Part 5
The heat was nearly oppressive as Hobbes turned off the van's engine and climbed past Darien into the back. Outside the window there was nothing but scrub and desert for miles around. The heat haze distorted the landscape in the distance. "Hobbes, are you sure this is the right place?"
"Yeah. Well, close enough. We have to walk a bit so they don't spot the van. That's what the kid said, anyway." Hobbes stuck his head back into the front and handed Darien a pair of binoculars. "Here, we're gonna need them."
Darien grunted in response and took them before opening the passenger door and slipping out into the afternoon sunshine. Within seconds, he realized that hiking about in his leather jacket today would be a bad idea and shed it, tossing it back on the seat and shutting the door. "Which way?"
Hobbes slid open the side door and hopped onto the dusty surface that was the ground. During the winter, this area actually supported some forms of plant life, but it had all long since been burned away by the hot and dry conditions. He slammed the door shut and motioned with his hand. "Thataway."
'Thataway' was a gentle rise upon which there was little to see, just more sand and scrub. Darien followed his partner, keeping his eyes out for the girls. Michele had actually been the one to discover the location of this Chrysalis facility and Alex, after a bit of glaring at the shorter woman, agreed to come out ahead of time and do some preliminary scouting with her. About halfway up the hillside, Darien began to become concerned that maybe Alex had done something besides scouting. In an unexpected emotional outburst, she had cornered Darien this morning and gone off on him about Michele. He'd never gotten more than two words in before she'd cut him off again. In the end, she'd left him standing in the hallway, a bit stunned and wondering just what the hell had happened. Near as he was able to discern, Alex felt like she'd lost the last little connection to... to life, now that he was back with Michele.
He'd tried to say that he wasn't back with Michele, not really, but Alex refused to listen. She'd been a good part of the reason he'd even survived the past several months, and he'd never had any intention of just walking away from her. Even if they never slept together again, he was still her friend and would do anything for her, just as he would still do for Bobby, and -- though it had taken Alex's words to make him realize it -- for Claire as well. Now that his emotional state wasn't being manipulated, now that he was far more like the self he'd been a year ago and had some sort of closure in the loss of Michele, he could once again see those around him as the friends he had always known them to be, but had been denying for long months. He found it hard to believe Monroe would be jealous; the little they meant to each other was not something he'd have been jealous over if she'd found someone else.
And maybe that was the problem. He had found himself able to move past the hurt, able to look beyond the next hour, the next day. To see the possible future before him and be able to look towards it with some sort of hope. To, maybe, want to make some plans, plans involving his children and their mother. All Alex had had for the last half a year was Darien and her work. She thought she was losing him and he had no idea how to help her.
They were nearly to the crest of the hill and there was still no sign of the girls, which made him more than a little uneasy. "Hobbes..."
*Left, Dare. We're 'round the curve of the hill. There's a cut through that they're using for a road. Don't top the hill; it's guarded.* Darien somehow managed to not jump out of his skin when she suddenly spoke in his head, though he did stop dead, much to Hobbes' annoyance.
"Fawkes, move your ass," Hobbes snapped in a soft voice.
"They're off to the left," Darien said, moving in the direction Michele had indicated. When he noticed Hobbes was still stopped, he paused. "'Chele told me."
It took Hobbes a second to figure out what Darien meant. He shuddered slightly, but he moved alongside Darien as they began walking again. "Isn't that... weird? Having her in your head?"
"At least I know where the voices in my head are coming from," Darien said without thinking, and regretted the comment immediately. He may have been feeling a bit better overall, but the crappy attitude he'd been copping for the last year was still around. "Man, I didn't mean that."
Hobbes eyed him warily, anger and hurt in his eyes. "You haven't exactly been Mr. Rational either, my friend."
"Hobbes..." Darien tried, but Hobbes shook his head.
"Later." They rounded the slight curve in the hillside and found the cut Michele had described. Behind some rocks and scrub that were actually halfway decent cover they spotted Michele and Alex. "I think we need to rescue your girlfriend about now." Hobbes paused, surveying the scene. "Uh, which one do you want?"
Darien groaned. Alex was straddling Michele, her gun aimed at the smaller woman's face. "Monroe, what the hell are you doing?"
She twitched, but did not change her focus. "Attempting to interrogate her, Fawkes. She's after something."
Michele just laughed, not even trying to fight her and obviously not afraid of her.
"Not doing too good a job, are you?" Hobbes commented as he and Darien closed the distance between themselves and the women.
"Piss-poor job," Michele agreed with a smile.
Darien saw the look that crawled across Alex's features. He'd seen the same look a couple other times, when they'd had run-ins with Chrysalis agents. Michele was going to find herself in a world of hurt or worse in mere seconds if she wasn't careful. Alex shifted one hand to Michele's throat and growled something inarticulate. That's when Michele moved.
Darien was never quite sure what happened, but Alex's gun was suddenly flung away to land at his feet and Michele was now atop Alex, but she wasn't using her weight to hold Alex down. She was up on her knees, looking down at the woman beneath her. Alex struggled, screeching in pure anger for several minutes before finally relaxing, sucking in air with harsh pants. "Get off me, you bitch!"
Michele laughed for a moment, then her look turned dangerous, deadly. "You have no idea what an interrogation is, my dear," she purred. She leaned forward and trailed her fingers down the side of Alex's face, in a caress that was strangely erotic. Michele's face was mere inches from Alex's, who was now staring up as if enraptured. Darien now understood what Michele had meant when she'd said she could have everyone bowing down at her feet.
"With no effort at all, I could strip your mind bare, expose your deepest, darkest secrets to the world." Alex had begun to shake beneath Michele, though whether in fear or something else -- something far more intimate, given the sexual overtones in Michele's voice -- he didn't know. Michele pulled her hand away and got back up on her knees, her voice turning very cool almost as if bored with the whole thing. "But you know what? I don't care. You have nothing I want. Nothing those I used to work for want. 'Cause if you did, I'd have stripped you bare the last time I was here. And you never would have even known it." Michele got to her feet and stepped away, releasing Alex from her hold. "You're pitiful. Jealous over the fact he cares about me, about our children. Try and remember exactly who he's been with for the last year, who helped him through some of the worst times in his life, and who tried to help you through yours." Michele shook her head in disgust. "Try and act like the professional you supposedly are." Then she turned her back on Alex and walked towards Darien and Hobbes.
Darien watched as Alex got to her feet and charged Michele. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but Hobbes got to it first. "Look out, kid!"
Michele didn't even flinch. Instead, just as Monroe dove for her, Michele ducked low, allowing Alex to fly right over her to land in the dirt. With a snarl that was almost animal, Michele went after her and set one sneaker clad foot on Alex's throat. "If you even try to mess up my chance to get my son back, I will snap your neck. I'm allowing you a little leeway because you lost your son and because Darien cares about you. You have no comprehension of what you're dealing with. Do not get in my way." Michele stepped away and headed back to the brush-covered rocks where the fight had begun.
Alex lay on the ground unmoving for a long moment, then her hands balled into fists that she raised and slammed into the ground. Darien crouched down beside her, not quite sure what to say or do. "Alex..."
She shifted to a sitting position and got to her feet, giving Darien a shove that set him back on his ass, then stalked off in the direction of the van. "Get the hell away from me, Fawkes."
Darien looked torn, unsure which woman he should follow. "Hobbes?"
"Don't look at me, Fawkes. You have to make the choice." Hobbes offered his hand and helped Darien to his feet.
After brushing off the dust, Darien glanced in the direction Alex had gone and sighed. "My son is more important, Bobby."
Hobbes nodded. "At least you're smart enough to realize that. I'll go check on Monroe. We still have scouting to do." He looked up at Darien, who couldn't help but feel at least a little guilty over the situation. "Go on, Fawkes." Hobbes waved at him and then turned to go back to the van.
Darien watched him for a couple minutes and then gathered up his courage and walked over to where Michele was crouched behind a rock, looking out over the facility below them. The rise they had climbed dipped back down on the other side, like a giant ripple. The building didn't appear to be very large, only a couple of stories tall, but he was betting most of the place was underground. Looking again, he realized it was actually a series of buildings, with one continuous roof covering both buildings and walkways between. There was even a fairly large courtyard in the center of it all. If it wasn't for the fact the place looked more like a school or a hospital, done in a dull off-white, the whole scene would have really bothered him. The overall impression reminded him eerily of the lab where Kev had put the gland in his head, though he knew that place was well south of here.
He crouched next to Michele and set a hand on her back.
"I'm sorry," they said in unison.
Michele shook her head. "You have no reason to be. I let her get to me and lost my temper. I suggested that she help." She rubbed her face with one hand. "This was a mistake. Maybe you should leave."
"'Chele," he ran his knuckles along her cheek and was surprised to encounter cold moisture. Grasping her chin lightly he turned her head to get a better look at her and was surprised that she had really been crying. "It was not a mistake and I am not going to leave. I'm not entirely sure what Alex's problem is, but it is not your fault."
She moved his hand away and chuckled. "Of course it is. I'm here and she now has to deal with me in person. It's easy to compete with a ghost." Darien looked at her blankly, not understanding what she meant. "Darien, you became her focus, her last hold on... on life, and now she's finding out that she hasn't been the same for you."
Darien closed his eyes and slumped down, sitting on the ground with his knees drawn up to his chest. "Shit," he muttered. Alex had been... nice to be with. A warm body that had dealt with as much loss, grief, and guilt that he had, but she had never become a reason for living. That had been 'Chele. He wore the ID chip not because he mourned her loss, but because he still hoped to find her again. Until now he'd thought he and Alex had basically shared a mutual misery that included a little sex now and again. Together they'd supported each other through some really bad shit, but that was all.
"Dare, don't blame yourself. You each got what you wanted -- what you needed -- from the relationship, and I can't thank her enough for that, but she has to face the reality of me being here." Michele ran a hand through his hair. "She's hurt, but she's also a big girl."
"Ummm, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Hobbes asked from a few feet behind them.
Michele turned to look at him. "Is Alex all right? I didn't want to hurt her, but she wasn't going to get the hint otherwise."
Hobbes moved over to them and hunkered down as well. "A few bruises, nothing major. She's gonna keep an eye on the van." He cleared his throat, making it plain that there was more to it than that, but also that he was not going to go into it now.
"Look, you guys don't have to do this. If you're willing to keep Cat safe, I can manage." Michele turned to face Hobbes. "This doesn't have anything to do with the Agency."
"Kid...never mind. Let's just check the place out, okay?" Hobbes peeked through the brush to get a good look at the place. It looked dead. Nothing moving, not even trash or tumbleweeds rolling around out there. The heat haze was enough to cause some distortion, making the place look like a ghost town.
"'Chele, how do you know Kit's in there?" Darien asked as he looked over the place as well. Hobbes tapped him on the shoulder and Darien handed him the binoculars he'd been carrying all this time.
Michele tipped her head to the side and closed her eyes. "I can feel him." The look on her face was a mixture of relief and heartache. She opened her eyes to look into his. "He's okay. He doesn't like the place very much and... he misses his mom."
"'Chele, how do you do that?" Darien was still not fully able to comprehend what she was capable of, but the distance seemed to great for her to be able to 'know' anything about Kit.
"Genetics, Dare. He's part of me, so I can always find him. It's the same with Cat, though distance does make a difference. Let me show you." She turned over one of his hands and placed hers on it so they were palm to palm. Then she did something and, much like the evening before, he could suddenly feel other things, know other things. These thoughts and emotions, though, were simple, almost primitive in comparison. What surprised him most was the recognition, that the mind he was in contact with through Michele recognized him. Another mind was brought into the mix, though the connection was far weaker, the new mind radiated such joy at the connection to the first that he knew it was Kit and Cat reveling in the slight contact bringing them together.
It was too much. Darien jerked his hand away and found himself staring up at the pale blue sky, trying to find himself, trying to sort out the impressions in his mind that weren't his.
"Fawkes, buddy, you okay?" Hobbes' face came into view, looking worried.
"Uh, maybe?" With Hobbes' help, he sat up slowly and looked over at Michele.
"Sorry," she said quietly. "The connection was a bit stronger than I intended, but now you understand." She smiled almost shyly. "Kit was very happy to finally meet you."
"Nice. Happy for you two," Hobbes said in an irritated tone. "Now that the family reunion is over, can we get to the scouting? What is this place, anyway?"
"This is their main breeding facility. Where they conduct their little genetic adjustments, pick and choose whose contributions will create the best possible improvements, before shipping off the frozen embryos for implantation," Michele answered, her focus swiftly changing to deal with the necessities of the moment. "I know it looks empty, but it's not. There are several hundred employees that live here. The number of transients is far smaller, just a few dozen."
Hobbes was standing, binoculars to his eyes, looking over the place again. "Kid, there's nothing there. There's no sign anyone has been here in...."
Michele cut him off. "Look closer, Robert. The windows are fakes -- glass over painted images. The security is subtle, but there. The courtyard hides the underground garage. An entire section lowers down and the heli-pad is around the far side."
Now that she'd told him what to look for, Hobbes easily found everything she'd mentioned and more. She was right -- it was subtle, but there. Motion and sound sensors. Probably thermal cameras as well. "Laser grids?" Hobbes asked, not able to see those with the equipment he had.
"Yes. The tops of the hills are wired." She pointed up. "You can see them overhead."
"Maybe you can," Hobbes grumbled. "Fawkes...."
Darien nodded and quicksilvered his eyes. Tipping his head up, he could see the distinctive red grid pattern of laser security. "Yeah, I see 'em," he confirmed to Hobbes. Looking about, he saw lots of laser grids. "Across the far side of the cut-through and all over the place in the compound." He allowed the quicksilver to flake away and turned to Michele. "Why not through here? It's the obvious way in."
"They have cameras aimed through here, both standard and thermal, but with the heat distortion they're easy to trick." Michele answered. "I only got closer than this once, trying to assess my chances of getting in alone. I can probably do it, but getting out is the bitch. The room Kit is kept in is very heavily guarded by both human and electronic security."
"How did you figure this out?" Hobbes asked, crouching back down.
"I got close enough to partially access their main computer." When Hobbes' eyes narrowed, she added, "I can put my... self, my mind into electronics and follow them. I have most of the security layout in my head. Some minimal data on routines and schedules. That kind of stuff. I was on a time limit, working between the computers' scheduled self-diagnostics. They have lots of power in there."
Hobbes shook his head. "Kid... Too bad you weren't on our side."
Michele shrugged. "I am what I am, Bobby. Feel free to walk away." She said this with no animosity, no anger. "The same goes for Darien." She turned to him. "You are under no obligation to help me."
"True. But I'm here for Kit first. You second," Darien answered after a moment's thought. Michele tipped her head in acknowledgment of his honesty.
"'Chele, is there some way you can put the intel you got into a computer program we have?" The wheels in Hobbes' mind were turning.
"Easy to do," Michele said with a nod. "Direct data transfer is simple."
"Good. I'd say we have enough for now. Let's head back." Hobbes led the way back through the cut and around the curve of the hill, where they stopped.
"My jeep is off that way," Michele said with a vague gesture. "Meet back at the Agency?"
Hobbes nodded slowly, thinking about something. "Fawkes, you go with her. I'll make sure Alex gets back safe and sound."
Darien stepped forward and, after glancing over his shoulder at Michele -- who got the hint and turned to wander off several steps -- said in a soft voice, "I kind of wanted to talk to Alex while I had the chance."
Hobbes shook his head. "No you don't, Fawkes. When I got to the van, she was looking for my back-up gun."
Darien sighed. "Damn it." He rubbed his forehead with one hand, hoping Alex hadn't been planning to use that gun on herself. "She... Was she..."
"Fawkes, she was gonna go after Michele, though doing herself was probably part of the plan as well. Maybe even taking you out, just for spite." Hobbes closed his eyes for a second. "I tranqed her, Fawkes, and you don't want to be anywhere near her when she wakes up. I'll get her to Claire; maybe she can help."
"Ah hell, Bobby. I never meant to hurt her," Darien said, with real pain in his voice.
"I know, partner. What the two of you had was never based on anything but pain, though. You're the lucky one. You managed to find some hope." Hobbes stepped away. "I'll deal with Monroe. You have your own problems to deal with."
Darien turned back to join Michele, who at least pretended she hadn't overheard every single word they'd spoken. "Where to?"
"This way." Michele lead the way to the beat-up Jeep Wrangler she'd gotten from somewhere. She leaned against the passenger door and looked up at him. "I'm sorry about Alex. I knew coming here would cause problems, but I hadn't thought things would be this bad." She got this look of humor in her eyes. "Did you sleep with Bobby, too?"
Darien groaned. "'Chele, it's not funny."
"No, I don't suppose it is. I..." She shook her head. "I've wreaked enough havoc in your life. The sooner I'm gone, the better."
"Michele, don't say that. It was my actions that screwed everything up. I made the choices and I'll deal with the consequences." He captured one of her hands in his, liking the way her far smaller hand fit into his, the way her body fit to his as he stepped closer, pressing her back into the side of the vehicle. The way she sighed as he brushed his lips across hers.
Kissing 'Chele was totally different from kissing Alex, or Claire for that matter. This kiss had nothing to do with despair, or with trying to ease a deep-seated pain with physical contact, or using a few moments of desperate pleasure to find that rare moment of joy. This kiss had everything to do with hope, light, and love. It was freeing. There was no attempt to ease pain -- the pain was simply gone. No attempt to hide from despair -- this was all joy. This kiss was about all the hope he'd been holding dear for the last year being confirmed, being given substance, being given form in the shape of the lovely woman now wrapped in his arms.
"Dare, don't do this," she whispered, her voice shaking slightly. "We have no idea what's coming next."
"All the more reason to grab at it while we can," he argued, meeting her eyes. Those glorious silver eyes of hers, that he found himself caught in, falling into, rendered speechless by, much like the first time he'd seen them. "I can't help it, 'Chele. There's just something about you.... I'll take whatever I can get."
She must have seen something in his eyes, or maybe in his heart, because she gave in, though with some reluctance. "All right. We'll work it out. I've no idea how, but we'll work it out." Her fingers played with the stray curls near his temple, a small smile crossing her lips. "But right now we need to go. Cat's waiting."
Darien cleared his throat. "Mmm, yeah. We'll get him, 'Chele. We'll bring Kit home."
"Damn straight," she agreed, and slipped away. Moments later they were on their way back to the city.
The drive back was mostly quiet. It wasn't that they didn't have things to discuss, mountains of issues to deal with; it was more that they both wanted a few minutes of contented peace with each other. A calm in the center of the storm their lives had become. When she slowed and pulled over a couple blocks from the Harding Building, Darien was more than a little confused. It wasn't likely she'd forgotten where to go, was it?
"'Chele, it's a couple more blocks."
She had closed her eyes. "Darien, would the Official go back on his word? Would he sell me out?"
He had to think about it before he allowed the gut reaction 'no' to escape past his lips. The Official was always out for number one -- the Agency -- and if he thought he could get away with it, he might very well turn her in to those hunting her, especially if he could somehow figure out how to keep the information she'd provided as well. "I... I'm not sure. With the right motivation... yeah, he would. Why?"
"'Cause Corvan's there," Michele told him at a frightened whisper. "And he knows Cat is there."
"Crap," Darien muttered, falling back on his old standby for expressing feelings that were far too complicated to express. "How? It's not like we walked you in the front door." Very true. There was a little-used tunnel system that ran under this section of the city. Not sewers precisely, but it had access to various buildings' basements and to plumbing, phone, and power junctions. Occasionally they were used by the various companies to fix problems, but not much else. The Official had unburied the entrance to the Harding Building from behind several old file cabinets to allow Michele to get in and out without being seen. They had been gaining entrance to the tunnels from a parking garage a couple blocks past the building.
She started the Jeep and took a left at the next street, heading who knew where. "'Chele, we gotta head back. I need to find out what's going on."
She shook her head. "I have to get away. He'll know I'm here the same way I knew he was there."
"How? It's not like he's got your abilities...." Darien trailed off at the look of combined pain and fear on her face. It took him less than thirty seconds to figure out the connection. His mom had always told him he was smart. "Corvan is your brother. He's your twin, Michael."
Michele nodded, unable to speak.
"Damn it. All right. Head over to Balboa." She did as he asked, seemingly glad to have a direction to head in. "Can you... uh, block him or something?"
"To a degree, but the closer I get to him, the more likely he is to notice me. His abilities work a little differently than mine, but because we're twins, we have a built-in connection." Her voice shook only a little as she spoke, and he reached over to set a hand over hers.
"Cat'll be fine. If no one else, Eberts will protect her," Darien said, trying to reassure himself as much as her. "Pull over anywhere."
Michele did so, parking in the first open space she found. Darien pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "I'm calling Hobbes to see what's what." At her look of concern he added, "I trust him, 'Chele."
"Yeah, you do," she agreed. She leaned back into the seat and rubbed her eyes. "And I trust you."
He gave her shoulder a squeeze as Hobbes finally answered his phone. "Hey, Hobbesy. What's shaking in the home office?"
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