revived him both mentally and spiritually.
When Claire reached the door to the Keep, she took out her keycard and swiped it through the slot. The Keep door opened and she flipped the lights on. She walked inside and jumped about a mile when she saw Darien lying on the counteragent chair.
Claire put a hand to her chest in surprise. "God Darien, don't do that," she said as she walked over to the chair. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked as she checked her watch and realized it was only six thirty. "I wasn't expecting you until at least 10 o'clock?"
Darien did not respond. "Darien?" she said as she glanced at him. His eyes were closed and the only movement detectable was the rise and fall of his chest. It looked like he had fallen asleep waiting for her to give him his shot. "Darien," said Claire as she shook him slightly. No response. "Darien, come on, wake up," she said as she shook him harder. Still nothing.
She realized after a few moments that he was dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing the last time she saw him. Shaking her head slightly, she reached for his wrist and saw that the tattoo read six red and three green. He was going to need a shot very soon.
"Darien, can you hear me?" she said as she lifted up his eye to reveal a brown iris with no traces red. At least we don't have to deal with that right now, she thought with relief. She gave him a soft slap on the cheek. "Come on, I need you to wake up for me."
When he still didn't move, she started to do a cursory exam of his body. She put her hand against his neck and found his pulse to be sluggish, but strong. She ran her hands over his head to check for any bumps and then ran her hands over his chest, stomach and back to see if he had any wounds that she couldn't see. Her exam turned up nothing.
She picked up his body and let him lean against her so she could remove his jacket. His head flopped limply against her shoulder, and she could feel the shallowness of his breath against her neck. She gently laid him back down on the chair and frowned when she saw bloody bruises on his wrists. She took a closer look at the bruises and realized they had to have come from some sort of restraint. She also saw a fresh needle mark in the crook of his elbow. "Bloody hell," she said in agitation.
She lifted up his shirt and sighed when she saw similar bruises running across his chest. "What did you get yourself into, Darien?" she said to herself sadly.
She walked over to a drawer and pulled out some smelling salts. She quickly walked back over to Darien and snapped the salts under his nose. He sluggishly opened his eyes and then closed them again.
"Damn it, Darien. I need you to wake up for me, come on," said Claire as she slapped him again.
With a groan, Darien opened his eyes and kept them open. A look of confusion washed over his face. "What happened? Where am I?" he asked in a raspy voice.
"You're in the Keep, Darien. I found you lying here when I came in a few minutes ago," responded Claire gently.
"Why…how…how did I get here?" he croaked out. He tried to sit up and groaned when he felt the pain in his chest. He lifted up his shirt and saw the bruises. "What the hell happened to me?" he asked with wide-eyed panic.
Claire pressed her hands against his chest and forced him back down into the chair. "Calm down, okay. Just relax. We're going to find out what happened, we just need to take it slow, that's all," she said in a soothing tone.
Darien took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay," he whispered in a calmer voice.
"All right, now Darien, I need you to quicksilver for me, okay," she said gently.
Darien did what he was told and was instantly invisible. Seconds later, he reappeared.
"Okay, whatever happened to you, it didn't effect your ability to quicksilver. I just need to run a few tests," she said as she left his side for a second and returned moments later with a large needle.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" asked Darien fearfully.
"I'm just going to draw some blood to see if there are any drugs in your system," she said as she carefully inserted the needle into his arm. She pulled up the plunger and blood started to fill up the large syringe.
Darien swallowed painfully and closed his eyes, not wanting to know what had been done to him.
When Claire finished, she pulled the needle out of his arm and walked over to her microscope and computer. For the next hour, she ran every possible test on the blood that she could think of.
Darien lay unusually quiet in the chair, feeling the familiar building off pain in the back of his head. "Umm, Keep, if you don't mind, I kind of need a shot here," he whispered when the pain started to reach an unbearable level.
Claire looked up from her microscope. "Just a few more minutes, Darien. I just want to make sure it's all right to give you the counteragent," she said as she looked back down at his blood sample.
Darien nodded miserably and tried to relax. His attempt failed when a slice of pain tore through his head. "Ahhhh, Claire, help!" he yelped through the pain. This attack seemed to be worse than any he had ever experienced before. It sailed through his whole body from his head to the tips of his toes. "Claire," whimpered.
"Hold on, I'm coming. It's okay, it's okay, Darien. It's safe," said Claire as she reached for a syringe and filled it with counteragent. She quickly ran over to Darien and injected the blue stuff into his neck.
Relief flooded through Darien's body and he sagged in exhaustion against the counteragent chair. Seconds later, he screamed out when excruciating pain tore through his stomach. "Oww, aw crap," he moaned as he curled into a ball and clutched his middle.
"Darien, what's wrong?" asked Claire in a panic as she took a hold of his shoulders.
"My stomach," he whimpered. Just as the words left his mouth, the pain suddenly disappeared. He sagged once again in relief and took deep breaths to calm himself down. "It's gone," he breathed out.
He straightened himself out and closed his eyes.
Claire rubbed his arm and wiped a stray piece of hair off his forehead. "The blood test revealed a heavy sedative in your blood. I think the mix of the counteragent with the sedative caused the pain, but you should be all right now," she said soothingly. "There wasn't a trace of anything else in your blood, so I think you're safe."
Darien opened his eyes and gave her a weak smile. "I guess that's a good thing, right."
Claire nodded. "Yeah," she said gently. "Now Darien, I need to know the last thing you remember."
Darien nodded and closed his eyes, trying to piece together anything that he could remember. He opened his eyes and shook his head. "The last thing I remember is being in the Official's office and getting a vacation. I send goodbye to you, and then I got in my car. After that, nothing."
"Darien, that was a week ago. Whoever took you had you for the whole week. There's a needle mark in your arm that's only hours old. They must have dropped you off here very early this morning. Are you sure you can't remember anything?" she asked.
Darien dug deep into his brain, but still couldn't make sense of anything. "No," he said softly. He looked at her with scared eyes. "What do you think they did to me?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
"We're going to find out, don't you worry," she said as took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "The sedative they gave you may be acting as a temporary memory loss agent. Once it starts to wear off, you will probably begin to remember. Why don't we move you to lab three so you can get some sleep. I'll alert the Official and we can start investigating. Maybe when you wake up, you'll remember something," said Claire in a comforting tone.
Darien nodded and sat up slowly in the chair. With some assistance from Claire, he made it to lab three. He curled up in the bed and closed his eyes, completely exhausted. Claire pulled a comforter over him. "Rest," she said softly, but Darien was already there.
"I want answers, Claire," said the Official in irritation. "What exactly did they do to him?"
Claire shook her head. "I don't know sir. I've run every possible test I could think of on his blood and all I found were traces of a sedative. There's nothing wrong with the gland. He's not in any pain aside from the bruises. He had a reaction when I gave him the counteragent, but that was only due to the combination of the counteragent and the sedative."
"And he doesn't remember anything?" asked the Official.
"Not a thing, sir. The last thing he remembers is getting in his car and leaving the Agency last week. After that, everything is a blur," said Claire.
"So whoever took him, had him for an entire week and we didn't know about? How the hell did they know he was on vacation anyway? And why the hell didn't the agent we have watching him see anything?" said the Official as he slammed his hand against his desk.
"You have an agent watching Darien?" asked Claire with anger.
"No, it's not like that. It's just to make sure nobody takes him when he's off duty. Obviously the idea failed," said the Official angrily as he picked up his phone and dialed. "Get me Higgins," he said.
Claire sat down in one of the chairs in front of the Official's desk and sighed heavily.
"What? How is that possible? When? You're fired. Everyone's fired!" yelled the Official as he slammed the phone down.
Claire raised her eyebrows and looked at the Official.
"Well it seems the agent assigned to look out for Fawkes took a little vacation himself. Nobody's seen or heard from him in a week," said the Official.
Claire was about to speak when she was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Bobby. "Roll out the red carpet because Bobby Hobbes is back in town," he said as he walked through the door.
They looked up and saw Bobby dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat, his face a deep golden tan. He carried several bags in his arms. "Where's Fawkes? I got him a present," said Bobby with excitement. His face fell when he realized the grave expressions on Claire and the Official's face. "What's wrong? Is something wrong with my partner?" he asked in concern.
Claire cleared her throat. "Bobby, I found Darien this morning in the lab completely unconscious. Once I woke him up, he couldn't remember anything that had happened to him the last week. It looks like someone kidnapped him and did some tests on him or something, I'm not really sure," she said with sympathy.
"Where is he now?" said Bobby stoically as he set down the bags and took off the hat.
"Downstairs in lab three sleeping. He's completely wiped out. They gave him a heavy sedative, and I think that once it wears off, he might start to remember what happened to him," said Claire.
"Do we have a list of possible suspects yet?" asked Bobby as he stepped towards the Official's desk.
The Official spoke up. "No. It seems that the agent assigned to watch Fawkes has gone missing. Other than that, we just have to wait until Darien remembers something before we can get any clues."
"He already does," said a voice near the door. They all turned their heads and saw Darien standing in the doorway. "My apartment, whoever got me did it at my apartment."
Bobby marched towards the door and gave Darien a pat on the shoulder. "Let's go, partner," he said as he walked past Darien into the hallway.
"Whoa, whoa, Darien, you're not going anywhere. We're still not sure what was done to you and it could be dangerous to leave," said Claire urgently.
"Sorry, Keep, but I'm not sitting on my ass while whoever did this just gets away clean. I need to get out there and find out what happened to me for myself," said Darien, his jaw firmly set.
Claire put her hands on her hips. "Fine. But if you start to feel strange, I want you back here."
"You have my word," said Darien as he disappeared down the hall.
"Bobby," yelled Claire.
Several seconds later, Bobby poked his head back in the door. "Yeah, Keep."
"Watch him," she said.
Bobby nodded. "I got his back, Keep," he said as he once again disappeared.
Claire and the Official exchanged weary glances before Claire headed back down to the Keep to run some more tests.
TBC
