*Part 5*
Alyx realized she must have passed out somewhere along the way, because when she came to she was lying half on a bed, in a room she didn't recognize, being raped. The piece of slime was leaning on his hands over her, grunting and panting his way to climax. Dear lord, she had forgotten how much it hurt to have this done to oneself. At least this time she wasn't afraid to strike back. Using the heel of her hand she slammed the guy in the nose, causing him to jerk back and off of her. Once he was far enough away she lashed out with her foot, kicking him as hard as she could in the stomach. He doubled over and dropped to the floor, much to the amusement of the other men in the room.
Alyx rolled off the bed and into a crouch
"Ah, hell," Alyx groaned in a shaky voice, as consciousness returned with a suddenness that was almost painful. She found herself huddled in between her bed and the wall, backed all the way into the corner by the window. She was getting really tired of this. All she could think of was that at least this time it hadn't been Jess she'd been dreaming about. No, her mind had moved on to her next less than favorite experience in being raped. The slavers.
It took several minutes to convince her heart rate to come back down and to stop shaking enough to even uncurl her legs. Once she had finally calmed down, she forced herself to stand and glanced over at the clock sitting on her headboard, 2:30 in the morning. Two hours of sleep and it wasn't likely that she'd be getting any more. She hurriedly straightened her bed, restoring some sort of order to the mangled mess she'd made of it. She was really starting to hate the thing anyway.
Running her hands through her hair, she went to her kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of her fridge. She spent a long moment staring at the assortment of bottles next to the sink. She took a variety of vitamins and supplements just on principle. Given her weird metabolism and tendency to skip meals for whatever reason, she figured it better to err on the side of caution. Mixed in with the over-the-counter stuff were her pain meds, some of which went back to her early days here and were very potent. They all had the lovely side effect of knocking her out cold for several hours after taking them.
For the last couple of weeks she had been seriously debating taking them just to guarantee a few hours of undisturbed sleep at night. She walked over to the sink and picked up one particular bottle. After only a moment's hesitation, she opened it and shook two into the palm of her hand.
She stared down at the pair of pills for a long moment. With them she could probably get some sleep for a change, but what about tomorrow night? And the night after that? With a sigh, she returned the pills to the bottle and then tossed the bottle into the trash. She was screwed up enough without having to become dependent on a drug to get through her nights. She took herself and her water out to the living room and sat on her couch, the TV coming on seemingly of its own volition. After a few minutes of surfing she decided on an old black and white film that was oddly ironic. 'The Invisible Man."
When her alarm went off just before six she was already dressed for work. She'd already done a longer than usual workout and showered. She shut the alarm off, grabbed her bag, and left for the office.
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Darien was standing in the middle of his apartment going through the pockets of his leather jacket. He was amazed at the number of business cards and scraps of paper with names and phone numbers on them. After talking for while with that brunette, Cindy, they had ended up in back taking over one of the pool tables. From there, the evening had gotten interesting. He knew he had drunk one -- all right, several -- too many beers, and he had played way more pool than he had in ages, but it had been fun.
He then came across the bills and smiled. He hadn't wanted to take their money, but it was house rules of a sort. The girls had insisted that he had earned the money and quite a few of them had been quite good with the cues. He suspected that some of them had let him win, based on the phone numbers written on some of the bills. Some had even more suggestive notes written upon them as well.
He shook his head. He stuffed about half the cash into his sock drawer and the rest into his pocket. The notes and business cards he just left in a pile on his table for now. It wasn't likely he'd ever call any of them. He'd had fun, but that was all it was, fun. Bobby had expressed his surprise at how he had taken everything in stride and actually relaxed. Darien would be the first to admit that places like that tended to make him uncomfortable these days, but last night he had found it a bit easier and he figured it was at least partially because his control over the gland had improved in certain situations.
Hell, he could still remember the problems he'd had when he was near Kate. At least she had been willing to find it more amusing than anything else. Then of course there was the disappointment when he found out she was otherwise engaged, literally. There hadn't been a whole lot of options available since then. Yeah, there was Allianora, but that couldn't be called anything more than a moment's lust that got out of hand on both their parts, with serious consequences for both of them. She had been the epitome of his experience with romantic relationships. Not only had most of his past relationships been ended by the women, but a fair number had ended badly. Mostly his fault he'd admit; he had never managed to tell any of the women in his life the truth about who and what he was, so there were always elaborate lies that tied them together. Casey hadn't been the first to catch him out and then leave him, she just happened to get stuck with the meltdown of his life.
But now, now things were so very different. Yeah, when asked he'd lied about what he did to the girls at the bar; just as Bobby had about his job. Not that it mattered. Even if he went back, with or without Bobby, it would be just another night of fun. He had to admit being able to attract the attention of a group of young ladies was nice, but none of them were Alyx. Maybe he'd take her with him the next time and they could spend the evening seeing who could collect the most phone numbers. That thought actually made him grin.
Grabbing his keys, he headed out. It was another day of work at the Agency, after all.
And what an exciting day it is was. Once again there was very little needing their attention, just some follow-up work on the Blackhawks that had blown up in their faces the other night. The group selling them was part of a known organization, but how they had procured the items and to whom they were selling them were mysteries. The identity of the group that had smashed their way inside in an attempt, it was assumed, to steal the items, was an even bigger mystery, and they were coming up empty.
He and Bobby had lunch while out, chatting amicably about the night before, and then headed back to the office with no more information than when they had left. Oh, they had been able to eliminate a few possibilities, but they had no real idea of what had gone on in that warehouse or what deals had been made prior to that night. All the potential witnesses were quite dead, and the Army was denying that they were missing any of their Blackhawks. In other words, stonewalling them.
All throughout the day, Bobby kept trying to subtly pump Darien for information as to his whereabouts on several nights this past week. Darien caught on fast enough and didn't give anything of importance away. Saying he'd been visiting an old friend the night they had invaded Manny's place. True enough. He just didn't explain why they had gone visiting. When Bobby mentioned lock picks, Darien had to wonder exactly what he was fishing for. The only way he could know that Alyx was the proud owner of a set of lock picks, among other more common burglar tools, would be if he had gone through her car and dug through her duffel in the trunk.
Darien couldn't believe he'd do that. Go through his car, yeah. That's part of the reason he kept it unlocked and nothing of value in it. It wasn't likely anyone would steal it for a joyride, and his locks wouldn't get stripped every time Hobbes wanted to make sure he'd been behaving. Hobbes checking up on him hadn't happened in a long, long time, and he really wondered what he had done to make Hobbes suspicious this time.
Arriving back at the building, he stuck his head into Alyx's office to see her frowning at her computer and looking tired.
"Hey you," she said, trying to put some enthusiasm in her voice but failing miserably. "Have a good time last night?"
"Yes, actually. It was fun," Darien answered, sitting on the edge of her desk as usual. "How about you?"
"I accomplished what I set out to do." She lowered her voice. "I'm as ready as I can be. When do you want to go?"
He toyed with the items on her desk as he thought about it. Did he still want to do this? Yes. Should they wait and hope Hobbes backed down? No. Bobby was too damn stubborn, and every day they waited meant a better chance work would pick up and leave them no free time to complete this little job. Alyx could be pulled away for some out-of-town job at any time. Now that she was reasonably stable, other agencies were sure to be clamoring for her help.
He'd found out that was part of the deal to allow her to stay with the Agency. If she was needed, truly needed, by an outside group, she would be sent. It meant that the Agency got partial credit for every mission she did for someone else. It also meant they got paid for the inconvenience of losing her, while she did the work, and paid well.
He didn't like it much, but it was better than her being permanently reassigned to the CIA, FBI, ATF, or any of the other agencies she had done some small jobs for. He lifted his head and looked at her. "Tonight."
She nodded. "I've a few arrangements to make. Dinner at my place?"
"Perfect. You feeling all right?" He had noticed she looked tired, more tired than usual.
"Well, enough. I'm out of here. I'll catch a nap and see you later." She packed away her laptop and stood holding her bag as she spoke.
He laid a hand on her arm. "Alyx... Bad night?"
"Yeah," she admitted.
"Maybe you should talk to Claire," he said quietly, hoping she wouldn't get angry.
"I did, but other than sleeping pills there is not much she can do. Falling asleep isn't the problem, as you well know." She moved closer to him and he wrapped his arms about her.
"Damn. It'll get better." He tipped her head up to look in her eyes. "You know that, right?"
"I know," she laughed. "It can't get all that much worse." She gave him a quick kiss and slipped away from him. "Don't be late. I have some toys to show you." Opening her office door, she found Bobby standing there. "Hey, Bobby. Something you need?"
"Just Fawkes, if you can spare him," Bobby said to her with a smile.
"He's all yours. I'm heading home." Alyx gave them a wave and walked off.
"She okay?" Hobbes asked as Darien stepped into the hall and shut the office door behind him.
"Fine. A little tired, maybe." He and Hobbes moved side by side down the hall towards the Official's office. "She's been having trouble sleeping and I'll bet she was here before Eberts this morning."
Eberts had apparently overheard this and responded as they opened the door. "She was, and that is why she is being sent home."
"Huh? Concern for her?" Darien was honestly confused, then he became suspicious. "What's going on?"
"Her assistance has been requested elsewhere. She's leaving in two days and I want her human not the walking zombie she has been for the last month." The Official filled in. "Now what did you find out about those Blackhawks?"
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When Darien walked into her apartment just after six, carrying both an overnight bag and his satchel, he was greeted by the heavenly scent of her roast chicken and the sight of her sprawled, dozing, on her sofa. Her CD player was on, playing some soft blues music. He set the bags down and walked over to her. Kneeling on the floor beside her, he leaned over and kissed her gently. She reacted by opening her mouth beneath his and reaching one hand up to bury itself in his hair. Her fingers traced gently over the scar on the back of his head, causing him to shiver. The scar was extremely sensitive, they had learned, though not painful.
"Hmmm, Jose is that you? Thought tomorrow was your day?" Alyx mumbled when she pulled away slightly.
"Jose? Okay, I can do a Jose," Darien said, going into a really bad Spanish accent. His hand wandered down to her side and began to tickle her.
Alyx's eyes flew open and she began to squirm and squeal in reaction. "Ah, D... Dare don't. Please."
At the please he stopped, grinning at her. "Jose, huh?"
"Not nice," she panted. She hated being ticklish, and he knew with her hypersensitivity it sometimes took very little to set it off.
"When were you going to mention your little trip?" he asked as he shifted her so that he now sat on the sofa with her head in his lap.
"My... Oh, that. It hadn't been confirmed yet." She watched him frown slightly. "Not to me anyway."
"Typical. Did you get any rest?" She still looked tired to him.
"Some, and I pulled one of my tricks. I'll be fine." She stretched slightly.
"So what was it last night?" Darien asked quietly. Somehow he knew that while he'd been out having fun with Hobbes, she'd had a really bad night.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to remember it again. Just thinking about it didn't bother her all that much, it was when it got shoved into her head and she found herself trapped in the memory that it tormented her. "The slavers."
Her voice was so soft he barely heard her. "The shock collars?" he guessed.
"Nooo. The rape." She pushed herself up and got off the sofa, heading to the kitchen.
Darien sat stunned for long moment, not quite sure what to say. He had known it was a possibility after what they'd been told by Morris, but as far as he knew she had told no one, not even Claire. He certainly hadn't known anything about it. He turned to look at her as she got the chicken out and finished her dinner preparations.
"Alyx, I didn't know."
She shrugged. "It's not that big a deal, except for the fact it kept me from sleeping last night."
"Bullshit," Darien snapped getting to his feet. He wasn't angry with her, but he was angry.
She looked at him, rather surprised. She couldn't help but know what he was feeling and so knew his anger wasn't directed at her, but at the situation as a whole. And partially at himself because he had been unable to help her. "It isn't, really. Compared to Jess, their efforts were pitiful." She glanced over at him, deciding to explain something that she had...not exactly avoided, but hadn't felt the need to talk about until now. "I'll admit, after what Jess put me through I was reluctant to get involved with anyone, especially you. But in the end, it didn't matter. You are not Jess."
"Until I'm late for a shot," Darien muttered. He'd done some less than nice things to her when they'd been a little late getting him a shot.
She set down the pan she'd been holding and walked over to him. "No. Don't you ever think that. I've been in that head of yours. I know what goes on. You are nothing like Jess. Yeah, you can be a right bastard thanks to the madness, but that is only part of you. Jess did what he did because he enjoyed it, because he was good at it, and his employers paid him to." She took his hands into hers. "Do you really think, knowing what I am and what I can do, that I could care for you if you were the slightest bit like him?" She urged him to sit down at the table. "I knew who and what you were within five minutes of our first meeting. I haven't run yet, have I?"
He just looked at her. "Alyx, I'm not sure what to say."
"Say you're hungry, 'cause I kinda went on one of my cooking sprees this afternoon." She gave him a small smile. She knew he had trouble understanding why she had come back, why she stuck beside him. Why she would walk away if she thought he wanted her to. "I'm here as long as you want me to be."
He pulled her in close for a real kiss. Sometimes... sometimes words just weren't enough. After a few minutes he pulled back. "Dinner, then info, I take it?"
"Yes, sir. And you are gonna love what I came up with. If it works as well as I hope, you and Bobby should be able to get some use out of it as well." Alyx moved away to finish the few things left for dinner.
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They sat in the rental car, a couple blocks over from Richards' building. They'd be cutting across the property that backed up to parking lot behind the building. The likelihood that a car parked on this street would be associated with something a block over was slim to none. The fact that she had arranged for a rental car shouldn't have surprised him as much as it had. Her car would stand out in the area and his car, though not very memorable, could be recognized after the few trips that he'd made out here already.
She'd given him a quick lesson in how to use the gadget she had created the night before. She wasn't entirely happy with it, finding it still a bit bulkier than she liked, but good enough for the time she'd had to work on it. He was in love with it. It could handle just about any piece of electronics he had encountered in his experience with a few taps on the comp pad and a switch of connector. He'd heard of these systems, but had never seen one that worked this well. When he asked her about it, she replied that she'd been considering something like it for a while and that he and Hobbes were more than welcome to use it when she wasn't available. Darien might be able to sneak past most security by going invisible, but Hobbes couldn't.
Tonight was going to be the field test for it.
They were both kit out in black from head to toe, and Alyx had a snug-fitting hat hiding her hair. She was even wearing a pair of gloves that he knew cost a small fortune -- he'd never been able to afford a pair -- and he wondered where she had gotten them. Not for the first time he seriously wondered what kind of jobs the Official had been sending her out on if she owned and was comfortable in these clothes and carrying the gear she had. Now, however, was not the time to ask.
They made their way around the building they had parked in front of, through the cheesy fence separating the two pieces of property, and across the parking lot to the entrance of the access tunnel. While Alyx kept a watch out for unexpected visitors -- they had memorized the guard routine she had downloaded from the security computer -- Darien got to work on this trickier than usual lock. It was mere seconds before he had it open, though he damaged it beyond repair in the process. By morning everyone would know someone had broken in, so it didn't really matter.
He waved her in first and then slipped in behind her. She'd warned him it would be a tight fit and she was more than right. He was forced to crawl to the first security gate that sat in the tunnel. Getting comfortable, he pulled the headset and rig out of her backpack, as well as the first canister of the destabilizing compound. Using a red tinted flashlight so that they could see, Alyx outlined the area that was safe to break through on the door. After putting on the headset she called up the stored blueprint and security data. Once the info was up on the screen she was as ready as she could be to override the security on the far side.
Darien tried to hide a grin. This was the fun part, as far as he was concerned. He could feel the adrenaline pumping, but was more than able to keep things under control and channel the energy into getting the job done. Alyx hunched under the various cables while he crouched before the door holding the canister. With a quick glance over at her he sprayed the compound and watched as it did its magic, turning the thick metal of the door into a tan ooze.
"Crap," he muttered, realizing the motion sensors on the other side could, possibly, pick up the movement as the door melted.
He had nothing to worry about. Ignoring the mildly grotesque feel of the stuff, Alyx had pushed her hand through, jammed one of her override connectors into the keypad on the far side, and taken over control of the security in that section of the tunnel. She tapped at the touch screen before her and watched both the pad and the heads up display in front of her right eye. "Gotcha," she muttered to herself, then turned to Darien. "The tunnel security is all linked together. We're clear for now."
Darien did grin this time. "Great. You first."
Alyx slipped through the hole in the door and Darien followed. Both were pleased to find that, after a few feet, the tunnel was larger on this side. Alyx was almost able to stand upright, though Darien still had to walk doubled over. They got through the next door with no problems, since Alyx had already reset the security. Then they arrived at the final door. On the other side should be the power distribution center for the building. Alyx would have to access the security on the other side quickly in order to keep them from being seen. According to the information she had downloaded and what she couldn't help but sense she should be able to get into the security for the building and, hopefully, override it from here, if not they would deal with the security one piece at a time. They only needed to get up one level and then into the heavily protected computer room, but he had confidence that they could do it.
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Bobby Hobbes was getting very irritated at his two partners. By the time Fawkes had left for the day, he had known something was up and had decided there was no way he was not going to find out what. So he'd tailed Fawkes, first to his apartment and then over to the kid's place. He wasn't sure what they were up to, and he'd discovered that the ancient glass in Alyx's windows was quite effective at making the parabolic mic useless. He waited down the street in the van, tapping the steering wheel. He expected that Fawkes wouldn't have learned his lesson, but he had hoped, truly hoped, he'd refrain from getting the kid mixed up in his illegal activities.
What really concerned him is that the kid had the potential to be a damn dangerous thief. With her skills and her extra talents, there wasn't much that could stop her, with Darien's influence and the constant temptation to run from the Agency.... Bobby did his best to not think about that. He did not want to have to be the one to hunt them down so that the Official could harvest the gland and force the kid to give up her powers again, willing or not. And that is exactly what would happen if they chose to run.
When he saw them drive off in her car around 11:00, he cursed. There was nothing good they could be up to. He followed, but discovered that he couldn't keep up with her and she quickly lost him in the late evening traffic. Not sure where to go, he pulled over climbed into the back of the van and turned on the police scanner he had in back. The last time he'd really needed this was to track down Fawkes when he went AWOL that one time before the kid came. He had the bad feeling that at some point tonight there would be a call that most definitely involved his two partners.
Getting himself comfortable, he sat back to wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alyx broke through the door before the ooze had even come close to finishing its job and went to the keypad nearby. She popped off one of the number keys and shoved the metal sensing rod inside. For all the security in the building, this was cheap and easy to defeat. This got her in far enough to deal with the room they were in. She was able to convince the motion sensors that they had made an error and sent them into a standard self-diagnostic, which would keep them busy for a while. Thankfully there were no cameras down here, and within moments she was done.
Darien had moved over to the elevator and was frowning at the mag card lock there. Alyx walked over beside him, took off the gear and handed it to him. Without hesitation he fit the headpiece for himself and after a moment adjusting to the two different views seen with his eyes. Switching out connectors he set the blank mag card through the slot and began pressing keys on the comp pad. In moments he was in and the elevator was on its way. He extracted the card and looked over at Alyx with a grin.
His smile was contagious. "You are easy to please. You did remember to shut down the camera in the car, right?"
"Crap." Darien slid the card back into place and, after a moment spent tracking down the signal, did exactly that. Just in time too, for the car arrived and the doors opened.
Alyx pressed the button for the floor they wanted and waited patiently for the doors to slide shut and the car to move. "What next?"
He shook his head and regretted it because of the disorientation due to the display before one eye. "Shit," he complained, and Alyx reached out to keep him steady. "Umm, nothing till further down the hall. Laser grid from the looks of it outside the computer room."
"It takes a bit to get used to," Alyx reassured him.
"Where the hell did you learn to do this stuff?" Darien asked her as the doors opened and they stepped out into the darkened hallway.
Alyx shrugged. "Here and there." They made their way down the hall and around the corner. This hall was empty except for the metal double doors at the end of it. Alyx went to her knees and slipped off her pack. Taking out what looked like a metallic coffee thermos, which Darien had supplied, she oriented it and triggered it. Smoke poured out, filling the hallway and revealing the laser grid that filled a good portion of it. The design was of rows of diamonds going from floor to ceiling for about two thirds of the hallway. Alyx realized she was small enough to squeak through if she was careful, but Darien had no chance at all.
Darien had moved over to the control for the system. This one was more complex; it required a code and a handprint to turn it off and release the locking mechanism on the doors. Inserting the probe, he growled to himself, "This is gonna take forever."
"Why? Just call up the last code put in and make it think it's the current one," Alyx whispered to him. She could sense no one near them on this level, but there were a few on the floors above them. They needed to move as swiftly as possible.
"Good thought." It took him a moment, but he figured out how to do exactly that. He just needed to put his hand over the scanner, even though it thought it was reading someone else's hand. As soon as the lights went green, the laser field dropped. Within moments they were in the main computer room.
Darien disconnected the headset from the comp pad and handed it back to Alyx, who had retrieved her wireless connection from her bag. Going over to the nearest computer station, she disabled the cameras and just hoped the security hadn't noticed their momentary presence in the dimly lit room.
She put on the headset and attached the wireless connection, connecting it to the main computer. "I'm set," she said to Darien.
"Quick as you can."
"You know it." Centering herself, she slipped into the data stream and began her search. She was looking for the biggest wall in there and found it rather quickly. Getting through it was going to be the challenge. This one was tight, but after a few virtual minutes she had wormed her way inside and found everything she had hoped and then some. Not only did she have the proof she needed to get Richards on the current scam he was running, she also found the trails to the other pies he had his fingers in. Nate Richards had been a few other people in his life, including one Nathaniel Greene who was wanted by a variety of federal agencies on suspicion of child porn and snuff films. Perfect. She uploaded everything to the computer station she was at and prepared to e-mail all the information to several different addresses she had set up before coming in here.
When she felt Darien touch her left shoulder she was able to pull herself out with a minimum of difficulty. "Company," he whispered in her ear.
Company was right, though not security, just a late working employee who was muttering something under his breath. Darien had ducked under the counter out of view, but Alyx had no chance to. The guy spotted her and hit the alarm before she had a chance to react.
"Ah, crap," She slammed the guy into the wall, knocking him out, and then turned to Darien. Setting a hand on his shoulder she started the quicksilver flowing over him. "Get out. I'll cover you."
"Alyx..." There was no way in hell he was going to leave her behind.
"Just go. I have to make sure this gets out. In five minutes I'll kill the power to the building. That should more than cover your exit." As she talked to him she got the files moving, but there was a lot of information and she didn't dare disconnect until it was all sent. "Do you trust your partner?" she asked, eerily echoing Hobbes' question from the other night.
"Always. Be careful." He didn't wait, but did as she asked. He had the comp pad, so if there were problems he could still override the security if necessary.
He dodged the security personnel coming down the hallway and made it to the elevator with little trouble. He knew the quicksilver she had coated him in wouldn't last much longer, but did not want to use any of his own unless absolutely necessary.
He was down in the power distribution center, the quicksilver having fallen off in the elevator, when she contacted him, *Killing the power now.* And that is exactly what happened. Emergency lighting came on and he made his way to the access tunnel and out of the building.
Alyx knew she was not going to get out of this one. Not the way Darien had, anyway. Once she was certain the file transfer was not going to be stopped, she moved to another computer and convinced it to send a command to every printer it was connected to in the building. Within minutes they began printing the same files she was e-mailing out. By then security was banging on the door she had been holding shut with part of her mind. She took a moment to verify the files were on their way and then, after sending a warning to Darien, shut down the power to the entire building. The emergency power kicked on. With a sigh, she let the security guards into the room, where they found her waiting calmly to be discovered.
It was looking like she was going to get to experience the joy of a trip to the police station.