Chapter 3

Cristelle walked into the room. Darien heard the noise and turned his head towards the noise.
"Is that you again?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Cristelle.
"Do you think you could take this thing off my head? I'm finding it hard to breathe," Darien said.
"No," Cristelle replied.
"Well could you at least untie my arms and legs. I am getting serious muscle cramp," complained Darien. He wondered at what stage his tattoo was. He decided he wouldn't mind going quicksilver mad at this time.
Cristelle smiled and then said "No."
"Listen Lady. I don't who the hell you think you are but you better let me go soon," he shouted.
"I can't," replied Cristelle. She took a syringe out of her pocket and made sure there was no air bubbles in it. She walked over to Darien.
"Who do you work for? Are you from Chrysalis? Is that it?" Darien asked. He felt the needle going into his arm and he tried to struggle but the tranquilliser knocked him out again.

Darien felt the nausea building up inside him again when he became conscious a couple of hours later. He tried to move again but found his legs and arms were still tied.
"I see you are awake," Cristelle said. She was sitting on a small chair with her arms crossed.
"You again," replied Darien.
"I've considered your requests," Cristelle said standing up to walk over to Darien.
"Oh yeah," Darien said. Cristelle pulled the hood of Darien's head. It took a couple of minutes for Darien's eyes to readjust to the light. He blinked several times and looked around. Cristelle came to his vision. He recognised the slim blonde woman as the one that was with Bernard yesterday.
"You," he said. Cristelle walked back to her seat and smiled.
"Yes," she replied.
"What the hell do you want?" Darien asked.
"I can't answer that yet," replied Cristelle.
Darien stared at the woman. "Do you think I could use the bathroom. I really gotta go," he asked.
"I'm sure you are able to hold it," replied Cristelle.
"Well then you will be cleaning the mess up," Darien said.
"OK," Cristelle said. She got up and helped Darien to his feet. She loosened the ties on Darien's legs. She took out a gun and held it to his back. Darien stumbled as she pushed him out the door.
"Hey take it easy," he complained. They came to the bathroom. On the way to the cubicle Darien caught a look at himself in a mirror. He had two days stubble on his face and his hair looked terrible. The hood had flattened his hair.
Cristelle pushed him into the cubicle while still pointing her gun at him and holding the door open. Darien stood silently for a minute waiting for Cristelle to leave.
"You're gonna have to untie my hands," he said eventually.
"Excuse me," asked Cristelle.
"How do you think I am going to ... you know...unless you are going to do it for me," Darien said getting irritated.
Cristelle sighed and untied his hands. Darien rubbed his wrists and glanced at the tattoo. It was half-red and half-green. He knew he was going to need the counteragent soon. He saw that Cristelle was still standing behind him.
"Do you think you could close the door or even better leave the bathroom. I can't go when I know people are listening," Darien said looking at the wall in front of him. There was a vent on the wall. He figured he could just about reach it to open it.
"No," replied Cristelle. Suddenly her cell phone rang. She closed the door to the cubicle and answered her phone.
Darien immediately quicksilvered and reached over to open the vent. He stayed in the cubicle till Cristelle came back.
"Ok. I think you are done now," she said opening the door. She gasped when she saw that Darien was gone. The vent cover sat on the top of the cistern.
"Damn it," she yelled and pulled out her cell phone and dialled a number.
"Bernard. He's gone," she said into the cell phone.
"What the hell you mean he's gone?" demanded Bernard.
"He got out through the vent," replied Cristelle.
"How could you let this happen?" shouted Bernard pressing buttons on his computer screen to seal the exits.
"I don't know," replied Cristelle leaving the bathroom.

Still quicksilvered Darien left the bathroom. He had untied his legs and ran down the hallway. He came to an exit door. He tried it and found it was locked.
"Damn," he muttered. He saw a panel beside the exit door and opened it. Using past knowledge from his life as a thief he was able to short wire the circuit. As soon as he pushed the exit door open an alarm sounded.
"Aw crap," he said to himself as he ran through the door.

Bernard and Cristelle heard the alarm sound and looked at the monitors. They couldn't see anything.
"Wait a minute," Bernard said seeing a door open on the monitor. "Switch to the emergency thermal lighting," he continued as Cristelle pushed some more buttons on the computer. They watched as the emergency thermal lighting came on. Darien's outline could be clearly seen. Bernard picked up his cell phone and ordered someone to Darien's location.
"How did he...?" asked an amazed Cristelle listening to the orders Bernard gave over the cell phone.
"There were rumours about a secret project circulating when I worked at the agency. I guess it came to life," replied Bernard watching as two armed guards with thermal goggles found Darien in the stairwell. He watched as Darien punched one of the guards out. The other guard hit Darien in the head making him fall against the wall knocking him out.

Darien came around again after several minutes. He discovered he was lying on a bed in the same small room. His arms and legs were handcuffed to each of the bedposts. His tattoo showed him that the snake had 3 segments of green left. He grimaced as he felt the stab of pain from the gland. He knew it wouldn't be long before he was in stage five of Quicksilver Madness.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" he yelled in anger.
Suddenly a loud piercing noise was emitted from a speaker that Darien hadn't noticed before. Darien screamed in pain. It felt like the noise was coming from inside his head. He closed his eyes to shut the pain out. The noise stopped almost as soon as it began. Cristelle walked into the room. She was carrying a tray of food and a glass of water.
"You really shouldn't have tried to escape," she told him.
"Oh you think?" Darien said sarcastically. "Why don't you tell me what is going on?"
Cristelle smiled. "You should have something to eat."
"I have a better idea. Why don't you let me go," replied Darien.
"That's not possible, Darien," replied Cristelle setting the tray down on the ground.
"Ok I have another question," Darien said. "What are you doing with a creep like Bernard?"
"Bernard is only looking for what is owed to him," replied Cristelle.
"And you think by blackmailing the agency and holding me hostage is going to help?" asked Darien.
"It might," replied Cristelle. Darien grimaced from the pain that came from the gland. He shot a look at the tattoo again and saw that there were only two green segments left.
"I know about your...special gift," Cristelle said.
"You won't think it's a gift when you see me go insane," replied Darien. Cristelle laughed. "I'm serious. I have less than a day to go before I go completely wacko."

TBC

I'll try and post the rest at the weekend or early next week :-)