Rating: I'll just go ahead and rate the rest of this story PG-13, although
there's nothing that wouldn't be in the show.
***
Getting shot with a tranquilizer dart gun was nothing new to Darien Fawkes. Still, despite his past experiences, regaining conscienceness was always a tremendous task and slow process for him. At first everything was a blur. His mind was in a dazed state and it seemed as if a swarm of wasps had taken up residence in his brain. After quite some time, memories began to surface and soon he began to wonder how much time had elapsed and if he could still make his dinner date with Casey. That question was answered as Darien's eyes blinked open.
An intense, bright white surrounded him. Once his vision was properly adjusted, he took a quick look around his new surroundings. He was in a padded cell. It seemed to be the only appropriate thing to match the white straight jacket he was in. His new prison was set up exactly like the Agency's white room of confinement, however, this one was much smaller.
"Hello, Mr. Fawkes." The voice had been calm and all too well know by Darien.
He whipped his head around to face the figure standing directly behind him.
"Hey, Stark." Darien said casually. "What's going on here? You know, I'm missing out on a real important date right about now."
Clasping his hands together, Stark gave a half smile and stated, "I'm afraid you'll have to make a rain check."
"Okay, why's that?" Fawkes inquired. "Oh! Let me guess. Chrysalis is holding a Get To Know Your Enemy Picnic and you wanted to invite me, right?"
"I no longer work for them." The former director shot back. There was a long silence which was finally ended when Stark began to slowly circle his captive. He continued, "Let me tell you something, Darien. For almost four years I was holding one of Chrysalis's most highly respected positions. I had authority, power, and control over more people than you've met in a lifetime. And just as I was making my way to the top, I was slapped in the face. One second I was working as a leader and the next Chrysalis was nearly handing me a mop and broom."
"They kicked you out faster than the service at McDonalds," Fawkes added.
Stark stopped in mid-step and stared off into the distance. His voice shook with rage. "You bet they did." He looked toward Darien. "Well, I wasn't going to take that. I told them I'd rather quit than be demoted to such a degrading level of authority. And that's just what I did."
"Wait. Hold up. How can you just quit working for a classified world dominating organization? Isn't there some kind of code against that?" Fawkes questioned.
Stark nodded. "People don't just quit. They aren't allowed to. You either work with the organization or they kill you in order to keep their information from leaking."
"But you said -"
"There were several other Chrysalis employees who didn't want to see me out of office so I rallied together all of my followers and now have abandoned Chrysalis in order to form a better and more efficient group of power."
"So, you're on the run from Chrysalis with a handful of guys as your back up?" Darien shook his head. "That's great - really. I mean, you should seriously consider writing a novel or at least make a screenplay here because this is good stuff. Still, I'm kinda curious..... why exactly do I need to be involved with this?"
Stark explained, "I was fired because of you, Darien. You and your Agency managed to gain more information from me than any other group or person alive. I'll admit that now. It's impossible to match up to a government establishment with a working invisible man on their team. Before I left Chrysalis I was experimenting on creating our own invisible agent, but now it just seems more sensible to steal the current working production."
Raising his eyes in surprise Darien exclaimed, "Whoa. You expect me to start working for you - just like that?!"
"Of course not. We'll be offering you a generous trade: your life for our demands."
Darien's eyes narrowed, "I've got news for you, Stark. I no longer need counteragent."
"So I've heard."
"Then how exactly do you plan to control me?"
"We'll be implanting a little device into you which will deliver an excruciating amount of pain throughout your body if you should disobey us. It's an idea we picked up from that acupuncture doctor of yours. Of course, you always have the option of refusing this offer.
In that case, we'll just salvage the gland and put it into a more cooperative host."
Darien glared at Stark with pure fury in his eyes. "You s- "
"We will be prepping you for surgery in few minutes." Stark grinned and then stepped toward the padded room's door. Prepared to exit he looked into the shaded window, nodded, and then waited. The door did not move. Several seconds passed by and then Stark spoke aloud to the dark square in the room's wall. "Jason, have the guard unlock the door," he commanded with silence being his only answer. Nervously Stark glanced from Darien, to the door, and back to the window. The door still did not open. Fawkes sat hunched over in the corner with a smirk on his face. Using the wall for support he slowly pushed himself up to a standing position. Giving Stark a steady stare Darien said softly, "It looks like Jason decided to take an early lunch break."
*** Darien sighed inwardly. Relief washed over him when Stark's guard failed to follow instructions. He assumed that could mean only one thing: the backup had arrived. Surely Hobbes must have followed him. It figured. Hobbes always seemed to be looking out for Darien whether he wanted the agent's help or not. Darien had to admit, he had been starting to worry. Sure, he had been in more dangerous situations, but this was the first time he had seen Stark so outraged. The man had absolutely no sound of remorse when he had threatened to salvage the gland. "Stark's getting good at this evil-villain thing," Darien thought.
Turning his attention to the glass window he shouted, "Hey, Hobbsie! How about you come in here and help me escort Stark to the unemployment office?"
The room's door flew open and three men dressed in black from head to toe barged in. All three were equipped with automatic guns. Before Darien could figure out what was going on, one of the men ran over and tackled Darien to the ground while another gagged him and then proceeded to blind fold him. As this happened a loud thud was heard and then a low grunt as someone collapsed to the floor.
"Try and quicksilver and you'll be dead within a second," a voice hissed in his ear.
***
***
Getting shot with a tranquilizer dart gun was nothing new to Darien Fawkes. Still, despite his past experiences, regaining conscienceness was always a tremendous task and slow process for him. At first everything was a blur. His mind was in a dazed state and it seemed as if a swarm of wasps had taken up residence in his brain. After quite some time, memories began to surface and soon he began to wonder how much time had elapsed and if he could still make his dinner date with Casey. That question was answered as Darien's eyes blinked open.
An intense, bright white surrounded him. Once his vision was properly adjusted, he took a quick look around his new surroundings. He was in a padded cell. It seemed to be the only appropriate thing to match the white straight jacket he was in. His new prison was set up exactly like the Agency's white room of confinement, however, this one was much smaller.
"Hello, Mr. Fawkes." The voice had been calm and all too well know by Darien.
He whipped his head around to face the figure standing directly behind him.
"Hey, Stark." Darien said casually. "What's going on here? You know, I'm missing out on a real important date right about now."
Clasping his hands together, Stark gave a half smile and stated, "I'm afraid you'll have to make a rain check."
"Okay, why's that?" Fawkes inquired. "Oh! Let me guess. Chrysalis is holding a Get To Know Your Enemy Picnic and you wanted to invite me, right?"
"I no longer work for them." The former director shot back. There was a long silence which was finally ended when Stark began to slowly circle his captive. He continued, "Let me tell you something, Darien. For almost four years I was holding one of Chrysalis's most highly respected positions. I had authority, power, and control over more people than you've met in a lifetime. And just as I was making my way to the top, I was slapped in the face. One second I was working as a leader and the next Chrysalis was nearly handing me a mop and broom."
"They kicked you out faster than the service at McDonalds," Fawkes added.
Stark stopped in mid-step and stared off into the distance. His voice shook with rage. "You bet they did." He looked toward Darien. "Well, I wasn't going to take that. I told them I'd rather quit than be demoted to such a degrading level of authority. And that's just what I did."
"Wait. Hold up. How can you just quit working for a classified world dominating organization? Isn't there some kind of code against that?" Fawkes questioned.
Stark nodded. "People don't just quit. They aren't allowed to. You either work with the organization or they kill you in order to keep their information from leaking."
"But you said -"
"There were several other Chrysalis employees who didn't want to see me out of office so I rallied together all of my followers and now have abandoned Chrysalis in order to form a better and more efficient group of power."
"So, you're on the run from Chrysalis with a handful of guys as your back up?" Darien shook his head. "That's great - really. I mean, you should seriously consider writing a novel or at least make a screenplay here because this is good stuff. Still, I'm kinda curious..... why exactly do I need to be involved with this?"
Stark explained, "I was fired because of you, Darien. You and your Agency managed to gain more information from me than any other group or person alive. I'll admit that now. It's impossible to match up to a government establishment with a working invisible man on their team. Before I left Chrysalis I was experimenting on creating our own invisible agent, but now it just seems more sensible to steal the current working production."
Raising his eyes in surprise Darien exclaimed, "Whoa. You expect me to start working for you - just like that?!"
"Of course not. We'll be offering you a generous trade: your life for our demands."
Darien's eyes narrowed, "I've got news for you, Stark. I no longer need counteragent."
"So I've heard."
"Then how exactly do you plan to control me?"
"We'll be implanting a little device into you which will deliver an excruciating amount of pain throughout your body if you should disobey us. It's an idea we picked up from that acupuncture doctor of yours. Of course, you always have the option of refusing this offer.
In that case, we'll just salvage the gland and put it into a more cooperative host."
Darien glared at Stark with pure fury in his eyes. "You s- "
"We will be prepping you for surgery in few minutes." Stark grinned and then stepped toward the padded room's door. Prepared to exit he looked into the shaded window, nodded, and then waited. The door did not move. Several seconds passed by and then Stark spoke aloud to the dark square in the room's wall. "Jason, have the guard unlock the door," he commanded with silence being his only answer. Nervously Stark glanced from Darien, to the door, and back to the window. The door still did not open. Fawkes sat hunched over in the corner with a smirk on his face. Using the wall for support he slowly pushed himself up to a standing position. Giving Stark a steady stare Darien said softly, "It looks like Jason decided to take an early lunch break."
*** Darien sighed inwardly. Relief washed over him when Stark's guard failed to follow instructions. He assumed that could mean only one thing: the backup had arrived. Surely Hobbes must have followed him. It figured. Hobbes always seemed to be looking out for Darien whether he wanted the agent's help or not. Darien had to admit, he had been starting to worry. Sure, he had been in more dangerous situations, but this was the first time he had seen Stark so outraged. The man had absolutely no sound of remorse when he had threatened to salvage the gland. "Stark's getting good at this evil-villain thing," Darien thought.
Turning his attention to the glass window he shouted, "Hey, Hobbsie! How about you come in here and help me escort Stark to the unemployment office?"
The room's door flew open and three men dressed in black from head to toe barged in. All three were equipped with automatic guns. Before Darien could figure out what was going on, one of the men ran over and tackled Darien to the ground while another gagged him and then proceeded to blind fold him. As this happened a loud thud was heard and then a low grunt as someone collapsed to the floor.
"Try and quicksilver and you'll be dead within a second," a voice hissed in his ear.
***