*Part 3*

Bobby walked into the Official's office to turn in his preliminary report around ten the next morning. He'd had no sleep yet, but he wanted to get this over with. He'd dropped off Fawkes at his place about an hour ago, after finally getting things wrapped up at the docks. Then he'd gone home to shower and change before coming in.

It had turned out that those 'illegal animals' that were being smuggled in were actually a new weapons system similar to a small rocket launcher, but far more powerful, whose code name was Blackhawk. "Illegal animals my ass," Bobby muttered as he walked into the Official's office.

The Official lifted his head to look at him. "What was that?"

Bobby just shook his head, walked to the desk and set the report down on it. "Long night, sir," was all he said. His temper was worn a bit thin. If they had done things the way they normally did, Fawkes might very well be in the hospital right now, or perhaps the morgue, and all because the Fat Man failed to tell them the entire truth about the mission yet again.

The Official glanced over the report and then handed it to Eberts. "Where is Fawkes?"

"Home. Asleep. He'll be in later," Bobby answered.

"You should have brought him to the Keeper," the Official admonished.

"Why? Its not like he used the gland last night," Bobby snapped. "Never got the chance to."

Eberts lifted his head from reading the report to look at Hobbes. "According to your report, you ordered Fawkes not to go in the building just minutes before the incident that destroyed it."

"Yes, Eberts. What about it?" Bobby just stared at the man. He really didn't need his attitude right now.

The Official looked at him oddly. "Do I want to know?"

Bobby shrugged. "The kid called and made the suggestion. I didn't think waiting a few minutes would matter. Good thing, too. Fawkes would have ended up in small pieces if he'd been in there when those birds went up." Bobby couldn't help but get in some commentary about the deception that put them at the warehouse.

"Eberts," the Official barked.

"Yes sir." Eberts picked up the phone and dialed for an inter-office connection. "Miss Silver, your presence is needed in the Official's office." He waited a moment and then hung up the phone. "She's on her way, sir."

A few minutes later, Alyx walked in. "Morning Hobbesy. What's up, boss?"

"Morning kid. Thanks for the heads-up last night. Saved our asses," Bobby said to her as she stopped beside him.

"You're welcome," she said automatically, then turned to him. "Huh? For what?" She sounded just a touch confused.

"Did you or did you not call Hobbes and tell him to keep Fawkes out of the warehouse last night?" Eberts asked her.

Alyx got this faraway look in her eyes as she searched her memory. "I really did that? I thought it was just another weird dream." She turned back to Hobbes. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, kid. You had great timing, as always," Bobby said with a chuckle. He'd heard of sleepwalking, but sleep-phoning was a new one.

"Miss Silver, perhaps you should report this...um...incident to the Keeper," the Official said quietly. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew it was something unusual.

Alyx rolled her eyes. "Please. She'll just want to run more tests. I have better things to do."

"Miss Silver..."

"Look boss, you know we sometimes have weird dreams and you know the Keep can't figure out why. More tests aren't going to change that," Alyx said in all honesty. "If you want, I'll try and keep track of them, but I'm not going to spend the rest of the day down in the lab getting prodded over this." She shook her head and then patted Bobby on the arm as she turned to leave. "Everyone has dreams."

They watched as she shut the door quietly behind her.

"Huh," was the Official's response to Alyx's statement. "Good work, Hobbes. Get some sleep. I expect your full report first thing tomorrow," the Official said to him in dismissal.

Hobbes didn't bother to argue. Sleep was starting to feel more than a little necessary at this point. He'd deal with the weirdness his two partners generated on a daily basis at another time, when he was slightly more conscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alyx walked into Darien's apartment just after two in the afternoon to find him still snoozing peacefully, with the covers scrunched down to his waist. She couldn't help but notice the few new bruises he was sporting thanks to his adventure last night. Bobby had a couple of scrapes too, as well a bruise along one cheek, but neither of the men had been seriously hurt. Thankfully.

She set her bag on the sofa and, after kicking off her shoes, she gently lowered herself onto the bed and curled up against him. He muttered something in his sleep and wrapped an arm about her, pulling her closer to him. Alyx just smiled and sighed. It took a good thirty minutes before Darien began to achieve any sort of real consciousness. And there was quite a bit more mumbling before anything coherent came out of his mouth.

"Al...Alyx? That you?" He was still far more asleep than awake.

"You better hope so, 'cause if there's been another female sneaking into your bed you are in deep shit, bub," Alyx said, feigning a tone of anger.

That woke him up. "That's not what I meant." He shifted to look at her and figured out real quick she was kidding him. "And you know it." He gave her a quick kiss. "What are you doing here?"

"Couple reasons. Claire wants to see you after your adventure last night, as does the Official." Darien groaned, really not wanting to deal with either of them. "And I did some snooping last night. We have a problem with the access tunnel."

"Problem? Such as?" he yawned. He really needed a couple more hours of sleep, but knew it was better to wake up now than to spend the night awake and pacing his apartment.

Alyx went on to detail her little adventure of the previous evening and watched as he began to frown part way through. Worried she might have done something to screw up his plans, she said, "Dare, I was just trying to help."

"Hey, no problem," Darien said, meeting her eyes. "Great work in fact." He rolled off the bed and got to his feet. "You're sure about the gates?"

"I can only be positive about the first one, but based on the records I turned up, the other two should be similar. Perhaps increased security as we get further in, but I can't be sure," Alyx answered. She watched as he paced the floor of his apartment, shifting to sit up a bit.

He walked into the kitchen and pulled a soda from the fridge. Popping the top, he drank about half of it while thinking. He liked the idea of using the access tunnel. Without it, they'd have to make their way through several levels of guards and security getting down to the sublevel they needed, and then again coming back out. If they did this right, they should be able to get in and get out with a minimum of fuss. He had most of the gear they would need, though not here. Gear that would get him arrested just for owning it, federal badge or no.

He ran through the options for getting past the security gates, eliminating most of them for a variety of reasons. Explosives were out, too noisy in this case. He'd never cared for carrying around welding gear, not even the compact mini welders. It wasn't something he'd used more than once or twice in his career as a thief and, from Alyx's description of the gates, would take too long anyway. Maybe an acid to cut through the metal? Then he got an idea that was so simple he wondered why it had taken this long to think of it. Log it off to not quite enough sleep. "Feel up to a little preliminary B&E later?"

Alyx raised an eyebrow at him. "I guess." She couldn't help but wonder what was going on in his mind now.

He could hear the concern in her voice, so he set the soda down and walked back over to the bed. "Don't worry, we're just going to visit an old friend of mine."

Once Darien had gotten cleaned up and had something to eat, they had gone into the office. Claire checked him over to make sure he was no worse for wear after being nearly blown up, again. He and Bobby seemed to have this awful knack for having situations blow up in their faces. Heck, it had happened a couple of times with Alyx along, as well. Some days Darien felt like nothing more than a crash test dummy at a bombing range. Last night was a good example. He had been somewhat irritated when they found out what was really being sold in that warehouse, but he'd learned to expect crap like that. Bobby had been well and truly pissed.

Darien still had trouble believing that Alyx had almost no memory of calling Bobby. He must have thanked her a half dozen times before even getting to the office, until she'd told him point blank to shut up about it. To her, it was no big deal. She was just glad the two of them were all right. How it came about didn't really matter. Somehow he knew it was more of wanting to drop the subject of her dreams in general than her not really caring about this particular one. He knew how tough it had been on her the last month or so since, more often than not, he'd been the one to end up with the armful of near-hysterical woman when she woke up from another nightmare.

It was the first time he had nearly gone against her wishes. There had been some nights that were so bad that he'd been sorely tempted to tell Claire just because Alyx needed something to give her some peace. She needed just one night when some memory from her past didn't return to haunt her. But, at Alyx's request, he'd refrained from reporting anything and just did his best to help her himself.

When she was finally able to talk about some of it, he'd been horrified. Even with his life, including the hell he'd survived in prison, he'd been thoroughly shocked and disgusted by what had been done to her by her so-called husband.

He still found it hard to believe that she was the same person who had been married to that bastard, and he somehow knew she hadn't told him everything. That was all right; he still hadn't told her everything about his past, either, but at least he'd found someone he could talk to who didn't run away from him because of it. If anything, dealing with their mutual nightmares had brought them closer together.

By the time they arrived at the Keep, the Official had informed Claire about the incident the night before, and she tried to talk Alyx into doing a few tests. Alyx agreed to consider them, but refused to do anything immediately. Darien more than agreed with Alyx. What Claire wanted to do involved wiring Alyx up and watching her for several nights, to get an idea of what her mind did while she was sleeping.

Can you say 'annoying'? Especially when they, hopefully, had plans for the next several nights.

After leaving the Agency, they picked up a light dinner and he drove her to the storage place where he kept his less-than-legal equipment. Most of the stuff was pretty standard, but he did have a few pieces that were a little unusual. He wanted to get Alyx familiar with the tools, as well as give her a preliminary lock-picking lesson. He had a feeling that she would have very little trouble learning how to do this; her sense of touch was astonishing and he knew how fast she could learn. If it took more than a couple hours to teach her the basics he'd be very, very surprised.

He'd been pleasantly surprised that she'd thought to go do some recon on her own. He hadn't really expected her to help more than necessary -- she still tended to walk that fine line between legal and not and tended to fall on the legal side more often than not. Yet she seemed more than willing to not only help, but to patiently learn whatever he needed her to. He knew she could do combination locks, she had the hearing for it, but it was regular locks that were tricky. No two people did it exactly the same, even though the basics were taught the same way. He and Hobbes had talked about it a couple of times and they had decided it was a matter of how a person 'felt' that caused the differences. Even people with little or no sense of touch could learn how to pick a lock; it was just a matter of learning your own responses to the picks.

Darien had always been rather proud of his ability. He'd opened locks with a few less-than-orthodox items in the past, including a hairpin. Claire's hairpin most recently. He was betting Alyx would be even better than he was once she caught on.

He was right. Within an hour she had the basics down and could even open locks with both her hands and the picks quicksilvered. Once again he wished he'd met her when he was still a thief. Well, she was here now. That was all that mattered.

Now it was a matter of convincing her that she could actually do this all on her own. She saw this differently from her work at the Agency. That difference in mindset that he had to deal with. Doing a little breaking and entering for an assignment was one thing. Breaking into someone's house for a lark was something else entirely. Okay, so this wasn't going to be just for a lark, but it was going to be fun.

"You want me to go in first? Is this some weird test or something?" Alyx said to Darien as they stood outside the building.

"Trust me on this. Let me know when you're in." He tapped her on the temple.

She shook her head at him, convinced he was crazy to have her do this. He knew this guy. He knew the potential problems. He knew what this guy was capable of, not her. Granted she was good, but this did not feel the same as a job for the Agency for some undefined reason. "Dare..."

He kissed her lightly. "Trust me."

"Always," she said, then turned to walk to the house. She looked over the place as she approached it, noticing it reminded her of an old aircraft hanger. Curved roof over a big long box. There were few windows and the ones that were there were large and well above ground. The walls were stucco, painted a generic off-white. There was plenty of landscaping around the house, but none very close to the building itself; a good sign the owner was a bit of a security nut. Very few places to hide. The front door was around the side of the building and the security cameras were more than a little obvious. With one last glance back at Darien she quicksilvered and made her way to the door. Thankfully he hadn't decreed no extras for this one. In fact, he had told her she'd need them.

It was late, just after two in the morning, as she went to her knees and pulled out the quicksilvered lock picks by feel, going to work on the first of two locks. Once both were successfully unlocked, she opened the door and encountered the two security chains. After a moment to feel them with her mind, she unlocked them as well. Stepping inside, she shut the door quietly and walked over to the keypad, which was blinking to signal the door had been opened. Setting her hand over it without touching it, she entered it with her mind and disabled it without setting off the alarm.

Walking down the short hall, she emerged into the main room of the home, finding it looked pretty much the way Darien had described to her. Some things had been rearranged, but the computer was still easy to find. Going to it, she disabled the remaining security.

*All clear, Dare.* She moved towards the counter and hopped up on it. The place was similar to her apartment in some ways. *He has company.* Alyx had trouble keeping her amusement out of her voice. Not only did he have company but he was still quite busy with them.

*Blonde?* Darien asked her.

*Two of them,* she sent back, trying not to laugh at the sounds coming from the bed directly across from of her. If that one chick wasn't faking she'd eat Darien's orange shirt. *One of them is a real blonde, anyway.*

Darien walked into the room on those thoughts and had to fight the urge not to burst out laughing. *He must have just made a big score. That's about the only time he celebrates like this.*

*Well, he's trying for a big score anyway.* Alyx had to admit the guy was creative though that position did look a tad uncomfortable.

Darien stopped dead, trying to keep in control. Between the sound effects and Alyx's comment he was on the verge of losing it completely. *Where are you hiding anyway?*

Alyx let the quicksilver flake away to reveal herself sitting on the counter. He could tell she was trying not to laugh as well. *Please tell me I don't sound like that?* She pointed to one of the women who was nearly yodeling her blatantly fake orgasm to the world at large.

Darien laughed out loud that time. It wasn't a problem though; the participants on the bed never even noticed. Regaining control took several minutes. *All right. Time to break up this love-fest.*

*Awww. But I'm learning sooo much,* Alyx commented with a grin.

Darien shook his head, trying not to lapse back into the laughter, then called out to the menage a trois, "Yo. Is this any way to treat company?"

Everyone on the bed froze. After some hurried rearranging and much squealing, the girls covered themselves. The man jumped off the bed to get into Darien's face with a shout. "What the hell are you doing, Fawkes?"

"Nice to see you too. Heard you cut a deal and only did six months for the sperm bank job. I still owe you another nine." Darien said, keeping the smile off his face. "We need to discuss some business, Manny,"

"How did you get in here this time? I changed my entire security system after your last little invasion." Manny sounded more than a little pissed off.

"I figured. That's why she broke in," Darien said, pointing back over his shoulder at Alyx who still sat with her legs crossed on the counter.

Manny leaned around Darien to look at Alyx. "Great, so you're teaching the business to a kid. Now get out and come back in the morning. I'm busy."

Alyx slipped off the counter and walked over to the two men. She looked Manny up and down, not the least bit embarrassed by his lack of clothing, then glanced over at the two women. "Hope he pays well, 'cause its obvious he has little else to offer."

Manny turned beet red and scrambled to find his pants, yanking them on with a growl of anger.

Alyx was still looking at the two blondes on the bed. "Get dressed and go home."

Neither argued and they hurriedly did as they were told.

"Fawkes, tell your...pet...to stop screwing with my life and get the hell out," Manny yelled, anger coming to the forefront at this point.

"Hmmm. No," Darien answered, moving over to a stray chair and sitting back in it while the two women made record time getting dressed and clearing out of the building.

Once they were gone, Manny spoke up again. "What the hell did I do this time, Fawkes? And what happened to the guy you were working with? Didn't know you were into cradle robbing."

Alyx handled the answers. "First off, I happen to be older than Darien, and second, Hobbes is our partner. I'm simply helping Dare out tonight."

Manny stared at her in disbelief. "Right. Older than Fawkesy here. Good one." Then he looked over at Darien again. "Now that you have officially ruined my night, what the hell do you want?"

"You still using the destabilizing compound?" Darien asked, finding this part of the conversation very familiar. He realized it had been almost exactly two years since his last visit to Manny.

"Why?" Manny asked suspicious.

"I've got a little job that needs it," Darien replied.

"Ah. So, what is it I'll get in return? A set-up and a few months in prison? No thanks." Manny turned away.

"Hey, Dare, wanna make a bet he has a copy of the formula on his hard drive?" Alyx said quietly. "How long do you think it will take me to find it? Thirty seconds?" Alyx began to walk towards the computer, fully intending to go hunting for it.

"Less," Darien answered. "You got through his security way too easy. His computer security is probably worse." He got to his feet so that Alyx could sit in front of the computer.

"Wait!" Manny shouted. It was bad enough half the damn town knew about the stuff he made; he really didn't want someone else to get the recipe. "How much do you need and when?" he sighed, giving in.

"That's better," Darien commented. "Don't worry, we'll pay for your time."

Alyx smiled, "Among other things."

"Shit," Manny commented, realizing he'd been backed into a corner.

Darien laughed. It was nice to get back at Manny, even just a little bit. He owed him so very much.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Bobby walked back to the van with a frown on his face. This was his second trip to Fawkes' place. When he hadn't found him here the first time he'd gone and checked the kid's place. He found her car there, but the apartment was empty. So he'd returned to Fawkes' place, this time letting himself in with the key he'd had made a while ago, and found no sign of either of them. Darien's cell phone was still sitting on the counter, plugged into the charger.

Now Hobbes sat in the van, wondering just what the hell his partners were up to. He was afraid it would be nothing good, nothing legal.

It was only a little after midnight, though. It was possible that they were just out having some fun at one of the places they hung out. Starting the van, he drove to the first of the places he knew they sometimes frequented. He wasn't really expecting to find them, but...Yeah, that but. Fawkes had gotten real good at slipping past him, and the kid, she was just good. Hard to sneak up on her to begin with -- watching her, whether or not she was with Fawkes, would only tick her off.

His mood growing darker by the moment, Hobbes spent a couple hours searching all the places he knew of around town, including the park and the assorted beaches the kid liked to hang out at. A little after three, he finally found them back at her place. Parking down the street, he got himself comfortable and watched the place for a while. He half expected them to leave again, but after a short time the lights went out and stayed out.

He got out and walked down the street, into the parking garage that was the lower floor of her apartment building. There he found both of their cars, parked side by side. "How cute," he muttered. Darien never left his car locked, so with only a moment's hesitation he began to search it. Fawkes was being his usual cautious self; beyond a few stray fast-food wrappers and condiments buried in corners, there was nothing. That was a little suspicious in and of itself, but Fawkes always had been a bit of a neat nick anyway so it didn't trouble Hobbes too much. Then he moved on to the kid's car.

It was the duffel in the trunk that bothered him the most. Not that it was unusual for the kid to have a duffel with spare clothes, but these clothes he recognized from the job at that private school north of the city. These were the kid's all-black working clothes, and stuffed in amongst them were a variety of tools, including a set of lock picks. It was looking more and more like Fawkes had swayed the kid to the 'dark side.'

"Damn it, Fawkes," Bobby complained into the darkened garage. "It's bad enough you can't keep your own life straight; do you have to screw up hers as well?"

With a soundless growl, Bobby returned everything to where he'd found it, headed back to the van, and spent a moment just sitting there trying to decide what he was going to do about this situation. He really, really wished he'd been wrong. Starting the engine, he drove for home. He'd need to get some sleep if he was going to spend tomorrow following Fawkes around.