~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Two
"Peter, can you come in here? Bring Skalaney." Captain Paul Blaisdale looked out of his office at his foster son, Detective Peter Caine. "Sure, Paul," Peter replied. "Hey, Skalaney! The Captain wants to see us." "Coming, Peter," Skalaney said. Peter and Skalaney walked into Captain Blaisdale's office. "These are the two detectives you will be working with. This is my foster son, Detective Peter Caine and his partner Detective Mary-Margaret Skalaney. Peter, Skalaney, this is Special Agent Darien Fawkes and his partner Special Agent Robert Hobbes. They are going to be working with you on this case." Capt. Blaisdale gestured to the two government agents who were standing in his office next to his desk. "Speaking of which, have you guys come up with anything new on it?" "Sorry, Capt." Skalaney said. "We've got Kermit working on it too and so far none of us have come up with anything." She turned to Hobbes and Darien. "By the way, it's nice to meet you." "Kermit? Like the frog?" Hobbes asked. "That little green guy? Who loves the pig?" "Not exactly, but not far off," Blaisdale told him. "Yeah, Hobbes. He has a contract with Hensen," Darien turned to his partner. Peter looked back and forth between the two agents, mildly amused. "Nice to meet you. Would you guys happen to have any more information we could work with?" Darien looked at Hobbes. Before the younger agent could say anything, Hobbes said, "First we'd like to hear what you've found out about this." "Oh, come on, Hobbes," Darien started to chastise the older agent, but Hobbes cut him off. "Not now, Fawkes." "Peter, do you think your father could give us any help?" Capt. Blaisdale asked his foster son. "It's a shot. He does know a lot about the stuff that goes on around here," Peter replied. "You want me to head over to his place and ask him?" "Why not?" Skalaney asked. "We don't have anything to lose by asking." "Peter, you go ask Caine about this. Take Agent Fawkes with you." Capt. Blaisdale said. He turned to Skalaney and said, "And Skalaney, you take Agent Hobbes and brief him on what you, Peter, and Kermit have dug up so far. In fact, why don't you just take him over to meet Kermit? It might be easier for him to explain his own theories. And see if he has found out anything new while you're at it." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 3
"Hey Kermit. Find anything else out?" Skalaney walked into Kermit Griffen's office followed by Bobby. "Not really," Kermit replied. "Where's Peter?" "Peter and Agent Fawkes went to see if Caine can help us," answered Skalaney. "By the way Kermit, this is Special Agent Robert Hobbes. Agent Hobbes, this is our resident computer whiz Detective Kermit Griffen." "Nice to meet you, Detective Griffen," said Bobby. "What have you gotten so far?" "Same here. Not much really," Kermit replied. "Just that a high tech lab in Silicon Valley was broken into. They won't let us know what was taken, however," he paused as his fingers stopped tapping his keyboard. "What is it, Kermit?" asked Skalaney. "I'm in," Kermit responded. "Wait a second," declared Hobbes. "In where?" "I hacked into the lab's mainframe and downloaded the information we need," Kermit answered. "You can do that?" Bobby asked. "Yeah, that's Kermit," grinned Skalaney. "That's kind of his thing." "Okay. Now what have we here?" Kermit smiled. "It seems like to the only thing that was stolen was some biotechnology and its corresponding research notes." "Who would want to take research notes and biotechnology?" asked Skalaney. She glanced at Hobbes. Kermit swiveled around in his chair to look at Hobbes. "And why are the feds interested in this?" he asked. "You know something we don't?" "I might," replied Bobby. "That's strictly need-to-know, my friend." Skalaney raised her eyebrows at Hobbes, and Kermit pulled down his ever-present green-tinted shades slightly and looked at Hobbes over the tops of them. "Let's go see what Fawkes and Detective Caine have found out." Bobby said. He turned around and walked out of Kermit's office. Kermit and Skalaney looked at each other. Hobbes poked his head back into Kermit's office and asked, "Where exactly did they go?" Kermit stood up and looked at Skalaney again. She just smiled and shook her head. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 4
At the same time that Skalaney and Hobbes were watching Kermit hack into the lab's mainframe, Darien and Peter were walking into Caine's apartment/apothecary. "Are you sure he's here?" Darien asked nervously. "If he's not here, I know some other places we can look," replied Peter. They turned a corner and Peter called out, "Hey Pop! You here?" "Right..behind you, Peter," answered Caine. "Who is..your companion?" Darien jumped and nearly lost control of the gland when Caine spoke. But he managed not to disappear. "Pop, this is Special Agent Darien Fawkes. He's been assigned to help with the case I'm working on. Agent Fawkes this is my father, Kwai Chang Caine." "I am..honored to meet you, Agent Fawkes." Caine said. "Yeah, same here," said Darien, slightly unnerved. "You..came to ask for my help," Caine turned to his son. It was more a statement than a question. "Yeah," said Peter. "We were wondering if you could shed any light on what's going on here. The lab won't tell us a thing." "I will..do my best to help you," Caine replied. "However, I believe Agent Fawkes has..more information than I do." He smiled a cryptic smile and moved towards his herbs to check on them. "Hang on a minute," Darien said. He was a little unnerved by Caine's ability to sneak up on people. He also felt like Caine could read his mind. Caine almost reminded him of Benjamin Scarborough, the blind fortune-teller from Martin's Grove. Caine turned to look at Darien. "What is it?" he asked. "How did you get behind us without us hearing you?" Darien asked. "And what makes you think I know more about this than you do?" Caine shrugged and Peter answered Darien's question. "You'll get used to it. That's just how Pop is." Caine looked reproachfully at his son. "I know, I know." Peter said with a small grin on his face. "Don't call you Pop." At that moment, Kermit, Hobbes, and Skalaney walked into the room. "Hey there, partner," Hobbes said. "Find out anything interesting?" "Hey Hobbesy," Darien replied. "Actually, we were just getting to that." He turned to look at Caine. "Detective Caine's father thinks that I know more about this than he does." "Not now Fawkes," Hobbes said. "Oh come on Hobbes," Darien pleaded. "They are going to find out anyway. What with everything Claire said back at the 'Fish's office." He turned his brown puppy-dog eyes on Bobby. "Darien's right, Bobby," Claire declared. "Claire!" Bobby turned around sharply at the sound of her voice. "What are you doing here?" "Do you really think that I was going to stay at that bloody hotel all day and let you two do all the investigating? I don't think so, Bobby. Especially when I demanded that the Official let me come with you since I'm the one who knows what is going on?" "So," said Caine, looking from his son to Kermit and Skalaney, and then to Darien, Bobby, and Claire, "what is it that is..going on?" Darien and Claire looked at Bobby. Finally, Bobby relented and said, "Okay, Keepie. But the Fat Man ain't gonna be happy when he hears about this." Claire glowered at Bobby. "I could care less what that fat bastard thinks," she said angrily. Caine raised his eyebrows and looked at Peter. Peter got the hint and looked at Claire. "Finally we get some info. Maybe we can actually crack this case." "Alright. Where to start," Claire said, mostly to herself. "Start at..the beginning," said Caine. "Okay, well, I found out from an old college friend who works at the lab that there was some research being done on biotechnology. Now I looked into the research and found out that the scientists there are working on something very close to what Kevin was working on before he was killed. With the data I have gotten from Darien's gland and Kevin's left-over notes I have been adding to the research, in hopes that I may come across some way to remove the gland without killing Darien. Or at least to eliminate the need for the counteragent." "Okay now," said Skalaney. "What gland are you talking about? And what counteragent? He looks perfectly normal to me." "And who is this Kevin?" Peter wanted to know. "Fawkes needs counteragent to keep from going Quicksilver Mad." Hobbes said. "Hobbesy, I thought you didn't want to..." Darien started to say when Hobbes cut him off. "Shut up, Fawkes." "Hey you were the one..." "Fawkes, I'm warning you," "Oh shut up both of you!" Claire exclaimed. "You are giving me a headache and I really don't need that right now. What do you two think is going to happen if Arnaud, or Stark, or anyone else for that matter, has gotten his hands on my research? I need to get it back." Peter shook his head and said, "Whoa. Wait a minute. Who are Arnaud and Stark? And what is Quicksilver Mad?" These people were raising more questions than they were answering, he thought. Darien looked around, didn't see any chairs to sit on, and promptly sat down on the floor. "See, Detective Caine, Kevin was my brother. He was a brilliant scientist who worked for the government on a top-secret project called the QS9300 Project. The idea was to stick a gland in a human guinea pig's head and then turn the human guinea pig loose on all the world's bad guys. Guess what? I'm the human guinea pig. See I was facing life in prison for a third strike and my brother wanted to get me out and he needed a human test subject." "I still don't see where the counteragent and going Quicksilver Mad come in," said Skalaney. "Or what this gland is supposed to do." "I'm getting to that part," replied Darien. All of a sudden, Lo Si walked in. "What is this Kwai Chang Caine?" he asked with a grin. "Are you having a party without me?" Caine laughed. "No, my old friend. These people are here to help Peter, Kermit, and Mary-Margaret on their case. What are you doing here?" "I have come to tell you something important. It has to do with Peter's case." "Uh, Lo Si, can it wait just a few more minutes?" Peter asked. "We are finally getting somewhere. We might actually solve this case." "Of course, Peter," Lo Si answered, bowing slightly. Skalaney looked at Darien. "You were saying?" she asked. Darien sighed and continued. "There was another reason my brother signed on to the project." "What was it?" asked Kermit. "He wanted to see if he could make someone go invisible," Darien responded. Kermit's eyebrows went up. Skalaney shot Darien a look of disbelief. "Invisible?" she repeated skeptically. "You're kidding, right?" Darien looked at his wrist and then at his keeper. "No," he said. "I'm not. Do you want me to finish this or not?" he added testily. "Darien," Claire said worriedly. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine, Keep," he answered. "Can I finish?" "Please..continue Agent Fawkes," Caine said. He eyed Darien carefully, as though Darien was a hungry, cornered tiger about to attack. With another quick glance at his wrist Darien continued. "Now one of the scientists on the project with my brother was actually a terrorist. The name he gave was Arnaud de Thiel. His real name is Arnaud de Phon. He's Swiss-French or Swiss-German or something." Darien rubbed the back of his neck. "Arnaud tampered with the gland," he continued wearily. "When I use the quicksilver and go invisible, I can only stay that way for 30 minutes at a time, tops. At the most I have six days of sanity. You see, the quicksilver builds up in my bloodstream to toxic levels, instead of being flushed. But the interesting thing is that instead of killing me, it degrades my higher brain functions and turns me into a raving psycho- maniac." He paused. "Normally, I get splitting headaches just before I enter Stage 4 Quicksilver Madness." "Uh, Keepie," Hobbes said nervously. "Tell me you got a shot of the blue stuff handy. I think the kid's losin' it." "It's right here in my purse, Bobby," Claire replied. "You're wrong, Hobbesy," Darien said, his voice slightly sing-song. "I already lost it." He lifted his head to look at his partner. His eyes were blood red. "Darien," said Claire cautiously, as she pulled the shot of counteragent out of her purse, "I need to give you this shot. Are you going to let me?" Darien looked around the room. His gaze came to rest on Skalaney. "This is where the counteragent comes in, Detective Skalaney," he said, an evil grin on his face. From the time Darien lifted his head, Kermit's eyes were the only ones not locked on Darien. Instead, hidden by his green-tinted sunglasses, they moved from Darien's blood-red eyes to Caine, who was the closest person to Darien. When Darien's eyes stopped on Skalaney, Caine moved to stand behind him. After making his statement about the counteragent, Darien stood up and started to quicksilver. Caine immediately placed his hand on the pressure point on Darien's shoulder and Darien collapsed. Claire rushed to his side and injected the counteragent directly into the gland. "Now do all of you see why it is so important for me to get that research back?" she asked. "Darien is slowly developing an immunity to the counteragent, which means that the amount of time that he can be invisible without going Quicksilver Mad is shortened. There is no telling how long it will be before the counteragent stops working altogether." Darien sat up slowly, rubbing the spot where the needle had pierced his skin. "What hit me?" he asked. "Hey kid," Hobbes said. "Just a shot of counteragent, my friend." "When I get my hands on that see-through, murdering, back-stabbing Swiss-Miss..." Darien's voice trailed off. Bobby looked at Lo Si. "What were you going to say?" he asked. "I have been given a message for someone named Darien Fawkes," Lo Si replied. Darien looked up. "That's me. Who is it from?" he said. "I do not know," Lo Si told him. "Okay, what's the message?" "Something about meeting at an abandoned warehouse in Chinatown if you wish to return what was stolen." Hobbes eyed Lo Si suspiciously. "Just how did you get this message?" he asked. Lo Si's only response was a cryptic smile. "Well are you going to tell us where this warehouse is?" Hobbes asked, trying not to let his annoyance show on his face or in his voice. Again Lo Si merely smiled at him. "Do you know how to get there?" Hobbes asked again, his patience slowly fraying. "That I must show you," was Lo Si's reply. Caine smiled and shook his head. Darien turned to his partner. "Hobbes, let's just go with him and see who we are supposed to be meeting. Okay?" "Alright, Fawkes." said Hobbes. "I just don't want Grandpa here to get hurt, that's all." He glanced meaningfully in the Ancient's direction. At this, laughter erupted from everyone except Darien, Claire, and Bobby. "What's so funny?" Bobby asked indignantly. The only response he got was more laughter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 5
"When is this guy going to show up?" Peter asked as he struggled to stretch his legs in the back of Hobbes' van. "I mean, I've been in some tight places before, but this..." Hobbes' head suddenly popped into view, startling everyone in the back of the van. "What do you mean, tight?" he asked defensively. "Golda is a roomy, high-quality, 2-tons of solid steel frame, built to haul anything and everything you can put in or hook up to her. I work hard to keep her in tip- top shape, unlike lazy Mr. 17-Million-Dollar-Man over there." "Is it my fault you're over-protective of your van? I mean, who am I to come between the bond of man and machine?" Only Lo Si saw the eye roll that accompanied this statement, but everyone could hear the sarcasm that radiated from the right side of the van. Skalaney rolled her eyes. "Would you guys stop acting like two-year- olds for once? At least until we know who this guy is?" Hobbes shot Peter one last reproachful look and subsided into his seat, grumbling to himself. Five minutes passed. The only sound was that of Hobbes grumbling under his breath. Darien had been sitting in the passenger seat with his sunglasses on and his eyes quicksilvered. "Hey Hobbes," he said without shifting his gaze from the warehouse door. "He's here." Skalaney looked through the windshield at the warehouse door. "Where is he?" she asked, confused. "I don't see him." Darien looked at Skalaney. "That's because he's invisible. For the same reason as me. Except for one difference." "And what's that?" Darien turned his attention back to the figure that only he could see. "Arnaud can't become visible," Bobby answered from the driver's seat. "Something's wrong with his gland." "Let's go," Darien said. He opened the passenger side door, got out of the van, and walked to the warehouse. Hobbes, Claire, Peter, Kermit, Caine, Skalaney, and Lo Si followed Darien out of the van and into the warehouse to talk to Arnaud. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 6
Peter looked around the warehouse. Other than themselves and a few cardboard boxes that looked like they had been set up to act as a desk, it seemed empty. Skalaney looked at Hobbes. "Are you sure he's not, you know, losin' his grip on reality?" she asked. Before he could answer, an irritated, disembodied voice spoke from the direction of the cardboard boxes. "I wouldn't rule it out, dear lady, but in regard to my presence he is absolutely correct." "What the...?" Peter jumped along with Skalaney and Kermit. "Who said that?" Skalaney asked. "That would be Arnaud," said Hobbes. "What do you want, Arnaud?" Darien growled, absently rubbing the back of his neck. He was starting to get a pounding headache from waiting in the van with his eyes quicksilvered, and he was trying not to let the Quicksilver Madness take control of him. Not that that would be a bad thing really. Arnaud was right in front of him after all; and Claire certainly wasn't going to be caught without a shot of counteragent until this mission was over, so he didn't have to worry about hurting any innocent people. Arnaud's voice broke through Darien's reverie. "What I always want, Fawkes." "Well," Darien said thoughtfully, "there we have a little problem. You want to kill me and harvest the gland. I just want the gland out of my head. and I want to stay alive." Darien paused and looked at the group assembled in the warehouse, smiled a dangerous smile, unquicksilvered his eyes, and removed his sunglasses. His eyes were blood red for the second time that day. "I also want you dead, Arnie. You know that." "But if you kill me, Fawkes, you will never find out where I've hidden the information I stole." "Claire can look for that while you and I are busy." Darien's smile became more dangerous. Peter looked around and noticed that both Lo Si and his father were missing. He turned to Skalaney and Kermit. "Have wither of you seen my father or Lo Si?" he whispered nervously. "I haven't," Skalaney said. Kermit merely shook his head. Darien and Arnaud continued their arguement. Suddenly Darien lost the small amount of control he had and rushed Arnaud. As he did, he activated the quicksilver gland and vanished from sight. Terrorist and ex-thief fought for awhile. The only evidence that would suggest to anyone just entering the warehouse that anything out of the ordinary was going on was the sound of fists flying and feet scuffling. Also every few seconds Darien would hollar something at Arnaud and Arnaud would would yell something in response. Arnaud had slowly been backing towards the warehouse door. When he was close enough to the door, he dodged one of Darien's blows and bolted out the door. Darien raced after him. Claire pulled out a pair of thermal glasses that she had convinced the Official to pay for, slipped them on, and darted after the two men. Bobby looked at her in surprise and then took off after her. The rest of the group followed suit. Once she had Darien in sight, Claire pulled a small tranquilizer gun out of her purse, aimed, and pulled the trigger. Darien went down unconscious. The quicksilver flaked off when he hit the ground. Claire ran over to him and injected the counteragent into the gland. Darien sat up as the rest of the group joined them. "Where is Arnaud?" Darien asked. "I'm sorry, Darien," Claire replied. "It was either let you chase after Arnaud and risk innocent people getting hurt or give you a shot." "Aw crap!" Darien said. "And he's the only one who knows where the biotechnology is." At that moment, Caine and Lo Si joined the group. Caine was holding a glass jar filled with a clear liquid and Lo Si was carrying two computer disks. "Is this what you are looking for?" Caine asked. Claire looked at the disks and the jar. "Yes, it is!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Where was it?" Peter looked at his father. "Please don't do that, Pop," he said relieved. "I know. Don't call you Pop." Kermit grinned. "Peter was staring to worry," he said. Caine looked at his son. "I am sorry, Peter," he said. "I did not mean..to frighten you." Peter said, "That's okay, Dad." "It was in one of the cardboard boxes. The disks were in another box." Darien raised his eyebrows and his mouth dropped open. Then he laughed and shook his head. Hobbes looked at Darien, a confused look on his face. "What's so funny, partner?" he asked. Darien sighed. "Arnaud pulled the oldest trick in the book," he replied. "What's that?" Skalaney asked. Darien stood up and grinned ruefully. "Hide the object you stole in plain sight of the people you stole it from and convince them it is somewhere else." He shook his head again and headed back to the van. The rest of the group followed him. Bobby and Claire brought up the rear. Bobby turned to Claire. "Where did you get those glasses, and how did you get the 'Fish to spring for them?" he asked incredulously. Claire was just about to answer when Darien's voice interrupted their conversation. "Hey, Hobbesy! Do you mind unlocking the van so we can get out of here?" "I'll tell you later, Bobby," Claire said. "Coming, Fawkes," Bobby said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 7
The next day Darien, Claire, and Hobbes walked into Delancey's Bar to meet Kermit, Skalaney, Peter, Caine, and Lo Si for lunch before heading back to San Diego. Peter saw them and waved them over. Darien and Claire sat down. Hobbes helped Claire with her chair before sitting down himself. Kermit waved and a waitress came over. Darien, Claire, and Bobby told the waitress what they wanted to drink. The group then waited for the waitress to bring back their drinks. After they had gotten their drinks and placed their orders, Darien surveyed the group. He absently rubbed the back of his neck and then said, "You won't tell anyone what Claire and I told you, will you? Enough people are trying to kill me as it is." "We..will not," replied Caine. The others nodded their heads on agreement. Darien sighed in relief. "Thank you," he said relaxing into his seat. Kermit changed the subject by turning to Claire and asking, "Did you get the research returned to the lab?" Claire brightened. "Yes, actually. We did. And everything is back on track." "That's great!" Skalaney exclaimed. "Too bad Arnaud got away though." "Yeah," growled Darien. "But he'll show up again, so to speak, and then I'll get him." The waitress came back at that moment with their meals. "So," said Peter in between bites of his lunch, "When are you three leaving?" "As soon as we're done here, my friend," replied Bobby. "The Fat Man has a new case for us." "Probably something to do with Chrysalis," mumbled Darien. "Who knows?" said Claire. "We might get another case that brings us back this way and we can all get together some time." Skalaney shot Darien a confused look. "Chrysalis?" she asked. "Don't ask," he replied. Skalaney shrugged and went back to her meal. After lunch, the group left Delancey's and gathered around Golda. They said their good-byes and the under-funded three got in the van. Just before pulling out of the lot, Bobby stuck his head out of his window and called to Caine. "The next time we're in the area, I'll drop by and show you some of my moves. You can tell me what I need to improve." "I..would be..honored," said Caine, smiling. He bowed to Hobbes and Bobby bowed his head in return. Then he, Darien, and Claire waved, and the van left the parking lot and headed for the freeway.
"Peter, can you come in here? Bring Skalaney." Captain Paul Blaisdale looked out of his office at his foster son, Detective Peter Caine. "Sure, Paul," Peter replied. "Hey, Skalaney! The Captain wants to see us." "Coming, Peter," Skalaney said. Peter and Skalaney walked into Captain Blaisdale's office. "These are the two detectives you will be working with. This is my foster son, Detective Peter Caine and his partner Detective Mary-Margaret Skalaney. Peter, Skalaney, this is Special Agent Darien Fawkes and his partner Special Agent Robert Hobbes. They are going to be working with you on this case." Capt. Blaisdale gestured to the two government agents who were standing in his office next to his desk. "Speaking of which, have you guys come up with anything new on it?" "Sorry, Capt." Skalaney said. "We've got Kermit working on it too and so far none of us have come up with anything." She turned to Hobbes and Darien. "By the way, it's nice to meet you." "Kermit? Like the frog?" Hobbes asked. "That little green guy? Who loves the pig?" "Not exactly, but not far off," Blaisdale told him. "Yeah, Hobbes. He has a contract with Hensen," Darien turned to his partner. Peter looked back and forth between the two agents, mildly amused. "Nice to meet you. Would you guys happen to have any more information we could work with?" Darien looked at Hobbes. Before the younger agent could say anything, Hobbes said, "First we'd like to hear what you've found out about this." "Oh, come on, Hobbes," Darien started to chastise the older agent, but Hobbes cut him off. "Not now, Fawkes." "Peter, do you think your father could give us any help?" Capt. Blaisdale asked his foster son. "It's a shot. He does know a lot about the stuff that goes on around here," Peter replied. "You want me to head over to his place and ask him?" "Why not?" Skalaney asked. "We don't have anything to lose by asking." "Peter, you go ask Caine about this. Take Agent Fawkes with you." Capt. Blaisdale said. He turned to Skalaney and said, "And Skalaney, you take Agent Hobbes and brief him on what you, Peter, and Kermit have dug up so far. In fact, why don't you just take him over to meet Kermit? It might be easier for him to explain his own theories. And see if he has found out anything new while you're at it." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 3
"Hey Kermit. Find anything else out?" Skalaney walked into Kermit Griffen's office followed by Bobby. "Not really," Kermit replied. "Where's Peter?" "Peter and Agent Fawkes went to see if Caine can help us," answered Skalaney. "By the way Kermit, this is Special Agent Robert Hobbes. Agent Hobbes, this is our resident computer whiz Detective Kermit Griffen." "Nice to meet you, Detective Griffen," said Bobby. "What have you gotten so far?" "Same here. Not much really," Kermit replied. "Just that a high tech lab in Silicon Valley was broken into. They won't let us know what was taken, however," he paused as his fingers stopped tapping his keyboard. "What is it, Kermit?" asked Skalaney. "I'm in," Kermit responded. "Wait a second," declared Hobbes. "In where?" "I hacked into the lab's mainframe and downloaded the information we need," Kermit answered. "You can do that?" Bobby asked. "Yeah, that's Kermit," grinned Skalaney. "That's kind of his thing." "Okay. Now what have we here?" Kermit smiled. "It seems like to the only thing that was stolen was some biotechnology and its corresponding research notes." "Who would want to take research notes and biotechnology?" asked Skalaney. She glanced at Hobbes. Kermit swiveled around in his chair to look at Hobbes. "And why are the feds interested in this?" he asked. "You know something we don't?" "I might," replied Bobby. "That's strictly need-to-know, my friend." Skalaney raised her eyebrows at Hobbes, and Kermit pulled down his ever-present green-tinted shades slightly and looked at Hobbes over the tops of them. "Let's go see what Fawkes and Detective Caine have found out." Bobby said. He turned around and walked out of Kermit's office. Kermit and Skalaney looked at each other. Hobbes poked his head back into Kermit's office and asked, "Where exactly did they go?" Kermit stood up and looked at Skalaney again. She just smiled and shook her head. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 4
At the same time that Skalaney and Hobbes were watching Kermit hack into the lab's mainframe, Darien and Peter were walking into Caine's apartment/apothecary. "Are you sure he's here?" Darien asked nervously. "If he's not here, I know some other places we can look," replied Peter. They turned a corner and Peter called out, "Hey Pop! You here?" "Right..behind you, Peter," answered Caine. "Who is..your companion?" Darien jumped and nearly lost control of the gland when Caine spoke. But he managed not to disappear. "Pop, this is Special Agent Darien Fawkes. He's been assigned to help with the case I'm working on. Agent Fawkes this is my father, Kwai Chang Caine." "I am..honored to meet you, Agent Fawkes." Caine said. "Yeah, same here," said Darien, slightly unnerved. "You..came to ask for my help," Caine turned to his son. It was more a statement than a question. "Yeah," said Peter. "We were wondering if you could shed any light on what's going on here. The lab won't tell us a thing." "I will..do my best to help you," Caine replied. "However, I believe Agent Fawkes has..more information than I do." He smiled a cryptic smile and moved towards his herbs to check on them. "Hang on a minute," Darien said. He was a little unnerved by Caine's ability to sneak up on people. He also felt like Caine could read his mind. Caine almost reminded him of Benjamin Scarborough, the blind fortune-teller from Martin's Grove. Caine turned to look at Darien. "What is it?" he asked. "How did you get behind us without us hearing you?" Darien asked. "And what makes you think I know more about this than you do?" Caine shrugged and Peter answered Darien's question. "You'll get used to it. That's just how Pop is." Caine looked reproachfully at his son. "I know, I know." Peter said with a small grin on his face. "Don't call you Pop." At that moment, Kermit, Hobbes, and Skalaney walked into the room. "Hey there, partner," Hobbes said. "Find out anything interesting?" "Hey Hobbesy," Darien replied. "Actually, we were just getting to that." He turned to look at Caine. "Detective Caine's father thinks that I know more about this than he does." "Not now Fawkes," Hobbes said. "Oh come on Hobbes," Darien pleaded. "They are going to find out anyway. What with everything Claire said back at the 'Fish's office." He turned his brown puppy-dog eyes on Bobby. "Darien's right, Bobby," Claire declared. "Claire!" Bobby turned around sharply at the sound of her voice. "What are you doing here?" "Do you really think that I was going to stay at that bloody hotel all day and let you two do all the investigating? I don't think so, Bobby. Especially when I demanded that the Official let me come with you since I'm the one who knows what is going on?" "So," said Caine, looking from his son to Kermit and Skalaney, and then to Darien, Bobby, and Claire, "what is it that is..going on?" Darien and Claire looked at Bobby. Finally, Bobby relented and said, "Okay, Keepie. But the Fat Man ain't gonna be happy when he hears about this." Claire glowered at Bobby. "I could care less what that fat bastard thinks," she said angrily. Caine raised his eyebrows and looked at Peter. Peter got the hint and looked at Claire. "Finally we get some info. Maybe we can actually crack this case." "Alright. Where to start," Claire said, mostly to herself. "Start at..the beginning," said Caine. "Okay, well, I found out from an old college friend who works at the lab that there was some research being done on biotechnology. Now I looked into the research and found out that the scientists there are working on something very close to what Kevin was working on before he was killed. With the data I have gotten from Darien's gland and Kevin's left-over notes I have been adding to the research, in hopes that I may come across some way to remove the gland without killing Darien. Or at least to eliminate the need for the counteragent." "Okay now," said Skalaney. "What gland are you talking about? And what counteragent? He looks perfectly normal to me." "And who is this Kevin?" Peter wanted to know. "Fawkes needs counteragent to keep from going Quicksilver Mad." Hobbes said. "Hobbesy, I thought you didn't want to..." Darien started to say when Hobbes cut him off. "Shut up, Fawkes." "Hey you were the one..." "Fawkes, I'm warning you," "Oh shut up both of you!" Claire exclaimed. "You are giving me a headache and I really don't need that right now. What do you two think is going to happen if Arnaud, or Stark, or anyone else for that matter, has gotten his hands on my research? I need to get it back." Peter shook his head and said, "Whoa. Wait a minute. Who are Arnaud and Stark? And what is Quicksilver Mad?" These people were raising more questions than they were answering, he thought. Darien looked around, didn't see any chairs to sit on, and promptly sat down on the floor. "See, Detective Caine, Kevin was my brother. He was a brilliant scientist who worked for the government on a top-secret project called the QS9300 Project. The idea was to stick a gland in a human guinea pig's head and then turn the human guinea pig loose on all the world's bad guys. Guess what? I'm the human guinea pig. See I was facing life in prison for a third strike and my brother wanted to get me out and he needed a human test subject." "I still don't see where the counteragent and going Quicksilver Mad come in," said Skalaney. "Or what this gland is supposed to do." "I'm getting to that part," replied Darien. All of a sudden, Lo Si walked in. "What is this Kwai Chang Caine?" he asked with a grin. "Are you having a party without me?" Caine laughed. "No, my old friend. These people are here to help Peter, Kermit, and Mary-Margaret on their case. What are you doing here?" "I have come to tell you something important. It has to do with Peter's case." "Uh, Lo Si, can it wait just a few more minutes?" Peter asked. "We are finally getting somewhere. We might actually solve this case." "Of course, Peter," Lo Si answered, bowing slightly. Skalaney looked at Darien. "You were saying?" she asked. Darien sighed and continued. "There was another reason my brother signed on to the project." "What was it?" asked Kermit. "He wanted to see if he could make someone go invisible," Darien responded. Kermit's eyebrows went up. Skalaney shot Darien a look of disbelief. "Invisible?" she repeated skeptically. "You're kidding, right?" Darien looked at his wrist and then at his keeper. "No," he said. "I'm not. Do you want me to finish this or not?" he added testily. "Darien," Claire said worriedly. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine, Keep," he answered. "Can I finish?" "Please..continue Agent Fawkes," Caine said. He eyed Darien carefully, as though Darien was a hungry, cornered tiger about to attack. With another quick glance at his wrist Darien continued. "Now one of the scientists on the project with my brother was actually a terrorist. The name he gave was Arnaud de Thiel. His real name is Arnaud de Phon. He's Swiss-French or Swiss-German or something." Darien rubbed the back of his neck. "Arnaud tampered with the gland," he continued wearily. "When I use the quicksilver and go invisible, I can only stay that way for 30 minutes at a time, tops. At the most I have six days of sanity. You see, the quicksilver builds up in my bloodstream to toxic levels, instead of being flushed. But the interesting thing is that instead of killing me, it degrades my higher brain functions and turns me into a raving psycho- maniac." He paused. "Normally, I get splitting headaches just before I enter Stage 4 Quicksilver Madness." "Uh, Keepie," Hobbes said nervously. "Tell me you got a shot of the blue stuff handy. I think the kid's losin' it." "It's right here in my purse, Bobby," Claire replied. "You're wrong, Hobbesy," Darien said, his voice slightly sing-song. "I already lost it." He lifted his head to look at his partner. His eyes were blood red. "Darien," said Claire cautiously, as she pulled the shot of counteragent out of her purse, "I need to give you this shot. Are you going to let me?" Darien looked around the room. His gaze came to rest on Skalaney. "This is where the counteragent comes in, Detective Skalaney," he said, an evil grin on his face. From the time Darien lifted his head, Kermit's eyes were the only ones not locked on Darien. Instead, hidden by his green-tinted sunglasses, they moved from Darien's blood-red eyes to Caine, who was the closest person to Darien. When Darien's eyes stopped on Skalaney, Caine moved to stand behind him. After making his statement about the counteragent, Darien stood up and started to quicksilver. Caine immediately placed his hand on the pressure point on Darien's shoulder and Darien collapsed. Claire rushed to his side and injected the counteragent directly into the gland. "Now do all of you see why it is so important for me to get that research back?" she asked. "Darien is slowly developing an immunity to the counteragent, which means that the amount of time that he can be invisible without going Quicksilver Mad is shortened. There is no telling how long it will be before the counteragent stops working altogether." Darien sat up slowly, rubbing the spot where the needle had pierced his skin. "What hit me?" he asked. "Hey kid," Hobbes said. "Just a shot of counteragent, my friend." "When I get my hands on that see-through, murdering, back-stabbing Swiss-Miss..." Darien's voice trailed off. Bobby looked at Lo Si. "What were you going to say?" he asked. "I have been given a message for someone named Darien Fawkes," Lo Si replied. Darien looked up. "That's me. Who is it from?" he said. "I do not know," Lo Si told him. "Okay, what's the message?" "Something about meeting at an abandoned warehouse in Chinatown if you wish to return what was stolen." Hobbes eyed Lo Si suspiciously. "Just how did you get this message?" he asked. Lo Si's only response was a cryptic smile. "Well are you going to tell us where this warehouse is?" Hobbes asked, trying not to let his annoyance show on his face or in his voice. Again Lo Si merely smiled at him. "Do you know how to get there?" Hobbes asked again, his patience slowly fraying. "That I must show you," was Lo Si's reply. Caine smiled and shook his head. Darien turned to his partner. "Hobbes, let's just go with him and see who we are supposed to be meeting. Okay?" "Alright, Fawkes." said Hobbes. "I just don't want Grandpa here to get hurt, that's all." He glanced meaningfully in the Ancient's direction. At this, laughter erupted from everyone except Darien, Claire, and Bobby. "What's so funny?" Bobby asked indignantly. The only response he got was more laughter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 5
"When is this guy going to show up?" Peter asked as he struggled to stretch his legs in the back of Hobbes' van. "I mean, I've been in some tight places before, but this..." Hobbes' head suddenly popped into view, startling everyone in the back of the van. "What do you mean, tight?" he asked defensively. "Golda is a roomy, high-quality, 2-tons of solid steel frame, built to haul anything and everything you can put in or hook up to her. I work hard to keep her in tip- top shape, unlike lazy Mr. 17-Million-Dollar-Man over there." "Is it my fault you're over-protective of your van? I mean, who am I to come between the bond of man and machine?" Only Lo Si saw the eye roll that accompanied this statement, but everyone could hear the sarcasm that radiated from the right side of the van. Skalaney rolled her eyes. "Would you guys stop acting like two-year- olds for once? At least until we know who this guy is?" Hobbes shot Peter one last reproachful look and subsided into his seat, grumbling to himself. Five minutes passed. The only sound was that of Hobbes grumbling under his breath. Darien had been sitting in the passenger seat with his sunglasses on and his eyes quicksilvered. "Hey Hobbes," he said without shifting his gaze from the warehouse door. "He's here." Skalaney looked through the windshield at the warehouse door. "Where is he?" she asked, confused. "I don't see him." Darien looked at Skalaney. "That's because he's invisible. For the same reason as me. Except for one difference." "And what's that?" Darien turned his attention back to the figure that only he could see. "Arnaud can't become visible," Bobby answered from the driver's seat. "Something's wrong with his gland." "Let's go," Darien said. He opened the passenger side door, got out of the van, and walked to the warehouse. Hobbes, Claire, Peter, Kermit, Caine, Skalaney, and Lo Si followed Darien out of the van and into the warehouse to talk to Arnaud. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 6
Peter looked around the warehouse. Other than themselves and a few cardboard boxes that looked like they had been set up to act as a desk, it seemed empty. Skalaney looked at Hobbes. "Are you sure he's not, you know, losin' his grip on reality?" she asked. Before he could answer, an irritated, disembodied voice spoke from the direction of the cardboard boxes. "I wouldn't rule it out, dear lady, but in regard to my presence he is absolutely correct." "What the...?" Peter jumped along with Skalaney and Kermit. "Who said that?" Skalaney asked. "That would be Arnaud," said Hobbes. "What do you want, Arnaud?" Darien growled, absently rubbing the back of his neck. He was starting to get a pounding headache from waiting in the van with his eyes quicksilvered, and he was trying not to let the Quicksilver Madness take control of him. Not that that would be a bad thing really. Arnaud was right in front of him after all; and Claire certainly wasn't going to be caught without a shot of counteragent until this mission was over, so he didn't have to worry about hurting any innocent people. Arnaud's voice broke through Darien's reverie. "What I always want, Fawkes." "Well," Darien said thoughtfully, "there we have a little problem. You want to kill me and harvest the gland. I just want the gland out of my head. and I want to stay alive." Darien paused and looked at the group assembled in the warehouse, smiled a dangerous smile, unquicksilvered his eyes, and removed his sunglasses. His eyes were blood red for the second time that day. "I also want you dead, Arnie. You know that." "But if you kill me, Fawkes, you will never find out where I've hidden the information I stole." "Claire can look for that while you and I are busy." Darien's smile became more dangerous. Peter looked around and noticed that both Lo Si and his father were missing. He turned to Skalaney and Kermit. "Have wither of you seen my father or Lo Si?" he whispered nervously. "I haven't," Skalaney said. Kermit merely shook his head. Darien and Arnaud continued their arguement. Suddenly Darien lost the small amount of control he had and rushed Arnaud. As he did, he activated the quicksilver gland and vanished from sight. Terrorist and ex-thief fought for awhile. The only evidence that would suggest to anyone just entering the warehouse that anything out of the ordinary was going on was the sound of fists flying and feet scuffling. Also every few seconds Darien would hollar something at Arnaud and Arnaud would would yell something in response. Arnaud had slowly been backing towards the warehouse door. When he was close enough to the door, he dodged one of Darien's blows and bolted out the door. Darien raced after him. Claire pulled out a pair of thermal glasses that she had convinced the Official to pay for, slipped them on, and darted after the two men. Bobby looked at her in surprise and then took off after her. The rest of the group followed suit. Once she had Darien in sight, Claire pulled a small tranquilizer gun out of her purse, aimed, and pulled the trigger. Darien went down unconscious. The quicksilver flaked off when he hit the ground. Claire ran over to him and injected the counteragent into the gland. Darien sat up as the rest of the group joined them. "Where is Arnaud?" Darien asked. "I'm sorry, Darien," Claire replied. "It was either let you chase after Arnaud and risk innocent people getting hurt or give you a shot." "Aw crap!" Darien said. "And he's the only one who knows where the biotechnology is." At that moment, Caine and Lo Si joined the group. Caine was holding a glass jar filled with a clear liquid and Lo Si was carrying two computer disks. "Is this what you are looking for?" Caine asked. Claire looked at the disks and the jar. "Yes, it is!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Where was it?" Peter looked at his father. "Please don't do that, Pop," he said relieved. "I know. Don't call you Pop." Kermit grinned. "Peter was staring to worry," he said. Caine looked at his son. "I am sorry, Peter," he said. "I did not mean..to frighten you." Peter said, "That's okay, Dad." "It was in one of the cardboard boxes. The disks were in another box." Darien raised his eyebrows and his mouth dropped open. Then he laughed and shook his head. Hobbes looked at Darien, a confused look on his face. "What's so funny, partner?" he asked. Darien sighed. "Arnaud pulled the oldest trick in the book," he replied. "What's that?" Skalaney asked. Darien stood up and grinned ruefully. "Hide the object you stole in plain sight of the people you stole it from and convince them it is somewhere else." He shook his head again and headed back to the van. The rest of the group followed him. Bobby and Claire brought up the rear. Bobby turned to Claire. "Where did you get those glasses, and how did you get the 'Fish to spring for them?" he asked incredulously. Claire was just about to answer when Darien's voice interrupted their conversation. "Hey, Hobbesy! Do you mind unlocking the van so we can get out of here?" "I'll tell you later, Bobby," Claire said. "Coming, Fawkes," Bobby said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 7
The next day Darien, Claire, and Hobbes walked into Delancey's Bar to meet Kermit, Skalaney, Peter, Caine, and Lo Si for lunch before heading back to San Diego. Peter saw them and waved them over. Darien and Claire sat down. Hobbes helped Claire with her chair before sitting down himself. Kermit waved and a waitress came over. Darien, Claire, and Bobby told the waitress what they wanted to drink. The group then waited for the waitress to bring back their drinks. After they had gotten their drinks and placed their orders, Darien surveyed the group. He absently rubbed the back of his neck and then said, "You won't tell anyone what Claire and I told you, will you? Enough people are trying to kill me as it is." "We..will not," replied Caine. The others nodded their heads on agreement. Darien sighed in relief. "Thank you," he said relaxing into his seat. Kermit changed the subject by turning to Claire and asking, "Did you get the research returned to the lab?" Claire brightened. "Yes, actually. We did. And everything is back on track." "That's great!" Skalaney exclaimed. "Too bad Arnaud got away though." "Yeah," growled Darien. "But he'll show up again, so to speak, and then I'll get him." The waitress came back at that moment with their meals. "So," said Peter in between bites of his lunch, "When are you three leaving?" "As soon as we're done here, my friend," replied Bobby. "The Fat Man has a new case for us." "Probably something to do with Chrysalis," mumbled Darien. "Who knows?" said Claire. "We might get another case that brings us back this way and we can all get together some time." Skalaney shot Darien a confused look. "Chrysalis?" she asked. "Don't ask," he replied. Skalaney shrugged and went back to her meal. After lunch, the group left Delancey's and gathered around Golda. They said their good-byes and the under-funded three got in the van. Just before pulling out of the lot, Bobby stuck his head out of his window and called to Caine. "The next time we're in the area, I'll drop by and show you some of my moves. You can tell me what I need to improve." "I..would be..honored," said Caine, smiling. He bowed to Hobbes and Bobby bowed his head in return. Then he, Darien, and Claire waved, and the van left the parking lot and headed for the freeway.