Out of Time Part 4 (final)
By Carol M.
See prologue for disclaimer
Spoilers: F2B
Note: Again, I have no knowledge of medicine so if this sounds farfetched, I apologize. Also be on the lookout for a little bad ass Claire in this part. Other than that, enjoy the rest of the story!
Darien regarded Claire with shock for a moment at the statement she had just made and then cleared his head. "Keep, what are you talking about? How did you have anything to do with this?" he asked in a shaky voice.
Claire shook her head and wiped at tears that were coming out of her eyes. "I identified all of the compounds in the toxin. I found that one of the chemicals in the toxin is also present in the counteragent. When I gave you your shot, I added the last chemical needed for the toxin to work. It activated as soon as I gave you the counteragent," she sobbed. "That's why the toxin didn't show up in the original blood test I gave you. It was lying dormant until the last chemical was introduced into your body."
Claire stepped forward and grabbed onto Darien, pulling him into a hard embrace. "I'm so sorry, Darien. This is all my fault," she sobbed into his chest.
Darien rested his head against the top of Claire's head and hugged her back. "Shhhhh, Claire, this isn't your fault. If you hadn't have given me the counteragent, I would've gone, nuts. You know I'd rather die then go off the deep end and hurt someone. All you've been doing is trying to find a way to save me. I won't let you blame yourself for this, Keep," said Darien as he lifted her head up so she was looking him the eyes. "This is just want they want. They want to hurt you and they want to hurt me. You're just letting them win."
Claire shook her head in anger. "Why would they do this?"
"I don't know. I didn't even know Chrysalis had access to…" Darien stopped in mid sentence as revelation entered his mind. "Arnaud. Arnaud and Chrysalis are working together."
"What?" asked Claire in confusion.
"Don't you see Claire. Chrysalis kidnapped me and formulated this toxin around the counteragent. They could've only gotten the counteragent from one person: Arnaud," said Darien. "God, I should have seen it before, this whole thing reeks of that Swiss Miss Mother. I have to get to Hobbes and get in that building," said Darien as he started for the door.
"No, you're not going alone. I'm going with you," said Claire as she grabbed her purse and followed Darien towards the door.
"Keep, it could be dangerous," said Darien as he put his body in front her to stop her.
"Darien, I'm not going to let you die. I'll tear that place apart and find the antidote," she said firmly. "Besides, how do you expect to drive in your condition?" she continued, her jaw firmly set.
Darien sighed. "Fine, let's go."
******
"No Fawkes, this is way too dangerous," said Bobby after hearing Darien and Claire's story.
"Come on, we get in there, get the stuff and get out," said Darien in a determined tone as he looked over at the Deppo building.
"What makes you think there's an antidote in there anyway?" asked Bobby as looked at Darien and Claire.
"Because I know the way Arnaud's mind works. He wants me to know he did this. He wants me in there," said Darien. "Now are you going to help me or are you going to wait outside?"
"Do you even have to ask, buddy?" said Bobby as he stuck his arm out. Seconds later, he felt the cold chill of quicksilver coating his body. Several seconds later, Claire and Darien were both invisible as well.
"How long?" Darien asked Claire as the trio ran towards the building.
"Fifteen minutes at the most," said Claire.
"Great," groaned Darien as pain and nausea assaulted his body. He was dangerously close to passing out, but the sheer will to live was forcing him to continue.
The trio made it through the security gate and entered the building through the side door Darien had used earlier. As soon as they got in the corridor with the labs, they systematically started to search each one for the antidote.
After five minutes, they hadn't found anything.
"Guys, this is taking too long. We have to split up," said Darien weakly. He stammered out of the lab they were searching and made his way down the hallway. He saw a room at the very end of the hall with a light coming from under the door. He cautiously made his way down the hallway and quietly opened the door. His heart stopped for a moment when he saw Arnaud sitting at a desk with his back turned to him.
"Hello Fawkes," said Arnaud as he turned around in his chair.
Darien lurched at Arnaud and swiped at his face with his hand. He expected to come back with latex foam, but instead came back with flesh and blood.
"Now was that really necessary?" said Arnaud coolly.
"You unbelievable bastard," said Darien as a sharp pain worked its way through his head and down into his chest. He fell to the floor and let the quicksilver fall off of him.
"I want to thank you, Fawkes. After observing and testing you for the week, you managed to give me enough information to reverse my permanent invisibility problem and help my new friends make their own glands. You were also the perfect guinea pig to test my little drug on," he said with a smile.
Darien blinked back tears of pain as he felt his body starting to shut down. His breath was coming hard and fast, and he felt hot and miserable. "Why?" he rasped as his body started to convulse.
Arnaud leaned over him and looked him the eye. "Well it suddenly occurred to me, if you're selling a gland to a crazy terrorist, the risk of going crazy from lack of counteragent really doesn't apply. The madness just gives these zealots more courage to pull of their missions. So, unfortunately they don't come back for the counteragent and that leaves me with empty pockets. But you give them something that will kill them, well, they'll come back for the antidote and learn a valuable lesson. You never leave me with empty pockets."
Darien felt another stab of pain slice into his head and moaned loudly. He pulled his wrist up and saw his tattoo read eight segments red, one segment green.
"Looks like you've run out of time, Darien. It's a shame really, I'm going to miss having you as an enemy," said Arnaud.
"Give me the antidote, man," whimpered Darien in agony.
Arnaud leaned down so close to Darien that he could feel the Swiss man's breath on his face. "Find it yourself, Fawkes," whispered Arnaud.
"We already did, De Phon," said the voice of Bobby Hobbes. Arnaud looked in the doorway and saw Claire dashing in the room with a syringe in her hand and Bobby with his gun aimed at Arnaud.
"You lose this round, pal," said Bobby.
A sudden harsh cry erupted from Darien as the last segment of his tattoo turned red.
Arnaud smiled. "I don't think so."
Claire reached Darien's side and injected the antidote into his system, praying it wasn't too late. She checked Darien's pulse and discovered to her horror that Darien wasn't breathing. "He's not breathing, Bobby!" yelled Claire in a panic.
Arnaud took advantage of the distraction and ran out of the room. Bobby wavered for a second, debating whether to go after him or not. When he saw Claire breathing into Darien's mouth, he decided to stay with his partner.
He quickly ran to the pair and set down his gun. "What do you need me to do?" he asked quickly.
"Start giving him chest compressions," she said.
Bobby put his hands in the necessary formation and pressed them against Darien's chest. "One, two, three, four, five," he counted out loud.
Claire breathed into Darien's mouth. Still no breath.
"Come on, Darien, breathe," said Bobby. "One, two, three, four, five."
Claire breathed into his mouth again, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Bobby pressed harder against Darien's chest, trying to push the breath out of him. "One, two, three, four, five."
Claire breathed into Darien's mouth once again. "Please don't do this, Darien," she sobbed.
Bobby continued to do compressions on his partner's chest, trying to ignore the sickly white pallor of Darien's skin. "Breathe, damn you, breathe!" he shouted.
Claire took all her breath and blew it into Darien's mouth, ignoring the dizzy feeling from her own lack of oxygen. "Come on, Darien," she whispered softly.
Darien's body suddenly lurched in a choking cough. He fell back limply to the floor with harsh breaths escaping from his mouth.
"Oh god, he's alive, he's alive," said Bobby as he picked up his limp partner and pulled him into a hug. "Will he be okay?" he asked Claire.
Claire nodded. "He should be," she said with relief as she ruffled the hair on the back of Darien's head.
They both turned their heads to the doorway in a panic when they heard footsteps rapidly approaching.
"Can you still shoot, Keep?" asked Bobby as he picked his partner up and swung him over his shoulder.
Claire picked up Bobby's gun and pulled out a machine gun she had taken from one of the artillery rooms. "Try me," she said with a wicked gleam in her eye.
The pair approached the door and Claire swung out through the door, taking out two guards that were making their way towards the lab. "It's clear," she yelled to Bobby.
She ran out of the lab with Bobby close behind. They made it down the corridor and turned a corner, seeing the exit. "Go, go," yelled Bobby.
A guard approached out of nowhere and Claire didn't hesitate to shoot him. "Well done, darling," said Bobby as the pair burst through the exit door.
They started a fast sprint towards the security gate, the weight from Darien's body not affecting Bobby's running ability. Claire shot off the machine gun at various guards that approached, taking several out and causing others to back down.
They finally made it to the van free and clear. Bobby placed Darien in the back and Claire joined him. Then Bobby got into the front seat and sped off, leaving a cloud of dust in his tracks.
*******
"Nope, it's alright. The toxin is slowly disappearing from his body. In a few days, he should be fine," Darien heard Claire say from behind a black fog.
"I was able to give him the counteragent as soon as we got back to the Keep. Seems the antitoxin shuts off the ability of the counteragent to produce the toxin," she continued.
"Good. I want him to stay here until he's completely recovered. I don't care what argument he has for me this time!" he heard the Official say.
"Oh come on, chief, give the poor guy a break, let him go home. He hasn't been able to sleep in his own bed in a week!" the voice of Bobby Hobbes said.
"Hobbes, one more word out of you and I'm going to make you pay me for those days off you had," said the Official.
"Oh yeah, what are you going to do, calculate how many hours I missed?" said Bobby.
He heard Eberts clearing his throat. "Actually Robert, according to my calculations you missed 60 hours of work last week, which would constitute a charge of…"
"Shut up, Eberts," rasped Darien as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Darien!" shouted Claire as she walked to his side. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she checked his pulse.
"Like I was hit by a Hummer," he whispered.
He saw the face of Bobby Hobbes appear in front of his own. "Good to have you back, pal. I thought we were going to lose you for a few minutes there."
Darien shook his head. "Naw, I'm like a cockroach. I'll go on living forever."
"That's the spirit, son," said the Official. He harshly cleared his throat. "Darien, you are to stay here until you are completely recovered."
"Um, actually, no sir he isn't. Darien is going home to his apartment as soon as he wants to. Isn't that right, Darien," said Claire with a small smile.
Darien nodded hopefully.
"Yeah, chief. Me and Golda are standing by to transport him as soon as he's ready," said Bobby.
The Official grumbled and stared into the unsympathetic faces of Claire and Bobby. "Fine," he said sharply. "Fawkes, good to have you back, kid," he said as he slapped Darien on the shoulder.
"Thanks, sir," whispered Darien.
"Eberts," said the Official as he walked towards the door.
"Coming sir," said Eberts. "I'm glad you're okay, Darien," he said before following the Official out the door.
"Thanks Ebes," said Darien. He turned his head and looked at Claire and Bobby eagerly. "Did you get the bad guys?"
Bobby shook his head. "Sorry, kid. The Swiss bastard got away. When we went back with a team to take down Deppo Manufacturing, it was cleaned out."
"Damn it! We're never going to get them, are we?" said Darien angrily.
"Patience my dear Fawkesy," said Bobby. "We'll get em all, you have my word on that," said Bobby as he gave Darien a friendly pat on the arm.
"I hope so," whispered Darien as he looked over at Claire. "Hey Hobbesy, can I have a few moments with Claire, here?"
A look of jealousy briefly flashed over Bobby's face and then it disappeared when he saw the guilty expression that had washed over Claire's features. "Sure thing, partner. Come and find me when you want to go home," he said as he walked of the Keep.
Darien looked over at Claire and smiled. "So you saved me," he said.
Claire shook her head. "I wouldn't have had to save you if I had just run more tests on you and discovered the toxin."
"We're not playing that game, Claire, I already told you that," said Darien. "Look, I'm alive, I'm almost back to normal, and it's all because of you. You did good, Keep."
Claire's eyes filled with tears. "No."
"No, no, no, don't you dare start crying on me, okay," pleaded Darien with puppy dog eyes. He held out both of his arms in the air to embrace her. "Come here," he said.
Claire leaned over and allowed Darien to pull her against his body. She wrapped her arms tightly around him as well and the two friends shared a tender embrace.
Claire lifted her head up and looked Darien in the eyes. "I'm glad you're okay," she said as she leaned up and placed a quick kiss to his forehead.
"Whoa, did you just kiss me?" asked Darien in amusement.
Claire smiled. "Let's just say that I want to keep you around for a long, long time," said Claire.
"Sounds good to me," said Darien with a smile. "You know what I need?"
Claire looked at him curiously. "What?"
"A vacation," replied Darien.
Claire rolled her eyes and laughed. "I wouldn't hold my breath, Darien."
Darien laughed and then his eyes started to droop. "Tell Hobbesy we can go when I'm done napping," he mumbled.
"I will," she said softly. She stared at Darien for a long time, watching him relax into a peaceful sleep, thankful that her Kept was still living and breathing.
That's All Folks
